Neolithic Figurines Manufactured from Phalanges of Equids from Dja'de el Mughara,Syria

Abstract

Worked specimens of proximal phalanges of Equus have been discovered in the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B levels (8700–8200 CAL. B.C.) at Dja'de el Mughara, a tell site in the Middle Euphrates Valley in northern Syria. Prior to the present study, one was published as a human figurine (Coqueugniot 2000: 70). Similar objects, dated to the Khiamian and Pre-Pottery Neolithic A periods (10,000–8700 CAL. B.C.), have been recognized at Tell Mureybet in the same region. Analysis of 22 specimens from Dja'de el Mughara reveals morphological variability and different styles of shaping within the sample.

Anthropomorphic figurines in the prehistoric Near East have been approached as a distinct group of representations, often considered in terms of symbolism. Rarely are the raw materials (mainly clay and stone), technology of manufacture, and variations in fashion considered. Here, the major steps of figurine manufacture from whole proximal phalanges of equids at Dja'de el Mughara are described and a classification system based on technological and morphological criteria is proposed. It is hoped that this presentation of the Dja'de el Mughara bone figurine sample will stimulate recognition of analogous finds at other prehistoric sites in the Near East.     

Locating the “People Without History” in Histories of the Ancient Near East

Three books discussed here illustrate multidisciplinary approaches to studying ancient civilizations and a range of methodological and theoretical perspectives. They suggest that in addition to the traditional focus on elites and urban origins, we should analyze nonelites and smaller scale communities. I concur that focusing on elites gives an incomplete and inaccurate picture of life and culture in the ancient Near East. Instead, these books shed light on the “people without history” in the ancient Near East. This “social history” must be integrated into economic and political models of past cultures to fully understand ancient civilizations.     

The Riddle of Ishtar's Shoes: The Religious Significance of the Footprints at ‘Ain Dara from a Comparative Perspective

This essay analyzes the carved footprints in the Iron Age temple at ‘Ain Dara, Syria from a broadly comparative perspective. This methodology is necessitated by the fact that footprint iconography is very rare in ancient Near Eastern art. The diverse examples utilized in this paper to help explicate the footprints at ‘Ain Dara range from the Footprints of the Buddha (Buddhapadas) to the sullied feet of Jesus. Through analysis of footprint iconography in other religious contexts, I have drawn conclusions concerning the form and function of the temple footprints at ‘Ain Dara that have escaped other scholars of the ancient Near East.     

A neolithic case of Down syndrome

The aim of the study is to draw attention to the existence of a Neolithic figurine from Greece with characteristics compatible with Down syndrome. We have reviewed the relevant medical and archaeological literature, and we have compared photographs of the figurine with photographs of a patient with typical Down syndrome (DS). From the above data we conclude that the 7000 years old artefact may well be the most ancient representation of the disease in Western civilisation.     

The logic of the herd: A computer simulation of archaeological herd structure

The advent of new techniques of dental ageing has permitted inferences about the age-structures of ancient animal populations on the basis of faunal remains. Unfortunately, inference from archaeological populations of faunal elements to the age-structure of ancient herds is fraught with both sampling problems and logical difficulties. The relationship between a living herd—a dynamic system characterized by growth—and a static archaeological population is more complex than that assumed by current models based on kill-off patterns and survivorship curves. Using a computer simulation, these logical relationships are explored, and the effects of herd growth on the composition of live and death populations are evaluated. By employing the simulation within a deductive framework, constrained by ethnographically derived criteria for reproduction, mortality, and economic viability in the Near East, it is possible to determine whether certain archaeological kill-off patterns could represent viable herding systems. Examples were found to vary widely in terms of both demographic plausibility and economic viability. Some implications for the possible course of ova-caprine domestication in the Near East are discussed.     

A neolithic case of down syndrome?*

Abstract

The aim of the study is to draw attention to the existence of a Neolithic figurine from Greece with characteristics compatible with Down syndrome. We have reviewed the relevant medical and archaeological literature, and we have compared photographs of the figurine with photographs of a patient with typical Down syndrome (DS). From the above data we conclude that the 7000 years old artefact may well be the most ancient representation of the disease in Western civilisation.     

Western technical traditions of pottery making in Tang Dynasty China: chemical evidence from the Liquanfang Kiln site,Xi'an city

This study is based on the SEM-EDS and LA-ICP-AES analyses of a sample of twenty-nine Tang sancai sherds unearthed from the Liquanfang site, Xi'an city. The results indicate that ceramics with yellowish bodies are calcareous and those with red bodies were made of ferruginous clays. The use of calcareous clay in Tang sancai bodies is otherwise unknown in Chinese history, which suggests that the technique of Tang sancai making at this site might have been influenced by ceramic technology from the Near East or Central Asia. The paper therefore argues that the traditional approach of treating calcareous clay as the main characteristic of pottery made in the ancient Near East or Central Asia is not necessarily accurate. It is likely that some calcareous Tang sancai ceramics were made in the capital city of the Tang dynasty.     

The Sacred Economy of Ancient “Israel”

Abstract

Taking up the challenge to develop a new study of the economic patterns in the ancient Near East, including what passes for ancient “Israel’ (the Persian province of Yehud), this article proposes a model of the “sacred economy.” A study in economic history, it seeks to map out the broad contours of this sacred economy in light of the neglected but crucial economically–informed scholarship from the Soviet Union on the ancient Near East. The article identifies the key nodes of the sacred economy as the village–commune, the temple–city complex, the formation of the despotic state, the tensions between labour and class, and mediations between empire and village commune. It traces the development of the State to the tensions between the village commune and the city–temple complex. It also argues that the key features of this sacred economy may be described as regimes of allocation and regimes of extraction. The unique combination of these regimes and the tensions between them make up the sacred economy. The underlying logic of the regimes of allocation was to provide a rationale for the allocation of productive units such as land and fertility by means of kinship, the war machine, patron–client relations and the judiciary. All of this was posed in the language of the sacred, for the deity is the ultimate arbiter of allocation. By contrast, the regimes of extraction undermine the allocatory economic logic by means of a pattern of exploitation in terms of tribute and trade. This article insists upon the necessary centrality of economic analysis in any historiography of the Ancient Near East.     

The antiquity of the nation? Critical reflections from the ancient Near East

Debates over the antiquity/modernity of the nation have often made use of evidence from the ancient Near East. In doing so, these debates employ the distant past principally as a ‘mirror’ of the present, using contrast or similitude to argue for a particular understanding of nations and nationalism since the eighteenth century. In this manner, both ‘Modernist’ and ‘Perennialist’ approaches incorporate pre‐modern contexts into the categories and priorities of modernity. This article critically reviews several influential studies on nations and nationalism in light of ancient Near Eastern evidence in order to highlight the narrowing of possibilities that this practice involves. I argue that the cost of this narrowing is not so much a misunderstood past as a mystified present.     

Worked and decorated shell discs from southern Arabia and the wider Near East

This article presents and discusses a corpus of worked and decorated shell discs from recently excavated archaeological sites in southern Arabia, including Dibba (northern Oman), Saruq al‐Hadid (UAE) and Sumhuram/Khor Rori (southern Oman). The artefacts are compared to a wide range of shell discs from controlled excavations in Arabia and the broader Near East in order to better understand their date, manufacture and use. The comparative study highlights the wide distribution of decorated shell discs across the ancient Near East, particularly during the early Iron Age, and the complex economic and cultural connections that underpinned the collection, crafting, exchange and significance of such items.     

"For it shall be a witness between us" a literary reading of josh 22

ABSTRACT

Eusocial species form societies in which subordinates, which belong to an obligately sterile caste, help raise the young that dominants produce. As in any eusocial species, reproduction was strongly “skewed” in the Ancient Near East: kings assembled harems of thousands of women, and fathered hundreds of children; but their families were provisioned and protected, in part, by eunuchs. As early as 4th-millennium Uruk, “beardless” subjects waited on bearded monarchs; large numbers of eunuchs were commanding imperial armies and administering imperial palaces by Ashurbanipal's time. Assyrian emperors, on the other hand, left records of hundreds of harem governess and weavers, servants and singers; and Artaxerxes II, the Persian king, is supposed to have fathered 115 bastards, along with 3 legitimate sons. So it went in Ancient Israel and Judah. Hebrew kings from David to Zedekiah grew dependent on eunuch messengers, eunuch stewards, eunuch army commanders and eunuch palace guards—who served as workers and soldiers for their hundreds of concubines and wives, and their housefuls of daughters and sons.     

Cylinder seals and their use in the Arabian Peninsula

Cylinder seals were used in the ancient Near East from the fourth to the first millennium BC. Although the numbers known from sites in the Arabian Peninsula seem relatively small, more have been found there than is generally recognised. A comprehensive overview of the cylinder seals of Arabia is presented, and the cylinder and stamp sealing traditions of the region are discussed.     

阿马尔那泥板书信中所见的古代近东大国外交方式

阿马尔那时代是近东历史上的和平外交时代，五大国支配着外交的走向和国际关系的格局。在大国外交中，存在3种外交方式，礼物交换、王室联姻和信息沟通，这3种外交方式构成了当时外交的主要形式，促进了和平外交的持续发展。     

论纸莎草纸的兴衰及其历史影响

纸莎草纸的出现是一种进步,表明了人类利用自然之赐,探索新的书写材料的创造力。但纸莎草纸也具有自身不可克服的诸多局限性,其最终被羊皮纸和纸所代替,更是一种历史的必然和进步。然而,纸莎草纸毕竟曾经是多达六种语言文字符号的载体,记录了包括古埃及、古希腊、古罗马和阿拉伯帝国弥足珍贵的历史信息,从而使其成为人类历史上最早的、应用时间最长的、最重要的纸质传播媒介。因此,无论是研究近东和欧洲古代文明史,还是研究人类传播媒介史,都离不开对纸莎草纸及其所承载的文献进行的研究,它是古代文明留给后人的一笔宝贵的文化遗产。     

风姿绰约——陕西古代陶俑艺术展

千年古都西安出土陶俑数量众多,题材广泛,内容丰富,世代延绵,为全国罕见。沉埋在地下的历代陶俑,多模拟当时人物、事态,与历代雕塑艺术、时代精神息息相关,成为今日研究我国古代文明的宝贵资料。5月15日至7月15日良渚博物院和陕西历史博物馆联合举办的岁月存照——陕西古代陶俑艺术展在浙江省杭州市余杭区良渚博物院展出。此次展出的98件组文物,是半个多世纪以来陕西各地出土的陶俑精品。战国俑之稚拙滥觞,秦跽坐俑之精细真实,汉俑之古拙气势,     

How Prophecy Became Literature

Prophecy—the transmission of divine messages to human recipients—is essentially an oral phenomenon. However, all knowledge of ancient prophecy is based on written sources. The Hebrew Bible forms a special case, since it includes the only extant collection of prophetic books, a genre otherwise unknown in the ancient Near East. The article investigates the process of the literarization of prophecy, proceeding from the late sociohistorical context of the biblical prophetic literature towards its hypothetical beginnings. It is argued that the literarization of prophecy required the support of the literate circles of any given community in both pre‐ and post‐exilic times.     

With This Body I Thee Worship: Sacred Prostitution in Antiquity

Why do ancient writers tell us that sacred prostitutes massed on the citadel of ancient Corinth? What are we to make of Herodotus’ famous account of the ancient customs of Babylon? Beard and Henderson examine the formation of the discourse of sacred, or cultic, prostitution both in classical texts and modern scholarship. They take a sceptical position on the existence, in Greece and the Near East, of institutions traditionally envisaged as ‘sacred prostitution’ and explore the uses which have been, and are still, found for such myth-making with the bodies of women, whether in the form of a ‘marriage-market’ or of various kinds of ‘sacred prostitution’.     

安徽何郢遗址植物残体切割形态与脱粒农具的关系

石器和植物残体的相关研究证明,脱粒板曾大规模应用于近东地区。为探索古代中国或远东是否也曾使用过这种工具或类似工具,本研究对何郢遗址植物残体形态进行了研究,结果表明中国商周遗址存在切割形态植物残体的证据,以此推测类似脱粒板的农具在商周时期曾被使用。无疑,这一发现对我国古代农作物的脱粒加工方式具有重要的启示,可望深化我国农业考古的探索。     

Seasonality of birth and diet of pigs from stable isotope analyses of tooth enamel (δO, δC): a modern reference data set from Corsica,France

Since domestication during the mid 11th millennium BP in the Near East and the 8th millennium BP in China, the pig has played an important role in human diet and economy. The objective of this study is to evaluate the potential of stable oxygen and carbon isotopes sequential analyses of pig tooth enamel to investigate pig seasonality of birth and diet, as these are important parameters for the reconstruction of pig herding strategies in ancient societies.