LEIZA Publications – serie

The study of Ground Stone Tools (GST) is a key topic of research to understand major processes related to the evolution of human behaviour across time and space. These artefacts associated with different tasks such as percussive activities are the direct evidence for past human daily tasks and the oldest and most persistent durable technological strategy in human evolution. In this book, we explore the use of Ground Stone Tools during the Middle Paleolithic of the Levant, during which this technology developed and diversified. The study presents three distinct case studies and shows the application of functional analysis using a high-resolution multi-scale approach, combined with de development of dedicated controlled experiments.

Seats of power were among the most important pillars of dominion in the Middle Ages. They were at the centre of diplomatic exchange and confrontation, shaped the transfer of knowledge, and acted as control centres of the economy. Between these pillars of power like Nijmegen, Köln, Trier, Frankfurt am Main, Mainz, Aachen or Ingelheim and the respective sites of the North, such as, most prominently, Hedeby, there was a circulation of persons, innovative ideas, and goods. As regards the North, wooden magnates’ farms have seen large-scale excavations in recent times. This is particularly the case for the late first millennium AD, notably in Lejre and Tissø (Denmark), Uppåkra and Uppsala (Sweden), and Kaupang and Borg (Norway). It is only now, after excavations at those locations, that Northern and Central European research can be brought together for further discussion.Proceedings of the International Conference on »Frankish Seats of Power and the North«, Aachen, November 8th to 11th 2022.

Human-Animal studies are gaining more and more momentum in archaeo(zoo)logy, for good reasons. It is time to have yet another look at animal-human relations that is less anthropocentric than it was before. Such an approach could come in different forms: from the study of single species and their relation to humans to a so-called multispecies archaeology. However, it could also include imaginary animals, such as dragons and unicorns, or half-animal, half-human beings.This book is intended as a contribution to Human-Animal studies in archaeo(zoo)logy and also as a first step towards a multispecies archaeology, being a broader look at different species, including non-human and human actors but, for the time being, excluding plants.With some alterations, the studies in this volume go back to a session at the Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) in Kiel (Germany) in September 2021 entitled ‘Beast and Human’. The lectures and papers presented here are arranged as a narrative which ranges, geographically, from the United Kingdom to Russia and, chronologically, from the late hunter and gatherers to early modern times.

This volume critically examines the evolution and impact of the "Man the Hunter" paradigm in Pleistocene archaeology. Originally proposed in the 1960s, this framework positioned hunting as the primary driver of human evolution, shaping tool development, social structures, and cognitive abilities. While recent findings, such as those at Schöningen (Germany), have reignited debates about early human hunting capabilities, contemporary research emphasizes a more nuanced understanding of prehistoric life, including diverse subsistence strategies and social roles. The volume brings together contributions that explore various aspects of early human behavior, from hunting and butchery practices to fire use and gender roles, highlighting the complex interplay between biological and cultural evolution. This collection offers fresh perspectives on one of archaeology's most enduring theoretical frameworks.

When did we begin to adopt the perspective of others? When did empathy cross the threshold into mutual care? When did we first begin to emphasize our place in society and develop unique identities? These questions concern the architecture of the human mind as it encounters other minds, the cognitive and emotional machinery that evolution built over hundreds of thousands of years, long before the first city wall, the first law code, the first throne. Every institution we have ever implemented rests on that older foundation. From a multi-disciplinary perspective, the volume addresses questions that span from the origins of human group size, demography, and sexual behaviour to questions at the very frontier of what science can currently answer. Drawing on material culture, developmental psychology, comparative primatology, and evolutionary modelling, the adressed questions push toward a richer account of what it means, and what it costs, to become social. In doing so, they will bring us closer to understanding the deepest paradox of human nature, i.e., that the same evolved capacity for sociality underlies both our most profound acts of care and our most devastating acts of violence.

Investigates how early farming communities at Franchthi, a key coastal settlement in southern continental Greece, interacted with their environment during the early Neolithic period. It examines how climatic conditions may have influenced the westward spread of early farming communities from the Near East and Anatolia into Europe, contributing to one of the most significant transformations in European prehistory. Central to this research is the question of whether climatic stress shaped the pace and trajectory of Neolithic migration. By combining Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) and oxygen isotope analysis on archaeological mollusc shells, the study bridges the gap between archaeological and climatic records, offering a high-resolution reconstruction of past climatic conditions. Addressing long-standing methodological challenges in linking archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data, the project introduces an innovative, high-resolution approach to synchronising these records. Using mollusc shells from Franchthi as a case study, it reconstructs seasonally resolved climatic data, enabling insights into short-term environmental variability and its potential effects on early farmers. This interdisciplinary study explores the interplay between climate and human agency. Ultimately, it offers a nuanced understanding of how prehistoric communities may have adapted to environmental fluctuations, providing perspectives on human resilience and adaptation in the face of climate change.

Founded by Syracuse in the second half of the seventh century BC, Kasmenai on Monte Casale occupied a strategic position in the hinterland of south-eastern Sicily. This volume presents the first comprehensive reconstruction of the city's sanctuary, a site discovered by Paolo Orsi between 1929 and 1931 but never before subjected to systematic archaeological study.Drawing together archival documentation and archaeological evidence, the study reconstructs the sanctuary's spatial organisation, phases of use and ritual activities. Particular attention is given to the assemblage of metal votive offerings and associated finds, which illuminate the identities of worshippers, patterns of dedication and forms of religious practice.By reassessing a cult site long recognised in scholarship but insufficiently understood, the volume offers a substantially revised interpretation of the sanctuary and its place within the Syracusan hinterland. More broadly, it contributes to ongoing discussions of religion, identity and community in Archaic Sicily and the wider Greek colonial world.

Discussion of the economic developments in the Roman Empire and its successor kingdoms during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages has long engaged scholars, generating a range of evolving perspectives. A series of case studies sheds light on economic developments in specific regions – Tripolitania, coastal western Hispania, Rome and the Upper Adriatic, as well as northern Gaul with the imperial residence at Trier. The artefacts examined include finewares, cooking wares, lamps, and amphorae, as well as glass and millstones. These studies reveal a world of dynamic networks, shifting trade routes, and enduring commercial connectivity and address broader questions that remain relevant today: how economic regions emerge and dissolve, how supply chains react to political disruption, and how local production interacts with long-distance trade in times of profound change.