The Eastern Baltic

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valter Lang
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Entire Region ◽  
Baltic Region ◽  
The South ◽  
Burial Practices ◽  
South West ◽  
The Baltic

This chapter examines Iron Age funerary and domestic archaeological sites, and economic and cultural developments from c.500 BC–AD 550/600, in the east Baltic region (present day Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania). While the early pre-Roman Iron Age was to some extent a continuation of the late Bronze Age in material culture terms, many changes took place in the late pre-Roman Iron Age. At the change of era, new cultural trends spread over the east Baltic region, from the south-eastern shore of the Baltic to south-west Finland, which produced a remarkable unification of material culture over this entire region up to the Migration period. Differences in burial practices and ceramics, however, indicate the existence of two distinct ethnic groups, Proto-Finnic in the northern part of the region and Proto-Baltic to the south. Subsistence was based principally on agriculture and stock rearing, with minor variations in the economic orientation of different areas.

The Cadusii in Archaeology? Remarks on the Achaemenid Period (Iron Age IV) in Gilan and Talesh

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-151
Author(s):  
Christian Konrad Piller
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Caspian Sea ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
The South ◽  
The Caspian Sea ◽  
Material Basis ◽  
South West ◽  
New Material

According to some classical authors, the region south-west of the Caspian Sea was inhabited by the large tribe of the Cadusians (Greek Καδουσιοι, Latin Cadusii). During the Achaemenid Period, several armed conflicts between the Imperial Persian forces and the warlike Cadusians occurred. Of particular importance is the disastrous defeat of Artaxerxes II in 380 B.C. From the archaeological point of view, little has been known about the material culture of the Achaemenid Period (Iron Age IV) in Talesh and Gilan. Until recently, only a few burial contexts from the South of Gilan could be dated to the period between the 6th and 4th centuries B.C. However, during the last two decades, Iranian archaeologists excavated numerous Bronze and Iron Age graveyards in the Talesh Region. A number of burial contexts at sites, such as Maryan, Mianroud or Vaske can securely be dated to the Achaemenid Period. With this new material basis, it was possible to subdivide the Iron Age IV into different subsequent phases. Furthermore, it is likely that the material culture described in this article could be at least partially attributed to the Cadusians.

scholarly journals The Iron Age I in the Northern Levant: New perspectives from Lebanon

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanan Charaf
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Smooth Transition ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Southern Levant ◽  
Local Characteristics ◽  
Iron Age I ◽  
Tell Tayinat

The beginning of the Iron Age in the Levant has been for the past three decades the focus of intense studies and debates. The main reason that had triggered this interest is the turmoil characterizing the end of the Late Bronze Age coupled with the migration of newcomers dubbed the “Sea People” to the coastal Levant. This phenomenon has been studied to a length in the southern Levant where evidence of destructions followed by a new culture is attested on many coastal sites. However, in neighboring Lebanon, few studies focused on this period mainly due to the paucity of archaeological sites dating to the end of the Late Bronze Age/beginning of the Iron Age. In recent years, remains uncovered at major sites such as Tell Arqa (Irqata of the Amarna Tablets), Sarepta, Tyre, or Kamid el-Loz (Kumidi of the Amarna Tablets) gave no evidence for destructions at the end of the Late Bronze Age in this country. On the contrary, the architectural and material culture found at sites such as Tell Arqa and Sarepta points to a smooth transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age. While the exposed architecture is usually flimsy and is characterized by a widespread use of pits and silos (a phenomenon equally observed on other neighboring sites such as Tell Afis in Syria or Tell Tayinat in Turkey), the pottery still retains old characteristics; yet integrated into a few new shapes and fabrics. The patterns of archaism observed in the material cultural in Lebanon challenges the established understanding of the Iron Age I in the southern Levant where it is characterized as a period of turmoil and transformation.This presentation analyses the architectural and material characteristics of the end of the Late Bronze Age I/beginning of the Iron Age I in Lebanon with the aim at isolating both local characteristics and regional influences.

Cultural and Economic Type and Archaeological Appearance of the Cimmerians (a Brief Historiographical Review)

2021 ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Sergei B. Valchak
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
The South ◽  
Scythian Period ◽  
The Russian Language

The article discusses various opinions related to the solution of the “Cimmerian problem”, set out in the Russian-language scientific literature in the period of the XX-beginning of the XXI centuries. Special attention is paid to the historiography of the question of the cultural and economic type of the Cimmerians and the approach of various researchers to its definition. The author also considers the question of the material culture of the Cimmerians and the archaeological sites associated with them, their interpretations and various hypotheses proposed at different times by researchers of the archeology of the Early Iron Age, chronological concepts. The author supports the hypothesis of T.M. Kuznetsova about the insufficient argumentation of the statement about the Cimmerians-nomads and the hypothesis of V.R. Erlikh about the identification with the Cimmerians of archaeological sites of the classical Novocherkassk stage of the pre-Scythian period, which is characterized by a peculiar and massive complex of horse equipment and weapons of soldiers-riders. In a wide chronological range, these sites can be dated no earlier than the last quarter of the 8th, and probably no later than the middle of the 7th century BC. The horizon of the few monuments of the “Jabotinsky type” in the south of Eastern Europe, which does not have a local substrate, is considered to belong to the early Scythians no earlier than the end of the first quarter of the 7th century, before the beginning of their cam-paigns in Transcaucasia, the countries of Near Asia in the 7th century BC.

Maiden Castle: excavation, education, entertainment?

Antiquity ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 59 (226) ◽  
pp. 97-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. J. Wainwright ◽  
B. W. Cunliffe
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
South Side ◽  
South West ◽  
The One ◽  
Great Complexity

In its developed or final form Maiden Castle, some two miles (3.2 km) south-west of Dorchester in Dorset, is an iron age hillfort, of great complexity, which takes in two knolls of a saddle-backed spur of Upper Chalk, the highest point of which is about 440 ft (c.134 m) above OD. The defences enclose47 acres (c.18 ha) and consist of three banks and two ditches with an additional bank inserted along most of the south side. There are two entrances, at the east and at the west, each with double openings elaborately defended by outworks. The outstandingly imposing character of Maiden Castle is derived from the size and complexity of these earthwork defences rather than from its altitude or the natural defensive advantages of its position. Ptolemy has been thought to supply a hint as to the ancient name of Maiden Castle. The conventional identification of Roman Dnrchester is with theDurnovaniaof the Antonine Itinerary. Ptolemy omits that placename, but mentionsDuniumin the same region as the one city apparently worthy of mention in the territory of the Durotriges (GeographiaI, 103, ed. C Müller (1883)).Duniumwas long ago identified with Maiden Castle. This may well be so, although recently Hod Hill and Hengistbury have also been put forward as possibilities. Part of the hillfort lies on the site of a neolithic causewayed enclosure and it also surrounds a unique ‘long-mound’ of the same period, a bronze age round barrow and the foundations of a Romano-British temple and accompanying buildings.

Excavation of Four Barrows, and a Middle Bronze Age Cremation Cemetery, at Heatherstone Grange, Bransgore, Hampshire

2018 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-89
Author(s):  
Richard Massey ◽  
Elaine L. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
South West ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

Excavation at Heatherstone Grange, Bransgore, Hampshire, investigated features identified in a previous evaluation. Area A included ring ditches representing two barrows. Barrow 1.1 held 40 secondary pits, including 34 cremation-related deposits of Middle Bronze Age date, and Barrow 1.2 had five inserted pits, including three cremation graves, one of which dated to the earlier Bronze Age, and was found with an accessory cup. A number of pits, not all associated with cremation burials, contained well-preserved urns of the regional Deverel-Rimbury tradition and occasional sherds from similar vessels, which produced a closely-clustered range of eight radiocarbon dates centred around 1300 BC. Of ten pits in Area C, three were cremation graves, of which one was radiocarbon-dated to the Early Bronze Age and associated with a collared urn, while four contained only pyre debris. Barrow 1.3, in Area E, to the south, enclosed five pits, including one associated with a beaker vessel, and was surrounded by a timber circle. Area F, further to the south-west, included two pits of domestic character with charcoal-rich fills and the remains of pottery vessels, together with the probable remains of a ditched enclosure and two sets of paired postholes. Area H, located to the north-west of Area E, partly revealed a ring ditch (Barrow 1.4), which enclosed two pits with charcoal-rich fills, one with a single Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age potsherd, and the other burnt and worked flint. A further undated pit was situated to the east of Barrow 1.4. The cremation cemetery inserted into Barrow 1.1 represents a substantial addition to the regional record of Middle Bronze Age cremation burials, and demonstrates important affinities with the contemporary cemeteries of the Stour Valley to the west, and sites on Cranborne Chase, to the north-west.

Hembury (Devon): Roman troops in a hillfort

Antiquity ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 58 (224) ◽  
pp. 171-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm Todd
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
South West ◽  
Western Side ◽  
Clear Weather

Hembury is chiefly noted as the site of a neolithic settlement and one of the finest hillforts of the Iron Age in the South-West (PL. XXIV & FIG. I ) . These prehistoric works lie at the southern tip of a long, narrow promontory extending southwards from the Greensand mass of the Blackdown Hills and overlooking the broad valleys of the Otter and the Culm. Beyond these to the west lies the Exe valley and further west still (and visible in clear weather) the Haldon ridge and the eastern tors of Dartmoor. Excavations by Miss D. M. Liddell (Liddell, 1930; 1931; 1932; 1935) between 1930 and 1935 revealed the significance of Hembury for the south-western Neolithic in particular, the material culture of the early neolithic settlement being plainly related to that of Windmill Hill. Miss Liddell's examination of the iron age fort was centred upon the two fine gates, on the western side and at the north-west angle. Little work was devoted to the interior except to trace the ditch of the neolithic causewayed enclosure and to explore the extreme southern tip of the promontory.

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.

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

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.

Associations of Sphagnum rubellum Wils. on the bogs of the south-east part of Baltic region

2003 ◽  
pp. 50-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. A. Smagin ◽  
M. G. Napreenko
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Plant Cover ◽  
Karelian Isthmus ◽  
Baltic Region ◽  
The South ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Kaliningrad Region ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Typical Habitat ◽  
New Syntaxa

The paper characterizes the 3 associations comprising plant communities with Sphagnum rubellum in the south-eastern part of the Baltic region. The new syntaxa differ from each other both in their floristic characters and the pronounced affinity to definite regional mire types and particular habitats. The ass. Drosero-Sphagnetum rubelli is typical of the relatively most thorough ranges. It is observed from the Kaliningrad region to the Karelian Isthmus and, according to the published reference, occurs even throughout the whole area around the Baltic Sea. Its most typical habitat is that of margins of mire lakes and pools. The ass. Eriophoro-Sphagnetum rubelli occurs in central plateaus of convex plateau-like bogs, typical of the areas adjacent to the Baltic Sea coast. It occupies extended flat mire ecotopes with the water level 0.2–0.25 m deep. The ass. Empetro-Sphagnetum rubelli is characteristic of the retrogressive complex in the convex bogs of the East-Baltic Province. It is mostly observed along the coast of the Gulf of Finland. Its stands are rather dynamic and unstable in both space and time. The presence of communities comprised by these 3 associations is an important vegetation character of the series of regional mire types. Assuming an association level of the respective syntaxa seems rational for the purposes of adequate reflection of plant cover diversity.

From Texts and Iconography to Use-Wear Analysis of Ceramic Vessels

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-210
Author(s):  
Bartłomiej Lis ◽  
Trevor Van Damme
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Wear Analysis ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
Repeated Use ◽  
Funerary Rites

While handwashing is attested in the Bronze Age cultures of the eastern Mediterranean and appears in both Linear B records and Homeric epics, the custom has not been discussed with regard to the material culture of Mycenaean Greece. On analogy with Egyptian handwashing equipment, we explore the possibility that a conical bowl made of bronze and copied in clay was introduced in Greece early in the Late Bronze Age for this specific use. We integrate epigraphic, iconographic and formal analyses to support this claim, but in order to interrogate the quotidian function of ceramic lekanes, we present the results of use-wear analysis performed on 130 examples. As use-wear develops from repeated use over a long time, it is a good indicator of normative behaviour, particularly when large datasets are amassed and contrasted with other shapes. While not conclusive, our results allow us to rule out a function as tableware for food consumption, and in combination with all other analyses support the interpretation of lekanes as handwashing basins. We then trace the development of this custom from its initial adoption by elite groups to its spread among new social classes and venues after the collapse of the palace system: at home, as part of communal feasting and sacrifice or as an element of funerary rites. The widespread distribution of handwashing equipment after 1200 bc closely mirrors the situation in our earliest surviving Greek Iron Age texts and joins a growing body of evidence pointing to strong continuity in social practices between the Postpalatial period and the early Iron Age in Greece.

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