pre-Roman Iron Age Research Articles

A Fresh Eye on Familiar Objects: Rethinking Toiletry Sets in Roman Britain

SummaryToiletry sets are often commonplace on rural Romano‐British sites, leading to speculation that the indigenous population aspired to Roman standards of hygiene and grooming. Artefacts interpreted as cosmetic grinders have been seen as further evidence for body modification for the sake of appearances; these objects are often prominent in discussion of Romanization and identity. Drawing on ethnographic evidence, this paper offers an alternative to the traditional and seemingly unquestioned function of the Pre‐Roman Iron Age (PRIA)/ Romano‐British toiletry sets and cosmetic grinders. It is suggested that they may have had a role in the treatment of trachoma, an eye disease which may have been rampant in some areas of Roman Britain. It is hoped that this view may generate some discussion not only about the artefacts themselves, but also about how we interpret function, often in the face of a real paucity of evidence.

Tradycja i nowe prądy w badaniach nad młodszym okresem przedrzymskim w Wielkopolsce

The article presents the history and current developments in the studies of the Pre-Roman Iron Age in Wielkopolska. As it has been shown, there were three cultures, namely the Pomeranian, Przeworsk and Jastorf, which significantly influenced the processes of shaping of the population inhabiting the region at the early stages of the discussed period. It has been also emphasised that there has been currently observed insufficiency of sources, and that there is need for further research on the issues discussed.

Settlement and environmental history of a multilayered settlement mound in Niederröblingen (central Germany) – a multi-proxy approach

A multi-disciplinary palaeoecological approach on a sequence of dated archaeosediments was accomplished. The sediments derive from a multilayered prehistoric settlement mound in central Germany, representing the remnants of a prehistoric village. Based on the analysis of biological remains and geochemical/physical analysis of the settlement layers its environment was reconstructed. There is a trend to increasing anthropogenic activities and impact on the environment represented through a rise of indicators for productive surplus from the Early Neolithic (5300–4900 BC) until the Roman Times (400 AD). During the Early Neolithic, shifting flat settlements were situated in a locally opened landscape. The immediate surrounding of the floodplain was used by the settlers for their economic requirements (e.g. wood from the riparian forest). After a hiatus of ca. 1900 years, a multilayered settlement mount rose from Late Neolithic Times (3000 BC) to Roman Times. Since the Middle Bronze Age (approximately 1500 BC) the riparian forest was obviously replaced by agricultural fields and meadows and henceforward the hinterland used by the settlers probably grew in size. The continuing demand of wood was maintained by the acquisition of more distant sources. The onset of house constructions substituting wood by loam (wattle and daub) might be a possible societal response to this shortfall. This is reflected in the growing thickness and composition of the settlement layers, as well as in the archaeological record (e.g. tumbled wattle and daub house walls). The rising of the groundwater table and the start of severe floods of the adjacent river Helme during pre-Roman Iron Age (approx. 800–100 BC) might reflect a geomorphological response to the increased land use intensity at a regional scale.

Agricultural practices in Arctic Norway during the first millennium b.c.

Palaeoecological investigations of mires suggest that agriculture was established north of the Arctic Circle in Norway during the late Bronze Age (1100–500 b.c.) and Pre-Roman Iron Age (500–1 b.c.). The lack of archaeobotanical and archaeological investigations has made it difficult to assess the nature of this early agricultural expansion into the Arctic in any detail. Here we present the first well documented archaeobotanical investigation from north Norway that covers this agricultural pioneer phase. Remains of charred seeds show that barley (Hordeum) was already being cultivated in the late Bronze Age, and that wheat (Triticum) was introduced in the Pre-Roman Iron Age. Large amounts of crowberry (Empetrum) seeds are also typical of the Pre-Roman Iron Age and were obviously an important food plant at the time, at least locally. Charcoal rich layers dated to the late Bronze Age suggest that the local birch forest was initially cleared away with the help of fire, possibly related to a slash-and-burn cultivation practice. Lithostratigraphic and pollen-analytical results indicate that the cultivation practice of the Pre-Roman Iron Age was a form of bush-fallow system with intensive soil re-working alternated with long periods of fallow.

STONE-CIST GRAVE AT KASEKÜLA, WESTERN ESTONIA IN THE LIGHT OF AMS DATES OF THE HUMAN BONES

The article discusses new AMS dates of the human bones at stone-cist grave I at Kasekula, western Estonia, in the context of previously existent radiocarbon dates, artefact finds and osteological studies. There are altogether 12 radiocarbon dates for 10 inhumations (i.e. roughly a third of all burials) of the grave, provided by two laboratories. The dates suggest three temporally separated periods in the use life of the grave(s): the Late Bronze Age, the Pre-Roman Iron Age and the Late Iron Age. In the latter period, the grave was probably reserved for infant burials only. Along with chronological issues, the article discusses the apparently unusual structure of the grave and compares two competing osteological studies of the grave’s bone assemblage from an archaeologist’s point of view.

A COMPARISON OF PALAEO-ECOLOGICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF HUMAN HABITATION AT KEAVA

Peat record from a very small basin, the former mire of Verevainu, in the nearest vicinity of the prehistoric settlement centre at Keava (4th century BC – early 13th century AD), was investigated by palaeo-ecological means, namely by pollen, charcoal, and loss-on-ignition analyses and radiocarbon dating. The study aimed at ascertaining the appearance of prehistoric man in the area and reconstructing the local vegetation history and human impact on the environment around the settlement centre. According to palaeo-ecological evidence the first sporadic cereal pollen grains appeared in the sediments in the Late Bronze Age. Both peat ignition residue values as indicators of topsoil erosion and pollen evidence suggest forest clearance, opening of landscape, and cultivation of cereals from the Pre-Roman Iron Age. Approximately at AD 350–500 the rate of human impact upon environment increased notably. The comparison of palaeo-ecological data with archaeological evidence of human inhabitation displays not only large coincidences but also some discrepancies. 1

First comprehensive peat depositional records for tin, lead and copper associated with the antiquity of Europe's largest cassiterite deposits

Tin, as a constituent of bronze, was central to the technological development of early societies, but cassiterite (SnO2) deposits were scarce and located distantly from the centres of Mediterranean civilizations. As Britain had the largest workable ore deposits in the ancient Western world, this has led to much historical speculation and myth regarding the long-distance trading of tin from the Bronze Age onwards. Here we establish the first detailed chronology for tin, along with lead and copper deposition, into undisturbed ombrotrophic (rain-fed) peat bogs located at Bodmin Moor and Dartmoor in the centre of the British tin ore fields. Sustained elevated tin deposition is demonstrated clearly, with peaks occurring at 100–400 and 700–1000 calendar years AD – contemporaneous with the Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods respectively. While pre-Roman Iron Age tin exploitation undoubtedly took place, it was on a scale that did not result in convincingly enhanced deposition of the metal. The deposition of lead in the peat record provides evidence of a pre-Roman metal-based economy in southwest Britain. Emerging in the 4th century BC, this was centred on copper and lead ore processing that expanded exponentially and then collapsed upon Roman colonization during the 1st century AD.

Retting pits for textile fibre plants at Danish prehistoric sites dated between 800 b.c. and a.d. 1050

During the last decade, a new type of structure has been found at several archaeological sites in Denmark. These structures can be interpreted as having been used for retting the stems of textile plants such as Linum usitatissimum L. (flax), Cannabis sativa L. (hemp) and Urticadioica L. (nettle). In order to obtain fine threads for textile production, these plants need to pass through several biological and technical processes. The first process is the retting of the plant stems to dissolve the pectin which fixes the fibres to the stalk. This can either be done by water retting, where the plant stems are soaked in lakes, rivers or waterlogged pits, or by field retting, where the stems are laid out in a field in order to absorb dew. The first method is shorter in time and the process is easier to control. In this article, details of archaeological structures are presented from eight sites in southern Scandinavia that can be interpreted as textile plant retting pits. The constructions of the pits are described, as well as the archaeological contexts and the relevant associated archaeobotanical records. Some of the presented sites, of which the oldest are dated to the late Bronze Age and early pre-Roman Iron Age (800–250 b.c.) and the youngest to the Viking Age (a.d. 750–1050), indicate a large-scale production of flax that had been underestimated up to now.

TRACELESS DEATH. MISSING BURIALS IN BRONZE AND IRON AGE ESTONIA

Departure In an overview of the Stone Age religious beliefs written half a century ago, Lembit Jaanits (1961, 68 f.) drew attention to the fact that the majority of people who lived at that time were most likely never buried in the ground. This conclusion was made on the basis of an amazingly low number of burials known in either settlement sites or separate cemeteries outside the settlements of that time. Similar thoughts had been published by Estonian folklorist in exile Oskar Loorits (1949, 118) already 12 years earlier. Although more cemeteries and graves from the late Mesolithic and Neolithic have been discovered within the last fifty years in what is today Estonia and its neighbouring areas, this suggestion is still valid and realistic. With a reference to anthropological evidence of some Siberian peoples, Jaanits supposed that the dead could have been taken to certain places outside the settlements (located e.g. in the forest) and left there on the surface of the ground, wrapped perhaps into skins or birch bark (Jaanits 1961, 69). After some time almost no traces will remain from such exposed bodies. As for the number of burial sites, the situation is even worse concerning the Early Bronze Age: no graves have been reported so far in Estonia, which could belong to the second millennium BC (Lang 2007, 147). This is most likely due to the stage of investigation and it is only a matter of time when the first burials will be discovered. In the southernmost neighbouring areas, for instance, several flat cemeteries with pit graves of the Early Bronze Age date have been unearthed, e.g. at Kivutkalns and Raganukalns (Graudonis 1967; Denisova et al. 1985). It was also in the late second millennium BC when the first monumental above-ground burial mounds were erected there, e.g. at Pukuli, Reznes, and Kalniesi (Graudonis 1967; Vasks 2000). In northern and western Estonia the first monumental stone graves were built slightly later, i.e. at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age (Lang 2007, 147 ff.). Since that time, at least one portion of burials has become very much visible in the archaeological record, and forms the main subject of research. However, it was gradually understood since the early 1990s that despite large numbers of stone graves of the Late Bronze and Iron Ages, one part of prehistoric populations have never been buried there. How big that part was, is not clear. At first sight this conclusion based on palaeodemographic calculations was only made for both stone-cist graves of the Late Bronze and early Pre-Roman Iron Ages and north-west-Estonian tarand-graves of the Roman Iron Age (Lang & Ligi 1991; Lang 1995a) because the number of burials in those graves was too small even for regular nuclear families. The tarand-graves in other parts of the country yielding larger numbers of burials were regarded to correspond to burial places of single farms with either nuclear or extended families. Later research into the osteological evidence of cremated bones has clearly demonstrated that even large burial grounds of the Middle and Late Iron Ages might have belonged only to one or a few families and not to larger village communities (Magi 2002, 74; Allmae 2003; Mandel 2003). This conclusion did not suit historical documents, however, that had reported a settlement pattern consisting of relatively advanced villages in the 13th century. The current article aims to discuss the problems connected with mortuary customs that are difficult to study or even invisible for archaeology. This is, first, a study of 'the others'--people who did not belong to the sphere of those buried finally in stone graves, sand barrows or flat cemeteries. Second, this is also a study of complexity in cultural behaviour concerning the death and mortuary customs in which the 'proper burying' has formed only one--and perhaps not the most popular--way of acting. Following the definition given by Frands Herschend (2009, 37), by the term 'burying' I mean the placing of the dead in a 'burial site', i. …

Förromersk keramikkronologi tillämpad i Västsverige

Ceramics is an underestimated subject category as a source of knowledge about both the chronological, social and other fields of archaeology. Yet it is found in most prehistoric contexts. This article examines the chronological potential of ceramics in the pre-Roman Iron Age in western Sweden. We know quite a lot about ceramics from the later part of the period, but much less from the older part. The study has its origin in the research literature, including the southern Swedish and Danish and is in agreement with their review of empirical studies. Well-founded hypotheses about chronological variables in ceramics are tested in a correspondence analysis. The analysis shows that the pre-Roman pottery can be divided into an older and a later part, but it can not be subdivided further. Applied to a number of previously generally dated burial fields the method is found to be useful.

Mediated diffusion in Iron Age Europe

Diffusion of Mediterranean traits to central and north-western Europe during the middle Iron Age is a topic well rehearsed now by three generations of archaeologists. The stimulating recent exhibition Golasecca at the Musée d’Archéologie nationale in France, showed that – funds permitting – plenty of scope remains for research.Elaborately made imports, at for instance the Heuneburg, Vix or Hochdorf, have been interpreted as evidence for how aristocrats adopted Greek and Etruscan styles to reinforce their status and regional power between about 600 and 400 BC. Art historians revealed how their bronzesmiths responded selectively to templates from not only states to the south but also eastern nomads. Archaeologists worked out how goods were brought up the Rhône valley by the enterprising Greeks of Marseille or by the northerners themselves exploiting that colony. The ‘trade’ is thought to have encouraged development of social complexity. More recently, to demonstrate the recipients’ ‘agency’, attention has focused on potters’ responses, adoption of coinage and writing and ‘feasts’ for chiefs to show off ‘prestigious’ exotica to rivals, clients or tributaries. Similar models of trade, ‘appropriation’ and sociopolitical development have been developed for the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age and the Roman Iron Age.

Palaeoecological evidence of agricultural activity and human impact on the environment at the ancient settlement centre of Keava, Estonia

Peat record from a very small basin, the former mire of Verevainu, in the nearest vicinity of ancient Keava settlements (8th−11th centuries) and hillforts (5th-13th centuries), was investigated by means of palaeoecological approach, namely by pollen, charcoal, and loss-on-ignition analyses and radiocarbon dating. The study aimed at ascertaining the appearance of prehistoric man in the area and reconstructing the local vegetation history and human impact on the environment around the inhabitation centre. The first sporadic cereal pollen grains appeared in the sediments in the Late Bronze Age at ca 1500 BC. Both peat ignition residue values as indicators of topsoil erosion and pollen evidence suggest forest clearance, opening of landscape, and cultivation of cereals from the Pre-Roman Iron Age. Approximately at AD 350-500 the rate of human impact upon environment increased notably.

Om datering af mosefundne lig og beklædningsdele

Dating of human corpses and clothing found in bogsIt is well known that human remains, textiles and hides like all kinds of organic material, are subject in most cases to rapid decomposition, rarely found in archaeological contexts. Their preservation requires special environmental conditions to prevent their destruction by micro-organisms. North European peat bogs constitute an environment which is particularly conducive to preservation of organic materials, and Denmark possesses a unique and very rich collection of prehistoric bodies and garments found in bog deposits. Especially on the Jutland peninsula, where the special environment of raised bogs preserves proteinaceous materials, an impressive group of human remains with well-preserved soft tissues and hair, woollen textiles and objects of animal hide and leather has survived almost intact. Many of these finds were unearthed prior to 1900, and all before 1953. They constitute a very special group of archaeological artefacts which have both fascinated and repelled scientists and laymen alike. However, they also constitute an unprecedented source of information that allows us to take a more detailed look at prehistoric individuals, their tastes and beliefs. This article presents the results of 46 new radiocarbon (14C) analyses of textiles and hides from Danish bogs. In all, 80 radiocarbon dates are presented (table 1). Out of a total of 54 Danish bog finds containing items of hides and textile, 29 are associated with bog bodies. Until now, only 18 of these had been dated. The results show that the custom of depositing clothed bodies in bogs is a phenomenon associated with the Scandinavian Pre-Roman Iron Age. A further important result is that finds previously dated to the Late Bronze Age have now been dated later in time and cluster with the majority of other finds. Accordingly, the Borremose I, II and III finds, previously dated to 920-200 BC, are now dated to a much narrower period of 483-95 BC. Yet another important new result is the re-dating of the Huldremose woman. She was previously dated to 200 BC-AD 350, but the new date of 210-41 BC securely links her with the Pre-Roman Iron Age. Most of the bog bodies were carefully placed in the bog – wrapped or dressed in various garments of woollen textile or hide (table 1 and figs. 1-9). As it has now been confirmed that most of the textiles and items of clothing from the bog finds belong to a Pre-Roman tradition, this gives a whole new perspective for our understanding of costume development in Scand inavia. This would not have been possible based on the scattered and much more fragmented textile finds recovered from grave contexts. The complete series of dates now available provides a new tool for the interpretation of textile and hidetechnology, which is clearly different from the preceding Bronze Age and the subsequent Late Iron Age costume traditions. The many new dates demonstrate that hides and woven textiles were an important part of the Early Iron Age costume tradition and they necessitate a revision of our understanding, not only of costume history, but Danish Pre-Roman Iron Age society in general. These research developments would not have been possible without the radiocarbon dating method and its current level of precision.Ulla Mannering & Margarita GlebaDanmarks GrundforskningsfondsCenter for Tekstilforskning, Københavns UniversitetJan HeinemeierAMS 14C Daterings Laboratoriet,Institut for Fysik og Astronomi,Aarhus UniversitetGöran PossnertTandemlaboratoriet, Uppsala Universitet

From forest to open pastures and fields: cultural landscape development in western Norway inferred from two pollen records representing different spatial scales of vegetation

The cultural landscape development of a farming community in western Norway was investigated through pollen analyses from a lake and a peat/soil profile. The pollen record from the lake indicates that there was a decrease in arboreal pollen (AP) by the end of the Mesolithic period (ca. 4200 cal b.c.), and that a substantial forest clearance occurred during the Bronze Age (ca. 1500 cal b.c.). The latter, together with grazing indicators and cereals, suggests a widespread establishment of farming. At the beginning of the Roman Iron Age there is an increase in heath communities. The pollen diagram from the peat/soil profile shows the forest clearance in the Bronze Age more clearly than the lake profile. This local pollen diagram is compared with modern pollen samples from mown and grazed localities in western Norway. Both analogue matching and ordination (PCA) indicate that the site was characterised by pastures and cereal fields from the Late Bronze Age to the Late Iron Age. An expansion of cereal cultivation took place during the Pre-Roman Iron Age, and an arable field was established at the site after ca. a.d. 800. This investigation illustrates the potential of selecting pollen sites reflecting different spatial scales, and complements the cultural history of the area as inferred from archaeological and historical records.

Historical soil erosion by water in Germany: Scales and archives, chronology, research perspectives

The published record of historical soil erosion by water in Germany as deduced from dated slope deposits ( n = 306), alluvial sediments ( n = 120) and lake sediments is summarized in this paper. The number of sediments investigated reflects the state of knowledge chronology of historical soil erosion and to a certain degree the intensity of the human impact on German landscapes during the Holocene. Even though few data of calculated historical soil erosion intensities exist, an estimation of historical soil erosion in Germany combining the available data has been calculated. Soil erosion in Germany occurred first locally during the Early Holocene, probably triggered by climatic variability. From the Neolithic onward, the record reflects the human impact according to agricultural land use. The observed variability indicates phases of weaker and regained intensity of agricultural land use in Germany. Few records characterise the early and middle Bronze Age (ca. 2000–1600 BC), and the migration period and the early Medieval Times (ca. 400–1000 AD). Surprisingly, for the Roman Emperor Times (ca. 1–400 AD) a decreasing number of soil sediments is recorded even when the data from southern Germany is examined separately. Phases characterised by an increase in soil erosion were the late Bronze Age and pre-roman Iron Age (ca. 1600 BC–1 AD), the high and late Medieval Times (ca. 1000–1350 AD) and the Modern Times (ca. 1500 AD until today). Some extraordinary heavy precipitation events (late 18th–early 19th, first half of 14th century, pre-roman Iron Age) topped the even high soil erosion intensities. Research gaps as well as potential for future research as derived from the available data are outlined.

The Changing Meaning of ‘Thunderbolts’

The article concentrates on the widespread belief in the phenomenon of 'thunderbolts'. Stone artefacts like Stone Age axes, adzes, chisels, daggers, sickles, spear- and arrowheads as well as Iron Age strike-a-lights are mainly understood by the name 'thunderbolt', but no doubt various natural stones of peculiar or unusual shape were believed to have been created by strike of light- ning as well. While corresponding examples of identifying and using 'thunder- bolts' are given from different areas of the world, the emphasis is set on the respective Estonian material, introducing both the sources of archaeology as well as of folklore. The author discusses the background and the motifs of the well-known belief in 'thunderbolts' and reaches the conclusion that in Estonia it cannot be dated to a period prior to the Pre-Roman Iron Age when stone arte- facts were no longer produced for practical reasons, and it is believed that the motifs of the belief were adopted significantly later, perhaps after the Chris- tianization of the country in the 13th century.

Archaeobotanical consideration of the development of Pre-Roman Iron Age crop growing in the region of Hesse, Germany, and the question of agricultural production and consumption at hillfort sites and open settlements

Archaeobotanical investigations into centralisation processes and related social developments between 800 and 400 b.c. are part of a supra-regional interdisciplinary research program. A diachronous approach is used to reconstruct Late-Bronze Age/Early Iron Age agriculture and food production and to investigate agricultural developments. In addition the results from assumed “central places”, the hillfort sites, are compared with those of open rural settlements in their surroundings. The charred plant assemblages give evidence of an increase in diversity of crop species at the beginning of the 5th century b.c. This change may indicate an alteration in the agricultural system to allow an increase in and/or a minimisation of risk to food production.

Anthracological evidence suggests naturalness of Pinus pinaster in inland southwestern Iberia

The study of well-preserved archaeological charcoals in the pre-Roman Iron Age settlement of Castillejos II (Badajoz, Spain) is used to reconstruct environmental conditions and land-use practices in vegetation landscapes in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula before the arrival of Roman civilization. The results support that, while evergreen Quercus forests dominated during the Holocene, Pinus pinaster existed as a natural element of southwestern Iberian Peninsula vegetation. Although its presence could be linked to anthropogenic disturbance or fire history, it is suggested that P. pinaster populations survived during the Holocene in the region, mixed with oaks or in monospecific stands in mountain enclaves. This hypothesis contrasts with previous assumptions that P. pinaster was not autochthonous in the area.

Religious place and its interaction with urbanization in the Roman era

This article examines the issue of urbanization in Roman Britain and its interaction with places of the late pre-Roman Iron Age. Many of these places were complex and highly meaning-laden landscapes and often incorporated ritually imbued watery locations as well as culturally significant activities. The modern western conception of place differs vastly from the past when places were important ways of conceptualizing, experiencing and understanding the world and they were constructed through human action, memory and experience and interaction. `Landscape' is largely a modern term and may be inadequate for attempting to understand place and space in the past. The location of Roman towns in Britain has often been considered predominantly in strategic, economic and practical terms but they will also have been interacting with pre-Roman places, which in turn may have gone on to influence the nature of urbanism itself.

Pragtvognen fra Fredbjerg

Pragtvognen fra Fredbjerg