The Line,the Void and the Current: Iron Age Art from a Design Theory Perspective

Objects from the European Iron Age decorated with swirls and scrolls, faces and figures, and generally referred to as Early Celtic Art, can offer deep insight into later prehistoric notions of creativity. By drawing on archaeology and social anthropology, art and architectural design, this theoretical discourse investigates the design processes involved in the creation of Early Celtic Art. Rather than attempting to decipher a meaning behind decoration, this enquiry uses architectural ‘Design Theory’ to explore the implications of certain design choices. It starts with the premise that these designs are integral to the objects in order to identify different layers of complexity, innovation and emulation, and ends with wider reflections on who was creative and how. This approach, borrowed from architectural analysis, aims to open a new line of enquiry into the fascinating world of Iron Age creativity.     

Iron Age tin bronze metallurgy at Marlik,Northern Iran: an analytical investigation

The archaeological excavations performed in 1961 and 1962 at the necropolis of Marlik (Gilan District, northern Iran) revealed important archaeological remains dating to Iron Age I and II periods (late second/early first millennium BCE). While the metal collection from Marlik includes various gold, silver and bronze objects and is considered one of the most significant finds of metal objects from the prehistoric Iran, the technological investigations discussed in this paper provide information on tin bronze objects only from Marlik. Both the composition and the microstructure of 25 copper alloy objects have been determined in order to achieve a better understanding of the metallurgical processes used in northern Iran from the second to the first millennium BCE. Experimental analyses were carried out using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and optical microscopy. The results demonstrated that the copper-base objects were made of the binary copper–tin alloy with variable tin contents. Other elements such as As, Ni, Pb, Zn and Sb were detected in minor/trace amounts. Variable tin content may be due to the application of an uncontrolled procedure to produce bronze alloy (e.g. co-smelting or cementation). Microscopic observations and microanalyses revealed the presence of numerous copper sulphide inclusions, lead globules and intermetallic phases scattered in the bronze solid solution. The microstructures seen in the bronze objects under study were varied and included worked/annealed or dendritic grain structures.     

Claudia Abatino: Exploitation and Management of Animal Resources During the Middle Iron Age,Northern Limpopo Province,South Africa

African Archaeological Review -     

Fishing: Evidence for Seasonality and Processing of Fish for Preservation in the Northern Isles of Scotland During the Iron Age and Norse Times

Abstract

Evidence from fish remains recovered from two sites in the Northern Isles of Scotland is compared to modern data on fish ecology and ethnographic evidence to assess seasonality in terms of resource availability and its implications for economic activities.     

Sheep wool in Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe

This study presents the results of a series of wool measurements from Bronze Age and Iron Age skins and textiles from Hallstatt, and Bronze Age textiles from Scandinavia and the Balkans. A new method of classification that was set up and applied on mostly mineralised Iron Age material has now been applied to a large body of non-mineralised material from the Bronze and Iron Ages. Three types of microscopes were used and their advantages and disadvantages assessed. The results of the investigation cast new light on sheep breeding and fibre processing in prehistoric Europe, and suggest that different sheep breeds existed in Bronze Age Europe.     

Valorising the Samad Late Iron Age

The Late Iron Age (LIA) in Central Oman is known from the eponymous site of Samad al‐Shān as well as al‐Moyassar (formerly al‐Maysar), which teams from Bochum and Heidelberg investigated from 1977 to 1996 in twelve campaigns. The chronology of this little known period has evoked much controversy but although this contribution contains critical comments, these regard mostly smaller issues or details and there is a general unspoken agreement about the basic chronological issues. The present study adds both new and old unpublished documentation to the discussion. What follows includes a re‐examination of the original documentation of M42 and M43 sites which confirms the excavators' chronology. New LIA sites are added. M. Mouton's attempted deconstruction of the existing chronology and his new combined definition of the PIR and Samad LIA assemblages rest on slight inconsistencies in the original al‐Moyassar site report of 1981. Despite the spotty nature of our sources, Oman's latest prehistoric facies shows a distinctive character separate from that known principally in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).     

Iron Age people of Norway

‘Iron Age People in Norway’ is an interdisciplinary research project. The source material consists of archaeological finds of graves containing human skeletal remains. Archaeological and physical anthropological methods and data will be combined in analyses of the people, their living conditions, aspects of social organization and questions about ethnic groups, using a specially developed computer registration system and database structure. The in‐depth analyses concentrate on the five northernmost counties in Norway, while the catalogue covers the whole country.     

Beyond Elites: Reassessing Irish Iron Age Society

The past two decades have seen an expansion of archaeological activity on the island of Ireland that has transformed our knowledge and understanding of most periods in Irish prehistory and history. However, Iron Age sites and artefacts remain rare finds and are often ephemeral, particularly in the case of settlements. It is now clear that the peculiarly sparse record of the Irish Iron Age is genuinely representative of the surviving archaeology. It is also clear that this evidence does not fit the traditional ‘Celtic’ picture of warrior elites, druids and tribal hierarchies imported from other regions and later insular texts. This paper proposes an alternative model for the Irish Iron Age of the first millennium BC, one that centres on nomadism and heterarchy.     

Feminist Perspectives on the Internationalization of The State

Abstract: The state is often described in transition: public spaces are rearranged by private companies, national social welfare is being privatized to some extent, and supranational institutions have more influence on national policies. “A view from the kitchen” (Diane Elson) is helpful for understanding the changing dynamics of states and societies because different women are affected by these policies in different and often ambiguous ways: women of the globalized South migrate to the North, creating global care chains, while women in Western industrialized countries are confronted with changing welfare regimes, leaving mainly highly educated women to profit from this situation. This article contributes to feminist debates on economic globalization and state internationalization. Our feminist materialist perspective allows a critical view on dominance and power in “governance”. Thus, the article adds to feminist debates on globalization from the perspective of state transformation and to debates on governance from the perspective of state transformation grounded in gendered social relations.     

Mythological Themes in Iranian Culture and Art: Traditional and Contemporary Perspectives

In Iran, ancient mythical elements are very much alive in the present as a part of the fabric of ordinary people's lives and worldview. This paper explores the relationship between culture, myth, and artistic production in contemporary Iran, using the specific examples of symbols and mythological themes evoked in the work of painter/writer Aydin Aghdashloo and photographer/video artist Shirin Neshat. The paintings of Aghdashloo, in which he deliberately damages beautifully-executed classical style Persian miniatures, convey a sense that the angelic forces have failed and that the world is succumbing to the destructive and degenerative activities of the demonic. The photographs, videos and installations of Neshat likewise draw heavily on cultic forms inherited from ancient Iranian tradition. It is important to note that in none of these cases does the artist use mythological themes and symbols to express their original cultural meaning; rather, they appropriate well-known elements of ancient Iranian culture and imbue them with new meanings relevant to contemporary issues and understandings. What these examples do illustrate is the persistent resonance of ancient Iranian culture among Iranians up to the present day. Iranian artists have demonstrated the effectiveness of evoking their target audience's deep sense of cultural identity to convey contemporary messages using ancient cultural concepts, sometimes on a subconscious level.     

The Isle of Portland: An Iron Age Port-of-trade

The Isle of Portland (Dorset, England) was part of a trading system that involved the circulation of goods in and across the English Channel during the first century BC. This paper assesses the suitability of Portland as an Iron Age port-of-trade, focuses on the exotics found there and discusses evidence for its hill-fort, which was destroyed in the middle of the nineteenth century     

The Chronology of the Southeast Arabian Iron Age

Drawing on the results of the Australian Archaeological Expedition's excavation of Tell Abraq, a three-fold division of the southeast Arabian Iron Age is suggested. A re-analysis of ¹⁴C data in line with the latest agreed calibration curve together with an analysis of the foreign parallels of southeast Arabian Iron Age pottery permits the construction of a complete Iron Age sequence. The results argue for a lower chronology for the Iron II and III periods than has, up until now, been suggested.