Early 1st Millennium Research Articles

Circular settlements of the Trans-Urals and Western Siberia from the Neolithic to the early iron age

Circular in plan fortified settlements, or ring settlements, were an ideal type of lowland fortifications. One of their prototypes is unfortified settlements with a closed layout of dwellings in a circle and an oval. In the north of Eurasia, ring fortifications emerged in the Neolithic (6th–4th millennia BC), in the fisher-hunter-gatherers’ communities in the taiga area of the Ob’ River Basin and the mountain-forest Trans-Urals, during the mass settlement of these territories in the context of global warming. In the Bronze Age (late 3rd – early 1st millennium BC), such fortified settlements, as well as promontory and riverside fortified settlements, disappeared in the taiga giving way to large earth-timber fortified dwellings. At the beginning of the Bronze Age, during the next xerotherm, in the steppes of the Trans-Urals, pastoralists who migrated from South-Eastern Europe erected circular fortresses (the Sintashta culture of the 21st–18th centuries BC). Probably, the construction of circular in plan unfortified settlements of the Tashkovo culture in the forests of the Lower Tobol region in the 21st/20th – 16th centuries BC was influenced by the steppe defensive architecture. The earliest taiga fortified settlements were developing independently of the forest-steppe and steppe settlements. The former and the latter alike were economic, industrial, social and, possibly, cult centres of communities. A new mass distribution of ring settlements in the forest-steppe area of the Tobol-Irtysh region, and later in the taiga area of the Surgut and Lower Ob’ River region, took place at the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age (8th/7th centuries BC – 3rd/4th centuries AD). In the 6th/5th centuries BC – 3rd/4th centuries AD, the defensive systems of some West Siberian fortifications were supplemented with bastion-tower elements borrowed from the Saka people of the Aral Sea region.

Mapping Strontium Isotope Geographical Variability as a Basis for Multi-regional Human Mobility: The Sybaris Region (S Italy) in the Early 1st Millennium BC

ABSTRACT Archaeological findings from the 8th c. BC settlement at Francavilla Marittima (CS) and its necropolis on the nearby Macchiabate plateau point to multi-regional interactions and the emergence of new identities in connection with the establishment of the Greek colony Sybaris. Strontium isotope analysis (87Sr/86Sr) is an efficient method to reconstruct human mobility and provides new insights into the Iron Age and Archaic period in the Calabria region. A successful interpretation of Sr isotope compositions in human tissues requires a baseline of the bioavailable strontium in the landscape of Francavilla Marittima and its surroundings. This study presents 87Sr/86Sr values of modern vegetation and water from North Calabria to establish the first finely resolved Sr isotope baseline map of this region. Sr isotope compositions vary between 0.7082 and 0.7127 and reflect the geological and lithological diversity of the study region. The regional 87Sr/86Sr variability exceeds the baseline of bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr at Francavilla Marittima and enables the integration of past regional interaction in data interpretation of the human remains. Several mapping and prediction methods were tested to produce surface models of the isotopic landscape, and the isotope group map is proposed as a suitable representation of the bioavailable Sr in the studied region.

“A land whose stones are iron...”—Iron ore sources in the Southern Levant

Recent discoveries of iron production remains in multiple Iron Age sites throughout the Southern Levant indicate the significance of iron production in the region during this time. However, one main question remains unanswered—that is, provenance: Where were the iron resources located? Were they local or brought from afar? Answering these questions would allow great potential for reconstructing iron-ore procurement strategies and exploitation practices in the social, political, and economic context of the Southern Levant in the early 1st millennium BCE. It has long been assumed that iron ore, prevalent in the Earth's crust, is widely available. However, since high-grade ore was required for the smelting technology of the time, the bloomery process, only selected iron ore deposits in the region were suitable. This study aims to identify and characterize chemically and isotopically enriched iron-ore sources in the Southern Levant. Samples were collected from sedimentary and hydrothermal sources and analyzed for their iron content, trace elements composition, and osmium (Os) isotopic ratios. Here, we present the results of this preliminary investigation, introducing several substantial ore sources in the region and demonstrating the possibility of differentiating between these sources based on their chemical and Os isotopic composition. Finally, hematite objects from selected Iron Age archaeological sites are compared against the analyzed ore sources, showing inconsistency with the sampled ores.

О генезисе китайской философии

The article discusses the processes that at the turn of the VI–V centuries B.C. were evolving to give rise to the authentic philosophical tradition in China. The author considers the formation of a community of people who keep themselves within the framework of certain reflective practices as the hallmark of this rise. The evolution set off during the “Iron Age Cold Epoch” that occurred on the planet in the early 1st millennium B.C. The civilizational response to this cool­ing in China was the extensive development of agriculture, which, in turn, led to demographic growth, the enhancement of the socio-political structure of society and the emergence of demand for competent managers. The social base for them turned out to be the lowest nobility – the “officers” shi. Unlike the aristocrats zhuhou at the highest tier of power, the “officers” shi were interested in main­taining the moral status of the “noble person” junzi. The existential space of this status could only be maintained through permanent reflection. The criterion for maintaining one’s moral status was not only social behavior in accordance with this status, but also its existential experience, devotion not to external factors, but to an internal idea, responsibility to oneself. The Confucian effort to compre­hend and to pass on those reflective practices became the beginning of Chinese philosophy

New data on different patterns of obsidian procurement in Georgia (Southern Caucasus) during the Chalcolithic, Bronze and Iron Age Periods

The analysis of 107 obsidian samples collected in the course of the archaeological investigations carried out from 2009 to 2019 by the Georgian-Italian expeditions in Eastern Georgia in the provinces of Shida Kartli (Natsargora, Aradetis Orgora and Okherakhevi) and Kakheti (Tsiteli Gorebi 5) allowed us to confirm the existence of two contrasting obsidian procurement patterns in the region. Virtually all the samples (56 out of 57) from the province of Shida Kartli, west of the present capital Tbilisi, regardless of their site of origin and of their date, which varies from the late 4th to the early 1st millennium BC, originate from a single general source (i.e., the outcrops of the Chikiani volcano near lake Paravani in southern Georgia). On the other hand, the samples from the early 5th millennium site of Tsiteli Gorebi 5 in the province of Kakheti, close to the present border of Azerbaijan, originate from seven different volcanoes located in Armenia (Gegham, Syunik, Gutansar and Tsaghkunyats), in southern Georgia (Chikiani), and in eastern Turkey (Sarıkamış region and Yağlıca Dağ). They thus outline for Kakheti a more complex multisource procurement pattern, already familiar from other sites of the same region, as well as of the neighbouring area beyond the Georgian/Azerbaijani and Georgian/Armenian borders, which deserves being further investigated in the future.

Decorative Belts of Xianbei Period Nomads from Karban I, Northern Altai

In 1989–1990, five decorative belts worn by the Xianbei Period nomads were excavated from the Karban I cemetery in the Chemalsky District, Altai Republic. Their details (33 plaques, five buckles, six “units”, and two “pendant tips”) were found in four undisturbed graves of males (mounds 11, 27, 33, and 39). They are described with regard to function, decoration, and chronology. Parallels from the Altai and adjacent territories, dating to the late 1st millennium BC–early 1st millennium AD, are listed. A more precise attribution is the Early Xianbei Period (100–300 AD), correlating with the Bulan-Koby culture of the Altai. Available facts suggest that the style of these artifacts was influenced by the Xiongnu and Xianbei traditions. On the basis of the finds in situ, several variants of belt sets, some of which are hitherto unknown, have been reconstructed. The composition of the belts is unrelated to the owners’ age and evidently mirrors their personal preferences. The results demonstrate the social relevance of the belts, since most were found in burials of top-ranking males.

Social Landscapes of Euphorbia Kop: A K2 Farmer Settlement with a Forager Presence in Southern Africa

ABSTRACT Holocene foragers in southern Africa were mobile, stone-tool-using, hunting and gathering communities that lived in rock shelters and in the open in temporary campsites. From the early 1st millennium a.d., farmer groups migrated into southern Africa and introduced domesticated crops, livestock, and metal technology into the region and lived in fixed homesteads. Differences in the material culture and residential habits of these two communities are distinct and largely differentiable. As such, studying their interactions is possible through the analysis of material culture and its context. Here, we present the findings from Euphorbia Kop in the middle Limpopo Valley of central southern Africa that contains several strands of evidence indicating a forager presence within a farmer settlement identified by several distinct cultural markers. Our findings demonstrate a response to contact not well recorded in the region that offers a possible explanation for the decline and eventual disappearance of forager remains in rock-shelter contexts beginning in the early 2nd millennium a.d.

The production technology of mineral soda alumina glass: A perspective from microstructural analysis of glass beads in Iron Age Taiwan.

Mineral soda alumina (m-Na-Al) glass is a common glass production group found around the Indo-Pacific region. In Iron Age Taiwan, its presence dates back to the early 1st millennium AD. This research discusses m-Na-Al glass beads excavated from Iron Age sites in Taiwan. No production sites for m-Na-Al have been found, but microstructural analysis suggests m-Na-Al glass appears to originate around South Asia and is exchanged widely. SEM-EDS and EPMA were used to analyse red, orange, yellow, green and blue m-Na-Al glass. The microstructure of the glass shows the presence of plagioclase and alkali feldspar relics in the glass, suggesting a low manufacturing temperature. Copper-based colourants are identified in red, orange, blue and green glass, while lead tin oxide is used in yellow and green glass. It appears that various types of copper-containing raw materials were procured by craftspeople, and a self-reduction process for producing red and orange glass is tentatively proposed. Additionally, the microstructure of yellow glass reveals different colouring paths were used. These results increase our understanding of the selection of raw materials, and provide an impetus for further research on the cross craft interaction between glass and copper production.

Talkin' About a Revolution. Changes and Continuities in Fruit Use in Southern France From Neolithic to Roman Times Using Archaeobotanical Data (ca. 5,800 BCE - 500 CE).

The use and socio-environmental importance of fruits dramatically changed after the emergence of arboriculture and fruit domestication in the eastern Mediterranean, between the 5th and the 3rd millennia BCE. Domesticated fruits together with cultivation techniques apparently reached the western Mediterranean via colonial activities during the 1st millennium BCE – early 1st millennium CE. However, the pace and chronology of this diffusion as well as the recompositions in diversity, to adapt to new socio-environmental conditions, remain poorly known. In this study we investigate archaeobotanical records in Southern France from the Neolithic to the end of the Roman empire (ca. 5,800 BCE – 500 CE) to assess changes in fruit use as well as the emergence, spread and evolution of fruit cultivation. We explore changes in native traditions faced with innovations brought by Mediterranean colonization and how domesticated fruit cultivation spread from the Mediterranean to more temperate areas. Archaeobotanical data from 577 assemblages were systematically analyzed distinguishing two datasets according to preservation of plant remains (charred vs. uncharred), as this impacts on the quantity and diversity of taxa. The 47 fruit taxa identified were organized in broad categories according to their status and origin: exotic, allochtonous cultivated, indigenous cultivated, wild native. We also analyzed diversity, quantity of fruits compared to the total of economic plants and spatio-temporal variations in the composition of fruit assemblages using correspondence factor analyses. Archaeobotanical data reflect variations and continuities in the diversity of species used through time and space. In the Mediterranean area, significant changes related to the arrival of new plants and development of fruit cultivation occurred mainly, first during the Iron Age (6th-5th c. BCE), then in the beginning of the Roman period. Large cities played a major role in this process. In agreement with archeological information, archaeobotanical data reveal the predominance of viticulture in both periods. However, arboriculture also included other fruit species that have been subject to less intensive and specialized cultivation practices. Most significantly, this study pinpoints the continuous contribution of native, supposedly wild fruits throughout the chronology. Despite the homogenizing Roman influence, results reveal clear differences between the Mediterranean and temperate regions.

Handles of Early Iron Age Cauldrons from Southwestern Siberia

Handles of Early Iron Age bronze cauldrons from southwestern Siberia are described with reference to their ritual meaning. Typological features, such as knobs, arcuate, or square shape, are relevant for dating. Two chronological groups are established: the Tagar (second half of the 1st millennium BC) and Xiongnu-Xianbei (late 1st millennium BC to early 1st millennium AD). The interpretation of handles depends on the context. At settlements (Turunovka-4) and in certain hoards (First Dzhirim) of the Late Bronze Age, they can belong to foundry scrap. However, handles occur in long-term ritual sites such as Aidashenskaya Cave, suggesting a different interpretation. Indeed, at Eastern European forest-steppe sites of the Xiongnu era, handles of cauldrons had been intentionally buried, most often near water sources, where the summer camps of nomadic herders were situated. A similar situation is observed in southwestern Siberia, from the Baraba forest-steppe to the Middle Yenisei valley.

New results of radiocarbon dating and identification of plant and animal remains from the Oglakhty cemetery provide an insight into the life of the population of southern Siberia in the early 1st millennium CE

The semi-arid steppe and forest-steppe regions of southern Siberia have a long history of human occupation. During the Bronze and Iron Ages, the area became home to a number of archaeological cultures that greatly influenced the cultural and technological development and exchange processes in the middle latitudes of Eurasia and left a rich archaeological record. One of the lesser-known Iron Age archaeological cultures is the Tashtyk culture, which flourished in the Minusinsk Basin in the upper reaches of the Yenisei during the 1st to 7th centuries CE. Using an extensive set of radiocarbon dates and identifications of plant and animal remains from the best-preserved and most spectacular Grave 4 of the Oglakhty burial ground, our study aims to improve the age determination of the examined grave and to better understand the natural environments and way of life of the local population in this remote region of Central Asia during the early 1st millennium CE. Our dating approach could narrow down the probabilistic age range of the time at which Grave 4 was constructed and used to ca. 250–300 CE. The inferred age together with polychrome jin silks documented in Grave 4 suggests a connection between the local populations and silk producing centres in eastern China via either oases-states in the Tarim and Turfan basins or via the Mongolian steppes. The records of zooarchaeological remains and artefacts approve that the local Tashtyk people were skilful craftsmen and had a complex subsistence economy mainly based on animal husbandry, which was supplemented by hunting-gathering and small-scale agriculture. The available evidence on the use of sheep indicates that they played an important role in the local economy, although other domesticated animals (such as goats, cattle, horses) were bred as well. Whether reindeer were present locally (i.e. domesticated) or their skins were obtained through hunting or more distant exchange requires further investigation. Also, the role of agriculture and millet cultivation (mentioned in the reports of the first archaeological excavations) remains an important topic for upcoming research. The available, albeit still rare, palaeoenvironmental records from the region suggest drier conditions during the 4th to 1st centuries BCE, partly corresponding to a colder and dryer phase in the North Atlantic region. The regional pollen and isotope records demonstrate a weak trend towards wetter and warmer climate during the following five centuries representing the Tashtyk culture.

Exploring Linear Earthworks across Time and Space – Introducing the ‘Monumentality and Landscape: Linear Earthworks in Britain’ Project

Linear earthworks of a monumental character are an enigmatic part of the British landscape. Research in Britain suggests that such features range in date from the early 1st millennium BC to the Early Middle Ages. While the roles of these monuments in past societies cannot be understated, they remain a relatively under-researched phenomenon. This article introduces the Leverhulme Trust-funded ‘Monumentality and Landscape: Linear Earthworks in Britain’ project, which aims to provide a comparative study of linear earthworks focusing on those dating to the Iron Age and early medieval period. This contribution reviews our approach and shares preliminary results from the project’s first year, identifying wider implications for the study of linear earthworks.

Invention of cast iron smelting in early China: Archaeological survey and numerical simulation

The earliest cast iron in China dates to the 8th century BC and pre-dates the earliest European evidence by about two millennia. The invention of cast iron smelting is closely related to the pre-existing and contemporary technologies of casting bronze and firing ceramics as well as the social and political context of early 1st millennium BC China. A series of early iron smelting furnaces were surveyed, excavated, and scientifically analysed. However, in order to understand how cast iron was initially produced, the evidence from one of the earliest production sites was digitally simulated. This modelling allowed different potential methods for the underlying production technology to be evaluated. The explanation for the invention of cast iron lies both in borrowing and developing of techniques found in other contemporary pyrotechnologies as well as a contemporary systemic philosophical approach.

Late Bronze Age Petroglyphs of Unyuk Mountain, in the Minusinsk Basin

This study introduces a new southern Siberian rock art site, situated on the Unyuk Mountain, in the Minusinsk Basin, and studied in 20I6-20I7. Stylistically, the main petroglyphs date to the Late Bronze Age, i.e. late 2nd to early 1st millennia BC. Of special interest are images of oxen with ropesfixed in their noses. Such petroglyphs are rare in that region. In one case, the ox is tied to a pillar; in the other case, a man leads it. The composition consisting of a man and an ox walking in one direction is repeated thrice. All the known petroglyphic images of a man holding a rope attached to an ox’s nose were found on the right bank of the Yenisei. This may be due to the cultural and economic specificity of the southeastern, forest-steppe part of the Minusinsk Basin. At the same time, these images may be a local variant of the composition “man walking with an ox”, which occurs mainly in more southerly areas of the Altai-Sayan. Another rare petroglyph found on the Unyuk Mountain shows a pillar with a triple top. Its parallels, found at other petroglyphic sites in the Minusinsk Basin, are described. They may refer either to everyday practice or to beliefs about the dead person’s travel to the nether world.

Climate stability and societal decline on the margins of the Byzantine empire in the Negev Desert

Understanding past human settlement of inhospitable regions is one of the most intriguing puzzles in archaeological research, with implications for more sustainable use of marginal regions today. During the Byzantine period in the 4th century CE, large settlements were established in the arid region of the Negev Desert, Israel, but it remains unclear why it did so, and why the settlements were abandoned three centuries later. Previous theories proposed that the Negev was a “green desert” in the early 1st millennium CE, and that the Byzantine Empire withdrew from this region due to a dramatic climatic downturn. In the absence of a local climate archive correlated to the Byzantine/Early Islamic transition, testing this theory has proven challenging. We use stable isotopic indicators of animal dietary and mobility patterns to assess the extent of the vegetative cover in the desert. By doing so, we aim to detect possible climatic fluctuations that may have led to the abandonment of the Byzantine settlements. The findings show that the Negev Desert was not greener during the time period under investigation than it is today and that the composition of the animals’ diets, as well as their grazing mobility patterns, remained unchanged through the Byzantine/Early Islamic transition. Favoring a non-climatic explanation, we propose instead that the abandonment of the Negev Byzantine settlements was motivated by restructuring of the Empire’s territorial priorities.

A SARDINIAN EARLY 1ST MILLENNIUM BC BRONZE AXE FROM MOTYA

An Iron Age bronze axe was found in Motya (Sicily, Italy)in a prehistoric layer dating from the 10thcentury BC underneath the 4thcentury BC patrician residency known as “Casa dei mosaici”. The axe belongs to the double-looped socketed typewell known in central Mediterranean in the time span 1200-900 BC, and it is comparable with some coeval Sardinian specimens.The bronze has been characterised using the backscattering electron signal of a SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) and EDX (Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy). The resulting composition of the metal alloy is Cu-Sn-As with an addition of Pbin some specific spots

Urban Built Environments in Early 1st Millennium b.c.e. Syro-Anatolia: Results of the Tayinat Archaeological Project, 2004–2016

The archaeological site of Tell Tayinat in the province of Hatay in southern Turkey was the principal regional center in the Amuq Plain and North Orontes Valley during the Early Bronze and Iron Age...

Reconstructing human-environment interactions in the western Messara Plain (Phaistos, Crete, Greece) from the emergence of city states to Byzantine times

Landscape evolution from the Early 1st millennium BCE to the mid-1st millennium CE is poorly documented around major archaeological sites in Crete. In a previous publication, the general landscape configuration in the vicinity of ancient Phaistos was reconstructed using a palaeoenvironmental approach, from the Proto-Palatial period (ca. 2000 BCE) to the Late-Proto Geometric period (ca. 8th cent. BCE). However, the physiography of the landscape, its hydrology and vegetation history remained uncertain for the later archaeological periods. In the present study, additional radiocarbon dates (8) together with pollen, mollusc and sedimentological analyses (CM diagram) were conducted on previously documented sediment cores. These new results enable us to reconstruct in greater detail the landscape history from the Early Archaic period to Late Byzantine times. The results indicate the continuous presence of swampland from the Proto-Geometric period (10th cent. BCE) probably until the initial stages of the Classical period (5th cent. BCE). Subsequently, during the Classical and Hellenistic periods, there was a short interval of alluvial input of terriginous sediments (not exceeding two centuries in duration) which is directly linked with the complete drying up and drainage of the swampland. We address the issue of the possible climatic origin of this abrupt hydrological change, especially in relation to regional climate change and the sedimentary history of adjacent rivers and streams. Tectonic activity in the area is also an important factor and can be invoked as a potential environmental influence. Anthropogenic factors are also considered, even though there is no direct archaeological evidence of drainage in the western Messara Plain during the Archaic and Classical periods. Finally, from Roman times to the Early Byzantine period, floodplain development prevailed in the area and ponds formed locally, in particular from the Late Hellenistic to Early Byzantine periods; this was related to the climatic conditions of the Roman Warm period. Pollen analysis reveals an open forested landscape during the time interval under investigation, within which domesticated plants such as Olea (olive) were present. However, the representation of Olea decreases continuously from the Late Geometric period to Byzantine times, probably indicating much lower intensity of land use than during Minoan times and possibly also related to the generally colder climatic conditions in Crete from the 8th cent. BCE until the 1st Cent. CE. During this latter interval, there is also the first pollen analytical evidence of Vitis sp.

The Oldest Ceramics Kiln in the Russian Far East

This article analyzes the remains of a pottery kiln excavated at the Chernyatino 2 site in the Primor’e District on the southern mainland of the Russian Far East adjacent to the Korean Peninsula and northeastern China. The kiln’s remains have been assigned to the Krounovskaia culture of the Paleometal period and preliminarily dated to the early 1st millennium CE. The kiln is characterized by: 1) a subrectangular floor plan excavated into the soil and slightly sloped; 2) fuel and firing sections located at different levels and separated by a low step; 3) small size; 4) a tunnel-like clay dome on a stick frame. Many damaged dome fragments were found near the subrectangular kiln excavation. Based on the results of pottery sample examination, in particular scanning electron microscope [SEM] analysis, the firing temperatures in the kiln were 750–900° С. The kiln is the earliest structure for firing pottery so far recorded in the southern Russian Far East. Such kilns were invented on the Korean Peninsula in the 3rd–4th centuries CE.

The Xiongnu Gold from Noin-Ula (Mongolia)

This article presents the results of interdisciplinary studies of gold artifacts from the elite Xiongnu burials at Noin-Ula (Noyon Uul, Mongolia, early 1st millennium AD), excavated by the Russian-Mongolian expedition in 2006–2012. Using scanning electron microscopy, atomic absorption spectroscopy, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, 17 artifacts were analyzed. These include ornaments from coffi ns and clothes, made by Chinese artisans. Results suggest that they were all made of native gold, similar to that from the known deposits of Mongolia in terms of elemental composition (for comparison, we used an electronic database relating to 3338 samples of Mongolian native gold). Results of statistical tests suggest that placer deposits were the most probable source of the gold. The results do not contradict the idea that Chinese artisans used Mongolian gold. During the Han era, the Xiongnu could have been among their principal providers. The relationships between the two empires and peoples were always benefi cial for the Xiongnu. Enjoying the numerous achievements of the Han civilization, they offered too little in return. One of the ways the Han dynasty could have benefi ted from their tumultuous neighbors was to receive native gold from them.