THE TEL NAGILA MIDDLE BRONZE AGE HOMES—STUDYING HOUSEHOLD ACTIVITIES AND IDENTIFYING CHILDREN IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD

Abstract

The excavation at Tel Nagila uncovered a series of domestic structures dating to the Middle Bronze Age II. In the following paper, a division of the finds in the various structures is undertaken, in order to further our understanding of the use of space at the site. Within the domestic structures, many miniature vessels were found. We suggest that these were not votive offerings, rather attest to the presence of children in the various rooms of the homes. The role of children and the ability to identify them in the archaeological record is discussed.     

Palynological and Archaeological Evidence for Ritual Use of Wine in the Kura-Araxes Period at Aradetis Orgora (Georgia,Caucasus)

Pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs from two zoomorphic Kura-Araxes vessels (ca. 3000 b.c.) from Aradetis Orgora suggest they were utilized for the ritual consumption of wine and likely represent the beginning of the enduring tradition of animal-shaped wine-drinking containers in Georgia. This hypothesis is supported by archaeological and geoarchaeological data: they resemble later wine-containing vessels from Georgia and elsewhere and were found in a building whose context is suggestive of a small shrine. Their palynological spectra match those of present-day wine and wine containers of other periods. One of them was intact, with only a small access hole; consequently, its palynological spectrum can be utilized as a standard for determining the presence of wine in other archaeological vessels. Palynological analyses from different contexts of the Aradetis Orgora settlement and its cemetery (Doghlauri) yielded other significant results regarding the practice of viticulture and the cultural relevance of wine during the Kura-Araxes period.     

Ojakly: A Late Bronze Age mobile pastoralist site in the Murghab Region,Turkmenistan

Abstract

Excavations at Ojakly (site 1744) in the Murghab alluvial fan in Turkmenistan mark the first systematic collection of archaeological materials related to Bronze Age mobile pastoralists in the region, and the earliest evidence to date of their occupation patterns, subsistence practices, and ceramic production activities. Because the appearance of mobile pastoral groups in the Murghab during the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1950–1500 b.c.) is traditionally associated with significant changes in regional sociopolitical structures, these data are important for establishing local strategies of and the relationship between sedentary agricultural and mobile pastoral populations. Here, we present ceramic, faunal, archaeobotanical, and lithic data that force us to reconsider the traditional sedentary-mobile dichotomy. Specifically, we find that while the subsistence economies are distinct at urban and non-urban sites, the ceramic production and trade interactions are significantly intertwined and more complex than previously acknowledged for this time period. Additionally, the presence of a ceramic kiln at Ojakly (Turkmen for “place with kiln”) containing unfired ceramics of a type typically associated with sedentary farmers in the Bronze Age Murghab suggests the transfer of technical knowledge between groups who nevertheless maintained distinct material cultural identities. Ojakly provides important new data about coexisting economies in the Late Bronze Age Murghab that can productively unsettle traditional notions of dominance, control, and polarization in sedentary-mobile interactions.     

The fruits of migration: Understanding the ‘longue dureé’ and the socio-economic relations of the Early Transcaucasian Culture

The appearance of the Early Transcaucasian Culture (ETC) across large portions of the Near East in the 3rd millennium BC is commonly cited as one of the best archaeologically documented and broadly studied cases of a prehistoric migration. This study uses the ETC to develop a model of what happens when migrants move into regions that are already inhabited by emerging or complex societies. In particular, this study focuses on how immigrant populations can integrate themselves into indigenous communities in a physical, socio-political and economic sense, and how a migrant group’s identity can be constructed and maintained alongside these indigenous communities.     

Shades of blue – cobalt-copper coloured blue glass from New Kingdom Egypt and the Mycenaean world: a matter of production or colourant source?

Cobalt blue glass has long now been recognised as characterised by a distinct compositional signature within the typical compositional range of Late Bronze Age glass. More recently, a copper-rich variation of cobalt blue glass has been seen throughout Egypt and the Mycenaean world. This paper discusses and defines this glass type based on trace elemental data, examines whether this lighter-shaded cobalt blue glass is a natural or an anthropogenic variant of cobalt blue glass, and identifies its likely production in Egypt. It investigates the role of this type of glass, particularly with regard to the distribution pattern and the significance of its prevalence in the Mycenaean mainland and the Aegean.     

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.     

Environment and collapse: Eastern Anatolian obsidians at Urkesh (Tell Mozan,Syria) and the third-millennium Mesopotamian urban crisis

The Early to Middle Bronze Age transition in Northern Mesopotamia has received great attention for the apparent concurrence of aridification, deurbanisation, and the end of the Akkadian empire around 2200 BCE. Our understanding of the “crisis” has been almost exclusively shaped by ceramics, demography, and subsistence. Exchange and the associated social networks have been largely neglected. Here we report our sourcing results for 97 obsidian artefacts from Urkesh, a large urban settlement inhabited throughout the crisis. Before the crisis, six obsidian sources located in Eastern Anatolia are represented among the artefacts. Such a diversity of Eastern Anatolian obsidians at one site is hitherto unknown in Mesopotamia. It implies Urkesh was a cosmopolitan city with diverse visitors or visitors with diverse itineraries. During this crisis, however, obsidians came from only two of the closest sources. Two to three centuries passed before varied obsidians reappeared. Even when an obsidian source reappears, the raw material seems to have come from a different collection spot. We discuss the likely exchange mechanisms and related social networks responsible for the arrival of obsidians at Urkesh and how they might have changed in response to climatic perturbations and regional government collapse.     

Stable isotope dietary analysis of prehistoric populations from the Minusinsk Basin,Southern Siberia,Russia: a new chronological framework for the introduction of millet to the eastern Eurasian steppe

We report the results of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of 354 human and faunal samples from five archaeological cultures of the Minusinsk Basin, Southern Siberia – Afanasyevo, Okunevo, Andronovo, Karasuk and Tagar (ca. 2700–1 BC) – a key location in Eurasia due to its position on a northern corridor linking China and central Eurasia. The results indicate that the diet of Eneolithic to Middle Bronze Age (Afanasyevo to Andronovo) populations was primarily C₃-based, with C₄ plants only becoming an important component of the diet in the Late Bronze Age Karasuk and Early Iron Age Tagar cultures. Freshwater fish seems to have been an important constituent of the diets in all groups. The findings constitute the earliest concrete evidence for the substantial use of millet in the eastern Eurasian steppe. We propose that it was probably introduced from Northwestern China during the Karasuk culture at the start of the Late Bronze Age, ca. 1500 BC. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for the nature of pastoralist economies on the steppes.     

Bronze technology of the ancient megalithic communities in the Vidarbha region of India

Metallographic examination was carried out on forty-nine copper and bronze objects from five megalithic sites located in Vidarbha, India. The artifact assembly consists of horse ornaments, kitchenware, bangles, rings, small bells and the hilt of an iron dagger. Results show that the technology involved is characterized by the use of bronze alloys containing approximately 10% tin based on weight and the application of forging as a key method of fabrication. No deliberate addition of lead was observed. Arsenic was detected, but very rarely and only as an insignificant minor element. The consistent selection of such specific alloys indicates that the megalithic communities in this particular region had established a fully developed and standardized bronze tradition optimized for the production of forged items. Their advanced technological status was also noted in a special technique applied to two forged high-tin bronze bowls. Such a unique bronze tradition, dedicated to sheet metal technology, was most likely a practical choice made by these people to take advantage of the changing role of bronze. Specifically, with the introduction of iron, bronze seems to have become a more prestigious material that could serve as an indicator of the appearance of a more rigid socio-economic stratification within the megalithic communities of the Vidarbha region.