AN EARLY EUBOEAN SHIP

Summary. A pyxis with the painting of a ship was found during the 1986 Greco-British excavations in the Toumba Cemetery at Lefkandi, Euboea. It was part of a deposit of broken pottery included in the refill of a shaft grave which had apparently destroyed an earlier tomb. The vase can with fair certainty be dated around 850–825 B.C. by the Attic Middle Geometric I pottery associated with it and from its local style.
The painting of a ship contained in one of its panels is, therefore, among the earliest pictorial representations known from Iron Age Greece. It is proposed that the subject may have been suggested to the Lefkandian potter by similar ship scenes on the engraved catchplates of contemporary fibulae.     

PROTOGEOMETRIC SKYROS AND EUBOEA

Summary. Archaeological evidence indicates that during the Protogeometric period Skyros and Euboea shared several features. The striking similarity, both in style and fabric, between some of the vases found on Skyros and those from Lefkandi in Euboea, made us suspect that some of the Skyrian vases might actually have been imported from Lefkandi. Thanks to Mrs. R. Andreadis, whose private Collection includes Protogeometric vases found on Skyros and who allowed us to take samples from thirteen of them, this assumption was tested. The Research Laboratory of Archaeology and the History of Art in Oxford agreed to analyse them together with samples from the clay-beds on Skyros for comparison with the existing Lefkandi data. Assessment of the results supports a Euboean source for most of the vases analysed and strengthesn the link between the two areas, in which Euboea seems to be the supplier of most of the pottery found on Skyros in the Protogeometric period.     

A EUBOEAN WARRIOR TRADER

Summary A recently discovered burial in the Toumba Cemetery at Lefkandi, Euboea, differs from others previously found there in the shape of the tomb and the method of burial, which is a cremation contained in a bronze cauldron. The offerings, which include a sword, spearhead and iron arrowheads, make it certain that it is the burial of a warrior, but others, such as a series of stone weights, a N. Syrian cylinder seal and vases from Cyprus and Phoenicia indicate that he was a trader as well. In this preliminary acount, these and other aspects of the burial are considered.     

L'église d'al-Qousour Failaka, État de Koweit

In 1989 a French team conducted excavations at the site of al-Qousour on the island of Failaka, State of Kuwait. The excavations resulted in the discovery of a Christian church complete with two crosses made out of stucco. The building and its contents are described, and a preliminary attempt is made at determining the period of Failaka's evangelisation and of the flourishing of Christianity there.     

EARLY IRON AGE BALANCE WEIGHTS AT LEFKANDI, EUBOEA

Summary.   This report analyses the 16 stone balance weights and fragments recovered in 1994 from the ninth-century BC Tomb 79 in the Toumba cemetery at Lefkandi, Euboea, the tomb of the 'Warrior Trader'. In material, shapes, and mass standards, the weights are for the most part virtual duplicates of common LBA balance weights from Cyprus and the Levant and attest to (a) the long-term continuity of maritime trading across the Bronze/Iron Age divide in the Cypro-Levantine world, and (b) the active participation of Euboeans in this commercial sphere no later than the early ninth century. Discussed also is the relationship between some of these weights and the later Euboeic weight standard.     

Bilad al‐Qadim revisited: recent archaeological research at the Al‐Khamis Mosque,Ain Abu Zaydan and Abu Anbra,Bahrain

In comparison to our understanding of pre‐Islamic occupation and land use on Bahrain, that of the Islamic period has remained less well known. In connection with the building of a visitor centre at the Al‐Khamis Mosque and the planning of an associated heritage trail, renewed archaeological research has taken place in Bilad al‐Qadim, an archaeologically important area of Islamic settlement in the north‐east of the main island of Awal. This has involved excavations in the Abu Anbra cemetery, at Ain Abu Zaydan and at the Al‐Khamis Mosque. The results of these excavations are reported here and these contribute to our understanding of Islamic settlement on Bahrain by supporting the interpretation that Bilad al‐Qadim was the main centre of Islamic settlement in the eleventh–thirteen century AD.     

London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition: 1990 excavations at Saar

Preliminary results are presented of the first season's excavations at Saar, Bahrain, by the London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition. Saar is a single-period settlement dating to the early part of the second millennium BC. A short introduction to the history of excavation at Saar is followed by an account of the 1990 excavations in the temple area and in three areas of town housing. The main pottery types are discussed and some general conclusions then drawn about the settlement.     

An alternative approach to hab 1,2‐2,20

Abstract

In the first part the ideological nature of the OT historical narrative is stressed, which means that it is hardly usable as a historical source alone. Therefore, in the second part three demands are formulated should we decide to use an OT text in a historical analysis: 1) the event we want to investigate has to be mentioned in the OT, 2) must correlate with material from archaeological excavations, and 3) must be mentioned in at least one external written source. The final part is devoted to an overview over the Scandinavian excavations at Tel Fukhar, Jordan.     

Recent Prehistoric Field Research in Central Tunisia: Prehistoric Occupations in the Meknassy Basin

Recent field prospection and test excavations in the Meknassy Basin (Central Tunisia) has revealed many prehistoric sites covering almost all the phases of North African prehistory from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic. Excavations at the Aïn El-Guettar Mousterian site has yielded a faunal assemblage dominated by bovids and equids. One human tooth was found in situ. The stratigraphic sequence contains charcoal-rich occupation layers with faunal, human and lithic finds. A level with an industry resembling the Aterian was found beneath a Mousterian layer. The excavations at Aïn Oum Henda 2 (Jebel Maloussi) provided many Middle Palaeolithic lithic artefacts, some of which are pedunculates. From the excavations of the Rammadiya El Oghrab (Jebel Bou Hedma) we recovered some bones of antelope, many fragments of ostrich egg shell (among them a worked disc), an enormous quantity of flint (tools and splinters) and of land snails. In spite of the scarcity of land snails and the absence of bone in the rammadiya of Jebel Bou Hedma 1, the site produced a beautiful flint collection including an arrowhead found on the surface, which led us to place the site in the Neolithic.     

Reassessment of the Lower Paleolithic (Acheulean) presence in the western Tien Shan

Kulbulak (Uzbekistan) is among the most important Paleolithic sites in Central Asia. Based on excavations from the 1960s to the 1980s, a stratigraphic sequence yielding 46 archeological horizons of the Lower, Middle and Upper Paleolithic has been described. The lowermost 22 layers were at that time defined as Acheulean, both in cultural and chronological aspects. Based on these previous works, Kulbulak has thus often been cited as one of the rarest occurrences of Lower Paleolithic and Acheulean in the region. However, this attribution was debatable. New excavations at Kulbulak in 2007–2010 provided new material and the first reliable dates that permitted us to tackle this issue. Moreover, a reappraisal of the lithic collections and documents from previous excavations was also conducted. These new data clearly indicate the absence of Acheulean or even Lower Paleolithic at Kulbulak. On the contrary, the lithic assemblages from this site only correspond to Middle and Upper Paleolithic periods. The lowermost layers are particularly interesting due to the presence of an early industry with blade and bladelet technology.     

Conspicuous Consumption and Outward Opulence as Seen in Two Victorian-Period Colorado Midden Assemblages

Historical Archaeology - Recent excavations in western Colorado Springs recovered a variety of discarded items dating to the Victorian period. The excavations occurred at the Glen Eyrie middens,...     

HELLENISTIC ARCHITECTURE IN JAFFA: THE 2009 EXCAVATIONS OF THE JAFFA CULTURAL HERITAGE PROJECT IN THE VISITOR'S CENTRE

Abstract

In 2009 the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project undertook a pilot-project excavation within the soon-to-be-renovated visitor's centre in Qedumim Square. These excavations were intended to clarify stratigraphic questions within area C of Jacob Kaplan's excavations (1961, 1965) and to lay the groundwork for future excavations by the project which was founded in 2007 as a partnership between UCLA and the Israel Antiquities Authority. Along with achieving these goals, the excavations exposed one of the best preserved examples of Hellenistic architecture in the southern Levant and confirmed the employment of a Hippodamian-style town plan from as early as the late Persian period.     

电磁法在三星堆遗址祭祀区中的探索与应用

自2019年12月,三星堆遗址启动全面的勘探工作,相继在祭祀区新发现6座祭祀坑,为制定科学的考古发掘及文物保护预案,需在考古发掘之前对地下文物有一定的了解。根据一号、二号坑出土物情况,以金属埋藏物为探测对象,使用地球物理勘探方法中的电磁法先期通过实验获取经验值,然后再对祭祀区进行详细探测,并与实际发掘结果比对,说明电磁法对青铜器探测具有一定的可行性,可为前期考古发掘提供重要的参考信息。     

THE BEAD MAKER’S MIDDEN: EVIDENCE OF LATE PREHISTORIC SHELL BEAD PRODUCTION ON OSSABAW ISLAND,GEORGIA

Abstract

In 2005, archaeological excavations were undertaken in a single shell midden at a late prehistoric Irene phase (circa A.D. 1380) site on Ossabaw Island, Georgia. The excavations were designed specifically to collect information on the fabrication of shell beads and other shell ornaments. A considerable amount of stone was recovered, almost all of which is petrified wood used specifically in the production of “microdrills” for perforating shell beads. Also recovered were large quantities of fragmented knobbed whelk (Busycon carica), the principal raw material used for shell beads, as well as examples of shell beads in all stages of manufacture. The excavations of this midden, designated the Bead Maker’s Midden, produced abundant information bearing on shellworking technology, including the full range of tools and raw materials used and the sequences involved in the production of shell beads. Replication experiments were conducted to validate the archaeological findings. The collected data provide direct evidence of the process of shell bead production during the Late Mississippi period.     

Tell Abraq during the second and first millennia BC: site layout,spatial organisation,and economy

Research recommenced at Tell Abraq in 2007, carried out by Bryn Mawr College with an international team in co‐operation with the Sharjah Archaeology Authority. Between 2007 and 2010 fieldwork was limited to documenting sections of the previous excavations and one small sounding while our attention focused mainly on the nearby shell‐midden site of Hamriya and the fortified Iron Age settlement site of Muweilah. Since 2010, large‐scale excavations have been conducted which have fundamentally altered our understanding of the layout of the settlement and its economic relations during the second and first millennia BC. In this report, we detail the results of this work and present preliminary interpretations.     

In the Land of Olmec Archaeology

Abstract

Michael D. Coe and Richard A. Diehl, In the Land of the Olmec, two volumes plus maps. Volume I, The Archaeology of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, 416 pp.; Volume II, The People of the River, 198 pp. The University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas 1980. 100.00.

The recent publication of a comprehensive report describing the excavations at San Lorenzo, Tabasco, Mexico, In the Land of the Olmec by Michael D. Coe and Richard A. Diehl, provides a significant contribution to Mesoamerican archaeology and a suitable opportunity to review the present status of Olmec studies. The development of Olmec archaeology is a relatively recent phenomenon, with the modern era of research beginning with Matthew Stirling's surveys and excavations at several sites in Mexico's Gulf Coast region (1938–1946), and continuing with the University of California at Berkeley's excavations at the site of La Venta in the mid-1950s. The report by Coe and Diehl of the San Lorenzo investigations (1966–1968) adds considerably to our understanding of the origins and other aspects of Olmec civilization. These contributions, together with several continuing gaps in our knowledge, are reviewed by a resume of Olmec chronology, archaeological remains, external connections, and the implications of the Olmec for the evolution of Mesoamerican civilization.     

An Ancient and Common Tradition: Funerary Rituals and Society in Equatorial Guinea (First–Twelfth Centuries ad)

In this article, we present the results of the 2011 field season at the Iron Age burial site of Nandá, on the Island of Corisco, located between Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. The excavations followed a survey conducted in 2009, which evinced the extraordinary interest of the site and suggested its funerary nature. The excavations documented three levels of occupation belonging to two different phases, which are known in the region as Oveng (ad 1–600) and Group II (ad 600–1100). The first phase was characterized by secondary burials with rich metallic offerings, which were sealed by a settlement at the end of the period; the second phase witnessed the establishment of a large burial site with primary interments. Similar burials are known from Cameroon and Gabon, but the number of features identified at Nandá and the funerary sequence are quite unique in the region. Here, the evidence will be interpreted in light of Jan Vansina’s theories, where he postulates a common political tradition in Equatorial Africa from which later developments stem.