Regional Coalescence or Further Regionalization?

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Zavodny
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Group Identity ◽  
Sociopolitical Development ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Regional Culture ◽  
Grave Good ◽  
Burial Practice ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Excavations

Prehistoric cultural and sociopolitical development in the mountainous region of Lika, Croatia, is still poorly understood, despite over a century of archaeological excavations. Traditional cultural-historical narratives based on grave good typologies suggest that a unified regional culture, the Iapodes, emerged at the end of the Bronze Age and rapidly expanded across the area. This interpretation, however, has yet to be systematically tested. To better identify and understand to the potential processes of identity formation during this period, this article analyzes mortuary contexts and assemblages as proxies for changing relationships between communities and possible materialization of a shared group identity. Results suggest clear but uneven momentum toward standardized burial practice among groups in neighboring valleys, implying that the creation of a true Iapodian group identity likely took longer than previously thought. Unatoč više od stoljeća arheoloških iskopavanja, stupanj istraženosti kulturnog i društveno-političkog razvoja prapovijesnih zajednica u hrvatskoj planinskoj regiji Lici još uvijek je skroman. Po uvriježenom kulturno-povijesnom tumačenju, temeljenom na tipologijama nalaza iz grobova, Japodi su se, kao jedinstvena regionalna kulturna grupa, pojavili na kraju brončanog doba, te su se vrlo brzo proširili područjem Like. Ovakvu interpretaciju, međutim, tek treba sustavno preispitati. S ciljem boljeg utvrđivanja i razumijevanja potencijalnih procesa formiranja identiteta tijekom ovog razdoblja, u ovom su radu analizirani grobni konteksti i pripadajući skupovi nalaza koji su odraz promjenjivih odnosa među zajednicama, kao i moguće materijalizacije zajedničkog grupnog identiteta. Rezultati analize ukazuju na jasnu, premda neujednačenu težnju ka standardizaciji pogrebne prakse između zajednica susjednih dolina, što sugerira da je proces formiranja pravog japodskog grupnog identiteta vjerojatno trajao duže nego što se pretpostavljalo.

Çatal Hüyük—The Textiles and Twined Fabrics

1965 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 169-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold B. Burnham
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Woven Fabrics ◽  
Natural State ◽  
Visual Appearance ◽  
Arid Conditions ◽  
Metallic Salts ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Intense Heat ◽  
Archaeological Excavations

Ancient textiles in archaeological excavations are preserved only under unusual circumstances, and it is for this reason that the discoveries at Çatal Hüyük in 1961, and repeated in following seasons, of woven and twined materials possess an excitement out of all proportion to their visual appearance. Until these were found, the earliest woven fabrics known were from the Fayûm in Egypt which are usually dated to the fifth millennium B.C. The finds in Level VI of Çatal Hüyük push the history of the textile arts back to the beginning of the sixth millennium.For textiles to survive in a more or less natural state requires either extremely arid conditions as in Egypt or Peru, or permafrost as in the Norse burials in Greenland, and in the tombs of the Scythian and Hunnish princes in Siberia. The presence of certain chemicals may act as a preservative: tannin in the Bronze Age burials in Denmark or metallic salts impregnating the fibres of the silks found in the patina of Chinese bronzes of the early dynasties. At Çatal Hüyük, a simpler agent is responsible for the survival of the fragments that have been found. In the fire that apparently destroyed the buildings of Level VI in which they were found, they were subject to intense heat. Due to the scarcity of oxygen in the space in which they were confined under the low clay platforms, the fabrics were not consumed, but only thoroughly carbonized. This made them chemically inert, and no longer subject to the growth of the destructive moulds that under normal conditions lead to the total decay of most animal and vegetal matter.

scholarly journals Stone Dead: Uncovering Early Mesolithic Mortuary Rites, Hermitage, Ireland

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aimée Little ◽  
Annelou van Gijn ◽  
Tracy Collins ◽  
Gabriel Cooney ◽  
Ben Elliott ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Short Duration ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Microscopic Analysis ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Burial Practice ◽  
Funerary Rites ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Insight Into

In Europe, cremation as a burial practice is often associated with the Bronze Age, but examples of cremated human remains are in fact known from the Palaeolithic onwards. Unlike conventional inhumation, cremation destroys most of the evidence we can use to reconstruct the biography of the buried individual. Remarkably, in Ireland, cremation is used for the earliest recorded human burial and grave assemblage (7530–7320 bc) located on the banks of the River Shannon, at Hermitage, County Limerick. While we are unable to reconstruct in any great detail the biography of this individual, we have examined the biography of a polished stone adzehead interred with their remains. To our knowledge, this adze represents the earliest securely dated polished axe or adze in Europe. Microscopic analysis reveals that the adze was commissioned for burial, with a short duration of use indicating its employment in funerary rites. Before its deposition into the grave it was intentionally blunted, effectively ending its use-life: analogous to the death of the individual it accompanied. The microwear traces on this adze thus provide a rare insight into early Mesolithic hunter-gatherer belief systems surrounding death, whereby tools played an integral part in mortuary rites and were seen as fundamental pieces of equipment for a successful afterlife.

An island decides: megalithic burial rites on Menorca

Antiquity ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 80 (310) ◽  
pp. 829-842 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia Gili ◽  
Vicente Lull ◽  
Rafael Micó ◽  
Cristina Rihuete ◽  
Roberto Risch
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Chronological Order ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Burial Practice ◽  
Burial Rites ◽  
The Bronze Age

Recent research including 781 radiocarbon dates and the excavation of Ses Arenes de Baix, has allowed a new review of the sequence of megalithic burial practice on Menorca. Rock-cut tombs, dolmens, caves with entrance-works and the famous boat-shaped houses and tombs (navetes) are placed in overlapping chronological order. The authors suggest that, while aware of contemporary developments on the continent, the Bronze Age islanders absorbed immigrants and made their own local choices of memorial architecture.

scholarly journals La prima urbanizzazione in Turkmenistan: coesistenza tra nomadi e sedentari nel delta interno del fiume Murghab

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Arciero ◽  
Luca Forni
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Alluvial Fan ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Mobile Pastoralists ◽  
Harsh Climate ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Desert Landscape ◽  
Archaeological Excavations

Modern Turkmenistan is mainly constituted by a desert landscape, yet despite its harsh climate, cultures have been able to construct networks of water channels since the Bronze Age. This has resulted in a man-made landscape that integrates towns and villages. Extensive surveys and recent archaeological excavations have highlighted that between 2400 and 2100 BC (Namazga V period), the region of the Murghab alluvial fan was characterised by the development of complex urban societies. However, starting from the Late Bronze Age, a new group of mobile pastoralists appeared in the Murghab region and settled along the edges of the sedentary sites. Although their presence is well-attested both by survey and excavation data, their degree of interaction with the sedentary farmers is still debated. In modern Turkmenistan, semi-mobile shepherds continue to drive their cattle across the Murghab, using mobile camps for different months. This paper presents the preliminary results of the excavation of the sedentary site of Togolok 1, as well as the first ethnographic study of the mobile communities of the Murghab region.

Middle Bronze Age Enclosures in the Norfolk Broads: a Case Study at Ormesby St Michael, England

2014 ◽  
Vol 80 ◽  
pp. 141-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Gilmour ◽  
Sarah Horlock ◽  
Richard Mortimer ◽  
Sophie Tremlett
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Eastern Region ◽  
Current Interest ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Norfolk Broads ◽  
Field Systems ◽  
Key Indicators ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Excavations

Remnant field systems and enclosures are key indicators of social change during the 2nd millennium bc – their study has considerable significance in terms of interpreting the Bronze Age in the eastern region. Despite widespread current interest in the topic, little if any evidence for Middle Bronze Age settlement and land division had been found in Norfolk prior to the investigations at Ormesby St Michael which form the focus of this paper. Here, archaeological excavations uncovered evidence for strip field systems, succeeded by a large and well dated enclosure containing at least two structures. These results are supplemented by cropmark evidence for other elements of the enclosure produced by the National Mapping Programme. When combined, the findings are of great significance since they indicate a Middle Bronze Age date for numerous comparable cropmarks recorded across the region as part of the National Mapping Programme, emphasising the crucial value of such work. It can now be suggested that the apparent dearth of Bronze Age field systems in Norfolk is not 'real', but the combined effect of limited excavation of such sites and misinterpretation of those that have been investigated.

scholarly journals MIDDLE BRONZE AGE BARROW BURIALS ON THE RIGHT BANK OF THE EYA RIVER IN THE EAST AZOV SEA REGION

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 52-59
Author(s):  
A. KIJASHKO ◽  
◽  
O. LARENOK ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
The North ◽  
Azov Sea ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Excavations ◽  
Catacomb Culture

The paper elucidates the results of archaeological excavations of destroyed barrow No. 1 of the Yuzhny VII cemetery situated on the right bank of the Eya river in the East Azov Sea region. Twelve burials were studied in the preserved part of the barrow. Seven of them date from the Mid- dle Bronze Age: two belong to the Catacomb culture, and three are presumably of the post-Cata- comb age. Six Т-shaped and one Н-shaped catacombs were studied, as well as burials Nos. 1 and 10 dating from the final of the Middle Bronze Age. The authors identify the place of the excavated complexes among the Bronze Age sites of the steppe Fore-Caucasus and provide evidence showing the influence exerted by the North Caucasian traditions on the Middle Bronze Age culture of the Eya river.

scholarly journals THE CASE OF LARGE TREPANATION OF THE BRONZE AGE SKULL FROM KURGAN 2 NEAR THE L'GOVSKOYE VILLAGE

2021 ◽  
pp. 145-159
Author(s):  
Д. В. Веселкова ◽  
Н. Г. Свиркина ◽  
О. И. Успенская ◽  
М. В. Добровольская ◽  
И. В. Рукавишникова ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Surgical Intervention ◽  
Cortical Layer ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Large Size ◽  
Wear Analysis ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Excavations

В ходе археологических исследований кургана № 2 из группы из двух курганов у с. Льговского (Республика Крым) было исследовано 22 погребения эпохи бронзы - раннего железного века. В одном из погребений эпохи бронзы был обнаружен скелет молодого мужчины, на черепе которого были зафиксированы следы трепанации. В статье представлены результаты ее комплексного исследования. Данная трепанация отличается крупным размером и сохранением тонкой нижней пластинки кортикального слоя кости на большей части поверхности места операционного вмешательства. Преобладающей техникой выполнения операции было скобление каменным орудием. Трасологический анализ выявил комплекс следов, оставленных по меньшей мере двумя инструментами с различным рабочим лезвием. Выдвигается предположение о лечебной цели проведения манипуляции. The archaeological excavations of kurgan 2 from the group of two kurgans near the L'govskoye village (Republic of Crimea) examined 21 burials dating to the Bronze Age - Early Iron Age. One of the Bronze Age burials yielded a skeleton of a young man with traces of trepanation on the skull. The paper reports on the results of its comprehensive research. This trepanation is noted for its large size and preservation of a thin lower plate of the bone cortical layer on a large surgically treated region. Scraping with a stone tool was a prevailing method of surgical procedures. The trace wear analysis revealed a series of traces left by at least two tools with different cutting edges. The paper also suggests that this surgical intervention was performed for treatment purposes.

Investigating Burnt Mounds in Clydesdale during Motorway Construction

1998 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
John A Atkinson ◽  
Camilla Dickson ◽  
Jane Downes ◽  
Paul Robins ◽  
David Sanderson
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Short Account ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Bronze Age

Summary Two small burnt mounds were excavated as part of the programme to mitigate the impact of motorway construction in the Crawford area. The excavations followed a research strategy designed to address questions of date and function. This paper surveys the various competing theories about burnt mounds and how the archaeological evidence was evaluated against those theories. Both sites produced radiocarbon dates from the Bronze Age and evidence to suggest that they were cooking places. In addition, a short account is presented of two further burnt mounds discovered during the construction of the motorway in Annandale.

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