Use of ulan-khada bay at lake baikal in the holocene (based on fauna remains)

The article presents the results of studies of faunal remains from the Ulan-Khada multilayered settlement – one of key habitation sites in the Cis-Baikal region providing information for reconstructing environmental and cultural changes during the Holocene. A complete analysis of the fauna assemblage obtained over the course of long-term excavations is given. For the fi rst time, the site's ichthyofauna is described. The mammalian species composition is revised. Species diversity is evaluated across the time span from the Final Mesolithic to the Late Iron Age. These studies have demonstrated that the main activities at the site during the Neolithic and Bronze Age included seal and ungulate (roe and red deer) hunting. Fishing was also important, especially 4.2–3.8 thousand years ago (Bronze Age).     

Bystry Kulyogan-38 –Bronze Age Fortified Dwelling In The Surgut Ob Area

In 2000, archaeologists from Yekaterinburg and Surgut excavated the preserved portion (380 sq. m) of the Bronze Age fortifi ed settlement situated on the Bystry Kulyogan River, right bank of the Ob River, 35 km west of Surgut. The settlement was initially estimated to be approximately 650 sq. m in size. An isolated dwelling was located on a small sandy promontory. It was protected by an arcuate moat and probably by a palisade along the perimeter. The dwelling is rectangular in plan and resembles a tall truncated pyramid with rounded angles. It is characterized by a frame-pole construction with vertical load bearing posts, inclined log and pole walls, and fl at or very low gable roof similar to those encountered among traditional Khanty surface dwellings or above grave structures. Walls were fi xed by sandy mounds along the outer perimeter. The largest portion of the dwelling was occupied by a rectangular pit with vertical walls 0.4–0.9 m high sheeted with half-beams or half-section timber. Plank beds were located along the walls. The elevated shelf between the pit and walls was used to store kitchen utensils, tools, and provisions. The Bronze Age assemblage includes 33 stone artifacts and 1640 fragments of at least 25 Kulyogan type vessels. Vessels are jar-like with fl at bottom, decorated with comb and pit patterns. The site is preliminarily dated to the fi rst half or the fi rst third of the 2nd millennium BC.     

再论"失蜡工艺不是中国青铜时代的选择"

本文从技术史的理论角度论述了"没有需求就没有发明(No need,no invention)"、"没有需求就没有发展"等技术产生发展的客观规律,指出,中国古代(青铜时代)在发达而成体系的青铜范铸技术环境里是不可能孕育发展出"熔模铸造体系"的,并以曾侯乙尊盘的铸造工艺及相关的模拟实验结果作进一步的论证;同时,对中国古代"失蜡工艺"起源于商周青铜器"焚失法"的观点提出质疑,并指出,"失蜡工艺"是在佛教传入中国之后,为铸造"西洋风格"的佛像传入我国.     

贵州银子坛墓地出土铜锡器的初步分析

为研究黔西地区铜器时代金属制作技术及水平,本文采用金相显微镜和扫描电镜,对贵州银子坛墓地出土13件铜器和2件锡器进行了金相观察和化学成分分析,发现中水银子坛墓地出土的战国到西汉时代的铜器,有红铜、锡青铜和铜锡铅合金多种材质,而锡器有纯锡器以及锡铅合金,合金配比已具有一定的水平。制作技术有铸造和锻造工艺,并能应用冷热加工技艺。本文对研究古夜郎地区金属器的制作技术有一定的价值。     

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.     

The Early Bronze Age Fortifications At Tell Es-Safi/Gath,Israel

Tell es-Safi/Gath is a multi-period site located on the border between the Judean foothills (Shephelah) and the southern coastal plain in central Israel, which has been subject to survey and excavations over the last two decades. Excavations by Bliss and Macalister in 1899 exposed a fortification system which was dated to the “Jewish period”. In this paper, we present updated data on these fortifications which have led to fresh insights. In two separate excavation areas, we excavated portions of the fortification system that surrounded the site which can now be dated to the EB III of the southern Levant. The EB fortification system influenced the location of later fortifications at the site. The nature of the construction techniques of these fortifications and the character of the settlement which they surrounded suggest that Tell es-Safi/Gath was a major regional urban centre during the EB III and was governed by a centralised administrative hierarchy.     

Identifying stone tools used in mining,smelting, and casting in Middle Bronze Age Cyprus

Abstract

Metallurgical production sites are often difficult to identify in the archaeological record because ore beneficiation and slag processing in the past involved the use of ground stone tools that were similar to those used in other contexts to prepare cereals and foods. Analysis of the ground stone assemblage from a Middle Bronze Age copper mining and production site at Ambelikou Aletri in Cyprus provided an opportunity to distinguish industrial and domestic ground stone tools and to identify the types of tools used in different stages of metal production. A comparison of tool morphologies, raw materials, and wear and breakage patterns from Ambelikou Aletri with those from contemporary domestic contexts, suggests that distinctions in the nature and structure of industrial and domestic tool kits do exist and those distinctions have an important role to play in identifying mining, smelting, and casting sites in the future.     

Moving metals or indigenous mining? Provenancing Scandinavian Bronze Age artefacts by lead isotopes and trace elements

The aim of this study is to further the discussion as to whether copper was extracted locally or imported to Sweden during the Bronze Age or if both of these practices could have coexisted. For this purpose, we have carried out lead isotope and chemical analyses of 33 bronze items, dated between 1600BC and 700BC. Among these are the famous Fröslunda shields and the large scrap hoard from Bräckan and other items from three regions in southern Sweden which are also renowned for their richness in copper ores. It is obvious from a comparison that the element and lead isotope compositions of the studied bronze items diverge greatly from those of spatially associated copper ores. Nor is there any good resemblance with other ores from Scandinavia, and it is concluded that the copper in these items must have been imported from elsewhere. The results furthermore indicate that there are variations in metal supply that are related to chronology, in agreement with other artefacts from Scandinavia as well as from other parts of Europe. Altogether these circumstances open up for a discussion regarding Scandinavia’s role in the maritime networks during the Bronze Age.     

The Terramare and the surrounding hydraulic structures: a geophysical survey of the Santa Rosa site at Poviglio (Bronze Age,northern Italy)

The Terramara Santa Rosa is a Middle and Late Bronze Age archaeological site located in the Po alluvial plain, northern Italy. It is constituted of two moated villages delimited by earthen ramparts. The peripheral structures of the site are sealed by fine-textured flood plain deposits and they have not been fully explored through excavation due to their large extent. Because the shape of the villages and their relation to moats and the fluvial network are of paramount importance to understanding the landscape management and the use of water resources in the Terramare civilisation, a geophysical survey was planned to extend the results of the existing archaeological excavations to the site scale. A frequency-domain electro-magnetic sounding (FDEM) and electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) covered an area of approximately 26 ha; ERI was conducted for a total length >9000 m. Despite the predominance of electrically conductive fine-textured sediments, electrical resistivity anomalies were observed and they were attributed to subtle lithological differences in the sedimentary context of the alluvial plain. The geophysical interpretation, after the calibration with the excavation data, revealed the structures of the Terramara and of the surrounding hydraulic network, which are not visible at the surface due to flood plain deposits. The Santa Rosa site was founded in a favourable geomorphological position, on the top of a crevasse splay lobe of the adjoining Po palaeo-channel, rising above the surrounding alluvial plain. The Terramara and their surroundings were delineated through an artificial modification of this pre-existing crevasse splay lobe and a well-targeted urban design, with the objective of diverting water, most likely from a palaeo-channel of the Po River, through the digging of peripheral moats used to collect water around the site and to distribute it to the surrounding fields for irrigation. The water management documented by this study in the Terramara Santa Rosa can be considered as paradigmatic for the whole Terramare civilisation, which is therefore responsible of the introduction of the irrigated agriculture into western Europe for the first time.