Roman Iron Age Research Articles

Quantitative inter‐annual and decadal June–July–August temperature variability ca. 570 BC to AD 120 (Iron Age–Roman Period) reconstructed from the varved sediments of Lake Silvaplana, Switzerland

AbstractAnnually resolved June–July–August (JJA) temperatures from ca. 570 BC to AD 120 (±100 a; approximately 690 varve years) were quantified from biogenic silica and chironomids (Type II regression; Standard Major Axis calibration‐in‐time) preserved in the varved sediments of Lake Silvaplana, Switzerland. Using 30 a (climatology) moving averages and detrended standard deviations (mean–variability change, MVC), moving linear trends, change points and wavelets, reconstructed temperatures were partitioned into a warmer (+0.3°C; ca. 570–351 BC), cooler (−0.2°C; ca. 350–16 BC) and moderate period (+0.1°C; ca. 15 BC to AD 120) relative to the reconstruction average (10.9°C; reference AD 1950–2000 = 9.8°C). Warm and variable JJA temperatures at the Late Iron Age–Roman Period transition (approximately 50 BC to AD 100 in this region) and a cold anomaly around 470 BC (Early–Late Iron Age) were inferred. Inter‐annual and decadal temperature variability was greater from ca. 570 BC to AD 120 than the last millennium, whereas multi‐decadal and lower‐frequency temperature variability were comparable, as evident in wavelet plots. Using MVC plots of reconstructed JJA temperatures from ca. 570 BC to AD 120, we verified current trends and European climate model outputs for the 21st century, which suggest increased inter‐annual summer temperature variability and extremes in a generally warmer climate (heteroscedasticity; hotspot of variability). We compared these results to MVC plots of instrumental and reconstructed temperatures (from the same sediment core and proxies but a different study) from AD 1177 to AD 2000. Our reconstructed JJA temperatures from ca. 570 BC to AD 120 showed that inter‐annual JJA temperature variability increased rapidly above a threshold of ∼10°C mean JJA temperature. This increase accelerated with continued warming up to >11.5°C. We suggest that the Roman Period serves with respect to inter‐annual variability as an analogue for warmer 21st‐century JJA temperatures in the Alps. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Changes in cereal cultivation during the Iron Age in southern Sweden: a compilation and interpretation of the archaeobotanical material

Macrofossil data from 73 sites dating to the south Swedish Iron Age (500 b.c.–a.d. 1100) have been compiled and analyzed in order to elucidate long term changes in cereal cultivation. The analyses indicate that “permanent field” agriculture was established at the end of the Bronze Age utilizing Hordeum vulgare var vulgare as a primary crop and Triticum aestivum ssp vulgare/compactum, Triticum spelta/dicoccum/monococcum, Avena sativa and Secale cereale as secondary crops. An observed change towards the end of Roman Iron Age (1–a.d. 400) is the expansion of Secale cereale and Avena sativa cultivation. Evidence also suggests that winter sowing of the former commenced at the latest during the eighth, ninth and tenth centuries a.d. The introduction of winter sowing possibly coincided with the establishment of crop rotation agriculture. During most of the Iron Age southern Sweden displays significant regional variations with regards to cereal cultivation practice. There is however evidence that a more homogenous agriculture appeared across the investigated area from the beginning of the Viking Age (a.d. 800–1100) onwards.

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. …

Uniform diet in a diverse society. Revealing new dietary evidence of the Danish Roman Iron Age based on stable isotope analysis

A systematic dietary investigation during Danish Roman Iron Age (1-375AD) is conducted by analyzing stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ(13) C) and nitrogen (δ(15) N) in the collagen of human and animal bone. The human sample comprises 77 individuals from 10 burial sites. In addition 31 samples of mammals and fish were analyzed from same geographical area. The investigation characterizes the human diet among different social groupings and analyses dietary differences present between sex, age, and site phase groups. Diachronically, the study investigates the Roman influences that had an effect on social structure and subsistence economy in both the Early and Late Period. Geographically the locations are both inland and coastal. The isotopic data indicate extremely uniform diet both between and within population groups from Early and Late Roman periods and the data are consistent throughout the Roman Iron Age. Protein consumption was dominated by terrestrial animals with no differences among social status, age, sex, or time period, while terrestrial plant protein only seems to have contributed little in the diet. Furthermore, the consumption of marine or aquatic resources does not seem to have been important, even among the individuals living next to the coast.

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.

Aspects of Centrality in the Region of the Lower Hunte River in the Roman Iron Age

Aspects of Centrality in the Region of the Lower Hunte River in the Roman Iron Age

The history of a farm–shieling system in the central Swedish forest region

The local vegetation history of three sites in the forested region of central Sweden was studied. These sites were the forest village site Angersjo and the two nearby shieling sites, Gammelvallen and Ojingsvallen. The aim of the study was to elucidate the relationship between the establishment of the farm and of the shielings. The results indicate that agriculture began in the area in the Roman Iron Age or Migration period. There is evidence of contemporaneous human activity in the village of Angersjo and the shieling at Ojingsvallen, suggesting the development of a farm–shieling system. We suggest that permanent farms and shielings were established concurrently as a local system, and that one of the main reasons was to demonstrate that the territory between the farm and the shieling was a potential resource area belonging to the farm. The problems of using pollen to differentiate between a shieling and a farm are also evaluated and it is concluded that multiple sites as well as a multidisciplinary approach is essential in order to be able to address such complex problems as the emergence of the farm–shieling system.

Rosetfiblens »anatomi«

Rosetfiblens »anatomi«

En gave til Veleda – Om en magtfuld spåkvinde og tolkningen af de sydskandinaviske krigsbytteofringer

En gave til Veleda – Om en magtfuld spåkvinde og tolkningen af de sydskandinaviske krigsbytteofringer

Agerbruget i enkeltgravskultur – Senneolitikum og ældre bronzealder i Jylland belyst ud fra plantemakrofossil

Agerbruget i enkeltgravskultur – Senneolitikum og ældre bronzealder i Jylland belyst ud fra plantemakrofossil

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.

Linking past cultural developments to palaeoenvironmental changes in Estonia

Connections between environmental and cultural changes are analysed in Estonia during the past c. 4,500 years. Records of cereal-type pollen as (agri)cultural indices are compared with high-resolution palaeohydrological and annual mean temperature reconstructions from a selection of Estonian bogs and lakes (and Lake Igelsjon in Sweden). A broad-scale comparison shows increases in the percentage of cereal-type pollen during a decreasing trend in annual mean temperatures over the past c. 4,300 years, suggesting a certain independence of agrarian activities from environmental conditions at the regional level. The first cereal-type pollen in the region is found from a period with a warm and dry climate. A slow increase in pollen of cultivated land is seen around the beginning of the late Bronze Age, a slight increase at the end of the Roman Iron Age and a significant increase at the beginning of the Middle Ages. In a few cases increases in agricultural pollen percentages occur in the periods of warming. Stagnation and regression occurs in the periods of cooling, but regression at individual sites may also be related to warmer climate episodes. The cooling at c. 400–300 cal b.p., during the ‘Little Ice Age’ coincides with declines in cereal-type and herb pollen curves. These may not, however, be directly related to the climate change, because they coincide with war activities in the region.

Gevninge – leddet til Lejre

Gevninge – leddet til Lejre

Fårehyrder, kvægbønder eller svineavlere – En revurdering jernalderens dyrehold

Fårehyrder, kvægbønder eller svineavlere – En revurdering jernalderens dyrehold

Western Marmarica Coastal Survey 2008: a preliminary report

AbstractThis paper reports the preliminary results of a brief survey east of Tobruk over Easter 2008. The survey concentrated upon two areas: between Wadi Qseirat and Wadi Gabar, north of Kambut and around Marsa Lukk. Thirty-four sites were identified, ranging from larger settlements near good harbours (one each at Wadi Duma and Marsa Lukk), to farmsteads, farms and larger inland villages. Eleven sites provided evidence of industrial activity through the presence of kiln waste and at four of them, of the kilns themselves. Dated sites belong to the Early and Late Roman periods, Iron Age and Hellenistic sherds are present in small quantities. Marmaric ware, first identified along the coast of the western desert of Egypt, is shown to extend into this area and may be associated with cairn and enclosure burials.

REVIEWS: A NEW TREATMENT ON SETTLEMENT ARCHAEOLOGY IN SW FINLAND

Henrik Asplund. Kymittae. Sites, Centrality and Long-Term Settlement Change in the Kemionsaari Region in SW Finland. (Turun Yliopiston julkaisuja/Annales Universitatis Turkuensis. Sarja--Ser. B osa--Tom. 312. Humaniora.) Turku, 2008. 584 pp. Archaeological studies in Finland were recently supplemented by a comprehensive doctoral thesis on settlement archaeology in the Kemionsaari region, written by Henrik Asplund (University of Turku). This region is located in south-westernmost corner of Finland and covers both the island of Kemionsaari, which was called Kymittae in early written sources, and some neighbouring municipalities on Finnish mainland. Archaeological research of the area was already started in the late 19th century; yet the most significant fieldwork belongs to the recent decades and was mostly carried out by the author. The author himself labels his main research method as settlement-archaeological. Although this branch of archaeology is already known for one hundred years, it has strongly altered and developed during this time and the term itself is rather complex (see more Lang 2006). Settlement archaeological research has had remarkable peculiarities both in different countries and in different times; its nature (e.g. research topics and questions) depends on local conditions (achievements of earlier research, specifics of archaeological material) as well as on general development of archaeological theory (what are the questions to be answered). Therefore the settlement-archaeological research in south-western Finland cannot be similar to, and use the same methods as, that in northern Finland, for instance, not speaking of more distant areas. In the same way this research in south-western Finland in the early 21st century cannot follow the same pattern and ask the same questions as the corresponding research in the same area 30 years ago (when the first modern settlement-archaeological project was carried out in Finland, see Schauman-Lonnquist et al. 1986; Uino 1986; Schauman-Lonnquist 1988). It is important to underline that this settlement-archaeological research method used by Asplund in his thesis is original and partly developed by himself on the basis of earlier studies both in south-western Finland and neighbouring countries (particularly in Scandinavia and Estonia). The text of the book is clear, written in style adequate for archaeology, easy to read and understand. The structure of the treatment is well-grounded and logical; it starts from the introduction into the topic and research area and the presentation of the author's theoretical framework, then continues with the presentation of archaeological material in chronological order, and then reaches the discussion of many particular problems concerning the development of settlement, land use, material culture and society. The main emphasis is on the Bronze Age and particularly on the Early Iron Age, which is understandable due to the available material and the author's own research interests. The main objective has been defined as the explanation of causes for the differences between the Finnish archipelago and neighbouring mainland, particularly regarding the Iron Age. Yet, there are dozens and dozens of other questions, of both bigger and smaller scale, presented in the whole text in corresponding chapters (e.g. the specifics and problematics of archaeological sites, the causes of continuity and discontinuity in archaeological record, man-and-environment relationships through prehistory, forms of social organization in different periods, development of land use, etc.). As much as possible in the light of the current state of research, these questions have also been answered by the author. As to the main objective mentioned above, the settlement development followed approximately the same paths both on the island of Kemionsaari and neighbouring parts of mainland until the early Roman Iron Age. Then the finds, particularly stone graves (cairns), seem to disappear in the archipelago; the cairns did not occur again there before the Late Iron Age. …

Pragtvognen fra Fredbjerg

Pragtvognen fra Fredbjerg

The Iron Age ritual building at Uppåkra, southern Sweden

Six years ago we reported the discovery of a central place at Uppåkra in southern Sweden which promised to be unusually rich and informative (Hårdh 2000). At 40ha it already stood out as the largest concentration of residual phosphate in the whole province of Scania, with surface finds of Roman and late Iron Age metalwork (second-tenth century AD). Following this thorough evaluation, the project moved into its excavation phase which has brought to light several buildings of the first millennium AD, among them one that has proved truly exceptional. Its tall structure and numerous ornamented finds suggest an elaborate timber cult house. This is the first Scandinavian building for which the term ‘temple’ can be justly claimed and it is already sign-posting new directions for the early middle ages in northern Europe.

Cist burials and an Iron Age settlement at Dryburn Bridge, Innerwick, East Lothian

This report provides an account of the excavations of a cropmark enclosure and other prehistoric remains at Dryburn Bridge, near Innerwick in East Lothian (NGR: NT 724 755). The excavations were directed over two seasons in 1978 and 1979 by Jon Triscott and David Pollock, and were funded by the Ancient Monuments Branch, Scottish Development Department. Features and artefacts of various periods were discovered during the excavations, including a Mesolithic chipped stone assemblage and pits associated with Impressed Ware pottery. A pair of distinctive burial cists dating to c 2300–2000 cal BC was discovered, each containing two inhumations, one articulated and the other disarticulated; a Beaker vessel was found directly above one of the cists. By the mid-1st millennium cal BC a settlement had been founded on the site. Three successive settlement layouts can be interpreted from the excavated structures. The first two phases represent continuous occupation, dating to before 400 cal BC, and consisted of timber roundhouses, other rectangular structures and a small cemetery of pit graves located within a palisaded enclosure. The final occupation phase, which extended into the Roman Iron Age and may have occurred after a break in occupation, consisted of an unenclosed settlement of ring-ditch houses.

Cist burials and an Iron Age settlement at Dryburn Bridge, Innerwick, East Lothian

This report provides an account of the excavations of a cropmark enclosure and other prehistoric remains at Dryburn Bridge, near Innerwick in East Lothian. The excavations were directed over two seasons in 1978 and 1979 by Jon Triscott and David Pollock, and were funded by the Ancient Monuments Branch, Scottish Development Department. Features and artefacts of various periods were discovered during the excavations, including a Mesolithic chipped stone assemblage and pits associated with Impressed Ware pottery. A pair of distinctive burial cists dating to c2300-2000 cal BC was discovered, each containing two inhumations, one articulated and the other disarticulated; a Beaker vessel was found directly above one of the cists. By the mid first millennium cal BC a settlement had been founded on the site. Three successive settlement layouts can be interpreted from the excavated structures. The first two phases represent continuous occupation, dating to before 400 cal BC, and consisted of timber roundhouses, other rectangular structures and a small cemetery of pit graves located within a palisaded enclosure. The final occupation phase, which extended into the Roman Iron Age and may have occurred after a break in occupation, consisted of an unenclosed settlement of ring-ditch houses. Historic Scotland and predecessor bodies funded the post-excavation studies and publication of this report.