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 Al 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 Al 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.