scholarly journals The excavation of four caves in the Geodha Smoo near Durness, Sutherland

2005 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Pollard ◽  
James Barrett ◽  
Catherine Smith ◽  
Effie Photos-Jones ◽  
D Aldritt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Convincing Evidence ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Fish Bones ◽  
Iron Slag ◽  
River Erosion ◽  
Western Wall ◽  
Eastern Wall ◽  
Neolithic Pottery

In response to the threat posed by marine and river erosion, a series of deeply stratified midden deposits was excavated in caves leading off a narrow, rock-cut inlet known as the Geodha Smoo, near Durness, Sutherland. These included the famous Smoo Cave (NGR: NC 4136 6714), at the southern end of the inlet; two smaller caves cut into the western wall of the inlet (Glassknapper's Cave and Antler Cave); and a fourth cave (Wetweather Cave) in the eastern wall. The majority of excavated deposits from these caves appear to relate to Viking/Norse or post-Norse activity, with fish bones, marine shells and mammal and bird bones representing the processing and consumption of marine and terrestrial foods. Possible evidence for metalsmithing in the form of iron slag and boat nails could suggest that boats were repaired in the sheltered inlet. Four radiocarbon dates from Smoo Cave and Glassknapper's Cave provide evidence for use of these sites between the eighth and 11th centuries AD. Convincing evidence for pre-Norse activity, although unsupported by radiocarbon dates, was recovered from Glassknapper's Cave in the form of probable Iron Age pottery, while late Neolithic pottery came from floor deposits in the Wetweather Cave.

Excavations at South Cadbury Castle, 1969: A Summary Report

1970 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie Alcock
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Summary Report ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Neolithic Pottery

SummaryContinued excavations at South Cadbury in July-August 1969 failed to confirm the Early Neolithic enclosed settlement hinted at in 1968, but added Late Neolithic pottery to the known cultural sequence. For the Iron Age, particular interest attaches to evidence for stake-built round houses; to a rich collection of iron and bronze arms and armour perhaps from a workshop; and to a rectangular shrine with animal sacrifices. The moment of the Roman Conquest is represented by a field oven with military bronzes. In the fifth-sixth centuries A.D. the plan of a timber hall was traced, and it was shown that timber and reused Roman masonry had played a large part in the rampart and gateway.

scholarly journals TIMING THE EMERGENCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF ARABLE FARMING IN SOUTHEASTERN NORWAY BY USING SUMMED PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION OF RADIOCARBON DATES AND A BAYESIAN AGE MODEL

Radiocarbon ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Steinar Solheim
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Bayesian Modeling ◽  
Probability Distributions ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Arable Farming ◽  
Age Model

ABSTRACT The paper explores the emergence and development of arable farming in southeastern Norway by compiling and analyzing directly dated cereals from archaeological contexts. By using summed probability distributions of radiocarbon dates and Bayesian modeling, the paper presents the first comprehensive analysis of the directly dated evidence for farming in the region. The models provide a more precise temporal resolution to the development than hitherto presented. The results demonstrate that the introduction of arable farming to southeastern Norway was a long-term development including several steps. Three different stages are pointed out as important in the process of establishing arable farming: the Early and Middle Neolithic, the Late Neolithic, and the Early Iron Age.

scholarly journals Steinalderkeramikken fra Rogaland – en kronologisk studie

Viking ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Svein Vatsvåg Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Bayesian Modelling ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Pottery Sherds ◽  
Neolithic Pottery

From the 1800’s and onwards, pottery sherds have been found at a number of Neolithic occupation sites in Rogaland County, Southwestern Norway. In this paper, pottery assemblages from nine contexts are analyzed in order to produce an interpretative chronology. Typological analysis is combined with correspondence analysis and Bayesian modelling of radiocarbon dates. The result is a coherent chronological model that accounts for variations in pottery decoration styles between the late Early Neolithic and the Late Neolithic. There is a development in decorative styles from cord and cord-stamp ornamented vessels followed by a period of pots decorated with cord-stamp, small imprints and incisions, and finally a phase with added lines, comb, and cord-stamp. However, the multi-phased nature of the sites suggests that there are still many unanswered questions. New excavations and re-analyses of older sites are necessary for a better understanding of the developments in Neolithic pottery styles. 

scholarly journals Понятие «эпоха раннего металла» в археологии Северной Европы

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 77-88
Author(s):  
Eugen Kolpakov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
The North ◽  
Lake Onega ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
As If ◽  
Neolithic Pottery

The paper deals with the histo- ry of appearance and usage of the concept of Early Metal Period in the archaeology of Northern Europe. The concept appears to have been conceived in the 1920s by V. I. Ra- vdonikas and A. Ya. Bryusov, but the term it- self was irst introduced into archaeologi- cal literature by N. N. Gurina in the 1940s af- ter the discovery in the Lake Onega region of a number of assemblages seemingly com- bining Late Neolithic pottery with iron- and bronze-making. However, the existence of such assemblages has not been conirmed by subsequent researches, and as early as 1947 the Early Metal Period was redeined as a period comprising the Bronze and Ear- ly Iron Ages. The original basis of the concept disappeared, but the term has become natu- ralized, though with a diferent sense. Thus, as applies to the northern part of Europe, the Three-Age system as if bifurcates in the Neo- lithic and unites again in the Iron Age. The North European Early Metal Period is a pe- ripheral variant of the Bronze Age. Therefore, it would be logical and rational to abandon the concept of the Early Metal Period in favor of the Bronze Age.

The Neolithic and Mesolithic occupation of the cave of Cyclope, Youra, Alonnessos, Greece

1998 ◽  
Vol 93 ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adamantios Sampson
Keyword(s):  
Aegean Sea ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Fish Bones

The cave of Cyclope is situated on the SW side of the island of Youra, 16 miles from Alonnessos. Systematic research in the cave lasted from 1992 to 1996. The upper layers, which date to the Roman period, contained mainly lamps. In the centre of the cave a Middle Neolithic stratum yielded a mass of pottery of exceptional red-on-white decoration. In cutting C, near the entrance, the upper layers belonged to Late Neolithic I (5th millennium BC) and were underlain by a thin Early and Middle Neolithic layer. Most of the deposits were Mesolithic. These layers consisted of faunal remains and thick-packed living floors in which there were ash hearths and scattered charcoal. Radiocarbon dates from these strata ranged from c. 6800 to 8500 BC. The quantity of fish bones and shells was immense in the Mesolithic levels, suggesting, in association with the variety of bone hooks, high dependance on sea resources. The presence of Mesolithic habitation on a small island in the northern Aegean demonstrates that the cave of Cyclope is the earliest site in the Aegean Sea.

Late-glacial and Post-glacial history of the Chalk escarpment near Brook, Kent

1964 ◽  
Vol 248 (745) ◽  
pp. 135-204 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Valley Floor ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Arable Farming ◽  
History Of

This paper describes the morphology of a small piece of the Chalk escarpment near Brook in east Kent, and reconstructs its history since the end of the Last Glaciation. The escarpment contains a number of steep-sided valleys, or coombes, with which are associated deposits of chalk debris, filling their bottoms and extending as fans over the Gault Clay plain beyond. Here the fans overlie radiocarbon-dated marsh deposits of zone II (10 000 to 8800 B.C.) of the Late-glacial Period. The debris fans were formed and the coombes were cut very largely during the succeeding zone III (8800 to 8300 B.C.). The fans are the products of frost-shattering, probably transported by a combination of niveo-fluvial action and the release of spring waters; intercalated seams of loess also occur. The molluscs and plants preserved in the Late-glacial deposits give a fairly detailed picture of local conditions. The later history of one of the coombes, the Devil’s Kneadingtrough, is reconstructed. The springs have effected virtually no erosion and have probably always emerged more or less in their present position. In the floor of the coombe the periglacial chalk rubbles of zone III are covered by Postglacial deposits, mainly hillwashes. They are oxidized and yield no pollen, but contain rich faunas of land Mollusca, which are presented in the form of histograms revealing changing local ecological and climatic conditions. During most of the Post-glacial Period, from the end of zone III until about the beginning of zone VIII, very little accumulation took place on the coombe floor. But below the springs there are marsh deposits which span much of this interval. They yield faunas of considerable zoogeographical interest. The approximate beginning of zone VII a (Atlantic Period) is reflected by a calcareous tufa, which overlies a weathering horizon, and represents an increase in spring flow. Two clearance phases are deduced from the molluscan record. The first may have taken place at least as early as the Beaker Period (Late Neolithic/earliest Bronze Age); the second is probably of Iron Age ‘A’ date. In Iron Age times the subsoil was mobilized and a phase of rapid hillwashing began. As a result the valley floor became buried by humic chalk muds. The prime cause of this process was probably the beginning of intensive arable farming on the slopes above the coombe; a possible subsidiary factor may have been the Sub-Atlantic worsening of climate. The muds yield pottery ranging in date from Iron Age ‘Kentish first A’ ( ca . 500 to ca . 300 B.C.) to Romano-British ware of the first or second centuries A.D. Evidence is put forward for a possible climatic oscillation from dry to wet taking place at about the time of Christ. In the later stages of cultivation, possibly in the Roman Era, the valley floor was ploughed and given its present-day form.

scholarly journals Radiocarbon Chronology of Late Neolithic Settlements in the Tisza-Maros Region, Hungary

Radiocarbon ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 859-866 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ede Hertelendi ◽  
Ferenc Horváth
Keyword(s):  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Unique Type ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Radiocarbon Data ◽  
Stratigraphic Position ◽  
European Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Chronology ◽  
Developmental Phases

We investigated chronological questions of five Late Neolithic settlements in the Hungarian Tisza-Maros region. Fifty new radiocarbon dates provide an internal chronology for the developmental phases of the tell settlements, and place them into the wider framework of the southeastern European Neolithic. An example is presented of how a unique type of stratigraphic excavation helps the interpretation of radiocarbon data, which are in contradiction with the stratigraphic position of the samples.

scholarly journals The Culture of the Sakas of Semirechye: Contemporary State and Current Issues of Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 22-35
Author(s):  
Ernar A. Estemesov
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Funeral Rites ◽  
The Third ◽  
Urgent Task ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Burial Mounds ◽  
Second Category

Purpose. The article describes the history and analysis of the main issues in the study of archaeological sites of the Saka period in Semirechye. They are presented by three main types on this territory: burial and memorial complexes, settlements and hoards. The first type of monuments includes numerous burial mounds, where the elite burials of “royal” type and ordinary burials are located. Both social groups are combined by the unity of funeral rites, and the main differences are the complexity of architecture, memorial practices, and richness of burial equipment in the “royal” type burial mounds. The second category of monuments is presented by the settlements that are mostly small in size. The constructions like half dugouts were discovered on them, which gave a rich ceramic material. The third type of monuments of the Saka period in Semirechye includes numerous hoards of bronze items. Some of them are represented by the cult objects (sacrificial tables, lamps and cauldrons) that mark the places of worship. A significant percentage of the hoards contain items of weapons, horse equipment and household purposes and, apparently, serve as offerings to the spirits. However, despite the considerable progress in the study of the Saka monuments of the Semirechye Region, the main problem is their cultural attribution at this time. Some researchers suggest that the independent Saka archaeological culture was formed and developed on the territory of Semirechye in the Early Iron Age, while others believe that the Saka monuments of this region belong to the broader historical and cultural community that also covers the neighboring regions of Kyrgyzstan and Xinjiang. Results Another important issue in the study of the Saka sites of Semirechye is to clarify the chronology of burial and memorial complexes. Up to now, the significant database of radiocarbon dates has been accumulated, which allows us to consider the chronological positions of a wide range of monuments in a new way. It was of great importance to obtain such dates from several burials of Karatuma necropolis, which showed that it belonged to the Saka period, since burial monuments of this appearance are traditionally dated back to the Wusun period. Conclusion. The necessity of solution of these problems is an urgent task for further research of burial and settlement objects of the Saka period in this region.

scholarly journals The excavation of pit circles at Romancamp Gate, Fochabers, Moray, 1990

1994 ◽  
Vol 123 ◽  
pp. 255-268
Author(s):  
Gordon J Barclay
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Regional Council ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Mesolithic Period

The excavation was undertaken with the funding and support of Grampian Regional Council to test hypotheses relating to the interpretation of cropmark pit circles: were they Neolithic or Bronze Age ceremonial or funerary structures, or were they Iron Age houses, and to what extent could the two classifications be differentiated on aerial photographs? The excavation revealed the remains of four circles (between 8.5 m and 11.5 m in diameter) of large post- holes, fence lines (one with a gate), and many other pits and post-holes. Radiocarbon dates place the post circles late in the first millennium BC uncal. The pit circles may be interpreted as the main structural elements of four substantial round houses, two of which burned down. Flint tools of the Mesolithic period were recovered.

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