Metallic encounters in the Balearic Islands: An approach to Western Mediterranean trade dynamics in the ‘global’ Late Bronze Age

2020 ◽  
Vol 550 ◽  
pp. 130-146
Author(s):  
Pau Sureda
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Balearic Islands ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Trade Dynamics

Pollen Signatures of a Ritual Process in the Collective Burial Cave of Cova des Pas (Late Bronze Age, Minorca, Balearic Islands, Spain)

2017 ◽  
pp. 28-43
Author(s):  
Santiago Riera Mora ◽  
Gabriel Servera-Vives ◽  
Llorenç Picornell-Gelabert ◽  
Manon Cabanis ◽  
Marzia Boi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Balearic Islands ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Ritual Process ◽  
Burial Cave

scholarly journals The Arrival of Steppe and Iranian Related Ancestry in the Islands of the Western Mediterranean

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel M. Fernandes ◽  
Alissa Mittnik ◽  
Iñigo Olalde ◽  
Iosif Lazaridis ◽  
Olivia Cheronet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
African Ancestry ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Balearic Islands ◽  
The People ◽  
Y Chromosomes ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Reported Data ◽  
Number Of Individuals

A series of studies have documented how Steppe pastoralist-related ancestry reached central Europe by at least 2500 BCE, while Iranian farmer-related ancestry was present in Aegean Europe by at least 1900 BCE. However, the spread of these ancestries into the western Mediterranean where they have contributed to many populations living today remains poorly understood. We generated genome-wide ancient DNA from the Balearic Islands, Sicily, and Sardinia, increasing the number of individuals with reported data from these islands from 3 to 52. We obtained data from the oldest skeleton excavated from the Balearic islands (dating to ∼2400 BCE), and show that this individual had substantial Steppe pastoralist-derived ancestry; however, later Balearic individuals had less Steppe heritage reflecting geographic heterogeneity or immigration from groups with more European first farmer-related ancestry. In Sicily, Steppe pastoralist ancestry arrived by ∼2200 BCE and likely came at least in part from Spain as it was associated with Iberian-specific Y chromosomes. In Sicily, Iranian-related ancestry also arrived by the Middle Bronze Age, thus revealing that this ancestry type, which was ubiquitous in the Aegean by this time, also spread further west prior to the classical period of Greek expansion. In Sardinia, we find no evidence of either eastern ancestry type in the Nuragic Bronze Age, but show that Iranian-related ancestry arrived by at least ∼300 BCE and Steppe ancestry arrived by ∼300 CE, joined at that time or later by North African ancestry. These results falsify the view that the people of Sardinia are isolated descendants of Europe’s first farmers. Instead, our results show that the island’s admixture history since the Bronze Age is as complex as that in many other parts of Europe.

The ways people move: mobility and seascapes in the Balearic Islands during the late Bronze Age (c. 1400–850/800bc)

2011 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manel Calvo ◽  
David Javaloyas ◽  
Daniel Albero ◽  
Jaume Garcia-Rosselló ◽  
Víctor Guerrero
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Balearic Islands ◽  
Late Bronze Age

scholarly journals Tracking climate variability in the western Mediterranean during the Late Holocene: a multiproxy approach

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 1395-1414 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Nieto-Moreno ◽  
F. Martínez-Ruiz ◽  
S. Giralt ◽  
F. Jiménez-Espejo ◽  
D. Gallego-Torres ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Medieval Climate Anomaly ◽  
Climate Anomaly ◽  
Dark Ages ◽  
Humid Period

Abstract. Climate variability in the western Mediterranean is reconstructed for the last 4000 yr using marine sediments recovered in the west Algerian-Balearic Basin, near the Alboran Basin. Fluctuations in chemical and mineralogical sediment composition as well as grain size distribution are linked to fluvial-eolian oscillations, changes in redox conditions and paleocurrent intensity. Multivariate analyses allowed us to characterize three main groups of geochemical and mineralogical proxies determining the sedimentary record of this region. These three statistical groups were applied to reconstruct paleoclimate conditions at high resolution during the Late Holocene. An increase in riverine input (fluvial-derived elements – Rb/Al, Ba/Al, REE/Al, Si/Al, Ti/Al, Mg/Al and K/Al ratios), and a decrease in Saharan eolian input (Zr/Al ratio) depict the Roman Humid Period and the Little Ice Age, while drier environmental conditions are recognized during the Late Bronze Age-Iron Age, the Dark Ages and the Medieval Climate Anomaly. Additionally, faster bottom currents and more energetic hydrodynamic conditions for the former periods are evidenced by enhanced sortable silt (10-63 μm) and quartz content, and by better oxygenated bottom waters – as reflected by decreasing redox-sensitive elements (V/Al, Cr/Al, Ni/Al and Zn/Al ratios). In contrast, opposite paleoceanographic conditions are distinguished during the latter periods, i.e. the Late Bronze Age-Iron Age, the Dark Ages and the Medieval Climate Anomaly. Although no Ba excess was registered, other paleoproductivity indicators (total organic carbon content, Br/Al ratio, and organometallic ligands such as U and Cu) display the highest values during the Roman Humid Period, and together with increasing preservation of organic matter, this period exhibits by far the most intense productivity of the last 4000 yr. Fluctuations in detrital input into the basin as the main process managing deposition, reflected by the first eigenvector defined by the Principal Component Analyses, point to solar irradiance and the North Atlantic Oscillation variability as the main driving mechanisms behind natural climate variability over decadal to centennial time-scales for the last 4000 yr.

Archaeology and Material Culture of Phoenicia and the Phoenicians

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunnar Lehmann
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Specific Pattern ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
The Mediterranean

The Phoenicians are the population of ancient Lebanon during the 1st millennium bce. However, Phoenician settlement was also located on the coast of modern Syria and Israel. The Phoenicians were not immigrants and developed out of the local Bronze Age populations of the 2nd millennium bce. Some scholars do not distinguish the Late Bronze Age (1550–1150 bce) city-states of Lebanon from those of the Phoenicians in the Iron Age of the 1st millennium bce. Rather than defining “Phoenicia” with ethnic features, the approach chosen here emphasizes aspects of the political economy. With the sociopolitical changes at the end of the Late Bronze Age, new communities emerged with a specific pattern of social and political organization and economic activities that increasingly included “private” entrepreneurial initiatives. With these developments, a new form of Levantine city-state emerged from previous Bronze Age formations. Another specific feature of the Phoenician phenomenon is the development of an alphabetic writing that had significant influence on ancient scripts of the 1st millennium bce, such as Hebrew, Aramaic, or ancient Greek writing. This bibliography focuses on the archaeology of the Phoenician homeland in the Levant during the Iron Age and the Persian period (c. 1150–330 bce). Scholars have repeatedly investigated the problem of defining the Phoenicians—if this is at all possible. The appellation “Phoenicians” originates in ancient Greek views and does not represent the self-definition of “Phoenicians” themselves, who preferred to identify themselves with their urban communities, such as “man of Tyre” or “woman of Arwad.” The unprecedented rise of the Phoenician economy after the 9th century bce had a significant impact on social and cultural changes in the Levant and the Mediterranean. Phoenician material culture appeared in all the neighboring economies of Phoenicia and led eventually to a colonization in the western Mediterranean. However one wants to define the Phoenicians, they were among the principal agents of an early globalization of the Mediterranean and the ancient Near East.

The Concept of Palestine: The Conception Of Palestine from the Late Bronze Age to the Modern Period

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Masalha
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Political Geography ◽  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Collective Consciousness ◽  
Ancient History ◽  
Master Narratives ◽  
The Bible ◽  
School History

The Concept of Palestine is deeply rooted in the collective consciousness of the indigenous people of Palestine and the multicultural ancient past. The name Palestine is the most commonly used from the Late Bronze Age (from 1300 BCE) onwards. The name Palestine is evident in countless histories, inscriptions, maps and coins from antiquity, medieval and modern Palestine. From the Late Bronze Age onwards the names used for the region, such as Djahi, Retenu and Cana'an, all gave way to the name Palestine. Throughout Classical Antiquity the name Palestine remained the most common and during the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods the concept and political geography of Palestine acquired official administrative status. This article sets out to explain the historical origins of the concept of Palestine and the evolving political geography of the country. It will seek to demonstrate how the name ‘Palestine’ (rather than the term ‘Cana'an’) was most commonly and formally used in ancient history. It argues that the legend of the ‘Israelites’ conquest of Cana'an’ and other master narratives of the Bible evolved across many centuries; they are myth-narratives, not evidence-based accurate history. It further argues that academic and school history curricula should be based on historical facts/empirical evidence/archaeological discoveries – not on master narratives or Old Testament sacred-history and religio-ideological constructs.

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