Background By way of preparation for a project and for comparanda, I began re-visiting aspects of the Copper Age in Central Europe. As far as this region goes, the broad picture of Neolithic and steppe migrations has been sketched out, although some aspects of the ‘received wisdom’ for both of these large topics require seriousContinue reading “Boleraz-Baden from the North and West.”
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Evidence for mobility from Balkans to Anatolia ?
In ancient DNA papers to date, the emerging perception is that there is no evidence of movement from southeastern Europe to Anatolia. Instead, the main genetic shift Anatolia experienced between the Neolithic and Bronze Age was ‘eastward’, toward Caucasian Hunter-Gatherer (CHG) and Zagros Neolithic -related populations. This of course is correct at a macro-scale, andContinue reading “Evidence for mobility from Balkans to Anatolia ?”
The Tarim Basin Bronze Age horizon: Isolated Paleo-Siberians or recent colonists from the West ?
I’m an admirer of the works contributed to the scientific community by Cui, Jeong & the various other contributors of the paper The genomic origins of the Bronze Age Tarim Basin mummies. (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04052-7/figures/3). The Tarim mummies are of course well known in popular culture. They concluded that ‘we find that the earliest Tarim Basin culturesContinue reading “The Tarim Basin Bronze Age horizon: Isolated Paleo-Siberians or recent colonists from the West ?”
On the eastern affinities of Bacho Kiro IUP.
The recent re-excavations at Bacho Kiro cave (Bulgaria) by archaeologists from Bulgaria and Germany discovered remains of Homo sapiens dated to ~ 45/ 43,000 calBP (Hublin 2020). Three individuals from the Initial Upper Paleolithic layer and another one (a lovely lady) dating to ~ 37,000 calBP (~ Aurignacian era in Europe) were sequenced (Hajdinjak 2021).Continue reading “On the eastern affinities of Bacho Kiro IUP.”
Cultural & Demographic Flux in Southeast Iberia – the Case of El Argar
The emerging Bronze Age (BA) of southeastern Iberia saw marked social changes. Late Copper Age (CA) settlements were abandoned in favor of hilltop sites, and collective graves were largely replaced by single or double burials with often distinctive grave goods indirectly reflecting a hierarchical social organization, as exemplified by the BA El Argar group. WeContinue reading “Cultural & Demographic Flux in Southeast Iberia – the Case of El Argar”