scholarly journals 1. Necklaces and Pendants of the Metal Age on the Territory of Romania

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-138
Author(s):  
Ioana-Iulia Olaru
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Metal Age

Abstract The present paper will refer to an aspect of processing metals on the territory of Romania, in Bronze Age and Iron Age (the second age habing been studied up to the moment when Prehistory ended: 1st century B.C., being continued by Antiquity). Unfortunately, few pieces were found in settlements and in necropoleis, so it is difficult to attribute the artifacts of the Metal Age to one or other of the existing cultures, though the region where they were produced can be mentioned. Consequently, their study can lead to another classification than the chronological one, and that is of the field of ornamental arts in metal. We will focus only on two types of objects that embellish the neck and the chest: necklaces and pendants, which help us create a vivid image of this important artistic field of the Iron Age on the territory of our country, these two joining the other important types of jewels: bracelets, rings, fibulae, phaleras.

scholarly journals Fishery in the Tobol-Ishim interfluve in the neolithic and early metal age

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 182-192
Author(s):  
Viktor Alekseevich Zakh
Keyword(s):  
Water Level ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Life Support ◽  
Hydrological Regime ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Deep Foundation ◽  
Metal Age ◽  
North Western

Landscapes of the Tobol-Ishim interfluve were not stable in the Holocene and varied from forests and drowned floodplains at the beginning of the V and III millennia BC to steppificated territories with a lowered water level at the beginning of the Atlantic Period and in the middle of the Subboreal Period, which determined the main types of economic activities, one of them was fishing. Changes in hydrological regime of water bodies influenced the methods of fishing, including the use of different traps. Thus, in the Neolithic, when the water level decreased, the location of settlements in the system river-creek-lake (for example, Mergen 6), a large number of fish bones, bone harpoons, fishing spears, fishing tackles for catching pike and a total absence of plummets were indicative of individual fishing for large fish and, perhaps, of stop net fishery, which was facilitated by a decrease in the width of watercourses and tombolos. Stop net (stake net) fishery led to a settled lifestyle of the population, collective activities and the emergence of long-term settlements with deep foundation pits of dwellings. When the water level in rivers and lakes increased and floods became more frequent, the life support system changed, the population began to develop coasts more widely, its mobility increased, and they started to build framed above-ground dwellings. Following those changes, biconic, cigar-shaped, and corniculate plummets emerged in the Tobol River Basin and on the adjacent western and north-western territories in the III and early II millennium BC. When the water level was high, it was efficient to fish using traps, seines and, probably, nets, although the latter could also be used in drive hunting for shedding geese and ducks. Subrectangular plummets with one or two ties for fastening, and disk-shaped plummets with a tie in the center had been prevailing since the beginning of the II millennium BC; they existed until the first third of the I millennium BC. This period, the transition time from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age, is characterized by the absence of clay plummets, while there are large accumulations of fish scales and bones in the settlement layers. We can suppose that the population of that time (local Late Bronze Age population, mixed with northern migrants who made utensils with cross ornamentation) switched from net fishing to stop net fishing.

A Life Less Ordinary: the Ritualization of the Domestic Sphere in Later Prehistoric Europe

2003 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
The Other ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Social Archaeology ◽  
Domestic Sphere ◽  
Domestic Life ◽  
Contemporary Archaeology ◽  
The Past

This article, which is based on the fourteenth McDonald Lecture, considers two tensions in contemporary archaeology. One is between interpretations of specific structures, monuments and deposits as the result of either ‘ritual’ or ‘practical’ activities in the past, and the other is between an archaeology that focuses on subsistence and adaptation and one that emphasizes cognition, meaning, and agency. It suggests that these tensions arise from an inadequate conception of ritual itself. Drawing on recent studies of ritualization, it suggests that it might be more helpful to consider how aspects of domestic life took on special qualities in later prehistoric Europe. The discussion is based mainly on Neolithic enclosures and other monuments, Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement sites and the Viereckschanzen of central Europe. It may have implications for field archaeology as well as social archaeology, and also for those who study the formation of the archaeological record.

The ceramics of centralisation and dissolution: a case study from Rough Cilicia

2007 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 141-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.N. Postgate
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Far East ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Control ◽  
The West ◽  
Administrative Practices ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
The Bronze Age

AbstractStarting from Kilise Tepe in the Göksu valley north of Silifke two phenomena in pre-Classical Anatolian ceramics are examined. One is the appearance at the end of the Bronze Age, or beginning of the Iron Age, of hand-made, often crude, wares decorated with red painted patterns. This is also attested in different forms at Boğazköy, and as far east as Tille on the Euphrates. In both cases it has been suggested that it may reflect the re-assertion of earlier traditions, and other instances of re-emergent ceramic styles are found at the end of the Bronze Age, both elsewhere in Anatolia and in Thessaly. The other phenomenon is the occurrence of ceramic repertoires which seem to coincide precisely with the frontiers of a polity. In Anatolia this is best recognised in the case of the later Hittite Empire. The salient characteristics of ‘Hittite’ shapes are standardised, from Boğazköy at the centre to Gordion in the west and Korucu Tepe in the east. This is often tacitly associated with Hittite political control, but how and why some kind of standardisation prevails has not often been addressed explicitly. Yet this is a recurring phenomenon, and in first millennium Anatolia similar standardised wares have been associated with both the Phrygian and the Urartian kingdoms. This paper suggests that we should associate it directly with the administrative practices of the regimes in question.

Tranchet Axe Manufacture from Cliffe, Kent

1988 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 315-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Ashton
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Discrete Group ◽  
British Museum ◽  
The Other ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
The South ◽  
Small Trial

In the summer of 1978 pottery and flintwork were noticed in the sections to the south of Cliffe Village during the laying of a pipeline by British Gas (TQ 734744) (fig. 1). This led to the excavation of a series of small trial trenches by Mr David Thomson with the help of local volunteers in the same year. The retrieval of a Beaker and Collared Urn suggested an early Bronze Age site, and excavations by Dr Ian Kinnes for the British Museum were done in September 1979. Although the excavated features contained mainly Iron Age pottery and metalwork, both seasons' work also produced a large quantity of flint artefacts ranging from Mesolithic to Bronze Age in date. The following report is an analysis of the Mesolithic tranchet axe manufacturing debitage which could be distinguished as a discrete group from the other flintwork. It is not intended to present a comprehensive flint report for Cliffe, but to provide a framework for analysis at other sites where tranchet axe production has been shown to take place (Wymer 1962; Parfitt and Halliwell 1982).

scholarly journals Contextualisation of the Early Iron Age hoard of bronze objects discovered in Gdynia-Karwiny, site 1

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 21-78
Author(s):  
Karol Dzięgielewski ◽  
Anna Longa ◽  
Jerzy Langer ◽  
Magdalena Moskal-del Hoyo
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Copper Alloy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Use Value ◽  
Porous Copper ◽  
Narrow Valley ◽  
The Bronze Age

After the amateur discovery of a hoard of bronze ornaments (a kidney bracelet and two hollow ankle rings) in 2014 in a forest near Gdynia (Pomerania, northern Poland), the place was subjected to excavation. It turned out that in the nearest context of the bronzes (which had been found arranged one on top of the other in a narrow pit reaching 60 cm in depth) there was a cluster of stones, some of which could have been arranged intentionally in order to mark the place of the deposit. Next to this alleged stone circle there was a deep hearth used to heat stones, and for burning amber as incense. Remains of amber were preserved in the form of lumps and probably also as a deposit on the walls of some vessels. Some of the features of the examined complex may indicate a non-profane nature of the deposit: the presence of the stone structure, traces of burning amber, the location of the deposition spot in a not very habitable flattening of a narrow valley, as well as the chemical composition of the alloy of metals themselves. The ornaments were made of a porous copper alloy with a high addition of lead, antimony and arsenic, which could promote their fragility and poor use value. However, the ceramics found near the place where the bronzes are deposited do not differ from the settlement pottery of the time. The hoard and its context should be dated to the transition phase between the periods HaC1 and HaC2 (the turn of the 8th and 7th cent. BC). The Gdynia-Karwiny deposit adds to the list of finds from a period marked by the most frequent occurrence of hoards in Pomerania (turn of the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age). Its research seems to contribute to the interpretation of the deposition of metal objects as a phenomenon primarily of a ritual nature, and at the same time a social behaviour: a manifestation of competition for prestige.

THE NATURE OF THE HALLSTATTIAN CULTURAL CHANGE IN NORTHERN CENTRAL EUROPE IN LIGHT OF RADIOCARBON DATING OF THE LATE BRONZE AGE STRONGHOLD AT ŁUBOWICE NEAR RACIBÓRZ (SOUTHWEST POLAND)

Radiocarbon ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Jan Chochorowski ◽  
Marek Krąpiec
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Timber Structures ◽  
Social Functions ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
Sw Poland ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Bronze Age

ABSTRACT At the close of the Bronze Age, a tendency developed in Central Europe towards the concentration of settlement and fortification of sites which served special economic and social functions. One of the largest centers of this kind in the northern part of Central Europe is the Łubowice stronghold (SW Poland). Archaeological excavations allowed the stratigraphy of the fortification remnants to be comprehensively investigated. In their final stage, these fortifications comprised of a monumental earthen rampart with timber structures, which were later destroyed in a violent fire. Originally, the destruction of the Łubowice stronghold was linked with the raids by nomadic Scythians and dated to the first half of the 6th century BC. However, radiocarbon analyses of charcoal from the burned rampart relics have shown that the destruction of the fortifications took place in the 9th century BC. The new dating of the moment when the Łubowice fortifications was burned down, i.e. “shortly after 845–802 cal BC” places this event within historical processes which reshaped the cultural picture in much of Central Europe at the dawn of the Iron Age. The spreading of a new, Hallstatt cultural model was associated with deep changes in social structures.

Two Late Bronze Age Settlements on the Kennet Gravels: Excavations at Aldermaston Wharf and Knight's Farm, Burghfield, Berkshire

1980 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 217-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bradley ◽  
Sue Lobb ◽  
Julian Richards ◽  
Mark Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Open Site ◽  
Gravel Pits ◽  
Cross Reference

One of the major problems of British prehistory has been the contrast between the mass of Late Bronze Age metalwork and the rarity of contemporary settlements. The Berkshire river gravels are one area in which a high proportion of bronze objects is recorded in apparent isolation. With the increasing recognition of Late Bronze Age pottery, however, it has been possible to identify domestic finds of this period among the artefacts from gravel pits around Reading. Part of the gap in the settlement record has also been closed by the excavation of two sites on the Berkshire Downs, the earthwork enclosure at Rams Hill, and an open site at Beedon Manor Farm (Bradley and Ellison 1975; Richards in press). But it was not until 1974 that a Bronze Age settlement on the gravels could be examinedin situ, and since the formation of the Berkshire Archaeological Unit a series of five sites have been sampled or more extensively investigated. This paper is concerned with the two most extensive sites, those at Aldermaston Wharf and Knight's Farm, Burghfield, but will make cross reference to the other work where necessary, in particular to a more recently recorded site at Pingewood.It is now clear why this evidence was so difficult to find. The pottery is extremely friable and would not survive on the surface; and the gravel sites contain very few worked flints. The main features are small pits under 50 cm deep, and for this reason the sites cannot be detected from the air; and, even if they could be recognized, there would be nothing to distinguish them from Iron Age open sites, like those in the Upper Thames Basin.

Long-Handled ‘Weaving Combs’ in the Netherlands

1992 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 385-387
Author(s):  
Christina Tuohy
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Average Length ◽  
The Other ◽  
University Of Leiden ◽  
The University

Long-handled combs, predominantly made of antler — although some are of bone or perhaps whalebone — and traditionally associated with weaving, have been thought to be an almost exclusively British phenomenon (Hodson 1964, 103). They are first found in middle or later Bronze Age contexts, but are more usually associated with the Iron Age and go out of use in the later 1st century AD. Although dating of these tools is imprecise, on some sites such as Glastonbury (Bullied & Gray 1911) and Maiden Castle (Wheeler 1943, 298) one can say that the earlier ones are plain and later ones decorated, often with dot and circle and linear patterns. However evidence from Danebury shows the reverse to be the case (Cunliffe & Poole 1991). The combs measure between 80 to 222 mm with an average length of 150 mm. They are mostly dentated only at one end, although some are double-ended. There are usually between 8 and 13 teeth and at the other end the shape of the butts can be plain or they may have squared or rounded ends with or without perforations.Anna Roes (1963) drew attention to a comb from the Frisian terps in the Netherlands (fig. 1, no. 1), housed in the Fries Museum, Leeuwarden. She considered that it may well have been imported from Britain. The comb is undecorated but polished. Its length is 141 mm and width at teeth 37 mm and at the butt end 18 mm. The comb is very concave at the dentated end. There had originally been 12 teeth of which only one outer tooth remained and this is worn on its inner side. Recently two further combs have been found in the Netherlands on two domestic sites of the pre-Roman Iron Age (sites 15.04 and 16.59). Both were excavated by A. Abbink from the Institute of Prehistory of the University of Leiden in 1989 and 1990 respectively (Abbink 1989; 1991).

Air Reconnaissance in Northern France

Antiquity ◽  
1962 ◽  
Vol 36 (144) ◽  
pp. 279-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. K. St Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
The Other ◽  
Productive Area ◽  
South East England ◽  
Maintenance Requirements ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Housing Estates ◽  
Made In ◽  
Different Soils

During the last two decades discoveries of buried features of archaeological and historical interest have been widespread in south-east England, on many different soils supporting varying vegetation, the gravel terraces of the principal rivers and the chalk country yielding most information. Not the least productive area is the Isle of Thanet, where such ground as is free from the spreading housing estates of coastal resorts displays, for example, groups of ring-ditches of Bronze Age barrows, enclosures of the Iron Age, Roman villae, and even practice-trenches of the 1914-18 war. If discoveries of such variety and number could be made in Thanet, what of the other side of the Channel, where extensive tracts of chalk country are crossed by valleys with wide plains of alluvial gravel? Occasional discoveries made by members of French flying-clubs, for example, by M. Roger Agache in the Somme valley, had by 1961 shown that ‘crop-marks’ were to be seen; indeed it would be very surprising if they were not.But to undertake abroad a programme of air photography involving widely ranging flights, planned for research, is not quite so simple a matter as in Britain. Maintenance requirements appropriate to aircraft operating abroad impose limitations on the work, while above all there is need to obtain permission for such photography from the responsible authorities. It was largely owing to the continued support of M. Seyrig and Professor Will that such permission was granted at all, and grateful thanks are due to them, to the Direction de l’Architecture of the French Ministry of State, under whose auspices the work was carried out, and to the British Academy, which made a grant towards the cost of the operation.

Life by the River: a Prehistoric Landscape at Grendon, Northamptonshire

2005 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
pp. 333-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Last ◽  
Ian Baxter ◽  
Tony Brown ◽  
Nina Crummy ◽  
Natasha Dodwell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
The Other ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Environmental Sequence ◽  
Age Features ◽  
River Valleys ◽  
Shed Light

This paper describes the development of a prehistoric landscape by the river Nene at Grendon Lakes, partly revealed in the 1970s and partly during excavations in 1998 and 2001, which are reported in full. Two major phases of archaeological activity are evident, one interpreted as Neolithic–Early Bronze Age, the other as Iron Age. The gap between these is bridged by an environmental sequence reconstructed with the aid of a pollen core from an adjacent palaeochannel, which shows that human activity continued in the intervening period. The landscape is comparable in form, though not in scale, with that investigated 13 km downstream at Raunds, and helps shed light on the distinctive features of Midlands river valleys like the Nene in prehistory. In conclusion it is suggested that the different characters of the Neolithic and Iron Age features at Grendon mask some underlying similarities in the way they structured people's movements and encounters.

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