Late Bronze Age and Byzantine Crops at Beycesultan in Anatolia

1961 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 77-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Helbaek
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Cultivated Plants ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Western Turkey ◽  
Anatolian Plateau ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
The Subject ◽  
British Institute ◽  
Low Precipitation

During the years 1953 to 1959, under the directorship of Seton Lloyd, with James Mellaart, the British Institute in Ankara carried out excavations in the mound of Beycesultan, the site of successive ancient habitations. The remains of cultivated plants recovered during this operation are the subject of the following communication.Beycesultan is situated some 5 km. west of Çivril in the Denizli Vilayet of south-western Turkey. The locality is a flat upland plain in an intermontane valley at the south-western approach to the Anatolian plateau, some 2,500 feet above sea level. It is enclosed by low hills and watered by the upper reaches of the Meander river. The mountains above the plain are still partly wooded, and the drainage from these tracts accounts for the moisture and fertility which make the cultivation of cereals, pulses, poppy, grapes and fruit possible in the valley plain in spite of the comparatively low precipitation of some 14 to 16 inches. As suggested by the huge quantities of timber employed in the construction of the Middle Bronze Age palace the surrounding hilly area was once generously forested with oak, juniper and fir, but now the area is largely deforested in consequence of overgrazing.

Some Remarks on Patronage in Syria-Palestine During the Late Bronze Age

2009 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emanuel Pfoh
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Critical Questions ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Amarna Letters ◽  
Kinship Ties

AbstractFollowing the discussion presented in an article by R. Westbrook on patronage in the ancient Near East (JESHO 48/2, 2005), the aim of this paper is to continue with the discussion as well as to address some of the views on the topic regarding Syria-Palestine during the Late Bronze Age, using examples from the Amarna letters and Hittite treaties. Some of the critical questions that should be addressed in further discussions on the subject are related to the socio-political nature of patronage and its relationship to kinship ties in society, and why and how patronage relationships are established in society. Après l'étude du R. Westbrook sur l'évidence du patronage dans le Proche-Orient ancien, publié dans ce journal (JESHO 48/2, 2005), on veut continuer avec la discussion du thème mais donner aussi quelques révisions pour la Syrie-Palestine du l'âge du Bronce Récent à partir de exemples dans les lettres d'Amarna et les traités hittites. Questions fondamentales qu'on doit traiter sont: la nature socio-politique du patronage et son rapport avec la parenté dans la société; et pourquoi et comment les liens de patronage sont établis dans la société.

scholarly journals Hittite Cuisine: fire installations, cooking pottery and foodways in central Anatolia of the Late Bronze Age

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giacomo Casucci
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Central Anatolia ◽  
Cooking Methods ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Anatolian Plateau ◽  
Major Interest ◽  
Cooking Practices ◽  
Domestic Economies

Food and cooking methods are crucial in defining group identity and social relations and in examining the domestic economies. The Poster aims to study, from a functional and typological point of view, the fire installations and the contextual kitchen pottery in the Central Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age (1650-1200 B.C.). In particular, the archaeological contexts of the main Hittite sites of Anatolian Plateau, subjects of major interest in recent years, will be examined. The analysis and the comparison of the cooking tools (fireplaces, ovens, pots and baking plates) will allow to obtain some conclusions on the “Hittite Cuisine”, namely on the cooking techniques and the types of food consumed in the heart of Hittite kingdom. Archaeobotanical and archaeozoological data will also be integrated with the aim of a better comprehension of diets and cooking methods. In addition, some ethnographic observations will be discussed, in order to compare ancient and modern cooking practices in Anatolia.

scholarly journals New relative sea-level (RSL) indications from the Eastern Mediterranean: Middle Bronze Age to the Roman period (~3800–1800 y BP) archaeological constructions at Dor, the Carmel coast, Israel

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. e0251870
Author(s):  
Assaf Yasur-Landau ◽  
Gilad Shtienberg ◽  
Gil Gambash ◽  
Giorgio Spada ◽  
Daniele Melini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
The North ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

This article presents new archaeological observations and multidisciplinary research from Dor, Israel to establish a more reliable relative sea level for the Carmel Coast and Southern Levant between the Middle Bronze Age and the Roman period (ca. 3500–1800 y BP). Our record indicates a period of low relative sea level, around -2.5 m below present, from the Middle Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period (ca. 3500–2200 y BP). This was followed by a rapid rise to present levels, starting in the Hellenistic period and concluding during the Roman period (ca. 2200–1800 y BP). These Roman levels agree with other relative sea-level indications from Israel and other tectonically stable areas in the Mediterranean. Several relative sea-level reconstruction models carried out in the current study provide different predictions due to their parameters and do not model the changes observed from field data which points to a non-isostatic origin for the changes. Long-term low stable Iron Age relative sea level can be seen in Dor, where Iron Age harbor structures remain around the same elevation between ca. 3100–2700 y BP. A similar pattern occurs at Atlit, the Iron Age harbor to the north used continuously from ca. 2900 y BP to the beginning of the Hellenistic period (ca. 2200 y BP). An examination of historical and archaeological sources reveals decline and occasional disappearance of Hellenistic sites along the coast of Israel at ca. 2200 y BP (2nd century BCE), as in the case of Yavneh Yam, Ashdod Yam, Straton’s Tower, and tel Taninim. In Akko-Ptolemais, the large harbor installations built in the Hellenistic period were never replaced by a substantial Roman harbor. The conclusions of this research are thus relevant for the sea-level research community and for the historical analyses of the Israeli and South Levantine coastline.

Toward the Reconstruction of a Sacred Landscape of the Judean Highlands

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-41
Author(s):  
Aaron A. Burke
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Sacred Landscape ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Landscape Features ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Divine Name

Abstract At least a dozen biblical toponyms for sites and landscape features in ancient Judah’s highlands bear divine name elements that were most common during the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. In light of archaeological evidence from many of these sites, it is suggested that they were first settled as part of a settlement influx in the highlands during the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 2000–1550 BCE), following a reemergence of urbanism and a return of economic development that occurred under Amorite aegis. The cultic orientation of these sites may be suggested by reference to ritual traditions at Mari during the Middle Bronze Age but especially Ugarit during the Late Bronze Age. Such evidence may also serve to elucidate the various enduring cultic associations that persisted in connection with these locations during the Iron Age, as preserved in various biblical traditions.

Second Thoughts on ‘Mycenaean’ Pottery in Ithaca

1949 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 307-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia Benton
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Curtain ◽  
Contemporary Culture ◽  
Nearest Neighbours ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Determining Factor

When I wrote my report on the excavation of Polis, Ithaca, the leader of the expedition had suggested that in Ithaca, Early Bronze Age pottery had persisted till the closing phases of the Late Bronze Age, which meant that Ithaca was a backward little place well away from the broad stream of contemporary culture. I thought it possible that there was another lag after the Late Bronze Age, and I called certain vases ‘Mycenaean,’ taking fabric to be the determining factor. My paper was written in 1932, but not published till 1942, and long before then I was sure that we were both wrong. Mr. Heurtley wished to account for the presence of fifty Mycenaean sherds in an Early Bronze Age Settlement at Pilikata. It is true that no Middle Bronze Age settlement has yet been found in Ithaca. That may be our bad fortune, or the island may have been uninhabited in the centuries before 1500 B.C., as it was in the sixteenth century A.D. It seems simpler to admit disturbance by any later diggers of foundations or seekers of wells, than to postulate an iron curtain between Ithaca and both its nearest neighbours, Kephallenia and Leukas, in the Middle Bronze Age. After all, Early, Middle, and Late Bronze Age sherds were found together in Area VI at Pilikata, and no house plans have resulted; some disturbance seems inevitable.

Petrological Examination of Coarse-ware Stirrup-jars from Mycenae

1981 ◽  
Vol 76 ◽  
pp. 335-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Riley
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Elemental Analysis ◽  
Optical Emission ◽  
Emission Spectrometry ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Geological Evidence ◽  
Spectrometry Analysis ◽  
Objective Evidence ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Coarse Wares

Elemental analysis of coarse-ware stirrup-jars from Thebes provided the first objective evidence for the movement of coarse wares in the Late Bronze Age Aegean. While the evidence of the optical emission spectrometry analysis indicates that stirrup-jars occur in several fabrics, the assignation of these fabrics to specific sources has been the subject of some debate, summarized and discussed in the light of fresh evidence by Catling and Jones but continued by McArthur.It was to cast more light on the general questions that a large sample of stirrup-jars from Mycenae was analysed by petrological analysis. This method of analysis involves the identification of the rocks and minerals within the clay and relates them to geological sources most compatible with the archaeological evidence. Recent discussions of the method include Courtois, Peacock, and de Paepe.With considerable help and collaboration from Dr. E. French and Lord William Taylour, and permission from the Greek Department of Antiquities, 37 samples were taken from stirrup jars from the House of the Wine Merchants (= HWM; dated LH IIIA/B), 25 from the House of the Oil Merchants (= HOM; dated to the end of LH IIIB1), and ten samples from stoppers found in the stirrup jars in the House of the Oil Merchants. The aim was to define the fabrics petrologically in order to relate these to the typology proposed by Haskell (this volume), and to suggest possible origins for them based on geological evidence.

Late Bronze Age Writing-Boards and their Uses: textual evidence from Anatolia and Syria

1991 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 111-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorit Symington
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Textual Evidence ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
The Subject

It has been known from textual sources for some time that besides clay tablets, the traditional writing material in the Ancient Near East, wooden writing-boards were also used by the scribes.M. San Nicolò first drew attention to the fact that writing-boards were widely employed in temple and palace administration in Mesopotamia in the first millennium B.C. and the textual evidence gathered by him was soon to be confirmed archaeologically by the discovery of several such writing-boards at Nimrud. Equally, the existence of wooden writing material in Hittite context has long been established, but no example has ever been found. It is generally thought that private and economic records which are almost totally lacking in the archives at Boǧazköy must have been written on perishable material.The elusive nature of wooden writing-boards manifests itself not only archaeologically by the unlikelihood of their survival but also by the fact that, as a rule, they deserved little mention in the cuneiform texts. Consequently, the quantity of wooden writing material that may have been in use and did not survive is impossible to gauge. Similarly, it would be unwarranted to deduce that centres whose archives have not contributed to the subject, were unfamiliar with writing on wood.

Beacon on the Ridge. Rock Carvings at Kasen Lövåsen, Bohuslän, Sweden

2006 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 319-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Coles
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
The Subject ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
And Sea Level

This paper discusses the rock carvings at Kasen Lövåsen, a site which now lies 5 km inland but, during the Bronze Age, looked out over a sea in process of withdrawal by the isostatic rise of the land. The site carries eight panels of carvings that have been the subject of several surveys and descriptions. Recent work has clarified the nature of some of these and revealed more. Carvings include discs, numerous boats, human figures (some explicitly male), including helmeted individuals, spear and swordsmen and paddle or torchbearers, duck figures, boots, dog-like creatures, and horse-riders. Composition and siting are discussed in relation to the quality and preservation of carving, dating, and to aspects of topography, communication routes, and sea level recession. The reasons and mechanisms behind transformations in the imagery are explored in terms of changing social symbolism and ideology in response to a rapidly changing land- and seascape.

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