In this article, the authors present an analysis of radiocarbon dates from a stratified deposit at the Greek Geometric period settlement of Zagora on the island of Andros, which are among the few ...absolute dates measured from the period in Greece. The dates assigned to Greek Geometric ceramics are based on historical and literary evidence and are found to contradict absolute dates from the central Mediterranean which suggest that the traditional dates are too young. The results indicate the final period at Zagora, the Late Geometric, should be seen as starting at least a century earlier than the traditional date of 760 BC.
•A preliminary approach to the paleodemography of northwestern Iberian Early Iron Age is proposed.•Punta de Muros is chosen as a case study, due to the representativeness of its record.•Different ...methods of paleodemographic analysis are presented.•Paleodemographic methods are tested, and the applicability and accuracy of their results are assessed through several demographic parameters.
This paper presents an approach to the paleodemography of the Iron Age in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, choosing a microspatial study focused on the settlement of Punta de Muros. This settlement provides an excellent context for paleodemographic analysis, given the extent of its archaeological record, the chronological studies of its occupational dynamics and its condition as a fully excavated settlement. This work aims to review several demographic techniques in order to assess their weaknesses and strengths and their applicability to the case of study. Thus, the data obtained will be analysed from the point of view of their appropriateness and precision for Early Iron Age societies of the northwest, relating the results by means of several demographic markers and the archaeological data known for the settlement.
The Gansu–Qinghai region lies in the key position for trans-Eurasian cultural exchange, and hence investigations of the history of agricultural development in this region are significant for ...understanding the spatiotemporal evolution of prehistoric crop dispersal in Eurasia. However, systematic archaeobotanical studies concerning the history of the development of prehistoric agriculture in this area are scarce. Here, based on archaeobotanical analysis and radiocarbon dating at the Jinchankou site, we investigated the history of agricultural development in the Datong River valley during the Qijia culture. Combined with previous archaeobotanical studies of the Gansu–Qinghai region, we explored the diachronic changes in the cropping patterns from the Late Neolithic to the Early Iron Age. The results suggest that millet remained the most important subsistence plant during 4100–3700 BP, while barley and wheat were first cultivated around 3900 BP at the Jinchankou site. Humans only cultivated foxtail and broomcorn millet in the Gansu–Qinghai region with a high level of agricultural management during 5900–4000 BP. Barley and wheat were added to the agricultural system in the area during 4000–3600 BP, although they played a subsidiary role compared with millet. During 3600–2100 BP, barley played an increasingly important role in the Gansu–Qinghai region but with evident differences among geomorphic units, and there was an obvious decrease in agricultural management level. It is likely that the transformation of cropping patterns and agricultural management levels in the Gansu–Qinghai region from 5900 to 2100 BP was primarily promoted by prehistoric trans-continental cultural exchange and secondly by climate change in the area.
This study defines early Iron Age burials in Northern Israel as a coherent assemblage with traditions that are archaeologically distinguishable from those of northern Phoenician and southern ...Philistine societies. These burial traditions are distinct from funerary customs of the Late Bronze Age and Iron IIB. The study discusses the main developments and regional differentiations of early Iron Age burial traditions with an emphasis on their chronological contexts.
The Xinjiang region in northwest China is a historically important geographical passage between East and West Eurasia. By sequencing 201 ancient genomes from 39 archaeological sites, we clarify the ...complex demographic history of this region. Bronze Age Xinjiang populations are characterized by four major ancestries related to Early Bronze Age cultures from the central and eastern Steppe, Central Asian, and Tarim Basin regions. Admixtures between Middle and Late Bronze Age Steppe cultures continued during the Late Bronze and Iron Ages, along with an inflow of East and Central Asian ancestry. Historical era populations show similar admixed and diverse ancestries as those of present-day Xinjiang populations. These results document the influence that East and West Eurasian populations have had over time in the different regions of Xinjiang.
Excavations in a series of superimposed Iron Age II collective buildings located at Masafi (Fujairah, UAE) by the French Archaeological Mission in the UAE allowed the discovery of two deposits of ...copper-base metal items buried in two jars. Copper smelting played a major role in the economy and the society of the region and consistent evidence suggest that it also had a symbolic importance. A summary of the archaeometallurgical study of the items discovered at Masafi is presented here and the context of the two deposits is discussed, in order to reconstruct the nature of these two hoards and the function of the buildings.
Exploring ancient socio-economic adaptation is a basic issue of human-environment interaction. Xinjiang in northwest China is a region of high geographic diversity. Past human adaptations to this ...arid marginal area is a current focus of research interest but still lacks in-depth study. This article presents data from the Wupu Cemetery, located in the extremely arid Hami Basin in the eastern Tianshan Mountains. Archaeobotanical analysis is used to reconstruct the local environment niche and the subsistence economy of inhabitants. Radiocarbon dating results indicate the cemetery was occupied between 3000 and 2400 cal BP, during the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age. In total 16 species of the plant remains are identified, including four cereal crops, foxtail millet (Setaria italica), broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), naked barley (Hordeum vulgare var. coeleste), wheat (Triticum aestivum) and 12 wild types. The riparian plant Populus euphratica and aquatic plant Typha sp. indicate inhabitants lived in an oasis near the cemetery. Environmental interpretation of this data compares well with other seven sites in arid southern Xinjiang. In addition to faunal remains from the site, it is assumed that a flexible system of multi-crop farming and herding was the subsistence pattern around Wupu. This system was widespread across Inner Asia and appears to have played a central role in adapting to different marginal environments during the Bronze Age and Iron Age.
This book analyses the causes, characteristics and chronology behind the emergence of Iron Age Cypriot city-kingdoms. It suggests the received autochthonous theory is not supported by archaeological ...or textual evidence, and posits a more nuanced variant of the Phoenician theory, placing Cyprus as a relay point between the Levant and Aegean worlds.
