West Asia (Geographic Keyword)
1-25 (292 Records)
Three-Dimensional modeling is rapidly transforming reconstruction, visualization and conceptualization of ancient architecture. Many archaeologists are enthusiastic about 3D modeling and implementation of 3D methodologies has been rapid; others remain skeptical that the outcomes of 3D modeling justify the time and resources expended. This paper considers the strengths, weaknesses, and future prospects of 3D models. We discuss results of two projects that used photogrammetry and advanced GPS to...
9,000-year-old cereal meals: new methods for the analysis of charred food remains from Çatalhöyük East (Turkey) (2017)
Remains of archaeological cereal preparations are often recovered from archaeological Neolithic sites across the Near East and Europe through flotation. These are recognizable as seemingly amorphous charred fragments of plant material. The study of these charred fragments of ancient meals is of considerable importance because the identification of their components allows the characterization of the nature of the food types represented, and their preparation, provides insights into past culinary...
Age and Sex Composition of Zooarchaeological Measurements via Bayesian Mixture Models (2016)
Zooarchaeologists reconstruct age- and sex-specific animal mortality profiles in order to examine past human strategies of animal exploitation. Traditionally, animal age structures and sex ratios were derived from complementary but distinct data (e.g., age via epiphyseal fusion data, sex via bone morphology or metrics), though recent research has highlighted the value of integrating these data. This paper describes how zooarchaeologists can further that integration by fitting standard...
Agelah and the Powershot: Digital Possibilities for Alternate Ways of Knowing in Archaeology (2017)
Digital recording methods offer a range of new means of collecting, organizing, and presenting archaeological information, which lead to new ways of thinking about the past. Capitalizing on the intuitive design of digital technologies additionally creates the potential for communities whose voices have been missing from the archaeological record to contribute their perspectives. In this paper, I draw upon my experiences experimenting with multimedia recording strategies at Petra, Jordan and at...
Agricultural Diversification, Perennials and Complex Societies in Mesopotamia and the Yellow River (2017)
Mesopotamia and the Yellow River of China had long trajectories from early farming through to primary urbanisation, but to what extent do the archaeobotanical records indicate parallel developments in terms of agriculture? In both areas agriculture diversifies during the later Neolithic, with an increasing range of annual field crops as well as evidence for the cultivation of some perennials (tree fruits or vines). However, diversity was much higher in western Asia, from both a highly diverse...
Animal Husbandry at Late Chalcolithic Tell Surezha (Iraqi Kurdistan) (2017)
The Late Chalcolithic (4th millennium BC) in northern Mesopotamia was a period defined by an increase in social complexity and inequality. The Oriental Insitute of the University of Chicago's excavations at the site of Tell Surezha on the Erbil Plain in Iraqi Kurdistan have brought to light new information regarding the settlement of the region during this crucial period. This region is not well understood, especially when compared to adjacent regions, such as SE Anatolia and the Jezireh....
Animals and urbanization in northern Mesopotamia:Late Chalcolithic faunal remains from Hamoukar, Syria (2017)
This paper presents the results of a five year zooarchaeological study at the site of Hamoukar, a major Late Chalcolithic (fourth millennium BC) site in northeastern Syria. The Late Chalcolithic occupation at Hamoukar presents an excellent opportunity to study the social impact of foodways at an early urban site in northern Mesopotamia. When the site was destroyed by fire during the late fourth millennium BC, the occupants fled, leaving their goods and garbage behind in a well-preserved building...
Application of Architectural Energetics Models to the Iron Age Tumuli of Bin Tepe in Lydia, Western Turkey (2016)
This poster presents a study that applies an architectural energetics model to around 140 monumental earthen burial mounds located in an area known as Bin Tepe (the "Thousand Mounds") in western Turkey, which served as the burial ground for Iron Age Lydian rulers and elites. Using measurements obtained from ground survey and aerial reconnaissance, volumetric figures for each of the tumuli are calculated to determine the amounts of building materials necessary to construct each tumulus. These...
Applying Innovation Diffusion Theory to Archaeology: a Case Study on the Rise of Iron Technology in Western Asia (2015)
For a variety of historical reasons, the interdisciplinary field of innovation diffusion research has been underutilized by archaeologists examining technological change. Yet there is much to be gained by engaging with the predictive models produced by hundreds of investigations of technology adoption. Using the case of iron adoption in Western Asia, I demonstrate how an approach utilizing these concepts, with some modifications, provide a more complete perspective on technological change. ...
Arabian Late Pleistocene lithic variability and its implications for hominin behavior and demography (2016)
The last five years have seen a rapid acceleration in research on Late Pleistocene Arabia. A growing number of Late Pleistocene archaeological sites have now been identified. While Pleistocene hominin fossil remains are currently unknown in Arabia, a fast expanding corpus of faunal remains and paleoenvironmental archives provide important contextual information for hominin occupations. Claims have been made for close similarities between Arabian and broadly contemporary East and Northeast...
Archaeobotanical Chenopodium Seeds from across Central Asia (2017)
Plants in the Chenopodium genus have attracted human interest around the globe for millennia; they have been used for grain and vegetable food as well as being a key forage plant for herd animals. Historically, several wild species have been economically significant across Eurasia, notably in Central Asia, and the genus has been domesticated in various parts of the world, including East Asia. Wild Chenopodium seeds are the dominant category of archaeobotanical remains found in the vast majority...
The archaeology of conflict damaged sites: Hosn Niha in the Biqaʾ Valley, Lebanon. (2015)
When faced with the destruction of archaeological sites through conflict, and the accompanying loss of knowledge, what can archaeologists do? Archaeologists, politicians, and many others recognise that damage to heritage is irreversible and has very serious, lasting consequences. The impact of war on archaeological sites is rightly an area of great significance and concern to archaeologists and other heritage professionals, and is increasingly an area of research and debate, both within and...
The Archaeology of Politics in the Highlands of Persia (2015)
The case of the Neo-Elamite highlands is significant for understanding more about the potential of archaeology to reconstruct elements of political history through politicized landscapes. This project is particularly important in ancient Iran, which did not create the types of literary genres or historical narratives found in Mesopotamian or Greco-Roman civilizations. For archaeologists studying the Elamite dynasties and the early Achaemenid Empire, the central problem is the absence of...
Are Lithics and Fauna a Match made in Prehistoric Heaven? (2017)
Lithic artifacts and animal bones form the bulk of the material remains of the Paleolithic. This has led archaeologists to interpret these two types of finds as tethered components of subsistence systems. Differences observed through time and space in the lithic repertoire were considered as functional adjustments, designed to maximize gains from a diverse faunal resource base. While we do not challenge the general notion that lithic artifacts were used (also) for exploiting faunal (and other)...
Arukhlo: Neolithic Settlement and Ritual Place in Georgia, Southern Caucasus (2017)
The Neolithic way of life arrived in the Caucasus at the beginning of the 6th Millennium B.C. Recent excavations in Arukhlo in the Republic of Georgia, not far away from the capital Tblisis, shed light on the occupation of the place between 5800 and 5400 BC. The buildung activities on the site were several times interrupted by digging deep ditches through the village. In the presentation it will be argued that Arukhlo and probably other places were centres of ritual activities.
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust" –Natufian Cemeteries and Human Perceptions of Nature (2017)
A chief source of information on archaeological cultures is gathered from excavated cemeteries. Burial location and treatment provide insight into many aspects of the daily life, social organization, and ideology of past human populations. In particular, the location and organization of human interments can reveal how past cultures perceived their natural surroundings and their place within them. Through burial, an individual returns to the soil of their homeland symbolizing the connections...
The ASOR Cultural Heritage Initiative: Planning for Safeguarding Heritage Sites in Syria and northern Iraq (2016)
Cultural Heritage Initiative—Planning for Safeguarding Heritage Sites in Syria and Iraq (CHI) is headed by The American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) and is funded by a cooperative agreement from the US Department of State, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. Active conflict in Syria and northern Iraq is contributing to the damage and destruction of cultural heritage. This research project aims to 1) raise awareness in Syria and Iraq and among the international community about current...
Assessing Ancient Vertical Integration: Copper Production in Early Bronze Age Southern Levant (2015)
In the later part of the Early Bronze Age (~2800 BCE - 2500 BCE) the collapse of the first "urban" settlements was beginning. That collapse led to a period predominantly identified with ruralism and pastoralism, the Early Bronze IV (~2500 BCE - 2000 BCE). Within this context, the site of Khirbat Hamra Ifdan (KHI) was founded and sustained as a copper manufactory in the peripheral Faynan district of southern Jordan, unprecedented in scale and close to the source of copper ore. Before the...
Assessing differential fragmentation of mammal bone: a new proxy (2017)
Relative bone density has been utilized as a proxy for differences in survivability among mammal bones during pre- and post-depositional fragmentation/destruction processes. Since bone remodels during an animal’s lifetime to resist directional forces and cancellous bone forms patterns of trabeculae oriented in directions to compensate for forces exerted on the bone, I think that estimates of density of a bone are an inadequate proxy for survivability. In an attempt to develop a new proxy for...
Assyrian Landscape Planning in the Core of the Empire (ca. 900-600 BC) (2016)
A variety of evidence has been used to suggest that the Assyrian kings and their planners made dramatic changes to the landscape of the imperial core, and these changes were deliberate. This evidence mostly consists, however, of anecdotal observations and uncritical readings of propagandistic royal inscriptions. The hypothesized planned Assyrian landscape also conflicts with the results of systematic archaeological research on preceding Bronze Age landscapes, which were largely self-organized....
The Aurignacian lithic industry from Area E (2017)
Area E of Manot Cave, Western Galilee, is found at the top of the western talus, close to the apparent natural opening of the cave, which was blocked approximately 30 kya. The area appears to be the natural end of the living surfaces, with the main living area possibly being closer to the natural entrance. Area E is composed of two sedementological Units; Unit 1, which is composed of topsoil and Unit 2, which contains the archaeological layers. Unit 2 in area E is divided into nine...
Beyond Seeds and Charcoal: Constructing a Past for the Future (2015)
The "big issue" of my career has been long-term human impact on the environment, an inherently processual concern. Working on ancient west Asian plant remains, ethnographic analogy and modern vegetation analogs helped me explain how the the demand for energy lead to deforestation and increasing dung fuel use, both of which are traceable through archaeobotanical study. Seeds preserved in dung fuel, in turn, allow us to identify agropastoral practices that created new environmental niches for...
Beyond the Palace Walls: Household Perspectives on Living and Working in Late 3rd millennium BC Tell Asmar, Iraq (ancient Eshnunna) (2016)
Past studies contextualizing residential neighborhoods within the socioeconomic, political, and geographic organization of early historic urban settlements in ancient southern Mesopotamia have concentrated heavily on architecture and ancient textual evidence to document diachronic changes in household fortunes. As part of a PhD dissertation project, this investigation of households from the late 3rd millennium BC levels of the Private Houses residential area at urban Tell Asmar (ancient...
Bioarchaeology of the Arabian Bronze Age: Humeral Entheseal Changes and Burial Patterns at Tell Abraq (2015)
Tell Abraq is an archaeological site from the Arabian Bronze Age, located near the Persian Gulf Coast of the modern-day country of the United Arab Emirates. A sealed, two-chamber mud-brick tomb on site, in use from approximately 2200 – 2000 BC, yielded a 1.4-meter-thick matrix of commingled human remains, soil, and artifacts, representing a MNI of 403 individuals, of which nearly three quarters are adults. Although the remains are fragmentary, they still offer rich insights into the biocultural...
The Black Sea as a Fluid Frontier: Connectivity, Integration, and Disarticulation from the Fourth to First Millennium BCE (2017)
Recent years have witnessed increasing scholarly attention to the Black Sea, a region often considered peripheral to better known "cores" of cultural activity, such as the Mediterranean, Europe, the Near East, and even the Caucasus. Challenging conventional views of the Black Sea as largely disarticulated prior to the arrival of Greek colonists in the 7th Century BCE, this paper argues that ongoing, informal networks of interaction existed across the region during the previous millennia,...