Institute for the History of Material Culture RAS, 18 Dvortsovaya emb., St. Petersburg, 191186, Russia  [eugenkolp@yandex.ru]

Abstract. The paper deals with the history 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. Ravdonikas and A. Ya. Bryusov, but the term itself was first introduced into archaeological literature by N. N. Gurina in the 1940s after the discovery in the Lake Onega region of a number of assemblages seemingly combining Late Neolithic pottery with ironand bronze-making. However, the existence of such assemblages has not been confirmed by subsequent researches, and as early as 1947 the Early Metal Period was redefined as a period comprising the Bronze and Early Iron Ages. The original basis of the concept disappeared, but the term has become naturalized, though with a different sense. Thus, as applies to the northern part of Europe, the Three-Age system as if bifurcates in the Neolithic and unites again in the Iron Age. The North European Early Metal Period is a peripheral 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.

Keywords: archaeological periodization, Northern Europe, Early Metal Period, neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Three-Age System.

Received 14.02.2020, revised 11.03.2020, accepted 26.05.2020.

DOI: 10.31600/2658-3925-2020-2-77-88

For citation: Kolpakov E. M. The concept of Early Metal period in the archaeology of Northern Europe. Prehistoric Archaeology. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. 2020 (2), 77-88 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.31600/2658-3925-2020-2-77-88

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