Timothy Kaiser

Sedentism and economic change in the Balkan Neolithic

Abstract The effects of sedentism on economic behavior, with special reference to the activities involved in the exploitation of ceramic and lithic resources, are discussed. The context of the study is the late Neolithic of Southeast Europe. It is argued that the widespread establishment of sedentary communities in the Balkans was followed by changes in the production of pottery and stone tools, entailing the routine investment of increasing amounts of labor in most phases of production, increased complexity in the organization of production, and a more selective approach to resource exploitation. Ceramic and lithic production form an important part of the nonsubsistence side of the Neolithic economy, and an understanding of changes in this sphere of activity is crucial to a comprehension of the wider effects of sedentism on economic behavior.

Excavations at Opovo, 1985–1987: Socioeconomic Change in the Balkan Neolithic

AbstractThis is the second preliminary report of excavations and analyses of Opovo-Ugar Bajbuk, a Neolithic settlement of the Vinca-Plocnik culture located in the lower Tamis river valley, NE Yugoslavia. The Opovo Archaeological Project began in the summer of 1983; this report coversthe 1985–1987 field seasons. Work at Opovo has continued to reveal more about the unusual reliance placed by the site’s inhabitants on wild food resources, the apparent lack of long-term settlement occupation, and the social organization of production and consumption. An unexpected find of the 1987 season was a fragment of linen, the earliest direct evidence for textile production in European prehistory. Detailed examination of methods of house construction and house destruction—part of an effort to investigate the role of households at the site—led to the discovery of the first two-story dwelling ever encountered at a Vinca site. The site of Opovo-Ugar Bajbuk is providing new light on previously unknown dimensions of variatio...

Plant Use at Grapčeva Cave and in the Eastern Adriatic Neolithic

Abstract Plant macroremains were recovered during the renewed excavation at Grapčeva Špilja, a cave on the island of Hvar in Croatia. This is the first archaeoboatnical investigation on an eastern Adriatic island to use flotation samples. Samples were taken from layers dating from the Early Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 6000–1500 B.C.). Sixteen radiocarbon dates obtained from wood charcoal date the samples precisely. Detailed archaeobotanical analyses of plant macroremains reveal plant use during the occupation of the cave, with the highest density of plant remains in the Neolithic. Oak acorns were the most abundant plant remains. Finds of two types of juniper berry cones, various parts of gymnosperm cones, and cypress seeds and leaves indicate that the Mediterranean evergreen woodland was exploited. Remains of cultivated plants are rare. A small number of cereal grains, including emmer, einkorn, and possibly bread wheat were recovered from the Neolithic layers, as well as a few wheat grains from later horizons. Remains of typical wild Mediterranean fruits included almond nutshell fragments, a grape pip, and a fig seed. These finds indicate that the occupants of Grapčeva utilized processed crops but also gathered plants from the wild for food, fuel, and perhaps ritual. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis was performed in order to assess charred versus mineralized preservation. Macroplant remains from Grapčeva were compared to the few available plant analyses from the eastern Adriatic. This comparison provides evidence that caves had different functions both from each other and from open-air sites. The plant remains are discussed in the context of the spread of farming on both sides of the Adriatic.

Adriatic Neolithic Mortuary Ritual at Grapčeva Cave, Croatia

Abstract Excavations at Grapčeva Cave in Croatia, a major eastern Adriatic Neolithic site, yielded evidence of ritual activities during the 5th millennium CAL B.C. Structured deposits in the main interior chamber consisted of large burned features containing extremely high frequencies of animal remains and artifacts, including richly decorated Late Neolithic “Hvar-style” pottery, as well as scattered human remains. We argue that Grapčeva was a mortuary ritual site, where feasts, offerings to supernatural powers, and secondary burials took place. At Grapcčeva memories were produced and maintained at a time when group histories and genealogies were gaining importance among the newly settled Neolithic food producers of the Adriatic.