Ports of Trade

Der Primelberg – eine flache Erhebung in der Wiesenniederung auf der historischen Grenze zwischen den Gemarkungen Dierkow und Gehlsdorf – war in den letzten Jahren Mittelpunkt umfangreicher geoarchäologischer, geophysikalischer und vor allem archäologischer Forschungen. Diese Untersuchungen hatten das Ziel, die Geschichte eines im Laufe des 8. Jahrhunderts auf dem Primelberg gegründeten Handelsplatzes zu rekonstruieren und den ältesten Hafen Rostocks zu lokalisieren. Die wichtigsten neuen Erkenntnisse, die aufwendige Baumaßnahmen im Hafenviertel, umfangreiche Handwerksgewerbe und weitreichende Handelskontakte belegen, werden mit dieser Publikation erstmals einer breiten Öffentlichkeit präsentiert und bilden einen vorläufigen Schlusspunkt der Erforschung des Seehandelsplatzes.

This paper is a technological reconstruction of Khao Sek stone ornaments industries and its comparison with that of the port-city of Khao Sam Khao. Both production centres are characterised by an identical production model implementing the same Indian complex technologies to generate a similar pan-regional style. This study leads me to conclude that as early as the 4th c. BCE in the Kra Isthmus, a standardised regional production system existed involving foreign complex technologies of Indian and (considering the nephrite) East Asian origins. Based on excavations and other industries data, this study allows inferring the political context: that of a single political entity constituted of a confederation of complementary or heterachically/hierarchically-organised ports-of-trade controlling different transpeninsular routes/river systems.

Das Auftreten mediterraner Importe in der Hallstattzeit ist ein viel diskutiertes Thema. In den letzten Jahren
wurden Importe und deren lokale Nachahmungen mit dem Begriff der Akkulturation beschrieben. Der Artikel
beschäftigt sich mit den Mechanismen der Akkulturation und geht der Frage nach, wie überregionale Austauschsysteme
als Medium des Kulturtransfers fungieren können.
Für die Hallstattzeit werden zwei Phasen vorgeschlagen, die strukturell verschiedene Austauschsysteme aufweisen.
Während für die Frühphase hauptsächlich kleinräumige verwandtschaftlich organisierte Systeme angenommen werden,
weist die Spätphase zusätzlich Anzeichen eines elitär organisierten Austauschs über große geographische Distanzen
auf. Da Kulturtransfer mit sozialer Nähe assoziiert wird, bieten Austauschsysteme auf verwandtschaftlicher Basis
ein größeres Potential, Ideen zu transferieren, als Fernkontakte. Obwohl die vermuteten Austauschsysteme zu einer
gegenseitigen kulturellen Beeinflussung führten, findet sich jedoch in der Hallstattzeit kein Beleg für soziokulturelle
Veränderungen, die den Begriff Akkulturation im Sinne seiner ursprünglichen Bedeutung rechtfertigen.

Abstract In Southeast Asia, archaeological research has recently shown that the earliest centralised polities qualifying as incipient States emerged by the late 5th and early 4th c. BCE (Kim, 2013; Stark, 2015; Bellina, 2017, 2018). Understanding of their hinterland is still very limited. This essay presents the results of a regional study conducted since 2005 in the Isthmus of Kra in the Thai-Malay Peninsula, a narrow piece of land located between the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea. It argues that in this region, Maritime Silk Road incipient trading states’ emergence went along economic specialisation, cultural differentiation and cooperation between different groups participating in local and long-distance networks. Amongst these so-called “marginal” groups emerge “sea nomads”. Like those described in historical and ethnographic sources some of which are referred to here, these early sea nomads appeared to have already played a crucial economic and political role as part of these maritime trading polities hinterland. Along with an archaeology of sea nomadism, this study opens perspectives on reconstructing a more complete narrative of Southeast Asia and beyond of the Maritime Silk Road, a narrative that integrates marginal groups.

Jahresbericht des Zentrums für Baltische und Skandinavische Archäologie - Bericht zum Dissertationsprojekt "Studien zur frühmittelalterlichen Siedlungslandschaft im Samland/ehemaligen Ostpreußen am Beispiel des Fundplatzes Wiskiauten (Mochovoe)" Stand 2017

This paper is a technological reconstruction of Khao Sek stone ornaments industries and its comparison with that of the port-city of Khao Sam Khao. Both production centres are characterised by an identical production model implementing the same Indian complex technologies to generate a similar pan-regional style. This study leads me to conclude that as early as the 4th c. BCE in the Kra Isthmus, a standardised regional production system existed involving foreign complex technologies of Indian and (considering the nephrite) East Asian origins. Based on excavations and other industries data, this study allows inferring the political context: that of a single political entity constituted of a confederation of complementary or heterachically/hierarchically-organised ports-of-trade controlling different transpeninsular routes/river systems.

The history, principles and results of archaeological investigations in the Beirut Central District have provided a good perspective on the biography of the city. The synthesis of Jean Lauffray has been the main source of information on the history of the city. In 1994 the rescue operations in the battered city-centre started on a large scale. The first analyses are in progress and provide insights into the long-term developments in this port of trade in the Eastern Mediterranean. Fourteen teams of universities throughout Europe and the Mediterranean have participated in this giant project. The oldest remains date to the Upper Palaeolithic, whereas the urban history starts in the Bronze Age, reaching its heyday in the Iron Age. Being a bridge for the Romans from which to break the resistance of regional powers, Beirut became a colony and the urban families were able to consolidate their power and privileges throughout the Roman and Byzantine periods and beyond.

Bu çalışma, Araplar nezdinde denizin taşıdığı ve çağrıştırdığı tüm ürperti ve dehşet tanımlamalarına rağmen, İslam'ın ortaya çıkmasıyla birlikte önemli bir etkileşim alanı oluşturan Kızıldeniz'in tarihine ve bu havzada buluşan toplumların bu denizle denizcilik, ticaret ve yerleşim ekseninde kurdukları yakın etkileşime odaklanmıştır. Roma İmparatorluğu'nun Kızıldeniz'e hakim olduğu bir çağdan başlayıp, Avrupa'nın Haçlılar aracılığıyla Kızıldeniz'e indiği çağa kadar uzanan geniş bir zaman diliminde, kendine has özel şartları içinde kendi tarihini yazan Kızıldeniz'de oluşan bu birikimin ele alınmasında, sosyal bilimlerin farklı disiplinlerinden istifade edilmeye özen gösterilmiştir.

This poster aims to compare the Arabic and Chinese textual sources that mention the ports of trade and other maritime structures involved in the trade of frankincense and various aromats along the shores of the Arabian Peninsula between the 8th and the 14th century. Comparing this with the available archaeological data will help identify harbours and set up chronological maps showing the evolution of this trade. This study aims to highlight the maritime networks and to organise them into a hierarchy. In the continuity of the previous archaeological studies carried out in the South of Yemen, our goal is to develop further investigations along the coast of the Dhofar area (Sultanate of Oman) and near Ra’s al-Ḥadd (Sharqiyya province, Sultanate of Oman).