Remembering the Sea: Personal and Communal Recollections of Maritime Life in Jizan and the Farasan Islands,Saudi Arabia

People create narratives of their maritime past through the remembering and forgetting of seafaring experiences, and through the retention and disposal of maritime artefacts that function mnemonically to evoke or suppress those experiences. The sustenance and reproduction of the resulting narratives depends further on effective media of intergenerational transmission; otherwise, they are lost. Rapid socio-economic transformation across Saudi Arabia in the age of oil has disrupted longstanding seafaring economies in the Red Sea archipelago of the Farasan Islands, and the nearby mainland port of Jizan. Vestiges of wooden boatbuilding activity are few; long-distance dhow trade with South Asia, the Arabian-Persian Gulf and East Africa has ceased; and a once substantial pearling and nacre (mother of pearl) collection industry has dwindled to a tiny group of hobbyists: no youth dive today. This widespread withdrawal from seafaring activity among many people in these formerly maritime-oriented communities has diminished the salience of such activity in cultural memory, and has set in motion narrative creation processes, through which memories are filtered and selected, and objects preserved, discarded, or lost. This paper is a product of the encounter of the authors with keepers of maritime memories and objects in the Farasan Islands and Jizan. An older generation of men recall memories of their experiences as boat builders, captains, seafarers, pearl divers and fishermen. Their recounted memories are inscribed, and Arabic seafaring terms recorded. The extent of the retention of maritime material cultural items as memorials is also assessed, and the rôle of individual, communal and state actors in that retention is considered. Through this reflection, it becomes clear that the extra-biological memory and archive of the region’s maritime past is sparse; that intergenerational transmission is failing; that the participation of state agencies in maritime heritage creation is highly limited; and that, as a result, memories current among the older generation have limited prospect of survival. These memories, recorded and interpreted here, identify the Farasan Islands as a former centre of the pearling industry in the Red Sea, and identify them and Jizan as open to far-reaching maritime-mediated cultural influences in an era before the imposition of the attributes of the modern nation-state.     

Shell Middens, Ships and Seeds: Exploring Coastal Subsistence, Maritime Trade and the Dispersal of Domesticates in and Around the Ancient Arabian Peninsula

The Arabian Peninsula occupies a critical position at the intersect of several major Old World landmasses. Inland aridity and a major coastal perimeter have long made maritime activities critical to Arabia’s cultural trajectory. A wealth of recent studies, not previously synthesised, suggest not only that the peninsular littoral offered a rich resource base for thousands of years of human occupation in the region, but also that Arabia witnessed some of the world’s earliest seafaring and maritime exchange activities, and played a role in Bronze Age maritime trade that has often been underestimated. Maritime activities were closely linked to developments in agriculture, which not only fuelled trade and exchange, but were also impacted on by the dispersal of domesticates along early maritime corridors. While regional specialisation has to some degree prevented consideration of the maritime prehistory of the peninsula as a whole, it is clear that there are interesting parallels, as well as important differences, between cultural trajectories in different parts of the peninsula.     

The Archaeology of Aquatic Adaptations: Paradigms for a New Millennium

Although aquatic resources are often seen as central to the development of post-Pleistocene cultural complexity, most models of human evolution have all but ignored the role of aquatic or maritime adaptations during the earlier stages of human history. When did aquatic resources, maritime adaptations, and seafaring first play a significant role in human evolution? I explore this fundamental question by (1) reviewing various theories on the subject; (2) discussing a variety of problems that prevent archaeologists from providing a clear answer; and (3) examining the archaeological record for evidence of early aquatic resource use or seafaring. I conclude that aquatic resources, wherever they were both abundant and relatively accessible, have probably always been used opportunistically by our ancestors. Evidence suggests, however, that aquatic and maritime adaptations (including seafaring) played a significantly greater role in the demographic and geographic expansion of anatomically modern humans after about 150,000 years ago. Another significant expansion occurred somewhat later in time, with the development of more sophisticated seafaring, fishing, and marine hunting technologies.     

‘The Social’ and Beyond: Introducing Actor-Network Theory

In recent years, it has been suggested (e.g. TAG 2002, 2006; IKUWA3 2008) that it is necessary for the discipline to move beyond the study of ships and boats towards the ‘wider social contexts’ of seafaring and maritime activity. This paper investigates the contours of ‘social’ as an object of study. Two questions are asked: (1) how is this object defined within sociology, classical and contemporary social theory, and archaeology; and (2) what is the status of nonhumans, physical-material things, artefacts, plants, animals, etc.? After taking a look at several different theories, it is argued that it is not necessary for us to move beyond ships and boats. Instead, an alternative approach is offered, one that allows us to move beyond the restrictive ontology of the social.     

PERILOUS WATERS: EARLY MARITIME TRADE ALONG THE WESTERN COAST OF THE BLACK SEA (FIFTH MILLENNIUM BC)

A heavy accumulation of exotica and valuables, such as gold, copper, carnelian and Mediterranean shells, distinguishes the Black Sea littoral from other parts of the east Balkans in the fifth millennium BC. 1 Recent discoveries shed new light on the trading connections of the coastal communities and indicate that maritime activity was germane to the origin of their extraordinary wealth. This article investigates the involvement of the coastal inhabitants with the sea. It addresses the ecological conditions and the technical parameters of prehistoric seafaring on the west coast of the Black Sea, considers the remains of marine species in the faunal record as an indication of maritime experience, and examines the artefactual record for signs of movement of goods and people between the coastal communities. The combination of these separate lines of evidence points to a maritime trading route joining the resource‐poor north with the resource‐rich south of the littoral in the Chalcolithic period. Moreover, it implies that sea‐borne trade not only enabled the accumulation of material wealth, but also was pivotal for social change.     

Modeling distance with time in ancient Mediterranean seafaring: a GIS application for the interpretation of maritime connectivity

Investigations of Mediterranean connectivity have increasingly turned toward maritime landscape models to frame questions of seaborne exploration, marine resource exploitation, trade and exchange, and seafaring culture. Environmental and technological parameters are consistently acknowledged as crucial for understanding when and why different relationships developed across the sea, but their formal employment in the modeling and interpretation of maritime space remains quite limited. The methodology outlined here utilizes Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to integrate environment and technology as analytical tools for exploring the complexity of seaborne connectivity. Focusing on sailing days as practical units of distance and using an Archaic Greek shipwreck off Turkey as a case study, this preliminary model demonstrates how a more nuanced spatial approach can inform the human geography and socioeconomic structures of ancient maritime interaction.     

THE FORMATION OF SOCIAL RANK IN THE EARLY NEOLITHIC OF NORTHERN EUROPE

Klavs Randsborg has made important contributions to the archaeology of the Bronze Age and later prehistoric periods, but in the 1970s he also touched upon issues such as the formation of rank in Neolithic societies. In his article ‘Social Dimensions of Early Neolithic Denmark’, he suggested that a hierarchical society arose at the transition from the Early to Middle Neolithic, c. 3300–3200 BC. Since then, excavations and research have resulted in numerous publications about the Neolithic, but only rarely have these examined social development. In this article, the authors continue the debate, sharing the same starting point as Klavs Randsborg, but here approaching the question of emerging social inequality on the background of recent research into the early agricultural societies in Northern Europe, seen in a broader European context. The primary focus is upon burial monuments as manifestations of status and power, and parallels are drawn with similar construction activities amongst present‐day farming communities in such remote areas as the islands of Southeast Asia. The social organisation and ritual customs of these modern farming communities are considered relevant when interpreting the archaeological evidence for early agricultural societies in Northern Europe.     

Architectural Discourse and Social Transformation During the Early Neolithic of Southeast Anatolia

Within the Near Eastern research canon, the transition to more sedentary lifestyles during the Neolithic is often framed as an economic necessity, linked to plant and animal domestication, climatic change and population stress. In such a framework, an increasingly complex social structure, arising in response to the increasingly complex relations of agricultural production, is presumed. For example, some researchers would argue that feasting-based rituals became an arena of social control and an increasingly complex society began to emerge around ritual leadership and monumental ritual architecture. Yet the research projects conducted at many Near Eastern sites indicate neither that sedentism can be directly linked to the requirements of agriculture, nor that the presence of monumental architecture can be successfully associated with social control based on unequal redistribution of agricultural surplus. While ritual activity appears to be central during the Neolithic, two important questions remain to be explored: (1) what exactly did the rituals control, given that the societies under consideration are commonly perceived to have an ‘egalitarian’ ethos?; and (2) what happened to the ritual control in the second half of the PPNB, when ritual architecture completely disappears from the archaeological record at a time of increased reliance on agriculture? Through a critical review of the use of terms like ‘sedentism’, ‘egalitarianism’ and ‘ritual’, I argue that the architecture of the Early Neolithic is related to the management of social relationships through symbolic place-making activities. Based on a comparative review of burial activity, building continuity and the use of symbolic imagery, I examine the symbolic construction of some of the earliest examples of long-term occupational focus in southeast Anatolia, such as Hallan Çemi, Demirköy, Körtik Tepe, Hasankeyf Höyük, Gusir Höyük, Göbekli Tepe, Çayönü and Neval? Çori, in an attempt to understand the social factors behind the emergence and demise of Early Neolithic monumental architecture. The evidence from the above-mentioned sites suggests that Early Neolithic place-making reflects community formation at a variety of scales, at the center of which lay the continuous reinvention of kinship concepts. While some sites, with concentrations of burials, may have become the locus for construction of more intimate local place-based networks, other sites, such as Göbekli Tepe, may have integrated the extended networks. Arguably, the formation of large scale networks during the PPNA posed a threat to local groups. Thus, a focus on local group formation and close control of social exchanges may have begun during the early PPNB, and the places such as Göbekli Tepe may have fallen out of use during this process. In the context of the symbolism and figurine evidence, I further argue that sex and gender may have become important issues, both in the formation of place-communities during the late PPNA—early PPNB, and in the emergence of autonomous households during the later PPNB.     

Shipwrecks as Archaeological Signatures of a Maritime Industrial Frontier in the Solomon Islands, 1788–1942

This paper examines the nineteenth- and twentieth-century non-indigenous presence in the Solomon Islands as an example of a maritime industrial frontier. In particular it employs a combination of frontier and maritime cultural landscape theories to consider the material and cognitive elements that inform us about how a maritime industrial frontier was shaped and operated, including the relationships between shipwrecks, maritime infrastructure, nodal points of activity and indigenous agency. The integrated analysis of these elements reveals distinct maritime patterns considered indicative of the broader economic, political and social concerns occurring on this frontier on the peripheries of the Western European World System.     

Mobility and the diversity of Early Neolithic lives: Isotopic evidence from skeletons

Isotopic analyses of tooth enamel from early Neolithic skeletons in southern Germany adds diversity to the picture of the Neolithic transition in central Europe, which has often been described as a wholesale shift in diet and technology. Over the past decade, these isotopic studies have suggested some degree of immigration from nearby indigenous groups, as well as social differences within early Neolithic communities that correlate with immigration patterns. In general, there emerges pattern a pattern of patrilocal kinship that is consistent with independent genetic evidence, and anthropologically consistent with the potential identification of Neolithic ‘nuclear families’; and finally, specialisation of subsistence activities, such as livestock herding and cultivating, probably along hereditary lines.     

Archaeological Investigations in the Harbours of Burgaz,Turkey: 2011–2015 field seasons

Between 2011 and 2015 archaeological fieldwork was conducted in the Archaic through Late Antique harbours associated with Burgaz on the Datça Peninsula in south‐west Turkey. This work focused on survey and documentation of built features associated with the four harbours, limited stratigraphic excavation, and identification of shipwrecks and seafaring activity outside the harbours. The results offer new insights into the growth, expansion, and eventual abandonment of the port complex, its development alongside the urban settlement, and its changing maritime dynamics in light of economic shifts across the peninsula and the eastern Mediterranean.     

罗马帝国沿海路向东方的探索

罗马帝国沿海路向东方的探索,在大多数情况下是以红海水道为基地展开的,而帝国的繁荣则是罗马人航行东方的物质基础。公元一世纪,罗马人已注意到了印度与中国的贸易交往;公元二世纪,罗马人的活动范围扩展到孟加拉湾东海岸地区和整个印支半岛,并从海陆两路到达中国,同中国建立起了直接的贸易关系。希腊一罗马世界对中国的知识亦随之大为发展;公元三世纪末以后,随着帝国的衰落,特别是七世纪中叶阿拉伯伊斯兰势力的兴起,罗马人乃至整个欧洲从海路向东方的探索被完全阻断。罗马人沿海路向东方的探索,对古代中西海上丝绸之路的开通发挥了不可磨灭的作用。     

The Stone Age of northern Scandinavia: A review

Throughout most of the Stone Age, which covers the time period between ca. 10,000 and ca. 3500 B.P., the majority of groups in northern Scandinavia was hunter-fishers with a strong orientation toward the coastal environments. Three areas, southwestern and northern Norway and northern Sweden, have been singled out for more detailed discussions of the social and cultural developments in different types of marine environments. Differences can be discerned between the societies in the southern and those in the northern regions, as the northern groups seem to have developed more complex social and cultural systems than in the south. These differences have been related partly to a greater emphasis on maritime sea hunting in the north. Agriculture was introduced twice. The first time, in the early Neolithic, agriculture was tried but apparently did not manage to compete with better-adapted local hunting-fishing practices. The second time, in the late middle Neolithic, agriculture resulted in drastic social, economic, and cultural changes.     

SIMULATING THE WESTERN SEAWAYS

Recent debates on the introduction of Neolithic features to Britain have emphasized the role of the western maritime routes and the possibility of direct or indirect connections from Brittany to Ireland and Argyll. Here we present the results of simulation modelling of maritime voyaging by paddled or sail-powered boat, indicating the likely lengths of the journeys that would have been required. The issue of direct travel vs. short crossings and coasting is explored, and the implications for specific connections, such as those posited to account for cattle remains in a pre-Neolithic context in Ireland, are considered.     

The Early Neolithic in the Iberian Peninsula and the Western Mediterranean: A Review of the Evidence on Migration

The first use of domestic plants and animals in the Western Mediterranean has been a matter of debate, since there are no native ancestors for these elements. The current paradigmatic position favors an introduction by human migrants who reached southern France and the Iberian Peninsula through seafaring. The settlers would have introduced the whole economic and cultural Neolithic background. This paper reviews some of the available archaeological, paleobiological and chronological evidence for the Early Neolithic in the Western Mediterranean, and specifically the Iberian Peninsula, and its use by those who support migration.     

The Transition from the Neolithic to the Copper Age: Excavations at Vésztö-Bikeri,Hungary, 2000–2002

Abstract

The transition from the Neolithic to the Copper Age on the Great Hungarian Plain (ca. 4500 B.C.) coincides with dramatic changes in house form, settlement layout, settlement distribution, and mortuary customs. These changes affected nearly every aspect of social organization—from the organization of households and villages to the distribution of cultural groups across the landscape. Our current understanding of the various changes that occurred during this important transition is hindered by a lack of systematically excavated settlement sites dating to the Early Copper Age on the Great Hungarian Plain.

The results of three years of excavation at an Early Copper Age settlement located in the Körös River Valley suggest that, in contrast to the Neolithic, craft activities on Early Copper Age sites are segregated in different parts of the settlements. This general pattern of increasing economic specialization occurs throughout SE Europe at the end of the Neolithic and is associated with a tendency towards increased integration of economic and social units in settlements during the Copper Age.     

The changing Neolithic household: Household autonomy and social segmentation, Tell Halula, Syria

While households are widely held to have existed as the fundamental building block of early agricultural villages, researchers have only a limited understanding of the local social and economic trajectory of Neolithic households. Expanding our archaeological understanding of the Neolithic household beyond architecture, settlement organization, and subsistence practices, in this paper we explore how gradual changes in mortuary practices at Tell Halula, Syria, help us to understand the process of household development around 7500–7300 Cal. BC. Drawing upon high-resolution mortuary data we consider the tempo and mechanisms of change and how these patterns help us understand the organization of the household. Material patterns including the increased use of burial objects, an increased frequency of the placement of burial objects among adults, and the differential use of burial objects between households. These represent subtle, yet observable, small-scale shifts in how social roles were redefined and materialized. We argue that these reflect a series of gradual changes that are suggestive of increased household autonomy and an increase in social segmentation within and between households. The Tell Halula data highlight elements of continuity and how household members adhered to a broadly shared physical and organizational framework of life. Data also illustrate how household members developed subtle means by which practices were personalization, and potentially, reflect growing means by which households and individuals were identified within these communities. Collectively, this research provides a detailed understanding of the grass-roots building blocks of Neolithic households over a short time frame and a more detailed understanding of the local social and economic trajectory of Neolithic households.     

Dental evidence of biological affinity and environmental conditions in prehistoric Trentino (Italy) samples from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age

The use of teeth in anthropological analyses has always provided valuable information on the subsistence patterns of human communities, as well as the biological relationships among them. The present study analyses the permanent dentition of several diachronically continuing samples from the Trentino alpine region of Italy from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. The study of both metric and non‐metric dental traits show a strong level of homogeneity from the earlier to the later samples, indicating little external biological influence from surrounding areas. However, the evidence of oral pathology and linear enamel hypoplasia highlights a trend of increase in defects, particularly between the Neolithic and the Copper Age. This has been ascribed to a shift towards more intense agricultural activities and pastoralism, that led to a change in diet and to an increased sedentism. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

DIGGING PITS AND MAKING PLACES AT UĞURLU DURING THE SIXTH MILLENNIUM BC

The site of U?urlu on the island of Gökçeada (Imbros) is the earliest known Neolithic settlement within the Aegean Islands (c.6800–4500 cal. BC). In total, 37 pits, associated with a rich variety of artefacts as well as human and animal bones were excavated in the Late Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic levels of the site (c.5900–4500 BC). The pits belonging to the early sixth millennium BC levels of U?urlu were small and located within the houses that seem to have gone through multiple episodes of house destruction and renovation rituals. During the late sixth millennium BC, this area became the focus of extensive pit‐digging activity, when large pits involving rich variety of artefacts were set within the courtyard of a special building (Building 4). Among the pits, a collective human burial pit (P188) incorporating the remains of 11 individuals and another pit (P52) involving a partial human skeleton were also found. From a comparative point of view, the construction techniques of these pits, their spatio‐temporal relations as well as their associated archaeological artefacts resemble the Anatolian and Near Eastern Neolithic practices of house destruction and renovation cycles, which are activities related to the ancestor cults of the region. We argue that all of these practices reflect public events during which social relations were negotiated through the agency of place. The differences observed during the sixth millennium BC at U?urlu reflect the changing concepts of place and society in the immediate aftermath of the Neolithic Process, when interactions with the Balkans as well as the Aegean intensified in this region.