Analyzing the acquisition policies of museums is an important way to understand how the legal as well as ethical standards have evolved since 1970. Museums were influenced by these changing...Show moreAnalyzing the acquisition policies of museums is an important way to understand how the legal as well as ethical standards have evolved since 1970. Museums were influenced by these changing standards: What could be bought legally some years ago can no longer be bought legally today. This has to do with how the legal and ethical standards evolved. Furthermore, it is evident from the research that museums have understood that they can no longer buy unprovenanced antiquities and, for this reason, have published acquisition policies and declarations. The year 1970 can be seen as the turning point in the protection of antiquities. In this year, the first ethical codes were published by museums as well as the ICOM Code of Ethics; and in November 1970 the UNESCO Convention was put into effect. This thesis analyzes the acquisition policy of the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden and compares it with other major museums.Show less
On the beach of Happisburgh iron rich blocks have been washing up for centuries. When an iron mineralised faunal fossil with cut marks was found, this formed the direct occasion for further...Show moreOn the beach of Happisburgh iron rich blocks have been washing up for centuries. When an iron mineralised faunal fossil with cut marks was found, this formed the direct occasion for further investigation. The iron rich blocks are filled with plant macro and other fossils. In the nineteenth century Clement Reid and six others reported similar iron rich blocks washing up. They named the presumed locality the ‘Elephant Bed’ after the many Elephant fossils yielded from the same deposition. This thesis investigates the plant macro fossils and a basic lithological analysis of 66 iron rich blocks collected from Happisburgh Site 5 in 2012 by dr. M.H. Field in an attempt to establish a palaeoenvironmental reconstruction that could indicate possible habitability of early hominins. In order to do so this research has been placed in the context of East Anglian, Pleistocene research on the stratigraphy. This sequence is extremely complex and has been revised, including Reid, West, Lee, Hamblin and others. Not only are there now two opposing views on the classification of these sediments, the associated ages differ by several Marine Isotope Stages. Some general consensus has been achieved on the palaeogeography, namely the presence of ancient rivers in this part of England. Whether this be the ancient Thames or a local river called Bytham remains a discussion. Fluvial sediments are known for depositing iron rich blocks. Several sites in East Anglia have yielded flaked artefacts, such as Pakefield and Happisburgh Site 3, but no human fossil remains. Happisburgh has four other sites other than the one investigated for this thesis, that have all yielded some form of evidence for hominin presence (i.e. cut marks, flaked artefacts). Clement Reid of the British Geological Survey, Peter Murphy of the English Heritage and Simon Parfitt of the Natural History Museum have, respectively published and shared, plant macro fossil results for these iron rich blocks. The fossils included aquatic and woodland taxa. Murphy’s methodology is different from the methodology used for this thesis. Both methods have their pros and cons, and depending on the research questions one or the other may be used in future investigations. The iron rich blocks have underwent severe taphonomic processes that have had their influence on the preservation of the botany, and possibly had an effect on over- or underrepresentation of the taxa. Results from the lithological analysis indicate the existence of several different facies, indicating the presence of both a river as a wetland or horse shoe shaped lake. The plant macro fossils indicate aquatic taxa, terrestrial taxa and woodland taxa. Some faunal remains have been found, such as shell impressions and one fossilized abraded mammal long bone. The shell impression identification corresponds with identifications made by both Reid as Murphy and suggest reasonably clear, stagnant or mild flowing fresh waters. In the absence of an in situ locality for these blocks, several inferences can be made based on the presented results. Three scenarios are described, order from most likely to least likely. The final conclusion attests the hypothesis, as there seems to be a clear indication for a temperate environment that could possibly have been a habitat for early hominins.Show less
This thesis is about the ceramics that were found during the field season excavation of May 2012 at the pre-Columbian site Aguas Buenas, Nicaragua, AD 400-1400. Aguas Buenas is situated in the...Show moreThis thesis is about the ceramics that were found during the field season excavation of May 2012 at the pre-Columbian site Aguas Buenas, Nicaragua, AD 400-1400. Aguas Buenas is situated in the Chontales province, Central Nicaragua, where there is not much archaeological research done. Linguistic and ethno historical research shows that the province was a cultural complex area in pre-Columbian times. Aguas Buenas is the largest known site in this province and so far only studies in surveys. The aim of the thesis is trying to say something about the identity of the people who build the site and regional interaction. During the field season of 2012 pottery was the most found material. The ceramics were studied using a modal analysis. The following modes were analysed: pot shape, lip shape, diameter of the pot, firing colour, colour, slip, decoration, and surface finishing. These results are compared with previous studies from Chontales and the Pacific region of Nicaragua.Show less
This thesis discusses researching sexuality of past peoples through archaeological investigation, both its problems and advantages. It discusses the birth of sexuality research as a topic of...Show moreThis thesis discusses researching sexuality of past peoples through archaeological investigation, both its problems and advantages. It discusses the birth of sexuality research as a topic of interest and also considers its development over time. To be able to properly conduct sexuality research it is important to know the problems one might encounter in doing so and find ways of dealing with these. Besides discussing issues such as the negative views of sex and sexuality, heteronormativity and the recognition of sexual imagery and related artefacts in the archaeological record, the case study of the ancient bathhouse Qusayr ‘Amra is discussed, placing this theoretical issue in a more concrete framework. The question asked here is to what extent we can archaeologically research sexuality for the Umayyad Period, by looking at the frescoes of Qusayr ‘Amra. Here, we find a number of frescoes of nude men and women, that offer the potential to try and answer questions about sexuality. We find here that there might very well be a sexual component to the frescoes of this desert castle, that we might be able to understand when they are placed in a context of a number of literary sources from this time period.Show less
In deze scriptie worden drie muurschilderingen geanalyseerd die afkomstig zijn uit drie verschillende valleien binnen het gebied waar de Moche woonden: de Nepaña vallei (Pañamarca), Moche vallei ...Show moreIn deze scriptie worden drie muurschilderingen geanalyseerd die afkomstig zijn uit drie verschillende valleien binnen het gebied waar de Moche woonden: de Nepaña vallei (Pañamarca), Moche vallei (Huaca de la Luna) en de Chicama Vallei (Huaca Cao Viejo). Door schilderingen uit verschillende politieke centra met elkaar te vergelijken, wordt getracht een ideologische overeenkomst te vinden tussen de drie afzonderlijke bestuurscentra. Voor de analyse wordt een door Mieke bal omschreven theorie gebruikt, waarin narratieve teksten worden geanalyseerd aan de hand van drie onderscheidende termen: tekst, story en fabula. Er zal gekeken worden naar de afgebeelde figuren en de interpretaties die daaraan gegeven zijn. Eveneens wordt er een blik geworpen op de onderlinge relaties van de figuren en de activiteiten die zij uitvoeren. Op deze manier wordt er getracht het verhaal te achterhalen dat in de schildering verbeeld wordt. Bij de analyse wordt gebruikt gemaakt van eerder onderscheiden personages en thema’s die van belang zijn voor de Moche iconografie. Deze zijn op verschillende objecten weergegeven en komen ook terug in de schilderingen. Na het uitvoeren van de analysen, wordt er een vergelijking gemaakt tussen de drie schilderingen, waaruit zal blijken dat er een ideologische overeenkomst bestaat tussen de verschillende centra. Alle onderzochte schilderingen behandelen eenzelfde thema: het belang van vruchtbaarheid en de offers die voor de instandhouding daarvan gebracht dienen te worden.Show less
On the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts artifacts have been found at Pakefield and Happisburgh 3, indicating the presence of hominid activity. These artifacts were assigned to the organic layers of the...Show moreOn the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts artifacts have been found at Pakefield and Happisburgh 3, indicating the presence of hominid activity. These artifacts were assigned to the organic layers of the Cromer Forest-bed Formation. Pakefield is dated to 700 ka and resembled a Mediterranean climate, while the Happisburgh 3 artifacts are associated with a temperate boreal climate with an age of 780 ka. Research in understanding the Palaeolandscape and climate needs to be conducted on the organic layers at the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts. In this paper the lower organic layer at Beeston has been investigated. The research in this paper identified the macrofossils of 200 cubic centimeters from the first ten centimeters of the top of the lower organic layer. The local vegetation is consistent with a Potometea community, the local environment is a flooded basin or back-swamp in a River delta with some marine influences, and the climate represents a temperate climate. Other research of the layer as a quickscan of macrofossils through the entire layer shows no significant change of vegetation in the layer. Therefore we can assume that the layer represents one distinguished type of vegetation. Pollen data in the 10-11 centimeters of the layer shows an abundance of boreal mixed forests with wetland conditions. The identified local environment, vegetation, and climate is also found in the West Runton Freshwater Bed (MIS 15-17) and Happisburgh 3 (MIS 21,25). The West Runton Freshwater Bed is part of the hypothetical “Ancaster River”. The resemblance in vegetation and climate of Happisburgh 3 and Beeston indicates a possible presence of hominid activity within the lower organic layer of Beeston. However, the presenceof hominids and age of the lower organic layer cannot yet be determined.Show less
When Middle Assyrians conquered the land of Hanigalbat during the 14th and 13th century, they did several changes in the settlement systems of the area. This paper is mainly concerned with the...Show moreWhen Middle Assyrians conquered the land of Hanigalbat during the 14th and 13th century, they did several changes in the settlement systems of the area. This paper is mainly concerned with the changes happened during the transitional phase from the Mitanni to the Middle Assyrian period. Several works have been lately published about the Middle Assyrians in general but the Mitanni period has been generally neglected. The research of this paper tackles the subject through a bibliographical overview of the current archaeological data concerning the period. The questions which are going to be investigated in this paper about the transition from Mitanni to Middle Assyrians are: What changes did the Middle Assyrians brought to the administrative system of the area? What changes do we see in the settlement system? How did the agricultural economy evolved, what are the results of the intensification of agriculture and how did this affect the changes in settlement systems? In order to answer those questions the paper is divided in 4 chapters. In the first chapter I do a historical overview of the periods from the 15th to the 13th century BC. The historical overview is important to create the context in which I am going to work and it provides crucial information about the names of certain sites which will be investigated. In the first chapter I also provide a brief state of the archaeological research of the periods. In the second chapter I thoroughly investigate three areas, t e Balīḫ Valley, the Upper Ḫābūr Valle and t e Upper igris regi n. I pr vide general information of the areas and examination of certain sites which are used as examples. At the end of each subchapter there are conclusions concerning each specific region. The third chapter deals with agriculture and the changes of agriculture during the early period of the Middle Assyrian Empire. In order to examine the subject of agriculture I use two well documented sites, Tell Sabi Abyad and Dūr-Katlimmu. These sites have been chose because they provide us with important textual evidence and allow the reconstruction of their agricultural productivity. The study of agriculture allows us to see the role of agriculture in the settlement changes of the period.In the final chapter I firstly present a discussion in order to create a theoretical framework for the changes on settlement systems. In this part I discuss the policies used by Middle Assyrian in each region and the reasons behind certain decisions on changing the settlement patterns of an area. The last part of the chapter contains the conclusions and results of the research. The purpose of this MA thesis is to recreate certain aspects of the transitions from the Mitanni Empire to the Middle Assyrian Empire with main focus on the changes of settlement patterns.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
open access
2015-01-19T00:00:00Z
Until recently ‘The archaeology of Judaism’ actually meant the archaeology of Judaism for no later than Late Antiquity. Recently, only the archaeology of Judaism for the medieval period in Europe...Show moreUntil recently ‘The archaeology of Judaism’ actually meant the archaeology of Judaism for no later than Late Antiquity. Recently, only the archaeology of Judaism for the medieval period in Europe has been developing, but almost no attention has been paid yet to the archaeology of Judaism in the Islamic World. Although much seems to be known about Judaism in the Islamic World, when taking a closer look, actually all this knowledge is based on textual sources such as the rabbinic literature and the documents from the Cairo Genizah. Apart from that, there have been specialist studies, focussing on specific objects, or architectural features from more recent times, mainly from an art historical approach. This thesis for the first time aims to give a general overview of all the available material and architectural features that could be associated with Judaism in the Islamic World and the wider diaspora and reconsiders the grounds on which the association of this material with Judaism has been made. It examines what contribution archaeology could make to the knowledge of Judaism, thereby paying attention to some issues related to the social responsibility archaeologists have towards society and presenting the most promising fields for future research.Show less
