School for Advanced Research and University of New Mexico Press., 2020
Throughout history, a large portion of the world’s population has lived under imperial rule. Alth... more Throughout history, a large portion of the world’s population has lived under imperial rule. Although scholars do not always agree on when and where the roots of imperialism lie, most would agree that imperial configurations have affected human history so profoundly that the legacy of ancient empires continues to structure the modern world in many ways. Empires are best described as heterogeneous and dynamic patchworks of imperial configurations in which imperial power was the outcome of the complex interaction between evolving colonial structures and various types of agents in highly contingent relationships. The goal of this volume is to harness the work of the “next generation” of empire scholars in order to foster new theoretical and methodological perspectives that are of relevance within and beyond archaeology and to foreground empires as a cross-cultural category. This book demonstrates how archaeological research can contribute to our conceptualization of empires across disciplinary boundaries.
The Archaeology of Imperial Landscapes examines the transformation of rural landscapes and societ... more The Archaeology of Imperial Landscapes examines the transformation of rural landscapes and societies that formed the backbone of ancient empires in the Near East and Mediterranean. Through a comparative approach to archaeological data, it analyses the patterns of transformation in widely differing imperial contexts in the ancient world. Bringing together a range of studies by an international team of scholars, the volume shows that empires were dynamic, diverse, and experimental polities, and that their success or failure was determined by a combination of forceful interventions, as well as the new possibilities for those dominated by empires to collaborate and profit from doing so. By highlighting the processes that occur in rural and peripheral landscapes, the volume demonstrates that the archaeology of these non-urban and literally eccentric spheres can provide an important contribution to our understanding of ancient empires. The 'bottom up' approach to the study of ancient empires is crucial to understanding how these remarkable socio-political organisms could exist and persist.
Understanding Hegemonic Practices of the Early Assyrian Empire is a thematic volume that addresse... more Understanding Hegemonic Practices of the Early Assyrian Empire is a thematic volume that addresses the issue of how the Middle Assyrian State achieved and maintained its hold over conquered territories. The central question is whether this state had particular hegemonic practices that might explain its remarkable successes. Contributions were written by established and up and coming archaeologists and Assyriologists.
Particular themes addressed in this volume include; first, the relation between the Middle Assyrian state and that of the Mittani: to what degree the Assyria was a successor state and how it transformed its Mittanian heritage; second, what the effects of the Middle Assyrian Empire were on settlement patterns and landscapes in occupied territories; third, what the strategies of the Middle Assyrian Empire were in its westernmost peripheries; fourth, what the agricultural policies of the Middle Assyrian state were; fifth, what the administrative techniques of the Middle Assyrian state were and how they differed from those of other states; and sixth, how we can best understand the success of the (Middle) Assyrian Empire from a comparative perspective.
Contributing authors: Peter Akkermans; Anacleto D’Agostino; Rémi Berthon; Kim Duistermaat; Bleda Düring; Federica Fantone; Stefan Jakob; Victor Klinkenberg; Rafał Koliński; Hartmut Kühne; Tijm Lanjouw; Jaume Llop-Raduà; Simone Mühl; Bradley Parker; J. Nicholas Postgate; Hervé Reculeau; Daisuke Shibata; Aline Tenu; and Frans Wiggermann.
The volume has been dedicated to Frans Wiggermann in honour of his important contributions to the study of the Middle Assyrian period on the occasion of his 65th birthday.
In this article we report on the taphonomic analysis of several Middle Assyrian tablet clusters t... more In this article we report on the taphonomic analysis of several Middle Assyrian tablet clusters to identify the way these objects ended up in the ground. Rather than in-situ archives that were left behind during some catastrophe, we argue that these tablets were often deliberately discarded. Specifically for the tablet clusters we examined, we propose that they were first temporarily discarded in "office bins. " We claim that the occurrence of clustered, homogenous tablet groups at our sites are the result of the occasional emptying of such bins. The methodology we present could be of value for the analysis of other similar tablet-bearing contexts.
Landscape archaeology, as a type of research based on a systemic surface survey and that results ... more Landscape archaeology, as a type of research based on a systemic surface survey and that results in quantifiable datasets of high quality, has started to be practiced in southeastern Arabia only in recent years. In this paper, I will briefly review the short history of landscape archaeology in the area and its relevance. I will then present the approach and methods used in the Wadi al Jizzi Archaeological Project and discuss some of the results obtained to discuss both the potential and problems of the data that the project generated. In particular, I will focus on ephemeral sites and assemblages, data quality and data representativity.
School for Advanced Research and University of New Mexico Press., 2020
Throughout history, a large portion of the world’s population has lived under imperial rule. Alth... more Throughout history, a large portion of the world’s population has lived under imperial rule. Although scholars do not always agree on when and where the roots of imperialism lie, most would agree that imperial configurations have affected human history so profoundly that the legacy of ancient empires continues to structure the modern world in many ways. Empires are best described as heterogeneous and dynamic patchworks of imperial configurations in which imperial power was the outcome of the complex interaction between evolving colonial structures and various types of agents in highly contingent relationships. The goal of this volume is to harness the work of the “next generation” of empire scholars in order to foster new theoretical and methodological perspectives that are of relevance within and beyond archaeology and to foreground empires as a cross-cultural category. This book demonstrates how archaeological research can contribute to our conceptualization of empires across disciplinary boundaries.
The Archaeology of Imperial Landscapes examines the transformation of rural landscapes and societ... more The Archaeology of Imperial Landscapes examines the transformation of rural landscapes and societies that formed the backbone of ancient empires in the Near East and Mediterranean. Through a comparative approach to archaeological data, it analyses the patterns of transformation in widely differing imperial contexts in the ancient world. Bringing together a range of studies by an international team of scholars, the volume shows that empires were dynamic, diverse, and experimental polities, and that their success or failure was determined by a combination of forceful interventions, as well as the new possibilities for those dominated by empires to collaborate and profit from doing so. By highlighting the processes that occur in rural and peripheral landscapes, the volume demonstrates that the archaeology of these non-urban and literally eccentric spheres can provide an important contribution to our understanding of ancient empires. The 'bottom up' approach to the study of ancient empires is crucial to understanding how these remarkable socio-political organisms could exist and persist.
Understanding Hegemonic Practices of the Early Assyrian Empire is a thematic volume that addresse... more Understanding Hegemonic Practices of the Early Assyrian Empire is a thematic volume that addresses the issue of how the Middle Assyrian State achieved and maintained its hold over conquered territories. The central question is whether this state had particular hegemonic practices that might explain its remarkable successes. Contributions were written by established and up and coming archaeologists and Assyriologists.
Particular themes addressed in this volume include; first, the relation between the Middle Assyrian state and that of the Mittani: to what degree the Assyria was a successor state and how it transformed its Mittanian heritage; second, what the effects of the Middle Assyrian Empire were on settlement patterns and landscapes in occupied territories; third, what the strategies of the Middle Assyrian Empire were in its westernmost peripheries; fourth, what the agricultural policies of the Middle Assyrian state were; fifth, what the administrative techniques of the Middle Assyrian state were and how they differed from those of other states; and sixth, how we can best understand the success of the (Middle) Assyrian Empire from a comparative perspective.
Contributing authors: Peter Akkermans; Anacleto D’Agostino; Rémi Berthon; Kim Duistermaat; Bleda Düring; Federica Fantone; Stefan Jakob; Victor Klinkenberg; Rafał Koliński; Hartmut Kühne; Tijm Lanjouw; Jaume Llop-Raduà; Simone Mühl; Bradley Parker; J. Nicholas Postgate; Hervé Reculeau; Daisuke Shibata; Aline Tenu; and Frans Wiggermann.
The volume has been dedicated to Frans Wiggermann in honour of his important contributions to the study of the Middle Assyrian period on the occasion of his 65th birthday.
In this article we report on the taphonomic analysis of several Middle Assyrian tablet clusters t... more In this article we report on the taphonomic analysis of several Middle Assyrian tablet clusters to identify the way these objects ended up in the ground. Rather than in-situ archives that were left behind during some catastrophe, we argue that these tablets were often deliberately discarded. Specifically for the tablet clusters we examined, we propose that they were first temporarily discarded in "office bins. " We claim that the occurrence of clustered, homogenous tablet groups at our sites are the result of the occasional emptying of such bins. The methodology we present could be of value for the analysis of other similar tablet-bearing contexts.
Landscape archaeology, as a type of research based on a systemic surface survey and that results ... more Landscape archaeology, as a type of research based on a systemic surface survey and that results in quantifiable datasets of high quality, has started to be practiced in southeastern Arabia only in recent years. In this paper, I will briefly review the short history of landscape archaeology in the area and its relevance. I will then present the approach and methods used in the Wadi al Jizzi Archaeological Project and discuss some of the results obtained to discuss both the potential and problems of the data that the project generated. In particular, I will focus on ephemeral sites and assemblages, data quality and data representativity.
On the north bank of Wādī al-Zahaimi, east of the town of Liwaʾ in northern Oman, a remarkably we... more On the north bank of Wādī al-Zahaimi, east of the town of Liwaʾ in northern Oman, a remarkably well-preserved Bronze Age cultural landscape was discovered and documented in January 2018 by the Wadi al-Jizzi Archaeological Project. It includes first, a well-preserved Umm an-Nar settlement with two circular tombs, a possible watchtower, and imported pottery from the Indus and Dilmun; second, a large transitional cemetery, with about 170 tombs dating to the late Umm an-Nar and early Wadi Suq periods, which has striking parallels with the famous linear alignments from ʿAsimah; and third, a small Wadi Suq settlement with stone-built houses. In this paper, we present this well-preserved Bronze Age cultural landscape and its relevance to our understanding of the late third and early second millennia BC in south-eastern Arabia
Proceedings of the seminar for Arabian Studies, Dec 31, 2017
In the 2016 campaign of the Wādī al-Jīzī Archaeological Project a rich collection of Iron Age fun... more In the 2016 campaign of the Wādī al-Jīzī Archaeological Project a rich collection of Iron Age funerary artefacts was found from disturbed (probably collective) burials in the Wādī Fizḥ. These graves have relatively few comparanda in Eastern Arabia and are therefore of some significance for our understanding of this periods. In this paper we will first discuss the broader Iron Age cultural landscape of the Wādī Fizḥ, and then focus on the cemetery site. We will discuss the pottery, soft-stone vessels, and miscellaneous artefacts retrieved from these grave contexts, and compare our data with those from other sites in Oman and the Emirates. Keywords: Wādī Fizḥ, collective burials, Iron Age, soft-stone vessels, ceramics THIS IS A TYPESCRIPT. WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO UPLOAD THE PUBLISHED VERSION OF OUR PAPER ONTO ACADEMIA.
This article aims to study whether the increase of agricultural settlements in the Sultanate of O... more This article aims to study whether the increase of agricultural settlements in the Sultanate of Oman during the Late Islamic period (c. 1500–1950) was related to pre-oil globalization, as attested in the wider Gulf region. This is done by analysing the archaeological dataset of the agricultural village of Sahlāt, with a focus on the ceramic material, located in the Ṣuḥār region. The assemblages collected by the Wadi al-Jizzi Archaeological Project, point to its occupation from c. 1750 to 1930. During this time period, the coastal towns of southeastern Arabia were heavily influenced by globalization processes, but the effects and reach of trade on rural communities remains poorly known. In this paper, Sahlāt is compared to two contemporary sites connected to the same falaj system, and two other sites in the Gulf region. The results indicate that pre-oil globalization did not only impact coastal towns, but that rural settlements such as Sahlāt experienced similar transformations. It is suggested that pre-oil globalization was not only linked to the pearling trade, but that the export of dates should also be taken into consideration when studying this topic.
The extraction and smelting of the rich copper oredeposits of Cyprus and the manufacture of coppe... more The extraction and smelting of the rich copper oredeposits of Cyprus and the manufacture of copperobjects on the island are thought to have begun duringthe Philia phase (c. 2400–2200 BC). Here, theauthors present the results of lead isotope analysisundertaken on Late Chalcolithic (2900–2400 BC)metal objects from the site of Chlorakas-Palloures.The results facilitate a reassessment of the timing ofthe start of transformative copper technologies onCyprus and the re-evaluation of contemporaneouscopper artefacts from Jordan and Crete previouslysuggested to have been consistent with Cypriotores. They conclude that there is no compelling evidencefor transformative metallurgy in ChalcolithicCyprus.
Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 50, 2020
The late Wadi Suq has been an elusive phase in the archaeology of the Oman peninsula. It is mostl... more The late Wadi Suq has been an elusive phase in the archaeology of the Oman peninsula. It is mostly documented in the settlements of Kalbāʾ and Tell Abraq, both located in the United Arab Emirates. The tell deposits with late Wadi Suq levels at these sites remain poorly understood, and the same applies to the limited evidence from funerary sites. In the Ṣuhār hinterlands we have previously found what appears to be late Wadi Suq materials in cemeteries, but these surface finds consist of a few sherds and soft-stone fragments that can be interpreted in various ways. In the 2018 season, however, an unequivocal Wadi Suq non-funerary site was found on a steep outcrop in Wādī Fizḥ, at Site 84. In this contribution we present Site 84, its characteristics and location, the structures that are visible, and the artefact assemblages collected from its surface.
Keywords: late Wadi Suq, ceramics, soft-stone vessels, visibility, landscape archaeology
THIS IS A TYPESCRIPT. WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO UPLOAD THE PUBLISHED VERSION OF OUR PAPER ONTO ACADEMIA.
In July-August 2015 the first season of excavation took place at the site of Chlorakas-Pallour... more In July-August 2015 the first season of excavation took place at the site of Chlorakas-Palloures. The site has been known as one of a series of important Chalcolithic sites in the Paphos District from the 1950s onwards, and has been badly disturbed by agricultural development and urbanization of the region from the 1970s onwards. In the face of new development plans of the main section of the site the Department of Antiquities of the Republic of Cyprus wanted rescue excavations to take place prior to this development. It was in this context that the Leiden University expedition to Chlorakas-Palloures was set up in collaboration with the Department of Antiquities.
In the 2016 campaign of the Wādī al-Jīzī Archaeological Project a rich collection of Iron Age fun... more In the 2016 campaign of the Wādī al-Jīzī Archaeological Project a rich collection of Iron Age funerary artefacts was found from disturbed (probably collective) burials in the Wādī Fizḥ. These graves have relatively few comparanda in Eastern Arabia and are therefore of some significance for our understanding of this periods. In this paper we will first discuss the broader Iron Age cultural landscape of the Wādī Fizḥ, and then focus on the cemetery site. We will discuss the pottery, soft-stone vessels, and miscellaneous artefacts retrieved from these grave contexts, and compare our data with those from other sites in Oman and the Emirates.
Keywords: Wādī Fizḥ, collective burials, Iron Age, soft-stone vessels, ceramics
THIS IS A TYPESCRIPT. WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO UPLOAD THE PUBLISHED VERSION OF OUR PAPER ONTO ACADEMIA.
The origins of copper-based metallurgy on the island of Cyprus, which became the main supplier of... more The origins of copper-based metallurgy on the island of Cyprus, which became the main supplier of the metal in the Late Bronze Age in the Mediterranean and whose name became associated with the metal, is relatively obscure. While metal extraction and metal artefacts became increasingly important in the broader Near East, early metallurgy on Cyprus remains poorly known, and it is often postulated that metals were of limited importance on the island prior to the Philia phase. Here we present a unique context from the Late Chalcolithic (ca. 2800-2400 BC) from the excavations at Chlorakas-Palloures that has considerable ramifications for this debate.
The emergence and nature of social inequality has been the topic of a substantial amount of resea... more The emergence and nature of social inequality has been the topic of a substantial amount of research in recent years, with one group of scholars concluding that social inequality increased significantly with the rise of urbanism on the basis of the application of Gini measures, and another group arguing that social inequalities existed long before urbanism and that not all urban societies were class societies. Here, we present the case of Chalcolithic Cyprus, a decidedly pre-urban period for which we have quantifiable evidence that might indicate social inequality. On the basis of this dataset we will re-evaluate recent postulates on the emergence and nature of social inequality.
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Books by Bleda During
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https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/archaeology-of-imperial-landscapes/C9DFAB1F15C59955663CF05110B788EC
Particular themes addressed in this volume include; first, the relation between the Middle Assyrian state and that of the Mittani: to what degree the Assyria was a successor state and how it transformed its Mittanian heritage; second, what the effects of the Middle Assyrian Empire were on settlement patterns and landscapes in occupied territories; third, what the strategies of the Middle Assyrian Empire were in its westernmost peripheries; fourth, what the agricultural policies of the Middle Assyrian state were; fifth, what the administrative techniques of the Middle Assyrian state were and how they differed from those of other states; and sixth, how we can best understand the success of the (Middle) Assyrian Empire from a comparative perspective.
Contributing authors: Peter Akkermans; Anacleto D’Agostino; Rémi Berthon; Kim Duistermaat; Bleda Düring; Federica Fantone; Stefan Jakob; Victor Klinkenberg; Rafał Koliński; Hartmut Kühne; Tijm Lanjouw; Jaume Llop-Raduà; Simone Mühl; Bradley Parker; J. Nicholas Postgate; Hervé Reculeau; Daisuke Shibata; Aline Tenu; and Frans Wiggermann.
The volume has been dedicated to Frans Wiggermann in honour of his important contributions to the study of the Middle Assyrian period on the occasion of his 65th birthday.
Papers by Bleda During
20% off with attached Flyer.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/archaeology-of-imperial-landscapes/C9DFAB1F15C59955663CF05110B788EC
Particular themes addressed in this volume include; first, the relation between the Middle Assyrian state and that of the Mittani: to what degree the Assyria was a successor state and how it transformed its Mittanian heritage; second, what the effects of the Middle Assyrian Empire were on settlement patterns and landscapes in occupied territories; third, what the strategies of the Middle Assyrian Empire were in its westernmost peripheries; fourth, what the agricultural policies of the Middle Assyrian state were; fifth, what the administrative techniques of the Middle Assyrian state were and how they differed from those of other states; and sixth, how we can best understand the success of the (Middle) Assyrian Empire from a comparative perspective.
Contributing authors: Peter Akkermans; Anacleto D’Agostino; Rémi Berthon; Kim Duistermaat; Bleda Düring; Federica Fantone; Stefan Jakob; Victor Klinkenberg; Rafał Koliński; Hartmut Kühne; Tijm Lanjouw; Jaume Llop-Raduà; Simone Mühl; Bradley Parker; J. Nicholas Postgate; Hervé Reculeau; Daisuke Shibata; Aline Tenu; and Frans Wiggermann.
The volume has been dedicated to Frans Wiggermann in honour of his important contributions to the study of the Middle Assyrian period on the occasion of his 65th birthday.
Keywords: late Wadi Suq, ceramics, soft-stone vessels, visibility, landscape archaeology
THIS IS A TYPESCRIPT. WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO UPLOAD THE PUBLISHED VERSION OF OUR PAPER ONTO ACADEMIA.
Keywords: Wādī Fizḥ, collective burials, Iron Age, soft-stone vessels, ceramics
THIS IS A TYPESCRIPT. WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO UPLOAD THE PUBLISHED VERSION OF OUR PAPER ONTO ACADEMIA.