Ceramics,settlements and Late Iron Age migrations

Summary The Late Iron Age Luangwa pottery tradition represents some matrilineal Western Bantu speakers, with an origin in a Forest Neolithic, who moved into parts of Central Africa previously occupied by patrilineal Eastern Bantu speakers, represented by the Chifumbaze Complex. Eastern Bantu speaking Nguni and Sotho-Tswana probably had their Early Iron Age origins in a Urewe facies in southern Tanzania, and their movement into South Africa appears to have been connected with the Late Iron Age spread of the Luangwa tradition.

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Résumé La tradition céramique Luangwa de l'âge du fer récent est la manifestation archéologique des gens matrilinéaires qui parlaient des langues Bantu occidentales. Ces gens, originaires d'une Néolithique des forêts, pénétraient des régions de l'Afrique central dominées jusqu'ici par des gens patrilinéaires, qui parlaient des langues Bantu orientales et qui sont représentés archéologiquement par le complexe Chifumbaze. Les origines des gens Nguni et Sotho-Tswana, qui parlent des langues Bantu orientales, sont vraisemblablement à chercher à l'âge du fer ancien dans un faciès Urewe du sud tanzanien. L'immigration de ces gens dans l'Afrique du Sud semble avoir été liée à la diffusion de la tradition Luangwa.

     

Late Iron Age Ballast-Quarries at Hengistbury Head, Dorset

During excavations at Hengistbury Head between 1979 and 1984 certain Late Iron Age features, described as 'quarry hollows' and 'scoops', were discovered along the shoreline. They are the result of gravel extraction, which, it is argued, was carried out in order to supply ballast for ships plying their trade across the English Channel during the first half of the first century BC. Accordingly, these features represent the first on-shore archaeological evidence for the provision of ballast in antiquity.     

A Late Iron Age Boat‐Grave from Petersdal,Denmark

In 1921 a secondary grave was excavated in a Bronze Age burial‐mound on the island of Amager in the strait of Øresund between Denmark and Sweden. Recently the material was examined in detail and the result is presented here. This grave proved to be one of the few Late Iron Age boat‐graves in South Scandinavia. The boat, only preserved through a pattern of clench‐nails, was 10–12 m long. It contained traces of grave‐goods: sword, spear, riding‐gear, bucket and chest, but no trace of a body survived. The grave is contextually dated to the first half of the 8th century. © 2012 The Author     

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.     

Cultural dynamics and ceramic resource use at Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Troy,northwestern Turkey

Changes in resource use over time can provide insight into technological choice and the extent of long-term stability in cultural practices. In this paper we re-evaluate the evidence for a marked demographic shift at the inception of the Early Iron Age at Troy by applying a robust macroscale analysis of changing ceramic resource use over the Late Bronze and Iron Age. We use a combination of new and legacy analytical datasets (NAA and XRF), from excavated ceramics, to evaluate the potential compositional range of local resources (based on comparisons with sediments from within a 10 km site radius). Results show a clear distinction between sediment-defined local and non-local ceramic compositional groups. Two discrete local ceramic resources have been previously identified and we confirm a third local resource for a major class of EIA handmade wares and cooking pots. This third source appears to derive from a residual resource on the Troy peninsula (rather than adjacent alluvial valleys). The presence of a group of large and heavy pithoi among the non-local groups raises questions about their regional or maritime origin.     

Statistical Analysis of Spatial Distribution of Ceramics from Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Sites in Southwestern Siberia

Results of the statistical analysis of spatial distribution of ceramics at Chicha-1, Zavialovo-5, and Linevo-1 indicate ethnic heterogeneity and the presence of native and immigrant ceramic traditions within separate sites and even within single dwellings. The arrangement of pottery inside residence structures follows certain regularities. All residents, however, were apparently involved in the same manufacture.     

Urbanization in Iron Age Europe: Trajectories,Patterns, and Social Dynamics

The development of the first urban centers is one of the most fundamental phenomena in the history of temperate Europe. New research demonstrates that the earliest cities developed north of the Alps between the sixth and fifth centuries BC as a consequence of processes of demographic growth, hierarchization, and centralization that have their roots in the immediately preceding period. However, this was an ephemeral urban phenomenon, which was followed by a period of crisis characterized by the abandonment of major centers and the return to more decentralized settlement patterns. A new trend toward urbanization occurred in the third and second centuries BC with the appearance of supra-local sanctuaries, open agglomerations, and finally the fortified oppida. Late Iron Age settlement patterns and urban trajectories were much more complex than traditionally thought and included manifold interrelations between open and fortified sites. Political and religious aspects played a key role in the development of central places, and in many cases the oppida were established on locations that already had a sacred character as places for rituals and assemblies. The Roman conquest largely brought to an end Iron Age urbanization processes, but with heterogeneous results of both abandonment and disruption and also continuity and integration.