Mud-brick Walls Research Articles

Greek Temples and Chinese Roofs

A Knickgiebel (Knickdach) or "Chinese roof" has been proposed for several archaic Greek temples. The evidence indicates that some buildings of mudbrick or wood, built in the ninth, eighth or early seventh centuries, may have had such roofs. Only a few of the stone temples did, and these temples can be dated to the first quarter of the sixth century. The origin of the Knickgiebel may have lain in the need to protect the roof and wood or mudbrick walls from rainwater running off the double pitched roof. Once the tiling system came into use and the walls were made of stone, this type of roof was made only a few times before it died out.

Some Contributions to Early Anatolian Art from Acemhöyük

During the 1978 excavation campaign at Acemhöyük, sponsored by the Turkish Historical Society, the General Directorate of Antiquites and Museums and Ankara University, the Sarıkaya palace and its vicinity were investigated. Finds of interest and relevance to the subject of this article were recovered from excavations of the palace foundations and contemporar building levels, where the effects of weathering had removed some of the mudbrick walls not taken down during earlier campaigns. Among these finds are bullae with seal impressions, and large fragments of a painted vase, which provide new evidence for aspects of Anatolian art and architecture of the 18th century B.C.

A Lapidary's Gift to Geštinanna

Among the ancient Near Eastern objects in the Newell Bequest collection at Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts, is the gypsum stand published herewith. On the basis of its dedicatory inscription, which will be discussed in detail below, the object's provenance can be established as the sanctuary of Ningizzida and Geštinanna at Girsu (Telloh). The piece was probably found when the sanctuary was plundered by illegal diggers in August, 1924. At that time at least seven statues of Gudea and two of Ur-Ningirsu were discovered, all reportedly found together in one room. The Gudea statues are remarkable for their inherent artistic merit and because some of them show Gudea as a youth, while others depict him as a mature man.Other furnishings from this sanctuary include a Gudea statue found by Cros and a steatite vase with interlacing serpents and dragons. The sanctuary was excavated by Genouillac in his 1929 and 1930–31 seasons. His finds included inscribed bricks and door stones; a grey marble dish dedicated to Ningizzida by Gudea; a mace-head dedicated to the same deity by Nammah, a scribe; fragments of a stele with a presentation scene; part of a blue steatite lamp showing intertwined serpents; and numerous pieces of boxes and lids of baked clay, many with representations of serpents. The architecture of the sanctuary could not be reconstructed because of the illicit digging and the inability of Genouillac's workers to trace its mudbrick walls.

Garamantian excavations (Germa) 1977

In 1977 it was decided to concentrate all efforts on the cemetery of Saniat ben Howedi and answer certain questions unanswered in 1973. In that year it appeared that where the cemetery mound stood at its highest, upper and lower tombs existed. Work had been concentrated on the upper layer and some 30 tombs were dug. They were all found to be either circular drum-like structures, 6–8 ft in size, or larger, square constructions 10–12 ft across, with a central circular shaft. The tombs, for the most part, faced east and had stele, or ‘hands’ and offering tables on their principal side. Sometimes these were placed within an area enclosed, or partly surrounded by a low mud-brick wall, which contained other vessels, clearly intended as offerings for the deceased.Although the skeletons had survived (where the tombs had not been robbed), finds were sparse, consisting mainly of lamps, jug/flagons, local imitations of fine red ware plate/dishes, with the occasional genuine fine red ware plate. Dating was difficult, but where possible it suggested the third—fourth centuries (if not the fifth).Investigation showed that where the mound was not present the circular and later square tombs appeared to have been built either against, or directly on top of, earlier tombs. Two of these earlier tombs were excavated and found to contain a mass of late first-century pottery, in a somewhat damaged state. This consisted of amphoras, fine red ware bowls and dishes, mostly of northern Italian manufacture, imported and local coarse ware vessels, as well as glass and faience bowls. In each tomb a saddle quern, broken, and a smashed soft chalk rubber were found, suggesting that the occupants had been female. The skeletons, unfortunately, had survived in neither case. One tomb, no.15 in the cemetery numbering system, faced west, the other, no.17, faced east. Both had survived intact from antiquity, but the objects within them, especially no.17, were, in many cases, badly shattered (see the Fourth Annual Report of the Society, p.35).

A Cemetery from the Persian Period at Tell el-Ḥesi

During the 1970 and 1971 seasons of the Joint Expedition to Tell el-Hesi more than forty burials were excavated in Field III, which is situated at the base of the tell's southeastern slope (see fig. 1).' Dug into all three phases of the massive lower wall complex,2 this cemetery is the latest major stratigraphic phase in Field III and thus provides a terminus ante quem for the walls. As the plan of the better preserved burials (fig. 2) indicates, the graves were clustered at the eastern edge of the field, and it is likely that a number of burials have washed into the wadi. Evidence for this conjecture is found in 5A.009,3 in which only the lower leg bones were recovered. The location of the cemetery also explains the poor preservation of most of the bones, which lay in shallow graves often just a few centimeters below the modern ground level, and which were thus exposed to considerable water run-off from the upper slopes of the tell. Fig. 3 illustrates one of the better preserved skeletons; in general, when present at all, the bones were extremely friable. Furthermore, erosion and recent plowing have often obliterated the original contours of the burial cists and have caused some dislocation of their contents; an example of such dislocation is 16.003, where a skull was found upside down in the balk without any associated bones (see fig. 4). Nearly half of the graves were situated in a large pit dug into the brickwork, which filled most of Area 13 and the eastern half of Area 14. This pit may have been the result of clay mining; the mud bricks of the walls would have been an obvious and accessible source of clay for the inhabitants of the acropolis. Before the burials were dug the pit had filled with over a meter of water-sorted clay and sand, run-off from the slopes above. No sherds in the pit (whose principal locus is 13.018) were later than the Persian period. The cemetery is thus the latest phase of human activity in Field III during the Persian period, having been preceded in that era by the construction of and the digging of the pit after the walls had fallen into disuse. The large number of graves in the pit can be attributed to the ease of digging in the relatively soft water-sorted deposit, as compared with the mud brick walls.4 The remaining graves were dug either into the walls themselves or outside them into the basal sand dune. Apart from some pits (in Area 3) and a circular mud-plaster lined installation (in Area 5), all from the late Chalcolithic period, there was no evidence of significant occupation south of Zone C. The matrices into which the cemetery was dug-natural sand, mud brick walls, and water deposition--explain the scarcity of artifacts and the consequent chronological uncertainty. The stratigraphy of the cemetery itself is fairly simple. For the most part the graves do not overlap horizontally. There are, however, at least two examples of one grave lying directly over another: 13.016 is above 13.028, and 13.020 is over 13.022. In addition, the skeleton of 13.014 was above the stones associated with 13.021, and the cist of 2.003 was cut by that of 2.004 (see fig. 5). The cemetery was thus in use for some time. The disruption of many of the graves due to the causes mentioned above made the identification of multiple burials difficult; both 5.008 and 13.013 contained I G. Ernest Wright was instrumental in beginning the expedition and was its Principal Overseer until his death. During the 1970 and 1971 seasons Lawrence E. Stager was Field Supervisor of Field III, and I have used his preliminary field reports in preparing this article. Supervisors of the areas discussed here were: in 1970, D. Brooks, M. Coogan, R. Doermann, and D. M. Freedman; in 1971, M. Coogan, R. Doermann, and D. Saltz. During January 1974, Carol Redmount was my research assistant and provided invaluable help in the preparation of this report. A complete list of staff is found in Toombs (1974). 2 See Toombs (1974) 28-31, but note that the wall system in its entirety is now tentatively dated to the Persian period. 3 Graves are identified by areas and locus numbers; thus, 5A.009 in locus 009 in Area 5A. 4Further excavation of the foundations of the walls is planned. The sherds from the bricks themselves are consistently Early Bronze indicating merely that the builders of the walls mined the clay for their bricks from the Early Bronze fortifications (not excavated by the present expedition, but see Toombs [1974] 21).

Aşvan Kale: the Third Millennium Pottery

The pottery illustrated here is only a small proportion of the total recovered; the intention is to present a brief survey of the commoner fabrics and surface treatments.The stratigraphic connections from trench to trench were, as discovered, not entirely satisfactory. Though the lowest two of the four trenches which were dug (1969) into settlement debris on the north scarp, viz. G1d and G2b, produced no substantial structural features, the sequence of surfaces, tip lines and aggradations was reasonably clear (Fig. 1). In the trenches above G2b, i.e. G2d and G3b, stratigraphic observations were limited. No lines of aggradation could be observed, the trenches apparently being taken up by the remains or debris of a thick mud brick wall or walls. Into this mass of mud-brick were dug pits. Above both features (mud-brick and pits) began a series of structures and associated deposits, datable (after the 1972 season) to the middle or second half of the first millennium B.C.The pottery presented here comes from the lowest two trenches, G2b and G1d.

Hercules-Nergal at Hatra (II)

In the summer of 1971, a most interesting and important over life-size statue of Hercules was uncovered at the North Gate, one of the four main gates of Hatra. The work, which was conducted by a staff from the Directorate General of Antiquities, started at the beginning of July 1971 and continued until the end of March 1972. The excavations which were concentrated on the gate, revealed several important historical and architectural aspects of Hatra.During the excavations, numerous statues were found. They represent kings, nobles and divinities of Hatra, and among them is the statue of Hercules. It was found in a rectangular arched niche-cella set against the mud-brick wall that extends from the right tower-like structure of the gate and turns at a right angle to face the only entrance of the gate. The niche-cella, made of regular local limestone, is constructed so that it faces the entrance. A person leaving Hatr a through the North Gate would have to face the niche-cella which contained the standing statue of Hercules.The statue of Hercules was found standing in situ in the arched niche-cella (Plate XXXa). His forearm was found behind the right feet on the floor of the niche-cella. His club was discovered in two pieces on the floor level of the area before the nichecella. The upper part of the club with the attached right hand were found immediately in front of the niche-cella (Plate XXXb) and the lower part lay not far from it (Plate XXXc). Pieces of the fingers of his right hand were found scattered on the pavement of the niche-cella.

Mycenae, 1968

The principal object of the campaign was to demolish the great baulk that had purposely been left unexcavated from the very beginning to provide a record of the stratigraphy of the site.* This earth was now required by the Restoration Department of the Greek Archaeological Service to secure and safeguard the mud brick walls that were destroyed in a great fire in Late Helladic IIIB towards the end of the 13th century BC. The intensity of the fire had served to preserve these walls in their original state, though off axis, and they are the most complete examples of their kind on any Mycenaean site. The second object of the excavation was to uncover the rest of the plan of the LH IIIB walls which in the western sector of the site are buried below the postdestruction walls of LH IIIB/IIIC. The second objective was only in part accomplished because of the remarkable and outstanding finds that were brought to light, mostly under the great baulk. The work of their recovery sIowed down the excavation considerably. At the east central end of the great baulk a small room, c. 2 m. x 2 m., was uncovered that was filled with a great variety of clay objects in considerable disarray (PL. xra; see plan, FIG. I,I). Outstanding among these were idols from 0.50 to 0.60 m. in height of a kind that had never been found on the Greek mainland before, although somewhat similar examples are known from Gazi in Crete [I]

The Physical Evidence for Noah's Flood

In a recent issue of this journal Prof. Mallowan reviewed the historical evidence for the flood described in the biblical story of Noah. In the table that he prepared three floods are noted at Kish. Two of them occurred in c. 2900 B.C. and rely for their identification on evidence of water-deposited material in the streets and damage to mud-brick walls: the third, the latest and most violent, dated to c. 2600 B.C. was again identified by evidence from the streets and deposited an average of 40 cm. of water-borne material—that is about sixteen inches. The same table read in conjunction with the text (p. 80), indicated for Shurrupak (Fara) a deposit of clay and sand of about 60 cm. thickness over an “ordinary patch of charcoal and ashes” above the Jamdat Nasr level and below the Early Dynastic: it is dated to c. 2850 B.C. AS these levels are dated c. 3000 B.C. and c. 2850 respectively, I suppose that the flood deposit could have occurred at any intervening date, but that specific evidence suggests 2850 B.C.For Ur the table records flood deposits from 3·72 to 0·72 metres thick in c. 3500 B.C. at the end of the ‘Ubaid period (the text records greater depths) and deposits of unknown depth dated to c. 2700 B.C.

New Wares and Fresh Problems from Baluchistan

It is perhaps axiomatic that archaeological research in Baluchistan should raise as many questions as it answers, and the fieldwork carried out in Kalat in 1957 was no exception. Gradually, however, the nature of these problems is changing.Prior to 1950 a superfluity of unrelated wares confronted the prehistorian and obscured the wider issues. Much of this pottery had been collected by the late Sir Aurel Stein from the numerous wind-eroded dambs which represent the mudbrick walls of ancient settlements. In the absence of any scientific excavation in this region it was difficult to relate the different painted wares or to group them into cultural assemblages, and the emphasis lay firmly on decorated pottery, since there was even less hope of sorting out unstratified plain wares.

Aleksander den Stores visitkort

Aleksander den Stores visitkort

Dura-Europos

Dura is one of the buried cities which has swum into our ken since the end of the Some paintings accidentally uncovered by a British officer first led D Breasted to the site. He was followed by Cumont and in 1928 a large expedition under Professor Rostovtzeff was sent there by Yale University and the French Academy of Inscriptions. By 1937 about one third of the site had been excavated and work was suspended through lack of funds.Dura has been compared with Pompeii but it would be hard to imagine two places more dissimilar in appearance and history. Unlike Pompeii, Dura is a grim looking site : its most striking features are the west wall on the desert side and the citadel above the Euphrates, both built of dull grey gypsum blocks : between them stretches a waste of mud brick walls. And its history covers a far longer period. Once the site of a small oriental village, it was converted by the Macedonians into a strong-point on the road between Antioch on the Orontes and Seleucia on the Tigris ; the date of its foundation is not known, but Seleucus I was regarded as the founder and it must have been about 300 B.C.

Persepolis

THE archæological expedition to Persepolis of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, one of the eleven expeditions of the Institute now at work in the East, has achieved some remarkable results in its second season's work on the site. Indeed, Dr. J. H. Breasted, director of the Institute, in a comment appended to an abstract of the report by Dr. E. Herzfeld, field director, which appears in the Times of February 4, says that no discovery like it has ever been made anywhere in western Asia. A magnificent series of sculptures, dating back to the time of Cyrus, has been discovered in the area of the palace burnt by Alexander the Great in 330 B.C. The size alone, without taking into account the technique and the informative detail, is overwhelmingly impressive. One panel, 5–6 ft. high, is no less than 1,000 ft. long. The carvings are as fresh as when executed and show rulers, footmen, horsemen, charioteers, servants and burden-bearers in full equipment¢¬material of the greatest historical value. One panel preserved in peculiarly favourable circumstance still shows the colours of the royal garments. A find of no less importance to the pre-historian is recorded in an account of a stone age village which was found under a low mound within two miles of Persepolis. It is dated at about 4000 B.C. and would appear to be in an excellent state of preservation. The mud-brick walls of the houses still stand to a height of 5–7 ft. and the interior surfaces show mural paintings in red water colour. The polychrome pottery, Dr. Herzfeld reports, exceeds in beauty and age that found in Babylonia, marking “a new chapter in the history of prehistoric art”.