The guard houses of Minoan Crete are often said to be defensible buildings, based on their location and architecture. However, were they really defensible? To answer the question of how defensible...Show moreThe guard houses of Minoan Crete are often said to be defensible buildings, based on their location and architecture. However, were they really defensible? To answer the question of how defensible these buildings were, three different methods were applied to a sample of guard houses. These methods were Least Cost Path analysis, the calculation of a Defensibility Index value, and Space Syntax with Visibility Graph Analysis. These methods have never been tried before and the results give new insight in how defensible these guard houses actually were. Not only from the outside, but from the inside as well. The results have confirmed that these guard houses are generally defensible buildings, although the defensibility differs per building and per method. In the future, a higher quality DEM and better datasets, that fix most of the flaws in the results presented here, will provide an even more accurate perspective on these guard houses.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This paper utilizes unpublished excavation data from Leiden University’s excavation at Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria to examine two types of figurines from the site’s Late Bronze Age Middle Assyrian...Show moreThis paper utilizes unpublished excavation data from Leiden University’s excavation at Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria to examine two types of figurines from the site’s Late Bronze Age Middle Assyrian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
The West Friesland Bronze Age marked itself within the Prehistory of the Netherlands with the well- preserved remains of houses, fields, tumuli and other features, all surrounded by ditches. They...Show moreThe West Friesland Bronze Age marked itself within the Prehistory of the Netherlands with the well- preserved remains of houses, fields, tumuli and other features, all surrounded by ditches. They not only show a well- organized society but a diligently planned water management system as well. Within this thesis the main focus is directed towards botanical remains, namely crops, of two sites - Bovenkarspel Het Valkje and Enkhuizen Kadijken. Based on the information that has been gained some of the farming activities and soil quality of the sites might be investigated. Due to poor sampling of Enkhuizen Kadijken the comparison of the features was limited to only house ditches. Because the ditch – digging behaviour is rather unique in light of other Dutch Bronze Age sites it has been decided to compare the crops material not only against other already excavated sites of West Friesland but also against sites located on the riverine and Pleistocene areas. It was conducted in order to check whether the farmers who lived in different environmental condition follow the same trend of agriculture.Show less
