The Atlantic Bronze Age is a cultural complex of the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
period in
Prehistoric Europe of approximately 1300–700 BC that includes different cultures in Britain, France, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain.
Trade
The Atlantic Bronze Age is marked by economic and cultural exchange that led to the high degree of cultural similarity exhibited by the coastal communities from Central Portugal to
Galicia
Galicia may refer to:
Geographic regions
* Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain
** Gallaecia, a Roman province
** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia
** The medieval King ...
,
Armorica,
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...
and
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, including the frequent use of stones as
chevaux-de-frise
The ''cheval de frise'' (plural: ''chevaux de frise'' , "Frisian horses") is a defensive obstacle, which existed in a number of forms and were employed in various applications. These included underwater constructions used to prevent the passa ...
, the establishment of
cliff castle
A promontory fort is a defensive structure located above a steep cliff, often only connected to the mainland by a small neck of land, thus using the topography to reduce the ramparts needed. Although their dating is problematic, most seem to da ...
s, or the domestic architecture sometimes characterized by the
roundhouses.
Commercial contacts extended from Sweden and Denmark to the Mediterranean.
The period was defined by a number of distinct regional centres of metal production, unified by a regular maritime exchange of some of their products. The major centres were southern England and Ireland, north-western France, and western Iberia.
The items related to this culture are frequently found forming hoards, or they are deposited in ritual areas,
usually watery contexts: rivers, lakes and bogs. Among the more noted items belonging to this cultural complex we can count the socketed and double ring bronze axes, sometimes buried forming large hoards in
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...
and Galicia; war gear, as lunate spearheads, V-notched shields, and a variety of
bronze swords —among them carp's-tongue ones— usually found deposited in lakes, rivers or rocky outcrops; and the elites' feasting gear: articulated roasting spits, cauldrons, and flesh hooks,
found from central Portugal to Scotland.
The origins of the
Celts
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...
were attributed to this period in 2008 by
John T. Koch
John T. Koch is an American academic, historian and linguist who specializes in Celtic studies, especially prehistory and the early Middle Ages. He is the editor of the five-volume ''Celtic Culture. A Historical Encyclopedia'' (2006, ABC Clio). He ...
and supported by
Barry Cunliffe
Sir Barrington Windsor Cunliffe, (born 10 December 1939), known as Barry Cunliffe, is a British archaeologist and academic. He was Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford from 1972 to 2007. Since 2007, he has been an Emeri ...
, who argued for the past development of Celtic as an Atlantic
lingua franca
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
, later spreading into mainland Europe.
They argue that communities adopted early Late Bronze Age
Urnfield (Bronze D and Hallstatt A) elite status markers such as grip-tongue swords and sheet-bronze metalwork, along with new specialist know-how needed for their production and ritual knowledge about their 'proper' treatment upon deposition.
which they see as indicating possible processes linked to language shift.
[ In 2013, Koch saw this east to west elite contact as the simplest explanation for the genesis of Celtic languages with a ]Proto-Celtic
Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly reconstructed through the comparative method. Proto-Celt ...
homeland in west-central Europe. However, this stands in contrast to what remains the more generally accepted view that Celtic origins lie with the Central European Hallstatt C culture.
Gallery
File:Bronze Age bracelets and neckrings with pot from Milton Keynes (FindID 509421).jpg, Gold bracelets and neckrings from Milton Keynes, England
File:Museo Pontevedra, Ed. Sarmiento 02-12c.JPG, A Bronze Age gold hoard: ''Tesouro de Caldas'', Galicia, Spain
File:Late Bronze Age Gold Torque from Grunty Fen in the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.jpg, Gold torque from Stretham, England
File:P1010042se.jpg, Bronze weapons from Lanzahíta, Spain
File:Epee et lance BA.jpg, Bronze Age swords, France
File:Caergwrle bowl.jpg, The Caergwrle Bowl, Wales, c. 1200 BC
File:Museo Arqueolóxico do Castelo de San Antón, A Coruña.jpg, Casco de Leiro, Galicia, Spain
File:Pulseira da Urdiñeira, Museo de Lugo.jpg, Gold bracelet from Urdiñeira, Galicia
File:Atlantic Bronze Age riveted cauldrons. Left Cantabria, Spain. Right Chiseldon, UK.jpg, Bronze cauldrons. Left , Spain. Right Chiseldon, England.
File:Treasure case 04.2, Middle Bronze Age hoard from Burton, Wrexham (FindID 436588-323099).jpg, Gold and bronze hoard from Wrexham, Wales
File:Ceinture en or MAN.jpg, Gold torque or belt from Guînes, France, 1300-1150 BC
File:Torque or strié.jpg, Gold torque from Guînes, Pas-de-Calais, France.
File:Deposito da Samieira.JPG, ''Deposito da Samieira'', a hoard of Galician Bronze Age axes. Museo de Pontevedra
File:Museo Arqueológico Nacional - 1898-1-1 - Estela de Solana de Cabañas.jpg, Stele of Logrosan, Extremadura, Spain.
File:Ornaments from the late Bronze Age Adabrock hoard, Isle of Lewis.jpg, Ornaments from the Adabrock hoard, Scotland
File:Gold torque from the "Tesoro de Berzocana".jpg, Gold torque from the Treasure of Berzocana, Extremadura, Spain
File:Sword bronze age.JPG, Ceremonial bronze dirk, France, c. 1300 BC
File:Dirks in BM.jpg, Dirks from England and France
File:Brazalete da Urdiñeira, Museo de Lugo.jpg, Brazalete da Urdiñeira, Spain
File:Torque - Man - Saint-Germain-en-Laye - 27 mars 2017.jpg, Gold torc, Saint-Jean-Trolimon, France
File:Display of bronze age finds, Musée de Préhistoire, Carnac, 2019-09-05-3.jpg
File:Five Bronze Age jewellery items from the Milton Keynes Hoard (FindID 509421).jpg
See also
* Magacela stele
* Bronze Age Europe
The European Bronze Age is characterized by bronze artifacts and the use of bronze implements. The regional Bronze Age succeeds the Neolithic and Copper Age and is followed by the Iron Age. It starts with the Aegean Bronze Age in 3200 BC
(succ ...
* Armorican Tumulus culture
The Armorican Tumulus culture is a Bronze Age culture, located in the western part of the Armorican peninsula of France. It is known through more than a thousand burial sites covered by a tumulus or otherwise. The culture is renowned for some ...
* Argaric culture
* Bronze Age Britain
Bronze Age Britain is an era of British history that spanned from until . Lasting for approximately 1,700 years, it was preceded by the era of Neolithic Britain and was in turn followed by the period of Iron Age Britain. Being categorised as ...
* Cornish Bronze Age
* Urnfield culture
The Urnfield culture ( 1300 BC – 750 BC) was a late Bronze Age culture of Central Europe, often divided into several local cultures within a broader Urnfield tradition. The name comes from the custom of cremating the dead and p ...
* Nordic Bronze Age
* Tumulus culture
__NOTOC__
The Tumulus culture (German: ''Hügelgräberkultur'') dominated Central Europe during the Middle Bronze Age ( 1600 to 1300 BC).
It was the descendant of the Unetice culture. Its heartland was the area previously occupied by the ...
* Unetice culture
References
External links
Spaniards search for legendary Tartessos in a marsh
Moor Sands finds, including a remarkably well preserved and complete sword which has parallels with material from the Seine basin of northern France
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Archaeological cultures of Southwestern Europe
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