Human history has been shaped by global dispersals of technologies, although understanding of what enabled these processes is limited. Here, we explore the behavioural mechanisms that led to the emergence of pottery among hunter-gatherer communities in Europe during the mid-Holocene. Through radiocarbon dating, we propose this dispersal occurred at a far faster rate than previously thought. Chemical characterization of organic residues shows that European hunter-gatherer pottery had a function structured around regional culinary practices rather than environmental factors. Analysis of the forms, decoration and technological choices suggests that knowledge of pottery spread through a process of cultural transmission. We demonstrate a correlation between the physical properties of pots and how they were used, reflecting social traditions inherited by successive generations of hunter-gatherers. Taken together the evidence supports kinship-driven, super-regional communication networks that existed long before other major innovations such as agriculture, writing, urbanism or metallurgy.

• MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• radioaktivní datování MeSH
• technologie * MeSH
• zemědělství * MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Evropa MeSH

Organic inclusions in lime binders provide useful samples for radiocarbon dating of historical objects. Two Czech castles Týřov and Pyšolec from Late Middle Ages were explored, and tens of charcoals were found in their walls. The radiocarbon content of the charcoals was measured with accelerator mass spectrometry. The dating results showed that none of the charcoals were younger than the known historical ages (Týřov: 1260 - 1270, Pyšolec: 1300 - 1340), but some were considerably older. Two charcoals from Pyšolec castle dated to Palaeolithic, likely originating from fluvial sediments added as an aggregate to the mortar. When excluding these two charcoals, the others indicated most likely dates being 50-100 y older than the building dates of the castles. This systemic effect corresponds to the age of wood used for lime burning and shall be accounted for when dating mortars using charcoals.

• MeSH
• dřevěné a živočišné uhlí * MeSH
• dřevo MeSH
• radioaktivní datování * metody   MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Documenting the first appearance of modern humans in a given region is key to understanding the dispersal process and the replacement or assimilation of indigenous human populations such as the Neanderthals. The Iberian Peninsula was the last refuge of Neanderthal populations as modern humans advanced across Eurasia. Here we present evidence of an early Aurignacian occupation at Lapa do Picareiro in central Portugal. Diagnostic artifacts were found in a sealed stratigraphic layer dated 41.1 to 38.1 ka cal BP, documenting a modern human presence on the western margin of Iberia ∼5,000 years earlier than previously known. The data indicate a rapid modern human dispersal across southern Europe, reaching the westernmost edge where Neanderthals were thought to persist. The results support the notion of a mosaic process of modern human dispersal and replacement of indigenous Neanderthal populations.

• MeSH
• archeologie * MeSH
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• demografie * MeSH
• emigrace a imigrace dějiny   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• radioaktivní datování MeSH
• zkameněliny * MeSH
• Check Tag
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• historické články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Portugalsko MeSH

Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is not one of the founder crops domesticated in Southwest Asia in the early Holocene, but was domesticated in northeast China by 6000 BC. In Europe, millet was reported in Early Neolithic contexts formed by 6000 BC, but recent radiocarbon dating of a dozen 'early' grains cast doubt on these claims. Archaeobotanical evidence reveals that millet was common in Europe from the 2nd millennium BC, when major societal and economic transformations took place in the Bronze Age. We conducted an extensive programme of AMS-dating of charred broomcorn millet grains from 75 prehistoric sites in Europe. Our Bayesian model reveals that millet cultivation began in Europe at the earliest during the sixteenth century BC, and spread rapidly during the fifteenth/fourteenth centuries BC. Broomcorn millet succeeds in exceptionally wide range of growing conditions and completes its lifecycle in less than three summer months. Offering an additional harvest and thus surplus food/fodder, it likely was a transformative innovation in European prehistoric agriculture previously based mainly on (winter) cropping of wheat and barley. We provide a new, high-resolution chronological framework for this key agricultural development that likely contributed to far-reaching changes in lifestyle in late 2nd millennium BC Europe.

• MeSH
• archeologie MeSH
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• domestikace MeSH
• proso růst a vývoj   MeSH
• radioaktivní datování MeSH
• zemědělské plodiny růst a vývoj   dějiny   MeSH
• zemědělství dějiny   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• historické články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Evropa MeSH

Seemingly empty spaces in various archaeological settings have left many unanswered questions. This paper focuses on the appearance, maintenance and possible function of a large empty area situated at the summit plateau of the Iron Age oppidum Bibracte in France. Multidisciplinary research of the infill of the ditch that delimited this area in the 1st century BC has provided evidence on the primary function and the formation processes of the structure itself, and for the reconstruction of the appearance, maintenance and function of the area it enclosed. The results allow us to gain insight into a variety of topics, including the role of trees, hygiene measures and waste management strategies at this urbanised hilltop centre. This paper demonstrates that multi-proxy analyses provide detailed insight into the function of archaeological features in a local environmental context and the potential of such approaches in archaeology.

• MeSH
• archeologie * metody   MeSH
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• geologické jevy MeSH
• geologické sedimenty analýza   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• nakládání s odpady dějiny   MeSH
• radioaktivní datování metody   MeSH
• rozsivky klasifikace   MeSH
• stromy klasifikace   MeSH
• urbanizace dějiny   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• historické články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Francie MeSH

For the pretreatment of wood, charcoal and collagen from bone micro samples using the Acid-Base-Acid (ABA) method, we have assembled an automated computer-controlled unit in our laboratory CRL. The sample is placed in a glass single-necked cuvette. The machine consists of prepared solutions which are guided through capillaries, switching valve and peristaltic pump into the cuvette with the sample according to the currently selected program. The automat can be used for the pretreatment of charcoal, wood and also collagen from bones.

• MeSH
• alkálie chemie   MeSH
• dřevěné a živočišné uhlí chemie   MeSH
• dřevo chemie   MeSH
• kolagen chemie   MeSH
• kosti a kostní tkáň chemie   MeSH
• kyseliny chemie   MeSH
• laboratorní automatizace metody   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• radioaktivní datování metody   MeSH
• radioizotopy uhlíku analýza   MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Nearly 13,000 years ago, the warming trend into the Holocene was sharply interrupted by a reversal to near glacial conditions. Climatic causes and ecological consequences of the Younger Dryas (YD) have been extensively studied, however proxy archives from the Mediterranean basin capturing this period are scarce and do not provide annual resolution. Here, we report a hydroclimatic reconstruction from stable isotopes (δ18O, δ13C) in subfossil pines from southern France. Growing before and during the transition period into the YD (12 900-12 600 cal BP), the trees provide an annually resolved, continuous sequence of atmospheric change. Isotopic signature of tree sourcewater (δ18Osw) and estimates of relative air humidity were reconstructed as a proxy for variations in air mass origin and precipitation regime. We find a distinct increase in inter-annual variability of sourcewater isotopes (δ18Osw), with three major downturn phases of increasing magnitude beginning at 12 740 cal BP. The observed variation most likely results from an amplified intensity of North Atlantic (low δ18Osw) versus Mediterranean (high δ18Osw) precipitation. This marked pattern of climate variability is not seen in records from higher latitudes and is likely a consequence of atmospheric circulation oscillations at the margin of the southward moving polar front.

• MeSH
• geologické sedimenty analýza   MeSH
• izotopy kyslíku analýza   MeSH
• klimatické změny * MeSH
• radioaktivní datování * MeSH
• stromy fyziologie   MeSH
• teplota MeSH
• zkameněliny * MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Středomoří MeSH

The article below presents a case of skeletal remains found in 2014 in the Czech Republic. The most important tasks during the examination were to determine not only the cause of death, but also how old the remains were. For the purposes of the analysis, anthropometric and morphometric methods were used. These methods did not enable us to determine the exact time of death, though the accompanying findings suggested that the remains came probably from World War II. To determine it, radiocarbon dating was also applied, which helped us to exclude clearly any possibility that the skeletal remains might be younger than 20 years and thus be subject to a criminal investigation.

• Klíčová slova
• hromadný hrob,
• MeSH
• 2. světová válka MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• radioaktivní datování * metody   využití   MeSH
• tělesné pozůstatky * MeSH
• určení kostního věku * metody   MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH

In 1956-1958, excavations of Pod Hradem Cave in Moravia (eastern Czech Republic) revealed evidence for human activity during the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition. This spanned 25,050-44,800 cal BP and contained artefacts attributed to the Aurignacian and Szeletian cultures, including those made from porcelanite (rarely used at Moravian Paleolithic sites). Coarse grained excavation techniques and major inversions in radiocarbon dates meant that site chronology could not be established adequately. This paper documents re-excavation of Pod Hradem in 2011-2012. A comprehensive AMS dating program using ultrafiltration and ABOx-SC pre-treatments provides new insights into human occupation at Pod Hradem Cave. Fine-grained excavation reveals sedimentary units spanning approximately 20,000 years of the Early Upper Paleolithic and late Middle Paleolithic periods, thus making it the first archaeological cave site in the Czech Republic with such a sedimentary and archaeological record. Recent excavation confirms infrequent human visitation, including during the Early Aurignacian by people who brought with them portable art objects that have no parallel in the Czech Republic. Raw material diversity of lithics suggests long-distance imports and ephemeral visits by highly mobile populations throughout the EUP period.

• MeSH
• archeologie metody   MeSH
• Hominidae * MeSH
• jeskyně * MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• radioaktivní datování MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Česká republika MeSH

The earlier Upper Paleolithic site of Sunghir, northern Russia yielded elaborate burials of an adult and of two immature individuals, dug into the sediments below a rich archeological horizon. The faunal remains and the human burials have yielded a series of radiocarbon dates, raising questions as to the age of the site and whether the burials postdated the archeological remains. Current radiocarbon dates on the human remains place them between 25,000 and 27,500 14C BP; this age is among the majority of the faunal dates, supporting the stratigraphic and artifactual evidence for contemporaneitys of the burials and the archeological levels. Multiple lines of evidence from the site indicate that the occupation and the burials were during a moderately warm phase of the Interpleniglacial (Marine Isotope Stage 3). Paleoclimatic correlation indicates that they must therefore date to one of the Greenland Interstadials, most likely GI-5 ~28,000 14C BP. These dates place the Sunghir site and the human burials among the earliest of the Mid Upper Paleolithic elaborate burials currently known.

• MeSH
• chronologie jako téma MeSH
• klimatické procesy MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• pohřbívání * MeSH
• radioaktivní datování statistika a číselné údaje   MeSH
• tělesné pozůstatky MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Rusko MeSH