Hot Stone Technology at Bucklers Park, Crowthorne, Berkshire: The Use and Re-use of a Persistent Place During the Bronze and Iron Ages

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Helen Chittock ◽  
Robert Masefield ◽  
Enid Allison ◽  
Anne Crone ◽  
Derek Hamilton ◽  
...  

Archaeological investigations at Bucklers Park in Crowthorne have revealed a window onto a significant later prehistoric place, which was used and revisited over 1700 years between the Early Bronze Age and later Iron Age (c. 1800–100 bc). Activity on site was based around the heating of water using fire-heated flint, producing three mounds of fire-cracked flint and burnt organic material. These ‘burnt mounds’ are known across later prehistoric Britain and Ireland, but the ways they may have been formed are uncertain, and they are arguably under-discussed in southern Britain. Whilst water was initially drawn from a stream, a series of wells were established at the site between the Middle Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, one of which contained a well-preserved log ladder. These wells were revisited and recut over long periods of time and during the Middle Iron Age the site’s function shifted dramatically when a roundhouse was constructed. The long-term use of the site, its excellent organic preservation, dating, and its location in a remote area on the Bagshot Heath, make it significant. This paper summarises the findings from the excavations, discussing the formation of the site in the context of wider research on later prehistoric burnt mounds.

2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sineva Kukoč

In the northern Dalmatia region where there were only two cultural systems throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages, four moments are crucial in the use of cremation ritual during the 2nd/1st centuries BC: in the Early Bronze Age (Cetina culture: Ervenik, Podvršje − Matakov brig, Nadin, Krneza − Duševića glavica), in the Early Iron Age (Nadin, mound 13, Krneza − Jokina glavica), in Hellenism (Dragišić, gr. 4 A-C), and finally, for the first time very intensively during the Romanization of Liburnians. Newly discovered cremations in ceramic urns (gr. 3, 13) in burial mound 13 (9th – 6th cent. BC) from Nadin near Benkovac are the first example (after Dragišić) of Liburnian cremation; more precisely, burial mound 13 with 19 graves represents a form of biritualism in the Liburnians. It is also an example of the greatest number of Liburnian burials under a mound, with crouched, extended and cremated skeletons and many ritual remains (traces of fire on the ground and on animal bones: funerary feast?; numerous remains of ceramic vessels (libation?). Although typical Liburnian burial "inherits" many formal and symbolic elements (stone cist, enclosing wall, libation, etc.) from the (Early) Bronze Age (and probably Eneolithic as well), cremation in the Liburnian burial mound 13 from Nadin cannot be explained in terms of continuity from the Early Bronze Age; links are missing, particularly those from the Middle Bronze Age in the study of the cultural dynamics of the 2nd millennium BC in the northern Dalmatia region. Squat form of the Nadin urns with a distinct neck has analogies in the Liburnian (Nin) and Daunian funerary pots for burying newborns (ad encytrismos), and also in the typology of pottery (undecorated or decorated) in a wider region (Ruše, V.Gorica, Dalj/Vukovar, Terni II, Este, Bologna I-II, Roma II, Cumae I, Pontecagnano IA, Histrians, etc.), i.e. in the forms widespread from the Danubian region, Alps, and Balkans to the Apennine Peninsula between the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages (10th/9th – 8th cent. BC). Although appearance of cremation in the Picenian culture has not been completely clear (Fermo necropolis, burials from Ancona, Numana, Novilara: graves Servici, 29, 39 from Piceno II-III, from the 8th/7th.cent. BC), Liburnian culture is most similar to the Picenian culture in the Adriatic world by the intensity and period of cremation, and form of urns. Specifically, decorated urn in a male grave 52 from Numana from the 9th century BC is analogous to the Nadin urns. This grave from Numana is usually mentioned as an example of trans-Adriatic, Picenian-Liburnian (Balkanic) i.e. Picenian-Histrian relations. Liburnian urns are similar to the urn from the grave in Numana, 495, Davanzali, from the late 9th century by their profilation. "Genesis" of both Liburnian and Picenian cremation is unknown. They are two convergent phenomena, reflecting the "unity" of the late Urnenfelder world of the 10th/9th centuries BC and resulting from cultural-ethnical contacts in a "closed circle" from the Danubian region – southeastern Alpine region – Apennine Peninsula, supported by smaller migrations in the first centuries of the Iron Age, from the trans-Adriatic direction in Picenum (with definite Villanova influence), and in Liburnia probably from the hinterland. In this Adriatic circle in the first centuries of the Iron Age multiple cultural contacts between Liburnians, Histrians and Picenians are for now a good (initial) context for a more detailed interpretation of Liburnian cremation. Despite the aforementioned, it is not necessary to relate directly the structure (ritual, goods) of gr. 52, Numana – Qualiotti to Histrian patterns nor the grave 495, Numana-Davanzali to the Iapodian ones. Cremated Liburnian burial from the Early Iron Age represents a certain continuity and a "reflection" of the late Urnenfelder circle, which was manifested in different ways in the beginnings of the Liburnian, Picenian, and Histrian cultures and elsewhere. The latest excavations on a planned Liburnian-Roman necropolis in Nadin (Nedinum) provided us with new information about the spatial, chronological and symbolical relation (religious, social) between the autochtonous Liburnian and Roman component in the period of Romanization of northern Dalmatia.


1978 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 219-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Hedges ◽  
David Buckley ◽  
C. Bonsall ◽  
I. A. Kinnes ◽  
J. C. Barrett ◽  
...  

SummaryThe Causewayed Enclosure at Orsett, Essex, was trial trenched in 1975 to determine the state of site preservation and confirm its postulated Neolithic date and site sequence. The enclosure consisted of three incomplete circuits of discontinuous ditch with an associated timber palisade slot lying inside and concentric to the middle ditch. Within the interior was an oval post hole structure of a contemporary date. Quantities of Mildenhall style pottery and flint artifacts of the mid third millennium b.c. were recovered from the primary ditch silts and other features. A small quantity of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age wares came from the secondary ditch silts and the interior.Later phases on the site were represented by unenclosed Early Iron Age occupation, a Middle Iron Age sub-rectangular enclosure and Saxon ring-ditch burials.


2006 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 341-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy M. Jones

Three seasons of archaeological fieldwork were carried out in 1998–2000 by Cornwall Archaeological Un within the Imerys Stannon China Clay Works, Bodmin Moor. The first two seasons involved the excavation of an Early Bronze Age cairn group and Middle Bronze Age and Middle Iron Age settlement activity. The third season on the Northern Downs involved the evaluation a number of cairns, field systems, and palaeoenvironmental sites.The cairn group consisted of three earlier Bronze Age ring-cairns and two ‘tailed’ cairns. One ring-cairn continued to be used as a ceremonial monument in the Middle Bronze Age and was reused during the Iron Age as a dwelling. An artefact assemblage including Bronze and Iron Age pottery and stonework was recovered. Two prehistoric beads one of faience, the other of amber, were also found.Ten Bronze Age radiocarbon determinations spanning 2490–1120 cal BC and two Iron Age determinations (370–40 cal BC) were obtained from three of the cairns. Two pollen columns on the Northern Downs were also dated. Significantly, a series of eight determinations was obtained from a single column, which provided environmental information from the Mesolithic through to the early medieval period. The radiocarbon dating showed that impact on the vegetation of the Down commenced during the Neolithic, with larger-scale clearance during the Bronze Age. Widespread open grassland was established by the Middle Bronze Age.It is suggested here that use of space within the cairn group was structured and that the cairns formed a monument complex which was part of a wider landscape cosmology, involving groupings of particular monument types and the referencing of rocky outcrops and tors.The investigations on Stannon Down were important as an opportunity to study an Early Bronze Age ceremonial landscape and reconsider how later Middle Bronze Age and Iron Age peoples on Bodmin Moor might have engaged with and interpreted the materiality of earlier prehistoric monuments.


Author(s):  
John K. Papadopoulos

This paper begins with an overview of the bronze headbands from the prehistoric (Late Bronze to Early Iron Age) burial tumulus of Lofkënd in Albania, which were found among the richest tombs of the cemetery, all of them of young females or children. It is argued that these individuals represent a class of the special dead, those who have not attained a critical rite de passage: marriage. In their funerary attire these individuals go to the grave as brides, married to death. The significance of the Lofkënd headbands is reviewed, as is their shape and decoration, but it is their context that contributes to a better understanding of Aegean examples, including the many bronze, gold, and silver headbands found in tombs from the Early Bronze Age through the Early Iron Age, as well as those dedicated as votive offerings in sanctuaries. In addition to discussing the evidence for headbands in the Aegean and much of southeast Europe, this paper also attempts to uncover the word used in this early period in Greece for these distinctive items of personal ornament. In memory of Berit Wells.


Author(s):  
Erdni A. Kekeev ◽  
◽  
Maria A. Ochir-Goryaeva ◽  
Evgeny G. Burataev ◽  
◽  
...  

The article presents materials from the excavation work of the mound 1 from the Egorlyk group. The mound was formed over two burials of the Yamnaya culture of the early Bronze Age era. The only inlet burial was placed in the center of the mound during the transition period from the late Bronze Age to the early Iron Age. The discovery of this monument is significant because it is the first monument of the Bronze Age explored on the north-eastern slope of the Stavropol height, in-between the rivers Egorlyk and Kalaus and bounded from the east by the lake Manych.


2022 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 37-42
Author(s):  
A. P. Borodovsky

Handles of Early Iron Age bronze cauldrons from southwestern Siberia are described with reference to their ritual meaning. Typological features, such as knobs, arcuate, or square shape, are relevant for dating. Two chronological groups are established: the Tagar (second half of the 1st millennium BC) and Xiongnu-Xianbei (late 1st millennium BC to early 1st millennium AD). The interpretation of handles depends on the context. At settlements (Turunovka-4) and in certain hoards (First Dzhirim) of the Late Bronze Age, they can belong to foundry scrap. However, handles occur in long-term ritual sites such as Aidashenskaya Cave, suggesting a different interpretation. Indeed, at Eastern European forest-steppe sites of the Xiongnu era, handles of cauldrons had been intentionally buried, most often near water sources, where the summer camps of nomadic herders were situated. A similar situation is observed in southwestern Siberia, from the Baraba forest-steppe to the Middle Yenisei valley.


Author(s):  
Maria Iacovou

This chapter examines the local conditions, traditions, and forms of urban settlement in Cyprus during the Iron Age. It explains that almost to the very end of the Middle Bronze Age, Cyprus had remained a closed rural society, though it was by then completely surrounded by Mediterranean urban states and it was only by 1100 BC that new social and economic structures started to dictate the establishment and development of new population and power centers. The archaeological evidence of 800–600 BC stands testimony to the culmination of a long process of social evolution and urbanization.


2015 ◽  
Vol 90 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Agre

Es werden die Ergebnisse der Ausgrabung an einem Grabhügel „Lozianska Mogila” in den Jahren 2007 und 2009 vorgestellt. Insgesamt 21 Gräber wurden darin entdeckt, die sich auf drei stratigraphische Schichten verteilten. Der erste Hügel barg zehn Bestattungen, die in die frühe Bronzezeit datieren. Vier Gräber wurden während der mittleren Bronzezeit in diesen Hügel eingelassen. Über sie wurde eine weitere, die zweite Aufschüttung errichtet. In sie wurden die weiteren sechs mittelbronzezeitlichen Gräber eingetieft. Eine längere Zeit wurde der Grabhügel danach nicht mehr belegt. Erst in der Eisenzeit wurde ein weiteres Grab errichtet, das mit einer dritten und letzten Aufschüttung überdeckt wurde. Jede Bestattung wird innerhalb eines Kataloges in dem Artikel beschrieben.Die Kennzeichen der Bestattungssitten und der Grabkonstruktionen werden zusammen mit den Beigaben getrennt für die frühe und die mittlere Bronzezeit besprochen. Von besonderem Interesse ist dieCet article présente les résultats de fouilles entreprises en 2007 et 2009 dans le tumulus de « Lozianska Mogila » sur le territoire de la Bulgarie moderne. Vingt-etune sépultures et trois niveaux stratigraphiques ont été découverts. Le tumulus le plus ancien contenait dix sépultures du Bronze Ancien. Quatre sépultures du Bronze Moyen ont été insérées dans ce tumulus. Un second niveau a recouvert ces quatre sépultures et six autres sépultures du Bronze Moyen ont taillé ce niveau. Une sépulture datant de l’âge du Fer fut ajoutée après une longue période d’abandon et ensuite recouverte d’une troisième et dernière couche de terre. Chaque ensemble funéraire fait l’objet d’une description détaillée et les aspects caractéristiques des sépultures du Bronze Ancien et Moyen, leur construction, les rites funéraires ainsi que l’inventaire du mobilier sont présentés. Une datation radiocarbone obtenue pour la tombe no. 14 est d’intérêt particulier : une date de 2888–2676 cal BC nous permet de l’attribuer à la phase Bronze Ancien II (en termes de chronologie relative bulgare). Nous accordons aussi une attention particulière à la dernière sépulture du tumulus, datée de la première moitié du IVe siècle av. J.-C. sur la base de trouvailles semblables en Bulgarie méridionale.The results of excavations in 2007 and 2009 of the “Lozianska Mogila” barrow in present-day Bulgaria are presented here. Twenty-one graves were discovered in the barrow and a stratigraphic sequence of three layers was observed. The earliest barrow contained ten graves dated to the Early Bronze Age. Four burials of the Middle Bronze Age were dug into this early tumulus. A second layer was then heaped on these four graves and six other graves dating to the Middle Bronze Age were cut into it. After a longer period of disuse another grave was built in the Iron Age and then covered by the third and last layer. The article contains a detailed description of each grave complex. Characteristic aspects of the burial rites and grave construction as well as the inventory of the Early and Middle Bronze Age complexes are discussed in turn. The radiocarbon date obtained for grave no. 14, with a time span of 2888–2676 cal BC is of particular interest and corresponds to its archaeological attribution to the Early Bronze Age II (in terms of Bulgarian relative chronology). Special attention is also given to the latest grave in the barrow, which parallels in southern Bulgaria would date to the first half of the 4


Radiocarbon ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (6) ◽  
pp. 1645-1656
Author(s):  
Guy De Mulder ◽  
Mark Van Strydonck ◽  
Mathieu Boudin ◽  
Ignace Bourgeois

ABSTRACTRecently a cremation cemetery was excavated at the site of Wijnegem where 29 cremation graves and 9 funerary monuments were uncovered. Thirty radiocarbon (14C) dates were carried out, mostly on cremated bone but also 10 charcoal samples were dated. Twenty-four cremations were studied. Four ring ditches were dated by charcoal samples from the infill of the ditch. The 14C dates showed an interesting long-term occupation of the cemetery. Different phases were ascertained. The history of the cemetery starts in the northern part of the site around a circular funerary monument. Two cremations were dated at the transition of the Early to Middle Bronze Ages. Two other graves represent the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Ages. The main occupation period dates between the end of the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. Finally, an isolated cremation grave marks the definite abandonment of the site during the Late Iron Age.


1997 ◽  
Vol 63 ◽  
pp. 221-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Parker Pearson ◽  
R.E. Sydes ◽  
S. Boardman ◽  
B. Brayshay ◽  
P.C. Buckland ◽  
...  

The Early Iron Age enclosures and associated sites on Sutton Common on the western edge of the Humberhead Levels contain an exceptional variety of archaeological data of importance not only to the region but for the study of later prehistory in the British Isles. Few other later prehistoric British sites outside the East Anglian fens and the Somerset Levels have thus far produced the quantity and quality of organically preserved archaeological materials that have been found, despite the small scale of the investigations to date. The excavations have provided an opportunity to integrate a variety of environmental analyses, of wood, pollen, beetles, waterlogged and carbonised plant remains, and of soil micromorphology, to address archaeological questions about the character, use, and environment of this Early Iron Age marsh fort. The site is comprised of a timber palisaded enclosure and a succeeding multivallate enclosure linked to a smaller enclosure by a timber alignment across a palaeochannel, with associated finds ranging in date from the Middle Bronze Age to the Roman and medieval periods. Among the four adjacent archaeological sites is an Early Mesolithic occupation site, also with organic preservation, and there is a Late Neolithic site beneath the large enclosure. Desiccation throughout the common is leading to the damage and loss of wooden and organic remains. It is hoped that the publication of these results, of investigations between 1987 and 1993, will lead to a fuller investigation taking place.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document