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Bronze Age Discoveries & Findings

Newly published research suggests the surprising degree of consistency in certain bronze artifacts' sizes and weights might indicate these objects served as an early form of commodity money.
Scientists May Have Figured Out What These Weird Bronze Age Objects Really Represent

Bronze Age Europeans may have used rings and blades as an early form of currency, based on a study of objects from 113 different hoards of artefacts – and these objects might even have been standardised in terms of their weight and size to minimise the chances of getting ripped off. ...

There's no evidence early Bronze Age cultures had a precise means of distinguishing masses beyond simply lifting an object and guessing. Psychologically, this means of sensing incremental differences in an object's qualities by 'eyeballing' them is referred to as a difference threshold, or 'Weber's law'.

In a new study, researchers asked volunteers to group items from a sample of more than 5,000 unearthed objects according to their masses, by weighing them in their hand.

Around 70 percent of the studied bronze rings were similar enough in mass – around 195 grams on average – for the difference not to be noticeable when weighed in the hand, and certain collections of ribs and axe blades could be grouped in the same way. ...

Statistical analysis of the clasp-like ribs suggested groupings of both heavier and lighter items, perhaps reflecting two different levels of value – though the results weren't as clear as they were with the rings.

Add in the fact that these objects were often found hoarded in large groups, and it's possible that we're looking at here is actually a very primitive form of currency – one that would have lasted until more precise weighing tools were introduced in the Middle Bronze Age in Europe. ...
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FULL STORY: https://www.sciencealert.com/these-...y-be-what-bronze-age-europeans-used-for-money
 
Archaeologists unearth bronze age graves at Stonehenge tunnel site

Exclusive: Experts also find neolithic pottery and mysterious C-shaped enclosure at site of A303 excavation

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Bronze age graves, neolithic pottery and the vestiges of a mysterious C-shaped enclosure that might have been a prehistoric industrial area are among the finds unearthed by archaeologists who have carried out preliminary work on the site of the proposed new road tunnel at Stonehenge.


One of the most intriguing discoveries is a unique shale object that could have been part of a staff or club found in a 4,000-year-old grave. Nearby is the resting spot of a baby buried with a small, plain beaker.


Ditches that flank the C-shaped enclosure contain burnt flint, suggesting a process such as metal or leatherworking was carried out there thousands of years ago.


Just south of the site of the Stonehenge visitor centre, archaeologists came upon neolithic grooved ware pottery possibly left there by the people who built the stone circle or visited it.


“We’ve found a lot – evidence about the people who lived in this landscape over millennia, traces of people’s everyday lives and deaths, intimate things,” said Matt Leivers, A303 Stonehenge consultant archaeologist at Wessex Archaeology.

(C) The Guardian.'21.
 
Sisters were doing it for themselves not taking siestas in Ancient Almoloya.

A lavish Bronze Age burial found in southeastern Spain may hold a queen’s remains, researchers say.

This unexpected discovery bolsters suspicions that women wielded political power in that region’s El Argar society, which lasted from around 4,220 to 3,570 years ago. Researchers have typically assumed that men ran Bronze Age societies (SN: 10/10/19).

In 2014, a team led by archaeologist Vicente Lull of the Autonomous University of Barcelona discovered the skeletons of a man and a woman in a large jar underneath what appears to be a royal structure at a site called La Almoloya. Radiocarbon dating indicates that both individuals died about 3,700 years ago. ...

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/bronze-age-grave-bones-riches-queen-female-ruler-spain
 
Burrowing bunnies uncover buried Bronze Age and Stone Age artefacts.

Scholars studying prehistoric life in Wales recently got an assist from an unexpected source.

As Steven Morris reports for the Guardian, rabbits making a burrow on Skokholm Island, two miles off the coast of the southwest county of Pembrokeshire, dug up two Stone Age tools, as well as early Bronze Age pottery shards.

Richard Brown and Giselle Eagle, seabird experts who serve as wardens of the otherwise uninhabited island, spotted the objects and sent photographs of them to archaeological researchers. Looking at an image of one of the artifacts, Andrew David, an expert in prehistoric tools, identified it as a 6,000- to 9,000-year-old Mesolithic beveled pebble that was likely used to make seal skin–clad boats or prepare shellfish.

“Although these types of tools are well known on coastal sites on mainland Pembrokeshire and Cornwall, as well into Scotland and northern France, this is the first example from Skokholm, and the first firm evidence for Late Mesolithic occupation on the island,” says David in a statement.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/prehistoric-tools-uncovered-wales-bunnies-180977350/
 
Wonderful chance discovery.

A man surveying a forest for his orienteering club in western Sweden stumbled on a trove of Bronze Age treasure reckoned to be some 2,500 years old.

It includes about 50 items, such as necklaces, bracelets and clothing pins.

The cartographer, Thomas Karlsson, said "I first thought it might be a lamp, but when I looked closer I saw that it was old jewellery".

Swedish archaeologists say it is very rare to find such a hoard in a forest. Ancient tribes usually left such offerings in rivers or wetlands. The hoard was on the forest floor, next to rocks. It is thought that one or more animals had disturbed the earth, leaving the many items semi-exposed. They have been dated to the period between 750 and 500BC.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56943432
 
ramonmercado said:
Wonderful chance discovery.

A man surveying a forest for his orienteering club in western Sweden stumbled on a trove of Bronze Age treasure reckoned to be some 2,500 years old.

It includes about 50 items, such as necklaces, bracelets and clothing pins.

The cartographer, Thomas Karlsson, said "I first thought it might be a lamp, but when I looked closer I saw that it was old jewellery".

Swedish archaeologists say it is very rare to find such a hoard in a forest. Ancient tribes usually left such offerings in rivers or wetlands. The hoard was on the forest floor, next to rocks. It is thought that one or more animals had disturbed the earth, leaving the many items semi-exposed. They have been dated to the period between 750 and 500BC.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56943432
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Those rocks in the third photograph seem to be remarkably regular - the type of rock that you'd build something substantial with...
 
Extremely rare animal carvings have been found in Scotland, thought to date to the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age.

"Prehistoric animal carvings thought to be thousands of years old have been found for the first time in Scotland.

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) said the carvings - thought to be between 4,000 and 5,000 years old - were discovered inside Dunchraigaig Cairn in Kilmartin Glen, Argyll.

They are thought to date to the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age, and include images of deer.

Hamish Fenton, who has an archaeology background, found them by chance.

Kilmartin Glen is viewed as one of the most important concentration of Neolithic and Bronze Age remains in mainland Scotland."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-57304921
 
Souleater said:
Extremely rare animal carvings have been found in Scotland, thought to date to the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age.

"Prehistoric animal carvings thought to be thousands of years old have been found for the first time in Scotland.

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) said the carvings - thought to be between 4,000 and 5,000 years old - were discovered inside Dunchraigaig Cairn in Kilmartin Glen, Argyll.

They are thought to date to the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age, and include images of deer.

Hamish Fenton, who has an archaeology background, found them by chance.

Kilmartin Glen is viewed as one of the most important concentration of Neolithic and Bronze Age remains in mainland Scotland."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-57304921
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You just beat me to it 'Souleater!'
Though I note that it states that the carvings were found underneath the capstone, so, who's to know if the carvings were carved on the stone during an earlier period before the capstone was placed over Dunchraigaig Cairn?
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/ukne...AAKzl5f?ocid=msedgdhp&fullscreen=true#image=3
 
staticgirl said:
Yes I was wondering if the stone was chosen because it was already sacred
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Well 'staticgirl' it seems to make good sense that if you're going to carve something into stone, then your not going to chip away at it with all the stone chips falling directly into your eyes and face. Seems more logical that it was formed when it was upright ~ on the flat surface of the stone pointing skywards?
 
staticgirl said:
A nice practical point!
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agreed @Sid :)

Further analysis should show how much weathering there is.

If there is weathering then it suggests that the stone was carved before this use.

If there isn't, then it suggests that the stone was carved at roughly the same time it was positioned. Perhaps as part of the mortuary process, but quite possibly someone messed up the carving and then used it where it wouldn't show (to the living at least).
 
Frideswide said:
agreed @Sid :)

Further analysis should show how much weathering there is.

If there is weathering then it suggests that the stone was carved before this use.

If there isn't, then it suggests that the stone was carved at roughly the same time it was positioned. Perhaps as part of the mortuary process, but quite possibly someone messed up the carving and then used it where it wouldn't show (to the living at least).
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Another possibility is that it might even be something that the person laid there had made elsewhere, him, or her self?
 
Indeed! I also don't know if it is common for cist monuments to have internal carving...
 
A study worth weighting for.

Merchants of the Bronze Age faced the same problem as merchants from London to Lisbon today: how to know you’re getting what you pay for in a transaction.

It usually takes a ruling authority, like a king, pharaoh, or perhaps the European Union, to establish standard weights, which amount to a unit of value in the age before coins and bills.

A new study suggests merchants in Bronze Age Europe were an exception: Through informal networks, Mesopotamian merchants established a standardized system of weights that later spread across Europe, enabling trade across the continent. The advance effectively formed the first known common Eurasian market more than 3000 years ago.

“This is quite a blow to the idea that elites or a central authority is running the show,” says Leiden University archaeologist Maikel Kuijpers, who was not involved with the work. “The [researchers] make a really good case.”

Standard weights—used by merchants to trade goods of equivalent value—were invented in Egypt or Mesopotamia 5000 years ago. By 3000 years ago, they had spread across Europe, where some graves included pouches or boxes containing bone balance beams, tweezers for picking up scraps of gold or silver, and stone weights. ...

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/202...urope-s-first-free-market-more-3000-years-ago
 
ramonmercado said:
A study worth weighting for.

Merchants of the Bronze Age faced the same problem as merchants from London to Lisbon today: how to know you’re getting what you pay for in a transaction.

It usually takes a ruling authority, like a king, pharaoh, or perhaps the European Union, to establish standard weights, which amount to a unit of value in the age before coins and bills.

A new study suggests merchants in Bronze Age Europe were an exception: Through informal networks, Mesopotamian merchants established a standardized system of weights that later spread across Europe, enabling trade across the continent. The advance effectively formed the first known common Eurasian market more than 3000 years ago.

“This is quite a blow to the idea that elites or a central authority is running the show,” says Leiden University archaeologist Maikel Kuijpers, who was not involved with the work. “The [researchers] make a really good case.”

Standard weights—used by merchants to trade goods of equivalent value—were invented in Egypt or Mesopotamia 5000 years ago. By 3000 years ago, they had spread across Europe, where some graves included pouches or boxes containing bone balance beams, tweezers for picking up scraps of gold or silver, and stone weights. ...

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/202...urope-s-first-free-market-more-3000-years-ago
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Yet another re-write to ancient History then!
 
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Sid said:
Must be a good feeling though when part of the jigsaw slots into position, but a problem when it doesn't?
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Somewhat the nature of scientific - engineering research. Hopefully 2 steps forward to every step back (LOL)
 
An interesting find.

The skeleton of an early Bronze Age "village elder" has been discovered in a funerary mound during an excavation.

It was unearthed at Burwell in Cambridgeshire, close to the site of a prosperous and well-established later Bronze Age village. The body was of a "relatively muscular" man, who was at least 40 years old.

The mound was topped with a timber post so people could see "someone of importance was buried here", according to archaeologist Louise Moan. Oxford Archaeology East project manager Ms Moan said the skeleton was remarkably well-preserved considering it was found in acidic chalky soil and it was dated to between 2500BC and 2000BC.

It was buried in a funerary monument, encircled by a ditch with earth mounded in its centre.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-58106514
 
A truly splendid find

Gold Bulla

image caption The pendant was discovered on farmland in Shropshire

A gold Bronze Age pendant, described as one of the most important finds of the last 100 years, has gone on display for the first time.
It was discovered on farmland in Shropshire by metal detectorist Bob Greenaway in May 2018.

"I knew it was something special, but I didn't know it was going to be as special as it was," he said.

Mr Greenaway said he loved history since he was at school and began metal detecting nearly 25 years ago. He said he had already made a "good selection of bronze age finds" before discovering the pendant.

"On this particular day, I just looked up and saw this raised area of the field and I thought I'll give that a go and then within an hour I'd discovered the sun pendant," he said.

Mr Greenaway said he found the pendant buried about eight inches (20 cm) under the soil.

The find has gone on display at the Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery, where it will stay until 12 December, before being moved to the British Museum.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-shropshire-58508163
 
Sounds as if the axe is in good nick.

A 4,000-year-old wooden coffin found by chance on a golf course is to go on display.

The 10ft (3m) long Bronze Age relic, containing the remains of a man holding an axe, were uncovered during work on a pond in July 2018. Experts believe the site, under Tetney Golf Club, Lincolnshire, was the burial place of a high-status individual. Two years of preservation work will take place before it is exhibited at the Lincoln Collection Museum.

Describing the coffin, made from a hollowed-out tree trunk, as a "significant find", Historic England said plants were used to cushion the body and a gravel mound was raised over the grave.

Golf club owner Mark Casswell said his family had farmed the land for years and had never imagined "there was a whole other world there buried under the fields. It's amazing how well-preserved the axe is with its handle still there like it was made yesterday," he said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-58491917
 
Not so much an axe as a ruler's mace, maybe?
I mean, an actual axe would have been a lot bigger and heavier. This one looks more symbolic.
 
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