How’s Life?

Dr Marta Dal Corso is a postdoctoral researcher in the field of archaeobotany and palynology, interested in the understanding of plant cultivation and use in prehistory and of the relationships between human activities and natural environments. She is currently working at the Institute for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology at Kiel University (Germany), where she has been assistant to the chair of Environmental Archaeology and taught palynology and phytolith analysis among other classes.Prof Dr. Wiebke Kirleis is professor of environmental archaeology/archaeobotany at Kiel University, Germany. She is deputy director of the Collaborative Research Centre 'Scales of Transformation: Human-Environmental Interaction in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies' (CRC 1266, financed by the German Research Foundation/DFG) and a member of the Cluster of Excellence 'Roots' at Kiel University.

The Bronze Age and Early Iron Age saw many developments in metalworking, social structure, food production, nutrition, and diet. At the same time, networks in Europe intensified and human impact on the environment changed in character. What influence did these transformations have on daily life? Which proxies can researchers use to study these topics? This volume presents scientific contributions from different fields of expertise within modern archaeology in order to investigate past living conditions through aspects of the archaeological record related to production (e.g. of food and metal), well-being (e.g. diet, health), human relations (e.g. violence), and the local environment (e.g. pollution, waste disposal, and water management). It also critically addresses contemporary graphic representations of Bronze Age living conditions. This volume compiles papers from a session with the same title organized for an international open workshop of the Graduate School 'Human Development in Landscapes', entitled 'Socio-Environmental Dynamics over the Last 12,000 Years: The Development of Landscapes IV', which took place in 2017, in Kiel, Germany. Publications detailing overarching core research on subsistence systems, societal transformations, and resilience versus rupture dynamics already exist. With this volume, we aim to provide a closer look at everyday life in past communities.ContentsIntroductionPart 1. Life in Action: Metal Production, Health Conditions and Dietary choicesCopper Output, Demand for Wood and Energy Expenditure - Evaluating Economic Aspects of Bronze Age MetallurgyJohanna BrinkmannWarriors' Lives. The Skeletal Sample from the Bronze Age Battlefield Site in the Tollense Valley, Northeastern GermanyGundula Lidke, Ute Brinker, Annemarie Schramm, Detlef Jantzen, Thomas TerbergerEnvironmental Imposition or Ancient Farmers' Choice? A Study of the Presence of "Inferior" Legumes in the Bronze Age Carpathian Basin (Hungary)Sonja Filatova, Ferenc Gyulai, Wiebke KirleisPart 2. The Place of Living: Routine Activities, the Management of Waste and of Natural ResourcesThe Fossil Plant remains of the Early Bronze Age site Rothenkirchen on Rügen. Inside Distribution Patterns as a Mirror of HousekeepingAlmuth AlslebenWaste Disposal In The Bronze Age: Plants In Pits At Wismar-Wendorf, Northern GermanyDragana Filipovic Frank Mewis, Lars Saalow, Jens-Peter Schmidt, Wiebke KirleisAn Overview of Olive Trees in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Mid-Late Holocene: Selective Exploitation or Established Arboriculture?Asli Oflaz, Walter Dörfler, Mara WeineltOn-site Palaeoecological Investigations from the Hünenburg Hillfort-Settlement Complex, with Special Reference to Non-pollen PalynomorphsMagdalena Wieckowska-Lüth, Immo HeskePart 3. Living the Past: The (Graphic) Representation of Past Living ConditionsCreating an Understanding of Life in and around a Bronze Age House through Science-based Artist ImpressionsYvonne F. van AmerongenCase Study "How Was Life in Early Bronze Age Bruszczewo" - Archaeology and the View of Prehistory in Reconstruction ImagesJutta Kneisel