Middle Holocene subsistence east of the Romanian Carpathians: Bioarchaeological data from the Chalcolithic site of Poduri-Dealul Ghindaru

The Holocene ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 1653-1663 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luminiţa Bejenaru ◽  
George Bodi ◽  
Simina Stanc ◽  
Mihaela Danu
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Diversity Index ◽  
Anthropogenic Activity ◽  
Large Mammals ◽  
Middle Holocene ◽  
Data Record ◽  
Romanian Carpathians ◽  
Dietary Components ◽  
The Bronze Age

The paper analyzes the archaeobotanical and archaeozoological remains originating from the middle Holocene (i.e. Chalcolithic site of Poduri- Dealul Ghindaru, in Eastern Romania, Bacău County). Poduri- Dealul Ghindaru site is the only tell settlement known in the area of existence of the Cucuteni culture, with inhabitation levels from Neolithic to the Bronze Age. In order to better understand the diet components of the prehistoric inhabitation belonging to the Cucuteni A and Cucuteni B phases, we follow evidence from archaeozoology, carpology, and palynology. For the carpological taxa, we calculate their ubiquity, diversity, and edibility score. The two sets of taxa are then compared in their similarity. Palynological data record the presence of cereal grains in all samples. We present the archaeozoological taxa with their quantification values and we calculate for the Cucuteni A and B phases, and in comparison with the Bronze Age sample, their richness, Shannon–Weaver diversity index and equitability. A correspondence analysis is carried out in order to compare the exploitation strategies for the three assemblages. For the archaeobotanical data, we find that the Cucuteni A phase is dominated by anthropogenic activity indicators and a heavy reliance on cereals. The Cucuteni B phase seems to be characterized by a restriction of human activity. The archaeozoological data highlight a preference for large mammals (cattle, dear, boar) during Cucuteni A and BA and smaller mammals during Cucuteni B (sheep/goat, pig, hare). We conclude that although the subsistence strategies remain similar, the dietary components change during the Cucuteni A and B phases, probably in response to environmental changes.

Household Economy, Long-Term Change, and Social Transformation: The Bronze Age Political Economy of Northwestern Europe

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristian Kristiansen
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Term Change ◽  
History Of Vegetation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Triggering Factor ◽  
The Bronze Age

In this article I examine how long-term economic strategies in the Bronze Age of northern Europe between 2300 and 500 BCE transformed the environment and thus created and imposed new ecological constraints that finally led to a major social transformation and a "dark age" that became the start of the new long-term cycle of the Iron Age. During the last 30 years hundreds of well-excavated farmsteads and houses from south Scandinavia have made it possible to reconstruct the size and the structure of settlement and individual households through time. During the same period numerous pollen diagrams have established the history of vegetation and environmental changes. I will therefore use the size of individual households or farmsteads as a parameter of economic strength, and to this I add the role of metal as a triggering factor in the economy, especially after 1700 BCE when a full-scale bronze technology was adopted and after 500 BCE when it was replaced by iron as the dominant metal. A major theoretical concern is the relationships between micro- and macroeconomic changes and how they articulated in economic practices. Finally the nature of the "dark age" during the beginning of the Iron Age will be discussed, referring to Sing Chew's use of the concept (Chew 2006).

scholarly journals Chronology of Soil Evolution and Climatic Changes in the Dry Steppe Zone of the Northern Caucasus, Russia, During the 3rd Millennium BC

Radiocarbon ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (2B) ◽  
pp. 629-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
A L Alexandrovskiy ◽  
J van der Plicht ◽  
A B Belinskiy ◽  
O S Khokhlova
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Analytical Data ◽  
Steppe Zone ◽  
Climatic Changes ◽  
Northern Caucasus ◽  
Soil Evolution ◽  
The Third ◽  
Dry Steppe ◽  
The Bronze Age

Chrono-sequences of paleosols buried under different mounds of the large Ipatovo Kurgan, constructed during the Bronze Age, have been studied to reconstruct climatic changes in the dry steppe zone of the Northern Caucasus, Russia. Abrupt climatic and environmental changes in the third millennium BC have been reconstructed, using morphological and analytical data of the soil. Based on accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates of small charcoal fragments from the soil chrono-sequence, we concluded that two upper paleosols (with the clearest evidence of arid pedogenesis) developed between about 2600–2450 BC.

scholarly journals Complex Pathways Towards Emergent Pastoral Settlements: New Research on the Bronze Age Xindian Culture of Northwest China

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yitzchak Jaffe ◽  
Anke Hein ◽  
Andrew Womack ◽  
Katherine Brunson ◽  
Jade d’Alpoim Guedes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Community Organization ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Subsistence Strategies ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
The Third ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Bronze Age

AbstractThe Xindian culture of northwest China has been seen as a prototypical example of a transition toward pastoralism, resulting in part from environmental changes that started around 4000 years ago. To date, there has been little available residential data to document how and whether subsistence strategies and community organization in northwest China changed following or in association with documented environmental changes. The Tao River Archaeology Project is a collaborative effort aimed at gathering robust archaeological information to solidify our baseline understanding of economic, technological, and social practices in the third through early first millennia BC. Here we present data from two Xindian culture residential sites, and propose that rather than a total transition to nomadic pastoralism—as it is often reconstructed—the Xindian culture reflects a prolonged period of complex transition in cultural traditions and subsistence practices. In fact, communities maintained elements of earlier cultivation and animal-foddering systems, selectively incorporating new plants and animals into their repertoire. These locally-specific strategies were employed to negotiate ever-changing environmental and social conditions in the region of developing ‘proto-Silk Road’ interregional interactions.

scholarly journals Holocene Environmental Changes in Western Hungary

Radiocarbon ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 691-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zsuzsanna Szántó ◽  
Zsófia Medzihradszky
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Accumulation Rate ◽  
Sediment Accumulation ◽  
Anthropogenic Activity ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Forest Clearing ◽  
Plant Cultivation ◽  
Radiocarbon Data ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

We review the reasons for change in paleoecological conditions and their effects on different cultures at the beginning and during the Holocene period in western Hungary using radiocarbon data combined with paleoecological and paleolimnological results. Two sites were investigated in the southern and northern part of the ancient bay of Balaton Lake: Keszthely-Úsztatómajor and Főnyed I. 14C dating of 2 core samples represented a chronology from 11,000 cal BC to 2000 cal BC (10,700 BP to 3700 BP) and from 6200 cal BC to 1200 cal BC (7300 BP to 3000 BP), respectively. A relatively constant inverse sediment accumulation rate was observed in both cases (23 yr/cm and 33 yr/cm, respectively). In the case of Főnyed I, a sharp break was observed in the sedimentation curve around 6000–4800 cal BC (6000 BP). Changes in the vegetation due to human activity were observed in a larger extent only at the end of Late Neolithic, with the most significant changes detected in the landscape coinciding with the presence of Lengyel III culture in the region. The appearance of higher amounts of pollen of cereals at the sites proved the presence of crop cultivation. However, the role of plant cultivation may have been limited for the ancient inhabitants of the Kis-Balaton region due to a limited amount of soil suitable for agriculture and due to the extensive water table. Further changes in vegetation were observed during the Late Copper Age (Baden culture) and the period of Early and Middle Bronze Age, respectively. Signs of forest clearing during the period have not been detected and the increased peak of Fagus indicates climatic change. The low intensity of anthropogenic activity should not be attributed to geographic isolation.

scholarly journals Visual Culture in Prehistoric South-east Italy

2002 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 165-183
Author(s):  
Robin Skeates
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Visual Cultures ◽  
The Bronze Age

Using the approach of visual culture, which highlights the embeddedness of art in dynamic human processes, this paper examines the prehistoric archaeology of the Lecce province in south-east Italy, in order to provide a history of successive visual cultures in that area, between the Middle Palaeolithic and the Bronze Age. It is argued that art may have helped human groups to deal with problems in subsistence and society, including environmental changes affecting the cultural landscape and its resources, the breaking up of old social relations and the establishment and maintenance of new ones. More specifically, art appears to have become increasingly related to the expression of religious and even mythical beliefs, and in particular to the performance of ceremonies and rituals in selected spaces such as caves. This may reflect the existence of a long-term tradition of performance art in prehistory, involving performers and viewers, in which art helped to structure and heighten the sensual and social impact of the acting human body.

The marine record of the onset of farming around the Arabian Sea at the dawn of the Bronze Age

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 878-887
Author(s):  
Alexandra T Gourlan ◽  
Francis Albarede ◽  
Hema Achyuthan ◽  
Sylvain Campillo
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Arabian Sea ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Fourfold Increase ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sediment Mineralogy ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Potential Factors ◽  
The Bronze Age

The rise and fall of human cultures are strongly modulated by the strong environmental changes taking place during the Holocene. Here, we use the sedimentological and geochemical records of a core taken in the Arabian Sea, west of Kerala, to identify potential factors that may reflect on-land history of local civilizations, in particular the Harappan culture which appeared and collapsed in the Indus Valley during the early and middle Bronze Age. The 14C record highlights a fourfold increase in sedimentation rate at ~5380 cal. yr BP. The short duration of this event (~220 years) suggests a steep regional increase in erosion at the beginning of the Bronze Age. Factor analysis of downcore changes in geochemistry identified two distinct detrital components dominated by silt and clay, respectively, and a component characteristic of chemical erosion. This interpretation is consistent with sediment mineralogy. Comparison with the known climatic record indicates that increased erosion rate at 5380 cal. yr BP around the Arabian Sea is because of the advent of farming. The development of tillage associated with both wheat and barley crops and animal husbandry was favored by trade between Mesopotamia and India. Human activities, therefore, were the trigger of major changes in the sedimentological and geochemical records at sea at the onset of the Bronze Age.

Environmental changes and ancient long-term wet field management schemes: A preliminary case study of the Daepyeongri site, locality 3-1-D, South Korea

The Holocene ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (12) ◽  
pp. 1979-1991
Author(s):  
Youngrong Moon ◽  
Hong-Jong Lee ◽  
Heejin Lee
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Land Reclamation ◽  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Late Phase ◽  
Land Use Patterns ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
The Bronze Age

Large-scale excavations between 2012 and 2015 at the Daepyeongri site on the floodplain of the River Geumgang have revealed the presence of an ancient complex settlement comprising houses, extensive agricultural fields, and pits that have been dated to between the Bronze Age and the early Three Kingdoms periods. The beginning and end of the occupation of this site and land-use patterns are assumed to have been associated with its natural environment. The pollen records presented in this study show that wet conditions continued throughout the time that this site was occupied, evidenced by the consistent appearance of Alnus, while there are nevertheless hints of some land reclamation from the Bronze Age onwards. More intensive agricultural activities that took place during this later period are evidenced by an increase in the abundance of NAP pollens related to cultivation including Gramineae, Cyperaceae, Bistorta, Compositae and Fagopyrum. At the end of the occupation period, an abrupt transition to wetter conditions is recognized while dry land condition had been prevalent for some time in other parts of the site. Microscopic examination of buried cultivated soils that evidence multiple phases of ancient field systems has enabled the identification of pedological traces of discrete cultivation patterns and shows that they changed over time. The recognition of micro-structures and associated features shows that seasonally flooded wetland was first utilized during the early phase (the Bronze Age), and that more intensified irrigation management was seen during the late phase (the time span encompassed by the proto-Kingdoms and Three Kingdoms periods). These data reveal evidence for intensive hydromorphic degradation and enable a robust recognition of settlement history and an enhanced understanding of the intensity of various land-use patterns, and landscape changes from both environmental and archaeological perspectives.

scholarly journals Middle-Holocene environmental change and archaeology in coastal wetlands: Further implications for our understanding of the history of Taxus woodland

The Holocene ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 300-314
Author(s):  
Christopher Robert Batchelor ◽  
Nicholas P Branch ◽  
Timothy Carew ◽  
Scott E Elias ◽  
Rowena Gale ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Coastal Wetlands ◽  
Coastal Wetland ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
North West ◽  
Middle Holocene ◽  
History Of ◽  
Response To Environmental Change ◽  
The Bronze Age

A radiocarbon-dated multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental record from Beckton in the Lower Thames Valley, Southern England, has permitted a detailed reconstruction of human activities and environmental change during the middle-Holocene. Peat accumulation occurred over river terrace gravels from ca. 7200 to 6600 until at least 3450–3240 cal. BP, and in the later period a trackway and platform structure provide unequivocal evidence for human exploitation of the floodplain environment during the Bronze Age. The site is unique in offering the first certain evidence of the utilisation of Taxus in the construction of a wooden prehistoric platform. Across north-west Europe during the middle-Holocene, the colonisation of Taxus on peat is well documented; at Beckton, it occurred between ca. 5220–4940 and 4410–4220 cal. BP. This research provides important insights into the former distribution of Taxus, and reasons for its expansion and decline during the Holocene, which has relevance to present-day concerns over the conservation and management of Taxus woodland. Abandonment of the site occurred in response to environmental change to wetter conditions. The study employed multi-proxy analyses, including pollen, plant and wood macrofossils, and uniquely Coleoptera; Coleopteran analysis has significant potential to enhance understandings of environmental change and human–environment interactions in coastal wetland research.

Holocene diatom assemblages from Dunderbukhta sediments, West Svalbard

2019 ◽  
pp. 242-245
Author(s):  
Ksenya V. Poleshchuk ◽  
Zinaida V. Pushina ◽  
Sergey R. Verkulich
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Ecological Groups ◽  
Diatom Assemblages ◽  
Diatom Analysis ◽  
Diatom Flora ◽  
Sediment Samples ◽  
Ecological Zones ◽  
Middle Holocene ◽  
Temperature Trends

The diatom analysis results of sediment samples from Dunderbukta area (Wedel Jarlsberg Land, West Svalbard) are presented in this paper. The diatom flora consists of four ecological groups, which ratio indicates three ecological zones. These zones show environmental changes of the area in early–middle Holocene that is demonstrating periods of regression and temperature trends.

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