Buccino: The Early Bronze Age Village of Tufariello

Abstract

The excavation of the Early Bronze Age village at Tufariello (Buccinno) in southern Italy represents a major archaeological advance in a little-known period of Italian prehistory in this region. The emphasis of the following report is in the integration of archaeological material, especially the statistical study of abundant pottery material from three distinct stratigraphic phases of the site, and the discussion of the unexpected rectangularly planned buildings of the site, with reports on evidence of flora and fauna. The result is the first synthetic view of the life of a southern Italian community of the end of the third millennium B.C.

The excavation has been the most recent phase of the exploration of this area undertaken since 1968 by Brown University in collaboration with the Superintendency of Antiquities of Salerno. This report is made up of the following sections.

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Introduction and Stratigraphy by R. Ross Holloway</list-item><list-item>

Architecture by Ned P. Nabers</list-item><list-item>

Pottery by Susan Snow Lukesh</list-item><list-item>

Stock Economy by Graeme Barker</list-item><list-item>

Stone and Bone Objects by Nicholas B. Hartmann</list-item><list-item>

Pottery Manufacture by Ethel R. Eaton</list-item><list-item>

Metal Tools by Hugh McKerrell and Ethel R. Eaton</list-item><list-item>

Vegetal Remains by William LaCroix Phippen</list-item><list-item>

Preliminary Geological Note by Giuseppe Leuci</list-item></list>     

The Early Bronze Age at Tel Nagila

The excavations of R. Amiran and A. Eitan at the site of Tel Nagila are best known for the Middle Bronze Age remains exposed at the site. Yet Early Bronze remains were sporadically excavated in restricted locations where the excavators deepened their investigations below Middle Bronze strata. As such, a study of the albeit limited EB remains furnishes us with an opportunity to provide a more complete settlement history of the site, as well as a limited view of ceramic tradition that was common at the site. The following paper will present the stratigraphic and ceramic information available, and suggests a rather early date within Early Bronze III of the remains, as well as evidence for Early Bronze Age I occupation of the site.     

Al-Ghoryeen: An Early Bronze Age settlement in central Oman peninsula

Al-Ghoryeen, located 95 km southwest of Muscat, is a unique settlement dating to the Umm an-Nar period and is built upon a Late Hafit period settlement. It was found in 2004 and excavation began in 2018. Preliminary analysis of the results revealed two major occupation phases with an occupational gap in between. A change occurred between the earlier and later phases of the settlement system reflected mainly in the difference in building sizes and plan. We excavated either partially or completely a stone round tower and more than 10 domestic structures. The distribution of the architectural features including the round tower, domestic structures and burials showed some kind of organised settlement structure. The Hafit period settlement was tested in two trenches where ¹⁴C analysis dated the earliest occupation to the late Hafit period.     

Reconstructing Cycladic Prehistory: Naxos in the Early and Middle Late Bronze Age

The lack of published deposits from Cycladic settlement contexts has been a serious setback to our knowledge of Cycladic prehistory, as it has led to inflexible 'pan-Aegean' models of cultural history, imposed on the islands without consideration of local particularities and regional variations. Naxos, the largest and most central of the Cyclades, is a prime example of an important island, whose cultural history, especially in the early and middle Late Bronze Age (roughly from the sixteenth to the thirteenth centuries BC), is not well known. In the present article the author reconstructs the stratigraphic and chronological sequence of the island's only excavated settlement at Grotta, examines the development of settlement pattern on Naxos, and attempts to assess the position of the island in the Aegean during the periods in question. It is suggested that the fluctuations in the number of settlements and the changes in settlement pattern of the island could be tied to the degree of integration of the island into the Minoan and Mycenaean exchange networks. In periods of limited integration (LC I/II and LH IIIB) the settlement pattern consists of one or two important centers (Mikre Vigla and/or Grotta) and a number of small settlements dispersed in the interior of the island. In periods of advanced integration (LH IIIA1-IIIA2), a process of nucleation takes place, in which small settlements are abandoned, Mikre Vigla declines, and Grotta is established as the only settlement of the island.     

青铜器与青铜时代

青铜是指红铜（纯铜）与锡或铅等元素的合金,因表面色泽黄中泛白,略显青色而得名。青铜的熔点比红铜低,而硬度却比红铜高,所以具有较强的可塑性与较高的耐用性,适合于铸造各种器具。     

Physical activity and social status in Early Bronze Age society: The Mokrin necropolis

This paper investigates the social structure of an Early Bronze Age society whose members were buried at the necropolis of Mokrin (Serbia, Southeastern Europe), by comparative analysis of musculo-skeletal markers (MSM) of activity and social status as induced on the basis of grave contents. The main objective of the analysis is to determine whether quantitative and qualitative differences in activity are related to social status. Besides using an overall measure of activity, we attempted to isolate different qualitative aspects (facets) of activity through factor analysis of MSM scores. No correlation between social status and overall labor intensity was found. However, there are clues that social status and a single facet of activity are related. Positive correlation between vertical status and the intensity of use of upper arm and shoulder muscles was found among male individuals, while negative correlation between the aforementioned variables was found among the females. The general conclusion based on the results of this study is that there is no simple correlation between the overall labor intensity and social status.     

Mobility in Central European Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age: tibial cross-sectional geometry

An absence of settlement features during the Central European Corded Ware period (Late Eneolithic, 2900–2300 BC) has been interpreted as a reflection of mobile pastoral subsistence. Recent analyses of the Late Eneolithic archeological context reveal that the Late Eneolithic exhibit evidence of sedentary agricultural activities similar to the Early Bronze Age. Since the archeological analyses are not clear cut, we tested mobility pattern differences between the Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age using biomechanical analysis of the tibial midshaft cross-sections. The total sample of the 130 tibiae representing five archaeological cultures was used. The results of the tibial midshaft geometry do not support the hypothesis about different mobility in the Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age. This conclusion is supported by nonsignificant differences between the Corded Ware females and the Early Bronze Age females. Higher absolute values for the Corded Ware males should be explained either by stochastic variation or by differing amounts of physical demands despite a generally similar pattern of subsistence of the Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age. One of the Early Bronze Age samples, the Wieselburger group, is an exception because the individuals show both reduced overall size and bending resistance of the tibial parameters not only in comparison with the Late Eneolithic but also to the rest of the Early Bronze Age. The results suggest that the behavioral processes which affected the tibial midshaft biology operated during the Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age as a mosaic across time and between/within cultures.     

河南龙山时代和早期青铜时代考古六十年

河南位于中原腹地,在龙山时代和早期青铜时代,河南的龙山文化和二里头文化在中华文明起源与发展进程中,对以中原为中心的趋势的形成和夏王朝的建立,起着举足轻重的作用。对新中国成立60年来,河南的龙山文化和二里头文化的考古发现和研究成果的回顾和总结,将有利于我们对中华文明形成的机制、动力和规律等问题作持续的新的探索。     

Long distance trinket trade: Early Bronze Age obsidian from the Negev

The discovery of three small obsidian flakes at the Camel Site in the central Negev, Israel, constitutes the first discovery of obsidian in Early Bronze Age contexts in the Negev and Sinai. Obsidian hydration analysis and X-ray microprobe analysis confirm the association of the artifacts with the site and the period, and indicate origins in Eastern Anatolia, in significant contrast to the exclusively Central Anatolian source of Southern PPNB obsidian. The structure of the obsidian trade system in the Early Bronze Age seems to contrast significantly with its Neolithic predecessor, and may be related to a system of pastoral nomadic exchange.     

The Organisation and Practice of Metal Smithing in Later Bronze Age Europe

Journal of World Prehistory - During the later Bronze Age in Europe (c. 1500–800 BC), the archaeological visibility of the production and consumption of bronze increases substantially. Yet...     

An Early Bronze Age Logboat from Degersee, Southern Germany

In 2004 the remains of a logboat were discovered in Degersee, a small lake near Lake Constance, southern Germany. Dating to the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, it is an important find from a period with scarce archaeological evidence and only a few previously-known logboats. The vessel was situated in lake sediment and documented in situ . Our investigations can be linked to palaeo-environmental studies carried out at Degersee and adjacent lakes, and to palaeo-climatic research in the northern Alpine region. After investigation by underwater archaeologists the boat was moved to a sheltered place in deeper water.
© 2008 The Author     

The existence of archery in Early Bronze Age southern Levant warfare: a note

The Early Bronze Age was a time of major changes in southern Levantine regions. The spread of urbanisation in the course of the third millennium BC was accompanied by various socio-political transformations, tensions and also violent encounters, even if the evidence for the latter is hard to detect in the archaeological record. The almost complete absence of arrowheads from settlements and tombs in the southern Levant from this period has led to the assumption that combat archery was not employed during the Early Bronze Age.

This paper challenges this orthodoxy using evidence from the southern Levant and beyond, and it concludes that archery was employed in combat activities during the Early Bronze Age, albeit on a small scale that was determined by military considerations.     

The Placing of Early Bronze Age Metalwork Deposits: New Evidence from Scotland

This paper considers the earliest metalwork hoards in Scotland, most of which have been found at conspicuous points in the landscape. The treatment of individual objects suggests that they had been carefully selected before they were deposited. Fieldwork, combined with computer reconstruction, shows that half the collections with adequate provenances come from places with direct views of the rising and setting sun at the solstices. The main emphasis seems to have been on midwinter.     

Panlongcheng,Zhengzhou and the Movement of Metal in Early Bronze Age China

Journal of World Prehistory - The role of Panlongcheng—a walled settlement on the Yangtze River with obvious links to the Erligang capital at Zhengzhou, ~?500&nbsp;km to the...