New evidence for an early date for the Aegean Late Bronze Age and Thera eruption

Antiquity ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (293) ◽  
pp. 733-744 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sturt W. Manning ◽  
Christopher Bronk Ramsey ◽  
Christos Doumas ◽  
Toula Marketou ◽  
Gerald Cadogan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Organic Material ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Early Date ◽  
Radiocarbon Data ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Thera Eruption

The authors report on radiocarbon data derived from carefully selected organic material from Late Minoan IA and IB contexts. The results suggest that the accepted chronology of the period should be revised by 100 years and that the eruption of Thera/Santorini most likely occurred c. 1650–1620 BC.

Cremated animal remains and shattered pottery. Rare ritual deposits from the Middle to Late Bronze Age at Aalst – Siesegemkouter (Belgium)

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arne Verbrugge ◽  
Maaike Groot ◽  
Koen Deforce ◽  
Guy De Mulder ◽  
Wouter Van der Meer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Multidisciplinary Approach ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Low Countries ◽  
Early Date ◽  
Animal Remains ◽  
Animal Bone ◽  
Maintenance Practice ◽  
Organic Remains

Abstract Archaeological research at Aalst – Siesegemkouter revealed several pits within a Middle to Late Bronze Age settlement. Most of them hardly contained any artefacts, but one exception showed a structured stratigraphy with an abundance of finds, including a large amount of shattered pottery, charcoal and calcined animal bone. The study of this assemblage, and comparison with two other pits showing similarities, provides strong indications of a closing deposit or another type of ‘site maintenance practice’. In the Low Countries, comparable contexts generally date from the Iron Age, suggesting that the finds from Aalst – Siesegemkouter represent early forerunners of this ritual practice. On top of this early date, the large volume of cremated animal bone represents an almost unique characteristic for which, until now, parallels from the Metal Ages have hardly been found, even on a Northwestern European scale. In general, the role played by organic remains in ritual contexts from these periods and regions is poorly understood, often due to bad preservation conditions or the lack of a multidisciplinary approach.

scholarly journals Volcanic ash, victims, and tsunami debris from the Late Bronze Age Thera eruption discovered at Çeşme-Bağlararası (Turkey)

2021 ◽  
Vol 119 (1) ◽  
pp. e2114213118
Author(s):  
Vasıf Şahoğlu ◽  
Johannes H. Sterba ◽  
Timor Katz ◽  
Ümit Çayır ◽  
Ümit Gündoğan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Volcanic Ash ◽  
Thick Layer ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Tsunami Deposit ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Mediterranean Studies ◽  
Ash Layer ◽  
Time Capsule ◽  
Thera Eruption

The Late Bronze Age Thera eruption was one of the largest natural disasters witnessed in human history. Its impact, consequences, and timing have dominated the discourse of ancient Mediterranean studies for nearly a century. Despite the eruption’s high intensity (Volcanic Explosivity Index 7; Dense Rock Equivalent of 78 to 86 km) [T. H. Druitt, F. W. McCoy, G. E. Vougioukalakis, Elements 15, 185–190 (2019)] and tsunami-generating capabilities [K. Minoura et al., Geology 28, 59–62 (2000)], few tsunami deposits are reported. In contrast, descriptions of pumice, ash, and tephra deposits are widely published. This mismatch may be an artifact of interpretive capabilities, given how rapidly tsunami sedimentology has advanced in recent years. A well-preserved volcanic ash layer and chaotic destruction horizon were identified in stratified deposits at Çeşme-Bağlararası, a western Anatolian/Aegean coastal archaeological site. To interpret these deposits, archaeological and sedimentological analysis (X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy instrumental neutron activation analysis, granulometry, micropaleontology, and radiocarbon dating) were performed. According to the results, the archaeological site was hit by a series of strong tsunamis that caused damage and erosion, leaving behind a thick layer of debris, distinguishable by its physical, biological, and chemical signature. An articulated human and dog skeleton discovered within the tsunami debris are in situ victims related to the Late Bronze Age Thera eruption event. Calibrated radiocarbon ages from well-constrained, short-lived organics from within the tsunami deposit constrain the event to no earlier than 1612 BCE. The deposit provides a time capsule that demonstrates the nature, enormity, and expansive geographic extent of this catastrophic event.

The antiquity of the Greek epic tradition: some new evidence

1980 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.C. Horrocks
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Subsequent Development ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Poetic Tradition ◽  
Epic Tradition ◽  
Narrative Poetry ◽  
Greek Epic ◽  
Careful Handling ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
The Bronze Age

Since the decipherment of Linear B a number of scholars have argued, on the basis of supposed Mycenaean survivals in the Homeric poems, that the Greek legendary poetic tradition ran continuously from the Bronze Age through the Dark Age down to the singers of the Ionian towns in the ninth and eighth centuries. However, the directness of the connection between the narrative poetry of the Mycenaean Age, if indeed such existed, and the subsequent development of the Epic in Greece has been called into question. Thus Shipp, for example, has argued that most of the items listed by Chadwick in his article Mycenaean elements in the Homeric dialect in fact left their mark for a time at least on forms of Greek other than that of the Epic, and so could well have entered this tradition in post-Mycenaean times and in some other way than through a direct poetical current from the Bronze Age. A similar conclusion has been reached by Kirk, who has expressed his views forcefully in a series of publications. Consider the following:The two objective criteria for dating elements within the Homeric poems, namely archaeology and language, require careful handling and reveal less than is generally claimed for them. They enable certain elements to be recognized as having existed as early as the late Bronze Age, but do not necessarily prove that these all passed into the Ionian Epic tradition by the medium of late Bronze Age poetry.

Miletos: a note

2004 ◽  
Vol 99 ◽  
pp. 189-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. A. Mountjoy
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
New Evidence

The date of the final destruction of Late Bronze Age Miletos is examined in the light of new evidence from Ugarit, which has allowed the date of the destruction at that site to be more accurately assessed. A comparison of the pottery in the destruction layer at Miletos with that in the destruction layer at Ugarit suggests that Miletos might have been destroyed at an earlier date than usually thought.

New evidence on the southeast Baltic Late Bronze Age agrarian intensification and the earliest AMS dates of Lens culinaris and Vicia faba

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karolis Minkevičius ◽  
Vytenis Podėnas ◽  
Miglė Urbonaitė-Ubė ◽  
Edvinas Ubis ◽  
Dalia Kisielienė
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Vicia Faba ◽  
Lens Culinaris ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Ams Dates

scholarly journals Dromos kurgans of the saka time on the Zharly River (Central Kazakhstan)

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 77-86
Author(s):  
Arman Ziyadenovich Beisenov
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Aral Sea ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
North Central ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Radiocarbon Data ◽  
Preceding Period ◽  
West Kazakhstan ◽  
Almost All

The features of dromos kurgans of the early Saka time studied by the author in the cemeteries Nurken-2, Serekty-1, Kosoba in Central Kazakhstan are considered in the article. Unlike the materials received during the earlier studies by M.K. Kadyrbaev in 1950-1970, new data shows that the tradition of dromos graves was widespread in the region. On the basis of archaeological and radiocarbon data, dromos kurgans date back to the VIII-VI cc. BC. Studies have shown that they are primarily connected with the elite burials. Dromos kurgans are oriented to the east, south-east and in terms of size, layout, sections are of different types. Currently they are known in almost all habitats of the Kazakh culture having the early Saka shape, whose monuments were excavated in North, Central, East, South-East (Zhetysu) Kazakhstan, as well as in the East Aral Sea region. The author assumes that among all early Saka cultures of Kazakhstan dromos graves have been the most common throughout the different regions. According to the available materials, dromos graves appeared no later than VIII-VII centuries BC in the early Saka cultures of Kazakhstan. A little later, since VI c. BC, this tradition appeared in the monuments of Savromat and Sarmatian tribes in West Kazakhstan. For the early Saka cultures of Kazakhstan dromos tradition is associated with the culture of the preceding period - the period of the Late Bronze Age.

Late Bronze Age copper production in Timna: new evidence from Site 3

Levant ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omri A. Yagel ◽  
Erez Ben-Yosef ◽  
and Paul T. Craddock
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Copper Production ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
New Evidence

scholarly journals Testing the Limits: Radiocarbon Dating and the End of the Late Bronze Age

Radiocarbon ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Hagens
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Near East ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Radiocarbon Data ◽  
Better Than

Archaeometry is becoming an increasingly important tool in chronological research related to events in the Ancient Near East during the 2nd millennium BCE. This paper is a review of recently published radiometric results in an attempt to establish the probable dating range for one particular event that occurred during the last quarter of that millennium, the end of the Late Bronze Age. The conclusion is that in spite of significant improvements in methodology in recent years, the quantity and quality of radiocarbon data are still insufficient to define the range of that date to much better than a century. It is concluded that the most likely date of the Late Bronze/Iron Age transition (here defined by the arrival of Mycenaean LH IIIC:1b pottery in the Levant) is somewhere in the 8-decade range between ∼1170 to 1100 BCE. A comparative study of archaeological and historical evidence would appear to favor the lower value.

scholarly journals Food, Technology and Culture in the Late Bronze Age of Southern Britain: Perforated Clay Plates of the Lower Thames Valley

2014 ◽  
Vol 80 ◽  
pp. 279-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
TIMOTHY CHAMPION
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Food Preparation ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Food Technology ◽  
Perforated Plates ◽  
Technology And Culture ◽  
Social Authority ◽  
New Evidence

Perforated plates of fired clay have long been recognised as a component of Late Bronze Age material culture in south-eastern England, but recent developer-funded excavations have produced a wealth of new evidence. These artefacts, showing a considerable degree of standardisation, are now known from more than 70 sites, which show a markedly riverine and estuarine distribution along the lower Thames. Their function is still uncertain, but it is suggested that they were parts of ovens for baking bread, a new technology for food preparation in the later Bronze Age. Some of the largest assemblages of such plates are found at strongly defended sites, and it is further suggested that the baking and consumption of bread was particularly associated with such sites of social authority. The estuarine distribution is discussed in this paper, and it presents further evidence for the regionally distinctive nature of food consumption in later prehistory.

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