Bronze And Iron Age In Mediterrarranean (Archaeology)

For years there has been much speculation surrounding the abandonment of the Middle Bronze Age IIB palace of Tel Kabri, ca. 1700 BCE. There are no weapons, hoards of money and jewelry, or visible evidence for fire, which rules out hostile attack or conquest. There are also no indications of drought or environmental degradation that might have forced the inhabitants to vacate the site, nor mass graveyards to indicate a pandemic. The current study uses micro-geoarchaeological methods to show that the demise of the palace was rapid, with walls and ceilings collapsing at once prior to abandonment. Macroscopic data (stratigraphic and structural) from five excavation seasons were reexamined, showing that at least nine Potential Earthquake Archaeological Effects (PEAEs) are found and associated with the last occupation phase of the site's palace. All lines of evidence point to the possibility that an earthquake damaged the palace, possibly to a point where it was no longer economically viable to repair. This conclusion is compounded by the discovery of a 1-3 m wide trench that cuts through the palace for 30 m, which may be the result of ground shaking or liquefaction caused by an earthquake. This study shows the importance of combining macro-and micro-archaeological methods for the identification of ancient earthquakes, together with the need to evaluate alternative scenarios of climatic, environmental, and economic collapse, as well as human-induced destruction before a seismic event scenario can be proposed.

This paper presents the results of a study carried out on three previously unpublished Iron Age socketed arrowheads with spur from Monte Figueiró-Central Portugal-, a site located between the Tagus and Mondego rivers. This region is of the utmost importance to understanding how Mediterranean influences penetrated along the Iberian Atlantic coast and up to the inland Portuguese territories, through Phoenician traders, since the Early Iron Age-8 th century bc-. The socketed arrowheads with spurs, originally produced in the Southeastern end of Europe, namely in the Black Sea area, are virtually unseen in the Portuguese territory, where only another similar item has been found at Castro Marim-South Portugal-, in contrast with Spain, more specifically with the Guadalquivir region, where they are quite frequently found. Therefore, the occurrence of the three socketed arrowheads from Monte Figueiró is a challenging discovery, since Central Portugal is a peripheral area with respect to the Iberian regions that underwent an actual Phoenician colonisation. Based on this assumption, this paper will not focus just on typological and technological issues, but it will go a bit further, also reflecting on what these three artefacts can reveal about the interaction between indigenous inland communities from Central Portugal and Phoenician traders.

The hoards from northern Bosnia, especially those along the wider stream area of river Bosna, are culturally and technologically interpreted in close connection with the emanating pattern of their manifestation in the wider area of south-western Pannonia and the extremely rich Posavina region within it. Data on 11 hoards in the region currently exists, with around 570 items and fragments recorded within these. Most hoards are considered to be representative of the cultural circumstances of the time and place in which they were deposited. Among them are included several exceptionally interesting recently published hoards from Majdan/Ridžal, Paležnica and Srebrenik, each with their own idiosyncrasies. These are now complemented by a hoard from Cvrtkovci, which is presented here in greater detail. All of these hoards, through typological-stylistic analysis and chronological attribution, have been attributed to the earlier period of the Urnfield culture, i.e., defined as falling within the range of phase II hoards of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a result, they are deemed to be characteristic of an integral part of the enigmatic Pan-European phenomenon of the Late Bronze Age, synchronized with the Ha A1 phase of Central European periodization of the 13th and 12th centuries BC.
In the analyses of Bosnian hoards undertaken to date, an emphasis has been placed on the interpretation of objects as a valuable resource for typological and chronological evaluation, an approach that also forms the basis of this research. However, questions as to the spatial arrangement of the hoards within the landscape, interpersonal connections and origins have only recently been raised, and here, for the first time, an archaeo-metallurgical analysis of isotopes of representative objects from the Cvrtkovci hoard is presented.

For more than 150 years, the prehistoric civilizations of  the East Mediterranean have fascinated and attracted numerous scholars interested both in the various manifestations of  the respective social order within this geographical zone, and by the role and impact these civilizations may have had on the neighbouring regions.
As one would expect, our knowledge is growing continuously, triggered by new archaeological research, the progress of  interdisciplinary investigations of  archaeological science, and the diversification of theoretical approaches interpreting material culture from an anthropological perspective. The speed of these accumulations is increasing rapidly, while the number of  studies and the variety and complexity of the themes is also continuously growing. That is why the periodic organization of  conferences on welldefined themes and the publication of  the respective volumes are absolutely necessary, not only in order to be able to integrate the new data into the broader picture, but also for the redefinition of  the state of research within certain working areas and to show the experimental investigation of  new research directions.
The present volume is the outcome of  a conference with the same title organized at Tulcea, Romania, between the 10th and the 13th of  November 2017, dedicated to the memory of  Professor Alexandru Vulpe. Four prestigious institutions, two from Romania (the Gavrilă Simion Eco-Museum Research Institute, Tulcea and the Vasile Pârvan Institute of  Archaeology, Bucharest) and two from Germany (the Institut für und Frühgeschichte und Vorderasiatische Archäologie, Heidelberg and the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Eurasien Abteilung, Berlin), with the generous support of  the Mayor’s Office in Tulcea, managed to bring together over 50 scholars, most of  them friends, colleagues, collaborators, students or simply acquaintances of  Professor Vulpe. The intention of  the organizers was to provide a suitable environment for sharing opinions and experience, and for an open and positive discussion, to recognize the current state of  research on the topic, and to establish stronger connections for future collaboration in this field.
Contacts among human communities from various cultural areas, the circulation of  people, ideas and objects, or the identification of  the main communication routes as well as their role in shaping prehistoric societies are likely to remain forever topics of  intense discussion within archaeology. The relations between the Carpathian-Balkan area and the Aegean during the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age was one of  the main themes of  study for Alexandru Vulpe. As a supporter of  the idea of  Ex oriente lux, Vulpe always argued for the major role played by the Helladic civilization in the cultural development of  the Carpathian Balkan area. The lectures delivered at the Tulcea conference and the papers published in the present volume highlight once again the complexity of  these connections and the multitude of  perspectives revealed when approaching such a theme.
Although the title of  the volume indicates the main geographic areas in question, contributions from other cultural areas (i.e. Central Europe, the Middle Danube, Northern Pontic area, etc.), whose societies were in close contact with those of  the Balkans, were also welcome. The four sections grouping the studies in the volume had not been established from the very beginning; they are the result of  the subjects approached by the authors. Reading the papers attentively, one notices the diversity of  the subjects and approaches and, in most cases, the novelty of  the ideas expressed. We hope that the publication will provide research with a reference volume, opening new perspectives on the matters discussed. The present work is the result of  the common effort of  all authors, spanning a period of  over three years. We wish to thank all contributors for their promptness and seriousness in answering our invitation to the volume, as well as for the openness and patience showed during the entire editing process. We are very much indebted to the Mayor’s Office of  the community of  Tulcea for the financial help and for the hospitality provided to the participants of  the conference. Special thanks go to Douglas Fear (Heidelberg) for the careful language editing of  the contributions to this volume.

Cut-stone masonry is one of the most prominent features that characterizes monumental architecture, the appearance of which is imbued with symbolic meaning and is a corollary to wholesale changes in the societies of the Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean. The workshop held in Louvain-la-Neuve on the 8th and 9th of March 2018 aimed at exploring the specificities of building practices incorporating cut-stone masonry or components in Egypt, Syria, the Aegean, Anatolia, Cyprus, and the Levant in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. Specialists of the different regions of the Eastern Mediterranean discussed topics including the structural and formal features of standing architectural remains, extraction and shaping methods, tool kits, the visual effect of ashlar use and the symbolic impact of its abandonment.
Before letting the reader enter the core of the volume and explore the range of approaches to ashlar offered by contributors specialized in different geographical areas and sites, it bears upon the editors to provide a terminological and contextual framework in this introductory chapter. Characterizing the forms, techniques and building processes associated with cut-stone masonry in the Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age is a daunting task. Data are spread over an extensive geographical and chronological context – the latter often debated – and the description of ashlar components and masonries is often provided with varying degrees of details and a loose terminology. The purpose of this introductory chapter is to provide a reminder of the terminology of cut-stone building components and masonry, to describe the specific techniques related to its production, and to provide a synopsis of ashlar use in the different regions of the Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age. This regional synopsis is followed by a presentation of the challenges addressed during the workshop, and which fashioned the research questions addressed in the different, focused, contributions to this volume. These and the present introductory chapter address the research questions through varying case studies, datasets and methodologies, thus providing an in-depth understanding of the use of ashlar in the different regions of the Eastern Mediterranean in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC, and providing a sound basis for discussion and comparison pertaining to this elaborate building technique.