Articoli di riviste sul tema "Bronze Division"

Abstract This paper concerns the development of soldering in early China. Soldering requires the use of an additional heating of metal to join two or more existing metal items together. The paper defines the different soft and hard soldering materials. It also describes the evolution from joining two pieces, an animal head and a vessel with additional pour of bronze as an extension of the casting process. The next step was the use of hard solder, using bronze or copper related materials. There were two ways to join the existing bronze sections: the most common was “tenon soldering”. Less common but equally significant was “injection soldering”. In the late Spring-and-Autumn Period, soft soldering with tin and lead was developed. This step allowed much more extravagant decoration of bronzes, leading to new bronze vessel styles and also to much greater sub-division of labor in the production process.

<p> </p> <p><em>Excavations at Non Nok Tha, in Northeast Thailand in 1965-1968 revealed for the first time in Southeast Asia, a stratigraphic transition from the Neolithic into the Bronze Age. Based on conventional charcoal radiocarbon determinations, early reports identified fourth millennium bronze casting. The proposed length of the prehistoric sequence, and the division of the Neolithic to Bronze age mortuary sequence into at least 11 phases, has stimulated a series of social interpretations all of which have in common, a social order based on ascriptive ranking into at least two groups which saw increased hierarchical divisions emerge with the initial Bronze Age. This paper presents the results of a new dating initiative, based on the ultrafiltration of human bones. The results indicate that the initial Neolithic occupation took place during the 14th century BC. The earliest Bronze Age has been placed in the 10th centuries BC. These dates are virtually identical with those obtained for the sites of Ban Chiang and Ban Non Wat. Compared with the elite early Bronze Age graves of Ban Non Wat, Non Nok Tha burials display little evidence for significant divisions in society.</em></p>

Abstract The Bronze Age was a time of pivotal economic change when new long-distance trading networks became associated with a macro-regional division of labour and decentralised political complexity. These developments occurred against the background of a shifting mosaic of subsistence patterns, which included the east-west exchange of crops across Eurasia and (in some areas) greater use of secondary products. As Bronze Age economies became more specialised and diverse, it might be assumed that there was also an increased emphasis on the procurement and trade of fish and other marine resources. However, archaeological analyses of such resources are limited in contrast to land-based subsistence patterns and many questions remain. This essay aims to build a broad interpretive framework for analysing the role of marine resources in the Bronze Age. Our provisional results find that an increased emphasis on specialist systems of agropastoralism reduced the use of marine resources in many parts of Eurasia during this period. However, evidence from Japan and the eastern Mediterranean suggests that, at least in some regions, marine resources became commodities traded over long-distances by the late Bronze Age, though this requires further quantification. Island Southeast Asia displays a different pattern from other regions considered here in a greater continuity of marine resource use from the Neolithic into the historic era, perhaps due to a lower reliance on agropastoralism.

Debbie Shrubsole Clinical Nutrition Nurse Specialist, Community Division, St Mary's Hospital, Isle of Wight NHS Trust, won a Bronze Award in the Nutrition Nurse of the Year category of the BJN Awards 2023

The present article focuses on the administrative process of the Western Zhou government and addresses the origin of bureaucratic government in China. The article first examinesgong宮 in bronze inscriptions that bore names of individuals or officials, suggesting that suchgonghad probably functioned as administrative “offices” of the Western Zhou government. Then, it focuses on inscriptions which record appointment ceremonies (ceming冊命) that took place in the same “offices.” These inscriptions show that there was a certain degree of specialization in the arrangement of appointments and in the use of “offices” for particular administrative tasks. In the appointment ceremonies, Western Zhou officials were normally accompanied by superior officials from the same government units, showing that there were three functional divisions in Western Zhou government administration: royal household, civil administration, and military. Each division operated as a relatively closed system andcemingwas a routine administrative procedure within the system. Finally, the article studies the role of the Zhou king in administration, showing that while engaging in the operation of government through his “ritual” role in the appointment ceremony, his visits to various gong seem to have followed a certain routine. The evidence in bronze inscriptions strongly suggests that the Western Zhou government was the earliest bureaucratic government in China.

AbstractWhile research on Warring States, Qin, and Han manuscripts is flourishing, much less is known about the use of manuscripts during the earlier stages of Chinese history, for which material evidence has not been preserved. Based on the layout features and textual anomalies in the Western Zhou bronze inscriptions, this article explores the traces of use of perishable writing supports in the process of the production of bronze inscriptions in this period and reconstructs their functions and physical qualities. Based on the surveyed evidence, the article posits that two distinct exemplar manuscripts were used in the inscription-making process: an original “master copy” that was kept aside for proofreading purposes and a secondary “blueprint” that was employed directly in the technical process of inscription-making. A single blueprint would be used consecutively by several craftsmen to produce a set of inscriptions on different types of vessels. The word count and layout of many inscriptions were already carefully planned during the process of their composition, and any study of a bronze text should therefore begin with the evaluation of its visual qualities. Moreover, this probe provides unambiguous evidence for the use of tube-lining in the inscription-making process and reconstructs the complete chaîne opératoire of bronze inscription production in the Late Western Zhou period. The article also offers insights into the level of literacy and the division of labor in bronze workshops, and touches upon the display function of bronze epigraphy during the Western Zhou period.

Remnant field systems and enclosures are key indicators of social change during the 2nd millennium bc – their study has considerable significance in terms of interpreting the Bronze Age in the eastern region. Despite widespread current interest in the topic, little if any evidence for Middle Bronze Age settlement and land division had been found in Norfolk prior to the investigations at Ormesby St Michael which form the focus of this paper. Here, archaeological excavations uncovered evidence for strip field systems, succeeded by a large and well dated enclosure containing at least two structures. These results are supplemented by cropmark evidence for other elements of the enclosure produced by the National Mapping Programme. When combined, the findings are of great significance since they indicate a Middle Bronze Age date for numerous comparable cropmarks recorded across the region as part of the National Mapping Programme, emphasising the crucial value of such work. It can now be suggested that the apparent dearth of Bronze Age field systems in Norfolk is not 'real', but the combined effect of limited excavation of such sites and misinterpretation of those that have been investigated.

The article presents the results of the analysis of the performance of the national team of Ukraine at the 2023 European Team Athletics Championships within all three divisions, within the framework of the European Games. The team championship within the 1st division (former Super League) at the same time had the status of athletics competitions at the 2023 European Games. The format of the European Team Championship involves the competition of national teams in four groups - the Super League, the first, second and third leagues. The number of national teams in each league was 16 teams. At the end of the competition, the team of Ukraine took 2nd place, the team of Hungary took the first place, the team of Lithuania rose to the third place. In total, at the European Team Championships, athletes won 8 gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze medals. This year's national team at the 2023 European Team Championship revealed new names to fans, and decently entered the 1st division. Ukrainian athletes finished their performance at the European Games with dignity and won 41 medals (21 gold, 12 silver and 8 bronze). Every sports victory today is a great support for the whole country in modern conditions. The study of the dynamics of the results of the national team of Ukraine at the European Championship showed a very positive result. Improving the performance of the athletics team testifies to the improvement of the methodology of preparing the team for competitions under martial law, this start was aimed at achieving maximum results. Every sporting victory today is a great support for the whole country.

Summary A programme of archaeological work was undertaken by Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD) at West Flank Road, Drumchapel, in close proximity to the site of the prehistoric cemetery of Knappers. This paper considers the results of excavation of a range of negative features, including earlier Neolithic and Bronze Age pits and postholes. The earlier Neolithic features date to c. 3500–3000 BC and are interpreted as the partial remains of a subrectangular structure. The Bronze Age features may relate to ceremonial activities in the wider area. The significance of these remains is considered in relation to the site of Knappers and wider traditions during the fourth to second millennia BC.

Ancient undeciphered scripts present problems of different nature, not just tied to linguistic identification. The undeciphered Cypro-Minoan script from second millennium BCE Cyprus, for instance, currently does not have a standardized, definitive inventory of signs, and, in addition, stands divided into three separate subgroups (CM1, CM2, CM3), which have also been alleged to record different languages. However, this state of the art is not consensually accepted by the experts. In this article, we aim to apply a method that can aid to shed light on the tripartite division, to assess if it holds up against a multi-pronged, multi-disciplinary approach. This involves considerations linked to paleography (shapes of individual signs) and epigraphy (writing style tied to the support used), and crucially, deep learning-based strategies. These automatic methods, which are widely adopted in many fields such as computer vision and computational linguistics, allow us to look from an innovative perspective at the specific issues presented by ancient, poorly understood scripts in general, and Cypro-Minoan in particular. The usage of a state-of-the-art convolutional neural model that is unsupervised, and therefore does not use any prior knowledge of the script, is still underrepresented in the study of undeciphered writing systems, and helps to investigate the tripartite division from a fresh standpoint. The conclusions we reached show that: 1. the use of different media skews to a large extent the uniformity of the sign shapes; 2. the application of several neural techniques confirm this, since they highlight graphic proximity among signs inscribed on similar supports; 3. multi-stranded approaches prove to be a successful tool to investigate ancient scripts whose language is still unidentified. More crucially, these aspects, together, point in the same direction, namely the validation of a unitary, single Cypro-Minoan script, rather than the current division into three subgroups.

<p>Since 2014 the Mission Archéologique Française au Myanmar has been excavating a prehistoric cemetery, Oakaie 1, adjacent to the famous Nyaung’gan Bronze Age cemetery in Sagaing Division. Oakaie 1 (OAI1) was selected as a Nyaung’gan proxy in order to better understand the Neolithic-Bronze Age-Iron Age chronological transitions in upper-central Myanmar, for eventual regional-scale synthesis. An initial attempt to AMS ¹⁴C date 13 human femurs failed due to a lack of collagen but a subsequent effort using an apatite dating methodology on 5 femurs was successful. These preliminary data bracket part of the cemetery from the 9^th to 6^th c. BC with a 4^th-3^rd c. BC outlier. Typological and technological analogies between OAI1 and Nyaung’gan pottery grave goods likewise suggest an early 1^st millennium BC date for the local Bronze Age.</p>

In this article, I focused on the aspects of production and use of in the Bronze mirror with fine linear designs and examined the meaning of appearance theoretically. This may be for the smooth hanging of in the Bronze mirror with coarse linear designs, but it is for the production of a finished form that expresses the symbolism of the ‘mirror’ in more detail by enabling the insertion of patterns and the division of patterns into the inner, middle, and outer quarters at the same time. In the course of a series of processes, similarities were found, such as the sameness of strings and the Patterned Bronzeware (other than sword- shaped bronzeware), and the connection of manufacturing techniques, and their mutual relationship seems to be even deeper. Therefore, it is understood that in the Bronze mirror with fine linear designs was created based on the Bronze mirror with coarse linear designs and adding the knob motif of the bronzeware. This is due to the development of Korean bronzeware manufacturing technology, and in a series of developments, in the Bronze mirror with fine linear designs can be seen as a the knob object formed by the combination of in the Bronze mirror with coarse linear designs and the Patterned Bronzeware, and as the crystallization of creation. Along with this, marring and abrasion traces are observed on the mirror and back of the Bronze mirror with knobs, and the pattern of change according to the shape and size is confirmed (types a to d). The C-shaped wear marks on the left side of the double back (pattern side) of the string appear to have been directly used by the owner at the time, and are understood as the fundamental function of the Bronze mirror with fine linear designs. In particular, the situation in which the mirrors are broken and scattered in a wooden coffin tomb can be interpreted as a parallel with the burial ceremony along with the ceremonial act of the Bronze mirror with knobs, so it can be understood as a common and identical society with traces of use.

The statistical analysis method of the grain structure in bulk single-phase metal materials subjected to high-pressure torsion is proposed. The possibility of methods division of mathematical statistics observed in the grain structure materials by their sizes with the several groups identification, having various behavior at further heating is presented. The example of the grain structure analysis on the nanostructured tin bronze is given. The agreement of the received analysis results with experimental data is offered.

This paper considers the early copper and copper-alloy metallurgy of the entire Alpine region. It introduces a new approach to the interpretation of chemical composition data sets, which has been applied to a comprehensive regional database for the first time. The Alpine Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age each have distinctive patterns of metal use, which can be interpreted through changes in mining, social choice, and major landscape features such as watersheds and river systems. Interestingly, the Alpine range does not act as a north-south barrier, as major differences in composition tend to appear on an east-west axis. Central among these is the prevalence of tin-bronze in the western Alps compared to the east. This ‘tin-line’ is discussed in terms of metal flow through the region and evidence for a deeply rooted geographical division that runs through much of Alpine prehistory.

A research on Bronze age in S.Korea has made remarkable progress, but most of the achievements are confined on recording chronologically by pottery. It is so difficult to understand transition in housing type more than pottery because it is so conservative to change compared with pottery. Also it is changing by climate, environment, economic structure, development of technology, human preference and so on. The research method is order by fundamental concept of housing type of early Bronze age in S.Korea, case review, transition and feature in housing type and implication of archaeology. First of all, to set up typical housing feature of four types, and making a division for Misari, Garakdong, Kwansanri and Heunamri type. In sequence, to observe transition and feature of all housing type in Youngnam region especially the middle and upper streams of the Nakdonggang River, inland area, the southwestern area and south-east coast. The housing type of Misari demonstrate for transition of floor plan, number of fire pit and structure. The housing type of Garakdong demonstrate for becoming longer and disappearing of foundation stone. The housing type of Kwansanri also demonstrate for disappearing stone fire pit and standardizing of wooden column. On the other hand, housing type of Heunamri demonstrate for reduced fire pit and becoming re-smaller floor plan. And it turns to type of Gumdanri that is the latter part of Bronze age in the southeastern region. In conclusion, I analyzed for transition and feature in housing type as characteristics of early Bronze age in the Korean Peninsula also as universality of hunting-gathering society. In other words, the appearance of early Misari type is characteristics for deportation and settlement especially Korean Peninsula while type of Kwansanri is understood for universality by being expanded floor plan, division of fire range, structure transition, standardization of intercolumniation, that is also understood longhouse culture where living high latitude area. Popularly, in such society is understood as a complex incipient agriculture and hunting-gathering society. This research regard that society as universality of prehistoric culture of Korean Peninsula. And a pull-factor of transition in housing type occurs by complex causes such as population growth, development of technology, natural environment change, livelihood strategy and so on.

Site no. 2 in Kryspinów, located north-west of Cracow, is situated on the right bank of the Sanka River, namely in the area where the Sanka Valley joins the floodplain of the Vistula River. In 2015 and 2016, archaeological investigations preceding the construction of a housing estate were carried out at this site, taking up an area of approx. 18 ares. As a result of the research the northern zone of the cemetery, dated to the turn of the Bronze and Iron Ages, was identified and explored. During the excavations, 48 archaeological features were uncovered, including 33 cremation graves of the Lusatian ulture. The excavations delivered mostly ceramic artefacts and few bronze objects (chains and wire rings). The cemetery was used at the turn of Period V and HaC, namely within the Prokocim-Skotniki phase according to the chronological system developed for this region by M. Gedl. Among the most interesting finds one should mention a horn-shaped vessel discovered in a cremation burial in pit no. 9. According to the division proposed by B. Gediga for specimens of that type, the artefact in question should be included into type I, subtype 1. Chronological frames for the clay horn from Kryspinów can be determined only in general, based on the dating of other materials obtained from the cemetery, i.e. to Bronze Age Period V–HaC.

The chemical composition of 29 copper and bronze artifacts from the sites of the Petrovka and Alakul Cultures located be-tween the Tobol and Ishim Rivers (the burial grounds of Bekteniz and Dzhangildy 5, and the sites of Novonikolskoye 1 and Semioz-ernoye 2; Northern Kazakhstan) were analysed using mass spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma and laser ablation. The sites are 14C dated to the interval between the 19th–17th centuries BC. In the examined sample, the leading metallurgical group with a slight prevalence in both Petrovka and Alakul metals was “pure” copper; the second part of the metal was represented by tin bronzes — low-alloyed (up to 8 wt.% Sn) in the Petrovka, and high-alloyed (Sn up to 21 wt.%) in the Alakul Culture. The statistical analysis of the main components of trace elements in the metal demonstrated a division into six main geochemical groups. Among these, tin bronzes with an uninterpretable copper component (10 specimens), “pure” copper of Ural origin with Fe-Co-Ni-As-Zn correlations (9 specimens), and “pure” copper with polymetallic Sn-Pb-As-Ag-Se specialization (10 copies), corresponding to the ores of copper deposits of the Kokshetau anticlinorium, can be identified. An overview of the tectonic structures of Northern Ka-zakhstan shows the nearby presence of several porphyry copper and skarn deposits with ancient mines (Imantau, Baksinskoye, Akkan-Burlukskoye, etc.), which likely served as sources of copper ore. Closely associated with these are Greisen and quartz-vein-greisen tin deposits, but there is no reliable information about their use in ancient times. According to the composition of tin alloys in the analysed metal, two main types can be distinguished: tin (without correlation with other impurity elements) when using pure cassiterite, and tin-lead (with increased concentrations and correlation of As, Au, Bi, etc.) when using cassiterite-sulfide ores. The data show the association of the Bronze Age sites of Northern Kazakhstan with the ore and raw materials base in this region, and the intensity of trade exchange of metallurgical products between the Ural and Kazakhstan centers of metal production.

An archaeological excavation was carried out at Gearraidh na h'Aibhne near Calanais on the Isle of Lewis (NGR: NB 2333 3068) by Northamptonshire Archaeology, working for Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD) as part of the Historic Scotland Human Remains Call Off Contract. The site, initially interpreted as a cist potentially containing a bog body, was identified during annual peat cutting. Excavation demonstrated that the feature was in fact an oval pit containing a quantity of hazel branches, capped with a number of flat slabs of Lewisian Gneiss. Several similar stones had been placed in the base of the feature, overlying more hazel branches.

The increased interest in the sign “Z”, caused by the events of the active phase of the Russian-Ukrainian war (2014—2023), requires a more thorough analysis of its symbolism and semantics. At first glance, they are quite transparent. The count O. Bobrynskyi, an outstanding researcher of archaeology of Ukraine and head of the Imperial Archaeological Commission, convincingly proved the bird symbolism of the sign “Z” and its genetic connection with the swastika, based on materials from excavations in Europe. In the context of the count’s logical reasoning regarding the meaningful load of these signs, a reference to the thesis of the German researcher Von der Schtengen regarding the swastika as a symbol of the Indo-Germanic race sounded prophetically. Some 30 years had remained before the practical implementation of this thesis by Nazi Germany. For the rushist Russian Federation to choose the symbol of provocation of the World War III, the genetic component of the swastika, namely the sign “Z”, was enough. In addition, the topic of the article is the functioning of the named signs during the first half — the middle of the II millennium BC, when the Indo-Aryan tribes entered the world history with the above-mentioned symbols. At a distance of three or four thousand years, these events are seen by us as the “heroic age” of war chariots, although they do not become any less bloody. The study convinces that “zetas” and “swastikas” are mobile signs, capable of transformations and reincarnations in the context of the lines of other signs of that era, being components of the sign system of the tribes of the log community. The previously noted division of swastikas into right- and left-sided ones is interpreted, in particular, by gender, as “male” and “female”, respectively. So, within the mentioned sign system, a conflict between signs of different orientations is noticed, which can be considered within the limits of binary opposition, dialectical unity and the struggle of opposites, where the struggle is relative, and the unity is universal. This division can also be assumed for right- and left-sided zetas, as genetic components of swastikas.

All parts of the site Hisar in Leskovac provided material from Iron Age III according to the division by M. Garasanin (mainly from the 5th century BC). Four or perhaps five habitations from this period, in relation to the excavated surface (app. 15 000 m2), indicate a settlement with a larger number of dwelling places. Its architecture - wattle and daub huts and dug outs - has no particular characteristics, and is similar to habitations from previous periods in the Morava valley. Archaeological material from Iron Age III includes pottery made on the wheel of Greek style, hand made pottery and decorative silver and bronze objects.

Elaboration of statistical analysis of grain structure in bulk single-phase metal materials, subjected to high-pressure torsion, is proposed. The method includes a combination of logarithmic standard distribution and Gauss distribution, in order to improve fitting of histograms of grain size distribution by the statistical model. The possibility of division of grain structure into different groups, taking into account specific features of distributions in every group, is demonstrated. The use of calculated parameters of grain size distributions is proposed to identify groups of grains by their origin. The grain structure analysis is given by an example of tin bronze nanostructured by high-pressure torsion. The agreement of the analysis results with the experimental data is demonstrated.

ABSTRACT Prehistoric archaeology had its first pioneers in France led by Boucher de Perthes (the Abbeville school), who excavated fossil bones and stone tools beginning in the late 1820s to early 1830. At about the same time a second group in Denmark led by Worsaae (the Copenhagen school) studied an archaeological interval prior to their historical record, based on museum collections. Though lacking stratigraphical excavation they provided a chrono-typologic basic division into the stone, bronze, and iron ages across the past 3000 years. A third group led by the Italian Scarabelli (the Imola school) introduced the name ancient (prehistoric) archaeology with a field stratigraphic, geologic, petrologic and mapping approach. The discipline of prehistoric archaeology originated almost simultaneously as a multi-vocal result of activity led by these three independent groups.

During the third millennium cal BC, there were major changes in many aspects of Cypriot material culture, technology and economy which characterize the division between the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age on the island. Many innovations can be traced to Anatolian antecedents. These include a very wide array of domestic as well as agricultural and industrial technologies. Their nature and range make it possible to argue strongly for the movement of people to the island, rather than for other mechanisms of technology transfer and culture change. This identification of an intrusive group, with distinctive patterns of behaviour (habitus), opens up questions of prehistoric ethnicity, and the processes by which the initial maintenance of different lifeways by indigenous and settler communities eventually gave way to a common cultural system.

Abstract The archaeological research conducted during the last two decades at the Judean Shephelah testifies for one of the most turbulent regions in the land of Israel during the Late Bronze Age. This stands in contrast to the scarce historical record that relates to it. The geographic region of Ramat Bet Shemesh encompasses important information about socio-political relations between the small rural settlements and hamlets and the city-states that dominated the area from the west. Advanced GIS modelling is one of the main research tools that enables us to reconstruct various aspects of these interactions. In this paper, the results of viewshed analyses are presented, suggesting that these interactions are defined, among other things, by a solidarity between small rural occupations that resist territorial rigid inner division of the landscape.

AbstractThis paper examines the sector of society generally known as the "palace dependents" in Late Bronze Age Syria. The discussion, however, is not centred on the notion itself (and the whole model of two economically divided sectors of society), but rather on the empirical evidence found in the cuneiform archives of Ugarit, Alalakh and Emar. Therefore, the social designations "king's man" in Ugarit (Ugaritic bunušu malki), and (Hurrian) eǵelli in Alalakh are revaluated, with the result of a new interpretation which seems to find confirmation in the terminology used in Emar. Rather than a designation based on modern economic notions, the dependent nature of these social categories seems to reveal a juridical ground, namely antichretic debt service. Cet article examine le secteur de la société connu généralement comme les "dépendants du palais" en Syrie à l'âge du Bronze récent. L'étude, cependant, n'est pas centrée autour de cette notion-ci (ou de l'idée plus générale qui met en cause une division bipartite de la société selon des critères d'ordre économique), mais vise plutôt à analyser l'évidence empirique des textes cunéiformes d'Ougarit, Alalakh et Emar. Il s'agit, donc, d'un réexamen de la terminologie sociale: d'une part les "hommes du roi" à Ougarit (en Ougaritique, bunušu malki), et, d'autre part, la désignation hourrite eǵelli à Alalakh. Le résultat c'est une nouvelle interprétation qui semble trouver une certaine confirmation dans la propre terminologie attestée à Emar. Plutôt qu'une terminologie basée sur des notions économiques modernes, la nature dépendante de ces catégories sociales semblent révéler une base d'ordre juridique, notamment le service antichrétique pour dettes.

In March 2005, excavations were undertaken by Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD) at the Craig Tara Holiday Park, Dunure Road, Ayr in advance of proposed development. Two main archaeological sites were examined. The first, a flat cist cemetery covered by an earthen mound, comprised 23 separate burial features of varying morphology from two separate phases of burial, including cists, pits and what has been interpreted as a ‘boat-shaped’ setting. Nine cremations and four possible inhumations were recovered from within the burial features as well as a range of material culture including Food Vessels, flint artefacts and a bone pin. Dating of cremated bone from the cists indicated that activity at the site stretched from the late third to the early second millennium BC. The second site, a demolished or fallen standing stone, was located some 35m to the north and eastof the first. Although the sequence of monument construction and demolition is clear, the reasons forthe demolition of the stone are less so. However, a rare opportunity to date the stone was presentedwith the identification of a cremation deposit within the construction pit backfill. This indicated thatthe stone was constructed in the last quarter of the second millennium BC, suggesting a continuum ofactivity in the area late into the second millennium BC.

Transit-oriented areas (TOD) are related to space and place through the division of activity centers in transit-oriented areas such as ports, terminals, airports, stations by combining transportation, land use, economic, social and environmental facilities and infrastructure, transit-oriented areas, namely at Mengwi Terminal, Badung Regency. The purpose of this study is to assess the Standard TOD by ITDP in the Mengwi transit-oriented area as well as its linkage to the SDGs through qualitative methods with policy studies and descriptions as well as quantitative analysis with MCE. The results of the assessment show that the Mengwi area of Badung Regency has met the TOD standard with the Bronze category. The linkage of the Mengwi Area in the transit-oriented area development plan to the SDGs, namely in Indicator 11.2, namely and the implementation of the national urban spatial regulation strategy.

When working out 3D building-up modes, it is necessary to predict the material properties of the resulting products. For this purpose, the crystallography of aluminum bronze grains after electron beam melting has been studied by EBSD analysis methods. To estimate the possibility of sample form changes by pressure treatment, we simulated structural changes by the method of molecular dynamics during deformation by compression of individual grains of established growth orientations. The analysis was carried out for free lateral faces and grain deformation in confined conditions. Simulation and experiments on single crystals with free lateral faces revealed the occurrence of stepwise deformation in different parts of the crystal and its division into deformation domains. Each domain is characterized by a shear along a certain slip system with the maximum Schmidt factor. Blocking the shear towards the lateral faces leads to selectivity of the shear along the slip systems that provide the required shape change. Based on the simulation results, the relationship between stress–strain curves and structural characteristics is traced. A higher degree of strain hardening and a higher density of defects were found upon deformation in confined conditions. The deformation of the columnar grains of the built material occurs agreed with the systems with the maximum Schmidt factor.

The article presents the preliminary results of the traceological analysis of the artefacts made of reindeer antler (Rangifer tarandus) found at the settlement Mayak 2 (Murmansk region). The site, excavated in 1979–1984 by N. N. Gurina, has been dated to the Neolithic – Bronze Age. The unique collection includes more than 1800 various implements made of hard organic materials. The study of methods of reindeer’s antlers processing according to the data of macro- and microscopic analysis of technological traces was carried out for the first time. Among the 250 artefacts selected for the study were production waste, preforms and completed items. It was obtained that two technological methods of the antler`s fragmentation to create a preform were used. The first method involved longitudinal and transverse chopping of the antler, which could be made with stone or metal tools. The second method based on carving of longitudinal and transverse grooves with subsequent division along them. It was found that the basal part of the antler was not actually used (one case was found). The medial part – the rod – were used for creating of the vast majority of implements and ornaments. Antler tines were rarely used for a limited set of items.

The wooden coffin tombs at Tap-dong are the first tombs of outstanding elites to have ever found in downtown Gyeongju, the capital of Silla. This is also where Oreung(五陵) - the tomb of Park Hyeokgeose, who is the founding monarch of Silla - is located. The Tap-dong burial sites consist of 3 wooden coffin tombs dated in different periods, numbered 1 - 3, respectively. There are hints from the digs at the Tap-dong site that: 1. the kind of wooden coffin tomb appeared around 57 BCE, exactly at the same time when Silla started off as a small city-state by the name of Saro-guk. 2. the bronze and iron artifacts and other ornaments from this site suggest that the ruling class of Saro-guk was the association of native Jin people and displaced people whose expansionist attitudes served militarily and socio-economically as intermediators between China and northern peoples and Silla, and even further Japan. 3. all of these findings could be archaeological evidence that the earlier historical records of the origin of Silla in Samguk Sagi proves plausible. The three tombs at the Tap-dong site were built in three differentiated periods and occupied by three differentiated owners in terms of social status, but they all represented early phases of the emergence of a centralized monarchy at the heart of the capital of Silla, not in the neighboring place. The tombs were numbered 1 - 3 as they were found, and yet Tomb No. 3 is the oldest of the three, followed by Tomb No. 2. and Tomb No. 1 backwards chronologically. Tomb No. 3 produced no distinguished prestige goods of bronze except some earthenware, by the chronological dating of which this tomb is presumed to have been built around 57 BCE. It marks the beginning of the construction of wooden coffin tombs in this area. Tomb No. 2 can be thought of a prelude to a new political entity of Gyeongju beginning its journey to the Unified Kingdom. It is the first of a series of tombs where the Chinese bronze mirrors were deposited by those who ruled downtown Gyeongju in the late 1st century AD, about the same time as Tomb No. 38 at Joyang-dong, Gyeongju. Tomb No. 38 at Joyang-dong, however, produced 4 Chinese bronze mirrors and a fragment of a reprocessed Chinese bronze mirror, which means that the deceased as a stronger manager who boasted his financial power capable of possessing valued items, such as Chinese bronze mirrors, was competing against the Tap-dong tomb owner nearby, about 8 km or only a 2-hour walk apart in Gyeongju at the time. The finds from Tomb No. 1 at Tap-dong can be interpreted that at least two groups of separate interests had a rational division of function along the supply chain of iron artifacts in present-day Gyeongju around the mid 1st century AD: One was in charge of producing ironwork and the other was responsible for trading them, organizing guild-like professional associations; The first group consisted of people who were able to bury their leader with a good number of highly valued iron artworks in his grave. On the other hand, the second group consisted of people who boasted their prestige and authority by placing multiple decorative bronze items, such as swords, buckles, buttons, and bracelets, in their leader’s burial. Sarari people as locals would have settled down here in Gyeongju from the beginning of the Bronze age and been familiar with dealing with iron. Alternately, Tap-dong people could be the displaced refugees who had fled from the Northern part of Korea after the fall of Wiman Joseon. That’s why they could have been flashily dressed like one of them and engaged in foreign trade with Northern nomadic people.

Summary Following the late J X W P Corcoran's rescue work in 1972 within the broch, recent excavations at this state care monument, prior to masonry consolidation, examined outworks to the NE of the broch and re-opened its entrance passage and guard cell. Despite thorough Victorian disturbance, a tentative chronology was established for the site. The Bronze Age was represented by a Beaker fragment and later putative cist with Food Vessel and shale washer necklace. Settlement, shown by post-holes, hearth and a severely-truncated structure of slot construction, predated the building of the broch and attendant ring-wall, while later Iron Age activity included the division into outbuildings of the area between the broch and outer wall by the addition of cross-walls. Previously unrecorded circuit walls and midden were identified downslope of the main outworks, and the site produced evidence of shale and iron working.

The purpose of this investigation was to record the performance of all male and female competitors in the discus throw during the 1984 Olympic Games. The final rounds of the men's and women's discus throw were filmed at 120 fps using two high-speed 16mm LoCam cameras. Height, angle, and velocity of the discus and the thrower's trunk angle were measured at release in the best three throws of the Gold, Silver, and Bronze medalists in both the men's and women's division. Little difference was observed between men and women regarding the angle and velocity of release, and results were comparable with those from previous studies on elite performers. But differences were observed in foot position at release and height of release between men and women. It appeared the men had more vertical thrust in taking them off the ground prior to release and, even relative to their greater body height, released the discus with a higher arm position. The three-dimensional nature of this event precludes any further interpretation at this time.

These two edited volumes reflect the continuing surge of interest in the archaeology of religious practice and belief. Over the past 20 years, archaeologists have turned their focus on the study of ritual and religion, challenging what Hawkes (1954: 162) considered the highest and most difficult to reach rung on his ladder of inference: “religious institutions and spiritual life”. Renewed interest in the archaeology of religion and ritual was largely inspired by Renfrew's (1985) work on the Bronze Age Phylakopi sanctuary on Melos, Greece, a seminal study that continues to guide archaeological interpretation based on the material correlates linked with ritual practice. Renfrew's focus on ritual (or ‘cult’) exposed the widespread perception that religion is archaeologically inaccessible. The recognition that a Durkheimian division between the sacred and the profane is less distinct in reality, particularly in small-scale rituals and domestic contexts, complicates the difficulty archaeologists face in the hazy area between quotidian life and religious praxis. Since Renfrew's publication of Phylakopi, these problems have been recognised and confronted in a variety of different volumes and synthetic articles.

Archaeological concepts of prehistory and the Stone Age are rooted in nineteenth-century scientific discoveries, which extended the human past much further back in time than was previously thought. Without this deep past, the disciplines of archaeology and history would not be what they are today. However, when the division of prehistory into the ages of stone, bronze, and iron was introduced in 1836, it was already an old idea. Stone Age artefacts and the initial phase of human history were discussed in the eighteenth-century academic world, even though the periodisation of history was constructed differently. In the philosophy of the Enlightenment several ideas surfaced which were essential to the formation of archaeology as a scientific practice, and which still affect the way the prehistoric past is imagined. This article examines the concept of a prehistoric, furthest past in Finnish scientific texts, within the framework of eighteenth-century Swedish traditions of science and historiography. How did the scholars in the Academy of Turku view Stone Age artefacts that had a multi-faceted nature in the antiquarian tradition? In what way did their visions of the earliest phase of the Nordic past set up later nationalistic narratives about prehistory?

This paper analyzes the periodization of Western history, broadly construed. It first divides the Old World (Asia, Africa, and Europe) into three macro-civilizations (or Civilizations), that are further broken down into micro-civilizations, or civilizations. The West covers the modern Middle/Near East, North Africa, Europe, and Central Asia. The East covers East Asia, including Mongolia, as well as Singapore and Vietnam. The Central Civilization covers South Asia and the rest of Southeast Asia. After making this division, the paper then breaks down Western history into basic periods, specifically for the purposes of Political Theory. Western history is broken up into nine basic periods, which form four ages, three epochs, and two eons. Ancient time is divided from Medieval-Modern time into two eons. Ancient time is then broken up into seven periods, forming three ages and two epochs, the latter group corresponding to the Bronze/Iron Age dichotomy. This system is devised specifically for Political Theory, and to a lesser extent, the rest of Political Science, in order to avoid biased from looking backwards at history, specifically those that divide the Greater Mediterranean world (a.k.a. the West) by modern religion.

Purpose is to identify process engineering of mining under the Late Bronze age (18th-13th centuries BCE) in the context of copper deposits in the Eastern Ukraine. Among other things, it concerns analysis of manufacturing artifacts (i.e. ore production and preparation) in Kartamysh archeological area within the copper-ore territory of Bakhmut basin of Donbas. Methods. Following methods have been applied: a comparative historical method supported by typological archaeological approach; statistical procedures; engineering and geological methods to determine extraction volumes and evaluate copper ore extraction from the mines in Kartamysh archaeological area as well as structural and technologic analysis; functional and typological analysis; traceological analysis; experimental modelling; and carbon dating. Findings. Analysis of the specialized mining artifacts in Kartamysh archaeological area as well as mining artifacts within other copper-ore deposits in Bakhmut basin, extracted actively under the Late Bronze age, has made it possible to consider newly a number of important issues connected with process engineering of mining, specialization and labour division of ancient miners as well as evaluate significance of Donbas copper mines for the system of metal production development in the Eastern Europe of the second millennium BCE. Originality.Analysis of Kartamysh archaeological area, where the majority of business performance objects are connected with mining, has helped the authors consider specialization of the industrial systems (i.e. different-purpose mine workings, various mining tools, and areas to prepare ore) right from the viewpoint of the production method. Since similar situation is typical for other Donets complex artifacts, being involved in scientific terminology as the mining and smelting one, it would be more reasonable to represent it as Donets ore mining system owing to its specialization in the integrated copper ore extraction and preparation. Practical implications.The research results develop the history of mining science and engineering inclusive of ancient mining history in the Eastern Ukraine. They may be applied to train mining experts and in the process of creation of museum exhibitions (looking ahead, creation of Kartamysh skansen) while synthesizing technical and humanitarian aspects of engineering activities.

The question of the emergence and development of copper and bronze metallurgies is a major issue in addressing the cultural and economic dynamics of the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age in Western Europe. This phenomenon is particularly relevant along the Atlantic coast, where the Armorican peninsula is central for better understanding how the control of these new productions contributed to the emergence of new elites and their chiefs, notably within the Armorican Tumulus culture (2150-1750 BC). However, evidence of Early Bronze Age mining activities and metallurgical production workshops remains scarce on the Atlantic coast, particularly in the Armorican Massif. The rare sources of copper ore are generally poor which have long suggested that the presence of metallic objects discovered in the rich burials of these periods, in particular in the tumuli of the Early Bronze Age, could only be the result of imports over more or less long distances. Recent work on the composition of some Armorican bronze objects has also highlighted a close proximity to ores from Ross Island in Ireland, suggesting that ores or ingots were imported from other regions, including across the Channel. Other works have nevertheless underlined that the exploitation of local copper veins could be envisaged in the Armorican Massif, especially as copper objects appear to concentrate in this area. Therefore, the discovery of direct or indirect evidence of copper metallurgy, particularly on settlement sites, is crucial for these periods. The presence of rare crucibles, moulds and ingots, as well as hearth structures and even furnaces, are precious clues for identifying possible episodes of metallurgical production. Stone tools constitute a second group of clues attesting metallurgical production throughout the Bronze Age, since they are now known to have been used at different stages of the operating chain, from the extraction and transformation of ores to the shaping and finishing of metal objects by hammering and abrading. This paper presents the results of a combination of use-wear and elementary X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) analysis of a series of macrolithic tools from the Armorican Peninsula. The analyzed corpus comes from five sites in Britany dated by their pottery or by radiocarbon dating to the Early Bronze Age : it includes a settlement enclosure (Bel air, Lannion), an island settlement (Beg ar Loued, Molène) as well as less structured occupations however characteristic of the period (Kersulec, Plonéour-Lanvern ; la Colignière, Trémuson ; ZAC Kerisac, Plouisy). They illustrate the diversity of the contexts encountered dating to this period in the western part of the Armorican peninsula. For each of the sites, several tools were selected from a larger corpus of macrolithic tools, based on criteria of the raw materials, type of active surfaces and nature of the use-wear traces. The assemblage includes 19 macrolithic tools : 3 crushing-grinding tools, 2 tools with cupules, 1 pestle, 2 anvils, 3 hammerstones, 1 percussion or crushing tool, 3 heaps, 3 hammers and finally 2 sharpeners. The functional analysis method is based on the combination of the results of a low and high magnification use-wear analysis and elementary X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyses, with two implemented measurement methods : portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (pXRF) and X-ray fluorescence mapping under Synchrotron radiation (Sy-XRF). The use-wear analysis alone therefore made it possible to exclude metallurgical use for 3 of the 13 tools analyzed, the other 10 tools showing traces at least linked to the working of mineral materials, with three quarters of them showing a combination of traces strongly suggesting the working of ore or metal. The combination of the use-wear and XRF analyses allows us to propose a use for ore processing or the transformation of metallic materials for 8 of these 10 tools. This result underlines that the hypotheses formulated following the use-wear analysis are well supported by the elementary residue analyses. The p-XRF analysis is able to detect copper residues even in relatively small quantities and to detect the heavier elements, such as tin. An average quantification is obtained, representing an analytical area of about 3 mm. Furthermore, the analytical precision permitted by Sy-XRF analysis, thanks in particular to the elemental distribution maps, with a selected resolution of a few tens of micrometers, makes it possible to distinguish chemical elements from the minerals making up the heterogeneous rocks generally used for macro-tools from the residues of processed materials that had catched on the surface. It also shows the correlations between the elementary distributions and the areas showing the traces of use. Due to the implementation modalities, the complementarity and concordance of the results of the Sy-XRF and p-XRF analyses with regard to the detection of copper residues is therefore stressed here. These analyses highlight the use of crushing tools, hammers and sharpeners for the working of copper alloy objects at all stages of the metal production and processing chain (production, shaping, maintenance). The identification of different types of metallurgists'' tools, some of them specialized, raises questions about the representation of this activity in a wide variety of Early Bronze Age contexts. It also underlines the question of the division of the operating chain in time and space, in particular between the extraction areas, primary metallurgy aimed at metal production and secondary metallurgy dedicated to the shaping or even finishing of the objects. The different occupation contexts from which these tools originate suggest a production of copper alloys, which despite its discretion in the archaeological record, must undoubtedly have been more important than initially envisaged. The presence of such tools in Armorican funerary contexts for the Early Bronze Age echoes these results.

This paper aims to define the way Egyptians perceived the boundaries of their land and reassesses the impact of Egyptian colonialism during the Ramesside period (c. 1292–1069 BCE). During this era, expansive wars, diplomatic action and land administration/governance reforms led Egypt to control a large part of modern Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. To refer to this period, historians often use the terms Egyptian “empire” and Egyptian “imperialism”, extending terminology coined in the 19th century to describe modern cases of political dominance to Late Bronze Age Egypt. Furthermore, traditional scholarship also presents Egypt’s borders in such a way that Egypt appears as a solid territory with fixed borders, despite evidence pointing to a different model of geographical division. Seeking to explore whether the use of modern terms on ancient Egypt may be an anachronism, this paper reviews the scholarship on (a) Egyptian records documenting conquests and (b) contextual archaeological evidence from the southern Near East itself. This review highlights differences between modern and ancient conceptions of land domination. Finally, Egyptian border-related terms are used in a strictly local symbolic cultural context but not in the one of international diplomacy. As for Egypt’s boundary, it was mostly formed as a buffer zone rather than a borderline.

Tools and weapons made of copper and bronze from the Petrovka Culture of the Northern Kazakhstan of the 19th–18th cen-turies BC are presented, originating mainly from sites complexes explored in the 70–80s 20th century G.B. Zdanovich and S.Ya. Zda-novich. When distributing tools and weapons by type, methods of typological division of equipment were used, taking into ac-count the configuration of the product, the presence or absence of certain qualitative features, the design features of the handle, the handle, the area in the area of the transition of the blade part to the handle, the shape and section of the blade. The sample is represented by tools, weapons, ingots, semi-finished products, analytically studied in the 70–80s 20th century in the Labora-tory of Natural Science Methods of the Institute of Archeology of the RAS (109 copies). Most of the products come from the sites Novonikolskoe 1, Petrovka 2, Bogolyubovo 1. The study of the typology of North Kazakhstan metal showed that in the practice of metal production in the region, they adhered to the general standards for the types of tools and weapons (adzes, chisels, knives, sickles, hooks) adopted in the Petrovka communities of the entire area. Such a general stereotypical set of im-plements, inherent in the forest-steppe and steppe cultures of Northern Eurasia, can be explained by the common genetic roots of the carriers of these cultures and by the fact that the metalworking of the circle of chariot cultures inherits the traditions of metal production in the hearths of the northern zone of the CMP. At the same time, the specificity of the production of the hearth of Northern Kazakhstan was discovered, which is associated with the appearance of forms of sickle-plows, hooks, massive knives with a subtriangular blade and an elongated handle, unknown in the monuments of Central Kazakhstan and the Urals, razors with asymmetrical blades. The penetration of these forms into the Ishim region is associated with the Late Yamnaya-Poltavka, Catacomb, Abashevo stereotypes and influences in the process of the genesis of the forest-steppe and steppe metal complex of the Late Bronze Age.

A large two-aisled house at Nørre Holsted in southern Jutland – Analysis of a longhouse from Early Bronze Age period IIn 2011 and 2012, Sønderskov Museum investigated an area of 65,000 m2 at Nørre Holsted, between Esbjerg and Vejen. The investigation revealed a multitude of features and structures dating from several periods, including extensive settlement remains from the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age. Excavations have also been carried out in this area previously, resulting in rich finds assemblages. This paper focuses on the site’s largest and best preserved two-aisled house, K30, which is dated to Early Bronze Age period I (1700-1500 BC). This longhouse therefore represents the final generation of houses of two-aisled construction. It also contained charred plant remains, which provide information on arable agriculture of the time and the internal organisation of the building at a point just prior to three-aisled construction becoming universal. The remains indicate continuity in both agriculture and in internal organisation between the late two-aisled and early three-aisled longhouses. The two-aisled house at Nørre Holsted can therefore make a significant contribution to the long-running debate about this architectural change, which has often focussed on developments in farming: The increased importance of cattle husbandry is said to have been the main reason for breaking with the tradition of two-aisled construction.The Nørre Holsted locality comprises the top of a sandy plateau that forms a ridge running north-south. The slightly sloping plateau lies 38-42 m above sea level and the ridge is surrounded by damp, low-lying terrain that, prior to the agricultural drainage of recent times, was partly aquiferous. The site occupies a central position in the southern part of Holsted Bakkeø, a “hill island” that is primarily characterised by sandy moraine. People preferred to live on well-drained ridges with sandy subsoil throughout large parts of prehistory and this was also true in the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age. On the area uncovered at Nørre Holsted, remains were found of 16 two-aisled houses, of which three had sunken floors. Ten of these houses are dated to the Late Neolithic and three are assigned to the first period of the Bronze Age. During Early Bronze Age periods II and III, a total of 14 three-aisled longhouses stood on the sandy plateau. As can be seen from figure 2, the houses from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age lie more or less evenly distributed across the area. However, the buildings from the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age period I form a distinct cluster in the eastern part, while a western distribution is evident for the houses from Early Bronze Age periods II-III. The western part of the site lies highest in the terrain and a movement upwards in the landscape was therefore associated with the introduction of the three-aisled building tradition. Tripartition of the dimensions can be observed in both the two- and the three-aisled houses, with this being most pronounced in the latter category. The three-aisled Bronze Age houses from periods II and III, which represent the typical form with rounded gables and possibly plank-built walls, show great morphological and architectonic uniformity. Conversely, the two-aisled house remains are characterised by wider variation. The small and medium-sized examples, with or without a partly-sunken floor, represent some very common house types in Jutland. Conversely, the largest longhouse, K30, represents a variant that is more familiar from areas further to the east in southern Scandinavia.The largest two-aisled house at Nørre Holsted was located on the eastern part of the sandy plateau, where this slopes down towards a former wetland area (fig. 3). The east-west-oriented longhouse had a fall of 1.5 m along its length, with the eastern end being the lowest part at c. 38 m above sea level. Its orientation towards the wet meadow and bog to the east is striking, and it stood a maximum of 50 m from the potential grazing area. A peat bog lay a further 100 m to the east and in prehistory this was probably a small lake. Sekær Bæk flows 600 m to the north and, prior to realignment, this watercourse was both deeper and wider where it met the former lake area. Access to fresh water was therefore optimal and opportunities for transport and communication by way of local water routes must similarly have been favourable. It should be added that the watercourse Holsted Å flows only 1 km to the south of the locality.House K30 had a length of 32 m and a width of 6.5-7 m, with the western part apparently being the broadest, giving a floor area of more than 200 m2. The eastern gable was slightly rounded, while that to the west was of a straighter and more open character. The wall posts were preserved along most of the two sides of the building and the internal (roof-) supporting posts were positioned just inside the walls. Two transverse partition walls divided the longhouse, with its ten central posts, into three main rooms (fig. 5). These posts were the building’s sturdiest and most deeply-founded examples. Charcoal-rich post-pipes could be observed in section, and these revealed that the posts consisted of cloven timber with a cross-section of c. 25 cm. The central posts were regularly spaced about 3 m apart, except at the eastern and western ends, where the spacing was 4 m (fig. 5). The posts along the inside of the walls were less robust and not set as deeply as the central posts. There were probably internal wall or support posts along the entire length of the walls. These were positioned only 0.5 m inside the walls and must therefore have functioned together with these. Based on the position of these posts, the possibility that they were directly linked to the central posts can be dismissed. It seems much more likely that they were linked together by transverse beams running across the house – a roof-supporting feature that, a few generations later, moved further in towards the central axis to become the permanent roof-bearing construction. The actual wall posts or outer wall constituted the least robust constructional element of the longhouse.Remains of the walls were best preserved in the eastern part, and the wall posts here were spaced 1.5 m apart in the eastern gable and 2 m apart in the side wall (fig. 5). The wall posts had disappeared in several places, particularly in the central part of the building. Entrances could not be identified in the side walls, possibly as a consequence of the fragmentary preservation of the post traces. Two transverse partition walls, each consisting of three posts, were present in the western and eastern parts, with the latter example being integrated into a recessed pair of posts. The western room had an area of 59 m2 and contained two pits, while the eastern part was filled with charred plant material, consisting largely of acorns. The actual living quarters may have been located here, even though the larger central room, with an area of c. 85 m2, could just as well represent the dwelling area with its large, deep cooking pit (fig. 5). The eastern room had an area of 60 m2 and therefore did not differ significantly in area from that to the west.The entire fill from features that could be related to longhouse K30 was sieved. The objective was to retrieve small finds in the form of micro flakes and pottery fragments that are normally overlooked in conventional shovel excavation. The associated aims included ascertaining whether the flint assemblage could reveal the production of particular tools or weapons in the building. Unfortunately, not a single piece of pottery or any other datable artefacts were recovered. Only a few small flint flakes, which simply show that the finds from house K30 conform to the typical picture of a general reduction in the production of flint tools at the transition from Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age. The 11 flint flakes from the longhouse merely reflect the simple manufacturing of cutting tools. Consequently, no bifacial flint-knapping activities took place within the building, and there is a lack of evidence for specialised craftsmen. The great paucity of finds is typical of houses from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age which do not have a sunken floor. It is therefore important to look more closely at the charred plant material (plant macro-remains) concealed in the fills of the postholes and pits. In the case of house K30, the soil samples have provided a range of information, providing greater knowledge of what actually took place in a large house in southern Jutland at the beginning of the Bronze Age.The scientific dating of house K30 is based on barley grains from two roof posts and from a wall post in the eastern part. The three AMS radiocarbon dates assign the longhouse to Early Bronze Age period I, with a centre of gravity in period Ib (fig. 6). Plant macro-remains have previously been analysed from monumental three-aisled Bronze Age houses in southern Jutland. It is therefore relevant to take a look inside a large longhouse representing the final generation of the two-aisled building tradition. Do the results of the analyses indicate continuity in the internal organisation of these large houses or did significant changes occur in their functional organisation with the introduction of the three-aisled tradition?During the excavation of longhouse K30, soil samples were taken from all postholes and associated features for flotation and subsequent analysis of the plant macro-remains recovered. An assessment of the samples’ content of plant macro-remains and charcoal revealed that those from two central postholes and a pit contained large quantities of plant material (fig. 7), whereas the other samples contained few or no plant remains. It was therefore obvious to investigate whether there was a pattern in the distribution of the plant macro-remains that could provide an insight into the internal organisation of the house and the occupants’ exploitation of plant resources. The plant macro-remains can be used to investigate the organisation of the house because the house site lay undisturbed. The remains can therefore be presumed to date from the building’s active period of use. The plant remains lay on the floor of the house and they became incorporated into the fill of the postholes possibly as the posts were pulled up when the house was abandoned or when the posts subsequently rotted or were destroyed by fire. The plant macro-remains therefore reflect activities that have taken place in the immediate vicinity of the posthole in question.Only barley, in its naked form, can be said to have been definitely used by the house’s occupants, as this cereal type dominates, making up 80% of the identified grains (fig. 8). It is also likely, however, that emmer and/or spelt were cultivated too as evidence from other localities shows that a range of cereal crops was usually grown in the Early Bronze Age. This strategy was probably adopted to mitigate against the negative consequences of a possible failed harvest and also in an attempt to secure a surplus. Virtually no seeds of arable weeds were found in the grain-rich samples from the postholes where the central posts had stood; just a few seeds of persicaria and a single grass caryopsis were identified. This indicates that the crops, in the form of naked barley, and possibly also emmer/spelt, must have been thoroughly cleaned and processed. In contrast, the sample from pit A2500, in the western part of the house, contains virtually no cereal grains but does have a large number of charred acorn fragments (fig. 9). The question is, how should this pit be interpreted? If it was a storage pit, then the many acorns should not be charred, unless the pit and the remnants of its contents were subsequently burnt, perhaps as part of a cleansing or sterilisation process. It could also be a refuse pit, used to dispose of acorns that had become burnt by accident. In which case this must have been a temporary function as permanent refuse pits are unlikely to have been an internal feature of the house’s living quarters. Finally, it is possible that this could have been a so-called function-related pit that was used in connection with drying the acorns, during which some of the them became charred.From the plant macro-remain data it is clear that the occupants of longhouse K30 practised agriculture while, at the same time, gathering and exploiting natural plant resources. It should be added that they probably also kept livestock etc., but these resources have not left any traces in the site’s archaeological record – probably due to poor conditions for the preservation of bones. A closer examination of the distribution of plant macro-remains in house K30 reveals a very clear pattern (fig. 9), thereby providing an insight into the internal organisation of the building. All traces of cereals are found in the eastern half of the house and, in particular, the two easternmost roof postholes contain relatively large quantities, while the other postholes in this part of the building have few or no charred grains. This could suggest that there was a grain store (i.e. granary) in the vicinity of the penultimate roof-bearing post to the east, while the other cereal grains in the area could result from activities associated with spillage from this store, which contained processed and cleaned naked barley. No plant macro-remains were observed in the posthole samples from the opposite end of the building. The plant remains in this part of the house all originate from the aforementioned pit A2500, which contained a large quantity of acorns, together with a few arable weed seeds. The pit should possibly be interpreted as an acorn store or a functional pit associated with roasting activities or refuse disposal.The distribution of the plant macro-remains provides no secure indication of the location of the hearth or, in turn, of the living quarters. However, if the distribution of the charcoal in the house is examined (fig. 10), it is clear that there was charcoal everywhere inside house K30. This indicates that the longhouse was either burned down while still occupied or, perhaps more likely, in connection with its abandonment. A more detailed evaluation of the charcoal found in the various postholes and other features reveals the highest concentrations in the central room, suggesting that the hearth was located here, and with it the living quarters. This is consistent with the presence of a large cooking pit, found in the eastern part of this room. Perhaps this explains the presence of open pit A2500 in the western part of the house, which constitutes direct evidence against the presence of living quarters here. Another explanation for the highest charcoal concentrations being in the central room could also have been the entrance area, where there would be a tendency for such material to accumulate.Plant macro-remains have previously been analysed from large Bronze Age houses in the region, namely at the sites of Brødrene Gram and Kongehøj II, and plant remains from a somewhat smaller Late Neolithic house at Brødrene Gram were also examined. In many ways, K30 corresponds to the houses at Brødrene Gram (houses IV and V) and Kongehøj II (house K1). There is continuity with respect to the cereals represented in the Late Neolithic house at Brødrene Gram and the three-aisled Early Bronze Age houses at Brødrene Gram and Kongehøj II; naked barley and emmer/spelt are the dominant cereal types. There is, however, some variation in the cereal types present in the three-aisled Bronze Age houses, as hulled barley also occurs as a probable cultivated cereal here. It therefore seems that, with time, an even broader range of crops came to be cultivated when houses began to have a three-aisled construction. Another marked difference evident in the composition of the plant macro-remains is that the grain stores in the two-aisled houses contain only very few weed seeds, while those in the later houses are contaminated to a much greater extent with these remains. This could be due to several factors. One possible explanation is that the grain was cleaned more thoroughly before it was stored at the time of the two-aisled houses. Another explanation could be that there were, quite simply, fewer weeds growing in the arable fields in earlier periods, possibly because these fields were exploited for a shorter time and less intensively. This would mean that the field weeds were not able to become established to the same degree as later and fewer weeds were harvested with the cereal crop. As a consequence, the stored grain would contain fewer weed seeds relative to later periods. If the latter situation is true, the increase in field weeds could mark a change in the use of the arable fields, whereby each individual field was exploited for a somewhat longer period than previously.A common feature seen in all the houses is that they had grain stores in the eastern part of the building and storage was therefore one of the functions of this part. No secure evidence was however found of any of the houses having been fitted out as a byre. The three-aisled house IV at Brødrene Gram apparently also had a grain store at its western end – where K30 had its acorn-rich pit. However, while the western end of the Brødrene Gram house, and that of the other houses, is interpreted as a dwelling area, this room apparently had another function in K30, where the living quarters appear to have been located in the central room, as indicated by the cooking pit and the marked concentration of charcoal.Longhouse K30 differs from the later houses at Brødrene Gram and Kongehøj II in that these two three-aisled houses contain large quantities of chaff (spikelet forks) of wheat, possibly employed as floor covering, while no such material was observed in K30. However, it is unclear whether this is due to differences in the internal organisation of the buildings or to preservation conditions. Conversely, the use of possible function-related pits, like the one containing acorn remains in house K30, appears to have continued throughout the subsequent periods, as the Bronze Age house at Brødrene Gram also contains similar pits, the more precise function of which remains, however, unresolved. A high degree of continuity can thereby be traced, both in the crops grown and the internal organisation of the two- and three-aisled longhouses in southern Jutland. There was, however, some development towards the cultivation of a wider range of crops.In turn, this suggests that, in terms of arable agriculture and internal building organisation, there was no marked difference between the late two-aisled and early three-aisled houses – or, more correctly, between the large houses of Bronze Age periods I and II in southern Jutland. More secure conclusions with respect to continuity and change in the internal organisation of the buildings would, however, require a significantly larger number of similar analyses, encompassing several house types of different dimensions from a longer period of time and across a larger geographic area. Nevertheless, let us address the problem by including house sites in other regions, because this should enable us to gain an impression of the degree to which the picture outlined above for southern Jutland is representative of larger parts of southern Scandinavia.In several cases, both in the large two-aisled longhouses from Late Neolithic period II to Early Bronze Age period I and the large three-aisled longhouses from Early Bronze Age periods II-III, we see an internal division of the building into three main rooms. This tripartite division does, however, become clearer and more standardised with the advent of the three-aisled building tradition, which is a special characteristic of the longhouses of southern Jutland. Food stores were apparently often kept in the eastern parts of these houses. This is shown by the concentrations of charred grain found in these areas, and in some cases the larders must have been positioned immediately inside the eastern gable. Over time, traces of grain stores have been recorded from sunken areas in a number of house sites in Jutland. As a rule, these sunken floors constituted the eastern part of two-aisled houses of Myrhøj type, which were particularly common, especially in Jutland, during the Late Neolithic and the first period of the Bronze Age. One reason for lowering the house floor in this way was possibly a requirement for more space to store grain. It has been pointed out that a sunken floor gives greater head clearance in a room which, in turn, optimises the possibility of keeping the grain dry. In some cases, these sunken floors were almost totally covered by charred barley and wheat grains; surely the result of stored grain having fallen from an open loft during a house fire.In the Late Neolithic, arable agriculture apparently increased in importance as it became more intensive and diverse, with a wider range of crops now being cultivated. Agriculture in the Early Bronze Age was simply a continuation of the agricultural intensification evident in Late Neolithic arable agriculture. There was a possible difference in that fields were probably more commonly manured in the Early Bronze Age, though the first secure evidence for manuring dates from the Late Bronze Age. The plant macro-remains from the Early Bronze Age include significantly greater numbers of weeds, suggesting that individual arable fields had a longer period of use. Moreover, nutrient-demanding hulled barley came on to the scene as a cultivated crop. This has been demonstrated for example in the aforementioned longhouses at Brødrene Gram and Kongehøj II, both of which date from the Early Bronze Age period II. However, a large component of hulled barley has actually been demonstrated in remains from a Late Neolithic sunken house site at Hestehaven, near Skanderborg.Most Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age farms in what is now Denmark were located on nutrient-poor sandy soils, and this was also the case at Nørre Holsted. In itself, location on these soils suggests that soil-improvement measures were employed. Indirectly, it can also tell us something of the significance of livestock, if it is assumed that cattle supplied a major proportion of the material used to manure the arable fields. Domestic livestock is, however, virtually invisible in the Late Neolithic settlement record, compared with that from the three-aisled contexts of the Bronze Age. There are records from Jutland of about 15 longhouses with clearly evident stall dividers, but this total seems very modest relative to a total number of Bronze Age house sites of around 1000. It has long been maintained in settlement archaeology that the three-aisled building tradition was better suited to the installation of a byre. On the face of it, this seems plausible for animals tethered in stalls. But the byre situation is, however, unlikely to have been a direct cause of the change in roof-bearing construction, as highlighted by recently expressed doubts in this respect. Neither are there grounds to dismiss the possibility that byres were installed in two-aisled longhouses. There is an example from Hesel in Ostfriesland, northwest Germany, where a large two-aisled house, measuring 35 x 5-6 m, contained stall dividers in its eastern half. An example from Zealand can also be mentioned in this respect: At Stuvehøj Mark near Ballerup there was a two-aisled longhouse, measuring 47 x 6 m, with possible post-built stall dividers in its eastern half. It stood on a headland surrounded by wetland areas and, like longhouse K30 at Nørre Holsted, it had a marked fall from the west to east gable.Preserved stall dividers in Bronze Age houses are, therefore, still a rare phenomenon and phosphate analysis of soil has yet to produce convincing results in this respect. There must be another explanation for the change in building architecture. It is possible that the massive monumentalisation process of Early Bronze Age period II played a crucial role in this respect. As described in the introduction, the first three-aisled houses were built higher up in the terrain. A position on the highest points of the landscape is a recurring feature at many other localities with longhouses from Early Bronze Age periods II-III. This visualisation process involved consistent use of the timber-demanding plank-built walls and took place primarily in southern, central and western Jutland. Here, forests had to yield to the huge resource consumption involved in constructing three-aisled houses because it was here that the tradition of plank-built walls was strongest. This situation must be seen in conjunction with barrow building, where there was a corresponding and coeval culmination in the construction of large turf-built burial mounds. Was the three-aisled tradition introduced quite simply because it became possible to build both wider and higher? Period II has the largest longhouses found in Scandinavia to date and these could reach dimensions of 50 x 10 m. The buildings became much wider and the earth-set posts for the plank walls were in some cases founded just as deep as the roof-bearing post pairs, which could extend 50-70 cm down into the subsoil. This could, in turn, suggest that some longhouses had more than one storey. It should also be pointed out that the large-scale construction of longhouses and barrows came to a halt at the same time – in the course of period III, i.e. shortly before 1200 BC. It therefore seems likely that the three-aisled building tradition was introduced as an important step in the actual monumentalisation process rather than as a result of a need to adjust to new requirements for internal organisation. At the end of the Early Bronze Age and throughout the Late Bronze Age, the dimensions of three-aisled houses were reduced and the houses adopted a much less robust character. There was no longer a need for monumental construction. The significance and symbolism by the large buildings constructed in the Early Bronze Age period II and the first part of period III is though a longer and more complex story and it should not be studied in isolation from the barrow-building phenomenon of the time.Lars GrundvadMuseet på SønderskovMartin Egelund PoulsenMuseet på SønderskovMarianne Høyem Andreasen Moesgaard Museum

The original model of metal production was realized in the steppe of North Eurasia since 4th to 2nd millenium BC. It was characterized by unique features of the natural-climatic, territorial, economic-cultural (cattle-breeding) production system. Also, it was notable for specifics of ore preparation for melting using the pyrotechnic method (beneficiating and fining fire under temperatures to 1 000°C), and the chemical approach (oxidation by potash), recovery of cooper in reverberatory furnaces with segregation of smelted metals on the pyroxene or olivine slag box above and the whole pancake-shaped ingot of blister recovered cooper (93–98 % Cu; 0,5–2 % Fe; 0,5–1,5 % S and others) on the bottom of an iron mold. Various stages of the mining and smelting industry had a seasonal character and correlated with cattle-breeding cycles. In the steppe of North Eurasia, different variants of the pasturable model had existed for several millennia, combining the two largest metal-production systems of the Old World — Circum-Pontic Metallurgical Country (CPMC) and Eurasian Metallurgical Country (EAMP). The final stages of the metal tools production industry connected with molding and forging processing of items varied substantially in different cultures. Still, basic technological algorithms of cooper production had slightly evolved during the Early Metal epoch. In the steppe of North Eurasia, the metallurgical boom exhausted accessible deposits of resources traditional for 4th–2nd millenium BC, for example, sulfide ore (chalcocite and other minerals) in cooper slates and silica-carbonate metal (chrysocolla and others) in copper sandstones of the Late Permian deposits as well as secondary sulfides of “chalcocite horizons” in zones of secondary concentration of principal deposits. It led to the development of Chalcopyrite raw material of copper-pyrite deposits. The boom was connected with the activity of the Srubnaya and Alakulskaya culture’s miners in the Late Bronze Age. Chalcopyrites processing was based on technological algorithms of the pastoral mining model and metallurgical production had been formed before, in the second half of the 2nd millenium BC. Besides the involvement of practically inexhaustible resources of cooper stuff into the metallurgical division, it led to receiving a byproduct — iron and refinery slag. Theoretical points stated in the paper have been verified by archaeological materials, data of scientific analysis and a series of successful archaeological-metallurgical experiments in 2018–2020.

The paper is aimed at the publication of pottery with painted decoration and traces of paint manipulation discovered at the settlement of Hlyboke Ozero 2 in the middle reaches of the Siverskyi Donets. The finds are associated with stratigraphic layers II and III, marking the transition from the Late Zrubna culture to the so-called Post-Zrubna culture (12th—11th centuries BC). The settlement of Hlyboke Ozero 2 is located in the middle reaches of the Siverskyi Donets River and was explored by excavations in 1991 (Y. P. Gershkovych, Y. B. Polidovych, V. V. Tsymidanov, O. R. Dubovska, S. M. Degermendzhy). The area of the site is at least 3000 sq.m., of which 1685.5 m2 have been excavated. The scheme of cultural and stratigraphic division of the site includes four «layers» (I—IV), with layers II and III divided into two «horizons» each. Based on radiocarbon dates and traditional methods, the period of the settlement’s existence is determined to be the late 13th to 11th centuries BC. Based on analogies with the materials of the North-Western Black Sea coast, layers I and II are synchronized with the developed and late Sabatynivka culture; the following layers are attributed to the «post-Zrubna period». Two variants of paint application on pottery were identified. 1) Painting before firing. Red paint (probably, ochre) was used to cover large areas of the outer surface of the vessels (or possibly the entire vessel). Often this technique is combined with a «pattern» made with black paint: the bottom parts of the vessels were covered rhythmically with vertical stripes, probably around the entire perimeter of the body. 2) Application of paint to the surface after firing. This technique is likely to be associated with actions carried out, in particular, with already broken vessels. It is possible that pottery sherds served as available tools for the processing of raw materials for paint. Visually, the fragments with paint do not differ from the bulk of the ceramics at the settlement. The so-called ochre engobe characterises the materials of the Stepanivka type of the Berezhynivka-Maivka Zrubna culture, while red or polychrome engobe is mentioned as a method of painting vessels from some Late Bronze Age burials of the Dnipro—Donets and Don—Donets interfluve. It is likely that the production of painted vessels on the Hlyboke Ozero 2 was caried out by the bearers of the local or kindred cultural tradition. Looking for a probable external source for this decorative style, let’s consider the final stage of the Bronze Age in Eastern Europe as a period of interaction of cultural components of different origins and, probably, population movements on a wide Eurasian scale. One of the main directions of cultural influences on the Siverskyi Donets’ region is the «Eastern» one, associated with the cultures of the Volga region, the Urals and Northern Kazakhstan. It is this direction that was the main source of changes in the material culture of Hlyboke Ozero 2, which is reflected in pottery and bronze metal-working. In this context, we propose to consider the hypothesis of the appearance of painted decoration on Late / Post-Zrubna pottery of the western periphery of the culture under the impact of the traditions of the agricultural entities of Central Asia. This could have been carried out through the agency of the Post-Andronovo population.

The article develops K. Randsborg’s idea, according to which the decorative elements of the Trundholm disc have the character of calendar symbols. When considering these elements in their structural and numerical groupings, astronomical and calendar significance is found for all belts of both sides of the disk, and the proposed interpretations are consistently contextual. One discloses on the right side of the disk an 8-year cycle connecting the counting of days according to the sun and to the moon, 16 transitions of the sun from winter solstice to summer solstice, and 27 weeks of the summer half of the year. The patterns represented on the left side of the disk are relevant to the night sky: the same 8-year cycle, since it refers to the counting of days not only according to the sun, but also according to the moon; either division of a year into 10 months or the 19-year cycle of the return of both the moon and sun to their common position with respect to the stars; 25 weeks of the darker, winter half of the year. One concludes that in Denmark of the Bronze Age two types of calendars were used: lunisolar, which regulated the timing of religious festivals, and a solar, so to speak, civil, with a year made up of two not quite equal half-years, 52 weeks and 364 days (probably coexisting with knowledge of a year of 365 ¼ days). The data concerning the medieval Scandinavian calendars, on the one hand, and ancient calendars of Greece and the Near East, on the other, are in perfect agreement with the above conclusions.

This paper presents the results of X-ray fluorescence analysis of the composition of alloys of the two largest collections of coins of ancient Chersonese residing in the State Historical and Archaeological Museum Preserve of Tauric Chersonese and the Yevpatoria Regional Museum. In total, about a thousand coins studied, which, together with the 400 coins previously examined from the State Hermitage Museum, constitutes a solid basis for conclusions. The given paper analyses the data obtained for coins of Chersonese in the Period of Independence, that is from the emergence of local coinage in the early fourth century BC to the wars of Diophantos in the late second century BC. For the first time it has been determined that big dichalkoi were minted from a special coin alloy, two-component high-tin bronze, in the period of economic prosperity of Chersonese in the second half of the fourth and third centuries BC. These coins served as the financial basis for important transformations in the near and distant chora: the land division system of vineyards and territorial expansion of Chersonese into the north-western Taurica. Only in the third century BC, in the period of an unprecedented consolidation of land properties and the transformation of the wine production into a commodity industry, the minting of large silver coins of full metal value began probably for big financial deals and payments in international trade. The crisis in the minting of Chersonese in the late second century BC touched silver drachmae, the overwhelming majority of which were minted from a low-grade silver alloy with the copper comprising more than a third of the composition. Thus, full-weight coins turned to conditional money.