scholarly journals A Hafted Halberd Excavated at Trecastell, Powys: from Undercurrent to Uptake – the Emergence and Contextualisation of Halberds in Wales and North-west Europe

2015 ◽  
Vol 81 ◽  
pp. 1-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Needham ◽  
Mary Davis ◽  
Adam Gwilt ◽  
Mark Lodwick ◽  
Phil Parkes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
North West ◽  
General Review ◽  
Regional Group ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Regional Basis ◽  
Developmental Scheme

Excavations at Trecastell, Powys, south Wales, in 2007 yielded a copper halberd complete with its haft-grip. This has major implications for the mode of hafting halberds, but the discovery has also prompted a reconsideration of insular halberds in their north-west European context. Understanding the relationships between different types of halberd and different regional groups continues to be hampered by the dearth of good dating evidence, but the creation of better classifications for British and Irish weapons and new radiocarbon dates on two examples, one being Trecastell, have allowed a new developmental scheme to be advanced.The emergence of metal-headed halberds is considered more generally. While it is acknowledged that halberd-like implements pre-existed in other materials in some parts of Europe, it is argued that the appearance of metal-headed halberds depended on the transmission of a particular set of metallurgical and related skills. A new model for the vigorous uptake of halberds on a regional basis helps explain the patchiness and anachronism of halberd hotspots.The Trecastell halberd adds to one of the significant concentrations of the weapon type in Britain and prompts a more general review of the earliest metalwork from Wales and the Marches. For the Chalcolithic, halberds are instrumental in identifying a major contrast in depositional behaviour; this contrast dissolves at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age when a ‘new deposition ground’ is established. The former is attributed to the existence of a regional group across much of the region for whom the halberd served as a cultural icon, while the latter may relate to the demise of this enshrined value for the halberd.

DEATH BY COMBAT AT THE DAWN OF THE BRONZE AGE? PROFILING THE DAGGER-ACCOMPANIED BURIAL FROM RACTON, WEST SUSSEX

2017 ◽  
Vol 97 ◽  
pp. 65-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Needham ◽  
James Kenny ◽  
Garrard Cole ◽  
Janet Montgomery ◽  
Mandy Jay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
North West ◽  
Limited Efficacy ◽  
Elite Level ◽  
Protein Rich ◽  
Left Humerus ◽  
The Bronze Age

A previously unresearched Early Bronze Age dagger-grave found in 1989 at Racton, West Sussex, is profiled here through a range of studies. The dagger, the only grave accompaniment, is of the ‘transitional’ Ferry Fryston type, this example being of bronze rather than copper. Bayesian analysis of relevant radiocarbon dates is used to refine the chronology of the earliest bronze in Britain. While the Ferry Fryston type was current in the earlier half of the twenty-second centurybc, the first butt-riveted bronze daggers did not emerge until the second half. The Racton dagger is also distinguished by its elaborate rivet-studded hilt, an insular innovation with few parallels.The excavated skeleton was that of a senior male, buried according to the appropriate rites of the time. Isotopic profiling shows an animal-protein rich diet that is typical for the period, but also the likelihood that he was brought up in a region of older silicate sedimentary rocks well to the west or north west of Racton. He had suffered injury at or close to the time of death; a slice through the distal end of his left humerus would have been caused by a fine-edged blade, probably a dagger. Death as a result of combat-contested leadership is explored in the light of other injuries documented among Early Bronze Age burials. Codified elite-level combat could help to explain the apparent incongruity between the limited efficacy of early dagger forms and their evident weapon-status.

Excavation of Four Barrows, and a Middle Bronze Age Cremation Cemetery, at Heatherstone Grange, Bransgore, Hampshire

2018 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-89
Author(s):  
Richard Massey ◽  
Elaine L. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
South West ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

Excavation at Heatherstone Grange, Bransgore, Hampshire, investigated features identified in a previous evaluation. Area A included ring ditches representing two barrows. Barrow 1.1 held 40 secondary pits, including 34 cremation-related deposits of Middle Bronze Age date, and Barrow 1.2 had five inserted pits, including three cremation graves, one of which dated to the earlier Bronze Age, and was found with an accessory cup. A number of pits, not all associated with cremation burials, contained well-preserved urns of the regional Deverel-Rimbury tradition and occasional sherds from similar vessels, which produced a closely-clustered range of eight radiocarbon dates centred around 1300 BC. Of ten pits in Area C, three were cremation graves, of which one was radiocarbon-dated to the Early Bronze Age and associated with a collared urn, while four contained only pyre debris. Barrow 1.3, in Area E, to the south, enclosed five pits, including one associated with a beaker vessel, and was surrounded by a timber circle. Area F, further to the south-west, included two pits of domestic character with charcoal-rich fills and the remains of pottery vessels, together with the probable remains of a ditched enclosure and two sets of paired postholes. Area H, located to the north-west of Area E, partly revealed a ring ditch (Barrow 1.4), which enclosed two pits with charcoal-rich fills, one with a single Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age potsherd, and the other burnt and worked flint. A further undated pit was situated to the east of Barrow 1.4. The cremation cemetery inserted into Barrow 1.1 represents a substantial addition to the regional record of Middle Bronze Age cremation burials, and demonstrates important affinities with the contemporary cemeteries of the Stour Valley to the west, and sites on Cranborne Chase, to the north-west.

scholarly journals New 14C evidence for the Late Neolithic-Early Bronze Age transition in Southeast Europe

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yannis Maniatis ◽  
Zoï Tsirtsoni ◽  
Christine Oberlin ◽  
Pascal Darcque ◽  
Chaido Koukouli-Chryssanthaki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Human History ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The One ◽  
Neighbouring Island

The transition from the Late Neolithic (LN) period (locally also called Final Neolithic or Chalcolithic) to the Early Bronze Age (EBA) in Greece and the Southeast Balkans is an obscure period in human history. Previous radiocarbon evidence showed that in settlements with stratigraphical sequences stretching out on both periods, the absolute dates featured a gap ranging from 700 to 1000 years (roughly between 4000 and 3300/3000 cal. BC). On the other hand, there is only scarce evidence about settlements that would have been founded during the missing period, thus arising questions of paramount importance about the human occupational strategies in this period. Investigation tackling this particular problem is carried out within the framework of a broader research project (Balkans-4000) funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR). Here we discuss the latest radiocarbon results from three recently excavated multilayer settlements on the continental Greek Eastern Macedonia: Dikili Tash, Kryoneri and Sidirokastro. In all cases, the existing LN radiocarbon dates do not go beyond about 4000 BC, whereas the earliest EBA layer dates begin at around 3300 BC. A date in the last 1/3rd of the 4th millennium BC is also the date suggested for the one-layer transitional settlement on the neighbouring island of Thasos (Aghios Ioannis). The fact that the gap affects settlements of different types and locations, although there are no signs of major environmental changes, suggests that the reasons of their possible total or partial abandonment are more likely to be social than strictly environmental.

First archaeological investigations of barrows in the Bačka region and the question of the Eneolithic/Early Bronze Age barrows in Vojvodina

2020 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 350-375
Author(s):  
Jovan Koledin ◽  
Urszula Bugaj ◽  
Paweł Jarosz ◽  
Mario Novak ◽  
Marcin M. Przybyła ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Western Region ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Funeral Ritual ◽  
Science Centre ◽  
National Science ◽  
Steppe Communities ◽  
Burial Mounds ◽  
Two Stages

AbstractIn various prehistoric periods, the territory of Vojvodina became the target of the migration of steppe communities with eastern origins. The oldest of these movements are dated to the late Eneolithic and the beginning of the Early Bronze Age. There are at least two stages among them: I – dated to the end of the fourth millennium BC / beginning of the third millennium BC and II – dated from 3000 to 2600 BC and combined with the communities of the classical phase of the Yamnaya culture. The data documenting these processes have been relatively poor so far – in comparison with the neighboring regions of Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. A big drawback was the small number of systematically excavated mounds, providing comprehensive data on the funeral ritual of steppe communities. This poor database has been slightly enriched as a result of the design of the National Science Centre (Cracow, Poland) entitled “Danubian route of the Yamnaya culture”. Its effect was to examine the first two barrows located on the territory of Bačka – the western region of Vojvodina. Currently, these burial mounds are the westernmost points on the map of the cemeteries of the Yamnaya culture complex. Radiocarbon dates obtained for new finds, as well as for archival materials, allow specifying two stages of use of cemeteries of Yamnaya culture: I – around 3000–2900 BC and II – around 2800–2600 BC. Among the finds from Banat, there were also few materials coming probably from the older period, corresponding to the classical phase of Baden – Coţofeni I–II. The enigmatic nature of these discoveries, however, does not allow to specify their dating as well as cultural dependencies.

scholarly journals Rock art and the prehistoric landscape of Galicia: the results of field survey 1992–1994

1995 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
pp. 347-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bradley ◽  
Felipe Criado Boado ◽  
Ramón Fábregas Valcarce
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Field Survey ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Outer Edge ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Copper Age ◽  
North West ◽  
Abrupt Changes ◽  
Ground Conditions ◽  
The Relationship

This paper discusses the relationship between the earlier prehistoric pattern of settlement in Atlantic Europe and the creation of rock art. It investigates the organisation of the Copper Age and Early Bronze Age landscape of north-west Spain using the evidence provided by the distribution, siting, and composition of rock carvings. It presents the results of field survey in three sample areas extending from the centre to the outer edge of their distribution. Although these drawings cannot be interpreted as illustrations of daily life, they may have helped to define rights to particular resources in an area which experienced abrupt changes of ground conditions over the course of the year.

Palestinian radiocarbon dating: a reply to James Mellaart

Antiquity ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 54 (210) ◽  
pp. 21-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Weinstein
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Near East ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
As If

James Mellaart’s attempt to demonstrate a ‘high’ chronology for Egypt and the Near East for the period of c. 4000-1500 BC will undoubtedly stimulate much discussion among historians and archaeologists. He has forcefully pointed out various problems which have arisen in trying to reconcile the standard historical chronologies established between and within individual countries. It is probably true that some scholars have treated the so-called ‘middle’ chronology as if it was almost sacred, and certainly some individuals have ignored radiocarbon dates (especially calibrated dates) if they appeared to be in conflict with results obtained from traditional historical and archaeological sources. But neither these faults, nor others pointed out by the author, justify his own methods of trying to demolish the middle chronology in favour of a significantly higher one. Since elsewhere in this issue Barry Kemp is presenting a critical review of Mellaart’s Egyptian historical data, and has included some remarks on the Egyptian radiocarbon dates, I will restrict my own remarks here largely to the Palestinian radiocarbon materials, and will only comment on the Egyptian C14 dates as they pertain to Palestinian Early Bronze Age chronology.

scholarly journals Southern Palestinian Chronology: Two Radiocarbon Dates for the Early Bronze Age at Tell El-Hesi (Israel)

Radiocarbon ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger W Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Southern Levant ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates

Several articles reporting radiocarbon dates of Early Bronze Age (EB) material from excavations in the southern Levant have been published over the last 30 yr. The excavations conducted at Tell el-Hesi have produced material from which 2 additional 14C dates have been extracted to date. The 2 samples confirm the EB dating of Field VI material and suggest EB III settlement at Hesi might be earlier than previously reported based on pottery typology.

scholarly journals The Beginning of the Early Bronze Age in the North Jordan Valley: New14C Determinations from Pella in Jordan

Radiocarbon ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 905-913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Bourke ◽  
Ugo Zoppi ◽  
John Meadows ◽  
Quan Hua ◽  
Samantha Gibbins
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Jordan Valley ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The North ◽  
Precursor Phase ◽  
Chalcolithic Period ◽  
Early Phases ◽  
Ams Dates

This article reports on 10 new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates from early phases of the Early Bronze Age at the long-lived settlement of Pella (modern Tabaqat Fahl) in the north Jordan Valley. The new AMS dates fall between 3400 and 2800 cal BC, and support a recent suggestion that all Chalcolithic period occupation had ceased by 3800/3700 cal BC at the latest (Bourke et al. 2004b). Other recently published Early Bronze Age14C data strongly supports this revisionist scenario, suggesting that the earliest phase of the Early Bronze Age (EBA I) occupied much of the 4th millennium cal BC (3800/3700 to 3100/3000 cal BC). As this EB I period in the Jordan Valley is generally viewed as the key precursor phase in the development of urbanism (Joffe 1993), this revisionist chronology has potentially radical significance for understanding both the nature and speed of the move from village settlement towards a complex urban lifeway.

scholarly journals Chronology of the Early Bronze Age in the Southern Levant: New Analysis for a High Chronology

Radiocarbon ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 54 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 525-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Regev ◽  
Pierre De Miroschedji ◽  
Raphael Greenberg ◽  
Eliot Braun ◽  
Zvi Greenhut ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Bayesian Modeling ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Southern Levant ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The Given

The chronology of the Early Bronze Age (EBA) in the southern Levant and the synchronization between the sites, considering seriation and radiocarbon dates, have shown large inconsistencies and disagreement. We have assembled 42014C dates, most of them previously published and a few provided directly by the excavators. The dates have been re-evaluated on the basis of their archaeological context and using analytical criteria. Bayesian modeling has been applied to the selected dates in relation to the given seriation of the EBA subperiods (EB I, II III, IV). Sites with 2 or more sequential sub-phases were individually modeled in order to define the transitions between the subperiods. The new chronology indicates that the EB I–II transition occurred site-dependently between 3200–2900 BC, with EB II–III around 2900 BC, and EB III–IV ∼2500 BC.

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