Rediscovering the Body: Cremation and Inhumation in Early Iron Age Central Europe

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Rebay-Salisbury
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
The Body ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
A Chain ◽  
Cultural Entity

The Late Bronze Age Urnfield Period in Central Europe (BA D, Ha A/B, c.1300 to 800 BC) is characterized by the dominance of cremation as a burial rite. The simple appearance of urn burials give an impression of simplicity, but they are the endpoint of a chain of actions and practices that constitute the funerary ritual, many of which may not be simple at all, but include a large number of people and resources. The washing, dressing, and furnishing of the body as it is laid out prior to cremation leave no traces. The funerary pyre, as spectacular as it may have looked, smelled, and felt during the cremation, preserves only under exceptional circumstances. The rituals and feasts associated with selecting the cremated remains from the funerary pyre and placing them in a suitable organic container or a ceramic urn prior to their deposition do not leave much evidence. The large-scale spread of cremation during the Late Bronze Age has traditionally been explained by the movements of peoples (e.g. Kraft 1926; Childe 1950), or a change in religious beliefs (e.g. Alexander 1979). More recently, a change in how the human body is ontologically understood and how it has to be transformed after death is seen as the more likely underlying cause (Harris et al. 2013; Robb and Harris 2013; Sørensen and Rebay-Salisbury in prep.), although a simple and single reason is rarely the driver of such pan-European developments. This chapter will be concerned with another transition, the change from cremation back to inhumation, several hundred years later during the Early Iron Age, and investigates its background and causes. In Central Europe, cremation is given up as the solitary funerary rite, and a range of different options, including inhumations in burial mounds, bi-ritual cemeteries, and new forms of cremation graves emerge. This change happens at a different pace in the various areas of the Hallstatt Culture and adjacent areas, which will be surveyed here. Despite doubts about the validity of the term ‘Hallstatt Culture’ as a cultural entity (e.g. Müller-Scheeßel 2000), it remains a convenient shorthand to the Early Iron Age in Central Europe, c.800–450 BC, in eastern France, southern Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, and parts of northern Italy.

Holocene evolution of closed depressions and its relation to landscape dynamics in the loess areas of Poland

The Holocene ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 543-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renata Kołodyńska-Gawrysiak
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Landscape Dynamics ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Atlantic Period

Past Pleistocene topography of the loess uplands is rich in local sinks (closed depressions (CDs)) influencing sediment fluxes. Soil-sediment sequences from CDs constituting geoarchives where landscape changes under natural and anthropogenic conditions have been recorded. Pedo-sedimentary archives from 10 CDs in the Polish loess belt and human settlements were analysed. Phases of the Holocene evolution of the CDs were correlated with landscape dynamics in loess areas in Poland and Central Europe. Phases of infilling of CDs occurring (2) from the late Boreal/early Atlantic Period until the (middle) late Bronze Age/early Iron Age and (4) since the early Middle Ages until today were documented. These were phases of long-term soil erosion and colluviation corresponding to the increasing agricultural land use of Polish loess uplands. Phases of soil formation related to geomorphic stabilization of CDs occurred (1) from the late Vistulian until the late Boreal/early Atlantic Period and (3) from the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age until the early/high Middle Ages. These were phases of decreased soil erosion and landform conservation in a considerable part of Poland’s loess areas. Pedo-sedimentary archives from the CDs have recorded soil erosion strongly related with human-induced land-use changes. The mean soil erosion rate in the catchment of CDs was 0.33 t·ha−1·yr−1 during prehistory and 4.0 t·ha−1·yr−1 during the last approximately 1000 years. Phases of CD evolution are representative for the main phases of sediment and landscape dynamics in Poland’s loess areas recorded in various archives, and are not synchronous with some of these phases in Central Europe.

Late second–early first millennium BC abrupt climate changes in coastal Syria and their possible significance for the history of the Eastern Mediterranean

2010 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Kaniewski ◽  
E. Paulissen ◽  
E. Van Campo ◽  
H. Weiss ◽  
T. Otto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Environmental History ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Alluvial Deposits ◽  
Iron Age I

AbstractThe alluvial deposits near Gibala-Tell Tweini provide a unique record of environmental history and food availability estimates covering the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. The refined pollen-derived climatic proxy suggests that drier climatic conditions occurred in the Mediterranean belt of Syria from the late 13th/early 12th centuries BC to the 9th century BC. This period corresponds with the time frame of the Late Bronze Age collapse and the subsequent Dark Age. The abrupt climate change at the end of the Late Bronze Age caused region-wide crop failures, leading towards socio-economic crises and unsustainability, forcing regional habitat-tracking. Archaeological data show that the first conflagration of Gibala occurred simultaneously with the destruction of the capital city Ugarit currently dated between 1194 and 1175 BC. Gibala redeveloped shortly after this destruction, with large-scale urbanization visible in two main architectural phases during the Early Iron Age I. The later Iron Age I city was destroyed during a second conflagration, which is radiocarbon-dated at circa 2950 cal yr BP. The data from Gibala-Tell Tweini provide evidence in support of the drought hypothesis as a triggering factor behind the Late Bronze Age collapse in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Canaanite Roots, Proto-Phoenicia, and the Early Phoenician Period

2019 ◽  
pp. 37-55
Author(s):  
Ann E. Killebrew
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Sea Peoples ◽  
Culture Centered ◽  
City States ◽  
Cultural Entity ◽  
Dynamic Interplay

The origins and ethnogenesis of a cultural entity, people, and territory referred to as “Phoenician” in later biblical and Classical sources and modern scholarship remain a topic of debate. This chapter examines the textual and archaeological sources relevant to the northern and central Levantine littoral during the Proto- (Late Bronze) and Early (Iron I) Phoenician periods (ca. fourteenth–eleventh centuries bce). What emerges out of the ruins of the Late Bronze Age is a resilient Early Iron Age coastal culture centered on the commercial interactions of maritime city-states, which survived the demise of the Hittite and Egyptian empires, as well as the collapse of international trade at around 1200 bce. Autochthonous Canaanite traditions dominate Iron I Phoenician cultural assemblages, but intrusive Aegean-style “Sea Peoples” and Cypriot influences are also present. Together they reflect the dynamic interplay of maritime cultural and commercial exchanges characteristic of the northern and central Levantine littoral during the final centuries of the second millennium bce.

The Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age landscape of interior western Sicily

Antiquity ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (289) ◽  
pp. 503-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Kolb ◽  
Sebastiano Tusa
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Regional Survey ◽  
Western Sicily ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Hilltop Settlement

The archaeology of complex societies in western Sicily has traditionally focused upon Greek and Phoenician colonization rather than the development of the indigenous peoples of the interior. The Salemi regional survey project in western Sicily was conceived as a means to track long-term landscape change of this interior ‘indigenous’ landscape. From 1998 to 2000, this survey has conducted an extensive survey of 150 sq. km of the Salemi region, an intensive survey of 8 sq. km around a nearby Late Bronze Age (LBA) hilltop settlement of Mokarta (Mannino & Spatafora 1995; Spatafora & Mannino 1992; Tusa 1992), and an intensive survey of 25 sq. km around the Early Iron Age (EIA) hilltop settlement of Monte Polizzo (FIGURE 1). Survey work is part ofthe Sicilian–Scandinavian archaeological project (Morris et al. in press; http://dig.anthro.niu.edu/sicily), an international team of scholars who are undertaking large-scale excavations at Monte Polizzo (FIGURE 2). Preliminary survey results reveal that these LBA and EIA peoples relied on an intricate valley hinterland around their hilltop residences. Moreover, marked differences exist between the LBA and EIA valley hinterlands.

scholarly journals Nordic and Celtic: religion in southern Scandinavia during the late bronze age and early iron age

1990 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 329-343
Author(s):  
Marianne Görman
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Time Span ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Sources Of Knowledge ◽  
Southern Scandinavia ◽  
The Bronze Age

By means of modern archeological research it is today possible to gain much information even from non-written material, This paper covers the late bronze age and early iron age, ca. 1000 B.C. —O. It is based on material from Denmark, the Southwest of Sweden, and the Southeast of Norway. This region formed a cultural unity since the sea bound the area together. Our main sources of knowledge of Nordic religion during this time span are votive offerings and rock-carvings. During the bronze age and early iron age the Nordic peasant population had intensive contacts with the Southeastern and Centralparts of Europe. A great quantity of imported objects bear evidence of widespread connections. The inhabitants of the Nordic area not only brought home objects, but also ideas and religious conceptions. This is clearly reflected in the iconography. The cultures with which connections were upheld and from which ideas were introduced were those of Hallstatt and La Tène. They were both Celtic iron age cultures prospering in Central Europe at the same time as the late bronze age and early iron age in the Nordic area. This means that the new symbols in the Nordic area come from a Celtic environment. Consequently, Celtic religion such as it may be found in the pre-Roman period, can clarify the meaning of the conceptions, linked with these symbols.

Neolithic Pits, a Bronze Age Cremation and an Early Iron Age Ring-Ditch at Newton Farm, Cambuslang, Lanarkshire

2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Leonora O'Brien ◽  
Victoria Clements ◽  
Mike Roy ◽  
Neil Macnab
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Housing Development ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Small Ring ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
River Terraces

Fieldwork at Newton Farm, Cambuslang (NGR NS 672 610) was undertaken in advance of housing development in 2005–6. A cluster of six shallow Neolithic pits were excavated, and a collection of 157 round-based, carinated bowl sherds and a quern fragment were recovered from them. The pits produced a date range of 3700 to 3360 cal BC. Most of the pits yielded burnt material, and one of the pits showed evidence of in situ burning. The pottery may form ‘structured deposits’. A Bronze Age adult cremation placed in a Food Vessel dated to 3610±30 BP (2040–1880 cal BC) was set in a wider landscape of single and multiple cremations and inhumations on the river terraces overlooking the Clyde. A possible unurned cremation was also identified. This was cut by the course of a small ring-ditch dated to the very late Bronze Age or early Iron Age 2520±30 BP (800–530cal BC).

scholarly journals Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age structure (Area F)

2021 ◽  
Vol 93 ◽  
pp. 83-87
Author(s):  
Chris O'Connell ◽  
Sue Anderson ◽  
Melanie Johnson ◽  
Dawn McLaren ◽  
Mhairi Hastie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Age Structure ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age

  

CERAMICS OF THE PESTRYAKOVO LAKE SETTLEMENT (SOUTH OF WESTERN SIBERIA)

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 205-212
Author(s):  
KIRYUSHIN K. ◽  
◽  
KIRYUSHIN Yu. ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Western Siberia ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
The South ◽  
Animal Hair ◽  
The Middle Ages

The article is devoted to the publication of finds of fragments of ceramic dishes discovered at the settlement of Pestryakovo Lake (Zavyalovsky district of Altai Territory). A group of ceramics which belongs to the early Iron Age and the Middle Ages, is pointed out. Single fragments find analogies in the materials of the sites of the Early and Late Bronze Age. The ceramic collection of the Pestryakovo Lake settlement includes groups of ceramics that belong to the Neolithic or Eneolithic. These are fragments of vessels ornamented with prints of a “string”, pricks, imprints of a short comb stamp, a dingle-dingle stamping. Linear-pricked and receding-pricked ceramics are quite informative. On the outer and inner surfaces, as well as in the fractures, traces of burnt-out organic matter (animal hair) are recorded. Such ceramics are widely represented in the south of Western Siberia and are associated with various settlement and burial complexes from the Ob to the Irtysh and various cultural formations of the Neolithic and Eneolithic. Keywords: settlement, ceramics, ornamentation technique, comparative typological analysis, neolithic, eneolithic

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