Elisa Guerra Doce

Common salt (sodium chloride) is an invisible object for archaeological research, but the ancient texts, the history, the ethnography and our everyday life confirm that both Man and Animal cannot live without it. Salt is a primordial reference for humanity. This “fifth element” is universal in a double sense, diachronically and diatopically. How can archaeology and related disciplines or sciences approximate this soluble good, this “white gold”, this invisible past?

From the diatopic and diachronic perspective, common salt—with all its natural or artificial metamorphoses—has influenced humanity in the most diverse aspects. This is why, within a brief enumeration, the salt-related research themes are intriguingly various: explorations (hunting for salt), exploitation techniques, techniques to obtain different products, exploitation and use tools, transport and storage containers, human and animal feeding, conservation (meat, bacon, cheese, vegetables, green goods, fruits). The themes also include manufacture-related uses (including the construction of salt houses), mythology, religion, cult, rituals, beliefs, superstitions, mentalities, secret societies, magic, vows, curses, prohibitions, popular medicine, sexuality, economy, hide working, population, alchemical procedures, scientific and cultural representations, treatment of the deceased, barter, commerce, contraband, robbery.

On the other hand, the themes also include human and animal mobility, the attraction exerted on savage beasts, symbolic uses, folk literature (stories, tales, and proverbs) and cult literature, the control of salt resources, conflicts, strategic value, geographic perceptions, professions related to salt exploitation and uses, economic, legal and administrative regulations, vocabulary, toponymy, anthroponomy and the list can go on.

All these themes already constitute a study object for an impressive number of sciences, disciplines, or sub-disciplines, such as archaeology, heritage studies, history, ethnography, ethnoarchaeology, economic anthropology, food sciences, statistics, sociology, geology, mineralogy, geography, hydrology, botany, chemistry, medicine, pharmacology, ethology, theology, agronomy, symbology, linguistics, folklore studies, cultural studies, literary studies, hermeneutics, legal sciences, etc. Obviously, some themes must be approached only in an interdisciplinary vision.

Human hair dated to Late Prehistory is exceedingly rare in the Western Mediterranean. Archaeological excavations in the Bronze Age burial and cult cave of Es Càrritx, in Menorca (Balearic Islands) provided some human hair strands involved in a singular funerary rite. This finding offered the opportunity to explore the possible use of drug plants by Late Bronze Age people. Here we show the results of the chemical analyses of a sample of such hair using Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS). The alkaloids ephedrine, atropine and scopolamine were detected, and their concentrations estimated. These results confirm the use of different alkaloidbearing plants by local communities of this Western Mediterranean island by the beginning of the first millennium cal BCE.

Los adornos de variscita son un tipo de artefacto empleado en distintos contextos de la Prehistoria reciente de buena parte de Europa Occidental y de forma general son interpretados como elementos de prestigio. El registro arqueológico del centro-sur-oeste de la Meseta Norte Española ofrece un caso de estudio ideal para reconstruir al completo su cadena operativa: 1) minería en Palazuelo de las Cuevas y otros lugares de la comarca de Aliste, 2) manufactura en los asentamientos de Quiruelas de Vidriales y en otros yacimientos y 3) consumo en una treintena de tumbas y poblados del Neolítico Final y el Calcolítico de las comarcas circundantes. Así, en este artículo se analizan las características tecno-tipológicas, escala y organización de la producción de adornos de variscita y sus continuidades y transformaciones con el paso del tiempo. Los resultados nos permiten hablar de una tradición artesana originada en el Neolítico Final la cual mantuvo sus rasgos tecno-tipológicos esenciales mientras crecieron la intensidad, la concentración y, probablemente, la especialización de su producción en el Calcolítico.
During Late Prehistory adornments worked out of variscite are widely used as prestige items all over Europe. The archaeological record of centre-south-west Northern Spanish Meseta is an ideal case study to fully reconstruct the chaîné opératoire from 1. Mining at Aliste area (Palazuelo de las Cuevas and other nearby mines), 2. adornment manufacturing at the production locii of Quiruelas de Vidriales sites, 3. Adornment consumption in about 30 tombs and settlements from Late Neolithic to Copper Age in the nearby areas to the mining and manufacturing places. This paper analyses the technotypological features, scale and organisation of variscite adornment production patterns along time. Results allows to argue about a craft tradition born during the Late Neolithic that keep up its techno-tyopological features as grew up on intensity, concentration and most likely specialisation of the production during the Copper Age

Iñigo Olalde, Selina Brace, Morten E. Allentoft, Ian Armit, Kristian Kristiansen, Thomas Booth, Nadin Rohland, Swapan Mallick, Anna Szécsényi-Nagy, Alissa Mittnik, Eveline Altena, Mark Lipson, Iosif Lazaridis, Thomas K. Harper, Nick Patterson, Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht, Yoan Diekmann, Zuzana Faltyskova, Daniel Fernandes, Matthew Ferry, Eadaoin Harney, Peter de Knijff, Megan Michel, Jonas Oppenheimer, Kristin Stewardson, Alistair Barclay, Kurt Werner Alt, Corina Liesau, Patricia Ríos, Concepción Blasco, Jorge Vega Miguel, Roberto Menduiña García, Azucena Avilés Fernández, Eszter Bánffy, Maria Bernabò-Brea, David Billoin, Clive Bonsall, Laura Bonsall, Tim Allen, Lindsey Büster, Sophie Carver, Laura Castells Navarro, Oliver E. Craig, Gordon T. Cook, Barry Cunliffe, Anthony Denaire, Kirsten Egging Dinwiddy, Natasha Dodwell, Michal Ernée, Christopher Evans, Milan Kuchařík, Joan Francès Farré, Chris Fowler, Michiel Gazenbeek, Rafael Garrido Pena, María Haber-Uriarte, Elżbieta Haduch, Gill Hey, Nick Jowett, Timothy Knowles, Ken Massy, Saskia Pfrengle, Philippe Lefranc, Olivier Lemercier, Arnaud Lefebvre, César Heras Martínez, Virginia Galera Olmo, Ana Bastida Ramírez, Joaquín Lomba Maurandi, Tona Majó, Jacqueline I. McKinley, Kathleen McSweeney, Balázs Gusztáv Mende, Alessandra Mod, Gabriella Kulcsár, Viktória Kiss, András Czene, Róbert Patay, Anna Endrődi, Kitti Köhler, Tamás Hajdu, Tamás Szeniczey, János Dani, Zsolt Bernert, Maya Hoole, Olivia Cheronet, Denise Keating, Petr Velemínský, Miroslav Dobeš, Francesca Candilio, Fraser Brown, Raúl Flores Fernández, Ana-Mercedes Herrero-Corral, Sebastiano Tusa, Emiliano Carnieri, Luigi Lentini, Antonella Valenti, Alessandro Zanini, Clive Waddington, Germán Delibes, Elisa Guerra-Doce, Benjamin Neil, Marcus Brittain, Mike Luke, Richard Mortimer, Jocelyne Desideri, Marie Besse, Günter Brücken, Mirosław Furmanek, Agata Hałuszko, Maksym Mackiewicz, Artur Rapiński, Stephany Leach, Ignacio Soriano, Katina T. Lillios, João Luís Cardoso, Michael Parker Pearson, Piotr Włodarczak, T. Douglas Price, Pilar Prieto, Pierre-Jérôme Rey, Roberto Risch, Manuel A. Rojo Guerra, Aurore Schmitt, Joël Serralongue, Ana Maria Silva, Václav Smrčka, Luc Vergnaud, João Zilhão, David Caramelli, Thomas Higham, Mark G. Thomas, Douglas J. Kennett, Harry Fokkens, Volker Heyd, Alison Sheridan, Karl-Göran Sjögren, Philipp W. Stockhammer, Johannes Krause, Ron Pinhasi, Wolfgang Haak, Ian Barnes, Carles Lalueza-Fox, David Reich

From around 2750 to 2500 bc, Bell Beaker pottery became widespread across western and central Europe, before it disappeared between 2200 and 1800 bc. The forces that propelled its expansion are a matter of long-standing debate, and there is support for both cultural diffusion and migration having a role in this process. Here we present genome-wide data from 400 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans, including 226 individuals associated with Beaker-complex artefacts. We detected limited genetic affinity between Beaker-complex-associated individuals from Iberia and central Europe, and thus exclude migration as an important mechanism of spread between these two regions. However, migration had a key role in the further dissemination of the Beaker complex. We document this phenomenon most clearly in Britain, where the spread of the Beaker complex introduced high levels of steppe-related ancestry and was associated with the replacement of approximately 90% of Britain’s gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the east-to-west expansion that had brought steppe-related ancestry into central and northern Europe over the previous centuries.

Bell Beaker pottery spread across western and central Europe beginning around 2750 BCE before disappearing between 2200-1800 BCE. The mechanism of its expansion is a topic of long-standing debate, with support for both cultural diffusion and human migration. We present new genome-wide ancient DNA data from 170 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans, including 100 Beaker-associated individuals. In contrast to the Corded Ware Complex, which has previously been identified as arriving in central Europe following migration from the east, we observe limited genetic affinity between Iberian and central European Beaker Complex-associated individuals, and thus exclude migration as a significant mechanism of spread between these two regions. However, human migration did have an important role in the further dissemination of the Beaker Complex, which we document most clearly in Britain using data from 80 newly reported individuals dating to 3900-1200 BCE. British Neolithic farmers were genetically similar to contemporary populations in continental Europe and in particular to Neolithic Iberians, suggesting that a portion of the farmer ancestry in Britain came from the Mediterranean rather than the Danubian route of farming expansion. Beginning with the Beaker period, and continuing through the Bronze Age, all British individuals harboured high proportions of Steppe ancestry and were genetically closely related to Beaker-associated individuals from the Lower Rhine area. We use these observations to show that the spread of the Beaker Complex to Britain was mediated by migration from the continent that replaced >90% of Britain's Neolithic gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the process that brought Steppe ancestry into central and northern Europe 400 years earlier.

From around 2750 to 2500 bc, Bell Beaker pottery became widespread across western and central Europe, before it disappeared between 2200 and 1800 bc. The forces that propelled its expansion are a matter of long-standing debate, and there is support for both cultural diffusion and migration having a role in this process. Here we present genome-wide data from 400 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans, including 226 individuals associated with Beaker-complex artefacts. We detected limited genetic affinity between Beaker-complex-associated individuals from Iberia and central Europe, and thus exclude migration as an important mechanism of spread between these two regions. However, migration had a key role in the further dissemination of the Beaker complex. We document this phenomenon most clearly in Britain, where the spread of the Beaker complex introduced high levels of steppe-related ancestry and was associated with the replacement of approximately 90% of Britain’s gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the east-to-west expansion that had brought steppe-related ancestry into central and northern Europe over the previous centuries.

Iñigo Olalde, Selina Brace, Morten E. Allentoft, Ian Armit, Kristian Kristiansen, Thomas Booth, Nadin Rohland, Swapan Mallick, Anna Szécsényi-Nagy, Alissa Mittnik, Eveline Altena, Mark Lipson, Iosif Lazaridis, Thomas K. Harper, Nick Patterson, Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht, Yoan Diekmann, Zuzana Faltyskova, Daniel Fernandes, Matthew Ferry, Eadaoin Harney, Peter de Knijff, Megan Michel, Jonas Oppenheimer, Kristin Stewardson, Alistair Barclay, Kurt Werner Alt, Corina Liesau, Patricia Ríos, Concepción Blasco, Jorge Vega Miguel, Roberto Menduiña García, Azucena Avilés Fernández, Eszter Bánffy, Maria Bernabò-Brea, David Billoin, Clive Bonsall, Laura Bonsall, Tim Allen, Lindsey Büster, Sophie Carver, Laura Castells Navarro, Oliver E. Craig, Gordon T. Cook, Barry Cunliffe, Anthony Denaire, Kirsten Egging Dinwiddy, Natasha Dodwell, Michal Ernée, Christopher Evans, Milan Kuchařík, Joan Francès Farré, Chris Fowler, Michiel Gazenbeek, Rafael Garrido Pena, María Haber-Uriarte, Elżbieta Haduch, Gill Hey, Nick Jowett, Timothy Knowles, Ken Massy, Saskia Pfrengle, Philippe Lefranc, Olivier Lemercier, Arnaud Lefebvre, César Heras Martínez, Virginia Galera Olmo, Ana Bastida Ramírez, Joaquín Lomba Maurandi, Tona Majó, Jacqueline I. McKinley, Kathleen McSweeney, Balázs Gusztáv Mende, Alessandra Mod, Gabriella Kulcsár, Viktória Kiss, András Czene, Róbert Patay, Anna Endrődi, Kitti Köhler, Tamás Hajdu, Tamás Szeniczey, János Dani, Zsolt Bernert, Maya Hoole, Olivia Cheronet, Denise Keating, Petr Velemínský, Miroslav Dobeš, Francesca Candilio, Fraser Brown, Raúl Flores Fernández, Ana-Mercedes Herrero-Corral, Sebastiano Tusa, Emiliano Carnieri, Luigi Lentini, Antonella Valenti, Alessandro Zanini, Clive Waddington, Germán Delibes, Elisa Guerra-Doce, Benjamin Neil, Marcus Brittain, Mike Luke, Richard Mortimer, Jocelyne Desideri, Marie Besse, Günter Brücken, Mirosław Furmanek, Agata Hałuszko, Maksym Mackiewicz, Artur Rapiński, Stephany Leach, Ignacio Soriano, Katina T. Lillios, João Luís Cardoso, Michael Parker Pearson, Piotr Włodarczak, T. Douglas Price, Pilar Prieto, Pierre-Jérôme Rey, Roberto Risch, Manuel A. Rojo Guerra, Aurore Schmitt, Joël Serralongue, Ana Maria Silva, Václav Smrčka, Luc Vergnaud, João Zilhão, David Caramelli, Thomas Higham, Mark G. Thomas, Douglas J. Kennett, Harry Fokkens, Volker Heyd, Alison Sheridan, Karl-Göran Sjögren, Philipp W. Stockhammer, Johannes Krause, Ron Pinhasi, Wolfgang Haak, Ian Barnes, Carles Lalueza-Fox, David Reich (2018) – The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transformation of northwest Europe, Nature, 21 february 2018, doi:10.1038/nature25738

Abstract
From around 2750 to 2500 BC, Bell Beaker pottery became widespread across western and central Europe, before it disappeared between 2200 and 1800 BC. The forces that propelled its expansion are a matter of long-standing debate, and there is support for both cultural diffusion and migration having a role in this process. Here we present genome-wide data from 400 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans, including 226 individuals associated with Beaker-complex artefacts. We detected limited genetic affinity between Beaker-complex-associated individuals from Iberia and central Europe, and thus exclude migration as an important mechanism of spread between these two regions. However, migration had a key role in the further dissemination of the Beaker complex. We document this phenomenon most clearly in Britain, where the spread of the Beaker complex introduced high levels of steppe-related ancestry and was associated with the replacement of approximately 90% of Britain’s gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the east-to-west expansion that had brought steppe-related ancestry into central and northern Europe over the previous centuries.

Resumen La explotación de la sal en el complejo lagunar de Villafáfila (Tierra de Campos, Zamora) es uno de los even-tos más importantes de la meseta norte de la península ibérica desde la Prehistoria. La producción de sal se documenta a partir del periodo Campaniforme (ca. 2450 cal BC). En 2013, se efectuó un sondeo mecánico en los pastizales húmedos anexos a la Laguna de las Salinas. El análisis de polen y microfósiles no polínicos de este registro sugiere el origen de la laguna hace al menos ocho mil años vinculado al evento climático 8,2 ka cal BP, un ambiente muy antropizado desde los inicios del Calcolítico ca. 3300 cal BC y la posterior explotación de la sal, la degradación paulatina y definitiva del bosque de encinas a partir de la Edad del Bronce, y, en general, una amplia variabilidad climática alternando fases húmedas y áridas a lo largo de toda la secuencia paleoambiental.

Resumen: En el seno de un paisaje de someras lagunas de agua salada y entre un elevado número de estaciones ar-queológicas de época prehistórica, presentamos los trabajos de excavación en los sitios de Molino Sanchón II y Santioste. En ellos hemos podido documentar huellas de briquetage y de producción de sal a través de ebullición a finales del Calcolítico y durante el Bronce Antiguo. Algunos indicios nos desvelan, además, que esta actividad se encontraba rodeada de ciertos gestos de naturaleza ritual. Abstract: The results of the archaeological excavations carried out at the sites of Molino Sanchón II and Santioste, located in a landscape dotted with shallow salty lakes and prehistoric sites, are presented here. There is evidence of salt production by the method of boiling brine, as indicated by the presence of briquetage, which dates back to the end of the Copper Age and the Early Bronze Age. We can therefore surmise that salt-processing activities were accompanied by ritual practices.

The Bell Beaker complex is one of the most pan-European horizons in Later Prehistory. It is characterized by a distinctive assemblage of items that show a strong uniformity. However, the processes leading to the emergence and expansion of the Bell Beaker complex are still to be explained. In addition to the Beaker items themselves, social elites all over Europe managed to acquire prestige goods, i.e., products that were valuable because of their exotic origin or high degree of craftsmanship (Fig. 1–2). In this paper we focus on the procurement of prestige goods by Beaker groups from Central Iberia. Recent analyses have revealed that they obtained ivory either from Africa or from local fossil resources (Fig. 4). Long-distance exchanges are also evidenced by certain copper weapons and gold objects whose prototypes are not local, suggesting connections to the British Isles and Central Europe (Fig. 3). All this highlights the interaction between European elites in the 3rd millennium BC.

The gold ornaments from a well-furnished burial in the Bell Beaker tumulus at Tablada del Rudrón, Burgos, in
northern Spain are very similar to ornaments best known in Britain and Ireland. The insular ornaments, which
were either earrings, tress rings or parts of headdresses, have been found in well-furnished graves of the 24-
23rd century BC and were symbols of high status. Although the Tablada del Rudrón ornaments are similar to
finds from England, they are not identical and their decoration is related to those on a different type of object
found in Ireland. This fusion of ‘similar but different’ reflects the nature of the Bell networks along the Atlantic
façade.

Resumen: A través de análisis por cromatografía de gases-espectrometría de masas y del estudio de las reacciones inmunoquímicas de la caseina, se ha logrado identificar el residuo de sendos vasos cerámicos del horizonte inicial de Cogotas I de la provincia de Valladolid: un preparado de leche con cereales y grasa de carne. A partir de ahí, se insiste en la importancia de la actividad ganadera entre las comunidades del Bronce Medio de la Meseta y se considera, asimismo, la posibilidad de que el contenido de tales vasijas —completas— representara una ofrenda entre tantas otras atestiguadas en los “campos de hoyos” cogotianos.

Palabras clave: Análisis de residuos. Vasijas. Edad del Bronce. Meseta española. Leche. Carne. Ganadería. Queseras. Hoyos rituales.

Abstract: Through the application of Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry and the determination of casein based on its immunochemical reactions, residues of animal fats and dairy products have been detected in two Bronze Age (Early Cogotas I culture) pottery vessels from Valladolid. The importance of cattle raising activities among the Middle Bronze Age societies of the Spanish Meseta is assessed here. It is argued that the original contents deposited in these vessels may have been offerings, as is the case with other materials that are found in the Cogotas I pit fields.

Key words: Residue analysis. Pottery vessels. Bronze Age. Spanish Meseta. Milk. Meat. Cattle raising. Cheese strainers. Ritual pits.

The authors take us to the salt lakes of Villafáfila in north-west Spain, where they have demonstrated by excavation that salt extraction had begun by the second half of the third millennium BC. The salt pans uncovered were accompanied by copious amounts of decorated Beaker pottery, for which political and symbolic interpretations are proposed.

La primera vez que se registró la presencia de cerámicas con decoración cardial en tierras de Ávila fue hace algo más de medio siglo, a raíz de la excavación de La Peña del Bardal de Diego Álvaro. Después los hallazgos, siempre escasos, se han seguido repitiendo en otros yacimientos, todos ellos, como la Peña del Bardal, con ocupaciones calcolíticas, lo que alentó la sospecha de que tales cerámicas pudieran corresponder no a un Neolítico Antiguo, como en otras zonas de la Península Ibérica, sino a un momento posterior. La ausencia de contextos estratigráficos claros ha sido determinante para que esta última idea se asentase durante décadas en la bibliografía, pero el reciente reconocimiento en el yacimiento de La Atalaya, también con cerámicas de este tipo, de un Neolítico datado en la segunda mitad del VI Milenio AC ha vuelto a dar alas a la hipótesis de un cardial abulense antiguo y canónico. A lo largo del trabajo se revisa la problemática de los yacimientos de Ávila y Salamanca con cerámicas cardiales, se defienden paralelos para estas en el territorio portugués y se reivindican las raíces atlánticas de la neolitización del suroeste de la Meseta, por oposición a las fundamentalmente mediterráneas del resto del Neolítico Interior

The archaeological site of Molino Sanchón II (Villafáfila, Zamora, Spain) is interpreted as a salt processing factory. Natural brine obtained from the saline Villafáfila Lake Complex was boiled in coarse ceramic vessels placed on supports made of raw clay, which stood over a hearth of glowing embers in order to produce hard salt cakes. Hundreds of Beaker sherds, largely corresponding to the Ciempozuelos style (one of the late regional variants in Iberia) have been recovered in the excavation area. Fine ware, more frequently deposited in tombs, together with more common Beaker pottery, such as storage vessels, occurs almost everywhere in spatial relation to salt processing areas. A similar situation has been observed in other Iberian sites where Beaker pottery clusters in metalworking areas. In this paper we argue that the presence of Beaker pottery at these sites may be explained as a way to claim property rights over the most profitable activities, acting as a symbolic marker.

Contextos e Objectivos

Em termos estritos, o Campaniforme é a súmula de um estilo decorativo cerâmico com formas cerâmicas específicas. Surge em toda a Europa e Norte de África em finais do Calcolítico, na segunda metade do 3º milénio a.n.e. Contudo, em termos mais abrangentes, a presença desta cerâmica tem profundas implicações no estudo do modelo de sociedade, de eixos de troca e de mudanças tecnológicas das comunidades agro-pastoris.
A temática do Campaniforme tem um longo historial de investigações em toda a Europa. A quantidade e diversidade de campaniforme na Península Ibérica desde cedo levou a colocar esta área no centro de debate da origem e difusão de um estilo cerâmico.
Ciclicamente, têm sido efectuados balanços sobre esta temática, sobretudo a propósito de estudos monográficos de sítios com dados especialmente relevantes quanto à estratigrafia, cronologia absoluta, tipologia.
Apesar da extensão da bibliografia disponível, escasseiam as leituras transversais e actualizadas reflectindo as recentes descobertas das últimas décadas: os recintos de fossos, os hipogeus do interior da Península, as novas análises arqueométricas. Estes novos dados permitem colocar em perspectiva os contextos «clássicos», alguns dos quais com trabalhos arqueológicos do século 19.
O presente workshop constitui um encontro científico especificamente direcionado para a temática do campaniforme à escala peninsular, reunindo um conjunto selecionado de investigadores, com dados relevantes. Para além do conjunto de oradores convidados, será ainda aberta a inscrição para posters, alargando-se assim o leque de participações.
Procura-se fazer o levantamento do estado da arte e, simultaneamente, estimular a discussão das diferentes perspectivas teóricas.
12 a 13 de Maio.
http://www.uniarq.net/workshop-sinos-e-tacas.html

Call for Papers

THIRD INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF SALT
12–15 September 2018, Salinas de Añana, Basque Country, Spain

vallesalado.com/congressalt


Dear colleagues,

We are glad to invite you the attend the “Third International Congress on the Anthropology of Salt”, organized between the 12th and 15th of  September 2018, in Salinas de Añana, Basque Country, Spain — vallesalado.com/congressalt

Please print and share this call with anyone who might be interested in attending, and this includes not only anthropologists and archaeologists, but also historians, geographers, linguists, and specialists from any domain researching common salt.

You can find more information on the event on its dedicated webpage:  vallesalado.com/congressalt [ENG] / vallesalado.com/congresosal [ESP]


The Scientific Committee

This peer reviewed volume consists of selected papers from the Graduate Archaeology Organisation at Oxford Conference held 4-5 April, 2008 at Hertford College, University of Oxford that explored the premise that archaeological contexts are the result of dynamic cultural, taphonomic, and environmental processes involving mobility, transitions, and culture changes. The fourteen papers in this volume present new innovative research and perspectives into mobility in archaeology, thereby showcasing an inter-disciplinary dialogue between Classical and Prehistoric archaeology, each employing different methodologies to discuss mobility and change, but also how scientific investigations can highlight the less tangible aspects of societal changes over time.