A New Look at the Later Prehistory of the Kalahari

1986 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Denbow
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
The Third ◽  
Current Information ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
New Look

Until recently, the later prehistory of the Kalahari has remained almost unknown and, in consequence, the long and complex past of the peoples of this region has often been condensed into an ahistorical and timeless caricature when compared with events in neighbouring countries. The summary presented here attempts to rectify this situation by drawing upon data from over four hundred surveyed sites and information from detailed excavations carried out since 1975 at twenty-two selected localities in Botswana.Three important topics in southern African prehistory are addressed from the perspective of these investigations. The first topic is the introduction of sheep and cattle to the sub-continent between 2,000 and 2,500 years ago. The second is the origins and social dynamics of pastoralism during the Early Iron Age, and relates these developments to the formation of stratified socio-political systems around the fringes of the Kalahari towards the end of the first millennium A.D. The third topic is the relevance to current information on the later prehistory of the Kalahari of ethnographic accounts of herding and foraging societies gathered in this same region during the twentieth century.

The Nilotic Contribution to Bantu Africa

1982 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 433-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Oliver
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Essential Feature ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Iron Working

It is argued that the Nilotic contribution to Bantu Africa consisted essentially in the infiltration of Early Iron Age communities practising a mainly agricultural economy in certain specially favourable environments by a new mode of food production in which cattle-keeping played an important part. This new way of life made possible the food-producing occupation of the drier parts of Bantu Africa, and the interaction between the new and old kinds of food-producers was the essential feature of the Later Iron Age. Wherever the new elements were present, settlement patterns became more dispersed, iron-working and pottery became the occupations of specialists, systems of inheritance changed from matrilineal to patrilineal forms, and political systems tended to become more centralized through the domination of settled cultivators by more mobile and warlike pastoral elites. Although chronological data for the Later Iron Age is as yet greatly inferior to that for the Early Iron Age, it seems likely that the process of Nilotic infiltration began during the last two or three centuries of the first millennium a.d., and spread southward through the centre of the subcontinent, so as to reach the western parts of Zambia and Zimbabwe by the tenth century. The subsequent interaction between the two kinds of food-production came about more gradually over two or three further centuries, and involved many varieties of local evolution in different areas. In southern Zaire, Zambia and Zimbabwe the local development of metallurgical techniques during this period was as significant as the introduction of pastoralism. But, overall, the Nilotic contribution provided the most essential features of the Later Iron Age.

scholarly journals Archaeological Sites of the Mekong Delta and the Oc Eo Culture: a review

2020 ◽  
pp. 209-230
Author(s):  
A.O. Zakharov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Social Complexity ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Mekong Delta ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Mekong River Delta ◽  
First Millennium

The Mekong River Delta has many archaeological sites dated from the first to seventh centuries CE. They include the Oc Eo site and more than ninety sites in the territory of Vietnam. Another site of the Oc Eo archaeological culture is Angkor Borei in Cambodia. The early first millennium remains also include ancient canals which connected Angkor Borei and Oc Eo as well as few other sites. The early Iron Age predates the beginning of the Oc Eo culture in the first centuries CE. The Iron Age witnessed the growing social complexity and settlement hierarchy. The paper is an overview of archaeological investigations in the Mekong River Delta. The paper shows the deep Indian or Indic influences on the material and religious life of the ancient populations of the Mekong Delta.

scholarly journals Finds of ornitomorphic images of the End of the Early Iron Age in the Lower Angara region

2021 ◽  
pp. 77-84
Author(s):  
P.O. Senotrusova ◽  
A.A. Ekkerdt ◽  
P.V. Mandryka
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Western Siberia ◽  
Birds Of Prey ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Burial Ground ◽  
Front Side ◽  
The Third ◽  
En Face ◽  
Realistic Images ◽  
Middle Siberia

The paper concerns the ornithomorphic images found at the Pinchuga VI burial ground. The site is located in the lower course of the river Angara (Middle Siberia). The chronological boundaries of the study span the second quarter of the 1st millennium AD (end of the Early Iron Age). All burials at the burial ground were performed ac-cording to the rite of cremation outside the cemetery. Two intact objects and fragments of the third image of a bird were found at the necropolis. Figures were found in different contexts. One of them was found in the filling of a grave pit, the second item within an assemblage of various articles in the inter-grave space. The third item was broken and lost as the result of illegal excavations. All articles share similar characteristics. These are realistic images of diurnal birds of prey “frozen” in a diving flight; the images are shown en face, with a high-relief head, with the tucked wings and feet pulled up with talons. A geometric decor conveys their feather, and a stylized mask is present on the chest of one item. The images are slightly convex, their front side is polished. The closest analogies to the Angara images of birds are known in Western Siberia, including the Tomsk burial ground, the Kholmogory treasure, the Ishim collection, and materials from the Parabel cult place. All this makes it possible to attribute the analyzed items to the Kholmogory stylistic group of the Kulai cult casting. Products of this group be-came widespread in Western Siberia in the second quarter of the 1st millennium AD. The ornithomorphic images found at the Pinchuga VI cemetery extend the geographical range of the items of this style to the territory of Mid-dle Siberia. Apart from the figurines of birds, the necropolis also yields other items of the Western Siberian cult casting, including disks with concentric ornaments, a hollow image of a fish head, and a bird-head belt applique. Bronze items were imported, and in the course of exchange they were spreading over considerable distances. This proves the existence of established cultural ties between the populations of the Lower Angara region and Western Siberia at the End of the Early Iron Age.

scholarly journals Introduction: Transitions from late prehistory to early historic periods in mainland Southeast Asia, c. early to mid-first millennium CE

2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen A. Murphy ◽  
Miriam T. Stark
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
World System ◽  
Selective Adaptation ◽  
Southeast Asians ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
The Past ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
External Events

Studies of early Southeast Asia focus largely on its ‘classical states’, when rulers and their entourages from Sukhothai and Ayutthaya (Thailand), Angkor (Cambodia), Bagan (Myanmar), Champa and Dai Viet (Vietnam) clashed, conquered, and intermarried one another over an approximately six-century-long quest for legitimacy and political control. Scholarship on Southeast Asia has long held that such transformations were largely a response to outside intervention and external events, or at least that these occurred in interaction with a broader world system in which Southeast Asians played key roles. As research gathered pace on the prehistory of the region over the past five decades or so, it has become increasingly clear that indigenous Southeast Asian cultures grew in sophistication and complexity over the Iron Age in particular. This has led archaeologists to propose much greater agency in regard to the selective adaptation of incoming Indic beliefs and practices than was previously assumed under early scholarship of the nineteenth and early to mid-twentieth century.

Two Early First Millennium BC Wells at Selsey, West Sussex and their Wider Significance

2001 ◽  
Vol 81 ◽  
pp. 15-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Seager Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Population Growth ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Cultural Tradition ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Common Function

Two early first millennium BC assemblages from Selsey Bill are considered, one of Late Bronze Age date and one of Early Iron Age date. Detailed examination of two large features suggests both a common function for the features and a functional similarity between the sites to which they belong. Data from them are tested against a contemporary, regional database. In terms of site activity and settlement form, both belonged to the same cultural tradition. But differences in inter-regional relationships, outlook and resource strategies are identified. The change, paralleled on contemporary Sussex sites, is attributed to population growth and a filling-out of the landscape.

scholarly journals Trepanations in Sauromato-Sarmatian Crania from the Lower Volga

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-148
Author(s):  
E. V. Pererva ◽  
N. Y. Berezina ◽  
M. V. Krivosheev
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Western Siberia ◽  
Surgical Techniques ◽  
Volga Region ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Lower Volga Region ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Lower Volga ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Medical Traditions

We describe artificial openings in crania of the Early Iron Age nomads of the Lower Volga region, owned by the Moscow State University’s Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology. Such openings were found in two male specimens of the Sauromato-Sarmatian age from Bykovo (burial 4, kurgan 13) and Baranovka (burial 2, kurgan 21). Using macroscopic and X-ray examination, we attempt to identify the surgical techniques and the reasons behind the operations. The cranial vault of the Bykovo individual was trepanned by scraping and cutting, for medical purposes. The man survived the surgery, as evidenced by healing. In the case of Baranovka, the operation was performed postmortem or peri-mortem by drilling and cutting, possibly for ritual purposes. Collating these cases with others relating to the Early Iron Age nomadic (Sauromato-Sarmatian) culture of the Lower Volga region and adjacent territories and with written and archaeological sources suggests that the closest parallels come from Central Asia, and Southern and Western Siberia, where the custom of post-mortem ritual trepanations was very common. The surgical techniques practiced in the Lower Volga region were likely due to the penetration of Greek and Roman medical traditions in the mid-first millennium BC.

scholarly journals OBJECTS OF ANCIENT ART IN CENTRAL ASIA: THE SEARCH FOR THE ORIGIN OF ELEMENTS OF THE EARLY ANIMAL STYLE (the work of the Tuva expedition of the IA RAS)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
И.В. Рукавишникова
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Aerial Photography ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Single Group ◽  
Wooden Structure ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Burial Mounds ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Wooden Structures

В статье обобщаются результаты исследований курганов раннего железного века в Туве с применением аэрофотосъемки для поиска курганов начала I тыс. до н. э., близких по конструкции кургану Аржан-1. Был выявлен курган Аржан-5, находящийся вблизи кургана Аржан-1. Курганная каменная насыпь сильно повреждена, но сохранилась каменно-деревянная конструкция, как и в Аржане-1, и предметы упряжи в зверином стиле. После проведения анализа проб деревянных конструкций, состава бронз и антропологических определений удалось сделать вывод, что Аржан-5 принадлежит к кругу Аржана-1, формирует с ним единую группу курганов и связан общей историей. Выделяется хронологический горизонт археологической культуры Аржана-1, когда уже создаются шедевры древнего искусства архаичного звериного стиля. The paper summarizes the results of the study of the Early Iron Age burial mounds in Tuva using aerial photography for searching constructions from the beginning of the first millennium BC, which are similar in design to the Arzhan-1 mound. The Arzhan-5 mound was revealed, located near the Arzhan-1. It was badly damaged, but the stone-wooden structure has survived and the harness in the animal style was preserved, just like in Arzhan-1. Due to analysis of the samples from wooden structures, of the composition of bronzes and to the anthropological identification, it become possible to conclude that Arzhan-5 belongs to the Arzhan-1 circle they form a single group of mounds and have a common history. The chronological horizon of the archaeological culture of Arzhan-1 is highlighted, when masterpieces of the ancient art of the archaic animal style are already being created.

Palestinian Excavations

Antiquity ◽  
1950 ◽  
Vol 24 (96) ◽  
pp. 196-199
Author(s):  
Kathleen M. Kenyon
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Hill Country ◽  
Chalcolithic Period ◽  
First Millennium

Recent years have seen the publication of some sumptuous reports of the large scale excavations conducted by American enterprise in the years before the war. The sites of Megiddo and Beth-Shan, which can confidently be referred to by their historical and biblical names, are of outstanding importance, dominating as they do the Plain of Esdraelon and the great road from Egypt to North Syria and Mesopotamia. The publications here considered are the latest (but not, it is hoped, the last) of a series dealing with different aspects of the excavations. Both sites have been partially sounded to bed-rock, and show continuous occupation from thc chalcolithic period to the end of the first millennium B.C., and Beth-Shan beyond it. Tell en-Nasbeh is in a different category. It is possibly to be identified with the Biblical Mizpah, but this is not universally accepted. Like many Palestinian hill-country sites, it was occupied in the Early Bronze Age (the ascription of some groups to the chalcolithic period is unsatisfactory). Its main occupation is, however, confined to the Early Iron Age, from the time of the undivided Israelite Kingdom down to the post-exilic, Hellenistic and Roman periods.

scholarly journals WEAPON OF THE EARLY IRON AGE FROM COLLECTION OF KAMYANKA HISTORICAL MUSEUM

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 345-348
Author(s):  
Yu. Yu. Lyashko
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Short Description ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Cultural Center ◽  
The Third ◽  
Curved Blade ◽  
Made In

The article is sanctified to description of standards of weapon twenty-four hours of early ferrous age, that is kept in the display of historical museum of Kamyanka of state Historical and Cultural Center reserve of the Cherkasy areal. In this paper, brief information is provided on similar analogues of weapons that were found on the territory of Ukraine. But their short description is made. Particularly worthy to highlight the Scythian sword-akinak, which is made in uncharacteristic for this type of form, with a slightly curved blade and one-sided sharpening. This type of weapon is a unique achievement of weaponry and dates from the second to the third quarter of the Vth century BC. Also at the end of the work there is a conclusion regarding the existence of certain types of weapons in the Prytyasminsky region.

A Theatre of Imagery: the Rock Carving of Döltorp, Skee Parish, Bohuslän, Sweden

2011 ◽  
Vol 91 ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Coles
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
The West ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Ancient Monuments ◽  
The Bronze Age

AbstractThe parish of Skee, in western Bohuslän, has a wide variety of ancient monuments, among which is a small rock at Döltorp that displays a range of Bronze Age and Early Iron Age rock carvings. The new recording presented here identifies a number of hitherto unrecognized images and details. Some of the carvings are now considered to be of the late second millennium bc, while the bulk of the images are of mid-first millennium bc date. They include a particularly large decorated boat, with its crew finely detailed, as well as a number of carvings of warriors, discs, horses, spirals and smaller boats. The site lies in a landscape well inland from the Bronze Age shoreline, and its selection for carving was probably related to the existence of an earlier cairn high on a ridge to the west of the rock-carving site, perhaps linked to it by additional stones. Other sites in the immediate lowland region suggest that we should not view such sites as static creations; rather, we should consider them to have had long and episodic lives, maintaining and augmenting a societal awareness over many generations.

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