Archaeopress jul 2016 (14 Ergebnisse)

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This book brings together the main discussions that took place at an international conference on the iconology of war in the ancient Near East, a subject never addressed at an international meeting before. The articles span the 3rd to the 1st millennium, with a special stress on the Neo-Assyrian period. They try to respond to many questions about representations of war: what is 'warrior' iconography and on what basis it can be defined Did the war scenes follow a specific directory whereby they adopted the most varied forms Can we determine the most usual conditions for the creation of pictures of wartime (such as periods of great change) Were the war scenes referring to specific historical events or were they generic representations What can a society accept from the representations of war What did war images silence and why What is a 'just' punishment for enemies and thus the 'just' representation of it Who has control of the representation and therefore also the memory of war Who is the real subject of war representations What emerges from all the articles published here is the relevance of textual data in any analysis of iconological material. And this is not only true for iconology, but for all the archaeological material discovered at historical sites.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Was the purpose of an Iron Age hillfort to defend people and resources or was it there to show the power of the community and its leaders Was the Middle Iron Age trend to large complex 'defences' a response to developing tactics of assault or did the huge amounts of construction work serve the purpose of building community identity through shared labour The name 'hillfort' implies a defensive purpose, but in recent decades alternative interpretations have gained favour, based on analyses suggesting that hillforts are poorly suited to military purposes and on views of Iron Age society that emphasise the importance of boundaries, symbolic display and communitybuilding. Excavations of hillfort interiors reveal they were sites for many activities; large caches of stones suggest that sling warfare was one. This book reports an investigation of these issues. Sling accuracy at a hillfort was measured for the first time, in a controlled experiment comparing attack and defence across single and developed ramparts. Tactical scenarios modelled from the results showed that hillfort development gave defenders increased advantage. These results support defence as the explanation for the features of the enclosing works of hillforts. Full details of the method and analyses are included.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - For the Gods are the opening words or incipit of the first inscribed votive artefacts dedicated to the principal deities of the Sumerian pantheon. They commemorate the construction or renovation of cities, temples, rural sanctuaries, border steles, in sum all the symbolically charged features of archaic states belonging thus metaphorically to supernatural tutelary overlords. Girsu (present-day Tello) is one of the earliest known cities of the world together with Uruk, Eridu, and Ur, and was considered to be in the 3rd Millennium the sanctuary of the Sumerian heroic god Ningirsu who fought with the demons of the Kur (Mountain) and thus made possible the introduction of irrigation and agriculture in Sumer. Girsu was the sacred metropolis and central pole of a city-state that lay in the Southeasternmost part of the Mesopotamian floodplain. The pioneering explorations carried out between 1877 and 1933 at Tello and the early decipherment of the Girsu cuneiform tablets were ground-breaking because they revealed the principal catalytic elements of the Sumerian takeoff - that is, a multiplicity and coalescence of major innovations, such as the appearance of a city- countryside continuum, the emergence of literacy, of bronze manufacture, and the development of monumental art and architecture. Because of the richness of information related in particular to the city's spatial organization and geographical setting, and thanks to the availability of recently declassified Cold War space imagery and especially the possibility to launch new explorations in Southern Iraq, Girsu stands out as a primary locale for re-analyzing through an interdisciplinary approach combining archaeological and textual evidence the origins of the Sumerian city-state.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The Ouse valley, East Sussex, is a key communication route from the Channel coast, via the Downs (and the historic county town of Lewes), to the wide expanse of the Weald. It traverses and encompasses landscapes and archaeological sites of both regional and national importance - all connected by the river Ouse and its valley. This is the first review of the archaeology of this important landscape - from Palaeolithic to medieval times by contributors all routed in the archaeology of Sussex. Binding together the archaeology is a review of the geoarchaeology and palaeo-environment following which the chapters document the collective archaeology and potential from the Palaeolithic of Boxgrove vs Piltdown, via Mesolithic archaeology from the textbook excavations of Grahame Clark to recent 21st century investigations. Monuments of causewayed enclosures, long barrows and round barrows represent some of the Neolithic and Bronze Age evidence with some extraordinary finds recorded in the Bronze Age. From hillforts and villas, to medieval rural and urban excavation; the Ouse valley represents a microcosm of the wider region, the contributions collectively reveal the importance and significance of this valley to the development of landscape history and society of a quintessential English county. The narrative concludes with the first detailed research agenda for the Ouse valley.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This book is devoted to flintworking encountered in the so-called cult houses and ritual zones from the Late Bronze Age in southern Scandinavia, where thousands of barrows were built in the period from the Neolithic to the end of the Early Bronze Age. Considerable numbers of the barrows are still distinctly visible in the landscape of the area today. In the Late Bronze Age, the cult houses, as well as other ritual constructions in various forms, were built into the older barrows' mounds or were located on their edges. The excavated material from Jutland abounds in flint artefacts, which nearly always constitute the predominating category of finds. …

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - How can we find alternative, sensorially rich and affective ways of engaging with the material past in the present How can photography play a central role in archaeological narratives, beyond representation and documentation This photo-book engages with these questions, not through conventional academic discourse but through evocative creative practice. The book is, at the same time, a site guide of sorts: a photographic guide to the archaeological site of the Sanctuary of Poseidon in Kalaureia, on the island of Poros, in Greece. Ancient and not-so-ancient stones, pine trees that were 'wounded' for their resin, people who lived amongst the classical ruins, and the tensions and the clashes with the archaeological apparatus and its regulations, all become palpable, affectively close and immediate. Furthermore, the book constitutes an indirect but concrete proposal for the adoption of archaeological photo-ethnography as a research as well as public communication tool for critical heritage studies, today.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - What is considered masculine is not something given and innate to males but determined by cultural ideas and ideals constructed through performative practices - today and in the past. This book questions whether androcentric archaeology has taught us anything about prehistoric men and their masculinities. Starting from broad discussions of feminist theory and critical men's studies, this study examines how notions of masculinity are expressed in cremation burials from the Late Bronze Age to the end of the Roman Period (1100 BC - 400 AD) in Eastern Norway and Funen in Denmark. It is argued that notions of masculinity were deeply intertwined with society, and when central aspects like war systems, task differentiation, or technology changed, so did gender and ideas of masculinity and vice versa. In the Late Bronze Age, an idealisation and sexualisation of the male body related to warrior esthetic was probably essential to the performance of masculinity. In the Early Roman Period, masculinity became bounded by what it was not - the unmanly. Warrior capabilities were the most prominent ideals of masculinity and concepts of unmanliness structured society, highlighting divergences between men and women. In the Late Roman Period, society grew more complex and multiple contemporary, possibly complementary masculinities associated with the rising class of free peasants, specific roles and regional differences developed and the warrior lost the dominant position as masculine ideal.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - In a career spanning more than forty years Prof. Thanasis I. Papadopoulos exhibited his intensive devotion to the Bronze Age of Greece, and especially to Mycenaean Achaea (his native land), through his excavations, publications and lessons to innumerable students in Greece and abroad. The origins, as well as the interconnections of the Mycenaeans with other civilizations, were always of great interest to Prof. Papadopoulos. This honorary volume expands to diverse eras, from Neolithic to Byzantine times, following Mycenaean paths that lead even to the distant East: to Egypt, whose culture Prof. Papadopoulos taught for many years at Ioannina University, and to Jordan, where he excavated for more than 10 years. In Achaios, thirty-five scholars from six different countries have contributed with thirty-one papers, as a small token of appreciation, gratitude and affection to a true scholar, who devoted his life studying and revealing the long journeys of the Mycenaeans and their culture, but also, to a passionate professor who, by transmitting his scientific knowledge, left an invaluable legacy for future generations.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The Roman legionary base at Novae in Lower Moesia is one of the most important sites in the Lower Danubian provinces. Towards late Antiquity, the military camp was transformed into a civil town with Episcopal residence and survived until the beginning of the 7th century. The Polish-Bulgarian excavations carried out for more than 55 years revealed remains dated from the mid-1st up to the early Byzantine periods and more than 300 inscriptions on stone. The rural hinterland of Novae is exceptional and fascinating for the historian and archaeologist, not only due to the importance of the site itself, but also due to its location. The legionary camp at Novae was located halfway between the outlets of two rivers - the Osam and Jantra, flowing nearly parallel to each other. This part of the Danubian Plain was inhabited by Geto-Thracians and tribes influenced by the Celts. The special position of the lands between the Osam and Jantra rivers is well-expressed by a series of boundary stones set up in AD 136 by Emperor Hadrian, who divided the tribal territories of Moesos and Thraces. This special geopolitical situation must have caused considerable difficulties in administering the area by the Romans. At present this poses a challenge for scholars, who search for answers to various questions concerning the universal solutions applied in borderlands in the past.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The archaeological excavations along the route of packages 3 and 4 of the Batinah Expressway, Sultanate of Oman, conducted during the spring and summer of 2014, recorded over 60 archaeological sites over the 200km stretch of roadway cutting through the Batinah plain, north-west of Muscat. The majority of these sites were prehistoric tombs of varying ages. These excavations have allowed a re-thinking of the dating of some of these tombs, looking particularly at the structural styles of the tombs as well as their location in the landscape. It has also demonstrated techniques of rapid yet reliable excavation and recording techniques adapted from UK commercial archaeology for the Omani conditions. The report builds on the work of academic studies and adds a large dataset to the archaeology of the Batinah, Oman and the wider region. It is hoped that this will allow a wider scale reconsideration of the burial styles of the prehistoric Gulf.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Potamikon attempts to solve a question that has perplexed scholars for hundreds of years: Who exactly is the man-faced bull featured so often on Greek coinage It approaches this question by examining the origin of the iconography and traces its development throughout various Mediterranean cultures, finally arriving in Archaic and Classical Greece in the first millennium BC. Within the context of Greek coinage, the authors review all the past arguments for the identity of the man-faced bull before incorporating the two leading theories (Local River Gods vs. Acheloios) into a new theory of local embodiments of Acheloios, thereby preserving the sanctity of the local rivers while recognizing Acheloios as the original god of all water. The second part of the book exhibits many of these 'Sinews of Acheloios' as they appear throughout the Greek world on bronze coinage, in each case paying careful attention to the reasons a specific group adopted the iconography and shedding further light on the mythos of Acheloios.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This work seeks to understand the process of monetization within the economy of the Galicians and Asturians and the cultural ways in which the phenomenon occurred. Numismatic remains are studied in depth, found in four of the roads crossing the northwestern territory of the Iberian peninsula in Roman times; the tracks studied, as referenced in the Itinerary of Antonino, were XVII, XVIII, XIX and XX. All the coins discovered were imported, and so it was possible to mark precisely where the greatest influx of individuals and materials came from, as well as areas and zones of different speeds of monetization and, thus, Romanization. -Spanish Description: A traves de este trabajo hemos pretendido comprender el proceso de monetizacion de la economia de galaicos y astures y las vias culturales por las que el fenomeno se produjo. Para ello hemos estudiado en profundidad los restos numismaticos aparecidos en cuatro de las calzadas que atravesaban el territorio noroccidental de la peninsula iberica en epoca romana, las vias XVII, XVIII, XIX y XX del Itinerario de Antonino. Debido a que toda la moneda que encontramos en este territorio es importada, hemos podido marcar con precision cuales fueron los horizontes de mayor entrada de individuos y materias, asi como areas y zonas de diferentes velocidades de monetizacion y con ello de romanizacion. Seguramente las zonas cercanas a campamentos, donde se alojaron miles de soldados cuya unica economia posible era la monetaria, conocieron y dependieron pronto del valor de la moneda. Igualmente los nuevos nucleos romanos administrativos hubieron de ser centros focales de monetizacion, aunque desconocemos el por que no se abrieron cecas de moneda en estas ricas ciudades con importante trafico de mineral y de gentes, como pueda ser el caso de Astorga o Braga.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This study focuses on ceramic finds from the excavations (1996-2006) of the Episcopal Group of Sidi Jdidi, the ancient city of Aradi, in the hinterland of Hammamet in Tunisia, directed by Dr Aïcha Ben Abed-Ben Khader and Prof. Michel Fixot. The aim of these excavations was to understand the processes of the (evolution and) insertion of Christian monuments into the pre-existent town and the distribution of the liturgical and economic functions within various buildings of this ecclesiastic centre. The ceramological study contributed to attaining this aim by suggesting dates for each phase of the construction, occupation and abandonment of the Episcopal group, as well as evidence for the function of each space. Furthermore, this study has documented the (strong) rural and regional characteristics of the ceramic assemblages: these are very different from those of the large-scale excavations at Carthage and indicate a pattern of self-sufficient consumption supplied by purely intra-regional trade. The author is a Research Fellow of The National Museum of Western Art (Tokyo, Japan), and Research Associate of the Centre Camille Jullian (Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, MCC, CCJ, F-13000, Aix-en-Provence, France).…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This volume presents the long history of Syria through a jouney of the most important and recently-excavated archaeological sites. The sites cover over 1.8 million years and all regions in Syria; 110 academics have contributed information on 103 excavations for this volume. Based on these contributions the volume offers a detailed summary of the history of Syria, a history as important as any in terms of the development of human society. It is hoped that this knowledge will offer not only an increased understanding of the country but also act as a deterrent to the destruction of Syrian cultural heritage and facilitate the protection of Syrian sites. The following paper(s) are available to download in Open Access: Dja'de el-Mughara (Aleppo) - Eric Coqueugniot Download.…