Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Volume 4, Europe

Renfrew, Colin (1973a). Before Civilisation: The Radiocarbon Revolution and Prehistoric Europe. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Renfrew, Colin, ed. (1983). The Megalithic Monuments of Western Europe. London: Thames and Hudson.

Shanks, Michael, and Christopher Y. Tilley (1982). "Ideology, Symbolic Power and Ritual Communication: A Reinterpretation of Neolithic Mortuary Practices." In Symbolic and Structural Archaeology, ed. I. Hodder. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 129-154.

Sherratt, Andrew (1981). "Plow and Pastoralism: Aspects of the Secondary Products Revolution." In Pal/ern of the Past, ed. I. Hodder, G. Isaac, and N. Hammond. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 261-305.

Sherratt, Andrew (1994). "The transformation of Early Agrarian Europe: The Later Neolithic and Copper Ages 4500--2500 B.C." In

The Oxford ll/ustrated Prehistory of Europe, ed. B. Cunliffe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 167-201.

Thomas, Julian (1991). Rethinking the Neolithic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Whittle, Alasdair (1996). Europe in the Neolithic: The Creation of New Worlds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

SUBTRADITIONS

British Isles (Earlier Neolithic,

Later Neolithic)

TIME PERIOD: 6000-4500 B.P.

LOCATION: Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England.

DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES: During the Earlier

Neolithic of the British Isles, long barrows and causewayed enclosures were constructed (Bradley and Edmonds 1993). Artifacts associated with this period include leaf-shaped arrowheads and ceramic bowls (largely undecorated). During the Later Neolithic, cursus earthworks began to be built, as well as round barrows, passage graves, and henges. New regional styles of ceramics, including Carrowkeel ware (in Ireland), Peterborough ware and Grooved ware (in Britain), appear during this period.

CULTURAL SUMMARY

Environment

Despite their northerly location, the British Isles experience a climate tempered by the North Atlantic currents (warmed by the Gulf Stream) (Scarre 1996). With the exception of the uplands (where altitudes exceed 500 m above sea level and where the climate is subpolar), the climate of the British Isles is generally

European Megalithic 161

Maritime. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 500700 mm in eastern Britain to over lOOO mm in much of Ireland and western Britain (Dollfus 1963). Topographically, the British Isles range from highland zones (between 500-1,000 m above sea level) in Scotland, Wales, along the Pennines, and in northern and southern Ireland, to low-lying zones (below 500 m above sea level) (Dollfus 1963). Sources of flint and other hard stones, such as igneous rocks, metamorphosed sediments, and arenaceous rocks, are found in the British Isles and were used to make axes and other stone tools during this period (Pitts 1996; Sheridan et al. 1992). At about the time of the beginning of farming and herding, around 6000 B.P., the vegetation of the British Isles was a mixture of pine, birch, hazel, elm, oak, and alder (Smith et al. 1981). At about 5000 B.P., during the transition to the Subboreal period, pollen sequences indicate a decline in elm. Current explanations for the elm decline point to a combination of forest clearance and a disease similar to Dutch Elm disease (Day 1996).

Settlements

Neolithic settlements are relatively difficult to detect archaeologically. For the Earlier Neolithic, some houses, rectangular and made from wooden planks, are known from Ireland and Britain (Gimbutas 1991). In southern Britain, these "settlements" are often in the form of scatters of flint tools and waste, which are generally located on light upland soils (Thomas 1991). Through the Later Neolithic, larger and more stable settlements appear. These are sometimes fortified and built over ceremonial enclosures, particularly in southern Britain. In the Orkneys of Scotland, settlements made up of connecting stone houses were built (Gimbutas 1991). The development of the plow during this phase appears to have allowed for an expansion of settlement beyond the lighter, loessic calcareous soils onto the heavier soils of river terraces (Bradley 1996; Sherratt 1994).

Economy

The Neolithic saw the adoption of domestic plants (wheat, barley) and animals (sheep) that were not indigenous to the British Isles and, therefore, must have come from the European mainland (Bradley 1996). The process by which these domesticates were integrated into the economies and social lives of groups living in the British Isles is, however, debated; some archaeologists argue for colonization (Case 1969), and others see this process as primarily one of acculturation (Thomas 1991; Zvelebil and Rowley-Conwy 1986).

162 European Megalithic

For the most part, however, wild plants dominate the botanical assemblages of Earlier Neolithic groups in Britain. Therefore, a broad-spectrum use of plants, including small-scale horticulture, was probably characteristic of this period. Animal domesticates, particularly cattle, dominate the faunal assemblages (Hillman 1981; Thomas 1991).

During the Later Neolithic, the use of animal domesticates varied by site and region. In southern Britain, cattle and pig dominate the faunal assemblages. Based on the differential distribution of body parts of these animals at some sites, it appears likely that these animals were sometimes slaughtered or consumed as part of feasts or other rituals (Richards and Thomas 1984; Thomas 1991). Evidence for the use of the plow appears at this time in the form of plow marks preserved under mounds, such as those at the South Street long barrow in Wessex (Sherratt 1994). The use of the plow would have allowed farmers to work heavier soils and to expand their settlement.

During the Neolithic of the British Isles, there was an intensive quarrying of stone and an extensive exchange in stone axes. Important flint mines, including Grimes Graves and Harrow Hill in England, were quarried (Bradley and Edmonds 1993; Mercer 1981), although flint was also acquired from surface deposits. Many sources for non-flint axes, as well as so-called axe factories, where the roughing out of axes was carried out, have been identified in the highlands of western Britain and Ireland (Bradley and Edmonds 1993; Claris et al. 1989; Cooney and MandaI 1995; Darvill 1989; MandaI 1997; Sheridan et al. 1992). Jadeite tools are sometimes found in Neolithic contexts in the British Isles, and although the precise sources of jadeite are unknown, these tools are generally believed to have originated in continental Europe (Murray 1994).

Sociopolitical Organization

The evidence for sociopolitical organization during the Early Neolithic comes largely from the burial record. Collective tombs that housed the remains of the dead point to a sense of corporate identity, at least at death, although the segregation of bones by age and sex suggests that social distinctions carried over from life were considered important enough to be reproduced at death (Bradley and Edmonds 1993; Shanks and Tilley 1982; Thomas and Whittle 1986).

Renfrew suggested that, by the Later Neolithic, monuments such as Stonehenge emerged as central places, which were led by chiefs who dominated neighboring territories (Renfrew 1973a, b). By this period,

there is also clear archaeological evidence for conflict. The hilltop sites of Hambledon Hill and Crickley Hill, in southwest England, for example, were fortified, yet apparently attacked, by individuals armed with bows and arrows (Sherratt 1994).

Religion and Expressive Culture

The Earlier Neolithic of the British Isles was characterized by the building of highly visible burial and ceremonial structures. These included collective burials beneath long mounds, round mounds, and ceremonial enclosures (Bradley 1996; Bradley and Edmonds 1993). The burial rituals associated with some of these structures (particularly the long mounds) involved some process of excarnation, with the bones classified and buried by age, sex, or body parts. Grave goods are generally rare in burials under long mounds. Burials under round mounds, with articulated skeletons, often male and associated with or other artifacts, emerge during this period (Bradley and Edmonds 1993).

Throughout the Earlier Neolithic and into the Later Neolithic, individual burials with grave goods, such as bone pins, jet belt fittings, stone maceheads, flint axes, and knives, became increasingly common (Bradley 1996; Sherratt 1994). Megalithic tombs and henge monuments appear, first in Orkney, and later over much of the British Isles. Henges are ceremonial sites made up of circles of wooden posts or stones, which are associated with the remains of feasting and the exchange of nonlocal goods (Bradley 1996). In areas where henges are less visible, individual burials under circular mounds are common. The number of individuals found in these structures, however, represents only a small proportion of the total population of the time.

Another interesting aspect of the ritual life of Neolithic groups in the British Isles was the production and disposal, in hoards or in tomb contexts, of polished axes that had never been used and, given their material (clay, chalk), were never intended for use in cutting or tilling. Axes were also commonly depicted on the stones making up megalithic tombs (Bradley 1984, 1990; Clarke et al. 1985; Gimbutas 1991). The regular occurrence of axes in ritual contexts is likely related to the importance of axes in productive activities, including forest clearance and tillage.

References

Bradley, Richard (1984). The Social Foundations of Prehistoric Britain: Themes and Variations in the Archaeology of Power. London: Longman.

Bradley, Richard (1990). The Passage of Arms: An Archaeological Analysis of Prehistoric Hoards and Votive Deposits. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bradley, Richard (1996). "Prehistory of the British Isles." In Oxford Companion to Archaeology, ed. M. Brian Oxford: Oxford University Press. 97-99.

Bradley, Richard, and Mark Edmonds (1993). Interpreting the Axe Trade: Production and Exchange in Neolithic Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Case, H. J. (1969). "Neolithic Explanations." Antiquity 43: 176-186. Claris, Philip, James Quartermaine, and A. R. Woolley (1989). "The Neolithic Quarries and Axe Factory Sites of Great Langdale and Scafell Pike: A New Field Survey." Proceedings of the Prehistoric

Society 55: 1-25.

Clarke, David, Trevor Cowie, and Andrew Foxon (1985). Symbols of Power at the Time of Stonehenge. Edinburgh: HMSO.

Cooney, Gabriel, and Stephen Mandai (1995). "Getting to the Core of the Problem: Petrological Results from the Irish Stone Axe Project." Antiquity 69: 969-980.

Darvill, Timothy (1989). "The Circulation of Neolithic Stone and Flint Axes: A Case Study from Wales and the Mid-West of England."

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 55: 27-43.

Day, Petra (1996). "Elm Decline." In Oxford Companion to Archaeology, ed. B. M. Fagan. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 204-205.

Dollfus, Jean (1963). Atlas of Western Europe. Chicago: Rand McNally and Company.

Gimbutas, Marija (1991). Civilization of the Goddess: The World of Old Europe. San Francisco: HarperCollins.

Hillman, Gordon (1981). "Reconstructing Crop Husbandry Practices from Charred Remains of Crops." In Farming Practice in British Prehistory, ed. R. Mercer. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 123-162.

Mandai, S. (1997). "Striking the Balance: The Roles of Petrography and Geochemistry in Stone Axe Studies in Ireland." Archaeometry 39,2: 289-308.

Mercer, R. (1981). Grimes Graves, Norfolk. Excavations 1971-72.

London: HMSO.

Murray, Jane (1994). "Jade axes from Scotland: A Comment on the Distribution and Supplementary Notes." Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 60: 97-104.

Pitts, Michael (1996). "The Stone Axe in Neolithic Britain." Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 61: 311-371.

Renfrew, Colin (1973a). Before Civilisation: The Radiocarbon Revolution and Prehistoric Europe. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Renfrew, Colin (1973b). "Monuments, Mobilisation, and Social Organization in Neolithic Wessex." In The Explanation of Culture Change, ed. C. Renfrew. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 539-558.

Richards, C. C., and J. S. Thomas (1984). "Ritual Activity and Structured Deposition in Later Neolithic Wessex." In Neolithic Studies, ed. R. J. Bradley and J. Gardiner. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 189-218.

Scarre, Chris (1996). "Overview, British Isles." In Oxford Companion to Archaeology, ed. B. M. Fagan. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 96-97.

Shanks, Michael, and Christopher Y. Tilley (1982). "Ideology, Symbolic Power and Ritual Communication: A Reinterpretation of Neolithic Mortuary Practices." In Symbolic and Structural Archaeology, ed. I. Hodder. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 129-154.

European Megalithic 163

Sheridan, Alison, Gabriel Cooney, and Eoin Grogan (1992). "Stone Axe Studies in Ireland." Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 58:

389-416.

Sherratt, Andrew (1994). "The Transformation of Early Agrarian Europe: The Later Neolithic and Copper Ages 4500-2500 B.C. In

The Oxford Illustrated Prehistory of Europe, ed. B. Cunliffe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 167-201.

Smith, A. G., Caroline Grigson, Gordon Hillman, and M. J. Tooley (1981). "The Neolithic." In The Environment in British Prehistory, ed.

I. Simmons and M. Tooley. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 125-209. Thomas, Julian (1991). Rethinking the Neolithic. Cambridge: Cam-

bridge University Press.

Thomas, Julian, and Alasdair W. R. Whittle (1986). "Anatomy of a Tomb: West Kennet Revisited." Oxford Journal of Archaeology 5:

129-156.

Zvelebil, Marek, and Peter Rowley-Conwy (1986). "Foragers and Farmers in Atlantic Europe." In Hunters in Transition, ed. M. Zvelebil. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 67-93.

France (Chasseen, Seine-Oise-

Marne, Middle Neolithic, Late

Neolithic)

TIME PERIOD: 6000-4500 B.P.

LOCATION: Continental France.

DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES: During the Middle

Neolithic phase (generally known as the Chasseen), artifacts included burnished and incised pottery (sometimes with red or white pigment rubbed in the incisions), perforated lug handles, "Pan-pipe" (jiute-de-pan) handles, low and carinated bowls, jars with rounded bases, dishes with flat horizontal rims, decorated hollow stands or supports (vase-support), flint projectile points (transverse, lozenge, and leaf-shaped), polished stone balls, and limestone bracelets (Burkill 1983; Gimbutas 1991). Individual inhumations in timber or stone mortuary houses under earthen long barrows and collective inhumations in dolmens and passage graves are typical of this phase (Gimbutas 1991; Scarre 1983b).

During the Late Neolithic, various ceramic wares are found in France, and there is more regional variety in their form and design than in the Middle Neolithic. These include the decorated "Peu-Richardien" type of west-central France and coarse-ware pottery (such as the flat-based "flower-pot" type) from northern and eastern France (Scarre 1982, 1983a,b). Burials were typically collective inhumations in chalk-cut tombs

(hypogees), megalithic gallery graves (allees couvertes),

CULTURAL SUMMARY

Environment

The climate of northern and western France is temperate, with cooler summers, milder winters, and higher humidity than in southern France. Southern France is more Mediterranean in climate, with warmer summers, cooler winters, and lower rainfall than northern France. To the north are the limestone, chalk, and loess lowlands, and to the south are the uplands of the Pyrenees, Massif Central, and Alps. Suitable rocks for the production of stone axes during this period, such as aphanite, jadeite, and flint, originated in Brittany and the Massif Central (Scarre 1983a, b).

Settlements

During the Middle Neolithic phase of northeastern, eastern, and southwestern France, settlements were predominantly open-air sites situated on the limestone plateaus, on the edge of coastal lagoons, former marshes, or lakes, or on the slopes or bottoms of river valleys (Burkill 1983; Gimbutas 1991). Typically they were located near good farming or grazing areas (Barker 1985). Some of these had ditches and palisades and typically ranged between 4-5 ha to 20-30 ha in area. Domestic structures were either rectangular watt1e-and-daub constructions or small semisubterranean round houses (Burkill 1983; Champion et a1. 1984; Gimbutas 1991). Caves were sometimes occupied as well (Barker 1985).

In the Late Neolithic, settlements expanded into a variety of terrains, some of which were more marginal for agriculture (Bailloud 1976). Settlement locations used during the Middle Neolithic (such as high camps, caves, and lakeside sites) continued, however, to be used (Burkill 1983). Fortified sites of western France are generally found in marsh or valley edges, where land use and defense were apparently both important considerations. Newly exposed marine sediments around the marshlands provided rich arable and/or grazing land (Scarre 1982). An increase in population is suggested by the larger number of sites than in the Middle Neolithic phase (Barker 1985). Fortified sites have been found with ditches and enclosure walls; at the site of Champ Durand (Vendee), some of the ditches were 2.5 m deep and 5 m wide at the lip (Scarre 1982). During the Late Neolithic of the Paris basin (Seine-Oise-Marne phase),

Economy

During the Chasseen, the subsistence economy was characterized by mixed farming and herding. Crops cultivated included emmer wheat, bread wheat, barley, beans, and vetch. The artifacts from this phase, such as querns, grinding stones, flint blades with silica sheen, and stone axes (which increased in abundance over time), provide further evidence of farming (Gimbutas 1991). Faunal assemblages are typically dominated by cattle, sheep, and goat (Barker 1985; Burkill 1983). The hunting of wild animals, the gathering of wild plants, and the collecting of sea mollusks supplemented the diet of these groups (Gimbutas 1991).

The uniformity of material culture throughout France during this period may be due to a complex exchange system. There was a trade in flint (particularly a honey-colored flint from Le Grand Pressigny), jadeite from Brittany or the Alpine foothills, and obsidian from Sardinia. Dolerite from Plussulien, in central Brittany, was quarried and traded vast distances (Hibbs 1983; Scarre 1983b). Quarries of aphanite (which are actually quartz mud stones) are known in the southeastern Vosges; and workshops in defended camps as well as open sites produced and exported tools made from these stones to locales up to 200 km away from the quarries (Petrequin et a1. 1993).

During the Late Neolithic, there was a continuation of the mixed farming and herding practices of the Chasseen (Barker 1985), although agricultural intensification is also suggested (Scarre 1983b). In the Paris basin, however, a more expansive and diverse economy, with an increase in hunting and pig herding, is indicated (Howell 1983).

Sociopolitical Organization

It has been argued that the regional homogeneity of Chasseen material culture and the rarity of decorated ceramics represent a period of interdependence and minimal competition between communities in France (Burkill 1983). The increase in regional variability in ceramic designs and forms during the Late Neolithic, however, has been viewed as the result of population growth and an increase in social stress, as settlements expanded into more marginal zones, such as the limestone uplands, the Pyrenees, and the interior of the Garrigues (Hodder 1979). This stress and competi-

tion are also attested by the increase in fortified settlements during the Late Neolithic, particularly in west-central France. Scarre (1983b) has argued for a ranked or stratified society in this region. In the Paris basin, however, fortified settlements are lacking, which may suggest that land for colonization continued to be available (in contrast to west-central France). Thus, the conditions for social inequalities did not emerge during this period, and it is likely that a relatively nonhierarchical society characterized these communities (Howell 1983; Scarre 1983b).

Religion and Expressive Culture

During the Middle Neolithic, the dead were buried in crouched or extended position in oval pits, sometimes lined with cobbles (Gimbutas 1991), in timber and stone mortuary houses enclosed in long earthen mounds, and in megalithic passage graves (the last two predominant in western France) (Sherratt 1990, 1994). The long barrows were often trapezoidal or triangular in form, found in clusters, and typically between 60-80 m long and 3-11 m wide. Collective inhumations in dolmens and passage graves are also characteristic (Gimbutas 1991). It has been suggested that the long barrows evoked, for their "immigrant" agricultural builders, the domestic structures of their Linear Pottery culture ancestors in the central European homeland, and that the megaliths, predominantly located where dense Mesolithic hunting and foraging populations lived, was the "native" response to colonization (Hodder 1984, 1990; Sherratt 1990, 1994).

During the Late Neolithic period, collective burials were often in chalk-cut tombs (hypogees) and megalithic gallery graves. The grave goods that accompanied the dead included beads and pendants, flint tools, bone objects, and pottery. The number of burials per tombs reached 300 individuals in some cases. Secondary burial practices are suggested, as body parts are sometimes found disarticulated (Whittle 1985).

Archaeologists have proposed possible symbols of maleness and femaleness from this period. Stone statues from this period, sometimes known as Bird Goddess figurines, have been viewed as female fertility symbols (Gimbutas 1991). Spatially segregated carvings of stone axes (representing maleness) and female figures in the rock-cut tombs of the Paris basin (Kinnes 1980) and in the gallery graves of Brittany have also been discussed in a symbolic context (Patton 1993). The association of the axe with the phallus, specifically, has been proposed by the find at the Grand Tumulus monument of Mane-er- Hroek, in Brittany, of a polished ax with its pointed end

European Megalithic 165

resting on a polished stone ring with two small spherical pendants placed on either side of the cutting edge (Patton 1993). Patton suggests there may have been an ideological link between agricultural production and reproduction during this period, with the ax articulating these two sources of power (Patton 1991, 1993).

References

Bailloud, G. (1976). "Les Civilisations neolithiques du Bassin Parisien et du Nord de la France." In La Prehistoire Franj:aise, vol. 2, ed. J. Guilaine. Paris: CNRS, 375-386.

Barker, Graeme (1985). Prehistoric Farming in Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Burkill, Mark (1983). "The Middle Neolithic of the Paris Basin." In

Ancient France: Neolithic Societies and Their Landscapes 6000-2000

B.C, ed. C. Scarre. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 34--61. Champion, Timothy, Clive Gamble, Stephen Shennan, and Alasdair

Whittle (1984). Prehistoric Europe. London: Academic Press. Gimbutas, Marija (1991). The Civilization of the Goddess: The World of

Old Europe. San Francisco: HarperCollins.

Hibbs, James (1983). The Neolithic of Brittany." In Ancient France: Neolithic Societies and Their Landscapes 6000-2000 B.C, ed. C. Scarre. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 271-323.

Hodder, Ian (1979). "Economic and Social Stress and Material Culture Patterning." American Antiquity 44: 446--454.

Hodder, Ian (1984). "Burials, Houses, Women and Men in the European Neolithic." In Ideology, Power, and Prehistory, ed. D. Miller, and C. Tilley. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 51-68.

Hodder, Ian (1990). The Domestication of Europe, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Howell, John (1983). "The Late Neolithic of the Paris Basin." In

Ancient France: Neolithic Societies and Their Landscapes 6000-2000

B.C, ed. C. Scarre. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 62-90. Kinnes, Ian (1980). "The Art of the Exceptional: The Statues-Menhir

of Guernsey in Context." Archaeologia Atlantica 3: 9-23.

Patton, Mark (1991). Axes, Men and Women: Symbolic Dimensions of Neolithic Exchange in Armorica (North-West France)." In Sacred and Profane: Proceedings ofa Conference on Archaeology, Ritual and Religion, Oxford 1989, ed. P. Garwood, P. D. Jennings, R. Skeates, and J. Toms. Oxford Monographs in Archaeology, No. 32 Oxford: Oxford University Press, 65-79.

Patton, Mark (1993). Statements in Stone: Monuments and Society in Neolithic Brittany. New York: Routledge.

Petrequin, Pierre, Fran~oise Jeudy, and Christian Jeunesse (1993). "Neolithic Quarries, the Exchange of Axes and Social Control in the Southern Vosges." In Trade and Exchange in Prehistoric Europe, ed. C. Scarre and F. Healy. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 45-67.

Scarre, Christopher (1982). "Settlement Patterns and Landscape Change: The Late Neolithic and the Bronze Age of the Marais Poitevin Area of Western France." Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 48: 53-73.

Scarre, Christopher (l983a). "Introduction." In Ancient France: Neolithic Societies and Their Landscapes 6000--2000 B.c, ed. C. Scarre. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1-5.

Scarre, Christopher (I983b). "A Survey of the French Neolithic." In

Ancient France: Neolithic Societies and Their Landscapes 6000--2000

B.C., ed. C. Scarre. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 324--343. Sherratt, Andrew (1990). The Genesis of Megaliths: Monumentality, Ethnicity and Social Complexity in Neolithic North-West Europe."

World Archaeology 22, 2: 147-167.

166 European Megalithic

Sherratt, Andrew (1994). "The transformation of Early Agrarian Europe: The Later Neolithic and Copper Ages, 4500-2500 R.C. In

The Oxford Illustrated Prehistory of Europe, ed. B. Cunliffe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 167-201.

Whittle, Alasdair (1985). Neolithic Europe: A Survey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Iberian (Late Neolithic,

Chalcolithic, Copper Age,

Eneolithic, Vila Nova de Sao

Pedro Culture, Almeria Culture,

Millaran Culture)

TIME PERIOD: 6000--4500 B.P.

LOCATION: Sites of this period are known in coastal and interior portions of the Iberian peninsula, including both upland and lowland zones. There is evidence for the expansion of agricultural groups through this period into more arid and marginal zones (i.e., in southeast Spain and southern Portugal) that required some form of water management or irrigation to farm (Chapman 1990; Gilman and Thornes 1985; Jorge and Jorge 1997).

DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES: In the earlier centuries

of this period, human groups occupied caves, rock shelters, and open air sites. Over time, walled hilltop settlements, often located at the confluence of rivers, were also established; some of these had circular/ semicircular towers built into their walls (Chapman 1990; Gilman and Thornes 1985; S. Jorge, 1986).

Collective burials in a variety of contexts, including caves and rock shelters, are characteristic of this period. In Galicia and northern Portugal, chamber tombs with or without passages and covered by a mound of earth and stones are most common (Jorge 1995; Kalb 1989; Twohig 1981). In southern Portugal and Spain, passage graves (with longer passages than in Galicia and northern Portugal), rock-cut tombs, and corbel-vaulted tombs (sometimes referred to as tholoi) are typical (Kalb 1989; Leisner 1965; Leisner and Leisner 1943, 1956, 1959). Over time, there was a general increase in the size of the chamber and in the length ofthe passage in passage graves (Silva et al. 1993). Corbel-vaulted tombs are generally considered to postdate the passage graves (Chapman 1983). In northeastern Spain, stone chambers and cists (sepulcros de fosa) are most common (Kalb 1989).

Menhirs and stone circles are also known throughout megalithic Iberia, but are rare in southeastern Spain and northern Portugal (Kalb 1989; Silva et al. 1993).

Diagnostic artifacts include incised (Symbolkeramik), impressed (acacia leaf or folha de acacia), and comb-decorated ceramics; copos (cups) with channeled decoration; almagra ware (pottery covered with an ironoxide slip); carinated bowls; flint blades, daggers, and small triangular projectile points; ground-stone tools; clay spindle whorls and loom weights; bone "spatulae"; phalange idols; copper awls, fishhooks, and axes; beads made of stone, bone, and shell; bone pins; and engraved slate plaques (Chapman 1990; Leisner 1965; Leisner and Leisner 1943, 1956, 1959).

CULTURAL SUMMARY

Environment

The Iberian peninsula can be divided into two major environmental zones: an Atlantic north and west, experiencing relatively high rainfall (over 1,200 mm per annum) and cooler temperatures, and a Mediterranean south and east, with lower rainfall (less than 800 mm per annum) and warmer conditions (Tenin and SoU: Sibaris 1978). Although there were no major climatic fluctuations during the Megalithic period, some palynological studies suggest an increase in aridity toward the end of this period (Chapman 1990). Topographically, the peninsula is variable, with principally east-west mountain ranges providing the metamorphic and igneous rocks used to make polished stone tools. The coasts, estuaries, and rivers are rich in biotic resources and attracted human groups to these zones in prehistory. The dominant vegetation of Iberia, during the Megalithic, was likely deciduous woodland (in more humid zones) and climax evergreen woodland (in more arid zones) (Chapman 1990).

Settlements

Two broad regional patterns in settlement can be discerned. In western and northern Iberia, settlements are spatially distinct from associated burials. In southern Iberia, however, particularly in southeastern Spain, megalithic tombs are sometimes found in proximity to settlement areas; the nucleated cemetery/settlement complex of Los Millares is one such example (Chapman 1983).

The size of settlements ranges from less than 1 ha to over 5 ha (Chapman 1990). The site of Ferreira do

Alentejo, in Portugal, is an exceptionally large one and may have extended over an area of about 50 ha (Arnaud 1982). Most sites from this period, however, are about 1 ha, with population estimates ranging from a dozen to over 1,000 individuals (Chapman 1990). At the nucleus of some of these settlements, particularly walled settlements, evidence for specialized activities, such as pottery kilns and copper-smelting areas, is known (Kunst 1995). Circular houses (cabanas) are often found within and outside the settlement walls.

Economy

This period was characterized by farming (wheat and barley) supplemented by the herding of sheep, goat, cattle, and pigs, the hunting of wild game (such as boar and deer), the gathering of wild plant products, fishing, and the collecting of shellfish (particularly in communities along the Atlantic or Mediterranean coasts) (Chapman 1990; Correia 1980). Evidence for the intensification of agriculture during this period exists in the secondary use of animal domesticates (Harrison 1985), water management or irrigation (Gilman and Thornes 1985), and the practice of viticulture and woodland management (Harrison 1985).

Communities traded in unfinished and finished items made of stone (including flint, granite, amphibolite [Lillios 1997], slate), ceramics, and copper. There was also exchange between Iberia and North Africa, as the appearance of objects made from North African ivory and ostrich eggshells in Iberian sites and Beaker ceramics found in North African sites indicates (Harrison and Gilman 1977).

Artifacts from this period, such as bifacially flaked flint tools (Forenbaher 1997), engraved slate plaques, ground-stone tools, copper objects, and decorated ceramics point to technologies that possibly involved craft specialists. The nature of this specialization is, however, unclear. For example, copper slag, evidence of the local production of copper goods, is found at numerous sites; in southeastern Spain, it is found at a majority of Copper Age sites, both large and small (Gilman 1991). A number of sites that specialized in the production of flint tools have been identified, including Los Cercados, in Spain (Delibes de Castro et al. 1995) and Casas de Baixo, in Portugal (Zilhiio 1994).

Sociopolitical Organization

The decision to bury some individuals in megaliths during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic of Iberia, as opposed to other burial sites also in use at the time, such

European Megalithic 167

as caves, rock shelters, and rock-cut tombs, suggests that communities differentiated and ranked their members. The large labor pools required to build megaliths (particularly those exceptionally large ones, such as Anta Grande do Zambujeiro, in Portugal [Parreira 1996]) and their generally dominating position in landscapes suggest that those individuals buried in these megaliths were important members of society. Because of the collective nature of most Iberian burial sites and the practice of secondary burials, however, it has not been possible to link artifacts with individuals.

The burial of some individuals in such prominent and enduring monuments as megaliths suggests that communities at this time needed to make the presence of some ancestors clearly and publicly visible. This might derive from a need to legitimate family or lineage rights to land or resources and may signal the beginnings of hereditary forms of social inequality.

Intrasite and regional differences in the quantity and quality of grave goods also exist and provide further evidence of social rank. For example, at the megalithic cemetery/settlement site of Los Millares, the tombs with the highest proportion of prestige goods are located closest to the settlement (Chapman 1990). There are also important regional differences. In southern Spain, the richest burials are found in the arid zone, in contrast to the more humid zones (Hernando Gonzalo 1987, 1997), and the megaliths of central and southern Portugal are generally richer in grave goods than those of Galicia and northern Portugal (Joussaume 1988). Gilman has explained this regional variability by arguing that the capital-intensive systems characteristic of the arid zones of Iberia (those that practiced some form water management or irrigation) offered aggrandizing individuals an opportunity to establish permanent control over these systems and to emerge as elites with political and economic power (Gilman 1987, 1991).

Evidence for conflict during this period is indirect. The development of walled settlements and metal weaponry does suggest, however, a competitive or militaristic sociopolitical environment (Gilman 1991).

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious and ideological beliefs are most clearly expressed in the burials of this period, particularly those in megalithic tombs. Where skeletal material has been preserved (in many cases, the acidic soils in the tombs have destroyed skeletal material), it is clear that megaliths usually housed collective inhumations. The memorialization of groups, rather than individuals, seems to have been most important. Funerary rituals included

168European Megalithic

both primary burials and secondary treatment of the corpse; at some sites, for example, clusters of different bones (crania, long bones) were found (Chapman 1983). Grave goods often accompanied the deceased, with certain classes of goods, such as the engraved slate plaques of southern Portugal, generally found only in burial contexts (rather than in settlements).

Like megalithic burials, menhirs and stone circles probably also had important symbolic significance. The phallic features of some menhirs suggest a concern with fertility, whether that of human groups, their animal domesticates, or the land. Solar motifs have also been noted on a number of standing stones (Silva et al. 1993; Twohig 1981). These motifs, in conjunction with recent research on approximately 200 megalithic burials in southern Spain (demonstrating a consistent orientation of the passages in the direction of the south and east, at approximately the axis of the midwinter sunrise) (Hoskin et al. 1994), may suggest an ancient interest in Iberia in the movements of celestial bodies, which were perhaps used in regulating agricultural and ritual cycles.

References

Arnaud, Jose Morais (1982). "0 povoado calcolitico de Ferreira do Alentejo no contexto da bacia do Sado e do Sudoeste peninsular."

Arqueologia 6: 48-64.

Chapman, Robert (1983). "The Megalithic Tombs of Iberia." In The Megalithic Monuments of Western Europe, ed. C Renfrew. London: Thames and Hudson, 29-42.

Chapman, Robert (1990). Emerging Complexity: The Later Prehistory of South-East Spain, Iberia and the West Mediterranean. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Correia, Susana H. (1980). "Povoados calcoliticos da Estremadura Portuguesa-tentativa de abordagem economica." Arqueologia 2: 24-29.

Delibes de Castro, German, J. I. Herrim Martinez, 1. de Santiago Pardo, and J. del Val Recio (1995). "Evidence for Social Complexity in the Copper Age of the Northern Meseta." In The Origins of Complex Societies in Late Prehistoric Iberia, ed. K. T. Lillios. Ann Arbor: International Monographs in Prehistory, 44-63.

Forenbaher, Staso (1997). "Production and Exchange of Bifacial Flaked Stone Artifacts during the Portuguese Chalcolithic." Ph.D. diss., Southern Methodist University, Dallas.

Gilman, Antonio (1987). "Unequal Development in Copper Age Iberia." In Specialization, Exchange, and Complex Societies, ed. E. M. Brumfiel and T. K. Earle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 22-29.

Gilman, Antonio (1991). "Trajectories towards Social Complexity in the Later Prehistory of the Mediterranean." In Chiefdoms: Power, Economy, and Ideology, ed. T. Earle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 146-168.

Gilman, Antonio, and John B. Thornes (1985). Land-Use and Prehistory in South-East Spain. London: George Allen and Unwin.

Harrison, Richard J. (1985). "The 'Policultivo Ganadero,' or the Secondary Products Revolution in Spanish Agriculture, 5000-1000

H.C." Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 51: 75-102.

Harrison, Richard J., and Antonio Gilman (1977). "Trade in the Second and Third Millennia Be between the Maghreb and Iberia." In Ancient Europe and the Mediterranean, ed. V. Markotic. Warminster: Aris and Phillips, 89-104.

Hernando Gonzalo, Almudena (1987). "Evolucion cultural diferencial del Calcolitico entre las zonas iuidas y humedas del sureste Espanol?" Trabajos de Prehistoria 44: 171-200.

Hernando Gonzalo, Almudena (1997). "The Funerary World and the Dynamics of Change in Southeast Spain (Fourth-Second Millennia

Be)." In The Archaeology of Iberia: The Dynamics of Change, ed. M. Diaz-Andreu and S. Keay. New York: Routledge, 85-97.

Hoskin, Michael, Elizabeth Allan, and Renate Gralewski (1994). "Studies in Iberian Archaeoastronomy: (I) Orientations of the Megalithic Sepulchres of Almeria, Granada, and Malaga." Journal of Historical Astronomy 25: S55-S82.

Jorge, Susana Oliveira (1986). Povoados da Pre-Historia Recente da Regiiio de ChavesVila Pouca de Aguiar. Porto: Instituto de Arqueologia de Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Porto.

Jorge, Susana Oliveira, and Vitor Oliveira Jorge (1997). "The Neolithic/Chalcolithic Transition in Portugal: The Dynamics of Change in the Third millennium Be." In The Archaeology of1beria: The Dynamics of Change, ed. M. Diaz-Andreu and S. Keay. New York: Routledge, 128-142.

Jorge, Vitor Oliveira (1995). "Late Prehistoric Funerary Mounds in Northern Portugal as Indicators of Social Complexity." In The Origins of Complex Societies in Late Prehistoric Iberia, ed. K. T. Lillios. Ann Arbor: International Monographs in Prehistory, 140-152.

Joussaume, Roger (1988). Dolmens for the Dead. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Kalb, Philine (1989). "0 megalitismo e a neolitiza<;ao no oeste da Peninsula Iberica." Arqueologia 20: 33-48.

Kunst, Michael (1995). Central Places and Social Complexity in the Iberian Copper Age." In The Origins of Complex Societies in Late Prehistoric Iberia, ed. K. T. Lillios. Ann Arbor: International Monographs in Prehistory, 32-43.

Leisner, Georg, and Vera Leisner (1943). Die Megalithgriiber der Iberischen Halbinsel: Der Siiden. Romische-Germanische Forschungen I, 1. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

Leisner, Georg, and Vera Leisner (1956). Die Megalithgriiber der Iberischen Halbinsel: Der Westen. Romische-Germanische Forschungen I, 1. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

Leisner, Georg, and Vera Leisner (1959). Die Megalithgriiber der Iberischen Halbinsel: Der Westen. Romische-Germanische Forschungen 1,2. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

Leisner, Vera (1965). Die Megalithgriiber der Iberischen Halbinsel: Der Westen. Romische-Germanische Forschungen 1,3. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

Lillios, Katina T. (1997). "Amphibolite Tools of the Portuguese Copper Age (3000-2000 B.c.): A Geoarchaeological Study of Prehistoric Economics and Symbolism." Geoarchaeology, 12, 2: 137-163.

Parreira, Rui (1996). "Anta Grande do Zambujeiro: Programa de salvaguarda e valoriza<;ao." Unpublished manuscript.

Silva, Armando Coelho Ferreira da, Luis Raposo, and Carlos Tavares da Silva (1993). PrI!-Historia de Portugal. Lisbon: Universidade Aberta.

Stevenson, A. C, and Richard J. Harrison (1992). "Ancient Forests in Spain: A Model for Land-Use and Dry Forest Management in South-West Spain from 4000 B.c. to 1900 A.On Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 58: 227-247.

Teran, M. de and L. Sole Sibaris (1978). Geograjia General de Espana I. Barcelona: Editorial Ariel.

Twohig, Elizabeth Shee (1981). The Megalithic Art of Western Europe.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Zilhao, Joao (1994). "A oficina de talhe neo-calcolitico de Casas de Baixo (Caxarias, Vila Nova de Ourem)." Trahalhos de Arqueologia de EAM 2: 35-45.

Central Mediterranean (Late

Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Diana,

Lagozza, Piano Conte, Serra

Ferlicchio, Remedello,

Rinaldone, Gaudo, Ozieri,

Filigosa, Abealzu, Mgarr Zebbug,

Ggantija, Tarxien) (Tykot

1994)

TIME PERIOD: 6000-4500 B.P.

LOCATION: Peninsular Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica,

Maltese islands.

DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES: Given the diversity of

land forms that make up the central Mediterranean, which includes peninsular Italy and surrounding islands, there is a corresponding wide range in material culture during this period. In general, burials (single and group) in rock-cut tombs, cists, and megalithic tombs characterize this period. These tombs are associated with ceramics, flint, and metal weapons. Menhirs and statue-menhirs are also known (Whitehouse 1983). On the Maltese islands, large "temples" associated with monumental statuary were built during this period (Trump 1983).

During the Late Neolithic of southern Italy, including Sicily, an unpainted, red-slipped pottery, with cylindrical handles and made in the form of rounded vessels, was characteristic (known as Diana ware) (Gimbutas 1991). Ceramics of the Late Neolithic Ozieri culture of Sardinia are highly variable in form and decoration, and include amphorae and tripods decorated with chevrons, "oculi", and anthropomorphic figures (Gimbutas 1991). Chalcolithic Gaudo ceramics from peninsular Italy are generally dark and burnished, made in the form of cups, paired bowls, "flasks," and "bottles". When decorated, these ceramics have applied strips, incisions, or bands of dots. Rinaldone ceramics are generally undecorated "flasks" and "bottles". Triangular copper daggers

European Megalithic 169

(tanged and tangless) and blades, awls, and axes are common metal objects found in Chalcolithic burials (Barker 1981).

CULTURAL SUMMARY

Environment

The climate of the central Mediterranean region is essentially Mediterranean, although mountainous zones (over 500 m above sea level) along the Apennines and in Sardinia experience a temperate continental climate (Dollfus 1963). Geologically, the central Mediterranean is varied and provided late prehistoric populations with a diversity of stone resources. The volcanic islands of the region, namely Lipari, Palmarola, Pantellaria, and Sardinia, were important sources of obsidian - a stone used for the production of blades and other cutting tools (Tykot 1996). Flint was also locally available and was traded from important quarry sites, such as Torre Beregna in the Apennine mountains (Skeates 1993). Basalts and metamorphic greenstones were quarried, traded, and used for the manufacture of axes, adzes, hammers, and maceheads (Leighton 1989). Copper ores were also locally available, specifically in west-central Italy (Whittle 1996). In general, the islands of the central Mediterranean and peninsular Italy are quite mountainous and rugged, and thus movement, communication, and transport of goods along shoreline routes were likely more common than a long inland routes (Tykot 1996).

Settlements

Evidence for domestic structures during this period is relatively rare. In peninsular Italy, there appears to have been an expansion of agricultural (including pastoral) settlement into previously unoccupied landscapes, including high-altitude zones along the Alps (Whittle 1996).

On Malta, recent research has identified the remains of domestic architecture (made of dry-stone, mud-brick, and polished plaster), which stand in marked contrast to the monumental ritual structures of the island (Bonanno et al. 1990).

Economy

What subsistence evidence that does exist for the later prehistory of the central Mediterranean suggests an economy of mixed farming and herding (Whittle 1996).

170 European Megalithic

During the Late Neolithic, a complex exchange of fine ceramics, flint, green-stone axes, and obsidian linked the islands and mainland of the central Mediterranean (Malone 1985; Skeates 1993; Tykot 1996). Beginning in the Early Neolithic and increasing through the Late Neolithic, with the emergence of pottery use and agropastoralism, obsidian from islands in the central Mediterranean was traded throughout the central Mediterranean, including northern Italy, southern France, and northern Africa (Tykot 1996). By the Chalcolithic, however, trade in obsidian declined and ultimately disappeared, possibly because copper replaced obsidian as a prestige item (Tykot 1996). More localized distributions of ceramics during the Chalcolithic suggest that this period was characterized by more circumscribed regional alliances (Whittle 1996).

Sociopolitical Organization

For this period, the burial record provides some ambiguous evidence for an increase in social differentiation. For example, the occurrence of stelae, often carved with human figures, may suggest the rise of the individual, but these may also simply be markers to commemorate descent groups (Whittle 1996).

During this period, certain classes of artifacts, such as obsidian tools, may have served both functional and social roles, in the case of the latter, perhaps as identifiers of ethnic difference (Tykot 1996.).

Religion and Expressive Culture

During the Late Neolithic over much of the central Mediterranean, rock-cut tombs and caves housed single and double burials, although in the Chalcolithic, collective burials (housing successive burials) became more common (Robb 1994; Whitehouse 1983; Whittle 1996). In these tombs, grave goods (pottery, flint, and metal weapons) generally accompanied the skeletons (often found disarticulated). Megalithic tombs are, similarly, also often found with skeletal remains as well as grave goods, such as obsidian, ground-stone axes, and beads (Whitehouse 1983). In Malta and Gozo, rock-cut and megalithic temples, some associated with carved "altars," large, often female statues, and the skeletal remains of thousands of individuals, attest to an importance attached to the sacred, although the precise nature of these beliefs is not cleary understood by archaeologists (Trump 1983; Whittle 1996).

References

Barker, Graeme (1981). Landscape and Society: Prehistoric Central Italy. London: Academic Press.

Bonnano, A., T. Gouder, C. Malone, and S. Stoddart (1990). "Monuments in an Island Society: The Maltese Context." World Archaeology 22,2: 190-205.

Dollfus, Jean (1963). Atlas of Western Europe. Chicago: Rand McNally and Company.

Gimbutas, Marija (1991). The Civilization ofthe Goddess: The World of Old Europe. San Francisco: HarperCollins.

Leighton, Robert (1959). "Ground Stone Tools from Serra Orlando (Morgantina) and Stone Axe Studies in Sicily and Southern Italy."

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 55: 135-159.

Malone, Caroline A. T. (1985). "Pots, Prestige, and Ritual in Neolithic Southern Italy". In Prehistoric Research Papers in Italian Archaeology IV, vol. 2, ed. C. A. T. Malone and S. K. F. Stoddart. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 118-151.

Robb, John (1994). "Burial and Social Reproduction in the Peninsular Italian Neolithic". Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 7: 29-75.

Skeates, Robin (1993). "Neolithic Exchange in Central and Southern Italy". In Trade and Exchange in Prehistoric Europe, ed. C. Scarre and F. Healy. Oxford: Oxbow Press, 109-114.

Trump, David (1983). "Megalithic Architecture in Malta." In The Megalithic Monuments of Western Europe, ed. C. Renfrew. London: Thames and Hudson, 64-76.

Tykot, Robert H. (1994). "Radiocarbon Dating and Absolute Chronology in Sardinia and Corsica." In Radiocarbon Dating and Italian Prehistory, ed. R. Skeates and R. Whitehouse. London: British School at Rome, 115-145.

Tykot, Robert H. (1996). "Obsidian Procurement and Distribution in the Central and Western Mediterranean." Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 9.1: 39-82.

Whitehouse, Ruth (1983). "Megaliths of the Central Mediterranean." In The Megalithic Monuments of Western Europe, ed. C. Renfrew. London: Thames and Hudson, 42-63.

Whittle, Alasdair (1996). Europe in the Neolithic: The Creation of New Worlds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

North Central Europe (Funnelnecked Beaker culture, TRB culture, T ragtbaegerkultur,

T richterbecherkultur, Corded Ware culture, Globular Amphora culture, Single Grave culture, Battle Axe culture)

TIME PERIOD: 6000-4500 B.P.