Books in the British Archaeological Reports International Series series

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kiev Ukraine 23-25 April 2010.The fourteenth annual meeting of the Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology (SOMA) was held in Kiev, Ukraine at the National University and General Association of Mediterranean Archaeology in April 2010. This event continues to provide an important opportunity for younger scholars and researchers to come together and discuss their works in a friendly and supportive atmosphere. The range of papers expands every time due to the increased importance of scientific areas of expertise. Since prehistoric times the Mediterranean has acted as a focus for interaction between groups inhabiting regions that are now studied mainly within the different sub-fields of ancient studies. In recent years the development of research techniques and analytical models of archaeological evidence have identified similar historical paths that are similar, if not, in some cases, common to these different areas of the ancient world from the West (the Iberian Peninsula) to the East (Anatolia and the Levant), from the North (Europe and the Black Sea Coast) to the South (Maghreb and Egypt). These proceedings of SOMA 14 contain papers relating to the above-mentioned topics and feature themes such maritime, trade and colonization using archaeological data collected within contexts located within the Mediterranean basin and the Ancient Near East area, chronologically ranging from Prehistoric to Medieval periods.

A study of the origins and development of these two important articles of clothing - archetypical of Byzantine court and ecclesiastical life.

The work represents a study of the village of Villemagne, located in the uplands of the Languedoc (southwest France): its past importance has often been underestimated. The power of the abbots and a section of the lay population depended partly on the possession of silver mines. Ecclesiastical power was also displayed through control of the relics of St Majan. The abbey first appears in written sources in 819 alongside other monasteries in Septimania. Several archaeological finds and objects scattered around the village are known from this period, although their origins are unclear. Early and high mediaeval period remains were found during the excavations of a small church extra muros, situated on a Gallo-Roman site with burial ground. The village steps out of the shadows in the 11th century and this work charts the constitution of the abbeys' temporal possessions, including a series of dependant priories, over a period of two centuries, which are also marked by conflict with the episcopal authorities. Though the domain was small, limited by the plains and the uplands, the abbey became very rich.

Based on a new edition of Moscow 314 Papyrus from the Middle Kingdom, this study identifies for the first time the ancient Egyptian ritual of investiture. Serving as a tool of re-attunement, the ritual speech act, pivotal for the creation of divine kingship in ancient Egypt, is now identified. The speech influenced the investiture of the dead uncovered in mortuary liturgies. An interdisciplinary approach based on theories relating to political theology, the natural and political body of the Pharaoh, as well as on rituals of investiture dated from the ancient world down to the 17th C AD is applied to the study of this important subject.

The aim of this book is to present an in-depth analysis of the socio-economic dynamics that took place from the Bronze Age until the middle of the eighth century BC, in the Latium Vetus (Italy). To understand the archaeological record, knowledge of the transformations through time of the various landscape units is necessary. Such knowledge was obtained by studying historical, geological and pedological maps, and by using air photography, pollen diagrams and soil augering as well as observations in the field. The presentation of the evidences takes the form of a catalogue that lists 232 sites: settlements, tombs (both isolated and necropoleis), hoards and ritual loci. This is the first time that all available archaeological evidence of the study area is catalogued in a single format. Furthermore, a number of locational variables for each site were analysed, using GIS techniques and statistical analysis, in order to identify certain tendencies in the location of settlements. A functional analysis of the catalogued sites was also conducted considering the potential natural harbours along the coast and evaluating the agricultural potential of the sites' territories. In the concluding chapter an up-to-date explanation of the emergence of social inequality and the warrior elite is proposed as well as a global (proto)history of the subsistence economy and settlement patterns in the Bronze Age and Iron Age. In addition, a new and simple method is suggested for reconstructing the territories of the ancient protohistoric polities.

The objective of this book is to analyse ceramic technology within the geographical context of the Cantabrian region (N Spain) during the fifth millennium cal BC. It analyses ceramics, understood as manufacture, as the result of a technological fabrication process, in relation to the principle of a ceramic manufacturing sequence, which covers a set of operations that transform a raw material into a product with certain physicochemical properties which practically eliminate its original characteristics. Interest in the prehistoric ceramics of the Cantabrian region is a relatively recent phenomenon and is tied to its importance as a cultural marker of the Neolithic Period. The primary references to these types of materials were used to defend the cultural attribution of certain regional contexts to this period. The scarcity of recognisable morphological and decorative features among the first ceramic groups has resulted in their study being relegated in favour of other types of ceramics, such as the Bell Beaker ones, whose morpho-stylistic characteristics permit the establishment of cultural and chronological systems. This current research is focused on analysing the ceramic groups ascribed to the fifth millennium cal BC from the Los Canes (Asturias), Los Gitanos (Cantabria) and Kobaederra (Vizcaya) sites. These sites constitute important sequences for the study of the Neolithisation processes in the region's western, central and eastern zones.

The Tuoba's success in the development of the Northern Wei as a conquest dynasty in fifth-century northern China is demonstrated as a result of their ability to cross between the traditions and practices of the Chinese sphere and those of the Eurasian steppe, through the construction of a 'dual presence' in the Pingcheng period (398-494 CE). A negotiation of material culture in this formative phase of state-building allowed for new notions of kingship, dynastic identity, and representations of daily life to be (re)created. This was manifested separately through the sculptures at the Yungang grottos, tomb repertoires, as well as the concept of Pingcheng as a capital city.

The third volume of the Anuradhapura series documents the results of six years of settlement survey, excavation and geoarchaeology in the hinterland of the Citadel. Mapping the response of rural communities to the growth of Anuradhapura as Sri Lankan capital and Indian Ocean pilgrimage centre, this interdisciplinary study presents the establishment and consolidation of settlement within the island's Dry Zone and the associated investment in hydraulic infrastructure from the first millennium BC onwards. It also traces the division of hinterland settlement into either Buddhist monastery or agricultural village with an absence of towns as well as the hinterland's subsequent collapse in the eleventh Century AD. Conforming to a model of Tropical Forest 'Low Density Urbanism', this volume presents the most detailed archaeology study of the dynamic and contested nature of a South Asia urban hinterland. (See also BAR S1508 and BAR S824)With contributions from (in alphabetical order) Gamini Adikari, Paul Adderley, Ian Bailiff, Cathy Batt, C. I. Burbidge, A. J. Cresswell, Christopher Davis, Randolph Donahue, Krista Gilliland, Jennifer Jones, Mangala Katugampola, Krishnan Krishnan, Mark Manuel, Gerry McDonnell, Harendralal Namalgamuwa, Umanga Roshani Rammungoda, David Sanderson, Armin Schmidt, Jayampath Senanayake, Ian Simpson, Ben Stern, Keir Strickland and Ruth Young

The book presents issues relating to the oldest known examples of human mortuary practices from the area of Northern Egypt and dating to the end of the Early Dynastic period. The research surveys changes in sepulchral architecture, offerings, body positioning and other elements of generally understood burial customs. Space is also found for discussions on social stratification, political development of the early Egyptian state and the Lower Egyptian cultural legacy, which contributed to the rich Egyptian civilization. The story focuses on recent archaeological fieldworks with a special stress on the revealing necropolis of Tell el-Farkha.

The necropolis of Amarna was used for only a very short period of time and therefore presents a unique opportunity for a 'snapshot' of private tomb architecture. In this study the archaeological material of the Amarna private tombs is processed, categorized and compared to the simultaneous and topical tombs at Thebes. The comparison (supported by the examination of the wall decoration) shows similarities as well as differences, making it possible to work out characteristics and development in the private tomb architecture at Amarna. The analysis shows clearly that in spite of the small time-frame tomb architecture did not remain entirely consistent, but was rich in variation and development and lived up to the new ideas of religion.

This book reviews Samian ware chronology, c. AD 150-275. A dating scheme is proposed, based upon the stratigraphic association of Samian ware with coins, and using the statistical strength of association between potters or styles with each other and with dated deposits. A new model is also presented for estimating time-lapses between minting and loss for coins of the period. The results extend Central Gaulish Samian ware later than hitherto supposed, and revise the relative sequence of potters. The average period of use of Samian vessels is often quite long, and therefore, close dating of Samian ware is questioned. A concluding discussion looks at the socio-economic significance of Samian ware decline.

This book is a study of the settlement patterns of the Middle to Later stages of the Paleolithic period in the natural landscapes of the Iranian Plateau. By analyzing different environmental settings, stone artifacts, faunal remains and finally the game behavioral movements, this book evaluates the previous models and theories of 'site location', 'game management' and 'Middle and Upper Paleolithic groups' land use' that were employed for Iran. As a major result, it demonstrates that, the ecological approach of 'structural landscape analysis' is a strong methodology for understanding the mechanisms behind settlement patterns, land use and mobility strategies of early humans.

This work comprises several studies dealing with the society, economy, ideology and power among the mainly tribal, semi-pastoral communities living and moving around the southern arid margins of the southern Levant, particularly the Negev desert, southern Transjordan (ancient Edom) and north-eastern Sinai during the first millennium BCE. All studies revolve around a central concept: the phenomenon of tribalism. In few words, tribalism constituted the framework around which were structured the local groups' social institutions, economy, politics and ideology. Key topics such as the manufacture and circulation of local ceramics, the exploitation and trade of copper and incense, the local socio-political fluctuations and emergence of local chiefdoms, and the ideology of kinship and segmentation are studied under this light.

This study focuses the relationship between man, territory and water resources in the area of Andean Lake Puruhuay (Ancash, Peru). This region is rich in cochas (lakes), each of which has a special place in the local ancient and modern history. Highly specialized hydraulic structures were found in many of the sites investigated during the course of this research, suggesting that water carried out an important role in the area. Keeping aside a strictly economic analysis, studies revealed that specific rites developed in the area surrounding Puruhuay lake. During the pre-Hispanic past, access to Puruhuay and the perpetuation of ritual activities carried out at this stretch of water became an important factor for constructing the prestige and identity of the populations who lived in this area. This factor persists into the present day.With contributions from Luigi Capezzoli, Alessandro Capra, Cristina Castagnetti, Alessandro Corsini, Nicola Masini, Luigi Mazzari, Marta Porcedda and Enzo Rizzo

This study is focused on the relations between Egypt and the Aegean during the early XVIIIth Dynasty, a period of close contact between these two regions. The discovery of Minoan wall paintings decorating a palace complex at Tell el Dab'a (Avaris) was the starting point for this research which reviews the evidence concerning the relations between Egyptians and Minoans especially during the beginning of the New Kingdom, but sometimes also looking at the evidence from previous periods. This contact brought together a mutual influence on artistic and cultural matters, which has its best evidence on the Minoan wall paintings decorating a Thutmoside palace complex in Egypt.

Proceedings of the Sudbury Workshop, April 12-14, 2012 / Actes de l'atelier Savoirs et pratiques de gestion intégrée des bords de l'eau - Riparia, Sudbury, 12-14 avril, 2012RIPARIA is a concept encompassing the complex environment of watersides and having its semantic roots in the Roman world. It is constructed on the basis of land use patterns and economic activities (colonization, urbanization, exploitation of natural resources). The contributions to this volume present the challenges facing ancient and modern preindustrial societies in managing such areas. They highlight the role of social representations of watersides and their management (risk management, ecosystem services, cultural heritage) as an interface between the natural and the social systems, in view of identifying ethical principles for both the preservation and transformation of these environments, particularly vulnerable to climate change and variations.Preface by Henri Décamps

Paris Monographs in American Archaeology 34The city of Palenque achieved its greatest splendour in the Late Classic when it became one of the foremost centres in the Maya world. During the reign of K'inich Janaab' Pakal (A.D. 615-683) the Temple of the Inscriptions, which later served as his sepulchre and commemorative monument, was built. In 1952, Alberto Ruz Lhuillier discovered the funerary chamber in the Temple of the Inscriptions. Based on the reports from the 1950s, photographs taken at the time of the discovery, work published over the past half century, and the analysis of objects that composed the funerary furnishings, this research proposes a holistic revision of the funerary complex. The funerary furnishings, the manufacturing technique and technical sequence employed to create such pieces were studied; the geographic location of the sources of the raw materials was proposed. Finally, the function of each object and its probable significance were discussed.

This bilingual volume presents a series of case studies exploring the ways in which different objects from the ancient world changed in both meaning and value over time. The contributions range in focus from the Neolithic until the medieval period, and interpret the material from a theoretical, interdisciplinary perspective. The case studies examine how objects represent, embody and affect particular values, illuminating the relationship between humans, societies and objects, as well as the role of the material in everyday life.

The study of furniture and its production is a window into both the social position of its owner and the techniques and social organization of the craftsmen. This book comprises an examination and analysis of chairs, stools and footstools of the New Kingdom (ca.1550-1069 B.C.) which are preserved in the Cairo Egyptian Museum. The first chapter is dedicated to woodworking processes and techniques of manufacturing chairs and stools. The second chapter analyses the chairs, stools, and fragments that constitute the main corpus of this study (131 pieces in total). The third chapter focuses primarily on two-dimensional scenes and how these can increase our understanding of the study objects. The fourth chapter is devoted to a lexicographical analysis of the terms used to designate different types of chairs, stools and footstools. This is followed by a typological study of chairs and stools in the New Kingdom based on actual pieces of furniture that my corpus includes and those preserved in other collections.

Jian Leng's dissertation takes as its starting point the model of Hallam Movius devised in the 1940s to explain the production and distribution of stone tools in Asia and the presence of a technological boundary separating the east from the west (Africa and Europe).

Although the Ptolemaic royal image has been the subject of many individual studies, there remains an imbalance in the extent of scholarly attention devoted to the different styles of imagery. The aims of the present publication are to assess the interaction between the Greek and Egyptian Ptolemaic royal representations (from about the third century B.C.), and to establish a relative chronological sequence for developments in the presentation of the royal family, where possible identifying individual rulers. The material is divided according to classification, and the various functions of the different types of royal image will also be considered. Includes a catalogue section detailing 70 pieces of sculpture from major museum collections and elsewhere.

The growing interest in the cultural dimensions and environmental aspects of the transition to the Neolithic in the 6th millennium BC calls for a brief overview of what we know about the Early Neolithic in the Danube-Tisza interfluve. The idea of a volume drawing together the various strands of evidence on the Early Neolithic in this region resulted in the multi-facetted analysis presented in this volume. One major advance emanating from the study was the elimination of the archaeological blankspot between the Alföld and Transdanubia - earlier, the very existence of this blank spot made any discussion of possible contact between the two thoroughly researched regions virtually impossible and hampered comparisons of any kind. This volume follows on from the excavations at Polgár-Cs¿szhalom in 1957, in this series (BAR S1730, 2008). The assessment of the site at Szakmár-Kisülés, an Early Neolithic settlement lying near the left Danube bank, is obviously linked to the problems of the Early Neolithic along the Danube and the publication of the finds from this site forms the backbone of the present volume.Archaeolingua Central European Series 7English translation by Attila Kreiter and Magdalena Seleanu.With contributions by Ida Bognár-Kutzián†, Sándor Gulyás, Attila Kreiter, Endre Krolopp†, Rozália Kustár, Mária Miháltz-Faragó†, Katalin Náfrádi, Ákos Pet¿, Péter Pánczél, Gerg¿ Persaits, József Stieber†, Pál Sümegi, Tünde Tör¿csik, István Vörös and Zsuzsanna K. Zoffmann

This book focuses on the 'un-naturalistic' iconography of human imagery intuitively regarded as 'super-natural'. A Darwinian model of the evolution of symbolic culture, the Female Cosmetic Coalitions model, provides theoretical grounding for the earliest androgynous and therianthropic religious representations and provides theoretical confidence as to the long-term survival of symbols. An analogy between simple shapes and human genitalia expresses the fusion of male and female. The background is the transition from hunting and gathering to farming; power relations are presented as changing from an 'original social contract' underpinned by female ritual power, to a 'new social contract' driven by competing male elites.

The ritual dimension of land use in both prehistoric and historic societies is a flourishing research issue examined by a growing number of archaeologists, historians, philologists, and anthropologists today. Anatolia, because of the time depth of its human settlement and its geographical as well as cultural diversity, offers a great potential for such studies. The chronological span of these papers stretches from the enigmatic world of Chalcolithic cave paintings at Latmos to the contemporary yet no less mesmerizing reality of sacred spaces in the Yezidi religion. Space in terms of its geographical aspect is equally well covered, reaching from the western and southwestern shores of Asia Minor to the Anatolian highlands, Cappadocia, and the Black Sea littoral, finally touching and crossing the easternmost borders of modern Turkey.

The aim of this study is to interpret the scale and nature of the economy of the Eastern Mediterranean in the latter period of the LBA. It does this by using a quantitative approach that estimates the size of the workforce required to meet basic needs (food, clothing, and shelter) and state needs. The quantitative findings are used to assess the proportion of the workforce dedicated to basic and non-basic activities of LBA Cyprus and NK Egypt, based on the food required to support a worker and his dependants. This allows the assessment of the relative economic strengths of each region, the extent to which their economies were embedded within their culture, and their economic interactions with other LBA Eastern Mediterranean states.

Libagioni pure e misticismo tra la Grecia e il mondo iranico

A study of European decorative ironwork techniques as applied to arms and armour from Late Medieval to modern times.

This monograph is an epigraphic study of the Roman auxiliary units raised on the Iberian Peninsula based on a corpus of over 750 inscriptions. It presents the literary and epigraphic evidence for late Republican allied and auxiliary forces and for the structure of imperial auxiliary units. It then examines the recruiting practices of the auxilia, the settlement of veterans, and the evidence for the personal relationships of the soldiers enlisted in these units as they are recorded in the epigraphic record, including inscriptions on stone and military diplomas.

This monograph examines the aniconic cult stones, or baetyls, of the Aegean Bronze Age. Minoan baetyls are commonly understood by reference to the interpretive vocabularies of ancient Near Eastern traditions developed by comparative ethnographies popular in the early 20th century. This study presents and interrogates the Aegean evidence for baetyl cult, providing a catalogue of archaeological evidence attesting to this cultic practice. Contextual analysis provides the basis for interpreting and (re)constructing aspects of the cult. It is argued that the ambiguity inherent in these aniconic stones renders them uniquely flexible in serving multiple cultic, ritual and ideological functions across different contexts.

This volume presents the study of a number of variants of Romano-Hispanic burial rituals. The research was carried out focusing on structural typologies, the analyses of materials found in the necropolis, the development of the burial practices, and the specificity of a variety of solutions (local and regional) adopted by the inhabitants of Roman Spain. This study is not only based on a primarily archaeological approach, but also takes into account other disciplines such as ancient history, iconography, anthropology and the history of religions. The main purpose of the study is to update the current state of research in burial rites in classical cultures and, above all, Hispanic cultural practices. All this provides plenty of largely new information that will enlighten future research.