An insight into Bronze Age subsistence strategy in forested Carpathian foothills, based on plant macro-remains

Lithic studies all too often ignore the material of later prehistory. Here an exploration of ideas of curation and expediency offers a new insight into material from Bronze Age Cyprus.

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Final response and future directions

Antiquity ◽

10.15184/aqy.2014.38 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 89 (343) ◽

pp. 221-223 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Johan Ling ◽

Zofia Stos-Gale

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Positive Attitude ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Rock Art ◽

Deep Insight ◽

Future Directions ◽

Final Response ◽

The Bronze Age ◽

Insight Into

It is rare for authors to be able to read comments on their paper by leading colleagues and to have the chance to respond before its publication. We would like to thank the editor of Antiquity for providing this opportunity. The comments express both acceptance of, and doubts about, interconnectedness between the eastern Mediterranean and Scandinavia in the Bronze Age. Kaul's comments demonstrate a deep insight into how Nordic archaeology reveals this interconnectedness; that is clearly expressed in his latest publication on the topic in Antiquity (Kaul 2013). Moreover, both Kaul and Sognnes, who accept these interconnections, have an excellent understanding of Scandinavian Bronze Age rock art. In fact, most of the reviewers’ comments express a positive attitude to the interpretation of the rock art images as possible representations of oxhide ingots.

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Other Types of Meaning: Relationships between Round Barrows and Landscapes from 1500 bc–ac 1086

Cambridge Archaeological Journal ◽

10.1017/s0959774316000433 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 26 (4) ◽

pp. 665-696 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Anwen Cooper

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Extended Time ◽

Generic Group ◽

Time Period ◽

Human Practices ◽

Fresh Insight ◽

Insight Into ◽

Extended Time Period

This paper is about Bronze Age round barrows and the ways in which they became caught up in human practices over an extended time period. At one level it belongs to a flourishing body of work that examines the ‘re-use’ or ‘biography’ of prehistoric monuments. Rather than treating the latter as a generic group, however, this study focuses on chronologies of one specific monument type—round barrows—over a 2600-year period from 1500 bc–ac 1086. By bringing together evidence and interpretations generated mainly within period specialisms, significant homogeneities are revealed in terms of how activities at prehistoric monuments have previously been understood. The possibilities for seeking out different interpretative ground are duly explored. Using a case study from the east of England and drawing on evidence and ideas from much more broadly, the approach taken places particular emphasis on examining relationships between round barrows and other aspects of landscape. The findings offer fresh insight into the temporality of activities undertaken at round barrows, question existing characterizations of past people's historical understandings, and explore the long-term coherence of ‘round barrows’ as a category.

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7300 years of vegetation history and climate for NW Malta: a Holocene perspective

Climate of the Past Discussions ◽

10.5194/cpd-11-4505-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 4505-4567 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

B. Gambin ◽

V. Andrieu-Ponel ◽

F. Médail ◽

N. Marriner ◽

O. Peyron ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Vegetation History ◽

Human Impacts ◽

Moderate Increase ◽

Pollen Record ◽

The Holocene ◽

North West ◽

In Fire ◽

The Bronze Age ◽

Insight Into

Abstract. This paper investigates the Holocene vegetation dynamics for Burmarrad in north-west Malta and provides a pollen-based quantitative palaeoclimatic reconstruction for this centrally located Mediterranean archipelago. The pollen record from this site provides new insight into the vegetation changes from 7280 to 1730 cal BP which correspond well with other regional records. The climate reconstruction for the area also provides strong correlation with southern (below 40° N) Mediterranean sites. Our interpretation suggests an initially open landscape during the early Neolithic, surrounding a large palaeobay, developing into a dense Pistacia scrubland ca. 6700 cal BP. From about 4450 cal BP the landscape once again becomes open, coinciding with the start of the Bronze Age on the archipelago. This period is concurrent with increased climatic instability (between 4500 and 3700 cal BP) which is followed by a gradual decrease in summer moisture availability in the late Holocene. During the early Roman occupation period (1972 to 1730 cal BP) the landscape remains generally open with a moderate increase in Olea. This increase, corresponds to archaeological evidence for olive oil production in the area, along with increases in cultivated crop taxa and associated ruderal species, as well as a rise in fire events. The Maltese archipelago provides important insight into vegetation, human impacts and climatic changes in an island context during the Holocene.

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An insight into Old Hittite metallurgy: alloying practices at Hüseyindede (Çorum, Turkey)

Anatolian Studies ◽

10.1017/s006615461900005x ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 69 ◽

pp. 77-94 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Gonca Dardeniz ◽

İ. Tunç Sipahi ◽

Tayfun Yıldırım

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Nickel Alloys ◽

18Th Century ◽

Analytical Data ◽

Rural Landscape ◽

Early Bronze Age ◽

Old Kingdom ◽

Metal Artefacts ◽

First Time ◽

Insight Into

AbstractThis paper presents archaeological and analytical data on metal artefacts from Hüseyindede (Çorum, Turkey), dated to the Old Hittite period (ca 16th century BC). Hüseyindede, which is set in a rural landscape, demonstrates continuity in alloying traditions from the Early Bronze Age III (ca 26th/25th–22nd/21st century BC) and the Assyrian Trading Colonies period (20th–18th century BC) to the emergence of the Hittites. In addition to known alloying practices of the period, the site presents, for the first time, evidence of the existence of copper-nickel alloys, namely cupronickels, which so far have been documented only at the Late Bronze Age capital of the Hittites, Boğazköy/Hattuša. The Hüseyindede cupronickel objects now pinpoint the presence of this technology to regions spreading out from the Halys basin from the Old Kingdom Hittite period.

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Making Memories, Making Monuments: Changing Understandings of Henges in Prehistory and the Present

The Neolithic of Mainland Scotland ◽

10.3366/edinburgh/9780748685721.003.0007 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Rebecca K. Younger

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Critical Analysis ◽

Social Memory ◽

Early Bronze Age ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Study Sites ◽

Fresh Insight ◽

Insight Into

This paper offers a fresh insight into three of Scotland’s most complex henge monuments, based on a critical analysis of the term henge. The late Neolithic circular earthwork enclosures have undergone re-evaluation in Scotland as Early Bronze Age dates for some sites have emerged since the 1990s, and the author draws on the long-term nature of these monuments to explore what came before the earthworks. Case-study sites are Cairnpapple Hill, North Mains and Forteviot henge 1. Each is explored in terms of the centuries of re-use of the space for activities such as ceremony, deposition, fire-setting and monument construction, and viewed through a framework of social memory and commemoration,

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Furness’s First Farmers: Evidence of Early Neolithic Settlement and Dairying in Cumbria

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society ◽

10.1017/ppr.2020.2 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 86 ◽

pp. 165-198

Author(s):

Gav Robinson ◽

Matthew Town ◽

Torben Bjarke Ballin ◽

Ann Clarke ◽

Julie Dunne ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Lipid Analysis ◽

Early Neolithic ◽

Hazelnut Shell ◽

Surrounding Landscape ◽

Post Hole ◽

Dairy Fats ◽

Polished Stone Axes ◽

Insight Into ◽

Burnt Bone

In 2015, excavations at Stainton Quarry, Furness, Cumbria, recovered remains that provide a unique insight into Early Neolithic farming in the vicinity. Five pits, a post-hole, and deposits within a tree-throw and three crevices in a limestone outcrop were investigated. The latter deposits yielded potentially the largest assemblage of Carinated Bowl fragments yet recovered in Cumbria. Lipid analysis identified dairy fats within nine of these sherds. This was consistent with previous larger studies but represents the first evidence that dairying was an important component of Early Neolithic subsistence strategies in Cumbria. In addition, two deliberately broken polished stone axes, an Arran pitchstone core, a small number of flint tools and debitage, and a tuff flake were retrieved. The site also produced moderate amounts of charred grain, hazelnut shell, charcoal, and burnt bone. Most of the charred grain came from an Early Neolithic pit and potentially comprises the largest assemblage of such material recovered from Cumbria to date. Radiocarbon dating indicated activity sometime during the 40th–35th centuries cal bc as well as an earlier presence during the 46th–45th centuries. Later activity during the Chalcolithic and the Early Bronze Age was also demonstrated. The dense concentration of material and the fragmentary and abraded nature of the pottery suggested redeposition from an above-ground midden. Furthermore, the data recovered during the investigation has wider implications regarding the nature and use of the surrounding landscape during the Early Neolithic and suggests higher levels of settlement permanence, greater reliance on domesticated resources, and a possible different topographical focus for settlement than currently proposed.

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7300 years of vegetation history and climate for NW Malta: a Holocene perspective

Climate of the Past ◽

10.5194/cp-12-273-2016 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 273-297 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

B. Gambin ◽

V. Andrieu-Ponel ◽

F. Médail ◽

N. Marriner ◽

O. Peyron ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Vegetation History ◽

Human Impacts ◽

Moderate Increase ◽

Pollen Record ◽

Early Neolithic ◽

The Holocene ◽

In Fire ◽

The Bronze Age ◽

Insight Into

Abstract. This paper investigates the Holocene vegetation dynamics for Burmarrad in Northwest Malta and provides a pollen-based quantitative palaeoclimatic reconstruction for this centrally located Mediterranean archipelago. The pollen record from this site provides new insight into the vegetation changes from 7280 to 1730 cal BP which correspond well with other regional records. The climate reconstruction for the area also provides strong correlation with southern (below 40° N) Mediterranean sites. Our interpretation suggests an initially open landscape during the early Neolithic, surrounding a large palaeobay, developing into a dense Pistacia scrubland ca. 6700 cal BP. From about 4450 cal BP the landscape once again becomes open, coinciding with the start of the Bronze Age on the archipelago. This period is concurrent with increased climatic instability (between 4500 and 3700 cal BP) which is followed by a gradual decrease in summer moisture availability in the late Holocene. During the early Roman occupation period (1972–1730 cal BP) the landscape remains generally open with a moderate increase in Olea. This increase corresponds to archaeological evidence for olive oil production in the area, along with increases in cultivated crop taxa and associated ruderal species, as well as a rise in fire events. The Maltese archipelago provides important insight into vegetation, human impacts, and climatic changes in an island context during the Holocene.

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SURVIVING CRISIS: INSIGHTS FROM NEW EXCAVATION AT KARPHI, 2008

The Annual of the British School at Athens ◽

10.1017/s006824541200010x ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 107 ◽

pp. 1-85 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Saro Wallace ◽

Dimitra Mylona

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Social Systems ◽

Tenth Century ◽

Radiocarbon Dates ◽

The Social ◽

The Subject ◽

To Come ◽

Representative Area ◽

Insight Into

Seventy years after its first investigation, Karphi (Karfi) on Crete was the subject of a new pilot excavation in 2008. The main aim was to provide the first up-to-date detailed contextual records for the site across a representative area, thus filling in interpretative gaps left by the original extensive excavation. This paper presents and analyses these records with the aim of investigating the likely complexity of social systems at one of the largest new communities founded in Crete after the collapse of Bronze Age states c.1200 bc. Recent research has tended to focus on small villages, or on sites which later developed into poleis, meaning that crisis-period remains are poorly preserved. Occupied only between the crisis horizon of c.1200 bc and an important nucleation of Cretan communities at large ‘proto-polis’ settlements occurring in the early tenth century, the large Karphi site offers insight into the special challenges of creating large, potentially diverse new communities in crisis circumstances. It has one of the most dramatic of the new settlement locations, on steep-sided peaks 1100 m above sea level in an area which had never previously been settled. The social and economic adjustments needed here were particularly sharp and urgent, and the paper examines the structures which enabled them, using preliminary analyses of bioarchaeological data from the new project to assist reconstruction of the economy. The site has had other, highly specialised uses in its history, on which the new excavation has thrown light. The results highlight not only the resonance of this landscape in ancient consciousness, but also the ways in which such resonance could be exploited, both in the socially volatile post-collapse period and in the context of enhanced social and economic complexity as polis states started to come into being. Finally, a first set of radiocarbon dates from the new excavation is presented and assessed with regard to the dating of the Cretan Bronze to Iron Age transition and its wider ramifications.

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Bone collagen stable isotope analysis of a Bronze Age site of Liushugou and its implication for subsistence strategy in arid northwest China

The Holocene ◽

10.1177/0959683620970259 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 095968362097025

Author(s):

Weimiao Dong ◽

Cheng-Bang An ◽

Yongqiang Wang ◽

Wanglin Hu ◽

Jie Zhang

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Isotope Analysis ◽

Isotopic Analysis ◽

Northwest China ◽

Bone Collagen ◽

Human Populations ◽

Subsistence Strategy ◽

Subsistence Strategies ◽

Eastern Tianshan ◽

Carbon Isotopic

Several studies have revealed the subsistence strategies of Bronze Age people along Eastern Tianshan Mountains. However, all the previously revolved sites were permanent settlements. How people survived in arid harsh mountainous environment facing source scarcity during Bronze Age in the inner Asia is far beyond clear. This study focuses on bone carbon and nitrogen stable isotopic analysis of both human and faunal assemblage exhumed from Liushugou site, integrated with marcobotanical result and radiocarbon data to reveal human diets and subsistence strategy of this Bronze Age community. Stable carbon isotopic analysis of human bones (−19.1‰ to −17.2‰, −18.1 ± 0.4‰, n = 46) and macrobotanical results (barley) consistently indicating a nearly pure C3 based plants food intake. High δ15N values of the majority people (12.4‰ to 15.1‰, 13.4 ± 0.5‰, n = 44) point to heavy animal protein consumption. No detectable isotopic composition was observed between omnivores (boar, −19.0‰ and −17.5‰, 8.2‰ and 8.7‰, n = 2) and large number of herbivores (−20.0‰ to −9.7‰, −18 ± 1.7‰; 5.5‰ to 13.4‰, 8.4 ± 1.7‰; n = 56). Compared to those sites along Eastern Tianshan Mts. whose diets included millets/barley/wheat, humans at Liushugou site barely consumed millets during their occupation (3500–2900 cal BP). The diverse subsistence strategies of human populations demonstrate the active adaptations to different environment along Eastern Tianshan Mts. during Bronze Age.

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