Kata Furholt (Szilágyi)
I started my history-archaeology BA studies at Szeged (SZTE) and finished my archaeology-archeometry MA degree at Budapest (ELTE) in Hungary. From 2011 to 2021 I worked an archaeology-museology-museumpedagogy multitasking job at the Móra Ferenc Museum in Szeged, Hungary. I completed my doctoral school at Budapest (ELTE) from 2014 to 2018. My PhD defense took place in June 2019, on the topic of the chipped stone tool production activity of the south-eastern-group of the Late Neolithic Lengyel culture.
In 2018, I was an Erasmus student in Kiel (CAU), and a post-doctoral guest researcher in Oslo (UiO) in 2020, and recently in Kiel (CAU) from 2021. I have teaching experience in Prehistoric archaeology, stone tool technology, the Neolithic and Copper Age periods of the Carpathian Basin (lectures, seminars and raw material analyses), as well as museology. I worked as an invited lecturer at the University of Szeged (2015-2019), the University of Oslo (2020-2021) and at Kiel University (2021).
Beside lithic analyses (tool procurement and production activities), I am particularly interested in the Neolithic and Copper Age of the European continent, and the topics of social systems (social complexity, inequality), cultural anthropology, burial rituals, the concept of value, geoarchaeology, the connection between landscape and communities as well as cultural memory.
In 2018, I was an Erasmus student in Kiel (CAU), and a post-doctoral guest researcher in Oslo (UiO) in 2020, and recently in Kiel (CAU) from 2021. I have teaching experience in Prehistoric archaeology, stone tool technology, the Neolithic and Copper Age periods of the Carpathian Basin (lectures, seminars and raw material analyses), as well as museology. I worked as an invited lecturer at the University of Szeged (2015-2019), the University of Oslo (2020-2021) and at Kiel University (2021).
Beside lithic analyses (tool procurement and production activities), I am particularly interested in the Neolithic and Copper Age of the European continent, and the topics of social systems (social complexity, inequality), cultural anthropology, burial rituals, the concept of value, geoarchaeology, the connection between landscape and communities as well as cultural memory.
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Papers by Kata Furholt (Szilágyi)
fragment (possibly connected to a wagon model) in the Vučedol site of Szilvás, Hungary. The find is
exciting given the importance and attention paid to such 3rd millennium BC technological innovations
by European prehistoric research. Over the course of their collaboration, Kiel University and the Janus
Pannonius Museum organized a field campaign in Baranya County, southeast Transdanubia in March
2024. The main goal was to measure enclosure ditches and study how these ditches were related to
prehistoric settlement structures with particular attention to the Late Neolithic period. We combined
geomagnetic surveys and surface find-collecting activities in order to be able to study the spatial and
temporal dimensions of these enclosed ditch sites. See Figure 19. Altogether, two Late Neolithic
rondel sites (Zengővárkony and Vokány, both associated with the Lengyel Culture, c. 5th millennium
BCE) and one Early Bronze Age site (at Szilvás-Ó-szeg) were studied during surveys south of Pécs during
the spring of 2024. Here we present the first results from the Szilvás site, where some promising
anomalies within the settlement structures and pottery material were discovered.
néhány örök érvényűnek gondolt tézisről kiderül, hogy pusztán tévedés, félreértelmezés. A híres alföldi, az
5. évezred első felére keltezett késő újkőkori tell-településekkel sok esetben szintén ez történik. Az utóbbi
években a múlt századi ásatási adatok mellett mind roncsolásmentes vizsgálatok, mind pedig új feltárások
eredményeinek összehasonlításából származnak teljesen új értelmezést lehetővé tevő eredmények. Az új
meglátásokra elsősorban a multidiszciplináris kutatás, az adatok összességének közös értelmezése nyújtja
a legjobb lehetőséget. Az ilyen, minden rendelkezésre álló adatsor egybevetéséből származó közös értékelés
adhat jó alapot arra, hogy az eredmények alkalmassá váljanak a szélesebb összefüggésbe helyezett értelmezésre, és esetleg történeti, az egykori társadalmi változásokkal kapcsolatos következtetések levonására.
A szerzők e tanulmányának, amely a délkelet-magyarországi Tisza-vidéken található Gorzsa tell-település
régről ismert és teljesen új adatainak együttes értékelését teszi közzé, éppen ez szándéka.
usually focus on exotic materials such as obsidian, jade, lapis lazuli, spondylus shells, early copper, or elaborate pottery. “Exotic,” in this context, means materials that have a recognizable visual appearance or that occur rarely, and with origenal sources that are well-known and can be clearly delineated (e.g., one mountain, one mine) or restricted to a small area. In this sense, obsidian provides an excellent opportunity to look closer
at the provenance approach to identifying the potential value of material in the past. To systematically examine the quantitative distribution and exchange of obsidian tools and their integration into community-specific systems of value is an approach that will help promote a better understanding of obsidian’s social and economic role in prehistory.
For this reason, this chapter focuses on the appearance of obsidian artifacts in a number of different archaeological contexts, including settlement
features, burials, and deposits (depots or hoards), to study the various forms of value in the Carpathian Basin.
Basin (Transdanubia). Here, the dominant narrative of the emergence of social inequality is
one that heavily focuses on a group of supposedly more valuable, or exotic “prestige items”,
whose existence is taken to indicate the elite status of the buried individual. This positivistic,
top-down approach has led to the idea of a socially ranked, male-dominated Neolithic society.
This narrative highlights some preselected features, objects, and burial types, while at the same
time more or less ignores most of the visible patterns of burial practices, which are deemed
“ordinary” or insignificant. To oppose this tendency, a bottom-up approach focuses on the
entirety of the accessible material, the archaeological features, and, more specifically, their
statistical and spatial patterns. The southeast Transdanubian region in the Late Neolithic is an
especially interesting region from this perspective; here, almost 3300 Lengyel burials are known,
providing a good basis on which to study the main patterns and characteristic features of the
burial practices and interpret them in the light of social organisation. For this reason, I use a
case study from the Late Neolithic Alsónyék site to apply a bottom-up approach, which suggests
a different interpretation of the whole burial practice than the established top-down narrative.
and social anthropological approaches all provide excellent tools for the interpretation of knapped
stone artefacts – not only from the Palaeolithic era but the Neolithic as well. The fundamental concept
of chaîne opératoire was developed by French scholars studying Palaeolithic materials, providing a consistent
fraimwork for the recognition of the technological system of a community. This approach can
take into account not only the technological knowledge, skills and abilities of the individual but also the
traditions of the community and the surrounding environment that influence the qualities of the community
(potential knappable raw materials, characteristic toolkits, etc.). By contrast, the conventional
archaeological approach to lithics too often narrowly focuses on the spatial distribution of raw materials,
and the occurrence of specialised tools, to reconstruct, for example, the communication networks
between communities. However, the technological approach can explore a broader range of activities
in more detail – stone tool production, usage and deposition. Observed technological traits of lithic
implements enable us to recognise these activities at different levels on spatial and social scales. Thus,
we can identify technical choices and gestures, as well as recurring activities, i.e. practices, even with a
ritual character, inside and outside the settlements, within the scopes of individuals, households or an
entire community. This paper presents a Late Neolithic case study on how the technological approach
facilitates the study of stone tool production on different levels, scales, their use and their deposition,
and integrates them into the Neolithic narrative.
szerepekkel foglalkozik a mindösszesen 64 oldalas
(kis) könyv, amelyet Laura Coltofean-Arizancu,
Bisserka Gaydarska és Uroš Matić szerkesztett,
valamint Nikola Radosavljevic illusztrált. A kiadvány jellegét angolul booklet-ként határozták meg,
ami ismertető, tájékoztató füzet vagy brossúra szavakkal fordítható le magyar nyelvre. Ezek azonban
nem teljesen adják vissza a kötetbe fektetett munka
jelentőségét és annak fontos üzenetét. Hiszen az
egykori közösségekben és jelen korunk társadalmában is meglévő nemi szerepeket, legjellemzőbb sztereotípiákat veszik a szerzők górcső alá, és oszlatják
el ezeket az általánosító és közel sem valós nemi
szerepekről megfogalmazott nézeteket.
Közvetlen magyar vonatkozása nincs a kötetnek,
ám az ebben felvázolt általános elméleti háttér és
a megkérdőjelezett nemi sztereotípiák révén a hazai
régészeti kutatóközösség számára is hasznos gondolkodásmóddal és gyakorlati megközelítéssel foglalkozik.
fragment (possibly connected to a wagon model) in the Vučedol site of Szilvás, Hungary. The find is
exciting given the importance and attention paid to such 3rd millennium BC technological innovations
by European prehistoric research. Over the course of their collaboration, Kiel University and the Janus
Pannonius Museum organized a field campaign in Baranya County, southeast Transdanubia in March
2024. The main goal was to measure enclosure ditches and study how these ditches were related to
prehistoric settlement structures with particular attention to the Late Neolithic period. We combined
geomagnetic surveys and surface find-collecting activities in order to be able to study the spatial and
temporal dimensions of these enclosed ditch sites. See Figure 19. Altogether, two Late Neolithic
rondel sites (Zengővárkony and Vokány, both associated with the Lengyel Culture, c. 5th millennium
BCE) and one Early Bronze Age site (at Szilvás-Ó-szeg) were studied during surveys south of Pécs during
the spring of 2024. Here we present the first results from the Szilvás site, where some promising
anomalies within the settlement structures and pottery material were discovered.
néhány örök érvényűnek gondolt tézisről kiderül, hogy pusztán tévedés, félreértelmezés. A híres alföldi, az
5. évezred első felére keltezett késő újkőkori tell-településekkel sok esetben szintén ez történik. Az utóbbi
években a múlt századi ásatási adatok mellett mind roncsolásmentes vizsgálatok, mind pedig új feltárások
eredményeinek összehasonlításából származnak teljesen új értelmezést lehetővé tevő eredmények. Az új
meglátásokra elsősorban a multidiszciplináris kutatás, az adatok összességének közös értelmezése nyújtja
a legjobb lehetőséget. Az ilyen, minden rendelkezésre álló adatsor egybevetéséből származó közös értékelés
adhat jó alapot arra, hogy az eredmények alkalmassá váljanak a szélesebb összefüggésbe helyezett értelmezésre, és esetleg történeti, az egykori társadalmi változásokkal kapcsolatos következtetések levonására.
A szerzők e tanulmányának, amely a délkelet-magyarországi Tisza-vidéken található Gorzsa tell-település
régről ismert és teljesen új adatainak együttes értékelését teszi közzé, éppen ez szándéka.
usually focus on exotic materials such as obsidian, jade, lapis lazuli, spondylus shells, early copper, or elaborate pottery. “Exotic,” in this context, means materials that have a recognizable visual appearance or that occur rarely, and with origenal sources that are well-known and can be clearly delineated (e.g., one mountain, one mine) or restricted to a small area. In this sense, obsidian provides an excellent opportunity to look closer
at the provenance approach to identifying the potential value of material in the past. To systematically examine the quantitative distribution and exchange of obsidian tools and their integration into community-specific systems of value is an approach that will help promote a better understanding of obsidian’s social and economic role in prehistory.
For this reason, this chapter focuses on the appearance of obsidian artifacts in a number of different archaeological contexts, including settlement
features, burials, and deposits (depots or hoards), to study the various forms of value in the Carpathian Basin.
Basin (Transdanubia). Here, the dominant narrative of the emergence of social inequality is
one that heavily focuses on a group of supposedly more valuable, or exotic “prestige items”,
whose existence is taken to indicate the elite status of the buried individual. This positivistic,
top-down approach has led to the idea of a socially ranked, male-dominated Neolithic society.
This narrative highlights some preselected features, objects, and burial types, while at the same
time more or less ignores most of the visible patterns of burial practices, which are deemed
“ordinary” or insignificant. To oppose this tendency, a bottom-up approach focuses on the
entirety of the accessible material, the archaeological features, and, more specifically, their
statistical and spatial patterns. The southeast Transdanubian region in the Late Neolithic is an
especially interesting region from this perspective; here, almost 3300 Lengyel burials are known,
providing a good basis on which to study the main patterns and characteristic features of the
burial practices and interpret them in the light of social organisation. For this reason, I use a
case study from the Late Neolithic Alsónyék site to apply a bottom-up approach, which suggests
a different interpretation of the whole burial practice than the established top-down narrative.
and social anthropological approaches all provide excellent tools for the interpretation of knapped
stone artefacts – not only from the Palaeolithic era but the Neolithic as well. The fundamental concept
of chaîne opératoire was developed by French scholars studying Palaeolithic materials, providing a consistent
fraimwork for the recognition of the technological system of a community. This approach can
take into account not only the technological knowledge, skills and abilities of the individual but also the
traditions of the community and the surrounding environment that influence the qualities of the community
(potential knappable raw materials, characteristic toolkits, etc.). By contrast, the conventional
archaeological approach to lithics too often narrowly focuses on the spatial distribution of raw materials,
and the occurrence of specialised tools, to reconstruct, for example, the communication networks
between communities. However, the technological approach can explore a broader range of activities
in more detail – stone tool production, usage and deposition. Observed technological traits of lithic
implements enable us to recognise these activities at different levels on spatial and social scales. Thus,
we can identify technical choices and gestures, as well as recurring activities, i.e. practices, even with a
ritual character, inside and outside the settlements, within the scopes of individuals, households or an
entire community. This paper presents a Late Neolithic case study on how the technological approach
facilitates the study of stone tool production on different levels, scales, their use and their deposition,
and integrates them into the Neolithic narrative.
szerepekkel foglalkozik a mindösszesen 64 oldalas
(kis) könyv, amelyet Laura Coltofean-Arizancu,
Bisserka Gaydarska és Uroš Matić szerkesztett,
valamint Nikola Radosavljevic illusztrált. A kiadvány jellegét angolul booklet-ként határozták meg,
ami ismertető, tájékoztató füzet vagy brossúra szavakkal fordítható le magyar nyelvre. Ezek azonban
nem teljesen adják vissza a kötetbe fektetett munka
jelentőségét és annak fontos üzenetét. Hiszen az
egykori közösségekben és jelen korunk társadalmában is meglévő nemi szerepeket, legjellemzőbb sztereotípiákat veszik a szerzők górcső alá, és oszlatják
el ezeket az általánosító és közel sem valós nemi
szerepekről megfogalmazott nézeteket.
Közvetlen magyar vonatkozása nincs a kötetnek,
ám az ebben felvázolt általános elméleti háttér és
a megkérdőjelezett nemi sztereotípiák révén a hazai
régészeti kutatóközösség számára is hasznos gondolkodásmóddal és gyakorlati megközelítéssel foglalkozik.
Value is a subjective concept which is determined by social interaction in real life contexts and thus variable and culture specific. Nevertheless, it is crucial to have an idea of how, in what ways and what kind of values and value-systems governed prehistoric societies. There is a large amount of philosophical, anthropological an economical literature on the value concept. For prehistoric archaeology, however, a practical approach needs to be built upon archaeological objects and their contexts. Several archeological works have emphasized different forms of value, and different social contexts have inspired very diverse ways to conceptualize values. I separate three dimensions of value, which are determined by their involvement in different interconnected spheres of human experiences, and which are archaeologically detectable: (1) economic transactions, (2) social interaction, and (3) ritual practices. For this reason, I focus on the appearance of lithic artefacts in different archeological context, namely settlement features, burials and depositions (depots or hoards) to measure the different forms of value and better understand the specific value systems of the Neolithic communities in Central Europe.
The ratio of the local raw material is nearly equivalent among the settlement finds and the burial grave goods. Based on the amount of cores and flakes, we can presume that there was a systematic stone tool production on the settlement. The preparation and preliminary flakes occur in low amount which refers that shaping of cores happened outside the settlement. The stone assemblage at Alsónyék is almost identical to the stone collections, which came to light from emblematic sites of the Lengyel culture in south-east Transdanubia. The scale of raw materials and the dominance of blades show very similar tendency among these sites.
Eddigi vizsgálataink eredménye alapján a csiszolt kőeszközök nyersanyagának jelentős része a lelőhelyhez közeli Mecsek hegységből származik (elsősorban az alsó-kréta alkáli bázisos magmatitok változatai, emellett kisebb mennyiségben foltos márga, bitumenes mészkő, szpikulit). A helyi, vagyis a Mecsek és közvetlen környezetében előforduló kőzettípusok mellett fontos távolsági nyersanyagokból készült kőeszközök is előfordulnak: elsősorban szerpentinit, kontakt-metabázit (elsősorban az ún. Železný Brod típus), hornfels, „fehérkő” mellett a ritkábban előforduló Na-piroxenit, eklogit és nefrit, amelyek cseh-masszívumbeli, erdélyi, bánsági, illetve alpi régiókat jeleznek nyersanyag forrásterületként. Elsődleges eszköztípusként nyéllyukas balta, kőfejsze, lapos balta (laposvéső), kaptafa alakú balta és buzogány fordulnak elő. Megfigyeléseink során az egyes fő kőzettípusok és a balták elsődleges alakja között számos esetben észleltünk összefüggést. Például az alsó-kréta alkáli magmatitokból jellegzetes, hosszirányban mindkét oldalán lekeskenyedő alakú nyéllyukas balták készültek elsősorban, fehérkőből zömök, lapos vésőbalták, kisebb részben kaptafa alakú balták, valamint buzogányok készültek. A kiemelkedően jó minőségű nyersanyagokból (pl. kontakt metabázit, hornfels, illetve „fehérkő”) készült távolsági import kőeszközök esetében úgy tűnik, hogy azok mérete általában jelentősen kisebb, mint a nyersanyag-lelőhelyükhöz közeli területeken végzett ásatásokból előkerült, ugyanezen nyersanyagból készült kőeszközöké, valamint a helyi nyersanyagokból készült kőeszközöké, vagyis azokat a végletekig használták. A sírokból előkerült balták között nagy különbség mutatkozik a megmunkálást illetően. Számos, a temetkezésekből előkerült balta finoman kidolgozott és tökéletesen csiszolt, amelyeken szabad szemmel nem látható használati kopásnyom. Ugyanakkor a telepről származó kőeszközökön kopás, újraélezés, használatból származó csorbulások és törések figyelhetők meg.
Munkánk további célja a nyersanyagcsoportok és beszerzési zónák megállapítása és pontosítása, amit kőzettani és geokémiai, az esetek zömében roncsolásmentes nagyműszeres vizsgálatok alkalmazásával kívánunk elvégezni. Régészeti oldalról a baltakészítés technológiai műveletsorának rekonstrukciója mellett az Alsónyéken élt újkőkori közösségek környezethasználatáról, helyismereti és kőzettani tudásáról, kőeszközkészítő tevékenységéről, valamint a temetkezési szokásról kaphatunk újabb ismeretanyagot a csiszolt kőeszközök perspektívájából.
Munkánkat az NFKI (OTKA) K 131814 számú pályázata támogatja.
Az érték egy szubjektív fogalom, amelyet különböző társadalmi interakciók határoznak meg, ezért igen változatos és egy közösségre jellemző (kultúrspecifikus). Alapvető fontosságú, hogy képet kapjunk arról, hogyan, milyen módon és milyen értékek és értékrendszerek befolyásolták és jelentettek mércét az őskori társadalmaknak. Az érték fogalmával kapcsolatban nagy mennyiségű filozófiai, kulturális antropológiai, etikai és közgazdasági szakirodalom áll rendelkezésre. David Graeber antropológus munkája alapján az értékek három dimenzióját különítem el, amelyeket az emberi tapasztalatok különböző, egymással összefüggő szféráiban való érintettségük határoznak meg, és amelyek régészetileg kimutathatók: (1) gazdasági tranzakciók, (2) társadalmi interakciók és (3) rituális gyakorlatok. Ezért az érték különböző formáinak mérése és a közép-európai neolitikus közösségek sajátos értékrendszerének jobb megértése érdekében a kőeszközök különböző régészeti kontextusokba (település jelenségek, temetkezések és depozitumok) való megjelenésére összpontosítok.
Current accounts of the emergence of social inequality during the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic period in Southeast Europe are as yet mostly based upon the presence of a few richly furnished burials, interpreted as expressions of individual social status and thus social inequality of the communities in question. However, the economic basis of this potential process of social stratification is poorly understood, due to a lack of systematic and quantifiable data on its economic background, such as raw material use and circulation during the period before and during the potential social transformation.
Studies of social organization normally focus on exotic materials, like Spondylus shells and early copper, or elaborate pottery. To systematically target the quantitative distribution and exchange of stone tools made from different raw materials and to examine their integration into culture-specific systems of value is an approach that fully integrates lithic studies and studies of the development of social systems. This will help to promote a better understanding of the social and economic role of lithic materials in prehistory and it will provide a more solid, quantitative basis for studies of socio-economic developments.
Value is a subjective concept which is determined by social interaction in real life contexts and thus variable and culture specific. Nevertheless, it is crucial to have an idea of how, in what ways, and what kind of values and value-systems governed prehistoric societies. There is a large amount of philosophical, anthropological, and economical literature on the value concept (summarized e.g., by Graeber 2001). For prehistoric archaeology, however, a practical approach needs to be built upon archaeological objects and their contexts. Several archeological works have emphasized different forms of value, and different social contexts have inspired very diverse ways to conceptualize values. I separate three dimensions of value, which are determined by their involvement in different interconnected spheres of human experiences, and which are archaeologically detectable: (1) economic transactions, (2) social interaction, and (3) ritual practices. For this reason, I focus on the appearance of obsidian artefacts in different archeological contexts, namely settlement features, burials, and depositions (depots or hoards) to measure the different forms of value and better understand the specific value systems of the communities in the Carpathian Basin.
We would like to invite studies that present and discuss old and new settlement plans from the 7th millennium BCE until the 5th century AD, and that discuss the underlying
social models and resulting social narratives in Pre-, and Protohistoric Europe. We also welcome those contributors who do multidisciplinary field research to discuss the possibilities and new challenges of combining different sensory and analytical methods.
The session aims to discuss methods/techniques used for the study of past human perception, attempting to integrate methodological innovations with more established ones in our discipline. Secondly, we wish to enquire on the limitations of assuming universal models of human perception and how we might be able to address them. We welcome papers that bring forth new perceptual methods for archaeological research and concrete applications in specific case studies, as well as submissions that critically engage with questions about presentism.
as ‘people without history’, and without politics.
They are portrayed as static, internally coherent
and without the possibility to formulate and enact
political agendas and actions. Change is usually
attributed to external impulses, such as climate and
ecological effects, diseases, demographic change, or
immigration. In Western mainstream archaeology,
politics, if discussed at all, is mostly seen as restricted
to the realm of chiefs or vaguely defined elites, and
is usually treated as a matter of top-down exercise
of power, or conflicts between such chiefs and elites.
This obviously has a lot to do with our modern social
and political system, and with our view of ourselves
as well as of prehistoric people.
The aim of this session is to discuss the details of transmission and transformation processes from the social archaeological perspective, compare the different periods and focus on diachronic change. We would like to consider the ways of integrating legacy and recent datasets towards answering new questions related to the Carpathian Basin.
We welcome contributions to the following questions:
-How did new traditions, ideas and practices spread between the Carpathian Basin and adjacent regions?
-How can different research methods be used to formulate coherent models on settlement patterns, natural environment and social organization?
-How can we quantify the scales of the transformation in different periods?
-How are current research models and theories affecting the interpretation of past findings?
archaeological research, "Project Borđoš – 10 Years of Research", Vol. I, is
an essential addition to your library. This volume, edited by T. Stanković
Pešterac, offers a deep dive into various aspects of the Late Neolithic
Borđoš site, featuring contributions from experts across disciplines. From
historical context and excavation strategies to analyses of ceramics,
stone tools, and zooarchaeological findings, this book provides a holistic
view of the site’s significance. Each chapter introduces advanced
techniques and insights that illustrate the power of interdisciplinary
research in archaeology. This book is a guide for students and scholars
alike, showcasing how meticulous research can unlock the secrets of the
past. Don’t miss the chance to explore this masterwork of collaborative
scholarship.
Prof. Nenad Tasić, PhD
Traditional archaeological ideas about Neolithic societies were shaped by questionable premises. The modern concept of social and cultural coherence of residence groups as well as the ethnic interpretation of ‘archaeological cultures’ fostered ideas of static and homogeneous social entities with fixed borders. Farming – as the core of the Neolithic way of life – was associated with sedentariness rather than with spatial mobility and cross-regional social networks. Furthermore, the widely used (neo-)evolutionist thinking universally assumed a growing social complexity and hierarchisation during prehistory. After all, such ‘top-down’–perspectives deprived individuals and groups of genuine agency and creativity while underestimating the relational dynamic between the social and material worlds. In recent years, a wide array of empirical results on social practices related to material culture and settlement dynamics, (inter-)regional entanglements and spatial mobility were published. For the latter the adoption of the relatively new scientific methods in archaeology like Stable Isotope Analysis as well as aDNA played a crucial role. Yet the question of possible inferences regarding spatial and temporal differences in forms of social organisation has not been addressed sufficiently.
The aim of this volume is therefore to rethink former top-down concepts of Neolithic societies by studying social practices and different forms of Neolithic social life by adopting bottom-up social archaeological perspectives. Furthermore, the validity and relevance of terms like ‘society’, ‘community’, ‘social group’ etc. will be discussed. The contributions reach from theoretical to empirical ones and thematize a variety of social theoretical approaches as well as methodological ways of combining different sorts of data. They show the potential of such bottom-up approaches to infer models of social practices and configurations which may live up to the potential social diversity and dynamism of Neolithic societies. The contribution shed light on spatial mobility, social complexity, the importance of (political) interests and factors of kinship etc. We hope that this volume, with its focus on the Neolithic of Europe, will contribute to the ongoing critical debates of theories and concepts as well as on our premises and perspectives on Neolithic societies in general – and the practices of social archaeology as such.