scholarly journals The neolithic settlements in the Timok region and Djerdap gorge hinterland

Starinar ◽  
2010 ◽  
pp. 19-36
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Kapuran ◽  
Aleksandar Bulatovic ◽  
Igor Jovanovic

For many years, the territory along the course of the Crni Timok river in northeast Serbia was not presented as an interesting area for early Neolithic excavation. However, recent inspection of older unpublished data, with newer reconnaissance, has shed new light on this period of prehistory. A larger number of sites have been discovered with similar topographical positions on the edges/rims of large areas or on ridges above river courses. Thanks to cooperation between the geographical project TOPOI from Berlin and the Archaeological Institute in Belgrade, work has begun on the production of a digital ?archaeological model of probability? (ARM), which will improve reconnaissance of this region. Alongside the only systematic excavation/investigation of settlements in Kucajna, 16 more localities have been confirmed, situated in the area between the Roman imperial palace of Felix Romuiana in the south and Bor in the north. They are located at the following sites: Cerova Faca and Dubrava in Brestovac; Kot 1 and 2, Pundjilov potok (Pundjil?s stream) in Metovnica; La Bunar in Sarbanovac; Smolnica, Abri above Lazareve pecine (Lazarus? cave), Donja Stopanja (Lower Stopanja) Kobila in Zlot. In the area around Felix Romuliana several settlements have been discovered: in sectors Intra and Extra muros, Kravarnik, Varzari, Petronj 2, sites between Magura and Rimski majdan (Roman mine) and Visicina Basta. From the examination of finds discovered at these sites it can be concluded that on the territory along the course of the River Timok the population of the Starcevo-Keres-Kris cultural complex was relatively well established during the early Neolithic period. The Neolithic occupation of the region had proceeded from the Djerdap gorge in the north and Sicevacka, Svrljiska and Trgoviska gorges in the south, towards the course of the River Timok i.e. the central part of north-east Serbia. The Mesolithic populations had gradually accepted the production of food. Utilizing the optimal climate and fertile soil, they improved their husbandry through new agricultural methods and the better domestication of animals. This experimental process demanded successive migrations, which impoverished the quality of soil and the seasonal movements of animals that needed to be tamed. By analysis of the topographical and geomorphologic character of this terrain, early Neolithic settlements can be described as being agricultural-livestock husbandry and livestock husbandry-hunting based. The first settlements were located on gently inclined terrains relatively close to water sources, at altitudes of 180 to 300 m. The second category of settlements were formed on uplands, offering a better view of the terrain, 230 to over 450 metres above sea level. These were probably short-term or seasonal settlements since such territories were usually unsuitable for habitation during the winter months. The poor geomorphology of the land, the magma-rock substratum and ill-drained soil, in combination with primitive agriculture, guaranteed greater soil erosion, which would destroy the economic worth of the soil. With the disappearance of the early- Neolithic population from this region, human habitation did not reoccur until several millennia later, during the middle Bronze age.

1950 ◽  
Vol 30 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 34-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey Williams

Charmy Down is a plateau three miles north-east of Bath (fig. 1, 1), east of the Bath-Tetbury road. About a square mile in extent it has a general height of well over 600 ft. To the north the scarp falls swiftly, on the east more gently, to the wooded valley of St. Catherine's Brook, a tributary of the Bristol Avon and the modern Somerset–Gloucester boundary. At the foot of the steep western scarp a second stream flows south to the Avon. On the south Chilcombe Bottom separates Charmy Down from Solsbury Hill, distinguished by its Iron Age earthwork. The underlying rock is oolite, a southward continuation of the Cotswold formation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 266-274
Author(s):  
Flemming Kaul

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.


Author(s):  
Magnus Kirby ◽  
Sue Anderson ◽  
Mhairi Hastie ◽  
Adam Jackson ◽  
Melanie Johnson ◽  
...  

Trial trenching carried out by CFA Archaeology Ltd in 2006 to the north of Lockerbie Academy identified four areas of archaeological significance covering a timescale from early Neolithic to post-medieval periods. The earliest site identified was the remains of a Neolithic timber hall, which was situated on top of the flat plateau towards the northwest end of the site (Area A). Pottery recovered from the Neolithic structure was of the Carinated Bowl ceramic tradition.At the summit of the rounded knoll in the centre of the area (Area D) a Bronze Age phase consisting of a cremation and inhumation cemetery enclosed by a possible ring-cairn was identified. The Bronze Age cemetery included a Collared Urn and a copper alloy dagger of Butterwick type.At the base of the rounded knoll, the remains of an Early Historic timber hall were identified (Area C). This Anglian timber hall reoccupied the site of a post-built structure, which was interpreted as a timber hall, possibly belonging to an earlier British tradition. Radiocarbon dates taken from the primary fill of two of the post-holes of the earlier structure gave dates which are broadly contemporary with the dates obtained for the Anglian hall, suggesting that the post-built structure immediately preceded it.A corn-drying kiln was identified cut into the same knoll as the Bronze Age cemetery (Area D) and has been dated to the late medieval or early post-medieval period.A segmented ditched enclosure was located towards the north-east end of the site (Area B), but the poor survival of this feature combined with a lack of finds and palaeobotanical evidence means that it remains undated and poorly understood.


2018 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-89
Author(s):  
Richard Massey ◽  
Elaine L. Morris

Excavation at Heatherstone Grange, Bransgore, Hampshire, investigated features identified in a previous evaluation. Area A included ring ditches representing two barrows. Barrow 1.1 held 40 secondary pits, including 34 cremation-related deposits of Middle Bronze Age date, and Barrow 1.2 had five inserted pits, including three cremation graves, one of which dated to the earlier Bronze Age, and was found with an accessory cup. A number of pits, not all associated with cremation burials, contained well-preserved urns of the regional Deverel-Rimbury tradition and occasional sherds from similar vessels, which produced a closely-clustered range of eight radiocarbon dates centred around 1300 BC. Of ten pits in Area C, three were cremation graves, of which one was radiocarbon-dated to the Early Bronze Age and associated with a collared urn, while four contained only pyre debris. Barrow 1.3, in Area E, to the south, enclosed five pits, including one associated with a beaker vessel, and was surrounded by a timber circle. Area F, further to the south-west, included two pits of domestic character with charcoal-rich fills and the remains of pottery vessels, together with the probable remains of a ditched enclosure and two sets of paired postholes. Area H, located to the north-west of Area E, partly revealed a ring ditch (Barrow 1.4), which enclosed two pits with charcoal-rich fills, one with a single Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age potsherd, and the other burnt and worked flint. A further undated pit was situated to the east of Barrow 1.4. The cremation cemetery inserted into Barrow 1.1 represents a substantial addition to the regional record of Middle Bronze Age cremation burials, and demonstrates important affinities with the contemporary cemeteries of the Stour Valley to the west, and sites on Cranborne Chase, to the north-west.


2019 ◽  
Vol 114 ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Michael Fotiadis ◽  
Areti Hondroyanni-Metoki ◽  
Alexandra Kalogirou ◽  
Yannis Maniatis ◽  
Anna Stroulia ◽  
...  

Scores of Neolithic sites have been excavated in west Macedonia since the 1990s, yet the majority are relatively short-lived installations, lacking high-resolution stratigraphies and sequences of radiocarbon dates. Megalo Nisi Galanis, a large mound in the Kitrini Limni basin, near modern Kozani, is a rare exception to that pattern. Systematically surveyed and excavated in 1987–9 and 1993, this site covers a large part of the Neolithic period in a stratified, radiocarbon-dated sequence capped in places by thin deposits of the Early Bronze Age. We present here the critical details of that sequence and relate them to evidence from other, recently excavated sites in west Macedonia. Megalo Nisi Galanis was first settled in the Early Neolithic (late seventh millennium bc), was intensively occupied until the early phases of the Final Neolithic (around 4500 bc), and continued to be inhabited, albeit sparely or intermittently, until the transition from the Early to the Middle Bronze Age, about 1800 bc. By the end of occupation, the mound covered more than eight hectares and rose up to five metres above the surrounding landscape. We attend closely to features of that landscape that are likely to have played an important role in the history of occupation of the site and Kitrini Limni in the course of the Holocene.


1935 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 16-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Holleyman ◽  
E. Cecil Curwen

Plumpton plain is situated on the top of the South Downs, roughly 600 feet above sea level, six miles north-east of Brighton and four miles north-west of Lewes (fig. 1). From its western end a broad spur slopes gently southwards from the northern escarpment of the Downs, lying between Moustone Valley on the south-east and Faulkners Bottom on the west. Most of this Downland is covered with a dense scrub of gorse, thorn and bramble, and with large patches of bracken and heather. A series of broad paths running roughly at right angles with one another has been cut through this vegetation to facilitate the preservation of game. Along the main ridge of the spur running north and south is a broad gallop which, at a height of 600 feet O.D., passes through a group of earthworks situated 1500 feet from the north edge of the Downs and 2300 feet east of Streathill Farm. This group was the primary object of bur investigations and will be referred to as Site A (fig. 2).Site B (fig. 3) lies a quarter of a mile to the south-east of Site A on a small lateral spur jutting between the twin heads of Moustone Bottom. The only visible evidence of prehistoric occupation was a quantity of coarse gritty sherds and calcined flints on the surface to the south-east of a low bank and ditch which runs across the spur.Several groups of lynchets enclosing square Celtic fields are to be seen in the neighbourhood of these two sites. They lie principally to the south-east of Site A and to the south of Site B.


2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 116-130
Author(s):  
V.V. Noskevich ◽  
N.V. Fedorova ◽  
A.M. Yuminov

Kagarlinsk copper deposits have been worked out since IV millennium BC and till the end of II millennium BC in the steppes of the South Urals and a huge amount of copper have been recovered from their ores in the Bronze Age. Geophysical studies have been conducted in the south periphery of the Kagarlinsk ore field not far from Belousovka village at the mining-processing complex with the length of 900—1000 m and 30—70 m size across. Something like a hundred of small open-cut mines from 3 to 12 m in diameter are fixed in this area with near side mine dumps, sites for assortment of extracted ore adjoined at stove pits 3—5 m in diameter for burning up lump ores. Thorough topographic, gradient magnetic and geo-radar surveys have been fulfilled in areas where typical objects: open-cut mine, a pit for pilot burning up ores, slime sites and ore store are situated. As a result new data have been obtained on the structure of ancient outputs and associated technological facilities. Numerous magnetic anomalies revealed near the open-cut mine and a pit testify that copper ore encloses sufficient amount of iron and pilot assortment of the burned up ore took place near the pits. According to the results of geo-radar survey special features of pit-stove have been reconstructed and 3D model of the ancient open-cut mine built. A pit for burning up ore was cone-shaped with steps for comfort of loading and unloading ore. Its bottom diameter was 5m, the principal mine was 1—1.5 m in diameter and depth rough 3 m, the volume of the pit did not exceed 13—15 m3. Transversal size of a mine was 7—9 m and the depth was up to 4 m. The open-cut mine had steep sides from the north, east and south and in the west the relief was mildly sloping. The entrance to the open-cut mine was from the west. Initial depth of the open-cut mine differed from the present day surface by 2—3 m. According to our appraisal the amount of extracted ore in this mine was 25—30 tons. Taking into account the overall number of mines some 2—2.5 thousand tons of bulk ore were extracted during operation of Belousovka mining-metallurgical complex.


Author(s):  
Erika Weiberg

The point of departure for this paper is the publication of two Early Helladic sealing fragments from the coastal settlement of Asine on the north-east Peloponnese in Greece. After an initial description and discussion they are set in the context of sealing custom established on the Greek mainland around 2500 BCE. In the first part of the paper focus is on the apparent qualitative differences between the available seals and the contemporary seal impressions, as well as between different sealing assemblages on northeastern Peloponnese. This geographical emphasis is carried into the second part of the paper which is a review and contextualisation of the representational art of the Aegean Early Bronze Age in general, and northeastern Peloponnese in particular. Seal motifs and figurines are the main media for Early Helladic representational art preserved until today, yet in many ways very dissimilar. These opposites are explored in order to begin to build a better understanding of Peloponnesian representational art, the choices of motifs, and their roles in the lives of the Early Helladic people.


Author(s):  
Feiko Kalsbeek ◽  
Lilian Skjernaa

NOTE: This article was published in a former series of GEUS Bulletin. Please use the original series name when citing this article, for example: Kalsbeek, F., & Skjernaa, L. (1999). The Archaean Atâ intrusive complex (Atâ tonalite), north-east Disko Bugt, West Greenland. Geology of Greenland Survey Bulletin, 181, 103-112. https://doi.org/10.34194/ggub.v181.5118 _______________ The 2800 Ma Atâ intrusive complex (elsewhere referred to as ‘Atâ granite’ or ‘Atâ tonalite’), which occupies an area of c. 400 km2 in the area north-east of Disko Bugt, was emplaced into grey migmatitic gneisses and supracrustal rocks. At its southern border the Atâ complex is cut by younger granites. The complex is divided by a belt of supracrustal rocks into a western, mainly tonalitic part, and an eastern part consisting mainly of granodiorite and trondhjemite. The ‘eastern complex’ is a classical pluton. It is little deformed in its central part, displaying well-preserved igneous layering and local orbicular textures. Near its intrusive contact with the overlying supracrustal rocks the rocks become foliated, with foliation parallel to the contact. The Atâ intrusive complex has escaped much of the later Archaean and early Proterozoic deformation and metamorphism that characterises the gneisses to the north and to the south; it belongs to the best-preserved Archaean tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite intrusions in Greenland.


1932 ◽  
Vol 69 (5) ◽  
pp. 209-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. D. Osborne

THE Carlingford-Barnave district falls within the boundaries of Sheet 71 of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, and forms part of a broad promontory lying between Carlingford Lough on the north-east and Dundalk Bay on the south-west. The greater part of this promontory is made up of an igneous complex of Tertiary age which has invaded the Silurian slates and quartzites and the Carboniferous Limestone Series. This complex has not yet been investigated in detail, but for the purposes of the present paper certain references to it are necessary, and these are made below. The prevalence of hybrid-relations and contamination-effects between the basic and acid igneous rocks of the region is a very marked feature, and because of this it has been difficult at times to decide which types have been responsible for the various stages of the metamorphism.


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