Mobility and the Syro-Anatolian Culture Complex During the Early First Millennium

Author(s):  
James F. Osborne

This chapter explores how mobility and politics were intertwined in the Syro-Anatolian Culture Complex (SACC). Noting that politics and movement are always related, an insight drawn from the “new mobilities paradigm” in sociology and referred to here as kinopolitics, this chapter explores this dynamic in three places. The first is the troubling presence of Phoenician inscriptions and objects in SACC that have long been difficult to interpret historically. Here it is argued that mobile Phoenician speakers must have been part of the Syro-Anatolian sociopolitical landscape, likely involved in state-sponsored commercial trade. The second is one of SACC’s most famous cultural products, the finely worked ivories that were so sought after during the Iron Age. In this case, ivory and its producers were both highly mobile across SACC. The third, the engraved stone reliefs that lined the walls of monumental buildings, is the most counterintuitive. Despite appearances, evidence from nearly all cases where such reliefs have been found indicates that they were constantly being reused in new constructions, indicating that such movement was a cultural significant practice.

1986 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Denbow

Until recently, the later prehistory of the Kalahari has remained almost unknown and, in consequence, the long and complex past of the peoples of this region has often been condensed into an ahistorical and timeless caricature when compared with events in neighbouring countries. The summary presented here attempts to rectify this situation by drawing upon data from over four hundred surveyed sites and information from detailed excavations carried out since 1975 at twenty-two selected localities in Botswana.Three important topics in southern African prehistory are addressed from the perspective of these investigations. The first topic is the introduction of sheep and cattle to the sub-continent between 2,000 and 2,500 years ago. The second is the origins and social dynamics of pastoralism during the Early Iron Age, and relates these developments to the formation of stratified socio-political systems around the fringes of the Kalahari towards the end of the first millennium A.D. The third topic is the relevance to current information on the later prehistory of the Kalahari of ethnographic accounts of herding and foraging societies gathered in this same region during the twentieth century.


1983 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
G J Barclay

SUMMARY Myrehead has revealed the eroded remnants of activity from the Beaker period (Period A) onwards, with actual settlement evinced only from about the early first millennium be. The three houses and the cooking pits of Period B may have been constructed and used sequentially. This open settlement was probably replaced during the mid first millennium bc, possibly without a break, by a palisaded enclosure (Period C), which may have contained a ring-groove house and a four-post structure. Continued domestic activity (Period D) was suggested by a single pit outside the enclosure, dated to the late first millennium bc/early first millennium ad. The limited evidence of the economy of the settlements suggests a mixed farming system.


Ginzei Qedem ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Yahalom

The article serves as a supplement to a recent critical edition: The Yotserot of R. Samuel the Third: A Leading Figure in Jerusalem of the 10th Century (Joseph Yahalom and Naoya Katsumata eds., Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, Jerusalem 2014, 1139 pp.). The article includes some new texts in the genre of the author's well-known activity in the field of Yotserot as well as a fragment in the genre of the Azharot. The article deals by way of introduction to the full scale of activity in establishing the newly full-fledged Yotserot genre which was introduced mainly in the middle of the century by Sa‛adia Gaon. In so doing he was able to produce two entirely new sets of Yotserot according to his well-known habits of creating parallel literary oeuvre, one for the general public and one for the elite. In a totally different capacity the article deals with a special liturgical technique established by Samuel to be used in his Ahavot and for his Meʼorot. He basically described his wretched nation as a special two-part construct state embodying a plethora of information and a whole world of sympathy.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1S) ◽  
Author(s):  
Edyta Zawisza ◽  
Anna Filbrandt-Czaja ◽  
Alexander Correa-Metrio

<p class="Tre">Lake Jelonek is a small lake located in central northern Poland, in the Tuchola Forest. The sediments of the lake represent a natural archive that offers insights into the natural history of the region from the Late Glacial to present. In winter 2002, a 1330 cm long sediment core was recovered from the deepest part of lake. Using a multiproxy approach (cladocerans, pollen and basic geochemistry), we reconstructed trophic status changes through the last ~15,000 years. Special attention was devoted to the evaluation of nutrient contributions to the lake from natural and anthropogenic sources. The Cladocera analyses yielded a total of 29 species belonging to five families (Bosminidae, Daphniidae, Leptodoridae, Chydoridae, Sididae), with planktonic species representing more than 60% of Cladocera relative abundance throughout the core. The pollen results suggested four periods of increased human activity, so-called settlement phases. The first traces of human activity in the basin of Lake Jelonek appeared in the Atlantic period and were related with Mesolithic and Neolithic settlements. The second (Bronze Age) and the third (Iron Age) settlement phases are well marked by the paleolimnological proxies studied. This time period clearly manifested on the lake waters as an increasing trophy level probably caused by human-associated discharges of nutrients to the lake. After the third settlement phase cladoceran data indicated a significant decrease in the lake trophic level and the pollen data showed a recovery of forest cover. The fourth period of human economic activity during the early Middle Age was characterized by deforestation associated with land reclamation for grazing and cultivation of cereals, and the subsequent nutrient enrichment of lake waters. According to our results, the biological development of Lake Jelonek was determined by climate changes from Late Glacial up to the Atlantic period. Contrastingly, the most important driver for the lake development though the middle and late Holocene has been human activity within the lake catchment. The recovery of the lake trophic level during the last century, which is primarily related to extensive afforestation of the lake catchment, highlighted the importance of land use in the conservation of healthy water bodies.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (13) ◽  
pp. eabe4414
Author(s):  
Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone ◽  
Elmira Khussainova ◽  
Nurzhibek Kahbatkyzy ◽  
Lyazzat Musralina ◽  
Maria A. Spyrou ◽  
...  

The Scythians were a multitude of horse-warrior nomad cultures dwelling in the Eurasian steppe during the first millennium BCE. Because of the lack of first-hand written records, little is known about the origins and relations among the different cultures. To address these questions, we produced genome-wide data for 111 ancient individuals retrieved from 39 archaeological sites from the first millennia BCE and CE across the Central Asian Steppe. We uncovered major admixture events in the Late Bronze Age forming the genetic substratum for two main Iron Age gene-pools emerging around the Altai and the Urals respectively. Their demise was mirrored by new genetic turnovers, linked to the spread of the eastern nomad empires in the first centuries CE. Compared to the high genetic heterogeneity of the past, the homogenization of the present-day Kazakhs gene pool is notable, likely a result of 400 years of strict exogamous social rules.


1963 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 228-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest Greenfield

SummaryTwo shrines of circular and polygonal shape, probably part of a larger group, were erected early in the second half of the third century A.D., and occupied until late in the fourth century. The shrines occur in an area of widespread settlement dating from the late Iron Age until the end of the fourth century. Many objects of bronze and iron of ritual significance, together with a large number of votive deposits and coins, were recovered from the circular shrine. Miss M. V. Taylor's discussion of the principal objects appears on pp. 264–8.


Author(s):  
Peter S. Wells ◽  
Naoise Mac Sweeney

Iron Age Europe, once studied as a relatively closed, coherent continent, is being seen increasingly as a dynamic part of the much larger, interconnected world. Interactions, direct and indirect, with communities in Asia, Africa, and, by the end of the first millennium AD, North America, had significant effects on the peoples of Iron Age Europe. In the Near East and Egypt, and much later in the North Atlantic, the interactions can be linked directly to historically documented peoples and their rulers, while in temperate Europe the evidence is exclusively archaeological until the very end of the prehistoric Iron Age. The evidence attests to often long-distance interactions and their effects in regard to the movement of peoples, and the introduction into Europe of raw materials, crafted objects, styles, motifs, and cultural practices, as well as the ideas that accompanied them.


Author(s):  
José Ignacio Royo Guillén ◽  
Francisco José Navarro Cabeza ◽  
Serafín Benedí Monge

Los estudios sobre grabados rupestres al aire libre de cronología postpaleolítica, adolecen de importantes carencias que, en el valle medio del Ebro, se han visto superadas con la llegada del tercer milenio. Con la presentación de este trabajo se pretende dar a conocer un nuevo núcleo de grabados rupestres, localizado en el extremo suroeste de la provincia de Zaragoza, en las gargantas calcáreas del río Mesa. Entre los nuevos enclaves rupestres, destacan los abrigos con grabados protohistóricos, pero muy especialmente los de cronología medieval andalusí y los de iconografía cristiana entre los siglos XIV y XVIII, con perduraciones hasta mediados del siglo XIX y algunas escenas relacionadas con la primera Guerra Carlista en Aragón. La distribución de los hallazgos, su tipología e iconografía y los restos arqueológicos asociados, permiten documentar una importante ocupación del territorio desde la Iª Edad del Hierro y la sacralización del paisaje a través del arte rupestre, con pervivencias que se perpetúan a lo largo de la Edad Media y Moderna, destacando como novedad la presencia de un importante conjunto de inscripciones epigráficas islámicas que deben situarse entre los siglos XI y XII. AbstractThe studies on open-air rock engravings in post-Paleolithic chronology suffer from important deficiencies, which in the middle valley of the Ebro, have been overcome with the arrival of the third millennium.With the presentation of this work, the aim is to make known a new nucleus of rock engravings, located in the extreme southwest of the province of Zaragoza, in the limestone gorges of the River Mesa. Among the new rock engravings, the shelters with protohistoric engravings stand out, but especially those with a medieval Andalusian chronology and those with Christian iconography between the 14th and 18th centuries, which lasted until the middle of the 19th century and some scenes related to the first Carlist War in Aragon. The distribution of the findings, their typology and iconography and the associated archaeological remains, allow us to document an important occupation of the territory since the First Iron Age and the sacralization of the landscape through rock art, with survivals that are perpetuated throughout the Middle and Modern Ages, highlighting as a novelty the presence of an important set of Islamic epigraphic inscriptions that must be located between the 11th and 12th centuries.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 22-35
Author(s):  
Ernar A. Estemesov

Purpose. The article describes the history and analysis of the main issues in the study of archaeological sites of the Saka period in Semirechye. They are presented by three main types on this territory: burial and memorial complexes, settlements and hoards. The first type of monuments includes numerous burial mounds, where the elite burials of “royal” type and ordinary burials are located. Both social groups are combined by the unity of funeral rites, and the main differences are the complexity of architecture, memorial practices, and richness of burial equipment in the “royal” type burial mounds. The second category of monuments is presented by the settlements that are mostly small in size. The constructions like half dugouts were discovered on them, which gave a rich ceramic material. The third type of monuments of the Saka period in Semirechye includes numerous hoards of bronze items. Some of them are represented by the cult objects (sacrificial tables, lamps and cauldrons) that mark the places of worship. A significant percentage of the hoards contain items of weapons, horse equipment and household purposes and, apparently, serve as offerings to the spirits. However, despite the considerable progress in the study of the Saka monuments of the Semirechye Region, the main problem is their cultural attribution at this time. Some researchers suggest that the independent Saka archaeological culture was formed and developed on the territory of Semirechye in the Early Iron Age, while others believe that the Saka monuments of this region belong to the broader historical and cultural community that also covers the neighboring regions of Kyrgyzstan and Xinjiang. Results Another important issue in the study of the Saka sites of Semirechye is to clarify the chronology of burial and memorial complexes. Up to now, the significant database of radiocarbon dates has been accumulated, which allows us to consider the chronological positions of a wide range of monuments in a new way. It was of great importance to obtain such dates from several burials of Karatuma necropolis, which showed that it belonged to the Saka period, since burial monuments of this appearance are traditionally dated back to the Wusun period. Conclusion. The necessity of solution of these problems is an urgent task for further research of burial and settlement objects of the Saka period in this region.


1994 ◽  
Vol 123 ◽  
pp. 255-268
Author(s):  
Gordon J Barclay

The excavation was undertaken with the funding and support of Grampian Regional Council to test hypotheses relating to the interpretation of cropmark pit circles: were they Neolithic or Bronze Age ceremonial or funerary structures, or were they Iron Age houses, and to what extent could the two classifications be differentiated on aerial photographs? The excavation revealed the remains of four circles (between 8.5 m and 11.5 m in diameter) of large post- holes, fence lines (one with a gate), and many other pits and post-holes. Radiocarbon dates place the post circles late in the first millennium BC uncal. The pit circles may be interpreted as the main structural elements of four substantial round houses, two of which burned down. Flint tools of the Mesolithic period were recovered.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document