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| Dutch-style (National Museum of Scotland via Sheridan Fig 9, Ch 11) |
"This Dutch-style Beaker [11.9 AOO herringbone low-carinated beaker] was found in a Dutch-style grave, with a penannular ditch and a central rectangular grave-pit, the grave being covered by a small, low mound of large pebbles...The acid soild had destroyed all traces of the associated, E-W-orientated body, which had been buried in a very thin coffin, possibly...as its excavators pointed out... is reminiscent of that associated with Protruding Foot Beakers in the Netherlands."I'd suppose that other low-carinated beaker burials would have similar profiles to this dissolved grave at Newmill, Perth & Kinross, such as I5367 Sorisdale on Coll. Maybe Scottish Beakers are a suitable proxy for PFB's? I was surprised that these guys weren't popping out a few typical CWC lineages, but that isn't the case yet. Sheridan gives another examples of a CW-looking pots, such a Biggar Common on page 104-105, but notes that Sorisdale is the only example with human remains of these early Dutchmen in the Northeast of Scotland using Needham's scheme. (see also Upper Largie and Dutch-Scottish connections during the Beaker period - Sheridan)
Sheridan speculates the earliest pioneers aren't well represented by cist graves which is why the style sequence should have a bit more weight in determining the earliest immigration.
*Day 2, a.m. A few more excerpts from Sheridan.
"The second is that the dating evidence now available confirms earlier suspicions (as expressed, for example, by Ian Shepherd in 1986) that there had been a design influence from the Netherlands to north-east Scotland during the last three centuries of the third millennium - in addition to any previous Dutch (or other Continental) influence on Scottish/British beaker design."
"Clarke and Case (e.g. Case 2004) have argued for a possible lower Rhine conduit for the ultimately north European fashion of using battle axeheads as grave goods; and Needham has argued for the presence of a Veluwe-style Beaker, along with a tanged copper knife closely comparable with Dutch examples, at Shrewton"The paper is worth reading several times over for a picture of Scotland.
*Day 3, mid-day
A few excerpts from Sheridan in "Upper Largie and Dutch-Scottish connections during the Beaker period. [Also a quite note, Sheridan mentions on 254 that Sorisdale is isotopically an immigrant and the geology of the Netherlands cannont be ruled out]
"The Beaker grave at Upper Largie represents a striking novelty in funerary practice and associated material culture, owing nothing to pre-existing traditions in Scotland. While it stands out as being different from most Scottish Beaker graves [and the earliest]... several of its features immediately recall Dutch funerary practice of the mid-third millennium BC... The practice of burying the deceased in a timber chamber or coffin in a pit... ring ditch...posts in fill....round barrow... [shortening comments].... is characteristic of the Single Grave Culture which preceded the Bell Beaker Culture, but whose traditions persisted into the latter, in the Netherlands. [shortening again]... points forcefully to the Lower Rhine Basin."The arguments made by Sheridan in this paper are difficult to condense, but here's from the conclusion:
"The fact that the early Beaker period graves described above represent such a striking novelty within mid-third millennium Scotland, and point so forcefully towards the Netherlands as the place of origin for their occupants, raises the very real possibility that we are dealing with Dutch immigrants during or around the 25th century BC. Of course, the idea of incoming 'Beaker people', for so long unfashionable in Britain, has been revived by the evidence from the famous 'Amesbury Archer' in Wiltshire, who appears to have been and immigrant from central Europe, possibly Bavaria (Fitzpatrick 2002)."
So yeah, the real question is, in theory which of the British Beaker remains should have contained remains belonging to the "Corded Ware" R1a-M417?
ReplyDeleteLOL I meant "which of the British Beaker burials should have contained remains belonging to the "Corded Ware" R1a-M417?"
DeleteI meant to upload some more material but things got busy this afternoon. Sheridan mentions some these graves in particular even though only one of the most prime examples (above) had suitable remains. By the way Harry Fokkens was critical of her assessments in “Dutchmen on the Move”, particularly the association with the above an PFB, but I think now that mass migration from NW Europe is given the credibility of her argument is strengthened. To answer your question I expected to see at least some in Scotland with all the axes and W-E graves. Still I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns up.
DeleteBut as time permits I’ll try to add to this.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteWhat's your opinion in this context about the archeology of sample I2417 and his (likely) AOC beakers?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure exactly what you mean, but I'll offer some generalities based on what others have written.
DeleteFirst, these guys are immigrants, or at least the man and his older sons. From where, difficult to tell from isotopes alone. Some have suggested Wales, but I think the continent more likely (at least the man)
I wrote about it here
http://bellbeakerblogger.blogspot.com/2015/01/boscombe-bowmen-collective-grave.html
By the way, a lot of the nearby graves also seem to be immigrants from different places regardless of what the quirky isotopes say.
DeleteFrom where, Sheridan suggests Brittany in conclusions 21.7 of the Largie paper.
DeleteThis is an interesting quote...
ReplyDelete"The practice of burying the deceased in a timber chamber or coffin in a pit... ring ditch...posts in fill....round barrow... [shortening comments].... is characteristic of the Single Grave Culture which preceded the Bell Beaker Culture, but whose traditions persisted into the latter, in the Netherlands."
It's hard to imagine that such traditions would've been passed on from the Single Grave culture to the Rhenish Beakers without a significant genetic contribution from Single Grave males.
And yet there are now plenty of Y-chromosome samples from British and Dutch Beakers, as well as the later Beaker derived populations of England and Scotland, and they're almost all R1b-P312.
I'm thinking Dutch Single Grave was rich in R1b-L51/P312.
I’m following you. Looking at all this again, these Northrtn Brits seem very Beaker genetically (paternally), and that just doesn’t square with such conservative tendencies in some of the early graves discussed in the papers. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where SGC wasn’t already similar. If that was the case then that opens the door to many more questions.
DeleteThe E-W orientation is very interesting. Veluvian Beaker graves also have them, IIRC.
ReplyDeleteWhich culture is the Protruding Foot Beaker associated with? Single Grave?
ReplyDeleteAnd what about the All Over Cord/Ornamented Beaker? Is that some sort of hybrid thing?
I'll put it in a post
Delete