scholarly journals Chronology of the Occupation Pattern Distribution: A Case Study At The Mun River Valley Prehistoric Settlement Site, Northeast Thailand

2022 ◽  
Vol 07 (01) ◽  
pp. 116-124
Author(s):  
N. Kanthilatha
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Gradual Transition ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Rural Settlements ◽  
Northeast Thailand ◽  
Ams Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Settlement Site ◽  
Cultural Layers ◽  
Neighboring Site

Chronological framework can be used to identify the distribution of occupation patterns. This study was based on fourteen radiocarbon samples from the eight excavation pits at Ban Non Wat and Nong Hua Raet archaeological sites. The chronology of the cultural layers was developed using AMS radiocarbon dating to supplement existing data, specifically to examine the dating of the end of the Iron Age occupation. The objective of this study was to continue testing the premise that the end of the Iron Age on the Mun river floodplain in Northeast Thailand that is better defined as either a singular more or less contemporaneous de-population event characterized by widespread abandonment of settlements or a gradual transition from dispersing a rural settlement to more concentrated urban style of settlement. The results support the existing chronological framework of the study area and suggest that the end of the Iron Age in the Mun River valley is better defined as a gradual transition from dispersed rural settlements to a more concentrated urban style settlement. Occupation commenced at the center of the mound of Ban Non Wat during the Neolithic period, and gradually spread radially to the margin by the Iron Age. Occupation at the neighboring site of Nong Hua Raet commenced during the Iron Age period, parallel to that at Ban Non Wat.

The paleohydrological context of the Iron Age floodplain sites of the Mun River Valley, Northeast Thailand

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. McGrath ◽  
W. E. Boyd ◽  
R. T. Bush
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Northeast Thailand

Interim report on the structures at Howe, Stromness, Orkney

1984 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
S P Carter ◽  
D Haigh ◽  
N R J Neil ◽  
Beverley Smith
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Interim Report ◽  
Complex Series ◽  
Settlement Site ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
Iron Working

Summary Excavations at Howe revealed a complex series of settlements which spanned the whole of the Iron Age period and were preceded by two phases of Neolithic activity. A probable stalled cairn was succeeded by a Maes Howe type chambered tomb which was later followed by enclosed settlements of which only scant remains survived. These settlements were replaced by a roundhouse with earth-house, built into the ruins of the chambered tomb. The roundhouse was surrounded by a contemporary defended settlement. Rebuilding led to the development of a broch structure and village. Partial collapse of tower brought about changes in the settlement, andalthougk some houses were maintained as domestic structures, others were rebuilt as iron-working sheds. The construction of smaller buildings and a later Iron Age or Pictish extended farmstead into rubble collapse accompanied a decline in the size of the settlement. The abandonment of the farmstead marked the end of Howe as a settlement site.

Archaeological Investigations at Mavis Grind, Shetland

1983 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Cracknell ◽  
Beverley Smith
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Field System ◽  
M 10 ◽  
Settlement Site

Summary The excavations revealed a stone house and showed that it was oval, 13 m × 10 m, with an interior about 7 m in diameter. In the first occupation phase the entrance was on the SE side. During the second phase this entrance was replaced with one to the NE and the interior was partitioned. The roof was supported on wooden posts. After the building was abandoned it was covered with peat-ash which was subsequently ploughed. There were numerous finds of steatite-tempered pottery and stone implements, which dated the site to late Bronze/early Iron Age. The second settlement, Site B, lay by the shore of the voe and consisted of two possible stone-built houses and a field system. Two trenches were dug across the structures and the results are reported in Appendix I. Although damaged in recent years it was in no further danger.

scholarly journals Cauldrons and Buried Treasures of the Middle Yenisei Region in the Early Iron Age

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 121-134
Author(s):  
Andrei P. Borodovsky ◽  
Yuri V. Oborin
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Left Bank ◽  
Yenisei River ◽  
The Yenisei River

Purpose. The article dwells upon discoveries of cauldrons and buried treasures of the Early Iron Age on the territory of the Middle Yenisei region. The work contains a review of such main recent discoveries and an analysis of different variants of occurrence of cauldrons in the buried treasures of the Paleometal Epoch. They include self-containment of a cauldron hidden as part of the buried treasure; a cauldron as one of the containers for the buried treasure items; integral small-sized cauldrons as part of the buried treasure object set; pieces of cauldrons as part of the buried treasures. Results. The authors developed a map of 21 buried treasures on the territory of the Middle Yenisei region, whose object set included cauldrons. It allowed identifying a territorial uniqueness of location of cauldrons being part of ‘accidental’ discoveries as well as buried treasures. The archaeological microzoning approach enabled to define several compact areas that were characterized by multiple discoveries of buried treasures with cauldrons. One of them is the northeastern territories of the Middle Yenisei. This is the middle course of the Kan river valley in the vicinity of Terskoe village. Other areas of localization of finds of cauldrons are located in the northwest – from the Kosogolskie lakes to the middle course of the Iyus river. The same can be said about the presence of the distribution of such finds in the southern territory. It is localized mainly from the Askiz steppe and to the left bank of the Yenisei river in this area. The analysis of object sets focused on identification of repeated sets of items (mirrors, axes, belt fixtures, jewelry) in buried treasures that included cauldrons. Conclusion. The publication puts forward a hypothesis concerning the potential of using cauldrons as a buried treasure container in terms of its dating range. Based on the contents of buried treasures that included cauldrons, relative chronological lines of these object sets from the Scythian to the Xiongnu and Xianbei time for the Middle Yenisei region was proposed.

The frequency of butchery marks on goat (Capra hircus) remains from pastoral Khoekhoe villages at Gobabeb, Namibia

Indago ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Shaw Badenhorst ◽  
Jackson S. Kimambo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Skeletal Remains ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Capra Hircus ◽  
Faunal Assemblages ◽  
Large Size ◽  
Middle Iron Age

Khoekhoe pastoralists living in Gobabeb, in the arid Kuiseb River Valley of central-western Namibia, keep goats (Capra hircus). Several decades ago, palaeontologist C.K. Brain collected modern skeletal remains of goats from these villages. The goats were butchered using pocketknives with metal blades. We investigated the frequency of butchery marks on a sub-sam- ple of this collection, representing 60% of the total assemblage. Most specimens in the collection are weathered. Moreover, most goat specimens from Gobabeb lack butchery evidence and even the use of magnification only marginally increased this number. We compared our results with the frequency of butchery marks documented from Early and Middle Iron Age samples from South Africa, a time when sheep dominated faunal assemblages and were slaughtered using metal knives. The frequency of specimens with butchery marks in the goat sample from Gobabeb is higher than that recorded for the Early and Middle Iron Age samples. The higher frequency of butchery marks on the goat remains from Gobabeb may relate to aspects such as the butchering method and style, as well as the large size of the specimens themselves.

The first religious buildings: ‘sacred huts’

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte R. Potts
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Hot Springs ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Religious Activity ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Religious Buildings ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
The Bronze Age

The votive assemblages that form the primary archaeological evidence for non-funerary cult in the Neolithic, Bronze, and early Iron Ages in central Italy indicate that there is a long tradition of religious activity in Latium and Etruria in which buildings played no discernible role. Data on votive deposits in western central Italy is admittedly uneven: although many early votive assemblages from Latium have been widely studied and published, there are few Etruscan comparanda; of the more than two hundred Etruscan votive assemblages currently known from all periods, relatively few date prior to the fourth century BC, while those in museum collections are often no longer entire and suffer from a lack of detailed provenance as well as an absence of excavations in the vicinity of the original find. Nevertheless, it is possible to recognize broad patterns in the form and location of cult sites prior to the Iron Age, and thus to sketch the broader context of prehistoric rituals that pre-dated the construction of the first religious buildings. In the Neolithic period (c.6000–3500 BC), funerary and non-funerary rituals appear to have been observed in underground spaces such as caves, crevices, and rock shelters, and there are also signs that cults developed around ‘abnormal water’ like stalagmites, stalactites, hot springs, and pools of still water. These characteristics remain visible in the evidence from the middle Bronze Age (c.1700–1300 BC). Finds from this period at the Sventatoio cave in Latium include vases containing traces of wheat, barley seed cakes, and parts of young animals including pigs, sheep, and oxen, as well as burned remains of at least three children. The openair veneration of underground phenomena is also implied by the discovery of ceramic fragments from all phases of the Bronze Age around a sulphurous spring near the Colonelle Lake at Tivoli. Other evidence of cult activities at prominent points in the landscape, such as mountain tops and rivers, suggests that rituals began to lose an underground orientation during the middle Bronze Age. By the late Bronze Age (c.1300–900 BC) natural caves no longer seem to have served ritual or funerary functions.

Rural Communities in Early Medieval Europe: Archaeological Approaches and Frameworks

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helena Hamerow
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Rural Settlements ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Melting Pot ◽  
Local Diversity ◽  
Northwest Germany ◽  
Structure Of Communities ◽  
Northwest Europe

The primary aim of this book is to provide an overview of the evidence for the settlements and everyday life of rural communities in northwest Europe from c. ad 400 to 900, broadly the period from the collapse of the western Roman Empire to the rise of early states in its former provinces and Scandinavia. Its secondary purpose is to relate this evidence, which comes mainly from archaeological excavations, to Anglo-Saxon England and to consider its implications for our understanding of settlements here. Each chapter concludes, therefore, with a brief discussion of the comparable evidence from England, even though detailed comparisons cannot always be drawn due to differences in the quantity and nature of the data available. The evidence is examined under five broad topics: buildings and what the ‘built environment’ tells us about the household and its activities; the layout of farmsteads and settlements and how these may reflect the social structure of communities; the formation of territories and demographic developments; farming strategies; and, finally, the role of non-agrarian production and exchange in the economies of rural settlements. Working with evidence spanning such a broad chronological and geographical range is naturally beset with methodological difficulties. One obvious complication is introduced by the different traditions of periodization and terminology used by scholars working in different countries. Thus, a settlement dating to the sixth century might be described as ‘Germanic Iron Age’, ‘Migration period’, ‘early Anglo-Saxon’, or ‘Merovingian’, depending on its location. The chapters which follow draw primarily on evidence from a large region, stretching from southern Scandinavia, through northwest Germany to the Netherlands. This brings with it the danger of adopting a ‘melting pot’ approach, however unintentionally (Halsall 1995a, 1–3). Yet, an appreciation of regional, indeed local, diversity and of the potential for rapid social change in this period is essential. This North Sea zone has been chosen, furthermore, not out of a misguided belief in a ‘homogeneous Germanic culture’ (ibid.), but because it was in close cultural and economic contact with England and includes the regions from which the Anglo-Saxons believed their forebears to have originated.

scholarly journals Iron Age landscape changes in the Benoué River Valley, Cameroon

2019 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-339
Author(s):  
David K. Wright ◽  
Scott MacEachern ◽  
Stanley H. Ambrose ◽  
Jungyu Choi ◽  
Jeong-Heon Choi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Landscape Change ◽  
Isotope Ratios ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Agricultural Field ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Soils And Sediments ◽  
Northern Cameroon ◽  
Rapid Transition

AbstractThe introduction of agriculture is known to have profoundly affected the ecological complexion of landscapes. In this study, a rapid transition from C3 to C4 vegetation is inferred from a shift to higher stable carbon (13C/12C) isotope ratios of soils and sediments in the Benoué River Valley and upland Fali Mountains in northern Cameroon. Landscape change is viewed from the perspective of two settlement mounds and adjacent floodplains, as well as a rock terrace agricultural field dating from 1100 cal yr BP to the recent past (<400 cal yr BP). Nitrogen (15N/14N) isotope ratios and soil micromorphology demonstrate variable uses of land adjacent to the mound sites. These results indicate that Early Iron Age settlement practices involved exploitation of C3 plants on soils with low δ15N values, indicating wetter soils. Conversely, from the Late Iron Age (>700 cal yr BP) until recent times, high soil and sediment δ13C and δ15N values reflect more C4 biomass and anthropogenic organic matter in open, dry environments. The results suggest that Iron Age settlement practices profoundly changed landscapes in this part of West Africa through land clearance and/or utilization of C4 plants.

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