Iron Age temperate Europe: Some current research issues

Wells, Peter S.

doi:10.1007/bf00974814

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…This model reinforces the idea of small hierarchies and differs from the previous stage, although in many cases the upland settlements survived. It would therefore seem reasonable to suggest that these were groups involved in an economy of prestige goods which they traded with more complex political organizations, in a way fairly similar to the models proposed for warrior societies and chiefdoms of the Late Hallstatt Culture in Central Europe (Frankenstein and Rowlands 1978;Härke 1982;Wells 1990), studies of which have, furthermore, emphasized the rôle of pre-existing hierarchies in the construction of the new trading networks, in this case with the Greek and Italic world (Brun 1991;Pare 1991). This is the model that Aubet (1990) and Cunliffe (1995, 16-17) have proposed for the groups which inhabited the Guadalquivir and Guadiana valleys, in the south of Iberia.…”

Section: Bronze Age/iron Age Transition: the Stimulus For Long-distanmentioning

confidence: 89%

The Iron Age in Western Spain (800 BC–AD 50): An Overview

Álvarez‐Sanchís

2000

Oxford J Archaeology

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Vettonia was one of the most important Celtic regions in Iberia which emerged in the Iron Age. It corresponds largely to western Spain, between the Duero and Tagus valleys. The archaeological evidence indicates that the formation of this ethnic group lay in an historical process whose roots went back to the Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age, when we begin to find a regular association between the first fortified sites and stable populations. These groups did not consolidate before the second half of the first millennium BC, in parallel with the development of other peoples of the interior of the Iberian Peninsula. This period can be recognized in particular through the spread of the ritual of cremation, ironworking, the adoption of the potter's wheel and the expansion of some settlements -oppida -which were ultimately to disappear with the Roman conquest. This paper sets out to examine the evolution of the area from an indigenous perspective, examining the process of change before and after the evidence referred to by Greek and Roman writers. THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEMEuropean prehistory has developed under the premise that there is a direct relationship between technological change and changes in the exploitation of natural resources. Thus, the origins of the Iron Age have been seen in two separate developments: on one hand the use of new types of tools and the technology necessary to produce them and, on the other, taking possession of land and the introduction of new crops. The transition to the Iron Age also marks the change between two different ways of conceiving the past. The ephemeral nature of the dwellings gave way to fortified settlements which indicate permanent occupation. The emergence of these hillforts was an important development, perhaps the most important in the transformation of nature. They helped to create a new sense of place and time and were, to some extent, the result of adopting new technologies that were part and parcel of a general process of economic intensification, and promoted a stable way of life. There is little doubt that the most recent prehistory of the Iberian Peninsula was witness to this fundamental change in the landscape: certain kinds of pottery, sites and structures disappear or become extremely scarce, and others appear. But all too often it is assumed that the adoption of a sedentary lifestyle was more sweeping than it was. Traditionally, researchers propose models of analysis advocating a nomadic and impermanent pattern of settlement before the new stage, and only

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Section: Bronze Age/iron Age Transition: the Stimulus For Long-distanmentioning

confidence: 89%

The Iron Age in Western Spain (800 BC–AD 50): An Overview

Álvarez‐Sanchís

2000

Oxford J Archaeology

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“…With increasing exploration of northern Mesopotamian cities, significant differences are being delineated in urban size, residential organization, and economic structure between urban centers in the rain-fed agriculture zone of northern Mesopotamia/northern Syria and the irrigation-based cities of southern Mesopotamia (Wilkinson, 1994). Similarly, broad horizontal exposures of late Iron Age oppida in Europe have been showing an unexpectedly high degree of organizational variation in what was previously thought to be a fairly homogeneous settlement type (Audouze and Buchsenschutz, 1989;Wells, 1990;Woolf, 1993). The organization and degree of centralized planning/control in cities of Egypt (O'Connor, 1993) and China (Shen, 1994) have been shown to vary over time as well between periods of greater and lesser state power.…”

Section: Urbanismmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Work by Kemp (1989) and O'Connor and Silverman (1994) provides particularly useful discussions of kingship and ideology in the fully developed Bronze Age Egyptian state in its Old, Middle, and New Kingdom incarnations. Recent syntheses place the archaeological data relating to the development of Bronze and Iron Age complex societies in Europe within an anthropological context (Arnold and Gibson, 1995;Chapman, 1990;Cunliffe, 1994;Gibson and Geselowitz, 1988;Wells, 1990). A series of good theoretically oriented overviews of early complex societies in Asia (including South Asia) is presented in a special issue of the journal Asian Perspectives (1994, Vol.…”

Section: Regional Data Synthesesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Heterogeneity, power, and political economy: Some current research issues in the archaeology of Old World complex societies

Stein¹

1998

J Archaeol Res

145

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“…The period of the Iron Age in Europe-lasting roughly throughout the 1st millennium BCE-is a dynamic period marked by cultural, political, and technological heterogeneity. In fact, because the archaeological convention for the local onset of the Iron Age is the replacement of bronze tools by their iron and steel equivalents, there are significant chronological differences between the north and the south and east of Europe [1]. Similarly, the period is conventionally thought to end with the advent of historiography or Roman conquests, which in some cases means that the Iron Age lasted until the migration period.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Known Glass Compositions in Iron Age Europe—Current Synthesis and Emerging Questions

Lončarić

Costa

2023

Heritage

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Ancient glass has been extensively studied from a technological and raw material provenance perspective since the middle of the 20th century. With the rising applications of analytical techniques in the field of Heritage Studies, the last two decades saw an exponential increase in publications on ancient and historical glass technology from around the globe. Given the amount of works on glass chemical composition, it is surprising to note that the long-held production model for Iron Age glasses found in Europe has only recently been challenged by the publication of uncharacteristic glass compositions. Traditionally, LBA glass industries based on plant-ash fluxes/HMG (Egypt and the Levant) and mixed-alkali fluxes/LMHK (Italy) are thought to be supplanted by natron-fluxed/LMG production operating in Egypt and the Levant since around the 9th century BCE. Recently, however, arguments have been put forth for a more diversified network of glassmaking traditions, including small-scale autonomous European workshops. This article reviews the current state of research into Iron Age (1st millennium BCE) glasses in Europe by examining the available published data on glass compositions to critically assess some practical and theoretical issues stemming from this heterogenous field of research. Key questions are addressed, and future lanes of research are proposed.

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Iron Age temperate Europe: Some current research issues

Cited by 13 publications

References 21 publications

The Iron Age in Western Spain (800 BC–AD 50): An Overview

The Iron Age in Western Spain (800 BC–AD 50): An Overview

Heterogeneity, power, and political economy: Some current research issues in the archaeology of Old World complex societies

Known Glass Compositions in Iron Age Europe—Current Synthesis and Emerging Questions

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