Asia: Southwest Asia and Levant (Geographic Keyword)
76-100 (278 Records)
This is an abstract from the "Pleistocene Landscapes and Hominin Behavior in the Armenian Highlands" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Understanding the chronology and environmental context of the earliest hominin expansions into Eurasia is of considerable interest in paleoanthropology. Several Early Pleistocene archaeological sites in the Armenian Highlands and wider Caucasus region have demonstrated the importance of the region for understanding...
Early Steps into the Paleolithic Research of the Armenian Highlands (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Pleistocene Landscapes and Hominin Behavior in the Armenian Highlands" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This session about the current state of affairs into the research of the Paleolithic of the Armenian Highlands (Armenia and Georgia) will be opened with an overview of the research history of the area, providing a framework for the following presentations. The focus of this presentation is on the historical...
The Early–Middle Pleistocene Settlement of Northern Armenia (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Pleistocene Landscapes and Hominin Behavior in the Armenian Highlands" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Northern Armenia and southern Georgia, divided in the Haghtanak-Bagratashen area by the Debed River, witnessed considerable volcanic activity between ~2.1 and 1.6 Ma, toward the end of which the earliest evidence of Homo outside Africa is found at Dmanisi. The rich assemblages of lithic, faunal, and human fossil...
Elite Stronghold or Communal Defense? Investigating a Late Bronze-Early Iron Age Cyclopean Fortress in Kvemo Kartli, Southern Georgia (2019)
This is an abstract from the "The South Caucasus Region: Crossroads of Societies & Polities. An Assessment of Research Perspectives in Post-Soviet Times" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Emerging after a Middle Bronze Age, which is defined by massive kurgan burials and a lack of permanent settlements, cyclopean fortresses of the South Caucasus represent the product of a significant amount of coordinated labor. However, much is unclear about the...
Enhancing Access to Arabian Rock Art Archives (2018)
Petroglyphs and inscriptions have been investigated in the Arabian Peninsula at least since 1879, when Lady Anne and Wilfrid Blunt crossed the An Nafud desert and stopped at the now famous site of Jubbah in northern Saudi Arabia. Since that time explorers from England, Belgium, Germany, the US, and the Saudi Department of Antiquities, have recorded images from north to south. Archival materials, including field notes, photographs and letters are available at various institutions, but there is no...
Entangled Biodiverse Landscapes: Human and Environmental Dynamics in the Mountain Steppes of Armenia (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Living Landscapes: Disaster, Memory, and Change in Dynamic Environments " session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this paper we investigate the entanglement of agro-pastoral and ecological processes on the creation and maintenance of vegetation biodiversity in the mountain steppe of Armenia, an area that has been a steppe for the entire Holocene (Cromartie et al. 2020). Focusing on the Bronze and Iron Age we discuss how...
Every Block of Stone Has a Statue Inside: Epipalaeolithic Engraved Plaquettes and Art at Kharaneh IV (2018)
Artistic objects are thought to be one of the hallmarks of the Natufian period, marking a florescence of artistic behavior appearing prior to the origins of agriculture. However, with continuing research into Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic sites in the Levant, new discoveries of ‘symbolic’ artifacts are increasing our understanding of even earlier artistic and symbolic pursuits. In this paper we present an engraved plaquette from the Middle Epipalaeolithic context of Kharaneh IV, eastern...
An Examination of Gaza Gray Ware Infant Jar Burials at Tell el-Hesi, Israel (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The study of Gaza Gray Ware (GGW) represents an important opportunity for understanding lifeways in Ottoman-era Palestine. Chiefly produced in Gaza, this ceramic industry was present during the 400 years of Ottoman occupation in the Southern Levant, continuing to a lesser extent into modern times. Favored for their high quality, these vessels were...
Examining Origins of Ceramic Production in Lerik, Azerbaijan (Late Iron Age to Late Antique Period): Insights from Ceramic Petrographic Analysis (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This research examines manufacturing technology and origin of production of ceramics from the necropolis at Piboz Tepe and site at Yoladoy Bin in the Lerik region of Azerbaijan through utilization of ceramic petrography and surface treatment analysis. Data obtained through petrography analysis indicates whether ceramics were locally produced or imported...
Examining Sources of Glazed Ceramics In Mesopotamia in Late Antiquity (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Cross-Cultural Petrographic Studies of Ceramic Traditions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Estimation of provenance in fine ceramics is a challenging task. Documenting the trade in glazed Sassanian and Islamic ceramics into southeast Asia and China has driven an interest in identifying the sources of these ceramics. We have defined three hypothetical provenance groups 1) Greater and Lesser Zab catchment (Arbil area),...
Examining the Concept of Hinterland in Antiquity in Arid Regions of the Levant Using Archaeobotanical Data and GIS Analysis (2018)
Studies concerning the size of agricultural hinterlands in antiquity have generally been conducted on sites with favorable climates and have become the standard comparative tool. However, little has been examined relating to the size of a settlements hinterland in arid environments even when excellent archaeological evidence for extensive agricultural production, as can be seen in southern Jordan and Israel during the Roman and Byzantine periods. Likewise, a disproportionate focus has been...
Explanatory Frameworks in Zooarchaeological Research: Are Dichotomies Necessary and Meaningful? (2018)
Zooarchaeologists have often employed binary oppositions such as "urban consumers" and "rural producers" and distinguished between centralized/regulated and decentralized/unregulated animal economies with direct/indirect food provisioning systems to elucidate pastoral economies of early complex societies. As zooarchaeologists, we are tasked with bridging more abstract and ideational anthropological variables with the archaeological hard evidence as well as with a narrower set of more explicit...
Exploring Long-Term Trends in Wealth Inequality in Ancient Southwest Asia (2023)
This is an abstract from the "To Have and Have Not: A Progress Report on the Global Dynamics of Wealth Inequality (GINI) Project" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Investigating how different forms of inequality arose and were sustained is key to understanding the emergence of complex social systems, and archaeology has much to contribute to this discussion. In this paper we investigate inequality in ancient Southwest Asia using a variety of proxies...
Fanning the Flames of Complexity: Archaeobotanical Approaches to the Study of Fuel Economies at Late Chalcolithic Sites in Northern Mesopotamia (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The burning of fuel resources for the heating and lighting homes, preparing food and craft goods, and eliminating waste is an essential daily domestic practice on par with the acquisition of food and shelter. With the emergence of socioeconomically complex societies in Northern Mesopotamia during the Late Chalcolithic, ever greater resources would have been...
Fat, Potency, and Respect: The Holy Triad of Human-Animal Relationships in the Paleolithic (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Embodied Essence: Anthropological, Historical, and Archaeological Perspectives on the Use of Body Parts and Bodily Substances in Religious Beliefs and Practices" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Animals played a major role in human subsistence, well-being, and relationship with the world around them since time immemorial. Humans were highly dependent on their animal counterparts for their successful survival and...
Faunal Perspectives on Occupation Intensity and Use of Space at Neolithic Kfar HaHoresh (2018)
During the transition to agriculture in southwest Asia, patterns of settlement site use reflect a major shift in the use of space by the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period. Diverse types of sites were utilized by this time, including locales primarily for ritual activities. More studies of ritual site use are needed to clarify how space was organized and used during the Neolithic Transition. This paper presents evidence of animal selection and refuse management to investigate the intensity of site...
Fear Written Large: Systematic Warfare and the Ancient Empire of Urartu (2018)
This paper presents a Landscapes of Warfare case study, combining textual documentation, archeological data and GIS analysis to elucidate the effects of pervasive warfare on the development of Urartu, a highland empire that existed in the ancient Near East in the 1st Millennium BCE. Specifically, I argue that forts, fortresses and fortified settlements were strategically placed for both defensive communication as well as the systematic surveillance of roads. The paper contributes to scholarly...
Feeding the Household and the Spirit During the Ubaid Period at Kenan Tepe, Turkey (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. During the Ubaid Period, a small village overlooked the Tigris River at the site we now call Kenan Tepe. Here, household members carried out activities both inside and around their houses, as well as utilizing roof-top spaces. During its habitation one of the structures burned and collapsed, preserving evidence...
A Fingerprint Assemblage from a Late Bronze Age Canaanite Cultic Enclosure at Tel Burna in the Southern Levant: The Division of Labor According to Age and Sex (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The identity of producers is a perennial question in the anthropological and archaeological study of craft production. Who made the vessels and figurines used for ritual practice and feasting in the Canaanite cultic enclosure at Tel Burna? Our project attempts to answer this question by determining the age and sex of fingerprints preserved on a selection...
Fire Use in the Levantine Early Epipaleolithic: The Dibble and Colleagues Lithics Count Method (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Establishing the Science of Paleolithic Archaeology: The Legacy of Harold Dibble (1951–2018) Part I" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Using a count method of complete and proximal burnt lithics ≥2.5 cm, Dibble and colleagues recorded a pattern of fire use by southwestern France Neanderthals whereby fire use was more common in warmer rather than colder intervals of the late Pleistocene. Recent work by Abdolahzadeh and...
The First Paleoecological Analysis Derived from a Small Vertebrate Assemblage from the Byzantine Galilee and the Implications for Settlement Patterns (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The flourishing of settlements in the Levant during the Roman-Byzantine period has been attributed to an increase in humid conditions between 300 –700 CE with a concomitant increase in tree cultivation. Small vertebrates which provide high-resolution paleoecological proxy are rare in the Byzantine period overall and totally absent from Galilean sites. This...
Food Futures: Culinary Archaeology and Anticipating the Future (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Culinary Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Imagining what a culinary archaeology might look like involves anticipating the future. In fact, all archaeological practice is concerned with the future even if it is not stated explicitly and archaeologists working on food preparation practices are no exception. As climate change continues to impact (at an alarming rate) sites, travel, collections, data...
Forced Migration in the Assyrian Empire, on the Periphery and in the Heartland (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. Premodern states could and did reorganize the spatial demography of their domains. In the ancient Near East, the kings of the Assyrian Empire (ca. 900-600 BC) made grandiose claims in propagandistic inscriptions to have relocated entire kingdoms, and many thousands of persons, with their realm. The research of...
From Homes to Ruins: Ethnoarchaeology and Small-Scale Village Dynamics at Post-19th Century Kızılkaya, Central Turkey (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Drawing on interviews with former residents of the abandoned Turkish village of Kızılkaya, as well as photogrammetry and other visual research, in this poster we consider how this post-1800 rural village was organized around the household, the mosque, access to the river, and raising and caring for animals. The rural village of Kızılkaya, located in the...
“From the Field to the Museum”: A New Educational Outreach Program at Vedi Fortress, Armenia (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This field report recounts our newly realized collaborative children’s educational workshop at the Vedi Fortress in Armenia. In June 2022, the Ararat Plain Southeast Archaeological Project (APSAP) partnered with the National Gallery of Armenia and the Armenian Heritage Development Fund to run our first “From the Field to the Museum” Summer School. Children...