Edges of bronze and expressions of masculinity: the emergence of a warrior class at Kerma in Sudan

Antiquity ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 87 (335) ◽  
pp. 79-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henriette Hafsaas-Tsakos
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Skeletal Remains ◽  
The Third ◽  
Warrior Class ◽  
The Bronze Age

The author revisits the celebrated cemetery of the Bronze Age Kerma culture by the third cataract of the Nile and re-examines its monumental tumuli. The presence of daggers and drinking vessels in secondary burials are associated with skeletal remains that can be attributed to fighting men, encouraging their interpretation as members of a warrior elite. Here, on the southern periphery of the Bronze Age world, is an echo of the aggressive aristocracy of Bronze Age Europe.

scholarly journals Chronology of Soil Evolution and Climatic Changes in the Dry Steppe Zone of the Northern Caucasus, Russia, During the 3rd Millennium BC

Radiocarbon ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (2B) ◽  
pp. 629-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
A L Alexandrovskiy ◽  
J van der Plicht ◽  
A B Belinskiy ◽  
O S Khokhlova
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Analytical Data ◽  
Steppe Zone ◽  
Climatic Changes ◽  
Northern Caucasus ◽  
Soil Evolution ◽  
The Third ◽  
Dry Steppe ◽  
The Bronze Age

Chrono-sequences of paleosols buried under different mounds of the large Ipatovo Kurgan, constructed during the Bronze Age, have been studied to reconstruct climatic changes in the dry steppe zone of the Northern Caucasus, Russia. Abrupt climatic and environmental changes in the third millennium BC have been reconstructed, using morphological and analytical data of the soil. Based on accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates of small charcoal fragments from the soil chrono-sequence, we concluded that two upper paleosols (with the clearest evidence of arid pedogenesis) developed between about 2600–2450 BC.

The seasonal cycle of grassland use in the Caspian Sea steppe during the Bronze Age: A new approach to an old problem

2001 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 346-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia I. Shishlina
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
The Caspian Sea ◽  
The Third ◽  
Eurasian Steppe ◽  
Local Environments ◽  
Third Millennium ◽  
Third Millennium Bc ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Seasonal Data

This article is devoted to the understanding of the importance of seasonal use of grasslands in the occupation of the Eurasian steppe during the Bronze Age. The pilot section of the research is Kalmykia – a steppe situated between the lower Volga and the Don rivers. We have to look at specific strategies of using local environments, river valleys, upland plateaux, and open steppe lands. During the third millennium BC, pastoralists of the Yamnaya and Catacomb cultures began to exploit the Eurasian steppe grasslands and they had to take advantage of the seasonal variation in steppe vegetation to create a sustainable economy. Seasonal use of grasslands became the main feature of the definition of pastoralism. This is the first time that early steppe materials have been analysed for seasonal data. On the basis of a combination of the seasonal data, settlement data and recent chronological information, a preliminary reconstruction is presented of two contrasting periods of land use for the third millennium BC.

scholarly journals Three examples of geometrical morphometry employment for earthenware vessel shapes study (On the opportunities and limitations of method)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Е.В. Суханов ◽  
Е.В. Волкова
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Modern Method ◽  
Burial Ground ◽  
The Third ◽  
Culturally Different ◽  
Source Data ◽  
Research Problems ◽  
Technology Of Production ◽  
The Bronze Age

The geometrical morphometry represents a modern method of statistical analysis of objects’ morphology. The article is dedicated to discussion of opportunities and limitations of geometrical morphometry methods for study of earthenware shapes. The article deals with three examples of geometrical morphometry use for analysis of vessel shapes study in solving research problems of various complexity. Every of these examples differs in amount of known source data on objects of study. In the first example results of analysis of two types of early Byzantine amphorae forms are considered. By dint of geometrical morphometry it became possible to establish legitimacy of these types detachment and to explain that the principal differences between these types consist in the general proportionality of vessels. In the second example 252 shapes of vessels from the Balanovo burial ground of the Bronze Age are analyzed. An attempt is undertaken to detach peculiarities of shapes specific to two culturally different groups of population that left the burial ground. We succeeded in solving the task with the aid of geometrical morphometry in about a half of cases. In the third example an attempt is made to determine earthenware produced by different potters. For that purpose 30 vessels made by 6 professional potters of high skills and 15 vessels made by three potters who had no stable skills of earthenware production were used. In result of geometrical morphometry method application several conditional arrays of vessels have been detached. As it happens, vessels that have virtually nothing in common in their morphology, technology of production and skill level of potters who made the vessels allotted these arrays. Data considered allow making the conclusion that the biggest efficiency of geometrical morphometry application is achieved in search of peculiarities built in general proportionality of earthenware shapes. But an inefficiency of geometrical morphometry method is marked in solution of more complicated tasks related to analysis of detailed peculiarities of vessel outlines. The results obtained put in question possibilities to consider the geometrical morphometry as a sound method of archeological vessel shapes study.

scholarly journals Complex Pathways Towards Emergent Pastoral Settlements: New Research on the Bronze Age Xindian Culture of Northwest China

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yitzchak Jaffe ◽  
Anke Hein ◽  
Andrew Womack ◽  
Katherine Brunson ◽  
Jade d’Alpoim Guedes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Community Organization ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Subsistence Strategies ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
The Third ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Bronze Age

AbstractThe Xindian culture of northwest China has been seen as a prototypical example of a transition toward pastoralism, resulting in part from environmental changes that started around 4000 years ago. To date, there has been little available residential data to document how and whether subsistence strategies and community organization in northwest China changed following or in association with documented environmental changes. The Tao River Archaeology Project is a collaborative effort aimed at gathering robust archaeological information to solidify our baseline understanding of economic, technological, and social practices in the third through early first millennia BC. Here we present data from two Xindian culture residential sites, and propose that rather than a total transition to nomadic pastoralism—as it is often reconstructed—the Xindian culture reflects a prolonged period of complex transition in cultural traditions and subsistence practices. In fact, communities maintained elements of earlier cultivation and animal-foddering systems, selectively incorporating new plants and animals into their repertoire. These locally-specific strategies were employed to negotiate ever-changing environmental and social conditions in the region of developing ‘proto-Silk Road’ interregional interactions.

The Treasury of Atreus

Antiquity ◽  
1940 ◽  
Vol 14 (55) ◽  
pp. 233-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. B. Wace
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
The Other ◽  
Striking Feature ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
The Third ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Bronze Age

The Treasury of Atreus is one of the most important monuments of the Bronze Age in Greece and is universally recognized as the supreme example of Mycenaean architecture. It is also the finest of all the many beehive or tholos tombs which are such a striking feature of Mycenaean culture. The beehive-tomb is essentially a creation of the architecture of the Greek mainland and of Mycenaean as opposed to Minoan building. In Crete so far three beehive-tombs of Bronze Age date are known, two of which—one at Hagios Theodoros and another just found at Knossos—date from late L.M. III, the very end of the Bronze Age. The third, found at Knossos in 1938, is not to be dated earlier than 1500 B.C. All three are small and poorly constructed. The Early Bronze Age circular ossuaries of Mesarà in Crete, often erroneously described as beehive-tombs, are, as Professor Marinatos has provel nothing of the kind. On the other hand, on the Greek Mainland and in the islands immediately adjacent to it, at least forty beehive-tombs are so far known. These figures are enough to indicate that the beehivetomb is a product of Mainland or Mycenaean rather than of Cretan or Minoan architecture. More accurate information about the date and construction of the Treasury of Atreus, the finest of all the beehivetombs, cannot fail to enlarge our knowledge of the history and art of the Mycenaean civilization.

A Second Timber Circle, Trackways, and Coppicing at Holme-next-the-Sea Beach, Norfolk: use of Salt- and Freshwater Marshes in the Bronze Age

2016 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
pp. 227-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Robertson ◽  
Maisie Taylor ◽  
Ian Tyers ◽  
Gordon Cook ◽  
W. Derek Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Timber Structures ◽  
Freshwater Marshes ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Bronze Age

Since 1998 archaeological investigations on Holme-next-the-Sea beach have recorded the waterlogged remains of two Bronze Age timber circles, timber structures, coppiced trees, metal objects, and salt- and freshwater marshes. The second timber circle (Holme II) is only the third waterlogged structure of its type to be discovered in Britain and only the second to be dated by dendrochronology. The felling of timbers used in Holme II has been dated to the spring or summer of 2049 bc, exactly the time as the felling of the timbers used to build the first circle (Holme I). This shared date provides the only known example of two adjacent monuments constructed at precisely the same time in British prehistory. It also informs comparisons between Holme II and other British timber circles and therefore helps develop interpretations. This paper suggests Holme II was a mortuary monument directly related to the use of Holme I.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE TIANSHANBEILU CEMETERY IN XINJIANG, NORTHWESTERN CHINA

Radiocarbon ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Jianyi Tong ◽  
Jian Ma ◽  
Wenying Li ◽  
Xi’en Chang ◽  
Jianjun Yu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Hexi Corridor ◽  
Human Migration ◽  
Western China ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The Third ◽  
Third Phase ◽  
And Diffusion ◽  
The Bronze Age

ABSTRACT Eurasian steppes experienced frequent cultural transfers, human migration, and diffusion of techniques during the Bronze Age. The Hami Oasis is one of the most dynamic areas and has attracted multiple cultural flows. It is an important area that connects various routes of the Tianshan Corridor with the Hexi Corridor in western China. The Tianshanbeilu cemetery is the largest Bronze Age cemetery in Hami. Thirty-seven new radiocarbon dates allowed us to establish a new and more accurate chronology for Tianshanbeilu. Our results showed that the Tianshanbeilu cemetery was used from approximately 2022–1802 cal BC and remained in use from 1093–707 cal BC. This indicates that Tianshanbeilu is the earliest and longest-used known cemetery in eastern Xinjiang. By incorporating the typology of artifacts and stratigraphic relationships, the development of the Tianshanbeilu cemetery was divided into four phases. The first phase was from 2011–1672 cal BC, the second phase was from 1660–1408 cal BC, the third phase was from 1385–1256 cal BC, and the fourth phase was from 1214–1029 cal BC.

The Nordic razor and the Mycenaean lifestyle

Antiquity ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 87 (336) ◽  
pp. 461-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flemming Kaul
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
International Communication ◽  
The North ◽  
Warrior Class ◽  
The Bronze Age

The bronze razor with the horse-head handle appeared in Scandinavia in the fifteenth century BC. Where did it come from and what did it mean? The author shows that the razor had some antecedents in the Aegean, although none of these objects were imported to the north. He argues that the Scandinavian warrior class consciously adopted elements of the Mycenaean warrior package, including a clean-shaven face. This vividly exposes new aspects of the busy and subtle nature of international communication in the Bronze Age.

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