Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
open access
This thesis investigates how the Cyprus conflict and its politics influence the ways the Apostolos Andreas monastery (Rizokarpaso/ Dipkarpaz) is perceived, valued and given meaning to by Greek...Show moreThis thesis investigates how the Cyprus conflict and its politics influence the ways the Apostolos Andreas monastery (Rizokarpaso/ Dipkarpaz) is perceived, valued and given meaning to by Greek Cypriots through time (before, during and after the conflict) and in relation to the socio-political context, other events and factors. Additionally, this thesis explores how the monastery, being transformed by the conflict and its post-conflict reconstruction, can influence the shaping of Greek Cypriots’ attitudes and behaviors toward the conflict. Using the concept of the biography of place as an analytical tool, this thesis explores the life history of the Apostolos Andreas monastery, as developed from its construction until this day and views it, at each point in time, as a layered heritage site. In order to reconstruct the monastery’s biography, a wide variety of written sources has been investigated, including scholarly literature and newspaper articles. Additionally, the results of a questionnaire completed by 153 Greek Cypriots are analyzed in order to explore the Greek Cypriots’ perceptions of the monastery today. The results of this thesis show that the sociopolitical events framing the monastery’s own history, as well as its involvement in the currents of the island, led to the development of other (non-religious) values, meanings and symbolisms that are attributed to the monastery today. Additionally, it is demonstrated that the tangible impacts of the conflict and the post-conflict reconstruction, the location of the site, the site’s image and form also influence the Greek Cypriots’ understanding and valuation of the monastery through time. What is more, it is illustrated that the most recent layer of the monument’s biography is built upon and informed by the earlier layers in the monastery’s history. As such, it is of no doubt that there still is a long way to go until the monastery abolishes all the “negative” connotations it has assembled during its eventful life history.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
open access
Towards the end of prehistory, the landscapes of Northwestern Europe developed into carefully organized places that feel more akin to those of historical and modern times. According to Mette...Show moreTowards the end of prehistory, the landscapes of Northwestern Europe developed into carefully organized places that feel more akin to those of historical and modern times. According to Mette Løvschal (2014), these landscapes saw the emergence of lines and boundaries with specific functions and meanings, especially in the Urnfield period (Late Bronze Age – Early Iron Age). This thesis focuses on a number of micro-regions in the Netherlands: Epe-Niersen, Oss and Boxmeer-Sterckwijck. The aim of this study is to gain a nuanced, inter-regional understanding on how these organized landscapes developed in the long term, and what influence older, visual features from the past had on the way people dealt with them in the Urnfield period. Especially barrow alignments are notable. They clearly impacted the way people dealt with these ‘ancestral landscapes’, but in significantly different ways. At Epe-Niersen, the urnfields and Celtic field emerged solely near ancestral mounds outside of the barrow alignment. At Boxmeer-Sterckwijck, the opposite happened: The barrow line itself transformed into a dense urnfield. Thirdly, the barrow line of Oss-Zevenbergen was completely re-structured with the construction of large, monumental burial mounds, scattered urnfield-graves and post alignments. A close association between the funerary landscape and settlements is observed at Boxmeer-Sterckwijck. On the other hand, Oss-North and Oss-Ussen are a striking example of a landscape that lacked any older, visual features before the emergence of settlements in the Middle Bronze Age. Therefore, in the absence of pre-existing lines and boundaries, people ended up creating them themselves, after which they were referred to in similar ways during subsequent occupation phases. This study demonstrates that the past was unavoidable in the organization of landscapes in the Urnfield period. Furthermore, the general succession in which barrow lines, urnfields, Celtic fields and organized settlements emerged was time-transgressive in nature, meaning that they developed at different point in time at each site. Nonetheless, is seems that each region reached a certain ‘tipping point’ were the landscapes inevitably developed into highly organized areas in line with the past.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
closed access
To understand southern Levantine funerary practices and the related cult of the dead within the territories of Israel, Palestine and Jordan, archaeology has long relied on biblical sources. This...Show moreTo understand southern Levantine funerary practices and the related cult of the dead within the territories of Israel, Palestine and Jordan, archaeology has long relied on biblical sources. This tendency has led to oversimplified comparative methodologies, in which the ancient Israelite cultural distinctiveness, between the Iron Age and the rise of the Roman power, has been stressed by opposing it to the neighbouring regions. Those elements of funerary rituals, not fitting biblical narratives have often been interpreted as ‘foreign’ and as such, neglected. However, dying is a complex social process through which the personhood of the deceased is reconstructed as a new identity, as well as its relationship with the living. Multiple overlapping factors affect this process: geographical, historical, socio-economic, ethnic and kinship components, and lastly personal attachments. This thesis aims to re-evaluate the southern Levantine old archaeological data sets and the complexity of death in terms of 'social process' by both putting aside the biblical reconstructions and introducing the methods deriving from funerary taphonomy. By combining both archaeological and osteological analyses regarding four case studies – Tell es-Saʿidiyeh, Tell Mazar, Lachish and Jerusalem – it attempts to reconstruct the progression of the funerary process through four main phases: the choice of the tomb-type, the preparation of the body, the deposition and the manipulation of the remains. The sequential process results in a multi-faceted experience embodying both deeply rooted rituals/beliefs and local variations due to groups and/or individual choices. In this context, the concept of foreign is re-defined as contamination and reflection of personal interests.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
under embargo until 2025-03-31
2025-03-31T00:00:00Z
The aim of this thesis was to study how patterns of pre-oil globalization in the Late Islamic Gulf region (1500-1950) manifested in the coastal towns of this region, whether these patterns was also...Show moreThe aim of this thesis was to study how patterns of pre-oil globalization in the Late Islamic Gulf region (1500-1950) manifested in the coastal towns of this region, whether these patterns was also present in the Ṣuḥār region, and if so, how far the arms of pre-oil globalization reached. In the same time period, there was an increase in agricultural settlements in Oman. Whether this increase in agricultural activity was related to the patterns of pre-oil globalization which was testified at the coastal towns (Carter 2009; Carter 2012) is the main focus of this study.Show less
