Nils Müller-Scheeßel, Zuzana Hukeľová, John Meadows, Ivan Cheben, Johannes Müller & Martin Furholt. 2021. “New burial rites at the end of the Linearbandkeramik in south-west Slovakia” in Antiquity Vol. 95 (379): 65–84.

The recent discovery of several late Linearbandkeramik (LBK) sites in Central Europe, including Vráblein south-west Slovakia, has revealed evidence for increasing diversity in Neolithic mortuary practices,which may reflect inter-community war and sociopolitical crisis at the end of the LBK. Here, theauthors combine osteological and radiocarbon analyses of inhumations from Vráble. Rather than astraightforward sign of inter-community conflict and war, this development reflects a culmination ofinternal conflict and a diversification in the ritual treatment of human bodies. The emerging variabilityin LBK methods of manipulating and depositing dead bodies can be interpreted as an experimentalapproach in how to negotiate social conflicts and community boundaries.

Dr. Ana Grabundžija, Institute for Prehistoric Archaeology, Free University of Berlin, Germany.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ana-Grabundzija

Publication:

Ana Grabundžija, Helmut Schlichtherle, Urs Leuzinger, Wolfram Schier & Sabine Karg. 2021. “The interaction of distant technologies: bridging Central Europe using a techno-typological comparison of spindle whorls” in Antiquity Vol. 95 (381): 627–647.

The study of prehistoric textile production requires the excavation of sites with exceptional organic preservation.Here, the authors focus on thread production using evidence from two fourth-millenniumBC pre-Alpine wetland sites: Arbon-Bleiche 3 in Switzerland and Bad Buchau-Torwiesen II in southernGermany. A comparison of the spindle whorls from these two settlements with a contemporaneousEast-Central European dataset suggests that multiple culture-historical groups with distinct technologicalsignatures inhabited Neolithic Central Europe. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of conical spindlewhorls within the pre-Alpine settlements suggests the immigration of both people and technologyfrom the east, thereby illuminating the wider themes of mobility and innovation in prehistoric Europe.

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