The new excavations started in 2007 at Beycesultan Höyük, an important center for understanding the Late Bronze Age cultural process in Western Anatolia, has provided important data for reevaluating ...the Late Bronze Age chronology in the region and understanding regional relations. The excavations in mound’s western and eastern cones have added new data to our knowledge of Late Bronze Age architecture, space utilization, and settlement planning. Especially the multi-roomed buildings with mudbrick walls with stone foundations and built adjacent to each other in both cones played an important role in understanding the architectural tradition. Compared to the western cone, the Late Bronze Age research in the Eastern Cone, where the studies are still at the beginning stage, contributes to understanding this cultural process in the settlement with the information it provides as a complementary element of the cultural process in the western cone. The presence of pottery from the Hittite period and Hittite-influenced finds identified in a large space during the studies conducted in this area appear as the archaeological reflection of the Hittite presence in the settlement.
•Table ware from 13th c. BC at Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus, was identified as Sardinian.•Cypriot and Sardinian ceramics and sediments were analysed by petrography.•Additional analyses include NAA and ...FTIR.•Results confirm trade related connections between Hala Sultan Tekke and Sardinia.
In the course of the Swedish excavations at Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus, table ware and domestic pottery of unknown provenance were discovered in offering pits dating to the 13th century BCE. These vessels comprise six hand-made and black burnished vessels, all of which have close typological parallels in the Nuragic culture of Sardinia. Comparative petrographic investigation confirmed their Sardinian provenance. Other archaeometric analyses include FTIR on the Cypriot and Sardinian material, and NAA on the Sardinian vessels from Hala Sultan Tekke. These vessels further extend the nature of intercultural relations of the site, which comprise a vast area including the Aegean, Anatolia, the Levant and Egypt. The paper presents the archaeometric results and briefly discusses their implication for Cypro-Sardinian connections in the Late Bronze Age.
Volcanic calderas are surface depressions formed by roof collapse following evacuation of magma from an underlying reservoir. The mechanisms of caldera formation are debated and predict differences ...in the evolution of the caldera floor and distinct styles of magma recharge. Here we use a dense, active source, seismic tomography study to reveal the sub-surface physical properties of the Santorini caldera in order to understand caldera formation. We find a ∼3-km-wide, cylindrical low-velocity anomaly in the upper 3 km beneath the north-central portion of the caldera, that lies directly above the pressure source of the 2011-2012 inflation. We interpret this anomaly as a low-density volume caused by excess porosities of between 4% and 28%, with pore spaces filled with hot seawater. Vents that were formed during the first three phases of the 3.6 ka Late Bronze Age (LBA) eruption are located close to the edge of the imaged structure. The correlation between older volcanic vents and the low-velocity anomaly suggests that this feature may be long-lived. We infer that collapse of a limited area of the caldera floor resulted in a high-porosity, low-density cylindrical volume, which formed by either chaotic collapse along reverse faults, wholesale subsidence and infilling with tuffs and ignimbrites, phreatomagmatic fracturing, or a combination of these processes. Phase 4 eruptive vents are located along the margins of the topographic caldera and the velocity structure indicates that coherent down-drop of the wider topographic caldera followed the more limited collapse in the northern caldera. This progressive collapse sequence is consistent with models for multi-stage formation of nested calderas along conjugate reverse and normal faults. The upper crustal density differences inferred from the seismic velocity model predict differences in subsurface gravitational loading that correlate with the location of 2011-2012 edifice inflation. This result supports the hypothesis that sub-surface density anomalies may influence present-day magma recharge events. We postulate that past collapses and the resulting topographical and density variations at Santorini influence magma focusing between eruptive cycles, a feedback process that may be important in other volcanoes.
•There is a shallow low-velocity, high-porosity volume in the north-central caldera.•Vents of the first 3 LBA eruption phases correlate with this inner structure.•Inner collapse involved reverse faults, volcanic deposits, and/or rock fractures.•The low-density volume may have caused 2011-2012 inflation to localize beneath it.•The outer topographic caldera formed by relatively coherent down drop.
Excavations in Tatarlı Höyük, located east of Plain Cilicia, present us with architectural finds and other findings that reveal the importance of the 2nd Millennium BC layers in the settlement. In ...the middle of the second millennium BC, the Kizzuwatna State was established as a Hurrian kingdom in the Çukurova Region and had significant effects on the Hittite religious and cultural life, especially during the Hittite Empire Period. In this period, when the Hittite political and cultural structure was strongly felt, architecture, ceramics, and small finds belonging to this culture were found in the main settlements of the region. Among these finds, there are some pots, which are thought to have ‘votive’ functions as a reflection of Hittite religious life, and which attract attention with their miniature sizes, which are unsuitable for daily use. This article introduces a group of miniature bowls and jugs found in Tatarlı Höyük settlement between 2007-2016. A total of 11 miniature bowls and four miniature jugs were found during the mentioned excavation seasons. One of these vessels was found in the fill of the space called Structure A in Tatarlı Höyük, thought to be a temple. The miniature bowls were also handled with a typological classification in terms of form, and each type was compared with their counterparts in the main settlements of the Hittite world. Considering that these types of vessels found in Tatarlı, which are not suitable for daily use in terms of functionality, were found in modern settlements, especially in temple areas in Boğazköy, it can be suggested that they had a votive function and were used in religious ceremonies.
The present study presents the analysis of the elemental composition of four bronze sickles, three with hooked handle and one with holes on the handle, two from the deposit at Valea lui Darie, Vaslui ...county, one from the bronze deposit at Ciorani, and one discovered in a dwelling from the settlement belonging to the Noua culture from Dodești, following systematic archaeological research. The sickles from the Valea lui Darie deposit belong to the Ghermănești type, the Ghermănești variant, the Ciorani sickle to the Ilișești variant of the Ghermănești type, and the Dodești sickle to the Heleșteni type. These types of sickles are characteristic for the Late Bronze Age east of the Carpathians, being chronologically placed between XII – X BC. The elemental composition of the four pieces was identified by employing non-invasive analysis with a mobile spectrometer, Thermo Niton XL3, resulting in a composition of a binary copper-tin alloy (Cu-Sn), to which a number of secondary elements are added: arsenic, antimony, iron, nickel, lead, titanium, and sulphur. In the case of the sickle from Dodești, the percentage of lead is 1.593% which could come from the composition of the copper or tin ores used, given that the percentage should be higher than 2-3% to be considered an intentional addition. Arsenic was also identified in the composition of the four sickles, but in small percentages, > 1%, most likely coming from the composition of the copper ore used. The elemental composition of ancient artefacts enables the establishment of correlations between different types of objects, production areas, raw material resource areas, and distribution patterns. Based on the elemental composition, the four sickles fall into the group of copper objects with arsenic, antimony/antimony, and nickel as the main secondary elements.
The Late Bronze Age city of Hala Sultan Tekke (HST) is located on the south-eastern coast of Cyprus, c. 7 km south of modern-day Larnaca. The most recent excavations revealed four new city quarters ...(CQ1–4), where domestic and industrial activities took place. While the earliest occupational remains are from c. 1650/1600 BCE, the so far best attested period lasted from the 13th century to its final destruction in the mid-12th century BCE, after which the city was abandoned, never to be occupied again. The find material demonstrates intense industrial and trade activities resulting in an increased wealth. Agricultural products from the city’s hinterland certainly added to its rank as a leading trade hub in the eastern Mediterranean. The most recent archaeobotanical research revealed charred plant remains including that of barley, einkorn and emmer wheat, fig, olive, grape and lentil. These contribute to understanding the function and use of areas, spaces and specific installations at HST, and shed further light on Late Bronze Age agriculture on Cyprus.
Research over the last few decades has greatly enhanced our understanding of the production and distribution of glass across time and space, resulting in an almost kaleidoscopically colourful and ...complex picture. We now recognise several major ‘families’ of glass composition, including plant-ash based glass in Late Bronze Age Egypt and Mesopotamia, and the Islamic World; mineral natron glass in the Greek, Roman and Byzantine Empires; mineral-based lead- and lead–barium glass in Han period China and medieval Europe; and wood-ash and ash-lime glass in medieval Europe. Other glass groups include a peculiar granite-based glass in medieval Nigeria, and probably mineral-based glass in Bronze Age southern Europe. However, despite two centuries of research, we know very little about the actual production locations and technologies for most of these glass groups, and how and where glass making was invented.
The early literature reflects the comparatively limited number of individuals and research groups working on glass; only recently there is a significant broadening of the research community and expansion and refinement of the data base. This enables us now to take stock of our current understanding and identify major lacunae and areas where additional work may make the most significant contributions to our understanding of the complex picture. Hopefully this will help moving from the traditional descriptive and often fragmented opportunistic data-gathering phase (asking ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘when’) to a more interpretative period looking with fresh eyes at the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of compositional and technical developments. This opening of the research field includes addressing the relationship of the different glass industries to the societies that used glass, and how they organised its production and distribution. A major overarching issue remains the question of the initial invention of glass, and how the idea as well as the material itself spread. Major debates should ask whether there were multiple inventions of glass making; how best to identify and interpret long-distance trade; how to ensure data compatibility and quality; and how to integrate different types of data, from archaeology through craftsmanship and typology to chemistry and optical properties.
•Major progress has been made in characterising ancient glass.•Larger pattern emerges based on numerous case studies.•Important research lacunae still persist.
The main factual basis of the research comprised the materials of 25 necropoleis of the Late Bronze Age examined in the Karaganda and Ulytau regions of Central Kazakhstan. The total number of the ...investigated burials amounts to 167 individual structures. There were 190 burials recorded. Since the 2000s, nine cemeteries belonging to the Late Bronze Age have been investigated. There were 72 burial structures studied, including one of the eight largest mausoleums in the region — Karazhar-tas, excavated in 2016–2017. All known burial structures were divided into three groups: surface stone boxes, boxes imbedded in the bedrock, and ground graves, which, according to the characteristic above-ground structures, were divided into ten types of burial structures. It has been noted that for the first group of the burials, the most characteristic are quadrangular funeral structures erected using the masonry technique. The second group is dominated by quadrangular fences built from vertically set slabs, less often from stone laid on flat. The third group is clearly dominated by a ring-shaped layout in the form of the stones selected according to their dimensions, laid in a circle. The most numerous appeared to be the first group, for which the charac-teristic feature is the arrangement of the burial chambers in the form of stone boxes raised above the ground. The less repre-sentative was the second group with subsurface burials, including those that had a form of composite stone boxes. The third group comprised the burials in ground graves. It is assumed that in the first two groups, the westward orientation of the interred is predominant, with a certain role of the northeastern sector. The third group is characterised by the invariable orientation of the deceased in a southward direction with the sleeping position of the skeleton laid on the right side.
Lead Isotope Analysis (LIA) has been applied most often as a means of provenancing copper at the macro scale. Here we use LIA at the regional scale to expose the relationship between long-distance ...communication and local metal management strategies. We conducted lead isotope and chemical analysis on 82 objects and ingots from Late Bronze Age hoards of the south Carpathian Basin, a node in long distance networks. From a social perspective, results indicate the presence of a community of practice of metalworkers that went beyond socio-political boundaries. Analyses of ingots demonstrate that communities imported copper from a variety of distant sources, but local circulation and specific mixing and recycling practices created a characteristic chemical signature unique to this region. Moreover, metalworkers' choices of copper sources were tailored to specific object types. From an analytical perspective, we demonstrated that the frequent mixing of copper from different sources with varying lead concentrations to make objects resulted in the masking of LIA signatures for some sources – we termed these ‘ghost fractions’ in mixtures – by others with more lead.
•Late Bronze Age south Carpathian Basin groups accessed multiple copper sources.•Distinct local metal management strategies biased according to object types.•Specific chemical signature created by regional metalworking conventions.•Variable lead concentrations shown to mask some copper sources due to mixing.
A planned excavation was conducted at the Late Bronze Age settlement of Baks-Temetőpart (Csongrád–Csanád County, Hungary) in 2007 by Gábor V. Szabó with archaeologists and students of the Eötvös ...Loránd University, Institute of Archaeological Sciences (Budapest). A previously known but unexcavated, rather large, and intensive settlement was researched during the short campaign. More than 4,000 ceramic objects were discovered in different pits, with 71 special ceramic objects among them. This article evaluates these anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines, wagon- and wheel models, sun discs, and miniature vessels that can give us some insight into the beliefs and ways of artistic expression of the classical Gáva pottery style community of Baks-Temetőpart.
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