Session: #174

Content:

The many nuances of life on prehistoric sites and the questions they raise about lifeways and the influences of various forms of temporalities and seasonal cycles sit behind this session proposal. These aspects of prehistoric life are obvious, yet rarely discussed. Our work at the Bronze Age tell at Százhalombatta (Hungary) has made us realise that archaeological notions of seasonality are often underdeveloped and sometimes banal. For example, how the behaviour of fish or birds may have directed community attention towards seasonal opportunities. Nor do we take into account the difference between using plants that enabled two annual harvests rather than just one when we discuss our prehistoric agrarian communities. Which activities filled the cold winter months, and which could be distributed to any available time during the year? For example, how are pottery making versus spinning and weaving dependent on the weather and temperatures? Having paid scant attention to these aspects means that we may have ignored some of the major factors that influenced community life, including for example labour divisions, the necessity of choice, and whether ideas of the ‘right’ time were linked to certain activities. It also means that we have neglected to grant prehistoric people planning and foresight, such as the need for storage or having the right kind and amount of grain for seeding. Drawing inspiration from late Medieval annual calendars that typically illustrate the distribution of tasks over the year, including both those that were dependent on seasons and those that were irregular and opportunistic, we call for discussion of how we may bring more attention to these dimensions of prehistoric settled life. In turn, we aim to recognise more of the agency at play between individuals, communities, environments, and materials.

Session: #174

Theme & Session Format

Title & Content

Organisers