Posters
Posters will be in the Cloisters at UCL. They can be displayed from Monday lunchtime and should be taken down on Friday morning.
There will be a special poster session on Thursday afternoon when you should stand next to your posters so that you can discuss your work with other congress delegates.
Dimensions
Posters should be no larger than 0.6m x 0.9m (A1) in size and should be in portrait format.
Please bring pins to fix your poster to your board. (Blue-tack is not suitable).
Poster Abstracts
Contribution of physical anthropology in the study of the graves from Apameia-on-the Euphrates (Turkey)
Prof Catherine Abadie-Reynal(Université de Bordeaux I, France) and
Dr Jean-Sylvain Caillou (EA 1132 Université de Poitiers, France)
)
Between 1997 and 1999, excavations, led by a French team, took place on the left bank of the river Euphrates before the completion of the Birecik dam, in Turkey, at about 20 km north of the Syrian border; several rock cut chambers of the necropolis of Apameia-on-the-Euphrates were excavated. Built between the Hellenistic and the 5th – 6th century, they were first used as graves, then as shelter for herdsmen and their herds or for stocking of goods, and most of them were partially or totally looted. In spite of this secondary use, numerous human bones fragments and archaeological artefacts, like ceramic or glass vessel fragments, were collected, and collaboration between archaeologists, epigraphists, archeozoologists and physical anthropologists allowed to highlight the different phases of occupation of the necropolis (Hellenistic period, IIIrd-IVth and Vth-VIth centuries). This study also gave the opportunity to have a better understanding of the funerary practices inherent to each chronological period and of the way reuses and "cleaning" have been conducted. Finally, it shows the difficulties of interpretation of funerary contexts: some phases are only attested by an inscription or/and some bones, whereas other archaeological artefacts have been carefully removed before reuse whereas, in other cases, by determining the place where each artefact has been found, one can reconstitute the way the tomb has been progressively reused. In other words, this work demonstrates how important the collaboration between specialists is, to understand comprehensively the history of each tomb.
Reading the Field: Geoarchaeological Codes in the Israeli Landscape
Dr Oren Ackermann(The Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of
Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar Ilan University, Israel)
This poster provides a representative selection and synthesis of studies that explore the archaeological landscape history of Israel and the interaction between human activities and the physical structure. Studies of ancient land use show that dwellings, oil presses, wine presses, and olive trees were located on rocky surfaces; vineyards and agricultural fields were located on soil and sediment surfaces. In many cases, lithology boundaries delineating hard and soft rocks also separate different land use. Human activity has both spatial and local effects on the landscape. Terrace constructions are spatial phenomena; artificial earth embankments are local phenomena. Both have had long-term effects on the landscape, including vegetation distribution patterns. Identifying and reading landscape codes enables enhanced understanding of archaeological sites and their environs. This poster is based on: Ackermann, O., (2007). "Reading the Field: Geoarchaeological Codes in the Israeli Landscape". Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 56: 87–106.
Neolithic human remains from northwest Anatolia
Dr Songül Alpaslan Roodenberg (Freelance, The Netherlands)
Twenty years of archaeological research the eastern Marmara region has begun to shed light on the earliest sedentarisation in that area by farmers who herded animals such as sheep goat, cattle and pig and cultivated a large array of edible plants. One of the characteristics of these farming communities was their care for the deceased. This article presents an outline of the results of our study of these human remains which were successively excavated at Ilıpınar in the west alluvial plain of the Iznik Lake, at Menteşe and Barcın in the plain of Yenişehir, and at Aktopraklık east of Ulubat Lake. These sites provide a clear insight into the demographic composition of the region. The high death rate of infants is one of the prinicple characteristics. Among the common pathological conditions occuring in the population studied so far was osteoarthritis, which can be related to a combination of hard labour and increasing age. Anemia causing cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis observed at the village of Ilipinar was not the result of one-sided nutrition but of an infectious disease such as malaria. A remarkable detail of the mortuary customs in the eastern Marmara was the burying of the deceased on wooden boards. The dead were probably carried to the grave and lowered into the grave pit on a bier from which residues were discovered in three of the four settlements. Whether this custom was exclusively related to this area or was known more generally in Anatolia is a question that cannot be answered. Another trait is the occurence of a groove or sulcus in the upper incisives of a number of individuals from Ilıpınar and Menteşe. Since without exception these sulci ornated the teeth of women, they probably resulted from tasks such as wool and flax spinning and weaving. Due to the fact that this work must have belonged to the general domestic activities in past societies, it is beyond doubt that more of these labour marks will be found on female teeth throughout Anatolia.
Atlas of tooth development and eruption
Dr Sakher Jaber AlQahtani (Queen Mary University of London, UK)
The aim of this study was to develop a comprehensive evidence based atlas to estimate age using both tooth development and alveolar eruption for individuals between 28 weeks in utero to 23 years. This was a cross sectional retrospective study of archived material with the sample aged two years and older having a uniform age and sex distribution. Developing teeth from 72 prenatal and 104 postnatal skeletal remains of known age-at-death were examined from collections held at the Royal College of Surgeons of England and the Natural History Museum, London, UK (M 91, F 72, unknown sex 13). Data were also collected from dental radiographs of living individuals (M 264, F 264). Median stage for tooth development and eruption for all age categories was used to construct the atlas. Tooth development was determined according to Moorrees, Fanning and Hunt (1963) and eruption was assessed relative to the alveolar bone level. Intra-examiner reproducibility was 0.85 calculated using Kappa on 755 teeth (65 individuals). Age categories were monthly in the last trimester, two weeks perinatally, three month intervals during the first year and every year thereafter. Results show that tooth formation was least variable in infancy and most variable after the age of 16 for the development of third molar. Initial tests of bias and accuracy of this atlas on 100 radiographs of children aged three to sixteen showed bias of 0.02 years and accuracy of 0.57 years.
Malatya-Melid, the Reconstruction of the LBA and IA architectural Remains
Dr Corrado Alvaro (Rome, Sapienza University, Italy)
Gertude Bell, who travelled in the area of Malatya in 1909, reported the existence of several carved orthostats and statues on top of the mound, which was named Arslantepe (the lions' hill) because lions' sculptures were visible from the top of the mound. Based on this information, Delaporte begun archaeological investigations in 1931 and excavated several building levels, dating to the end of the second Millennium and the first half of the first millennium BC (Hittite, neo-Hittite, and neo-Assyrian periods). Since 2007 the archaeological expedition in Eastern Anatolia from the Univeristy "Sapienza" in Rom under the directorship of Prof. Marcella Frangipane has been re-excavating in the northern sector of the mound, where the well known lions' gate was found and dismantled. The present author presents several architectural reconstruction drawings of the main structures dated to this period. These reconstructions are based on precise survey measurements of the remains and on the latest excavations' data. Because the building sequence of the Late Bronze and Iron Age at Malatya consists of several architectural complexes which were constructed, changed, reconstructed and destroyed, it builds a perfect platform for the architectural analysis and reconstruction.
Challenging local traditions: the southwestern necropolis at Hierapolis in Phrygia
Dr Anna Anguissola (Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, Italy),
Miss Silvana Costa MA (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Munich and Ecole Normale Supèrieure Paris, France),
Mr. Leonardo Bochicchio MA (SIGNUM Laboratory for Technologies in the Humanities, Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, Italy),
Mr. Antonio Calabrò MA (Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, Italy)
The poster illustrates a project of the Scuola Normale Superiore and the Italian National Research Council at the archaeological site of Hierapolis in Phrygia. A broad investigation of the southwestern necropolis began during the 2008-2009 campaigns with the so-called tomb S10 of Tiberius Claudius Thalamos, an early 2nd century AD monument that towers over the southern entrance to the town. Its only extant part is its high façade, which contains a peculiar set of pierced frames surmounted by a Doric entablature. A detailed Greek inscription along the architrave and frieze (probably the earliest example of such a text at Hierapolis) specifies the names of the first persons to be buried in sarcophagi on top of the building. Excavations brought to light an impressive complex of about 100 square meters behind the façade, enclosed in a broad terracing wall topped by a thin stone fence. The main structure was a vaulted underground chamber, which was accessed by a steep stairway. In modern times the tomb served as a shelter for nomadic shepherds, who dismantled most of the structures. But in its age the monument must have counted among the richest of the Roman city, engaged in a privileged relationship with the roads leading to the inner town. The features and workmanship have no parallel with other funerary areas of Hierapolis, as its models and techniques are drawn from contemporary public architecture, repeating for the façade a typology developed just a few years before for the new setting of the main street across town. However, the overall organization recalls the well-known tradition of 'funerary enclosures' typical of Italy in Early Imperial times, allowing a sharp insight into the extent of 'Romanization' in Hierapolis and the neighboring area at the turn of the first and second centuries AD.
Incised and impressed pottery in late neolithic contexts
Miss Anna Gomez Bach (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain)
The decorated pottery production that belongs to the Halaf period let us know the economic and social complexity of the communities who lived in middle 6th millennium cal BC in the Euphrates valley or Jezireh. The incised and impressed ceramics samples are examined and it is noted important differences between the decoration and kind of manufacture. It would appear that in the use of paint incision or burnish an association was made between technique motif and type. The selection of this decoration lets us a little more about systems of productions and the organisation of society about pottery sources.
Black, Red and White: Characterising Neolithic Ceramic Productions in the Middle Eurphrates Valley
Miss Anna Gomez Bach, Mr Walter Cruells, and Mr Miquel Molist
(Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain)
Colours plays a special role in surface treatments since very early times in pottery productions. This fact becomes evident when we look through pottery productions and pattern styles during Neolithic pottery period ceramics but specially in VI millennium cal BC period known as Halaf. In this period seems to be not only a technical choice but also a specific codified practice language. Analyzing several examples from Tell Halula, reconstructing their shapes and operational systems we can identify several associations and symbolism through colours. Identify colour schemes in geometric/naturalistic motives it is also possible; the use of several pigments will treated here are also revised.
The Cultural Evolution of the Iranian Central Plateau from the Neolithic to the Chalcolithic: Revisiting the pottery collection of Tepe Sialk I-II discovered and published by R. Ghirshman in the 30s'.
Miss Emilie Badel (University Paris 1 - CNRS UMR 7041, France)
The pottery under study from Tepe Sialk I-II, a prehistoric site located in the province of Isfahan, Iran, was collected in the 1930s by the French archaeologist R. Ghirshman and is currently held in the Iran Bastan Museum and the Louvre. Thanks to the work published at that time, researchers have made several partial re-examinations of this material over recent decades in order to improve interpretations of data discovered during modern investigations in the Iranian Central Plateau and to obtain information about the level of cultural continuity among the different provinces in Neolithic and Chalcolithic times. This kind of additional study carried out in recent years gives new importance to the material originally collected, but no systematic retrieval work has been done to achieve a complete revised interpretation of the whole published collection. A preliminary study was carried out with the support of University Paris 1 and the CNRS. Pottery analysis required the application of an extensive and targeted database enhanced by a digital catalogue of modern images available on the museums Internet documentaries databases. A morpho-stylistic study was performed using computer-assisted statistical analyses. Only the entire or almost entire pottery gave information on the form analysis instead of the sherds because of the lack of ceramic design techniques used on this kind of material. The study is also limited by the outdated descriptions on the overall incomplete published pottery collection. However the amount of samples per period is sometimes insufficient and prevents any general interpretations regarding the results, it is possible to put forward chronological significances by studying the occurrence of descriptive characteristics. Some detailed preliminary conclusions emerged enabling further studies of comparisons with pottery collections coming from other sites in the geographical area of Tepe Sialk. These analyses could prove crucial to the assessment of population movements, material exchange, and the social practices related to ceramic manufacture in the Iranian Central Plateau.
Three neo-assyrian bas reliefs from the Palace of Assurbanipal
Ms Laura Battini (France)
Three neo-assyrian bas reliefs are preserved in the Natural History Museum of Lyon. Two have once been published by Barnett (1976), one was never studied because it was set in a drawer. The style, the subject, the scene-setting, the figures size, the iconographic description of hair and dresses point to a VIIth century dating and to an Assurbanipal origin. It is possible to propose the original localization : two were in the ground floor, one in the throne-room (« smiting god » ) and the other one (urmahlilu) in a small ceremonial room (F). The third one was probably in the first floor, with other chaldeans scenes, perhaps from room S.
Animal Exploitation in the Upper Tigris Valley from the Middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age: Consumption at a Regional Scale
Mr Rémi Berthon (Christian-Albrecht-Universität zu Kiel, Germany)
The knowledge on the Bronze and Iron Ages in the Upper Tigris Valley has dramatically increased in the last years due to numerous excavations linked with the salvage project of the archaeological heritage of the Ilısu dam reservoir. However, the data concerning the exploitation of animal remains in this region are still scarce and most of the faunal remains from the time frame considered here have not been analyzed yet. Therefore, the economical and social patterns inhere in the exploitation of animal products are missing in the picture we have from this region during the Bronze and Iron Age. The definition of these patterns is the aim of this research. The analysis of the faunal remains from different contexts dated from the Middle Bonze Age to the Early Iron Age will give valuable information about the social status of the inhabitant of these sites and the place of their animal economy on a micro-regional scale. The analysis of several settlements from the Upper Tigris Valley (Giricano, Hirbemerdon Tepe, Kavusan Höyük, Kenan Tepe and Türbe Höyük) offers a unique opportunity to analysis a consumption system at a regional scale and to recognize economic and social specificities of each site.
Human remains from Tell Beydar (Syria)
Dr Francesca Bertoldi and Mr Lucio Milano (Università Ca' Foscari, Venice, Italy)
The human remains from Tell Beydar were discovered during the excavation campaigns performed between 1996 and 2008 and have been brought to light in various fields of this site. The sub-adult remains come mostly from fields B and I, while adult remains show a much more scattered provenance (F, H and I fields have given the highest number of more or less complete skeletal remains). The majority of the subjects were buried in a crouched position, with legs and arms flexed and in most of the cases O-E oriented. Regarding juveniles we have to notice that the most represented age class at death is the age comprehended between birth-6 months and the 6ms-1 year span, while about the adult sample we have to notice that it is indeed smaller than the subadult one and formed mostly by males or undetermined subjects (7 males, 2 females and 7 undetermined plus several fragments). Several cases of paleopathological interest (both dental and skeletal) have been recorded together with evidence of intense physical engagement in daily labour.
Porsuk-Zeyve Höyük (Turkey)
Prof Dominique Beyer(Université de Strasbourg, France)
Ms Julie Patrier Université de Strasbourg, France et Université Ca'Foscari, Venice, Italy
Le site de Porsuk-Zeyve Höyük (Turquie) est fouillé depuis 1969 par une mission française, d'abord dirigée par Olivier Pelon (Professeur émérite à l'université Lumière – Lyon II) et, depuis 2003, sous la direction de Dominique Beyer (Professeur à l'université de Strasbourg). Situé en Cappadoce méridionale, au pied du Taurus, et à proximité des Portes Ciliciennes, le site occupait une position stratégique à l'époque hittite, disposant notamment des ressources métallurgiques des montagnes voisines. Les occupations ultérieures de l'Âge du Fer mais aussi hellénistiques et romaines ralentissent l'accès aux couches du niveau hittite, et à l'étude particulièrement intéressante du passage de l'Âge du Bronze à l'Âge du Fer, considéré comme période obscure de l'histoire proche-orientale. Le site, correspondant vraisemblablement à l'ancienne Tunna des textes hittites et assyriens, était entouré de fortifications. La bonne conservation des poutres utilisées dans les constructions permet de faire réaliser régulièrement des analyses dendrochronologiques (d'abord par P. I. Kuniholm et maintenant par Sturt Manning au laboratoire de Cornell, Etats-Unis) mais aussi de Carbone 14, principalement au Laboratoire de datation par le radiocarbone de l'IFAO (Le Caire), dirigé par M. Wuttman (CNRS). Ce poster a pour but de présenter les découvertes faites sur le site lors des dernières campagnes mais aussi de faire le point sur l'état des fouilles à Porsuk à l'occasion du quarantième anniversaire depuis le début des recherches sur le site.
Discrete traits, inbreeding and family burials during the Natufian: an overview
Dr Fanny Bocquentin and Prof Pascal Murail (CNRS, France)
The presence of family funerary space during the Natufian, as well as inbreeding, was suggested long time ago based on the high prevalence of third molar agenesis found amongst the dead buried at Hayonim Cave (Smith, 1973). However, this hypothesis has been more recently rejected after new discoveries reduced the rate of recurrence of this trait (Belfer-Cohen et al., 1991). Discrete traits are non pathological minor phenotypic variations that can be observed on bones and teeth. Their mode of transmission is multi-dependant but, in general, their heritability is known to be much higher than that of the metric components of the skeleton. For the present study 147 skeletal and dental discrete traits were recorded on a corpus of ca 360 individuals from the major natufian sites (Bocquentin, 2003). From these data it appears that the Natufian population is quite homogeneous and that its non-metric characteristics were significantly stable over time. However, the prevalence of few traits show major differences from settlement to settlement, which may indicate a socio-cultural or, even genetic, isolation of the different natufian groups during a short period of time, and/or a marked degree of inbreeding of part of the community. Furthermore, during the Early Natufian what seem to be family burials linked with specific funerary treatments have been found in different settlements.
fanny.bocquentin@mae.u-paris10.fr
The Middle Bronze II pottery assemblage from area K-5 at Tilmen Hoyuk (Turkey)
Mr Antonio Bonomo (University of Bologna, Italy)
The joint Turkish-Italian Expedition at Tilmen Hoyuk in south-eastern Turkey has excavated between 2005 and 2007 a large residency and some nearby working areas dating from the Middle Bronze II period in area K-5, on the eastern slope of the acropolis. The pottery assemblage retrieved therein highlights intrasite functional patterns and external cultural relations, being further pinpointed by some accelerated 14C datings.
EALAP GIS, an open-source database of sites around the Lake of Van, Eastern Anatolia
Mr Simone Bonzano (Freie Universitaet Berlin, Germany)
Filling a lack for the landscape research in eastern anatolia, a GIS of the archaeological evidences in the provinces of VAN and TATVAN for the period going from the Early Iron Age to the invasion of Turks in the 1200 AD has been done. The GIS has been built around the powerful open-source GRASS GIS and the SQlite database, CORONA images as well as LANDSAT and ASTERS has been used to reconstruct the landscape as well as a huge work on the existing literature has been done. The result is a powerful tool of analysis whose next application will be the WebGIS and possible a virtual 3D GIS.
Bioarchaeological Analysis of Rediscovered Bahraini Tumuli
Dr Alexis Boutin, Mr Benjamin Porter and Mr Alan Farahani (Sonoma State University , USA)
Skeletal and artifactual evidence from Peter B. Cornwall's expedition to Eastern Arabia have recently been discovered in the Near East collections of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology. This collection has seen no scientific study since Cornwall's Harvard dissertation in 1945. A joint University of California, Berkeley and Sonoma State University project is currently investigating the materials for publication. This work has revealed that Cornwall excavated several tumuli dating to different periods on the northern edge of Bahrain's main island, not far from Qala'at Bahrain and Barbar. Preliminary analysis of the skeletal remains reveals the presence of at least 17 individuals, with males outnumbering females at a rate of approximately 2:1. With the exception of one neonate, only adults are represented. High frequencies of antemortem tooth loss (with extensive alveolar resorption) and degenerative joint disease suggest that many of these adults died aged 40 or older. Notable pathologies include one individual with DISH and two individuals with healed depressed fractures of the cranium. Glass and ceramic vessels, bronze tools and weapons, and stone objects were associated with the individuals and are currently the only means for dating these tumuli. This paper will summarize the project's results and compare them to other excavated tumuli from Bahrain and neighboring regions.
Pottery from I to III century A.D. in Tell Barri
Dr Sara Caldarone (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy)
Since I to III century A.D. Tell Barri had a big growth on the Acropolis, where had been discovered structures and materials in South, East and West zone, and on his base, so-called "lower town". On Western slope of the Tell a succession of houses quarters has been exposed, which gave abundant materials, mainly pottery, that is, like the residential complex reconstructed many times from II to III century A.D. (area called H), representative sample of material culture of this period. Analysis of pottery, a work still in progress, allowed to create preliminar typologies of pottery classes, especially common and cooking wares (with prevalence of big vessels, and Brittle Ware, represented by big variety of forms clearly chronologically distinguishible), but fine ware too (especially glazed ware and so-called LF ware, defined by accurate surfaces halfway with common and fine ware, about which we will show chronotipological plates), useful to clarify chronologies of the houses quarters and to recostruct eating customs, way of life, and intercultural influences of the people which lived in this site. This pottery study will be based on associations of materials, bond with place of recovery and analyses of functions.
An Unusual Case of Cranial Trepanation from Qatna (Central Syria)
Dr Alessandro Canci (University of Padua, Italy) and
Dr Morandi Bonacossi (University of Udine, Italy)
Among the graves brought to light by the Italian team in the large cemetery at Tell Mishrifeh (ancient Qatna) located in the northern part of the acropolis, under the Royal Palace, a pit burial containing the well preserved skeleton of an adult male radiocarbon dated to 1880-1690 BC was discovered. The cranial vault showed a series of lesions caused by a metal blade on the parietal and occipital bones compatible with trephination of the skull. As documented by photographic and SEM images, the scalp was probably pulled backwards and the bone then repeatedly cut, probably with a coarse-toothed saw. No evidence of bone repair was observed, indicating that the man may have died during or immediately after the operation; however, the number and extensiveness of the lesions suggest that a more probable explanation would be that cranial surgery training exercises were conducted on a fresh cadaver. Cranial trepanation is the most ancient form of surgery in the history of medicine, a practice of worldwide diffusion documented from prehistory onwards in several ancient cultures. With regard to the ancient Near East, many cases of trepanation from Palestine are reported in the literature; less frequently from Anatolia and Iran. The practice of trepanation has not been commonly observed in human remains from Syria. The operation described here represents important new evidence from ancient Syria.
Architectural Continuity at Tell Sites
Mr Chris Carleton (Trent University, Canada)
This poster will present a method that generates a quantitative index of architectural continuity at archaeological sites. The method employs intra-site GIS and could be used to analyse architectural changes at any multi-component settlement. Catalhoyuk provides the primary dataset for the test case while other Southwest Asian tells have been included for comparison.
Changes and Evolutions of Khabur Ware during the Middle and Late Bronze Age: the case of drinking vessels
Miss Costanza Coppini (Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany)
Khabur Ware is a ceramic category which characterized northern-Mesopotamian pottery assemblages during the first, and part of the second half of the Second Millennium BC. This span of time is chronologically divided into Middle Bronze (2000-1595 BC) and Late Bronze Age I (1595-1350 BC). During this period three important political powers succeeded in Northern Mesopotamia: the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia, the First Dynasty of Babylon and the Kingdom of Mittani. That is why a so impressive duration of this ware's production has been discussed for long time by many scholars. The present poster aims to analyze a specific Khabur Ware shape, the drinking vessels, that have been chosen because they represent a significant vessels type produced all over the period. Therefore, it can be a valid marker to trace changes in pottery production. The examined pottery comes from sites situated in Syrian and Iraqi Jezirah, which seems to be the Khabur Ware main distribution area in the lapse of time between Middle and Late Bronze Age. The analysis will be accomplished by sorting drinking vessels' shapes and related painted decorations, following a relative-chronological order, i.e. a general correlated stratigraphic sequence of all sites in the examined area. The analysis will be focused on shapes and painted decorations, especially their changes and evolution throughout the entire period. Another very indicative aspect is their distribution: it will be analyzed through survey results, correlated to data from sites analysis, in order to get a distributional pattern of drinking vessels through Middle and Late Bronze Age in this part of Northern Mesopotamia. The poster is presented as a partial result of a PhD dissertation, which is still in progress: it is focused on the analysis of the transitional period between Middle and Late Bronze Age in Northern Mesopotamia.
Contextual analysis of economic and social networks: the circulation of Bronze Age soft-stone artefacts in Bahrain and Cyprus
Miss Helen Crossman (Reading University, UK)
Archaeological research has afforded trade a critical role in developing socio-economic complexity in the Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. However research is often fragmented, focusing on specific regions, chronologies and artefact types; and over-simplistic dichotomies between modern and ancient trade. Discussion has emphasised the role of elite institutions, inadequately considering multiple agencies and interactions. My PhD research seeks to address these issues by developing a cross-cultural, community-based approach to study the nature of trade, incorporating scientific analysis of materials to evaluate models of economic and socio-political networks. Networks in the trading hubs of Early Bronze Age Bahrain (Dilmun) and Late Bronze Age Cyprus (Alashiya) will be examined. These islands have rarely been compared, despite indications that Dilmun's decline was linked to Alashiya's rise as copper supplier to Mesopotamia. This research is comparing the sites of Qala'at al-Bahrain and Saar, Bahrain, and Enkomi and Maroni, Cyprus. These sites demonstrate substantial evidence for metalworking and trade. Their rich excavation and publication record is being used to conduct detailed contextual analysis of site layout, distribution of seals, weights and craft production, to compare engagement in economic and socio-political networks by different communities and sectors within them. Non-destructive portable X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry analysis of trace elements in soft-stone objects from the four sites will be used to identify distribution of materials and sources. This research will examine variability in the iconography and geochemistry of widely-distributed soft-stone seals and vessels from household, workshop, temple and funerary contexts at the four centres, examining interaction across socio-political, economic and ideological spheres. The poster includes further methodological considerations and results. It examines preliminary results from a pilot study conducted on soft-stone objects at Birmingham City Museum and from analysis of objects from the four sites conducted thus far.
Middle Bronze II Fortification Wall and Destruction at the Canaanite Centre of Jericho
Miss Marta D'Andrea, Miss P. Vitolo, ("Sapienza" Università di Roma, Italy),
Dr I. Hamdan and Dr M. Odeh (Palestinian Department of
Antiquities, Palestine)
The south-western foot of Tell es-Sultan/ancient Jericho was largely obliterated by dumps from previous excavations (Garstang's and Kenyon's dumps). Here, recent excavations carried on by Rome "La Sapienza" University in Area E have brought to light a long stretch of a new Middle Bronze II fortification wall, made of big boulders and provided roughly at the middle with a rectangular buttress. The wall itself and the destruction layer detected at its base throw new light on the defensive architecture and military events which took place at Tell es-Sultan in the central part of the Middle Bronze Age, when Jericho represented a powerful Canaanite centre.
Elymaean Portraiture: Coins and Rock Reliefs
Mr Mehdi Daryaie (The National Museum of Iran, Iran/ UCL, UK)
Coins - as a medium of mass communication - circulate in the hands of all kinds of people in the market, even the illiterate. The message they convey should be easily understood by all ranks of the hierarchy. In this regard, Elymaean coins are with no exception. The value of Elymaean coinage lies in the variety of its iconography and in the content of the inscriptions which provide evidence of the political and cultural fermentation. It is worth to mention its iconographical characteristics that it varied over 400 years, in contrast to Parthian coins. The iconography is based on the royal picture of kings. The goal of this paper is to help to establish the identification of rock reliefs in the region through coinage iconography. The coinage of the Elymaean Kingdom (ca. 150 BC-224 AD) is not only the most important primary source for its monetary and economic history, but is also of greatest importance for history and art history. Only through the evidence of the royal portraits on the coins, does it become possible to identify depictions of kings on other media of Elymaean art such as rock and stucco reliefs. This study case has focused on the rock relief of Tange-Sarvak in Khuzestan, south-west Iran and other fragmentary busts found in the region. A comparative analyses have been conducted between the rock relief motifs and coinage iconography which led to new attributions and dating. It will discuss how the analyses could contribute archaeologists for dating purposes.
Reconstruction of Funerary Behaviours during the Nabatean Period from Anthropological Evidence
Miss Nathalie Delhopital (Bordeaux 1 - Laboratoire d'Anthropologie des Populations du Passé, France)
Nabataeans were people of nomad. They lived on a territory corresponding to current Jordan, Arabia of North and the Sinai. They knew their apogee between the first century before BC and AD. In 106 AD, the emperor Trajan annexes the kingdom nabataean which becomes the province of Arabia. They are particularly known thanks to Petra and its splendid architecture. Petra was regarded a long time as an immense necropolis with these 600 tombs. However Nabataean burial practices remain little known. It is particularly architecture and the inscriptions which were studied in Petra. It is thus particularly interesting to study the Nabataean burial practices from an archeo-anthropological point of view in order to bring new elements to understand the funerary practices nabataean and to bring again to give in biological anthropology on the nabataean. The archeo-anthropological study has been realised on three sites: Petra (Jordan), Khirbet edh-Dharih and Medain Saleh (Saoudi Arabia). It provided datas about minimum number of individuals, the age, the sex, pathologies of the buried individuals and to reconstitute the funerary gestures. The study indicates that there was no selection by sex, but probably by age. The study of pathologies indicates that the individuals were especially touched by diseases related to the age and dental pathologies. Indicators of stress, like the dental enamel hypoplasies and cribra orbitalia, were observed. The funerary practices can be summarized as follows: individual and collective graves, primary burials, Charon's obol intended to pay the passage of late, little funerary furniture if one excludes some personal jewels and objects, head in the west, use of decorated envelopes of leather and coffin.
Landuse-climate interactions in the Roman Warm Period
Dr Brian Dermody, Dr Marc Bierkens, Dr Martin Wassen, Dr Stefan Dekker(University of Utrecht, The Netherlands) and
Dr Nanne Weber (The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), The Bilt, The Netherlands)
The Roman Warm Period (RWP) was a globally anomalous wet period in the Mediterranean region coinciding with the expansion of the Roman Empire. Climate in the region moved from an arid to a wetter phase around 300BC and returned to a more arid regime around 500AD. This arid-wet-arid cycle exhibited greatest correlation among proxies in the Eastern Mediterranean probably owing to a lesser influence of Atlantic Ocean weather systems compared with the Western Mediterranean. During the RWP unprecedented requirements for agricultural land and fuel resources led to an intensification of deforestation, while the naturally arid climate caused a widespread adoption of irrigation technology. These two factors had potentially large effects on climate owing to a perturbation of land-atmosphere water cycling. Large scale deforestation has been shown to increase land surface temperatures owing to a decrease in available moisture for evapotranspiration. Irrigation, on the other hand, can cause a decrease in local land surface temperature and an increase in precipitation owing to larger amounts of surface moisture for evapotranspiration. This is particularly so in arid regions where the solar evaporative potential is high. Realistic reconstruction of landuse change in this period from paleoecological and archaeological sources is important because at a certain intensity of perturbation, the land-climate system may have reached a tipping point whereby the initial land-climate perturbation was amplified and the system shifted to a new equilibrium. Added to this, the intersection of an increasingly erratic climate coinciding with an expansion of agriculture into previously forested and marginal lands had the potential to cause widespread land degradation which could also have represented a positive feedback accelerating the shift from a wet to an arid phase around 500AD. Untangling how these processes interacted is not only important for understanding if pre-industrial civilisations impacted climate but it can also be instructive of how present day landuse may affect climate and resource availability in the future.
The diversity and convergence of planning practices in the syro-mesopotamian space in the 3e millennium
Miss Suzan Dibo (Paris I, Sorbonne, France)
The organization of urban space in the Syro-Mesopotamia world in the third millennium reflects clearly the intervention of a central power in the conception, foundation and developments plans of cities. This theme will be illustrated through four examples (Titris Hoyuk, Tell Taya, Tell Al-Rawda & Tell Beydar), located in south-east Turkey, Iraq, and northern Syria. These four cases, differing in details of form, share the same planning practices which are strong indicators of power investing massively in development of cities and territory.
Exploring Dosariyah – new archaeological investigations in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Dr Philipp Drechsler (University of Tuebingen, Germany)
Dosariyah, located close to the present shore of the Arabian Gulf between Damman and Jubail in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is a key site for the study of the Neolithic in Eastern Arabia. Stone artifacts, potsherds and animal remains scattered on the surface over an area of more than 10,000 square meters indicate a substantial settlement. The preservation of a unique succession of at least seven settlement horizons allows for detailed investigations into cultural developments and local economic adaptations. Fish and mammal bones as well as innumerable mollusk remains provide insights in both subsistence strategies and environmental conditions. Typological and technological studies on stone artifacts can reveal cultural origins and contacts of the inhabitants of the site. The discovery of large quantities of Ubaid pottery as well as so called "coarse ware" during the 1970s initialized the debate of the character of Ubaid settlements along the Gulf coast. This poster introduces a new joint German - Saudi Arabian archaeological research project at Dosariyah. It highlights the potential of the site, depicts research strategies and focuses on recent investigations. It further presents the results of a geomorphological study based on CORONA satellite images and digital elevation models (DEM) with a spatial resolution between 30 and 90 m that demonstrates the sensitivity of the landscape around the site to sea level changes. It is proposed that the settlement of Dosariyah could have been located on an island during the main inhabitation of the site.
philipp.drechsler@uni-tuebingen.de
Craniology of Bronze Age Sites Gonur Tepe (Turkmenistan) AND Buston VI (Uzbekistan)
Dr Nadezhda Dubova (Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia)
Dr Galina V. Rykushina, Dr Vladimir V. Kufterin and Dr Alexey I. Nechvaloda
(Museum of Natural History, Ufa, Russia)
Middle Asian craniology of Bronze Age population is now well studied. But these two series (Gonur – as a BMAC site and Buston VI as two consecutive stages - Mollaly and Buston - of the final period of Sapalli culture) take a specific place among other ones. Gonur series excavated by Victor Sarianidi was collected from the Gonur necropolis (end of the Third Mil. B.C.) and from the «Tombs in Ruins» (Middle of the Second Mil. B.C.) is now one of the largest among synchronous (more than 4000 sex-age estimations). Buston VI series is not so numerous (only about 400 tombs), but funeral gifts of the graves, as its excavator N.Avanesova suggests, show the prevalence of general Andronovo elements in material culture and influence of Srubnaya, Tazabagyab and Postandronovo cultures.Measurements of 234 skulls from Gonur necropolis (126 male/108 female), 112 – from Ruins (56/56) and 55 skulls from Buston VI (26/29) are presented in comparison with more than 70 craniological series from Eneoliths till Late Bronze age of farmer and cattle breeders of Middle Asia and nearby regions.Craniological series representing the population in which traits of agricultural and cattle breeding cultures are combined (Kokcha III, Buston VI, Karaelemata-Saj and Patma Saj, Dzharkutan) obviously situated between «typical» farmers (Hasanlu, Gonur, Mohendjo Daro, Timargarha and Butkara) and series from territory of Kazakhstan, Southern Siberia and the Ural-Volga region. Skulls from Gonur «Ruins», as well as late layers of Tepe Hissar in Iran have larger breadth sizes with preservation at the same level of the high-rise indicators as in the earlier periods at the same sites. The general brachicephalization process can be one cause of that. Moving of populations (most likely wavy) between ancient Murgab delta and cities of Harappa civilization, on the one hand, and between them and populations lived to the south from Kopet Dagh on the other took place as well as trading and cultural communications – is the second one.
Underwater Excavations at Liman Tepe (Clazomenae) - Urla, Turkey
Prof Hayat Erkanal (Ankara University Research Center for Maritime Archaeology (Anküsam), Turkey)
Prof. Dr. Michal Artzy (University of Haifa - İsrael),
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vasıf Şahoğlu, Gregory Votruba, Dr Levent Keskİn, Dr Sıla Votruba and Dr İrfan Tuğcu (Ankara University Research Center for Maritime Archaeology (Anküsam), Turkey)
Liman Tepe is a major Bronze Age harbor settlement located in the heart of the Western Anatolian littoral in İzmir province. The site shows a continuous stratigraphic sequence from the Chalcolithic Period into the Classical Ages when it was known as Clazomenae. Land excavations have been continuing since 1992 under the direction of Prof. Dr. Hayat ERKANAL from Ankara University. As a result of the discovery of submerged remains adjacent to the site, underwater excavations started in 2000 as a joint project between Ankara and Haifa universities. The starting point of underwater research was to examine the submerged features formed by two perpendicular moles and to identify their construction phases in relation to the land site. The identification of the submerged remains as a harbor was confirmed with the exposure of an anchor, and examination of an artificial stone-heaped wall which when partially emerged would have been an effective breakwater. Prehistoric and Archaic pottery have been found within the stones of the larger of the two moles. According to the pottery and C-14 dates, the wooden anchor arm, preserved imbedded in the ancient sea floor, dates to the Archaic period. The scientific potential of Liman Tepe is great due to its preserved harbor architecture and, particularly, for its coherent stratigraphy, unique in coastal excavation. Excavation within the harbor basin, so far as deep as 3 m beneath the present sea-floor, has exposed potentially continuous stratigraphy from the Late-Archaic period and two different harbor floors have been exposed, dating to the 6th and 4th c. B.C respectively. The most recent research, undertaken by Ankara University Research Center for Maritime Archaeology (ANKÜSAM) is focusing on determining the complete stratigraphic sequence under the water and investigating the probable Bronze Age background of the harbour complex. Regional geological study has also been undertaken by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Joe Boyce and Dr. Beverly Goodman from McMaster University, Canada, whose methods include coring and remote sensing. Such studies have enabled the reconstruction of previous sea levels, coastlines, and will place the harbor in its regional geographical context; including its relation with a nearby island-connecting causeway whose earliest phase is attributed to the time of Alexander the Great.
Understanding irrigation as a response to climate in the zerqa triangle, Jordan, through modelling
Dr Maurits Ertsen (Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands)
In the Zerqa triangle in the Jordan Valley, irrigation would have been an important instrument to deal with the arid climate and its associated uncertainties concerning rainfall for societies in different periods. Before irrigation modernization efforts were started in the 1960's, the people of the Zerqa area used the known ethnohistorical irrigation system, which dates back to the Mamluk period. This system consisted of a number of sub-systems tapping water from the Zerqa river and transporting water to the fields through open canals under gravity. The settlement pattern of the Iron Age points to an irrigation system of similar type being in use during this period. The location of Early Bronze Age settlements along natural watercourses suggests that a form of flood irrigation was practiced, without a dedicated canal system. Each of these settings will have had its specific uncertainties in terms of water availability to deal with, which will be discussed. In other words, each setting provided specific materially structuring conditions for societies to develop responses in terms of agriculture, institutions and power relations. In the discussion, insights from both archaeology and irrigation engineering will be integrated. The aim is to meaningfully incorporate water fluxes in archaeological research, for which hydraulic and hydrological modelling is applied. Obviously, physical realities do not determine the actual trajectory of development. Nevertheless they are context-setting, as physical realities of the irrigated landscape exert a considerable influence on landscape development, basically offering a range of possibilities. Taking these notions into account means that modelling should explore a multitude of possible histories, for which the results can be compared with the available empirical data. This contribution shows some first results of this research in terms of social responses to climatic conditions and discusses associated uncertainties of the results and the approach.
Children's Health in Prehistoric and Historic Villagers from the Southern Levant
Ms Marina Faerman and Ms Patricia Smith (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel)
In the past the funerary treatment accorded to infants and young children, frequently differed from that accorded to older members of the society. However these differences are not consistent even within a particular period or culture. Some infants seem to have been accorded special care, for example jar burial with ornaments, while others were either buried with older individuals, or even thrown into rubbish pits. In this context the analysis of skeletal remains of infants and children can yield important information regarding child raising practices as well as the social and ritual role of children in the past. Integration of skeletal biology findings and age at death together with archaeological context of the specimens provides a unique opportunity to investigate the role of infants and children as expressed in mortuary practices in a diachronic perspective. In Israel where bone preservation is poor and secondary burial with mixing of bones from a number of different individuals is common, the earliest clear evidence of differential funerary treatment of infants and young children dates to the Pottery Neolithic. From this time on some infant remains are buried in pots or covered with shards and buried in and around houses even when other infants, older children and adults were buried extramurally. Two examples from settlements based on subsistence farming have been chosen to illustrate this approach: the Chalcolithic village of Shiqmim, dating to some 6000 years ago and the Ottoman cemetery at Dor dated to the 18th-19th centuries.
Kerameikos – A New Software for the Cataloguing of Archaeological Ceramic Materials
Mr Enrico Ferraris, Ms Alessia Fassone (Lifehouse snc, Turin, Italy)
Mr Simone Nannucci and Ms Laura Cordera (Turin University, Italy)
Kerameikos Project has the purpose to provide a new dedicated data entry software thought for collecting data and for processing automatically inventories and pottery typologies, eventually readable by other users of the software. The first goal of the project is to provide the archaeological research with a flexible and personalized tool having high standards of usability and efficiency in the treatment of huge quantity of data, with results more and more fast and precise. The second one is to connect scholars and archaeological teams through a unique software enabling them to perform easy procedures for sharing information. Kerameikos is realized on a platform Visual Studio .NET as applications for Win32 systems (Windows 2000, Windows2003, WindowsXP, Vista) and it permits to collect and process highnumbers of pottery remains in a database of SQL server type on a local machine, allowing import and export of information between same platforms by using XML language. In the process of development, we adopted an interface planned and realized holding account of precise rules of usability that means to create an effective instrument, which allows the customer to use the software in an intuitive way, optimizing the times of work. Special characteristic of the software will be the easiness and rapidity in the data entry and in the search of documents. In fact, the insertion of the records inside the database will create a specific file containing data that could be "interrogated" anytime in order to find analogies with ceramic artefacts already analyzed and registered. The interrogation of the database search engine will be able to take place by single or multiple keywords at the same time, choosing the most important parameters. According to the filters applied and results obtained, it will be possible to create statistic frequencies and diagrams to export and to insert in the worksheets. Every mask could be transferred in a text editor that will be able to print the data as requested. Ulterior development of the software should be the creation and management of an on-line database where every particular database could converge. In this way, the customers will be able to access to a unique archive of ceramic assemblages that will be easily accessible and searched allowing a wider spreading of knowledge of the various ceramic typologies.
Infant burials in Mesopotamia during the Bronze Age
Miss Constance Frank(Lyon 2 - Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée, France)
Some difficulties are inherent in the studies of intra mural tombs especially when you focus your attention on a segment of the dead population like children. Indeed, the main part of our documentation coming from old excavations, the determination of the age of subadults are often too imprecise. On that assumption, we had to find out other indications (intrinsic or extrinsic to the grave) displaying a categorization among the young dead. Fortunately, a well defined segment of the children burials often show us quite clear and particular characteristics. These one concern essentially the youngest children and can be based on the way of deposits, but also on the dynamic of those deposits in an area, or on the localisation of the funerary complex, etc. Through some examples, I propose to examine, thanks to the observation of taphonomical phenomena, the possible existence of some characteristic features in the way of deposit regarding the burial of the youngest children.
Look at me! Revisiting some scenes of textile work
Mrs Agnès Garcia-Ventura (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain)
In Ancient Mesopotamia textiles are scarcely preserved. Sometimes a good way to reconstruct their production process, in addition to epigraphical sources, is iconography. In fact, thanks to drawings, depictions and reliefs we know something else about textiles and its production. However usually we do not work directly with these images, we work with drawings of these images, that is to say with images already interpreted. In this poster we propose thinking about who reproduces these images, when and how. As supportive materials we are using mainly Ancient Mesopotamian seals in comparison with the most famous Egyptian scenes. Revisiting the most famous iconography showing parts of the textile production we reflect on gender issues concerning the research we carry on. A reflection about the nature of primary and secondary sources and their limits.
Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Propylaeum
Mr Neumann Georg(University of Tuebingen, Germany)
The Virtual Library Classical Studies – Propylaeum - is a joint project of the Bavarian State Library Munich, Heidelberg University Library, Tuebingen University Library (since 2008/09), the German Archaeological Institute Berlin (DAI) and the Institute of Classical Philology at the Humboldt University Berlin. Propylaeum is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). As the name Propylaeum already suggests (Greek Propylon designates a monumental gateway to a temple), the Virtual Library is a portal which intends to give access to all kinds of information concerning Classical Studies. The poster will present the recently added part of Ancient Near Eastern Studies.
A Reconsideration of the Chronology of the MBA Levels at Beycesultan
Mr Fabrizio Giovannetti (La Sapienza, Italy)
The Aim of this Poster is to show the Possibility of a Reconsideration of the MBA Levels at Beycesultan basing on both architectural and ceramical Grounds. It will be divided in three Sections. In the first one it will be shown a scale Reconstruction of the Plan of the so called Burnt Palace of Level V together with a Comparation to two similar Plans coming from the other anatolian Settlements of Tarsus LBA I Level and Kultepe Karum Ib Level. A Summary of the planimetrical Development of the three Buildings will also be written. In the second Section it will be shown a brief List of the most important Objects coming from Level V also including some more coming from the subsequent Levels IVc-a. The Pottery and the other Objects will be drawn in an uniform Scale and will contain a full Description. In the last Section it will be shown a chronological Table with the new Correlation of MBA Beycesultan Levels within the anatolian chronological Context.
Accumulation of the Metal Objects in Near-Eastern Temples of the 2nd Millennium BC: Archaeological and Textual Aspects
Miss Daria Gromova(Moscow State University, Russia)
Luxury items have always been objects to collect and to pile up in treasuries. The Near Eastern world of the 2nd mill. BC is not an exception. We know about existence of such treasuries in the palaces and in the temples. It is clear that the problem of accumulation of luxury goods (especially metal objects) cannot be solved without additionary use of the written sources. One kind of such sources is the lists of objects, granted to the temples and kept there. Such lists, which were kept in the same temples close to the listed items, come from a number of Near Eastern sites of the 2nd millennium BC, such as Tell Atchana (Alalakh), Tell Mishrifeh (Qatna), Boghazkoy (Hattusa). Naturally, nearly all these items were robbed or moved away in antiquity, so, these lists give a unique opportunity to imagine the inventory of the temple treasuries. On the other hand, excavations both of temples and sanctuaries and elsewhere on the sites put at the disposal of the scholars a number of objects, which can be compared to those mentioned in the lists. The aim of this study is to try to compare archaeological and written sources and to see, if we can not only mentally imagine the variety of the treasures of the Near-Eastern temples of the 2nd millennium BC, but also to see it visually.
ITA (Istanbul Tarihoncesi Araþtýrmalarý – Istanbul Prehistoric Survey) Researches at 2008
Dr Emre Guldogan(Istanbul Universtiy, Turkey)
In 2007, University of Kocaeli started the survey project called “Istanbul Prehistoric Survey” by Þengül Aydýngün. In 2008, Istanbul University, Eastern Mediterranean University and University of Bristol joined this project and to set up common project. Same year, the team studied on two different areas. First research area was around the Küçükçekmece region and Küçükçekmece Lake. Two different teams have established for this region. First team studied for the survey on the land; second team studied near the lake coast and on the lake. After the Küçükçekmece researchs, the team went to Silivri and started new researches at the Selimpasa Mound, Central Silivri, Alipaþa, Küçük Sinekli, Büyük Sinekli, Danamandýra, Sayalar, Fenerköy and Çilingoz. After this season, we have learned new datum especially near the Küçükçekmece lake area. We have found chipped stones, ground stones, pottery samples and regular stone groups near the Küçükçekmece lake coast. We believed that these areas are very important for Istanbul cultural history. Next season, we will start the excavation in these areas.
Biological relationships between Cyprus and the Levant in the Late Bronze Age: indigenous development or secondary state formation?
Mr Nathan K. Harper(University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA)
Biodistance, an aspect of bioarchaeology that analyses relatedness and divergence of groups of people based on skeletal or dental phenotypic traits, is poorly developed in studies of ancient populations in the eastern Mediterranean. Here, a quantitative population genetics investigation of dental crown and cervico-metrics is applied in a regional perspective to elucidate the relatedness of nine Late Bronze Age populations (Cyprus, Enkomi, Ayios Iakovos-Melia, Kalavasos-Ayios Dhimitrios and Episkopi-Bamboula/Alassa-Paliotaverna; Levant, Alalakh and Megiddo; Mainland Greece, Athenian Agora, Corinth and Ayia Triadha-Elia). The integration of Cypriot materials, particularly copper, into wider eastern Mediterranean trade and the importation of foreign luxury and prestige goods are thought to have driven the increased urbanisation at the beginning of the Late Cypriot Bronze Age. Mortuary elaboration and religious control on copper production suggest rising local elites during a time when the name of Alashiya, known to the great powers of the eastern Mediterranean, is applied to part or all of Cyprus. Biodistance results indicate that Cyprus remains internally heterogeneous but relatively biologically isolated during this time with little evidence of immigration from other areas. This is particularly surprising in light of the proximity of the Cyprus to the Levantine coast and the textual evidence suggesting that Cypriots may have been in residence at Alalakh. These results will be discussed in terms of the rise of secondary states and the indigenous development of local hierarchies and heterarchies.
3D tablets
Dr Sandra Heinsch (University of Innsbruck, Austria)
The project "3D - Tontafel" (3D - tablets) aims to create a Open Access e-library for scientific research and traineeship of Ancient Near Eastern languages. Due to the application of latest tridimensional laser-scan methodes a highly qualitative rendering of the objects will be provided as well as the facility to rotate, zoom and alter the illumination features on demand. Special emphasis is placed on self-training within the framework of e-learning instruction. Several tutorials structured in didactical units will lead the users to translation and grammatic problems. The cuneiform tablets will further be supplemented by historical information related to the current content and if available also by the archaeological finding context.
WebGIS Database Armenia
Dr Sandra Heinsch (University of Innsbruck, Austria)
The e-learning project WebGIS Database Armenia is performed in cooperation between the University of Innsbruck and the State University of Yerevan. The database gives free access to all original and elaborated data gained during the excavations and surveys conducted within the Aramus Excavations and Field School Project in Armenia since 2004. Special emphasis is placed on basic research and teaching. The application of the Creative Commons license on all data wants to foster interdisciplinarity and transparency in research and to increase the information exchange of ongoing excavations for comparative studies.
Personal adornment in the Early Natufian
Dr Cherra Wyllie (University of Hartford, USA) and
Prof. Frank Hole (Yale University, USA),
Material remains from burials at el-Wad, Mallaha and Hayonim provide evidence for the important role of personal adornment in the Early Natufian. Reconstruction drawings based on beaded headdresses, jewelry and clothing reveal a surprising level of sophistication. While the social implications of these costume elements can only be tenuously inferred, the skillful manipulation of natural products suggests a cultural consciousness of both shared aesthetic and personal augmentation, as well as presaging forms and materials of subsequent decorative arts in the Near East.
frank.hole@yale.edu
wyllie@hartford.edu
Production Processes and Stringing of Natufian Bone Beads
Dr Geoffrey Cunnar and
Prof. Frank Hole (Yale University, USA),
Macro and microscopic examination of ten small bone beads from el-Wad in the collections of the Yale University Peabody Museum reveal signs of the method of manufacture, possible thermal alteration, association with ochre, and methods of stringing. These physical observations are supported by experiments with replicated beads strung with different materials. Analysis of stone borers from the same site indicates their probable use in drilling the suspension holes.
The Archaeobotanical study of Ebrahim Abad (a Neolithic settlement), Northeastern of the Iranian Central Plateau
Miss Hengameh Ilkhani Moghadam (University of Tehran, Iran)
The Iranian Central Plateau and is considered as an important cultural region concerning its significant archaeological sites. The date of human Settlement in this region backs to 10,000 Years Ago. Plant resources are pivotal to understanding the past, because they allow for the reconstruction of the environment prehistoric people lived in, and the influence of anthromorphic activities on the surrounding area. Tepe Ebrahim Abad is located 20 km south of Qazvin, in the northern half of the Qazvin plain. This site enjoys rich deposits from late Neolithic and transitional Chalcolithic eras and long-term settlements spanning 700 years. Many carbonized plant remains were obtained from three chronological trenches dug in Tepe Ebrahim Abad. Soils from ash layers, burnt soil and pits were obtained at various depths from the trenches of this site, which all show evidence of human activity and long-term settlement. Given the archaeological data and floral remains, the attributes of the site include: large sample of cereal grains and wide variety of food grains, significant quantity of cereal rachis and ears in transitional Chalcolithic and Neolithic deposits and grains of wild plants in lowermost levels, presence of ground stones for pulverizing cereals.
Archaeological Survey: Discovery of Paleolithic sites in Pariz region, Kerman
Mr Mohammad Khodabakhshi Parizi (University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran)
During winter 2008, an archaeological survey was conducted in Pariz region, which is located in Kerman Province, Southeast Iran. The aim of this survey was to identify Paleolithic sites in Pariz region, which is located 85 km south of Rafsanjan. Pariz, also the name of a city in Kerman Province, is located in a mountainous region along the Zagros range. Many Paleolithic sites were discovered in this important mountain range during the past decades, but the southeastern part of this mountain range was completely unknown to Paleolithic researchers. A number of sites, including ten caves, three shelters and eleven open sites, which are dated between the middle and upper Paleolithic were discovered. It is interesting to state that the above sites are located in an area of about 150 sq km.
Mamluk Minbars: Focus of Political and Religious Communication. First Preliminary Results of the Survey
Ms Miriam Kuehn (Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin, Germany)
The minbar – often paraphrased as pulpit – is the scene of sermon and therefore integral part of a mosque used for the Friday service. Until today, only some prominent and artistically outstanding minbars have been studied and if studied then foremost as singular specimen. The Ph.D. project "Mamluk minbars: Focus of Political and Religious Communication surveys and classifies for the first time chronological and regional comprehensively the corpus of minbars created under Mamluk rule (ca. 1250–1517) and places it into its context of creation by pursuing a combined historical, art and cultural historical approach. Thus it will conclusively be shown that political aspirations and religious conceptions of a society are reflected by the endowment and use of minbars. As I focus on minbars located in mosques in the former Mamluk territory (Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine, Southern Turkey), several fieldtrips were essential. The thus assembled data forms the fundament of my thesis and will be presented as a coherent corpus in a catalogue, which can constitute the starting point of further research and help to raise awareness on these endangered objects. This poster provides an insight into preliminary results of the to date conducted survey of Mamluk minbars in Egypt, Syria and Lebanon, with particular emphasis on their geographical diffusion, their dominating material, structure and decorative patterns.
Contribution of physical anthropology in the study of the graves from Apameia-on-the Euphrates (Turkey)
Mr Arnaud Lefebvre (Université de Bordeaux I)
Between 1997 and 1999, some excavations, led by a French team, were done before the construction of the Euphrate middle valley dam project in Turkey and several graves of the necropolis of Apameia-on-the-Euphrates were excavated. In use from the Hellenistic period to the 7th – 8th century, first as graves, then as shelter for the herdsmen and their crowds or as stocking of goods, most of them were partially or totally loot. In spite of this abnormal use, numerous human bones fragments and archaeological artefacts, like ceramics or glass vessels fragments, were collected and the common work led by the archaeologists and the physical anthropologists allowed to highlight the different phases of occupations and to have a better understanding of the funerary practices inherent in each chronological periods.
Central Anatolian Iron Age Metal-Based Economies: A View from Kerkenes Dag
Mr Joseph Lehner
Research in the development of complex technological systems in ancient Turkey has demonstrated that communities are often actively involved in a complex network of production, consumption, and exchange of raw materials and manufactured objects. This research has also shown us that these patterns of material use and exchange often develop together with socioeconomic, political, and religious aspects of ancient societies in both urban and rural landscapes. Changes in specific economic traditions and processes present during the Iron Age, ca. 1200-300 BC, in Central Anatolia are only recently being better understood. Materials from recent excavations at Kerkenes Dag, tentatively identified as the Pteria of Herodotus, suggest certain West Anatolian / Phrygian affinities and would thus indicate structured interaction, although the nature of which is largely unknown. Recent archaeometallurgical and provenance analyses of metals from the site of Kerkenes Dag in the modern province of Yozgat, Turkey suggest key connections into resource areas that would have otherwise likely been in regions contested by the expanding Persian and Neo-Babylonian Empires.
Archaeology of a massacre: recent discoveries of human remains, historical texts and archaeological findings in the crusader castle of Vadum Iacob (northern Israel)
Dr Netta Lev-Tov Chattah (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel)
We examined the skeletal remains of nine adult males, slaughtered during the massacre which followed the well documented siege of the medieval castle of Vadum Iacob in northern Israel (29th August 1179AD). The remains were not deposited in an en-mass burial pit, and were excavated with physical remains of the battlefield. Some of the individuals were found in a pig-pen while others were heaped together with horse remains. This dramatic discovery, the first ever from a 12th century battlefield, coincides with the detailed description of the castle's last hours and enables an hour by hour description of the death of the victims and a through reconstruction of the battlefield. Five individuals excavated before 2004 have already been published, four other individuals were discovered during the last excavation season (2007). These four individuals were discarded haphazardly in a pig-pen and were found either partially underneath or above toppled building materials. The remains were found in anatomical position; however, cranial remains were missing for two individuals. Although decapitation is a possibility there was no other skeletal evidence to support this. All the individuals were estimated as young adult-adult males and all had sustained multiple blows leaving clear marks on the bones. Traumas, most likely inflicted by the sword, were found on the long bones of all individuals represented by postcranial remains. Other bones involved were the clavicle and scapula. Cranial remains representing two individuals also demonstrated multiple traumas. One young adult individual had sustained four blows to the back of the head, three of which could have been immediately lethal. Fragmentary cranial remains from another individual also showed evidence of sword wounds. The bodies discovered in the pig-pen correspond to the picture emanating from earlier discoveries. The conquest of the castle was followed by a massacre; defenders, who were not dead already, were slaughtered by sword-blows and their bodies were heaped together with carcasses of equids and pigs in a humiliating manner.
netta.lev-tov-chattah@weizmann.ac.il
Architectural Analysis of Late-Chalcolithic levels at Arslantepe (Malatya, Turkey) and characterisation of materials
Miss Giovanna Liberotti (University of L'Aquila, Italy)
Arslantepe is an artificial mound located in the Malatya plain - Eastern Anatolia, 15 km west of the Euphrates river, occupied without interruption at least from the 5th millennium BC, until the Roman and Byzantine periods. The investigations at the site are being carried out by the Italian Archaeological Expedition ("Sapienza" University of Rome) under the directorship of Prof. Marcella Frangipane. Monumental mud-brick buildings have come to light in the western side of the mound dated to a period considered as that of the origin of ""cities"" and of early-state organisation. This work presents a preliminary study of the architectural features excavated from the Late-Chalcolithic period (3880 – 3350 AD) as well as of the constructive technologies. The aim is to understand the relation between cultural contexts and materials used, providing a more articulated picture of the mud-bricks raw material provenance, the production process and the technical know-how. Due to the above mentioned purposes, several samples were collected and characterised in the laboratory of the University of L'Aquila - Dept. of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials - by means of light microscopy (LM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), helium pycnometry and dry flow porosimetry. The preliminary results show the use of various local raw materials and the high value of porosity obtained could justify the good state of mud-bricks conservation at the present day. Further analysis (grain size distribution, sedimentology, thin sections, soluble salts, compression test, Young modulus, Atterberg limits) will be carried out in order to develop a method based on an integrated historical and scientific approach.
Door sockets from the Iron Age. The case of Thuqeibah (Al Madam, UAE): Distribution, function and environment
Mr Alejandro Gallego López and Dr Fernando Escribano Martín (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain)
The campaigns carried out at the archaeological site of Al Madam and specifically at Thuqeibah and the discovery of several houses and other installations from the Iron Age, led us to study carefully each of the elements visible in the domestic premises. Among these elements we found a well documented collection of door sockets. The function of those sockets is common knowledge, but considering the difference between those present in the main accesses to the houses and those separating spaces inside them, and taking into account their physical composition, procedence anddistribution, we wll propose in this paper new interpretations for this piece of information aiming to conclude not only the different functions of the door sockest but also the way in which houses were built and the correlation between this fact and the surrounding environment.
Late Neolithic Pottery from the Tell Arbid Abyad
Dr Inna Mateiciucova, Dr Ivana Vostrovská and Dr Lenka Zahrádková (Masaryk University, Czech Republic)
The Late Neolithic site Tell Arbid Abyad, located in the Upper Khabur Basin, is a small mound, approximately 2 m high and sized about 0.5 ha, and, owing to intensive agricultural activities and erosion, almost indistinguishable from the surrounding landscape. The investigation of Tell Arbid Abyad is one of the main aims of a Czech prehistoric archaeological project (2005-2010) joined to the Syrian-Polish Archaeological Expedition to Tell Arbid. This poster will summarise the preliminary results of pottery processing (typology and fabric) obtained during the field campaigns in 2007 and 2008. The pottery from the stratified layers dates the site to Transitional and Early Halaf Periods, but the pottery from surface collection and from the uppermost levels of the better preserved part of the tell belong to the later Halaf – Middle to Late Halaf periods.
Microscopic Analysis of Textile discovered from Tepe Dasht
Mr Mehdi Mortazavi (University of Sistan and Baluchestan) and Mr Moslem Mishmast (University of Zabo, Iran)
Tepe Dasht, located 3 km southwest of Shahr-i-Sokhta, was excavated during January and February 2009 by Dr Mehdi Mortazavi. The site, 5.5 hectares in area and 10 metres in height, was a manufacturing site for pottery. A number of clay figurines were also discovered during this fieldwork. A pregnant woman and Sistanian Cow are the most important clay figurines. Some textile samples were also discovered from a stratigraphic trench located in the middle of the site. It is worth noting that textile evidence has also been discovered at Shahr-i-Sokhta. This poster will focus on the textile samples discovered during the above fieldwork. Microscopic analysis of these samples shows that hemp and wool were the main materials used at Tepe Dasht during the third millennium BC. It has also been possible to identify the methods used for weaving these textiles.
Preliminary remarks on the late red slip ware coming from the archaeological excavations at Tyana/Kemerhisar (south Cappadocia, Turkey)
Miss Cristina Mondin (Università degli Studi di Padova)
Since 2005 the chair of Ancient Topography of the University of Padova (Italy) has been conducting an archaeological research in the northern border of the höyük of Kemerhisar, the ancient Tyana; the area of the excavation is set near the last piers of the roman aqueduct (dated back to the reign of Caracalla), which brought the water from the huge reservoir at Köþk Höyük to Tyana. The research has brought to light the remains of a Christian baptistry, which was built between the 5th and the 6th century A.D., as two Greek inscriptions, mentioning two of the bishops from Tyana, seem to reveal. It is significant that these two bishops are well known by virtue of their names appearing in Council documents: the first, Patrikios, at the Councils of Ephesus (449 A.D.) and Calcedonia (451 A.D.), whereas the second, Paulos, at the Councils of Constantinople/Jerusalem in the 6th century A.D. Together with this structure, several material findings were discovered: marble objects decorating the baptistry; glass and metal artefacts belonging to hanging lamps and a wide variety of pieces of pottery, including a peculiar kind of red slip ware which seems to be distinctive of this region as it also appears from some comparisons made with the nearby sites of Bor-Niðde and Sobesos. These latter findings deal with dishes showing a limited variety as for the shape, with straight or everted rim, and in many cases characterized by an inner spiral burnished decoration starting from the centre of the dish and going up almost towards the rim. The outside of the dishes shows typical horizontal irregular bands, with interchanging opaque to shiny slips and with rough to smooth surfaces. The ring-shaped bottom gradually fades into an apodal ending as the typology develops. The pottery's vacuolated fabric is visible to the naked eye, the ceramic body is generally light red (2.5YR6/8) with a red slip (2.5YR5/8) covering on the entire surface of the dishes. The shapes of this red slip ware can be connected to those of some late African findings, such as the Hayes ARS 109 discovered in the same stratigraphical contexts in small quantity.
The Middle Bronze III Cyclopean Wall at Tell Es-Sultan/Ancient Jericho: Reconstruction of a Building Technique
Miss Daria Montanario and Miss G. Ripepi and Miss C. Fiaccavento ("Sapienza" Università di Roma, Italy)
The huge Middle Bronze III (1650-1550 BC) Cyclopean Wall encircling the whole site of Tell es-Sultan/ancient Jericho has been largely investigated since the first systematic exploration at the site in 1907-1909 by the Austro-German Expedition. Recent excavations carried on by Rome "La Sapienza" University in Area A, on the southern side of the tell, have brought to light a further stretch of the wall and they have definitively clarified the building technique and final purpose of this impressive structure, which was never intended to be seen and supported from the inside the MB III (1650-1550 BC) rampart.
Clayey Objects Discovered from Tepe Dasht
Asst Prof Mehdi Mortazavi (University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran)
Tepe Dasht, which is located 3 km southwest of Shahr-i-Sokhta, is a manufacturing site for ceramics and possibly for clayey objects during the third millennium BC. Tepe Dasht is situated on the right side of Zabol-Zahedan highway, about 68-km south of Zabol. This site, which was firstly discovered by Italian mission in 1970's, was excavated by author of this poster in February and March 2009. During excavation, the archaeological mission of Sistan and Baluchestan University under direction of Mehdi Mortazavi, uncovered part of kiln. It is possible that craftsmen of Tepe Dasht used this kiln for potteries and clayey objects. 65 clayey objects including, men, women, Sistanian cow, cow's horn, globular objects. A male figurine with necklace and a pregnant female are of most important clayey objects. Sistanian Cows which are famous cow in the Sistan Basin nowadays are also seen in the clayey objects. Human and animal organs such as feet and horn are seen in the objects discovered from this site. As the site had functioned as manufacturing site, many objects were broken or incomplete. All of these objects discovered close to kiln and it is assumed that the kiln may have also been used for clayey objects. Two reasons testify us that the kiln was also used for clayey objects: 1- objects were seen in both baked and unbaked position close to the kiln. 2- Most of the objects were waste materials.
Preliminary Report of Stratigraphic Excavation at Tepe Dasht
Asst Prof Mehdi Mortazavi (University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran)
During February and March 2009, the archaeological mission of Sistan and Baluchestan University, under the direction of Mehdi Mortazavi, carried out an excavation, aimed at clarifying the cultural sequence of Tepe Dasht. After collecting, restoring and classifying surface materials, the mission began the stratigraphic excavation in an area of 2×2 m. However, as the site was a manufacturing site for pottery, the mission faced problems regarding instability of surface soil. Due to this problem, we decided to expand the square to 5×5 m. After digging to a depth of 90cm, we opened a 2×2 m square in the middle part of the 5×5 m square. Part of a kiln was revealed on the surface of the southern part of the 5×5 m square. The finds, included sherds, clinkers, clay objects including human and animal figurines. The notable figurines are a man with a necklace, a pregnant woman and cows. The above evidence suggests to us that the kiln located in this square might have been used for the baking these clay objects. During the excavation, we found evidence of building and due to time limitations excavation ended at a depth of 242 cm. To complete the stratigraphic excavation, one more archaeological season is needed to fully understand the chronological sequence of Tepe Dasht. The stratigraphic evidence showed us that the site was active during periods II and III of Shahr-i-Sokhta's sequence. Since the site functioned as a manufacturing site for Shahr-i-Sokhta, it is logical to suggest that the site was active during Shahr-i-Sokhta's peak. Keywords: third millennium BC, manufacturing, pottery, figurines, Shahr-i-Sokhta
Archaeology of a massacre: recent discoveries of human remains, historical texts and archaeological findings in the crusader castle of Vadum Iacob (northern Israel)
Dr Hadas Motro, Dr Netta Lev-Tov Chattah and Dr Ronnie Ellenblum(Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel)
We examined the skeletal remains of nine adult males, slaughtered during the massacre which followed the well documented siege of the medieval castle of Vadum Iacob in northern Israel (29th August 1179AD). The remains were not deposited in an en-mass burial pit, and were excavated with physical remains of the battlefield. Some of the individuals were found in a pig-pen while others were heaped together with horse remains. This dramatic discovery, the first ever from a 12th century battlefield, coincides with the detailed description of the castle's last hours and enables an hour by hour description of the death of the victims and a through reconstruction of the battlefield. Five individuals excavated before 2004 have already been published, four other individuals were discovered during the last excavation season (2007). These four individuals were discarded haphazardly in a pig-pen and were found either partially underneath or above toppled building materials. The remains were found in anatomical position; however, cranial remains were missing for two individuals. Although decapitation is a possibility there was no other skeletal evidence to support this. All the individuals were estimated as young adult-adult males and all had sustained multiple blows leaving clear marks on the bones. Traumas, most likely inflicted by the sword, were found on the long bones of all individuals represented by postcranial remains. Other bones involved were the clavicle and scapula. Cranial remains representing two individuals also demonstrated multiple traumas. One young adult individual had sustained four blows to the back of the head, three of which could have been immediately lethal. Fragmentary cranial remains from another individual also showed evidence of sword wounds. The bodies discovered in the pig-pen correspond to the picture emanating from earlier discoveries. The conquest of the castle was followed by a massacre; defenders, who were not dead already, were slaughtered by sword-blows and their bodies were heaped together with carcasses of equids and pigs in a humiliating manner.
Netta.Lev-tov-chattah@weizmann.ac.il
Lithic Assemblage during the Neolithic Period :at Tall-e Jari A, Southern Iran
Miss Maiko Nakamura (University of Tsukuba, Japan)
Tall-e Jari A is a Pottery Neolithic site located in Marv-Dasht which is in the Fars district in the South Zagros of Iran. In 1961 and 1971 Japanese expeditions carried out excavations at the site. The focus of this research is the analysis of the lithics obtained from these expeditions, which excavated more than 2,400 pieces. Recently, broad agreement on the framework of this period' chronology has emerged, and is mainly based on pottery assemblage. Nevertheless, the lithic industry of this region has not yet been analyzed in detail. Thus, the lithic industry of Jari A sheds new light on the Neolithic cultures in Marv-Dasht. Nine different kinds of stones were exploited as raw materials at Jari A, and they can be roughly divided into three main groups; group I (chert and silicious nodule etc.), group II (coarse silicious nodule) and group III (obsidian).
A new case of ankylosing spondylitis affecting the skeleton of a deceased man placed on a funerary bed in Mari (Middle Euphrates, 2900 B.C.)
Dr Joyce Nassar (Université Bordeaux 1, France)
The recent anthropological fieldwork carried out on the site of Mari in the Middle Euphrates-Syria led to the discovery of a built tomb found in an artisanal area dated from the beginning of the occupation of the city (Ville I- around 2900 B.C.). The tomb contains an adult male buried with lavish grave goods. The archeothanatological observations of the bone's disposal allowed the reconstruction of an elevated structure made with perishable material like a wooden bed placed underneath the corps at the moment of the burial. Besides, the skeleton of this deceased shows evidence of ankylosing spondylitis, a disease that must have caused chronic pain and discomfort during his life. Given the effort engaged in building this tomb, the lavish funeral goods placed inside, the use of a funeral bed - which is a very rare structure in Mari - all these gestures indicate the high social rank of this individual at least on this quarter's level. Besides, we could wonder to which level the physical condition of this person required such special treatment.
j.nassar@anthropologie.u-bordeaux1.fr
Interpreting the Urban Structures Underlying the Hama Medina: Archaeology without Excavation
Dr Giulia Annalinda Neglia (Politecnico di Bari - School of Architecture, Italy)
The complexity of the structure of the building and urban heritage of Hama results from at least two millennia of progressive conformation and stratification. Here due to the presence of building constructions is difficult to find material evidence of the different phases of stratification of the Islamic medina in time and to carry out extensive archaeological excavations. An analysis conducted using the tool of processual typology and based on the interpretation of the permanence signs readable in the current structure of the building fabric (continuity of routes or convergence towards gates and religious buildings; regularity of the urban fabric and recurring building orientation; traces of ancient walls; gap paths signalling the presence of obstacles or limits) could represent an useful aid or a premise for the archaeological excavations, giving the guidelines for the subsequent digs. The aim of this poster is to show some results of this reading of the traces of the formative phases (pre-Islamic and early-Islamic) of the urban fabric of the Hama medina. >From this interpretation emerges the different phases of formation of the pre-Islamic Hama: a first phase is ascribable to the Hellenistic Epiphania founded at the foot of the tell, arranged around the via recta with two rows of blocks on each side; a second phase is identifiable with the enlargement of the city dating back to the Roman epoch, the construction of a castrum, the colonnaded street and a theatre. The presence of the archaeological excavations dating from the Byzantine epoch confirms such hypothesis and indicates the growth of the Roman-Byzantine city towards the river. In Umayyad epoch the main transformations affected the architecture scale rather than the built-up area, focusing on the transformation of the Byzantine cathedral into a Congregational Mosque. On these structures the Medieval Hama evolved.
The EB II-III temple at Khirbet Al Batrawy (North-Central Jordan)
Prof. Lorenzo Nigro, Dr. M. Sala and Dr. I. Salimbeni (Rome "La Sapienza" University, Italy)
The foundation of the Temple of Khirbet al-Batrawy on the easternmost terrace of the site, in a very panoramic spot over the surrounding landscape, coincides with the birth of the city of Batrawy in the Early Bronze II, thus indicating a possible basic function of the fortified town: to host the religious centre of the district. The Batrawy Temple, with its circular platform and related cult installations, underwent two successive architectural phases, remaining in use until the final destruction of the city at the end of Early Bronze IIIB, and it belongs to a temple type well attested to in Southern Levant during the Early Bronze Age, similar to the renown EB II-III sanctuary of Bab edh-Dhra.
The EB II-III Fortification systems at Khirbet Al-Batrawy (North-Central Jordan)
Prof. Lorenzo Nigro, Dr. M. D'Andrea, Dr. I. Salimbeni and Miss E. Casadei (Rome "La Sapienza" University, Italy)
Since its rise, the Early Bronze Age city of Batrawy was secured by means of a mighty fortification system, testifying the role of the centre as a stronghold dominating the Upper Wadi az-Zarqa Valley at the gate of the Syro-Arabic Desert, on one of the main ancient routes connecting the Jordan Valley to the East and to the North of the Jordanian plateau. The erection of fortifications in the Early Bronze II, consisting of a huge solid stone wall and city-gate, established the urban status of the town of Batrawy. The defensive line was then repaired and reconstructed many times during the life of the city, progressively strengthened and enlarged with the successive addition of outer walls, bastions and related structures (similarly to other mighty Early Bronze Age cities of the Southern Levant, like et-Tell, Khirbet Yarmouk, Tell es-Sultan, Khirbet ez-Zeraqon), until its final destruction at the end of Early Bronze IIIB.
The Middle Bronze I-II Building A1 at Tell es-Sultan/Ancient Jericho: A monmental Mudbrick Tower
Prof. Lorenzo Nigro, Dr. M. Sala and Dr. I. Salimbeni(Rome "La Sapienza" University, Italy)
Recent Italian-Palestinian excavations brought to light a huge building, preserved up to 2.3 m high, made of mudbricks characterized by a rectangular tower and by a massive foundation made of big orthostates and reinforced by stone walls. The building was destroyed by a fierce fire and buried within the filling of the following MB III rampart, which kept it in a good state of preservation. This made it possible to put forward a reconstruction of the monument and of its building technique.
10,000 years of History at Tell es-Sultan/Jericho: The Re-appraisal of Kenyon's Trench I
Prof. Lorenzo Nigro, Ms M. Sala and Dr J. Yasin (Rome "La Sapienza" University, Italy)
Deep Kenyon's Trench I at Tell es-Sultan/ancient Jericho conceals the vestiges of the whole pluri-millennial history of this long-lived site. Since their discovery, the Neolithic remains in this spot disclosed the existence of an unique civilization belonging to the history of whole world archaeology. A preliminary survey of the actual situation of Trench I recently carried out by Rome "La Sapienza" expedition to Tell es-Sultan, in order to plan systematic restoration and rehabilitation works at the PPNA round Tower (the earliest extra-familiar monument erected by a human community), have give back new evidence of this ancient impressive civilization, from the invention of the first mud-bricks, to the appearance of the earliest ancestors' cult.
Disposal of the dead: Middle Bronze Age remains from Sidon, Lebanon.
Dr. Alan R. Ogden, Dr Helen Hofbauer, Dr Richard Mikulski, Dr Ronika Power, Dr Holger Schutkowski
(Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford,UK) and
Dr Claude Doumet Serhal (The British Museum, UK)
In 1998, the Lebanese Department of Antiquities authorised the British Museum to undertake research in the centre of the city of Sidon. The site had been acquired by the Lebanese Government for the sole purpose of research and training and provided a rare opportunity to excavate right in the heart of the modern city. All stages in the urban development of the city from the end of the 4th millennium to the first millennium are present in an uninterrupted stratigraphy. Never before has such systematic work been undertaken in the Lebanon and the study is now entering its 12th year. Many patterns of burial are seen: in plaster floors, in sand, in stone or brick enclosures, in jars. Many individuals were buried with axes, weapons, bracelets, necklaces, rings and scarabs, clusters of small pots and substantial quantities of animal bone. Over 100 burials have now been excavated and sent to the University of Bradford for detailed examination. Several jar burials contained bones from other individuals, perhaps suggesting that the bones had been gathered up after natural excarnation. Ages of the individuals in the jars varied from around birth to thirteen years, with one being a 20 year-old female. These findings differ from the Middle Bronze Age jar burials found at Tel Dan, situated in the northern Golan (Ilan 1995) where jars only contained single infants, usually of under two years. Evidence from various time periods elsewhere in the Near East suggests that the custom of jar burials is not necessarily confined to children. The large quantities of butchered and cooked animal bone, from both domesticated and wild species, and the mud-brick ovens and mortars and pestles found around the graves, suggest that these were all involved in ceremonies conducted at the graveside. The steady enlargement of a monumental building indicates that this site was an important and long-lived ritual centre.
A Parthian storage room in Tell Barri (Syria)
Dr Rocco Palermo (University of Naples "Federico II", Italy)
The Parthian period in Tell Barri is well represented by different architectural remains such as the great fortification wall, the fired-bricks complex on the lower town and the houses quarter on the western slope. The associated materials (mainly the pottery, but also coins and iron items) are, moreover, quite useful for the reconstruction of the life in Tell Barri from I BC to III AD. During the 2008 campaign in the Area H (western slope) a residential complex was discovered. It consists in three different rooms with a great open courtyard to the north. One of the rooms was probably used as a storage space due to the presence of five great storage vessels collapsed on the earth-floor. The study of these vessels, together with the one regarding the room in which they were preserved could lead us to determine the real function (commercial storage or family storage) of the room itself. A real interesting thing is that the inner surface of the vessels is covered with bitumen. This could be another starting point to determine what really they contained (corn? liquids?) also considering that in all parthian levels at Tell Barri a great amount of basalt millstones and mortars has been found (mainly located anyway in the houses quarter on the western slope). The understanding of the context, and of the pottery found in the other rooms and onto the courtyard, could define the chronology and social aspect of the entire complex. In addition, starting from the point that the vessels are now totally restored it is possibile to define the guide lines for the circulation of these vessels also considering that similar sherds have been found on different sites in the whole Jazira.
Islamic Pottery of Tell Barri (Syria)
Dr Raffaella Pappalardo (Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy)
Tell Barri was occupied up to the XIV century AD. The last phases (X -early XIV cent. AD) are documented by the excavations of small domestic structures and few working areas, located on the northern top (Area L) and on the southern lower town (Area R) of the Tell. On both a great amount of pottery makes possible to define the guidelines for a complete and well-organized work. The study is basically focused on the common wares which represent the majority of the found materials. Its possible to recognize four different classes in this group by function: tableware, little storage and food preparing vessels and kitchenware. In these functional classes more sub-ware can be proposed starting from the different technical aspects (e.g. mouldmade decorations, external paintwork, hand-made manufacturing ) The pottery has been organised by types and variants in an open typology through which it is possible to recognize not only changes and evolutions in the various shapes but also, sometimes, the usage of same types in technical and functional different classes. Following this typology a chrono-typological table will be presented, consenting to match the commonware and the glazed ware types within a chronological range that goes from the X to the early XIV cent. AD.
The ViGMA Project: Life and Death in Antiquity: Individual Rites of Passage in Ancient Near-East
Miss Julie Patrier (Université de Strasbourg, France and Université Ca'Foscari, Venise)
The proposed poster will present the ViGMA project ("Vivre, Grandir et Mourir dans l'Antiquité: rites de passages individuels au Proche-Orient ancien") directed by Dr. Alice Mouton, hittitologist, with the collaboration of Dr. Isabelle Sachet and Julie Patrier, both archaeologists of the Ancient Near East. The project is funded by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) for 4 years (2009-2012). Its international team is composed of 15 persons representing at least 8 different institutions. The aim of this project is to study the life-crisis rituals (birth, puberty, death) as well as the social rites of passage (installation rites, i.e. mainly ordination and enthronement rituals) in the Ancient Near East and Egypt. Though deeply anthropological in nature, ViGMA is nevertheless an interdisciplinary project, combining philology, archeology, and history of religions. This very interdisciplinarity provides, in fact, the key to the project, for it is only through the confrontation of inherently different methodological approaches that the question of rites of passage in the Ancient Near East can be addressed effectively. The three major research themes are: 1) "Becoming someone: the social dimension of rites of passage", in which the interface between the religious and socio-cultural spheres is explored; 2) "Real life, symbolic life: Ritualized life and death in rites of passage", in which each stage lived by the individual is conceived of as yet another beginning; and 3) "Liminality and Impurity: The Dangers of transformation", which confronts the complex relationship between rites of passage and the notions of purity and impurity in the Ancient Near East.
Ancient Near East on Google Earth
Prof. Olof Pedersen (Uppsala University, Sweden)
Preliminary alphabetic list of some 1700 Ancient Near Eastern sites with placemarks for each site on the satellite photos in Google Earth. A work in progress project with freely downloadable ANE.kmz file regularly updated.
Petroachaeological investigation of so called other lithic industry from Tell Arbid Abyad in Syria - a preliminary report
Mr Jan Petøík and Mr Antonín Pøichystal (Masaryk University Brno, Czech republic)
The poster represents investigation of so called other lithic industry from Tell Arbid Abyad (Upper Khabur Basin in NE Syria). It concerns excavations of the Czech project under the direction of Inna Mateiciucová joined to the Syrian-Polish Archaeological Expedition to Tell Arbid. The excavation detected Late Neolithic settlement activity from the beginning of the 6th millennium BC. No natural sources of compact rocks exist on the site and in its neighbourhood. So, every find of stone from archaeological context had to be imported to the site. The prevalent limestones (72,3 %) are represented by angular chips and pebbles. They participate on recognized artefacts only in 0,14 %. Basalts (21,9 %) are dominant material of recognized artefacts (82,69%). According to the microfossils, the limestones are probably of the Cretaceous age. The nearest Cretaceous limestones crop out about 60 km from Tell Arbid Abyad in SE Turkey. But we suppose the dominant limestone chips originate especially from alluvial fan because its southern margin is after the geomorphological map roughly 10 km to the north from the archaeological site. Pebbles of limestone were collected probably from wadi sediments. The limestone raw material can be classified as the local one. On the other hand, four potential sources for the basalt artefacts are possible: the Hemma plateau and Kawkab volcano in the southwest to west, a projection from the Karacadağ Mt. in the northwest and a basalt occurrence near the Tigrid in the east. According to chemical analyses of the basalt sources plotted in the TAS diagram, the rocks are classified as basalts, trachybasalts and foidites. Our analysed basalt artefacts correspond to alkaline basalt similarly as basalts from the Hemma plateau.
Transformations in the highlands: 5th and 4th millennia BC occupation at Tol-e Nurabad, Mamasani, Fars, Iran
Dr Cameron Petrie (Cambridge University, UK)
In January-February 2009, the collaborative Mamasani Archaeological Project conducted excavations at the large mound site of Tol-e Nurabad and exposed an important sequence of occupation phases dating to the 5th and 4th millennia BC. These included evidence for Early and Middle Bakun period structural remains and associated occupation deposits that date to the 5th millennium BC, followed by more ephemeral Lapui and Banesh phase deposits that date to the early and late 4th millennium BC respectively. These new excavations significantly expand our awareness of the early 5th millenium BC in the Mamasani region, and enhance the evidence obtained from the trench A sounding excavated at Tol-e Nurabad in 2003 and the deep sounding excavated at the nearby site of Tol-e Spid in 2003 and 2007. This is a critical period of socio-economic transformation with increasing evidence for craft specialisation, the spread of sealing practices and the development of social hierarchies, which ultimately lead to the rise of urban centres in the highlands.
Precious bones objects from the Shakkanakku levels of Terqa
Dr Paola Poli (affiliation, country)
The site of Terqa, modern Tell Ashara, is situated on the right bank of the lower Middle Euphrates. It has been excavated, since 1986, by an international team directed by Olivier Rouault (Lyons University). During the recent archaeological excavations some precious bone objects have been found in levels dating back to the so called "Shakkanakku period", at the end of the third millennium: a little anthropomorphic figurine, a pendent seal and two handles. This poster has two aims, to present the finds, as some of them are not yet published, and to propose some iconographic considerations. In a preliminary way we can observe that they share similar typologies and features with finds from other contemporary sites. At the same time, they reflect original aspects, typical of a local tradition. These objects represent probably the production of local craftsmen, whose competence was founded on the knowledge both of the international style and of the regional taste and needs. The presence of this kind of material let us suppose that Terqa elites, after the collapse of the akkadian empire, wanted to emulate and share the fashion of other important centres, but, at the same time, they had to stay to their own tradition and culture.
Traces on the 'Ubaid Shore: Observations on the mid-Holocene Marine Transgression
Dr Jennifer Pournelle (University of South Carolina, USA)
Development and flourit of pre-urban and urban complex societies of southern Mesopotamia during the mid-Holocene took place in the context of Tigris-Euphrates and Karun-Karkheh deltaic progradation on one hand, and marine transgression at the head of the Gulf on the other. Understanding these processes has profound implications for assessing likely resource bioavailability, resource extraction and transport options, population distribution and density, and labour requirements for intensification/extensification of extraction and production activities during this critical formative period. Multiple attempts have been made to reconstruct the Gulf "shoreline" at various pre-historic and historical periods. Because no systematic coring operations have been undertaken in the region, these attempts have been hampered by the paucity of direct geologic evidence. Conflicting hypotheses based on models of deltaic subsidence, tectonic uplift, and and/or eustatic change were barely testable against scant available cores and archaeologically-derived proxies from a few sites on the western "shore," such as H3, Eridu, Ur, Uruk, and Tell al Oueli. Recently published coring operations in the Iranian Karun-Karkheh delta add considerably to the available corpus of archaeological and geomorphologic data useful for reconstructing the timeline and extent of these processes, especially on the eastern "shore," but these are also bounded in spatial and areal extent. Multi-scale, multi-sensor processing of remote sensing data and imagery make possible a fuller interpretation of geomorphologic and artifactual evidence bearing on overall shoreline reconstruction from approximately 6,000–3,000 BCE. This poster reports the results of combining interpreted LANDSAT, ASTER, SPOT, CORONA, and Digital Globe imagery with multiple derived Digital Elevation Models, thus providing stochastic boundaries for interpreting geological and archaeological point data. The result is better understanding of the location, extent, and impact of maximum mid-Holocene marine incursion into lower Mesopotamia and Khuzistan, with implications for assessing likely site locations, agricultural potential, and water transport routes.
Military architecture in Medieval Egypt: the Fatimid and Ayyubid Walls of Cairo
Dr Stéphane Pradines (IFAO, Egypt)
From 2000 to 2010, IFAO – French Institute of Archaeology – excavated 3 sites along the Eastern walls of Cairo, in Egypt. These sites are located along the Ayyubid Fortifications of Salah ad-Din, which dates from 1171-1177. Inside the walls, archaeologists found the remains of the Fatimid wall in mud brick, dates from 1087-1092. The excavations and architectural studies bring news data's on Military architecture in Middle East during the time of the Crusades.
Chariot terracotta models from Tell Arbid and Tell Barri. A typological and functional analysis.
Mr Mattia Raccidi (Università degli Studi di Napoli l'Orientale, Italy)
Tell Arbid and Tell Barri are two important sites in the Syrian Jezirah, 22 km apart and with substantial 3rd millennium BC occupation. They yielded 52 terracotta models of chariots, almost all dating from the 3rd or the 1st half of the 2nd millennium BC. A study of the models, combined with information obtained from glyptic, depictions on stelae and textual evidence offers a possibility to reconstruct the form and mode of use of the ancient chariots. The models are also interesting in themselves as they open the field for discussion on the purpose such models may have served. The pieces collected at the two sites have been categorized into six types. The basic distinction divides the chariots into two and four-wheeled vehicles. The first group is further divided into three types based on the morphology of the body and the position of the axle. Chariots of type I have a platform body with the axle at the end and a draught pole parallel to the ground. In type II chariots the axle is roughly in the middle of the box's floor and the pole is slanting upwards which makes the chariot more stable. Chariots assigned to type III have the axle at the front, a platform body finishing with a "fish – tail". The four-wheeled chariots are differentiated into three types: covered (type VI) not covered with "load" (type V) and not covered with a platform body (type IV). Chariots of type VI are noteworthy as there are only few parallels for such objects, all from northern Mesopotamia. Their distribution and form point to their usage for transporting large loads of goods or people and bring to mind a possibility they may have been used by nomadic peoples.
A Geospatial Analysis of Late Epipalaeolithic to Early Aceramic Neolithic Hunter-Gatherer Camps in Cyprus
Miss Sandra Rosendahl (University of Leicester, UK)
Based on field research undertaken in the northern Troodos foothills of Cyprus since 2005 as part of the Elaborating Early Neolithic Cyprus project, this poster presents a preliminary GIS analysis of survey results of a number of ephemeral activity sites typologically dated through their lithic finds to the Late Epipalaeolithic to Early Aceramic Neolithic. Having employed a Geographic Information System to perform basic predictive modelling of sites prior to each fieldwork season, the current work represents desk-based analyses of the recorded results in order to determine any patterns in site location and function, resource availability, path selection and inter-site communication, and an outlook to perform similar research in other, less resource-focused parts of the island.
Public Buildings and Socio-economic organisation in the EB IIIB flourishing city of Khirbet Al-Batrawy (North-Central Jordan)
Dr Maura Sala, Dr A. Massafra and Mr. S. Massi(Rome "La Sapienza" University, Italy)
The latest phase of the Early Bronze III (EB IIIB, 2500-2300 BC) represents the major urban flourishing of the EB II-III fortified town of Khirbet al-Batrawy. Public buildings dating back from the Early Bronze IIIB have been brought to light in the area just inside the blocked city-gate, displaced in a coherent urban plan, together with installations presumably devoted to extra-familiar food production, as their dimensions suggest. One of this building has also revealed to be a communitarian storeroom, since big storage pithoi were found inside it. This quarter of public buildings, as well the massive fortification works and finds from this period (such as the strongly standardized ceramic containers), thus throw new light on the subsistence system and socio-economic organization of this early urban community of North-Central Jordan.
Early Bronze Age III Food Transformation and Storage Installations at Tell es-Sultan/Ancient Jericho
Dr Maura Sala, A. Di Michele, E. Gallo, Dr Valentina Tumolo and S. Ghazal (Rome "La Sapienza" University, Italy)
Rome "La Sapienza" excavations at Tell es-Sultan/ancient Jericho have largely investigated the Early Bronze II-III dwelling quarter located on the north-eastern plateau of the tell. The houses hosted several food producing and storage installations of different phases, with stratified finds, illustrating typical domestic activities during Early Bronze II-III. The examination and study of these installations and related finds provide interesting insights into subsistence economy and social organization of the community settled at Tell es-Sultan in the central part of the Early Bronze Age.
Human diet in the north of Jordan reconstructed by stable isotope analysis of skeletal remains
Mrs Michela Sandias (University of Reading)
The isotopic (carbon and nitrogen) study of human skeletal remains was undertaken with the aim of exploring patterns of ancient human diet within the ecologically diverse and culturally rich context of north Jordan. Isotopic values of individuals buried in a Late Roman-Early Byzantine tomb from Pella, in the Jordan Valley, are compared to those of some of the inhabitants of Gerasa, which were interred in a plague mass burial dating to the middle of the VII century AD. Isotope data from Ya'amūn, Sa'ad and Yajūz provide information on the Late Roman and Byzantine rural towns in the north of the Western Highlands. Carbon isotope values indicate that human diet was, at all sites, mostly based on C3 plants-derived foodstuff. On grounds of the isotopic values from domestic animals from the same area, nitrogen isotopic values suggest a diet of mixed plant and animal protein. Overall, at rural sites variability between individuals is small. In contrast, in Gerasa's inhabitants isotopic values are much more variable. The hypothesis is suggested that the heterogeneity in food choices emerged from the mass burial from Gerasa reflects the social heterogeneity that characterised large urban centres of the time under study. Therefore, stable isotopes are confirmed a valuable tool to study economic and cultural diversity of ancient human populations.
An excavation at the most southerly gate on the eastern wall of Nineveh. The gate was named "Gate that flattens the enemy: Sennacherib's Gate to the land of Halzi",
Prof David Stronach (Emeritus, UC Berkeley, USA) and Dr Diana Pickworth (Visiting scholar, UC Berkeley, USA)
The establishment of the Sennacherib's capital at ancient Nineveh reflects a desire to demonstrate Assyrian hegemony and a parallel need for a defensive strategy. The area of the lower city was increased and its famous perimeter wall extended to 12 kilometers. Constructed with outer crenellated bastions, and a wide, high inner mud-brick wall, this double wall was fronted by a deep, sometimes dry moat: all of this comprised "The wall whose terror overwhelms the enemy". The excavation of the Halzi Gate revealed the political shifts that finally devastated Nineveh beginning in 614 BC. The defensive measures all failed and neither the apotropaic name of the gate nor the claims made by the unconquerable wall proved adequate. Twelve skeletons were excavated trapped in the narrow passage. Arrowheads of bronze, an iron spearhead, and one piece of plate armor reflect a fierce decisive battle. The significance of the mega-city as a catalyst for developments in engineering, architecture, the plastic arts, and metallurgy seems clear. The cost in human terms of the creation: forced migration and labor led to a correction. Inspired by a combination of envy and a desire for resource control by eastern neighbors, Nineveh fell. The city was only marginally later re-habited, its own inner cycle of growth and decline essentially completed.
The Geography of Stone Sculpture in the Kingdom of Sam'al
Ms Eudora Struble(University of Chicago/Oriental Institute, NELC, USA)
Past research on Syro-Hittite stone sculptures has focused primarily on iconography and inscriptions. Although this prior work has contributed greatly to our understanding of regional and site chronologies and iconographic transitions, it has added little to our knowledge of the many-faceted process that led from an undecorated rock in one location to the placement of a culturally significant stone carving in a different location. This weak point in previous research affects our understanding of economic, cultural and technological aspects of elite and non-elite society. The recent archaeological research at Iron Age Sam'al has provided the opportunity to carefully explore the region's geography, stone resources, and sculpting evidence. The accumulated data illuminates the lives of the sculptors themselves, including choice of material, the use of tools, and the control of land and labor. This evidence, along with information from sculptures found in the region of Sam'al (including two newly discovered sculptures: a processional orthostat and the KTMW Stele) will be offered in maps, photographs, site plans and drawings. Visually presented, the analysis and results will demonstrate the ways that geography impacted the decisions made by stone craftsmen and outline part of the chaîne opératoire of stone sculpting, from raw material to sculpture installation in Iron Age Sam'al.
The Children of çamlibel Tarlasi: An osteological assessment of juvenile remains from Central Anatolia
Ms Jayne-Leigh Thomas(University of Edinburgh, UK)
The site of Camlibel Tarlasi is located within the Budaközü Plains of Central Anatolia. Recent excavations at this site have discovered several sets of juvenile remains interred underneath the floors of the settlement, which has been dated to the 6th millennium B.C. Osteological analyses of these remains have revealed significant information regarding population demographics and mortuary practices of this region. This research has contributed to the understanding of early prehistory in Central Anatolia and has allowed for future research to be established which will further shed light on the cultural traditions of this era.
Early Hunter-Gatherers and Oral Health. Inferences from Middle Palaeolithic hominids in Southern Levant
Mrs Anne-marie Tillier(Université Bordeaux1, France)
Dr Montserrat Sansilbano-Collilieux
Reconstruction of lifestyle and cultural ecology, crucial to the complete interpretation of past populations, must integrate biological studies. Useful information related to oral biology, cultural habits and dietary activities can be collected from the examination of the dentition and dental arches. Evidence of tooth and periodontal diseases, observed differences in their frequencies between human groups, are sources of insight into biological aspects and living conditions of past populations. In addition, tooth indicators of stressful events provide an intimate look at adaptations of individuals attributable to biological, environmental and cultural factors, although it is well known from the study of living populations that individuals react differentially to exposure to environmental rigors, infections and nutritional deficiency. This short contribution deals with data observed and collected from a group of Middle Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers from Southern Levant. The unusual concentration of Mousterian hominid remains dated to ca. 92 000 yrs BP in the Qafzeh site (Upper Galilee, Israel) provides a unique opportunity for a systematic survey of dental health indicators. The results are discussed in light of the common knowledge about the etiology of dental defects and diseases.
am.tillier@anthropologie.u-bordeaux1.fr
Temples au Levant (Bronze Récent et âge du Fer)
Miss Oula Al Mehdi Al Tounsi (Université de Paris I, France)
Un « temple », selon la définition commune de dictionnaire, un édifice construit qui sert au culte d'un dieu. Selon les textes mésopotamiens, il s'agit de la maison d'une divinité, l'emplacement où elle est servie. Les sources sumériennes et akkadiennes utilisaient le terme désignant la maison pour parler des temples (E en sumérien et bitu en akkadien). Ayant accompagné l'urbanisation (apparition de la ville), le « temple » mésopotamien représente une institution et une puissance économique (possession de biens, notamment la terre). Il constitue une force qui participe à la vie politique du pays. Le « temple » a toujours représenté un centre d'intérêt pour les archéologues. Mais cette question prend encore plus d'ampleur au Levant (bassin de Judaïsme, du Christianisme et de l'Islam). Reconnaître un « temple » lors de la fouille archéologique est une question essentielle. Durant l'âge du Bronze Récent et l'âge du Fer, une cinquantaine de bâtiments ont été identifiés comme étant des « temples », en se fondant sur plusieurs indices et caractéristiques. L'architecture constitue un critère important quand à l'indentification des « temples ». Un nombre important de bâtiments furent interprétés comme étant des « temples » en raison de leurs plans. Le mégaron (composé de trois pièces qui se poursuivent en enfilade) : les « temples » de Munbaqa (Steinbau 1, 2 et 3) et ceux d'Emar, et les bâtiments massifs (les « temples tours ») de plan carré ou presque : les « temples » de Hazor et d'Ugarit par exemple. D'autres bâtiments, de forme complètement différente, ont été interprété comme étant des « temples » en raison du matériel riche (perles, figurines, sceaux-cylindre etc..) ou des objets jugés comme étant 'cultuels' (comme les rhytons ou les supports cylindriques), qu'ils ont livré. Ceci est un argument fréquent amenant à l'identification de beaucoup de « temples », comme le « sanctuaire aux rhytons », les « temples » de Beth-Shean et celui d'Abu Hawam. Les cendres, les ossements humains et d'animaux, les perles et la belle céramique emportée ont incité les archéologues à interpréter le bâtiment carré découvert à l'ancien aéroport d'Amman comme étant un temple. En conséquence, d'autres bâtiments du même plan été interprétés de la même manière (comme celui de Tananir). Parfois, ce sont les aménagements découverts dans les édifices conduisent à cette interprétation. La présence des plates-formes adossées au mur du fond est généralement interprétée comme étant le lieu de la divinité, son emblème, celle des banquettes est interprétée habituellement comme étant le lieu des fidèles ou même des offrandes. La présence des bassins, des foyer et des cuves ...constitue également un motif pour attribuer au bâtiment une fonction religieuse, comme entre autres, les bâtiments 319, 200 et 131 de Tell Qasile, et le bâtiment 350 de Miqne-Ekron entre autres. La localisation de bâtiment au même emplacement que des « temples » plus anciens a également été un motif d'identification du bâtiment comme étant un « temple ». Par exemple, le « temple » du niveau III de Tell Kittan, fut identifié comme tel, malgré un plan radicalement différent, car il est situé au-dessus des « temples » V et IV. Le corpus des « temples » au Levant durant l'âge du Bronze Récent et l'âge du fer comporte des éléments très variés et peu homogènes (tant au niveau de la forme qu'au niveau de la taille). Il comporte des bâtiments de 850 m² de superficie tandis que d'autres ne font que 26 m². Le poster présentera la question du « temple » levantin, il portera sur les questions évoquées ci-dessus tout en exposant différents bâtiments et différents aspects de la problématique.
oula.al-tounsi@mae.u-paris10.fr
Early Cremation Practices recognized from a Neolithic Site, Tell el-Kerkh
Prof Akira Tsuneki(University of Tsukuba, Japan)
The last three season's excavations (2007-2009) at Tell el-Kerkh, northwest Syria, produced a Neolithic cemetery consisting of one hundred and fifty individuals. The cemetery was discovered in a vacant lot from a habitation area of the Rouj 2c period, dating to between 6600 and 6400 cal.BC which covers about 120m². We identified various types of burials, including primary graves, secondary graves, and cremation pits, within the cemetery. People of all ages and both sexes were buried there, and it seems to have been a communal cemetery for local people spanning several hundred years. One of the most remarkable burial practices within the cemetery was the cremations. Until now, four cremation pits have been identified and all of them were discovered in the lower levels of the cemetery. Each pit measures more or less 1m in diameter and 0.5m in depth, and the wall, inside and bottom of the pit were thoroughly burnt. Five to fourteen well charred human skeletons were found in each pit. Some skulls retained their original form, but most of the burnt skeletons were disarticulated and fragmented. The size and shape of the pits, the number of individuals, and their disarticulated bone condition indicate that the Kerkh people did not cremate recently dead bodies but skeletons which were dug-up from primary burials. Therefore, the cremation practices at Tell el-Kerkh can be considered as a secondary burial practice. The crematorium discovered from Tell el-Kerkh is one of the oldest examples in human history, and we consider that the skeletonization of dead bodies was one of the reasons for the establishment of early cremation practices.
tsunebo@sakura.cc.tsukuba.ac.jp
DAILY LIFE OF AN EB IVB FARMERS' COMMUNITY AT KHIRBET AL-BATRAWY (NORTH-CENTRAL JORDAN)
Dr Valentina Tumolo, Dr Priscilla Vitolo, Dr. D. Ghigi and Ms Melania Zingarello
(Rome "La Sapienza" University, Italy)
Recent excavations by Rome "La Sapienza" University at the Early Bronze Age site of Khirbet al-Batrawy revealed the existence of an extensive EB IVB (2200-2000 BC) rural village, consisting of several clusters of dwellings, settled all over the site above the razed ruins of the underneath collapsed EB II-III city. The numerous and diversified installations for preservation and food preparation, storage devices, child burials and abundant animal remains dating back from this period allow to draw out a complete and comprehensive picture of the daily life, customs and subsistence economy of this late EB IV Transjordanian rural community.
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MAP OF THE MURGHAB DELTA (AMMD): REVIEWING ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA FROM A JOINT SURVEY PROJECT IN SOUTHERN TURKMENISTAN
Mr Tim Williams and Ms L. Denton(Institute of Archaeology, University College of London, UK),
Dr V. Gaibov, Dr G.A. Koshelenko, Dr G. Trebeleva (Department of Archaeology, University of Bologna-Italian Institute for Africa and the Orient)
Dr B. Cerasetti, Dr G.B. Codini (Institute of Archaeology of Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia)
This project was originally conceived by G.A. Koshelenko who, after many years of excavations at the city Gyaur-Kala at Merv, started in 1981 to explore Seleucid and later fortresses and settlements along the northern borders of the oasis, and conceived the need for a wider survey. In 1989 The archaeological map of the Murghab delta began as a collaboration under the joint scientific directorship of G.A. Koshelenko (IARAS), M. Tosi (IsIAO), and A.G. Gubaev (Turkmenistan State University - TGU). The project has required the participation of geologists, geomorphologists, hydrologists and archaeologists: up to twenty-five specialists, from several institutions and five different nations have collaborated, employing state-of-the-art technology to locate, map and register the sites discovered. Two volumes have already been published, on the preliminary survey data (Gubaev et al 1998) and the Bronze and Iron Age settlement (Salvatori & Tosi 2008). Since 2005 an additional collaboration between UCL (Tim Williams) and IsIAO (Barbara Cerasetti) has integrated the data from the Russian-Italian survey with the excavations at Merv. Work is now focusing on the late Iron Age to Islamic settlement patterns in the Murghab alluvial fan, to be published as the third volume. In 2009 further fieldwork has taken place to explore aspects of the data and our confidence in it. This has included additional field survey in the desert region to the NE, and a survey along the routes to Amul. The aim of the survey project is to increase our understanding of the changing settlement density and patterns over time and to systematically compare settlement typologies. Gubaev, A, Koshelenko, G, & Tosi, M (eds) (1998) The Archaeological Map of the Murghab Delta: Preliminary reports 1990-95. Rome: IsIAO Salvatori, S & Tosi, M (eds) (2008) The Archaeological Map of the Murghab Delta. Volume II. The Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in the Margiana Lowlands. Facts and methodological proposals for a redefinition of the research strategies. Archaeopress
Pathways, Postal Routes, and the Settlements of the Black Sands: exploring medieval routes from the Oxus to Merv, Turkmenistan
Mr Paul Wordsworth(Ancient Merv Project, University College, UK)
The Karakum Routes Survey, Spring 2009, aimed to examine in detail one segment of the Silk Route between the city of medieval Merv with trading outposts on the Amu Darya River (Oxus), traversing the vast inhospitable Karakum Desert. This poster highlights the project methodology, which aimed to combine a wide range of archaeological and historical information exploring the landscape at multiple levels of interrogation, and provides a glimpse of the initial results. Focussing on the medieval Islamic period (7th-14th centuries A.D.), the project was directed at identifying way stations, settlements and concentrations of archaeological material in the desert east of Merv, in order to establish the course of routes and understand their structure. High resolution satellite imagery formed the basis of a desk-top analysis and interpretations from the remote survey were combined with information from historic and modern cartographic sources in a GIS framework. Geographic features such as seasonal lakes (takyrs), wells, topographic anomalies, and modern settlements were also digitised, to examine how site distribution varies across topographic and hydrological trends. Detailed descriptions of trade routes and postal networks from primary historical sources provided comparisons for the survey data and were transformed into interpretative layers within the GIS. In May 2009, an area approximately 50km either side of the Karakum Canal was targeted for ground survey, to investigate satellite 'signatures', locate previously mapped sites and gain a better understanding of the topographic variation across the study area. Samples of cultural material, sketch plans and photographs were obtained, to attribute temporal depth and functional detail to nodal sites. The results of the desk and field surveys were combined successfully using GIS to allow the analysis of the composite data. Early results show two distinct patterns of associated routes and settlements indicating substantially different choices in pathways and movement.
Monitoring archaeological heritage in Iraqi Kurdistan
Dr Arne Wossink(Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, USA)
Archaeological heritage in Iraq has been seriously threatened over the past two decades. Especially the southern part of the country has seen an incredible increase in illegal digging activities, as reported by inspection teams on the ground and monitored from satellite imagery. The situation in northern Iraq, and more specifically Iraqi Kurdistan, is quite different. There, archaeological heritage is not only much less known, but the degree to which it has been damaged or destroyed over the past decades is also relatively unknown. In order to address these issues, satellite imagery from the last forty years will be analysed to create a database of archaeological sites for a carefully selected study area in Iraqi Kurdistan. The satellite imagery will then be used to detect where roads and houses have been built, canals dug, agriculture intensified, and how these activities affected archaeological sites. Based on a computer-aided analysis of where these potentially destructive human activities took place in the past, and how archaeological sites were affected by these activities, it will be attempted to develop a model that can help predict which areas of archaeological interest will be endangered by future human activities. This model can help authorities to develop better heritage management policies, and to protect archaeological heritage more efficiently. This research will start in December 2009, and this poster will present the methodology, future development of the project, and, if available, preliminary results.