Bronze Age Field Systems in the Thames Valley

In the last two decades excavation along the River Thames has shown the remarkable survival of Bronze Age field systems. A managed farming landscape emerged in this lowland area during the Middle Bronze Age and continued to develop until the end of the Late Bronze Age. In the latter period the field systems were divided into several regional groups in each of which there was a high status settlement and a concentration of river metalwork. They provide evidence for a predominantly pastoral economy in the Thames Valley on a scale which may have supported an increasingly hierarchical society. Settlements and field systems were abandoned during the Late Bronze Age, and by the Bronze Age–Iron Age transition new sites were largely confined to the extreme upper reaches of the Thames, an area which had been peripheral to the alliance and exchange system that had operated downstream.     

THE RIVER HAS NEVER DIVIDED US: BRONZE AGE METALWORK DEPOSITION IN WESTERN BRITAIN

The significant quantities of Bronze Age metalwork recovered from the River Thames have focused archaeological attention on the presence of metalwork from riverine locations and led to the expectation that rivers should contain metalwork. Finds from bogs and marshes have also been considered to be part of this practice of deposition in ‘wet places’. Whilst rivers and bogs can indeed be thought of as ‘wet’, this overlooks the fundamental physical and cosmological differences between these two types of wetland. This paper will consider Bronze Age metalwork finds from rivers in the west of Britain, paying particular attention to Britain's longest river, the Severn. The finds will be compared to those from bogs and marshes, and an attempt will be made to explain these differences in terms of the opposing metaphorical qualities of flowing and standing water, and the landscapes in which these wet places are located.     

The life cycle of bronze age metalwork from the Thames

The high proportion of Bronze Age metalwork found in the Thames has aroused interest for many years, but all too little is known of the circumstances in which this material was deposited. Much of it is weaponry, but there are finds of tools as well. This paper examines the material found upstream of Teddington and considers its treatment before it entered the river. A high proportion of the artefacts had been used and some of them deliberately destroyed. There are marked variations in the selection and treatment of these artefacts along different lengths of the river and in different periods of the Bronze Age, but it seems likely that the proportion of fine metalwork that was deliberately damaged before it entered the river increased sharply over time.     

Histories of deposition: creating chronologies for the Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age transition in Southern Britain

The Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age midden sites of Southern Britain are amongst the richest archaeological sites in the country. The organic accumulations contain substantial quantities of animal bone, decorated ceramics, metalwork and other objects; the often deep stratigraphy allows for changes in material culture and depositional practices, food production and consumption, and shifts in social identities, to be traced through time. The well-stratified assemblages also provide useful materials for dating the deposits. This has been problematic, however, as the majority of samples produce unhelpfully broad calibrated radiocarbon dates, due to the effects of the earlier Iron Age plateau in the calibration curve, which spans c. 800–400 BC. Interpretation has relied on current understandings of the associated pottery and metalwork, which placed most midden sites somewhere between the tenth and the seventh/mid-sixth centuries cal BC (c. 1000–600/550 cal BC), but the end-date of these traditions is particularly uncertain. This article addresses this issue by presenting the results of a new dating programme for East Chisenbury in Wiltshire, southern England. Twenty-eight radiocarbon determinations were obtained and combined with the site stratigraphy in a Bayesian chronological model. The results have transformed the chronology of the site, with the end of the occupation sequence being pulled forward some one-hundred years, to the mid-to-late fifth century cal BC. These new chronologies have significant implications for our understanding of the Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age transition and require a revision of the currently accepted chronology of post-Deverel Rimbury decorated wares in south-central England.     

On the Book of Devotions,Deposited by Cardinal Howard in the Library of the Dominican Convent at Bornheim in 1659

This paper reports the results of the excavation of an Early Bronze Age cist cemetery on the mid-Northumberland coast at Howick. The Bronze Age site was discovered during the investigation of a Mesolithic hut site, the latter having been published separately as a monograph. A total of five cists were found with only one being adult-sized, the rest presumably for infants. Due to the acidic conditions on the site, only a few fragments of a small skull were found in Cist 2. Other small finds included a small sherd of Food Vessel urn in an area of disturbance next to Cist 5, smoothed limestone cobbles and some nodules of yellow ochre. Flints were found in most of the feature fills, but these are considered to be residual as they are directly comparable to the narrow blade material found within the Mesolithic hut and its environs. The siting of Early Bronze Age cist burials in coastal locations is thought to reflect contemporary settlement on the coastal margin and its hinterland. With no Bronze Age dwelling sites known from this area, these cemeteries have an added significance as they provide indirect evidence for Bronze Age settlement on the North-East coastal plain.     

The Siege of Colchester

Archaeological excavations in advance of quarrying at Cheviot Quarry, Northumb. have produced important evidence for Neolithic, Late Bronze Age and Dark Age settlements. Neolithic pit features containing domestic midden material including broken pottery, lithics and cereal grains from two distinct parts of the quarry have provided evidence for what is interpreted as settlement and subsistence activity from the Early and Later Neolithic periods. Together with the Neolithic remains from the nearby sites at Thirlings and those recently excavated at Lanton Quarry, it provides evidence for significant, and perhaps intensive, settlement on the sand and gravel terraces of the Milfield Plain throughout the Neolithic. Indeed, these sites provide the precursors to the better known ceremonial and henge complex located nearby which probably dates to the Beaker period. Radiocarbon determinations associated with the full sequence of Neolithic pottery have been obtained from Cheviot Quarry and analysis of the residues adhering to the ceramics has provided some of the earliest evidence for dairy farming in the region, as well as information relating to other dietary and subsistence practices. Two substantial roundhouses with porches, internal hearths and pits containing domestic refuse, provide the first evidence for Late Bronze Age lowland settlement in the region. The botanical macrofossil and faunal evidence, together with the pottery residues, show clear evidence for arable and pastoral activity in a small, unenclosed farming settlement. A detailed programme of radiocarbon dating and the application of Bayesian modelling has shown that these two buildings are contemporary and date to the tenth century cal. BC. In addition to this prehistoric archaeology, three Dark Age, rectangular, post-built buildings were also discovered on the site and have been radiocarbon dated to the fifth or early sixth century cal. AD. These substantial, although heavily truncated, structures are thought to represent the homesteads of a small farming community, although the lack of material culture makes understanding their use and cultural attribution problematic. Because of their early date these buildings could have belonged to either post-Roman British inhabitants or perhaps early Anglo-Saxon mercenaries or settlers. A reconstruction of one of these buildings has been built close to the site at the nearby Maelmin Heritage Trail where it can be visited by the public.     

On Bosses of Roman Shields Found in Northumberland and Lancashire

The paper presents and analyses 46 new radiocarbon measurements undertaken at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit with the aim of critically evaluating the existing chronology for Bronze Age metalwork. Samples chosen, from both old museum collections and more recent finds, were all organics in immediate physical contact with various types of bronze object; indeed the great majority were in direct functional association. Contextual integrity was further monitored by the identification of wood species and the estimation of growth stage, which was found consistently to be modest. The scientific procedures employed allowed the generation of dates with good precision and cross-referenced through control samples to the dendrochronological master curves.

Although one of the first attempts in Europe to radiocarbon date Bronze Age metalwork systematically, the results have yielded a coherent picture which confirms the broad outline of the traditional sequence. However, calibration followed by statistical analysis does point to the need to stretch the chronology of the middle—late bronze age metalwork assemblages backwards, by varying amounts, revisions which were in part anticipated from recent dating research on the continent. Re-dating has been most dramatic for Wilburton metalwork, the dating of which had not been shifted since 1979. For clarity the newly proposed chronology is pegged to a series of single dates each marking the fulcrum of a transition between assemblages. While the current data set suggests that assemblage overlaps were not prolonged, more data will be needed if durations are to be estimated better. The existing results do, however, already show the potential for establishing more subtle trends in the development of Bronze Age metalwork.     

The Land of Morgan

A number of injuries were observed in a recent examination of 150 Thames ‘river skulls’. Eight of these, exhibiting both healed and unhealed blunt force trauma, were sampled for AMS ¹⁴C dating. The results span the Middle Bronze Age to the Late Iron Age/Romano-British period, with the majority falling within the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age. Given the potential time-span involved, this clustering is striking—particularly as it is consistent with the results of other dating programmes on Thames crania—and appears to confirm the likelihood of an association between human remains and weaponry entering the Thames over this period. In this regard, it is intriguing that the majority of the injuries are the result of blows with a blunt instrument, raising questions over the nature of conflict at this time. Other crania do show sharp force injuries, but have yet to be systematically dated. We discuss these results in the broader context of recent discoveries of human remains and weapons associated with watery places in later prehistory across northern Europe, reinforcing the idea that both are best seen within a context of ritual deposition, though the details vary across time and space.     

THE EAST MEDITERRANEAN LATE BRONZE AGE GLASS TRADE WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE PANAZTEPE FINDS

The Late Bronze Age is a period during which intensive transactions occurred in the Mediterranean and Near East. The glass trade became a real industry, exhibiting the innovations of the period from around the region. The glass finds of the Late Bronze Age consisted of valuable gifts exchanged between the elite classes of Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Aegean. The objective of this study is to reconstruct Late Bronze Age glass trade systems in the light of archaeological data recovered from Panaztepe, located in the Izmir region of west Anatolia. The glass finds at Panaztepe are represented by examples such as necklace spacers, relief beads, and spherical and circular beads recovered from the two burial grounds. While the interior chronologies of the tombs have not been completely distinguished, it is thought that most of these finds were used during the Late Helladic III A–B periods.     

HLO1‐south: An Early Neolithic site in Wadi al‐Hilo (Sharjah,UAE)

Site HLO1 (Sharjah, UAE), situated in a particularly favourable geographical position, has provided an extraordinary range of anthropogenic radiocarbon dates, spanning before 8000 to Zero BCE. The Neolithic is represented by finds from the eighth to the fifth millennium BCE. Apart from the dated fireplaces, however, there are almost no typical artefacts of this period. Small stone structures appear to have been early Neolithic graves. A middle Neolithic grave consisted of a large rounded stone heap which was reused as a grave during the Late Bronze Age. The site is interpreted as a campsite of nomadic herders, used throughout the Neolithic period. After a break in the fourth millennium BCE, the site became a Bronze Age smelting site which continued to be settled until the Late Iron Age.     

FARMERS,HERDERS OR TRADESMEN? ANALYSING SETTLEMENT PATTERNS OF THE MIDDLE AND LATE BRONZE AGE ON THE SARFIROUZABAD PLAIN,KERMANSHAH, WESTERN IRAN

The highland plains of western Iran have been investigated with varying intensity. The Sarfirouzabad Plain located in the south of Kermanshah province, although visited perfunctorily, has not previously been studied systematically, despite attractive ecological and environmental conditions. In 2009, a team from Tehran University conducted a systematic and intensive field survey in the region to identify Bronze Age settlements and to assess their location in relation to ecological, environmental and cultural factors that may have impacted their distribution on the plain. The surveyed area was walked in transects at 20‐metre intervals and resulted in the identification of 332 archaeological sites from different cultural periods, which added much to the limited knowledge about the history of this region. Twenty‐four of these settlement sites belong to the Middle and Late Bronze Age horizons. This study uses GIS to map the distribution of archaeological materials and construct spatial models to determine the significance of the distribution patterns of the Bronze Age sites.     

Contextualizing Kuruçay Höyük: Assessing the Unexplored Late Chalcolithic Landscape Near the Beginning of Early Social Complexity in SW Turkey

Kuruçay Höyük can be considered a key site for our understanding of Late Prehistory in southwest Turkey and above all, the poorly known Late Chalcolithic (4200–3100 b.c.). Until now, limited research has been conducted on the relationship between the excavated site and its surrounding. This article discusses the Late Chalcolithic results of an integrated survey in the vicinity of Kuruçay Höyük in the Burdur Plain. Drawing upon these results, this paper illustrates that the site was far from an isolated feature during the 4th millennium b.c. The picture that emerges is one of a differentiated settlement system consisting of both larger höyük/tell settlements (like Kuruçay Höyük) and smaller sized, possibly short-lived, flat settlements. These results are further contextualized within the developments that took place in the region during the Chalcolithic, which seem to have opened the door for communities to become more complex during the Early Bronze Age.     

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.     

PREHISTORIC COPPER PRODUCTION IN THE INN VALLEY (AUSTRIA), AND THE EARLIEST COPPER IN CENTRAL EUROPE*

In recent years archaeological finds and scientific analyses have provided increasing evidence for a very early beginning of copper production in the rich mining area of the Tyrolean Alps. The earliest findings derive from an excavation of a multi‐phase settlement on the Mariahilfbergl in Brixlegg, which revealed evidence that a small amount of fahlores, probably of local provenance, was at least heated if not even smelted there in the Late Neolithic Münchshöfen culture (the second half of the fifth millennium bc ). However, most copper finds of this horizon consist of low‐impurity copper that most probably derives from Majdanpek in Serbia. This long‐distance relationship is corroborated by typological features that link some aspects of the Münchshöfen culture with the Carpathian basin. Thus it is not yet clear if, at Brixlegg, actual copper production took place or, rather, an experimental treatment of the local ores. The typical fahlore composition, with arsenic and antimony in the per cent and silver and bismuth in the per mille ranges, appears in quantity only in the Early Bronze Age. Many thousands of Ösenringe are known from many central European Early Bronze Age sites, with a chemical composition typical of fahlores. At Buchberg near Brixlegg, a fortified settlement with slags from fahlore smelting proves that the local ores were indeed exploited. The lead isotope ratios of Ösenringe from the Gammersham hoard in Bavaria, which consist of fahlore copper, confirm this and suggest that copper mining and production in the Inn Valley reached a first climax during that period. In the Late Bronze Age, copper was produced at an almost industrial level.     

Metalworking and Recycling in Late Bronze Age Cyprus – the Evidence from Kition

Excavations at the sacred precinct of the Late Bronze Age city of Kition uncovered the remains of metalworking workshops which were clearly associated with the temples. The results of the excavation as well as a number of specialist reports of the archaeometallurgical finds have already been published. Since their publication, however, archaeological research has progressed and new evidence has come to light regarding the Late Bronze Age in general and metalworking in particular. The object of this paper is to present the finds from these workshops and reconsider some of the issues that their discovery has raised. The results of the previous studies of the archaeometallurgical studies are critically assessed and the evidence reinterpreted based on what is available today. One of the issues addressed is that of metal recycling during the Late Bronze Age. This communication was presented at a research workshop organized by the Israel Science Foundation and the University of Haifa on 'Recycling, Hoarding and Trade in Bronze, 13th–11th centuries BCE' (Haifa 26–28 April, 1998). The first part of the paper was written by Karageorghis, the second part by Kassianidou.     

When the Giant Falls: Endurance and Adaptation at Çadır Höyük in the Context of the Hittite Empire and Its Collapse

At the end of the Late Bronze Age, around 1200 b.c., the Hittite Empire of Anatolia collapsed. While that collapse has been well studied, the effects on Hittite-held lands are less so, with many archaeologists positing an abandonment in Hittite territories for a period of time early in the Iron Age. Recent excavations at Çad?r Höyük, 70 kilometers from the Hittite capital, have revealed both typical Hittite material culture belonging to the Late Bronze Age, including mass-produced ceramics and massive fortifications, as well as evidence suggesting that the site’s residents faced challenges, and adapted accordingly, in the wake of Hittite withdrawal and collapse, during the Early Iron Age. The architecture, ceramics, and zooarchaeological evidence from this rural settlement suggest ways in which residential continuity, cultural resilience, and technological and economic adjustments allowed inhabitants to survive and rebound in the face of political instability.     

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.     

Prehistoric activity and environment on the North York Moors

A synoptic view and interpretation of archaeological material from the mesolithic to the end of the Iron Age is provided, and this is viewed in the context of available palaeoenvironmental information. The evidence of various settlement forms suggests that mesolithic folk occupied the region for a long period, but their environmental impact appears to have been low although not negligible. In neolithic times a probably higher population density was capable of more thorough changes of vegetation but the total permanent alteration of ecosystems is thought to be small. Evidence for settlement is entirely inferential. By contrast, the Bronze and Iron Ages were periods of considerable clearance of forest and subsequent ecological changes like the leaching of soils increased, and traces of settlement are plentiful. New data on Iron Age settlements shows a downward movement of settlement sites and some Celtic fields are noted, though they are sparse compared with other uplands in Great Britain. A number of unanswered questions are posed, mostly about the nature of the settlement pattern in mesolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age times. No complete synthesis of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data is yet possible at this scale but certain parts of the moors have a high potential for reconstructing prehistoric geography.     

Paleoclimate,Geology, Geomorphology,and Middle Holocene Settlement Systems in the Delice Valley of North-Central Anatolia

The Delice Valley in north-central Anatolia is one of the regions where Hatti societies lived during the Early Bronze Age. This region has rarely been explored in terms of its geology, geomorphology, and human-environment interactions throughout the Bronze Age. The focus of the Delice Valley Survey is to build a holistic approach to assess complex socio-ecological dynamics in the region from the perspective of the longue durée. This paper examines the paleoclimatic conditions, the settlement systems, the production capacity of agropastoral systems, and the changes in the political economy in the Delice Valley during the Early Bronze Age and the Iron Age. The results of the first season of fieldwork suggest that the Delice Valley was settled intensively only during certain periods. Although paleoclimatically suitable for denser settlement, the area showed significantly lighter settlement patterns during the Middle and Late Bronze ages.     

Millet,the late comer: on the tracks of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Panicum miliaceum</Emphasis> in prehistoric Greece

Archaebotanical evidence for Panicum miliaceum is reviewed for prehistoric Greece including published and unpublished recent finds, providing a basis for exploring the context of the appearance of millet in Greece, the timing of its introduction and cultivation, and its significance in terms of contacts, movement of people, and cultural identity as expressed through culinary practice and food consumption. To this end, the archaeobotanical record is examined together with human isotopic, archaeozoological, and artefactual evidence. Millet is introduced to the northern part of Greece sometime during the end of the 3rd millennium bc and established as a widely used crop during the Late Bronze Age. Isotopic evidence suggests that millet consumption during the Late Bronze Age was not widespread but confined to certain regions, settlements, or individuals. Millet is suggested to reach Greece from the north after its spread westwards from China through Central Asia and the steppes of Eurasia. The timing of the introduction of millet and the horse in northern Greece coincide; the possibility therefore that they are both introduced through contacts with horse breeding cultures cultivating millet in the north and/or northeast is raised. Intensified contact networks during the Bronze Age, linking prehistoric northern Greece to central Europe and the Pontic Steppes, would have opened the way to the introduction of millet, overland via river valleys leading to the Danube, or via maritime routes, linking the Black Sea to the north Aegean. Alternatively, millet could have been introduced by millet-consuming populations, moving southwards from the Eurasian steppes.