Comments on Maria Panum Baastrup’s: invitation systems and identification in Late Iron Age southern Scandinavia? The gold foil figures from a new perspective

This paper explores the nature and chronology of La Tène and early Roman unenclosed agglomerations in central-eastern France. It has been prompted by the discovery of a c. 115 ha La Tène D2b/Augustan (c. 50 BC to AD 15) site close to Bibracte in the Morvan, located around the source of the River Yonne. This complex provides a new perspective on the chronology and role of Late La Tène and early Roman unenclosed settlements, adding further complexity to the story of the development of Late La Tène oppida. It indicates that these ‘agglomerations’ followed remarkably varied chronological trajectories, raising important issues concerning the nature of landscape and social change at the end of the Iron Age.

Download Full-text

Towards a Combined Use of Geophysics and Remote Sensing Techniques for the Characterization of a Singular Building: “El Torreón” (the Tower) at Ulaca Oppidum (Solosancho, Ávila, Spain)

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s21092934 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (9) ◽

pp. 2934

Author(s):

Miguel Ángel Maté-González ◽

Cristina Sáez Blázquez ◽

Pedro Carrasco García ◽

Jesús Rodríguez-Hernández ◽

Jesús Fernández Hernández ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing ◽

Iron Age ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

Combined Use ◽

Remote Sensing Techniques ◽

New Perspective ◽

Ground Penetrating ◽

Large Building

This research focuses on the study of the ruins of a large building known as “El Torreón” (the Tower), belonging to the Ulaca oppidum (Solosancho, Province of Ávila, Spain). Different remote sensing and geophysical approaches have been used to fulfil this objective, providing a better understanding of the building’s functionality in this town, which belongs to the Late Iron Age (ca. 300–50 BCE). In this sense, the outer limits of the ruins have been identified using photogrammetry and convergent drone flights. An additional drone flight was conducted in the surrounding area to find additional data that could be used for more global interpretations. Magnetometry was used to analyze the underground bedrock structure and ground penetrating radar (GPR) was employed to evaluate the internal layout of the ruins. The combination of these digital methodologies (surface and underground) has provided a new perspective for the improved interpretation of “El Torreón” and its characteristics. Research of this type presents additional guidelines for better understanding of the role of this structure with regards to other buildings in the Ulaca oppidum. The results of these studies will additionally allow archaeologists to better plan future interventions while presenting new data that can be used for the interpretation of this archaeological complex on a larger scale.

Download Full-text

Metalworking at Hengistbury Head, Dorset and the Durotrigan Coinage: A Reinterpretation of an Iron Age and Roman Industrial Site

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-267-651 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 267 ◽

Author(s):

Chris J. Salter ◽

J. Peter Northover

Keyword(s):

Iron Age ◽

Copper Alloys ◽

Industrial Site ◽

Southern England ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

Extensive Analysis ◽

Gold Silver ◽

Wide Range ◽

New Perspective

ABSTRACTThe excavation of the metalworking areas of the late Iron Age and early Roman port of Hengistbury Head in southern England revealed evidence of a wide range of processes. These involved gold, silver and copper alloys and their connections with the local Iron Age coinage as well as the casting of bronze artefacts and ironworking. Since publication, in 1987 re-analysis of some material coupled with an extensive analysis of the associated coinage has led to a re-interpretation of the material. This paper presents the new perspective on the site as a metallurgical centre that has emerged as a result of our analyses.

Download Full-text

Art as Entangled Material Practices The Case of Late Iron Age Scandinavian Gold Foil Figures in the Making

Artistic Practices and Archaeological Research ◽

10.2307/j.ctvndv7pg.5 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 21-30

Author(s):

Ing-Marie Back Danielsson

Keyword(s):

Iron Age ◽

Gold Foil ◽

Late Iron Age

Download Full-text

Engendering Performance in the Late Iron Age

Current Swedish Archaeology ◽

10.37718/csa.1999.01 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 7-20

Author(s):

Lng-Marie Back Danielsson

Keyword(s):

Gender Roles ◽

Everyday Life ◽

Iron Age ◽

Gold Foil ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

Long Run

This paper deals with humanoid figures on gold foils from the Late Iron Age in Scandinavia. Interpreted as figures wearing masks, an effort is made to show the complexity, importance and significance of masking practices. The single Bornholm figures from the 6th century are interpreted as shamans performing rituals. Further, it is proposed that a restriction of masked appearances and performances to certain people (shamans) and places in the long run created stricter and more rigid gender roles in everyday life. The later gold-foil couples are seen as signs of divine communication, cosmological movement and seasonality, making up a mythology that legitimised political domination —the sacred lineage of rulers pivoting around an apical, ancestral cross-sex pair.

Download Full-text

Iron Age and Roman Enclosed Settlement at Winchester Road, Basingstoke

Hampshire Studies ◽

10.24202/hs2019003 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 74 (1) ◽

pp. 36-97

Author(s):

Richard Massey ◽

Matt Nichol ◽

Dana Challinor ◽

Sharon Clough ◽

Matilda Holmes ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Iron Age ◽

Roman Period ◽

Field Boundary ◽

Crop Processing ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

Middle Iron Age ◽

Grave Goods

Excavation in Area 1 identified an enclosed settlement of Middle–Late Iron Age and Early Roman date, which included a roundhouse gully and deep storage pits with complex fills. A group of undated four-post structures, situated in the east of Area 1, appeared to represent a specialised area of storage or crop processing of probable Middle Iron Age date. A sequence of re-cutting and reorganisation of ditches and boundaries in the Late Iron Age/Early Roman period was followed, possibly after a considerable hiatus, by a phase of later Roman activity, Late Iron Age reorganisation appeared to be associated with the abandonment of a roundhouse, and a number of structured pit deposits may also relate to this period of change. Seven Late Iron Age cremation burials were associated with a contemporary boundary ditch which crossed Area 1. Two partly-exposed, L-shaped ditches may represent a later Roman phase of enclosed settlement and a slight shift in settlement focus. An isolated inhumation burial within the northern margins of Area 1 was tentatively dated by grave goods to the Early Saxon period.<br/> Area 2 contained a possible trackway and field boundary ditches, of which one was of confirmed Late Iron Age/Early Roman date. A short posthole alignment in Area 2 was undated, and may be an earlier prehistoric feature.

Download Full-text

Middle and Late Iron Age Occupation at Cadnam Farm, Alton, Hampshire

Hampshire Studies ◽

10.24202/hs2018004 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 73 (1) ◽

pp. 110-136

Author(s):

Oliver Good ◽

Richard Massey

Keyword(s):

Iron Age ◽

The South ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

South West ◽

Middle Iron Age

Three individual areas, totalling 0.55ha, were excavated at the Cadnam Farm site, following evaluation. Area 1 contained a D-shaped enclosure of Middle Iron Age date, associated with the remains of a roundhouse, and a ditched drove-way. Other features included refuse pits, a four-post structure and a small post-built structure of circular plan. Area 2 contained the superimposed foundation gullies of two Middle Iron Age roundhouses, adjacent to a probable third example. Area 3 contained a small number of Middle Iron Age pits, together with undated, post-built structures of probable Middle Iron Age date, including a roundhouse and four and six-post structures. Two large boundary ditches extended from the south-west corner of Area 3, and were interpreted as the funnelled entrance of a drove-way. These contained both domestic and industrial refuse of the late Iron Age date in their fills.

Download Full-text