Collapse or Continuity? Concluding Remarks on the Environment and Development of Bronze Age Human...

Offprint

Kiel archaeology

Collapse or Continuity ?environment and Development

of Bronze Age Human landscapes

edited by

Jutta Kneisel, Wiebke Kirleis, Marta Dal Corso,Nicole Taylor and Verena Tiedtke

COnClusiOns

Jutta Kneisel, Wiebke Kirleis, Marta Dal Corso and nicole Taylor

Collapse or Continuity ? Concluding Remarks on the Environment and Development of Bronze Age Human landscapes

2

Universitätsforschungenzur prähistorischen Archäologie

Band 205

Aus der Graduiertenschule“Human Development in Landscapes”

der Universität Kiel

2012

Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn

3

Collapse or Continuity ?Environment and Development

of Bronze Age Human Landscapes

2012

Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn

Proceedings of the International Workshop “Socio-Environmental Dynamics over the Last 12,000 Years:

The Creation of Landscapes II (14th –18th March 2011)” in Kiel Volume 1

edited by

Jutta Kneisel, Wiebke Kirleis, Marta Dal Corso,Nicole Taylor and Verena Tiedtke

4

Gedruckt mit Unterstützung der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)

ISBN 978-3-7749-3763-5

Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie.Detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über <http://dnb.d-nb.de> abrufbar.

Umschlagfoto: Jutta Kneisel, BruszczewoUmschlaggestaltung: Holger Dieterich, Kiel

Layout und Satz: www.wisa-print.de2012 Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn

Redaktion: Joachim von Freeden, Frankfurt a. M.

Englisches Korrektorat: Giles Shephard, Berlin

7

9 Preface

10 The Kiel Graduate School “Human Development in Landscapes”

13 Foreword

SOUTHEASTERN MEDITERRANEAN

17 Girolamo Fiorentino, Valentina Caracuta, Gianluca Quarta, Lucio Calcagnile and Daniele Morandi Bonacossi

Palaeoprecipitation Trends and Cultural Changes in Syrian Protohisto- ric Communities: the Contribution of δ13C in Ancient and Modern Vege -tation

35 Sabine Beckmann Bronze Age Landscape and Resilience: 4,000 Years of Tradition?

NORTHERN ITALY AND CIRCUM-ALPINE REGION

55 Michele Cupitò, Elisa Dalla Longa, Valentina Donadel and Giovanni Leonardi

Resistances to the 12th Century bc Crisis in the Veneto Region: the Case Studies of Fondo Paviani and Montebello Vicentino

71 Marta Dal Corso, Marco Marchesini, Giovanni Leonardi and Wiebke Kirleis

Environmental Changes and Human Impact during the Bronze Age in Northern Italy: On-site Palynological Investigation at Fondo Paviani, Ve-rona

85 Benjamin Jennings When the Going Gets Tough…? Climatic or Cultural Influences for the

LBA Abandonment of Circum-Alpine Lake-Dwellings

SOUTHEASTERN CENTRAL EUROPE AND THE BALKANS

103 Mario Gavranović Ore Exploitation and Settlement Dynamics during the Late Bronze Age in

Central Bosnia

111 Jozef Bátora, Anja Behrens, Julia Gresky, Mariya Ivanova, Knut Rass-mann, Peter Tóth and Kay Winkelmann

The Rise and Decline of the Early Bronze Age Settlement Fidvár near Vráble, Slovakia

Contents

8

NORTHERN GERMANY 133 Immo Heske and Magdalena Wieckowska The Bronze Age Settlement Chamber on the Hill Heeseberg, Lower

Saxony – An Ecoregion in Transition between the Únětice and the House-Urn Culture

153 Heiko Scholz Hoard Find Places in the Context of Climatic and Environmental Changes

EASTERN GERMANY 171 Ralf Lehmphul Final Neolithic to Early Iron Age Settlement Stratigraphy at Altgaul,

Brandenburg. A Preliminary Report 185 Jonas Beran Burnt Village Buried under Blown Sand at the Beginning of Urn Field Pe-

riod in Potsdam, Brandenburg 197 Jonas Beran and Nicola Hensel The Chief and his Poor Ancestors – Middle Bronze Age Burials under an

Early Younger Bronze Age Grave Mound at Brieselang, Brandenburg 201 Verena Tiedtke To Be Continued – a Long Term Cemetery in Müllrose, Brandenburg

EASTERN CENTRAL EUROPE 209 Jutta Kneisel The Problem of the Middle Bronze Age Inception in Northeast Europe –

or: Did the Únětice Society Collapse? 235 Mateusz Cwaliński and Jakub Niebieszczański The Tumulus Culture Burial Mounds in Southwestern Poland. Construc-

tion of the Barrows and their Place in the Landscape 257 Johannes Müller Changes in the Bronze Age: Social, Economical and / or Ecological Causes ?

CONCLUSIONS 267 Jutta Kneisel, Wiebke Kirleis, Marta Dal Corso and Nicole Taylor Collapse or Continuity ? Concluding Remarks on the Environment and

Development of Bronze Age Human Landscapes

Contents

267Concluding Remarks on the Environment and Development of Bronze Age Human Landscapes

Collapse or Continuity? Concluding Remarks on the Environment and Development

of Bronze Age Human Landscapes

Jutta Kneisel, Wiebke Kirleis, Marta Dal Corso and Nicole Taylor

The problem of definition: collapse or continuity?

One issue that was raised by many contributors throughout our session was the question of how ex-actly to define collapse versus continuity. Archaeol-ogy, like many social sciences, is a discipline that is slave to its definitions, and there are often passionate semantic debates regarding the best terms to use for various phenomena and how exactly to define their meanings (see Hill 1998 for definitions within gen-der archaeology; and see Brubaker / Cooper 2000 regarding identity terminology in social sciences). There exists a disciplinary desire to ensure that we are all studying and discussing the same phenom-ena, with the same terminology; this makes practical sense, especially if we wish to work interdisciplinar-ily. How then can we reach a common understand-ing of what constitutes collapse versus continuity?

When it comes to collapse, archaeologists gener-ally define it as a break or dramatic shift in material culture, whether that refers to decoration patterns, burial rites or settlement patterns among others. However, with such a simplified definition – in ef-fect a negative definition, since collapse appears to be a lack of archaeological evidence – one has to be careful. The phrase “the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence” (an aphorism from at least the eighteenth century, but apparently first used in this form by Martin Rees, quoted in Oliver / Billingham 1971, 3) warns in this context of the dangers of inter-preting lack of evidence alone as proof of social col-lapse. Given the nature of archaeological materials, there are issues with taphonomic and methodologi-cal effects which may create false absences; it should

be borne in mind that original patterns of presence and absence may be obscured by our chosen tech-niques or non-cultural processes beyond our con-trol. These complications can best be overcome by the use of interdisciplinary approaches; when two or more lines of evidence show absence of human activities, it is much more convincing to argue for a real collapse. Therefore, we focused our session on combining archaeological evidence with that from palaeo-ecology in order to try and solve this conundrum. Yet it must be remembered that palaeo-environmental methods also have their limitations; archaeologists all too often place their trust too un-critically in the natural sciences. Therefore it is neces-sary to combine as much information as is available to ensure that the observed breaks hold true, and can therefore be considered as collapse.

Defining continuity initially seems like a simple task; identifying a lack of change in records of the past. Continuity can be understood in different ways (Stockhammer 2008) in the sense of permanence or a continuous change. However, changes in the ar-chaeological record can occur for many reasons, not all of which are necessarily contrary to overall con-tinuity. Societies and environments are not static; they alter over time at different rates and in differ-ent ways. Can it still be considered continuity if one aspect of society stays the same while others change rapidly during the same period? Or is it the case that we need to narrowly define what aspect of society we are investigating continuity within? A dramatic break in one aspect of a society does not necessarily mean overall collapse; as Kristiansen showed (con-ference presentation) ritual and spiritual activities at a site can continue long after it has been abandoned

In: J. Kneisel / W. Kirleis / M. Dal Corso / N. Taylor / V. Tiedtke, Collapse or Continuity? Envi-ronment and Development of Bronze Age Human Landscapes [Proceedings of the Interna-tional Workshop “Socio‐Environmental Dynamics over the Last 12,000 Years: The Creation of Landscapes II (14th – 18th March 2011)” in Kiel] (Bonn 2012) 267 – 280.

Conclusions

268 Collapse or Continuity ?

as a settlement location. This is linked to the issue of scale; the same event could appear to be either an instance of collapse and of continuity, depending on the scale at which it is viewed. Additionally, what appears to be a sharp break at one scale may actually be a gradual change at another. As Sabine Reinhold (workshop presentation) shows, if you consider the mountain plateau region of the north Caucasus over a very short time-span between the tenth and ninth centuries bc, there appears to be a collapse of the so-ciety which inhabited the region from the sixteenth century; the absence of settlement evidence from this time is also supported by the fact that there is a cli-matic shift at this time, to the cooler conditions of the Sub-Atlantic phase. However, once the geographical scope is widened to include the valleys, it becomes clear that the society in fact adapted to this cooler, yet more seasonally stable climate; the archaeologi-cal evidence shows that whilst the economic basis of the society shifted, the rest of its material culture maintained continuity with the plateau settlements. Therefore, singling out one cultural aspect (in this case settlement patterns) or restricting research to a narrow geographical area can result in the identifi-cation of a false collapse. This issue becomes even thornier when we consider various ways of explain-ing apparent continuity in the palaeo-ecological re-cord; is it possible to distinguish human landscape management from continuity resulting from a lack of human impact? Furthermore, the issue of geo-graphical and chronological scale, plus the potential for cyclical patterns in evidence, is also relevant to palaeo-ecological studies; for example the cycle of vegetation re-colonisation (Marta Dal Corso, this volume; Walter Dörfler, workshop presentation; Jean-Nicolas Haas, workshop presentation; Immo Heske and Magdalena Wieckowska, this volume), or seasonal fluctuations in water levels (see Jen-nings, this volume). To complicate matters even fur-ther, scale is also a key consideration in successfully combining lines of evidence; archaeological time-scales are often at odds with palaeo-ecological ones. The Bronze Age lies within the end of the Subboreal period, which was in contrast to the succeeding pe-riod more warm and dry, yet even within this period individual climatic events such as the 4.2 kiloyear aridification occurred. Focusing on such large-scale climatic information has the potential to obscure the nuances of smaller-scale variation and events, both climatic and archaeological. For example, the Santorini eruption (see Fig. 2) which had both cul-tural and environmental impacts during the Bronze Age, can be detected in the north Greenland ice core (NGRIP) (Löfroth 2010), but the long-term, small-

scale, geographically-specific effects of this event are much harder to specify and few archaeological questions can be wholly explained by the effects of this one event. Pollen can be dated to a resolution of a century or so using AMS 14C dating (Brown et al. 1992), assuming that it is in situ within the core, but is rarely taken from archaeological features them-selves. Plant macrofossils are very useful for dating, often being used to date archaeological features, since they are short-lived samples (Monk et al. 2007, 51) and can be found within the features themselves, for example inside storage pits or hearths. Integrat-ing different scales of evidence can be very complex, yet rewarding when done well.

The issue of scale therefore seems to be a more pressing one to solve than that of defining just what collapse and continuity are. As Parrott and Har-ré point out (Harré / Parrott 1996, 4), the way in which academics strive to precisely define terms taken from “natural language” can actually lead to “neglecting some of the richness” of the original, more obscure and indefinable, meaning. Although definitions can ensure that all researchers involved in a project are discussing the same phenomena, we need to be wary of descending into protracted de-bates over names, terms and definitions at the ex-pense of actually researching the phenomena we are attempting to define. It is more important for inter-disciplinary success to seek ways to integrate their different study materials into a cohesive body of re-search. This is especially clear when the techniques used provide results at different scales of resolu-tion. Once we have clearly comparable evidence of change, we can then discuss whether it represents collapse or continuity, and what these terms mean in the specific context under investigation. Interdisci-plinary studies need not suffer from a lack of defini-tion if the disciplines involved are integrated within the project design from the very beginning of their investigations, as is already considered best practice.

That being said, there were some commonalities in contributions to the session which can be used to give working definitions of collapse and continuity in the Bronze Age. Collapse is generally viewed as a complete break in the record, and preferably in several records; for example the disappearance of settlements in a previously populated area, drastic climatic or environmental changes, the alteration of previously established communication and trade routes, or the cessation of access to resources. To be clear, collapses as discussed at the workshop were wholesale absences, usually present in one or more proxies. If only a few cultural or environmental as-pects under investigation have changed, this can-


not be considered a collapse from the point of view of our contributors; here it would be more accept-able to claim overall continuity, through adaptation in those altered aspects. Yet while there is rarely a single causal factor for a collapse, researchers have a tendency to favour those explanations that best fit with the perspectives of their disciplinary back-ground; archaeologists may consider social drivers for collapse and use environmental evidence to sup-port them, whereas natural scientists may consider environmental issues as key causes and see social changes as an effect. It was interesting, then, to see the presentation of Immo Heske and Magdalena Wieckowska, where both archaeological and palaeo-ecological lines of evidence were presented along-side each other for each time period; such an ap-proach goes some way towards research with fewer preconceptions, which gives equal consideration to different types of potential causes. When it comes to continuity, the contributors to the session were of the opinion that it is when there was no, or limited, change in the nature of the archaeological or palaeo-ecological records. Such definitions are by no means the end of the story; we may never reach a true con-sensus on the meaning of collapse and continuity or find a way to seamlessly integrate different types of evidence from different scales, yet engaging in such lively discussion on these issues also has the poten-tial to greatly contribute to the study of the Bronze Age. N. T.

Bridging the gap: a European phenomenon?

The research into collapse and continuity in the Bronze Age presented at the workshop covers a wide field. Therefore, it was possible to geographi-cally span a wide arc from the Near East, the Cauca-sus, crossing from Greece to Romania, the Balkans to Italy, over the Alps to Poland, northern Germany, the Baltic and Scandinavia. Chronologically the spec-trum comprised the Early Bronze Age societies in the third millennium bc in the Near East, the second millennium bc in southern and central Europe until the first half of the first millennium bc in northern Europe (Fig. 1). The presentations at this workshop and the articles gathered in this publication inves-tigated the questions regarding the possible breaks

or continuity from different standpoints. Here we endeavour to provide an archaeological overview of these results.

On the island of Crete, in the mountains far dis-tant from the coast, a sudden peopling occurred around 2000 bc, whose structures, road systems and walled dwelling places spread across at least 30 km2. The population of this zone, far from the coastal settlements, endured for only a few centu-ries until around 1700 bc. The dwelling places obvi-ously served as specialised supply farms (of cheese and wool) for the large coastal settlements and were occupied year-round (see Sabine Beckmann, this volume). These smaller sites were in turn depend-ent on the return supplies of products they did not themselves produce (e. g. grain). Their end, which coincided with the start of the Minoan New Palace Period, was shaped by internal restructuring, which possibly resulted in a relocation of settlers to other areas. However, the author does not discount an end due to the Santorini eruption. A continuation of this ideal landscape-adapted lifestyle reoccurred first in the middle of the nineteenth century A. D., involv-ing partial re-use of the pre-existing structures.

The clearest examples of continuity and abandon-ment are shown in northern Italy (as presented at the workshop by Anna Maria Mercuri and Renata Pere-go)1. Some Terramare sites researched by Michele Cupitò et al. offer the most impressive example of a good settlement stratigraphy, which enable broad research into settlement patterns. As such, they were able to demonstrate a four-century development of the Terramare settlements, culminating in a general settlement retreat in the Po Plain c. 1350 – 1170 bc due to over-exploitation of resources in a sudden, long-duration dry phase, as Mercuri et al. mentioned in their presentation. This general settlement retreat was counteracted by two strategies, which led to continuity in spite of crisis until the Final Bronze Age in some sites. One example is a settlement on the plain which has intensive exchange relationships stretching from the Aegean to the Eastern Alps and into the Carpathian Basin, which also possesses its own working and production of luxury goods (met-al, glass and amber) and whose social system can be classified as strongly hierarchical, for instance on the basis of the grave finds. Did their successful external contacts ensure their survival, because of the provi-sion of necessary food supplies? Or was it due to their hierarchical social structure, which was able to

1 All Abstracts available in: Graduate School CAU Kiel (ed.), Socio / environmental dynamics over the last 12,000 years. The creation of landscapes II. Open Workshop 14th / 18th March, 2011 Kiel, Germany. Terra Nostra. Schriften der GeoUnion Alfred-Wegener-Stiftung 2011, 1, 41 – 53.


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react faster to the environmental changes? Archae-ological evidence for either situation is, however, hard to find. In addition, settlements also survived at higher altitudes on the periphery; they were inde-pendent of the plain for their subsistence, and also probably less affected by the climate change accom-panied by aridity. Even here, the number of settle-ments decreased, but without the same sudden end seen in the rest of the Po Plain. The settlements in the mountains had contacts in neighbouring regions and metal exchange could also be proven here (see Michele Cupitò et al. and Marta Dal Corso et al., this volume).

Particularly striking is the influence of the climate on the settlements in Alps. Benjamin Jennings shows in his contribution, however, that not only rising wa-ter levels were responsible for the different breaks in the settlement history of the lake-dwellings. Also contributory was the collapse of the exchange sys-tems and the lack of a “relationship of resistance”, which reinforced the decision to abandon the set-tlements. Jennings clarifies this through “impor-tive translation”, that is to say, the adoption of the “Pfahlbauperlen” from northern Italy in the Circum-Alpine region.

Likewise, climatic aspects are shown in the pres-entation of Girolamo Fiorentino et al. In spite of strong changes in the weather between wet and dry phases, the society remains stable on the Aeolian Is-lands because they could adapt their cultivation to the environment. In the case of adverse environmen-tal conditions, epidemics or the collapse of their pro-ductive system, they could merely move to the next island in the archipelago.

Mario Gavranović (this volume) was able to show for the central Bosnian Ore Mountains (Erz-gebirge) astounding settlement continuity. It was possible to document permanent settlements in the mountain valleys in geographically prominent con-ditions from the fifteenth century onwards, which endure well into the Iron Age. From the late twelfth century an increase in settlement occurred, accom-panied by new ceramic forms and ornamentations. New fortified settlements arose and old settlements

were secured by settlements and ramparts. Met-alworking in the form of moulds and other metal-working equipment is first visible in this period. The uniform ceramic styles, which are the same over the wider region despite closed small settlement clus-ters in the valleys of the Bosnian Ore Mountains, point to far-reaching communication connections which could be considered as further proof for the mining of the local ore deposits (copper, cassiterite and gold). The transition to the Iron Age took place, according to Gavranović, without any huge leaps, which he explains by the presence of iron in the same region. The continuous settlement, which ascended from the end of the twelfth century till the Roman period, proved to be an abiding society, whose sta-bility lies in the use of the local metal resources; cop-per as well as iron ore. The break from the Bronze to the Iron Age was barely recognisable here in the settlement history.

Metal also plays a role in the evaluation of the settle-ment of Slovakia. Here it is possible to demonstrate sites of different functions on the basis of different spectrums of animal species in the bone material. It appears that the smaller, although fortified, settle-ment of Rybnik near the Moravian Gate served rath-er to control the access to and from the Carpathian Basin than as a larger settlement with an extensive subsistence economy. The different ceramic styles, with connections to Pannonia, prove this function as a kind of “entrance control” (as presented by Rass-mann et al. at the workshop). In the paper the settle-ment pattern of the Žitava River valley shows in the phase of the Early Bronze Age a centralisation which changes at the end of Early Bronze Age. The central settlement Fidvár decreases from 11 ha to 1 ha and in the valley again a dispersed settlement pattern oc-curs (see Bátora et al. in this volume).

A particularly elaborate part of the discussion and the presentations was concerned with the transition from the Early to the Middle Bronze Age (about 1600 bc) in Greater Poland and Silesia. In their con-tributions, Jean Nicolas Haas, Helmut Kroll, Walter Dörfler and Johannes Müller could show that at the end of the Early Bronze Age settlement site of Bruszczewo, clear pollution of the adjacent lake, a clearing of the forest and soil erosion occurred. The end of the settlement is simultaneous with a gen-eral hiatus, which visible in Greater Poland and Brandenburg around c. 1600 bc (see Jutta Kneisel, this volume). New sites and above all graves are first documented from a more developed phase of the Middle Bronze Age (Mateusz Cwaliński and Jakub Niebieszczański, this volume) and are restricted

Fig. 1 Overview of the chronologies used by the authors in this volume. Fremdgruppenzeit, ritzverzierte Ware, ältere

Rillenkeramik; hoflose Buckel. Graphic K. Winter.

Fig. 2 Overview of settlement activity according to the articles in this volume and presentations given at the workshop in comparison with environmental and climatic aspects ( * workshop presentation: cf. p. 269 note 1; see also

Scholz, this volume p. 162 Fig. 11). Graphic K. Winter.

vv


to the southern area of Poland. At the same time, a relocation of settlement from the Oder River to the Warta River takes place. Here as well, the instanta-neous ecological changes are not solely responsible for the collapse of the Early Bronze Age societies; a change in the origins of resources (metal), exchange routes (amber) and drastic social changes, visible above all in the grave rites (see Johannes Müller, this volume), also played a part.

The start of the Middle Bronze Age in central Eu-rope is generally elusive and occurs with numerous disruptions. During the discussion, Carola Metzner-Nebelsick interjected that the Middle Bronze Age has to be seen more as a transition period, rather than an epoch in its own right as shown in the classic period systems. The transition is archaeologically difficult to distinguish; however, Helmut Kroll could show in his presentation a changeover between two different economic systems on the basis of archaeobotanical evidence. The Early Bronze Age cultivation of emmer and barley and the use of acorns as foodstuffs are op-posed to the Late Bronze Age more diverse cultiva-tion spectrum with cereals, millet, peas and vetch. This transition can also be proven in northern Europe (as presented by Almuth Alsleben at the workshop).

In northern Germany there is a clear interplay between strong settlement activities and reforesta-tion in the micro-region of the Heeseberg, Lower Saxony, visible thanks to exemplary collaboration between archaeologists and palaeobotanists (see Immo Heske / Magdalena Wieckowska, this vol-ume). A clear reduction in settlement activity in the Middle Bronze Age (c. 1600 bc), stands in opposition to continuous settlement activity from c. 1200 bc to the Early Iron Age (until c. 500 bc) despite climatic deterioration. Only around 500 bc does a definitive break occur, which accompanies a stronger climatic deterioration. This phenomenon is also visible in Scandinavia and eastern central Europe.

In the same time-span as in Lower Saxony, Verena Tiedtke was able to prove in her contribution on-going burial traditions in eastern Brandenburg from the Middle Bronze Age. These burial rites continued always in the same location into the Iron Age with only minor changes in the rites.

The paper by Jonas Beran clarifies the worth of new research and more detailed research methods. He was able to detect a Middle Bronze Age settle-ment in Brandenburg although it was heavily dis-turbed by younger sites, which fills some gaps in the existing knowledge of this period in central Ger-many. Environmental changes and strong erosion processes which caused wandering dunes to cover parts of the site are shown in the contribution by

Ralf Lehmpfuhl. In spite of this visible environmen-tal disturbance, the settlement area in Brandenburg saw ongoing use.

The same results could be shown by Andreas Nebe in his presentation about Niederröblingen, Saxony-Anhalt. A huge number of 14C-dates indi-cates settlement continuity even through the Middle Bronze Age. But archaeological strata or material is hardly to identify.

A very clear example of anthropogenic changes which eventually caused a clear alteration in the settlement and social structures was presented by Kristian Kristiansen. From about 1500 bc there was disappearance of the forests, timber became scarce and agricultural areas were obliterated due to the construction of grave mounds. A scarcity of metal also occurred. Despite the environmental crisis the system of settlement patterns and burial rites was maintained until the end of the Nordic Bronze Age around 500 bc. Only then did major societal changes take place. From this time onwards, villages with small houses appeared in contrast to the earlier in-dividual farmsteads with large houses of the Bronze Age population.

To summarise the contributions and presenta-tions of the workshop from an archaeological point of view, then, there are recurring patterns recognis-able across the whole of Europe. Firstly, the date of c. 1600 bc is repeatedly mentioned as a time of recom-mencement or a phase of collapse of pre-existing so-cieties. A collapse cannot always be directly proven but often we see an abatement of settlement activi-ties which strengthen again during the sixteenth and fifteenth centuries bc. A second break was frequent-ly visible around 1200 – 1100 bc followed by a long phase of continuance (Fig. 2). Only the first date, which is a mere rough average, could be connected with different climatic events. There is a climatic pes-simum, which is shown between 1500 – 1100 bc in the Löbben glacial advance which accompanies a clear rise in lake levels. Interestingly the issue of the San-torini eruption in the second half of the seventeenth century was not broached during the session. To what extent this eruption also directly or indirectly affected central and northern Europe will surely be shown at the 2011 conference in Halle (Saale) “1600 – Kultureller Umbruch im Schatten des Thera-Aus-bruchs?“ organised by the “Landesamt für Denk - malpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt”. The climate was generally rejected in the contributions as the sole initiator of breaks. According to the dis-cussion, the contributions and presentations during the workshop the following archaeological proxies for our question can be proposed. J. K.


Archaeological proxies as indicators for collapse and continuity

Archaeological proxies for continuity or breaks are generally the number and frequency of sites. Very accurate conclusions are possible if adequate set-tlement data regarding demographic calculations exist. In this way the research on the Terramare set-tlements made visible a constant increase up to a certain point, followed by a break and decrease in settlement. Modified settlement behaviour could be observed also in Scandinavia during the transi-tion from the Bronze to the Iron Age. Settlements make it possible in general to calculate population density and reveal landscape usage by the people of the past. Nevertheless, the type of research method used is very important. The question is, can we re-ally interpret the absence of finds and features as a true absence of humans?

The contribution of Jonas Beran and the presen-tations by Carolin Lubos and Andreas Nebe on the settlement of Niederröblingen especially show the worth of new research and accurate research meth-ods. The ability to look closer at the evidence and a deeper knowledge of the material and its chrono-logical order, and the combination of dating meth-ods from the natural sciences with archaeological techniques, help to distinguish a clearer stratigra-phy even where sites have been heavily disturbed by younger features.

The hoard depositions offer a different picture. The density or frequency of their appearance is only minimally related to settlement patterns. In times of crisis, hoards could increase despite upheaval in other areas of life, as the examples from the Terra-mare sites from northern Italy or the hoards from the Middle Bronze Age in Poland show. However, reli-gious reasons could also be responsible for the dep-osition of hoards in rather unpopulated areas (see Heiko Scholz, this volume). For this reason hoards can only conditionally be used as proxies for human activities in any given area.

Raw materials, above all metal, always play an im-portant role. Likewise, luxury goods such as glass or amber, whose traceable exchange routes can prove access and contact between groups and regions. The access to raw materials and the distribution of the same offers improved chances of survival. This can be seen in the Bosnian Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge; see Mario Gavranović, this volume), in the Late Bronze Age settlements in the Baltic (as presented by Uwe Sperling at the workshop) or in Lăpuş, Ro-mania where the reduction in metal production ac-companied changes in the local ritual activities at

about 1100 bc and led to an abandonment of the site around 1000 bc (as presented by Carola Metzner-Nebelsick at the workshop).

In general, efficient exchange relationships were also mentioned, which point to stability within a so-ciety; the import of luxury goods (amber, gold, jet or glass e. g. “Pfahlbauperlen”) or rare goods or the control over the production of these goods. In con-trast, breaks in production, loss of access or changes in trading routes can be used as proxies for the col-lapse of a society.

Graves can also be used as proxies. The transition from the Early Bronze Age flat grave custom in cen-tral Europe with single prominent grave mound bur-ials to cremation and the erection of many smaller mounds marks not only a social shift (see Johannes Müller, this volume) but also a religious change which could be seen in different regions of Europe. This change occurred slowly; however in Poland it could be associated with the break in settlement around 1600 bc. In Lower Saxony Olaf Fabian (in his presentation) marked a spatial shift of the finds. Únětice shapes only reached as far as the River Oker near Braunschweig and the Mountain Elm, both in Lower Saxony. North of the Elm, with the start of the Middle Bronze Age we have the rich metal ob-jects of the Lüneburg Group appearing in the graves. Likewise, Kristian Kristiansen also mentioned in his presentation that graves can serve as proxies for con-tinuity; even an altered burial rite (urn graves rather than oak coffin graves) are orientated towards the pre-existing grave mounds or even buried within them. This continuity of burial place is connected to the settlement continuity, which first changes with the beginning of the Iron Age, around 500 bc.

Naturally epidemics, warlike conflicts as well as conquests could be seen as proxies for the end of societies. However, such events are difficult to de-termine archaeologically in Europe. One warlike conflict could be proved around 1200 bc in Mecklen-burg-West Pomerania in the Tollense Valley, as the research group from Greifswald (Ute Brinker et al.) demonstrated in their presentation. J. K.

Environmental proxies as indicators for collapse and continuity

There are a variety of indicators in the palaeo-eco-logical records that assist in the detection of collapse or continuity through the identification of environ-mental, agricultural and climate changes that may


have played an important role in the development of ancient societies. During the workshop session, sev-eral presentations focused on or integrated environ-mental proxies while considering different contexts.

Climatic shifts with an impact on the precipita-tion rate, on lake level fluctuations and on water availability, even when referring to seasonality, had considerable influences on Bronze Age economies. Nevertheless, climate is not the only factor inducing forms of abandonment or resilience for the Circum-Alpine pile-dwelling sites, whose gaps in occupation at the end of the Middle Bronze Age and then be-tween the Final Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age do not correspond simply to climate worsening. This remark made Jennings (in this volume) focus on the distribution of material objects on a larger scale, in-tegrating the Circum-Alpine and the Baltic regions to look for cultural reasons of changes in settlement patterns.

In contrast, through the application of carbon sta-ble isotope analysis on plant remains from Bronze Age sites of the Aeolian Archipelago (Sicily), Gi-rolamo Fiorentino et al. showed that short-term variations in the rainfall regime had a considerable impact on the economic system of the mentioned Bronze Age communities. As a response to drought, a shift from lowland cultivation to the use of the up-lands took place based on the establishment of a new exchange and trade system within the archipelago.

As well, climatic deteriorations promoting hu-midity affected the local population, as has been de-tected in a pollen profile from a settlement chamber close to the Heeseberg (Lower Saxony) presented by Magdalena Wieckowska and Immo Heske. Ac-cording to the pollen record, increasing humidity is indicated when the archaeological record shows a decline in settlement activity during the Middle Bronze Age.

Pollen analyses on sediments from Lake Wonieść in northwestern Poland carried out by Walter Dör-fler (workshop presentation) provide environmen-tal reconstruction on a regional scale, highlighting the different Bronze Age phases through changes in the vegetation pattern. Traces of cereals and weeds accounted for the presence of humans in the region during the Bronze Age in variable amounts. How-ever, there is no indication for an overexploitation of the landscape on a regional scale as about 90 % of the pollen stems from tree species indicating dense woodland with small-scale openings.

In regional pollen diagrams for Schleswig-Hol-stein a slight increase of indicators for the openness of landscape is observed in connection with the be-ginning of the Bronze Age but no big changes are

visible throughout the course of the Bronze Age un-til the Iron Age begins. To trace agricultural chang-es, macro remains are more suitable than pollen. Almut Alsleben (workshop presentation) identified an enrichment of crop species occurring in the Late Bronze Age around 950 bc. The previously dominant species emmer and barley are now supplemented by oats in northern Lower Saxony, Germany, and in The Netherlands and by bread wheat, spelt and mil-let in the eastern parts of north central Europe.

A diversification in crop inventory in particular through the sudden introduction of broomcorn mil-let towards the Late Bronze Age can be observed in southeast Europe as well (as shown in the macro-remain studies by Helmut Kroll at Agios Mamas and Kastanas, Greece, and in Feudvar, Serbia) and in central Europe (Bruszczewo, Poland). The change of millet from being an unimportant, additionally used grass to becoming a main crop was quite rapid and must have been due to severe circumstances that we cannot deduce as of yet (Kroll 1983; Kroll 1997; Kroll 1998; Kroll 2010; Becker / Kroll 2008).

Different from off-site lake analyses, on-site pol-len investigations like those presented by Marta Dal Corso et al. on the Terramare site Fondo Paviani in northern Italy, enable a better understanding of the landscape development on a local scale in relation to the establishment of the village.

Other investigations about the Terramare Cul-ture in northern Italy have been presented by Anna Maria Mercuri et al. (workshop presentation). Her study is based on the comparison of the archaeo-botanical records (micro- and macrobotanical re-mains) of two villages and one necropolis, which show traces of increasing overexploitation of the surroundings with regard to cultivation and wood cutting (Mercuri et al. 2006). These aspects, togeth-er with climate changes towards aridity, induced the collapse of many of the Terramare settlements in the Po Plain during the Recent Bronze Age. The intense population of the main Italian plain ended with the collapse of a widespread system, explica-ble only when integrating several factors. The over-exploitation of woodland, the impoverishment of soils due to intensive agriculture, and the short-ages in water supply due to increasing drought are only some of the causes. In fact, this general aban-donment of the plain is contrasted by some areas of resilience, in the northeastern Po Valley and in the nearby mountains. In these cases, as shown by Cupitò et al. from an archaeological view point, the sites did not collapse, as they played important roles in trading and further developed a social and cul-tural complexity.


A combination of pollen and macrobotanical re-mains by Renata Perego traces the changes in natural vegetation, in crops and in the accumulation rate of the lake deposits in the lacustrine record of the pile-dwelling of Lavagnone in the Early-Middle Bronze Age (workshop presentation).

In addition to pollen, the importance of investi-gating non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs) was em-phasised by Jean-Nicolas Haas et al. (workshop presentation). NPPs, such as microscopic algae and fungi remains, show changes in the limnic trophy levels in two lakes adjacent to Early Bronze Age vil-lages at Lake Nussbaumersee in Switzerland and to the village of Bruszczewo in Poland (Haas / Wahl-müller 2010). The high content of algae in the lakes indicates eutrophication through nutrient contami-nation by the ancient villagers and their livestock. The increasing pollution of the lakes is interpreted as one reason for the later abandonment of the villages.

The pedological and phytolith analyses carried out by Carolin Lubos et al. at the site of Niederroeb-lingen, central Germany, show energy fluxes within the settlement and its environment. The accumula-tion of phytoliths of cereals during the Bronze Age seems to indicate the presence and intensity of crop cultivation in the surroundings of the settlement (Lubos et al. 2011)

Increasing aridity during the 4.2 ky event is in the focus of a project based mainly on phytoliths and macrobotanical remains that was presented by Anke Marsh-Cross aiming at a better understanding of the sustainability of the economies of ancient societies in the Near East (workshop presentation).

Without following a deterministic approach, it is worth considering the high influence of environ-mental conditions in prehistoric and protohistoric economies. Some case-studies attested a period of long and intensive occupation showing high hu-man impact on the Bronze Age landscape, also inducing changes in the availability of natural re-sources. This aspect, when combined with other causes, such as demographic pressure or social in-stability, weakened the settlement systems and led to the abandonment of the villages. Two examples of deterioration of natural resources are the over-exploitation of wood and fertile soils combined with the lack of water for increasing drought in northern Italy, and the intense eutrophication that polluted the hydrological basin of a lake-shore vil-lage in Greater Poland. Nevertheless, a strong line of evidence shows that Bronze Age populations could also adapt to environmental changes and developed strategies of resilience to cope with changing envi-ronments and climate variability. This is visible in

particular in complex societies, which have good fa-cilities to cushion abrupt changes as they possessed important and wide social and economic networks. A developed know-how in agricultural and cultiva-tion techniques is testified by the innovation of add-ing new crops to the common Early to Mid Bronze Age barley-emmer assemblage. One example is the introduction of millet cultivation in the Late Bronze Age. As broomcorn millet has a very short vegeta-tion period of about 3 months, if sown in June, it can still be harvested in August / September. This species can compensate harvest failure of other cereals due to late (spring) climatological frost. The use of irriga-tion systems and the alternation of cereals and pas-ture for the release of the soil were also important means of control of land production in use during the Bronze Age.

The overall image depicted by the studies pre-sented in this session suggests that the relationship between Bronze Age communities and their natural environments was complex. The survival of these communities in the same place for centuries was based mainly on the equilibrium of several factors bonded together. When this equilibrium ceased, in peculiar moments of their development, some socie-ties could encounter difficulties in facing the chang-es while others, or portions of the same group, could develop further resilience strategies. When studying Bronze Age human-environment interaction, the importance of sustainable natural resources and of favourable climatic conditions have to be considered in combination with cultural, economic and social aspects. W. K. and M. D. C.

Studying absence

As could be seen in the contributions to our session, absences are mainly determined by the chronologi-cal or spatial scope of the research. Overall there ap-pears to be a general break around approximately 1600 bc across Europe in many societies. In order to determine this, a variety of methods must be used; an absence needs to be confirmed through a combi-nation of different proxies and lines of evidence be-fore it can be considered a real phenomenon. From the archaeological perspective it is vital to have den-sity maps, a clear stratigraphy and chronology, with the latter also supported by absolute dates (dendro-chronological or radiocarbon) wherever possible. The investigation of such sources can result in yet further evidence for collapse or continuity; the re-construction of settlement patterns, social structures


and their alteration through time, and changes to communication networks.

It is important to confirm that patterns are not merely the result of such processes as variable pres-ervation conditions or behaviours and activities which leave no archaeological trace. Therefore, col-laboration with the natural sciences is a prerequisite. It is not enough to combine climatic changes with ar-chaeological absences, since all contributors showed that the climate was generally a less important cause for change. More important is the use of pollen anal-yses, which enable us to reconstruct the landscape. However, on-site analyses are equally important as a comparison for the usual off-site pollen analy-ses; this ensures the relevance of the off-site data for the events which occurred at the archaeological site. Despite the ever-increasing use of soil analyses to understand erosion processes, NPPs (non-pollen palynomorphs) in the pollen profiles can also be used to discover nutritient input, eutrophication, the connection between fluctuations in water levels and deforestation, changes in water temperature or even pathogens in the water. For dry areas, the emerging field of phytolith analysis can produce results re-garding on-site agricultural conditions (see presen-tation by Carolin Lubos et al.). Systematic sampling of plant macrofossils or faunal remains allows for in-sights into changes in diet and subsistence economy. The future potential of isotopic and aDNA analyses for the associated research questions offers excit-ing prospects if appropriate sampling takes place. For example, these methods may be able to answer such questions as: did people emigrate, or were new ideas merely adopted from other areas? Do past diets reveal indications of long-term famine condi-tions? How independent of each other were groups, in terms of possible exchange networks which could offer support in times of crisis?

It is apparent that the best results come from longer-term research projects, where it is possible to combine many different natural science analyses with good chronological resolution and compre-

hensively researched archaeological material from a site or region. It takes time to develop an appro-priate sampling strategy and to process the volume of data produced, as well as to expand the scope of research beyond the boundaries of a single site into the wider region as the following examples show: Kristian Kristiansen’s Thy Project (1990 – 1999), Johannes Müller and Janusz Czebreszuk’s Bruszczewo Project (1999 – 2009), Giovanni Leonardi and Michele Cupitò´s Fondo Paviani Project (since 2007). The additional advantage of long-term pro-jects is that they could improve their data through the development of a wider-scale perspective and the expansion of local knowledge regarding the ar-chaeology and environment. Only then does it be-come easier to discuss collapses or continuity in the society or region under investigation.

J. K. and N. T.

Outlook

This groundbreaking workshop, which brought to-gether for the first time researchers from the Medi-terranean to the Baltic, showed that there were far more similarities in the progression of archaeologi-cal phenomena throughout the Bronze Age than previously expected. It also demonstrated how, through fully integrated research projects, archaeol-ogy and the natural sciences can support each other and co-develop new outlooks on old questions, and improved methodologies as well as more refined chronologies. Looking to the future, we hope to see more long-term research projects which involve in-tensive collaboration between the disciplines from the outset. Another beneficial outcome would be the continuation and development of the far-reaching interregional contacts made through this workshop, perhaps through projects and discussion which combine their similar research questions on a more international scale.


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Marta Dal Corso, Wiebke KirleisGraduate School Human Development in Landscapes Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology

Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu KielJohanna-Mestorf-Straße 2 – 6

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corresponding author: [email protected]

Jutta KneiselInstitute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology


24118 KielGermany

[email protected]

Nicole TaylorForging Identities The Mobility of Culture in Bronze Age Europe

(Marie Curie Actions, FP 7)Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology


24118 KielGermany

[email protected]

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