Download or read book Challenging Climate Change written by Arne Wossink and published by Sidestone Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout history, climate change has been an important driving force behind human behaviour. This archaeological study seeks to understand the complex interrelations between that behaviour and climatic fluctuations, focussing on how climate affected the social relations between neighbouring communities of occasionally differing nature. It is argued that developments in these relations will fall within a continuum between competition on one end and cooperation on the other. The adoption of a particular strategy depends on whether that strategy is advantageous to a community in terms of the maintenance of its well-being when faced with adverse climate change. This model will be applied to northern Mesopotamia between 3000 and 1600 BC. Local palaeoclimate proxy records demonstrate that aridity increased significantly during this period. Within this geographical, chronological, and climatic framework, this study looks at changes in settlement patterns as an indication of competition among sedentary agriculturalist communities, and the development of the Amorite ethnic identity as reflecting cooperation among sedentary and more mobile pastoralist communities.

Download or read book Working at Home in the Ancient Near East written by Juliette Mas and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2020-05-21 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume examines the organization, scale, and the socio-economic role played by institutional and non-institutional households, as well as the social use of domestic spaces in Bronze Age Mesopotamia.

Download or read book Power and Architecture written by Joachim Bretschneider and published by Peeters Publishers. This book was released on 2007 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The idea that societies and rulers express their power through monumental architecture is not a new one, but this collection of essays, the result of a 2002 conference in Leuven, takes the arguement back to the very beginnings of monumental architecture in the Bronze Age Near East and Aegean, to ask if this process can be linked to a particular ...

Download or read book Archaeological Landscapes of the Near East written by T. J. Wilkinson and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2003-11-01 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Society for American Archaeology Book Award Winner Many fundamental studies of the origins of states have built upon landscape data, but an overall study of the Near Eastern landscape itself has never been attempted. Spanning thousands of years of history, the ancient Near East presents a bewildering range of landscapes, the understanding of which can greatly enhance our ability to infer past political and social systems. Tony Wilkinson now shows that throughout the Holocene humans altered the Near Eastern environment so thoroughly that the land has become a human artifact, albeit one that retains the power to shape human societies. In this trailblazing book—the first to describe and explain the development of the Near Eastern landscape using archaeological data—Wilkinson identifies specific landscape signatures for various regions and periods, from the early stages of complex societies in the fifth to sixth millennium B.C. to the close of the Early Islamic period around the tenth century A.D. From Bronze Age city-states to colonized steppes, these signature landscapes of irrigation systems, tells, and other features changed through time along with changes in social, economic, political, and environmental conditions. By weaving together the record of the human landscape with evidence of settlement, the environment, and social and economic conditions, Wilkinson provides a holistic view of the ancient Near East that complements archaeological excavations, cuneiform texts, and other conventional sources. Through this overview, culled from thirty years' research, Wilkinson establishes a new framework for understanding the economic and physical infrastructure of the region. By describing the basic attributes of the ancient cultural landscape and placing their development within the context of a dynamic environment, he breaks new ground in landscape archaeology and offers a new context for understanding the ancient Near East.

Download or read book Religion and Ideology in Assyria written by Beate Pongratz-Leisten and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2015-09-25 with total page 556 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Addressing the relationship between religion and ideology, and drawing on a range of literary, ritual, and visual sources, this book reconstructs the cultural discourse of Assyria from the third through the first millennium BCE. Ideology is delineated here as a subdiscourse of religion rather than as an independent category, anchoring it firmly within the religious world view. Tracing Assur's cultural interaction with the south on the one hand, and with the Syro-Anatolian horizon on the other, this volume articulates a "northern" cultural discourse that, even while interacting with southern Mesopotamian tradition, managed to maintain its own identity. It also follows the development of tropes and iconic images from the first city state of Uruk and their mouvance between myth, image, and royal inscription, historiography and myth, and myth and ritual, suggesting that, with the help of scholars, key royal figures were responsible for introducing new directions for the ideological discourse and for promoting new forms of historiography.

Download or read book Bridging the Gap Disciplines Times and Spaces in Dialogue Volume 1 written by Christian W. Hess and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2021-12-31 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Proceedings of the Broadening Horizons 6 conference (2019): Volume 1 presents 17 papers from Session 1: Entanglement. Material Culture and Written Sources in Dialogue; Session 2: Integrating Sciences in Historical and Archaeological Research; and Session 5: Which Continuity? Evaluating Stability, Transformation, and Change in Transitional Periods.

Download or read book Dictionary of the Ancient Near East written by Piotr Bienkowski and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2010-03-09 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An authoritative guide to the whole of the cradle of civilization.

Download or read book The Islamic Byzantine Frontier written by A. Asa Eger and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2014-11-18 with total page 489 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The retreat of the Byzantine army from Syria in around 650 CE, in advance of the approaching Arab armies, is one that has resounded emphatically in the works of both Islamic and Christian writers, and created an enduring motif: that of the Islamic-Byzantine frontier. For centuries, Byzantine and Islamic scholars have evocatively sketched a contested border: the annual raids between the two, the line of fortified fortresses defending Islamic lands, the no-man's land in between and the birth of jihad. In their early representations of a Muslim-Christian encounter, accounts of the Islamic-Byzantine frontier are charged with significance for a future 'clash of civilizations' that often envisions a polarised world. A. Asa Eger examines the two aspects of this frontier: its physical and ideological ones. By highlighting the archaeological study of the real and material frontier, as well as acknowledging its ideological military and religious implications, he offers a more complex vision of this dividing line than has been traditionally disseminated. With analysis grounded in archaeological evidence as well the relevant historical texts, Eger brings together a nuanced exploration of this vital element of medieval history.

Download or read book Proceedings of the 4th International Congress of the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East 29 March 3 April 2004 Freie Universit t Berlin The reconstruction of environment natural resources and human interrelations through time art history visual communication written by Hartmut Kühne and published by Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. This book was released on 2008 with total page 690 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Congress hosted 611 registered participants from 38 countries. Its aim was to be an international forum for scholars and demands of Near Eastern Archaeology. From the four sections of the Congress, Vol. I: 1) The Reconstruction of Environment. Natural Resources and Human Interrelation through Time, 2) Visual Communication, [Vol. II: 3) Social and Cultural Transformation: The Archaeology of Transitional Periods and Dark Ages, 4) Archaeological Field Reports (Excavations, Surveys, Conservation) ISBN 978344705757-8].Together these volumes unite 77 contributions on about 1100 pages. They are arranged according to the sections. The rst three will be introduced by the key lectures which were given by Tony Wilkinson, Winfried Orthmann, and Roger Matthews. The resumes of these sections were provided by Wendy Matthews, Dominik Bonatz, and Diederik J.W. Meijer. The contributions cover many aspects of the main themes through time, from the Neolithic to the Hellenistic / Roman period, and offer interdisciplinary approaches to complex archaeological problems.

Download or read book A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East written by D. T. Potts and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2012-08-15 with total page 1509 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A COMPANION TO THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East is a comprehensive and authoritative overview of ancient material culture from the late Pleistocene to Late Antiquity. This expansive two-volume work includes 58 new essays from an international community of ancient Near East scholars. With coverage extending from Asia Minor, the eastern Mediterranean, and Egypt to the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Indo-Iranian borderlands, the book highlights the enormous variation in cultural developments across roughly 11,000 years of human endeavor. In addition to chapters devoted to specific regions and particular periods, many contributors concentrate on individual industries and major themes in ancient Near Eastern archaeology, ranging from metallurgy and agriculture to irrigation and fishing. Controversial issues, including the nature and significance of the antiquities market, ethical considerations in archaeological praxis, the history of the foundation of departments of antiquities, and ancient attitudes towards the past, make this a unique collection of studies that will be of interest to scholars, students, and interested readers alike.

Download or read book Focus on Fortifications written by Rune Frederiksen and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2016-05-31 with total page 975 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With a collection of 57 articles in English, French and German, presenting the most recent research on ancient fortifications, this book is the most substantial publication ever to have issued on the topic for many years. While fortifications of the ancient cultures of the middle east and ancient Greek and Roman worlds were noticed by travelers and scholars from the very beginning of research on antiquity from the late 18th century onwards, the architectural, economic, logistical, political, urban and other social aspects of fortifications have been somewhat overlooked and underestimated by scholarship in the 20th century. The book presents the research of a new generation of scholars who have been analyzing those aspects of fortifications, many of them with years of experience in fieldwork on city walls. Much new evidence and a fresh look at this important category of built structure is now made available, and the publication will be of interest not only to the field of ancient architecture, but also to other sub-disciplines of archaeology and ancient history. The papers were presented at a conference in Athens in December 2012, and they all present material and discuss topics under seven headings that represent the most central themes in the study of fortification in antiquity: the origins of fortification, physical surroundings and building technique, function and semantics, historical context, the fortification of regions and regionally confined phenomena, the fortifications of Athens and new field research. The book is Volume 2 in the new series Fokus Fortifikation Studies, created by the German based international research network Fokus Fortifikation. The topics included have been identified by the network over many previous conferences and workshops as being the most important and as needing research and discussion beyond the network members. Volume 1 in the series, Ancient Fortifications: a compendium of theory and practice (Oxbow Books) will also appear in 2015 and together the two volumes bring the field of fortification studies up-to-date and will be an essential resource for many years to come.

Download or read book Cities and the Shaping of Memory in the Ancient Near East written by Ömür Harmanşah and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-03-18 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book investigates the practice of constructing cities in the ancient Near East, bringing together architecture and cultural history.

Download or read book Ancient Near Eastern Art in Context written by Jack Cheng and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2007-06-22 with total page 540 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through her published works and in the classroom, Irene J. Winter has served as a mentor for the latest generation of scholars of Mesopotamian visual culture. The various contributions to this volume in her honor represent a cross section of the state of scholarship today. Topics by the twenty authors include palatial and temple architecture, royal sculpture, gender in the ancient Near East, and interdisciplinary studies that range from the fourth millennium BCE to modern ethnography and cover Sumer, Assyria, Babylonia, Iran, Syria, Urartu, and the Levant. Reflections on Winter’s scholarship and teaching accompany her bibliography. The volume will be useful for scholars who are curious about how visual culture is being used to study the ancient Near East.

Download or read book Building between the Two Rivers An Introduction to the Building Archaeology of Ancient Mesopotamia written by Stefano Anastasio and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2020-08-27 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume introduces university students and scholars of Near Eastern archaeology to 'Building archaeology' methods as applied to the context of Ancient Mesopotamia. It helps the reader understand the principles underlying this discipline and to realise what knowledge and skills are needed, beyond those that are specific to archaeologists.

Download or read book The Archaeology of Political Spaces written by Dominik Bonatz and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, consisting of 12 contributions, amalgamates the most recent results from archaeological research in the Upper Mesopotamian piedmont. Under the growing influence of expanding territorial states which had become established during the 2nd millennium BC, this region experienced a substantial change in social and political life during that time. The discussion is centered around settlement shapes, developments in the material culture, as well as written documents that attest to this change. In summary, this book emphasizes the significant roll of archaeological research in the reconstruction of models concerning the formation and transformation of political space in the ancient world.

Download or read book Wool Economy in the Ancient Near East written by Catherine Breniquet and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2014-07-31 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of the Ancient Near East covers a huge chronological frame, from the first pictographic texts of the late 4th millennium to the conquest of Alexander the Great in 333 BC. During these millennia, different societies developed in a changing landscape where sheep (and their wool) always played an important economic role. The 22 papers presented here explore the place of wool in the ancient economy of the region, where large-scale textile production began during the second half of the 3rd millennium. By placing emphasis on the development of multi-disciplinary methodologies, experimentation and use of archaeological evidence combined with ancient textual sources, the wide-ranging contributions explore a number of key themes. These include: the first uses of wool in textile manufacture and organization of weaving; trade and exchange; the role of wool in institutionalized economies; and the reconstruction of the processes that led to this first form of industry in Antiquity. The numerous archaeological and written sources provide an enormous amount of data on wool, textile crafts, and clothing and these inter-disciplinary studies are beginning to present a comprehensive picture of the economic and cultural impact of woollen textiles and textile manufacturing on formative ancient societies.

Download or read book Chasing Chariots written by André J. Veldmeijer and published by Sidestone Press. This book was released on 2013-12-01 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The present work is the result of the First International Chariot Conference, jointly organised by the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC) and the American University in Cairo (AUC) (30 November to 2 December 2012). The intention of the conference was to make a broad assessment of the current state of knowledge about chariots in Egypt and the Near East, and to provide a forum for discussion. A wide variety of papers are included, ranging from overviews to more detailed studies focusing on a specific topic. These include philology, iconography, archaeology, engineering, history, and conservation. The book is of interest to scholars as well as anyone with an interest in ancient technology, transportation, or warfare.