scholarly journals Big-Men and Small Chiefs: The Creation of Bronze Age Societies

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rune Iversen
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Southern Scandinavia ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Early Late ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Big Men

AbstractThis paper investigates to what extent the significant material changes observable at the end of the Neolithic reflect transformations of the underlying social dynamics. Answering this question will help us to understand the formation of Bronze Age societies. The analysis concerns southern Scandinavia with a certain focus on Denmark. The assumption is that the creation of Bronze Age societies must be understood as a long formative process that partly originated in the culturally-heterogeneous Middle Neolithic. Four aspects seem to have been essential to this process: the rise of the warrior figure, the reintroduction of metal, increased agricultural production, and the establishment of one of the characteristic features of the Bronze Age, the chieftain hall. These aspects do not appear simultaneously but are introduced stepby- step starting out in the late Middle Neolithic and early Late Neolithic to fully develop around 2000 BC. Consequently, this paper argues that the final Late Neolithic (LN II, c. 1950-1700 BC) was de facto part of the Earliest Bronze Age.

scholarly journals Morphological Analysis and Dating of Pottery from the Posolskaya Site (Based on the Excavations of E. A. Khamzina in 1959)

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 25-37
Author(s):  
O. I. Goriunova ◽  
◽  
A. G. Novikov ◽  
D. А. Markhaeva ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Compositional Structures ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
The One ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Bronze Age

The analysis of pottery materials of Posolskaya site (excavations by E. A. Khamzina in 1959), which is located on the southeast coast of Lake Baikal (Kabansk district, the Republic of Buryatia), is carried out in this article. Based on morphological features, several groups of pottery with a set of characteristic features are identified. A comparison of them with the materials of supporting multilayer objects on the coast of Baikal and Cis-Baikal area, in general, made it possible to determine the relative and absolute chronology of these groups. It was determined that pottery complexes of layers 2 and 3 contain artifacts of different cultural and chronological periods from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age in a mixed state. They contain materials of the Middle and Late Neolithic (Posolskaya and Ust-Belaya ceramic types), the Early Bronze Age (pottery with pearls, with fingernails and Northern Baikal type) and the Late Bronze Age (Tyshkine-Senogdinsk type). Reticulated pottery, recorded in small quantities, was found in all complexes of the Neolithic era of the region. The pottery studies showed, on the one hand, its morpho-typological proximity with similar pottery in the south of Central Siberia as a whole. On the other hand, there were some regional differences (thickening of the corolla in bulk on Posolskaya type pottery in two versions: from the outside and from the inside; a variety of compositional structures on vessels with an external thickening of the corolla was revealed, expressed in simplification of the ornamental design; pottery combining features of Posolskaya and Ust-Belaya types was distinguished. A series of radiocarbon dates from stratified complexes of multilayer objects on the Baikal coast made it possible to determine chronological ranges for almost all pottery groups identified at Posolskaya site. Posolskaya type pottery in two of its variants corresponds to a chronological interval of 6750–6310 cal BP; Ust’-Belaia type (focusing on the dates of Ulan-Khada and the Gorelyi Les) – 5581–4420 cal BP; pottery with pearls and constructions from wide lines of the retreating spatula – 4500–3080 cal BP, pottery with finger pinches corresponds to 3370–3230 cal BP; Northern Baikal type – 3346–3077 cal BP; Tyshkine-Senogdinsk type – 2778–1998 cal BP.

scholarly journals From the Parochial to the Universal: Comparing Cloth Cultures in the Bronze Age

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanna Harris
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Textile Fibre ◽  
Eighteenth Dynasty ◽  
Salt Mines ◽  
Southern Scandinavia ◽  
Chronological Period ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Thread Count

The aim of this research is to compare the cloth cultures of Europe and Egypt in the Bronze Age and New Kingdom. The comparison focuses on the fourteenth century cal BC and includes four geographically separate areas, including the oak coffin burials of southern Scandinavia, the Hallstatt salt mines of central Europe, Late Minoan Crete, and the tombs and towns of the later Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. The comparative approach can bring insights even when applied to unconnected cultures or regions. However, in this study I concentrate on a restricted chronological period and areas that were connected, directly or indirectly, by widespread networks of trade or exchange. The concept of cloth cultures is used to include both textiles and animal skins as these were closely related materials in the prehistoric past. Information was gathered according to the following categories: raw materials, including textile fibre, and species of skins; fabric structure and thread count (only for textiles); decoration and finish; and use and context. From this study, it is possible to recognize the universally shared principles of cloth cultures and the great versatility and creativity in the regional cloth cultures of the Bronze Age.

The impact of early trans-Eurasian exchange on animal utilization in northern China during 5000–2500 BP

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 095968362094116
Author(s):  
Guanghui Dong ◽  
Linyao Du ◽  
Wenyu Wei
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Wild Mammals ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Animal Utilization ◽  
Human Subsistence ◽  
The Bronze Age

Transcontinental exchange emerged and intensified in northern China since the late fifth millennium BP (Before present), especially in the arc, which was the core area of the eastern part of the trans-Eurasian exchange during the Late Neolithic and the Bronze Age. In the arc, the exchange profoundly affected the human subsistence strategy and human-environment relationship. Relative to the crop patterns and human diets during the Bronze Age in northern China, systematic investigations of zooarcheological data based on broad spatial and temporal framework to understand the influence of introduced livestock and indigenous livestock on human subsistence are lacking. To show the spatial-temporal variation in animal utilization patterns and its relation to prehistoric trans-Eurasian exchange, the zooarcheological data from 40 sites in northern China dated between 5000 and 2500 BP were analyzed. The strategy of animal utilization in northern China changed substantially from 5000 to 2500 BP, with notable spatial features in different chronological phases. From 5000 to 4300 BP, wild mammals and indigenous livestock (pig, dog) use dominated in the arc and the North China Plain (NCP). During 4300–3500 BP, the importance of introduced livestock (cattle, sheep/goat, horse) exceeded that of indigenous livestock in the arc, whereas indigenous livestock continued to dominate in the NCP. Indigenous livestock acted as the most important animal subsistence in northern China, although the exploitation of introduced livestock increased during 3500–2000 BP. These spatio-temporal differences in animal utilization appear to be closely associated with the prehistoric trans-Eurasian exchange, but were also affected by local environment, agriculture development, and climate change.

Houses and Hierarchies: Economic and Social Relations in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age of Southernmost Scandinavia

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristian Brink
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Small Area ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Elite Networks ◽  
South West ◽  
Southern Scandinavia ◽  
Individual Strategies

Research on Late Neolithic–Early Bronze Age society in southernmost Scandinavia has to a large extent focused on the creation of social hierarchy and on elite networks upheld by individuals. This has meant that the importance of collective strategies has been underplayed. In the south-west corner of Sweden, about eighty house remains from the Late Neolithic and the earliest Bronze Age have been excavated within a small area. It is the largest concentration of houses from the period so far excavated in southern Scandinavia. The settlement pattern reveals both single farms and one site, Almhov, with a concentration of several contemporary farms with large houses. The aim of this article is to highlight collective aspects, recognizing that both collective and individual strategies are important in the formation of hierarchical societies. House remains as well as graves and their placement in relation to each other within the local landscape are the archaeological material in focus, regarded as materializations of economic and social relations. It is argued that collective strategies were an important part of creating and maintaining economic and social position.

A Circular Debate: Rock Carvings at Knarrbyn, Dalsland, Sweden

2010 ◽  
Vol 76 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
John Coles
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Landscape Assessment ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Late Prehistoric ◽  
Alternative Concept ◽  
Southern Scandinavia ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
General Opinion ◽  
The Bronze Age

The rock carvings at Knarrbyn in Dalsland, Sweden, lie high on a rocky ridge and consist almost entirely of multiple circles in various groups. In both location and imagery the panels at Knarrbyn provide a contrast with the varied figurative images on a majority of large rock carving sites of the Bronze Age in southern Scandinavia, which are mostly set low and near the contemporary seas. The paper aims to explore both shape and place of the Knarrbyn discs, with new recordings and landscape assessment. In contrast to the general opinion that Bronze Age carvings of circles had some close relationship to concepts of the sun, the Knarrbyn discs, by their unusual internal shaping and their position here on the high rocks, offer an alternative concept, that these particular carvings had close physical and ideological relationships with Bronze Age burial cairns in this isolated part of Dalsland. These and other late prehistoric monuments are mapped in the paper and include several previously unrecorded sites on the Knarrbyn ridge. The precise landscape location of the carving sites suggests they were part of a sacred passage in the Bronze Age, leading southwards to the major cemetery and rock carving sites at Tisselskog; such a passage may have foreshadowed and influenced the emergence and orientation of thePilgrimsledenthat traversed the same landscape some 2000 years later.

scholarly journals The Mysteries of Lake Copais and the Island Fortress of Gla

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-38
Author(s):  
Therese Ghembaza ◽  
David Windell
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
History Of Research ◽  
Large Dams ◽  
History Of ◽  
Middle Helladic ◽  
The Bronze Age

The Bronze Age drainage of Lake Copais, Boeotia, is unique within Europe as the largest and most complex work of engineering of the period. Comprising large dams, polder dykes, canals, massive levees, cuttings and tunnels, it made at least 95km² of drained lake bed available for agricultural production. The first polders were established in the Middle Helladic period with great extensions in the Late Helladic. During the latter period the largest of all the Mycenaean citadels was constructed at Gla which had been a rocky island in the lake prior to the drainage. But exactly what type of settlement it was still remains something of a mystery. This paper draws together the history of research on the citadel of Gla.

scholarly journals Formation And Development Of Military Architecture In Fergana (Antiquity, Early Middle Ages)

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 106-109
Author(s):  
Dedakhanov Bakhodir
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Evolutionary Development ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
Military Architecture ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Early Medieval Period ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
The Bronze Age

The article reveals the problem of the development of military architecture in the territory of ancient Fergana, based on the long-term research of archaeologists of Uzbekistan. It identifies the main factors that have contributed to the improvement of this architecture. In each separately taken historical period, starting from the Bronze Age, the author defines the characteristic features of the fortification architecture of Fergana cities based on specific examples. At the same time, a comparative analysis with neighboring historical and cultural regions (Sogd and Khorezm) is performed, and the issues of the continuity of traditions and evolutionary development in this type of structure are revealed using the examples of military architecture of the early medieval period.

Anatolia and the Transcaucasus Themes and Variations ca. 6400–1500 B.C.E.

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Sagona
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Cultural Interaction ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Late Chalcolithic ◽  
Chalcolithic Period ◽  
Identity Attitudes ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Bronze Age

This article examines Anatolian–Transcaucasian interactions spanning the Chalcolithic through the Bronze Age. The five millennia surveyed here have highlighted some broad patterns of cultural interaction. At present, evidence suggests that farming was introduced to the Transcaucasus. It appears fully fledged in the late seventh millennium BCE, together with compounds of round houses built for the most part with plano-convex bricks. The degree of interplay with surrounding regions cannot be ascertained, but it does appear that in these formative centuries Transcaucasian communities remained isolated and developed their own distinctive cultural identity. Attitudes changed in the Late Neolithic when Halaf networks made inroads into the mountains of southern Transcaucasia, probably to exploit the rich sources of obsidian. The tempo of communication accelerated during the Late Chalcolithic period.

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