Spears in Context: Typology, Life-Cycles And
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SPEARS IN CONTEXT: TYPOLOGY, LIFE-CYCLES AND SOCIAL MEANINGS IN BRONZE AGE ITALY A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities. 2012 Arianna Bruno School of Arts, Histories and Cultures: Archaeology VOLUME I TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME I: LIST OF TABLE 6-7 LIST OF FIGURES 8-12 ABSTRACT 13 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT 14 AKNOWLEDGMENT 15 GLOSSARY OF FOREIGN WORDS 16 PREFACE 17-18 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 19 1.1. “CULTURAL FACIES”: RENATO PERONI AND THE ITALIAN TYPOLOGICAL SCHOOL 19-20 1.2. MODELS OF SOCIETIES IN ANTHROPOLOGY 20-22 1.3. MODELS OF SOCIETIES IN PREHISTORY: A EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE 22-24 1.4. MODELS OF SOCIETIES IN PREHISTORY: AN ITALIAN PERSPECTIVE 25-31 1.5. CONSUMPTION AND DEPOSITION OF METALWORK AMONG BRONZE AGE SOCIETIES: AN OVERVIEW 31-36 1.6. THE STUDY OF METALWORK AND BRONZE AGE SOCIETIES: THE STATE OF THE QUESTION IN THE ITALIAN PERSPECTIVE 36-41 1.7. BRONZE WEAPONS AND WARRIOR ELITES IN THE ITALIAN PROTO-HISTORY 41-44 1.8. THE STUDY OF SPEARHEADS IN THIS RESEARCH 44-45 1.9. CHAPTERS OVERVIEW 46 CHAPTER 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 47 2.1. MEANINGFUL OBJECTS 47-49 2.2. THE FLOW OF TIME 49-50 2.3. REMEMBERING THROUGH FORGETTING 51-55 2.4. PERCEIVING LANDSCAPE 55-58 2.5. CULTURAL BIOGRAPHIES OF OBJECTS 58 2.6. OBJECTS AS “SOCIAL ACTORS” AND THE PERFORMANCE OF MEANINGS 59-62 2.7. FRAGMENTATION AND ENCHAINMENT 62-64 2 2.8. FONTIJN’S COMMUNAL IDENTITIES AND PERSONAL IDENTITIES 64-65 2.9. WARRIOR IDENTITY 65-67 2.10. THE OBJECT'S LIFE CYCLE 68-70 CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH: PROBLEMS AND POTENTIALITIES 71-72 3.1. ACCURACY OF THE DATA 72-75 3.2. TYPOLOGY AND EDGE-WEAR STUDY (APPENDIX 1-2) 75-80 3.3. THE CONTEXT OF FINDS OF THE BRONZE AGE SPEARHEADS IN ITALY 80-81 3.3.1. TOMBS 81-82 3.3.2. SETTLEMENTS 83-86 3.3.3. HOARDS 86-91 3.3.4. SINGLE/MULTIPLE DEPOSITIONS 91-94 3.4. PROBLEMS AND POTENTIALITIES 94-96 CHAPTER 4. THE TYPOLOGY OF SPEARHEADS 97 4.1. LITERATURE REVIEW: THE APPROACH TO THE TYPOLOGY OF SPEARHEADS IN EUROPE 97-101 4.2. LITERATURE REVIEW: THE APPROACH TO THE TYPOLOGY OF SPEARHEADS IN ITALY 101-105 4.3. PROBLEMS AND ADVANTAGES WITH TYPOLOGIES 106-109 4.4. SOME TYPOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE BRONZE AGE SPEARHEADS IN ITALY 110 4.4.1. LENGTH OF BRONZE AGE SPEARHEADS IN ITALY 110-114 4.4.2. DISCUSSION 114-117 4.4.3. DISTRIBUTION OF SPEARHEADS TYPES 117-127 4.5. DISCUSSION: INTRA-REGIONAL AND LONG-DISTANCE CONTACTS 128-134 CHAPTER 5. CONTEXTS OF FINDS AND ASSOCIATIONS OF BRONZE AGE SPEARHEADS WITH OTHER METALWORK TYPES 135 5.1. SETTLEMENTS 135-139 5.2. HOARDS AND MULTIPLE DEPOSITIONS 139-149 5.3. GRAVES 149-156 5.4. PATTERNS OF ASSOCIATION AND ROCK ART 157-160 5.5. DISCUSSION: : OBJECTS, PERFORMANCE AND MEANING 161 3 5.5.1. SETTLEMENTS 161-162 5.5.2. HOARDS AND MULTIPLE DEPOSITIONS 162-165 5.5.3. GRAVES 165-168 CHAPTER 6. CONTEXTS OF FIND OF BRONZE AGE SPEARHEADS IN ITALY: THE SELECTION OF PLACES IN THE LANDSCAPE 169 6.1. MIDDLE BRONZE AGE (1650-1350 BC) 169-172 6.2. RECENT BRONZE AGE– RECENT BRONZE AGE 2/FINAL BRONZE AGE 1 (1350-1100 BC) 173-176 6.3. FINAL BRONZE AGE – EARLY IRON AGE (1150-950 BC) 177-182 6.4. THE DEPOSITION OF BRONZE AGE SPEARHEADS IN OTHER EUROPEAN CONTEXTS 183-185 6.5. DISCUSSION: PATTERNS OF SPEARHEAD DEPOSITION DURING THE BRONZE AGE: “STRUCTURED DEPOSITIONS” 185-188 6.6. SPEARHEAD AND SWORD DEPOSITIONS DURING BRONZE AGE ITALY 189-190 6.7. SPEARHEADS, SWORDS AND WATERY CONTEXTS 191-192 6.8. GIVING UP BRONZES IN RIVERS 192-194 6.9. CONTEXTS OF FINDS AND SPEARHEAD TYPES 194-197 6.10. DISCUSSION: SWORD AND SPEARHEAD DEPOSITIONS. “STRUCTURED DEPOSITIONS” AND “STRUCTURED LANDSCAPES” 198-202 CHAPTER 7. EDGE WEAR OBSERVATION OF THE ITALIAN SPEARHEADS 203 7.1. LITERATURE REVIEW: THE APPROACH TO THE EDGE-WEAR STUDY 203-212 7.2. EDGE-WEAR STUDY IN THE PRESENT RESEARCH 212-213 7.3. STATE OF COMPLETENESS 213-215 7.4. CONDITION OF THE SAMPLE OBSERVED 216-227 7.5. THE POTENTIAL OF EDGE-WEAR STUDY 227-231 7.6. DISADVANTAGES OF EDGE-WEAR STUDY 231-232 7.7. STATE OF COMPLETENESS OF THE ITALIAN SPEARHEADS AND EDGE- WEAR OBSERVATION 233 7.7.1. MIDDLE BRONZE AGE 233-234 7.7.2. RECENT BRONZE AGE – RECENT BRONZE AGE 2/FINAL BRONZE AGE 235-236 7.7.3. FINAL BRONZE AGE – FINAL BRONZE AGE 3/EARLY IRON AGE 1 237-241 7.8. EDGE-WEAR OBSERVATION 242 7.8.1. TOMBS 242-246 7.8.2. SETTLEMENTS 246-252 7.8.3. HOARDS AND MULTIPLE/SINGLE DEPOSITIONS 252-266 4 7.9. RESULTS: EDGE-WEAR OBSERVATION AND THE MEANING OF OBJECTS 267-279 CHAPTER 8. CONCLUSION 280-290 8.1. EVALUATING THESIS STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES 290-291 8.2. SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 291 8.3. CLOSING STATEMENT 292 REFERENCES 293-326 VOLUME II APPENDIX 1: 329-337 APPENDIX 1.1: 338-352 APPENDIX 1.2: 353-380 APPENDIX 2: TEXT 382-561 APPENDIX 2: PHOTOGRAPHS 562-663 APPENDIX 2.1: 664-665 APPENDIX 2.2: 666-667 APPENDIX 2.3: (in the pocket on the back inside cover of Volume II) 5 LIST OF TABLES Chapter 3: Table 3.1. Chronological sequence of the Italian Bronze Age, compared with the Transalpine area and with the Aegean. Table 3.2. Methods of recovery of Bronze Age spearheads. Table 3.3. Methods of recovery of the Bronze Age spearheads in the sample. Table 3.4. Number of archaeological contexts selected for macro edge wear examination and the correspondent number of specimens in each category of context. Table 3.5. Scheme of the depositions of spearheads in dry and wet environment. Chapter 4: Table 4.1. Scheme of the variable considered in the typological classification of Ehrenberg (1977). Table 4.2. Typological classification of spearheads from Northern Italy and engraved spearheads from Dos di Costapeta (after de Marinis 1992). Table 4.3. Distribution of Lanciolate spearheads. A. Group I; B. Group II A. Table 4.4. Distribution of Lanciolate spearheads: Group II B. A. Middle Bronze Age; B. Recent Bronze Age. Table 4.5. Distribution of Lanciolate spearheads. A. Group III-IV: Middle Bronze Age; B. Group IV: Recent Bronze Age. Table. 4.6. Distribution of Lanciolate spearheads. Group III-IV: Final Bronze Ag; Table 4.7. Distribution of Lanciolate spearheads: Group V A. A. Middle-Recent Bronze Age; B. Final Bronze Age. Table 4.8. Distribution of Slightly-leaf shaped spearheads. A. Group II B, V A: Middle Bronze Age; B. Group I, II B, III, V A: Recent-Final Bronze Age. Table. 4.9. Distribution of Leaf-shaped spearheads. Group V B: Recent-Final Bronze Age. Chapter 5: Table 5.1. Association of metalwork types in Bronze Age hoards in Italy. Chapter 6: 6 Table 6.1. Schematic organization of the spearhead types according to the context of find: Middle Bronze Age. Table 6.2. Schematic organization of the spearhead types according to the context of find: Recent and Final Bronze Age, Phase 1. Table 6.3. Schematic organization of the spearhead types according to the context of find: Final Bronze Age-Early Iron Age. Chapter 7: Table 7.1. Summary of marks on swords from the Bronze Age Watford hoard (after Savage 1979). Table 7.2 Summary of marks on metal artefacts in Bronze Age hoards in Southern Britain (Taylor 1993). Table 7.3. Summary of edge-damage and impacts recognised by experiment and combined against the marks on prehistoric weapons (after Bridgeford 1999). Table 7.4 Schematic table of the evidence of damage on metal artefacts from the Thames Valley (after York 2002). Table 7.5. Summary of marks recognised on experimental and prehistoric axes (after Kienlin and Ottaway 1998). Table 7.6. Summary of the damage categories of basal-looped spearheads (after Davis 2006). Table 7.7. Schematic table of the damage categories on weapons and tools at the Museum at the British School at Athens (after Harrell 2006). Table 7.8. Schematic table of the state of completeness, according to stated method. Table 7.9. Schematic reconstruction of a potential spearhead use-life. Table 7.10. Chart showing the degree of wear of the spearheads found in settlements before they entered the archaeological record. 7 LIST OF FIGURES Chapter 3: Fig. 3.1. Evidence of the effect of different lights on the surfaces of two spearheads examined. Left: artificial light; Right: natural light. Chapter 4: Fig. 4.1. Measurement considered for the typology of the Bronze Age spearheads in Italy (after Bruno 2007). Fig. 4.2.1: Drawing of the spearhead taken from the original publication (drawing by author); 2- 3. Photographs by author at the “Pigorini” Museum in Rome; 3. Close-up of the midrib of the spearheads. The black arrows indicate the three prominent ribs. Fig. 4.3. Left: Drawing of the spearhead; Right: close-up of the mouth of the socket. It shows (black arrow) traces of reworking. (Photograph by the author. Archaeological Museum of Parma " Palazzo della Pilotta"). Fig. 4.4. Major classes of length of the Bronze Age spearheads in Italy. Fig. 4.5. Classes of length according to the principal typological groups: spearheads with sub- triangular blade and rhomboidal, angled and rounded base. Fig. 4.6. Classes of length according to the principal typological groups: spearheads with slightly flamed and markedly flamed blade.