Late Bronze Age archaeology

le casteddu de cucuruzzu est implanté à 711 m d'altitude sur un éperon dominant la partie septentrionale du plateau de levie, au coeur de l'Alta rocca, dans le sud de la corse. il s'agit d'un complexe dominé par une torra retranchée derrière une imposante enceinte. un habitat léger est dispersé au pied de cette muraille et plusieurs villages et sépultures sous abri sont connus dans un rayon de quelques centaines de mètres autour de la fortification. l'ensemble est fouillé à partir des années 1960 par r. Grosjean puis f. de lanfranchi. Dans le cadre d'un programme de conservation et de valorisation mené par la collectivité de corse, une fouille préventive y a été réalisée par l'inrAP en 2015. ces recherches ont permis de confirmer et compléter le schéma chronologique de structuration du casteddu. la torra est élevée au Bronze moyen alors que l'enceinte est en fonction au moins dès le début du Bronze final. Au cours du premier âge du fer, le complexe subit quelques modifications architecturales et est trans-formé en zone sépulcrale alors que les habitats ouverts (nuciaresa, Saparaccia, riccu, cruci) se développent autour de la vieille forteresse. l'état des connaissances sur ce casteddu en fait l'un des principaux jalons de définition de ce type de site pour le sud de la corse durant la seconde moitié de l'âge du Bronze. Abstract : The casteddu (hillfort) of Cucuruzzu is located on a 711 m high spur dominating the Northern part of the Levie plateau, in the heart of Alta Rocca, Southern Corsica. The focal point of this architectural complex consists of a torra (tower) entrenched within impressive walls. A few light structures are scattered at the bottom of the walls, while several villages and rock shelter graves have been discovered within a radius of a few hundred meters around the hillfort. From the 1960s on, several excavations took place ; at first, they were directed by R. Grosjean, who was later succeeded by BSShnc n° 764-765 (2018) Patrimoine architectural civil et militaire de la Corse: histoire, technique, conservation. 17 novembre 2017, Bastia.

This paper deals with the Late Bronze Age complexes (deposits) of molds made of stone which were found near Tokivske village, Apostolivskyi region, Dnipropetrovsk oblast, at the eastern bank of the Kamianka River, Dnipro basin. Complexes included, respectively, three and seven matrixes mainly made of shale. Molds were used for production of bronze sickles, daggers, flat adzes, sleeve chisels, celts, round disc (mirror), pins, round plaques-buttons. Most of types are typical for the Middle Dnipro region. However, some of those have analogies in wide territories of Eurasia, from the Carpathians to Central Asia.

The complexes of finds are contemporaneous to each other. It is confirmed by their dating and the presence of similar matrixes for the production of daggers in both complexes. Metal finds produced in Tokivske forms have analogies in complexes of Loboikivka (Middle Dnipro region, Donets region) and mainly the Ingul — Krasnyi Maiak (Lower Dnipro region, North-Western Pontic region) centers of metal production. Tokivske itself was located in the contact area of two large cultural complexes dated by the Middle Bronze Age, i.e. Zrubna (Berezhnivsko-Maivska Zrubna culture — BMZC) and Sabatynivka–Noua, to which those centers of metal production related. Similarities to the metal tools can be also found among the materials typical for the Central European deposits of Ópályi-Uriu-Domǎneşti. To a certain extent, analogies to the described finds are known in Kardashynka center of metal production belonging to Bilozerka culture. Therefore, the time of functioning of the workshop at the Tokivske site can be dated to the transition from Late Sabatynivka (BMZC-II after V. V. Otroshchenko) to Early Bilozerka time, BzD — HaA1 period according to P. Reineke or 13th—12th century BC. This was a time of the beginning of the so-called “The Bronze Age collapse”. In South-Eastern Europe the latter is marked by the decline of Noua–Sabatynivka and Zrubna (also known as Timber-Grave) cultural complexes and the formation of new cultures of the Final Bronze Age, from which Bilozerka and Bilohrudivka cultures were developed in the eastern bank of the Dnipro.

Hard to handle: aspects of organization in Aegean and Near Eastern feasts.

Abstract
In ancient Near Eastern and Aegean societies, feasts are often grand scale events. There, the act of giving and receiving is organized by means of sophisticated redistribution mechanisms that are run by the royal or religious institutes, that is, the palace and the temple. These direct their material resources to specific events of feasting with the aid of administrative system that determines the expenditures and the personnel participating in the event, as required by the locality and the occasion itself.
The objective of this work is to offer directions towards a systematic comparative study of feasting practices in the Aegean and Canaanite societies in the 14th-12th centuries BCE. It is aimed to reconstruct the socio-political meaning of feasts that enjoyed the support of institutional redistribution in the Aegean and the Canaanite cultures, as well as the degree in which Aegean and Canaanite feasts influenced one another.

Os bronzes rituais ou arcaicos chineses eram utilizados em cerimónias funerárias e em sacrifícios aos antepassados nas dinastias Shang e Zhou. A sofisticação técnica da sua confecção e a riqueza da sua decoração testemunham uma conquista notável na história da arte do trabalho em metal.
Na Primeira Parte, descreve-se a natureza e a função dos bronzes rituais chineses, inserindo-os no seu contexto histórico e artístico. Assinalam-se os desenvolvimentos nas suas tipologias ao longo das dinastias Shang e Zhou; da evolução da sua importância na associação com o poder e com os rituais funerários; e ainda do significado simbólico
da decoração zoomórfica.
Na Segunda Parte, para além de enumerar aquilo que deve ser levado em consideração ao adquirir bronzes rituais chineses na actualidade o presente artigo debruça-se sobre as escassas colecções portuguesas, em particular a maior de entre elas, reunida pelo artista plástico contemporâneo José de Guimarães. Prossegue-se com uma breve história e descrição desta colecção, tentando avaliar os seus pontos fortes e fracos, bem como a descodificação das directrizes por trás da escolha das peças.

Chadwell St Mary is a village in the unitary authority of Thurrock, in southern Essex. This part of the county contains a high proportion of prehistoric settlement. This volume describes the archaeological excavation of a site to the east of Chadwell St Mary and the late Bronze Age and Anglo-Saxon settlements that were recorded there.
The Bronze Age settlement contains a ringwork or ‘Springfield style enclosure’, relatively rare sites with a restricted geographical distribution, and is significant because of its proximity to the similar site at Mucking. This volume examines the function of such enclosures, their significance in the landscape of southern Essex, and looks, in general, at current understanding of the utilisation of the Bronze Age landscape. 
The small Anglo-Saxon settlement is of significance due to its potential relationship with the larger contemporary settlement at Mucking. The book examines Anglo-Saxon structures and settlement form and layout.

This contribution offers the reader some re ections of a broader nature on the funerary rituals present at Cozzo del Pantano and Matrensa. The overall contribution to the literature offered is a new typology of tombs based on the dimensions and showing that there are interesting differences between tombs classi ed as “minor” or “major,” possibly allowing for diachronic changes between the two.
In the minor tombs it is possible to observe the persistence of certain architectural features and artefacts linked to the Early Bronze Age, while the major tombs are characterized by the tholos shape, and can be linked with imported ceramics alongside the indigenous ones, showing a change in know-how in the elaboration of sets of funerary goods in this period. Important too is the evidence of the voluntary destruction of objects, possibly linked to communal practices that can be traced to the exterior of the burial chamber, distinct from the Orsian hypothesis of the “funerary banquet.”

Axes in the second-millennium BCE Levant were more than tools of craft and weapons of war, but potent symbols of divinity, kingship and even instruments of sacrifi ce. In this short article, dedicated to Prof. Jak Yakar, I will try to add fi ve possibly Anatolian or North Syrian copper-alloy axes to the list of Anatolian objects found in the southern Levant, which includes seals, rings and even an ivory plaque. These include a double axe from MBI Megiddo, one from MBIII Shiloh, an axe from LBII Beth Shean, and two others from a ship cargo found by Hishulei Carmel, Haifa. This article aims at addressing the rare occurrences of these axes, assessing the chronological and depositional circumstances of each.