Neolithic anthropomorphic figurines, usually manufactured from ceramics, were found in large quantities at many sites. Despite past efforts to interpret their meaning, research has been stagnating for two main reasons. First, figurines have been considered artefacts of high heritage value and, therefore, they are usually not allowed to be analysed using invasive methods, which would be the most effective in ceramic research, allowing for identifying provenance, firing temperature, preferences of clay mixing, etc. When such destructive methods are employed in figurine analysis, it is done individually and not to an extent of any statistical relevance. Moreover, the meaning of such visual representations, which is not described in written sources, is elusive and cannot be recognised by archaeological methods. However, despite not knowing the meaning, we can attempt to clarify the figurines' social role by identifying distinct features that reveal how particular parts of the operational chain were organised, as well as their complexity. We employ a combination of optical microscopy, XRD, p-XRF, 3D, and DStretch visual decorrelation to examine a collection of forty figurines of the Lengyel culture from the territory of Lower Austria. We use methods that can be widely employed and yield a wealth of new data, and which can, when applied to further assemblages, significantly expand our present knowledge.

Anthropomorphic figurines represent one of the typical characteristics of Neolithic cultures in Europe and the Near East. In attempting to identify the purpose of their manufacturing and use, scholars also pay attention to the figurines’ fragmentation. Analysis of the largest known collection of figurines from the Lengyel culture, found in Těšetice-Kyjovice – Sutny and comprising 378 fragments, was based on a set of methods that enable us to overcome the main gaps in fragmentation studies. All fractures were subjected to comprehensive 3D and microscopic analysis. Particular patterns of breakage were analysed considering the inner structure and shaping strategies previously revealed by micro-CT, and these patterns were tested in a fragmentation experiment. Results suggest that the fragmentation of figurines at the studied site was deliberate, carried out individually with various types of tools, and following certain communally shared patterns. Given the spatial data and careful petrographic verification of all refits, further details of fragmentation activity were revealed.

Understanding how early farming societies developed social complexity remains central to comprehending human social evolution. While architectural differentiation in Neolithic settlements is often interpreted as reflecting emerging hierarchy, household-level analyses linking architecture to food processing remain understudied. We conducted organic residue analysis of 62 pottery vessels from four Linear Pottery culture (LBK) households (5300-5000 BCE) of varying sizes at Tesetice-Kyjovice, Czech Republic, integrating lipid analysis and faunal evidence with statistical modeling to examine relationships between household architecture and food access patterns. Across all sampled households, compound-specific isotope analysis identified ruminant adipose fats as the predominant lipid fraction (66%), followed by non-ruminant sources (27%) and dairy (7%). Statistical analysis showed no significant correlation between house size and food source access, despite clear architectural differentiation. Vessels containing ruminant fats showed higher lipid concentrations than non-ruminant vessels, indicating processing intensity variation rather than differential resource access. These findings provide the first biomolecular demonstration that architectural variation in early Neolithic communities reflected functional household specialization within egalitarian resource-sharing systems, rather than hierarchical wealth differentiation. This challenges models linking house size to social status, demonstrating that social complexity could develop without economic inequality, offering new insights into alternative pathways of social organization in early agricultural societies.

This paper examines the temporal dynamics of Linearbandkeramik (LBK) mortuary practices in south-eastern Czechia and western Slovakia, focusing on the emergence and development of funerary traditions. New radiocarbon dating of Moravian sites, including Vedrovice (with the large cemetery Široká u lesa, the settlement graves at Sídliště, and the small cluster of burials at Za dvorem), Brno-Starý/Nový Lískovec, Těšetice-Kyjovice-Sutny, as well as the Slovakian cemeteries of Nitra-Horné Krškany and Nitra-Mlynárce are presented and modelled. Our findings reveal that LBK mortuary practices were largely contemporaneous, beginning with the establishment of cemeteries, closely followed by settlement graves, and culminating in secondary deposition of bones and the transition to later Neolithic mortuary practices. The chronological framework aligns with existing models, indicating continuous LBK funerary practices in the timespan 5315–5035 cal BC, which underscores the influence of cultural exchange and migration from the Balkan–Anatolian area. Additionally, we identified temporal trends among individuals’ lifeways and mortuary treatments, as well as significant patterns concerning the foundational burials of non-adults in settlement graves. This revised chronology provides a more reliable basis for future interpretative work based on accurate chronological attributions.

The Migration Period (4th-5th centuries AD) in Central Europe was marked by profound demographic and cultural transformations. Nevertheless, bioarchaeological data from this period remain scarce across the region. Tyniec upon & Sacute;l & eogon;& zdot;a constitutes the only newly excavated Migration Period cemetery in southern Poland, providing a rare opportunity to explore lifeways during this transformative epoch. Stable carbon (delta C-1(3)) and nitrogen (delta N-1(5)) isotope analyses were conducted on samples from ten individuals to reconstruct dietary patterns, while mobility was investigated through high-resolution strontium isotope (Sr-8(7)/Sr-8(6)) measurements of dental enamel from selected individuals, yielding a total of twenty determinations. A local environmental baseline was established, encompassing the principal prehistoric settlement zones surrounding Wroc & lstrok;aw. To complement the isotopic dataset, trace element concentrations from dental enamel were examined to aid dietary reconstructions and assess potential diagenetic alterations. The findings highlight the interpretative challenges posed by the highly dynamic demographic landscape of the Migration Period, in which the absence of stable local populations complicates the identification of non-local individuals. Nevertheless, the results reveal pronounced dietary variability, including substantial consumption of aquatic resources, and complex mobility signatures, reflecting diverse geographic origins and life histories. Our paper provides new insights into the processes of cultural hybridization among Germanic populations inhabiting Silesia during this turbulent era. It further explores their adaptive strategies and cultural responses to interactions-both direct and indirect-with nomadic groups and the broader geopolitical transformations precipitated by the disintegration of the Roman Empire.

The Migration Period (4 th –5 th centuries AD) in Central Europe was marked by profound demographic and cultural transformations. Nevertheless, bioarchaeological data from this period remain scarce across the region. Tyniec upon Ślęża constitutes the only newly excavated Migration Period cemetery in southern Poland, providing a rare opportunity to explore lifeways during this transformative epoch. Stable carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) isotope analyses were conducted on samples from ten individuals to reconstruct dietary patterns, while mobility was investigated through high-resolution strontium isotope (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) measurements of dental enamel from selected individuals, yielding a total of twenty determinations. A local environmental baseline was established, encompassing the principal prehistoric settlement zones surrounding Wrocław. To complement the isotopic dataset, trace element concentrations from dental enamel were examined to aid dietary reconstructions and assess potential diagenetic alterations. The findings highlight the interpretative challenges posed by the highly dynamic demographic landscape of the Migration Period, in which the absence of stable local populations complicates the identification of non-local individuals. Nevertheless, the results reveal pronounced dietary variability, including substantial consumption of aquatic resources, and complex mobility signatures, reflecting diverse geographic origins and life histories. Our paper provides new insights into the processes of cultural hybridization among Germanic populations inhabiting Silesia during this turbulent era. It further explores their adaptive strategies and cultural responses to interactions-both direct and indirect-with nomadic groups and the broader geopolitical transformations precipitated by the disintegration of the Roman Empire.

This study presents multidisciplinary analyses of soil cover and archaeological faunal remains from the late Eneolithic fortified settlement of Gordines,ti II - St & icirc;nca goala in Moldova. Associated with the Tripolye culture, the site dates back to the late 4th millennium BC. Significant cultural and economic shifts characterize this period, marked by a transition from agrarian to pastoral practices, which ultimately led to a gradual decline in sedentary settlements. Employing diverse geochemical techniques and isotopic analyses (87Sr/86Sr, delta 15N, delta 13C, 14C-dating), the research elucidates the palaeoecological context of the settlement, human-environment relationships and reasons for its decline and abandonment. We examined 25 faunal specimens, both domesticated and wild, providing local isotopic reference values (87Sr/86Sr baselines) from surficial deposits and water in the region. The initial carbon and nitrogen isotope values indicate a local isotopic ecology undergoing progressive aridification, particularly in the isotopic signatures of larger herbivores. Additionally, our analysis of 87Sr/86Sr isotopic values from faunal dental materials reveals distinct mobility patterns among certain animal groups, offering new insights into Eneolithic husbandry practices. This research holds considerable significance as it reveals the adaptive strategies of prehistoric communities navigating the critical shift from agriculture to pastoralism, thereby deepening our understanding of the socio-economic transformations that occurred in prehistoric Eastern and Central Europe.

Consensus holds that pottery technology came to Central Europe from the Northern Balkans with independent pottery traditions existing concurrently in Eastern Europe. An unusual grass-tempered pottery dating back to around 5800 cal BC found in lake sediments at Santovka, Slovakia, predated the earliest known Neolithic pottery in the region (~ 5500 cal BC), suggesting unexplored narratives of pottery introduction. Analyses of the pottery’s technology, origin, and grass temper shedding light on ceramic traditions' spread can unveil mobility patterns and community lifestyles. Our findings indicate a non-local provenance, low temperature firing, Festugc sp. grass temper and unique rectangular or cylindrical vessel shapes which align with Eastern European hunter-gatherer practices. Moreover, the pottery style and technology have no analogies in the contemporary Danubian pottery traditions and have more similarities to those of the Eastern traditions. The pottery's raw materials likely originated from distant areas, indicating extensive territorial access for its creators. Our findings imply late Mesolithic hunter-gatherers as the probable artisans and with implications for the site's significance in the late Mesolithic landscape.

Although ceramic vessels form the majority of artifact assemblages in the Neolithic, little is known about their production beyond the assumption that they were made in a domestic context. Characterizing the scale of ceramic production is important for understanding Neolithic social and economic processes, particularly at sites with enclosure systems that indicate an increased degree of social organization. Nevertheless, characterizing the complexity and social entanglements of ceramic production is a difficult task in the absence of primary production locales. In this study, we provide a working hypothesis and use ceramic and clay petrographic data to highlight the variability in ceramic technological practices, and in turn, identify the organization of ceramic production at the Late Neolithic (Lengyel I; 4750-4500 BCE) site of Tesetice-Kyjovice - Sutny, South Moravia, Czech Republic. The site is characterised by a large circular enclosure, the construction of which required a high level of social cooperation. It is still under scrutiny whether the cooperation required for building the enclosure system was only temporary and related to this construction activity, or if it reflects a higher degree of social organization in general. By understanding ceramic production, we may clarify the complexity of the most common production processes that took place at the site. Large-scale ceramic and clay petrographic data provide information on the first steps of the chaine operatoire in ceramic fabrication, which can be used to assess the organization of production. A systematic analysis of a large number of ceramic samples, representing all basic typological and macroscopically distinguishable fabric groups, revealed a high degree of individuality in choices of raw materials and tempers. Ceramic petrographic data, compared with the petrographic data of local sediment sources, further highlighted individuality in raw material and temper preferences, and even mixing of raw materials was identified. Our analyses suggest that Lengyel culture potters likely produced their vessels on a household level, with no evidence suggesting non-domestic production. These data, in conjunction with ceramic petrographic data from Hungarian Late Neolithic sites, suggest that Late Neolithic communities were self-sufficient in terms of utilitarian pottery production. Ceramic petrographic data also indicate interaction between the inhabitants of Tesetice and other Lengyel culture communities in the vicinity, perhaps further indicating a higher degree of social organization at the site.

This research combines Strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and Oxygen (δ18O) isotope analysis to challenge the prevailing interpretation of patrilocal exogamic practices among eastern European Early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik (LBK) communities. Patrilocality has been considered the key factor influencing the mobility patterns of central Europe’s first farmers (c. 5500–4900 cal. BC), especially in the south-eastern Moravian region (Czech Republic). Focusing our attention on both male and female tooth enamel samples from cemeteries, settlement graves and small clusters of graves, this paper reassesses the correlation between mobility, biological sex, and funerary practices. This task is accomplished by establishing a new isotopic footprint using new 87Sr/86Sr data, as well as significantly increasing the number of sampled individuals for 87Sr/86Sr and δ18O. The outcome of this research contributes to a better understanding of the mobility patterns among early farmers in central Europe, challenging existing theories and providing new insights into their social and cultural dynamics.

Abstract. The study of freshwater carbonates, such as travertines and speleothems, provides valuable insights into the regional biases of mid-Holocene climate development in Central-Eastern (CE) and South-Eastern (SE) Europe. The formation of a lake in the travertine deposition system of the Santovka site, located at the transition of the Western Carpathians and the Pannonian Basin, has led to the preservation of a valuable record. We analyzed the litho- and microstratigraphy, chemical composition, including δ18O and δ13C stable isotopes, and geochronology of the Santovka-village section. We then compared these palaeoclimatic records with reference records from Central-Eastern and South-Eastern Europe in terms of significant climate shifts. The prevalent part of the section studied, which spans between 8200 and 6400 cal BP, is represented by fluvial/fluvio-lacustrine sediments and lake marl. The 8.2 ka BP event was only detected in the δ13C record from the nearby Santovka-PB section. However, we found an abrupt change in both isotopic records around 7400–7200 cal BP, which is likely connected to increased detrital input and some minor palaeoecological changes in the Santovka-village section. These changes are most likely associated with the drying of the lake. The 8.2 event in Central-Eastern (CE) and South-Eastern (SE) Europe is well reflected in the δ13C records, while the change in δ18O was insignificant. In contrast, the newly suggested climate shift around 7400–7000 ka BP was detected at most sites in both δ18O and δ13C records. This development could be connected to a change in air mass circulation, synchronous with declining solar irradiance and increased evidence of drift ice in the North Atlantic.

ABSTRACT In the absence of wood, bone, and other organics, one possible candidate for determining the age of a site is the radiocarbon ( 14 C) dating of pottery. In central Europe during the Early Neolithic, pottery was ubiquitous and contained substantial quantities of organic temper. However, attempts at the direct dating of organic inclusions raises a lot of methodological issues, especially when several sources of carbon contribute to the resulting radiocarbon age. Hence an alternative approach to dating of the early pottery is necessary. Here, we present a novel method of bulk separation of organic content from the grass-tempered pottery from Santovka (Slovakia). The procedure is based on the consecutive application of three inorganic acids, dissolving clay, silica content, and low molecular or mobile fractions to separate organic inclusions added to the pottery matrix during the formation of vessels. Radiocarbon dates obtained with this method are coherent and produce the shortest time span compared to other pretreatment methods presented in this study. The paired dates of grass-tempered pots with the 14 C age of lipids extracted from the same pots point to a difference of 400–600 14 C yr, however they are in line with the site’s chronostratigraphic Bayesian model. Grass-tempered pottery from Santovka (Slovakia) is dated to the first half of the 6th millennium cal BC, making it the earliest pottery north of the Danube. It seems feasible that ceramic containers from Santovka were produced by hunter-gatherers, and pottery predated the arrival of farming in the Carpathian region by a couple of centuries.

A Magyar Királyság feldarabolásáig a népességszám növekedését a magyarok természetes szaporodása, a velük együtt élő nem magyar népek egy részének és utódaiknak, valamint az országba vándorló magyarrá "vált" idegenek és utódaiknak termékenysége közösen biztosította.Ezt a fejlődést az I. világháború okozta harmadik demográfiai katasztrófa megszakította, melynek következtében megkezdődött a Kárpát-medencében élő magyarok létszámának csökkenése.Ez szoros összefüggésben van a szomszédos országokban élő magyarok Magyarországra vándorlásával.Éppen ezért tudomásul kell venni, hogy mindaz, ami a népesedési folyamatok területén Magyarországon zajlik (létszámcsökkenés, korstruktúra-átalakulása stb.) csak része a Kárpát-medencei magyarok népesedési folyamatainak, de nem azonos azzal

2015 őszén Benda József vezetésével alakult meg az a Szakértői Műhely, melynek tagjai önkéntes munkában dolgozták ki a Hivatásos Szülők életpálya modell koncepcióját. Javaslatuk a „Jövőnk a gyermek. Adalékok a népességgyarapodás társadalmi programjához I." című, 2020-ban megjelent könyvben foglalták össze. A Szakértői Műhely célja egy olyan konstrukció kidolgozása volt, mely a népességgyarapodás területén pozitív folyamatokat indukál és ezáltal a hazai népesség létszámának további csökkenését megállítja. Ennek megvalósulása érdekében azt javasolták, hogy azok számára, akik három, négy vagy akár még több gyermeket is vállalnak, hivatásos szülő státuszt kell biztosítani, és ezért a „munkáért” a szülőknek versenyképes fizetést kell kapniuk. Ezzel ellensúlyozni lehetne a gyermektelen, vagy csak egy gyermeket vállalók esetében a csökkent gyermekszámot. Alapvető kérdés azonban, hogy lehet-e munkaviszony a gyermekvállalás?