Bronze Age Archaeology

Alleged "Aegean migrations" have long been seen as underlying major transformations in lifeways and identity in the Balkans in the 12 th-11 th centuries BC. Revisiting the material culture and settlement changes in the north-south "routeway" of the Velika Morava-Južna Morava-Vardar/Axios river valleys, this paper evaluates developments within local communities. It is argued that mobility played an important role in social change, including an element of inward migration from the north. We argue that rather than an Aegean end point, these river valleys themselves were the destination of migrants. The prosperity this stimulated within those communities led to increased networks of personal mobility that incorporated elements from communities from the wider Carpathians and the north of Greece over the course of two centuries.

Studie byla publikována roku 1981 v knize ,,Praehistorica VIII, Varia Archeologica 2 (sborník k poctě 80. narozenin akademika Jana Filipa)" / The study was published in 1981 in the book "Praehistorica VIII, Varia Archeologica 2 (Acta to Honor the 80th Anniversary of Academician Jan Filip)".

Recent archaeological research has highlighted the potential role of mobile pastoral groups in the diffusion of raw materials and technological innovations between the southern Caucasus and north‐western Iran from the Neolithic onwards. Two successive projects, PAST‐OBS and SCOPE, were designed to explore this hypothesis through the study of obsidian consumption patterns from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age using a flexible analytical strategy that considerably extends the scale of obsidian studies in these regions. By focusing on the exploitation of obsidian at multiple levels—local, regional and interregional—we hope to unravel the complexity of the obsidian networks under study. The aim of this paper is to present (1) a reassessment of the work so far carried out by previous obsidian studies, with a view to homogenizing and to clarifying the nomenclature in use; and (2) an introduction to the PAST‐OBS and SCOPE projects in order to initiate a discussion of our preliminary results.

Metallhorte der frühen und beginnenden
mittleren Bronzezeit in Südböhmen und
Möglichkeiten ihrer Interpretationen.
Im Beitrag sind neue Erkenntnisse über südböhmische
Hortfunde der Bronze- oder Kupfergegenständen
der Stufen Bz A2 und A2/B1
zusammengefasst. Heute sind in dieser Region
insgesamt 84 Metallhorte der genannten
Epoche nachgewiesen, die in einigen Gruppen
nach ihrer Zusammensetzung verteilt
werden können (vgl. Tabelle 1). In Südböhmen
überwiegen vor allem die Rohstoffhorte,
d.h. die Hortfunde der Ring- oder Spangenbarren
(Abb. 1). Sie belegen intensive Kontakte
mit den südlich gelegenen Regionen
und die Distribution des Alpenkupfers nach
Böhmen. Viele Fremdimporte beinhalten
auch einige Hortfunde der fertigen Produkte
(vgl. Abb. 4–5, 9).
Während bis in dem Anfang der 90. Jahren
des 20. Jh. überwogen bei den Hortentdeckungen
Bau-, Förderungs- oder Feldarbeiten,
in den letzten 25 Jahren wurden alle
südböhmischen frühbronzezeitlichen Horte
von den Metallsuchern mit den Detektoren
entdeckt. Die meisten Horte wurden im
freien Lande, d.h. ohne jede Beziehungen zu
den gleichzeitigen Fundstellen, deponiert.
In Südböhmen gibt es jedoch auch Beispiele
der Hortfunde, die in Flachland- sowie Höhensiedlungen
(Abb. 6) oder in den Arealen
der Hügelgräberfelder (Abb. 7) gelegen
wurden.
Ganz schwierig ist die Lösung der Frage der
Interpretation der bronzezeitlichen Metallhorte.
Die südböhmischen früh- bis mittelbronzezeitlichen
Depotfunde sind markant
zu den Hauptwasserläufen gebunden, vor allem
zum Fluss Vltava (Abb. 1). Diese Horte
können den Verlauf der Fernwegen andeuten.
Weitere, vor allem Rohstoffhorte, können in
ihren Konzentrationen lokale metallurgische
Werkstätte markieren, die jedoch in Südböhmen
bisher nicht eindeutig nachgewiesen
sind. Die Horte, die eine außergewöhnliche
Zusammensetzung (Abb. 9), Anordnung der
Gegenstände (Abb. 2) oder spezifische topographische
Lagen aufweisen, können als votive
Opfergaben interpretiert werden.

Résumé : Le site la Motte 1 (Agde, Hérault), immergé dans le lit mineur du fleuve Hérault, est connu pour avoir livré une riche parure féminine datée du viiie siècle av. J.-C. associée à des vestiges d’habitats. Nous présentons ici une synthèse des résultats des fouilles récentes menées sur ce site entre 2011 et 2018.
Au moment de son occupation, l’établissement de la Motte se situait en bordure de lagune et à proximité de l’embouchure de l’Hé¬rault. Il se caractérise par près de 500 pieux de bois répartis en deux ensembles principaux localisés sur des hauts fonds, associés à de nombreux blocs de basalte qui ont pu participer de la structuration de l’occupation. Les pieux correspondent à plusieurs alignements cohérents faisant appel à une essence de bois en particulier. Les sondages réalisés permettent de les interpréter comme des systèmes de maintien et de protection de berge utilisant des techniques différentes : fascine de clayonnage et possibles piquets vivants en saule. Ils devaient protéger un habitat qui a malheureusement été fortement érodé par l’action du fleuve. L’analyse des corpus céramiques et des datations radiocarbone permet de caractériser une évolution de la fin du xe (Bronze final IIIa) au début du viiie siècle av. J.-C., avec un développement du site du sud vers le nord.
Différentes analyses (anthracologie, carpologie, paléoentomologie et archéozoologie) convergent vers la caractérisation d’un habitat pérenne occupé toute l’année, dont l’économie était prioritairement tournée vers l’agriculture et l’élevage. Délibérément implanté à l’interface entre deux milieux aux potentialités différentes, il s’insérait dans un réseau d’habitat régulièrement implanté le long du fleuve Hérault. Au sein de ce réseau, il ne semble pas constituer un site dépendant des occupations de hauteur de l’hinterland. Le travail du métal y semble en revanche une activité importante. Il est donc légitime de se demander si le site de la Motte n’a pas joué un rôle de producteur et de distributeur d’objets en bronze réalisé, au moins en partie, avec le minerai de cuivre du district de Cabrières ?

Mots-clés : Bronze final, habitat littoral, lagune, Hérault, clayonnage, céramique, chronotypologie, carpologie, entomologie, archéozoo¬logie, anthracologie, dendrochronologie.

Abstract : The site of la Motte 1 (Agde, Hérault), submerged in the minor bed of the Hérault River, is known for the discovery of rich female personal ornaments dated to the 8th century BC, associated with the remains of a settlement. We present here an overview of the results from recent excavations carried out at this site between 2011 and 2018. The issues related to the structuration of the site, to its duration and to its economy are addressed more particularly with the aim of giving thought to its place in the Late Bronze Age occupation of the lower Hérault valley.
Core sampling carried out on each bank of the river has revealed the presence of an open lagoon from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. During its occupation the la Motte site was located on the edge of the lagoon and near to the mouth of the Hérault River. It is charac-terised by nearly 500 wooden piles divided into two main groups located on shoals, connected with numerous basalt blocks that may have contributed to the structuring of the occupation.
Most of the wooden pieces that could be identified are vertical elements, piles and stakes that have been rammed into the ground. The pieces analysed reveal the use of a variety of species, reflecting the diversified use of distinct environments such as Mediterranean mixed oak forests and riparian forests. Most of these are therefore young woods, which were cut into green, unbarked wood. They reflect a simple exploitation of the forest environment in which wood is abundant.
Nearly 80% of the wood identified at the site has been identified via its anatomy. This makes it possible to carry out a spatial analysis of the site’s structure based on the nature of the wood used. Several coherent alignments using a particular wood species could thus be identified. The surveys carried out made it possible to interpret them as bank support and protection systems using different techniques: arbutus wattle supported by oak piles and possible live willow piles. In the centre was a settlement that unfortunately has been severely eroded by the action of the river. However, remains of dwellings can be identified and these suggest a building plan.
The analysis of the pottery remains found in stratigraphic surveys makes it possible to characterise the temporal evolution of the site from the end of the 10th century BC (Bronze final IIIa) to the beginning of the 8th century BC. This is confirmed by radiocarbon dating which has been the subject of Bayesian modelling. These data show a development of the site from south to north. Different shoreline stabilisation systems may have been successively implemented in response to the morphological evolution of the site and its environ¬ment.
Data on the economy of the site (anthracology, carpology, paleoentomology and archaeozoology) indicate a permanent settlement occupied all year round, whose economy was primarily oriented towards agriculture and livestock. Deliberately located at the interface between two environments with different potentialities, its inhabitants built shoreline protection systems to ensure the long-term sur¬vival of the village for at least two centuries.
The village was part of a settlement network regularly established along the Hérault River. It is also the eastern extension of the polarised lagoon settlements established around the Thau pond. Within this network, the littoral habitat of la Motte does not seem to constitute a site dependent on the settlements in elevated positions of the hinterland, as has been proposed in other Languedoc regions. Metalworking, on the other hand, seems to be an important activity. It is therefore legitimate to ask whether it may have played a role as a producer and distributor of bronze objects made, at least in part, with copper ore from the Cabrières district?

Keywords: Late Bronze Age, littoral settlement, lagoon, Hérault, wattle, ceramics, chronotypology, carpology, entomology, archaeozoo¬logy, anthracology, dendrochronology.

La zona de Cataluña meridional, y en especial el Priorato, cuenta con algunos datos sobre minería prehistórica y restos metalúrgicos que permiten desarrollar un trabajo de investigación comparativo con otras zonas peninsulares y del occidente de Europa. Aunque ya se realizaron unos primeros análisis de caracterización elemental a algunos materiales de la colección Vilaseca del Museo de Reus dentro del Proyecto de Arqueometalugia de la Península Ibérica (Rovira et alii, 1997 y Martin et alii, 1999) actualmente se esta trabajando en completar la información sobre la potencialidad de su explotación durante la Prehistoria.

This paper attempts a general assessment of the contributions included in this volume. We examine three main kinds of problems related to the research on social inequality in Iberian Late Prehistory. These are theoretical, empirical and interpretative. Among the first, we comment upon the very definition of social inequality, the taxonomical categories employed in social evolution, as well as the main factors causing inequality, with special attention to labour force mobilisation. Among the second, we highlight some weaknesses of the Iberian archaeological record for the investigation of the subject matter, such as the limitations of the absolute chronology or the settlement record. Finally, we discuss the propositions that have been put forward to understand the forms that social inequality took among Neolithic, Copper and Bronze Age communities, concluding that Iberian archaeologists would much benefit from a comparative perspective.

The article presents preliminary results of the study of the Bronze Age settlement Konoplyanka 2 in the valley of the Karagaily-Ayat River (Kartaly district of the Chelyabinsk region). The materials demonstrate the manifestations of mobility that occurred in different chronological periods of the Late Bronze Age. Topical problems such as the existence of open villages in the South Trans-Urals in Sintashta time and the features of post-Sintashta age settlements are also investigated. The settlement consists of clusters formed by close or adjacent buildings with a linear planning principle. Line 1 consists of the rectangular structures of the Srubnaya (first phase) and Cherkaskul (second
phase) cultures. Four wells located along the central axis were discovered in the excavated building. Line 2, with no external features, was discovered by geophysical studies. The building under study
contained the Abashevo type ceramics and traces of metallurgy typical for the Sintashta and Abashevo cultures. Radiocarbon dates span an almost continuous interval from the 20th to the 16th century
BC, in which the Abashevo claster occupies the earliest position, being partially synchronous with the earlier investigated fortified settlement of Konoplyanka, but not culturally related. The cluster of the Srubnaya-Cherkaskul houses is the latest. The article discusses the diachronic settling and issue of the eastwards spread of the Abashevo population, and the assimilation of the Trans-Urals by Srubnaya cultural complex population.
Keywords: Bronze Age, Southern Trans-Urals, Karagaily-Ayat River

In archaeology, environmental history all too often focused on the individual settlements and on the economic use of their immediate environment. This view fails to acknowledge the importance of other actors (e.g. animals, plants, waters) interacting with humans. Outside the settlements, the traces of humans and these other actors are entangled and become difficult to discern. This is especially true for processes in deltas, which are inherently dynamic, complex, short-lived and fragmented. The life and activities of humans in such areas can only be properly assessed if the habitat as a whole with all its actors is understood and a long-term perspective is adopted.
Due to intensive construction work in the Lorze Delta since the 1980s, the archaeological department of Canton Zug has carried out a number of excavations. However, only now has the basic information about the sites (e.g. location, sediments and dating) been more broadly compiled and the results of the different studies been collated. This has led to ground-breaking insights into the cultural and natural interactions in the catchment area of the Lorze River.
In the early stages of the Lorze Delta during the Late Glacial and Early Holocene, after the melting of the Reuss Glacier, the only just populated landscape was characterised by unstable geological conditions. When analysing Neolithic and Bronze Age pile dwellings, understanding the Lorze Delta’s formation is a prerequisite for appreciating the sites’ location. In the alluvial fan, long-term changes in human and riverine activity from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages can be detected. Today, human impact instead of geological processes write the delta’s story: the river course has been diverted to give way for a motorway while the delta itself has been altered artificially.