Sunlight, Divination, and the Dead in Aegean Ritual Tradition

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy Goodison
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Active Agent ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Material Evidence ◽  
Ritual Practices

Study of orientation in Bronze Age Cretan buildings has revealed long-overlooked sunrise alignments at the Palace of Knossos; while the recording of dawn alignments at the Mesara-type tholos tombs has challenged previous ideas about religious belief, suggesting a new, somatic agenda for discourse about ritual practices at the tombs. This chapter highlights a long-standing Aegean tradition from the Early Iron Age until late antiquity in which the sun was perceived as an active agent facilitating processes of prophecy and communication with the dead. Taking issue with disembodied visions of knowledge and presentist templates of religion centred on worship of abstract deities, it revisits material evidence from the Mesara-type tombs, and considers whether it is possible to trace in the prehistoric era early formulations of this tradition linking sunlight with divination and the dead.

III. Villanovan Veii

1961 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 20-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. Ward-Perkins
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Long Period ◽  
The Social ◽  
Precise Relationship ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The City

The roads and gates described in the previous section are of very varied dates, and many of them were in use over a long period. They have been described first because they constitute the essential framework for any serious topographical study of Veii. Within this framework the city developed, and in this and the following sections will be found described, period by period, the evidence for that development, from the first establishment of Veii in Villanovan times down to its final abandonment in late antiquity.Whatever the precise relationship of the Villanovan to the succeeding phases of the Early Iron Age in central Italy in terms of politics, race or language, it is abundantly clear that it was within the Villanovan period that the main lines of the social and topographical framework of historical Etruria first took shape. Veii is no exception. Apart from sporadic material that may have been dropped by Neolithic or Bronze Age hunters, there is nothing from the Ager Veientanus to suggest that it was the scene of any substantial settlement before the occupation of Veii itself by groups of Early Iron Age farmers, a part of whose material equipment relates them unequivocally to the Villanovan peoples of coastal and central Etruria.

Land of the Cremated Dead: On Cremation Practices in Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Scandinavia

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lise Harvig
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Cultural Landscapes ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Gradual Change ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
The Dead

As contract archaeology has emerged and larger connected areas have been excavated since the 1990s, focus has naturally changed from single finds of graves right below plough soil or in connection to mounds, towards the study of the surrounding cultural landscapes. In the Late Bronze Age and the Pre- Roman Iron Age settlements seldom overlap grave sites. This implies that the ‘land of the dead’ was considered separate from the ‘land of the living’. Although regionally differentiated, we further gain a better understanding of many of these accumulated grave sites and their gradual change during the transition period. In many cases we see a change from a personalized commemoration of the cremated dead in the Late Bronze Age, towards a focus on the act of cremation (rather than the post-cremation human body) around the beginning of the Iron Age. The increasing commemoration of pyre remains instead of human remains and deliberate ‘cremation’ of personal belongings in the Early Iron Age indicates a shift in funeral tempi from the post-cremation deliberate burial in the Bronze Age towards the actual cremation process as the primary locus of transformation in the earliest Iron Age. Throughout time, societies have grasped death, the dead, and the duration of death in very different manners. The process of death and relating to different stages of death may be more or less ritualized, that is, subject to specific repeated rules or laws within a society. Whether used to speed up or slow down the process of transformation—for example, keeping, embalming, dismembering, or exhuming the body in various stages—these rituals help the living create death through their acts. In interpretive archaeology we analyse these meaningful acts in the past and their continuation or discontinuation. Decoding single sequences within these acts therefore helps us designate non-negotiable repetitive actions in the archaeological record, as the material evidence of shared ‘embodied knowledge’ in a given prehistoric society (Nilsson Stutz 2003, 2010). Decoding and separating past actions and post depositional disturbances—the degree of intentionality—are crucial for plausible reconstructions of post-cremation treatment of cremated human remains.

scholarly journals Preliminary archaeological studies (surveys) on the project of the bypass road around Berezhany town

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 206-223
Author(s):  
Oleh Osaulchuk ◽  
Zoya Ilchyshyn
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
National Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Bibliographic Data ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Village

The article offers results of preliminary archaeological investigations, conducted by Scientific Research Center «Rescue Archaeological Service» (Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine) in 2007 and 2017, prior to the construction project of the bypass road around Berezhany town in Ternopil region. It provides information concerning the newly discovered archeological sites as well as the elaboration of the obtainable data on formerly revealed sites in the surroundings of villages Lisnyky, Lapshyn, Hayok and Hlynovychi. According to archival and bibliographic data, archaeological surveys were previously conducted in 2006 by the expeditions of Mykhailo Filipchuk and Mykola Bandrivsky nearby villages Lapshyn and Hynovychi. However, the summaries of these surveys are insufficiently published and besides presenting the incoherent results, which cause some confusion in the number of sites. In 2007, expedition of Rescue Archaeological Service has re-examined the multi-layered settlement Hynovychi I, collecting the items from the Late Paleolithic to the Early Iron Age. Subsequent rescue archeological excavations were carried out in 2008 by the expedition led by Bohdan Salo. Ancient Rus settlement Hlynovychi III was discovered adjacent to the previous site. Around the village Lapshyn, additional archeological sites were discovered, namely Lapshyn III, IV, V, and VI, which behold several phases of the region’s inhabitants starting from the Paleolithic and until the Age of Principalities. Materials of Vysotsko and Chernyakhiv cultures are predominant on these sites. Four groups of barrows were located on the forested hills near village Lisnyky, named therefore Lisnyky I, II, III, and IV. They contain a total of 20 barrows, which could be dated to the Bronze Age. Altogether, the explorations of 2007 and 2017 has newly discovered or identified ten archaeological sites, including settlements and burrow necropolises. Seven previously known settlement were localized due to the updated information. As a result, the archeological map of the region was significantly supplemented, with the names and numbers of archaeological sites well-coordinated. Some of the ancient settlements and the barrow groups are located along the route of future bypass road, thus making it necessary to conduct preventive archaeological excavations. The results of intended studies will definitely clarify cultural and chronological identity of these sites. Key words: archeological surveys, preventive archeological studies, assessments of the impact on the archeological heritage, bypass road around Berezhany town, settlement, barrow group, Paleolithic, Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, Late Antiquity, Vysotsko culture, Chernyakhiv culture, Age of Principalities.

RESEARCH INTO MULTI-LAYERED MULTICULTURAL COMPLEXES OF UPPER PRICHUMYSHYE: SITES IN THE ULUS AREA

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 224-230
Author(s):  
Kungurov A. ◽  
◽  
KUNGUROVA O. ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Altai Mountains ◽  
Cultural Layers ◽  
The Creation

The Upper Prichumyshye is a region comprising two different orographic zones, the Biysk Chumysh highland and the Salair Ridge. Currently, it is one of the most studied archaeological microdistricts. The peculiarities of the Chumysh valley formation led to the creation of a valley-beam relief with a large number of expressive micro-valleys, capes and small tributaries. In different periods of history, the areas of the valley that were most convenient for living and implementation of appropriating and producing economy, were settled several times. The article presents materials that continue the cycle of publications devoted to the multi-layered archaeological sites of the Upper Prichumyshye (The Tselinnyi Region of the Altai Krai). The work characterizes the settlement of Ulus. This site contains cultural layers of the Upper Paleolithic era, the developed Bronze Age, the early Iron Age and the period of late antiquity. The materials are represented by stone tools, ceramics of various forms and ruined quarry burials of Andronian culture. Initially, the site was opened by the creator of the local museum v. Pobyeda P.F. Ryzhenko in the 50s of the last century. Keywords: Altai mountains, Upper Prichumyshye, archaeology, P.F. Ryzhenko, stone tools, burials, ceramics

scholarly journals TO THE PROBLEM OF RECOGNITION OF THE BURIALS OF CHORNOHORIVSKA GROUP

1970 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-156
Author(s):  
V. V. Оtroshchenko
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Cultural Identification ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Group Population ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Fetal Position

The article deals with the questions of formation and replenishment of the Chornohorivska group of monuments source base of the IX—VIII c. BC. The catalog of Cimmerian burials, created by S. V. Makhortykh (2005), was analyzed. Due to the discussion points of its configuration, it is proposed to improve this register. It is advisable to clear the catalog from the complexes of the Bilozerska culture of the of the Final Bronze Age and artifacts from the monuments of the settled population — the Cimmerian neighbors. Attention is paid to the still unrecognized complexes of the Chornohorivska group, defined earlier as the cultures of the Bronze Age. The approaches to the cultural identification of the non-inventory burials of this group of the Cimmerian population are marked. It was noticed that instead of the «fetal» position of the dead during the Late and Final Bronze, among nomads (Chornohorivska group population) in the early Iron Age the «horseman» buried position was recorded.

The bronze headbands of Prehistoric Lofkënd and their Aegean and Balkan connections

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 33-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
John K. Papadopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
Young Females ◽  
The Many ◽  
Votive Offerings

This paper begins with an overview of the bronze headbands from the prehistoric (Late Bronze to Early Iron Age) burial tumulus of Lofkënd in Albania, which were found among the richest tombs of the cemetery, all of them of young females or children. It is argued that these individuals represent a class of the special dead, those who have not attained a critical rite de passage: marriage. In their funerary attire these individuals go to the grave as brides, married to death. The significance of the Lofkënd headbands is reviewed, as is their shape and decoration, but it is their context that contributes to a better understanding of Aegean examples, including the many bronze, gold, and silver headbands found in tombs from the Early Bronze Age through the Early Iron Age, as well as those dedicated as votive offerings in sanctuaries. In addition to discussing the evidence for headbands in the Aegean and much of southeast Europe, this paper also attempts to uncover the word used in this early period in Greece for these distinctive items of personal ornament. In memory of Berit Wells.

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.

Bronze Age and early Iron Age Crete

Antiquity ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (298) ◽  
pp. 858-860
Author(s):  
Susan Sherratt
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age
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