scholarly journals Volcanic Grinding Tools in Ustica Island (Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy): Local Production vs. Import of Morgantina-Type Millstones in the Hellenistic-Roman Period

Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 389
Author(s):  
Patrizia Santi ◽  
Franco Foresta Martin ◽  
Francesca Spatafora ◽  
Sandro de Vita ◽  
Alberto Renzulli
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Major And Trace Elements ◽  
Alkaline Basalt ◽  
Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
Local Production ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Southern Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Geochemical Analyses

This archaeometric study was focused on 28 grey to dark-grey lava artifacts found in Ustica Island (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy) and referable to different grinding tools: saddle querns, rotary Morgantina-type millstones, rotary hand-mills and one small mortar. Mineralogy, petrography and bulk rock geochemical analyses emphasized that most of the grinding artifacts belonged to the Na-Alkaline series of Ustica, mainly basalts, hawaiites and mugearites. Nevertheless, some millstone samples did not match major and trace elements of Ustica lavas, in particular, one high-TiO2 Na-Alkaline basalt from Pantelleria Island, some tholeiitic/transitional basalts from the Iblei Mountains and one Calcalkaline basaltic andesite, most likely from the Aeolian Archipelago. The Hellenistic–Roman re-colonisation of Ustica Island, after ca. one millennium of nearly complete abandonment, was testified by the import of the non-local Morgantina-type rotary millstones, very widespread in the Mediterranean area from 4th–3rd century BC. This import of millstones represented, for the Ustica inhabitants, a real breakthrough for developing a local production of grinding artifacts on the basis of the new rotary technique which was much more efficient than that of the archaic saddle querns, largely used in the Middle Bronze Age. The results are also discussed in the framework of the overall volcanic millstone trade in the Mediterranean area and the different milling technology in antiquity.

Middle Bronze Age Long Distance Exchange through Europe and Beyond

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 266-274
Author(s):  
Flemming Kaul
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Glass Beads ◽  
The South ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Blue Glass ◽  
The North ◽  
Southern Scandinavia ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
The Mediterranean

Abstract The introduction of the folding stool and the single-edged razor into Southern Scandinavia, as well as the testimony of chariot use during the Nordic Bronze Age Period II (1500-1300 BC), give evidence of the transfer of ideas from the Mediterranean to the North. Recent analyses of the chemical composition of blue glass beads from well-dated Danish Bronze Age burials have revealed evidence for the opening of long distance exchange routes around 1400 BC between Egypt, Mesopotamia and South Scandinavia. When including comparative material from glass workshops in Egypt and finds of glass from Mesopotamia, it becomes clear that glass from those distant lands reached Scandinavia. The routes of exchange can be traced through Europe based on finds of amber from the North and glass from the South.

Geoarchaeological evidence of multiple climatic and anthropic triggers driving the breakdown of the Terramare civilization (Bronze Age, Northern Italy)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Zerboni ◽  
Anna Maria Mercuri ◽  
Assunta Florenzano ◽  
Eleonora Clò ◽  
Giovanni Zanchetta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Po River ◽  
Commercial Exchange ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Dramatic Shift

<p><span>The Terramare civilization included hundreds of </span><span>banked and moated villages, located in the alluvial plain of the Po River of northern Italy, and developed between the Middle and the Recent Bronze Ages (XVI-XII cent. BC). This civilization lasted for over 500 years, collapsing at around 1150 years BC, in a period marked by a great societal disruptionin the Mediterranean area. The timing and modalities of the collapse of the Terramare Bronze Age culture are widely debated, and a combined geoarchaeological and palaeoclimatic investigation – the SUCCESSO-TERRA Project –is shading new light on this enigma. The Terramare economy was based upon cereal farming, herding, and metallurgy; settlements were also sustained by a well-developed system for the management of water and abundant wood resources. They also established a wide network of commercial exchange between continental Europe and the Mediterranean region.The SUCCESSO-TERRA Project investigated two main Bronze Age sites in Northern Italy:(i) the Terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio, and (ii) the San Michele di Valestra site, which is a coeval settlement outside the Terramare territory, but in the adjoining Apennine range. Human occupation at San Michele di Valestra persisted after the Terramare crisis and the site was settled with continuity throughout the whole Bronze Ages, up to the Iron Age. The combined geoarchaeological, palaeoclimatic, and archaeobotanical investigation on different archaeological sites and on independent archives for climatic proxies (offsite cores and speleothems) highlights the existence of both climatic and anthropic critical factors triggering a dramatic shift of the landuse of the Terramare civilization. The overexploitation of natural resources became excessive in the late period of the Terramare trajectory, when also a climatic change occurred. A fresh speleothem record for the same region suggests the occurrence of a short-lived period of climatic instability followed by a marked peak of aridity. The<span> </span>unfavourable concomitance between human overgrazing and climatic-triggered environmental pressure, amplified the on-going societal crisis, likely leading to the breakdown of the Terramare civilization in the turn of a generation.</span></p>

Mediterranean fish biodiversity: an updated inventory with focus on the Ligurian and Tyrrhenian seas

Zootaxa ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3263 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER NICK PSOMADAKIS ◽  
STEFANO GIUSTINO ◽  
MARINO VACCHI
Keyword(s):  
Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
Ligurian Sea ◽  
Mediterranean Areas ◽  
Thermophilic Species ◽  
Atlantic Origin ◽  
Southern Mediterranean ◽  
Southern Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
Immigrant Species ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Mediterranean Fish

In this paper we update the Mediterranean fish inventory, analyse the biogeographic features of this fauna and provideexhaustive biodiversity data for the Ligurian and Tyrrhenian seas. According to the data available in 2010, the Mediterraneanfish diversity can be summarized as follows: 602 (including sub-species) bony fish species (Osteichthyes), 79 cartilaginous fishspecies (Chondrichthyes) and 3 cyclostomes (Agnatha); making a total of 684 species belonging to 173 families (147Osteichthyes, 24 Chondrichthyes, 2 Agnatha). Most species 403 (58.9%) have an Atlantic origin, 128 (18.7%) species arecosmopolitan, 90 (13.2%) species are Indo-Pacific, and 63 (9.2%) are endemic to the Mediterranean. In the Ligurian Sea,northern Tyrrhenian and southern Tyrrhenian Sea, the richness can be estimated at 454, 426 and 447 species, respectively. Themost speciose families for the Mediterranean as a whole, but also for the three intra-mediterranean areas studied are theGobiidae, Sparidae, Labridae and Blenniidae; whereas Carangidae is a numerically important family mainly at theMediterranean level. The percentage of endemic fishes within the intra-mediterranean areas studied gradually decrease acrosslatitude from the Ligurian Sea (9.4%) to the northern (8.7%) and southern (8.0%) Tyrrhenian Sea. The updated fish inventorycontains 81 Lessepsian and 48 Atlantic immigrant species, which represent 11.8% and 7.0% of the whole Mediterranean fishcommunity, respectively. The Ligurian Sea (3.1%) houses a higher amount of immigrants with respect to the northern (1.6%)and southern (2.7%) Tyrrhenian sectors.Field observations made during this study indicate that both the Ligurian and Tyrrhenian seas are presently subjected toincreasing colonization events by thermophilic species spreading from the southern Mediterranean and to a lesser degree by the arrival of exotic species either of Atlantic or Indo-Pacific origin.

Centers of Power, Weapons of Iron

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Douglas Price
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
The Alps ◽  
Iron Artifacts ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
City States

The introduction of iron after 1000 BC brought new tools and weapons to Europe. Smelting technology and higher furnace temperatures were likely the key to iron production, which is generally thought to have originated in Anatolia around 1400 BC among the Hittites, but there are a few earlier examples of iron artifacts as old as 2300 BC in Turkey. Iron produced sharper, more readily available implements and was in great demand. In contrast to copper and tin, whose sources were limited, iron was found in a variety of forms in many places across the continent. Veins of iron ore were exploited in Iberia, Britain, the Alps, the Carpathian Mountains, and elsewhere. Bog iron was exploited in northern Europe. Carbonate sources of iron in other areas enabled local groups to obtain the raw materials necessary for producing this important material. At the same time, the collapse of the dominant Bronze Age civilizations of the Aegean changed the flow of raw materials and finished products across Europe. Greece fell into a Dark Age following the demise of the Mycenaean city-states. The Etruscans were on the rise in Italy. Rome was a small town at the border of the Etruscan region. Soon, however, new centers of power in classic Greece and Rome emerged, bringing writing and, with it, history to Europe. Again, we can observe important and dramatic differences between the “classic” areas of the Mediterranean and the northern parts of “barbarian” Europe. The chronology for the Iron Age in much of Europe is portrayed in Figure 6.2. The Iron Age begins earlier in the Mediterranean area, ca. 900 BC, where the Classical civilizations of Greece, the Etruscans, and eventually Rome emerge in the first millennium BC. Rome and its empire expanded rapidly, conquering much of western Europe in a few decades before the beginning of the Common Era and Britain around ad 43, effectively ending the prehistoric Iron Age in these parts of the continent. The Iron Age begins somewhat later in Scandinavia, around 500 BC.

Leucosolenia microspinata sp. nov. (Porifera: Calcarea), a new species from the Mediterranean Sea

2009 ◽  
Vol 89 (8) ◽  
pp. 1663-1669
Author(s):  
Caterina Longo
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Marine Reserve ◽  
Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
Size Classes ◽  
Southern Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
A New Species

A new species of Leucosoleniidae, Leucosolenia microspinata sp. nov., from the southern Tyrrhenian Sea (Porto Vecchio pond, Marinello Marine Reserve, Messina) is here described. The species consists of a dense reticulation of ascon tubes having a colour ranging from white-cream to light-brown. Its spiculation consists of diactines sometimes serrated or microspined, not separable into size-classes, triactines of four types and tetractines with microspined apical actine. The comparison with other Mediterranean Leucosolenia is reported.

A new locality and host for Pseudione crenulata G.O. Sars, 1898 (Crustacea, Isopoda, Bopyridae) in the Mediterranean

2010 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Castriota ◽  
Manuela Falautano ◽  
Pietro Vivona ◽  
Franco Andaloro
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
First Record ◽  
Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
Southern Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
The Mediterranean

AbstractThe first record of Pseudione crenulata in the branchial chamber of Munida intermedia is reported from the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, with notes on accessory males and female morphology. The effects of this parasite on host pleopod morphology are reported. Pseudione crenulata has previously been recorded from M. tenuimana and M. rugosa, both in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

Tracking Proto-Porcelain Production and Consumption in the Dongjiang Valley of Bronze Age Lingnan

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 671-689
Author(s):  
Michèle H.S. Demandt
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Local Production ◽  
Social Perspectives ◽  
Porcelain Production ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Economic Strategies ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Political Conditions

During the Early-Middle Bronze Age, a new package of technological knowledge, including high-fired ‘proto-porcelain’ products and specialized ‘dragon’ kilns, entered Lingnan in South China from neighbouring cultures. This enabled the first local production of proto-porcelain in Bronze Age communities of Guangdong province that later became concentrated in ceramic workshops in the Dongjiang valley. Through a holistic approach towards ceramic production and consumption that integrates elements of functionalist and social perspectives, this study will explore the technological and socio-political conditions underlying the value creation and consequent social usage of proto-porcelain. It will be argued that proto-porcelain was a suitable medium for the simultaneous expression of different social roles that might have included its use as serving ware in community rituals as well as its involvement in politico-economic strategies of elite groups.

scholarly journals Food consumption and civil society: Mediterranean diet as a sustainable resource for the Mediterranean area

2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (12A) ◽  
pp. 2346-2349 ◽  
Author(s):  
F Xavier Medina
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Diet ◽  
Mediterranean Region ◽  
Food System ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Local Production ◽  
Review Of Literature ◽  
Local Food System ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Diet Model

AbstractObjectiveTo define the Mediterranean diet model inside a Mediterranean social and cultural food framework and from the perspective of a local model of consumption.DesignReflexion and review of literature available in relation to the Mediterranean diet, locality and proximity.Setting and subjectsMediterranean region and its populations.ResultsThe Mediterranean local food system under the term Mediterranean diet encourages local production and local consumption. From this perspective, this model takes part of every local Mediterranean lifestyles and encourages sustainability.ConclusionsFrom a local Mediterranean point of view and as a proximity model of consumption, Mediterranean food and diet can be a sustainable resource for the Mediterranean area.

scholarly journals Geomorphology and Prehistoric Settlements on a Volcanic Island: the Case of Ustica (Palermo, Italy)

2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (5) ◽  
pp. VO550
Author(s):  
Franco Foresta Martin ◽  
Stefano Furlani
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Northern Coast ◽  
Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
Open Land ◽  
Western Sicily ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Prehistoric Settlements ◽  
Roman Age ◽  
Open Question

   This study represents the first attempt to combine the geomorphological characteristics of the island of Ustica with the human settlements that have been established during prehistory, with the purpose of reconstructing the interactions between communities and the natural environment from the Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age (6th - 1st millennia B.C.). Ustica is a small island in the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, visible but far (~55 km) from the northern coast of western Sicily. Its rugged volcanic nature, remodeled and enriched by the sea, offered to the first colonizers a wide repertoire of opportunities and challenges. This island can be treated as an ideal “laboratory” to understand how settlers, taking their first steps towards the foundation of organized communities, were able to seize opportunities or succumb to obstacles. The review of archaeological research until now carried out in Ustica, integrated with geomorphological data and other biogeographical indicators, offers a picture of the prehistory of Ustica in which human presence is continuous and distributed in various sites of the island characterized by different physiographic characteristics. There are phases dominated by the choice of naturally protected sites and phases in which settlements expands on open land, suitable for agricultural use. Where the archaeological evidence is scarce, the geomorphological peculiarities allow us to decipher the vocations and characters of a human settlement. The study leads to an open question: in the Middle Bronze Age, after about five thousand years of uninterrupted habitation of Ustica, which factors, geological, social, or other, induced the early communities to abandon the island, without returning there for about eight centuries, until the Hellenistic-Roman age? 

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