A multi-proxy Holocene palaeoenvironmental record of climate change and prehistoric human activity from Lough Cullin, southeast Ireland

A multiproxy (pollen, microcharcoal, loss-on-ignition, magnetic susceptibility and geochemistry) sequence from Lough Cullin, southeast Ireland, supported by a high-resolution radiocarbon chronology, modelled using Bayesian approaches, provides a record of environmental change for much of the Holocene. Following the establishment of mixed deciduous woodland, climatic deterioration was likely responsible for pronounced vegetation change and erosion, 7615–6500 cal. BC to 6245–5575 cal. BC, evidence for the ‘8.2 Kyr’ BP climate event. The so-called ‘elm decline’ is dated to 4220–3980 cal. BC and whilst there are possible indications of an anthropogenic cause, clear evidence of woodland clearance with cereal pollen is recorded at 3900–3700 cal. BC, 3790–3580 cal. BC and 3760–3650 cal. BC, during a period of clearance and farming of 320–450 years duration. A reduction in farming/settlement and woodland regeneration during the Middle Neolithic parallels the archaeological record, with low levels of activity during the Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic after 2960–2525 cal. BC, prior to increases during the Bronze Age then woodland clearance and agriculture between 1500–1410 and 1275–1000 cal. BC, corresponding with the archaeological evidence. A subsequent ‘step-wise’ reduction in human activity follows, from the latter date to 815–685 cal. BC, and a brief but pronounced cessation at 690–535 cal. BC. Renewed woodland clearance and agriculture commenced until 415–250 cal. BC. From the latter date until cal. AD 390–540, the Late Iron Age/Early Medieval period, a phase of woodland recovery is attested, followed by renewed landscape disturbance and arable agriculture in particular, continuing to the close of the record at cal. AD 780–1035.

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Early human impact on soils and hydro-sedimentary systems: Multi-proxy geoarchaeological analyses from La Narse de la Sauvetat (France)

The Holocene ◽

10.1177/0959683620950390 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (12) ◽

pp. 1780-1800

Author(s):

Alfredo Mayoral ◽

Salomé Granai ◽

Anne-Lise Develle ◽

Jean-Luc Peiry ◽

Yannick Miras ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Middle Ages ◽

Iron Age ◽

Late Antiquity ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Anthropogenic Impacts ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Societal Factors ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

Middle Bronze Age

We analysed the late-Holocene pedo-sedimentary archives of La Narse de la Sauvetat, a hydromorphic depression in the southern Limagne plain (central France), where chronologically accurate studies are scarce. The multi-proxy geoarchaeological and palaeoenvironmental analysis of two cores from different areas of the basin was carried out through sedimentological, geochemical, micromorphological and malacological investigations. Integration of these datasets supported by a robust radiocarbon-based chronology allowed discussion of socio-environmental interactions and anthropogenic impacts from Late Neolithic to Early Middle Ages. Until the Middle Bronze Age, there was no clear evidence of anthropogenic impact on soils and hydro-sedimentary dynamics of the catchment, but two peaks of high alluvial activity probably related to the 4.2 and 3.5 kyr. BP climate events were first recorded in Limagne. Significant anthropogenic impacts started in the Late Bronze Age with increased erosion of the surrounding volcanic slopes. However, a major threshold was reached c. 2600 cal BP with a sharp increase in the catchment erosion interpreted as resulting from strong anthropogenic environmental changes related to agricultural activities and drainage. This implies an anthropogenic forcing on soils and hydro-sedimentary systems much earlier than was usually considered in Limagne. These impacts then gradually increased during Late Iron Age and Roman periods, but environmental effects were certainly contained by progress in agricultural management. Late Antiquity environmental changes are consistent with regional trend to drainage deterioration in lowlands, but marked asynchrony in this landscape change suggests that societal factors implying differential land management were certainly predominant here.

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REMAINS OF BROWN BEAR (URSUS ARCTOS L.) FROM THE KANINSKAYA CAVE SANCTUARY IN THE NORTHERN URALS

Archaeology Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia ◽

10.17746/1563-0110.2018.46.2.131-139 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 46 (2) ◽

pp. 131-139 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

P. A. Kosintsev ◽

O. P. Bachura ◽

V. S. Panov

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Human Activity ◽

Iron Age ◽

Ursus Arctos ◽

Brown Bear ◽

Early Iron Age ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Male And Female ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

The Bronze Age

Fossil remains of brown bear from Kaninskaya cave in the northern Ural are described. They were accumulated during the Late Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, and Late Iron Age as a result of human activity. We analyze the composition of skeletal elements and the nature of their fragmentation. Sex and age of individuals whose bones were apparently used in rituals are assessed, and the seasonality of these ceremonies is evaluated. The main object of ceremonial actions during all chronological periods was the head. Crania and mandibles were cracked into several parts according to one and the same fashion. Other skeletal parts were used much less often. Most postcranial bones were likewise broken into several pieces. Such practices differ from modern Ob Ugrian bear rituals. In the Bronze Age, heads of adult male and female bears were used, and the ceremonies were performed mainly in winter, less often in summer and autumn, and very rarely in spring. In the Iron Age, too, heads of adult animals, mostly males, were used, and ceremonies were held throughout the year but more often in summer and in winter. Seasonal bear rites were not practiced. Certain elements of rites, differing from those of modern Ob Ugrians, are reconstructed. Modern Ob Ugrian bear rituals were formed in the Late Iron Age.

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Le Yaudet, Ploulec'h, Côtes d'Armor, Brittany. An Interim Report on the Excavations of 1991–4

The Antiquaries Journal ◽

10.1017/s0003581500072978 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 75 ◽

pp. 43-70 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Barry Cunliffe ◽

Patrick Galliou

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Eleventh Century ◽

Third Century ◽

North Coast ◽

Agricultural Activity ◽

Early Medieval Period ◽

The North ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

Two Phases

The promontory site of Le Yaudet, on the north coast of Brittany, was occupied from the Bronze Age to the present day, at various stages during this period sharing in maritime exchange systems linking Brittany to Britain. In the Late Iron Age the site, of some 6ha, was surrounded by stone and rubble defences the main cross-promontory defence being of murus gallicus type. The defences are of at least two phases, the later probably dating to the time of Caesar. Occupation continued and in the late third century AD a new wall was built around the defensive circuit at a time when similar coastal sites on both sides of the Channel were being defended. On one site, agricultural activity of the early medieval period was followed by village development in the eleventh century. The present village is a shrunken remnant of the earlier, more extensive settlement.

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Late-glacial and Post-glacial history of the Chalk escarpment near Brook, Kent

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.1964.0010 ◽

1964 ◽

Vol 248 (745) ◽

pp. 135-204 ◽

Cited By ~ 87

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Late Glacial ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Valley Floor ◽

Glacial Period ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Local Conditions ◽

Arable Farming ◽

History Of

This paper describes the morphology of a small piece of the Chalk escarpment near Brook in east Kent, and reconstructs its history since the end of the Last Glaciation. The escarpment contains a number of steep-sided valleys, or coombes, with which are associated deposits of chalk debris, filling their bottoms and extending as fans over the Gault Clay plain beyond. Here the fans overlie radiocarbon-dated marsh deposits of zone II (10 000 to 8800 B.C.) of the Late-glacial Period. The debris fans were formed and the coombes were cut very largely during the succeeding zone III (8800 to 8300 B.C.). The fans are the products of frost-shattering, probably transported by a combination of niveo-fluvial action and the release of spring waters; intercalated seams of loess also occur. The molluscs and plants preserved in the Late-glacial deposits give a fairly detailed picture of local conditions. The later history of one of the coombes, the Devil’s Kneadingtrough, is reconstructed. The springs have effected virtually no erosion and have probably always emerged more or less in their present position. In the floor of the coombe the periglacial chalk rubbles of zone III are covered by Postglacial deposits, mainly hillwashes. They are oxidized and yield no pollen, but contain rich faunas of land Mollusca, which are presented in the form of histograms revealing changing local ecological and climatic conditions. During most of the Post-glacial Period, from the end of zone III until about the beginning of zone VIII, very little accumulation took place on the coombe floor. But below the springs there are marsh deposits which span much of this interval. They yield faunas of considerable zoogeographical interest. The approximate beginning of zone VII a (Atlantic Period) is reflected by a calcareous tufa, which overlies a weathering horizon, and represents an increase in spring flow. Two clearance phases are deduced from the molluscan record. The first may have taken place at least as early as the Beaker Period (Late Neolithic/earliest Bronze Age); the second is probably of Iron Age ‘A’ date. In Iron Age times the subsoil was mobilized and a phase of rapid hillwashing began. As a result the valley floor became buried by humic chalk muds. The prime cause of this process was probably the beginning of intensive arable farming on the slopes above the coombe; a possible subsidiary factor may have been the Sub-Atlantic worsening of climate. The muds yield pottery ranging in date from Iron Age ‘Kentish first A’ ( ca . 500 to ca . 300 B.C.) to Romano-British ware of the first or second centuries A.D. Evidence is put forward for a possible climatic oscillation from dry to wet taking place at about the time of Christ. In the later stages of cultivation, possibly in the Roman Era, the valley floor was ploughed and given its present-day form.

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Excavations at an Iron Age Defended Enclosure at Tattershall Thorpe, Lincolnshire.

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society ◽

10.1017/s0079497x00006642 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 52 ◽

pp. 159-188 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Peter Chowne ◽

Maureen Girling ◽

James Greig

Keyword(s):

Human Activity ◽

Iron Age ◽

Human Activities ◽

Organic Material ◽

Plant Macrofossil ◽

Late Iron Age

Excavation of a late Iron Age enclosure at Tattershall Thorpe, Lincolnshire, produced substantial quantities of organic material preserved in the ditch filling. Insect, pollen and plant macrofossil remains allowed reconstruction of the environment and human activity in the area. Evidence for cultivation, grassland and human activities in the enclosure is discussed.

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Mesolithic to Bronze Age Vegetation Change and Human Activity in the Exe Valley, Devon, UK

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society ◽

10.1017/s0079497x00001298 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 69 ◽

pp. 161-181 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

R.M. Fyfe ◽

A.G. Brown ◽

B.J. Coles

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Human Activity ◽

Vegetation Change ◽

Vegetation History ◽

Valley Floor ◽

Domestic Activity ◽

Vegetation Disturbance ◽

Wide Range ◽

Slope Vegetation ◽

The Bronze Age

This paper presents the results of the first investigation of vegetation change and human activity from a river valley west of the Somerset Levels. The record is contrasted with the pollen and archaeological record from south-west uplands (Dartmoor and Exmoor) and the Somerset Levels. Vegetation change and archaeological evidence are shown to be generally consistent, with evidence from the middle valley of Mesolithic vegetation disturbance (with nearby lithics), Neolithic clearance of terraces and slopes in the lower valley and Neolithic–Bronze Age ceremonial and domestic activity, but in the upper reach the maintenance of wooded valley floor conditions probably with management until historic times. The valley floor and surrounding slope vegetation history is found to be significantly different to that of the uplands with lime and elm being significant components of the prehistoric woodland record. The data suggest that lime is restricted to terraces and lowlands below 200 m OD throughout the prehistoric period. The pollen data from the valley suggest the lowlands had a rich and mixed ecology providing a wide range of resources and that, despite less visible archaeological remains, human activity is manifest through palynological evidence from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age. The largest expanse of valley-floor terrace, the Nether Exe Basin, which was at least partially deforested in the early Neolithic contains a rich assemblage of Neolithic–Bronze Age ceremonial, funerary and domestic archaeology associated with an early and clear palynological record of woodland clearance, arable and pastoral activity.

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Biblical Archaeology

Jewish Studies ◽

10.1093/obo/9780199840731-0051 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Avraham Faust

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Old Testament ◽

Iron Age ◽

Persian Period ◽

Palestinian Authority ◽

Near Eastern ◽

Clear Cut ◽

The Bible ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

Biblical Archaeology

The term “biblical archaeology” has meant different things to different people at different times. During most of its history, the term was used broadly and included archaeological (and archaeology-related) activities in the biblical lands, mainly the Near East but even beyond it, from prehistory to the medieval period. Later, the term was seen as parochial, narrow, and religiously loaded, and many felt uncomfortable using it, sometimes calling for a “secular archaeology” (e.g., William Dever), and preferring instead terms such as “Syria-Palestinian archaeology,” “Near Eastern archaeology,” or “archaeology of the Levant.” The change has also been connected with the decrease in the historical value attributed to the biblical narratives, and to political correctness. The term, nevertheless, is still widely used, and many scholars speak today about “new biblical archaeology.” Geographically, the new term is narrower, covering mainly the Land of Israel (also known as the southern Levant, Palestine, or the Holy Land; roughly covering the area of modern Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority). Chronologically, it still covers a long period, but a difference exists between Israeli usage and American/European usage. Both “groups” begin the era with the start of the Bronze Age (although all agree that there was nothing “biblical” in those periods). For Israeli scholars, however, the biblical period refers to the time covered in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), and it ends by the Late Iron Age, or the Persian period. For most American and European scholars, especially in the past, the term embraced the Hellenistic period, the Roman period, and perhaps even the Byzantine period. Today, however, scholars specialize either in the early periods (Bronze and Iron Ages) or in the later (Hellenistic-Byzantine) periods, and the term “biblical archaeology” is becoming synonymous with the Bronze and Iron Ages (including the Persian period). Indeed, these are the periods that will receive most attention here. Although originally the “child” of biblical studies and archaeology, in its current usage the term is not necessarily connected with the Bible; rather, it relates to studies of a certain era in a certain region. Due to the wide definitions of biblical archaeology, and in light of the differences in meanings associated with it, the boundaries between biblical archaeology and other disciplines are not always clear cut, and they have changed over the course of the discipline’s history. Therefore, the following sections will address some works that are not archaeological in nature. Notably, this article will usually not refer to excavation reports or technical ceramic studies.

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Excavations at Stackpole Warren, Dyfed

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society ◽

10.1017/s0079497x00005119 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 56 ◽

pp. 179-245 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

D. G. Benson ◽

J. G. Evans ◽

G. H. Williams ◽

T. Darvill ◽

A. David ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Soil Formation ◽

Environmental Data ◽

Early Bronze Age ◽

Age Group ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Field System ◽

Cereal Grain ◽

Ceramic Assemblages

Excavations of sites spanning the Beaker to early Roman periods at Stackpole Warren, Dyfed, are described. The sites are in an area of blown sand which enhanced their preservation and led to the separation of several horizons. The earliest is a buried soil beneath the blown sand which contained Mesolithic to Bronze Age artefacts. At site A, there was a roundhouse associated with Early Bronze Age pottery and dated to 1620±70 and 1400±70 BC uncal., and two other roundhouses, one possibly of Beaker age. After a period of soil formation, a ritual complex of Later Bronze Age date was established, this contemporary with the earliest besanding of the area; it included a stone setting of more than 2000 small stones, an alignment of small water-worn stones and a standing stone. A cremation gave a latest date of 940±70 BC uncal. Other Later Bronze Age activity is recorded at site G/J in the form of a rectangular enclosure, possibly unfinished.Late Iron Age to early Romano-British settlement was present at sites A and B, consisting of scatters of occupation debris, burnt mounds, cooking pits, hearths and houses, some of stone, some of timber, all taking place in an area being intermittently besanded.Peripheral to the religious and domestic sites, a field system was excavated. The earliest phase was a linear earthwork from which a C14 date of 400±70 BC uncal. was obtained from charcoal in the ditch. After the decay of this, rectangular fields with stone walls were laid out, one along the line of the erstwhile earthwork, this taking place around the end of the Iron Age as dated by C14 of charcoal directly beneath a wall to 90±70 BC uncal. Some of the fields had been cultivated by a succession of cross- and one-way-ploughing, others used for cattle.An assemblage of 763 flints included a few Mesolithic artefacts but was mostly of Late Neolithic and Bronze Age date. A succession of ceramic assemblages included a small Middle Neolithic group (4 vessels), two distinct Beaker groups, one early (Lanting and van der Waals steps 1–3 (8 vessels), one late (steps 3–6) (45 vessels), an Early Bronze Age group of collared urns (43 vessels) and a Later Bronze Age group (26 vessels).Environmental data was not prolific but there was a small quantity of animal bone, mostly cattle and sheep, and cereal grain, mostly barley with some wheat. Marine molluscs were present but sparsely utilized and there was no other indication of the exploitation of the coastal resources such as seals, birds, fish andiseaweed. Land Mollusca indicated open country from the Iron Age onwards when the record begins.The importance of the site is in the ritual complex from site A, the succession of Iron Age/Romano-British occupation horizons, the succession of ceramic assemblages, the field system and the fact that blown sand horizons have allowed the preservation and separation of the sequence much of which would have been at best conflated in to a single horizon or at worst destroyed. Otherwise, there is no evidence that the site was in any way special with regard to the relationship of human activity and sand deposition until the Middle Ages when the area was used as a rabbit warren. Nor was the coastal location important, at least as could be determined by the results. This was a representative of a succession of later prehistoric farming communities and their various domestic, ritual and sepulchral activities in lowland Dyfed.

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Archaeology and Zooarchaeology of the Late Iron Age-Roman Transition in the Province of Raetia (100 bc–100 ad)

European Journal of Archaeology ◽

10.1017/eaa.2016.25 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 20 (3) ◽

pp. 431-450 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Simon Trixl ◽

Bernd Steidl ◽

Joris Peters

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Temporal Analysis ◽

Faunal Remains ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

Burial Customs ◽

La Tène ◽

Alpine Foreland ◽

La Tene ◽

Transitional Phase

The incorporation of the region north of the Alpine divide and its foreland into the Imperium Romanum initiated major changes in economic and social structure and in everyday life in the newly-founded province of Raetia. Controversy exists, however, about the continuity of local La Tène traditions into early Roman times, since the archaeological evidence recorded to date tends to give the impression that the northern Alpine foreland was largely unpopulated at the time of the Roman conquest in 15 bc. However, ongoing excavations in this region are gradually enhancing the archaeological visibility of this transitional phase. Compared to early Roman provincial populations settled along the Via Claudia Augusta and its hinterland, a culturally unique community stands out: the Heimstetten group. This group is located in the eastern Raetian hinterlands and dates to around 30–60 ad. Its building tradition, settlement structure, and burial customs show close affinities with the La Tène culture, thus suggesting continuity in autochthonous culture at the time of the early Roman occupation. Since faunal remains can potentially act as cultural markers, additional insights can be gained from a spatial-temporal analysis of livestock composition and breeding practices. The results presented here clearly show that, during the Iron Age, marked regional differences in species composition are visible, implying the possibility of distinct developments during early Romanization. In addition to evaluating faunal developments in the study area between c. 100 bc–100 ad, the issue of cattle breeding—traditionally the mainstay of livestock economies in many regions and especially in the Munich Gravel Plain at least since the Bronze Age—is addressed in greater detail.

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14C Dating of the Lime Burial of Cova de Na Dent (Mallorca, Spain): Optimization of the Sample Preparation and Limitations of the Method

Radiocarbon ◽

10.2458/azu_rc.57.18195 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 57 (1) ◽

pp. 161-171 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Mark van Strydonck ◽

Roald Hayen ◽

Mathieu Boudin ◽

Tess van den Brande ◽

Magdalena Salas Burguera ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

14C Dating ◽

Mountain Areas ◽

General Belief ◽

Radiocarbon Dates ◽

Fossil Carbon ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

Analysis Strategy ◽

Geological Formation

Lime burials are a characteristic phenomenon of the protohistoric funerary tradition on the Balearic Islands. At Cova de Na Dent, six samples, representing the entire stratigraphy of the lime burial, were taken for analysis. The radiocarbon dates suggested that the lowest levels of the burial were Late Bronze Age. This is in contradiction with the general belief that the lime burials are a late Iron Age phenomenon. Therefore, a new analysis strategy is put forward, focusing on the so-called 1st fraction, the first CO2released during the acid lime reaction, which is supposed to be free of fossil carbon. The analysis demonstrates the impossibility to eliminate the fossil carbon fraction completely. This is probably due to the different geological formation of the local limestone deposits (ancient reef barriers) compared to the previous lime burials of Mallorca all coming from mountain areas.14C analysis from a cremation layer without lime at the onset of the lime burial reveals an Iron Age origin of the Cova de Na Dent lime burial.

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