scholarly journals Topography and reconstruction of historical mines of the Kagarlinsk mining-metallurgical center (Bronze Age)

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.

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.


1987 ◽  
Vol 107 ◽  
pp. 182-182
Author(s):  
Reynold Higgins

A recent discovery on the island of Aegina by Professor H. Walter (University of Salzburg) throws a new light on the origins of the so-called Aegina Treasure in the British Museum.In 1982 the Austrians were excavating the Bronze Age settlement on Cape Kolonna, to the north-west of Aegina town. Immediately to the east of the ruined Temple of Apollo, and close to the South Gate of the prehistoric Lower Town, they found an unrobbed shaft grave containing the burial of a warrior. The gravegoods (now exhibited in the splendid new Museum on the Kolonna site) included a bronze sword with a gold and ivory hilt, three bronze daggers, one with gold fittings, a bronze spear-head, arrowheads of obsidian, boar's tusks from a helmet, and fragments of a gold diadem (plate Va). The grave also contained Middle Minoan, Middle Cycladic, and Middle Helladic (Mattpainted) pottery. The pottery and the location of the grave in association with the ‘Ninth City’ combine to give a date for the burial of about 1700 BC; and the richness of the grave-goods would suggest that the dead man was a king.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-45
Author(s):  
Fabio Silva

This paper applies a combined landscape and skyscape archaeology methodology to the study of megalithic passage graves in the North-west of the Iberian Peninsula, in an attempt to glimpse the cosmology of these Neolithic Iberians. The reconstructed narrative is found to be supported also by a toponym for a local mountain range and associated folklore, providing an interesting methodology that might be applied in future Celtic studies. The paper uses this data to comment on the ‘Celticization from the West’ hypothesis that posits Celticism originated in the European Atlantic façade during the Bronze Age. If this is the case, then the Megalithic phenomenon that was widespread along the Atlantic façade would have immediately preceded the first Celts.


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.


Author(s):  
Penelope M. Allison

In November 1926 the excavators recorded moving lapilli from in front of this house and from the entrance but no finds were reported in these areas. On 8 July 1932 they recorded removing disturbed volcanic deposit from the middle levels in the northeast area of this insula. A breach (min. h.: 2 m), now patched, in the south end of the west wall of room 2 and 1.05 m above the floor, presumably penetrated into this space and documents disturbance after ad 79. Elia observed that the room had been covered and had been divided for all or part of its length by a ‘tramezzo ligneo’ which Ling interprets as a wooden partition to screen the stairway. In the north-east corner, are three masonry steps from a stairway which Ling argued ascended along the east wall. Ling argues that the installation of this stairway would have put out of commission the recess and lararium painting (dimensions: 0.55 m × 0.4 m) behind it. The remains of a late Third Style decoration are found on the walls. The loose finds from near the north entrance of this space and from near the entrance to room 3 were predominantly door-fittings, with the possible exception of a small marble base. A small key reported in the latter location may originally have been from storage furniture but was unlikely to have been in use as no other remains of such furnishings were recorded. The only other find in this area was a glass vessel of unknown type. Elia called this room an ‘atrium’. The finds are not particularly diagnostic but, even if this area was disturbed, they hint that it had been relatively unencumbered with furnishings, probably serving predominantly as a reception and access area for the rest of the house. The breach in the south end of the west wall of this room implies that it may have been disturbed after ad 79. The walls had a simple painted decoration but this room had no evident fixtures. According to Elia it was an ‘oecus’. The limited ceramic finds (a jug, a terra sigillata dish, and a lamp) are associated with lighting and probably with the serving or storage of foodstuffs.


1967 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 353-371
Author(s):  
J. J. Coulton

About 10 metres south-west of the sixth-century temple of Hera Akraia at Perachora, and nearly due west of the little harbour lies the small courtyard previously known as the ‘Agora’. Since its purpose is not known, it will here be non-committally referred to as the West Court. It was first excavated in 1932, and more fully, under the supervision of J. K. Brock, in 1933, but it was not entirely cleared until 1939, and it was at that time that the Roman house which stood in the middle of the court was demolished. The West Court is discussed briefly (under the name of ‘Agora’) in Perachora 1 and in the preliminary reports of the Perachora excavations. Short supplementary excavations were carried out in 1964 and 1966 to examine certain points of the structure.In shape the West Court is an irregular pentagon, about 24 metres from north to south and the same from east to west (Fig. 1; Plate 91 a, b). It is enclosed on the west, north, and on part, at least, of the east side by a wall of orthostates on an ashlar foundation. For a short distance on either side of the south corner, the court is bounded by a vertically dressed rock face which is extended to the north-east and west by walls of polygonal masonry. At the south-west corner the west orthostate wall butts against the polygonal wall, which continues for about 0·80 m. beyond it and then returns north for about 8 metres behind it.


1964 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 352-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. H. Field ◽  
C. L. Matthews ◽  
I. F. Smith ◽  
Jane M. Ewbank

This discovery was made as a result of rescue excavation in advance of road improvements by the Dorset County Council in the autumn of 1962. The site (NGR SY/99789918) now lies in the north verge of the A31 trunk road, 500 feet towards Wimborne Minster from the new Lake junction to Corfe Mullen, but in 1962 it was still included in field No. 7924, belonging to Lake Farm. Here the land, which forms part of the flood-plain of the Stour, is crossed by a spur of slightly more elevated ground extending north from Willetts Lane. There is a gentle slope westwards from the site towards the Chillwater Stream, which flows north to the Stour after descending from higher ground. The lowlying terrain to the west of this low spur used to be marshland until its reclamation, accounting for the name ‘lake’ given to the locality. The subsoil of the valley-bottom is composed variously of gravel, shingly stones and brown alluvial loam. The original vegetational cover would have been woodland of deciduous type, extending from the floor of the valley up the slope to the south and thinning out to scrub and heath on the gravel plateau 150 feet above the Stour. Today, pasture dominates the scene, with oak prominent only in hedgerow or isolated clumps.The pit to be described below lay just over half a mile to the north-east of the site of one similar in shape and contents that was discovered in a quarry in Corfe Mullen parish some twenty-five years ago.


1992 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. C. Woodman

This study examines the archaeological significance of the material from a group of Neolithic chipping floors rescued during the rebuilding of the Antrim coast road, at Mad Mans Window, south of Glenarm, Co. Antrim. It shows that the lithic production strategies vary significantly between assemblages although it is presumed that they are all Neolithic in date and come from the same area of coast. It is apparent that flint axe production was of limited importance on these sites and that in spite of the abundance of flint available along the Antrim coast, relatively few polished flint axes were manufactured. Instead the numerous flint caches found in adjacent parts of the north-east of Ireland tend to produce scrapers and blades. Hoards containing arrowheads may be confined to the Bronze Age.Around 300 polished flint axes and roughouts are known from Ireland. These are frequently small and only partially polished. A limited number of highly polished axes with ground flat side facets have been designated sub-type A. The tendency to use porcellanite rather than flint for axe manufacture may be due to its ability to withstand robust shock.During the last 100 years, the role of flint as a key resource in the stone age of north-eastern Ireland has always been recognized but this has usually led to an uncritical assumption as to the paramount importance of flint. Work in recent years has shown that its significance in attracting and retaining Mesolithic settlement may have been over-emphasized.The role of the flint industries in the Irish Neolithic in this region has never been properly assessed, either in relation to older Mesolithic manufacturing traditions or in the broader context of supply to the Neolithic communities of this part of Ireland.In particular, good or even reasonable quality flint is usually only exposed in Cretaceous outcrops along a narrow strip on the edge of the basalt plateau and, therefore, has a very limited availability in parts of Co. Antrim as well as parts of Counties Down and Deny. As a contrast, erratic and beach flint is available in some quantity down the east coast of Ireland from Co. Down to Wexford. A second potential constraining factor is that unlike Britain, where flint was exploited for axe manufacture in the east and other rocks in the west, flint sources and porcellanite for axe manufacturing are both found adjacent to each other in the same corner of Co. Antrim. In particular, a number of more substantial chipping floors of Neolithic age are known, e.g. the opencast quarry sites at Ballygalley Head. The purpose of this study is to assess the role of flint production on the Antrim coast with particular reference to its significance in the Neolithic. This topic will be developed in the context of an analysis of the material found at Mad Mans Window near Glenarm.


1941 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 73-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. V. Grinsell

The area covered by this survey, which epitomizes the writer's work on Wessex barrows since 1929, is limited on the west by a line drawn from Weston-super-Mare to Bridport, on the east by a line drawn from Dorking to Arundel, on the north roughly by the northern limit of the chalk downs south of the Thames, and on the south by the sea. It encloses the great majority of bell, disc, and saucer barrows, all of which appear to be expressions of Piggott's Wessex Bronze Age culture. It should be noted however that elements of this culture are found outside the area dealt with, notably at various places to the north-east. Nearly all of these are so close to the Icknield Way as to make it certain that this was the means of communication linking the one with the other. Another, though less important, extension of the Wessex Bronze Age culture is represented by a few sites, some of them doubtful, within a short distance of the course of the Upper Thames, and it is probable that the river was the means of communication used.Here it is well to point out the respects in which the boundaries of Bronze Age Wessex, as determined by my own distribution-maps of barrows, differ from those adopted in the O.S. Map of Neolithic Wessex, and by Mr Stuart Piggott in his recent paper, ‘The Early Bronze Age in Wessex.’


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