Archaeology, Epigraphy, Philology

Abstract

Archaeology, Epigraphy, Philology Christopher T. Begg, William J. Urbrock, Thomas Hieke, Isaac M. Alderman, Andrew W. Dyck, and Fred W. Guyette 1679. Oren Ackermann, Noam Greenbaum, Hendrik Bruins, Avner Ayalon, Miryam Bar-Matthews, Dan Cabanes, Liora Kolska Horwitz, Frank H. Neumann, Mechael Osband, Naomi Porat, Ehud Weiss, and Aren Maeir, “Ancient Environment and Human Interaction at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath,” NEA 80 (2017) 244–46. The site of Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath was impacted by the ancient environment, but also had an impact on both the ancient environment and current conditions. For example, the city’s fortification system eroded after the destruction of the city by Hazael of Syria in the late ninth cent. b.c.e., this preserving the ancient slope surface. In addition, a high rate of erosion also occurred down to the foot of the tell which consists primarily of the remains of mud bricks from the city’s buildings. Changes in the landscape also altered the vegetation and promoted the growth of thorny burnet in the emerging dry habitat.—V.H.M. 1680. Shira Albaz, Haskel J. Greenfield, Tina L. Greenfield, and Aren M. Maeir, “Evidence for Administration and Leisure/Recreation at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath,” NEA 80 (2017) 270–72. The discovery of over two hundred vessels with pot marks in an otherwise preliterate era-stratum (EB III) at eṣ-Ṣâfi as well as an occasional cylinder seal is the only possible evidence for administrative activities during this period. In terms of leisure activities, game boards made of chalk and the presence of polished sheep and goat astragali were also discovered that may have served as game pieces.—V.H.M. [End Page 594] 1681. Bettina Bader, “Zwischen Text, Bild und Archäologie—Eine Problemdarstellung zur Konzeptualisierung von Kulturkontakten,” Interkulturalität, 13–34 [see #2015]. B.’s study addresses problems in the conceptualization of cultural contacts which result from the interplay between textual, visual, and archaeological sources. Against this background, she discusses fundamental perceptions of (ancient) cultures either as entities which are generally clearly delimited and distinguishable from one another or rather as “fluid” constructs that cannot exist on their own, apart from other such constructs. She illustrates these two competing perceptions with a case study involving late Middle Kingdom data. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 1682. Johnny Samuele Baldi, “Social Theories, Technical Identities, Cultural Boundaries: A Perspective on the ‘Cultural Situation’ in Late Chalcolithic 3–5 Northern Mesopotamia,” Framing Archaeology, 79–94 [see #2030]. In his essay, B. investigates social theories and technical identities in the case of the so-called Uruk colonies in northern Mesopotamia during the 4th millennium b.c.e., with a focus on the ceramics deriving from Tell Feres al-Sharqi, a site in northeastern Syria. In conducting his investigation, B. analyzes the pottery’s technical features, thereby identifying two traditions reflected in the corpus, i.e., a local one and a southern one. Rather than revisiting the well-known question of the “colonial situation” at the site which has given rise to various anthropological and historical models, B. focuses on the specific conditions documented in the Tell Feres ceramic record as a way of relating the humans and things involved. The concept of “technical identities” as used by him allows for the identification of various social entities on a material basis rather than in light of a priori evolutional and positivistic viewpoints. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 1683. David Ben-Shlomo, “Petrographic and Technological Analysis of the Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath Pottery,” NEA 81 (2018) 63–65. Petrographic analysis is a microscopic method employed for investigating the provenance of pottery vessels by geographically identifying the clay sources used, as well as for examining various technological aspects of pottery production. Of the pottery from Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath that has been analyzed, most (80%) was made of three types of clays, all local to the site or its vicinity. Only 11.3% of the...