Moon-shaped idols constitute very specific and variable category of ceramic, in rare cases also of stone artefacts. Beginning of their occurrence and spreading in the middle Europe can be associated with the Middle-Danube and North-Alpine Urnfield culture. Their development consequentially continues in the Early Iron Age when they spread outside central European region down to the north east of Spain and the north of Italy. The current total number of findings is higher than estimate from 2004, which was approximately 2000 pieces. The main objective of the thesis lay in overall processing of results of the research up to now concerning the given issue. At the same time there was an attempt made about critical assessment of the artefact features and the excavation environment with regard to the potential function of the Moon-shaped idols. The excavation environment of these products is quite variable. As a rule they appear in settlements as secondary refuse, but also in the situations, which can be considered as demonstration of cult behaviour. In northeast France and south Germany, parts of Moon- shaped idols are to be found also in context of the final Bronze Age. From there the custom is spread in a modified form to the east. Such equipped graves can be noticed in the burial sites of Bylany and...

The aim of this study is to describe the changes at the end of the Aeneolithic period and at the beginning of the Bronze Age, on the basis of the analysis of graves with weapons and the possibilities (limits) of identifying the warrior graves in Bohemia. The end of the Aeneolithic is characterized by two cultural complexes, the Corded Ware Culture and the Bell Beaker Culture, on which the Early Bronze civilization evolved, characterized by the Únětice Culture in our context. It is in this transitional period, that graves with specific goods appear increasingly, and we can finally call these as true weapons. Weapons are associated with warfare attributes that, according to the latest theories, played an active role in prehistoric society. The identification of the warfare in archaeological sources is, however, often not without problems. Several types of evidence can be consulted: graves of warriors with specialized weapons, typical fortifications (ramparts), remains of battlefields, iconographic and written sources. In our conditions, the focus is on graves with weapons, due to the lack of other mentioned entities. Keywords: Late Aeneolithic, Early Bronze Age, graves, weapons, tools, symbols

This contribution analyzes and discusses formal and chronological characteristics of the house urns in the Collection of prehistoric artefacts of the University of Leipzig. / In dem Beitrag werden die in der Sammlung Ur- und Frühgeschichte der Universität Leipzig aufbewahrten Hausurnen vorgestellt. Es handelt sich um eine Kopie und ein Original.

This essay has analyzed and compared measurements of at least 41 dogs from seven different locations on Gotland ranging periods from Stone Age to Iron Age. This essay’s focus was on studying what kind of different types of dogs there are in the different time periods on Gotland, but also what their usage may have been. Type is not to be confused with breed as it is a modern concept and would give a faulty image, type indicate usage such as primed for i.e. hunting. The thesis also explores if the result differs from the mainland or preference of dogs compared to the island. Earlier studies have stated that during the Stone- and Bronze Age there are spitz type dogs, which usually varies between 30-60 cm. While during the Iron age more variety of different type of dogs were found such a greyhound type. Even larger dogs appear in the material with a height of 60-70 cm.   The Gotlandic dogs that were examined came from the locations Simunde, Lilla Vikers, Stora Källstäde, Hemmor, Gullrum, Ire, Vallhagar and Broa in Halla. Their sizes differed between 25-73 cm in height. The types of dogs that have been read out in the material are spitz, terrier, molosser types. The spitz and the terrier types indicate a usage as a farm dog raging to hunting, herding, guarding and as a companion. The molosser type and the other long-legged dogs in Broa in Halla show more specified hunting, high status and even hunting with horse. Nothing shows a different preference of type or size between the mainland and Gotland with the exception that the Gotlandic Stone age dogs were a little on the larger side than normal. The dogs were important in Gotland society and lived a good life with man as well as having the same diet which was proven by carbon-13 value analyzes from Ajvide. The dogs showed very few injuries and those that did showed instead that they had been taken care of in form of food and shelter so that those injuries fully have healed properly. Which shows that man has taken care of the dogs and wanted them well in health, that the dog is indeed important to humans and is our best friend.

The complex process of manufacturing woolen textiles contains a long chain of cooperation between resources, techniques and society. With a focus on South and Central Sweden, this study aims to trace the development of woolen textiles and its manufacture, how and why it changed and obtained an increased meaning from the Early Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. Archaeological biography and materiality are used as theoretical concepts to firstly explore how textile tools, sheep husbandry and woolen textiles changed in occurrence and appearance over time and space. Secondly, by comparing these results, the study analyzes how the different source materials may have affected each other towards the advancement of woolen textiles. The results suggest that a successive increase of sheep among settlements, caused by probably ecological and/or economic factors, possibly led to an increase in wool that sparked the textile development with the creation of more advanced tools and techniques for making woolen textiles in a gradually higher quality. The relationships between people and woolen textiles, as well as its components of manufacture, also seems to have altered during the investigated period, sometimes probably due to influences from the outside world.

During this master thesis a crushing material composite was developed in order to determine if a specific design consisting of a pointy hard phase with a ductile phase in between can reduce the load needed to crush stone and therefor decrease the energy consumption during stone crushing. The steel hard phase (ASP 2012) was printed using an additive manufacturing method called selective laser melting (SLM). A process parameter optimization was performed in order to achieve a dense material and a pre-heated building platform was used to prevent cracking. The hard phase designs were printed and then filled with bronze (JM3 and JM7). The composites and steel references were tested by placing a stone on each sample and applying pressure until the stone broke. After the tests, the loads and the deterioration of the samples was analyzed. The results showed that it was possible to print the hard phase, but some defects like micro cracking were hard to eliminate entirely. Several methods were tested to cast the bronze but the most suitable during this project was melting of the bronze in an induction furnace with vacuum atmosphere. The results from the crushing simulations showed that there was a small difference between the references and the developed macro composites. The composites began to crush stones at lower loads than the references. Nevertheless, due to a large dispersion of the results a statistical difference could not be established.

This paper consists of a focused, formal, and iconographic analysis of a unique Late Archaic bronze hand mirror said to originate in Magna Graecia, now in the Getty Museum. Of particular interest is the way the object fuses and juxtaposes two semantically dense and interrelated devices from the ancient Greek world: the mirror and the severed head of the Medusa (gorgoneion). While gorgoneia are generally encountered as ornaments on Greek mirrors, the Getty example is the only extant case in which Medusa’s head occupies the entire backside of the mirror, effectively functioning as a Janus-faced counterpart to the user’s face reflected in the disc. Scholars tend to explain the significance of gorgoneia on objects like the Getty mirror with reference to apotropaic and/or humorous effects. Yet Fowler proposes that the mirror’s incorporation of the gorgoneion may be appreciated on deeper conceptual and phenomenological levels: as a visual “comment” on the nature of the image (representational and reflected) and of (female) beauty and ugliness, which is accomplished by, and experienced through, using the object. Close examination of the Getty mirror thus offers critical insights into the complex interplay between gender, aesthetics, image-making, and visual experience in ancient Greek culture.

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Denna studie undersöker relationen mellan landskap, miljö och placeringen av boplatser från neolitikum och bronsålder i Ystadområdet. Uppsatsen åstadkommer detta genom maximal entropi modellering av boplatsernas placering i relation till flera variabler i landskapet och miljön. Uppsatsens teoretiska ramverk utgår från en antagen koppling mellan variabler i miljön och placeringen av boplatser. Resultatet av modelleringen översätts till tabeller som visar vilka variabler i miljön och landskapet som är viktiga i relation till placeringen av boplatser under dessa perioder, och till kartor som visar vilka delar av Ystadområdet som har rätt kombination av dessa variabler. Dessa används sedan för att besvara frågeställningarna. Resultaten av studien visar en stark koppling mellan kvartärsjordarten kärrtorv och närvaron av boplatser. Variablerna som föredrogs vid placeringen av boplatser visar också en viss variation mellan tidsperioderna. Utöver detta bedömdes modellen av historisk miljö från Ystadprojektet vara användbar. / This study examines the relationship between landscape, environment, and the placement of settlements during the neolithic and bronze age periods in the Ystad area. The study accomplishes this through maximal entropy modeling of the placement of settlements in relation to several variables in the landscape and environment. The theoretic framework of this study centers around a presumed connection between variables in the environment and the location of settlements. The results are translated into tables that show which of these variables were important in relation to the placement of settlements during the above-mentioned periods. The results are also translated into maps that show which areas of Ystad have the right combination of variables that were determined to be important by the model. These tables and maps are then used to produce an answer to the main questions of this paper. The results of this study show a strong connection between the quaternary soil type bog peat, and the presence of settlements. The preferred conditions also show some variation between time periods. Furthermore, the model of historic environment from the Ystad project was deemed to be useful.

The objective of this research was to determine the environmental and social factors that led to the shift of settlement patterning from agro-pastoral in the late Neolithic to hillort sites at the turn of the Early Bronze Age and why burial mounds (tumuli) were erected further than anticipated from corresponding hillort sites in the Shkodra Plain region in Northern Albania. Geospatial techniques were used to examine 168 tumuli and seven hillort sites. These were mapped to examine visibility, viewshed, slope, and potential prehistoric networks. Based on the landscape visibility GIS results, it was found that hillort sites and tumuli were part of an social landscape that thrived on trade. It was determinable that the shift of the social landscape was related to Northern trade routes and probable changes in paleo-lake levels. This new evidence provides insight to Albanian prehistoric culture and has implications to related studies in the Balkans.