Early 2nd Millennium Research Articles

Where have all the Ur III seals gone?

In this paper I analyse the late 3rd millennium and early 2nd millennium seals in two mid-size collections and reach the conclusion that exceedingly few of them date to the Ur III period (c 2100 – 2000 BC). I include some observations on other collections. I then ask the basic question: where have all the Ur III seals gone? After briefly exploring other options, I suggest with online visual evidence, that the vast majority of the Ur III seals were re-cut in the Old Babylonian period. At the end of the paper, I suggest that the absence or presence of seals from specific periods can be used to model larger historical trends.

Dendroarchaeology of Birnirk and Thule Architectural Timbers (10–13th Centuries)

Abstract Along the coast of northwestern Alaska, architectural wood remains are well preserved in the Birnirk and Thule coastal sites of the early 2nd millennium CE. These structural wood elements are unique archives for documenting climatic variations and cultural transformations during this key development period of Inuit culture. Along this treeless Arctic coast, driftwood accumulates from the subarctic forests of interior Alaska. Except for northwestern Alaska, regional tree-ring chronologies are too short (at best 350–400 years) to successfully date archaeological wood remains from Birnirk and Thule coastal sites using conventional dendrochronology. This paper examines the potential of tree-ring derived δ18O signal to annually date eight architectural wood samples from the Rising Whale (KTZ-304) site at Cape Espenberg, northwestern Alaska. We developed a δ18O master chronology, covering the period 935–1157 CE, using five wood samples from the KTZ-304 site. Blind isotope cross-dating of individual series belonging to this δ18O master chronology (one against the other four) showed conclusive dating and a very strong coherence of the isotopic signal. We, then, used the δ18O master chronology to cross-date three other wood samples for which we knew, from previous 14C wiggle-matching procedure, the first measured ring to be in this time interval, within a ± 18 to 30-year precision. Oxygen isotope dendrochronology provided a plausible date for one of the samples (the first measured ring at 1073 CE). This preliminary study encourages us to acquire additional data to extend in time and strengthen the δ18O master chronology of northwestern Alaska (NWAK18O) and help refine our understanding of climate and culture change during the 2nd millennium CE.

A Bronze Age lip-paint from southeastern Iran

A small chlorite vial, discovered among numerous artifacts looted and recovered in the Jiroft region of Kerman province, southeastern Iran, contains a deep red cosmetic preparation that is likely a lip-coloring paint or paste. Through analytical research involving XRD (X-ray diffraction), SEM–EDS (scanning electron microscopy-energy-dispersive spectroscopy), and HPLC–MS (high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry) analyses, the mineral components of the reddish substance were identified as hematite, darkened with manganite and braunite, and traces of galena and anglesite, mixed with vegetal waxes and other organic substances. The mixture, thus observed, bears a striking resemblance to the recipes of contemporary lipsticks. We also report the first radiocarbon date ever obtained from a Bronze age cosmetic in the ancient Near East: results place the pigment in the early 2nd millennium BCE, a date compatible with several mentions of the powerful eastern-iranian civilization of Marḫaši in coeval cuneiform texts of Mesopotamia, as well as with its currently emerging archaeological picture.

Architectural wood remains and climatic variations in early 2nd millennium CE, northwest Alaska: reflections on the possibilities and limits of Dendroarchaeology

Architectural wood elements are well-preserved in cold soils and archaeological Thule/Iñupiat sites of the early 2nd millennium CE in northwestern Alaska. These organic remains, at the intersection of archaeology, palaeoclimatology, and ecology, offer an annual and local resolution rarely accessible to archaeologists, providing insights on past climate variations. In a context where cultural variations of past arctic people are often interpreted as responses to climatic and environmental changes, this paper is a state-of-the-art examination of the dendroclimatic potential of Iñupiat architectural wood remains based on current knowledge. The focus is especially on current possibilities and limits of early Iñupiat architectural wood remains and the need to build a finer sequence for the period of the Medieval Climate Anomaly [MCA] (9th-13th century) to contribute to a broader understanding of the climatic framework of the early 2nd millennium and of early Iñupiat socio-ecological dynamics in Northwest Alaska for future research.

On locating Proto-Uralic

In recent years the debate regarding the Proto-Uralic homeland has again intensified. However, not all the relevant arguments have been considered thoroughly. Therefore, in the present article their validity and weight are evaluated. The article also develops further concepts and methodology for reconstruction of stages of Uralic, making it possible to compare Uralic stages to the Indo-Iranian loanword layers with higher resolution than before. As a result, the paper locates Late Proto-Uralic and successive stages in the Central Ural Region, matching the Koptyaki Culture (dated to the early 2nd millennium BCE) and its local predecessor.

Baltic Amber in Aššur. Forms and Significance of Amber Exchange between Europe and the Middle East, c.2000–1300 BC

Abstract Under the large ziggurat of Aššur, Iraq, two Baltic amber beads were found in a foundation deposit dating to c.1800–1750 BC. Thereby, they represent one of the earliest and remotest evidence of this material. Its extreme rarity in the Mediterranean and the Middle East before c.1550 BC and its restriction there to high-ranking sites could be explained by the fact that the Únětice culture and the Wessex culture controlled the exchange of this raw material. Probably, the amber finds in the south result from a directional exchange with at most only a few intermediaries, as other finds in Europe and the Middle East from the early 2nd millennium BC also indicate. The amber finds may thus represent gifts from well-travelled persons from central or western Europe to the elites in the south. However, after c.1550 BC the picture changes, and it is perhaps possible to speak of trade through which amber became available in larger quantities in the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Archaeology of Islamization in Northern Madagascar

Islamic towns dotted the northern coasts of Madagascar in the immediate precolonial period. The heritage of these settlements was not unlike their coastal East African contemporaries. Elaborating upon what is known from regional oral traditions and Islamic histories, archaeology has increasingly served as a conduit for understanding, facilitating the investigation of Muslim chronologies and lifeways in Madagascar. Tangible cultural heritage has corroborated Malagasy tradition, attesting to a human landscape sculpted by centuries of colonization, disparate and interconnected micro-migrations, and seasonal visitations. These finds are echoed in the genetics of the present-day Malagasy, where a legacy of Austronesian, African, and Indian Ocean inputs and population fluidity is found (Heiske et al. 2021; Radimilahy and Crossland 2015, 504–505). The compositional peculiarities of Muslim communities along the northern flanks of Madagascar recommend that Islamic beliefs reached the great island via the Comorian Archipelago in the early 2nd millennium CE, arriving via maritime routes and as components of larger southward dispersion phenomena, which included ideological dissemination, socio-religious affiliation, and the physical movement of people over multiple generations. The diffusion of Islamic ideologies to Madagascar was not realized according to a uniform Islamization pathway, nor was the development of member communities constrained within a single moment in time, as told in Antalaotra and Zafiraminia foundational biographies. Recent archaeological investigations at the Islamic town of Kingany in Madagascar’s northwest help clarify the trajectories of said ideological transmission and elaborate on underlying Islamizing mechanisms pertinent to the Mozambique Channel in this period.

Archaeology and alchemy applied: Experimental reproduction of Persian chromium crucible steel making

In a recent publication, we presented the earliest archaeological evidence for high-carbon steel alloyed with c. 1–2 percent by weight chromium, dating to the early 2nd millennium CE, and postulated that this ‘Chahak process’ was based on the addition of dried organic matter and chromite mineral as part of the charge of a closed crucible which was then fired to c. 1350 °C to produce steel. Here, for the first time, we present experimental proof that the direct reduction of chromite sand in the presence of liquid steel using common organic matter as reductant can lead to the addition of several percent by weight of chromium to the steel. In contrast, manganese oxide remains largely unreduced in the slag, despite forming a much larger part of the total crucible charge. This is in accordance with the lower reducibility of this oxide. We report the necessary operating conditions and highlight some of the constraints limiting the success of the process, and document the composition of the resulting slag and chromium-containing high-carbon steel. Our controlled crucible steel making experiments for the scientific reconstruction of the Chahak process are based on the combination of alchemical (Biruni’s crucible steel making recipe), archaeological and analytical evidence. We found the results support the alchemical recipe ingredients, and closely match the archaeological production remains, and the composition of the only currently known early Islamic chromium-rich steel artefact.

Seasonality of Sintashta Funerary Rites (Based on the Kamennyi Ambar-5 Bronze Age Cemetery)

Based on archaeological materials from the Kamennyi Ambar-5 cemetery, we test the hypothesis about the connection between the seasonality of pastoral practices and funerary rites during the Late Bronze Age (early 2nd millennium BC). We studied growth layers in the teeth of 24 cows, 19 sheep/goats, 14 horses, a dog, and ten humans from 17 graves. We combined samples from various species from the same contexts into eight assemblages. With regard to animals, differences in seasons of death were revealed only once. 70 % of graves were arranged in spring and 30 % in autumn. Therefore, the hypothesis about the seasonal use of the cemetery can be supported at least partially. The contemporaneous settlement of Kamennyi Ambar demonstrates a similar tendency in the seasonality of animal slaughtering. However, the reasons for slaughtering at the settlement differed from those in the cemetery. At the settlement site, it was motivated by practical needs, and in themortuary site, only by the seasonality of human deaths, specifically Ьy a higher frequency of deaths in late winter and spring. Also, postmortem selection is possiЬle, whereЬy kurgan burials were arranged only for some individuals. In practice, several of the above factors overlapped, resulting in an anomalous composition of the buried cohort (disproportion of sexes and a higher proportion of individuals who died at the peak of vital activity).

Tatami: The Enigmatic Toponym of Western Judah, and Use of Suffixes in Dating Toponyms

ABSTRACT Sometimes, all that remains from the history of a place is its name. Thus, toponyms may provide valuable information. Moving backward in time, we trace the ancient history of the Arab/Crusader village Bēt ˁAṭab in western Judea, with remains from Middle-Bronze II (MB II), Iron III and Hellenistic periods. In Roman times it was Eusebius’ Ēnadab, ‘Spring of ˁaṭab’, identified near the spring of this name mentioned in the Survey of Western Palestine. While missing from Masoretic Biblical town lists, Tatami of the Septuagint derives by dropping the b- from reconstructed batˁaṭami, traced to Northwest Semitic languages exhibiting the ay>ā diphthong contraction. The MB II final -i is analysed as an enclitic -mi, found also in the Execration Text (ET) Shechem, and as enclitic -ma in personal names from Alalaḫ VII. The ‘prince’ of nearby ET ‘Ashnah (=Beth Shemesh) had an identical name as later Niqmi-epuh, King of Yamḫad, suggesting settlers from Yamḫad/Alalaḫ during the early 2nd millennium bce. In Bronze Age Bēt-X toponyms X was a deity. Thus, batˁaṭami = ‘place of the vulture-goddess shrine’. This, and additional evidence, suggest that Egyptian king Senwosret III could have set a shrine to goddess Nekhbet on Bēt ˁAṭab’s summit during his Shechem campaign.

Agriculture in the Karakum: An archaeobotanical analysis from Togolok 1, southern Turkmenistan (ca. 2300–1700 B.C.)

Southern Central Asia witnessed widespread expansion in urbanism and exchange, between roughly 2200 and 1500 B.C., fostering a new cultural florescence, sometimes referred to as the Greater Khorasan Civilization. Decades of detailed archeological investigation have focused on the development of urban settlements, political systems, and inter-regional exchange within and across the broader region, but little is known about the agricultural systems that supported these cultural changes. In this paper, we present the archaeobotanical results of material recovered from Togolok 1, a proto-urban settlement along the Murghab River alluvial fan located in southeastern Turkmenistan. This macrobotanical assemblage dates to the late 3rd - early 2nd millennia B.C., a time associated with important cultural transformations in southern Central Asia. We demonstrate that people at the site were cultivating and consuming a diverse range of crops including, barley, wheat, legumes, grapes, and possibly plums and apples or pears. This, together with the associated material culture and zooarchaeological evidence, suggest a regionally adapted mixed agropastoral economy. The findings at Togolok 1 contribute to the ongoing discussion of dietary choices, human/landscape interactions, and the adaptation of crops to diverse ecosystems in prehistoric Central Asia.

Steve Renette . Lagash I: The Ceramic Corpus from Al-Hiba, 1968-1990. A Chrono-Typology of the Pottery Tradition in Southern Mesopotamia during the 3rd and Early 2nd Millennium BCE

Steve Renette . Lagash I: The Ceramic Corpus from Al-Hiba, 1968-1990. A Chrono-Typology of the Pottery Tradition in Southern Mesopotamia during the 3rd and Early 2nd Millennium BCE

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.

Ebla between the Early and Middle Bronze Ages: A Précis (and Some New Data)

The discoveries of the 2004-2008 excavations at Tell Mardikh, ancient Ebla, in north-western Syria, and the following processing of the archaeological record have allowed for a re-examination the site’s trajectory between Early Bronze IVB and Middle Bronze I. Not only it was possible to gain a clearer picture of the site’s trajectory during Early Bronze IVB, the phase following the demise of Ebla’s Early Bronze IVA kingdom, but also to re-investigate how the site transitioned from the Early to the Middle Bronze Age at a deeper chronological scale, which was hampered before by the lack of sufficient stratified data. Moving from these insights, this paper offers a summary of the state of research on Ebla between the Early and the Middle Bronze Ages and proposes some ideas concerning this critical nexus in the site’s development. Moreover, unpublished stratified ceramic data are presented and examined that might allow current synchronisms between Ebla, the Middle Euphrates, and the Syrian Jazirah between the late 3rd and the early 2nd millennium BC to be re-considered, and to shed light on the site’s participation and role in region-wide processes that were taking place between the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC. This way, this crucial connection in the developmental trajectory of Ebla and in the study of ancient Syria will be re-analysed offering insights into archaeology, chronology, and history.

The Neolithic occupants in the Yanyuan Basin: Excavation of the burials at the Guijiabao site, Sichuan Province, Southwest China

This article presents the results from excavations of burials at the Guijiabao site in southwest Sichuan. Guijiabao is located in the Yanyuan Basin that is a geographic-cultural intersection along the channel for cultural interaction and human migration from northern China through western Sichuan southward to the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and mainland Southeast Asia. It is one of the earliest known Neolithic sites in southwest China, with a Neolithic occupation ranging between 5000 and 3700 cal. BP. Earth-pit burials at the site date to 4300–4000 cal. BP and are consistent in burial forms and object characteristics, indicating the same burial customs. Guijiabao shows similarities with other Neolithic sites around the middle Jinsha River area in object characteristics, burial customs and subsistence strategies. We propose the formation of an interaction sphere covering the middle Jinsha River area in the late 3rd and early 2nd millennium BCE. Besides, ceramics and crop remains from Guijiabao are useful for understanding the interaction between southwest China and mainland Southeast Asia and the role of southwest China in the dispersal of Neolithic culture.

The Odino-Krokhalev pottery type of Eastern Kazakhstan (problem statement)

The paper deals with the question of identifying the Odino-Krokhalev pottery type among the materials of the Early Bronze Age of East Kazakhstan. It has been recorded on 41 sites of the region, mainly within the Kulunda plain and the Irtysh River valley and accounts for 14% of the total number of recorded vessels. This ceramic type is mainly represented by open and closed can-shaped vases. The predominant ornamental element used to decorate the outer surface of the vessels is represented by dots or oblique lines that form motives in the form of horizontal rows. The decor is usually applied using the pricking method with a stick, an animal spatula, as well as a smooth or comb stamp, while the false textile ornamentation is not documented. The latter occurs in settlements associated with the Elunino and Chemarsk materials. According to the available radiocarbon dates the period of diffusion of the Odino-Krokhalev pottery type in East Kazakhstan is in the Early Bronze Age (3rd early 2nd millennium BC). Apparently, the appearance of such elements as notches and wolf teeth is associated with the cultural influences of the bearers of the Odino-Krokhalev ceramic firstly in the decorative composition of the Elunino and then of the Andronovo vessels of the South of Western Siberia. The primary task is to find and study stratified sites with the Odin-Krokhalev pottery type.

Archeolinguistics

Archeolinguistcs is a field of linguistic studies, which creates an ancient picture of the world. For instance: let’s talk about the ancient cultures such as Kura–Araxes (Kur–Araz). Archeological excavations in Georgia with the amazing findings of Kura–Araxes (Kur–Araz) Culture, that existed from about 4000 BC until about 2000 BC, and Shulaveri-Shomu Tepe Culture which preceded the Kura–Araxes Culture in this region or Colchian Culture 3000 BCE to 600 BCE, Trialeti Culture late 3rd and early 2nd millennium BC, Bedeni-Martkopi or Early Kurgan Culture before 2550 BC, and many others. The excavations showed that Kura–Araxes Culture and Shulaveri-Shomu Tepe Culture are remarkably wealthy. The economy was based on farming and livestock-raising (especially of cattle and sheep). They grew grain and orchard crops, and are known to have used implements to make flour. They raised cattle, sheep, goats, dogs, and in later phases, horses. They worked with copper, arsenic, silver, gold, tin, and bronze. These archeological cultures how a precocious metallurgical development, which strongly influenced surrounding regions. Viticulture and wine-making were widely practiced in this area from the earliest times. The word ‘vine’ in many languages worldwide comes from Georgian (‘ghvino’). The earliest evidence of domesticated grapes in the world has been found at Gadachrili Gora, near the village of Imiri, southeastern of Georgia; carbon-dating points to the date of about 6000 BC. Grape pips dating back to the V-IVth millennia B.C. were found in Shulaveri; others dating back to the IVth millennium B.C. were found in 'Shulaveri area' in Georgia. Kura-Araxes and Shulaveri-Shomu cultures developed gradually through a synthesis of several cultural traditions, including the ancient cultures of the Caucasus and nearby territories.Following the archeological vectors we can research the linguistic lexical bases of the transported things and/or customs and traditions, following the archeological path and revealing the historical faces for the worlds reconstructing them with the well-known methods of historical-comparative linguistics, and creating the archeolinguistic dictionaries. Of course the historical linguistics has already used its methods to reconstruct the words, but archeolinguistics will systemically follow the vectors viewing the wide lexicosemantic and cultural backgrounds, considering the artifacts as the units of the entire system. On the other hand, archeologists give the names to the things they find, but they never get any linguistic consultations or advices. ‘A cult item’ usually is named a thing with unknown functions - by the archeologists. The archeological vectors had been spread from this region to the south, west and north, transporting the cultural and household appliances. The migrated things had their names and functions. Of course the names migrated with these things as well. These migrated things have been adopted functionally and linguistically for the each case at the each location. The proposed theory states that linguistic vectors followed archeological ones. The challenge is to study these combined vectors, and the field can be called as ‘Archeological linguistics’ or ‘Archeolinguistcs’. Archeological linguistics will study the ancient linguistic picture of the world. Actually this will be the interdisciplinary studies, which will request the high level professionals in history-archeology and linguistics. The ancient word-roots can be revealed and the full lingvoculutral portrait can be restored for the each region around the globe.

«Шерстяной путь» эпохи поздней бронзы: культурный, хронологический и географический контексты

Innovative technologies for new products and consumption, a secondary product revolution, have dramatically changed the course of the Bronze Age economic transformations. Changes included introduction of an innovative technology of wool production and it’s spread among the Northern Eurasia population during 3000–2000 BC. Sophisticated methods of studying the ancient wool textile obtained from the Bronze Age sites of Northern Eurasia, i.e. technological analyses, radiocarbon dating, and the identification of the isotope signature preserved in the wool textile, made it possible not only to discuss the time the wool fiber appeared in the Bronze Age textile production and to determine the cultural context and areas but also to discuss a new hypothesis on the formation of so called Wool Road in early 2nd millennium BC – a route that connected the foothills, forest-steppe, and forest regions of Eastern Europe in the West and South Siberia and China in the East. The discovery of wool textiles and their radiocarbon dating clearly defines the spread of the innovative textile strategies out of the Near East from the South to the North, then from the North Caucasus Piedmont areas from the West to the East. The author suggests that one of the ways the wool textile spread to west was from the southern steppe region of Eastern Europe via the Black Sea steppes.

THE EVOLUTION OF ANTLER AND BONE CHEEKPIECES FROM THE BALKAN-CARPATHIAN REGION TO CENTRAL KAZAKHSTAN: CHRONOLOGY OF “CHARIOT” CULTURES AND MYCENAEAN GREECE

It is believed that chariots and cheekpieces for harnessing horses were invented in the steppe in the late 3rd – early 2nd millennium BC. From the steppe, the chariots reached the Carpathians, Mycenae and the Near East. However, these conclusions are based on the use of radiocarbon dates for the steppe complexes and historical ones for the Near Eastern ones. Correlation with the Carpathian materials was made on the basis of chronological schemes outdated for this region. The analysis shows that chariots spread to both regions independently, from the Near East, and the appearance of both chariots and cheekpieces in Mycenaean Greece was associated with the arrival of small elite groups from the Carpathians, probably of Thracian origin. It has made it possible to link the Eastern European and Ural cultures to the historical chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean.

The earliest herders of East Asia: Examining Afanasievo entry to Central Mongolia

The Afanasievo world reportedly overlaps the borders of five nations including two countries of East Asia: Mongolia and China. Across these several regions, the first appearance of domestic herd animals (sheep, goat, cattle) and the initial practice of copper and bronze metallurgy are associated with Afanasievo communities. Since mobile pastoralism has long been a significant part of the Mongolian cultural tradition the question of when, where, and how Afanasievo groups entered Mongolia is of extreme interest to archaeologists. Over the past 50 years several important sites have been reported and analyzed but these are still little known among Western scholars. In this study we provide a brief overview of Afanasievo archaeology, its peripheries, and its recent analytical breakthroughs and then develop a unique perspective on the Afanasievo world from its farthest eastern edge in central Mongolia. We assess the different roles of migration and diffusion in the process of herd animal introduction and present two current hypotheses explaining the intensification of pastoralism in this region during the late 3rd and early 2nd millennium BC. We argue that the impact of Afanasievo entry into East Asia was a transformative process but must be understood in the context of significant innovations made by East Asian indigenous communities, eventually leading to a unique form of eastern steppe pastoralism in Mongolia.