scholarly journals Protohistoric Landscapes in Sardinia (Italy): Territorial Control and Exploitation of Natural Resources in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 159-179
Author(s):  
Riccardo Cicilloni ◽  
Marco Cabras ◽  
Federico Porcedda ◽  
Juan Antonio Cámara Serrano
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
Least Cost Path ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
Territorial Control ◽  
And Control ◽  
Transit Routes ◽  
The Relationship

During the Bronze Age, in many Western Mediterranean areas (Spain, France, Italian peninsula, islands), we can observe the development of a series of fortified centers and structures, often on high places, aimed to the defense of strategic locations and resources. These fortifications, which began to be built from the Copper Age, are the answer to a need for possession and control of the territory linked to a greater degree of social complexity, with an ever-increasing hierarchy and the rise to power of persons or groups who very often show the possession of weapons and, consequently, can be related to warlike activities. In Sardinia, Nuragic phenomenon developed during Protohistoy: an extraordinary culture ranging from the Middle to Late Bronze Age (XVIII-XII centuries BC), some of whose features could last from Final Bronze Age until the beginnings of Iron Age (XI-VIII centuries BC), characterized by the building of great monuments, especially nuraghi, cyclopean-type constructions similar to towers. These great buildings have multiple functions, but in particular were used to surveil the whole island territory. We have mainly carried out different GIS analyzes on different sample areas with the aim to reading the visual-perceptive aspects and to try to research about the relationship between settlements and territory and the mobility systems across different territories through the applying of the least-cost path analysis. Reconstruction of certain characteristics of Sardinian Protohistoric Landscape in these areas is achieved. GIS-based analysis show how these territorial control systems, consisting of several nuraghi and settlements, were intended to control the most important natural and economic resources and transit routes. 

Nuragic Settlement Dynamics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cezary Namirski
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
East Coast ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Settlement Dynamics ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Bronze Age

The book is a study of the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Nuragic settlement dynamics in two selected areas of the east coast Sardinia, placing them in a wider context of Central Mediterranean prehistory. Among the main issues addressed are the relationship between settlement and ritual sites, the use of coastline, and a chronology of settlement.

Barbarian Europe and Early Iron Age Greece

1965 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 229-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Snodgrass
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Aegean Area ◽  
The Past ◽  
The North ◽  
The People ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
The Relationship

This paper is concerned with the nature of the relationship that existed between Central Europe and the Aegean area in the early 1st millennium B.C. Interest in Aegean-continental connections has been strong for a considerable time, but has been intensified, particularly from the continental standpoint, in the past fifteen years. Although some of these studies have been concerned with the contacts between 2nd millennium (Late Bronze Age) Greece and the north, others have examined in detail the evidence for the links between the Urnfield culture and Greece during the 10th, 9th and 8th centuries. For Greece, this is an utterly different period from the preceding one; the evidence for foreign contacts suddenly becomes scarce and that for military disasters is virtually non-existent. Yet some scholars have reached very similar conclusions, involving the transmission of objects and of the people who carried them from Central Europe into Greece, for this period as for the preceding Late Bronze Age. Such arguments have a recent exponent in Professor W. Kimmig, whose paper Seevölkerbewegung und Urnenfelderkultur ranges over the whole period from about 1200 to 700. His list of objects and practices in this period, which he considers to have been donated by the Danube-Balkan peoples to the Mediterranean world, is comprehensive indeed: it would include bronze shields and body armour, the equipment of Goliath, the knobbed ware of Troy VII B, the practice of cremation in the Iron Age, the ritual spoliation of weapons in graves, iron swords, spears, knives, bits, lugged axes, spits, fire-dogs, bronze personal objects generally, clay idols, the maeander pattern and the swans of Apollo.

scholarly journals Through 40.000 Years of Human Presence in Southern Europe: The Italian Case Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serena Aneli ◽  
Matteo Caldon ◽  
Tina Saupe ◽  
Francesco Montinaro ◽  
Luca Pagani
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Italian Case ◽  
Open Questions

The Italian Peninsula, a natural pier across the Mediterranean Sea, witnessed intricate population events since the very beginning of human occupation in Europe. In the last few years, an increasing number of modern and ancient genomes from the area has been published by the international research community. This genomic perspective started unveiling the relevance of Italy to understand the post-Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) re-peopling of Europe, the earlier phase of the Neolithic westward migrations, and its linking role between Eastern and Western Mediterranean areas after the Iron Age. However many open questions are still waiting for more data to be addressed in full. With this review, we summarize the current knowledge emerging from the available ancient Italian individuals and, by re-analysing them all at once, we try to shed light on the avenues future research in the area should cover. In particular, open questions concern i) the fate of pre-Villabruna Europeans and to what extent their genomic components were absorbed by the post-LGM hunter-gatherers; ii) the role of Sicily and Sardinia before LGM; iii) to what degree the documented genetic structure within the Early Neolithic settlers can be described as two separate migrations; iv) what are the population events behind the marked presence of an Iranian Neolithic-like component in Bronze Age and Iron Age Italian and Southern European samples.

scholarly journals Through 40,000 years of human presence in Southern Europe: the Italian case study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serena Aneli ◽  
Matteo Caldon ◽  
Tina Saupe ◽  
Francesco Montinaro ◽  
Luca Pagani
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Italian Case ◽  
Open Questions

AbstractThe Italian Peninsula, a natural pier across the Mediterranean Sea, witnessed intricate population events since the very beginning of the human occupation in Europe. In the last few years, an increasing number of modern and ancient genomes from the area have been published by the international research community. This genomic perspective started unveiling the relevance of Italy to understand the post-Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) re-peopling of Europe, the earlier phase of the Neolithic westward migrations, and its linking role between Eastern and Western Mediterranean areas after the Iron Age. However, many open questions are still waiting for more data to be addressed in full. With this review, we summarize the current knowledge emerging from the available ancient Italian individuals and, by re-analysing them all at once, we try to shed light on the avenues future research in the area should cover. In particular, open questions concern (1) the fate of pre-Villabruna Europeans and to what extent their genomic components were absorbed by the post-LGM hunter-gatherers; (2) the role of Sicily and Sardinia before LGM; (3) to what degree the documented genetic structure within the Early Neolithic settlers can be described as two separate migrations; (4) what are the population events behind the marked presence of an Iranian Neolithic-like component in Bronze Age and Iron Age Italian and Southern European samples.

scholarly journals Around 1000 BC. Absolute dates for the Final Bronze Age – Early Iron Age transition in Italy: wiggle-match 14C dating of two tree-trunk coffins from Celano

2018 ◽  
Vol 60 ◽  
pp. 99 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Van der Plicht ◽  
A.J. Nijboer
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Tree Trunk ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Oak Wood ◽  
Italian Peninsula ◽  
Abruzzo Region ◽  
The Bronze Age

At Celano (Abruzzo region, Italy), rare tumulus tombs of the Final Bronze Age were excavated, yielding waterlogged coffins of oak wood. Two tombs were dated by Wiggle-Match Dating (WMD), using the conventional 14C method. This shows that the tumuli were erected around 1030 BC, while the associated artefacts in the sarcophagi are attributable to the final stages of the Bronze Age (FBA) in Italy. Fibulae similar to those found in both tombs at Celano are recovered in modest numbers all over the Italian peninsula and even in Croatia and nearby regions (Glogović 2003; von Merhart 1969, pls. 4, 5, 7). Our date of ca. 1030 BC for the last stages of the Bronze Age in Italy has consequences for the beginning of the Iron Age, which should start around 1000-950 BC, an assessment that is consistent with other radiocarbon sequences obtained for Italy, such as the sequence for Latium Vetus and elsewhere in the western Mediterranean.

The Central Mediterranean and the Aegean

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Foxhall
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Mediterranean Region ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Cultural Encounters ◽  
Complex Picture ◽  
Material Interaction

The early Iron Age in the Aegean has traditionally been perceived as a period of decline, in contrast to the splendour of the palatial societies of the later Bronze Age, and concomitantly is often presented as a ‘Dark Age’—a time of regionalism and isolation. Recent investigations across the Mediterranean region are, however, revealing a different and far more complex picture. A considerable amount of human and material interaction occurred between eastern and western Mediterranean societies in the period 1100–500 BC, and people, objects, and ideas were not travelling only in one direction. Links between so-called ‘Mediterranean’ and other European societies are also undergoing substantial re-evaluation. Adopting a regional approach, this chapter explores the developments which transformed Iron Age societies in the Aegean and central Mediterranean, and also examines how regional trajectories interlinked and converged through cross-cultural encounters, resulting in substantial material (including technological), social and political innovations.

scholarly journals Tracking climate variability in the western Mediterranean during the Late Holocene: a multiproxy approach

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 1395-1414 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Nieto-Moreno ◽  
F. Martínez-Ruiz ◽  
S. Giralt ◽  
F. Jiménez-Espejo ◽  
D. Gallego-Torres ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Medieval Climate Anomaly ◽  
Climate Anomaly ◽  
Dark Ages ◽  
Humid Period

Abstract. Climate variability in the western Mediterranean is reconstructed for the last 4000 yr using marine sediments recovered in the west Algerian-Balearic Basin, near the Alboran Basin. Fluctuations in chemical and mineralogical sediment composition as well as grain size distribution are linked to fluvial-eolian oscillations, changes in redox conditions and paleocurrent intensity. Multivariate analyses allowed us to characterize three main groups of geochemical and mineralogical proxies determining the sedimentary record of this region. These three statistical groups were applied to reconstruct paleoclimate conditions at high resolution during the Late Holocene. An increase in riverine input (fluvial-derived elements – Rb/Al, Ba/Al, REE/Al, Si/Al, Ti/Al, Mg/Al and K/Al ratios), and a decrease in Saharan eolian input (Zr/Al ratio) depict the Roman Humid Period and the Little Ice Age, while drier environmental conditions are recognized during the Late Bronze Age-Iron Age, the Dark Ages and the Medieval Climate Anomaly. Additionally, faster bottom currents and more energetic hydrodynamic conditions for the former periods are evidenced by enhanced sortable silt (10-63 μm) and quartz content, and by better oxygenated bottom waters – as reflected by decreasing redox-sensitive elements (V/Al, Cr/Al, Ni/Al and Zn/Al ratios). In contrast, opposite paleoceanographic conditions are distinguished during the latter periods, i.e. the Late Bronze Age-Iron Age, the Dark Ages and the Medieval Climate Anomaly. Although no Ba excess was registered, other paleoproductivity indicators (total organic carbon content, Br/Al ratio, and organometallic ligands such as U and Cu) display the highest values during the Roman Humid Period, and together with increasing preservation of organic matter, this period exhibits by far the most intense productivity of the last 4000 yr. Fluctuations in detrital input into the basin as the main process managing deposition, reflected by the first eigenvector defined by the Principal Component Analyses, point to solar irradiance and the North Atlantic Oscillation variability as the main driving mechanisms behind natural climate variability over decadal to centennial time-scales for the last 4000 yr.

Archaeology and Material Culture of Phoenicia and the Phoenicians

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunnar Lehmann
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Specific Pattern ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
The Mediterranean

The Phoenicians are the population of ancient Lebanon during the 1st millennium bce. However, Phoenician settlement was also located on the coast of modern Syria and Israel. The Phoenicians were not immigrants and developed out of the local Bronze Age populations of the 2nd millennium bce. Some scholars do not distinguish the Late Bronze Age (1550–1150 bce) city-states of Lebanon from those of the Phoenicians in the Iron Age of the 1st millennium bce. Rather than defining “Phoenicia” with ethnic features, the approach chosen here emphasizes aspects of the political economy. With the sociopolitical changes at the end of the Late Bronze Age, new communities emerged with a specific pattern of social and political organization and economic activities that increasingly included “private” entrepreneurial initiatives. With these developments, a new form of Levantine city-state emerged from previous Bronze Age formations. Another specific feature of the Phoenician phenomenon is the development of an alphabetic writing that had significant influence on ancient scripts of the 1st millennium bce, such as Hebrew, Aramaic, or ancient Greek writing. This bibliography focuses on the archaeology of the Phoenician homeland in the Levant during the Iron Age and the Persian period (c. 1150–330 bce). Scholars have repeatedly investigated the problem of defining the Phoenicians—if this is at all possible. The appellation “Phoenicians” originates in ancient Greek views and does not represent the self-definition of “Phoenicians” themselves, who preferred to identify themselves with their urban communities, such as “man of Tyre” or “woman of Arwad.” The unprecedented rise of the Phoenician economy after the 9th century bce had a significant impact on social and cultural changes in the Levant and the Mediterranean. Phoenician material culture appeared in all the neighboring economies of Phoenicia and led eventually to a colonization in the western Mediterranean. However one wants to define the Phoenicians, they were among the principal agents of an early globalization of the Mediterranean and the ancient Near East.

Social Organization in Nuragic Sardinia: Cultural Progress Without ‘Elites’?

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph Araque Gonzalez
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Culture Contact ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Trade Networks ◽  
Early States ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
High Level

After the collapse of most early states in the East around 1200 BC, parts of the western Mediterranean experienced technological progress and demographic rise, apparently without adapting forms of hierarchic political organization. A very good example is Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age nuragic Sardinia, which had been connected to eastern trade networks since Mycenaean times, and developed into one of the most important venues for culture contact and exchange in the West after 1200 BC. However, its rich archaeological record, including figurines, architecture, sanctuaries, villages and tombs, does neither indicate the existence of ‘elite’ groups, nor does it show any traces of a hierarchic society. This article examines the possibility that a non-hierarchical form of socio-political organization devoid of elites developed to a high level of cultural complexity and progress on the island. Other important aspects are the role of immigration as an integrant in nuragic society, considering comparable situations of non-hierarchic politics in ethnography and history, as well as theoretical approaches to forms of social organization. It is concluded that socio-economic development does not necessarily require a centralized political authority.

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