The concept of Early Metal period in the archaeology of Northern Europe

The paper deals with the histo- ry of appearance and usage of the concept of Early Metal Period in the archaeology of Northern Europe. The concept appears to have been conceived in the 1920s by V. I. Ra- vdonikas and A. Ya. Bryusov, but the term it- self was irst introduced into archaeologi- cal literature by N. N. Gurina in the 1940s af- ter the discovery in the Lake Onega region of a number of assemblages seemingly com- bining Late Neolithic pottery with iron- and bronze-making. However, the existence of such assemblages has not been conirmed by subsequent researches, and as early as 1947 the Early Metal Period was redeined as a period comprising the Bronze and Ear- ly Iron Ages. The original basis of the concept disappeared, but the term has become natu- ralized, though with a diferent sense. Thus, as applies to the northern part of Europe, the Three-Age system as if bifurcates in the Neo- lithic and unites again in the Iron Age. The North European Early Metal Period is a pe- ripheral variant of the Bronze Age. Therefore, it would be logical and rational to abandon the concept of the Early Metal Period in favor of the Bronze Age

Political science · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology