scholarly journals ESSENTIAL CHANGES IN THE COMPOSITION OF COPPER ALLOYS REVEAL TECHNOLOGICAL DIVERSITIES IN THE TRANSITION FROM THE EARLIEST IRON AGE TO THE EARLY ROMAN PERIOD IN LITHUANIA

2021 ◽  
pp. 39-62
Author(s):  
AUDRONĖ  BLIUJIENĖ ◽  
GEDIMINAS PETRAUSKAS ◽  
JURGA BAGDZEVIČIENĖ ◽  
EVALDAS BABENSKAS ◽  
TOMAS RIMKUS
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Copper Alloys ◽  
Roman Period

The Production of Copper Alloys in Iron Age Britain

1996 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 399-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.B. Dungworth
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Analytical Method ◽  
Copper Alloy ◽  
Copper Alloys ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Tin Bronze ◽  
Quantitative Analyses ◽  
Selection Of

This paper presents a selection of compositional analyses of Iron Age copper alloy artefacts from northern Britain. The results were obtained as part of a larger project which examined Iron Age and Roman copper alloys in northern Britain (the region from the Trent-Mersey to the Forth-Clyde). The quantitative analyses were carried out using EDXRF on drilled or polished samples. Comparisons are made with results from the late Bronze Age and early Roman period in northern Britain. The results are also compared with those already published from a range of Iron Age sites in southern England. The large total number of copper alloy analyses from the British Iron Age has made possible a synthesis of the data which has largely been assembled piecemeal. It is now clear that a tin bronze was the principal copper alloy for much of the Iron Age. The composition of this alloy is distinct from the alloys used in the Late Bronze Age and during the Roman period although there is considerable ‘blurring’ at the transitions. A brief outline of the analytical method employed and the analytical results are included.

Iron Age and Roman Enclosed Settlement at Winchester Road, Basingstoke

2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-97
Author(s):  
Richard Massey ◽  
Matt Nichol ◽  
Dana Challinor ◽  
Sharon Clough ◽  
Matilda Holmes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Field Boundary ◽  
Crop Processing ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Middle Iron Age ◽  
Grave Goods

Excavation in Area 1 identified an enclosed settlement of Middle–Late Iron Age and Early Roman date, which included a roundhouse gully and deep storage pits with complex fills. A group of undated four-post structures, situated in the east of Area 1, appeared to represent a specialised area of storage or crop processing of probable Middle Iron Age date. A sequence of re-cutting and reorganisation of ditches and boundaries in the Late Iron Age/Early Roman period was followed, possibly after a considerable hiatus, by a phase of later Roman activity, Late Iron Age reorganisation appeared to be associated with the abandonment of a roundhouse, and a number of structured pit deposits may also relate to this period of change. Seven Late Iron Age cremation burials were associated with a contemporary boundary ditch which crossed Area 1. Two partly-exposed, L-shaped ditches may represent a later Roman phase of enclosed settlement and a slight shift in settlement focus. An isolated inhumation burial within the northern margins of Area 1 was tentatively dated by grave goods to the Early Saxon period.<br/> Area 2 contained a possible trackway and field boundary ditches, of which one was of confirmed Late Iron Age/Early Roman date. A short posthole alignment in Area 2 was undated, and may be an earlier prehistoric feature.

scholarly journals Late-Holocene forest resilience in the central Pyrenean highlands as deduced from pollen analysis of Lake Sant Maurici sediments

The Holocene ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 095968362110332
Author(s):  
Valentí Rull ◽  
Núria Cañellas-Boltà ◽  
Teresa Vegas-Vilarrúbia
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Southern Central ◽  
Central Pyrenees ◽  
The Middle Ages

Palynological analysis of the last ca. 4300 cal year BP using a sediment core taken from high mountain (ca. 1900 m elevation) Lake Sant Maurici sediments (southern-central Pyrenees) showed remarkable vegetation constancy during the Bronze Age and the Middle Ages. Records of the Iron Age and the Roman period were missing due to a major sedimentary gap. During the studied periods, the vegetation around the lake was largely dominated by pine ( Pinus) forests with birch ( Betula), oak ( Quercus) and hazel ( Corylus) trees, as is the case today. The composition of these forests and the abundance of their components remained quite stable, despite the occurrence of temperature and moisture shifts. The degree of human disturbance, notably that of pastoralism and cereal cultivation by scattered and temporary settlements, was very low and had little or no effect on the dominant forests. This situation contrasts with most high-elevation (subalpine and alpine) environments of the central Pyrenees that were massively anthropized during the Middle Ages. Further research should be aimed at finding sediments corresponding to the Iron Age and the Roman period to verify whether the vegetation constancy can be extended throughout the Late-Holocene. Past records of this type may allow the estimation of natural and anthropogenic thresholds for irreversible forest changes, which would be useful for conservation purposes.

Massive storage in As Laias/O Castelo (Ourense, NW Spain) from the Late Bronze Age/Iron Age transition to the Roman period: a palaeoethnobotanical approach

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (11) ◽  
pp. 3865-3877 ◽  
Author(s):  
João Pedro Tereso ◽  
Pablo Ramil-Rego ◽  
Yolanda Álvarez González ◽  
Luis López González ◽  
Rubim Almeida-da-Silva
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Nw Spain

The Britons in Southern Scotland

Antiquity ◽  
1955 ◽  
Vol 29 (114) ◽  
pp. 77-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
The West ◽  
Early Medieval Period ◽  
The North ◽  
Dark Ages ◽  
The People ◽  
Northern Portion

The archaeological background of the people of what is now Scotland south of the Forth and Clyde in the Roman period was a La Téne one, and specifically chiefly Iron Age B. This links them intimately with the Britons of southern Britain in the conglomeration of Celtic tribes who called themselves Brittones and spoke what we call the Brittonic or Ancient British form of Celtic, from which are descended the three modern languages of Welsh, Cornish and Breton. To the north of the Forth was a different people, the Picts. They too were Celts or partly Celts; probably not Brittones however, but a different branch of the Celtic race, though more closely related to the Brittones than to the Goidels of Ireland and (in later times) of the west of Scotland. Not being Brittonic, the Picts may be ignored here. Our southern Scottish Brittones are nothing but the northern portion of a common Brittonic population, from the southern portion of which come the people of Wales and Cornwall. Some historians speak of the northern Brittones as Welsh, following good Anglo-Saxon precedent, but this is apt to lead to confusion. The best term for them, in the Dark Ages and early Medieval period, as long as they survived, is ‘Cumbrians’, and for their language, ‘Cumbric’. They called themselves in Latin Cumbri and Cumbrenses, which is a Latinization of the native word Cymry, meaning ‘fellow-countrymen’, which both they and the Welsh used of themselves in common, and is still the Welsh name for the Welsh to the present day. The centre of their power was Strathclyde, the Clyde valley, with their capital at Dumbarton.

Formation and Land-Use History of Celtic Fields in North-West Europe – an Interdisciplinary Case Study at Zeijen, the Netherlands

2003 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theo Spek ◽  
Willy Groenman-van Waateringe ◽  
Maja Kooistra ◽  
Lideweij Bakker
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Soil Tillage ◽  
North West ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
History Of

Celtic field research has so far been strongly focused on prospection and mapping. As a result of this there is a serious lack of knowledge of formation and land-use processes of these fields. This article describes a methodological case study in The Netherlands that may be applied to other European Celtic fields in the future. By interdisciplinary use of pedological, palynological and micromorphological research methods the authors were able to discern five development stages in the history of the field, dating from the late Bronze Age to the early Roman Period. There are strong indications that the earthen ridges, very typical for Celtic fields in the sandy landscapes of north-west Europe, were only formed in the later stages of Celtic field agriculture (late Iron Age and early Roman period). They were the result of a determined raising of the surface by large-scale transportation of soil material from the surroundings of the fields. Mainly the ridges were intensively cultivated and manured in the later stages of Celtic field cultivation. In the late Iron Age a remarkable shift in Celtic field agriculture took place from an extensive system with long fallow periods, a low level of manuring and extensive soil tillage to a more intensive system with shorter fallow periods, a more intensive soil tillage and a higher manuring intensity. There are also strong indications that rye (Secale cereale) was the main crop in the final stage of Celtic field agriculture.

The Pershore Hoards and Votive Deposition in the Iron Age

2013 ◽  
Vol 79 ◽  
pp. 297-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Hurst ◽  
Ian Leins
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Geophysical Survey ◽  
Landscape Position ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Archaeological Excavation ◽  
Extensive Area ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Votive Deposition ◽  
Twisted Wire

A large hoard of Iron Age coins was discovered by metal-detecting at Pershore, Worcestershire, in 1993. During small-scale archaeological excavation further Iron Age coins were recovered, including a likely second hoard. Further fieldwork in the same vicinity as the hoard(s) produced more Iron Age finds, including more coins, and a possible fragment of a twisted wire gold torc. In total 1494 Iron Age gold and silver coins were recovered. Geophysical survey indicated that the hoard(s) lay at the southern end of an extensive area of settlement which, based on the fieldwalking evidence, was mainly of Iron Age and Roman date. This covered an overall area ofc.10 ha, within which several areas of more intensive activity were defined, including enclosures and possible round-houses. It is suggested that the coin hoard(s) indicate the location of a Late Iron Age religious space in an elevated landscape position situated on the edge of a settlement which continued into the Roman period. As part of the archaeological strategy, specialist deep-search metal-detecting was undertaken in order to establish that the site has now been completely cleared of metalwork caches

Enduring Past: Megalithic Tombs of Brittany and the Roman Occupation in Western France

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mara Vejby
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Initial Phase ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Physical Contact ◽  
Major Road ◽  
North West ◽  
Major Shift ◽  
Megalithic Tombs ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Loire River

The extended lives of prehistoric monuments, whether or not they were interacted with once their initial phase of use had ended and how they were treated, can reveal valuable details about a culture. To interact with a place means that the action or influence is reciprocal. The individual, or group of individuals, is somehow affected by the physical contact they’ve had with the site, and the place in turn has been altered. Interactions are more than just reuse of a space. In fact, missing pieces of monuments’ biographies, evidence of subsequent use and treatment, are details that may tell us how a people dealt with their own past as well as that of others. The focus of this study is a region in which the biographies of a group of monuments appear to be intimately tied to clashing cultures during the Roman occupation: Morbihan, Brittany. Brittany is the westernmost province of France, roughly 30 kilometres north-west of the mouth of the Loire river, and extending over 200 kilometres westward into the Celtic Sea. The south-easternmost department of this province is Morbihan, which makes up over 6,800 square kilometres and centres on the Gulf of Morbihan, a few kilometres south of Vannes (Darioritum), the Roman-period civitas-capital of the Veneti. Darioritum was not only a port for commercial ships, but was also on the major road network connecting the Coriosolitae (Corseul), Osismes (Carhaix-Plouguer) and Namnetes (Nantes) civitates (Galliou and Jones 1991, 77, 81, 84). Evidence found in a thorough survey of Iron Age and Roman materials at megalithic tombs in Atlantic Europe revealed that Brittany is by far the region with the highest concentration of direct Roman period interactions, despite both the distribution of megalithic tombs across the peninsula and subsequent habitation patterns during the Iron Age and Roman periods (Scarre 2011, 29–33; Vejby 2012) . It also revealed that this activity is a major shift from the comparatively low number of megalithic tombs at which Iron Age materials have been found.

What shall we put in the grave? Archaeometric analyses of ceramics from a late Pre-Roman, Roman and Migration period cemetery in Malbork-Wielbark, northern Poland

2020 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 414-453
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Daszkiewicz ◽  
Piotr Łuczkiewicz ◽  
Jörg Kleemann ◽  
Aneta Kuzioła
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Shock ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Water Permeability ◽  
Open Porosity ◽  
Thermal Shock Resistance ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Matrix Type ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Shock Resistance

AbstractThe necropolis at Malbork-Wielbark was excavated from 1927 to 1936 and 2008 to 2019. This burial ground is the eponymous site of the Wielbark culture. To date, over 2000 burials, both inhumation and cremation (pit and urn graves), have been recorded at this site, attesting to its continuous use from the Early Pre-Roman Iron Age (phase A1) to the early Migration Period (phase D1), with particular emphasis on the Roman Period. The cemetery site partially overlies and damages an earlier Iron Age settlement of the Pomeranian culture.Laboratory analyses were carried out on 113 pottery sherds. The series of samples chosen for analysis reflected, as far as was possible, all relative chronological phases and vessel shapes. The pottery was analysed using a step by step strategy built on the results of MGR-analysis (i. e. the classification of samples based on their matrix type) and on a macroscopic assessment of clastic material. In addition, an estimation of chemical composition by portable energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) was available for each sample. After they had been classified, samples were selected for chemical analysis by wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF), estimation of physical ceramic properties (open porosity, water absorption and apparent density), Kilb-Hennike analysis (K-H analysis), thin-section studies using a polarising microscope, a study of surface phenomena by RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging), thermal analysis (TG-DTG-DTA), X-ray diffraction analysis and functional properties analysis (water permeability and thermal shock resistance), as well as experimental estimation of magnetic properties.The results of MGR-analysis carried out on ceramic samples taken from 113 potsherds revealed that all of the pottery was made from various non-calcareous clays with fine-grained iron compounds homogeneously distributed in the matrix. It was decided not to carry on determining/using MGR-groups, as nearly every sherd represents a different MGR-group. This means that these vessels were made during different production cycles. The differences in thermal behaviour between samples were attributed only to matrix-type groups. It can be concluded that 85 % of the total sherds were made from plastic raw materials of the same provenance, and that the same matrix-type groups occurred in all chronological phases. The percentage of vessels made of particular raw materials indicates a significant difference in the preferences of Pomeranian Culture potters and those of Pre-Roman Iron Age, Early Roman Period and those of the Late Roman Period, when one type of raw material disappears from use. This last period is also characterized by an increase in the number of vessels fired in a reducing atmosphere. Standardization is also evident in vessel-wall thickness, which falls within a narrow range of values, on the other hand combined with a large variety in grain sizes up to very large ones and with a wide range of open porosity values, which in turn points to a lack of care in the preparation of the ceramic body. Vessels that may have been non-local origin are noted in all chronological phases. Analysis of functional properties (water permeability and thermal shock resistance) revealed that the pottery deposited in graves included fully functional wares, such as cooking pots, as well as vessels intended solely as grave goods.More than a few samples evidence the use of a slow-rotating potter’s wheel, and it is also possible that a template was used for forming vessel rims. However, there are very few examples of truly technologically advanced vessels. The technology is generally tailored to the desired type or form of vessel.

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