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Atlantic Bronze Age

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Atlantic Bronze Age
Geographical rangeWestern Europe
PeriodBronze Age
Datesc. 1300 — c. 700 BC
Preceded byBell Beaker culture, Bronze Age Britain, Armorican Tumulus culture, Wessex culture
Followed byIron Age Britain, Iron Age Ireland, Iron Age France, Iron Age Spain
See also: Bronze Age Europe

The Atlantic Bronze Age refers to a cultural complex of the Bronze Age period in prehistoric Europe, spanning approximately 1300–700 BC. This complex includes various cultures in Britain, France, Ireland, Portugal and Spain.

Trade

Main article: Bronze Age Europe

The Atlantic Bronze Age is characterised by economic and cultural exchange, resulting in a high degree of cultural similarity between coastal communities from central Portugal to Galicia, Armorica, Cornwall and Scotland. This is evidenced by the frequent use of stone as chevaux-de-frise, the construction of cliff castles and domestic architecture, sometimes characterised by roundhouses.[1] Trade contacts extended from Sweden[2] and Denmark to the Mediterranean.[1] The Bronze Age was characterised by distinct regional centres of metal production, linked by regular maritime trade. The main centres were in southern England and Ireland, north-west France and western Iberia.[3] Radiocarbon dating indicates that the Early Bronze Age began on the northern Iberian plateau in 2100 cal. BC while the late Bronze Age began in 1350 cal. BC.[4][5][6] Items associated with this culture are often found in hoards or deposited in ritual areas,[7][8] typically in watery contexts such as rivers, lakes and bogs. The cultural complex includes various items such as socketed and double-ring bronze axes, sometimes buried in large hoards in Brittany and Galicia. Military equipment such as lunate spearheads, V-notched shields and a variety of bronze swords, including carp-tongue swords, are usually found buried in lakes, rivers or rocky outcrops.[9] Elite feasting equipment such as spits, kettles and meat hooks[8][10] have also been found from central Portugal to Scotland.[1]

In 2008, John T. Koch attributed the origins of the Celts to this period.[11] This theory is supported by Barry Cunliffe,[12] who argues that Celtic developed as an Atlantic lingua franca before spreading to mainland Europe.[8] The authors argue that communities in the Late Bronze Age adopted elite status markers, such as grip-tongue swords and bronze sheet metalwork, from the Urnfield period (Bronze D and Hallstatt A). They also acquired new skills for their production and ritual knowledge about their proper treatment after deposition.[13] These changes may indicate processes related to language change.[13] In 2013, Koch suggested that the emergence of Celtic languages with a Proto-Celtic homeland in west-central Europe could be explained by elite contact from east to west.[14] However, this view contrasts with the more widely accepted view that Celtic origins are linked to the central European Hallstatt C culture.

  • A Bronze Age gold hoard: Tesouro de Caldas, Galicia, Spain
    A Bronze Age gold hoard: Tesouro de Caldas, Galicia, Spain
  • Gold torque from Stretham, England
    Gold torque from Stretham, England
  • Bronze weapons from Lanzahíta, Spain
    Bronze weapons from Lanzahíta, Spain
  • Bronze Age swords, France
    Bronze Age swords, France
  • The Caergwrle Bowl, Wales, c. 1300 BC
    The Caergwrle Bowl, Wales, c. 1300 BC
  • Casco de Leiro, Galicia, Spain
    Casco de Leiro, Galicia, Spain
  • Gold bowls from Axtroki, Spain
    Gold bowls from Axtroki, Spain
  • Gold bracelets and neckrings from Milton Keynes, England
    Gold bracelets and neckrings from Milton Keynes, England
  • Sintra collar, Portugal, c. 10th century BC
    Sintra collar, Portugal, c. 10th century BC
  • Bronze cauldrons. Left Cabárceno [es], Spain. Right Chiseldon, England.[15][16]
    Bronze cauldrons. Left Cabárceno [es], Spain. Right Chiseldon, England.[15][16]
  • Gold and bronze hoard from Wrexham, Wales
    Gold and bronze hoard from Wrexham, Wales
  • Gold torque or belt from Guînes, France, 1300-1150 BC[17]
    Gold torque or belt from Guînes, France, 1300-1150 BC[17]
  • Gold torque from Guînes, Pas-de-Calais, France.[18]
    Gold torque from Guînes, Pas-de-Calais, France.[18]
  • Deposito da Samieira, a hoard of Galician Bronze Age axes. Museo de Pontevedra
    Deposito da Samieira, a hoard of Galician Bronze Age axes. Museo de Pontevedra
  • Stele of Solana de Cabañas, Spain.
    Stele of Solana de Cabañas, Spain.
  • Adabrock Hoard, Scotland, c. 1000 BC
    Adabrock Hoard, Scotland, c. 1000 BC
  • Gold torque from the Treasure of Berzocana, Extremadura, Spain
    Gold torque from the Treasure of Berzocana, Extremadura, Spain
  • Ceremonial bronze dirk, France, c. 1300 BC
    Ceremonial bronze dirk, France, c. 1300 BC
  • Dirks from England and France
    Dirks from England and France
  • Brazalete da Urdiñeira, Spain
    Brazalete da Urdiñeira, Spain
  • Gold torc, Saint-Jean-Trolimon, France
    Gold torc, Saint-Jean-Trolimon, France
  • Bronze axes, France
    Bronze axes, France
  • Gold disk/ring, Extremadura, Spain, c. 1000 BC
    Gold disk/ring, Extremadura, Spain, c. 1000 BC
  • Dún Aonghasa hillfort, Ireland
    Dún Aonghasa hillfort, Ireland

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Barry (1999). "Atlantic Sea-ways" (PDF). Revista de Guimarães. Especial (I): 93–105. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  2. ^ Ling, Johan; Stos-Gale, Zofia; Grandin, Lena; Billström, Kjell; Hjärthner-Holdar, Eva; Persson, Per-Olof (2014). "Moving metals II: provenancing Scandinavian Bronze Age artefacts by lead isotope and elemental analyses". Journal of Archaeological Science. 41: 106–132. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2013.07.018.
  3. ^ Europe Before History by Kristian Kristiansen Archived May 8, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Marcos Saiz, F. Javier (2006). La Sierra de Atapuerca y el Valle del Arlanzón. Patrones de asentamiento prehistóricos. Editorial Dossoles. Burgos, Spain. ISBN 9788496606289.
  5. ^ Marcos Saiz, F. Javier (2016). La Prehistoria Reciente del entorno de la Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, España). British Archaeological Reports (Oxford, U.K.), BAR International Series 2798. ISBN 9781407315195.
  6. ^ Marcos Saiz, F.J.; Díez, J.C. (2017). "The Holocene archaeological research around Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain) and its projection in a GIS geospatial database". Quaternary International. 433 (A): 45–67. Bibcode:2017QuInt.433...45M. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.10.002.
  7. ^ Comendador Rey, Beatriz. "SPACE AND MEMORY AT THE MOUTH OF THE RIVER ULLA (GALICIA, SPAIN)" (PDF). Conceptualising Space and Place: On the role of agency, memory and identity in the construction of space from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Iron Age in Europe. Archaeopress. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
  8. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Barry (2008). Europe between the oceans : themes and variations, 9000 BC-AD 1000 (First printed in paperback 2011. ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 254–258. ISBN 978-0-300-17086-3.
  9. ^ Quilliec, Bénédicte T. (2007). "Vida y muerte de una espada atlántica del Bronce Final en Europa: Reconstrucción de los procesos de fabricación, uso y destrucción" [Life and death of an Atlantic sword: Reconstruction of the processes of fabrication, use wear and destruction]. Complutum (in Spanish). 18: 93–107. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  10. ^ Bowman, Sheridan; Stuart Needham (2007). "The Dunaverney and Little Thetford Flesh-Hooks: History, Technology and Their Position within the Later Bronze Age Atlantic Zone Feasting Complex" (PDF). The Antiquaries Journal. 87: 53–108. doi:10.1017/s0003581500000846. S2CID 161084139. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  11. ^ Koch, John (2009). Tartessian: Celtic from the Southwest at the Dawn of History in Acta Palaeohispanica X Palaeohispanica 9 (2009) (PDF). Palaeohispanica. pp. 339–351. ISSN 1578-5386. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 June 2010. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  12. ^ Cunliffe, Barry (2008). A Race Apart: Insularity and Connectivity in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 75, 2009, pp. 55–64. The Prehistoric Society. p. 61.
  13. ^ a b Brandherm, Dirk (2013). Celtic from the West 2 - Westward Ho? Sword-bearers and all the rest of it... Oxford: Oxbow Books. p. 148. ISBN 978-1-84217-529-3. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013.
  14. ^ Koch, John T. (2013). Celtic from the West 2 -Prologue: The Earliest Hallstatt Iron Age cannot equal Proto-Celtic. Oxford: Oxbow Books. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-84217-529-3. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013.
  15. ^ Gerloff, Sabine (1986). "Bronze Age Class A Cauldrons: Typology, Origins and Chronology". The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 116: 84–115.
  16. ^ Barrowclough, David (2014). Bronze Age Feasting Equipment: A contextual discussion of the Salle and East Anglian cauldrons and flesh-hooks. Red Dagger Press, Cambridge. pp. 1–17.
  17. ^ Armbruster, Barbara (2013). "Gold and gold working of the Bronze Age". The Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age. pp. 454–468.
  18. ^ Armbruster (2016). "Manufacturing processes of Atlantic Bronze Age annular gold ornaments—A case study of the Guînes gold hard (Pas-de-Calais, France)". Materials and Manufacturing Processes. 32 (7–8): 728–739. doi:10.1080/10426914.2016.1232819. S2CID 114317154.
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