An Egyptian Aegis from the Collections of the Náprstek Museum

Dome, used as the upper structure of different architectural types since ancient times onwards, is also one of the pri­mary covering elements of Turkish architecture. Dome architecture, which reached to its most monumental state with respect to dimension and structural system during the Classic Ottoman period, continued to show a variety during the Late Ottoman and Early Republic periods. These variations differ in accordance with region, district, and time. The domes of the mosques with wooden upper structure constructed with bagdadi technique, which is in fact a wall construction technique in general, are the reflections of this variety. Bagdadi dome is a dome type generally placed in the middle of the wooden roof. Bagdadi domes can be constructed with or without supports. Domes on supports are placed inside the purlin roof, while unsupported domes are placed within the trussed roof, in the middle of the wooden suspended ceiling. There exist single and multi-domed examples of domes constructed with this technique. This proves that, this dome type has not been used symbolically, but it has rather been a part of an evolution process. While dome has a remarkable importance concerning the spatial and architectural evolution in Turkish architecture, the bagdadi domes, which constitute the subject of this article, have not been explored as much as they deserve for their role within this evolution process. There are very few publications about the bagdadi domes. Whereas, only the general characteristics of these buildings are mentioned in these publications. The bagdadi domes, which can be considered as a reflection of local evolution, should find its place within the Turkish architecture. The bagdadi domed mosques, examples of which can be observed in a great part of Anatolia, are extensively seen in the provinces of Giresun, Trabzon, Rize, and Artvin. Although the examples of different provinces reveal similarities as well as differences with each other, the most authentic examples exist within the provinces of Giresun and Trabzon. In this study, the bagdadi domed mosques located in the province of Giresun, in Black sea Region, are studied. The bagdadi domed mosques, as the subject of this study, reveal the contributions and impacts of the geography of the region, local construction material as well as the local constructors to the local architecture.

Tikal timbers and temples: ancient Maya agroforestry and the end of time

The tropical lowlands of southern Mexico and Central America are composed of a complex mosaic of landscapes that presented a variety of possibilities and challenges to the subsistence practices of the ancient Maya. The Yalahau Regional Human Ecology Project has been investigating ancient Maya agricultural practices and use of resources in a unique fresh-water wetland zone located in the northeast corner of the Yucatan Peninsula. While containing only a sparse population today, the Yalahau region once supported numerous Maya communities and civic-ceremonial centers, particularly during the Late Preclassic and Early Classic periods, between approximately 100 B.C. and A.D. 450. Our investigations have developed evidence that the ancient Maya manipulated and cultivated the wetland landscape of the region, used soil or algae from the wetlands to enrich upland garden plots, and cultivated trees within their communities. We suggest that the study of ancient Maya agricultural practices can contribute to sustainable development of the area today and in the future.

This dissertation examines communities of practice over the longue durée in Nivín, a region of the middle Casma Valley, north-central coast of Peru. In particular, collaborative archaeological efforts between 2016 and 2019 have yielded data to investigate architecture, pottery making, and food consumption from the Early Horizon until the Late Intermediate periods, or between roughly 1,000 B.C. and A.D. 1,150. Based on multiple lines of archaeological evidence, the study explores the development of these ancient practices through time and their entanglement with broader regional phenomena. I am particularly interested the economic, social and material implications of these practices, and how they resonate with today’s educational programs and ways young Niviñeros engage with their past, cultural heritage, and the legacy behind by their ancestors. Developed within a public archaeology framework, the research was designed from the start in concert with local community members through a co-creative approach. The community requested the involvement of archaeologists, and their relationships started before any archaeological field research even began in the area. This situation combined with the lack of systematic research and considerable threats to site preservation have contributed to the importance of its archaeological research. Public and co-creative archaeology is crucial because the participation of the local community improves the preservation of cultural heritage, including sites and artifacts. In addition, co-creative educational initiatives helped to bridge ancient and contemporary practices. Research in Nivín is both timely and critical, as the archaeological sites in the area are under threat of destruction. Until this project no scientific excavations had been conducted in this area. Survey, mapping and excavations have provided information confirming the continuous human occupation, subsistence, and consumption patterns of past groups, evidence of trade and exchange networks, and the social processes that might have affected cultural developments in the region. Fieldwork sampled three sites in particular: El Monumento de Nivín, Pan de Azúcar de Nivín, and Cerro Pacae. Spatial data from these sites help clarify the distribution of settlements over time, and changing forms of the human-landscape engagements. The analysis of excavation contexts and archaeological materials shed light on the ways that ancient Niviñeros have made things through time. I focus on pottery making through the analysis of ceramic attributes. I deploy a communities of practice approach to unpack the materialities, regional forces and other entanglements that shaped ways of doing things and consumption patterns in Nivín over the longue durée. Overall, this dissertation

An evolutionary, diachronic approach to the phenotypic craniofacial pattern arisen in a human population after high levels of admixture and gene flow was achieved by means of geometric morphometrics. Admixture has long been studied after molecular data. Nevertheless, few efforts have been made to explain the morphological outcome in human craniofacial samples. The Spanish-Amerindian contact can be considered a good scenario for such an analysis. Here we present a comparative analysis of craniofacial shape changes observed between two putative ancestor groups, Spanish and precontact Aztecs, and two diachronic admixed groups, corresponding to early and late colonial periods from the Mexico's Central Valley. Quantitative shape comparisons of Amerindian, Spanish, and admixed groups were used to test the expectations of quantitative genetics for admixture events. In its simplest form, this prediction states that an admixed group will present phenotypic values falling between those of both parental groups. Results show that, in general terms, although the human skull is a complex, integrated structure, the craniofacial morphology observed fits the theoretical expectations of quantitative genetics. Thus, it is predictive of population structure and history. In fact, results obtained after the craniofacial analysis are in accordance with previous molecular and historical interpretations, providing evidence that admixture is a main microevolutionary agent influencing modern Mexican gene pool. However, expectations are not straightforward when moderate shape changes are considered. Deviations detected at localized structures, such as the upper and lower face, highlight the evolution of a craniofacial pattern exclusively inherent to the admixed groups, indicating that quantitative characters might respond to admixture in a complicated, nondirectional way.

In two essays published recently (Lipschits, Sergi and Koch 2010, 2011), two of my students and I suggested a new chronological scheme for the lmlk stamped jars in Judah. In this study we challenged a 30-year scholarly consensus that contended that all the lmlk jars were associated with the destruction of Level III at Lachish, and that they were dated to the three years of Hezekiah’s revolt and Judah’s preparations for the 701 B.C.E. Assyrian attack (Ussishkin 1977; Na’aman 1979, 1986; Vaughn 1999; Kletter 2002). We based this new chronological scheme on a careful study of the distribution of the lmlk stamped handles, according to the detailed typology set out by André Lemaire in 1981. We isolated the four- winged Types Ia and Ib and the two-winged Type IIa as those found sealed under the destruction level of Lachish III and con- temporaneous strata. Accordingly, we defined these types as the “early types,” used before the 701 Assyrian attack on Judah (Lip- schits, Sergi and Koch 2010: 11 and Fig. 1). By contrast, three types of two-winged lmlk stamp impressions (Lemaire’s IIb, IIc and XII) appear only in hill-country sites that were not destroyed in 701 B.C.E., or in strata attributed to the 7th century B.C.E., with not even one stamped handle of these types found in a clear 701 B.C.E. destruction level. Therefore, we assumed that these types were produced after the 701 campaign, defined them as “late types,” and dated them to the beginning of the 7th century B.C.E. (ibid.: 11, 13– 2 JOURNAL OF HEBREW SCRIPTURES 17). Furthermore, we suggested that the lmlk stamped jars were not part of a short-term system of preparations for the Assyrian attack, but rather part of an administrative system begun before Hezekiah’s revolt against the Assyrian empire, and followed by the incised concentric circles and the rosette stamp impressions (Lipschits, Sergi and Koch 2010: 8–9; Koch and Lipschits 2010). The continuity of the manufacturing of royal storage jars (Vaughn 1999: 148–150; Shai and Maeir 2003; Gitin 2006) and of the use of royal emblems stamped on their handles (Lipschits, Sergi and Koch 2010: 7–10) indicates that the different stamps are all part of the same administrative system that probably functioned without interruption for about 140 years. Moreover, the same administrative system continued after the 586 B.C.E. destruction for an additional 450 years, during the Babylonian period (the mwṣh and lion stamped handles; see Lipschits 2010), during the Persian and the Early Hellenistic periods (the yhwd stamped handles; see Lipschits and Vanderhooft 2011), and until the Late Hellenistic period (the late yhwd and the yršlm stamped handles; see Ariel and Shoham 2000: 159–163; Vanderhooft and Lipschits 2007; Bocher and Lipschits 2011). Throughout this long period, Judah was under the hegemony of great empires, and the stamped jars were part of the Judahite administrative system that was already established when Judah became an Assyrian vassal kingdom; they continued to be in use as long as Judah was a vassal kingdom and afterwards when it was a province under the rule of the Babylonian, Persian and Ptolemaic empires. Recently, Ussishkin published a rejoinder (2011) defending his 34-year-old view, claiming again that all the lmlk stamped storage jars were manufactured concurrently during a brief period shortly before 701 B.C.E. (ibid.: 223–224, 231). He even went one step fur- ther, claiming that, despite the archaeological fact that not even one handle bearing a concentric circle incision was discovered sealed under a 701 B.C.E. destruction level, all the handles bearing concen- tric circle incisions should also be dated to the same pre-701 B.C.E. period (ibid.: 233–235). He further claimed that all the rosette stamped storage jars should be dated to shortly before the 587/6 B.C.E. destruction (ibid.: 235). If this were indeed the case, then no stamped jars were produced in Judah during the 110 years between Hezekiah’s revolt and the Assyrian military campaign against Judah (704–701 B.C.E.), and Zedekiah’s revolt against Babylon and the Babylonian military campaign against Judah (588–586 B.C.E.); furthermore, the rosette system, just like the lmlk system that preceded it, had to be developed over a very short period of time. Ussishkin did not connect the 6th to 2nd century stamped jar handles to the lmlk, concentric circle and rosette jars, and he ignored the continued use of the same system of stamping handles of the same type of jars for an additional 450 years. In this article, I will focus on the differences in the methods used for dating and for interpreting the stamped jar handles in gen- ARCHAEOLOGICAL FACTS AND HISTORICAL SPECULATIONS 3 eral, and those methods used for the lmlk stamped jars in particular. I will also emphasize the differences in the approach toward archaeological facts and their historical interpretations.

Fifty shades of grey? The impact of the Hungarian cattle trade on cattle breeding in the late medieval and early modern period

Believed to have begun with Han noble families, and eventually spreading to most classes of Chinese society, footbinding refers to the practice of restricting the foot's growth to maintain a small form and specific shape, and was practiced on Chinese girls from a young age until the twentieth century. When British missionaries began activity in China, they became concerned with footbinding and sought to eradicate the ancient traditional practice. Examining the work of both orthodox and revisionist historians alongside primary texts written by missionaries in the nineteenth century, this paper studies why missionaries objected to footbinding and how the anti-footbinding movement gained traction in China. Ultimately, British missionaries misinterpreted the cultural meaning of footbinding, and their methods of eradicating the practice reflected this misunderstanding. Missionaries saw footbinding as patriarchal, regressive, and sexually perverse; in reality, footbinding's meaning was connected to nationalism and ethnic identity. Therefore, when Chinese activists began to perpetuate anti-footbinding propaganda, they nationalized anti-footbinding discourse, seeking to remove British influence from the movement. The paper is concerned with how missionary condemnation of footbinding constituted cultural imperialism, and why this process was successful in missionary activity in the late Qing period (the latter half of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century).

Located in the Nepeña Valley of north-central Peru, Cerro San Isidro was first documented in the 1930s when the valley was initially surveyed. While numerous sites along the valley, particularly those located in the lower valley, have been extensively researched since this initial survey, members of the Proyecto de Investigación Arqueológica Cerro San Isidro (PIACSI) conducted the first formal excavations in 2019. My thesis project analyzes the ceramic artifacts – in particular pottery fragments – from that field season in order to evaluate continuity and change in morphological and technical styles from the Early Horizon through the Late Intermediate Periods (ca. 600 BCE – 1450 CE). I analyze 518 rim and decorated pot sherds and focus on 11 variables. The formal, technological, and stylistic analyses emphasize vessel shape, firing temperatures, and decorative elements, respectively. The study addresses the larger research questions regarding our chronological understanding of ancient Peru, including the traditional practice of identifying sites by particular stylistic patterns of ceramics. By determining continuities in the ceramic traditions, this study reexamines our understanding of ceramic traditions in the middle Nepeña Valley. Anthropologically, the analysis explores ancient artistic practices and technical choices of makers and potters.

The widespread significance of tobacco in Mesoamerica is documented in historical and ethnographic sources, yet recovery of the organic remains of this plant from archaeological contexts is rare. Here, the authors present evidence for the ritual use of tobacco at Cotzumalhuapa, Guatemala, during the Late Classic period (AD 650–950). Detection of nicotine in residue analysis of three cylindrical ceramic vases recovered from cache deposits near the El Baúl acropolis suggests that these vessels contained tobacco infusions or other liquid preparations. These results suggest an ancient ritual practice involving tobacco for which there was previously no physical evidence in Mesoamerica.

The degree and nature of integration that existed within Roman economies is a crucial but so far unresolved question within the study of ancient economic history. This paper aims to test the level of market integration in the Roman Mediterranean by comparing amphora distributions from the late Republican period and Principate with those of Late Antiquity in Rome, three northern Adriatic cities (Aquileia, Padua, Verona) and Ephesus with the predicted transport costs provided by ORBIS: The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World. The intention is to analyze whether price determined the distribution of staple goods in the Roman Empire, as it does in a modern market economy environment, or whether other factors (e.g., state orders, elite connections etc.) were more important in shaping ancient economic practices.

The research of economic characteristics, chemical composition and technological characteristics of table grape varieties Asma, Italia, Karaburnu, Muscat of Alexandria, Vostok, Beauty Cegled, Muscat Hamburg, Odessa Souvenir, Michele Palieri, Chaush Muscat in 2014 was carried out. Based on experimental studies, a brief technology assessment of the given varieties was defined, basic criteria such as organoleptic characteristics, chemical and mechanical composition were investigated. The paper presents the characteristics of the varieties, the comparative economic-commodity assessment of middle-ripening table grape varieties, which are grown in Ukraine, qualitative characteristics of berries of middle-ripening table grape varieties, the interval of economic-commodity, chemical and physical parameters of table grapes of different ripening groups, comparative economic-commodity assessment of table grapes of middle and late ripening periods. The results allow to assess table grape varieties of middle and late ripening periods, which are the most favorable for the cultivation and supply to the consumer market. Based on the research results, competitiveness index for the investigated table grape varieties was calculated.

Abstract: This essay introduces a special issue of Twentieth-Century China that explores the evolution of religiously motivated vegetarianism in Chinese societies from the late imperial period until today, with a focus on the twentieth century. Drawing on ancient practices of fasting and Mahāyāna Buddhist dietary rules, this vegetarianism quickly evolved into a widely accepted form of moral self-cultivation in many religious contexts, one that was intrinsically related to morality, self-actualization, notions of karma and retribution, and ritual purity. Since the late nineteenth century, the impacts of increasing transnational entanglements, new ideas, and changing food practices have subtly transformed this tradition: these transformations include an engagement with global animal protection movements in the wake of the First World War and contemporary attempts to integrate concerns about global warming, food safety, and environmentalism into the discourse. By looking at three specific cases, the special issue traces the persistence and evolution of vegetarian concepts and practices in Chinese societies from the late imperial period until today.

Dyes used in pre-Hispanic textiles from the Middle and Late Intermediate periods of San Pedro de Atacama (northern Chile): new insights into patterns of exchange and mobility

The Maikop culture represents one of the most significant occurrences in the context of pre-urban agricultural and livestock communities of the Middle East and Caucasus. It covers the borderline area between south-west Asia and Eastern Europe, pre-Caucasian steppe and north Caucasus, where the cultural influences of southern peoples confront with tradition ofEuropean population for ages. (Image 1) The study of Maikop culture began by the end of 19th century after the discovery of exceptionally rich tombs in Maikop (1897) and two stone tombs in Carska, present-day Novosvobodna (1898). The most extensive research was done in the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. After the seventies, in the20th century, several monographs and journals dealing with the Maikop culture were published, including general research by R.N. Munčaev, S.N. Korenevki and A.D. Rezepkin. The issue of Maikop culture is undoubtedly very interesting outside the Russian federation, but it mostly involves the review of the results from modern-day Russian research. This tendency isclearly visible in the works by A. Häusler, B. Govedarica, B. Lionne, F. Kohl, D. Anthony and others. The most important archaeological monuments of the Maikop culture are settlements and necropoles. Nowadays, we have information about several dozens of Maikop settlements and according to the material published, the most famous are Dolinsk, Ust-Džegutinsk,Galjugaevsk 1, Sereginsk, Psekupsk i Boljšetegensk. The settlements investigated are mostly situated in the river valleys, at lower grounds close to the river banks. In the Caucasus foothills, the settlements are located on the plains at hill slopes. They are mostly open settlements, while cave habitats are very rare. Burying was done in tumuli – kurgans. In thenorthern Caucasus, this tradition originates from the Chalcolithic, during fifth millennium BC. This phenomenon was further developed by the representatives of Maikop culture through the building of great multi-layered kurgans which apart from burial also had the role of sanctuary. Mounds are made of earth or of stone. In the case of earth kurgans, moundsare occasionally made only of a layer of humus, but they are most frequently mounds of mixed earth. Stone kurgans are made by placing stones over the tomb which was later covered with a layer of earth. Besides, in Maikop kurgans, frequently there are circular stone walls – kromlexes – which can be single or multiple depending on the phase of the burial and rituals performed through. The most frequent are individual kurgans meaning that there were not subsequent burials of Maikop people in the mounds above primary grave. Kurgans with several Maikop burials are scarcely represented. In the research history of the sites from the framework of Maikop culture and Maikop culture area, two phases, crucial for the actual cultural and historical interpretation of this phenomenon can be outlined. The first phase is related to the discovery of monumental stone monuments along with numerous bronze and gold objects which, according to then known analogies, are interpreted as direct reflection of the progress achieved in Middle East cultures during 3rd millennium BC. In the opinion of the majority of the former researchers, at the beginning the representatives of Maikop culture took over the cultural achievements of the Middle East which were further perfected afterwards. The second opinion about the interpretation of this phenomenon is formed in recent period as a result of multiple radiocarbon dates what caused significant corrections of absolute chronology of Maikopculture dating it to the 4th millennium BC. This imposed new cultural relations to the Middle East, but this time not to the dynastic period but to previous, pre-urban cultures of Ubaid and Uruk. All this indicates a higher level of authenticity of Maikop culture, especially in the domain of metallurgy. Anyway, the Maikop culture, during its existences gained hightechnological development and in metal processing it does not fall behind Middle East cultures. A significant breakthrough in the process of determining absolute chronology of Maikop culture was made through implementation of radiocarbondating. So far, within this framework, more than 70 dates were collected, which are mostly concentrated in three successive periods. The early period covers the time span from 40th to 37th century BC. Those dates are very scarce and they are related to the sites of Maikop (Galjugaevsko-Sereginsk) and Psekupsk variants in the area of Terek and Kuban, as well asin Kuma–Manych periphery. The dates of the middle period cover the time period from 37/35th to 34/33rd century BC and they are related to the finds of all variants of Maikop culture. The most significant Maikop settlements belonging to this period are Ust- Džegutin, Galjugaevsk, Novosvobodna and Dolinsk, necropoles in Klada or the grave 70 from Kurgan 1 in Zamankul which according to the finds is the closest to the Maikop kurgan. The dates of the late period cover the time span from 34th to 30/29th century BC and mostly belong to the group of Novosvobodna and the Dolinsk and Psekupsk variant. The cultural and social development of the Maikop culture reached the so-called chieftain level which can be compared to the late period of Sumerian pre-dynas tic period. Maikop warrior’s weapons do not fall behind after Sumerian armies, but further development in this respect was not attained by Maikop culture. It vanishes with oncoming climate warming during second phase of Subboreal and its disappearance is most likely induced by internal social changes as well. There is no clear standpoint in science, regardingthe issue of ethnical character of representatives of the Maikop culture, mostly having in mind the language groups of different nations (Indo-Europeans, Semites, Hattam, Adygei, Kabardini, Turks). The analysis of the archaeological material shows that Maikop culture consisted of four components, out of which every single one had its own path of origin. Among the variants there were close connections, particularly in general religious displays, funeral rituals, syncretism emergence and adaptation. Having this in mind, the Maikop culture cannot be considered as a product of a single ethnic group, nor it can be related to a single nation. However, it was definitely a local culture, coming from north pre-Caucasian area, strongly influencedby northern Mesopotamia, eastern Anatolia and southern Caucasus through Kurin flatlands. The tradition related to spiritual customs of Maikop population shows both, the elements of the local Chalcolithic with familiar funeral ceremonies of buryingin kurgans, but also the contacts with eastern European cultures which could contribute to the creation of Maikop warrior elite. Archaeological sources also indicate that all foreign influences were more or less adapted to the features of Maikop culture, assimilating in quite specific pre-Caucasian features.