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

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

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Arjun R

There are about 1933 Early Iron Age Megalithic sites spread across South India. The Early Iron Age of South India is implicit either in the form of burial sites, habitation sites, habitation cum burial sites, Iron Age rock art sites, and isolated iron smelting localities near a habitation or burials. This paper is an attempt to take a rough computation of the potentiality of the labour, technology and quantity of artifact output that this cultural phase might have once had, in micro or in macro level. Considering the emergence of technology and its enormous output in Ceramics, Agriculture, Metallurgy and Building up Burials as industries by themselves, that has economic, ethnographic and socio-technique archaeological imprints. This helps in understanding two aspects: one, whether they were nomadic, semi settled or settled at one location; two, the Diffusion versus Indigenous development. A continuity of late Neolithic phase is seen into Early Iron Age and amalgamation of Early Iron Age with the Early Historic Period as evident in the sites like Maski, Brahmagiri, Sanganakallu, Tekkalakota, T-Narasipur. In few cases, Iron Age folks migrated from one location to the other and settled on the river banks in large scale like that in Hallur and Koppa. In rare cases, they preferred to climb up the hill and stay on the rocky flat surface for example Aihole and Hiere Bekal– sites which are located close to or on the banks of the river or its tributaries of Krishna-Tungabhadra- Kaveri.Keywords: Labour, Industry, Production, Megaliths, Nomadic, Semi Settled, Early Iron Age.


2015 ◽  
Vol 127 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel D. Pioske

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


1975 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 127-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter R. Schmidt

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.


Archaeologia ◽  
1927 ◽  
Vol 76 ◽  
pp. 1-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garnet R. Wolseley ◽  
Reginald A. Smith ◽  
William Hawley

In a paper describing the discovery and partial excavation of an Early Iron Age settlement on Park Brow Hill near Cissbury, published in the Antiquaries Journal, vol. iv, mention was made of the location of two other habitation sites on the hill—one Roman, and another probably occupied during the Bronze Age of Britain. It was to this latter site that I decided to attend in 1924, the object being to examine the relation between this settlement and that attributed to the Hallstatt–La Tène I period found on the top of the hill (see fig. a). The new site consists of a series of disturbed areas roughly circular, and lying on the slope of the hill facing south-west, about a furlong from the Hallstatt settlement (see fig. b).


Author(s):  
Daniel Pioske

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.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arjun R

There are about 1933 Early Iron Age Megalithic sites spread across south India. The Early Iron Age of south India is implicit either in the form of burial sites, habitation sites, habitation cum burial sites, Iron Age rock art sites, and isolated iron smelting localities near a habitation or burials. This paper is an attempt to take a rough computation of the potentiality of the labour, technology and quantity of artifact output that this cultural phase which might once had, in micro or in macro level. Considering the emergence of technology and its enormous output in Ceramics, Agriculture, Metallurgy and Building up Burials as industries by themselves: that has economic, ethnographic and socio-technique archaeological imprints. This helps in understanding two aspects: one, whether they were nomadic, semi settled or settled at one location. Second, the Diffusion versus Indigenous development. A continuity of late Neolithic phase is seen into Early Iron Age and amalgamation of Early Iron Age with the Early Historic Period as evident in the sites like Maski, Brahmagiri, Sanganakallu, Tekkalakota, T-Narasipur. In few cases, Iron Age folks migrated from one location to the other and settled on the river banks in large scale like that in Hallur and Koppa. In rare cases, they preferred to climb up the hill and stay on the rocky flat surface for example Aihole and Hiere Bekal. Sites which are located close to or on the banks of the river or its tributaries of Krishna-Tungabhadra- Kaveri.Keywords: Labour, Industry, Production, Megaliths, Nomadic, Semi Settled, early Iron Age.


2015 ◽  
Vol 81 ◽  
pp. 61-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ger Dowling

This paper explores how geophysical survey, undertaken in conjunction with landscape and historical analysis, is contributing to a deeper understanding of prehistoric focal centres and landscape organisation in the wider ‘hinterland’ of the Hill of Tara, Co. Meath. Arising out of the Discovery Programme’s ‘Late Iron Age and ‘Roman’ Ireland’ (LIARI) Project, the present investigations targeted a number of prominent hilltop sites in the Meath–north Dublin region suspected, on the basis of archaeological, topographical, and early documentary evidence, to have been important ceremonial/political centres in later prehistory. Foremost among these are the Hill of Lloyd (Co. Meath), the location of a prehistoric enclosure overlooking the early monastic foundation at Kells; Faughan Hill (Co. Meath), the traditional burial place of Niall of the Nine Hostages; and Knockbrack (Co. Dublin), whose summit is crowned by a large, internally-ditched enclosure with central burial mound. The discovery through this multi-disciplinary study of additional large-scale enclosures, burial monuments, and other significant archaeological features serves to further corroborate the deep historical importance of these sites, and opens up new avenues for exploring such themes as territoriality, social organisation, and identity in the wider Tara region.


1971 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bradley

SummaryThe first part of this paper is a discussion of the basic pattern of land use on the South Downs from the Middle Bronze Age to the early Pre-Roman Iron Age. In the second part, the impact upon this pattern of a group of Bronze and Iron Age stock enclosures is considered, and it is argued that these developed directly into a number of small hill forts. A contemporary group of larger, early Iron Age, hill forts is also defined, and it appears that these too grew up upon an economic basis of stock raising. The social and cultural implications of these developments are discussed, and tentative contrasts are drawn with the nature of later hill forts in the region.


2016 ◽  
Vol 292 (2) ◽  
pp. 383-388
Author(s):  
Sławomir Wadyl

The stronghold is located about 1 km south of the centre of the village and about 0.35 km south-east of the shore of Lake Węgielsztyńskie. During the excavations quite a large number of artefacts were recovered. The ceramic assemblage included around 3,500 fragments. In addition, about 500 fragments of animal bone were discovered, as well as several dozen artefacts, most of which were for daily use. The preliminary analysis of the materials indicates that the hill was intensively used in the early Iron Age (the second half of the first millennium BC). At that time, the settlement was at least partially fortified and seems to have been permanently inhabited. The next phase of intensive use was in the early Middle Ages.


1961 ◽  
Vol 41 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 32-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
James F. Dyer

The linear dyke known as Dray's Ditches, about half a mile long, runs at right angles to the Icknield Way, whose modern track approaches it near its mid-point. The name ‘Dray's Ditche’ first appears on a map engraved by Thomas Jeffrys in 1765, and its course is marked, between Great Bramingham and the Old Bedford Road, on a map of 1774. In 1540 Leland wrote that ‘in the hye way I saw hard on eche syde 3 longe trenches, as they had been for Men of warre’. Davies referred to a ‘treble row of ditches, which run in a straight line from Bramingham to Warden Hill, where they run aslant up the hill’; whilst Beldam described ‘several trenches called Gray's Dykes which run down in irregular lines of two ditches between three banks, from a tumulus on the Warden Hills, a little to the south of the Icenhilde Road, and traverse it exactly at its junction with the old Luton and Bedford Road, but now disappearing in the cultivated fields on the opposite side of the road’. A subsidiary earthwork which runs along the western foot of Galley Hill for about half a mile, enclosing a flat area of some hundred acres, has also been described as part of this system. This earthwork, however, was considered by Crawford, in 1934, to be ‘merely an old enclosure around an arable field’, and excavation has proved his view correct.


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