Journal articles on the topic 'Bell Beaker common ware'

The Bell Beaker is a culture of the Final Neolithic, which spread across Europe between 2900 and 1800 BC. Since its origin is still widely discussed, we have been focusing our analysis on the transition from the Final Neolithic pre-Bell Beaker to the Bell Beaker. We thus seek to evaluate the importance of Neolithic influence in the establishment of the Bell Beaker by studying the common ware pottery and its chronology. Among the 26 main types of common ware defined by Marie Besse (2003), we selected the most relevant ones in order to determine—on the basis of their absolute dating–their appearance either in the Bell Beaker period or in the pre-Bell Beaker groups.

From the Middle Copper Age in the mid-4th millennium cal BC, and throughout the whole Late Copper Age, we observe the emergence of supra-regional, expansionistic ‘cultures’. Originating in south-east Europe, they expanded into central and northern Europe, eventually reaching the west and the margins. Typical of these are the Černavoda III/Boleráz cultures; then, later, the Baden sequence, along with the Globular Amphora Culture adjacent to the northern arc of the Carpathian mountains. The Corded Ware/Single Grave Cultures, and finally the Bell Beaker Culture, follow in a third stage from the first quarter of the 3rd millennium cal BC. The latter expand – emerging from the Iberian Peninsula according to current research – towards the east in a fourth stage, reaching Britain and Ireland, Central Europe, and the central Mediterranean by 2500 cal BC. It is now common knowledge that this Bell Beaker phenomenon does not represent a homogeneous unit, but splits into at least four supra-regional groupings. Of these, the Central European, or Bell Beaker East Group, is the focus of this study.The many published and well-dated assemblages along the Danube between southern Germany and western Hungary, and also in the Czech Republic, allow us to pose questions concerning the social organisation of these Beaker societies. Extended families, without visible hierarchies between them, are mirrored in cemeteries as the basic social unit. The settlement pattern seems to consist of single farmsteads, often closely spaced and each inhabited by one of these extended families. As self-sufficient, but flexibly organised and already partly specialised economic units, they demonstrate an equal exchange of information, goods, genes, and social values. Existing fundamental hierarchies within these families are demonstrated, however, by unequal burial customs, in particular the inclusion of prestige objects in some graves, and by some lavishly equipped child burials of both sexes, as well as in the portrayal of some individuals in death as hunters or warriors, buried with archery equipment.Bell Beaker society displays an intermediate position between ranked and stratified societies, with signs that it was evolving towards simple chiefdoms. However, this stage of social organisation is only fully reached in Central Europe during the second half of the Early Bronze Age, from 2000 cal BC onwards.

The contribution presents the results of a comprehensive study of the Late Copper Age Deschmann’s pile-dwelling sites near Ig in the Ljubljansko barje, central Slovenia. It opens with a history of research and goes on to tackle the main topics associated with the cultural attribution of the sites. A re-examination of the recovered pottery and available archival records, coupled with a new typological and chronological analysis of the small finds has enabled a cultural and chronological redefinition of the Ljubljana culture and its characteristic pottery. In addition to the typical vessel forms, usually decorated with whipped-cord impressions, the newly-defined Ljubljana culture includes common ware that reveals influences primarily from the Somogyvár-Vinkovci culture in the Carpathian Basin. Some of the vessels of the Ljubljana culture also follow the tradition of the Vučedol culture, while others reflect the influences and maybe contacts with the Corded Ware, Globular Amphora and Bell Beaker cultures.

‘It is the slippery assemblages and the social traditions they represent, that we are trying to precipitate from the mass of beaker data’. Clarke 1970, 33The pottery we collectively call ‘Beakers’ is united by the thread of a potting and style tradition, Wrapped up in that tradition are also expressions concerning what such a pot is for and who it may represent. Both style and those embedded meanings mutate through the long currency of British Beakers. Indeed, the newly emerging chronology for Beaker grave groups suggests that there was one critical point of rapid mutation in both pot form and associated artefacts. This phase is referred to as a fission horizon, c. 2250–2150 cal BC, and it underlines the difficulties that past schemes of steady evolution have run into.In reviewing the continental background for Beaker-carrying cultures, a corridor of Bell Beaker/Corded Ware fusion is perceived along the southern flanks of the Channel. This created a modified spectrum of Beaker culture which stands at the head of the insular phenomenon. The long ensuing currency of Beaker pottery and Beaker graves in Britain does not hold up as a unified, steadily evolving entity. Instead, three ‘phases of meaning’ can be suggested: 1) Beaker as circumscribed, exclusive culture; 2) Beaker as instituted culture; 3) Beaker as past reference. The fission horizon initiates phase 2.

Europe’s prehistory oversaw dynamic and complex interactions of diverse societies, hitherto unexplored at detailed regional scales. Studying 271 human genomes dated ~4900 to 1600 BCE from the European heartland, Bohemia, we reveal unprecedented genetic changes and social processes. Major migrations preceded the arrival of “steppe” ancestry, and at ~2800 BCE, three genetically and culturally differentiated groups coexisted. Corded Ware appeared by 2900 BCE, were initially genetically diverse, did not derive all steppe ancestry from known Yamnaya, and assimilated females of diverse backgrounds. Both Corded Ware and Bell Beaker groups underwent dynamic changes, involving sharp reductions and complete replacements of Y-chromosomal diversity at ~2600 and ~2400 BCE, respectively, the latter accompanied by increased Neolithic-like ancestry. The Bronze Age saw new social organization emerge amid a ≥40% population turnover.

This paper seeks to re-examine the long-held view that the Celtic language developed somewhere in west central Europe and was carried westwards to the Atlantic zone, eventually reaching Ireland. An overview of the archaeological evidence for Atlantic connectivity illustrates the longue durée of community interactions along the seaways, beginning around 9000 BC, to the second quarter of the 3rd millennium. At this time mobility increased dramatically and it has been shown clearly that the Maritime Bell Beaker package spread eastwards to impact on and interact with the Battle Axe/Corded Ware tradition. Connectivity was at its most intense during the subsequent Atlantic Bronze Age until, from the 8th century BC, what had been a unified zone began to fragment into a series of regional systems. This broad archaeological scenario, with its firm chronological framework, receives more support from recent DNA studies than does the previous view, which drew heavily on ancient and (now) antiquarian views of Celticness and invasion hypotheses. It is posited that the Celtic language could in fact have emerged in the Atlantic zone and spread eastwards.

Since aDNA research suggested a marked gene influx from Eastern into Central Europe in the 3rd millenniumbc, outdated, simplistic narratives of massive migrations of closed populations have re-appeared in archaeological discussions. A more sophisticated model of migration from the steppes was proposed recently by Kristiansenet al. As a reaction to that proposal, this paper aims to contribute to this ongoing debate by refining the latter model, better integrating archaeological data and anthropological knowledge. It is argued that a polythetic classification of the archaeological material in Central Europe in the 3rd millennium reveals the presence of a new complex of single grave burial rituals which transcends the traditional culture labels. Genetic steppe ancestry is mainly connected to this new kind of burials, rather than to Corded Ware or Bell Beaker materials. Here it is argued that a polythetic view on the archaeological record suggests more complicated histories of migration, population mixtures and interaction than assumed by earlier models, and ways to better integrate detailed studies of archaeological materials with a deeper exploration of anthropological models of mobility and social group composition and the molecular biological data are explored.

The Circum-Harz group of the Central German Únětice Culture (2200-1600 BC) was a highly stratified society, which arose from the merging of the Corded Ware and Bell Beaker Cultures. This process was advanced by princes who established their legitimacy as rulers on symbolic references to both cultures as well as on newly created traditions and historical references. Their power was based on armed troops, which appear to have been accommodated in large houses or longhouses. The hierarchical structure of the troops can be determined by both their distinctive weapons and the colours thereof. The prince of the Dieskau territory commanded the largest army and occupied a dominant position, expressed through the large Bornhöck burial mound and by the gold find of Dieskau, which itself most likely originated in the Bornhöck barrow. The article concludes with a discussion whether the Dieskau ruler was an actual head of a genuine state, according to the criteria put forth by Max Weber and Stefan Breuer. There is some indication that these criteria of statehood were fulfilled by the period associated with the Nebra Sky Disk at the latest, since this disk allowed the prince to act as ‘a representative of the gods before the community’ (Breuer 1998, 39).

The Circum-Harz group of the Central German Únětice Culture (2200-1600 BC) was a highly stratified society, which arose from the merging of the Corded Ware and Bell Beaker Cultures. This process was advanced by princes who established their legitimacy as rulers on symbolic references to both cultures as well as on newly created traditions and historical references. Their power was based on armed troops, which appear to have been accommodated in large houses or longhouses. The hierarchical structure of the troops can be determined by both their distinctive weapons and the colours thereof. The prince of the Dieskau territory commanded the largest army and occupied a dominant position, expressed through the large Bornhöck burial mound and by the gold find of Dieskau, which itself most likely originated in the Bornhöck barrow. The article concludes with a discussion whether the Dieskau ruler was an actual head of a genuine state, according to the criteria put forth by Max Weber and Stefan Breuer. There is some indication that these criteria of statehood were fulfilled by the period associated with the Nebra Sky Disk at the latest, since this disk allowed the prince to act as ‘a representative of the gods before the community’ (Breuer 1998, 39).

The Neolithic period is characterized by major cultural transformations and human migrations, with lasting effects across Europe. To understand the population dynamics in Neolithic Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea area, we investigate the genomes of individuals associated with the Battle Axe Culture (BAC), a Middle Neolithic complex in Scandinavia resembling the continental Corded Ware Culture (CWC). We sequenced 11 individuals (dated to 3330–1665 calibrated before common era (cal BCE)) from modern-day Sweden, Estonia, and Poland to 0.26–3.24× coverage. Three of the individuals were from CWC contexts and two from the central-Swedish BAC burial ‘Bergsgraven’. By analysing these genomes together with the previously published data, we show that the BAC represents a group different from other Neolithic populations in Scandinavia, revealing stratification among cultural groups. Similar to continental CWC, the BAC-associated individuals display ancestry from the Pontic–Caspian steppe herders, as well as smaller components originating from hunter–gatherers and Early Neolithic farmers. Thus, the steppe ancestry seen in these Scandinavian BAC individuals can be explained only by migration into Scandinavia. Furthermore, we highlight the reuse of megalithic tombs of the earlier Funnel Beaker Culture (FBC) by people related to BAC. The BAC groups likely mixed with resident middle Neolithic farmers (e.g. FBC) without substantial contributions from Neolithic foragers.

A common attribute of the graphic novels of Chris Ware, Gabrielle Bell and Adrian Tomine is panels, portraying landscapes that invoke melancholy. The illustration styles are cartoonish yet realistic which lends itself to comedy and tragedy. Some emotional scenes are relayed through illustrations of landscapes that show natural elements such as the sky and trees. They also include elements of modern life such as cars and buildings. By illustrating the timelessness of nature and modern living, these works remind of the woodblock prints of Kawase Hasui. The Shin-hanga prints of Hasui are made with the influence of Impressionism which is influenced by Ukiyo-e. As with the Impressionists, the artists of Shin-hanga presented topics such as landscapes by reflecting fleeting light and the individual experiences they invoke. Hasui represents nature in its quiet glory, mixing it with the everyday which is also in the spirit of the mentioned graphic novelists’ works. This study uncovers the approaches that create the emotional landscape illustrations in graphic novels by determining their common attributes with Shin-hanga. Through the chosen artwork, this discussion aims to contribute to the existing discourse on graphic novels and provide a basis for further understanding of this art form. Keywords: Graphic Novels, Illustration, Landscape Painting, Impressionism, Shin-hanga

Tile production in the Danish Middle Ages and RenaissanceEveryday life in the Renaissance and Early Modern times has long been a neglected area in archaeology and much evidence has been lost. When the Department of Medieval Archaeology at the University of Aarhus, Moesgård added Renaissance Studies to the teaching curriculum in 2005, this provided an opportunity, together with new Danish museum legislation, to redress this situation.In the Renaissance, fundamental changes took place in housing, due in part to the introduction of the tile stove as a “bilægger”, i.e. a stove fed from an adjacent room. This provided an opportunity for the creation of a private, comfortable living room. In rural areas, however, the tile stove was also seen in direct association with a bread oven or as a smoke oven. Among the upper echelons of society – royalty, the Church and the aristocracy, with their strong links to European culture south of the Baltic – the tile stove became known as early as the 13th century. The earliest evidence of this is from the Cistercian Monastery at Sorø. Here, sherds have been found ofhandmoulded deep beaker-shaped vessel tiles. The outer surfaces of these were decorated with wavy lines and encircling grooves, as seen on typical 13th century Baltic-ware pottery from Zealand (fig. 1). When built into an oven, the decoration would not have been visible (fig. 2). From the episcopal/royal castles of Søborg and Gurre there are thrown, glazed beaker-shaped vessel tiles from the 14th century (fig. 3). The handmade, unglazed vessel tiles with a square rim from the royal castle ofVordingborg are broader and shallower (fig. 4); on some the base is rounded. Similar tiles were manufactured as late as the 19th century as “jydepotter”, i.e. black pots from Jutland (fig. 5). In the houses of wealthier citizens, such as Kragsnap’s House in Nykøbing Falster and Branda Huset in Helsingborg in Scania, there were stoves constructed of Late Gothic deep vessel tiles with specially formed openings (fig. 6). At the beginning of the 16th century, these developed into a green glazed, relatively shallow turned vessel tile with a reinforced rim, often with a flower or several concentric circles at the base. This type continued up into the 17th century (fig. 7). In terms of the skill needed in their firing and glazing, all these various vessel tiles were consistent with the abilities of a local potter and they are probably all of domestic origin, modelled on foreign examples.From Late Medieval times, there are imported concave panel and niche tiles, such as Den grønne sten fra Nielstrup and archaeological examples from Vridsløsemagle, Ribe and Gurre. Most of them carry a religious, Catholic message. However, two fragments of matrixes for concave panel tiles, dated to around 1500 and found in Aalborg, bear witness to an early production of moulded stove tiles in Denmark (fig. 8).With the Reformation, relations to Protestant Germany via Kings Christian III and Frederik II were strengthened. Danish students in Wittenberg and Greifswald and itinerant German craftsmen brought with them new furnishing traditions to Denmark. The tile stove became commonplace. The heyday of these stoves began around 1550 when domestic production became profitable. German potters settled in Denmark, bringing with them their moulds and their expertise, also as stove fitters. Production began of concave, quadrangular and rectangular panel tiles bearing images with a religious or political message. On the reverse they had a rumpe, a shallow funnel-shaped protrusion, which had an important function when fitting the tiles to form the stove.From around 1600, the tile stove was gradually replaced by the iron stove, although the latter did retain for some time an upper tower-like section clad in rectangular tiles. Initially, iron stoves were imported from Germany, but with the introduction of a Danish protectionist policy in the 1640s, production was started in Norway.Despite local production in the 16th century, imports of stove tiles and matrixes increased. Sometimes the origin of these can be determined on the basis of the ware; greyish-white Halle clay, for example, indicating Central Germany. Some polychrome stove tiles can be identified as imports from the Upper Weser area. No workshops producing polychrome stove tiles have been demonstrated in Denmark. Even though a workshop in Næstved was familiar with tin glaze and metallic-oxide colours, only polychrome floor tiles were produced there.Often the date of the stove tiles, or more correctly of the patrixes, can be determined on the basis of the motif and the graphic source on which it is modelled.For instance, the patrix for a matrix found in Copenhagen bearing the picture of HERSI HANS must have been carved after 1547, when he lost his title as Elector of Saxony, and prior to his death in 1554. On a stove tile modelled on a medal struck on his appointment in 1532 and attributed to Matthes Gebel, he is referred to as Johann Friedrich Kurfürst. Patrixes, and probably also most matrixes, were imported, but the origin of a patrix for the Fortuna stove tile from Næstved from 1585, attributed to Abel Schroder the Elder, is perhaps open to discussion (fig. 9). A patrix for a medallion tile from about 1550-80 from Århus (fig. 15), and patrix frames and a mould for patrix frames for arcade tiles from about 1600 from Flensburg (fig. 19), are the only definite indications we have oflocal production. Re-working of newly-made matrixes, pirate copies and potters’ botching also occurred (figs. 16, 17 and 21). On the basis of this, and inspired by Der Hafner from Jost Ammen’s Ständebuch (fig. 12), the author has experimented with the production of matrixes and stove tiles (figs. 10 and 11). Accounts are then given of seven localities where traces of stove-tile production have been found. Potters’ kilns have been excavated in Lund and Aalborg, (figs. 13 and 14). In Århus, there were layers containing rejects, kiln shelves and matrixes (fig. 15). In Næstved, deposits have been excavated containing rejects which include tiles bearing Fortuna and the West Zealand version of Judith (figs. 18.4 and 16). Clay pits backfilled with rejects from the workshop have also been discovered there. In Slagelse, an area has been excavated containing workshop refuse in the form of old or broken matrixes, reject stove tiles, kiln shelves and tools (figs. l7 and 18). In Flensburg, a potter’s workshop was excavated, revealing a great number of tiles, a few patrix frames and more than 90 matrixes, of which several are clear evidence of potters’ botching (figs. 19, 20 and 21). Impressions of matrixes from this workshop were used by the bell-caster Michel Bibler as ornamentation on bronze fonts for churches in Flensburg and Eckernförde (fig. 22). In Holbæk, layers containing rejects and matrixes from a potter’s workshop in the neighbourhood have been located. A rectangular stowe tile from 1611, showing the upper body of a lute-playing prince, was produced in a matrix trixwith a two-piece picture area. The upper part of this was used for a stove tile in Slagelse, but in a different frame (fig. 18.6). All the workshops investigated proved to belong to the second half of the 16th century, with the main weight of activity around 1600. From Køge, however, there are matrixes bearing the inscription 1662MB on the reverse. These indicate an active workshop there in the late 17th century, (fig. 23). Several of the workshops were located in association with a demolished ecclesiastical institution where the immediate area had apparently been assigned to workshops carrying out hazardous activities using fire, such as potteries and bell-casters. Finally, research results obtained over several years are presented and there is a discussion of the possibility of more detailed examination and recording to demonstrate the regionality of the individual stove-tile types and perhaps locate individual workshops. More recent scientific methods for the identification of clay types might make it possible to determine their provenance, which would be of crucial importance. Formal collaboration with countries south of and around the Baltic would probably be able to demonstrate trade routes and cultural links and the origin and distribution of stove tiles and matrixes. Closer collaboration between scientists, historians and archaeologists is strongly recommended.Ole KristiansenSlagelse

Although a rare occurrence in late medieval cemeteries, vessels have been found on almost all major sites of the period, such as Novo Brdo, Trgoviste, Reljina Gradina and the churchyard of St Peter?s near Novi Pazar, the churchyard of St Nicholas? at Kursumlija, the churchyard of St Stephen?s at Milentija near Brus, Mali Zvecan, Mirijevo, Vinca. Vessels occur in different places, both on top of and in graves. Fragments of pottery and glass vessels are relatively abundant in layers of earth filling burial pits and chambers, and in those immediately overlaying burial pits or gravestones. The available data make it possible to recognize almost all functional types. The most frequently found pottery shapes are larger liquid containers - jugs and pitchers, and apparently there have also been many pots, both hearth cooking and glazed (figs. 1-3; 5-9). Recognizable among the glass vessels are bottles, usually those with long fluted necks and biconical, as well as infrequent icon lamps. The data about the vessels found buried with the deceased is much more detailed. Such finds are recorded at Macvanska Mitrovica (fig. 10/3), Brestovik (fig. 13/3), Mirijevo (fig. 4/1), Vinca (figs. 4/2; 10/4), Stragari near Kragujevac, Milentija near Brus, round the church of St Peter near Novi Pazar, at the monastery of Konculic (fig. 13/2) and the monastery of Gradac. The relatively plentiful and diverse vessels discovered at the cemeteries of medieval Trgoviste are especially illustrative (fig. 10/2, 7). The available descriptions of vessels and archaeological contexts provide a general impression about the types of vessels recorded in the cemeteries of a late medieval and early modern date in the central Balkans. Glass bottles as a rule were laid in graves, while earth-fill layers, apart from bottles, contained plentiful shards of drinking vessels. As for the bottles, two types were registered: biconical and those with long fluted necks (figs. 10; 12/1). Among the glass fragments there were parts of bottles with a ring around the neck and a ribbed body (Rippenflaschen), generally known in domestic scholarship under the term Panik type bottle (fig. 10/8). Also identifiable among the recovered glass fragments are drinking vessels of several types, beakers with small or large prunts (Nuppenbecher and Krautstrunk) and ribbed (Rippenbecher), common especially in the 15th and 16th centuries (figs. 12/1, 3, 5, 6). There are also pieces with a blue thread applied around the rim and body, similar to the examples from Stalac reproduced herein (fig. 12/3). Quite rarely found are drinking vessels of cobalt blue glass, which are mostly small, except for a few examples of up to 14 cm in height, which is also the height of the abovementioned bottles. Apart from Venice and Dubrovnik (Ragusa), glassware was imported from Hungary. The discovered pottery vessels show a greater diversity, mostly in terms of shape. In addition to liquid containers - jugs, pitchers and beakers, there occur bowls, pots and even apothecary vessels. A vast majority belong to the Serbian ware of the 14th and 15th centuries. Most are glazed, and frequently painted with spirals, bands and blotches in white, green and dark brown or decorated with simple sgrafitto patterns, such as the finds from Novo Brdo (fig. 1), St Peter?s (figs 9; 13/1, 4) and the monastery of Gradac. By far the most interesting of them is the beaker from Konculic with an openwork edge around the base (fig. 12/2), which is commonly found in glass beakers of the same period. Deserving of particular attention are three cylindrical ceramic bottles from Novo Brdo (fig. 2). The presented material allows us to recognize the central issues surrounding the occurrence of vessels in the cemeteries of the 14th to 17th century in Serbia. Given the small number of recorded cases, the presence of vessels in graves as grave goods appears to have been utterly sporadic. Being based on the processed and published results, and given the small number of systematically investigated and analyzed cemeteries, however, such a conclusion should be taken with caution. In most cases, the vessels were laid beside the head of the deceased, usually on its left, rarely on the right side, and only exceptionally next to the legs or the upper body area. On the other hand, the amount of fragments discovered in cemeteries is generally large, as shown, for example, by a cursory insight into the excavation records for the site of Novo Brdo. This discrepancy is surprising and makes us think over the character of the finds, but we shall not get closer to an answer until we have detailed context analyses done and the material systematized and statistically processed. When it comes to shapes, liquid containers obviously predominated - glass bottles and ceramic pitchers, followed by glass and ceramic drinking vessels, while ceramic pots and bowls occurred in graves only rarely. The vessels are mostly small. The glass bottles are between 14 and 15 cm in height on average, except the specimen from Mali Zvecan, which is more than twice as high (36 cm). The cups show similar heights, between 10 and 16 cm. The ceramic pitchers and pots are also small, with a height usually not exceeding 16 cm. Judging by the available data, it appears that shards of larger vessels were found on top of graves (bowls, pitchers, jugs, pots), apparently brought for the memorial ceremony held at the grave, while graves usually contained small vessels, usually bottles. Apart from Serbia, the occurrence of vessels in cemeteries has also been recorded in the surrounding areas. Given their very distinctive context and character, the finds from Bosnia draw particular attention, as well as those from Croatia, where they are concentrated in the broader area of Split. This overview makes it plain that the vessels laid in graves differ little from ordinary household utensils. Moreover, all can be classified as typical of the 14th to 17th century - Venetian, Dubrovnik and Hungarian glass, and the ceramic kitchen and tableware produced locally, in Serbia. For the sake of comparison, we draw attention to similar vessels discovered on fortress, settlement and monastery sites, such as Stalac, Belgrade (fig. 14), Studenica, Mileseva, Trgoviste, Trnava near Cacak. The presented examples, combined with all previously gained insights, clearly demonstrate and corroborate the assumption that the custom of laying vessels in graves in the central Balkans was an uncommon but long-standing phenomenon. Unlike earlier periods, when it was pottery vessels that were almost exclusively placed in graves, from the 14th century on the ratio of glass to ceramic vessels, mostly bottles, pitchers and beakers, becomes virtually equal. Judging by the find-spots and other known information, in the late medieval period the custom of laying vessels in graves was confined to a few areas along the Danube, Morava, Ibar, Drina and Neretva rivers. These areas, in the hinterland of Dubrovnik, in Herzegovina, Bosnia and Serbia, are associated with major caravan routes, which is relevant in our considerations of the glass finds. As it appears from the examples from all aforementioned areas, the only difference of some significance concerns the type of glass vessels used in funeral rituals - bottles in Serbia and Croatia, and drinking vessels in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Even though this seems to give grounds to assume certain regional variation in the custom of making offerings to the dead, at this point any conclusion would be highly conjectural, especially if based only on the available archaeological data. As shown by ethnological research, the custom, also sporadic, survived in Serbia and Bulgaria until the late 19th century. The analysis of the vessels from late medieval and early modern cemeteries has revealed a number of features common to the central-Balkan region, but also some regional variation. However, given the proportion of processed specimens in the entire recovered material, the assumptions and results presented here should only be taken as preliminary. The fact that some manifestations of the custom are still obscure reduces some of the previously proposed interpretations to little more than unfounded speculation, which is fertile ground for manipulation. Apart from analyzing the archaeological material, what is needed therefore is a thorough study of other aspects of the issue, above all the phenomenon of burials topped by slabs and stecci, and funerary practices at large.

In the article the craniology of the post-Catacomb and Middle Volga Abashevo populations in the context of cranial metric characteristics of Neolithic and Bronze Age groups of continental Europe is discussed. The data on 2100 male skulls belonging to 95 samples was analyzed by means of Mahalanobis distances (D²) matrix. The results reveal high level of similarity between the post-Catacomb series and Catacomb East-Manych, Eastern Caucasus (Gintchi) and Fatyanovo-Balanovo samples. Basically these results are in line with archaeological reconstructions of cultural processes in Middle and Late Bronze Age. The most western series, which displays morphologic similarity with the Babino sample, is the Globular Amphora series, while the Corded Ware sample from the Baltic region is similar to the Lolino culture sample. We suggest that the series of skulls from the Pepkino kurgan may be unrepresentative for the Middle Volga Abashevo population, since analogies to its cranial metric profile can be traced only in the late Fatyanovo and Balanovo samples and in one local Yamnaya sample, but are absent in other European populations, including Bell Beaker sample, which is in contradiction with archaeological data.

The wealth of settlement evidence has supposed a decisive difference between prehistoric archaeology of the Mediterranean compared to that of Central Europe. This situation has changed substantially during recent years due to large scale rescue excavations carried out in central and eastern Germany. Individual houses as well as large settlement complexes have been systematically recorded and can now be dated to the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. The catalogue of all ground plans discovered up to 2019 in the federal states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia has recently been published as a supplementary volume of the proceedings of the conference ‘Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Settlement Archaeology’, held in Halle (Saale) in October 2018. Based on the geographical distribution, shape, size, orientation, and dating of the more than 240 building ground plans, the present study examines the architecture and settlement development of the Corded Ware and Bell Beaker communities, as well as of the Únětice complex, between the rivers Saale and Elbe. This analysis offers new insight into the way of life of the first full metalworking societies of central Germany from the 3rd and first half of the 2nd millennium bce, which so far have mainly been approached through their outstanding, but numerically limited, funerary remains and hoards.

One of the more distinctive of the decorative methods represented in the ancestral Caddo ceramic assemblages from Lake Sam Rayburn sites is sherds and vessels with incised–punctated decorative elements. This diversity in the range and character of sherds and vessels with incised–punctated decorative elements is also the case in ancestral Caddo sites on the Sabine River and tributaries in the Toledo Bend Reservoir area of East Texas and Northwest Louisiana. Jelks included the incised–punctated vessels and sherds from the Lake Sam Rayburn sites in a newly defined type: Pineland Punctated–Incised. Pineland Punctated– Incised is a grog and/or bone–tempered utility ware, and occurs primarily as beaker–shaped jars as well as ollas and deep bowls. The vessels have concentric, triangular, rectangular, and curvilinear incised zones on the rim filled with tool punctation. Ollas and bowls have design elements on the vessel bodies. At Lake Sam Rayburn sites, Pineland Punctated–Incised sherds and vessels occur in both Middle Caddo (ca. A.D. 1200–1400/1450) and Late Caddo (ca. A.D. 1400/1450–1680) contexts. Based on the analyses discussed below, incised–punctated utility wares are most abundant in later Middle Caddo period components estimated to date from ca. A.D. 1300–1400/1450, and least common in post–A.D. 1400/1450 Late Caddo period components.

In 1991 the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival evicted two female identified transsexual attendees on the grounds that they violated its women only policy of admittance. The Festival, established in 1976 and now the largest of its kind, turned into a "microcosm of the conflicts that have plagued the women's movement" (Rubin 18) and revived widespread debate about the place of trans and non-standard gender performances in feminist activism. A pro-trans event, aptly named Camp Trans, was held outside the Festival's gates with the aim of inciting greater interest in the area. The Festival's founder and on going organiser, Lisa Vogel, responded with a statement in 2001 claiming the "intention is for the Festival to be for womyn-born womyn, meaning people who were born and have lived their entire life experience as female" (Vogel 2000). This resulted in the exclusion of not only trans individuals, but also a plethora of non-conventional gender identities. Bitter debate ensued, revealing the Festival's role not just in appealing to a defined, recognisable demographic, but in constructing and maintaining an entire category of identity. My initial encounters with the Festival occurred through independent media and the internet. It become particularly widely debated after artists from the Queer orientated Mr Lady record label (most famously Le Tigre, fronted by riot grrl icon Kathleen Hanna) confirmed that they would perform at the event, despite knowledge of the anti-trans policy. Perhaps the most poignant reflection came from Ciara Xyerra's 2001 zine A Renegade's Handbook To Love And Sabotage. She comments that the Festival's intent was to provide "not only just a 'safe space' for women, but specifically for 'womyn born womyn.'" […] this essentialist logic is […] flawed in that it assumes every "womyn born womyn" was socialized in exactly the same way, that differences regarding race, class, ability, personal history, have no bearing on how a woman perceives herself as a woman […](69). Certainly the revised womyn born womyn label is a problematic way of dealing with the situation. The standard woman is assumed not to encounter trans issues, at least not in a way that impacts on her sense of gendered self. This issue provokes comparisons to the race debates that wreaked havoc through US feminism in early eighties. The sentiments of the Camp Trans protest echo Audre Lorde's 1984 criticism that: As white women ignore their built-in privilege of whiteness and define women in terms of their experience alone, then women of Color become 'other', the outsider whose experience is too alien to comprehend (632). In retrospect what remains most striking about the race debates is how incredibly poorly they were handled. The period is marked by a tendency towards splinter and separatist groups, evident in the writing of people like bell hooks and Mary Daly. Communication between various factions collapsed amid accusations of racism and ignorance of the wider struggle, leaving ruptures still visible today. (Gubar 884-890) The emphasis has shifted from presumed racial background to presumed biological characteristics, but at its core this is the same argument about which performances of self are given legitimacy, and which are passed off as outside the interests of the feminist community. Indeed the Festival's anti-trans policy can also be traced back to the early 1980's, stemming from clashes between separatists and post-operative transsexuals entering feminist activism. In both instances there has been an assumption that the majority of members within the community experience the world from a common perspective, a collective sense of self at the core of the movement, outlining its wider agenda. I am reminded of Gayatri Spivak's comment that "We take the explanations we produce to be the grounds of our action; they are endowed with coherence in terms of our explanation of self" (In Other Worlds 104). Conflict arises when internal factions find their concerns being overlooked, and begin questioning exactly whose experience is taken as the model for the collective self. There is a tendency towards viewing this as a threat to the movement's solidarity. In an effort to maintain wider group cohesion, divergent voices are often dealt with by claiming they arise from entirely different strains of selfhood. New identities, or at the least hyphenated subcategories, proliferate under "the essentialist's claim that there must be an ultimate (that is, comprehensive), complete, consistent, coherent set of types" (Spinosa and Dreyfus 72). These redefinitions explain and dispel difference without actually addressing it. It would be naive to assume this sort of essentialism exists only for the Festival and older activist methodology. While Queer theory has certainly given us new tools for understanding the issues, its practical application does not necessarily avoid "knitting out more fashionably an otherwise reconstructed […] essentialism" (Jagose). As people like Martha Nussbaum and Benita Parry have argued, if somewhat problematically, there is a fine line between fluidity and dissolution. Activist and liberal scepticism towards deconstructive methodology contains an at least reasonably justified trepidation towards tinkering with political communities which have proved historically successful. The unfortunate revival of the 'old school' activism versus 'new school' theory attitude, itself founded on an essentialist belief in a single, correct ideological stance, has further complicated matters. Festival attendee Janel Smith, writing for one of the bastions of 'old school' activism, Off Our Backs, voiced activist scepticism when commenting that post structuralism is "an entire movement and theory […] designed to debunk these 'myths' about gender and racial identity." She continues: We often make sense of other people by categorizing them into labels and boxes that we ourselves feel comfortable with. Dominant discourse tends to dismiss this process as inherently negative, one that limits people and their understanding of self and projected identity (17). The criticism of dominant academic discourse is worth consideration. If it "is not possible for us to describe our own archive, since it is from within these rules that we speak" (Foucault 130), we need to be acutely aware of the way we act within culture, and wary of any movement which claims to fully recognise and transcend its boundaries. Our treatment of identity needs to "avoid the mistake of slipping between 'no absolute truth' and 'absolutely no truth,'" as Felicity Newman, Tracey Summerfield and Reece Plunkett suggest. From the alternate perspective, Aviva Rubin argues "our activism is characterized by seemingly incompatible inclinations to generalize and to particularize" (17). She writes that the Festival's attempt to develop a "theoretical 'she'" with which we "identify sameness – she shares our politics, our goals, our place" is fundamentally flawed as "the notion collapses when confronted with the differences we've deliberately ignored" (8). This leaves the situation double bound. A standard sense of gendered self provides unity and a workable common agenda, but comes into conflict with the identities it has excluded from its definition. The unified self combats repression, but, as Judith Butler so aptly puts it, "exclusion operates prior to repression" (71). However there are certainly areas of common ground. Rubin's "plea for grey", or an area "between absolutes," (20) is remarkably similar to Smith's endeavour to exist "somewhere in-between butch and femme" (14). Yet, for the Festival, that difference was enough to cause a gap between those who found it "an atmosphere of unparalleled safety" (Smith 13) and the pro-trans attendees who felt they needed "an escort to get out safely after darkness fell" (Wilchins 2000). As these relative similarities exist, it is disappointing to see that the arising differences have met with such aggressively negative reactions. Given the unlikeliness of everyone agreeing on a definitive understanding in the near future, it would seem beneficial to shift the focus away from searches for correct identities and ideologies, and develop new approaches to the debates themselves. I am again reminded of a comment from Gayatri Spivak, this time from her 1992 essay "More on Power/Knowledge". She comments that "if the lines of making sense of something are laid down in a certain way, then you are able to do only those things with that something which are possible within and by arrangement of those lines" (151). This is as true for our concepts of self as it is for any other issue. If we cannot reach outside of the structures of culture to find more universally true categories, or expect an ideological stance to present entirely new and more correct understandings, how we handle the arising debate is of major importance. Homi Bhabha's comment that "our political references and priorities […] are not there in some primordial, naturalistic sense" (26) does not necessarily render them null and void. There is a difference between needing to debate an identity or ideology, and needing to discard or reinvent it. Instead of looking for a true model of self or a correct ideology, the problem becomes looking at the cultural structure we have, trying to "recognise it as best one can and, through one's necessarily inadequate interpretation, to work to change it" (Spivak 1988 120). From this perspective the conflict that emerges from the Festival is as important as the possibilities for final resolution. Rather than treating differences as immediate problems and being "shocked, disappointed and instantly sidetracked into seeking resolution" (Rubin 20), it seems possible to consider the debate important in its own right. In practice this would mean keeping the lines of communication between the various factions open, and treating debate as an integral and on going process, rather than an unwelcome confrontation to be settled as quickly and quietly as possible. The commitment of the Camp Trans protesters to "workshops to educate festival goers" (Wilchins 2000), and their modest success, indicates that maintaining ongoing debate is a workable and productive approach. On the other hand Vogel's unwillingness to talk to the Camp Trans group is perhaps as open to criticism as her definitions of gender identity. Surely if a definitive concept of self cannot be settled upon easily, the lines of communication between Camp Trans and the Festival can at least be expected to keep the search from stagnating. The role the Festival has served as "a locus of political and cultural debate" (Delany) combined with its relatively successful negotiations of class and race issues indicates that it can play this role successfully. Although the womyn born womyn policy might not have changed, it is difficult to imagine many other platforms on which trans related debates could occur on such a large scale. In light of this it does not seem unrealistic to think of the debate as beneficial in ensuring continued rethinking of the issues, and not just as part of some potential revision or creation of identities which will hopefully be completed some time in the future. References Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. 1994 London: Routledge. 2000. Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble. New York: Routledge, 1999. Delany, Anngel. "Michigan Womyn's Music Festival celebrates 25 years of controversy." Gay.Com (2002) May 10th, 2002. http://content.gay.com/people/women_spac... Foucault, Michel. The Archaeology of Knowledge. Trans. A Sheridan Smith. Ed. R.D Laing, London: Routledge, 2000. Gubar, Susan. "What Ails Feminist Criticism?" Critical Inquiry 24.4 (1998): 878-903. Jagose, Annamarie. "Queer Theory." Australian Humanities Review 4 (1996) http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/AHR/archiv... (28-6-02). Lorde, Audre. "Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference". Literary Theory: An Anthology. Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. 4th Ed. Malden: Blackwell, 1998: 630-636. Newman, Felicity, Summerfield, Tracy and Plunkett, Reece. "Three Cultures from the 'Inside': or, A Jew, a Lawyer and a Dyke Go Into This Bar…" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 3.2 (2000). http://www.api-network.com/mc/0005/count.... (28-5-02) Nussbaum, Martha. "The Professor of Parody: The Hip Defeatism of Judith Butler." The New Republic 22 Feb. 1999: 38-45. Parry, Benita. "Problems in Current Theories of Colonial Discourse." Oxford Literary Review 9 (1987) 27-58. Rubin, Aviva. "The Search for Grey: an agree-to-disagree." Canadian Dimensions 31.5 (1997) 17-21. Smith, Janel. "Identity Crisis: Fuches Rise up and Unite." Off Our Backs 30.9 (2000): 13-20. Spinosa, Charles and Hubert Dreyfus. "Two Kinds of Antiessentialism and Their Consequences." Critical Inquiry 22.4 (1996) 735-764. Spivak, Gayatri Chakravority. In Other Worlds. London: Routledge, 1988. ---, "More On Power/Knowledge." The Spivak Reader. Ed. Donna Landry and Gerald Maclean. New York: Routledge, 1996: 141-174. Vogel, Lisa. "Official Statement of Policy by MWMF." (2000).http://www.camptrans.com/press/2000_mwmf... (30-6-2002). Wilchins, Riki Ann. Interview with In Your Face. (2000) http://www.camptrans.com/stories/intervi... (30-6-02). Xyerra, Ciara. A Renegades Handbook to Love and Sabotage 4. Madford: Independently Published, 2001. Links http://www.camptrans.com/ http://www.api-network.com/mc/0005/country.html http://www.camptrans.com/stories/interview.html http://www.camptrans.com/press/2000_mwmf.html http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/AHR/archive/Issue-Dec-1996/jagose.html http://content.gay.com/people/women_space/michigan_000807.html Citation reference for this article Substitute your date of access for Dn Month Year etc... MLA Style Ware, Ianto. "Conflicting Concepts of Self and The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 5.5 (2002). [your date of access] < http://www.media-culture.org.au/mc/0210/Ware.html &gt. Chicago Style Ware, Ianto, "Conflicting Concepts of Self and The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 5, no. 5 (2002), < http://www.media-culture.org.au/mc/0210/Ware.html &gt ([your date of access]). APA Style Ware, Ianto. (2002) Conflicting Concepts of Self and The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 5(5). < http://www.media-culture.org.au/mc/0210/Ware.html &gt ([your date of access]).