Object biographies

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Brück
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
The Body ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
Cloth Production ◽  
Yellow Ochre ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Physical Boundary ◽  
The Bronze Age

In September 1886, John and Richard Mortimer excavated a large barrow at Garton Slack, East Yorkshire (Mortimer 1905, 229). At the centre of the barrow lay the inhumation burial of a young adult male. A flint knife, a clay button, and two lumps of yellow ochre had been arranged behind his head; at his left hand were two quartz pebbles and fragments of two boar’s tusks, while the scapula of a pig had been laid on top of his ribs. One detail of this burial seems particularly alien to contemporary eyes, however. When the body had begun to decompose, his mandible was removed and placed carefully on his chest, and a miniature Food Vessel inserted into his mouth. Here, a pot replaced an element of the human self and the physical boundary between person and object was elided: the open mouths of both pot and body worked as channels through which relationships flowed in processes of communication and commensality. This chapter will explore the relationship between people and objects in the Bronze Age. The Bronze Age saw the introduction of new technologies, notably metalworking, which had a significant impact on concepts of personhood and identity. A greater diversity of materials was employed than in previous centuries, including visually striking substances such as amber and faience, while more ‘mundane’ materials such as bone were used to make a new and wider variety of objects, particularly during the later part of the period. Such objects were incorporated into new contexts too, notably settlements and burials, and our interpretation of these finds—especially those from burials and hoards—has had a significant impact on our understanding of the period. We will start by examining objects from Early Bronze Age contexts, focusing in particular on burials, before moving on to consider what technologies such as metalworking and cloth production can tell us about the construction of concepts of the self in the Middle and Late Bronze Age. During the early part of the period, artefacts such as copper-alloy daggers, bone pins, pottery vessels, and stone tools were buried with the dead.

Nuragic Settlement Dynamics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cezary Namirski
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
East Coast ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Settlement Dynamics ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Bronze Age

The book is a study of the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Nuragic settlement dynamics in two selected areas of the east coast Sardinia, placing them in a wider context of Central Mediterranean prehistory. Among the main issues addressed are the relationship between settlement and ritual sites, the use of coastline, and a chronology of settlement.

Living with Barren Truths: A Tale of Triumphalism and Tribulations of a Technology

2021 ◽  
pp. 097168582110159
Author(s):  
Sital Mohanty ◽  
Subhasis Sahoo ◽  
Pranay Kumar Swain
Keyword(s):  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
The Body ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Social Fact ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
The Subject ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Relationship

Science, technology and human values have been the subject of enquiry in the last few years for social scientists and eventually the relationship between science and gender is the subject of an ongoing debate. This is due to the event of globalization which led to the exponential growth of new technologies like assisted reproductive technology (ART). ART, one of the most iconic technological innovations of the twentieth century, has become increasingly a normal social fact of life. Since ART invades multiple human discourses—thereby transforming culture, society and politics—it is important what is sociological about ART as well as what is biological. This article argues in commendation of sociology of technology, which is alert to its democratic potential but does not concurrently conceal the historical and continuing role of technology in legitimizing gender discrimination. The article draws the empirical insights from local articulations (i.e., Odisha state in eastern India) for the understandings of motherhood, freedom and choice, reproductive right and rights over the body to which ART has contributed. Sociologically, the article has been supplemented within the broader perspectives of determinism, compatibilism alongside feminism.

scholarly journals Waste Management in Bronze Age Europe

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-43
Author(s):  
Filip Havlíček ◽  
Martin Kuča
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Waste Material ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
New Type ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Bronze Age

AbstractThis article deals with the relationship between humans and waste in the Bronze Age. Based on selected examples of waste management strategies from the European Bronze Age, it presents an overview of different strategies. In comparison with the preceding Stone Age, a new type of material began to appear: metal. The process involved in producing metal objects, however, brought with it the appearance of a specific type of waste material that is indelibly linked to the production of metal. This article also deals with the significance of ritualized social activities in the Bronze Age, which materialized in waste and waste management strategies.

About One Detail of the Funeral Rite of Ancient Qabala

2021 ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Jeyhun T. Eminli
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
The Body ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Specific Detail ◽  
Funeral Rite ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Funeral Ceremony ◽  
Grave Goods

This article is devoted to the consideration and interpretation of a peculiar detail of the funeral rite observed at the cemeteries of ancient period in the historical region of Qabala - the capital of Caucasian Albania. Attention is focused on ceramic vessels with intentionally made holes, which were revealed in the burials among the grave goods. The vessels with holes were found in the ground burials of Uzuntala and Gushlar cemeteries of the 1st century BCE – 1st century CE, along with skeletons in a contracted position on their sides; as well as in the catacomb burial of Salbir, dating to the I-III centuries CE. In burials nos. 3–7 of Uzuntala, vessels of this type had holes in the center of their bases, and were placed upside down in the grave. In the catacomb burial of Salbir, 1st – 3rd centuries CE, two vases of the same type had large holes on the side of the body. The specific detail of the funeral rite, which is of a particular nature, has been episodically traced in the territory of Azerbaijan since the Bronze Age and continued to exist until the Late Antique period. It allows us to talk of the existence of a ritual that was carried out during the funeral ceremony and reflected some religious ideas associated with the funeral ideology. The authors of the paper suppose that these vessels should, according to prevailing beliefs, symbolize the “exodus of the soul” of the deceased and have no connection with the custom of damage to the inventory.

Introduction: Identity and alterity in Bronze Age Britain and Ireland

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Brück
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Instrumental Reason ◽  
Practical Action ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Bronze Age

In 2004, excavation in advance of the construction of a bypass around Mitchelstown in County Cork uncovered a number of pits on the banks of the Gradoge River (Kiely and Sutton 2007). On the bottom of one of these pits, three pottery vessels and a ceramic spoon had been laid on two flat stones. The pots had been deposited in a row: at the centre of the row was a small vessel that clearly models a human face with eyes, a protruding nose and ears, and, at the base of the pot, two feet (cover images). Oak charcoal from the pit returned a date of 1916–1696 cal BC. This find calls into question one of the basic conceptual building blocks that underpins our own contemporary understanding of the world—the distinction between people and objects—for it hints that some artefacts may have been imbued with human qualities and agentive capacities. This book is about the relationship between Bronze Age people and their material worlds. It explores the impact of the post-Enlightenment ‘othering’ of the non-human on our understanding of Bronze Age society. As we shall see, there is in fact considerable evidence to suggest that the categorical distinctions drawn in our own cultural context, for example between subject and object, self and other, and culture and nature, were not recognized or articulated in the same way during this period. So too contemporary forms of instrumental reason—encapsulated in a particular understanding of what constitutes logical, practical action and in the distinction we make between the ritual and the secular—have had a profound effect on how we view the Bronze Age world. Our understanding of the Bronze Age has undoubtedly changed dramatically since Christian Jürgensen Thomsen first popularized the term in his famous formulation of the three-age system in 1836 (Morris 1992). The very notion of a ‘Bronze Age’ foregrounds concepts of technical efficiency and advancement that doubtless chimed with the preoccupations and cultural values of Thomsen’s audience in the industrializing world in the nineteenth century.

scholarly journals A Stratified Route Network in a Stratified Landscape. The Region of Enna (Central Sicily) from the Bronze Age to the 19 th c. AD.

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlo Citter ◽  
Giuseppe Maria Amato ◽  
Valentina Di Natale ◽  
Andrea Patacchini
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Historical Process ◽  
Sample Area ◽  
Route Network ◽  
Environmental Setting ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Bronze Age

Abstract This paper focuses on the region of Enna in central Sicily. Its peculiar environmental setting is a key feature, with a central mountain surrounded by gentle, fertile lowlands. Our key question is to understand the regional route network in its historical process of “transformission”, a concept proposed by French archaeogeographers (see Chouquer, Watteaux 2013). It considers traces on the landscape at different scales, as ever-changing features influenced by both natural and human inputs. We chose a sample area of 566 sq-km in the very centre of the island and we evaluated geographical constraints on mobility. This raises new questions about the relationship between routes, settlements, and the environment.

The Dual Character of the Beaker Invasion

Antiquity ◽  
1931 ◽  
Vol 5 (20) ◽  
pp. 415-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. G. D. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Short Paper ◽  
Type B ◽  
Classic Work ◽  
Dual Character ◽  
Type C ◽  
The One ◽  
The Bronze Age

In his classic work on the Bronze Age pottery of Britain the late Lord Abercromby adopted the old division of the class of beaker pottery into three types originally proposed by Dr Thurnam as far back as 1871. In order that Abercromby may not be misrepresented I propose to quote the essential portions of his definitions. In type A, the ‘ high-brimmed globose beaker ’, ‘ the body is more or less globular ; the upper part, separated from the body by a constriction, frequently very defined, spreads out like the calyx of a flower and forms a brim or neck that almost equals the body in height. The sides of the neck or rim . . . are straight and not recurved at the lip ’. In type B, the ‘ ovoid beaker with recurved rim ’, ‘ there is no distinct demarca- tion between the body and the rim, but the one glides into the other by a gradual curve ’. Finally type C, the ‘ low-brimmed beaker ’, ‘ may be regarded ’, in Abercromby's own words, ‘ as a debased variety of our first type ’.It should be clear already I think that in labelling his types A, B, and C Abercromby has given the false impression that we have three types of beákers, whereas what we really have are two types, of which one has a ‘debased variety’. We therefore suggest that a less misleading classification would be, for instance, A(x), A(Y), and B. This may seem a trifling point but we believe it has helped to obscure the proper recognition of the true dual character of the Beaker invasion of this country. We propose to substantiate the validity of our suggestion in the course of this short paper.

Bioarchaeology and Mountain Landscapes in Transylvania's Golden Quadrangle

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jess Beck ◽  
Horia Ciugudean ◽  
Colin Quinn
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Ecological Diversity ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Mountain Landscapes ◽  
Key Resources ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Bronze Age

The Apuseni Mountains of southwestern Transylvania (Romania) are home to the richest gold and copper deposits in Europe, key resources that fueled the development of social complexity during the Bronze Age (ca. 2700–800 B.C.E.). This landscape encompasses a significant amount of topographic and ecological diversity, with upland landscapes incorporating major mineral deposits, forests, pastures, and salt springs, and lowland agropastoral landscapes abutting the major interregional Mureș River corridor. Local Early Bronze Age (ca. 2700–2000 B.C.E.) communities typically buried their dead in stone-covered tumuli in the uplands, though there are also examples of burial in lowland settlements. The relationship between upland and lowland mortuary contexts is an enduring question within the regional archaeological record. In this paper we present a case study that compares individuals from two sites: the lowland settlement of Alba Iulia-Pârâul Iovului and the upland cemetery of Meteș-La Meteșel. We ask whether there were differences between the uplands and the lowlands in terms of mortuary practices and eligibility for burial, or differences in the lived experience of pathology or trauma. Our results show that there are few significant differences between the two samples. Adults and subadults, as well as males and females, are represented at both sites, and levels of skeletal pathology are low, while dental insults are more frequent. We conclude by outlining a strategy for developing a regional bioarchaeology that will incorporate multiple lines of archaeological and bioarchaeological evidence and enhance our understanding of the biocultural dynamics of the region. Localizaţi în sud-vestul Transilvaniei (România), Munţii Apuseni adăpostesc cele mai bogate zăcăminte de aur şi cupru din Europa, resurse vitale care au alimentat dezvoltarea complexităţii sociale pe parcursul epocii bronzului (cca. 2700-800 BC). Acest peisaj încorporează o remarcabilă diversitate topografică şi ecologică, cu zonele înalte adăpostind principalele zăcăminte metalifere, păduri, păşuni montane, zonele agro-pastorale mai joase învecinându-se cu principalul coridor interregional al văii Mureşului. Comunităţile locale ale Bronzului timpuriu (cca. 2700-2000 BCE) din zona muntoasă îşi îngropau de obicei morţii în tumuli cu manta de piatră , dar există şi exemple de înmormântări în aşezările din zonele mai joase. Relaţia dintre contextele funerare din zonele înalte şi cele din zonele joase de relief rămâne o întrebare de durată în contextual arheologic regional. Studiul de faţă prezintă un studiu de caz care compară indivizi din două situri: aşezarea din zona joasă de la Alba Iulia-Pârâul Iovului şi cimitirul din zona muntoasă de la Meteş-La Meteşel. Sunt puse întrebări care privesc existenţa unor diferenţe între practicile funerare din zonele joase şi cele înalte sau în ceea ce priveşte experienţa trăită a traumelor şi patologiei. Rezultatele noastre indică puţine diferenţe semnificative între cele două loturi de probe. Adulţi şi subadulţi, de sex masculine sau feminin, sunt reprezentaţi în ambele situri, nivelurile de patologie osoasă fiind joase, în vreme ce afecţiunile dentare sunt mai frecvente. Concluzionăm prin evidenţierea unei strategii pentru dezvoltarea unei bioarheologii regionale, care va încorpora multiple linii de dovezi arheologice şi bioarheologice şi va înbunătăţi înţelegerea dinamicii bioculturale a regiunii.  

Human trace on the landscape during the Holocene at El Mirador Cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain): The palynological evidence

The Holocene ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 1201-1213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Expósito ◽  
Francesc Burjachs ◽  
Josep M Vergès
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Mixed Forest ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
Farming Practices ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Human Pressure ◽  
Palynological Analysis ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Bronze Age

The archaeological research focusing on El Mirador Cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain) has revealed a succession of occupation levels in a dung layers context that span from the early Neolithic to the middle Bronze Age. The robustness and coherence of the chronological dates of the sequence have contributed to framing the beginning of farming practices on the northern Plateau of the Iberian Peninsula. This study focuses on the palynological analysis of the sedimentary sequence, spanning from ca. 7970–7770 to ca. 3390–3070 cal. yr BP. The results have allowed us to identify a landscape of mixed forest with evergreen and deciduous oaks and pinewood. Despite the discontinuities in such sediments, some fluctuations between different categories of anthropogenic taxa can be observed throughout the sequence, illustrating greater or lesser pressure from livestock or agriculture. From the Neolithic to the Bronze Age, we documented a reduction in the tree cover because of increased human pressure typical of the Neolithisation process, while the relationship between environment and society changes.

Some Problems Concerning China's Early Copper and Bronze Artifacts

Early China ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 53-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia K. Murray ◽  
An Zhimin
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Shang Dynasty ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Slave Society ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Bronze Age

(Translator's Note: This article originally appeared in Kaogu Xuebao 1981.3: 269-284, and is translated with the author's permission.)I. The appearance of metal is a very important event in human history, marking the start of an age. From the patriarchal clan communes of the late Neolithic period to the slave society of the Bronze Age, there was a great change in the relationship between social development and production. As a result, the origin and development of metal-working is one of the important issues in archaeological research (p. 269).Early in the Shang dynasty, China had already advanced into slave society, and its brilliant bronze culture is an outstanding phenomenon in the history of the ancient world. Shang civilization evolved from Longshan foundations, and there is ample archaeological proof of the close relationship between the two. But from what origins did Shang bronze arise? Before the Shang, was there an aeneolithic period in which copper was used? These questions have not yet been satisfactorily answered. Since 1949 the new discoveries of copper objects and of bronze objects belonging to an early period have contributed important clues to the solution of these problems.

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