A New Perception of the Late Bronze Age Chronology in Belgium

Abstract

Since Marcel Edouard Mariën and his 1952 masterpiece synthesis Oud-België van de eerste landbouwers tot de komst van Caesar, the beginning of the Late Bronze Age in Belgium has been situated around 1100 BC, corresponding to the phase Ha A2. The scarcity of artifacts from Reinecke’s phases Bz C and Ha A1 seemed to confirm this theory. Based on an axe’s hoard (Maaseik, Belgium) and the presence of grooved ware, the potential existence of a Bz D/Ha A1 phase has been suggested but certainly not certified. Currently, a large campaign of analyses on bones from several Late Bronze Age sites is shedding new light on Bronze Age chronology.

DOI: 10.2458/56.17448