In Europe, cremation as a burial practice is often associated with the Bronze Age, but examples o... more In Europe, cremation as a burial practice is often associated with the Bronze Age, but examples of cremated human remains are in fact known from the Palaeolithic onwards. Unlike conventional inhumation, cremation destroys most of the evidence we can use to reconstruct the biography of the buried individual. Remarkably, in Ireland, cremation is used for the earliest recorded human burial and grave assemblage (7530–7320 bc) located on the banks of the River Shannon, at Hermitage, County Limerick. While we are unable to reconstruct in any great detail the biography of this individual, we have examined the biography of a polished stone adzehead interred with their remains. To our knowledge, this adze represents the earliest securely dated polished axe or adze in Europe. Microscopic analysis reveals that the adze was commissioned for burial, with a short duration of use indicating its employment in funerary rites. Before its deposition into the grave it was intentionally blunted, effecti...
Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe - HAL - Diderot, Jun 4, 2018
Session XX-2. Shell mounds, shell middens and coastal resourcesInternational audienceAfter the ex... more Session XX-2. Shell mounds, shell middens and coastal resourcesInternational audienceAfter the excavations of M. and S. -J. Péquart between 1928 and 1930, followed by an exemplary monograph published in 1937, the shell midden of Téviec, in the south of Morbihan (France), became one of the legendary sites of the European Mesolithic. With 10 graves (23 individuals), the cemetery cut into a shell layer that in turn helped preserve the skeletal remains. The study of the excavated materials (human and artefactual) has continued since the excavations. However, the dispersal of the collections between several institutions, the outbreak of World War II and neglect of the archive has lead to a reduction in the quantity of data. The CIMATLANTIC research program (World of the Dead / World of the Living in Atlantic France:From the Anthropology of Population s to the Prehistoric Identities) made it possible to create an inventory of surviving materials and carry out new specialised studies. The grave goods have been reconsidered after technological and functional studies. Reappraisal of the body ornaments informs on their selection, manufacture and use, and their function as a vector of social information is discussed. Flint tools appear to have had a limited life history, suggesting they were commissioned for the grave. A critical examination of the depositional practices at the site allows for new understanding on the social organisation. The study of faunal remains, which have remained unpublished, allows us to refine our understanding of the economic networks of these marine hunter-gatherer populations. Finally, new radiocarbon dating places this site at the temporal heart of the cultural dynamics of Late Mesolithic Atlantic Europe
Rondelles are thin, circular disc cut-outs typically made from the blade of the scapula of medium... more Rondelles are thin, circular disc cut-outs typically made from the blade of the scapula of medium sized ungulates, such as horse or cervid. These are primarily associated with the Late Upper Palaeolithic Magdalenian and focused around northwest Europe. Rondelles are frequently perforated, with 2 mm - 3 mm diameter holes being common. There are many questions as to the production and use of rondelles. In this article, we discuss experiments on the making of both bone and slate rondelles and their usage.
eprints@whiterose.ac.uk https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Rese... more eprints@whiterose.ac.ukhttps://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item.
In Europe, cremation as a burial practice is often associated with the Bronze Age, but examples o... more In Europe, cremation as a burial practice is often associated with the Bronze Age, but examples of cremated human remains are in fact known from the Palaeolithic onwards. Unlike conventional inhumation, cremation destroys most of the evidence we can use to reconstruct the biography of the buried individual. Remarkably, in Ireland, cremation is used for the earliest recorded human burial and grave assemblage (7530–7320 bc) located on the banks of the River Shannon, at Hermitage, County Limerick. While we are unable to reconstruct in any great detail the biography of this individual, we have examined the biography of a polished stone adzehead interred with their remains. To our knowledge, this adze represents the earliest securely dated polished axe or adze in Europe. Microscopic analysis reveals that the adze was commissioned for burial, with a short duration of use indicating its employment in funerary rites. Before its deposition into the grave it was intentionally blunted, effecti...
Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe - HAL - Diderot, Jun 4, 2018
Session XX-2. Shell mounds, shell middens and coastal resourcesInternational audienceAfter the ex... more Session XX-2. Shell mounds, shell middens and coastal resourcesInternational audienceAfter the excavations of M. and S. -J. Péquart between 1928 and 1930, followed by an exemplary monograph published in 1937, the shell midden of Téviec, in the south of Morbihan (France), became one of the legendary sites of the European Mesolithic. With 10 graves (23 individuals), the cemetery cut into a shell layer that in turn helped preserve the skeletal remains. The study of the excavated materials (human and artefactual) has continued since the excavations. However, the dispersal of the collections between several institutions, the outbreak of World War II and neglect of the archive has lead to a reduction in the quantity of data. The CIMATLANTIC research program (World of the Dead / World of the Living in Atlantic France:From the Anthropology of Population s to the Prehistoric Identities) made it possible to create an inventory of surviving materials and carry out new specialised studies. The grave goods have been reconsidered after technological and functional studies. Reappraisal of the body ornaments informs on their selection, manufacture and use, and their function as a vector of social information is discussed. Flint tools appear to have had a limited life history, suggesting they were commissioned for the grave. A critical examination of the depositional practices at the site allows for new understanding on the social organisation. The study of faunal remains, which have remained unpublished, allows us to refine our understanding of the economic networks of these marine hunter-gatherer populations. Finally, new radiocarbon dating places this site at the temporal heart of the cultural dynamics of Late Mesolithic Atlantic Europe
Rondelles are thin, circular disc cut-outs typically made from the blade of the scapula of medium... more Rondelles are thin, circular disc cut-outs typically made from the blade of the scapula of medium sized ungulates, such as horse or cervid. These are primarily associated with the Late Upper Palaeolithic Magdalenian and focused around northwest Europe. Rondelles are frequently perforated, with 2 mm - 3 mm diameter holes being common. There are many questions as to the production and use of rondelles. In this article, we discuss experiments on the making of both bone and slate rondelles and their usage.
eprints@whiterose.ac.uk https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Rese... more eprints@whiterose.ac.ukhttps://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item.
Shamanic belief systems represent the first form of religious practice visible within the global ... more Shamanic belief systems represent the first form of religious practice visible within the global archaeological record. Here we report on the earliest known evidence of shamanic costume: modified red deer crania headdresses from the Early Holocene site of Star Carr (c. 11 kya). More than 90% of the examples from prehistoric Europe come from this one site, establishing it as a place of outstanding shamanistic/cosmological significance. Our work, involving a programme of experimental replication, analysis of macroscopic traces, organic residue analysis and 3D image acquisition, metrology and visualisation, represents the first attempt to understand the manufacturing processes used to create these artefacts. The results produced were unexpected—rather than being carefully crafted objects, elements of their production can only be described as expedient.
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