Megalithic Jordan

Megalithic Jordan PDF Author: Gajus Scheltema
Publisher: American Center of Oriental Research
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
Dolmens and standing stones from human prehistory are widely distributed in Jordan. Megalithic (Greek for large stone) architecture has been found in large areas of the Middle East. Megalithic Jordan is a delightful field guide of where to find and how to get to the major megalithic monuments in Jordan, and it covers other related stone constructions such as stone alignments, stone circles, cairns, cists, cup holes and rock-cut tombs. While the guide does not claim to exhaustively cover every stone monument in Jordan, it is an accessible introductory work on the subject and discusses with candor the problem of preserving the megalithic monuments from destruction resulting from urban expansion or human malfeasance. The author Gajus Scheltema was the Dutch Ambassador to the Kingdom of Jordan between 2003-2007. While living in Jordan Scheltema became interested in the dolmens and standing stones in the landscape and took on the task to review existing scholarship on these stones and document as many as he could possibly find. His wish to discover these sites became a desire to help to protect them.

Megalithic Jordan

Megalithic Jordan PDF Author: Gajus Scheltema
Publisher: American Center of Oriental Research
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 152

Get Book Here

Book Description
Dolmens and standing stones from human prehistory are widely distributed in Jordan. Megalithic (Greek for large stone) architecture has been found in large areas of the Middle East. Megalithic Jordan is a delightful field guide of where to find and how to get to the major megalithic monuments in Jordan, and it covers other related stone constructions such as stone alignments, stone circles, cairns, cists, cup holes and rock-cut tombs. While the guide does not claim to exhaustively cover every stone monument in Jordan, it is an accessible introductory work on the subject and discusses with candor the problem of preserving the megalithic monuments from destruction resulting from urban expansion or human malfeasance. The author Gajus Scheltema was the Dutch Ambassador to the Kingdom of Jordan between 2003-2007. While living in Jordan Scheltema became interested in the dolmens and standing stones in the landscape and took on the task to review existing scholarship on these stones and document as many as he could possibly find. His wish to discover these sites became a desire to help to protect them.

The Megaliths of Vera Island in the Southern Urals

The Megaliths of Vera Island in the Southern Urals PDF Author: Stanislav Grigoriev
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1789692431
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
The largest and brightest megalithic complex in Russia’s Ural Mountains is located on Vera Island, represented by three chambered megaliths and sanctuaries of the Eneolithic period (mid-4th - 3rd millennium BC). The oldest samples of stone sculpture in the Urals have been revealed within this complex.

Megalithism

Megalithism PDF Author: Alberto Pozzi
Publisher: Universal-Publishers
ISBN: 1612332552
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 403

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Book Description
Megalithism, or the art of using huge boulders to create sacred, pagan monuments and sites, still fascinates us today. How did Prehistoric man cut, transport, and place such enormous stones, some weighing up to 200 metric tons, without bulldozers, drills, and cranes? Yet primitive man, without the written word or wheel, created structures which still stupefy us in the 21st century, both due to their components and the precision used in positioning them. This book takes us back in time to the 5th-2nd millennia B.C. and helps us visualise the Stone Age world and its constructions - menhirs, dolmens, rows and circles of standing stones. Undoubtedly they were sacred places, used for pagan rituals and funerary purposes, but the author also gives us details of their astronomic and physical alignment, which clearly demonstrates the knowledge of the heavens these ancestors had and how they applied it without slide-rules, set squares, and theodolites. The high priests of ancient times could calculate when the solstices and equinoxes would occur and thus regulate the seasons for sowing and reaping. The author's careful and updated identification of all such structures leads us through 'Ancient European Megalithism' complete with the religious and social aspects of it and its pagan legacies. He does not neglect forms of 'sub-actual' megalithism either - the use of massive stones by peoples described as primitive but with a relatively advanced culture who lived in times closer to our own in Africa, Asia, and South America. The myths and legends arising from the megalithic structures are recounted here in detail; the author also describes megalithic art in the form of statue-stele and menhir statues, as well as the often intricate decoration carved on single stones and in construction such as dolmens, funerary mounds, astronomic observatories, and temples. He also describes studies and experiments on the methods of transport and construction used by Prehistoric peoples, together with conflicting opinions and theories. Amply illustrated with photographs and drawings, Megalithism guides the reader through every part of the megalithic world with smooth-flowing text that will be accessible to specialists and interested general public alike.

The Tall al-Hammam Excavations, Volume 1

The Tall al-Hammam Excavations, Volume 1 PDF Author: Steven Collins
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 1575063700
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 403

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Book Description
The Tall al-Hamman Excavations, Volume 1 is the first in a series of reports on the Tall al-Hammam Excavation Project, directed by Steven Collins of Trinity Southwest University and assisted by Gary Byers and Carroll Kobs, assistant dig directors. Co-author Mike Luddeni has been dig photographer since the inception of the Project. Excavations began in Jordan in 2005–2006 and have continued annually, without break, up to the present. This volume presents an overview of the site, with a period-by-period overview of Tall al-Hammam and its relationship to other sites in the vicinity in the Jordan Valley. It also includes the pottery profiles and assemblages and artifacts discovered in the course of these seasons. Future volumes will include in-depth excavation reports for specific areas of the Tall.

Dolmens in the Levant

Dolmens in the Levant PDF Author: James A. Fraser
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351375423
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 557

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Book Description
When Western explorers first encountered dolmens in the Levant, they thought they had discovered the origins of a megalithic phenomenon that spread as far as the Atlantic coast. Although European dolmens are now considered an unrelated tradition, many researchers continue to approach dolmens in the Levant as part of a trans-regional phenomenon that spanned the Taurus mountains to the Arabian peninsula. By tightly defining the term 'dolmen' itself, this book brings these mysterious monuments into sharper focus. Drawing on historical, archaeological and geological sources, it is shown that dolmens in the Levant mostly concentrate in the eastern escarpment of the Jordan Rift Valley, and in the Galilean hills. They cluster near proto-urban settlements of the Early Bronze I period (3700–3000 BCE) in particular geological zones suitable for the extraction of megalithic slabs. Rather than approaching dolmens as a regional phenomenon, this book considers dolmens as part of a local burial tradition whose tomb forms varied depending on geological constraints. Dolmens in the Levant is essential for anyone interested in the rise of civilisations in the ancient Middle East, and particularly those who have wondered at the origins of these enigmatic burial monuments that dominate the landscape.

Dolmenology: a Glossary of Terminology Used to Study Dolmens

Dolmenology: a Glossary of Terminology Used to Study Dolmens PDF Author: K. Schath
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1728394805
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
This Glossary provides terminology thought to be helpful in describing dolmens and their subtle complex and artistic design. Detailed descriptions help define their Types and possibly variations that are significant to their use. Describing their location and place in the megalithic landscape may help to determine the culture and rituals that played out in the megalithic landscape.

Megaliths of the World

Megaliths of the World PDF Author: Luc Laporte
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1803273216
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1436

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Book Description
Bringing together the latest research on megalithic monuments throughout the world, 150 researchers offer 72 articles, providing a region-by region account in their specialist areas, and a summary of the current state of knowledge. Highlighting salient themes, the book is vital to anyone interested in the phenomenon of megalithic monumentality.

Defining the Sacred

Defining the Sacred PDF Author: Nicola Laneri
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 178297685X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 197

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Book Description
Religion is a phenomenon that is inseparable from human society. It brings about a set of emotional, ideological and practical elements that are pervasive in the social fabric of any society and characterizable by a number of features. These include the establishment of intermediaries in the relationship between humans and the divine; the construction of ceremonial places for worshipping the gods and practicing ritual performances; and the creation ritual paraphernalia. Investigating the religious dimensions of ancient societies encounters problems in defining such elements, especially with regard to societies that lack textual evidences and has tended to lead towards the identification of differentiation between the mental dimension, related to religious beliefs, and the material one associated with religious practices, resulting in a separation between scholars able to investigate, and possibly reconstruct, ritual practices (i.e., archaeologists), and those interested in defining the realm of ancient beliefs (i.e., philologists and religious historians). The aim of this collection of papers is to attempt to bridge these two dimensions by breaking down existing boundaries in order to form a more comprehensive vision of religion among ancient Near Eastern societies. This approach requires that a higher consideration be given to those elements (either artificial -- buildings, objects, texts, etc. -- or natural -- landscapes, animals, trees, etc.) that are created through a materialization of religious beliefs and practices enacted by members of communities. These issues are addressed in a series of specific case-studies covering a broad chronological framework that from the Pre-pottery Neolithic to the Iron Age. (Cover illustration © German Archaeological Institute, photo N. Becker)

The 1927–1938 Italian Archaeological Expedition to Transjordan in Renato Bartoccini’s Archives

The 1927–1938 Italian Archaeological Expedition to Transjordan in Renato Bartoccini’s Archives PDF Author: Stefano Anastasio
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1784911194
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
This volume presents extensive photo-archives from the Italian excavations and surveys carried out in Transjordan between 1927 and 1938.

The Sons of God in Genesis 6:1–4

The Sons of God in Genesis 6:1–4 PDF Author: J.J.T. Doedens
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004395903
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
In The Sons of God in Genesis 6:1–4, Jaap Doedens offers an overview of the history of exegesis of the enigmatic text about the ‘sons of God’, the ‘daughters of men’, and the ‘giants’. First, he analyzes the text of Gen 6:1–4. Subsequently, he tracks the different exegetical proposals from the earliest exegesis until those of modern times. He further provides the reader with an evaluation of the meaning of the expression ‘sons of God’ in the Old Testament and the Ancient Near East. In the last chapter, he concentrates on the message and function of Gen 6:1–4. This volume comprehensively gathers ancient and modern exegetical attempts, providing the means for an ongoing dialogue about this essentially complex and elusive passage.