This article concerns the practice of bed burial, a rare funerary custom found in some sixth- to early tenth-century ad graves ranging from southern Germany to Scandinavia and England. Existing research has often overlooked the diversity of bed burials, focusing mainly on the reconstruction of the beds, their style, the status of the deceased, and the objects associated with them, without examining the broader implications of the ritual. Here, the author explores the variations in bed burials, their relationship to the deceased, the artefacts linked with them, and the surrounding contexts. Her study is based on a new assessment of every aspect of the ritual, including the location of the graves, the biological and social identity of the deceased, the burial assemblage, and whether the beds were complete. This approach aims to demonstrate that the practice of bed burial should be addressed in the plural.

This study concerns prehistoric amber networks in north-eastern Iberia, emphasizing its distinct exchange dynamics compared to other regions of the Iberian Peninsula. Baltic amber dominated assemblages in this area from the Late Neolithic to the Bronze Age, contrasting with the prevalence of Sicilian amber in southern Iberia, or Cretaceous Iberian amber in the northern region. The findings underscore the region’s connection to southern France, with the Pyrenees serving as a cultural conduit, unlike the river Ebro, which acted as a boundary. Here the authors present the results of a Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) analysis of twenty-one amber beads, primarily from collective burials. Eighteen were made of Baltic succinite. Baltic amber may have begun to arrive as early as 3634–3363 cal bc, and continued to be used until the Late Bronze Age. Exceptions included a unique spacer-bead made of gum and two bolus pigments misidentified as amber. The results highlight Iberia’s regional diversity in raw material sourcing and exchange, reflecting distinct sociocultural dynamics and challenging linear narratives of Iberian prehistory.

Biber Deresi is an open-air site located on the Assos/Behram, Çanakkale coast, associated with river systems and raw material sources. The site’s particular importance is owed to the discovery of the most extensive Lower and Middle Palaeolithic assemblage yet identified on the Aegean coast of Türkiye. The lithic assemblage is characterized by a significant number of large cutting tools, including handaxes, cleavers, and trihedral picks, as well as pebble core tools, which are predominantly chopping tools. Flakes produced from both unprepared and prepared cores predominate. It is evident that, during the Pleistocene low sea level period, the region had a continuous connection with Lesvos and, via the eastern Aegean islands, with mainland Greece. Biber Deresi is identified as a key site, facilitating hominin movement and communication between Asia and Europe, and providing a novel contribution to the Palaeolithic map of the Aegean.

The great technological and typological variability identified among the Middle Palaeolithic (MP) assemblages previously assigned to the Zagros Mousterian in the Zagros suggests that this industry is not a homogeneous cultural unit. The archaeological record from the Caucasus and Armenian highlands contributes important data to understand the variability of the Zagros Mousterian. The authors show that the long stratigraphic sequences of the caves of Taglar in the Lesser Caucasus and Yerevan-1 in the Armenian highlands provide a line of development (the ‘Yerevan–Taglar tradition’) of the Zagros Mousterian variant in this region at least from 60/55 to 40 kya. The earliest manifestations of the Zagros Mousterian in the regions may be dated to the early MIS 5 or earlier. The MP assemblages from the cave of Saradj-Chuko and two other MP sites in the Terek river basin represent the northern Caucasian variant of the Zagros Mousterian, which existed in the region from MIS 5 to MIS 3. The remains of Neanderthals associated with the Zagros Mousterian assemblages in the Zagros and Caucasus clearly indicate that the makers of this cultural tradition were Neanderthals.

This study employs neutron activation analysis (NAA) to examine pottery from Middle Bronze Age (MBA) (c. 2200–1700 bc) Mitrou in East Lokris, central Greece. The analysis of 112 samples from all ceramic phases reveals complex patterns of production and exchange at multiple scales. Limited production of tablewares is evident within the immediate coastscape, contrasting sharply with abundant imports of tableware from other communities (most prominently, central Euboea and Boeotia), revealing a highly interconnected central Greek world. The NAA results also reinforce previous petrographic analysis, emphasizing connections with the broader regional maritime sphere, including the Cyclades, Aegina, Crete, and the south-eastern Aegean. The results challenge previous perceptions of the central Greek MBA as isolated, provide new insights into MBA connectivity, and highlight the need for further analytical work at other central Greek sites.

Travel accounts provide both benefits and challenges to survey archaeologists. This article presents a case study, generated by the Vayots Dzor Silk Road Survey, which aims to reconstruct the medieval (tenth to fifteenth centuries ad) landscape of Vayots Dzor in the Republic of Armenia, ‘excavating’ literary accounts of its landscape. Knowledge of this region in the Middle Ages is dominated by a core text written in the thirteenth century by Bishop Step’anos Orbelyan. From the mid-nineteenth century onwards, the region was visited by travellers who found links between the places they visited, the inscriptions they recorded, and the events and locations attested in Orbelyan’s text. Through examples from the site list of the Vayots Dzor Silk Road Survey, the authors explore how these and other sources accumulate, creating local knowledge about places that inform archaeologists and heritage professionals. They argue for reflection on the ways that local memory, archaeology, and the physical landscape inform complex makings of place.

This study explores the emergence and dispersal of grog-tempered pottery in south-eastern Europe, particularly southern Romania. During the second half of the sixth millennium bc, a dynamic zone emerged between the Danube and the Carpathians, facilitating the spread of innovations through multiple communication routes. Among these innovations, grog-tempered pottery began to appear around 5300/5000 bc and became prevalent during the fifth millennium. Despite being frequent, its origins, dispersal, and intensity remain poorly understood. This article aims to trace and explain the emergence and distribution of grog-tempered pottery in southern Romania. By integrating data from existing literature with new results from macroscopic and archaeometric analyses of twelve pottery assemblages from Middle Neolithic, Early, and Middle Chalcolithic sites, the author seeks to provide insights into the significance of the first grog-tempered pottery in a south-eastern European context.

This article is a preliminary discussion of the scientific value of archival lithics kept in museum collections and storage based on a small sample of Late Mesolithic flint artefacts from the site of Tomaszów II in south-eastern Poland, which was subjected to organic residue analysis. The aim of the trial study was to investigate and assess the preservation potential of organic residues on stone tools from sites located in areas not favourable to the survival of organic material and subsequently handled during post-excavation (especially those kept in museum collections). While the authors initially assumed that the chances of discovering residues indicating human use were slight and expected a general absence of organic material, the analysis of the lithics from Tomaszów II indicated that a small amount of ancient plant residues can survive on archival flint artefacts even in such unfavourable circumstances.

This study uses stable and radiogenic isotopic data from Chalcolithic (c. 3000–1900 bc) humans and animals recovered from the Rego da Murta dolmens (Alvaiázere, Portugal) to understand dietary and mobility patterns in the populations using these monuments. The results suggest diets based primarily on C3 plants and terrestrial animals, with some possible variation in protein intake by age or status. Analyses of 87Sr/86Sr values identify two individuals out of ten from Rego da Murta I and four individuals out of fifteen from Rego da Murta II as migrants. These data were compared to other Chalcolithic burials in south-western Portugal: while diets were found to be similar across the region, the very high 87Sr/86Sr values recorded for two migrant humans match no known settlement in the broader region. A recent mapping study of 87Sr/86Sr values in Portugal suggests their origins may lie to the north/north-east of the dolmens.

This article examines the processes involved in materializing the past. The recording of archaeological objects plays a pivotal role in establishing artefacts as valuable data that can be categorized, classified, and analysed to turn into historical narratives. It contributes significantly to shaping our understanding of the past: while conveying information about the objects themselves, this documentation inherently captures the subjective context of its recording and continues to influence our interpretations. In this article, both objective details and subjective conceptions are analysed from the records (drawings, photographs, reports) made at the rock figure of Karabel (Turkey), a monumental bas-relief discovered by European explorers in the 1830s. The author uses Karabel's diverse and controversial interpretations to examine how knowledge and ideas about the past evolve. To counterbalance the conventional linear interpretation of the past, he offers some insights into non-academic aspects of the monument.

This study examines settlement evidence from south-eastern Norway during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age, revealing unique aspects of regional architectural and social organization. Notably, smaller and uniform house sizes suggest a divergence from the monumental power displays seen in southernmost Scandinavia. The uniformity in house sizes and significant spatial distances between contemporary houses imply a social structure akin to segmentary societies with symmetrical power relations, reliant on mobility and mixed subsistence practices. Changes in settlement patterns and house sizes during the Late Bronze Age could have been the result of increased social stratification or responses to population growth. Overall, the settlement patterns and house sizes in south-eastern Norway reflect a society that, while connected to the broader Nordic Bronze Age world, developed distinct social and economic strategies. These findings highlight the importance of considering regional variations and responses to environmental and social challenges in prehistoric societies.

At the beginning of the fourth millennium bc, the Typical Comb Ware culture (TCW) emerged in north-eastern Europe. One of its characteristics is a wealth of ‘amber’ or ‘ochre’ graves and mortuary practices. This article concerns the graves’ key elements, their distribution and frequency, and their relationship to the TCW phenomenon. The analysis of seventy-seven graves from twenty-three sites suggests that TCW graves are a materialization of a complex set of practices in which visual aspects (colours, contrasts, and combinations of materials) and performance play significant roles. Given the small number and distribution of graves, these practices were reserved for particular people and/or occasions, and the tradition only lasted for a few centuries. Interpreted from the perspective of identity production and sociocultural networks, these graves and associated practices are defined as ‘symbolically overloaded’, with buried bodies and activities intended to be seen.

Hunting pits are common archaeological features in northern landscapes, mainly researched from a morphological perspective, as dateable material is scarce. This has resulted in a limited and generalized understanding of hunting pits. While human land use in non-agrarian settings is often subtle, it can still be understood in terms of distribution and management by using relational approaches that address spatial organization and the nature of land use. This study, based on extensive field surveys and GIS analyses and guided by the concept of landscape domestication, has identified the characteristics of approximately 1500 previously unrecorded hunting pits in the Arctic region of Sweden. It examines how hunting pit systems, their selective spatial distribution, and strategic arrangement can be seen as expressions of landscape domestication. The author concludes that, through profound knowledge and deliberate resource management, communities invested in the landscape, generating dense spatial and temporal manifestations in the form of hunting pits. These systems reflect an elaborate hunting technique involving the whole landscape.