Settlement Clusters Research Articles

EXCAVATIONS IN THE ANCIENT THEATRE OF SPARTA, 2008

This article presents the results of the 2008 excavation in the ancient theatre of Sparta conducted by the British School at Athens and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Laconia. Focused on the west side of the cavea, work aimed to locate the southern edge of the Late Antique settlement between the theatre and the sanctuary of Athena Chalkioikos; to establish the northern limits of the Late Antique settlement over the former orchestra; and to establish a more precise ceramic characterisation and chronology for the Early–Middle Byzantine period in Sparta. The area between settlement clusters on the acropolis and over the former orchestra was essentially open, with just a Byzantine terrace wall and path recorded. In the north-west part of the former cavea, a tomb built in the late eighth or early ninth century AD was used at least until the late thirteenth century for the burial of c. 29 individuals. This article presents the first results of a bioarchaeological study of the human remains, and studies of Byzantine pottery from the tomb interior and from the backfill of the pit in which the tomb was built (the latter including a notable quantity of Early Byzantine domestic ware). The 2008 findings are set in the larger context of research on post-antique phases in the theatre (drawing on the British School at Athens Archive) and on the material culture and urban topography of Byzantine Sparta. Almost all excavated contexts contained residual material of all periods. The article concludes with short catalogues of material which pre-dates the construction of the theatre and of inscriptions of all periods.

Sustainable urban water management index for developing countries. A case study in Puebla City, Mexico

Several indicator and index frameworks have been reported to assess management efficiency and promote transparency, facilitating decision-making and innovation. However, they cannot be applied in cities with limited information, making them impractical. This study proposes a Sustainable Urban Water Management Index (SUWMI) for such cities, selecting six AquaRating indicators plus two indexes recommended in the Sustainable Development Goal 6, yielding a simplified and practical version for diagnosing the management performance rate of the Water Operating Systems (WOS) in cities. Conceptual and mathematical models were defined for SUWMI, and the eight selected terms were hierarchized based on a decision tree with the participation of an expert panel and further multicriteria decision-making methodology by the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to calculate the weighting parameters. The selected indicators represent five categories on a percentage scale. The highly populated Puebla City Metropolitan Zone in Mexico was the case study. Information was gathered from five Water Operation Systems (WOS) from 2002 to 2020. The tap water area's coverage and physical efficiency improved despite the population growth due to an adequate political strategy after 2014. The SUWMI values of each WOS diagnoses its performance, highlighting their differences and providing a valuable tool for guiding urban water public policy programs. The paper proposes a simple, fast, and easy-to-calculate index that can be helpful for a broader cluster of cities and urban settlements with deficient available information, which is common in developing countries.

Social Cluster and Heritage Memory: A Study on the Space Perception of Zhaozhou Basin Horse Caravan Vernacular Architecture

Located in Dali, Yunnan, the Zhaozhou basin is home to many precious architectural heritages, particularly the historical horse caravan architecture. These buildings face the challenge of renewal and transformation. It is of great significance to explore the local population’s awareness of the architectural heritage of the horse caravan in order to protect the architectural heritage and facilitate rural revitalization. This study reviews the related research on “space perception”, establishes a theoretical framework of space perception under the architectural dimension, and develops hypotheses. The social cluster of typical settlements in the Zhaozhou basin is selected as the research object, and empirical analyses are carried out using SPSS and AMOS software. An analytical framework model of empirical research is constructed to evaluate the space perception of the current social population. The results of the reliability and validity tests of the questionnaire show that the CR is greater than 0.7 and that the AVE is greater than 0.5. The value of the structural equation model fitting index χ2/df is 1.863, which is less than 3. The model test results show that research hypotheses H1–H5 are supported; that is, space perception has a significant positive impact on cognition and local identity, cognition has a significant positive impact on local identity and space function, and place identity has a significant positive impact on space appeal. This study demonstrates the relationship between space perception and the architectural remains of the horse caravan, and it analyzes the human psychological perception behind the material space. The findings support the need for further conservation of the horse caravan architecture. This study further deepens the theory of space perception and its application in the study of vernacular architecture, which can provide a research path for the protection and development of vernacular architectural heritage.

Garden Cities of yesterday, roots of urban sustainability?

Ebenezer Howard is one of the foundational figures of town planning. His Garden Cities of To-morrow envisions a Utopian synthesis of the urban and the rural to enhance the well-being of residents, in contrast to the industrial megalopolis of the late 19th century. While realized Garden Cities took many forms different from Howard’s original layout, this is the one we find in the urban roots of the deep past. About 4350 BCE we see the formation of large, circular, decentralized settlements in what is today central Ukraine. Elsewhere, in the Brazilian Amazon between 1200 and 1600 CE, we see a transformation of the jungle into a vast park landscape filled with clusters of circular settlements, with horticultural land-use in between them. In addition to similarities in planning, these past settlements also involve the social aspect of countering inequality and fostering freedom and cooperation. This paper explores the possibility of Garden Cities in the past and the implications of decentralized ‘rurban’ landscapes from the deep history perspective of archaeology.

Sustainable Development Concept of Heritage Kampung Tourism Using Novel Prioritization Approach

Rapid urban development in Southeast Asia is often the main cause of urban kampung formation, a cluster of sporadic and informal settlements. Kampungs possess the capacity to serve to build the local economy and provide culture conservation through heritage tourism. To promote sustainable development in heritage kampung tourism, it is imperative to propose directives that optimize its heritage qualities without compromising both the economic and environmental aspects of sustainability. This study aims to develop a comprehensive sustainable development framework on a local scale by implementing a novel prioritization approach. Descriptive statistical analysis, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), and Fuzzy AHP (FAHP) provide the researchers with a holistic understanding regarding heritage tourism sustainability by considering various stakeholders’ perspectives. Novel prioritization is presented using radar diagrams to understand how each variable, representing environmental, social, and economic criteria, has perceived importance according to experts and tourists. The analysis highlights the kampung Kayutangan’s sustainability while acknowledging variations in element importance, necessitating the alignment of development directives.

Cross-sectional comparison of health care delivery and reimbursement between segregated and nonsegregated communities in Hungary.

Spatially segregated, socio-economically deprived communities in Europe are at risk of being neglected in terms of health care. In Hungary, poor monitoring systems and poor knowledge on the health status of people in these segregated areas prevent the development of well-informed effective interventions for these vulnerable communities. We used data available from National Health Insurance Fund Management to better describe health care performance in segregated communities and to develop more robust monitoring systems. A cross-sectional study using 2020 health care data was conducted on each general medical practice (GMP) in Hungary providing care to both segregated and nonsegregated (complementary) adult patients. Segregated areas were mapped and ascertained by a governmental decree that defines them as within settlement clusters of adults with low level of education and income. Age, sex, and eligibility for exemption certificate standardized indicators for health care delivery, reimbursement, and premature mortality were computed for segregated and nonsegregated groups of adults and aggregated at the country level. The ratio of segregation and nonsegregation specific indicators (relative risk, RR) was computed with the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Broad variations between GMPs were detected for each indicator. Segregated groups had a significantly higher rate of health care service use than complementary groups (RR = 1.22, 95% CI: 1.219;1.223) while suffering from significantly reduced health care reimbursement (RR = 0.940, 95% CI: 0.929;0.951). The risk of premature mortality was significantly higher among segregated patients (RR = 1.184, 95% CI: 1.087;1.289). Altogether, living in a segregated area led to an increase in visits to health care services by 18.1% with 6.6% less health spending. Adults living in segregated areas use health care services more frequently than those living in nonsegregated areas; however, the amount of health care reimbursement they receive is significantly lower, suggesting lower quality of care. The health status of segregated adults is remarkably lower, as evidenced by their higher premature mortality rate. These findings demonstrate the need for intervention in this vulnerable group. Because our study reveals serious variation across GMPs, segregation-specific monitoring is necessary to support programs sensitive to local issues and establish necessary benchmarks.

Vernacular Architecture of a Rural Magar Settlement of Nepal: The Case of Taka, Putha Uttarganga Rural Municipality, East Rukum

The vernacular settlement of the Magar community in the Taka village of East Rukum are still lively, and represent the society, cultural and history of the place, which reflects the sustainable living pattern of a rural community. This study of Taka village clearly defines the geography, settlement pattern, community groups, settlement cluster, social structure, construction of dwelling and rituals. It further identifies the dwelling types and construction technology on the basis of three features: i. representation of each community, ii. Representation of each locality, and iii. Representation of variation in house form. The settlement pattern and dwelling form in a way represent the characteristics of social structure and life style in the sharing of spaces of the dwelling environment. The dwelling form, building materials and construction technology blends with the terrain profile and climate creating a harmonious settlement pattern with nature and society. There is also community awareness on the conservation of Taka rural settlement heritage which is the positive sign on maintaining the identity of the community and place.

Analysis of Noise Level Due to Heavy Vehicle Traffics in the Area of Cement Plant

Industrial areas which is built in remote village attracts peoples to live nearby and spontaneously develop clusters of settlements. As now prior plan for the new settlements, houses are built on roadsides in close distance, ignoring possible dangers of not enough end new The Poros Tonasa 2 road section is one of the primary collector roads that connect the PT Semen Tonasa (PT-ST) -the main cement manufacturing plant in the Eastern Indonesia region - and the Maros-Makassar junction (the main national road in the province). The main noise problem in the environment is caused by heavy vehicles belongs to PT-ST, which occupies 715 hectares of land in Biringere village, Bungoro district, Pangkep regency, about 68 kilometers from province capital, Makassar City. This research should determine the noise level due to heavy vehicles on the Poros Tonasa 2 road of PT-ST area road to Biringkassi port. The method used in this study is by using a Sound Level Meter (SLM). From the research results, it was found that the noise level coming from the sound of heavy vehicles on the road of Poros Tonasa 2 was equal to 85.42 dB(A), the Bungoro Intersection is 81.10 dB(A) and Pahlawan Laut road to Biringkassi port is 82.4 dB(A). The noises in the PT-ST area exceeds the noise threshold stipulated in the Minister of Environment decree No: KEP-48/MENLH/11/1996. The highest noise level at 85.42 dB(A) exceeds the permissible standard of 70 dB(A), which is 18% higher than the standard. This noise level is categorized as high noise which may jeopardize human's health that live in the surrounding environment of the cement plant area.

Early farming settlement of the marginal zone of loess uplands and its palaeoenvironmental context – a case study of the Iłża Piedmont (S Poland)

Abstract The results of previous researches conducted across the upland territories of Central Europe reflect a considerably close correlation between the settlement by prehistoric agricultural societies and the ranges of the local loess covers. This correspondence – caused mainly by the high utility value of the territories in question, especially the presence of fertile soils and convenient geomorphological and hydrological conditions – is apparent even for the earliest phase of the Neolithic, and is clearly confirmed for later periods of prehistory. Until recently, this state of research concurred the interpretation that the neighbouring non-loess uplands had not been permanently settled, but only temporarily penetrated in order to exploit local resources (e.g., flint outcrops). This observation also applies to the territory being the essential subject of this paper, that is the sandy loam areas of the Iłża Piedmont, which is the direct northern forefield of the loess Sandomierz Upland. The results of interdisciplinary research conducted in this territory during the last several years allow us to considerably complete and verify the previous findings. They clearly confirm the intense and long-lasting character of the local settlement between the Early Neolithic and the Early Iron Age, as well as the typically agricultural activities of societies linked with different cultures that successively settled the discussed area during that time period. The obtained data show us the previously little known phenomenon of forming and functioning of the settlement microregions occupying uplands located outside the range of the compact loess cover, that is within ecological and landscape zones that were not preferred by prehistoric, early agricultural societies inhabiting the old upland territories of Central Europe. They also indirectly indicate the considerable flexibility and adaptability of early farmers, which made it possible for them to effectively colonise the definitely less rich territories located outside the compact area of the loess uplands since as early as the earliest phase of the Neolithic. This fact creates important possibilities for future research, allowing us to suspect that analogous settlement clusters also existed across the peripheral zones of other Central European loess uplands.

Penerapan Metode Takakura Sebagai Upaya Pengolahan Sampah Organik Skala Rumah Tangga Secara Mandiri Pada Generasi Muda

Takakura method is one of making compost method on a small scale and with continuous production. This method has advantages compared to other method, beside its practis, this ,ethode does not require any special skills to make it. This is consider suitable to be applied in order to teach waste management in the youth environment, especially to increase the knowledge and awareness of adolescents as human beings “the waste producer”. Gresik is one of the supporting areas for development of Surabaya, which is characterized by the development of settlement clusters. The growth and development of settlements in areas bordering the city of Surabaya is an indicator o the increasingly widespread socio-economic activities of the urban community towards the Surabaya-gresik border. The pattern of waste waste management that dominates in this area is an individual pattern where waste is usually burned in the fron/back yard of each residents or it is disposed of into rivers. This activities is carried out especially teenagers in Karang Taruna, Pengalangan Village, Gresik ragenciy can become agents of change in society and can be more responsible for the waste they produced. In addition, this training activitiey can also be a provision for teenagers to be more empowered and foster an entrepreneurial spirit both individually or groups

Mars and Mercury. A golden wolf from Western Poland – a mysterious find

Abstract The paper discusses a mysterious zoomorphic wolf-shaped copper alloy artefact that was discovered as a stray find in Międzyrzecz (Poland). The find is bar-like with a profiled engraved image of a lying animal, possibly a wolf. It is locally gilded on the visible side of “wolf” details. The gilding was made using an amalgam technique known since Antiquity, with the base metal composed of arsenical copper alloy with lead addition. A fixing element made of iron has only survived fragmentarily, which renders the reconstruction of the entire artefact’s shape impossible. Its function has not been identified, but a broad spectrum of possible interpretations has been proposed. Stylistic traits allow to date the artefact to the Migration Period, or more specifically to the 6th century. The wolf image implies that the artefact can be related to the Germanic warriors’ world. At present, it cannot be determined whether there was a 6th century settlement cluster in the vicinity of Międzyrzecz to which the find can be related, or we are dealing with an isolated testimony of population translocations.

ДЕМОГРАФИЧЕСКАЯ ДИНАМИКА И ТРАНСФОРМАЦИЯ СИСТЕМЫ РАССЕЛЕНИЯ НА СЕВЕРЕ РОССИИ В КООРДИНАТАХ ПЕРЕПИСИ НАСЕЛЕНИЯ 2021 ГОДА

Over the past decades, the population of the North of Russia has decreased by more than a quarter. The leading cause is migration outflow, with natural population movement also contributing to the overall population decline. Comparing the data of the last two censuses will make it possible to understand the full depth of the transformational processes. The purpose of the study is to analyze the demographic trends and changes in population distribution in the North of Russia based on the results of the 2021 All-Russian Population Census. The originality of the article lies in the fact that the analysis was carried out at all levels: the macro level, regions, municipalities, and urban settlements. The article shows that with a general population decline, there is further urbanization of the northern regions and a reduction in the number and proportion of rural residents. Particularly high population decline is demonstrated by such regions of the European North as the republics of Komi and Karelia as well as the Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions. The authors have identified trends in population distribution, such as an increase in the proportion of the population of large cities and a decrease in the average population of towns and urban-type settlements. Population distribution in the North of Russia is influenced by factors such as the size of the settlement, economic specialization, ethnic composition, and geographical location of the settlement. With the help of spatial analysis, the study identified the clusters of municipalities and settlements with the best and worst trends since 2010. Using Lorenz curves and the Gini coefficient, the authors studied the unevenness of population distribution and economic activity. The study also revealed that in the vast majority of municipalities in the North, the proportion of men has decreased, which may adversely affect local labor markets. The results of the study may find application in public administration and the development of strategies and programs for the socioeconomic development of the northern territories. Further research should consider such characteristics of the population as age, ethnic composition, place of birth, length of residence, number of children, and housing conditions.

Classic Maya Settlement Systems Reveal Differential Land Use Patterns in the Upper Belize River Valley

Land use practices have had important implications for structuring household inequalities and broader political systems in the past. Our contribution examines settlement patterns in relation to political structure, household wealth, ecological productivity and agricultural techniques. Combining settlement pattern data with high–precision soils data, we examine the extent to which different trajectories of polity formation impact the settlement location and land use practices of intermediate elites and commoners. The Classic Maya (CE 250/300–900) polities of Baking Pot and Lower Dover in the Upper Belize River Valley serve as enlightening case studies because despite being situated near one another, the two centers emerged along very different trajectories. Whereas the polity of Baking Pot arose slowly, in tandem with surrounding demography, the neighboring polity of Lower Dover arose rapidly in the Late Classic period (CE 600–900) in an area which was already home to established local populations. Our analysis shows that while Baking Pot had substantial settlement clustering around its epicenter, populations at Lower Dover aggregated around secondary and tertiary centers farther away from the polity core. Analyses also demonstrate that most commoner and intermediate elite residences were situated on the most productive agricultural lands in the region, though some intermediate elite households were situated on hilltops or in border zones with marginal soil productivity for political and tactical reasons. Commoner households were situated on a range of productivity zones reflecting diverse land–use practices which had implications for household wealth. Our case study illustrates the importance of integrating land use practices into our reconstructions of ancient political hierarchies, especially in terms of understanding political strategies and household wealth.

Mountain valleys, alluvial fans and oases: Geomorphologic perspectives of the mixed agropastoral economy in Xinjiang (3000–200 BC)

Xinjiang serves as a hub for trans-Eurasian exchange. The Xinjiang hominids are supposed to be greatly influenced by the environment due to the fragile ecology and arid climate. As the territory with the most significant and complex geomorphic units in Inner Asia, Xinjiang features a diverse spectrum of geomorphic forms, including mountains, basins, deserts, river valleys, and oases. This paper presents a systematic summary of the geomorphic locations of 127 Bronze Age to early Iron Age (3000–200 BC) sites and cemeteries in Xinjiang and their economic strategies, exploring the different economic choices of ancient humans who lived in other geomorphic units, and how they adapted to their microenvironments. We have divided Xinjiang into five regions: the Junggar Basin, the Tarim Basin, the Western Tianshan Mountains, the middle Tianshan Mountains, and the Eastern Tianshan Mountains. Our study shows that there were different agropastoral economic modes in different geographical units. Roughly bounded by the Tianshan Mountains, the economy in northern Xinjiang was heavily based on animal husbandry, while oasis farming was popular in the Southern Xinjiang reigon. From the perspective of geomorphology, most sites are situated in mountain valleys, alluvial fans, and oases regions with surface water sources and fine-textured soil cover. Sites near mountains were more likely to develop a mixed pastoral-hunting economy, and oasis communities of a specific size were more likely to build a mixed agricultural-pastoral economy. In large river valleys or alluvial fans, it is expected that settlement clusters and large central settlements will grow, leading to the emergence of social complexity. This study will help to understand the complex “man-land” dynamics between 3000 and 200 BC in Xinjiang.

A Preliminary Study of Livelihood Challenges in Water Settlement Area in Northern Sarawak, Malaysia

Water settlement area, also known as water village, is situated above the water and is frequently referred to as a fishing village due to the majority of the population's occupation as fishermen. It consists of a cluster of typical river-long stilt settlements, most of which are located near or outside the city. This paper is a preliminary study in identifying the difficulties of sustaining a living in a water settlement area. The significance of this paper lies in its examination of the obstacles related to the safety of villagers on the water. In this article, qualitative face-to-face interviews with respondents served as the research method, and the obtained data were analysed using thematic analysis. There are three identified challenges that can affect community safety in this geographical area. Water village communities are among the most vulnerable populations, more likely than others to require humanitarian aid or be excluded from financial and social services. Consequently, this article can also be used as a relevant resource for the development and improvement of strategies related to the same problem that occurs in other villages on water and can increase the level of safety for villagers.

Mapping the Settlements of Slavic Tribes of the Zarubyntsi Culture of the 3rd Century BC — 2nd Century AD

Ethnological studies of the Slavic tribes of the Nevrians, Scythians-farmers and Scythians-ploughmen of the 7th–3rd centuries BC in the Middle and Upper Dnieper region on the territory of Ukraine, Belarus and the Russian Federation, which were published in the previous issues of the "Ukrainoznavstvo" journal, approved a new method of socio-cultural anthropology – the method of tribal geography. It was established that in the social life of East Slavic tribes, the main participant was the clan, and not the patriarchal family, family or neighborhood community. Despite the appearance of the works of Bachofen, McLennan, Morgan, Kovalevsky, Kosven and other researchers, Soviet ideas about the patriarchal family as the embryo of society have not yet disappeared in archeology, and the relationship to the community, family and tribe has not yet changed. Archaeologists are still investigating the ethnically undefined bearers of archaeological cultures.But archaeologists know that the tribal system and the placement of ancestral settlements in nests existed on all continents of the planet since the Paleolithic era. Therefore, tribal geography opens up new opportunities for researching the lands inhabited by Slavic tribes - the ancestors of the Ukrainian people, which is of great interest all over the world. Elements of historical geography in the study of the ethnogenesis of the Slavs at the beginning of the 20th century used by V. Khvoika, researching about 500 settlements of different times in Ukraine. L. Niederle developed a map of the resettlement of Slavic tribes from the areas of initial residence, which, according to B. Rybakov's observations, corresponds to the main contours of the territory of the settlement of the Slavs for two millennia. Systematic cartographic studies of the settlements of the Slavic tribes of the Upper Dnieper region were carried out by L. Pobol, a supporter of V. Khvoika's autochthonous theory of the origin of the Slavs. The St. Petersburg school of archaeologists (M. Shchukin, V. Yeremenko, K. Kasparova), which adheres to the migration theory, still opposes the autochthonous theory. Ukrainian researcher S. Pachkova successfully proves the fallacy of the migration theory. We have collected the material of the nest cluster of Zarubyntsi culture settlements in the period of the 3rd century BC – 2nd century AD on modern maps at a scale of 1:850,000 for Belarus and 1:250,000 for Ukraine and the Russian Federation and it confirms the autochthonous theory of the origin of the Slavs and, including, the autochthonousness of the Ukrainian people. These and subsequent similar studies make it possible to reveal the characteristic features of the ethnogenesis of Ukrainian Slavs from the annalistic tribes of Kievan Rus to the Iron, Bronze, and Copper Ages.

In the footsteps of Early Christian rural communities (4th-9th centuries AD): exploring a sacred landscape in central Sicily combining digital technologies and experimental archaeology

In Sicily, phenomenological approaches have not been applied to the archaeological investigation of the ancient, settled landscape. By combining digital technologies and experimental archaeology, this article explores the human perception of an early Christian sacred landscape in central Sicily. Here, late Roman and early medieval settlement patterns appear organised within rural districts, each with a cluster of settlements centred around major villages yielding places of worships and necropolises. The goal was to assess the extent to which communities in these settlements were part of an interconnected territorial system structured around churches, road networks, and intervening sites. A threefold strategy was employed, including: (i) theoretical GIS analyses of the study-area; (ii) the testing of GIS-formulated logarithms through fieldwork; and (iii) the collection of data that was fed into the GIS and evaluated for differences between empirical perceptions and computer-based analyses.

Quantitative assessment and comparison of urban patterns in Germany and the United States

In this paper, we present methods to assess the homogeneity of the settlement landscape and to identify settlement clusters in terms of location and size. Due to various input data, methodologies, and spatial concepts, there are only a few international comparative research studies with quantitative, spatial approaches to date. Existing studies are mostly qualitative and empirically hardly replicable. Here, we introduce two novel methodological approaches to describe urban land patterns in a numerically stable, consistent and globally comparable manner. The first method evaluates the multi-scale homogeneity of the settlements and the respective density distributions in a purely non-parametric approach. The second method transfers the settlement patterns into a Gaussian Mixture Model via hierarchical multi-scale clustering in order to describe each cluster by the parameters of a 2D Gaussian distribution. In order to proof the robustness of both approaches, two different reference units are considered for the interpretation of the results: OECD functional urban areas and standardized subsets of 200 km × 200 km around the same central cities. We show that German urban areas are characterized by a higher heterogeneity within a smaller neighbourhood with an almost symmetric density distribution in comparison to urban areas in the U.S. Furthermore, German urban areas possess an increasing homogeneity with increasing size, i.e., the larger the urban agglomeration, the more uniform it appears. It is the contrary in the U.S. These findings are substantiated by the analysis of individual city centres. In Germany, many clusters of similar size define the urban region, whereas in the U.S. one large dominating cluster exceeds most neighbouring settlements significantly. The study is performed on the Global Urban Footprint Density, which assigns a density value to each urban pixel of about 30 m by 30 m. In this way, the approach is a blueprint to be extended to urban patterns of any spatial unit worldwide.

Sacred Spaces and Liminal Behavior in Levantine Temples in Antis

Abstract Temples in antis provide clearly defined liminal spaces for ritual behaviors that are readily recognizable both textually and archaeologically. This architectural form and the religious tradition it embodied were remarkably widespread geographically and temporally, spanning the Levant and Greater Syria from the end of the Early Bronze Age until the early Iron Age. Although the Southern Levant has been characterized as highly urbanized during the Middle Bronze Age, settlement pattern analysis suggests that it was fragmented into numerous polities, as documented subsequently in the Late Bronze Age Amarna Letters. In contrast, Levantine towns and villages shared a common religious tradition marked by ritual behaviors within clearly marked liminal spaces. These behaviors are readily recognizable archaeologically at Tell el-Hayyat, Jordan, where they are framed in temple enclosures by distinct architecturally-defined boundaries, and signaled by feasting on sheep and goat, and deposition of copper-alloy figurines, tools and metallurgical remains. These lines of material and architectural evidence, and the liminal behaviors they reflect, linked villages and towns in localized Levantine polities, as exemplified among a cluster of settlements in the northern Jordan Valley. Parallel sequences of four temples in antis at Tell el-Hayyat and nearby Pella (ancient Piḫilu in the Amarna Letters) developed in tandem through the Middle Bronze Age, suggesting that temple construction and rebuilding was coordinated between town and village communities. Further examples of temples in antis and patterns of material deposition and liminal behavior suggest that this temple form and its associated ritual tradition were spread throughout the Southern Levant as part of a much larger and longer-lived cultural tradition extending across Greater Syria, which has been characterized as a Middle Bronze Age cultural koinè. Thus, despite its fractious local political environment, Middle Bronze Age Levantine society was grounded in a remarkably broad cultural tradition marked by the sacred spaces and liminal behaviors associated with temples in antis.

A Late Antique Rural Community in Mérida

This paper presents the contextualized results of the latest excavations at the site of Casa Herrera (Mérida, Spain). Casa Herrera is one of the best examples of a late antique site in the Iberian Peninsula, not only because of the degree of preservation of the remains but also because of its long chronological sequence, which runs from the first to the ninth century. The excavations of the surroundings of the funerary basilica and the Roman aqueduct have unearthed the remains of a handful of buildings that could be linked to a rural monastic community from the late Roman and Visigothic periods. The site has an Umayyad phase where settlement clusters around the basilica before being finally abandoned during the ninth century.