A New Look at Interpretations of the Early Iron Age in East Africa

1975 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 127-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter R. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
East Africa ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Analytical Method ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Temporal Domain ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Archeological Evidence

Since the publication in English in 1965 of Jan Vansina's Oral Tradition, historians of Africa have been increasingly concerned with developing methods which confirm the historical value of oral traditions. Independent proof for the historicity of oral traditions is often lacking; consequently the historian is usually left with comparative analysis as his primary analytical method. Archeologists such as Merrick Posnansky, Frank Willett, and John Sutton have in part attempted to show linkages between oral traditions and archeological evidence.Posnansky, especially, has contributed much to the idea that it is possible to combine the two sources to obtain a more comprehensive view of Hfeways usually referred to as ‘prehistoric’ Recent research, though, now suggests that the concept ‘prehistoric’ must be questioned, particularly in cases where there is a demonstrated tie between archeological evidence and oral traditions. When archeology affirms the accuracy of oral traditions which explain, comment on, interpret, or locate activities and sites which predate a literate tradition, then the germaneness of the concept must be critically questioned. It is my position here that when archeological evidence confirms the historical value of oral traditions about preliterate life, then those cultural phenomena in that time period should be considered historic rather than prehistoric. To retain ‘prehistory’ as a concept in this context ignores and even militates against the historiographies and historical concepts of other cultures. The ramifications of this relativist perspective are considerable both for the study of history and of prehistory. Given this logic, historians must begin to reassess and expand their concepts of what history is and prehistorians must prepare to forfeit part of the temporal domain previously considered as prehistory.

Memory and its Materiality: The Case of Early Iron Age Khirbet Qeiyafa and Jerusalem

2015 ◽  
Vol 127 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel D. Pioske
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Over Time

In den wenigen Jahren seitdem Ausgrabungen in Khirbet Qeiyafa durchgeführt wurden, haben sich schon einige wichtige Studien mit seiner beeindruckenden Hinterlassenschaft aus der frühen Eisenzeit beschäftigt. Was bislang unberücksichtigt blieb, sind die Folgerungen der Befunde für die Schriftkultur, die für das Bild dieser Periode in der Hebräischen Bibel verantwortlich ist. Die Absicht dieser Studie besteht darin, das literarische Schicksal von Khirbet Qeiyafa mit dem des frühen und späten eisenzeitlichen Jerusalem zu vergleichen und zu ermitteln, was das Nichtvorkommen bzw. Vorkommen dieser Standorte in der Hebräischen Bibel über die Quellen der biblischen Verfasser aussagt, über die sie im 11. und 10. Jh. v. Chr. verfügten. Zugleich wird gefragt, welchen Beitrag Ort und Erinnerung bei der Überlieferung dieser Geschichten im antiken Israel und Juda hatten.In the few short years since excavations were first carried out at Khirbet Qeiyafa a number of important studies have been devoted to its impressive early Iron Age remains. Yet what has not been pursued within these discussions are the implications of the settlement’s material culture for our understanding of the scribal cultures responsible for the portrayal of this time period in the Hebrew Bible. In comparing the literary fate of Khirbet Qeiyafa with that of the contemporaneous site of late Iron I/early Iron IIA Jerusalem, the intent of this study is to examine what the absence and presence of these two sites in the Hebrew Bible indicates about the sources biblical scribes possessed about the 11th–10th centuries BCE, and how place and memory contributed to the transmission of these stories over time in ancient Israel and Judah.Dans les quelques années qui ont suivi les fouilles à Khirbet Qeiyafa, un bon nombre d’études conséquentes ont été consacrées à ses impressionnants vestiges du début de l’âge de Fer. Cependant, ce qui n’a pas été développé dans ces discussions, ce sont les implications de la culture matérielle de ce site pour notre compréhension milieux de scribes responsables de la description de cette période dans la Bible hébraïque. En comparant le destin littéraire de Khirbet Qeiyafa avec celui de Jérusalem, site contemporain de la fin du Fer I et du début du Fer IIA, cette étude cherche à examiner ce que la présence et l’absence de ces deux sites dans la Bible hébraïque indiquent au sujet des sources que les scribes bibliques possédaient sur les 11–10

A Past No Longer Remembered

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Pioske
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Narrative Prose

Chapter 4 examines the phenomenon of absence in the Hebrew Bible, or why certain early Iron Age locations do not appear in the stories told about this time period in the biblical writings. This study focuses on six locations from the early Iron Age that were of substantial significance during this era, but which are nevertheless not referred to in the Hebrew Bible. After surveying the archaeological evidence from these sites, it is maintained that the absence of these places from the biblical narrative was likely the outcome of Hebrew scribes not having access to information about these settlements, rather than an intentional act of suppressing what knowledge they had. This manner of forgetting was occasioned, it is argued here, because these particular locations had lost their cultural and political significance by the time in which past memories were being textualized by Hebrew scribes into stories of narrative prose.

scholarly journals Survey and excavation at an Iron Age enclosure complex on Turin Hill and environs

2020 ◽  
Vol 149 ◽  
pp. 83-114
Author(s):  
James O'Driscoll ◽  
Gordon Noble
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Geophysical Survey ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Time Period ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Hill ◽  
Dense Concentration

This paper presents the results of a programme of survey and evaluative excavation at a complex of five enclosures on Turin Hill in Angus, Scotland. This includes one large bivallate hillfort, an oblong fort and three smaller duns. The aim of the investigation was to re-map the surviving archaeological features and clarify the chronology of the sites. Geophysical survey was also undertaken and clarified various aspects of the enclosures on the hill, revealing a dense concentration of features within the interior of the large bivallate hillfort. Keyhole excavation was undertaken with basic chronological information being obtained for four out of five of the enclosures and dating samples from one other dun on the same ridge at Rob’s Reed. All the samples produced dates falling in the Iron Age and importantly, despite their location overlooking the rich assemblage of early medieval sculpture at Aberlemno, there was no definitive indication of early medieval activity or settlement at Turin Hill or its immediate environs. Evaluation of the rampart of the large bivallate hillfort produced an Early Iron Age date, and as such, may represent one of the few dated forts from this time period presently known in Scotland. Canmore ID 34899 Canmore ID 33776 Canmore ID 34959

Iron Age History and Archaeology in Zambia

1974 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. W. Phillipson
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Formation Process ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
The West ◽  
Eastern Province ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
First Time

Developments since 1968 in the study of the Zambian Early Iron Age are discussed, with emphasis both on the Lubusi site near Kaoma, which provides the first dated occurrence of Early Iron Age artefacts from western Zambia, and on material from the Eastern Province, which is closely related to contemporary finds from Malawi. Knowledge of the post-Early Iron Age archaeology of Zambia has hitherto been largely restricted to the Southern Province; here, for the first time, an archaeological evaluation of the later Iron Age of other regions has been attempted, and three major pottery traditions are described. In the northern and eastern areas the Luangwa tradition appears to have been established by the eleventh or twelfth century A.D., making a sharp typological break with the preceding Early Iron Age traditions. In the west, the Lungwebungu tradition shows a greater degree of continuity from the Early Iron Age, but in much of the Zambezi valley and adjacent areas it has been supplanted by the sharply-contrasting Linyanti tradition for which a Kololo origin is postulated. The inception of the Luangwa tradition is attributed to the arrival of a new population element ancestral to most of the peoples who inhabit northern and eastern Zambia today, but there is in the archaeological record of this region little discernible trace of later migrations associated with the state-formation process recalled in the extant oral traditions. The implications of these observations for the interpretation of both archaeological data and of oral traditions are discussed and tentative conclusions are proposed concerning the inter-relationship of these two methodologies.

Fire and human record at Lake Victoria, East Africa, during the Early Iron Age: Did humans or climate cause massive ecosystem changes?

The Holocene ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (7) ◽  
pp. 997-1007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario Battistel ◽  
Elena Argiriadis ◽  
Natalie Kehrwald ◽  
Maddalena Spigariol ◽  
James M Russell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
East Africa ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Lake Victoria ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
Polycyclic Aromatic ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ecosystem Changes ◽  
Favorable Conditions

Organic molecular markers determined in a sediment core (V95-1A-1P) from Lake Victoria (East Africa) were used to reconstruct the history of human impact and regional fire activity during the Early Iron Age (~2400 to ~1100 yr BP). Fire history was reconstructed using levoglucosan and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as markers for biomass burning that demonstrate two distinct fire periods peaking at 1450–1700 and 1850–2050 cal. yr BP. A partial correlation between levoglucosan and PAHs is interpreted as different transport behaviors and burn temperatures affecting the proxies. A fecal sterol index (CoP-Index) indicates the presence of humans near the lakeshore, where the CoP-Index lags a few centuries behind the fire peaks. The CoP-Index peaks between 1850 and1950 cal. yr BP and between 1400 and 1500 cal. yr BP. Retene, a PAH that indicates softwood combustion, differs from other PAHs and levoglucosan by abruptly increasing at ~1650 cal. yr BP and remaining high until 1200 cal. yr BP. This increase may potentially signal human activity in that the development of metallurgy and/or ceramic production requires highly efficient fuels. However, this increase in retene occurs at the same time as severe drought events centered at ~1500 and ~2000 yr BP where the droughts and associated woodland to grassland transition may have resulted in more intense fires. The grassland expansion could have created favorable conditions for human activities and triggered settlement growth that in turn may have created a positive feedback for further landscape opening.

scholarly journals Decorative application with lion’s image from the excavations near village Mizhgirya (Volyn region)

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 387-395
Author(s):  
Oleksandr Silaiev
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Metal Casting ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Ceramic Tiles ◽  
Casting Technique ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church ◽  
Decorative Ceramic

The article is explaining a unique bronze application, which was discovered during the excavation season 2017 on Mizhgirya-3 site – two-layered settlement of Early Iron Age and Age of Principalities. This item was uncovered amid the upper earth sediments, largely destroyed by plowing, thus making it impossible to determine the exact chronological interpretation. Based on the analysis of creative stylistics and technological features of this piece of craftsmanship, an excessive pursuit was commenced for the parallels in the imageries and designs of decorative ornaments, particularly inherent to Ancient Rus culture. It includes various examples of zoomorphic motifs, lion’s pictures as well, in the church architectural décor and on similar samples of ornamented jewelry. The closest stylistic equivalence to the application’s image from Mizhgirya-3 site was found among decorative ceramic tiles collected during the excavations of ancient Halych hill-fort, some of them holding the image of a lion or a lioness. Particular attention was turned towards the searches of analogies among jewelry, applying specific techniques of openwork metal casting, like some items from the excavations of the Ancient Rus’ major cities of Halych and Novgorod, found inside cultural sediments from the 12th – to the 15th centuries. Comparative analysis of various objects, either depicting similar visual motifs or applying the distinctive metal casting technique, made it possible to verify the application’s origin at the later stages Age of Principalities cultural evolution, especially the one determined by the advance of Galicia and Volhynia state. Henceforth, the discovery of the items became more relevant with the upper chronological layer of Mizhgirya-3 site, which was dated by the 12th – 13th centuries after the evaluation of supplemented materials. Key words: bronze decorative application, openwork metal casting, Age of Principalities, zoomorphic motif, «lion passant».

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