ancient Near East (Other Keyword)
1-5 (5 Records)
The Late Neolithic Halaf period (c. 6100-5200 cal. BCE) is one of critical importance for understanding the emergence of social complexity in the Ancient Near East. During this period, people in Northern Mesopotamia were beginning to experiment with altering the scale at which their social, economic, and political networks were structured. By examining gradual shifts in the scale of cooperation within groups, we can identify changes in social interaction and organization. I demonstrate this...
Impressions of an Early Urban Landscape: Interpreting a Bronze Age Ceramic Motif from ‘Amlah, Oman (2016)
This paper explores one prominent material correlate of an interconnected ancient Near Eastern world: a category of ceramic vessels termed incised greywares. Archaeological excavations have revealed a significant corpus of incised greyware vessels from across the mid-third millennium BC Near East; they are found in contexts as diverse as the ancient city of Susa to small, communal tombs across the Omani peninsula. The primary focus of this paper lies in investigating an assemblage of this...
Revealing the Local: A Look Inwards at the Archaeology of Southeastern Arabia (2018)
Rita Wright’s valuable contributions to the archaeology of urbanism and holistic, multi-scalar approaches to settlement patterns is well-attested in her survey work along the Beas River Valley. This paper picks up these themes in a different region of the interconnected Bronze Age world that has been the focus of her research—ancient Oman. Known as Magan in Mesopotamian texts, a considerable amount of research has been conducted on Bronze Age Oman by focusing on its external connections to...
The Rise of Fortification Systems in Anatolia at the Collapse of the Early Bronze Age (2016)
The end of the Early Bronze Age (ca. 2000 BCE) saw the collapse or the decline of a number of civilizations and settlements throughout the ancient Near East, and is an oft discussed topic in the study of the archaeology and history of the region. This paper takes a micro look at this phenomenon within Central and Southeastern Anatolia, using the creation, upkeep and collapse of complex fortification systems as a proxy for violence and the preparedness for violence in the region. Before the Early...
Thinking Through Mountains: A Perspective from the ancient Near East (2015)
The Middle East and surrounding areas are among the most mountainous regions of the world, where a combination of material and written records provides a unique opportunity to explore highland-lowland interaction in the distant past and over the long-term. This includes issues of relevance to current efforts to document, preserve and protect mountain regions and ways of life, such as the movement of people, goods and ideas, the environmental and resource contexts and consequences of such...