Ramesses III and the ‘Sea‐peoples’: Towards a New Philistine Paradigm

The Philistine paradigm attempts to answer fundamental questions in Philistine history, namely the how and when of Philistine settlement in the southern Levant. According to the traditional paradigm, the Philistines, among other ‘Sea‐Peoples’, came from the Aegean islands and were settled in Egyptian strongholds in the south Canaanite Coastal Plain in the eighth year of Ramesses III. Formulated on the basis of Egyptian texts and Philistine archaeological remains, the paradigm has been criticized over the reliability of both source materials. Therefore, it is the aim of the present study to conduct a methodological analysis of the pillars on which the paradigm rests and to offer a new reconstruction of the events that took place in the Levant in the twelfth century BCE.     

Regional Survey and the Boom-and-bust Countryside: Re-reading the Archaeological Evidence for Episodic Abandonment in the Late Roman Corinthia

This paper reexamines the archaeological evidence for three episodes of rural abandonment and resettlement in the countrysides of Late Roman Greece (200–700 CE): an abandoned Late Hellenistic-Early Roman countryside (second century BCE to third century CE), a decline in the third to early fourth centuries CE, and the Dark Age beginning in the seventh century CE. The first and third episodes of abandonment, especially, have sharply defined Late Antiquity (250–700 CE) as a healthy period of new rural settlement and economic resurgence, and the entire pattern has been described in the terms of “boom-and-bust” demographic and economic cycles. Closer readings of the archaeological data can contribute to more sensitive pictures of continuity and change in settlement and connectivity in the late antique Corinthian countryside and other regions in Greece.     

Ancient injury recidivism: an example from the Kerma period of ancient Nubia

A topical trend in clinical research has been the study of repeat trauma, referred to by clinicians as “injury recidivism,” which lends itself to the assessment of accumulated injuries among ancient people. The present investigation examined the healed injuries among two archaeological skeletal samples from the Kerma period (ca. 2500–1500 BC) of Sudanese Nubia. Both groups were known to have a high prevalence of multiple trauma—80% of 54 adults from the rural sites (O16 and P37) located near Dongola and 42% of 212 adults from the urban site of Kerma sustained nonfatal injuries. It was observed that a higher frequency of multi‐injured adults displayed one or more violence‐associated injury (cranial trauma, parry fracture). When all injuries were considered 38% of individuals with violence‐related injuries had other traumatic lesions in contrast to 22% of individuals who experienced injuries associated with accidental falls (e.g., Colles', Smiths', Galeazzi, and paired forearm fractures), although this difference was not significant. When only the skulls and long bones were evaluated 81% of adults with multiple injuries to these major bones bore one or more violence‐related injuries, while 60% of adults with single injuries sustained violence‐related injuries. Most individuals with multiple injuries were male and less than 35 years of age; there was no significant difference in the frequency of violence‐ or accident‐related multiple injury between the rural and urban communities. Although it cannot be established whether or not some of an individual's injuries were experienced during simultaneous or independent incidents, the pattern of multiple injury among these two ancient Nubian skeletal samples reflected the profile of injury recidivism observed by modern clinicians cross‐culturally. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Fresh Look at the Egyptian Environment of the Pharaonic Period

Abstract

The article deals with the territorial history of the southern steppe areas of the Levant in the period between ca. 1050–750 BCE. In the early days of the Iron Age, until the mid-9^th century BCE, parts of them, were ruled by local desert entities: in the late Iron I a Moabite polity and in the early Iron IIA and the early years of the late Iron IIA the Tel Masos-Beer-Sheba-Negev Highlands Highlands entity. This situation changed in the later years of the Iron IIA as a result of Damascus' rise to hegemony in the Levant. In the second half of the 9^th century BCE Judah, under Damascene domination, expanded for the first time into the Beer-Sheba Valley. In the first half of the eighth century BCE, with the revival of Assyrian power in the days of Adad-nirari III, Damascene authority was replaced by north Israelite domination in the south.     

The existence of archery in Early Bronze Age southern Levant warfare: a note

The Early Bronze Age was a time of major changes in southern Levantine regions. The spread of urbanisation in the course of the third millennium BC was accompanied by various socio-political transformations, tensions and also violent encounters, even if the evidence for the latter is hard to detect in the archaeological record. The almost complete absence of arrowheads from settlements and tombs in the southern Levant from this period has led to the assumption that combat archery was not employed during the Early Bronze Age.

This paper challenges this orthodoxy using evidence from the southern Levant and beyond, and it concludes that archery was employed in combat activities during the Early Bronze Age, albeit on a small scale that was determined by military considerations.     

Matchlocks, Flintlocks, and Saltpetre: The Chronological Implications for the Use of Matchlock Muskets among Ottoman-Period Bedouin in the Southern Levant

This paper examines the chronological implications for the prolonged use of matchlock muskets by the Bedouin during the Ottoman Period (1453–1918). Although the technology behind the matchlock ignition system is from the fifteenth century, this weapon was used by many Bedouin until the beginning of the twentieth century. As a result, the presence of gun parts from matchlock muskets poses a potential problem for identifying Bedouin occupations from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the southern Levant and in northern Arabia. This issue is heightened by the paucity of diagnostic artifacts found at archaeological sites associated with the Bedouin during the Ottoman Period.     

A Bioarchaeological and Biogeochemical Study of Warfare and Mobility in Andahuaylas,Peru (ca. ad 1160–1260)

Warfare impacts how people and populations can move about the landscape. Ethnographers have posited that internal warfare, conflict that takes place within a single society, is strongly associated with female abduction. In contrast, external warfare, combat between different societies, is often accompanied by the in‐migration of men for purposes of defence. To test this assertion, we evaluate human remains from one of the most violent eras in Andean prehistory, the Late Intermediate Period (ad 1000–1400). In the south‐central highlands of Andahuaylas, Peru, this era witnessed the coalescence of two formidable polities, the Chanka and the Quichua. Ethnohistoric accounts describe internal warfare among the Chanka and external warfare between the Quichua and their neighbours. In this study, bioarchaeological and biogeochemical methods are marshalled to elucidate ancient patterns of violence and mobility with greater nuance. We employ strontium isotope analysis of tooth enamel apatite to inform on residential origin, and we reconstruct patterns of violent conflict through analysis of cranial trauma. In all, 265 crania were excavated from 17 cave ossuaries at two Chanka sites and one Quichua site. Data were collected on age, sex and cranial modification—an indicator of social identity and cranial trauma. A representative subsample of molars from 34 individuals subjected to strontium isotope analysis demonstrates that among the Chanka, violence was significantly directed towards social groups within society, marked by modified crania. The presence of two nonlocal women with signs of increased morbidity and mistreatment points to possible mobility‐by‐abduction. In contrast, among the Quichua, men have significantly more trauma, and wounds are concentrated on the anterior. Trauma on women is lower, nonlethal, and concentrated on the posterior. This divergent pattern is commonly observed in external warfare (raids and community defence), where men face attackers and women escape them. The presence of two nonlocal men supports a mobility model of strategic in‐migration. In sum, osteological and isotopic data sets are shown to reveal divergent life‐course experiences not captured by the archaeological data or historic records alone. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Expediting Reincarnation in the Fifth Millennium BCE: Interpreting the Chalcolithic Ossuaries of the Southern Levant

We examine and reinterpret the phenomenon of containers used for the secondary burial of human remains – ossuaries – in the Chalcolithic period of the southern Levant, c.4500–3700 BCE. Ossuary form and decoration, both plastic and painted, is evocative and symbol‐laden. Since their first discovery in the 1930s, several hypotheses have sought to explain ossuary iconography, but none provides an integrated, holistic interpretation. Chalcolithic iconography, mortuary contexts, and archetypal mythologies suggest that ossuaries, mainly of clay, but also of stone, served as vehicles of reincarnation.     

Elder Abuse: Evaluating the Potentials and Problems of Diagnosis in the Archaeological Record

The elderly are the most neglected demographic in archaeology. In today's youth‐obsessed society, the elderly are consistently denigrated, particularly those perceived to be physically or mentally frail. A related and growing concern in contemporary populations is the physical abuse of the elderly, believed to be an escalating phenomenon. This study is the first to examine the risk factors, social context and patterns of trauma associated with elder abuse in the present, with the aim of providing diagnostic criteria to apply to past societies. The utility of skeletal evidence in the identification of violent trauma has been detailed in cases of child and intimate partner abuse, both modern and archaeological. Investigating the skeletal evidence for elder abuse is potentially more complex because of the confounding physiological effects of the ageing process, lack of clinical research and contemporary ageist attitudes towards older people. Within the clinical and bioarchaeological literature, there has been a tendency to dismiss injuries in older individuals as the product of accident or opportunistic violence. A proportion of elder members of past societies is likely to have been victims of abuse and family violence. While there are no pathognomonic skeletal features of elder abuse, multiple injuries to the bones of the following are indicative: cranium, maxilla‐facial region, dentition, cervical vertebrae, clavicles, ribs and spiral fractures to the humeri. Attention is also drawn to decubiti as indirect skeletal indicators of immobility and possibly neglect. Archaeological context is important to consider, including non‐normative burials or those indicating social marginalisation. Bioarchaeological evidence has the potential to provide a long‐term perspective on the care and treatment of past elders. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trauma in the city of Kerma: ancient versus modern injury patterns

Injuries, whether accidental or intentional, have incapacitated humans and their primordial ancestors throughout time, although the injury mechanisms have become increasingly more technologically sophisticated. Interpretation of injury aetiology among past peoples is challenging, and often impossible, however, clinical research from developing countries provides a useful analogy with which to evaluate trauma or health patterns of an ancient society. This paper presents a systematic analysis of cranial and postcranial skeletal trauma among 223 adults who were excavated by George Reisner in 1923 from the city of Kerma (1750–1550 BC), Egypt's ancient nemesis in the struggle for control of the Nile River trade route. A total of 156 injuries (fractures, dislocations and muscle pulls among the skull, long bones, extremities and torso) were observed among 88 individuals, 48 of whom had one injury only. The skull was the most frequently traumatized element (11.2%) followed by the ulna (8.3%); 2.4% (48/2029) long bones were fractured. The modal distribution of the Kerma fractures was compared to the fracture distributions of two samples from India and Nigeria where falls were the most common cause of injury. Some characteristics of the three injury patterns were shared: males suffered the greatest frequency of injury, the economically active people (25 to 50 years of age) presented the most injuries among adults, and a small proportion of the victims had more than one major injury. However, the Kerma distribution of the fractured bones varied dramatically from the clinical injury distributions: the ulna and skull were among the least frequently injured bones in the modern samples, while the radius, humerus and lower leg were the most commonly traumatized elements among the modern people, but rare among the ancients. The configuration of the ulna and skull injuries at Kerma was characteristic of those associated with blunt force trauma in other clinical assessments and the absence of these specific lesions from the modern samples where accident was the primary injury mechanism presents a persuasive argument for interpersonal violence among the ancient Kerma people. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Human remains from a post‐Hellenistic grave‐chamber in Dibba al‐Hisn (Sharjah,UAE)

Human skeletal remains of sixteen individuals found at Dibba al‐Hisn in the Emirate of Sharjah (UAE) are analysed with regard to standard anthropological criteria. They represent the poorly known pre‐Islamic period of the first centuries AD. Remains of at least fifteen individuals were recovered from a semi‐subterranean grave‐chamber together with rich archaeological grave‐goods. An additional, almost complete skeleton was found in the open area near the chamber. While the size and nature of the sample prevent demographic analyses, skeletal features studied with the help of macro‐ and microscopic as well as radiographic methods provide details on individual life histories and living conditions, as well as mortuary habits and taphonomic processes. Of special interest is a case of intentional tooth mutilation as well as two cases of skull trauma apparently caused by violent inter‐personal conflict. The results of the analysis of the faunal remains from the grave‐chamber and its surroundings are presented in an appendix .     

Chemical and Petrographic Analysis of Pre‐Hispanic Pottery from the Southern Abaucán Valley,Catamarca, Argentina

Neutron activation (NAA) and petrographic analyses were carried out on Late and Inca Period pottery from 15 archaeological sites and several clay samples in the southern Abaucán Valley, Catamarca, Argentina. The results from the NAA and petrographic analyses provide new data concerning local versus non‐local pottery production and vessel exchange for these two pre‐Hispanic cultural periods. The chemical data demonstrate the use of different clay sources over time until the Inca appearance in the region, when a more structured and controlled production is observed. Petrographic analyses show a similar change in the ceramic paste recipes used by ancient potters.     

Ceramic Petrology and the Study of Anglo-Saxon and Later Medieval Ceramics

Abstract

A SURVEY of archaeological ceramic thin sections held by institutions and individuals in the United Kingdom was undertaken in the early 1990s by the City of Lincoln Archaeology Unit and funded by English Heritage. Over 6,000 thin sections of Anglo-Saxon or medieval date (or reports on their analysis) were located. For the Middle to Late Anglo-Saxon and the post-Conquest Periods, these studies have confirmed that pottery production was carried out in a limited number of centres and that most pottery, including handmade coarsewares, was therefore produced for trade. The distances over which pottery was carried vary from period to period but were actually as high or higher in the Middle to Late Anglo-Saxon Period as in the 13th to 14h centuries. However, for the Early Anglo-Saxon Period (and the Middle Anglo-Saxon Period outside of eastern England) the evidence of ceramic petrology is equivocal and requires more study. These 6,000–odd thin sections represent a resource which could be used for various future studies, some of which are discussed here, and as an aid to their further use a database containing information on the sampled ceramics, their location and publications of their analyses will be published online through Internet Archaeology.     

The Roman Shipwreck of Antirhodos Island in the Portus Magnus of Alexandria,Egypt

Between 1998 and 1999 three excavation campaigns were undertaken on a shipwreck at the now‐submerged site of the ancient Portus Magnus, off the coast of Alexandria. The site, close to the island of Antirhodos, was identified through geophysical and archaeological surveys carried out by the Institut Européen d’Archéologie Sous‐Marine (IEASM), directed by Franck Goddio. The remains of the ship lie c.5 m deep and are spread over c.350 sqm. No cargo has been found. Artefacts recovered, the details of the ship's architecture and radiocarbon dating all suggest it sunk between the end of the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE. Its dimensions correspond to those of commercial ships of the Roman era. Identification of the wood used contributes significantly to our knowledge of materials used in naval architecture of this period.     

Analysis of ante mortem trauma in three modern skeletal populations

When archaeological skeletons are assessed, the prevalence (and patterns of bone involvement) of trauma is important. The number and pattern of fractures can be used to gain insight into the occurrence of interpersonal violence, workload and living conditions. However, the question remains as to how these results should be interpreted—such as what constitutes high or low levels of trauma? The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of trauma in a population of modern Greeks living in Crete, as well as South African (SA) whites and blacks in the Pretoria Bone and Raymond Dart collections. The sample comprised mostly of older individuals (n = 90–100 within a sex‐population group). Each skeleton was studied for healed trauma. For the vertebrae, only spondylolysis was assessed. In the Greek sample, it was found that 42% of the males and 46% of females had at least one fracture, with corresponding figures of 63 and 44% for SA whites and 83 and 69% for SA blacks. Radius, rib and femur fractures were most common in Greeks, with skull, radius and ribs most common in SA whites and skull, ulna and ribs in SA blacks. These prevalences of trauma are high, but the composition of the samples (mostly of lower socio‐economic origin) should be kept in mind. It may also be questioned whether these individuals reflect the society as a whole. It seems that the fractures in Greeks are mostly related to old age due to falls and accidents (radius and hip fractures), while the SA black sample reflects high prevalences of interpersonal violence (such as cranial vault and ulna fractures). The SA white sample follows a comparatively moderate pattern of trauma. These comparative figures may be useful when assessing trauma in other skeletal populations. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Craniofacial trauma in the Prehispanic Canary Islands

The current project is a study of craniofacial trauma in a large sample (n = 896) of Prehispanic Canary Islanders (PCIs). The possible causes and social implications of the trauma found are considered, with reference to archaeological and historical data. Variables include the island, period and ecology, the sex and age of the individuals, the distribution of lesions across the skull (by side and by individual bone) and ante‐mortem tooth loss. The results show a fairly high trauma rate (16%), a low prevalence of peri‐mortem trauma (3.8% of all lesions), higher prevalence of trauma in males than in females (25% vs. 13% of all individuals), more cranial than facial lesions (8.9% vs. 3.5% of all elements) and more lesions on the left side of the skull (6.7% vs. 4.5% of all elements) which suggests that the lesions were sustained through intentional rather than accidental agency. There was no correspondence between trauma prevalence and ecology. The archaeological and historical data support the assertion that the lesions may be the result of skirmishing between groups, using weapons such as slingshots, stones and staves. The presence of edged‐weapon lesions on some individuals suggests that these may have been the victims of contact‐period European groups. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The origins of sedentism and farming communities in the Levant

Particular geographic features of the Mediterranean Levant underlie the subsistence patterns and social structures reconstructed from the archaeological remains of Epi-Paleolithic groups. The Kebaran, Geometric Kebaran, and Mushabian complexes are defined by technotypological features that reflect the distributions of social units. Radiocarbon dating and paleoclimatic data permit us to trace particular groups who, facing environmental fluctuations, made crucial changes in subsistence strategies, which, in the southern Levant, led to sedentism in base camps on the ecotone of the Mediterranean woodland-parkland and the Irano-Turanian steppe. The establishment of Early Natufian sedentary communities led to a regional change in settlement pattern. The relatively cold and dry climate of the eleventh millennium B.P. forced Negev groups into a special arid adpatation. The early Holocene onset of wetter and warmer conditions favored the earliest Neolithic (PPNA) development of village life based on the cultivation of barley and legumes, gathering of wild seeds and fruits and continued hunting.     

An integrated approach to reconstructing primary activities from pit deposits: iron smithing and other activities at Tel Dor under Neo-Assyrian domination

Secondary pit deposits in historical occupations of Near Eastern mounds are usually regarded as uninteresting and are seldom analyzed. We used an integrated approach to study all the artifacts as well as the sediments in a pit at Tel Dor, on Israel's Carmel coast, dating to the 7th c. BCE – a period when the site served as an Assyrian administrative center. This pit was unusually large, had a peculiar ceramic assemblage, and many macroscopic metallurgical wastes. A detailed excavation and analysis revealed that the pit served intermittently as a waste disposal site for an iron smithy and for pottery that was presumably involved in maritime trading. On two occasions the area was also used for animal penning. Despite the obvious importance of the iron industry to the Neo-Assyrian Empire, actual workshops are rare in its archaeological record. Hence the new information regarding an Iron Age iron smithy in the southern Levant contributes to the study of this industry, and also to the history of Dor in this period.     

Ancient history and contemporary political theory: the case of liberty

ABSTRACT

Providing an introduction to this special issue on the ancient notions of liberty and its modern perspectives, this essay contains, first, some reflections about the relation between the fields of ancient history and contemporary political theory. Building on the comments of the final roundtable with Kinch Hoekstra and Quentin Skinner, it then makes an attempt at extrapolating some theoretical understandings of liberty from a wide range of geographical and historical contexts covered in the contributions. Moving away from a strictly classical Graeco-Roman focus, these include investigations from the second millennium BCE polities in the Levant to the Byzantine empire in the fifth-century CE.     

An Exceptional Case of Healed Vertebral Wound with Trapped Bronze Arrowhead: Analysis of a 7th–6th c. bc Individual from Central Kazakhstan

Projectile injury caused by an arrow shot is a common skeletal marker of interpersonal violence in archaeological populations. The injuries of the spine were usually fatal. Only few reports on healing of the vertebra pierced by flint arrowpoint can be found in bioarchaeological literature. This paper presents an exceptional case of a healed trapped bronze arrowhead wound in the spine of a 7th–6th c. bc elite nomad from Central Kazakhstan. Computed radiography and tomography as well non‐destructive X‐ray fluorescence spectrometry provide detailed information about the context and mechanism of the injury. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.