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.

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 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.

Water management in Minoan Crete, Greece: the two cisterns of one Middle Bronze Age settlement

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Cadogan
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Military History ◽  
The Political ◽  
History Of ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Important Addition ◽  
Minoan Crete ◽  
The Hill ◽  
Social Management ◽  
The Bronze Age

The two earliest structures of Minoan Crete that may be considered as large cisterns were both built in the first half of the second millennium BC (the time of the first Minoan palaces) at Myrtos-Pyrgos (Ierapetra). A considerable feat of engineering and social management, they remain a most unusual attribute of a Minoan settlement, all the more so since the Myrtos river is/was available to supply water at the foot of the hill of Pyrgos. This paper presents these cisterns, briefly, in terms of geology and technology, the history of their use and re-use, and their relevance to understanding the culture and society (at local and regional levels) of Crete in the time of the Old Palaces, as well as their possible contribution to the political and military history of the period. I then review possible precursors of, and architectural parallels to, the Pyrgos cisterns at Knossos, Malia and Phaistos (none of which has been proved to be a cistern), and the later history of cisterns in Bronze Age Crete. Since only three others are known (at Archanes, Zakro and Tylissos, of Late Bronze Age date), the two cisterns of Myrtos-Pyrgos are an important addition to our still rudimentary knowledge of how the Bronze Age Cretans managed their water supplies.

Bronze Age Mongolia

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Luc Houle
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
The Bronze Age

This article discusses the Bronze Age in Mongolia, a period when pastoralism, mobility, and interaction between regional communities increased dramatically. It also corresponds to the heyday of monumental construction and to the development of societal complexity in this region. After briefly discussing the local Bronze Age chronology, the discussion then turns to the topic of the transition to animal husbandry and to the development of mobile, equestrian pastoralism in particular—a phenomenon that seems to have taken place during the Late Bronze Age. Following this, I examine the monumental landscape as well as what is known from “settlements” before discussing the nature of Late Bronze Age social organization and societal complexity. The article ends with a brief exposé on bronze metallurgy before highlighting what are thought to be the critical issues that continue to challenge research on the Bronze Age in the region.

scholarly journals Emberi ábrázolás a Változások korában, 4000 és 2000 BC között

2014 ◽  
pp. 113-144
Author(s):  
Tünde Horváth
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Age ◽  
Late Phase ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Copper Age ◽  
Cultural Impacts ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Cultures ◽  
The Bronze Age

Our survey should by necessity begin earlier, from the close of the Middle Age Copper Age, and should extend to much later, at least until the onset of the Middle Bronze Age, in order to identify and analyse the appearance and spread of the cultural impacts affecting the Baden complex, their in-teraction with neighbouring cultures and, finally, their decline or transformation. Discussed here will be the archaeological cultures flourishing between 4200/4000 and 2200/2000 BC, from the late phase of the Middle Copper Age to its end (3600 BC), the Late Copper Age (ending in 2800 BC), the transi-tion between the Copper Age and the Bronze Age (ending in 2600 BC), and the Early Bronze Age 1–3 (ending in 2000 BC), which I have termed the Age of Transformation.

SOME COMMENTS ABOUT THE INFLUENCE OXUS CIVILIZATION IN THEARABIAN GULF

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (10) ◽  
pp. 97-103
Author(s):  
Khayitmurod Khurramov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Arabian Gulf ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
Unique Material ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Written Sources ◽  
Marine Shell

It is known that the Oxus civilization in the Bronze Age, with its unique material culture, interacted with a number of cultural countries: the Indian Valley, Iran, Mesopotamia, Elam and other regions. As a result of these relationships, interactions and interactions are formed. Archaeologists turn to archaeological and written sources to shed light on the historiography of this period. This research is devoted to the history of cultural relations between the Oxus civilization and the countries of the Arabian Gulf in the Bronze Age. The article highlights cultural ties based on an analysis of stamp seals and unique artifacts.Key words: Dilmun, Magan, marine shell, Arabian Gulf, Bahrain, Mesopotamia, Harappa, Gonur, Afghanistan

ARCHAEOLOGISTS M.P. GRYAZNOV, V.I. MATYUSHCHENKO AND THE STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 62-69
Author(s):  
MARSADOLOV L. ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
The State ◽  
Daily Work ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Bronze Age

Many decades the life and work of Mikhail Petrovich Gryaznov (1902-1984) was connected with the State Hermitage museum. Long-term friendship bound him with Vladimir Ivanovich Matyushchenko (1928-2005). These archaeologists were lucky in the excavations in the field and in the office behind a desk that was reached by stressful daily work. The most valuable materials from the excavations of M.P. Gryaznov were transferred to the Hermitage (Pazyryk-1, Arzhan-1), and in the museum's funds he taught a course in tracology for students of LSU. Archaeologists are well aware of the scientific works of VI. Matyushchenko on the history of Siberian archaeology, materials from excavations of the Bronze Age sites in the Tomsk and Omsk regions (Elovka, Rostovka and others), and the mounds of the Xiongnu era in Sidorovka. This article briefly discusses the main stages of M.P. Gryaznov's work in the Hermitage and his further relations with this museum. The author of the article was familiar with M.P. Gryaznov and VI. Matyushchenko, studied archaeology with them, gained experience and repeatedly helped them, both in the Hermitage and beyond. Keywords: M.P Gryaznov, V.I. Matyushchenko, hermitage, Pazyryk, Arzhan, state award

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