The production of speiss (iron arsenide) during the Early Bronze Age in Iran

In this paper, analyses of some unusual slag samples from the prehistoric site of Tepe Hissar in northeastern Iran are presented. These slags are the remains of a five-thousand-year-old pyrotechnological process that produced speiss, a quasi-metallic material usually formed as an accidental by-product of copper or lead smelting. We argue that the “speiss slags” from Tepe Hissar suggest the intentional production of iron–arsenic alloy (“speiss”) in prehistory. Why the Tepe Hissar metalworkers produced speiss is a question that requires further investigation, but our preliminary assessment suggests that it was to provide arsenic as an alloying component for arsenical copper, the preferred copper alloy during much of the Early Bronze Age in Iran, and widely used across the ancient world. This recognition significantly advances our understanding of the early stages of metallurgy in the Old World.     

Variety in cereal cultivation in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages in relation to environmental conditions

The objective of this paper is to assess the relationship between the cereals cultivated in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages (ca. 1250–400 BC) within the area of the present-day Czech Republic, and their environmental settings. The various charred caryopses of cereal species represented in the archaeobotanical assemblages from 35 archaeological sites differ, especially in the proportion of wheat and barley. The cereal assemblages were compared regarding site altitude, weather conditions, soils and soil productivity. The most important environmental variable influencing the choice of a particular crop seemed to be altitude which is correlated with other variables such as the length of growing season, mean annual temperature, soil quality etc. Although the ecological requirements of cereals cultivated in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages are not known, they presumably thrived under similar conditions to present-day species/varieties, and the strategy of past crop husbandry was based on similar principles as today, e.g. flexible adaptation to local environmental conditions, in an effort to achieve optimal yields and reduce the danger of crop failure.     

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。     

Large scale smelting of speiss and arsenical copper at Early Bronze Age Arisman,Iran

We report analyses of different slag types found at the Early Bronze Age site of Arisman in North-West Iran. Here, an estimated 20 tons of slag provide evidence of sustained and large-scale production of metal, using both furnaces and crucibles. The results show that both speiss, an iron-arsenic alloy, and arsenical copper were produced, apparently side-by-side at the same site but using different ores and processes. We offer a tentative outline of the metallurgical processes involved in the production of these arsenic alloys and an explanation why speiss needed to be produced from arsenopyrite in a separate step, instead of using the mineral in its native form as a source for arsenic. We suggest that the speiss was then added either to secondary copper ore or to separately smelted copper metal, in order finally to produce arsenical copper in a regular and well-controlled process.     

Inferences from the human skeletal material of the Early Iron Age cemetery at Agios Dimitrios,Fthiotis, Central Greece

The Geometric cemetery of Agios Dimitrios (850–740 B.C.) yielded a human osteological sample, with an MNI of 51 and equal numbers of males and females and adults and subadults. This site is of significant archaeological importance, as it provides information on human health status, diet, and activity patterns as well as mortuary behavior for a little studied time period. The results, including a) stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic data suggesting a C₃ low-protein plant diet, b) relatively high infant mortality, c) low stature estimates, d) significant prevalence of possible anemic conditions, and e) high dental infection and loss rates, all point to a rapidly increasing, stressed, and relatively malnourished population which did not exploit nearby marine resources, experienced suboptimal living conditions, and could not reach its biological potential. Furthermore, the study of this group provides evidence of equal burial treatment of all age and sex categories, no dietary differences in terms of sex and status, and no sex differentiation in pathological conditions.     

Funerary practices and kinship in an Early Bronze Age society: a Bayesian approach applied to the radiocarbon dating of Argaric double tombs

The main aim of this paper is to test the hypothesis on kinship relations (affinity/marriage vs descent/consanguinity, and matrilocality) expressed in the funerary record of the El Argar Bronze Age society (South-east Iberia, 2200–1550 cal BCE), taking into account the absolute chronological dimension of double adult tombs. A set of 23 double tombs having radiocarbon dates for both skeletons were selected, and radiocarbon calibration and Bayesian probability analysis was conducted. The results support the ‘descent’ hypothesis, since for most of the cases the chronological distance between individuals buried together was larger than two decades. Finally, several guidelines for future research are suggested in order to overcome shortages in current chronological and archaeological data.     

Sediments exposed to high temperatures: reconstructing pyrotechnological processes in Late Bronze and Iron Age Strata at Tel Dor (Israel)

Many of the sediments analysed from Tel Dor (Israel) show structural alterations indicating that they were exposed to high temperatures. This observation is consistent with the abundant evidence for use of pyrotechnology from the earliest exposed Middle Bronze Age strata through the Roman period. Such structurally altered sediments may well represent one of the more widespread and durable records of pyrotechnology, and as such could be invaluable for reconstructing past human activities. The specific aims of this research are therefore to develop the means for identifying local sediments that were altered by different pyrotechnological activities and to elucidate the varying circumstances whereby sediments were exposed to high temperatures in a Late Bronze and Iron Age 1 section.     

Massive storage in As Laias/O Castelo (Ourense,NW Spain) from the Late Bronze Age/Iron Age transition to the Roman period: a palaeoethnobotanical approach

The highest platforms of As Laias, a settlement located in northwest Iberia, were used for storage during the Iron Age and until the turn of the Era. In this time-span, the whole hilltop – the croa – was a walled enclosure mostly used for storage and due to recurrent fires affecting the settlement's terraces, abundant plant remains were preserved in overlying wattle and daub storage structures.     

Kozlov Mys-2 Burial Ground and Issues of Chronology for the Early to Late Iron Age Transition in the Trans-Ural Region

This article addresses issues of dating and the duration of the transition from the Early to the Late Iron Age using findings from Kozlov Mys-2 burial ground in the subtaiga Tobol region and sites attributable to the final stage of the Sargat culture. Absolute dates suggest that intermediate sites existed in the forest steppe and subtaiga areas east of the Urals in the first half of the 4th century AD.     

Towards the identification of dyestuffs in Early Iron Age Scandinavian peat bog textiles

A large systematic dye investigation of prehistoric Danish and Norwegian bog textiles was carried out using high performance liquid chromatography with photo diode array detection. After the selection of the most suitable protocol for dye extraction and HPLC analysis for this specific group of archaeological samples, the second part included the characterisation of the dyes detected in the whole series of the Early Iron Age textiles and the interpretation of the dyeing technology. Natural organic dyes were found from the three main categories of natural dyes, hence throwing new light on the use of biological dye sources in Early Iron Age Scandinavia. The results clearly indicate that most Scandinavian peat bog textiles originally were dyed and that already during the 1st millennium BC, the populations in Scandinavia were familiar with the dyeing technology.     

Subsistence and the isotopic signature of herding in the Bronze Age Hexi Corridor,NW Gansu,China

Dietary patterns at two Bronze Age sites in the Hexi Corridor are investigated by the analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in faunal bone collagen. The findings are compared with archaeobotanical remains from one of the sites which include high proportions of millet (Panicum miliaceum and Setaria italica) as well as the western derived cereals wheat (Triticum aestivum), barley (Hordeum vulgare) and oat (Avena sativa). The isotopic data indicate domestic omnivores (Canis and Sus) had diets dominated by millet. Minimally offset δ¹⁵N values between herbivore and omnivore fauna suggest low consumption of animal protein by omnivores. Diets of herded animal (Bos and Caprinae) included only low proportions of C4 foods, suggesting that these animals were not regularly foddered with millet plants, and that their grazing areas were mostly beyond the agricultural zone. The wide range in δ¹⁵N values amongst herbivore fauna (4.1‰–11.8‰) suggests grazing occurred in a variety of ecological zones, and this would be consistent with the occurrence of long-distance transport of livestock in the region.     

Elite Strategies and the Spread of Technological Innovation: The Spread of Iron in the Bronze Age Societies of Denmark and Southern Korea

I look at the process and speed of innovation spread, examining the economic aspects from the perspective of those who adopt the innovation. Defining innovation adoption as an investment which requires initial cost and risks, I argue that at the time of introduction of a new technology that is expected to have socioeconomic importance, elites of adopting societies try to avoid the initial cost and risks of adoption, actively intervening in the process of its spread. Thus, it is crucial to analyze the strategies and needs of elites, which strongly influence the speed of spread. One of these strategies is to change innovation's role by locating the innovation in a different realm of economy. Comparing the spread of iron technology in the Danish and southern Korean Bronze Ages, I demonstrate that differences in what elites needed to obtain through iron technology in different contexts critically affected the speed and process of iron spread into the two regions.     

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.