Papers by H Arthur Bankoff
Archaeology, 1979
Interior of the western room prior to the lighting of the fire. Simulated prehistoric equipment h... more Interior of the western room prior to the lighting of the fire. Simulated prehistoric equipment has been placed around the room to test the effects of a house fire on these materials. The corner of a reed bed is visible in the left foreground; a small cooking fire and a pile of raw animal ...
Journal of Field Archaeology, 1982
Page 1. The Morava Valley Project in Yugoslavia: Prelilllinary Report, 1977-1980 H. Arthur Bankof... more Page 1. The Morava Valley Project in Yugoslavia: Prelilllinary Report, 1977-1980 H. Arthur BankoffFrederick A. Winter Brooklyn College of the City University of New York ... 1977 Survey The following sites were surveyed in 1977. Golo brdo (Stojacak district), located 8 km. ...
International Journal of Historical Archaeology, Dec 1, 2005
American Journal of Archaeology, Apr 1, 1990
... 13 M. Gimbutas, "Gold Treasure at Varna," Archaeology 30 (1977) 44-51; I. Ivanov, &... more ... 13 M. Gimbutas, "Gold Treasure at Varna," Archaeology 30 (1977) 44-51; I. Ivanov, "Les fouilles ... A. Sherratt, "The Development of Neolithic and Copper Age Settlement in the Great Hungarian Plain. ... 131-42; HA Ban-koff, FA Winter, and H. Greenfield, "The Culture History of the ...
Columbia University Press eBooks, Jul 27, 2022
GSA Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington, USA - 2017, 2017
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2016
Isotopic analysis has proved to be an effective approach to determine the provenance of copper or... more Isotopic analysis has proved to be an effective approach to determine the provenance of copper ore sources for the production of bronze artifacts. More recently, methods for Sn isotopic analysis of bronze have been developed. However, the viability of tin isotopes as a means to define groupings that may be attributed to varying ore sources, production methods, or recycling is still in question. In part, this is due to the numerically and/or geographically limited nature of published datasets. This study reports on the Sn isotopic composition of 52 artifacts from the later Bronze Age (1500-1100 BCE) from Serbia and western Romania. The majority of samples cluster between 0.4 and 0.8 per mil for d 124 Sn, and 0.2 and 0.4 per mil for d 120 Sn (relative to NIST SRM 3161A), and this isotopic grouping of bronze artifacts occurs across Serbia. However, groupings of isotopically heavier and lighter artifacts are evident, and each corresponds to a more limited geographic range. Artifacts associated with higher dSn values are limited to the Vojvodina region of northern Serbia, whereas a cluster of bronzes with lower Sn-isotopic signatures are constrained to the Banat along the Serbia-Romania border, and Transylvania. One low-value outlier corresponds to an uncontextualized find near Kru sevac at the southern extent of the study area. Geographic correlation of the low-value cluster with known tin mineralization in Transylvania, and the moderate-value cluster with placer tin deposits of western Serbia, suggests that these distinct bronze Sn-isotopic signatures might reflect exploitation of different tin ores. The small cluster of high Snisotopic values from bronzes from the Vojvodina region might reflect bronze recycling in this area that lies furthest from both known tin ore sources.
Current Anthropology, 1980
Dumezil's models of trifunctionality and dualisms within them. Sessions on Indo-Europeans, ea... more Dumezil's models of trifunctionality and dualisms within them. Sessions on Indo-Europeans, early and late, in Anatolia were particularly lively. Much debate centered on precise migration routes: from the west, across the Dardanelles, or across the Caucasus to the east. New evidence for early Kurgan burials in eastern Anatolia was introduced. The ethnic character of the Hittites and the expansion of their kingdom elicited considerable discussion. Here, too, the problem of the precise degree of Indo-Europeanization was raised. A section dealing with changes in prehistoric economies brought about by early Indo-Europeans highlighted the introduction of the domesticated horse and widespread metal use to Eastern Europe. Other sessions examined transformations in Romania, the Carpathian Basin, the Middle Danube, Central Europe, the East Balkans, and Greece. Individual papers dealt with a wide range of topics, including physical anthropology (methodology and population studies in efforts to determine ethnic groupings), reports on the important cemetary sites of the Tiszapolgar culture (population analysis and evidence for social organization), and a number of new excavations in Eastern Europe. Much discussion was devoted to the crucial and difficult problems of the origins and spread of the Corded Ware and Baden cultures. Papers and summaries of the conference will be published in forthcoming issues of the Journal of Indo-European Studies.
Geoarchaeology, 2014
Tin is a rare metal that is essential for making bronze, the defining technology of the Bronze Ag... more Tin is a rare metal that is essential for making bronze, the defining technology of the Bronze Age. The source(s) of tin for Aegean bronze is undetermined but several small Bronze Age tin mines have been documented in the circum-Aegean region. The discovery of Bronze Age archaeological sites in West Serbia near a tin placer deposit on the flanks of Mt. Cer led to an investigation of this site as a potential additional Bronze Age tin mine in the region. Geochemical prospecting of stream sediments flowing from Mt. Cer allowed for categorization of streams based on relative tin grade. Tin grade is highest in the Milinska River, a likely combination of a broad catchment area with multiple ore-bearing tributaries, and a topographic profile that favors the accumulation of placer deposits. A survey of cornfields along the southern pluton margin discovered archaeological sites spanning the Neolithic to the Iron Age. Unlike older and younger sites, those of the Bronze Age were found only along the Milinska and Cernica Rivers where placer tin grades are highest, but appear to be absent where tin is scarce or absent. This suggests that these sites were associated with the exploitation of the tin ore.
CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research - Zenodo, Sep 12, 2022
This paper provides the first comprehensive sourcing analysis of the tin ingots carried by the we... more This paper provides the first comprehensive sourcing analysis of the tin ingots carried by the well-known Late Bronze Age shipwreck found off the Turkish coast at Uluburun (ca. 1320 BCE). Using lead isotope, trace element, and tin isotope analyses, this study demonstrates that ores from Central Asia (Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) were used to produce one-third of the Uluburun tin ingots. The remaining two-thirds were derived from the Taurus Mountains of Turkey, namely, from stream tin and residual low-grade mineralization remaining after extensive exploitation in the Early Bronze Age. The results of our metallurgical analysis, along with archaeological and textual data, illustrate that a culturally diverse, multiregional, and multivector system underpinned Eurasian tin exchange during the Late Bronze Age. The demonstrable scale of this connectivity reveals a vast and disparate network that relied as much on the participation of small regional communities as on supposedly hegemonic institutions of large, centralized states.
Разлика у положају и типу позно-неолитских (Винча—Плочник) и бронзанодопских насеља најчешће је б... more Разлика у положају и типу позно-неолитских (Винча—Плочник) и бронзанодопских насеља најчешће је била објашњавана као последица миграције становништва. Иако је јасно да су носиоци бронзанодопских култура у југоисточној Европи, уопште узев, живели у мањим, расутијим и неорганизованијим насељима од својих позно-неолитских предходника, није извесно да ли је измена становништва једини, или уопште битан, разлог за промену типа насеља
Balcanica : annuaire de l'Institut des études balkaniques, 1984
Antiquity, 2011
Tin is at the centre of many questions about the European Bronze Age. It is essential in making b... more Tin is at the centre of many questions about the European Bronze Age. It is essential in making bronze, a copper-tin alloy, which is harder and casts more readily than copper alone. Tin is a rare metal and its sources still present a conundrum for archaeologists and geologists ...
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2022
Spasovine, on the south flank of Mt. Cer in West Serbia, is one of the rare localities where Late... more Spasovine, on the south flank of Mt. Cer in West Serbia, is one of the rare localities where Late Bronze Age placer tin mining activities have been documented. Archeological pedestrian surveys on this river terrace recovered ceramic fragments with metal-rich coatings, thought to be fragments of technical ceramics. The physical characteristics of the “petrol” gray-bodied ceramics are consistent with Roman Period ca. 200-300AD production, while black-bodied sherds are most consistent with Iron Age ceramics of western Serbia. SEM-EDS analysis of polished thin-sections and rough surfaces has shown that the fragments are enriched in various metallic residues (Zn, Sn, Cu, Pb in various combinations). Of the fourteen sherds studied, nine Roman samples contain Zn-rich coatings on the inner surfaces as well as deeper penetration of zinc enrichment into the ceramic interior, consistent with Zn cementation for brass. Three of these also contained younger addition of Sn, indicating that they were repurposed for bronze production at Spasovine. The prehistoric sherds contain tin along with Cu and Pb, consistent with the production of leaded tin bronze, which is not known from the area until the Iron Age (ca. 800-600BC). Thus, Spasovine was the site of itinerant mining and metallurgical activity, at least sporadically, over a period of 1700 years from the Late Bronze Age (14th century BCE) to the Roman Period (2nd-3rd century CE). This demonstrates that small deposits of placer tin could have had long-term impact on regional tin economies in ancient Europe.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2022
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2020
Abstract We report the largest published dataset to date of Sn-isotopic compositions of Bronze Ag... more Abstract We report the largest published dataset to date of Sn-isotopic compositions of Bronze Age artifacts (338) along with 150 cassiterite samples (75 new) from six potential tin ore sources from which the tin in these artifacts were thought to have likely originated. The artifacts are from a broad area, Central Europe through the Central Balkans, and the six tin sources are Cornwall, three sites in the Erzgebirge, and two sites in Serbia. A clustering analysis on mean site-level isotopic values of δ124Sn identifies regional variation that can be attributed to the use of different tin ore sources in different regions. Therefore, geographically meaningful regions were identified to group the Bronze Age artifact assemblages and a probabilistic, Bayesian analysis was performed to determine the proportional contribution of each tin source to each regional assemblage. Artifacts enriched in heavy isotopes (δ124Sn > 0.7‰) that cluster in west-central Serbia are likely associated with the ores from Mt. Cer in west Serbia. Mixed artifact assemblages (high and low δ124Sn) in this region are attributed to the use of cassiterite from the two Serbian sites (Mt. Cer and Mt. Bukulja). Moderate composition artifacts that occur north of the Middle Danube in Vojvodina, Transylvania, and Central Europe are likely associated primarily with ores from the West Pluton of the Erzgebirge. Compositionally light bronzes (δ124Sn
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Papers by H Arthur Bankoff