26th Neolithic Seminar

Eurasian Neolithics: How Cultures and

Societies Evolve and Why It Matters
Thursday 9th to Saturday 11th November 2023
Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana

Conference Programme and

Abstracts Book
 26th Neolithic Seminar

Eurasian Neolithics: How Cultures and Societies Evolve

and Why It Matters
Thursday 9th to Saturday 11th November 2023
Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana

The conference will be held in the conference hall in the

City Museum of Ljubljana

Programme
Thursday, 9th November
Morning session: Chair:
9.00‒12.00 Agathe Reingruber

Conference Opening and Words of Greeting

Mihael Budja
Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Introduction to the Conference

Mehmet Özdoğan
İstanbul University, İstanbul, Turkey
Reassessing the Dispersal of Neolithic Way of Living or Social and Cultural
Patterns in Change. What Matters?

Necmi Karul
Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Letters, İstanbul University, İstanbul, Turkey
Special Buildings in the Context of the Construction of the Neolithic Societies

Detlef Gronenborn
Leibniz Centre for Archaeology (LEIZA), Mainz, Germany
Understanding Neolithic Dynamics and Wat It Means for Us Today

3
Conference Programme

Eszter Bánffy 1, Alasdair Whittle 2

1 Romano-Germanic Commission, German Archaeological Institute, Frankfurt, Germa-
ny; 2 School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University, United Kingdom
Steps Along the Road: Successes, Delays and Failures in Processes of Neolithi-
sation

lunch break 12.00-13.00

Afternoon session: Chair:

13.00‒18.00 Eszter Bánffy

Marek Nowak
Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
From the Archaeological Site of Miechów to Central Europe During the Neoli­
thic. Different Scales of the Prehistoric Narrative

Pere Gelabert
Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Wien, Austria
Social Genomics for Understanding Neolithic Social Structures

Alasdair Whittle
School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
On the Nature and Tempo of Social Change: Three Studies from the Neolithic
of Britain and Ireland

Lee Clare
German Archaeological Institute, İstanbul Department, İstanbul, Turkey
Upper Mesopotamia in the Early Holocene: Establishing an Absolute Chronology
for the Taș Tepeler (Sanliurfa, SE- Turkey) and Investigating the Hunter-Gathe­
rer-Crisis (HGC)

coffee & tea break 15.00‒15.30

Eylem Özdoğan
Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Letters, İstanbul University, İstanbul, Turkey
The Neolithic Narrative from the Perspectives of the ‘Sayburç Reliefs’

4
 Conference Programme

Dušan Borić 1,2,3, Alessia Nava 7, Beatrice Peripoli 1, Theron Douglas Price 5,
Luca Bondioli 4, and Wolfgang Müller 6
1 Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Roma, Italy; 2
The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Columbia University, New York,
USA; 3 Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, USA; 4 School of
Human and Social Sciences and Cultural Heritage, University of Padova, Padova, Italy;
5 University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA; 6 The Institute of Geosciences, Goethe Uni-
versity, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; 7 Department of Oral and Maxillo-Facial Scien-
ces, Sapienza University of Rome, Roma,Italy
Mesolithic and Neolithic Mobility Patterns in the Balkans Revealed via
Time-Resolved Records in Teeth

Dushka Urem-Kotsou 1, Apostolos Sarris 2, Nikos Papadopoulos 3, Konstantinos

Vouvalidis 4, Yannis Maniatis 5, Chrissa Karadima 6, Maria Chrysafi 7, Dimitris
Matsas 6, Anna Mousioni 6, Matheos Koutsoumanis 6, Stavros Kotsos 8,
Despo­ina Skoulariki 7, Kyriakos Sgouropoulos 9, Periklis Chrysafakoglou 9,
Dimitris Oikonomou 3, Sofia Doani 4, Ioannis Chronis 4, and Georgios Polymeris 5
1 Democritus University of Thrace, 2 University of Cyprus, 3 Foundation for Research
and Technology, 4 Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 5 NCSR ˮDemokritos”, 6 Ephor-
ate of Antiquities of Rhodope, 7 Ephorate of Antiquities of Xanthe, 8 Ephorate of Antiq-
uities of Thessaloniki City, 9 Democritus University of Thrace
Early Farmers in Aegean Thrace

conference dinner banquet at place 18.00

Friday, 10th November

Morning session: Chair:
9.00‒13.00 Giedrė Motuzaite Matuzevičiūtė

Goce Naumov
Center for Prehistoric Research, Museum of Macedonia, Skopje, Republic of North Ma­
ce­donia
The First Farming Communities of Pelagonia and the Balkan Neolithic Wet-
lands

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Conference Programme

Dušan Mihailović 1, Steven Kuhn 2, Sofija Dragosavac 1, Vesna Dimitrijević 1,

Ivana Živaljević 3, Anđa Petrović 1, Danilo Pajović 1, Mirela Đurović 1,
and Mirjana Roksandic 4
1 Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Beograd, Beograd,
Serbia; 2 School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, United States; 3 De-
partment of History, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia;
4 Department of Anthropology, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Canada
First Insights into the Late Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic Settlement of
Southern Serbia

Marko Porčić
Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Beograd, Beograd,
Serbia
The beginning of the Neolithic in the Central Balkans: Knowns and Unknowns

coffee & tea break 10.30‒11.00

Maxime Brami
Palaeogenetics Group, Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Faculty of
Bio­logy, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
The Lepenski Vir Conundrum Revisited

Barbara Horejs
Austrian Archaeological Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences and Human Evolution
and Archaeological Sciences, University Vienna, Wien, Austria
Multi-scalar and Multispecies Mobility in the Neolithisation of the Balkans

Raiko Krauß 1, Dan Ciobotaru 2

1 Institute of Prehistory, Early History and Medieval Archaeology, Faculty of Humani­
ties, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany; 2 National Museum of Banat, Ti­
mişoara, Romania
The Early Neolithic Settlement of Movila lui Deciov in Romanian Banat

Mario Bodružić, Kristina Horvat, and Maja Grgurić

Department of Archaeology, University of Zadar, Zadar, Croatia
Early Neolithic Herders of Northern Dalmatia: New Insight from Cave in Ždrilo

lunch break 13.00‒14.00

6
 Conference Programme

Afternoon session: Chair:

14.00‒18.30 Alenka Tomaž

Dimitrij Mlekuž Vrhovnik

Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana and The Institute
for the Protection of the Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Active Periphery. The Place of the Southeastern Alps in the Neolithic World
System

Guram Chkhatarashvili 1, Valery Manko 2

1 Department of Archaeology, Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University, Batumi, Geor-
gia; 2 Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
Evolution Patterns of Final Pleistocene, Early and Middle Holocene Cultures
in Southern Eastern Europe and the Caucasus

Giedrė Motuzaite Matuzevičiūtė

Bioarchaeology Research centre, Archaeology Department, History Faculty, Vilnius
University, Vilnius, Lithuania
Forest Neolithic, Subneolithic or no-Neolithic – The Beginning of Food Pro-
duction in the East Basics

Natalia Tsydenova
Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies of the Siberian Branch of the
Russian Academy of Sciences, Ulan-Ude, Republic of Buryatia, Russia
Origin of the Late Pleistocene Early Ceramic Transbaikalia Complexes

coffee & tea break 16.00‒16.30

Agathe Reingruber
Institute for Prehistoric Archaeology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
The flat sites Elateia 1 and Sesklo B in Context: Settlement Patterns of the
Thes­salian Early and Middle Neolithic

Dragana Rajković1, Selena Vitezović2

1 Archaeological museum Osijek, Croatia; 2Institute of Archaeology, Beograd, Serbia
Neolithic Multiculturalism: Zones of Contact of Various Communities

7
Conference Programme

Katarina Botić
Institute of Archaeology, Zagreb, Croatia
8.2–6 ka BP Human-Environment Interaction in the Southwestern Carpathian
Ba­sin: A Past Narrative for Future Adaptation

Alexandra Anders
Institute of Archaeologicals Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
Neolithic People and their Artefacts. Burials of the Polgár Microregion (NE
Hun­gary) from the Perspective of Biosocial Archaeology

Saturday, 11th November

Morning session: Chair:
9.00‒12.00 Katarina Botić

Marie-Claire Ries
Department of Archaeologies, Institute of archaeologies (Microarchaeological labora-
tory), University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
Another Neolithisation of Austria? Lake Settlement Sites in the Southeastern
Alpine Territory of Carinthia

Ivana Pandzić
Department of History, Faculty of Philosophy University of Banja Luka; Museum of
Republic of Srpska, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina Republic of Bosnia and Her-
zegovina
Unearthing the Role of Salt Exploitation in Transforming Neolithic Bosnia and
Herzegovina

Vidan Dimić, Dragana Antonović

Institute of Archaeology, Beograd, Serbia
Born Again: Multiple Biographies of Ground and Abrasive Stone Tools in the
Neolithic of Serbia
coffee & tea break 10.30‒11.00

8
 Conference Programme

Matija Turk
Institute of Archaeology, Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of
Scien­ces and Arts (ZRC SAZU), Ljubljana, Slovenia
Mesolithic Site Viktorjev spodmol: A lithic Perspective

Alenka Tomaž
Department & Institute of archaeology and Heritage, Faculty of Humanities, University
of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia
Tracing Standardization in Early Eneolithic Pottery Production. Case Study:
Prekmurje Region

Bine Kramberger 1, Borut Toškan 2, and Tjaša Tolar 2

1 Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia;
2 Institute of Archaeology, Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of
Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU), Ljubljana, Slovenia
Reassessment of the Neolithic Sava Group in Slovenia After 20 Years: New
Data on the Chronology, Settlement Features, Ceramic Style(s) and Economy
from Dolsko – Spodnje Škovce

general discussion & closing remarks

9
 Abstracts Book

Mehmet Özdoğan
İstanbul University, İstanbul, Turkey
Reassessing the Dispersal of Neolithic Way of Living or Social and Cultural
Patterns in Change. What Matters?

In recent decades, our knowledge of the processes that led to the establishment of
food-producing communities in regions on the periphery or outside the core areas of
primary Neolithisation has expanded considerably, making it possible to reconsider
earlier theories of Neolithic dispersal, most of which were based on overly simplistic
explanatory scenarios for individual areas. It is now more than evident that expansion
of the Neolithic way of life was a far more complex and diverse event than was ever
thought. Importantly, we are also now much better informed about the sociocultural
patterns of the regions from which the emigrating farmers came, allowing inferences
not only about the crafts they knew but also about the social memory they brought
with them. Ordinarily generalized terms such as ‘dispersal’ can now be considered
under a variety of aspects, ranging from singular pioneer movements to collective or
chain migrations to segregated infiltrations, merging and coalescence with local com-
munities, acculturation, and several others. Moreover, it became clear that, with the ex-
ception of isolated cases, the ‘highly placed’ (clergy/elite) had not joined the migration
groups, nor had some master craftsmen; thus, it was more of a simple popular move-
ment. That is, certain social values were carried forward through social memory, but
their manifestations, such as monumentality, imposing structures, complex technolo-
gies, remained behind. Consequently, living conditions in the newly settled areas were
not determined by the management of surplus values, but by various other factors,
such as the demographic composition of the newcomers, interaction with local indig-
enous communities, environmental conditions, etc. On the other hand, in the regions
that could not be reached directly by the immigrant farmers, various other models de-
veloped, depending on the modalities of acculturation and selected adaptations. The
paper gives an overview of the processes that took place in the Balkans and Caucasia.

10
 Abstracts book

Necmi Karul
Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Letters, İstanbul University, İstanbul, Turkey
Special Buildings in the Context of the Construction of the Neolithic Societies

The rapid increase in the number of settlements in southwest Asia since the middle of
the 10th millennium BC suggests a growing population and a society living in denser
groups. The emergence of permanent settlements in different ecological environments
suggests intensely interacting regions with similar material culture and symbolic ex-
pressions. Although interaction and similarities between societies decrease with dis-
tance, the existence of a network with specific routes, components, and ideological
commonalities can be detected throughout Southwest Asia. One of the most promi-
nent elements of early Neolithic societies are ‘special buildings.’ The functions of these
buildings and their role in the new life that emerged with the Neolithic are among the
current debates in Neolithic studies. The data obtained in recent years in ªanl�urfa
within the framework of the Taº Tepeler project show concretely the role of special
buildings in the development of a new social environment. Moreover, these buildings,
which reflect a certain artistic understanding and cognitive transfer, are focused on
humans, indicating that humans have begun to reposition themselves in the universe.
The special buildings also draw attention to the importance of space as a place that
holds society together and keeps its values alive in the construction of Neolithic society.

Detlef Gronenborn
Leibniz Centre for Archaeology (LEIZA), Mainz, Germany
Understanding Neolithic Dynamics and Wat It Means for Us Today

With the advent of farming and pastoralism human societies around the world and
in Eurasia as well, underwent significant changes. After initial periods of experimen-
tation, the largely continuous supply of more and more stable food led to population
growth and eventually to more politically complex societies.
At the same time, this increase in dynamism also led to an increase in internal social dy-
namics. Following a simple and seemingly repetitive pattern, societies formed, achieved
a certain level of prosperity and stabilization, which in turn led to an increase in inter-
nal conflict, further violence, and eventual disintegration. These simple socio-political
cycles have been documented and described since antiquity, but for state-level societ-
ies. Recent regional case studies and cross-regional data-driven research on mid-Holo-
cene agrarian societies show that the same patterns apply to pre-state entities, while
hunter-gatherer societies do not exhibit such pronounced patterns.

11
Abstracts book

Therefore, such boom-and-bust patterns and their socio-political forcing became an

important factor from the Neolithic onward. Indeed, Neolithic societies can serve as a
template for understanding the underlying social and political dynamics in all seden-
tary and manufacturing societies to the present day.

Eszter Bánffy 1, Alasdair Whittle 2

1 Romano-Germanic Commission, German Archaeological Institute, Frankfurt, Germa-
ny; 2 School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University, United Kingdom
Steps Along the Road: Successes, Delays and Failures in Processes of Neolithi-
sation

The traditional archaeological view, based mainly on pottery, was that the conversion
to Neolithic lifeways in south eastern and central Europe was based on the immigra-
tion of new populations, with further northward dispersal delayed. This model has
received solid confirmation from the bioarchaeological results of the last two decades;
the grand narrative based on the aDNA and isotope results is certainly that of a major
arrival of new populations. In contrast, the ongoing study of several regions at the turn
of sedentarisation and food-producing subsistence reveals a more diverse and compli-
cated set of stories.
In addition to rapid migrations and successfully occupied regions, there were also
instances of early pioneering, delays and slow transitions, and short-term (and even
longer-term) failures within an overall irreversible trend. These different processes de-
pended on the specific interactions between native and immigrant groups with differ-
ent subsistence strategies and values. All participants had to adapt to changing social,
environmental, and cognitive conditions.
In this paper, we discuss different contexts and scenarios across Europe, from the
northern Balkans to the Carpathian Basin, central and north-central Europe, and the
northwestern Atlantic coast to Britain and Ireland. We consider these individual and
diverse situations together with the grand narrative created by the new DNA and stable
isotope results, and seek explanations for the delayed but distinct emergence of hunt-
er-gatherer haplotypes in early and middle Neolithic European communities.

Marek Nowak
Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
From the Archaeological Site of Miechów to Central Europe During the Neoli­
thic. Different Scales of the Prehistoric Narrative

12
 Abstracts book

The presentation will show that different spatial and temporal scales of the prehistor-
ic narrative have a significant impact on our perception of trajectories and interde-
pendencies of archaeological phenomena, both cultural and biological. The boundary
points are, on the one hand, the multi-period archaeological site No. 3 at Miechów in
western Lesser Poland, inhabited by various Neolithic communities from the late 6th
to the early 3rd millennium BC, and, on the other hand, the area of Central Europe in
the same period. In between, there are microregional (Miechów microregion), region-
al (western Lesser Poland) and supraregional (Upper Vistula and Odra river basins)
approaches. The considerations based on the current state of practical and theoreti-
cal knowledge related to the above-mentioned space and time lead to the conclusion
that the narratives conducted at the level of a multicultural archaeological site, i.e. at
a strictly local level, tend to represent archaeological phenomena as real, discrete enti-
ties. Past reality is seen as a series of distinct cultural-historical phases, especially when
the available chronological evidence supports such a view. It is to be expected that this
will be reflected in other areas of study of past human societies, such as archaeobi-
ology, including archaeogenetics. In short, sociocultural systems and archaeological
units or different archaeobiological facts (e.g., archaeogenetic facts) are equated. On
the other hand, at the supra-regional level of Central Europe, the representation tends
to widely overlap and mix archaeological units and archaeobiological phenomena. The
degree of their inconspicuousness is either extremely low or even zero. This would
mean that the sociocultural systems of the real past included a variety of archaeolog-
ical units and archaeobiological phenomena. Clearly, narratives conducted on scales
between these extremes take on intermediate tones. It may not be revolutionary, but
it is useful to conclude that in order to obtain a picture of prehistory that is as close as
possible to past reality, it is necessary to include all narrative scales and the resulting
boundaries, in both configurations, from bottom to top and vice versa. We will try to
do this in relation to the space and time mentioned above. The lecture is part of the
project of the National Science Centre of Poland No. 2016/23/B/HS3/00387, ‘Cultural
changes in the environment of loess uplands. Settlement, Economy and Society from
the Neolithic to the Middle Ages at Site No. 3 in Miechów’.

Pere Gelabert
Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Wien, Austria
Social Genomics for Understanding Neolithic Social Structures

In recent years, genomics has been widely applied to Neolithic cemeteries and sites.
These large data sets, sometimes corresponding to entire communities, have been used

13
Abstracts book

to investigate archaeological questions about cultural attribution, social structure, and

population structure. Here we present the application of such a methodology to deci-
pher the social structures of Linear Pottery (LBK) Neolithic communities, the first to
spread in the second half of the 6th millennium BC. The LBK exhibited a high degree of
uniformity in material culture, albeit with regional differences in settlement patterns,
subsistence, and burial practices. To date, ancient DNA data from LBK individuals have
been generated for only a limited number of sites and often in small samples, making
it difficult to examine variation within and between sites. We report genome-wide data
from 178 LBK individuals from the eastern LBK site of the Alföld Linear Pottery Cul-
ture (ALPC) at Polgár-Ferenci-hát in Hungary, the western LBK site of Nitra in Slovakia,
and the included western LBK settlement and massacre site of Schletz in Austria. We
observe a higher percentage of western hunter-gatherers (WHG) among individuals
in the eastern LBK than in the much more widespread western LBK, indicating that
these two archaeologically distinct cultures also had different genetic developments.
Most intermixing between WHG and farmers occurred just before the onset of LBK cul-
ture, and there is no evidence that WHG ancestors were systematically more male- or
female-descended. However, we find strong genetic evidence of patrilocality among
LBK that extends previous results based on isotopic analyses, with stronger genetic
structure among sites on the male than on the female lineage and a higher rate of with-
in-site kin for males. At Schletz, we find almost no first-degree relatives, although we
have data from almost every skeleton at the site, indicating that this massacre involved
people from a large population rather than a small community.

Alasdair Whittle
School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
On the Nature and Tempo of Social Change: Three Studies from the Neolithic
of Britain and Ireland

In this paper, I want to contrast traditional models for the steady development of so-
cial change through the course of the Neolithic in Britain and Ireland with the more
complicated picture that has emerged from more recent research, involving not least
more detailed regional studies, aDNA analysis and the construction of more precise
chronologies through Bayesian modelling. These all raise questions of diversity and
competing strands within Neolithic society, cycles of change, and the nature and dura-
tion of power. I will briefly look at three questions in particular: the potential role of
lineages in the Early Neolithic (roughly late 5th to mid-4th millennia cal BC); the emer-
gence and then decline of prominent constructions in parts of Britain and Ireland in

14
 Abstracts book

the middle Neolithic (late 4th and early 3rd millennia cal BC); and the final flourish (27th
to 25th centuries cal BC) of the late Neolithic. That was the context for extraordinary
undertakings such as Stonehenge and Silbury Hill, but what was the state of the wider
setting to which they belonged?

Lee Clare
German Archaeological Institute, İstanbul Department, İstanbul, Turkey
Upper Mesopotamia in the Early Holocene: Establishing an Absolute Chronology
for the Taș Tepeler (Sanliurfa, SE- Turkey) and Investigating the Hunter-Gathe­
rer-Crisis (HGC)

The ªanlıurfa region of Türkiye (SE- Turkey) is the site of a new international and mul-
tidisciplinary archaeological research project dedicated to the study of human settle-
ment in an area surrounding the Harran Plain at the transition from a hunter-gatherer
economy to a food-producing subsistence economy in the early Holocene. The Taº Te-
peler (Stone Mound) Project focuses on the two major Early Neolithic sites of Göbekli
Tepe and Karahantepe, but also includes the recently initiated excavations at Seferte-
pe, Sayburç, and Çakmak Tepe. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the absolute
chronological and sociocultural context of these sites in the broader geographical set-
ting of Upper Mesopotamia.
Observations related to settlement spread, subsistence, trade networks, and materi-
al culture, in conjunction with available radiocarbon dates from the Taº Tepeler and
from sites in neighbouring regions (Upper Euphrates and Tigris Valleys), suggest a
period of sociocultural disruption that began in the late 10th century. This period is
referred to here as the hunter-gatherer crisis (HGC). It is believed that the challeng-
es faced by prehistoric people during this period, such as increasing sedentarisation,
more pronounced social hierarchisation, and the beginning domestication of animals
and plants, ultimately triggered the construction of the monumental structures with
T-shaped monoliths found at many of the Taº Tepeler sites. However, these particular
structures and the associated boom in artistic expression are not interpreted as ‘Neo-
lithic innovation’, but rather as the result of the hunter-gatherers’ attempt to preserve
their traditional lifestyles and narratives. It was only with the disappearance of these
monuments in the second half of the 9th millennium cal BC that the Palaeolithic mind-
set finally ended and the true Neolithic arrived.

15
Abstracts book

Eylem Özdoğan
Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Letters, İstanbul University, İstanbul, Turkey
The Neolithic Narrative from the Perspectives of the ‘Sayburç Reliefs’

After the narrative descriptions that appear in the Upper Paleolithic, the most pro-
nounced examples of the narrative are first found in the Southwest Asian Neolithic. Be-
ginning in the 10th millennium BC, an increase in symbolic elements can be observed.
Especially in southeastern Turkey, a symbolic boom, so to speak, can be observed in the
Şanlıurfa region. The monumental buildings, one of the most typical elements of this
place, are each considered symbolic elements in their own right. The pillars, sculptures
and representations found in these buildings form a unity in terms of iconography,
theme and style. It is believed that, in addition to their artistic aspect, they also play
a role as elements of a narrative about the social change of the Neolithic people who
adapted to a new way of life. The ‘Sayburç Reliefs’ are one of the most holistic examples
of the descriptive narrative that has existed in ªanlıurfa for at least 1500 years without
much change, despite the technological and economic changes. The reliefs found at
Sayburç, on which two successive stories are told in a horizontal arrangement, reflect
the components that represent the social dynamics of Neolithic adaptation. This paper
uses the Sayburç reliefs as an example to discuss how powerful Neolithic representa-
tions are when it comes to social attitudes, collective memory, and stories in prehistor-
ic societies.

Dušan Borić 1,2,3, Alessia Nava 7, Beatrice Peripoli 1, Theron Douglas Price 5,
Luca Bondioli 4, and Wolfgang Müller 6
1 Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Roma, Italy; 2
The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Columbia University, New York,
USA; 3 Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, USA; 4 School of
Human and Social Sciences and Cultural Heritage, University of Padova, Padova, Italy;
5 University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA; 6 The Institute of Geosciences, Goethe Uni-
versity, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; 7 Department of Oral and Maxillo-Facial Scien-
ces, Sapienza University of Rome, Roma,Italy
Mesolithic and Neolithic Mobility Patterns in the Balkans Revealed via Time-
Resolved Records in Teeth

Bioarchaeological studies of agricultural transitions have shown cross-culturally how

major changes in dietary practices, mobility, and everyday corporeal conduct between
foraging and farming groups can be detected in human skeletal remains. The study

16
 Abstracts book

reported here uses histological analysis applied to a sample of Mesolithic and Neolithic
teeth from the central Balkans in order to establish the temporal patterns of enamel
growth following the method outlined in Birch and Dean (2014) and Guatelli-Steinberg
et al. (2012). We further identify the variation of stress prevalence based on accentu-
ated lines (ALs), correlating these to previously established individual chronologies
of enamel growth to discern any patterning of incidences of stress during early life in
foragers vs. early farmers. We utilize the same histological sections to obtain time-re-
solved mobility records from continuous strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr) profiles along
the enamel-dentine junction (EDJ) using laser ablation inductively coupled multi-col-
lector mass spectrometry (LA-MC-ICPMS). These (sub-)seasonally-resolved strontium
isotope signals are then directly correlated to the established chronology of enamel
growth, thus serving as a proxy for determining seasonal/annual mobility during early
life. Finally, the strontium isotope profiles are compared to the existing bulk strontium
isotopic data on the same pool of individuals and the local geographic strontium iso-
topic variability.
This research program and related results were made possible by the support of the
NOMIS Foundation and Marie Sk³odowska-Curie Global Fellowship no. 846856 (to
D.B.).
References
Birch W., Dean M. C. 2014. A method of calculating human deciduous crown formation
times and of estimating the chronological ages of stressful events occurring during
deciduous enamel formation. Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine 22: 127–144.

Debbie Guatelli-Steinberg et al. 2012. Enamel extension rate patterns in modern hu-
man teeth: Two approaches designed to establish an integrated comparative context
for fossil primates.Journal of Human Evolution 63(3): 475–486.

Dushka Urem-Kotsou 1, Apostolos Sarris 2, Nikos Papadopoulos 3, Konstantinos

Vouvalidis 4, Yannis Maniatis 5, Chrissa Karadima 6, Maria Chrysafi 7, Dimitris
Matsas 6, Anna Mousioni 6, Matheos Koutsoumanis 6, Stavros Kotsos 8,
Despoina Skoulariki 7, Kyriakos Sgouropoulos 9, Periklis Chrysafakoglou 9,
Dimitris Oikonomou 3, Sofia Doani 4, Ioannis Chronis 4, and Georgios Polymeris 5
1 Democritus University of Thrace, 2 University of Cyprus, 3 Foundation for Research
and Technology, 4 Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 5 NCSR ˮDemokritos”, 6 Ephor-
ate of Antiquities of Rhodope, 7 Ephorate of Antiquities of Xanthe, 8 Ephorate of Antiq-
uities of Thessaloniki City, 9 Democritus University of Thrace
Early Farmers in Aegean Thrace

17
Abstracts book

Recent archaeological investigations in western and central Macedonia attest to the

presence of the first farmers in northern Greece as early as the middle of the 7th millen-
nium BC, perhaps even somewhat earlier. Compared to this region, the first farmers in
Aegean Thrace seem to have settled somewhat later. According to a single radiocarbon
dating from the settlement of Makri, their presence is confirmed in the late 7th millen-
nium BCE.
The number of settlements identified so far in Aegean Thrace is 27, all located in the
plain enclosed by the Rhodope Mountains to the north and the sea to the south. Most of
them are known only through surface finds. Five sites are an exception, of which only
the Makri settlement has been systematically excavated. According to the available
archaeological data, most of the Neolithic settlements seem to have been established
in the middle of the 6th millennium BC, several centuries after the appearance of the
first farmers in the region. It is possible that the lack of data for the earlier phases of
the Neolithic in Aegean Thrace is due to the limited archaeological exploration of the
Neolithic in conjunction with the complex paleoenvironmental history of the region,
which has affected the visibility of the archaeological record. Sea level rise during the
Holocene covered much of the plain in the coastal area with water, while rivers and
numerous streams of the Rhodope Mountains formed alluvial deposits in the lowlands,
which contributed significantly to the continuous environmental changes and the for-
mation of lagoons, lakes, and marshes. An ongoing interdisciplinary project combin-
ing archaeological, geological, and geophysical methods, together with radiocarbon
dating of samples from cores, is providing new evidence for settlement in the early
phases of the Neolithic in Aegean Thrace and rich data for settlement patterns in the
later Neolithic phases.

Goce Naumov
Center for Prehistoric Research, Museum of Macedonia, Skopje, Republic of North Ma­
ce­donia
The First Farming Communities of Pelagonia and the Balkan Neolithic Wet-
lands

Pelagonia is an elongated valley in southeastern Europe that has been intensively

studied in the last decade by the Center for Prehistoric Research. The multidisciplinary
studies in this region have broadened the perspective on the Early Neolithic in the Bal-
kans and on the modalities of wetland neolithization in the second half of the 7th mil-
lennium BC. It was a process of about 400 years when the first agricultural settlements
were established on the mountain slopes and in the plains. From the beginning, these

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 Abstracts book

societies had a complete so-called ‘Neolithic package’, which was gradually modified
in the structuring of identities manifested in architecture, pottery, house models, tab-
lets, figurative representations and burials. They were essentially associated with the
construction of tells around wetlands and their continuous occupation during the first
300-400 years of their settlement.
Therefore, this paper will focus on the recent research of the 3V project, which inves-
tigates the tells of Vlaho, Vrbjanska Èuka and Veluška Tumba in Pelagonia. The Vlaho
site is located on the mountain slopes of Nidje and was founded around 6400 calBC as
a large settlement EN consisting of numerous stave buildings and dozens of semicir-
cular and rectangular ditches. The tells of Vrbjanska and Veluška were settled in the
lowlands of Pelagonia around 6050 cl BC i.e. at the time when the site of Vlaho was
abandoned. In these tells there were only one or two ditches and a number of large
adobe buildings with massive adobe structures (ovens, tanks, granaries, etc.). The ma-
terial culture and architecture undoubtedly point to the common identities of these
tell societies, but recent studies also emphasize the myriad differences that highlight
distinctive social characteristics. They will be reconsidered in comparison with earlier
observations of neolithisation in southeastern Europe and especially with wetland so-
cieties in the region.

Dušan Mihailović 1, Steven Kuhn 2, Sofija Dragosavac 1, Vesna Dimitrijević 1,

Ivana Živaljević 3, Anđa Petrović 1, Danilo Pajović 1, Mirela Đurović 1,
and Mirjana Roksandic 4
1 Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Beograd, Beograd,
Serbia; 2 School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, United States; 3 De-
partment of History, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia;
4 Department of Anthropology, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Canada
First Insights into the Late Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic Settlement of
Southern Serbia

Despite intensive explorations and excavations in the interior of the Central Balkans,
sites from the late Pleistocene and early Holocene have so far been confirmed only in
the Iron Gates, while they have not been reliably proven anywhere outside this area.
There are several explanations for this. Some authors believe that the lack of sites from
this period is a consequence of insufficient research in the entire region, while others
believe that the Balkans at that time did not have favorable ecological conditions for
the existence of hunter-gatherer communities. New research in southern Serbia sup-
ports the first assumption. At several sites (Meèa dupka, Pešturina, Peæina kod stene,

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Abstracts book

Velika Vranovica, Potpeè) remains from the period before, during and after the Last
Glacial Maximum were detected, while stone artefacts and animal bones were discov-
ered in the Pešterija rock cave south of Pirot. The finds from this site, dated to 7 ka cal
BC, are the first evidence for the presence of Mesolithic groups in Serbia outside the
Iron Gates.

Marko Porčić
Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Beograd, Beograd,
Serbia
The beginning of the Neolithic in the Central Balkans: Knowns and Unknowns

In recent years, a relatively large amount of new archaeological data on the beginning
of the Neolithic period in the Central Balkans has been obtained. This burst of research
enabled researchers to examine more closely the process of the establishment of the
farming way of life in the region in more detail and to test various hypotheses about
this process, especially about its demographic aspects. The picture that emerged from
the new data is broadly consistent with the Advance Wave model, according to which
the first farmers arrived in the region around 6200 BC and gradually spread north-
ward. However, on closer examination, this picture is not so clear and unambiguous.
Moreover, some of the results, such as the sudden drop in the population proxy curve
after 6000 BC, as well as the relatively high estimates for the rate of expansion, the
high fertility rate, and the high population growth rate, are puzzling. In this presenta-
tion, I will first provide an overview of the currently available evidence and interpreta-
tions. In a second step, I will focus on the weak spots of current interpretations, mod-
els, and methods regarding the timing, speed, and nature of the Neolithic expansion
in the Balkans. Finally, I will formulate additional hypotheses to explain the puzzling
patterns and propose means to test them.

Maxime Brami
Palaeogenetics Group, Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Faculty of
Bio­logy, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
The Lepenski Vir Conundrum Revisited

Lepenski Vir in the Iron Gates of the Danube has puzzled archaeologists since its dis-
covery in 1960. The village, with trapezoidal houses and hybrid fish statues, has been
described over the years as ‘Protoneolithic’, ‘Mesolithic’, and even ‘Neolithic’ over the

20
 Abstracts book

years. In this paper I propose that the old debate on the interpretation of the site be-
tween Dragoslav Srejoviæ, the excavator of Lepenski Vir, and Borislav Jovanoviæ, the
excavator of Padina - far from being settled - has been reignited by recent discoveries in
the field of ancient DNA. The work carried out by the Mainz paleogenetics group shows
that a large proportion of the people buried at Lepenski Vir, including adult men, wom-
en and children, were descended from Aegean-Anatolian early farmers. While the new-
comers undoubtedly intermingled with the hunter-gatherers who had lived at the Iron
Gate since the Mesolithic, resulting in complex mixing patterns during the so-called
‘Mesolithic-Neolithic transitional phase’ I caution against interaction models that at-
tempt to reduce Lepenski Vir to a Mesolithic village joined by a few Neolithic immi-
grants. Any attempt to de-essentialize Mesolithic-Neolithic interactions in the Iron Gate
is inevitably confronted with the legacy of immigrant Aegean-Anatolian early farmers,
who can hardly be called ‘friends’ or ‘enemies’ in Lepenski Vir, given their stratigraphic
association with trapezoidal houses, their proportional increase over time, and their
local adaptation to fish diets. What is behind the perceived ‘hybridity’ of the site, if it
was in fact founded by people of different origins and cultural traditions? Was Lepenski
Vir the first true ‘melting pot’ of European prehistory, or rather a deeply structured
society in which burial location and diet were largely determined by ancestry?

Barbara Horejs
Austrian Archaeological Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences and Human Evolution
and Archaeological Sciences, University Vienna, Wien, Austria
Multi-scalar and Multispecies Mobility in the Neolithisation of the Balkans

Interdisciplinary research, bioarchaeological analyses, and new fieldwork in the last

decade have revealed a new complexity related to the Neolithisation process between
Western Asia and Europe that goes far beyond our earlier models of diffusion and
migration. This paper focuses on the central Balkans and the socio-cultural process
associated with Neolithization that began around 6200-6000 cal BC. Active movement
at various levels currently seems to be the most appropriate and likely explanation
for Neolithic expansion based on the scientific data, but it also challenges us with un-
satisfactory gaps and unanswered questions as we zoom into the details of the first
farming communities in the Starèevo-Balkans. Nonetheless, mobility seems crucial not
only for understanding the beginnings of the Neolithic transformation, but also for the
broader long-term process of adaptation, modification, and development of new and
local cultural expressions summarised as the Staræevo horizon. aDNA and isotope stud-
ies reveal the strong links between West Asian and European people, livestock, crops,

21
Abstracts book

and legumes. Recent bioarchaeological data also indicate the emergence and spread
of human-adapted bacterial pathogens and viruses during this multi-faceted cultural
transformation process. Aside from the anthropocentric perspective, this paper dis-
cusses multispecies mobility and the various scales of movement in the context of com-
munication clusters and networks, material sourcing and niche economies, seasonal
subsistence and pastoralism, with the ‘lack of villages’. New data from the case study
of Svinjariæka Èuka in southern Serbia, located on the main communication route of
the Vardar-Morava valley, are presented in the broader context of Neolithic dispersal
between the Aegean and the Danube corridor. Multiscale and multispecies mobility
are proposed as key components for understanding the Neolithisation of the central
Balkans, providing a new perspective for contextualising the data in the bigger picture
of social, cultural, and economic aspects.

Raiko Krauß 1, Dan Ciobotaru 2

1 Institute of Prehistory, Early History and Medieval Archaeology, Faculty of Humani­
ties, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany; 2 National Museum of Banat, Ti­
mişoara, Romania
The Early Neolithic Settlement of Movila lui Deciov in Romanian Banat

Since 2018, excavation work at the well-known Movila lui Deciov site has been resumed
by an international excavation team from the University of Tübingen together with the
National Museum of Banat in Timiºoara. The site was discovered at the beginning of the
20th century by Kisléghi Nagy Gyula, who also carried out the first excavations. Further
excavations were carried out between 2001 and 2004 by a Canadian-Romanian team.
The Early Neolithic settlement is bounded by a circular ditch, which was made visible
by geophysical measurements and confirmed by sounding excavations. So far, two suc­-
cessive Early Neolithic settlement horizons from the beginning of the 6th millennium
BCE could be proven. The archaeological findings from Movila lui Deciov give a good
in­sight into the specific character of the oldest Neolithic in the eastern part of the Car­
pathian Basin. A large series of radiocarbon dates makes it possible to reconstruct the
settlement sequence at this site particularly well. The evaluation of the organic remains
allows to understand very well the adaptation of the Neolithic immigrants to the natu­
ral conditions. The evaluation of the archaeobiological finds from a large settlement pit
is particularly informative about the economy of the earliest farmers and stock breed-
ers in the Banat. In addition to the usual breeding animals such as sheep, goats and
cattle, as well as cultivated plants such as emmer, einkorn and legumes, hunting, fish-
ing and gathering wild plants still played a very important role in the diet of the Early
Neolithic settlers.
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 Abstracts book

Mario Bodružić, Kristina Horvat, and Maja Grgurić

Department of Archaeology, University of Zadar, Zadar, Croatia
Early Neolithic Herders of Northern Dalmatia: New Insight from Cave in Ždrilo

The economy of the Early Neolithic communities in northern Dalmatia is predominant-

ly attributed to the pastoralism of ovicaprids and agriculture based on emmer, einkorn
and barley. The data on which these postulates are based were collected at field sites
(Crno Vrilo, Smilèiæ, Tinj, etc.). Cave finds, on the other hand, are rare in this area (Va-
ganaèka Cave) and, based on their preserved sequences, are usually discussed primar-
ily from the point of view of providing evidence for chronological schemes. Even in a
broader context of the eastern Adriatic, cave sites are rarely excavated over a larger
area and, consequently, are less often interpreted in terms of function, organization,
and general position in the settlement system.
Recent excavations in the Ždrilo cave, located in an inhospitable karst area in a steep
canyon of the former mouth of the (now flooded) Zrmanja River, yielded extensive
finds of human settlement from the early Neolithic period. The records are character-
ized by so-called ‘cake layers’ and show numerous references to sheep breeding and
livestock keeping. At the same time, layers of shell-pit-like deposits interpolated in this
sequence show evidence of intensive maritime feeding as well as fishing.
Based on the finds examined in two test trenches and another area excavated in 2023,
a basic pattern of the use of different areas of the cave during the Early Neolithic phase
is established and discussed, particularly with regard to determining their function as
grotto bergerie or habitat bergerie. The spatial distribution of finds and objects such
as postholes, together with the general morphology of the cave, provides information
about the human use of the space and its adaptation to the needs of its inhabitants.
The presence of larger open-air sites within a 20-40km radius of the cave provides an
opportunity to compare them and draw conclusions about their possible role within
the early agricultural landscape.

Dimitrij Mlekuž Vrhovnik

Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana and The Institute
for the Protection of the Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Active Periphery. The Place of the Southeastern Alps in the Neolithic World
System

World systems connect societies in a common historical process. World systems are
thus inter-societal; they link societies together; they are also systemic and share gen-

23
Abstracts book

eral features of development. The Neolitisation of Europe can be viewed as the emer-
gence of a world system that begins with the core in SW Asia and unfolds many inter-
esting core-periphery dynamics over time.
The paper discusses the history of the Neolithic of the SE Alps and its relation to the
European Neolithic world system.
The maritime voyages and expansion of the Early Neolithic along the Adriatic coast
only touched the Mediterranean watersheds of the Eastern Alps; the Early Neolithic ex-
pansion into the Carpathian Basin came to a halt when it reached the Alpine foothills.
This resulted in a stable frontier where there was little evidence of interaction with
local foraging groups.
Around 4700 BC, settlement systems in the Carpathian Basin changed significantly,
with the emergence of stratified tell settlements, large nucleated settlements, and ex-
tensive cemeteries.
This process coincides with the rapid Neolithic expansion in the SE Alps, especially in
present-day Slovenia, which reached its peak around 4700 BC. It is characterised by
a rapid expansion along the Sava River and the establishment of settlements in the
river valleys and plains. This was followed by expansion along the river valleys of the
Drava and the Mura deep into the Alps. The same pattern of overcoming long-standing
boundaries can be observed elsewhere in the Eastern Alps.
The transition from the Late Neolithic to the Copper Age in the Carpathian Basin is
characterised by a change from core settlement to scattered settlement. Earlier nucleat-
ed settlements were replaced by smaller, shallow settlements, characterised mainly by
shallow, single-layered settlement deposits. This process can also be observed in the SE
Alps, but in the form of an expansion from the lowlands into the drier karst hinterland
and the formation of closed hilltop settlements and hill forts.
The social dynamics in the core area led to an expansion into the hill country of the
SE Alps, creating a separate periphery. The development of the SE Alps in the seventh
millennium BP is related to the broader social, demographic, and cultural changes in
the core areas during the Neolithic and Copper Ages, but these responses are local.

Guram Chkhatarashvili 1, Valery Manko 2

1 Department of Archaeology, Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University, Batumi,
Georgia; 2 Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv,
Ukraine
Evolution Patterns of Final Pleistocene, Early and Middle Holocene Cultures
in Southern Eastern Europe and the Caucasus

24
 Abstracts book

The southern areas of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus in the Early Holocene were
characterized by similar archaeological cultures with a common origin. The popula-
tions of these areas showed migratory activity, the vector of which could be westward
as well as eastward. Not surprisingly, the development of archaeological cultures in
these areas followed the same patterns. This circumstance has made it possible to as-
sign some models of the evolution of cultures.
• The model of evolution without evolution. This model is characterized by the
Shan-Kobian culture of the Final Pleistocene and Early Holocene. The main sites of this
culture are Shan-Koba, Skalisty Grotto, Fatma-Koba (Crimea) and Mezmai, Dvoinaya,
Chigai (Caucasus). The analysis of the development of the stone industry shows the
complete absence of significant changes in the early and late complexes.
• The evolution is associated with the emergence of significant technological inno-
vations. This type of evolution characterizes the development of the Shpan-Kobian
and Trialetian cultures, which have a common origin. Both cultures occur in the Final
Pleistocene and evolved under the first model until the end of the Early Holocene. At
the turn from the Early to the Middle Holocene, the complexes of these cultures are
characterized by the appearance of the pressing flaking. This technological innovation
correlates with the emergence of pottery. We can call this evolutionary model indirect,
related to cultural contacts with more developed neighbours. The result of the evolu-
tion of the Shpan-Koba and Trialetian cultures was the emergence of the Murzak-Kobi-
an and Chokh cultures.
• Evolution is accompanied by the emergence of synthetic cultures. We trace this mod-
el on the basis of the material of the Kukrekian and Matviyiv Kurgan cultures of East-
ern Europe and their analogy, the Kobuletian and Darkvetian cultures of the Caucasus.
All the above cultures appear in the early Holocene, but at the beginning of the Middle
Holocene they show the formation of synthetic cultures: the Donetsk culture in eastern
Ukraine and the Odishi culture in western Georgia. The time of transformation is also
connected with the appearance of pottery. This model is also associated with the fact
that two neighbouring cultures simultaneously fall under the influence of the third
source of innovation.
Our analysis shows that the evolutionary process was not progressive. The develop-
ment of cultures took the form of rapid transformation, some cultures did not evolve
at all. The patterns associated with transformation are related to the cultural influence
of more progressive neighbours. We cannot always identify the source of cultural in-
fluence, but we note that the evolution of Models 2 and 3 correlates with the spread
of the so-called trapezoids with dorsal invasive retouch. This arrowhead type occurs
at the turn of the early to mid-Holocene in northern Syria and southwestern Turkey.

25
Abstracts book

Not surprisingly, the spread of this innovation is accompanied by the appearance of

pottery, polished implements, and a manufacturing economy.
Also noteworthy is the fact that the nodes of development are related to a phenom-
enon known as an event, i.e., dramatic warming in Atlantic times. Thus, the positive
evolution at the turn of the Early and Middle Holocene is associated with the end of the
Neolithization process.

Giedrė Motuzaite Matuzevičiūtė

Bioarchaeology Research centre, Archaeology Department, History Faculty, Vilnius
University, Vilnius, Lithuania
Forest Neolithic, Subneolithic or no-Neolithic – The Beginning of Food Pro-
duction in the East Basics

The beginning of food production in Europe marks the beginning of significant econom-
ic, social, and environmental changes in regional human societies and populations.
Between 5500–4500 BCE, the LBK culture of early farmers expanded across much of
Europe, with the northern limit of this culture extending into Mozuria and Pomerania
in northern Poland. Further north, however, in the eastern Baltic region, was a buf-
fer zone where agricultural development came to a halt for nearly 4000 years. Direct
finds of charred Hordeum vulgare grains from the Bronze Age settlement of Kvietiniai
in western Lithuania are currently the oldest evidence of agriculture in the eastern
Baltic and are dated to 1392–1123 cal BCE. Macroremains of domesticated plants and
pollen of cereal species previously reported from Neolithic settlements in the eastern
Baltic have been shown to be either misidentified or intruded from younger cultural
horizons, so there is no evidence for the existence of agriculture during the Neolithic in
this region. In light of macrobotanical research and direct dating of cereal remains, as
well as recent reports on biomolecular data, my presentation will outline the current
state of research on the rise of food-producing economies in the eastern Baltic region. I
will also discuss the possible reasons for the relative delay in agricultural adoption and
present new models for past food-producing economies in the Eastern Baltic.

Natalia Tsydenova
Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies of the Siberian Branch of the
Russian Academy of Sciences, Ulan-Ude, Republic of Buryatia, Russia
Origin of the Late Pleistocene Early Ceramic Transbaikalia Complexes

26
 Abstracts book

In Western Transbaikalia, two main Late Paleolithic cultures are distinguished - Chikoi
with bifacial production and Selenga without it. There are still debates about the cul-
tural classification of some finds, such as Studenoye I, Ust’-Menza I and II. According to
the presence of bifaces in the assemblage of Ust’-Menza-2, layer 4, it can hardly be as-
signed to Selenga culture. On the basis of the technical and typological characteristics
of the lithic assemblages from complexes with early pottery, their relations with the
local Chikoi culture and Yubetsu technology can be assumed.
New absolute dates and the pollen data from Studenoye I, layers 8-9, and Ust’-Menza
I, layers 5-6, change their chronology to the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary. This is in
contradiction with the old data for these sites. The chronology of other regional com-
plexes with early ceramics (Ust’-Karenga and Krasnaya Gorka) overlaps with the new
data for Studenoye I and Ust’-Menza I.

Agathe Reingruber
Institute for Prehistoric Archaeology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
The flat sites Elateia 1 and Sesklo B in Context: Settlement Patterns of the
Thes­salian Early and Middle Neolithic

Despite centuries of investigation in Thessaly, the discovery of the earliest settlement

layers EN proves to be a challenge. The period 6500–6300/6200 cal BC is elusive, and
not a single complete and unambiguous plan of a rectangular, aboveground dwelling
has become known, since the shapeless, shallow pits discovered in the virgin soil are
hardly suitable for habitation. Overestimation of the size and population density of
the two important EN tell-sites, Sesklo A and Argissa Magoula, has contributed to a
distorted perception of EN I in this region. It is only from EN II–III that dwellings are
better preserved and/or documented, and from the early MN that we have complete
settlement plans obtained through both geophysical surveys and excavations.
As the German-Greek cooperation project carried out between 2016 and 2021 in Thes-
saly has shown, tells (magoules) are not the only settlement type, as systematic and in-
tensive surface surveys have also revealed flat sites of EN and MN. This paper discusses
settlement patterns encountered at two flat sites, one prospected by our team (Elateia
1) and the other excavated in the late 1970s (Sesklo B). Evidence for horizontal dis-
placement is shown and the settlement patterns are compared with those of Magoula
known as Sesklo A.

27
Abstracts book

Dragana Rajković 1, Selena Vitezović 2

1 Archaeological museum Osijek, Croatia; 2 Institute of Archaeology, Beograd, Serbia
Neolithic Multiculturalism: Zones of Contact of Various Communities

Although the term ‘archaeological culture’ has been criticised from different view-
points in recent decades, it remains a useful analytical tool (to be used with caution,
however) for identifying and labelling prehistoric communities with similar or identi-
cal material culture. Microregions where traces of communities attributed to different
contemporaneous cultures are found are particularly interesting for studying cultural
contacts and cultural change in the past. One such region is the southeastern Baran-
ja region in present-day eastern Croatia, where communities of the Vinèa, Sopot, and
Lengyel cultures lived in the 5th millennium BC. This is the area where communities
of the Vinèa, Sopot and Lengyel cultures lived in the 5th millennium BC. Although this
area was long considered to be populated by communities of the Sopot culture, re-
cent archaeological research has shown a significant presence of communities of the
Lengyel culture in this area. In this paper, two Late Neolithic sites near Beli Manastir
are presented: Kneževi Vinogradi, with archaeological remains attributed to the Sopot
and Vinèa cultures, and Kotlina, with archaeological remains attributed to the Lengyel
culture. At the Kneževi Vinogradi site, several structures from the Late Neolithic and
the material culture with features of the Sopot and Vinèa cultures were discovered
during smaller rescue excavations. Recent systematic investigations at the Kotlina site
revealed a large site of the Lengyel culture with settlement structures, burials and a
rich material culture. Of particular interest is the presence of artefacts made of exotic
raw materials such as obsidian and shells, showing that Kotlina was part of a large
trade and exchange network. The settlement patterns, subsistence, economy, and ma-
terial culture of these two sites are analysed, as well as their possible position within a
larger network of Late Neolithic communities in the region.

Katarina Botić
Institute of Archaeology, Zagreb, Croatia
8.2–6 ka BP Human-Environment Interaction in the Southwestern Carpathian
Ba­sin: A Past Narrative for Future Adaptation

The relationship between man and the environment and adaptation to the ever-in-
creasing environmental pressures associated with global climate change is a very
current issue. However, such problems also existed in the past. Climatic conditions in
the period from 8.2 ka to 6 ka BP posed challenges for Neolithic populations, both for

28
 Abstracts book

those who came from the southeast (regional Early Neolithic) and for those who lived
in central Europe (regional Middle and Late Neolithic). Research on these changes is
not new, but recent studies of past environments show the importance of a microre-
gional approach, because even during globally recorded periods of change, certain mi-
crogeographic areas were affected more mildly or differently. Consequently, popula-
tions found microspaces where they could survive prolonged periods of unfavourable
climatic conditions, or they perfected their survival methods in areas less affected by
these changes.
The present work is primarily concerned with the study of environmental conditions
in the southwestern part of the Carpathian Basin, especially in the marginal zones, i.e.
the subalpine regions, and the adaptations of the Neolithic populations to the changed
conditions by migrations or by adaptation of various aspects of life. Special attention
is given to those interdisciplinary studies that are not archaeological in nature (vege-
tation history, geological and hydrological changes), but whose results can contribute
to the understanding of the past of archaeological populations. Because of their sen-
sitivity to moisture, subalpine areas have not always been attractive for settlement in
the past and may have formed barriers along certain corridors used by populations
on their migrations, such as during the initial phase of the regional Early Neolithic. In
other periods, such as the regional Late Neolithic, these areas were suitable and pop-
ulated. The collected paleodata will be evaluated by comparison with modern data.

Alexandra Anders
Institute of Archaeologicals Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
Neolithic People and their Artefacts. Burials of the Polgár Microregion (NE
Hun­gary) from the Perspective of Biosocial Archaeology

Excavations prior to highway construction in the 1990s on the outskirts of Polgár

brought to light more than 300 burials from the Middle and Late Neolithic (5500–4550
cal BC) at eight different sites. In 2017, a project was launched to study these burials us-
ing multidisciplinary methods to better understand the lives of Neolithic people. This
presentation will be the first to summarise the main results of this ongoing project,
focusing on two known sites, Polgár-Ferenci-hát and Polgár-Csõszhalom.
The Middle Neolithic (Alfoeld Linear Pottery) site of Polgár-Ferenci-hát shows two dis-
tinct occupation phases. The first phase is ALP I, and the second, more intensive oc-
cupation corresponds to the phases II-IV of ALP. A total of 113 graves were excavated,
with radiocarbon dates ranging from 5300 to 5070 cal BC. The graves were distributed
in small groups over the settlement features.

29
Abstracts book

Polgár-Csõszhalom is one of the most important Late Neolithic sites (Tisza-Her-

pály-Csõszhalom cultural complex) in northeastern Hungary. The settlement complex
consists of a tell, a multiple fortification system enclosing the mound, a single-layer
settlement and another double fortification system. During almost 100 years of archae-
ological investigations at this site, a total of 147 burials were uncovered in the settle-
ment features.
The multidisciplinary methods of the project include traditional archaeological and
bioarchaeological investigations and analyses, such as physical anthropology and pa-
thology, stable isotope chemistry (δ13C, δ15N) and 14C measurements, microarchaeo-
botany on dental calculus, and palaeogenetic data for kinship patterns. The various ar-
tefacts (personal jewellery made of Spondylus or red deer canines, lithics, and ochres)
found in the burials were also analysed by microscopic wear analysis and provenance
studies (petrography, SEM-EDX, PGA).
The results of these complex but fundamentally archaeological methods complement
each other, enabling us to trace the possible changes in lifestyle through space and
time. These results can be used to trace microhistories of specific communities as well
as personal life histories of individuals. The individuals and their artefacts have differ-
ent biographies, and by weaving together the strands of these different biographies
and interpreting them in the context of the tomb, we gain insight into the lives of Neo-
lithic people in Polgár.
The project is funded by a grant from the Hungarian National Research, Development
and Innovation Fund (Grant K124326: Neolithic Life Histories. Bioarchaeological stud-
ies on graves in the Polgár microregion).

Marie-Claire Ries
Department of Archaeologies, Institute of archaeologies (Microarchaeological labora-
tory), University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
Another Neolithisation of Austria? Lake Settlement Sites in the Southeastern
Alpine Territory of Carinthia

Studies on the Neolithization of Austria´ are concentrated almost exclusively on areas

in the north and east of the country, which are closely associated with the Danube
region and the northern Alpine foothills. An exception is the southern region of Carin-
thia, which has not yet been investigated by modern archaeological research. If we
look at the natural features of Carinthia, we notice the distinctive richness of more
than 1000 water bodies. To all appearances, we are dealing in the Alpe-Adria region
with an archaeological lake landscape that has similar natural and cultural characteris-
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tics as the neighbouring regions of the perialpine zone, where there is a dense network
of extensively studied and culturally rich pile-dwelling sites.
While the research potential in Carinthia is equally promising compared to Slovenia,
Switzerland, and southwestern Germany, archaeological knowledge of similarly out-
standing and endangered Carinthian structures is severely limited. To date, only three
pile-dwelling sites are known in the region. Thus, this topic represents a missing link to
understanding the relationship between Neolithic to Copper Age Alpine pile dwellings
and parallel developments in adjacent southeastern Europe. Many questions remain
open when discussing the development of early farming communities on the southern
edge of the Austrian Alps, both in terms of the intensity of human presence and more
specific activities (exploitation of alpine resources).
A newly launched project has now set itself the task of making a significant contribu-
tion to the archaeological record and filling in gaps through the elaboration of baseline
inventories in three selected study areas. Archaeological remains will be systematically
recorded through fieldwork campaigns, including scientific dives and sediment core
sampling in lakes and wetlands. Basic archival research will be conducted using re-
cords held in private collections and museums. This paper presents the preliminary
results of the ongoing potential assessment in the lakeland region, including interdis-
ciplinary microarchaeological investigations that will allow a better contextualization
of this important key region in the pan-European archaeological discourse.

Ivana Pandzić
Department of History, Faculty of Philosophy University of Banja Luka; Museum of
Republic of Srpska, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina Republic of Bosnia and Her-
zegovina
Unearthing the Role of Salt Exploitation in Transforming Neolithic Bosnia and
Herzegovina

The Eurasian Neolithic witnessed profound transformations in human societies and

marked a pivotal moment in prehistory. This paper examines the dynamics of cultural
and social development during this period in Bosnia and Herzegovina, highlighting the
importance of slat exploitation as one of the most important factors that influenced
the cultural and social development of the region. It played a role in food preservation,
nutrition, economy, and may have had cultural and ritual significance as well. Under-
standing the importance of salt exploitation offers valuable insights into the dynamics
of this transformative period in the region’s prehistory and provides insight into how
this important resource contributed to the development of early societies and cultures.

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Vidan Dimić, Dragana Antonović

Institute of Archaeology, Beograd, Serbia
Born Again: Multiple Biographies of Ground and Abrasive Stone Tools in the
Neolithic of Serbia

Stone has always been a highly valued commodity due to its natural properties. It is
practically indestructible, being incombustible and very difficult to dissolve. The only
imperfection is its fragility, but even after breaking it does not disappear, and the re-
maining pieces can be used for a long time, either as building blocks, tools or decora-
tions. Therefore, man’s attachment to stone as a raw material is very deep and remains
unchanged even after the advent of metal. Although stone was used primarily as a util-
itarian object in prehistory, stone objects often had symbolic value as well. Because of
their hardness, toughness, and durability, stone tools had a long, dynamic, and com-
plex life in which they could pass through different segments of the operating chain
again and again until their final disposal. The way stone tools are made, used, and
discarded is primarily a consequence of social traditions and practices. Various aspects
of the use of rocks and minerals as raw materials were particularly emphasized during
the Neolithic period, when the technology of stone working reached its peak. Stone
tools wore out slowly and could be used for a long time with constant renewal. Even
after being damaged, they started a new life cycle through various recycling processes
or in a secondary context. Although very interesting for research, these specific ways in
which stone objects were redirected to a secondary or recycling function, usually after
damage in their original function, are often neglected in archaeological studies. The
spectrum of repeated functions of such stone tools is broad, ranging from utilitarian to
symbolic purposes, and provides important information about the cultural practices of
the communities that made and used them. The aim of this paper is to clarify the use of
the terms for repeated, extended, secondary, and reused use within the lithic industry
and to present the most common examples of the use of ground and polished tools in
secondary contexts in the Neolithic of Serbia, focusing primarily on tools for everyday
use and the ways in which their function was redirected through different segments of
the operational chain.

Matija Turk
Institute of Archaeology, Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of
Scien­ces and Arts (ZRC SAZU), Ljubljana, Slovenia
Mesolithic Site Viktorjev spodmol: A lithic Perspective

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The rock shelter Viktorjev spodmol (southwest Slovenia) is located at the foot of the
mountain Vremšèica near Divaèa. After the discovery of the first archaeological find-
ings by local amateurs, a small archaeological survey was carried out in 1999. Stone and
bone artefacts were collected, as well as abundant faunal and paleobotanical remains.
Finds of pottery sherds from the Neolithic and Bronze Age indicate that the shelter was
also inhabited in later periods. The typological and technological analysis of the stone
artefacts, especially the microlithic armatures, shows that the Mesolithic finds belong
to the Sauveterrian and Castelnovian traditions. However, the boundary between the
two Mesolithic phases is not clear, since the excavated Holocene sediments, followed
by a rockfall, are only 1m thick and do not show clear stratification. Nevertheless, Vik-
torjev spodmol can be considered one of the richest Mesolithic sites in the northern
Adriatic due to the abundance and diversity of finds, especially microlithic armatures.
In 2017, new archaeological excavations began at Viktorjev spodmol. In this paper,
we present the old and new finds, focusing on the lithic industry and placing it in the
wider context of Mesolithic sites in the Karst and Istria.

Alenka Tomaž
Department & Institute of archaeology and Heritage, Faculty of Humanities, University
of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia
Tracing Standardization in Early Eneolithic Pottery Production. Case Study:
Prekmurje Region

“For over twenty years, archaeologists have been concerned with the identification
of the early appearance of specialized production and the implications of such a
mode of production mode for understanding the rise of complex forms of social
and political organizationth” wrote William A. Longacre more than twenty years ago.
Since then, numerous studies have been conducted worldwide on these questions, but
in Slovenia, not a single in-depth study has been published to date.
In the last two decades, many new Early Neolithic sites have been excavated in the
Prekmurje region with confirmed contextual data, providing us with many new data
on ceramic material culture. In most of these sites, the archaeological remains are gen-
erally attributed to the cultural context of Lasinja and Retz Gajary. Of particular inter-
est appears to be a cluster of sites located just outside the village of Turnišèe and dating
to the end of the 5th millennium BC and the beginning of the 4th millennium BC. In our
presentation, we focus on tracing the standardization features within Lasinja pottery
production from several sites in the Prekmurje region around Turnišèe, tracing the el-
ements both within the pottery production of a single site and across the region. The
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Abstracts book

parameters of standardization of pottery production can be considered from different

aspects, such as raw material and technique, dimension and shape, and decoration,
etc. In our study, we focus primarily on pottery shapes and dimensions, and to some
extent on production technique, to determine if there are indicators of standardization
within the studied pottery production.

Bine Kramberger 1, Borut Toškan 2, and Tjaša Tolar 2

1 Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia;
2 Institute of Archaeology, Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of
Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU), Ljubljana, Slovenia
Reassessment of the Neolithic Sava Group in Slovenia After 20 Years: New
Data on the Chronology, Settlement Features, Ceramic Style(s) and Economy
from Dolsko – Spodnje Škovce

The term Sava group of the Lengyel culture was introduced into Slovenian archaeol-
ogy 20 years ago. It was used to describe the oldest known sites along the Sava River
and its hinterland with their specific ceramic assemblages, polished stone tools and
agriculture, originally associated with the Lengyel phase II. However, in contrast to the
Lengyel phase settlements, no post houses are (yet) known from the Sava group sites;
instead, most of the sites consist only of pits, which are thought to be the remains of pit
houses; moreover, there is very little information on paleoeconomy and chronology,
as mainly samples of long-lived materials have been dated and no cemeteries have yet
been discovered.
New data on chronology, settlement features, pottery style and economy of the Sava
Group were provided by the Dolsko – Spodnje Škovce site northeast of Ljubljana, ex-
cavated in 2008. In the large pits, Pit 1 and Pit 2, most of the Late Neolithic finds of
the site were discovered. Among them, pottery fragments predominate, but there are
also some stone tools, splinters, charcoal fragments, some seeds and a relatively large
amount of animal bones. A comparative analysis of the pottery revealed a relationship
with part of the sites of the Sava group and, in the wider Central European context,
a similarity with the sites of the Lengyel phase III according to P. Raczky and N. Ka-
licz. Four samples of bovine teeth (apatite) were radiocarbon dated between 4500 and
4350 cal BC, while the two charcoal samples were significantly older. In this context,
therefore, the possibility of an old wood effect is discussed, especially since the dates
of all four apatite samples overlap almost completely and the pottery is homogeneous
in all observed parameters. The results of the archaeozoological analysis are also inter-
esting: it turned out that the collection of animal bones from Dolsko is strongly domi-

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 Abstracts book

nated by cattle, which could indicate that the animal husbandry of the inhabitants here
was focused on cattle breeding or the selective deposition of animal bones. Among the
preserved remains of seeds/fruits, no remains of cultivated plants (wheat or barley)
were found, but only the uncharred seeds of the genus Plantago (plantain). The char-
coal fragments were dominated by ring-porous tree species, mainly oak (Quercus sp.).

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