Kristian Kristiansen
University of Gothenburg, Dept of historical studies, Faculty Member
- Neolithic & Chalcolithic Archaeology, Nationalism and Archaeology, Theoretical Archaeology, Archaeology of ethnicity, Cognitive archaeology, Archaeological Method & Theory, and 23 moreSocial Archaeology, Cultural Heritage, Religion and ritual in prehistory, Middle Bronze Age, Trialeti Culture, South Caucasus, Bronze Age, Comparative mythology, Early Bronze Age (Archaeology), Economic archaeology, Aegean Archaeology, European Prehistory (Archaeology), Mediterranean prehistory, Ancient Weapons and Warfare, Bronze Age (Archaeology), Late Bronze Age archaeology, Bronze Age Europe (Archaeology), Bronze Age of the Carpathian Basin, Prehistoric Archaeology, Bronze Age Archaeology, Early Bronze Age, Aegean Bronze Age (Bronze Age Archaeology), Prehistory, Engineering, and Depotfunde der Bronzezeitedit
We plan to synthesize an understanding of the broad regional economies of Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe. This synthesis will consider variation in the economies along three dimensions: variation in the subsistence economies reflecting... more
We plan to synthesize an understanding of the broad regional economies of Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe. This synthesis will consider variation in the economies along three dimensions: variation in the subsistence economies reflecting local conditions of resource availability, technologies, and population densities; variation in exchange reflecting regional comparative advantage in commodity production and trade; and variation in political economies reflecting specific bottlenecks in production and distribution allowing for mobilization and circulation of surpluses in wealth and staples. The goal will be to consider how an emerging world economy, especially involving metals, textiles, weapons, slaves, and other highly valued objects created emerging commodity exchange, market forces, power differentials, and population movements. This will consider structures of craft production, means of transport, and political and symbolic uses of objects. We expect to see the evolution of an integrated economy as more products move distances and become integrated into market-like exchanges. Our focus will be on areas that we know best: Scandinavia, Germany, Hungary, and Italy, but we hope to position these regions within a broader understanding of macroeconomic transformations.
This Element was written to meet the theoretical and methodological challenge raised by the third science revolution and its implications for how to study and interpret European prehistory. The first section is therefore devoted to a... more
This Element was written to meet the theoretical and methodological challenge raised by the third science revolution and its implications for how to study and interpret European prehistory. The first section is therefore devoted to a historical and theoretical discussion of how to practice interdisciplinarity in this new age and, following from that, how to define some crucial but undertheorized categories, such as culture, ethnicity, and various forms of migration. The author thus integrates new results from archaeogenetics into an archaeological frame of reference to produce a new and theoretically informed historical narrative – one that invites further debate and also identifies areas of uncertainty where more research is needed.
Research Interests:
Trade before Civilization explores the role that long-distance exchange played in the establishment and/or maintenance of social complexity, and its role in the transformation of societies from egalitarian to non-egalitarian. Bringing... more
Trade before Civilization explores the role that long-distance exchange played in the establishment and/or maintenance of social complexity, and its role in the transformation of societies from egalitarian to non-egalitarian. Bringing together research by an international and methodologically diverse team of scholars, it analyses the relationship between long-distance trade and the rise of inequality. The volume illustrates how elites used exotic prestige goods to enhance and maintain their elevated social positions in society. Global in scope, it offers case studies of early societies and sites in Europe, Asia, Oceania, North America, and Mesoamerica. Deploying a range of inter-disciplinary and cutting-edge theoretical approaches from a cross-cultural framework, the volume offers new insights and enhances our understanding of socio-political evolution. It will appeal to archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, conflict theorists, and ethnohistorians, as well as economists seeking to understand the nexus between imported luxury items and cultural evolution. 1. New perspectives on long-distance trade and social complexity; Part I. Exchange and Social Evolution: Forms of Trade in Egalitarian, Transegalitarian, and Chiefdom Societies: 2. Funnel beaker societies and long-distance trade; 3. Stonehenge: Long-distance exchange in Late Neolithic Britain c.3000-2450 BC; 4. Secret societies, rock art, and long-distance exchange in the Nordic Bronze Age: The supra-regional interaction hypothesis; 5. Trade, exchange, and the workings of a "prestige" economy in contact-era New Guinea; Part II. The Role That Specific Institutions and Agents Played in Long-Distance Exchange: 6. Middle Bronze Age long-distance exchange: amber, early glass, and guest friendship, xenia; 7. Culture heroes, inalienable goods, and religious sodalities: long distance exchange in eastern North America at European contact; 8. Trade and Calusa complexity: achieving resilience in a changing environment; Part III. The Role of Political Economy and Elite Control in Long-Distance Exchange: 9. Lapita long-distance interactions in the Western Pacific: from prestige goods to prestige practices; 10. Trade and the Hillfort chiefdoms of Bronze Age Ireland; 11. Long-distance exchange between the Eastern Mediterranean and Central and Northern Europe in the Bronze Age: social, political and religious background; 12. The Turquoise Corridor: Mesoamerican prestige technologies and social complexity in the Greater Southwest; Part IV. Marxian and Postcolonial Approaches as Well as World System Theory in Relation to Gift Exchange, and Macro-Regional Exchange: 13. Accumulation and the articulation of modes of reproduction ; 14. Scandinavia and Europe in the Earliest Bronze Age: metals, trade, and change; 15. Long-distance interaction in fourthmillennium BCE Eurasia; 16. Following the breadcrumbs: epistemological and methodological issues in the interpretations of long-distance trade in the Caribbean; Part V. Commentary on Contributions to This Volume: 17. Political economy perspectives in trade before and beyond civilizations.
Research Interests:
Over the past several decades, ancient DNA and other archaeological sciences have transformed our understanding of Europe in prehistory. Professor Kristian Kristiansen has worked with these new methods since the very beginning, and... more
Over the past several decades, ancient DNA and other archaeological sciences have transformed our understanding of Europe in prehistory. Professor Kristian Kristiansen has worked with these new methods since the very beginning, and combines them with a deep grounding in both traditional archaeology and big-picture thinking about what it all means.
Link to podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/migration-ancient-dna-and-european-prehistory/id1257202425?i=1000558910086
Link to podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/migration-ancient-dna-and-european-prehistory/id1257202425?i=1000558910086
Research Interests:
Dr. Kristian Kristiansen has been at the forefront of the synthesis between archaeology and ancient DNA. That new joint field has allowed for a deeper understanding of the transition to Indo-European languages in Northern Europe 5,000... more
Dr. Kristian Kristiansen has been at the forefront of the synthesis between archaeology and ancient DNA. That new joint field has allowed for a deeper understanding of the transition to Indo-European languages in Northern Europe 5,000 years ago. In 2015 he was a co-author on Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia, which established that there was a massive migration of the steppe people into Europe that resulted in the emergence of the Corded Ware culture, the likely predecessor of most subsequent Indo-European groups.
More recently, he has been thinking about the exact process by which genetic replacement and cultural transformation might have occurred. Unfortunately, some of his ideas have been misinterpreted by the media, leading to the bizarre piece in The New Scientist, Story of most murderous people of all time revealed in ancient DNA.
On the podcast, we address this piece, the misunderstanding that led to it, and the blowback Dr. Kristiansen received. Of course, he also articulates the reality that as scholars one must be faithful to the data, and there is evidence of aggression and violence on the part of the Corded Ware. It just isn’t the case though that they were special or unique in this regard.
Additionally, Dr. Kristiansen talks about the fact that there are various ideologies that have attempted for decades, and continue to the present day, to co-opt his discipline, as well as new results from ancient DNA.
More generally, we talk about how ancient DNA has transformed his profession, and how it has brought to the mainstream views he and Dr. David Anthony have held for decades. Like Dr. Anthony, Dr. Kristiansen was taken aback by the magnitude of the migration, which has made him rethink some of his assumptions. His group also was instrumental in discovering that the early Indo-Europeans brought the plague, and we discuss the role it may have played in the collapse of “Old Europe.”
Finally, he outlines the theory and data that the Corded Ware were patrilineal and exogamous, and how that explains their adaptability and the maintenance of their steppe cultural traditions and identity.
https://unsupervisedlearning.libsyn.com/kristian-kristiansen-the-birth-of-northern-europe
More recently, he has been thinking about the exact process by which genetic replacement and cultural transformation might have occurred. Unfortunately, some of his ideas have been misinterpreted by the media, leading to the bizarre piece in The New Scientist, Story of most murderous people of all time revealed in ancient DNA.
On the podcast, we address this piece, the misunderstanding that led to it, and the blowback Dr. Kristiansen received. Of course, he also articulates the reality that as scholars one must be faithful to the data, and there is evidence of aggression and violence on the part of the Corded Ware. It just isn’t the case though that they were special or unique in this regard.
Additionally, Dr. Kristiansen talks about the fact that there are various ideologies that have attempted for decades, and continue to the present day, to co-opt his discipline, as well as new results from ancient DNA.
More generally, we talk about how ancient DNA has transformed his profession, and how it has brought to the mainstream views he and Dr. David Anthony have held for decades. Like Dr. Anthony, Dr. Kristiansen was taken aback by the magnitude of the migration, which has made him rethink some of his assumptions. His group also was instrumental in discovering that the early Indo-Europeans brought the plague, and we discuss the role it may have played in the collapse of “Old Europe.”
Finally, he outlines the theory and data that the Corded Ware were patrilineal and exogamous, and how that explains their adaptability and the maintenance of their steppe cultural traditions and identity.
https://unsupervisedlearning.libsyn.com/kristian-kristiansen-the-birth-of-northern-europe
Research Interests:
Encouraged by Antonio Gilman, archaeology has witnessed a partial return to materialist theories based on Modes of Production. Modes should never be thought of as a new typology; rather they are models that define political processes... more
Encouraged by Antonio Gilman, archaeology has witnessed a partial return to materialist theories based on Modes of Production. Modes should never be thought of as a new typology; rather they are models that define political processes ground- ed in material conditions that result in contrasting social formations. These Modes can then be used to compare cases across prehistory and history
Research Interests:
“I always preach to my students ‘forget everything about career planning, be open, never put all your eggs in one basket, that will only make you unhappy’. ‘Be open to the unexpected’.” The latest in our ECA series of interviews with... more
“I always preach to my students ‘forget everything about career planning, be open, never put all your eggs in one basket, that will only make you unhappy’. ‘Be open to the unexpected’.”
The latest in our ECA series of interviews with archaeologists is now online! Professor Dr Kristian Kristiansen (Gothenburg University), the initiator and first President of the EAA answers questions, and discusses, about his early career and progression, the EAA, ERC grants, women in academia, and the problems facing current early career archaeologists.
Interview conducted by Maxime Brami and Bianca Preda-Bălănică
The latest in our ECA series of interviews with archaeologists is now online! Professor Dr Kristian Kristiansen (Gothenburg University), the initiator and first President of the EAA answers questions, and discusses, about his early career and progression, the EAA, ERC grants, women in academia, and the problems facing current early career archaeologists.
Interview conducted by Maxime Brami and Bianca Preda-Bălănică
Research Interests:
Genes, diseases, and migrations: what relationship? Indo-European expansions reconsidered In this paper I attempt to define and interpret the driving forces behind the 3rd millennium migrations, based on a pastoral mode of production.... more
Genes, diseases, and migrations: what relationship? Indo-European expansions reconsidered In this paper I attempt to define and interpret the driving forces behind the 3rd millennium migrations, based on a pastoral mode of production. Kinship system, traction technologies and diseases are evaluated, as well as Indo-European texts. Also a comparison with ethnographically know pastoral groups.
Research Interests:
Link to my Rome l'Orange lecture in November 2019: https://www.hf.uio.no/dnir/forskning/lorange-forelesningene/
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Probably the most complete documentation of Bronze Age settlements and land-use ever, a high resolution window to Bronze Age society 1600-1100 BC in one of the most densely settled regions in Europe. Two volumes: 855 pages and numerous... more
Probably the most complete documentation of Bronze Age settlements and land-use ever, a high resolution window to Bronze Age society 1600-1100 BC in one of the most densely settled regions in Europe. Two volumes: 855 pages and numerous colour illustrations, maps and diagrams
Research Interests:
This book provides the fi rst global analysis of the relationship between trade and civilisation from the beginning of civilisation around 3000 BC until the modern era around AD 1600. Encompassing the various networks including the Silk... more
This book provides the fi rst global analysis of the relationship between trade and civilisation from the beginning of civilisation around 3000 BC until the modern era around AD 1600. Encompassing the various networks
including the Silk Road, the Indian Ocean trade, Near Eastern family traders of the Bronze Age, and the Medieval Hanseatic League, it examines the role of the individual merchant, the products of trade, the role of the state, and the technical conditions for land and sea transport that created diverging systems of trade and developed global trade networks. Trade networks, however, were not durable. The contributors discuss the establishment and decline of great trading network systems, and how they related
to the expansion of civilisation, and to diff erent forms of social and economic exploitation. Case studies focus on local conditions as well as global networks until the sixteenth century when the whole globe was connected
by trade.
including the Silk Road, the Indian Ocean trade, Near Eastern family traders of the Bronze Age, and the Medieval Hanseatic League, it examines the role of the individual merchant, the products of trade, the role of the state, and the technical conditions for land and sea transport that created diverging systems of trade and developed global trade networks. Trade networks, however, were not durable. The contributors discuss the establishment and decline of great trading network systems, and how they related
to the expansion of civilisation, and to diff erent forms of social and economic exploitation. Case studies focus on local conditions as well as global networks until the sixteenth century when the whole globe was connected
by trade.
Research Interests:
This is the scanned version of my original documentation of Nordic Late Bronze Age hoards (Period IV and V) in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Northern Germany/Poland. The link above leads you to the webpage at Kiel University where the... more
This is the scanned version of my original documentation of Nordic Late Bronze Age hoards (Period IV and V) in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Northern Germany/Poland.
The link above leads you to the webpage at Kiel University where the catalogue is stored.The documentation was done between 1972 and 1976,
The link above leads you to the webpage at Kiel University where the catalogue is stored.The documentation was done between 1972 and 1976,
Research Interests:
The transformation of Europe during the 1st millennium BC is covered in 13 chapters, from theory and world system models to regional studies
Research Interests:
In sixteen chapter the authors explore the application of a world system approach to archaeology.
Research Interests:
In ten case studies this book explores the role of centre-periphery relations in the ancient world, from 3000 BC to 500 AD. The geographical scale in the Near East and Europe.
Research Interests:
This volume represents the first and so far only systematic national survey of the representativity of archaeological remains from Danish Prehistory. Burials, hoards and settlements are covered from early to late prehistory.
Research Interests:
La Edad del Bronce ejerce una extrana fascinacion entre expertos y profanos, ya que representa el primer proceso de industrialization en la historia de Europa y produja algunas de las piezas artisticas y technicas en bronce y oro màs... more
La Edad del Bronce ejerce una extrana fascinacion entre expertos y profanos, ya que representa el primer proceso de industrialization en la historia de Europa y produja algunas de las piezas artisticas y technicas en bronce y oro màs logradas y extraordinarias.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Warfare in Bronze Age Society takes a fresh look at warfare and its role in reshaping Bronze Age society. The Bronze Age represents the global emergence of a militarized society with a martial culture, materialized in a package of new... more
Warfare in Bronze Age Society takes a fresh look at warfare and its role in reshaping Bronze Age society. The Bronze Age represents the global emergence of a militarized society with a martial culture, materialized in a package of new efficient weapons that remained in use for millennia to come. Warfare became institutionalized and professionalized during the Bronze Age, and a new class of warriors made their appearance. Evidence for this development is reflected in the ostentatious display of weapons in burials and hoards, and in iconography, from rock art to palace frescoes. These new manifestations of martial culture constructed the warrior as a 'Hero' and warfare as 'Heroic'. The case studies, written by an international team of scholars, discuss these and other new aspects of Bronze Age warfare. Moreover, the essays show that warriors also facilitated mobility and innovation as new weapons would have quickly spread from the Mediterranean to northern Europe.
The contributions exemplify how warfare is integrated in Bronze Age societies; readers can use the examples in their own studies (not restricted to Bronze Age research) to appreciate the full complexity of past societies
Presents a number of new theoretical and methodological approaches to warfare, which may inspire new research
Combines well-known archeological sites with lesser known examples, promoting lesser known-sites and enriching the published archaeological record
Now available for preview on Google Books. Please follow the link:
https://books.google.se/books?id=S0FPDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_book_other_versions#v=onepage&q&f=false
Read more at http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/archaeology/prehistory/warfare-bronze-age-society#OYVvAhEeItP1I57t.99
The contributions exemplify how warfare is integrated in Bronze Age societies; readers can use the examples in their own studies (not restricted to Bronze Age research) to appreciate the full complexity of past societies
Presents a number of new theoretical and methodological approaches to warfare, which may inspire new research
Combines well-known archeological sites with lesser known examples, promoting lesser known-sites and enriching the published archaeological record
Now available for preview on Google Books. Please follow the link:
https://books.google.se/books?id=S0FPDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_book_other_versions#v=onepage&q&f=false
Read more at http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/archaeology/prehistory/warfare-bronze-age-society#OYVvAhEeItP1I57t.99
Research Interests: Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Social Identity, Mediterranean prehistory, Levantine Archaeology, and 39 moreBronze Age Europe (Archaeology), Neolithic & Chalcolithic Archaeology, Chalcolithic Archaeology, Battlefield Archaeology, Bronze Age Archaeology, Aegean Bronze Age (Bronze Age Archaeology), Religion and ritual in prehistory, Death and Burial (Archaeology), Aegean Prehistory (Archaeology), British Prehistory (Archaeology), Prehistoric Technology, Late Bronze Age archaeology, Chiefdoms (Archaeology), Iberian Prehistory (Archaeology), Balkan prehistory, Prehistoric Europe (Archaeology), Bronze Age (Archaeology), Early Bronze Age (Archaeology), Middle Bronze Age, European Prehistory (Archaeology), Bronze and Iron Ages in Eastern Mediterranean (Archaeology), Prehistory, Ancient Warfare, Prehistoric Rock Art, Warfare, Scandinavian Archaeology, Aegean Late Bronze Age, Aegean Prehistory, Bronze Age, Early Bronze Age, Weapons, Prehistoric Archeology, Late Bronze Age, Chalcolithic Metallurgy, Burial Customs, Sea Peoples, Bronze Age metal hoards, Ancient Weapons and Warfare, and Archaeology of the Levant
This is a digitised version of my Magister/PhD thesis from 1974 on Late Bronze Age hoards from Denmark. A high resolution scanning of the catalogue with drawings of all objects, use wear analysis etc will be made available separately.... more
This is a digitised version of my Magister/PhD thesis from 1974 on Late Bronze Age hoards from Denmark. A high resolution scanning of the catalogue with drawings of all objects, use wear analysis etc will be made available separately. There is a newly written English preface with some reflections on working and recording in museums. The thesis consists of a source-critical analysis of hoards (previously published in Aarboger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed), a chronological analysis with a subdivision of Period IV and V (never published before) and finally an interpretation of the hoard phenomenon ( in part published previously in German). Rich Potter transformed my maps and diagrams into digital format, as well as the text.
Research Interests:
La Edad del Bronce comienza con la formaciòn del estado el inicio urbanismo en el Proximo Orirente hacia 3000 a. C. y culmina hacia 1500-500 a. C. en la Europa central y septentrional. Un periodo que marca una edad heroica de viajes e... more
La Edad del Bronce comienza con la formaciòn del estado el inicio urbanismo en el Proximo Orirente hacia 3000 a. C. y culmina hacia 1500-500 a. C. en la Europa central y septentrional. Un periodo que marca una edad heroica de viajes e importantes transformatciones en toda Europa.
The Bronze Age was a formative period in European history when the organisation of landscapes, settlements, and economy reached a new level of complexity. This book presents the first in-depth, comparative study of household economy... more
The Bronze Age was a formative period in European history when the organisation of landscapes, settlements, and economy reached a new level of complexity. This book presents the first in-depth, comparative study of household economy and settlement in three micro-regions: the Mediterranean (Sicily), Central Europe (Hungary), and Northern Europe (South Scandinavia). The results are based on ten years of fieldwork in a similar method of documentation, and scientific analyses were used in each of the regional studies, making controlled comparisons possible. The new evidence demonstrates how differences in settlement organisation and household economies were counterbalanced by similarities in the organised use of the landscape in an economy dominated by the herding of large flocks of sheep and cattle. This book's innovative theoretical and methodological approaches will be of relevance to all researchers of landscape and settlement history.
Research Interests:
The Rise of Bronze Age Society Travels, Transmissions and Transformations Kristian Kristiansen Göteborgs Universitet, Sweden Thomas B. Larsson Umeå Universitet, Sweden Paperback (ISBN-13: 9780521604666 | ISBN-10: 0521604664) *... more
The Rise of Bronze Age Society
Travels, Transmissions and Transformations
Kristian Kristiansen
Göteborgs Universitet, Sweden
Thomas B. Larsson
Umeå Universitet, Sweden
Paperback
(ISBN-13: 9780521604666 | ISBN-10: 0521604664)
* Also available in Hardback
For price and ordering options, inspection copy requests, and reading lists please select:
Europe, Middle East and Africa | Americas | Asia | Australia and New Zealand
Please note local prices may apply
Beginning with state formation and urbanization in the Near East c. 3000 BC and ending in Central and Northern Europe c. 1000–500 BC, the Bronze Age marks an heroic age of travels and transformations throughout Europe. In this book, Kristian Kristiansen and Thomas Larsson reconstruct the travel and transmission of knowledge that took place between the Near East, the Mediterranean and Europe. They explore how religious, political and social conceptions of Bronze Age people were informed by long-distance connections and alliances between local elites. The book integrates the hitherto separate research fields of European and Mediterranean (classical) archaeology and provides the reader with an alternative to the traditional approach of diffusionism. Examining data from across the region, the book presents an important new interpretation of social change in the Bronze Age, making it essential reading for students of archaeology, of anthropology and of the development of early European society.
• Offers a significant new interpretation of social development in the European Bronze Age • Archaeological evidence and historical sources are explored by two leading experts in the field, Kristian Kristiansen and Thomas Larsson • Integrates traditionally separate research fields of European and classical or Mediterranean archaeology
Contents
Prologue - between Scylla and Charybdis; 1. A theoretical strategy for studying interaction; 2. Odysseus - a Bronze Age archetype; 3. Rulership in the Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean during the Bronze Age; 4. Europe in the early Bronze Age - an archaeological background; 5. Symbolic transmission and social transformation in Bronze Age Europe; 6. The cosmological structure of Bronze Age society; 7. Among gods and mortals, animals and humans; 8. Cosmos and culture in the Bronze Age.
Reviews
'... much to admire...' Antiquity
'… a stimulating and brave book. … I recommend it as an illuminating and well-written treatment of one of the key periods of European history.' European Journal of Archaeology
'… impressive and provocative … dense, deliciously seductive … it is a book which presents the most crucial virtue of all: it makes one think about material culture and about the kind of past that we, archaeologists, try to describe and explain.' Cambridge Archaeological Journal
Travels, Transmissions and Transformations
Kristian Kristiansen
Göteborgs Universitet, Sweden
Thomas B. Larsson
Umeå Universitet, Sweden
Paperback
(ISBN-13: 9780521604666 | ISBN-10: 0521604664)
* Also available in Hardback
For price and ordering options, inspection copy requests, and reading lists please select:
Europe, Middle East and Africa | Americas | Asia | Australia and New Zealand
Please note local prices may apply
Beginning with state formation and urbanization in the Near East c. 3000 BC and ending in Central and Northern Europe c. 1000–500 BC, the Bronze Age marks an heroic age of travels and transformations throughout Europe. In this book, Kristian Kristiansen and Thomas Larsson reconstruct the travel and transmission of knowledge that took place between the Near East, the Mediterranean and Europe. They explore how religious, political and social conceptions of Bronze Age people were informed by long-distance connections and alliances between local elites. The book integrates the hitherto separate research fields of European and Mediterranean (classical) archaeology and provides the reader with an alternative to the traditional approach of diffusionism. Examining data from across the region, the book presents an important new interpretation of social change in the Bronze Age, making it essential reading for students of archaeology, of anthropology and of the development of early European society.
• Offers a significant new interpretation of social development in the European Bronze Age • Archaeological evidence and historical sources are explored by two leading experts in the field, Kristian Kristiansen and Thomas Larsson • Integrates traditionally separate research fields of European and classical or Mediterranean archaeology
Contents
Prologue - between Scylla and Charybdis; 1. A theoretical strategy for studying interaction; 2. Odysseus - a Bronze Age archetype; 3. Rulership in the Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean during the Bronze Age; 4. Europe in the early Bronze Age - an archaeological background; 5. Symbolic transmission and social transformation in Bronze Age Europe; 6. The cosmological structure of Bronze Age society; 7. Among gods and mortals, animals and humans; 8. Cosmos and culture in the Bronze Age.
Reviews
'... much to admire...' Antiquity
'… a stimulating and brave book. … I recommend it as an illuminating and well-written treatment of one of the key periods of European history.' European Journal of Archaeology
'… impressive and provocative … dense, deliciously seductive … it is a book which presents the most crucial virtue of all: it makes one think about material culture and about the kind of past that we, archaeologists, try to describe and explain.' Cambridge Archaeological Journal
Research Interests:
Europe before History Series: New Studies in Archaeology Kristian Kristiansen Göteborgs Universitet, Sweden Paperback (ISBN-13: 9780521784368 | ISBN-10: 0521784360) * There was also a Hardback of this title but it is no longer... more
Europe before History
Series: New Studies in Archaeology
Kristian Kristiansen
Göteborgs Universitet, Sweden
Paperback
(ISBN-13: 9780521784368 | ISBN-10: 0521784360)
* There was also a Hardback of this title but it is no longer available
For price and ordering options, inspection copy requests, and reading lists please select:
Europe, Middle East and Africa | Americas | Asia | Australia and New Zealand
Please note local prices may apply
The societies of the European Bronze Age produced elaborate artifacts and were drawn into a wide trade network extending over the whole of Europe, even though they were economically and politically undiversified. Kristian Kristansen attempts to explain this paradox using a world-systems analysis, and in particular tries to acount for the absence of state formation. He presents his case with a powerful marshalling of the evidence across the whole of Europe and over two millennia. The result is the most coherent overview of this period of European prehistory since the writings of Gordon Childe and Christopher Hawkes. A great strength of this book is the broad European perspective, which allows the author to address some of the larger questions that have been raised in the study of the Bronze Age. It captures the complexity of a prehistorical world at different levels of integration and interaction from local to global.
• Coherent overview of Bronze Age period from a pan European perspective • Successful hardback despite size and price
Contents
1. Background to the inquiry; 2. Background to the archaeology; 3. Theoretical context; 4. Regional systems: the social and cultural landscape in Europe in the Late Bronze Age, 1100–750 BC; 5. Regional divergence: the Mediterranean and Europe in the 9th-8th centuries BC; 6. The new economic axis: Central Europe and the Mediterranean 750–450 BC; 7. Transformation and expansion: the Celtic movement, 450–150 BC; 8. The emergence of the European world system in the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age: Europe in the 1st and 2nd millennia BC.
Review
' … this book is a substantial advance in the quest for a socially informed history of the era before writing.' The Times Higher Supplement
Series: New Studies in Archaeology
Kristian Kristiansen
Göteborgs Universitet, Sweden
Paperback
(ISBN-13: 9780521784368 | ISBN-10: 0521784360)
* There was also a Hardback of this title but it is no longer available
For price and ordering options, inspection copy requests, and reading lists please select:
Europe, Middle East and Africa | Americas | Asia | Australia and New Zealand
Please note local prices may apply
The societies of the European Bronze Age produced elaborate artifacts and were drawn into a wide trade network extending over the whole of Europe, even though they were economically and politically undiversified. Kristian Kristansen attempts to explain this paradox using a world-systems analysis, and in particular tries to acount for the absence of state formation. He presents his case with a powerful marshalling of the evidence across the whole of Europe and over two millennia. The result is the most coherent overview of this period of European prehistory since the writings of Gordon Childe and Christopher Hawkes. A great strength of this book is the broad European perspective, which allows the author to address some of the larger questions that have been raised in the study of the Bronze Age. It captures the complexity of a prehistorical world at different levels of integration and interaction from local to global.
• Coherent overview of Bronze Age period from a pan European perspective • Successful hardback despite size and price
Contents
1. Background to the inquiry; 2. Background to the archaeology; 3. Theoretical context; 4. Regional systems: the social and cultural landscape in Europe in the Late Bronze Age, 1100–750 BC; 5. Regional divergence: the Mediterranean and Europe in the 9th-8th centuries BC; 6. The new economic axis: Central Europe and the Mediterranean 750–450 BC; 7. Transformation and expansion: the Celtic movement, 450–150 BC; 8. The emergence of the European world system in the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age: Europe in the 1st and 2nd millennia BC.
Review
' … this book is a substantial advance in the quest for a socially informed history of the era before writing.' The Times Higher Supplement
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Ancient History, Genetics, Archaeology, Genomics, Biology, and 15 moreCultural Evolution, Language, Medicine, DNA, Humans, Human Migration, Europe, Lactose intolerance, Early Bronze Age Archaeology, Fossils, Asia, Human Genome, European Continental Ancestry Group, Asian Continental Ancestry Group, and Gene frequency
What are the major qualitative differences – if any – between more complex Neolithic societies, such as tell settlements, and mature Bronze Age societies? While a general consensus exists among researchers that Bronze Age societies were... more
What are the major qualitative differences – if any – between more complex Neolithic societies, such as tell settlements, and mature Bronze Age societies? While a general consensus exists among researchers that Bronze Age societies were differentiated in terms of hierarchy and complexity distinctly from Neolithic societies, recently some have questioned if these differences are simply of degree rather than of kind. We argue that fundamental qualitative differences separates Neolithic and Bronze Age social formations, differences linked to institutionlized trade in the Bronze Age
Research Interests: History and Bronze Age
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Research Interests: History, Social Theory, Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Law, and 14 moreAnthropology, Social Sciences, Marxism, Marxist Economics, Ethnography, Marxist theory, Neolithic Archaeology, Bronze Age Europe (Archaeology), Viking Age Archaeology, Chiefdom, Marxist Theory, Marxist EconomiCs, University of Chicago Press, and Current anthropology
Research Interests: Archaeology, Archaeometry, Bronze Age Archaeology, Archaeology of Mining, Cypriot Bronze Age, and 15 moreArchaeometallurgy, Balkan prehistory, Aegean Late Bronze Age, Aegean Prehistory, British Archaeology, Bronze Age, Early Bronze Age, Bronze Age of the Carpathian Basin, Early Bronze Age Archaeology, Late Bronze Age, Bronze Age metal hoards, copper oxhide ingots LBA Cyprus Crete lead isotopes, Archaeological, Circulation, and Bronze Age Metalwork and Metallurgy
Research Interests: History and Prehistory
Bell Beaker pottery spread across western and central Europe beginning around 2750 BCE before disappearing between 2200–1800 BCE. The mechanism of its expansion is a topic of long-standing debate, with support for both cultural diffusion... more
Bell Beaker pottery spread across western and central Europe beginning around 2750 BCE before disappearing between 2200–1800 BCE. The mechanism of its expansion is a topic of long-standing debate, with support for both cultural diffusion and human migration. We present new genome-wide ancient DNA data from 170 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans, including 100 Beaker-associated individuals. In contrast to the Corded Ware Complex, which has previously been identified as arriving in central Europe following migration from the east, we observe limited genetic affinity between Iberian and central European Beaker Complex-associated individuals, and thus exclude migration as a significant mechanism of spread between these two regions. However, human migration did have an important role in the further dissemination of the Beaker Complex, which we document most clearly in Britain using data from 80 newly reported individuals dating to 3900–1200 BCE. British Neolithic farmers were...
Research Interests: European History, Genetics, Archaeology, Cultural Evolution, Archaeogenetics, and 15 moreBronze Age Archaeology, Ancient DNA Research, Bronze Age, Early Bronze Age, Europe, Early Bronze Age Archaeology, Genetic Archaeology, Copper age, Ancient DNA, Bell Beaker Culture, Bell Beakers, Beaker, Bell Beaker Phenomenon, Beaker Cultures, and Gene pool
The transitions from foraging to farming and later to pastoralism in Stone Age Eurasia (c. 113 thousand years before present, BP) represent some of the most dramatic lifestyle changes in human evolution. We sequenced 317 genomes of... more
The transitions from foraging to farming and later to pastoralism in Stone Age Eurasia (c. 113 thousand years before present, BP) represent some of the most dramatic lifestyle changes in human evolution. We sequenced 317 genomes of primarily Mesolithic and Neolithic individuals from across Eurasia combined with radiocarbon dates, stable isotope data, and pollen records. Genome imputation and co-analysis with previously published shotgun sequencing data resulted in >1600 complete ancient genome sequences offering fine-grained resolution into the Stone Age populations. We observe that: 1) Hunter-gatherer groups were more genetically diverse than previously known, and deeply divergent between western and eastern Eurasia. 2) We identify hitherto genetically undescribed hunter-gatherers from the Middle Don region that contributed ancestry to the later Yamnaya steppe pastoralists; 3) The genetic impact of the Neolithic transition was highly distinct, east and west of a boundary zone extending from the Black Sea to the Baltic. Large-scale shifts in genetic ancestry occurred to the west of this “Great Divide”, including an almost complete replacement of hunter-gatherers in Denmark, while no substantial ancestry shifts took place during the same period to the east. This difference is also reflected in genetic relatedness within the populations, decreasing substantially in the west but not in the east where it remained high until c. 4,000 BP; 4) The second major genetic transformation around 5,000 BP happened at a much faster pace with Steppe-related ancestry reaching most parts of Europe within 1,000years. Local Neolithic farmers admixed with incoming pastoralists in eastern, western, and southern Europe whereas Scandinavia experienced another near-complete population replacement. Similar dramatic turnover-patterns are evident in western Siberia; 5) Extensive regional differences in the ancestry components involved in these early events remain visible to this day, even within countries. Neolithic farmer ancestry is highest in southern and eastern England while Steppe-related ancestry is highest in the Celtic populations of Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall (this research has been conducted using the UK Biobank resource); 6) Shifts in diet, lifestyle and environment introduced new selection pressures involving at least 21 genomic regions. Most such variants were not universally selected across populations but were only advantageous in particular ancestral backgrounds. Contrary to previous claims, we find that selection on the FADS regions, associated with fatty acid metabolism, began before the Neolithisation of Europe. Similarly, the lactase persistence allele started increasing in frequency before the expansion of Steppe-related groups into Europe and has continued to increase up to the present. Along the genetic cline separating Mesolithic hunter-gatherers from Neolithic farmers, we find significant correlations with trait associations related to skin disorders, diet and lifestyle and mental health status, suggesting marked phenotypic differences between these groups with very different lifestyles. This work provides new insights into major transformations in recent human evolution, elucidating the complex interplay between selection and admixture that shaped patterns of genetic variation in modern populations.
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A theoretical framework for the study of prehistoric religion is presented. Based on this the new gods of the Bronze Age are described in time and space. They had a global distribution and their attributed support the relationship between... more
A theoretical framework for the study of prehistoric religion is presented. Based on this the new gods of the Bronze Age are described in time and space. They had a global distribution and their attributed support the relationship between society and religion.
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Domestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare1. However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with archaeological evidence of bridling, milking... more
Domestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare1. However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with archaeological evidence of bridling, milking and corralling2–4 at Botai, Central Asia around 3500 bc3. Other longstanding candidate regions for horse domestication, such as Iberia5 and Anatolia6, have also recently been challenged. Thus, the genetic, geographic and temporal origins of modern domestic horses have remained unknown. Here we pinpoint the Western Eurasian steppes, especially the lower Volga-Don region, as the homeland of modern domestic horses. Furthermore, we map the population changes accompanying domestication from 273 ancient horse genomes. This reveals that modern domestic horses ultimately replaced almost all other local populations as they expanded rapidly across Eurasia from about 2000 bc, synchronously with equestrian material culture, including Sintashta spoke-wheeled char...
Research Interests: Geography, Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Indo-European Studies, Bronze Age Europe (Archaeology), and 15 moreArchaeology of Caucasus, Medicine, Multidisciplinary, Domestication (Zooarchaeology), Nature, Horses in Prehistory, Indoeuropean Studies, Domestication, Domestication of the Horse, Horses, Archaeology of the Eurasian steppe belt, History of Horse Riding, origin of Indo-European languages, Steppe, and Archaeology of Horse and Riders
The Bronze Age of Sweden’s southernmost region, Scania, is complex and intriguing. One could say that Scania represented in many ways a gateway for people, ideas and material culture connecting continental Europe with Sweden. Shedding... more
The Bronze Age of Sweden’s southernmost region, Scania, is complex and intriguing. One could say that Scania represented in many ways a gateway for people, ideas and material culture connecting continental Europe with Sweden. Shedding light on the dynamics of human mobility in this region requires an in depth understanding of the local archaeological contexts across time. In this study, we present new archaeological human data from the Late Bronze Age Simris II site, located in an area of Scania showing a dynamic environment throughout the Late Bronze Age, thus likely involving various forms of mobility. Because the characterization of solid strontium isotope baselines is vital for delineating human mobility in prehistory using the strontium isotope methodology, we introduce the first environmentally based multi-proxy (surface water-, plant- and soil leachates) strontium isotope baselines for sub-regions of Scania. Our results show, that the highly complex and spatially scattered li...
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Abstract Background During the early 3rd millennium BCE migration from Pontic Steppe, mainly related to Yamnaya culture, has affected European populations both culturally and genetically, however, it has long been debated to what extent... more
Abstract Background During the early 3rd millennium BCE migration from Pontic Steppe, mainly related to Yamnaya culture, has affected European populations both culturally and genetically, however, it has long been debated to what extent this migration was male-driven, and how this replacement process took place which eliminated partially/largely Neolithic male lines over time. Aim This paper aims to evaluate the influence of the Steppe migration on European Bronze Age populations by calculating both male and female genetic contributions of the Steppe-related ancestry to the European Bronze Age populations. With this approach, we will be able to clarify the hypotheses on whether it was male-biased migration or not. Subjects and methods To evaluate the genetic impact and the proportion of the Steppe-related ancestry to the European Bronze Age populations, we performed PCA and qpAdm analyses by using published genome-wide data. In addition, we quantified male and female genetic contribution into Europe by using the analysis of uniparental markers and the X-chromosome. Results The Steppe migration had a considerable impact on the genetic makeup of the Bronze Age European populations. The data suggest that the Steppe-related ancestry arriving into Central Europe was male-driven, dominantly in the Corded Ware culture populations and lesser in the Bell Beaker populations. In fact, there is no evidence that this migration had a significant input on the mitochondrial genetic pool of all European Bronze Age populations. Conclusions Our analyses suggest that the Steppe-related ancestry had genetic impact on mainly Central-Eastern Europe. Moreover, this migration was male-driven for most of the Central European populations belonging to the Corded Ware groups, and to a lesser extent for the Bell Beaker groups.
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In Fig. 2 of this Letter, the 'E' and 'G' clade labels were inadvertently reversed, and in Table 2 the genotype of DA27 was 'D1' instead of 'D5'. These have been corrected online.
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Human parvovirus B19 (B19V) is a ubiquitous human pathogen associated with a number of conditions, such as fifth disease in children and arthritis and arthralgias in adults. B19V is thought to evolve exceptionally rapidly among DNA... more
Human parvovirus B19 (B19V) is a ubiquitous human pathogen associated with a number of conditions, such as fifth disease in children and arthritis and arthralgias in adults. B19V is thought to evolve exceptionally rapidly among DNA viruses, with substitution rates previously estimated to be closer to those typical of RNA viruses. On the basis of genetic sequences up to ∼70 years of age, the most recent common ancestor of all B19V has been dated to the early 1800s, and it has been suggested that genotype 1, the most common B19V genotype, only started circulating in the 1960s. Here we present 10 genomes (63.9-99.7% genome coverage) of B19V from dental and skeletal remains of individuals who lived in Eurasia and Greenland from ∼0.5 to ∼6.9 thousand years ago (kya). In a phylogenetic analysis, five of the ancient B19V sequences fall within or basal to the modern genotype 1, and five fall basal to genotype 2, showing a long-term association of B19V with humans. The most recent common anc...
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The Yamnaya expansions from the western steppe into Europe and Asia during the Early Bronze Age (~3000 BCE) are believed to have brought with them Indo-European languages and possibly horse husbandry. We analyze 74 ancient whole-genome... more
The Yamnaya expansions from the western steppe into Europe and Asia during the Early Bronze Age (~3000 BCE) are believed to have brought with them Indo-European languages and possibly horse husbandry. We analyze 74 ancient whole-genome sequences from across Inner Asia and Anatolia and show that the Botai people associated with the earliest horse husbandry derived from a hunter-gatherer population deeply diverged from the Yamnaya. Our results also suggest distinct migrations bringing West Eurasian ancestry into South Asia before and after but not at the time of Yamnaya culture. We find no evidence of steppe ancestry in Bronze Age Anatolia from when Indo-European languages are attested there. Thus, in contrast to Europe, Early Bronze Age Yamnaya-related migrations had limited direct genetic impact in Asia.
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Establishing the age at which prehistoric individuals move away from their childhood residential location holds crucial information about the socio dynamics and mobility patterns in ancient societies. We present a novel combination of... more
Establishing the age at which prehistoric individuals move away from their childhood residential location holds crucial information about the socio dynamics and mobility patterns in ancient societies. We present a novel combination of strontium isotope analyses performed on the over 3000 year old "Skrydstrup Woman" from Denmark, for whom we compiled a highly detailed month-scale model of her migration timeline. When combined with physical anthropological analyses this timeline can be related to the chronological age at which the residential location changed. We conducted a series of high-resolution strontium isotope analyses of hard and soft human tissues and combined these with anthropological investigations including CT-scanning and 3D visualizations. The Skrydstrup Woman lived during a pan-European period characterized by technical innovation and great social transformations stimulated by long-distance connections; consequently she represents an important part of both D...
Research Interests: Archaeology, Archaeological Science, Anthropometry, Biomolecular archaeology, Archaeological Ethics, and 15 moreAdolescent, Archaeological Chemistry, Archaeological Conservation, Archaeological Heritage Management, Archaeological Visualisation, Digital Forensics, Denmark, CT scanning, Archaeological Sciences, Biochemical, Ct Scan, Biomolecular Chemistry, Biomolecular Modeling, Biomolecular Sciences, and Biomolecular Inorganic Chemistry
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The Bronze Age was the first epoch in which societies became irreversibly linked in their co-dependence on ores and metallurgical skills that were unevenly distributed in geographical space. Access to these critical resources was secured... more
The Bronze Age was the first epoch in which societies became irreversibly linked in their co-dependence on ores and metallurgical skills that were unevenly distributed in geographical space. Access to these critical resources was secured not only via long-distance physical trade routes, making use of landscape features such as river networks, as well as built roads, but also by creating immaterial social networks, consisting of interpersonal relations and diplomatic alliances, established and maintained through the exchange of extraordinary objects (gifts). In this article, we reason about Bronze Age communication networks and apply the results of use-wear analysis to create robust indicators of the rise and fall of political and commercial networks. In conclusion, we discuss some of the historical forces behind the phenomena and processes observable in the archaeological record of the Bronze Age in Europe and beyond.
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Texterna i denna antologi är ett urval av artiklar producerade i samband med en nationell forskarkurs i arkeologisk kulturmiljövård under 1996-98. De behandlar frågor rörande identitet, kulturmiljövårdens (idé) historia, samt dess... more
Texterna i denna antologi är ett urval av artiklar producerade i samband med en nationell forskarkurs i arkeologisk kulturmiljövård under 1996-98. De behandlar frågor rörande identitet, kulturmiljövårdens (idé) historia, samt dess praktiska och politiska implikationer. Kursen vände sig till doktorander och arkeologer från hela landet och anordnades av institutionen för arkeologi i Göteborg med stöd av Forskningsrådsnämnden och Riksantikvarieämbetet.
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Review of four new books on Euroasia: HERMANN PARZINGER. Die frĻuhen VĻolker Eurasiens vom Neolithikum bis zumMittelalter. 1044 pages, 266 b&w & colour illustrations, 28 plates, 3 fold-out tables in jacket. 2006. MĻunchen: Beck;... more
Review of four new books on Euroasia: HERMANN PARZINGER. Die frĻuhen VĻolker Eurasiens vom Neolithikum bis zumMittelalter. 1044 pages, 266 b&w & colour illustrations, 28 plates, 3 fold-out tables in jacket. 2006. MĻunchen: Beck; 978-3-406-54961-8 hardback€ 98. PHILIP L. KOHL. The making of Bronze Age Eurasia. xxiv+ 296 pages, 112 illustrations. 2007. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 978-0-521-84780-3 hardback Ģ48 & $85. LUDMILA KORYAKOVA & ANDREJ EPIMAKHOV. The Urals and Western Siberia in the ...
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It may be taken as a sign of the increasing theoretical maturity of the discipline of archaeology that it is beginning to see itself as a product of the forces of history. Over the last ten to fifteen years there has been a shift from an... more
It may be taken as a sign of the increasing theoretical maturity of the discipline of archaeology that it is beginning to see itself as a product of the forces of history. Over the last ten to fifteen years there has been a shift from an internal understanding of archaeology as an objective and value-free practice towards a broader understanding that situates archaeology in its social and political context. The following essay contributes to this development through an analysis of the ways in which European myths of origin have ...
Summary. In this article1 it is demonstrated through empirical observation that Bronze Age swords were functional and efficient weapons. Their use in real combat is testified by recurring patterns of blade damage and resharpening.... more
Summary. In this article1 it is demonstrated through empirical observation that Bronze Age swords were functional and efficient weapons. Their use in real combat is testified by recurring patterns of blade damage and resharpening. Furthermore, ritual depositions of swords with unrepaired scars on the blade demonstrate the prehistoric roots of the Celtic–Germanic–Greek ritual of sacrificing weapons after a victorious fight.
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RefDoc Refdoc est un service / is powered by. ...
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Domestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare1. However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with archaeological evidence of bridling, milking... more
Domestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare1. However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with archaeological evidence of bridling, milking and corralling2–4 at Botai, Central Asia around 3500 bc3. Other longstanding candidate regions for horse domestication, such as Iberia5 and Anatolia6, have also recently been challenged. Thus, the genetic, geographic and temporal origins of modern domestic horses have remained unknown. Here we pinpoint the Western Eurasian steppes, especially the lower Volga-Don region, as the homeland of modern domestic horses. Furthermore, we map the population changes accompanying domestication from 273 ancient horse genomes. This reveals that modern domestic horses ultimately replaced almost all other local populations as they expanded rapidly across Eurasia from about 2000 bc, synchronously with equestrian material culture, including Sintashta spoke-wheeled chariots. We find that equestrianism involved strong selection for critical locomotor and behavioural adaptations at the GSDMC and ZFPM1 genes. Our results reject the commonly held association7 between horseback riding and the massive expansion of Yamnaya steppe pastoralists into Europe around 3000 bc8,9 driving the spread of Indo-European languages10. This contrasts with the scenario in Asia where Indo-Iranian languages, chariots and horses spread together, following the early second millennium bc Sintashta culture11,12.
Background: During the early 3rd millennium BCE migration from Pontic Steppe, mainly related to Yamnaya culture, has affected European populations both culturally and genetically, however, it has long been debated to what extent this... more
Background: During the early 3rd millennium BCE migration from Pontic Steppe, mainly related to Yamnaya culture, has affected European populations both culturally and genetically, however, it has long been debated to what extent this migration was male-driven, and how this replacement process took place which eliminated partially/largely Neolithic male lines over time. Aim: This paper aims to evaluate the influence of the Steppe migration on European Bronze Age populations by calculating both male and female genetic contributions of the Steppe-related ancestry to the European Bronze Age populations. With this approach, we will be able to clarify the hypotheses on whether it was male-biased migration or not. Subjects and methods: To evaluate the genetic impact and the proportion of the Steppe-related ancestry to the European Bronze Age populations, we performed PCA and qpAdm analyses by using published genome-wide data. In addition, we quantified male and female genetic contribution into Europe by using the analysis of uniparental markers and the X-chromosome. Results: The Steppe migration had a considerable impact on the genetic makeup of the Bronze Age European populations. The data suggest that the Steppe-related ancestry arriving into Central Europe was male-driven, dominantly in the Corded Ware culture populations and lesser in the Bell Beaker populations. In fact, there is no evidence that this migration had a significant input on the mitochondrial genetic pool of all European Bronze Age populations. Conclusions: Our analyses suggest that the Steppe-related ancestry had genetic impact on mainly Central-Eastern Europe. Moreover, this migration was male-driven for most of the Central European populations belonging to the Corded Ware groups, and to a lesser extent for the Bell Beaker groups.
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We present bioavailable Sr data from plants, soils and waters from Central Greece. • Carbonate weathering appears to control the Sr isotope signatures of the proxies. • The applicability of the environmental proxies as baseline material... more
We present bioavailable Sr data from plants, soils and waters from Central Greece. • Carbonate weathering appears to control the Sr isotope signatures of the proxies. • The applicability of the environmental proxies as baseline material is evaluated. • Statistical, bioavailable 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ranges are defined for Greece and its provinces. • These can serve as reference baselines in human mobility studies.
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The Bronze Age of Sweden's southernmost region, Scania, is complex and intriguing. One could say that Scania represented in many ways a gateway for people, ideas and material culture connecting continental Europe with Sweden. Shedding... more
The Bronze Age of Sweden's southernmost region, Scania, is complex and intriguing. One could say that Scania represented in many ways a gateway for people, ideas and material culture connecting continental Europe with Sweden. Shedding light on the dynamics of human mobility in this region requires an in depth understanding of the local archaeological contexts across time. In this study, we present new archaeological human data from the Late Bronze Age Simris II site, located in an area of Scania showing a dynamic environment throughout the Late Bronze Age, thus likely involving various forms of mobility. Because the characterization of solid strontium isotope baselines is vital for delineating human mobility in prehistory using the strontium isotope methodology, we introduce the first environmentally based multi-proxy (surface water-, plant-and soil leachates) strontium isotope baselines for sub-regions of Scania. Our results show, that the highly complex and spatially scattered lithologies characterising Scania does not allow for a spatially meaningful, geology-based grouping of multi-proxy data that could be beneficial for provenance studies. Instead, we propose sub-regional baselines for areas that don't necessarily fully correspond and reflect the immediate distribution of bedrock lithologies. Rather than working with a Scania-wide multi-proxy baseline, which we define as 87 Sr/ 86 Sr = 0.7133 ± 0.0059 (n = 102, 2σ), we propose sub-regional, multi-proxy baselines as follows: Area 1, farthest to the north, by 87 Scania-wide versus sub-regional). From the Late Bronze Age Simris II site, we identified six individuals that could be analysed for Sr isotopes, to allow for an interpretation of their provenance using the newly established, environmental strontium isotope baselines. All but one signature agrees with the local baselines, including the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr value we measured for a young individual buried in a house urn, typically interpreted as evidence for long distance contacts. The results are somewhat unexpected and provides new aspects into the complexity of Scandinavian Bronze Age societies.
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Interview by the Early Career Archaeologists (ECA) Community with Professor Kristian Kristiansen, the initiator and first President of the European Association of Archaeologists.
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The Gjerrild burial provides the largest and best-preserved assemblage of human skeletal material presently known from the Single Grave Culture (SGC) in Denmark. For generations it has been debated among archaeologists if the appearance... more
The Gjerrild burial provides the largest and best-preserved assemblage of human skeletal material presently known from the Single Grave Culture (SGC) in Denmark. For generations it has been debated among archaeologists if the appearance of this archaeological complex represents a continuation of the previous Neolithic communities, or was facilitated by incoming migrants. We sampled and analysed five skeletons from the Gjerrild cist, buried over a period of c. 300 years, 2600/2500-2200 cal BCE. Despite poor DNA preservation, we managed to sequence the genome (>1X) of one individual and the partial genomes (0.007X and 0.02X) of another two individuals. Our genetic data document a female (Gjerrild 1) and two males (Gjerrild 5 + 8), harbouring typical Neolithic K2a and HV0 mtDNA haplogroups, but also a rare basal variant of the R1b1 Y-chromosomal haplogroup. Genome-wide analyses demonstrate that these people had a significant Yamnaya-derived (i.e. steppe) ancestry component and a close genetic resemblance to the Corded Ware (and related) groups that were present in large parts of Northern and Central Europe at the time. Assuming that the Gjerrild skeletons are genetically representative of the population of the SGC in broader terms, the transition from the local Neolithic Funnel Beaker Culture (TRB) to SGC is not characterized by demographic continuity. Rather, the emergence of SGC in Denmark was part of the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age population expansion that swept across the European continent in the 3rd millennium BCE, resulting in various degrees of genetic replacement and admixture processes with previous Neolithic populations. PLOS ONE PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.
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We present a high-resolution cross-disciplinary analysis of kinship structure and social institutions in two Late Copper Age Bell Beaker culture cemeteries of South Germany containing 24 and 18 burials, of which 34 provided genetic... more
We present a high-resolution cross-disciplinary analysis of kinship structure and social institutions in two Late Copper Age Bell Beaker culture cemeteries of South Germany containing 24 and 18 burials, of which 34 provided genetic information. By combining archaeological, anthropological, genetic and isotopic evidence we are able to document the internal kinship and residency structure of the cemeteries and the socially organizing principles of these local communities. The buried individuals represent four to six generations of two family groups, one nuclear family at the Alburg cemetery, and one seemingly more extended at Irl-bach. While likely monogamous, they practiced exogamy, as six out of eight non-locals are women. Maternal genetic diversity is high with 23 different mitochondrial haplotypes from 34 individuals, whereas all males belong to one single Y-chromosome haplogroup without any detectable contribution from Y-chromosomes typical of the farmers who had been the sole inhabitants of the region hundreds of years before. This provides evidence for the society being patrilocal, perhaps as a way of protecting property among the male line, while in-marriage from many different places secured social and political networks and prevented inbreeding. We also find evidence that the communities practiced selection for which of their PLOS ONE PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.
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Extensive supplementary information about archaeological contexts of all sampled individuals, plus procedures, data quality assessments etc
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The maritime expansion of Scandinavian populations during the Viking Age (about ad 750-1050) was a far-flung transformation in world history 1,2. Here we sequenced the genomes of 442 humans from archaeological sites across Europe and... more
The maritime expansion of Scandinavian populations during the Viking Age (about ad 750-1050) was a far-flung transformation in world history 1,2. Here we sequenced the genomes of 442 humans from archaeological sites across Europe and Greenland (to a median depth of about 1×) to understand the global influence of this expansion. We find the Viking period involved gene flow into Scandinavia from the south and east. We observe genetic structure within Scandinavia, with diversity hotspots in the south and restricted gene flow within Scandinavia. We find evidence for a major influx of Danish ancestry into England; a Swedish influx into the Baltic; and Norwegian influx into Ireland, Iceland and Greenland. Additionally, we see substantial ancestry from elsewhere in Europe entering Scandinavia during the Viking Age. Our ancient DNA analysis also revealed that a Viking expedition included close family members. By comparing with modern populations, we find that pigmentation-associated loci have undergone strong population differentiation during the past millennium, and trace positively selected loci-including the lactase-persistence allele of LCT and alleles of ANKA that are associated with the immune response-in detail. We conclude that the Viking diaspora was characterized by substantial transregional engagement: distinct populations influenced the genomic makeup of different regions of Europe, and Scandinavia experienced increased contact with the rest of the continent. The events of the Viking Age altered the political, cultural and demographic map of Europe in ways that are evident to this day. Scandinavian diasporas established trade and settlements that stretched from the American continent to the Asian steppe 1. They exported ideas, technologies , language, beliefs and practices to these lands, developed new socio-political structures and assimilated cultural influences 2. To explore the genomic history of the Viking Age, we shotgun-sequenced DNA extracted from 442 human remains from archaeological sites dating from the Bronze Age (about 2400 bc) to the Early Modern period (about ad 1600) (Fig. 1, Extended Data Fig. 1). Although Viking Age Scandinavian populations shared a common cultural background, there was no common word for Scandinavian identity at this time 1. Rather than there being a single 'Viking world', a series of interlinked Viking worlds emerged from rapidly growing maritime exploration, trade, war and settlement, following the adoption https://doi.
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The European continent was subject to two major migrations of peoples during the Holocene: the northwestward movement of Anatolian farmer populations during the Neolithic and the westward movement of Yamnaya steppe peoples during the... more
The European continent was subject to two major migrations of peoples during the Holocene: the northwestward movement of Anatolian farmer populations during the Neolithic and the westward movement of Yamnaya steppe peoples during the Bronze Age. These movements changed the genetic composition of the continent's inhabitants. The Holocene was also characterized by major changes in vegetation composition, which altered the environment occupied by the original hunter-gatherer populations. We aim to test to what extent vegetation change through time is associated with changes in population composition as a consequence of these migrations, or with changes in climate. Using ancient DNA in combination with geostatisti-cal techniques, we produce detailed maps of ancient population movements, which allow us to visualize how these migrations unfolded through time and space. We find that the spread of Neolithic farmer ancestry had a two-pronged wavefront, in agreement with similar findings on the cultural spread of farming from radiocarbon-dated archaeological sites. This movement, however, did not have a strong association with changes in the vegetational landscape. In contrast, the Yamnaya migration speed was at least twice as fast and coincided with a reduction in the amount of broad-leaf forest and an increase in the amount of pasture and natural grasslands in the continent. We demonstrate the utility of integrating ancient genomes with archaeometric datasets in a spatiotemporal statistical framework, which we foresee will enable future studies of ancient popu-lations' movements, and their putative effects on local fauna and flora. migrations | ancient DNA | Neolithic | Bronze Age | land cover U p until about 8,500 y before present (BP), Europe was largely populated by groups of hunter-gatherers living at relatively low densities. This scenario changed when a wave of populations from the Middle East entered Europe via Ana-tolia, as evinced by recent ancient DNA studies (1-3). Studies based on radiocarbon-dated domestic plants, animals, and finds from associated contexts suggest that this migration wave spread farming practices into the region, initiating the Neolithic revolution in Europe (4-9). A second massive wave of movement occurred later, at the beginning of the Bronze Age, when populations associated with the Yamnaya culture in the Pontic steppe entered the continent from the east (10-12). These groups may have introduced horse herding and proto-Indo-European languages as they moved westward and are associated with the Corded Ware culture in central and northern Europe and, later on, the Bell Beaker phenomenon in northwestern Europe (13-16). Over the last 10,000 y, the continent also underwent major changes in its land-cover composition, but it is unclear how much the Neolithic and Yamnaya migrations contributed to these changes. Recent pollen-based studies suggest that a dramatic reduction of broad-leaf forests occurred from about 6,000 BP until the present (17). This deforestation intensified from around 2,200 BP, resulting in a replacement of these forests by grassland and arable land throughout the continent (18, 19). These processes , however, did not occur at the same rate throughout all regions. For example, while considerable decreases in broad-leaf forests occurred in central Europe starting around 4,000 BP, the Atlantic seaboard was predominantly occupied by semiopen vegetation since well before this time, while southern Scandinavia experienced less significant reductions in forest cover, at least until the Middle Ages (19-21). Presumably, these phenomena were partly effected by new human land-use activities involving forest clearance and the establishment of farming and herding practices, as earlier hunter-gatherer groups likely had limited effects on their surrounding flora and fauna (although see refs. 22 and 23). Changes in climate patterns may have also played a role in vegetation changes. Additionally, changes in vegetation may have opened up new areas for populations to expand. Until now, however, few efforts have been carried out to explicitly link changes in paleovegetation to particular human population movements, or to distinguish between climatic and human-based factors, assuming these had causal roles in these changes (but see refs. 18 and 24). In this study, we aim to trace how the major Holocene migrations unfolded across the European continent over time and to understand how they were associated with changes in the Significance We present a study to model the spread of ancestry in ancient genomes through time and space and a geostatistical framework for comparing human migrations and land-cover changes, while accounting for changes in climate. We show that the two major migrations during the European Holocene had different spatiotemporal structures and expansion rates. In addition, we find that the Yamnaya expansion had a stronger association with vegetational landscape changes than the earlier Neolithic farmer expansion. Our approach paves the way for future work linking paleogenomics with other archaeometric datasets in the study of the past.
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& Lidija Milašinović5Milašinović5 Radiocarbon dating is paramount for chronologically defining the rise of polities in the Middle Bronze Age Carpathian Basin. This article presents a suite of new radiocarbon dates obtained from sites... more
& Lidija Milašinović5Milašinović5 Radiocarbon dating is paramount for chronologically defining the rise of polities in the Middle Bronze Age Carpathian Basin. This article presents a suite of new radiocarbon dates obtained from sites associated with the Early and Middle Bronze Age Maros Group, and its Late Bronze Age successors in the Tisza-Maros region of southeast Hungary, western Romania and northern Serbia. The results indicate tight chronological synchronisation of Middle Bronze Age settlements and cemeteries in the Maros region, while confirming the accuracy of ceramic-based relative chronology for the Szo ̋reg cemetery.
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Northeastern Siberia has been inhabited by humans for more than 40,000 years but its deep population history remains poorly understood. Here we investigate the late Pleistocene population history of northeastern Siberia through analyses... more
Northeastern Siberia has been inhabited by humans for more than 40,000 years but its deep population history remains poorly understood. Here we investigate the late Pleistocene population history of northeastern Siberia through analyses of 34 newly recovered ancient genomes that date to between 31,000 and 600 years ago. We document complex population dynamics during this period, including at least three major migration events: an initial peopling by a previously unknown Palaeolithic population of 'Ancient North Siberians' who are distantly related to early West Eurasian hunter-gatherers; the arrival of East Asian-related peoples, which gave rise to 'Ancient Palaeo-Siberians' who are closely related to contemporary communities from far-northeastern Siberia (such as the Koryaks), as well as Native Americans; and a Holocene migration of other East Asian-related peoples, who we name 'Neo-Siberians', and from whom many contemporary Siberians are descended. Each of these population expansions largely replaced the earlier inhabitants, and ultimately generated the mosaic genetic make-up of contemporary peoples who inhabit a vast area across northern Eurasia and the Americas.
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Popular article based on interviews with archaeogenetics. Il y a cinq mille ans, ce mystérieux peuple venu des steppes russes a conquis l’Europe en un temps éclair. Des études génétiques montrent que les Européens seraient tous des... more
Popular article based on interviews with archaeogenetics. Il y a cinq mille ans, ce mystérieux
peuple venu des steppes russes
a conquis l’Europe en un temps
éclair. Des études génétiques
montrent que les Européens
seraient tous des descendants
de ces féroces envahisseurs
peuple venu des steppes russes
a conquis l’Europe en un temps
éclair. Des études génétiques
montrent que les Européens
seraient tous des descendants
de ces féroces envahisseurs
Research Interests:
We present results of the largest multidisciplinary human mobility investigation to date of skeletal remains from present-day Denmark encompassing the 3 rd and 2 nd millennia BC. Through a multi-analytical approach based on 88 individuals... more
We present results of the largest multidisciplinary human mobility investigation to date of skeletal remains from present-day Denmark encompassing the 3 rd and 2 nd millennia BC. Through a multi-analytical approach based on 88 individuals from 37 different archaeological localities in which we combine strontium isotope and radiocarbon analyses together with anthropological investigations, we explore whether there are significant changes in human mobility patterns during this period. Overall, our data suggest that mobility of people seems to have been continuous throughout the 3 rd and 2 nd millennia BC. However, our data also indicate a clear shift in mobility patterns from around 1600 BC onwards, with a larger variation in the geographical origin of the migrants, and potentially including more distant regions. This shift occurred during a transition period at the beginning of the Nordic Bronze Age at a time when society flourished, expanded and experienced an unprecedented economic growth, suggesting that these aspects were closely related.
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European Bronze Age swords had high functional and symbolic value, and therefore they are an interesting case for approaching questions of provenance and trade in Bronze Age Europe. It is often assumed that there is a strong affinity... more
European Bronze Age swords had high functional and symbolic value, and therefore they are an interesting case for approaching questions of provenance and trade in Bronze Age Europe. It is often assumed that there is a strong affinity between metal supplies and artefact type. However, this study demonstrates that metal supply and sword types are mostly unrelated. In this paper we present a comparative provenance study of 118 Bronze Age swords, which includes lead isotope and trace elemental data for swords from Scandinavia, Germany and Italy dated between 1600 and 1100 BCE. About 70% of the swords have been analysed and published before while about 30% have been sampled and analysed for this study. The chronology and geography of the deposited swords indicate that the different regions relied on different metal trade routes which changed during the course of the Bronze Age.
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Arponen et al.’s paper is a timely discussion paper which raises basic issues about the relationship between environmental science and archaeology, and thus about the relationship between science and archaeology more broadly. My comments... more
Arponen et al.’s paper is a timely discussion paper which raises basic issues about the relationship between environmental science and archaeology, and thus about the relationship between science and archaeology more broadly. My comments will therefore begin with a discussion of the nature of interdisciplinary research, as a background for re-evaluating the question of determinism in environmental research. Thus more recently we have seen a critical concern or even anxiety emerge over how to reconcile science-based and humanistic traditions of interpretation in a period of expanding importance of science-based knowledge in aDNA studies (Callaway 2018; Sørensen 2017; Kristiansen 2017). It raises the question of their relationship and of what provides good practice.
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Here the science journalist Colin Barras has interviewed archaeologists and geneticists to explain how the Yamnaya migrations succeed in wiping out Neolithic populations
Research Interests:
The genome of an ancient strain of Yersinia pestis from Neolithic farmers 4,900 years ago represents the oldest discovered case of the plague and allows characterization of the spread and diversification of multiple basal lineages,... more
The genome of an ancient strain of
Yersinia pestis from Neolithic farmers
4,900 years ago represents the oldest
discovered case of the plague and allows
characterization of the spread and
diversification of multiple basal lineages,
potentially contributing to the Neolithic
decline.
Yersinia pestis from Neolithic farmers
4,900 years ago represents the oldest
discovered case of the plague and allows
characterization of the spread and
diversification of multiple basal lineages,
potentially contributing to the Neolithic
decline.
Research Interests:
This paper introduces a theoretical framework for explaining different forms of migratory expansions and how they relate the genetic, cultural and environmental changes during the fifth-first millennium BCE. Three forms of migratory... more
This paper introduces a theoretical framework for explaining different forms of migratory expansions and how they relate the genetic, cultural and environmental changes during the fifth-first millennium BCE. Three forms of migratory expansions are proposed: community-based farming colonization, pastoral male dominated migrations, and finally conquest migrations for new land. Forces of change, as well as mechanisms of cultural inclusion and exclusion are outlined. Finally, the future of the third science revolution and its effects is discussed.
Research Interests:
We are currently accumulating knowledge about Yamnaya and Corded Ware in an unprecedented speed. Big infrastructure measures and their accompanying large-scale rescue excavations are no longer restricted to Central, Northwestern and... more
We are currently accumulating knowledge about Yamnaya and Corded Ware in an unprecedented speed. Big infrastructure measures and their accompanying large-scale rescue excavations are no longer restricted to Central, Northwestern and Northern Europe but all countries of Eastern and Southeastern Europe are catching up. This enlarges our data corpus dramatically. Besides the example of Yamnaya radiocarbon dates given in the introduction, new bio-anthropological data, bio-marker lipid analyses, proteomic and multi-isotopic signatures are being assembled, not to forget ancient DNA samples nowadays screened in their upper hundreds every year. We discuss the implications of this data explosion for interpretation.
Research Interests:
This paper introduces a theoretical framework for explaining different forms of migratory expansions and how they relate the genetic, cultural and environmental changes during the fifth-first millennium BCE. Three forms of migratory... more
This paper introduces a theoretical framework for explaining different forms of migratory expansions and how they relate the genetic, cultural and environmental changes during the fifth-first millennium BCE. Three forms of migratory expansions are proposed: community-based farming colonization, pastoral male dominated migrations, and finally conquest migrations for new land. Forces of change, as well as mechanisms of cultural inclusion and exclusion are outlined. Finally, the future of the third science revolution and its effects is discussed. The Third Science revoluTion in ArchAeology Right now archaeology is experiencing its third science revolution (Kristiansen 2014). 1 Common to all three revolutions: the Darwinian revolution introducing to archaeology principles of stratification, deep time and evolution (1850-60), the C14 revolution introducing absolute dating (1950-1960), and now the DNA revolution introducing to archaeology prehistoric population genomics and migrations (2010-2020)-is the transformation of previous relative knowledge to absolute knowledge. 2 In doing so they freed intellectual resources to be spent on explaining change rather than describing and debating Preprint from Daniels, Megan (ed.), Homo Migrans: Modeling Mobility and Migration in Human History. Albany: SUNY-Press, (Proceedings from a conference in Buffalo, March 2018, manuscript completed 2019). There may be small editorial and formatting changes between this version and the final publication.
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Thy forms a maritime nodal point for North Sea travels; via the calm waters of the Limfjord to the east, Thy connects with Kattegat and the west coast of Sweden. The amber-rich North Sea coast to the west would have been the starting... more
Thy forms a maritime nodal point for North Sea travels; via the calm waters of the Limfjord to the east, Thy connects with Kattegat and the west coast of Sweden. The amber-rich North Sea coast to the west would have been the starting point for sea journeys to Norway in the north, to the rivers Elbe and Weser, and Ems and Rhine fur- ther south, and possibly also for travels across the North Sea to the United Kingdom. From a mari- time point of view, Thy occupied a key position, one
which entrepreneurial chiefs could exploit to their advantage as a potential bottleneck for both north- south and east-west maritime trade (Earle and oth- ers 2015; Skoglund 2017). In the following we will delve more deeply into the role of Thy in this wider interregional and international trade network, which brought not only goods, but also people to Thy.
which entrepreneurial chiefs could exploit to their advantage as a potential bottleneck for both north- south and east-west maritime trade (Earle and oth- ers 2015; Skoglund 2017). In the following we will delve more deeply into the role of Thy in this wider interregional and international trade network, which brought not only goods, but also people to Thy.
Research Interests: Bronze Age Amber Trade, European Copper and Bronze Age – Archaeometallurgy – Prehistoric Metalworking in Social Context – Settlement Archaeology – Application of Geophysical Methods in Archaeology – Neolithic – Theory / Cultural Anthropology – Material Culture Studies, and Holocene ecology and environmental change
This chapter summarizes the history of the Nordic TAG (Theoretical Archaeology Group) meetings and their programs, number of participants etc.
Research Interests:
This book will be an eye-opener for archaeology. It presents a global but contextualized analysis and interpretation of evidence for the role played by captives in small- scale (i.e. ‘nonstate’) societies. And this role was not a minor... more
This book will be an eye-opener for archaeology. It presents a global but contextualized analysis and interpretation of evidence for the role played by captives in small- scale (i.e. ‘nonstate’) societies. And this role was not a minor one: from ten to thirty percent of the population in such societies were made up of captives, most of them women and children.
Research Interests: Slave Trade and Captives
A hoard Period IV containing both whole sets of female orna- ments and some scrap metal was deposited in two parts, separating the scrap metal and the whole objects. Among the scrap metal was also found personal male objects of a Nordic... more
A hoard Period IV containing both whole sets of female orna- ments and some scrap metal was deposited in two parts, separating the scrap metal and the whole objects. Among the scrap metal was also found personal male objects of a Nordic razor and a metal arrowhead. The hoard contained mostly Nordic objects, some freshly cast, but also imports from northern Germany/Poland, which suggests a travelling metal smith as the person who deposited the two parts of the hoard.
Research Interests:
A package of new weapons from long swords to chariots reshaped Bronze Age political economies in order to support a new institution of warrior aristocracies. It introduced a new political dynamic reflected in changing confederations and... more
A package of new weapons from long swords to chariots reshaped Bronze Age political economies in order to support a new institution of warrior aristocracies. It introduced a new political dynamic reflected in changing confederations and trade routes.
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This final chapter discusses how the introduction of wool affected societies substantially and in ways that we are only now beginning to comprehend.
Research Interests:
This is an archaeological investigation into the possible origin of Proto-Indo-Anatolian (PIA) and the first split into a non-Anatolian and an Anatolian branch. In historical linguistics it is generally accepted that Anatolian represents... more
This is an archaeological investigation into the possible origin of Proto-Indo-Anatolian (PIA) and the first split into a non-Anatolian and an Anatolian branch. In historical linguistics it is generally accepted that Anatolian represents the oldest split, at a time when PIA was still in its early stage. Likewise, Tocharian represents the second and much later split. This second split can now be documented archaeologically and genetically, which may serve as a chronological and geographical
boundary for locating the Anatolian split further back in time
boundary for locating the Anatolian split further back in time
Research Interests:
This chapter provides a theoretical framework for the formation of international trade and civilization during the Bronze Age after 3000 BC, while at the same time it situates the various contributions within this theoretical context. The... more
This chapter provides a theoretical framework for the formation of international trade and civilization during the Bronze Age after 3000 BC, while at the same time it situates the various contributions within this theoretical context. The focus is thus primarily on the emergence of the constituting elements of trade, as they remained in force throughout history, and accompanied the expansion of trade and civilization. This introductory chapter thus forms a prologue to the book, while the two last chapters form the epilogue.
Research Interests:
While early Bronze Age centers of Civilization, Mesopotamia and Egypt, were highly productive and therefore could sustain urban populations, they lacked metals needed in the economy for tools, weapons and ornaments, just as they lacked... more
While early Bronze Age centers of Civilization, Mesopotamia and Egypt, were highly productive and therefore could sustain urban populations, they lacked metals needed in the economy for tools, weapons and ornaments, just as they lacked precious metals and highly valued products such as Lapis lazuli, gold, silver and amber. Tin needed for bronze is extremely rare and had to be traded in from distant sources as well. All of this meant that more peripheral regions with access to such materials had to be enrolled into the commercial networks of these early Bronze Age states. The implications of this center-periphery structure have not been dealt with in a systematic way until more recently (Kristiansen and Larsson 2005; Beaujard 2012), and it is therefore the theme of this contribution.
Research Interests:
SwePub titelinformation: Institutions and material culture : towards an intercontextual archaeology.
The role of households for Bronze Age political economies is analyzed in both the short term and the long-tern. A thereotical framework is presented that accountf for the rise and decline of the Bronze Age household (see also article... more
The role of households for Bronze Age political economies is analyzed in both the short term and the long-tern. A thereotical framework is presented that accountf for the rise and decline of the Bronze Age household (see also article Bronze Age Herostrats).
Research Interests:
The aim of this paper is twofold: a) to model and explaining-term changes in Neolithic and Bronze Age tribal systems of northern Europe (approximately 4000-500 BC) based on a regional sample (a vertical cut); and b) to unfold and explain... more
The aim of this paper is twofold: a) to model and explaining-term changes in Neolithic and Bronze Age tribal systems of northern Europe (approximately 4000-500 BC) based on a regional sample (a vertical cut); and b) to unfold and explain the dynamics of the larger tribal system based on the evidence of the Nordic Bronze Age (a horizontal cut).
Research Interests:
Archaeology in the Making is a collection of bold statements about archaeology, its history, how it works, and why it is more important than ever. This book comprises conversations about archaeology among some of its notable contemporary... more
Archaeology in the Making is a collection of bold statements about archaeology, its history, how it works, and why it is more important than ever. This book comprises conversations about archaeology among some of its notable contemporary figures. They delve deeply into the questions that have come to fascinate archaeologists over the last forty years or so, those that concern major events in human history such as the origins of agriculture and the state, and questions about the way archaeologists go about their work. Many of the conversations highlight quite intensely held personal insight into what motivates us to pursue archaeology; some may even be termed outrageous in the light they shed on the way archaeological institutions operate – excavation teams, professional associations, university departments.
Archaeology in the Making is a unique document detailing the history of archaeology in second half of the 20th century to the present day through the words of some of its key proponents. It will be invaluable for anybody who wants to understand the theory and practice of this ever developing discipline.
Archaeology in the Making is a unique document detailing the history of archaeology in second half of the 20th century to the present day through the words of some of its key proponents. It will be invaluable for anybody who wants to understand the theory and practice of this ever developing discipline.
Research Interests:
It is argued here that the new forms of mobility instantiated by the demand for metals set Bronze Age political economies apart from what had gone before. Transport by sea and by land was transformed by innovative technologies (the sail,... more
It is argued here that the new forms of mobility instantiated by the demand for metals set Bronze Age political economies apart from what had gone before. Transport by sea and by land was transformed by innovative technologies (the sail, the chariot), enabling long-distance mobility, especially when combined. Th ese changes helped create a new interconnected 'globalised' world without historical precedent. In this chapter it is suggested that fl ows of people and material were facilitated by certain social institutions, with a widely shared tradition of warrior chiefs and traders primarily responsible.
Research Interests:
This article discusses the possibility of social division and the presence of commoners in south Scandinavia during the Early Bronze Age. The discussion is based on new scientific and archaeological data generated in the project Travels,... more
This article discusses the possibility of social division and the presence of commoners in south Scandinavia during the Early Bronze Age. The discussion is based on new scientific and archaeological data generated in the project Travels, transmissions and
transformations in temperate northern Europe during the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC: The rise of Bronze Age societies. Based on a comprehensive radiocarbon dating program, we were able to re-assign many skeletons, previously assumed to be Late Neolithic, to the Bronze Age. This accounted for a significant proportion of non-elite burials (including those of children) that had previously been ‘mysteriously’ missing in the archaeological Bronze Age record. Moreover, strontium isotope analyses reveal that individuals seem to be mobile regardless of their wealth status and burial rituals. It suggests a society where workers and perhaps even nonfree
labourers were mobile, not only the elite segment.
transformations in temperate northern Europe during the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC: The rise of Bronze Age societies. Based on a comprehensive radiocarbon dating program, we were able to re-assign many skeletons, previously assumed to be Late Neolithic, to the Bronze Age. This accounted for a significant proportion of non-elite burials (including those of children) that had previously been ‘mysteriously’ missing in the archaeological Bronze Age record. Moreover, strontium isotope analyses reveal that individuals seem to be mobile regardless of their wealth status and burial rituals. It suggests a society where workers and perhaps even nonfree
labourers were mobile, not only the elite segment.
Abstract: In this article I examine how long-term economic strategies in the Bronze Age of northern Europe between 2300 and 500 BCE transformed the environment and thus created and imposed new ecological constraints that finally led to a... more
Abstract: In this article I examine how long-term economic strategies in the Bronze Age of northern Europe between 2300 and 500 BCE transformed the environment and thus created and imposed new ecological constraints that finally led to a major social transformation and a" dark age" that became the start of the new long-term cycle of the Iron Age. During the last 30 years hundreds of well-excavated farmsteads and houses from south Scandinavia have made it possible to reconstruct the size and the structure of settlement and individual ...
Research Interests:
SwePub titelinformation: Kivikgraven, Wismarhornet, Simrisristningerne og den nordiske bronzealders begyndelse.
A synthesis of settlement and society during the Bronze Age of Northern Europe.
The history of ecological studies in Denmark from Worsaae and Steenstrup onwards is described, and based on this two types of research environments are discussed
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This paper examines the rise and fall of chiefdoms and archaic states in Scandinavia 2000 BC - 1000 AD
Research Interests:
The paper describes through graphs how the modernization of farming led to the destruction of archaeological monunments during the 19th century, and the subsequent formation of museums collections, followed by legislation in the 20th... more
The paper describes through graphs how the modernization of farming led to the destruction of archaeological monunments during the 19th century, and the subsequent formation of museums collections, followed by legislation in the 20th century
Research Interests:
The paper outlines a theoretical model for the relationship between ideology and material culture, which is applcied in two case studies of Neolithic and Bronze Age northern EUrope
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The paper demonstrates how different social groups have used and forwarded museums and heritage in Denmark between 1800 to 1975. It links the development of archaeology closely to the rise of dominant social classes, from the aristocracy... more
The paper demonstrates how different social groups have used and forwarded museums and heritage in Denmark between 1800 to 1975. It links the development of archaeology closely to the rise of dominant social classes, from the aristocracy to farmers and the modern middle classes.
Research Interests:
Changes in circulation time of bronzes is linked to changes in metal supplies, economy and demography during the period 1500-500 BC in Denmark. By applying quantative methods systematic relations can be demonstrated between the three... more
Changes in circulation time of bronzes is linked to changes in metal supplies, economy and demography during the period 1500-500 BC in Denmark. By applying quantative methods systematic relations can be demonstrated between the three variables.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The article traces the introduction of warrior aristocracies in Europe during the Middle Bronze Age, their material culture and their long-term history.
Research Interests:
The relationship between archaeology and historical language studies is discussed, and a new model for their interactaion presented. Based on this a new synthesis of language transformation in Scandianvia from 3000BC to 1000 AD is... more
The relationship between archaeology and historical language studies is discussed, and a new model for their interactaion presented. Based on this a new synthesis of language transformation in Scandianvia from 3000BC to 1000 AD is presented.
Research Interests:
Kristiansen, K. 2007. The Rules of the Game. Decentralised Complexity and Power Structures. I. In Kohring, S. and Wynne-Jones, S. (red.), Socialising Complexity. Structure, Interaction and Power in Archaeological Discourse. Oxford. In... more
Kristiansen, K. 2007. The Rules of the Game. Decentralised Complexity and Power Structures. I.
In Kohring, S. and Wynne-Jones, S. (red.), Socialising Complexity. Structure, Interaction and
Power in Archaeological Discourse. Oxford.
In this chapter I propose that the Bronze Age of southern Scandinavia offers a uniquely
preserved and well-analysed archaeological database for highlighting important
aspects of what I will term decentralised complexity
In Kohring, S. and Wynne-Jones, S. (red.), Socialising Complexity. Structure, Interaction and
Power in Archaeological Discourse. Oxford.
In this chapter I propose that the Bronze Age of southern Scandinavia offers a uniquely
preserved and well-analysed archaeological database for highlighting important
aspects of what I will term decentralised complexity
The article demosntrates through quantification of citations that archaeological research has become more national and mono-lingual during the last generation, with exceptions for smaller countries. The reasons for this situation are... more
The article demosntrates through quantification of citations that archaeological research has become more national and mono-lingual during the last generation, with exceptions for smaller countries. The reasons for this situation are discussed.
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Sub chapters in 'The discipline of archaeology': What is archaeology?, What archaeologists do and where they work, Avenues of discovery: how archaeological finds are recovered, Archaeological contexts and categories: how finds are... more
Sub chapters in 'The discipline of archaeology': What is archaeology?, What archaeologists do and where they work, Avenues of discovery: how archaeological finds are recovered, Archaeological contexts and categories: how finds are classified, Roads to knowlöedge: how archaeological documentation is stored and retrieved, The changing nature of archaeology - between history and anthropology, the humanities and science, Approaches to interpretation,The politics and ethics of archaeology: between ideology, heritage and academia, The future of archaeology. Appendix: definitions of archaeology.
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The article is a full presentation of the social and economic organization of decentralized Bronze Age societies in northern Europe, their historical trajectory and final transformation at the beginning of the Iron Age.
Research Interests:
The role of materialized memory is analyzed, from swords to rock art and barrows, from travels to combat. Chapters include:Life cycLes, rituaLs and tradition, Biographies of peopLe and things: the warrior Life cycLe, chiefLy warriors and... more
The role of materialized memory is analyzed, from swords to rock art and barrows, from travels to combat.
Chapters include:Life cycLes, rituaLs and tradition, Biographies of peopLe and things: the warrior Life cycLe, chiefLy warriors and rituaL chiefs: tensions and competition, sociaL and rituaL time cycLes and their materiaLisation
Chapters include:Life cycLes, rituaLs and tradition, Biographies of peopLe and things: the warrior Life cycLe, chiefLy warriors and rituaL chiefs: tensions and competition, sociaL and rituaL time cycLes and their materiaLisation
Research Interests:
The Nebra find raises in paradigmatic way central questions about the nature of early Bronze Age religion. In the following paper I propose that by placing it in a wider interdisciplinary field of knowledge it is possible to understand... more
The Nebra find raises in paradigmatic way central questions
about the nature of early Bronze Age religion. In the following
paper I propose that by placing it in a wider interdisciplinary
field of knowledge it is possible to understand the ritual
and religious role of the Nebra find.
It can be demonstrated that it fits very well into a ritual
pattern of depositions, just as its dualism corresponds to a
similar religious dualism in Proto-Indo-European religion,
represented by the heavenly or »Divine Twins«. The two axes
and swords are a worldly representation of these gods who
carried the sun and whose mortal representatives can be
identified by the recurring deposition of twin axes, swords,
helmets and lurs throughout the Bronze Age.
This interpretation further supports the authenticity of
the find. The unique bronze disc with sun, moon, stars and
heavenly ship supports the interpretation of a shared, syncretistic
Bronze Age religion from the Near East to Scandinavia
based upon a sun cult. Just as the Trundholm Sun Disc represents
a specific Nordic interpretation of Near Eastern sun
discs, so the Nebra Sky Disc represents an interpretation of
Near Eastern cosmological iconography and knowledge,
transmitted to a European Bronze Age context. It indicates
that the myth of the journey of the sun was anchored in a
complex astronomic and cosmological system of knowledge
performed by people with a special position in Bronze Age
society, who can be identified in burials and hoard depositions.
Keywords: Bronze Age, ritual depositions, dualism, »Divine
about the nature of early Bronze Age religion. In the following
paper I propose that by placing it in a wider interdisciplinary
field of knowledge it is possible to understand the ritual
and religious role of the Nebra find.
It can be demonstrated that it fits very well into a ritual
pattern of depositions, just as its dualism corresponds to a
similar religious dualism in Proto-Indo-European religion,
represented by the heavenly or »Divine Twins«. The two axes
and swords are a worldly representation of these gods who
carried the sun and whose mortal representatives can be
identified by the recurring deposition of twin axes, swords,
helmets and lurs throughout the Bronze Age.
This interpretation further supports the authenticity of
the find. The unique bronze disc with sun, moon, stars and
heavenly ship supports the interpretation of a shared, syncretistic
Bronze Age religion from the Near East to Scandinavia
based upon a sun cult. Just as the Trundholm Sun Disc represents
a specific Nordic interpretation of Near Eastern sun
discs, so the Nebra Sky Disc represents an interpretation of
Near Eastern cosmological iconography and knowledge,
transmitted to a European Bronze Age context. It indicates
that the myth of the journey of the sun was anchored in a
complex astronomic and cosmological system of knowledge
performed by people with a special position in Bronze Age
society, who can be identified in burials and hoard depositions.
Keywords: Bronze Age, ritual depositions, dualism, »Divine
Research Interests:
In this volume, which is the outcome of the four-year long collaboration project SARA (Scandinavian and Atlantic Rock Art) between the archaeology department at University of Gothenburg and the Laboratory of Heritage of Spanish National... more
In this volume, which is the outcome of the four-year long collaboration project SARA (Scandinavian and Atlantic Rock Art) between the archaeology department at University of Gothenburg and the Laboratory of Heritage of Spanish National Research Council, nine papers summarize new excavation and survey results, advanced studies of iconography and intriguing landscape studies. It addresses topics such as human activities in the vicinity and surroundings of rock-art panels, movement and communication, ritual and symbolism, and finally representations and constructions of landscapes. The book is a sophisticated study of the rock art of two major regions of prehistoric Europe, but one with implications for research over a much wider area. It is wide-ranging, topical and will no doubt also be controversial. Contributors include Per Nilsson, Manuel Santos Estévez, Yolanda Seoane Veiga, Johan Ling, Åsa C. Fredell, Marco García Quintela, Kristian Kristiansen, Lasse Bengtsson and Felipe Criado Boado. 160p, 53 b/w illus (Oxbow Books 2010)
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Shows how different social groups employed archaeology and history to consolidate their newgained positions during the last 200 years. The epilogue summarize the sad return of neo-nationalism during the last 20 years and its impact on... more
Shows how different social groups employed archaeology and history to consolidate their newgained positions during the last 200 years. The epilogue summarize the sad return of neo-nationalism during the last 20 years and its impact on archaeology and heritage.
Research Interests:
In order to understand the spread of language we need first to understand the social and economic dynamics of the societies that carried those languages we study. Language is in this respect a secondary product of social organisation, and... more
In order to understand the spread of language we need first to understand the social and economic dynamics of the societies that carried those languages we study. Language is in this respect a secondary product of social organisation, and it is social processes of migration, conquest, travels and trade that may lead to language change. In this article I identify two theoretical and methodological strategies that I consider necessary in order to link models of language spread with archaeological models of political and social expansion.
Research Interests:
Summary of chapter from my PhD from 1974 on findcircumstances and interpretation. Quantiative analyses demonstrate regularity in hoard deposition and composition. Part of established ritual tradition. A catalogue of find contets for all... more
Summary of chapter from my PhD from 1974 on findcircumstances and interpretation. Quantiative analyses demonstrate regularity in hoard deposition and composition. Part of established ritual tradition. A catalogue of find contets for all LBA hoards in Denmark is added to the article.
Research Interests:
Bell Beaker pottery spread across western and central Europe beginning around 2750 BCE before disappearing between 2200-1800 BCE. The mechanism of its expansion is a topic of long-standing debate, with support for both cultural diffusion... more
Bell Beaker pottery spread across western and central Europe beginning around 2750 BCE before disappearing between 2200-1800 BCE. The mechanism of its expansion is a topic of long-standing debate, with support for both cultural diffusion and human migration. We present new genome-wide ancient DNA data from 170 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans, including 100 Beaker-associated individuals. In contrast to the Corded Ware Complex, which has previously been identified as arriving in central Europe following migration from the east, we observe limited genetic affinity between Iberian and central European Beaker Complex-associated individuals, and thus exclude migration as a significant mechanism of spread between these two regions. However, human migration did have an important role in the further dissemination of the Beaker Complex, which we document most clearly in Britain using data from 80 newly reported individuals dating to 3900-1200 BCE. British Neolithic farmers were genetically similar to contemporary populations in continental Europe and in particular to Neolithic Iberians, suggesting that a portion of the farmer ancestry in Britain came from the Mediterranean rather than the Danubian route of farming expansion. Beginning with the Beaker period, and continuing through the Bronze Age, all British individuals harboured high proportions of Steppe ancestry and were genetically closely related to Beaker-associated individuals from the Lower Rhine area. We use these observations to show that the spread of the Beaker Complex to Britain was mediated by migration from the continent that replaced >90% of Britain's Neolithic gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the process that brought Steppe ancestry into central and northern Europe 400 years earlier.
Research Interests:
Review of two volume book on more than 1000 Danish two-aisled houses from Neolithic and Early Bronze Age.
