{"title":"In the Next Issues","authors":"","doi":"10.1163/15700577-20232913","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700577-20232913","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41854,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140495779","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Persepolis West: Evidence for a Pigment Production Site and Its Connections with Achaemenid Royal-Official Buildings","authors":"Emad Matin","doi":"10.1163/15700577-20232911","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700577-20232911","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper aims at elaborating the potential existence of craft production site(s) for manufacturing the colouring materials in the Persepolis area. In doing so, the paper discusses the colour pigments and elements used for decorating the Achaemenid royal-official buildings, the ancient contexts in which raw materials for colouring have been discovered and the parts of the Persepolis area in which the indication of possible craft production sites have been reported. Particular attention is paid to recently published archaeometric analyses which dealt with the scientific characterization of certain pigments unearthed in Persepolis West. By gathering all the aforementioned information, the author confirms the production of raw materials for colouring in the Persepolis West craft zone. Furthermore, the paper includes a detailed discussion on the exact functions of this craft production site and shows that Persia, together with Egypt, Greece, southern Italy, and eastern Anatolia, was one of the few places in which the production of Egyptian blue is evidenced.</p>","PeriodicalId":41854,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139578612","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Roman Amphorae from Gonio (Apsaros), 1st–3rd Centuries AD","authors":"Paulina Komar","doi":"10.1163/15700577-20232909","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700577-20232909","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper presents the first study of the Roman period amphorae which were discovered by the Gonio-Apsaros Polish-Georgian Expedition at the Roman fort of Apsaros (modern Gonio, Georgia) between 2014 and 2019. Six excavation seasons provided over a thousand diagnostic fragments of both locally produced and imported transport containers, with a considerable number of these dating to between the 1st and 3rd centuries <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">AD</span>. Most of the imports come from the southern Black Sea and the Aegean regions, whereas northern Black Sea containers appear only occasionally.</p>","PeriodicalId":41854,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139578742","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Great Mother Goddess on the Thracian Coast of Pontos Euxeinos: Forms and Traditions","authors":"Dobrinka Chiekova","doi":"10.1163/15700577-20232902","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700577-20232902","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper focuses on the worship of the Mother Goddess in the Greek colonies on the west coast of the Black Sea from the Archaic to the Roman period. The epigraphic and the archaeological evidence demonstrate the importance of the Milesian colonies in the spread of the cult. The political aspect of the Goddess’s personality is prominent and reminds of her Phrygian position. A Great Goddess very similar to the Phrygian Matar was worshiped in Thrace and on the western shores of the Black Sea before the arrival of the Greeks in 7th century BC . The Greek colonists and the Thracians were able to recognize simultaneously the continuum and the distinction in the forms and characteristics of their respective Great Goddess.","PeriodicalId":41854,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134971344","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ossuary Burials of the Sultan-uiz-dag. Some Considerations on the Relation between Archaeology and Vendīdād","authors":"Michele Minardi","doi":"10.1163/15700577-20232904","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700577-20232904","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The archaeological exploration of the only mountain range of Karakalpakstan, the barren Sultan-uiz-dag/Sultan-uvais, resumed in 2017 after a hiatus of decades since its first archaeological valuation during Soviet times. This paper presents the preliminary results of the first fieldwork season, which focused on the south-eastern spur of the range. The presence of numerous ossuary burials on its summits reveals that the area was used as an extended burial ground for a prolonged period of time. Although most of the ossuaries recorded consist of scattered fragments that had lost their content, an intact cluster of such burials was discovered and excavated (Site 01). The archaeological and osteological evidence gathered from both the survey and the excavation of Site 01 seems to confirm what until now could only be assumed: the Chorasmians strictly followed the ritual and the funerary prescriptions contained in the Avestan Vendīdād (or Vidēvdād ). Until the major discovery of the Akchakhan-kala’s Avestan gods, the capacity to archaeologically trace Zoroastrianism was questioned. With due caution, this paper tries to find an answer to the problem regarding the presence of resilient Zoroastrianism in Chorasmia, a polity which entered the “Avestan sphere” apparently in parallel to the Achaemenid conquest.","PeriodicalId":41854,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134971434","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Prestige Goods as Markers of Network Relations of the Volga-Don Élites (from the 3rd c. BC to the Mid-3rd c. AD)","authors":"Valentina I. Mordvintseva","doi":"10.1163/15700577-20232903","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700577-20232903","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The article concerns the composition and the origin of prestige markers from burial contexts of the Volga-Don region in four chronological groups (3rd–2nd c. <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">BC</span>, 1st c. <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">BC</span>, 1st–mid-2nd c. <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">AD</span>, mid-2nd–mid-3rd c. <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">AD</span>). Certain ‘core features’ were noticed among male and female sets of prestige goods, which did not change with time, as well as other changing elements in each period. By the origin, the prestige goods are divided into intra-cultural, cross-cultural, and external-cultural ones. The use of prestige goods of different origins at the funerals of the social élite members reflects the inclusion of the societies in various contemporary networks. Thus, during the first period, there are noted connections of the élites of the Western Volga-Don subregion with the élites of the Northern Black Sea (mostly Lower Dnieper and Dniester regions) and Eastern Europe, while the élites of the Eastern subregion were focused on communication with nomadic communities of the Eurasian steppe belt (Siberia, Mongolia, Transbaikalia). In the second period, these interactions generally persisted, while the links with élites of the Iranian world markedly intensified, particularly in the Eastern subregion. In the third period, the Volga-Don élites were predominantly oriented in the direction of Parthian Iran. In the fourth period, the contacts of the barbarian élites of the region are noted mainly with the Bosporan kingdom.</p>","PeriodicalId":41854,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138513152","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"In the Next Issues","authors":"","doi":"10.1163/15700577-20232906","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700577-20232906","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41854,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134971340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Coin Assemblages in Ancient Burials: Statement of the Problem","authors":"Andrey E. Tereshchenko","doi":"10.1163/15700577-20232901","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700577-20232901","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The present work is dedicated to the analysis of possible meanings of monetary offerings in ancient burial practice. It is clear from archaeological data that the placement of money in a grave was not an essential component of the funeral ceremony; therefore, the comparative variety of versions of this ritual is not surprising: the number and value of coins in burials varies rather widely. The author examines several possible situations of monetary offering (one, two, three, or four and more coins) and suggests, with the support of both literary and archaeological data, various interpretations (“Charon’s obol ,” “return ticket,” unfixed transportation fee, gifts “just in case,” and an indicator of social status, respectively). The article focuses attention on the most recent find from the Taman Peninsula – a small deposit from the necropolis of Volna I settlement.","PeriodicalId":41854,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134971379","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Martin Goffriller, Irina Arzhantseva, Heinrich Härke
{"title":"First Millennium Urbanism in Central Asia: Typology and Evolution of Dzhety-asar Settlements","authors":"Martin Goffriller, Irina Arzhantseva, Heinrich Härke","doi":"10.1163/15700577-20232905","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700577-20232905","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Despite its apparent size and length of its existence, the Dzhety-asar culture of Kazakhstan remains one of the great unknowns of Central Asian archaeology, comprising, as it did, several dozen now-ruined settlements with an almost thousand-year long occupational history. First settled around the 1st century BC and gradually abandoned in the second half of the 1st millennium AD , the Dzhety-asar towns and manors were located to the east of the Aral Sea within the Syr Darya delta, and may have functioned as a core element in Central Asia’s medieval trade networks. Despite past research efforts by the Khorezmian Archaeological Ethnographic Expedition (KhAEE), the cultural and political history of the Dzhety-asar people remains largely unclear, with as yet no consensus on the political structure or their ethnic, linguistic and religious make-up. The present paper does not presume to answer these questions at this stage, as it is the result of two fieldwork seasons documenting and surveying Dzhety-asar settlements. It is, instead, intended to lay out the preliminary findings, presenting a revised typology of sites, and suggest initial hypotheses regarding the structure and possible evolution of the culture.","PeriodicalId":41854,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134971337","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Front matter","authors":"","doi":"10.1163/15700577-02901000","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700577-02901000","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41854,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134971382","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}