Радиокарбон шинжилгээгээр МЭӨ 400 орчим жилийн үед Хойд Иберийн оршин суугчид бэхлэлт бүхий суурингуудаа орхиж, шинэ суурин байгуулах үйл явц харилцан адилгүй хурдтай явагдсаныг тогтоожээ.
МЭӨ 400 орчим жилийн үед Европ даяар “400-аад оны хямрал” хэмээн нэрлэгддэг нийгмийн томоохон өөрчлөлтүүд өрнөсөн билээ. Энэхүү үйл явцын шалтгааныг уур амьсгалын өөрчлөлт, нүүдэл болон мөргөлдөөн зэрэг олон хүчин зүйлээр тайлбарладаг ч эрдэмтэд нэгдсэн дүгнэлтэд хүрээгүй байна. INCIPIT-CSIC хүрээлэнгийн эрдэмтэн Самуэль Нион-Альварез 109 археологийн дурсгалт газрын 272 радиокарбон он цагийн өгөгдлийг ашиглан тухайн бүс нутгийн суурьшлын түүхийг сэргээн босгожээ.
Судалгааны үр дүнгээс үзэхэд, Баруун Кантабрийн бүс нутагт МЭӨ VI зууны сүүл болон V зууны эхэн үед суурингууд анх орхигдож эхэлсэн байна. Уг хандлага Атлантын бүс болон Хойд тэгш өндөрлөгийн баруун хэсэг рүү тархаж, V зууны сүүл гэхэд олон суурин эзгүйрчээ. Төмрийн зэвсгийн үеийн ихэнх суурингууд зуу хүрэхгүй жилийн дотор хоосорсон бөгөөд хуучин болон шинэ суурингуудын үечлэл бараг давхцаагүй байна.
Шинэ суурингуудыг байгуулах үйл явц харьцангуй удаан үргэлжилжээ. МЭӨ IV зууны эхэн үеэс хөдөө аж ахуйд тохиромжтой газар нутагт, хамгаалалтын ханатай илүү том суурингууд бий болсон ч тэдгээрийн тархалт маш удаан явагдсан байна. Зарим бүс нутагт баян хоосны ялгаа нэмэгдэж, нийгмийн бүтэц илүү төвөгтэй болсон нь Ромын эрин үе хүртэл үргэлжилжээ.
Судлаачид энэхүү өөрчлөлтийн тодорхой шалтгааныг тогтоогоогүй хэвээр байна. Гэсэн хэдий ч энэхүү судалгааны ажил нь радиокарбон он цагийн загварчлалыг статистик шинжилгээтэй хослуулах замаар эртний нийгмийн шилжилтийн үе шатыг нарийвчлан тодорхойлох аргачлалыг боловсруулснаараа ач холбогдолтой юм.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Around 400 BCE, communities across northern Iberia abandoned their fortified settlements and founded new ones. A new radiocarbon study finds that the two halves of this shift moved at very different speeds: the old sites emptied quickly, while the new ones spread slowly.
Europe went through major social change around 400 BCE, a period some scholars call the “Crisis of the 400s.” Climate shifts, migration and conflict have all been blamed, though nobody has settled on a cause, and the changes looked different from one place to the next.
Northern Iberia works well as a test case, given its many kinds of settlements and plenty of radiocarbon dates. Samuel Nión-Álvarez of INCIPIT-CSIC used that record to build a timeline. He drew on 272 radiocarbon dates from 109 archaeological sites in five areas: the Atlantic region, the western and eastern Cantabrian regions, and the western and eastern Northern Plateau. Bayesian models and other statistical tests let him compare when sites were abandoned with when new ones began.
A Decline That Moved Across the Map
The decline started in the western Cantabrian region, where the first sites were left behind in the late sixth and early fifth centuries BCE. From there, the trend moved to the Atlantic region and the western Northern Plateau. By the last decades of the fifth century BCE, people had abandoned sites at both the western and eastern edges of the study area.
Most Early Iron Age settlements stood empty in under a hundred years. According to Journal of Archaeological Science, no single date marks the break. Each region went through its own sharp change over a few decades, and the older and newer phases “barely overlapped.” In a few places, people did come back to abandoned sites later on.
Rebuilding Took Its Time
Rebuilding ran at a slower pace. New settlements began to appear in the early fourth century BCE, first in the western Cantabrian and Atlantic regions. Larger settlements followed, and many had defensive walls and sat closer to good farmland. They spread over a much longer stretch of time and moved across the Northern Plateau. In the far east, fortified settlements became common only around the start of the third century BCE. In the article’s own summary, the old settlements emptied within a few decades, while the new ones “took far longer to spread.”
The shift also left smaller marks in the ground. Short-term camps, ritual sites and burials show up in the record, mostly in the Atlantic region, and their dates overlap with the fading of the older settlements. Other parts of the Cantabrian coast have too little evidence to tell whether the same thing happened there.
More Than a Change of Address
People did more than change addresses. Late Iron Age settlements were bigger and more complex, and some regions saw wider gaps between rich and poor. This new pattern lasted until Roman times. Nión-Álvarez links the changes to a broad reorganization of communities, while pointing out that the pace and form differed from region to region.
The study does not say why people left. War, population growth and shifting social structures are all on the table, and the early decline of hillforts in Asturias is still a puzzle. What the work gives researchers is a firm timeline for each stage, so they can test possible causes against solid dates.
The paper also offers a method others could reuse, combining radiocarbon models with estimates of how much date ranges overlap. This shows whether events happened together, one after another, or at separate times in different regions.
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