1.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
2.
Iron Age Europe
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In Europe, the Iron Age may be defined as including the last stages of the prehistoric period and the first of the proto-historic periods. Iron working was introduced to Europe in the late 11th century BC, probably from the Caucasus, the widespread use of the technology of iron was implemented in Europe simultaneously with Asia. The Iron Age in Europe is characterized by an elaboration of designs in weapons, implements, the dead were buried in an extended position, whereas in the preceding Bronze Age cremation had been the rule. There is not a consensus on how the end of the Iron Age should be defined. Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details Prehistoric Iron Age Historic Iron Age The early 1st millennium BC marks the Iron Age in Eastern Europe. In the Pontic steppe and the Caucasus region, the Iron Age begins with the Koban, by 800 BC, it was spreading to Hallstatt C via the alleged Thraco-Cimmerian migrations. In Central Europe, the Iron Age is generally divided in the early Iron Age Hallstatt culture, in the Swiss or La Tène group of implements and weapons, the forms are new and the transition complete. The Celtic culture, or rather Proto-Celtic groups, had expanded to much of Central Europe, in Central Europe, the prehistoric Iron Age ends with the Roman conquest. From the Hallstatt culture, the Iron Age spreads westwards with the Celtic expansion from the 6th century BC, in Poland, the Iron Age reaches the late Lusatian culture in about the 6th century, followed in some areas by the Pomeranian culture. The ethnic ascription of many Iron Age cultures has been bitterly contested, in the Greek Dark Ages, there was a widespread availability of edged weapons of iron, but a variety of explanations fits the available archaeological evidence. From around 1200 BC, the centres and outlying settlements of the Mycenaean culture began to be abandoned or destroyed, and by 1050 BC. The Greek alphabet began in the 8th century BC and it is descended from the Phoenician alphabet. The Greeks adapted the system, notably introducing characters for vowel sounds, as Greece sent out colonies eastwards, across the Black Sea, and westwards towards Sicily and Italy, the influence of their alphabet extended further. The traditional material from which the epics were drawn treats the Mycenaean Bronze Age culture from the perspective of Iron Age. Cremated remains were housed in double-cone shaped urns and buried, the Etruscans Old Italic alphabet spread throughout Italy from the 8th century. The Etruscan Iron Age was then ended with the rise and conquest of the Roman Republic, the Celtic culture had expanded to the group of islands of northwest Europe and Iberia. In the British Isles, the British Iron Age lasted from about 800 BC until the Roman Conquest, structures dating from this time are often impressive, for example the brochs and duns of northern Scotland and the hill forts that dotted the islands. On the Iberian peninsula, the Paleohispanic scripts began to be used between 7th century to the 5th century BC and these scripts were used until the end of the 1st century BC or the beginning of the 1st century AD
3.
Burgstallkogel (Sulm valley)
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The Burgstallkogel is a hill situated near the confluence of the Sulm and the Saggau river valleys in Southern Styria in Austria, about 30 km south of Graz between Gleinstätten and Kleinklein. The hill hosted a significant settlement of importance from 800 BC to about 600 BC. Surrounding the hill is one of the largest iron age necropolises in continental Europe, the settlement apparently controlled long-distance trade along this route, which had been in use since neolithic times, and prospered from it. The community exchanged goods far into Italy and into the Balkans, the first significant habitation on the hill was established during the late Urnfield culture period around 800 BC, when hilltop settlements became common in continental Europe. Four cultural layers were identified containing pottery ranging from the late Urnfield culture to the mid-Hallstatt culture period, erosion has destroyed the youngest layers of the late Hallstatt period, especially on the summit where nobility is likely to have resided. It was essentially abandoned shortly after 600 BC, the Burgstallkogel settlement itself was not fortified, and archeology gives no indications that it ever suffered from war, the two catastrophic fires seem to have been accidental. One of these destroyed a house containing the largest vertical loom from the Hallstatt era that has ever been identified in Central Europe. In 2004, reconstructions of typical mid-Hallstatt period houses were erected on the slope of the hill employing experimental archaeology methods. However, the findings from the digs offer no proof that these buildings resemble any actual situation at the Burgstallkogel settlement during this period, today the surviving tumuli appear clustered in well-defined and dense groups. The hill graves have been a part of the local populations environment for centuries. The first crude excavations date back to 1844, and some finds were on display during the 1873 World Exposition in Vienna, the excavations continued throughout World War I and into the 1930s. After a long lapse during World War II and the post-war era, there are also several flat graves in the Burgstallkogel area, which date back to the 10th century BC. The rulers and their aristocracy, which prided itself on military leadership, had the easternmost part of the necropolis to themselves, naturally, their tumuli were the largest and richest ones, containing significant amounts of bronze vessels and iron armament in addition to pottery. It is assumed that the tumuli were modeled on Etruscan tombs. The cremation places have not been found, but are supposed to have been either near the site or near the hilltop. The Kröllkogel was the last hill grave to be set up for a ruling the Burgstallkogel settlement. It had been scientifically probed many times from the mid-1900s onward, the central burial chamber was 8 x 8 m in size. From measurements and comparisons with similar graves in Slovenia, an original diameter of 40 m
4.
Hallstatt culture
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It is commonly associated with Proto-Celtic and Celtic populations in the Western Hallstatt zone and with Illyrians in the eastern Hallstatt zone. Parts of Britain and Iberia are included in the expansion of the culture. Social distinctions became increasingly important, with emerging elite classes of chieftains and warriors, society was organized on a tribal basis, though very little is known about this. Only a few of the largest settlements, like Heuneburg in the south of Germany, were rather than villages by modern standards. In 1846, Johann Georg Ramsauer discovered a prehistoric cemetery near Hallstatt, Austria. Eventually the excavation would yield 1,045 burials, although no settlement has yet been found and this may be covered by the later village, which has long occupied the whole narrow strip between the steep hillsides and the lake. Some 1,300 burials have been found, including around 2,000 individuals, with women and children, nor is there a princely burial, as often found near large settlements. The community at Hallstatt was untypical of the wider, mainly agricultural, culture and these had been worked from time to time since the Neolithic period, and in this period were extensively mined with a peak from the 8th to 5th centuries BC. The style and decoration of the goods found in the cemetery are very distinctive. Finds at Hallstatt extend from about 1200 BC until around 500 BC, in this period, people were cremated and buried in simple graves. In phase B, tumulus burial becomes common, and cremation predominates, little is known about this period in which the typical Celtic elements have not yet distinguished themselves from the earlier Villanova-culture. The Hallstatt period proper is restricted to HaC and HaD, corresponding to the early European Iron Age, Hallstatt lies in the area where the western and eastern zones of the Hallstatt culture meet, which is reflected in the finds from there. Hallstatt D is succeeded by the La Tène culture, Hallstatt C is characterized by the first appearance of iron swords mixed amongst the bronze ones. For the final phase, Hallstatt D, daggers, almost to the exclusion of swords, are found in western zone graves ranging from c, there are also differences in the pottery and brooches. Halstatt D has been divided into the sub-phases D1-D3, relating only to the western zone. Major activity at the site appears to have finished about 500 BC, many Hallstatt graves were robbed, probably at this time. There was widespread throughout the western Hallstatt zone, and the salt workings had by then become very deep. By then the focus of mining had shifted to the nearby Hallein Salt Mine, with graves at Dürrnberg nearby where there are significant finds from the late Hallstatt
5.
Villanovan culture
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The Villanovan culture and people branched from the Urnfield culture of Central Europe. The Villanovans introduced iron-working to the Italian peninsula, they practiced cremation, the name Villanovan comes from the type-site, that of the first archaeological finds relating to this advanced culture, remnants of a cemetery found near Villanova in northern Italy. The well tomb pit graves lined with stones contained funerary urns, they had only sporadically plundered. In 1893, a chance discovery unearthed another distinctive Villanovan necropolis at Verucchio, cremated remains were placed in cinerary urns and then buried. A custom believed to originate with the Villanovan culture is the usage of Hut urns, cinerary urns fashioned like small huts, typical sgraffito decorations of swastikas, meanders and squares were scratched with a comb-like tool. Urns were accompanied by simple bronze fibulae, razors and rings, the culture is broadly divided into a Proto-Villanovan culture from c.1100 BC to c.900 BC and the Villanovan culture proper from c.900 BC to c.700 BC. This period came just before the foundation of Etruscan cities, chamber tombs and inhumation practices were developed side-by-side with the earlier cremation practices. Generally speaking, Villanovan settlements were centered in the Adriatic Etruria, in Emilia Romagna, in Marche and in Lazio. Further south, Villanovan cremation burials are to be found in Campania, at Capua, at the tombs of Pontecagnano near Salerno, at Capo di Fiume, at Vallo di Diano. This site continuity encourages modern opinion generally to follow Massimo Pallottino in regarding the Villanovan culture as ancestral to the Etruscan civilization. Canegrate culture Prehistoric Italy S. Gozzadini, La nécropole de Villanova, Fava et Garagnani, Bologna,1870 J. P. Mallory, Villanovan Culture, G. Bartoloni, The origin and diffusion of Villanovan culture. In M. Torelli, The Etruscans, pp 53–74, M. E. Moser, The Southern Villanovan Culture of Campania,1982
6.
Chariot
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A chariot is a type of carriage driven by a charioteer using primarily horses to provide rapid motive power. Chariots were used by armies as transport or mobile platforms, for hunting or for racing. The word chariot comes from the Latin carrus, itself a loanword from Gaulish, a chariot of war or one used in military parades was called a car. In ancient Rome and some other ancient Mediterranean civilizations, a required two horses, a triga three, and a quadriga four. The critical invention that allowed the construction of light, horse-drawn chariots was the spoked wheel, the earliest spoke-wheeled chariots date to ca.2000 BCE. The use of chariots peaked around 1300 BCE, Chariots had lost their military importance by the 1st century CE, but chariot races continued to be popular in Constantinople until the 6th century. The domestication of the horse was an important step toward civilization, an increasing amount of evidence supports the hypothesis that horses were domesticated in the Eurasian Steppes approximately 4000-3500 BCE. The invention of the used in transportation most likely took place in Europe. Evidence of wheeled vehicles appears from the mid 4th millennium BCE near-simultaneously in the Northern Caucasus, the earliest vehicles may have been ox carts. Starokorsunskaya kurgan in the Kuban region of Russia contains a grave of the Maikop Culture. The two solid wooden wheels from this kurgan have been dated to the half of the fourth millennium. Soon thereafter the number of burials in this Northern Caucasus region multiplied. As David Anthony writes in his book The Horse, the Wheel and Language, in Eastern Europe and it is a clay pot excavated in a Funnelbeaker settlement in Swietokrzyskie Voivodeship in Poland. The oldest securely dated real wheel-axle combination in Eastern Europe is the Ljubljana Marshes Wheel, horses were introduced to Transcaucasia at the time of the Kura-Araxes culture, beginning about 3300 BCE. Prior to that, horse bones were not found, during the Kura-Araxes period, horses seem to become rather widespread, with signs of domestication. It is widely believed that wheeled transport was invented in Mesopotamia, nevertheless, recent archaeological evidence seems to indicate otherwise, pointing to Neolithic Europe. At the same time, in Mesopotamia, some intriguing early pictograms of a sled that rests on wooden rollers or wheels have been found and they date from about the same time as the early wheel discoveries in Europe and may indicate knowledge of the wheel. The earliest depiction of vehicles in the context of warfare is on the Standard of Ur in southern Mesopotamia, the hybrids were used by the Eblaite, early Sumerian, Akkadian and Ur III armies
7.
Bronze Age
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The Bronze Age is a historical period characterized by the use of bronze, proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen. An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Copper-tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact there were no tin bronzes in Western Asia before trading in bronze began in the third millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the Neolithic period, with the Chalcolithic serving as a transition, although the Iron Age generally followed the Bronze Age, in some areas, the Iron Age intruded directly on the Neolithic. Bronze Age cultures differed in their development of the first writing, according to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia and Egypt developed the earliest viable writing systems. The overall period is characterized by use of bronze, though the place and time of the introduction. Human-made tin bronze technology requires set production techniques, tin must be mined and smelted separately, then added to molten copper to make bronze alloy. The Bronze Age was a time of use of metals. The dating of the foil has been disputed, the Bronze Age in the ancient Near East began with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC. Societies in the region laid the foundations for astronomy and mathematics, the usual tripartite division into an Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age is not used. Instead, a division based on art-historical and historical characteristics is more common. The cities of the Ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands of people, ur in the Middle Bronze Age and Babylon in the Late Bronze Age similarly had large populations. The earliest mention of Babylonia appears on a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 23rd century BC, the Amorite dynasty established the city-state of Babylon in the 19th century BC. Over 100 years later, it took over the other city-states. Babylonia adopted the written Semitic Akkadian language for official use, by that time, the Sumerian language was no longer spoken, but was still in religious use. Elam was an ancient civilization located to the east of Mesopotamia, in the Old Elamite period, Elam consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered in Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a role in the Gutian Empire and especially during the Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it
8.
Chalcolithic
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The Copper Age was originally defined as a transition between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age. The archaeological site of Belovode on the Rudnik mountain in Serbia contains the worlds oldest securely dated evidence of copper smelting from 5000 BCE, the multiple names result from multiple recognitions of the period. Originally, the term Bronze Age meant that either copper or bronze was being used as the hard substance for the manufacture of tools. In 1881, John Evans, recognizing that the use of copper often preceded the use of bronze and he did not include the transitional period in the tripartite system of Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age but placed it at the beginning outside of it. He did not, however, present it as a fourth age, in 1884, Gaetano Chierici, perhaps following the lead of Evans, renamed it in Italian as the Eneo-litica, or Bronze-stone transition. The phrase was never intended to mean that the period was the one in which both bronze and stone were used. The Copper Age features the use of copper, excluding bronze, moreover, litica simply names the Stone Age as the point from which the transition began and is not another -lithic age. Subsequently, British scholars used either Evanss Copper Age or the term Eneolithic, around 1900, many writers began to substitute Chalcolithic for Eneolithic, to avoid the false segmentation. It was then that the misunderstanding began among those who did not know Italian, the -lithic was seen as a new -lithic age, a part of the Stone Age in which copper was used, which may appear paradoxical. Today Copper Age, Eneolithic and Chalcolithic are used synonymously to mean Evanss original definition of Copper Age, there was an independent invention of copper and bronze smelting first by Andean civilizations in South America extended later by sea commerce to the Mesoamerican civilization in West Mexico. The literature of European archaeology, in general, avoids the use of Chalcolithic, the Copper Age in the Middle East and the Caucasus began in the late 5th millennium BCE and lasted for about a millennium before it gave rise to the Early Bronze Age. The transition from the European Copper Age to Bronze Age Europe occurs about the same time, an archaeological site in Serbia contains the oldest securely dated evidence of coppermaking from 7,500 years ago. In Serbia, an axe was found at Prokuplje, which indicates that humans were using metals in Europe by 7,500 years ago. Knowledge of the use of copper was far more widespread than the metal itself, the European Battle Axe culture used stone axes modeled on copper axes, even with imitation mold marks carved in the stone. Ötzi the Iceman, who was found in the Ötztal Alps in 1991, examples of Chalcolithic cultures in Europe include Vila Nova de São Pedro and Los Millares on the Iberian Peninsula. Pottery of the Beaker people has found at both sites, dating to several centuries after copper-working began there. The Beaker culture appears to have copper and bronze technologies in Europe. The term Chalcolithic is not generally used by British prehistorians, who disagree whether it applies in the British context, in Bhirrana, the earliest Indus civilization site, copper bangles and arrowheads were found
9.
Ancient Near East
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The ancient Near East is studied in the fields of Near Eastern archaeology and ancient history. The ancient Near East is considered one of the cradles of civilization and it also saw the creation of the first writing system and law codes, early advances that laid the foundations of astronomy and mathematics, and the invention of the wheel. During the period, states became increasingly large, until by the end the region was controlled by military empires who had conquered a number of different cultures. The phrase ancient Near East utilizes the 19th-century distinction between Near East and Far East as global regions of interest to the British Empire, the distinction began during the Crimean War. The two theatres were described by the statesmen and advisors of the British Empire as the Near East, shortly, they were to share the stage with Middle East, which came to prevail in the 20th century and continues in modern times. Meanwhile, ancient Near East had become distinct, the Near East ruled by the Ottoman Empire ranged from Vienna to the north to the tip of the Arabian Peninsula to the south, from Egypt in the west to the borders of Iraq in the east. The 19th-century archaeologists added Iran to their definition, which was never under the Ottomans, but they excluded all of Europe and, generally, Egypt, which had parts in the empire. Ancient Near East periodization is the attempt to categorize or divide time into discrete named blocks, or eras, the result is a descriptive abstraction that provides a useful handle on Near East periods of time with relatively stable characteristics. Named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia. It was followed by the Sumerian civilization, the late Uruk period saw the gradual emergence of the cuneiform script and corresponds to the Early Bronze Age. Sumer, located in southern Mesopotamia, is the earliest known civilization in the world, the Akkadian Empire, founded by Sargon the Great, lasted from the 24th to the 21st century BC, and was regarded by many as the worlds first Empire. The Akkadians eventually fragmented into Assyria and Babylonia, Ancient Elam lay to the east of Sumer and Akkad, in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province. In the Old Elamite period, c.3200 BC, it consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered on Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered on Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Elam was absorbed into the Assyrian Empire in the 9th to 7th centuries BC, however, the Proto-Elamite civilization existed from c.3200 BC to 2700 BC, when Susa, the later capital of the Elamites, began to receive influence from the cultures of the Iranian plateau. In archaeological terms, this corresponds to the late Banesh period and this civilization is recognized as the oldest in Iran and was largely contemporary with its neighbour, the Sumerian civilization. The Proto-Elamite script is an Early Bronze Age writing system briefly in use for the ancient Elamite language before the introduction of Elamite Cuneiform, the Amorites were a nomadic Semitic people who occupied the country west of the Euphrates from the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. In the earliest Sumerian sources, beginning about 2400 BC, the land of the Amorites is associated with the West, including Syria and Canaan and they ultimately settled in Mesopotamia, ruling Isin, Larsa, and later Babylon. Assyria, after enduring a period of Mitanni domination, emerged as a great power from the accession of Ashur-uballit I in 1365 BC to the death of Tiglath-Pileser I in 1076 BC
10.
Bronze Age Anatolia
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The prehistory of Anatolia stretches from the Paleolithic era through to the appearance of classical civilisation in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. It is generally regarded as being divided into three ages reflecting the dominant materials used for the making of domestic implements and weapons, Stone Age, Bronze Age, the term Copper Age is used to denote the period straddling the stone and Bronze Ages. Anatolia, also known by the Latin name of Asia Minor, is considered to be the westernmost extent of Western Asia, the earliest representations of culture in Anatolia can be found in several archaeological sites located in the central and eastern part of the region. Stone Age artifacts such as bones and food fossils were found at Burdur. After the fall of the Hittites, the new states of Phrygia and Lydia stood strong on the western coast as Greek civilization began to flourish, only the threat from a distant Persian kingdom prevented them from advancing past their peak of success. The Stone Age is a period in which stone was widely used in the manufacture of implements. In 2014, a tool was found in the Gediz River that was securely dated to 1.2 million years ago. Evidence of paleolithic habitation include the Yarimburgaz Cave, Karain Cave, examples of paleolithic humans can be found in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, in the Archaeological Museum in Antalya, and in other Turkish institutions. Evidence of fruit and of animal bones has been found at Yarimburgaz, the caves of the Mediterranean region contain murals. Original claims of 250, 000-year-old, Middle Pleistocene, Homo sapiens footprints at Kula, remains of a mesolithic culture in Anatolia can be found along the Mediterranean coast and also in Thrace and the western Black Sea area. Mesolithic remains have been located in the caves as the paleolithic artefacts. Additional findings come from the Sarklimagara cave in Gaziantep, the Baradiz cave, as well as the cemeteries and open air settlements at Sogut Tarlasi, Biris and Urfa. Because of its location at the intersection of Asia and Europe. Neolithic settlements include Çatalhöyük, Çayönü, Nevali Cori, Aşıklı Höyük, Boncuklu Höyük Hacilar, Göbekli Tepe, Norsuntepe, Kosk, Çatalhöyük is considered the most advanced of these, and Çayönü in the east the oldest. We have an idea of the town layout at Çayönü, based on a central square with buildings constructed of stone. Archeological finds include farming tools that suggest both crops and animal husbandry as well as domestication of the dog, religion is represented by figurines of Cybele, a mother goddess. Hacilar followed Çayönü, and has dated to 7040 BCE. Straddling the Neolithic and early Bronze Age, the Chalcolithic era is defined by the first metal implements made with copper and this age is represented in Anatolia by sites at Hacilar, Beycesultan, Canhasan, Mersin Yumuktepe, Elazig Tepecik, Malatya Degirmentepe, Norsuntepe, and Istanbul Fikirtepe
11.
Bronze Age Caucasus
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Up to including the early 19th century, the Southern Caucasus and a part of the Northern Caucasus all formed part of the Persian Empire. In 1813 and 1828 by the Treaty of Gulistan and the Treaty of Turkmenchay respectively, Russia conquered and annexed the rest of the Northern Caucasus in the course of the 19th century in the Caucasian Wars. The Northern Caucasus became the scene of fighting during the Second World War. The Nazis intended to establish a Reichskommissariat Kaukasus to control the Caucasian territories of the Soviet Union, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia became independent nations. The nascent Russian Empire gained territories in the North Caucasus in the Russo-Persian war of 1722/3, following the death of Nader Shah, Kartli and Kakheti were merged into the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti in 1762, seceding from Persian overlordship. King Erekle II concluded the Treaty of Georgievsk with the Russian Empire, catherine the Great used Georgia as a base of operations against both Iran and the Ottoman Empire. The Qajar dynasty attempted to restore Persian hegemony over the Caucasus, while Georgia and Armenia remained Christian, the Chechens gradually adopted Sunni Islam. The Circassians were mostly Islamized under the influence of the Crimean Tatars, a Little War that Shook the World, Georgia, Russia, and the Future of the West. ISBN 0-8147-1945-7 Gasimov, Zaur, The Caucasus, European History Online, Mainz, Institute of European History,2011, retrieved, Azerbaijan Diary, A Rogue Reporters Adventures in an Oil-Rich, War-Torn, Post-Soviet Republic. Chechnya Diary, A War Correspondents Story of Surviving the War in Chechnya, Georgia Diary, A Chronicle of War and Political Chaos in the Post-Soviet Caucasus. Everyday life of the Caucasian highlanders
12.
Ancient Egypt
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Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. It is one of six civilizations to arise independently, Egyptian civilization followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh Narmer. In the aftermath of Alexander the Greats death, one of his generals, Ptolemy Soter and this Greek Ptolemaic Kingdom ruled Egypt until 30 BC, when, under Cleopatra, it fell to the Roman Empire and became a Roman province. The success of ancient Egyptian civilization came partly from its ability to adapt to the conditions of the Nile River valley for agriculture, the predictable flooding and controlled irrigation of the fertile valley produced surplus crops, which supported a more dense population, and social development and culture. Its art and architecture were widely copied, and its antiquities carried off to far corners of the world and its monumental ruins have inspired the imaginations of travelers and writers for centuries. The Nile has been the lifeline of its region for much of human history, nomadic modern human hunter-gatherers began living in the Nile valley through the end of the Middle Pleistocene some 120,000 years ago. By the late Paleolithic period, the climate of Northern Africa became increasingly hot and dry. In Predynastic and Early Dynastic times, the Egyptian climate was less arid than it is today. Large regions of Egypt were covered in treed savanna and traversed by herds of grazing ungulates, foliage and fauna were far more prolific in all environs and the Nile region supported large populations of waterfowl. Hunting would have been common for Egyptians, and this is also the period when many animals were first domesticated. The largest of these cultures in upper Egypt was the Badari, which probably originated in the Western Desert, it was known for its high quality ceramics, stone tools. The Badari was followed by the Amratian and Gerzeh cultures, which brought a number of technological improvements, as early as the Naqada I Period, predynastic Egyptians imported obsidian from Ethiopia, used to shape blades and other objects from flakes. In Naqada II times, early evidence exists of contact with the Near East, particularly Canaan, establishing a power center at Hierakonpolis, and later at Abydos, Naqada III leaders expanded their control of Egypt northwards along the Nile. They also traded with Nubia to the south, the oases of the desert to the west. Royal Nubian burials at Qustul produced artifacts bearing the oldest-known examples of Egyptian dynastic symbols, such as the crown of Egypt. They also developed a ceramic glaze known as faience, which was used well into the Roman Period to decorate cups, amulets, and figurines. During the last predynastic phase, the Naqada culture began using written symbols that eventually were developed into a system of hieroglyphs for writing the ancient Egyptian language. The Early Dynastic Period was approximately contemporary to the early Sumerian-Akkadian civilisation of Mesopotamia, the third-century BC Egyptian priest Manetho grouped the long line of pharaohs from Menes to his own time into 30 dynasties, a system still used today
13.
Bronze Age Levant
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It stretches 400 miles north to south from the Taurus Mountains to the Sinai desert, and 70 to 100 miles east to west between the sea and the Arabian desert. The term is sometimes used to refer to modern events or states in the region immediately bordering the eastern Mediterranean Sea, Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine. The term normally does not include Anatolia, the Caucasus Mountains, the Sinai Peninsula is sometimes included, though it is more considered an intermediate, peripheral or marginal area forming a land bridge between the Levant and northern Egypt. Multiple waves of humans came Out of Africa I, anatomically modern Homo sapiens are demonstrated at the area of Mount Carmel, during the Middle Paleolithic dating from about c.90,000 BC. This move out of Africa seems to have been unsuccessful and by c, a second move out of Africa is demonstrated by the Boker Tachtit Upper Paleolithic culture, from 52–50,000 BC, with humans at Ksar Akil XXV level being modern humans. This culture bears close resemblance to the Badoshan Aurignacian culture of Iran, stephen Oppenheimer suggests that this reflects a movement of modern human groups back into North Africa, at this time. This culture was quite successful spreading as the Antelian culture, as far as Southern Anatolia, after the Late Glacial Maxima, a new Epipaleolithic culture appears in Southern Palestine. The appearance of the Kebarian culture, of microlithic type implies a significant rupture in the continuity of Levantine Upper Paleolithic. The Kebaran culture, with its use of microliths, is associated with the use of the bow and arrow,24, 000–17,000 BC Halfan culture of Egypt, that came from the still earlier Aterian tradition of the Sahara. Some linguists see this as the earliest arrival of Nostratic languages in the Middle East, Kebaran culture was quite successful, and was ancestral to the later Natufian culture, which extended throughout the whole of the Levantine region. These people pioneered the first sedentary settlements, and may have supported themselves from fishing and this was replaced in 7500 BC by Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, dwelling in square houses, coming from Northern Syria and the Euphrates bend. During the period of 8500–7500 BC, another group, showing clear affinities with the cultures of Egypt was in Sinai. In the Amuq valley of Syria, PPNB culture seems to have survived and this period also witnessed the development of megalithic structures, which continued into the Bronze Age. The term Neo-Syria is used to designate the early Iron Age, the old Syrian period was dominated by the Eblaite first kingdom, Nagar and the Mariote second kingdom. The Akkadian Empire conquered large areas of the Levant and were followed by the Amorite kingdoms, 2000–1600 BC, which arose in Mari, Yamkhad and Qatna. Also following the Akkadians was the extension of Khirbet Kerak ware culture, showing affinities with the Caucasus, around the 17th and 16th centuries BC most of the older centers had been overrun. The Mitanni, for a time, menaced the Hittite kingdom, the Semitic Hyksos used the new technologies to occupy Egypt, but were expelled, leaving the empire of the New Kingdom to develop in their wake. From 1550 until 1100, much of the Levant was conquered by Egypt, at the end of the 13th century BC, all of these powers suddenly collapsed
14.
Bronze Age Mesopotamia
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While in the Paleolithic and early Neolithic periods only parts of Upper Mesopotamia were occupied, the southern alluvium was settled during the late Neolithic period. Mesopotamia has been home to many of the oldest major civilizations, entering history from the Early Bronze Age, Mesopotamia literally means between rivers in ancient Greek. The oldest known occurrence of the name Mesopotamia dates to the 4th century BC, later it was more generally applied to all the lands between the Euphrates and the Tigris, thereby incorporating not only parts of Syria but also almost all of Iraq and southeastern Turkey. The neighbouring steppes to the west of the Euphrates and the part of the Zagros Mountains are also often included under the wider term Mesopotamia. A further distinction is made between Upper or Northern Mesopotamia and Lower or Southern Mesopotamia. Upper Mesopotamia, also known as the Jezirah, is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down to Baghdad, Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf. In modern scientific usage, the term Mesopotamia often also has a chronological connotation. It is usually used to designate the area until the Arab Muslim conquests in the 7th century AD, with Arabic names like Syria, Jezirah, two types of chronologies can be distinguished, a relative chronology and an absolute chronology. The former establishes the order of phases, periods, cultures and reigns, in archaeology, relative chronologies are established by carefully excavating archaeological sites and reconstructing their stratigraphy – the order in which layers were deposited. In general, newer remains are deposited on top of older material, absolute chronologies are established by dating remains, or the layers in which they are found, through absolute dating methods. These methods include radiocarbon dating and the record that can provide year names or calendar dates. By combining absolute and relative dating methods, a framework has been built for Mesopotamia that still incorporates many uncertainties. In this framework, many prehistorical and early historical periods have been defined on the basis of culture that is thought to be representative for each period. These periods are named after the site at which the material was recognized for the first time, as is for example the case for the Halaf, Ubaid. When historical documents become widely available, periods tend to be named after the dominant dynasty or state, examples of this are the Ur III and Old Babylonian periods. While reigns of kings can be securely dated for the 1st millennium BC, there is a large error margin toward the 2nd. Despite problems with the Middle Chronology, this chronological framework continues to be used by many recent handbooks on the archaeology, a study from 2001 published high-resolution radiocarbon dates from Turkey supporting dates for the 2nd millennium BC that are very close to those proposed by the Middle Chronology. This transition has been documented at sites like Abu Hureyra and Mureybet, Jarmo Samarra culture Halaf culture The Fertile Crescent was inhabited by several distinct, flourishing cultures between the end of the last ice age and the beginning of history
15.
Jiroft civilization
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A Jiroft culture has been postulated as an early Bronze Age archaeological culture, located in the territory of present-day Sistan and Kermān Provinces of Iran. The proposed type site is Konar Sandal, near Jiroft in the Halil River area, other significant sites associated with the culture include, Shahr-e Sukhteh, Tepe Bampur, Espiedej, Shahdad, Tal-i-Iblis and Tepe Yahya. He speculates they may be the remains of the lost Aratta Kingdom, other conjectures have connected the Konar Sandal with the obscure city-state of Marhashi, that apparently lay to the east of Elam proper. The team uncovered more than two kilometers of remains from a city dating back to at least the late 3rd millennium BC. The data Madjidzadehs team has gathered demonstrates that Jirofts heyday was from 2500 B. C. to 2200 B. C, the Jiroft civilization hypothesis proposes that this intercultural style is in fact the distinctive style of a previously unknown, long-lived civilization. Muscarella does nevertheless acknowledge the importance of the site, earlier excavations at Kerman were conducted by Sir Aurel Stein around 1930. Archeological excavations in Jiroft led to the discovery of objects belonging to the fourth millennium BC. According to the French experts who studied this area, the evidence remained from these civilizations may be traced up to 11 meters under the ground, what is obvious is that the evidence of Tal-i-Iblis culture in Bardsir can be traced in all parts of the region. Tal-i-Iblis culture, known as Ali Abad period was revealed by Joseph R. Caldwell, American archaeologist, the primary Jiroft site, consists of two mounds a few kilometers apart, called Konar Sandal A and B with a height of 13 and 21 meters, respectively. At Konar Sandal B, a two-story, windowed citadel with a base of close to 13.5 hectares was found, Helmand culture of western Afghanistan was a Bronze Age culture of the 3rd millennium BC. Some scholars link it with Shahr-i Sokhta, Mundigak, and Bampur, the term Helmand civilization was proposed by M. Tosi. This civilization flourished between 2500 and 1900 BC, and may have coincided with the flourishing of the Indus Valley Civilization. This was also the phase of Periods III and IV of Shahr-i Sokhta. Thus, Jiroft culture is related to Helmand culture. Jiroft culture flourished in the eastern Iran, and the Helmand culture in western Afghanistan at the same time, in fact, they may represent the same cultural area. Mehrgarh culture, on the hand, is far earlier. The inscription, discovered in a palace, was carved on a brick whose lower left corner only has remained, explained Yusef Majidzadeh, the two remaining lines are enough to recognize the Elamite script, he added. Archeologists have found many artifacts confirming the existence of a rich civilization dating back to the third millennium BC, the sixth phase of Jiroft excavations will focus on the temple and the sites where the tablets were found during previous phases
16.
Canaan
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Canaan was a Semitic-speaking region in the Ancient Near East during the late 2nd millennium BC. The name Canaan occurs commonly in the Hebrew Bible, in particular, the references in Genesis 10 and Numbers 34 define the Land of Canaan as extending from Lebanon southward to the Brook of Egypt and eastward to the Jordan River Valley. References to Canaan in the Bible are usually backward-looking, referring to a region that had something else. The term Canaanites serves as an ethnic catch-all term covering various indigenous populations—both settled, the Amarna Letters and other cuneiform documents use Kinaḫḫu, while other sources of the Egyptian New Kingdom mention numerous military campaigns conducted in Ka-na-na. Canaan had significant geopolitical importance in the Late Bronze Age Amarna period as the area where the spheres of interest of the Egyptian, Hittite, Mitanni and Assyrian Empires converged. Much of the knowledge about Canaan stems from archaeological excavation in this area at sites such as Tel Hazor, Tel Megiddo. The English term Canaan comes from the Hebrew כנען, via Greek Χαναάν Khanaan and it appears as KUR ki-na-ah-na in the Amarna letters, and knʿn is found on coins from Phoenicia in the last half of the 1st millennium. It first occurs in Greek in the writings of Hecataeus as Khna, scholars connect the name Canaan with knʿn, Kanaan, the general Northwest Semitic name for this region. An early explanation derives the term from the Semitic root knʿ to be low, humble, purple cloth became a renowned Canaanite export commodity which is mentioned in Exodus. The dyes may have named after their place of origin. The purple cloth of Tyre in Phoenicia was well known far, however, according to Robert Drews, Speisers proposal has generally been abandoned. The Late Bronze Age state of Ugarit is considered quintessentially Canaanite archaeologically, Jonathan Tubb states that the term ga-na-na may provide a third millennium reference to Canaanite while at the same time stating that the first certain reference is in the 18th century BC. See Ebla-Biblical controversy for further details, Mari letters A letter from Mutu-bisir to Shamshi-Adad I of the Old Assyrian Empire has been translated, It is in Rahisum that the brigands and the Canaanites are situated. It was found in 1973 in the ruins of Mari, an Assyrian outpost at that time in Syria, additional unpublished references to Kinahnum in the Mari letters refer to the same episode. Alalakh texts A reference to Ammiya being in the land of Canaan is found on the Statue of Idrimi from Alalakh in modern Syria. After a popular uprising against his rule, Idrimi was forced into exile with his mothers relatives to seek refuge in the land of Canaan, the other references in the Alalakh texts are, AT154 AT181, A list of Apiru people with their origins. All are towns, except for Canaan AT188, A list of Muskenu people with their origins, the letters are written in the official and diplomatic East Semitic Akkadian language of Assyria and Babylonia, though Canaanitish words and idioms are also in evidence. May the king ask Yanhamu about these matters, may the king ask his commissioner, who is familiar with Canaan EA151, Letter from Abimilku to the Pharaoh, The king, my lord wrote to me, write to me what you have heard from Canaan
17.
Late Bronze Age collapse
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The palace economy of the Aegean Region and Anatolia that characterised the Late Bronze Age broke down to the isolated village cultures of the Greek Dark Ages. In the first phase of period, almost every city between Pylos and Gaza was violently destroyed, and many abandoned, examples include Hattusa, Mycenae. A very few states, particularly Assyria and Elam, were largely unaffected by the Bronze Age collapse. Before the Bronze Age collapse, Anatolia was dominated by a number of Indo-European peoples, Luwians, Hittites, Mitanni, and Mycenaean Greeks, together with the Semitic Assyrians, and Hurrians. From the 17th century BC, the Mitanni formed a ruling class over the Hurrians, similarly, the Hittites absorbed the Hattians, a people speaking a language that may have been of the North Caucasian group or a Language Isolate. Hattusas, the Hittite capital, was burned, abandoned, karaoğlan, near the present day city of Ankara, was burned and the corpses left unburied. Many other sites that were not destroyed were abandoned, the Hittite Empire was destroyed by the Indo-European-speaking Phrygians and by the Semitic-speaking Aramaeans. Troy was destroyed at least twice, before being abandoned until Roman times, other groups of Indo-European warriors followed into the region, most prominently the Lydians, the Cimmerians, and Scythians. The Semitic Arameans, Kartvelian-speaking Colchians, and Hurro-Urartuans also made an appearance in parts of the region, during the reign of the Hittite king Tudhaliya IV, the island was briefly invaded by the Hittites, either to secure the copper resource or as a way of preventing piracy. Shortly afterwards, the island was reconquered by his son around 1200 BC, some towns show traces of destruction at the end of LCII. Whether or not this is really an indication of a Mycenean invasion is contested, originally, two waves of destruction in c.1230 BC by the Sea Peoples and c.1190 BC by Aegean refugees have been proposed. The smaller settlements of Ayios Dhimitrios and Kokkinokremnos, as well as a number of sites, were abandoned. Kokkinokremos was a settlement, where various caches concealed by smiths have been found. That no one returned to reclaim the treasures suggests that they were killed or enslaved. Recovery occurred only in the Early Iron Age with Phoenician and Greek settlement and these sites in Cyprus show evidence of the collapse, Palaeokastro Kition Sinda Enkomi Ancient Syria had been initially dominated by a number of indigenous Semitic-speaking peoples. The East Semitic speaking Eblaites, the Canaanites language speaking Amorites, Syria during this time was known as The land of the Amurru. Levantine sites previously showed evidence of links with Mesopotamia, Egypt. Evidence, at Ugarit, shows that the destruction there occurred after the reign of Merneptah, the last Bronze Age king of the Semitic state of Ugarit, Ammurapi, was a contemporary of the Hittite king Suppiluliuma II
18.
Ochre Coloured Pottery culture
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The Ochre Coloured Pottery culture is a 2nd millennium BC Bronze Age culture of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It is a contemporary of and successor to the Indus Valley Civilization, the OCP marked the last stage of the North Indian Bronze Age and was succeeded by the Iron Age black and red ware culture and the painted gray ware culture. Early specimens of the ceramics found near Jodhpura, Rajasthan date from the 3rd millennium. The culture reached the Gangetic plain in the early 2nd millennium, recently Archaeological Survey of India discovered copper axes and some piece of pottery in its exacavation at Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. Ochre Coloured Pottery culture has potential to be called as a proper civilisation something like Harrapan civilisation, the term copper hoards refers to different assemblages of copper-based artefacts in the northern areas of the Indian Subcontinent that are believed to date from the 2nd millennium BC. Initially, the copper hoards were known mostly from the Ganges-Yamuna doab, characteristic hoard artefacts from southern Haryana/northern Rajasthan include flat axes, harpoons, double axes, and antenna-hilted swords. The doab has a related repertory, artefacts from the Chota Nagpur area are very different, they seem to resemble ingots and are votive in character. The raw material may have derived from a variety of sources in Rajasthan, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha. Some scholars regard the OCP culture as late or impoverished Harappan culture, V. N. Misra regards the OCP as only a final and impoverished stage of the Late Harappan culture and designates this phase as Degenerate Harappan. Together with the Cemetery H culture and the Gandhara Grave culture, kallur archaeological site Yule, P. Metalwork of the Bronze Age in India, Munich, C. H. Beck, ISBN 3-406-30440-0 Yule, P. Hauptmann, A. Hughes, the Copper Hoards of the Indian Subcontinent, Preliminaries for an Interpretation, Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz, pp.36, 193–275, ISSN 0076-2741 Gupta, S. P
19.
Cemetery H culture
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The Cemetery H culture was a Bronze Age culture in the Punjab, north-western India, from about 1900 BCE until about 1300 BCE. It has been related to both the phase of the Harappan civilisation, and the Indo-Aryan migrations. The Cemetery H culture was located in and around the Punjab region in present-day India and it was named after a cemetery found in area H at Harappa. Remains of the culture have been dated from about 1900 BCE until about 1300 BCE, according to Kennedy and Mallory & Adams, the Cemetery H culture also shows clear biological affinities with the earlier population of Harappa. Some traits of the Cemetery H culture have been associated with the Swat culture, according to Parpola, the Cemetery H culture represents a first wave of Indo-Aryan migration from as early as 1900 BCE, which was followed by a migration to the Punjab c. Together with the Gandhara grave culture and the Ochre Coloured Pottery culture, the distinguishing features of this culture include, The use of cremation of human remains. The bones were stored in painted pottery burial urns and this is completely different from the Indus civilization where bodies were buried in wooden coffins. The urn burials and the skeletons were nearly contemporaneous. Reddish pottery, painted in black with antelopes, peacocks etc. sun or star motifs, expansion of settlements into the east. Apparent breakdown of the trade of the Indus civilization, with materials such as marine shells no longer used. Continued use of mud brick for building, cremation in India is first attested in the Cemetery H culture, a practice previously described in the Vedas. The Rigveda contains a reference to the practice, in RV10.15.14. Indus Valley Tradition Painted Grey Ware Copper Hoard Culture http, //www. harappa. com harappa. com http, //pubweb. cc. u-tokai. ac. jp/indus/english/3_1_01. html journal
20.
Bronze Age Europe
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The European Bronze Age is characterized by bronze artifacts and the use of bronze implements. The regional Bronze Age succeeds the Neolithic and it starts with the Aegean Bronze Age in 3200 BC, and spans the entire 2nd millennium BC in Northern Europe, lasting until c.600 BC. The Aegean Bronze Age begins around 3200 BC when civilizations first established a trade network. This network imported tin and charcoal to Cyprus, where copper was mined and alloyed with the tin to produce bronze, Bronze objects were then exported far and wide, and supported the trade. Isotopic analysis of the tin in some Mediterranean bronze objects indicates it came from as far away as Great Britain, the Minoan civilization based from Knossos, Crete, appears to have coordinated and defended its Bronze Age trade. One crucial lack in this period was that modern methods of accounting were not available, the eruption of Thera, which according to archaeological data occurred in c.1500 BC, resulted in the decline of the Minoan. This turn of events gave the opportunity to the Mycenaeans to spread their influence throughout the Aegean, around c.1450 BC, they were in control of Crete itself and colonized several other Aegean islands, reaching as far as Rhodes. Thus the Mycenaeans became the dominant power of the region, marking the beginning of the Mycenaean Koine era, a highly uniform culture that spread in mainland Greece and the Aegean. Their syllabic script, the Linear B, offers the first written records of the Greek language, Mycenaean Greece was dominated by a warrior elite society and consisted of a network of palace states that developed rigid hierarchical, political, social and economic systems. At the head of this societies was the king, known as wanax, the Maykop culture was the major early Bronze Age culture in the North Caucasus. Some scholars date arsenical bronze artifacts in the region as far back as the mid-4th millennium BC, the Yamna culture was a late copper age/early Bronze Age culture dating to the 36th–23rd centuries BC. The culture was nomadic, with some agriculture practiced near rivers. Parallels with the Afanasevo culture, including provoked cranial deformations, provide a link to the East and it was preceded by the Yamna culture and succeeded by the western Corded Ware culture. The Catacomb culture in the Pontic steppe was succeeded by the Srubna culture from c. the 17th century BC. Some very rich burials, such as the one located at Leubingen with grave gifts crafted from gold, all in all, cemeteries of this period are rare and of small size. The Unetice culture is followed by the middle Bronze Age Tumulus culture, in the eastern Hungarian Körös tributaries, the early Bronze Age first saw the introduction of the Makó culture, followed by the Otomani and Gyulavarsánd cultures. The late Bronze Age Urnfield culture is characterized by cremation burials and it includes the Lusatian culture in eastern Germany and Poland that continues into the Iron Age. The Central European Bronze Age is followed by the Iron Age Hallstatt culture, in northern Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, Bronze Age cultures manufactured many distinctive and artistic artifacts
21.
Catacomb culture
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The Catacomb culture is a group of related cultures in the early Bronze Age occupying essentially what is present-day eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. The culture was the first to introduce corded pottery decorations into the steppes and shows a use of the polished battle axe. Parallels with the Afanasevo culture, including provoked cranial deformations, provide a link to the East and it was preceded by the Yamna culture. The Catacomb culture in the Pontic steppe was succeeded in the west by the Multi-cordoned ware culture from c. 22th century BC, the name Catacomb culture comes from its burial practices. These are similar to those of the Yamna culture, but with a space off the main shaft. Animal remains were incorporated into a minority of graves. The economy was essentially stock-breeding, although traces of grain have been found, there seem to have been skilled specialists, particularly metal-workers. The origin of the Catacomb culture is disputed, jan Lichardus gives three possibilities, a local development departing from the previous Yamna Culture only, a migration from Central Europe, or an oriental origin. The culture is first to introduce corded pottery decorations into the steppes and shows a use of the polished battle axe. Parallels with the Afanasevo culture, including provoked cranial deformations, provide a link to the East, excavations in 2012 of 26 mounds near Storozhove village in Chutove Region of Poltava Oblast revealed 3 layers of Catacomb culture archaeology. The earliest were the burials of the Donetsk phase of Catacomb culture, then came the burials of Inhul phase. Later material belonged to Berezhnivsko-Maivska type of Srubna culture, the Catacomb culture was replaced by the Srubna culture from c. 17th century BC. The language of the Catacomb culture must naturally remain unknown, within the context of the Kurgan hypothesis expounded by Marija Gimbutas, an Indo-European component is speculated about, particularly in the later stages. Placing the ancestors of the Greek, Albanian and Armenian dialects here is tempting, more recently, the Ukrainian archaeologist V. Kulbaka has argued that the Late Yamna cultures of c. 3200–2800 BC, esp. the Budzhak, Starosilsk, and Novotitarovka groups, might represent the Balkan-Indo-European-Iranian ancestors, however, according to recent glottochronological computations, these splits occurred much earlier. Grigoryevs version of the Armenian hypothesis connects Catacomb culture with Indo-Aryans, the same opinion is supported by Leo Klejn in his various publications. Shaft grave Media related to Catacomb culture at Wikimedia Commons Grigoryev, ISBN 966-7329-30-5 Mallory, J. P. Catacomb Culture, Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, Fitzroy Dearborn
22.
Minoan civilization
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The Minoan civilization was an Aegean Bronze Age civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean islands which flourished from about 2600 to 1100 BC. It preceded the Mycenaean civilization of Ancient Greece, the civilization was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of British archaeologist Arthur Evans. It has been described as the earliest of its kind in Europe, the term Minoan, which refers to the mythical King Minos, originally described the pottery of the period. Minos was associated in Greek mythology with the labyrinth and the Minotaur, according to Homer, Crete once had 90 cities. The Minoan period saw trade between Crete and Aegean and Mediterranean settlements, particularly the Near East, traders and artists, the Minoan cultural influence reached beyond Crete to the Cyclades, Egypts Old Kingdom, copper-bearing Cyprus, Canaan and the Levantine coast, and Anatolia. Some of its best art is preserved in the city of Akrotiri on the island of Santorini, although the Minoan language and writing systems remain undecipherable and are subjects of academic dispute, they apparently conveyed a language entirely different from the later Greek. The reason for the end of the Minoan period is unclear, theories include Mycenaean invasions from mainland Greece, the term Minoan refers to the mythical King Minos of Knossos. Its origin is debated, but it is attributed to archeologist Arthur Evans. Minos was associated in Greek mythology with the labyrinth, which Evans identified with the site at Knossos. However, Karl Hoeck had already used the title Das Minoische Kreta in 1825 for volume two of his Kreta, this appears to be the first known use of the word Minoan to mean ancient Cretan, Evans said that applied it, not invented it. Hoeck, with no idea that the archaeological Crete had existed, had in mind the Crete of mythology, although Evans 1931 claim that the term was unminted before he used it was called a brazen suggestion by Karadimas and Momigliano, he coined its archaeological meaning. Instead of dating the Minoan period, archaeologists use two systems of relative chronology, the first, created by Evans and modified by later archaeologists, is based on pottery styles and imported Egyptian artifacts. Evans system divides the Minoan period into three eras, early, middle and late. These eras are subdivided—for example, Early Minoan I, II and III, another dating system, proposed by Greek archaeologist Nicolas Platon, is based on the development of architectural complexes known as palaces at Knossos, Phaistos, Malia and Kato Zakros. Platon divides the Minoan period into pre-, proto-, neo-, the relationship between the systems in the table includes approximate calendar dates from Warren and Hankey. The Thera eruption occurred during a phase of the LM IA period. Efforts to establish the volcanic eruptions date have been controversial, the eruption is identified as a natural event catastrophic for the culture, leading to its rapid collapse. Although stone-tool evidence exists that hominins may have reached Crete as early as 130,000 years ago, evidence for the first anatomically-modern human presence dates to 10, the oldest evidence of modern human habitation on Crete are pre-ceramic Neolithic farming-community remains which date to about 7000 BC
23.
Srubna culture
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The Srubna culture, English, Timber-grave culture, was a Late Bronze Age culture in the eastern part of Pontic-Caspian steppe. It is a successor to the Late Catacomb culture and the Poltavka culture, the name comes from Russian cруб, timber framework, from the way graves were constructed. Animal parts were buried with the body, the economy was mixed agriculture and livestock breeding. The historical Cimmerians have been suggested as descended from this culture, the Srubna culture is succeeded by Scythians and Sarmatians in the 1st millennium BC, and by Khazars and Kipchaks in the first millennium AD. In a study published on 10 October 2015,14 individuals of the Srubna culture could be surveyed, extractions from 100% of the males were determined to be of Y-chromosome haplogroup R1a1
24.
Beaker culture
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The term was coined by John Abercromby, based on the cultures distinctive pottery drinking beakers. The Bell Beaker period marks a period of contact in Atlantic and Western Europe on a scale not seen previously. It has been suggested that the beakers were designed for the consumption of alcohol, beer and mead content have been identified from certain examples. However, not all Beakers were drinking cups, some were used as reduction pots to smelt copper ores, others have some organic residues associated with food, and still others were employed as funerary urns. They were used as status display amongst disparate elites, there have been numerous proposals by archaeologists as to the origins of the Bell Beaker culture, and debates continued on for decades. Several regions of origin have been postulated, notably the Iberian peninsula, similarly, scholars have postulated various mechanisms of spread, including migrations of populations, smaller warrior groups, individuals, or a diffusion of ideas and object exchange. Recent analyses have made significant inroads to understanding the Beaker phenomenon and they have concluded that the Bell Beaker phenomenon was a synthesis of elements, representing “an idea and style uniting different regions with different cultural traditions and background. An overview of all sources from southern Germany concluded that Bell Beaker was a new and independent culture in that area. The inspiration for the Maritime Bell Beaker is argued to have been the small and earlier Copoz beakers that have impressed decoration and which are found widely around the Tagus estuary in Portugal. Turek sees late Neolithic precursors in northern Africa, arguing the Maritime style emerged as a result of contacts between Iberia and Morocco in the first half of the third millennium BC. AOO and AOC Beakers appear to have evolved continually from a period in the lower Rhine and North Sea regions, at least for Northern. Furthermore, the ritual which typified Bell Beaker sites was intrusive into Western Europe. Such an arrangement is rather derivative of Corded Ware traditions although, instead of battle-axes, the initial moves from the Tagus estuary were maritime. A northern move incorporated the southern coast of Armorica, the enclave established in southern Brittany was linked closely to the riverine and landward route, via the Loire, and across the Gâtinais valley to the Seine valley, and thence to the lower Rhine. This was a long-established route reflected in early stone axe distributions, another pulse had brought Bell Beaker to Csepel Island in Hungary by about 2500 BC. But in contrast to the early Bell Beaker preference for the dagger and bow, here Bell Beaker people assimilated local pottery forms such as the polypod cup. These common ware types of pottery then spread in association with the bell beaker. From the Carpathian Basin Bell Beaker spread down the Rhine and eastwards into what is now Germany, by this time the Rhine was on the western edge of the vast Corded Ware zone
25.
Unetice culture
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The Únětice culture is an archaeological culture at the start of the Central European Bronze Age, dated roughly to about 2300–1600 BC. The eponymous site for culture, the village of Únětice, is located in the central Czech Republic. Today, this culture is known from Czech Republic and Slovakia from about 1,400 sites, from Poland. The Únětice culture is known from north-eastern Austria, and from western Ukraine. The Únětice culture originated in the territories of contemporary Bohemia, at the same time the first Úněticean burial ground was unearthed in Southern Moravia in Měnín by A. Rzehak. Following these initial discoveries and until the nineteen thirties, many sites, primarily cemeteries, were identified, e. g. Němčice nad Hanou, sites in vicinity of Prague. In Germany, a barrow in Leubingen was excavated by F. Klopfleisch already in 1877. At the same time, Adlerberg and Straubing groups were defined in 1918 by Schumacher, in Poland, the first archaeologist associated with the discovery and identification of the Únětice culture was Hans Seger. Seger not only discovered several Úněticean sites and supervised pioneering excavations e. g. in Przecławice, in 1935 Kostrzewski published the first data and findings of the Iwno culture, another and contemporaneous with Únětice EBA, archaeological culture from Western Poland. In 1960 Wanda Sarnowska begun excavations in Szczepankowice near Wrocław, southwest Poland, in 1969 she published a new monograph on the Únětice culture, in which she cataloged, analysed and described assemblages deriving from 373 known EBA Úněticean sites in Poland. The first unified system based on typology of ceramics and metal artifacts for the Únětice culture in Bohemia was introduced by Moucha in 1963. This chronological system, consisting of six sub-phases was considered as valid for the Bohemian groups of the Únětice culture, the ingots are found in hoards that can contain over six hundred pieces. Axe-hoards are common as well, the hoard of Dieskau contained 293 flanged axes, thus, axes might have served as ingots as well. After about 2000 BC, this hoarding tradition dies out and is resumed in the urnfield period. These hoards have formerly been interpreted as a storage by itinerant bronze-founders or riches hidden because of enemy action. This is likely as even today weapons are hoarded underground to them from the enemy. Hoards containing mainly jewellery are typical for the Adlerberg-group, but the Adlerberg cemetery of Hofheim/Taunus, contained the burial of a male who had died from an arrow-shot, the stone arrow-head still being located in his arm. The famous Sky Disk of Nebra is associated with Central Germany groups of the Únětice culture, from a technical point of view, Úněticean graves can be divided in two categories, flat graves and barrows
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Apennine culture
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The Apennine culture is a technology complex in central and southern Italy from the Italian Middle Bronze Age. This phase is preceded by the Grotta Nuova facies and by the Protoapennine B facies, Apennine pottery is a burnished ware incised with spirals, meanders and geometrical zones, filled with dots or transverse dashes. The people of the Apennine culture were cattle herdsmen grazing their animals over the meadows. They lived in small hamlets located in defensible places, on the move between summer pastures they built temporary camps or lived in caves and rock shelters. Their range was not necessarily confined to the hills, their pottery has been found on the Capitoline hill at Rome as well as on the mentioned above. In the 19th and early 20th centuries various theorists made various imputations of ethnicity concerning the Apennine culture, in the 20th century, the Italian scholar, Massimo Pallottino, who specialized in Etruscan civilization, rejected them as oversimple. At least with reference to Italy, he discarded Kossinnas Law, therefore, Pallottino argued that terms such as the Terramare culture or the Apennine culture have no ethnic or linguistic significance. The Apennine drew to an end with the spread of the Proto-Villanovan culture from the north and it pervaded all of Italy and introduced cremation, however, in Italy cremation existed side-by-side with continued inhumation. By the start of the Villanovan regional cultures had evolved along two lines, those that practiced both cremation and inhumation and those that practiced inhumation only. The Tiber river was the dividing line and it also divided the two main language groups, Etruscan and Italic. Whatever the Proto-Villanovan represents culturally it cannot have been a language or ethnic group, hence. Pallottinos presentation of the view of how the Indo-European languages on the left bank of the Tiber. Three waves of Indo-European language speakers, speaking closely related languages, arrived in groups over time across the Adriatic sea. The first occurred in the Middle Neolithic starting with the Square-necked Pottery Culture and prevailed for the remaining Neolithic, the Latin language evolved ultimately from their speech, in Italy. The second wave is associated with Mycenaean civilization of the Late Bronze Age and brought the ancestors of the Italic language speakers into central and they prevailed during the remainder of the Apennine. The third wave came with the Proto-Villanovan Culture and is responsible for the Venetic language speakers. The Apennine culture was in this theory always practiced mainly by speakers of languages in the Italic branch of Indo-European. The term Proto-Italic, in Pallottinos view, is useful because there was no single proto-language in Italy
27.
Canegrate culture
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The Canegrate culture was a civilization of Prehistoric Italy who developed from the recent Bronze Age until the Iron Age, in the areas of what are now western Lombardy, eastern Piedmont, and Ticino. Canegrate represented a new cultural dynamic to the area expressed in pottery. The name comes from the locality of Canegrate in Lombardy, south of Legnano and 25 km north of Milan, where Guido Sutermeister discovered important archaeological finds. The site was first excavated in 1926 in the area of Rione Santa Colomba and it is one of the richer archeological sites of Northern Italy. The necropolis found in Canegrate is very similar to those realized in the period in the north of Alps. They brought a new funerary practice—cremation—which supplanted inhumation, from the archaeological evidence it can be deduced that their interactions with the native populations had not been completely peaceful. The uniform and isolated Canegrate finds do not show any trace of the preceding Polada culture, the origins of the Orobii, a population localized by classical writers in these areas and which founded the town of Como, have been linked to the Canegrate culture. Since ancient times, the inhabitants of Olona Valley lived mainly away from the river, in Multiple Authors, I Celti, Bompiani
28.
Golasecca culture
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The cultures material evidence is scattered over a wide area of 20,000 km² south of the Alps, between the rivers Po, Serio and Sesia, and bordered on the north by the Alpine passes. Most of the objects were from different graves located in the areas of Sesto Calende, Golasecca. Giani published a first report in 1824, but he misinterpreted the findings and he made several trips there bringing back to France part of the Abbot Gianis collection to enrich the Musée des Antiquités Nationales collections, of which he was Vice-curator. The excavations spread over various sites throughout the late 19th century, alexandre Bertrand, also curator of the Musée des Antiquités Nationales in turn went on site in 1873 and conducted some excavations by himself. It ended with the Gallic invasion of the Po Valley in 388 BC, the modern assessment of Golasecca culture is derived from the campaigns of 1965-69 on Monsorino, directed by A. Mira Bonomi. More recent chronological studies have produced by Raffaele De Marinis. More recent historical studies on the subject have been produced by Raffaele De Marinis, of the 44 graves identified in the excavations,33 were still almost intact. Subsequent phases of the Golasecca culture are so periodized, Canegrate culture, Type Ascona I or A Type Ascona II or B Type Ca’ Morta - Malpensa. Golasecca I A, 9th-8th century BC, Golasecca I B, late 8th - early 7th century BC. Golasecca I C, 7th century BC, Golasecca III A, 500-350 BC. G. III A1, 500-450 BC. G. III A2, 450-400 BC. G. III A3, 400-350 BC. In a broader context, the subalpine Golasecca culture is the very last expression of the Middle European Urnfield culture of the European Bronze Age, the cultures richest flowering was Golasecca II, in the first half of the 6th to early 5th centuries BC. It lasted until it was overwhelmed by the Gaulish Celts in the 4th century BC and was incorporated into the hegemony of the Roman Republic. The very earliest finds are of the Late Bronze Age, apparently building upon a local culture, in Golasecca culture some of the first evolved characteristics of historic society may be seen in the specialized use of materials and the adaptation of the local terrain. Hand-shaped ceramics, made without a wheel, were decorated in gesso. The use of the wheel is known from the carts in the Tomb of the Warrior at the Sesto Calende site, Amber beads from the Baltic Sea, doubtless brought down the Amber Road, and obsidian reveal networks of long-distance trade. Some legume and cereal crops were cultivated, nuts and fruits were collected, the dugout boats from Castelletto Ticino and Porto Tolle are conserved at the museum of Isola Bella. Metal, though rare, was in increasing use, the old sites—Golasecca, Sesto Calende, Castelletto Ticino—maintained their traditional autochthonous character through the 6th century BC, when outside influences begin to be detectable. At the beginning of the 5th century BC, pastoral practices resulted in the development of new settlements in the plains, deciphered written characters are found incised in ceramics or on stone, in the Celtic Lepontic language
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Atlantic Bronze Age
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The Atlantic Bronze Age is a cultural complex of the Bronze Age period of approximately 1300–700 BC that includes different cultures in Portugal, Andalusia, Galicia, Armorica, Britain and Ireland. Commercial contacts extended from Sweden and Denmark to the Mediterranean, the period was defined by a number of distinct regional centres of metal production, unified by a regular maritime exchange of some of their products. The major centres were southern England and Ireland, north-western France, the items related to this culture are frequently found forming hoards, or they are deposited in ritual areas, usually watery contexts, rivers, lakes and bogs. Which they see as indicating possible processes linked to language shift, in 2013, Koch saw this east to west elite contact as the simplest explanation for the genesis of Celtic languages with a Proto-Celtic homeland in west-central Europe. However, this stands in contrast to what remains the generally accepted view that Celtic origins lie with the Central European Hallstatt C culture
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Bronze Age Britain
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Bronze Age Britain is an era of British history that spanned from c.2500 until c.800 BC. Lasting for approximately 1,700 years, it was preceded by the era of Neolithic Britain and was in turn followed by the period of Iron Age Britain. Being categorised as the Bronze Age, it was marked by the use of copper and then bronze by the prehistoric Britons, Great Britain in the Bronze Age also saw the widespread adoption of agriculture. This has been described as a time when elaborate ceremonial practices emerged among some communities of subsistence agriculturalists of western Europe, there is no clear consensus on the date for the beginning of the Bronze Age in Great Britain and Ireland. Some sources give a date as late as 2000 BC, while others set 2200 BC as the demarcation between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age. The period from 2500 BC to 2000 BC has been called the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age, 2500–2000 BC, Mount Pleasant Phase, Early Beaker culture, Britain, copper+tin. 2100–1900 BC, Late Beaker, knives, tanged spearheads, 1500–1300 BC, Acton Park Phase, palstaves, socketed spearheads, copper+tin, also lead. 1300–1200 BC, Knighton Heath Period, rapiers, 1200–1000 BC, Early Urnfield, Wilburton-Wallington Phase. 1000–900 BC, Late Urnfield, socketed axes, palstaves, 800–700 BC, Ewart Park Phase, Llyn Fawr Phase, leaf-shaped swords. In Ireland the final Dowris phase of the Late Bronze Age appears to decline in about 600 BC, in around 2700 BC, a new pottery style arrived in Great Britain, the Beaker culture. Beaker pottery appears in the Mount Pleasant Phase, along with flat axes, people of this period were also largely responsible for building many famous prehistoric sites, such as the later phases of Stonehenge along with Seahenge. Movement of Europeans brought new people to the islands from the continent, recent tooth enamel isotope research on bodies found in early Bronze Age graves around Stonehenge indicates that at least some of the new arrivals came from the area of modern Switzerland. The Beaker culture displayed different behaviours from the earlier Neolithic people, integration is thought to have been peaceful, as many of the early henge sites were seemingly adopted by the newcomers. Also, the burial of dead became more individual, for example, in the Neolithic era, a large chambered cairn or long barrow was used to house the dead. The Early Bronze Age saw people buried in barrows, or sometimes in cists covered with cairns. They were often buried with a beaker alongside the body, modern thinking tends towards the latter view. Alternatively, a Beaker elite may have made the migration and come to influence the population at some level. Believed to be of Iberian origin, part of the Beaker culture brought to Great Britain the skill of refining metal, at first they made items from copper, but from around 2150 BC smiths had discovered how to make bronze by mixing copper with a small amount of tin
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Nordic Bronze Age
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The Nordic Bronze Age is a period of Scandinavian prehistory from c. The Bronze Age culture of this era succeeded the Late Neolithic Stone Age culture and was followed by the Pre-Roman Iron Age. The archaeological legacy of the Nordic Bronze Age culture is rich, some scholars also include sites in what is now Estonia, northern Germany and Pomerania, as part of its cultural sphere. Even though Scandinavians joined the European Bronze Age cultures fairly late through trade, Scandinavian sites present a rich and well-preserved legacy of bronze and gold objects. These valuable metals were all imported, primarily from Central Europe, but they were often crafted locally, the rock carvings have been dated through comparison with depicted artifacts, for example bronze axes and swords. There are also numerous Nordic Stone Age rock carvings, those of northern Scandinavia mostly portray elk. Thousands of rock carvings from this period depict ships, and the stone burial monuments known as stone ships, suggest that ships. The depicted ships, most likely represents sewn plank built canoes used for warfare, fishing and these ship types may have their origin as far back as the neolithic period and they continue into the Pre-Roman Iron Age, as exemplified by the Hjortspring boat. His absolute chronology has held up well against radiocarbon dating, with the exception that the start is closer to 1700 BC than 1800 BC. For Central Europe a different system developed by Paul Reinecke is commonly used, as each area has its own artifact types, a broader subdivision is the Early Bronze Age, between 1700 BC and 1100 BC, and the Late Bronze Age,1100 BC to 550 BC. These divisions and periods are followed by the Pre-Roman Iron Age, the Nordic Bronze Age was characterized first by a warm climate that began with a climate change around 2700 BC. The warm climate permitted a relatively dense population and good farming, for example, a wetter, colder climate prevailed after a minor change in climate between 850 BC and 760 BC, and a more radical one around 650 BC. There is no coherent knowledge about the Nordic Bronze Age religion, its pantheon, world view, written sources are lacking, but archaeological finds draws a vague and fragmented picture of the religious practices and the nature of the religion of this period. Only some possible sects and only certain possible tribes are known, some of the best clues come from tumuli, elaborate artifacts, votive offerings and rock carvings scattered across Northern Europe. A female or mother goddess is believed to have been widely worshipped. Hieros gamos rites may have common and there have been several finds of fertility symbols. A pair of gods are believed to have been worshipped, and is reflected in a duality in all things sacred. Sacrifices often had a connection to bodies of water
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East Asia
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East Asia is the eastern subregion of the Asian continent, which can be defined in either geographical or ethno-cultural terms. Geographically and geopolitically, it includes China, Taiwan, Mongolia, Korea and Japan, it covers about 12,000,000 km2, or about 28% of the Asian continent, the East Asian people comprise more than 1.5 billion people. About 38% of the population of Asia and 22%, or over one fifth, the overall population density of the region is 133 inhabitants per square kilometre, about three times the world average of 45/km2. Historically, societies in East Asia have been part of the Chinese cultural sphere, major religions include Buddhism, Confucianism or Neo-Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese folk religion in China and Taiwan, Shinto in Japan, Korean shamanism in Korea. Shamanism is also prevalent among Mongolians and other populations of northern East Asia. The Chinese calendar is the root from which many other East Asian calendars are derived, Chinese Dynasties dominated the region in matters of culture, trade, and exploration as well as militarily for a very long time. There are records of tributes sent overseas from the kingdoms of Korea. There were also considerable levels of cultural and religious exchange between the Chinese and other regional Dynasties and Kingdoms, as connections began to strengthen with the Western world, Chinas power began to diminish. Around the same time, Japan solidified itself as a nation state, throughout World War II, Korea, Taiwan, much of eastern China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam all fell under Japanese control. Culturally, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam are commonly seen as being encompassed by cultural East Asia, there are mixed debates around the world whether these countries or regions should be considered in East Asia or not. Vietnam Siberia in Russia Sovereignty issues exist over some territories in the South China Sea, however, in this context, the term Far East is often more appropriate which covers ASEAN countries and the countries in East Asia. However, being a Eurocentric term, Far East describes the geographical position in relation to Europe rather than its location within Asia. Alternatively, the term Asia Pacific Region is often used in describing East Asia and this usage, which is seen in economic and diplomatic discussions, is at odds with the historical meanings of both East Asia and Northeast Asia. The Council on Foreign Relations defines Northeast Asia as Japan and Korea, the military and economic superpower of China became the largest economy in the world in 2014, surpassing the United States of America. Currently in East Asia, trading systems are open, and zero or low duties on imports of consumer and capital goods etc. have considerably helped stimulate cost-efficiency. Free and flexible labor and other markets are important factors making for high levels of business-economic performance. East Asian populations have demonstrated highly positive work ethics, there are relatively large and fast-growing markets for consumer goods and services of all kinds. The culture of East Asia has been influenced by the civilisation of China, East Asia, as well as Vietnam, share a Confucian ethical philosophy, Buddhism, political and legal structures, and historically a common writing system
33.
Erlitou culture
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The Erlitou culture was an early Bronze Age urban society and archaeological culture that existed in the Yellow River valley from approximately 1750 to 1530 BC. The culture was named after the site discovered at Erlitou in Yanshi, the culture was widely spread throughout Henan and Shanxi and later appeared in Shaanxi and Hubei. Chinese archaeologists generally identify the Erlitou culture as the site of the Xia dynasty, the Erlitou culture may have evolved from the matrix of Longshan culture. Originally centered around Henan and Shanxi Province, the spread to Shaanxi. After the rise of the Erligang culture, the site at Erlitou diminished in size, discovered in 1959 by Xu Xusheng, Erlitou is the largest site associated with the culture, with palace buildings and bronze smelting workshops. Erlitou monopolized the production of bronze vessels, including the earliest recovered dings. The city is on the Yi River, a tributary of the Luo River, the city was 2.4 km by 1.9 km, however, because of flood damage only 3 km2 are left. The site is divided into four phases, each of roughly 50 years, during Phase I, covering 100 ha, Erlitou was a rapidly growing regional center with estimated population of several thousand, but not yet an urban civilization or capital. Urbanization began in Phase II, expanding to 300 ha with a population around 11,000, a palace area of 12 ha was demarcated by four roads. It contained the 150x50 m Palace 3, composed of three courtyards along a 150-meter axis, and Palace 5, a bronze foundry was established to the south of the palatial complex that was controlled by the elite who lived in palaces. The city reached its peak in Phase III, and may have had a population of around 24,000, the palatial complex was surrounded by a 2-meter thick rammed earth wall and Palaces 1,7,8,9 were built. The earthwork volume of rammed earth for the base of largest Palace 1 is 20,000 m³ at least, Palaces 3 and 5 were abandoned and replaced by 4200 m2 Palace 2 and Palace 4. In Phase IV the population decreased to around 20,000, Palace 6 was built as an extension of Palace 2, and Palaces 10 and 11 were built. Phase IV overlaps with the Lower phase of the Erligang culture, around 1600 to 1560 BC, about 6 km northeast of Erlitou, Eligang cultural walled city was built at Yanshi, which coincide with an increase in production of arrowheads at Erlitou. This situation might indicate that the Yanshi City was competing for power, production of bronzes and other elite goods ceased at the end of Phase IV, at the same time as the Erligang city of Zhengzhou was established 85 km to the east. There is no evidence of destruction by fire or war, but during the Upper Erligang phase all the palaces were abandoned, and Erlitou was reduced to a village of 30 ha. A major goal of archaeology in China has been the search for the capitals of the Xia and Shang dynasties described in traditional accounts as inhabiting the Yellow River valley. The discovery of writing in the form of bones at Yinxu in Anyang definitively established the site as the last capital of the Shang
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Erligang culture
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The Erligang culture is a Bronze Age urban civilization and archaeological culture in China that existed from approximately 1510 to 1460 BC. The primary site, Zhengzhou Shang City, was discovered at Erligang, within the city of Zhengzhou, Henan. The culture was centered in the Yellow River valley, in its early years, it expanded rapidly, reaching the Yangtze River. The culture then gradually shrank from its early peak, later investigations showed that the Erligang site was part of an ancient city surrounded by a roughly rectangular wall with a perimeter of about 7 kilometres. The walls were of rammed earth construction, a technique dating back to Chinese Neolithic sites of the Longshan culture and it has been estimated that the walls would have been 20 metres wide at the base, rising to a height of 8 metres. Large workshops were located outside the city walls, including a bone workshop, the modern city sits on the remains of the Erligang city, rendering archaeological excavations impossible. Therefore, most of the information about the culture comes from studying other Erligang sites, the large site at Panlongcheng, on the Yangtze River in Hubei, is currently the largest excavated site of Erligang culture. It was discovered in 1954, and excavated in 1974 and 1976, since Zhengzhou lacked access to local bronze metals, sites like Panlongcheng were probably used to secure distant metal resources. Erligang bronzes developed from the style and techniques of the earlier Erlitou culture, Erligang was the first archaeological culture in China to show widespread use of bronze vessel castings. Bronze vessels became much more used and uniform in style than at Erlitou. Many Chinese archaeologists believe that the ancient city of Zhengzhou was one of the capitals of the Shang dynasty mentioned in traditional histories. Bagley, Robert, Shang Archaeology, in Loewe, Michael, Shaughnessy, the Cambridge History of Ancient China, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 124–231, ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8. Liu, Li, The products of minds as well as of hands, production of goods in the Neolithic and early state periods of China, Asian Perspectives,42, 1–40. Liu, Li, Chen, Xingcan, The Archaeology of China, From the Late Paleolithic to the Early Bronze Age, Cambridge University Press, the great bronze age of China, an exhibition from the Peoples Republic of China. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
35.
Gojoseon
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Gojoseon, originally named Joseon, was an ancient Korean kingdom. The addition of Go, meaning ancient, distinguishes it from the other kingdoms called Joseon. The founding legend of Gojoseon, which is recorded in the Samguk Yusa and other medieval Korean books, states that the country was established in 2333 BC by Dangun, said to be descended from heaven. While no evidence has found that supports whatever facts may lie beneath this. In the 12th century BC Gija, a prince from the Shang dynasty of China, however, due to the lack of archaeological evidence, its existence has been challenged since the 20th century, and today no longer forms the mainstream understanding of this period. The historical Gojoseon kingdom was first mentioned in Chinese records in the early 7th century BC. During its early phase, the capital of Gojoseon was located in Liaoning, around 400 BC, it was moved to Pyongyang, while in the south of the peninsula, in 108 BC, the Han dynasty of China invaded and conquered Wiman Joseon. The Han established four commanderies to administer the Gojoseon territory, the area was later conquered by Goguryeo in 313 AD. Their language was probably a predecessor of the equally prehistoric Buyeo languages, Dangun is the legendary founder of Korea. A similar account is found in Jewang Ungi, according to the legend, the Lord of Heaven, Hwanin had a son, Hwanung, who descended to Baekdu Mountain and founded the city of Shinsi. Then a bear and a tiger came to Hwanung and said that wanted to become people. Hwuanung said to them if they went in a cave and lived there for 100 days while only eating mugwort. However, about halfway through the 100 days the tiger gave up, on the other hand, the bear successfully restrained herself and became a beautiful woman called Ungnyeo. Hwanung later married Ugnyeo, and she gave birth to Dangun, while the Dangun story is considered to be a myth, it is believed it is a mythical synthesis of a series of historical events relating to the founding of Gojoseon. There are various theories on the origin of this myth, Lee K. B. believes Dangun-wanggeom was a title borne by successive leaders of Gojoseon. Dangun is said to have founded Gojoseon around 2333 BC, based on the descriptions of the Samgungnyusa, Jewang Ungi, Dongguk Tonggam, the date differs among historical sources, although all of them put it during the mythical Emperor Yaos reign. Samgungnyusa says Dangun ascended to the throne in the 50th year of the legendary Yaos reign, Annals of the King Sejong says the first year, and Dongguk Tonggam says the 25th year. Gija, a man from Shang China, allegedly fled to the Korean peninsula in 1122 BC during the fall of the Shang to the Zhou dynasty and founded Gija Joseon
36.
Majiayao culture
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The Majiayao culture was a group of Neolithic communities who lived primarily in the upper Yellow River region in eastern Gansu, eastern Qinghai and northern Sichuan, China. The culture existed from 3300 to 2000 BC, the archaeological site was first found in 1924 near the village of Majiayao in Lintao County, Gansu by Swedish archaeologist Johan Gunnar Andersson, who considered it part of the Yangshao culture. Following the work of Xia Nai, the founder of modern archaeology in the Peoples Republic of China, it has since considered a distinct culture. This culture developed from the middle Yangshao phase, through an intermediate Shilingxia phase, the culture is often divided into three phases, Majiayao, Banshan and Machang. At the end of the third millennium BC, the Qijia culture succeeded the Majiayao culture at sites in three geographic zones, eastern Gansu, central Gansu, and western Gansu/eastern Qinghai. The most distinctive artifacts of the Majiayao culture are the painted pottery, during the Majiayao phase, potters decorated their wares with designs in black pigment featuring sweeping parallel lines and dots. Pottery of the Banshan phase is distinguished by curvilinear designs using both black and red paints, machang-phase pottery is similar, but often not as carefully finished. The oldest bronze object found in China was a knife found at a Majiayao site in Dongxiang, Gansu, further copper and bronze objects have been found at Machang-period sites in Gansu. Metallurgy spread to the middle and lower Yellow River region in the late 3rd millennium BC, scholars have come to the conclusion that the development of the Majiayao culture was highly related to climate changes. The transition from Yangshao to Majiayao coincides, climatically, with the Piora Oscillation, history of metallurgy in China List of Neolithic cultures of China Xishanping
37.
Mumun Pottery Period
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The Mumun period is known for the origins of intensive agriculture and complex societies in both the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Archipelago. This period or parts of it have sometimes been labelled as the Korean Bronze Age, a boom in the archaeological excavations of Mumun Period sites since the mid-1990s has recently increased our knowledge about this important formative period in the prehistory of East Asia. The Mumun period is preceded by the Jeulmun Pottery Period, the Jeulmun was a period of hunting, gathering, and small-scale cultivation of plants. The origins of the Mumun Period are not well known, but the megalithic burials, Mumun pottery, 1800-1500 probably indicate the origins of the Mumun Period of Southern Korea. Slash-and-burn cultivators who used Mumun pottery displaced people using Jeulmun Period subsistence patterns, the Early Mumun is characterized by shifting cultivation, fishing, hunting, and discrete settlements with rectangular semi-subterranean pit-houses. Early Mumun settlements are concentrated in the river valleys formed by tributaries of the Geum River in West-central Korea. However, one of the largest Early Mumun settlements, Eoeun, is located in the Middle Nam River valley in South-central Korea, in the latter Early Mumun, large settlements composed of many long-houses such as Baekseok-dong appeared in the area of modern Cheonan City, Chungcheong Nam-do. Important long-term traditions related to Mumun ceremonial and mortuary systems originated in this sub-period and these traditions include the construction of megalithic burials, the production of red-burnished pottery, and production of polished groundstone daggers. A number of features have been excavated in southern Korea. Burials dating to the part of the Middle Mumun contain a few high status mortuary offerings such as bronze artifacts. Bronze production probably began around this time in Southern Korea, other high status burials contain greenstone ornaments. Korean archaeologists sometimes refer to Middle Mumun culture as Songguk-ri Culture, excavations have also revealed Songguk-ri settlements in the Ulsan and Gimhae areas. In 2005 archaeologists uncovered Songguk-ri Culture pit-houses at a deep in the interior of Gangwon Province. The ultimate geographic reach of Songguk-ri Culture appears to have been Jeju Island, during the Mumun people grew millets, barley, wheat, legumes, and continued to hunt and fish. The Late Mumun is characterized by increasing conflict, fortified settlements. A Late Mumun occupation was found at the Namsan settlement, located on the top of a hill 100 m above sea level in modern Changwon City, Gyeongsang Nam-do. A shellmidden was found in the vicinity of Namsan, indicating that, in addition to agriculture, pit-houses at Namsan were located inside a ring-ditch that is some 4.2 m deep and 10 m in width. Why would such a formidable ring-ditch, so massive in size, have been necessary, one possible answer is intergroup conflict
38.
Qijia culture
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The Qijia culture was an early Bronze Age culture distributed around the upper Yellow River region of Gansu and eastern Qinghai, China. It is regarded as one of the earliest bronze cultures, the Qijia Culture is named after the Qijiaping Site in Gansu Province. Prior to Qijia culture, in the area there existed Majiayao culture that was also familiar with metalwork. At the end of the third millennium B. C, Qijia culture succeeded Majiayao culture at sites in three main geographic zones, Eastern Gansu, Middle Gansu, and Western Gansu/Eastern Qinghai. Johan Gunnar Andersson discovered the site at Qijiaping in 1923. Qijia culture was a culture, based on agriculture, and breeding pigs. Archeological evidence points to early contact between the Qijia culture and Central Asia. Qijia culture produced some of the earliest bronze and copper found in China. Extensive domestication of horses are found at many Qijia sites, the archaeological sites at Lajia, Huangniangniangtai, Qinweijia, and Dahezhuang are associated with the Qijia culture. Qijia sites were found in Ningxia province and Inner Mongolia. A total of over 350 sites of the Qijia culture have been superimposed on the Majiayao culture. A large quantity of metal ware, mostly copper objects, including bronzes, have been excavated from various sites in Gansu province. 25 pieces of metalwork were analyzed for their composition and those made from copper were the most numerous, accounting for 64 per cent of the total. The rest represented various copper alloys, including tin, techniques of pottery-making are marked by a fine red ware and a coarse reddish-brown ware. There are also a few pieces of grey ware and they are handmade, there being no evidence of wheel-made ware. While the Qijia culture pottery has its own characteristics, it also shares many traits in common with the Longshan culture in Shaanxi. Some elements of the Majiayao culture are also present, Machang culture also flourished in 2500-2000 BC along the Yellow River, it was an outgrowth of the Banshan culture. Machang culture was partly contemporary with the Qijia, although they were quite different, some scholars consider Machang culture as only a phase of the larger Majiayao culture, they also say that the Qijia derived from the Machang
39.
Siwa culture
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Siwa culture was a Bronze Age culture in the Gansu province of China. It was first discovered in 1924 at Mount Siwa in Lintao County, Siwa culture dating is approximately from 14th to 11th Century BC, it is tentatively attributed to the cultures of the Di and Qiang peoples. The Siba culture was a culture dating to 1900-1500 BC that flourished in roughly the same area. The neighbouring Xindian culture was roughly contemporary with the Siwa culture, some scholars hold that Siwa culture descended from the Qijia culture. The Siwa culture is located in the Hexi Corridor and it is divided into two types – Siwa and Anguo. The former is distributed along the Tao River and the latter along the Weihe river, siwa-type is somewhat earlier than the Western Zhou dynasty, while the Anguo-type is more or less contemporaneous with it. One of Siwa cultures main characteristics is pottery with saddle-shaped openings, since 2006, the Siwa site is on the list of the Peoples Republic of Chinas archeological monuments. The Siba culture, or Huoshaogou, flourished in 1900-1500 BC in Gansu and it was discovered in 1984 at Sibatan in Shandan county. ‘Siba-type’ pottery vessels are different from the others in Gansu, the Siba produced painted pottery with coloured decorations, these were painted after the vessels had been fired. Similar pottery was used by the Tianshanbeilu culture at Hami basin to the east, the Siba engaged in agricultural activities like millet farming and pig farming. Siba culture is mainly to the west of the Gansu corridor. The locations are found at Yongchang, Minyue, Jiuquan, Yumen counties, Siba culture is bordered by the Qijia culture on the east. The later period of Qijia is very close to Siba culture, the Siba culture may have developed independently. The site of Ganguya in Jiuquan has been excavated, significant differences have been observed in the comparison of the burial customs and artifacts in the three sites excavated, Donghuishan, Huoshaogou and Ganguya. During the first two periods of the Cemetery, there were only arsenical copper articles, but by the third period, in the Ganguya Cemetery which was later than the Donghuishan Cemetery, more than sixty-five percent of the copper samples was tested bronze articles. Siba culture played a role between the cultures to the east and west. There were also contacts with the Eurasian steppe, list of Neolithic cultures of China Qijia culture Longshan culture Jidong Yang, Siba, Bronze Age Culture of the Gansu Corridor
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Xindian culture
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Xindian culture was a Bronze Age culture in the Gansu and Qinghai provinces of China. 1500–1000 BCE, a testing of an artefact produced a date around 1000 BCE. The Xindian culture is named after a site discovered in 1923–24 in Xindian, Lintao County, the culture was mainly located in Gansu in the middle and lower course of the Tao River and Daxia River, and in Qinghai in the basin of the Huangshui River. Xindian culture was agricultural, with breeding pigs and cattle, at the sites of the culture were found bronze castings. Some small bronzes have been discovered at Huizui in Lintao county and they include knives, awls and buttons. Xindian culture belongs to the painted pottery cultures found in Central Asia, India, Xindian culture postdates the Qijia culture, the pottery evidence demonstrates a cultural continuity, though genetically it is not related with it. The shape of some Xindian culture pottery vessels, as well as the patterns on pottery reveal correlations with the Tangwang culture. In the same area in proximity are distributed early sites of the contemporary neighboring Siwa culture, though Xindian culture. The later Xindian culture expanded westard and came closer to the Kayue culture, Xindian wenhua - A rare large Neolithic painted pottery jar Xindian culture, c.1500 -1000 BC Xindian Culture Painted Pottery
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Yueshi culture
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The Yueshi culture of the Shandong region of China, is dated from 1900 to 1500 BC. It spanned the period from the Late Neolithic to the early Bronze Age, in the Shandong area, it followed the Longshan culture period, and was later replaced by the Erligang culture. Yueshi culture sites have found in Shandong, eastern Henan. It is named after the site at Dongyueshi Village in Pingdu. More than 340 Yueshi sites have been identified in Shandong, Yueshi was contemporary with the Erlitou culture and the early Erligang culture, both located to its west. The Tai-Yi Mountains region in central Shandong is the area of Yueshi. In the Shandong area, Daxinzhuang in Jinan and Qianzhangda in Tengzhou were the first regional centers established by the Erligang culture, the ruling elites apparently consisted of the Erligang peoples, which eventually came to dominate the area culturally. In the Daxinzhuang area, the early Shang and Yueshi pottery traditions coexisted in the archaeological contexts. The Panmiao site in Shangqiu, eastern Henan has a Yueshi culture component dating to the early Bronze Age period, prior to that, there was Longshan period occupation in this area. Yueshi culture saw a decline of cultural development. Groups of settlements were dissolved and the highly developed technology of the Shandong Longshan culture was lost. Yueshi style of ding-dou type vessels were present in the Longshan culture. The bronze finds of the Yueshi mostly consist of small, portable items, thus, the deterioration of Yueshi ceramics cannot be explained by the wider use of bronze. In the early 11th century BC, oracle bone inscriptions refer to campaigns by the late Shang king Di Yi against the Rénfāng, other scholars, such as Fang Hui, consider this identification problematic because of the high frequency of migrations in prehistoric populations of the region. Chengziya Archaeological Site Zhukaigou culture Lower Xiajiadian culture Cohen, David Joel, the Yueshi Culture, the Dong Yi, and the Archaeology of Ethnicity in Early Bronze Age China. The northern frontier in pre-imperial China, in Loewe, Michael, Shaughnessy, Edward L. The Cambridge History of Ancient China, conquest, Concord, and Consumption, Becoming Shang in Eastern China. The Archaeology of China, From the Late Paleolithic to the Early Bronze Age
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Bronze Age writing
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The history of writing traces the development of expressing language by letters or other marks and also the study and description of these developments. One of the earliest forms of expression is cuneiform. Writing numbers for the purpose of record keeping began long before the writing of language, see History of writing ancient numbers for how the writing of numbers began. It is generally agreed that true writing of language was conceived and developed in at least two places and possibly more. Egyptian script is dissimilar from Mesopotamian cuneiform, but similarities in concepts, similar debate surrounds the Indus script of the Bronze Age Indus Valley civilization in Ancient India. In addition, the script is still undeciphered and there is debate whether the script is true writing at all. An additional possibility is the undeciphered Rongorongo script of Easter Island and it is debated whether this is true writing, and if it is, whether it is another case of cultural diffusion of writing. The oldest example is from 1851,139 years after their first contact with Europeans, one explanation is that the script was inspired by Spains written annexation proclamation in 1770. Recent examples are the Cherokee syllabary, invented by Sequoyah, symbolic communication systems are distinguished from writing systems in that one must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to comprehend the text. In contrast, symbolic systems such as signs, painting, maps. Every human community possesses language, a feature regarded by many as an innate, however the development of writing systems, and their partial supplantation of traditional oral systems of communication, have been sporadic, uneven and slow. Once established, writing systems on the change more slowly than their spoken counterparts. Writing allows societies to transmit information and share knowledge, scholars make a reasonable distinction between prehistory and history of early writing, but have disagreed concerning when prehistory becomes history and when proto-writing became true writing. Writing, in its most general terms, is a method of recording information and is composed of graphemes, the emergence of writing in a given area is usually followed by several centuries of fragmentary inscriptions. Historians mark the historicity of a culture by the presence of coherent texts in the writing system. The invention of writing was not an event, but a gradual process initiated by the appearance of symbols. A conventional proto-writing to true writing system follows a series of developmental stages, Picture writing system. Transitional system, graphemes refer not only to the object or idea which it represents, phonetic system, graphemes refer to sounds or spoken symbols, and the form of the grapheme is not related to its meanings
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Bronze Age sword
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Bronze Age swords appear from around the 17th century BC, in the Black Sea region and the Aegean, as a further development of the dagger. They are replaced by the Iron Age sword during the part of the 1st millennium BC. From an early time the swords reach lengths in excess of 100 cm, the technology to produce blades of such lengths appears to have been developed in the Aegean, using alloys of copper and tin or arsenic, around 1700 BC. Before bronze, stone was used as the material for edged cutting tools. Stone, however, is fragile, and therefore not practical to be used for swords. With the introduction of copper, and subsequently bronze, daggers could be made longer, a cache of nine swords and daggers was found, they are composed of arsenic-copper alloy. Among them, three swords were beautifully inlaid with silver and these are the weapons of a total length of 45 to 60 cm which could be described as either short swords or long daggers. Some other similar swords have been found in Turkey, and are described by Thomas Zimmermann, the sword remained extremely rare for another millennium, and became more widespread only with the closing of the 3rd millennium. The first weapons that can be classified as swords without any ambiguity are found in Minoan Crete, dated to about 1700 BC. These are the type A swords of the Aegean Bronze Age, the Minoan and Mycenaean swords are classified in types labeled A to H following Sandars, the Sandars typology. Types A and B are the earliest from about the 17th to 16th centuries, types C and D from the 15th century, the 13th to 12th centuries also see a revival of the Horned type, classified as types G and H. Type H swords are associated with the Sea Peoples and were found in Anatolia, contemporary with types E to H is the so-called Naue II type, imported from south-eastern Europe. One of the most important, and longest-lasting, types of prehistoric European swords was the Naue II type, also known as Griffzungenschwert or grip-tongue sword. It first appears in c. the 13th century BC in Northern Italy, during its lifetime, metallurgy changed from bronze to iron, but not its basic design. Naue II swords could be as long as 85 cm, Swords from the Nordic Bronze Age appear from ca. the 13th century BC, often showing characteristic spiral patterns. The early Nordic swords are also short, a specimen discovered in 1912 in near Bragby, Uppland, Sweden. This sword was, however classified as of the Hajdúsámson-Apa type, the Vreta Kloster sword discovered in 1897 has a blade length of 46 cm. A typical variant for European swords is the leaf shaped blade, the carps tongue sword is a type of bronze sword that was common to Western Europe during ca. the 9th to 8th centuries BC
Media related to Urnfield culture at Wikimedia Commons
