The seasonal cycle of grassland use in the Caspian Sea steppe during the Bronze Age: A new approach to an old problem

2001 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 346-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia I. Shishlina
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
The Caspian Sea ◽  
The Third ◽  
Eurasian Steppe ◽  
Local Environments ◽  
Third Millennium ◽  
Third Millennium Bc ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Seasonal Data

This article is devoted to the understanding of the importance of seasonal use of grasslands in the occupation of the Eurasian steppe during the Bronze Age. The pilot section of the research is Kalmykia – a steppe situated between the lower Volga and the Don rivers. We have to look at specific strategies of using local environments, river valleys, upland plateaux, and open steppe lands. During the third millennium BC, pastoralists of the Yamnaya and Catacomb cultures began to exploit the Eurasian steppe grasslands and they had to take advantage of the seasonal variation in steppe vegetation to create a sustainable economy. Seasonal use of grasslands became the main feature of the definition of pastoralism. This is the first time that early steppe materials have been analysed for seasonal data. On the basis of a combination of the seasonal data, settlement data and recent chronological information, a preliminary reconstruction is presented of two contrasting periods of land use for the third millennium BC.

The Development of Embossed Goldwork in Bronze Age Europe

2000 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Needham
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
The Other ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Parallel Development ◽  
The Third ◽  
Third Millennium ◽  
Third Millennium Bc ◽  
Craft Skills

The discovery of a pair of armlets from Lockington and the re-dating of the Mold cape, add substance to a tradition of embossed goldworking in Early Bronze Age Britain. It is seen to be distinct in morphology, distribution and decoration from the other previously defined traditions of goldworking of the Copper and Early Bronze Ages, which are reviewed here. However, a case is made for its emergence from early objects employing ‘reversible relief to execute decoration and others with small-scale corrugated morphology. Emergence in the closing stages of the third millennium BC is related also to a parallel development in the embossing of occasional bronze ornaments. Subsequent developments in embossed goldwork and the spread of the technique to parts of the Continent are summarized. The conclusions address the problem of interpreting continuity of craft skills against a very sparse record of relevant finds through time and space.

Early iron metallurgy in Anatolia

1999 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 177-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ünsal Yalçın
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Pure Iron ◽  
Near East ◽  
The Third ◽  
Third Millennium ◽  
Third Millennium Bc

The beginning of the Iron Age is generally dated to the last quarter of the second millennium BC in Anatolia and the Near East. The development of iron metallurgy allowed many tools and weapons to be produced in this period. The earliest iron finds, which are not more than a dozen, occur in the third millennium BC in Anatolia (Waldbaum 1980 discusses these early finds). Considering that pure iron occurs rarely in nature, the most important question is: what were these objects made of? Preliminary analyses of a few Bronze Age finds show that some of them contain nickel. Because of this it is generally accepted and frequently cited that these finds were made of meteoric iron.

The Hafit/Umm an-Nar Transition of the Third Millennium BC

2019 ◽  
pp. 76-107
Author(s):  
Kimberly D. Williams ◽  
Lesley A. Gregoricka
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Variation ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Recent Survey ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Sultanate Of Oman ◽  
The Third ◽  
Third Millennium ◽  
Third Millennium Bc ◽  
Nomadic Communities ◽  
Oman Peninsula

The shift between Hafit (ca. 3100–2700 BC) and Umm an-Nar (ca. 2700–2000 BC) mortuary traditions on the Oman Peninsula is poorly understood, primarily because the semi-nomadic communities of this liminal period left little to the archaeological record, with the exception of monumental tombs. Because of the ambiguity surrounding this transition, tombs from this time are typically classified as either ‘Hafit’ or ‘Umm an-Nar’ without regard for the considerable geographic and temporal variation in tomb structure and membership throughout southeastern Arabia. Recent survey and excavation of a Bronze Age necropolis at Al Khubayb in the Sultanate of Oman have revealed Transitional tombs that—far from exhibiting a simplified dichotomy—represent a blurring of the traditionally discrete boundaries dividing the Hafit and Umm an-Nar periods. Bioarchaeological analyses of tombs at Al Khubayb further enable researchers to make a distinction between tomb types and elucidate the process by which mortuary treatments changed. Over the late fourth and into the early third millennium BC, these entombment practices changed from (a) relatively small, roughly-hewn limestone tombs known as Hafit-type cairns to (b) Transitional tombs displaying features intermediary to both Hafit and Umm an-Nar period mortuary structures to (c) large, expertly-constructed Umm an-Nar communal tombs.

Altin-depe and the Bull Cult

Antiquity ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 50 (197) ◽  
pp. 14-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. M. Masson
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Religious Group ◽  
Religious Buildings ◽  
The Third ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Third Millennium ◽  
Third Millennium Bc

On the resumption of excavation in the autumn of 1972, a funerary complex belonging to a community of priests was discovered among a group of religious buildings in the early urban Bronze Age centre of Altin-depe in South Turkmenia. All the material found there dates from the early stages of Namazga V, or, using the accepted chronology, from the end of the third millennium BC (Masson, 1973, 481). It had previously been established that the chief building of this religious group was a stepped, tower-like edifice which had clearly been built in the style of the Mesopotamian ziggurats and had been rebuilt three times in the course of its existence (Masson and Sarianidi, 1972, 117–18). The funerary complex excavated in 1972 corresponds chronologically to the first, relatively small, ziggurat and was situated southeast of it.

Excess in precipitation as a cause for settlement decline along the Israeli coastal plain during the third millennium BC

2007 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avraham Faust ◽  
Yosef Ashkenazy
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Human Settlement ◽  
The Third ◽  
Arid Conditions ◽  
Third Millennium ◽  
Third Millennium Bc

AbstractAlthough the relations between climate and settlement are not straightforward, there is a general agreement that arid conditions are less favorable for human settlement in the semiarid Near East than humid conditions. Here we show that humid conditions resulted in the abandonment of settlements along the Israeli coastal plain. We first present archaeological evidence for a drastic decline in settlement along the Israeli coast during most of the third millennium BC (Early Bronze Age II–III). Then, based on archaeological and climatic evidence, we link this decline to an environmental change occurring at that time. We propose that increased precipitation intensified the already existing drainage problems and resulted in flooding, which led to the transformation of arable land into marshes and to the spread of diseases, gradually causing settlement decline and abandonment.

Animals and the Changing Landscape of Death on the Oman Peninsula in the Third Millennium BC

2019 ◽  
pp. 163-181
Author(s):  
Jill Weber ◽  
Kimberly D. Williams ◽  
Lesley A. Gregoricka
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
The Third ◽  
The North ◽  
New Information ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Third Millennium ◽  
Third Millennium Bc ◽  
Oman Peninsula ◽  
Age And Sex

Animal bones form large components of Early Bronze Age burials in Syro-Mesopotamia, and they reflect concepts of death, vestiges of funerary ceremony, and artifacts of life. However, in the contemporary burials of third millennium BC Bronze Age cairns from the north-central Oman Peninsula, finds of faunal remains are scarce. At the Al Khubayb Necropolis, near Dhank in the Sultanate of Oman, transitional tomb forms (dated to the later Hafit and early Umm an-Nar periods) have yielded new information about rare instances of animal bones deliberately interred with human remains. Despite their scarcity, the context of these bones—particularly their associations with individuals of a certain age and sex—offers insights into a transitional mortuary landscape and its relationship with the living. The authors assess the data in relation to both regional examples of faunal inclusion elsewhere in southeastern Arabia and their significance with regard to the practice and ritual meaning of faunal interments.

scholarly journals Bronze Casting Complex of the Markovo-2 Settlement of Odino Culture

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 57-65
Author(s):  
Vyacheslav I. Molodin ◽  
Igor A. Durakov
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Steppe Zone ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Manufacturing Method ◽  
The Third ◽  
Third Millennium ◽  
Third Millennium Bc ◽  
Production Complex ◽  
Casting Industry ◽  
Bronze Casting

Purpose. Metalworking production of the Early Bronze Age in Western Siberia is discussed in this article. Results. The first signs of local production can be traced to the beginning of the third millennium BC in Odino culture settlements occupying a vast area of the Ob-Irtysh forest-steppe. At present, foundry production has been identified at Stary Tartas-5, Tartas-1 and Markovo-2 settlements. The materials of the first two complexes have been published. This article is devoted to the introduction of the Markovo-2 bronze casting complex, examination of the archaeological context of finding materials, and description of the structure and objects inside it. The traces of intensive foundry activity were found in only one dwelling at the settlement. This can be explained by specialization and concentration of production in the hands of certain groups within the settlement population. Planigraphic and stratigraphic analysis make it possible to reconstruct this dwelling as a surface structure with a slightly elongated oval shape. The production complex consisted of a smelter and a utility pit located in the central part of the dwelling. The finds from the filling are represented by fragments of at least five clay molds and two melting pots. For each bronze casting item, a complete description, data from binocular analysis of molding masses, analogies and reconstruction of the manufacturing method are provided. Conclusion. Based on the research, it was concluded that the metalworking traditions, techniques, equipment and tools formed in Odin culture are spread over the vast territories of the Siberian forest-steppe zone and continue to exist within Krotovo culture. The Odino sites in the Baraba forest-steppe date to the first half of the third millennium BC. It is concluded that the evidence of the bronze casting industry found at Markovo-2 is the earliest in that region, and that its level in Odino culture was high.

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