Aeneolithic Archaeology

Metal artifacts from Selvicciola necropolis (Iscschia di Castro - Viterbo) - Among the findings of the Selvicciola necropolis, metal artefacts hold an important place. The excavations carried out since the year 1987 brought to light 30 aeneolithic chamber graves whether with single or multiple burials. Tombs form 2 groups, the Eastern and the Northern one. Topographical separation is confirmed by a series of features, among which artefacts distribution is apparent.
Besides pottery, grave goods comprise copper artefacts, three dagger blades and 5 awls, and a series of beads: one of silver, one of frit and several of stone (antimony oxide a.k.a. valentinite). The least were found in three tombs of the Eastern group close to each other, t. 21, t. 23 and t. 35. The grave t. 21 contained also an awl butt end and the frit bead, whilst t. 35 contained the silver one. On the basis of 14C dates and pottery style, this tomb group appears as the earliest one of the necropolis, closely related to the final Neolithic pottery complexes of the Italian Peninsula. Copper artefacts were found only in the Northern group: daggers and awls never appear together, nor are they exclusively related to single,
double or multiple burials. The three daggers from t. 14, t. 15 and t. 34 belong to different types whose distribution stretches all over the Italian Peninsula. Chemical analyses show that awls and daggers were produced using different ores and smelting techniques.
In questo lavoro viene presentato il considerevole nucleo di reperti metallici restituito fino ad oggi dalla necropoli di Selvicciola: perle d’argento e di ossido d’antimonio dalla t. 23, un frammento di punteruolo, un pendaglio a forma di trapezio in fritta e molte perline in ossido d’antimonio dalla t. 21, simili a quelle della t. 23. Molte perline eguali a quelle appena citate sono state restituite anche dalla t. 35. Per quanto riguarda la distribuzione di questi oggetti di ornamento si verifica una notevole concentrazione di oggetti di antimonio in tre tombe tra loro vicine, che si contrappone alla distribuzione degli oggetti di rame, che provengono, in sei casi su sette, da tombe del settore N. Alla differenza di materia prima si aggiunge quella relativa alla classe dei reperti: solo oggetti di ornamento sono prodotti con l’antimonio e l’argento, mentre 4 punteruoli sono concentrati nella fila N. Dal gruppo più occidentale provengono anche il pugnale della t. 15, la lamina della t. 14, per la quale è da valutare un’assimilazione ai pugnali a lama lunga e stretta dai contesti Gaudo e da Monte Bradoni, ed infine la lama di pugnale dalla t. 34. I reperti sono presentati in relazione ai loro contesti e ai risultati delle analisi chimiche e agli aspetti che riguardano i processi di fabbricazione.

Im Jahre 1866 wurde dem Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseum ein Grabensemble zugeeignet, das
1864 bei Geländeruntersuchungen in der Nähe von Langeneichstädt, damals Kreis Querfurt, zutage kam. Anhand der Funde wird die Funktion und Rolle der so auwändig Bestatteten Individuen innerhalb der agropastoralen Gemeinschaften diskutiert.

The Iberian Peninsula, wilh an extension of 581.600 km2, a great geological diversity and hundred of archaeological sites with recent prehistory chronologies, results an interesting territory for the Iithic raw materials study and their use and dislribution paths along the differenl historic periods. This indubitable interest contrasts with the scantiness of studies about the raw materials used in the lithic industries of the prehistory, especially in the Neolithic-Aeneolithic period, where the lithological diversity is usually bigger than in the Palaeolithic. This fact has carried out to the practical "inexistence" of this extensive territory, in a lot of lhe publications that has been realised over this thematic up to date in Europe, Cummins (1983). ln this chapter, we can only pretend to give first ideas of the types of raw materials that appear with a greater abundance in the Iberian Peninsula, making a balance of the published results just to date; the general charact...

This study examines a polycultural site Hradiště u Louky located in southwestern Moravia. The main aim is to
introduce a new archaeological and historical model based on data from the surface survey, metal detecting and probing.
Mainly non-destructive methods were used in this research. A new settlement phase from Jevišovice culture was
documented. The onset of Medieval settlement in the area most likely dates to post-Great Moravian and Late Hillfort
periods. The most intensive anthropogenic activities date to the high Medieval period when a small castle fortified by
a moat and a rampart was built. Archaeological artefacts from the younger phase of the Medieval settlement possess
chronological features of the 2 nd half of the 13 th and the 1 st third of the 15 th century. Also, to clarify the sequence of the
owners of the castle and possible causes of its demise, a revision of written accounts was performed.