A Massive, Late Neolithic Pit Structure associated with Durrington Walls Henge

A series of massive geophysical anomalies, located south of the Durrington Walls henge monument, were identified during fluxgate gradiometer survey undertaken by the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project (SHLP). Initially interpreted as dewponds, these data have been re-evaluated, along with information on similar features revealed by archaeological contractors undertaking survey and excavation to the north of the Durrington Walls henge. Analysis of the available data identified a total of 20 comparable features, which align within a series of arcs adjacent to Durrington Walls. Further geophysical survey, supported by mechanical coring, was undertaken on several geophysical anomalies to assess their nature, and to provide dating and environmental evidence. The results of fieldwork demonstrate that some of these features, at least, were massive, circular pits with a surface diameter of 20m or more and a depth of at least 5m. Struck flint and bone were recovered from primary silts and radiocarbon dating indicates a Late Neolithic date for the lower silts of one pit. The degree of similarity across the 20 features identified suggests that they could have formed part of a circuit of large pits around Durrington Walls, and this may also have incorporated the recently discovered Larkhill causewayed enclosure. The diameter of the circuit of pits exceeds 2km and there is some evidence that an intermittent, inner post alignment may have existed within the circuit of pits. One pit may provide evidence for a recut; suggesting that some of these features could have been maintained through to the Middle Bronze Age. Together, these features represent a unique group of features related to the henge at Durrington Walls, executed at a scale not previously recorded.

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Tradition and change in the interpretation of burial practices

Archaeological Dialogues ◽

10.1017/s1380203800000179 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 119-121

Author(s):

Erik Drenth

Keyword(s):

Social Change ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Burial Practices ◽

The North ◽

North Eastern ◽

Middle Bronze Age

Lohof's paper represents a brave attempt to relate burial ritual of the Late Neolithic, Early and Middle Bronze Age in the north-eastern Netherlands to social change in general. Being the first study of its kind for this area, it certainly deserves our attention.

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Excavations at a Multi-period Site at Greenbogs, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and the Four-post Timber Architecture Tradition of Late Neolithic Britain and Ireland

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society ◽

10.1017/s0079497x00027146 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 78 ◽

pp. 135-171 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Gordon Noble ◽

Moira Greig ◽

Kirsty Millican ◽

Sue Anderson ◽

Ann Clarke ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Radiocarbon Dating ◽

Common Element ◽

Timber Structures ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Human Bones ◽

Growing Body ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

Age Features

This report outlines the unexpected discovery of a group of Late Neolithic structures at Greenbogs, Monymusk in Aberdeenshire, along with a series of later prehistoric features in the mid-1990s. Recent radiocarbon dating shows that two four-post timber structures found here date to the period 2890–2490 calbc. These were found in association with a range of other features including an oval structure and diffuse areas of burning. The closest parallels for the four-post structures can be found in a slowly growing body of Late Neolithic timber structures, some being interpreted as roofed dwellings and others as roofed or unroofed monuments. This article places the Greenbogs structures in their wider context, identifies a number of unexcavated parallels in the aerial record and addresses the nature of the four-post structures found across Late Neolithic Britain and Ireland and suggests that four-post structures were a more common element of Late Neolithic architecture than previously identified. A common building type appears to have been shared across large areas of Britain and Ireland in a variety of contexts, from the seemingly mundane to the more ‘charged’, as part of elaborate monument complexes. The later prehistoric features identified at Greenbogs include a concentration of Middle Bronze Age features including graves containing cremated human bones, one with an upright urn, and a number of Iron Age pits and other features.

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Large tare vessels of the bronze age Turganic settlement in Orenburg Region

Samara Journal of Science ◽

10.17816/snv20164204 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 91-98 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Natalya Petrovna Salugina ◽

Nina Leonidovna Morgunova ◽

Mihail Aleksandrovich Turetskii

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Burial Mound ◽

North Caucasus ◽

Radiocarbon Dates ◽

Orenburg Region ◽

The North ◽

Type Selection ◽

Large Size ◽

Culture Formation ◽

Middle Bronze Age

In the ceramic collection of Turganic settlement in the Orenburg region there is a group of bronze age pottery, which by its morphological and technological indicators stands out sharply from the main group of dishes. They are large size vessels with massive aureoles and distended body. The authors called these vessels hums. The aim of this study is to identify cultural-chronological position of the specified group of dishes in the system of the antiquities of the early - middle bronze age. Within this group the authors distinguish two types. The basis for type selection was the particular design of the upper part of the vessel. The first type is ceramics from Turganic settlement and the vessel from the burial mound Perevolotsky I. Morphological and technological features, and a series of radiocarbon dates has allowed to date these vessels to the time of the yamnaya culture formation in the Volga-Ural region (Repinsky stage). The authors suggest that the appearance of such vessels should be an imitation of the Maikop pottery. It could be penetration of small groups of craftsmen or the intensification of contacts with the population of the North Caucasus. The second type of pottery from Turganic settlement is similar to the burial mound Kardailovsky I (mound 1, burial 3) in Orenburg region, in the Northern pre-Caspian, region of the Samara river, Kuban and the Dnieper. Researchers have noted the scarcity and originality of this dish. The chronological and cultural position of such vessels is determined within the III Millennium BC (calibrated values).

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Middle Bronze Age Long Distance Exchange through Europe and Beyond

Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia ◽

10.1163/15700577-12341372 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 26 (2) ◽

pp. 266-274

Author(s):

Flemming Kaul

Keyword(s):

Chemical Composition ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Glass Beads ◽

The South ◽

Long Distance ◽

Blue Glass ◽

The North ◽

Southern Scandinavia ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

The Mediterranean

Abstract The introduction of the folding stool and the single-edged razor into Southern Scandinavia, as well as the testimony of chariot use during the Nordic Bronze Age Period II (1500-1300 BC), give evidence of the transfer of ideas from the Mediterranean to the North. Recent analyses of the chemical composition of blue glass beads from well-dated Danish Bronze Age burials have revealed evidence for the opening of long distance exchange routes around 1400 BC between Egypt, Mesopotamia and South Scandinavia. When including comparative material from glass workshops in Egypt and finds of glass from Mesopotamia, it becomes clear that glass from those distant lands reached Scandinavia. The routes of exchange can be traced through Europe based on finds of amber from the North and glass from the South.

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Chronostratigraphic Sequence of Santuario Della Madonna Cave (Calabria, Southern Italy): AMS Radiocarbon Data from a New Excavation Area

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/s0033822200045458 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 52 (2) ◽

pp. 408-414 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

L Calcagnile ◽

V Tinè ◽

G Quarta ◽

M D'Elia ◽

G Fiorentino ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mass Spectrometry ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Radiocarbon Dating ◽

Southern Italy ◽

Statistical Tools ◽

Ams Radiocarbon Dating ◽

Cultural Aspects ◽

Radiocarbon Data ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

Excavation Area

The Santuario della Madonna Cave, located near Praia a Mare (Cosenza), along the northwestern coast of Calabria (southern Italy), has an impressive stratigraphy, with occupation phases spanning from the late Paleolithic to the advanced phases of the Middle Bronze Age. Recently, a new excavation area has been opened in the cave from which shortlived vegetal remains were sampled and submitted for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating. The aim of this study was to define an accurate chronology of the different cultural aspects and to explore the potentialities resulting from application of advanced statistical tools for 14C data analysis in such a context.

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Deforestation and Human Agency in the North Atlantic Region: Archaeological and Palaeoenvironmental Evidence from the Western Isles of Scotland

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society ◽

10.1017/ppr.2018.8 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 84 ◽

pp. 145-184 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Rosie R. Bishop ◽

Mike J. Church ◽

Ian T. Lawson ◽

Katherine H. Roucoux ◽

Charlotte O’Brien ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

North Atlantic ◽

North Atlantic Region ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Atlantic Region ◽

North West ◽

Farming Communities ◽

The North ◽

New Synthesis ◽

Main Period

This paper considers the timing and mechanisms of deforestation in the Western Isles of Scotland, focusing in particular on the landscape around the Calanais stone circles, one of the best preserved late Neolithic/early Bronze Age monumental landscapes in north-west Europe. We present new archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence from a soil and peat sequence at the site of Aird Calanais, which spans the main period of use of the Calanais circles. We then draw on a new synthesis of archaeobotanical and palynological evidence from across the Western Isles and a review of comparable data from the wider North Atlantic zone, before assessing the role of early farming communities in clearing the wooded landscapes of the region. Pollen and radiocarbon dating at the site of Aird Calanais reveal that a layer of birch branches, dating to the late Neolithic (2912–2881 calbc), was contemporaneous with a decline in woodland at the site, as well as with the major phase of Neolithic activity at the Calanais stone circle complex. However, our synthesis of the pollen and plant macrofossil evidence from across the Western Isles suggests that the picture across these islands was altogether more complex: woodlands declined both before, as well as during, the Neolithic and deciduous woodlands remained sufficiently abundant for Neolithic fuel procurement. Finally, we consider the implications of the results for understanding the interactions between first farmers and woodlands in the wider North Atlantic region.

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Radiocarbon Dating of the Neolithic Early Bronze Age Site of Mandalo, W Macedonia

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/s0033822200040145 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 32 (2) ◽

pp. 149-153 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Yannis Maniatis ◽

Bernd Kromer

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Radiocarbon Dating ◽

Research Centre ◽

Early Bronze Age ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Physical Sciences ◽

Laboratory Procedures ◽

Study Laboratory

The following list of dates was obtained in a joint German-Greek project to establish a radiocarbon dating laboratory in the National Research Centre for Physical Sciences “Demokritos,” Athens, Greece.1 Although our initial aim in selecting these samples was to study laboratory procedures, we found that when the dates were arranged in stratigraphic order they provided a chronological framework for Thessalian and northern Macedonian site of the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages (Kotsakis et al 1989; Papanthimou & Papasteriou 1987a).

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Late Neolithic and Middle Bronze Age barrows in Bukivna, Western Ukraine as a source to understand soil evolution and its environmental significance

Journal of Archaeological Science Reports ◽

10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101972 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 27 ◽

pp. 101972

Author(s):

Iwona Hildebrandt-Radke ◽

Przemysław Makarowicz ◽

Zhanna N. Matviishyna ◽

Aleksandr Parkhomenko ◽

Sergiy D. Lysenko ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Environmental Significance ◽

Soil Evolution ◽

Western Ukraine ◽

Middle Bronze Age

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Barrows in action. Late Neolithic and Middle Bronze Age Barrow Landscapes in the Upper Dniester Basin, Ukraine

Praehistorische Zeitschrift ◽

10.1515/pz-2019-0013 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 94 (1) ◽

pp. 92-115

Author(s):

P. Makarowicz ◽

J. Niebieszczański ◽

M. Cwaliński ◽

J. Romaniszyn ◽

V. Rud ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Steppe Zone ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Knowledge And Skills ◽

Linear Pattern ◽

The Past ◽

Western Ukraine ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

Direction Of Movement ◽

Cultural Code

Abstract The aim of this article is to view the spatial distribution of Upper Dniester Basin’s (Western Ukraine) barrows and to interpret their location principles. These monuments were often situated on the flattened summits of watershed ridges or hills. It appeared also that some of them were located on upper parts of gentle slopes of not more than 8° of inclination. Mounds appear within linear and group-linear arrangements and were rarely observed as clusters, while more specific adjustments to their location were dependant on local terrain morphology. Barrow alignments run along the elevated ridges, while clustered groups were situated in places where erosive indentations or denudation cavities prevented barrows from stretching in a linear pattern. It can be noted that during the spatial development of barrow alignments, more attention was paid to the intervisibility between the mounds, than to their visibility from other places in the landscape. The potential of observing at least one of the following groups of tumuli from every embankment indicates the direction of movement within the framework of the barrow landscape, perhaps augmented in the past by the presence of paths or “roads”. Examples of analogous or similar, in a certain sense even universal, practices in shaping barrow landscapes were documented also from various parts of Eurasia. Therefore, it is argued these traits were shared by all “barrow societies” and their origins can be traced to the steppe zone. Specific and repeatable patterns of barrow arrangements are a manifestation of certain knowledge and skills, transmitted over generations and immortalized in the landscape that symbolized the incorporation of territory by “barrow societies”. Characteristic mound alignments became a cultural code or institution, as it were – an instrument of familiarising previously unknown landscapes, facilitating movement and simultaneously expressing continuity of kin-lineages.

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Radiocarbon dating of the bronze age bone pins from Eurasian steppe

Geochronometria ◽

10.2478/s13386-011-0015-8 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 38 (2) ◽

pp. 107-115 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Natalia Shishlina ◽

Johan Plicht ◽

Elya Zazovskaya

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Radiocarbon Dating ◽

North Caucasus ◽

14C Dating ◽

The Caucasus ◽

The North ◽

Eurasian Steppe ◽

Culture Formation ◽

First Time ◽

The Bronze Age

AbstractBone catapult and hammer-headed pins played one of very specific roles in funerary offerings in the Bronze Age graves uncovered in the Eurasian Steppes and the North Caucasus. Scholars used different types of pins as key grave offerings for numerous chronological models. For the first time eight pins have been radiocarbon dated. 14C dating of bone pins identified the catapult type pin as the earliest one. They marked the period of the Yamnaya culture formation. Then Yamnaya population produced hammer-headed pins which became very popular in other cultural environments and spread very quickly across the Steppe and the Caucasus during 2900–2650 cal BC. But according to radiocarbon dating bone pins almost disappeared after 2600 cal BC.

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