Charcoal remains from an Iron Age copper smelting slag heap at Feinan,Wadi Arabah (Jordan)

Charcoal remains were analysed from copper ore smelting at Khirbet en-Nahas, an Iron Age site in the region of Feinan between Wadi Arabah and the highland of Edom. For the first time, a section was dug into a stratified slag heap and separate charcoal samples were taken from each layer. Radiocarbon dates from the charcoal range from the 12th to the 9th century B.C. The main aim of this work was to find out whether the fuel species spectra change or remain constant over the period of metallurgical activity covered by this slag heap. Twelve samples totalling 2257 pieces amounting to 340.58 g of charcoal were analysed. The species composition is more or less the same in all samples. 14 species were identified. Approximately 50% of the material consisted of Tamarix species, 40% was Retama raetam, Phoenix dactylifera and Haloxylon persicum. Thus, the rapidly regenerating shrub vegetation within walking distance of the smelting place was used as fuel and remained unchanged during at least two to three centuries. Trees from the highland of Edom such as Juniperus phoenicea or Quercus calliprinos were not found here, although they were identified from Early Bronze Age sites a few kilometres up the wadis.     

内蒙古中南部地区青铜—早期铁器时代居民的龋病研究

本文对内蒙古中南部地区青铜—早期铁器时代5个考古地点出土人骨的龋病患病情况做了研究, 在与其他国内材料对比的基础上, 探讨了文化类型与龋病患病率之间的关系。龋病在以农业经济为主的人群中患病率最高, 在农牧兼营的人群中龋病率其次, 在以畜牧业为生的游牧人群中患病率最低。龋病是反映内蒙古地区该时段古代居民经济模式的一个有效指标。     

Evidence from charcoal analysis for environmental change during the interval late Bronze Age to Roman,at the archaeological site of Castro de Penices,N.W. Portugal

Vegetation and environmental change from late Bronze Age to the Roman period in north-west Portugal is reconstructed on the basis of charcoal analyses. The site was occupied by people of the Castrejo culture, i.e. an Iron Age culture that developed in the north-west Iberian peninsula. The pattern of exploitation of natural wood resources by local populations during this period appears to be similar during the three phases of occupation. The frequencies of light-demanding plant species, mostly Leguminosae, testify to considerable destruction and degeneration of the climax woodlands. The preference of particular wood for specific uses, such as roofing, is discussed and the Holocene history of selected trees within the wider region is considered.     

Mobility in Central European Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age: femoral cross-sectional geometry

Some scholars explain the absence of settlements in the Bohemian and Moravian Late Eneolithic (Corded Ware archaeological culture) as a consequence of pastoral subsistence with a high degree of mobility. However, recent archaeological studies argued that the archaeological record of the Late Eneolithic in Central Europe exhibits evidence for sedentary subsistence with mixed agriculture, similar to the subsequent Early Bronze Age. Because the archaeological data do not allow us to address unambiguously the mobility pattern in these periods, we used cross-sectional analysis of the femoral midshaft to test mobility directly on the human skeletal record. The results of femoral midshaft geometry do not support a high degree of mobility in the Late Eneolithic in Central Europe. This conclusion is supported mainly by no significant differences in male groups between the Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age in mechanical robusticity and shape of the femoral midshaft, although Corded Ware males still exhibit the highest absolute mean values of the diaphyseal shape (I(A-P)/I(M-L)) ratio and antero-posterior second moment of area. However, Late Eneolithic females have significantly higher torsional and overall bending rigidity because of a significantly higher medio-lateral second moment of area. This finding cannot be directly linked with a higher degree of long-distance mobility for these females. A significant difference was also found in overall decrease of size parameters of the femoral midshaft cross section for one of the Early Bronze Age samples, the Wieselburger females. Since the decrease of size and mechanical robusticity for Wieselburger females does not correspond with the parameters of Early Bronze Age females, we can expect a mosaic pattern of changes during the Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age period, instead of a simple unidirectional (diachronic) change of the mechanical environment.     

Disease and mortality in the Early Bronze Age people of Bab edh-Dhra, Jordan.

During the 1977 field season at the Early Bronze Age site of Bab edh-Dhra 92 individuals were recovered from underground shaft tomb chambers. Morbid conditions found in these skeletons include trauma, possibly two cases of tuberculosis, osteomyelitis, post-menopausal osteoporosis and congenital anomalies. Of the 92 skeletons recovered 56 (61%) were 18 years of age or older, 28 (30%) were between 1 and 18 years of age and 8 (9%) were less than one year of age.     

Human manipulative behavior in the Central European Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age: humeral bilateral asymmetry

It is assumed that the transition from the Late Eneolithic to the Early Bronze Age in Central Europe was associated with substantial changes in subsistence and the perception of gender differences. However, the archeological record itself does not entirely support this model. Alternatively, this transition may be interpreted as a continuous process. We used asymmetry in external dimensions, and asymmetry in size and distribution of cortical tissue of humeri to elucidate the nature of this transition with respect to differences in manipulative behavior. The total sample of 67 individuals representing five archaeological cultures was used. The results indicate that the pattern of asymmetry of the humeral external measurements and the cross-sectional parameters taken at 35% of humeral biomechanical length remain stable during the Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age. However, females of both periods show fluctuating asymmetry for all of the cross-sectional parameters, but directional asymmetry for biomechanical length. Males are nonsignificantly shifted from the line of equivalence for biomechanical length, but exhibit directional asymmetry for the cortical area and polar moment of area. Only distal articular breadth yields fluctuating asymmetry for both females and males in both periods. Thus, the transition from the Late Eneolithic to the Early Bronze Age can be seen as a continuous process that probably affected only a limited part of human activities. We interpret the differences between females and males of both periods as evidence of gender-specific activities; males might have been associated with extra-domestic agricultural labor that resulted in asymmetrical manipulative loading and females with domestic labor with symmetrical manipulative loading in both periods.     

Land-use patterns and cultural change in the Middle to Late Bronze Age in Ireland: inferences from pollen records

In Ireland, the Middle to Late Bronze Age (1500–600 cal b.c.) is characterised by alternating phases of prolific metalwork production (the Bishopsland and Dowris Phases) and apparent recessions (the Roscommon Phase and the Late Bronze Age-Iron Age transition). In this paper, these changes in material culture are placed in a socio-economic context by examining contemporary settlement and land-use patterns reconstructed from the pollen record. The vegetation histories of six tephrochronologically linked sites are presented, which provide high-resolution and chronologically well-resolved insights into changes in landscape use over the Middle to Late Bronze Age. The records are compared with published pollen records in an attempt to discern if there are trends in woodland clearance and abandonment from which changes in settlement patterns can be inferred. The results suggest that prolific metalworking industries correlate chronologically with expansion of farming activity, which indicates that they were supported by a productive subsistence economy. Conversely, declines in metalwork production occur during periods when farming activity was generally less extensive and perhaps more centralised, and it is proposed that disparate socio-economic or political factors, rather than a collapse of the subsistence economy, lie behind the demise of metalworking industries.     

A palaeocarpological study of Neolithic and Bronze Age levels of the Buraco da Pala rock-shelter (Bragança,Portugal)

Palaeocarpological (archaeobotanical) analysis of Neolithic and Bronze Age levels of the Buraco da Pala site (Bragança, Portugal) provides evidence of considerable agricultural activity. Triticum, Hordeum and Vicia predominated, though Pisum, Lens, Vitis, Linum and Papaver were also found. Most wheat grains were spheroidal and were identified as Triticum aestivum subsp. sphaerococcum, in disagreement with recent suggestions that taxa with spheroidal grains have never been present in the Iberian Peninsula. Quercus and Pinus seed indicated that gathering activities supplemented agricultural production.     

Plant Resources from the Bronze Age and the first Iron Age in the northwestern arc of the Mediterranean Basin

This paper updates the question of plant resources during the Bronze Age and First Iron Age in the northwestern Mediterranean Basin. Among the cereals, six-row hulled barley is dominant throughout the territory, whereas naked and hulled wheats take on greater or lesser roles from region to region. Millet cultivation developed during the Bronze Age and became widespread in the First Iron Age. Apart from cereals, pulses, oil species and fruit appear to be secondary. Results from the study of archaeobotanical remains on wetland sites, however, lead us to question this finding, as oil plants and fruits are much better represented in waterlogged conditions. The cultivation of vine began in the First Iron Age. In spite of a number of characteristics common to plants throughout the study area, regional differences, evident in the Bronze Age, seem to dissipate in the First Iron Age.     

Interpretation of charcoal and pollen data relating to a late Iron Age ritual site in eastern Ireland: a holistic approach

The study of charcoal produced by five burning episodes that occurred in a rapid succession within a ritual pit dating to the late Iron Age at Raffin Fort, Co. Meath, Ireland, reveals considerable variation in the charcoal assemblages resulting from each burning episode. Wood selection processes are considered against the background of information on woodland composition and land-use history provided by a detailed pollen diagram from nearby Emlagh Bog, the chronology of which is based on both AMS ¹⁴C dates and tephra analysis. A human skull fragment lay on top of the charcoal layers but the radiocarbon evidence indicates that the skull predated the burnings by at least a century. This and other evidence indicate a ritual pit with the skull as a human relic. It is suggested that, in this instance, wood selection was neither random nor determined solely by availability or combustibility, but instead may have been informed by socio-religious belief systems pertaining to trees and wood. Early Irish documentary sources, which reveal a complex ethnography of wood and trees in later prehistoric and early historic Ireland, are reviewed. The results shed fresh light on aspects of late Iron Age archaeology in a part of Europe that was outside the direct influence of the Roman world. New information is provided on a distinctive feature in late Holocene Irish pollen records namely the Late Iron Age Lull (ca. a.d. 1–500). During this time, widespread regeneration of woody vegetation took place. In the subsequent early Medieval period renewed farming activity resulted in substantial decline in woodland, a pattern also seen at many other locations in Ireland.     

The oldest evidence of Nigella damascena L. (Ranunculaceae) and its possible introduction to central Europe

After the beginning of metal processing at the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age, further knowledge of ore mining and smelting had spread from the Near East to central Europe. In the copper ore deposits of Schwaz, in the central part of the Alps, the oldest traces of copper mining derive from the early to middle Bronze Ages. Investigation of a middle to late Bronze Age (1410–920 cal B.C.) slag-washing site in the area revealed a carbonised seed of Nigella damascena (Ranunculaceae) (love-in-a-mist) together with individual other food plants. The plant remains had become incorporated into the slag sediments by chance and had been preserved in an excellent state due to toxic copper salts contained in the soil. Nigella damascena, like N. sativa (black cumin), is traditionally used as a condiment and healing herb in southern Europe and the Near East, but has never grown in the wild in central Europe. Until now, there has been no evidence of prehistoric large-scale cultivation of N. damascena in central Europe. This leads to two possible conclusions: the find may either originate from an exchange of goods with the cultures in the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age, or indicate an introduction of the plant by an immigrant population from that area. Implicating the latter alternative together with the archaeological context of the ore processing site suggests that Nigella damascena had been introduced to the Alps by foreign miners in the course of ore exploitation during the middle to late Bronze Age.     

Fire and stone clearance in Iron Age agriculture: new insights inferred from the analysis of terrestrial macroscopic charcoal in clearance cairns in Hamneda,southern Sweden

Areas with ancient clearance cairns have been studied in Hamneda, Småland Uplands, southern Sweden, by archaeological and palaeoecological methods. Based on numerous radiocarbon dates and stratigraphical analyses, the local introduction of stone clearance is dated to the first century A.D. The clearance cairns reflect a system of semi-mobile cultivation that lasted until c. A.D. 900. Pollen and macrofossil analyses provide information on cereal growing and pastures in these clearance cairn areas, while charcoal analyses reveal details on the agrarian expansion dynamics and the use of fire in vegetation clearance. In the expansion phase, Quercus (oak) woodlands were cleared and transformed to open pastures and arable land, partly by the use of fire. A secondary succession of Betula (birch) and Corylus (hazel) was dealt with by fire clearances to keep pastures open and to prepare new arable plots. In the long run, Betula in particular was favoured by the land-use system. The mobility of the cultivation system is discussed together with the causes behind the introduction of stone clearance. A possible causal relationship with the introduction of hay mowing is also discussed.     

Degenerative Joint Disease and enthesopathies in a Bronze Age population from Sindou cave (Senaillac-Lauzes,Lot, France)

The anthropological characteristics of the people who lived during the cultural period of the Late Bronze Age in South West France still remain practically unknown because very few sites have provided skeletal remains which permit of an exhaustive study. The cave of Sindou is, in that sense, one of the scarce exceptions. Although the sample of Sindou cannot be considered as representative of the whole regional population (N=50), we studied the presence and severity of DJD and enthesopathies of microtraumatic origin with the aim of finding some data which contribute to the knowledge of several biological aspects of this human group. From the results of the comparisons of the Sindou remains with two different medieval samples, a great similarity is deduced for these skeletal markers, but the higher frequency and severity of Achilles tendon enthesopathy in Sindou is a probable index of a higher level of physical stress at this specific localisation.     

Food storage in two Late Bronze Age caves of Southern France: palaeoethnobotanical and social implications

This paper presents new archaeobotanical results from two previously studied Late Bronze Age caves situated in Southern France, Balme Gontran and Baume Layrou. At each site a thick black layer, characterised by a very high density of charred seeds, is shown to be composed of the remains of burnt crop stores. In Baume Layrou a small proportion of desiccated plant remains was preserved in addition to the bulk of carbonised material. In Balme Gontran, Triticum spelta and Panicum miliaceum predominated and were independently stored. Lens culinaris, Vicia faba and Setaria italica were secondary species of some importance and could have been stored as well. Storage at Baume Layrou was above all composed of hulled Hordeum vulgare, Triticum spelta and P. miliaceum. Other possibly stored species were Triticum aestivum/durum/turgidum, T. dicoccon and V. faba. It seems that most of the crops were grown in pure stands, with the exception of S. italica and Triticum monococcum which may have been mixed in small proportions with common millet and emmer respectively. Crops were stored in ceramic vessels, probably also in bags and wooden containers like baskets. Millet grains were stored in their husks while glume wheats were dehusked. Dehusking before storage does not seem to have been the common practice at the time. It seems moreover rather unsuitable for grain storage in caves. In Baume Layrou a small proportion of cereal kernels had started to germinate, presumably due to the humidity of the cave. We are making the assumption that the caves were not used for usual long term storage but to store food supplies for a small group of people who intended to live here for a short period, perhaps taking refuge during disturbed times. Crops could have been dehusked to reduce the weight and volume of the load to transport to the caves on steep and difficult paths.     

Stable isotope evidence for the consumption of millet and other plants in Bronze Age Italy

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis was carried out on human and animal bones from four inland Early and Middle Bronze Age sites in Northern and Southern Italy. The main aims of the investigation were to explore the contribution of plant foods to the human diet and to examine any dietary differences between and within each of the sites. At two of the sites in Northern Italy, human and animal bones were significantly enriched in ¹³C. This finding was attributed to the consumption of domestic millets (Panicum miliaceum and/or Setaria italica), which are C₄ pathway plants. Conversely, individuals from the two Bronze Age sites in Southern Italy were significantly depleted in ¹³C compared to those from the north. Here, millet was absent from the diet, and protein from C₃ plants made a much greater dietary contribution than animal protein. This finding highlights the importance of cereal cultivation, most likely of wheat and barley, in the south of Italy during the Bronze Age. Overall, our results support the idea that the widespread cultivation of millet first occurred in Northern Italy, following its introduction from across the Alps in Central Europe. Finally, we found no significant differences in the stable isotope values between individuals at each site, when grouped by their sex or presence of grave goods. This leads to the conclusion that any status difference that may have existed is not reflected in the long‐term dietary record, or at least not as measurable by stable isotope analysis. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Evaluation of honey residues from Iron Age hill-top sites in southwestern Germany: Implications for local and regional land use and vegetation dynamics

Organic contents of bronze vessels from royal burial sites dating to the Iron Age in southern Germany were investigated by pollen analysis. All pollen assemblages observed were dominated by non-arboreal pollen of non-wind pollinated species, a characteristic feature of honey. On the basis of investigations on recent honey, estimates of the original amounts of honey present were made. It is suggested that two of the vessels were filled with a freshly prepared, highly concentrated mead, while a third contained possibly a mead or a beverage sweetened by honey. The high diversity of the pollen assemblages differs from recent honeys and points to a high biodiversity in the Iron Age landscapes, but also to the use of honey mixtures that originate from a large area that included the surrounding uplands. Records for several exotic pollen also support this hypothesis. At the Glauberg site, a honey-source area of more than 50-km radius is probable. This corresponds quite well with the average distance between known Celtic centres in central Europe, which is ca. 100 km.     

Natural resources and agriculture during the Iron Age in Ostrobothnia,western Finland,investigated by pollen analysis

In Ostrobothnia, western Finland, the Viking period (A.D. 800–1050) in contrast to the rich Migration period (A.D. 400–550/600), is poor in archaeological finds. Archaeologists have interpreted this as indicating a break in settlement continuity. Palaeoecological investigations using pollen analyses and radiocarbon dating of peat cores from ten sites show that field cultivation and animal husbandry have taken place continuously throughout the entire Iron Age in Ostrobothnia. Slash-and-burn cultivation was not of importance in the studied area, but small-scale cereal cultivation occurred on permanent, tilled and manured fields. The Iron Age agriculture was largely dependent on animal husbandry and therefore was located close to the sea because the natural, highly productive shore meadows were an indispensable fodder resource. As a consequence of the progressive rapid change of the natural environment caused by the flat topography and land upheaval, the settlements were regularly relocated to keep pace with the westwards retreating sea. Settlement continuity in Iron Age coastal Ostrobothnia has to be looked upon in a regional rather than a local perspective because of the changing landscape. The results of this palaeoecological study, in which investigations were carried out in several parts of the region, demonstrate regional settlement continuity throughout the Iron Age.     

安徽何郢青铜时代遗址人骨铅含量分析

夏商周三代是中国青铜文明的时代;然而,大量含铅青铜容器和工具的使用势必造成严重的铅污染,甚至铅中毒;本文利用原子荧光光度计等对何郢遗址人骨进行了铅含量的测试,并与同一遗址出土的兽骨、土壤、青铜器残片及不同时代人骨的含铅量进行对比分析,探讨了骨铅含量变化状况及相关的社会问题等。