scholarly journals The Stone Age Plague: 1000 years of Persistence in Eurasia

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aida Andrades Valtueña ◽  
Alissa Mittnik ◽  
Felix M. Key ◽  
Wolfgang Haak ◽  
Raili Allmäe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Human Population ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
Molecular Signatures ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Population Movements ◽  
Central Eurasia ◽  
Human Genomic ◽  
The Bronze Age

AbstractMolecular signatures of Yersinia pestis were recently identified in prehistoric Eurasian individuals, thus suggesting Y. pestis caused some form of disease in humans prior to the first historically documented pandemic. Here, we present six new Y. pestis genomes spanning from the European Late Neolithic to the Bronze Age (LNBA) dating from 4,800 to 3,700 BP. We show that all currently investigated LNBA strains form a single genetic clade in the Y. pestis phylogeny that appears to be extinct. Interpreting our data within the context of recent ancient human genomic evidence, which suggests an increase in human mobility during the LNBA, we propose a possible scenario for the spread of Y. pestis during the LNBA: Y. pestis may have entered Europe from Central Eurasia during an expansion of steppe people, persisted within Europe until the mid Bronze Age, and moved back towards Central Eurasia in parallel with subsequent human population movements.

scholarly journals Female exogamy and gene pool diversification at the transition from the Final Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age in central Europe

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (38) ◽  
pp. 10083-10088 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corina Knipper ◽  
Alissa Mittnik ◽  
Ken Massy ◽  
Catharina Kociumaka ◽  
Isil Kucukkalipci ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Dna Analysis ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
Isotope Ratios ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Bell Beaker ◽  
The Bronze Age

Human mobility has been vigorously debated as a key factor for the spread of bronze technology and profound changes in burial practices as well as material culture in central Europe at the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. However, the relevance of individual residential changes and their importance among specific age and sex groups are still poorly understood. Here, we present ancient DNA analysis, stable isotope data of oxygen, and radiogenic isotope ratios of strontium for 84 radiocarbon-dated skeletons from seven archaeological sites of the Late Neolithic Bell Beaker Complex and the Early Bronze Age from the Lech River valley in southern Bavaria, Germany. Complete mitochondrial genomes documented a diversification of maternal lineages over time. The isotope ratios disclosed the majority of the females to be nonlocal, while this is the case for only a few males and subadults. Most nonlocal females arrived in the study area as adults, but we do not detect their offspring among the sampled individuals. The striking patterns of patrilocality and female exogamy prevailed over at least 800 y between about 2500 and 1700 BC. The persisting residential rules and even a direct kinship relation across the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age add to the archaeological evidence of continuing traditions from the Bell Beaker Complex to the Early Bronze Age. The results also attest to female mobility as a driving force for regional and supraregional communication and exchange at the dawn of the European metal ages.

scholarly journals Establishing the Middle Sea: The Late Bronze Age of Mediterranean Europe (1700–900 BC)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Iacono ◽  
Elisabetta Borgna ◽  
Maurizio Cattani ◽  
Claudio Cavazzuti ◽  
Helen Dawson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Mediterranean Europe ◽  
Northern Shore ◽  
Comparative Survey ◽  
The Bronze Age

AbstractThe Late Bronze Age (1700–900 BC) represents an extremely dynamic period for Mediterranean Europe. Here, we provide a comparative survey of the archaeological record of over half a millennium within the entire northern littoral of the Mediterranean, from Greece to Iberia, incorporating archaeological, archaeometric, and bioarchaeological evidence. The picture that emerges, while certainly fragmented and not displaying a unique trajectory, reveals a number of broad trends in aspects as different as social organization, trade, transcultural phenomena, and human mobility. The contribution of such trends to the processes that caused the end of the Bronze Age is also examined. Taken together, they illustrate how networks of interaction, ranging from the short to the long range, became a defining aspect of the “Middle Sea” during this time, influencing the lives of the communities that inhabited its northern shore. They also highlight the importance of research that crosses modern boundaries for gaining a better understanding of broad comparable dynamics.

scholarly journals Big-Men and Small Chiefs: The Creation of Bronze Age Societies

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rune Iversen
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Southern Scandinavia ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Early Late ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Big Men

AbstractThis paper investigates to what extent the significant material changes observable at the end of the Neolithic reflect transformations of the underlying social dynamics. Answering this question will help us to understand the formation of Bronze Age societies. The analysis concerns southern Scandinavia with a certain focus on Denmark. The assumption is that the creation of Bronze Age societies must be understood as a long formative process that partly originated in the culturally-heterogeneous Middle Neolithic. Four aspects seem to have been essential to this process: the rise of the warrior figure, the reintroduction of metal, increased agricultural production, and the establishment of one of the characteristic features of the Bronze Age, the chieftain hall. These aspects do not appear simultaneously but are introduced stepby- step starting out in the late Middle Neolithic and early Late Neolithic to fully develop around 2000 BC. Consequently, this paper argues that the final Late Neolithic (LN II, c. 1950-1700 BC) was de facto part of the Earliest Bronze Age.

scholarly journals THE OLDEST ROCK ART SITES OF THE KARATAU RANGE: PETROGLYPHS OF KARASUYIR

2022 ◽  
pp. 2-8
Author(s):  
С. С. Мургабаев ◽  
Л. Д. Малдыбекова
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Main Part ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
The Bronze Age

Статья посвящена новому памятнику наскального искусства хребта Каратау, открытому в урочище Карасуйир. Приводится краткое описание памятника, публикуются наиболее важные изображения. Сюжеты и стилистические особенности основной чaсти петроглифов памятника Карасуйир связаны с эпохой бронзы, остaльные рисунки отнесены к эпохе рaннего железа и, возможно, к эпохе камня. Для некоторых из них предложена предварительная интерпретация. The article is devoted to a new rock art site of the Karatau Range, discovered in the Karasuyir Area. A brief description of the site is provided, and the most important images are published. Subjects and stylistic features of the main part of Karasuyir petroglyphs are associated with the Bronze Age, and other engravings are related to the early Iron Age and, perhaps, to the Stone Age. A preliminary interpretation is proposed for some of them.

scholarly journals Waste Management in Bronze Age Europe

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-43
Author(s):  
Filip Havlíček ◽  
Martin Kuča
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Waste Material ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
New Type ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Bronze Age

AbstractThis article deals with the relationship between humans and waste in the Bronze Age. Based on selected examples of waste management strategies from the European Bronze Age, it presents an overview of different strategies. In comparison with the preceding Stone Age, a new type of material began to appear: metal. The process involved in producing metal objects, however, brought with it the appearance of a specific type of waste material that is indelibly linked to the production of metal. This article also deals with the significance of ritualized social activities in the Bronze Age, which materialized in waste and waste management strategies.

Language dispersals and the “Secondary Peoples’ Revolution”

2020 ◽  
pp. 806-814
Author(s):  
Mark James Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Northeast Asia ◽  
Ryukyu Islands ◽  
State Control ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Population Movements ◽  
The Ryukyu Islands ◽  
Northeast Asian ◽  
Cattle Husbandry ◽  
The Bronze Age

Population growth and demic diffusion help explain the early Neolithic expansions of agriculture and Transeurasian languages in Northeast Asia. By the Bronze Age, alluvial agrarian states had come to possess considerable political and economic dominance over their subjects in the civilizational centers of Eurasia. At the same time, however, Bronze Age economies offered new opportunities for trade and secondary expansion into areas outside state control. This chapter argues that the resulting population movements—here termed the “secondary peoples’ revolution”—were of great significance in the post-Neolithic dispersals of Transeurasian languages. Four examples are briefly discussed: steppe nomadic pastoralism, Sakha horse and cattle husbandry, northeast Asian hunter-gatherers, and agriculture associated with trade/piracy networks in the Ryukyu Islands.

The impact of early trans-Eurasian exchange on animal utilization in northern China during 5000–2500 BP

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 095968362094116
Author(s):  
Guanghui Dong ◽  
Linyao Du ◽  
Wenyu Wei
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Wild Mammals ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Animal Utilization ◽  
Human Subsistence ◽  
The Bronze Age

Transcontinental exchange emerged and intensified in northern China since the late fifth millennium BP (Before present), especially in the arc, which was the core area of the eastern part of the trans-Eurasian exchange during the Late Neolithic and the Bronze Age. In the arc, the exchange profoundly affected the human subsistence strategy and human-environment relationship. Relative to the crop patterns and human diets during the Bronze Age in northern China, systematic investigations of zooarcheological data based on broad spatial and temporal framework to understand the influence of introduced livestock and indigenous livestock on human subsistence are lacking. To show the spatial-temporal variation in animal utilization patterns and its relation to prehistoric trans-Eurasian exchange, the zooarcheological data from 40 sites in northern China dated between 5000 and 2500 BP were analyzed. The strategy of animal utilization in northern China changed substantially from 5000 to 2500 BP, with notable spatial features in different chronological phases. From 5000 to 4300 BP, wild mammals and indigenous livestock (pig, dog) use dominated in the arc and the North China Plain (NCP). During 4300–3500 BP, the importance of introduced livestock (cattle, sheep/goat, horse) exceeded that of indigenous livestock in the arc, whereas indigenous livestock continued to dominate in the NCP. Indigenous livestock acted as the most important animal subsistence in northern China, although the exploitation of introduced livestock increased during 3500–2000 BP. These spatio-temporal differences in animal utilization appear to be closely associated with the prehistoric trans-Eurasian exchange, but were also affected by local environment, agriculture development, and climate change.

Materials, Humankind and Peace

2010 ◽  
Vol 117 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Masao Doyama
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
First Century ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Materials Development ◽  
Double Helices ◽  
Development And Utilization ◽  
Present World ◽  
The Bronze Age

The ages used by humankind can be divided in the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. In twentieth century instead of one material, a number of diversified materials dominated, and all are diversified. “Right materials in right purposes” was the motto in the last century. In the twenty-first century, the limitation of natural resources and balance of earth have to be considered. Global warming is one of the most important problems in the present world. Materials development and utilization should be done as shown in the model of double helices. Use of comparatively clean nuclear energies is important. Here we discuss the education about the materials from Japanese viewpoint.

Prehistory in Denmark: 1939–1945

1945 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 61-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Therkel Mathiassen
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
European Countries ◽  
National Museum ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
German Occupation ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Resistance Movement ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Good Proportion

The period of the war has in Denmark, as in most other European countries, been one of difficulty and anxiety. Would it be possible to carry on the fieldwork, and, still more important, to preserve the valuable collections and carry them safe through this life- and death-battle of all the great world powers? The danger was especially obvious after the German occupation of Denmark in 1940. In the National Museum at Copenhagen we have one of the best prehistoric collections in Europe, and it was with great anxiety that we saw Copenhagen changed into an important German base. Air raids and invasion by the Allied forces were both expected, and, still worse, the enemy threatened to bomb the museum as vengeance for the sabotage done by the Danish Resistance Movement. A good proportion of the collections was dismantled, some of it evacuated to safe places, and some of it deposited in the cellars of the museum. Fortunately the National Museum—and also all the prehistoric museums in the small towns—came through the war without damage.The museum authorities tried to save the prehistoric remains in the country—protected by law—from violation through the German fortification works. We got a promise from the German military authorities that nothing would be destroyed without very important military reasons; but a good many barrows from the Stone Age and the Bronze Age had to be removed at the large new flying bases, especially in Jutland. Although we got a chance to excavate most of the barrows before destruction, many others—more than 200—were destroyed or damaged by the various fortifications, mostly in western Jutland. It will, however, be possible to restore a good many of them.

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