Georgia (Country) (Geographic Keyword)
101-125 (1,204 Records)
This is an abstract from the "Experimental Pedagogies: Teaching through Experimental Archaeology Part II" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Bappir (Sumerian: "beer bread") was a ubiquitous ingredient in ancient Mesopotamian beer brewing for millennia. However, little is known about exactly what bappir was or how it was used. Nevertheless, the scant evidence available from contemporary texts, such as the second-millennium BCE "Hymn to Ninkasi," have...
Barda in the Transition Stage from Late Antiquity to Islamic Archaeology: Historical and Archaeological Review (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The city of Barda was especially notable due to its political and economic position in the Caucasus in the Middle Ages. In addition to being the capital of the Albanian state, it was the center of the local administration of the Sassanid Empire and later of the Arab Caliphate. Middle Ages sources inform about Barda, calling it the mother of Arran and...
Barrow Roads and Bronze Age Wayfaring (2017)
The idea of the journey is central to many narratives of European Bronze Age social structure, economy, and cosmology, but the mechanics of journeying in the Bronze Age are rarely discussed. We know that objects and raw materials travelled great distances, we think that exotic things and ideas were sought after, and it appears that Bronze Age people maintained ties with kin and trading partners over very great distances. Much of this distance was inevitably traversed on water; and riverine...
Basket Case? Finding Funding for Archaeological Projects—A European Perspective (2017)
The competition for funding is increasing, as demand increases but the sources of funds diminish, especially if there is a research element in any proposed project. This paper will explore the possible routes for funding and the potential and pitfalls of using a "basket" approach to raising funds for archaeological projects in the public sector (i.e., charities and non-commercial), including universities. It will also look at different approaches for funding significant heritage-based projects...
Bears and people: from the wilderness to dancing (2017)
There has been a very strong relationship between human societies and the brown bear (Ursus arctos) in many different places and cultures. The bear has had multiple roles in European societies, from the ancient (and modern) epitome of the wild, through religious symbol to the arenas of the Roman Empire, and their later use as entertainment. At what point does the bear’s position change in society from an animal to be feared, to one to be mocked? In terms of captive management, a fully grown bear...
Beating Swords into Plowshares: The Role of Agricultural Colonization in Imperial Histories (2019)
This is an abstract from the "From Households to Empires: Papers Presented in Honor of Bradley J. Parker" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In his 2001 monograph, The Mechanics of Empire, Bradley Parker methodically utilized archaeological survey data and historical texts to track the Neo-Assyrian empire’s growth through the agrarian settlement of deportees in newly conquered territories. Parker’s emphasis on agricultural colonization marked an...
Becoming Neolithic or Being a Hunter-Gatherer? Reframing the Origins of Agriculture through a Longue Durée Perspective (2018)
Searching for the origin points of major cultural revolutions and transitions has long been a driver of archaeological research, yet led to research focused on perceived boundaries, rather than continuity. Research into the origins of so-called modern human behavior, the origins of social complexity, the earliest domesticates, among others, all focus on defining moments of change that may be undetectable in the archaeological record. Perhaps some of the most enduring archaeological questions...
Beer and the Politics of Affect in Mesopotamia (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Drinking Beer in a Blissful Mood: A Global Archaeology of Beer" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Many early states were deeply invested in alcoholic beverages. In focusing on the political instrumentality of these beverages, however, archaeologists have often lost sight of what makes them such an effective tool of statecraft. People seek out alcoholic beverages because of their affective power, their ability to...
Being a Woman in Roman Gaul: Gendered Votive Offerings in a Colonial Context (2017)
The annexation of Gaul into the Roman Empire in the mid-first century BCE spurred the development of new religious practices in that region, including the practice of offering votive figurines at sanctuaries. Because each votive represents a personal decision on the part of the dedicant, analysis of votive assemblages provides unique insight into the demographics of worshippers and illuminates aspects of individual identity in this colonial context. Here, I present the results of a quantitative...
Being Male in al-Andalus. A Comparative Osteobiographical Approach to Reconstructing Islamic Identities in Medieval Spain. (2017)
In 711 AD the influx of Arabs and Berbers into Iberia culminated in the formation of the only Islamic state in medieval Western Europe. The uptake of new religious ideology and cultural practices by the inhabitants, which when applied in their unique sociohistorical context, resulted in an Iberian Islamic identity. While much research has explored variation in the lives of women, including debates on their freedom of movement and activity, less is postulated about the lives of men and what it...
Benefits of Time Travel, the McMaster Ancient DNA Centre (2017)
Our laboratory focuses on the preservation and degradation of organic signatures in archaeological remains. We devise and use state-of-the art genetic techniques to pull DNA sequences from tooth and bone remains to address questions of ancestry, origins, extinctions and evolution. Currently the lab is focusing on the evolution of infectious disease, namely plague, using full genomic evidence garnered from victims of past pandemics. I will speak about the centre, the overarching questions we are...
Between Archaeology and Texts: Early Jewish Ritual Law as a Test Case (2019)
This is an abstract from the "At the Interface the Use of Archaeology and Texts in Research" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The late Hellenistic and Roman periods were formative for the development of halakhah—Jewish ritual law. Whereas texts have traditionally served as the primary basis for tracing the evolution of early halakhah, archaeology provides evidence on aspects of this history which are entirely unobtainable from the textual record....
Beyond Counting Sheep: An Interdisciplinary Review of Faunal Assemblages in the British Pastoral Landscape (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Zooarchaeology and Technology: Case Studies and Applications" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. One of the challenges in zooarchaeological research is to advance new methods of understanding animal husbandry within the past socio-ecological context. Intensification of wool production is typically evidenced in the archaeological record by the increase of sheep remains in species abundance and adult mortality; however,...
Beyond Iron Age ‘towns’: Examining oppida as examples of mega-sites and low-density urbanism (2017)
The question of whether Late Iron Age oppida in Europe were truly ‘urban’ has dominated debate over these sites since the 19th century. Oppida, however, have been surprisingly absent from comparative urban studies, despite increasingly nuanced perspectives on the nature and diversity of the urban phenomenon. In particular, Roland Fletcher’s suggestion that oppida might be examples of a range of alternative urban-like centres has been largely ignored by scholars of the European Iron Age. The...
Beyond Kinship Trees: Capturing the Social Tapestry in European Prehistory (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. While kinship studies based on ancient DNA (aDNA) data have been instrumental in reconstructing biological relationships in European prehistory, they often overlook the complex web of social interactions that shaped prehistoric communities. This interdisciplinary investigation delves into the rich tapestry of social dynamics that characterized European...
Beyond the Founding Fathers: The Role of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Submerged Cultural Resource Management’s Past, Present, and Future (2022)
This is an abstract from the session entitled "Perspectives on the Future, and the Past, of Underwater Archaeology in the Cultural Resource Management Industry" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Early pioneers or innovators may be given the moniker “Father” or “Founding Father” of their chosen field or specialty, and quite often those pioneers happen to be white males. In reviewing the history of cultural resource management it is easy to assume that...
Bifacial Thinning in the Early Upper Paleolithic of Eastern Europe (1997)
This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the EXARC Bibliography, originally compiled by Roeland Paardekooper, and updated. Most of these records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us using the...
A Bioarchaeological Approach to Contested Mountain Landscapes in Transylvania’s Golden Quadrangle (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Living and Dying in Mountain and Highland Landscapes" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this paper, we introduce the agenda for the session Living and Dying in Mountain and Highland Landscapes. Mountains and high altitude areas are ideal spaces where archaeologists can examine the relationship between social action and the environment. As this session will show, the study of human remains must be situated with a...
Bioarchaeological Assemblages at Çatalhöyük: A Relational Examination of Porotic Hyperostosis and Cribra Orbitalia Etiologies and Transmissions (2017)
Porotic hyperostosis, manifested as pittings on the outer table of the cranial vault, and cribra orbitalia, the analogous porosities that form on orbital roofs, are two commonly observed pathologies used extensively by bioarchaeologists to understand past health and nutritional conditions. Yet the etiologies of porotic hyperostosis and cribra orbitalia are largely varied and not well understood, with proposed explanations ranging from diet and nutrition to chronic and infectious diseases. This...
Bioarchaeological versus Archaeological Data on the Beginnings of Southeast and Central European Early Neolithic (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The short paper focuses on Early Neolithic continental Europe, with presenting new archaeological results compared to similarly recent ancient DNA and stable isotope studies. I shall address various scenarios from selected regions in the Balkans, in northern Germany before zooming in the eastern and western part of the Carpathian basin. Here again,...
Bioarchaeologocal approaches to reconstructing Upper Palaeolithic environments in the Cantabrian Region, Northern Spain. (2017)
The Cantabrian Region of Northern Spain was an important refugium during the harsh conditions of the Last Glacial Maximum, when ice sheets covered much of Northern Europe and populations were pushed further south. Late Upper populations in the Cantabrian region thrived at this time, and there is an increase in the density of archaeological sites is seen, in addition to cultural changes such as the creation of rich cave art assemblages. Understanding the climatic and environmental conditions...
The Bioarchaeology of Diversity: A Case Study in the Roman Empire (2018)
This poster presents a new project to explore migration—the geographic movement of people—and diversity—the intersection of different types of people—in imperial Rome. In Bioanthropology, migration is often perceived in oversimplified terms. Researchers seek to determine if an individual or group migrated, and when in their lifetime this occurred. Furthermore, many scholars treat diversity in equally simplified terms. Traditionally, individuals are assigned to an ancestral population of "best...
Biocultural Analysis of Atypical Mortuary Pattern Symbolism in Three Medieval Transylvanian Millstone Burials (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Unusual treatments of the dead frequently merit extensive archaeological attention as they provide windows on a society’s concepts of personhood, use and manipulation of symbolic representations, and cosmology. In this work, we examine the use of millstones placed atop funerary contexts at the Papdomb site located in Văleni, Romania (A.D. 1100-1800). The site...
Biographical approach for evaluating archaeological landscapes. A case-study from Estonia (2017)
Since the 1990s, landscape biography as a research method has diversified. The biographical approach expects a thorough study of a certain region in various fields of landscape research, which span far beyond just geography or archaeology. In contemporary approaches to landscape, the limits of the concept of landscape biography are being explored, but also tested. What exactly is a landscape biography? What does it constitute? Is landscape biography just a narration of a specific defined place...
The 'Bitter' Death of Children: Health, Welfare and the Funerary Treatment of Infants and Young Children in Christian Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries (2019)
This is an abstract from the "The Health and Welfare of Children in the Past" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper will discuss the burials of infants and young children in the earliest Christian cemeteries in Anglo-Saxon England (10th and 11th centuries CE). While in earlier pagan periods the burials of the very youngest members of communities are conspicuous by their paucity, the earliest Christian cemeteries have a much more representative...