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No / This study examines resinous deposits from the interior surfaces of sherds of imported Canaanite amphorae and locally produced bowls from the 18th Dynasty site of Tell el-Amarna, Egypt. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Canaanite amphorae were used for resin transport, whilst the bowls are associated with burning resin as incense. A number of characteristic triterpenoids identify all the resinous deposits from both vessel types as Pistacia spp. No other resins were observed and there was no evidence of mixing with oils or fats. The composition of the archaeological resins is more complex than that of modern pistacia resin, due to degradation and generation of new components. Experimental heating alters the relative abundance of the triterpenoid composition of modern pistacia resin. One component, the triterpenoid 28-norolean-17-en-3-one, is produced by such heating; however, an increase in its relative abundance in ancient samples is not matched by the archaeological evidence for heating. It is therefore not possible to use this component reliably to identify heated resin. However, additional unidentified components with a mass spectral base peak at m/z 453 have been associated with seven (out of 10) bowls and are not observed in resins associated with Canaanite amphorae. It is proposed that these components are more reliable molecular indicators of heating.

Yes / The biographical approach has been applied to many studies of European prehistoric metal­ working which frequently discuss the potential for recycling metalwork through melting to create new objects, drawing influence from the many ‘founders hoards’ known from across Europe. An agglomerate of half ­molten bronze objects from Switzerland suggests that such recycling practices occurred there, although previous archaeometallurgical analysis has indicated that such practices were temporally limited. This article focuses on an alternative form of recycling — the direct conversion of one object into another through cutting and reshaping — observed on several razors from Late Bronze Age (LBA) lake ­dwelling contexts in Switzerland. Atypical decorative motifs on these razors identify them as having been cut from arm­ or leg­ring jewellery pieces. It is suggested that these ‘ring­razors’ were valued as individualized objects and created as personal mnemonic devices. / Swiss National Science Foundation

Yes / Lakeshore and wetland settlements of the Circum-Alpine region are well known for their excellent preservation of organic remains and their potential for accurate dating through dendrochronology. This settlement tradition spans from the Neolithic to the Early Iron Age, though several hiatuses in lake-dwelling construction are observed. Traditional models for the abandonment of lake settlements rely upon climatically deterministic models, linking declining climatic conditions to increasing lake-levels, which would have impacted upon settlements and forced the inhabitants to relocate. Recent studies of Neolithic lake-dwellings have indicated that social factors also influenced the development of these settlements, while the ‘social biography’ of settlements has been an area of increasing interest in terrestrial settlements. A review of selected Late Bronze Age (LBA) lake settlement illustrates the development sequence seen at many lake-dwellings from across the Circum-Alpine region. The proposal of a biographical model linking cultural influences to the development sequence observed in LBA lake-dwellings, and to the choice to abandon areas and relocate villages, offers further insights into the development of enigmatic settlements. / Swiss National Science Foundation

Yes / The lake-dwellings of the Circum-Alpine region have long been a rich source of detailed information about daily life in Bronze Age Europe, but their location made them vulnerable to changes in climate and lake level. At several Late Bronze Age examples, skulls of children were found at the edge of the lake settlement, close to the encircling palisade. Several of the children had suffered violent deaths, through blows to the head from axes or blunt instruments. They do not appear to have been human sacrifices, but the skulls may nonetheless have been offerings to the gods by communities faced with the threat of environmental change. / Swiss National Science Foundation

Yes

Si, comme nous le suggérons, le mot « frontière » désigne un lieu de contact et d’échanges entre deux espaces plutôt qu’une ligne de séparation bien tracée, de nombreuses frontières existent, politiques, sociales, culturelles, linguistiques dans un Proche-Orient ancien qu’on qualifie souvent de « monde sans frontières » parce qu’il partage la même culture cunéiforme. Du XIVe siècle av. J.-C. au début du XIIe, les États syriens sont dans la mouvance successive d’empires puissants, Mitanni, Égypte, Hatti, qui se les disputent et fixent leurs frontières politiques, tandis que les frontières juridiques (de qui est-on justiciable ?) ou économiques (qui édicte les obligations fiscales ?) se superposent. Dans une Syrie où les langues parlées sont diverses, il existe, et même il se crée, des « entre-deux » linguistiques. Les zones frontières sont traversées sans cesse, volontairement (nomades, marchands) ou sous la contrainte (captifs). Dire qui est « un étranger » n’est possible en Syrie que de façon relative. Cependant, ni tout à fait étranger, ni membre de la communauté, un étranger résident peut, parce qu’il bénéficie d’une certaine protection et peut s’intégrer, devenir un de ceux par lesquels les cultures se transmettent. / If, as we would define it, the word “border” indicates a place of contact and exchanges between two spaces rather than a well-drawn line of separation, numerous borders exist: political, social, cultural, linguistic in an Ancient Near East often characterized as “a world without borders” since it shares the same cuneiform culture. From the fourteenth century BC to the beginning of the twelfth, the Syrian States have belonged to successive spheres of influence of powerful empires, Mitanni, Egypt, Hatti, which dispute them between themselves and fix their political borders, whereas the legal borders (to which jurisdiction you are under?) or economic ones (which authority imposes the tax obligations?) overlap. In Syria where the spoken languages are diverse, linguistic interspaces exist, are even created. Fringe areas are crossed ceaselessly, voluntarily (nomads, traders) or under duress (captives). To determine who is “a foreigner” is only possible in Syria in a relative manner. However, neither a true foreigner, nor a member of the community, a “resident foreigner” (since he is partly protected and may become integrated) can be one of these through whom the cultures are passed on.

The Fogdarp hoard from Scania in Sweden is an unusual deposit from the Late Bronze Age. Unlike similar hoards this was not found in a wetland, but was buried in the ground with a rock placed on top of it. Deposits in dry land have sometimes been considered to be a hiding place for a smith’s metalwork. But since the Fogdarp hoard contains ritual bronze objects, it has been called a ritual deposit. The aim of this paper is to investigate the Fogdarp hoard by using a landscape analysis. By doing so the study will contribute to the understanding of the hoards context, and why this hoard was buried and not deposited in a wetland. The landscape analysis shows that the hoard is buried closed to the water and in a ritual landscape on the edge of a valley. The discussion will also analyze the objects in this particular hoard: their symbolic value will be elaborated in the analysis. As a comparison, this paper includes other deposits from the Late Bronze Age. My interpretation of the objects in the Fogdarp hoard is that they are a part of the sun cult of the Nordic Bronze Age, where sun-goddess and the divine twins play an important role.

During the first millennium BC, the people of the chalk landscapes of the Yorkshire Wolds began carving up their world with monumental linear earthworks. This project explores the meanings of the later prehistoric boundary systems of the Yorkshire Wolds. It writes a biography of the linear earthwork landscapes of the north-central Wolds, using geographic information systems (GIS), original fieldwork and theories of agency and memory. Tracing the construction, use and modification of particular linear earthworks, it examines how these monuments would have related to other features in the landscape, and how they could have exercised agency within networks of interconnected people, animals, objects and other places. Finally, the project attempts to situate these boundary systems within the larger context of Late Bronze Age and Iron Age society in order to understand how the later prehistoric people of East Yorkshire would have experienced their world. Taking a biographical approach to landscape and allowing linear earthworks to become the protagonists of this narrative, the project charts the life histories of the earthworks at Wetwang-Garton Slack and Huggate Dykes and investigates the collective authorship of the wider landscape. To understand the rural, monumental landscapes of the Wolds, we must consider the agency of not only people, but also of animals and of monuments themselves. By focussing on the relationships which bound together linear earthworks and other agents, we can begin to understand the ways in which monumentalised landscapes both reflected and generated the cosmologies of prehistoric communities.

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...