Excavations at a Multi-period Site at Greenbogs, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and the Four-post Timber Architecture Tradition of Late Neolithic Britain and Ireland

2012 ◽  
Vol 78 ◽  
pp. 135-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Noble ◽  
Moira Greig ◽  
Kirsty Millican ◽  
Sue Anderson ◽  
Ann Clarke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Common Element ◽  
Timber Structures ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Human Bones ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Age Features

This report outlines the unexpected discovery of a group of Late Neolithic structures at Greenbogs, Monymusk in Aberdeenshire, along with a series of later prehistoric features in the mid-1990s. Recent radiocarbon dating shows that two four-post timber structures found here date to the period 2890–2490 calbc. These were found in association with a range of other features including an oval structure and diffuse areas of burning. The closest parallels for the four-post structures can be found in a slowly growing body of Late Neolithic timber structures, some being interpreted as roofed dwellings and others as roofed or unroofed monuments. This article places the Greenbogs structures in their wider context, identifies a number of unexcavated parallels in the aerial record and addresses the nature of the four-post structures found across Late Neolithic Britain and Ireland and suggests that four-post structures were a more common element of Late Neolithic architecture than previously identified. A common building type appears to have been shared across large areas of Britain and Ireland in a variety of contexts, from the seemingly mundane to the more ‘charged’, as part of elaborate monument complexes. The later prehistoric features identified at Greenbogs include a concentration of Middle Bronze Age features including graves containing cremated human bones, one with an upright urn, and a number of Iron Age pits and other features.

scholarly journals Early human impact on soils and hydro-sedimentary systems: Multi-proxy geoarchaeological analyses from La Narse de la Sauvetat (France)

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 1780-1800
Author(s):  
Alfredo Mayoral ◽  
Salomé Granai ◽  
Anne-Lise Develle ◽  
Jean-Luc Peiry ◽  
Yannick Miras ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Societal Factors ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

We analysed the late-Holocene pedo-sedimentary archives of La Narse de la Sauvetat, a hydromorphic depression in the southern Limagne plain (central France), where chronologically accurate studies are scarce. The multi-proxy geoarchaeological and palaeoenvironmental analysis of two cores from different areas of the basin was carried out through sedimentological, geochemical, micromorphological and malacological investigations. Integration of these datasets supported by a robust radiocarbon-based chronology allowed discussion of socio-environmental interactions and anthropogenic impacts from Late Neolithic to Early Middle Ages. Until the Middle Bronze Age, there was no clear evidence of anthropogenic impact on soils and hydro-sedimentary dynamics of the catchment, but two peaks of high alluvial activity probably related to the 4.2 and 3.5 kyr. BP climate events were first recorded in Limagne. Significant anthropogenic impacts started in the Late Bronze Age with increased erosion of the surrounding volcanic slopes. However, a major threshold was reached c. 2600 cal BP with a sharp increase in the catchment erosion interpreted as resulting from strong anthropogenic environmental changes related to agricultural activities and drainage. This implies an anthropogenic forcing on soils and hydro-sedimentary systems much earlier than was usually considered in Limagne. These impacts then gradually increased during Late Iron Age and Roman periods, but environmental effects were certainly contained by progress in agricultural management. Late Antiquity environmental changes are consistent with regional trend to drainage deterioration in lowlands, but marked asynchrony in this landscape change suggests that societal factors implying differential land management were certainly predominant here.

scholarly journals Radiocarbon Dating the “Wilderness of Zin”

Radiocarbon ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 481-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hendrik J Bruins ◽  
Johannes van der Plicht
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Archaeological Survey ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Iron Age I ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Desert Regions ◽  
Vexed Question ◽  
The 19Th Century

An important archaeological survey was conducted by Leonard Woolley and T E Lawrence in 1914 on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund in the Negev and northeastern Sinai deserts—the “Wilderness of Zin.” The region of Ain Kadeis, associated by some scholars in the 19th century with biblical Kadesh-Barnea, received much attention in their survey and discussions. Concerning the vexed question of Kadesh-Barnea, Woolley and Lawrence gave their preference for the nearby Ain el Qudeirat Valley, and in particular the ancient tell. Their survey contributed significantly in the shaping of scholarly opinion on the matter, even until today. But modern surveys and excavations failed to identify any archaeological remnants of the 2nd millennium BCE in the above regions, thereby putting the above associations in question. The Middle Bronze Age II, Late Bronze Age, and Iron Age I that cover this millennium are considered missing in the area in archaeological terms. However, our research reveals that archaeological remains of the 2nd millennium BCE do exist in the region, as determined chronologically by radiocarbon dating. A geoarchaeological approach is required to investigate terraced fields in wadis, which contain a unique record of human activity in these desert regions.

The Iron Age Enclosures and Prehistoric Landscape of Sutton Common, South Yorkshire

1997 ◽  
Vol 63 ◽  
pp. 221-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Parker Pearson ◽  
R.E. Sydes ◽  
S. Boardman ◽  
B. Brayshay ◽  
P.C. Buckland ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

The Early Iron Age enclosures and associated sites on Sutton Common on the western edge of the Humberhead Levels contain an exceptional variety of archaeological data of importance not only to the region but for the study of later prehistory in the British Isles. Few other later prehistoric British sites outside the East Anglian fens and the Somerset Levels have thus far produced the quantity and quality of organically preserved archaeological materials that have been found, despite the small scale of the investigations to date. The excavations have provided an opportunity to integrate a variety of environmental analyses, of wood, pollen, beetles, waterlogged and carbonised plant remains, and of soil micromorphology, to address archaeological questions about the character, use, and environment of this Early Iron Age marsh fort. The site is comprised of a timber palisaded enclosure and a succeeding multivallate enclosure linked to a smaller enclosure by a timber alignment across a palaeochannel, with associated finds ranging in date from the Middle Bronze Age to the Roman and medieval periods. Among the four adjacent archaeological sites is an Early Mesolithic occupation site, also with organic preservation, and there is a Late Neolithic site beneath the large enclosure. Desiccation throughout the common is leading to the damage and loss of wooden and organic remains. It is hoped that the publication of these results, of investigations between 1987 and 1993, will lead to a fuller investigation taking place.

Cairnpapple Revisited: 1948–1998

1999 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 17-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon J. Barclay
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Phase 1 ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Phase 2 ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Phase 3 ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

It is 50 years since Stuart Piggott excavated the prehistoric complex at Cairnpapple. At that time there were few excavated parallels in Scotland, and interpretation inevitably relied heavily on sites excavated in southern Britain. Much more locally relevant data are now available and the sequence at Cairnpapple can now be reassessed its regional context.Piggott identified five Periods, commencing with a stone setting, ‘cove’ and cremation cemetery of ‘Late Neolithic date’ around ‘c. 2500 B.C.’. Period II was a henge monument, consisting of a ‘circle’ of standing stones with ceremonial burials in association, and an encircling ditch with external bank – ‘Of Beaker date, probably c. 1700 B.C.’ Period III comprised the primary cairn, containing two cist-burials ‘Of Middle Bronze Age date, probably c. 1500 B.C.’ Period IV involved the doubling of the size of the cairn, with two cremated burials in inverted cinerary urns. ‘Of final Middle Bronze Age or native Late Bronze Age date, probably c. 1000 B.C.’ Period V comprised four graves ‘possibly Early Iron Age within the first couple of centuries A.D.’The present paper, using comparable material from elsewhere in Scotland, argues for a revised phasing: Phase 1, comprises the deposition of earlier Neolithic plain bowl sherds and axehead fragments with a series of hearths. This is comparable to ‘structured deposition’ noted on other sites of this period. Phase 2 involved the construction of the henge – a setting of 24 uprights – probably of timber rather than stone, probably followed by the encircling henge ditch and bank. The ‘cove’ is discussed in the context of comparable features in Scotland. Phase 3 saw the construction of a series of graves, including the monumental ‘North Grave’, which was probably encased in a cairn. Piggott's ‘Period III’ cairn was then built, followed by the ‘Period IV’ cairn. The urn burials seem likely to have been inserted into the surface of this mound, which may have covered a burial (since disturbed) on the top of the Period III mound, or may have been a deliberate monumentalising of it. The four graves identified as Iron Age by Piggott seem more likely to be from the early Christian period.The reassessment of Piggott's report emphasises the value of the writing of a clear, and sufficiently detailed account. While no report can be wholly objective it can be seen that Piggott's striving for objectivity led him to write a paper that is of lasting value.

scholarly journals A Massive, Late Neolithic Pit Structure associated with Durrington Walls Henge

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Gaffney ◽  
Eamonn Baldwin ◽  
Martin Bates ◽  
C. Richard Bates ◽  
Christopher Gaffney ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Geophysical Survey ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
The North ◽  
Surface Diameter ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Formed Part ◽  
Geophysical Anomalies ◽  
Degree Of Similarity

A series of massive geophysical anomalies, located south of the Durrington Walls henge monument, were identified during fluxgate gradiometer survey undertaken by the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project (SHLP). Initially interpreted as dewponds, these data have been re-evaluated, along with information on similar features revealed by archaeological contractors undertaking survey and excavation to the north of the Durrington Walls henge. Analysis of the available data identified a total of 20 comparable features, which align within a series of arcs adjacent to Durrington Walls. Further geophysical survey, supported by mechanical coring, was undertaken on several geophysical anomalies to assess their nature, and to provide dating and environmental evidence. The results of fieldwork demonstrate that some of these features, at least, were massive, circular pits with a surface diameter of 20m or more and a depth of at least 5m. Struck flint and bone were recovered from primary silts and radiocarbon dating indicates a Late Neolithic date for the lower silts of one pit. The degree of similarity across the 20 features identified suggests that they could have formed part of a circuit of large pits around Durrington Walls, and this may also have incorporated the recently discovered Larkhill causewayed enclosure. The diameter of the circuit of pits exceeds 2km and there is some evidence that an intermittent, inner post alignment may have existed within the circuit of pits. One pit may provide evidence for a recut; suggesting that some of these features could have been maintained through to the Middle Bronze Age. Together, these features represent a unique group of features related to the henge at Durrington Walls, executed at a scale not previously recorded.

scholarly journals Orientations of Late Neolithic to Bronze Age and Iron Age Long Cairns in Coastal Finland

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1 and 2) ◽  
pp. 73-86
Author(s):  
Mariana P. Ridderstad
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Cultural Continuity ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Western Coast ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

In this study, the orientations of c. 138 long cairns located in coastal Finland were measured and examined, along with other properties of the cairns. The length of the cairns varies from a few metres to almost 50 m. The dominant color of the stones in most of the cairns is red, and they were usually built on locally elevated terrain, e.g. on ridges, rocky outcrops or small islets on the ancient shore. It was found that in the category of long cairns there were several different types of elongated cairns: the ‘simple’ and curved long cairns, some of which were attached to round cairns; the rectangular cairns with one or more central chambers; the very large rectangular cairns; and two different types of ship-formed cairns, Type 1 and Type 2, the latter of which was a previously an unrecognised type of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age long cairn. The comparison of the orientations of the cairns of different types and locations suggest that there was some cultural continuity between the Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age cultures on the western coast of Finland. However, based on the present analysis, this continuity does not seem to have extended beyond the Middle Bronze Age. It is also suggested that the appearance of the Type 2 ship-formed cairn in the Ostrobothnia region in the Late Neolithic may have resulted from outside cultural influences, perhaps from the earliest contacts with the central ideologies of the Nordic Bronze Age.

Late-glacial and Post-glacial history of the Chalk escarpment near Brook, Kent

1964 ◽  
Vol 248 (745) ◽  
pp. 135-204 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Valley Floor ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Arable Farming ◽  
History Of

This paper describes the morphology of a small piece of the Chalk escarpment near Brook in east Kent, and reconstructs its history since the end of the Last Glaciation. The escarpment contains a number of steep-sided valleys, or coombes, with which are associated deposits of chalk debris, filling their bottoms and extending as fans over the Gault Clay plain beyond. Here the fans overlie radiocarbon-dated marsh deposits of zone II (10 000 to 8800 B.C.) of the Late-glacial Period. The debris fans were formed and the coombes were cut very largely during the succeeding zone III (8800 to 8300 B.C.). The fans are the products of frost-shattering, probably transported by a combination of niveo-fluvial action and the release of spring waters; intercalated seams of loess also occur. The molluscs and plants preserved in the Late-glacial deposits give a fairly detailed picture of local conditions. The later history of one of the coombes, the Devil’s Kneadingtrough, is reconstructed. The springs have effected virtually no erosion and have probably always emerged more or less in their present position. In the floor of the coombe the periglacial chalk rubbles of zone III are covered by Postglacial deposits, mainly hillwashes. They are oxidized and yield no pollen, but contain rich faunas of land Mollusca, which are presented in the form of histograms revealing changing local ecological and climatic conditions. During most of the Post-glacial Period, from the end of zone III until about the beginning of zone VIII, very little accumulation took place on the coombe floor. But below the springs there are marsh deposits which span much of this interval. They yield faunas of considerable zoogeographical interest. The approximate beginning of zone VII a (Atlantic Period) is reflected by a calcareous tufa, which overlies a weathering horizon, and represents an increase in spring flow. Two clearance phases are deduced from the molluscan record. The first may have taken place at least as early as the Beaker Period (Late Neolithic/earliest Bronze Age); the second is probably of Iron Age ‘A’ date. In Iron Age times the subsoil was mobilized and a phase of rapid hillwashing began. As a result the valley floor became buried by humic chalk muds. The prime cause of this process was probably the beginning of intensive arable farming on the slopes above the coombe; a possible subsidiary factor may have been the Sub-Atlantic worsening of climate. The muds yield pottery ranging in date from Iron Age ‘Kentish first A’ ( ca . 500 to ca . 300 B.C.) to Romano-British ware of the first or second centuries A.D. Evidence is put forward for a possible climatic oscillation from dry to wet taking place at about the time of Christ. In the later stages of cultivation, possibly in the Roman Era, the valley floor was ploughed and given its present-day form.

Aquatic Radiocarbon Reservoir Offsets in the Southeastern Baltic

Radiocarbon ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 539-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gytis Piličiauskas ◽  
Carl Heron
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Curonian Lagoon ◽  
Human Bones ◽  
Ceramic Vessel ◽  
Pike Perch ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
Ams Dates

The aim of this article is to discuss radiocarbon dating offsets due to freshwater and marine reservoir effects (FRE and MRE, respectively) in the southeastern Baltic. Thirty-six 14C dates from Lithuanian coastal and inland Subneolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age sites as well as two Mesolithic-Neolithic cemeteries are presented here. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates, sometimes paired or tripled, have been obtained on samples of various origin, foodcrusts, or visible charred deposits adhering to the surfaces of ceramic vessel walls were also dated and investigated for stable isotope signals. The results argue for a significant freshwater component in the food processed in ceramic vessels during the Subneolithic and Neolithic. Paired dating of ungulate and human bones at the Spiginas and Donkalnis cemeteries (6300–1900 cal BC) does not suggest an FRE, although stable isotope data on human bone collagen strongly suggest a large input of freshwater food in the diet. An FRE in the order of 320–510 yr was estimated for the Šventoji paleolagoon around 3000 cal BC. At the same time, the FRE of the Curonian Lagoon could be larger as implied by large apparent 14C ages of modern pike-perch (981 ± 30 BP) and bream (738 ± 30 BP) bones as well as “foodcrust” offsets (650–530 yr) at Nida (3500–2500 cal BC). An MRE of 190 ± 43 yr was estimated for the southeastern coast of the Littorina Sea according to offsets between dates of seal bones and terrestrial samples at Nida and Šventoji. Any FRE at Lake Kretuonas remains uncertain due to the limited work to date.

The first religious buildings: ‘sacred huts’

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte R. Potts
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Hot Springs ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Religious Activity ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Religious Buildings ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
The Bronze Age

The votive assemblages that form the primary archaeological evidence for non-funerary cult in the Neolithic, Bronze, and early Iron Ages in central Italy indicate that there is a long tradition of religious activity in Latium and Etruria in which buildings played no discernible role. Data on votive deposits in western central Italy is admittedly uneven: although many early votive assemblages from Latium have been widely studied and published, there are few Etruscan comparanda; of the more than two hundred Etruscan votive assemblages currently known from all periods, relatively few date prior to the fourth century BC, while those in museum collections are often no longer entire and suffer from a lack of detailed provenance as well as an absence of excavations in the vicinity of the original find. Nevertheless, it is possible to recognize broad patterns in the form and location of cult sites prior to the Iron Age, and thus to sketch the broader context of prehistoric rituals that pre-dated the construction of the first religious buildings. In the Neolithic period (c.6000–3500 BC), funerary and non-funerary rituals appear to have been observed in underground spaces such as caves, crevices, and rock shelters, and there are also signs that cults developed around ‘abnormal water’ like stalagmites, stalactites, hot springs, and pools of still water. These characteristics remain visible in the evidence from the middle Bronze Age (c.1700–1300 BC). Finds from this period at the Sventatoio cave in Latium include vases containing traces of wheat, barley seed cakes, and parts of young animals including pigs, sheep, and oxen, as well as burned remains of at least three children. The openair veneration of underground phenomena is also implied by the discovery of ceramic fragments from all phases of the Bronze Age around a sulphurous spring near the Colonelle Lake at Tivoli. Other evidence of cult activities at prominent points in the landscape, such as mountain tops and rivers, suggests that rituals began to lose an underground orientation during the middle Bronze Age. By the late Bronze Age (c.1300–900 BC) natural caves no longer seem to have served ritual or funerary functions.

The Expansion of Settlement (1100–250 BC)

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bradley ◽  
Colin Haselgrove ◽  
Marc Vander Linden ◽  
Leo Webley
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Basic Unit ◽  
Funerary Monuments ◽  
Main Metal ◽  
Political Transformations ◽  
Metal Artefacts ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

The previous chapter addressed an important period of change, but this would not have been apparent to the scholars who devised the Three Age Model. The most important developments between 1600 and 1100 BC were most clearly evidenced in the ancient landscape and registered to a smaller extent by the metalwork finds on which the traditional scheme depends. The same is true of the evidence considered in this chapter, for it cuts across the conventional distinction between the Bronze and Iron Ages. It begins in a period when bronze was still the main metal, but also considers a time when a new kind of raw material was employed. Similarly, it ends part way through the phase usually characterized as ‘Iron Age’, so that the drastic economic and political transformations that communities experienced in the late first millennium BC can be considered separately. These provide the subject of Chapter 7. By the late Bronze Age, evidence for settlements and houses is fairly abundant, and some sparsely used parts of the landscape were occupied for the first. This expansion—which continued into the Iron Age—is associated with new agricultural techniques and a wider range of crops. The nature of settlements suggests an emphasis on small household groups as the basic unit of society. New kinds of focal sites also appeared, which may have been used for assemblies and public ceremony. They include hillforts in upland regions, while other communal centres may have played the same role in lowland areas. Meanwhile, the trend towards less elaborate burial practices that had begun during the middle Bronze Age spread increasingly widely. Investment in funerary monuments was generally modest, and mortuary rituals displayed social distinctions in relatively subtle ways. While prestige objects were rarely placed with the dead, the deposition of metalwork in rivers and other places in the landscape increased. These metal artefacts have provided the basis for studies of long-distance interaction, and their styles have been used to define three geographically extensive traditions, in Atlantic, Nordic, and central Europe. Other ritual practices that developed during this time involved feasting and cooking.

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