Books by Serena Sabatini
(2007) The ceramic material commonly referred to as northern European
Late Bronze Age house urns... more (2007) The ceramic material commonly referred to as northern European
Late Bronze Age house urns is the main focus of this study. House urns are a distinctive and numerically limited class of funerary vessels characterised by evident architectural features. Their unique shapes and their possible relationship with the similar and partly contemporary phenomenon of the so-called Villanovan hut urns from central Italy generated large interest among European scholars. However, after two centuries of debate there is still no consensus as to their interpretation.
This study provides a comprehensive picture of the phenomenon and its characteristics. To that end it is organised in different sections, each addressing specific issues concerning the house urns. Additionally, it contains the catalogue of the 135 items known today, with relevant information about each piece.
House urns were apparently used for a relatively limited number of people of diverse sex and age, dispersed over a large part of northern Europe mainly during the central phases of the Nordic Late Bronze Age (beginning of the first millenium BC).
The study takes up the challenge to investigate not only morphology, chronology and symbolism of the material, but also its social, cultural and geographical background. The whole of the analysed data depict the house urns as characterised by a complex interplay between ’local’ specific features and ’supra-local’ correspondences which show a relevant abstract component (the ’house’ paradigm) and actually maintain
the coherence of the phenomenon. In addition this work analyses selected phenomena (the so-called Villanovan hut urn and European face urns) which, to different extents, are considered interlaced with emergence and development of house urns and initiate a discussion on their value as markers of cultural identity.
In conclusion, house urns are defined as a koine, in the sense that the dialectic between their local and supra-local components depicts a trans-cultural phenomenon which is at the same time a cultural space of specifically shared values.
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Papers by Serena Sabatini
CONTACTS AND EXCHANGES BETWEEN SARDINIA, CONTINENTAL ITALY AND THE NORTH-WESTERN EUROPE IN THE BRONZE AGE (18TH-11TH C. BC): THE “COPPER ROUTE”, THE “AMBER ROUTE”, THE “TIN ROUTE” Proceedings of the Fifth Festival of the Nuragic Civilization (Orroli, Cagliari), 2023
This paper presents The Missing link project financed by Swedish
Research Council1, which will be... more This paper presents The Missing link project financed by Swedish
Research Council1, which will be running between 2021 and 2025.
The aim of the project is to investigate the role of Sardinia in the metal
trade between Scandinavia, Atlantic Europe, and the Mediterranean
during the Bronze Age. Growing evidence for metals of Sardinian
origin in artefacts from different parts of Europe invite new ideas
about maritime networks and the role of the western Mediterranean
as a metal producing region. Following from that: what was the
role of Sardinia in such a maritime network? And how did the production
and exchange of metals unfold between Atlantic Europe and
the Mediterranean?
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Material and Manufacturing Processes, 2020
(2020) Since the 1980 s, extensive archeological studies have provided us with knowledge about th... more (2020) Since the 1980 s, extensive archeological studies have provided us with knowledge about the multifaceted relations between Nuragic Sardinia and Bronze Age Cyprus. During the winter of 2019, Nuragic tableware of Sardinian origin was discovered at the harbor site of Hala Sultan Tekke, on the southeastern coast of Cyprus, providing the opportunity to return to the question of the reasons behind this presence. The aim of this paper is to reflect on the characteristics and role of Sardinian maritime
“enterprises” in the long-distance metal trade in the Mediterranean and beyond, including continental Europe. An array of new provenance studies demonstrates the complexity of the Bronze Age metal trade and, taking a maritime perspective, provides the opportunity to reveal how strategically positioned actors such as Nuragic Sardinia managed to dominate sea-borne routes, and gained a prominent and independent international position.
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Bollettino di Archeologia Online, 2021
Molteplici studi hanno contribuito a creare nel corso degli anni una notevole, anche se dispersa,... more Molteplici studi hanno contribuito a creare nel corso degli anni una notevole, anche se dispersa, quantità di dati sul complesso processo di urbanizzazione che ha caratterizzato l’Etruria meridionale dalla fine dell’età del bronzo fino al periodo tardoantico.
Il presente lavoro intende rivisitare and espandere la conoscenza del vibrante sviluppo storico dell’Italia centro-occidentale presentando vecchi e nuovi dati da uno dei suoi centri chiave, il sito di Vulci (VT). L’articolo si divide in tre parti. Nella prima ci si propone di presentare il progetto di ricerca Understanding Urban Identities (UUI) gestito dall’Università di Göteborg. La seconda parte propone una rapida panoramica dello sviluppo storico di Vulci, mentre nella terza ed ultima parte dell’articolo si presentano i risultati della prima campagna di prospezioni geofisiche condotte nell’area urbana dell’antica Vulci in collaborazione con la British School di Roma.
I risultati delle prospezioni geofisiche dimostrano che l’area urbana investigata era probabilmente occupata da strutture di tipo domestico e produttivo. I segnali raccolti escludono la presenza di strutture monumentali e suggeriscono si tratti di un’area adatta allo studio dello sviluppo diacronico del sito. Dal punto di vista metodologico, il risultato delle prospezioni conferma quello di precedenti indagini nell’area urbana di Vulci e dimostra come nella stessa il Ground Penetrating Radar sia lo strumento più adatto allo studio non invasivo del sito.
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Life and afterlife in the Nordic Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 15th Nordic Bronze Age Symposium held in Lund, Sweden, June 11-15, 2019. Edited by A. Tornberg, A. Svensson, J. Apel. Acta Archaeologica Lundensia. Series prima in 4° No 37, 119-139, 2022
The study of burials is central to archaeology in many ways. Each burial is likely to have b... more The study of burials is central to archaeology in many ways. Each burial is likely to have been an event that individuals and/or groups of various sizes attended, following norms, rituals, and customs; possibly from time to time such norms were altered or new ones were introduced. One may consider that during the funerary rituals, the deceased becomes tightly enmeshed with his or her burial. In this process, the complex plurality of each burial with all its components ends up conveying messages to the world of the living. Burial contexts can be considered for instance as communicating adherence or contrast to dominating values and norms; they could also signal forms of social, cultural, political or economic status characterizing the deceased him-/herself or perhaps his or her kin. This contribution aims to discuss and problematize the complexity at display in Late Bronze Age burials from southern Scandinavia using the cemetery at Simris II, in southeastern Sweden, as a case study. The dominant burial practice during the period in question is cremation, which almost completely obliterates the body of the deceased and its identity markers (e.g., gender, age, individual features, and material culture such as clothing and adornments). A review of the archaeological record—combined with data from recent multidisciplinary studies of the ceramic and osteological material from the site—suggests that not only the carefully selected urns, but also the characteristics and the positions of the graves embodied manifold meanings. Taken together, they likely signalled significant aspects of the identity of the deceased or of the family/group to which they belonged.
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14th International Conference of Archaeological Prospection, 2021
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PLOS ONE, 2021
The Bronze Age of Sweden's southernmost region, Scania, is complex and intriguing. One could say ... more The Bronze Age of Sweden's southernmost region, Scania, is complex and intriguing. One could say that Scania represented in many ways a gateway for people, ideas and material culture connecting continental Europe with Sweden. Shedding light on the dynamics of human mobility in this region requires an in depth understanding of the local archaeological contexts across time. In this study, we present new archaeological human data from the Late Bronze Age Simris II site, located in an area of Scania showing a dynamic environment throughout the Late Bronze Age, thus likely involving various forms of mobility. Because the characterization of solid strontium isotope baselines is vital for delineating human mobility in prehistory using the strontium isotope methodology, we introduce the first environmentally based multi-proxy (surface water-, plant-and soil leachates) strontium isotope baselines for sub-regions of Scania. Our results show, that the highly complex and spatially scattered lithologies characterising Scania does not allow for a spatially meaningful, geology-based grouping of multi-proxy data that could be beneficial for provenance studies. Instead, we propose sub-regional baselines for areas that don't necessarily fully correspond and reflect the immediate distribution of bedrock lithologies. Rather than working with a Scania-wide multi-proxy baseline, which we define as 87 Sr/ 86 Sr = 0.7133 ± 0.0059 (n = 102, 2σ), we propose sub-regional, multi-proxy baselines as follows: Area 1, farthest to the north, by 87 Scania-wide versus sub-regional). From the Late Bronze Age Simris II site, we identified six individuals that could be analysed for Sr isotopes, to allow for an interpretation of their provenance using the newly established, environmental strontium isotope baselines. All but one signature agrees with the local baselines, including the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr value we measured for a young individual buried in a house urn, typically interpreted as evidence for long distance contacts. The results are somewhat unexpected and provides new aspects into the complexity of Scandinavian Bronze Age societies.
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In the course of the Swedish excavations at Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus, table ware and domestic po... more 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 handmade 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.
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Prehistorische Zeitschrift 95(1), 2020, 187-204. , 2020
Arguing for an integrated wool-textile economy in the Bronze Age, this paper assesses characteris... more Arguing for an integrated wool-textile economy in the Bronze Age, this paper assesses characteristics and scale of pastoral economy and sheepherding at the Terramare settlement of Montale (Modena province, Italy). Previous studies argued that Montale was a Bronze Age centre of wool production. The present work enhances the understanding of the local textile economy by investigating the evidence for sheepherding and landscape management at the site. It also proposes an interdisciplinary-based approach to investigate and reconstruct pastoral economy and sheepherding strategies in other prehistoric contexts as well.
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FORN VÄNNEN JOURNAL OF SWEDISH ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCH 2020/3, 2020
Bronsåldern på Gotland särställer sig på många sätt och inte minst genom koncentrationen av skepp... more Bronsåldern på Gotland särställer sig på många sätt och inte minst genom koncentrationen av skeppssättningar. Ett utmärkande fynd i skeppssättningarna är husurnor och fram tills nyligen kände vi till 13 sådana gravurnor på ön, att jämföra med nio i övriga Sverige och nio i Danmark (Sabatini 2007; Wehlin 2013).
Under de senaste åren har två nya husurnor från Gotland påträffats, en vid en arkeologisk exploateringsundersökning och en i magasinen. De
nyfunna urnornas utmärkande drag bekräftar tidigare kunskaper om fenomenets kronologi, spridning och särdrag. Dessutom har analyser från en av dessa två urnor bekräftat vad tidigare studier också påvisat, nämligen att husurnorna i Skandinavien tillverkades lokalt. Trots det transkulturella värde som dessa urnor sannolikt representerade, producerades de av lokala hantverkare. Kronologiska analyser från de nya urnorna bekräftar att gotländska husurnor och deras karaktäristiska koppling till skeppssättningarna bör
betraktas som ett särskilt tidigt fenomen och kanske som början på praktiken i hela Nordeuropa. Det blomstrande yngre bronsålderssamhället på Gotland utmärktes troligen av en öppen
syn på innovation och långväga kontakter.
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Sabatini, S. & Bergerbrant, S. (eds.) The Textile revolution in Bronze Age Europe, 2019
(2019) In recent years, numerous books and articles have been written about Bronze Age textiles, ... more (2019) In recent years, numerous books and articles have been written about Bronze Age textiles, woollen textile production in particular, from the Mediterranean and the Near East. This volume encompasses a wide range of studies aiming to broaden the horizon, and, in the light of recent scientific advances, to shift the focus to continental and northern Europe. Iconographical and archaeological evidence shows that Bronze Age Europe was not only a dressed world, but also one that was open to innovation as far as fibres and textile technology are concerned. Since technological innovations necessarily affected economic and social frameworks, this whole work maintains that the study of textile production holds great potential for enhancing our understanding of the Bronze Age world.
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The Textile Revolution in Bronze Age Europe, 2019
(2019) The spread of textile tools in the Bronze Age settlements of the Po plain has hinted at th... more (2019) The spread of textile tools in the Bronze Age settlements of the Po plain has hinted at the general existence of local textile production; however, the issue has not been investigated in depth at every site nor from a social, economic and cultural point of view. A thorough study of the archaeological evidence from Montale suggests that at specific locations textile manufacture could have been close to industrial-scale and focused on specific kinds of production. While there is an overwhelming prevalence of spinning tools, loom weights were also found at Montale and are here examined. Since most of the material included in the study was recovered during the 1800s and completely lacks contextual information, its interpretation is attempted on a typological and comparative basis. Adopting a community of practice model as a frame of reference, it is argued that not only were a variety of weaving methods carried out and developed at Montale, but also that one might reasonably envision specialisation within the northern Italian local and regional patterns of weaving.
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Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2019
In recent years, extensive archaeological studies have provided us with new knowledge on wool and... more In recent years, extensive archaeological studies have provided us with new knowledge on wool and woollen textile production in continental Europe during the Bronze Age. Concentrations of large numbers of textile tools, and of zooarchaeological evidence suggesting intense sheepherding, hint at specialized centres of wool production during the Bronze Age. The aim of this paper is to discuss whether engagement with this economic activity was facilitated by the introduction of new foreign sheep types, possibly from the Eastern Mediterranean, where well-established wool economies existed, or by using local sheep, or a mixture of local and non-local types. A small-scale genetic pilot study, presented in this paper, primarily aimed at testing the DNA preservation, and thus the genomic potential in Bronze Age sheep remains provides evidence of both mitochondrial haplogroups A and B among Bronze Age sheep in Hungary. This result could hint at sheep herds with mixed origin but further in-depth studies are necessary to address this. We aim to promote scholarly interest in the issue and propose new directions for research on this topic.
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Światowit LVI (2017) 2018
A number of studies over the last decades have considerably increased our knowledge about product... more A number of studies over the last decades have considerably increased our knowledge about production and trade of woollen textiles during the Bronze Age in the Near East, the Aegean, and continental Europe. In the
wider Mediterranean area, thanks to the abundance of available evidence, it has been possible to use the concept of wool economy as a frame of reference to define the complex mechanisms behind production and trade of wool. The main aim of this paper is to reflect upon using the concept of wool economy to enhance our understanding of the relevant archaeological evidence from Bronze Age continental Europe.
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Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 84, pp. 359–385, 2018
(2018) At the onset of the 2nd millennium BC, a wool economy emerged across continental Europe. A... more (2018) At the onset of the 2nd millennium BC, a wool economy emerged across continental Europe. Archaeological, iconographical, and written sources from the Near East and the Aegean show that a Bronze Age wool economy involved considerable specialised labour and large scale animal husbandry. Resting only on archaeological evidence, detailed knowledge of wool economies in Bronze Age Europe has been limited, but recent investigations at the Terramare site of Montale, in northern Italy, document a high density of spindle whorls that strongly supports the existence of village-level specialised manufacture of yarn. Production does not appear to have been attached to an emerging elite nor was it fully independent of social constraints. We propose that, although probably managed by local elites, wool production was a community-based endeavour oriented towards exports aimed at obtaining locally unavailable raw materials and goods.
Keywords: Bronze Age, Italy, craft production, spindle whorls, community of practice, contexts of specialisation, political economy, commodity flows
The paper is available for download at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/proceedings-of-the-prehistoric-society/article/bronze-age-textile-wool-economy-the-case-of-the-terramare-site-of-montale-italy/AAA2D75173658BD210AD07F48F140EBC
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S. Hansen und F. Schopper (Hrsg.), Der Grabhügel von Seddin im norddeutschen und südskandinavischen Kontext, Arbeitsberichte zur Bodendenkmalpflege in Brandenburg 33, 2018, 51-64., 2018
(2018) This paper aims first to propose an updated overview of the Late Bronze Age Northern Europ... more (2018) This paper aims first to propose an updated overview of the Late Bronze Age Northern European house urn phenomenon. It is argued that they performed, among other things, a claim for distinction and differentiated those who were buried or who buried their deceased in them from the other members of the various local communities. The very core of such a claim supposedly relies on the links between the practice and long distance exchange networks throughout Europe. Secondly a particular focus is set on the house urn from the so called Wickbold 1 mound and its archaeological evidence. Although on the whole no particular categories of individuals appear to have exclusively accessed house urns, in the very case of the Wickbold 1 grave and of a handful of close contexts from northwestern Brandenburg and southwestern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern it seems that house urns were indeed associated to adult, possibly male, individuals with relevant social status. The characteristics of these contexts also suggest that house urns acted as manifold indices signalling, at the same time, the access of these individuals to long distance exchange networks and in particular with the Nordic Bronze Age world.
Zusammenfassung
Der Beitrag gibt einen aktuellen Überblick zu den spätbronze-zeitlichen Hausurnen in Nordeuropa. Es wird argumentiert, dass die Urnen u. a. auch ein Ausdruck von Abgrenzung der Bestatteten und Hinterbliebenen zu anderen Personen inner-halb der verschiedenen lokalen Gruppen sind. Diese Behaup-tung basiert vor allem auf der Verbindung zwischen der Praxis und überregionalen Tauschsystemen in Europa. Ein zweiter Fokus liegt auf der Hausurne von Wickbold 1 und deren ar-chäologischer Aussage. Obgleich es im Allgemeinen keine Hinweise darauf gibt, dass Hausurnen bestimmten Personen-kreisen vorbehalten waren, legen im Fall von Wickbold 1 das Grab und einige Befunde im nordwestlichen Brandenburg und südwestlichen Mecklenburg-Vorpommern nahe, dass Hausurnen mit adulten, möglicherweise männlichen Indivi-duen eines bestimmten sozialen Status assoziiert werden. Hier deutet einiges darauf hin, dass die in den Hausurnen bestatte-ten Individuen Zugang zu überregionalen Tauschsystemen hatten, vor allem mit der nordischen bronzezeitlichen Welt.
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In P. Fischer, T. Bürge (eds), Two Late Cypriot City Quarters at Hala Sultan Tekke. The Söderberg Expedition 2010—2017 (Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 147), Uppsala: Åströms Editions, 431-456, 2018
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S. Bergerbrant & A. Wessman (eds) New Perspectives on the Bronze Age Proceedings of the 13th Nordic Bronze Age Symposium held in Gothenburg 9th to 13th June 2015. Oxford, pp. 355-362., 2017
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S. Bergerbrant & A. Wessman (eds) New Perspectives on the Bronze Age Proceedings of the 13th Nordic Bronze Age Symposium held in Gothenburg 9th to 13th June 2015. Oxford, pp. 435-446., 2017
Adopting Alfred Gell’s (1998) approach to art and agency, it is argued that it is not only object... more Adopting Alfred Gell’s (1998) approach to art and agency, it is argued that it is not only objects that could act as indexes of agency expressing the intentionality of their makers/commissioners, but also single elements or components of objects, which may have performed simultaneously as secondary agents. The example of the northern European Late Bronze Age house urns is taken as a case study to demonstrate and discuss how distinctive material culture might have embodied multiple levels of intentionality.
Key words: intentionality, distinction, transformations, networks, long-distance exchange, roof openings, hut urns, long houses.
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In: Atti XXXV Riunione Scientifica dell'IIPP in memoria di L. Bernabò Brea. p. 895 898, 2003
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Books by Serena Sabatini
Late Bronze Age house urns is the main focus of this study. House urns are a distinctive and numerically limited class of funerary vessels characterised by evident architectural features. Their unique shapes and their possible relationship with the similar and partly contemporary phenomenon of the so-called Villanovan hut urns from central Italy generated large interest among European scholars. However, after two centuries of debate there is still no consensus as to their interpretation.
This study provides a comprehensive picture of the phenomenon and its characteristics. To that end it is organised in different sections, each addressing specific issues concerning the house urns. Additionally, it contains the catalogue of the 135 items known today, with relevant information about each piece.
House urns were apparently used for a relatively limited number of people of diverse sex and age, dispersed over a large part of northern Europe mainly during the central phases of the Nordic Late Bronze Age (beginning of the first millenium BC).
The study takes up the challenge to investigate not only morphology, chronology and symbolism of the material, but also its social, cultural and geographical background. The whole of the analysed data depict the house urns as characterised by a complex interplay between ’local’ specific features and ’supra-local’ correspondences which show a relevant abstract component (the ’house’ paradigm) and actually maintain
the coherence of the phenomenon. In addition this work analyses selected phenomena (the so-called Villanovan hut urn and European face urns) which, to different extents, are considered interlaced with emergence and development of house urns and initiate a discussion on their value as markers of cultural identity.
In conclusion, house urns are defined as a koine, in the sense that the dialectic between their local and supra-local components depicts a trans-cultural phenomenon which is at the same time a cultural space of specifically shared values.
Papers by Serena Sabatini
Research Council1, which will be running between 2021 and 2025.
The aim of the project is to investigate the role of Sardinia in the metal
trade between Scandinavia, Atlantic Europe, and the Mediterranean
during the Bronze Age. Growing evidence for metals of Sardinian
origin in artefacts from different parts of Europe invite new ideas
about maritime networks and the role of the western Mediterranean
as a metal producing region. Following from that: what was the
role of Sardinia in such a maritime network? And how did the production
and exchange of metals unfold between Atlantic Europe and
the Mediterranean?
“enterprises” in the long-distance metal trade in the Mediterranean and beyond, including continental Europe. An array of new provenance studies demonstrates the complexity of the Bronze Age metal trade and, taking a maritime perspective, provides the opportunity to reveal how strategically positioned actors such as Nuragic Sardinia managed to dominate sea-borne routes, and gained a prominent and independent international position.
Il presente lavoro intende rivisitare and espandere la conoscenza del vibrante sviluppo storico dell’Italia centro-occidentale presentando vecchi e nuovi dati da uno dei suoi centri chiave, il sito di Vulci (VT). L’articolo si divide in tre parti. Nella prima ci si propone di presentare il progetto di ricerca Understanding Urban Identities (UUI) gestito dall’Università di Göteborg. La seconda parte propone una rapida panoramica dello sviluppo storico di Vulci, mentre nella terza ed ultima parte dell’articolo si presentano i risultati della prima campagna di prospezioni geofisiche condotte nell’area urbana dell’antica Vulci in collaborazione con la British School di Roma.
I risultati delle prospezioni geofisiche dimostrano che l’area urbana investigata era probabilmente occupata da strutture di tipo domestico e produttivo. I segnali raccolti escludono la presenza di strutture monumentali e suggeriscono si tratti di un’area adatta allo studio dello sviluppo diacronico del sito. Dal punto di vista metodologico, il risultato delle prospezioni conferma quello di precedenti indagini nell’area urbana di Vulci e dimostra come nella stessa il Ground Penetrating Radar sia lo strumento più adatto allo studio non invasivo del sito.
Under de senaste åren har två nya husurnor från Gotland påträffats, en vid en arkeologisk exploateringsundersökning och en i magasinen. De
nyfunna urnornas utmärkande drag bekräftar tidigare kunskaper om fenomenets kronologi, spridning och särdrag. Dessutom har analyser från en av dessa två urnor bekräftat vad tidigare studier också påvisat, nämligen att husurnorna i Skandinavien tillverkades lokalt. Trots det transkulturella värde som dessa urnor sannolikt representerade, producerades de av lokala hantverkare. Kronologiska analyser från de nya urnorna bekräftar att gotländska husurnor och deras karaktäristiska koppling till skeppssättningarna bör
betraktas som ett särskilt tidigt fenomen och kanske som början på praktiken i hela Nordeuropa. Det blomstrande yngre bronsålderssamhället på Gotland utmärktes troligen av en öppen
syn på innovation och långväga kontakter.
wider Mediterranean area, thanks to the abundance of available evidence, it has been possible to use the concept of wool economy as a frame of reference to define the complex mechanisms behind production and trade of wool. The main aim of this paper is to reflect upon using the concept of wool economy to enhance our understanding of the relevant archaeological evidence from Bronze Age continental Europe.
Keywords: Bronze Age, Italy, craft production, spindle whorls, community of practice, contexts of specialisation, political economy, commodity flows
The paper is available for download at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/proceedings-of-the-prehistoric-society/article/bronze-age-textile-wool-economy-the-case-of-the-terramare-site-of-montale-italy/AAA2D75173658BD210AD07F48F140EBC
Zusammenfassung
Der Beitrag gibt einen aktuellen Überblick zu den spätbronze-zeitlichen Hausurnen in Nordeuropa. Es wird argumentiert, dass die Urnen u. a. auch ein Ausdruck von Abgrenzung der Bestatteten und Hinterbliebenen zu anderen Personen inner-halb der verschiedenen lokalen Gruppen sind. Diese Behaup-tung basiert vor allem auf der Verbindung zwischen der Praxis und überregionalen Tauschsystemen in Europa. Ein zweiter Fokus liegt auf der Hausurne von Wickbold 1 und deren ar-chäologischer Aussage. Obgleich es im Allgemeinen keine Hinweise darauf gibt, dass Hausurnen bestimmten Personen-kreisen vorbehalten waren, legen im Fall von Wickbold 1 das Grab und einige Befunde im nordwestlichen Brandenburg und südwestlichen Mecklenburg-Vorpommern nahe, dass Hausurnen mit adulten, möglicherweise männlichen Indivi-duen eines bestimmten sozialen Status assoziiert werden. Hier deutet einiges darauf hin, dass die in den Hausurnen bestatte-ten Individuen Zugang zu überregionalen Tauschsystemen hatten, vor allem mit der nordischen bronzezeitlichen Welt.
Key words: intentionality, distinction, transformations, networks, long-distance exchange, roof openings, hut urns, long houses.
Late Bronze Age house urns is the main focus of this study. House urns are a distinctive and numerically limited class of funerary vessels characterised by evident architectural features. Their unique shapes and their possible relationship with the similar and partly contemporary phenomenon of the so-called Villanovan hut urns from central Italy generated large interest among European scholars. However, after two centuries of debate there is still no consensus as to their interpretation.
This study provides a comprehensive picture of the phenomenon and its characteristics. To that end it is organised in different sections, each addressing specific issues concerning the house urns. Additionally, it contains the catalogue of the 135 items known today, with relevant information about each piece.
House urns were apparently used for a relatively limited number of people of diverse sex and age, dispersed over a large part of northern Europe mainly during the central phases of the Nordic Late Bronze Age (beginning of the first millenium BC).
The study takes up the challenge to investigate not only morphology, chronology and symbolism of the material, but also its social, cultural and geographical background. The whole of the analysed data depict the house urns as characterised by a complex interplay between ’local’ specific features and ’supra-local’ correspondences which show a relevant abstract component (the ’house’ paradigm) and actually maintain
the coherence of the phenomenon. In addition this work analyses selected phenomena (the so-called Villanovan hut urn and European face urns) which, to different extents, are considered interlaced with emergence and development of house urns and initiate a discussion on their value as markers of cultural identity.
In conclusion, house urns are defined as a koine, in the sense that the dialectic between their local and supra-local components depicts a trans-cultural phenomenon which is at the same time a cultural space of specifically shared values.
Research Council1, which will be running between 2021 and 2025.
The aim of the project is to investigate the role of Sardinia in the metal
trade between Scandinavia, Atlantic Europe, and the Mediterranean
during the Bronze Age. Growing evidence for metals of Sardinian
origin in artefacts from different parts of Europe invite new ideas
about maritime networks and the role of the western Mediterranean
as a metal producing region. Following from that: what was the
role of Sardinia in such a maritime network? And how did the production
and exchange of metals unfold between Atlantic Europe and
the Mediterranean?
“enterprises” in the long-distance metal trade in the Mediterranean and beyond, including continental Europe. An array of new provenance studies demonstrates the complexity of the Bronze Age metal trade and, taking a maritime perspective, provides the opportunity to reveal how strategically positioned actors such as Nuragic Sardinia managed to dominate sea-borne routes, and gained a prominent and independent international position.
Il presente lavoro intende rivisitare and espandere la conoscenza del vibrante sviluppo storico dell’Italia centro-occidentale presentando vecchi e nuovi dati da uno dei suoi centri chiave, il sito di Vulci (VT). L’articolo si divide in tre parti. Nella prima ci si propone di presentare il progetto di ricerca Understanding Urban Identities (UUI) gestito dall’Università di Göteborg. La seconda parte propone una rapida panoramica dello sviluppo storico di Vulci, mentre nella terza ed ultima parte dell’articolo si presentano i risultati della prima campagna di prospezioni geofisiche condotte nell’area urbana dell’antica Vulci in collaborazione con la British School di Roma.
I risultati delle prospezioni geofisiche dimostrano che l’area urbana investigata era probabilmente occupata da strutture di tipo domestico e produttivo. I segnali raccolti escludono la presenza di strutture monumentali e suggeriscono si tratti di un’area adatta allo studio dello sviluppo diacronico del sito. Dal punto di vista metodologico, il risultato delle prospezioni conferma quello di precedenti indagini nell’area urbana di Vulci e dimostra come nella stessa il Ground Penetrating Radar sia lo strumento più adatto allo studio non invasivo del sito.
Under de senaste åren har två nya husurnor från Gotland påträffats, en vid en arkeologisk exploateringsundersökning och en i magasinen. De
nyfunna urnornas utmärkande drag bekräftar tidigare kunskaper om fenomenets kronologi, spridning och särdrag. Dessutom har analyser från en av dessa två urnor bekräftat vad tidigare studier också påvisat, nämligen att husurnorna i Skandinavien tillverkades lokalt. Trots det transkulturella värde som dessa urnor sannolikt representerade, producerades de av lokala hantverkare. Kronologiska analyser från de nya urnorna bekräftar att gotländska husurnor och deras karaktäristiska koppling till skeppssättningarna bör
betraktas som ett särskilt tidigt fenomen och kanske som början på praktiken i hela Nordeuropa. Det blomstrande yngre bronsålderssamhället på Gotland utmärktes troligen av en öppen
syn på innovation och långväga kontakter.
wider Mediterranean area, thanks to the abundance of available evidence, it has been possible to use the concept of wool economy as a frame of reference to define the complex mechanisms behind production and trade of wool. The main aim of this paper is to reflect upon using the concept of wool economy to enhance our understanding of the relevant archaeological evidence from Bronze Age continental Europe.
Keywords: Bronze Age, Italy, craft production, spindle whorls, community of practice, contexts of specialisation, political economy, commodity flows
The paper is available for download at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/proceedings-of-the-prehistoric-society/article/bronze-age-textile-wool-economy-the-case-of-the-terramare-site-of-montale-italy/AAA2D75173658BD210AD07F48F140EBC
Zusammenfassung
Der Beitrag gibt einen aktuellen Überblick zu den spätbronze-zeitlichen Hausurnen in Nordeuropa. Es wird argumentiert, dass die Urnen u. a. auch ein Ausdruck von Abgrenzung der Bestatteten und Hinterbliebenen zu anderen Personen inner-halb der verschiedenen lokalen Gruppen sind. Diese Behaup-tung basiert vor allem auf der Verbindung zwischen der Praxis und überregionalen Tauschsystemen in Europa. Ein zweiter Fokus liegt auf der Hausurne von Wickbold 1 und deren ar-chäologischer Aussage. Obgleich es im Allgemeinen keine Hinweise darauf gibt, dass Hausurnen bestimmten Personen-kreisen vorbehalten waren, legen im Fall von Wickbold 1 das Grab und einige Befunde im nordwestlichen Brandenburg und südwestlichen Mecklenburg-Vorpommern nahe, dass Hausurnen mit adulten, möglicherweise männlichen Indivi-duen eines bestimmten sozialen Status assoziiert werden. Hier deutet einiges darauf hin, dass die in den Hausurnen bestatte-ten Individuen Zugang zu überregionalen Tauschsystemen hatten, vor allem mit der nordischen bronzezeitlichen Welt.
Key words: intentionality, distinction, transformations, networks, long-distance exchange, roof openings, hut urns, long houses.
Keywords: Spindle whorls, spinning, weaving, multifunctional units, workshops, fine garments, conspicuous consumption, costly signalling
http://ecsi.bokorder.se/ShowArticle.aspx?id=2869#.WCrVJrLhAkI
unprecedented exchange network that defines the Mediterranean in the
second part of the 2nd mill BC and that apparently ended around 1200 BC.
To what extent the 3.2 Ka BP event – if so – impact on the Central
Mediterranean Late Bronze Age communities? Is it possible to detect
adaptive responses to environmental changes at regional or lower level? Is it
possible to detect short catastrophic events? Could have changes been
induced or amplified by the widespread anthropogenic modifications on the
ecosystems documented from around this period, through unsustainable
practices?
In this session we address these questions with a multi-proxy approach in
order to compare archaeological evidence, landscape and environmental
changes occurred around 1200 BC with possible shifts in the settlement
forms and patterns or economic strategies. Different scale of analysis are
very welcomed.
- What new perspectives can emerge from the integration of large and highly diverse datasets?
- What new models of the past are only explorable by means of interdisciplinarity and large datasets?
- Which case studies exemplify synthesis through interdisciplinary collaboration?
This session invites papers which move beyond the standardization of recording to analyze multiple data types in a interdisciplinary fashion—drawing inspiration and inference from different disciplines (archaeology, archaeogenetics, palaeoecology, archaeometry, environmental archaeology, ecology etc.) to create new knowledge that is greater than the sum of its parts. We would like to invite speakers dealing routinely with large datasets covering large areas and taking a long-term perspective over millennia. We also welcome papers which present new theoretical approaches which unify diverse disciplines into new and cutting-edge modes of model-building, database construction and/or interpretation.
They pay less attention to the experiences of the individuals and their well-being, which is also a measure of economic growth, despite that cities exist because of the individuals who live and work in them. With this session we aim to address the more intimate aspects of city life in developing urban contexts, exploring where and how people live, eat, travel, and interact. Uniting the past with the present, it asks explicitly:
How does people’s life change as communities become increasingly urban?
What are the health differences between urban and rural populations and/or people of different social status?
Past developing urban contexts provide a diachronic laboratory to assess different socio-economic factors to determine how and why urban environments came into being, developed, flourished and collapsed (or not). Thus, they offer data and interpretations for policy makers and stakeholders today to address the Sustainable Cities and Healthy Communities challenges, two of the 17 global challenges set by the United Nations for a global sustainable development.
The session goes under the conference theme: Reconfiguring identity (http://eaaglasgow2015.com/conference-themes/reconfiguring-identities/). The call for papers is now open (Deadline 16 February 2015).
strategically positioned Sardinia may have dominated sea-borne routes in the long-distance maritime metal trade. To do that the team will:
- Review old and new archaeological and archaeometallurgical data to attempt drawing maritime exchange routes.
- Create a much needed and fine-tuned picture of the isotopic and geochemical fields of Sardinian ores to be able to identify with higher security metal of Sardinian origin.
- Carry out field surveys to identify yet unknown traces of ancient mining in Sardinia.
- By using appropriate theoretical frameworks, address access to maritime modes of production and metallurgical technologies as a mean to control resource exploitation and consumption patterns.
Its main purpose is to investigate archaeological and archaeozoological material to identify, understand and interpret the impact of wool production on society, the environment and agricultural practices. It also aims to deepen our general understanding of human engagement with animals, particularly sheep breeds, and animal husbandry practices. The study draws upon well-documented material from Hungary and northern Italy, areas that have indications of extensive wool textile production.
Textile production in general and the introduction of woollen textiles represented a great revolution in Bronze Age Europe at the dawn of the 2nd millennium BC. The available contemporary written sources from the Mediterranean and Near East bear witness to the fact that textile production was an important part of several local economies. In Europe only archaeological material can help us understand the importance of woollen textiles. Strontium isotope analyses conducted on the well-preserved textiles from Scandinavia have shown that wool came from various geological areas, both local and non-local. It is therefore likely that a complex system of production and trade must have existed in Europe during the Bronze Age.
This project takes an innovative approach by including the strontium analyses of sheep bones to bridge the data for areas where actual textiles are not preserved.
The site consist of a large wooden basin, which once stood in a relatively dominant position within a local Bronze Age village. The basin has been always completely filled with water. Thanks to the particular environmental conditions in the pool, organic material of cellulosic nature, such as wood, preserved very well. We therefore have very precise data about the structure itself and about an astonishing number of finds that have been retrieved from the basin. The basin was apparently used for a limited period of time, which has been estimated of a few generations or a maximum of 100 years. It was apparently used as a sort of “offer place” and hundreds of finds have been sunk in its water. Although depositions in wet areas are very common all over Europe and the Mediterranean throughout the Bronze Age, no other built structures such as the Noceto’s basin are known so far. Noceto provides strong indications of religious nature, since no productive activities or every day practices could be detected in connection to it.
With an eye to the debate on the materiality of religion, the aim of the essays is in the first place to investigate and discuss how the religious nature of the place can be understood, when working solely on the results of the religious activities that once have taken place around its margins. Secondly, the aim is also to attempt using the evidence from Noceto to discuss more broadly issues of Bronze Age religion.
The analysis of the material is carried out considering deposition rituals from the point of view of performance and agency theories. It is argued that the finds from the pool acted as indexes of agency and were part of performative event that linked together the people carrying out and/or watching the ritual, the place and the divine expressed by the place.
Considering that the significance of ritual performance has been seen, among other things, in the transformative power that is contextually assigned to rituals, it is believed that the finds from Noceto’s basin likely embodied an attempt to establish or secure posi-tive transformations possibly in people life and in fundamental productive activities such as for instance agriculture. The sacred role of water during the Bronze Age has been ad-dressed by several scholars, but it is generally connected to the ritual “usage” of particular places such as wetlands, caves, rivers and so on. Noceto’s basin provides the possibility for the first time to analyse an attempt to artificially and magnificently bring the sacred into a settlement area and thus possibly create the premises for more controlled or regu-lar/regulated religious activities.