Provenance of Copper? Not so Fast

I promised I wouldn't link to these "Paper-$", however de-validating the provenance of copper could definitely upset the EBA apple cart so I posted.  The abstract at least begins an interesting discussion, even though the content is buried in a Early Paleolithic form of media.

If you took a Late Bronze Age widget and knew the no-kidding elemental history of the item, there is no reason that all or any of the material was recently mined.  For example, a bronze sword probably consisted various items that were hoarded, sold and then melted down by a smith.  Early in the life of those donor items, those materials were created from items that were hoarded and melted, and so on, and so on, ad infinitum.

If you apply this to the Beaker problem of Britain, for example, could we know that any of the material was mined directly from Ross Island within the Beaker period?  Obviously Beakers had mining camps on Ross Island, but does that necessarily mean anything for a copper dagger in Britain?  How much of the Bell Beaker copper in Britain came from Grooved Ware culture copper?  Would we even know?  The Isles definitely had a short pre-Beaker Copper Age period, but it apparently didn't make it to the grave.

Twentieth Century archaeology probably never really considered the fact that 90% of any metal item ever made in the history of mankind was made of recycled material.  If you were to consider 1% yearly growth in the total amount of refined metal over five thousand years, or really, ten thousand years if you want to go back to the source, then how much additional material would actually have to be mined per year?

Abstract

The analysis and interpretation of the chemical composition of copper-alloys is one of the longest ongoing research projects within archaeological science. Beginning in the late 18^th century these data have been consistently used to try and link objects with distinct metal sources. This paper argues the traditional provenance model for copper alloys is fatally flawed. Through pursuing a ‘pure’ source signal, chemical and isotopic datasets have been removed from their context and history. Social engagement with metal through processes such as reuse, recycling, and curation were rarely considered important by analysts. We offer an alternative model that unites the available legacy scientific datasets with process-metallurgy, archaeological and geographical context, and new conceptual approaches. Rather than provenance, we offer an empirical model of metal flow. Here objects are seen as snapshots of a wider metal stream; their final scientific characterisation including echoes of their previous forms and contexts. Through a series of case studies we highlight how the reinterpretation of existing datasets can disentangle the complex life histories of units of copper.

Form and Flow: The ‘Karmic Cycle’ of Copper Bray, Cuenod, Gosden, Hommel, Liu, Pollard, January 2015 [Link]

Mesetan Longhouse

This North Mesetan longhouse appears to have been built (possibly) first by Beakers using Ciempozuelos.  This is followed by a long period in the Bronze Age with pottery sherds of Protocogotas, which is one of the many derivatives of beaker-styled pottery, in this case probably with influences of the Argaric Bronze Age in the Southeast of the Peninsula.

The authors discuss this longhouse with surrounding structures, which were pits of some sort, and they invite further research to see if these differing structures were contemporary.  I believe the question of similar, richly-filled pits is gaining attention elsewhere, if I understand correctly (more below).


The authors here question the notion that these surrounding pits were for refuse or burial, even though the material is conglomerated, silty garbage-looking stuff, like orphan pottery fragments.  I believe this might be similar to a subject Blanco-Gonzales tackled in a paper earlier in 2014 [here], concerning the Central Meseta.  This again being what looked like burial cairns or trash pits, but for one, lack a body and two appear to have been re-used.  I speculated then that these might be silages, since winter haying does not appear to have existed before medieval times.

The issue of orphan pottery fragments in silages is something I speculated on [here], being that the farmer may have used pulverized pottery as supplements, which sounds crazy but has a practical value.  (Modern cattle are given licks.  Still they will eat rocks, presumably for minerals)  Whatever this main building was (i.e. tavern, house), it certainly had livestock there as well.

As a side note, I posted a study discussing the provenance of some of earlier bell beaker pottery near this area in Arlanzón [here].  This was done using chemical analysis and the authors concluded that some of the Bell Beaker pottery appears to have come from a potterhouse on the Guadiana in Southern Portugal or Spain.

MARTÍN, LUIS VILLANUEVA, EDUARDO CARMONA BALLESTERO, MIGUEL ÁNGEL ARNAIZ ALONSO, and MARÍA EUGENIA DELGADO ARCEO. "La articulación del espacio en el “campo de hoyos” de Manantial de Peñuelas (Celada del Camino, Burgos)." June, 2014 [Link]

Houses of the Dead (Part 2)

This paper dovetails on the previous theme of "Houses for the Dead" begun with a paper by Jan Turek in Part 1.

This doctoral thesis by Maxime N. Brami examines the deliberate, ritualized torching of houses by Neolithic farmers in the Balkans, similar to their ancestors in PPN Anatolia.  Houses were repeatedly torched and rebuilt in the exact same spot.  Brami speculates that the house to be torched contained the remains of family members.

Turek mentions no similar burning practice in Central Europe, however a similar transformation of a habitation to a tomb is suggested.  In any of the examples, the continued reverence or knowledge of a home site, sometimes hundreds of years later is evidence that the site's memory was maintained as a monument.  This was shown in a separate article linked in the previous post on Polish longhouses.  While the Balkan houses burned, the ones of Middle Europe were maintained or entombed for hundreds of years.  Either way, they seemed to have had a life in the after life.

There is no reason to conflate everything into a single hypothesis, however, it does seem reasonable to see a pattern of behavior amongst farming folk.  People and dead people live in a house for several decades, maybe grandma is buried under the floor.  At some point, living people decide to move out.  Maybe it gets a little weird with too many dead people in the walls.

Turek views these behaviors as critical for understanding the development of monumental tombs and tomb re-use by Corded Ware and Bell Beaker peoples in much later times.  If mortuary practices in early times were ancestry-land-entitlement driven, then it is easier to understand why these practices are modified & co-opted by later peoples.  In other words, right to land is through heritage, a genealogy that can be seen in the landscape. 

Title, deed and possession are almost synonymous concepts to a modern person.  Title is more than just a right to something.  Simply buying or killing for land doesn't get you title or peace.  There is one easy way to get title though.  Get married. 

(As a side note, house/tomb torching wasn't limited to the Neolithic Balkans.  It seems a similar tradition was maintained in NE Iberia.  It may have happened other places as well)

House-related practices as markers of the Neolithic expansion from Anatolia to the Balkans.  Bulgarian e-Journal of Archaeology V4, Maxime N. Brami, 2014
[Link]

Houses of the Dead

Jan Turek discusses the transformation of a home where people live to a house for the dead.

We know that early Near Eastern agriculturalist buried the dead underneath the floors of their home.  You could fill a hard drive with such images from Byblos and Anatolia.  Their genetic descendants bare-knuckled their way into Europe, cut down stone-cold oaks with flint hand choppers before cursing the ground and dying.  If they were anything like their ancestors, they might have buried people in the floor of their longhouse.

Thanet Archaeology Ring Ditch.

Turek suggests that these Early Neolithic longhouses not only became primarily tombs within a generation, but even after they collapsed that the sacred mound that was created became the template for the longbarrow.  A somewhat similar view can be found from a 2013 article in Past Horizons [Link]

He views this as a continuous process through the ages where people recognize the holy places of their perceived or real ancestors, or their fabricated ancestors in the case of bastards, pretenders and tyrants.

The issue of tomb re-use is being examined more closely.  Here's two recent posts covering Colin Quinn on the Mound of Hostages [here] and the Burial Myth Buster from Christian Jeunesse [here]

Turek asserts that the ring ditches may have a distant history to the longhouse, expect its a one-seater, of course, it had no purpose other than to support the burial enclosure and the chapel.  One last item of interest is his use of 'negative burial evidence' for Corded Ware and Bell Beaker peoples.  He makes a convincing case that the majority of these burials were above ground or above primary burials which is why they are now gone.

*Update*

Footnote:  There is mention of the saddle ditches found along the length of the longhouses or the longbarrows.  There is quite a bit of controversy over ditches and filling of ditches and types of ditches.  In the case of post-and-beam construction, some of these ditches may simply be French drains.  This is/was common for pole barns or other colonial construction where beams are driven directly into the ground, unlike a pile which can rot and be replaced. 

Also, longhouses had large roof surface area that was gutter-less.  Length-wise ditches may have been necessary for heavy rain.  They may have even begun to form naturally and were manually deepened over time.  Any ditch, even a simple rondelle ditch, may reflect the design of a structure's roof.

Houses of living and houses of dead in the Neolithic and Copper Age of Central Europe

Prehistoires Mediterraneennes, Jan Turek, 2014 [Link]

Abstract:

One of symbolic roles of Neolithic long houses in central Europe might have been burial of ancestors. There is no solid evidence for the funerary function of long houses, however, it is commonly assumed (Bradley 2001). Already during their dwelling function some houses were possibly used for primary deposition of remains of ancestors. The burials were later in the time of abandonment of the house removed elsewhere or remained resting inside the building. This is the process of transformation from the house of living to the house of dead. The main purpose of the second part of the paper is to discuss the question on missing evidence of barrows of the late Eneolithic Corded Ware and Bell Beaker period in Central Europe. Variety of problems of demographic representation of cemeteries, burial customs and spatial structure of funerary areas are connected to the missing barrows. I emphasise the variability of late Eneolithic funerary monuments, including the discussion on burial chambers and circular ditches, yet another type of funerary construction without an earthed mound that may be described as houses of dead.

The Year Ahead. 2015.

2015 will be a thrilling year for those interested in the ancient past.  Here's a few things to look forward to:

Sheep at pasture (Michael Ely)

1.  We should see some published DNA from Saxony-Anhalt, Portugal and the UK.  I'm still trying to get digs on what's out there.  The Amesbury Archer and his 'son' were supposed to be tested according to Wessex Archaeology's webpage to determine their relationship.  If you've got scoop, reply to this post.  thx

2.  University College London's Beaker People Project/Sheffield's Beaker Isotopic Project is now putting pen to paper on the results of the isotopic and possibly some? genetic analysis conducted on 285 Bell Beaker individuals of the British Islands, this in concert with Aberdeenshire's Beakers and Bodies Project. UCL's final report and several other outputs may be in store this year.

3.  A paper out in the Spring will look at war related deaths in a Beaker cemetary in NE Iberia.  Granted, an arrowhead between the eyes is probably not a grave offering, however re-consideration is being given to arrowhead 'offerings' around the body found in previously excavated graves throughout Europe.  Re-evaluation has already re-categorized cause of death in a number of individuals.  **This just in...surprising evidence that people buried with weapons may have led violent lives.  More to follow**

4.  Garrido-Pena 2014? makes reference to the presence of strict vegetarianism (using phosphate analysis) among a select portion of an Iberian Beaker population.  A similar phenomenon is witnessed in final Bell Beaker and early Bonnanarro Cultures of Sardinia, vegetarian estimates are about 7.5%. (Luca Lai, 2008)  I'd guess a similar percentage will be shown for the mentioned Iberian population.

I'd like to know 'who' was a strict vegetarian and why this avoidance.

5.  Ciempozuelos has some apparent connection with the British Isles.  Presented in September, hopefully we'll see this soon.

6.  Also, from the Burgos conference, Peska Jaroslav gave a presentation Beaker metal workers from Moravia.  **Updated 1/6**  (To clarify here, he seeks to conduct chemical analysis of the bones and teeth to better understand the smith's processes.  I had previous stated that this had already been done and briefed, but is rather in the beginning stage.  It's possible to run with the ball quite a bit here.  For example, you may be able to understand what age apprenticeship started, or if extraction was performed by smith's, what fuel was used for heat or if smith's were specialized.)

Here's an unrelated 2014 paper concerning osteological indications of arsenic poisoning.  I noticed that in some descriptions of Early Bronze Age remains that "some men" have indications of osteoporosis and phosphate degradation usual for men of their young age.

One individual described by Samatha Walsh 2013, was a thirty-someone year old man, strongly built, but with osteoporosis of the spine typical of an older women?  Another possibility is emasculation in the priesthood.  I don't know if osteology can tell this from the skeleton of an adult male.

7.  Dental plaque could be a big deal this year.  LP alleles don't tell you if the individuals are actually lactose intolerant.  Tooth plaque will add new questions, answers.  In the entire human population, this question is uniquely pertinent for Chalcolithic/EBA Europeans.  The universally accepted meme is that the sudden rise of European LP is due natural selection.  I believe it is due to immigration of dairyists from Northern Africa.  All my chips are on the table.

8.  Prieto-Martinez and Salanova have another pan-European Beaker book coming out in the Spring.  [here]
It looks to have some interesting chapters on changes in palynology, linguistic associations and the North Sea.

9.  Animal DNA.  For whatever reason, it seems easier to get yDNA from ancient chicken crap than a Bell Beaker warrior.  There will certainly be studies out on the genetics of warm bloods, short-horns and woolly sheep.  All are important to Beakerhood.  In the case of Woolly Sheep, again we are starring down the barrel of a 3,000 B.C. date in which wool is sheared, spun and wove into hobbit clothes.  The short-horn, I've already commented on, and the egger chicken as well.  All of these probably originating in the mountains of Iran, originally.

10.  Bell Beaker Procrastinator will try to get a few things off my plate.  Yes, I look forward to stuff from myself.

With an already exciting year ahead, there will be surprises as well.  I look forward to the news and papers ahead!