Celestial Symbolism in Central European Later Prehistory - Case Studies from the Bronze Age Carpathian Basin

Although there is no textual evidence known from the Bronze Age, written sources describing migrations of later (i.e. Early Medieval) periods effecting the Carpathian Basin were interpreted as instances of cultural and population change which could be comparable with processes that took place during the Bronze Age in the Carpathian Basin. In the past two decades, Eurasian archaeological research received a new impetus to investigate the traces of migrations during prehistory, in collaboration with other disciplines such as isotope geochemistry or archaeogenetics. The current project which commenced in 2015, funded by the ‛Momentum Programme’ of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, was set out to investigate the societal changes that had taken place within the boundaries of modern-day Hungary – contemporaneous with the builders of the great pyramids of Egypt and the Greek heroes of the Mycenaean shaft graves – by analysing the settlements, cemeteries and the artefacts recovered from these archaeological sites. The project, for the first time in Hungarian Bronze Age research, employs a range of multidisciplinary methodologies in order to examine the social changes of the period. The present paper is to provide an overview of a particular aspect of this research: the outcomes of the bioarchaeological enquiries with special regards to the general health, mobility and the lifestyle of studied populations.

Download Full-text

Bronze age sickles in diverse roles

Hungarian Archaeology ◽

10.36338/ha.2020.4.1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 23-30

Author(s):

Eszter Fejér

Keyword(s):

Detailed Analysis ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Carpathian Basin ◽

Research Interest ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

The People ◽

Large Numbers ◽

Long Time ◽

Special Value ◽

The Bronze Age

Bronze sickles are among the most numerous types of artefacts discovered in Late Bronze Age assemblages in Europe, and they have been found in particularly large numbers in the Carpathian Basin. Since their form has barely changed during the last few thousand years and they are generally regarded as having a very ordinary function, for a long time they had failed to spark research interest. Nevertheless, detailed analysis of their find contexts and condition, as well as their comparison with historical, anthropological, and ethnographic observations reveal that they may have had diverse meanings, a greater significance than previously thought, and a special value for the people of the Bronze Age.

Download Full-text

Transformations of Metal Supply during the Bronze Age in the Carpathian Basin

Hungarian Historical Review ◽

10.38145/2020.2.315 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 315-330

Author(s):

Viktória Kiss

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Neutron Radiography ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Isotope Analysis ◽

Carpathian Basin ◽

Raw Material ◽

Research Centre ◽

Metal Artifacts ◽

Mining Sites ◽

The Bronze Age

This paper presents recent research questions which have been raised and methods which have been used in the study of Bronze Age metallurgy in connection with available natural resources (ores) in and around the Carpathian Basin. This topic fits in the most current trends in the research on European prehistoric archaeology. Given the lack of written sources, copper and bronze artifacts discovered in settlement and cemetery excavations and prehistoric mining sites provide the primary sources on which the studies in question are based. The aim of compositional and isotope analysis of copper and tin ores, metal tools, ornaments, and weapons is to determine the provenience of the raw materials and further an understanding of the chaine operatiore of prehistoric metal production. The Momentum Mobility Research Group of the Institute of Archaeology, Research Centre for the Humanities studies these metal artifacts using archaeological and scientific methods. It has focused on the first thousand years of the Bronze Age (2500–1500 BC). Multidisciplinary research include non-destructive XRF, PGAA (promptgamma activation), TOF-ND (time-of-flight neutron diffraction) analyses and neutron radiography, as well as destructive methods, e.g. metal sampling for compositional and lead isotope testing, alongside archaeological analysis. Microstructure studies are also efficient methods for determining the raw material and production techniques. The results suggest the use of regional ore sources and interregional connections, as well as several transformations in the exchange network of the prehistoric communities living in the Carpathian Basin.

Download Full-text

Minoan and Mycenaean Figurines

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199675616.013.033 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Christine Morris

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Case Studies ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Form Function ◽

Large Numbers ◽

The Bronze Age

This chapter explores the figurine traditions of the Bronze Age inhabitants of Crete (Minoan) and mainland Greece (Myceanean), covering c.3000–1100 bc. As in many cultures, Aegean figurines are predominantly made from terracotta or fired clay, but stone, ivory and bone, metal, and faience are also utilized. Early Minoan ‘vessel figurines’ and the votive figurines deposited on Middle Minoan Cretan peak sanctuaries in large numbers are presented as case studies for the Minoan terracotta tradition. The faience ‘Snake Goddesses’ and bronze figurines illustrate elite traditions and Minoan technical virtuosity. Restricted largely to the Late Bronze Age, Mycenaean terracottas can be characterized as figurines and figures. The former are small, handmade, and found across a range of contexts, while the latter have wheel-made bodies and are mostly restricted to sanctuaries. Discussion is framed around form, function, performance, and context, while keeping in mind issues of gender and identification.

Download Full-text

The Earliest Cremation Burials in the South-Eastern Alpine Region from the Middle Bronze Age – Signs of Intercultural Connections with the Northern Carpathian Basin

Praehistorische Zeitschrift ◽

10.1515/pz-2020-0024 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 95 (2) ◽

pp. 447-490

Author(s):

Brina Škvor Jernejčič

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Alpine Region ◽

Carpathian Basin ◽

Distribution Area ◽

The South ◽

Burial Practices ◽

South Eastern ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

Tisza River ◽

The Bronze Age

AbstractThe article considers cremation graves from the site of Podsmreka near Višnja Gora (Slovenia). Based on the analysis of their pottery, it could be shown that the graves can be dated to the Middle Bronze Age period (Br B2/C1) and thus represent one of the oldest cremation burials of the Bronze Age in Slovenia. First, the ceramic finds from the radiocarbon dated settlement contexts are discussed in order to reach a more exact chronological framework for the vessel forms from graves. A synthesis of all Middle Bronze Age graves, both inhumations and cremations, from central and eastern Slovenia allows us to get a better understanding of when the change in burial practices occurred. Surprisingly, the best analogies for the vessels from graves at Podsmreka near Višnja Gora can be found in the northern Carpathian Basin, where we observe a long-standing tradition of cremation burials. The analysis of radiocarbon samples from two graves from Šafárikovo in Slovakia allowed us to verify the absolute chronology of urn amphorae vessels with particular form and decoration, which we can date between the second half of the 16th and the first half of the 15th century BC. Such astonishing correspondences in the pottery between the northern Carpathian Basin and the south-eastern Alpine region seem to indicate that the very area of the Upper Tisza river, and the territory of the Piliny Culture, played a crucial role in the transmission of new burial practices, not only to Slovenia, but also across wider areas along the Sava and Drava rivers on the distribution area of the Virovitica group.

Download Full-text

Mitogenomic data indicate admixture components of Asian Hun and Srubnaya origin in the Hungarian Conquerors

10.1101/250688 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Endre Neparáczki ◽

Zoltán Maróti ◽

Tibor Kalmár ◽

Klaudia Kocsy ◽

Kitti Maár ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Population Genetic ◽

Indirect Evidence ◽

Carpathian Basin ◽

Genetic Origin ◽

Population Genetic Analysis ◽

Inner Asia ◽

Hungarian Language ◽

The Bronze Age ◽

Shed Light

AbstractIt has been widely accepted that the Finno-Ugric Hungarian language, originated from proto Uralic people, was brought into the Carpathian Basin by the Hungarian Conquerors. From the middle of the 19thcentury this view prevailed against the deep-rooted Hungarian Hun tradition, maintained in folk memory as well as in Hungarian and foreign written medieval sources, which claimed that Hungarians were kinsfolk of the Huns. In order to shed light on the genetic origin of the Conquerors we sequenced 102 mitogenomes from early Conqueror cemeteries and compared them to sequences of all available databases. We applied novel population genetic algorithms, named Shared Haplogroup Distance and MITOMIX, to reveal past admixture of maternal lineages. Phylogenetic and population genetic analysis indicated that more than one third of the Conqueror maternal lineages were derived from Central-Inner Asia and their most probable ultimate sources were the Asian Huns. The rest of the lineages most likely originated from the Bronze Age Potapovka-Poltavka-Srubnaya cultures of the Pontic-Caspian steppe, which area was part of the later European Hun empire. Our data give support to the Hungarian Hun tradition and provides indirect evidence for the genetic connection between Asian and European Huns. Available data imply that the Conquerors did not have a major contribution to the gene pool of the Carpathian Basin, raising doubts about the Conqueror origin of Hungarian language.

Download Full-text

‘Hier wil ik nog niet dood gevonden worden’. Bespiegelingen over de absentie van graven

Paleo-aktueel ◽

10.21827/pa.30.1-9 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Iris Rom ◽

Karla de Roest

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Case Studies ◽

Iron Age ◽

Archaeological Record ◽

Mortuary Archaeology ◽

Life And Death ◽

The Bronze Age

Dead and gone: On the absence of graves. Every now and then, archaeologists come across periods or regions that seem to lack graves. Instead of addressing these absences, researchers often resort one of several standard explanations, such as “We haven’t found the burial location yet” or “Apparently, these people employed ways of disposal that cannot be traced in the archaeological record”. While such observations are entirely justifiable, they also leave many unaddressed questions. Did this society opt for archaeologically invisible ways of disposal of their loved ones? Why are these graves missing? Case studies from our PhD projects on mortuary archaeology, relating, respectively, to the Bronze Age in Greece and the Iron Age in northwestern Europe, aim to investigate such questions. Whereas archaeologists are generally reluctant to interpret “non-data”, we pose that the absence of graves also provides invaluable clues as to how people perceived life and death in prehistoric societies.

Download Full-text

Examination and possible interpretations of a Middle Bronze Age structured deposition

Dissertationes Archaeologicae ◽

10.17204/dissarch.2018.217 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 217-285

Author(s):

László Gucsi ◽

Nóra Szabó

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Carpathian Basin ◽

Final Phase ◽

Cultural Characteristics ◽

Use Wear ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

Age Structured ◽

The Bronze Age

Ceramic depositions occur frequently in the Bronze Age throughout the Carpathian Basin, however, their characteristics and composition can vary between periods, cultures and regions. Thus there could be many theories and interpretations offered for the reasons behind hiding these depots. At the site of Budajenő, Hegyiszántók a structured deposition dating to the final phase of the Middle Bronze Age came to light, which is not only unique in terms of the quantity of the vessels but also of their quality, both on an intra-site level and from the perspective of the Hungarian Middle Bronze Age. The aim of this paper is to present a complex and multi-faceted analysis, which helps not only to understand the possible reasons behind the concealment of the vessels, but also to offer an interpretation for the chain of events in which they could have played a central role. Besides the examination of the quantity and the cultural characteristics of the vessels, traces of use-wear,along with the phenomena of secondary burning and deliberate fragmentations are also discussed.

Download Full-text