A Reappraisal of the History of the Rhodesian Iron Age Up to the Fifteenth Century

1966 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. E. Jaffey
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Common Factor ◽  
Large Area ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Power And Influence

The suggestions put forward in this paper may be summarized as follows. The linguistic, cultural and to some extent physical ancestors of the modern Bantu people south of the Zambezi, including the Shona, arrived in Rhodesia in the early part of the first millennium a.d. The B1 culture was not introduced by Shona migrants arriving in the eleventh century, but was a local development of the already existing Shona Iron Age A, attributable perhaps to prosperity gained from the gold trade. The B1 culture should not in fact be regarded as a separate culture from the A, that later fused with it, but as a variant of it, which because of the power and influence of those who developed and practised it eventually spread over a large area and became a common factor in the various local Shona cultures that had diverged, and continued to diverge, in the course of time.

New Views on Engaruka, Northern Tanzania

1967 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamo Sassoon
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
General Picture ◽  
Northern Tanzania ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Stone Structures

This paper describes a large area of stone-built ruins in northern Tanzania which has so far only been briefly excavated, but which is likely to prove to be a key site in the study of the Iron Age in East Africa. In addition to numerous massive stone circles, terraces and cairns, there are extensive systems of fields and enclosures defined with lines of stones. Excavations carried out in 1964 and 1966 have shown that the small terrace-platforms on the hillsides and the stone circles on the flatter land in the valley were occupied at different periods and by different peoples whose pottery is readily distinguishable. Radiocarbon dates suggest that the terrace sites on the hillsides were occupied during the first millennium A.D., and that the stone circles on the lower slopes in the valley were occupied during the fifteenth century A.D. The purpose of the numerous large and well-built cairns is not yet known, but it appears that they were not burial monuments. No evidence has been found that any of the stone structures were built or occupied by immigrants from outside Africa.It has not yet been possible to link the systems of fields and enclosures to the hillside terrace-platforms or to the stone circles. A close examination of the main area of fields and of low-level aerial photographs has not produced any evidence that the fields were irrigated, a fact which raises important agricultural and climatic problems in an area which has an average rainfall of less than 380 mm. (15 inches).The general picture of Engaruka which emerges is of an area which was occupied by different peoples at different times over a period of at least a thousand years. The stone structures which these different peoples built have accumulated to give the impression that there was once a very large population living in the area; in fact it is possible that this population was always less than 4,000 people at any one time.

scholarly journals Ancient genomic time transect from the Central Asian Steppe unravels the history of the Scythians

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (13) ◽  
pp. eabe4414
Author(s):  
Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone ◽  
Elmira Khussainova ◽  
Nurzhibek Kahbatkyzy ◽  
Lyazzat Musralina ◽  
Maria A. Spyrou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Gene Pools ◽  
Social Rules ◽  
Eurasian Steppe ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Genome Wide Data ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium

The Scythians were a multitude of horse-warrior nomad cultures dwelling in the Eurasian steppe during the first millennium BCE. Because of the lack of first-hand written records, little is known about the origins and relations among the different cultures. To address these questions, we produced genome-wide data for 111 ancient individuals retrieved from 39 archaeological sites from the first millennia BCE and CE across the Central Asian Steppe. We uncovered major admixture events in the Late Bronze Age forming the genetic substratum for two main Iron Age gene-pools emerging around the Altai and the Urals respectively. Their demise was mirrored by new genetic turnovers, linked to the spread of the eastern nomad empires in the first centuries CE. Compared to the high genetic heterogeneity of the past, the homogenization of the present-day Kazakhs gene pool is notable, likely a result of 400 years of strict exogamous social rules.

Nizam al-Mulk Remembered

2018 ◽  
pp. 127-148
Author(s):  
Neguin Yavari
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
The West ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Fifteenth

The focus in the fifth and final chapter is on the afterlife of Nizam al-Mulk, of his legacy as well as of his representations. By the late fifteenth century, in Timurid Iran, Nizam al-Mulk is already the stuff of legend. In one historian’s estimation, the vizier is a veritable eleventh-century avatar of the martyr par excellence of Shi’i lore Husayn b. ‘Ali (d. 680), and the progenitor of modern Iran. But the story of Nizam al-Mulk does not end with his metamorphosis into a crypto-Shi‘i and a proto-Iranian patriot. In the 2010s, it is Nizam al-Mulk who is the most regularly invoked exemplar of legitimate Islamic governance, exhorting prudence and expedience to guide the Iranian polity through the treacherous waters of nuclear negotiations with the West, and to domesticate outlier and extremist fervor. The Iranian invocation of Nizam al-Mulk differs radically from his depiction in modern Sunni—Arab or Turkish—historiography. That living legacy is the true history of the laureled vizier.

Ancient Raw Copper from Primary Smelting Sites in Cyprus

2002 ◽  
Vol 712 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Fasnacht ◽  
J.P. Northover
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Metallic Copper ◽  
Copper Production ◽  
Copper Smelting ◽  
Mining District ◽  
Field Surveys ◽  
Analytical Work ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Complete History

ABSTRACTFinds of metallic copper from various primary smelting sites in the Sia valley in Cyprus have been analysed by ICP-OES for their composition and by optical and electron microscopy for metallography. Results show a characteristic pattern of impurities for each of the sites examined which allow an assignment to specific types of ore body and geological matrix. Different zones of the Cyprus Ophiolite Complex were exploited in different periods in antiquity, but these results show different types could be exploited contemporaneously within a specific period, especially during the first millennium BC. One location in this area, Agia Varvara-Almyras, an Iron Age copper smelting site with the only complete chain of operation recorded in ancient Cypriote metallurgy, is used to show how analytical work can guide future field surveys to find ancient furnaces, slag heaps and mines. The ultimate goal of the project is to extend it to reconstruct the complete history of copper production in a well-defined mining district over the last 4000 years.

scholarly journals Oleksiy Tolochko’s Concept and the Origin of the Short Pravda Russkaia

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Joukovskaia
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Secondary School Teachers ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Collective Effort ◽  
Wide Circle ◽  
Source Studies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Legal Document ◽  
Holistic Theory

A wide circle of historians, lawyers, and secondary school teachers are interested in the Pravda Russkaia. This review analyses the historiographical situation around the study of this important artefact after the publication of The Short Pravda: The Origin of the Text (2009) by Oleksiy Tolochko, in which the author develops the opinion that the Short Pravda appeared later than the Expanded Pravda, which was expressed by prominent linguists and historians (E. F. Karskii, S. P. Obnorskii, A. I. Sobolevskii, etc.) in the first half of the twentieth century but later discarded by Soviet scholarship. By combining various methods from source studies, the author proves that the Short Pravda did not originate as a legal document in the eleventh century, but as a fragment of The Chronicle of Novgorod in the early fifteenth century. The review shows that specialists’ responses to Tolochko’s book are limited to a few journal publications, each of which criticises one or two of separate arguments but does not systematically consider the proposed holistic theory of the artefact’s origin (articles by K. Zukerman, P. V. Lukin, A. A. Gorskii, A. Y. Degtyarev, etc.). Any attempt at summarising the results of the controversy leads to the belief that the discussion is methodologically unsound. The analysis of an article from the Pravda that is taken out of context can lead to opposing interpretations depending on the choice of the parameters preferred by a given author at a given time. Considering the fundamental nature of the Pravda Russkaia for the history of medieval Russia, the reviewer concludes that it is necessary to make an effort (probably a collective effort) towards a systematic analysis of Tolochko’s hypothesis: the traditional isolated study of this most important legal document should be placed within the broader framework of a comprehensive study of the collections in which the short and expanded versions of the Pravda have been preserved.

230Th dates for dedicatory corals from a remote alpine desert adze quarry on Mauna Kea, Hawai‘i

Antiquity ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 83 (320) ◽  
pp. 445-457 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick C. McCoy ◽  
Marshall I. Weisler ◽  
Jian-xin Zhao ◽  
Yue-Xing Feng
Keyword(s):  
High Altitude ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Early History ◽  
Uranium Series ◽  
Error Range ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium

AbstractThe authors show how sites in upland Hawai‘i may be dated using uranium series radiogenic measurements on coral. The sites lie in a quarry, inland and at high altitude, with little carboniferous material around, and radiocarbon dating is anyway problematic here for the first millennium. Freshly broken coral had been transported to these sites, remote from the sea – no doubt for ritual purposes. Giving a date in the fifteenth century with an error range of only five years, the method promises to be valuable for the early history of the Pacific.

Archaeology in West Africa: A Review of Recent Work and a further list of Radiocarbon Dates

1982 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. G. Sutton
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Copper Smelting ◽  
Northern Ghana ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Late Stone Age ◽  
South Central ◽  
African Populations ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium

This article surveys the latest archaeological research and dating results for West Africa. For the Iron Age, recent fieldwork has been spread widely: especially noteworthy is that bearing on the history of ancient Ghana and Mali. Work on the Late Stone Age appears by contrast to have been rather patchy lately, although various palaeoecological researches continue to improve our understanding of the changing environments affecting West African populations over the last 10,000 years. In south-central Niger, moreover, remains of copper-smelting by a stone-using community are dated to around 2000 B.C. From the same region, as also from northern Ghana, comes further evidence for the inception of the Iron Age during the first millennium b.c.The article is prefaced by some critical comments on the citing and interpretation of radiocarbon datings in historical discussions, and on the meaning of ‘corrected’ and ‘calendar dates’.

The zooarchaeology of early historic periods in the southern Levant

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Whitcher Kansa ◽  
Justin E. Lev-Tov
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Southern Levant ◽  
Iron Age Ii ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Data Documentation ◽  
Broad Scale ◽  
Early Historic

This chapter explores the zooarchaeology of the southern Levant over a 3,000-year period, from the late fourth to the mid-first millennium bc. Highlighting contributions from zooarchaeological research, we explore broad-scale issues related to the archaeology and history of the region. Examples include the intersection of states and animal economies, religion and diet/sacrifice, ethnic foodways, and the appearance of new domesticates. Since much zooarchaeological research engages with the region’s archaeology by being contextually and historically grounded, we have organized this chapter chronologically, from the Early Bronze I to the Iron Age II. We also summarize the geography and history of zooarchaeological practice in the region. We close with recommendations for future research in Levantine zooarchaeology, including closer integration with archaeobotany and other related disciplines, as well as more formalized practices around data documentation and dissemination.

The English Kyrie

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Planchart
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Southern Germany ◽  
History Of

This chapter discusses the history of the English Kyrie, an important prayer of Christian liturgy. More specifically, it examines both the suppression of the English Kyries on the Continent and the attempt, particularly in the later fifteenth century, to recover some of these Kyries in a different guise. It first provides an overview of the connection between the Eastern Kyrie litany and the Kyrie of the mass before discussing five “manners” of singing the Kyrie eleison in the early eleventh century. It then explores how the early Kyrie repertory of post-conquest England became almost entirely northern French in character and how a large repertory of English mass music was copied in northern Italy and southern Germany. It also considers the efforts of some scribes to salvage the English Kyries by transforming them into motets. Finally, it analyzes the surviving English fragments of the Kyrie as well as the manner in which English masses were transmitted in continental sources.

Some Disputed Questions in Beowulf–Criticism

PMLA ◽  
1909 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Witherle Lawrence
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
American Indians ◽  
North American ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
North American Indians ◽  
The North

The Scandinavian analogues to the adventures of Beowulf are of considerable interest to students of the Anglo-Saxon epic. Stories of this type, occasionally affording striking resemblances in detail, appear in distant countries,—among the Japanese and the North American Indians, for example,—but these are clearly of little significance for the evolution of the tale on Germanic soil. And we need hardly attach more weight to the feats of the Celtic hero Cuchulinn, nearer neighbor though he be, than to those of Tsuna in Japan. The case is different with parallels in märchen and saga found among the very peoples by whose kinsfolk the deeds in the epic must have been celebrated. In two instances the story is told of heroes of later times. Grettir the Strong, who subdues two trolls, one in a hall and the other in a cave under a waterfall, was a historical character of the eleventh century, and Orm Storolfsson, whose struggles with a demon cat and a giant recall in many ways the deeds of Beowulf, flourished some two centuries later. The validity of a third parallel, in the Saga of Hrolf Kraki, is by no means clear. Here the problem is complicated in various ways. The saga itself is late, hardly older than the time of Chaucer in its present shape, and possibly dating from the early part of the fifteenth century.

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