Amber Beads Research Articles

Myrhøj, 3 hustomter med klokkebægerkeramik

Myrhøj, 3 hustomter med klokkebægerkeramik

Grave med teltformet overbygning fra tidlig-neolitisk tid

Grave med teltformet overbygning fra tidlig-neolitisk tid

An Insect Fauna of Late Bronze Age Date from Wilsford, Wiltshire

The Wilsford shaft, discovered at Normanton Gorse, Wiltshire, was first described by Ashbee (1963). It is one of the earlier of a series of artificial shafts or ritual wells which are a feature of later prehistoric Europe (Schwarz 1962; Piggott 1965). They are either associated with ceremonial structures and burials, or else are in isolation. Cults centring upon them were current in Roman times. The English examples, their associations and usages, have recently been discussed by Ross (1967 s.v.). Before excavation, the Wilsford shaft was a 'pond-barrow', i.e. a circular dish-like depression surrounded by a bank which had been destroyed by total agriculture. Such 'barrows', some of considerable size, are a regular feature of the barrow cemeteries about Stonehenge (Piggott 1951, Fig. 1) and are found elsewhere in Wiltshire. Excavation of this pond-barrow disclosed an inverted conical cavity which proved to be the weathering cone of a vertical, cylindrical shaft 6 ft in diameter and almost 100 ft (30 m ) deep (Fig. 1). At this depth a fault in the chalk through which water could enter the shaft was encountered and this may have been the reason that the original excavators stopped digging. The shaft had been dug in vertical stages, and checked by plumbing and a template. Deep antler pick marks showed where deviations from the vertical had been corrected and the sides had been dressed with a broad-bladed metal axe. Seams of flint had been broken through. Near the top of the shaft artifacts of Recent, Roman and Iron Age cultures were recovered while at about 60 ft the greater part of a late Bronze Age pot was found. The bottom of the shaft contained a considerable quantity of organic material. This included much wood, both the remains of fabricated containers and also timber, broken branches, twigs and other pieces. Also present were seeds, leaves, cereal straw, moss, possibly fungi and pollen as well as pieces of rope and hide. Artifacts included a shale ring, bone pins and amber beads. Until the time of its excavation by Mr Ashbee and his colleagues the lowest part of the shaft's contents appears to have been more or less continuously waterlogged, thus being preserved in conditions normally only met with in bogs and lakes. This would account for the remarkably fine state of preservation of the insect remains. A sample consisting of pieces of wood collected at depths between 96 ft 6 in. and 97 ft 6 in. (29.4 m and 29*8 m) was submitted to the National Physical Laboratory for radiocarbon dating and an age of 3330 + 90 B.P. was obtained (N.P.L. 74) (Ashbee 1966). It was from this layer that the insect remains described here were obtained. The material examined, which was all recovered from the bottom 6 ft (1 8 m) of the shaft, filled eighteen jars and consisted of a mixture of silt, small fragments of chalk and a mass of comminuted wood and other vegetable matter. It had been mixed with water, alcohol and glycerine to preserve it. It was estimated that the volume of this sludge examined for insects was about 23 1.

Jættestuen Jordhøj

Jættestuen Jordhøj

Furreby-hjulet

The Furreby Wheel In the summer of 1959 I found a little bronze wheel at Furreby in Vendsyssel. It lay on a wind-blown slope by the sea among potsherds from the Roman Iron-Age, arrowheads and sherds from the Late Neolithic, and steatite sherds from the Viking Period.The wheel (Figs. 1 .and 2: 1) is of the same type as the wheels on the Oseberg wagon (and one from Lindholm Høje) (fig. 2: 2-3) which have a large hub and a broad fellow, consisting of several pieces fixed together by dowels. The number of spokes is the same, 12, and there are also 12 spokes on a similar wheel from Grave 844 at Birka fig. 2: 4-7. We know from Birka that wheels of this type occur in women's graves and that they hung on the breast suspended from the neck by a chain or string, employing either the hole in the hub or an eye in the felloe. Judging by the stylized Carolingian plant ornamentation, the Furreby wheel, which must be considered a native product, should be assigned to the period around or just following 900 A. D.Wheel ornaments occur in all prehistoric periods subsequent to the invention of the spoked wheel and, in Lapland at least, also in the Early Middle Ages.The Anglo-Saxons, Merovingians and Alamanni were sometimes buried with miniature wheels. In the case of the Alamanni, they occur exclusively in women's graves, having featured as decorative discs on small round bags which hung on a chain from the belt. Similar discs have been recovered from Nordic finds (e. g. Gotland and Bornholm). Contemporary with and accompanying the Nordic gold bracteates, there are also small wheel­shaped ornaments of gold. From the Roman Iron-Age there are numerous finely deco­rated wheel ornaments.In Yugoslavia, the rich grave of an Illyrian prince of the Early Iron Age contained a small wheel with a string of amber beads (fig. 4: 5). Small wheels could also hang on fibulae in that period (fig. 4: 1-2). From the Pre-Roman Iron Age, wheels with an eye for suspension are relatively common in Denmark, especially the type with a large hub­ring in the centre (fig. 4: 3) -a type which was current in South Germany as early as Period II of the Bronze Age (fig. 4: 4).In the Bronze Age, wheel ornaments could be found in most of Europe (and Asia) ­especially in the Urnfield and Hallstatt Periods (fig. 5: 1-2). In Scandinavia, examples have been found at Härnevi in Uppland and Magleby, Nørrekjær in Zealand (fig. 5: 3). Wheel­shaped discs for attachment to the cheek guards of horses' bits also occur.It seems that the origin of wheel ornaments should be sought in the Early Bronze Age. They are commonly found in Mycenean graves (fig. 6: 1-3), and have perhaps, like the Mycenean chariots with spoked wheels, their origin in Anatolia or the Orient. From Mycenae, the custom of bearing wheel ornaments spread into Europe, often in connection with the amber trade. Suddenly, they occur in connection with wheel pins, (fig. 6: 4), which presumably originated as a cross between Unêtice pins with a disc-shaped head and wheel pendants.From this period, there is a unique Danish find of a bronze wheel in an oak-coffin burial, the wheel apparently having lain on the breast of the interred woman. The size of the wheel (17.7 cm. in diameter) exceeds both that of the miniature wagon-wheels and of the other wheel ornaments, but this large wheel seems nevertheless to belong to the latter group.The conventional interpretation of the wheel ornaments is that they are sun emblems, which is in fact the case with the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians, where they hang in necklaces with symbols of the planet Venus and the moon (fig. 8: 1-2). On the other hand, the wheel meant something quite different to the Iranians, whose four-spoked wheel was the earth wheel and six-spoked wheel the celestial wheel. In Christian art the wheel attains a new significance: the four-spoked wheel is the victory cross and the six-spoked the monogram of Christ. To the Gauls, the wheel was the emblem of the sky- and thunder god Taranis, and for the Buddhists the eight-spoked wheel is the symbol of the eightfold path to the attainment of Nirvana. Among the Romans, small wheels were borne by both children and soldiers as protective amulets, and to the present day wheels figure as pendants on horse harness, to ward off the "evil eye".It is therefore very difficult to say what significance a wheel ornament has had for its wearer, especially when it is found out of context. It would seem too hazardous to take refuge in the sun theory, when so many other interpretations are possible.Søren Krogh

A Palstave and Amber Bead from Colchester, Essex

The removal in 1937 of a hedge bank on the west side of Glen Avenue, Colchester, close by the footpath through Glebe Farm (N.G. Ref. TL 976253) led to the discovery of a small palstave with an amber bead adhering to the septum floor (Colchester and Essex Museum, Ace. No. 916. 1937; see pl. 1). Presumably, the palstave and associated bead came from the soil in the adjacent field from which the hedge bank was doubtless constructed.

Lundegårde-gravpladsen fra yngre jernalder

The Lundegaarde cemetery from the Late Roman Iron Age The Late Roman Iron-Age cemetery at Lundegaarde (Nøvling parish, East Himmerland) lies on the top of a hill between three Bronze-Age tumuli. Excavation, by the author for Aalborg Historical Museum, began in summer 1963 and will be continued, as burials from the Late Roman Iron Age have hitherto been a rarity in Himmerland, whereas those from the preceding period are common. The reason for this may be that Early Roman Iron-Age graves are set with large stones, whereas the Late Roman Iron-Age graves are almost stonefree and therefore more easily overlooked.This preliminary account is therefore only given to provide an archeological basis for the subsequent discussion of the runic inscription on the rosette fibula found in Grave 4 (Fig. 3).This grave was, exceptionally, surrounded by stones, leaning inward against each other and almost roofing the grave. Slight traces of the body showed that it lay outstretched on its back, with head to the west. Strings of beads at each shoulder must have been borne over the shoulder, as they lay under and over the bones. That on the right was of 48 amber beads, and that on the left of 91 glass and 32 amber beads. Two small silver fibulae, too corroded to be typed, lay by the left shoulder, and the rosette fibula, of silver with gold inlay on the rosettes and the band above the sheath lay by the right shoulder. After conservation it could be seen that the broad pin-sheath bore a runic inscription.The other contents of the grave were two decorated pottery vessels (Fig. 4), fragments of a knife with oval silver pommel, a single-edged iron knife and a bronze dipper or sieve.The rosette fibula is of a special Scandinavian type which seems to have been most common in the beginning of the Third Century AD but known and used until the end of the century 3). Three other specimens with runic inscriptions are known, all from rich earth-graves at Himlingøje, Værløse and Næsbjerg. The Lundegaarde fibula is of the same type as that from Himlingøje, and resembles another newly found at the Gammel Hasseris grave! pit near Aalborg (Fig. 5).The pottery from Grave 4 belongs in both shape and ornamentation to a North Jutland pottery group with South Norwegian affiliations, which is dated by Mackeprang to the Third Century A. D. 4). Pottery from all other graves in the cemetery is of the same type and date, with the exception of one cremation of Early Germanic Iron-Age date.Oscar Marseen

Hjulgraven fra Storehøj ved Tobøl i Ribe Amt

Hjulgraven fra Storehøj ved Tobøl i Ribe Amt

Årupgårdfundet

The Årupgård HoardIn October 1958, in the course of gravel digging at Årupgård near Horsens in Jutland, the pieces of a pottery vessel containing amber beads and copper ornaments were found. The potsherds could be reconstructed, to form an undecorated lugged vase with 5 lugs placed low on the body (Fig. 2). Similar lugged vases are known in Denmark, from settlement sites and peat-bog deposits, but they vary greatly in size, ornamentation and number of lugs 1)-12). Apart from a single lugged vase from Rügen 13) no similar vases are known outside Denmark. The Årupgård vase must have been produced by non-megalithic funnelbeaker people of Jutland in Early Neolithic Period C or in the beginning of the Middle Neolithic 18) 19).The amber in the hoard consists of 271 beads and 177 fragments. They can be divided into unformed lumps with the appearance of natural amber, and cylindrical and conical beads where the amber has been shaped to these forms. Their appearance is shown in Table 1 and Figs. 3-6. All types of beads here represented are known from Early Neolithic times in Denmark 21). To judge by the marks of wear the beads have formed parts of necklaces. 57 amber hoards from this prehistoric period are known on Danish soil, containing greatly varying numbers of beads 23).The copper objects comprise 2 spiral finger-rings, 2 long spiral cylinders, 3 small spiral cylinders and one cylinder of copper sheeting (Fig. 7). In the latter was found pollen susceptible to analysis (p. 17). With its large proportion of Plantago lanceolata this pollen shows that the wearer of the copper ornament spent his (or her) time mainly in a landscape of common-land type.While the pottery vessel and the amber beads must have been produced in Denmark the copper ornaments must have been imported. Of objects of copper about fifty axes are known from unassociated finds on Danish soil 38). At Bygholm, only 4 kms. from Årupgård, the wellknown Bygholm hoard was discovered in 1924 (Fig. 8). At Søby Heath a copper axe and a spiral ribbon of the same metal have been excavated 40), from the Barkær settlement some small fragments of copper sheeting are known 41), and in a grave at Salten the remains of a disc-shaped copper ornament were found 42). The Salten ornament, the Barkær copper and the Årupgård ornaments belong to the non-megalitihic Period C (or perhaps D), and the Bygholm board must be attributed to the Late Dolmen Period 45) or the beginning of the Passage-Grave Period 46), and is thus contemporary with or later than the Årupgård hoard.Copper spiral rings and cylinders of the Årupgård type have been found at many points in Europe, and from the Early Neolithic Period they are particularly known from the Alpine and Danube cultures 48). Spiral rings of copper do not appear to occur within the area of the Southwest European cultures 51). During the following periods spiral rings and cylinders spread over Europe, first in copper and later in bronze, and occur commonly throughout the Bronze Age 52). At Riesebusch, Skarbnice and Stollhof copper hoards have been found which link the Årupgård and Bygholm hoards together typologically. Spectroscopic analysis (Table 2) shows that the copper from Årupgård, Bygholm and Riesebusch originally came from the copper mines at Zwickau, as a similar copper ore with arsenic content can be found there 58). The Årupgård ornaments may have been made at many different places in Europe, though probably within the Alpine or Danube cultures. In this connection attention is particularly paid to the Theiss variants in Saxony, Thuringia, Silecia, Bohemia, Moravia, Poland and Hungary 61). The copper objects must have been conveyed by river routes to the Baltic, and then along the coast to Horsens Fjord 68) 69). They may there have been traded for amber and flint 70) 71). The hoard may have belonged either to a man or a woman 76), and can be either a concealed depot or a votive offering. Bent Sylvest and Inger Sylvest.

The amber beads

It has long been axiomatic that amber is seldom found in Crete, and it is therefore of some interest to be able to record amber beads in two of the Gypsades tombs, Nos. II and VII. In Mycenaean sites on the mainland of Greece amber beads of different shapes are found in great numbers and so frequently as to appear a fairly constant feature of these sites; certainly as much as faience and rather more so than lapis lazuli, an exotic from Asia.In the shaft-graves of both the new and old grave circles at Mycenae amber is plentiful and thereafter at Prosymna in graves dating from Late Helladic I to Late Helladic III; and this is characteristic of all the principal sites, though the number of beads found may be much smaller. Amber is also particularly plentiful on the west coast of the Peloponnese: at Kakovatos in Elis, in tholos A (dated L.H. IIA); at Epano Englianos in western Messenia, in the tholos excavated by Lord William Taylour, close to the palace, and dated to the fifteenth century or earlier, in which about 360 beads were recovered; and in the second tholos recently excavated by Professor Marinatos at Myrsinochorion in the same area. Farther north there was much in the Ionian Islands, particularly in Cephalonia; and a little has been found in Epirus.

Appendix: Report on amber beads from Aegean sites

The amber beads were examined with a view to determining the origin of the amber—in particular to distinguish between Prussian and Sicilian amber. The samples were compared with specimens of Prussian and Sicilian amber of authenticated origin as controls.A. Appearance under ultra-violet lightAll the samples and the controls showed the same superficial dull-yellow fluorescence except samples 1 and 6, which were darkish brown in colour. When a fresh surface was exposed by removal of the outer brittle crust, all samples showed a greyish-blue fluorescence. Finally, when the samples (with the exception of no. 6) were cut in half, the central areas showed a milky white fluorescence. This area was particularly prominent in the case of the Sicilian sample, in which the greyish-blue fluorescence was confined to a very thin zone.The phenomena observed in the case both of samples and of the control specimens were so similar that no conclusions could be drawn about the origin of the amber beads.

Stenaldergrav fra Gabøl

A Stone Age Grave from Gabøl, with Jutland and Swedish BattleaxesIn 1939 Haderslev County Museum investigated an overploughed burial tumulus near the village of Gabøl in North Schleswig. In addition to several secondary Bronze Age burials in the outer edges of the tumulus a large stone setting was found in the centre (fig. 1, no. 8), presumably the remains of an Early Bronze Age oak-coffin burial. Under this was found the primary grave of the tumulus, a Single Grave, which appeared as an excavation in the subsoil sand, 2.55 metres long, up to 0.87 metres wide and 0.12 metres deep (fig. 1, no. 13). No stone had been employed, but at the bottom and sides the carbonised remains of a wooden coffin were found. At the bottom of the grave the very faint traces of a least one skeleton were found, lying with its head to the northwest, with somewhat flexed legs. It was impossible to determine with certainty whether one or two persons had been buried in this grave. In the grave, no. 13, two battleaxes were found; in the southern corner lay the axe illustrated in fig. 4, and in the opposite corner that shown in fig. 3. In addition two small amber beads were found (nos. 12 and 15, cf. fig. 5 a-b).Southeast of grave 13 still another excavation in the subsoil was found, no. 13 a. It was 1.45 metres long, 0.75 metres wide and up to 0.22 metres deep. It contained traces of wooden planks and a number of stones (fig. 2, in background). It has not proved possible to determine with certainty how this excavation should be interpreted. It may belong to grave 13, or may instead be the result of later intrusion; it was in any case covered by the Bronze Age grave no. 8, which was apparently undisturbed.Even though there thus appear to be points of uncertainty in the interpretation of the grave-complex from Gabøl as a whole, there seems to be no doubt at all that grave 13 was undisturbed, and that the two battleaxes were deposited at the same time. Fig. 3 is a normal Jutland Single-Grave axe from the Late Ground-Grave Period (Glob 3), Type I 3a) whereas fig. 4 is a Swedish boat-axe. This latter appears to belong to Oldeberg's Group E, and must in any case be regarded as of one of the later Swedish types.Four times previously have Swedish battleaxes been found in tumuli or graves in Jutland 9-13) but under circumstances which did not allow of chronological conclusions. The grave from Gabøl gives for the first time an unambiguous contact between phases of the Jutland and the Swedish Single­Grave Cultures, and shows that the Late Ground-Grave Period in Jutland corresponds to the later period of the Swedish boat-axes.C. J. Becker

Fra tomten af en sløjfet høj

Fra tomten af en sløjfet høj

The Final Bronze Age in the Near East and in Temperate Europe

When ten years ago I discussed the absolute chronology of the European Bronze Age, I took the amber beads from Kakovatos as providing a terminus ante quem about 1450 B.C. for its ‘Early’ phase and accepted the appearance in the East Mediterranean area of cremation burial in urn-fields, cut-and-thrust swords (fig. 1), safety-pins (fig. 3), turban dishes and urns with ribbed or twisted handles as indicative of a similar limit about 1250 B.C. for the beginning of the Late Bronze Age. The first date has subsequently been confirmed and given precision in a satisfactory manner. In his paper on ‘The Early Bronze Age in Wessex’ Piggott showed how his Wessex culture could be cross-dated by Aegean contacts. On the one hand many Wessex graves contain segmented faience beads imported from the East Mediterranean and plausibly dated there about 1400 B.C.: on the other, graves of the same culture at Normanton and Manton were furnished with gold-bound amber discs identical in form and size with one from a L.M. II tomb at Knossos. Assuming the latter to be a British import, it gave 1450 as a terminus ante quem for the rise of the Wessex culture. At the same time British types in Central Europe and Unětician types in Wessex barrows, established a synchronism between the Wessex culture and the advanced phase of the Early Bronze Age cultures of the Danubian area (in typological terms Reinecke's phase A2), to which phase the Perjamos grave at Ószentivan, containing imported segmented faience beads, identical with those from Wessex and therefore also datable about 1400, should be assigned.

Meare Lake Village, Somerset

WORK has been resumed at the Meare Lake Village, Somerset, for the season of 1938 under the direction of Dr. Arthur Bulleid and Mr. H. St. George Gray, and will continue until September 17. Operations this year are being concentrated on the middle area of the eastern half of the village, and at the moment, it is reported in The Times of September 2, the dwelling known as No. xxiv is under examination. In the southern section of this dwelling three floors can be seen. Two hearths have been uncovered while near by there is a third, which belongs to the lowest floor. A number of lias stones have been found lying about this hearth. One of these is in an upright position. It is conjectured that it may have been the back of a seat set around the fire. On the east side of this hearth parallel timbers of oak lie on the surface of the peat. The small finds indicate that the inhabitants of the dwelling followed the occupation of weavers. Sawn and cut lengths of red deer antler and several pieces of iron are included among the finds, as well as the rim of a bowl in bronze. Personal ornaments are represented by a spiral finger ring of bronze, and an amber bead inlaid with a spiral ornament in fused white material. Funds for the continuation of the excavations are urgently needed. It is much to be desired that the investigation of this important Iron Age site should be in no way hampered or delayed by lack of funds, for the results of investigations of the western half of the village have been prepared for publication and will be issued shortly. Their value will be impaired if investigation of the village as a whole falls short of completeness. Subscriptions may be sent to Mr. H. St. George Gray, The Castle Taunton.

A Bronze Age Hoard from Glen Trool, Stewartry of Kirkcudbright

The objects consisted of a rapier blade, a spear-head, a flanged axe, a knife, two small chisels or punches, two small bars of square section, a razor, a pin, and fragments of a twisted tore, all of bronze, and a number of amber beads. Some time later a second razor and two beads, one of glass and the other of amber, were found. This group of relics consists of a series of weapons, tools, instruments of toilet, and ornaments which belonged to, and were used by, a single individual, and consequently is to be classified as a personal hoard in contradistinction to the stock of a merchant or founder.

Notes on Dun an Iardhard, a Broch near Dunvegan, excavated by Countess Vincent Baillet de Latour, Uiginish Lodge, Skye

In contrast with many of the duns in Skye this example is only slight elevated. The interior was completely filled by fallen masonry all of which was removed. The main entrance is flanked by projecting masonry, and guard chambers either side. The diameter is 174 feet and the surviving height of the broch is 29 feet. Artefacts included a necklace of amber beads, a steatite armlet, a quernstone, a whetstone, animal bone, decorated pottery and a lot of iron slag.