I've mentioned these massive, Nordic Bronze Age ritual axes before a couple of times.
Usually there are a couple comments saying "Typical academics, saying everything is ritual. Obviously they were weapons!"
In fact, the axes are blunt. Now, blunt axes this size, especially with a curve like that to focus the force could still make excellent weapons for cracking skulls and breaking arms.
But they're not solid bronze! They actually had cores of CLAY, over which molten bronze was cunningly cast. The outer skin of bronze is rather thin.
Level 100 Bronze Casting skill.
Why did they do it that way? To save metal, presumably.
What did the axes mean to them? Wow, that's a great question, yeah π
Usually there are a couple comments saying "Typical academics, saying everything is ritual. Obviously they were weapons!"
In fact, the axes are blunt. Now, blunt axes this size, especially with a curve like that to focus the force could still make excellent weapons for cracking skulls and breaking arms.
But they're not solid bronze! They actually had cores of CLAY, over which molten bronze was cunningly cast. The outer skin of bronze is rather thin.
Level 100 Bronze Casting skill.
Why did they do it that way? To save metal, presumably.
What did the axes mean to them? Wow, that's a great question, yeah π
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Delightful WHG reconstruction seen on Instagram.
Give the chap a follow to show your support.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C9vdtQ3ObKh/?igsh=aGEyNW50c3g2YXdy
Give the chap a follow to show your support.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C9vdtQ3ObKh/?igsh=aGEyNW50c3g2YXdy
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Kristiansen and Larsson consider these bird-boat-wagons from Dupljaja, Serbia dating to perhaps 1300 BC, to be representations of the Indo-European dawn goddess.
Chariots pulled through the sky by birds like swallows or swans were said to carry the sun god to Hyperborea for winter in Ancient Greek (and other IE) mythology.
Chariots pulled through the sky by birds like swallows or swans were said to carry the sun god to Hyperborea for winter in Ancient Greek (and other IE) mythology.
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Forwarded from TheBeakerLady
Map of the samples locations of the two most common Steppe Eneolithic y haplogroup. This map was created by HurrianFan.
I2-L699 was found in the Sredny Stog culture but also in a Khvalynsk male. It was also found in the CernavodΔ culture and in the Yamnaya. In Anatolia, I2-L699 was found in Hittite related samples. It was also found in Iron Age Swat Valley in Pakistan showing it survived in small amounts in later steppe groups such as Andronovo.
R1b-V1636 was the most common y haplogroup in steppe Eneolithic groups. It was related to but not ancestral to Yamnaya and Corded Ware R1b subclades. However it did show up in a Corded Ware related Single Grave culture male buried in Demark.
Supporters of the western route of Anatolian languages (through the Balkans from steppe) use I2-L699 as genetic support for the hypothesis. While supporters of an eastern route (from CLV groups migrating down through the Caucasus) may point to R1b-V1636 in eastern Anatolia.
Link to original post of the image.
I2-L699 was found in the Sredny Stog culture but also in a Khvalynsk male. It was also found in the CernavodΔ culture and in the Yamnaya. In Anatolia, I2-L699 was found in Hittite related samples. It was also found in Iron Age Swat Valley in Pakistan showing it survived in small amounts in later steppe groups such as Andronovo.
R1b-V1636 was the most common y haplogroup in steppe Eneolithic groups. It was related to but not ancestral to Yamnaya and Corded Ware R1b subclades. However it did show up in a Corded Ware related Single Grave culture male buried in Demark.
Supporters of the western route of Anatolian languages (through the Balkans from steppe) use I2-L699 as genetic support for the hypothesis. While supporters of an eastern route (from CLV groups migrating down through the Caucasus) may point to R1b-V1636 in eastern Anatolia.
Link to original post of the image.
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Forwarded from TheBeakerLady
According to the recently published paper from the Harvard lab on the origins of the Indo-European languages, the roots of the Yamnaya culture is hypothesized to come out of the Mikhaylovka culture. This group forms a bridge from Sredny Stog to Core Yamnaya, expand from Ukraine.
According to one of the paperβs authors, Losif Lazaridis, he had the following to say on his twitter account.
Photo credit
According to one of the paperβs authors, Losif Lazaridis, he had the following to say on his twitter account.
The Yamnaya, proximal scions of the Serednii Stih archaeological culture that preceded them in the Eneolithic North Pontic region, and more distally composed of a mix of CLV newcomers and Dnipro-Don hunter-gatherers, largely eclipsed the previous inhabitants of the steppe. 4/
Source
The Yamnaya's precursors were formed by admixture ca. 4000BCE and experienced an interlude of relative isolation before the emergence of the Yamnaya horizon ca. 3300BCE. Our best guess of where this happened is in the vicinity of Mykhailivka in the Lower Dnipro in Ukraine. 5/
source
Photo credit
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"How much Western Hunter Gatherer ancestry do I have?"
There are so many ways to analyse an individual's genetic ancestry. It depends largely on what reference populations you compare it to, basically.
These are two analyses run on the same sample. Not only do the different reference populations result in different percentages of WHG, some of the other groups will also contain partial WHG ancestry.
EHG is already ANE + WHG
ENF is already Anatolian Farmer + WHG
Either way, surprisingly high WHG component in this sample from a modern Englishman.
There are so many ways to analyse an individual's genetic ancestry. It depends largely on what reference populations you compare it to, basically.
These are two analyses run on the same sample. Not only do the different reference populations result in different percentages of WHG, some of the other groups will also contain partial WHG ancestry.
EHG is already ANE + WHG
ENF is already Anatolian Farmer + WHG
Either way, surprisingly high WHG component in this sample from a modern Englishman.
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Looking everywhere for this map of the "bronzization" of Europe and found this old post of mine.
Britain started using bronze about 2200 BC. The Bell Beaker era had seen western Europe linked by common ancestry, culture, and probably language and would develop into sustained trade networks. You can see how technology and trade in tin would spread through these old links, even after the cultural "unity" had declined into regional differences.
Not all Europe's tin came from Cornwall and Brittany, there was more in central Europe and Iberia and other sources here and there like in central Italy. But tracking actual tin sources is really hard, harder than tracing origins of ancient copper and gold, and we don't really find any tin mines (probably all blown to bits by later extraction).
Britain started using bronze about 2200 BC. The Bell Beaker era had seen western Europe linked by common ancestry, culture, and probably language and would develop into sustained trade networks. You can see how technology and trade in tin would spread through these old links, even after the cultural "unity" had declined into regional differences.
Not all Europe's tin came from Cornwall and Brittany, there was more in central Europe and Iberia and other sources here and there like in central Italy. But tracking actual tin sources is really hard, harder than tracing origins of ancient copper and gold, and we don't really find any tin mines (probably all blown to bits by later extraction).
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Forwarded from Dan Davis Author
An anti-English commenter took issue with my statement that Britain transitioned to full tin-bronze much earlier than most of the rest of Europe.
But yes Britain did move from arsenical copper to tin bronze technology around 2150 BC - centuries earlier than other regions in Europe.
Of course Britain had one of the main sources of tin in Cornwall (black circles on the map), along with a centuries old tradition of copper mining expertise. So it was well placed to make this technological breakthrough.
But yes Britain did move from arsenical copper to tin bronze technology around 2150 BC - centuries earlier than other regions in Europe.
Of course Britain had one of the main sources of tin in Cornwall (black circles on the map), along with a centuries old tradition of copper mining expertise. So it was well placed to make this technological breakthrough.
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Happy Valentine's Day, everyone β€οΈ
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Forwarded from TheBeakerLady
Reconstruction of a man from the Alakul culture (western Andronovo) of the late Bronze Age in the Southern Trans-Urals.
Author: D.C. Pozdnyakov
https://sapiensbio.ru/rekonstrukczii/avtor-pozdnyakov-d-v-rekonstrukcziya-licza-po-cherepu-muzhchiny-iz-pogr-1-skelet-2-kurgana-4-mogilnika-kulevchi-vi/
Author: D.C. Pozdnyakov
https://sapiensbio.ru/rekonstrukczii/avtor-pozdnyakov-d-v-rekonstrukcziya-licza-po-cherepu-muzhchiny-iz-pogr-1-skelet-2-kurgana-4-mogilnika-kulevchi-vi/
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Dan Davis Author
Another Valentine's Day themed bronze age rock art image for your enjoyment.
How many of you were this guy yesterday?
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