Bronze Age

In 1985 archaeological excavations at Stavanger Airport, Sola, south-western Norway, revealed evidence for five phases of human activity ranging in age from the Mesolithic to the Late Bronze Age. The two youngest phases, namely 4 and 5 which reflect agrarian activity, are considered in detail in this paper. The fourth phase, which dates to ca. 3500 B.P., contains the first evidence of animal husbandry at the site and, in the fifth phase, there is evidence for a mixed farming economy. Physical evidence of cultivation includes intersecting patterns of plough-marks and, at seven sites, pollen assemblages indicative of arable farming have been recorded. The arable fields, in which weed-rich crops of Hordeum and Triticum were grown, date to ca. 2550-2200 B.P. The fields were subsequently covered by a thick layer of aeolian sand.

Based on 92 radiocarbon dates (some unpublished) obtained from 30 sites subjected to dendrochronological calibration, previous chronologies of the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of Yakutia are revised and a new “calendar chronology” proposed. During the Bronze Age, two newly described cultures existed in addition to the Ust-Mil culture: Ulakhan Segelennyakh and Sugunnakh, the latter being a derivative of Ymyiakhtakh. In the 2nd millennium BC, the Ulakhan Segelennyakh culture became distributed throughout southern, southwestern, and southeastern Yakutia. The distinctive feature of this culture is perceived as being its ceramics which are decorated with punched nodes, stamp, and impressed designs. According to radiocarbon dating, the Sugunnakh culture existed in the transpolar regions of Yakutia from the 1st millennium BC at least until the first centuries AD. All the three Bronze Age cultures of Yakutia evidently originated from the Late Neolithic Ymyiakhtakh culture.

Continuation of the Atlantic Theory of Homer's Ilias and Odyssey (part 1: Atlantic Troy; part 2:  Atlantic Ismaros-Kikones). Odysseus' wanderings after his departure from Troy: Route Brittany-Senegal. Study of Atlantic authors De Grave, Cailleux, Gideon, Wilkens, Vinci. Identification of his first stop as North of Spain (Ulla, A Coruña), Kuthera as El Araich (Maroc) and Lotophagia as Senegambia.

The Finnish researcher Matthias Alexander Castrén (1813–1852) carried out several excavations and archaeological surveys during his expeditions through Lapland, northern Russia, and southern Siberia between 1838 and 1849. This article presents a preliminary overview of his fieldwork, methods, and scholarly background in archaeology. Castrén represented a holistic view of cultural research, but showed signs of growing independence of its different realms. Castrén had adopted a view of stratigraphy and an idea of a sequence of different successive periods. On the other hand, his documentation could not compete with the most advanced archaeologists of his time. Castrén's archaeological results soon became outdated, but he provided an important pattern for future generations during the next hundred years.

GeoarchaeologIcal perspective to the reconstruction of coastal landscapes and settlement strategies of the Bronze Age Salento - Investigations of coastal landscape archaeology conducted over the last 10 years on the Adriatic and Ionian coastlines of the Salento allowed us to map many geoarchaeological markers of relative sea level changes; these data can give us accurate information on late Holocene phenomena of marine transgression offering a good opportunity to submit some fresh proposals of paleogeographic reconstructions of these territories. A particular attention was paid to the analysis of spatial, chronological and functional data of a group of archaeological markers (sunken and not) connected with forti ed and open settlements dated to the  rst half of the II millennium BC. Torre Santa Sabina, Torre Guaceto-Scogli di Apani and Scalo di Furno-Porto Cesareo stand out among long-lived settlements for the relevance of the research outcomes. Many archaeological evidences (forti cation walls, moats, pavements, occupation layers, dwelling structures, etc.) mark the ancient position and height of the relative sea level, but postholes have a leading role. The mapping and recording of these structural elements allow us to reconstruct the real extension of Bronze Age inhabited areas.

Though Odysseus’ tales to Eumaios and Aninoos in Odyssey 14.199–359 and 17.417–44, respectively, are presented as fictional tales within Homer’s larger myth, some elements have striking analogs in Late Bronze–Early Iron Age reality.

This article examines these portions of the hero’s false ainoi within their fictive context for the purpose of identifying and evaluating those elements. Particular focus is given to Odysseus’ declaration that he led nine successful maritime raids prior to the Trojan War; to his twice–described ill–fated assault on Egypt; and to his claim not only to have been spared in the wake of that Egyptian raid, but to have spent a subsequent seven years in the land of the pharaohs, during which he gathered great wealth.

Through a comparative examination of literary and archaeological evidence from the Late Bronze–Early Iron transition in the Eastern Mediterranean, it is shown that these aspects of Odysseus’ stories are not only reflective of the historical reality surrounding the time in which the epic is set, but that Odysseus’ fictive experience is remarkably similar to that of one specific member of the ‘Sea Peoples’ groups best known from 19th and 20th dynasty Egyptian records: the ‘Sherden of the Sea.’

This paper focus on the significance that weapons assume in various moments of pre- and protohistory and their comunication skills. To briefly investigate the problem, we analyse, as a common thread, the stele and the statues that represent the induvidual with different typologies of weapons, from Chalcolithic to late protohistory, and their association with the representation of the identification elements, such as ideological and religious symbols, the rich garments, the ornaments and the symbols of wealth: hunted and bred animals. Thereby, we try to
include the weapons in pre- and protohistory’s cultural world and the values that characterized said world.

Very little, practically nothing has been written about the Submycenaean period in Western Achaea, a fact reflecting the belief that this stage was not particularly developed or that it had nothing significant to offer. 1 Moreover, in the few reports the word "Submycenaean" defines objects that do not fall stylistically into the Mycenaean period and, at the same time, cannot be classified as EPG, without taking into consideration their cultural environment, as usually happens elsewhere. 2 The simple definition "probably Submycenaean" is the most common in these cases and it refers exclusively to objects, so that the phase is merely being insinuated, without the slightest effort to place these objects in a general cultural frame, if there should be one. It seems that the existence of this hypothesis does not leave room for further analysis and for thorough examination so that the subject is finally overlooked and not discussed. This situation is due to objective difficulties related to the region, but also to the numerous and often different and contradictive views which are still pertinent to the use of the term Submycenaean. 3 This fact gives the impression that there are only few and isolated objects, mostly pottery, in Achaea that probably belong to the Submycenaean Style, which is either rare or confused with the local LH III C Late/Mature Achaean pottery Style. 4 As a result this particular phase, stage, period or whatever it is, is practically considered to be non-existent. However, this perspective is not exclusively related to pottery but it partly includes bronze items as well. If the classification of bronze or other objects in the Submycenaean period is correct, and given that the Submycenaean is not exclusively associated with a certain pottery style only, then the presence of other features, which so far have been overlooked or regarded as insignificant, must be expected. Below we are going to propose that in Achaea there is not only a particular or local Submycenaean style but features which define a Submycenaean Period. These features are beyond changes in the settlement but also beyond fashion in dressing, like the appearance of new bronze accessories, as we shall see below.

Bu çalışma, "Ardahan Kale ve Kuleleri" adlı kitabın bölümlerinden biridir. Bu kitap içi bölümde, Ardahan'ın Eskiçağ'dan Türk fetihlerine kadar tarihçesi üzerinde durulmuş ve şehrin isminin kökenine ilişkin bir başlığa yer verilmiştir.
  Son yıllarda yapılan bilimsel araştırmalarla birlikte Eskiçağ ve Ortaçağ arkeolojik vaziyetinin Transkafkasya (Güney Kafkasya) arkeolojisiyle
oldukça örtüştüğü anlaşılan Ardahan, Doğu Karadeniz ve Kuzeydoğu Anadolu Bölgeleri ile Transkafkasya’yı birleştiren stratejik bir coğrafi konuma sahiptir. Batıda Karadeniz sahil şeridinin son ili Artvin ile
komşu olan Ardahan’ın güneyinde Erzurum ve Kars illeri, kuzeydoğusunda Gürcistan ve doğusunda Ermenistan yer alır. Transkafkasya ülkelerinde, özellikle Tunç ve Demir Çağları kültürlerine ilişkin hatırı sayılır araştırma ve arkeolojik kazı yapılmışsa da bu bölgenin komşusu olan Kuzeydoğu Anadolu için aynı değerlendirmeyi ne yazık ki yapamamaktayız. Özellikle Ardahan ili, Anadolu coğrafyasında arkeolojik araştırmaların en az yürütüldüğü yerlerden biri olmuştur. Bu nedenle şehrin tarihi ve arkeolojik geçmişi üzerine toplanan veriler, akademik anlamda tatmin edici bir düzeye erişememiştir. Yine de inanıyoruz ki, 2008 yılında kurulan Ardahan Üniversitesinin bünyesinde gerçekleştirilmekte olan ve yakın gelecekte daha da kapsamlı bir şekilde sürdürülecek bilimsel çalışmalar, şehrin tarihi, sanat tarihi ve arkeolojik
dokusunu çok daha detaylı bir şekilde yansıtacaktır.

Pollen and microscopic charcoal examined in Holocene sediment core samples record major environmental modifications affecting Alexandria's Eastern Harbor through time. We assess whether such changes on Egypt's coastal margin were influenced primarily by natural, or natural plus human, or primarily human factors. We focus on (1) the times when pollen assemblages and microscopic charcoal content changed in the core, (2) how they changed, and (3) why this occurred. The analysis takes into account the core's stratigraphy, regional climate variability, human history, and local archaeological record. Four pollen-microscopic charcoal zones are identified. The earliest change occurred at ca. 6000 YBP, during Egypt's earlier Predynastic (Neolithic) period, coinciding with a lithologic break from sand to muddy sand. Pollen during this time indicates a transition to a much drier climate rather than effects of human activity. The second change in pollen occurred 3600-2900 YBP, during a period of continued aridity with no lithologic variation in this core interval. Pollen (cereal taxa, agricultural weeds, grape) and a sharp increase in microscopic charcoal indicate that human activity became prevalent at least 700 y before Alexander the Great's arrival in this region, and these results highlight the transition from a largely natural climate-controlled environment to one influenced by both climate and anthropogenic activity. The third shift up-core in pollen assemblages is dated at ca. 2300 YBP, at the boundary between a sand and mud unit. It coincides with construction by the Ptolemies of the Heptastadion between Alexandria and Pharos Island. From this time onward, harbor sediment in the nearly enclosed catchment basin indicates a near-continuous record of dominant proximal human activity.

The South Caucasus occupies the divide between ancient Mesopotamia and prehistoric Europe, and was thus crucial in the development of Old World societies. Chronologies for the region, however, have lacked the definition achieved in surrounding areas. Concentrating on the Tsaghkahovit Plain of northwestern Armenia, Project ArAGATS's multi-site radiocarbon dataset has now produced Bayesian modelling, which provides tight chronometric support for tracing the transmission of technology, population movement and social developments that shaped the Eurasian Bronze and Iron Ages.

Anhand der in den letzten Berichten geschilderten Forschungen war es uns möglich, ein völlig neues Licht auf die Prozesse des gesellschaftlichen Wandels am Übergang vom Neolithikum zur frühen Bronzezeit in Südwestdeutschland im späten 3. und frühen 2. Jtsd. v. Chr. zu werfen. Wir konnten anhand einer mikroregionalen Studie zeigen, dass sich dieser Epochenwechsel als komplexer, nichtlinearer und doch kontinuierlicher Prozess darstellt, der zugleich in seinem Verlauf einen grundlegenden Wandel herbeiführt. Unsere transdisziplinäre Zusammenarbeit und die damit verbundene Integration eines breiten Spektrums archäologischer und naturwissenschaftlicher Analysen haben diese einmaligen Einblicke in die Entwicklung einer Siedlungskammer zwischen 2800 und 1500 v. Chr. ermöglicht. Erste bahnbrechende Ergebnisse wurden bereits 2015 veröffentlicht (Stockhammer et al. 2015a; Stockhammer et al. 2015b) und im Rahmen von Vorträgen -insbesondere auch auf der Tagung der European Association of Archaeologists in Glasgow -der wissenschaftlichen Öffentlichkeit präsentiert.

Die Entdeckung einer fast lebensgrossen Bronzehand und eines Dolches im Oktober 2017 bei Prêles (Plateau de Diesse) im Berner Jura überraschte die Fachwelt und löste ein grosses Medienecho aus. Die Nachgrabung vor Ort und die Untersuchungen an der Bronzehand durch den Archäologischen Dienst des Kantons Bern führten zu weiteren Erkenntnissen. Die Publikation versammelt die Beiträge des Kolloquiums vom 30. Oktober 2019 und ergänzt sie mit weiteren Texten zum Kontext dieses bedeutenden Fundes.

This paper presents the first evidence of lapis lazuli or lazurite that was detected unexpectedly using micro-Raman spectroscopy during research to identify an enigmatic purple hue on the thirteenth-century BC Greek Bronze Age wall paintings from Gla. The lapis lazuli material was found as part of a mixture including a red iron oxide and an as yet unidentified purple staining material. Existing purple mixtures of that period are also discussed. The identification of lapis lazuli at Gla may prove to be the earliest known use of this pigment in buon fresco, in both Eastern and Western painting traditions. Furthermore, this precedes the next known use of the material as a pigment by 1800 years. The existence of this blue pigment is also discussed within the context of the blue pigment palette of the Bronze Age Aegean and eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age (3300-1100 BC), to show its use in relation to other blue materials and to demonstrate the technology and knowledge mastered by the artists who used this lazurite.

High ranking burial mounds in Bronze Age Sudan featured burials in a corridor leading to the central burial – supposedly of a king. Were the ‘corridor people’ prisoners captured during periodic raids on Egypt, or local retainers who followed their king in death? The authors use the skeletal material to argue the second hypothesis – coincidentally that advanced by George Reisner, the original excavator.

Copper and its high copper alloys (bronze) tend to passivate in humid air, forming an oxide layer (patina), which protects copper and its alloys from further corrosion processes. Sometimes there is a need to delay or stop further corrosion processes. In this case the surface is protected with natural, synthetic or microcrystalline waxes that are sometimes doped with organic inhibitors, such as benzotriazole. The aim of the present study was to test some organic compounds, including myristic acid and Paraloid B44, as a common finish for bronze sculptures. The mechanism of copper and bronze aging and its influents were determined in a test solution of urban rain.

Лапчатые привески, один из наиболее ярких и интересных элементов карасукской культуры, не слишком часто встречаются в материалах погребений или поселенческих комплексах. Существующие на сегодняшний день работы, посвящённые их проблематике, базируются в основном на случайных находках широко представленных в музеях Южной Сибири и за её пределами. Между тем произошли закономерные изменения в объёме и структуре накопленного материала, а также в степени изученности карасукской культуры, что позволяет снова обратиться к этой теме, рассчитывая на новые результаты.
На сегодняшний день известно уже 79 случаев обнаружения лапчатых привесок в карасукских погребениях, что составляет в общей сложности 198 экземпляров. Это позволяет при анализе сделать упор не на случайные находки, как это делалось ранее, а на полноценные комплексы, несущие множество дополнительных данных. Введение информации об этих комплексах в научный оборот и её первичная обработка являются главной задачей данного исследования.
На основании статистического анализа всех известных случаев обнаружения лапчатых привесок в карасукских могилах, подтвердилась их принадлежность исключительно женскому погребальному костюму. Анализ возрастных данных позволил установить, что они сопровождали в погребениях женщин всех возрастов, в том числе и детей. В тоже время, изучение погребений, где лапчатые привески сохранились в положении “in situ”, подтвердило существование трёх способов их использования: вплетение в волосы (чаще всего в косы), ношение на обуви и в составе ожерелий или нагрудников. Вероятно, подобное разделение может отражать некоторые этнические различия в среде карасукского населения.
Лапчатые привески просуществовали довольно продолжительный промежуток времени, охватывающий позднюю часть “классического” и весь каменноложский этап карасукской культуры (эпоха поздней бронзы), а также раннюю часть баиновского этапа тагарской культуры (скифское время).
При этом в течение “классического” этапа карасукской культуры они были не равномерно распределены по её ареалу. Наибольшая концентрация фиксируется в погребениях у места впадения реки Абакан в Енисей (“Минусинский очаг”). По мере удаления от него число погребений и количество в них привесок постепенно падает. В северных районах они известны только в исключительных случаях. В дальнейшем, на каменноложском этапе культуры, эта диспропорция исчезает.
При изучении географии распространения привесок выявлена локализация экземпляров с четырьмя лапками в юго-западном районе Минусинских котловин (Аскизский район Республики Хакасия). За пределами этой зоны в карасукских погребениях они не встречаются. Ещё две привески с четырьмя лапками известны с территории Тувы, что позволяет предполагать в эпоху бронзы довольно тесные контакты этих двух регионов.
Анализ широкого круга материалов, позволил подтвердить предположение Э.Б. Вадецкой о схожей роли лапчатых привесок и треугольных бляшек с пуансонным орнаментом. Своеобразные комбинированные привески занимает промежуточное положение, связывая эти два типа женских украшений в единую линию развития.
Критическое рассмотрение существующих на сегодняшний день теорий роли лапчатых привесок позволило высказать предположение об отсутствии у карасукского населения глубоко укоренившихся в их отношении семантических представлений. Наиболее вероятно, что они воспринимались просто, как украшение женского костюма.
На основании современных датировок подтвердилось мнение С.А. Теплоухова и М.П. Грязнова о происхождение карасукских лапчатых привесок от наиболее древних андроновских образцов с территории Казахстана.

DONETS-DON CATACOMB COMPONENT IN BABYNE’S CULTURAL GENESIS
In the paper the problem of participation and role of the Donets-Don catacomb culture (DDCC) in genesis of the Dnieper-Don Babyne culture (DDBC) is examined. The comparative analysis of this cultural types is carried out on the signs of funeral ceremony and material culture. General signs that confirmative a genetic succession between DDCC and DDBC are distinguished. Along with the opened facts, questions remain unsolved: why o ne or another signs of future Babyne culture are dispersed on different local groups by a Donets-Don catacomb culture.

Along the 150-km coastline of Masirah, 127 archaeological sites were discovered through surveys carried out in January-February 2012. The island is the largest off the Sultanate of Oman and possesses great archaeological potential, especially for the Neolithic period, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. Shell middens, some of which are very large, and many small workshops are related to the production of ornaments in shell or stone. The site of Ra's Dah (SM-10) has proved to be the oldest identified Neolithic occupation in Oman today. Finally, more than 250 km south of Ra's al-Hadd, the discovery of two Early Bronze Age sites, dating to the Umm an-Nar period, considerably increases the area of the 'Magan Civilization', and with it that of the diffusion of goods from the Indus Civilization.

Botanical investigation of archaeological sites situated in the northwest of the region bounded by the rivers Maas, Scheldt and Demer ('MSD region'), west of the city of Breda, has provided a great deal of evidence about the landscape and its use in the period between 2000 B.C. and A.D. 1500. From pollen analysis, it appears that this cover-sand area gradually lost its woodlands through human activity after the beginning of the Bronze Age (ca. 2000 B.C.). Patches of woodland did survive there, however, until the early Middle Ages. In contrast to the cover-sand area in the vicinity of 's-Hertogenbosch and Oss-Ussen in the northeast of the MSD region, the first large heathlands in the Breda area did not evolve until the early Middle Ages. In late prehistory, land use in this area was not much different from that in the microregion of 's-Hertogenbosch and Oss-Ussen. In the Bronze Age, Hordeum vulgare ssp. vulgare (hulled six-row barley) and Triticum dicoccon (emmer wheat) were grown. During the Iron Age, Panicum miliaceum (common millet) and T. spelta (spelt wheat) were introduced, but these crops disappeared during the Roman period. The Roman period is remarkable because of the lack of any Mediterranean culinary herbs or exotic fruits. Only pollen of Juglans regia (walnut), found around the transition from the Roman period to the early Middle Ages, indicates the introduction of an exotic tree into the region. From the early Middle Ages onwards, Secale cereale (rye) was the most important cereal, which was grown as a winter crop. In the course of the Middle Ages, arable weeds of the Sclerantho annui-Arnoseridetum plant community appeared, which is associated with the continuous growing of rye.

In this paper we analyse the ceramic material belonging to the Wietenberg culture from the site of Bixad-“Vápavára” out of a typological and functional perspective. Furthermore we are placing this site in the broader context of Middle and Late Bronze Age settlements by attempting to reconstruct the archaeological landscape of south-east Transylvania in the above mentioned period.

Březnice near Bechyně (distr. Tábor, South Bohemia)
The Late Bronze Age settlement with trench-like features
Archaeological fieldwork in the prehistoric settlements in southern and western Bohemia and southern Germany have
repeatedly provided examples of an unusual type of settlement features (Fig. 1). These are long narrow pits or trenches,
mostly characteristic not only by their shape but also orientation according to cardinal points, their arrangement on the
site and contents of finds (e.g. Chvojka 2007; Chvojka/Šálková 2012; Metlička 2004; Schmotz 1988; Šálková 2010). The largest
number of these features in Bohemia was found in Březnice in south Bohemia; the aim of this paper is to provide information
about these findings and indicate the ways we intend to proceed in their interpretation.
The archaeological excavation in Březnice near Bechyně (Fig. 2) took place in 2005–2009. The reason was heavily
destructive ploughing, during which quantity of daub, ceramics and other artefacts, mostly noticeably burnt, appeared
on the surface of the field. Several trenchings (over the total area of 577 m2), with the primary aim to save the situations
from complete destruction had been performed (Chvojka/Šálková 2011). 10 oblong trenchlike features (Fig. 3), 1 storage pit,
1 (probably) oven, 3 separate sunken storage jars and 1 pottery hoard, 15 atypical sunken features and 22 scattered postholes
were recorded in the area. With one exception, these features do not interfere (there are no superpositions), which
may indicate that they came to being over a relatively short time span. The finds can be unambiguously dated to the Late
Bronze Age (in the Czech terminology, LBA), specifically to the Reinecke Ha A2 stage. This is in accordance with the radiocarbon
data acquired from the charred plant macroremains from features 1/07, 5/07, 6/07, and 3/09 (Tab. 1).
Trenches from Březnice have a typical recurring shape (Fig. 4). They are features with oblong groundplans, with
straight sides, usually 4–7 m long and 80–100 cm wide. In the longitudinal direction, the bottom is more or less straight,
whereas in the cross-section they have a bowllike shape; the depth of the features is usually up to 50 cm in subsoil layers.
Their identical orientation in the north-south direction is also apparent. No posthole structures have been found on the
site so far, therefore, we have no direct evidence for the assessment of the possible functional and spatial relationship of
the trenches to the above ground buildings.
One of the most apparent properties of the features is their rich find content consisting of pottery, daub, clay weights
and other artefacts (Fig. 5: A). The majority of artefacts displays signs of strong burning, which must have occurred elsewhere
than in the trenches themselves. The walls of the features did not show signs of burning. Burning of the contents
does not apply to all of the found items: in some cases, intentionally arranged fine vessels (bowls, buttons, Fig. 6) have
been found that were not burnt. Two of the trenches also contained accumulations of clay weights (Fig. 7), but without any
intentional arrangement.
Trenchlike features in Březnice have been analysed for macrobotanical material (Šálková 2010). From eight trenches,
1574.5 litres of filling have been analysed in 116 samples. The amount of macroremains varies within particular features;
nevertheless, the quantity is representative enough for interpretation. Variability both in the density of macrobotanical remains
and their composition has been attested. Generally, there are remains of barley, millet and other crops predominant
in the trenches. From the archaeobotanical point of view, the fillings have a refuse character and rubbish was intentionally
placed there, which, for some reason, had come into contact with fire.
Several hypotheses on the function of Late Bronze Age trenches have been suggested so far. German and Austrian literature
most often puts the trenches in context with textile production and considers them to be bedding trenches placed
under horizontal looms. Another interpretation of trenchlike features may be related to pottery production. Thousands
of vessel fragments may really indicate pottery production, but the trenches do not seem to be the place where this may
have happened since no exposition of the features to fire could be observed. Some other authors see the trenchlike features
and their fillings as evidence of cult activities. Finally, some archaeologists could see the trenches as refuse features (pits
used for the deposition of waste). Although the term “waste pit” as such is unsupportable (no pits in prehistory had the
function of depositing waste, even though they were often used for this purpose), the connection between the contents of
the pits and a specific type of settlement refuse is not entirely pointless. Majority of trenches in Březnice have uniform
fillings that were created during just one deposition event or over a very short period of time. This inference is supported
by joinable pottery fragments from different parts of features and/or levels of filling. The analysis of plant macroremains,
too, despite showing some minor variation identical for all layers, achieves the same result. However, a question appears
why the refuse was preferably put into the north-south oriented trenches rather than other settlement pits. The possible
answer may be that the trenches were (functional) parts of some buildings burnt down. Deposition or clearing the ruins
of the house after a fire could be accompanied by a number of ritual acts, which could include also depositing of complete
pottery vessels.
This model is, however, only a working one so far. Each of its individual parts will lead to articulating specific hypotheses,
which will be subsequently tested against the material, for instance, using deposition analysis of ceramics and
weights, examining the composition of plant macroremains, etc. Answering these questions will be subject to the grant
project in 2018–2020 (Czech Science Foundation, No. 18-10747S). In addition to the above-mentioned methods (deposition
analysis, archaeobotany), the methods of areal magnetometer survey with additional detailed magnetic susceptibility
measurements, typological-chronological analysis of artefacts and test piting will be also used.

Translated by Martin Brňovják

Archaeological evaluation and excavation revealed a concentration of Early Bronze Age pits in a natural dry valley, associated with layers of colluvial origin and evidence for an interlude of wetter, marshier conditions sometime after the main phase of occupation. Further Early Bronze Age features were spread around the site. The site comprises one of the few Beaker pit clusters to be recorded in Suffolk. The evidence indicates brief or transitory occupation of the site, possibly comprising more than one phase of occupation, and represents evidence of Early Bronze Age occupation to complement the comparatively plentiful evidence for funerary monuments in the county.

The remains of insect pests of field crops and stores from the Late Bronze Age site of Santorini, destroyed by a large eruption some 3500 yr ago are discussed. These include Bruchus r&pm, UryzaephiruS sp., Rhyzopertba dominica and Sitophilus granarim. The possible pest status of the blind, troglodytic weevil Troglorhynchus anophrhalmus in stored olive oil soaked pulses and legumes is also discussed.

The eastern Mediterranean region witnessed changes in human culture of the highest importance between ~9000 and ~2500 cal. BP (7000-500 bc) and over the same time period was affected by very significant shifts in climate. Stable isotope data from lake and deep-sea sediment cores and from cave speleothems show an overall trend from a wetter to a drier climate during the mid Holocene. Superimposed on this trend were multicentennial oscillations in climate, with notable arid phases occurring around 5300-5000 BP, 4500-3900 BP, and 3100-2800 BP (all ages are expressed in calibrated/ calendar years). These phases coincide with major archaeological transitions across the eastern Mediterranean region (Chalcolithic to early Bronze Age, EBA to MBA, and LBA to Iron Age) implying that environmental stress or opportunity may have acted as a pacemaker for cultural change and reorganisation. We use 14 C and δ 13 C analysis of archaeobotanical samples from two protohistoric sites in Syria to illustrate the linkage between water availability, climate and cultural change during the third and second millennia bc. Specific societal responses to environmental change were not predictable in advance, but resulted instead from contingent processes involving antecedent conditions, human choice and adaptive strategies. Pollen analysis highlights how changes in climate were coupled to increasing human impacts to transform the region's landscapes. Initial human-induced land-cover transformation commonly took place during Bronze Age times, sometimes coinciding with phases of drier climate, although the pattern and precise timing varied between sites. Changes in climate between the early and late Holocene thus helped to transform eastern Mediterranean landscape ecologies and human cultures, but in complex, non-deterministic ways.