The First Mallorcans: Prehistoric Colonization in the Western Mediterranean

The paper aims to elucidate the first human colonization of the western Mediterranean island of Mallorca by answering such questions as: What was the cultural identity of the first archaeologically identifiable human settlers? What was the chronology of colonization? Where did the colonizers originate? And what were their contacts during the initial phase of settlement? It is based on recently acquired chronological data and on a review of the classical sources. A precise chronology for the first colonization event is proposed, supporting the idea that human settlement on Mallorca started within the period 2350–2150 cal BC. The coast of Languedoc, between the rivers Vidourle and Rhône, is the most probable source region. Whether the first settlers were derived from an Early Bronze Age or a Late Copper Age mainland culture remains unresolved. A rapid initial population growth following initial colonization is proposed. The available evidence points to the development of an essentially isolated population on Mallorca, developing an autochthonous culture with only limited contacts to mainland regions.     

SHIFTING SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN THE SOUTHERN JORDAN VALLEY AND DESERT FRINGES OF SAMARIA DURING THE EARLY BRONZE AGE I PERIOD

Abstract

This study deals with the unprecedented settlement activity during the Early Bronze Age I that has been recently recorded in the Jordan Valley and the desert fringes of Samaria. The increase in the number of sites primarily characterises the latter part of the period (Early Bronze Age IB), and is accompanied by two other important phenomena: population inroads into new regions, and the first appearance of fortified sites. A profound crisis at the end of the period resulted in the almost complete abandonment of the valley sites and the concentration of settlement along the eastern foothills of Samaria.     

Trepanations from Oman: A case of diffusion?

Trepanations have been described from various locations around the world leading to a suggestion that this is a cultural practice that has widely diffused from one or two centres ( 1 ). In the UAE the earliest trepanations date to the Neolithic, significantly earlier than trepanations in surrounding areas. The discovery of at least two crania in Oman, dating apparently to the early third millennium and resembling in technique and placement trepanations from north India may be evidence of the diffusion of a therapeutic practice from the Gulf to the subcontinent. However, the lack of any trepanation among the numerous contemporary skeletons from Bahrain suggests that any diffusion has distinct limits and that, as anthropological work from the South Pacific ( 2 ) indicates, practices like trepanation are often heavily embedded in broader, culturally located explanatory models.     

大嘴子第三期文化聚落遗址研究

本文在《大嘴子》考古报告的基础上,对大嘴子第三期文化的聚落遗址进行了综合研究,对诸如聚落形态、陶器变化、文化去向、社会性质以及族属研究等方面进行了初步探索。     

In the beginning: Marhashi and the origins of Magan's ceramic industry in the third millennium BC

Ceramics from the Jiroft plain in southeastern Iran are compared with material of Umm an-Nar-type dating to the mid- and late third millennium BC in the Oman Peninsula. Technological and stylistic comparisons suggest the strong possibility that potters from the Iranian side of the Straits of Hormuz may have been the instigators of Magan's earliest ceramic industry.     

Defining the Early Bronze Age landscape: a remote sensing‐based analysis of Hafit tomb distribution in Wadi Andam,Sultanate of Oman

High‐resolution, freely available Google Earth software was successfully utilised in a remote‐sensing survey to locate and map thousands of Hafit tombs in a study area centring on Wadi Andam in the Sultanate of Oman. This dataset was refined for reliability with ground‐based fieldwork, and was analysed in the landscape using GIS software. The tombs are not randomly distributed across the study area; rather, the hydrology of the area appears to have been a dominant determining factor in the location of the graves. The structures were constructed in elevated, highly visible locations, possibly in an attempt to mark ownership of the landscape. The distribution of Hafit tombs is likely to provide some insight into the utilisation of the landscape in this period, with the evidence from Wadi Andam tentatively suggesting the presence of a nomadic pastoralist population. The development of this rapid, accurate and cost‐effective methodology has the potential to greatly facilitate the survey and analysis of Hafit tombs across the Oman peninsula.     

Empire as network: Spheres of material interaction in Late Bronze Age Anatolia

Hegemonic dominance relationships and the limited intentional material expressions of imperial power they usually encompass pose an interesting and well-known problem for the archaeology of early empires. One way of approaching domination in the archaeological record is through the synthetic analysis of different modes of imperial-local interaction at overlapping socio-political levels and spheres of culture. In this paper, four material culture categories are considered with the aim of characterizing Hittite imperial relationships in Late Bronze Age Anatolia and northern Syria. They include pottery traditions and their degree of susceptibility for central influence, diachronic settlement developments, the distribution of imperial administrative technology, and an ideological discourse carried out through landscape monuments. From the spatial and chronological signatures of these overlapping networks of interaction, a more nuanced understanding of the process of empire is beginning to emerge.     

Late Iron Age transculturalism in the northern “periphery”: understanding the long-term prehistoric occupational area of Viinivaara E,Finland

The Late Iron Age of northern Finland is often approached through an ethnic perspective. Archaeological sites are defined as local or foreign and, accordingly, linked to either Sámi or non-Sámi groups. In recent decades, the concept of transculturalism and mixing of cultural traits has been discussed by several researchers, and their work has shown that such categorizations can be questioned. Correspondingly, certain sites and artifacts found in the northern parts of Finland seem to relate to interactions and contacts instead of ethnic backgrounds. One such site was excavated at Viinivaara E in 2013 and 2014. Based on the fieldwork, the site can be linked to encounters and cultural exchange between local groups and visitors. The entangled nature of the site is understood by taking into consideration its location and landscape, but also by examining the archaeological and historical conception of Late Iron Age northern Finland in general. Further, transcultural dynamics present at the site are also tied to social development on a broader temporal and spatial scale.     

The Bronze Age landscape of the Bjäre peninsula,southern Sweden,and its relationship to burial mounds

Palaeoecological analyses from a small fen deposit, combined with pollen analysis from buried soil profiles under prehistoric burial mounds, have been used to investigate the timing and vegetation change associated with the Holocene development of a cultural landscape in southern Sweden. Traditional pollen analysis is complemented with plant macrofossil analysis and soil pollen analysis from within and in close proximity to the burial mounds in the coastal Bjäre peninsula, well known for its high density of well-preserved Bronze Age monuments. The vegetation development is linked to the construction of the burial mounds. A marked increase of cultural impact on the landscape is recorded during the Neolithic–Bronze Age transition and estimates of landscape openness suggest that by the onset of the Bronze Age, forest cover was only 20–40%, falling to 10% in the immediate vicinity of the burial mounds themselves. The coastal strip appears to have been affected by human activity to a greater extent and at an earlier date than sites from further inland in southern Sweden and the Bronze Age burial mounds were most likely designed to be visible in a largely deforested landscape.     

European Regional Studies: A Coming of Age?

This article reviews current developments in European regional studies. A brief history of settlement archaeology as practiced in Europe is followed by a discussion of new approaches to regional analysis and surface survey. I argue that recent, steady investments in the technology, methods, and theory of regional archaeological analysis and surface survey have stimulated advances in the study of settlement patterns and settlement pattern change through time in many parts of Europe. When innovative technologies (e.g., remote sensing, GPS, GIS), methods (e.g., geoarchaeology, “siteless” survey), and new theoretical frameworks (both processual and postprocessual) have been combined, breakthroughs in our understanding of European settlement have resulted. In the last half of the article, I describe some of these breakthroughs in a broad discussion of European settlement history, beginning with the earliest prehistory of Europe through the Middle Ages. Shifts in perspective are particularly apparent for phases of transition: from the Middle to Upper Paleolithic, Paleolithic to Mesolithic to Neolithic, and with the rise and expansion of states.     

Nami's Middle Bronze Age Suburb: The Coastal Settlement at Site 104–106

This study presents a late 19th to early 18th cent. BCE, MBIIA settlement in the immediate vicinity of Tel Nami on the Carmel Coast of Israel. Site 104–106 has been all but destroyed by modern agricultural activity as well as quarrying, but a large number of ceramics and small finds were salvaged during a 1985–6 survey of Tel Nami?'s hinterland as well as subsequent geoarchaeological research of the area. Little of the site remains, and the current study functionally amounts to a salvage project for an MBIIA coastal site, which was mentioned in an earlier survey. Geomorphology reveals how the sandstone kurkar ridges in this area of the coast governed the dynamic relationship between Tel Nami and its hinterland. Comparable ceramic chronology for Site 104–106 presented derives from Aphek-Antipatris, Megiddo, Kabri, Tel Ifshar, Tel Nami itself, and other MBIIA coastal sites of the Southern Levant. The ceramics include well-produced local wares as well as imports from coastal Lebanon, Syria, and Cyprus confirmed by petrographic analyses. Finds suggest a small agro-industrial site in the immediate periphery of the coastal Tel Nami.