New perspectives on stone bead technology at Bronze Age Troy

2015 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Ludvik ◽  
J. Mark Kenoyer ◽  
Magda Pieniążek ◽  
William Aylward
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Rock Crystal ◽  
Chronological Period ◽  
Mediterranean Regions ◽  
Drilling Technology ◽  
General Aspects ◽  
Drill Holes ◽  
Made In

AbstractStone beads from the site of Troy, Turkey, have been studied in order to understand better the nature of lapidary technology and trade during the third to second millennium BC in this part of Anatolia. Eighteen carnelian and two rock crystal beads were documented through visual examinations, measurement and photography to identify the raw material, as well as general aspects of manufacture and style. Silicone impressions of the drill holes as well as some of the engraved surfaces were made in order to study the nature of drilling and abrasion under a Scanning Electron Microscope. Through these studies, it is possible to identify the presence of different types of bead production and drilling technology during each major chronological period at the site. Some of the beads may have been produced at Troy or at nearby sites in Anatolia while others have links to the southern Aegean and eastern Mediterranean regions as well as the more distant regions of Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley.

scholarly journals The Earliest Balance Weights in the West: Towards an Independent Metrology for Bronze Age Europe

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Ialongo
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
Scientific Debate ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Mediterranean Regions ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Standard Weight

Weighing devices are the earliest material correlates of the rational quantification of economic value, and they yield great potential in the study of trade in pre-literate societies. However, the knowledge of European Bronze Age metrology is still underdeveloped in comparison to Eastern Mediterranean regions, mostly due to the lack of a proper scientific debate. This paper introduces a theoretical and methodological framework for the study of standard weight-systems in pre-literate societies, and tests it on a large sample of potential balance weights distributed between Southern Italy and Central Europe during the Bronze Age (second–early first millenniumbc). A set of experimental expectations is defined on the basis of comparisons with ancient texts, archaeological cases and modern behaviour. Concurrent typological, use-wear, statistical and contextual analyses allow to cross-check the evidence against the expectations, and to validate the balance-weight hypothesis for the sample under analysis. The paper urges a reappraisal of an independent weight metrology for Bronze Age Europe, based on adequate methodologies and a critical perspective.

Cypriot Finger Rings

1970 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 5-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Boardman
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Near East ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Metal Rings ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Main Influence ◽  
Made In

The Role of Cyprus as intermediary between the cities of the Near East and the Aegean world can be studied in many different ways. This article is devoted to Cypriot metal signet rings of Iron Age (pre-Roman) date and the part they play in the story of east and west. It comprises a full publication of the metal rings in Nicosia museum, which I was invited to undertake by Drs. V. Karageorghis and K. Nikolaou, but it includes consideration of other finds from Cyprus now in other collections, and a few other probably Cypriot pieces. For the latter, less-detailed descriptions and references are given.Since the continuity of culture between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age in Cyprus is more easily demonstrated than it can be in most other areas of the eastern Mediterranean, it is necessary to begin with a brief account of the all-metal signet rings in use in the island at the end of the Bronze Age, and token illustration is given here to supplement published photographs. The main influence in the shapes of these rings is Egyptian and not Aegean, since the long oval bezels of the rings run with the hoop and not across it, and the rings are all intended for wearing on the fingers, as some have been found in tombs, which is not true of most Aegean signet rings. Three different styles of decoration may be observed. The first is thoroughly Egyptianizing and some pieces are of high quality. The hoops of the rings are stirrup-shaped but occasionally have rounded shoulders, and the bezels are long ovals like cartouches. In these respects they follow Egyptian forms very closely, and it is possible that some are in fact of Egyptian origin. The shape and style of any made in Cyprus may, of course, not have been derived directly from Egypt, but via the Palestine—Syria coast.

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.

3.2 ka BP Megadrought and the Late Bronze Age Collapse

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Kaniewski ◽  
Elise Van Campo
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Prime Factor ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Southwest Asia ◽  
Aegean Region ◽  
Climate Shift ◽  
Dark Ages ◽  
Political Unrest ◽  
Mediterranean Archaeology

The collapse of Bronze Age civilizations in the Aegean, southwest Asia, and the eastern Mediterranean 3200 years ago remains a persistent riddle in Eastern Mediterranean archaeology, as both archaeologists and historians believe the event was violent, sudden, and culturally disruptive. In the first phase of this period, many cities between Pylos and Gaza were destroyed violently and often left unoccupied thereafter. The palace economy of the Aegean Region and Anatolia that characterized the Late Bronze Age was replaced by the isolated village cultures of the Dark Ages. Earthquakes, attacks of the Sea Peoples, and socio-political unrest are among the most frequently suggested causes for this phenomenon. However, while climate change has long been considered a potential prime factor in this crisis, only recent studies have pinpointed the megadrought behind the collapse. An abrupt climate shift seems to have caused, or hastened, the fall of the Late Bronze Age world by sparking political and economic turmoil, migrations, and famines. The entirety of the megadrought’s effects terminated the Late Bronze Age in the eastern Mediterranean.

Cyprus, Sardinia and Sicily: A Maritime Perspective on Interaction, Connectivity and Imagination in Mediterranean Prehistory

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
A. Bernard Knapp ◽  
Anthony Russell ◽  
Peter van Dommelen
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Culturally Diverse ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Mediterranean Regions ◽  
Trade Route ◽  
Direct Trade

In this study, we outline a maritime perspective on interaction in the Late Bronze/early Iron Age Mediterranean. In response to what has elsewhere been termed the ‘maximalist’ approach, which foregrounds direct, long-distance trading connections between distant Mediterranean regions as a key feature of Late Bronze Age exchange systems, we propose a more nuanced, ‘minimalist’ and argue that notions of contact, connectivity and mobility need to be carefully distinguished if we wish to discuss both the material and social dimensions of maritime mobility. In particular, we critique the prominently proposed, allegedly direct trade route between Sardinia and Cyprus. The network we suggest hinges on multiply connected nodes, where a variety of social actors take part in the creation and maintenance of maritime connections. By unpacking several such nodes between Sardinia and Cyprus, we demonstrate that simply asserting the dominance of Sardinian, Cypriot or Aegean mariners falls short of the complex archaeological evidence and eschews possible social interpretations. In conclusion, we submit that maritime connectivity is an inherently social activity, and that a culturally diverse prehistoric Mediterranean was connected by multiple interlocking and overlapping networks.

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