Chapter One: Ancient Eleon in Boeotia: An Overview of the Greek–Canadian Excavations

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-30
Author(s):  
Brendan Burke ◽  
Bryan Burns ◽  
Alexandra Charami ◽  
Camilla MacKay
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Domestic Architecture ◽  
East Side ◽  
Domestic Activity ◽  
Blue Stone ◽  
Female Divinity ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Historical Periods

The first phase of Greek–Canadian excavations at the site of ancient Eleon in eastern Boeotia was conducted from 2011 to 2015. Fieldwork on the elevated plateau located between Thebes and the Euboean Gulf provided new evidence for occupation of Bronze Age and historical periods. Tombs of the early Mycenaean period have been found within and around a funerary structure known as the Blue Stone Structure. By the later Mycenaean period, settlement deposits dating to the Late Helladic IIIA and IIIB periods include evidence for participation in regional economic and crafting networks. Substantial Postpalatial settlement remains allow a better understanding of domestic architecture through several phases of reconstruction in the Late Helladic IIIC period, as well as industrial and ceremonial practices. Excavations have yet to locate evidence for domestic activity on the acropolis during the Iron Age, but the site is renewed in the Archaic period by the construction of the a major polygonal wall and associated entryway on the east side. Deposits here of fineware ceramics and figurines suggest that a cult focused on female divinity was active throughout the fifth century bc.

The Excavation of a Settlement of the Later Bronze Age and Iron Age at Myrehead, Falkirk District

1983 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
G J Barclay
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Activity Period ◽  
Limited Evidence ◽  
Ring Groove ◽  
Domestic Activity ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Actual Settlement

SUMMARY Myrehead has revealed the eroded remnants of activity from the Beaker period (Period A) onwards, with actual settlement evinced only from about the early first millennium be. The three houses and the cooking pits of Period B may have been constructed and used sequentially. This open settlement was probably replaced during the mid first millennium bc, possibly without a break, by a palisaded enclosure (Period C), which may have contained a ring-groove house and a four-post structure. Continued domestic activity (Period D) was suggested by a single pit outside the enclosure, dated to the late first millennium bc/early first millennium ad. The limited evidence of the economy of the settlements suggests a mixed farming system.

scholarly journals New evidence for prehistoric copper metallurgy in the vicinity of Bor

Starinar ◽  
2016 ◽  
pp. 173-191
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Kapuran ◽  
Dragana Zivkovic ◽  
Nada Strbac
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Copper Ore ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Metallurgical Furnaces ◽  
Copper Metallurgy ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
The Bronze Age

The last three years of archaeological investigations at the site Ru`ana in Banjsko Polje, in the immediate vicinity of Bor, have provided new evidence regarding the role of non-ferrous metallurgy in the economy of the prehistoric communities of north-eastern Serbia. The remains of metallurgical furnaces and a large amount of metallic slags at two neighbouring sites in the mentioned settlement reveal that locations with many installations for the thermal processing of copper ore existed in the Bronze Age. We believe, judging by the finds of material culture, that metallurgical activities in this area also continued into the Iron Age and, possibly, into the 4th century AD.

Changing Patterns in Objects and in Perception

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter S. Wells
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Changing Patterns ◽  
Over Time

The preceding chapters examined three categories of objects—pottery, fibulae, and swords with their scabbards—and two ways of manipulating objects—arrangements in graves and performances involving human bodily action with objects—over the two-thousand-year period from the Early Bronze Age to the end of the prehistoric Iron Age. The focus has been on visual aspects of objects and the changes in their visual character over time. This chapter synthesizes the material laid out in chapters 5 through 10. It draws attention to the consistency of the patterns in the visual character of material culture in each of the three main periods of time considered in this book, and to the character of the changes that took place in the fifth century BC and in the second century BC.

The beginning of Iron Age copper production in the southern Levant: new evidence from Khirbat al-Jariya, Faynan, Jordan

Antiquity ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 84 (325) ◽  
pp. 724-746 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erez Ben-Yosef ◽  
Thomas E. Levy ◽  
Thomas Higham ◽  
Mohammad Najjar ◽  
Lisa Tauxe
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Copper Production ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Southern Levant ◽  
Copper Ore ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Ore District

The authors have explored the workplace and house of copper workers of the early Iron Age (twelfth to tenth century BC) in Jordan's Wadi Faynan copper ore district, showing that it belongs in time between the collapse of the great Bronze Age states and the arrival of Egyptians in the area under Sheshonq I. They attribute this production to local tribes – perhaps those engaged in building the biblical kingdom of Edom.

scholarly journals Renovatio/Continuatio in Greek times: Four Sculptural Case Studies

1970 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 39-49
Author(s):  
Brunilde Sismondo Ridgway
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Test Cases ◽  
Body Type ◽  
The Third ◽  
Greek Sculpture

Four “test-cases” are being proposed, to raise issues of continuity and renovation in Greek sculpture. The first involves the use of pre-existing carved metopes on a later temple, at Foce del Sele, with a consequent discrepancy of styles – as on the Arch of Constantine. The second case views the bronze head recovered from the Porticello wreck as a “Philosopher ante litteram” in type but definitely not to be considered a portrait. The third case discusses the Riace warriors as examples of the permanence of a certain heroic body type. Finally, the helmet decoration of the Athena Parthenos by Pheidias is presented to emphasize a continuing tradition from Bronze Age-Iron Age times still valid in the fifth century B.C. and later.

A 5th CenturybcIron Age Chariot Burial from Newbridge, Edinburgh

2010 ◽  
Vol 76 ◽  
pp. 31-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Carter ◽  
Fraser Hunter ◽  
Andrea Smith ◽  
Mhairi Hastie ◽  
Steven Lancaster ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Burial Mound ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Burial Practices ◽  
Construction Techniques ◽  
History Of ◽  
National Museums ◽  
The Bronze Age

The remains of the first Iron Age chariot burial in Britain outside Yorkshire were discovered during the winter of 2000–1, near the Bronze Age burial mound of Huly Hill, at Newbridge, Edinburgh. Excavated by Headland Archaeology (UK) Ltd with the assistance of the National Museums Scotland, the chariot proved unique beyond just its burial location. The Newbridge chariot was buried intact, a method consistent with the burial practices of Continental Europe rather than Yorkshire, where they were predominantly buried disassembled. Detailed post-excavation analysis revealed a history of repair and reuse, and construction techniques that indicate links with the chariot building traditions of both Yorkshire and Continental Europe. Fifth centurybcradiocarbon dates for the burial place it firmly within La Tène A, consistent with its similarities to European examples and indicating that it pre-dates the known Yorkshire examples. This indicates the emergence of a British tradition of chariot construction by this time, familiar with Continental habits and technology but distinctively different in such areas as wheel construction and suspension fittings. Based on the findings, a reconstruction of the chariot was built for display in the National Museums Scotland, providing an opportunity further to understand and confirm the construction techniques observed or hypothesised during excavation.

Strategies for future success: Remembering the Hittites during the Iron Age

2007 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 203-216
Author(s):  
Lynn Swartz Dodd
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
East Side ◽  
Site Location ◽  
Local Elites ◽  
Future Success ◽  
Ceramic Vessel ◽  
Distinct Site

AbstractThe Maraş and Sakçagözü valley surveys on the east side of the Amanus mountains provide new data regarding patterns of Hittite territorial management and administration. Sites dating to the Late Bronze Age II period were identified by the presence of burnished pottery, drab ware and, occasionally, by animal-shaped ceramic vessel fragments. The standardised drab ware pottery is emblematic of mass production and rigid control of labour sources and raw materials through systems designed to support the economic and political strategies of the Hittite court and to serve its interests. The settlement pattern is linked to Hittite regional needs for agricultural production, raw materials and territorial security. The distinct site location pattern indicates a strategic, restrained use of space by the Hittites. This left room for beneficial integrative features that local élites might emphasise for their own purposes, which comprise a foundation for the prestige later accorded to the Hittite legacy.

The concentration and centralization of late prehistoric settlement in central Italy: the evidence from the Nepi Survey

2013 ◽  
Vol 81 ◽  
pp. 1-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulla Rajala
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Population Pressure ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Prehistoric ◽  
Gis Modelling ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
The Bronze Age

This article discusses the evidence for the concentration and centralization of late prehistoric settlement in central Italy, using the territory of Nepi as an example of settlement aggregation in southern Etruria. This example helps to explain the regional developments leading to urbanization and state formation in Etruria from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. The article also publishes new sites with late prehistoric ceramic material from the Neolithic or Epineolithic to the Iron Age in the territory of Nepi found during the Nepi Survey Project. This new evidence is discussed together with previously published material, and presented as further evidence that the developments leading to the occupation of naturally defended sites in the Final Bronze Age had their origins in the Middle Bronze Age. Similarly, the analysis, aided by agricultural and GIS modelling, suggests that the hiatus in the settlement and its dislocation after an apparent break between the Final Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age may have been caused by population pressure. After the settlement aggregated in one centre at Nepi, there are signs of further expansion in the Iron Age.

The Outstanding Biographies of Prehistoric Monuments in Iron Age, Roman, and Medieval Spain

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo García Sanjuán
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Middle Age ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
European Regions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Graphic Elements ◽  
Historical Periods

Over the last decade, new questions have emerged with regard to the complex temporal patterns often seen in Iberian prehistoric monuments. A number of megalithic chamber tombs, menhirs, stelae or rock-art panels have been found to show that, as occurs in other European regions, their lives were not restricted to the period of time in which they were built or manufactured, but, on the contrary, they extended well into later (or even much later) prehistoric, protohistoric and subsequent historical periods. Evidence for this includes successive physical transformations through the incorporation of new architectural or graphic elements and/or through the reorganization of previously existing ones, the accumulation of mnemonic artefacts, as well as layouts and orientations in special landscape settings (Díaz-Guardamino 2006; 2008; 2010; 2012; 2015; García Sanjuán et al. 2008; Lillios 2008; García Sanjuán and Wheatley 2010; García Sanjuán 2011; Aranda Jiménez 2013). In this chapter we attempt to show that some prehistoric monuments built or made in the Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age played active roles in the social life of communities considered ‘protohistoric’ or ‘historic’. To achieve this, we first examine a series of monuments with ‘outstanding biographies’, which document single reuse or repeated and/or persistent use during the Iron Age, Antiquity and/or the Middle Age. We will then try to establish some conclusions in relation to the social practices that may have led to such uses or reuses of prehistoric monuments that were thousands of years old by the time they were reinterpreted, rediscovered or reinvented. Although this is a subject that has only been seriously researched over the last decade, the list of Iberian megalithic chamber tombs used in the Iron Age, in Antiquity and in the Middle Ages is now quite substantial (e.g. Caamaño Gesto and Criado Boado 1992; Lorrio Alvarado and Montero Ruiz 2004; García Sanjuán 2005a; 2005b; García Sanjuán et al. 2008; Álvarez Vidaurre 2011). There is varied evidence supporting these cases of reuse.

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