Archaeology of the Kerma Culture

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Schrader ◽  
Stuart Tyson Smith
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Complex Societies ◽  
Writing System ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Domestic Spaces ◽  
Funerary Rituals ◽  
Type Site

Kerma was a Bronze Age culture (c. 2500–1500 bce) located in what is today Sudan and southern Egypt. It is one of the earliest complex societies in Africa and, at its height, rivaled Ancient Egypt. The ancient Kerma culture spans the Pre-Kerma, examining the settlements and cemeteries of this ancient culture during the Pre-Kerma (3500–2500 bce, included here as a precursor to the Kerma civilization), Early Kerma, Middle Kerma, Classic Kerma, and Recent Kerma periods. Much of what is known comes from the capital city and type site, Kerma. However, other urban centers such as Sai, as well as hinterland communities, are also discussed. An archaeological approach is crucial to the examination of Kerma’s past because an indigenous writing system had not yet been developed. Interaction with Egypt is discussed, but only as it relates to Kerma’s historical context. Chronological changes to craft production, religious practices, domestic spaces, and funerary rituals are framed by larger sociopolitical and socioeconomic issues, including inequality, political authority, and economic development.

Uncontrollable Blackness

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas J. Flowe
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
African American Men ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Domestic Spaces ◽  
Racial Injustice ◽  
Lawful Conduct ◽  
The Relationship

Early twentieth-century African American men in northern urban centers like New York faced economic isolation, segregation, a biased criminal justice system, and overt racial attacks by police and citizens. In this book, Douglas J. Flowe interrogates the meaning of crime and violence in the lives of these men, whose lawful conduct itself was often surveilled and criminalized, by focusing on what their actions and behaviors represented to them. He narrates the stories of men who sought profits in underground markets, protected themselves when law enforcement failed to do so, and exerted control over public, commercial, and domestic spaces through force in a city that denied their claims to citizenship and manhood. Flowe furthermore traces how the features of urban Jim Crow and the efforts of civic and progressive leaders to restrict their autonomy ultimately produced the circumstances under which illegality became a form of resistance.Drawing from voluminous prison and arrest records, trial transcripts, personal letters and documents, and investigative reports, Flowe opens up new ways of understanding the black struggle for freedom in the twentieth century. By uncovering the relationship between the fight for civil rights, black constructions of masculinity, and lawlessness, he offers a stirring account of how working-class black men employed extralegal methods to address racial injustice.

Amarna: Urban Manufacture of Luxury Items

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna K. Hodgkinson
Keyword(s):  
Far East ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Capital City ◽  
North West ◽  
Far North ◽  
The Core ◽  
The North ◽  
The Far East ◽  
Royal Road ◽  
The City

Little is necessary in terms of an introduction, since Amarna is one of the best-known settlements of ancient Egypt. The city was founded by pharaoh Amenhotep IV, known from his fifth regal year as Akhenaten, on his move away from Thebes and Memphis to found a new religious and administrative capital city. Akhenaten reigned approximately between 1348 and 1331 BC, and his principal wife was Nefertiti. Akhenaten’s direct successor appears to have been a figure named Smenkhare (or Ankhkheperure) who was married to Akhenaten’s daughter Meritaten. Like Nefertiti, Smenkhare/Ankhkheperure held the throne name Nefernefruaten. For this reason it is uncertain whether this individual was Nefertiti, who may have reigned for some years after the death of Akhenaten, possibly even with a brief co-regency, or whether this was a son or younger brother of the latter. The rule of Smenkhare/Ankhkheperure was short, and he or she was eventually succeeded by Tutankhamun. The core city of Amarna was erected on a relatively flat desert plain surrounded by cliffs on the east bank of the Nile, in Middle Egypt, approximately 60km south of the modern city of Minia, surrounded by the villages et- Till to the north and el-Hagg Qandil to the south. The site was defined by at least sixteen boundary stelae, three of which actually stand on the western bank, past the edge of the modern cultivation. In total, the city measures 12.5km north–south on the east bank between stelae X and J, and c.8.2km west–east between the projected line between stelae X and J and stela S to the far east, which also indicates approximately the longitude of the royal tomb. The distance between stelae J and F, to the far south-west, measures c.20km, and between stelae X and A, to the far north-west 19.2km. The core city, which is the part of the settlement examined in this section, was erected along the Nile, on the east bank, and it is defined by the ‘Royal Road’, a major thoroughfare running through the entire core city north–south.

The Greek and the unGreek, 1830–1920

The Great Sea ◽  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Abulafia
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Attractive Alternative ◽  
Deep Roots ◽  
Grand Tour ◽  
German Art ◽  
History Of

An important feature of the Fifth Mediterranean was the discovery of the First Mediterranean, and the rediscovery of the Second. The Greek world came to encompass Bronze Age heroes riding the chariots described by Homer, and the Roman world was found to have deep roots among the little-known Etruscans. Thus, during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries entirely new perspectives on the history of the Mediterranean were opened up. An early lead was given by the growth of interest in ancient Egypt, discussed in the previous chapter, though that was closely linked to traditional biblical studies as well. In the eighteenth century, the Grand Tour introduced well-heeled travellers from northern Europe to classical remains in Rome and Sicily, and Englishmen saw it as an attractive alternative to time spent at Oxford or Cambridge, where those who paid any attention to their studies were more likely to be immersed in ancient texts than in ancient objects. On the other hand, aesthetic appreciation of ancient works of art was renewed in the late eighteenth century, as the German art historian Winckelmann began to impart a love for the forms of Greek art, arguing that the Greeks dedicated themselves to the representation of beauty (as the Romans failed to do). His History of Art in Antiquity was published in German in 1764 and in French very soon afterwards, and was enormously influential. In the next few decades, discoveries at Pompeii and Herculaneum, in which Nelson’s cuckolded host, Sir William Hamilton, was closely involved, and then in Etruria, further enlarged northern European interest in ancient art, providing interior designers with rich patterns, and collectors with vast amounts of loot – ‘Etruscan vases’, nearly all in reality Greek, were shipped out of Italy as the Etruscan tombs began to be opened up. In Greece, it was necessary to purchase the consent of Ottoman officials before excavating and exporting what was found; the most famous case, that of the Parthenon marbles at the start of the nineteenth century, was succeeded by other acquisitions for northern museums: the Pergamon altar was sent to Berlin, the facings of the Treasury of Atreus from Mycenae were sent to the British Museum, and so on.

scholarly journals The small-scale urban reservoir fisheries of Lago Paranoá, Brasília, DF, Brazil

2007 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Walter ◽  
M. Petrere Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Nile Tilapia ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Monthly Income ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Small Scale Fisheries ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Reservoir Fisheries ◽  
Average Monthly Income

In many cases in large urban centers, which have appropriate waterbodies, small-scale fisheries are the only source of cheap protein for the poor. In Lago Paranoá, located in Brasília, the capital city of Brazil, fishing was studied by conducting interviews with 53 fishers filling in logbooks from March, 1999 to March, 2000 in three fishing communities. The fishers come from the poorest towns around Brasília, known as satellite-towns. They have been living there on average for 21.7 years (s = 9.6 years), their families have 4.9 members (s = 3.6) on average and 44.2% do not have a basic education. However, such characteristics are similar to the socioeconomic indices of the metropolis where they live. In spite of being illegal between 1966 and 2000, fishing generated an average monthly income of U$ 239.00 (s = U$ 171.77). The Nile Tilapia Oreocrhromis niloticus is the main captured species (85% of a total number of landings in weight of 62.5 t.). Fishing is carried out in rowing boats, individually or in pairs. The fishing equipment used are gillnets and castnets. Gillnets were used actively, whereby the surface of the water is beaten with a stick to drive Tilapias towards nets as they have the ability to swim backwards. This fishing strategy was used in 64.7% of the fisheries, followed by castnets (31.1%) and by gillnets which were used less (4.2%). The fish is sold directly in the streets and fairs of the satellite-towns to middlemen or to bar owners. Three communities have different strategies in terms of fishing equipments, fishing spots and commercialization. Consequently, there are statistically significant differences in relation to the monthly income for each one of these communities.

Late second–early first millennium BC abrupt climate changes in coastal Syria and their possible significance for the history of the Eastern Mediterranean

2010 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Kaniewski ◽  
E. Paulissen ◽  
E. Van Campo ◽  
H. Weiss ◽  
T. Otto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Environmental History ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Alluvial Deposits ◽  
Iron Age I

AbstractThe alluvial deposits near Gibala-Tell Tweini provide a unique record of environmental history and food availability estimates covering the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. The refined pollen-derived climatic proxy suggests that drier climatic conditions occurred in the Mediterranean belt of Syria from the late 13th/early 12th centuries BC to the 9th century BC. This period corresponds with the time frame of the Late Bronze Age collapse and the subsequent Dark Age. The abrupt climate change at the end of the Late Bronze Age caused region-wide crop failures, leading towards socio-economic crises and unsustainability, forcing regional habitat-tracking. Archaeological data show that the first conflagration of Gibala occurred simultaneously with the destruction of the capital city Ugarit currently dated between 1194 and 1175 BC. Gibala redeveloped shortly after this destruction, with large-scale urbanization visible in two main architectural phases during the Early Iron Age I. The later Iron Age I city was destroyed during a second conflagration, which is radiocarbon-dated at circa 2950 cal yr BP. The data from Gibala-Tell Tweini provide evidence in support of the drought hypothesis as a triggering factor behind the Late Bronze Age collapse in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Foreign schriftdenken in ausbau languages

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Constanze Weth ◽  
Daniel Bunčić
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Slavic Language ◽  
Writing System ◽  
Writing Systems ◽  
The Creation

Abstract The concept of schriftdenken describes how the knowledge of a writing system in use guides the creation of a writing system for a yet to be standardized language. Trubetzkoy described this effect with reference to the invention of the Glagolitic alphabet in the 9th century with Greek as the reference writing system. This paper demonstrates schriftdenken and measures to increase orthographic differences in two writing systems with a relatively young history: Luxembourgish (a Germanic language) and Rusyn (a Slavic language). In the Luxembourgish context, schriftdenken and orthographic separation are revealed by the historical context, whereas in the Rusyn context, both practices are related to different geographic contact situations in the countries where Rusyn is spoken and written. The reference languages for Luxembourgish are German, French and Dutch; for Rusyn, they are Russian, Ukrainian, Church Slavonic, Polish and Slovak.

scholarly journals Negotiating Imperialism and Resistance in Late Bronze Age Ugarit: The Rise of Alphabetic Cuneiform

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-199
Author(s):  
Philip J. Boyes
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Near East ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Writing System ◽  
East Mediterranean ◽  
Local Language ◽  
Elite Culture ◽  
Spheres Of Influence ◽  
The City

Ugarit was a highly cosmopolitan, multilingual and multiscript city at the intersection of several major Late Bronze Age political and cultural spheres of influence. In the thirteenth centurybc, the city adopted a new alphabetic cuneiform writing system in the local language for certain uses alongside the Akkadian language, script and scribal practices that were standard throughout the Near East. Previous research has seen this as ‘vernacularization’, in response to the city's encounter with Mesopotamian culture. Recent improvements in our understanding of the date of Ugarit's adoption of alphabetic cuneiform render this unlikely, and this paper instead argues that we should see this vernacularization as part of Ugarit's negotiation of, and resistance to, their encounter with Hittite imperialism. Furthermore, it stands as a specific, Ugaritian, manifestation of similar trends apparent across a number of East Mediterranean societies in response to the economic and political globalism of Late Bronze Age élite culture. As such, these changes in Ugaritian scribal practice have implications for our wider understanding of the end of the Late Bronze Age.

Dating Gordion: the Timing and Tempo of Late Bronze and Early Iron Age Political Transformation

Radiocarbon ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 495-514
Author(s):  
Lisa Kealhofer ◽  
Peter Grave ◽  
Mary M Voigt
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Cultural Transformation ◽  
Central Anatolia ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Political Transformation ◽  
Subsequent Formation ◽  
Absolute Dating ◽  
Type Site ◽  
Key Events

ABSTRACTGordion has long served as an archaeological type site for Iron Age central Anatolia and provided pioneering radiocarbon (14C) determinations as reported in the first issue ofRadiocarbon(1959). Absolute dating of key events at Gordion continue to reshape our understanding of regional development and interaction in the Iron Age, with a major conflagration in the late 9th BCE century at this site the most recent focus of attention (DeVries et al. 2003). Here we present the latest series of14C determinations for Gordion from Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age contexts. Fifteen absolute dates provide a critical new framework for establishing the timing and tempo of cultural transformation from the collapse of the Hittite Empire through to the subsequent formation of the Phrygian polity that dominated central Anatolia from the 9th to the 7th c. BCE. This chronometric revision transforms our perspective on the LBA/EIA transition at this site: from disengagement from Hittite hegemony in the 12th c. BCE, to the precocious emergence of the Phrygian capital in the early 9th c. BCE.

scholarly journals Killing the Priest-King: Addressing Egalitarianism in the Indus Civilization

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam S. Green
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Complexity ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Complex Societies ◽  
Complex Society ◽  
Ruling Class ◽  
Indus Civilization ◽  
The Past

Abstract The cities of the Indus civilization were expansive and planned with large-scale architecture and sophisticated Bronze Age technologies. Despite these hallmarks of social complexity, the Indus lacks clear evidence for elaborate tombs, individual-aggrandizing monuments, large temples, and palaces. Its first excavators suggested that the Indus civilization was far more egalitarian than other early complex societies, and after nearly a century of investigation, clear evidence for a ruling class of managerial elites has yet to materialize. The conspicuous lack of political and economic inequality noted by Mohenjo-daro’s initial excavators was basically correct. This is not because the Indus civilization was not a complex society, rather, it is because there are common assumptions about distributions of wealth, hierarchies of power, specialization, and urbanism in the past that are simply incorrect. The Indus civilization reveals that a ruling class is not a prerequisite for social complexity.

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