Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-27gpq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-19T06:01:53.842Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Emergence of Extramural Cemeteries in Neolithic Southeast Europe: A Formally Modeled Chronology for Cernica, Romania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 June 2018

Susan Stratton
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and Conservation, SHARE, Cardiff University, John Percival Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff CF10 3EU, United Kingdom
Seren Griffiths
Affiliation:
The School of Forensic and Applied Sciences, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, Lancashire, PR1 2HE, United Kingdom
Raluca Kogălniceanu
Affiliation:
“Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology, Romanian Academy, 11 Henri Coandă Street, Bucharest, Romania
Angela Simalcsik
Affiliation:
“Olga Necrasov” Centre of Anthropology, Romanian Academy – Iaşi branch, 2 Th. Codrescu Street, Iaşi, Romania
Alexandru Morintz
Affiliation:
“Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology, Romanian Academy, 11 Henri Coandă Street, Bucharest, Romania
Cristian Eduard Ştefan
Affiliation:
“Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology, Romanian Academy, 11 Henri Coandă Street, Bucharest, Romania
Valentin Dumitraşcu
Affiliation:
“Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology, Romanian Academy, 11 Henri Coandă Street, Bucharest, Romania
Christopher Bronk Ramsey
Affiliation:
Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Dyson Perrins Building, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, United Kingdom
Olaf Nehlich
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, 6303 N.W. Marine Drive, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1Canada
Nancy Beavan
Affiliation:
Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, University of Otago, School of Medical Sciences, PO Box 913, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
Dušan Borić*
Affiliation:
The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Columbia University, 1161 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027, USA
Alasdair Whittle
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and Conservation, SHARE, Cardiff University, John Percival Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff CF10 3EU, United Kingdom
*
*Corresponding author. Email: db2128@columbia.edu.

Abstract

The emergence of separate cemeteries for disposal of the dead represents a profound shift in mortuary practice in the Late Neolithic of southeast Europe, with a new emphasis on the repeated use of a specific space distinct from, though still often close to, settlements. To help to time this shift more precisely, this paper presents 25 dates from 21 burials in the large cemetery at Cernica, in the Lower Danube valley in southern Romania, which are used to formally model the start, duration of use and end of the cemetery. A further six dates were obtained from four contexts for the nearby settlement. Careful consideration is given to the possibility of environmental and dietary offsets. The preferred model, without freshwater reservoir offsets, suggests that use of the Cernica cemetery probably began in 5355–5220 cal BC (95% probability) and ended in 5190–5080 cal BC (28% probability) or 5070–4940 (67% probability). The implications of this result are discussed, including with reference to other cemeteries of similar age in the region, the nature of social relations being projected through mortuary ritual, and the incorporation of older, Mesolithic, ways of doing things into Late Neolithic mortuary practice.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2018 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bayliss, A, Bronk Ramsey, C, van der Plicht, J, Whittle, A. 2007. Bradshaw and Bayes: Towards a timetable for the Neolithic. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 17.1, supplement:p 128.Google Scholar
Berciu, D, Morintz, S. 1957. Şantierul arheologic Cernavoda (reg. Constanţa, r. Medgidia). Materiale 3:8392.Google Scholar
Berciu, D, Morintz, S. 1959. Săpăturile de la Cernavoda (reg. Constanţa, r. Medgidia). Materiale 5:99106.Google Scholar
Berciu, D, Morintz, S, Roman, P. 1959. Săpăturile de la Cernavoda (reg. Constanţa, r. Medgidia). Materiale 6:95105.Google Scholar
Berciu, D, Morintz, S, Ionescu, M, Roman, P. 1961. Şantierul arheologic Cernavoda. Materiale 7:4955.Google Scholar
Bloch, M, Parry, J. 1982. Introduction: death and the regeneration of life. In: Bloch M, Parry J, editors. Death and the Regeneration of Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 144.Google Scholar
Bojadzhiev, J. 2001. The intra muros burial practice during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic in the Bulgarian lands: Custom or exception? Archeologija (Sofia) 42/3–4:1624.Google Scholar
Bonsall, C. 2007. When was the Neolithic transition in the Iron Gates?. In: Spataro M, Biagi P, editors. A short walk through the Balkans: The first farmers of the Carpathian Basin and adjacent regions. Trieste: Società per la prehistoria e protostoria della regiona Friuli-Venezia Giulia. p. 5366.Google Scholar
Bonsall, C, Rosemary, L, McSweeney, K, Carolina, S, Douglass, H, Boroneanţ, V, Bartosiewicz, L, Robert, P, Chapman, J. 1997. Mesolithic and Early Neolithic in the Iron Gates: A palaeodietary perspective. Journal of European Archaeology 5:5092.Google Scholar
Bonsall, C, Vasić, R, Boroneanț, A, Roksandic, M, Soficaru, A, McSweeney, K, Evatt, A, Aguraiuja, Ü, Pickard, C, Dimitrijević, V, Higham, T, Hamilton, D, Cook, GT. 2015. New AMS 14C for human remains from stone age sites in the Iron Gates reach of the Danube, southeast Europe. Radiocarbon 57(1):3346.Google Scholar
Borić, D. 2009. Absolute dating of metallurgical innovations in the Vinča culture of the Balkans. In: Kienlin TK, Roberts BW, editors. Metals and Societies. Studies in Honour of Barbara S. Ottaway (Universitätsforschungen zur prähistorischen Archäologie). Bonn: Habelt. p 191245.Google Scholar
Borić, D. 2011. Adaptations and transformations of the Danube Gorges foragers (c. 13,000–5500 cal BC): An overview. In: Krauß R, editor. Beginnings—new research in the appearance of the Neolithic between Northwest Anatolia and the Carpathian Basin. Papers of the International Workshop 8th–9th April 2009, Istanbul. Rahden: Marie Leidorf. p 157–203.Google Scholar
Borić, D. 2015. Mortuary practices, bodies and persons in the Neolithic and Early-Middle Copper Age of southeast Europe. In: Fowler C, Harding J, Hofmann D, editors. The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p 927957.Google Scholar
Borić, D. 2016. Deathways at Lepenski Vir: Patterns in Mortuary Practice. Belgrade: Serbian Archaeological Society.Google Scholar
Borić, D, Grupe, G, Peters, J, Mikić, Ž. 2004. Is the Mesolithic-Neolithic subsistence dichotomy real? New stable isotope evidence from the Danube Gorges. European Journal of Archaeology 7(3):221248.Google Scholar
Borić, D, Harris, OJT, Miracle, P, Robb, J. 2013. The limits of the body. In: Robb J, Harris OJT, editors. The Body in History: Europe from the Palaeolithic to the Future. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p 3263.Google Scholar
Borić, D, Miracle, P. 2004. Mesolithic and Neolithic (dis)continuities in the Danube Gorges: New AMS dates from Padina and Hajdučka Vodenica (Serbia). Oxford Journal of Archaeology 23(4):341371.Google Scholar
Borić, D, Price, TD. 2013. Strontium isotopes document greater human mobility at the start of the Balkan Neolithic. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110(9):32983303.Google Scholar
Brandt, G, Haak, W, Adler, CJ, Roth, C, Szécsényi-Nagy, A, Karimnia, S, Möller-Rieker, S, Meller, H, Ganslmeier, R, Friederich, S, Dresely, V, Nicklisch, N, Pickrell, J, Sirocko, F, Reich, D, Cooper, A, Alt, KW. 2013. Ancient DNA reveals key stages in the formation of central European mitochondrial genetic diversity. Science 342:257261.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009a. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51(1):337360.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009b. Dealing with outliers and offsets in radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon 51(3):10231045.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C, Higham, T, Bowles, A, Hedges, R. 2004a. Improvements to the pre-treatment of bone at Oxford. Radiocarbon 46(1):155163.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C, Higham, T, Leach, P. 2004b. Towards high precision AMS: progress and limitations. Radiocarbon 46(1):1724.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C, Higham, T, Owen, C, Pike, A, Hedges, R. 2002. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry datelist 31. Archaeometry 44(3), supplement 1:4090.Google Scholar
Buck, CE, Cavanagh, WG, Litton, CD. 1996. Bayesian Approach to Interpreting Archaeological Data. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Cantacuzino, Gh, Morintz, S. 1968. Descoperirile arheologice de la Cernica şi importanţa lor pentru cunoaşterea vechilor culturi din ţara noastră. Bucureşti 6:726.Google Scholar
Cantacuzino, Gh, Morintz, S. 1963. Die jungsteinzeitliche Funde in Cernica. Dacia 7:2791.Google Scholar
Chapman, J. 1996. Enchainment, commodification, and gender in the Balkan Copper Age. Journal of European Archaeology 4:203242.Google Scholar
Chapman, J. 2000. Tensions at Funerals: Micro-Tradition Analysis in Later Hungarian Prehistory. Budapest: Archaeolingua.Google Scholar
Ciocănel (Vintilă), C-M. 2015. Neo-eneoliticul în zona oraşului Bucureşti şi judeţul Ilfov. Culturile Dudeşti, Boian, Gumelniţa. Unpublished PhD thesis, “Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology, Bucharest.Google Scholar
Comşa, E. 1974a. Istoria Comunităţilor Culturii Boian. Bucharest: Editura Academei Române.Google Scholar
Comşa, E. 1974b. Die Bestattungssitten im rumanischen Neolithikum. Jahresschrift fur mitteldeutsche Vorgeschichte 58:113156.Google Scholar
Comşa, E. 1975. Nouvelles données relatives à la phase Bolintineanu de la culture Boïan (à la lumière des fouilles de l’agglomération de Cernica). Dacia 19:1926.Google Scholar
Comşa, E. 1992. Despre datarea necropolei neolitice de la Cernica. Cercetări Arheologice în Bucureşti 4:3136.Google Scholar
Comşa, E, Cantacuzino, G. 2001. Necropola Neolitică de la Cernica. Bucharest: Editura Academei Române.Google Scholar
Cook, GT, Bonsall, C, Hedges, R, McSweeney, K, Boroneanţ, A, Bartosiewicz, L, Pettitt, PB. 2002. Problems of dating human bones from the Iron Gates. Antiquity 76:7785.Google Scholar
Cook, GT, Bonsall, C, Hedges, REM, McSweeney, K, Boroneanţ, A, Pettitt, PB. 2001. A freshwater diet-derived 14C reservoir effect at the Stone Age sites in the Iron Gates gorge. Radiocarbon 43(2A):453460.Google Scholar
Cook, GT, Bonsall, C, Pickard, C, McSweeney, K, Bartosiewicz, L, Boroneanţ, A. 2009. The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the Iron Gates, southeast Europe: calibration and dietary issues. In: Crombé P, Van Strydonck M, Sergant J, Boudin M, Bats M, editors. Chronology and Evolution within the Mesolithic of North-West Europe. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p 497515.Google Scholar
Fernandes, R, Millard, A, Brabec, M, Nadeau, M-J, Grootes, P. 2014. Food reconstruction using isotopic transferred signals (FRUITS): A Bayesian model for diet reconstruction. PLoS One 9:19.Google Scholar
Gatsov, I. 1982. The Archaeological cultures at the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene in the Western Black sea region and their significance for the formation of the Neolithic flint industries. In: Kozłowski JK, editors. Origin of the chipped stone industries of the early farming cultures in the Balkans. Warszawa–Krakow: Uniw. Jagiellońskiego. p 111131.Google Scholar
Grünberg, JM. 2000. Mesolithische Bestattungen in Europa. Ein Beitrag zur vergleichenden Gräberkunde. Auswertung und Katalog. Rahden/Westf.: Verlag Marie L. Leidorf.Google Scholar
Haak, W, Lazaridis, I, Patterson, N, Rohland, N, Mallick, S, Llamas, B, Brandt, G, Nordenfelt, S, Harney, E, Stewardson, E, Fu, Q, Mittnik, A, Bánffy, E, Economou, C, Francken, M, Friederich, S, Pena, RG, Hallgren, F, Khartanovich, V, Khokhlov, A, Kunst, M, Kuznetsov, P, Meller, H, Mochalov, O, Moiseyev, V, Nicklisch, N, Pichler, SL, Risch, R, Guerra, MAR, Roth, C, Szécsényi-Nagy, A, Wahl, J, Meyer, M, Krause, J, Brown, D, Anthony, D, Cooper, A, Alt, KW, Reich, D. 2015. Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe. Nature 522(7555):207211.Google Scholar
Hedges, REM. 2004. Isotopes and red herrings: comments on Milner et al. and Lidén et al . Antiquity 78:3437.Google Scholar
Higham, T, Chapman, J, Slavchev, V, Gaydarska, B, Honch, N, Yordanov, Y, Dimitrova, B. 2007. New perspectives on the Varna cemetery (Bulgaria). AMS dates and social implications. Antiquity 81:640654.Google Scholar
Higham, T, Slavchev, V, Gaydarska, B, Chapman, J. 2018. AMS dating of the Late Copper Age cemetery, Bulgaria. Radiocarbon. DOI:10.1017/RDC.2018.9.Google Scholar
Honch, NV, Higham, T, Chapman, JC, Gaydarska, B, Todorova, H, Slavchev, V, Dimitrova, B. 2013. West Pontic diets: a scientific framework for understanding the Durankulak and Varna I cemeteries, Bulgaria. Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica, Natural Sciences in Archaeology 4:147162.Google Scholar
Keaveney, EM, Reimer, PJ. 2012. Understanding the variability in freshwater radiocarbon reservoir offsets: A cautionary tale. Journal of Archaeological Science 39:13061316.Google Scholar
Keaveney, EM, Reimer, PJ, Foy, RH. 2015. Young, old and weathered carbon: using radiocarbon and stable isotopes to identify carbon sources in an alkaline, humic lake. Radiocarbon 57(3):407423.Google Scholar
Kogălniceanu, R. 2005. Utilizarea testului χ2 în arheologie. Studiu de caz – necropola neolitică de la Cernica. Arheologia Moldovei 28:265302.Google Scholar
Kogălniceanu, R. 2008. Child burials in intramural and extramural contexts from the Neolithic and Chalcolithic of Romania: The problem of “inside” and “outside”. In: Bacvarov K, editor. Babies Reborn: Infant/Child Burials in Pre- and Protohistory (BAR Int. Ser. 1832). Oxford: Archaeopress. p 101111.Google Scholar
Kogălniceanu, R. 2009. Primele necropole din neoliticul şi eneoliticul României [unpublished PhD thesis]. Universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Iaşi.Google Scholar
Kogălniceanu, R. 2012. Human remains from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic period in southern Romania. An update on the discoveries. Archaeologia Bulgarica 16(3):146.Google Scholar
Lazăr, C. editor. 2012. The Catalogue of the Neolithic and Eneolithic Funerary Findings from Romania. Bucureşti-Târgovişte: Cetatea de Scaun.Google Scholar
Lichter, C. 2001. Untersuchungen zu den Bestattungssitten des südosteuropaischen Neolithikums und Chalkolithikums. Mainz: von Zabern.Google Scholar
Mărgărit, M, Vintilă, C-M. 2015. New information from old collections. Reevaluation of personal adornments made of hard animal materials from the necropolis of Cernica. Studii de Preistorie 12:81115.Google Scholar
Mathieson, I, et al. 2015. Genome-wide patterns of selection in 230 ancient Eurasians. Nature 528:499503.Google Scholar
Mathieson, I, et al. 2018. The genomic history of southeastern Europe. Nature 555:197203.Google Scholar
Morintz, S, Berciu, D, Diaconu, P. 1955. Şantierul arheologic Cernavoda. Studii şi Cercetări de Istorie Veche 6:151163.Google Scholar
Necrasov, O, Critescu, M, Botezatu, D, Miu, G. 1990. Cercetări paleoantropologice privitoare la populaţiile de pe teritoriul României. Arheologia Moldovei 13:173206.Google Scholar
Nehlich, O, Borić, D, Stefanović, S, Richards, M. 2010. Sulphur isotope evidence for freshwater fish consumption: a case study from the Danube Gorges, SE Europe. Journal of Archaeological Science 37:11311139.Google Scholar
Parker Pearson, M. 1999. The Archaeology of Death and Burial. Stroud: Sutton.Google Scholar
Păunescu, A. 1988. Les industries lithiques du néolithique ancien de le Roumanie et quelques considérations sur l’inventaire lithique des cultures du néolithique moyen de cette contrée. Dacia 32:519.Google Scholar
Reimer, P, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, J, Blackwell, P, Bronk Ramsey, C, Grootes, P, Guilderson, T, Haflidason, H, Hajdas, I, Hatté, C, Heaton, T, Hoffmann, D, Hogg, A, Hughen, K, Kaiser, K, Kromer, B, Manning, S, Niu, M, Reimer, R, Richards, D, Scott, E, Southon, J, Staff, R, Turney, C, van der Plicht, J. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(4):18691887.Google Scholar
Rosenstock, E, Scharl, S, Schier, W. 2016. Ex oriente lux? – Ein Diskussionsbeitrag zur Stellung der frühen Kupfermetallurgie Südosteuropas. In: Bartelheim M, Horejs B, Krauß R, editors. Von Baden bis Troia: Ressourcennutzung, Metallurgie and Wissenstransfer. Eine Jubiläumsschrift für Ernst Pernicka. Rahden-Westf.: Marie Leidorf GmbH. p 59122.Google Scholar
Sayle, K, Cook, GT, Ascough, PL, Gestsdóttir, H, Hamilton, WD, McGovern, TH. 2014. Utilization of δ13C, δ15N, and δ34S analyses to understand 14C-dating anomalies within a Late Viking Age community in northeast Iceland. Radiocarbon 56(2):811821, doi: 10.2458/56.17770.Google Scholar
Sayle, KL, Hamilton, WD, Gestsdóttir, H, Cook, GT. 2016. Modelling Lake Mývatn’s freshwater reservoir effect: Utilisation of the statistical program FRUITS to assist in the re-interpretation of radiocarbon dates from a cemetery at Hofstaðir, north-east Iceland. Quaternary Geochronology. Available at http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/121200/.Google Scholar
Schuster, C, Kogălniceanu, R, Morintz, A. 2008. The Living and the Dead: an Analysis of the Relationship between the Two Worlds during Prehistory at the Lower Danube. Târgovişte: Editura Cetatea de Scaun.Google Scholar
Şerbănescu, D. 1999. Necropola neolitică de la Popeşti, com. Vasilaţi, jud. Călăraşi. In: Neagu M, editor. Civilizaţia Boian pe teritoriul Romaniei. Călăraşi. p 1416.Google Scholar
Şerbănescu, D. 2002. Observaţii preliminare asupra necropolei neolithice de la Sultana, judeţul Călăraşi. Cultură şi Civilizaţie la Dunărea de Jos, Călăraşi 19:6986.Google Scholar
Şerbănescu, D. 2015. Consideraţii privind datarea necropolei neolitice de la Cernica, judeţul Ilfov. In: Schuster C, Tulugea C, Terteci C, editors. Volum dedicat profesorului PETRE I. ROMAN la cea de-a 80-a aniversare (Buridava XII/1, Symposia Thracologica X). Râmnicu Vâlcea. p 116120.Google Scholar
Şerbănescu, D, Soficaru, A. 2006. Sultana, com. Mănăstirea, jud. Călăraşi, Punct: Valea Orbului. In: Cronica Cercetărilor Arheologice din Romania. Campania 2005. A XL-a Sesiune Naţională de Rapoarte Arheologice, Constanţa, 31 mai-3 iunie 2006. Bucureşti. p 343–7.Google Scholar
Şerbănescu, D, Cristache, S. 2011. Curăteşti, com. Frăsinet, jud. Călăraşi. Punct: Biserica Veche. In: Cronica Cercetărilor Arheologice. Campania 2010. A XLV-a Sesiune Naţională de Rapoarte Arheologice, Sibiu, 26–29 mai 2011. Sibiu. 43.Google Scholar
Şerbănescu, D, Comşa, A, Mecu, L. 2007. Sultana, com. Mănăstirea, jud. Călăraşi. Punct: Valea Orbului. Cronica Cercetărilor Arheologice din România. Campania 2006. A XLI-a Sesiune Naţională de Rapoarte Arheologice, Tulcea, 29 mai–1 iunie 2007. Bucharest: cIMeC. p 351–2.Google Scholar
Şerbănescu, D, Nica, T, Comşa, A, Laurenţiu, M. 2008. Sultana, com. Mănăstirea, jud. Călăraşi. Punct: Valea Orbului, Cronica Cercetărilor Arheologice din România. Campania 2007. A XLII-a Sesiune Naţională de Rapoarte Arheologice, Iaşi, 14–17 mai. Bucharest: cIMeC. p 294–5.Google Scholar
Stratton, S. 2017. Burial and Identity in the Late Neolithic and Copper Age of Southeast Europe [unpublished PhD dissertation]. Cardiff University.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Polach, HA. 1977. Discussion: reporting of 14C data. Radiocarbon 19(3):355363.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Reimer, PJ. 1986. A computer program for radiocarbon age calculation. Radiocarbon 28(2):10221030.Google Scholar
Todorova, H, Vasilev, V, Januševič, Z, Kovačeva, M, Vlev, P. 1983. Ovčarovo. Sofija: Razkopki i Proučvanija VIII.Google Scholar
Todorova, H. 1982. Kupferzeitliche Siedlungen in Nordostbulgarien. Munchen: C.H. Beck.Google Scholar
Todorova, H. editor. 2002. Durankulak, Band II, Die prähistorischen Gräberfelder von Durankulak. Berlin-Sofia: Anubis Ltd.Google Scholar
Ursulescu, N, Kogălniceanu, R. 2007. Apparition des nécropoles dans le néolithique de Roumanie et de l’Italie. Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica 12:1142.Google Scholar
Wagner, R. 1981. The Invention of Culture, Revised and expanded edition. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Ward, GK, Wilson, SR. 1978. Procedures for comparing and combining radiocarbon age determinations: A critique. Archaeometry 20:1931.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Stratton et al. supplementary material

Stratton et al. supplementary material 1

Download Stratton et al. supplementary material(File)
File 349.4 KB