A first ‘Wessex 1’ date from Wessex

Antiquity ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 84 (324) ◽  
pp. 363-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Needham ◽  
Mike Parker Pearson ◽  
Alan Tyler ◽  
Mike Richards ◽  
Mandy Jay
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
High Precision ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Museum Specimen

The furnished barrow burials of Wessex represent a maturation of the Beaker rite during the Early Bronze Age in Britain. Many of these burials were unearthed centuries ago, when archaeology was at its most eager and insouciant, but – happily for us – there were often a few careful recorders on hand. Thanks to their records, the modern scientists engaged in the Beaker People Project can still follow the trail back to a museum specimen and obtain high precision dates – as in the case of the ‘Wessex 1’ grave from West Overton in Wessex reported here.

scholarly journals Early Bronze Jericho: High-Precision 14C Dates of Short-Lived Palaeobotanic Remains

Radiocarbon ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 621-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hendrik J. Bruins ◽  
Johannes Van Der Plicht
Keyword(s):  
Sequence Analysis ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Gibbs Sampling ◽  
High Precision ◽  
Near East ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates

Reliable series of high-precision radiocarbon dates in a stratified archaeological context are of great importance for interdisciplinary chronological and historical studies. The Early Bronze Age in the Near East is characterized by the beginning of the great civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia, as well as by urbanization in the Levant. We present stratified high-precision dates of short-lived material of Tell es-Sultan (Jericho), covering Late Proto-Urban/EB I, EB II and EB III layers from Trench III. Our calibrated dates, refined by Bayesian sequence analysis involving Gibbs sampling, are ca. 150–300 yr older than conventional archaeological age assessments. The corpus of 14C dates measured in the first decades after the discovery of 14C dating should not be taken too seriously. The 14C dates of Jericho measured by the British Museum 14C laboratory in 1971 appear to be erroneous.

scholarly journals Pretoria Calibration Curve for Short-Lived Samples, 1930–3350 BC

Radiocarbon ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Vogel ◽  
AnneMarie Fuls ◽  
Ebbie Visser ◽  
Bernd Becker
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
High Precision ◽  
Calibration Curve ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
Late Chalcolithic ◽  
Standard Calibration ◽  
Sample Set ◽  
Radiocarbon Calibration

The high-precision radiocarbon calibration curve for short-lived samples (1–4 yr) of the early historical period (3rd millennium BC) presented previously (Vogel et al. 1986) has been further substantiated and extended to link with a similar curve produced by de Jong for part of the 4th millennium BC (de Jong & Mook 1980). The precise dendrochronological age of the sample set measured by de Jong has finally been fixed (de Jong, Mook & Becker 1989), so that the two sets now cover the period 1930–3900 BC, i.e., the Early Bronze Age and Late Chalcolithic periods of the Middle East. The standard calibration curve for the two sets is presented by Vogel and van der Plicht (1993).

Two Early Helladic II terracotta rollers from Asine and their glyptic context

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 81-96
Author(s):  
Michael Lindblom ◽  
Gullög Nordquist ◽  
Hans Mommsen
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Chemical Characterization ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
The Third ◽  
Archaeological Perspective

Two Early Helladic II terracotta rollers from the Third Terrace at Asine are presented. The objects, used to impress relief decoration on pithoi and hearths, are unique in that no other examples are known from the Early Bronze Age Aegean. Their origin is discussed based on chemical characterization and their depositional contexts are reviewed from an archaeological perspective. Although there are no known impressions from these rollers on pithoi and hearths at Asine, it is shown that their owners surrounded themselves with different objects featuring similar glyptic impressions. Two such impressions find identical parallels at Tiryns and the combined evidence strongly suggest that Asine was the home for one or several potters who produced Early Helladic impressed hearths and pithoi.

Dairy Queen. Churns and milk products in the Aegean Bronze Age

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 205-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah P. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Dairy Products ◽  
Near East ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Specific Function ◽  
Milk Products ◽  
The Third ◽  
Household Processing

This article assembles examples of an unusual vessel found in domestic contexts of the Early Bronze Age around the Aegean and in the Eastern Mediterranean. Identified as a “barrel vessel” by the excavators of Troy, Lesbos (Thermi), Lemnos (Poliochni), and various sites in the Chalkidike, the shape finds its best parallels in containers identified as churns in the Chalcolithic Levant, and related vessels from the Eneolithic Balkans. Levantine parallels also exist in miniature form, as in the Aegean at Troy, Thermi, and Poliochni, and appear as part of votive figures in the Near East. My interpretation of their use and development will consider how they compare to similar shapes in the archaeological record, especially in Aegean prehistory, and what possible transregional relationships they may express along with their specific function as household processing vessels for dairy products during the third millennium BC.

Pictures and people. Seals, figurines and Peloponnesian imagery

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 185-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika Weiberg
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Initial Description ◽  
Seal Impressions ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
Coastal Settlement

The point of departure for this paper is the publication of two Early Helladic sealing fragments from the coastal settlement of Asine on the north-east Peloponnese in Greece. After an initial description and discussion they are set in the context of sealing custom established on the Greek mainland around 2500 BCE. In the first part of the paper focus is on the apparent qualitative differences between the available seals and the contemporary seal impressions, as well as between different sealing assemblages on northeastern Peloponnese. This geographical emphasis is carried into the second part of the paper which is a review and contextualisation of the representational art of the Aegean Early Bronze Age in general, and northeastern Peloponnese in particular. Seal motifs and figurines are the main media for Early Helladic representational art preserved until today, yet in many ways very dissimilar. These opposites are explored in order to begin to build a better understanding of Peloponnesian representational art, the choices of motifs, and their roles in the lives of the Early Helladic people.

The bronze headbands of Prehistoric Lofkënd and their Aegean and Balkan connections

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 33-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
John K. Papadopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
Young Females ◽  
The Many ◽  
Votive Offerings

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.

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