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

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Artifacts Ur's Royal Cemetery Jan 21st 2012, 11:08 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

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Cultural Evolution

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Cultural Evolution Jan 21st 2012, 11:08 Definition: Cultural evolution as a theory in anthropology was developed in the 19th century, and it was an outgrowth of Darwinian evolution. Cultural evolution presumes that over time, cultural change such as the rise of social inequalities or emergence of agriculture occurs as a result of humans adapting to some noncultural stimulus, such as climate change or population growth. However, unlike Darwinian evolution, cultural evolution was considered directional, that is, as human populations transform themselves, their culture becomes progressively complex. The theory of cultural evolution was applied to archaeological studies by British archaeologists A.H.L. Fox Pitt-Rivers and V.G. Childe in the early 20th century. Americans were slow to follow until Leslie White's study of cultural ecology in the 1950s and 1960s. Today, the theory of cultural evolution is an (often unstated) underpinning for other, more complex explanations for cultural change, and for the most part archaeologists believe that social changes are not only driven by biology or a strict adaptation to change, but by a complex web of social, environmental, and biological factors. Sources Bentley, R. Alexander, Carl Lipo, Herbert D.G. Maschner, and Ben Marler. 2008. Darwinian Archaeologies. Pp. 109-132 in Handbook of Archaeological Theories, R.A. Bentley, H.D.G. Maschner, and C. Chippendale, eds. Altamira Press, Lanham, Maryland. Feinman, Gary. 2000. Cultural Evolutionary Approaches and Archaeology: Past, Present and Future. Pp. 1-12 in Cultural Evolution: Contemporary Viewpoints, G. Feinman and L. Manzanilla, eds. Kluwer/Academic Press, London. This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Hisarlik (Turkey)

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Hisarlik (Turkey) Jan 21st 2012, 11:08 Definition: Hisarlik is the modern name for the ancient site of Troy, located in what is now Turkey. First occupied during the Early Bronze Age, 3000 BC, but certainly most famous as the location of Homer's stories of the Late Bronze Age Trojan War, which occurred either at the time of the level known as Troy VI (1800-1275 BC) or Troy VII (1275-1100 BC). The status of the site as an important regional capital of western Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age has come under some discussion. Because of Hisarlik's connection with Homer, the site has perhaps unfairly been intensively debated. But the site was likely a pivotal one for its day, and, based on Manfred Korfmann's studies, may well be the historic capital of Wilusa. Archaeology at Hisarlik Test excavations were first conducted at Hisarlik by railroad engineer John Brunton in the 1850s and archaeologist/diplomat Frank Calvert in the 1860s. Both lacked the connections and money of their much-better known associate, Heinrich Schliemann, who excavated at Hisarlik between 1870 and 1890. Wilhelm Dorpfeld excavated there between 1893-1894, and Carl Blegen in the 1930s. In the 1980s, a new collaborative team started at the site led by Manfred Korfmann of the University of Tubingen. Sources Archaeologist Berkay Dinçer has several excellent photographs of Hisarlik on his Flickr page. Easton, D. F., J. D. Hawkins, A. G. Sherratt, and E. S. Sherratt 2002 Troy in recent perspective. Anatolian Studies 52:75-109. Jablonka, Peter and C. B. Rose 2004 Late Bronze Age Troy: A Response to Frank Kolb. American Journal of Archaeology 108(4):615-630. Kolb, Frank 2004 Troy VI: A Trading Center and Commercial City? American Journal of Archaeology 108(4):577-614. This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst. Also Known As: Ilion (Early Iron Age name), Troy, Ilium Novum Alternate Spellings: Hissarlik

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Animal Domestication

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Animal Domestication Jan 21st 2012, 11:08 Animal domestication is what scholars call the process of developing the mutually useful relationship between animals and humans. Over the past 12,000 years, humans have learned to control their access to food and other necessities of life by changing the behaviors and natures of wild animals. All of the animals that we use today, such as dogs, cats, cattle, sheep, camels, geese, horses, and pigs, started out as wild animals but were changed over the centuries and millennia into tamer, quieter animals. Some of the ways people benefit from a domesticated animal include keeping cattle in pens for access to milk and meat and for pulling plows; training dogs to be guardians and companions; teaching horses to adapt to the plow or take a rider; and changing the lean, nasty wild boar into a fat, friendly farm animal. Different animals were domesticated in different parts of the world at different times. The following table describes when and where different animals were turned from wild beasts to be hunted or avoided, into animals we could live with and rely on. The table summarizes the current understandings of the earliest likely domestication date for each of the animal species, and a very rounded figure for when that might have happened. Live links on the table lead to additional information on the specific animals. Thanks to Ronald Hicks at Ball State University for suggestions. Similar information on the domestication dates and places of plants is found on the Table of Plant Domestication. Sources See table listing for details on specific animals. Zeder MA. 2008. Domestication and early agriculture in the Mediterranean Basin: Origins, diffusion, and impact. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105(33):11597-11604. Domestication Table Animal Where Domesticated Date Dog undetermined ~14-30,000 BC? Sheep Western Asia 8500 BC Cat Fertile Crescent 8500 BC Goats Western Asia 8000 BC Pigs Western Asia 7000 BC Cattle Eastern Sahara 7000 BC Chicken Asia 6000 BC Guinea pig Andes Mountains 5000 BC Donkey Northeast Africa 4000 BC Horse Kazakhstan 3600 BC Silkworm China 3500 BC Llama Peru 3500 BC Bactrian camel Southern Russia 3000 BC Dromedary camel Saudi Arabia 3000 BC Honey Bee Egypt 3000 BC Banteng Thailand 3000 BC Water buffalo Pakistan 2500 BC Duck Western Asia 2500 BC Yak Tibet 2500 BC Goose Germany 1500 BC Alpaca Peru 1500 BC Reindeer Siberia 1000 BC Turkey Mexico 100 BC-AD 100

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Goat Domestication

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Goat Domestication Jan 21st 2012, 11:08 Goats (Capra hircus) were among the first domesticated animals, adapted from the wild version Capra aegargus. Beginning about 10,000-11,000 years ago, Neolithic farmers in the Near East began keeping small herds of goats for their milk and meat, and for their dung for fuel, as well as for materials for clothing and building: hair, bone, skin and sinew. Today there are more than 300 breeds of goats, and they live in climates ranging from high altitude mountains to deserts. Recent mtDNA research suggests that all goats today are descended from a handful of animals and may have been domesticated in a handful of different places. Archaeological data suggest two distinct places of domestication: the Euphrates river valley at Nevali Çori, Turkey (11,000 bp), and the Zagros Mountains of Iran at Ganj Dareh (10,000). Other possible sites of domestication include the Indus Basin in Pakistan at (Mehrgarh, 9,000 bp) and perhaps central Anatolia and the southern Levant. Other important archaeological sites with evidence for the initial process of goat domestication include Cayönü, Turkey (8500-8000 BC), Tell Abu Hureyra, Syria (8000-7400 BC), Jericho, Israel (7500 BC), and Ain Ghazal, Jordan (7600-7500 BC). Recognizing Domesticated Goats Domestication in goats has been recognized archaeologically by the presence and abundance of the animal into regions that were well beyond their normal habitats, by perceived changes in their body size and shape (called morphology), by differences in demographic profiles in wild and domestic groups, and by stable isotope recognition of their dependence on year-round fodders. Sources This article is part of the Guide to the History of Animal Domestication. Alizadeh, Abbas, et al. Excavations at the Prehistoric Mound of Chogha Bonut, Khuzestan, Iran: Seasons 1976/77, 1977,78, and 1996. 2003. Chicago, Illinois, University of Chicago. Oriental Institute Publications. Fernández, Helena, et al. 2006 Divergent mtDNA lineages of goats in an Early Neolithic site, far from the initial domestication areas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition 10.1073(06-02753103). [ Joshi, Manjunath B., et al. 2004. Phylogeography and Origin of Indian Domestic Goats. Molecular Biology and Evolution 21(3):454-462. Luikart, Gordon, et al. 2001. Multiple maternal origins and weak phylogeographic structure in domestic goats. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 98:5927-5932. MacHugh, David E. and Daniel G. Bradley. 2001. Livestock genetic origins: Goats buck the trend. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 98:5382-5384. Makarewicz, Cheryl and Noreen Tuross. 2006. Foddering by Mongolian pastoralists is recorded in the stable carbon (d13C) and nitrogen (d15N) isotopes of caprine dentinal collagen. Journal of Archaeological Science 33:862-870. Zeder, Melinda A. 2001. A Metrical Analysis of a Collection of Modern Goats (Capra hircus aegargus and C. h. hircus) from Iran and Iraq: Implications for the Study of Caprine Domestication. Journal of Archaeological Science 28(1):61-79. Zeder, Melinda A. and Brian Hesse. 2000. The Initial Domestication of Goats (Capra hircus) in the Zagros Mountains 10,000 Years Ago. Science 28(7):2254-2257. This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Library of Ashurbanipal

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Library of Ashurbanipal Jan 20th 2012, 11:08 The Library of Ashurbanipal (also spelled Assurbanipal) is a collection of clay tablets recovered by Austen Henry Layard in the mid-19th century at the Mesopotamian city of Nineveh. The library included 25,000 clay tablet fragments adding up to about 1200 texts written in cuneiform. The texts cover information on all kinds of things-- including religion, bureaucracy, science, mathematics, poetry, medicine. The tablets were written during the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal's reign between about 668-627 BC. Many of the texts involve recipes and technical instructions on how to do things, such as make glass and perfume. Also included were dictionaries and lists of proverbs. A version of the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh was also among the documents, as were myths, astronomical observations, prayers, administrative documents and letters. Sources Quotations from the Library of Ashurbanipal are found in several places in the Internet, including Babylonian Proverbs at the Ancient History Sourcebook ("The life of day before yesterday has departed today"). The Epic of Gilgamesh is available in glorious detail on the Ancient Texts site. A brief description of the library is available at the Library of King Ashurbanipal Web Page. A few images of the tablets can be seen on the Sackler Gallery at the British Museum website, where many of the tablets are stored. Others are at the Iraq Museum of Antiquities and the Oriental Institute in Chicago. Researcher Jeanette C. Fincke has a useful webpage called Nineveh Tablet Collection, with a catalog of the texts (although the database doesn't seem to work). Eleanor Robson's Assurbanipal's Library at the Knowledge and Power website is also quite useful. British Museum welcomes Iraq library project (BBC News, 10 May 2002 Cogan, Mordechai and Hayim Tadmor. 1988. Ashurbanipal Texts in the Collection of the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 40(1): 84-96 Shortland, A. J. 2007 Who were the glassmakers? Status, theory and method in mid-second millennium glass production. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 26(3):261-274.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Asmar Sculpture Hoard (Iraq)

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Asmar Sculpture Hoard (Iraq) Jan 20th 2012, 11:08 Definition: The Tell Asmar sculpture hoard is a collection of 12 human effigy statues, discovered at the Mesopotamian site of Tell Asmar. The hoard was discovered during Henri Frankfort's Oriental Institute excavations in the 1930s. They were stacked in several layers within an 85x50 cm hole 1.25 meters (about 4 feet) below the floor of the structure known as the Square Temple. The statues average about 42 centimeters in height. They are of men and women with large staring eyes, upturned faces, and clasped hands, dressed in the skirts of the Early Dynastic period of Mesopotamia. They are believed to represent gods and goddesses and their worshipers. The largest male figure is thought to represent the god Abu, based on symbols carved into the base. The Asmar statues were modeled from processed gypsum (calcium sulphate). The ancient technique involves firing gypsum at about 300 degrees Fahrenheit until it becomes a fine white powder (called plaster of Paris). The powder is then mixed with water and then modeled and/or sculpted. The exact location of the hoard with regard to the temples is somewhat in question. Most sources refer to it as either below the Abu or Square temples at Asmar. Evans (cited below) believes the hoard, discovered well beneath the floors of the Square Temple, predates both temples. Sources The Metropolitan Museum's exhibit sculpture of the Early Dynastic period has a large image of one of the Asmar statues, on its website. Evans's article has an image of the complete hoard. Evans, Jean M. 2007 The Square Temple at Tell Asmar and the Construction of Early Dynastic Mesopotamia, ca. 2900-2350 B.C.E. American Journal of Archaeology 111(4):599-632. Free download. This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst. Also Known As: Square Temple Hoard, Abu Temple Hoard, Asmar hoard

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Natufian Guide

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Natufian Guide Jan 19th 2012, 11:09 The Natufian culture is the name given to the sedentary hunter-gatherers living in the Levant region of the near east between about 12,500 and 10,200 years ago. They were hunter-gatherers, foraging for food such as emmer wheat, barley and almonds, and hunting gazelle, deer, cattle, horse, and wild boar. Natufian Communities For at least part of the year, Natufian people lived in communities, some quite large, of semi-subterranean houses. These semi-circular one room structures were excavated partly into the soil and built of stone, wood and perhaps brush roofs. The largest Natufian communities (called 'base camps') found to date include Jericho, Ain Mallaha, and Wadi Hammeh 27. Smaller, short-range dry season foraging camps may have been part of the settlement pattern, although evidence for them is scarce. The Natufians were hunter-gatherers, and they located their settlements at the boundaries between coastal plains and hill country, to maximize their access to a wide variety of food. They buried their dead in cemeteries, with grave goods including stone bowls and dentalium shell. Natufian Artifacts Artifacts found at Natufian sites include grinding stones, used to process seeds, dried meats and fish for planned meals, and ochre for likely ritual practices. Flint and bone tools, and dentalium shell ornaments are also part of the Natufian assemblage. Specific tools created for harvesting various crops are a hallmark of Natufian assemblages, such as stone sickles. Large middens are known at Natufian sites, located where they were created (rather than secondary refuse pits). Dealing with refuse is one defining characteristics of the descendants of the Natufians, the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. Some scarce evidence indicates that the Natufian people may have cultivated barley and wheat. The line between horticulture (tending wild stands of crops) and agriculture (planting specific stands) is a fuzzy one. Most scholars believe that it was not a one-time decision, but rather a series of experiments that may well have taken place during the Natufian or other hunter-gatherer subsistence regimes. The direct descendants of the Natufian (known as the pre-pottery Neolithic or PPN) were among the earliest farmers on the planet. Natufian Archaeological Sites Important Natufian sites include Mt. Carmel, Ain Mallaha (Eynan), Hayonim Cave, Wadi Hammeh, Nahal Oren, Rosh Zin, Rosh Horesha, Wadi Judayid, Beidha, Jericho, and Skhul Cave, Abu Hureyra Natufian Sites Sources A bibliography of Natufian sources has been collected for this project. This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Step Pyramid of Djoser

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Step Pyramid of Djoser Jan 19th 2012, 11:09 Definition: The Step Pyramid of the Old Kingdom pharaoh Djoser [ruled about 2668-2649 BC] was the very first of any of the pyramids built in Egypt, built during the Old Kingdom's 3rd Dynasty. The pyramid and its related buildings are located at Saqqara; the pyramid itself is 254 feet tall, with seven steps. Djoser's tomb, as is the case with most other pyramids, is located deep beneath the pyramid, about 95 feet below the present day surface. Several vividly painted walls were inlaid with blue tiles. When the site was excavated in 1934 by Jean-Philippe Lauer, he found a mummified left foot, believed to be all that is left of Djoser. The Step Pyramid is said to have been built for Djoser by that master architect and ancient Egyptian legend, Imhotep, although that may be a misinterpretation of the data. Nonetheless, Imhotep has certainly gained a long-lived reputation. Sources Mark Lehner. 1997. The Complete Pyramids. Thames & Hudson. Rosalie F. Baker and Charles Baker III. 2001. Ancient Egyptians: People of the Pyramids. Oxford University Press, London. More on Egyptian Pyramids Giza Plateau Pyramids: A Slide Show The Sphinx Khafre's Pyramid The Bent Pyramid Khufu's Pyramid Menkaure's Pyramid The Great Pyramid (book review of John Romer's recent book Ancient Egypt Timeline and Definition This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst. Also Known As: Djoser's Pyramid, Step Pyramid at Saqqara Alternate Spellings: Zozer's or Zoser's Pyramid

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Post-Processual Archaeology

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Post-Processual Archaeology Jan 19th 2012, 11:09 Bike To Work group members conduct a tree planting program on November 11, 2007 in Jakarta, Indonesia. (Photo by Dimas Ardian/Getty Images) Definition: Post-Processual Archaeology is, more than anything else, a critique of processual archaeology. Archaeology at its best is a study sturdily balanced between anthropology (as the study of human cultures), history (as the study of human historical and prehistoric past), and archaeometry (as the science of decay). Leaning too hard in any one direction pulls the balance out too far (even though it is asking a bit much for one scholar to be all three things). Post-processualists such as Ian Hodder criticized the processualists as getting too involved with the archaeometry of it all and ignoring the stuff of man--the behavior, the gender, the culture of people. Naturally, the processualists think the post-processualists go too far. There's a surprisingly good article on post-processual archaeology written by anonymous members of the public on the Wikipedia site. A brief bibliography of articles discussing post-processualism was created for this project. This glossary entry is a part of the Guide to the Subdisciplines of Archaeology, and part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Jericho (Palestine)

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Jericho (Palestine) Jan 19th 2012, 11:09 Jericho (also called Tell es-Sultan) is the name of a tell situated on an ancient lake bed plain in what is known as the West Bank, Palestine. The oval tell has between 8 and 12 meters of occupation fill, and it covers an area of about 2.5 hectares. The city that the tell represents is one of oldest continuously occupied (more or less) locations on the planet. The most widely known occupation at Jericho is of course, the Judeo-Christian Bronze Age one--Jericho is mentioned in both old and new testaments of the bible. However, the oldest occupations at Jericho in fact much earlier than that, dating to the Natufian period (ca. 10,500-9,300 years before the present), and it has a substantial Pre-Pottery Neolithic (8300-7300 BC) occupation as well. Jericho's reputation in the bible has a strong association with towers and walls--and with good reason. The first walls at Jericho were built during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period, indicating that violence and conflict were important parts of Jericho's history for a very long time. Another important feature of Jericho is plastered skulls, human skulls on which faces have been modeled in plaster and then buried buried beneath floor houses. Plastered skulls are a known trait from PPNB sites, such as Kfar HaHoresh, Beidha, Çatalhöyük and Beisamoun, and similar eerie statuary at 'Ain Ghazal. Jericho Chronology Natufian (10,800-8,500 BC), sedentary hunter-gatherers in large semi-subterranean oval stone structures Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (8,500-7300 BC), roofed, oval semi-subterranean dwellings in a village, engaging in long distance trade and growing domesticated crops, construction of the first tower (4 meters tall), and a defensive perimeter wall Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (7300-6000 BC), rectangular houses with red- and white-painted floors, with caches of plastered human skulls Early Neolithic (6000-5000 BC) Jericho was mostly abandoned during this time Middle/Late Neolithic (5000-3100 BC), very minimal occupation Early / Middle Bronze Age (3100-1800 BC) (extensive defensive walls constructed, rectangular towers 15-20 meters long and 6-8 meters tall and extensive cemeteries Late Bronze Age (1800-1400 BC), Jericho destroyed After the Late Bronze Age, Jericho was no longer much of a center, but continued to be occupied on a small scale, and ruled by Babylonians, Persian Empire, Roman Empire, Byzantine and Ottoman Empire, on and on until the present day Jericho and Archaeology Jericho was recognized as the biblical site a very long time ago indeed, with comments from the "Pilgrim of Bordeaux" in AD 333. Among the archaeologists who have worked at Jericho are Carl Watzinger, Ernst Sellin, Kathleen Kenyon and John Garstang. Sources This glossary entry is a part of the Guides to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, and Biblical Archaeology, as well as part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst. Barlett, John R. 1982. Sites of the Biblical World: Jericho. Lutterworth Press, Surrey, England. Blau, Soren 2006 An Analysis of Human Skeletal Remains from two Middle Bronze Age Tombs from Jericho. Palestine Exploration Quarterly 138(1):13-26. Broshi, Magen 2007 Date Beer and Date Wine in Antiquity. Palestine Exploration Quarterly 139(1):55-59. Fletcher, Alexandra, Jessica Pearson, and Janet Ambers 2008 The Manipulation of Social and Physical Identity in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic: Radiographic Evidence for Cranial Modification at Jericho and its Implications for the Plastering of Skulls. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 18(3):309â€"325. Goren, Yuval, A. N. Goring-Morris, and Irena Segal 2001 The technology of skull modelling in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB): Regional variability, the relation of technology and iconography and their archaeological implications. Journal of Archaeological Science 28:671-690. Naveh, Danny 2003 PPNA Jericho: a Socio-political Perspective. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 13:83-96.

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Archaeology: Sites You Should Know: Shillourokambos

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Sites You Should Know: Shillourokambos Jan 18th 2012, 08:41 Shillourokambos is a Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) site on the island of Cyprus, at the east end of the Mediterranean Sea and not terribly far from the more-famous and visitable Greek, Roman and Byzantine ruins at Limassol. Location of Shillourokambos in Cyprus. CIA World Factbook 1982. Excavated between 1992 and 2004, and occupied between 9,000-10,500 years ago, Shillourokambos holds evidence of the early process of animal management and domestication, of animals as diverse as cats, cattle and wild pigs. Although Cyprus was never closer than 50 miles or so from the mainlands of what are now Turkey and Syria, the PPNB occupants shipped in most of their animals and plants they lived on, the obsidian they used to make stone tools and many of their ideas of architecture and religion from their Levantine PPNB relatives, all of which makes Shillourokambos indeed an important site for understanding the PPNB. Shillourokambos Guide to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Bloodletting

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Bloodletting Jan 18th 2012, 11:08 Bloodletting--purposefully cutting the human body to release blood--is an ancient ritual, associated with both healing and sacrifice. Bloodletting was a regular form of medical treatment for ancient Greeks, with its benefits debated by scholars such as Hippocrates and Galen. Bloodletting in Central America Bloodletting or autosacrifice was a cultural trait of most of the societies in Mesoamerica, beginning with the Olmec perhaps as early as 1200 AD. This type of religious sacrifice involved a person using a sharp instrument such as an agave spine or shark's tooth to pierce a fleshy part of his own body. The resulting blood would drip onto a lump of copal incense or piece of cloth or bark paper, and then those materials would be burned. According to historic records of the Zapotec, Mixtec and Maya, burning blood was one way to communicate with the sky gods. Artifacts associated with blood letting include shark's teeth, maguey thorns, stingray spines, and obsidian blades. Specialized elite materials--obsidian eccentrics, greenstone picks, and 'spoons'--are thought to have been used for elite bloodletting sacrifices in Formative period and later cultures. Read more about Maya Bloodletting Rituals Sources The PBS website has an essay on the history of bloodletting, part of the Red Gold special on blood. Follensbee, Billie J. A. 2008 Fiber technology and weaving in formative-period Gulf Coast cultures. Ancient Mesoamerica 19:87-110. Marcus, Joyce. 2002. Blood and Bloodletting. Pp 81-82 in Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia, Susan Toby Evans and David L. Webster, eds. Garland Publishing, Inc. New York. Fitzsimmons, James L., Andrew Scherer, Stephen D. Houston, and Hector L. Escobedo 2003 Guardian of the Acropolis: The Sacred Space of a Royal Burial at Piedras Negras, Guatemala. Latin American Antiquity 14(4):449-468. This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Timing is Everything

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Timing is Everything Jan 18th 2012, 11:08 Archaeological Dating Table of Contents | Part 1: Stratigraphy and Seriation | Part 2: Chronological Markers and Dendrochronology Archaeologists use many different techniques to determine the age of a particular artifact, site, or part of a site. Two broad categories of dating or chronometric techniques that archaeologists use are called relative and absolute dating. Relative dating determines the age of artifacts or site, as older or younger or the same age as others, but does not produce precise dates. Absolute dating, methods that produce specific chronological dates for objects and occupations, was not available to archaeology until well into the 20th century. Stratigraphy and the Law of Superposition Stratigraphy is the oldest of the relative dating methods that archaeologists use to date things. Stratigraphy is based on the law of superposition-like a layer cake, the lowest layers must have been formed first. In other words, artifacts found in the upper layers of a site will have been deposited more recently than those found in the lower layers. Cross-dating of sites, when one compares geologic strata at one site with another location, and extrapolates relative ages in that manner is still used today, primarily when sites are far too old for absolute dates to have much meaning. The scholar most associated with the rules of stratigraphy (or law of superposition) is probably the geologist Charles Lyell. The basis for stratigraphy is quite intuitive, but its applications were no less than earth-shattering to archaeological theory. For example, Worsaae used this law to prove the Three Age system. For more information on stratigraphy and how it is used in archaeology, see the Stratigraphy glossary entry. Seriation Seriation, on the other hand, was a stroke of genius. First used, and probably invented by the archaeologist Sir William Flinders-Petrie in 1899, seriation (or sequence dating) is based on the idea that artifacts change over time. Like fins on the back end of a Cadillac, artifact styles and characteristics change over time, coming into fashion, then fading in popularity.[ Generally, seriation is manipulated graphically. The standard graphical result of seriation is a series of "battleship curves," which are horizontal bars representing percentages plotted on a vertical axis. Plotting several curves can allow the archaeologist to develop a relative chronology for an entire site or group of sites. For detailed information about how seriation works, see Seriation: A Step by Step Description. Seriation is thought to be the first application of statistics in archaeology. It certainly wasn't the last. The most famous seriation study was probably Deetz and Dethlefsen's study on changing styles on gravestones in New England cemeteries. The method is still a standard for cemetery studies.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Archaeology Quiz: Tutankhamun's Tomb

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Archaeology Quiz: Tutankhamun's Tomb Jan 18th 2012, 11:08 Archaeology Quiz Stumped? The answers can be found here: Tutankhamun's Tomb Thanks to Tutankhamun fan Christopher Townsend for his assistance with this puzzle For More Games, Visit About Archaeology's Puzzles and Games

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Archaeology Defined

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Archaeology Defined Jan 18th 2012, 11:08 Archaeology has been defined by many people in many different ways in the 150 years of the study. Of course, some of the differences reflect the history of archaeology and how it has changed over time, becoming more of a science, and becoming more involved with human behaviors. But mostly the definitions reflect how people look at and feel about archaeology. Archaeologists speak from their varied experiences in the field and in the lab. Non-archaeologists speak from their vision of the archaeology, as filtered by what archaeologists say, and by what the popular media presents the study as. In my opinion, all of these definitions are valid expressions of what archaeology is. Define Archaeology "[Archaeology is] the discipline with the theory and practice for the recovery of unobservable hominid behavior patterns from indirect traces in bad samples." David Clarke. "Archaeology is the scientific study of peoples of the past... their culture and their relationship with their environment. The purpose of archaeology is to understand how humans in the past interacted with their environment, and to preserve this history for present and future learning." Larry J. Zimmerman "Historical archaeology is more than just a treasure hunt. It is a challenging search for clues to the people, events, and places of the past." Society for Historical Archaeology "Archaeology is our way of reading that message and understanding how these peoples lived. Archaeologists take the clues left behind by the people of the past, and, like detectives, work to reconstruct how long ago they lived, what they ate, what their tools and homes were like, and what became of them." State Historical Society of South Dakota "Archaeology is the scientific study of past cultures and the way people lived based on the things they left behind." Alabama Archaeology "Archaeology is not a science because it does not apply any recognised model has no validity: each science studies a different subject and therefore uses, or could use, a different model." Merilee Salmon, as quoted by Andrea Vianello Archaeology Definition: A Mind-Numbing Job "[Archaeology is] the most mind-numbing job on the planet" Bill Watterson "Archeology is... the most fun you can have with your pants on." Kent V. Flannery "[Archaeology] seeks to discover how we became human beings endowed with minds and souls before we had learned to write." Grahame Clarke "Archaeology puts all human societies on an equal footing." Brian Fagan "Archeology is the only branch of anthropology where we kill our informants in the process of studying them." Kent Flannery "The archaeologist partakes of, contributes to, is validated by, and dutifully records present-day social and political structures in the identification of research problems and in the interpretation of findings." Joan Gero "Archaeology is not simply the finite body of artefactual evidence uncovered in excavations. Rather, archaeology is what archaeologists say about that evidence. It is the ongoing process of discussing the past which is, in itself, an ongoing process. Only recently have we begun to realise the complexity of that discourse. ... [T]he discipline of archaeology is a site of disputation--a dynamic, fluid, multidimensional engagement of voices bearing upon both past and present." John C. McEnroe "[Archaeology] is not what you find, it’s what you find out." David Hurst Thomas "Indeed, archaeology is only really delightful when transfused into some form of art." Oscar Wilde Archaeology Definition: The Search for Fact "Archaeology is the search for fact, not truth." Indiana Jones "An aware, responsible and engaged global archaeology might be a relevant, positive force which recognizes and celebrates difference, diversity and real multivocality. Under common skies and before divided horizons, exposure to global difference and alterity prompts us all to seek responses and responsibility." Lynn Meskell "Archaeology is the study of humanity itself, and unless that attitude towards the subject is kept in mind archaeology will be overwhelmed by impossible theories or a welter of flint chips." Margaret Murray "Archaeology is the only discipline that seeks to study human behavior and thought without having any direct contact with either." Bruce G. Trigger Archaeology Definition: A Voyage to the Past "Archaeology is our voyage to the past, where we discover who we were and therefore who we are." Camille Paglia "New World archaeology is anthropology or it is nothing." Philip Phillips. ---- Geoff Carver has collected numerous quotations from archaeologists trying to define whatever it is we study. He was kind enough to supply us with the goods, and you'll find his collection on the next page. More Definitions This feature is part of the Guide to Field Definitions of Archaeology and Related Disciplines.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Linearbandkeramik (LBK)

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Linearbandkeramik (LBK) Jan 17th 2012, 11:08 The Linearbandkeramik Culture (also called Bandkeramik or Linear Pottery Ceramic Culture or simply abbreviated LBK) is what German archaeologist F. Klopfleisch called the first true farming communities in central Europe, dated between about 5400 and 4900 BC. Thus, LBK is considered the first Neolithic culture in the European continent. The word Linearbandkeramik refers to the distinctive banded decoration found on pottery vessels on sites spread throughout central Europe, from south-western Ukraine and Moldova in the east to the Paris Basin in the west. In general, LBK pottery consists of fairly simple bowl forms, made of local clay tempered with organic material, and decorated with curved and rectilinear lines incised in bands. The LBK people are considered the importers of agricultural products and methods, moving the first domesticated animals and plants from the Near East and Central Asia into Europe. Lifestyles of the LBK The very earliest LBK sites have loads of pottery sherds with limited evidence of agriculture or stock-breeding. Later LBK sites are characterized by longhouses with rectangular plans, incised pottery, and a blade technology for chipped stone tools. The tools include raw material of high quality flints including a distinctive "chocolate" flint from southern Poland, Rijkholt flint from the Netherlands and traded obsidian. Domesticated crops used by the LBK culture include emmer and einkorn wheat, crab apple, peas, lentils, flax, linseed, poppies and barley. Domestic animals include cattle, sheep and goats, and occasionally a pig or two. See the article on the Domestication of Pigs and the LBK for a discussion of the origins of European domesticated pigs. The LBK lived in small villages along streams or waterways characterized by large longhouses, buildings used for keeping livestock, sheltering people and providing work space. The rectangular longhouses were between 7 and 45 meters long and between 5 and 7 meters wide. They were built of massive timber posts chinked with wattle and daub mortar. LBK cemeteries are found a short distance away from the villages, and in general are marked by single flexed burials accompanied by grave goods. However, mass burials are known at some sites, and some cemeteries are located within communities. Chronology of the LBK The earliest LBK sites are found in the Starcevo-Koros culture of the Hungarian plain, around 5700 BC. From there, the early LBK spreads separately east, north and west. The LBK reached the Rhine and Neckar valleys of Germany about 5500 BC. The people spread into Alsace and the Rhineland by 5300 BC. By the mid-5th millenium BC, La Hoguette Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and LBK immigrants shared the region and, eventually, only LBK were left. Linearbandkeramik and Violence There seems to be considerable evidence that relationships between the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in Europe and the LBK migrants were not entirely peaceful. Evidence for violence exists at many LBK village sites. Massacres of whole villages and portions of villages appear to be in evidence at sites such as Talheim, Schletz-Asparn, Herxheim, and Vaihingen. Mutilated remains suggesting cannibalism have been noted at Eilsleben and Ober-Hogern. The westernmost area appears to have the most evidence for violence, with about one-third of the burials showing evidence of traumatic injuries. Further, there is a fairly high number of LBK villages that evidence some kind of fortification efforts: an enclosing wall, a variety of ditch forms, complex gates. Whether this resulted from direct competition between local hunter-gatherers and competing LBK groups is under investigation; this kind of evidence can only be partly helpful. However, the presence of violence on Neolithic sites in Europe is under some amount of debate. Some scholars have dismissed the notions of violence, arguing that the burials and the traumatic injuries are evidence of ritual behaviors not inter-group warfare. Some stable isotope studies have noted that some mass burials are of non-local people; some evidence of slavery has also been noted. Diffusion of Ideas or People? One of the central debates among scholars about the LBK is whether the people were migrant farmers from the Near East or local hunter-gatherers who adopted the new techniques. Agriculture, animal and plant domestication both, originated in the Near East and Anatolia. The earliest farmers were the Natufians and Pre-Pottery Neolithic groups. Were the LBK people direct descendants of the Natufians or were they others who were taught about the agriculture? Genetic studies suggest that the LBK were genetically separate from the Mesolithic people, arguing for a migration of the LBK people into Europe, at least originally. See the photo essay on From Hunting to Farming for a discussion of the genetic data LBK Sites The earliest LBK sites are located in the modern Balkan states about 5700 BC. Over the next few centuries, the sites are found in Austria, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands and eastern France. France: Berry-au-Bac, Merzbachtal, Cuiry-les-Chaudardes Belgium: Blicquy, Verlaine Germany: Meindling, Schwanfeld, Vaihingen, Talheim, Flomborn, Aiterhofen, Dillingen, Herxheim Ukraine: Buh-Dniestrian Russia: Rakushechnyi Yar Netherlands: Swifterbant, Brandwijk-Kerkhof Sources See the photo essay on Tracing Hunting to Farming for further information. A bibliography of the LBK has been assembled for this project. This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.

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