The Easternmost Outpost of the Hadramawt Kingdom: New Evidence from Andhūr (Dhofar, Oman)

Sacrificial Tradition and Religion during the Early Iron Age in South Scandinavia – with Special Reference to Settlement SacrificesSacrificial customs and religion during the Early Iron Age (500 BC–400 AD) has occupied archaeologists from the infancy of archaeology. Most would probably agree that the religion was primarily fertility related, originating as it was in the existing peasant society. The literature does not reflect any disagreement about the religion of the Early Iron Age being polytheistic and consequently concerned a variety of gods. However, it is still unknown how the religion was integrated in the everyday life, and under which conditions it was practiced.The research interest and the overall synthesis framework have especially addressed sacrifices in bogs and wetlands (for instance weapon sacrifices, bog bodies, deposited earthenware, anthropomorphic wooden figures, domestic animals, cauldrons, ring sacrifices, etc.). Strongly simplified, the existing consensus may be expressed in one single sentence: The overall society-related sacrificial traditions develop from being almost exclusively connected with wetland areas during the Early Iron Age (until c.400 AD) to being primarily connected with dry land after this time, cf. Fig. 1.The question is whether – based on the intense data collection over the recent decades – archaeology can or should maintain this very simple picture of the development of the sacrificial traditions and the religions during the Iron Age? Is it possible that we – rooted in for instance narrow definitions of sacrificial finds, habitual thinking, and a “delusion” consisting of the numerous well-preserved, well-documented, spectacular, and impressive finds of bog sacrifices – fail to see numerous forms of deposits, which (as opposed to the impressive finds of sacrifices in bogs) are hidden in the archaeological material?The settlements of the Iron Age have been excavated in large numbers over the recent decades, and it is the ritual finds from these localities that provide the background for this article.The ritual deposits from the settlements can be divided into two superior groups distinguished by the physical context. One comprises sacrifices made to constructions, which are characterized by being directly connected to a specific structure; the other encompasses settlement sacrifices that are to a higher degree characterized by an overriding affiliation to the settlement. The establishment of a sacrifice definition suitable for scanning the archaeological material for relevant finds is of vital importance. As the definition should not beforehand restrict the search through the material, it is important not to narrow the basis by concentrating only on the physical characteristics of the individual artefacts. The general idea behind the present presentation is that the different ritual dimensions of a society are internally connected as they function within the same overall conventions and, as a consequence, make up parts of a general mental structure, which can leave physically recognizable traces across the different ritual dimensions, cf. Fig. 2. This principal viewpoint creates a theoretical starting point for my work and the established definition of sacrificial finds: All intentionally deposited objects, which analytically show significant similarities as regards their physical appearance and/or their deposition context with other recognized ritual objects/contexts, and which are closely connected to these in time and space, should, when analysed, be considered sacrificial finds.The British religious historian, Ninian Smart, describes religion as consisting of seven thematically describing situations, which – albeit not completely unconnected – may be described individually:1) A dogmatic and philosophical dimension, comprising doctrine systems.2) A mythical and narrative dimension, comprising tales of the deities, of the creation, etc.3) An ethical and judicial dimension, comprising the consequences of the religion in relation to the shaping of the life of the individual.4) A social and institutional dimension comprising organisations and institutions that tie together the individual religious society.5) An empirical and emotional dimension comprising the individual’s experience of god and the divine.6) A ritual and practical dimension comprising prayer, sacrifices, worship, etc.7) A materiel dimension comprising architecture, art, sacred places, buildings, and iconography.As archaeologists, we have a very limited possibility of investigating the very thoughts behind the practiced religion. It is therefore natural to concentrate to a higher extent on the overall setting for it – the ritual dimension and the materiel dimension respectively. The ritual dimension and in particular its sacrificial aspect is traditionally divided into groups characterised by their significance level within the religion as such.1) The first and most “important” group consists of cult rituals. These are characterized by being calendar rites based on the myths of the religion or the history of the people, and by playing a part in the events of the year.2) The next group comprises transition rites (rite de passage), which follow the life cycle of the individual.3) The last group comprises rites of crises, which serve the purpose of averting danger, illness, etc.It is important to realize that the two first ritual groups are predictable cyclic rituals addressing the gods, the myths, and/or the people/the individual respectively. Only the third and least central group of rituals is determined by non-predictable and “not-always” occurring incidences. On this background, it becomes central to analyse, which category one is facing when one wants to assess its importance for the religion as such, in order to evaluate the primary character of the religion.In an attempt to understand the overall importance of a specific ritual practice, one cannot ignore a very complicated problem, which is to evaluate whether the sacrifices were practiced by single individuals or by a larger group of people as part of more common and society-supporting rituals. The issue of the relation between different sacrifice types and the groups causing these has been addressed repeatedly. Often, narrow physical interpretation frames as to who sacrificed what are advanced (i.e. Fig. 3). However, the question is how suitable are these very narrow and rigid interpretation models? As mentioned above, a sacrifice is defined by the intention (context) that caused it rather than by the specific physical form of the object!The above mentioned methodical and theoretical issues provide the background for the author’s investigation of the archaeological sources, in which he focused especially on the relationship between ritual actions as they are expressed in bog deposits and in burial grounds and measured them against the contemporary finds from the settle­ments.The analysis of the archaeological material is based on those find groups (sacrifices of cauldrons, magnificent chariots, humans, animals, metals, and weapons), which have traditionally been presented as a proof that society supporting and more community influenced ritual sacrifices were carried out beside the bogs.The examination of the material supports that sacrifices of cauldrons, magnificent chariots, humans, animals, and earthenware are found in both settlements and wetlands (Figs. 4-12), and that the deposits seem to follow superior ritual conventions, i.e. Fig. 2. The sacrifices were not made in fixed sacred places but in a momentary sacred context, which returns to its daily secular sphere once the rituals have been carried out. Often, the ceremony consists of a ritual cutting up of the sacrificed object, and the pars pro toto principle occurs completely integrated in connection with both burial customs, wetland sacrifice customs, and settlement sacrifice customs. Sacrifices often occur as an expression of a rite de passage connected to the structures, fields, or infrastructure of the village. However, the repeated finds of earthenware vessels, humans, and animals in both wetland areas and in the villages indicates that fertility sacrifices were made regularly as part of the cyclic agricultural world. This places the find groups in a central position when it comes to understanding the religious landscape of the Early Iron Age. In a lot of respects, the settlement finds appear as direct parallel material to the contemporary wetland-related sacrificial custom and so one must assume that major religious events also took place in the settlements, for instance when a human or a cauldron was handed over to the next world. Both the selection of sacrificial objects, the form of depositing, and the preceding ceremonial treatment seem to follow superior ritual structures applying to both funerary rites and wetland sacrifices in Iron Age society.Often, the individual settlement-related sacrificial find seems to be explained by everyday doings, as largely all sacrifice-related objects of the Early Iron Age have a natural affiliation with the settlement and the daily housekeeping. However, it is clear that if the overwhelming amount of data is made subject to a comprehensive and detailed contextual analysis, settlement related find groups and attached action patterns appear, which have direct parallels in the ritual interpretation platform of the bog context. These parallels cannot be explained by pure practical or coincidence-related explanation models!As opposed to ploughed-up Stone Age axe deposits or impressive bronze depots from the Bronze Age and gold depots from the Late Iron Age, a ploughed-up collection of either earthenware, bones, human parts, etc. are not easily explained as sacrificial deposits. However, much indicates that the sacrificial settlement deposits of the Iron Age were not placed very deeply, and so they occur in the arable soil of later times. We

An assessment of R. A. S. Macalister’s work at Tel Gezer, his most ambitious project undertaken in the country, can be viewed on many different levels. For example, one can compare his results to those of the Hebrew Union College excavations that took place from 1965 through 1973. This topic is dealt with in W. G. Dever’s and J. D. Seger’s articles in this volume. Likewise, one can compliment him for conducting the first survey of the hinterland of a major biblical-period site. This topic, however, is dealt with by E. Mitchell in this volume. One can discuss the value of the finds that his excavation yielded and which were published in his Gezer reports; for this see B. Brandl and R. Reich in this volume. In this chapter, we, representatives of the Tandy Institute of Archaeology expedition, the third in line of major excavations at the site (after Macalister and the Hebrew Union College teams), wish to discuss the influence of Macalister’s reportage in The Excavations of Gezer (1912) on our understanding of the ruins excavated (and re-excavated) in our field of excavation; that is, in the area bounded by the six-chambered gate (HUC’s Field III) to the east, the edge of the tell to the south, HUC’s Field VII to the west and the modern path laid out by the Israel Parks Authority to the north (Ortiz and Wolff 2012). Macalister did not give us very much to go on in The Excavations of Gezer (1912). The six-chambered gate, identified by Macalister as the ‘Maccabaean Castle’, is described in Macalister 1912, i, 209–223. The area to the west of this area is mentioned only in passing. On page 220, for example, a photograph of a ‘supposed potter’s oven’ appears in figure 107. We re-excavated this very same kiln (Fig. 1). Unfortunately, the upper part of the kiln was removed in the 100 years between the time the Macalister’s photograph was taken and when we arrived in 2006. On the following page a photograph of a ‘structure of stones’ appears in figure 108. We re-excavated this ‘structure’ and believe that the stones were not in situ and do not represent a structure. Outside of these references, a plan of the walls from this area appears in Gezer iii, pl. VI, the plan of his Hellenistic phase. That the excavations in this area do not appear on plans of the architectural remains from earlier periods reflects Macalister’s (mis)understanding of the dating of the architecture he revealed; that is, he dated everything to the Hellenistic period. We now know, thanks to our current knowledge of Iron Age architecture, that the ‘Maccabean Castle’ and the casemate wall attached to it belong in their initial stage to the Iron Age, either the tenth century bce, according to traditional chronology, or to the ninth century, according to I. Finkelstein’s revised chronology. The complex of buildings to the north-west of the gate, in Macalister’s Trenches 18 and 19, for the most part, however, coincide with architectural remains revealed both by the HUC excavations in Field VII and at the western end of our excavation. We learned by re-excavating these remains that: (1) Macalister left the walls but dug out all of the debris layers and surfaces that relate to these walls, making it difficult for us to date them with certainty; and (2) Macalister’s plans were drawn quite accurately. In retrospect, then, when analysing the architecture from this field one needs to sort out the Hellenistic architecture from the Iron II, which is the main task of our excavation. Luckily for us, Macalister did not penetrate much below the Hellenistic stratum to the north of the casemate wall system. In the far north-west corner of our excavations, for example, Macalister revealed the

Muldfjælsplovens tidlige historie – Fra yngre romersk jernalder til middelalder

This volume is the result of a 2010 workshop (of the same name) held at the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem. Much like the original workshop, Unearthing the Wilderness aims to address long-standing issues in the study of the Negev and Edom, such as the effect of copper mining and incense trade in the southern Levant, the impact of imperial administration, the rise and nature of socio-political organization, and the interpretation of artifacts that have spread from one polity to another. The essays focus on data from Iron Age Israel/Palestine and, to a lesser extent, the Transjordan and the Arabian Peninsula, broadening in time and space when the arguments warrant. As a result, the volume remains centered on the target region, while at the same time grounding the studies in the larger imperial, economic, and geographic contexts of the ancient Near East.The essays are divided into four sections: “Wilderness and Beyond” provides a broad outline of political and economic factors influencing the region; “Timna Reconsidered” focuses on archaeological data excavated at this important mining site; “Studies Arising” includes iconographic and epigraphic investigations; “Edom over the Border” explores the interpretation of Edomite material culture excavated in the Negev. The four sections hold together, albeit loosely, essays spanning a range of methodologies and a wide variety of data types, including the Hebrew Bible and other Near Eastern texts, ceramics, metals, inscriptions, radiocarbon data, and stratigraphic reports. When taken as a whole, the volume largely avoids overreliance on the biblical text, although biblical passages are addressed in several essays. Rather, many of the essays engage scholarship from the social sciences, like world-systems theory, and they focus on political and economic issues to explain the rise of trade networks and secondary states in the region.In the opening essay, “Socio-Economic Fluctuations and Chiefdom Formation in Edom, the Negev, and the Hejaz during the First Millennium BCE,” Juan Manuel Tebes introduces several important approaches to analyzing tribes, chiefdoms, enclave economies, and the relationship between imperial centers and peripheries. Tebes then provides an historical overview of what he considers a two-step polity formation process, with Phase I (eleventh to ninth centuries) focusing on Timnah, Faynan, Tel Masos, and Qurayyah, and Phase II (eighth to the mid-sixth centuries) focusing on the Arabian incense route, Assyrian imperial administration, and Buseirah. Tebes's overall goal is to counter the assumption that tribes were static or non-historical by situating the southern tribes within the context of changing imperial administrations and economic policies, thereby explaining the rise of chiefdoms and polities in Edom, the Negev, and the northern Hejaz.Although Tebes largely omits a discussion of Judah and Philistia in his essay, they are the centerpiece of John S. Holladay Jr. and Stanley Klassen's essay “From Bandit to King: David's Time in the Negev and the Transformation of a Tribal Entity into a Nation State.” Of all the authors in the volume, Holladay and Klassen remain tied to the biblical text, particularly the account of David's rise to the throne in 1 Samuel. After a short introduction to the relevant passages and their date of composition, the authors address why David (according to 1 Sam 27 and 30) was stationed in the Negev by the Philistines and what his true purpose may have been. Ultimately, Holladay and Klassen use the text to discuss the rise of Israel as a polity in the tenth century BCE. They attribute Israel's success to David's foresight in harnessing wealth from South Arabian camel caravans, which the authors consider a strong economic factor already in the tenth century.Moving into the second section of the book, Tali Erickson-Gini's “Timna Site 2 Revisited” describes the excavations undertaken by the Israel Antiquities Authority from 2005 to 2011. Notable results include evidence for several furnaces, metalworking tools, and a range of pottery types, including Qurayyah painted ware, handmade Negevite ware, and wheel-made vessels. With some important caveats, Erickson-Gini argues that carbon dating seems to confirm Rothenberg's original hypothesis, that is, that the intensive period of activity at the site dates to the thirteenth through twelfth centuries BCE under Egyptian administration. In an appendix to Erickson-Gini's essay, Sana Shilstein, Sariel Shalev, and Yuval Yekutieli describe the results of XRF analysis on slag, charcoal, ceramics, sediment, and corroded metal (“XRF Study of Archaeological and Metallurgical Material from Copper Smelting Sites in Timna”), concluding that the smelting process used in Area A of Site 2 was consistent with previous findings at other sites in Timna and demonstrated a “relatively low level of sophistication in the smelting process” (p. 101). In contrast, samples from Area C differed from previous results and require further testing and analysis.Uzi Avner closes this section with his essay, “Egyptian Timna – Reconsidered.” Avner begins by listing the many published inconsistencies that affect the phasing of the Timna sanctuary site. He then describes the results of three probes he excavated in 1984 and posits an alternate interpretation of the sanctuary. In Avner's opinion, the area enjoyed a much longer use-life than the timeframe originally proposed by Rothenberg. Avner also associates several construction phases with a local, Semitic population rather than with Egyptian administration. He then questions whether the Egyptians can be credited with introducing new mining technologies, noting that mining began in the region long before Egyptian control and extended after Egypt's departure. He concludes that the Egyptians functioned primarily as customers at Timna and that technology and infrastructure was managed by a network of desert tribes. Furthermore, the wealth the tribes generated from these pursuits fostered the development of chiefdoms and polities in the southern region.Tebes introduces the third section of the book with, “The Symbolic and Social World of the Qurayyah Pottery Iconography.” He analyzes the primary themes on painted Qurrayah ware, arguing that the potters combined motifs from Arabia and northeast Africa with motifs known from the Levant and eastern Mediterranean. Paying particular attention to human and bird forms, Tebes compares the iconography with rock art from Arabia, North Africa, the southern Negev, and the Transjordan and with pottery motifs and seals from a host of Levantine cultures during the Bronze and Iron Ages. He concludes that Qurayyah ware was produced for export by a ceramic industry in the northern Hejaz. The motifs depict religious and/or political elites and integrate local and international iconographic elements so local elites of the Hejaz, Transjordan, and Negev could better harness the status associated with imported goods.In their essay, “Arabian and Arabizing Epigraphic Finds from the Iron Age Southern Levant,” Pieter Gert Van der Veen and François Bron use epigraphic materials to test whether trade between the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula became more intensive during the eighth through mid-seventh centuries BCE. Van der Veen and Bron first address Arabian seals and seal impressions with Arabian names at Levantine sites and then discuss possible South Arabian graffiti on Levantine pottery. The authors tentatively conclude that a small amount of evidence supports some type of interaction between the Levant and South Arabia, though the nature of these interactions is not strongly indicated. They do note that trade relations at the end of the Iron Age remain a plausible explanation for some of the inscriptions.The final section of the volume begins with the essay by Yifat Thareani, “The Judean Desert Frontier in the Seventh Century BCE: A View from ‘Aroer.” Thareani uses the lens of ‘Aroer to explore management of Negev settlements in the eighth through early seventh centuries BCE. According to Thareani, stratigraphy at ‘Aroer belies the presence of early seventh-century occupation at the site (and probably more broadly in the Negev), with no major settlement gap between Sennacherib's 701 campaign and reoccupation in the Negev region. Based primarily on the presence of so-called Edomite pottery, ostraca, and seals, Thareani also argues that ‘Aroer and other Negev sites were occupied by a pluralistic society consisting of Judeans, “local tribes with an Edomite orientation,” and an Arabian population, working together to benefit from and support Assyrian imperial interest in southern trade.Although Edomite pottery is not featured in Thareani's essay (she discusses it at length elsewhere), it is taken up in greater detail in “Edomite Pottery in Judah in the Eighth Century BCE” by Lily Singer-Avitz. Singer-Avitz addresses the chronology of Edomite Pottery, focusing on examples from well-stratified contexts in the Negev. The pottery appears in eighth-century strata at these sites, which Singer-Avitz interprets as evidence of trade with the Edomite heartland as facilitated by the Assyrians. She also notes that Edomite pottery was more popular in the seventh century at sites that already saw its introduction in the eighth century. In contrast, at sites founded in the seventh century, Edomite pottery did not become popular. Finally, although Singer-Avitz does not explore the implications of provenience studies, she notes that INAA and petrography indicate that the majority of Edomite-style vessels excavated in the Negev were not imported from the Transjordan.Turning to that topic, the last essay of the volume is Liora Freud's “Local Production of Edomite Cooking Pots in the Beersheba Valley: Petrographic Analyses from Tel Malhata, Horvat ‘Uza and Horvat Qitmit.” Freud presents the results of an important petrographic study of Edomite-type cooking pots, previously assumed to be from southern Transjordan based on typological comparison with pots excavated at Transjordanian sites. Freud's study counters that supposition, demonstrating that Edomite-style pots from Negev sites were not imported. As Freud suggests, these results require scholars to reassess dominant assumptions about the purported connection between typological style and ethnicity and the makeup of the population at sites where this pottery is present in the eighth and seventh centuries.Overall, the strength of this volume is its analysis of the Negev rather than the Transjordan. While Jordanian sites are cited copiously by many of the authors, it is difficult to overcome problems dating strata and material culture in the southern Transjordan; nevertheless, many authors still assume that Edomite objects arose in a Transjordanian heartland and spread to the Negev. Deeper methodological reflection on this problem would have enhanced the volume. The same might be said for the Arabian Peninsula, where the published data is sparser (for the best approach see Tebes throughout). The volume would also have benefited from more discussion of the recent excavations in Wadi Faynan and the important, though problematic, sites of Kheleifeh and ‘En Hazeva. Finally, Holladay and Klassen do not address the archaeology of tenth- to ninth-century Israelite or Negevite settlements and whether the data confirm the biblical account of Judah and the Israelite state. Fortunately, the final section of the book includes a careful consideration of the archaeology of the Judahite Negev in the eighth through sixth centuries BCE.Despite these challenges, Unearthing the Wilderness is a valuable contribution to the ongoing study of the Negev. The essays generally avoid the problematic biblical-archaeological approach to the region, engaging instead with a wide range of data and methodological approaches to address the social, political, and economic forces that shaped the population and their place in the larger imperial systems of the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. The majority of the studies are strongly grounded in archaeological data. As such, the essays are an important and welcome addition to the recent series of Negev site publications and the growing body of work that will help clarify and complicate our understanding of the region.

Høj Stene – en monumental skibssætning ved Gudenåen

The majority of archaeological inventory consists of items made from perishable materials, such as wood, leather, and fabric. However, most of these items remain unnoticed during archaeological excavations because they often decay over time. Despite their perishable nature, these materials have been used and processed since prehistory to create various functional, decorative, and symbolic objects. Analyzing different types of findings, including fabric imprints in clay, pictorial representations on walls, ceramics, metals, stones, bones, and written sources, can provide insights into the production and use of textiles. When these forms of evidence are unavailable, analyzing the various shapes, dimensions, and spatial arrangements of textile-making tools can yield valuable information. This study focuses on elucidating the role of fabric and its production in the community inhabiting the Donja Dolina site in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the late Bronze and Iron Ages. The research aims to uncover possible yarn and fabric production techniques based on remnants of fabric and textile production tools, as well as to understand the organization of these activities within the community. It hypothesizes that textile production was a ubiquitous activity in Donja Dolina, employing techniques similar to those used in other parts of Iron Age Europe. Another objective is to identify similarities and differences in the economic aspects of textile craftsmanship at a regional level and to discuss the possibility of discerning connections and communications among communities through material comparisons with nearby sites. The study also aims to distinguish the functional use of textile-making tools from the symbolic connotations attributed to these items when placed in graves. Such data contribute to discussions on the identity, social role, and status of textile producers, with a focus on the hypothesis that women predominantly participated in textile craftsmanship, influencing the metaphorical association between femininity and textile production. Textile archaeology The field of textile archaeology encompasses the study of textile remnants found during archaeological excavations. Different types of microscopy, such as digital, light, or scanning electron microscopy (SEM), along with computer tomography (CT) and 3D analysis, enable the examination and visualization of technical characteristics of archaeological textile finds. This includes distinguishing between layers of different fabrics, identifying weaving types, spinning methods, and even types of fiber. Alternatively, in cases where no organic or mineralized textile remains are found at archaeological sites, the entire production process can be reconstructed based on finds of textile-making tools. These tools provide insights into material gathering, preparation, spinning, weaving, and final product creation. Textile remnants in archaeology, typically crafted from materials like wool, silk, flax, or cotton, are notably rare due to their perishable nature. Their susceptibility to biodegradation, influenced by factors such as moisture and temperature, means that these materials naturally deteriorate over time. However, under specific environmental conditions, these materials can withstand decay and remain preserved until excavation. Additionally, textile fragments in contact with metals may undergo preservation through corrosion, albeit often at the cost of color retention and structural integrity. Through the process of mineralization, organic fiber remnants become gradually encased by metal ions, thereby preserving fabric impressions or casts. The analysis of well-preserved mineralized textiles unveils various technical characteristics, shedding light on ancient weaving techniques and material properties. Furthermore, impressions of textiles found on durable materials like fired clay or plaster offer valuable insights into weave structure and material characteristics, frequently occurring as byproducts of the manufacturing process. Moreover, information about textiles can be gleaned from diverse sources, including written records and artistic depictions, offering glimpses into past fabric production processes and clothing styles. In the absence of direct textile finds, examining the tools utilized in their production provides a comprehensive view of the entire production process. This interdisciplinary approach not only elucidates production techniques but also unveils insights into economic organization and symbolic meanings associated with these tools. The complex process of textile production involves various stakeholders and factors from raw material collection to the shaping of the final textile product. The textile production process begins with obtaining and preparing raw fibers, including shearing and processing with tools like combs and carding paddles, although documented finds of such equipment are rare and often degraded. Spinning follows, achieved with various techniques and spindle types, although archaeological finds of spinning tools are uncommon, with only numerous and abundant clay spindle whorls providing some insight. Weaving comes next, marking a significant advancement in fabric production, with different types of looms dominating textile production in various regions. Innovations like twill weave or tablet weaving during the Bronze and Iron Ages introduced complexities to achieve desired fabric patterns. The final stage involves dyeing, bleaching, ironing, finishing, cutting, and sewing. Natural dyes were commonly used, while fabric finishing tools like ceramic "smoothers" may have been employed for various purposes. Woolen fabric was often fulled after weaving, and garments were cut and sewn using needles, knives and shears. Donja Dolina The Donja Dolina site, located on the right bank of the Sava River near present-day Gradiška in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, is a significant prehistoric site in the Sava River Basin. It served as a prominent settlement and river crossing during the Bronze and Iron Ages, possibly functioning as a distribution and communication center within the surrounding area. The Sava River likely served as a crucial communication route connecting various geographical regions, including the Southeastern Alps, the Pannonian Plain, the Danube Basin, and the Balkans. The prehistoric site comprises two phases of settlement and necropolis from the early and late Iron Ages, stretching from Gornja Dolina to the eastern slopes of Gradina in Donja Dolina. The settlements were located north of the embankment, while the cemetery was situated north and south of the embankment on Timenačka Greda. The site was initially discovered through accidental surface findings. Subsequently, systematic archaeological excavations were conducted under the direction of Ćiro Truhelka from the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, lasting from 1899 to 1904. Truhelka identified and explored the pile-dwelling settlement on Gradina near the Sava River, along with associated burials linked to the inhabitants of the settlement. His excavations revealed the remains of houses, allowing for potential reconstructions and interpretations of their use. The archaeological probes yielded a variety of artifacts, including pottery, metal weapons, tools, personal adornments, and functional items such as millstones and loom weights, providing insights into the daily life of the prehistoric community at the Donja Dolina site. Donja Dolina's cultural richness led to it becoming the namesake of the Donja DolinaSanski Most Iron Age cultural group. This designation, introduced by B. Čović in 1987, heavily relies on the site's chronology, revised for this purpose and linked to broader Eastern Alpine and Glasinac Iron Age contexts. Textile production tools from Donja Dolina Analysis of the morphological characteristics of textile-making objects can contribute to a better understanding of the archaeological context of a particular site or geographic area in a prehistoric or historical period. The dimensions, mass, and ratio of these objects are crucial factors in selecting items for spinning or weaving. In this study, a total of 2,887 items were processed, including 1,995 spindle whorls, 569 loom weights, 290 bobbins, and 33 smoothers (Figure 20). It's worth noting that ceramic smoothers were only partially examined, with only representative samples analyzed, which may not fully represent the collection at the Donja Dolina site in the inventory of the Sarajevo Museum. These objects were examined using data categories adapted from the CTR Textile Tools Database. Each artifact was assigned a unique number and recorded with its find spot location and material composition. Dimensions were measured digitally, and surface treatments, usage traces, and damages were noted. Mineralized textile remnants in metal corrosion and fabric impressions in fired clay were also analyzed using digital microscopy. Traces of mineralized textile were scarce and poorly preserved among metal artifacts, with only one organic textile sample found in fragile condition. The digital microscope documented fabric type, thread density, twist direction, and thickness where visible. Additionally, surface ornamentation on some spindle whorls was examined through imprint analysis and photographed for documentation. These detailed analyses provide valuable insights into textile production techniques and materials used in the Donja Dolina site. Spindle whorls Spindle whorls play a crucial role in spinning yarn, and are scrutinized in this study, revealing key insights into their material composition, dimensions, classifications, and functional roles. Contextual information is scant, hampering chronological assignment, yet spindle whorls from graves show a trend of more elaborate decorations in older burials, particularly during the 6th century BCE. Predominantly made from fired clay, they exhibit dia

In communities where they occur, American badgers (Taxidea taxus) play important ecological, economic, and conservation roles. Central to understanding of badger ecology and management are estimates of badger population status. However, few studies have compared methods of detecting badgers for population surveys. I compared searches for burrows and diggings, live-trapping, and the use of automatic cameras at scent lures, bait stations, and anthropogenic permanent and temporary wildlife water sources in the Chihuahuan Desert of southern New Mexico. Searches for confirmed badger burrows and diggings yielded 0.14–0.88 detections per kilometer of transect. Badgers were trapped in 1.6% of trap-weeks. Percentages of camera-weeks in which badgers were detected included 12.8% at scent lures, 5.6% at bait stations, 54.5% at permanent water sources, and 13.3% at temporary water sources.

Pollution and human mobility in the southern Levant during the Iron Age using chemical and isotopic analysis of human tooth enamel

Two phases of urbanism are identified in the South Asian context: the first one is the Mature Harappan phase (<italic>c</italic>. 2500–1900 <sc>bce</sc>) and the second one is the Early Historic phase (<italic>c</italic>. 600 <sc>bce</sc>–300 <sc>ce</sc>). The latter phase of urbanism has its roots in the preceding Protohistoric cultural phases. The gradual developments in various facets of the society, such as polity, social setup, subsistence strategies, settlement size and hierarchy, crafts and industries, and trade and exchange, during the Neolithic-Chalcolithic (non-Harappan) and Iron Age phases appear to have subsequently culminated into Early Historic urbanism in South Asia. Scholarship on the subject has proposed various theories to explain the genesis of the second urbanism, which include technologically deterministic explanations citing the introduction of iron in South Asia and its repercussions that resulted in drastic changes between 1200 and 600 <sc>bce</sc>. These multivariate explanations identify technological advancements, technology-based diversification of activities, and growing complexity of socioeconomic organizations as the causal factors behind the Early Historic urbanism. As is evident in the archaeological context, the transformation of wider spatial urban morphology, characterized by differential velocity and magnitude, occurred during different time periods in different parts of South Asia. However, by the beginning of the current era, in around <italic>c</italic>. 100–200 <sc>ce</sc>, it can be said that most of the South Asia had experienced growth of urbanism. The process of Early Historic urbanism in South Asia from between the 6th century <sc>bce</sc> and the 3rd century <sc>ce</sc> can be divided into three phases: <bold>Phase 1:</bold> The period around the 6th century <sc>bce</sc> witnessed the emergence of the first urban polities in South Asia known as the <italic>Janapada</italic>, organized under a ruling class of <italic>Janapadins</italic>. These <italic>Janapadas</italic> were ruled by twofold constitutions: <italic>Rajya</italic> (monarchical) and <italic>Gana</italic> or <italic>Sanghas</italic> (non-monarchical). Among these polities, the four monarchies of Kosala, Vatsa, Magadha, and Avanti emerged as notable rivals contending for internal supremacy. By the 4th century <sc>bce</sc>, Magadha arose supreme. The period 600–300 <sc>bce</sc> is characterized by an early phase of fortification in South Asia involving mud and stone ramparts, and ditch or moat building at a few sites like Charsada, Kausambi, Rajghat, Rajagriha, Champa, Adam, and Ujjain. There is substantial evidence of civic planning in these settlements, such as for the construction of streets, lanes, brick and ring wells, and drainage systems. There is also extensive evidence of burnt-brick structures, early coinage (bent bars, punch-marked coins [PMCs], and uninscribed cast copper coins) and script, apart from the widespread distribution of the identifying ceramic style: the Northern Black Polished Ware. It can be argued that these changes in socioeconomic conditions and urbanism may have in fact contributed to the formation and rise of institutional religious sects like Buddhism and Jainism. <bold>Phase 2:</bold> This period of urbanism in early South Asia can be dated to between 300 and 100 <sc>bce</sc>, marked by rise of the Mauryas. This stage was characterized by the steady expansion of trade with the western world, evidenced in the proliferation of Mauryan PMCs that are found all over South Asia, indicating the presence of vibrant political and economic interactions across the larger geographical region. The presence of Mauryan courtly culture and art can be seen reflected in the technological sophistication of the polished surfaces of Asokan pillars and the various distinct animal capitals that may indicate Persian, Greek, and Achaemenid influence. The patronage that Buddhism gained among royalty, trading communities, and masses is more than evident in the various donator inscriptions that can be seen at monuments like Sanchi. The rules regarding social status and the concept of wealth seem to have been liberal, with Buddhism providing much-needed impetus in facilitating long-distance trade through their encouragement of traders to undertake long journeys. The earliest script of South Asia is the Brahmi script and the earliest acceptable evidence of Brahmi can be found in the Asokan inscriptions. However, in the past few years, new data have emerged from Peninsular India and Sri Lanka (from the sites of Porunthal, Vallam, Alagnkulam, Uraiyur, Karur, Kodumanal, and Anuradhapuram) that indicate evidence of Brahmi script that can now be dated from as early as the 6th century <sc>bce</sc> to the 4th century <sc>bce</sc>. <bold>Phase 3:</bold> The rise of the Kushanas, Sakas, Kshtrapas, Satavahanas, Cheras, Cholas, and Pandyas, and their active presence in South Asia from <italic>c</italic>. 100 <sc>bce</sc> to 300 <sc>ce,</sc> brought significant changes to the urban aspects of life. This period is characterized by extensive construction activity, complex burnt-brick buildings, well laid-out streets and drains, and fortification walls; further characterized by the adoption of new techniques of tiled flooring and roofing, extensive coinage, remarkable developments in the fields of art and architecture, knowledge production, and organized religions. Under the rule of the Kushanas and the Satavahanas, hinterland as well as the maritime trade networks grew manifold. Maritime trade with Mediterranean and Southeast Asia is quite extensively evident within archaeological findings. Another commonality between the Kushanas and Satavahanas is their patronization of Buddhism that resulted in the impressive development of art and architecture. The Gandhara and the Mathura schools of art, the rock-cut Buddhist viharas in the western Deccan, and the construction of various <italic>stupas</italic> in Sanchi, Bharhut, Nagarjunakonda, Amaravati, and Kanaganahalli, are all excellent examples of flourishing Buddhism under the Kushanas and Satavahanas. These impressive social and political complexities arose from the financial demands of maritime and overland trade, and were not necessarily the consequence of mere territorial expansion. To summarize, Early Historic urbanism in South Asia is manifested through complex polities that took the form of cities and states characterized by architectural advancement in both secular and non-secular structures, the use of baked bricks, and ring wells. Early Historic urbanism was also characterized by technological advancements in the form of various craft industries and the extensive use of metal (iron and copper), along with the development of a complex system of recording, measurement, accounting, and other sciences due to an advancement in scripts, coinage, astronomy, and mathematics. Long-distance trade led to the introduction and intensification of new religious movements (Buddhism and Jainism) that in turn contributed to the development of philosophy, art, and architecture, and. ultimately, to the rise of a ruling class.

A Study on Composition and Manufacturing Method of Bronze Pins from Dia Ardizi of Moorani Iron Age Site, Luristan

The ambition of this monograph is to analyse a limited number of topics regarding house types and thus social and economic change from the extensive material that came out of the archaeological excavation that took place at Forsandmoen (“Forsand plain”), Forsand municipality, Rogaland, Norway during the decade 1980–1990, as well as the years 1992, 1995 and 2007. The excavation was organised as an interdisciplinaryresearch project within archaeology, botany (palynological analysis from bogs and soils, macrofossil analysis) and phosphate analysis, conducted by staff from the Museum of Archaeology in Stavanger (as it was called until 2009, now part of the University of Stavanger). A large phosphate survey project had demarcaded a 20 ha settlement area, among which 9 ha were excavated using mechanical topsoil stripping to expose thehabitation traces at the top of the glaciofluvial outwash plain of Forsandmoen. A total of 248 houses could be identified by archaeological excavations, distributed among 17 house types. In addition, 26 partly excavated houses could not be classified into a type. The extensive house material comprises three types of longhouses, of which there are as many as 30–40 in number, as well as four other longhouse types, of which there are only 2–7 in number. There were nine other house types, comprising partly small dwelling houses and partly storage houses, of which there were 3–10 in number. Lastly, there are 63 of the smallest storage house, consisting of only four postholes in a square shape. A collection of 264 radiocarbon dates demonstrated that the settlement was established in the last part of the 15th century BC and faded out during the 7th–8th century AD, encompassing the Nordic Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. As a number of houses comprising four of the house types were excavated with the same methods in the same area by the same staff, it is a major goal of this monograph to analyse thoroughly the different featuresof the houses (postholes, wall remains, entrances, ditches, hearths, house-structure, find-distribution) and how they were combined and changed into the different house types through time. House material from different Norwegian areas as well as Sweden, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands is included in comparative analyses to reveal connections within the Nordic area. Special attention has been given to theinterpretation of the location of activity areas in the dwelling and byre sections in the houses, as well as the life expectancy of the two main longhouse types. Based on these analyses, I have presented a synthesis in 13 phases of the development of the settlement from Bronze Age Period II to the Merovingian Period. This analysis shows that, from a restricted settlement consisting of one or two small farms in the Early BronzeAge, it increases slightly throughout the Late Bronze Age to 2–3 solitary farms to a significantly larger settlement consisting of 3–4 larger farms in the Pre-Roman Iron Age. From the beginning of the early Roman Iron Age, the settlement seems to increase to 8–9 even larger farms, and through the late Roman Iron Age, the settlement increases to 12–13 such farms, of which 6–7 farms are located so close together that they would seem to be a nucleated or village settlement. In the beginning of the Migration Period, there were 16–17 farms, each consisting of a dwelling/byre longhouse and a workshop, agglomerated in an area of 300 x 200 m where the farms are arranged in four E–W oriented rows. In addition, two farms were situated 140 m NE of the main settlement. At the transition to the Merovingian Period, radiocarbon dates show that all but two of the farms were suddenly abandoned. At the end of that period, the Forsandmoen settlement was completely abandoned. The abandonment could have been caused by a combination of circumstances such as overexploitation in agriculture, colder climate, the Plague of Justinian or the collapse of the redistributive chiefdom system due to the breakdown of the Roman Empire. The abrupt abandonment also coincides with a huge volcanic eruption or cosmic event that clouded the sun around the whole globe in AD 536–537. It is argued that the climatic effect on the agriculture at this latitude could induce such a serious famine that the settlement, in combination with the other possible causes, was virtually laid waste during the ensuing cold decade AD 537–546.

The study provides a radiocarbon sequence for the Iron Age occupation in the elevated areas of the Phoenician settlement of Lisbon, located in the Tagus estuary (Portugal). The dataset is based in ten animal and human samples recovered during archaeological excavations at Largo de Santa Cruz do Castelo. These samples are associated with distinct phases of the Iron Age, dated by the ceramic findings between the 7th and 5th century BCE, as well as a latter sample from the Roman Republican Period (2nd half of the 2nd century BCE). Despite the challenges posed by the 1st millennium BCE radiocarbon calibration, this dataset proves valuable for establishing a more detailed chronological framework. It represents a significant contribution to refining the timeline of Lisbon’s Iron Age settlement and provides a stronger basis for interpreting local developments within the broader regional context.

This study explores the chronological assumptions that underlie the past 40 years of Iron Age archaeological investigations in southern Jordan and offers an alternative framework based on the application of high precision radiocarbon dating. The 2002 University of California, San Diego— Department of Antiquities of Jordan (UCSD—DOAJ) archaeological excavations at the copper production center of Khirbat en-Nahas (KEN) demonstrate monumental building and industrial scale copper production in two major phases dating to the 12th–11th and 10th–9th centuries BCE. Stratigraphic excavations, new high precision radiocarbon dating using short-life samples, and small finds such as ceramics, scarabs, and arrowheads from the site show the centrality of the Iron Age landscape in the copper ore-rich lowlands of Edom for the formation of complex societies in this part of the southern Levant. The new data presented here challenge previous assumptions about the Iron Age in Jordan, such as (a) the formation of the Iron Age kingdom of Edom only took place in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE and (b) no monumental building activities took place in Transjordan during the 10th century BCE. Bayesian statistical analyses of the radiocarbon dates from KEN are presented by Higham et al. (Chapter 11, this volume).

Detektorfund og bebyggelse – Det østlige Limfjordsområde i yngre jernalder og vikingetid

The Neo-Assyrian Empire in the Southwest: Imperial Domination and Its Consequences