Middle Bronze Age Arsenical Copper Alloys in Southern Portugal

In the Iberian Peninsula, the copper metallurgy from the Chalcolithic to the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) was mostly characterized by low arsenic contents. A collection of 53 MBA artefacts from southern Portugal was analysed by micro‐EDXRF, optical microscopy, SEM–EDS and Vickers to investigate the metal composition and manufacture. No technological distinction was found between artefacts from domestic and funerary contexts, which were radiocarbon‐dated to 2000–1500 cal bc . The arsenic contents of almost 100 MBA artefacts from this region, including the above‐mentioned set, have a Gaussian distribution with a high average (3.9 wt% As). Possible explanations are discussed for this distinctive metallurgy at the south‐western end of the Iberian Peninsula.     

The mineral wealth of ancient Arabia and its use I: Copper mining and smelting at Feinan and Timna – comparison and evaluation of techniques, production, and strategies

Near Eastern fieldwork in mining archaeology and archaeometallurgy began at Timna (Israel) in the 1960s and 1970s and continued in Feinan (Jordan) in the 1980s and 1990s. For the first time, Bronze Age copper mines were excavated and cleared and importance was given to the slag recovered. At both sites copper was produced for over 5000 years, from the Chalcolithic to the Mamluk periods. Although the broad outlines of technical development can be traced, much remains to be learned in future studies.     

Some spatial analyses of Chalcolithic settlement in Southern Israel

This paper is a brief investigation of one of the outstanding problems in Chalcolithic archaeology in the Negev desert of Israel: that of the spatial distribution of sites and the possible relationships between these sites that may be inferred. Although the region is rich in archaeological data for the Chalcolithic period, very little work has thus far been undertaken in terms of the quantification of the archaeological data – a necessary prerequisite for complex spatial analysis. Nevertheless, simple analysis of settlement patterns using the data presently available for 403 Chalcolithic sites in the Negev is given as an example. Autocorrelation tests measuring clustering and dispersion of sites show that the overall impression of clustering is a factor of access to farming land, water, grazing and Mediterranean maquis, but that smaller scale analysis suggests that settlement patterns were essentially random. This makes it difficult to argue in favour of settlement hierarchies or structured settlement of any kind.     

Frogs as a part of the Eneolithic diet. Archaeozoological records from the Czech Republic (Kutná Hora-Denemark site, Řivnáč Culture)

Within the site of Kutná Hora-Denemark (Kutná Hora distr., central Bohemia – Eneolithic, ?ivná? Culture, 3000–2800 BC), 893 frog bones or bone fragments were present in five archaeological features. All identified specimens are of the Common Frog (Rana temporaria Linnaeus, 1758). Males predominate, according to humeral morphology, and only adult individuals are present. The most important findings come from feature 36, where an accumulation of 739 frog bones (MNI = 123) were found, of which 10% (NISP) were burned. This and other contextual evidence indicates that they relate to activity of the Eneolithic people in the settlement. The predominance of hind leg bones and other circumstantial evidence suggest that the frogs were part of the human diet. Behavioural studies of this species suggest that the frogs were gathered from small ponds during the months of March or April. Similar findings are rare.     

Tracing sickle blade levels of wear and discard patterns: a new sickle gloss quantification method

Although sickle blades gloss is known to form during the harvest, which is a dynamic process and although it is known to be a type of wear which is the outcome of the repetitive encounters between the sickle blades working edges and plant stems; there is no common way to quantify its intensity. Since there is no consensus over a specific scale that will enable the estimation of the amount of wear, based on the quantification of gloss brightness intensity. In this paper we propose a new measurement system which is based on the projection of laser (He–Ne) beam on glossed sickle blades and an analysis of the reflected images. The results form a relative scale from which it is possible to infer on the sickle blades level of wear, and to create discard models.     

Radiocarbon dating of marine shell samples. The marine radiocarbon reservoir effect of coastal waters off Atlantic Iberia during Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic Periods

Radiocarbon dates on marine shells have not been used as extensively as charcoal or bone dates for the setting up of absolute chronologies because interpreting these dates is complicated by the marine radiocarbon reservoir effect. Nevertheless marine shellfish were used widely at least during the Holocene and their shells are abundant and usually well preserved in archaeological deposits located near shorelines. Consequently prior research concerning the oceanographic conditions and the marine radiocarbon reservoir effect of a particular coastal area is needed in order to set up reliable chronologies for that region. Values of regional marine radiocarbon reservoir effect – ΔR – of coastal waters off Atlantic Iberia, some of its variability along the Holocene and its correlation with the upwelling phenomenon were determined during previous research. More data related to the ΔR values for western Portuguese coastal waters during the Late Neolithic and the Chalcolithic, a time interval badly sampled in previous research, were recently obtained. These values can be compared with ΔR values already determined for the Gulf of Cadiz. Besides the importance of these values for a better knowledge of the palaeoceanography and palaeoclimatology of Atlantic Iberia, from now on archaeologists can set up reliable chronologies for Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic contexts using marine shell samples of that origin for radiocarbon dating.     

Mollusk shells from burials of tuzovskiye bugry-1 As indicators of ethno-cultural processes In southern siberia and western central asia In the 3rd millennium bc

This article focuses on adornments made of mollusk shells from graves of the Tuzovskiye Bugry-1 burial ground in the Altai Territory. The collection includes bivalve shells: Corbicula ferghanensis Kurs. et Star. currently inhabiting the Amu Darya and Syr Darya basins; Corbicula tibetensis Prash. inhabiting the mountain regions of Central Asia, Eastern Kazakhstan, and the Amu Darya and Syr Darya basins; fossil Corbicula similar to Corbicula fl uminalis Mull; swan mussel of the genus Colletopterum inhabiting the Ob basin; and one specimen of Cardiidae sp. of the marine, probably, paleospecies. The most interesting are ancient marine tooth shells related to the genus Dentalium (class Scaphopoda, family Dentaliidae). In the Altai Territory, there are no such deposits that could have contained such shells. These shells were possibly brought by people from other regions. The closest occurrences of Dentaliidae are known in the Aral Sea region. The presence of beads of a truncated cone shape made of Dentalium shells as well as pendants made of Corbicula valves suggest connections between the Altai population and people inhabiting Western Central Asia. These connections might have existed in the form of direct contacts with bearers of the Ust-Narym and Botai cultures or else might have been the result of migration of people from Western Central Asia and Eastern Kazakhstan to the Altai.     

Increasing inequality in Chalcolithic Southeast Europe: the case of Durankulak

Economic measurement tools allow a quantification of social differences not only for modern societies, but also for prehistoric communities. The use of Gini indices and Lorenz curves for the much discussed Chalcolithic cemetery of Durankulak (Bulgaria) indicates an average increase in material items from 5000 cal BC onwards and a tendency of these items to be distributed somewhat more equally. Towards the end of the Chalcolithic sequence, however, strongly growing inequality was associated with lower average welfare. The steep increase in social inequality might be one of the main reasons for the collapse of Chalcolithic societies around 4100 cal BC in Durankulak, but also in other South East European regions.     

The chalcolithic period in the Levant

The Levant of the fourth millennium B.C. was scattered with numerous small farming communities. The agricultural activities were based on growing barley, wheat, lentils, and fruit trees. This was accompanied by raising sheep-goats, pigs, and cattle and occasionally using marine resources. The architecture and the thick accumulation of debris loaded with pottery refuse indicate that the sites were sedentary and occupied for long periods. The social organization of these communities does not seem to have been very complex. The evidence argues against the existence of hierarchies and high-status social units that had the power to dominate and permanently regulate production and distribution. The evidence of religious activities also indicates that a priesthood, if it existed, was not dominant in the regulation of social and economic activities. The rapid cultural changes in the Levant during the late fourth and early third millennium were probably caused by the impact of the events in Egypt and Mesopotamia. The local modifications were readjustments to the large-scale changes in the Near East which influenced the rural and provincial Levantine Chalcolithic societies.