Monumental ditched enclosures in southern Iberia (fourth–third millennia BC)

Antiquity ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 87 (336) ◽  
pp. 447-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
José E. Márquez-Romero ◽  
Víctor Jiménez-Jáimez
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Southern Iberia ◽  
The Bronze Age

Large curvilinear enclosures are now established as a principal instrument of human activity in Central Europe from the Neolithic into the Bronze Age(Antiquity, passim). Here the authors introduce us to examples from southern Iberia and make the case that they should be regarded as part of the same continent-wide phenomenon.

scholarly journals Human impact and population dynamics in the Neolithic and Bronze Age: Multi-proxy evidence from north-western Central Europe

The Holocene ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 1596-1606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingo Feeser ◽  
Walter Dörfler ◽  
Jutta Kneisel ◽  
Martin Hinz ◽  
Stefan Dreibrodt
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Human Impact ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Temporal Distribution ◽  
Relative Population ◽  
Erosion History ◽  
North Western

This paper aims at reconstructing the population dynamics during the Neolithic and Bronze Age, c. 4500–500 cal. BC, in north-western Central Europe. The approach is based on the assumption that increased population density is positively linked with human activity and human impact on the environment, respectively. Therefore, we use archaeological 14C dates and palaeoenvironmental data from northern Germany and south-western Denmark to construct and compare independent proxies of human activity. The latter involves relative quantification of human impact based on pollen analysis and soil erosion history inferred from summarizing of dated colluvial layers. Concurring patterns of changes in human activity are frequently recorded on a multi-centennial scale. Whereas such multi-proxy patterns are interpreted to indicate relative population changes, divergent patterns are discussed in the context of proxy-related uncertainties and potential biases. Patterns of temporal distribution of increasing and decreasing human activity are understood as ‘boom and bust’ phases in population density/size. Based on the comparison of the three proxies, we identify five phases of growing (boom) and four phases of decreasing (bust) population. The boom phases date to ca. 4000–3500, 3000–2900, 2200–2100, 1450–1300 and 1000–750 cal. BC. The bust phases to ca. 3200–3000, 2400–2300, 1650–1500 and 1200–1100 cal. BC.

Mesolithic to Bronze Age Vegetation Change and Human Activity in the Exe Valley, Devon, UK

2003 ◽  
Vol 69 ◽  
pp. 161-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.M. Fyfe ◽  
A.G. Brown ◽  
B.J. Coles
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Vegetation History ◽  
Valley Floor ◽  
Domestic Activity ◽  
Vegetation Disturbance ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Slope Vegetation ◽  
The Bronze Age

This paper presents the results of the first investigation of vegetation change and human activity from a river valley west of the Somerset Levels. The record is contrasted with the pollen and archaeological record from south-west uplands (Dartmoor and Exmoor) and the Somerset Levels. Vegetation change and archaeological evidence are shown to be generally consistent, with evidence from the middle valley of Mesolithic vegetation disturbance (with nearby lithics), Neolithic clearance of terraces and slopes in the lower valley and Neolithic–Bronze Age ceremonial and domestic activity, but in the upper reach the maintenance of wooded valley floor conditions probably with management until historic times. The valley floor and surrounding slope vegetation history is found to be significantly different to that of the uplands with lime and elm being significant components of the prehistoric woodland record. The data suggest that lime is restricted to terraces and lowlands below 200 m OD throughout the prehistoric period. The pollen data from the valley suggest the lowlands had a rich and mixed ecology providing a wide range of resources and that, despite less visible archaeological remains, human activity is manifest through palynological evidence from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age. The largest expanse of valley-floor terrace, the Nether Exe Basin, which was at least partially deforested in the early Neolithic contains a rich assemblage of Neolithic–Bronze Age ceremonial, funerary and domestic archaeology associated with an early and clear palynological record of woodland clearance, arable and pastoral activity.

THE NATURE OF THE HALLSTATTIAN CULTURAL CHANGE IN NORTHERN CENTRAL EUROPE IN LIGHT OF RADIOCARBON DATING OF THE LATE BRONZE AGE STRONGHOLD AT ŁUBOWICE NEAR RACIBÓRZ (SOUTHWEST POLAND)

Radiocarbon ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Jan Chochorowski ◽  
Marek Krąpiec
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Timber Structures ◽  
Social Functions ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
Sw Poland ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Bronze Age

ABSTRACT At the close of the Bronze Age, a tendency developed in Central Europe towards the concentration of settlement and fortification of sites which served special economic and social functions. One of the largest centers of this kind in the northern part of Central Europe is the Łubowice stronghold (SW Poland). Archaeological excavations allowed the stratigraphy of the fortification remnants to be comprehensively investigated. In their final stage, these fortifications comprised of a monumental earthen rampart with timber structures, which were later destroyed in a violent fire. Originally, the destruction of the Łubowice stronghold was linked with the raids by nomadic Scythians and dated to the first half of the 6th century BC. However, radiocarbon analyses of charcoal from the burned rampart relics have shown that the destruction of the fortifications took place in the 9th century BC. The new dating of the moment when the Łubowice fortifications was burned down, i.e. “shortly after 845–802 cal BC” places this event within historical processes which reshaped the cultural picture in much of Central Europe at the dawn of the Iron Age. The spreading of a new, Hallstatt cultural model was associated with deep changes in social structures.

Cultural Continuity and Social Resistance: The Chronology of Megalithic Funerary Practices in Southern Iberia

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gonzalo Aranda Jiménez ◽  
Águeda Lozano Medina ◽  
Marta Díaz-Zorita Bonilla ◽  
Margarita Sánchez Romero ◽  
Javier Escudero Carrillo
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Cultural Continuity ◽  
Complex Issue ◽  
Social Resistance ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Biographical Approach ◽  
Southern Iberia ◽  
The Bronze Age

Inspired by the biographical approach to the study of material culture, a radiocarbon dating programme was undertaken to explore the chronology and temporality of the megalithic monuments in south-eastern Iberia. Instead of one or two dates per tomb, the normal way of approaching this complex issue, we carried out a complete radiocarbon dating series of single tombs based on human remains. We focused our attention on four tholos-type tombs in the cemetery of El Barranquete (Almería, Spain). According to the new radiocarbon series modelled in a Bayesian framework, four main conclusions can be drawn: that the cemetery shows a very long period of funerary activity, which began in the late fourth millennium and ended in the last centuries of the second millennium calbc; that continuity of ritual practices attained an unexpected importance during the Bronze Age; that interments, which fall into cultural periods that would be unthinkable if only the typological properties of the grave goods were considered, occurred; and that each tomb had a complex and very different biography.

scholarly journals The Region of Caucasus and Central European-Carpathian Territory in the Final Eneolithic and the Bronze Age (a Contribution to the Transfer of Technologies and Knowledge)

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 531-548
Author(s):  
Jozef Bátora ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
North Caucasus ◽  
The North ◽  
Eurasian Steppe ◽  
Steppe Region ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Danube Region ◽  
The Bronze Age

This article shows that the cultures in the Middle Danube/Carpathian territory were not just peripheral cultures of the developed Aegean-West Asian cultures, but also the western periphery of the Eurasian steppe region. From this aspect, the cultural-historical development in this area was influenced and associated with the cultural-historical development in the Caucasian and Northern Pontic regions as well. This is confirmed by several artifacts of the Caucasian character in the territory of Central Europe. First of all, we can mention single-edged copper axes, whose oldest exemplars in Europe come from the North Caucasus (the Maykop and Novosvobodnaya cultures). With the arrival of the Yamnaya culture, technology of their production emerged in the Northern Balkans and Central Europe along the Danube, through the Northern Pontic region. Their oldest exemplars in this territory are the Baniabic type axes. There are also weapons or tools; and jewellery which is represented by earrings of the so-called of Transylvania type associated mainly with the Únětice, Košťany and Otomani cultures in the Carpathian-middle Danube region. Their prototypes can be found in the North Pontic region — Yamnaya culture. The remaining cultural contacts between Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Bronze Age are confirmed by the dagger of the Srubnaya type from Sklabiňa in Central Slovakia. The existence of contacts between the Caucasian region and the territory of Central Europe as late as the final Bronze Age is proved by the finds of Cimmerian character. As a pars pro toto example, a dagger of the Kabardino-Pyatigorsk type from Malý Cetín in southwest Slovakia can be mentioned.

Reconstructing Sha Po’s Landscapes and Lifeways

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mick Atha ◽  
Kennis Yip
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Past Experience ◽  
Six Dynasties ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Landscape ◽  
The Bronze Age

In Chapter 8 all the strands of evidence are drawn together within an overarching synthetic analysis of patterns of human activity through time, which are then interpreted in terms of the development, use, and past experience of Sha Po’s multi-period cultural landscape. The shifting patterns of human activity during the 6,500-year span of the study also permit the changing backbeach landform to be modelled as it expanded westward through time. Social landscape reconstructions, aided by artist’s impression drawings, focus in particular on activities evidenced during the Bronze Age, Six-Dynasties-Tang period, and Qing to early twentieth century.

The Coming of Agriculture People, Landscapes, and Change c.4000 –1500 bc

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alasdair Whittle ◽  
Colin Renfrew
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
General Tendency ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The People ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Growing Population

This chapter reviews the development of agriculture in Britain and Ireland from the Neolithic period to the middle of the Bronze Age (approximately 4000 to 1500 bc in calendar years), and the associated questions of the identity of the people involved, the density of populations, and their effect on the landscape. This brief account is set in the context of the wider development of an agricultural way of life on the adjacent continental mainland, going as far back as 6000 bc in central Europe. I hope to raise questions as much as to answer them, and to concentrate wherever possible on new evidence and approaches. I should like to frame my discussion by setting out four hypotheses: 1. Overall, change was slow, but punctuated by spurts or accelerations (notably around 5500 bc, 4000 bc, and 1500 bc), whose nature is still poorly understood. This hypothesis stands in opposition to a general tendency to envisage a steadily intensifying evolution of subsistence methods, population levels, and landscapes. 2. There was much continuity of population both in continental Europe and in Britain and Ireland, but the role of colonization still needs seriously to be considered. This hypothesis seeks to re-examine both the assumption in continental research of major colonization with the onset of the Neolithic and the recent British consensus that the beginnings of the Neolithic were essentially to do with the acculturation of an indigenous population. 3. Although some landscapes had been cleared of substantial tracts of woodland by about 2500–2000 bc, population levels in most parts of Britain and Ireland remained relatively low at least until the middle of the Bronze Age, and the lifestyle can be characterized by continuing mobility and/or short-term sedentism. This hypothesis restates recent opposition to the notion that the introduction of agriculture entailed sedentary existence, rapidly growing population, and intensifying production right from the start. The coming of agriculture in a more familiar guise, although preceded in Britain and Ireland by herding and piecemeal cultivation from about 4000 bc, was not seen till as late as about 1500 bc onwards.

Persistent, multi-sourced lead contamination in Central Europe since the Bronze Age recorded in the Füramoos peat bog, Germany

Anthropocene ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 100310
Author(s):  
Oliver A. Kern ◽  
Andreas Koutsodendris ◽  
Finn Süfke ◽  
Marcus Gutjahr ◽  
Bertil Mächtle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Lead Contamination ◽  
Peat Bog ◽  
The Bronze Age

scholarly journals Features of historical and cultural development in different geographical conditions (in example of Central Asia)

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 267-277
Author(s):  
Anatoliy Sagdullaev ◽  
Utkir Abdullaev ◽  
Jasur Togaev
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Asian Population ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Tribal Communities ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
History Of ◽  
Cultural Types ◽  
The Bronze Age

The history of all societies is associated with human activity, his economic and cultural needs, therefore, activity and needs as vital qualities of people are widely reflected in their interaction with nature and the environment. In the process of labor and production, nature is the main object of human activity, and certain economic and cultural types have developed in different geographic conditions. This law of historical and cultural development is confirmed by the example of the history of the Bronze Age in Central Asia. In the Bronze Age, among the population living on the territory of the steppes, the socio-economic system was preserved, characteristic of the tribal communities of cattle-breeding tribes, which were at the stage of decomposition of primitive communal relations. In Central Asia at this time, the process of allocation of historical and cultural regions and ethnic territories was noted. This article is dedicated to analysis of features of historical and cultural development of Central Asian population in different geographical conditions. The main attention is paid to the fact that the history of economic-cultural types and their development is connected with geographical atmosphere.

scholarly journals The Beaker Phenomenon and the Genomic Transformation of Northwest Europe

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iñigo Olalde ◽  
Selina Brace ◽  
Morten E. Allentoft ◽  
Ian Armit ◽  
Kristian Kristiansen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Human Migration ◽  
Cultural Diffusion ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Northwest Europe ◽  
Significant Mechanism ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Lower Rhine

Bell Beaker pottery spread across western and central Europe beginning around 2750 BCE before disappearing between 2200–1800 BCE. The mechanism of its expansion is a topic of long-standing debate, with support for both cultural diffusion and human migration. We present new genome-wide ancient DNA data from 170 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans, including 100 Beaker-associated individuals. In contrast to the Corded Ware Complex, which has previously been identified as arriving in central Europe following migration from the east, we observe limited genetic affinity between Iberian and central European Beaker Complex-associated individuals, and thus exclude migration as a significant mechanism of spread between these two regions. However, human migration did have an important role in the further dissemination of the Beaker Complex, which we document most clearly in Britain using data from 80 newly reported individuals dating to 3900–1200 BCE. British Neolithic farmers were genetically similar to contemporary populations in continental Europe and in particular to Neolithic Iberians, suggesting that a portion of the farmer ancestry in Britain came from the Mediterranean rather than the Danubian route of farming expansion. Beginning with the Beaker period, and continuing through the Bronze Age, all British individuals harboured high proportions of Steppe ancestry and were genetically closely related to Beaker-associated individuals from the Lower Rhine area. We use these observations to show that the spread of the Beaker Complex to Britain was mediated by migration from the continent that replaced >90% of Britain’s Neolithic gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the process that brought Steppe ancestry into central and northern Europe 400 years earlier.

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