Bronce Atlántico

This book forms the basis of a research project seeking
to revaluate the role of the Atlantic cultural domain
in the history of European Protohistoric societies. Its
role is often underestimated as the Atlantic domain has
always been considered with prejudice as being on the
periphery, or even as being backward in relation to
other European cultural entities (cf World system model
applied to Protohistory). I intend to take on this revaluation
based on material witnesses left by the elite of
Atlantic Gaul during the Late Bronze Age and the Early
Iron Age. In this context, the elite can be defined as the
dominant social group, conscious of its distinction and
with an objective of maintaining its prevalence. The
choice of studying the vestiges left by the elite illustrates
the need to sample plethoric information and the results
of the recent development of preventive archaeology in
a coherent manner. Besides the elite being an echo of
important historical evolution, they also generated
easily identifiable vestiges, which are better documented
than others. For the considered timescale, the vestiges
are mainly metallic objects from non funerary deposits,
as tombs are rare and high status settlements have yet
to be excavated.
The geographical area of our investigation, Atlantic
Gaul imposes itself for several reasons: the cultures are in
a pivotal situation within the framework of the Atlantic
cultural domain and therefore represent the said domain
in its entirety; the material is abundant and easily accessible,
but often underexploited or even unpublished
The unavoidable prologue to this research is to establish
a precise relative and absolute chronology for the
metalwork, founded on a detailed knowledge of morphotypology.
This entails not only knowing and situating
the evolution of Atlantic productions within the given
timescale, but above all to define the dynamics of each
element present in non funerary metal deposits. Before
advancing any further, a fundamental preoccupation
for the historian and the archaeologist is to evaluate how
characteristic the corpus is and to identify any fluctuations
in the data such as hiatuses or important contractions,
which could lead to misinterpretation. Until now
the metal deposits of Atlantic Gaul dating to the Late
Bronze Age and the beginning of the Early Iron Age
have been considered as implicitly forming a continuous
chronological sequence with a gradual rise in the
number and the size of deposits. The typo-chronological
history of metal objects would therefore be globally represented as a whole with the evident discontinuities being
attributed to functional, technical, morphological or
stylistic changes. These supposed fluctuations have given
rise to interpretations involving profound socio-economic
mutations or foreign influences mainly from central
Europe. These theories, rarely formulated as such, have
never been really discussed. The objective of this book is
to refine and to redefine the chronology of metal productions
observed for several decades in order to propose a
more pertinent interregional chronology, by comparing
a new typo-chronological system with other Atlantic
sequences from Andalusia to Scotland.
As the current relative chronology of the Late Bronze
Age and Early Iron Age is founded on complex layers
of research built up from the beginning of the 1960s,
I have firstly retraced the steps of this research in order
to underline that contrary to assertions made in many papers, the chronological systems developed by English
and German academics does not concord perfectly with
the chronology initiated in France by Jacques Briard.
This misunderstanding is particularly evident for the
beginning of the Late Bronze Age.
In order to refine the typo-chronology, I subsequently
relied on the most widespread of metal productions
and also the most sensitive to evolution. These include
weapons, in particular swords and their chapes, but spear
shafts and spearheads have also provided quality material.
The relative chronology of these Atlantic deposits
can be divided into four stages, themselves divided into
eight horizons, six for the Late Bronze Age and two for
the beginning of the Early Iron Age.
The two horizons (Saint-Just-en-Chaussée and
Chailloué) of the “Bronze final atlantique 1” (BF1a)
are difficult to define as the hoards are not very diversified
and are not well known, especially those for the
earliest horizon. Their correlation with the chronology
of British (Appleby and Penard horizons) and Ibero-
Atlantic (Isla de Cheta and Covaleda horizons) hoards
is possible, however parallels are difficult to establish
precisely with continental metalwork horizons.
The following horizons (Rédéné and Boutigny)
dating from the “Bronze final atlantique 2” (BFa2)
are not as problematic as they have been defined using
a larger range of metalwork productions. They can be
compared to the typo-chronological horizons defined by
the Nettleham and Wilburton hoards of the British Isles,
by the Huerta de Arriba and San Andrés de Hío hoards
of West Iberia and the Hallstatt A2 and Hallstatt B1
periods of Central Europe.
The “Bronze final atlantique 3” (BFa 3) is novel as
even though the older horizon of Longueville is not well
known in Atlantic Gaul, the following Vénat horizon
seems overrepresented. The Longueville horizon could
have been seen as artificial, if it wasn’t so well documented
elsewhere in the Atlantic domain with the Broadward
and Baiões hoards, being the most representative examples
from the British Isles and the Atlantic Iberian Peninsula.
Contrary to this, the Vénat horizon doesn’t seem as well
represented on the Iberian Peninsula (Carvalhal horizon)
or in the British Isles (excepting the Watford horizon in
the South East). These horizons are equivalent to the
continental Hallstatt B2 and B3 periods.
The first stage of the “1er âge du Fer atlantique »
(1er Fer a. 1) suffers from poor documentation as hoards
are rare and much less diversified. Little is known of
the older Verberie horizon in comparison to the better
documented Brandivy horizon. In this situation it
becomes difficult to establish parallels with the British
Isles (Ebberston and Llyn Fawr horizons) and notably
with the Iberian Peninsula. The diffusion of atlantic
swords and chapes in continental Europe does however
facilitate correlation with the Hallstatt C0 (Wehringen
horizon) and the Hallstatt C1-2.
With reliable radiocarbon dates relating to metal
objects from Atlantic Gaul being rare and in the absence
of dendrodates, I had no choice but to refer to the absolute
chronology from other regions -the British Isles and
Central Europe- to position my relative chronology
within the given timescale. The BFa 1 can thus be
approximately positioned between 1275 and 1125, the
BFa 2 between 1125 and 950, the BFa 3 between 950
and 800, the 1er Fer a. 1 between 800 and 625 BC.
In the light of this research, I undertook firstly to
map the metal hoards and then to statistically analyse
the documentation within this new chronological
framework. This entailed bringing together dispersed
documentation on metal hoards (comprising of at least
two objects, from a non funerary land context) documented
in Gaul since the 17th century. The 355 hoards
have provided 18779 elements, of which just over half
are preserved or illustrated.
We must of course take into consideration that the
metal hoards found in non-watery locations provide
only part of the evolutionary record of objects, not only
from one region to another but also on the scale of all of
Atlantic Gaul. The most significant hiatus corresponds to
the early BFa 3 (Longueville horizon) and to the early
1er Fer a. 1 (Verberie horizon). The early BFa 1 (Saint-
Just-en-Chaussée horizon) also indicates a contraction
in the documentation. The emphasis of these “phantom”
horizons in Gaul is based on the evolution of metal objects
in the Atlantic domain as a whole and would have been
impossible to define using only a quantitative approach
and the much used method of serializing coherent object
groups. These results highlight the desynchronization
of the process of how Atlantic hoards are constituted: a
chronological horizon extensively documented in Atlantic
Gaul can be rarely attested or even non-existent elsewhere
and vice-versa. The origin of the pulsations in the practise
of hoarding remains however a real problem that is not
down to just one simple cause or hypothesis.
To conclude, only observations on an international
scale can deliver the key to the chronology of the
Late Bronze Age and the beginning of the Early Iron
Age in the Atlantic domain and highlight the typochronological
horizons for which Atlantic Gaul has not
yet supplied sufficient metal hoards. It is essential to
take into consideration all of these aspects within the
perspective of a greater understanding of the dynamics
of how Atlantic elite material cultures were developed
and what they can cover from a historical aspect.

Ταρτησος (Tartesos) en un mapa de tradición ptolemea en el documental “Atlantis Rising” de James Cameron.

Por Georgeos Díaz-Montexano / Scientific Atlantology International Society (SAIS) / The Epigraphic Society / Historical-Scientific Atlantology Adviser for James Cameron, Simcha Jacobovici and National Geographic.

Paleografía

Lectura paleográfica del nombre de Tartesos de acuerdo a las minúsculas medievales usadas en los tiempos en que ha sido datado el códice (siglos XII al XIV).

Leer artículo en PDF en AtlantisRising.es (http://atlantisng.com/blog/tartessos-mapa/)

By an updated analysis of the archaeological information concerning the Bronze Age statuary in Northwestern Iberian Peninsula, we make a typological classification; we also explain geographic and iconographic relations between different specimens and groups; in addition we explore their possible social and historical senses; and finally, we provide a context for this statuary within a social and historical process in the long term which result in the generalization of a hillfort-type model of settlement in the beginnings of the Early Iron Age, and throughout which develops the “public” promotion of social identities or personhood linked to elements of body adornment, dress and, especially, metallic weaponry, as a mechanism aimed at the reproduction of social order by increasingly territorialized communities.

The collection "Art and Religion of Ancient Societies" is a continuation of the series of the scientific publications which is devoted to the problems of study of the spiritual culture in the primitive societies. The previous edition "Art and Ritual of Ice Age", that was published in 2005, covered a circle of questions directly connected with the theory and practice of study of the Paleolithic Art. In this collection we also address to the same problematic. However, taking into account that the understanding of the most ancient culture stages of the human society is connected to a wide circle of questions of the study of the traditional communities, we think it is necessity to expand the edition’s subjects. Therefore we have tried to capture not only questions directly connected with field and basic study of the ancient art, but also practical analysis of the cultural and ethnographic facts. The questions of the aesthetics and theory of development of the early forms of art are considered as separately subjects in works. The published materials enable the reader to familiarize with the questions and methods of their analysis more in details, which are submitted in works of the researchers from Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Germany, Canada, USA, Australia.

The main problem to evaluate the real knowledge of the Mycenaean contacts with Iberian Peninsula is the few excavations with levels of the Late Bronze Age IC and II, 1425-1150 BC. However, Atlantic Iberia was the tin producing region closest to the Mediterranean by sea routes. Still the only sure Mycenaean pottery imports came from Llanete de los Moros (Montoro, Córdoba), Late Helladic IIIA1, 1390-1360 BC, contemporary to LBA IC, 1425-1325 BC, but other settlements also present storage wheel made pithoi. The main source to evaluate these contacts is the iconography of the SW stelae during the LBA II, which show two wheeled chariots, mirrors or lyres. The rapid acceptance and extreme abundance of the Mycenaean and Sardinian bronze mirrors in South Iberia is an important step to evaluate these Mycenaean contacts.

Key words: Iberian Peninsula, Late Bronze Age, Alentejo stelae, South-west stelae, Mycenaean pottery, Cypriot trade

Resumen: En este trabajo se realiza una revisión de un hacha de enmangue directo supuestamente hallada en la loca-lidad de Muros (La Coruña, España), clasificada repetidamente como una importación procedente del Círculo del Tirreno. Aunque esta pieza muestra coincidencias con otros modelos de hachas hallados en el Occidente europeo, sus características formales son únicas. En la primera parte se elabora un estudio analítico del hacha de Muros con el fin de determinar sus paralelos, cronolo-gía y filiación cultural. En efecto, los modelos más similares se documentan en Sicilia y en las Islas Eolias, si bien los geográficamente más próximos, pero escasos, aparecen en el Atlántico francés. La mayoría de ejemplares de este último ámbito son de origen eolio-siciliano que penetraron por vía continental hacia inicios del Bronce Final. En la segunda parte de este estudio explica y valora la coyuntura histórica en la que aparece el hacha de Muros. Se pro-pone que las hachas se distribuyen desde Francia por el resto del Atlántico europeo, alcanzando el noroeste hispánico dentro del flujo de comunicaciones e intercambios a principios del Bronce Final. En esta época se produce una reorga-nización de las sociedades de Europa centro-occidental, formándose el Grupo de Céramique à Cannelures Légères y comenzando la reintegración de todas las comunidades atlánticas en un único complejo cultural. Finalmente, se concluye que el hacha de Muros no es una importación, sino una manufactura occidental a partir de un prototipo de origen siciliano y que el combate con hacha quizá no fuese tan atípico en el Atlántico como a priori parece. Palabras clave: hachas de enmangue directo, Bronce Final Atlántico, Bronce del Noroeste Hispánico, circuitos de intercambio. Résumé : L'objectif de ce travail est de réétudier la filiation culturelle et la conjoncture historique de l'apparition de la hache de bataille de Muros (La Corogne, Espagne). Traditionnellement, une origine sicilienne lui a été attribué, sans examiner en profondeur l'environnement socioéconomique des communautés établies dans le nord-ouest de la pénin-sule Ibérique, qui a facilité son arrivée dans cette région. Les similitudes entre la hache de Muros et d'autres spécimens siciliens et, en général, tyrrhéniens sont évidentes. Dans cette région, on trouve deux familles de haches à emmanchement transversal, une sicilienne et une italique, qui, à leur tour, sont composées de différents types basés sur leurs caractéristiques formelles et décoratives. En plus de la hache de Muros, on connaît aussi, dans différentes enclaves atlantiques et alpines, des haches présentant des parallèles évidents avec les spécimens siciliens. Cependant, contrairement à la plupart des haches à emmanchement transversal de la côte atlantique et des Alpes, la hache de Muros présente des particularités formelles qui permettent de se demander s'il s'agit réellement d'une importation. En fait, il ne semble pas que ce soit le cas, mais qu'il s'agit plutôt d'une production locale, ou en tout cas atlantique, provenant d'un prototype tyrrhénien et d'une hache à talon typiquement occidentale. D'ailleurs, la majorité des haches à emmanchement transversal occidentales appartiennent, clairement, à la famille sicilienne, alors que seuls trois haches italiques sont documentées. L'apparition d'une hache avec de tels traits particuliers dans le nord de la péninsule Ibérique sert de prétexte pour éclaircir le contexte historique qui traverse les communautés atlantiques de l'époque. Ainsi, d'une part, la hache de Muros agit comme un signe exceptionnel qui génère une image des relations diplomatiques entre les différentes régions qui composent l'arc atlantique et, en particulier, le degré d'intégration entre les communautés hispaniques et celles situées dans l'environnement de la France. D'autre part, les haches à emmanchement transversal documentées dans l'Atlantique servent également de preuves de l'interaction entre certaines communautés atlantiques et d'autres situées en Méditerranée occidentale à travers le domaine alpin. Les haches à emmanchement transversal situés dans l'Atlantique atteignent ce territoire au tout début du Bronze final (c. 1350-1150 avant J.-C., horizon Rosnoën), comme on peut le déduire de la chronologie attribuée aux parallèles

Este artículo analiza las estatuas-menhir noroccidentales que se distribuyen en el área comprendida entre los valles del río Duero y el río Miño, pero que descubrimientos recientes han extendido a regiones fuera de este área nuclear. Partiendo de tres aspectos claves para su interpretación (la cronología, su relación con el paisaje y su sentido iconográfico), se examinan las relaciones entre estas formas materiales y un paisaje socio-material de acción específico (las formas socio-materiales de interacción propias del Bronce final atlántico). Para ello, se tiene en cuenta diferentes conexiones materiales (presencia, encuentro, coexistencia, hibridación, etc.) que permiten contextualizar las estatuasmenhir dentro de un proceso histórico particular: la integración del noroeste de la península Ibérica en un contexto de relaciones mediterráneo-atlánticas, en la segunda mitad del II milenio a.C.

From the 15th century BC onwards, a large number of bronze body ornaments were deposited beneath the ground in Atlantic Europe, mainly in the context of hoards. The metal ornaments of north-western France form the core of this study and are compared with those of neighbouring regions, namely the South of England, the southern half of France and, more occasionally, Northern Europe. By taking into account a wide geographical area, one can consider different scales and networks for the production and distribution of ornaments made from copper-based alloys.
A major goal of this book is to clarify the concept of the Atlantic Middle Bronze Age through the typo-technological and contextual analysis of metal ornaments. Their detailed study enables the exploration of a number of cultural, socioeconomic, technical and symbolic aspects, in
terms of morphology and decoration, traces of manufacture and use, depositional context and associated elements. In addition to the development of a renewed typology and the affirmation of the obsolescence of certain types of bracelets (Bignan) and pins (Picardy), the main results of this study are the demonstration of widespread use of lost-wax casting from the Middle Bronze Age onwards, as well as particular depositional practices and long-distance exchanges.
Ultimately, bronze ornaments are proving to be effective markers in the analysis of Atlantic Middle Bronze Age societies. This multidisciplinary study not only helps to clarify their socio-economic and technical framework, but also redefines geographical entities and chrono-cultural
subdivisions.

This paper synthesizes the currently available data on the radiocarbon chronology of the south-western Iberian Bronze Age. First, the bulk of c. 1000 existing dates for southern Iberian Late Prehistory is analysed, and its main issues discussed. Secondly, a discussion is presented of the main features of settlement and funerary patterns in the south-western Bronze Age as dated by radiocarbon, with special emphasis in issues such as their temporal evolution and synchrony with the south-eastern record.

Continuation of the Atlantic Theory of Homer's Ilias and Odyssey (part 1: Atlantic Troy; part 2:  Atlantic Ismaros-Kikones; part 3: Atlantic Kuthera-Lotophages; part 4: Atlantic Land of the Cyclopes; part 5: Atlantic Aiolia; part 6: Atlantic Laistrugonia). Odysseus' wanderings after his departure from Troy: Route: from La Havana, Cuba to Schouwen, Zeeland (NL). Study of Atlantic authors De Grave, Cailleux, Gideon, Wilkens, Vinci.

The Northwest Iberian Peninsula is not a uniform region. Geographers have divided it into two main biogeographic sub-regions: Atlantic and Mediterranean, each with its own characteristics, in terms of geomorphology and climate. The perception that these two sub-regions have distinct identities since, at least, the first half of the 3rd millennium BCE, i.e. since the Chalcolithic period, has led us to analyse separately developments in the last quarter of the 3rd millennium BCE, which is viewed as a key period for understanding the emergence of the Bronze Age. During the Early Bronze Age new settlement strategies emerged in the Atlantic sub-region, associated with the appearance of innovative pottery shapes and decorations, resettlement of high-altitude areas for burial in small cairns, circulation of new prestigious metallic icons, the emergence of new styles of rock art, such as engravings of dozens of halberds, the emergence of the phenomenon of structured depositions of metallic objects, such as the deposits of halberds, or halberds and daggers, and, consequently, new social relationships, new power structures and new places for negotiating social relations, which revealed significant structural changes compared to Chalcolithic communities. In the Mediterranean sub-region, despite new locations for certain settlements, changes seem to have occurred across a broader timeframe, including the abandonment of several community and ceremonial spaces-such as walled enclosures or shelters with collective depositions-, the emergence of metallic deposits, consisting of halberds, and the timid adoption of new iconographies in rock art. These are characterised by phenomena of continuity or social resistance, and reveal that, in this region, social changes and new scenarios of power or social aggregation occurred in a manner that differed from the Atlantic sub-region. On the basis of the analysed data it seems possible to hypothesise that, during the last quarter of the 3rd millennium BCE, together with the phenomena of social resistance and permeability to new developments, the Northwest Iberian Peninsula was subjected to multiple and distinct influences that spawned the development of a mosaic of societies, apparently united and standardised by generalised phenomena. The factors that contributed to this change were multiple and distinct in each of the two sub-regions. This includes important external factors, such as the climate conditions in the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE and events that occurred during the second half of this millennium, that had distinct repercussions on the two sub-regions; greater or lesser permeability to Atlantic contacts; 'dismantling' of supra-regional exchange networks with southern regions, as a result of social upheavals in the Southern Mediterranean. In terms of internal factors, it is worth highlighting the capacity for resilience and adaptation to changes. Phenomena such as the migration of populations of Pontic-Caspian origin during the second half of the 3rd millennium BCE, revealed by DNA studies of human remains from the South, Southeast, and Southwest Iberian Peninsula, are not proven for this region, and therefore will not be taken into account.
Keywords: Northwest Iberian Peninsula, sub-regions, transition from the 3rd to the 2nd millennium BCE, continuity or change?

Despite the shortage of metal helmets in the Iberian Peninsula, surely only present in the Huelva estuary and perhaps a very fragmented one in Vila Cova de Perrinho (Beira Litoral), the number of helmets in stelae of the Southwest that allow us to better assess a fundamental element of the warrior's panoply and a very precious possession. His analysis indicates that they appear, at the same time as the mirrors, in a second phase of the stelae of the Southwest, and are added to the stelae of tripartite iconography with shield, spear and sword, which should have started around 1325-1300 BC. The first conical helmets with convex crested type Biebesheim, preserved complete in Fundão, Santa Ana de Trujillo or Aldeia Velha, can be placed around 1275-1200 BC, associated with a rectangular pommel in swords that could be of the Rosnöen type. These elements suggest the simultaneous arrival of Atlantic and Mediterranean influences. The next phase corresponds to stelae with human figure under the V-notched Herzsprung-type shield and the presence of pistiliform swords, case of Cabeza de Buey I or Cabañas del Castillo during the Late Bronze Age IIB, 1225-1150 BC. The next stage is assignable to stelae where the shield and the anthropomorph have the same importance, enduring the pistiliform swords. The schematism of some helmets representations creates doubt if the first conical helmets with concave crest type Bernières d'Ailly are already introduced in Zarza de Montánchez or Las Herencias I, during the Late Bronze Age IIC, 1150-1050 BC. The final phase, in stelae where the human figure has a preeminent role, the representations of conical helmets with concave crest are very schematic in stelae of Setefilla or Ategua, during the Late Bronze Age IIIA, 1050-950 BC.
Keywords: Iberian Peninsula; South-West stelae; Late Bronze Age; rounded crested helmets; triangular crest helmets

As a result of a salvage excavation in Palos de la Frontera street in the city of Huelva in the mid-seventies of the 20th century, a fragment of a Middle Geometric II crater was located. Years later we identified a wheel-made painted pottery that due a its thickness seems to belong to a transport jar that contained some type of drink. It may be a Philistine production of the Late Helladic IIIC Early 2 that continued during the Late Helladic IIIC Middle, 1153-1070 BC. Another alternative would be a transport jar of the Late Minoan IIIC, 1190-1070 BC. This import suggests the resumption of the route between the Eastern Mediterranean, Phoenicia, Cyprus and Crete, with the Western Mediterranean after the crisis of the Peoples of the Sea in the first half of the 12th century BC.

Key words: Iberian Peninsula, Huelva, Late Bronze Age, wheelmade painted pottery.

El origen del Chao Samartín como asentamiento humano se remonta a la Edad del Bronce, cuando en torno al año 800 a. C., se estableció sobre su explanada superior un primer recinto fortificado de carácter ritual destruido a mediados del siglo VII a.C.
Durante la Edad del Hierro las defensas fueron renovadas en varias ocasiones para dar protección a un poblado en el que, a partir del siglo IV a.C., están presentes los rasgos más característicos del hábitat castreño: fosos, murallas de módulos, cabañas de planta simple para uso doméstico o de grandes dimensiones para el servicio comunitario. También se construye en esta época la primera sauna y se atestiguan talleres metalúrgicos relacionados con la transformación del oro, la plata y el bronce.
En época romana (siglos I-II d.C.) adquiere condición de centro administrativo, probablemente capital de la civitas Ocela, se construye una lujosa domus y sirve de residencia a grupos aristocráticos locales. A fines del siglo II d.C. un terremoto causa su abandono definitivo.
Sobre la ruinas del poblado romano se emplazó, en tiempos de la Monarquía asturiana (siglos IX-X), una necrópolis que prolongó el uso funerario del Chao Samartín hasta el fin de la Edad Media.

En Gaule atlantique, 696 dépôts métalliques non funéraires du Bronze final et du premier âge du Fer ont été découverts en milieu terrestre, spécialement dans le Massif armoricain et ses marges. Ils matérialisent deux séquences bien distinctes et successives de pratiques de constitution des dépôts. Au Bronze final, les dépôts réunissent essentielle-ment des objets variés, entiers ou cassés, à divers stades de leur vie technique. Au premier âge du Fer, ils consistent en objets intacts dont la forme est celle d'une hache, mais qui sont inutilisables en tant qu'outil. L'hypothèse développée ici est que ces dépôts atlantiques fossilisent des formes d'échange et de thésaurisation de la richesse. Plus précisément, nous pensons que les deux séquences matérialisent deux conceptions différentes de la valeur et de l'usage du métal dans un registre économique prémonétaire : la première est fondée sur du bronze pesé en vrac, la seconde sur du bronze plutôt compté sous la forme d'instruments standardisés à cet effet. Ces échanges ayant pour support le métal ne recou-vraient probablement qu'une partie des sphères de transaction de l'époque. Sans doute matérialisent-ils le paiement d'obligations sociales particulières. Mots-clés : Bronze final et premier âge du Fer atlantiques, Gaule, dépôt métallique, « hache » à douille armoricaine, économies prémonétaires.

Abstract: In Atlantic Gaul, 346 non-funerary metal hoards from the Late Bronze Age and 350 from the Early Iron Age have been discovered on land, especially in the Armorican Massif and its fringes. The hoards were constituted, respectively , of 18,666 and 40,638 metallic elements. A more precise chronological study has helped to envisage the main variations in intensity of hoarding practices from one period to another. The two periods of maximum hoarding were during the 9th c. BC (BFa 3 récent or Vénat horizon), and the 6th c. BC (1er Fer a. 2 and 3, or Trelly and Saint-James horizons). Independent of these variations in the number of hoards and the amount of hoarded objects, we can observe two very distinct and sequential practices relating to the formation of these hoards. During the Late Bronze Age these hoards were made up of various objects, intact or broken, in diverse stages of usage. The more we advance in the Late Bronze Age, the more the objects are broken and disseminated from their place of origin. During the Early Iron Age, the manner in which objects are hoarded is radically different, although less so in the Armorican Massif. The Early Iron Age hoards consist of intact objects all belonging to the same functional category. These objects are shaped like axe blades, but are not usable as tools or weapons. Throughout the Early Iron Age, these pseudo-axe blades decrease in size, to the point that they become miniatures. The aim of this paper is to answer two main questions: How do we explain the great differences between the composition of hoards from the Late Bronze Age and those of the Early Iron Age, even though the objects found are made of the same metal (copper alloy)? What was the biography of the objects before and during their deposit in their respective hoards, and what does that tell us about their protohistoric economy? In my attempts to answer these questions, I investigated the 'chaîne opératoire' with regard to the manipulation of objects. I also used the concepts of the use value and of the exchange value of the metal distinguished by 19th century economists. During the Late Bronze Age, most objects were used before hoarding. The biggest ones were systematically broken after having been used, therefore losing their functional value. At the beginning of the Late Bronze Age, the fragments of large objects found in the hoards can often be pieced together into the original form. This is indicative of a short time between fragmentation and deposition. However, as the Late Bronze Age progressed, fragments of the same object were no longer found together. This is evidence of the dispersion of the fragments long before their inclusion in a given hoard. This shows that the handling of objects between their being broken and being deposited in the hoard became more complex and/or took place over a greater period of time. I interpreted this phenomenon as the circulation of metal, in the form of fragments or else in smaller, intact objects that had lost their functionality.

Algunas pruebas indiciarias a favor de la hipótesis de la representación del símbolo de la metrópolis circular concéntrica de Atlantis en algunos escudos Introducción A finales de los noventa del pasado siglo publiqué en algunos medios de prensa y en revistas impresas y digitales mi hipótesis de que una gran parte de los escudos representados en las conocidas como Estelas de Guerreros del Suroeste de finales de la Edad del Bronce contienen como elemento decorativo y simbólico un símbolo esquemático o simplificado de lo que podría ser el mismo diseño urbanístico circular.

The identification of weights and weight-regulated artefacts is of primary importance for confirming the existence of European Bronze Age value ratios and exchange systems. Until recently, however, no such Bronze Age artefacts had been identified in Britain. Here, statistical analysis identifies-for the first time-Middle and Late Bronze Age balance weights and weight-regulated gold objects from Britain, Ireland and Atlantic France. These finds allow for new interpretations concerning modes of exchange and their significance in Atlantic Europe, further underlining a Continental-and possibly Mediter-ranean-influence on Britain during the late second and early first millennia BC.

Nordez, 2018 : NORDEZ M. - L’âge du Bronze moyen atlantique au prisme de la parure. Recherches sur les ornements corporels métalliques de France nord-occidentale et des régions voisines (XVIe-XIVe siècles avant notre ère). Résumé de thèse, In : BOULUD-GAZO S. (dir.) - Le Campaniforme et l’âge du Bronze dans les Pays de la Loire, Projet collectif de recherche, Rapport d'activité 2016-2017, Nantes, 2018, p. 177-182

El presente trabajo constituye una aproximación al estudio de los escudos con escotadura en «V» del Bronce Final atlántico. Para ello, pondremos especial énfasis en analizar el escudo de piel de Clonbrin y su analogía con otros escudos de tipo Herzsprung, haciendo especial referencia a las estelas de guerrero de la Península Ibérica. Además, se presentan los resultados obtenidos tras los trabajos experimentales desarrollados en torno al tipo de soporte, el proceso de elaboración y la funcionalidad de los escudos de piel.

ATLANTIC THEBES, THRACE, SAMOTHRAKE;
IN ATLANTIC PERSPECTIVE: THE ENGLISH CHANNEL, THE ISLE OF WIGHT;
ATLANTIC MYTHS: KADMOS AND INO
Continuation of the Atlantic Theory of Homer's Ilias and Odyssey part 3: Atlantic Geography in Homer (Part 1: Odysseus' first voyage; part 2: Odysseus' second voyage)

La finalidad de este proyecto de tesis es desentrañar las claves de la interacción entre las comunidades de la Península Ibérica de tradición atlántica y las del Mediterráneo en vísperas de la colonización fenicia. Dicha interacción recibe el nombre de “Protocolonización”, concepto que a través del presente trabajo se pretende llenar de sentido.
Para tal fin se procede a la recolección de determinadas evidencias arqueológicas – objetos y contextos – y, en menor medida, filológicas identificadas en los espacios mediterráneo y atlántico.
Las evidencias se pueden clasificar y organizar de múltiples modos, aunque en esta investigación se ha preferido agruparlas en campos funcionales o por la materia prima y el método de fabricación. Así, se distinguen piezas de armamento, herramientas, utensilios de banquete, objetos de arreglo personal, instrumentos musicales, ciertas cerámicas a torno y a mano, artefactos metálicos fabricados a la cera perdida y determinados residuos de actividades mineras.
El creciente influjo de los fenicios hacia Occidente trae como consecuencia del un giro en la economía y en la organización social de las comunidades atlánticas y del Mediterráneo central. Así, durante la Protocolonización se implanta la economía de mercado, todavía en modo incipiente, y se observan ciertas tendencias hacia el urbanismo y una mayor rigidez social. Por su parte, los fenicios descubren filones de explotaciones argentíferas en el área tartésica gracias a los cuales se reaviva la circulación de capitales entre los Estados orientales. Ambos atributos experimentan un desarrollo notable a partir del Período Orientalizante, una vez que los fenicios se han asentado definitivamente en enclaves ultramarinos independientes.
La Protocolonización es el fruto de la interacción de múltiples comunidades que, a medida que avanza el tiempo, amplían sus áreas de intercambio e influencia cultural. De este modo, los circuitos regionales se amplían hasta convertirse en otro suprarregional claramente dominado por fenicios y, posteriormente, también por griegos.

This paper is a first attempt to re-examine
synthetically the Late Bronze Age (LBA) and Early
Iron Age (EIA) in Atlantic France. The objective is to study the
Atlantic cultural complex in France through the
metallic material culture of the elites. Indeed, these
metallic objects, the craftsmen who made them, the
traders who spread them and the elite who owned and
used them are still the main source for identification
of the LBA Atlantic complex.

In Auga dos Cebros (Oia, Pontevedra, Galicia), in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, three rock engravings of boats have been located,
of which the first has a more detailed representation. It seems to be a boat with a wooden hull, of about 16 oarsmen, that has a mast in central
position, with bow and stern raised. One of the options, since no upper deck is indicated, is that it is a cargo ship of the Uluburun type, ca.
1300 BC, nevertheless, seems to display a group of oarsmen by the presence of vertical lines in the hull, absent in the boat of Uluburun. This
suggests a contemporary ship, but already with a deck, which begins surely from the Late Helladic IIIB, 1325-1185 BC, or the Late Cypriot
IIC, 1300-1190 BC in the Aegean. This type of boat should not exceed the start of the Late Bronze Age IIIA or the Protogeometric in the
Aegean, from 1050 BC onwards, when they were already common galleys with numerous paddlers and a developed ram, not present in the
boat of Auga dos Cebros.
The frequentation of the Pontevedra coast must be related to the fact that Galicia, and in particular the estuarine inlets in Pontevedra, was
from the sea the most accessible alluvial tin region in the Iberian Peninsula. On the other hand, since the late 12th century BC, classical
sources mention the foundation of the Melqart shrine in Gadir, ca. 1106 BC, one of whose functions should have been to facilitate the
exchange of Atlantic gold and tin.
Key words: Bronze Age, Galicia, rock carvings, boat, tin trade

Continuation of the Atlantic Theory of Homer's Ilias and Odyssey (part 1: Atlantic Troy; part 2:  Atlantic Ismaros-Kikones; part 3: Atlantic Kuthera-Lotophages; part 4: Atlantic Land of the Cyclopes; part 5: Atlantic Aiolia; part 6: Atlantic Laistrugonia; part 7: Atlantic Aiaia-Kirke) 
Odysseus' voyage to Hades: Route: from Aiaia =Schouwen, Zeeland (NL) to Walcheren (idem). Study of Atlantic authors De Grave, Cailleux, Gideon, Wilkens, Vinci.

The aim of this work is to present a synthesis on the Middle Bronze Age and the origins of the Late Bronze Age in the Northwest of Iberia. The Middle Bronze Age will be considered to be the time period between 1700/1600 and 1100/1000 BC (Bettencourt 2005). Geographically and geomorphologically speaking, the Northwest of Iberia is extremely mountainous and polygenic. The main reliefs form a kind of natural amphitheatre facing west and are interspersed by river valleys that create real connection passages between the coast and the inland (Ribeiro et al. 1987). We should acknowledge that the current western Atlantic platform of Galicia (Spain) includes a lagoon system where the sea penetrates the land, allowing for its easy navigation.

La aparición de un depósito de hachas de talón y anilla en el Morredón supone extender
un poco más hacia el este la proliferación de piezas que tipológicamente se adscriben a la metalurgia atlántica. Se enumeran las escasas hachas pertenecientes a este morfotipo halladas en el noreste peninsular en comparación con los abundantes depósitos del noroeste, y las complejas relaciones mediterráneo-atlántico que posibilita el valle medio del Ebro.