MEGALO NISI GALANIS (6300–1800 bc): CONSTRUCTING A CULTURAL SEQUENCE FOR THE NEOLITHIC OF WEST MACEDONIA, GREECE

2019 ◽  
Vol 114 ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Michael Fotiadis ◽  
Areti Hondroyanni-Metoki ◽  
Alexandra Kalogirou ◽  
Yannis Maniatis ◽  
Anna Stroulia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
History Of ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Surrounding Landscape ◽  
Early Phases

Scores of Neolithic sites have been excavated in west Macedonia since the 1990s, yet the majority are relatively short-lived installations, lacking high-resolution stratigraphies and sequences of radiocarbon dates. Megalo Nisi Galanis, a large mound in the Kitrini Limni basin, near modern Kozani, is a rare exception to that pattern. Systematically surveyed and excavated in 1987–9 and 1993, this site covers a large part of the Neolithic period in a stratified, radiocarbon-dated sequence capped in places by thin deposits of the Early Bronze Age. We present here the critical details of that sequence and relate them to evidence from other, recently excavated sites in west Macedonia. Megalo Nisi Galanis was first settled in the Early Neolithic (late seventh millennium bc), was intensively occupied until the early phases of the Final Neolithic (around 4500 bc), and continued to be inhabited, albeit sparely or intermittently, until the transition from the Early to the Middle Bronze Age, about 1800 bc. By the end of occupation, the mound covered more than eight hectares and rose up to five metres above the surrounding landscape. We attend closely to features of that landscape that are likely to have played an important role in the history of occupation of the site and Kitrini Limni in the course of the Holocene.

scholarly journals Exchange networks from close-up: The case of Lipari obsidian

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Vianello ◽  
Robert Howard Tykot
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Systematic Study ◽  
Explanatory Model ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Specific Situation ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Single Source ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Exchange Networks ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

A systematic study on obsidian tools in Calabria and Sicily carried out by the authors have revealed the uniqueness in the patterns of production, exchange and consumption of Lipari obsidian. The study has concentrated on the Middle Neolithic primarily, with other Neolithic and Bronze Age contexts recognised at a later stage in the research since many contexts, especially in Sicily, have been excavated by pioneering archaeologists, some over a century ago, or were mislabelled. The chronology is Early Neolithic to Early Bronze Age, with very few materials dating Middle Bronze Age. A review of chronological contexts is in progress, which spans from the 6th millennium BC to the end of the 2nd millennium BC. The typology of obsidian tools is very homogenous, the vast majority of used tools are small blades, bladelets and sharp flakes; there is negligible variance across time; and Lipari obsidian is preferred over other sources. The patterns of the exchanges are also unique, revealing two major types of redistribution of obsidian, one particularly intriguing because it is quite organized with a single source in Lipari, prominent and reminiscent for its stability and reach of Bronze Age redistribution dynamics associated with hierarchical societies. We present here some observations on patterns substantiated by the archaeological record, and consider possible scenarios that can explain them. This work provides an update on progressing research and reveals aspects that will need further investigation, focusing on the patterns identified so far and possible explanations. More work is certainly needed to produce a working model, but the unusual patterns deserve some attention on their own, unencumbered by an overarching explanatory model. In particular, we want to assess the Neolithic redistribution pattern suggestive as typical of hierarchical polities, and contextualize it to the specific situation of Neolithic Lipari.

THE EARLY AND MIDDLE BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENT AT KOIMISIS, THERASIA: PERIODS OF HABITATION AND ARCHITECTURE

2020 ◽  
Vol 115 ◽  
pp. 105-132
Author(s):  
Kostas Sbonias ◽  
Iris Tzachili ◽  
Maya Efstathiou ◽  
Clairy Palyvou ◽  
Costas Athanasiou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
Geological Structure ◽  
Archaeological Investigation ◽  
New Information ◽  
Surface Survey ◽  
History Of ◽  
Geophysical Investigations ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Early Phases

The study of the history of the first excavations on prehistoric Therasia in the nineteenth century, which were carried out in the context of contemporary scientific interest in the volcanic eruptions of Santorini, has led to the systematic archaeological investigation of the island from 2007 onwards. The intensive archaeological surface survey, the geological survey of the geological structure and palaeotopography of Therasia, and geophysical investigations, undertaken in conjunction with the ongoing excavation of the prehistoric settlement at the site of Panaghia Koimisis at the southern end of modern Therasia, have created the conditions for a more comprehensive approach to the archaeological landscape of the island. Based on the results from the excavation trenches in the south and south-east terraces of the Koimisis hill, which have been excavated down to the virgin soil, we present findings on the organisation, architecture and habitation phases of the Koimisis settlement. The site emerges as an important settlement located on the imposing hilltop rising on the west side of the pre-eruption Santorini caldera in the Early Bronze Age, with a long period of habitation to the end of the Middle Cycladic period, when it was definitively abandoned. The excavation of the settlement provides new information on its architecture and spatial organisation during the Early and Middle Bronze Age, completing the picture from Akrotiri, whose early phases are preserved in a piecemeal fashion under the buildings of the Late Cycladic town.

scholarly journals The Beginning of the Early Bronze Age in the North Jordan Valley: New14C Determinations from Pella in Jordan

Radiocarbon ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 905-913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Bourke ◽  
Ugo Zoppi ◽  
John Meadows ◽  
Quan Hua ◽  
Samantha Gibbins
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Jordan Valley ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The North ◽  
Precursor Phase ◽  
Chalcolithic Period ◽  
Early Phases ◽  
Ams Dates

This article reports on 10 new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates from early phases of the Early Bronze Age at the long-lived settlement of Pella (modern Tabaqat Fahl) in the north Jordan Valley. The new AMS dates fall between 3400 and 2800 cal BC, and support a recent suggestion that all Chalcolithic period occupation had ceased by 3800/3700 cal BC at the latest (Bourke et al. 2004b). Other recently published Early Bronze Age14C data strongly supports this revisionist scenario, suggesting that the earliest phase of the Early Bronze Age (EBA I) occupied much of the 4th millennium cal BC (3800/3700 to 3100/3000 cal BC). As this EB I period in the Jordan Valley is generally viewed as the key precursor phase in the development of urbanism (Joffe 1993), this revisionist chronology has potentially radical significance for understanding both the nature and speed of the move from village settlement towards a complex urban lifeway.

scholarly journals Late Neolithic and Late Bronze Age lithic assemblages associated with a cairn and other prehistoric features at Stoneyhill Farm, Longhaven, Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, 2002-03

2011 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torben Ballin ◽  
Ian Suddaby ◽  
M Cressey ◽  
M Hastie ◽  
A Jackson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Lithic Technology ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Lithic Assemblages

Prehistoric remains were recorded by CFA Archaeology Ltd (CFA) in 2002-03 during a programme of fieldwork at the landfill site within the boundaries of Stoneyhill Farm, which lies 7km to the southwest of Peterhead in Aberdeenshire. These included a clearance cairn with a Late Bronze Age lithic assemblage and a burial cairn, with Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age lithics and Beaker ceramics. Other lithic scatters of similar date had no certain associations, although pits containing near-contemporary Impressed Wares were nearby. Additional lithic assemblages included material dated to the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic. What may be proto-Unstan Wares in an isolated pit were associated with radiocarbon dates (barley) of the first half of the fourth millennium bc. These findings represent a substantial addition to the local area's archaeological record and form an important contribution to the understanding of lithic technology and ceramics in earlier prehistoric Scotland.This paper is dedicated to the memory of Ian Shepherd, whose site visits enlightened this and other projects undertaken by one of the authors (IS).

scholarly journals Neolithic Thessaly: radiocarbon dated periods and phases

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 34-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agathe Reingruber ◽  
Giorgos Toufexis ◽  
Nina Kyparissi-Apostolika ◽  
Michalis Anetakis ◽  
Yannis Maniatis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Central Greece ◽  
Absolute Dating ◽  
The Bronze Age

Thessaly in Central Greece is famous for settlement mounds (magoules) that were already partly formed in the Early Neolithic period. Some of these long-lived sites grew to many metres in height during the subsequent Middle, Late and Final Neolithic periods, and were also in­habited in the Bronze Age. Such magoules served as the backbone for defining relative chronolo­gical schemes. However, their absolute dating is still a topic of debate: due to a lack of well-defined se­quences, different chronological schemes have been proposed. New radiocarbon dates obtained in the last few years allow a better understanding of the duration not only of the main Neolithic pe­riods, but also of the different phases and sub-phases.

scholarly journals The Early Neolithic–Middle Bronze Age environmental history of the Mamakan archaeological area, Eastern Siberia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena V. Bezrukova ◽  
Svetlana A. Reshetova ◽  
Aleksey V. Tetenkin ◽  
Pavel E. Tarasov ◽  
Christian Leipe
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Environmental History ◽  
Eastern Siberia ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
History Of ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

An Early Neolithic Grave and Occupation, and an Early Bronze Age Hearth on the Thames Foreshore at Yabsley Street, Blackwall, London

2008 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 215-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Coles ◽  
Steve Ford ◽  
Andy Taylor ◽  
Sian Anthony ◽  
Rowena Gale ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Wild Plant ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Natural Sand ◽  
Peat Deposits ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Marked Decline ◽  
Sand And Gravel

Excavation on the Thames floodplain in London revealed traces of Early Neolithic occupation and burial on a sand and gravel bar beneath alluvium. A large expanse of peat also buried by alluvium was recorded between these finds and the modern river Thames suggesting that the occupation was situated on or close to the foreshore. A single grave cut into the natural sand contained a poorly preserved crouched inhumation, possibly of a woman. The burial was accompanied by a fragment of carinated bowl, a flint knife, and other struck flints. A radiocarbon date from an oak retaining plank within the grave of 5252±28 BP (4220–3970 cal BC: KIA20157) makes this burial one of the earliest from the British Isles and the earliest known for London. A scatter of struck flint and pottery predominantly of Early Neolithic date was recovered from adjacent areas of the sand. A nearby hearth contained fragments of Early Bronze Age pottery pointing to later prehistoric activity nearby. Charred plant remains indicate both the collection of wild plant foods and cultivated cereals in the Early Neolithic. Radiocarbon dating of the adjacent peat deposits indicated their rapid growth within the Middle Bronze Age with a marked decline in woodland cover at the start of the sequence and a rise in grassland and herb species. Cereal pollen then briefly became a significant component of the sequence before declining to more modest levels.

scholarly journals Neolithic Thessaly: radiocarbon dated periods and phases

10.4312/dp.3 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Agathe Reingruber ◽  
Giorgos Toufexis ◽  
Nina Kyparissi-Apostolika ◽  
Michalis Anetakis ◽  
Yannis Maniatis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Central Greece ◽  
Absolute Dating ◽  
The Bronze Age

Thessaly in Central Greece is famous for settlement mounds (magoules) that were already partly formed in the Early Neolithic period. Some of these long-lived sites grew to many metres in height during the subsequent Middle, Late and Final Neolithic periods, and were also in­habited in the Bronze Age. Such magoules served as the backbone for defining relative chronolo­gical schemes. However, their absolute dating is still a topic of debate: due to a lack of well-defined se­quences, different chronological schemes have been proposed. New radiocarbon dates obtained in the last few years allow a better understanding of the duration not only of the main Neolithic pe­riods, but also of the different phases and sub-phases.

Excavation of Four Barrows, and a Middle Bronze Age Cremation Cemetery, at Heatherstone Grange, Bransgore, Hampshire

2018 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-89
Author(s):  
Richard Massey ◽  
Elaine L. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
South West ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

Excavation at Heatherstone Grange, Bransgore, Hampshire, investigated features identified in a previous evaluation. Area A included ring ditches representing two barrows. Barrow 1.1 held 40 secondary pits, including 34 cremation-related deposits of Middle Bronze Age date, and Barrow 1.2 had five inserted pits, including three cremation graves, one of which dated to the earlier Bronze Age, and was found with an accessory cup. A number of pits, not all associated with cremation burials, contained well-preserved urns of the regional Deverel-Rimbury tradition and occasional sherds from similar vessels, which produced a closely-clustered range of eight radiocarbon dates centred around 1300 BC. Of ten pits in Area C, three were cremation graves, of which one was radiocarbon-dated to the Early Bronze Age and associated with a collared urn, while four contained only pyre debris. Barrow 1.3, in Area E, to the south, enclosed five pits, including one associated with a beaker vessel, and was surrounded by a timber circle. Area F, further to the south-west, included two pits of domestic character with charcoal-rich fills and the remains of pottery vessels, together with the probable remains of a ditched enclosure and two sets of paired postholes. Area H, located to the north-west of Area E, partly revealed a ring ditch (Barrow 1.4), which enclosed two pits with charcoal-rich fills, one with a single Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age potsherd, and the other burnt and worked flint. A further undated pit was situated to the east of Barrow 1.4. The cremation cemetery inserted into Barrow 1.1 represents a substantial addition to the regional record of Middle Bronze Age cremation burials, and demonstrates important affinities with the contemporary cemeteries of the Stour Valley to the west, and sites on Cranborne Chase, to the north-west.

The chronology of the Mariupol-type cemeteries of Ukraine re-visited

Antiquity ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (292) ◽  
pp. 356-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Ya. Telegin ◽  
I.D. Potekhina ◽  
M. Lillie ◽  
M.M. Kovaliukh
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Late Mesolithic

Recent results of radiocarbon analyses from sites in Ukraine suggest that a revision of the chronology of the Late mesolithic and early Neolithic is required. The subsequent Neolithic period up to the beginning of the Early Bronze Age (c.3000 cal BC) should be divided into two separate periods, the Neolithic and Neo-eneolithic.

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