This study combines theoretical approaches towards diet, feasting, and social organisation with the archaeology of Early Dilmun to further the understanding of Early Bronze Age society in Bahrain...Show moreThis study combines theoretical approaches towards diet, feasting, and social organisation with the archaeology of Early Dilmun to further the understanding of Early Bronze Age society in Bahrain and on Failaka Island. This research attempts to explore how relationships were forged, and subsequently renegotiated, through food and drink, and what affect this would have on society. The data used to explore the social connotations of food within Dilmun is comprised of faunal remains, archaeobotanical remains, human skeletal remains, the architecture of cooking facilities, and stamp seals. Aspects of Sumerian myths, rituals, and beliefs are also incorporated in parts. The faunal remains largely come from burial mounds and settlements, however sites such as the Barbar temples are also examined. The compiled data was then studied in regard to age, gender, sex, and status. The relationships between the living and the dead, as well as between the living and the gods was also explored. Whilst further study would be beneficial, with particular emphasis on isotopic analysis of human teeth and residue analysis of the ceramic deposits in graves, the research did extrapolate some possible patterns that could reflect the social values of Early Dilmun: gender disparity seemed to occur with the absence of women from drinking scenes. Furthermore, analysis of human teeth also suggested some difference in diets between the two sexes. Whereas, age shows no distinct patterns that would suggest that the population underwent major dietary changes for social reasons. Dilmun between 2250-1750 BC was undergoing a transformative process where society, status and organisation became more complex. This is reflected by increasingly elaborate burial practices and rituals. It also allows for diet to reflect on social inequality between houses, areas, and settlements. The three main settlements that were compared with one another were Tell F3 on Failaka, Saar, and Qala’at al-Bahrain in Bahrain. The three sites varied in their functions: Tell F3 was likely a trading outpost for Mesopotamia and the rest of the Gulf, Saar was a small town, and Qala’at al-Bahrain was the capital of Dilmun. Therefore, the social and administrative organisation, as well as the economy, seemed to greatly vary and that was reflected in the diet. The food, and the practices associated with the food, in many ways mirrored the emergence of the increasingly complex society, which enabled better understanding of Dilmun regarding status and social organisation in the Early Bronze Age.Show less
This paper utilizes unpublished excavation data from Leiden University’s excavation at Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria to examine two types of figurines from the site’s Late Bronze Age Middle Assyrian...Show moreThis paper utilizes unpublished excavation data from Leiden University’s excavation at Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria to examine two types of figurines from the site’s Late Bronze Age Middle Assyrian occupation in the late 13th and 12th centuries BCE. Beyond the contextual and analytical presentation of new material to the archaeological community, it reestablishes an understudied typology through the promotion of a geographical, chronological, cultural, and functional frameworks. This study uses the figurines as a base to explore issues inherent in their find contexts and preservation. After establishing typologies and object catalogs, it explores the archaeological visibility of intentional material disregard, the dynamism of contemporary value attributions to representative material culture, and the interplay of ancient peoples with their local histories. In highlighting the functionality of a symbolic material culture that existed outside the settlement’s imperial sphere, this thesis uses the figurines to reveal the cosmopolitan nature of the common people at Tell Sabi Abyad.Show less
