The Ivory Road

Towards the end of the 4th millennium, strategic fort building emerged in pre-Beaker, South-Central Portugal and Southern Spain.  Walled enclosures grew to perch over the avenues to inner Iberia and the Atlantic.  Their rise accompanies intense trade between Morocco and the Portuguese region before the rise of a Beaker identity.

Castro do Zambujal.  Initial build-up of Vila Nova de Sao Pedro culture, Portugal (photo O. Lemercier)

This economy projected itself on Western Europe and was instrumental in the promotion of the early Beaker identity throughout Europe.  It may offer insight of those who chose to settle in distant corners of Europe and those who adopted the culture or viewed it favorably.

Savannah Elephant Ivory, S.W. Spain  Photographer: Miguel Ángel Blanco de la Rubia (Schuhmacher, 2012)

This pre-Beaker economy seems to have been fueled by in the importation of exotic African goods, notably ostrich eggs and elephant tusks.  (Schumacher, Cardoso, Banerjee, 2009)   The hardening of the Portuguese and Southern Spanish coasts is difficult to explain with no internal or external threats.

'Pineapple Vessel' from Valencia de la Concepcion, Seville, Spain.  Also known from Perdigoes & Morocco
(foto Blanco de la Rubia)

The provenance of Elephant ivories and products positively connects this pre-Beaker import culture with Western Morocco.  (Garica-Sanjuan et al, 2013)  That's a pretty big deal when considering the very origins of the Beaker phenomenon because it is in these fort interiors that bell beakers first appear who might have some material precursors (pottery decoration and lithics) with Morocco.

Again, this region almost appears to exist because of these western lanes.  From Schumacher, Cardoso, Banerjee (2009):

"Whereas in Portugal we find a majority of African savannah elephant in the Early Chalcolithic, in south-eastern Spain on the contrary we cannot identify this type of ivory before the Early Bronze Age (end of the third and first half of the second millennium BC). So the analysis of ivory from various tombs from the necropolis of Los Millares (Almeria) revealed a majority of Asian ivory (Elephas maximus) (Figure 6). The situation in south-western Atlantic Spain, on the other hand, coincides with the one in Portugal, where African savannah elephant ivory can be found in the Early Chalcolithic."

"This speaks for the existence of an Atlantic route of contact and exchange for the western part of the Iberian Peninsula already in the first half of the third millennium BC. Finds like the necropolis of Rouazi-Skhirat (Morocco) with cylindrical ivory containers similar to others from the Iberian Peninsula, could, in fact, sustain this idea (Daugas 2002). Could it therefore be possible that the African savannah elephant ivory coming from Atlantic North Africa is in agreement with the mentioned hypothesis of Harrison and Gilman?"

Crystal & Ivory from Valencina de la Concepción, S.W. Spain Garcia SanJuan et al
(foto: Miguel Ángel Blanco de la Rubia)

A man from neighboring Seville (Drawing: Miriam Luciañez Triviño)

In this sense, the African Steppe could be viewed as a sort of "African Silk Road", one that connected semi-sedentary cattle communities across the steppe with opportunities for transporting exotic materials that ended up in the Tagus and Guadalquivir estuaries.  Their identities and relationship to the later Beakers become problematic when looking at their lithics and pottery decoration.  From Schumacher, Cardoso, Banerjee (2009):

"Harrison and Gilman had already noticed the difficulties of applying this scheme to the Pre-Bell Beaker Chalcolithic, commenting, ‘. . . no characteristic Millaran or VNSP pieces have been found in Northern Africa’. And they asked themselves, ‘. . . why were no VNSP channelled, pattern-burnished copos (the so called Importkeramik) sent to North Africa like the luxury ware of a later time (Beakers)?’"

(Ukraine, Russia and Horses not depicted)

It is rather curious that Bell Beaker pottery is locally made in the Maghreb and appears in rather humble settings.  At the height of the ivory trade this would probably indicate that Beakers were trading with Beakers, not Beakers trading beakers.  But when exploring the issue deeper, Harrison and Gilman's original question as to why importkeramik never influences Africa in the earliest time makes you wonder who exactly was it on the other end of this trade.

Regardless, its spread from the end of the continent is rather apparent, not because of radiocarbon dating, but as was observed nearly eighty years ago, based on decoration and typology.  I think Lemercier's map below can help relay the significance of these connections.

Fig 3, Olivier Lemercier "Le Campaniforme et l'Europe a la fin du Neolithique"

Antonio Valera writes that beakerware never appears in small ditched enclosures in Western Iberia.  In larger enclosures it becomes prevalent, usually one type.  Only in the largest walled enclosures are multiple beaker forms present.  It's a strange situation.

In my own view, I think it is probable that Western Iberia was overcome by the trading cartels.  Whether or not this included immigration or not, who knows.  Ancient DNA from Neolithic Saharan Africa would be a good start.

Discovery - Interesting Cist Near Loch Ness

At Drumnadrochit, an interesting rectangular, stone-lined cist was discovered several weeks ago.
I found this at the North of Scotland Archaeology Society (NOSAS) blog [here].

There's actually two cists next to each other.  The rectangular one has a flexed body with no grave goods, the oval one next to it only has grave goods with no body.  Since they appear to be contemporary, it's theoretically possible the grave goods were purposefully separated from the body or inserted after the body was buried.

Construction workers lifted the slab and found an ancient grave (Mary Peteranna, copied from NOSAS)

The bracer survived burial so given it's bright appearance it must either ceramic or stone.  Most bracers in the Isles are greenstone, slate or a reddish stone.

Wrist-guard.  What material? (Mary Peteranna, copied from NOSAS)

Below is a beaker with what looks like a pin-wheel technique.  The beaker supposedly contains residue from its original contents from 4500 years ago.  Although there have been a number of studies on beaker contents around Europe (mostly inconclusive), I don't remember of any that had actual residue.  It'll be interesting to see what it was.

Beaker sherd with pin-wheel technique (Mary Peteranna, copied from NOSAS)

This Beaker-billie is pretty far north.  Take a look at Loch Ness on a map.  It may give you a sense for how far these people traveled within the span of a few generations.  Northern Scotland is not that populous now, what was it like 4500 years ago?

Bella Vista 5 (Valera)

Almost a year ago, Antonio Valera announced the discovery of a Palmela point with a fragment of preserved string of cannabis sativa from the last quarter of the third millennium, one of the earliest representations in Western Europe.  Now that the paper is out (free); here's a little more background.

Bella Vista 5 is a double ditch enclosure with about eighty or more offering pits but so far yielding only one central grave.  The enclosure opening was aligned to the summer solstice and within the inner circle is pit 1 which contains the body of a woman.  She was buried with pottery, an arsenic copper Palmela point and a copper stylus.

Ferradeira Woman in Pit 1

The woman's grave has the diagnostic of the problematic Ferradeira Horizon which in a simple narrative heralds the EBA (or Epi-Chalcolitic) in Alentejo as a distinct culture apart from, but containing, Bell Beaker influences. 

A. Stylus B. Palmela Point and Braided Hemp String

The elemental composition of the woman's Palmela point is a high arsenic copper, but certainly not provable to be intentional bronzing.  I thought initially the braided hemp was part of a bowstring (not knowing how small a diameter the string was), however the paper seems to indicate the presence of resin that would indicate it was used to secure the point to a shaft, maybe like a javelin point.  This is probably correct given the graphic above. (You can see how tiny the string is in the blown up graphic)

Hemp is mentioned as curiously absent from the palynological record, at least so far this period in Northern and Central Europe (Valera).  But it was certainly grown and perhaps lacking in quantity to reveal itself just yet.

The woman's grave goods

There have been some papers on 'girls with guns' of Central Europe and how political power has traditionally been expressed with certain regalia, such as Egypt.  Given the seeming importance of this woman in burial, a fair guess may suggest that the arrowhead or spear indicates she came from a noble situation.  The many votive pits that surrounded her burial may have contained the offerings from the miserable souls her family ruled.

BELA VISTA 5:  Um Recinto do Final do 3º Milénio a.n.e. (Mombeja, Beja)
António Carlos Valera (Coordenador) Era Monográfica 2 ISBN: 978-989-98082-1-8 (2014)

R1 and the Dispersal of Ceramic from the Far East

This map shows the spread of ceramic pottery1 from its birthplace in East Asia where it slowly treks to the West.

The test result of haplogroup [R1a in a Northwest Russian Karelian released this week] confirmed for me the probability that ceramic technology entered the West as a result of a population movement in the early Holocene.

Trek of Ceramic Technology, From Asia to the West (Jordan & Zvelebil, 2014)

This correlates well with the movement of a foreign knapping technology [here], solar religion and other materials.  Most importantly, the results of last week provide genetic evidence connecting ancient peoples who lived in the vicinity of the Siberian Pit and Combed Ceramic Tradition from Karelia (R1a) to Lake Baikal (R*).  Although the individuals of Mal'ta-Buret' were very early pre-ceramic people, the Lake Baikal area would eventually provide the precursor for the kind of pottery used by Karelia man.

In time it may be shown that the transmission of ceramic pottery technology to the West came as the result of a population movement of R1 lineages creeping from the Altai into the Urals and the Southern Caspian where the technology appears simultaneously.

Similarly, the transmission of [ceramic technology into the New World] probably comes from the Yenisei region in a somewhat later movement of R1's brother haplogroup Q's subclades moving in the opposite direction, both descended from P-M45.

Quickly, here's a some comments regarding ceramic's Central Asian trek by Jordan & Zvelebil:

"After c. 7,500 BC (9,500 BP), in the context of early post-glacial environmental conditions, pottery is dispersed further to the north-west, via the northerly route through central Russia, the Upper Volga, into Karelia and beyond, forming various local traditions of pointed-based pitted and combed ware, such as the Sperrings pottery of Finland, and entering the East Baltic and northern Scandinavia by about 5,000 BC"

"More tentatively, it is possible that as a part of this general process of ceramic dispersal, the production of pottery also spreads via a more southerly route from Central Asia along the eastern shore of the Caspian south, into northwest Iran and northern Syria."

Also from the Haak paper was the presence of R1b among an early Cardial farmer in Northern Iberia. This certainly shows that early R1b was in contact with either Byblian or Thessalonian farmers in the final days of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B.  We know that the end of the PPNB saw sweeping changes from pottery cultures of Eastern Anatolia and further East.

*Update*  Added this map to help illustrate dates on the upper map (book is preview)

A couple of footnotes:

* We should be careful not to get wrapped around the axle of periodization and technological classification.  The Karelian and Samaran are referred to as belonging to the "Mesolithic" or "Neolithic" or "Hunter-Gatherer", none of which is equivalent those of Western Europe in terms of technology or age. Within a certain context they have meaning, otherwise they are confusing or misleading.  I would focus on calendar dates and understand the changes taking place in these regions that are being settled by a continuous stream of peoples from the Southeast.

(1)  Ceramic pottery is distinct from prehistoric ceramic technology.

Ceramics Before Farming:  The Dispersal of Pottery Among Prehistoric Eurasia Hunter-Gatherers. Left Coast Press.Jordan, Zvelebil (2009) [Link]

Resurrection in Beaker Religion?

I continue to pick away at the Valera, Evangelista, Castanheira paper on zoomorphic figurines of Iberia's Early Chalcolithic.  It had come out months ago, but was not accessible till recently.

Although the following tradition straddles pre- and early Beaker culture, so many cultural elements of this region are carried forward into Europe that perhaps this is one early manifestation of a wider belief system (maybe not rabbit iconography per se).

These little grave rabbits are sometimes found with the dead in parts Western Iberia. The one above is from Perdigos(?), but they also were abundant in Zambujal as well. Rabbits appear to have a special, symbolic meaning as a grave offering.

Reading the Valera paper, the symbolic value of these rabbits is something that seems to stand out among the figurines.  The authors' discussion on these items provides some fascinating insight:

And within this broad sense related to an idea of reproduction we may look at the double lagomorphs as if sprouting from a common base or multiplying, suggesting that this representation supports the main idea behind these objects: renewal. Expressing and acting over the capability of regeneration, these objects (most of them pendants) may have been used as amulets, revealing an ability to act in transforming reality. Although arguing for a different meaning, by associating underground movements of rabbits to the return to the earth expressed by funerary monuments, the proposal of Thomas and Waterman (2013) follows the same general view of rabbit figurines as metaphors.

Easter Egg Hunting, An American Variation of the Tradition

Maybe it is possible to see some parallels in pre-Christian Europe.  The rabbit was in ancient times associated with Germanic, pre-Christian Easter whose symbolism was adopted for expressing Christian concepts.  Its ancient meaning allowed the rabbit to represent the burial and resurrection of Christ.  Other Easter icons such as the Easter egg and the lamb were re-used to represent rebirth and the innocent sacrifice. All of these things are metaphors for the central message of Christianity.

In old Anglo-Saxon, Eōstre means to 'face-east' which is derived from Proto-Indo-European austrōn 'rising sun', being the domain of the PIE goddess, H2eus(os).  This goddess, Eos or Aus (the dawn or morning star) was sister to Helios (the sun) and Selene (the moon), to use the Greek names.  In Germanic lands, she was the fiery red-head associated with resurrection, bunnies, Easter eggs and the vernal equinox.

Typical East-facing Beaker at Shrewton, Wiltshire

Knowing the exact meaning of the rabbits in the Iberian Chalcolithic is impossible to know for sure, but it is interesting to know that Beaker burials almost always face the rising sun.*  Additional materials may suggest respects to this heavenly trio: Eos, Helios and Selene.

We know that the most archaeologically visible aspects of Beaker material culture were drinking beakers with solar crosses, amber, gold badges and pinheads with solar crosses, lunulae of various forms, and solar calendars.  The resurrection goddess of the vernal equinox would have been extremely important to those who adorned all of their equipment with solar and lunar depictions. Theoretically, the vernal equinox (in Ēostre's month of April*) would be the holiest day in Beaker religion based on the materials they left behind.  It would also herald the first month of the calendar year (the dawn of a new year) as was common in ancient Iran and Northern India.

(* Update.  Actually, if their calendar was strictly solar, then the vernal equinox might start the month before Easter/April.  The Corded Ware calendar may have been Zodiac based looking at their burial orientation, so it its case it may have oscillated between March and April.  On the other hand, it's possible to make a case that April had been the first month in early Near Eastern religion where the similar Astarte was worshipped.  I realize this can become circular reasoning)

Items excavated from Zambujal

It doesn't appear that rabbit figurines spread to other parts of Europe, but a matured Beaker package does.  One included item that might also have had a symbolic meaning was the beer beaker that accompanied the dead.  In Ancient Egypt beer was associated with the goddess of childbirth and in Mesopotamia the goddess of procreation.

There has also been some discussion about Beaker idealism where men, women and children are buried in their ideal forms.  Young boys have little weapons, young girls are buried with little pots. This idealism may point to an underlying moral and metaphysical worldview.

Concerning idealism in death, Harry Fokkens offers some ideas on idealism in life and death; the following slide stands out in my mind.  It's hard to know if they believed they would experience bodily resurrection as they Egyptians did.  It does appear that they believed they were leaving a corrupt world and being reborn in a idealic world.

Harry Fokkens (burial of the ideal man)

*(It would be interesting to know if the slight variation in body orientation , ENE, due East and ESE, conform to the season in which Beakers died.  For example, does the palynological record jive with sun up/body orientation for that latitude?  Do winter deaths align with sun up, etc?)

ZOOMORPHIC FIGURINES AND THE PROBLEM OF HUMAN-ANIMAL RELATIONSHIPIN THE NEOLI-THIC AND CHALCOLITHIC SOUTHWEST IBERIA Valera, António Carlos, Lucy Shaw Evangelista, and Patrícia Castanheira. 2014 [Link]