Mid-second Millennium Research Articles

A spectral cavalcade: Early Iron Age horse sacrifice at a royal tomb in southern Siberia

Abstract Horses began to feature prominently in funerary contexts in southern Siberia in the mid-second millennium BC, yet little is known about the use of these animals prior to the emergence of vibrant horse-riding groups in the first millennium BC. Here, the authors present the results of excavations at the late-ninth-century BC tomb of Tunnug 1 in Tuva, where the deposition of the remains of at least 18 horses and one human is reminiscent of sacrificial spectral riders described in fifth-century Scythian funerary rituals by Herodotus. The discovery of items of tack further reveals connections to the earliest horse cultures of Mongolia.

Lost-wax casting: A widespread technique to produce copper alloy adornments in Atlantic Europe since the mid-second millennium BC

Lost-wax casting is a metalworking technique that has long been regarded as an innovation imported from the eastern Mediterranean and only widely used in Western Europe since the Late Bronze Age. We now have evidence that this technique was in fact largely in use from the Middle Bronze Age onwards for the production of copper alloy adornments in the Atlantic area. Along with palstaves, these objects are the most abundant in Atlantic hoards from the 15th to the 13th centuries BC. Thanks to detailed morphological and technological study, combined with an experimental approach and analysis of their elemental composition, we can propose new chaînes opératoires for the manufacture of massive annular bracelets with geometric decoration.

The Cretan Horse: Still a Unique Breed? Part I: Equines on Crete from the Neolithic to the Ottoman Period

The Cretan (or Messara, Giorgalidiko) horse or pony was first mentioned as a distinct specific horse breed by the Ottomans in 1895. This horse, however, may have a much longer history, perhaps going back to the prehistoric era. It also has an unsure future. Based on a review of available archaeofaunal, iconographical, and historiographical information, the authors identify the characteristics of the Cretan horse, discuss the possible origin of this breed, describe its current breeding status, and present a proposal for its preservation. Domesticated horses (Equus caballus) appeared on the island by the end of the third millennium B.C.E. and became part of the cultural context after the mid-second millennium B.C.E. It is difficult to trace the horse in Crete during Classical antiquity, early Christianity, and the early Middle Ages. It is possible that various breeds of E. caballus were present on the island during the Late Middle Ages. The Cretan horse is understood as part of local tradition, a historical patrimony, and an integral part of Crete‘s cultural heritage. The geographical, climatic, historical, and cultural characteristics of the island were imprinted in its characteristics. The Cretan horse is poorly documented up to this day. It now faces extinction. The authors gathered information and evidence of horses on Crete from the Neolithic period up to the present day. They produced two papers, representing a comprehensive overview of the Equus Cabalus history of the island. The first paper covers the period from prehistoric times up to 1895, when the Cretan horse was declared a special breed by the Ottoman administration and protected legally. The research summarizes archaeological, osteological, iconographical, and historical evidence. The second paper describes the state of the breed during the twentieth century, the current position, its further needs and future prospects.

Attribution Gleanings

Abstract Those engaged in scholarly work might benefit from getting out of their silos of research from time to time and become familiar with parallel research in other areas of study. Very little of historical study involves 100 % certainty; it mostly involves degrees of possibility and probability. Finding out how scholars in other fields deal with similar problems can help us adjust the possibility/probability calibrations in our own field. For example, one can apply standards to determine degrees of certainty to works attributed to Nil Sorskii. One can then apply those standards to the works of other mid-second millennium authors. Meanwhile, the three criteria of historical study can beneficially be applied to questions of authorship, such as the controversies surrounding the attributions to William Shakespeare and to Andrei Kurbskii. No matter how frustrated one might get with one’s opponents, one needs to remember that ad hominem denigration does not advance the cause of scholarship.

The Mid-Second Millennium a.d. Submerged Iron Production Village of Pontada in Lake Matano, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

abstract: By the mid-second millennium a.d., Indonesians were already familiar with iron tools. One of Indonesia's main centers of iron production is the Lake Matano area in the hinterland of East Luwu, South Sulawesi, eastern Indonesia, renowned for its nickeliferous iron ore. Research in Lake Matano conducted during 2016–2022 succeeded in documenting a submerged village with remnants of an iron processing industry dating to the late first millennium a.d. In this article, we describe a second submerged site associated with processing iron, which included forged iron implements. Occupation at this site, called Pontada, is dated to between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries a.d., before the site sank beneath the surface of Lake Matano. Written and archaeological evidence suggests that its antiquity corresponds to when the empire of Majapahit in eastern Java imported nickeliferous iron from Lake Matano and traded it throughout coastal Luwu.

The Mid-Second Millennium A.D. Submerged Iron Production Village of Pontada in Lake Matano, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

By the mid-second millennium A.D., Indonesians were already familiar with iron tools. One of Indonesia’s main centers of iron production is the Lake Matano area in the hinterland of East Luwu, South Sulawesi, eastern Indonesia, renowned for its nickeliferous iron ore. Research in Lake Matano conducted during 2016-2022 succeeded in documenting a submerged village with remnants of an iron processing industry dating to the late first millennium A.D. In this article, we describe a second submerged site associated with processing iron, which included forged iron implements. Occupation at this site, called Pontada, is dated to between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries A.D., before the site sank beneath the surface of Lake Matano. Written and archaeological evidence suggests that its antiquity corresponds to when the empire of Majapahit in eastern Java imported nickeliferous iron from Lake Matano and traded it throughout coastal Luwu.

The climate downturns in China caused by volcanic eruptions in 535–40 CE and by Thera (Santorini) at the founding of the Shang dynasty (1562 BCE)

Abstract It is well known that ancient Chinese written records are an invaluable source of historical information on astronomy, technology, economy, and climate, dating back in some cases to the second millennium BCE. Numerous studies have established that the climatic consequences of the ejection of volcanic aerosols into the atmosphere can have a major impact on the climate worldwide. Here, the Chinese evidence of such a severe climatic anomaly during the decade of the 530s is first reviewed. A preponderance of the evidence from ice cores and tree rings worldwide points to more than one large volcanic eruption during the 530s, although which volcano was responsible has not yet been conclusively established. Even more severe than 1815, the “year without a summer,” due to the eruption of Tambora, in 536–537 summer frosts and snowfall occurred in China causing multi-year drought, crop failures, and catastrophic famine. Study of pre-imperial Chinese texts gives reason to believe that in mid-second millennium BCE a massive loading of the atmosphere with volcanic aerosols from the eruption of Thera (Santorini) may have been the cause of dramatic climatic downturn in the sixteenth century BCE. Dating of the events based on verifiable records of astronomical phenomena suggests that the long-remembered ancient calamity could have been caused by the eruption of Thera in the eastern Mediterranean. This benchmark date can be helpful in establishing a secure chronology of eastern Mediterranean kingdoms in the period.

Second Intermediate Period date for the Thera (Santorini) eruption and historical implications.

The historical relevance of the Thera (Santorini) volcanic eruption is unclear because of major dating uncertainty. Long placed ~1500 BCE and during the Egyptian New Kingdom (starts ~1565–1540 BCE) by archaeologists, 14C pointed to dates ≥50–100 years earlier during the preceding Second Intermediate Period. Several decades of debate have followed with no clear resolution of the problem—despite wide recognition that this uncertainty undermines an ability to synchronize the civilizations of the eastern Mediterranean in the mid-second millennium BCE and write wider history. Recent work permits substantial progress. Volcanic CO2 was often blamed for the discrepancy. However, comparison of 14C dates directly associated with the eruption from contemporary Aegean contexts—both on and remote from Thera—can now remove this caveat. In turn, using Bayesian analysis, a revised and substantially refined date range for the Thera eruption can be determined, both through the integration of the large 14C dataset relevant to the Thera eruption with the local stratigraphic sequence on Thera immediately prior to the eruption, and in conjunction with the wider stratigraphically-defined Aegean archaeological sequence from before to after the eruption. This enables a robust high-resolution dating for the eruption ~1606–1589 BCE (68.3% probability), ~1609–1560 BCE (95.4% probability). This dating clarifies long-disputed synchronizations between Aegean and East Mediterranean cultures, placing the eruption during the earlier and very different Second Intermediate Period with its Canaanite-Levantine dominated world-system. This gives an importantly altered cultural and historical context for the New Palace Period on Crete and the contemporary Shaft Grave era in southern Greece. In addition, the revised dating, and a current absence of southern Aegean chronological data placed soon afterwards, highlights a period of likely devastating regional eruption impact in the earlier-mid 16th century BCE southern Aegean.

Pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) Domestication and Dispersal Out of Central Asia

The pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) is commercially cultivated in semi-arid regions around the globe. Archaeobotanical, genetic, and linguistic data suggest that the pistachio was brought under cultivation somewhere within its wild range, spanning southern Central Asia, northern Iran, and northern Afghanistan. Historically, pistachio cultivation has primarily relied on grafting, suggesting that, as with many Eurasian tree crops, domestication resulted from genetically locking hybrids or favored individuals in place. Plant domestication and dispersal research has largely focused on weedy, highly adaptable, self-compatible annuals; in this discussion, we present a case study that involves a dioecious long-lived perennial—a domestication process that would have required a completely different traditional ecological knowledge system than that utilized for grain cultivation. We argue that the pistachio was brought under cultivation in southern Central Asia, spreading westward by at least 2000 years ago (maybe a few centuries earlier to the mountains of modern Syria) and moved eastward only at the end of the first millennium AD. The seeds remain rare in archaeological sites outside its native range, even into the mid-second millennium AD, and may not have been widely cultivated until the past few hundred years.

Archaeometric investigations of the Molali pottery complex (Bronze Age, Uzbekistan): New data on technology and exchanges at the end of the Oxus Civilization

The recent excavations at the site of Molali, located in southern Uzbekistan and dated to the mid-second millennium BCE, offer new insights into the definition of the Final Bronze Age pottery complex in southern Uzbekistan and the technological and stylistic links between the potting traditions of the various cultural groups at this period. An archaeometric study has been conducted in order to characterize the various wares, investigate the compositional variability of the ceramic assemblage, and determine the provenance of the raw materials. The results from a combination of techniques (Wavelength Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence, X-Ray Diffraction, and thin section Optical Microscopy) allowed us to identify a local pottery production of wheel-made fine ware and to determine the local/regional origin of the handmade, coarse, shell-tempered ware. Exchange relationships with ‘steppe’ populations have been confirmed; they involved not only vessels (coarse rock-tempered pots) but also pottery traditions (specific ‘steppe’-like decorations on pots of regional origin). Although not numerous, they are nonetheless evidence of large-scale connections between the settlements in the Surkhan Darya valley and other peripheral cultures and areas in the mid-second millennium BCE. The diversity of fabrics (use of various raw materials and different technological processes) is also discussed regarding the choices made for intrinsic material properties required for specific functions, highlighting the strong expertise and management acquired by the potters for the production of diverse ceramic functional categories.

Pottery from Tell Khaiber: A Craft Tradition of the First Sealand Dynasty By Daniel Calderbank (Archaeology of Ancient Iraq 1). Ludlow: Moonrise Press 2021. Pp. xii + 282. £ 35. ISBN 978-1-910169-02-5 (cloth).

<i>Pottery from Tell Khaiber: A Craft Tradition of the First Sealand Dynasty</i> By Daniel Calderbank (Archaeology of Ancient Iraq 1). Ludlow: Moonrise Press 2021. Pp. xii + 282. £ 35. ISBN 978-1-910169-02-5 (cloth).

Re-assessing Middle Nubian cultural constructs through ceramic petrography

This study employs ceramic petrography to establish if the existing typology-based divisions for the so-called Middle Nubian cultures can be related to variations in Nubian ceramic technologies during the mid-second millennium BC (c. 1800–1550 BC). Raw materials, paste recipes, and firing technology are analyzed to identify similarities and differences between the C-Group, Pan-Grave, and Kerma ceramic traditions. Three distinct fabric groups could be identified. Each corresponds, suggestively, to one of the existing cultural units. It is proposed that these variations reflect different approaches to resource acquisition and processing as well as distinct firing processes. Although these technological groups may relate to chronology and subsistence strategies, more evidence is needed before directly linking ceramic technologies to cultural units.

The Guardian Ancestors. Burials at Bronze Age fortified Sites in the Adriatic Area: Coppa Nevigata and the Istrian Hillforts

Around the mid-second millennium BC, some inhumations and disarticulated bones were buried in the area of the fortification lines at the Coppa Nevigata settlement (northern Apulia). This funerary custom appears to be anomalous in the context of Bronze Age southern Italy. On the other hand, such a burial location near to a fortification wall mirrors the funerary evidence from Bronze Age hillforts (castellieri/gradine) in Istria, a region that indeed had close relationships with northern Apulia. Evidence from other European regions is also taken into account, in order to evaluate to what extent this phenomenon was a distinctive trait pointing to interaction between the south-western and north-eastern Adriatic and what their nature was. European contexts offer only generic similarities, whereas the consistency of funerary practices at settlements in the Adriaticarea, based on a close association with defensive lines, appears to be far from random.

Phytolith evidence for the pastoral origins of multi-cropping in Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq)

Multi-cropping was vital for provisioning large population centers across ancient Eurasia. In Southwest Asia, multi-cropping, in which grain, fodder, or forage could be reliably cultivated during dry summer months, only became possible with the translocation of summer grains, like millet, from Africa and East Asia. Despite some textual sources suggesting millet cultivation as early as the third millennium BCE, the absence of robust archaeobotanical evidence for millet in semi-arid Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq) has led most archaeologists to conclude that millet was only grown in the region after the mid-first millennium BCE introduction of massive, state-sponsored irrigation systems. Here, we present the earliest micro-botanical evidence of the summer grain broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) in Mesopotamia, identified using phytoliths in dung-rich sediments from Khani Masi, a mid-second millennium BCE site located in northern Iraq. Taphonomic factors associated with the region’s agro-pastoral systems have likely made millet challenging to recognize using conventional macrobotanical analyses, and millet may therefore have been more widespread and cultivated much earlier in Mesopotamia than is currently recognized. The evidence for pastoral-related multi-cropping in Bronze Age Mesopotamia provides an antecedent to first millennium BCE agricultural intensification and ties Mesopotamia into our rapidly evolving understanding of early Eurasian food globalization.

Materials from Dwelling 2 on Suchu Island, the Lower Amur (1977 Season, Excavation III)

This article presents the fi nal results of excavations at one of the largest Neolithic sites in northeastern Asia— a settlement on Suchu Island on the Amur. Most of the rich collection (3967 spec.), owned by IAET SB RAS (stone tools, ceramics, ornaments, and artistic and ritual artifacts), has not been described before. This publication focuses on the analysis of artifacts from dwelling 2 (excavation III, 1977). We describe the construction of this semi-underground dwelling, circular in plan view. The typological analysis of the lithics indicates a complex economy. Many of them (arrowheads, projectile points, inserts, knives, plummets) relate to hunting and fi shing, and to processing carcasses (end-scrapers, scrapers, burins, combination tools), others are chopping tools. The distinctive feature of the lithics is that some are bifacial. The analysis of the ceramics suggests that they belong to the Late Neolithic Voznesenovskoye culture. The use of binocular microscopy allowed us to assess the technological and constructive properties of the ceramics, as well as their morphological, decorative, and functional features. Non-ut ilitarian artifacts shed light on the worldview of the Suchu people. The collection dates to the mid-second millennium BC.

Reconstructing agro-pastoral practice in the Mesopotamian-Zagros borderlands: Insights from phytolith and FTIR analysis of a dung-rich deposit

Understanding everyday agro-pastoral practice is critical for reconstructing the formation and maintenance of ancient societies. The ancient Near East (Southwest Asia) has one of the longest histories of agro-pastoral practice and one of the richest textual datasets anywhere on the globe. Yet, our knowledge of local, day-to-day agro-pastoral management strategies remains conjectural in many regions of Southwest Asia during the Bronze Age (late 4th–2nd millennium BCE). In this study we used phytoliths, dung spherulites, and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to identify and examine dung-rich sediments from Khani Masi, a mid-second millennium BCE Kassite site located in the Kurdish Region of Iraq. While micro-remain and geochemical approaches have not yet been widely applied in Mesopotamia (Ancient Iraq), they have the potential to shed light on the production systems supporting its Bronze Age cities, states, and empires. Our aim was to investigate (1) the range of local pastoral management strategies, (2) the degree of integration between agricultural and pastoral practice, and (3) the presence of signals related to the local ecology, seasonality, and environmental change and continuity.Phytolith results indicate that sheep-goat herds were primarily free grazed on wild grasses. The dominance of wild grass inflorescences, a potentially strong seasonality indicator, may suggest transhumant pastoralism. However, further evidence, including occasional foddering with cereal chaff, a diverse range of crop types, and significant accumulation of burnt dung within the site, collectively suggests a closely linked local agro-pastoral subsistence economy. This study provides much-needed empirical botanical data as well as productive insights for future application of phytolith studies in the Mesopotamian region, and sheds new light on agro-pastoral practice in the Zagros foothills during the second millennium BCE Kassite period.

New evidence for supplementary crop production, foddering and fuel use by Bronze Age transhumant pastoralists in the Tianshan Mountains

The nature of economies and the movement of agricultural crops across Eurasia in the Bronze Age have been the subject of significant research interest in recent years. This study presents and discusses new results of flotation, radiocarbon and carbon stable isotope analyses from the seed assemblage at the Adunqiaolu site (northwestern Xinjiang), in combination with archaeological evidence. Archaeobotanical evidence, including carbonized foxtail millet, broomcorn millet, and naked barley, documents the diversity of local cereal consumption during the mid-second millennium BC. Our results suggest that crops were not grown locally, however, but in the lower Boertala Valley, supporting the argument that Adunqiaolu was a winter camp. These new sets of data constitute an important contribution to the discussion on cereal dispersal across the Tianshan Mountains in the Bronze Age.

Proteomic analysis of archaeological ceramics from Tell Khaiber, southern Iraq

Archaeological ceramics are a rich source of ancient biomolecules and their analysis provides valuable information with regard to ancient diet. Traditionally, biomolecular analyses on archaeological ceramics have focused on lipid analysis, with milk, ruminant and non-ruminant adipose fats, plant resins, as well as both marine fish and marine mammals among the resources successfully identified. However, lipidomic analyses can underestimate the presence of lipid-poor resources (e.g. cereals and grains) and are usually less specific at tissue and taxonomic levels. Proteomic analysis can be complementary, allowing for the identification of a greater variety of resources and with increased specificity. Here, we analyse eight ceramic sherds from Tell Khaiber, a Sealand Dynasty (mid-2nd millennium BCE) settlement in modern day southern Iraq, using LC-MS/MS based shotgun proteomics. Our results provide the first proteomic evidence of soybeans from archaeological ceramics and confirmation of the early appearance of soybean products in the Middle East by the mid-second millennium BCE.

Farming and multi-resource subsistence in the third and second millennium BC: archaeobotanical evidence from Karuo

Over the past years, archaeobotanical studies have clarified much of the process of dispersal and adaptation of crops across Asia. However, the development of farming systems that could function in the high-altitude environments of Tibet requires more in-depth consideration. In this article, we present the results of the systematic archaeobotanical investigation at Karuo, a third millennium BC site in eastern Tibet. We argue that millet cultivation was possibly practiced at the site and that it was likely an important aspect of the economy from 2700 to 2100 cal. BC. The role of millet in the cultivation system might have declined after the mid-second millennium BC, during which time wheat—a grain originating in southwest Asia—appeared at the site. In addition to farming, evidence of foraging, hunting, and fishing are present suggesting a diverse subsistence strategy. The diversification of human diets may have contributed to the long-term occupation of the site. Taking a broad regional perspective into account, the diverse spectrum of subsistence strategy engaged by Karuo people provides new insights into the understanding of early lifeways on the Tibetan Plateau.

Expanding frontier and building the Sphere in arid East Asia

Recent research on the origins of domesticated herd animals and bronze metallurgy in China suggests that the Ejiin gol in western China was a primary conduit of trade between northern pastoralists and southern agriculturalists (Jaang, 2015). It is within the context of long-distance trade in luxury goods that we see the shift from isolated populations of pastoralists in the mountains of western Mongolia to the widespread adoption of pastoralist cultural traditions. Based on evidence of interaction between Gobi Desert groups and agrarian villages to the south, we see this desert region as the geographic core of cultural transformations among indigenous populations, and at the forefront of a third stage of advance in the spread of East Asian pastoralism. Evidence presented here for increased trade in luxury goods at the beginning of the second millennium BC, when production was at its height, combined with the rapid pace of transformations in burial culture during the mid-second millennium BC suggests that the movement of goods held extreme significance for the spread of pastoralism. Therefore, the role that Gobi Desert groups played in the formation of early trade networks is vital for understanding the spread of pastoralism in Mongolia. Here, we present new evidence for stone bead production and dairying in the Gobi Desert, and discuss the full range of evidence for the role of Gobi Desert groups in emerging long-distance trade networks.