Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Mayan Economics

Archaeology: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Mayan Economics Dec 3rd 2011, 11:01 Mayan economics were based primarily on trade and agriculture. Here are some details of some of that system. Currency: Cacao beans, copper bells, marine shells, jade beads were used as exchange media, although calling them "currency" is a bit strong, since the production of any of them wasn't controlled by a specific government Mines and quarries: Obsidian, jadeite, limestone Lapidary arts: jadeite, marine shell, turquoise, specialized workshops, schist, in an elite context Metallurgy: Didn't develop in Mesoamerica until 600 AD (Late Postclassic), and then it was west Mexico that developed it Trade systems: The Maya had a fairly extensive trade network, with obsidian, jade, serpentine, feathers (quetzalcoatl birds), and ceramic vessels being traded throughout Mesoamerica. Trade connections were established with Olmec and Teotihuacan; there were markets in most of the cities. Polychrome Ceramics: Prudence Rice argued in 2009 that during the Late Classic period, elite personages were the painters of the figural specialized polychrome wares, and the painting of them represented a specialized expression of state control. Agriculture: Begins in the highlands about 3000 BC, with maize and beans, the Maya were arranged into small communities of farmers by ca 900 BC. First villages had pole and thatch houses and a few community buildings. Fields were slash-and burn at first, then home gardens and raised terraces. In the Maya highlands, irrigation canals and terraces were constructed to adapt the local environment to agriculture; in the the lowlands, the people grew crops on raised platforms called chinampas. Cultivated crops: maize (domesticated ca 7000 BC), beans (5000 BC), cucurbits (squash), chili peppers, manioc (3000 BC), amaranth, chenopodium, palms, cacao, vanilla; ramon, avocado (500 BC), agave; Domesticated animals: hairless god, turkey, honeybee Overview Timeline and King List Important Facts Maya Ruins and Additional Sources Bibliography

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Qin Dynasty

Archaeology: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Qin Dynasty Dec 3rd 2011, 11:01 Definition: The Qin Dynasty [221-206 BC], while only fifteen years in duration and only including three emperors, was one of the most important and influential of periods in Chinese history. The first emperor Qin (Qin Shi Huangdi) united the "Warring Tribes," creating the rudimentary elements of a united China. Other achievements of the Qin dynasty include strengthening the Great Wall, and standardizing currency and language. The army of terra cotta soldiers also dates to the Qin dynasty; they were found in the emperor Qin Shi Huangdi's tomb. The harshness of the Qin regime led to its downfall the year after Shihuangdi's death. Source Xiaoneng Yang. 2004. Early Imperial China, in Chinese Archaeology in the Twentieth Century: New Perspectives on China's Past. Yale University Press, New Haven. This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst. Alternate Spellings: Ch'in Examples: Xianyang (capital city)

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Pit House

Archaeology: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Pit House Dec 3rd 2011, 11:01 Definition: A pit house (also spelled pithouse) is an ancient type of dwelling that was excavated partly into the earth, from a few inches to more than three feet. A superstructure was then added to the excavation, such as a roof built of poles chinked with mud and covered with an earthen mound. The roof was generally flat, and entry to the house was gained via a ladder through a hole in the roof. A central hearth would have provided light and warmth; in some pit houses, a ground surface air hole would have brought in ventilation. Pit houses were warm in winter and cool in summer; experimental archaeology has proven that they are quite comfortable. However, they are only good for a few seasonsâ€"after at most ten years, a pithouse would have to be abandoned. Many different prehistoric groups used pit houses. Although generally associated with the American southwest cultures, such as Fremont, Pueblo, Anasazi, Hohokam, and Mogollon, pit houses were used by a wide variety of people in a wide variety of places over the past 12,000 years. Pit House Sources This glossary entry is a part of the Guide to Ancient Houses and part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Diehl, Michael W. 1998 The interpretation of archaeological floor assemblages: A case study from the American southwest. American Antiquity 63(4):617-634. Scarborough, Vernon L. 1989 Site structure of a village of the Late Pithouse-Early Pueblo Period in New Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 16(3):405-425. Wills, W. H. 2001 Pithouse architecture and the economics of household formation in the prehistoric American southwest. Human Ecology 29(4):477-500. Also Known As: Pithouse, pithouse dwelling, pit dwelling Examples: Jomon hunter-gatherers in Late Pleistocene Japan, Viking farmers in medieval Iceland, Fremont farmers in the southwestern United States, Norwegian farmers in 19th century Minnesota, among many others

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Tiwanaku Empire

Archaeology: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Tiwanaku Empire Dec 3rd 2011, 11:01 The Tiwanaku Empire (also spelled Tiahuanaco) dominated portions of what is now Peru, Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia in South America for four hundred years (AD 550-950). The capital city, also called Tiwanaku, was located on the southern shores of Lake Titicaca, on the border between Bolivia and Peru. Tiwanaku Chronology Tiwanaku IV (Tiwanaku Period), AD 400-800 Tiwanaku V, AD 800-1150 The capital city of Tiwanaku lies in the high river basins of the Tiwanaku and Katari rivers, at altitudes between 4200 and 3800 meters above sea level. The basin floors on which the Tiwanaku lived were marshy and flooded seasonally because of snow melt from the Quelcceya ice cap. The Tiwanaku farmers used this to their advantage, constructing elevated sod platforms or raised fields on which to grow their crops, separated by canals. Large acqueducts were also constructed at satellite cities such as Lukurmata and Pajchiri. Raised agricultural field systems stretched the capacity of the high plains to allow for protection of crops through frost and droughty periods. Tiwanaku Lifestyles Because of their high elevation, crops grown by the Tiwanaku were limited to frost-resistant plants such as potatoes and quinoa. Llama caravans brought maize and other trade goods up from lower elevations. The Tiwanaku had large herds of domesticated alpaca and llama, and hunted wild guanaco and vicuña. During the Late Formative period, the Tiwanaku Empire was in direct competition with the Huari empire, located in central Peru. Tiwanaku style artifacts and architecture have been discovered throughout the central Andes, a circumstance that has been attributed to imperial expansion, dispersed colonies, trading networks, a spread of ideas or a combination of all these forces. Far-flung places where Tiwanaku artifact styles, architecture or people have been identified include San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, Juch'uypampa Cave in Bolivia, and Chan Chan in Peru. After 700 years, the Tiwanaku civilization disintegrated as a regional political force. This happened about 1100 AD, and resulted, at least one theory goes, from the effects of climatic change, including a sharp decrease in rainfall. There is evidence that the groundwater level dropped and the raised field beds failed, leading to a collapse of agricultural systems in both the colonies and the heartland. Whether that was the sole or most important reason for the end of the culture is debated. Archaeological Sites Lukurmata, Khonko Wankane, Pajchiri, Omo, Chiripa, Qeyakuntu, Quiripujo (Bolivia), Juch'uypampa Cave, Bolivia, and San Pedro de Atacama (Chile); there is also evidence for a colony (or something) at Chan Chan (Peru). Archaeological Studies at Tiahuanaco Archaeologists associated with the study of Tiahuanaco include Arthur Posnansky, David Browman, Alan Kolata, and Clark Erickson. Much of the recent work has been on the environmental factors that led to the Tiwanaku collapse, and reconstruction of raised field agriculture in the region. Also involved in the excavations have been the descendants of the Tiwanaku, the Aymara. The most recent excavations have been completed at the capital city by Harvard University and University of Pennsylvania. Sources The best source for detailed Tiwanaku information has to be Alvaro Higueras's Tiwanaku and Andean Archaeology. Albarracin-Jordan, Juan 1996 Tiwanaku settlement system: The integration of nested hierarchies in the lower Tiwanaku valley. Latin American Antiquity 7(3):183-210. Bandy, Matthew S. 2005 Energetic efficiency and political expediency in Titicaca Basin raised field agriculture. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 24(3):271-296. (free) Binford, Michael W. et al. 1997. Climate Variation and the Rise and Fall of an Andean Civilization. Quaternary Research 47:235-248. (free) Blom, Deborah E. 2005 Embodying borders: human body modification and diversity in Tiwanaku society. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 24(1):1-24. Goldstein, Paul S. 2005. Andean Diaspora: The Tiwanaku Colonies and the Origins of Empire. University of Florida Press, Gainesville. Janusek, John W. and Alan L. Kolata 2004 Top-down or bottom-up: rural settlement and raised field agriculture in the Lake Titicaca Basin, Bolivia. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 23(4):404-430. Kolata, Alan L. 1986 The agricultural foundations of the Tiwanaku state: A view from the heartland. American Antiquity 51(4):748-762.

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

Archaeology: Montanissell Cave - Bronze Age Catalonia

Archaeology Get the latest headlines from the Archaeology GuideSite. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Montanissell Cave - Bronze Age Catalonia Dec 2nd 2011, 07:54 There's a mountain in the Catalonia region of Spain called Montanissell where in 2004, amateur spelunkers discovered a karst cave hidden deep within its interior. Montanissell Mountain in Catalonia Gustau Erill i Pinyot Within the cave in a corner of one of its galleries they found a burial dated to the Middle Bronze Age of some 3200 years ago: a group of eight individuals that provides a glimpse into the Middle Bronze Age world. The burial is not typical for Middle Bronze Age burials, and neither is the group of people found within. Read more about Montanissell Cave

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Songhai Empire

Archaeology: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Songhai Empire Dec 2nd 2011, 11:01 Definition: The Songhai Empire was established in western subsaharan Africa by Sonni 'Ali Ber in AD 1464. Up until that point, subSaharan Africa had been ruled by the Gao kingdom; both Gao and Songhai empires were ruled based in the ancient capitals of Timbuktu and Gao, both in what is now the country of Mali. The capital city of Songhai was established at Gao by Sonni Ali Ber (1464-1492). The final emperor of the Songhai, Askia Muhammad (or Muhammad Ture) ruled as the first ruler of the Askia dynasty beginning in 1492. His tomb is found at the Great Mosque of Gao. Sources Pekka Masonen. 1997. Trans-Saharan Trade and the West African Discovery of the Mediterranean. In M'hammad Sabour & Knut S. Vikør (eds), Ethnic Encounter and Culture Change. Papers from the Third Nordic Conference on Middle Eastern Studies, Bergen 1997: Nordic Research on the Middle East, vol. 3, pp. 116-142. Susan Keech McIntosh. 1996. West African Savanna Kingdoms. In Brian Fagan (ed), Oxford Companion to Archaeology. OUP: London. This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst. Alternate Spellings: Songhay Examples: Timbuktu and Gao

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Guide to the Olmec Civilization

Archaeology: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Guide to the Olmec Civilization Dec 1st 2011, 11:01 Sacred places: Caves (Juxtlahuaca and Oxtotitlán), springs, and mountains. Sites: El Manati, Takalik Abaj, Pijijiapan. Human Sacrifice: Children and infants at El Manati; human remains under monuments at San Lorenzo; La Venta has an altar showing an eagle-clad king holding a captive. Bloodletting, ritual cutting of part of the body to allow bleeding for sacrifice, was probably also practiced. Colossal Heads: Appear to be portraits of male (and possibly female) Olmec rulers. Sometimes wear helmets indicating that they are ballplayers, figurines and sculpture from La Venta show that women wore helmet headgear, and some of the heads may represent women. A relief at the Pijijiapan as well as La Venta Stela 5 and La Venta Offering 4 show women standing next to men rulers, perhaps as partners. Olmec Trade, Exchange, and Communications Exchange: Exotic materials were brought in or traded from far places to the Olmec zones, including literally tons of volcanic basalt to San Lorenzo from the Tuxtla mountains, 60 km away, which was carved into royal sculptures and manos and metates, natural basalt columns from Roca Partida. Greenstone (jadeite, serpentine, schist, gneiss, green quartz), played a clearly important role in elite contexts at Olmec sites. Some sources for these materials are the gulf coastal region in Motagua Valley, Guatemala, 1000 km away from the Olmec heartland. These materials were carved into beads and animal effigies. Obsidian was brought in from Puebla, 300 km from San Lorenzo. And also, Pachuca green obsidian from central Mexico Writing: The earliest Olmec writing began with glyphs representing calendrical events, and eventually evolved into logographs, line drawings for single ideas. The earliest proto-glyph so far is an Early Formative greenstone carving of a footprint from El Manati. The same sign shows up on a Middle Formative monument 13 at La Venta next to a striding figure. The Cascajal block shows many early glyph forms. The Olmec designed a printing press of sorts, a roller stamp or cylinder seal, which could be inked and rolled onto human skin, paper, or cloth. Calendar: 260 day, 13 numbers and 20 named days. About.com's Guide to the Olmec Olmec Timeline and Definition Subsistence and Settlement You are here--->Important Facts Issues, Archaeological Sites and Bibliography

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Zapotec Monte Alban

Archaeology: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Zapotec Monte Alban Dec 1st 2011, 11:01 On the summit and shoulders of a very high, very steep hill in the middle of the semiarid Valley of Oaxaca, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, lies one of the most well-studied archaeological sites in the Americas. Known as Monte Albán, the site was the capital of the Zapotec culture from 500 BC to AD 700, reaching a peak population of over 16,500 between AD 300-500. The earliest Zapotec city was San Jose el Mogote, also in the Oaxaca Valley and founded about 1600-1400 BC; it was abandoned about 500 BC, when the capital city of Monte Albán was founded at the beginning of the Zapotec heyday. The Zapotecs built their new capital city in the middle of the valley of Oaxaca, between three populous valley arms and at the top of this steep hill. Building a city away from major population centers is called 'disembedded capital' by some archaeologists, and Monte Alban is one of very few disembedded capitals known in the ancient world. Monumental Architecture at Monte Alban The site of Monte Albán has several memorable extant architectural features, including pyramids, thousands of terraces, and long deep stone staircases. Also still to be seen today are Los Danzantes, over 300 stone monuments carved between 350-200 BC, carved with life-sized figures which appear to be portraits of slain war captives. Building J, interpreted by some scholars as an astronomical observatory, is a very odd structure indeed, with no right angles on the exterior--perhaps intended to represent an arrow--and a maze of narrow tunnels in the interior. The Zapotecs were farmers, and made distinctive pottery vessels; they traded with other civilizations in Mesoamerica included Teotihuacan and the Mixtec culture. They had a market system, for the distribution of goods into the cities, and like many Mesoamerican civilizations, built ball courts for playing ritual games wtih rubber balls. Monte Albán's Excavators and Visitors Excavations at Monte Albán have been conducted by Jorge Acosta, Alfonso Caso, and Ignacio Bernal, supplemented by surveys of the Valley of Oaxaca by Americans Kent Flannery, Richard Blanton, Stephen Kowalewski, Gary Feinman, Laura Finsten, and Linda Nicholas. Together these studies illuminate this strange yet familiar society. Today the site awes visitors, with its enormous rectangular green grassed plaza with pyramid platforms on the east and west sides. Massive pyramid structures mark the north and south sides of the plaza, and the mysterious Building J lies near the center. ----- Further Reading

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Copán

Archaeology: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Copán Dec 1st 2011, 11:01 Copán, called Xukpi by its residents, rises out of the mist of western Honduras, in a pocket of alluvial soil amid rugged topography. It is arguably one of the most important royal sites of the Maya civilization. Occupied between AD 400 and 800, Copán covers over 50 acres of temples, altars, stelae, ball courts, several plazas and the magnificent Hieroglyphic Stairway. The culture of Copán was rich in written documentation, today including detailed sculptural inscriptions, which is very rare in precolumbian sites. Sadly, many of the books--and there were books written by the Maya, called codices--were destroyed by the priests of the Spanish invasion. Explorers of Copán The reason we know so much of the inhabitants of the site of Copán is the result of five hundred years of exploration and study, beginning with Diego García de Palacio who visited the site in 1576. During the late 1830s, John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood explored Copán, and their descriptions, and particularly Catherwood's illustrations, are still used today to better study the ruins. Stephens was a 30-year-old attorney and politician when a doctor suggested he take some time off to rest his voice from speech making. He made good use of his vacation, touring around the globe and writing books about his travels. One of his books, Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, was published in 1843 with detailed drawings of the ruins at Copán, made by Catherwood with a camera lucida. These drawings captured the imaginations of scholars the world over; in the 1880s, Alfred Maudslay started the first excavations there, funded by Harvard's Peabody Museum. Since that time, many of the best archaeologists of our time have worked at Copán, including Sylvanus Morley, Gordon Willey, William Sanders and David Webster, William and Barbara Fash, and many others. Translating Copan Work by Linda Schele and others has concentrated on translating the written language, which efforts have resulted in the recreation of the dynastic history of the site. Sixteen rulers ran Copán between 426 and 820 AD. Probably the most well-known of the rulers at Copán was 18 Rabbit, the 13th ruler, under whom Copán reached its height. While the level of control held by the rulers of Copán over the surrounding regions is debated among Mayanists, there can be no doubt that the people were aware of the populations at Teotihuacan, over 1,200 kilometers away. Trade items found at the site include jade, marine shell, pottery, sting-ray spines and some small amounts of gold, brought from as far away as Costa Rica or perhaps even Colombia. Obsidian from Ixtepeque quarries in eastern Guatemala is abundant; and some argument has been made for the importance of Copán as a result of its location, on the far eastern frontier of Maya society. Daily Life at Copan Like all of the Maya, the people of Copán were agriculturalists, growing seed crops such as beans and corn, and root crops such as manioc and xanthosoma. Maya villages consisted of multiple buildings around a common plaza, and in the early centuries of the Maya civilizations these villages were self-supporting with a relatively high standard of living. Some researchers argue that the addition of the elite class, as at Copán, resulted in the impoverishment of the commoners. Copán and the Maya Collapse Much has been made of the so-called "Maya collapse," which occurred in the 9th century AD and resulted in the abandonment of the big central cities like Copán. But, recent research has shown that as Copán was being depopulated, sites in the Puuc Region such as Uxmal and Labina, as well as Chichen Itza were gaining population. David Webster argues that the "collapse" was merely a collapse of the ruling elites, probably as a reuslt of internal conflict, and that only the elite residences were abandoned, and not the entire city. Good, intensive archaeological work continues at Copán, and as a result, we have a rich history of the people and their times. Sources This glossary entry is part of the Guide to the Maya Civilization and the Dictionary of Archaeology. A brief bibliography has been assembled and a page detailing the Rulers of Copán is also available.

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Palace of Minos

Archaeology: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Palace of Minos Dec 1st 2011, 11:01 Knossos Palace is the legendary site of Theseus fighting the Minotaur, Ariadne and her ball of string, Daedalus the architect and doomed Icarus of the wax wings: how many of us dream Minoan dreams and never realize it? The Aegean culture known as Minoan is the Bronze Age civilization that flourished on the island of Crete during the second and third millennia B.C. The city of Knossos was one of its main cities--and it contained its largest palace after the shattering earthquake that marks the beginning of the New Palace period in Greek archaeology, ca. 1700 BC. The Minoan Language: Linear A We know little of the Minoan culture, compared to later Greek cultures, because much of their language has been lost. Homer spoke of the Cretan civilization--that's from where the legends of Minos and Ariadne come. Two written languages are associated with Minoan culture; Linear A, first used during the early Minoan period, and Linear B, which doesn't appear on tablets until ca 1450, well past the culture's fluorescence. Only Linear B has been translated; Michael Ventris (working with John Chapman and Alice Kober identified it as a form of Greek. Knossos Palace Construction and History Construction on the palace at Knossos, according to legend the palace of King Minos, was begun perhaps as early as 2000 B.C., and by 1900 BC, it was fairly close to its final form--a large single building with a central courtyard. Around 1700 BC, one theory goes, a tremendous earthquake shook the Aegean Sea, devastating Crete as well as the Mycenaean cities on the Greek mainland. Knossos' palace was destroyed; but the Minoan civilization rebuilt almost immediately on top of the ruins of the past, and indeed the culture reached its pinnacle only after the devastation. During the Second Palace period, 1700-1450 BC, the Palace of Minos covered nearly 22,000 square meters (about 5.4 acres) and contained storage rooms, living quarters, religious areas, and banquet rooms. What appears to be a jumble of rooms connected by narrow passageways probably gave rise to the myth of the Labyrinth; the structure itself was built of a complex of dressed masonry and clay-packed rubble, and then half-timbered. Columns were many and varied in the Minoan tradition, and the walls were highly decorated with frescoes. Excavation and Reconstruction The Palace at Knossos was first extensively excavated by Sir Arthur Evans, in the earliest years of the 20th century. One of the pioneers of the field of archaeology, Evans had a marvelous imagination and a tremendous creative fire, and he used his skills to create what you can go and see today at Knossos in northern Crete. Too much by today's standards, I fear: as you might guess by the photograph, Evans painted temple is a little gaudier than was probably the case. But visiting Knossos is still a great way to absorb the ancient Minoan culture. --- Thanks to the members of Aegeanet for setting me straight on some issues; errors in this article are, as always, mine alone.

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

Archaeology: Göbekli Tepe: Houses, Shrines or Both?

Archaeology Get the latest headlines from the Archaeology GuideSite. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Göbekli Tepe: Houses, Shrines or Both? Nov 30th 2011, 10:09 A terrific article by E.B. Banning in September's Current Anthropology discusses the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) site of G�bekli Tepe, interpreted by investigator Klaus Schmidt as a set of temples and covered with a gorgeous set of photos in National Geographic last summer. T-Top Pillar at G�bekli Tepe. Is this a roof support? Photo by Erkcan Schmidt's categorizing these structures as temples arises from a long tradition of identifying some PPN buildings as shrines or shrine rooms, beginning in the 1940s with Jericho: Banning proposes that archaeologists should rethink our distinctions between shrines and domestic spaces. Banning's main argument rests in the notion that modern people--particularly westerners--separate the sacred and the mundane in a way that may not relate, almost certainly doesn't relate to ancient cultures, where the domestic, everyday life seems to have been fused with the spiritual. It's an interesting article, and I love the fact that it was published in Current Anthropology, where as is typical for CA, scholars were invited to comment and discuss Banning's argument in detail, the comments were published alongside Banning's article, and Banning was given an opportunity to respond, all published in the same place and time. Accordingly, I've revisited my G�bekli Tepe photo essay from last summer and added in some of the relevant details of Banning's argument. That might give you a taste for the academic document, which is linked below. G�bekli Tepe - Early Cult Center in Turkey Photo Essay Guide to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic How Archaeologists Define Temples Banning EB. 2011. So Fair a House: G�bekli Tepe and the Identification of Temples in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the Near East. Current Anthropology 52(5):619-660. Commentary from Peter Akkermans, Douglas Baird, Nigel Goring-Morris and Anna Belfer-Cohen, Harald Hauptmann, Ian Hodder, Ian Kuijt, Lynn Meskell, Mehmet �zdogan, Michael Rosenberg, and Marc Verhoeven; and a reply from Banning.

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Chauvet Cave (France)

Archaeology: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Chauvet Cave (France) Nov 30th 2011, 13:00 Definition: Chauvet Cave is currently the oldest rock art site in the world, apparently dating to the Aurignacian period in France, about 30,000-32,000 years ago. The cave is located in the Pont-d'Arc Valley of Ardèche, France, at the entrance of the Ardeche gorges between the Cevennes and Rhone valleys. It extends for nearly 500 meters into the earth, with two main rooms separated by a narrow hallway. Paintings at Chauvet Cave Over 420 paintings have been documented in the cave, including numerous realistic animals (reindeer, horses, aurochs, rhinocerus, buffalo), human hand prints, and abstract dot paintings. The paintings in the front hall are primarily red, dominated by red ochre, while the back hall are mainly black designs, out of charcoal. The paintings at Chauvet are highly realistic, which is unusual for this period in paleolithic rock art. In one famous panel (a little bit is shown in the illustration) an entire pride of lions is illustrated, and the feeling of movement and power of the animals is tangible even in photographs of the cave taken in poor light and at low resolution. Archaeology and Chauvet Cave The preservation in the cave is remarkable. Archaeological material in Chauvet cave's deposits include thousands of animal bones, including the bones of at least 190 cave bears (Ursus spelaeus). The remains of hearths, an ivory spearhead and a human footprint have all been identified within the cave's deposits. Chauvet Cave was discovered in 1994 by Jean-Marie Chauvet; the relatively recent discovery of an intact cave painting site has let researchers control the excavations using modern methodology. In addition, the researchers have worked to protect the site and its data. Since 1996, the site has been under investigation by an international team led by Jean Clottes, combining geology, hydrology, paleontology, and conservation studies; and, since that time, it has been closed to the public, to preserve its fragile beauty. Dating Chauvet The dating of Chauvet cave is based on 46 AMS radiocarbon dates taken on tiny pieces of paint from the walls, conventional radiocarbon dates on human and animal bone, and Uranium/Thorium dates on speleotherms (stalagmites). The deep age of the paintings and their realism has led in some circles to a scholarly revision of the notion of paleolithic cave art styles. However, Paul Pettitt has recently questioned the dates, arguing that the radiocarbon dates within the cave are earlier than the paintings themselves, which he believes are Gravettian in style and date to no earlier than about 27,000 BP. Additional radiocarbon dating of the cave bear population continues to support the original date of the cave: the bones are all between 37,000 and 29,000 years old, and samples from a nearby cave support the idea that cave bears may have been extinct in the region by 29,000 years ago. That would mean that the paintings, which include cave bears, must be at least 29,000 years old. But the controversy is continuing. Werner Herzog and Chauvet Cave In late 2010, film director Werner Herzog presented a documentary film of Chauvet Cave, shot in three-dimensions, at the Toronto film festival. The film, Cave of the Forgotton Dreams, premiered in limited movie houses in the United States on April 29, 2011. Read more about Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams Read the Review of Cave of Forgotten Dreams Sources This glossary entry is part of the Guide to Prehistoric Cave Art. Abadía OM, and Morales MRG. 2007. Thinking about 'style' in the 'post-stylistic era': reconstructing the stylistic context of Chauvet. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 26(2):109-125. Bahn PG. 1995. New developments in Pleistocene art. Evolutionary Anthropology 4(6):204-215. Bocherens H, Drucker DG, Billiou D, Geneste J-M, and van der Plicht J. 2006. Bears and humans in Chauvet Cave (Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, Ardèche, France): Insights from stable isotopes and radiocarbon dating of bone collagen. Journal of Human Evolution 50(3):370-376. Bon C, Berthonaud V, Fosse P, Gély B, Maksud F, Vitalis R, Philippe M, van der Plicht J, and Elalouf J-M. Low Regional Diversity Of Late Cave Bears Mitochondrial Dna At The Time Of Chauvet Aurignacian Paintings. Journal of Archaeological Science In Press, Accepted Manuscript. Chauvet J-M, Deschamps EB, and Hillaire C. 1996. Chauvet Cave: The world's oldest paintings, dating from around 31,000 BC. Minerva 7(4):17-22. Clottes J, and Lewis-Williams D. 1996. Upper Palaeolithic cave art: French and South African collaboration. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 6(1):137-163. Feruglio V. 2006 De la faune au bestiaire - La grotte Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc, aux origines de l'art pariétal paléolithique. Comptes Rendus Palevol 5(1-2):213-222. Genty D, Ghaleb B, Plagnes V, Causse C, Valladas H, Blamart D, Massault M, Geneste J-M, and Clottes J. 2004. Datations U/Th (TIMS) et 14C (AMS) des stalagmites de la grotte Chauvet (Ardèche, France) : intérêt pour la chronologie des événements naturels et anthropiques de la grotte. Comptes Rendus Palevol 3(8):629-642. Marshall M. 2011. Bear DNA hints at age of Chauvet cave art. The New Scientist 210(2809):10-10. Pettitt P. 2008. Art and the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe: Comments on the archaeological arguments for an early Upper Paleolithic antiquity of the Grotte Chauvet art. Journal of Human Evolution 55(5):908-917.

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Maya Civilization Guide

Archaeology: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Maya Civilization Guide Nov 30th 2011, 13:00 Overview Timeline and King List Important Facts You Are Here-->Further Sources Bibliography Archaeological Sites of the Maya Really the best way to learn about the Maya is to go and visit the archaeological ruins. Many of them are open to the public and have museums and even gift shops on the sites. You can find Maya archaeological sites in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and in several Mexican states. Major Maya Cities Belize: Batsu'b Cave, Colha, Minanha, Altun Ha, Caracol, Lamanai, Cahal Pech, Xunantunich El Salvador: Chalchuapa, Quelepa Mexico: El Tajin, Mayapan, Cacaxtla, Bonampak, Chichén Itzá, Cobá , Uxmal, Palenque Honduras: Copan, Puerto Escondido Guatemala: Kaminaljuyu, La Corona (Site Q), Nakbe, Tikal More on the Maya Books on the Maya A collection of reviews of a handful of the recent books on the Maya. Finding Maya Site Q. Mysterious Site Q was one of the sites referred to on glyphs and temple inscriptions; and researchers believe they have finally located it as the site of La Corona. Spectacles and Spectators: Walking Tour of Maya Plazas. Although when you visit archaeological ruins of the Maya, you generally look at the tall buildings--but a lot interesting things are to be learned about the plazas, the big open spaces between the temples and palaces at the major Maya cities. Maya Civilization Quiz Are you ready to take the Maya Civilization Trivia Quiz? Overview Timeline and King List Important Facts You Are Here-->Further Sources Bibliography

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Cave Art

Archaeology: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Cave Art Nov 30th 2011, 13:00 Definition: Antiquity Cave art, also called parietal art or cave painting, is a general term referring to the decoration of the walls of rockshelters and caves throughout the world. The best known sites are in the Upper Paleolithic (UP)of Europe, where polychrome (multi-colored) paintings made of charcoal and ochre and other natural pigments were used to illustrate extinct animals, humans and geometric shapes some 20,000-30,000 years ago. The purposes of cave art, particularly UP cave art, are widely debated. Cave art is most often associated with the work of shamans, religious specialists who may have painted the walls in memory of past or support of future hunting trips. Cave art was once considered evidence of a "creative explosion", when the minds of ancient humans became fully developed: today, scholars believe that human progress towards behavioral modernity began in Africa and developed much more slowly. The oldest yet dated cave art is from Chauvet Cave in France, direct-dated to between 30,000-32,000 years ago. Art in rockshelters is known to have occurred within the past 500 years in many parts of the world, and there is some argument to be made that modern graffiti is a continuation of that tradition. Dating Upper Paleolithic Cave Sites One of the great controversies in rock art today is whether we have reliable dates for when the great cave paintings of Europe were completed. There are three current methods of dating cave paintings. Direct dating, in which conventional or AMS radiocarbon dates are taken on tiny fragments of charcoal or other organic paints in the painting itself Indirect dating, in which radiocarbon dates are taken on charcoal from occupation layers within the cave that are somehow associated with the painting, such as pigment-making tools, portable art or collapsed painted roof or wall blocks are found in datable strata Stylistic dating, in which scholars compare the images or techniques used in a particular painting to others which have already been dated in another manner Although direct dating is the most reliable, stylistic dating is the most often used, because direct dating destroys some part of painting and the other methods are only possible in rare occurrences. Stylistic changes in artifact types have been used as chronological markers in seriation since the late 19th century; stylistic changes in rock art are an outgrowth of that philosophical method. Until Chauvet, painting styles for the Upper Paleolithic were thought to reflect a long, slow growth to complexity, with certain themes, styles and techniques assigned to the Gravettian, Solutrean and Magdelenian time segments of the UP. Direct-Dated Sites in France According to von Petzinger and Nowell (2011 cited below), there are 142 caves in France with wall paintings dated to the UP, but only 10 have been direct-dated. Aurignacian (~45,000-29,000 BP), 9 total: Chauvet Gravettian (29,000-22,000 BP), 28 total: Pech-Merle, Grotte Cosquer, Courgnac, Mayennes-Sciences Solutrian (22,000-18,000 BP), 33 total: Grotte Cosquer Magdalenian (17,000-11,000 BP), 87 total: Cougnac, Niaux, Le Portel The problem with that (30,000 years of art primarily identified by modern western perceptions of style changes) was recognized by Paul Bahn among others in the 1990s, but the issue was brought into sharp focus by the direct dating of Chauvet Cave. Chauvet, at 31,000 years old an Aurignacian period cave, has a complex style and themes that are usually associated with much later periods. Either Chauvet's dates are wrong, or the accepted stylistic changes need to be modified. For the moment, archaeologists cannot move completely away from stylistic methods, but they can retool the process. Doing so will be difficult, although von Pettinger and Nowell have suggested a starting point: to focus on image details within the direct-dated caves and extrapolate outward. Determining which image details to select to identify stylistic differences may be a thorny task, but unless and until detailed direct-dating of cave art becomes possible, it may be the best way forward. Read more about specific Cave Art Sites Sources See Portable Art for comparison. This glossary entry is a part of the guide to Upper Paleolithic, and the Dictionary of Archaeology. Bednarik RG. 2009. To be or not to be Palaeolithic, that is the question. Rock Art Research 26(2):165-177. Chauvet J-M, Deschamps EB, and Hillaire C. 1996. Chauvet Cave: The world's oldest paintings, dating from around 31,000 BC. Minerva 7(4):17-22. González JJA, and Behrmann RdB. 2007. C14 et style: La chronologie de l’art pariétal à l’heure actuelle. L'Anthropologie 111(4):435-466. Henry-Gambier D, Beauval C, Airvaux J, Aujoulat N, Baratin JF, and Buisson-Catil J. 2007. New hominid remains associated with Gravettian parietal art (Les Garennes, Vilhonneur, France). Journal of Human Evolution 53(6):747-750. Leroi-Gourhan A, and Champion S. 1982. The dawn of European art: an introduction to Palaeolithic cave painting. New York: Cambridge University Press. Mélard N, Pigeaud R, Primault J, and Rodet J. 2010. Gravettian painting and associated activity at Le Moulin de Laguenay (Lissac-sur-Couze, Corrèze). Antiquity 84(325):666â€"680. Moro Abadía O. 2006. Art, crafts and Paleolithic art. Journal of Social Archaeology 6(1):119â€"141. Moro Abadía O, and Morales MRG. 2007. Thinking about 'style' in the 'post-stylistic era': reconstructing the stylistic context of Chauvet. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 26(2):109-125. Pettitt PB. 2008. Art and the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe: Comments on the archaeological arguments for an early Upper Paleolithic antiquity of the Grotte Chauvet art. Journal of Human Evolution 55(5):908-917. Pettitt P, and Pike A. 2007. Dating European Palaeolithic Cave Art: Progress, Prospects, Problems. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 14(1):27-47. Sauvet G, Layton R, Lenssen-Erz T, Taçon P, and Wlodarczyk A. 2009. Thinking with Animals in Upper Palaeolithic Rock Art. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 19(03):319-336. von Petzinger G, and Nowell A. 2011. A question of style: reconsidering the stylistic approach to dating Palaeolithic parietal art in France. Antiquity 85(330):1165-1183.

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Artifacts Ur's Royal Cemetery

Archaeology: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Artifacts Ur's Royal Cemetery Nov 30th 2011, 13:00 The Royal Cemetery at the ancient city of Ur in Mesopotamia was excavated by Charles Leonard Woolley between 1926-1932. The Royal Cemetery excavations were part of a 12-year expedition at Tell el Muqayyar, located on an abandoned channel of the Euphrates River in far southern Iraq. Tell el Muqayyar is the name given to the +7 meter tall, +50 acre archaeological site made up of the ruins of centuries of mud brick buildings left by the residents of Ur between the late 6th millennium BC and the 4th century BC. The excavations were jointly funded by the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, and so many of the artifacts that Woolley recovered ended up in the Penn Museum. This photo essay features images of some of the artifacts which are currently on exhibit at the museum, in an exhibition entitled "Iraq's Ancient Past: Rediscovering Ur's Royal Cemetery" which opened October 25, 2009. Figure Caption: Head of lion (Height: 11 cm; Width: 12 cm) made of silver, lapis lazuli and shell; one of a pair of protomes (animal-like adornments) found in the "death pit" which Woolley associated with Puabi's tomb chamber. These heads were 45 cm apart and had originally been attached to a wooden object. Woolley suggested they might have been the finials for the arms of a chair. The head is one of many masterpieces of art from the Royal Cemetery of Ur, ca 2550 BCE. Iraq's Ancient Past: Rediscovering Ur's Royal Cemetery, Penn Museum Press Release Ancient Ur, Iraq, more details about the Mesopotamian city state Timeline and Description of Mesopotamia C. Leonard Woolley

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Oasis Theory

Archaeology: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Oasis Theory Nov 28th 2011, 19:45 Definition: The Oasis Theory (or Propinquity Theory) is a core concept in archaeology, referring to one of the main hypotheses about the origins of agriculture. First put forward by V.G. Childe in his 1928 book, "The Most Ancient Near-East", the oasis theory argues that the reason people starting living in settlements was because during a dry spell, the only livable place was near oases. The enforced clustering of humans, animals, and plants led to the domestication of all three, or so the theory goes. Another important scholar for this discussion was Robert Braidwood, who introduced the Fertile Crescent as a location of this enormous step forward (or backward, depending on your point of view). More Information Lots of details on the domestication of various animals and plants have been collected here. Braidwood, Robert J., et al. 1974 Beginnings of Village-Farming Communities in Southeastern Turkey--1972. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 71(2):568-572. Free download Childe, V.G. 1969 New Light on the Most Ancient East. Norton & Company. The second edition, which can be had for a song these days. Pluciennik, Mark and Marek Zvelbil. 2007. pp. 467-486 in Handbook of Archaeological Theories, R. Alexander Bentley, Herbert D.G. Maschner and Christopher Chippindale, eds. Altamira Press, Lanham, Maryland. A great resource for modern concepts of the origins of agriculture. This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst. Also Known As: Propinquity Theory

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions