scholarly journals Testing Late Bronze Age mobility in southern Sweden in the light of a new multi-proxy strontium isotope baseline of Scania

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0250279
Author(s):  
Pernille Ladegaard-Pedersen ◽  
Serena Sabatini ◽  
Robert Frei ◽  
Kristian Kristiansen ◽  
Karin Margarita Frei
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
Dynamic Environment ◽  
Strontium Isotope ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
The North

The Bronze Age of Sweden’s southernmost region, Scania, is complex and intriguing. One could say that Scania represented in many ways a gateway for people, ideas and material culture connecting continental Europe with Sweden. Shedding light on the dynamics of human mobility in this region requires an in depth understanding of the local archaeological contexts across time. In this study, we present new archaeological human data from the Late Bronze Age Simris II site, located in an area of Scania showing a dynamic environment throughout the Late Bronze Age, thus likely involving various forms of mobility. Because the characterization of solid strontium isotope baselines is vital for delineating human mobility in prehistory using the strontium isotope methodology, we introduce the first environmentally based multi-proxy (surface water-, plant- and soil leachates) strontium isotope baselines for sub-regions of Scania. Our results show, that the highly complex and spatially scattered lithologies characterising Scania does not allow for a spatially meaningful, geology-based grouping of multi-proxy data that could be beneficial for provenance studies. Instead, we propose sub-regional baselines for areas that don’t necessarily fully correspond and reflect the immediate distribution of bedrock lithologies. Rather than working with a Scania-wide multi-proxy baseline, which we define as 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7133 ± 0.0059 (n = 102, 2σ), we propose sub-regional, multi-proxy baselines as follows: Area 1, farthest to the north, by 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7184 ± 0.0061 (n = 16, 2σ); Area 2, comprising the mid and western part of Scania, with 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7140 ± 0.0043 (n = 48, 2σ); Area 3–4, roughly corresponding to a NW-SE trending zone dominated by horst-graben tectonics across Scania, plus the carbonate dominated south western part of Scania with 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7110 ± 0.0030 (n = 39, 2σ). Our results also reflect that the complexity of the geology of Scania requires systematic, high density, statistically sound sampling of multiple proxies to adequately constrain the baseline ranges, particularly of those areas dominated by Precambrian lithologies. The averaging effect of biosphere Sr in surface water might be beneficial for the characterization of baselines in such terranes. Our sub-regional, area-specific baselines allow for a first comparison of different baseline construction strategies (single-proxy versus multi-proxy; Scania-wide versus sub-regional). From the Late Bronze Age Simris II site, we identified six individuals that could be analysed for Sr isotopes, to allow for an interpretation of their provenance using the newly established, environmental strontium isotope baselines. All but one signature agrees with the local baselines, including the 87Sr/86Sr value we measured for a young individual buried in a house urn, typically interpreted as evidence for long distance contacts. The results are somewhat unexpected and provides new aspects into the complexity of Scandinavian Bronze Age societies.

Archaeology and Material Culture of Ammon and the Ammonites

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig W. Tyson
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Local System ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Modern City ◽  
Iron Age Ii

The Ammonites (literally, “sons of Ammon”) were a tribal group with a core territory in and around the modern city of Amman, Jordan. This core area could also be referred to as Ammon; the name of the modern city is also derived from this designation. Though they are known best for their role as kin and enemy to Israel in the Bible, archaeological work has revealed much about the indigenous cultural traditions of the region. The earliest possible evidence naming the Ammonites is from the 9th century bce, but there is little doubt that they inhabited the region before that, though how much before that is difficult to say. Regardless of their date of origin, it is helpful to chart their appearance on the stage of history in the Iron Age II by including some chronological depth. Beginning with the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550–1150 bce), the region around Amman was sparsely settled with a few fortified towns and evidence for participation in international trade. New Kingdom Egypt appears to have had at least one garrison on the Plateau, probably to help control trade. The Iron Age I–IIA (c. 1150–850 bce) saw a drop in international trade associated with the disruption of the international order at the end of the Late Bronze Age. At the same time, there was an uptick in the number of sites showing occupation. In addition to bringing the first contemporary textual references to the Ammonites, the Iron Age IIB–IIC (c. 850–500 bce) was an era of increased sociopolitical complexity and economic intensification stimulated by the pressures and opportunities presented by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires. These changes are visible in the development of an indigenous tradition of writing, an unparalleled sculptural tradition, an increase in the number and variety of imports, and a significant increase in the number of small agriculturally oriented sites across the landscape. The independent polity of Ammon was turned into a province sometime in the 6th century—probably under Babylonian hegemony. The archaeological remains indicate a continuation of agricultural production and participation in long-distance trade networks, and an eventual replacement of the local system of writing with the Aramaic used by the Persians. Note on transliterations: A variety of systems exist for transliterating ancient and modern place names in Semitic languages. A simplified version of the most common transliterations is used here.

scholarly journals A Quarried Excavation Site : Late Bronze Age Relics Unearthed in a Gravel Pit near Muhi

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Norbert Berta ◽  
Zoltán Farkas
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Gravel Pit ◽  
New Information ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Village ◽  
Excavation Site

East of the village of Muhi, in the direction of Nyékládháza, there are huge gravel pits, many of which have already been abandoned, flooded, and transformed into popular modern resorts. Recently, new gravel extraction sites have also been opened, and so a rescue excavation of the Muhi-III kavicsbánya (gravel pit) site took place in 2019. After months of excavation, the artifacts are still in the process of being cleaned and restored, and so until this work is complete, it is only possible to outline a brief overview of the important and remarkable finds. Features have been excavated from several periods (Middle Neolithic, Late Bronze Age, and Early Iron Age), but the most significant ones are those from the Late Bronze Age. These finds reveal information about a place of intensive human activity, a settlement on the border of different European cultural zones that participated in long-distance trade. These influences are reflected in varied elements of material culture. The large quantities of metal and ceramic finds brought to light in various conditions can be dated to the so-called pre-Gava period based on finds from the major features (urn graves, vessel hoards), and thus provide new information on the Late Bronze Age history of the Sajó-Hernád plain.

Absolute Time Ranges in the Plateau of the Late Bronze to Iron Age Transition and the Appearance of Bichrome Pottery in Canaan, Southern Levant

Radiocarbon ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-37
Author(s):  
Yotam Asscher ◽  
Elisabetta Boaretto
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Southern Levant ◽  
Absolute Time ◽  
The North ◽  
New Material ◽  
A Site

ABSTRACTThe Late Bronze Age to Iron Age transition in the Levant includes the appearance of new material culture that is similar in styles to the Aegean world. In the southern Levant, the distribution of early styles of Aegean-like pottery, locally produced, is limited to the coastal areas of Canaan, making synchronization with the rest of the region difficult. Radiocarbon (14C) dating provides a high-resolution absolute chronological framework for synchronizing ceramic phases. Here, absolute14C chronologies of the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition in the sites Tel Beth Shean, Tel Rehov, Tel Lachish, and Tel Miqne-Ekron are determined. Results show that the ranges of transitions vary in an absolute time frame by 50–100 years between different sites and that the range of the Late Bronze Age to Iron Age transition in Canaan spans the 13th–11th centuries BC plateau. These chronologies, based on a site-by-site approach for dating, show that the change between early types of Aegean-like pottery (Monochrome) to developed types (Bichrome), occurred over 100 years in Canaan and that the transition occurred in southern sites prior to sites in the north. These ranges show that not only is the Late Bronze to Iron Age not contemporaneous, but also synchronization between sites based on their ceramic assemblages is problematic.

Urnfields in the middle Oder basin – a perspective of a Lubusz-Greater Polish territorial community

2020 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 379-413
Author(s):  
Maciej Kaczmarek
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Local Character ◽  
Oder River ◽  
The Many

SummaryLusatian Urnfield communities inhabiting Lubusz Land and western Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages occupy a unique position on the settlement map of the middle Oder basin. For nearly a thousand years, they acted as a kind of buffer between the buoyant Silesian centre, which had achieved its culture-making role thanks to direct exchange contacts with the Transcarpathian and Danubian-Alpine centres of the south, and West Pomeranian groups inspired from the west and northwest by the Nordic circle. The importance of Lubusz-Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) populations to the overall cultural picture of the territories on the banks of the Oder River can hardly be overestimated, so it is worth analysing this phenomenon in more detail. One of the significant cultural elements is the ceramic style. It can be a means of manifesting outside the identity of a group, the identity consolidated by a tradition functioning within this group. It is hard to imagine a relative standardisation of patterns in pottery produced over a certain area to be only the result of more or less random movement of female potters or small groups of people. The standardisation of material culture, resulting from the existence of a style, no doubt enhances homogeneity and stability in everyday life, and therefore can be regarded as a factor integrating neighbouring communities in territorial communities within a supra-local scale. In the Late Bronze Age, in Lubusz Land and western Greater Poland (Wielkopolska), one can notice the same stylistic tendencies in pottery manufacture (bossed style, Urad style, Late Bronze Age style) and in figural art in clay, and a similar repertoire of bronze objects, produced in local metallurgical workshops on the Oder.The formation of Urnfield communities in Lubusz Land and western Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) was no doubt part of a broader process of cultural integration, of supra-local character, which was taking place throughout the upper and middle Oder basin at the transition of the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. This was a process of acculturation, based on the reception of the influx of new cultural contents along the River Oder from Lower Silesia and perhaps, although to a much smaller extent, from Lusatia and Saxony. The result was the cultural unification, for the first time to such an extent, of the western part of what is now Poland. The archaeological indicator of the discussed process was the appearance of large cremation cemeteries, with burials furnished with bossed pottery of the Silesia-Greater Polish type, representing a style typical of most of the middle Oder basin. Similar tendencies can be seen in bronze metallurgy, where a nearly complete unification of the repertoire of produced objects can be observed from the beginning of the Late Bronze Age. Here, however, the distributions of particular forms are much broader and encompass almost the entire western part of the Lusatian Urnfields. In Lubusz Land and western Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) the Late Bronze Age saw a very dynamic development of local bronze production, performed primarily within the Oder metallurgical centre. The result was a relatively high percentage of bronze artefacts in the cultural inventory of Urnfield populations inhabiting the region, most of them ultimately deposited in the many hoards buried during that period. A broad spectrum of manufactured designs, their notable standardisation, and the finds of durable casting moulds all seem to confirm that bronze metallurgy, along with pot-making, belonged to the most important areas of production performed by the population inhabiting the middle Oder basin at the conclusion of the 2nd and beginning of the 1st millennium BC, despite it having been carried out by a limited group of initiated specialists. The process of formation of Lusatian Urnfields in the middle Oder basin was most likely not complete before HaA2, and from the subsequent phase onwards one can notice a steady expansion of settled areas, resulting from intensive internal colonisation and the processes of acculturation. The dynamics of this phenomenon are best illustrated by newly established, vast cremation cemeteries, most of which were then continuously used at least until the close of the Bronze Age, with some persisting into the Early Iron Age. With the onset of the Early Iron Age, the Lubusz-Greater Polish territorial community of Lusatian Urnfields started to slowly disintegrate, a phenomenon explained by the adoption of a different model of Hallstatisation by these communities. In Lubusz Land, pottery of the Górzyce style (Göritzer Stil) appears, inspired more by Białowice (Billendorf) than Silesian patterns, while in western Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) ceramic workshops still maintained a close connection with the tendencies set by their Silesian neighbours, who at that time closely followed the East Hallstatt trends. The Lubusz-Greater Polish territorial community, which crystallised and developed throughout the entirety of the Late Bronze Age largely thanks to the unique role of the Oder River as a route of long-distance exchange and at the same time a culturally unifying element of the landscape, ceased to exist with the onset of the Early Iron Age, never to be reborn.

scholarly journals Igla kao forma specifične materijalne kulture s kraja bronzanog i početka željeznog doba sjeverne Bosne / Pins as a form of specific material culture from the end of the Late Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age in the northern Bosnia

2020 ◽  
pp. 49-66
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Jašarević
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Limited Region ◽  
The North ◽  
Sava River ◽  
The Sava River

During the final stages of the Late Bronze Age the territory of northern Bosnia was characterised by remarkable cultural dynamics, visible primarily in the distribution of metal finds: weapons, tools, jewelry, and functional costume objects. The new type of funeral practice – inhumation – emerged here and was perhaps an important factor in the formation and social stratification of communities living here at the end of the Late Bronze Age and the beginning of the Early Iron Age. The area of northern Bosnia is situated between the Pannonian Basin to the north and the mountainous region of the western Balkans to the south commonly referred to as Dinarides. Thanks to its geographical location, the upper course of the Sava River facilitates direct connections with the Alps, while its lower course leads to the Danube that creates a link with the Black Sea region. To the north, the area is open to the wide peripanon regions of Slavonia and Syrmia. Up the Danube valley, the communication corridor reaches Transdanubia and, along the Tisza River, the central part of the Carpathian Basin. This paper presents a specific form of material culture, a bronze pins with disk-shaped head and short thickening on the neck. A total of six pins are known; two of which have been discovered in hoards (Osredak and Gajina pećina), one in a grave (Ostrožac near Cazin), while the remaining pins are chance finds (Donja Dolina, Prud, and Soukbunar). They all come from a very limited region south of the Sava River and chronologically cover the period from the 10th to the end of the 9 century BC or with Ha B2/3 horizon of Central European periodization. The pins with a disk-shaped head and short thickening on the neck most likely became part of women’s headgear or complex hairstyles, suggesting the development of special local habits and dress codes intended to promote status and rank. The choice of jewelry and local costume of the females yields information on their origins, affiliations, status, and social and economic role within the community. This paper posits that female costume in nothern Bosnia played the role of an important medium of social communication and interaction, and that it was important for the self-identification of its wearer in identifying their status. Furthermore, women’s mobility played an important role in spreading cultural habits at the end of the Late Bronze Age and in the Early Iron Age in the Western Balkans, with such mobility being evidenced through the distribution of personal items, especially jewellery and ornaments. Reasons for this mobility are related to economic, artisanal, military-political, ritual, and other various practices of the time. A special place in these exchanges was afforded to women, who, through exogamous marriages, became visible in the processes of cultural and social interaction.

scholarly journals Establishing the Middle Sea: The Late Bronze Age of Mediterranean Europe (1700–900 BC)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Iacono ◽  
Elisabetta Borgna ◽  
Maurizio Cattani ◽  
Claudio Cavazzuti ◽  
Helen Dawson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Mediterranean Europe ◽  
Northern Shore ◽  
Comparative Survey ◽  
The Bronze Age

AbstractThe Late Bronze Age (1700–900 BC) represents an extremely dynamic period for Mediterranean Europe. Here, we provide a comparative survey of the archaeological record of over half a millennium within the entire northern littoral of the Mediterranean, from Greece to Iberia, incorporating archaeological, archaeometric, and bioarchaeological evidence. The picture that emerges, while certainly fragmented and not displaying a unique trajectory, reveals a number of broad trends in aspects as different as social organization, trade, transcultural phenomena, and human mobility. The contribution of such trends to the processes that caused the end of the Bronze Age is also examined. Taken together, they illustrate how networks of interaction, ranging from the short to the long range, became a defining aspect of the “Middle Sea” during this time, influencing the lives of the communities that inhabited its northern shore. They also highlight the importance of research that crosses modern boundaries for gaining a better understanding of broad comparable dynamics.

Middle Bronze Age Long Distance Exchange through Europe and Beyond

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.

Introduction and Background

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna K. Hodgkinson
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
High Status ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
New Kingdom ◽  
The Status ◽  
Status Goods ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
And Control

This book aims to establish knowledge of the infrastructure and organization of the excavated cities in Late Bronze Age (LBA), or New Kingdom Egypt (c.1550–1069 BC), and provide an understanding of the accessibility and control of the high-status products and the raw materials and tools used for their manufacture. This is done by analysing the distribution of the artefactual and structural evidence of the manufacture of high-status goods from three sites used as case-studies, namely Amarna, in Middle Egypt, Gurob, in the Faiyum region, and Malqata, in ancient Thebes (Chapters 2–5). It attempts to achieve some knowledge of the control and distribution of the finished goods, highlighting buildings and areas in the settlements that were involved in the production, and others that would be the consumers of high-status goods. By detecting some mutual patterns between the sites analysed, it has been possible to achieve an understanding of urban high-status manufacture throughout the New Kingdom and its influence on the internal organization and status of settlements. Moving inwards, the study then focuses on workshops, their layouts and functionality (Chapters 6 and 7). A number of research questions will be answered, which address the issues of settlement status, craft production and its social context, the character of workshops as well as their influence on LBA settlements. These questions are presented in Sections 1.1–1.6 together with the data and methods used to address them. In the discussion of the status of a larger settlement we have to take into account the work and opinions of previous scholars. Trigger, for instance, differentiates between two approaches to settlement archaeology as a whole: (a) one focusing on the location, size, spacing, material culture, and activities, as opposed to another (b) focusing on the interactions of their environmental, economic, and technological determinants. While much information concerning the first approach existed by this date, he states that at the time of publication (in the early 1970s) there was still a lack of understanding concerning the economic and technological interactions within the settlements.

The Forgotten Child of the Wider Corded Ware Family: Russian Fatyanovo Culture in Context

2020 ◽  
Vol 86 ◽  
pp. 65-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerkko Nordqvist ◽  
Volker Heyd
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Volga River ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
European Part Of Russia ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
River Valleys

The Fatyanovo Culture, together with its eastern twin, the Balanovo Culture, forms part of the pan-European Corded Ware Complex. Within that complex, it represents its eastern expansion to the catchment of the Upper and Middle Volga River in the European part of Russia. Its immediate roots are to be found in the southern Baltic States, Belarus, and northern Ukraine (the Baltic and Middle-Dnepr Corded Ware Cultures), from where moving people spread the culture further east along the river valleys of the forested flatlands. By doing so, they introduced animal husbandry to these regions. Fatyanovo Culture is predominately recognised through its material culture imbedded in its mortuary practices. Most aspects of every-day life remain unknown. The lack of an adequate absolute chronological framework has thus far prevented the verification of its internal cultural dynamics while overall interaction proposed also on typo-stratigraphical grounds suggests a contemporaneity with other representations of the Corded Ware Complex in Europe. Fatyanovo Culture is formed by the reverse movement to the (north-)east of the Corded Ware Complex, itself established in the aftermath of the westbound spread of Yamnaya populations from the steppes. It thus represents an important link between west and east, pastoralists and last hunter-gatherers, and the 3rd and the 2nd millennia bc. Through its descendants (including Abashevo, Sintashta, and Andronovo Cultures) it becomes a key component in the development of the wider cultural landscape of Bronze Age Eurasia.

scholarly journals ATOP THE KADMEIA: MYCENAEAN ROOF TILES FROM THEBES IN CONTEXT

2020 ◽  
Vol 115 ◽  
pp. 175-245
Author(s):  
Vassilis L. Aravantinos ◽  
Ioannis Fappas ◽  
Yannis Galanakis
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Systematic Study ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Similar Material ◽  
Widespread Distribution ◽  
The Past ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
First Time

Questions were raised in the past regarding the use of Mycenaean tiles as ‘roof tiles’ on the basis of the small numbers of them recovered in excavations and their overall scarcity in Mycenaean domestic contexts. The investigation of the Theodorou plot in 2008 in the southern part of the Kadmeia hill at Thebes yielded the single and, so far, largest known assemblage per square metre of Mycenaean tiles from a well-documented excavation. This material allows, for the first time convincingly, to identify the existence of a Mycenaean tiled roof. This paper presents the results of our work on the Theodorou tiles, placing emphasis on their construction, form and modes of production, offering the most systematic study of Mycenaean tiles to date. It also revisits contexts of discovery of similar material from excavations across Thebes. Popular as tiles might have been in Boeotia, and despite their spatially widespread attestation, their use in Aegean Late Bronze Age architecture appears, on the whole, irregular with central Greece and the north-east Peloponnese being the regions with the most sites known to have yielded such objects. Mycenaean roof tiles date mostly from the mid- and late fourteenth century bc to the twelfth century bc. A study of their construction, form, production and contexts suggests that their role, apart from adding extra insulation, might have been one of signposting certain buildings in the landscape. We also present the idea that Mycenaean tile-making was guided by a particular conventional knowledge which was largely influenced by ceramic-related technologies (pottery- and drain-making). While production of roof tiles might have been palace-instigated to begin with, it does not appear to have been strictly controlled. This approach to Mycenaean tile-making may also help explain their uneven (in terms of intensity of use) yet widespread distribution.

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