Rice agriculture was brought to Japan during the first millennium BC by migrant communities of farmers from the Korean peninsula. Substantial geographic variation is observed in the uptake of this new subsistence economy, reflecting different forms of interaction between farmers and foragers. Here, the authors analyse a combination of settlement and radiocarbon data to determine the extent to which these different forms of interaction led to regional variations in population growth rate. Their results confirm the presence of different trajectories of growth, providing new insights into the diversity of demographic processes during the earliest stages of farming in Japan.

The intensity of changes in the population dynamics of the Early Neolithic (ca. 6250–5300 cal BC) communities in the Central Balkans was addressed by estimating the growth rate values. The Bayesian approach (Crema and Shoda 2021) of estimating intrinsic growth rates by fitting different models of population growth was applied to radiocarbon dates from the Early Neolithic sites in Serbia. We explored two possible episodes of population growth based on the results of the population dynamics reconstruction using the summed calibrated radiocarbon probability distributions (SPD) method. The results have shown that, within the first episode of growth, the intrinsic growth rate mean values are higher than the estimated continental average (between 1% and 2%). The results indicate a sudden and fast rise in population size, possibly due to the influx of the new population settling in the region at the beginning of the Neolithic. Lower values for the second episode could indicate more gradual population growth due to the mechanisms associated with the Neolithic Demographic Transition and the rise in fertility.

The late Pleistocene to Holocene subaerial pyroclastic deposits of the Quill stratovolcano on the Caribbean island of St Eustatius form seven stratigraphic divisions. New radiocarbon ages of charcoal are presented for the second, third and seventh divisions in order to better constrain the Quill’s eruption history. Three samples from the same layer of Division 2 at two localities on the northeast coast yield ages of 18,020 ± 40 (1σ), 18,310 ± 45 and 18,490 ± 45 14C yr BP (∼19,800–20,600 yr cal BC). These are considerably younger (∼4400 yr) than a previously published result for this division. A single sample of Division 3 gave an age of 8090 14C yr BP (∼7100 yr cal BC) and overlaps with previously published 14C ages for this division. A charred root in the pyroclastic unit deposited by the last eruption of the Quill (Division 7) gave an age of 919 14C yr BP (∼1100–1200 yr cal AD). This result is ∼600 years younger than a previously published age, and its origin is attributed to human activity. The timing of the last eruption of the Quill therefore remains poorly constrained but is older than 600 AD. Terrestrial gastropods found in paleosols and organic material found in small streams that developed in Division 3 indicate that Division 4 must be younger than 6100 ± 500 yr cal BC. The oxygen and carbon isotope composition of the terrestrial gastropods derived from Division 3 paleosols indicates that the C4 and CAM-type vegetation was dominant and that the climate subsequently changed to wetter conditions. The minimum eruption frequency for the Quill volcano is one eruption every ∼1400 years during the past 22,000 years. This eruption frequency of the Quill volcano is of the same order of magnitude as other recent northern Lesser Antilles volcanoes, Soufrière Hills (Montserrat, ∼5000 years) and Mt Liamuiga (St. Kitts, ∼2500 years).

There are now 101 radiocarbon dates from the long Paleolithic and post-Paleolithic culture-stratigraphic sequence in El Mirón Cave, Cantabrian Spain. Here we report on two dates on bone from two different humans whose remains were found in disturbed surface sediments in the cave vestibule rear and that confirm the existence of burials in addition to previously reported residential occupations in the vestibule front pertaining to the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age periods (ca. 5500–3500 cal BP). In another attempt to resolve problems of stratigraphic incoherence of dates from the early Magdalenian periods in the vestibule rear, six new assays on faunal remains from Levels 119, 117, 114, 108, and 106 were run at Queen’s University in Belfast. There continue to be date inversions in the Lower Magdalenian range of levels that may be explained by a combination of intensive anthropic and rodent activity, major rock fall, slope wash and gravity-caused object movements, as well as possible problems in following some thin levels during excavations over a large area and across many years of work in the cave vestibule interior, particularly in the absence of any layers that are culturally sterile or even poor. Nonetheless, the coherent age of the Initial Magdalenian is fully confirmed by a new date from Level 21 in the vestibule front at ca. 22,000–20,500 cal BP), as is the general age range of the Lower Magdalenian (ca. 20,500–18,000 cal BP).

Terrestrial environments tend to be characterized by an incomplete record of past conditions. For the MIS 3–2 periods, there is only one known site in Poland—Horoszki Duże—in which a probably continuous record of climate change has been preserved. However, this site does not have any high precision multi-proxy analyses. In the absence of continuous high-resolution records, we decided to gather and analyze scattered information. We assembled data originating from various sites in Poland and checked whether the available results of 14C and luminescence dating presented in the form of probability density distributions (PDF) and kernel density estimation (KDE) models would allow their reinterpretation. The data were compared to the Greenland isotope curve to see whether they were consistent with the hypothesis that the number of “warming-cooling” cycles recorded in the examined sediments was of the same order as in those ice-core records. Previously in Poland, usually only two interstadial periods (i.e., Hengelo and Denekamp, 36–38.6 and 28–32 14C kBP, respectively) have been identified in the discussed period. The joint analysis of data from a larger area revealed more warming-cooling events than recorded from individual sites.

Ancient DNA studies have identified western Scotland as the only known region in Britain where inter-breeding occurred between early 4th millennium bc Neolithic migrants and the indigenous Mesolithic population. By drawing on excavations at Mesolithic and Neolithic sites on the Isle of Islay, I identify a period of population overlap and suggest three scenarios for Mesolithic–Neolithic interaction: swift succession, dual population, and biocultural merger. These scenarios are evaluated against the archaeological evidence from Islay and elsewhere in western Scotland, and with reference to patterns of Mesolithic–Neolithic interaction in continental Europe. A cautious preference is expressed for biocultural merger, occurring between the mid-4th and mid-3rd millennia bc, a period that could be termed the ‘Neomesolithic’.

New radiocarbon (14C) dates we obtained in our radiocarbon laboratory equipped with a liquid scintillation counter using BGO (Bi4Ge3012) tubes. The electronic stability of the counter gave a background below 0.2 cpm. Our 14C dates agree well with the interpretations done for the samples. Most of the results in these analyses were obtained on shell samples, charcoal samples, and tree leaves. Calibration of the dates with the appropriate software (Calib 7.0.4) allows better interpretation of the results and their importance in the studied regions. In this paper, we present 14C results from archaeological and environmental sites in Senegal, Mali, and Togo and report the results in our second laboratory date list.

This paper presents new results of radiocarbon (14C) ages from archaeological sites in northern Igboland. The study was designed to shed more light on early human occupation and activities in the study area based on sediments from cave and iron-smelting sites. The approach consisted of ethnographic, archaeological, palynological, and slag analyses; these were complemented with 14C dates. The technology adopted as well as the paleoenvironmental conditions that prevailed during the period of human settlement in both sites was revealed. These data, complemented by 14C dates, highlight the human behavioral and subsistence patterns within the region and are comparable to those from similar sites in southeastern Nigeria.

While the Early Neolithic chambered tombs of the Isle of Man are well known and the Late Neolithic has been clearly defined with reference to a distinctive suite of artefacts, little is known about the Middle Neolithic. This article reports on 17 new Neolithic radiocarbon dates from cremated human remains from the Isle of Man. These identify five burials in cists as Middle Neolithic and indicate new sequences of activity at cemeteries starting in the Middle Neolithic. Each of these sites is examined in detail. The dates also spur a reconsideration of the development of Ronaldsway pottery and the integration of Grooved Ware pottery and motifs into early 3rd millennium practice on the island. The paper ends with a consideration of the changing effects of mortuary practices throughout the Neolithic on the Isle of Man and a discussion of connections with Middle and Late Neolithic activity in Ireland and Britain.

This article presents stratigraphic data and radiocarbon dates combined with Bayesian modeling from San Andrés in the Zapotitán Valley, El Salvador, focusing on the Campana Structure, the largest and longest-used monumental structure at the site. These data refine the regional chronology of the valley and provide insights into the emergence, development, and abandonment of this pivotal center in southeastern Mesoamerica and its potential links to three related volcanic eruptions: Ilopango, Loma Caldera, and El Boquerón. These distinct volcanic events had pronounced effects on local people who innovated new monumental construction projects and used new volcanic debris as construction material after major eruptions. It is suggested that these monumental public building projects played an important role in the post-disaster recovery of societies by helping foster a sense of corporate identity. The use of volcanic material in constructions at San Andrés and the building of these massive structures may also have helped keep these events alive in the communal memory.

Since Kaminaljuyu was first systematically excavated in the 1930s, the chronology of the site has been fraught with confusion and scholarly disagreement. In recent years, scholars generally adopted the chronology presented by Shook and Popenoe de Hatch (1999) as the most authoritative account. In 2014, however, Inomata and colleagues proposed a revision of this chronology by shifting its Preclassic portion (including the Las Charcas and Providencia phases) roughly 300 years later in time. In this article, we analyze a total of 108 radiocarbon dates with Bayesian statistics, tying them to detailed ceramic analysis. These dates include previously reported dates, measured after the year 2000, as well as 68 new radiocarbon dates obtained from Kaminaljuyu and nearby sites. The results largely support Inomata and coauthors’ (2014) revised Preclassic chronology, placing the Las Charcas–Providencia transition around 350 BC and the Providencia–Verbena transition around 75 BC. In addition, we present new dates on the Early Classic period, although some ambiguity remains for the Esperanza phase, when Teotihuacan-related elements were introduced to Kaminaljuyu. The revised chronology, combined with environmental data, suggests an explosive increase in population and construction activity during the Verbena and Arenal phases.

New radiocarbon dates and excavations show that Buen Suceso (OSE-M-2M-4) in Santa Elena, Ecuador, was occupied between 3700 and 1425 BC. These dates demonstrate that Buen Suceso is a rare multicomponent Valdivia site and one of the longer-occupied Valdivia sites investigated to date.

Combined archaeological, ecological, and geologic research on Chuginadak and Carlisle Islands in the Islands of Four Mountains (IFM) probed questions about the sustainability of human settlements over the past 4000 years in the face of geologic, ecological, and social hazards. We use a human ecodynamics approach to frame the investigation and present original archaeological evidence from this poorly known region of the remote Aleutian Islands. Several village sites occupied during the last four millennia are clustered in locations that were not damaged by earthquake-induced tsunamis; however, new geologic evidence indicates that at least one volcanic eruption forced humans to abandon one or more prehistoric village sites. Combined archaeological, ecological, and geologic analyses demonstrate resilient Unangax̂ occupations of the IFM through long-term climate change as well as earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions with occasional community vulnerability to volcanic eruptions.

Love (2018) misunderstands some concepts of Bayesian analysis and the data from Naranjo and Urías. The cross-dating of El Ujuxte needs to be reevaluated with the publication of its ceramic data.

Archaeologists have long examined how the emergence of core polities prompts changes in the settlement patterns of peripheral regions through various processes like warfare, patronage claims, control of ritual rites, and unequal balances of trade. According to historical records, there were 54 small Mahan polities in southwestern Korea, and one of these polities, Baekje, grew to become an ancient state by unifying other polities in the 4th century AD. It is assumed that subsequent changes in the settlement patterns of southwestern Korea were caused directly or indirectly by the expansion of Baekje, but the nature of this presumed influence is not fully explained due to difficulties in establishing chronologies and the limited application of spatial analyses. In this paper, radiocarbon (14C) dates, kernel density estimates, and spatial autocorrelation analyses are used to compare Mahan settlement distributions before and after the rise of the Baekje kingdom. The results demonstrate that the spatial distribution of Mahan settlements changed over time, correlating with the emergence of Baekje statehood, but detailed aspects of the settlement patterns observed in each region were not uniform. Baekje applied various expansion strategies and exerted asymmetrical hegemony based on the conditions and responses of peripheral communities.

Population growth has been evoked both as a causal factor and consequence of the transition to agriculture. The use of radiocarbon (14C) dates as proxies for population allows for reevaluations of population as a variable in the transition to agriculture. In Korea, numerous rescue excavations during recent decades have offered a wealth of 14C data for this application. A summed probability distribution (SPD) of 14C dates is investigated to reconstruct population trends preceding and following adoptions of food production in prehistoric Korea. Important cultivars were introduced to Korea in two episodes: millets during the Chulmun Period (ca. 6000–1500 BCE) and rice during the Mumun Period (ca. 1500–300 BCE). The SPD suggests that while millet production had little impact on Chulmun populations, a prominent surge in population appears to have followed the introduction of rice. The case in prehistoric Korea demonstrates that the adoption of food production does not lead inevitably towards sustained population growth. Furthermore, the data suggest that the transition towards intensive agriculture need not occur under conditions of population pressure resulting from population growth. Rather, intensive rice farming in prehistoric Korea began during a period of population stagnation.

This paper examines the relationship between the use of late Irish passage tombs and the development of the British and Irish Grooved Ware complex, including its Orcadian origins. The architectural forms of these passage tombs and their associated material culture, symbolic repertoires, and depositional practices in Ireland and Orkney indicate sustained connections between people in these places. It is argued that these interactions strongly influenced the development of Grooved Ware and its associated material culture in Orkney and beyond. The results of recent dating programmes are synthesised, and the character of depositional practices from 3300 to 2700 cal bc are reassessed to highlight continuities in traditions of practice and representation. Together, these indicate that the adoption of Grooved Ware in Ireland did not herald an era of large-scale social transformation and that the primary use of late passage tombs did not suddenly cease at the end of the 4th millennium bc. Instead they continued as foci for largely unchanged forms of ceremonial activity until 2450 cal bc as part of a series of ongoing social and cultural shifts in people’s material culture and practices. It is argued that the current periodisation of the late 4th–3rd millennia bc in Ireland unduly emphasises a disjuncture between the Irish Middle and Late Neolithic. An alternative view of social and cultural change that refocuses attention on social agency is proposed.

The Cordillera Vilcanota and Quelccaya Ice Cap region of southern Peru (13°30′–14°00′S; 70°40′–71°25′W) contains a detailed record of late Quaternary glaciation in the tropical Andes. Quantification of soil development on 19 moraine crests and radiocarbon ages are used to reconstruct the glacial history. Secondary iron and clay increase linearly in Quelccaya soils and clay accumulates at a linear rate in Vilcanota soils, which may reflect the semicontinuous addition of eolian dust enriched in secondary iron to all soils. In contrast, logarithmic rates of iron buildup in soils in the Cordillera Vilcanota reflect chemical weathering; high concentrations of secondary iron in Vilcanota tills may mask the role of eolian input to these soils. Soil-age estimates from extrapolation of field and laboratory data suggest that the most extensive late Quaternary glaciation occurred >70,000 yr B.P. This provides one of the first semiquantitative age estimates for maximum ice extent in southern Peru and is supported by a minimum-limiting age of ∼41,520 14C yr B.P. A late glacial readvance culminated ∼16,650 cal yr B.P. in the Cordillera Vilcanota. Following rapid deglaciation of unknown extent, an advance of the Quelccaya Ice Cap occurred between ∼13,090 and 12,800 cal yr B.P., which coincides approximately with the onset of the Younger Dryas cooling in the North Atlantic region. Moraines deposited <394 cal yr B.P. in the Cordillera Vilcanota and <300 cal yr B.P. on the west side of the Quelccaya Ice Cap correlate with Little Ice Age moraines of other regions.

Radiocarbon dates have been obtained from a log-coffin burial excavated in 1864 by Canon William Greenwell from a ditched round barrow at Scale House, near Rylstone, North Yorkshire. The oak tree-trunk coffin had contained an extended body wrapped in a wool textile. The body had entirely decayed and there were no other extant grave goods. In the absence of other grave goods, Greenwell attributed the burial to the Bronze Age because it lay under a ditched round barrow and had similarities with log-coffin burials from Britain and Denmark. This attribution has not been questioned since 1864 despite a number of early medieval log-coffin burials subsequently being found in northern Britain. Crucially, the example excavated near Quernmore, Lancashire in 1973, was published as Bronze Age but subsequently radiocarbon dated to ad 430–970. The Rylstone coffin and textile were radiocarbon dated to confirm that the burial was Early Bronze Age and not an early medieval coffin inserted into an earlier funerary monument. Unexpectedly, the dates were neither Early Bronze Age nor early medieval but c. 800 bc, the cusp of the Bronze Age–Iron Age transition in Britain. The burial at Rylstone is, therefore, one of only two sites in Britain, and is unparalleled elsewhere in north-western Europe at a time when disposal of the dead was primarily through dispersed cremated or unburnt disarticulated remains.

New radiocarbon dates for the Neolithic settlement at Pool on Sanday, Orkney, are interpreted in a formal chronological framework. Phases 2.2 and 2.3, during which flat-based Grooved Ware pottery with incised decoration developed, have been modelled as probably dating to between the 31st and 28th centuries cal bc. There followed a hiatus of a century or so, before the resumption of occupation in Phase 3, which has a different Grooved Ware style featuring the use of applied decoration. This has been modelled as probably dating from the 26th to the 24th centuries cal bc. The implications of these results are discussed for the emergence and development of Grooved Ware, and for the trajectory of settlement and monumentality on Sanday.