Oliver E Craig
Biographic Data
| ID | 96998 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Oliver E Craig |
| GIVEN NAMES | Oliver E |
| FAMILY NAME | Craig |
| SIGNATURE | CRAIG O E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of York |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4296-8402 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 104 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1081 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 104 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 19 |
Connecting Communities
There are long-standing debates on the social organisation and interactions of the first farmers of west-central Europe (the Linear Pottery culture/LBK, c. 5500–5000 BCE). Here we focus on a specific type of ceramic ware, Limburg pottery, whose morpho-stylistic features and bone temper stand in stark contrast to typical LBK pottery. Despite this, most Limburg vessels are found in LBK settlements. Researchers have proposed a variety of interpretat…
A first toast in Kuyavia
Excavations at Sławęcinek in central Poland, have yielded evidence for the Neolithic Funnel Beaker Culture, concurrent with a sweeping set of changes that occurred across much of Europe in the mid-fourth millennium BC. A set of vessels containing collared flasks, ceramic glasses and a beaker were found, demonstrating that libations of lactose-reduced dairy beverages were performed between 3500–3350 BC. One of the vessels, a funnel beaker, feature…
A compound-specific radiocarbon dating protocol for archaeological pottery at the Orau
Radiocarbon dating is essential for establishing robust chronologies in archaeological and paleoenvironmental contexts spanning the last 55,000 years. Pottery, pervasive in the archaeological record, offers a crucial framework for dating human activity during the Holocene. Traditionally, radiocarbon dating of pottery has relied on targeting carbonaceous inclusions such as organic temper or measuring stratigraphically associated materials like bon…
Cuisine and culture-contact
Diet and material culture are interlinked, and examination of organic residues in ceramic vessels permits the simultaneous study of both; exemplified here in the analysis of early-medieval pottery from England and Denmark for biomarkers indicative of fish processing, a possible dietary indicator of Scandinavian migration during the Viking Age ( c . AD 793–1066). While almost a quarter of sampled Danish pots were used to cook fish, diagnostic aqua…
The oldest farmers’ settlement from Poland. New interdisciplinary data on chronology and economy from the Gwoździec site
In der zweiten Hälfte des 6. Jahrtausends v. Chr. wanderten die ersten mit der Bandkeramik verbundenen Bauern aus und ihre Kultur verbreitete sich in die Gebiete nördlich der Karpaten. Bisher hatte man angenommen, dass diese frühneolithische Ausbreitung in einen Zeitraum um ca. 5500–5400 v. Chr. fällt, was sich vor allem auf vergleichende Studien der stilistischen Merkmale der Keramik stützte. Seit einiger Zeit gibt es jedoch bei zahlreichen Fors…
A medium‐throughput approach for improved taxonomic identification of lipids preserved in ancient pottery
Organic residue analysis (ORA) is a valuable tool for the study of ancient diets, but conventional methods remain limited in terms of taxonomic identification or to resolve mixtures. Here, we propose a method to further explore a class of compounds—triacylglycerols (TAGs)—using high‐resolution mass spectrometry to overcome these limitations in an attempt to better characterise culinary practices. Over 70 medieval Sicilian pots and a wide range of…
High‐resolution compound‐specific δ 15 N isotope dietary study of humans from the Scottish Mesolithic and Neolithic
Numerous isotopic studies of Scottish Mesolithic and Neolithic diets suggest a shift from marine‐based to terrestrial‐based subsistence strategies. However, bulk collagen isotope analysis may overlook low‐level marine food consumption. This study combines bulk collagen stable isotope data from four Neolithic sites (Quanterness, Rattar East, Ness of Brodgar, and Knap of Howar) with nitrogen compound‐specific isotope analysis (CSIA‐AA) from one Lat…
Millet and meals
The translocation of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) is an enticing subject of archaeological investigation. While the species was rapidly dispersed across Eurasia during prehistory, its adoption appears to have been inconsistent, with evidence for its sudden and gradual adoption, as well as its rejection, observed within and between contemporary communities and cultures. The translocation of P. miliaceum may be better understood through the…
Pottery Lipids Demonstrating Marine Product Tribute in Early Historic Japan
During the seventh century c.e., Japan adopted a new bureaucratic system called ritsuryo . This system was partly supported by taxing rural areas. Taxes were paid to the capital in Nara in the form of tributes of local agricultural, marine, or dairy products. The history of these tributes is mainly based on the written record; little material evidence has been secured to reconstruct how and where these tribute items were produced. This article fo…
Farmers with a Taste for Fish
Iroquoian groups inhabiting the St. Lawrence Valley in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries AD practiced agriculture and supplemented their diet with fish and a variety of wild plants and terrestrial animals. Important gaps remain in our knowledge of Iroquoian foodways, including how pottery was integrated to culinary practices and the relative importance of maize in clay-pot cooking. Lipid analyses carried out on 32 potsherds from the Dawson si…
Evaluating the culinary significance of maize in the Araucanía, Southern Chile
Culinary continuity in central Japan across the transition to agriculture
Rice and millet arrived in Western Japan from Korea around 3,000 years ago and spread eastwards across the archipelago in the next 700 years. However, the extent to which agriculture transformed traditional Jōmon hunter-gatherer-fisher communities is debated. Central Japan is a key area of study as remodelling of radiocarbon dates shows a slowdown in the dispersal rate of rice agriculture in this area. Here, we examine and compare the use of pott…
Unraveling Island Economies through Organic Residue Analysis
Biophysical conditions played a fundamental role in early human colonization of insular territories, particularly in food-producing societies dealing with limited resources and the challenges of maintaining a sustainable carrying capacity. Studies on past human colonization of small oceanic islands thus offer insights into economic plasticity, ecological impacts, and adaptation of early food-producing groups. On the coast of southern Chile, early…
Between Life and Death
Building on previous research, this study reports new stable dietary isotope results in conjunction with existing samples from the individuals buried at Mulhouse-Est. This was an early Neolithic cemetery located in Alsace and consisted of 24 articulated burials in addition to disarticulated remains, belonging to the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) culture. The main research question explored whether the diet thus reconstructed varies with burial practice…
The role of salmon fishing in the adoption of pottery technology in subarctic Alaska
Ceramic technology makes an abrupt appearance in the New World Arctic at circa 2800 cal BP. While there is general consensus that the ultimate source of these Alaskan pottery traditions lay in continental NE Asia, the motivations for the adoption of pottery in Alaska have remained unclear. Through organic residue analysis we investigated the function of Norton pottery in Southwest Alaska, and the extent to which its function changed in later peri…
The Globular Amphora Culture in the Eastern Baltic
Until now, Šventoji in northwest Lithuania was considered the most northern site of the Neolithic Globular Amphora Culture (hereafter GAC ; ca. 3400–2500 cal BC ) in Europe. Recently, however, ceramics typologically resembling GAC ware were identified among the materials from the multi-period sites of Abora 1 and Iča in Latvia and further to the north from Tamula in southeast Estonia. Here we present the multi-disciplinary analyses of these ceram…
Molecular evidence for new foodways in the early colonial Caribbean
Ceramic objects account for over 90% of the cultural material recovered from archaeological sites in the Caribbean. However, little research has been conducted on molecular evidence for past food production from these same vessels. Forty ceramic sherds from Isla de Mona have been analysed by GC-MS and GC-C-IRMS in order to address questions surrounding foodways in the Greater Antilles prior to and post European arrival. We evaluate evidence for d…
Fusion cuisine in the shadow of Mount Olympus
This paper explores the relations developed between Mycenaeans and their northern neighbours through the study of cooking assemblages from four sites in the region of Pieria, in present-day Greek Central Macedonia. A strong connection with the Mycenaean sphere in the 13th -12th century BC has already been indicated through archaeological evidence from graves, but it is the first time that this connection is explored through domestic utensils. Mor…
Light Production by Ceramic Using Hunter-Gatherer-Fishers of the Circum-Baltic
Artificial illumination is a fundamental human need. Burning wood and other materials usually in hearths and fireplaces extended daylight hours, whilst the use of flammable substances in torches offered light on the move. It is increasingly understood that pottery played a role in light production. In this study, we focus on ceramic oval bowls, made and used primarily by hunter-gatherer-fishers of the circum-Baltic over a c. 2000 year period begi…
There’s more to a vessel than meets the eye
Despite growing evidence to the contrary, wine remains the assumed content of many types of ancient pottery. Vessels from the Kyrenia and Mazotos shipwrecks, and Yeronisos island presumed to have contained wine were subjected to three different extraction protocols to test the assumption that these vessels were used to import and serve wine. Chemical extracts reveal grapevine products but also other fruit juice, beeswax and plant oil, sometimes m…
The transmission of pottery technology among prehistoric European hunter-gatherers
Human history has been shaped by global dispersals of technologies, although understanding of what enabled these processes is limited. Here, we explore the behavioural mechanisms that led to the emergence of pottery among hunter-gatherer communities in Europe during the mid-Holocene. Through radiocarbon dating, we propose this dispersal occurred at a far faster rate than previously thought. Chemical characterization of organic residues shows that…
Diet, economy, and culinary practices at the height of precolonial Swahili urbanism
Swahili cuisine is known across Africa and globally as a highly distinctive product of a cosmopolitan, coastal, urban society. Here we present a comprehensive study of precolonial Swahili diet and culinary practices at the coastal town of Songo Mnara, positioning archaeological and ethnographic understandings of cuisine in a long-term coastal tradition. We explore contemporary food cultures and then present the first direct evidence for precoloni…
Lipid residue analysis on Swifterbant pottery (c. 5000–3800 cal BC) in the Lower Rhine-Meuse area (the Netherlands) and its implications for human-animal interactions in relation to the Neolithisation…
This paper focuses on the functional analysis of Swifterbant pottery (c. 5000–3800 cal BC) in the Lower Rhine-Meuse area (the Netherlands). It examines pottery use across the transition to agriculture and aims to assess temporal changes in human-animal relations during the 5th millennium BC in the Lower Rhine-Meuse area through lipid residue analysis. We conducted lipid residue analysis of 49 samples from four Swifterbant sites: Hardinxveld-Giess…
Pottery use in the mining site of variscite Mines de Gavà (Barcelona, Spain) during the 4th millennium BC based on organic residue analysis
Trypillia mega-sites of the Ukraine
Beyond the grave
Archaeological collagen
DNA appears to decay by random chain scission resulting in a predictable range of fragment lengths. Collagen decay has also been modelled in this same way, although it has become increasingly evident that collagen decay does not follow this same pattern. Radiocarbon and stable isotope analysis now use ultra-filtration to isolate large fragments (>30% of original polymer length) even in Pleistocene bone. How then does collagen decay? This study co…
Molecular and Isotopic Demonstration of the Processing of Aquatic Products in Northern European Prehistoric Pottery
A number of charred surface residues, adhering to ceramic containers, were obtained from various coastal and inland sites in north‐west Europe dating from the sixth to the fourth millennium cal bc . In order to investigate the use of these vessels and in particular to identify any marine products, the residues were subjected to carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis. Variation in carbon isotope ratios between different samples indicated that…
Focus
Cooking fish and drinking milk? Patterns in pottery use in the southeastern Baltic, 3300–2400 cal BC
Stable isotopic evidence for diet at the Imperial Roman coastal site of Velia (1st and 2nd Centuries AD) in Southern Italy
Here we report on a stable isotope palaeodietary study of a Imperial Roman population interred near the port of Velia in Southern Italy during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses were performed on collagen extracted from 117 adult humans as well as a range of fauna to reconstruct individual dietary histories. For the majority of individuals, we found that stable isotope data were consistent with a diet high i…
Something fishy in the Neolithic? A re-evaluation of stable isotope analysis of Mesolithic and Neolithic coastal populations
The study of the proportions of stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen which survive in ancient human and animal bones offers highly suggestive indications of ancient diets. Among the most remarkable results from such investigations is the dramatic change in diet which is thought to have occurred between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic when people turned from maritime to terrestrial \nfood, from fish to meat and vegetables. The three contributio…
Stable isotope evidence for the consumption of millet and other plants in Bronze Age Italy
Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis was carried out on human and animal bones from four inland Early and Middle Bronze Age sites in Northern and Southern Italy. The main aims of the investigation were to explore the contribution of plant foods to the human diet and to examine any dietary differences between and within each of the sites. At two of the sites in Northern Italy, human and animal bones were significantly enriched in 13 C. This…
Application of lipid biomarker analysis to evaluate the function of ‘slab-lined pits’ in Arctic Norway
The adoption of pottery by north-east European hunter-gatherers
The identification of prehistoric dairying activities in the Western Isles of Scotland
Long-term dietary change in Atlantic and Mediterranean Iberia with the introduction of agriculture
The Neolithic expansion in the Iberian Peninsula is marked by the \nintroduction of livestock and domesticated crops which modified \nsubsistence strategies in an unprecedented manner. Bulk collagen stable \ncarbon and nitrogen isotope analysis has been essential to track these \nchanges, which have largely been discussed in relation to particular \ngeographic areas or single case studies. This paper reviews the \navailable isotope literature to …
Stable isotope analysis of Late Upper Palaeolithic human and faunal remains from Grotta del Romito (Cosenza), Italy
Diet, cuisine and consumption practices of the first farmers in the southeastern Baltic
With the arrival of the Early Neolithic Globular Amphora and Corded Ware cultures into the southeastern Baltic, ca. 2900/2800-2400 cal BC, a new type of economy was introduced, animal husbandry. However, the degree to which this transformed the subsistence economy is unknown. Here, we conducted organic residue analyses of 64 ceramic vessels to identify their contents. The vessels were sampled from 10 Lithuanian archaeological sites dating across …
A systematic approach to the recovery and identification of starches from carbonised deposits on ceramic vessels
Cooperative harvesting of aquatic resources and the beginning of pottery production in north-eastern North America
Direct evidence from lipid residue analysis for the routine consumption of millet in Early Medieval Italy
Evidence for mummification in Bronze Age Britain
Ancient Egyptians are thought to have been the only people in the Old World who were practising mummification in the Bronze Age (c. 2200-700 BC). But now a remarkable series of finds from a remote Scottish island indicates that Ancient Britons were performing similar, if less elaborate, practices of bodily preservation. Evidence of mummification is usually limited to a narrow range of arid or frozen environments which are conducive to soft tissue…
Carbon and nitrogen isotope signals in eel bone collagen from Mesolithic and Neolithic sites in northern Europe
Investigating the formation and diagnostic value of ω ‐( o ‐alkylphenyl)alkanoic acids in ancient pottery
Long‐chain ω ‐( o‐ alkylphenyl)alkanoic acids (APAAs) derived from the heating of unsaturated fatty acids have been widely used for the identification of aquatic products in archaeological ceramic vessels. To date, little attention has been paid to the diagnostic potential of shorter chain ( 20 ) APAAs, despite their frequent occurrence. Here, a range of laboratory and field experiments and analyses of archaeological samples were undertaken to in…
The identification of poultry processing in archaeological ceramic vessels using in-situ isotope references for organic residue analysis
Poultry products are rarely considered when reconstructing pottery use through organic residue analysis, impinging upon our understanding of the changing role of these animals in the past. Here we evaluate an isotopic approach for distinguishing chicken fats from other animal products. We compare the carbon isotopes of fatty acids extracted from modern tissues and archaeological bones and demonstrate that archaeological bones from contexts associ…
Evaluating marine diets through radiocarbon dating and stable isotope analysis of victims of the AD79 eruption of vesuvius
The stable carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) isotope values of bone collagen are frequently used in paleodietary studies to assess the marine contribution to an individual's diet. Surprisingly, the relationship between stable isotope these values characteristics and the percentage of marine foods in diet has never been effectively demonstrated. To clarify this relationship, the stable isotope values and radiocarbon dates of nine humans and on…
Water‐related occupations and diet in two Roman coastal communities (Italy, first to third century AD)
The reconstruction of dietary patterns in the two Roman imperial age coastal communities of Portus and Velia (I–III AD) by means of stable isotope analysis of bone remains has exposed a certain degree of heterogeneity between and within the two samples. Results do not correlate with any discernible mortuary practices at either site, which might have pointed to differential social status. The present study tests the hypothesis of a possible connec…
Did the first farmers of central and eastern Europe produce dairy foods
Although the origins of domestic animals have been well-documented, it is unclear when livestock were first exploited for secondary products, such as milk. The analysis of remnant fats preserved in ceramic vessels from two agricultural sites in central and eastern Europe dating to the Early Neolithic (5900-5500 cal BC) are best explained by the presence of milk residues. On this basis, the authors suggest that dairying featured in early European …
Aquatic Resources in Foodcrusts
Foodcrusts, the charred surface deposits on pottery vessel surfaces, provide a rich source of data regarding container function. This article reviews recent applications focusing on the detection of aquatic resources (marine and freshwater) in pottery vessels using a range of analytical approaches including bulk isotope measurements of carbon and nitrogen, lipid biomarker analysis, and compound-specific carbon isotope determinations. Such data ca…
The Removal of Protein from Mineral Surfaces
The development of dairying in Europe
Providing evidence of dairying is crucial to the understanding of the development and intensification of Neolithic farming practices in Europe, beyond the early stages of domestication. Until recently, research in this field had been limited to traditional archaeological methods, such as the study of pottery styles, faunal remains and specialised material artefacts. Although suggestive, these methods are unable to provide direct evidence of dairy…
Milk Jugs’ and Other Myths of the Copper Age of Central Europe
Ceramics were subjected to organic residue analysis from two collections: a series of middle Copper Age (Bodrogkeresztúr) vessels hitherto known as ‘milk jugs’, curated in the Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum, Budapest, and a collection of early Baden (Boleráz) vessels from the recently discovered settlement of Gyo”r-Szabadrét-domb, in western Hungary. The aim of the analyses was to establish whether or not these vessels, often associated with milk based on…
Milk Jugs' and other Myths of the Copper Age of Central Europe
Ceramics were subjected to organic residue analysis from two collections: a series of middle Copper Age (Bodrogkeresztúr) vessels hitherto known as 'milk jugs', curated in the Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum, Budapest, and a collection of early Baden (Boleráz) vessels from the recently discovered settlement of Gyo"r-Szabadrét-domb, in western Hungary. The aim of the analyses was to establish whether or not these vessels, often associated with milk based on…
Diagenesis and survival of osteocalcin in archaeological bone
The identification of prehistoric dairying activities in the Western Isles of Scotland
Something fishy in the Neolithic? A re-evaluation of stable isotope analysis of Mesolithic and Neolithic coastal populations
The study of the proportions of stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen which survive in ancient human and animal bones offers highly suggestive indications of ancient diets. Among the most remarkable results from such investigations is the dramatic change in diet which is thought to have occurred between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic when people turned from maritime to terrestrial \nfood, from fish to meat and vegetables. The three contributio…
Beyond the grave
Did the first farmers of central and eastern Europe produce dairy foods
Although the origins of domestic animals have been well-documented, it is unclear when livestock were first exploited for secondary products, such as milk. The analysis of remnant fats preserved in ceramic vessels from two agricultural sites in central and eastern Europe dating to the Early Neolithic (5900-5500 cal BC) are best explained by the presence of milk residues. On this basis, the authors suggest that dairying featured in early European …
Evidence for mummification in Bronze Age Britain
Ancient Egyptians are thought to have been the only people in the Old World who were practising mummification in the Bronze Age (c. 2200-700 BC). But now a remarkable series of finds from a remote Scottish island indicates that Ancient Britons were performing similar, if less elaborate, practices of bodily preservation. Evidence of mummification is usually limited to a narrow range of arid or frozen environments which are conducive to soft tissue…
Focus
A response to Richards and Schulting
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Molecular and Isotopic Demonstration of the Processing of Aquatic Products in Northern European Prehistoric Pottery
A number of charred surface residues, adhering to ceramic containers, were obtained from various coastal and inland sites in north‐west Europe dating from the sixth to the fourth millennium cal bc . In order to investigate the use of these vessels and in particular to identify any marine products, the residues were subjected to carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis. Variation in carbon isotope ratios between different samples indicated that…
Stable isotopic evidence for diet at the Imperial Roman coastal site of Velia (1st and 2nd Centuries AD) in Southern Italy
Here we report on a stable isotope palaeodietary study of a Imperial Roman population interred near the port of Velia in Southern Italy during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses were performed on collagen extracted from 117 adult humans as well as a range of fauna to reconstruct individual dietary histories. For the majority of individuals, we found that stable isotope data were consistent with a diet high i…
Stable isotope evidence for the consumption of millet and other plants in Bronze Age Italy
Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis was carried out on human and animal bones from four inland Early and Middle Bronze Age sites in Northern and Southern Italy. The main aims of the investigation were to explore the contribution of plant foods to the human diet and to examine any dietary differences between and within each of the sites. At two of the sites in Northern Italy, human and animal bones were significantly enriched in 13 C. This…
Archaeological collagen
DNA appears to decay by random chain scission resulting in a predictable range of fragment lengths. Collagen decay has also been modelled in this same way, although it has become increasingly evident that collagen decay does not follow this same pattern. Radiocarbon and stable isotope analysis now use ultra-filtration to isolate large fragments (>30% of original polymer length) even in Pleistocene bone. How then does collagen decay? This study co…
Isotopic Analysis of Faunal Material from South Uist, Western Isles, Scotland
This paper reports on the results from stable isotope analysis of faunal bone collagen from a number of Iron Age and later sites on the island of South Uist, in the Western Isles, Scotland. This preliminary investigation into the isotopic signatures of the fauna is part of a larger project to model the interaction between humans, animals, and the broader environment in the Western Isles. The results demonstrate that the island fauna data fall wit…
Application of lipid biomarker analysis to evaluate the function of ‘slab-lined pits’ in Arctic Norway
Stable isotope analysis of Late Upper Palaeolithic human and faunal remains from Grotta del Romito (Cosenza), Italy
Water‐related occupations and diet in two Roman coastal communities (Italy, first to third century AD)
The reconstruction of dietary patterns in the two Roman imperial age coastal communities of Portus and Velia (I–III AD) by means of stable isotope analysis of bone remains has exposed a certain degree of heterogeneity between and within the two samples. Results do not correlate with any discernible mortuary practices at either site, which might have pointed to differential social status. The present study tests the hypothesis of a possible connec…
Ancient lipids reveal continuity in culinary practices across the transition to agriculture in Northern Europe
Farming transformed societies globally. Yet, despite more than a century of research, there is little consensus on the speed or completeness of this fundamental change and, consequently, on its principal drivers. For Northern Europe, the debate has often centered on the rich archaeological record of the Western Baltic, but even here it is unclear how quickly or completely people abandoned wild terrestrial and marine resources after the introducti…
Construction of the Khoja Zaynuddin Mosque
As part of an ongoing project at the World Heritage Site of Bukhara, we investigated the glue used in the construction of the Khoja Zaynuddin mosque. Analysis by a range of techniques confirmed that it consisted of a collagen-based glue. However, the glue contained many non-protein constituents. The presence of lipid material suggests that the glue was produced by a relatively unsophisticated process. More surprisingly, various marker compounds o…
A Chlorite Container Found on the Surface of Shahdad (Kerman, Iran) and its Cosmetic Content
International audience
Carbon and nitrogen isotope signals in eel bone collagen from Mesolithic and Neolithic sites in northern Europe
A systematic approach to the recovery and identification of starches from carbonised deposits on ceramic vessels
Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (88 works) · Geography (88 works) · Archaeology (83 works) · Biology (57 works) · Pottery (47 works) · Isotope Analysis in Ecology (46 works) · Ecology (35 works) · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies (35 works) · History (24 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (24 works)