Mid fourth-millennium copper mining in Liguria, north-west Italy: the earliest known copper mines in Western Europe

Antiquity ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 79 (303) ◽  
pp. 66-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Maggi ◽  
Mark Pearce
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Copper Mining ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Regional Context ◽  
North West ◽  
Copper Mines

This paper presents twelve new radiocarbon dates from copper mines at Monte Loreto in Liguria, northwest Italy, which indicate that extraction began around 3500 cal BC, making these the earliest copper mines to be discovered in Western Europe so far. The dates are placed in their regional context, with a discussion of results from Libiola and other sites associated with early copper mining.

ON THE TIMING OF THE OLD COPPER COMPLEX IN NORTH AMERICA: A COMPARISON OF RADIOCARBON DATES FROM DIFFERENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXTS

Radiocarbon ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
David P Pompeani ◽  
Byron A Steinman ◽  
Mark B Abbott ◽  
Katherine M Pompeani ◽  
William Reardon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Lake Sediment ◽  
Copper Complex ◽  
Lake Superior ◽  
Copper Mining ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Copper Mines ◽  
Tool Technology ◽  
High Lead ◽  
Old Copper Complex

ABSTRACT The Old Copper Complex (OCC) refers to the production of heavy copper-tool technology by Archaic Native American societies in the Lake Superior region. To better define the timing of the OCC, we evaluated 53 (eight new and 45 published) radiocarbon (14C) dates associated with copper artifacts and mines. We compared these dates to six lake sediment-based chronologies of copper mining and annealing in the Michigan Copper District. 14C dates grouped by archaeological context show that cremation remains, and wood and cordage embedded in copper artifacts have ages that overlap with the timing of high lead (Pb) concentrations in lake sediment. In contrast, dates in stratigraphic association and from mines are younger than those from embedded and cremation materials, suggesting that the former groups reflect the timing of processes that occurred post-abandonment. The comparatively young dates obtained from copper mines therefore likely reflect abandonment and infill of the mines rather than active use. Excluding three anomalously young samples, the ages of embedded organic material associated with 15 OCC copper artifacts range from 8500 to 3580 cal BP, confirming that the OCC is among the oldest known metalworking societies in the world.

scholarly journals Cycles in Stone Mining and Copper Circulation in Europe 5500–2000 bc: A View from Space

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Peter Schauer ◽  
Stephen Shennan ◽  
Andrew Bevan ◽  
Sue College ◽  
Kevan Edinborough ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
General Pattern ◽  
Exchange Networks ◽  
Broad Perspective ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Copper Mines ◽  
The One ◽  
Demographic Trajectories ◽  
Additional Reference ◽  
The Relationship

The authors of this article consider the relationship in European prehistory between the procurement of high-quality stones (for axeheads, daggers, and other tools) on the one hand, and the early mining, crafting, and deposition of copper on the other. The data consist of radiocarbon dates for the exploitation of stone quarries, flint mines, and copper mines, and of information regarding the frequency through time of jade axeheads and copper artefacts. By adopting a broad perspective, spanning much of central-western Europe from 5500 to 2000 bc, they identify a general pattern in which the circulation of the first copper artefacts was associated with a decline in specialized stone quarrying. The latter re-emerged in certain regions when copper use decreased, before declining more permanently in the Bell Beaker phase, once copper became more generally available. Regional variations reflect the degrees of connectivity among overlapping copper exchange networks. The patterns revealed are in keeping with previous understandings, refine them through quantification and demonstrate their cyclical nature, with additional reference to likely local demographic trajectories.

scholarly journals Direct dating reveals the early history of opium poppy in western Europe

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurélie Salavert ◽  
Antoine Zazzo ◽  
Lucie Martin ◽  
Ferran Antolín ◽  
Caroline Gauthier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Western Alps ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Opium Poppy ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Macrobotanical Remains ◽  
History Of ◽  
Temperate Europe ◽  
Radiocarbon Chronology ◽  
Botanical Remains

AbstractThis paper aims to define the first chrono-cultural framework on the domestication and early diffusion of the opium poppy using small-sized botanical remains from archaeological sites, opening the way to directly date minute short-lived botanical samples. We produced the initial set of radiocarbon dates directly from the opium poppy remains of eleven Neolithic sites (5900–3500 cal BCE) in the central and western Mediterranean, northwestern temperate Europe, and the western Alps. When possible, we also dated the macrobotanical remains originating from the same sediment sample. In total, 22 samples were taken into account, including 12 dates directly obtained from opium poppy remains. The radiocarbon chronology ranges from 5622 to 4050 cal BCE. The results show that opium poppy is present from at least the middle of the sixth millennium in the Mediterranean, where it possibly grew naturally and was cultivated by pioneer Neolithic communities. Its dispersal outside of its native area was early, being found west of the Rhine in 5300–5200 cal BCE. It was introduced to the western Alps around 5000–4800 cal BCE, becoming widespread from the second half of the fifth millennium. This research evidences different rhythms in the introduction of opium poppy in western Europe.

scholarly journals THE FREEZING OF INSECTS

1898 ◽  
Vol 30 (11) ◽  
pp. 287-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry H. Lyman
Keyword(s):  
Hudson's Bay Company ◽  
Entomological Society ◽  
North West ◽  
Copper Mines ◽  
Hudson’S Bay Company

In the 22nd Report of the Entomological Society of Ontario, being that for 1891, there appeared a paper from my pen under the title “Can Insects Survive Freezing?”I have recently come across further records of observations upon this subject, and deem them of sufficient interest to be republished in the Canadian Entomologist.In looking over and interesting book of travels entitled “A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean, undertaken by order of the Hudson's Bay Company for the discovery of copper mines, a north-west passage, etc., in the years 1769, 1770, 1771 and 1772, by Samuel Hearne,” published in 1796, I came across the following interesting notes on page 397

scholarly journals Carbonate sedimentation and effects of eutrophication observed at the Kališta subaquatic springs in Lake Ohrid (Macedonia)

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 4715-4747 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Matter ◽  
F. S. Anselmetti ◽  
B. Jordanoska ◽  
B. Wagner ◽  
M. Wessels ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Traps ◽  
Authigenic Carbonate ◽  
Sidescan Sonar ◽  
Carbonate Content ◽  
Carbonate Precipitation ◽  
Lake Ohrid ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Spring Area

Abstract. To date, little is known about the role of spring waters with respect to authigenic carbonate precipitation in the shallow lacustrine setting. Lake Ohrid, located in Southeastern Europe, is a large lake fed to over 50% by karstic springs of which half enter subaquatically and influence significantly its ecology and species distribution. In order to evaluate how sedimentological processes are influenced by such shallow-water springs, the Kališta subaquatic spring area in the north west of Lake Ohrid was investigated by a sidescan sonar survey and with sediment traps and three transects of gravity short cores. Results indicate that sedimentation in the spring area is dominated by authigenic carbonate precipitation. High sedimentation rates and evidences for bio-induced precipitation processes were observed in the water column and in the sediments. Two distinct stratigraphic units characterize the shallow subsurface, both composed of carbonate silts with high carbonate contents of up to 96%, but differing in color, carbonate content and diatom content. A chronological correlation of the cores by radiocarbon dates and 137Cs activities places the transition between the two stratigraphic units after ~1955 AD. At that time, coastal sedimentation changed drastically to significantly darker sediments with higher contents of organic matter and more abundant diatoms. This change coincides with the recent human impact of littoral eutrophication.

scholarly journals Multiyear variability of ecological-hygienic condition of the land: metals in soils of surroundings of the Astrakhan gas complex

2019 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 144-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolay A. Bogdanov
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Ecological State ◽  
Control Zone ◽  
Hygienic Condition ◽  
Protection Zone ◽  
North West ◽  
Safe Level ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
North West Territories ◽  
Hygienic Conditions

There are presented the results of a 21-year-old (1991-2012) monitoring of Hg concentrations and amounts of metals, including heavy and toxic, Zc(MnCrVNiCoCuAgZnPbSnMo) in soils of the zone of the exposure to emissions from Astrakhan gas complex (AGK), working from 1987 within a radius of 50 km. On those criteria for the period over 1997-2012 there was revealed a steady deterioration of ecological-hygienic conditions of the lands in the control zone. The spatial variability of this condition is largely controlled by the dispersion of the emissions by the prevailing easterly and southeasterly winds. The content of Hg in 2007, remote from AGK by 15 km, increased by 6-8 times on the leeward north-west territories, where the accumulation of the toxicant was 2.5 times more pronounced than in the windward Eastern and North-Eastern side. The significant role in the deterioration of sanitary-ecological state of the territory of the sanitary protection zone when dealing with Hg-containing (70-100 mkg/kg) commodity grey belongs to reblowing of particles and their eolian spread from places of storage, loading and transportation. In separate halos the content of Hg in the soil has reached 285 mkg/kg and become closer to the "target" safe level (300 mkg/ kg), adopted in Western Europe (zone AGK-30 km). The total amount of metals as in the near (up to 5 km of sanitary protection), so far (5-50 km) zones as in background sites has increased steadily. By 2012 in some places, remoted up to 30 km from AGK there were fixed already hygienically dangerous levels of total metals accumulation (up to Zc =34)

The case for comparison

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Haour
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
North Western

This chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the comparison of rulers, warriors, traders, and clerics on the central Sahel and the North Sea region. It argues that there was more similarity between north-western Europe and the central Sahel in the few centuries either side of AD 1001 than has hitherto been recognised, and maintains that the nature of the sources has obscured these formative times and left them in the shadow of organised structures. It discusses the interconnectedness of central Sahel and north-west Europe through contacts and shared pre-industrial nature.

Pressure Knapping and the Timing of Innovation: New Chrono-Cultural Data on Prehistoric Groups of the Early Holocene in the Maghreb, Northwest Africa

Radiocarbon ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. e1-e51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Perrin ◽  
Tiphaine Dachy ◽  
Colas Guéret ◽  
David Lubell ◽  
Yasmina Chaïd-Saoudi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Northwest Africa ◽  
Lithic Industry ◽  
Eastern Algeria ◽  
Cultural Entities ◽  
Cultural Data

ABSTRACTThe early Holocene in North Africa remains a poorly known period, documented unequally by region. Eastern Algeria and Tunisia have the greatest number of deposits, but most were excavated decades ago without the controls and recording required for modern interpretation. The chronological framework is based on radiocarbon (14C) dates that are also old, for the most part. Recent work on Mesolithic lithic industries of Western Europe has enabled us to revive the hypothesis of the existence of contacts between the northern and southern shores of the western Mediterranean at least by the 6th millennium cal BC. A collective research program was conducted in 2016–2017 to test this hypothesis with a particular focus on documenting the technological traditions in the lithic industry and situating them precisely in time. We have 46 new radiocarbon dates that were recently carried out on previously excavated Algerian sites, some of which contain several levels, allowing the construction of Bayesian models. These new measures reinforce the hypothesis of contacts between Europe and Africa by demonstrating the contemporaneity of similar technological processes. Above all, they make it possible to accurately refine the chronology of the main cultural entities of the Maghreb at the beginning of the Holocene.

scholarly journals New Radiocarbon Dates for the Early Neolithic of the Western Mediterranean

Radiocarbon ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 831-838 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel van Willigen ◽  
Irka Hajdas ◽  
Georges Bonani
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Regional Group

Understanding of processes that determined the expansion of farming and animal husbandry in south-western Europe is hampered by poor chronologies of the early Neolithic in this region. This paper presents new radiocarbon dates, which are used to construct such a chronological frame for a regional group of the most important culture of the early Neolithic in the western Mediterranean: the Cardial culture.

The Structured Dependence of the Elderly as a Recent Development: Some Sceptical Historical Thoughts

1984 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Population History ◽  
High Fertility ◽  
Structural Determinants ◽  
North West ◽  
Kinship System ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of

ABSTRACTThere has recently emerged in the writings of those who have adopted an overtly ‘radical’ approach to social work and the welfare state, a coherent interpretation of how the status of older persons is lowered in the course of the development of industrial capitalism. The focus in these recent writings is on the social creation of dependent status and the structural determinants of the competitive relationship between elderly individuals and younger adults in the labour market. This paper reviews the arguments of this school of thought arguing firstly that it fails to take sufficient account of the longer term population history of England, suggesting that the contrast between the middle and later twentieth century and the nineteenth century is apparently so marked largely because of the atypicality of the latter period when high fertility and rapid demographic growth produced an historical minimum for the proportion of the elderly in the total population. A second failure in this recent radical or marxist research is that it also does not take sufficient account of the kinship system in north west Europe which appears to have created a situation of structured dependency of the elderly on the collectivity irrespective of the specific mode of production. Pre-industrial north west Europeans exhibited a striking contrast in this particular cultural trait with many, indeed most non-industrial societies outside Western Europe or regions populated by emmigrants from that area.

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