Papers by Oliver Vogels
111 Jahre Prähistorische Archäologie in Köln. Kölner Studien zur Prähistorischen Archäologie, 2018
Felsbildforschung am Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, theoretische und methodische Konzepte d... more Felsbildforschung am Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, theoretische und methodische Konzepte der "Kölner Schule", und ihre historsiche Entstehung.
Eine Musiklektion vom Daureb (Brandberg): Musikbögen in der Felskunst Namibias und des südlichen Afrika, 2017
Musizitren ist eine weit verbreitete funktionale Ableitung im Gebrauch des ]agdbogens. Dass dies ... more Musizitren ist eine weit verbreitete funktionale Ableitung im Gebrauch des ]agdbogens. Dass dies schon in der Prähistorie geschah ist durch Felsbilder des südlichen Afrika belegt, die eine Reihe von Musikbogenspie/ern zeigen. Bogen Typologien und Spielarten des Bogens sind aber noch wenig erforscht und so gibt diese Studie einen Überblick über Musikbogenspieler in der Felskunst des Subkontinents, insbesondere des Daureb (Brandberg). Dazu werden zunächst organologische Merkmale (technische Aspekte der Tonerzeugung) und sodann eine Typologie von Spielarten vorgestellt. Beim Vergleich mit ethnografischen Quellen zeigt sich, dass es in den verschiedenen Regionen unterschiedliche Spielarten gibt, sowie, dass sich nicht alle Elemente des Musikbogenspiels in der Felskunst ethnografisch belegen lassen. Hinzu kommt, dass einige Neuerungen des Musikbogenspielens, von denen man annahm, die San hätten sie von Bantu sprachigen Gruppen übernommen, bereits in der Felskunst zu sehen sind, die vor Ankunft der genannten Gruppen im südlichen Afrika gemalt wurden. Schließlich wird auch der bekannteBildfries des Girls School Shelter vom Daureb im Hinblick darauf diskutiert, ob die zentralen Figuren Musikbogenspielerinnen darstellen.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, Oct 26, 2021
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology
This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthro... more This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Please check back later for the full article. The musical bow is speculated to have been discovered as a result of hunting, after a musical tone was heard from the vibrating string seconds after releasing the arrow. Some consider it the first musical instrument of the Bushman. A musical bow is an instrument that is made of a wooden stave that has a string attached to both ends of the stave, as well as, typically, a resonator. The musical bow belongs to the chordophone family, which comprises musical instruments that produce sound through the vibration of strings. Musical bows occur in southern African rock art specifically from South Africa and Namibia. In South Africa they are found in the Maloti Drakensberg massif, in the KwaZulu-Natal region, and in Maclear District in the Eastern Cape Province, whereas in Namibia they are found around the Daureb region. The occurrence of musi...
In many theories on the social and cultural evolution of human societies, the number and density ... more In many theories on the social and cultural evolution of human societies, the number and density of people living together in a given time and region is a crucial factor. Because direct data on past demographic developments are lacking, and reliability and validity of demographic proxies require careful evaluation, the topic has been approached from several different directions. This paper provides an introduction to a geostatistical approach for estimating prehistoric population size and density, the so-called Cologne Protocol and discusses underlying theoretical assumptions and upscaling transfer-functions between different spatial scale levels. We describe and compare the specifics for farming and for foraging societies and, using examples, discuss a diachronic series of estimates, covering the population dynamics of roughly 40 kyr of European prehistory. Ethnohistoric accounts, results from other approaches-including absolute (ethno-environmental models) and relative estimates (...
Quaternary International, 2021
During the last decades, ethnographic observations taught hunter-gatherer archaeologists to incor... more During the last decades, ethnographic observations taught hunter-gatherer archaeologists to incorporate social phenomena into their interpretative models of land uses, including rock art. Although ethnographic analogies always allow only a rough approximation to the past, strategies such as the (seasonal) aggregation and dispersion of San groups, and related exchange systems, have become an integral part of the interpretation of variability in the spatial organisation of sites and the excavated material culture. Regardless of a long-standing dispute about its potential meaning, one widely accepted explanation for making rock art is that it was part of the social contexts of past hunter-gatherer aggregation events. While motifs such as the jointly performed trance dance seem to support this view, methods to identify aggregation and dispersion events within rock art on a larger scale are poorly developed. The objective of this paper is to better understand the organisation of the rock art sites at the Dˆaureb i n Namibia using GIS and computational archaeology in the light of hunter-gatherer aggregation and dispersion strategies.
In many theories on the social and cultural evolution of human societies, the number and density ... more In many theories on the social and cultural evolution of human societies, the number and density of people living together in a given time and region is a crucial factor. Because direct data on past demographic developments are lacking, and reliability and validity of demographic proxies require careful evaluation, the topic has been approached from several different directions. This paper provides an introduction to a geostatistical approach for estimating prehistoric population size and density, the so-called Cologne Protocol and discusses underlying theoretical assumptions and upscaling transfer-functions between different spatial scale levels. We describe and compare the specifics for farming and for foraging societies and, using examples, discuss a diachronic series of estimates, covering the population dynamics of roughly 40 kyr of European prehistory. Ethnohistoric accounts, results from other approaches-including absolute (ethno-environmental models) and relative estimates (site-numbers, dates as data, etc.) allow a first positioning of the estimates within this field of research. Future enhancements, applications and testing of the Cologne Protocol are outlined and positioned within the general theoretical and methodological avenues of palaeodemo-graphic research. In addition, we provide manuals for modelling Core Areas in MAPINFO, ARCGIS, QGIS/SAGA and R. This article is part of the theme issue 'Cross-disciplinary approaches to prehistoric demography'.
Rock Art Research, 2017
Bows in hunter-gatherer societies are not mono-functional items. Besides hunting and fighting, th... more Bows in hunter-gatherer societies are not mono-functional items. Besides hunting and fighting, they may also have been used for musical purposes. Rock art in southern Africa provides a record of this use, giving way to investigating past music cultures. This paper brings together the published depictions of musical bows from across southern Africa with some new discoveries. Although depictions of bows being played as musical instruments have been recorded for decades, these scenes still lack archaeological or musicological investigation. When analysing these depictions, it turns out that there is a comparatively wide variety of technical aspects of sound production, of ways of playing and of contexts of the musical performance, indicating rich cultural diversity among the early peoples of the subcontinent. Moreover, the paintings show details in these aspects that are not corroborated by ethnographic studies. Nevertheless, they open up a tableau of the potential context variability in the musical practice of preHistory and also indicate that rock art studies should be open to finding contexts of meaning beyond the dichotomy of the purely ritual and the profane.
Gutierrez, Manuel Honoré, Emmanuelle (eds.), L'art rupestre d'Afrique: actualité de la recherche: actes du colloque international, Paris, 15-16-17 janvier 2014, Université Paris 1, Centre Panthéon & Musée du quai Branly, Seite 217--233. Paris, 2016
Playing music is a widespread functional derivation of the uses of hunting bows. It was already p... more Playing music is a widespread functional derivation of the uses of hunting bows. It was already practiced in prehistory as is evidenced
in the rock art of southern Africa, where a fair number of depictions show musical bow players. So far, no systematic research has been conducted into bow typology and ways of playing them. This
paper gives an overview of the published and some unpublished musical bow players from Namibia and South Africa. An outline of organological
features (i.e. technical aspects of sound production) and a typology of ways of playing are presented. As related evidence from ethnography is reviewed, differences across the investigated regions become
evident as well as mismatches of rock art and ethnography. Moreover, some features that are presumed innovations that the San took over from immigrating Bantu speakers can be found in rock
art depictions which were produced before the latter's arrival in southern Africa.
IANUS Sammlung 2017-00012, 2017
The online BRANDBERG-DAUREB DATABASE ON ROCK ART 2017 is a digital release of the published Brand... more The online BRANDBERG-DAUREB DATABASE ON ROCK ART 2017 is a digital release of the published Brandberg-Daureb documentation (PAGER 1989–2006). The published Brandberg-Daureb documentation
contains features of sites, figures, and scenes, listed in various tables at the end of each book. The sites are tabulated in tables to allow an overview of the archaeological data concerning their location in a certain environment as well as the facilities provided by the sites. These tables have now been recompiled from abbreviated publication layout for online access and include the complete information on every single figure, scene and site.
Hulumtimi sistematik për periudhën e paleolitit në Shqipëri është ende në hapat e tij të parë. Me... more Hulumtimi sistematik për periudhën e paleolitit në Shqipëri është ende në hapat e tij të parë. Me gjithë numrin në rritje të objekteve parahistorike prej guri në koleksionet e fondeve muzeale, numri i objekteve që vijnë nga gërmime të kujdesshme mbetet i ulët (Korkuti dhe Petruso 1993. Petruso et al. 1994;. Schuldenrein 1998 2001; Runnels et al. 1999;. Leblanc 1996; Harrold 1999; Përzhita et al. 2014;. Hauck et al. 2016). Shumica e pikave të shënuara si vendgjetje paleolititike në hartën arkeologjike të Shqipërisë janë site sipërfaqësore të cilave u mungon konteksti stratigrafik (Ruka et al. 2014). Identifikimi i vendgjetjeve të hapura dhe të shpellave të padëmtuara është sfiduese për shkak të ndërhyrjeve intensive antropogjenike në peizazh në disa rajone (bujqësia, shpyllëzimi etj.) si dhe për arsye të terrenit të thyer në zonën malore të Shqipërisë. Projekti GAP aktualisht ka përqendruar vëmendjen në tri zona: Në Lagunën e Butrintit në pjesën jugore të Shqipërisë, në gjirin e Orikumit në bregdetin jugor pranë Vlorës dhe në krahinën e Matit në Shqipërinë veri-qendrore (Fig. 1). Puna arkeologjike në terren ka përfshirë sërvei rreth pikave të njohura si dhe gërmime në vendgjetje të përzgjedhura. Në kuadër të Qendrës Kërkimore Bashkëpunuese 906 “Rruga jonë drejt Evropës” kërkimi arkeologjik është shoqëruar me një projekt të shpimit të ujërave të ëmbla në liqenin e Ohrit dhe një sërvei gjeo-elektrik në jug të Butrintit (Wagner et al 2009, 2010, 2011,. Panagiotopoulos et al . 2014).
Szeleta Cave near Miskolc (Hungary) is the eponymous site for the Szeletian technological group t... more Szeleta Cave near Miskolc (Hungary) is the eponymous site for the Szeletian technological group thought to reflect the last occurrence of Neanderthals in Central Europe. Because the Szeletian lithic industry contains both Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic elements, it is usually regarded as a “transitional” industry. As such, the development of a precise age model for the Szeletian would add substantial information to a period of population replacements in Europe. This concerns the timing of Neanderthal disappearance and their possible cohabitation with Anatomically Modern Humans in Central Europe. Previous age models for the Szeletian either suffered from deficiencies of dating methods and/or poor stratigraphic control of the dated samples. Therefore, population replacement models based on the key archaeological sequence of Szeleta Cave remain ambiguous. For this reason, we developed a new age model for the Szeletian sequence of this cave combined with a geoarchaeological investigation. Our new radiocarbon chronology, based on AMS 14C dating results of in situ bone and charcoal samples, lends support to the argument that the Szeletian does not represent a transition towards, but rather contemporaneity with the Early Upper Paleolithic. The Szeletian now appears to be of the same age as the early Aurignacian in the region which is linked to the early Anatomically Modern Humans. Consequently, Neanderthals are the likely authors of the famous Szeletian leaf points – bifacially shaped implements that are important cultural markers for the MP-UP transition.
Glücklicherweise haben prähistorische Jäger und Sammler aber sich und ihr Weltbild in Bildern fes... more Glücklicherweise haben prähistorische Jäger und Sammler aber sich und ihr Weltbild in Bildern festgehalten. Allerdings während einer relativ kleinen Zeitspanne zwischen 3500 und 2000 Jahren vor Heute. Die Malereien bieten uns die einmalige Gelegenheit, die Welt der prähistorischen Jäger und Sammler zu erforschen, wie sie selbst sie gesehen haben. Felsbildforschern war aufgefallen, dass einzelne Jägerfiguren den Bogen scheinbar »falsch herum mit der Bogensehne vom Körper abgewandt benutzen. Die Bedeutung dieser Darstellungen wird durch eine Verbindung zwischen Bogenstab und Bogensehne deutlich. Dieses Detail weist die hier abgebildeten Bogenhaltungen sicher als musikalische Darstellungen aus.
Albania is a possible stepping-stone for the dispersal of Homo sapiens into Europe, since Palaeol... more Albania is a possible stepping-stone for the dispersal of Homo sapiens into Europe, since Palaeolithic traces (namely from the so-called Uluzzian culture) have been discovered in neighboring Greece and Italy. After two years of searching for evidence of modern humans in Albania we here report on excavated test trenches representing two time slices: an Aurignacian open-air site from southern Albania and two Epigravettian cave sites in central and northern Albania—areas heretofore archaeologically unknown. The new Albanian data fill a gap in the eastern Adriatic archaeological record for Marine Isotope Stages 3 and 2. Adding current knowledge of Late Pleistocene landscape evolution, a “contextual area model” can be constructed describing the habitats of these human populations.
Luan Përzhita, Ilir Gjipali, Gëzim Hoxha, Belisa Muka (ed.), Proceedings of the International Congress of Albanian Archaeological Studies, Tiranë 2014, 65–82., 2014
Palaeolithic research in Albania is still in its infancy. Palaeolithic artefacts having been foun... more Palaeolithic research in Albania is still in its infancy. Palaeolithic artefacts having been found mostly incidentally and sporadically, a demand for more systematic research has recently lead us to establish a joint Albanian-German research project. Our first excavations to be presented here were carried out in southern Albania (Butrint region), central Albania (Vlora region) and in the northern Albanian highlands (Mati region). So far, Palaeolithic remnants were recovered representing two time slices: First, evidence for the presence of early Upper Palaeolithic humans is given by a series of radiocarbon dates
in the lower part of the Blazi Cave sequence and by an excavated Aurignacian lithic assemblage from the open-air site of Shën Mitri near Butrint. Second, some caves inspected have also revealed traces of hunter-gatherers who used these shelters shortly after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM): Two Epigravettian sites, Blazi Cave (Mati) and Kanali (Vlora), date to around 18,000 years cal.B.P. or slightly younger. The new Albanian data fill a gap in the eastern Adriatic archaeological record. Comparing the Epigravettian sites with similar occurrences in NW Greece and adding recent data about the Late Pleistocene landscape evolution of Albania, it is possible to place the archaeological data into their proper cultural and environmental context.
Ricardo Eichmann, Fang Jianjun and Lars-Christian Koch (Eds.): Studies in Music Archaeology VIII, 2012, 177–194., 2012
Poster by Oliver Vogels
Rock art in southern Africa gives a record of the bow that besides hunting and fighting, has been... more Rock art in southern Africa gives a record of the bow that besides hunting and fighting, has been used for musical purposes. Although depictions of musical bow playing are rare and scattered across southern Africa, these instances provide some insights into the music cultures in southern Africa’s prehistory. This project aims at bringing together published depictions of musical bows from across southern Africa with some new discoveries in the Daureb/Brandberg rock art collection.
Workshop on Laser Scanning Applications 2015, Affiliation: University of Cologne, CRC 806, 2015
During the 2014 CRC806/B1 archaeological field campaign in Albania was a rash of caves in the spa... more During the 2014 CRC806/B1 archaeological field campaign in Albania was a rash of caves in the space of a karstic system in the Dibrës region investigated. Within this system particular focus on 3D-documentation necessity was set on Keputa cave. This is an essentially 200 meter long angled cave enclosing two larger galleries and a minor 50 meter corridor that sidelines in direction to the neighboring Blazi cave. At the larger gallery of Keputa some connected large feature-concentrations were recognized. There are 19 feature situations with a particular quality of large concentrations, fireplaces, charcoal remains at the wall and traces of animal activity. The priority object of our work inside the cave was to establish an as precise as possible copy of the whole cave ground. The setting for this plan was covering 1500m² of cave floor with overlapping ground spots and with strategic focus on feature concentrations. At every spot between 40 and 150 Photos were taken depending on the surface. Concerning bumps and lots of stalagmites it was necessary to take photos from different spherical camera positions around these Spots to gather a detailed 3D-model afterwards. Almost 8000 photos in 47 sets were collected and now processed with Agisoft Photoscan. From archaeological perspective about 1500 finds on the surface were single measured and collected for contextual information. A second focus is now on publication and the possibility to present the 3D-model and the contextual data of archaeological and geoscientific research. We want to present some concepts of adequate two-dimensional paper publication illustrations a well as the Possibility of attaching parts of the 3D model to documents. One of the most important points within this workflow is data management and reproducibility. Due to the development of Photogrammetric Software in a sense of equality to laser scanning has just begun it will be necessary to reuse the data in future. As we understand this is also a matter of cultural heritage conservation. This should be considered as a preliminary result and step of production that takes further research
Conference Presentations by Oliver Vogels
Archaeological sites plotted on a map often reveal a network of human occupations that may, for e... more Archaeological sites plotted on a map often reveal a network of human occupations that may, for example, reflect strategies of resource exploitation. Movements of people in prehistory, however, leaves little trace. The paths between the sites - the connections in the network - are elusive and often the space between the sites on the archaeological map remains empty. Today, Ceo-Information-Systems (GIS) software allows for the modelling of routes over digital topography and environment. Such 'least-cost paths' (LCP), albeit based on the assumption that human mobility favours cost reduction, allows us to formulate new hypotheses on the relationships between human occupation, mobility and the natural or social environment. During the past forty years 840 rock art sites have been recorded in the mountain range of the Brandberg/Daureb in Namibia. Least-cost analyses are of particular importance not only for modelling probable routes from site to site, but these LCP calculation also reveal the spatial organisation of the sites. For instance, 626 of 817 smaller sites are located in close proximity to modelled routes from outside the mountain to sites above 1500 m a.s.l. with more than 250 depictions (n = 23). These observations call for an explanation of the network of rock art sites that goes beyond the prevailing ideas about seasonal mobility strategies.
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Papers by Oliver Vogels
in the rock art of southern Africa, where a fair number of depictions show musical bow players. So far, no systematic research has been conducted into bow typology and ways of playing them. This
paper gives an overview of the published and some unpublished musical bow players from Namibia and South Africa. An outline of organological
features (i.e. technical aspects of sound production) and a typology of ways of playing are presented. As related evidence from ethnography is reviewed, differences across the investigated regions become
evident as well as mismatches of rock art and ethnography. Moreover, some features that are presumed innovations that the San took over from immigrating Bantu speakers can be found in rock
art depictions which were produced before the latter's arrival in southern Africa.
contains features of sites, figures, and scenes, listed in various tables at the end of each book. The sites are tabulated in tables to allow an overview of the archaeological data concerning their location in a certain environment as well as the facilities provided by the sites. These tables have now been recompiled from abbreviated publication layout for online access and include the complete information on every single figure, scene and site.
in the lower part of the Blazi Cave sequence and by an excavated Aurignacian lithic assemblage from the open-air site of Shën Mitri near Butrint. Second, some caves inspected have also revealed traces of hunter-gatherers who used these shelters shortly after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM): Two Epigravettian sites, Blazi Cave (Mati) and Kanali (Vlora), date to around 18,000 years cal.B.P. or slightly younger. The new Albanian data fill a gap in the eastern Adriatic archaeological record. Comparing the Epigravettian sites with similar occurrences in NW Greece and adding recent data about the Late Pleistocene landscape evolution of Albania, it is possible to place the archaeological data into their proper cultural and environmental context.
Poster by Oliver Vogels
Conference Presentations by Oliver Vogels
in the rock art of southern Africa, where a fair number of depictions show musical bow players. So far, no systematic research has been conducted into bow typology and ways of playing them. This
paper gives an overview of the published and some unpublished musical bow players from Namibia and South Africa. An outline of organological
features (i.e. technical aspects of sound production) and a typology of ways of playing are presented. As related evidence from ethnography is reviewed, differences across the investigated regions become
evident as well as mismatches of rock art and ethnography. Moreover, some features that are presumed innovations that the San took over from immigrating Bantu speakers can be found in rock
art depictions which were produced before the latter's arrival in southern Africa.
contains features of sites, figures, and scenes, listed in various tables at the end of each book. The sites are tabulated in tables to allow an overview of the archaeological data concerning their location in a certain environment as well as the facilities provided by the sites. These tables have now been recompiled from abbreviated publication layout for online access and include the complete information on every single figure, scene and site.
in the lower part of the Blazi Cave sequence and by an excavated Aurignacian lithic assemblage from the open-air site of Shën Mitri near Butrint. Second, some caves inspected have also revealed traces of hunter-gatherers who used these shelters shortly after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM): Two Epigravettian sites, Blazi Cave (Mati) and Kanali (Vlora), date to around 18,000 years cal.B.P. or slightly younger. The new Albanian data fill a gap in the eastern Adriatic archaeological record. Comparing the Epigravettian sites with similar occurrences in NW Greece and adding recent data about the Late Pleistocene landscape evolution of Albania, it is possible to place the archaeological data into their proper cultural and environmental context.
43,000 painted figures comprising about 80 % of the mountain's rock art. The corresponding database - modelled on linguistic and Gestalt theories - has been
analysed since the 1990s, revealing that human figures are not generally gendered by appearance, style or activities. Careful analysis points to certain combinations of features, activities, gender specific postures and objects handling as typical for particular genders. Furthermore, a third gender with typical expositional features and narrative actions can be identified. By comparison on different scales (single figures, figure pairings, and co-occurrence within all sites), the presence of male and female dominated social situations becomes evident. In this context,
depictions of humans of all genders in their specific scenic configurations and spatial localization appear also to reveal a discourse on social roles, thus inviting
interpretation as male and female initiation rites and the role of "zero marked" gender performance in the forager rock art. Here, distinctive attributes (body decoration, postures, tool handling) are counted instead of depicted sexes, though these are also significant as are displays of typical all-gender performance in interacting with children (e.g. carrying a child).