Mid-third Millennium Research Articles

Archaeomagnetic investigations in Greece and their bearing on geomagnetic secular variation

Archaeomagnetic results are presented from kilns and other heated structures on mainland Greece and on the islands of Crete, Delos, Euboea and Thasos. They span the interval from the mid-third millennium BCE to the mid-second millennium CE. The results obtained are in good agreement with the comprehensive dataset from Bulgaria and reveal secular variation with amplitudes of ∼25° in inclination and ∼30° in declination. The sharp inclination low in the first few centuries CE – now recognized at sites ranging from Crete to Britain – is a robust geomagnetic feature reflecting a static flux pulse due to a magnetic source in the outermost core. Another, much more pronounced, inclination low early in the second millennium BCE is tentatively identified. The emerging Greek secular variation curve provides archaeomagnetic dates for five kilns of hitherto uncertain age.

Mesopotamia and the Gulf: The history of a relationship

The economic relationship between Mesopotamia and the Gulf is a long one which spans millennia, rather than just a few centuries, and which took many forms. Indeed, it can be suggested that the changing nature of this relationship reflects the economic and social changes taking place in southern Iraq and of the related changes in Dilmun. There was an increasing demand by Mesopotamia for both raw materials and exotica from the sixth millennium, when we have the earliest evidence for a relationship, until the annexation of Dilmun by the Kassites in the mid-second millennium. This increasing demand seems to reflect the growing complexity in social organisation in the region. The emergence of an elite group within society in southern Sumer, first seen in the late Uruk phase, and then notably in the mid-third millennium when the group expanded, encouraged an increased demand for status goods and materials (Van De Mieroop 2002). Such goods are used initially to enhance the power and prestige of the group itself, both by display and by gift-giving, because gift-giving binds both men and gods, through offerings, ever more closely into the group. In Mesopotamia such exotic materials also played a role in the birth of what Baines and Yoffee have called “high culture” in these newly emergent complex societies. Baines and Yoffee define this high culture as “the production and consumption of aesthetic items under the control, and for the benefit of, the inner elite of a civilization” (Baines and Yoffee 1998: 235). High culture becomes a vital part of the identity of any civilization. Maintaining a supply of luxuries thus becomes a political necessity, rather than an indulgence, as it helps the essential identity of the group to survive.

Mortuary Ceramics and Social Organization in the Dawenkou and Majiayao Cultures

Although significant advances in the study and interpretation of burials have been made over recent decades, archaeologists have also pointed to some of the pitfalls associated with trying to reconstruct past social organization from burial evidence. A long-term perspective that focuses on the non-utilitarian component of ceramic assemblages in the graves can address some of these concerns. This approach is used to examine and compare the mortuary practices of two Neolithic cultures in China, namely the Dawenkou Culture (ca. late fifth to mid-third millennium BC) and the Majiayao Culture (ca. mid-fourth to late third millennium BC). It is found that the non-utilitarian components of their mortuary ceramic assemblages differ markedly from one another. Dawenkou Culture burials are characterized by the increasing diversification over time of the ceramic assemblages and by the prominence of stylistically elaborate goblets and serving dishes. Such trends, it is argued, suggest a need for varied social interaction as a means of gaining and maintaining status and power. In contrast, Majiayao Culture burials are marked by the limited diversification of the ceramic assemblages over time and by the emerging prominence of large painted storage jars, suggesting that storage and redistribution may have played an important role in the structuration of society. Resulting in competitive emulation, this latter strategy provides competing elites with few opportunities to expand their power base.

Shifting Perceptions: Spatial Order, Cosmology, and Patterns of Deposition at Stonehenge

The changing cosmological symbolism incorporated in Phases 1 and 2 at Stonehenge is reviewed in the light of new evidence from patterns of deposition prior to the construction of the bluestone and sarsen stone settings. The early structure of the monument and attendant depositional practices embodied a scheme of radial division, including a symbolic quartering primarily demarcated by solstitial rising and setting points. Through sustained ritual practice, however, the motions of the moon came increasingly to be referenced through deposition, particularly of cremations. This evidence seems to contradict earlier claims of a sudden shift in and around Wessex during the mid-third millennium BC from a predominantly lunar to a predominantly solar cosmology. It suggests instead that interest in solar and lunar events did not necessarily preclude each other and that over the centuries there was a process of subtle change involving the continual reworking of symbolic schemes emphasizing a sense of ‘timelessness’ and the unchanging order of the universe.

Mortuary Ceramics and Social Organization in The Dawenkou and Majiayao Cultures

Although significant advances in the study and interpretation of burials have been made over recent decades, archaeologists have also pointed to some of the pitfalls associated with trying to reconstruct past social organization from burial evidence. A long-term perspective that focuses on the non-utilitarian component of ceramic assemblages in the graves can address some of these concerns. This approach is used to examine and compare the mortuary practices of two Neolithic cultures in China, namely the Dawenkou Culture (ca. late fifth to mid-third millennium BC) and the Majiayao Culture (ca. mid-fourth to late third millennium BC). It is found that the non-utilitarian components of their mortuary ceramic assemblages differ markedly from one another. Dawenkou Culture burials are characterized by the increasing diversification over time of the ceramic assemblages and by the prominence of stylistically elaborate goblets and serving dishes. Such trends, it is argued, suggest a need for varied social interaction as a means of gaining and maintaining status and power. In contrast, Majiayao Culture burials are marked by the limited diversification of the ceramic assemblages over time and by the emerging prominence of large painted storage jars, suggesting that storage and redistribution may have played an important role in the structuration of society. Resulting in competitive emulation, this latter strategy provides competing elites with few opportunities to expand their power base.

Characterizing the Philia Facies: Material Culture, Chronology, and the Origin of the Bronze Age in Cyprus

Major changes mark the transition from the Chalcolithic to the Bronze Age in mid-third millennium Cyprus. Philia material has long been recognized as a crucial element in this transition, but analysis has been hampered by patchy discovery and reporting and the lack of stratified deposits. Pottery and other finds from recent excavations at Marki-Alonia provide the basis for a substantial reassessment of the Philia facies and its chronological and cultural relationship to both Chalcolithic and Bronze Age material. An explanatory model is developed incorporating an initial intrusion into Cyprus of autonomous groups from Anatolia; the development of a distinct, identifiable Philia cultural system; the acculturation of both migrant and indigenous populations; and the subsequent evolution of the widespread culture of the Early Cypriot Bronze Age.

Excavation of a Neolithic settlement and ritual complex at Beckton Farm, Lockerbie, Dumfries & Galloway

Reports a site consisting of the remains of several structures, possibly small houses, and various pits and post-holes. Finds included a small assemblage of Grooved Ware which had been deposited in pits. This material, and the presence of cremated human bone in one of the Grooved Ware pits probably represents ritual activity on the site. A series of six radiocarbon dates was obtained, suggesting a sequence of activity stretching from the mid-fourth to the mid-third millennium BC. There are specialist reports on: `Ceramics' by Andrew Jones (89--96); `Flaked stone objects' (96--100) and `Coarse stone tools' (100--1), both by Tony Pollard; cup marked stones; `Burnt bone' by Jacqueline I McKinley (103); `Micromorphological analysis' by Stephen Carter (103--5); `Phosphate and magnetic susceptibility surveys' by Iain Banks (105--7); and finally, `Plant remains' by Sheila Boardman (107--9).

Jerablus-Tahtani, Syria, 1996: Preliminary Report

The fifth season of University of Edinburgh/British Institute at Amman for Archaeology and History-sponsored excavations at Jerablus–Tahtani in the neighbourhood of Carchemish, north Syria, was devoted to investigations of its Early Bronze Age occupation, Period 2 of the site's history. In order to evaluate occupation between the Uruk retraction and the construction of the fort initially reported in Levant 28, 1996, 7–9, in situ pre-fort deposits were explored in Area III. They indicate that the fort was built in the mid-third millennium B.C. The discovery of the south-east corner of the fort suggests that the high status Tomb 302 lies outside and at the foot of its walls. Several later levels of the sequence of intercalated buildings and well-furnished graves first tested last season were excavated in 1996. Results will eventually permit closer dating of the temporary abandonment of the site in the later third millennium B.C. and assessment of this event in relation to widespread settlement dislocations in the Near East at about this time.

Jerablus-Tahtani, Syria, 1996: Preliminary Report

The fifth season of University of Edinburgh/British Institute at Amman for Archaeology and History-sponsored excavations at Jerablus–Tahtani in the neighbourhood of Carchemish, north Syria, was devoted to investigations of its Early Bronze Age occupation, Period 2 of the site's history. In order to evaluate occupation between the Uruk retraction and the construction of the fort initially reported in Levant 28, 1996, 7–9, in situ pre-fort deposits were explored in Area III. They indicate that the fort was built in the mid-third millennium B.C. The discovery of the south-east corner of the fort suggests that the high status Tomb 302 lies outside and at the foot of its walls. Several later levels of the sequence of intercalated buildings and well-furnished graves first tested last season were excavated in 1996. Results will eventually permit closer dating of the temporary abandonment of the site in the later third millennium B.C. and assessment of this event in relation to widespread settlement dislocations in the Near East at about this time.

Theory and Method in Biblical and Cuneiform Law: Revision, Interpolation and Development (review)

Book Reviews 177 programs, such as Feldman's "Josephus' Portrayal of the Hasmoneans Compared with 1 Maccabees," which extends his prolific series of analyses of Josephus' historiographical goals and methods. In addition, several papers are concerned with aspects of the common themes of the study of Josephus: investigations of his biography; his attitudes toward Rome and the Jewish people; and his thought (cf. Bilde, p. 247). While there is nothing wrong with such studies, as Bilde comments: "these interests should not be allowed to dominate Josephus research completely. W~ need studies of specific texts and well-defined topics" (p. 247). It is gratifying to note, then, that some of the colloquium papers do take up these kinds of issues, including topics which are addressed for the first time, such as Bilde's own study of "The Geographical Excursuses in Josephus." In sum, the book constitutes a valuable contribution to Josephan studies. Anyone interested in scholarship on Josephus will want to read it. David S. Williams Department of Religion University of Georgia Theory and Method in Biblical and Cuneiform Law: Revision, Interpolation and Development, edited by Bernard M. Levinson. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 181. Sheffield, England: The Sheffield Academic Press, 1994. 207 pp. £27.50/$41.00. The Biblical Law Group of the Society of Biblical literature is an annual forum for scholarly dialogues involving biblical and Near Eastern law. The papers in the volume under review grew from the 1991 meeting of the group, at which discussion centered on a presentation by Raymond Westbrook. Westbrook's writings are at the center of a revival of Ancient Near Eastern law studies in the last decade, and he speaks from a solid background in both biblical and cuneiform studies. His arguments, which are often provocative and controversial, stimulate others to. reformulate and examine their positions. Eight biblical and Near Eastern scholars here present their responses to Westbrook's central thesis. The title of Westbrook's essay, "What is the Covenant Code?" echoes the title of the seminal article by the late F. R. Kraus, "Was ist der Codex 178 SHOFAR Spring 1996 Vol. 14, No.3 Hammurabi?" 1 which pointed to the formal structural similarities between the law collections and the scientific omen collections. Kraus emphasized the scholastic heritage of the Laws of Hammurabi and minimized its legislative or juridical practical applicability. Kraus's landmark essay, published thirty-five years ago, redirected the study of Mesopotamian law; Westbrook now challenges the conventional wisdom and channels the course of the arguments anew. Westbrook argues, in this essay and more fully elsewhere,2 that the scholastic heritage and background of the Near Eastern law collections3 demand the assumption of an Ancient Near Eastern "common law" involving a common tradition, a coherent set of legal principles, and a static, fIXed homogeneous system. His arguments (here directed specifically to the Covenant Code in Exodus 21:1-22:19) are subtle and alluring, and the synchronic approach he advocates allows some new insights. But his arguments for the superiority of a synchronic analysis yielding a uniform law system are colored by a peculiar view of the Ancient Near East: "From the mid-third millennium to the end of the Bronze Age,"-Le., from the first widespread use ofwriting about 2500 B.C.E. until about 1100 B.C.E.- "the Near East saw no major advance in technology nor any radical change in social or political structure. Intellectual expression was dominated by Mesopotamian 'science', a form of logic severely handicapped by an inability to define terms, create general categories, or reason vertically from the general to the particular" (pp. 27-28). It should be obvious to any student of the Ancient Near East that this dismissal of a millennium and a half as politically, intellectually, and technologically stagnant is not supportable. Furthermore, Westbrook's insistence on a "common law" throughout the millennia and throughout the geographically vast area allows him to create a single picture-in a four-dimensional connect-thedots process, using various data (a lawsuit, a contract, a provision in a law IF. R. Kraus, "Ein zentrales Problem des altmesopotamischen Rechtes: Was ist der Codex Hammurabi?" Genava 8 (1960...

Transcaucasia at the End of the Early Bronze Age

Transcaucasia was the heartland of the Kura-Araxes, or Early Transcaucasian culture, which holds an important place in the culture history of eastern Anatolia. The transition from this Early Bronze Age culture to the more fragmented regional cultures of the Middle Bronze Age remains poorly defined. The transition is marked by a shift away from fairly autonomous village life, the appearance of evidence for enhanced social hierarchy, and the first use of tin-bronzes in Transcaucasia. Traditional chronology places the transition at the end of the third millennium B. C. However, radiocarbon evidence indicates a mid-third millennium date for the transitional cultures, thus aligning Transcaucasian developments more closely with those in eastern Anatolia and northwestern Iran (late Early Bronze Age) and in Ciscaucasia (Maikop). Transcaucasia seems to have continued to play an important interregional role even after the disappearance of the Kura-Araxes cultures.

Jerablus-Tahtani, Syria, 1992–4: Preliminary Report

AbstractThe fifth season of University of Edinburgh/British Institute at Amman for Archaeology and History-sponsored excavations at Jerablus–Tahtani in the neighbourhood of Carchemish, north Syria, was devoted to investigations of its Early Bronze Age occupation, Period 2 of the site's history. In order to evaluate occupation between the Uruk retraction and the construction of the fort initially reported in Levant 28, 1996, 7–9, in situ pre-fort deposits were explored in Area III. They indicate that the fort was built in the mid-third millennium B.C. The discovery of the south-east corner of the fort suggests that the high status Tomb 302 lies outside and at the foot of its walls. Several later levels of the sequence of intercalated buildings and well-furnished graves first tested last season were excavated in 1996. Results will eventually permit closer dating of the temporary abandonment of the site in the later third millennium B.C. and assessment of this event in relation to widespread settlement dislo...

Excavations at Tell al-Raqā'i: A Small Rural Site of Early Urban Northern Mesopotamia

The site of Tell al-Raqā'i in the middle Ḫabur valley is the focal point of an excavation project investigating the social and economic organization of a small rural community during the emergence of urban systems in northern Mesopotamia in the mid-third-millennium B. C. Three seasons of excavation, exposing the majority of the two latest third-millennium occupation levels, have supplied evidence of an architecturally diverse community engaged in specialized production activities; these results, together with the discovery of large-scale grain storage complexes near Raqā'i, indicate the presence of centers of collection, storage, processing, and distribution of agricultural products in the middle Ḫabur. The probable association of the middle Ḫabur specialized sites with newly emergent large centers outside the valley suggests a close integration of urban and rural economies in the region in the mid-third millennium.

Foreign Stone Vessels of the Late Third Millennium B.C. from Southern Mesopotamia: Their Origins and Mechanisms of Exchange

It has long been realized that much of the stonework recovered from sites in southern Mesopotamia must have been imported, either as finished artefacts or as raw lumps which were then fashioned locally. The rare outcrops of stone which occur in the alluvium, principally around Uruk and Ur, are restricted to limestone and its light-coloured derivatives (calcite, gypsum, etc.). These were exploited extensively for sculpture, vessels and other relatively small objects throughout the third millennium and beyond, forming the staple medium for the bulk of the Mesopotamian stoneworking industry. Along with these materials, however, a not insignificant proportion of the stonework found on early Babylonian sites consists of dark igneous and metamorphic stones, of which the nearest sources are the mountains and plateaux which border Mesopotamia to the north-west, north and east, extending across the Gulf into Oman. Notable categories which illustrate this phenomenon are the numerous vessels deposited in private graves of the Jemdet Nasr to Early Dynastic II periods, the elaborately decorated “steatite” vessels of the mid-third millennium, and the royal statuary of the Sargonids and their successors.

If You've Nothing Better to Do, Honk

Kamp, K., and N. Yoffee 1980 Ethnicity in ancient western Asia during the early second millennium B.C.: archaeological assessments and ethnoarchaeological prospectives. To appear in Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Kohl, P. 1978 The balance of trade in Southwestern Asia in the mid-third millennium B.C. Current Anthropology 19:463-492. Nisbet, R. 1970 Developmentalism: a critical analysis. In Theoretical sociology: perspectives and development, edited by J. C. McKinney and E. A. Tiryakian, pp. 167-204. Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York. Schiffer, M. 1978 Methodological issues in ethnoarchaeology. In Explorations in ethnoarchaeology, edited by R. A. Gould, pp. 229-247. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. Stone, E. 1977 Economic crisis and social upheaval in Old Babylonian Nippur. In Mountains and lowlands: essays in the archaeology of Greater Mesopotamia, edited by L. D. Levine and T. C. Young, Jr., pp. 267-289. Bibliotheca Mesopotamica, vol. 7, Undena Publications, Malibu, California. 1979 Texts and archaeology: the ownership history of the Old Babylonian House I from the TA area of Nipper. Paper delivered at the annual meeting of the American Oriental Society, St. Louis, Missouri. White, L. 1947 Evolutionary stages, progress, and the evaluation of cultures. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 3:165-192. Yoffee, N. 1975 Weltschmerz meets the werewolf: social history and historical method in the Old Babylonian period. Paper delivered at the annual meeting of the American Oriental Society, Columbus, Ohio. 1977 The economic role of the crown in the Old Babylonian period. Bibliotheca Mesopotamica, vol. 5. Undena Publications, Malibu, California. 1979 The decline and rise of Mesopotamian civilization: an ethnoarchaeological perspective on the evolution of social complexity. American Antiquity 44:5-35.

The Balance of Trade in Southwestern Asia in the Mid-Third Millennium B.C. [and Comments and Reply

Trade frequently is considered an important and distinct subsystem that is integrated within a prehistoric cultural system. This paper rejects this interpretation and attempts a structural analysis of a specific trading network that existed in southwestern Asia in the mid-3d millennium B.C. in order to uncover the motivational factors and contradictions operative in trading relationships. An ideal dichotomy between sparsely populated, resource-rich highland centers and densely settled lowland cities is proposed, and the evolutionary significance of the relationship that developed between these areas is discussed.

The Copper Ox-Hide Ingots and the Bronze Age Metals Trade

Trade in metals, notably the precious metals gold and silver, and the base metals copper and tin, represents one of the major aspects of Bronze Age commerce. It has been argued that the first large-scale growth of a metals trade, during the mid-third millennium B.C., stimulated the development of international commerce and made possible the wealth of the EB II period in the Aegean, Anatolia and the Near East. Trade in metals continued to be one of the most important elements of commerce down to the end of the Bronze Age. Thus a proper understanding of the nature and the scope of this trade is essential to the study of Bronze Age civilization and the nature of foreign relations in the third and second millennia B.C.Since these metals were available only in certain areas, trade was essential for the development of metallurgy in those parts of the ancient world without native mineral resources, especially the Aegean and Mesopotamia. As virtually no work has been done on sources or uses of silver in the Bronze Age this paper will concentrate upon trade in gold, copper and tin. Technological developments will be discussed only in so far as they made possible the utilization of certain types of ores and hence influenced the growth of trade.

Scribal Training in Ancient Egypt

Dedicated to the memory of Wm. F. Edgerton, revered teacher and friend This paper was presented as one of four contributions to a panel discussion on the topic Aspects of Education in the Ancient Near East during the meeting of the AOS held at Baltimore in 1970. The requirements of a highly complex governmental administration in Egypt led to the development in the mid-third millennium of methods of training youths as scribes to enter the civil service. In addition to the much later Greek descriptions of the educational system in ancient Egypt, there are scattered references to it in Egyptian biographical and literary texts. These are few in number in the early periods, but soon become more plentiful. The didactic treatises beginning in the Old Kingdom and the compositions specially designed for scribal use, together with the innumerable school texts written mostly on ostraca, afford valuable evidence for the content of the young scribe's curriculum. The nature of the elementary instruction during the first four years may be deduced, as well as the advanced training which was of a more specialized nature. The text books employed in the instruction of students are also known to us. Finally, the attitude of the Egyptians themselves to the efficacy of educational methods finds expression in their literature.

The Characterization of Animals in Sumerian Fables

Although classical education is waning and general historical knowledge is at its nadir, many ancient fables are still widely known and commonly cited in spoken language. For example, Aesop’s fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf has resulted in the phrase “crying wolf,” which—even today—is a cultural shorthand for expressing the idea of raising a false alarm. The successful communication of this idea, however, rests on culture: the shared understanding of the wolf as dangerous. If we thought of wolves as we do pet dogs, the reference would be lost.Fables constitute a subgenre of ancient Near Eastern ‘wisdom literature;’ they are short narratives utilizing anthropomorphized animals to impart conventional wisdom. Like proverbs, fables “belong to the speech of everyday life” (Alster 1997). Perhaps for this reason, they were among the first compositions that young scribes learned to write in ancient Mesopotamia. Sumerian fables are attested as early as the mid-third millennium BCE. Much like written language itself, fables traffic in tradition and “habitual connection” (Peirce 1885) in order to convey their meaning. This meaning is so strong that it can be carried even via elliptical (truncated) renderings, as in the example of “crying wolf.” This shorthand is possible, in part, because animals are not just things themselves, they are loaded with symbolic meanings that are imparted in fables via their role, their actions, and the words they speak. In fables, animals are characters, and these characterizations can reveal the context and values of the culture that created them.As Falkowitz (1980) notes, consistently and extensively employed animal images can become culturally ingrained as rhetorical topoi: the fox is cunning, the bee is busy. The meaning in these images” is derived from their characteristics, which fables can uniquely elucidate for us. Through the understanding that fables provide, we can more successfully “read” both the elliptical references to animals in proverbs and in images. Moreover, understanding animals in this way can provide us a method to access the contexts and values of ancient Mesopotamians without privileging our contemporary, Western symbolic or ethical norms.I will provide an overview of the small corpus of available Sumerian fables and analysis of the roles of the animals characterized within them. These will be linked to Sumerian proverbs and compared to ancient Greek fables to form a starting point for conceptualizing fauna in the ancient world.

Early Bronze in Northeastern Thailand

Early Bronze in Northeastern Thailand