Bronze Age and Later Vegetation History on the Limestone Tabular Hills of North-East Yorkshire, UK: Pollen Diagrams from Dalby Forest

Sixteen sites in and around a small upland bog in South Wales were investigated by means of pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating. Most of the sites have ombrogenous (blanket) peat overlying a thin basal mor with abundant charcoal. A Devensian Late-glacial basin filled with muds and reedswamp deposits is shown to underlie the blanket peat in part of the area. It is concluded that the outlet of the basin was probably blocked by the development of ombrogenous peat, perhaps around 6500 years BP (though not closely dated), which spread across the basin and later up its western shore. The pollen diagrams are divided into a series of pollen assemblage zones. The zone boundaries appear synchronous within the limits of the methods. Hazel played an important role in the woodland vegetation of the pre-peat mineral soils. This woodland had generally been replaced by heath and blanket peat by about 6000 years BP. Nevertheless, some woodland apparently persisted locally in areas where peat or mor accumulation had not yet begun. Alder appears to have been established in the basin area by ca . 7000 years BP and to have spread more widely some 500—1000 years later, possibly taking advantage of environmental damage caused by Mesolithic man, evidence of whose occupation is found in the area. It is concluded that Mesolithic man was probably responsible for making a small clearing in the woodland at ca . 8000 years BP when the first mor deposit began to accumulate. Heath vegetation first came into existence at about this time and there is circumstantial evidence of maintenance by burning. Heath conditions lasted in some areas until ca . 5500 years BP and on the more permeable soils podsolization took place. It is argued that the accumulation of relatively impermeable mor soils under heath was a major factor in the initiation of ombrogenous peat growth. This most generally began in the period ca . 5500-5800 years BP though it was both earlier ( ca . 7600 years BP) and later ( ca . 4000 years BP) in some areas. A comparison is made of the behaviour of certain pollen curves at the major sites in which it is found that sites with common features fall into spatially coherent groups. It is concluded, therefore, that the pollen diagrams often reflect vegetational changes taking place in relatively small areas. A reconstruction of the vegetational changes in the 4000 years after ca . 8000 years BP is made by means of a series of maps. The classical elm decline of the Atlantic-Sub-boreal transition ( ca . 5000-5500 years BP) is variably represented and there follows a series of three other declines or minima dated to ca . 4600 years BP, ca . 4000 years BP and ca . 2850 years BP (though again with some possible variability). The Bronze Age appears to have been a time of major human impacts on the local vegetation with some woodland regeneration taking place in the earlier Iron Age before a renewed period of clearance that persisted through Romano-British times.

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Pictures and people. Seals, figurines and Peloponnesian imagery

Opuscula Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome ◽

10.30549/opathrom-03-09 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 185-218 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Erika Weiberg

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Early Bronze Age ◽

North East ◽

The North ◽

Initial Description ◽

Seal Impressions ◽

Point Of Departure ◽

Coastal Settlement

The point of departure for this paper is the publication of two Early Helladic sealing fragments from the coastal settlement of Asine on the north-east Peloponnese in Greece. After an initial description and discussion they are set in the context of sealing custom established on the Greek mainland around 2500 BCE. In the first part of the paper focus is on the apparent qualitative differences between the available seals and the contemporary seal impressions, as well as between different sealing assemblages on northeastern Peloponnese. This geographical emphasis is carried into the second part of the paper which is a review and contextualisation of the representational art of the Aegean Early Bronze Age in general, and northeastern Peloponnese in particular. Seal motifs and figurines are the main media for Early Helladic representational art preserved until today, yet in many ways very dissimilar. These opposites are explored in order to begin to build a better understanding of Peloponnesian representational art, the choices of motifs, and their roles in the lives of the Early Helladic people.

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8,000 years of climate, vegetation, fire and land-use dynamics in the thermo-mediterranean vegetation belt of northern Sardinia (Italy)

Vegetation History and Archaeobotany ◽

10.1007/s00334-021-00832-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Tiziana Pedrotta ◽

Erika Gobet ◽

Christoph Schwörer ◽

Giorgia Beffa ◽

Christoph Butz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Fire History ◽

Vegetation History ◽

Juglans Regia ◽

Fire Disturbance ◽

Lake Productivity ◽

The Past ◽

Evergreen Oak ◽

The Bronze Age

AbstractKnowledge about the vegetation history of Sardinia, the second largest island of the Mediterranean, is scanty. Here, we present a new sedimentary record covering the past ~ 8,000 years from Lago di Baratz, north-west Sardinia. Vegetation and fire history are reconstructed by pollen, spores, macrofossils and charcoal analyses and environmental dynamics by high-resolution element geochemistry together with pigment analyses. During the period 8,100–7,500 cal bp, when seasonality was high and fire and erosion were frequent, Erica arborea and E. scoparia woodlands dominated the coastal landscape. Subsequently, between 7,500 and 5,500 cal bp, seasonality gradually declined and thermo-mediterranean woodlands with Pistacia and Quercus ilex partially replaced Erica communities under diminished incidence of fire. After 5,500 cal bp, evergreen oak forests expanded markedly, erosion declined and lake levels increased, likely in response to increasing (summer) moisture availability. Increased anthropogenic fire disturbance triggered shrubland expansions (e.g. Tamarix and Pistacia) around 5,000–4,500 cal bp. Subsequently around 4,000–3,500 cal bp evergreen oak-olive forests expanded massively when fire activity declined and lake productivity and anoxia reached Holocene maxima. Land-use activities during the past 4,000 years (since the Bronze Age) gradually disrupted coastal forests, but relict stands persisted under rather stable environmental conditions until ca. 200 cal bp, when agricultural activities intensified and Pinus and Eucalyptus were planted to stabilize the sand dunes. Pervasive prehistoric land-use activities since at least the Bronze Age Nuraghi period included the cultivation of Prunus, Olea europaea and Juglans regia after 3,500–3,300 cal bp, and Quercus suber after 2,500 cal bp. We conclude that restoring less flammable native Q. ilex and O. europaea forest communities would markedly reduce fire risk and erodibility compared to recent forest plantations with flammable non-native trees (e.g. Pinus, Eucalyptus) and xerophytic shrubland (e.g. Cistus, Erica).

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Holocene stratigraphy and vegetation history in the Scoresby Sund area, East Greenland

Bulletin Grønlands Geologiske Undersøgelse ◽

10.34194/bullggu.v129.6671 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 129 ◽

pp. 1-66

Author(s):

S Funder

Keyword(s):

Vegetation History ◽

High Arctic ◽

Dwarf Shrub ◽

Betula Nana ◽

Isostatic Uplift ◽

Cassiope Tetragona ◽

Pollen Diagrams ◽

Salix Arctica ◽

Low Arctic ◽

Holocene Stratigraphy

The Holocene stratigraphy in Scoresby Sund is based on climatic change as reflected by fluctuations in fjord and valley glaciers, immigration and extinction of marine molluscs, and the vegetation history recorded in pollen diagrams from five lakes. The histories are dated by C-14, and indirectly by emergence curves showing the patterns of isostatic uplift. From c. 10100-10400 to 9400 yr BP the major fjord glaciers showed oscillatory retreat with abundant moraine formation, the period of the Milne Land Moraines. The vegetation in the ice-free areas was a sparse type of fell field vegetation but with thermophilous elements indicating temperatures similar to the present. From 9400 yr BP the fjord glaciers retreated rapidly in the narrow fjords, the few moraines formed are referred to the Rødefjord stages and indicate topographically conditioned stillstands. At 8000 yr BP the low arctic Betula nana immigrated into the area, and in the period until 5000 yr BP dense dwarf shrub heath grew in areas where it is now absent. In the fjords the subarctic Mytilus edulis and Pecten islandica lived, suggesting a climate warmer than the present. From c. 5000 yr BP the dense dwarf shrub heath began to disappear in the coastal areas, and a 'poor' heath dominated by the high arctic Salix Arctica and Cassiope tetragona expanded. These two species, which are now extremely common, apparently did not grow in the area until c. 6000 yr BP. In lakes in the coastal area minerogenic sedimentation at c. 2800 yr BP, reflecting the general climatic deterioration.

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Technological analysis of Early Bronze ceramics of Shauke 1 settlement

Samara Journal of Science ◽

10.17816/snv201762202 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 104-107

Author(s):

Saule Zhangeldyevna Rakhimzhanova

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Pottery Production ◽

Organic Solution ◽

Cultural Traditions ◽

North East ◽

First Results ◽

East Kazakhstan ◽

Preparatory Stage ◽

Technological Analysis

The paper introduces the first results of special technical and technological investigation of ceramic artifacts discovered during the excavations of the Early Bronze Age settlement Shauke 1 located in the Pavlodar Region of North-East Kazakhstan. The research of ceramic objects is conducted within historical and cultural approach following A.A. Bobrinskys technique. 53 samples from different vessels were selected for the technological analysis of ceramic artifacts found at the settlement. The samples were investigated with the use of a binocular microscope MBS-10. The main objective of the research was to identify cultural traditions at a preparatory stage of ceramic vessels production. The author studied initial raw materials selection skills and forming substance preparation. The author recorded the use of several conditional spots as sources of raw materials. Six different recipes of forming substances were identified at the settlement of Shauke 1. The most common amongst them are clay + chamotte + organic solution (60,38%), clay + chamotte + bone + organic solution (28,30%). This indicates the presence of artisans who followed different traditions of pottery production at the site.

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Bronze Age Barrows on Charmy Down and Lansdown, Somerset

The Antiquaries Journal ◽

10.1017/s0003581500088156 ◽

1950 ◽

Vol 30 (1-2) ◽

pp. 34-46 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Audrey Williams

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

The South ◽

Stream Flows ◽

North East ◽

The North

Charmy Down is a plateau three miles north-east of Bath (fig. 1, 1), east of the Bath-Tetbury road. About a square mile in extent it has a general height of well over 600 ft. To the north the scarp falls swiftly, on the east more gently, to the wooded valley of St. Catherine's Brook, a tributary of the Bristol Avon and the modern Somerset–Gloucester boundary. At the foot of the steep western scarp a second stream flows south to the Avon. On the south Chilcombe Bottom separates Charmy Down from Solsbury Hill, distinguished by its Iron Age earthwork. The underlying rock is oolite, a southward continuation of the Cotswold formation.

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Did prehistoric landscape management retard the post-glacial spread of woodland in Southwest Asia?

Antiquity ◽

10.1017/s0003598x0009181x ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 76 (294) ◽

pp. 1002-1010 ◽

Cited By ~ 48

Author(s):

Neil Roberts

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Human Impacts ◽

Landscape Management ◽

Southwest Asia ◽

Mediterranean Environment ◽

East Mediterranean ◽

Late Season ◽

Pollen Diagrams ◽

New Evidence ◽

Trees And Shrubs

Pre-Bronze Age human impacts on the East Mediterranean environment have been hard to detect in pollen diagrams and other off-site contexts. New evidence shows that despite a relatively rapid post-glacial wetting-up of the climate, the re-advance of oak woodland across Southwest Asia was slow. Among the factors likely to have contributed to the apparent disjunction between climate and vegetation is Neolithic landscape management, particularly through regular use of late-season ground fires to encourage grasses at the expense of trees and shrubs.

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The Forgotten Child of the Wider Corded Ware Family: Russian Fatyanovo Culture in Context

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society ◽

10.1017/ppr.2020.9 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 86 ◽

pp. 65-93 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kerkko Nordqvist ◽

Volker Heyd

Keyword(s):

Material Culture ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Cultural Landscape ◽

Animal Husbandry ◽

Volga River ◽

North East ◽

The North ◽

European Part Of Russia ◽

The Baltic ◽

River Valleys

The Fatyanovo Culture, together with its eastern twin, the Balanovo Culture, forms part of the pan-European Corded Ware Complex. Within that complex, it represents its eastern expansion to the catchment of the Upper and Middle Volga River in the European part of Russia. Its immediate roots are to be found in the southern Baltic States, Belarus, and northern Ukraine (the Baltic and Middle-Dnepr Corded Ware Cultures), from where moving people spread the culture further east along the river valleys of the forested flatlands. By doing so, they introduced animal husbandry to these regions. Fatyanovo Culture is predominately recognised through its material culture imbedded in its mortuary practices. Most aspects of every-day life remain unknown. The lack of an adequate absolute chronological framework has thus far prevented the verification of its internal cultural dynamics while overall interaction proposed also on typo-stratigraphical grounds suggests a contemporaneity with other representations of the Corded Ware Complex in Europe. Fatyanovo Culture is formed by the reverse movement to the (north-)east of the Corded Ware Complex, itself established in the aftermath of the westbound spread of Yamnaya populations from the steppes. It thus represents an important link between west and east, pastoralists and last hunter-gatherers, and the 3rd and the 2nd millennia bc. Through its descendants (including Abashevo, Sintashta, and Andronovo Cultures) it becomes a key component in the development of the wider cultural landscape of Bronze Age Eurasia.

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Holocene vegetation history in the Northern Vosges Mountains (NE France): Palynological, geochemical and sedimentological data

The Holocene ◽

10.1177/0959683620902229 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (6) ◽

pp. 888-904

Author(s):

Emilie Gouriveau ◽

Pascale Ruffaldi ◽

Loïc Duchamp ◽

Vincent Robin ◽

Annik Schnitzler ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Human Activities ◽

Vegetation History ◽

Second Phase ◽

Human Occupation ◽

Vosges Mountains ◽

The Past ◽

History Of ◽

Geochemical Analyses ◽

Evolution Of Vegetation

Palynological data from the Northern Vosges Mountains (NVM) are very rare, unlike for the Southern and Central Vosges Mountains, where the past vegetation history is relatively well known. As a consequence, the beginning of human activities has never been clearly identified and dated in the NVM. In order to reconstruct the evolution of vegetation in this region, multiproxy studies (pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, sedimentological and geochemical analyses) were conducted in two peatlands. Overall, the results, extending from about 9500 cal. BP to recent times, show a classical vegetation succession with local particularities resulting from human activities. In the La Horn peatland, a strong human impact related to pastoralism is attested from the late Bronze Age onwards. The second phase of human occupation, mainly characterized by crop cultures, begins during the Hallstatt period. The geochemical results (x-ray fluorescence) also highlight the presence of metallic elements, which, combined with significant quantities of carbonized particles, point to potential metal working. In the Kobert-Haut peatland, human occupation began much later (1500 cal. BP), but lasted from the Gallo-Roman period to the beginning of the Modern Period. Unlike for the vegetation history of the rest of the Vosges, Pinus remains a prevailing taxon throughout the Holocene in the NVM. Another particularity is the early establishment of Picea, long before the 18th to 19th century plantations.

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ATOP THE KADMEIA: MYCENAEAN ROOF TILES FROM THEBES IN CONTEXT

The Annual of the British School at Athens ◽

10.1017/s006824542000009x ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 115 ◽

pp. 175-245

Author(s):

Vassilis L. Aravantinos ◽

Ioannis Fappas ◽

Yannis Galanakis

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Fourteenth Century ◽

Systematic Study ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Similar Material ◽

Widespread Distribution ◽

The Past ◽

North East ◽

The North ◽

First Time

Questions were raised in the past regarding the use of Mycenaean tiles as ‘roof tiles’ on the basis of the small numbers of them recovered in excavations and their overall scarcity in Mycenaean domestic contexts. The investigation of the Theodorou plot in 2008 in the southern part of the Kadmeia hill at Thebes yielded the single and, so far, largest known assemblage per square metre of Mycenaean tiles from a well-documented excavation. This material allows, for the first time convincingly, to identify the existence of a Mycenaean tiled roof. This paper presents the results of our work on the Theodorou tiles, placing emphasis on their construction, form and modes of production, offering the most systematic study of Mycenaean tiles to date. It also revisits contexts of discovery of similar material from excavations across Thebes. Popular as tiles might have been in Boeotia, and despite their spatially widespread attestation, their use in Aegean Late Bronze Age architecture appears, on the whole, irregular with central Greece and the north-east Peloponnese being the regions with the most sites known to have yielded such objects. Mycenaean roof tiles date mostly from the mid- and late fourteenth century bc to the twelfth century bc. A study of their construction, form, production and contexts suggests that their role, apart from adding extra insulation, might have been one of signposting certain buildings in the landscape. We also present the idea that Mycenaean tile-making was guided by a particular conventional knowledge which was largely influenced by ceramic-related technologies (pottery- and drain-making). While production of roof tiles might have been palace-instigated to begin with, it does not appear to have been strictly controlled. This approach to Mycenaean tile-making may also help explain their uneven (in terms of intensity of use) yet widespread distribution.

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