scholarly journals Neither “Celtic” nor “Dacian”: The Site of Židovar at the Edges of La Tène, Carpathian and Roman Worlds

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir D. Mihajlović ◽  
Marko A. Janković
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
New Approach ◽  
First Order ◽  
Relational Networks ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
La Tène ◽  
La Tene ◽  
Published Research ◽  
Evidential Basis

The paper reviews long-standing interpretation of the late Iron Age site of Židovar as “Celtic”, “Dacian” and “Celto-Dacian”. Arguing that this standpoint is derived from biased culture-historical ethno-determinism, the evidence is reconsidered from excavation journals of Branko Gavela and published research on Židovar. Evidential basis is discussed, such as sratigraphic difficulties and chronology, as well as some common misconceptions of the site’s characteristics. Deadlocks are emphasized regarding the conclusions on its ethnic belonging. The paper calls for a new approach that goes beyond ethno-cultural determinism and urges the employment of “relational locality”. This perspective considers the site and its immediate surroundings as the first order community, i.e. the spatio-social focal point entangled in diverse, multidirectional and supra-regional relational networks. This would mean that the community of Židovar actively mediated different templates coming from the “globalized” koines of La Tène Pannonian, Danubian-Carpathian and Roman worlds, and bricolaged them in distinctive local ways.

scholarly journals Archaeology and Zooarchaeology of the Late Iron Age-Roman Transition in the Province of Raetia (100 bc–100 ad)

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 431-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Trixl ◽  
Bernd Steidl ◽  
Joris Peters
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Temporal Analysis ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Burial Customs ◽  
La Tène ◽  
Alpine Foreland ◽  
La Tene ◽  
Transitional Phase

The incorporation of the region north of the Alpine divide and its foreland into the Imperium Romanum initiated major changes in economic and social structure and in everyday life in the newly-founded province of Raetia. Controversy exists, however, about the continuity of local La Tène traditions into early Roman times, since the archaeological evidence recorded to date tends to give the impression that the northern Alpine foreland was largely unpopulated at the time of the Roman conquest in 15 bc. However, ongoing excavations in this region are gradually enhancing the archaeological visibility of this transitional phase. Compared to early Roman provincial populations settled along the Via Claudia Augusta and its hinterland, a culturally unique community stands out: the Heimstetten group. This group is located in the eastern Raetian hinterlands and dates to around 30–60 ad. Its building tradition, settlement structure, and burial customs show close affinities with the La Tène culture, thus suggesting continuity in autochthonous culture at the time of the early Roman occupation. Since faunal remains can potentially act as cultural markers, additional insights can be gained from a spatial-temporal analysis of livestock composition and breeding practices. The results presented here clearly show that, during the Iron Age, marked regional differences in species composition are visible, implying the possibility of distinct developments during early Romanization. In addition to evaluating faunal developments in the study area between c. 100 bc–100 ad, the issue of cattle breeding—traditionally the mainstay of livestock economies in many regions and especially in the Munich Gravel Plain at least since the Bronze Age—is addressed in greater detail.

scholarly journals Novajidrány–Sárvár-Erdészház : A Celtic Cemetery at the Foothills of Cserehát, Hungary

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-23
Author(s):  
Bíborka Vass ◽  
F. Zsófia Sörös
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Preliminary Report ◽  
Carpathian Basin ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
La Tène ◽  
Ceramic Assemblages ◽  
La Tene ◽  
Population Wave ◽  
Grave Goods

At the end of the 4th century BC, and the beginning of the 3rd century BC a Celtic population wave reached the eastern parts of the Carpathian Basin, including Northeastern Hungary. The elements of the funerary rite and the archaeological finds attest to the presence of the newly arrived communities in the cemeteries of the region. The present study serves as a preliminary report on the research results of a Celtic cemetery in the Hernád valley excavated in 2019. The site of Novajidrány–Sárvár-erdészház was in use between the late 4th century BC the earliest and the 3rd century BC and it fits well into the row of Late Iron Age cemeteries in the region. Both cremated and inhumated burials were documented with richly accompanied metal and pottery grave goods. Appearing next to the typically La Tène-styled finds, the graves also contained – mainly in the ceramic assemblages – Scythian-influenced forms which can be explained by the Celtic and Scythian cohabitation in the region during the Late Iron Age.

scholarly journals Oppida, Agglomerations, and Suburbia: the Bibracte Environs and New Perspectives on Late Iron Age Urbanism in Central-Eastern France

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 491-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Moore ◽  
Arno Braun ◽  
John Creighton ◽  
Laura Cripps ◽  
Peter Haupt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
La Tène ◽  
Central Eastern ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
La Tene

This paper explores the nature and chronology of La Tène and early Roman unenclosed agglomerations in central-eastern France. It has been prompted by the discovery of a c. 115 ha La Tène D2b/Augustan (c. 50 BC to AD 15) site close to Bibracte in the Morvan, located around the source of the River Yonne. This complex provides a new perspective on the chronology and role of Late La Tène and early Roman unenclosed settlements, adding further complexity to the story of the development of Late La Tène oppida. It indicates that these ‘agglomerations’ followed remarkably varied chronological trajectories, raising important issues concerning the nature of landscape and social change at the end of the Iron Age.

scholarly journals Re-approaching Celts: Origins, Society, and Social Change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Pope
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Social Understanding ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Central European ◽  
La Tène ◽  
La Tene ◽  
Salt Trade

AbstractThis work re-approaches the origins of “the Celts” by detailing the character of their society and the nature of social change in Europe across 700–300 BC. A new approach integrates regional burial archaeology with contemporary classical texts to further refine our social understanding of the European Iron Age. Those known to us as “Celts” were matrifocal Early Iron Age groups in central Gaul who engaged in social traditions out of the central European salt trade and became heavily involved in Mediterranean politics. The paper focuses on evidence from the Hallstatt–La Tène transition to solve a 150-year-old problem: how the Early Iron Age “Celts” became the early La Tène “Galatai,” who engaged in the Celtic migrations and the sacking of Rome at 387 BC.

Status and Violence

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter S. Wells
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Visual Objects ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
La Tène ◽  
La Tene

This chapter focuses on sword and scabbards. Swords were important visual objects, larger than most other objects in Bronze and Iron Age Europe, and their shape made them visually striking. Two parts of the sword were especially important in this regard. In the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, the hilt and pommel were often the vehicles for elaborate eye-catching ornament. When a sword was in its scabbard, whether worn at the side of the bearer, hanging on a wall, or placed in the burial chamber, the only parts of the weapon that were visible were the handle and its end. During the Middle and Late Iron Age, the scabbard became especially important as a vehicle for decorative elaboration. Bronze and Early Iron Age scabbards were mostly made of wood, and we do not, therefore have much information about how they were decorated. From the end of the Early La Tène period on, however, swords were long, and scabbards of bronze and iron offered extensive rectangular surfaces for decoration.

Commentaria archaeologica et historica (III). Chronology of the Dacian Silver Hoards

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 11-38
Author(s):  
Aurel Rustoiu
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
La Tène ◽  
Danube Region ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
La Tene

These comments stem from the recent publication of a number of studies regarding the silver artefacts of pre-Roman Dacia, with important implications for the relative and absolute chronology of the late La Tène period in the region in question, and also for some cultural and historical transformations that happened in the same area. Some of the conclusions presented in these studies are insufficiently supported by arguments. Their publication requires a detailed analysis, which is meant to clarify a number of controversial aspects. For example, D. Spânu has recently divided the evolution of the Dacian silver hoards into two phases dated to the La Tène D2a and D2b (the period between ca. 75 – 65 BC and the Augustan age). To support this chronology, he chose to ignore a series of hoards, or only certain artefacts from other hoards, which did not fit into the suggested model. These efforts to push the chronology of the Dacian silver hoards within a particular time frame stem from his aim to use these discoveries as arguments for a series of a priori historical interpretations for which archaeological evidence is scant. This includes the idea that the local silver ornaments were all made exclusively of melted Mediterranean coins which supposedly reached pre-Roman Dacia massively only after the defeating of Mithridates VI Eupator and the fall of the Kingdom of Pontus. However, the analysis of the silver jewellery from pre-Roman Dacia is demonstrating that the artefacts in question were made using both locally-sourced silver and melted Mediterranean coins. Chronologically, these hoards can be divided into three phases: first group dated to the La Tène D1, 150/125 – 75/50 BC; second group belongs to the La Tène D2, 75/50 – 30/25 BC; third group dated to the Augustan – Tiberian period, 30/25 BC – AD 25/30. It can be therefore concluded that the scenario proposed by D. Spânu for the chronology of the end of the Late Iron Age in the lower Danube region and Transylvania, based on an erroneous dating of the silver hoards, is not credible. This kind of analysis requires the incorporation of different categories of archaeological evidence belonging to the last three centuries before the Roman conquest. Their contextual interpretation could provide a more reliable and detailed chronology of the evolution of the communities from each of the two territories in question. Lastly, this evolution was not uniformly equal across wide areas, as suggested by the typo-chronological tables and schemes drawn in the office by some researchers, since each community had its own history and evolution governed by a multitude of different social, economic, demographic or ecological factors.

scholarly journals Lava rotary querns of ‘Iron Age type’ in Roman times

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Wenzel
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Main Product ◽  
Type A ◽  
Low Countries ◽  
Dominant Form ◽  
Active Surfaces ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
La Tène ◽  
Branded Product ◽  
La Tene

In Mayen the production of lava rotary querns of ‘Iron Age type’ continued from the late La Tène period into Julio-Claudian times. The lower quernstone possessed a domed grinding face and the upper stone was double concave in section. While the surfaces of these querns are usually pecked, late examples show a segmented radial grooving on the grinding surfaces. Handle sockets with elbow-shaped (L-shaped) perforation were already an innovation of the late Iron Age. Since Augustan times ‘typical Roman’ hand-mills were the main product of the Mayen quarries. They had a meta with a flat conical grinding surface and a catillus with a broad raised rim. The active surfaces were grooved for functional reasons. However, the upper side of the catillus and the sides of upper and lower stones were grooved for decoration, making these rotary querns a characteristic ‘branded’ product. Most of the ‘Iron Age type’ quernstones of Early Imperial times are known from the Low Countries where they go under the name of Brillerij-type. A survey of these quernstones reveals several examples found to the southeast of this region. Even after the typical Roman hand mills became the dominant form, some ‘vintage’ Iron Age type querns were still produced for a special clientele. Though, so far, virtually no closely dated specimens are known from contexts after the Batavian revolt.

scholarly journals The discovery of seven engraved La Tène glass beads from the sanctuary of Mathay-Mandeure

Antiquity ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 92 (364) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joëlle Rolland ◽  
Laurent Olivier
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Glass Beads ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
La Tène ◽  
La Tene

Analysis of seven newly discovered engraved La Tène beads from the Mathay-Mandeure sanctuary in Doubs, France, has refined the chronology for the manufacture of such rare artefacts, and increases our understanding of Late Iron Age ritual deposition practices.

scholarly journals New metal and glass finds from the Late Iron Age in South Moravia (CZ). The contribution of citizen science to knowledge of the La Tene settlement structure in the Břeclav Region

2020 ◽  
pp. 9-41
Author(s):  
Petra Goláňová ◽  
Balázs Komoróczy ◽  
Matěj Kmošek ◽  
Eva Kolníková ◽  
Marek Vlach ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Common Denominator ◽  
Settlement Structure ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Czech Academy ◽  
La Tène ◽  
La Tene ◽  
South Moravia ◽  
Academy Of Sciences

The ‘Celts Beneath the Pálava Hills’ exhibition was installed at the end of the summer of 2020 at the Regional Museum in Mikulov. The museum prepared the exhibition in cooperation with the Moravian Museum and the Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno. Along with other unique exhibits, an assemblage of 70 metal artefacts stored in Dolní Dunajovice in the study collection of the Research Centre for the Roman and Great Migration periods of the Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, was chosen to be displayed for this event. The article presents 47 small artefacts made of copper alloys, 18 coins and five glass artefacts from 17 cadastral units, which enriched the exhibition with a variety of characteristic LT C and D1 finds. They do not form a complete collection, as their common denominator is that they were found in 2011–2017 solely by metal detectorists working together with the archaeologists from the workplace where the finds are stored. These never-before-published artefacts and the qualities of each deserve to be presented both to the public and the professional community. These artefacts include finds which, in the context of the Late Iron Age of south Moravia, are unique objects (including two bronze figurines) that are significant contributions to the clarification and differentiation of the topography of the La Tene settlement structure in the studied region.

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