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The East Alpine region formed an important crossroads in later prehistoric Europe, through which ideas, people and objects flowed. This was particularly the case during the Late Bronze Age/ Early Iron Age, when an increasingly competitive society was evolving, with the formation of more complex social structures and the rise of ‘elites’. This has been evidenced in a shift in burial customs, from Urnfield-type cremation burial to the construction of tumuli and the adoption of elaborate inhumation burial. This multidisciplinary, multi-scalar approach to the analysis of human remains aims to explore the evolving structure, homogeneity and heterogeneity of communities inhabiting central and eastern Slovenia, and north-eastern Croatia, during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. The application of multiple methods, including the osteological analysis of cremated and non-cremated human remains, radiocarbon dating, stable isotope analysis (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and strontium) and aDNA analysis has facilitated the exploration and interpretation of later prehistoric social structure and lifestyle. The use of carbon (from enamel carbonate and collagen) and nitrogen stable isotope analysis has highlighted important dietary distinctions between communities inhabiting this region and previous studies from elsewhere in contemporary Europe – specifically a high dependence on millet as a staple crop. This has been evidenced by δ13C values of between -17‰ and -15.3‰ from bone collagen. δ15N values of between 7.6‰ and 9.1‰ support this interpretation as they do not indicate the consumption of marine protein. Increased δ15N values of up to 13.5‰ from deciduous dentine have been interpreted as the influence of dietary and metabolic conditions, particularly in the presentation of an Infant exhibited palaeopathological evidence of severe metabolic disease. Complementary isotopic methods, including oxygen isotope ratios and enamel carbonate carbon, have also highlighted heterogeneity in childhood diet, reflecting the transition from a high lipid diet of breastmilk, to a diet of carbohydrates, indicative of weaning. In addition to these findings, the application of radiocarbon dating on cremated and nio-cremated human bone has expanded the current understanding of mortuary practices in this study area. Inhumation burial, previously thought synomemous with the Iron Age, has been now been identified throughout the Bronze Age at the cemetery of Obrežje. The application of this multi-scalar approach to combining and interpreting these data sets has allowed for the investigation of individual biographies, as well as regional trends. This research illustrates the advantages of bringing together multiple lines of evidence for the creation of informed interpretations regarding the life, death and diet of prehistoric peoples of the East Alpine region, and beyond. / The Encounters and Transformations in Iron Age Europe (ENTRANS) Project, led by Ian Armit, with the Slovenian and Croatian principal investigators, Matija Črešnar and Hrvoje Potrebica. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 291827. The project is financially supported by the HERA Joint Research Programme (www.heranet.info) which is co-funded by AHRC, AKA, BMBF via PT-DLR, DASTI, ETAG, FCT, FNR, FNRS, FWF, FWO, HAZU, IRC, LMT, MHEST, NWO, NCN, RANNÍS, RCN, VR and The European Community FP7 2007-2013, under the Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities programme. / The Appendices A-H are not available online.

This is a study of cobblestone tools from metalliferous mine sites in England and Wales dated to the Bronze Age which were most probably used to extract copper ore. The site assemblages studied are from the Great Orme, Copa Hill in Cwmystwyth, Nantyreira, Parys Mountain and Alderley Edge. The majority of the tools are hammerstones used to mine and beneficiate metal ore. Some of these have been modified to facilitate hafting. The functional uses of these tools have been identified by the form and position of use- wear on a macroscopic level. The recording procedure encompasses cobble morphology, the degree, type and direction of use, breakage patterns, the reuse of tools and tool fragments and the classification of hafting modification. The possibility of tool specialization within tool types has been examined by the analysis of use-wear and cobble shape and size. The analysis of stone hammer size suggests that the Great Orme material is related to specific working techniques employed to extract ore from the different types of ore deposits. Ore comminution has been demonstrated to have been generally achieved by ‘block-on-block’ crushing with flat-sided hammers. Conclusions are draw on the overall efficiency of ore extraction in the Bronze Age and theories on the organization of mining are presented. The sedimentary form of the cobblestone tools has also been examined, including the identification of natural abrasion marks and features. At Cwmystwyth and the Great Orme possible sources of cobblestones have been studied in order to assess the nature of cobble selection. / SERC studentship / The additional content files which accompanied the thesis are not available on Bradford Scholars, but are available from the British Library Ethos Service.

This essay is a comparative study of two sculptures with the same motive and name, The Dance. Ellen Roosval created the freestanding sculpture The Dance in 1925 and the relief sculpture The Dance in 1933. The essay has two objectives, an analysis of these works of arts and a spotlight on the artist Ellen Roosval’s as an example of a female artist in the early 20th-century. Her reworking of the sculpture into the relief generates multiple transformations. When analyzing the works of art the aspects of the meaning and reception for the beholder has been crucial. The method theory originates from Wolfgang Kemp and was further developed by Jessica Sjöholm Skrubbe in her thesis. Sjöholm Skrubbe emphasizes on the beholders movements, the meaning of the term site-specific and the impact of the base. Now the questions in the current paper are: how the reception of the works relates to the viewer; how typology, site and material affects the design and expression; and how the works relates to the post-war aesthetics and dance. This also refers to how The Dance:s relates to the post-war aesthetic expressions and the motive. The study starts with a general background on the situation for female sculptors in the early 20th century, the artist Ellen Roosval, and dance. The dance section also introduces the dance company The Swedish Ballet (1920-25) that The Dance:s were tribute to. Then follows a contextualized presentation of the works analyzing formal elements and according to Sjöholm Skrubbe the different sites, the beholders movement and the base. Next, an analysis of typologies, materials and stylistic expressions. After that a deeper analysis focusing on the shaping of the human body, nudity and movements. Roosval’s The Dance 1933 is compared both with the relief The Dance by Antoine Bourdelle from 1912 and the Swedish Ballet performances. The analysis concludes with how site relates to choice of materials and how aesthetics and dance relates to the period 1920s. The results describes aspects of different transformations in relation to the beholders reception. The final discussion concludes on Roosval’s norm-breaker achievements, which inspired the title The Resistance of Time.

Samples from nearly 800 Bronze Age pottery sherds from Euboea, Eastern Boeotia and Eastern Thessaly were analysed together with 9 raw clays from the same areas. The-analysis was carried out in an attempt to identify areas of pottery manufacture, to discover the origin of specific groups of pottery, to relate pottery to, raw clays and to see how far pottery compositions can be associated with, and predicted by, geology. The work was done on the same lines as earlier studies at the Oxford Laboratory and at the British School at Athens. The main analytical technique used was therefore optical emission spectroscopy. Some 25% of the total number of sherds were also analysed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry so that the results obtained by the two techniques could be compared. The interpretation of the results was facilitated by the use of, computer program packages for cluster and discriminant analysis. Both optical emission and atomic absorption analysis resulted in broadly similar groupings although the absolute concentrations were not directly comparable. The groupings obtained after atomic absorption analysis had the narrower concentration ranges. Nine elements were measured by both techniques but in atomic absorption potassium was added and proved; useful as an additional discriminant. Six composition groups were distinguished from the data. One of them was identified as Euboean, 2 as Boeotian and 3 as coming from different regions of Thessaly. The greatest movement of pottery within these areas was from Euboea to Thessaly. No composition group which originated from outside these regions was identified. Six of the 9 raw clays were associated with the prevailing composition group in the area from which they came. It was not possible to predict trends in pottery composition by examination of the local geology.

The sequence of timber circle - henge monument - stone circle is widely accepted. This is in spite of the reality that the datable evidence and contextual data upon which this series is based has seldom been subjected to any real form of critical evaluation. The aim of this research was to determine whether this order could still be deemed tenable in light of contemporary research and the continued advances that have been achieved relating to the application of radiocarbon dating. The findings of this study demonstrated that sufficient contextual data exists to enable phases of construction to be identified. However rarely did these data appear to support the currently accepted chronologies. Indeed more commonly they alluded to an alternative series, one that demonstrated how some individual site sequences may have been previously misinterpreted. This study has also proven how methodological and interpretative weaknesses, relating to the use of radiocarbon dating, have created a quantifiable degree of accuracy between individual radiocarbon determinations and their ability to be reliably associated with the event or act that they have been used to date. These findings have not only cast sufficient doubt upon the reliability of the currently accepted chronologies for these three monumental forms but have also alluded to the existence of a far more appropriate sequence that conforms to the overall conclusions of this review far more convincingly. Accordingly a new series of timber circle(s) - stone circle - henge monument is proposed by this study.

This thesis examines the character of Middle Neolithic to Middle Bronze Age (3600-1200 BC) funerary and ritual practices in Wales. This was based on the analysis of chronological (radiocarbon determinations and artefactual evidence), contextual (monument types, burial types, deposit types) and osteological (demographic and pyre technology) data from a comprehensive dataset of excavated human bone deposits from funerary and ritual monuments. Funerary rites in the Middle Neolithic (c. 3600-2900 BC) sometimes involved the deposition of single inhumation or cremation burials in inconspicuous pit graves. After a hiatus in the Late Neolithic (c. 2900-2400 BC), formal burials re-appeared in the Chalcolithic (c. 2500-2200 BC) with Beaker burials. However, formal burials remained relatively rare until the Early Bronze Age (c. 2200-1700 BC) when burial mounds, which often contained multiple burials, became the dominant type of funerary monument. Burial rites for this period most commonly involved the cremation of the dead. Whilst adult males were over-represented in inhumations, no age- or gender-based differences were identified in cremation burials. Patterns in grave good associations suggest that perceived age- and-gender-based identities were sometimes expressed through the selection of objects to be placed in the graves. The tradition of cremation burials carried on into the Middle Bonze Age (c. 1700-1200 BC), although formal burials became less common. Circular enclosures (henges, timber circles, stone circles, pit circles), several of which were associated with cremated human bone deposits, represented the most persistent tradition of ritual monuments, with new structures built from the end of the fourth millennium BC to the middle of the second millennium BC in Wales.

L’âge du Bronze, est une époque caractérisée par de nombreux et d’importants changements sociaux, particulièrement autour de la Méditerranée. La Crète fut l’une de ces régions où la société s’est transformée au cours de cette période. L’ampleur et la rapidité des bouleversements qui ont alors lieu s’expliquent peut-être par le rôle joué par certains facteurs externes, en particulier les contacts entre les populations de la Crète et celles de l’est de la Méditerranée. Malgré son insularité, la Crète n’est pas complètement isolée du reste de la Méditerranée puisque du matériel exogène y parvient dès le Néolithique, et peut-être même avant. Cela démontre donc que la Crète devait faire partie de certains réseaux de contacts dont l’importance a pris de l’ampleur au cours des premières périodes de l’âge du Bronze. Le matériel archéologique retrouvé en Crète, de même qu’ailleurs en Méditerranée orientale, permet de retracer ces réseaux de contacts et d’évaluer l’impact que ces échanges de biens, mais aussi de connaissances et d’idées, ont pu avoir sur les processus de transformation sociale qui ont conduit au développement des sociétés minoennes. Ces contacts ont alors pu mener à la mise en place de structures organisant les communautés, mais aussi de nombreuses innovations techniques qui auraient modifié et stimulé les productions artisanales de l’île à cette époque.

The formation of elites is an essential and common phenomenon of human society, both in the past and present. Elites are individuals with superior power, substantial resources, and the ability to influence other members. Depending on the sources and practices of power, the elite stratum may be divided into several groups. Scholars have studied the process of elite formation, identifying triggers that may lead to the emergence or development of elites. All of these triggers involve interactions between elites and others, often from different cultural backgrounds. Therefore, elite formation is also a process of constant intercultural interaction. Under this premise, the dissertation poses two interrelated questions: How did elites utilize different cultures to foster their power? And, how were elites affected when they used cultures as their tools to gain power? During the Bronze Age (ca. 1300–350 BCE), the lower Yangtze region is believed to be the homeland of two states, Wu and Yue. Positioned as the “periphery” of the Zhou political and cultural spheres, the histories of the two states are recounted in the historical texts from the Zhou perspective. However, the region’s diverse and vibrant local culture, coupled with the presence of affluent tombs, suggests that the region has history that was not recorded in the transmitted texts and thus warrants comprehensive study. Furthermore, elites in the region borrowed cultural elements from various cultural zones, including the Zhou, to sustain their power, rendering the region a good case study to explore the aforementioned questions. Numerous archaeological excavations of mounded tombs, kiln sites, and mining and smelting sites supply the primary material for the project. Statistical analyses unveil the general cultural landscape of the region and elucidate the process of elite formation. Stylistic and contextual analyses further suggest how elites connected with commoners in the local society, their elite colleagues inside the region, and their allies of diverse cultural backgrounds through proto-porcelain and bronzes. The study suggests that initially, there were several elite groups scattered throughout the region. After competition and integration, the number of elite groups in the region was reduced to two, and each had access to different resources and strategies for communicating with others. The elites residing in the Taihu-Hangzhou Bay area adhered to local funerary practices and further engaged with the local society as fashion leaders in the development of new utensils through their partial control over the ceramic production. The elites who occupied the northwestern part of the region, the Ningzhen area, used their better access to bronzes from the north and created a mythical and possibly supernatural image to gain support from the locals. In terms of the two elite groups’ cross-cultural contact with the outside world, both seemed to have connections with northern elites, especially in Phase IV (ca. 550–350 BCE). Since the local elites had frequent intercultural contact, they inevitably acquired foreign practices and cultural elements that might distance them away from local traditions. However, they would not be completely alienated from the local society because they maintained interactions with people from their homeland. While such a hybrid is not uncommon in cultural contact scenarios, what the project emphasizes is the intricate process of balancing, and possibly dilemma, experienced by elites: while their primary goal is to utilize all the available resources to grow their power, they must also skillfully balance local followers and their foreign allies.

’Pygmy’, ‘incense’, ‘accessory’ or ‘funerary’ cups are small Early Bronze Age vessels, almost all from mortuary contexts, united by their diminutive size. Although several small-scale and regional studies have previously been undertaken, until recently there has been little attempt to consider such vessels as a whole. The vessels from the north of England were recently examined in detail by Hallam (2015), and the present study of the southern English vessels will complement Hallam’s work with the ultimate goal of producing a national corpus. Details of over three hundred and fifty vessels, from thirty counties, are presented together with a comprehensive literature review. Analysis demonstrates how the form and depositional contexts of such vessels probably arose within Beaker ceramic and funerary traditions. Many have complex biographies, some being deposited ‘fresh’ whilst others are fragmented or otherwise damaged. Perforations, long seen as a key feature of the tradition, appear to be restricted to certain forms only, and it is suggested that fenestration may be a development of this practice. Regional links and networks may be discerned through the distribution of attributes and similar vessel types and probably reflect trade networks. It is suggested that the cups had a primary role within Early Bronze Age funerary rituals associated only with certain individuals, perhaps marked out by the nature of their deaths / The full text will be available at the end of the embargo period: 21st Feb 2023