A New Fieldwork Collaboration at Tel Bet Yerah (Khirbet

C M Y K

Z B C M Y X CMY Z6 B6 C6 M6 Y6 X6 Z B C M Y X 40% Z B C M Y X Z B C M Y X 40% Z B C M Y Prinect/FOGRA 6 Dipco 2.1 Format 102 © 2004 FOGRA/Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG B C M Y X 40% Z B C M Y X Z B C M Y X 40% Z B C M Y X Z B C M Y X 40% Z B C M Y X Z6 B6 C6 M6 Y6 X6 Z B C M Y X Z B C M Y X CMY Z6 B6 C6 M6 Y6 X6 Z B C M Y X 40% Z B C M Y X Z B C M Y X 40% B C M Y Prinect/FOGRA 6 Dipco 2.1 Format 102 © 2004 FOGRA/Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG B C M Y X 40% Z B C M Y X Z B C M Y X 40% Z B C M Y X Z B C M Y X 40% Z B C M Y X Z6 B6 C6 M6 Y6 X6 Z B C M Y X

1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132

ARCHAEOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 12 page 34 page 31 ARCHAEOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 12 and nationalism in the modern Middle Exploring connections: a new fieldwork or Palestine appears to have been that of East. Dr. Greenberg, who is responsible Dame Kathleen Kenyon (1906–1978) for renewing archaeological activity at collaboration at Tel Bet Yerah (Khirbet el-Kerak) almost half a century ago, in Jerusalem. Tel Bet Yerah, has been at the forefront The public exhibition “A Future For of recent debates concerning the future David Wengrow the Past: Petrie’s Palestinian Collection” of cultural heritage in Israel and Palestine. The site of Tel Bet Yerah (Khirbet el-Kerak) in northern Israel has long (2007), initiated by former Director of the He has also played a lead role in assessing been recognized as one of the most important Bronze Age urban centres Institute, Professor Peter Ucko, signalled the impact of military occupation upon in the region and has been excavated several times over the last seventy a new phase of UCL involvement in the the archaeology of the Palestinian West years. The Institute of Archaeology has joined a new project of research archaeology and cultural heritage of these Bank, including the compilation of a and excavation of the site, organized by the University of Tel Aviv. Here countries. Our present involvement at comprehensive GIS database documenting David Wengrow, the director of the UCL team, describes the 2009 season. Tel Bet Yerah forms part of a series of archaeological activity in that region since wider initiatives made possible by a grant, 1967.12 A further consequence of this new awarded to David Wengrow by the UCL collaboration, and of the UCL Futures n summer 2009, thirty-two The current UCL expedition to Tel Bet Futures fund, under the heading “Towards project, is the arrival at the Institute of undergraduates and three masters Yerah was led and organized by Dr David a sustainable archaeology in Israel and Adi Keinan, whose PhD research focuses students from the Institute of Wengrow, with the assistance of Sevinc Palestine”. Their support, and that of our IArchaeology participated in renewed Duvarci and Ian Cipin (MA Archaeology upon the implications of that database for alumni, is greatly appreciated. regional antiquities policy and cultural excavations at the site of Tel Bet Yerah of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle heritage. Her work, supervised by Tim in northern Israel. Tel Bet Yerah is a East). Our contingent joined the core The beginnings of urban life in the Williams and Andrew Bevan, is sponsored low, thirty-hectare mound located at the project staff and students from Tel Aviv Jordan Valley by the prestigious Bonnart-Braunthal egress of the River Jordan from the Sea University, led by excavation directors Dr Tel Bet Yerah (Fig. 1) has long been Scholarship, which supports research of Galilee. Excavated periodically since Raphael Greenberg and Sarit Paz, and also recognized as a site of major archaeological Figure 6 Mosaic associated with the fortified Early Islamic complex 1933, the site is already well known Taufik Deadle, a PhD candidate in Islamic importance. Extending over an area to archaeologists as one of the earliest Art at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. of some thirty hectares, it lies at the and other early Muslim rulers.9 At its examples of planned urban settlement in The last archaeological fieldwork project northern end of the Jordan Rift Valley greatest extent the Umayyad Empire the southern Levant (modern-day Israel, undertaken by the Institute in either Israel on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The reached from Spain to Central Asia.10 At Palestine, Jordan), commencing around Tel Bet Yerah, colourful mosaic floors 3000 BC. The sequence of habitation – which may date to this period, or extends back much further, however, and slightly earlier – were discovered decades provides a unique window onto the long- ago but concealed from view for their term processes that led to the emergence protection. This season’s work included of urban life in this region. Tel Bet Yerah the uncovering and careful re-recording is also the type-site for Khirbet Kerak of these remarkable surfaces (Fig. 6). They Ware, a visually striking ceramic industry are associated with a massive structure, introduced to the region around 2800 built on deep foundations, and equipped BC, as part of a much wider spread of with an elaborate bathing house, which cultural influences originating far to has been compared to the great baths of the north, in the Caucasus, and also Hisham’s Palace (Khirbet el-Mafjar) at extending eastward into western Iran. nearby Jericho,11 where a team from the It was periodically occupied in later Institute’s Centre for Applied Archaeology periods, including the Middle Bronze is currently undertaking fieldwork with Age, Persian, Hellenistic (when it bore Birzeit University. Some of its foundation the name Philoteria), Roman and walls showed severe cracking, perhaps Figure 7 UCL undergraduate Leah Acheson Roberts, excavating the foundations of a Late Byzantine/ Byzantine, and possesses important early related to the massive earthquake of AD Early Islamic building Islamic remains, which are also a focus of 749 that destroyed many sites along the current research. Jordan Valley. A further aim of the 2009 The connection between the Institute season’s work, and an ongoing target and Tel Bet Yerah is not, in fact, an for the future, was the identification entirely new one. We hold a small of stratigraphic and ceramic evidence selection of ceramics collected from the to allow a more precise dating of this site during the 1930s, when it was known structure, which must have been an by its Arabic name (still widely used): impressive monument before it was razed Khirbet el-Kerak. Currently housed in and its stones carted away for re-use Room 209 at the Institute of Archaeology, outside the site. they appear to originate with James Leslie Starkey (1895–1938), best known for his Cultural heritage in Israel and work at Lachish/Tell ed-Duweir, and were Palestine: contemporary issues presented to the Institute in 1956 by Olga UCL students (Figs. 7 and 8) participated Tufnell (1904–1985), to be displayed in in all aspects of the fieldwork at Tel Bet the then Palestine Gallery as part of the Yerah, receiving training in tel-excavation, teaching collection. An earlier donation surveying, and recording. They also of ceramic sherds and other small finds visited other major sites (such as the from Bet Yerah was made to the Institute Bronze Age city of Hazor) and attended by the Palestine Archaeological (now a rigorous course of evening lectures, Rockefeller) Museum in the late 1930s covering topics such as Early Bronze Age (Rachael Sparks, personal comment). urbanism, the archaeology of early Islam, Figure 1 Tel Bet Yerah (Khirbet el-Kerak), by the Sea of Galilee and the relationship between archaeology Figure 8 The 2009 team, on the final day of excavations

Archaeology International Brochure - Lay - 10/27/10 - 14:57:16 - BlackCyanMagentaYellow Back 5

Archaeology International Brochure - Lay - 10/27/10 - 14:57:11 - Magenta Black Cyan Magenta Yellow - - - - 14:57:11 14:57:11 14:57:11 14:57:11 - - - - 10/27/10 10/27/10 10/27/10 10/27/10 - - - - Lay Lay Lay Lay - - - - Brochure Brochure Brochure Brochure International International International International Archaeology Archaeology Archaeology Archaeology Front 5 Front

1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132

X Y M C B Z X6 Y6 M6 C6 B6 Z6 X Y M C B Z 40% 40% X Y M C B Z X Y M C B Z 40% 40% X Y M C B Z X Y M C B Z 40% X Y M C B AG Druckmaschinen FOGRA/Heidelberger 2004 © 102 Format 2.1 Dipco 6 Prinect/FOGRA Y M C B 40% X Y M C B Z X Y M C B Z 40% X Y M C B Z X6 Y6 M6 C6 B6 Z6 Y M C X Y M C B Z X Y M C B Z X6 Y6 M6 C6 B6 Z6 X Y M C B Z 40% 40% X Y M C B Z X Y M C B Z 40% 40% X Y M C B Z X Y M C B Z 40% X Y M C B AG Druckmaschinen FOGRA/Heidelberger 2004 © 102 Format 2.1 Dipco 6 Prinect/FOGRA Y M C B Z 40% X Y M C B Z X Y M C B Z 40% X Y M C B Z X6 Y6 M6 C6 B6 Z6 Y M C X Y M C B Z

ARCHAEOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 12 page 32 page 33 ARCHAEOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 12

which were produced during a relatively phenomenon, looking particularly at narrow window of time (c.3300–3100 the interplay of local and interregional BC, or Dynasty 0) – were known only factors. Staff members from Tel Aviv within Egypt itself, and their use was University are engaged in detailed analysis assumed to have been confined to the of the technological procedures used to early Egyptian elite.4 make Khirbet Kerak ware, including The fragment was found in a secondary petrography, experimental replication of deposit close to the Circles Building, in firing techniques (which took place on- association with pottery dating to the site), and their comparison with methods earlier part of the Early Bronze III period used elsewhere in the Transcaucasian (c.2800–2600 BC). Like a much less network. Other current research focuses elaborate Egyptian palette found at Bet upon the archaeological criteria used to Yerah in the 1950s, it probably antedates establish past migrations, as opposed to its find context by some centuries. It is other mechanisms for the transmission of worked from siltstone, the nearest sources cultural practices over large areas.8 of which lie approximately 700km southwest of the site, as the crow flies, The archaeology of early Islam along the Wadi Hammamat: the shortest In addition to questions of urbanization land-route between the Nile Valley and and interregional connections in the Early Bronze Age, a special focus of the 2009 the Red Sea coast. Surviving on its surface Figure 4 Khirbet Kerak Ware bowl, mid-third millennium BC are delicate carvings of an arm and hand excavations was the large fortified complex grasping a sceptre and an early form of Egyptian state subsequently established (e.g. at Arslantepe, in eastern Turkey and that has been tentatively identified by the ‘ankh sign. The signs on the fragment close commercial and diplomatic ties, Shengavit in southern Armenia)7 that are experts in Islamic history as part of al- are executed to an extremely high quality, attested by the presence of royal gifts at seeking to develop a more sophisticated Sinnabra: a site of economic and strategic importance during the early expansion of and bear comparison with those on royal the maritime city of Byblos. The discovery understanding of the processes of th th palettes and other monuments dating to of the Bet Yerah Palette, as it has come to cultural transmission that lie behind this the Umayyad Caliphate (7 –8 centuries the earliest phase of Egyptian kingship. be known, complicates this picture, and AD), and the winter resort of Mu’awiya Finds of this nature are rare even within adds support to suggestions that similar Figure 2 Early Bronze Age Tel Bet Yerah in its interregional context Egypt itself. relations of elite patronage may have Recent assessments of foreign been cultivated with centres in the Jordan valley was once flanked by major trade 2 relations between the early Egyptian Valley, albeit for a relatively brief period millennium BC. One aim of the current rd arteries running to the east (the incense fieldwork at Bet Yerah, and the subject state and its neighbours accord relatively in the early 3 millennium BC, before and spice route leading from the Red of a PhD dissertation under preparation little importance to the northern part Egyptian interests moved decisively to the 5 Sea to Damascus) and west (the “Way of by Sarit Paz, is to approach this problem of the Jordan Valley, where Bet Yerah is northern Levantine coast. located. This is by contrast with a) the the Sea”, traversing the famous ports of from the bottom up, focusing upon the From the Zagros to the Mediterranean: the Levantine coast). Previous fieldwork detailed investigation of domestic (rather southern coastal plain of modern-day interregional connections in the Early at the site, going back to the time of the than monumental) contexts, in order to Israel and Gaza, considered to be the British Mandate, established it as one of better understand the constitution of a focus of an Egyptian colonial movement Bronze Age the first urban centres of the region during large, planned settlement through long- during the late Early Bronze I period No less intriguing than its early the Early Bronze Age, located midway term changes in the everyday organization (c.3200–3000 BC); and b) the coastal Egyptian connections is the status between the great alluvial civilizations of household life. In the course of our field plain of Lebanon, where the Old Kingdom of Tel Bet Yerah as the regional type of Mesopotamia and Egypt (Fig. 2).1 season, however, we were also reminded site of the Khirbet Kerak cultural It remains a key focus of research into – in a fairly dramatic fashion – that the complex (c.2800–2300 BC): a distinct the transition from village to urban life answers to these questions cannot be configuration of material culture with around the Eastern Mediterranean basin sought on a purely local scale.3 well established links to contemporaneous in the late fourth and third millennia sites in central Anatolia, the Caucasus An astonishing �nd: Tel Bet Yerah and (Kura-Araxes culture), and the Zagros BC, owing not least to the presence of a 6 unique complex (c.1200 square metres in early Egypt Mountains of Western Iran. The size) with massive stone foundations and An undoubted highlight of the 2009 remarkable spread of Transcaucasian circular storage pits (the so-called Circles season was the discovery by Institute cultural practices around the northern Building), the function of which remains student Mike Lewis, working under the margins of the Fertile Crescent remains enigmatic. Despite the scale of this direction of Sarit Paz, of a fragment of relief one of the most enigmatic and poorly building, and of the impressive mud-brick carving, bearing exquisitely executed signs, understood phenomena of Near Eastern wall and gateway that enclosed the Early of clear Egyptian origin (Fig. 3). The four archaeology. In the past it has often Bronze Age town, there is little evidence centimetre long piece is the first artefact been explained in terms of the outward for such “typical” accompaniments of of its type ever found in an archaeological migration of groups from a homeland urban life as centralized administration, context outside Egypt, and belongs to in the southern Caucasus, bringing with palace and temple institutions, or literacy. the same genre of objects as the famous them a distinct repertory of equipment for Their absence is a general feature of palette of King Narmer. It is remarkable the preparation of food and the conduct early urban life in the southern Levant, both its in own right, and for its location. of domestic rituals, including ceramic by contrast with larger polities to the Egyptian cosmetic palettes of simpler vessels with a striking metallic appearance north, such as the kingdom of Ebla, forms are quite widely documented in the (Fig. 4) and hearth-boundaries that on the Syrian steppe. Much recent southern Levant, as a result of constant supported sealed cooking vessels (Fig. 5), research centres upon understanding interaction between these regions during and were sometimes ornamented with the alternative mechanisms of social the fourth millennium BC. But prior to anthropomorphic features. integration that allowed the aggregation of the discovery of the Bet Yerah Palette, Figure 3 Fragment of an Egyptian “ceremonial Current work at Tel Bet Yerah forms Figure 5 Reconstruction of “Transcaucasian” cooking practices, on a portable hearth boundary (or

large communities there during the third examples with relief decoration – most of palette”, late fourth millennium BC one of a growing number of projects “andiron”)

M C

1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132

page 33 ARCHAEOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 12

phenomenon, looking particularly at the interplay of local and interregional factors. Staff members from Tel Aviv University are engaged in detailed analysis of the technological procedures used to make Khirbet Kerak ware, including petrography, experimental replication of firing techniques (which took place on- site), and their comparison with methods used elsewhere in the Transcaucasian network. Other current research focuses upon the archaeological criteria used to establish past migrations, as opposed to other mechanisms for the transmission of cultural practices over large areas.8 The archaeology of early Islam In addition to questions of urbanization and interregional connections in the Early Bronze Age, a special focus of the 2009 Figure 4 Khirbet Kerak Ware bowl, mid-third millennium BC excavations was the large fortified complex Egyptian state subsequently established (e.g. at Arslantepe, in eastern Turkey and that has been tentatively identified by close commercial and diplomatic ties, Shengavit in southern Armenia)7 that are experts in Islamic history as part of al- attested by the presence of royal gifts at seeking to develop a more sophisticated Sinnabra: a site of economic and strategic importance during the early expansion of the maritime city of Byblos. The discovery understanding of the processes of th th of the Bet Yerah Palette, as it has come to cultural transmission that lie behind this the Umayyad Caliphate (7 –8 centuries be known, complicates this picture, and AD), and the winter resort of Mu’awiya adds support to suggestions that similar relations of elite patronage may have been cultivated with centres in the Jordan Valley, albeit for a relatively brief period in the early 3rd millennium BC, before Egyptian interests moved decisively to the northern Levantine coast.5 From the Zagros to the Mediterranean: interregional connections in the Early Bronze Age No less intriguing than its early Egyptian connections is the status of Tel Bet Yerah as the regional type site of the Khirbet Kerak cultural complex (c.2800–2300 BC): a distinct configuration of material culture with well established links to contemporaneous sites in central Anatolia, the Caucasus (Kura-Araxes culture), and the Zagros Mountains of Western Iran.6 The remarkable spread of Transcaucasian cultural practices around the northern margins of the Fertile Crescent remains one of the most enigmatic and poorly understood phenomena of Near Eastern archaeology. In the past it has often been explained in terms of the outward migration of groups from a homeland in the southern Caucasus, bringing with them a distinct repertory of equipment for the preparation of food and the conduct of domestic rituals, including ceramic vessels with a striking metallic appearance (Fig. 4) and hearth-boundaries that supported sealed cooking vessels (Fig. 5), and were sometimes ornamented with anthropomorphic features. Current work at Tel Bet Yerah forms Figure 5 Reconstruction of “Transcaucasian” cooking practices, on a portable hearth boundary (or

one of a growing number of projects “andiron”)

M C C M Y K

1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132

ARCHAEOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 12 page 34

and nationalism in the modern Middle East. Dr. Greenberg, who is responsible for renewing archaeological activity at Tel Bet Yerah, has been at the forefront of recent debates concerning the future of cultural heritage in Israel and Palestine. He has also played a lead role in assessing the impact of military occupation upon the archaeology of the Palestinian West Bank, including the compilation of a comprehensive GIS database documenting archaeological activity in that region since 1967.12 A further consequence of this new collaboration, and of the UCL Futures project, is the arrival at the Institute of Adi Keinan, whose PhD research focuses upon the implications of that database for regional antiquities policy and cultural heritage. Her work, supervised by Tim Williams and Andrew Bevan, is sponsored by the prestigious Bonnart-Braunthal Scholarship, which supports research Figure 6 Mosaic associated with the fortiﬁed Early Islamic complex

and other early Muslim rulers.9 At its greatest extent the Umayyad Empire reached from Spain to Central Asia.10 At Tel Bet Yerah, colourful mosaic floors – which may date to this period, or slightly earlier – were discovered decades ago but concealed from view for their protection. This season’s work included the uncovering and careful re-recording of these remarkable surfaces (Fig. 6). They are associated with a massive structure, built on deep foundations, and equipped with an elaborate bathing house, which has been compared to the great baths of Hisham’s Palace (Khirbet el-Mafjar) at nearby Jericho,11 where a team from the Institute’s Centre for Applied Archaeology is currently undertaking fieldwork with Birzeit University. Some of its foundation walls showed severe cracking, perhaps Figure 7 UCL undergraduate Leah Acheson Roberts, excavating the foundations of a Late Byzantine/ related to the massive earthquake of AD Early Islamic building 749 that destroyed many sites along the Jordan Valley. A further aim of the 2009 season’s work, and an ongoing target for the future, was the identification of stratigraphic and ceramic evidence to allow a more precise dating of this structure, which must have been an impressive monument before it was razed and its stones carted away for re-use outside the site. Cultural heritage in Israel and Palestine: contemporary issues UCL students (Figs. 7 and 8) participated in all aspects of the fieldwork at Tel Bet Yerah, receiving training in tel-excavation, surveying, and recording. They also visited other major sites (such as the Bronze Age city of Hazor) and attended a rigorous course of evening lectures, covering topics such as Early Bronze Age urbanism, the archaeology of early Islam, and the relationship between archaeology Figure 8 The 2009 team, on the final day of excavations

Archaeology International Brochure - Lay - 10/27/10 - 14:57:16 - BlackCyanMagentaYellow Back 5 C M Y K

1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132

ARCHAEOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 12 page 30 page 35 ARCHAEOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 12 recognized, further identifications will be “into the nature of racial, religious and 9 See http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/ possible in the future, especially as the cultural intolerance with a view to finding ar/01-02/is_whitcomb.html; and also quality of the imagery improves. a means to combat it”. G.R.D. King, “The distribution of sites We anticipate another season at Tel and routes in the Jordanian and Syrian deserts in the Early Islamic Period”, Future Research Bet Yerah, with our colleagues from Tel Using the GIS platform we plan to review Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Aviv University, in 2011. 2010 looks Studies 17, 91–105, 1987. archaeological, historical, cartographic, set to be a much smaller affair, probing topographic and hydrological data, within 10 For a summary, see G.R. Hawting, The previously unexamined parts of the site, first dynasty of Islam: the Umayyad caliphate a developing framework of satellite and and exploring the potential of geophysics A.D. 661–750 (London: Croom Helm, aerial imagery. Further survey work will with new partners from UCLA’s Cotsen 1986). be conducted along the route to Amul Institute for Archaeology, and the Centre 11 See R.W. Hamilton, Khirbat al-Mafjar: in 2010, and we hope that this research for Advanced Spatial Technologies at the an Arabian Mansion in the Jordan Valley project can subsequently be extended to University of Arkansas. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959). explore the routes to the Tedjen delta (to 12 R. Greenberg & A. Keinan, The present the west) and Sarakhs and Afghanistan Notes past of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: (to the south). The landscape perspective 1 R. Greenberg et al., Bet Yerah, the Early Israeli archaeology in the West Bank and that this work is enabling us to develop Bronze Age mound. volume 1: excavation East Jerusalem since 1967 (Ramat Aviv: S. provides a broader picture of the dynamic reports, 1933–1986. (Jerusalem: Israel Daniel Abraham Center for International economic, administrative and political Antiquities Authority, 2006). and Regional Studies, 2007); Israeli organization of this pivotal area of the 2 For a representative sample of recent archaeological activity in the West Bank Central Asian Silk Roads. debates, see ‘Urbanism’ in the Early Bronze 1967–2007: a sourcebook (Jerusalem: Age Levant: a special issue of the Journal of Emek Shaveh, 2007). Figure 7 Example of a shepherding outpost in a natural topographic basin in the southern survey Notes Mediterranean Archaeology 16.1, 2003. area 1 See G. Herrmann in Archaeology 3 See further, D.L. Esse, Subsistence, trade, International 1997/1998, 32–6 for a and social change in Early Bronze Age resume of the setting and development Palestine (Chicago: Oriental Institute of of the cities. For fuller accounts, see the University of Chicago, 1991). G. Herrmann, Monuments of Merv: 4 For Levantine contexts, see P. Jacobs, traditional buildings of the Karakum “A cosmetic palette from Early Bronze (London: Society of Antiquaries of Age III at Tell Halif”, in Retrieving the London, 1999); T. Williams, “The city past: essays on archaeological research of Sultan Kala, Merv, Turkmenistan: and methodology in honor of Gus W. van communities, neighbourhoods and urban Beek, J.D. Seger (ed.), 123–34 (Winona planning from the eighth to the thirteenth Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1996); for a wider century”, in Cities in the pre-modern Islamic consideration of Egyptian cosmetic world: the urban impact of religion, state and palettes, D. Wengrow, The archaeology of society; A. K. Bennison & A. Gascoigne early Egypt: social transformations in north- (eds), 42–62 (London: Routledge, 2007); east Africa, 10,000–2650 BC (Cambridge: T. Williams, “The landscapes of Islamic Cambridge University Press, 2006). Merv, Turkmenistan: Where to draw the 5 See especially the contributions by Raphael line?”, Internet Archaeology 25, http:// Greenberg and Pierre de Miroschedji, in intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue25/merv_ Egypt and the Levant: interrelations from the index.html, 2008; V. A. Zavyalov, “The 4th through the early 3rd Millennium BCE, fortifications of the city of Gyaur Kala, E.C.M. van den Brink and T.E. Levy (eds) Merv”, in After Alexander: Central Asia (London, New York: Leicester University before Islam, J. Cribb & G. Herrmann Press, 2002). (eds), 313–29 (Oxford: Oxford University 6 See G. Philip, “Complexity and diversity Press, 2007). in the southern Levant during the third 2 See T. Williams in Archaeology millenium BC: The Evidence of Khirbet International 2002/2003, 40–3 for an Kerak Ware”, Journal of Mediterranean introduction to the current project and Archaeology 12.1, 26–57; and for the T. Williams in Archaeology International wider context of the “Transcaucasian” 2006/2007, 53–7 for an account of the dispersal, P.L. Kohl, The Making of Bronze training projects at Merv. Age Eurasia (Cambridge: Cambridge Figure 8 The two caravanserai at location KRS02, clearly visible on the satellite image. (Background 3 This work was generously funded bya University Press, 2007). © Google EarthTM mapping service) grant from The British Academy. Special 7 See, for instance, G. Palumbi, “Red- thanks go Dr Mukhammed Mamedov black pottery: Eastern Anatolian and investment in building and infrastructure, to be earthen structures, but these were who coordinated the Ministry of Culture th th Transcaucasian relationships around the certainly from the 10 –14 centuries. largely nineteenth century or later in date, input; Rejeb Jepbarow, Director of the mid-fourth millennium BC”, Ancient It is hoped that further archaeological containing traces of modern materials, Ancient Merv Archaeological Park, for his Near Eastern Studies 40, 80–134, investigation will explore the extent of and with no indicators of earlier historic organization at the Ancient Merv Park; 2003; G. Areshian, “Early Bronze Age state control and influence in this process, occupation: it was their sharp features and to Gaigysyz Joraev, for his enthusiasm, settlements in the Ararat Plain and its and the environmental and topographic which created the easily recognizable knowledge of the landscape, driving skills vicinity”, Archäologische Mitteilungen aus factors which determined the structure of satellite signatures. However, once and photography. All photographs taken Iran und Turan 37, 71–88, 2005. this complex network. medieval sites had been identified in the by Gaigysyz Joraev. 8 For this, and other current research, see It is interesting to note that the field and their position recorded with 4 As part of a field school project with the latest edition of the journal Tel Aviv GPS, they were clearly recognizable on the UCLA. The results of the research into 36.2, 2009, devoted to relations between anomalies easily identified from the the Amul route will be published in more imagery (Fig. 8) (on the high-resolution the Levant and the Caucasus in the Early satellite imagery during the desk- detail in the journal Iran next year. Bronze Age, with contributions by Bet based study did not correspond to any images – on the lower resolution SPOT Yerah staff members Mark Iserlis and Sarit medieval archaeological remains when imagery they are less clear). This suggests Paz, and others. investigated on the ground. Most proved that now that their “signature” has been

Archaeology International Brochure - Lay - 10/27/10 - 14:57:16 - BlackCyanMagentaYellow Back 5