Rural Archaeology in Early Urban Northern Mesopotamia

Rural Archaeology in Early Urban Northern Mesopotamia PDF Author: Glenn M. Schwartz
Publisher: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press
ISBN: 193877096X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 691

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Book Description
This book presents the results of the extensive excavation of a small, rural village from the period of emerging cities in upper Mesopotamia (modern northeast Syria) in the early to middle third millennium BC. Prior studies of early Near Eastern urban societies generally focused on the cities and elites, neglecting the rural component of urbanization. This research represents part of a move to rectify that imbalance. Reports on the architecture, pottery, animal bones, plant remains, and other varieties of artifacts and ecofacts enhance our understanding of the role of villages in the formation of urban societies, the economic relationship between small rural sites and urban centers, and status and economic differentiation in villages. Among the significant results are the extensive exposure of a large segment of the village area, revealing details of spatial and social organization and household economics. The predominance of large-scale grain storage and processing leads to questions of staple finance, economic relations with pastoralists, and connections to developing urban centers.

Rural Archaeology in Early Urban Northern Mesopotamia

Rural Archaeology in Early Urban Northern Mesopotamia PDF Author: Glenn M. Schwartz
Publisher: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press
ISBN: 193877096X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 691

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Book Description
This book presents the results of the extensive excavation of a small, rural village from the period of emerging cities in upper Mesopotamia (modern northeast Syria) in the early to middle third millennium BC. Prior studies of early Near Eastern urban societies generally focused on the cities and elites, neglecting the rural component of urbanization. This research represents part of a move to rectify that imbalance. Reports on the architecture, pottery, animal bones, plant remains, and other varieties of artifacts and ecofacts enhance our understanding of the role of villages in the formation of urban societies, the economic relationship between small rural sites and urban centers, and status and economic differentiation in villages. Among the significant results are the extensive exposure of a large segment of the village area, revealing details of spatial and social organization and household economics. The predominance of large-scale grain storage and processing leads to questions of staple finance, economic relations with pastoralists, and connections to developing urban centers.

Rural Archaeology in Early Urban Northern Mesopotamia

Rural Archaeology in Early Urban Northern Mesopotamia PDF Author: Glenn M. Schwartz
Publisher: Monumenta Archaeologica
ISBN: 9781938770043
Category : Antiquities, Prehistoric
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
La 4e de couverture porte : "This book presents a new perspective on the emergence of urban societies in Mesopotamia, focusing attention on life in a rural village and helping to correct the traditional bias by archaeologists toward the urban and the elite. Reporting on the extensive excavations at Tell al-Raqa'i (early-middle 3rd millennium BC) in upper Mesopotamia/Syria, the authors offer detailed studies on architecture, pottery, animal bones, plant remains, and other varieties of artifacts and ecofacts. These data provide a wealth of information on the nature of life in a small community during the transition to urbanism. Spatial and social organization, household economics, and the significance of enigmatic structures such as the Round Building and a small "temple" are among the issues discussed. Artifact The excavations at Raqa'i, with their exposure of a broad segment of an ancient village, reveal important new insights on the nature of rural life in upper Mesopotamia and on the role of villages in early urban societies in general."

Making Ancient Cities

Making Ancient Cities PDF Author: Andrew Creekmore
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107046521
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 443

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Book Description
Investigates how the structure and use of space developed and changed in cities, and examines the role of different societal groups in shaping urbanism.

The Archaeology of Mesopotamia

The Archaeology of Mesopotamia PDF Author: Roger Matthews
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135134537
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
The only critical guide to the theory and method of Mesopotamian archaeology, this innovative volume evaluates the theories, methods, approaches and history of Mesopotamian archaeology from its origins in the nineteenth century up to the present day. Ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), was the original site of many of the major developments in human history, such as farming, the rise of urban literate societies and the first great empires of Akkad, Babylonia and Assyria. Dr. Matthews places the discipline within its historical and social context, and explains how archaeologists conduct their research through excavation, survey and other methods. In four fundamental chapters, he uses illustrated case-studies to show how archaeologists have approached central themes such as: * the shift from hunting to farming * complex societies * empires and imperialism * everyday life. This will be both an ideal introductory work and useful as background reading on a wide range of courses.

Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization

Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization PDF Author: Guillermo Algaze
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226013782
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
The alluvial lowlands of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in southern Mesopotamia are widely known as the “cradle of civilization,” owing to the scale of the processes of urbanization that took place in the area by the second half of the fourth millennium BCE. In Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization, Guillermo Algaze draws on the work of modern economic geographers to explore how the unique river-based ecology and geography of the Tigris-Euphrates alluvium affected the development of urban civilization in southern Mesopotamia. He argues that these natural conditions granted southern polities significant competitive advantages over their landlocked rivals elsewhere in Southwest Asia, most importantly the ability to easily transport commodities. In due course, this resulted in increased trade and economic activity and higher population densities in the south than were possible elsewhere. As southern polities grew in scale and complexity throughout the fourth millennium, revolutionary new forms of labor organization and record keeping were created, and it is these socially created innovations, Algaze argues, that ultimately account for why fully developed city-states emerged earlier in southern Mesopotamia than elsewhere in Southwest Asia or the world.

Animals, Ancestors, and Ritual in Early Bronze Age Syria

Animals, Ancestors, and Ritual in Early Bronze Age Syria PDF Author: Glenn M. Schwartz
Publisher: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press
ISBN: 1950446433
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 722

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Book Description
Animals, Ancestors, and Ritual in Early Bronze Age Syria: An Elite Mortuary Complex from Umm el-Marra, edited by Johns Hopkins professor Glenn M. Schwartz, is a final report of the excavation of Tell Umm el-Marra in northern Syria, conducted in 1994-2010. It is likely the site of ancient Tuba, capital of a small kingdom in the Early and Middle Bronze periods, in the Jabbul plain between Aleppo and northern Mesopotamia. Its study advances our understanding of early Syrian complex society beyond the big cities of Antiquity. Of particular importance in the Early Bronze excavations are the results from the site necropolis, tombs of high-ranking persons containing objects of gold, silver, and lapis lazuli. Separate installations hold kungas (donkey x onager hybrids), sometimes along with human infants. This site provides the first archaeological attestation of the kunga equids, unique in the archaeology of third-millennium Syria and Mesopotamia.

Early Athens

Early Athens PDF Author: Eirini M. Dimitriadou
Publisher: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press
ISBN: 1938770889
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 623

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Book Description
This volume is one of the most important works on ancient Athens in the last fifty years. The focus is on the early city, from the end of the Bronze Age--ca. 1200 BCE--to the Archaic period, when Athens became the largest city of the Classical period, only to be destroyed by the Persians in 480/479 BCE. From a systematic study of all the excavation reports and surveys in central Athens, the author has synthesized a detailed diachronic overview of the city from the Submycenaean period through the Archaic. It is a treasure trove of information for archaeologists who work in this period. Of great value as well are the detailed maps included, which present features of ancient settlements and cemeteries, the repositories of the human physical record. Over eighty additional large-scale, interactive maps are available online to complement the book.

The Archaeology of Grotta Scaloria

The Archaeology of Grotta Scaloria PDF Author: Ernestine S. Elster
Publisher: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press
ISBN: 1938770374
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 451

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Book Description
Grotta Scaloria, a cave in Apulia, was first discovered and explored in 1931, excavated briefly in 1967, and then excavated extensively from 1978 to 1980 by a joint UCLA-University of Genoa team, but it was never fully published. The Save Scaloria Project was organized to locate this legacy data and to enhance that information by application of the newest methods of archaeological and scientific analysis. This significant site is finally published in one comprehensive volume (and in an online archive of additional data and photographs) that gathers together the archaeological data from the upper and lower chambers of the cave. These data indicate intense ritual and quotidian use during the Neolithic period (circa 5600-5300 BCE). The Grotta Scaloria project is also important as historiography, since it illustrates a changing trajectory of research spanning three generations of European and American archaeology.

The History and Archaeology of Jaffa 2

The History and Archaeology of Jaffa 2 PDF Author: Aaron A. Burke
Publisher: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press
ISBN: 1938770579
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 472

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Book Description
Since 2007 the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project has endeavored to bring to light the vast archaeological and historical record of the site of Jaffa in Israel. Continuing the effort begun with The History and Archaeology of Jaffa 1, this volume is a collection of independent studies and final reports on smaller excavations that do not require individual book-length treatments. These include overviews of archaeological research in Jaffa, historical and archaeological studies of Medieval and Ottoman Jaffa, reports on excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority at both the Postal Compound between 2009 and 2011 and the Armenian Compound in 2006 and 2007, and studies of the excavations of Jacob Kaplan and Haya Ritter-Kaplan in Jaffa on behalf of the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums from 1955 to 1974.

The Desert Fayum Reinvestigated

The Desert Fayum Reinvestigated PDF Author: Simon J. Holdaway
Publisher: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press
ISBN: 1938770501
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
The Neolithic is thought to have arrived in Egypt via diffusion from an origin in southwest Asia, relatively late compared to neighboring locations. The authors suggest an alternative approach to understanding the development of food production in Egypt based on the results of new fieldwork in the Fayum. They provide the results of a detailed study of the Fayum archaeological landscape interpretable at different temporal and spatial scales, using an expanded version of low-level food production to organize observations concerning paleoenvironment, socioeconomy, settlement, and mobility. While domestic plants and animals were indeed introduced from elsewhere, when a number of aspects of the archaeological record are compared, a settlement system is suggested that has no obvious analogues with the Neolithic in southwest Asia. The results obtained from the Fayum are used to assess other contemporary sites in Egypt.