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\"This book examines the widespread evidence for the removal, curation, and display of the human head in Iron Age Europe\"-- Provided by publisher.

The impact of rapid climate change on contemporary human populations is of global concern. To contextualize our understanding of human responses to rapid climate change it is necessary to examine the archeological record during past climate transitions. One episode of abrupt climate change has been correlated with societal collapse at the end of the northwestern European Bronze Age. We apply new methods to interrogate archeological and paleoclimate data for this transition in Ireland at a higher level of precision than has previously been possible. We analyze archeological ¹⁴C dates to demonstrate dramatic population collapse and present high-precision proxy climate data, analyzed through Bayesian methods, to provide evidence for a rapid climatic transition at ca. 750 calibrated years B.C. Our results demonstrate that this climatic downturn did not initiate population collapse and highlight the nondeterministic nature of human responses to past climate change. Significance The impact of rapid climate change on humans is of contemporary global interest. Present-day debates are necessarily informed by paleoclimate studies in which climate is often assumed, without sufficient critical attention, to be the primary driver of societal change. Using new methods to analyze paleoclimatic and archeological datasets, we overturn the deterministic idea that population collapse at the end of the northwestern European Bronze Age was caused by rapid climate change. Our work demonstrates the necessity of high-precision chronologies in evaluating human responses to rapid climate change. It will be significant for geoscientists, climate change scientists, and archeologists.

The past two decades have seen important changes in the ways in which archaeologists perceive interpersonal violence in the past. Prehistoric archaeology in particular provides a unique long-term perspective on the development and institutionalization of violence in human societies, adding a further dimension to the work of cultural anthropologists studying more recent non-state societies. Evidence can be drawn from a range of sources, including material culture, settlement patterning, iconography and (crucially) patterns of trauma in human remains. The interpretation of such evidence remains inseparable from wider contextual understandings of prehistoric social forms and practices. This paper considers the specific role of archaeological evidence in establishing a broader historical context for the study of violence.

Little is known about the early history of the chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus), including the timing and circumstances of its introduction into new cultural environments. To evaluate its spatio-temporal spread across Eurasia and north-west Africa, the authors radiocarbon dated 23 chicken bones from presumed early contexts. Three-quarters returned dates later than those suggested by stratigraphy, indicating the importance of direct dating. The results indicate that chickens did not arrive in Europe until the first millennium BC. Moreover, a consistent time-lag between the introduction of chickens and their consumption by humans suggests that these animals were initially regarded as exotica and only several centuries later recognised as a source of ‘food’.

Recent aDNA analyses demonstrate that the centuries surrounding the arrival of the Beaker Complex in Britain witnessed a massive turnover in the genetic make-up of the island's population. The genetic data provide information both on the individuals sampled and the ancestral populations from which they derive. Here, the authors consider the archaeological implications of this genetic turnover and propose two hypotheses—Beaker Colonisation and Steppe Drift—reflecting critical differences in conceptualisations of the relationship between objects and genes. These hypotheses establish key directions for future research designed to investigate the underlying social processes involved and raise questions for wider interpretations of population change detected through aDNA analysis.

Ancient DNA is a valuable tool for investigating genetic and evolutionary history that can also provide detailed profiles of the lives of ancient individuals. In this study, we develop a generalised computational approach to detect aneuploidies (atypical autosomal and sex chromosome karyotypes) in the ancient genetic record and distinguish such karyotypes from contamination. We confirm that aneuploidies can be detected even in low-coverage genomes ( ~ 0.0001-fold), common in ancient DNA. We apply this method to ancient skeletal remains from Britain to document the first instance of mosaic Turner syndrome (45,X0/46,XX) in the ancient genetic record in an Iron Age individual sequenced to average 9-fold coverage, the earliest known incidence of an individual with a 47,XYY karyotype from the Early Medieval period, as well as individuals with Klinefelter (47,XXY) and Down syndrome (47,XY, + 21). Overall, our approach provides an accessible and automated framework allowing for the detection of individuals with aneuploidies, which extends previous binary approaches. This tool can facilitate the interpretation of burial context and living conditions, as well as elucidate past perceptions of biological sex and people with diverse biological traits. A sex chromosome identification method for ancient DNA revealed six individuals who lived with chromosomal aneuploidies in Britain from ~ 2,500 to 250 years ago. Genomic and osteological information was combined to shed light on their lives.

Humans have utilised caves for funerary activities for millennia and their unique preservational conditions provide a wealth of evidence for treatments of the dead. This paper examines the evidence for funerary practices in the caves of Scotland and northern England from the Bronze Age to the Roman Iron Age (c. 2200 bc–ad 400) in the context of later prehistoric funerary ritual. Results suggest significant levels of perimortem trauma on human skeletal remains from caves relative to those from non-cave sites. We also observe a recurrent pattern of deposition involving inhumation of neonates in contrast to excarnation of older individuals.

To explore kinship practices at chambered tombs in Early Neolithic Britain, here we combined archaeological and genetic analyses of 35 individuals who lived about 5,700 years ago and were entombed at Hazleton North long cairn 1 . Twenty-seven individuals are part of the first extended pedigree reconstructed from ancient DNA, a five-generation family whose many interrelationships provide statistical power to document kinship practices that were invisible without direct genetic data. Patrilineal descent was key in determining who was buried in the tomb, as all 15 intergenerational transmissions were through men. The presence of women who had reproduced with lineage men and the absence of adult lineage daughters suggest virilocal burial and female exogamy. We demonstrate that one male progenitor reproduced with four women: the descendants of two of those women were buried in the same half of the tomb over all generations. This suggests that maternal sub-lineages were grouped into branches whose distinctiveness was recognized during the construction of the tomb. Four men descended from non-lineage fathers and mothers who also reproduced with lineage male individuals, suggesting that some men adopted the children of their reproductive partners by other men into their patriline. Eight individuals were not close biological relatives of the main lineage, raising the possibility that kinship also encompassed social bonds independent of biological relatedness. Archaeological and ancient DNA analyses of 35 individuals entombed at Hazleton North long cairn approximately 5,700 years ago are used to reconstruct kinship practices in Early Neolithic Britain.

Humans have utilised caves for funerary activities for millennia and their unique preservational conditions provide a wealth of evidence for treatments of the dead. This paper examines the evidence for funerary practices in the caves of Scotland and northern England from the Bronze Age to the Roman Iron Age ( c. 2200 bc – ad 400) in the context of later prehistoric funerary ritual. Results suggest significant levels of perimortem trauma on human skeletal remains from caves relative to those from non-cave sites. We also observe a recurrent pattern of deposition involving inhumation of neonates in contrast to excarnation of older individuals. Une lumière en des lieux sombres: activité mortuaire de la fin de la Préhistoire dans les grottes d’Écosse et du Nord de l’Angleterre , par Ben Hume et Ian Armit Les humains ont utilisé des grottes à des fins funéraires pendant des millénaires et leurs conditions de préservation uniques fournissent une abondance de données sur le traitement des morts. Cet article se penche sur les données concernant les pratiques funéraires à l’intérieur des grottes d’Écosse et du Nord de l’Angleterre entre l’âge du Bronze et l’âge du Fer Romain ( c . 2200 bc–ad 400) dans le contexte des rites funéraires de la fin de la Préhistoire. Nos résultats montrent que les restes de squelettes humains provenant de grottes présentent d’importants niveaux de trauma perimortem par rapport aux squelettes provenant de sites extérieurs. Nous observons également un schéma récurrent de dépôt consistant, d’une part, en l’inhumation des nouveau-nés et, d’autre part, en l’excarnation des individus plus âgés. Ein Licht an dunklen Orten: Bestattungsaktivitäten der jüngeren Vorgeschichte in Höhlen in Schottland und Nordengland , von Ben Hume und Ian Armit Über Jahrtausende haben Menschen Höhlen für funerale Aktivitäten genutzt, deren einzigartige Erhaltungsbedingungen eine Fülle an Informationen zum Umgang mit den Toten liefern. In diesem Beitrag wird die Untersuchung von Belegen für Bestattungspraktiken in den Höhlen in Schottland und Nordengland von der Bronzezeit bis in die Römische Eisenzeit ( ca . 2200 bc – ad 400) im Kontext des Bestattungsrituals der jüngeren Vorgeschichte vorgestellt. Die Ergebnisse deuten auf ein hohes Maß an perimortalen Traumata an menschlichen Skelettteilen aus Höhlen im Vergleich zu jenen von anderen Fundorten. Wir beobachten außerdem ein wiederkehrendes Deponierungsmuster, das Körperbestattungen von Neonaten im Gegensatz zur Entfleischung älterer Individuen umfasst Una luz en la oscuridad: la actividad funeraria en cuevas durante la Prehistoria reciente en Escocia y el norte de Inglaterra , por Ben Hume e Ian Armit Los seres humanos han utilizado las cuevas para desarrollar actividades funerarias durante milenios y sus condiciones únicas de preservación proporcionan una evidencia de gran riqueza en los aspectos relacionados con los tratamientos de los muertos. Este artículo examina la evidencia de prácticas funerarias en cuevas de Escocia y el norte de Inglaterra desde la Edad del Bronce hasta la Edad del Hierro y época romana ( c . 2200 bc–ad 400) en el contexto de los rituales funerarios de la Prehistoria reciente. Los resultados sugieren niveles significantes de traumas perimorten en restos esqueléticos humanos procedentes de las cuevas en relación con aquellos procedentes de yacimientos que no son cuevas. De la misma manera, se observa un patrón recurrente de deposición que implica la inhumación de neonatos en contraste con el descarnado de individuos de mayor edad.