Papers by Zachary W. Silvia
Iran, 2020
Excavations at the site of Bashtepa, at the western interface of the Bukhara oasis and the Kyzyl-... more Excavations at the site of Bashtepa, at the western interface of the Bukhara oasis and the Kyzyl-kum desert, and at the kurgan sites at Kuyu-Mazar and Lyavandak on the eastern and north eastern fri...
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A brief report on the results of works at Bashtepa and Tali-Surkh in Bukharan Soghd in 2018, incl... more A brief report on the results of works at Bashtepa and Tali-Surkh in Bukharan Soghd in 2018, including new finds of terracotta figurines, imitations of 'Megarian bowls', and loom weights.
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Results of the 2016 season of excavations at the Hellenistic and post-Hellenisitic site of Bashte... more Results of the 2016 season of excavations at the Hellenistic and post-Hellenisitic site of Bashtepa in Western Sogdiana (Bukhara oasis)
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In summer 2016 the Uzbek-American Expedition in Bukhara (UzAmEB) conducted the first field season... more In summer 2016 the Uzbek-American Expedition in Bukhara (UzAmEB) conducted the first field season at Bashtepa. Bashtepa is the westernmost site within a cluster of about a dozen of small tepas along several now dry terminal branches of the delta system of the Zerafshan river in Western Sogdiana, outside the medieval perimeter of the oasis. Works focused on two areas: the fortifications, and the central part of the site.
Excavations of the fortifications revealed three major construction phases, adding up to a width of more than 10 m at the base of the fortifications. There is no evidence for towers or bastions. In the central part of the site we encountered a monumental masonry block into which was cut a series of pits of varying dimensions. The larger pits seem to represent pit-houses, while others seem to be economic pits. C14 data range between the end of the 5th century BCE and the very beginning of the 2nd century CE. The ceramic inventory from the site – including the first known imitation of a Megarian bowl in Sogdiana – features a few Yaz III examples, but has otherwise strong parallels with the complexes of Hellenistic and post-Hellenistic sites in Central and Southern Sogdiana, Choresmia, Bactria, and Margiana. Bearing in mind the early stage of our investigations, we suggest that the site was first established as a border fortress on one of the main routes between Sogdiana and Chorasmia, most likely during the very end of the 4th or the first half of the 3rd century, that is during the early Seleucid period. During its last occupation phase the summit of the site seems to feature a small agro-pastoral settlement, dating to the 1st century CE or – at the very latest – to the very beginning of the 2nd century CE. Although preliminary in character our results from 2016 shed new light on the Hellenistic and post-Hellenistic periods in western Sogdiana, which are – up to now – poorly investigated.
The appendix is devoted to the finds of Hellenistic coins in the Bukharan oasis: a drachm with the types of Alexander, coppers of Antiochus I and Antiochus II/Diodotus, silver coins of Diodotus, Euthydemus, Demetrius, Eukratides, and Heliocles as well as Takhmachtepa hoard containing tetradrachms of Diodotus, Euthydemus, and Agathocles. Although the sample of Hellenistic coins is still very small, its composition suggests that the history of the Bukharan oasis followed the same path as the rest of Sogdiana, which was controlled by Seleucids until the middle of the 3rd century and then passed for a short time to Bactrian Greeks, who lost it no later than at the very beginning of the reign of Euthydemus (ca. 230 BCE).
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Iran. Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, 2020
Excavations at the site of Bashtepa, at the western interface of the Bukhara oasis and the Kyzyl-... more Excavations at the site of Bashtepa, at the western interface of the Bukhara oasis and the Kyzyl-kum desert, and at the kurgan sites at Kuyu-Mazar and Lyavandak on the eastern and north eastern fringes of the oasis, are detailed here, enriching our understanding of agro-pastoralism in Antiquity. At Bashtepa, results indicate a shifting site function, from a border fortress, over a phase during which a monumental though still poorly understood platform dominated the northern part of the site, to a final phase when the site evolved into a small rural settlement characterized by pit houses. Preliminary archaeo-botanical and paleo-zoological studies demonstrate an engagement with grain farming, but also with animal husbandry, as well as hunting and fishing. Ceramics indicate contacts with the surrounding oases. Excavations at the kurgans provide new data on burial architecture and funerary customs, including a collective burial with khums being used as containers for human bones. Results challenge the chronology of previously excavated comparable kurgans in the area, suggesting an earlier date. The analysis of ceramics from the kurgan burials underlines the need to rework the dating of the ceramic typology for the Bukhara oasis, especially for the period between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE.
Introduction
1. Excavations at Bashtepa
1.1. Pit-houses and Waste Deposits in the Centre of the Site (Quadrants E05NW, E05NE, F05SE, F05SW)
1.2. Eastern Façade of the Platform (G05SE)
1.3. Northern and Western Flank of the Fortifications
1.4. Cleaning and re-documentation of the 1990 Excavation Trenches
1.5. Ceramics
1.6. Special Finds
1.7. Radiocarbon Dates
1.8. Archаeobotanical Analysis of Hand-Picked Remains
1.9. The Surroundings of Bashtepa
1.10. Bashtepa 2017: Conclusion
2. Excavations of Kurgans in the Kuyu-Mazar and Lyavandak Burial Grounds
2.1. Excavations at Kuyu-Mazar
2.2. Excavations at Lyavandak
2.3. Discussion and Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Disclosure Statement
Bibliography
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Book Reviews by Zachary W. Silvia
Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2019
BMCR 2019.02.17. Review of 'Persian Religion in the Achaemenid Period. Classica et orientalia, 16... more BMCR 2019.02.17. Review of 'Persian Religion in the Achaemenid Period. Classica et orientalia, 16.' Edited by Wouter Henkelman, Celine Redard, Persian Religion in the Achaemenid Period. Classica et orientalia, 16. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2017. 496. ISBN9783447106474
https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2019/2019.02.17/
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Conference Presentations by Zachary W. Silvia
American Schools of Oriental Research Meeting, 2019
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Storytelling as Power, Resistance, and Critique Conference, 2018
Excavations of the royal treasuries of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (550-330 BCE) in southern Ir... more Excavations of the royal treasuries of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (550-330 BCE) in southern Iran have shed light on the collecting practices of the early kings of the Old World’s largest multi-national empire. Foreign objects, many pre-Achaemenid in date, obtained through a combined effort of diplomacy, tribute, and conquest were displayed in private collections for the enjoyment of royal elites. This mode of imperial expression was inherited by the Achaemenids from their Mesopotamian forebears. The ancient Mesopotamian and Persian practice of targeting foreign goods for royal private collections reflects broader entitled, divinely legitimated claims to a unified, harmonious multicultural empire expressed in the monumental art and inscriptions of these same rulers. Yet the presence of these objects in the Persian heartland underscores a contrast between the political realities of resistant subject states, known from historical narratives of the colonized, and imperial self-representation through monumentality and object acquisition. Through interrogating these objects and their archaeological contexts, the relationship between collecting practices, imperialism, and colonialism is explored within the context of the Near East.
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Irresistible Night, Ageless Dark: The Nocturnal in Image, Text, and Material Culture (Graduate Symposium), 2019
Lapis lazuli is one of the most widely recognized stones in the archaeology of Mesopotamia from t... more Lapis lazuli is one of the most widely recognized stones in the archaeology of Mesopotamia from the early Bronze Age through Iron Age. This rare blue stone from a single source in northeast Afghanistan is often recognized by scholars as a luxury item found in the graves of elites and royal family members. However, the symbolic significance of lapis lazuli is very rarely investigated. When archaeological data is compared with textual evidence written in Sumerian and Akkadian it becomes clear that lapis lazuli was prized as a stone because of its supreme relationship with the governing deities of Mesopotamian religion, and as a constituent element in the materiality of the night sky within which these same gods reside. This paper is an investigation into the sacred, symbolic significance of lapis lazuli and particularly, its celestially derived power.
Sumerian and Assyrian sacred texts such as Enuma Eliš indicate a long-standing belief system that observes a vertically ordered cosmos physically constructed of different types of rare stones. In this sacred tradition, the night sky-built of lapis lazuli-is the physical base of the realm of Mesopotamia's most important gods. This cosmic realm is also a principle source of divination for Mesopotamian priests. This paper argues that as a symbol of divination and as a principle element in the preservation of cosmic order, physical lapis lazuli was of key importance to Mesopotamian elite officials, priests, and kings. It is argued that lapis lazuli was in part prized for its magical and divine properties and used by priests, sorcerers, kings, and doctors in rituals related to cosmic stability, writing, anti-demonic spells, apotropaic protection, and mortal-divine communication. Two particular classes of elite officials are investigated, each exploring the real-world significance of cosmologically charged lapis lazuli for their craft. The first is a class of baru priests and scribes responsible for obtaining esoteric, sacred knowledge from the night sky. The second is a class of sorcerers responsible for anti-witchcraft and demon-taming rituals. It is suggested that both classes of officials utilized lapis lazuli in ritual for the preservation of cosmic order.
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M.A. Thesis by Zachary W. Silvia
M.A. Thesis, Bryn Mawr College, 2015
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Papers by Zachary W. Silvia
Excavations of the fortifications revealed three major construction phases, adding up to a width of more than 10 m at the base of the fortifications. There is no evidence for towers or bastions. In the central part of the site we encountered a monumental masonry block into which was cut a series of pits of varying dimensions. The larger pits seem to represent pit-houses, while others seem to be economic pits. C14 data range between the end of the 5th century BCE and the very beginning of the 2nd century CE. The ceramic inventory from the site – including the first known imitation of a Megarian bowl in Sogdiana – features a few Yaz III examples, but has otherwise strong parallels with the complexes of Hellenistic and post-Hellenistic sites in Central and Southern Sogdiana, Choresmia, Bactria, and Margiana. Bearing in mind the early stage of our investigations, we suggest that the site was first established as a border fortress on one of the main routes between Sogdiana and Chorasmia, most likely during the very end of the 4th or the first half of the 3rd century, that is during the early Seleucid period. During its last occupation phase the summit of the site seems to feature a small agro-pastoral settlement, dating to the 1st century CE or – at the very latest – to the very beginning of the 2nd century CE. Although preliminary in character our results from 2016 shed new light on the Hellenistic and post-Hellenistic periods in western Sogdiana, which are – up to now – poorly investigated.
The appendix is devoted to the finds of Hellenistic coins in the Bukharan oasis: a drachm with the types of Alexander, coppers of Antiochus I and Antiochus II/Diodotus, silver coins of Diodotus, Euthydemus, Demetrius, Eukratides, and Heliocles as well as Takhmachtepa hoard containing tetradrachms of Diodotus, Euthydemus, and Agathocles. Although the sample of Hellenistic coins is still very small, its composition suggests that the history of the Bukharan oasis followed the same path as the rest of Sogdiana, which was controlled by Seleucids until the middle of the 3rd century and then passed for a short time to Bactrian Greeks, who lost it no later than at the very beginning of the reign of Euthydemus (ca. 230 BCE).
Introduction
1. Excavations at Bashtepa
1.1. Pit-houses and Waste Deposits in the Centre of the Site (Quadrants E05NW, E05NE, F05SE, F05SW)
1.2. Eastern Façade of the Platform (G05SE)
1.3. Northern and Western Flank of the Fortifications
1.4. Cleaning and re-documentation of the 1990 Excavation Trenches
1.5. Ceramics
1.6. Special Finds
1.7. Radiocarbon Dates
1.8. Archаeobotanical Analysis of Hand-Picked Remains
1.9. The Surroundings of Bashtepa
1.10. Bashtepa 2017: Conclusion
2. Excavations of Kurgans in the Kuyu-Mazar and Lyavandak Burial Grounds
2.1. Excavations at Kuyu-Mazar
2.2. Excavations at Lyavandak
2.3. Discussion and Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Disclosure Statement
Bibliography
Book Reviews by Zachary W. Silvia
https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2019/2019.02.17/
Conference Presentations by Zachary W. Silvia
Sumerian and Assyrian sacred texts such as Enuma Eliš indicate a long-standing belief system that observes a vertically ordered cosmos physically constructed of different types of rare stones. In this sacred tradition, the night sky-built of lapis lazuli-is the physical base of the realm of Mesopotamia's most important gods. This cosmic realm is also a principle source of divination for Mesopotamian priests. This paper argues that as a symbol of divination and as a principle element in the preservation of cosmic order, physical lapis lazuli was of key importance to Mesopotamian elite officials, priests, and kings. It is argued that lapis lazuli was in part prized for its magical and divine properties and used by priests, sorcerers, kings, and doctors in rituals related to cosmic stability, writing, anti-demonic spells, apotropaic protection, and mortal-divine communication. Two particular classes of elite officials are investigated, each exploring the real-world significance of cosmologically charged lapis lazuli for their craft. The first is a class of baru priests and scribes responsible for obtaining esoteric, sacred knowledge from the night sky. The second is a class of sorcerers responsible for anti-witchcraft and demon-taming rituals. It is suggested that both classes of officials utilized lapis lazuli in ritual for the preservation of cosmic order.
M.A. Thesis by Zachary W. Silvia
Excavations of the fortifications revealed three major construction phases, adding up to a width of more than 10 m at the base of the fortifications. There is no evidence for towers or bastions. In the central part of the site we encountered a monumental masonry block into which was cut a series of pits of varying dimensions. The larger pits seem to represent pit-houses, while others seem to be economic pits. C14 data range between the end of the 5th century BCE and the very beginning of the 2nd century CE. The ceramic inventory from the site – including the first known imitation of a Megarian bowl in Sogdiana – features a few Yaz III examples, but has otherwise strong parallels with the complexes of Hellenistic and post-Hellenistic sites in Central and Southern Sogdiana, Choresmia, Bactria, and Margiana. Bearing in mind the early stage of our investigations, we suggest that the site was first established as a border fortress on one of the main routes between Sogdiana and Chorasmia, most likely during the very end of the 4th or the first half of the 3rd century, that is during the early Seleucid period. During its last occupation phase the summit of the site seems to feature a small agro-pastoral settlement, dating to the 1st century CE or – at the very latest – to the very beginning of the 2nd century CE. Although preliminary in character our results from 2016 shed new light on the Hellenistic and post-Hellenistic periods in western Sogdiana, which are – up to now – poorly investigated.
The appendix is devoted to the finds of Hellenistic coins in the Bukharan oasis: a drachm with the types of Alexander, coppers of Antiochus I and Antiochus II/Diodotus, silver coins of Diodotus, Euthydemus, Demetrius, Eukratides, and Heliocles as well as Takhmachtepa hoard containing tetradrachms of Diodotus, Euthydemus, and Agathocles. Although the sample of Hellenistic coins is still very small, its composition suggests that the history of the Bukharan oasis followed the same path as the rest of Sogdiana, which was controlled by Seleucids until the middle of the 3rd century and then passed for a short time to Bactrian Greeks, who lost it no later than at the very beginning of the reign of Euthydemus (ca. 230 BCE).
Introduction
1. Excavations at Bashtepa
1.1. Pit-houses and Waste Deposits in the Centre of the Site (Quadrants E05NW, E05NE, F05SE, F05SW)
1.2. Eastern Façade of the Platform (G05SE)
1.3. Northern and Western Flank of the Fortifications
1.4. Cleaning and re-documentation of the 1990 Excavation Trenches
1.5. Ceramics
1.6. Special Finds
1.7. Radiocarbon Dates
1.8. Archаeobotanical Analysis of Hand-Picked Remains
1.9. The Surroundings of Bashtepa
1.10. Bashtepa 2017: Conclusion
2. Excavations of Kurgans in the Kuyu-Mazar and Lyavandak Burial Grounds
2.1. Excavations at Kuyu-Mazar
2.2. Excavations at Lyavandak
2.3. Discussion and Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Disclosure Statement
Bibliography
https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2019/2019.02.17/
Sumerian and Assyrian sacred texts such as Enuma Eliš indicate a long-standing belief system that observes a vertically ordered cosmos physically constructed of different types of rare stones. In this sacred tradition, the night sky-built of lapis lazuli-is the physical base of the realm of Mesopotamia's most important gods. This cosmic realm is also a principle source of divination for Mesopotamian priests. This paper argues that as a symbol of divination and as a principle element in the preservation of cosmic order, physical lapis lazuli was of key importance to Mesopotamian elite officials, priests, and kings. It is argued that lapis lazuli was in part prized for its magical and divine properties and used by priests, sorcerers, kings, and doctors in rituals related to cosmic stability, writing, anti-demonic spells, apotropaic protection, and mortal-divine communication. Two particular classes of elite officials are investigated, each exploring the real-world significance of cosmologically charged lapis lazuli for their craft. The first is a class of baru priests and scribes responsible for obtaining esoteric, sacred knowledge from the night sky. The second is a class of sorcerers responsible for anti-witchcraft and demon-taming rituals. It is suggested that both classes of officials utilized lapis lazuli in ritual for the preservation of cosmic order.