Thesis--University of Calcutta. / Bibliography: p. [243]-244.

Issued also as thesis, Kiel, 1963. / Offa-Bücher, Bd. 19.

Issued also as thesis, Kiel, 1963. / Offa-Bücher, Bd. 19.

No description available.

Thesis--University of Illinois. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 132-134).

Akademisk afhandling--Lund.

Archaeological excavations were conducted by EASE Archaeology at the Knowe of Skea on the island of Westray between 2000 and 2009 and discovered a multi-phase site with evidence for activity dating from the Neolithic through to the Viking era. Excavations revealed that the site had been used as a burial ground for a prolonged period during the Iron Age. Human remains recovered during the first seasons of excavations were radiocarbon dated to the turn of the first millennium BC/AD. These dates highlighted the significance of this burial ground; burial evidence of Iron Age date is sparse in Atlantic Scotland and often overlooked due to the lack of a recognisable, dominant burial rite. Burials of individuals of all ages, including a very high number of infants, were recovered and represent the largest known collection of burials of this date from Scotland. Iron Age research in Atlantic Scotland has traditionally been dominated by study and discussion of the impressive stone-built architecture of domestic buildings and working places of a population about which very little is actually known. Examination of the burials from this site and comparisons with similar sites in the Orkney Islands is building a greater understanding of the treatment of the dead in this region during a period for which so little evidence exists. The burials had been placed in the rubble of earlier collapsed buildings which appears to be a common feature of many Iron Age burials in the Orkney Islands and north-eastern Scotland. Site records, photographs and views of excavators were consulted and combined with the results of the osteological analysis to determine burial patterns at the site according to age, sex or burial location. The large volume of infant remains recovered from the site created the possibility to investigate such high infant mortality and the general health of infants and children. High numbers of infant burials can often lead to suggestions of infanticide; the likelihood of this is also discussed. The results of basic stable isotope analysis (13C and 15N) were examined to interpret breastfeeding and weaning practice. The evidence provided in the results of isotopic analysis was also used to interpret the diet of this population and compared with archaeological evidence of diet from excavation of domestic sites across Atlantic Scotland. Of particular interest was the extent to which the population of the islands may have exploited marine and other wild resources when compared with similar dietary studies in the rest of Scotland and Britain. Results of osteoarchaeological analysis of the human skeletal remains from the Knowe of Skea allowed a deeper understanding of the lifestyle and health of a population for which there has been little evidence to date.

This study documents the metal working technology employed at two major Iron Age archaeological sites in southern Africa. The research involved the description and analysis of two large metal working assemblages with a total of 2922 metal artefacts, fragments of ore, and slag, from the sites of Divuyu (6th 8th century AD) and Nqoma (7th - 10th century AD, with a later 17th - 19th century AD occupation) in the Tsodilo Hills, northwestern Botswana. This is the first systematic description and metallographic analysis of a large collection of Early Iron Age metal artefacts from southern Africa. The artefacts were small, mainly delicate items of copper and iron jewellery, and tools possibly used in their manufacture. They were classified, described, and sampled selectively for metallographic, petrographic, and chemical analysis. Seventy artefacts were studied in detail, from which the fabrication technology employed at these sites was reconstructed. During the Early Iron Age forging, and probably also smelting, of iron took place at both sites. The smelting products were inhomogeneous iron and steel, with typical fayalitic slag, characteristic of indigenous bloomery iron production. The forging was done in an oxidising hearth and the technique used was poor, with no deliberate control over carbon content, the mechanical properties of the steel, or heat treatment other than annealing. Fabrication involved hammering square wire and flat sheets, which were cut into strips for beads, clips, chains, and fibre-cored wound ornaments. Numerous finger rings were made from crude round iron wire. Copper was worked in the same way, generally leaving the metal in its annealed state. Significant chemical variation in the copper artefacts and iron slag inclusions indicated that diverse ore sources were involved. There were stylistic similarities between individual artefacts from the Tsodilo Hills and Early Iron Age material from the Upemba Depression in Zaire, as well as with a copper chain from Broederstroom in the Transvaal. Comparison of the fabrication technology with Later Iron Age material suggested that local indigenous iron and copper working technology has changed little since its introduction in southern Africa.

No / Leverhulme Trust

No / Not available