SKIN, AND WOOL-TEXTILE REMAINS FROM HALLSTATT, AUSTRIA

Summary. A study was made of wool cloth remains comprising 56 yarns and of 33 samples of haired animal skin from the Kilbwerk salt-mine site at Hallstatt, Austria dated 6th to 8th century BC. Most of the wool in the cloth was primitive hairy-medium or generalised-medium type and over half the samples had natural coloration, the predominant colour being grey. One yarn was of medium wool type and four were of semi-fine fleece type, neither of these having been previously reported before the Roman period. The skins were much hairier, only one-third having fleece types found in the cloth, and only two of these were of the finer generalised medium variety. Most of the skins with the coarsest hair were probably from goats, and those with less coarse hair from true hairy sheep, a fleece type that is thought to have developed during the Iron Age. The staining reaction of the skin indicated rawhide or oil tanning. The presence of inactive hair follicles within the skin showed that over half had ceased to live during the autumn-winter period.     

X-RAY DIFFRACTION OF EARLY IRON AGE POTTERY FROM WESTERN NORWAY

X-ray diffraction has been used to analyse the surfaces and cores of sherds from pottery from Voss and Etne. two late Roman-early Migration Period sites in western Norway. Results show: (1) the presence of illite and illite/smectite in black-burnished ware from inhumation graves which suggests that this ware was never subjected to temperatures as high as 375°C, (2) the absence of these heat-sensitive clay minerals in red ware from cremation graves at these sites which suggests a secondary firing at 700–800°C, (3) the clay minerals are similar in the cores and surfaces of the black pottery which suggests that the colour differences are due to firing procedures rather than the application of a slip, and (4) chlorite is present in all of the samples which is an indication that the ware originated in a Voss workshop where chlorite is present in other pottery found there and in the local geologic deposits.     

A NOTE ON AN IRON AGE FOUR-HORNED ALTAR FROM TEL DOTHAN

Abstract

In a recent visit to the site of Tel Dothan the top of a four-horned stone altar of Iron Age type was unexpectedly observed among the structural remains exposed by Joseph P. Free in Area L of his excavations of the late 1950s. Owing to the location of this find within a well-dated building complex (labelled ‘House 14 ’) it can be dated with some certainty to the early Iron Age IIa, i.e. to the 9^th century BCE. Dated four-horned stone altars from this period from the northern Kingdom of Israel are extremely rare. ‘House 14 ’ was identified by the excavators as an ‘administrative building,’ but we suggest it probably had a primary cultic function.     

MINERALOGICAL AND PETROLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF EARLY BRONZE AGE COPPER‐SMELTING REMAINS FROM THE KIECHLBERG (TYROL,AUSTRIA)

The prehistoric settlement on the Kiechlberg hilltop is located a few kilometres to the north‐east of Innsbruck, in the Tyrolean Inn Valley. Despite its rather isolated location, a multiphase settlement between the fifth and the second millennium bc was confirmed by archaeological investigations in 2007 and 2008. Metallurgical artefacts, such as copper ore fragments, copper slag and raw copper, as well as finished copper and bronze artefacts, are concentrated mainly in Late Copper Age to Middle Bronze Age layers. The chemical compositions of the slag and raw metals confirm Fe—Zn tetrahedrite–tennantite (fahlore) smelting. The ore was most probably imported from the 30–50 km distant copper ore deposits (mainly fahlore) of Schwaz–Brixlegg, in the Lower Inn Valley. The small amount of slag and the presence of slagged and thermally altered ceramic fragments suggest copper production in small‐scale workshops. Most probably, sulphide‐rich ores were smelted in crucibles in a hearth fire. The process was relatively reducing below the 2Sb + 1.5O₂ → Sb₂O₃ reaction (?8.5 log fO₂ at 1100°C), producing Sb‐rich (>10 wt% Sb in metal) raw copper. Inhomogeneous slag remains containing high amounts of sulphide and metal inclusions suggest a poor separation of the metal, matte (copper sulphide) and silicate/oxide melt during the smelting process.     

EARLY IRON AGE BALANCE WEIGHTS AT LEFKANDI, EUBOEA

Summary.   This report analyses the 16 stone balance weights and fragments recovered in 1994 from the ninth-century BC Tomb 79 in the Toumba cemetery at Lefkandi, Euboea, the tomb of the 'Warrior Trader'. In material, shapes, and mass standards, the weights are for the most part virtual duplicates of common LBA balance weights from Cyprus and the Levant and attest to (a) the long-term continuity of maritime trading across the Bronze/Iron Age divide in the Cypro-Levantine world, and (b) the active participation of Euboeans in this commercial sphere no later than the early ninth century. Discussed also is the relationship between some of these weights and the later Euboeic weight standard.     

IRON AGE COIN DEPOSITION AT HARLOW TEMPLE, ESSEX

Summary. This paper evaluates the depositional patterning, associations and regional context of the Iron Age coins found during previous excavations at the Romano-Celtic temple at Harlow, west Essex, in the light of renewed work now taking place there. Together, the patterns which emerge suggest that the bulk of the Iron Age coin finds from the temple site were not deposited until the late pre-Conquest era at the earliest. Most indeed are more probably offerings of the early Roman period, when deposition of coins and brooches was at its most intensive. The nature and significance of the pre-Conquest use of the hillock is briefly reconsidered in relation to later Iron Age and early Roman ritual and mortuary practices elsewhere in south-east England and beyond.     

THE PROVENANCE AND PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF BRONZE AGE AND IRON AGE POTTERY FROM TELL MISHRIFEH/QATNA (SYRIA)*

This work deals with the archaeometric study of the Bronze Age and Iron Age pottery from Tell Mishrifeh/Qatna (central‐western Syria), where the complete cycle of ceramic production is well documented. Petrographic, chemical and diffractometric analyses were carried out on both potsherds and a clayey material found in a separation basin within the area of the workshops. Petrographic groups were defined and maximum firing temperatures and redox firing conditions were estimated, providing constraints on identifying the production technology and its evolution with time. The studied potsherds turned out to be locally produced, with only a few cases of possible similarities with those described for other localities along the Orontes Valley, and in a couple of cases with evidence of pottery exchange.     

REDEFINING THE NORTHERN BRITISH IRON AGE

Summary.   Unlike Southern Britain, the Iron Age in Northern Britain spans two millennia from the introduction of iron technology to the Norse settlements. Northern Britain is divided into a series of geographical and archaeological regions, including for the pre-Roman Earlier Iron Age the whole of aceramic and non-coin-using northern England. Despite a wealth of settlement evidence, the Earlier Iron Age lacks diagnostic material assemblages, even in the ceramic Atlantic regions, where radiocarbon dating is now confirming the origins of Atlantic Roundhouses in the mid-first millennium BC. External connections may have been long-distance, reflecting a complex variety of selective connections. For the Later Iron Age, interpretation based upon historical sources has inhibited a proper archaeological evaluation of the 'Picts' and of the traditional view of Dalriadic settlement in Argyll, both of which are now under review.     

BLACKSMITHING TECHNOLOGY IN IRON AGE WESSEX

Summary. The sophistication of Iron Age blacksmithing technology in Wessex was determined by the metallurgical examination of 503 iron artefacts using Optical Metallography, Electron Microprobe Analysis and Vickers Hardness Testing. Iron artefacts from the different regions and site types of Southern Britain were examined to determine both the capabilities of Iron Age blacksmiths to alter the properties of iron artefacts through cold-working, carburization, heat-treatment and alloy selection, and the distribution of these possible techniques. The reasons for the selection of the areas, the sites, and the actual artefacts chosen for examination are discussed.     

SOCIAL CHANGE AND METALWORKING IN THE EARLY IRON AGE: AN APPROACH FROM NORTH-WEST IBERIA

This paper analyses social transformations in the Early Iron Age based on a holistic and longue durée approach applied to the first fortified habitats in the Iberian north-west. Through a comprehensive review of two paradigmatic settlements of the EIA in the province of A Coruña (Galicia, north-west Iberia), Punta de Muros and A Graña, a comparison is drawn between the social and territorial dynamics of this period by means of an in-depth analysis of the main characteristics of both settlements. Accordingly, a greater level of social complexity during the phases of occupation of the settlement of Punta de Muros has been identified, in contrast to the resistance to change observed in A Graña. Based on these conclusions, the role of metalworking and its symbolic value in fostering and legitimizing these social and territorial transformations and in the development of Iron Age communities are analysed.     

THE IRON AGE URNFIELD TRADITION OF SOUTHWESTERN JUTLAND,DENMARK

This study examines two urnfields, their development, burial rituals, grave goods and the cremated remains in a renewed analysis of the Danish Urnfield Tradition. The osteological investigation reveals a very high proportion of children's graves in these communal burial sites. Individual expression and demonstration of status are muted in burial rituals adhering to strict norms, although differences between age categories show through variations in the size of a burial monument. The use of CT scans and a detailed analysis of all artefacts provide evidence of the ritualized breaking of urns and the retrieval of bones from graves. Such retrieval of bones together with the layout and development of urnfields demonstrate the importance placed on the ancestors in the Early Pre-Roman Iron Age. The inconspicuous burials, together with the incorporation of all age categories, suggest that the focus of these burial communities is on a relational rather than individual identity.     

FROM RAW IRON TO SEMI‐PRODUCT: QUALITY AND CIRCULATION OF MATERIALS DURING THE IRON AGE IN FRANCE*

Iron raw materials provide a privileged source of information for the reconstruction of metallurgical techniques and the circulation of iron products. An interdisciplinary approach, combining archaeological and archaeometrical studies of the exemplars known from the French Iron Age, has been undertaken. This enables a new typological classification to be produced that demonstrates a correlation between morphological and structural properties. Through comparison with chronological data, it is possible to propose a reconstruction of the organization of production according to three main periods, which are characterized by the circulation of different qualities of iron and by diverse levels of artisanal specialization.     

PITS, PRECONCEPTIONS and PROPITIATION IN the BRITISH IRON AGE

Summary: Large pits have long been known to be a characteristic of the British Iron Age. Originally they were thought to be habitations but since the 1930s they have been assumed to have served as grain silos. This paper reviews our changing conceptions and then considers a range of new data for special burials within the pits. A model is developed which sees the storage of seed grain in pits as a deliberate act designed to place the grain in the protection of the chthonic deities. the chronological and spatial implications of pit storage in Britain are briefly considered.     

WEALTH AND STATUS IN IRON AGE KNOSSOS

Summary.   Knossos Tekke tomb 2 is one of the richest tombs in the Iron Age Aegean, renowned for its deposits of gold. The tomb is widely attributed to a family of goldsmiths, who migrated to Knossos from the Near East. This article, however, questions this attribution. An alternative interpretation is pursued through surveys of the distribution of some luxury materials, amply represented in the Tekke tomb, in all known Knossian tombs. By setting the Tekke find against the large corpus of Knossian burial material, I identify the Tekke occupants as members of a local élite. This group is shown to have had privileged access to the products of a goldsmith's workshop, as well as to the sources of some lavish, mostly imported, raw materials, and to have regulated their distribution within Knossian society during the eighth century. The means through which the Tekke élite claimed and defended their wealth and status are assessed and their possible Late Bronze Age pedigree is conjectured.