The Environmental and Social Context of the Isleham Hoard

2010 ◽  
Vol 90 ◽  
pp. 73-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Malim ◽  
Steve Boreham ◽  
David Knight ◽  
George Nash ◽  
Richard Preece ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Osl Dating ◽  
Terrestrial Vegetation ◽  
Dry Land ◽  
Environmental Sequence ◽  
Exact Location ◽  
The Bronze Age

AbstractThis paper describes the rediscovery of the exact location for the Isleham hoard (tl 63197253) and presents the results of related fieldwork; it briefly reviews the metallurgical significance of the hoard, and discusses its local environmental and social context, as well as the distribution of founder's hoards within the Fenland region.The hoard was found to have been placed in a pit dug into a filled-in Bronze Age boundary ditch, next to a rectangular building, and adjacent to the edge of low-lying wetland bordering a palaeochannel which revealed an environmental sequence stretching from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age. This area is also in proximity to a possible ringwork. Mesolithic and Neolithic activity is evidenced by residual flint tools and pottery. By the Bronze Age the tongue of fen next to the hoard had begun to be invaded by ferns and terrestrial vegetation and its latest peat phase was radiocarbon dated to 4045 ± 62 bp. Molluscs within the boundary ditch show an open landscape with a mixture of dryland and wetland taxa, and the presence of Vertigo angustior, a rare British species no longer known from Cambridgeshire, and one indicative of transitional habitats between wet and dry land. This landscape was probably contemporary with the deposition of the hoard.Current typological and radiocarbon analysis for Wilburton metalwork would suggest a date within the period 1150 to 1000 bc for the hoard, whilst a typological assessment of the pot in which the hoard was found suggests an affinity with Post-Deverel-Rimbury (PDR) Plainware dated currently from around 1150 to 800 bc. OSL dating of a sample of the pot containing the hoard yielded a date of 1460 ± 230 bc at 1 sigma.The locations of other founder's hoards within the region suggest a clustering in the southern fens and South Cambridgeshire, apparently related to ancient routeways.

Disappearance Beyond Recall: A Social Context for Bronze Age Aurochs Extinction in Britain?

2015 ◽  
Vol 81 ◽  
pp. 107-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Evans
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Species Loss ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Bronze Age

The interest which attaches to the history of extinct British animals can only be equalled by the regret which must be felt, by all true naturalists, at theirdisappearance beyond recallfrom our fauna (Harting 1880, 3; emphasis added).The implications of pit-deposits containing aurochs/Bos primigeniusskulls dating to the Bronze Age, found in two recent excavations in Bedfordshire are outlined. Involving a review of related findings in south-eastern England, these serve as a platform to consider the dynamics of aurochs extinction, which is held to have occurred in Britain by the middle–later centuries of the 2nd millenniumbc. It should be stressed that, although consulting many ‘expert’ colleagues, this paper is not written from a faunal remains-specialist perspective. It is essentially discursive and primarily intended to highlight a significant site-recovery trend. It reflects, moreover, on issues of broad social relevance. Holocene human-induced extinctions have both an inherent curiosity and poignancy. Indeed now, faced with currently threatened mass-species loss, they can even involve – beyond regret – a sense of cumulative guilt.

scholarly journals The moulds from Velebit and European bronze age metal anvils

Starinar ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 139-182
Author(s):  
Barbara Armbruster ◽  
Albrecht Jockenhövel ◽  
Aleksandar Kapuran ◽  
Rasko Ramadanski
Keyword(s):  
Functional Analysis ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
General Role ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Village ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Significant Class

During the first excavations of the cemetery dating from the Bronze Age and Early Antiquity in the village of Velebit near Kanjiza (Northern Serbia) one of the excavated artefacts was found to belong to a used and broken stone mould for casting anvils. However, without an expert archaeologist to supervise the recovery of this find, which remained unknown for decades after its discovery, as a starting point, the authors of this article present a synthesis that takes into account several aspects of this significant class of metalcraft object. This proceeds from the history of the excavation to the general role of European Bronze Age anvils in gold and bronze metalworking, and then further on to their typological, terminological, chronological and functional analysis and to their long-range distribution as a sign of an interregional network of craftsmen, including their social context and symbolism.

The social context of seafaring in the Bronze Age revisited

2004 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 452-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Chapman ◽  
Benjamin Gearey
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Bronze Age

Swiss Pile-dwellings

Antiquity ◽  
1957 ◽  
Vol 31 (122) ◽  
pp. 68-72
Author(s):  
E. Vogt
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Complete List ◽  
Dry Land ◽  
The World ◽  
The Bronze Age

For about a century it has been assumed that during the Neolithic and part of the Bronze Age the inhabitants of what is now Switzerland built pile-dwellings on the lakes. This interpretation of the finds was put forward, as is well known, by Dr F. Keller, who did so much for Swiss prehistory. His theory was based upon a comparison of the very scanty remains of prehistoric buildings in Switzerland with pile-dwellings that are to be seen today in many parts of the world, erected both on dry land and also on the shores of lakes and of the sea, standing in water. In spite of some opposition, Keller's interpretation appeared so convincing that it aroused great interest and was generally accepted by archaeologists. It was not accidental that Keller had one of his important books on piledwellings published in England. Every museum in the world endeavoured to obtain some specimens of the Swiss finds, and today it is practically impossible to make even an approximately complete list of the older finds from the pile-dwellings.

David Lewis-Williams. Conceiving God: the cognitive origin and evolution of religion. 320 pages, 50 illustrations. 2010. London: Thames & Hudson; 978-0-500-051641 hardback £18.95.

Antiquity ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 85 (327) ◽  
pp. 294-295
Author(s):  
Timothy Insoll
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
David Lewis ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Osl Dating ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Meteorite Impact ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
Last Ice Age ◽  
Evolution Of Religion ◽  
The Bronze Age

We acknowledge the observations of Doppler et al. on our paper and we are grateful to Antiquity s editor for this opportunity to reply to their objections. Firstly it should be noted that we have not claimed that the Chiemsee once included the Tuttensee. We agree that the region in which both lakes lie was glacially formed. But while Lake Chiemsee is the result of the last Ice Age, the Tuttensee basin originates from a much later Holocene meteorite impact. We do not use the myth of Phaeton to date this event that is known as the Chiemgau impact. On the contrary, we estimate from archaeological evidence and OSL dating that the event occurred between 2200 and 800 BC i.e. the Bronze Age (Rappengluck et al. 2010: 436).We go on to discuss parallels between the independent dating of the Chiemgau impact and the possible time frame of the myth (Rappengluck et al. 2010: 435–37).

Reply to Doppler et al. ‘Response to “The fall of Phaethon: a Greco-Roman geomyth preserves the memory of a meteorite impact in Bavaria (south-east Germany) (Antiquity 84)”’

Antiquity ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 85 (327) ◽  
pp. 278-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Rappenglück ◽  
Michael A. Rappenglück ◽  
Kord Ernstson ◽  
Werner Mayer ◽  
Andreas Neumair ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
East Germany ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Osl Dating ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Meteorite Impact ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Last Ice Age ◽  
The Bronze Age

We acknowledge the observations of Doppler et al. on our paper and we are grateful to Antiquity's editor for this opportunity to reply to their objections.Firstly, it should be noted that we have not claimed that the Chiemsee once included the Tüttensee. We agree that the region in which both lakes lie was glacially formed. But while Lake Chiemsee is the result of the last Ice Age the Tüttensee basin originates from a much later Holocene meteorite impact. We do not use the myth of Phaeton to date this event that is known as the Chiemgau impact. On the contrary we estimate from archaeological evidence and OSL dating that the event occurred between 2200 and 800 BC, i.e. the Bronze Age (Rappenglück et al. 2010: 436).We go on to discuss parallels between the independent dating of the Chiemgau impact and the possible time frame of the myth (Rappenglück et al. 2010: 435–37).

Investigating Burnt Mounds in Clydesdale during Motorway Construction

1998 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
John A Atkinson ◽  
Camilla Dickson ◽  
Jane Downes ◽  
Paul Robins ◽  
David Sanderson
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Short Account ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Bronze Age

Summary Two small burnt mounds were excavated as part of the programme to mitigate the impact of motorway construction in the Crawford area. The excavations followed a research strategy designed to address questions of date and function. This paper surveys the various competing theories about burnt mounds and how the archaeological evidence was evaluated against those theories. Both sites produced radiocarbon dates from the Bronze Age and evidence to suggest that they were cooking places. In addition, a short account is presented of two further burnt mounds discovered during the construction of the motorway in Annandale.

A Neolithic Structure and Bronze Age Activity at West Flank Road, Drumchapel, Glasgow

2003 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-128
Author(s):  
Gavin Macgregor ◽  
Irene Cullen ◽  
Diane Alldritt ◽  
Michael Donnelly ◽  
Jennifer Miller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Research Division ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Archaeological Work ◽  
Age Features ◽  
The Bronze Age

Summary A programme of archaeological work was undertaken by Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD) at West Flank Road, Drumchapel, in close proximity to the site of the prehistoric cemetery of Knappers. This paper considers the results of excavation of a range of negative features, including earlier Neolithic and Bronze Age pits and postholes. The earlier Neolithic features date to c. 3500–3000 BC and are interpreted as the partial remains of a subrectangular structure. The Bronze Age features may relate to ceremonial activities in the wider area. The significance of these remains is considered in relation to the site of Knappers and wider traditions during the fourth to second millennia BC.

Martyn Barber Bronze and the Bronze Age

2005 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-195
Author(s):  
Brendan O'Connor
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
The Bronze Age
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