Pottery production in Santa Ponsa (Majorca, Spain) from the Late Bronze Age to the Late Iron Age (1100–50 BC): Ceramics, technology and society

This paper presents the results of several years' research on late Iron Age enclosed settlements in west Wales. Geophysical survey was conducted on 21 sites and three of these, Troedyrhiw, Ffynnonwen, and Berry Hill, were part-excavated. Most sites examined were heavily plough-damaged, but results of the surveys and excavations demonstrated that substantial archaeological remains survive. Approximately 60 enclosed settlements lay in the core study area of southern Ceredigion (Cardiganshire), half of which were oval in shape and half rectangular. Both types contain suites of buildings seen in much of the British Iron Age – round-houses and 4-/6-post structures. Evidence from the excavations supports data from elsewhere in the region indicating that small oval enclosures appear in the landscape in the 2nd–1st centuriesbc, with rectangular enclosures constructed right at the end of the Iron Age. Dating is based almost entirely on radiocarbon determinations as, in common with other similar-aged sites in west Wales, artefacts are almost completely absent. It was not possible during excavation at Troedyrhiw to conclusively demonstrate late prehistoric use of the rectangular enclosed settlement, but a Roman pottery assemblage in the upper fills of the enclosure ditch coupled with a two phase entrance is interpreted as indicating Late Iron Age construction. More complex remains were revealed during excavations at Ffynnonwen, a circular enclosed settlement within a larger oval enclosure. Here, three round-houses, a 4- and 6-post structure and other remains were investigated and radiocarbon dated to the 8th–6th centuriesbcthrough to the early Romano-British period. Berry Hill, an inland promontory fort, appeared to be unfinished and abandoned. Radiocarbon determinations indicated a Late Bronze Age construction (10th–8th centuriesbc). The paper concludes with a consideration of a number of interpretive issues regarding settlement, enclosure, identity, and ways of living.

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Unraveling the Occupation History of the Cremation Cemetery at Wijnegem/Blikstraat (Belgium)

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/rdc.2017.109 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 59 (6) ◽

pp. 1645-1656

Author(s):

Guy De Mulder ◽

Mark Van Strydonck ◽

Mathieu Boudin ◽

Ignace Bourgeois

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Early Iron Age ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Funerary Monuments ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

History Of

ABSTRACTRecently a cremation cemetery was excavated at the site of Wijnegem where 29 cremation graves and 9 funerary monuments were uncovered. Thirty radiocarbon (14C) dates were carried out, mostly on cremated bone but also 10 charcoal samples were dated. Twenty-four cremations were studied. Four ring ditches were dated by charcoal samples from the infill of the ditch. The 14C dates showed an interesting long-term occupation of the cemetery. Different phases were ascertained. The history of the cemetery starts in the northern part of the site around a circular funerary monument. Two cremations were dated at the transition of the Early to Middle Bronze Ages. Two other graves represent the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Ages. The main occupation period dates between the end of the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. Finally, an isolated cremation grave marks the definite abandonment of the site during the Late Iron Age.

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Status and Violence

How Ancient Europeans Saw the World ◽

10.23943/princeton/9780691143385.003.0007 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Peter S. Wells

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Early Iron Age ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Visual Objects ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

La Tène ◽

La Tene

This chapter focuses on sword and scabbards. Swords were important visual objects, larger than most other objects in Bronze and Iron Age Europe, and their shape made them visually striking. Two parts of the sword were especially important in this regard. In the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, the hilt and pommel were often the vehicles for elaborate eye-catching ornament. When a sword was in its scabbard, whether worn at the side of the bearer, hanging on a wall, or placed in the burial chamber, the only parts of the weapon that were visible were the handle and its end. During the Middle and Late Iron Age, the scabbard became especially important as a vehicle for decorative elaboration. Bronze and Early Iron Age scabbards were mostly made of wood, and we do not, therefore have much information about how they were decorated. From the end of the Early La Tène period on, however, swords were long, and scabbards of bronze and iron offered extensive rectangular surfaces for decoration.

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Excavation of a prehistoric enclosure at Mar Hall, Bishopton, Renfrewshire

Scottish Archaeological Journal ◽

10.3366/saj.2012.0040 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 34-35 (1) ◽

pp. 117-135 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Graeme Cavers ◽

Victoria Clements ◽

Sarah Lynchehaun

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Early Iron Age ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Archaeological Excavation ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

Two Phases

Remains of a multi-palisaded and ditched enclosure were identified during an archaeological watching brief and evaluation carried out in July 2007. In accordance with planning conditions an archaeological excavation was subsequently undertaken between August and December 2007, on behalf of Mar Estates Ltd. The excavation identified two phases of construction at the enclosure, the multiple palisades and entrance dating to the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age and a large ditch dating to the Middle-Late Iron Age. A Bronze Age burnt mound was found nearby.

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Death, Decapitation and Display? The Bronze and Iron Age Human Remains from the Sculptor's Cave, Covesea, North-east Scotland

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society ◽

10.1017/s0079497x00000694 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 77 ◽

pp. 251-278 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Ian Armit ◽

Rick Schulting ◽

Christopher J. Knüsel ◽

Ian A.G. Shepherd

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Human Remains ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Age Group ◽

North East ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

Ams Dating ◽

The Bronze Age ◽

Apparent Evidence

Excavations at the Sculptor's Cave (north-east Scotland) during the 1930s and 1970s yielded evidence for activity in the Late Bronze Age, Late Iron Age, and early medieval periods, including a substantial human skeletal assemblage with apparent evidence for the removal, curation, and display of human heads. The present project, combining osteological analysis and a programme of AMS dating, aimed to place the surviving human remains from the site into their appropriate chronological context and to relate them to the broader sequence of human activity in the cave. A series of AMS determinations has demonstrated that the human remains fall into two distinct chronological groups separated by a millennium or more: one from the Mid-Late Bronze Age and one from the Late Iron Age. Osteological analysis suggests that while the Bronze Age group may, as previously suggested, include the remains of the heads of juveniles formerly displayed at the cave entrance, this was not the sole mechanism by which human remains arrived in the cave at this time. The Late Iron Age group provides evidence for decapitation and other violent treatments within the cave itself.

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Iron and iron technology

The Oxford Handbook of the European Iron Age ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199696826.013.10 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Timothy Champion

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Cold Working ◽

Full Range ◽

Domestic Architecture ◽

Productive Capacity ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

Iron Technology

Iron production began in many parts of Europe during the late Bronze Age. Although initially comparatively rare, production steadily increased in volume and quality, and major centres developed in southern France, Bavaria, Austria, and southern Poland; the discovery of standardized ingots shows the distribution of smelted iron. Blacksmithing techniques improved rapidly, and the processes of cold working, quenching, and annealing were mastered. The transition from bronze to iron for tools and weapons varied regionally, and the role of iron varied from a utilitarian material for tools to an exotic inlay for decoration. By the late Iron Age a full range of tools had been developed, which changed little for many centuries. These harder, sharper, and more durable tools had a major impact on the productive capacity of other industries, including agriculture, but especially woodworking and carpentry. The use of iron nails transformed domestic architecture, the construction of fortifications, and shipbuilding.

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REMAINS OF BROWN BEAR (URSUS ARCTOS L.) FROM THE KANINSKAYA CAVE SANCTUARY IN THE NORTHERN URALS

Archaeology Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia ◽

10.17746/1563-0110.2018.46.2.131-139 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 46 (2) ◽

pp. 131-139 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

P. A. Kosintsev ◽

O. P. Bachura ◽

V. S. Panov

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Human Activity ◽

Iron Age ◽

Ursus Arctos ◽

Brown Bear ◽

Early Iron Age ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Male And Female ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

The Bronze Age

Fossil remains of brown bear from Kaninskaya cave in the northern Ural are described. They were accumulated during the Late Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, and Late Iron Age as a result of human activity. We analyze the composition of skeletal elements and the nature of their fragmentation. Sex and age of individuals whose bones were apparently used in rituals are assessed, and the seasonality of these ceremonies is evaluated. The main object of ceremonial actions during all chronological periods was the head. Crania and mandibles were cracked into several parts according to one and the same fashion. Other skeletal parts were used much less often. Most postcranial bones were likewise broken into several pieces. Such practices differ from modern Ob Ugrian bear rituals. In the Bronze Age, heads of adult male and female bears were used, and the ceremonies were performed mainly in winter, less often in summer and autumn, and very rarely in spring. In the Iron Age, too, heads of adult animals, mostly males, were used, and ceremonies were held throughout the year but more often in summer and in winter. Seasonal bear rites were not practiced. Certain elements of rites, differing from those of modern Ob Ugrians, are reconstructed. Modern Ob Ugrian bear rituals were formed in the Late Iron Age.

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The Excavation of Caesar's Camp, Heathrow, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, 1944

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society ◽

10.1017/s0079497x00003832 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 59 ◽

pp. 303-360 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

W. F. Grimes ◽

Joanna Close-Brooks ◽

J. Cotton ◽

J. May ◽

D. F. Williams

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

Middle Iron Age ◽

Small Finds ◽

Relationship Of

W. F. Grimes excavated a rectangular earthwork in advance of airport construction in 1944, at Heathrow, Middlesex, and found a timber building of unique ‘concentric-rectangle’ plan, together with penannular house gullies; all these features were thought to be part of the same settlement except for two Neolithic pits. Now it can be seen that a Late Bronze Age occupation attested by scattered pottery and small finds but next to no identifiable structures, was followed by 11 Middle Iron Age round houses, and one or two features that may be Late Iron Age. The rampart of the earthwork overlay at least some of the houses. The rectangular building may be Middle or Late Iron Age: though other Iron Age rectangular buildings are now known, its concentric plan remains unique in Britain and resembles that of some Romano–Celtic temples. The precise chronological relationship of the strong earthwork, the round houses and the rectangular building remains uncertain.

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THE BEGINNING OF THE IRON AGE AT ARSLANTEPE: A 14C PERSPECTIVE

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/rdc.2021.19 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-19

Author(s):

Federico Manuelli ◽

Cristiano Vignola ◽

Fabio Marzaioli ◽

Isabella Passariello ◽

Filippo Terrasi

Keyword(s):

Mass Spectrometry ◽

Bronze Age ◽

High Precision ◽

Iron Age ◽

Accelerator Mass Spectrometry ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

13Th Century ◽

Historical Events ◽

Preliminary Results ◽

Archaeological Data

ABSTRACT The Iron Age chronology at Arslantepe is the result of the interpretation of Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions and archaeological data coming from the site and its surrounding region. A new round of investigations of the Iron Age levels has been conducted at the site over the last 10 years. Preliminary results allowed the combination of the archaeological sequence with the historical events that extended from the collapse of the Late Bronze Age empires to the formation and development of the new Iron Age kingdoms. The integration into this picture of a new set of radiocarbon (14C) dates is aimed at establishing a more solid local chronology. High precision 14C dating by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and its correlation with archaeobotanical analysis and stratigraphic data are presented here with the purpose of improving our knowledge of the site’s history and to build a reliable absolute chronology of the Iron Age. The results show that the earliest level of the sequence dates to ca. the mid-13th century BC, implying that the site started developing a new set of relationships with the Levant already before the breakdown of the Hittite empire, entailing important historical implications for the Syro-Anatolian region at the end of the 2nd millennium BC.

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Cremated animal remains and shattered pottery. Rare ritual deposits from the Middle to Late Bronze Age at Aalst – Siesegemkouter (Belgium)

Praehistorische Zeitschrift ◽

10.1515/pz-2021-0017 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 0 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Arne Verbrugge ◽

Maaike Groot ◽

Koen Deforce ◽

Guy De Mulder ◽

Wouter Van der Meer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Multidisciplinary Approach ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Low Countries ◽

Early Date ◽

Animal Remains ◽

Animal Bone ◽

Maintenance Practice ◽

Organic Remains

Abstract Archaeological research at Aalst – Siesegemkouter revealed several pits within a Middle to Late Bronze Age settlement. Most of them hardly contained any artefacts, but one exception showed a structured stratigraphy with an abundance of finds, including a large amount of shattered pottery, charcoal and calcined animal bone. The study of this assemblage, and comparison with two other pits showing similarities, provides strong indications of a closing deposit or another type of ‘site maintenance practice’. In the Low Countries, comparable contexts generally date from the Iron Age, suggesting that the finds from Aalst – Siesegemkouter represent early forerunners of this ritual practice. On top of this early date, the large volume of cremated animal bone represents an almost unique characteristic for which, until now, parallels from the Metal Ages have hardly been found, even on a Northwestern European scale. In general, the role played by organic remains in ritual contexts from these periods and regions is poorly understood, often due to bad preservation conditions or the lack of a multidisciplinary approach.

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