Safaitic rock art of the Jebel Qurma region, located in the Jordan’s Black Desert, was carved by the pastoralist societies that inhabited it. These societies also carved Safaitic inscriptions in...Show moreSafaitic rock art of the Jebel Qurma region, located in the Jordan’s Black Desert, was carved by the pastoralist societies that inhabited it. These societies also carved Safaitic inscriptions in the basalt boulders, which have been traditionally dated between the 1st century BC and the 4th Century AD. This rock art, unlike the Safaitic inscriptions, has not been studied in depth. In this Master thesis I aim to study the different purposes of carving hunting scenes by these pastoralist societies. Thus, I analyse the different motifs (zoomorphic, anthropomorphic, geometric and astromorphic motifs) that made up these scenes. I also analyse two different types of hunting: individual hunting and collective hunting. The techniques that were used to carve these petroglyphs are also analysed. I will also pay attention the size of the figures and their orientation within the basalt boulders. Finally, I will mention the sites in which hunting scenes have been recorded in the Jebel Qurma region. With this information, I will argue that these hunting scenes did not represent real events but ancestral histories that might have come from the oral tradition of the pastoralist societies. I also argue that some of these scenes show hunting for sport in which the anthropomorphic figures represent values related to bravery and strength.Show less
The inhabitants of the Old Babylonian society were socially and economically differentiated according to their social rank and economic resources. These socio-economic structures have primarily...Show moreThe inhabitants of the Old Babylonian society were socially and economically differentiated according to their social rank and economic resources. These socio-economic structures have primarily been identified, analyzed, and described by scholars through textual information from Old Babylonian cuneiform sources. However, through the study of the archaeological remains of the households of the Old Babylonian society, household archaeology offers other approaches for the reconstruction of these socio-economic structures. One important albeit understudied category of the archaeological remains of the household as a potential source for socio-economic differentiation at this time is variability between the residential structures. The research of this paper is concerned with the variability between the residential structures of Ur’s AH site during the Old Babylonian Period as a potential source for the identification of socio-economic differentiation.Show less
Deze scriptie richt zich op geometrische afbeeldingen op Laat Neolithisch aardewerk van Tell Sabi Abyad (ca. 6200-5800 v.Chr.), een opgraving in Noord-Syrië. Over de betekenis van deze afbeeldingen...Show moreDeze scriptie richt zich op geometrische afbeeldingen op Laat Neolithisch aardewerk van Tell Sabi Abyad (ca. 6200-5800 v.Chr.), een opgraving in Noord-Syrië. Over de betekenis van deze afbeeldingen en de bron van inspiratie hiervoor is veel gediscussieerd en gespeculeerd. Ik probeer te onderzoeken of deze afbeeldingen gebaseerd kunnen zijn op geometrische hallucinaties. Deze hallucinaties vormen zich doordat het deel van het menselijk brein dat visuele informatie analyseert zelf een bepaalde geometrische structuur heeft. Bij bepaalde soorten van hallucinaties, “zien” we deze structuren. Het is mogelijk dat de geometrische afbeeldingen op het Laat Neolitisch aardewerk van Tell Sabi Abyad geinspireerd zijn op deze hallucinaties. De periode waarin dit aardewerk voorkomt kenmerkt zich door enkele ingrijpende veranderingen in de manier waarop deze mensen leefden. In de voorafgaande 3000 jaar ontwikkelde zich onder andere geleidelijk de landbouw, het sedentair bestaan, de domesticatie van dieren en hun gebruik voor secundaire producten (vooral tractie en melk). In het Late Neolithicum verschuiven mensen naar een semi-pastoralistisch bestaan, waarbij ze hun nederzettingen met tussenpozen verlaten en beginnen met het gebruik van aardewerk voor opslag en het gebruik van administratieve zegels zegelingen. Veranderingen van deze aard kenmerken zich in het verleden in het menselijk bestaan door veranderingen in onze genen en de structuur en ontwikkeling van ons brein. Als het mogelijk is om laboriatium data over het menselijk brein betrouwbaar te vergelijken met culturele uitdrukkingen uit deze periode, kunnen we potentieel iets zinnelijks zeggen over dit process. In de archaeologie in het algemeen, en vooral de archeologie van de prehistorie, is er veel controverse over het gebruik van dit soort data om materiele vondsten te analyseren. Dit komt omdat het enorm moeilijk is om subjectieve ervaringen met “harde data/cijfers” te beschrijven. Ik poog met deze scriptie te illustreren dat met de informative die voorhanden is, dit tentatief mogelijk is. Het uiteindelijke “doel” van deze scriptie is aan te tonen dat archeologen die het Late Neolithicum bestuderen dit soort analyse-methoden kunnen gebruiken om de ingrijpende veranderingen van deze periode beter te begrijpen. De vergelijking tussen het Laat Neolithisch aardewerk van Tell Sabi Abyad en geometrische hallucinaties is de methode waarmee ik dit probeer aan te tonen. De centrale onderzoeksvraag of deze hallucinaties gerepresenteerd zijn dient een secundaire functie: Het FEIT dat deze onderzoeksvraag beantwoord KAN worden (of ze uiteindelijk gerepresenteerd zijn of niet) is bewijs dat deze onderzoeksmethoden inderdaad structureel toepasbaar zijn op deze periode.Show less
For the past thirty years excavations in western Cyprus have taken place and uncovered substantial settlements from the Chalcolithic period (ca. 3800-2300 BC). One of the most recent excavations is...Show moreFor the past thirty years excavations in western Cyprus have taken place and uncovered substantial settlements from the Chalcolithic period (ca. 3800-2300 BC). One of the most recent excavations is the project of Chlorakas-Palloures, which first started during the summer of 2015. The project is a rescue excavation before the plot of land will be occupied by hotels or villas. During the past two years, architecture, burials and many artefacts were recovered from the sites and proved that this site is a valuable asset to Chalcolithic archaeology. The specific topic of this thesis is ground stone. The ground stone category consists of most stone artefacts, except for those that can be identified as chipped stone. The aim of this thesis was to identify the materials used for the object classes of this material and determine why these materials were used. The results of Palloures were then compared to those of the nearby sites of Kissonerga-Mosphilia, Kissonerga-Mylouthkia and Lemba-Lakkous, all of which have yielded large amounts of ground stone artefacts and quite well documented. Despite the close proximity of all sites, there turned out to be quite a degree of local variance, although this was more noticeable in some classes than others. Artefact stone selection could be explained by a couple of factors: Local availability, functionality and sometimes aesthetics, and convenience. Objects require a certain material to be used in order to be effective, which has to be available in order to be used. Objects with multiple forms of use-wear appear to have been used either sequentially or concomitantly. The former are particularly suitable for the convenience model, since the original purpose of the object is no longer in use, and the tool has been reshaped, most likely to avoid the unnecessary wasting of material. A large amount of materials were used for multiple tool classes and several object classes have been used simultaneously for two different functions and have the use-wear matching these functions. It would be convenient to be able to use one object for multiple purposes and not having to carry around more tools than necessary. Although many theories can be come up with to explain material selection, it is not without problems. Differences in detail of excavation reports, dated approaches to the material and the lack of experimental archaeology to explore the possibilities of rock types increase the difficulty significantly. I suspect that employing experimental archaeology actively within the field of ground stone could increase our understanding of the material and therefore the Chalcolithic community as a whole.Show less
Few aspects of human agency are as sparsely treated in archaeological literature as the act of human defecation in the Ancient Near East, as only a limited number of toilets have been found and...Show moreFew aspects of human agency are as sparsely treated in archaeological literature as the act of human defecation in the Ancient Near East, as only a limited number of toilets have been found and published. This paucity is unfortunate, as sanitary technology as a phenomenon can have implications for a wide range of human socio-economic behaviour. The scarce literature indicates a predominance of squatting toilets, when compared to seating toilets. Based on an overview of the published toilets, this assumption does not bear out, as an overview of the available data suggests that seating toilets were equally “common”. At the same time toilets were not “common” at all: the large majority of toilets were found in urban and elite contexts. As such, the spread of sanitary technology like toilets and especially sewage systems might be indicative of social complexity, starting in Southern Mesopotamia in the 4th Millennium BC, eventually reaching Syria in the 2nd Millennium BC. In Tell Sabi Abyad toilets have been found in an Assyrian Late Bronze Age fortified estate, a so called dunnu, that was the property of an elite Assyrian family. These are the only toilets in the Ancient Near East that have been so far found outside an urban context. Although the small scale of the settlement does not necessitate toilets, its defensive role might. In addition the toilets may well have been part of the habitus of Assyrian nobility. Remarkably, these toilets stayed in use and were even rebuilt long after the dunnu lost its importance and connection to nobility, indicating an emulation of status behaviour, and a transfer of elite values.Show less
