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 concentration and centralization of late prehistoric settlement in central Italy: the evidence from the Nepi Survey

2013 ◽  
Vol 81 ◽  
pp. 1-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulla Rajala
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Population Pressure ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Prehistoric ◽  
Gis Modelling ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
The Bronze Age

This article discusses the evidence for the concentration and centralization of late prehistoric settlement in central Italy, using the territory of Nepi as an example of settlement aggregation in southern Etruria. This example helps to explain the regional developments leading to urbanization and state formation in Etruria from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. The article also publishes new sites with late prehistoric ceramic material from the Neolithic or Epineolithic to the Iron Age in the territory of Nepi found during the Nepi Survey Project. This new evidence is discussed together with previously published material, and presented as further evidence that the developments leading to the occupation of naturally defended sites in the Final Bronze Age had their origins in the Middle Bronze Age. Similarly, the analysis, aided by agricultural and GIS modelling, suggests that the hiatus in the settlement and its dislocation after an apparent break between the Final Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age may have been caused by population pressure. After the settlement aggregated in one centre at Nepi, there are signs of further expansion in the Iron Age.

The earliest horse-bits of western Europe

1973 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 425-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Balkwill
Keyword(s):  
Iberian Peninsula ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
New Combinations ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Burial Rite

Within recent years, much attention has been focused on the earliest objects of harness which have long been noticed in the archaeological record. They are a matter of some importance in the perception of social structure from extant remains; Kossack (1954) presented strong arguments in favour of interpreting, in this manner, the early Hallstatt (Ha C) horse harness from Bavarian graves. Other major publications have since added to the picture of widespread, supposedly aristocratic adoption of harness and wagons in association with burial rite (northern and central Italy in the Early Iron Age, von Hase 1969; the Iberian peninsula in the same period, Schüle 1969; the Middle Danube to the Russian Steppes and to the Asian hinterland, Potratz 1966). Nor has the thesis of Gallus and Horvath (1939) been ignored, and the activities of ‘Thraco-Cimmerian’ cavalry still play a large part in the interpretation of west European horse harness. Already in 1954, however, Kossack observed the continuing elements of native, western Urnfield Europe in the entirely new combinations of grave-goods in Ha C and he indicated that the cheekpieces, while being modelled closely on the lines of preceding types found in the region of the Middle Danube, were, in fact, local variants chiefly concentrated in the graves of Bohemia and Bavaria. That western Europe had long had its own forms of cheekpiece was demonstrated by Thrane in 1963, yet the mouthpieces themselves have received no consolidated attention. This paper is an attempt to redress the balance, by gathering together the earliest metal bits in Europe west of Slovakia and Hungary, in order to see what light they throw on the problems of continuity and transition at the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age.

Excavations in Macedonia—II

1925 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Casson
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
General Character ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
The Bronze Age

The excavations of 1921 in Macedonia recorded in Vol. XXIV. of the Annual (p. 1 ff.) were completed in 1922. The site known as Chauchitsa was completely examined and the cemetery on the two rocky mounds was sufficiently excavated to make it possible to establish the main features of the burial methods and equipment. The high mound at the back of the cemetery on the edge of the plateau was also excavated and found to be an undisturbed stratified site. The strata revealed were of the fourth century B.C., of the Early Iron Age, and below that of the Bronze Age. The objects found in the Bronze Age strata and the nature of these strata have been fully dealt with elsewhere: the purpose of this report is to describe the cemetery, the Iron Age deposit which overlay the Bronze Age settlement, the Historic strata which overlay the Iron Age settlement, and, finally, to shew the connection between the Iron Age settlement and the cemetery at the foot of the plateau.The East Mound (Figs. 1 and 2).—Fourteen graves in all were opened in the first season and have been duly recorded. In the second season a further twenty-two graves were opened, and all alike shewed the same general character as the first fourteen.

scholarly journals A HALF OF A METAL BIPARTITE MOLD OF THE SEIMA-TURBINO PERIOD FROM THE UPPER IRTYSH REGION

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 59-65
Author(s):  
A. P. Borodovsky
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Western Siberia ◽  
Irtysh Basin ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Gate System ◽  
Chill Mold ◽  
Bronze Casting ◽  
The Bronze Age

We describe a rare fi nd—part of a Middle Bronze Age bipartite metal chill mold from the Upper Irtysh basin, used for casting three socketed javelin heads of the Seima-Turbino type. The use of metal molds (chill molds) for bronze casting is a sophisticated technique that is rather rare even at the present time. Having originated in the Bronze Age, it was subsequently abandoned for a long time. Chill molds indicate an advanced and effi cient bronze casting. In terms of the gate system, the specimen is a hinged vertically split chill mold. In Eurasia, the technique of casting javelin heads in chill molds was practiced until the Early Iron Age. In Western Siberia, it originated no later than the Middle Bronze Age. At that time, bronze casting in molds made of metal, stone, clay, and organic materials was highly developed. Apparently, the Upper Irtysh basin, including western Altai, was the region from whence prototypical metal molds had spread and were subsequently replicated in less valuable and less technologically effi cient materials such as clay.

scholarly journals Results of field research of the settlement Firsovo-15 in 2020

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 66-71
Author(s):  
I. A. Valkov ◽  
◽  
V. O. Saibert ◽  
V. E. Alekseeva ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Emergency Condition ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Bronze Age

The article is devoted to the results of field research in the autumn of 2020 at the settlement Firsovo-15. This archaeological site located in the in the Upper Ob region. The studied settlement complexes are mainly correlated with the Andronovo and Irmen cultures of the Bronze Age, as well as the Staroaleisk culture of the early Iron Age. For the first time, artifacts dating back to the Neolithic period were discovered on the settlement. The emergency condition of the settlement and the significant value of the materials obtained for the reconstruction of cultural and historical processes on the territory of the Upper Ob region allow us to consider the settlement Firsovo-15 promising for further research.

scholarly journals Italo-Mycenaean and other Aegean-influenced pottery in Late Bronze Age Italy: the case for regional production

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard E. Jones ◽  
Sara T. Levi ◽  
Marco Bettelli ◽  
Valentina Cannavò
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Petrographic Analysis ◽  
High Status ◽  
Regional Production ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Bronze Age

AbstractDecorated Italo-Mycenaean (IM) pottery, a high-status class found and made over three centuries from the Italian Late Middle Bronze Age onwards, was the subject of a large archaeological and archaeometric enquiry published by the present authors in 2014. The present paper focuses on identifying IM’s centres of production. The results of chemical analysis of IM using mainly ICP-ES make a strong case for regional production, irrespective of findspots in several parts of Italy. This accords well with the relative stylistic individuality of IM observed among the finds of IM across many parts of Italy, suggesting that IM is a powerful archaeological indicator of the way local communities were constructing and negotiating their identities at this crucial time of social and economic change at the end of the Bronze Age. A picture of more dispersed intra-regional production emerges from the combined chemical and petrographic analysis of two other pottery classes displaying Aegean influence: wheel-made Grey ware and decorated Final Bronze Age/Early Iron Age (FBA/EIA) pottery from sites in present-day Apulia and from Broglio di Trebisacce in Calabria. Potters manufacturing the former applied their knowledge of the wheel and kiln firing to handmade impasto shapes which were largely shared by local communities within a region. The results obtained for the latter reflect demands of the new elites of the emerging FBA/EIA in southern Italy to create symbols expressing a new cultural identity: this pottery’s style, especially of Protogeometric, was uniform but its production was localised.

HISTORY OF HORSE DOMESTICATION

1987 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 29-34
Author(s):  
SàNdor Bokonyi
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
East Europe ◽  
Domestic Horses ◽  
History Of ◽  
Western Half ◽  
Horse Domestication ◽  
The Bronze Age

SUMMARYThe wild ancestor of the present day domestic horse was equus ferus Woddaert which included two distinct sub-species - the tarpan and the taki or the Ptzevalsky horse. The tarpan is the main ancestor of the- Present day domestic type. Its domestication irst started in East Europe in the Neolithic period from where it spread in different directions, moving in successive waves to the Carpathian Basin and Moravia in the west, Caucasus in the southeast and Mesopotamia in the Near East, finally reaching western Europe in the Bronze Age.The early domestic horses were small compared to present day animals, measuring only 137 cm at the withers. They were chiefly used to provide mobile power - either draught or riding. Later, during the Iron Age, the Scythians brought these eastern horses to Austria, Italy and Greece, where they were much in demand for their superior power and size, a result of conscious breeding by the Scythians. In contrast, the horses indigenous to the western half of Europe, represented by the Celtic horse, were smaller and slender. These were later improved by crossing with the eastern Scythian horses. From the Greeks, the eastern horses reached the Romans and contributed to the development of the Roman horse.,

An Overview of the 2nd Millennium BC and Iron Age Cultures of the Province of Sinop in Light of New Research

2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 153-540
Author(s):  
Şevket Dönmez
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Black Sea ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
City Centre ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Late Chalcolithic ◽  
Chalcolithic Period ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

Abstract Archaeological research conducted to date has shown that the earliest settlements in the province of Sinop date to the Late Chalcolithic period. However, despite these Late Chalcolithic period cultural strata, identified during the Kocagöz Höyük and Boyabat-Kovuklukaya excavations, the stone bracelet fragments from Maltepe Höyüğü and potsherds supposedly from Kıran Höyük and Kabalı Höyük (but hitherto unpublished) indicate that the settlement process of the region may have started in the Early Chalcolithic or even Late Neolithic period. In the Early Bronze Age, following the Late Chalcolithic period, the number of settlements increased in parallel with the population. A number of settlements identified during the excavations at Kocagöz Höyük and Kovuklukaya, as well as during surveys, indicate that the Early Bronze Age was a very active period in the province of Sinop. Finds from the ensuing Middle Bronze Age, pointing to the fact that the Sinop area was one of the northern extremities of the commercial network of the Assyrian Trade Colonies period, centered at Kültepe/Kaneš, have come to light from the Gerze-Hıdırlı cemetery and its settlement at Keçi Türbesi Höyüğü. As is the case with the neighboring province of Samsun, it is understood that the province of Sinop probably did not host any settlements in the late phases of the Middle Bronze Age. All along the Black Sea coast of Anatolia no centre or even find dating to the Early Iron Age (1190-900 BC) has been identified to date. However, settlements become more frequent in the inland part of the central Black Sea region during the Middle Iron Age (900-650/600 BC), and by the Late Iron Age (650/600-330 BC) they are seen both inland and along the coastline. Evidence to confirm this pattern has been obtained from the city centre of Sinop and Kovuklukaya.

scholarly journals On the influence of Vatin and Verbicioara cultures in the finds of the Gamzigrad cultural group

Starinar ◽  
2009 ◽  
pp. 53-69
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Kapuran
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Small Area ◽  
Ceramic Materials ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Iron Age ◽  
The Bronze Age

The Timocka Krajina region has not been sufficiently investigated archaeologically, which coupled with the fact that a very small number of metal finds and remains have been discovered, makes the reconstruction of the start and end of the Bronze Age that much more difficult. Identification work in the area around Romuliana on two occasions in 2001 and 2008 led to the discovery of another 10 predominantly multi-layered sites dating back to the Bronze Age, of which 7 are highland settlements while 3 are lowland settlements located in the immediate vicinity of the Timok river or its tributaries. The discovered sites 1. Varsari, 2. Djokin Vis, 3. Kravarnik, 4. Mustafa, 5. Nikolov Savat, 6. Njiva Zore Brzanovic, 7. Petronj, 8. Potes-Petronj, 9. Strenjak and 10. Zvezdan; bare the characteristics of the material culture of the ?Gamzigrad group? of the Middle Iron Age. Besides known ceramic forms and characteristic ornamentation of this culture, there is a visibly strong influence of the Vatin (Crvenka-Cornes?i) and Verbicioara elements to a greater extent, and Paracin cultural elements to a lesser extent. Given that this material was collected during identification work, we are now aware of the stratigraphic relations between these elements, and have devoted more attention to common characteristics and interconnections from which certain conclusions can be drawn. Based on the finds from archaeological sites that have been excavated it can be concluded that the distribution of sites with Gamzigrad cultural characteristics is limited to a very small area, i.e. only to the vicinity of the Crni Timok river. Nearly at all sites, both highland and lowland, Vatin and Verbicioara elements are strongly visible on the ceramic materials. The geographic position of the Crni Timok, which is located in the area where the Paracin, Vatin and Verbichoar cultures connected and overlapped, could contribute to shedding light on the origin and characteristics of this phenomenon of the Middle Bronze Age in Eastern Serbia.

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