scholarly journals From near and far: Stone procurement and exchange at Çukuriçi Höyük in Western Anatolia

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Schwall ◽  
Michael Brandl ◽  
Tatjana M. Gluhak ◽  
Bogdana Milić ◽  
Lisa Betina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
Stone Materials ◽  
Procurement Strategies

The focus of this paper are the stone tools of Çukuriçi Höyük, a prehistoric site situated at the central Aegean coast of Anatolia. The settlement was inhabited from the Neolithic, through the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age 1 periods, a period lasting from the early 7th to the early 3rd millennium BCE. A long-term interdisciplinary study of the excavated lithics with different scientific methods on various stone materials (thin section analysis, pXRF, NAA, LA-ICP-MS) offer new primary data about the procurement strategies of prehistoric societies from a diachronic perspective. The results will be presented for the first time with an overview of all source materials and their distinct use through time. The lithic assemblages from Çukuriçi Höyük consist of a considerable variety of small finds, grinding stones and chipped stone tools. The high variability of raw materials within the different categories of tools is remarkable. In addition to stone tools manufactured from sources in the immediate vicinity of the settlement (i.e., mica-schist, limestone, marble, amphibolite, serpentinite), others are of rock types such as chert, which indicate an origin within the broader region. Moreover, volcanic rocks, notably the exceptionally high amount of Melian obsidian found at Çukuriçi Höyük, attest to the supra-regional procurement of distinct rock types. Small stone axes made of jadeite presumably from the Greek island of Syros, also indicate these far-reaching procurement strategies. The systematic and diachronic analyses of the stone tools found at Çukuriçi Höyük has demonstrated that as early as the Neolithic period extensive efforts were made to supply the settlement with carefully selected raw materials or finished goods procured from distinct rock sources.

scholarly journals Lithic Industry of the Itomiura Site in the Lower Angara Region (Neolithic and Bronze Ages): Spatial Organization and Key Characteristics

2020 ◽  
pp. 17-30
Author(s):  
Dmitry A. Gurulev ◽  
Liliya A. Maksimovich ◽  
Polina O. Senotrusova ◽  
Pavel V. Mandryka
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Industry Dynamics ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
Lithic Industry ◽  
Stone Industry ◽  
The Bronze Age

The article presents the results of the analysis of the collection of the Itomiura site located in the Lower Angara region. As for today, no markers or concepts of stone industry dynamics in the Neolithic and Bronze Age have been described for the territory of the Lower Angara region. The materials of the Itomiura site allow us to define some of these concepts. Based on the spatial distribution of findings in the cultural layer of the site, we identified 12 areas of concentration of stone pieces (clusters). The areas differ in their composition and types of economic and production activities held. Knapping areas with large amounts of debitage, unfinished items and used microcores predominate. There are also areas that are likely to be more associated with the use of stone tools and their rejuvenating. The combined occurrence of stone pieces with pottery fragments made it possible to distinguish several cultural and chronological complexes. The most clearly identifiable complexes are one with net-impressed pottery, previously dated to the late – final Neolithic period (4th – first half of the 3rd millennium BC), and another with “pearl-ribbed” pottery of the Bronze Age (2nd millennium BC). The Neolithic complex is characterized by the use of various siliceous raw materials. The Bronze Age complex is marked by a wide use of purple-burgundy sedimentary rocks, the specificity of the industry in this period is also created by a series of bifacial items and thinned preforms. Stone industries of both assemblages include a variety of expedient flake tools and microblade production products, represented by different prismatic and edge-faceted cores. The data obtained, with their further correlation with the materials of other sites, can be used for the further study of stone industries of the Lower Angara region and the development of the concept of regional paleocultural dynamics

A Preliminary Geoarchaeological Investigation of Ground Stone Tools in and around the Maya Mountains, Toledo District, Belize

2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc A. Abramiuk ◽  
William P. Meurer
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
Ground Stone ◽  
Toledo District ◽  
Maya Mountains ◽  
Materials Used

AbstractWe investigate ground stone tools, specifically manos and metates, throughout the Bladen region of the Maya Mountains of Belize and adjacent areas during the Late and Terminal Classic periods. Because of the distinctiveness and relative heterogeneity of rock types in the Bladen region, we can pinpoint the Bladen communities that exploited the raw materials used in manufacturing manos and metates utilized in other communities. Based on mano and metate fragments that were recovered from the Bladen communities, as well as from communities outside the Bladen region, we reconstruct an intercommunity network within the Bladen region and investigate communities outside of the Bladen to which the Bladen communities were directly or indirectly linked. This investigation shows that if enough geo-specific information is available, it is possible to reconstruct a relatively accurate picture of inter-community relations. Moreover, it is shown that the Bladen region was a valuable source of ground stone for the Maya Lowlands and the Bladen communities were integral players in its exploitation.

scholarly journals Mesolithic Sites in the Upper Tobol

2022 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 897-910
Author(s):  
E. V. Podzuban
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Arrow Head ◽  
Stone Industry ◽  
The Town

The article introduces prehistoric artifacts from the sites of Karasor-5, Karasor-6, and Karasor-7 obtained in 1998. The archaeological site of Karasor is located in the Upper Tobol region, near the town of Lisakovsk. Stone tools, pottery fragments, a ceramic item, and a bronze arrow head were collected from a sand blowout, which had destroyed the cultural layer. The paper gives a detailed description of the pottery. The stone tools were examined using the technical and typological analysis, which featured the primary splitting, the morphological parameters and size of plates, the ratio of blanks, plates, flakes, and finished tools, the secondary processing methods, and the typological composition of the tools. The nature of the raw materials was counted as an independent indicator. The pottery fragments, the bronze arrow head, and the ceramic item belonged to the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. The stone industry of the Karasor archeological cluster proved to be a Mesolithic monument of the Turgai Trough. The technical and typological analysis revealed a close similarity with the Mesolithic sites of the Southern and Middle Trans-Urals, as well as the forest-steppe part of the Tobol-Irtysh interfluve. The stone artifacts were dated from the Mesolithic to the Early Iron Age.

scholarly journals Chalcolithic and Middle Bronze Age obsidian industries at Karmir Sar: A mountain view on the lithic economies of the Southern Caucasus

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Purschwitz
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
High Ratio ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Secondary Source ◽  
Multiple Use ◽  
Production Environment ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

The high-altitude site of Karmir Sar is located around 2850 m a.s.l. on the southern slopes of Mt. Aragats (Armenia). Numerous stone structures (including vishaps, cromlechs, stone enclosures) are found all over the 40 ha-sized meadow, out of which three vishaps, four cromlechs and one circular stone structure have been investigated since 2012. According to 14C-dates, pottery and diagnostic lithic artefacts, human presence at Karmir Sar started as early as the Chalcolithic Period and continued (with gaps) until modern times; whereby the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) and the Medieval era represent the most intensive periods of occupation. This contribution presents primary data on the typology and technology of 1129 chipped lithic artefacts that have been excavated in four trenches at Karmir Sar (operations KS A, KS C, KS D, and KS E). This study of the lithic industries of Karmir Sar will be embedded within the framework of lithic economy, which considers lithic artefacts as part of a comprehensive interaction between lithic production and consumption. The lithic economy includes strategies of raw material procurement, blanks production and its transformation into tools, tool use, as well as the circulation of raw materials or products. Due to multiple use episodes and a general lack of clear stratigraphical horizons, the assemblages of Karmir Sar are not suitable to define the lithic industry for specific periods (such as the Chalcolithic or MBA periods). However, the data allows for general conclusions on lithic production and consumption at Karmir Sar, which appears to be quite similar during both periods. The Chalcolithic and MBA lithic economies at Karmir Sar are characterized by an ad hoc tool production environment, which well matches the needs of semi-mobile herder societies. The majority of raw materials appear to be procured from secondary source areas (such as riverbeds) which is indicated by a high ratio of battered and rolled surfaces. Tools are predominantly produced on-site, and according to daily demands by simple flake core technology. This allowed for a flexible, spontaneous blank and tool production without being dependent on specialized blade producers.

Early Complexes of the Tract “First and Second Island” near the Village of Tanatovо

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4 (28)) ◽  
pp. 131-139
Author(s):  
Sergei F. Tataurov ◽  
Irina V. Tolpeko
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Ore ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
High Quality ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Village

As part of the study of the early stages of settlement of the Middle Irtysh region, the multilayered monuments of the tract “First and Second island” near the village of Tanatovо, Muromtsevsky district of Omsk region. Based on the study of ceramics and stone tools, complexes of the late Neolithic - early bronze age belonging to the artyn and Catherine cultures and the Stepanov type of monuments were identified. Specific features of stone processing are described for each stage. Artyn stone processing was characterized by high-quality raw materials and the technique of chipping plates. At the stage of Catherine's culture, the quality of raw materials significantly deteriorates, and the use of local raw materials (swamp iron ore) is noted. In stone processing, there is an increase in the share the technique of chipping flakes. At all stages, the tendency to minimize the impact of the shortage of stone raw materials is well recorded.

At the crossroads: prehistoric settlement in the Maeander valley

2007 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 87-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Geographic Context ◽  
Settlement Dynamics ◽  
Permanent Settlement ◽  
Over Time

AbstractThe Maeander river (modern Büyük Menderes Nehri) provides the longest natural route through the mountains of central western Anatolia to link the Aegean basin to inner Anatolia, and research suggests that permanent settlement within the river's catchment had begun at least tentatively by the Late Neolithic period. However, the limited amount of archaeological research in the region has restricted our understanding of the inhabitants' settlement histories and intra- and inter-regional cultural contacts during prehistory. This paper seeks to understand better the nature of settlement dynamics and cultural interactivity from the Neolithic period through to the Late Bronze Age in this region by reviewing the available literature within a broad geographic context encompassing western Anatolia and the Aegean, neighbours whose archaeological evaluations have largely been conducted in isolation from each other. The evidence suggests that these early communities interacted with each other and inter-regionally with fluctuating intensities during prehistory, with the interior remaining more traditionally Anatolian, while the lower, coastal area experienced increasing interaction with and influence from Aegean cultures over time. The lower valley also displays a relatively static number of prehistoric sites in contrast to the middle and upper regions, where more dynamic and largely parallel settlement histories are seen.

‘A PATH LESS TRAVELLED’? A CASE STUDY OF CROSS-REGIONAL CONNECTIVITY IN THE THIRD MILLENNIUM BC FROM THE MADRA RIVER DELTA ON THE COASTLINE OF NORTH-WEST ANATOLIA

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-41
Author(s):  
Maria Röcklinger ◽  
Barbara Horejs ◽  
Kyriacos Lambrianides ◽  
Nigel Spencer
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Western Anatolia ◽  
North West ◽  
North East ◽  
Eastern Aegean ◽  
Cultural Connections

Assumptions are always made about the levels and directions of cultural connections across regions in western Anatolia and the eastern Aegean in the Early Bronze Age (EBA). However, a lack of primary fieldwork data still inhibits clear conclusions and an understanding of the subtleties and variations in such patterns. In particular, primary data is still lacking from the critical coastal ‘touch-point’ of these two regions where material evidence is usually obscured by significant geomorphological change. This article looks at this complex issue of variations in regional connectivity in the EBA through a case study of unpublished primary fieldwork material from the Madra River Delta, a coastal region of north-west Anatolia. Material from the excavation and surface survey of two EBA mound sites in the delta, carried out as part of the interdisciplinary research project, gives a rare opportunity to explore ‘connectivity’ on this coastal area through elements of its EBA material culture, ranging from ceramic and textile production to figurines. The article highlights not only the complex, and unexpected, nature of the inter-regional cultural ‘pathways’ visible in the delta itself, but also the implications – and further questions – which this raises for the cultural connections with the neighbouring region of the north-east Aegean.

Maritime Havens in Earlier Prehistoric Britain

2016 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
pp. 125-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bradley ◽  
Alice Rogers ◽  
Fraser Sturt ◽  
Aaron Watson ◽  
Diana Coles ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Coastal Change ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
New Model ◽  
Isostatic Uplift

It is widely accepted that between the beginning of the Early Neolithic period and the end of the Early Bronze Age different regions of Britain were connected to one another by sea, but little is known about the nature of maritime contacts before plank-built boats developed during the 2nd millenniumbc. This paper considers a series of coastal sites, some of which were first settled from Mesolithic times. From the early 4th millennium they were also associated with artefact production and the use of imported objects and raw materials. Their distribution focuses on the region of isostatic uplift in northern Britain where the ancient shoreline still survives. It is considered in relation to a new model of coastal change which suggests that these locations were characterised by natural havens sheltered behind islands or bars. The sites can be compared with the ‘landing places’ and ‘beach markets’ discussed by historical archaeologists in recent years.

scholarly journals Traceological Analysis of Stone Tools of Miners and Metallurgists from Zhezkazgan Copper Deposits

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (37) ◽  
pp. 166-181
Author(s):  
Albina E. Yerzhanova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Northern Eurasia ◽  
Copper Ore ◽  
Copper Deposits ◽  
Metallurgical Production ◽  
Ancient Society ◽  
Ore Processing ◽  
Ancient Metallurgy

This article presents the results of a traceological study of two collections of stone tools – tools of miners from the Kresto-Center quarry and metallurgists from the Milykuduk settlement, located in the zone of Zhezkazgan copper deposits in the Zhezkazgan-Ulytau Mining and Metallurgical Center (MMC). Structural and raw materials, typological, technological, functional, and contextual analyses were used to study the collection, which consists of 63 items. As a result of the research, it was found that the settlement of Milykuduk was engaged in ore processing, and the Kresto Center quarry was engaged in its extraction. The metallurgical specialization of the population of Zhezkazgan-Ulytau MMC was dictated by the richest deposits of oxidized and sulfide copper ore. Region Saryarka was one of the largest centers of mining and ancient metallurgy for the entire Northern Eurasia during the Late Bronze Age. Mining and metallurgical production was an important and complex production process of antiquity, the level of which was an indicator of the development of the productive forces of ancient society.

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