Out of Range?

Author(s):  
Scott D. Haddow ◽  
Joshua W. Sadvari ◽  
Christopher J. Knüsel ◽  
Sophie V. Moore ◽  
Selin E. Nugent ◽  
...  

Çatalhöyük is most well known for its Neolithic settlement, but the site also served as a cemetery during the Bronze Age, as well as the Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic periods. During the Neolithic, Çatalhöyük is distinctive as a place for both the living and the dead, but thereafter the site becomes more closely associated with the dead. This chapter discusses four examples of non-normative burials from different time periods at the site, including two Neolithic burials: one of a mature male buried with a sheep and another of a young male with a congenital deformity; a Roman period double burial with an atypical grave orientation; and an isolated twentieth-century burial of a woman from the local village, which represents the last known burial on the mound. Osteobiographical information and sociocultural context are used to assess the significance of each burial. We also question how normative and non-normative burials are typically defined in the archaeological record.

Author(s):  
Francesco Iacono ◽  
Elisabetta Borgna ◽  
Maurizio Cattani ◽  
Claudio Cavazzuti ◽  
Helen Dawson ◽  
...  

AbstractThe Late Bronze Age (1700–900 BC) represents an extremely dynamic period for Mediterranean Europe. Here, we provide a comparative survey of the archaeological record of over half a millennium within the entire northern littoral of the Mediterranean, from Greece to Iberia, incorporating archaeological, archaeometric, and bioarchaeological evidence. The picture that emerges, while certainly fragmented and not displaying a unique trajectory, reveals a number of broad trends in aspects as different as social organization, trade, transcultural phenomena, and human mobility. The contribution of such trends to the processes that caused the end of the Bronze Age is also examined. Taken together, they illustrate how networks of interaction, ranging from the short to the long range, became a defining aspect of the “Middle Sea” during this time, influencing the lives of the communities that inhabited its northern shore. They also highlight the importance of research that crosses modern boundaries for gaining a better understanding of broad comparable dynamics.


1987 ◽  
Vol 107 ◽  
pp. 182-182
Author(s):  
Reynold Higgins

A recent discovery on the island of Aegina by Professor H. Walter (University of Salzburg) throws a new light on the origins of the so-called Aegina Treasure in the British Museum.In 1982 the Austrians were excavating the Bronze Age settlement on Cape Kolonna, to the north-west of Aegina town. Immediately to the east of the ruined Temple of Apollo, and close to the South Gate of the prehistoric Lower Town, they found an unrobbed shaft grave containing the burial of a warrior. The gravegoods (now exhibited in the splendid new Museum on the Kolonna site) included a bronze sword with a gold and ivory hilt, three bronze daggers, one with gold fittings, a bronze spear-head, arrowheads of obsidian, boar's tusks from a helmet, and fragments of a gold diadem (plate Va). The grave also contained Middle Minoan, Middle Cycladic, and Middle Helladic (Mattpainted) pottery. The pottery and the location of the grave in association with the ‘Ninth City’ combine to give a date for the burial of about 1700 BC; and the richness of the grave-goods would suggest that the dead man was a king.


Antiquity ◽  
1941 ◽  
Vol 15 (60) ◽  
pp. 360-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. V. Grinsell

In many parts of the world and at many periods the practice has prevailed of depositing boats, or models or other representations of them, with the dead, either as a means of facilitating his supposed voyage to another world, or as a symbol of his maritime activities during his lifetime.That the former is generally the correct explanation of the custom there can be no doubt. This is shown by the evidence of the belief in a voyage to a future world, and the customs to which it has given rise, among living primitive peoples in the Pacific Islands and elsewhere, so well collected and presented by the late Sir J. G. Frazer. It is shown also by traditions such as that of our own king Arthur's journey by barge to ‘the island valley of Avilion, where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow’ It is shown also by the ancient Greek and Roman custom of placing a coin in the mouth of the dead to pay Charon's fee for ferrying him across the Styx.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Vinko Kerr-Harris

<p>The development of Minoan society has traditionally been considered by scholars to have been an insular phenomenon unique to the southern Aegean. Such assumptions, however, fail to acknowledge the wider context of the Bronze Age in the Eastern Mediterranean. Contact between the people of Crete and their contemporaries in Egypt and the Levant is well attested in the archaeological record, with a plethora of artefacts – imported and imitation – appearing on both sides of the Libyan Sea. Whilst investigations into the economic nature of these exchanges have been undertaken, little thought has been given to the cultural consequences of inter-regional contacts. This thesis examines the evolution of palatial society upon Crete and considers the extent to which interactions with comparatively more mature civilisations may have influenced the increasingly hierarchal trajectory of Minoan society, by re-evaluating the corpus of material culture and interconnectivity.</p>


1992 ◽  
Vol 58 (S2) ◽  
pp. 26-28
Author(s):  
Christine M Rushc

Samples were taken from the ditch and various pits within the enclosure and processed foi carbonised remains. All samples were wet sieved using mesh sizes of 1mm and 300ji and the material from the coarse flot (1mm) was sorted. Of the thirty six samples taken, twelve produced small amounts of carbonised plant material. The results from these seven ditch and five pit samples form the basis of this report.A list of the species identified in each context is given below in Tables 6 and 7. Evidence for cereal grain is scant. Emmer (Triticum dicoccum) and barley (Hordeum sp.) are present. Both are known from the Bronze Age in Britain and in Scotland emmer appears to remain the commonest wheat into the Roman period and beyond (Jones 1981, 106). The evidence for emmer comes from a single grain and fragments of chaff from the ditch (context 1002A) near the entrance of the enclosure. A fragment of hulled barley was also found in the SW section of the ditch (context 1003). This fragment appeared to be twisted which suggests that the six-row variety is present. One other fragment of barley (possibly hulled) is present in context 1103A in Pit 10 (a large pit to the S of the enclosure).


Britain and Ireland - Stephen Oppenheimer. The origins of the British: A Genetic detective Story. 2006. London: Constable & Robinson; 978-1-84529-158-7 hardback £20. - Trevor Rowley. The English landscape in the twentieth century. xvi+472 pages, numerous illustrations. 2006. London: hambledon continuum; 1-85285-388-3 hardback £30. - Timothy Darvill. Stonehenge: the biography of a landscape. 320 pages, 118 illustrations, 27 colour plates, 4 tables. 2006. Stroud: Tempus; 0-7524-3641-4 hardback £25. - Roy Loveday. Inscribed across the landscape: the cursus enigma. 222 pages, 84 illustrations. 2006. Stroud: Tempus; 0-7524-3652-X paperback £19.99. - Stan Beckensall. Circles in Stone: a British prehistoric mystery. 224 pages, 25 colour plates. 2006. Stroud: Tempus; 978-07524-4015-6 paperback £18.99. - Steve Burrow. The tomb builders in Wales 40003000 BC. x+150 pages, numerous b&w & colour illustrations. 2006. Cardiff: National Museum of Wales; 0-7200-08568-X paperback £14.99. - Christopher Evans & Ian Hodder. A woodland archaeology: Neolithic sites at Haddenham (The Haddenham Project Volume 1 ). xxii+390 pages, 189 illustrations, 102 tables. 2006. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research; 9871-902937-31-1 hardback£35. - Christopher Evans & Ian Hodder. Marshland communities and cultural landscapes from the Bronze Age to present day (The Haddenham Project Volume 2). xxvi+510 pages, 293 illustrations, 160 tables. 2006. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research; 9871-902937-32-8 hardback £35. - Stephen Parry. Raunds Area Survey: an archaeological study ofthe landscape of Raunds, Northamptonshire 1985-94. xx+292 pages, 101 tables, 105 illustrations +12 large colour maps in case. 2006. Oxford: Oxbow; 978-1-84217-180-6 paperback and maps in hard case £30. - Jerry O’Sullivan & Michael Stanley (ed.). Settlement, Industry and Ritual: Proceedings ofa Public Seminaron ArchaeologicalDiscoverieson NationalRoad Schemes, September 2005 (Archaeology and the National Roads Authority Monograph Series 3). x+154 pages, 95 b&w & colour illustrations. 2006. Dublin: National Roads Authority; 0-954955-2-1 paperback.

Antiquity ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 81 (311) ◽  
pp. 249-250
Author(s):  
Madeleine Hummler

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-103
Author(s):  
Richard Bradley ◽  
Peter Skoglund ◽  
Joakim Wehlin

The paper compares the Bronze Age ship settings of Gotland with the vessels portrayed in rock carvings on the Scandinavian mainland. It also makes comparisons with the drawings of vessels on decorated metalwork of the same period. It considers their interpretation in relation to two approaches taken to the depictions of ships in other media. One concerns the use of boats to transport the sun, while the other emphasises the close relationship between seagoing vessels and the dead. A third possibility concerns the distinctive organisation of prehistoric communities on Gotland. It seems possible that the largest of the ship settings were equivalent to the Bronze Age cult houses found on the mainland and that they may even have represented the island itself.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Kathryn N. Purnell ◽  

Since prehistoric times, humans have changed select characteristics of their bodies, such as tattooing, hair-dyeing, cranial and feet deforming, and teeth modifying. Teeth are some of the most well-preserved remains in the archaeological record, with which we can study past cultural and ritualistic beliefs. Previous publications on dental modifications in Southeast Asia are mostly limited to the mainland, thus this paper reviews modifications observed in prehistoric sites across Southeast Asia, identifying common techniques and motivations. Findings show occurrence of dental ablation, filing, plating, and coloration, which began in the Neolithic, disappeared in the Bronze Age, but reappeared in the Iron Age, although the absence may be due to sampling shortage. Modifications have been associated to aestheticism, group identity, rite of passage, practicality, and medical benefit, but whether these all ring true remains uncertain. It is recommended that future research expand scope for better data representation, analyze modifications with context of community profiles, and investigate the significance of migration in the prevalence of certain techniques and patterns as part of understanding the cultural aspects of past humans’ lives, and assess the cultural (dis)continuity of these traditions into modern-day forms of body modification, art, healing, self-expression, and identity. Magmula sinaunang panahon, maitatala ang mga pagbabagong pisikal sa katawan, tulad ng pagtatato, pagkukulay ng buhok, at pag-iiba-anyo ng ulo, paa, at ngipin. Nabibilang ang ngipin sa mga lubos na napepreserbang artepakto sa arkiyoloji, at sa gayo’y magagamit pang-aral ng mga nakalipas na kultura at ritwal. Kasalukuyang limitado sa mainland ng Timog-Silangang Asya ang saliksik sa intensyonal na modipikasyon ng ngipin, kaya tatalakayin dito ang mga sinaunang modipikasyong nabanggit sa buong rehiyon, at tutukuyin ang pagkakatulad sa mga teknik at motibasyon. Nagsimula ang paglaganap ng sadyang pagtatanggal, pagliliha, pagkakalupkop, at pagkukulay ng ngipin noong Panahong Neolitiko, naglaho noong Panahong Tanso, at bumalik muli pagsapit ng Panahong Bakal, ngunit maaaring iukol ang paglaho sa kakulangan ng datos. Hindi pa tiyak, pero pwedeng ang mga modipkasyon sa estetisismo, pakikisama, pagriritwal, praktikalidad, at benepisyong-medikal. Inirerekomendang palawakin sa susunod na saliksik ang sakop para sa mas mabuting representasyon ng datos, suriin ang mga modipikasyon sa konteksto ng komunidad, at imbestigahan ang kahalagahan ng migrasyon sa paglaganap ng mga partikular na teknik at padron habang inuunawa ang mga aspetong kultural ng sinaunang panahon, at tasahan ang pagpapatuloy (o hindi) ng mga tradisyong nabanggit sa kasalukuyang modipikasyon ng katawan, sining, paggagamot, pagpapahayag ng sarili, at identidad.


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