M. Belarte, Joan Canela, J. Morer, O. Cuscó, M. Ocaña, I. Euba, S. Valenzuela-Lamas
{"title":"Rural Settlement in Iron Age Cessetania (Northeastern Iberian Peninsula)","authors":"M. Belarte, Joan Canela, J. Morer, O. Cuscó, M. Ocaña, I. Euba, S. Valenzuela-Lamas","doi":"10.1558/jma.21980","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/jma.21980","url":null,"abstract":"Recent research has demonstrated the importance of rural settlement in the Iberian culture, although there are still few rural sites explored in depth. ‘Rural settlement’ is the term we use to designate the small habitation sites or agricultural structures that became common from the Middle Iberian Period (450–200 bc) onward; such sites constituted the basis of a hierarchical settlement system characteristic of societies developing towards archaic states. These settlements consist of one or two buildings together with silos and/or artisanal features. The main difficulty in studying such sites is their poor preservation. They are usually located on flat areas suitable for cultivation, and research has traditionally prioritised the study of larger sites. In this study, we revise the data from previous investigations in the territory of ancient Iberian Cessetania and present the results of recent research, paying particular attention to the Rabassats site. We compare these rural settlements to those in other nearby territories in the Iberian area as well as in the wider Mediterranean context. Detailed analyses of the remains of rural sites show a greater complexity than is often assumed and suggest that a variety of small settlements, from an economic and probably also from a social point of view, should be included under the generic heading of ‘fourth order’.","PeriodicalId":45203,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48628905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
B. Öhlinger, S. Ludwig, G. Forstenpointner, U. Thanheiser
{"title":"Lifting the Lid","authors":"B. Öhlinger, S. Ludwig, G. Forstenpointner, U. Thanheiser","doi":"10.1558/jma.21979","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/jma.21979","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper we investigate local foodways and ritual consumption in Iron Age Sicily through a study of cooking pots, integrating contextual, archaeozoological, archaeobotanical and chemical data. We focus on material from the central cult site of the settlement of Monte Iato, located in the hinterland of western Sicily, in order to explore the interaction between food, people, bio-/artefacts and environments as a process of formulating and reformulating social relationships and local power dynamics within specific social spaces and settings. We reveal different foodways and consumption practices within the same cult site, characterized on the one hand by long-standing traditions, with more or less constant and unchanging dishes, and on the other by the integration of external stimuli. We discuss the emergence of foreign- (Greek/Phoenician-) style cooking pots and ingredients as markers of an haute cuisine, developed with the aim of social differentiation.","PeriodicalId":45203,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46550958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Squatters’ Rights","authors":"R. Worsham","doi":"10.1558/jma.21978","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/jma.21978","url":null,"abstract":"Although ‘squatters’ have been identified in excavated contexts globally, it is unclear what this term actually means. In most archaeological publications, it seems to refer to the occupants of abandoned or destroyed buildings, especially those of the elite. ‘Squatting’, however, carries additional negative connotations which have been under-interrogated in the field. In this study, I explore the treatment of squatters in Anglophone archaeological writing, drawing upon two chronologically and geographically distinct examples: the Aegean Bronze Age and Late Roman North Africa. I argue that, in general, ‘squatters’ are identified uncritically and used as an index of cultural decline, with little consideration of the squatters—or reoccupants—themselves. Because ‘legitimacy’ of occupation is difficult to ascertain in archaeological contexts, I argue that this term is of little use in describing ancient reoccupation levels, particularly where they are distinguished only by their relative poverty. I suggest instead that an agency-centered assessment of impoverished architectural contexts is required.","PeriodicalId":45203,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47881537","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tom Maltas, Vasıf Şahoğlu, H. Erkanal, Rıza Tuncel
{"title":"Prehistoric Farming Settlements in Western Anatolia","authors":"Tom Maltas, Vasıf Şahoğlu, H. Erkanal, Rıza Tuncel","doi":"10.1558/jma.21981","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/jma.21981","url":null,"abstract":"Recovery of archaeobotanical assemblages from Late Chalcolithic Bakla Tepe and Liman Tepe in western Anatolia has provided the opportunity for in-depth analysis of agricultural strategies and the organisation of farming-related activity at the two sites. We find that Late Chalcolithic farmers utilised five major crop taxa, potentially including two mixed crops. The two sites also provide the first evidence for Spanish vetchling and winged vetchling cultivation in prehistoric Anatolia and the earliest evidence for this practice to date anywhere. We suggest that the settlements were organised into small, co-residential households that processed and stored their own crops, but we also propose that potentially communal extra-household storage and high levels of social monitoring may attest to supra-household cooperation. The later agricultural history of the vetchling species and the prevalence of extra-household storage at sites in coastal western Anatolia and the eastern Aegean islands add to evidence for a cultural koine between these regions in the fourth and third millennia bc. We also suggest that the large size of extra-household storage structures and the narrow range of crops cultivated at some Late Chalcolithic sites are consistent with the emergence of more extensive farming systems than those of earlier periods. Evidence for the use of extensive agricultural production to amass arable wealth by the citadel elites of later Early Bronze Age western Anatolia suggests that the agro-ecological foundations for emergent wealth inequality within the region were laid during the Late Chalcolithic. Testing this hypothesis through direct evidence for the nature of Late Chalcolithic farming systems is a key aim of ongoing research.","PeriodicalId":45203,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44472552","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Perils, Potential and Perspectives of Bioarchaeological Analyses in the Study of Mediterranean Mobility","authors":"G. S. Semerari, B. Kyle, Laurie J. Reitsema","doi":"10.1558/JMA.43203","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/JMA.43203","url":null,"abstract":"The resolution of bioarchaeological analyses has improved dramatically in recent years, and bioarchaeology is increasingly employed in areas of the world where preservation issues and disciplinary traditions had previously hindered its application. One such area is the Mediterranean region. Bioarchaeological analyses arguably are the most direct indicator of human behavior in the past, and as a result the full integration of bioarchaeology and archaeology into Mediterranean research shows much promise. However, several methodological, theoretical and practical challenges have emerged: (1) discrepancies between cultural and biological variability; (2) discrepancies in the dating of skeletal samples and of migration events in the two subdisciplines; (3) diverging interpretations of (collective) identities; and (4) the fostering of effective cross-disciplinary communication and collaboration. While the first two points are especially salient for Mediterranean research, the third and fourth are relevant for the archaeological discipline more generally. In this paper, we discuss each challenge in turn, focusing on the first millennium bc Greek diaspora in the Mediterranean. We believe that both disciplines would benefit from open discussion of these issues, which we hope might spur more collaborative efforts towards their resolution.","PeriodicalId":45203,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44767217","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Matthew Susnow, Nimrod Marom, Ariel Shatil, N. Panitz-Cohen, R. Mullins, N. Yahalom-Mack
{"title":"Contextualizing an Iron Age IIA Hoard of Astragali from Tel Abel Beth Maacah, Israel","authors":"Matthew Susnow, Nimrod Marom, Ariel Shatil, N. Panitz-Cohen, R. Mullins, N. Yahalom-Mack","doi":"10.1558/JMA.43202","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/JMA.43202","url":null,"abstract":"Astragali, the knuckle or ankle bones of mammals, have been collected, used and modified by humans in different parts of the world for millennia. Large hoards dating from Iron Age IIA (tenth–ninth centuries BC) are attested at a number of sites in the southern Levant, and a recently discovered hoard of 406 astragali at Tel Abel Beth Maacah in northern Israel presents an opportunity to investigate this phenomenon, shedding light on the function of these bones and why they bore special status and meaning that crossed cultural and temporal boundaries. In this study, the zooarchaeological analysis of the astragali provides the basis for an extensive discussion of the hoard’s formation process and function that explores ethnographic literature, archaeological data and ancient Near Eastern and classical documentary sources. The findings of this study demonstrate that while the individual bones had many different functions, once deposited together the astragali took on a new meaning, possibly related to divinatory practices.","PeriodicalId":45203,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48578445","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Christopher L. Witmore, William Caraher, Alfredo González-Ruibal, Johanna Hanink
{"title":"Reviewing Christopher Witmore’s Old Lands: A Chorography of the Eastern Peloponnese (London: Routledge, 2020)","authors":"Christopher L. Witmore, William Caraher, Alfredo González-Ruibal, Johanna Hanink","doi":"10.1558/JMA.43204","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/JMA.43204","url":null,"abstract":"a) A Journey to A Chorography: Christopher Witmore \u0000b) Old Ways in Old Lands: William Caraher \u0000c) Manifesting the Infraordinary: Alfredo González-Ruibal \u0000d) This Old Land: Johanna Hanink \u0000e) Re-Grounding Chorographically: Christopher Witmore","PeriodicalId":45203,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44301374","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Biriai","authors":"G. Webster","doi":"10.1558/jma.43200","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/jma.43200","url":null,"abstract":"The materiality of forced migration and resettlement have understandably moved to the forefront of archaeological research recently, although data from prehistoric refugia remain limited. One potentially informative example is the west Mediterranean island of Sardinia, where remains of the later third millennium BC document discontinuities associated with the appearance of Bell Beaker elements in local cultural modalities. Employing an augmented version of Aaron Burke’s ethnographically based approach, this study examines the Sardinian record, first toward identifying the contexts and factors that may have induced forced migration, such as agonistic relations with Beaker-bearing entities, then toward identifying likely refugia. Diagnostic correlates are derived in terms of the material consequences of adaptations to anthropologically documented risks encountered by refugees (e.g. landlessness, homelessness, marginalization). On these criteria, the eastern Sardinian settlement of Sa Sedda de Biriai in Oliena is identified and investigated as a possible refuge settlement of the Monte Claro culture. Evidence is marshalled with the aim of discovering temporal, spatial and material patterns consistent with Burke’s model in an augmented form, emphasizing non-local source venues, homelands or pre-flight affiliations, pre-flight or transitional objects, post-flight/refuge integrative expressions, security-adapted house architecture, residential enclaves or districts and removals of iconic pre-flight cult spaces. The social identity of the bearers of Beaker material culture on Sardinia is discussed briefly.","PeriodicalId":45203,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67554891","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Making of a Byzantine Monastic Landscape","authors":"F. Kondyli, Sarah Craft","doi":"10.1558/JMA.19470","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/JMA.19470","url":null,"abstract":"In this study, we present some results from the Mazi Archaeological Project (MAP), a diachronic regional survey in northwest Attica, Greece. We focus our discussion on the presence of the Middle Byzantine Monastery of Hosios Meletios and its relationship to local communities as well as to the surrounding natural and built environment. In doing so, we focus on three main strategies employed by the monastery: (1) large-scale building projects, (2) the redirection of movement in the area and (3) the exploitation of the natural environment and its economic resources. We also pay attention to the establishment of the paralavria (monastic dependencies) as a fundamental mechanism employed by the monastery to map its presence and influence and connect it to other sites of economic and religious importance in the region. We argue that the spatial, material and symbolic connections between the paralavria, the main monastery and key natural features in the area created a visually, spiritually and economically coherent and distinct monastic landscape.","PeriodicalId":45203,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology","volume":"33 1","pages":"135-159"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49381530","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From Texts and Iconography to Use-Wear Analysis of Ceramic Vessels","authors":"B. Lis, Trevor Van Damme","doi":"10.1558/JMA.19472","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/JMA.19472","url":null,"abstract":"While handwashing is attested in the Bronze Age cultures of the eastern Mediterranean and appears in both Linear B records and Homeric epics, the custom has not been discussed with regard to the material culture of Mycenaean Greece. On analogy with Egyptian handwashing equipment, we explore the possibility that a conical bowl made of bronze and copied in clay was introduced in Greece early in the Late Bronze Age for this specific use. We integrate epigraphic, iconographic and formal analyses to support this claim, but in order to interrogate the quotidian function of ceramic lekanes, we present the results of use-wear analysis performed on 130 examples. As use-wear develops from repeated use over a long time, it is a good indicator of normative behaviour, particularly when large datasets are amassed and contrasted with other shapes. While not conclusive, our results allow us to rule out a function as tableware for food consumption, and in combination with all other analyses support the interpretation of lekanes as handwashing basins. We then trace the development of this custom from its initial adoption by elite groups to its spread among new social classes and venues after the collapse of the palace system: at home, as part of communal feasting and sacrifice or as an element of funerary rites. The widespread distribution of handwashing equipment after 1200 bc closely mirrors the situation in our earliest surviving Greek Iron Age texts and joins a growing body of evidence pointing to strong continuity in social practices between the Postpalatial period and the early Iron Age in Greece.","PeriodicalId":45203,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology","volume":"33 1","pages":"185-210"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48964106","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}