Prehistoric Copper Mining in South-West Ireland: The Mount Gabriel-Type Mines

1990 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 269-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
William F. O'Brien
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Mining Equipment ◽  
North West ◽  
South West ◽  
Blanket Bog ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
Main Period ◽  
Ore Treatment ◽  
The Many

This paper examines the Mt Gabriel-type exploitation of sedimentary mineralization in the West Cork region of south-west Ireland. It includes a consideration of the physical setting of the mines, their distribution, morphology, technology, dating and cultural affinities. Mt Gabriel, the highest mountain of the Mizen Peninsula in south-west Cork, was the setting for extensive mining of surface copper beds during the closing stages of the Early Bronze Age. Recent radiocarbon dating of wood and charcoal from these sites confirms that the main period of mining activity on this mountain was between 1700–1500 cal. BC, making these the oldest copper mines presently known in north-west Europe. The importance of these sites lies not only in their antiquity, but in their unique preservation in upland blanket bog environments.A recent programme of survey and excavation culminated in the investigation of the mine 3/4 site on the eastern slopes of the mountain. The removal of a large peat-based infill deposit from mine 3 revealed an 11 metre deep inclined opening, in which the transition from a strata-bound drift-mine to a cross-cutting tunnel was visible. Waterlogged sediments within this mine contained a large assemblage of roundwood fuel and wooden mining equipment, including a shovel, pick, wedges, lighting chips and handles for the many stone-hammers which were also found. The excavation of a large spoil mound outside this mine has provided important evidence on ore treatment in these operations, an important element of which involved the repeated crushing of rock using stone cobble-hammers. Activity areas located on the periphery of this dump included further dressing floors, concentrations of broken stone tools and a posthole structure with associated water trough.This mining, together with an expanded Early Bronze Age metal production in south-west Ireland, may be directly associated with an important intensification of agricultural production and human settlement in this region, which also finds expression in the adoption of new sepulchral and ceremonial traditions. The ore sources constituted an important resource during this period, contributing to the emergence of controlling élites who had an important managerial role in the production and distribution of metal.

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 bronze headbands of Prehistoric Lofkënd and their Aegean and Balkan connections

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 33-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
John K. Papadopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
Young Females ◽  
The Many ◽  
Votive Offerings

This paper begins with an overview of the bronze headbands from the prehistoric (Late Bronze to Early Iron Age) burial tumulus of Lofkënd in Albania, which were found among the richest tombs of the cemetery, all of them of young females or children. It is argued that these individuals represent a class of the special dead, those who have not attained a critical rite de passage: marriage. In their funerary attire these individuals go to the grave as brides, married to death. The significance of the Lofkënd headbands is reviewed, as is their shape and decoration, but it is their context that contributes to a better understanding of Aegean examples, including the many bronze, gold, and silver headbands found in tombs from the Early Bronze Age through the Early Iron Age, as well as those dedicated as votive offerings in sanctuaries. In addition to discussing the evidence for headbands in the Aegean and much of southeast Europe, this paper also attempts to uncover the word used in this early period in Greece for these distinctive items of personal ornament. In memory of Berit Wells.

scholarly journals Diocesan Licensing and Medical Practitioners in South-West England, 1660–1780

2004 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Mortimer
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Medical Practitioners ◽  
Medical Expertise ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Decentralized Trade ◽  
South West ◽  
The Many ◽  
South West England

The licensing of provincial surgeons and physicians in the post-Restoration period has proved an awkward subject for medical historians. It has divided writers between those who regard the possession of a local licence as a mark of professionalism or proficiency, those who see the existence of diocesan licences as a mark of an essentially unregulated and decentralized trade, and those who discount the distinction of licensing in assessing medical expertise availability in a given region. Such a diversity of interpretations has meant that the very descriptors by which practitioners were known to their contemporaries (and are referred to by historians) have become fragmented and difficult to use without a specific context. As David Harley has pointed out in his study of licensed physicians in the north-west of England, “historians often define eighteenth-century physicians as men with medical degrees, thus ignoring … the many licensed physicians throughout the country”. One could similarly draw attention to the inadequacy of the word “surgeon” to cover licensed and unlicensed practitioners, barber-surgeons, Company members in towns, self-taught practitioners using surgical manuals, and procedural specialists whose work came under the umbrella of surgery, such as bonesetters, midwives and phlebotomists. Although such fragmentation of meaning reflects a diversity of practices carried on under the same occupational descriptors in early modern England, the result is an imprecise historical literature in which the importance of licensing, and especially local licensing, is either ignored as a delimiter or viewed as an inaccurate gauge of medical proficiency.

scholarly journals Rock art and the prehistoric landscape of Galicia: the results of field survey 1992–1994

1995 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
pp. 347-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bradley ◽  
Felipe Criado Boado ◽  
Ramón Fábregas Valcarce
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Field Survey ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Outer Edge ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Copper Age ◽  
North West ◽  
Abrupt Changes ◽  
Ground Conditions ◽  
The Relationship

This paper discusses the relationship between the earlier prehistoric pattern of settlement in Atlantic Europe and the creation of rock art. It investigates the organisation of the Copper Age and Early Bronze Age landscape of north-west Spain using the evidence provided by the distribution, siting, and composition of rock carvings. It presents the results of field survey in three sample areas extending from the centre to the outer edge of their distribution. Although these drawings cannot be interpreted as illustrations of daily life, they may have helped to define rights to particular resources in an area which experienced abrupt changes of ground conditions over the course of the year.

A Non-local Source of Irish Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Gold

2015 ◽  
Vol 81 ◽  
pp. 149-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher D. Standish ◽  
Bruno Dhuime ◽  
Chris J. Hawkesworth ◽  
Alistair W. G. Pike
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Lead Isotope ◽  
Ore Deposits ◽  
Local Source ◽  
Geochemical Data ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Alluvial Deposits ◽  
Study Region ◽  
South West

Lead isotope analyses of 50 Irish Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age gold artefacts favour a gold source in southern Ireland. However when combined with major element analysis, the artefacts are not consistent with any Irish gold deposit analysed to date. Understanding the lead isotope signatures of ore deposits within a study region allows informed inferences to be drawn regarding the likelihood that an unanalysed ore deposit was exploited in the past. If an Irish gold source is assumed, then the gold is most likely to have originated from deposits hosted by Old Red Sandstone in the Variscan ore field of south-west Ireland. However, based on our current understanding of mineralisation in the region, this scenario is considered unlikely. A non-Irish source for the gold is therefore preferred – a scenario that may favour cosmologically-driven acquisition, ie, the deliberate procurement of a material from distant or esoteric sources. Available geochemical data, combined with current archaeological evidence, favour the alluvial deposits of south-west Britain as the most likely source of the gold.

scholarly journals Deforestation and Human Agency in the North Atlantic Region: Archaeological and Palaeoenvironmental Evidence from the Western Isles of Scotland

2018 ◽  
Vol 84 ◽  
pp. 145-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosie R. Bishop ◽  
Mike J. Church ◽  
Ian T. Lawson ◽  
Katherine H. Roucoux ◽  
Charlotte O’Brien ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
North Atlantic Region ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Atlantic Region ◽  
North West ◽  
Farming Communities ◽  
The North ◽  
New Synthesis ◽  
Main Period

This paper considers the timing and mechanisms of deforestation in the Western Isles of Scotland, focusing in particular on the landscape around the Calanais stone circles, one of the best preserved late Neolithic/early Bronze Age monumental landscapes in north-west Europe. We present new archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence from a soil and peat sequence at the site of Aird Calanais, which spans the main period of use of the Calanais circles. We then draw on a new synthesis of archaeobotanical and palynological evidence from across the Western Isles and a review of comparable data from the wider North Atlantic zone, before assessing the role of early farming communities in clearing the wooded landscapes of the region. Pollen and radiocarbon dating at the site of Aird Calanais reveal that a layer of birch branches, dating to the late Neolithic (2912–2881 calbc), was contemporaneous with a decline in woodland at the site, as well as with the major phase of Neolithic activity at the Calanais stone circle complex. However, our synthesis of the pollen and plant macrofossil evidence from across the Western Isles suggests that the picture across these islands was altogether more complex: woodlands declined both before, as well as during, the Neolithic and deciduous woodlands remained sufficiently abundant for Neolithic fuel procurement. Finally, we consider the implications of the results for understanding the interactions between first farmers and woodlands in the wider North Atlantic region.

Excavations at Owslebury, Hants: An Interim Report

1968 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Collis
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Interim Report ◽  
Main Period

SummaryThis report describes the excavation of an Iron Age and Roman farming settlement at Bottom Pond Farm, Owslebury, near Winchester (Grid Reference SU 525246). Traces of Neolithic, Early Bronze Age, and earlier Iron Age occupation were found, but the main period of occupation starts in the Belgic period with both settlement material and a small cemetery containing a warrior inhumation and Belgic cremations inside rectangular enclosures. The site continues with ditched enclosures, chalk quarries, cesspits, ovens, and burials until the end of the fourth century A.D.

DEATH BY COMBAT AT THE DAWN OF THE BRONZE AGE? PROFILING THE DAGGER-ACCOMPANIED BURIAL FROM RACTON, WEST SUSSEX

2017 ◽  
Vol 97 ◽  
pp. 65-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Needham ◽  
James Kenny ◽  
Garrard Cole ◽  
Janet Montgomery ◽  
Mandy Jay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
North West ◽  
Limited Efficacy ◽  
Elite Level ◽  
Protein Rich ◽  
Left Humerus ◽  
The Bronze Age

A previously unresearched Early Bronze Age dagger-grave found in 1989 at Racton, West Sussex, is profiled here through a range of studies. The dagger, the only grave accompaniment, is of the ‘transitional’ Ferry Fryston type, this example being of bronze rather than copper. Bayesian analysis of relevant radiocarbon dates is used to refine the chronology of the earliest bronze in Britain. While the Ferry Fryston type was current in the earlier half of the twenty-second centurybc, the first butt-riveted bronze daggers did not emerge until the second half. The Racton dagger is also distinguished by its elaborate rivet-studded hilt, an insular innovation with few parallels.The excavated skeleton was that of a senior male, buried according to the appropriate rites of the time. Isotopic profiling shows an animal-protein rich diet that is typical for the period, but also the likelihood that he was brought up in a region of older silicate sedimentary rocks well to the west or north west of Racton. He had suffered injury at or close to the time of death; a slice through the distal end of his left humerus would have been caused by a fine-edged blade, probably a dagger. Death as a result of combat-contested leadership is explored in the light of other injuries documented among Early Bronze Age burials. Codified elite-level combat could help to explain the apparent incongruity between the limited efficacy of early dagger forms and their evident weapon-status.

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