scholarly journals The Mysteries of Lake Copais and the Island Fortress of Gla

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-38
Author(s):  
Therese Ghembaza ◽  
David Windell
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
History Of Research ◽  
Large Dams ◽  
History Of ◽  
Middle Helladic ◽  
The Bronze Age

The Bronze Age drainage of Lake Copais, Boeotia, is unique within Europe as the largest and most complex work of engineering of the period. Comprising large dams, polder dykes, canals, massive levees, cuttings and tunnels, it made at least 95km² of drained lake bed available for agricultural production. The first polders were established in the Middle Helladic period with great extensions in the Late Helladic. During the latter period the largest of all the Mycenaean citadels was constructed at Gla which had been a rocky island in the lake prior to the drainage. But exactly what type of settlement it was still remains something of a mystery. This paper draws together the history of research on the citadel of Gla.

Personifying Prehistory

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Brück
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
History Of Research ◽  
History Of ◽  
Human World ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is frequently framed in social evolutionary terms. Viewed as the period which saw the emergence of social differentiation, the development of long-distance trade, and the intensification of agricultural production, it is seen as the precursor and origin-point for significant aspects of the modern world. This book presents a very different image of Bronze Age Britain and Ireland. Drawing on the wealth of material from recent excavations, as well as a long history of research, it explores the impact of the post-Enlightenment 'othering' of the non-human on our understanding of Bronze Age society. There is much to suggest that the conceptual boundary between the active human subject and the passive world of objects, so familiar from our own cultural context, was not drawn in this categorical way in the Bronze Age; the self was constructed in relational rather than individualistic terms, and aspects of the non-human world such as pots, houses, and mountains were considered animate entities with their own spirit or soul. In a series of thematic chapters on the human body, artefacts, settlements, and landscapes, this book considers the character of Bronze Age personhood, the relationship between individual and society, and ideas around agency and social power. The treatment and deposition of things such as querns, axes, and human remains provides insights into the meanings and values ascribed to objects and places, and the ways in which such items acted as social agents in the Bronze Age world.

Bronze Age Central Asia

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Doumani Dupuy
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Social History ◽  
Principal Characteristics ◽  
History Of Research ◽  
The Social ◽  
Variable Nature ◽  
Agricultural Societies ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Bronze Age

This article focuses on the principal characteristics and features of the Bronze Age of the steppes, deserts, mountain foothills, and oases of Central Asia. It outlines the history of research on the region’s mobile pastoral and settled agricultural societies during the third and second millennium BC. The article examines how approaches to the social history and economy have changed from one of macro-studies of regional assemblages toward more targeted investigations of the dynamic and variable nature of this period. Finally, an overview of pottery, metal, and textile assemblages and analyses is used to form a discussion on craft production practices, consumption, and regional exchange across Central Asia.

Prehistoric Copper Mining in Europe

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
William O'Brien
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Copper Mining ◽  
Metal Production ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
History Of Research ◽  
Societal Context ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Mineral Prospecting

This volume examines prehistoric copper mining in Europe, from the first use of the metal eight thousand years ago in the Balkans to its widespread adoption during the Bronze Age. The history of research is examined, as is the survival of this mining archaeology in different geological settings. There is information on the technological processes of mineral prospecting, ore extraction, and metal production, as well as the logistics and organization of this activity and its environmental impact. The analysis is broadened to consider the economic and societal context of prehistoric copper mining and the nature of the distinctive communities involved. The study is based on a review of field data and research produced over many decades by the collaboration of archaeologists and geologists in a number of different countries, and covers such famous mining centres as the Mitterberg in Austria, Kargaly in Russia, the Great Orme in Wales, and those in Cyprus, from where the name of this metal derives. These regional studies are brought together for the first time to present a remarkable story of human endeavour and innovation, which marks a new stage in the mastery of our natural resources.

A gold diadem from Aegina

1987 ◽  
Vol 107 ◽  
pp. 182-182
Author(s):  
Reynold Higgins
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
British Museum ◽  
The South ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Middle Helladic ◽  
Dead Man ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Grave Goods

A recent discovery on the island of Aegina by Professor H. Walter (University of Salzburg) throws a new light on the origins of the so-called Aegina Treasure in the British Museum.In 1982 the Austrians were excavating the Bronze Age settlement on Cape Kolonna, to the north-west of Aegina town. Immediately to the east of the ruined Temple of Apollo, and close to the South Gate of the prehistoric Lower Town, they found an unrobbed shaft grave containing the burial of a warrior. The gravegoods (now exhibited in the splendid new Museum on the Kolonna site) included a bronze sword with a gold and ivory hilt, three bronze daggers, one with gold fittings, a bronze spear-head, arrowheads of obsidian, boar's tusks from a helmet, and fragments of a gold diadem (plate Va). The grave also contained Middle Minoan, Middle Cycladic, and Middle Helladic (Mattpainted) pottery. The pottery and the location of the grave in association with the ‘Ninth City’ combine to give a date for the burial of about 1700 BC; and the richness of the grave-goods would suggest that the dead man was a king.

scholarly journals Big-Men and Small Chiefs: The Creation of Bronze Age Societies

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rune Iversen
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Southern Scandinavia ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Early Late ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Big Men

AbstractThis paper investigates to what extent the significant material changes observable at the end of the Neolithic reflect transformations of the underlying social dynamics. Answering this question will help us to understand the formation of Bronze Age societies. The analysis concerns southern Scandinavia with a certain focus on Denmark. The assumption is that the creation of Bronze Age societies must be understood as a long formative process that partly originated in the culturally-heterogeneous Middle Neolithic. Four aspects seem to have been essential to this process: the rise of the warrior figure, the reintroduction of metal, increased agricultural production, and the establishment of one of the characteristic features of the Bronze Age, the chieftain hall. These aspects do not appear simultaneously but are introduced stepby- step starting out in the late Middle Neolithic and early Late Neolithic to fully develop around 2000 BC. Consequently, this paper argues that the final Late Neolithic (LN II, c. 1950-1700 BC) was de facto part of the Earliest Bronze Age.

SOME COMMENTS ABOUT THE INFLUENCE OXUS CIVILIZATION IN THEARABIAN GULF

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (10) ◽  
pp. 97-103
Author(s):  
Khayitmurod Khurramov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Arabian Gulf ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
Unique Material ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Written Sources ◽  
Marine Shell

It is known that the Oxus civilization in the Bronze Age, with its unique material culture, interacted with a number of cultural countries: the Indian Valley, Iran, Mesopotamia, Elam and other regions. As a result of these relationships, interactions and interactions are formed. Archaeologists turn to archaeological and written sources to shed light on the historiography of this period. This research is devoted to the history of cultural relations between the Oxus civilization and the countries of the Arabian Gulf in the Bronze Age. The article highlights cultural ties based on an analysis of stamp seals and unique artifacts.Key words: Dilmun, Magan, marine shell, Arabian Gulf, Bahrain, Mesopotamia, Harappa, Gonur, Afghanistan

ARCHAEOLOGISTS M.P. GRYAZNOV, V.I. MATYUSHCHENKO AND THE STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 62-69
Author(s):  
MARSADOLOV L. ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
The State ◽  
Daily Work ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Bronze Age

Many decades the life and work of Mikhail Petrovich Gryaznov (1902-1984) was connected with the State Hermitage museum. Long-term friendship bound him with Vladimir Ivanovich Matyushchenko (1928-2005). These archaeologists were lucky in the excavations in the field and in the office behind a desk that was reached by stressful daily work. The most valuable materials from the excavations of M.P. Gryaznov were transferred to the Hermitage (Pazyryk-1, Arzhan-1), and in the museum's funds he taught a course in tracology for students of LSU. Archaeologists are well aware of the scientific works of VI. Matyushchenko on the history of Siberian archaeology, materials from excavations of the Bronze Age sites in the Tomsk and Omsk regions (Elovka, Rostovka and others), and the mounds of the Xiongnu era in Sidorovka. This article briefly discusses the main stages of M.P. Gryaznov's work in the Hermitage and his further relations with this museum. The author of the article was familiar with M.P. Gryaznov and VI. Matyushchenko, studied archaeology with them, gained experience and repeatedly helped them, both in the Hermitage and beyond. Keywords: M.P Gryaznov, V.I. Matyushchenko, hermitage, Pazyryk, Arzhan, state award

An Early British Interest in Knossos

1987 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
pp. 85-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sinclair Hood
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Early History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Eyewitness Account ◽  
Sanctuary Of Demeter ◽  
The Bronze Age

Four letters written in 1879, 1880, and 1884, by Thomas B. Sandwith, the British Consul in Crete, to the British Museum throw light on the early history of the site of the Bronze Age palace at Knossos. The first of these letters (1879) contains a brief eyewitness account of the excavations of Minos Kalokairinos there in the winter of 1878–9 and urges the British Museum to continue his work. The two later letters (1884) deal with his gift of a pithos from the palace excavations to the Museum. The letters also refer to clandestine excavations in the Sanctuary of Demeter at Knossos.

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