Iron Age technology

With basis in Jan Petersen's (1951) 375 "smith's graves" this thesis deals with the phenomenon of placing tools in graves, with a main occurence from the Migration Period and into the Viking Age in Norway. It is my claim that the uncritical use of old typologies in present archaeology, and a lack of understanding for the practical use of tools for smithing and other kinds of crafting (also Bøckman 2007), may have contributed with a bias toward research on metalsmithing in accordance with current archaeological trends. It has thus been necessary to analyse the tools as a part of grave goods, with a primary focus on tool combinations and other artefacts present in context. Several factors seem to indicate that the notion of the specialised smith is a product of modern mentality, and that skills of smithing may be viewed practically and symbolically in accordance with Iron Age mentality and warrior ideology. As such, It is the purpose of this thesis to investigate to which degree our ideas of the specialised metalsmith conform to smiths as presented in the grave material, and to argue for an interpretation of these figures as important pieces of society in the Late Norwegian Iron Age.

The present paper wants to bring to the attention of researchers, who have as subject of study the material remains of the Iron Age communities from Transylvania, some objects kept in the collections of the Gherla History Museum (Cluj County). Therefore, in the centre of this paper are three objects-a bent sword, a slashing knife and a horse bit-that were part of the museum's permanent exhibition, but they did not attract so far the attention of any researcher. In the present state of research, no details are known regarding the date, the exact location and the context of discovery. The Register of Inventory only records the fact that the pieces were discovered in the area of the city of Gherla. The biggest concern about these objects is whether they were discovered together or are coming from two or three different contexts.

This paper reviews how ethnographic studies (ethnoarchaeology) of iron smelting in NW Tanzania were used alongside archaeological evidence to document the development of a highly efficient iron smelting technology. Based on the principle of preheating the air blast, this invention occurred over a 150 year period of experimentation during the early first millennium CE--long before similar principles were applied to iron technology in Europe.
One of the most significant discoveries for the history of science in Africa and for African history, it has since been depreciated and misrepresented in several scholarly settings. This paper reviews these errors and misrepresentation and replaces them with an explicit and evidence-based narrative that reaffirms their importance to science, history, and the well-being of African peoples.

EXTENDED CALL FOR PAPERS - 19th OF MAY

The University of Bradford is proud to host the 20th Iron Age Student Research Symposium (IARSS). The symposium will be held between the 31st of May and the 2nd of June, with papers, posters and presentations, followed by a guided visit to the Hull Museum on the 3rd of June.
IARSS is a research student focused conference, providing an opportunity for students to share their work, network and collaborate with others. This event is open for contributions from postgraduate research students and new researchers, however, Master students are also welcome to submit and participate in the conference. Although IARSS is promoted as an Iron Age conference, contributions from colleagues studying or working within related periods, such as the Late Bronze Age and Roman Iron Age are also welcome. IARSS has traditionally focused on Iron Age Britain, however we welcome contributions from those colleagues examining the Iron Age elsewhere in the world, including, but not limited to, Ireland, the European continent and the Near East.

For colleagues interested in participating, please submit an abstract between c.250-300 words and 5 keywords related to your research. Presentations should be 15-20 minutes long and in English. Posters may be bilingual but they must be understandable to English speakers and an abstract in English must be provided.

Abstracts should be sent to:
[email protected] until the 19th of May.

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The University of Bradford is proud to host the 20th Iron Age Student Research Symposium (IARSS). The symposium will be held between the 31st of May and the 2nd of June, with papers, posters and presentations, followed by a guided visit to the Hull Museum on the 3rd of June.
IARSS is a research student focused conference, providing an opportunity for students to share their work, network and collaborate with others. This event is open for contributions from postgraduate research students and new researchers, however, Master students are also welcome to submit and participate in the conference. Although IARSS is promoted as an Iron Age conference, contributions from colleagues studying or working within related periods, such as the Late Bronze Age and Roman Iron Age are also welcome. IARSS has traditionally focused on Iron Age Britain, however we welcome contributions from those colleagues examining the Iron Age elsewhere in the world, including, but not limited to, Ireland, the European continent and the Near East.

For colleagues interested in participating, please submit an abstract between c.250-300 words and 5 keywords related to your research. Presentations should be 15-20 minutes long and in English. Posters may be bilingual but they must be understandable to English speakers and an abstract in English must be provided.

Abstracts should be sent to:
[email protected] until the 6th of May.

"The oppidum of Mount Bernorio is known as one of the most prominent fortified sites in the Iron Age in the Cantabrian coast. It dominated an important crossroads across the Cantabrian Range that connected the North Sub-plateau and the central area of the Cantabrian Strip. The conquest of this oppidum became essential during the military campaigns of the Emperor Octavio Augusto against the Cantabrians and the Asturians, as the recent archaelogical excavations campaigns have shown. This piece of work reveals news related to the conquest of the site by the roman legions, as well as the remains of arms found during the excavations, especially the artillery projectiles used for the attack. The evidence of artillery projectiles of small-bore caliber could prove the use of this kind of machines in the Early Imperial Age.

Key Words: North of Iberia, Final Iron Age, Monte Bernorio hillfort, Cántabros and Ástures Wars, roman legions, roman artillery, ballista, scorpio, manuballista.

Firts iron objects from north-eastern Iberian peninsula have been always studied typologically and only scarcely from an archaeometric point of view. This paper extends our tecnological knowledge about  some items (knifes and ornaments) from the 7th and 6th cent. BC,  characterised by SEM-EDX.

In the northern Tyrrhenian Sea area, during the Second Iron Age and until the period of advanced Romanisation, the mobility of people, goods and ideas of material culture between Corsica, Etruria, ancient Liguria and Provence may be observed through some examples mostly of local pottery productions -their use, circulation and possible imitation outside of the manufacturing sites. This happens especially when the typological data and
those concerning diffusion can be associated with the petrographic and archaeometric remarks, as demonstrated by the cases of Corsican pottery with its external imitations and by the ceramic articles -locally or regionally produced and sometimes imitating allogenic models- attested on the oppidum of Genoa.
This contribution proposes to lay the bases for a broader, analytical investigation of the circulating potteries between these Tyrrhenian coasts, in the hope of a renewed extensive application of focused archaeometric methods, but also in the attempt to achieve keys for the interpretation of these contact-dynamics with their interrelated influences, socio-cultural identity markers
and eventual outcomes of acculturation, assimilation or permanence-resistance.