Sacred Area Research Articles

The Constructed Desert: A Sacred Cultural Landscape at Har Tzuriaz, Negev, Israel

Past and present cultures perceive their natural landscape as an integral and vital component of their complex worlds, while particular landscape features and associated monuments built in selected locales become sacred and revered through stories, legends and rituals embedded in mundane and ceremonial events. The hyper-arid Har Tzuriaz area in the southern Negev, Israel, offers a case study of culture-geographic continuities over a chronologically cumulative archaeological sequence. The large set of well-preserved structures located adjacent to water sources, a massive escarpment and a major desert crossroads includes campsites, cult sites, rock-art sites, cairn fields and one desert kite (a large game trap). Cultural continuities and change can be traced from the sixth millennium bce through recent times, reflecting a dynamic system of meanings and interpretations of both the natural and the built landscape within one particular sacred area in the desert. These phenomena are exemplified in archaeological analyses of an open-air shrine, burial cairns, an isolated desert kite and a precise engraving of that kite dated 5000 years later, all in the general context of a dense concentration of surveyed sites.

Ancestry and kinship in a Late Antiquity-Early Middle Ages cemetery in the Eastern Italian Alps

In South Tyrol (Eastern Italian Alps), during Late Antiquity-Early Middle Ages, archeological records indicate cultural hybridization among alpine groups and peoples of various origin. Using paleogenomics, we reconstructed the ancestry of 20 individuals (4th-7th cent. AD) from a cemetery to analyze whether they had heterogeneous or homogeneous ancestry and to study their social organization. The results revealed a primary genetic ancestry from southern Europe and additional ancestries from south-western, western, and northern Europe, suggesting that cultural hybridization was accompanied by complex genetic admixture. Kinship analyses found no genetic relatedness between the only two individuals buried with grave goods. Instead, a father-son pair was discovered in one multiple grave, together with unrelated individuals and one possible non-local female. These genetic findings indicate the presence of a high social status familia, which is supported by the cultural materials and the proximity of the grave to the most sacred area of the church.

Xenodochivm aniciorum


 
 
 
 In late antique Rome there existed a particular type of building, usually connected with the great domus of the Christian aristocracy, known as xenodochium whose aim was to provide hospitality for pilgrims. Some recent studies by R. Santangeli Valenzani on this argument provide a wider range of data (in particular regarding the archaeological evidence) and today allow us to confront the problem of the identification of one of these, the Xenodochium Aniciorum. Some inscriptions, from a small area of the Campus Martius, around Via delle Botteghe Oscure, once the site of the small church, which no longer exists, of S. Lucia in Calcarario (identified by Hülsen with S. Lucia in Xenodochio Aniciorum), suggests that it was located in this area, occupied in antiquity by the two porticus Minuciae (vetus and frumentaria), corresponding respectively to Largo Argentina and to the colonnaded area imme- diately to the east of the latter. The detailed study of the late antique and early medieval remains preserved in the ‘sacred area’ of Largo Argentina, realized for the first time by Santangeli Valenzani, has permitted the reconstruction of the building complex, which the author identifies with a monastery. Nevertheless, given the pres- ence in the immediate surroundings, within the ancient building of the Diribitorium, of a large, late antique aristocratic residence, which can be recognized as one of the domus of the Anicii, it is more probable that the complex of Largo Argentina is to be identified with the Xenodochium Aniciorum itself.
 
 
 

Sacred natural sites classification framework based on ecosystem services and implications for conservation

AbstractSacred natural sites (SNSs) are examples of community‐level governance for sustainable management of natural resources, which can greatly benefit nature conservation. However, the lack of a comprehensive understanding of the role of SNSs in conservation has resulted in overly simplistic classifications of SNSs that challenge current SNS research and conservation practice. Here, we propose an SNS classification framework based on the types and levels of material and spiritual services that SNSs provide, and applied this framework in the Khawa Karpo, an important sacred area in the Tibetan region of China based on detailed field surveys conducted from 2000 to 2004 and 2015 to 2017 that addressed six types of SNSs, including sacred mountains, Ri Vgags, sacred lakes, sacred rocks, sacred caves, and sacred trees. We found that SNSs in this region played a crucial role in sustaining traditional cultures and providing material services. Adoption of our classification framework will assist with the development of management strategies and targeted conservation actions for individual SNSs, thus improving conservation levels particularly in the Tibetan region.

Petrographical and geochemical criteria for a chronology of Roman mortars between the first century bce and the second century ce: The Curia of Pompey the Great

AbstractThirteen samples of mortar collected from different masonry structures of the Curia of Pompey the Great and from three mixtilinear basins located within the Sacred Area of Largo Argentina of Rome were studied. Despite the use of the same volcanic deposit, known as ‘Pozzolane Rosse’, to produce the fine aggregate in all these mortars, it was possible to highlight some distinctive features through the combination of geochemical analyses on selected trace elements and petrographic analysis under an optical microscope, allowing the three groups of mortars to be distinguished. These types of mortars reflect a perfect coincidence between the diversity of the volcanic materials used and the different construction phases identified and documented by the analysis of the stratigraphic units: a first construction phase of Pompeian age, a second phase of Augustan age and a final phase in the medieval period. Furthermore, it was possible to ascertain two phases of construction of the basins, the second coeval with the interventions of the Augustan period. Finally, this study increases knowledge about the methods of exploitation and selection of volcanic materials used to produce mortars in the Roman period, identifying additional elements useful to establish their origin and chronology of use.

Masking Phenomena in Late Bronze Age Syria. A New Mask from Ebla

Studying disguised activities in antiquity implies asking what could have been a mask in a specific society and how it could have been used. As the number of currently known masks from pre-theat¬rical societies is still very low, new examples are especially important, particularly those from sites or regions where they were previously unattested. This paper presents an unpublished finely-made mask from Tell Mardikh/Ebla (Syria). The detailed analysis of its find-context supports its dating to the Late Bronze Age and its provenance from a house. Both these factors make it possible to connect this mask to coeval examples from the Middle Euphrates River Valley, but it differs from them in the practice of inlaying the eye cavities. The use of red slip hints at a comparison with similar metal finds, while the profile of the mask and its size suggest that it could not have been originally worn. Instead, it is argued that this mask could have covered the face of a life-size statue or could have been applied to a mannequin or a pole that was made of wood or other perishable material. Its discovery in a house makes it plausible to suggest that – following what has already been proposed for the examples from the Middle Euphrates region – it might have been used in domestic cults devoted to the ancestors or the clan/family deities. As the house from which the mask comes was built on the area previously occupied by the Sacred Area of Ishtar, a connection between the goddess and this terracotta could be an intriguing working hypothesis.

Indigenous governance of cultural heritage: searching for alternatives to co-management

ABSTRACT In this paper, we critically examine the co-management of Indigenous peoples’ cultural heritage as simultaneously a driver and product of the culturalisation of Indigenous peoples: the reduction of complex legal-political orders, anchored in specific lands, value systems, rights, and practices, to material cultures. Co-management has been hailed as a defensibly imperfect, ‘tweakable’ system that benefits both Indigenous and state parties, and moreover, a stepping stone to Indigenous self-determination. Departing from these analyses, we argue that co-management is not just an administrative arrangement but also a state-ratified international rights regime, and accordingly, that it cannot do other than undermine Indigenous self-determination and imperil Indigenous peoples’ cultural heritage. We suggest that cultural heritage can only thrive by being actively engaged with in situ: via the living practice of Indigenous governance. Operationalising our argument, we first consider the challenges of cultural heritage protection in Sápmi; specifically, the co-management of Laponia, in Sweden, and the unprotected sacred area of Suttesája in Finland. We then discuss a more promising framework: the Quechua ‘Biocultural Heritage Territory’ of the Parque de la Papa, in Peru. Finally, we apply the lessons of the Parque to Suttesája, showing how this opens up governance-based avenues to safeguarding Indigenous sacred areas.

The Principles of Uti Possidetis Juris As an Alternative to Settlement Determination of Territorial Limits in the Oecusse Sacred Area (Study of the NKRI and RDTL Boundaries)

Based on the Decree of the People's Consultative Assembly in 1999, the legal status of the territory of Timor Leste is no longer the territory of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. With the establishment of the state of Timor Leste, between Indonesia and Timor Leste, boundaries of land and sea need to be included which cover territorial, ZEE and continental shelf boundaries, especially in the southern waters and north of the island of Timor, including the Oecusse enclave area. The negotiators of the two countries have not succeeded in agreeing on several Oecusse borderlines with the Indonesian territory. Various methods have been pursued including involving indigenous peoples. At present, the Oecusse enclave is designated as a special economic zone by Timor Leste with the aim of optimizing the area as a border area and having adequate economic activities so as to improve the quality of the local community. As an alternative effort in resolving regional boundary agreements, the application of the principle of Uti Possidetis Juris, which is a principle of territorial claims based on the Uti possidetis doctrine, means that a newly independent state inherits administrative boundaries formed by the previous authorities, so that the historical and conceptual approaches in the stipulation are established. It is recommended to avoid different interpretations between the two countries, and regional boundaries can be resolved immediately.

“Sacra Tharrhica Project”: Preliminary Results of 3D Virtual Reconstruction of the Punic-Roman Sacred Areas of Tharros, Sardinia

Abstract The “Sacra Tharrhica Project” was started by the University of Bologna in cooperation with the University of Cagliari in 2017. The aim is to obtain a 3D virtual reconstruction of all temple structures of the Punic settlement of Tharros on the central west coast of Sardinia, starting from a systematic architectural and archaeological study of the Punic and Roman phases of the buildings. The project has firstly focused on the “Monumental Temple” or “Doric half-columns Temple”. This Punic sacred area was probably monumentalized between the late 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. After the Roman conquest, it was rebuilt between the 1st century B.C. and the 1st century A.D.

Persepsi Wisatawan Terhadap Kawasan Suci Pura Masceti Di Desa Medahan Kecamatan Blahbatuh Kabupaten Gianyar

The Sacred area of ??Masceti Temple is located in Medahan Village, Blahbatuh District. The Number of tourists began increasing is an indication of the tourism potential that can be developed. This is the background of choosing the topic "Tourist Perception of Masceti Temple Sacred Area in Medahan Village" to be studied.
 This research used qualitative and quantitative study methods those are qualitative descriptive analysis, validity test analysis, reliability test and frequency analysis to know the perception of tourists to the destination. Data sources from primary data and secondary data. Data completion technique using observation method, interview, literature study, documentation, and questionnaire. The technique of determining tourist samples used in this study is a quota sampling technique. 
 The finding of Tourism Potentials are panoramic nature, socio-cultural, artificial or economical and the perception of tourists to destination consist into four aspects those are tourist perception of tourism attraction, tourist perception of access to location, tourists perception of tourism facility and tourist perception of tourism service.
 From this research can be concluded that The Sacred Area of Masceti Temple already has tourism potentials which is needed for a way for the development that must follow the rules of The Sacred Area of Masceti Temple. So, it can be realized without reducing the sanctity of Masceti Temple as Kahyangan Jagat Temple in Gianyar regency, Bali. 
 Keywords:Tourism Potential, The Sacred Area of Masceti Temple, Medahan Village

Multi-temporal images and 3D dense models for archaeological site monitoring in Hierapolis of Phrygia (TK)

The archaeological areas are one of the fields in which the contribution of Geomatics techniques for Heritage documentation were employed since long time and are now getting popular. In recent times, TLS and RPAS systems become more and more interesting to be studied in excavations sites for monitoring purposes and solving large scale and comprehensive mapping matters both from terrestrial and aerial point of view. The paper will focuses on these issue and on the great challenge of monitoring sites during time, integrating and conforming multiple data coming from previous metric survey projects or image data collected in the past for different purposes. The test-sites is the complex archaeological landscape of the ancient city of Hierapolis in Phrygia on which the MAIER – Italian Archaeological Mission of Hierapolis operates from the 60s of the 20 th century and where Politecnico di Torino conducted several documentation survey campaigns. Some case studies in Hierapolis monumental areas about 3D modelling from image and range data represent nowadays an interesting attempt to answer these tasks. In particular, the presented cases involve many multi-temporal datasets that have been acquired by different university staffs in subsequent campaigns, in 1997, 2007, 2012, 2015, by employing various sensors following the evolution of the acquisition techniques offers by geomatics in the archaeological field surveys. 3D models are generated by terrestrial LiDAR and by terrestrial and aerial photogrammetric surveys; these dense models are intended to be compared and integrated with newer models generated by the UAV systems employed in last 2015 mission. In the Sacred Area of the Apollo Temple, two different datasets allow to perform investigation and comparisons before and after archaeological accommodation of the sepulchre of Apollo. The 3D model was created from images captured by a curbed balloon and further by another particular nadir point of view (a man harnessed and suspended from a crane collected photos using a Rollei semi-metric film camera); an UAV flight was performed lastly in 2015 by a EBee fix wing drone. On the other hand, in the massive complex of the Bath-Church the deeply damaged East wall was kept under observation during years until the securing intervention with a castle of tubes has been achieved: till that moment the pipes structure masks almost completely the wall, even during the last Lidar survey performed in 2012. The integration with previous images datasets collected before the securing intervention and used to generate a 3D model, want to overcome this limitation in a multi-temporal integration. In such perspective, 3D data derived from digital acquisition and modelling constantly contribute to build a knowledge on the site and help to improve their communication. Furthermore the combination of digital models and direct observations of the excavations results can improve the enhancement of the dissemination aims.

UNA BROCCHETTA CON PROTOME D’ARIETEDALL’AREA SACRA DEL KOTHON A MOZIA

During the 25th and 26th seasons of excavations carried out by Rome «La Sapienza» University Expedition to Motya (years 2015-2016) a ram’s head jug was found in the Sacred Area of the Kothon (Area C South). From a typological point of view, this vessel can be considered a late outcome of the early Phoenician bronze trefoil jug, largely widespread over the western Mediterranean colonies, while its relevant symbolic value is represented by the ram’s head, the animal traditionally consecrated to Baal, the deity worshipped in the Sacred Area.

The Sacred Area of Early Bronze Megiddo: History and Interpretation

The sacred area at Tel Megiddo was first excavated by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago in 1933–1938 and then by the Tel Aviv University expedition in 1992–2010. At present, readers studying the results have to find their way between four excavation reports, each of which is partial and sometimes contradicts the others, as well as in among various complementary and critical studies. The primary aim of the present study is to present a comprehensive picture of the Megiddo sacred area and its history during the Early Bronze Age. As the excavated data are largely incomplete and open to different interpretations, emphasis will be put here on the author's views and stratigraphic interpretations. Finally, the question of whether the sacred area in its various stages was part of a settlement or a pilgrimage site is discussed in detail.

UNA MATRICE PER TERRECOTTE CON SILENODALL’AREA SACRA DEL KOTHON A MOZIA

During the XXV season of excavations carried out by Rome «La Sapienza» University Expedition to Motya, a terracotta mould was found in the Sacred Area of the Kothon. The mould shows a quarter of a silenus bringing the handle of a vase. The iconographic analysis and the stylistic parallels allow to date the mould and to set it in the cultural context of Motya. The iconological analysis suggests the possible relations between the subject of the mould and the deities worshipped in the Sacred Area of the Kothon.

On sacred ground: the political performance of religious responsibility

April 2012: In Dambulla, a bustling market town built around a crossroads on the northern cusp of Sri Lanka's central province, a mosque was attacked by a procession of protestors led by the chief priest of the nearby Buddhist temple. Ostensibly the protest was against the presence of the mosque on the grounds that it had been built in an exclusively Buddhist ‘sacred area’. Beginning with an empirical account of the attack on the Dambulla mosque, this paper argues that the preservation of what is deemed to be ‘sacred’ in Sri Lanka provides an effective idiom through which certain religious figures can intelligibly articulate political claims whilst maintaining critical distance from the dirty world of ‘Politics’. Corollary to this, and drawing on two years of ethnographic fieldwork in Dambulla, the paper explores the various different meanings of politics locally: highlighting the interplay of everyday politicking and high-profile political performance.

UNA BROCCHETTA DIPINTA DAL TEMPIO DI ASTARTE NELL’AREA SACRA DEL KOTHON A MOZIA

During the XXXIV season of excavations carried out by Rome «La Sapienza» University Expedition to Motya, a votive deposit (D.4362) lying west of the Temple of Astarte – Temple C4 of the Sacred Area of the Kothon – was brought to light. In addition to several cult objects and offerings, the deposit included a Punic painted juglet (lekythos) which may epitomize once again the complexity of the cultural tendencies ruling the ceramic repertoire of Motya during the 5th century BC.

The contiguity between churches and mosques in early Islamic Bilād al-Shām

AbstractThis article examines the transformation of the sacred landscape in the cities of Syria and Palestine from late antiquity to early Islam. This phase of urban and architectural history, often obscured by the changes brought in during the medieval period, is investigated through a close comparison of textual and material evidence related to the main urban religious complexes. It is suggested that the new Friday mosques were frequently built contiguous to Christian great churches, creating a sort of shared sacred area within the cities. Legal issues related to the Islamic conquest and the status of minorities are considered in order to explain the rationale behind such a choice by Muslims.

An Early Bronze IVB Pottery Repertoire from Favissae P.9717 and P.9719 in the Temple of the Rock at Tell Mardikh/Ancient Ebla

Recent excavations carried out in Area HH at Tell Mardikh/Ebla identified a huge sacred area in use from the middle of the 3rd millennium BC until the final destruction of the Middle Bronze Age city. The first building erected in this area in the Early Bronze IVA (2400–2300 BC) was the monumental Temple of the Rock, which was ritually sealed and abandoned at the beginning of the Early Bronze IVB (around 2300–2250 BC). Two of the pits inside the cavity in the cella of the Temple were found to have been filled with a large quantity of fine vessels, as part of a purification ritual carried out before their definitive sealing with superimposed courses of mud-brick. These provide the first coherent ceramic pottery assemblage for the initial stage of the EB IVB Period, and accordingly shed new light on the ceramic horizon of North-West Inner Syria during the last third of the 3rd millennium BC.

Book Review of La stipe del Santuario di Alaimo a Lentini: Un'area sacra tra la chora e il mare, edited by Lorenza Grasso

The second volume of the IBAM (Institute for Archaeological Monuments and Sites) monographic series is dedicated to archaeological research in an extra-urban sacred area at the Greek colony of Lentini. Votive material was accidentally discovered in 1968 at the western margin of the modern city, approximately 1 km from ancient Leonitnoi. Grasso’s study is the culmination of a lengthy analysis of finds from the excavation subsequently started and directed by Giovanni Rizza.

THE JUDICIOUS SELECTION AND PRESERVATION OF TUFF AND TRAVERTINE BUILDING STONE IN ANCIENT ROME*

The Republican and early Imperial monuments of Rome are, for the most part, built of tuffs quarried from at least seven pyroclastic deposits erupted from nearby Monti Sabatini and Alban Hills volcanoes. Remarks by Vitruvius (2.7.1–5), field observations of the monuments, and petrographic and rock testing studies of samples from Roman quarries demonstrate that Roman builders developed a good knowledge of the diverse material properties of the tuffs over centuries of use and exposure. Measurements of compressive strength, specific gravity, water absorption and adsorption of water vapour confirm that the petrographic characteristics of each tuff lithology strongly influence its strength and durability. Early construction utilized weakly durable, soft or vitric tuffs such as Tufo del Palatino or Tufo Giallo della Via Tiberina that are susceptible to decay, as at Temple C (290 bc) of the Largo Argentina Sacred Area. Late Republican structures, such as the Temple of Portunus (80–90 bc), employed somewhat durable, vitric–lithic Tufo Lionato reinforced with travertine, a durable limestone quarried near Tivoli. Roman builders selected the material properties of the tuffs to advantage for specific structural elements within large public monuments of the first century bc and the first century ad, as at the tabernae of the Forum of Caesar (46 bc), where an upper storey of lightweight Tufo Lionato is supported by robust, lithic–crystal Lapis Gabinus pillars and flat arches reinforced with travertine. The tuffs are not very durable building stones; Romans preserved them with protective stucco, and travertine and marble cladding. Their high water intake, coupled with direct exposure to rain, daily fluctuations in relative humidity and urban weathering at present makes them especially vulnerable to decay.