Polity scale shifts in world-systems since the Bronze Age: A comparative inventory of upsweeps and collapses

2012 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 210-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroko Inoue ◽  
Alexis Álvarez ◽  
Kirk Lawrence ◽  
Anthony Roberts ◽  
Eugene N Anderson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
World Systems ◽  
The Bronze Age

World Systems, Cores, and Peripheries in Prehistoric Europe

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 378-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Harding
Keyword(s):  
Systems Theory ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
World Systems ◽  
World Systems Theory ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Network Methods ◽  
The World ◽  
Systems View ◽  
The Bronze Age

The paper reviews the rise and utility of World Systems Theory in archaeology, with particular reference to Europe and the Bronze Age. After a consideration of its origins in the 1970s and 1980s, the main aspects of the theory are discussed. The evidence that shows that the Bronze Age world was highly interconnected is presented, and the implications of a World Systems view of the period considered. In an attempt to work towards a new narrative of the European Bronze Age, a brief discussion of network methods is introduced, since these offer an alternative, ‘bottom-up’, approach to the period which, it is argued, is more appropriate to the data than the World Systems approach.

Urban Scale Shifts since the Bronze Age: Upsweeps, Collapses, and Semiperipheral Development

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroko Inoue ◽  
Alexis Álvarez ◽  
Eugene N. Anderson ◽  
Andrew Owen ◽  
Rebecca Álvarez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
World Systems ◽  
Central System ◽  
Quantitative Estimates ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Western City ◽  
City System ◽  
Long Term Trend ◽  
The Bronze Age

This is a study of the growth and decline of cities for the purpose of identifying those events in which they significantly increased in size. Significant changes in the scale of cities are important for understanding the long-term trend toward more complex and hierarchical human societies. We report the results of an inventory of cycles, upsweeps, and collapses of settlements in five separate interpolity systems. Upsweeps are instances in which the largest settlement in a world system significantly increases in size. Collapses occur when the size of the largest settlement greatly decreases and stays down for a significant period of time rather than rebounding. We use regional interpolity systems (world systems) rather than single polities or settlements as our unit of analysis. Because the accurate designation of sweeps requires interval scale measures, we are limited to those regions and time periods for which quantitative estimates of largest settlement sizes are regularly available. We find a total of 18 upsweeps and five downsweeps, and only two instances of prolonged systemwide settlement collapse. We also investigate whether or not the rate of cycles has increased over the long run, and we find that cycles of city growth and decline have not accelerated. We also find a greater rate of urban cycles in the Western (Central) System than in the East Asian System, which supports the usual notion that the Western city system was less stable than the Eastern city system.

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.

A Neolithic Structure and Bronze Age Activity at West Flank Road, Drumchapel, Glasgow

2003 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-128
Author(s):  
Gavin Macgregor ◽  
Irene Cullen ◽  
Diane Alldritt ◽  
Michael Donnelly ◽  
Jennifer Miller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Research Division ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Archaeological Work ◽  
Age Features ◽  
The Bronze Age

Summary A programme of archaeological work was undertaken by Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD) at West Flank Road, Drumchapel, in close proximity to the site of the prehistoric cemetery of Knappers. This paper considers the results of excavation of a range of negative features, including earlier Neolithic and Bronze Age pits and postholes. The earlier Neolithic features date to c. 3500–3000 BC and are interpreted as the partial remains of a subrectangular structure. The Bronze Age features may relate to ceremonial activities in the wider area. The significance of these remains is considered in relation to the site of Knappers and wider traditions during the fourth to second millennia BC.

Martyn Barber Bronze and the Bronze Age

2005 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-195
Author(s):  
Brendan O'Connor
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
The Bronze Age

From the bronze age to the iron age

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheila Grecian ◽  
Safwaan Adam ◽  
Akheel Syed
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
The Bronze Age
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