scholarly journals Novos dados sobre os hipogeus do Bronze Pleno de Torre Velha 3 (Serpa): contextos sepulcrais e estudo do espólio osteológico humano

2016 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Daniel Ferreira Fidalgo ◽  
Eduardo Porfírio ◽  
Ana Maria Silva
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Male Adult ◽  
Genetic Changes ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Masticatory System

O presente trabalho incide sobre a análise antropológica do espólio ósseo humano recuperado de 21 hipogeus do arqueossítio de Torre Velha 3 (TV3; São Salvador, Serpa), datados entre os meados e a segunda metade do II milénio a.C.. Dezasseis hipogeus são individuais, três duplos (uma inumação in situ com uma redução associada) e um triplo (enterramento duplo com uma redução associada) e dois contextos funerários inconclusivos. Todos os restos ósseos humanos foram recuperados da câmara funerária. Para além destes, um hipogeu continha um enterramento com uma redução associada na câmara e uma inumação primária na antecâmara. Destes sepulcros foram exumados 28 indivíduos, 22 adultos (11 do sexo feminino, nove do masculino e dois casos indeterminados), cinco não adultos e um em que não foi possível atribuir uma faixa etária. Nas inumações primárias e individuais, as oferendas cárneas encontram-se associadas a adultos de ambos os sexos. Por sua vez as cerâmicas e punções surgem somente em enterramentos do sexo feminino, com a excepção de um punção associado ao adulto do sexo masculino [2007]. Recorrendo à análise estatística de componentes principais, foi possível observar que as diferenças na morfologia dentária de TV3 em comparação com outras amostras da Pré-História recente Peninsular são mínimas, e podem ser explicadas por mudanças genéticas associadas a possíveis contactos e interações interregionais. Foram ainda identificados padrões de desgaste dentário atípico que sugerem o uso parafuncional do sistema mastigatório de adultos do sexo feminino. Relativamente à patologia oral, a incidência de lesões cariogénicas na amostra é de 5,85% (29/495), e afecta cerca de 57% dos indivíduos analisados (n=21). Estes valores são superiores à maioria das amostras comparadas do Neolítico Final/Calcolítico do actual território Português, mas semelhantes aos registados para outras comunidades da Idade do Bronze. New data on the Middle Bronze Age hypogea of Torre Velha 3 (Serpa): burial contexts and the study of the human osteological remains - The present work focuses on the anthropological analysis of the human remains exhumed from 21 hypogea of the archaeological site of Torre Velha 3 (TV3; São Salvador, Serpa), which is dated between the middle and second half of the II millennium B.C. Sixteen hypogea were individual, three double (one in situ burial with an associated reduction) and one triple (double burial with associated reduction) and two inconclusive funerary contexts. The human remains were collected unearthed from the chambers of the tombs. Besides these, one hypogeum displayed an in situ burial with an associated reduction in the chamber and other in situ burial in theantechamber. From these tombs were exhumed 28 individuals, 22 adults (11 females, nine males and 2 inconclusive), five non adults and one unknown. In primary and individual burials, meat offering were found in association with adults from both sexes. Ceramic vessels and awls are found only in female burials, with the exception of one awl found in association with the male adult [2007]. Using a principal component analyses, it was possible to observe that the differences in dental morphological traits found in TV3, in comparison with other samples from the Iberian Peninsula’s recent pre-history, are minimal and can be explained by genetic changes derived from possible inter-regional contacts and interactions. Some atypical dental wear patterns were also identified, mostly in adult females, and these suggest the parafunctional use of the masticatory system. Finally, the incidence of cariogenic lesions found is 5.85% (29/495), affecting around 57% of the individuals analysed (n=21). These values are higher than Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic samples from nowadays Portugal, but similar to the values found in Bronze Age samples.

scholarly journals Trace Elemental Characterization of Maltese Pottery from the Late Neolithic to Middle Bronze Age

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick S. Pirone ◽  
Robert H. Tykot
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Interaction Networks ◽  
Chemical Compositions ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Ceramic Samples ◽  
Trace Elemental ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
The Bronze Age

AbstractThe aim of this research was to determine the provenance of Maltese ceramics and to determine the role pottery played in Maltese prehistoric trade and interaction networks. This study involved 236 Maltese ceramic samples, 19 geological clay samples from Ġnejna Bay & Selmun along with 18 ceramic samples from Ognina, Sicily, and four Sicilian clay samples from the outskirts of Siracusa that were nondestructively analyzed using a portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometer in order to determine their trace elemental compositions (Th, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr and Nb). The results of this analysis were statistically analyzed using principal component analysis in order to ascertain relationships in the chemical compositions among the samples. The results of this analysis indicate that the majority of all the Maltese ceramic samples have a local Maltese provenance and that pottery played a more significant role in defining the nature of Malta’s trade relationships during the Bronze Age. The following study has provided new insights into Malta’s role in trade and interaction networks from the late Neolithic to the Bronze Age and has allowed for new ideas in explaining the cultural change observed from the Temple Period to the Bronze Age.

Late Neolithic and Middle Bronze Age barrows in Bukivna, Western Ukraine as a source to understand soil evolution and its environmental significance

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 101972
Author(s):  
Iwona Hildebrandt-Radke ◽  
Przemysław Makarowicz ◽  
Zhanna N. Matviishyna ◽  
Aleksandr Parkhomenko ◽  
Sergiy D. Lysenko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Environmental Significance ◽  
Soil Evolution ◽  
Western Ukraine ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

Barrows in action. Late Neolithic and Middle Bronze Age Barrow Landscapes in the Upper Dniester Basin, Ukraine

2019 ◽  
Vol 94 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-115
Author(s):  
P. Makarowicz ◽  
J. Niebieszczański ◽  
M. Cwaliński ◽  
J. Romaniszyn ◽  
V. Rud ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Steppe Zone ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Linear Pattern ◽  
The Past ◽  
Western Ukraine ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Direction Of Movement ◽  
Cultural Code

Abstract The aim of this article is to view the spatial distribution of Upper Dniester Basin’s (Western Ukraine) barrows and to interpret their location principles. These monuments were often situated on the flattened summits of watershed ridges or hills. It appeared also that some of them were located on upper parts of gentle slopes of not more than 8° of inclination. Mounds appear within linear and group-linear arrangements and were rarely observed as clusters, while more specific adjustments to their location were dependant on local terrain morphology. Barrow alignments run along the elevated ridges, while clustered groups were situated in places where erosive indentations or denudation cavities prevented barrows from stretching in a linear pattern. It can be noted that during the spatial development of barrow alignments, more attention was paid to the intervisibility between the mounds, than to their visibility from other places in the landscape. The potential of observing at least one of the following groups of tumuli from every embankment indicates the direction of movement within the framework of the barrow landscape, perhaps augmented in the past by the presence of paths or “roads”. Examples of analogous or similar, in a certain sense even universal, practices in shaping barrow landscapes were documented also from various parts of Eurasia. Therefore, it is argued these traits were shared by all “barrow societies” and their origins can be traced to the steppe zone. Specific and repeatable patterns of barrow arrangements are a manifestation of certain knowledge and skills, transmitted over generations and immortalized in the landscape that symbolized the incorporation of territory by “barrow societies”. Characteristic mound alignments became a cultural code or institution, as it were – an instrument of familiarising previously unknown landscapes, facilitating movement and simultaneously expressing continuity of kin-lineages.

scholarly journals Ancient genomes reveal social and genetic structure of Late Neolithic Switzerland

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anja Furtwängler ◽  
A. B. Rohrlach ◽  
Thiseas C. Lamnidis ◽  
Luka Papac ◽  
Gunnar U. Neumann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Population Genetic ◽  
Structured Populations ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Genetic Studies ◽  
Genetic Changes ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Southern Central

Abstract Genetic studies of Neolithic and Bronze Age skeletons from Europe have provided evidence for strong population genetic changes at the beginning and the end of the Neolithic period. To further understand the implications of these in Southern Central Europe, we analyze 96 ancient genomes from Switzerland, Southern Germany, and the Alsace region in France, covering the Middle/Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age. Similar to previously described genetic changes in other parts of Europe from the early 3rd millennium BCE, we detect an arrival of ancestry related to Late Neolithic pastoralists from the Pontic-Caspian steppe in Switzerland as early as 2860–2460 calBCE. Our analyses suggest that this genetic turnover was a complex process lasting almost 1000 years and involved highly genetically structured populations in this region.

Prehistoric Copper Extraction in Britain: Ecton Hill, Staffordshire

2013 ◽  
Vol 80 ◽  
pp. 159-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Timberlake
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Mining Activity ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Copper Extraction ◽  
Mine Shaft ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Prehistoric Mining ◽  
The Hill

Major investigations were undertaken of the Ecton Copper Mines, Staffordshire, following the discovery of hammerstones and a red deer antler tool dating to the Early Bronze Age during surface and underground exploration in the 1990s. Ecton Hill was surveyed, the distribution of hammerstone tools examined, and two identified sites of potential prehistoric mining close to the summit of the hill excavated in 2008 & 2009. Excavations at Stone Quarry Mine revealed noin situprehistoric mining activity, but hammerstones and Early Bronze Age bone mining tools from upcast suggest that an historic mine shaft had intersected Bronze Age workings at around 10–25 m depth. On The Lumb one trench revealed evidence for medieval lead mining, while another examined the lowest of four primitive mines associated with cave-like mine entrances along the base of a small cliff. Evidence for prehistoric mining was recorded within a shallow opencut formed by during extraction of malachite from a layer of mineralised dolomite. Traces of the imprint of at least 18 bone and stone tools could be seen and seven different types of working were identified. Most prehistoric mining debris appears to have been cleared out during the course of later, medieval–post-medieval prospection; some bone and stone tools were recovered from this spoil. The tip of a worn and worked (cut) antler tine point was the only such mining tool foundin situat this site but nine tools were radiocarbon dated toc.1880–1640 calbc. Bayesian modelling of the dates from both sites probably indicates mining over a much briefer period (perhaps 20–50 years) at 1800–1700 calbc, with mining at Stone Quarry possibly beginning earlier and lasting longer than on The Lumb. A single date from The Lumb suggests possible renewed mining activity (or prospection?) during the Middle Bronze Age. The dating of this mining activity is consistent with the idea that mining and prospection moved eastwards from Ireland to Wales, then to central England, at the beginning of the 2nd millenniumbc. At Ecton the extraction of secondary ores may have produced only a very small tonnage of copper metal. The mine workers may have been Early Bronze Age farmers who occupied this part of the Peak District seasonally in a transhumant or sustained way

scholarly journals Preliminary report on human remains from Tell Masaikh and Tell Ashara. Season 2009*

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-124
Author(s):  
Jacek Tomczyk
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Preliminary Report ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Important Region ◽  
Anthropological Research ◽  
History Of ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Euphrates Valley ◽  
The Times

The middle Euphrates valley (Syria) is a very interesting and important region for the history of Mesopotamia. The excavations are currently carried out at Tell Ashara and Tell Masaikh. The first site is primarily the remains of a Bronze Age (2700–1500 BC). At Tell Masaikh were discovered the remains of a settlement from the Chalcolithic (4500 BC), and the Middle Bronze Age, as well as a huge governor’s palace from the times of the Assyrian empire’s days of glory (800–650 BC). The paper is a summary of anthropological research conducted in 2009. We have been excavated 80 human skeletons (50 individuals from Tell Masikh, and 30 from Tell Ashara). 

scholarly journals Mesopotamian cylinder seal from Lori Berd (Armenia): An object in an unusual location?

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruben Davtyan
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Prestige Goods ◽  
Unusual Location ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

Archaeological Site: Lori Berd (Northern Armenia); cemetery, dating from Middle Bronze Age till Achaemenid period.Tomb No. 106: stone chamber. Ceramic and part of the finds date to Achaemenid period. Also a pinkish chalcedony cylinder seal with gold caps on gold pin. Iconography: standing figure, seizing two upstanding caprids surrounded by symbolic fillings.Dating: a Neo-Babylonian cylinder seal of late 8th till 7th century BC.Similar example: usage of Neo-Assyrian/Babylonian cylinder seal by Irtashduna (wife of Darius I) around 500 BC.Interpretation: suitable for reciprocity of gifts in prestige-goods system of Achaemenid period. Perhaps a gift from satrap to local chief.

scholarly journals Holocene Environmental Changes in Western Hungary

Radiocarbon ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 691-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zsuzsanna Szántó ◽  
Zsófia Medzihradszky
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Accumulation Rate ◽  
Sediment Accumulation ◽  
Anthropogenic Activity ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Forest Clearing ◽  
Plant Cultivation ◽  
Radiocarbon Data ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

We review the reasons for change in paleoecological conditions and their effects on different cultures at the beginning and during the Holocene period in western Hungary using radiocarbon data combined with paleoecological and paleolimnological results. Two sites were investigated in the southern and northern part of the ancient bay of Balaton Lake: Keszthely-Úsztatómajor and Főnyed I. 14C dating of 2 core samples represented a chronology from 11,000 cal BC to 2000 cal BC (10,700 BP to 3700 BP) and from 6200 cal BC to 1200 cal BC (7300 BP to 3000 BP), respectively. A relatively constant inverse sediment accumulation rate was observed in both cases (23 yr/cm and 33 yr/cm, respectively). In the case of Főnyed I, a sharp break was observed in the sedimentation curve around 6000–4800 cal BC (6000 BP). Changes in the vegetation due to human activity were observed in a larger extent only at the end of Late Neolithic, with the most significant changes detected in the landscape coinciding with the presence of Lengyel III culture in the region. The appearance of higher amounts of pollen of cereals at the sites proved the presence of crop cultivation. However, the role of plant cultivation may have been limited for the ancient inhabitants of the Kis-Balaton region due to a limited amount of soil suitable for agriculture and due to the extensive water table. Further changes in vegetation were observed during the Late Copper Age (Baden culture) and the period of Early and Middle Bronze Age, respectively. Signs of forest clearing during the period have not been detected and the increased peak of Fagus indicates climatic change. The low intensity of anthropogenic activity should not be attributed to geographic isolation.

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