The Archaeology of War

2013 ◽  
pp. 90-127
Author(s):  
Simon James
Keyword(s):  
Ancient World ◽  
Military Occupation ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Central Aspect ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Military Occupations ◽  
Ancient Warfare ◽  
Martial Culture

This chapter concentrates on the contribution of archaeology to understanding aspects of ancient warfare, archaeological methodology, and its achievements and problems in the context of explaining how men fought and armies were organized in the ancient world. A central aspect of archaeological evidence—arms and armor—is dealt with. Roman Europe has acquired the most extensive and intensively explored archaeological data for ancient campaigns, conquests, and military occupation. The data may sometimes build year-by-year campaign maps, but most often they demonstrate the shape of conflicts, conquests, and military occupations. Roman martial culture, and especially the archaeology of arms and dress, reveals how intimately associated Roman soldiers were with the peoples against whom they fought. Moreover, it is noted that archaeology is important for evaluating the martial culture of the antagonists of Greco-Roman societies.

Warfare and Environment in the Ancient World

2013 ◽  
pp. 127-140
Author(s):  
J. Donald Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Natural Environment ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Near East ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Direct Effects ◽  
Environmental Properties ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Ancient Warfare ◽  
The Military

This chapter deals with ancient warfare and the environment. Hunting was often been considered as a form of warfare, and art frequently portrayed humans in battle with animals. Armed conflict had its direct influences on the environment. Along with damage to settled agriculture, warfare had affected other lands such as pastures, brush lands, and forests. It is noted that birds, pigs, bears, rodents, snakes, bees, wasps, scorpions, beetles, assassin bugs, and jellyfish have been employed as weaponized animals in ancient warfare, which, in the Mediterranean area and Near East, had vital environmental properties. The direct effects of battle have been shown by ancient historians, but just as important were the influences of the military-oriented organization of societies on the natural environment and resources.

Reply to Skousen and Aiuvalasit: On the Primacy of Archaeological Data

2020 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-205
Author(s):  
A.J. White ◽  
Samuel E. Munoz ◽  
Sissel Schroeder ◽  
Lora R. Stevens
Keyword(s):  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
The Past ◽  
Horseshoe Lake ◽  
Alternative Hypotheses

Skousen and Aiuvalasit critique our article on the post-Mississippian occupation of the Horseshoe Lake watershed (White et al. 2020) along two lines: (1) that our findings are not supported due to a lack of archaeological evidence, and (2) that we do not consider alternative hypotheses in explaining the lake's fecal stanol record. We first respond to the matter of fecal stanol deposition in Horseshoe Lake and then address the larger issue, the primacy of archaeological data in interpreting the past.

Archaeology, Greco-Roman

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Economic ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Roman Archaeology ◽  
Historical Material ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
The Social ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Truth Claims ◽  
Insight Into

Greco-Roman archaeology is an indispensable source of scholarship for biblical scholars. Those who work in a largely textual discipline benefit from conversation with archaeologists to situate literary data within its historical material contexts. Greco-Roman archaeology can also provide insight into the economic, social, political, and religious lives of persons in the ancient world, including marginalized persons whose lives are often obscured by elite literary material. Lastly, Greco-Roman archaeology and biblical studies have intertwined histories and entanglements with colonialism, and comparative work helps to uncover those legacies, especially where they are still operative in the present. While biblical scholars might long for evidence that directly connects to specific individuals in the earliest Christ communities (and thus to the texts of the New Testament), archaeological evidence most often provides evidence for context and not positivist truth claims. Biblical scholars looking, for example, for a particular building where Paul might have slept or where the first Christ communities may have met will be disappointed by the archaeological evidence. Though this evidence is rich and diverse and specific, it does not tell us about the particular individuals biblical scholars so often seek. In other words, the questions biblical scholars ask of Greco-Roman archaeology are often unanswerable. A better use of Greco-Roman archaeology is to guide biblical scholars in asking better questions and learning about the social, economic, and material context from which texts and communities emerge.

scholarly journals Rise and Fall of Kema Port in Sulawesi Sea Trade Routes During Colonial Period: Based on Infrastructure Data

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Irfanuddin Wahid Marzuki
Keyword(s):  
Historical Data ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Trade Routes ◽  
Communications Networks ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Phase Data ◽  
Collection Phase

Kema merupakan salah satu kecamatan di Kabupaten Minahasa Utara yang berada di pesisir selatan Sulawesi. Saat ini Kema dikenal sebagai perkampungan nelayan padat penduduk yang terbagi menjadi Kema I, Kema II, dan Kema III. Riwayat sejarah Kema sudah dikenal semenjak abad XVI oleh pelaut-pelaut Eropa yang singgah untuk mengisi air minum, kemudian berkembang hingga menjadi sebuah kota pelabuhan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pasang surut keberadaan pelabuhan kema dalam perdagangan global Laut Sulawesi masa kolonial berdasarkan data arkeologi dan sejarah. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan arkeologi kesejarahan yang memadukan data arkeologi dengan data sejarah. Tahapan penelitian meliputi tahap pengumpulan data, analisis data, dan penarikan kesimpulan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan adanya bukti-bukti arkeologis yang mengindikasikan Kema dahulu merupakan sebuah permukiman yang sudah maju, meliputi pola permukiman dan jaringan jalan, pelabuhan dan saran pendukungnya, rumah ibadah, bangunan perumahan, pasar, dan jaringan komunikasi. Bukti arkeologis dan data sejarah mengungkap bahwa Kema dikenal sebagai pelabuhan laut yang memegang peranan penting dalam perdagangan global pada masa Kolonial. Pelabuhan Kema bahkan ditetapkan sebagai salah satu pelabuhan bebas di perairan Laut Sulawesi. Peran pelabuhan Kema saat ini mengalami kemunduran, hanya sebagai pelabuhan perikanan tidak lagi sebagai pelabuhan samudera.Kema is one of the districts in Minahasa Utara Regency located on the southern coast of Sulawesi Utara. Currently, Kema is known as a densely populated fishing village which is divided into Kema Satu, Kema Dua, and Kema Tiga. Based on historical data, Kema has been known since the 16 century by European sailors who stopped to fill drinking water, then expanded into a port city. This study aims to determine the rise and fall of the existence of Kema in the global trade of the Sulawesi Sea in the colonial period based on archaeological and historical data. This study uses a historical archeology approach that combines archaeological data with historical data. Research stages include data collection phase, data analysis, and conclusion. The results indicate archaeological evidence shows that Kema was an advanced settlement, covering the settlement patterns and road networks, ports and supporting facilities, houses of worship, residential buildings, markets, and communications networks. Archaeological evidence and historical data reveal that Kema is known as a seaport that plays an important role in global trading during the Colonial period. Kema is even designated as one of the free ports in Sulawesi Sea. The role of Kema is currently declining, only as a fishing port no longer as an ocean port. 

Central Greco-Roman Cities

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dora P. Crouch
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Land ◽  
The Road ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
The North ◽  
Urban Core ◽  
Local Resources ◽  
Structure Morphology ◽  
The City ◽  
Eastern Edge

Argos, situated in the southern peninsula of Greece called the Peloponnese, lies on the northwest side of the Argos Plain, backed by hills to the north and west that are the eastern edge of an extensive region of mountains and intermountain basins. A road runs northward through the valley and over the hills to Nemea and Corinth. Eastward beyond the capricious rivers lie the old Mycenaean cities of Mycenae and Tiryns on their knolls, with the port of Nauplia closing the circuit to the southeast. Beyond Nauplia is the Argolid peninsula with the ancient pilgrimage and health center of Epidauros. (The term “Argolid” as used in the literature sometimes means all the area near Argos and sometimes means only the peninsula south and east of Nauplia. Herein, we will use Argolid for the latter and Argive Plain for the former.) Between Argos and the gulf about 6 km south is the marshy area of Lerna, remnant of a lake that once reached nearly to the outskirts of Argos, while the southeast part of the plain was until recently a series of lagoons (Piérart 1992). To the southwest, skirting the mountains, runs the road to Sparta. The advantages for Argos of being situated at the center of gravity in the triangular plain (Runnels 1995) continued throughout all the periods studied herein. Argos is unusual among ancient cities because we have ample modern geological investigations of regional structure, morphology, karst geology, and hydrogeology, literary evidence from antiquity, and archaeological data from decades of investigation. These materials contribute to a detailed understanding of how human settlement built on and responded to local resources. We will therefore describe the regional setting of the city before turning to an examination of the urban core. Below its mountains, the city of Argos stands on a shelf overlooking a plain of extensive fertile agricultural land that curves around the site from north to southwest. The stratigraphy is as follows, beginning with the topmost modern layers: . . . Higher plateau and mountains are Tripoli limestone. Tripoli plateau sits amid karstic mountains. (Older) Triassic and Jurassic limestones to the northeast. . . .

Aboriginal rights and title for archaeologists: A history of archaeological evidence in Canadian litigation

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 214-241
Author(s):  
Erin A Hogg ◽  
John R Welch
Keyword(s):  
Sufficient Evidence ◽  
Oral Histories ◽  
Aboriginal Rights ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Different Types ◽  
History Of ◽  
Aboriginal Title ◽  
Temporal Dimensions ◽  
Material Evidence

Archaeological evidence has been used to assess pre-contact occupation and use of land since the first modern Aboriginal title claim in Canada. Archaeology’s ability to alternately challenge, support, and add substantive spatial and temporal dimensions to oral histories and documentary histories makes it a crucial tool in the resolution of Aboriginal rights and title. This article assesses how archaeological evidence has been considered in Aboriginal rights and title litigation in Canada, both over time and in different types of cases. The examination indicates that archaeological data have been judged to be sufficient evidence of pre-contact occupation and use. However, some limitations inherent in archaeological data, especially challenges in archaeology’s capacities to demonstrate continuous occupation and exclude possibilities for co-occupation, mean that it is best used in conjunction with ethnographies, oral histories, and historical documents. So long as courts affirm that it is the sole material evidence of pre-contact occupation, archaeological data will continue to be considered in future litigation.

scholarly journals How Archaeological Evidence Bites Back

2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Wylie
Keyword(s):  
Primary Data ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Legacy Data

Archaeological data are shadowy in a number of senses. They are notoriously incomplete and fragmentary, and the sedimented layers of interpretive scaffolding on which archaeologists rely to constitute these data as evidence carry the risk that they will recognize only those data that conform to expectation. These epistemic anxieties further suggest that, once recovered, there is little prospect for putting “legacy” data to work in new ways. And yet the “data imprints” of past lives are a rich evidential resource; archaeologists successfully mine old data sets for new insights that redirect inquiry, often calling into question assumptions embedded in the scaffolding that made their recovery possible in the first place. I characterize three strategies by which archaeologists address the challenges posed by legacy data: secondary retrieval and recontextualization of primary data, and the use old data in experimental simulations of the cultural past under study. By these means, archaeologists establish evidential claims of varying degrees of credibility, not by securing empirical bedrock but through a process of continuously building and rebuilding provisional empirical foundations.

scholarly journals Long-Distance Trade under the Aztec Empire: The Archaeological Evidence

1990 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael E. Smith
Keyword(s):  
High Volume ◽  
Political Control ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Basin Of Mexico ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Data Signal ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Exchange Activity

AbstractThis article presents archaeological data on Late Postclassic long-distance trade in central and northern Mesoamerica. Aztec trade goods from the Basin of Mexico (ceramics and obsidian) are widespread, while imports from other areas are much less common, both in the Basin of Mexico and elsewhere. The artifactual data signal a high volume of exchange in the Late Postclassic, and while trade was spatially nucleated around the Basin of Mexico, most exchange activity was apparently not under strong political control. The archaeological findings are compared with ethnohistoric sources to further our knowledge of the mechanisms of exchange, the effect of elite consumption on trade, and the relationship between trade and imperialism.

scholarly journals The history of the earliest rigid-structure saddles in the light of archaeological data from the Southern Aral Sea area

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 228-254
Author(s):  
V. Nikonorov ◽  
◽  
I. Arzhantseva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Aral Sea ◽  
Cattle Breeding ◽  
Rigid Structure ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sea Area

The article deals with terracotta statuettes of saddled horses and fantastic beasts coming from ar- chaeological sites of Chorasmia and its cattle-breeding periphery. Among them, a group of figurines with saddles of the so-called horned type stands out, which are well attested in iconographic and material pieces of evidence of the Roman Imperial era from Western Europe. A great importance of the invention of the “horned” saddles for the development of the art of warfare in the Ancient world during Hellenistic and subsequent times is emphasized, and a question of their invention in the Southern Aral Sea area is raised as well.

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