Death and Changing Rituals
Death and Changing Rituals

Author: J. Rasmus Brandt

Publisher: Oxbow Books

Published: 2014-07-31

Total Pages: 481

ISBN-13: 1782976396

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The forms by which a deceased person may be brought to rest are as many as there are causes of death. In most societies the disposal of the corpse is accompanied by some form of celebration or ritual which may range from a simple act of deportment in solitude to the engagement of large masses of people in laborious and creative festivities. In a funerary context the term ritual may be taken to represent a process that incorporates all the actions performed and thoughts expressed in connection with a dying and dead person, from the preparatory pre-death stages to the final deposition of the corpse and the post-mortem stages of grief and commemoration. The contributions presented here are focused not on the examination of different funerary practices, their function and meaning, but on the changes of such rituals _ how and when they occurred and how they may be explained. Based on case studies from a range of geographical regions and from different prehistoric and historical periods, a range of key themes are examined concerning belief and ritual, body and deposition, place, performance and commemoration, exploring a complex web of practices.

Overturning Certainties in Near Eastern Archaeology
Overturning Certainties in Near Eastern Archaeology

Author: Çiğdem Maner

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2017-09-18

Total Pages: 717

ISBN-13: 9004353577

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This volume, Overturning Certainties in Near Eastern Archaeology, is a festschrift dedicated to Professor K. Aslıhan Yener in honor of over four decades of exemplary research, teaching, fieldwork, and publication. The thirty-five chapters presented by her colleagues includes a broad, interdisciplinary range of studies in archaeology, archaeometry, art history, and epigraphy of the Ancient Near East, especially reflecting Prof Yener’s interests in metallurgy, small finds, trade, Anatolia, and the site of Tell Atchana/Alalakh. "The richness of this volume inevitably emerges from those contributions on exchange and technology using philology and/or archaeology." - David A. Warburton, Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations, Northeast Normal University, in: Bibliotheca Orientalis 76,1-2 (2019)

Focus on Fortifications
Focus on Fortifications

Author: Rune Frederiksen

Publisher: Oxbow Books

Published: 2016-05-31

Total Pages: 745

ISBN-13: 1785701347

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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.

Thrace through the Ages
Thrace through the Ages

Author: Zeynep Koçel Erdem

Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd

Published: 2023-06-08

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 180327462X

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This volume draws attention to the importance of pottery evidence in evaluating archaeological material from Thrace. The volume considers the informative value of pottery in tracing cultural and political phases, by providing us with important data about production centres, commercial relations, daily life, religious rituals and burial customs.

Landscape and History in the Lykos Valley
Landscape and History in the Lykos Valley

Author: Francesco D’Andria

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2017-05-11

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 1443892297

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This book explores archaeological excavations and investigations into the history of the Lykos valley, Turkey. The contributions discuss the latest discoveries at the Ploutonion of Hierapolis; the excavations of the tabernae in Tripolis; the Lykos Valley in prehistory and the second millennium BC; the origins of the marble used in Hierapolis; and archaeo-botanic studies in Hierapolis, among others. Taken together, all the articles gathered here reveal the strong connections between the cities of the valley.

The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia
The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia

Author: Philipp Niewohner

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017-03-17

Total Pages: 481

ISBN-13: 019066262X

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This book accounts for the tumultuous period of the fifth to eleventh centuries from the Fall of Rome and the collapse of the Western Roman Empire through the breakup of the Eastern Roman Empire and loss of pan-Mediterranean rule, until the Turks arrived and seized Anatolia. The volume is divided into a dozen syntheses that each addresses an issue of intrigue for the archaeology of Anatolia, and two dozen case studies on single sites that exemplify its richness. Anatolia was the only major part of the Roman Empire that did not fall in late antiquity; it remained steadfast under Roman rule through the eleventh century. Its personal history stands to elucidate both the emphatic impact of Roman administration in the wake of pan-Mediterranean collapse. Thanks to Byzantine archaeology, we now know that urban decline did not set in before the fifth century, after Anatolia had already be thoroughly Christianized in the course of the fourth century; we know now that urban decline, as it occurred from the fifth century onwards, was paired with rural prosperity, and an increase in the number, size, and quality of rural settlements and in rural population; that this ruralization was halted during the seventh to ninth centuries, when Anatolia was invaded first by the Persians, and then by the Arabs---and the population appears to have sought shelter behind new urban fortifications and in large cathedrals. Further, it elucidates that once the Arab threat had ended in the ninth century, this ruralization set in once more, and most cities seem to have been abandoned or reduced to villages during the ensuing time of seeming tranquility, whilst the countryside experienced renewed prosperity; that this trend was reversed yet again, when the Seljuk Turks appeared on the scene in the eleventh century, devastated the countryside and led to a revival and refortification of the former cities. This dynamic historical thread, traced across its extremes through the lens of Byzantine archaeology, speaks not only to the torrid narrative of Byzantine Anatolia, but to the enigmatic medievalization.

LRCW 6: Late Roman Coarse Wares, Cooking Wares and Amphorae in the Mediterranean: Archaeology and Archaeometry
LRCW 6: Late Roman Coarse Wares, Cooking Wares and Amphorae in the Mediterranean: Archaeology and Archaeometry

Author: Valentina Caminneci

Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd

Published: 2023-09-07

Total Pages: 966

ISBN-13: 1803271493

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This volume presents almost 100 papers deriving from the 6th International Conference on Late Roman Coarse Wares, Cooking Wares and Amphorae in the Mediterranean. Themes comprise sea and land routes, workshops and production centres, and regional contexts (western Mediterranean, eastern Mediterranean, Sicily and the Mediterranean islands).

Luwian Identities
Luwian Identities

Author: Alice Mouton

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2013-06-03

Total Pages: 612

ISBN-13: 9004253416

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The Luwians inhabited Anatolia and Syria in late second through early first millennium BC. They are mainly known through their Indo-European language, preserved on cuneiform tablets and hieroglyphic stelae. However, where the Luwians lived or came from, how they coexisted with their Hittite and Greek neighbors, and the peculiarities of their religion and material culture, are all debatable matters. A conference convened in Reading in June 2011 in order to discuss the current state of the debate, summarize points of disagreement, and outline ways of addressing them in future research. The papers presented at this conference were collected in the present volume, whose goal is to bring into being a new interdisciplinary field, Luwian Studies. "To conclude, the editors of this volume on Luwian identities and the authors of the individual papers are to be congratulatedwith a successful sequel to TheLuwians of 2003 edited by Melchert and with yet another substantial brick in the foundation of the incipient discipline of Luwian studies." Fred C. Woudhuizen

Late Bronze Age Painted Pottery Traditions at the Margins of the Hittite State
Late Bronze Age Painted Pottery Traditions at the Margins of the Hittite State

Author: Federico Manuelli

Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd

Published: 2022-12-29

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 1803272023

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The intent of this volume is to break through the boundaries usually imposed by the study of 2nd millennium BC pottery production in Anatolia. 12 papers of leading specialists working on relevant material offer, for the first time, the possibility of a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of painted pottery in the 2nd millennium BC.