CONTENSON, H. De — Ramad: Site Néolithique En Damascène (Syrie) Aux Viiie Et Viie Milénaires Avant 1 Ère Chrétienne (Bibliothèque Archéologique Et Historique, T

395 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LIX N° 3-4, Mei-Augustus 2002 396

ARCHEOLOGIE

CONTENSON, H. de — Ramad: Site néolithique en Damascène (Syrie) aux VIIIe et VIIe milénaires avant 1 ère chrétienne (Bibliothèque archéologique et historique, T. 157). Institut français d’archéologie, Beyrouth, 2000. (28 cm, IV, 346). ISBN 2-912738-06-7.

Southwestern Syria has been conspicuously neglected by archaeologists until now. The intensification of research so characteristic of Syria in recent decades, increased by the focus on salvage work in the Euphrates and Khabur river val- leys, appears to have largely passed by the southern part of the country. We owe much of our current knowledge on the prehistory of the southwest to the work of Henry de Con- tenson and his co-workers some thirty of forty years ago, at sites like Tell Aswad, Tell Ghoraifé and Tell Ramad. The for- mer two sites have recently been published in much detail (Contenson 1995); now it is the turn of Tell Ramad. Con- tenson’s Ramad — Site néolithique en Damascène covers the investigations between 1963 and 1973 at this small Neolithic site about two hectares in extent, located in an attractive set- ting at the foot of Mount Hermon, some fifteen kilometres southwest of Damascus. Although some chapters are announced as still preliminary, this book is meant to be the final publication on the work at Ramad. The book is divided into fifteen chapters, written either by Henry de Contenson himself or by experts in their fields: M.-C. Cauvin, W. van Zeist, M. Dupeyron, P. Ducos and L. Courtois. A wide range of topics is presented: the site and its history of research (chapter 1), stratigraphy and architecture (chapter 2), burial customs (chapter 3), lithic indus- tries (chapter 4, by M.-C. Cauvin), ground-stone implements (chapter 5), jewellery (chapter 6), figurines (chapters 7 and 8), pottery (chapter 9), vaiselle blanche (chapter 10), miscel- laneous objects (chapter 11), cultivated and wild-food plants (chapter 12, by W. van Zeist), tree remains (chapter 13, by M. Depeyron and H. de Contenson), animal bones (chapter 14, by P. Ducos) and technological studies on the pottery and vaiselle blanche (chapter 15, by L. Courtois). The chapters devote attention not only to the prehistoric finds but also to the artefacts (pottery, metal, etc.) of much later, Byzantine and Islamic-medieval date (Ramad was inhabited not only in prehistoric times but in these later periods as well). Tables and long inventory lists of objects found during excavation conclude most chapters. A summary account of the research (in French, English and Arabic) is provided at the end of the volume. The book is well produced and lavishly illustrated with 123 figures (b/w line-drawings) and 29 plates with pho- tographs. With respect to format, lay-out, presentation and so on, the Ramad volume is virtually identical to its predecessor on Aswad and Ghoraifé (this holds also for some of its deficiencies: for example, we would wish that some of the drawings were clearer, such as those of the figurines). Eight campaigns of excavation at Ramad between 1963 and 1973, directed by Henri de Contenson, revealed a small prehistoric village with three main phases of settlement, dated in the late eighth and seventh millennium BC (cali- brated). The earliest settlement — Ramad I, ascribed to the late PPNB — consisted of a number of widely spaced, semi- subterranean pisé huts 3 or 4 m in diameter, with a rounded or oval form. The buildings were occasionally provided with 397 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ARCHEOLOGIE 398 domestic installations such as hearths, silos and benches. in a long series of reports. Although the book adds little new The sequence of construction activities was complex and in terms of interpretation or evaluation, it certainly is a use- often localized; at least six building strata have been recog- ful excavation report, if only for the comprehensive descrip- nized. Some features were demolished to make way for new tions of the finds and many details in the various chapters. structures, while other buildings remained in use with little Tell Ramad is still one of the very few Neolithic sites known or no modifications at all. in the Damascus region but the discovery of many more sites Small single-roomed structures also predominated in the is predicted; Contenson’s report hungers for more research next level II in the first half of the seventh millennium, but in this little known part of Syria. now the houses were rectangular, with plastered floors and walls built of mud bricks on stone foundations. The dwellings Leiden, February 2002 Peter M.M.G. AKKERMANS were separated from each other by narrow lanes and court- National Museum of Antiquities yards containing hearths, ovens, and silos. The shift in architecture was associated with a number of important innova- de Contenson, H. tions in the local material culture, such as the mass 1967 “Troisième campagne à Tell Ramad, 1966 — Rapport production of ‘white ware’ ( ), mainly in the préliminaire”, Annales Archéologiques Arabes Syriennes vaiselle blanche 17:17-24. form of open containers occasionally painted with broad 1969 “Quatrième et cinquième campagnes à Tell Ramad, 1967- stripes of red ochre. Pottery manufacture was another nov- 1968 — Rapport préliminaire”, Annales Archéologiques elty, but practised on a much more modest scale: only 16 pot- Arabes Syriennes 19:25-30. tery fragments have been found in level II, all belonging to 1995 Aswad et Ghoraifé — sites néolithiques en Damascène friable and poorly fired vessels with dense straw inclusions. (Syrie) aux IXème et VIIIème millénaires avant l’ère chréti- The handful of level II ceramics at first sight tends to pale enne, Beyrouth: Institut Français d’Archéologie du Proche- into insignificance beside the thousands of sherds occurring Orient. in the next level III, and it comes as no surprise that some of the authors contributing to the book describe this level II as Strommenger, E. 1985 “Seated Human Figure”, in: H. Weiss, ed., Ebla to Damas- “aceramic” (e.g. M.-C. Cauvin in chapter IX or W. van Zeist cus — Art and Archaeology of Ancient Syria, Washington in chapter XII). However, the few sherds may easily testify (DC): Smithsonian Institution, p. 72. to one of the earliest attempts at pottery production in southwestern Syria. ** In the final level III, dated in the late seventh millennium BC, burnished and sometimes incised bowls and pots were * produced in great abundance, all fabricated in good Levan- tine Dark-Faced Burnished Ware tradition (comprising almost BRANDT, J.R., L. KARLSSON (eds.) — From Huts to 90% of the total ceramic sample at Ramad; cf. chapter IX). Houses. Transformations of Ancient Societies. Proceed- Occupation seems to have been small and limited to the west- ings of an Internationa Seminar Organized by the Nor- ern half of the site, comprising an area of one hectare or less. wegian and Swedish Institutes in Rome, 21-24 Septem- The level III occupation has not produced a single building ber 1997. Instituto Svedese di Studi Classici, Rome, so far; instead, there were large pits, up to 2 m deep, sunk 2001. (30 cm, 461). ISBN 91-7042-463-3 ISSN 0081- into the earlier phases. They are interpreted as temporary 993X; ISSN 0065-0900. shelters used by a semi-nomadic, pastoralist population. From De quoi peut-il être question dans un colloque sur l’habi- its beginning in the eighth millennium Ramad was a farming tat organisé à Rome par des instituts suédois et norvégiens village. Its people grew barley, various kinds of wheat and d’archéologie? La réponse est: de l’habitat, non seulement lentils, and collected edible grasses, vegetables and fruits en Italie, mais aussi en Scandinavie. La lecture des Actes rend from the wild. For their meat they relied on the main domes- perplexe. Si les deux tiers des communications portent en tic animals: sheep, goats, cattle and pigs. Hunting was prac- effet sur l’Italie, avec un très fort accent mis sur l’Italie cen- tised marginally and confined to gazelles, equids and deer. trale (Etrurie et Latium) et la période préclassique (Âge du Tell Ramad is one of those sites with evidence of the so- Bronze et Age du Fer), le dernier tiers se partage, inégale- called culte des crânes, and has always aroused much atten- ment, entre l’Europe du Nord (8 communications portant, tion because of the discovery (in pits) of plastered human respectivement, sur la Norvège, la Suède, le Danemark et la skulls in association with fragments of three seated anthro- Finlande), la Grèce (2 communications), la Jordanie (1 com- pomorphic clay statues. Quite a long time ago, Contenson munication) et la Turquie (1 communication). Ce choc des suggested that the small statues originally served as pedestals cultures, «beau comme la rencontre fortuite sur une table de for the skulls, much in the same way as the korwars of New dissection d’une machine à coudre et d’un parapluie» pour Guinea (e.g. Contenson 1967, 1969). Eva Strommenger reprendre la devise des surréalistes, laisse rêveur. casted doubts on Contenson’s suggestion in 1985 (Strom- Le colloque s’inscrit, explicitement, dans le courant de l’ar- menger 1985:72), and now Contenson himself, too, appears chéologie processuelle, mais, constatent les organisateurs, sans to reject his earlier opinion (p. 56; the seated statues are not exclusive, puisqu’on trouve des contributions qui vont «de headless as thought before: the head is present but has a very l’approche traditionnelle empirico-analytique à la modélisation stylized, cylindrical shape, leveled off at the top, and com- de type New Archaeology et à l’analyse post-processuelle». parable to many of the small figurines found at the site. Comme toujours en pareil cas, la simple notule côtoie l’article Moreover, the human skulls would simply not fit on the de fond, ce qui accentue encore l’effet de disparité. figurines). Les communications sont organisées en quatre thèmes, Henry de Contenson has always published extensively on inégalement représentés. Le premier, où les communications his discoveries in the Damascus region, and this book is one sont les plus nombreuses (Typologie et développement des 399 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LIX N° 3-4, Mei-Augustus 2002 400 constructions), juxtapose des présentations tournant, plus ou Sea Peoples, a term applied to at least nine different groups moins, autour du problème du passage du plan circulaire au mentioned in Egyptian, Hittite, Ugaritic, and Biblical texts, plan rectangulaire dans des aires culturelles aussi étrangères some of whom were depicted in Egyptian monumental relief l’une à l’autre que la Turquie (du Néolithique à l’Âge du sculpture. What role did the Sea Peoples play in the changes Bronze), la Grèce (de l’époque géométrique à la fin de from the 13th to the 12th century BC? To what degree were l’époque classique), la Scandinavie (du Néolithique au the systems of international exchange disrupted? What Moyen-Âge) et l’Italie centrale principalement à la période remained the same or even expanded? This volume investi- étrusque. Aucune tentative de synthèse ne permet d’établir le gates archaeological, art historical, and historical sources for moindre lien entre les différentes présentations. Dans cette the identity and significance these peoples. première partie, on retiendra la contribution de B. Santillo Studies of Egyptian, Hittite, Syro-Palestinian, Cypriot, Frizell sur des études de cas traitant de l’évolution de trulli Aegean, and Italian sources by 19 scholars comprise the apuliennes à l’époque sub-actuelle, qui n’avait pas besoin du introduction and 17 articles of the volume. The papers derive patronage de F. Braudel pour justifier son choix. from 15 weeks of presentations for the International Seminar L’approche ethnoarchéologique se manifeste dans plu- on Cultural Interconnections in the Ancient Near East held sieurs autres contributions notamment celles qui sont regrou- at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology pées sous le thème des Techniques de construction. C’est le and Anthropology from January to April, 1995. Three of the cas de celle de J.-C. Komber, qui retrace de manière rapide, original papers do not appear in the volume (D. Silverman mais claire, l’évolution de l’habitat en Europe du nord du [Egypt], L. E. Stager [Philistines], and M. J. Mellink [Hit- Mésolithique à l’Age du Fer et celles de P. Brocato et F. Gal- tites]), but four papers that were not part of the original sem- lucio d’une part et de S. Erixon, d’autre part, sur les capanne inar are included (Finkelstein, Killebrew, Kling, and Stern). actuelles ou subactuelles du Latium. L’éthnoarchéologie, In his preface, Eliezer D. Oren states that the purpose of the mais aussi l’expérimentation sont mises à contribution dans seminar and the volume was to “examine current method- la communication d’O. Büchsenschütz qui rappelle, fort ologies and interpretations” (xv) in the light of recent archae- opportunément, le rôle de la terre et du bois dans des ological finds related to the Sea Peoples. Linguistic reexam- constructions que l’on se refuse encore parfois à considérer ination was not a focus of the seminar. While not the last comme des réalisations «architecturales» sous prétexte word on the Sea Peoples, this volume makes a solid contri- qu’elles ne sont pas en pierre. L’expérimentation est aussi au bution to research. centre des interventions de A. M. Bietti Sestieri et A. De San- A much-needed contextual examination of one of the tis sur la capanna de Fidene datée de l’Age du Fer, et de most-referenced sources related to the Sea Peoples is E. Genovesi sur la reconstitution en vraie grandeur d’un vil- David O’Connor’s (5. The Sea Peoples and the Egyptian lage étrusque à Allumiere. Sources) investigation of the relief sculptures at Medinet La section sur la Fonction des bâtiments pose notamment Habu from the reign of Ramses III. Rather than taking a sin- l’hypothèse d’une hiérarchie sociale, pressentie pour l’Age gle segment of the sculptural program or a detail within a du Fer grec (A. Mazarakis Aimian), ou l’Etrurie (P. Hell- scene, as is often the case, he sets the reliefs within the archi- ström, L. Flusche). tectural form and meaning of the temple. While his reading La dernière section porte sur l’Organisation et l’économie of individuals depicted may be too specific (97, 99), the over- des agglomérations. Elle est quasi exclusivement centrée sur all approach is one that recommends itself not only in this l’Italie à l’Age du Bronze et à l’Age du Fer, à l’exception volume, but in terms of how evidence for the Sea Peoples d’une intervention «exotique» sur l’impact de la céramique can be introduced in the classroom. dans la détermination du caractère sédentaire d’un quartier Donald B. Redford’s detailed contribution (1. Egypt and de Pétra, en Jordanie. Western Asia in the Late New Kingdom: An Overview) also Malgré son titre ambitieux, l’ouvrage souffre donc d’un places Egyptian sources into their wider context,1) but the manque flagrant d’unité conceptuelle qui le rend inutilisable lack of illustrations in favor of text listings of images makes pour résoudre globalement le problème de l’évolution des it important to read this article in conjunction with that by modes d’habitat dans les sociétés anciennes. Tout au plus, O’Connor. It is also questionable whether Egyptian artists pourra-t-on glaner, çà et là, des indications ponctuelles sur based their images on first-hand viewing of Sea Peoples des aires culturelles trop éloignées dans l’espace et dans le groups (12). Conflation of several groups, including the temps pour pouvoir prétendre au statut de généralités. Denyen, Peleset, and Thekel, into one visual type similar to one used for the nomadic Shasu, suggests that Egyptian artists Lyon, mars 2002 Olivier AURENCHE were unfamiliar with their subject and drew instead from a group they associated with migratory peoples. ** One other paper includes readings of details from the * Medinet Habu reliefs, that by Shelley Wachsmann (6. To the Sea of the Philistines). There is some disagreement between OREN, E. D. (ed.) — The Sea Peoples and Their World: Wachsmann and O’Connor about the significance of the A Reassessment. (Univ. Museum Monograph 108, Univ. rendering of the overturned ship in the Medinet Habu reliefs. Museum Symposium Series 11). The Univ. Museum, Uni- O’Connor claims that it represents a ship coming apart versity of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 2000. (28 cm, XX, 360, 146 Figs, 5 Tables). ISBN 0-924171-80-4. $59.00. 1) Although the volume is largely free of typographical errors and other Bureaucratic collapse, population movement, conflict, and editorial mistakes, it is in this article that there appears to be a mix-up with the Tables. Table 1 mentioned on page 2 about New Kingdom state archi- cultural change mark the period around 1200 BC in the ves is missing. Table 1 actually appears on page 9 and lists battle reliefs Mediterranean. At the heart of studies of this period are the from Medinet Habu (as referenced on page 8). 401 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ARCHEOLOGIE 402

(101, n. 3), while Wachsmann cites the wrapping of the body the Current State of Research). Karageorghis summarizes what of a warrior around part of the ship as evidence for a bul- we know about changes or innovations in pottery, coroplastic wark, interpreting the ships as oared (108ff). Given that none art, bronzework, religious symbols, ship iconography, of the upright ships have the bulwark feature, the notion that loomweights, tomb architecture, military architecture, hearths, a plank of the ship has come loose on the overturned boat is and bathrooms and bathtubs in the 12th century BC. He notes the most straightforward reading. Even so, Wachsmann has that changes in the 12th century did not “all occur at the same gathered a thorough corpus of ship-related images. Beyond time, or indeed in the same way” (274). That some were due cataloguing, I wonder what purpose the ship images served. to peoples familiar with life on Crete and Mainland Greece, Was it just that they were in the public eye at the time? and who came to live on Cyprus lies at the heart of his argu- As with the problem of equating ceramic styles and ethnic ment here and in previous works. What is new about this argu- groups (see below), is it appropriate to place similar labels ment is a greater sensitivity to the nuances of change, includ- on all these ships? ing not only its result but its cultural process. Egyptian sources are not the only ones examined in the Barbara Kling addresses the shifts around 1200 BC on volume. Three papers address documents and spaces associ- Cyprus from the perspective of Aegean-style ceramics, or the ated with the Hittite Empire. Itamar Singer’s article (2. New Mycenaean IIIC1:b pottery. Here she updates what we know Evidence on the End of the Hittite Empire) is a brief and about the problem on Cyprus and frames the fundamental pointed update on the Hittite Empire in the 13th century BC, question of how we can begin to use material culture for including discussion of texts from the House of Urtenu at chronological purposes now that we have broken down the Ugarit, texts from Emar, as well as inscriptions from central traditional barriers dividing the 13th from the 12th century Anatolia such as the Yalburt and Südburg inscriptions in BC, or Late Cypriot IIC from Late Cypriot IIIA. Citing Luwian hieroglyphic. Of particular interest are Singer’s com- regional contextual approaches to the innovations for this ments on the changing state of the Hittite Empire as viewed period, she suggests a closer reading of ceramic variation to from both east and west. For example, rather than viewing highlight continuity and change, acknowledging that which Ugarit as a stable Hittite stronghold, Singer explores how its Karageorghis brought out in his reading, that not all shifts hold on the coast varied with Ugarit’s mercenary approach were identical or exactly contemporary. to international allegiance. The article also highlights new Six articles in the volume concern Levantine regions and evidence for campaigns in the west by the last Hittite ruler, evidence for the settlement of groups of Sea Peoples. Peter Suppiluliuma II. Machinist’s article (4. Biblical Traditions: The Philistines and Annie Caubet’s summary examination of Ugarit near the Israelite History) should be read in conjunction with any of coast of Syria (3. Ras Shamra-Ugarit Before the Sea Peoples) the others as it examines the evidence from Biblical texts in is a valuable introduction to the site. It is not explicitly about a thorough and thoughtful manner. Concluding that “Philis- Sea Peoples, but having a concise introduction to this vital tine” refers to a general sense of “other” (64), Machinist’s international city is a needed contribution to this volume and historiographical examination of their origins, historical peri- for scholarship generally. It joins Marguerite Yon’s writings, odization, geography, economy, political and military orga- including a recent issue of Near Eastern Archaeology (2000), nization, religion, and language clarifies whether and how the in providing a fine introduction to Ugarit for students just Biblical sources are useful for the study of the Sea Peoples learning about the field. and the Late Bronze to Early Iron Ages generally. Also about Hittite-related sources is a joint article by Mary This chapter is the closest to a discussion of linguistics M. Voigt and Robert C. Henrickson (17. The Early Iron Age associated with any of the Sea Peoples. He notes that the at Gordion: The Evidence from the Yassihöyük Stratigraphic Philistine language is not of Indoeuropean origin (64), thus Sequence). Although not explicitly related to the Sea Peo- discounting the Aegean and Anatolia, but he does note a ples, the detailed excavation and study of the Gordion site is Philistine relationship to Caphtor (54), which is most often a rare view into processes of change in central Anatolia dur- associated with Crete (n. 3). Although Indoeuropean (Greek ing the period under discussion in the volume. Both Voigt’s as found in Linear B) was prevalent in the Aegean sea basin stratigraphic comments and Henrickson’s pioneering work on in the Late Bronze Age, it is possible that the language rep- Anatolian ceramics suggest how linguistic, stratigraphic, and resented in written form by Linear B’s predecessor, Linear A ceramic information can provide complementary data sets. (found on Crete, in the islands, and the western coast of Ana- Several articles indicate that the Sea Peoples groups came tolia), continued in use as spoken language alongside Greek. in some form or another from the Aegean region, including If that language was Semitic, which we may never know, western Anatolia. Philip P. Betancourt (15. The Aegean and there could have been a non-Indoeuropean Aegean or Ana- the Origin of the Sea Peoples) suggests that the collapse of tolian source for the Philistine language in the Bible. the Mycenaean agricultural system, from a combination of A similar ambiguity to that found in Biblical texts exists environmental and cultural factors, led to less-centralized in Amihai Mazar’s examination of temples and cult (11. The local economies as well as the movement of peoples to find Temples and Cult of the Philistines). Questions of whether resources elsewhere. This article recalls Singer’s discussion we can relate groups of Sea Peoples with particular sites, built of famine in the Hittite Empire and attempts to quell upris- forms, and artifacts and whether we can trace the origins of ings in western Anatolia along the eastern coast of the non-Levantine forms to places from where the Sea Peoples Aegean sea. might have come (211), such as the Aegean, form the basis The role of Cyprus, noted by Betancourt as one of the “step- of Mazar’s methodology. He surveys the written and archae- ping-stones” to the east (300) is discussed in greater detail by ological evidence and terms his findings “inconclusive” Vassos Karageorghis (13. Cultural Innovations in Cyprus (228). In particular he finds the contrast between the Philis- Relating to the Sea Peoples) and Barbara Kling (14. Myce- tine worship of Dagon, a male god, to be at odds with the naean IIIC1:b and Related Pottery in Cyprus: Comments on discovery of Aegeanizing figures that he takes to be referents 403 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LIX N° 3-4, Mei-Augustus 2002 404 to a female deity in the archaeological record (223, 229). Dothan shows that the geographical extent of Tel Miqne Although we should not expect to find a one-to-one rela- expanded in Iron I to that comparable with its Middle Bronze tionship between text and material culture, Mazar’s careful Age size at the end of a period of Egyptian domination of the study combined with the article by Machinist serve to under- region in the Late Bronze Age. Even as the Aegean-style line the complexity of cultural patterns present in the Levant ceramics were made, local traditions continued (Dothan, 153) ca. 1200 BC and later that have been overlooked in favor of in Iron I, suggesting that several cultural patterns combined the Biblical Philistines. within the new urban infrastructure of Ekron. What Dothan Investigations of Sea Peoples thought not to be Philistines does not discuss is whether a depletion of the territory around appear in two articles. Ephraim Stern’s article (10. The Set- Tel Miqne accompanied the expansion of the tel itself. If it tlement of Sea Peoples in Northern Israel) is refreshing in did, then the population of Iron I Ekron probably encom- that it attempts to identify the Sikels, a group that has passed both those from the countryside and those who may received relatively little attention, focusing on finds from Tel have come from beyond the Levantine shore. Dor. The problem is that the identification of particular forms This question of settlement pattern shift lies at the core of of material culture as “Sikel” is possible, but not certain. Israel Finkelstein’s article (8. The Philistine Settlements: How exactly is a Sikel artifact different from a Philistine When, Where and How Many?). He begins with chronolog- one? What is the difference between regional ceramic styles ical discussions of when Egyptian domination of the region and attributing ethnic labels to material culture forms? ended and when Philistine settlement began. He allows little Jonathan N. Tubb faces a similar problem (9. Sea Peoples for cultural shifts that may have occurred differently from in the Jordan Valley), but because he addresses it early in one site to another and for the presence of Sea Peoples groups his article (182) he is able to put forward a persuasive argu- before the 12th century. In his taking the southern Levantine ment for non-indigenous groups in the Jordan Valley. region as a whole, what is particularly useful is his third sec- He frames an argument around finds from Tell es-Sa’idiyeh tion where he notes that the main settlement change from the using the appearance of Anatolian-style pithos burials and Late Bronze Age to Iron I does not involve the total area set- changes in metallurgical technology to suggest changes in tled, but the concentration of settlement in urban centers as the population. Tubb suggests that these changes might have opposed to more dispersed habitation sites (169). This obser- been due to some of the Sea Peoples who were present in vation does not support large-scale population changes in the region as mercenaries in the Egyptian army (Sherden) terms of numbers (172), but suggests that at least some of the even before Ramses III’s well-known battles. That he does changes in the form of material culture in Iron I derive from not equate the historical and archaeological evidence those who already lived in the coastal Levant who may have absolutely keeps one in mind of the closeness, but not iden- adapted skills and ideas to life in urban rather than rural envi- tity, of his sources. ronments. Interestingly, a similar pattern occurred on Cyprus, Three further articles continue the discussion of settled with the shifting of populations to urban centers such as groups of Sea Peoples in Philistia. Two examine Tel Miqne- Kition in the 12th century BC following earlier, smaller, and Ekron, which Trude Dothan (7. Reflections on the Initial more dispersed urban settlements of the Late Cypriot II Phase of Philistine Settlement) calls the “type-site of the period. Philistine city” (145). Dothan focuses on Ekron’s urban Lucia Vagnetti (16. Western Mediterranean Overview: growth, contraction, and reexpansion from the Middle Peninsular Italy, Sicily and Sardinia at the Time of the Sea Bronze Age through the Iron I period. Ann E. Killebrew Peoples) reviews the Middle and Late Bronze as well as the (12. Aegean-Style Early Philistine Pottery in Canaan Dur- Early Iron Age western Mediterranean with respect to the Sea ing the Iron I Age: A Stylistic Analysis of Mycenaean Peoples questions. Sea Peoples groups such as the Sherden IIIC1:b Pottery and Its Associated Wares) focuses on the have variously been identified with Sardinia and places west. significance of locally-made Aegean-style ceramics for the She suggests that the names do not indicate origins, but were identity of those who lived at the site. Both studies take a brought instead to the west after the events ca. 1200 BC in Philistine association with the Iron I city as a starting point, the east, possibly by Phoenician traders (320). Her review of rather than as a point of textual comparison with patterns of the western Mediterranean chronology, geography, cultural urban form and pottery technology. That problem aside, development, interconnections, and relationship to Cyprus combined these two articles provide a detailed view into the serves well to underline her conclusion that relating west to cultural patterning of Ekron. east is complicated by the different forms of evidence avail- Killebrew shows that the technology of producing Aegean- able. Both concern archaeology, but in the east there are con- style (Mycenaean IIIC1:b) vessels in the Iron I at Tel Miqne temporary texts and in the west later sources. represents a break with the earlier Late Bronze II ceramic tra- What Vagnetti highlights is that there is a continued ten- ditions (243), a pattern prevalent also on Cyprus (see Kling’s dency to use text as a guideline for understanding material article) and in Cilicia, where we would not take such a culture in our study of this period, a tendency that can be change as an indicator of Philistine presence. The techno- found in much of proto-historical as well as historical logical change could be associated with a new group of peo- Mediterranean archaeologies. Until we are able to wean our- ple (or even one person). It could, however, also be a selves from using one as a descriptor for the other, we will response to the lack of Mycenaean imports, occasioned by always face problems in understanding how they relate to the the collapse of Mycenaean centralized economies, as dis- past. Each source should be evaluated separately. We can cussed by Betancourt. That the technology at Tel Miqne is compare, but not equate them. What comes out of a careful similar to that in other places where Mycenaean IIIC1:b pot- reading of these papers on the Sea Peoples is the richness of tery was made suggests a continuance of the Middle and Late not only the textual sources, which have formed the basis Bronze Age pattern of some shared ceramic traditions for inquiries into this period for over one hundred years, but between Cyprus and the Levant. also our increasingly abundant archaeological information. 405 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ARCHEOLOGIE 406

Can we, however, use material culture to discuss the Sea Peo- die Verifizierung der häufig bemühten Stilvergleiche zuweilen ples? In some cases we can. Of course, our texts are mater- erschwert. ial culture and some combine written documentation with Das Gros der Sarkophage, nämlich 60 Exemplare, stammt pictorial imagery. In other cases, however, the association is aus den Nekropolen in Sidon an der phönizischen Küste. not direct and we need to be mindful of whether and how we Hier etablierten sich, nachdem drei aus Ägypten importierte can associate historical peoples with ceramic, terracotta, Amphibolit-Sarkophage (Kat.-Nr. 1-3) nach 525 v. Chr. den architectural, and other forms of cultural materials. My dis- Anstoß zur Ausbildung der Gattung gegeben haben sollen, cussion of the Sea Peoples volume here is not linear. Each eine Reihe von Werkstätten, die ab dem zweiten Viertel des article brings to mind something from another, recreating for 5. Jh.s v. Chr. Sarkophage aus Marmor fertigten und diese the reader something of the intellectual engagement of the dann auch nach Zypern, Kilikien, Palästina, Ägypten original seminar at the University of Pennsylvania. This vol- und Sizilien exportierten. Daneben wurden schon frühzeitig ume is not the last word on the Sea Peoples, nor should it be. Sarkophage aus lokalen Materialien hergestellt, was die It is an examination of ideas and approaches, and a substan- Annahme verschiedener, mit unterschiedlichen Materialien tial one, just as the authors intended. arbeitenden Werkstätten nahe legt (S. 86). Dies gilt vor allem für Arados und Zypern, wo Sarkophage sowohl aus Marmor Columbia University, New York J.S. SMITH als auch aus Ton, Basalt und Gipsstein gefunden wurden. March 2002 Allein aus Malta sind bislang nur lokal, aus Ton gefertigte Sarkophage bekannt, an allen anderen Orten finden sich Mar- ** morsarkophage. Warum ist es nötig, das Material der Sarkophage so deut- * lich ins Auge zu fassen? Der größte Teil der anthropoiden Sarkophage ist aus Marmor gearbeitet. Aus Sidon sind davon allein 56 Exemplare bekannt, aus den Nekropolen von Ara- LEMBKE K. — Phönizische anthropoide Sarkophage. dos 17. Marmor aber stand als Rohstoff an der Levante nicht (Damaszener Forschungen Band 10). Philipp von Zabern zur Verfügung und musste daher importiert werden. Als Roh- GmbH, Mainz am Rhein, 2001. (31 cm, XIV, 169, stoffquelle glaubt man die Kykladeninsel Paros bestimmen 61 Tafeln). ISBN 3-8053-2662-9. DM 148,–. zu können. Dort wurden vier Marmorwannen (Kat.-Nr. 108, Am Ende des 6. Jh.s v. Chr. beginnt man an der phönizi- 108a-b, 109) gefunden, die typologisch zur Gattung der schen Küste die Toten — zunächst allein Angehörige des anthropoiden Sarkophage zählen, nur dass ihnen die Königshauses, dann auch verstärkt Mitglieder der Elite — in Abdeckung mit der charakteristischen Gesichtsdarstellung anthropoiden Sarkophagen zu bestatten. Gut 150 Jahre hält fehlt. Bis auf eine Ausnahme (Kat.-Nr. 109), die wohl schon diese Sitte an. Während dieser Zeit werden anthropoide Sar- auf Paros einer Bestattung diente, handelt es sich bei den kophage aus unterschiedlichen lokalen Materialien und aus parischen Wannen um für den Export vorgefertigte Rohlinge importiertem kykladischen Marmor gefertigt. Von Sidon aus für die später in Phönizien endgefertigten Sarkophage. werden die Marmorsarkophage an andere phönizische Nie- Der auf diese Weise zu rekonstruierende Materialtransfer lie- derlassungen im Mittelmeerraum exportiert, dort zum Teil fert ein aufschlussreiches Zeugnis für die Mechanismen im aber auch lokal produziert. Die phönizischen anthropoiden phönizischen Import-Exportgeschäft: Marmor wurde dem- Sarkophage präsentieren somit ein zeitlich begrenztes, räum- nach als Rohstoff importiert, um vor Ort (Sidon) verarbeitet lich aber weit ausgreifendes Phänomen, das vor allem ande- und danach entweder für den regionalen Bedarf verwendet ren ein Paradigma für inter- und intrakulturelle Transferlei- oder im überregionalen Handel erneut veräußert zu werden. stungen im 5. und 4. Jh. v. Chr. liefert. Die phönizische Transferleistung besteht in der Regulierung Katja Lembke hat sich diesem Phänomen in seiner gesam- eines neuen Marktes für anthropoide Sarkophage, als deren ten Breite angenommen. Obwohl sie den Schwerpunkt ihrer prestigeträchtigstes Herstellungsmaterial griechischer Mar- Untersuchung auf die Klärung der inneren, also relativen mor gegolten haben muss. Es verdient Anerkennung, wie Chronologie der Sarkophage setzt, schließen sich daran Fra- Lembke durch ihre Untersuchungen zur Provenienz, Ver- gen nach ihrem Fundkontext, ihrer Verbreitung, Urheber- breitung und Chronologie der Marmorsarkophage auf die schaft und Ikonographie sowie sozial- und religionsge- damit verbundenen Austauschmechanismen aufmerksam schichtlichen Bedeutung an. Dies zusammengenommen macht. Die anthropoiden Sarkophage stellen dabei insofern macht ihre Arbeit zu einer umfassenden und hoch willkom- einen Sonderfall dar, als es sich um Endprodukte handelt, die menen Standardmonographie über die phönizischen anthro- allein für Phönizier hergestellt und verhandelt wurden, wes- poiden Sarkophage; ein Werk, das zudem in einem über- halb sie als Ausdruck der Kohärenz phönizischer Kultur im schaubaren, und dank der klaren Ordnung von Text-, 5. Jh. v. Chr. gewertet werden können (S. 118). Katalog- und Bildteil benutzerfreundlichen Format veröf- Doch soviel nur in bezug auf die Materialkomponente, fentlicht wurde. denn was sich als eine der wichtigsten Fragestellungen der Die Untersuchung umfasst 126, im Katalog einzeln erfasste Untersuchung von Lembke daran anschließt, ist die Aussa- und mehrfach abgebildete Sarkophage. Die Photographien gekraft dessen, was den anthropoiden Sarkophag erst cha- wurden von der Autorin zum Teil selbst angefertigt und sind rakterisiert: der plastisch gestaltete Kopf. Während zur pre- in der für den Verlag üblichen hervorragenden Bildqualität stigeträchtigen Gestaltung dieses Bereiches ägyptische wiedergegeben. Leider erweisen sich die bis zu 2,50 m langen Formmerkmale wie das Königskopftuch (nms), der Kinnbart und mit Deckel bis zu 1,10 m hohen, in der Regel horizontal oder Schmuckkragen (wsÌ) übertragen wurden, ohne dass gelagerten Sarkophage als photographisch schwer zu erfas- damit ein gleichbleibender ägyptischer Inhalt übernommen sende Objekte. Einige Stücke sind aus diesem Grund in einem worden wäre (S. 103-104), verrät der Stil der plastischen ungünstigen Blickwinkel aufgenommen (z.B. Kat.-Nr. 13), was Wiedergabe einen deutlich griechischen Einfluss. Ausgehend 407 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LIX N° 3-4, Mei-Augustus 2002 408 von diesem Einfluss gewinnen für Lembke Begriffe wie der die Existenz griechischer Werkstätten in Phönizien grundsätz- des »Archaismus« in der Hochklassik oder »Strenger Stil« lich angezweifelt werden, nur sollte gerade in bezug auf eine an Bedeutung, greift sie zu zahlreichen Stilvergleichen mit in ihrem Erscheinungsbild so heterogene Fundgattung die oftmals herausragenden Werken griechischer Kunst des 5. Verflechtung der verschiedenen Wirkkomponenten stärker und 4. Jh.s v. Chr. (z. B. S. 32-33 zu Kat.-Nr. 12, 13). Die- ins Auge gefasst werden und der griechische Anteil nicht in ses Vorgehen demonstriert die Kennerschaft der Autorin auf Abgrenzung sondern in seiner Einbettung in den orientali- dem Gebiet griechischer Kunstgeschichte und legitimiert sie schen Kontext untersucht werden. im Hinblick auf die Chronologie der phönizischen anthro- Dass die Autorin sehr wohl an Einsichten in das Gesell- poiden Sarkophage zu differenzierten Aussagen, mit denen schaftssystem interessiert ist, demonstriert sie zum Beispiel einige der älteren Datierungsvorschlägen nun als überholt gel- durch ihre aufschlussreichen Ausführungen zum »Indivi- ten dürften. duum und Tod in Phönizien« (Kap. VII.), die durch Leider jedoch kommt es auf dieser Betrachtungsebene sei- den Vergleich mit Bestattungssitten in Ägypten, Mesopota- tens der Autorin zu einer Reihe von Gleichsetzungen, die in mien — vielleicht hätte ergänzend hierzu auch Ugarit in die ihrer eingegrenzten Sichtweise doch einiges Unbehagen Betrachtung mit einbezogen werden können — und Grie- erzeugen. Den griechischen Stil, der kennzeichnend für einen chenland überhaupt erst deutlich machen, welche Vorstel- Großteil der anthropoiden Sarkophage aus Marmor ist, wer- lungen zu einer derart partikulären Bestattungsform wie tet Lembke als Indiz für das Wirken griechischer Künstler, der in anthropoiden Sarkophagen geführt haben können. die Präsenz griechischer Ateliers in Orten wie Sidon und Ara- So offenbart sich in der Absicht, durch eine feste stoffliche dos erachtet sie aufgrund der dort konstatierten Verarbeitung Hülle den Schutz des Toten zu garantieren, eine mesopota- des importierten Marmors als gesichert. So kommt es zu der mische Tradition (S. 111-112), was wiederum die Einbet- pauschalen Gleichung: Importierter Marmor gleich griechi- tung des Gesamtphänomens in den orientalischen Kontext sches Atelier, lokales Material gleich lokale Werkstätten. unterstreicht. Hier, im sozial- und religionsgeschichtlichen Als in Phönizien tätige griechische Bildhauer werden in die- Untersuchungsbereich, gewinnt die Arbeit an Erkenntnis- sem Zusammenhang Personen aus Paros und Ostionien in wert, auch in bezug auf den so deutlich thematisierten grie- Erwägung gezogen (S. 109-110). Diesen allein gesteht die chischen Einfluss. Unter dem Aspekt von Prestige zum Bei- Autorin den Status als Künstler zu, wohingegen bei den spiel war der Sarkophag aus griechischem Marmor und der Phöniziern von Handwerkern bzw. Steinmetzen die Rede ist darauf plastisch herausgearbeitete Kopf das wichtigste Mit- (z.B. S. 33). Der Text erreicht damit ein graecozentrisches tel, um den Status und, da keine Namensinschriften ver- Niveau, dass sich auch in einigen weiteren Schlussfolgerun- wendet wurden, die Identität seines Inhabers im Bestat- gen niederschlägt. So erfährt man, dass die phönizischen tungsritual zur Schau zur stellen. Zu Recht spricht Lembke Marmorsarkophage nur so lange ein Exportschlager waren, dabei von einer »Modeerscheinung« (S. 116), die damit so lange griechische Bildhauer diese fertigten, also im zwei- endet, dass die Elite des Königshauses angesichts der ver- ten und dritten Viertel des 5. Jh.s v. Chr. Mit dem Übergang mehrten Verwendung anthropoider Sarkophage durch andere der Werkstätten in phönizische Hände setzte danach ein Qua- Gesellschaftsschichten nach neuen, emulationsfreien Formen litätsschwund ein, der dazu beigetragen haben soll, dass sido- der Bestattung suchte und damit am Ausgang des 4. Jh.s v. nische Sarkophage nicht mehr exportiert wurden (S. 90-91). Chr. die Kastensarkophage ihren Einzug halten konnten. Der Diese Art von Beweisführung ist nicht nur zu einseitig, da Autorin gelingt es somit am Ende ihrer Untersuchung, den sie auf der Aussagekraft weniger exportierter Sarkophage sowohl kunst- als auch kulturhistorischen Bezugsrahmen der beruht und die Möglichkeit einer lückenhaften Befundlage phönizischen anthropoiden Sarkophage deutlich abgesteckt außer acht lässt, mehr als das ist sie ethnisch überstrapaziert, und die Gattung in ihrem engen interkulturellen Bezugsge- zumal es keinerlei schriftliche Quellen gibt, die über die Iden- flecht hinreichend erklärt zu haben. tität der Hersteller der Sarkophage tatsächlich Auskunft geben könnten. Wie Lembke selbst konstatiert, verhelfen hierzu Mai 2002 Dominik BONATZ auch nicht die in Sidon verwendeten Steinmetzzeichen (S. 107-108). Es finden sich sowohl griechische als auch phö- nizische Signaturen, unabhängig davon, ob ein Sarkophag als Produkt griechischer »Künstler« respektive »phönizischer« Handwerker eingestuft wird. Die Archäologie der Levante ist ein mittlerweile für eth- nische Fragestellungen sehr sensibilisiertes Gebiet (siehe hierzu die Beiträge in »Die Levante: Beiträge zur Histori- sierung des Nahostkonfliktes«. Freiburger Beiträge zu Ent- wicklung und Politik 27, 2001, hrsg. von M. Sommer). Die Diskussionen um mykenische Einflüsse in der Späten Bron- zezeit, die sog. Seevölkerwanderung um 1200 v. Chr. und das Wiederaufleben der Kontakte mit Griechenland in der Eisen- zeit haben den forschungsgeschichtlichen Blick auf das Fremde in diesem Raum kritisch geschärft. Auch für die Peri- oden, in denen das Interesse der Klassischen Archäologie in diesem Bereich zunimmt, sollte eine gewisse Vorsicht im Umgang mit der eigenen fachkonformen Begrifflichkeit angewandt werden. Damit soll im Fall der anthropoiden Sar- kophage nicht die Beteiligung griechischer Bildhauer oder