scholarly journals ‘LITERACIES’ – 60+ YEARS OF ‘READING’ THE AEGEAN LATE BRONZE AGE

2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-137
Author(s):  
JOHN BENNET
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Linear B

Abstract Inaugurated in January 1954, the ‘Minoan Linear B Seminar’ explored the information emerging from Ventris' decipherment of Linear B in 1952. The new academic discipline of ‘Mycenaean Studies’ rapidly moved on from questions influenced by the field's ‘pre-history’ dating back a further 60 years to Evans' first publication on Aegean scripts. Intense philological and epigraphical research in the 1950s and 1960s laid the foundations for comparative study of the Mycenaean palatial societies, while a greater appreciation of archaeological data and contexts moved interpretation on in the 1980s and 1990s. Building on this tradition, Mycenaean studies currently needs more documents to sustain a ‘critical mass’ of researchers and, ideally, a new Ventris to unlock the Aegean scripts that remain undeciphered.

scholarly journals THE BEGINNING OF THE IRON AGE AT ARSLANTEPE: A 14C PERSPECTIVE

Radiocarbon ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Federico Manuelli ◽  
Cristiano Vignola ◽  
Fabio Marzaioli ◽  
Isabella Passariello ◽  
Filippo Terrasi
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
High Precision ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
13Th Century ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Archaeological Data

ABSTRACT The Iron Age chronology at Arslantepe is the result of the interpretation of Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions and archaeological data coming from the site and its surrounding region. A new round of investigations of the Iron Age levels has been conducted at the site over the last 10 years. Preliminary results allowed the combination of the archaeological sequence with the historical events that extended from the collapse of the Late Bronze Age empires to the formation and development of the new Iron Age kingdoms. The integration into this picture of a new set of radiocarbon (14C) dates is aimed at establishing a more solid local chronology. High precision 14C dating by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and its correlation with archaeobotanical analysis and stratigraphic data are presented here with the purpose of improving our knowledge of the site’s history and to build a reliable absolute chronology of the Iron Age. The results show that the earliest level of the sequence dates to ca. the mid-13th century BC, implying that the site started developing a new set of relationships with the Levant already before the breakdown of the Hittite empire, entailing important historical implications for the Syro-Anatolian region at the end of the 2nd millennium BC.

Surface surveys in the northern Troad and the identification of Çiğlitepe as ancient Arisbe

2017 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 129-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurettin Arslan
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Sea Of Marmara ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Ancient City

AbstractThe region known as the Troad in western Anatolia is famed not only as the setting of Homer's Iliad but also for the Hellespont strait (modern Çanakkale Boğazı) linking the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean. In addition to large cities such as Sigeum, Abydus and Lampsacus, ancient writers also mention smaller cities located on the Hellespont. In this article, the location of the ancient city of Arisbe, presumed to have existed between Abydus and Lampsacus, is examined in the light of new archaeological data. Between 2002 and 2010, the author conducted surveys in the northern Troad. These surveys revealed an ancient settlement with archaeological material belonging to the Late Bronze Age, late Geometric, Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods. The location of this settlement, the archaeological data and information from ancient literary sources all indicate that this site should be identified as Arisbe.

scholarly journals Micromorphological and Chemical Features of Soils as Evidence of Bronze Age Ancient Anthropogenic Impact (Late Bronze Age Muradymovo Settlement, Ural Region, Russia)

Geosciences ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Golyeva ◽  
Olga Khokhlova ◽  
Marina Lebedeva ◽  
Nickolay Shcherbakov ◽  
Iia Shuteleva
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Soil Morphology ◽  
Cultural Layer ◽  
Humid Climate ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Ancient People ◽  
Chemical Properties Of Soils ◽  
And Chemical Properties

In some cases, the human impact on ancient landscapes has been so profound that local soils still remain significantly affected even after hundreds and thousands of years after ending impact. We studied the Late Bronze Age Muradymovo settlement located in the Urals, Russia, aiming to estimate the consequences of the ancient people’s activity on the environment. Despite the present humid climate, the modern soils inside the cultural layer of the study site contain more than 27% of gypsum at a depth of just 10 cm from the surface, and a microrelief of the study site is typical of a gypsum desert. The nearby background Chernozems are gypsum-free to a depth of 2 m. According to the archaeological data, the ancient people belonged to the ‘Srubno-Alakul’ archaeological culture (1750–1350 years B.C. cal (calibrated years before Christ)) and had a tradition of building their houses from gypsum rocks. At the present time, this area is still unsuitable for human settlement. The properties of modern soils inside the cultural layer of the study site are directly affected by the Late Bronze Age human activities. It has been identified on soil morphology, micromorphology, and chemical properties of soils developed inside the cultural layer of the settlement.

Middle Helladic Tombs at Nydri Plain, Lefkas Island. An Archaeological and Paleoanthropological Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 43-59
Author(s):  
Vivian Staikou
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Middle Helladic

The prehistoric record of Lefkas and the smaller neighboring islands is fairly extensive. The oldest archaeological material dates back to the Middle Palaeolithic period. The Neolithic period is also attested by archaeological finds in five caves. Even though Early (EH) and Middle Helladic (MH) periods have been known since the 1920s due to Dőrpfeld’s excavations, the archaeological data from the Late Bronze Age are scarce. A small Mycenaean tholos tomb has been excavated at Agios Nikitas, while several LH tumuli have been unearthed at the neighboring Meganissi Island.

The Sword-bearers

Antiquity ◽  
1930 ◽  
Vol 4 (14) ◽  
pp. 157-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Estyn Evans
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
British Isles ◽  
Type Specimens ◽  
General Acceptance ◽  
Invasion Theory ◽  
Corroborative Evidence ◽  
The Bronze Age

Eight years ago, in an article entitled ‘A prehistoric invasion of England’, Mr O. G. S. Crawford put forward the hypothesis that ‘towards the close of the Bronze Age the British Isles were invaded by the first wave of Celtic-speaking peoples bringing with them leaf-shaped bronze swords, many other entirely new types of bronze objects, and at least two types of pottery new to these islands’. It may perhaps be said that this view, with certain qualifications, notably as regards chronology, has met with general acceptance. A comparative study of types of bronze implements over a wide geographical field, while yielding corroborative evidence in support of the invasion theory, has also raised important problems in other directions; and it is my present object to give the results of an enquiry into the origins and distributions of certain type-specimens of the late Bronze Age cultures of western Europe.

Centrality, ‘capitals’ and prehistoric cultures: a comparative study of late Bronze Age Crete and Cyprus

2010 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 1-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Adams
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Capital Cities ◽  
Central Places ◽  
The Past ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Complex Relationships

Early states functioned under entirely different circumstances from modern nation states, which politically and administratively require a capital city. The nature and extent of centralization in ancient societies is much harder to define. A comparative study of two similar geographical entities, such as islands, can shed light on the diverse and complex relationships between ancient polities and central places. Scholars have, at times, assigned capital cities to the Late Bronze Age island cultures of Crete and Cyprus – namely Knossos and Enkomi respectively. Differences in these cultures and settlements notwithstanding, this paper seeks to explore the multi-layered and diverse nature of past and present interpretations through a comparative approach. It is argued that we need to acknowledge the roles that recent politics and archaeological practices have had on previous and current narratives of the past. The often-troubled transformations undergone by modern nation states, and the expectation that such entities possess capitals, have coloured previous interpretations of the past more than is generally recognized. The categories constructed and models applied have guided our approaches but they have also imposed potentially anachronistic frameworks. This paper seeks further historical depth, and to better understand the complex and varied roles ancient central places had in their wider context.

scholarly journals Orthographic variation as evidence for the development of the Linear B writing system

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-197
Author(s):  
Anna P. Judson
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Writing System ◽  
Writing Systems ◽  
Orthographic Representation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Diachronic Development ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Linear B

Abstract This paper investigates the issue of orthographic variation in the Linear B writing system in order to explore ways in which studying a writing system’s orthographic conventions may shed light on the history of its development. Linear B was used in the palatial/administrative centres of Late Bronze Age Greece and Crete (c.1400–1200 B.C.E.) and records an early Greek dialect known as ‘Mycenaean’. The writing system’s structure and orthographic conventions permit flexibility in the spelling of particular phonological sequences: this paper discusses the varying orthographic representation of such sequences and shows that synchronic variation is common or even the norm in many cases. Investigating the factors which underlie this variation demonstrates the potential for a study of synchronic variation to illuminate a writing system’s diachronic development; it also underlines the importance of analysing the ways in which writers actually choose to use writing systems in order to fully understand their development.

scholarly journals The Mycenaean palatial economy: Making the most of the gaps in the evidence

1993 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 57-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Halstead
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Market Exchange ◽  
Complex Society ◽  
Linear B

It has long been recognised that the Linear B archives from the Mycenaean palaces of Late Bronze Age Greece document ‘a massive redistributive operation, in which all personnel and all activities, all movements of both persons and goods … were administratively fixed’. Goods, land and services were transferred within the extensive territory of each palace without the equivalences of value between commodities which are a prerequisite of market exchange. The transactions recorded in the Linear B archives are thus unambiguously ‘redistributive’, an Aegean variant of a form of exchange widespread in the ancient civilisations, and as such have attracted the interest both of economic historians and of prehistorians concerned with the development of complex society. The term ‘redistribution’ embraces a range of possible forms, however, and in the case of the Mycenaean palaces poses a number of questions.

scholarly journals Testing the Limits: Radiocarbon Dating and the End of the Late Bronze Age

Radiocarbon ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Hagens
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Near East ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Radiocarbon Data ◽  
Better Than

Archaeometry is becoming an increasingly important tool in chronological research related to events in the Ancient Near East during the 2nd millennium BCE. This paper is a review of recently published radiometric results in an attempt to establish the probable dating range for one particular event that occurred during the last quarter of that millennium, the end of the Late Bronze Age. The conclusion is that in spite of significant improvements in methodology in recent years, the quantity and quality of radiocarbon data are still insufficient to define the range of that date to much better than a century. It is concluded that the most likely date of the Late Bronze/Iron Age transition (here defined by the arrival of Mycenaean LH IIIC:1b pottery in the Levant) is somewhere in the 8-decade range between ∼1170 to 1100 BCE. A comparative study of archaeological and historical evidence would appear to favor the lower value.

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