Spatial patterning of Early Iron Age metal production at Ndondondwane, South Africa: the question of cultural continuity between the Early and Late Iron Ages

Spatial patterning of Early Iron Age metal production at Ndondondwane, South Africa: the question of cultural continuity between the Early and Late Iron Ages

Sacrificial Tradition and Religion during the Early Iron Age in South Scandinavia – with Special Reference to Settlement SacrificesSacrificial customs and religion during the Early Iron Age (500 BC–400 AD) has occupied archaeologists from the infancy of archaeology. Most would probably agree that the religion was primarily fertility related, originating as it was in the existing peasant society. The literature does not reflect any disagreement about the religion of the Early Iron Age being polytheistic and consequently concerned a variety of gods. However, it is still unknown how the religion was integrated in the everyday life, and under which conditions it was practiced.The research interest and the overall synthesis framework have especially addressed sacrifices in bogs and wetlands (for instance weapon sacrifices, bog bodies, deposited earthenware, anthropomorphic wooden figures, domestic animals, cauldrons, ring sacrifices, etc.). Strongly simplified, the existing consensus may be expressed in one single sentence: The overall society-related sacrificial traditions develop from being almost exclusively connected with wetland areas during the Early Iron Age (until c.400 AD) to being primarily connected with dry land after this time, cf. Fig. 1.The question is whether – based on the intense data collection over the recent decades – archaeology can or should maintain this very simple picture of the development of the sacrificial traditions and the religions during the Iron Age? Is it possible that we – rooted in for instance narrow definitions of sacrificial finds, habitual thinking, and a “delusion” consisting of the numerous well-preserved, well-documented, spectacular, and impressive finds of bog sacrifices – fail to see numerous forms of deposits, which (as opposed to the impressive finds of sacrifices in bogs) are hidden in the archaeological material?The settlements of the Iron Age have been excavated in large numbers over the recent decades, and it is the ritual finds from these localities that provide the background for this article.The ritual deposits from the settlements can be divided into two superior groups distinguished by the physical context. One comprises sacrifices made to constructions, which are characterized by being directly connected to a specific structure; the other encompasses settlement sacrifices that are to a higher degree characterized by an overriding affiliation to the settlement. The establishment of a sacrifice definition suitable for scanning the archaeological material for relevant finds is of vital importance. As the definition should not beforehand restrict the search through the material, it is important not to narrow the basis by concentrating only on the physical characteristics of the individual artefacts. The general idea behind the present presentation is that the different ritual dimensions of a society are internally connected as they function within the same overall conventions and, as a consequence, make up parts of a general mental structure, which can leave physically recognizable traces across the different ritual dimensions, cf. Fig. 2. This principal viewpoint creates a theoretical starting point for my work and the established definition of sacrificial finds: All intentionally deposited objects, which analytically show significant similarities as regards their physical appearance and/or their deposition context with other recognized ritual objects/contexts, and which are closely connected to these in time and space, should, when analysed, be considered sacrificial finds.The British religious historian, Ninian Smart, describes religion as consisting of seven thematically describing situations, which – albeit not completely unconnected – may be described individually:1) A dogmatic and philosophical dimension, comprising doctrine systems.2) A mythical and narrative dimension, comprising tales of the deities, of the creation, etc.3) An ethical and judicial dimension, comprising the consequences of the religion in relation to the shaping of the life of the individual.4) A social and institutional dimension comprising organisations and institutions that tie together the individual religious society.5) An empirical and emotional dimension comprising the individual’s experience of god and the divine.6) A ritual and practical dimension comprising prayer, sacrifices, worship, etc.7) A materiel dimension comprising architecture, art, sacred places, buildings, and iconography.As archaeologists, we have a very limited possibility of investigating the very thoughts behind the practiced religion. It is therefore natural to concentrate to a higher extent on the overall setting for it – the ritual dimension and the materiel dimension respectively. The ritual dimension and in particular its sacrificial aspect is traditionally divided into groups characterised by their significance level within the religion as such.1) The first and most “important” group consists of cult rituals. These are characterized by being calendar rites based on the myths of the religion or the history of the people, and by playing a part in the events of the year.2) The next group comprises transition rites (rite de passage), which follow the life cycle of the individual.3) The last group comprises rites of crises, which serve the purpose of averting danger, illness, etc.It is important to realize that the two first ritual groups are predictable cyclic rituals addressing the gods, the myths, and/or the people/the individual respectively. Only the third and least central group of rituals is determined by non-predictable and “not-always” occurring incidences. On this background, it becomes central to analyse, which category one is facing when one wants to assess its importance for the religion as such, in order to evaluate the primary character of the religion.In an attempt to understand the overall importance of a specific ritual practice, one cannot ignore a very complicated problem, which is to evaluate whether the sacrifices were practiced by single individuals or by a larger group of people as part of more common and society-supporting rituals. The issue of the relation between different sacrifice types and the groups causing these has been addressed repeatedly. Often, narrow physical interpretation frames as to who sacrificed what are advanced (i.e. Fig. 3). However, the question is how suitable are these very narrow and rigid interpretation models? As mentioned above, a sacrifice is defined by the intention (context) that caused it rather than by the specific physical form of the object!The above mentioned methodical and theoretical issues provide the background for the author’s investigation of the archaeological sources, in which he focused especially on the relationship between ritual actions as they are expressed in bog deposits and in burial grounds and measured them against the contemporary finds from the settle­ments.The analysis of the archaeological material is based on those find groups (sacrifices of cauldrons, magnificent chariots, humans, animals, metals, and weapons), which have traditionally been presented as a proof that society supporting and more community influenced ritual sacrifices were carried out beside the bogs.The examination of the material supports that sacrifices of cauldrons, magnificent chariots, humans, animals, and earthenware are found in both settlements and wetlands (Figs. 4-12), and that the deposits seem to follow superior ritual conventions, i.e. Fig. 2. The sacrifices were not made in fixed sacred places but in a momentary sacred context, which returns to its daily secular sphere once the rituals have been carried out. Often, the ceremony consists of a ritual cutting up of the sacrificed object, and the pars pro toto principle occurs completely integrated in connection with both burial customs, wetland sacrifice customs, and settlement sacrifice customs. Sacrifices often occur as an expression of a rite de passage connected to the structures, fields, or infrastructure of the village. However, the repeated finds of earthenware vessels, humans, and animals in both wetland areas and in the villages indicates that fertility sacrifices were made regularly as part of the cyclic agricultural world. This places the find groups in a central position when it comes to understanding the religious landscape of the Early Iron Age. In a lot of respects, the settlement finds appear as direct parallel material to the contemporary wetland-related sacrificial custom and so one must assume that major religious events also took place in the settlements, for instance when a human or a cauldron was handed over to the next world. Both the selection of sacrificial objects, the form of depositing, and the preceding ceremonial treatment seem to follow superior ritual structures applying to both funerary rites and wetland sacrifices in Iron Age society.Often, the individual settlement-related sacrificial find seems to be explained by everyday doings, as largely all sacrifice-related objects of the Early Iron Age have a natural affiliation with the settlement and the daily housekeeping. However, it is clear that if the overwhelming amount of data is made subject to a comprehensive and detailed contextual analysis, settlement related find groups and attached action patterns appear, which have direct parallels in the ritual interpretation platform of the bog context. These parallels cannot be explained by pure practical or coincidence-related explanation models!As opposed to ploughed-up Stone Age axe deposits or impressive bronze depots from the Bronze Age and gold depots from the Late Iron Age, a ploughed-up collection of either earthenware, bones, human parts, etc. are not easily explained as sacrificial deposits. However, much indicates that the sacrificial settlement deposits of the Iron Age were not placed very deeply, and so they occur in the arable soil of later times. We

Wczesna epoka żelaza

Fårehyrder, kvægbønder eller svineavlere – En revurdering jernalderens dyrehold

Summary This paper provides a preliminary description and discussion of the evidence for the Early Iron Age Chondwe group of the Zambian Copperbelt. Nineteen open sites and five rock-shelters have so far yielded the characteristic Chondwe group pottery. Schematic rock paintings and lenticular grinding grooves are also attributed to the Early Iron Age. The evidence for prehistoric copper mining in the Copperbelt region is discussed and it is concluded that this industry was conducted on a small scale by the Early Iron Age inhabitants.

Pottery technology in the Early Iron Age remains understudied in Slovenian archaeology, especially in the combined use of description on a macroscopic level with the addition of petrographic thin sections analysis. In this study we focused on pottery technology of vessels from two Early Iron Age sites in north-eastern Slovenia, Poštela near Maribor and Novine above Šentilj (NE Slovenia). We analysed the clay pastes, inclusions in the clay, as well as surface treatment, firing properties, vessels shape, and decoration techniques using macroscopic description and ceramic petrography. Within the sites we looked at the different contexts, comparing pottery from settlements, i.e. hillforts, to pottery found within the adjacent cemeteries. The results show that potters from the two contemporaneous sites produced similarly shaped vessels using different pottery recipes from locally available raw materials. The use of grog as a possible chronological marker in the Early Iron Age is also discussed.

Pottery technology in the Early Iron Age remains understudied in Slovenian archaeology, especially in the combined use of description on a macroscopic level with the addition of petrographic thin sections analysis. In this study we focused on pottery technology of vessels from two Early Iron Age sites in north-eastern Slovenia, Poštela near Maribor and Novine above Šentilj (NE Slovenia). We analysed the clay pastes, inclusions in the clay, as well as surface treatment, firing properties, vessels shape, and decoration techniques using macroscopic description and ceramic petrography. Within the sites we looked at the different contexts, comparing pottery from settlements, i.e. hillforts, to pottery found within the adjacent cemeteries. The results show that potters from the two contemporaneous sites produced similarly shaped vessels using different pottery recipes from locally available raw materials. The use of grog as a possible chronological marker in the Early Iron Age is also discussed.

PHILLIPSON, D. W. 1968. The early Iron Age site at Kapwirimbwe, Lusaka. Azania 3:87-106. VOGEL, J. 0. 1969. On early evidence of agriculture in southern Zambia. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 10:524. . 1970. Early Iron Age tools from Chundu Farm, Zambia. Azania 5:173-78. . 1971. Kumadzulo: An Early Iron Age village site in southern Zambia. Lusaka: Oxford University Press. . 1972. On Early Iron Age funerary practise in southern Zambia. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 13:583-86. . n.d. Simbusenga: The archaeology of the Intermediate Period in southern Zambia. Lusaka: Oxford University Press. In press.

A research team of the Institute of Archaeological Sciences of the Eötvös Loránd University continued the fieldwork between 1 September 2022 and 31 December 2023 on two Early and Middle Iron Age sites, Dédestapolcsány-Verebce-bérc and Dédestapolcsány-Várerdő, in the frame of a project investigating Early Iron Age crises. New excavation trenches were opened at the fortified settlement in the north of the Bükk Mountains (Northern Hungary). One was an extension of a trench opened in 2022, where remains of a burnt house had been identified. Metal detector surveys recovered some new fascinating stray metal finds (e.g., an akinakes, battle axes, and the bronze protective sheath of a sword) and new assemblages (iron tool deposits and a hoard of gold jewellery and amber beads). Eleven more graves were excavated in the cemetery (Várerdő) north of the coeval settlement. The most interesting grave was the burial of an adult man with rich grave goods such as an ironworking toolkit, pottery, and other items.

Iron Age ceramics from Thracian rock-cut complexes from Bulgaria – Mineral magnetic relics of technological production and use

Metalworking at Megiddo during the Late Bronze and Iron Ages

The site of Tell Atchana/Ancient Alalakh is located in the Amuq valley, now in the modern province of Hatay, in Southern Turkey. While it was previously thought that the site was abandoned towards the end of the Late Bronze Age, recent excavations at the site have demonstrated the presence of Iron Age levels, suggesting a prolonged period of occupation. This thesis presents a detailed analysis of the pottery assemblages excavated from the Iron Age levels of Alalakh; makes a major contribution to defining a new chronology for the site of Alalakh and sheds a new light on the last centuries of occupation. Based on the pottery assemblages this thesis proposes a new interpretation of the Early Iron Age period as being not a period of crisis and collapse but of accomplishment and regeneration. Moreover, by applying a more holistic and anthropological approach to the study of ceramics, this thesis investigates the patterns of consumption and of social dynamics in Early Iron Age Alalakh and links them within the broader regional framework of the Northern Levant. The morphological analysis carried out in this thesis defines a typology for the Iron Age pottery assemblages and establishes a relative chronology for the Iron Age levels. This enables the Iron Age settlement on Alalakh to be dated to the Iron Age I and II (12th-9th century BC). The functional analysis performed on the pottery assemblage recovered from square 42.10, the only square that yielded a reliable stratigraphy, results in the identification of the square as an open area devoted to the processing and consumption of food. This approach determines a change in the way food was cooked and displayed, but not in the way it was served and consumed. Finally this thesis draws conclusions related to continuity and change detectable in the local pottery assemblage and proposes a new historical narrative regarding Alalakh and the Amuq valley for the first centuries of the Early Iron Age.

Located in northeastern South Africa in the Kruger National Park, the wild-dominated faunal assemblages at Le6 and Le7 allow for a site-level examination of the treatment of wild species within the highly variable spectra of Early Iron Age animal use. Looking at hunting beyond pure subsistence choices, this paper couples traditional morphological analysis with taphonomic analysis and theoretical frameworks of intensification to ask new socially focussed zooarchaeological questions of these assemblages. Through this, both the procurement and processing methods utilized at Le6 and Le7 are identified and the significance of these choices is discussed. In so doing, the paper addresses possible specialization in both the hunting and the processing of large wild mammals. The socio-economic implications and potential drivers of these faunal choices are then considered within the broader context of the southern African Early Iron Age, and a potentially new faunal use strategy and site type are introduced.

Tree rings of 184 archaeological wood samples from two Late Bronze to early Iron Age lake sites at Lake Luokesa (Luokesai ežeras), Lithuania, Moletai district, were analyzed. Despite severe difficulties with synchronization, Pinus (pine), Quercus (oak) and Alnus (alder) yielded some cross-datable series. The general picture is that the settlers chose small trees as timber, which they used in their natural round shape. The trees did not grow in homogeneous even-aged stands, but show very different ages and growth levels. Despite the generally low numbers of tree rings in the individual samples, the strong archaeological framework allowed cross-dating of some series and the building of chronologies for single structures. Based on these attempts, a 90 year long first floating chronology of the settlement structures is presented. Luokesa Site 2 (L2) was mainly built within the relative year 53. Luokesa Site 1 (L1) was certainly in use from the relative year 74 onwards. All fences at L1 show their main building activity in the relative year 81, four years after the main building activities in the village itself. It can be concluded that the settlement L1 was in use for at least 16 years. Because of the lack of a standard dendrochronological curve for the Baltic region, wiggle-matching was applied to obtain an absolute date for both settlements. The data clearly show that all samples relate to the Late Bronze–early Iron Age. The period where all wiggle matching results overlap is the period between 625 and 535 bc (the 2σ ranges are given). Based on the dating, duration and timber characteristics of the occupation, comparisons with Polish early Iron Age sites are made, which indicate a close resemblance in terms of wood use and settlement concept.

Muldfjælsplovens tidlige historie – Fra yngre romersk jernalder til middelalder