During the first centuries BCE and CE, China became one of the larger power-blocks within the ancient early Silk Roads trade network. Extensive trade connections began to form between the Indian...Show moreDuring the first centuries BCE and CE, China became one of the larger power-blocks within the ancient early Silk Roads trade network. Extensive trade connections began to form between the Indian Subcontinent and China, allowing for the creation of trade routes passing through the mountains. The physical manifestation of the travellers along these routes is left behind in the shape of rock art, with anthropomorphic Buddhist, zoomorphic, and inscriptional carvings. The focus of this research is placed on the study of the zoomorphic rock art assemblage from the Karakoram mountain range. An international team composed of archaeologists from the Pakistani Department of Archaeology of Gilgit and the German Heidelberg Academy cooperated to document the rock art assemblage present at significant conglomerations of rock art locations, known as field stations, in the Karakoram mountain range, from 1983 until 2013. This documentation, consisting of eleven catalogues known as the Materialien zur Archäologie der Nordgebiete Pakistans, is the basis for the current research. Three aspects of zoomorphic rock art are discussed in this thesis. Firstly, the identification of the faunal depictions. Through the correlation of morphological characteristics ofextant fauna and zoomorphic carvings, it becomes possible to identify the depicted fauna. Three main Classes have been identified, Reptilia, Aves, and Mammalia. The majority of the carvings, over 95 percent, consists of Mammalia carvings, in particular Bovidae. Secondly, a spatial distribution of the location and composition of rock art locations was created to study potential clustering. The presence of clustering appeared to enrich the variety of depicted zoomorphic motifs. Furthermore, a dichotomy could be seen between field stations which were present alongside the Indus River, showing a larger diversity than locations more inland. Thirdly, the dataset was interpreted, by carrying out a more detailed analysis into the riverside-inland dichotomy and correlating the presence of the zoomorphic motifs with the Buddhist motifs, strengthening past hypotheses and introducing new areas of interest for future archaeological research. The results of this thesis are laying the foundations for research into the available zoomorphic motifs, and the broader rock art assemblage of the Karakoram mountain range.Show less
The study presented in this thesis investigates what structures can be interpreted as type of stone markers and how and why these have been used in the Jebel Qurma region, a desert landscape that...Show moreThe study presented in this thesis investigates what structures can be interpreted as type of stone markers and how and why these have been used in the Jebel Qurma region, a desert landscape that is part of the eastern badia (or Black Desert) northeast Jordan. The use of these structures is difficult to understand since these differ in physical qualities even when they have been positioned at the same places in the landscape. Some are well-built to be seen from far and all directions but many loosely piled and only visible from close distances. During two historical occupation phases stone markers are positioned in the Jebel Qurma region by societies with a pastoralist’s lifestyle. They explored and occupied the landscape intensively during a specific period of the year in order to hunt, pasture their livestock and to perform other dwelling activities in the landscape. . The complexities of the societies and the climate conditions in the research area contributed to a different way of the use of stone markers in the landscape. A typology/classifation could be established based on the needs of the societies. The physical qualities of the stone markers are related to their topographical positioning in the landscape. The stone markers used by the Safaitic society and traditional Bedouins are the evidence of a well-organized travel system to perform subsistence strategies in the interior of the landscape with livestock. Their interaction with stone markers contributes to the understanding how they used the landscape while they were moving with livestock through the region to get from one place to another.Show less
The Kura Araxes represents an important albeit understudied cultural horizon dated to the Early Bronze Age, often defined as a single cultural group that originated in Transcaucasia and spread into...Show moreThe Kura Araxes represents an important albeit understudied cultural horizon dated to the Early Bronze Age, often defined as a single cultural group that originated in Transcaucasia and spread into the greater Near East. Many details about Kura Araxes society still remain much debated as most of the theories discussing the identity of the culture are based on the distribution of characteristic ceramics, which can mask the various levels of complexity. This study focuses on the mortuary evidence found in designated Kura Araxes cemeteries, which has the potential to highlight more cultural heterogeneity. Patterns within burial practices including burial construction types, location of cemeteries, inhumation practices, gender, rituals, grave goods, geographic dispersals and chronological transitions are examined. The divisions in mortuary traditions are interpreted as corresponding to separations in economic and ethnic identities based on mobile and sedentary lifestyle interactions, which undergo transformations throughout the Kura Araxes chronological phases.Show less
Beads were often neglected in archeological considerations, investigated in an unsatisfactory way, used as eye catcher for publications and reduced to their esthetic value. In fact they are an...Show moreBeads were often neglected in archeological considerations, investigated in an unsatisfactory way, used as eye catcher for publications and reduced to their esthetic value. In fact they are an essential and inseparable part of Neolithic life, requiring complex concepts. They are linked to technology, exchange, ritual and esthetic. Tell Sabi Ayad yielded beads from the Late Neolithic only, which facilitates a case study focused on this restricted period. A large part of the beads is not directly datable, as many bead types and materials are diachronic, used in the Late Neolithic and Late Bronze Age. So the beads are dated according the levels where they were found. The excavations on Tell Sabi Ayad were subdivided in 5 operations, all with an own stratigraphy. Operation III was excavated over the largest surface area and most levels could be C14 dated. Only this operation allowed statistical considerations. It turned out that bead rates, diversity of types and colors did not increase with time, but in certain periods only. Raw materials, unfinished and reused beads in association with possible tools are rare on the tell. However this evidence and the amount of local stones suggest production on household level on the tell. Partly beads are fractured, but there are no indications for intentional fragmentation. On the contrary it seems that in grave context only pristine pieces of jewelry were deposited, but jewelry is not mandatory in burials. There are large differences regarding amount and quality of beads in the graves. These differences might indicate some kind of stratification within the society. The major portions of beads are single, complete beads. Necklaces, bracelets and anklets were found in much lesser quantities and mainly in grave context. The beads are all stored in depots in Syria and could not be studied directly. Therefore my study is based on the documentations produced in the field, and Neolithic bead technology is discussed in general. Generally investigations on beads are focused on technological or social aspects but do not work out the variations between Early and Late Neolithic stone beads. It remains challenging to investigate how beads changed with the onset of the Late Neolithic in a semi sedentary society. Show less
The aim of this research is to gain new insights in the changing of cooking practices and eating habits as a result of Frankish influence. To reach this aim, this study strives to seek a relation...Show moreThe aim of this research is to gain new insights in the changing of cooking practices and eating habits as a result of Frankish influence. To reach this aim, this study strives to seek a relation between cooking wares and cooking practices, and diet and eating habits. As a result, it aims to provide valuable information regarding the socio-economic, the cultural, and the local and regional perspective of both cooking practices and eating habits during the Middle to Late Byzantine period (ca. 1200-1500 AD). This research shows that there were indeed changes in cooking practices and eating habits during the Late-Byzantine/Frankish period in the Aegean, and these could have been related to each other. The evidence suggests that smaller, thinner, and taller cooking pots appear somewhere around the middle of the 13th century, replacing the previous globular, thicker ones from the Middle Byzantine period. This change could have been the result of a trend during the Late Byzantine/Frankish period towards more watery dishes, cooked in their own juices. The dietary evidence supports this considerable difference in the Byzantine Aegean diet and the Medieval Western diet, primarily at the higher classes of society. Unfortunately, the effects of Christian Orthodox fasting rules on diet and eating habits or Frankish meat consumption are not visible in stable isotope values from multiple sites in Greece. A socio-economic perspective on the ceramic and dietary evidence during this period could indicate a possible Frankish influence on local cooking practices and eating habits. However, it is not with certainty to say that these changes were actual the result of Frankish influence. From a cultural perspective, it appears that the change to different cooking practices and eating habits in Late Byzantine/Frankish times may not only have been the result of the appearance of the Franks into the scene, but also of growing wealth. Furthermore, it is difficult to distinguish different cooking practices between the higher and lower classes in the Byzantine Aegean or the Medieval West, while substantial variations between town and country or between different local environments must have determined food choice and availability to a certain extent. The local and regional perspective also supports the fact that ceramic and dietary distinctions existed between town, country, and other areas. Urban settlements were more likely to be influenced by a Frankish presence than rural settlements. The experimentation indicates that similar production methods were used for both type of cooking wares. In this regard, it seems very plausible that the Franks did not bring their own potters. The Middle Byzantine way of production seems to have persisted after the Frankish conquest, without noticeable morphological changes.Show less
The thesis analyses the extension of the Urartian Empire and focuses on its northern provinces and frontier regions. It demonstrates how far the Urartian state extended to north in Transcaucasia...Show moreThe thesis analyses the extension of the Urartian Empire and focuses on its northern provinces and frontier regions. It demonstrates how far the Urartian state extended to north in Transcaucasia and shows the different degrees of political control exercised by the central imperial authority over the conquered regions. Urartu, like other ancient empires and states, was not a monolithic, contiguous political and territorial formation, and its boundaries were rather fluid and loosely defined than static like the borders of modern nation states. To achieve a better understanding of the archaeology of political control of the Urartian Empire, four categories and further subcategories of the Urartian cultural assemblage are defined that best represent the Urartian political/administrative landscape: architecture (subdivided by major administrative centres, fortresses and tombs), the display inscriptions, metalwork and pottery. By analysing the distribution of Urartian cultural assemblage, different zones are defined within the Urartian political/administrative landscape such as core, province and frontier, in which the central authority exercised its power and control to varying degrees.Show less
This MA thesis is a study into the assemblage of bone tools from the Late Neolithic period of Tell Sabi Abyad, specifically the tools that come from the Operation III area. Only those objects that...Show moreThis MA thesis is a study into the assemblage of bone tools from the Late Neolithic period of Tell Sabi Abyad, specifically the tools that come from the Operation III area. Only those objects that can be seen as tools or implements have been the subject of the research. In total this amounts to an assemblage of 1081 objects. Of these objects this study investigates which types are present, the numbers in which they occur, and the manner of distribution across the area. The first step is the forming of a typology that is easy to understand for anyone working with the bone tool material from Tell Sabi Abyad yet retains enough detail to make clear distinctions in the distribution of the different objects. The framework of the typology is based on several different ways in which researchers have looked at bone tool assemblages; from the very detailed work of J. Schibler to the more basic idea of expedient versus time-invested tools as first proposed by A.T. Clason. A quantitative analysis is then given, where the different typological classifications and the arguments underlying them are mentioned in detail. Secondly, the implement distribution and contexts per typological entity is investigated. This results in the identification of what can be seen as two main centres within the distribution of the Operation III area. Whether these can be counted as centres of activity is not certain. The available data on the contexts gives an ambiguous view and specific activity localities could not be recognized. From the study it becomes clear that Tell Sabi Abyad shows an assemblage comparable to other Neolithic sites in the Near East and other regions. The typology as it is set up fits well within the limits of the typologies of other sites and, as such, is recognizable for those working on similar studies. This counts both for Tell Sabi Abyad as for other sites. Future work will in all likelihood give rise to reasons for alteration of the current typology but it is believed that the main body will remain upright.Show less
De Egyptische Predynastieke periode wordt in het aardewerkrepertoire onder andere gekenmerkt door versieringen, waarvan onderzoekers altijd hebben verondersteld dat het schepen betrof. Deze...Show moreDe Egyptische Predynastieke periode wordt in het aardewerkrepertoire onder andere gekenmerkt door versieringen, waarvan onderzoekers altijd hebben verondersteld dat het schepen betrof. Deze versieringen liggen ten grondslag aan veel theorieën betreft de vroeg Dynastieke religie en ideologie, en buitenlandse contacten met onder andere Mesopotamië, ondanks dat het materiaal nooit eerder kritisch onder de loep is genomen. In deze scriptie is het Predynastiek materiaal aan de hand van een door de auteur samengestelde catalogus aan de tand gevoeld om de variabiliteit van de iconografische componenten (units) vast te stellen. Hieruit blijkt dat een aantal onderzoekers er een levendige fantasie op nahoudt, de iconografie wezenlijk evolueert en ons begrip van deze decoraties momenteel nog steeds slechts van zeer oppervlakkige aard is.Show less
