ABSOLUTE DATING OF THE AEGEAN LATE BRONZE AGE

A recent argument for raising the absolute date of the beginning of the Aegean Late Bronze (LB) Age to about 1700 B.C. is critically examined. It is argued here that: (1) the alabaster lid from Knossos did have the strati-graphical context assigned to it by Evans, in all probability Middle Minoan IIIA, c. 1650 B.C.; (2) the attempt to date the alabastron found in an early Eighteenth Dynasty context at Aniba to Late Minoan IIIA:1 is open to objections; (3) radiocarbon dates from Aegean LB I contexts are too wide in their calibrated ranges and too inconsistent both within and between site sets to offer any reliable grounds at present for raising Aegean LB I absolute chronology to 1700 B.C. Other evidence, however, suggests this period began about 1600 B.C., i.e. some fifty years earlier than the conventional date of 1550 B.C.     

DATING THE AEGEAN LATE BRONZE AGE WITH RADIOCARBON: ADDENDUM

Additional comment on the new high-precision calibration curves and tables published after this article (Archaeometry 29 (1), 1987, 45–49) was in press.     

DATING THE BRONZE AGE IN SPAIN

Summary. How can archaeologists combine and use C14 determinations when they have irregular recalibrated dates? This question is solved by an example with six determinations from the Bronze Age settlement of El Castillo in the mountains of eastern Spain. For the first time we can date precisely the end of the Eneolithic to 2150–2110 BC, and the start of a Bronze Age expansion stage by 1960 BC. Each has a distinctive material culture; that of the Bronze Age stage is linked closely to the climax of the Motillas in La Mancha, and more distantly to El Argar in SE Spain.     

RESEARCH NOTES AND APPLICATION REPORTS DATING THE AEGEAN LATE BRONZE AGE WITH RADIOCARBON*

The beginning of the Late Bronze Age in the Aegean has usually been thought to coincide with the start of the Eighteenth Dynasty in Egypt, and radiocarbon dates (which consistently suggest an earlier chronology) have been rejected by Aegean specialists because they do not agree with this view. Evidence from pottery is used to re-examine the links between the Aegean and Egypt, with the conclusion that the Aegean Late Bronze Age began during the Hyksos period.     

COUNTING THREADS. SAFFRON IN AEGEAN BRONZE AGE WRITING AND SOCIETY

The ideogram for saffron has long been recognized on the Linear B tablets from Knossos. Close examination of this corpus allows a distinction in content to be made between the LM II–LM IIIA1 tablets of the Room of the Chariot Tablets and the later LM IIIA1–2 tablets from the North Entrance Passage. It is suggested here that the later material demonstrates an increasing control over saffron production by the palace, with a greater overall quantity of the spice recorded, larger individual contributions, potential supervisors in charge of collection, and pressure to reach targets. This increase in organization coincides with a dramatic decrease in crocus imagery in other media, and may indicate a deliberate Mycenaean rejection of the symbolic world of Minoan floral iconography, and an interest only in the commercial value of the precious spice. Possible antecedents of the saffron ideogram in Linear A and Cretan Hieroglyphic are also considered.     

YUGOSLAVIAN TIN DEPOSITS AND THE EARLY BRONZE AGE INDUSTRIES OF THE AEGEAN REGION

Summary. This paper provides a synopsis of those tin sources available to prehistoric communities in Europe and the Near East. Moreover, it is designed to introduce to archaeologists the recent discovery of substantial cassiterite deposits in Yugoslavia, and to discuss their potential and possible exploitation by Early Bronze Age metallurgists in the area around the Aegean.     

NEOLITHIC AND BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENT ON THE BURIED FLOODPLAINS OF RUNNYMEDE

In reviewing the evidence from excavations at Runnymede Bridge this paper illustrates the potential of floodplains as archaeological resourceS. The topographic development of the local floodplain is outlined in relation to Flandrian sea level changes in the Thames estuary. Consideration is given to the role of the Middle Neolithic and Late Bronze Age occupations and the influence of physiographical and hydrological factors.     

THE OLIVE IN THE PREHISTORIC AEGEAN: THE EVIDENCE FOR DOMESTICATION IN THE EARLY BRONZE AGE

Summary. In 1972 Colin Renfrew suggested that the rise of Mycenaean civilization may have been made possible by the development of a polycultural triad of wheat, vine and olive in the Early Bronze Age. A careful examination of the botanical and archaeological evidence for the domestication of the olive lends little support to this aspect of the thesis. The palynological evidence from various points in Greece is inconclusive, but for most areas it would seem to suggest that the intensive cultivation of olive began in the Late Bronze Age or even later.
No conclusive archaeological evidence for processing or storage of olive oil exists for any period in the Bronze Age. The question of when olive domestication took place must remain unanswered until more data are available from Early and Middle Bronze Age contexts and more conclusive botanical data have been collected.     

CALCAREOUS MICROFOSSILS IN BRONZE AGE AEGEAN CERAMICS: ILLUMINATING TECHNOLOGY AND PROVENANCE*

The calcareous skeletal remains of various microscopic organisms such as foraminifera and ostracods are a striking feature of thin sections of many archaeological ceramics from the Aegean Bronze Age. While the presence of these calcareous microfossils in pottery has been noted for some time, attempts to utilize them to further the aims of ceramic compositional analysis have been few in number. In the following paper, we take a first detailed look at the occurrence and utility of calcareous microfossils in archaeological ceramics. By presenting selected case studies from the Bronze Age of Crete, we demonstrate the potential of calcareous microfossils, especially the extremely small ‘nannofossils’ and the highly contextual geological information that they contain, in terms of the characterization and grouping of ceramics, the determination of their provenance and the reconstruction of ancient technology.     

辽西地区新石器-青铜时代耕作业的兴衰与环境变化的关系

本通过分析辽西地区新石器时代至青铜时代考古化特征和耕作业的兴衰与环境变化的关系,揭示了该地区新石器时期以来化发展受耕作业的兴衰影响出现了多次倒退的现象。并认为环境条件特别是气候条件是影响辽西地区早期化发展的本质因素。气候温暖期,定居的农业化昌盛;气候寒冷期,农业经济解体,只能维持低水平的简单畜牧经济。造成新石器时代-青铜时代本区耕作业衰落和化倒退的直接原因是5000aB．P．-4000aB．P．降温事件及铁器冷期寒冷气候的作用。环境因素的剧烈波动过程,阻碍了本区化与生产经济形态的正常演进与发展。     

WHEELS WITH THICKENED SPOKES, AND THE PROBLEM OF CULTURAL CONTACT BETWEEN THE AEGEAN WORLD AND EUROPE IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE

Summary. A technological advance in wheel construction, entailing spokes with thickened or strengthened ends, can be detected in Central Europe at the start of the Late Bronze Age. Spokes with thickened ends are seen in Central Europe on full-size wheels, wagon models and wheel depictions. It is argued that this technological innovation had its source in the Aegean, where wheels with thickened spokes are seen not only depicted on late Mycenaean craters but also on Linear B wheel ideograms. The second part of the article discusses a closely-related Central European group of wheel-shaped designs, characterised by forked spokes, found on pin-heads, pendants, decorated belt-sheets, phalerae and belt-hooks. As some of these designs refer to real wheels constructed with thickened or strengthened spoke ends, it is concluded that the designs really represent wheels, although the designs are often so simplified that this is not immediately apparent.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN METALWORK, COPPER SOURCES AND THE EVIDENCE FOR SETTLEMENT IN THE GREEK LATE NEOLITHIC AND EARLY BRONZE AGE

Summary. This paper discusses the evidence for copper- and bronze-working in later Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Greece and seeks to define the relationship between these industries and the copper ore sources which were potentially available. It compares the distribution of metalwork with that of contemporary settlement, and lists the occurrence of copper sources in each region. A contrast is also drawn between the later Neolithic industries, which resemble those of the Balkans, and those of EB II and III, which have essentially a Near Eastern Background. Although the same ore sources may have been used in both periods, the scope and organisation of the industries was markedly different. It is concluded that even though there were enough local and widespread copper sources to meet demand, there is no evidence that any one copper source was systematically exploited in EBA. The extent to which the Laurion copper source influenced the organisation of copper acquisition in MBA is discussed.     

THE HIGHLANDS of ABOBOREIRA (NORTH-WEST PORTUGAL): ECOLOGICAL CONDITIONS FROM MIDDLE/LATE NEOLITHIC to EARLY BRONZE AGE. EVIDENCE FROM CHARCOAL ANALYSIS

Summary: Charcoal analysis data from 15 megalithic monuments in the highlands of Serra da Aboboreira, north-west Portugal, are presented and discussed. the results, interpreted only in terms of presence/absence of taxa, give us important information concerning the vegetal cover of this area and the relationships with man, from the Middle/Late Neolithic until the Early Bronze Age.     

EARLY BRONZE AGE METAL TRADE IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN. NEW COMPOSITIONAL AND LEAD ISOTOPE EVIDENCE FROM CYPRUS

Summary.   This paper presents the results of chemical and lead isotope analyses of 17 Early and Middle Bronze Age artefacts from Cyprus. These suggest that a number of objects are of non-Cypriot copper and lead to the identification of several as imports, a new explanation for some artefact types as ingots and a discussion of the nature of deposits at the key Cypriot site of Vasilia. This in turn allows a reconsideration of the role of Cyprus in an Aegean/eastern Mediterranean metals trade in the early years of the second half of the third millennium BC and of the development of metalworking on the island.