Littérature scientifique sur le sujet « Millenium bcp (Firm) »

AbstractA 5000-yr stratigraphic record containing fossil pollen, charcoal, and bones of the extinct Quaternary megafauna from Andolonomby, a hypersaline pond in arid southwestern Madagascar, shows evidence for climatic desiccation beginning about 3000 yr B.P. Pollen spectra shift at this time from primarily arboreal taxa characteristic of forests and woodlands of more mesic western Madagascar, to wooded savanna typical of somewhat drier localities. Between 3000 and 2000 yr B.P., the site became increasingly arid. Charcoal and pollen evidence indicates that increased fire and disturbance occurred at the site beginning ca. 1900 yr B.P., probably signaling the beginning of human settlement in the area. The fossil record suggests that various human and natural factors on the island may have interacted in the subsequent millennium to culminate in the extinction of the entire endemic megafauna.

BackgroundEvidence from twin and adoption studies has highlighted the importance of gene-environment interaction in the aetiology of mental disorders, and advances in molecular genetics have raised hopes of more rapid progress in this field of investigation.AimsTo review epidemiological knowledge concerning genetic and environmental risk factors for a cross-section of psychiatric conditions, and evidence of interaction between the two types.MethodSearches of the literature in genetic and psychiatric epidemiology, including contributions to this supplement.ResultsOverall, firm knowledge on both genetic and environmental causal factors is still fragmentary, although progress has varied among diagnostic categories. Environmental aspects have been dealt with only perfunctorily in most genetic epidemiological research.ConclusionsBetter definition and classification of environmental hazards, and closer inter-disciplinary cooperation, will be necessary in future. Specific gene-environment interaction effects seem likely to prove most important in neuropsychiatric syndromes, and a less specific genetic influence on susceptibility to environmental stress among the common mental disorders.

Abstract The introduction of agricultural practices fostered the development of specific technologies for the new subsistence practices and the production of new artefacts. Pyrotechnological structures such as ovens are part of the Neolithic equipment and accompanied the spread of agriculture from the Near East across Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. Ovens located within settlements – mainly domed, above-ground structures – have been traditionally linked to cooking and baking. The function is usually deduced from techno-morphological traits, although experimental approaches or ethnoarchaeological observations have often been used. This article aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of the multidisciplinary approach to understand the function of fire structures. An integrated methodology that combines archaeological analysis, archaeometry, and experimental archaeology has been applied to study the underground ovens of the Early Neolithic site of Portonovo (Marche, Italy) dated to the sixth millennium BCE. Samples of hardened sediment of archaeological ovens’ inner surface and selected pottery fragments were analysed through X-ray powder diffraction to estimate the temperature reached. A life-size replica of an underground oven was then created to perform firing experiments, including pottery firing. Samples of the oven’s walls and experimental vessels were analysed with the same method, and the values were compared. Our results indicate that the Portonovo ovens are potentially multifunctional structures, built for about 700 years, always with the same technique exploiting the natural soil’s insulating properties.

In 2016, a Stollhof-type copper hoard was found during an excavation in Magyaregres, Hungary. It was placed in a cooking pot, and deposited upside down within the boundaries of an Early Copper Age settlement. Similar hoards dating to the end of the 5th millennium BCE are well-known from Central Europe, however, this hoard represents the only one so far with thoroughly documented finding circumstances. The hoard contained 681 pieces of copper, 264 pieces of stone and a single Spondylus bead, along with 19 pieces of small tubular spiral copper coils, three spiral copper bracelets, and two large, spectacle spiral copper pendants. Until now, information on the provenance of raw materials and how such copper artefacts were manufactured has not been available. The artefacts were studied under optical microscopes to reveal the manufacturing process. Trace elemental composition (HR-ICP-MS) and lead isotope ratios (MC-ICP-MS) were measured to explore the provenance of raw materials. The ornaments were rolled or folded and coiled from thin sheets of copper using fahlore copper probably originating from the Northwestern Carpathians. A complex archaeological approach was employed to reveal the provenance, distribution and the social roles the ornaments could have played in the life of a Copper Age community. Evidence for local metallurgy was lacking in contemporaneous Transdanubian sites, therefore it is likely that the items of the hoard were manufactured closer to the raw material source, prior to being transported to Transdanubia as finished products. The method of deposition implies that such items were associated with special social contexts, represented exceptional values, and the context of deposition was also highly prescribed. The Magyaregres hoard serves as the first firm piece of evidence for the existence of a typologically independent Central European metallurgical circle which exploited the raw material sources located within its distribution.

This article is dedicated to the issues related to the King of the Four Corners and the God-King in ancient Sumer and Akkad in the 3rd millennium BCE. The author shows that the title King of the Four Corners has always deified the ruler, but the ruler who used the title King of the Universe never claimed divinity. What conclusions can we draw? Except in two cases – the case of Erri-dupizir and the case of Utu-ḫeĝal – all kings who used the title king of the four corners were deified. Erri-dupizir was a foreigner, more a warlord or tribal chief of the Gutians than a king, but he tried to legitimate his power by using Akkadian-Sumerian formulas, among them royal titles. Utu-ḫeĝal freed Sumer from the Gutians’ yoke and re-introduced old Sumero-Akkadian ideological elements, among them the king of the four corners, because he wanted to be as powerful and strong as the Akkadian king Narām-Su’en, who was an example for Utu-ḫeĝal. We do not have any proof regarding the deification of Utu-ḫeĝal, as he ruled only 6–7 years, and we have only a few texts from the time of his reign. More interesting is the fact that none of the Sumerian or Akkadian kings who used the title king of the universe in the 3rd millennium and even in the early 2nd millennium BCE (Isin-Larsa period) were deified (at least we do not have a firm proof). How to explain this phenomenon? Firstly, I think the title king of the four corners had a slightly different meaning than king of the universe; however, both are universalistic titles. The title king of the four corners was probably seen as a wider and more important universalistic title in the sense not only of universal rule, but also of ruling the divine universe and divine spheres (heaven, sun, stars, etc.). It seems that it included some kind of divine aspect, while at least the Sumerian version of the title lugal an-ubda-limmuba means “king of the heaven’s four corners”. The title king of the four corners was related to the universe order, to the sun and the cosmos, and to cosmic divine powers, and they were connected to the universal order. We can see that sometimes the title king of the four corners was used to refer to gods in Ancient Mesopotamia – for example in the case of the god Tišpak in Ešnunna – but never king of the universe. Secondly, early dynastic rulers (e.g. Lagash or Uruk), who never used universalistic titles for themselves, addressed universalistic expressions and epithets to the main gods – e.g., Enlil, Ningirsu, etc. For example, Lugal-kiğine-dudu of Uruk claimed: “Enlil, king of all lands, for Lugal-kiğine-dudu – when the god Enlil truly summoned him, and (Enlil) combined (both) lordship and kingship for him”. Thirdly, ruling over all the lands from east to west or over the corners of the universe – these epithets may be used for gods. LUGAL KIŠ (later Akkadian šar kiššati(m)) in its early original meaning was seen only as “ruler over Kiš (or ruler over (the northern part of) Sumer)”; it was an important though more regional and geographic title. Fourthly, only much later did it acquire the meaning king of the universe but I am not sure about that meaning at all. In that case, king of the four corners had a different meaning; the title designated not only ruling over the world but it probably included some kind of divine aspect as well (Michalowski 2010). In that case the title šar kibrāt arbaˀi(m) – king of the four corners could be seen as more universal than LUGAL KIŠ (šar kiššati(m)). There still remain several questions which need to be solved: * Was LUGAL KIŠ in its Akkadian form šar kiššati(m) a universalistic title at all? * Or was LUGAL KIŠ a hegemonic title showing certain hegemonic rule or lordship over (all) Sumer (and Akkad?) but not including the whole world (here: Mesopotamia)? * Could it be for this reason that the king who used the title king of the four corners had to be deified but the king who was LUGAL KIŠ had not?

AbstractThe article offers a survey of temple architecture in the Iranian world before the Macedonian conquest. Despite the observations that ancient Iranians worshipped in the open air, structures of cultic significance have been discovered in some areas of Eastern Iran. While the attribution of the earliest, second millennium temples to the Iranian tribes is still disputable, Iranians definitely had temples before the Achaemenids. The earliest temples found in the Iranian settlements are the ones from Tepe Nush-i Jan (for Western Iran) and Dahān-i Ghulāmān (for the Eastern). However, it seems that the majority of ancient Iranians, including the first Achaemenids, worshiped under the open sky. Given the nomadic background of the ancient Iranians they probably became acquainted with temple architecture once they came into close contact with the highly developed civilisations, which preceded them in some areas of what was later to become the Iranian World. In general it is impossible to speak of one “Iranian culture” or a unified “Iranian cult” in the second and first millennia BCE; instead, temple architecture demonstrates a variety of different regional traditions. More temples have been discovered in Eastern Iran than in Western. The architectural evidence from Eastern Iran in this period also suggests a complex picture of heterogeneous local cults, at least some of which made use of closed temples. Another kind of cultic structure was the open air terraces. There is also some evidence for domestic cults. Iranian cults also share a number of common, dominant features. Special significance was attributed to fire and ashes. Most temple altars (often stepped) were at the centre of the cult and rituals. Another important feature is the absence of cult statues and images. It is remarkable that most of the temples were erected on the highest point of the site or on an artificial elevated platform.

AbstractThis paper presents the earliest evidence for the exploitation of lignite (brown coal) in Europe and sheds new light on the use of combustion fuel sources in the 2nd millennium BCE Eastern Mediterranean. We applied Thermal Desorption/Pyrolysis–Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry and Polarizing Microscopy to the dental calculus of 67 individuals and we identified clear evidence for combustion markers embedded within this calculus. In contrast to the scant evidence for combustion markers within the calculus samples from Egypt, all other individuals show the inhalation of smoke from fires burning wood identified as Pinaceae, in addition to hardwood, such as oak and olive, and/or dung. Importantly, individuals from the Palatial Period at the Mycenaean citadel of Tiryns and the Cretan harbour site of Chania also show the inhalation of fire-smoke from lignite, consistent with the chemical signature of sources in the northwestern Peloponnese and Western Crete respectively. This first evidence for lignite exploitation was likely connected to and at the same time enabled Late Bronze Age Aegean metal and pottery production, significantly by both male and female individuals.

The expansion of the Iranian peoples in first centuries of the 1st millennium BCE coincides with the creation and further development of the cavalry warfare in western Eurasia, as well as with the creation of the pastoral nomadic life-style which dominated the Great Steppe for millennia to come. The mounted warriors replaced the light chariots which dominated the Bronze Age battlefields which required perfect horsemanship however application of the recurved, double reflex. composite bow for mounted combat seemed another important factor in development of the cavalry force. Mounted archery which doubled the fire power of the mobile troops, earlier dominated by the chariots triggered the evolution of the various forms of cavalry, both as a response to a threat of the horse archers and independent forces used by the sedentary societies. Iranian contribution in spreading (and most likely invention) of the new technology is undeniable. Although horse riding and recurved composite bows were known earlier they could not overcome the power of the chariot force separately. Only the combination of the factors allowed fielding large and efficient cavalry troops as was practiced by the Scythians and became the success factor for the Achaemenid Empire. Survival of the chariots as late as the Seleucid times was possible because of changing their tactical function from the highly mobile shooting platform to heavy, at least partially, armored terror and shock weapon.

Discussion of Early Bronze cultural history at Bab edh-Dhr’a and Numeira sites east of the Lisan Peninsula and on the northeast flank of the Dead Sea south basin is guided mostly by Rast (1987) and Rast and Schaub (1974, 1978, 1980, and 1981). This epoch was divided by Rast and Schaub into two sections according to traditional archaeological chronology. The first section is the urban period of Bab edh-Dhr'a (4890 to 4340 B.P.) including Early Bronze I, II, and III. The second is the posturban period (4340 to 4190 B.P.), Early Bronze IV or the Intermediate Bronze age according to Kochavi (1967), Kenyon (1979), Gophna (1992), and R. Amiran and Kochavi (1985) as well as Middle Bronze I according to Albright (1962). Although no prominent cultural hiatus separates these two sections, the transition between them contains abundant indications of extensive destruction and fire events brought about by natural disasters such as earthquakes. Donahue (1980, 1981) considered that not just one but two severe earthquakes occurred, one about 4400 B.P. and the other 4350 B.P. Numeira was totally and finally abandoned after the second earthquake, whereas Bab edh-Dhr’a was reinhabited apparently as a result of conquest by seminomadic people of the same cultural background. This second earthquake probably was the one by which Sodom and Gomorrah were totally destroyed. Abrupt cultural changes also were recorded in the southeast Negev at Uvda Valley during transition from Early Bronze III to Middle Bronze I about 4300 B.P. These changes were from a gradually increasing population within a walled city having a life-style based on a combination of agriculture and animal husbandry into a more nomadic community with unfortified houses and primarily a grazing economy. According to Avner (1990, p. 133) “Subsequent to a brief climatic crisis at the end of the third millennium BC the climate improved, allowing the new culture to blossom in the desert.” This climatic crisis could have been extreme dryness. By the middle of the Intermediate Bronze age at about 4200 B.P., Bab edh-Dhr’a, the last Early Bronze site to survive was totally abandoned and the Dead Sea south basin remained basically unsettled for more than 1,500 years until Hellenistic time.