Bronze and Iron Ages in Eastern Mediterranean (Archaeology)

U radu se predstavljaju i analiziraju rezultati zaštitnog arheološkog istraživanja provedenog krajem 2017. godine u privatnoj kući vlasnika Mladena Galića smještenoj u staroj jezgri grada Hvara, u predjelu Groda. Na osnovu tipološke analize materijala pronađenog u dvije arheološke sonde, ljudska aktivnost se na ovom prostoru odvija u širokom rasponu od kasnog brončanog doba te kroz željezno doba. U radu se pretpostavlja postojanje podgradinskog naselja na južnim padinama brda, koje je pripadalo utvrđenoj gradini na mjestu današnje tvrđave Fortice u gradu Hvaru.

The surroundings of the city of Hvar, along with several caves, had
been populated since the Neolithic. With the development of agriculture,
commerce and sea trade and the influx of new settlers, the settlements
adopted to these new times. In the Bronze Age had begun the settlement
on the site of the city Fortress, Fortica, strongly fortified, with checkpoints to the east. It also had its necropolis, above the Vira bay, with lots of burial mounds. The acropolis, or higher part of the settlement on the hillfort itself, has been swept away by historical changes, but in its lower parts, within abs around the medieval ramparts in the present-day city quarter of Groda, finds of Bronze Age, Iron Age and Antique pottery have been ascertained in abundance, which proves that on this area life had developed in continuity for thousands of years; the hillfort in Hvar and the settlement under it, connected with the port, is a unique place in the maritime constellation of the Adriatic.
Archaeological finds in the Galić house are not typical for a narrow
prehistoric period or a specific ethnic group, but instead belong to pottery used from late Bronze Age and throughout the Iron Age on eastern Adriatic. The presence of imported pottery helps a lot; the only datable fragment comes from south Italy, 9th c. BCE.
Nothing except pottery gas been found and there is a possibility that
the original strata had been disturbed, due to steepness of the site, erosion and building of the house in the past.
The pottery found on this site can be dated throughout the millennium
BCE, and proves once again that the area of the city of Hvar was the most important settlement on this island in prehistory.

Si l'apparition de l'araire au Proche-Orient était traditionnellement attribuée au 4 e millénaire avant notre ère, sur la base de données iconographiques et textuelles (Sherratt 1981), les sillons fossilisés du Khûzistân en Mésopotamie ont fait remonter son utilisation au 5 e millénaire. Dans le monde égéen comme à Chypre, les premiers indices iconographiques datent du 3 e millénaire, tandis qu'un signe du hiéroglyphique crétois (2 e millénaire) représente l'araire de type chambige. Ce dernier est constitué d'un manche, d'un timon courbe (le chambige) et d'un sep. Le soc est inséré à l'extrémité du sep. Pour ce type, le timon traverse le manche (pour plus de détail sur la classiication des araires cf. Haudricourt § Jean-Bruhnes Delmarre 1955). Cependant, en se fondant sur des déformations osseuses de bovidés liées à la traction animale, plusieurs chercheurs proposent que l'araire soit apparu dès le Néolithique Précéramique au Proche-Orient (8 e millénaire, Anderson 2006) et dès le Néolithique ancien en Crète ((n du 6 e millénaire, Isaakidou 2006). C'est à partir de ces données indirectes que l'invention et la diffusion de l'araire sont retracées. L'araire en bois ne peut en effet se conserver que dans des conditions taphonomiques spéciiques. En Egypte ou en Europe, où de telles conditions étaient remplies, des araires ont été mis au jour (Danemark, Allemagne, Italie ; Petrequin P. et al. 2006), mais aucun instrument n'a été conservé au Proche-Orient et en Egée. Les fouilles « ne nous ont pas fourni des trouvailles nombreuses », notait M.-Cl. Amouretti en 1976, dans un article pionnier sur les outils aratoires égéens. La question des critères de reconnaissance de ces outils aratoires se pose d'emblée. La rareté des socs identiiés doit-elle nous conduire à envisager que l'araire protohistorique était constitué uniquement de bois ? Une variabilité des socs et des instruments selon les régions, la nature des sols et les traditions techniques ne peut-elle pas être envisagée ? Comme le soulignaient A. Haudricourt et M. Jean-Bruhnes Delmarre dans leur ouvrage fondateur L'Homme et la charrue (1955), les instruments se transforment à des vitesses inégales, les emprunts, les diffusions s'effectuant suivant des rythmes différents et d'une manière discontinue. Ce sont ces transformations et ces rythmes inégaux que nous suggèrent les traces archéologiques disponibles. Si l'existence d'outils aratoires en pierre durant le Néolithique est encore débattue, des instruments en basalte et en calcaire, fort probablement des socs d'araire, sont attestés au Proche-Orient durant le 3 e millénaire, et nous venons d'identiier un outil de ce type en Crète (début du 2 e millénaire.). Ennn à Chypre, au Bronze Récent ((n du 2 e millénaire), la morphologie et le volume d'une série d'outils en bronze suggèrent leur utilisation comme socs d'araire (Caltling 1964). La mise en place de critères de reconnaissance de ces outils constitue une étape essentielle pour retracer l'apparition et la diffusion de l'araire en Méditerranée Orientale. Notre étude porte sur les socs en pierre mais

Our study of Black-on-Red sherds found in well-stratified Iron IIA contexts at Megiddo shows that the earliest examples of this ware appear in an early stage of the Late Iron IIA, radiocarbon dated to the late 10th to early ninth century B.C.E. An archaeometric analysis of 10 sherds reveals that they were manufactured in Cyprus, meaning that Black-on-Red vessels were produced on the island as early as ca. 900 B.C.E. This makes Gjerstad’s theory regarding the “Levantine Phase” in the production history of this ware obsolete. It is noteworthy that Black-on-Red vessels of Type IV (dated to the eighth and early seventh centuries B.C.E. based on stylistic considerations) are present in secure contexts in levels Q-5 and Q-4 at Megiddo, radiocarbon dated to the late 10th and ninth centuries B.C.E.

The aim of the Tel Dor joint Sea and Land Project is to reassess and expand understanding of the maritime interface of Iron
Age Dor. During 2016 and 2017 five features excavated under water provided new data about the development and chronology
of this interface. The results support a revised dating and interpretation of previously excavated structures and the identification
of several new stone-built coastal fortification and maritime features, dating to the Early Iron Age. A later phase of construction
attributed to the 7th century BCEAssyrian period at Dorwas also documented. The outcome of the excavation is the introduction
of new aspects of the development of Dor in the Iron Age, including what is likely part of t

In this paper I explore what makes Frattesina (Fratta Polesine RO) a key site in Europe during the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age; the paper has an extended English summary and appears in the proceedings of the International Conference, Frattesina: un centro internazionale di produzione e di scambio nella tarda età del Bronzo del Veneto, edited by Anna Maria Bietti Sestieri, Paolo Bellintani and Claudio Giardino.

This volume, the third in the publication of the Hebrew University excavations at Tel Beth-Shean directed by Amihai Mazar, presents the architecture, stratigraphy and finds from the 13th to 11th centuries BCE  in this Egyptian garrison town and Canaanite city.

Even after a century of focused investigation, Minoan iconography presents numerous challenges to scholarship. Lacking literary and historical sources, the subjects of this strikingly naturalistic and graceful art form remain persistently anonymous. Divine beings cannot be reliably distinguished from humans playing priestly roles, and only a few mythical monsters can be recognized from one composition to another. Academic literature on the topic is abundant, yet consensus on even the most important points of identification (e.g., the 'Great Goddess' problem) is lacking. This essay investigates the methodological problems confronting the study of Minoan iconography, reviews current approaches to the subject, suggests directions for future research.

The thesis investigates the presence of mercenaries in the Eastern Mediterranean, specifically in Egypt and the Levant, from the Late Bronze Age to the end of the sixth century BCE. The time frame predates the ubiquitous mercenaries of the Classical period onwards, and traces the origins of the profession and how it manifested in the archaeological record.
The examination begins with the earliest evidence for non-local contingents hired in armies during the Bronze Age, based on the sources and archaeological remains, in order to address how to define mercenaries in antiquity. From these instances, the thesis posits a new definition for mercenaries that encompasses the activities and characteristics of such foreign groups. The investigation then turns to the Iron Age, when the contemporary sources are scarce, but the archaeology is telling of numerous calamitous, historical events that precipitate the need for mercenaries.
Past scholarship argued that specific sites in the Iron Age Levant and in Egypt exemplify evidence of mercenary activity, based primarily on different ceramic repertoires. An evaluation of the case studies reassesses whether this is indeed the case; how do the archaeological remains function as indicators of mercenaries? What factors are revealing of non-local contingents situated in a different context? The material remains, and whether they indicate non-local cultural practices and activities, are investigated. By considering the available remains, in addition to the ceramics, including architecture, burial rites, ritual practices, weapons, and the contexts in which the finds are discovered, it is then possible to assess where and when mercenaries are traceable. The discoveries and interpretations from the thesis shed light on the archaeological indicators for mercenary activity, and which sites suggest such evidence, and which do not.