RAVENS AND CROWS IN IRON AGE AND ROMAN BRITAIN

The raven and crow skeletons from Danebury are re‐examined, taking into account their taphonomy, their context and the associated finds. Raven and crow burials from other Iron Age and Roman sites are surveyed, again with a discussion of their context and associated finds where these could be ascertained. Taken together, the evidence makes it clear that most if not all were deliberate burials, often at the base of pits. We demonstrate how interpretations of such burials have changed, with zooarchaeologists initially proposing functional explanations and archaeologists readier to accept that the burials were deliberate. We go on to argue that the unique character of ravens and crows, including their tolerance of humans, their scavenging habits, and their voice, led to their playing an important role in Iron Age and Roman rites and beliefs.     

WOAD, TATTOOING AND IDENTITY IN LATER IRON AGE AND EARLY ROMAN BRITAIN

Summary. This paper explores the archaeological evidence for the practice of facial and corporeal dyeing, painting and tattooing in the later Iron Age and early Roman period. The aim is to construct a hypothesis which explains how, why, when and by whom such pigments were worn. Although this hypothesis discusses woad-derived indigo, this is used mainly, although not exclusively, as an experimental tool, as no conclusive archaeological evidence exists which reveals the identity of the 'real' pigment(s). Woad has also long held a place in the popular imagination as the source of the dye which the ancient Britons used to paint themselves.
This paper explores the possibility that the cosmetic grinder was the focal artefact used in body painting or tattooing, and was used for grinding and mixing body and face paint. It is suggested that, rather than being a 'Roman'-style tool for cosmetic application from the start, it may have begun life as an artefact first used by the later Iron Age Britons for body painting and expressing indigenous identities.     

NEOLITHIC AXES FROM ROMAN SITES IN BRITAIN

Finds of Neolithic axes are usually regarded primarily as evidence for Neolithic occupation in the area of the findspot. Neolithic axes from Roman contexts are also usually regarded in this way, often being classed as residual material. However, a study of axes from Roman sites in Britain has shown that they may well have been deliberately collected, in the Roman period, for religious or superstitious reasons. Many have been found on sites of a religious nature (an aspect well documented for temple sites on the Continent) and the beliefs associated with such axes may have been widespread.     

THERMOLUMINESCENT DATING OF NEOLITHIC AND CHALCOLITHIC POTTERY FROM SITES IN CENTRAL PORTUGAL

Samples of Neolithic and Chalcolithic pottery from nine sites in the Upper Alentejo and Estremadura regions of Portugal have been dated by the thermoluminescence method (quartz inclusion technique). The project was designed to help establish an absolute chronology for the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods in this area, and to try to elucidate the chronological relationships between settlement sites and burial sites (‘dolmens’) in the same area. Portugal was confirmed, together with Brittany, as being one of the earliest foci of megalith builders.     

WEALTH AND STATUS IN IRON AGE KNOSSOS

Summary.   Knossos Tekke tomb 2 is one of the richest tombs in the Iron Age Aegean, renowned for its deposits of gold. The tomb is widely attributed to a family of goldsmiths, who migrated to Knossos from the Near East. This article, however, questions this attribution. An alternative interpretation is pursued through surveys of the distribution of some luxury materials, amply represented in the Tekke tomb, in all known Knossian tombs. By setting the Tekke find against the large corpus of Knossian burial material, I identify the Tekke occupants as members of a local élite. This group is shown to have had privileged access to the products of a goldsmith's workshop, as well as to the sources of some lavish, mostly imported, raw materials, and to have regulated their distribution within Knossian society during the eighth century. The means through which the Tekke élite claimed and defended their wealth and status are assessed and their possible Late Bronze Age pedigree is conjectured.     

SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATIONS OF THE SOPRON-KRAUT ACKER IRON AGE POTTERY WORKSHOP

Excavations at the Celtic settlement of Sopron-Krautacker (W. Hungary) make it possible to form an overall view on the local practice of pottery manufacture. Study of the soil conditions has established that the source of raw material is the nearly calcium carbonate-free upper layer of the local soil resulting from a leaching process. By the various analytical methods used (XRD, XRF spectroscopy, and thermal analysis) composition of the pottery has been determined, and it has been shown that the vessels were fired at 600–700 °C.     

THE OCCURRENCE OF DRILLED HOLES IN LATER NEOLITHIC POTTERY

Summary. Holes drilled after firing are an occasional occurrence in earlier prehistoric pottery, and are generally accepted as intended to enable repair of cracks or breaks by binding. It would seem reasonable to expect that rates of repair would be fairly consistent, but this is not the case with later Neolithic ceramics in southern Britain. There, drilled holes are more common in the Grooved Ware tradition than in the Beaker or Peterborough traditions, and it is suggested that this may be owing to the high symbolic content of Grooved Ware rendering the repair of such vessels particularly worthwhile to their users. Other factors likely to influence the decision to repair rather than discard vessels are considered, and in this connection the fabrics of repaired vessels in the earlier Neolithic assemblage at Maiden Castle are also briefly discussed. A short list of sites with repaired vessels is appended.     

THE PROVENANCE AND PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF BRONZE AGE AND IRON AGE POTTERY FROM TELL MISHRIFEH/QATNA (SYRIA)*

This work deals with the archaeometric study of the Bronze Age and Iron Age pottery from Tell Mishrifeh/Qatna (central‐western Syria), where the complete cycle of ceramic production is well documented. Petrographic, chemical and diffractometric analyses were carried out on both potsherds and a clayey material found in a separation basin within the area of the workshops. Petrographic groups were defined and maximum firing temperatures and redox firing conditions were estimated, providing constraints on identifying the production technology and its evolution with time. The studied potsherds turned out to be locally produced, with only a few cases of possible similarities with those described for other localities along the Orontes Valley, and in a couple of cases with evidence of pottery exchange.     

X-RAY DIFFRACTION OF EARLY IRON AGE POTTERY FROM WESTERN NORWAY

X-ray diffraction has been used to analyse the surfaces and cores of sherds from pottery from Voss and Etne. two late Roman-early Migration Period sites in western Norway. Results show: (1) the presence of illite and illite/smectite in black-burnished ware from inhumation graves which suggests that this ware was never subjected to temperatures as high as 375°C, (2) the absence of these heat-sensitive clay minerals in red ware from cremation graves at these sites which suggests a secondary firing at 700–800°C, (3) the clay minerals are similar in the cores and surfaces of the black pottery which suggests that the colour differences are due to firing procedures rather than the application of a slip, and (4) chlorite is present in all of the samples which is an indication that the ware originated in a Voss workshop where chlorite is present in other pottery found there and in the local geologic deposits.     

A TIME OF CHANGE: THE IRON AGE TO ROMAN MONETARY TRANSITION IN EAST ANGLIA

Summary. The majority of Icenian coin hoards have traditionally been dated to the historical events of the Boudican revolt. This paper removes that link and examines the material using classical numismatic methods to show that far from all being of one date they represent a series of depositions throughout the period of the client kingdom: AD 43–60/1. It also demonstrates the gradual increase in use of Roman coins within that kingdom alongside the local Iron Age series.     

LAST ORDERS: CHOOSING POTTERY FOR FUNERALS IN ROMAN ESSEX

Summary.   This paper examines ceramic vessels from Roman-period funerary contexts in Essex. Using correspondence analysis, it charts changes in the choice of funerary pottery and isolates the elements in pottery assemblages that unite or differentiate sites. The paper finds that the status of sites can be distinguished on ceramic grounds, reflecting cultural differences in life. Jars and beakers are characteristic of settlement cemeteries, while cups are more typical of high-status burials. Flagons and samian ware are common between them. Underlying funerary traditions are rooted in continuity from the Late Iron Age, rather than post-conquest change. The study also suggests that funerary pottery was selected out of the supply intended for domestic use.     

PERFORATED STONE AXE-HEADS IN THE BRITISH NEOLITHIC: THEIR DISTRIBUTION AND SIGNIFICANCE

Summary. This paper investigates the ways in which stone axes were modified in areas of Britain distant from their original sources. One small group was turned into pendants and another seems to have been converted into maceheads. This has implications for studies of the 'axe trade' that assume that such artefacts had a fixed value throughout their distribution.     

BLACKSMITHING TECHNOLOGY IN IRON AGE WESSEX

Summary. The sophistication of Iron Age blacksmithing technology in Wessex was determined by the metallurgical examination of 503 iron artefacts using Optical Metallography, Electron Microprobe Analysis and Vickers Hardness Testing. Iron artefacts from the different regions and site types of Southern Britain were examined to determine both the capabilities of Iron Age blacksmiths to alter the properties of iron artefacts through cold-working, carburization, heat-treatment and alloy selection, and the distribution of these possible techniques. The reasons for the selection of the areas, the sites, and the actual artefacts chosen for examination are discussed.     

SEALED SILVER IN IRON AGE CISJORDAN AND THE 'INVENTION' OF COINAGE

Summary. Recent finds of hoarded silver in Cisjordan present new material for the consideration of the conceptual history of coined metals. When the fundamental concepts associated with coinage are abstracted from the various objects that express them, it is possible to see that a kind of coined metal existed in Cisjordan and other parts of the Near East prior to the traditional 'invention' of coinage by the Lydians and Greeks c. 600 BC. ¹ Both hoards and written sources indicate that seals affixed to precious metals at times qualified them in a numismatic sense by guaranteeing weights set to standards as well as controlled composition. What has been characterized as the 'invention' of coinage was rather an adaptation of these same principal concepts. The frequency and size of silver hoards from Cisjordan point to a proliferation in the 'monetary' use of silver in that region during the Iron Age and suggest a relationship to the overwhelming preference for silver coinages among the Greeks.