Danebury and the Heuneburg: Creating Communities in Early Iron Age Europe

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Davis
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
The Social ◽  
Significant Divergence ◽  
Western Germany ◽  
Temperate Europe ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Age Studies

The Iron Age in temperate Europe is characterized by the emergence of hillforts. While such sites can be highly variable, they also share many characteristics, implying cultural linkages across a wide geographical area. Yet, the interpretation of hillforts has increasingly seen significant divergence in theoretical approaches in different European countries. In particular, Iron Age studies in Britain have progressively distanced themselves from those pursued in continental Europe. This article attempts to address this issue by analysing the evidence from two of the best-known hillforts in Europe: Danebury in Wessex, southern England, and the Heuneburg in Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany. The article highlights a number of key similarities and differences in the occupational sequences of these sites. While the differences indicate that the hillforts are the creation of very different Iron Age societies, the synergies are argued to be a consequence of communities evincing similar responses to similar problems, particularly those resulting from the social tensions that develop when transforming previously dispersed rural societies into increasingly centralized forms.

III. Villanovan Veii

1961 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 20-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. Ward-Perkins
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Long Period ◽  
The Social ◽  
Precise Relationship ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The City

The roads and gates described in the previous section are of very varied dates, and many of them were in use over a long period. They have been described first because they constitute the essential framework for any serious topographical study of Veii. Within this framework the city developed, and in this and the following sections will be found described, period by period, the evidence for that development, from the first establishment of Veii in Villanovan times down to its final abandonment in late antiquity.Whatever the precise relationship of the Villanovan to the succeeding phases of the Early Iron Age in central Italy in terms of politics, race or language, it is abundantly clear that it was within the Villanovan period that the main lines of the social and topographical framework of historical Etruria first took shape. Veii is no exception. Apart from sporadic material that may have been dropped by Neolithic or Bronze Age hunters, there is nothing from the Ager Veientanus to suggest that it was the scene of any substantial settlement before the occupation of Veii itself by groups of Early Iron Age farmers, a part of whose material equipment relates them unequivocally to the Villanovan peoples of coastal and central Etruria.

Connected by More Than Exceptional Imports: Performance and Identity in Hallstatt C/D Elite Burials of the Low Countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sasja van der Vaart-Verschoof ◽  
Robert Schumann
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Low Countries ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Funerary Practices ◽  
Frequent Contact ◽  
Bronze Vessels ◽  
Burial Practice ◽  
Similarities And Differences

The Low Countries' Early Iron Age is marked by the emergence of lavish burials known as chieftains’ graves or princely burials. These extraordinary elite burials of the Hallstatt C/D period contain weaponry, bronze vessels as well as decorated wagons and horse-gear imported from the Hallstatt culture of Central Europe, where the same objects are found in the famous Fürstengräber. While the connection between these regions has long been recognized, the nature of this contact remains poorly understood. Here we present the preliminary results of an on-going re-examination of elite funerary practices in both regions and the likely direct long-distance interactions reflected in them. Similarities and differences in the treatment of objects and the dead in funerary rituals indicate that, to a certain extent at least, these geographically separated social groups were integrated in a specific elite burial practice, indicating frequent contact across hundreds of kilometres.

Quantifying Hallstatt: Some Initial Results

1977 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 394-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Roy Hodson
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Temperate Europe ◽  
Initial Results ◽  
Grave Goods

AbstractNine hundred eighty Early Iron Age graves at Hallstatt, Austria, were excavated between 1846 and 1863. Since then, no really comparable body of material has been discovered in temperate Europe. A report is presented on some initial attempts to reconsider this classic material using quantitative methods. The analyses reported attempt to determine from grave goods the sex, age, status, and the relative date of buried individuals. Graves are graded according to their likely integrity and are described by the types of object they contain. These descriptors are then subjected to some regular forms of data analysis and some provisional general conclusions are drawn.

Gender, Temporalities, and Periodization in Early Iron Age West-Central Europe

2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bettina Arnold
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Danube River ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Social Variables ◽  
Social Lives ◽  
Individual Mobility ◽  
The Social ◽  
Archaeological Chronologies

Archaeological chronologies tend to conflate temporalities from all cultural contexts in a region without consideration for the different depositional trajectories and life histories of the objects that serve as the basis of those chronologies. Social variables, such as gender, age, status, and individual mobility, act on artifacts in ways that must be identified and differentiated in order for seriations derived from one context to be applicable in another. This article presents evidence from early Iron Age contexts in Southwest Germany to illustrate this phenomenon and discusses its ramifications from the perspective of a case study focusing on the mortuary landscape of the Heuneburg hillfort on the Danube River. Gender in particular is strongly marked in this society and can be shown to affect the depositional tempo of certain artifact categories, which have different social lives and depositional fates depending on context. Artifact assemblages vary not only in terms of archaeological context and temporality but also are impacted by the social personae of the human agents responsible for, or associated with, their deposition.

scholarly journals РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ ТЕХНИКО-ТЕХНОЛОГИЧЕСКОГО АНАЛИЗА КЕРАМИКИ ИЗ МОГИЛЬНИКА ШЕЛОМОК I, ПОСЕЛЕНИЙ КИЖИРОВО, САМУСЬ II

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyudmila Pletneva ◽  
Irma Ragimkhanova ◽  
Nadezhda Stepanova
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Burial Ground ◽  
Molding Compounds ◽  
Cultural Processes ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Technological Analysis

Статья продолжает серию публикаций по результатам технико-технологического анализа керамики памятников раннего железного века Томского Приобья, относящихся к шеломокской культуре и к томскому варианту кулайской культурно-исторической общности. Для анализа были взяты фрагменты керамики из могильника Шеломок I, поселений Кижирово и Самусь II. Результаты анализов показали, как сходство, так и отличия в выборе исходного сырья и подготовки формовочных масс. Например, если для поселения Шеломок II – базового памятника шеломокской культуры, характерна примесь дресвы из гранита с белыми и прозрачными включениями кварца (Плетнёва, Степанова, 2018), то в формовочных массах керамики из могильника добавляли гранит с красными (розовыми) включениями кварца. Памятники эти расположены рядом, на расстоянии 500 м друг от друга, то есть природная среда была одинаковой. Датировка поселения Шеломок II укладывается в пределы V–III вв. до н. э., а могильника Шеломок I – IV–III вв. до н. э., что свидетельствует об их синхронном существовании. Предметы из могильника находят ближайшие аналогии в материалах шеломокской культуры. Сравнение предметного ряда изделий из бронзы, кости и рога свидетельствует о контактах оставившего его населения с тагарцами Ачинско-Мариинской лесостепи, а также, возможно, с населением большереченской культуры, по мнению И. Ж. Рагимхановой и возможно, по мнению Л. М. Плетневой, материалы могильника отражают сложные культурные процессы раннего железного века, происходившие в Томском Приобье и фиксируют приход населения из Ачинско-Мариинского района тагарской культуры.This paper continues a series of publications that report the results oftechnical and technological analysis of ceramics from the Early Iron Age monuments of the Tomsk Ob Region, which are attributed to Shelomok and Tomsk variants of the Kulay cultural and historical community. Fragments of ceramics have been taken for analysis from the Shelomok I burial ground, Kizhirovo and Samus II settlements. The results of analysis demonstrate both similarities and differences in the choice of raw materials and the preparation of molding compounds. For example, the addition of granite gruss with white and transparent quartz inclusions to the pottery paste was typical of Shelomok II settlement (Pletneva, Stepanova, 2018), while the pottery paste from the burial ground included granite with red (pink) quartz inclusions. These monuments are located nearby, at a distance of 500 m away from each other, in the same natural environment. Perhaps, the materials of the burial ground reflect the complex cultural processes of the early Iron Age that took place in the Tomsk Ob region and record the arrival of the population from the Achinsk-Mariinsky district of tagar culture.

Stock Raising and the Origins of the Hill Fort on the South Downs

1971 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
The South ◽  
Economic Basis ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cultural Implications ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
The Hill ◽  
The Impact

SummaryThe first part of this paper is a discussion of the basic pattern of land use on the South Downs from the Middle Bronze Age to the early Pre-Roman Iron Age. In the second part, the impact upon this pattern of a group of Bronze and Iron Age stock enclosures is considered, and it is argued that these developed directly into a number of small hill forts. A contemporary group of larger, early Iron Age, hill forts is also defined, and it appears that these too grew up upon an economic basis of stock raising. The social and cultural implications of these developments are discussed, and tentative contrasts are drawn with the nature of later hill forts in the region.

scholarly journals THE SERZHEN-YURT CEMETERY: NEW FINDS

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Р.Х. Мамаев ◽  
В.И. Козенкова
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Social Factor ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Extreme Conditions ◽  
Burial Ground ◽  
Agricultural Activities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Exceptional Value ◽  
Historical Sites ◽  
Imminent Threat

В статье публикуются новые археологические находки из известного могильника Сержень-юрт эпохи бронзы – раннего железного века, относящиеся к восточному варианту кобанской культуры (Е. И. Крупнов, В. И. Козенкова). Материалы добыты в 2014 г. местными специалистами из Отдела охраны памятников Чеченской Республики в результате экстремальных раскопок (эрозионные весенние паводки, сельскохозяйственные работы и т. п.) на территории могильного поля. Материалы X–VIII вв. до н. э. (рис. 1–4) количественно и качественно представляют исключительный интерес (особенно эксклюзивные предметы: бронзовый ажурный браслет (рис. 1: 8) и бронзовый орнаментированный боевой топор (рис. 4: III)) для уточнения общей характеристики памятника. Установлена их типологическая классификация и хронология. В статье подчеркивается необходимость усиления охраны могильника из-за очевидной угрозы разрушения в результате воздействия эрозийного природного и социального факторов. The paper publishes new archaeological finds from the well-known Serzhen’-yurt Cemetery of the Bronze–Early Iron Age attributed to the eastern variant of the Koban culture (E. I. Krupnov, V. I. Kozenkova). These finds were retrieved in 2014 by local specialists from the Department for Protection of Historical Sites in the Chechen Republic in the course of urgent excavations caused by extreme conditions (erosion caused by spring flooding, agricultural activities, etc.) within the area of the burial ground. In terms of their quantity and quality, these materials dated to the 10th–8th centuries BC (fig. 1–4), especially, such exclusive items as a bronze open-work bracelet (fig. 1: 8) and a bronze ornamented battle axe (fig. 4: III), are of exceptional value for clarification of the overall characteristics of the site. Their typological classification and chronology were defined. The paper highlights a need to reinforce protection of the cemetery because of imminent threat of damage due to natural erosion and the social factor.

scholarly journals Rethinking the Social Complexity of Early Iron Age Nomads

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 155-179
Author(s):  
Erez Ben-Yosef
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
State Formation ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Social Complexity ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Formation Processes ◽  
Southern Levant ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Extended Spectrum ◽  
The Social

Recent evidence from the Aravah Valley challenges the prevailing assumption that Bedouin ethnography and inferences from ancient Near Eastern archives can adequately compensate for the archaeological lacuna in the study of biblical-era nomads. The evidence indicates that nomadic social organization at the turn of the 1st millennium BCE could have been – and in at least one case was – far more complex than ever considered before. This paper discusses the implications of the now extended spectrum of possible interpretations of nomads to the archaeological discourse on early Iron Age state formation processes in the Southern Levant.

scholarly journals Spearheads from Burials of Savromato-Sarmatian Time from the Territory of Volgograd Region (Materials for Catalogue)

2019 ◽  
pp. 34-50
Author(s):  
Vladimir Moiseev ◽  
Igor Budaev
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Lower Volga Region ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Lower Volga ◽  
Volgograd Region ◽  
The Social ◽  
Further Development

Introduction. Information about the armament and military arts of nomads of the Early Iron age can be obtained from writings of Greek and Roman authors, who note the warlike temper of Savromatian and Sarmatian tribes. They mention bows, swords and spears among the armament of nomads in their works. This information is confirmed by the archaeological material. Finds of spearheads in burials are quite rare and are ranked third after arrows and swords in percentage. Methods. The typological features of spearheads are based on the shape of their pen, which allows distinguishing two types of spears – leaf-shaped and lence-shaped. Analysis. This article is the beginning of the catalog of spearheads, darts and spear counter-weights found in the Lower Volga Region in Savromatian and Sarmatian monuments. At this moment, the authors have taken into account a sample of 29 spearheads, 3 darts and 3 spear counter-weights and made their typological analysis. Results. The typological analysis, which forms the basis of our classification of spearheads, allows tracing the development of this type of armament in Volgograd region. The further development of this topic will help to find typological interrelationships of spearheads, to clarify their chronological positions and features of mutual occurrence in burials with other types of armament and equipment. In turn, this analysis will help to determine the social status of the buried persons and their role in ethnopolitical processes.

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