New Light on the Silent Millennia: Mediterranean Africa, ca. 4000–900 BC

AbstractThe so-called neolithization process (ca. 6000/5500–4000 BC) in Mediterranean Africa and the Sahara has been increasingly researched in recent years. In contrast, relatively little is known, especially in Mediterranean Africa, of the period between the beginnings of irreversible climatic deterioration in the Sahara, around 4000–3500 BC, and the onset of Iron Age to broadly Classical times. Why, with the exception of the Nile Delta, is our knowledge of the period between the fourth millennium BC and the threshold of the first Iron Age Phoenician and Greek colonies so limited? To what extent can this information gap be attributed to aridification in the Mediterranean zone, or is it rather a product of the failure to look for the right kinds of materials and sites, and of their relative visibility? In order to answer these questions, this paper focuses specifically on Mediterranean Africa (with the exception of Egypt) from about 4000 BC to ca. 900 BC. It is mainly based on the data made available on MedAfriCarbon, a spatially linked, publicly accessible database and web app comprising the 14C chronometric evidence from Mediterranean Africa from 12,000 to 600 cal. BC, with details of associated cultural and economic information. Analysis of these data shows that most of Mediterranean Africa beyond the Nile was occupied to different extents throughout the 3000-year period covered in this article and that, with a few important exceptions, the robust and resilient nature of local, mainly pastoral, ways of life militated against a shift towards a fully agricultural economy

The Provenance, Use and Circulation of Metals in the European Bronze Age: The state of debate

Bronze is the defining metal of the European Bronze Age and has been at the center of archaeological and science-based research for well over a century. Archaeometallurgical studies have largely focused on determining the geological origin of the constituent metals, copper and tin, and their movement from producer to consumer sites. More recently, the effects of recycling, both temporal and spatial, on the composition of the circulating metal stock have received much attention. Also, discussions of the value and perception of bronze, both as individual objects and as hoarded material, continue to be the focus of scholarly debate. Here, we bring together the sometimes diverging views of several research groups on these topics in an attempt to find common ground and set out the major directions of the debate, for the benefit of future research. The paper discusses in turn issues of: geological provenance of new metal entering the system and how to determine and interpret it; the circulation of extant metal across time and space, and how this is seen in changing compositional signatures; and some economic aspects of metal production. These include the role of metal-producing communities within larger economic settings, quantifying the amount of metal present at any one time within a society, and aspects of hoarding, a distinctive European phenomenon that is less prevalent in the Middle Eastern and Asian Bronze Age societies.Funded by the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Researc

This small world the great : an island archaeology of the early Cyclades

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Island dynamics and Minoan expansion in the Aegean: the Kythera Island Project

In recent years archaeologists have become increasingly interested in the investigation of island societies. At a global level, discoveries in the Pacific, Caribbean, Mediterranean and elsewhere have greatly improved our understanding of the antiquity and dynamics of island life. Now archaeologists at the Institute, together with other colleagues, have embarked on a long-term interdisciplinary study of the island of Kythera in the Aegean

The Dynamics of Mediterranean Africa, ca. 9600–1000 bc: An Interpretative Synthesis of Knowns and Unknowns

Mediterranean Africa forms a crucial junction between the wider Saharan zone and the rest of the Mediterranean. In contrast to its well-investigated history from the first millennium BC onward, its antecedent dynamics are very poorly understood, and deeper archaeological histories of the Mediterranean therefore remain unbalanced and incomplete. This paper draws on a new surge in data to present the first up-todate interpretative synthesis of this region’s archaeology from the start of the Holocene until the threshold of the Iron Age (9600–1000 bc). It presents the evidence for climatic, environmental and sea-level change, followed by analysis of the chronological and spatial patterning of all radiocarbon dates from Mediterranean Africa, brought together for the first time. The principal exploration then divides into three phases. During Phase 1 (9600–6200 bc) diverse forms of hunting, gathering and foraging were ubiquitous. Phase 2 (6200–4000 bc) witnessed more continuity than elsewhere in the Mediterranean, but also the widespread uptake of domesticated livestock and gradual evolution of herding societies, as well as limited enclaves of farming. Phase 3 (4000–1000 bc) has been least explored, outside developments in Egypt; in the east this phase witnessed the emergence of fully nomadic and transhumant pastoralism, with political superstructures, while trajectories in the west remain obscure, but in parts of the Maghreb suggest complex possibilities. Contacts with the Mediterranean maritime world grew during the third and second millennia bc, while interaction to the south was transformed by desertification. Understanding how the southern Mediterranean shore was drawn into Iron Age networks will require much better knowledge of its indigenous societies. The present constitutes a pivotal moment, in terms of accumulated knowledge, pathways for future investigation and engagement with a challenging current geopolitical situation.Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2016-26

The Provenance, Use and Circulation of Metals in the European Bronze Age: The state of debate

Bronze is the defining metal of the European Bronze Age and has been at the center of archaeological and science-based research for well over a century. Archaeometallurgical studies have largely focused on determining the geological origin of the constituent metals, copper and tin, and their movement from producer to consumer sites. More recently, the effects of recycling, both temporal and spatial, on the composition of the circulating metal stock have received much attention. Also, discussions of the value and perception of bronze, both as individual objects and as hoarded material, continue to be the focus of scholarly debate. Here, we bring together the sometimes diverging views of several research groups on these topics in an attempt to find common ground and set out the major directions of the debate, for the benefit of future research. The paper discusses in turn issues of: geological provenance of new metal entering the system and how to determine and interpret it; the circulation of extant metal across time and space, and how this is seen in changing compositional signatures; and some economic aspects of metal production. These include the role of metal-producing communities within larger economic settings, quantifying the amount of metal present at any one time within a society, and aspects of hoarding, a distinctive European phenomenon that is less prevalent in the Middle Eastern and Asian Bronze Age societies.Funded by the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Researc

Global Patterns in Island Colonization during the Holocene

Abstract: Analysis of the spatial and temporal structure of global island colonization allows us to frame the extent of insular human cultural diversity, model the impact of common environmental factors cross-culturally, and understand the contribution of island maritime societies to big historical processes. No such analysis has, however, been undertaken since the 1980s. In this paper we review and update global patterns in island colonization, synthesizing data from all the major island groups and theaters and undertaking quantitative and qualitative analysis of these data. We demonstrate the continued relevance of certain biogeographic and environmental factors in structuring how humans colonized islands during the Holocene. Our analysis also suggests the importance of other factors, some previously anticipated—such as culturally ingrained seafaring traditions and technological enhancement of dispersal capacity—but some not, such as the relationship between demographic growth and connectivity, differing trophic limitations impinging on colonizing farmers versus hunter-gatherer-foragers, and the constraining effects of latitude. We also connect colonization with continental dynamics: both the horizontal transmission of farming lifestyles earlier in the Holocene, and subsequent centrifugal processes associated with early state formation later in the Holocene