Mesolithic burials – Rites, symbols and social organisation of early postglacial communities; edited by Judith M. Grünberg, Bernhard Gramsch, Lars Larsson, Jörg Orschiedt and Harald Meller. International Conference in Halle (Saale), Germany, 18th–21st September 2013, Dec 31, 2016
The Rinnukalns shell midden, in northern Latvia, was first investigated by Count Sievers in the 1... more The Rinnukalns shell midden, in northern Latvia, was first investigated by Count Sievers in the 1870s. Of special importance were four human burials, which were found under alleged intact layers of the Neolithic shell midden. Consequently Sievers considered these human remains, in contrast to early modern burials found in the topsoil, as the first Stone Age graves found in the Eastern Baltic. However, this interpretation was contradicted by then leading Baltic prehistorians and the age of the presumed Stone Age graves remained in dispute. All human remains excavated by Sievers at Rinnukalns were given by him to Rudolf Virchow for his anthropological collection in Berlin, and survived the chequered history of the 20th century. Therefore it was possible to start new osteological, stable isotope and radiocarbon investigations on these remains in 2011 and to resolve the old research dispute. It is proven now that at least two burials were of Prehistoric age; one young adult male and one juvenile, most probably a female. They belong according to the East European terminology to the Eastern Baltic Middle Neolithic. Nevertheless, the values of stable isotope ratios δ13C and δ15N show that these people were still fishermen, hunters and gatherers and not farmers.
Uploads
Papers by Valdis Berzins
Zvejnieki, on Lake Burtnieks in northeastern Latvia, is the largest known prehistoric cemetery in the eastern Baltic; N300 inhumations, most dating to c.7000–3000 cal BC, have been excavated. Archaeozoological and artefactual evidence fromgraves and nearby settlement layers show that throughout this period, the community depended on wild resources for subsistence, with a particular emphasis on fishing. Dietary stable isotopes (δ15N and δ13C) from human remains show significant dietary variation within the Zvejnieki population, in terms of access to and dependence on freshwater and marine species (Eriksson 2006); we provide new stable isotope data for another 13 individuals. Elsewhere, we have proposed a method to correct the calibrated radiocarbon (14C) dates of prehistoric burials in the Lake Burtnieks region for dietary freshwater and marine reservoir effects (FRE/MRE) (Meadows et al. 2015). Here, we use this method to correct the dates of 40 individuals (including 3 from the nearby 4th millennium shell-midden site, Riņņukalns) for whom we now have both 14C and stable isotope data, and test whether there is any evidence that human diets changed over time, rather than simply varying between contemporaneous individuals. Three interesting transitions can be discerned: a shift away fromhigh-trophic-level foods in the earlier 6th millenniumcal BC, a diversification of diets in the late 5thmillennium, with both more terrestrial and more coastal foods consumed, and a narrowing of diets in the mid-4th millennium, to concentrate on freshwater resources.
2014 at the invitation of the district of Landshut. The meeting was attended by more than 60 scientists, students and amateur archaeologists from Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland and Denmark. A total of 20 papers were presented. In addition to the reports from the individual work areas of the participants, the Bavarian Mesolithic and a workshop on settlement dynamics in the Mesolithic were in the focus of the meeting.
Books by Valdis Berzins
Zvejnieki, on Lake Burtnieks in northeastern Latvia, is the largest known prehistoric cemetery in the eastern Baltic; N300 inhumations, most dating to c.7000–3000 cal BC, have been excavated. Archaeozoological and artefactual evidence fromgraves and nearby settlement layers show that throughout this period, the community depended on wild resources for subsistence, with a particular emphasis on fishing. Dietary stable isotopes (δ15N and δ13C) from human remains show significant dietary variation within the Zvejnieki population, in terms of access to and dependence on freshwater and marine species (Eriksson 2006); we provide new stable isotope data for another 13 individuals. Elsewhere, we have proposed a method to correct the calibrated radiocarbon (14C) dates of prehistoric burials in the Lake Burtnieks region for dietary freshwater and marine reservoir effects (FRE/MRE) (Meadows et al. 2015). Here, we use this method to correct the dates of 40 individuals (including 3 from the nearby 4th millennium shell-midden site, Riņņukalns) for whom we now have both 14C and stable isotope data, and test whether there is any evidence that human diets changed over time, rather than simply varying between contemporaneous individuals. Three interesting transitions can be discerned: a shift away fromhigh-trophic-level foods in the earlier 6th millenniumcal BC, a diversification of diets in the late 5thmillennium, with both more terrestrial and more coastal foods consumed, and a narrowing of diets in the mid-4th millennium, to concentrate on freshwater resources.
2014 at the invitation of the district of Landshut. The meeting was attended by more than 60 scientists, students and amateur archaeologists from Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland and Denmark. A total of 20 papers were presented. In addition to the reports from the individual work areas of the participants, the Bavarian Mesolithic and a workshop on settlement dynamics in the Mesolithic were in the focus of the meeting.