Research of the Farkhor burial ground — a site of the Early and Early Middle bronze age in the South of Tajikistan

Abstract The introduction of the folding stool and the single-edged razor into Southern Scandinavia, as well as the testimony of chariot use during the Nordic Bronze Age Period II (1500-1300 BC), give evidence of the transfer of ideas from the Mediterranean to the North. Recent analyses of the chemical composition of blue glass beads from well-dated Danish Bronze Age burials have revealed evidence for the opening of long distance exchange routes around 1400 BC between Egypt, Mesopotamia and South Scandinavia. When including comparative material from glass workshops in Egypt and finds of glass from Mesopotamia, it becomes clear that glass from those distant lands reached Scandinavia. The routes of exchange can be traced through Europe based on finds of amber from the North and glass from the South.

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Part I. Neolithic Mycenae

The Annual of the British School at Athens ◽

10.1017/s0068245400012946 ◽

1957 ◽

Vol 52 ◽

pp. 195-196 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

A. J. B. Wace

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Recent Work ◽

Early Bronze Age ◽

The South ◽

North West ◽

The North ◽

Fabric Hand ◽

A Site

Stamatakes's excavations in the Grave Circle area revealed, although it was not recognized until much later, that Mycenae had been inhabited in the Early Bronze Age, the Early Helladic Period. This was confirmed by subsequent researches which produced Early Helladic material from the foot of the Ramp, outside the Grave Circle, beneath the South House and below the Palace. Now the recent work of Dr. Papademetriou and ourselves has yielded fresh evidence. He has found more E.H. material in Schliemann's Grave Circle and some possible Neolithic sherds as well. In the area of the Prehistoric Cemetery outside the Cyclopean walls to the north-west of the Lion Gate we have found in a mixed unstratified layer at the eastern foot of the mound or tumulus which covered the dome of the ‘Tomb of Aegisthus’ many fragments of E.H. pottery, both decorated and plain. Since the plain E.H. ware found is of a simple, thickish fabric hand-polished and usually of a dull red or of a mud colour, we had at times wondered whether some of these fragments might not almost be classed as Neolithic. This was especially so in the case of some of the fragments from the lowest strata at the foot of the Ramp. Unfortunately these fragments were lost during the war in the Nauplia Museum and cannot now be checked.The discovery of Neolithic B pottery at the Argive Heraeum, and still more recently Dr. Caskey's most successful excavations at Lerna, encouraged us in the idea that a site like Mycenae was probably inhabited in Neolithic times also. Since the Early Helladic material is not stratified, except in areas like the foot of the Ramp or below the South House, it was hardly to be expected that Neolithic remains, if found, would be stratified. It is always possible, however, that some part of the site, not yet explored, may have escaped later disturbance or overbuilding. We have therefore now paid particular attention to the unstratified debris found above the Prehistoric Cemetery at the eastern foot of the Aegisthus mound. Among this we have found two sherds which are in our opinion almost certainly Neolithic.

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The Attraction of Opposites

The Idea of Order ◽

10.1093/oso/9780199608096.003.0015 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Richard Bradley

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Low Countries ◽

Smooth Curves ◽

The North ◽

Field Evidence ◽

The North Sea ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

A Site ◽

The Mind ◽

Straight Lines

One of the best known accounts of the psychology of perception is Richard Gregory’s book Eye and Brain (Gregory 1998). It is relevant to this chapter because it uses an example from archaeology to illustrate the way in which the mind creates visual patterns. The author considers the methods by which excavators distinguish between the remains of rectangular and circular buildings. He considers the Middle Bronze Age settlement of Thorny Down in southern England, where different scholars have inferred the existence of different types of buildings on the basis of the same field evidence. The original excavator was uncertain of the precise form of the settlement (Stone 1941), but, in later years, Piggott identified the site of a large rectangular house there (1965: Figure 87) and Musson recognized circular structures (1970: 267; Figure 57). Gregory’s summary of their method is as follows:… Science and perception work by knowledge and rules, and by analogy . . . [In the case of Thorny Down] some of the holes in the ground might be ancient post holes; others might be rabbit holes, to be ignored. One group of archaeologists accepted close-together large holes as evidence of a grand entrance. They were altogether rejected by other archaeologists. One group constructed a large rectangular hut; the other, a small rectangular hut, and a circular building. ‘Bottomup’ rules—holes being close together and forming straight lines or smooth curves, and ‘top-down’ knowledge or assumptions of which kinds of buildings were likely—affected the ‘perceptions’. Both could have been wrong (1998: 11–12)…. The identification of a rectangular building at Thorny Down took place at a time when it was believed that the Netherlands had been settled from England during the Bronze Age. The argument was based on pottery styles and the distribution of metalwork (Theunissen 2009). Most likely there were contacts in both directions. As the Low Countries were characterized by a tradition of rectilinear architecture, what could be more natural than the construction of a longhouse at a site on the Wessex chalk? Dutch prehistorians attempted to find similar links between domestic architecture on both sides of the North Sea and soon they identified roundhouses of British type in their excavations.

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EXCAVATIONS AT KURD QABURSTAN, A SECOND MILLENNIUMb.c. URBAN SITE ON THE ERBIL PLAIN

Iraq ◽

10.1017/irq.2017.2 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 79 ◽

pp. 213-255

Author(s):

Glenn M. Schwartz ◽

Christopher D. Brinker ◽

Andrew T. Creekmore ◽

Marian H. Feldman ◽

Alexia Smith ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Urban Site ◽

The South ◽

Urban Centre ◽

City Wall ◽

Residential Architecture ◽

Johns Hopkins University ◽

South Slope ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

Main Period

Excavations at the 109 hectare site of Kurd Qaburstan on the Erbil plain in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq were conducted by the Johns Hopkins University in 2013 and 2014. The Middle Bronze Age (Old Babylonian period) is the main period of occupation evident on the site, and the project therefore aims to study the character of a north Mesopotamian urban centre of the early second millenniumb.c. On the high mound, excavations revealed three phases of Mittani (Late Bronze) period occupation, including evidence of elite residential architecture. On the low mound and the south slope of the high mound, Middle Bronze evidence included domestic remains with numerous ceramic vessels left in situ. Also dating to the Middle Bronze period is evidence of a city wall on the site edges. Later occupations include a cemetery, perhaps of Achaemenid date, on the south slope of the high mound and a Middle Islamic settlement on the southern lower town. Faunal and archaeobotanical analysis provide information on the plant and animal economy of the second millenniumb.c. occupations, and geophysical results have documented a thirty-one hectare expanse of dense Middle Bronze Age architecture in the northern lower town.

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THRONE-LIKE ARMCHAIRS AND WAGONSIN THE BRONZE AGE СULTURES OF THE CIRCUMPONTIC AREA

Краткие сообщения Института археологии (КСИА) ◽

10.25681/iaras.0130-2620.257.17-34 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

А.Н. Гей

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Black Sea ◽

Social Processes ◽

The Black Sea ◽

Burial Ground ◽

The South ◽

South Caucasus ◽

The Bronze Age ◽

Written Sources

На основании недавней находки двух повозок и необычного сиденья-кресла в новотиторовской культуре (погребение 21 кургана 4 Межкирпильского I могильника в степном Прикубанье), вероятных аналогий ей в материалах ямной и катакомбных культур Причерноморья и Предкавказья, а также беденской культуры на территории Грузии ставится вопрос о сложении особой, престижной формы погребального обряда с использованием двух повозок и кресла-трона. Возможные реплики его имеются и южнее, в Месопотамии (некрополь Ура). Специальный культ трона существовал у хеттов, две повозки и трон фигурируют и в хеттском царском погребальном ритуале, известном по письменным источникам. Хронологический приоритет подобных находок в новотиторовской культуре (29-28 вв. до н. э.) перед относящимся к беденской культуре курганом 3 Ананаури (24 в. до н. э.), тем более перед хеттскими табличками II тыс. до н. э., говорит в пользу сложения данного ритуала в среде степных курганных культур с последующим распространением в Закавказье и Анатолию. Что в свою очередь представляет интерес для реконструкции социальных процессов в различных культурах бронзового века, а также для выяснения путей проникновения групп носителей индоевропейских диалектов в Анатолийско-Месопотамский регион. The recent discovery of two wagons and an unusual chair looking like an armchair attributed to the Novotitorovka culture (grave 21, kurgan 4, Mezhkirpilsky I burial ground in the steppe Kuban region), and likely analogies to this find in the Yamnaya and Catacomb assemblages from the Black Sea maritime steppes and the Fore-Caucasus as well as the Bedeni culture in Georgia raise the issue of emergence of a special, prestigious form of the funerary rite with the use of two wagons and an armchair that looks like a throne. Likely replicas have been found further to the south in Mesopotamia (the Ur cemetery). A special cult of the throne existed among the Hittites for example, two wagons and a throne feature in the Hittite kingly funerary rite is known from written sources. The chronological priority of such finds in the Novotitorovka culture (2900-2800 СalBC) regarding kurgan 3 of Ananauri (2400 CalBC) attributed to the Bedeni culture, and, in particular, Hittite tablets dating to 2000 BC argues in favor of development of this rite among the steppe kurgan cultures with its subsequent dissemination in the South Caucasus and Anatolia. This fact is interesting for reconstruction of social processes in various Bronze Age cultures as well as clarification of the routes via which speakers of Indo-European dialects penetrated the Anatolia-Mesopotamia region.

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Phytolith research in the South of Western Siberia

Ukrainian Journal of Ecology ◽

10.15421/2017_27 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 110-119

Author(s):

M. Yu. Solomonova ◽

M. M. Silantyeva ◽

N. Yu. Speranskaya

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Plant Material ◽

Vegetation Change ◽

Initial Period ◽

Archaeological Site ◽

Archaeological Sites ◽

Burial Mound ◽

Left Bank ◽

Burial Ground ◽

The South

The research of modern and fossil soils was conducted at three archaeological sites: Nizhniy Kayancha, Novoilinka-3, and Tytkesken-2. Nizhniy Kayancha is a burial ground (dated 5th century BC) situated on the left bank of the Katun River (400-700 m above sea level). An archaeological site is a burial mound with seven mounds which can be visually separated within the site, and which are placed by small chains with 2–3 objects. The south mound of the first group was examined for a phytolith analysis. Еhe Novoilinka-3 settlement (dated 3rd millennium BC) is situated in the north of Kulunda, in the southern part of a hill formed by the false River Burla. The Tytkesken-2 settlement is situated on the verge of the stream Tytkesken, the left tributary of the Katun River, on its second terrace above the flood plain.Geobotanical research was conducted in the territory of the archaeological sites under study. Grass phytoliths of modern flora were examined. Soil samples from different layers of the walls of excavation sites were collected. Phytolith extraction was based on the methods described by A.A. Golyeva. 20 g of soil, and 100 g of plant material of each species were processed during the initial period. The examination of the phytoliths of leaves, stalks and flower heads from the samples obtained from the plant material was carried out with the help of an optical microscope (Olympus BX-51). The phytoliths were counted to 250 (in ashed plants) and to 300 (in soils) particles.More mesophytic plant communities of the ancient epochs have been reconstructed for all three examined archaeological sites. The territory of the Nizhniy Kayancha burial ground was covered by birch forest at the time prior to formation of the archaeological site. The territory of Novoilinka-3 settlement was covered by pine and birch steppificated forest in the Eneolithic period, but the territory was deforested as the settlement developed. Several stages of vegetation change have been reconstructed for the Tytkesken-2 archaeological site. This includes deforestation of pine forest and further steppe formation in the late Neolithic Age, prairiefication in the Eneolithic Age and new steppe formation in the Bronze Age up to the present time.

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Excavation of Four Barrows, and a Middle Bronze Age Cremation Cemetery, at Heatherstone Grange, Bransgore, Hampshire

Hampshire Studies ◽

10.24202/hs2018002 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 73 (1) ◽

pp. 11-89

Author(s):

Richard Massey ◽

Elaine L. Morris

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Early Bronze Age ◽

The South ◽

The West ◽

Radiocarbon Dates ◽

North West ◽

The North ◽

South West ◽

Middle Bronze Age

Excavation at Heatherstone Grange, Bransgore, Hampshire, investigated features identified in a previous evaluation. Area A included ring ditches representing two barrows. Barrow 1.1 held 40 secondary pits, including 34 cremation-related deposits of Middle Bronze Age date, and Barrow 1.2 had five inserted pits, including three cremation graves, one of which dated to the earlier Bronze Age, and was found with an accessory cup. A number of pits, not all associated with cremation burials, contained well-preserved urns of the regional Deverel-Rimbury tradition and occasional sherds from similar vessels, which produced a closely-clustered range of eight radiocarbon dates centred around 1300 BC. Of ten pits in Area C, three were cremation graves, of which one was radiocarbon-dated to the Early Bronze Age and associated with a collared urn, while four contained only pyre debris. Barrow 1.3, in Area E, to the south, enclosed five pits, including one associated with a beaker vessel, and was surrounded by a timber circle. Area F, further to the south-west, included two pits of domestic character with charcoal-rich fills and the remains of pottery vessels, together with the probable remains of a ditched enclosure and two sets of paired postholes. Area H, located to the north-west of Area E, partly revealed a ring ditch (Barrow 1.4), which enclosed two pits with charcoal-rich fills, one with a single Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age potsherd, and the other burnt and worked flint. A further undated pit was situated to the east of Barrow 1.4. The cremation cemetery inserted into Barrow 1.1 represents a substantial addition to the regional record of Middle Bronze Age cremation burials, and demonstrates important affinities with the contemporary cemeteries of the Stour Valley to the west, and sites on Cranborne Chase, to the north-west.

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The Topography of some Barrow Cemeteries in Bronze Age Wessex

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society ◽

10.1017/s0079497x00002814 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 62 ◽

pp. 275-291 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

A.B. Woodward ◽

P.J. Woodward

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Specific Pattern ◽

Early Bronze Age ◽

The South ◽

Related Research ◽

Stone Monuments ◽

Structural Principle ◽

Local Topography ◽

Middle Bronze Age

Although the study of Early Bronze Age round barrows and cemeteries has flourished in recent years, detailed studies of the siting of barrows and cemeteries in relation to local topography and contemporary monuments are rare. This paper analyses the distribution of barrow cemeteries in relation to three major monumental complexes in Wessex: the South Dorset Ridgeway, Avebury, and Stonehenge. The analyses indicate that the location of barrows and cemeteries was strictly regulated. Although the specific pattern in each region is different, and closely related to the local topography of rivers and ridges, an underlying structural principle has been identified. This principle is that of circularity, and it is suggested that the various patterns of cemetery layout, involving curved settings and arcs, reflect the shape of the round barrows contained within them, the stake- and post-circles which lie buried beneath some of them, and the shape of the timber and stone monuments upon which they focus. This tradition of cemetery regulation appears to have continued to effect mortuary behaviour well into the Middle Bronze Age, alongside new systems of settlement and burial patterning which were developing in areas away from the ancient monumental foci. Finally, pointers towards future related research are outlined.

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The Earliest Cremation Burials in the South-Eastern Alpine Region from the Middle Bronze Age – Signs of Intercultural Connections with the Northern Carpathian Basin

Praehistorische Zeitschrift ◽

10.1515/pz-2020-0024 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 95 (2) ◽

pp. 447-490

Author(s):

Brina Škvor Jernejčič

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Alpine Region ◽

Carpathian Basin ◽

Distribution Area ◽

The South ◽

Burial Practices ◽

South Eastern ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

Tisza River ◽

The Bronze Age

AbstractThe article considers cremation graves from the site of Podsmreka near Višnja Gora (Slovenia). Based on the analysis of their pottery, it could be shown that the graves can be dated to the Middle Bronze Age period (Br B2/C1) and thus represent one of the oldest cremation burials of the Bronze Age in Slovenia. First, the ceramic finds from the radiocarbon dated settlement contexts are discussed in order to reach a more exact chronological framework for the vessel forms from graves. A synthesis of all Middle Bronze Age graves, both inhumations and cremations, from central and eastern Slovenia allows us to get a better understanding of when the change in burial practices occurred. Surprisingly, the best analogies for the vessels from graves at Podsmreka near Višnja Gora can be found in the northern Carpathian Basin, where we observe a long-standing tradition of cremation burials. The analysis of radiocarbon samples from two graves from Šafárikovo in Slovakia allowed us to verify the absolute chronology of urn amphorae vessels with particular form and decoration, which we can date between the second half of the 16th and the first half of the 15th century BC. Such astonishing correspondences in the pottery between the northern Carpathian Basin and the south-eastern Alpine region seem to indicate that the very area of the Upper Tisza river, and the territory of the Piliny Culture, played a crucial role in the transmission of new burial practices, not only to Slovenia, but also across wider areas along the Sava and Drava rivers on the distribution area of the Virovitica group.

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Sites from the Thames estuary wetlands, England, and their Bronze Age use

Antiquity ◽

10.1017/s0003598x00083307 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 70 (268) ◽

pp. 325-334 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

F. M. Meddens

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Location Model ◽

Site Location ◽

Regional Context ◽

Thames Estuary ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

River Thames ◽

A Site

This paper presents the recent discovery of extensive and intensive middle Bronze Age exploitation of the marshland along the northeastern bank of the River Thames and its tributaries within a wider regional context. It also develops a site location model, and explores reasons for the presence of these sites.

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