Neolithic period

Technological History. Archaeologists often divide the neolithic period, the latter part of what used to be called the Stone Age, into pre- and post ceramic, with reference to when ceramics came into production (88—92). Actually, there are occasions of pre-ceramic pyrotechnology, such as in the case of the fifth millenium BC mideastem plaster production (93). So far the eadiest occurrence of ceramics is in the 28th millenium BC in Eastern Europe, although here the technique was not used for the production of vessels but of figurines (94). 

Tykot, R. H. (2002a), Geochemical analysis of obsidian and the reconstruction of trade mechanisms in the early Neolithic period of the western Mediterranean, Archaeological Chemistry, ACS Symposium Series, Vol. 831, pp. 169-184. 

Figure 8.10 Carbon isotope ratios in bone collagen plotted against radiocarbon ages for 183 British Mesolithic and Neolithic humans from coastal (within 10 km of modern coastline squares) and inland sites (crosses). The sharp change in carbon isotope ratio at around 5200 radiocarbon years BP is interpreted as a shift from a marine diet to one dominated by terrestrial protein. This coincides with the onset of the Neolithic period in Britain. (Reproduced from Richards et al. 2003, with permission of Nature Publishing Group and the first author.)...

In the Neolithic period, however, a new type of religion formed based on the needs of the village. People started to perform group rituals guided by priests. Priests were the first alternative to the shamans, and sometimes they were rivals for authority. In contrast to the intuitive spontaneous visions of the shamans, the priests worshiped specific gods and told stories about them called myths, which remained basically the same over time. The type of magic that the priests practiced made use of elaborate props and clothing and formal ceremonies that... 

Circa 10,000 Humans enter the Neolithic Period, or New Stone Age, begin to farm, and live in villages shamans adapt to the needs of farmers and new religions develop with priests who practice ceremonial magic. 

For hundreds of thousands of years man was limited in his activity to the immediate vicinity of available water sources, thus restricting his territorial distribution. The invention of water carrying vessels increased the radius of travel a little. With the passage to animal husbandry and farming in the Neolithic period, some 7000 years ago, the demand for water increased. This was the background for the development of the large river civilizations in... 

The appearance of domesticated species (Neolithic Period, Iron Age) and the gradual extermination of the large mammals (aurochs, wisent, moose, bear) which survived the Pleistocene and adapted to the Holocene are characteristic of the late period of this era. Those data are supplemented, among others, by botanical and archaeological remains, which, when combined, will lead to a better understanding of the events of the last phase of palaeohistory. 

Lithic Material from the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic Periods of Portugal... 

Bronze production began in China possibly in Kansu province in the early Shang dynasty or possibly in the late Neolithic period. These few isolated finds do not seem to have any relevance to later Chinese bronze production, and we have not included analyses of any of them in our tables. The mainstream of bronze production begins in the Homan area, probably about 1400 B.C. with workshops near Cheng-chou, which at that time probably was the capital of the Shang state. These early (pre-An-yang) bronzes have characteristic decoration, shapes, and thinness. 

More than 150 specialists have been studying all aspects of the Iceman and his equipment. Over 300 books and scientific articles have been published about the Iceman as of 2008. One of the more interesting investigations involves the axe it is almost pure copper. When first discovered, the axe was assumed to be bronze because early copper axes were unknown in this part of Europe. The Iceman was thought to belong to the Bronze Age. Soon, however, radiocarbon dates from the body and the equipment the Iceman carried were obtained and indicated an age of around 4300 BC, in the Neolithic period, long before the Bronze Age. 

The raw material of the axe was studied to leam about its composition. A non-destructive X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of the ax showed this material to be almost pure copper, not bronze at all. This new metal documents the widespread use of copper in Europe during the latter half of the Neolithic period. Copper was being mined and smelted in several areas of eastern Europe by this time and traded as far north as Scandinavia. 

In England bronze objects have been found in burial mounds of the late Neolithic period, some 2000 b.c. As the objects are small it may well be that they indicate merely the beginning of the bronze age as the years rolled on, metal objects increased in range and dimensions. Riveted bronze cauldrons and buckets have been found from time to time a cauldron recovered from the Thames near Battersea, 16 inches high and inches in diameter is shown in the British Museum and possibly dates from about 700 b.c. 

The autopsy of the body ofthe Ice-Man was not only the much-belated Investigation of a criminal case, but it also led to valuable information concerning the living conditions of men in the Neolithic period. 

Fig. 3. The overlaid FTIR-VAR (reflectance) spectra, region 4000-600 cm-i for geological reference Baltic amber (211), reference Romanite (204), and an archaeological sample from Pitesti (1076) -neolithic period- assigned by us to Baltic origin...

BC development of secco technique which is painting on dry wall surface with pigment and binder (neolithic period)... 

The evolution of materials engineering over the centuries was perhaps less spectacular than the evolution of structures but certainly more important for human civilization. In archaeology some periods are named after the mastery or universality of particular materials used for weapons, tools and jewellery the Neolithic period - the last part of the Stone Age - was followed by the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. 

Geochemical Analysis of Obsidian and the Reconstruction of Trade Mechanisms in the Early Neolithic Period of the Western Mediterranean... 

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