Researchers from the University of Bologna have unveiled how ancient cylinder seals played a key role in the development of writing in ancient Mesopotamia, marking a significant breakthrough in understanding the origins of written language. Their study, published in the journal Antiquity, reveals connections between images engraved on these seals—some dating back about six thousand […]
Bronze Age Archaeology
Exploring diverse Bronze Age cultures across Europe, the Near East, North Africa, South Asia and beyond, archaeologists gain insights into social hierarchies, religious beliefs, and emergence of complex chiefdoms and states. Transitions to more permanent settlements, long-distance trade of metals and luxury goods also characterized this important transitional period between Stone Age hunter-gatherers and the rise of Iron Age civilizations.
Posted inArt, Bronze Age Archaeology
A Macedonian Vase Found in a Bronze Age Sanctuary Reveals the Origin of the Protogeometric Style in Northern Greece, Not in Athens
A recent archaeological study challenges conventional notions about the origin of the Protogeometric ceramic style in Greece, suggesting that its starting point was not Athens, as traditionally believed, but the region of Macedonia in northern Greece. The research focuses on a Macedonian vase decorated with concentric circles drawn with a compass, found in Eleon, Boeotia, […]
Posted inBronze Age Archaeology
A Small Bronze Age Walled City Found in the Arabian Desert
A team of archaeologists led by Guillaume Charloux of France’s National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) has revealed details of an ancient urban settlement in northern Saudi Arabia. According to the study published in PLOS ONE, the site of al-Natah, located in the Medina Province and dated between 2400 and 1500 BCE, shows how some […]
Posted inArt, Bronze Age Archaeology
The Sword Bearers: An Analysis Uncovers Female Figures with Weapons in Mycenaean Art
A recent analysis by archaeologist Nicoletta Antognelli Michel of the Technical University of Darmstadt has led to a groundbreaking interpretation in the field of Mycenaean iconography. Her research suggests that a specific group of human figures depicted on pictorial-style kraters from the Late Helladic period, known as Sword Bearers, may represent women instead of male […]
Posted inBronze Age Archaeology
A large temple with dozens of intact ritual vessels at the site where they were placed by Bronze Age inhabitants, found in Israel
Archaeologists in Israel recently uncovered a 5,000-year-old settlement at the site of Hurvat Husham near Beit Shemesh, offering remarkable insights into the early stages of urbanization in the region. The Israel Antiquities Authority conducted excavations in preparation for expanding Beit Shemesh’s western industrial area, revealing an ancient Bronze Age structure with unique characteristics that suggest […]
Posted inBronze Age Archaeology
The Enigmatic and Empty Prehistoric Hillforts of the Samnites Were Not What They Seem
A recent archaeological study has questioned one of the most widely accepted theories about the hillforts of the Samnites, an ancient Italic people. For a long time, it was believed that these hillforts, or fortified hill enclosures, were built as residential settlements in the mid-first millennium BC, considered an early stage on the path to […]
Posted inBronze Age Archaeology, Prehistory
Lucone di Polpenazze, the Bronze Age pile-dwelling settlement that was preserved because a fire caused it to collapse into the lake
Located in the Lombardy region, near the impressive Lake Garda, the archaeological site of Lucone di Polpenazze is a living testament to Prehistory in northern Italy. This place, a large natural basin that in ancient times housed a small body of water, has witnessed a series of discoveries that have allowed archaeologists to reconstruct fragments […]
Posted inBronze Age Archaeology
War Chariots Found in Royal Tombs Are the Oldest Discovered in India and Are Over 4,000 Years Old
The discovery of royal tombs and war chariots in Sinauli, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, in 2018 revolutionized archaeological knowledge about the ancient cultures of the region. The find, which includes royal burials accompanied by chariots, weapons, and ritual objects, has recently been dated by researchers to around 4,000 years before the present, […]
Posted inBronze Age Archaeology
A Treasure of Bronze and Iron Objects Hidden During the Attack That Destroyed a Prehistoric Village, Found in Hungary
This summer, the excavation project in northwest Bükk, Hungary, continued, led by a university team specializing in the Bronze and Iron Ages. The research, involving students and local volunteers, focuses on an ancient village located on the mountaintop of Verebce-bérc. This village flourished in the 7th and 6th centuries B.C. before being destroyed by an […]
Posted inBronze Age Archaeology
The Oldest Battlefield in Europe: First Evidence of Interregional Conflict with Organized Armies in the Continent in Bronze Age
The analysis of Bronze Age arrowheads found in the Tollense Valley, in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, has revealed that some of them were not produced locally. This finding has brought to light the oldest evidence of a large-scale interregional conflict in Europe, suggesting that an army from the south participated in what is […]
