Early Metal Age Research Articles

Early Metal Age Pottery from Fatu Aki Anik Knua, Timor-Leste and the Appearance of Ceramics in the Wallacean Islands.

Fatu Aki Anik Knua is an archaeological site in the mountainous interior of Timor-Leste comprising of a limestone cave and open site locale. Excavations in 2015 yielded an extraordinary quantity of earthenware pottery with over 13,000 potsherds recovered, all dating within the last 1800 years. The Faak pottery is described and examined in the context of Timor-Leste and eastern Indonesian assemblages more widely. The intensification of ceramic technology transfers and initial pottery use, which occurred at many sites in the region during the Paleometallic era, is highlighted. The essential features of this hinterland site assemblage show affinities with Early Metal Age pottery occurring extensively throughout eastern Indonesia after 2500 BP.

Genesis of Nomadic Cattle Breeding in Mongolia and Southern Trans-Baikal Territory: Prerequisites and Reasons

The article reveals the prerequisites and reasons for development of nomadic cattle breeding in the paleo-economy of the nomadic population of Mongolia and southern Trans-Baikal Territory. The article analyses the changes that occurred in the economic activities of the archaeological cultures of the region during the Bronze Age. The complex type of economy of the Selenga-Daurian culture of the Eneolithic-Early Bronze Age is characterised, which combined the branches of the producing and appropriating economy. The sedentary lifestyle of representatives of the Selenga-Daurian culture is grounded. The nomadic nature of the economy and lifestyle of the population of the culture of tiled graves of the developed Late Bronze Age is shown. The change of cattle breeding in the local type to nomadic cattle breeding is associated with aridisation of the climate which began at the end of the 3rd millennium BC and ended in the middle of 2nd millennium BC. The economic, biological and natural-climatic prerequisites for the transition to nomadism are highlighted including the accumulation of experience in the field of cattle breeding in the Early Metal Age, the adaptive abilities of farm animals for keeping in the open air, changes in the natural environment in the direction of climate aridisation and xerophytisation of vegetation steppes. The reason for the transition to nomadic cattle breeding was the establishment of severe continental climate with hot, dry summers and winters with little snow in the region in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. The arid climate worsened the conditions for farming, hunting, fishing and gathering. The small thickness of the snow cover in winter made it possible to switch to year-round keeping of animals on pasture with periodic change of pastures as they were depleted. As a result, the economy of the steppe population was reorganised into nomadic cattle breeding and a mobile nomadic way of life of the population was formed

To the issue of tin bronzes over the area of the Dnieper-Don region in the late bronze age

The paper is devoted to tin ores as an alloying impurity in the bronze production by the ancient population of the Dnieper-Don region in the Late Bronze Age. The eastern and western supply vectors providing the local population with both ore (cassiterite) and its products are considered. The author draws attention to the assumptions of some researchers not confirmed by geological surveys about the possibility of finding tin deposits in the Donbass and Krivoy Rog basin, which could probably have been developed in the Early Metal Age. An opinion was given regarding the production of bronze from copper ore with a high content of metals - impurities in the mineral phase and separately from polymetallic ore. In ancient times for the development of any mineral, its availability for development, as well as a great volume or high content of useful mineral in ore were indispensable conditions. Due to existing technologies, the requirements for minerals in antiquity were much higher than modern ones. 
 On the issue of tin raw materials for bronze production of the ancient population of Ukraine, attention is drawn to the assumption, not yet confirmed by geological surveys of some researchers (S.I. Tatarinov, D.P. Kravets, D.P. Nedopako) on the possibility of finding tin deposits in such ore-rich regions of Ukraine as the Donbass and Krivoy Rog.
 The experimental work carried out on the basis of ores of the Kartamysh ore occurrence have indeed confirmed the idea of chemical elements redistribution, when some metals decrease and others increase. This trend with reference to the results of spectral analyzes of Bakhmut ores, slags and products of the Donetsk Mining and Metallurgical Center, performed by E.N. Chernykh was noted by S.I. Tatarinov. However, to obtain bronze, a high percentage of bronze-forming impurities is required, including tin in the minerals. However, the copper and polymetallic ores of Donbass do not contain enough tin in the initial ore to produce tin bronze. A series of our experiments yielded just pure copper. Thus, the author reposes on the commune notion, according to which it is not possible to obtain bronze from copper ores of Donbass and bronze without on purpose input of the appropriate elements into the melt.

Stone Age fishing strategies in a dynamic river landscape: Evidence from Veksa 3, Northwest Russia

The role of fishing in Stone Age hunter-gatherer societies of the European forest zone has been gaining importance as a research question over the last years. In order to better understand temporal developments in the role of fishing, changing strategies and their connection to environmental conditions, the study of multi-period stratified site holds good potential for working out a sound empirical basis. Multidisciplinary investigations at the site of Veksa 3 in northwestern Russia have substantially increased our understanding on the development of subsistence strategies of Stone and Early Metal Age populations in this region and on the changing role fishing played in this. For the Early Neolithic period (ca. mid-6th to early 5th mill. cal BC) evidence was gained from seasonal settlement remains within floodplain sediments at the bank of the river Vologda. Fish remains within the settlement structures represent kitchen remains (burnt bones) and processing debris (fish scales) with the dominant species being pike and cyprinids. The only evidence for fishing techniques are bone fish hooks which typologically are linked to Late Mesolithic practices in Northwest Russia. Isotopic analyses of ceramic food crusts attest to an increasing importance of pottery vessels in fish processing from the Early to the Middle Neolithic. For the Late Neolithic and the Early Metal Age period, almost one thousand years of intense regular use of the shallow water area east of the modern Veksa mouth for fishing with stationary constructions is attested to by rich waterlogged in situ remains. The wooden constructions encompass thousands of archaeological timbers, many of them upstanding posts with pointed ends, and several lath screens representing fich fences and fish traps, six of which have been excavated. Radiocarbon datings place the constructions within a time frame between the second half of the 4th and the third quarter of the 3rd millennium cal BC. They are associated with the lacustrine, shallow water phase identified in the palaeoenvironmental studies before the regime at this place changed to a fluvial character.

Burials in Anthropomorphic Jars in the Philippines

The fi rst joint study by Russian and Philippine archaeologists addresses an unusual variant of a burial tradition distributed in Island Southeast Asia – burials in anthropomorphic clay jars, found in Ayub Cave (southern Mindanao Island, Philippines), excavated by specialists from the National Museum of the Philippines in 1991–1992, and tentatively dated to 500 BC to 500 AD. Of special interest are lids of jars shaped as painted human heads with individualized facial features and expressions. The fi nds suggest that Ayub Cave was a necropolis of the tribe elite, and that vessels were produced by a special group of potters using elaborate “prestige technologies”. The Ayub ceramic collection has various parallels relating to clay fi gurines and decoration including painting, among Late Neolithic and Early Metal Age assemblages from the Philippines (Luzon, Palawan, and Negros Islands), Indonesia (Sumba, Flores, and Bali Islands), and other regions of the Pacifi c Basin from Japan (Jomon) and Korea (Early Iron Age burials) to Vanuatu Islands (Lapita culture). These parallels suggest that the source of the anthropomorphic symbolism was the Austronesian migration with one of its routes passing from southern China via Taiwan, the northern Philippines, Mariana Islands, and further south to Melanesia and Polynesia.

The beginning of the «early metal age» in Karelia: materials and research

The paper presents the results of the archaeological study of the transition stage from the stone age to the early metal age. On the territory of Karelia, this period is represented by cultures of comb-pit and rhomb-pit ceramics. The development of neolithic cultures is controversial. The objective of the study is to present materials and research. Special attention is paid to the monuments with rhomb-pit ceramics and signs of acquaintance of the population with metal. The sources are increased, the analysis of materials is carried out, the main provisions in the development of cultural processes are rethought. Ceramics is the first artificial material. Ceramics ornamentation is the main cultural-defining marker in the study of ancient cultures. According to morpho-typological features, rhomb-pit ceramics is similar to ceramics with a pit-comb ornamentation system. The author of the paper refers the monuments with rhomb-pit ceramics to the transition stage from the Neolithic to the Eneolithic. The researcher focuses on the features of the development of ancient pottery in the IV - early III mil BC.

On extraction of ore minerals of the Donetsk basin in the early metal age

On extraction of ore minerals of the Donetsk basin in the early metal age

Paleoecological characteristics of the Barents sea coast during the late holocene by the example of Sredniy Peninsula

We received results of complex palaeoecological research at south-west Barents Sea coast. In Periayarvi 1 settlement (Sredniy Peninsula) discovered by V. Ya. Shumkin in 1994, archeological excavations of two house-structures were performed. We sampled the sequence in the house-structure 16 date to the Early Metal Age and we studied it with archaeological, palynological, geochemical and radiocarbon methods. The sequence in the house-structure 16 settlement include sand layers in the bottom, the upper part consists of slightly decomposed peat. The radiocarbon data obtained from the charcoal sample from the fireplace in the middle of the house-structure is 2920±70 C14 BP, which correlates with result of pollen analysis. According ac to pollen data, the sequence formation started at the first half of the Subboreal period during the spread of tundra vegetation and then vegetation changed to forest tundra while the climate was getting more comfortable for humans. At the Subatlantic period tundra recovers because of temperature drop. The landscape is getting similar to the modern one. According geochemical indications main functional zones of house-structure were distinguished, and that provides necessary information about main characteristics of living conditions. The complex of methods allows to date Periayarvi 1 settlement to the Early Metal Age. In the results we made reconstruction of palaeoenvironmental conditions in the Late Holocene at the Barents Sea coast.

ID169787-2 tuft overfor Jergul, Karasjok k., Finnmark. Rapport fra prøvegraving 2013

Excavation report (in Norwegian). Small-scale excavation of house-pit. An oval, 4,5 x 3,7 m, shallow house-pit was test-excavated by a 0,5 x 0,5 m field in the middle of the floor area. Several layers of charcoal, partly separated by sand-layser were observed in an assumed central hearth. No hearth-stones or finds. RAdiocarbon dates point to at least two separate use-phases, one in the Late Atone Age c. 3800 BC) and one in the early Medieval period. A date from a previous test-pit could represent a third, intercepting, dwelling episode, alternatively a mixing of the two stratigraphically separable layers. A stone-lined hearth situated outside the house-pit was dated to 1880-1690 BC, i.e. Early Metal Age. Related publication:Blankholm, H. P. and Skandfer, M. (in press) House Pits in the Northern Interior. In: Skandfer, M., Blankholm, H. P. and Hood, B. (eds) Archaeological Perspectives on Hunter-Gatherer Landscapes and Resource Management in Interior North Norway. Equinox Publishing, Sheffield. Related reports:http://doi.org/10.7557/7.4331http://doi.org/10.7557/7.4324http://doi.org/10.7557/7.4336

ID143694 Guovzadievva Karasjok kommune Finnmark. Rapport fra utgravning 2012

Exavation report (in Norwegian). Excavation of open Early Metal Age dwelling site. No clear hearths or dwelling structures, but several charcola concentrations and a concentration of fire-cracked rocks. Two find concentrations, several quartz scrapers in an assumed depot. Three radiocarbon dates: 1641-1500 BC, 209-54 BC and 65-0 BC. Related reports:http://doi.org/10.7557/7.4331 http://doi.org/10.7557/7.4330

Fishery in the Tobol-Ishim interfluve in the neolithic and early metal age

Landscapes of the Tobol-Ishim interfluve were not stable in the Holocene and varied from forests and drowned floodplains at the beginning of the V and III millennia BC to steppificated territories with a lowered water level at the beginning of the Atlantic Period and in the middle of the Subboreal Period, which determined the main types of economic activities, one of them was fishing. Changes in hydrological regime of water bodies influenced the methods of fishing, including the use of different traps. Thus, in the Neolithic, when the water level decreased, the location of settlements in the system river-creek-lake (for example, Mergen 6), a large number of fish bones, bone harpoons, fishing spears, fishing tackles for catching pike and a total absence of plummets were indicative of individual fishing for large fish and, perhaps, of stop net fishery, which was facilitated by a decrease in the width of watercourses and tombolos. Stop net (stake net) fishery led to a settled lifestyle of the population, collective activities and the emergence of long-term settlements with deep foundation pits of dwellings. When the water level in rivers and lakes increased and floods became more frequent, the life support system changed, the population began to develop coasts more widely, its mobility increased, and they started to build framed above-ground dwellings. Following those changes, biconic, cigar-shaped, and corniculate plummets emerged in the Tobol River Basin and on the adjacent western and north-western territories in the III and early II millennium BC. When the water level was high, it was efficient to fish using traps, seines and, probably, nets, although the latter could also be used in drive hunting for shedding geese and ducks. Subrectangular plummets with one or two ties for fastening, and disk-shaped plummets with a tie in the center had been prevailing since the beginning of the II millennium BC; they existed until the first third of the I millennium BC. This period, the transition time from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age, is characterized by the absence of clay plummets, while there are large accumulations of fish scales and bones in the settlement layers. We can suppose that the population of that time (local Late Bronze Age population, mixed with northern migrants who made utensils with cross ornamentation) switched from net fishing to stop net fishing.

Early Metal Age interactions in Island Southeast Asia and Oceania: jar burials from Aru Manara, northern Moluccas

New evidence from the rockshelter site of Aru Manara, on the island of Morotai, in the northern Moluccas, East Indonesia, suggests an earlier than previously assumed date for extensive interactions between this area of Southeast Asia and the wider Pacific. Shared mortuary customs and associated ceramic grave goods, along with other practices such as megalithic traditions, appear to start in the Late Neolithic, but become more widespread and consolidated in the Early Metal Age. Excavations at Aru Manara show that the northern Moluccas may have figured prominently in the newly established network of interaction evidenced at this time, making it an important location in the spread and dispersal of people and culture throughout Island Southeast Asia and into Oceania.

Copper‐base Metallurgy in Metal‐Age Bali: Evidence from Gilimanuk, Manikliyu, Pacung, Pangkung Paruk and Sembiran

The Indonesian Archipelago extends over 5000 km of latitude, from 95°E to 141°E, and hosts some of the world's largest active metal mines. While some fascinating ethnographic and historical sources exist, virtually nothing is known of the country's prehistoric metallurgical traditions. Given Indonesia's scale, this situation cannot be remedied in short order, but with this paper we seek to elucidate some metal production and consumption behaviours on Bali, located around 115°E, during the last centuries of the first millennium bc and the early to middle first millennium ad. The studied early Metal Age assemblage of 27 copper‐base artefacts from the sites of Pacung, Sembiran, Bangkah, Pangkung Paruk, Gilimanuk and Manikliyu includes bangle, bowl, drum, hook, mirror and ornamental typologies, and fragments thereof. Fourteen of the 27 samples were suffering from corrosion, but a strong tendency towards leaded copper alloys (21 of 27) can be distinguished, with some bronzes, a high‐tin bronze and a leaded high‐tin bronze. The high proportion of leaded artefacts mean that lead isotope data cannot be used to identify possible sources of copper, but there is good consistency with Mainland South‐East Asian Iron Age leaded alloy signatures for the bulk of the assemblage, possibly indicating the existence of long‐range (~2000–3000 km one way) exchange systems at the outset of the Island South‐East Asian Metal Age, and perhaps as far as China and India in the case of the mirror and bowl, respectively. Of particular note, the Manikliyu ‘Pejeng’ drum, a stylistically idiosyncratic type known from Bali and Java, and for which there is local production evidence, transpired to be consistent in terms of elemental composition and lead signature with Mainland ‘Dong Son’ drums. This could suggest that Pejeng drums were produced not just from metal imported from the Mainland but with melted down Mainland drums; an intriguing case of local reinterpretation of foreign elite material culture and iconography.

The Development of Pottery Making Traditions and Maritime Networks during the Early Metal Age in Northern Maluku Islands

Abstrak. Perkembangan Tradisi Pembuatan Tembikar dan Jejaring Maritim pada Masa Logam Awal di Bagian Utara Kepulauan Maluku.Selama masa Neolitik atau Jaman Logam Awal setelah 2300 sampai 2000 tahun BP di Wallacea, migrasi manusia dan jaringan maritim menjadi lebih berkembang. Melalui bukti linguistik, misalnya, trans-migrasi oleh kelompok berbahasa Austronesia dan kelompok berbahasa Papua atau bukti arkeologi seperti perluasan dan pengembangan tembikar yang memiliki kemiripan membuat tradisi ini menjadi bukti sejarah adanya perdagangan rempah-rempah dengan China, India dan lebih jauh ke arah Barat lainnya dalam studi kasus di Maluku. Kedatangan budaya logam (baik perunggu maupun besi) dan bahan kaca dinilai penting karena mungkin menunjukkan pengembangan lebih lanjut jaringan migrasi dan perdagangan manusia yang aktif di wilayah ini. Dengan berpijak pada pemahaman tersebut, tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk menemukan bukti-bukti kedatangan budaya logam di Maluku Utara sebagai indikasi jaringan migrasi dan perdagangan masa lalu. Ekskavasi sebagai pendekatan penelitian dilakukan pada situs baru di Maluku Utara antara tahun 2012-2014. Hasil penelitian menemukan bahwa Situs terbuka Gorua di pesisir timur laut Pulau Halmahera (Kabupaten Tobelo) merupakan salah satu dari situs-situs tersebut yang berumur sekitar 2300-2000 tahun BP (atau 300-50 SM). Sekaligus menjadi penanda perkembangan pembuatan tembikar dan pola jaringan maritim di Kawasan Maluku Utara pada masa Paleometalik/Perundagian. Abstract. During the post Neolithic times or Early Metal Age, after 2300 to 2000 years BP, in Wallacea human migrations and maritime networks were more developed. Through linguistic evidence, for instance the trans-migration by Austronesian language speaking groups and Papuan language speaking groups, or archaeological evidences such as expansion and development of similar pottery, make the traditions a historical evidence for the spice trade with China, India, and further West for the Maluku case. The arrival of metal (both bronze and iron) and glass materials is also considered important due to the fact that it possibly shows further development of active human migrations and trade networks in that region. On the basis of such backgrounds and understanding, the aim of this research is to uncover evidences of the arrival of metal culture in Northern Maluku as an indication of migration and trade networks in the past. Excavations as research approach were carried out at some new sites in Northern Maluku during 2012-2014. Results show that an open site, Gorua, on the eastern coast of Halmahera Island (Tobelo Regency) is one of the sites, which dates to around 2300-2000 years BP (or 300-50 BC). It also marks the development of pottery-making and the pattern of maritime network within the Northern Maluku Islands during the Early Metal Age.

Development of Regional Maritime Networks during the Early Metal Age in Northern Maluku Islands: A View from Excavated Glass Ornaments and Pottery Variation

ABSTRACTIn this paper we discuss the results of excavation at the Aru Manara site in the Northern Maluku islands along with a description of the recovered pottery assemblage and results of compositional analysis of glass ornaments. By comparing our data to those from other sites in the area, we suggest the possible development of regional maritime networks in and around the Northern Maluku Islands during the Early Metal Age. The lowest level of the site contained a large number of secondary human burials, burial pots, and jars with distinctive anthropomorphic and zoomorphic motifs (including human faces and lizards), and possible baked clay ornaments. These all date to between ca. 2100 and 1900 years BP, corresponding to the Early Metal Age in Island Southeast Asia. The site also produced numerous glass beads and bracelets. X-ray fluorescence analysis confirms a high proportion of potash glass that possibly originated from China, Mainland Southeast Asia or India and is common in sites in Thailand and Vietnam dating to between 2500 and 2100 years BP. There was a minor occurrence of high alumina-soda glass beads known as Indo-Pacific beads that originated from India to Southeast Asia and which are commonly found in sites dated between 2300 and 1500 years BP or later. The glass ornaments from different areas, combined with variable pottery, indicates the possible development of maritime and cross-regional networks to the Northern Maluku Islands.

The Wooden Construction of the Okhta 1 Site in St Petersburg

The Okhta 1 Neolithic-Early Metal site is the first archaeological object in the St Petersburg region with a well-preserved wooden construction. The site was occupied by ancient people several times during the Neolithic Age, in the Early Metal Age periods, from 7,000 to 3,000 years ago. The remains of wooden structures (stakes, treated wooden slats and rails, and piles) were found. Features of the micro-relief of the site, its stratigraphy and archaeological observations have allowed us to locate an earlier coastal fishing zone located on the shore of the gulf, and a second fishing and living area connected to river channels. The archaeological collection includes archaeological finds: pottery, stone tools, products of organic matter and wood, and amber ornaments. Key words: Neolithic sites, Early Metal Age, wooden construction, pottery, stone tools, coastal fishing zone, living area. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/ab.v24i0.1563

From Mesolithic to Early Christianity: The Development of the Ritual Complex in the Northern Part of Lake Biržulis (Lithuania) According to Archaeological, Linguistic and Historical Research

Several ritual complexes are known in Europe, the origins of which reach back to the Stone Age, and their chain of development includes the metal ages or even the period of official conversion to Christianity, such as Stonehenge (England), Newgrange (Ireland), and Alvastra near Lake Takern (Sweden). Such complexes stretching across a long chronological period are known also from western Lithuania, in Žemaitija (Samogitia). On the basis of archaeological, linguistic and historical research we attempt in this paper to reconstruct the development of the Donkalnis and Spiginas Mesolithic-Neolithic cemeteries, sacrificial hearths, and funerary feast sites, which date from the middle Mesolithic period to historical times. We have selected a very narrow area along the shores of Lake Biržulis in western Lithuania. During the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods this was an 800 m. east-west-oriented area, where discoveries have been made of settlements, sacrificial and burial sites, and a seer's grave. On the basis of archaeological and ethnological Indo-European studies and the earliest historical sources (namely, the land registers of the bishops of Žemaitija from 1421-1662) we study the later period from the early metal ages to the very late official conversion of the area to Christianity in 1413, during which time the area spread 1,000 m. westwards. An attempt is made to reconstruct the sacralisation and monumentalisation of this space over almost 7,500 years from 5980 B.C. to A.D. 1413-1421.

Subdivisions of haplogroups U and C encompass mitochondrial DNA lineages of Eneolithic-Early Bronze Age Kurgan populations of western North Pontic steppe.

Prehistoric Europe experienced a marked cultural and economic shift around 4000 years ago, when the established Neolithic agriculture-based economy was replaced by herding-pastoralist industry. In recent years new data about the genetic structure of human communities living during this transition period began to emerge. At the same time, the genetic identities of the Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age (EBA) inhabitants from a prehistoric cultural crossroad in western North Pontic steppe region remain understudied. This report presents results of the investigation of maternal genetic lineages of individuals buried in kurgans constructed during the Eneolithic-EBA transition in the western part of the North Pontic Region (NPR). Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) lineages from the interments belonging to the Eneolithic as well as the EBA cultures such as Yamna (Pit Grave), Catacomb and Babino (Mnogovalikovaya or KMK) were examined. In the 12 successfully haplotyped specimens, 75% of mtDNA lineages consisted of west Eurasian haplogroup U and its U4 and U5 sublineages. Furthermore, we identified a subgroup of east Eurasian haplogroup C in two representatives of the Yamna culture in one of the studied kurgans. Our results indicate the persistence of Mesolithic hunter-gatherer mtDNA lineages in western NPR through the EBA, as well as suggesting a mtDNA lineage continuum connecting the western NPR inhabitants of the Early Metal Ages to the North Pontic Neolithic population groups.

On the early metal objects and early Metal Age in Tibet

AbstractThe studies on the issue of the early making and using of the metal objects in Tibet have long been relying on the textual materials completed in later times, but could not be supported by the archaeologically obtained physical materials. This paper systematically trimmed the results of the Tibetan archaeology in recent years and pointed out that the earliest date of the making of metal objects in Tibet could be as early as 4000 BP or earlier. In 2500–2000 BP, the early Metal Age in Tibet showed a complicated feature; iron wares might have been introduced into the Tibetan Plateau, and the compound objects composed of iron, copper and bronze parts became popular, showing that the people had some knowledge on these metals. The people living in Ngari Plateau in western Tibet and Yarlung Tsangpo Valley in southern Tibet had known to use or make iron weapons and ornaments; the discovery of the large quantity of iron arrowheads proved that the iron production at that time reached a rather high level. It could also be observed from the early metal objects unearthed in Tibet that their making probably referred to the various features of the manufacturing and decorating of the early metal objects in the surrounding areas, and some special metal objects might have been introduced into Tibet through multiple possible approaches.

Taiwan's Early Metal Age and Southeast Asian trading systems

Abstract