scholarly journals Absolute Dating of Copper and Early Bronze Age Levels at the Eponymous Archaeological Site Bubanj (Southeastern Serbia)

Radiocarbon ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 1047-1065 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Bulatović ◽  
Marc Vander Linden
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Southeastern Europe ◽  
History Of Research ◽  
History Of ◽  
Absolute Dating ◽  
Southeastern Serbia

AbstractThis paper reports the first radiocarbon (14C) dates obtained for the Eneolithic/Bronze Age site of Bubanj, Serbia. Despite featuring prominently in the existing typo-chronological schemes for southeastern Europe, the history of research and recent large-scale destruction of the site had prevented so far the acquisition of samples from secure archaeological contexts. We fill this documentary gap by presenting 10 new14C dates, covering the late 5th, 4th, and 3rd millennia cal BC. These dates are compared to the existing documentation from the literature, in order to assess the placement of Bubanj within its wider archaeological context.

Dating Persistent Short-Term Human Activity in a Complex Depositional Environment: Late Prehistoric Occupation at Saruq al-Hadid, Dubai

Radiocarbon ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 1041-1075 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lloyd Weeks ◽  
Charlotte M Cable ◽  
Steven Karacic ◽  
Kristina A Franke ◽  
David M Price ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Late Prehistoric ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Absolute Dating ◽  
Northern Edge ◽  
Natural Dune

ABSTRACTThe archaeological site of Saruq al-Hadid, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, presents a long sequence of persistent temporary human occupation on the northern edge of the Rub’ al-Khali desert. The site is located in active dune fields, and evidence for human activity is stratified within a deep sequence of natural dune deposits that reflect complex taphonomic processes of deposition, erosion and reworking. This study presents the results of a program of radiocarbon (14C) and thermoluminescence dating on deposits from Saruq al-Hadid, allied with studies of material remains, which are amalgamated with the results of earlier absolute dating studies provide a robust chronology for the use of the site from the Bronze Age to the Islamic period. The results of the dating program allow the various expressions of human activity at the site—ranging from subsistence activities such as hunting and herding, to multi-community ritual activities and large scale metallurgical extraction—to be better situated chronologically, and thus in relation to current debates regarding the development of late prehistoric and early historic societies in southeastern Arabia.

The Late Bronze Age Chronology of Central Europe: Some Reflections

Antiquity ◽  
1961 ◽  
Vol 35 (137) ◽  
pp. 40-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Cowen
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The North ◽  
History Of Research ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
History Of ◽  
Absolute Dating ◽  
The Alps ◽  
English Speaking

At a classic meeting of the Prehistoric Society, held during April 1948 in the old home of the Institute of Archaeology of London University, V. G. Childe and C. F. C. Hawkes presented two papers, each complementary to the other, on the chronology of the Late Bronze Age in Europe. This joint approach was focussed on the relative and absolute dating of the Urnfields of the North Alpine foreland, whence Hawkes applied the results to the West, and pre-eminently to Britain; but, by arrangement, Childe approached the crucial area from Hither Asia by way of the Danube corridor, and from Greece through the Balkans, while Hawkes worked his way forward from the Aegean up the length of Italy, and so northwards over the Alps.It is worth recollecting that this was the first time that British archaeologists had formally addressed themselves to this most difficult set of problems in detail, and on Central European territory. Furthermore both papers suffered, one feels, from being among the first essays in archaeological synthesis to be attempted in this country after the war, with all that is implied in that. At all events within a year of publication Childe was saying that he no longer had any confidence in his derivation of the flange-hilted bronze sword from Hither Asia; and he had also by then become less assured of some of his other Asiatic derivations. While in the course of the international discussion which followed, Hawkes felt obliged to revise a number of his dates, chiefly in the direction of a longer chronology. Nevertheless, both essays commanded a splendid range of material, and were fortified by a sufficient exposition of the history of research in this field to give a sound sense of perspective. If today they have been outmoded in many particulars by the work of a small army of scholars working in half a dozen countries, they remain for English-speaking students an indispensable starting-point, and an admirable introduction to their subject.

The relationship between agricultural production and amphora manufacture on Roman Crete

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 373-386
Author(s):  
Scott Gallimore
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Recent Article ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Cultural Impact ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Relationship

While there have been a number of inquiries into agricultural production and amphora manufacture, discussion of the relationship between the two remains limited. A recent article by A. Bevan that examines the history of ‘containerization’ in the Mediterranean from the early Bronze Age to the 20th c. A.D. illustrates one side. It focuses on different manifestations of containers, emphasizing their cultural impact over the whole history of civilization in the region. While underscoring the importance of these transport vessels as packaging, particularly for liquid commodities, he provides limited consideration of the mechanisms behind the goods moving into these containers. Studies concerned with agricultural production are also on the rise, but scholars often limit the focus to amphorae. For instance, in analyzing capital investment in large-scale farms, A. Marzano commented: rather than attempting a study of agricultural production through the containers for foodstuffs, this investigation focuses on the presses, the machinery for the processing of grapes and olive.

scholarly journals Sharing the Agrarian Knowledge with Archaeology: First Evidence of the Dimorphism of Vitis Pollen from the Middle Bronze Age of N Italy (Terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio)

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2287
Author(s):  
Anna Maria Mercuri ◽  
Paola Torri ◽  
Assunta Florenzano ◽  
Eleonora Clò ◽  
Marta Mariotti Lippi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vitis Vinifera ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Pollen Morphology ◽  
Pollen Dispersal ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Pollen Dimorphism ◽  
History Of ◽  
Inaperturate Pollen ◽  
Female Flowers

The recovery of inaperturate pollen from functionally female flowers in archaeological layers opens the question of a possible pollen-based discrimination between wild and domesticated Vitis vinifera in prehistoric times. Pollen analysis applied to archaeology has not routinely considered the existence of pollen dimorphism in Vitis, a well-known trait in the field of agrarian studies. Therefore, the inaperturate shape of grapevine pollen is ignored by studies on the archaeobotanical history of viticulture. In this paper we investigate pollen morphology of the domesticated and wild subspecies of V. vinifera, and report the first evidence of inaperturate Vitis pollen from an archaeological site. We studied exemplar cases of plants with hermaphroditic flowers, belonging to the subspecies vinifera with fully developed male and female organs, cases of dioecious plants with male or female flowers, belonging to the wild subspecies sylvestris and cases of V. vinifera subsp. vinifera with morphologically hermaphroditic but functionally female flowers. The pollen produced by hermaphroditic and male flowers is usually trizonocolporate; the pollen produced by female flowers is inaperturate. This paper reports on the inaperturate pollen of Vitis found in an archeological site of the Po Plain, Northern Italy. The site dated to the Bronze Age, which is known to have been a critical age for the use of this plant with a transition from wild to domesticated Vitis in central Mediterranean. Can the inaperturate Vitis pollen be a marker of wild Vitis vinifera in prehistoric times? Palynology suggests a possible new investigation strategy on the ancient history of the wild and cultivated grapevine. The pollen dimorphism also implies a different production and dispersal of pollen of the wild and the domesticated subspecies. Grapevine plants are palynologically different from the other Mediterranean “cultural trees”. In fact, Olea, Juglans and Castanea, which are included in the OJC index, have the same pollen morphology and the same pollen dispersal, in wild and domesticated plants. In contrast, the signal of Vitis pollen in past records may be different depending on the hermaphroditic or dioecious subspecies.

scholarly journals Alalakh: an account of the excavations at Tell Atchana in the Hatay, 1937–1949

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonard Woolley
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
13Th Century ◽  
Gold Silver

This monograph describes large-scale excavations undertaken by Sir Leonard Woolley from 1937 to 1939, and again from 1946 to 1949, at the site of Alalakh (modern Tell Atchana) – a late Bronze Age city in the Amuq River valley of Turkey's Hatay Province. Described is the evidence of a series of superimposed palaces and temples, town defences, private houses and graves, in 17 archaeological levels reaching from late Early Bronze Age (Level XVII, c. 2200–2000 BC to Late Bronze Age (Level 0, 13th century BC). Supplementary reports describe the architecture and frescoes, sculptures, and portable objects in fired clay, gold, silver, ivory, stone, and glass.

scholarly journals Ancient DNA shows domestic horses were introduced in the southern Caucasus and Anatolia during the Bronze Age

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (38) ◽  
pp. eabb0030
Author(s):  
Silvia Guimaraes ◽  
Benjamin S. Arbuckle ◽  
Joris Peters ◽  
Sarah E. Adcock ◽  
Hijlke Buitenhuis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Domestic Horses ◽  
Third Millennium Bce ◽  
History Of ◽  
Southern Caucasus ◽  
The Bronze Age

Despite the important roles that horses have played in human history, particularly in the spread of languages and cultures, and correspondingly intensive research on this topic, the origin of domestic horses remains elusive. Several domestication centers have been hypothesized, but most of these have been invalidated through recent paleogenetic studies. Anatolia is a region with an extended history of horse exploitation that has been considered a candidate for the origins of domestic horses but has never been subject to detailed investigation. Our paleogenetic study of pre- and protohistoric horses in Anatolia and the Caucasus, based on a diachronic sample from the early Neolithic to the Iron Age (~8000 to ~1000 BCE) that encompasses the presumed transition from wild to domestic horses (4000 to 3000 BCE), shows the rapid and large-scale introduction of domestic horses at the end of the third millennium BCE. Thus, our results argue strongly against autochthonous independent domestication of horses in Anatolia.

POLITICS, RESEARCH AGENDAS AND ABORTIVE FIELDWORK PLANS OVER LYKTOS, CRETE: A HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH

2019 ◽  
Vol 114 ◽  
pp. 399-443
Author(s):  
Antonis Kotsonas
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Academic Factors ◽  
History Of Research ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
Ancient City ◽  
History Of ◽  
Research Agendas ◽  
The Impact

Politics and research agendas have had a major role in shaping the archaeology of Crete. This article focuses on the history of research on Lyktos, one of the most important ancient cities of the island, to explore the impact of academic and non-academic factors on archaeological fieldwork. Relying on wide-ranging archival research and extending from the Renaissance to the early twenty-first century, the analysis covers the fluctuation of international scholarly interest in Lyktos, the often abortive plans for excavations by numerous British, Italian, German and Greek archaeologists, and the ways in which fascination with the ancient city relates to broader political and disciplinary history. I also synthesise the small-scale fieldwork conducted at the site and reconstruct its archaeological landscape from the Bronze Age to the Medieval period, offering several new insights in local topography and material culture. This work challenges the characterisation of Lyktos as a ‘phantom city’ and highlights the significance of the site for the archaeology of Crete.

The Empire of Ghana

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolas Gestrich
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
West African ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
14Th Century ◽  
History Of Research ◽  
Western Sahel ◽  
History Of ◽  
The City

The Empire of Ghana is one of the earliest known political formations in West Africa. Within the context of a growing trans-Saharan trade, Arabic sources begin to mention “Ghāna,” the name of a ruler as well as of the city or country he ruled, in the 9th century. Repeatedly named in connection with fabulous riches in gold, Ghāna had acquired a preeminent role in the western Sahel and was a leader among a large group of smaller polities. Ghāna’s influence waned, and by the mid-14th century its ruler had become subordinate to the Empire of Mali. Over the course of a complex history of research, the Empire of Ghana became equated with the Soninké people’s legend of Wagadu and the archaeological site of Kumbi Saleh in southern Mauritania was identified as its capital. Yet between historical sources, oral traditions, and archaeological finds, little is known with certainty about the Empire of Ghana. Most questions on this early West African empire remain unanswered, including its location, development, the nature and extent of its rule, and the circumstances of its demise.

Research on the Hungarian Bronze Age since 1936 and the Bronze-Age Settlement at Békés-Várdomb

1956 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 123-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Banner
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
The State ◽  
Detailed Account ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Modern Approach ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
At Home

The state of current knowledge on the Bronze Age in Hungary, was summed up twenty years ago by Dr Francis Tompa, who had by then written several shorter studies on the subject, and had excavated a number of cemeteries and settlements. His summary defined the modern approach to the Bronze Age in Hungary though his conclusions have since been modified in detail by later explorers. How fruitful his work proved to be was shown by the interest of critics abroad and by the fact that research at home took a sudden upward swing.A few years later Dr Paul Patay published a study in which he came to somewhat different conclusions on the chronology of the Early Bronze Age; he also gave a detailed account of the various cultures that must have shaped the course of the Bronze Age in Hungary and in this he was substantially in agreement with Dr Francis Tompa.Dr Amelia Mozsolics dealt with chronological problems of the Bronze Age in Hungary, but had not yet reached satisfactory newer conclusions. Her paper was published only in Hungarian. She presented a useful summary of the history of her subject, and at the same time sharply criticized the views held by foreign and Hungarian experts on the Bronze Age.

Troy and Anatolian Early Bronze Age Chronology

1979 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 51-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jak Yakar
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Tree Ring ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Relative Dating ◽  
Relative Chronology ◽  
Absolute Dating ◽  
Dating Method ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Bronze Age

The use of an absolute chronological framework based on tree-ring calibrated C-14 dates has been recently proposed by D. F. Easton in his attempt “… to come to grips with the crucial and difficult dating of Troy” (Easton 1976:146). Easton points out that unlike Tarsus, whose relative dating vis-a-vis Mesopotamia and Egypt is stable, Troy's relative chronology is not agreed upon and this “impinges not only on Anatolia, but on the Aegean and Bulgaria as well”.In establishing his chronology Easton uses, in addition to “the normal comparative methods”, two sources: (a) radiocarbon dates which, after calibration, especially when using Suess's calibration curve, affect both relative and absolute dating, (b) his reassessed stratigraphy of the Bronze Age levels at Troy (Easton 1976; 1977).Easton in his new chronological structure has not taken into consideration certain facts and opinions surrounding tree-ring calibrated radiocarbon dating. In view of the persisting controversy regarding this scientific dating method, it is premature, at least as far as Anatolia is concerned, to replace the relative dates derived from historical synchronisms with calibrated “absolute” C-14 dates.

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