eBooks de Arqueología, página 20 de 26

The transport stirrup jar was a vessel type used extensively in the Late Bronze Age III Aegean world. Found in a variety of contexts, the type was used both to transport and to store liquid commodities in bulk. The peak of the production and exchange of this jar corresponded with the time of economic expansion on the Greek mainland. On Crete, stirrup jars appeared at most major centers on the island. Their presence in large numbers in storerooms indicates the movement of commodities and the centralized storage and control of goods. The broad distribution of stirrup jars at coastal sites in the eastern Mediterranean and their presence in the cargoes of the Uluburun, Gelidonya, and Iria shipwrecks clearly shows their role in the extensive exchange networks within the Aegean and beyond. Because they represent significant Aegean exchange, tracing their origins and movement provides information regarding production centers and trade routes. This study concentrates on determinating of provenance of the jars and the subsequent tracing of exchange routes. The fully integrated research design is an interdisciplinary, collaborative archaeological project that embraces typological, chemical, petrographic, and epigraphic approaches in order to shed light on the jars classification and origin. The results of the chemical and petrographic work constitute primary parts of the study. By establishing the origins and distribution of the jars, these vases are placed within their historical context. The identification of production centers and export routes is critical for a full understanding of the economic and political conditions in the Late Bronze Age Aegean and eastern Mediterranean.

Vrokastro remains one of the few Early Iron Age settlements excavated in Crete, and it is key to understanding the nature and history of regional settlement during this period. Volume I of the Vrokrastro survey presents the first catalogue of the pottery excavated from the settlement and cemeteries by Edith Hall in 1910 and 1912, along with a brief analysis of metal objects from the town and its cemeteries and new profile drawings and photographs. This site is important for its size, long settlement history that includes both the Bronze and Early Iron Age, and its artifacts, which reveal a local pottery tradition and contacts with other areas of Crete and the Aegean. In addition, Vrokastro is the only completely excavated site within the survey boundaries, and is thus the type-site for the new systematic survey recently undertaken in this area. Barbara Hayden provides new insights concerning the chronology of the settlement and its tombs, the nature of occupation at the site over 500 years, and commentary on burial practices and techniques. She reviews the evidence for contacts with other areas in Crete and the Aegean. This publication will be of use to those interested in ceramics of the period, settlement patterns, history, trade, burial customs, and metalworking. Following the first two catalogues of the Cretan collection of the Museums Mediterranean Section, its conclusions are an integral part of the overall Vrokastro regional survey.

This volume presents the papers of an international colloquium on the archaeology of houses and households in ancient Crete held in Ierapetra in May 2005. The 38 papers presented here range from a discussion of household activities at Final Neolithic Phaistos to the domestic correlates of "globalization" during the early Roman Empire. These studies demonstrate a variety of methodological approaches currently employed for understanding houses and household activities. Key themes include understanding the built environment in all of its manifestations, the variability of domestic organization, the role of houses and households in mediating social (and perhaps even ethnic) identity within a community or region, household composition, and of course, household activities of all types, ranging from basic subsistence needs to production and consumption at a suprahousehold level.

Since the inception of Minoan archaeology, studies pertaining to tombs and tomb deposits have played seminal roles in our understanding of Minoan culture and the reconstruction of Bronze Age society. For several geographical areas and chronological periods of Cretan history, tombs are the most abundant source of data. Each author in this volume takes a clear and distinct approach to the data, including some that emphasize political geography on multi-regional and multi-scalar levels, some that examine the commemoration of the dead and of the community for legitimizing purposes but also for maintaining and/or creating elite positions in social systems, and others that underline the overlap between mortuary rituals and religion. The aim of this volume is not to present all tombs in all periods on Crete comprehensively, but the breadth of these papers is intended generate a discourse not just among archaeologists working in different areas and time periods on Crete but also among archaeologists in Greece and a broader anthropological audience.

The Black Sea coast is different from the rest of Turkey. For more than 5,000 years Sinop, the central point on the Turkish coast, has seemed more remote from the rest of the Anatolian land mass than from Greece, Italy, Africa, the Crimea, Istanbul, and Rome. How was Sinop connected to them? The Black Sea Trade Project explores the perception of connectedness: how connected did people feel to those in other upland villages, coastal villages, ports, the big port of Sinop, and to distant shores? How did economic, infrastructural, and political institutions bind local populations to larger systems, and how were various institutional processes situated in landscapes? In this first volume from the Sinop Regional Archaeological Project, Owen P. Doonan rigorously explores connection through Sinop and its hinterland, from precolonial Greek settlements through ages of empires, Roman, Russian, and Ottoman conquests to the present day.

In AD 1438 a battle took place outside the city of Cuzco that changed the course of South American history. The Chanka, a powerful ethnic group from the Andahuaylas region, had begun an aggressive program of expansion. Conquering a host of smaller polities, their army had advanced well inside the territory of their traditional rival, the Inca. In a series of unusual maneuvers, the Inca defeated the invading Chanka forces and became the most powerful people in the Andes. Many scholars believe that the defeat of the Chanka represents a defining moment in the history of South America as the Inca then continued to expand and establish the largest empire of the Americas. Despite its critical position in South American history, until recently the Chanka heartland remained unexplored and the cultural processes that led to their rapid development and subsequent defeat by the Inca had not been investigated. From 2001 to 2004, Brian Bauer conducted an archaeological survey of the Andahuaylas region. This project represents an unparalleled opportunity to examine theoretical issues concerning the history and cultural development of late-prehistoric societies in this area of the Andes. The resulting book includes an archaeological analysis on the development of the Chanka and examines their ultimate defeat by the Inca.

The Incas carried out some of the most dramatic ceremonies known to us from ancient times. Groups of people walked hundreds of miles across arid and mountainous terrain to perform them on mountains over 6,096 m (20,000 feet) high. The most important offerings made during these pilgrimages involved human sacrifices (capacochas). Although Spanish chroniclers wrote about these offerings and the state sponsored processions of which they were a part, their accounts were based on second-hand sources, and the only direct evidence we have of the capacocha sacrifices comes to us from archaeological excavations. Some of the most thoroughly documented of these were undertaken on high mountain summits, where the material evidence has been exceptionally well preserved. In this study we describe the results of research undertaken on Mount Llullaillaco (6,739 m/22,109 feet), which has the worlds highest archaeological site. The types of ruins and artifact assemblages recovered are described and analyzed. By comparing the archaeological evidence with the chroniclers accounts and with findings from other mountaintop sites, common patterns are demonstrated; while at the same time previously little known elements contribute to our understanding of key aspects of Inca religion. This study illustrates the importance of archaeological sites being placed within the broader context of physical and sacred features of the natural landscape.

This volume presents the final report on the excavation of two Prepalatial tholos tombs and their associated remains at Chatzinas Liophyto near the Moni Odigitria (monastery) in south-central Crete. The grave goods and burial remains include pottery, metal objects, chipped stones, stone vases, gold and stone jewelry, sealstones, and human skeletal material. The results of the associated survey of the upper catchment of the Hagiopharango region are also reported. The book finishes with a reappraisal of our understanding of the early settlement of the Hagiopharango and a Greek summary.

Excavations carried out at two Late Minoan III sites at Mochlos in eastern Crete yielded a pottery assemblage from 31 tombs and 11 houses, which are cataloged, discussed, and illustrated together with petrographic analyses. The cemetery remains mirror the settlement remains, and the conclusions discuss how the two sites reflect each other. Rarely in Crete are a settlement and its cemetery both preserved, and it is extremely fortunate to be able to document both in a series of scientific excavation reports (Mochlos vols. IIA-IIC).

Combining a guide for the Museum visitor with scholarly discussions of all objects on display, this catalogue provides background on the society, history, technology, and commerce of the Etruscan and Faliscan cultures from the ninth through the first centuries B.C. Several groups of material illustrate social, historical, and technological phenomena currently at the forefront of scholarly debate and study, such as the crucial period of the turnover from Iron Age hut villages to the fully urbanized princely Etruscan cities, the development and extent of ancient literacy, and the position of women and children in ancient societies. Many special objects seldom found or generally inaccessible in the United States include Faliscan tomb groups, Etruscan inscriptions, helmets, and trade goods. The catalogue presents and analyzes objects of warfare, weaving, animals, religious beliefs, architectural and terracotta roofing ornaments, Etruscan bronze-working for utensils, weapons, and artwork, and fine, generic portraiture. It discusses the symbolic meaning of such objects deposited in tombs as a chariot buried with a Faliscan lady at Narce, a senators folding stool buried in a later tomb at Chiusi, and a pair of horse bits with the teeth of a chariot team still adhering to them where the teeth fell when sacrificed for a funeral in the fifth-century necropolis at Tarquinia-much later than the horse sacrifice was previously known in Etruria.

The Mediterranean landscape record is recognized for its length and richness and the opportunity it offers to study the interaction between humans and their landscape. This volume explores a variety of current archaeological issues in the context of specific landscapes from southern Spain through Greece and Cyprus to Jordan and from antiquity to recent times. Over the last 25 years, researchers have initiated a dramatic expansion in theoretical approaches-both anthropological and classical. Over the same time span, a huge volume of field survey projects has been carried out in the Mediterranean arena. The contributors to Mediterranean Archaeological Landscapes take stock of what has been learned, identify lacunae, and consider new approaches to our understanding of the rich surface landscape record of the Mediterranean. Their goal is to explore theoretically diverse interpretative themes and the methods that make those approachable.

The goal of this volume is to impart an appreciation of the many facets of East Africas cultural and archaeological diversity over the last 2,000 years. It brings together chapters on East African archaeology, many by Africa-born archaeologists who review what is known, present new research, and pinpoint issues of debate and anomaly in the relatively poorly known prehistory of East Africa.

The volume covers the 2008 season of clearing and mapping at the Khentkawes Town (KKT) on the Giza Plateau, and survey, mapping, and excavation of burials in the area. The work at the KKT site encompasses excavations in both the Khentkawes complex and the Menkaure Valley Temple Ante-town. This volume also covers the 2008 results of the 3-D laser scanning of the Djoser Step Pyramid at Saqqara, under the combined auspices of Egypts Supreme Council of Antiquities, Ancient Egypt Research Associates, Osaka University, and DEVELO Solutions of Osaka, Japan.

GOP 3 offers preliminary excavation results from the 2006-2007 season at the Heit el-Ghurab (HeG) site of Giza and from clearing and mapping at the Khentkawes Town site. The volume includes the results of a ground-penetrating radar study by Glen Dash in the areas around the Valley Temples of Menkaure and Khafre, as well as near the Khentkawes Town. Mark Lehners Capital Zone article discusses the geomorphological history of the Heit el-Ghurab site and the Khentkawes Town at Giza as it relates to observations and conclusions about the flood plain and Nile flood levels, with an overall emphasis on the Old Kingdom, at Dahshur, in the Memphis/Saqqara area, near Giza and in the region of Ausim and Abu Roash. Bunbury, Lutley, and Graham offer an overall view of Gizas geomorphology, and Yukinori Kawae summarizes the 2006 three-dimensional laser scanning of the Khentkawes monument.

Preliminary report on the Ancient Egypt Research Associates 2004 field season. The volume covers the 2004 season of clearing and mapping on the 4th Dynasty settlement at the Lost City of the Pyramids (Heit el-Ghurob [HeG] site) on the Giza Plateau. The work at the HeG site encompasses excavations north of the Wall of the Crow; in the area East of the Galleries; within the Royal Administration Building; and in the Eastern Town, the Western Dump, and areas around the Abu Hol Soccer Field.

Warfare, ritual human sacrifice, and the rubber ballgame have been the traditional categories through which scholars have examined organized violence in the artistic and material records of ancient Mesoamerica and Central America. This volume expands those traditional categories to include such concerns as gladiatorial-like boxing combats, investiture rites, trophy-head taking and display, dark shamanism, and the subjective pain inherent in acts of violence. Each author examines organized violence as a set of practices grounded in cultural understandings, even when the violence threatens the limits of those understandings. The authors scrutinize the representation of, and relationships between, different types of organized violence, as well as the implications of those activities, which can include the unexpected, such as violence as a means of determining and curing illness, and the use of violence in negotiation strategies.

This volume is the second in the series of final reports on the work of the Kavousi Project and the first volume on the cleaning (1982-1984) and excavations (1987-1992) at the mountain sites located above the modern village of Kavousi in eastern Crete. These sites, Vronda and the Kastro, shed light on the Early Iron Age, the transitional period in Cretan history known popularly as the Dark Ages, thereby elucidating the way of life of the people who lived in the area of Kavousi during that period and how their culture changed over time. Kavousi IIA is devoted to the excavation of material from the Late Minoan IIIC settlement at Vronda, particulary the houses on the summit of the Vronda ridge (Buildings A-B, C-D, J-K, and Q), along with earlier (Building P) and later (Building R) structures around them.

A water separation, or flotation, machine is an instrument that divides soil into three components: the material that floats (called flot or light fraction), the stones and other heavy portions that do not float (called residue or heavy fraction), and the particles that either dissolve in water or become suspended in it and are washed away. The primary purpose for utilizing such a device is the recovery of organic remains, such as charred seeds, charcoal, or small bones, which would otherwise be permanently lost. However, the machine is of great value for archaeological excavation because it allows for the collection of tiny artifacts of all classes, it divides them by size and weight, and it does not break fragile items. Water separation is very different from water screening. Use of a water separation machine requires four stages in the recovery of archaeological material: 1. Retrieval of archaeological sediments 2. Operation of the water separation machine 3. Sorting of the materials 4. Study of the materials.

This book is the tenth volume in the series of excavation reports about the harbor town of Pseira, which is located on the island of the same name, just off the northeast coast of Crete. The book focuses on the excavation and interpretation of the architecture and material culture in Block AF. This southern group of buildings is one of the most important areas in the settlement because of its long succession of building phases. Block AF provides the fullest sequence of building phases from any one area at Pseira, with habitation extending from before MM II to LM III. It has examples of complex architectural details including a "pillar crypt," elaborate upstairs floors, a well-preserved U-shaped staircase, and a well-designed kitchen, all of which contribute significantly to our knowledge of East Cretan building practices. In addition to domestic pottery, the houses furnish examples of stone tools, stone vessels, loom weights, inscriptions in Linear A, cult objects, animal bones, marine shells, and a wide range of material recovered from water sieving. This latter category, with burned grain, fish bones, shells, and other categories of materials, fills many gaps in our knowledge of Pseiran life.

As part of the INSTAP Archaeological Excavation Manual series, Thin-Section Petrography of Ceramic Materials provides a concise overview of the history and application of the practice while detailing how this type of petrographic analysis can benefit archaeologists in the field. When thin-section analysis is employed as part of a thorough, multi-disciplinary study of ceramic materials, it provides a wealth of additional interpretative data to archaeologists, allowing for more accurate interpretations of the past, especially regarding pottery production, provenance, variations in technology over time and space, exchange networks on local and non-local scales, and even social issues such as choices of both manufacturers and consumers and traditions of manufacture.