The Cultural Project: Formal Chronological Modelling of the Early and Middle Neolithic Sequence in Lower Alsace

Abstract

Starting from questions about the nature of cultural diversity, this paper examines the pace and tempo of change and the relative importance of continuity and discontinuity. To unravel the cultural project of the past, we apply chronological modelling of radiocarbon dates within a Bayesian statistical framework, to interrogate the Neolithic cultural sequence in Lower Alsace, in the upper Rhine valley, in broad terms from the later sixth to the end of the fifth millennium cal BC. Detailed formal estimates are provided for the long succession of cultural groups, from the early Neolithic Linear Pottery culture (LBK) to the Bischheim Occidental du Rhin Supérieur (BORS) groups at the end of the Middle Neolithic, using seriation and typology of pottery as the starting point in modelling. The rate of ceramic change, as well as frequent shifts in the nature, location and density of settlements, are documented in detail, down to lifetime and generational timescales. This reveals a Neolithic world in Lower Alsace busy with comings and goings, tinkerings and adjustments, and relocations and realignments. A significant hiatus is identified between the end of the LBK and the start of the Hinkelstein group, in the early part of the fifth millennium cal BC. On the basis of modelling of existing dates for other parts of the Rhineland, this appears to be a wider phenomenon, and possible explanations are discussed; full reoccupation of the landscape is only seen in the Grossgartach phase. Radical shifts are also proposed at the end of the Middle Neolithic.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10816-016-9307-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Discrepancies between archaeological and 14C-based chronologies: problems and possible solutions

“…It means that, starting from the relatively restricted area between Lake Balaton and Vienna, the whole area between the Rhine and western Ukraine was densely occupied within only 50 years. Even this time span is probably an overestimate, as on the one hand it starts with the Bíňa phase, which until now has not been attested outside NW Hungary and SW Slovakia, while on the other hand the earliest pits in Alsace in the correspondence analysis are not 14 C dated (Denaire et al 2017. Fig.…”

“…The 'formative phase', dated to 5500-5350 cal BC exclusively by charcoal, may be ignored at this point, even more so as its existence as a separate chronological unit is questionable (Strien 2017). The last study comprised bone collagen dates for the whole of the lower Alsatian Early and Middle Neolithic sequence (Denaire et al 2017). The beginning of LBK settlement in this region was probably around 5300 cal BC or the first half of 53 rd century.…”

The Mississippian Fin De Siècle in the Middle Cumberland Region of Tennessee

“…There has yet to be a project in North America on the same scale as this British chronological work (Hamilton and Krus 2018; Thompson and Krus 2018), in part because this kind of enterprise represents a daunting logistic and fiscal challenge. For example, the chronological modeling projects overseen by Alex Bayliss at Historic England have involved the careful submission and selection of thousands of samples for new radiocarbon dates (for example, see Bayliss et al 2011; Denaire et al 2017; Richards et al 2016; Tasić et al 2016; Whittle et al 2016).…”

A new approach to the temporal significance of house orientations in European Early Neolithic settlements

“…In eastern France, in Alsace, a change in house orientation was observed in several settlements [34][35][36]. The phasing of the houses is based on a thorough ceramic sequence that was used for Bayesian modeling of high quality 14 C-dates [37]. In Bischoffsheim, houses which are attributed to the oldest phase have orientations between 283˚and 335˚, with the majority oriented between 300˚and 320˚.…”