Bronze Age Cultures Research Articles

Reconstructing Equine Bridles in the Mongolian Bronze Age

Archaeozoological remains provide a key dataset for understanding horse control in Mongolia's Deer Stone-Khirigsuur (DSK) Complex, a late Bronze Age culture dating to circa 1300–700 BC. Although no horse tack has been recovered from DSK contexts, archaeological finds from nearby areas of East and Central Asia suggest that a bridle with a noseband, soft organic bit, and rigid cheekpieces was used by late Bronze Age Mongolian herders. Osteological data from a sample of 25 ritually interred horse crania corroborate these inferences. Deformation to the bridge of the nose on several archaeological specimens suggests that DSK bridles incorporated a noseband, while limited damage to the premolars or diastema is consistent with organic mouthpiece use. A preliminary comparison between archaeological and contemporary horses ridden with known bridle equipment implies that osteological changes to the lateral margin of the premaxilla, present in the DSK sample, might have been produced by a rigid cheekpiece. This study highlights the promise of combining multiple lines of skeletal evidence with other archaeological data to reconstruct ancient equine bridles and tack.

Archeological Research at the Bağanalı Bronze Age Burial Site

The article examines results of research conducted at the Bağanalı Bronze Age burial site in the 2015 field season by the Qaratau section of the Scientific-Research Center of Archeology of the Khoja Ahmed Yasawi International Kazakh-Turkish University. New data on Bronze Age cultures of the southern regions of Kazakhstan were obtained. Characteristic features of the burial ritual, of burial format, and of design elements of implements were analyzed. The authors show that the Bağanalı burial site was left by an ancient population that had formed under the influence of bearers of various Andronovo cultural traditions. Ancient interconnections among populations of northern, central, and western Kazakhstan and the area along the Ural River [Priural’ia] can be discerned in this memorial site.

Крохалевская культура ранней бронзы на территории Кузнецкой котловины (специфика материального комплекса и хронология)

In 1992, V.V. Bobrov proposed a schedule of genesis of the Bronze Age cultures in Kuznetsk-Salair mountain area according which in Kuznetsk basin there were culture settlements. This culture includes the sites with so called false flat-bottomed ceramics (1st group) in forest-steppe zone and flat-bottomed ornamented with nail incisions (2nd group) in forest areas of Gornaya Shoriya: Pure false textile are found in the South of Lower Tom River area and at Dolgaya-1, Dolgaya-2, Ivanovka-1, Ivanovka-2, Sinerechka-1 sites and at the upstream end of the River Inya on the settlement Pomortsevo-2 and Ust-Urop. Together with the Inya-2 and Tanay-4 (Eastern Salair area), Lebedi-1 (middlestream of River Inya) and Kuznetsk-1/2 (South of Middle Tom River area) settlements, this limits the area of the sites with occupying the whole territory of the depression. Mountain regions of Shoriya and the South of Middle Tom River area were a contact zone for both traditions. Attributing the term Krokhalevo for forest-steppe sites with the first group ware, let us outline the cultural specifics of Taiga settlements within Mundybash type of ceramics of the Early Bronze Age. A part of ceramics on the Kuznetsk basin settlements can approach 100 % while on the settlements of Novosibirsk Ob River region it does not exceed 32.1 %. It again raises a question about the content of type ceramics and the cultural genesis of its components. All culture settlements are situated on low riverside terraces. There are no remains of dwellings in-depth in soil as on the Salair area sites. A specific characteristic of the Southern Lower Tom River area complexes are roundish or subrectangle pebble lining and shallow middens, as well as schistic-pebble pathways. On the settlements of Tom River area (Ivanovka -1, Ivanovka-2, Kuznetsk-1/2, Dolgaya-2), large locations for stone treatment have been found. This defines the sites of Kuznetsk basin as industrial settled centers. Stones tools were found everywhere and in very big amount. On the Tom River area settlements pebble material was very important. The most part of the collection are aerites with irregular removals, cortex flakes, flakes. Tool set includes pebble hammerstones, big flake knives, end-scrapers on flakes, sandstone abrasive slabs, large handaxes, grinded adzes, large crushing tools, subtriangular and leaf-like bifaces, single grinded knives of Baikal type. The part of blades among them is minimal. Bronze-casting production was not centralized. In Kuznetsk basin on the Krokholevo sites, as well as Novosibirsk Ob River region and Salair region settlements, single objects have been found which are associated with bronze-casting core fragments, smelting ladles, casting moulds. Some fragments have false-textile marks similar to those on the ware. Some casting moulds fragments from Dolgaya-1 settlement similarly to Umna-6 settlement in Novosibirsk Ob River area prove the production of spade-like celts. For the first time in the Isotope Center of the Department of Geology and Geo-Ecology in Herzen State Pedagogical University (Saint-Petersburg) three dates for false-texile culture from the South of Lower Tom River area were obtained: SPb_1532 (Ivanovka-1, ceramics) 3469±120, in calibrated values 2058-1504 BC (2a 92,8 %) and 1937-1638 BC (1a 68,2 %); SPb_1533 (Ivanovka-2, ceramics) 3599±120, or 2296-1638 BC (2a 95,4 %) and 2135-1868 BC (1a 55,6 %); SPb_571 (Dolgaya-2, deposites) 3550±100, or 2200-1600 BC (2a 95,4 %) and 2030-1750 BC (1a 68,2 %). Thus, the range of probable values includes the most of the first half of II millennium BC, but the complexes of false-textile ware could be dated to the last quarter of III millennium BC. This partly proves the synchronization of complexes with Krotovo, Samus and Elunino artifacts proposed earlier. In some cases, and Samus and Krotovo cultures ceramics have been found at the same settlements (Lebedi-1, Preobrazhenka-6 etc.), there are not typologically mixed complexes. A question arises about some possible mechanisms of coex-istance of Krokholevo people with their relatively archaic culture and more developed Samus, Krotovo and Elunino people in the common ecological niche of forest-steppe Ob River area.

Analytical Investigations on Silver, Copper and the Earliest Tin Bronzes from Ur

The present study is focused on the investigation of metal objects: particularly copper, arsenical copper, copper-tin alloys and silver objects excavated at the cemetery of Earl Bronze Age Ur in Mesopotamia. A key to understand economic and cultural relationships between Mesopotamia and other Early Bronze Age cultures lies in the analytical investigation of this archaeological objects having the potential to answer specific archaeological questions. One is the question of the Bronze Age raw material supply of the region in question which may be traceable through the archaeological material. The present results already point to the geological setting, in which the source regions for copper and silver from Ur are located.

Mesopotamian glass from Late Bronze Age Egypt, Romania, Germany, and Denmark

This article presents new evidence of the wide dispersion of Mesopotamian glass, 1400–1100 BCE. The chemical analyses of glass material from Amarna, Egypt, demonstrate that glass of Mesopotamian origin reached Egypt. The recently obtained physical evidence substantiates the words of the Amarna letters, referring to glass trade between Syria and Egypt. Furthermore, the chemical analyses of glass beads from Romania, Northern Germany and Denmark demonstrate that they were made of Mesopotamian glass. The current results presented here contribute to our understanding of the long distance exchange networks between the Mediterranean and the Nordic Bronze Age cultures. Finally, on the background of the analysis results it is proposed that the chemical composition of some of the beads in question indicates a mixture of glass of Mesopotamian and Egyptian origin. Probably, the mixture of the glass material took place at secondary workshops in the Mycenaean world.

Grave Matters: Mediating Corporeal Objects and Subjects through Mortuary Practices

Grave Matters: Mediating Corporeal Objects and Subjects through Mortuary Practices

Upper Palaeolithic genomes reveal deep roots of modern Eurasians.

We extend the scope of European palaeogenomics by sequencing the genomes of Late Upper Palaeolithic (13,300 years old, 1.4-fold coverage) and Mesolithic (9,700 years old, 15.4-fold) males from western Georgia in the Caucasus and a Late Upper Palaeolithic (13,700 years old, 9.5-fold) male from Switzerland. While we detect Late Palaeolithic–Mesolithic genomic continuity in both regions, we find that Caucasus hunter-gatherers (CHG) belong to a distinct ancient clade that split from western hunter-gatherers ∼45 kya, shortly after the expansion of anatomically modern humans into Europe and from the ancestors of Neolithic farmers ∼25 kya, around the Last Glacial Maximum. CHG genomes significantly contributed to the Yamnaya steppe herders who migrated into Europe ∼3,000 BC, supporting a formative Caucasus influence on this important Early Bronze age culture. CHG left their imprint on modern populations from the Caucasus and also central and south Asia possibly marking the arrival of Indo-Aryan languages.

Genetic evidence for an origin of the Armenians from Bronze Age mixing of multiple populations.

The Armenians are a culturally isolated population who historically inhabited a region in the Near East bounded by the Mediterranean and Black seas and the Caucasus, but remain under-represented in genetic studies and have a complex history including a major geographic displacement during World War I. Here, we analyse genome-wide variation in 173 Armenians and compare them with 78 other worldwide populations. We find that Armenians form a distinctive cluster linking the Near East, Europe, and the Caucasus. We show that Armenian diversity can be explained by several mixtures of Eurasian populations that occurred between ~3000 and ~2000 bce, a period characterized by major population migrations after the domestication of the horse, appearance of chariots, and the rise of advanced civilizations in the Near East. However, genetic signals of population mixture cease after ~1200 bce when Bronze Age civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean world suddenly and violently collapsed. Armenians have since remained isolated and genetic structure within the population developed ~500 years ago when Armenia was divided between the Ottomans and the Safavid Empire in Iran. Finally, we show that Armenians have higher genetic affinity to Neolithic Europeans than other present-day Near Easterners, and that 29% of Armenian ancestry may originate from an ancestral population that is best represented by Neolithic Europeans.

The collapse of the Únětice culture: economic explanation based on the “Dutch disease”

Most explanations of social collapse highlight the ecological strain or the role of economic stratification but they hardly try to establish a link between the origins of prosperity and the causes of collapse. Our purpose is to establish such link, i.e. to provide an ex planation of collapse based on the origin of prosperity. For cultures of the Bronze Age, the prosperity came from metalworking, i.e. initially from a mining boom and then to the subsequent activities (bronze production) it allowed. In such context, the collapse can be the result of an economic crisis known in modern economic analysis as the Dutch Disease, a term that broadly refers to the harmful consequences of large increases in a country's income. Such explanation is particularly well suited to spell out the collapse of a Central European Early Bronze Age culture, the Unětice culture (2300-1600 B.C.).

THE FIRST SYSTEMATIC EXCAVATIONS ON SUCHU ISLAND AND RADIOCARBON DATES OF THE SITE (1972)

The article presents unpublished findings on the 1972 systematic excavations at a radiocarbon-dated Neolithic site on Suchu Island, Khabarovsk Region. Stratigraphy, dwellings associated with the Malyshevo culture (4th–3rd millennia BC), typological and functional properties of stone tools, cultural and chronological attribution of ceramics and of clay artifacts relating to art and ritual are discussed, with reference to parallels from other Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of the region.

Opening the Bronze Age world

In the above paper by Johan Ling and Zofia Stos-Gale, an object seen in a number of Swedish rock paintings and carvings is understood to be a representation of the so-called oxhide shaped ingot of the eastern Mediterranean Minoan-Mycenaean Bronze Age culture.

The Last 15,000 Years: Climate-Controlled and “Rare-Event”-Triggered/Rise and Fall of Holocene Cultures in the Near/Middle East and in Central Europe—Evidence and Background

Pushed by the results of a preceding publication on the possibly Quaternary Jebel Waqf as Suwwan Meteorite Crater, Jordan [5], where an amazing coincidence of Rapid Climate Changes (RCCs) with Rise and Fall of Neolithic and Bronze Age Cultures became evident for the Near/Middle East, this paper deals with the same subject, however, relating to the complete Holocene period in the same area and, additionally, in Central Europe as well. By application of modern climatic data [6] comprising isotope analysis (δ18O, 14C, 10Be), acid and aerosol events, and greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4) Greenland ice cores as well as other astro-/geophysical and geological parameters, an overwhelming coincidence/relation/interdependence of both natural and cultural evidences becomes obvious throughout the last 15,000 years across the Northern Hemisphere. Apart from solar output and other astrophysical processes, most important climate- and Earth-related parameters are Mega-Volcanism (i.e.Santorini Greece: ~3640 yr cal. B. P.), Impact Events (i.e. during Mesolithic: ~9600 yr cal. B. P), rapid oceanic current change (DO-Events), and Plate Tectonics (possibly Atlantis-Event: ~11,500 yr cal. B.P. = Pleistocene/Holocene boundary). The most essential parameter is a significant temperature change related to more or less restricted latitude realms of the Northern Hemisphere. Thus, glacier advance/retreat controls the mobility of peoples (i.e. Nations' Migration, Teutonic Empires) and the access to ore deposits (Au, Ag, Cu, Sn, Zn, Pb, Fe) located in Alpine Mountain Ranges (i.e. End-Neolithic, Early Bronze Age). Myths like the Gilgamesh Epos and John Apocalypse convincingly reveal realistic contents relating to natural hazards like tsunamis, impact and flooding events. They unmisunderstandably make obvious that Myths may provide valuable contributions, especially to Geosciences. Some of the controlling parameters interrelate with others or present a kind of hierarchy: Mega-Volcanism/impact events a ejecta a wildfires, heat storms a cosmic winter, sint winter a stop of photosynthesis a mass extinction environmental pollution a greenhouse effects. Significant events (21 cases in total) occurred on i.e.

A ‘Perfect Storm’ in the Collapse of Bronze Age Civilization? Useful Insights and Roads not Taken

A Review Essay on 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H. Cline (Princeton University Press)

Palynological and sedimentological evidence from the Trans-Ural steppe (Russia) and its palaeoecological implications for the sudden emergence of Bronze Age sedentarism

At the turn of the second to the third millennium bc, fortified and systematically organized settlements along with a developed metallurgy emerged in the Trans-Ural steppe. In order to reconstruct the related vegetation and climatic changes in the area and to detect effects of human impact during the respective Bronze-Age Sintashta-Petrovka and Srubnaya-Alakul cultures (2100–1650 cal bc), palynological and sedimentological investigations accompanying archaeological excavations were carried out. Statistical analyses of pollen spectra from two sediment cores in the immediate vicinity of the settlement Kamennyi Ambar demonstrate substantial similarities in Bronze Age and present vegetation covers. Higher percentages of arboreal pollen, especially in respect of deciduous trees, and consistently high values of Artemisia within the regional spectra suggest that Bronze Age cultures developed in a relatively humid environment. Simultaneously, higher values of Chenopodiaceae, Plantago and Cichorioideae point to steppe degradation at local scales, whereas regional vegetation appears to have been relatively unaffected by human activities. Although more than 30 localities in the micro-region of Karagaily Ayat were analyzed, none of these sediment cores accounts for a continuous sedimentation during the last 9,000 years. Our results reveal that climatic fluctuations are not always directly reflected by sediment formation, with many non-climatic factors, such as post-sedimentary processes, local morphology and erosion believed to be crucial. Only the use of high resolution AMS radiocarbon dating is suitable to detect hiatuses, hence providing a valuable clue to the interpretation of palaeoenvironmental conditions.

Fantastic Predator of Kalbak – Tash (High Altai Mountains): Göbekli Tepe Parallels

Mountain Kalbak-Tash − it is a unique monument of rock art in High Altai Mountains. The aim of the research is to reveal the presence of traces «of the bridges of cultural contacts» between the West and the East of the ancient Eurasia on the example of analysis of the semantics of one fascinating rock art image of Kalbak-Tash: fantastic predators of syncretic nature. According to recent archaeological investigations the image of a fantastic predator appeared in the Neolithic Turkey. The appearance of the fantastic predator image found by the archaeologists on the one of Göbekly-Tepe temple columns let as assume that gradually over time this image has acquired both chthonic and astral features. Similar features have Kalbak-Tash and Okunev (Yenisei river basin) fantastic predators. It can be also assumed that the image of Fantastic predators has reached the territory of South Siberia through the Caucasus “bridge of contacts”. This “bridge of contacts” existed between the West and the East of Eurasia during the long period. Its existence reveals the cross-communization problem. Population of ancient Eurasia was bound by cultural contacts. The mythological image of fantastic predator acquired features of the «Lord of the Universe» in South Siberian culture of Bronze age. The image of the fantastic predator of syncretic nature appears alongside the image of a mythical hero in rock art of Altai (Kalbak-Tash).

The Late Krotovo (Cherno-ozerye) Culture in the Irtysh Forest-steppe, Western Siberia

The study explores the origins and evolution of the Late Krotovo (Cherno-Ozerye) – a Middle Bronze Age culture in the Irtysh drainage. The Late Krotovo culture emerged in the late 3rd – early 2nd millennium BC in the Baraba forest-steppe as the final stage of the Krotovo culture proper. The people associated with the Late Krotovo were natives influenced, first indirectly and then directly, by the Andronovo (Fedorovka) tribes. The Andronovo impact is mirrored by the material culture, burial rites, decorative art, and paleogenetics. The outcome of the interaction constitutes a new archaeological phenomenon, represented by sites such as Cherno-Ozerye-1 and Tartas-1.

A Comparative Study of 14C Dating on Charcoal and Charred Seeds from Late Neolithic and Bronze Age Sites in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces, NW China

The chronology of the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures in Gansu and Qinghai provinces, northwest China, is mainly based on conventional radiocarbon dates from unidentified charcoal, which may be inaccurate in view of the possible “old wood” problem of 14C dating. To discuss the reliability of the chronology of those prehistoric cultures, accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates of short-lived charred seeds were compared to conventional 14C dates of unidentified charcoal from the same flotation samples in 15 Late Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in the area. The results show that 14C dates of unidentified charcoal are obviously older than those of charred seeds in 5 of the 15 flotation samples. This work suggests that the old-wood problem of 14C dating might be related to human subsistence strategies and local vegetation variation during different prehistoric cultural periods in Gansu and Qinghai provinces, which should be discussed before establishing the chronology of Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures in the area.

Eskimo Art Prototypes in the Chinese Neolithic: A Comparison of Okvik/Old Bering Sea and Liangzhu Ritual Art

One of the central decorative features of the Okvik/Old Bering Sea (OBS) Eskimo art is a theriomorphic design with an eyelike circle-dot motif. Seventy-five years ago, Henry B. Collins proposed the resemblance between OBS animal motifs and the Taotie (or t'ao t'ieh) faces on Chinese Shang and Zhou bronze wares. However, today his conclusion is based on outdated archaeological data. New evidence in recent decades indicates that the Chinese Bronze Age Taotie originated from mask-like imagery on jade objects of the Liangzhu Neolithic culture, third millennium BC in the Lower Yangtze River region. Comparative studies suggest more similarities in artistic designs between Okvik/OBS and Liangzhu jade than between Okvik/OBS culture and the Shang/Zhou Bronze Age cultures. The prototype theriomorphic design in Okvik/OBS Eskimo art, therefore, may originate from Liangzhu rather than from Shang and Zhou.

Reservoir Effect of Archaeological Samples from Steppe Bronze Age Cultures in Southern Russia

Human and animal bone collagen from different Steppe Bronze Age cultures, including the Yamnaya, East Manych Catacomb, and Lola cultures, show large variations in δ13C and δ15N values. More positive values of δ13C and δ15N are caused by change in diet and/or a more arid climate. Human bones show reservoir effects caused by aquatic diet components. These effects can be quantified by paired dating of human bone and associated terrestrial samples. Previous research showed reservoir corrections for several cultures of the Eurasian steppes Bronze Age, leading to a revision of the local chronologies. Additional investigations showed that some paired dates do not reveal reservoir effects. Recently, our database was extended significantly with new13C,l5N, and14C analyses of the Lola, Krivaya, and Babino cultures. The size of the reservoir offset for the studied cultures is discussed.

Reservoir Effect of Archaeological Samples from Steppe Bronze Age Cultures in Southern Russia

Human and animal bone collagen from different Steppe Bronze Age cultures, including the Yamnaya, East Manych Catacomb, and Lola cultures, show large variations in δ13C and δ15N values. More positive values of δ13C and δ15N are caused by change in diet and/or a more arid climate. Human bones show reservoir effects caused by aquatic diet components. These effects can be quantified by paired dating of human bone and associated terrestrial samples. Previous research showed reservoir corrections for several cultures of the Eurasian steppes Bronze Age, leading to a revision of the local chronologies. Additional investigations showed that some paired dates do not reveal reservoir effects. Recently, our database was extended significantly with new13C,l5N, and14C analyses of the Lola, Krivaya, and Babino cultures. The size of the reservoir offset for the studied cultures is discussed.