Bronze Age Occupation Research Articles

Gradiometry survey and magnetic anomaly testing of Castros de Neixón, Galicia, Spain

During the summer of 2011, a geophysical survey with subsequent magnetic anomaly testing was conducted in Northwest Iberia, in the province of Galicia, Spain, the most extensive evaluation of its kind to be performed on a Castro Culture hill fort with distinct Bronze and Iron Age occupations. The investigation focused on determining the spatial extent, occupation, and use of the multicomponent Bronze and Iron Age hill fort site(s) of Castros de Neixón.A Geoscan Research FM36 Fluxgate Gradiometer was used successfully to measure and identify magnetic anomalies interpreted as potential archaeological features within the occupation areas.Over 400 monopole and dipole magnetic anomalies were detected, many of which have been interpreted as representing pits, ditches, palisades, hearths and a possible corral. A parallel defensive ditch with zig-zag entrance was located north of the occupation at Castro de Neixón Grande. Subsurface testing of a promising monopole anomaly revealed a large storage pit with artifacts dating to the Castro period. New research since the 1990s has opened up traditional discussions linking the characteristic architecture of defensive walls and round structures (after which the Castro Culture was named) to a warrior-elite society, to more complex interpretations related to the intensification of agriculture and corresponding increase in sedentism. These new interpretations integrate domestic and agricultural features into Castro subsistence practices, including storage pits. Our results support these interpretations, revealing the extent to which storage pits are a dominant feature type at Castros de Neixón. Future research and subsurface excavations directed at understanding under-investigated features located via geophysical survey techniques at sites like Castros de Neixón may clarify questions surrounding Castro Culture social organization.

THE QARQUR CHALLENGE: The Bronze Age and Earlier

In the September issue of NEA, a brief summary was presented of the Iron Age through early Mamluk remains excavated by the American Schools of Oriental Research Expedition at Tell Qarqur in the Orontes Valley of Syria. This article deals with the earlier range of materials encountered by the expedition, covering the Bronze Age to the Neolithic. Important materials of Early Bronze IV and Middle Bronze II are being exposed, and so far only scanty but important remains of critical periods such as Middle Bronze I and Late Bronze II. It has become obvious that the Early Bronze Age was one of the major and most impressive periods of occupation on the site. The Early Bronze Age occupation needs to be seen in its regional context, and a good collection of samples, particularly paleobotanical and paleozoological, allow comparisons of cultural developments and changes to be made through time.

Gestion singulière des morts au sein d’un petit ensemble de tombes du Bronze ancien à Valros (Hérault)

During preventive archaeological digs in 2007 along the Pézenas-Béziers section of the future A75 motorway, a complete and remarkable group of graves were discovered among the evidence of early Bronze Age occupation. This consisted of a stone-lined grave and at least three burial pits. Through the practices identified and the nature and spatial organization of the burial structures, this discovery has shed new light on the early Bronze Age burial customs in the Languedoc. The stone burial cist contained only a single individual, but the three pits contained the remains of several individuals. Our archaeological and anthropological studies of these deposits brought out evidence of perishable items that have disappeared, and also of bone manipulations. Analyses of the latter identified a number of singular practices. Although there is little biological information as the bones are poorly preserved, the remains enabled us to investigate the relationships between the different structures in the burial group and, more generally, its particular pattern of organization. This discovery has brought new data on the variety of early Bronze Age burial practices, which are still poorly documented.

From Urban Origins to Imperial Integration in Western Syria: Umm el-Marra 2006, 2008

The Umm el-Marra Project is investigating the genesis and early history of societal complexity at a “second-tier” center of western Syria, focusing on the Early, Middle, and Late Bronze Age occupations. In 2006 and 2008, important results were achieved for all three periods. Excavation of the Early Bronze Age elite mortuary complex on the acropolis supplies new data supporting the interpretation that the complex served to inscribe elite ideologies on the landscape in its invocation of social memory and ancestral figures. Evidence of a hiatus of several centuries after the Early Bronze occupation provides new information on the urban “collapse” of the era. Monumental and defensive architecture and the remains of ritual behavior reveal the character of urban regeneration in the period of Amorite dynasties in the Middle Bronze Age. Finally, the Late Bronze Age Mittani occupation furnishes data on the site’s incorporation into a large international empire. Additional figures can be found under this article’s abstract on AJA Online.

Middle Neolithic and Bronze Age occupation at “Le Champ du Château”, Kervignac (Morbihan)

Le site concerne deux occupations distinctes pour lesquelles les resultats obtenus sont disparates. L’occupation neolithique, delicate a interpreter, est contemporaine du premier megalithisme. L’âge du Bronze est, quant a lui, represente par quelques structures excavees et un petit corpus ceramique. Par ailleurs, la presence de perrieres ainsi que de gros blocs dans les structures neolithiques et protohistoriques a permis une approche des techniques d’extraction et du travail de la pierre, domaine d’etude si peu aborde et publie jusqu’ici.

Palaeoenvironments and site formation processes at the Neolithic lakeside settlement of Dispilio, Kastoria, Northern Greece

AbstractDispilio is a lakeside settlement by the Orestias Lake, Kastoria, northern Greece. The site was inhabited from the Middle Neolithic to the Chalcolithic, with some surface evidence of Bronze Age occupation. Microfacies analysis of the sediments, supported by a suite of environmental indices, has provided detailed paleoenvironmental data and elucidated the main processes involved in the formation of the site and its history of occupation. The settlement was established on the lakeshore, on a shallow sand ridge and a shore marsh. Initially, houses were built on raised platforms above the water. After a major conflagration, a range of depositional microenvironments were established that caused local changes in the sedimentation rate. Therefore, some areas quickly emerged and became dry land, while some others continued to be flooded as part of the transitional supra‐littoral environment. On the dry land, houses were built directly on the ground, whereas in the transitional areas houses continued to be built on raised platforms. Thus, gradually, a mound was formed and further shaped by subsequent lake‐level fluctuations. One of the lake‐level rises is tentatively related to the abandonment of the mound in the Chalcolithic and the development of a hardpan on its surface. There is also evidence of later occupation during the Bronze Age in the form of a few, mostly surface, archaeological remains. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Excavations on the north-central plateau: The Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age occupation at Çadır Höyük

AbstractThe last decade of excavations at Çadır Höyük, in the north-central region of the Anatolian plateau, has revealed a well-established Late Chalcolithic community with continuous occupation into the Early Bronze I period (mid fourth to early third millennium BC). While the Late Chalcolithic town was prosperous, with well-made houses and objects, and even monumental construction, the stability of the settlement had slipped by the Early Bronze I phase. We summarise here the results from ten seasons of work at the site and profile how the findings contribute to our understanding of Çadır's role in a larger regional context. We also offer possible explanations for the changing nature of the Çadır occupation during the periods detailed here.

CHARACTERIZING THE EVOLUTION OF VISUAL LANDSCAPES IN THE LATE PREHISTORY OF SOUTH‐WEST MORBIHAN (BRITTANY, FRANCE)

Summary. In the context of territorial analyses in archaeology, the visual attributes of sites play a key role in the definition of location strategies. This paper studies the Neolithic evidence from the south‐western Morbihan area in Brittany (France) from a visual point of view, integrating the previous Mesolithic and the later Bronze Age occupation of the region in order to understand the diachronic evolution of the visual settlement patterns. The role played by the sea seems to be significant throughout the entire occupation of the area, but differences in both intervisibility of sites and the extension of visual areas allow us to make particular observations regarding different cultural uses of the landscape through time.

Deir el-Balah: A Geological, Archaeological, and Historical Reassessment of an Egyptianizing 13th and 12th Century B.C.E. Center

Salvage excavations conducted at Deir el-Balah from 1972 to 1982 revealed a Late Bronze II Egyptianizing settlement (Strata IX-IV) and cemetery located along the Ways of Horus. In preliminary reports, Deir el-Balah is presented as a 14th- (Amarnaperiod) and 13th-century B.C.E. site, a stratigraphic interpretation that rests on the assumption that a large, open, man-made pit or crater served as a water reservoir. Based on an analysis of the microstratigraphy and sediments using grain size and micromorphological techniques, we challenge the claim that the crater ever functioned as a pond or water reservoir. Considered together with a reanalysis of the archaeological evidence, we propose that the two main periods of Late Bronze Age occupation, Strata IX and VII, date to the 13th and 13th/early 12th centuries B.C.E. As a result of the redating of Deir el-Balah, the site should be understood within the context of an expanding imperialistic Egyptian presence that characterized 19th and early 20th Dynasty New Kingdom Egyptian policy in Canaan.

A Note on an Amenhotep III Plaque from Tel Burna

The discovery of a plaque associated to the New Kingdom at Tel Burna in the southern Levant augments archaeological evidence to enhance historical understanding of the Late Bronze Age occupation at the site.

The Prehistory of the City of London: Myths and Methodologies

The evidence for prehistoric occupation in the area of the modern City of London is re-assessed. Two myths surrounding the city's prehistory are examined: a literary myth of a glorious Trojan past and a modern archaeological myth of the absence of prehistory. Having drawn a ‘traditional’ distribution map of prehistoric artefacts, the authors attempted to improve its reliability by quantifying the impact of Roman groundworks on the surviving prehistoric deposits. Topographic models of the area in prehistory and in the Roman period were drawn, and the methodology of the interpolation is discussed. The relative value of in situ, residual and stray finds are considered in the light of this new information. While there is good evidence for Late Bronze Age occupation in the City, the evidence for Neolithic activity is considered to be heavily skewed by Roman activity. The data are used to suggest areas of the City where there is particularly good potential for the survival of prehistoric deposits. The City provides a case study for analysing prehistoric material in a ‘difficult’, deeply stratified, urban context more associated with Roman and medieval archaeology.

Radiocarbon Dates from the Oxford Ams System: Archaeometry Datelist 31

Radiocarbon Dates from the Oxford Ams System: <i>Archaeometry</i> Datelist 31

La sierra de Atapuerca durante el Holoceno: datos preliminares sobre las ocupaciones de la Edad del Bronce en la Cueva de El Mirador (Ibeas de Juarros, Burgos)

The paper presents data from the El Mirador cave, part of the Sierra de Atapuerca project. The data deriving from the first two stratigraphical excavation campaigns (1999 and 2000) are illustrated. A 2.5-m thick Holocene succession, containing Neolithic and Bronze Age occupations, was excavated and sampled using a multidisciplinary perspective. Preliminary data on the Bronze Age occupations indicate the utilization of the rock-shelter for various activities, among them animal stabling, habitation and burial. Animal stabling led to the accumulation of characteristic burnt layers, never seen before in the Meseta region or in wider European context. A Bronze Age collective burial showing evidence of pre-treatment of bodies before their deposition, and a stratified metal axe, were also found.

Holocene coastal change in the north of the Isle of Man: stratigraphy, palaeoenvironment and archaeological evidence

Abstract New multidisciplinary work at Phurt in the north of the Isle of Man using stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating, pollen, diatoms, foraminifera and archaeology has reevaluated the sedimentological and archaeological sequence located in a series of basins containing organic peats, silts and sands at the south end of the Flandrian Ayres raised beach succession. From this work it is clear that all the Mesolithic finds from the beach have been reworked and are not significant in terms of human occupation in this area and there is no evidence for human modification of the Mesolithic vegetation from Phurt. The radiocarbon dates for the middle peat fit into the Neolithic phase and although all the in situ artifacts are from layers above the peat from a sandy palaeosol, these layers are likely to have been deposited rapidly after the peat formation. Although the artifacts are Middle Neolithic in typology it is considered that the dates from the peat are not inconsistent with the archaeological dating framework. The pollen indicates an early woodland phase but there are indicators of the close proximity of the sea from coastal pollen taxa, foram test linings in the upper peat layer and diatoms. In the middle peat tree pollen was much less frequent, there was a wide range of open ground herb taxa, mainly of freshwater type but again there were salt marsh taxa present, indicating the close proximity of the sea. In the upper organic horizon and the burnt mound profiles the lack of coastal pollen must indicate a relative sea-level drop. The depositional environment envisaged to account for the litho- and pollen stratigraphy in these small basins is predominantly a freshwater lake behind shingle bars, with the close proximity to seaward of a saltmarsh. On occasions there must have been brackish water in these lagoons and a marine connection through the shingle barrier based on the diatom evidence, which is similar to the interpretation at nearby Lough Cranstal. This is in contrast with the Liverpool Bay sequences where there is evidence for several marine transgressions, but in both areas the coastal or near coastal environments indicate much well preserved evidence for Neolithic and Bronze Age occupation and vegetational alteration by these populations.

The Bronze to Iron Age transition at Kilise Tepe

The mound of Kilise Tepe, formerly known as Maltepe, stands above the left bank of the Göksu near where the river leaves the Mut basin to plunge between cliffs down to the coast at Silifke about 45km to the southeast. It thus dominates one of the best-known routes from the Mediterranean to the central Anatolian plateau. Excavation at the site began in 1994, and confirmed the presence here of Late Bronze Age occupation, already deduced from collections of surface sherds by Mellaart and French, but also revealed Iron Age, Hellenistic and Byzantine layers. The present article addresses rather specifically the ceramic evidence for the end of the Bronze Age and subsequent Iron Age occupation, with particular emphasis on the chronological framework and certain wares in these levels not previously described.

Soil erosion, agricultural terracing and site formation processes at Markiani, Amorgos, Greece: The micromorphological perspective

Soils and sediments of a terraced slope at an Early Bronze Age site on the Aegean island of Amorgos were examined micromorphologically to determine the nature and amount of erosion on the slope during the past 5000 years, and how this had affected the formation of the surviving archaeological record. The deposits forming representative terraces were examined, as was the postdepositional sequence overlying the site, and a palaeosol preserved beneath terrace retaining walls at the break of slope. The buried, preterrace system was a reworked red palaeosol, much affected by downslope erosion processes, which probably commenced with clearance associated with the Early Bronze Age occupation of the site. Examination of this soil suggested that there were at least two premodern phases of use of the hillside. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The Bronze Age of Highland Yemen : Chronological and Spatial Variability of Pottery and Settlement

Bronze Age occupation of highland western Yemen can now be documented over the nearly two millennia between roughly 2 800 and 1 200/1 000 ВС. An Italian project in К hawlan and an American project in Dhamar have studied regional settlement pattern, architecture and intra-site arrangement, and radiocarbon-dated cultural assemblages for two highland districts about 50 km apart. Comparison of excavated pottery from five sites reveals strong regional continuities (the Bronze Age tradition of the western highlands), but also a degree of contemporaneous regional variability and chronological change. More pronounced differences of site arrangement and architectural form distinguish the Khawlan and Dhamar settlements. Sites in the two areas describe divergent developmental trajectories and also essentially different economic orientations : Khawlan hosted an extensive and perhaps transhumant orientation that truncated soon after 2 000 ВС, while Dhamar witnessed the growth of town life and modest agricultural intensification, setting a course toward complex societies of the Iron Age that arose indigenously in the highlands after 1 000 ВС.

Dhra': An Early Neolithic Village in the Southern Jordan Valley

Dhra' is an Early Neolithic village site located on the east side of the Dead Sea, and roughly contemporaneous with the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A period occupations at Jericho and Netiv Hagdud. Situated on an alluvial terrace near the springs of ‘Ain Waida’ Dhra' was a relatively large pre-agricultural community covering an area of approximately 80 m × 50 m, with a high concentration of oval or circular stone and mud structures. Excavations along the side of a 9 m long bulldozer trench revealed evidence of a later Early Bronze Age occupation overlying two and a half meters of Pre-Pottery Neolithic A period cultural material. Recovered within these Neolithic deposits were the remains of several large semi-subterranean oval structures, radiocarbon dated to approximately 10,000 years ago. Uncovered in another area of the site were the remains of a well-preserved oval stone structure, with a stone bench, radiocarbon dated to approximately 9,600 years ago. The chipped stone industry is characterized by the presence of Khiam points, retouched blades, sickle blades, borers, and large bifacial tools. Groundstone tools include numerous pestles and hand stones. Suprisingly very few microlithic tools were present with no Hagdud truncations or lunates recovered in excavation.

Jerablus-Tahtani, Syria, 1996: Preliminary Report

The fifth season of University of Edinburgh/British Institute at Amman for Archaeology and History-sponsored excavations at Jerablus–Tahtani in the neighbourhood of Carchemish, north Syria, was devoted to investigations of its Early Bronze Age occupation, Period 2 of the site's history. In order to evaluate occupation between the Uruk retraction and the construction of the fort initially reported in Levant 28, 1996, 7–9, in situ pre-fort deposits were explored in Area III. They indicate that the fort was built in the mid-third millennium B.C. The discovery of the south-east corner of the fort suggests that the high status Tomb 302 lies outside and at the foot of its walls. Several later levels of the sequence of intercalated buildings and well-furnished graves first tested last season were excavated in 1996. Results will eventually permit closer dating of the temporary abandonment of the site in the later third millennium B.C. and assessment of this event in relation to widespread settlement dislocations in the Near East at about this time.

Jerablus-Tahtani, Syria, 1996: Preliminary Report

The fifth season of University of Edinburgh/British Institute at Amman for Archaeology and History-sponsored excavations at Jerablus–Tahtani in the neighbourhood of Carchemish, north Syria, was devoted to investigations of its Early Bronze Age occupation, Period 2 of the site's history. In order to evaluate occupation between the Uruk retraction and the construction of the fort initially reported in Levant 28, 1996, 7–9, in situ pre-fort deposits were explored in Area III. They indicate that the fort was built in the mid-third millennium B.C. The discovery of the south-east corner of the fort suggests that the high status Tomb 302 lies outside and at the foot of its walls. Several later levels of the sequence of intercalated buildings and well-furnished graves first tested last season were excavated in 1996. Results will eventually permit closer dating of the temporary abandonment of the site in the later third millennium B.C. and assessment of this event in relation to widespread settlement dislocations in the Near East at about this time.