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Pintia, Fortunes of a Pre-Roman City in Hispania HADRIAN REVEALED GREAT VISIONARY OR VILE TYRANT? I I ,. SECRETS OF OKINAWA • mm moo, I JAPAN AND CHINA VIE FOR INFLUENCE arcliaeology Welcome Issue 29 June/July 2008 Volume 3 No. 5 hat was Spain like before the Romans? The site Editorial of Pintia, in north central Spain, is providing Editor: Dr Nadia Durrani surprising answers . From the 5th century BC Email: [email protected] W until the arrival of the Romans in the 1st century BC, Tel: 020 8819 5583 Pintia was occupied by the Vaccaei, an Iron Age people Publisher: Robert Selkirk Art editor: Mark Edwards with Celtic links. Alas, the Vaccaei left no written his­ Sub editor: Caitlin McCall tory and, with the passage of time, their memory fell Current World Archaeology into legend and obscurity. However, current excavations The Barley Mow Centre, 10, Barley Mow at pre-Roman Pintia are revealing a sophisticated city, Passage, London, W4 4PH Tel: 020 8819 5580 replete with gridded streets, an artisans' quarter, and an Fax: 020 8819 5589 unexpectedly rich cemetery. Web: www.archaeology.co.uk Thereafter, we cross the globe to Okinawa. The island lies just 300 Editor in chief: Andrew Selkirk, miles south of]apan and 400 miles from China. It is, therefore, in a 9 Nassington Road, London NW3 2TX. classic crossroads situation. How far did it show influence from Japan, Tel : 020 8819 5584. and how far was it swayed by China? A recent conference provided the Email : [email protected] opportunity to see the hidden treasures of Okinawa, and those of its Current World Archaeology is published 6 fellow sub-tropical Ryukyu islands. times a year by Current Publishing Ltd Moving further south, we reveal yet more concealed gems. While the Printed by St Ives, Tel + 44 (0) 1752 345 411 great rock art of Europe and Afr ica is justly famed, Southeast Asia has Advertising almost as much rock art as is known from Europe and Africa combined. Advertising manager: Libby Selkirk Here we take a look at the intriguing rock art from China, Malaysia, libby@archaeo logy.co.uk 020 8819 5582 Myanmar, Indonesia and Australia. Subscriptions Back in Europe, the next major exhibition at the British Museum will UK & Rest of World be devoted to the emperor Hadrian. His reign marked a turning-point in 1 year subscription is £20 (UK) or £25 (Rest of Roman history. Though brilliant and visionary, he died embittered by World) for 6 issues. Single issues £4 each (Rest of World £5) failure. Why? Here, as an adjunct to the new exhibition, Neil Faulkner Subscriptions should be sent to: tells of the life and times of Hadrian. Current World Archaeology finally, there are all the usuals: World News, Diary, Listings, a postcard The Barley Mow Centre, 10, Barley Mow Passage, from Richard Hodges, and a column from the inexhaustible Brian ragan London, W4 4PH Tel: 08456 447707 whose latest book, The Great Warrning: The Rise and Fall of Civilizations, Fax: 020 8819 5580 has been climbing the heights of the US bestselling book li st. The Subs queries: [email protected] magazine ends in paradise with a backpage visit to the balmy Pacific Web subs: www.archaeology.co.uk island of Palau. USA & Canada Current World Archaeology (ISSN 17455820) April/May 2008 is published bi-monthly by Current Publishing, Barley Mow Centre, 10 Barley Mow Passage, London W4 4PH, UK. Distributed in Good reading! the US by Evergreen Marketing, 300 East Main St., Suite B, Walhalla, SC 29691 -2024. Periodicals Postage paid in Walhalla, SC and additional Nadia Durrani mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to rnRRENT WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY, PO Box 457, Mt. Morris, IL 61054-0457. Send US and Canada subscription enquiries to [email protected] (+1) 888 321 6378 Unauthorise<l reproduc1 ion U1 whole or part is prohibited without written permission. The publ isher, editor and au1hors accept no responsibility in respect of any products, goods or services 1.vhich may be advertised or referred to in this issue. On the cover Every etton has been made to secure permission for copyright A li_mestone tomb material. In the event of any material being used inadvertentfy marker from the pre­ or \'1here it has proved impossible 10 trace the copyright oi:mer, acknowledgement will be made in a future issue. Roman necropolis at 13050830 Pintia, Spain. 29 El Contents Features II] Kingdom of the Coral Seas: new discoveries from Okinawa and the Ryukyu Archipelago JAPAN Latest finds from the Ryukyu islands, including a series of royal burials. mPintia: fortunes of a pre-Roman city in Hispania SPAIN Once a thriving Iron Age settlement, the city and its necropolis is now offering a wealth of evidence about the elusive Vaccaei people. Em Hadrian: empire and conflict ROME Though a brilliant emperor, Hadrian died disillusioned, embittered and a recluse. Here Neil Faulkner presents a portrait of Hadrian from his new book Rome: empire ofthe eagles. Im Illustrating the past: the rock art of Southeast Asia SOUTHEAST ASIA The gamut of rock art from Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma) and China is explored as part of a new initiative to investigate this rich store of material. Regulars II World News Whaling in Arctic prehistory; Aztec skulls; oldest human DNA found in fossil faeces; America's oldest jewellery; Roc-aux-Sorciers Museum unveiled; Mayan blue - a sacrificial pigment; interpreting Aztec symbols; assessing the damage from looting in Iraq; academics deployed as peacemakers in Iraq; Trajan's column in technicolour. Letter from America Brian Fagan's latest column reporting on all things archaeological. Diary Nadia Durrani tours the Southeastern corner of Turkey and visits the site of Gobekli Tepe, an 11,000 year old site that is so incredible it is changing our view of human history. mPostcard Richard Hodges writes from Kerkyra, Corfu. cm Listings A round up of archaeological exhibitions and events from around the world. mReaders Write Nelson's dockyard; in the footsteps of Lawrence; ivory coast to coast; Saudi revisited; more magic to Mycenae. ma On site insights Scott M Fitzpatrick takes us to one of the oldest-known cemeteries from the Pacific, at Pa,Jau, Micronesia. __j 29 II SPAIN Fortunes of a pre-Roman city in Hispania Pintia was a thriving Iron Age city in North Central Spain. At its dawn, around the 5th century BC, it was part of the Vaccean culture, an Iron Age people Below Necropolis of with Celtic links whom scholars believe crossed into Spain from Central Las Ruedas at Pintia. Europe. In the 3rd century BC, the area came under attack from Hannibal, The field of tombstones is made up of unworked and within 200 years it had beeen absorbed into Roman Iberia. Pintia's vast limestone blocks hewn necropolis is proving a rich source of information about this relatively little from the nearby quarry. The stones are of various known Vaccean culture. Here, excavation directors Carlos Sanz Minguez sizes, and up to a and Fernando Romero Carnicero, reveal the site's latest finds. maximum height of rm. Spain ■ Left & below A photographic aerial view and geological survey map of the area showing the positions of the main sites. Pintia is a vast and rich site. In addition to ,..,.. its large necropolis, it has a cremation area or ustrinum, a village, an artisan quarter, and a possible sanctuary, so far only identified by aerial photographs. Such is Pintia's glut of archaeology that the 125 hectare site was declared a National Cultural Asset in 1993. .,. Who lived in this massive site? The answer is ,,. the Vaccaei, a people whose existence is hardly remembered in history. Though they lacked a written language, they organised their walled cities in grids and had complex beliefs in the afterlife. Moreover, judging by the affluence of the funerary objects we have found in the ,..,.. necropolis at Pintia, the Vaccaei were no 'primi­ tive tribe'. Indeed, the Classical author Diodorus Siculus described the Vaccaei as the most cultured people among all their neighbours. But how cultured? What do Pintia's numerous modern name of Los Cenizales - a version of burials tell us about its erstwhile dwellers? the Spanish word for 'ashes'. From there, the cremated remains of the deceased were taken in Digging the dead at Pintia an urn to a grave in Las Ruedas necropolis, which Modern research at Pintia began in 1979 under was founded around the end of the 5th century the auspices of the University of Valladolid. But BC and remained in use for the next 500 years. it was six years ago, after a pause of two decades, The name Las Ruedas (The Wheels') is thought that we resumed our excavations on the Vaccean to derive from the large circular stones which necropolis at Pintia. In our first season, we marked some of the graves in Roman times. uncovered 70 cremation tombs. Since then, We reckon between 20 and 30 generations of the excavation has continued uninterrupted, Vacceans and Romans were buried here, so with and by the end of the 2007 campaign we had an estimated population of between 5,000 and completed the excavation of grave N° 147. 7,000 inhabitants at the city's peak, we calculate The Vaccaei cremated their dead, but the there should be a total of between 60,000 and cremation was carried out in a different area to 100,000 burials awaiting us. the deposition of the ashes. The actual crema­ The Vaccaei's belief in the afterlife often tion was performed in an area known by the meant they took status symbols with them, 0 29 Above Grave N ° 135, a indicative of sex, age and social position, in years, the majority of graves belonged to male 1st century BC cremation addition to provisions for their journey to the warriors.
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