The paper presents the methods, results and difficulties of an econometric reconstruction of preh... more The paper presents the methods, results and difficulties of an econometric reconstruction of prehistoric agriculture at the long term experimental site Forchtenberg (Baden−Württemberg). For 12 years a Neolithic swidden agriculture has been experimentally practised, monitoring all relevant variables in a broad interdisciplinary approach. The experimental hypothesis is based on a model of extensive swidden agriculture developed by Rösch for the region of Lake Constance around 4000 cal BC. After initial cutting of trees and burning of chopped branches several variants are practised: single cultivation followed by 10−15 year bush and low forest fallow or subsequent cultivation for 2−3 years involving hoeing. The objective is a comprehensive assessment of the labour effort in relation to the yields, as well as a quantification of the associated effects (nutrient flows, conversion of biomass into charcoal, suppression of herbs, microclimatic effects, pests etc.). The results obtained up to now suggest an amazing efficiency of such a fire−based extensive agriculture, as compared to the intensive garden / hoe agriculture usually assumed for the Neolithic.
Anthropogenic burning, including slash-and-burn, was deliberately used in (pre)historic Central E... more Anthropogenic burning, including slash-and-burn, was deliberately used in (pre)historic Central Europe. Biomass burning has affected the global carbon cycle since, presumably, the early Holocene. The understanding of processes and rates of charcoal formation in temperate deciduous forests is limited, as is the extent of prehistoric human impact on the environment. We took advantage of an experimental burning to simulate Neolithic slash-and-burn, and we quantified the biomass fuel and charcoal produced, determined the resulting distribution of the charcoal size fractions and calculated the carbon mass balance. Two-thirds of the charcoal particles (6.71 t/ha) were larger than 2000 μm and the spatial distribution of charcoal was highly variable (15—90% per m2). The conversion rate of the biomass fuel to charcoal mass was 4.8%, or 8.1% for the conversion of biomass carbon to charcoal carbon, and 58.4 t C/ha was lost during the fire, presumably as a component of aerosols or gases.
Manfred Rösch, Harald Biester, Arno Bogenrieder, Eileen Eckmeier, Otto Ehrmann, Renate Gerlach, M... more Manfred Rösch, Harald Biester, Arno Bogenrieder, Eileen Eckmeier, Otto Ehrmann, Renate Gerlach, Mathias Hall, Christoph Hartkopf-Fröder, Ludger Herrmann, Birgit Kury, Wolfram Schier und Ehrhard Schulz
Mitteilungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte
Im vergangenen Jahrzehnt hat der fachwissenschaftliche wie auch allgemein gesellschaftliche Disku... more Im vergangenen Jahrzehnt hat der fachwissenschaftliche wie auch allgemein gesellschaftliche Diskurs über den ethisch wie juristisch angemessenen Umgang mit menschlichen Überresten in öffentlichen Sammlungsbeständen stark an Intensität zugenommen. Insbesondere wenn der historische Kontext der Erwerbung aus heutiger Sicht unrechtmäßig oder zumindest ethisch fragwürdig war, wird die Forderung nach Restitution erhoben und mehr und mehr auch umgesetzt. Ungeachtet vermehrt erhobener pauschaler Forderungen nach Restitution, die Erwerbungen rezenter menschlicher Überreste aus dem 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert unter kolonialistischen Generalverdacht stellen, hat sich der Vorstand der BGAEU wiederholt für eine individuelle Abwägung und Entscheidung über Restitutionsersuchen ausgesprochen, was im Einklang steht mit den Richtlinien des Deutschen Museumsbundes und der Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Im Beitrag wird über zwei Restitutionsverfahren berichtet, die in den vergangenen Jahren stat...
It was between the Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age when wool was introduced as raw materi... more It was between the Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age when wool was introduced as raw material for textile production. It is expected that this innovation had a comprehensive effect on the socio-economic life of people and their environment. However, little is known about spatio-temporal trajectories of the process and the environmental influences it actually had. The approach presented demonstrates how such a comprehensive and complex research question may be operationalized. Decomposition of the overall process and gathering of information from different fields allows to reconstruct particular aspects of the phenomenon and their diachronic change. Subsequent synthesis enables addressing the overall question. This paper focuses on the role of landscape within the process of wool sheep introduction. Besides covering the particular approach to reconstruct herding-related landscape changes it is shown how deeply different disciplinary approaches are interconnected. Finally, diffi...
The paper presents the methods, results and difficulties of an econometric reconstruction of preh... more The paper presents the methods, results and difficulties of an econometric reconstruction of prehistoric agriculture at the long term experimental site Forchtenberg (Baden−Württemberg). For 12 years a Neolithic swidden agriculture has been experimentally practised, monitoring all relevant variables in a broad interdisciplinary approach. The experimental hypothesis is based on a model of extensive swidden agriculture developed by Rösch for the region of Lake Constance around 4000 cal BC. After initial cutting of trees and burning of chopped branches several variants are practised: single cultivation followed by 10−15 year bush and low forest fallow or subsequent cultivation for 2−3 years involving hoeing. The objective is a comprehensive assessment of the labour effort in relation to the yields, as well as a quantification of the associated effects (nutrient flows, conversion of biomass into charcoal, suppression of herbs, microclimatic effects, pests etc.). The results obtained up to now suggest an amazing efficiency of such a fire−based extensive agriculture, as compared to the intensive garden / hoe agriculture usually assumed for the Neolithic.
Anthropogenic burning, including slash-and-burn, was deliberately used in (pre)historic Central E... more Anthropogenic burning, including slash-and-burn, was deliberately used in (pre)historic Central Europe. Biomass burning has affected the global carbon cycle since, presumably, the early Holocene. The understanding of processes and rates of charcoal formation in temperate deciduous forests is limited, as is the extent of prehistoric human impact on the environment. We took advantage of an experimental burning to simulate Neolithic slash-and-burn, and we quantified the biomass fuel and charcoal produced, determined the resulting distribution of the charcoal size fractions and calculated the carbon mass balance. Two-thirds of the charcoal particles (6.71 t/ha) were larger than 2000 μm and the spatial distribution of charcoal was highly variable (15—90% per m2). The conversion rate of the biomass fuel to charcoal mass was 4.8%, or 8.1% for the conversion of biomass carbon to charcoal carbon, and 58.4 t C/ha was lost during the fire, presumably as a component of aerosols or gases.
Manfred Rösch, Harald Biester, Arno Bogenrieder, Eileen Eckmeier, Otto Ehrmann, Renate Gerlach, M... more Manfred Rösch, Harald Biester, Arno Bogenrieder, Eileen Eckmeier, Otto Ehrmann, Renate Gerlach, Mathias Hall, Christoph Hartkopf-Fröder, Ludger Herrmann, Birgit Kury, Wolfram Schier und Ehrhard Schulz
Mitteilungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte
Im vergangenen Jahrzehnt hat der fachwissenschaftliche wie auch allgemein gesellschaftliche Disku... more Im vergangenen Jahrzehnt hat der fachwissenschaftliche wie auch allgemein gesellschaftliche Diskurs über den ethisch wie juristisch angemessenen Umgang mit menschlichen Überresten in öffentlichen Sammlungsbeständen stark an Intensität zugenommen. Insbesondere wenn der historische Kontext der Erwerbung aus heutiger Sicht unrechtmäßig oder zumindest ethisch fragwürdig war, wird die Forderung nach Restitution erhoben und mehr und mehr auch umgesetzt. Ungeachtet vermehrt erhobener pauschaler Forderungen nach Restitution, die Erwerbungen rezenter menschlicher Überreste aus dem 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert unter kolonialistischen Generalverdacht stellen, hat sich der Vorstand der BGAEU wiederholt für eine individuelle Abwägung und Entscheidung über Restitutionsersuchen ausgesprochen, was im Einklang steht mit den Richtlinien des Deutschen Museumsbundes und der Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Im Beitrag wird über zwei Restitutionsverfahren berichtet, die in den vergangenen Jahren stat...
It was between the Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age when wool was introduced as raw materi... more It was between the Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age when wool was introduced as raw material for textile production. It is expected that this innovation had a comprehensive effect on the socio-economic life of people and their environment. However, little is known about spatio-temporal trajectories of the process and the environmental influences it actually had. The approach presented demonstrates how such a comprehensive and complex research question may be operationalized. Decomposition of the overall process and gathering of information from different fields allows to reconstruct particular aspects of the phenomenon and their diachronic change. Subsequent synthesis enables addressing the overall question. This paper focuses on the role of landscape within the process of wool sheep introduction. Besides covering the particular approach to reconstruct herding-related landscape changes it is shown how deeply different disciplinary approaches are interconnected. Finally, diffi...
The volume assembles contributions presented at two international conferences dedicated to recent... more The volume assembles contributions presented at two international conferences dedicated to recent studies on the Neolithic and Eneolithic of Southeast and Eastern Central Europe. Twenty years after the publication of the last comprehensive and broad scale conference on the historical concept, materiality and chronology of the Copper Age the International Conference “The Transition from the Neolithic to the Eneolithic in Central and South-Eastern Europe in the Light of Recent Research” took place in Timişoara, Romania on 10–12 November 2011, focussing on regional overviews over the transition from the Neolithic to the Eneolithic. The meeting brought together new data and new perspectives on the final periods of the Neolithic as well as the transition process to the Eneolithic. In 2013, the editors of the present volume organised the session A32 at the 19th meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) at Plzeň, Czech Republic on “Relative vs absolute chronology of the Neolithic of the Carpathian Basin and South Eastern Europe”. The thematic scope of the EAA session was focussed rather on approaches to adjust and revise traditional relative chronologies using new radiocarbon dates and calibration models (Bayesian statistics). Only a part of the EAA session contributions, however, was submitted. The editors therefore decided to integrate the Plzeň papers into the volume originally planned as the Timişoara proceedings. The present volume, thus, has developed a broader scope – both in terms of chronology (from Early Neolithic to Late Eneolithic) and geography (from Greece to Slovenia and Ukraine). It represents a cross section of ongoing research on the Neolithic and Eneolithic in Southeast and Eastern Central Europe.
The volume, edited by V. Nikolov and W. Schier, contains 34 contributions to an international con... more The volume, edited by V. Nikolov and W. Schier, contains 34 contributions to an international conference organised by Vassil Nikolov and funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, which took place in Varna, Bulgaria, 16-20 May 2012. It comprises a wide spectrum of research focused on the Western and Northern Pontic Areas, but also in relation to neighbouring regions as the Lower Danube and the Carpathian Basin. Chronologically the scope of the volume covers the time from Early Neolithic to Early Iron Age (6000-600 BC), with a special emphasis on Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic.
The book assembles papers of an interdisciplinary TOPOI Workshop held at Berlin 2009 on the Relat... more The book assembles papers of an interdisciplinary TOPOI Workshop held at Berlin 2009 on the Relations between human mobility and the transfer of knowledge in ancient societies
Proceedings of an international conference which was held in Berlin 2010 on palaeogentic and stab... more Proceedings of an international conference which was held in Berlin 2010 on palaeogentic and stable isotope Research, concerning human mobility, migrations and Population dynamics
Exhibition catalogue. The clay mask found in Uivar 2001 is the oldest modelled mask in Europe. T... more Exhibition catalogue. The clay mask found in Uivar 2001 is the oldest modelled mask in Europe. The Exhibition assembled figural art of the Vinca culture as well as finds from the Late Neolithic tell site at Uivar. Several contributions adress the Late Neolithic in the Carpathian Basin, the Uivar Project, the Settlement evidence and economic aspects of the Uivar tell
Recent work at Vinča-Belo Brdo has combined a total of more than 200 radiocarbon
dates with an ar... more Recent work at Vinča-Belo Brdo has combined a total of more than 200 radiocarbon dates with an array of other information to construct much more precise narratives for the structural history of the site and the cultural materials recovered from it. In this paper, we present the results of a recent attempt to construct formal models for the chronology of the wider Vinča potscape, so that we can place our now detailed understanding of changes at Belo Brdo within their contemporary contexts. We present our methodology for assessing the potential of the existing corpus of more than 600 radiocarbon dates for refining the chronology of the five phases of Vinča ceramics proposed by Milojčić across their spatial ranges, including a total of 490 of them in a series of Bayesian chronological models. Then we outline our main results for the development of Vinča pottery. Finally, we discuss some of the major implications for our understanding of the source, character and tempo of material change.
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Papers by Wolfram Schier
Twenty years after the publication of the last comprehensive and broad scale conference on the historical concept, materiality and chronology of the Copper Age the International Conference “The Transition from the Neolithic to the Eneolithic in Central and South-Eastern Europe in the Light of Recent Research” took place in Timişoara, Romania on 10–12 November 2011, focussing on regional overviews over the transition from the Neolithic to the Eneolithic. The meeting brought together new data and new perspectives on the final periods of the Neolithic as well as the transition process to the Eneolithic.
In 2013, the editors of the present volume organised the session A32 at the 19th meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) at Plzeň, Czech Republic on “Relative vs absolute chronology of the Neolithic of the Carpathian Basin and South Eastern Europe”. The thematic scope of the EAA session was focussed rather on approaches to adjust and revise traditional relative chronologies using new radiocarbon dates and calibration models (Bayesian statistics).
Only a part of the EAA session contributions, however, was submitted. The editors therefore decided to integrate the Plzeň papers into the volume originally planned as the Timişoara proceedings. The present volume, thus, has developed a broader scope – both in terms of chronology (from Early Neolithic to Late Eneolithic) and geography (from Greece to Slovenia and Ukraine). It represents a cross section of ongoing research on the Neolithic and Eneolithic in Southeast and Eastern Central Europe.
dates with an array of other information to construct much more precise narratives for the structural history of the site and the cultural materials recovered from it. In this paper, we present the results of a recent attempt to construct formal models for the chronology of the wider Vinča potscape, so that we can place our now detailed understanding of changes at Belo Brdo within their contemporary contexts. We present our methodology for assessing the potential of the existing corpus of
more than 600 radiocarbon dates for refining the chronology of the five phases of Vinča ceramics proposed by Milojčić across their spatial ranges, including a total of 490 of them in a series of Bayesian chronological models. Then we outline our main results for the development of Vinča pottery. Finally, we discuss some of the major implications for our understanding of the source, character and tempo of material change.