scholarly journals Archaeometric perspective on the emergence of brass north of the Alps around the turn of the Era

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Bursák ◽  
Alžběta Danielisová ◽  
Tomáš Magna ◽  
Petr Pajdla ◽  
Jitka Míková ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Central Area ◽  
Mineral Resources ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Ore Deposits ◽  
First Century ◽  
Massif Central ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
New Findings

AbstractAncient brass (aurichalcum) was a valued commodity in the Antiquity, notably because of its gold-like appearance. After mastering brass fabrication using the cementation procedure in the first century BC in the Mediterranean, this material became widely used by the Romans for coins, jewellery and other artefacts. Because of its visual qualities, it is believed that since this period, brass played an important role in diplomatic and economic contacts with indigenous communities, notably Celtic and Germanic tribes north of Danube and west of Rhine. To test this hypothesis, we performed for the first time the advanced statistical multivariate analysis based on chemical composition and lead isotope systematics, coupled with informed typo-chronological categorisation, of a suite of late Iron Age and Early Roman period (first century BC – first century AD) brass and other copper-alloy artefacts from the territory of Bohemia. In order to to discuss their provenance, the results were compared to known contemporary sources of material. The new results for brass artefacts from this early phase of the massive occurrence of Roman aurichalcum in the Barbarian territories point to the ore deposits in the western Mediterranean or the Massif Central area in Gaul, consistent with historical events. These new findings underscore the great economic and political importance of the new and rich mineral resources in the Transalpine Gaul acquired due to Caesar's military campaigns.

Shining Like Gold and New: The Emergence of Brass North of the Alps Around the Turn of the Era.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Bursák ◽  
Alžběta Danielisová ◽  
Tomáš Magna ◽  
Petr Pajdla ◽  
Jitka Míková ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Central Area ◽  
Mineral Resources ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Ore Deposits ◽  
Massif Central ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Military Campaigns

Abstract Ancient brass (aurichalcum) was a valued commodity in the Antiquity, notably because of its gold-like appearance. After mastering brass fabrication using the cementation procedure in the 1st century BC in the Mediterranean, this material became widely used by the Romans for coins, jewellery and other objects. Because of its visual qualities, it is believed that since this period, brass played an important role in diplomatic and economic contacts with indigenous communities, notably Celtic and Germanic tribes north of Danube and west of Rhine. To test this hypothesis, we performed for the first time the archaeometric and advanced statistical multivariate analysis of a suite of late Iron Age and Early Roman period (1st century BC – 1st century AD) brass and other copper-alloy objects from the territory of Bohemia to constrain their provenance. The new results for brass objects from this early phase of the massive occurrence of Roman aurichalcum in the Barbarian territories point to the ore deposits in the western Mediterranean or the Massif Central area in Gaul, consistent with historical events. These new findings underscore the great economic and political importance of the new and rich mineral resources in the Transalpine Gaul acquired due to Caesar's military campaigns

Landscape evolution around the oppidum of Bibracte (Northern Massif Central, France) from the Late Iron Age to the Post-Mediaeval period

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Petřík ◽  
Katarína Adameková ◽  
Libor Petr ◽  
Isabelle Jouffroy-Bapicot ◽  
Petr Kočár ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Landscape Evolution ◽  
Massif Central ◽  
Late Iron Age

The Origin of Romano-British Glass Bangles: Forgotten Artefacts from the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age

Britannia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 7-52
Author(s):  
Tatiana Ivleva
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
First Century ◽  
Visual Elements ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Cultural Processes

AbstractThis article reviews the emergence and development of Romano-British glass bangles in southern Britain by providing a fresh analysis of finds that also considers recent theoretical and historical advances in interpreting the transition from the late Iron Age to the Roman period. By analysing the emergence of bangles in terms of technological and stylistic transfer, it suggests that the technology used in their production and their visual elements have continental lineage. It also situates bangles amid indigenous developments in bodily adornments in southern Britain before a.d. 43. By reconnecting British bangles with their continental European counterparts and contextualising them within political, social and cultural processes in south-western England during the late pre-Roman Iron Age, the article argues that the emergence of bangles in Britain did not occur in a vacuum after the Claudian invasion in a.d. 43 but formed an integral part of globalising networks of cross-Channel trade and connections with the European mainland in the early first century a.d.

An Unusual Imported Bronze Jug Handle from Late Iron Age Easton, Suffolk

Britannia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 336-347
Author(s):  
Ruth Beveridge ◽  
Tom Woolhouse
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Rural Settlement ◽  
First Century ◽  
Late Iron Age

ABSTRACTDeveloper-funded excavation in Easton, Suffolk, investigated part of a long-lived Iron Age settlement and Roman farmstead. One late Iron Age pit contained an unusual bronze handle, most likely from a jug, the form of which appears to be unique in Britain. The closest parallels are products of Italian workshops in the late first century b.c. This paper describes the likely form of the vessel and discusses the significance of its presence at a rural settlement on the ‘border’ of the Iceni and Trinovantes/Catuvellauni.

scholarly journals REGES, REGULI, DUCES: SOME REMARKS ON THE INDIVIDUAL AND POWER IN LATE IRON AGE PRE-ROMAN BRITAIN

2020 ◽  
pp. 78-92
Author(s):  
ANTON BARYSHNIKOV
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
First Century ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Roman Britain ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Material Sources ◽  
The Individual

The paper considers one of the most significant changes in late pre-Roman Iron Age in Britain—the emergence of individual power, usually labeled as kingship. The modern perception of this sociopolitical phenomenon has been largely determined according to texts from Greek and Roman authors. This paper argues that this image is distorted and says more about the ancient writers than it does about ancient political leaders, their status, or the essence of their power. Avoiding terms like king to prevent a general misunderstanding of the phenomenon is reasonable; nevertheless, coins from so-called dynasties and tribes as well as other material sources show the emergence of individual power from the first century B.C.E. to the first century C.E. This new phenomenon should be analyzed with new (and re-worked) theoretical frameworks. Additionally, comparative studies can play a significant role in exploring the nature of what is referred to as Iron Age kingship in Britain.

Britain, Gaul, and Germany

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Moore
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Burial Rites ◽  
Cultural Interactions

Britain’s place in the Roman Empire cannot be seen in isolation. The province’s close links to Gaul and Germany stemmed from earlier interaction in the late Iron Age, and these connections have been seen as highly significant in explaining the changes in burial, dress, and settlement that took place in Britain from the first century BC to the fifth century AD. Exploring evidence from changes in diet, architecture, and burial rites, this chapter will assess the nature and extent of cultural interactions between these provinces. In particular, it will examine whether these links can be used to argue for a ‘Gallicization’ of Britain, rather than a ‘Romanization’. It will question whether such terms are helpful in reconceptualizing the processes of cultural change before and after the Roman Conquest or whether they present their own set of problems for understanding cultural interactions and social change.

Total Landscapes (250 BC to the Early Roman Period)

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bradley ◽  
Colin Haselgrove ◽  
Marc Vander Linden ◽  
Leo Webley
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Social Complexity ◽  
First Century ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
North West ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
Written Sources

By the late first century BC, most of north-west Europe had been incorporated into the Roman Empire or had fallen under its shadow. This has profoundly affected how the late Iron Age is perceived and studied. Being able to view peoples and places through written sources and coin inscriptions means that the archaeology of the period is often approached very differently to those discussed in previous chapters, with greater emphasis on historical events and causality. The chronology encourages this. Late La Tène sites on the Continent can now be dated to within a generation or so, anchored by a growing number of dendrochronological fixed points (Kaenel 2006; Durost and Lambert 2007), although similar precision is rarely attainable in northern Europe or in Ireland and northern Britain, which rely largely on radiocarbon dating. The prevailing narrative for the late Iron Age in central Europe, Gaul, and southern Britain—essentially the areas that later became part of the Roman empire—is one of increasing hierarchy, social complexity, political centralization, urbanization, and economic development. These changes are seen as bound up with increasing contact with the Mediterranean world, leading up to the Roman conquests of the first centuries BC and AD. This is contrasted with the situation in northern Britain, Ireland, and ‘Germanic’ northern Europe, which are assumed to have been more tradition-bound and resistant to change. As we shall see, recent excavations do not necessarily contradict this narrative, but they do suggest that the picture is far more complex. Not all developments can be fitted into the story of growing social complexity, whilst to assume that Roman expansion was the most important factor at work at this period is to see events through the eyes of Classical writers (Bradley 2007). It is important to understand late Iron Age societies in their own terms, rather than just as precursors to provincial Roman societies. Many influential approaches to the period—from core–periphery models to the current emphasis on the agency of client rulers (Creighton 2000)—suffer from teleology as a result of having been constructed with half an eye to explaining the pattern of Roman expansion.

British Potins Abroad: A New Find from Central France and the Iron Age in Southeast England

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Gruel ◽  
Colin Haselgrove
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Research Tool ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Southern England ◽  
Channel Interaction ◽  
Northern France ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Material Evidence ◽  
Age Studies

One of Barry Cunliffe’s abiding research interests has been in the character of cross-Channel interaction during the Iron Age, a topic that he has pursued and illuminated through a sustained programme of excavations and artefact studies in southern England, northern France, and the Channel Islands. Although the exchanges were undoubtedly two-way—and must also be seen in the context of a longer-term pattern of maritime contacts between Britain and its neighbours across the ocean (cf. Cunliffe 2001)— it remains true that for the late Iron Age, much of the material evidence for relations between Britain and France is in the form of continental imports found in Britain (e.g. Cunliffe 1987), rather than the other way around. We are therefore very pleased here, following a new find of British Iron Age coins in France, to be able to offer Barry a study of a relatively rare example of a group of objects moving in the opposite direction, not least because another of Barry’s contributions over the years has been to ensure that the Celtic Coin Index in Oxford has continued to develop into the unparalleled research tool for Iron Age studies that it represents today. The British exports in question are four Flat-Linear potin coins found in a mid-first-century BC context in ongoing excavations at the hilltop oppidum of Corent, in the Auvergne region of central France, over 600km from their home territory in southeast England (figure 14.1). Coins belonging to this series have been previously recorded from northern France, where there have also been a number of new finds in recent years, but never south of the Loire. We will begin by describing these new discoveries in more detail, starting with Corent, before going on to assess their implications for our understanding of the late Iron Age in southeastern England, which are considerable. In conclusion, we will offer some possible explanations as to why these coins may have been exported to France in the first century BC.

The Late Iron Age Metalwork from Bulbury, Dorset

1972 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Cunliffe
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
First Century ◽  
Late Iron Age

SummaryThe collection of iron, bronze, and glass found in Bulbury, Dorset, in 1881 is discussed in detail. It is considered to date to the early first century A.D.The nature of the deposit is uncertain, but the possibility is examined that the finds divide into three categories: (a) fittings of a male burial, (b) fittings of a female burial, and (c) an ironsmith's stock in trade. Further excavation is called for.

Evidence of Absence? The Rarity of Gold in Durotrigan Iron Age Coinage

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip De Jersey
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Second Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Negative Evidence ◽  
Distribution Maps ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Absence Of Evidence ◽  
Evidence Of Absence ◽  
Age Studies

Generations of archaeologists have done well to remember the truism that ‘absence of evidence is not evidence of absence’. About fifteen years ago I presented Barry Cunliffe with what I regarded as some rather distressingly blank distribution maps of various Iron Age artefacts in northwest France. Far from agreeing with my pessimistic view of the possibility of saying anything very meaningful about such paltry evidence, Barry reminded me of the ‘absence of evidence’ maxim, and encouraged me to think more deeply about the apparent gaps, and to question my assumptions about the usefulness or otherwise of the data—in short, to look more positively at the opportunities for investigating such seemingly negative evidence. It is perhaps a little ironic, then, that in this tribute to Barry’s unrivalled influence on Iron Age studies, I would like to present an example where I am nearly sure that the absence of evidence does indicate evidence of absence. My subject is the lack of a significant gold coinage among the Durotriges of Dorset, in contrast to every other major coin-using polity in late Iron Age Britain. My aim is to demonstrate that this lack of gold coinage is a genuine phenomenon, and not the result of partial or inadequate evidence; and to suggest some reasons why this situation may have arisen. Before focusing more narrowly on Dorset in the mid-first century BC, we need to consider the background to the importation and the production of gold coinage in Britain. Although there were probably very occasional imports of coinage from the time of the earliest ‘Celtic’ imitations, perhaps in the mid-third century BC, the first significant inflows of gold coin did not occur until at least the mid-second century BC. These began with the ‘large flan’ stater and quarter stater (Gallo-Belgic A), probably struck in central and western Belgic Gaul, in the territories later identified with the Ambiani and the Bellovaci. Their distribution in Britain is focused on the Thames estuary, with the majority of findspots in Essex and Kent (Sills 2003: 136, 153). At roughly the same time, the ‘defaced die’ staters and quarter staters (Gallo-Belgic B) were also imported into Britain, perhaps from the territory of the Nervii (Sills 2003: 185–6).

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document