Khirbat al‐Mana‘iyya: an early Islamic‐period copper‐smelting site in south‐eastern Wadi ‘Araba,Jordan

Recent excavations in south‐eastern Wadi ‘Araba in Jordan have revealed the first early Islamic‐period copper‐smelting site known in the eastern side of the valley, which extends south of the Dead Sea to the Gulf of ‘Aqaba. Five test pits were excavated in 2012 at Khirbat al–Mana‘iyya, a prominent copper‐smelting camp in south‐eastern Wadi ‘Araba, Jordan. The results of these excavations demonstrate that the site was primarily active in the seventh–ninth century AD. Its distance from the copper sources of south‐west ‘Araba suggests that its location was chosen based on proximity to wood and water resources, rather than copper ore deposits. The discovery that the site dates to the early Islamic period has implications for previous and future work in south‐east ‘Araba. In particular, it challenges the common—until now—view of the region as virtually devoid of settlement during this period.     

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.     

Failaka Island in the Late Islamic Period. Investigations at the fishing village of Kharaib al-Dasht

The aim of the paper is to present the architectural remains and spatial organisation of the site of Kharaib al-Dasht, a Late Islamic fishing village dating from the late seventeenth to the nineteenth century. In the course of six seasons of excavation, which started in 2013, there was uncovered a part of this extensive site, revealing remnants of a fish processing area, residential architecture and a mosque. The findings from Kharaib al-Dasht serve here as a starting point for a discussion on the character of settlement activity on Failaka in the Late Islamic period, which was a time of dynamic change in the political and economic landscape of the region as evidenced by the available written sources.     

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.     

Recent Excavation Results at Sa’ida Village,Failaka Island

One of the least known, yet extremely important, archaeological sites in Failaka Island, off Kuwait, is Sa’ida village. A joint Gulf mission started excavation in Sa’ida in 2001. The excavations on Hill 1 then exposed the first Friday mosque discovered on Failaka and in the State of Kuwait. The material data revealed that the village dates to the late Islamic period, specifically to the end of the seventeenth century until the beginning of the nineteenth century, when the village was abandoned due to the plague epidemic that swept the region. Since 2016, four fieldwork campaign indicated that the village was inhabited in the early Islamic era in the seventh–eighth centuries and continued until the beginning of the twentieth century, with a few but long gaps. The six campaigns revealed religious and domestic buildings and were sufficient to reassess the chronology of occupation and abandonment of Sa’ida. They provided a valuable insight into the organisation of the site and the lifestyle of the population, with large courtyard houses and small one-room buildings.     

Original DocumentsExtracts from The Bursar’s Accounts,Preserved Among The Muniments of Winchester College

This paper challenges the interpretation of late Roman Verulamium which has stood since Frere's excavations in 1955–61. A quantitative analysis of construction work and occupation phases forms the basis of two new interpretative conclusions. First, in contrast to a view which sees urban vigour continuing to the end of the Roman period, it is suggested that the town experienced a sharp decline in both construction and occupation from the early fourth century onwards. Second, the late town is portrayed as radically different in character from that of the second century—a defended ‘post-classical’ outpost of the decaying empire rather than a garden-city of romanizing local gentry.     

Illustrations of Domestic Architecture,from Popular Medieval Writers

Correlation between features excavated in advance of a gas pipeline, and cropmarks photographed some years previously, led to identification of a Saxon rural settlement, occupied from the sixth or seventh century through to the mid-ninth century. It comprised several interconnected enclosures, adjacent to two main trackways. A narrow strip was excavated through the settlement, and five possible sunken-featured buildings, and numerous ditches and pits, were recorded—most ditches delineated enclosures which had been repeatedly redefined. The pottery assemblage spanned the transition between regional early Saxon and middle Saxon wares. Prehistoric occupation in the vicinity was evidenced by pottery (including beakers), flints and a bronze dagger jragment.     

The Late Roman Landscape of the Northern Levant: A view from Tell Qarqur and the lower Orontes River Valley

This paper presents a review and synthesis of archaeological surveys in western Syria and southern Turkey, alongside finds from recent excavations at Tell Qarqur, Syria, revealing regional patterns of late Roman settlement and land use in the lower Orontes River Valley. Survey data show that the late Roman period witnessed a peak in settlement density, with the extension of occupation into previously unoccupied areas and widespread agricultural intensification. Excavations of a typical lowland site at Tell Qarqur reveal an opulent building complex, possibly a church, with a columned hall, elaborate mosaic floor and frescoed interior. Analysis explores the process of agricultural intensification during the late Roman period, the relationship between lowland settlements and the better‐known Dead Cities of the limestone massif to the east, and the ultimate abandonment of the settlement system following the seventh century AD.     

Faunal remains from the Islamic fort at Luluyyah (Sharjah,UAE)

Knowledge about human subsistence and the role of animal economy in the Islamic period of south‐east Arabia is still sketchy. The analysis of faunal remains from the coastal fort at Luluyyah (Sharjah, UAE), dated to the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century CE, provides some information. People depended on marine resources and domestic animals, a trait observable in the region since the Neolithic. Livestock breeding was not particularly developed. Judging by the distribution of their skeletal remains, the animals were slaughtered at the fort, implying that they either lived there or reached it alive.     

Seen but Not Told: Re-mapping Great Zimbabwe Using Archival Data,Satellite Imagery and Geographical Information Systems

The world renowned site of Great Zimbabwe is one of the most globally significant archaeological sites in Africa. Ironically, this importance is not matched by the little amount of information that is known about such an iconic site. The heritage of this regrettable situation was birthed by the destructive activities of late nineteenth and early twentieth century antiquarians who vandalised tons of evidence without record. Throughout the twentieth century, however, professional archaeologists made interventions that rescued information from various parts of the site but most of which was never published. A moratorium imposed on archaeological excavations at the site in the early 1990s failed to stimulate an active engagement with material that was archived since the first professional excavations began. Motivated by the need to understand the site in new ways, research was initiated to revisit the site’s patchy and scattered archives and to supplement them with field surveys. This paper discusses the re-mapping of the site which, for the first time, comprehensively produced themed layers of spatial, chronological and material culture distribution. The main outcome is that most existing maps ignored a large number of terraces on the hill and omitted evidence of occupation in key areas. When combined with excavation profiles that expose the massive rebuilding of the site by original residents, it becomes clear that settlement ebbed and flowed during the more than six centuries of occupation at the site.     

The Upper Mississippian Occupation at the Collier Lodge Site (12PR36): Ceramics and Chronology on the Eastern Edge of Oneota

The Upper Mississippian Fisher/Huber occupations of northwestern Indiana are part of the easternmost extension of Oneota. Excavations at the Collier Lodge site (12PR36) found 18 Upper Mississippian features from a seasonal encampment on the edge of the Kankakee Marsh. The ceramic assemblage and radiocarbon dates indicate the site was created during the late fifteenth century, placing it in the northwestern Indiana temporal sequence between the previously known Fifield site occupation and the Huber phase component at the Griesmer site. The ceramic decorative elements include relatively low proportions of medium trailing and cordmarking, with higher proportions of wide trailing and smooth surfaces, suggesting a very late pre-Huber occupation (fine trailing is virtually absent). The assemblage could also reflect a Late Fisher occupation followed after a short period of time by a terminal Fisher/early Huber occupation. Oneota sites in northwestern Indiana appear to have been relatively rare, widely distributed, small, and seasonal.     

Urban geo-archaeology in medieval alzira (Prov. Valencia,Spain)

Alzira is situated in a cut-off meander loop of the Rio Júcar. Geo-archaeological study shows that the Islamic city wall was built during the second quarter of the 11th century AD, at a time when the river had a low-amplitude and low-energy flood regime. After mid-century, overbank silts began to invade the city as peak flood discharge increased, with a spate of destructive floods reflected by high-energy deposits during the late 11th century. Urban expansion within the city wall is dated to the later 11th or early 12th century, interrupted by local abandonment and moderate-energy flood silts. Major construction during the mid-12th century was followed by protracted abandonment (after a siege in AD 1171?) and further, moderate-energy flood silts that redistributed occupation and collapse debris. Reoccupation, during the late 14th century, was terminated by catastrophic floods in 1517 and 1571, after which much of the western end of Alzira was not rebuilt. Following further flood catastrophes during the 17th century, parts of the central walled city remained abandoned until the 19th century. with new occupation atop flood sands of yet another disaster in 1864. The change in flood regime after 1150 was a result of deforestation of the watershed, but progradation of a downstream tributary fan after 1517 created an unstable, aggrading floodplain increasingly prone to severe flooding. Climatic anomalies were responsible for periods of recurrent severe floods, archaeologically verified during the 11th and 12th centuries, and historically documented, beginning in 1318. The geo-archaeological methodology illuminates the constructional and settlement history of Alzira, allows distinction of fluvial and cultural components, and provides the necessary microstratigraphic detail and dating control to document the true complexity of alluvial processes during the last 1000 years.     

Late Islamic water collection systems on Failaka Island: Preliminary results of the Kuwait–Georgian Archaeological Mission in 2018–2019

Archaeological investigations on Failaka Island, conducted by the Kuwait–Georgian Archeological Mission, have recorded a variety of sites dating from different time periods, from the Bronze Age to the late Islamic/modern period. The largest proportion of recorded sites consist of late Islamic seasonal settlement structures found in the north-eastern part of the island. It is possible that they were connected to fishing and associated activities such as stock-farming and agriculture, which is confirmed by the results of palynological analysis. These sites are divided into two chronological phases: one from the seventeenth to eighteenth century and the second from the nineteenth to the first half of the twentieth century. In 2018, excavations at the water collection systems within these settlements began. The results gathered so far indicate that there were two kinds of well structures. The first are interpreted as shallow filtration well pits; the second are deep wells used for collecting water from deep underground. Both systems were used to collect rainwater, which was then filtered and stored. Marine and freshwater forms of algae were found in the basal sediments of the pits, which offers evidence for the accumulation and filtration of water.     

TOWARD A NEW VIEW OF HISTORY AND PROCESS AT CRYSTAL RIVER (8CI1)

Abstract

The Crystal River site (8CI1), located on Florida’s westcentral Gulf Coast, has long been counted among the most impressive yet inscrutable archaeological sites in the eastern United States. Excavations by C. B. Moore in the early twentieth century produced a number of artifacts with apparent Hopewellian affiliations, thus indicating an occupation during the Middle Woodland period. However, other features of the site—particularly the presence of flat-topped mounds and negative-painted pottery—suggested a later (Mississippian) date. This apparent conflict cast a cloud of confusion over the site, exacerbated by the later discovery of three purported limestone stelae. We present new insights into Crystal River based partly on new field work, including detailed topographic mapping, geophysical survey, and limited small-diameter coring. These field investigations, when combined with radiocarbon dates and the data gleaned from previous investigations, allow us to make new inferences regarding the chronology of settlement and mound construction at Crystal River. Specifically, we posit, based on these data, a greater degree of planning, structure, and complexity to the site from its founding, possibly as early as cal. 300 B.C. Further, these early practices impact the overarching historical trajectory of the site, guiding subsequent practices over a long time span, likely as late as cal A.D. 600.     

A Few Remarks upon the Antiquities of Silver Found at Cuerdale

The settlement of Le Yaudet, in northern Brittany, occupies a prominent position on a headland dominating the estuary of the river Léguer. It is the focus of a long-term research excavation, now in its tenth year, designed to study continuities and discontinuities in the occupation sequence from the Iron Age to the late medieval period. The paper focusses on late Roman and early medieval occupation. Tenuous evidence for late fourth- to early fifth-century military use is considered. Thereafter, fields worked by the ‘lazy bed’ method were laid out: contemporary corn-drying ovens have produced dates in the sixth and seventh centuries. The results are discussed in the context of the sparse historical evidence and other contemporary finds from Brittany.     

Change in chemical composition of early Islamic glass excavated in Raya,Sinai Peninsula,Egypt: on-site analyses using a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer

The Raya port (eighth to 12th centuries) on the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, was one of the important port cities for the Red Sea trade. We performed on-site analyses of Islamic glass vessels (used in eighth to 11th centuries) mainly from this site in Egypt using a portable XRF spectrometer. The aim of this paper is to contribute to our understanding of the chemical compositions of early Islamic glass vessels by comparing their archaeological date and typology. In the early Islamic period, glass objects were mainly produced from natron as the soda source. Among the natron glass analyzed in this study, glass vessels with low titanium and iron and high strontium contents, which were probably produced in the Syria–Palestine region, were excavated in the eighth century layer. From the ninth century layer, a large number of samples with high levels of calcium, titanium and iron, probably produced in Egypt, were found. It should be noted that a large number of glass vessels with this chemical composition were found at the Raya site, because this type of glass was rarely reported from other Islamic sites. We finally concluded that this type of glass seems to be produced under a fixed recipe, although some samples contain a colorant or decolorized materials.     

略论淅川沟湾遗址的仰韶文化遗存

淅川县沟湾遗址仰韶文化遗存,依据层位关系,结合出土器物的组合、特征及其演变规律可将其大体分为四期,其年代分别与枣园类型晚段、后岗类型、庙底沟类型和大河村类型早段约略相当,基本包括了仰韶文化早期晚段至晚期早段的整个时期。遗址外围发现有仰韶文化不同时期大、小两条环壕,是一处保存比较好的环壕聚落遗址,填补了汉水中游地区史前聚落考古的一项空白。     

Third-Millenniurn and Later Pottery From Abu Dhabi Airport

Surface pottery collected from a site on Abu Dhabi airport indicated sporadic occupation from the Hafit period, c. 3100–2700 BC, with maximum settlement in the second half of the third millennium BC. The ceramics, which could be related both to the coastal Umm an-Nar culture and to the sequence established at Hili 8 in Period II, included wares of probably Mesopotamian and Eastern Arabian origin. The site was unused throughout most of the second millennium BC and the Iron Age but pottery of first century BC-second century AD date suggested that it may have served as a point of entry or transit at that time, the first to be recognised in the coastal area of Abu Dhabi.