Deglaciation of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet (c. 8000 BC) opened the mountainous areas of inland southern Norway for human habitation, but topographic barriers prevented the migration of fish into upland watercourses. Dates from four fish traps found in the exposed bed of Lake Tesse, within the central mountainous region of Norway, are reported here, with the earliest (at around 5000 BC) indicating that Mesolithic hunter-fisher-gatherers were exploiting fish that could have been present within the lake only through human-mediated introduction. These results help illuminate an early example of environmental management, and perhaps even a form of food production, among hunter-fisher-gatherers.

Changes in settlement patterns are often argued to reflect climatic change, which may make certain areas more or less hospitable depending on the adaptability of subsistence practices. This study models the impact of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events on phases of occupation and abandonment over the past 4500 years at Pashimbi in the Ecuadorian Amazon. While earlier occupations and abandonments seem to correlate with climatic events, associations post-3000 BP are less clear, potentially indicating that populations adapted to wetter conditions and, the authors argue, that the El Niño-Southern Oscillation was not the main determinant in the decision to abandon settlements.

Recent excavations at Gre Fılla, located in the northern part of the Upper Tigris region in modern-day Türkiye, have revealed an architecturally diverse settlement that was occupied during much of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (c. 9300–7500 BC). While early architecture at the site aligns with developments seen more widely in northern Mesopotamia, the typological diversity that fluoresces during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (c. 8800–7500 BC) has previously been under-represented in the region. Here, the author examines the evolution of the architecture uncovered at Gre Fılla, arguing that the increasing architectural complexity reflects the developing social complexity of Neolithic communities.

This study examines clay fragments found at Çemka Höyük, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic site in Mardin, Türkiye (tenth millennium BC). Analysis of mineral inclusions in the clay matrix indicates that these fragments may have been deliberately fired, representing an early example of ceramic technology in South-west Asia. The diversity of forms identified and their likely uses suggest, the authors argue, a formative phase in ceramic innovation during which the properties and potential applications of clay were explored by the local community and adopted and adapted within existing social and economic traditions in advance of widespread application in the seventh millennium BC.

The Kura-Araxes culture spread over a large area of South-west Asia, participating in the transformational dynamics of Early Bronze Age societies in the region. Yet, the absence of a robust chronological framework for this cultural horizon hinders its integration into wider regional and interregional models. Drawing on a substantial new radiocarbon dataset, collating novel Bayesian chronological models for eight sites and existing data from the wider region, this article identifies settlement patterns that coincide with broader reconfigurations of the Kura-Araxes cultural landscape, which in turn track socioeconomic, and possibly political, shifts observed in eastern Anatolia and the greater Near East.

This study of red ochre in mortuary contexts in Neolithic to Iron Age sites in Thailand reveals regional and temporal variation. Used extensively at Neolithic Khok Phanom Di, often as body paint, the material was absent at contemporaneous inland sites. Its reappearance in the Bronze Age signalled a symbolic shift in practice, with pieces of ochre incorporated into elaborate funerary rituals. These patterns suggest differing cultural origins and evolving rituals. By the Iron Age, ochre use declined, coinciding with the spread of new mortuary ideologies. The authors highlight how ochre is a powerful marker of identity, belief and cultural change.

Paddy fields are central to the origin and spread of rice agriculture and their development ultimately underpinned the formation of complex societies in Asia. Here, the authors report on the stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating and archaeobotanical record from Shiao, including one of the earliest and largest paddy fields yet identified (c. 6700 cal BP). As at nearby sites, paddy fields were successively overlaid with peat and marine sediments as sea level vacillated. With each iteration, the fields evolved from strip-like to ‘hash’-shaped configurations, representing growing labour input and, crucially, a corresponding increase in sustainable population size.

Understanding how prehistoric human groups sustained themselves upon encountering novel island environments is crucial for modelling population movements in key world regions like Southeast Asia. Here, the authors present new radiocarbon dates and isotopic data for human and animal remains recovered from the Neolithic site of Xiying on Haitan Island, on the south-east China coast. The human remains are the earliest yet discovered on the island, their stable isotope ratios revealing a lifelong heavy reliance on marine foods despite the availability of a diversity of terrestrial resources, offering new insights into human adaptive flexibility in maritime environments.

Earthquakes and the destruction they wreak on communities and landscapes are regular features of both modern news output and historical accounts. Archaeology can add to our understanding of such disasters, demonstrated here in the discussion of architectural damage noted during recent excavations at Panaztepe, an Early Bronze Age settlement in Western Anatolia. Distinct destruction horizons illustrate the primary and secondary impacts of two earthquakes during the third millennium BC: the first was followed by reconstruction and adaptation, the second by abandonment. By focusing on evidence of seismic activity, the authors examine the resilience of communities inhabiting this geologically fragile region.

Archaeologists often designate certain anthropogenic structures as ‘monumental’, creating an architectural dichotomy that has an ascribed implicit value. This article challenges the usefulness of such differentiation, which, the author argues, does not describe objective characteristics of buildings but rather reflects a social construct rooted in the origins of the modern discipline of architecture. By exploring the assumptions inherent in current three-dimensional views and evolutionary models of architectural development, and employing ancient Egyptian architecture as a pertinent case study, this article aims to open our eyes to fundamental aspects of past architectural practices that are veiled by these frameworks.

Despite intensive study, the socioeconomic and political structuring of the Southern Caucasus Kura-Araxes cultural tradition remain poorly understood. Here, the authors explore the results of integrated geophysical survey and excavation at Artanish 9 in the Lake Sevan highlands (Armenia). They document a small, densely built site enclosed by monumental walls—an anomaly in highland Kura-Araxes settlement systems—offering new insights into sociopolitical diversity. Through examination of spatial organisation, architecture and storage facilities, Artanish 9 reveals the adaptive strategies of highland communities and the complexity of Early Bronze Age settlement systems in the Southern Caucasus.

Mohenjo-daro was a major city of the Indus Civilisation (c. 2600–1900 BC), with excavations revealing evidence for public infrastructure, civic amenities and hundreds of residences. Archaeologists traditionally assume that urbanism is accompanied by economic stratification, but, at Mohenjo-daro, qualitative evidence of inequality is absent. Drawing on early excavation data, the authors here calculate Gini coefficients of residence area, providing a quantitative proxy of economic inequality. Their results indicate that Gini coefficients, and thus inequality, declined over time, coinciding with increased prosperity and the development of the city’s street plan, indicating that governance likely helped limit economic inequality.

When grounded within relevant archaeological contexts, ancient DNA analysis can provide critical insights into prehistoric human populations. This is demonstrated in this article, where the authors examine the genetic relatedness of individuals whose remains were placed in five Neolithic tombs in Caithness and Orkney, northern Scotland. The results reveal a web of biological ties that, the authors argue, suggests sustained contact between these communities beyond the onset of the Neolithic and shared understandings of kinship, including descent and a sense of affinity, but emerging local differences in how kinship was materialised through monumental architecture.

Between 2011 and 2017, excavations by a joint German-Georgian team at the Tabakoni settlement mound in the Colchis lowlands of western Georgia uncovered complex wooden constructions preserved in the waterlogged soils. Combined radiocarbon and dendrochronological dating, the first undertaking of its kind in Colchis, reveals that construction on a stable foundation for the site began in the twentieth century BC and identifies early evidence for the cultivation of millet. Subsequent occupation phases saw the careful levelling of previous structures and the addition of backfill, gradually building up the mound until it was ultimately abandoned in the second half of the first millennium BC.

The deep history of weaving is attested by spindle whorls and loom weights, so the evolution of techniques may be tracked through changes in these durable artefacts; however, wooden looms rarely preserve. Here, the authors document a series of loom weights and associated charred timbers and fibres that represent the remains of a Bronze Age warp-weighted loom, uncovered at the settlement of Cabezo Redondo in south-eastern Spain. Based on the number, weight and size of the weights, hypothetical reconstructions of loom setup and resultant textile products are proposed, revealing possible diversification of weaving processes in the mid-second millennium BC.