This Master thesis on archaeology and cultural heritage management of the Caribbean and Amazonia was written at the University of Leiden, Faculty of Archaeology. The special emphasis in this...Show moreThis Master thesis on archaeology and cultural heritage management of the Caribbean and Amazonia was written at the University of Leiden, Faculty of Archaeology. The special emphasis in this research is on finding out which role the Amerindian past and archaeology play in a Surinamese image of the past. The research design in the first place needed to reveal the past perception of individual people with a Surinamese Caribbean background. The interviewees who participated in this research however were Surinamese migrants who are living since many years in the Netherlands. The approach taken to reveal the past emphasis of individuals from the Surinamese community was through holding semi structured open interviews. The Surinamese community in the context of this research consists of groups of people that share their experience and memory on Suriname within communication, both in the Netherlands and their mother-country. It is within this community that an image of the Surinamese past is being constructed. A key note to the research is that the past is a present construct. From this point of departure multiple pasts do exist. People in their own diversity, within different environments, have to deal with personal socio-cultural realities. This implicates that a meaningful past for Surinamese people needs to be constructed from their individual and community perspectives. This research applied insights from memory theory, archaeological theory, heritage theory and a more anthropological example to show that such a construct asks for people’s balanced historical involvement and community concern. Community concern demands reciprocal involvement that should accomplish mutual understanding. The goal of this thesis is to show that archaeology can be a tool in accomplishing shared understanding and concern from doing research after past happenings and cultural environments. The thesis further advocates engaged archaeology as a tool to create shared understanding. Engaged archaeology does not only imply that an archaeologist should listen to society and people’s concern in order to find topics for research. It even more asks for stimulating participation of people in past interrogation and creating an open critical attitude towards personal perceptions and those of others. The role of the archaeologist in this process of past communication is one of being an example to people with respect to care about archaeological heritage and involvement in both the past and people’s present environment. As an archaeological professional, who executes a profession that primarily is concerned with people, the archaeologist’s task is to facilitate involvement and provide society with critical questions on people’s past supposition. The practice of archaeology in itself needs to be a research environment where people communicate their understandings and from this realize a more inclusive community of involved people that show interest in their surroundings and each other. There can be worked towards a more stable future from contemporary knowledge or understanding about the past. Besides the interview technique, in order to find out more on people’s past concern this research aimed for application of methods from the social sciences. These were methods like discourse analysis and grounded theory. From the interrogation a better understanding of contemporary Surinamese community was accomplished. It made clear that Amerindians in Suriname in general were perceived as being unchanged. From a Western colonial perspective they did not bring about much development and their culture was regarded primitive. Their political, economic and cultural significance was neglected within the culturally diverse and divided Surinamese colonial community. From contemporary and continuous political and societal shifts reorientation on those people who are indigenous to Suriname as well as on other groups in society however is needed in order to create communality. The recommendation to Surinamese society is that ongoing conceptualization on the past and people in society, is necessary in order to accomplish a stable community.Show less
For the last couple of decades, Iraq is known as a country of war, danger, fear, hunger and terror. Three wars have occupied this period, bringing along terrible consequences. The chaos and poverty...Show moreFor the last couple of decades, Iraq is known as a country of war, danger, fear, hunger and terror. Three wars have occupied this period, bringing along terrible consequences. The chaos and poverty of the country, in combination with an destabilised authority, has made people to start large-scale looting of archaeological sites in the desert of Southern Iraq, as an alternative way of income. the antiquities they dig up from the ground are sold to smugglers, which again sell them on to collectors, museums and institutions all over the world through the illegal trade market. Unfortunately, the looting and selling of these ancient objects does not happen occasionally, but it happens on a gigantic scale and gets worse and worse. Entire villages, clans and tribes are involved in the trade and profit from it. Furthermore, powerful elites mingle in the trade, which is why it is completely intertwined with the country’s political situation. Starting in 1990 with the first Gulf war, the problem has never had such a magnitude as with the start of the Second Gulf War in 2003, and it is still increasing today. Not only is this process destructive for the archaeological objects, monuments, and science, it also further destabilizes the country as looting groups are armed, merciless, dangerous and powerful. Furthermore, especially during the 2003 war but also before, sites have been damaged by military forces and bombs, and museums have been robbed. This bachelor thesis explains what kind of archaeology destruction has occurred in the past of Iraq, how looting has developed and why, why it is so hard to stop and most importantly, how we can counteract it.Show less
The broader purpose of this study is to better understand the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe. During this period, which lasted approximately from 45.000 to 30.000 cal. years ago,...Show moreThe broader purpose of this study is to better understand the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe. During this period, which lasted approximately from 45.000 to 30.000 cal. years ago, the first anatomically and genetically modern humans (Homo sapiens) are considered to have arrived in Europe, after their dispersal out of Africa. The last Neanderthals were still in existence in Europe, and where about to become extinct shortly after. The lithic industries of this period contain an apparent mixture of features typical of both Middle and Upper Paleolithic industries (which is not the result of post depositional processes). Therefore, a heated debate has arisen about the manufacturer of these industries, and the potential interaction between H. sapiens and Neanderthals that the tool types may reflect. Over time, the increasing discovery of transitional industries has only yielded a blurred understanding of the transition. This thesis is focused in the area of the southern Balkans, and more specifically in Greek Peloponnese. Suffice it to say, due to its geographical position Greece may have contributed to the passage of the first modern humans from Africa and the Near East into Europe. Additionally, it may have been used as a refugium for the last Neanderthal population of the continent. For this reason, an interpretation of the archaeological transitional evidence that was recovered from the sites of Lakonis and Klisoura in Greece will be attempted. The discovery ofthe two caves, both located in the Peloponnese region, demonstrates that at some point between 46.000-39.000 cal. years ago, both species inhabited the area contemporaneously.The examination of Lakonis indicates that, based on the material evidence, the producers of the transitional layer may have been modern humans. This is in contrast to the human fossil that was recovered in situ from the layer and indicates a Neanderthal identity of the assemblage. Therefore, different scenarios can be made about the manufacturer. The analysis from Klisoura reveals evidence about the movement of modern populations in southern Europe, which further supports the modern identity of the Uluzzian industry. After the analysis is completed, the issue is focused on how we can identify possible interactions between Neanderthals and modern humans in the future within the Peloponnese region.Show less
This thesis is concerned with the city gates of Roman Ostia, the harbour-town of ancient Rome.The study examines whether there are any features (e.g. buildings, monuments and spatial use) that only...Show moreThis thesis is concerned with the city gates of Roman Ostia, the harbour-town of ancient Rome.The study examines whether there are any features (e.g. buildings, monuments and spatial use) that only occur because of the presence of the city gates. Furthermore, it investigates whether these buildings or spaces changed over time, responding to new infrastructural demands or functional requirements. To answer these questions, a detailed, map-based study and an on-site inspection of selected areas of Ostia’s built environment have been carried out. The principal data set for this study are the site maps of Ostia, available in printed form (Calza 1953) and in digital form (Manucci 1995). By examining the urban landscape of the areas around the city gates and by comparing this data to the urban composition throughout the rest of Ostia we noticed that the area around the city gates is equipped with a wide diversity of building-types. Around the gates we encountered all of the building that were needed for everyday life in Roman Ostia.Show less
This thesis describes the economical situation in the 11th-15th Century during the Crusades. It researches how the rise and reign of the Mamluks influences the Mediterranean trade networks in place.
Since the very beginnings of archaeology as a science graves have fascinated archaeologists and have proven to be important sources of information. The approaches used to study graves however, have...Show moreSince the very beginnings of archaeology as a science graves have fascinated archaeologists and have proven to be important sources of information. The approaches used to study graves however, have often not included the personal, intimate aspects of death, nor the persons in the past involved. Also, funerary practices are often set apart from other aspects of society, and the interconnectedness of the individual with society neglected. The concept of personhood can be used to bridge this divide that has formed within archaeology between people and society, as it enables the investigation of the persons in the past through their relationships. This study aims to explore the relationships of the Late Neolithic inhabitants of Tell Sabi Abyad with their social, cultural, material and natural environments. The main focus lies on the grave goods, a not yet studied aspect of the Late Neolithic cemeteries at the site, as they can be regarded elements of identity and personhood of the deceased, but also of the living community. The cemeteries at Tell Sabi Abyad, dated to ca. 6400-5800 BC, hold tremendous potential to add to the emerging image of death and burial during the Late Neolithic in the Near East. Owing to the presence of secure chronological control, extensive documentation and an unusually large burial sample, we are able to investigate practices surrounding death and burial from a bottom-up approach. Within the present research, it becomes clear that the Late Neolithic cemeteries at Tell Sabi Abyad, Operation III, offer ample opportunity to go further than the mere analyses of social complexity and the creation of typologies of burial practice, and to investigate aspects of mortuary behavior related to the person. As deduced from the burial record, personhood at Tell Sabi Abyad seems to have been experienced in terms of both relational and individual identities. Within the grave good assemblages we see expressions of the wide variety of relationships held by the prehistoric inhabitants of the site. These relationships range from supra-regional, to the most intimate of relations, such as those between mother and child.Show less
During the excavation at the St. Plechelmus church in Oldenzaal between 2011 and 2013, six skeletons were found in a single burial context and were interpreted to be family members buried in a ...Show moreDuring the excavation at the St. Plechelmus church in Oldenzaal between 2011 and 2013, six skeletons were found in a single burial context and were interpreted to be family members buried in a ‘family grave’. Ancient DNA recovered from these individuals yielded information that is used to determine if there are genetic indications which can prove or disprove this interpretation. Furthermore, 81 surrounding skeletons were incorporated in this research for the determination of possible additional family relationships from a larger area of the cemetery. Short tandem repeat amplifications for 16 autosomal markers and 22 y-chromosomal markers provided reliable polymerase chain reaction products with no contamination. With allele frequency data from present-day Dutch people, and allele frequencies from all the Oldenzaal samples, statistical analyses were performed with the programs Relpair and Familias to reconstruct kinship relations. The results found no genetic indications for possible kinship relations between the six individuals from the ‘family grave’. However, this cannot exclude that these individuals were biologically related to each other. For the surrounding 81 skeletons, the results indicate eight possible kinship relations. A Harris matrix showing all the excavated skeletons revealed that three out of the eight possible kinship relation pairs were spatially linked to each other; an aspect upon which the interpretation of the ‘family grave’ was based in the first place. This thesis demonstrates the successful use of aDNA from the Oldenzaal cemetery to reconstruct family relationships.Show less
The famous archaeological site of Bamiyan in present day Afghanistan, besides portraying grand achievements of culture and religion, was also the foci for trans migration around the Hindu Kush...Show moreThe famous archaeological site of Bamiyan in present day Afghanistan, besides portraying grand achievements of culture and religion, was also the foci for trans migration around the Hindu Kush region. Between the 5th and 8th centuries, Bamiyan and other adjacent archaeological sites in Central Asia, were connected by a highly developed network of trade. The visual culture of Bamiyan, aside from the two Great Buddhas, suggests there was a necessity to represent ideology and power of the social elite in symbolic ways. At Bamiyan, frescos depict many figures with different type headdresses or crowns. The depiction of these crowns is also found in other archaeological sites and on coins distributed throughout present day Central Asia and China. The details of a headdress or crown suggest characteristics of the social or political identities of the individual or group depicted. The similar type crowns found on figures in other geographical contexts may indicate a degree of interaction between Bamiyan and other religious and trade centers.Show less
