619 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ARCHEOLOGIE 620

of Abu H. 2, had taken place, leaving lithic material on the spot, and thus creating a condensed residue of a long lasting but intermittant habitation? A related problem is the outcome of radiocarbon samples. Since the result of the convention- ally processed samples did not fully meet the expectations, charred seeds taken from soil samples bij floatation were processed according to the AMS method adding to the initial dates. Considering that the extreme values at both sides of the range (Figure 5.28), one of 11,500 BP and two at 10,000 BP are obviously isolated, the most reliable span of occupa- tion of Abu H. 1 seems to be between ca 11,100 and 10.500 BP. Yet, although there is environmental evidence for year round occupation, the archaeological record fails to demon- strate uninterrupted habitation even during five or six cen- turies. The same is true for Abu H. 2, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic B village. According to the radiocarbon dates this settlement was probably founded after 9000 BP. In contrast to AH 1, ARCHEOLOGIE which was sounded in a single trench of 49 m2, the Abu H. 2 deposit emerged in four trenches of different sizes totalling a surface varying between ca. 160-180 m2. Here the above- MOORE, A.M., G.C. HILLMAN, A.J. LEGGE — Village mentioned discrepancy between settlement duration and on the Euphrates. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2000 deposit also occurs. The amount of preserved building levels (28 cm, XVIII, 585). ISBN 0-19-510806. £ 45.00. is higher, the entire deposit thicker (ca. 5 m), but in my view This bulky report on investigations at the prehistoric site these facts do not allow to bridge a period of 2400 years pro- of Abu Hureyra on the Middle Euphrates of Syria is the posed by the authors, who moreover consider Abu H. 2 as reflection of the authors' initial design “to give equal weight the successor of number 1. The assessment of an intermedi- to the cultural and economic evidence”. Intended as a defin- ate period of habitation connecting both villages in time itive statement, it comprises a vaste array of analyses in seems to be solely based on a few radiocarbon samples from which many specialists were involved. The particularly volu- an unspecified context. A more realistic calculation of the vil- minous share of natural sciences in the Abu Hureyra inves- lage's entire lifespan can be derived from page 494 of the tigations has apparently dictated the strategy of the fieldwork, same volume, where the average lifetime of a mudbrick which was one of mere sounding and sampling. The mass of building has been estimated at 50 years, which is rather long data from those disciplines may be impressive, but the purely for prehistoric mudbrick architecture. When taking into archaeological information is comparatively small, which is account that the trench with the highest amount of building the inevitable effect of small-sized exposures of successive levels — seven levels with solid architectural remains and occupation layers. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that this one with pits — the occupation may have lasted 600 to 800 strategy leaves questions unanswered and at times casts years at the very maximum, running from 8800 to 8000 BP doubts on propounded solutions. and covering period 2A (the number of building levels is To build up the occupational history of a site with help of multiplied by 1.5-2 to discount the periods of non-construc- stratigraphical evidence from rather remote and difficult to tion). The lack of datings between 8000 and 7300, the period correlate trenches is a precarious undertaking. Hence, it called 2B, has been filled by the authors with the help of cir- needed a lot of “knitting and knotting” by the authors to pre- cumstantial evidence such as changes in the economy, the sent the sequence of Abu Hureyra as an almost continuous artefact assemblage, etc. This is not very convincing, the event. To overcome the problem of correlating building more so because Abu H. 2 had a tendency to cultural con- phases from one trench to another, support was called upon servatism, or to quote the authors, “the cultural characteris- not only from radiometric dating, but also from changes in tics of Abu Hureyra 2B are much the same as those of 2A”. faunal remains (sheep and goats replacing gazelles) and the Such a tendency would not help to successfully establish material culture (appearance of pottery) operating as ‘fossiles intra-trench level correlations. Consequently, it remains to be directeur'. Such an approach is risky since the presence or proven that there really was continued occupation during absence of those ‘fossiles' in the occupation deposits from most of the eighth millennium BP, as is assumed by the such small trenches has no or a feeble statistical significance. authors. A resettlement of the site near 7300 BP shown by a The fact remains that it is a well-documented and readable general occurrence of pottery in the occupation levels seems book, although there is much repetition. Yet there are some more plausible. doubts that are difficult to clear from one's mind. The sampling method had consequences for the interpre- One concerns a discrepancy between the occupation length tation of the use of space as well. The 49 m2 small exposure of the two superimposed settlements and the importance of of Abu H. 1 yielded a few round pits associated with post- their corresponding archaeological deposits. For epipalae- holes. The biggest pits, ca. 2 m in diameter, are considered olithic Abu H. 1 an occupation of ca 1500 years is postulated, to have constituted the bottoms of sem-subterranean during which an avarage of over one meter of debris accu- dwellings, while posts were somehow utilized in the upper mulated, in which three occupation horizons were distin- structures of those dwellings. Unfortunately, the spread of guished (1A-C). Is it possible that a process of repeated ero- the postholes was such that their connection with the sion, similar to the one that was assumed for the surface level dwellings is not so obvious. Here one painfully senses the 621 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LIX N° 5-6, september-december 2002 622 lack of sufficiently large surfaces exposing such structures a team of French archeologists and specialists in various that could have facilitated interpretation. The same is true for fields under the heading of the much regretted Jacques Cau- the Abu H. 2 village, albeit to a lesser extent, since the vin was granted permission to undertake investigations, not biggest exposure (trench E) reached 112 m2 at a time. Alto- only on the mound but also in the surroundings. This multi- gether, next to a number of partially uncovered buildings no disciplinary research revealed soon that local artesian springs more than two plans could be entirely excavated. This leaves had attracted men since the Early Paleolithic period. unimpeded that the general lay-out and use of these build- The high mound, El Kowm 1, was resting on a 3m high ings has emerged. In contrast, with so little evidence at hand terrace of 500m in diameter, where the two lower artificial it is nearly impossible to draw conclusions on the nature and mounds of El Kwom 2 and 3 were located. Although El organisation of the community as a whole, for instance Kowm 1 presented a more important succession of habitation whether it was egalitarian or not. periods running from the Epipaleolithic through different In many occasions the authors underligned the uniqueness stages of the Neolithic, the more modestly sized El Kowm 2 of Abu Hureyra. This is true as far as its extent is concerned, (also called El Kowm-Caracol) was chosen for financial and in particular for the PPNB settlement, which may have cov- technical reasons. The occupation remains at EK2 date from ered substantially more acres than the average village of that the PrePottery Neolithic B stage and the Pottery Neolithic, period. It is probably not true for the duration of both the which were covered with a thin Uruk layer. The investiga- number 1 and 2 settlements. As I have tried to demonstrate, tions at EK 2 were carried out from 1980-87 and directed by Abu Hureyra may have been occupied for longer stretches of the author of this volume and mainly concern the PPNB time during the 11th and 9th millenia BP, but may also have occupation remains. known long periods of ephemerous, intermittent occupation With exception of the work on Paleolithic finds in the or even none at all. The site's uniqueness also does not vicinity of El Kowm carried out by F. Hours and L. account for its occupation form since during the Epipalae- Copeland, all participants of this multidisciplinary project olithic period semi-subterranean cabins did occur along the have contributed in this volume, some with preliminary Levant and in Southeast Anatolia, while the mudbrick archi- reports, others with final conclusions. The contents are tecture of Abu H. 2 finds close parallels at El Kowm 2, divided in four sections: I — Geomorphology, comprising Bouqras and other PPN-B villages. No, the uniqueness of the present landscape, vegetation and agriculture (J. Abu H. has to be sought a priori in the earliest evidence for Besançon, D. de Moulins, G. Wilcox) and stratigraphy of the plant cultivation that apparently had started a millennium tell (D. Stordeur, C. Maréchal, M. Molist, A. Taha); II — before this was conventionally thought to have happed in the Architecture (D. Stordeur, C. Maréchal, M. Molist); III — Near East. And secondly, in the exploitation of gazelle migra- Chipped stone and ground stone industry (M.-C. Cauvin, J. tion, demonstrating how judiciously the community had cho- Cauvin), microwear analysis (P.C. Anderson), stone vases sen their environment for settling. (M. Molist), stone ornements (C. Maréchal) and grinding and Finally, the manner in which the population of Abu pounding tools (D. Stordeur); IV — Exploitation of animal Hureyra has been presented in this volume deserves special and plant resources (D. Helmer, D. Stordeur, D. de Moulins). mention. Though purely anthropological data are not given, An informative synthesis by D. stordeur concludes the vol- the vivid account of funeral practises, diseases and defects ume. Although J. Cauvin has played a modest role in this correlated to daily life and labor constitutes one of the book's publication, his range of ideas is often sensed. best chapters. A major question treated here is how the inhabitants of Those interested in Near Eastern prehistory see their sorely EK2, sedentary agriculturist and stockbreeders as they were, tried patience compensated by a lengthy account on one of could have survived in an arid environment such as the the most important settlements in the Levant, which may not Palmyrene desert steppe. It has become evident from research always be convincing but is at least instructive. of the last decades that prehistoric agriculture was also car- ried out in areas with an annual precipitation rate below Leiden, June 2002 J. ROODENBERG 150mm., which is generally considered as a minimum for dry farming. This was ultimately demonstrated at Bouqras, where a sort of water managment, for instance crop growing on low ** Euphrates river bank levees or on wadi bottoms, was sug- * gested to enable plant cultivation (van Zeist, Waterbolk-van Rooyen, 1985). Irrigation dependent crops at El Kowm hint STORDEUR, D. — El Kowm 2: une île dans le désert. La to comparable practices, where it would have been relatively fin du Néolithique précéramique dans la steppe syrienne. easy to conduct water from the local springs to irrigate the CNRS Éditions, Paris 2000 (28 cm, 322). ISBN 2-271- lower fields. Nevertheless, there was a strong reliance on 05720-5. hunting and to a lesser extent on herding in order to com- The steep-sided mound of El Kowm near the homonymous pensate the aleas of crop growing. village, was registered as an archaeological monument dur- The material culture of EK 2 fits within the general frame- ing the sixties when M.N. van Loon on behalf of the Orien- work of the final PPNB, but possesses a number of charac- tal Institute of Chicago carried out surveys in the Middle teristics of its own that point to a certain degre of isolation. Euphrates Region of Syria. The twenty meters high, conical Hence the title of the book. At the final stage of the PPBN, tell is clearly visible from the surrounding desert zone that the Palmyrene region was rather densely visited: there were constitutes the Syrian heartland. In 1965 a step trench along numerous camp sites and a few stratified (semi-permanent) the mound's slope was dug by van Loon's student, J. Dorne- settlements as Qdeir, Umm et Tlel and the cave site Douara, mann, revealing thick deposits of Aceramic and Ceramic probably all related with the extraction and exploitation of raw Neolithic occupation. Large scale activities only started when flint, while El Kowm constituted the only permanent village. 623 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ARCHEOLOGIE 624

No surprise that such functional distinction between Kowm In making the above scan another matter of interest and the other sites are reflected in the material culture, espe- appears — this is the breadth of comparitive treatment. cially the chipped stone toolkit. Yet, similarities do occur, Where the titles indicate a regional basis to the treatment the such as gypsum plaster applied on house floors and walls and following count emerges: North Syria and North even as lining of baskets. Put in a larger regional scale, EK 2 Mesopotamia (i.e. the region under investigation) ca 170 shares with the villages of Abu Hureyra and Bouqras PPNB items; the remainder of the Middle East ca 70 items; the Old elements in most categories of the mobilia, in particular stone World other than the Middle East, Africa, the New World vessels and decorative objects. As for the acquisition of exotic about a dozen or so each. The surprising number of titles materials and objects, the author assumes a sort of a network dealing with Africa and the New World arises from the of settlements along supply routes from Anatolian Capadosia anthropological concern. Equally where the subject matter (obsidian), the Mediterranean (moluscs), etc. in which semi- indicates a limited chronological period the titles range from nomads may have been the pedlars. earliest Neolithic to Modern times (the latter reflecting the anthropological approach). In contrast with the abundant data on the mobilia, flora and Haus und Haushalt is a very big and opulent book. Indeed fauna, the information on the architecture is of little interest. both in its scope and in its luxury format it is reminiscent of This is inevitably due to the limited exposure of the archae- some of the publications of the Oriental Institute’s Iraq Expe- ological deposits. In this view it seems difficult to me how dition under the direction of Henri Frankfort during the to judge the representativity of the two or three different 1930’s. To sample it effectively in short compass requires a building plans for the whole village, and draw conclusions more prolonged study than is conformable with reviewing on the use of space. It is however clear that the longroom schedule. The best that can be done in the limited space avail- building plan resembles at first sight the longroom plans from able is to try to list the topics considered, which leaves little Abu Hureyra 2 and Bouqras' final occupation. In this respect opportunity for assessing their treatment — N.B. the book’s it should be underlined that at Bouqras three- and four-long- table of contents runs to 7 large pages. There is nothing for room buildings occurred next to each other, a fact that con- it then but to try to convey the contents of this Table of Con- tributes to enervate the sacred denotation of “tripartite” in tents. And in doing this it will be immediately obvious that Near Eastern archaeology. Yet, the present volume is a use- Peter Pfälzner has a fierce passion for beginning at the begin- ful source of information, not in the last place thanks to ning — a very unusual attitude in archaeology, where con- Stordeur's outstanding synthesis. Highly recommended. cerns are for the most part conventional (and the more so when they purport to be novel). Leiden, June 2002 J. ROODENBERG Peter Pfälzner’s book originated in his excavation at Tell Bderi 1985-90, which he worked up into a “Habilitation- schrift” during the years 1992-94 and subsequently aug- ** mented by further field work and investigations. As it * now stands the book is presented in five parts — or as there is a certain theatricality about it, one might say five PFÄLZNER, P. — Haus und Haushalt. Wohnformen des acts: viz I Introduction; II Theory and Method of basic Dritten Jahrtausands vor Christus in Nordmesopotamien. research into dwelling forms; III Ethno-archaeological Damaszener Forschungen Band 9, Mainz, 2001. (XXII model building; IV North Mesopotamia Dwelling Houses + 419 with 152 text figures plus 69 tables and 100 of the Third Millenium BC; V Synthesis The North plates). ISBN 3-8053-2416-2. Mesopotamian Household of the Third Millenium BC. At a time when the scope of treatment in archaeological This is a clear and economical partition, but there are ca 5 monographs has broken free of traditional bounds this book chapters to each part and these are each subdivided into up is still notable for the scope of its treatment. Perhaps the most to 19 sections. objective way of demonstrating this is to take a preliminary account of its extensive and varied bibliography. The total In summary from the chapter headings are: entries comprise some 430 items. Among them is revealed immediately a group of ca 70 items concerning anthropol- I 1. State of Research and Research Aims ogy/ethno-archaeology, and these relate to all ages and places. Thus it is clear that the “household” component is at II 2. Archaeological Paradigms and their significance the centre of concerns. It is somewhat unexpected to find that for Research into Dwelling Houses the tally of architecturally based studies is only ca 30, about 3. Ethno-archaeological approaches half this number. In fact the bulk of the entries is comprised 4. Theory and Method of Household Analysis of generalised archaeological studies and reports, amounting 5. The Problem of Archaeological Taphonomy in to about 150 or more i.e. twice those concerned with ethno- relation to Analysis of Households archaeology. There are also standard archaeological reports 6. The specialised concept of Household Analysis. and discussions of a variety of specialised issues, e.g. pottery and small finds, materials (wood, metals, etc.), physical III 7. An Ethno-archaeological Model for the relation- anthropology (bones etc.), environmental studies (fauna, ship between Houseform and Economics flora) and also religion. In general for each of these topics 8. An Ethno-archaeological Model for the Relation- there are half a dozen to a dozen titles. Thus it is apparent ship between Houseform and Family Structure that the analysis of houses in this book proceeds on the broad- est archaeological enquiry, not on a specifically architectural IV 9. Definition of the Ambit of Enquiry basis. 10. Dwelling house Finds and their dating 625 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LIX N° 5-6, september-december 2002 626

11. Building Techniques houses; “Negative” houses (= squatting encroach- 12. Domestic Activities ments); Elite houses; Middle Room houses. 13. House forms and Housing Concepts 15.1 Propertied class, Peasant Household; Agricultural Laborours; Nomads and transhumance personnel; V 14. Housing concepts of the Third Millenium in North Artisans; Hunters and fishers. Mesopotamia 15. North Mesopotamian Society of the Third Mille- etc., etc., etc., nium BC 16. Differences in Material Prosperity in North In addition to the above note must be taken of the extra Mesopotamia Society of the Third Millenium BC textual apparatus, since it is so profuse. There are 132 text 17. Development Cycles of the North Mesopotamian figures including photographs, line drawings and tables. Household in the Third Millenium BC While at the end of the book there are 69 large tables con- 18. Family Structure and Size of Households in the veying the data concerning Household Analysis at Tell Bderi. Third Millenium BC Also there are 100 large plates of architectural drawings. 19. Density and Isolation of Dwellings in Third Mil- As some token attempt to indicate what emerges from this lenium BC Mesopotamia treatment, the first and the last Chapter Sections are here 20. Domestic Cults summarised. 21. A Prospect of the Urbanisation of North In his introduction Peter Pfälzner states that research into Mesopotamia in the Third Millenium BC. North Mesopotamia domestic building previously has been the concern of architects and historians of architecture whose But this, in fact, is only a beginning. It is quite impossible approach was by way of building construction and structural to render all the numerous headings of Chapter sections, but development. To broaden and complete this approach the at least a sample of them must be provided — perhaps the archaeologist needs to develop an approach which calls into sectional headings for one chapter from each part may be question functional, social, environmental, historical issues. given (avoiding the longer lists). Thus: These must be founded on the study of archaeological evi- dence such as the finds associated with the buildings. He I 1.1 Statement of the Problem notes that the German School of building research (which 1.2 The Contribution of “Bauforschung” (= Architec- was developed in Mesopotamia) is based on formal distinc- tural Research) tions in design (cf. Koldewy’s basic distinction between the German “Bauforschung” Babylonian Hürdenhaus ad the Assyrian Herdhaus) i.e. the French “Bauforschung” approach is by a typology of building forms exactly parallel 1.3 Critique of Traditional Bauforschung to e.g. a typology of lamp forms. 1.4 Goals On the other hand he notes that in the last 20 years or so French archaeologists have pursued building studies on quite II 5.1 Theoretical Basis of Archaeological Taphonomy a different approach from the German one. The new French 5.2 Motives for Deposition approach relates more to the building in use than to the 5.3 Types of Deposits (a-h) abstract design form; an consequently it embrasses a concern 5.4 Types of Assemblages (with many subsections and for ethno-archaeology. Confronted with these two contrary sub subsections) approaches Peter Pfälzner proposes to set the concern of the 5.5 Identification of Assemblages (ditto) French School in the foreground, with formal planning serv- ing only as a subsidiary support to the analysis. And he is as III 8.1 Ethnographic Group A: Houses of Nucleated good as his word — as revealed by the detailed table of con- Families tents. 8.2 Ethnographic Group B: Houses of Extended Fam- The final chapter of the book (Chapter 21) concerns itself ilies with the urbanisation of North Syria during the third mille- 8.3 Ethnographic Group C: Houses of Polygamous nium BC — as traditional an archaeological concern as can Families be. He associates this development with local socio-eco- nomic developments not with diffusion from South IV 11.1 Foundations Mesopotamia; and claims that the “Parzellenhaus” is a wit- 11.2 Walling ness to this process in association with a regular street plan, 11.3 Rendering (Plaster Whitewash, Mural Paintings standardised dimensions and walled settlements. These etc.) Parzellenhäuser represent a developed cultural tradition in 11.4 Apertures (Doors, Windows, Ventilation holes, the keeping of master builders. Detailed consideration of the etc. planning and dimensions of these houses permit a reason- 11.5 Floors (Stamped earth, Mud brick, Plaster, Peb- able estimate of the population of the urbanised settlements bles, Stone Paving) of the third millenium BC in Northern Mesopotamia: smaller 11.6 Roof Construction (Flat — i.e. not curved; unwalled settlements ca 5,000-6,000; and larger urban cen- Domed) tres 20,000-40,000. All this analysis is materially supported 11.7 Multiple Stories by ethno-archaeological evidence drawn from contemporary 11.8 The Question of the Court. development in the Middle East of new settlements. This evidence reveals the founding role of “middle class” fami- V 14.1 Linear houses; Domical houses; Arch houses; Dou- lies quitting old settlements and the confining customs ble Arch houses; Single room houses; Building lot obtaining there for extended families, in favour of a chance 627 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ARCHEOLOGIE 628 to get individual possession as nucleated families of agri- ROODENBERG, J.J., and L.C. THISSEN (eds.) — The Ilip- cultural and residential property lots. inar Excavations II. Pihans XCIII. Nederlands Instituut The tenor of this beginning and end to the book may seem voor het Nabije Oosten, Leiden, 2001 (26 cm, 354, many routine; however the merit of scholarly conclusion reside in illustr., plans, tables). ISBN 90-6258-094-7. Euro 85,-. what they are based on — and it is up to the individual reader Als Bd. XCIII der Berichten des Niederländischen historisch- to assess the worth of the extended conceptual apparatus archäologischen Instituts (Reihe PIHANS) ist der zweite enlisted by the author in this connection. In the face of the Band über den Ausgrabungen auf den neolithischen Tell Ilip- daunting conceptual proliferation of this book, it seems per- inar am Izniksee in der Westtürkei erschienen. Die Freile- verse to mention omissions, yet exhaustiveness in itself gung dieser sehr wichtigen prähistorischen Lokalität hat unter evokes this response. The author has related the remains of der Leitung von J. Roodenberg seit 1987 statt gefunden und houses to their environmental, social, economic, cultural etc., hat sehr wichtige wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse erbracht, die backgrounds — and that with the overall aim of elucidating neues Licht in vielen Fragen des südosteuropäischen und the process of urbanisation. One very real factor in this westanatolischen Neolithikums und der Proto- und Früh- process he has not considered: the legal background — the bronzezeit geworfen haben. Es handelt sich um der ersten law of real property. Land tenure, estate, title, alienation, grossflächigen Freilegung eines neolithischen und reversion, eminent domain etc. are at the core of urbanisa- chalkolithischen (nach anatolischem Chronologiesystem) tion, and this subject could well have been caught in the Tells Westanatoliens, der zehn Siedlungsphasen aufweist. Die author’s net. Besiedlung schliesst mit einer Zäsur etwa um 5400 BC ab. Perhaps the most lively reaction to this exceptional book Gräberfelder aus der Protobronzezeit und der Frühbronzezeit is concern for its possible effect on the future conduct of I/II liegen oben drauf. Der Band ist dem keramischen excavations in the Middle East (and elsewhere). Will all those Fundgutes, der Stratigraphie des Südwestsektors, der reponsible for such work be expected to aggregate and seg- Architektur, den C 14 Daten, den Feuersteinartefakten, und regate their data so as to render it subject to the range of inter- den Pollenanalysen Westanatoliens gewidmet. rogatories systematised by the author? Faint heart would L.C. Thissen bringt im Kapitel 1 die Ergebnisse der hope that field work and record keeping can carry on in the Analyse der Keramik der Phasen X bis Va. Die musterhafte modest traditional way, and Pfälzner’s analysis be left to spe- statistische Bearbeitung fusst auf Fundgutmengen, die sich cialists working over published records. Unfortunately this auf einzelne wenige Quadraten beschrenken. Die Gliederung does not seem feasible. Rather it would seem that the con- der Keramik in offene, geschlossene und Sonderformen geht duct of the field work would need to be “programmed” in hierarchisch hinunter bis zur Subkategorien, ohne das Niveau advance to yield the required range of date. der Details wie Randprofilierung zu erreichen. Nichts- Indeed perhaps in the final analysis the significance of this destoweniger sind die Ergebnisse als representativ zu betra- book is that it entails reconsideration of the unsettled and chten, da die Keramik selbst ein beschränktes, wenig dif- unsettling foundations of field archaeology. There is no ques- ferenziertes Formenrepertoir besitzt. Die Ergebnisse der tion but that the remains of domestic building are the most Analyse sind schrittweise auf Diagramme vorgestellt. Leider direct witnesses to every day life of the past. And if this is fehlen in den Schlussfolgerungen des Autors die erforderliche the main interest in conducting excavations, then does Peter Hinweise auf Analogien unter das gleichzeitige anatolische Pfälzner’s explicit systematisation provide a/ the key for best Fundgut. Was diese aus Bulgarien betrifft so handelt es sich achieving this object? bei der Phase X um kugelige Formen, Schnur- und Field archaeology is (has been) a procedure where a hand- Tubenösen — ein sehr frühes keramisches Fundgut, welches ful of straws in a haystack become straws in the wind (of im Sinne des balkanischen Chronologiesystems in der Zeit words). Is this to be changed basically so that the handful of der zweiten Stufe des sog. Monochromen Neolithikums straws can be made to speak with full consequence for the einzureihen ist und Analogien in Koprivec II bei Russe, stack? It is a consumation devoutly to be wished. For archae- Plocite bei Veliko Tarnovo, Poljanica-Plateau bei Targoviste ological truths to be expressed they must be both in the in Nordwestbulgarien und Krainici an den Strymon in Süd- ground and in the mind of the beholder. And the process of westbulgarien hat. Darauf deuten auch die sehr aussagereiche field archaeology is to see that what is in the ground gets into Ergebnisse der Analyse der Keramikherstellung (A. van As, the mind of the beholder — manifestly not vice versa, which L. Jacobs, M.-H. Wijnen, Kapitel 2.) hin. eventuates more readily. It is like map reading — you must Beim Grundniveau X geht es namentlich um der zweiten read from ground to map and not from map to ground. Stufe der Neolithisierung nicht nur Westanatoliens, sonder “Question the ground and it will reply” was used by Wheeler auch der Bankanhalbinsel, welche das Ende des VII. as a motto for his archaeology from the earth. But the ques- Jahrtausends einnimmt und eindeutig vor der Zeit von Kara- tion comes down to what questions do you pose. Will the novo I liegt. Ohne wesentliche Unterbrechungen entwickelt ground reply to Pfälzner’s questions as directly as Wheeler sich die neolithische Keramik von Ilipinar bis in der Zeit von imagined it replied to his? And underneath all this is the more Karanovo II und III, hat aber eine deutliche lokale (Mar- unsettling question — has Wheeler not inverted the true pos- marasee) Prägung beinahe ohne thrakische Gegenstücke. itive “When the ground questions you, you will reply”. In der Phase VIII kommen wesentliche Innovationen auf: sparsame Verzierung durch Nagelabdrücke, Relief- und The University of Western Australia, G.R.H. WRIGHT Zwickmustern und eingetiefte, umlaufende Ritzmuster die January 2002 Zickzack- und meandroide Bände bilden. Tulpenformen und ausladende Ränder kommen des öfteren vor. Es handelt sich ** eindeutig um Erscheinungen, die das mittelneolithische Mar- * marafundgut kennzeichnen und aus Pendik, Yarimburgaz 629 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LIX N° 5-6, september-december 2002 630 usw. bekannt sind. Diese Entwicklung findet eine Fortsetzung auftretet und alle prähistorische Kulturen Anatoliens zwis- in den Phasen VII-Va, wo das Formen- und Musterrepertoir chen 5400 und 4600 BC trifft, jene des Südens der Balkan- etwas mannigfaltiger wird. Konische und bikonische Formen, halbinsel um 4600 und jene zwischen den Rhodopen und den Schüsseln mit verstärktem Rand, rechteckige Gefässe mit Karpaten um 4200. Sie ist die Ursache der wohl bekannten Stichmustern und senkrechte Hals- und Schulterhenkeln Kulturlücken in der Urgeschichte des Südens, die am Ende hinzukommen. Die Ergebnisse der Keramikbearbeitung sind des 5. und während des ganzen 4. Jahrtausends auftreten. durchaus repräsentativ und werden den weiteren kompara- Das Feuersteinfundgut aus den Phasen X n Vb ist von I. tiven Studien sehr hilfreich sein. Gatsov (Kapitel 7) typologisch und von M. Gurova (Kapitel A. van As und M.-H. Wijnen bringen im Kapitel 3 ethno- 8) trassologisch untersucht worden. Die Flintindustrie hat eine graphisch-archäologischen Parallelen zu den Verfertigung- lokale Prägung, besonders was die Rohstoffquellen angeht. stechniken der Keramik. Im Kapitel 4 befasst sich F. Gérard Zahlreiche Sichelsegmente, Messer und Schaber und ihre mit der Stratigraphie und der Architektur des Südwestsektors Arbeitsspuren deuten auf der zu erwartenden Ackerbau-, von Ilipinar. Dort ist eine kontinuierliche Entwicklung der Viehzucht- und Jagdnutzung dieser Artefakte hin. Bebauung bis der Ende der Phase Va festgestellt. Gegenüber Kapitel 9 ist der quatärneren Vegetation Westtürkeis der lockeren Bebauung der Phase, X n VII, liegt in Phasen gewidmet (S. Bottema, H. Woldring und I. Kayan). Pollen- VI-V eine kompakte Bebauung vor. Der behandelte Sektor diagrammen von Bohrungen in mehreren Seen und Sümpfen umfasst eben diese Phasen. Die frühe Siedlungen weisen dieses Bereichs werden hier erstmals präsentiert. Die hiesige Pfostenarchitektur auf, die bis in Details ihre Gegenstücke Vegetation unterscheidet sich wesentlich von jener Ost- auf der ganzen Balkanhalbinsel besitzt. Es geht um rechteck- türkeis, die durch den Pollenuntersuchungen von van Zeist & ige Häuser, die bereits 1995 von J. Roodenberg veröffentlicht Bottema bereits bekannt ist. Ab der Neolithisierung setzt sind. Die offensichtlich übereinander gebauten Häuser dieser unter anthropogenen Druck eine Reduzierung der massiven Stufen, deren Pfostenreihen das bekannte Bild der ineinander Waldbestände des frühen Holozens ein, und zwar bis 40% geratenen Pfostenlöcher ihrer Substruktionen ergeben (S. 97 (Zone 4 des Pollendiagramms) begleitet von einer Zunahme n 102). Dagegen begegnet uns ab der Phase VI die typische der Gräser und Getreidepollen. Später, nach dem Klimaopti- anatolische Bauart, die durch Lehmziegelwände gekennze- mum (Zone 5 des Pollendiagramms), kommt es zu einer ichnet ist und ihre Gegenstücke in Çatal Höyük East IV-I, Erholung der Waldbestände bis 60-80%. Das fällt offen- Can Hasan 2B u.a. hat. Ein Kettenplan der Bebauung, beste- sichtlich mit den oben genannten Kulturzäsur des Klimaop- hend aus rechteckigen, eindeutig zweistückigen (Fig. 10) timums zusammen, als der Druck des anthropogenen Faktors Häuser mit Öfen, Trogs und Pythoi liegt in der Phase VI vor. zurücktretet. Derartige anthropogene Auswirkungen sind den J. Roodenberg bringt seine zusammenfassende Betrach- Pollenanalysen von Bozilova & Tonkov in Bulgarien zu ent- tungen in Kapitel 5. Sie betreffen die Innenstruktur der Sied- nehmen, freilich mit gewisser chronologischen Verspätung lungen, die Strassen und Plätze. Hier finden wir auch ein gegenüber den Süden. Kommentar der Grabungsergebnissen aus den Nordwest-, Alle Forschungsergebnisse des Bandes sind ausführlich mit West- und Südsektoren. Es werden die Analogien und Unter- der erforderlichen graphischen Dokumentation, Diagramme schieden zu südosteuropäischen Neolithikum und Mittelne- und Tabellen untermauert. Hervorzuheben ist die geschmack- olithikum im Bereich der Architektur hervorgehoben. Die volle Ausführung der Keramiktafeln. planmässige Bebauung in den Phasen VI und Va dagegen Im grossen und ganzen muss hervorgehoben werden, dass weist auf Anatolien hin. Die Tatsache, dass aus der Phase Vb der Grabung in Ilipinar und persönlich ihrem Leiter J. Rood- kaum nennenswerte Bausubstanz vorliegt ist auf der Erosion enberg die Urgeschichte zahlreiche neue Kenntnisse zu ver- der obersten Schicht der verlassenen Siedlung zurück- danken hat. Der besprochene Band leistet einen wichtigen zuführen. Beitrag und stellt einen wesentlichen Schritt Vorwärts in der Im Kapitel 6 (J. Roodenberg, W. Schier) liegt eine Erforschung des Neolithikums Westanatoliens und der überzeugende Serie von 74 C 14 Daten aus allen Bauphasen Balkanhalbinsel dar. des Tells von Ilipinar vor, die zuverlässige absolutchronolo- gische Stützpunkte bietet. Die kallibrierte Werte liegen für Sofia, im Juni 2002 H. TODOROVA die Phase X entscheidend vor 5900 BC, ergo vor Karanovo I und im Bereich des balkanischen Monochromen ** Neolithikums. Das dürfte auch zum Teil auch für den Daten * der Phase IX zutreffen. Jene der Phasen VIII und VII sind gleichzeitig mit Karanovo I und jene der Phasen VI, Va BEIT-ARIEH, I. (ed.) — Tel ‘Ira; a Stronghold in the liegen im Bereich der Daten der Stufe Karanovo II und III in Biblical Negev. Sonia & Marca Nadler Institute of Bulgarien. Archaeology, Tel Aviv 1999. (27 cm, XXII, 521). ISBN Besonders interessant sind die C 14 Daten der Phase IV 965-440-008-1. $ 60.00. (Late Chalcolithicum im Sinne des anatolischen Chronolo- giesystems). Sie liegen etwas später als jene für der klassis- Tel Ira is located on a table top hill that forms part of the chen Spätkupferzeit Bulgariens und fallen mit der bulgar- ‘Ira mountain spur in the north-eastern Negev. The top of the ischen Daten für den Anfang der Protobronzezeit (Hotnica an hill rises 100 m. above the surrounding terrain and is 2.5 ha. der Wasserfall u.a.) zusammen. in size. From 1979 -1987 eight seasons of excavations were Sehr aussagereich und signifikant ist die langdauernde (um conducted on the tell by the Institute of Archaeology of Tel die 1800 Jahren, laut J. Roodenberg) Unterbrechung, die in Aviv University, joined by the Israel Antiquities Authority Ilipinar vorliegt. Es handelt sich keinesfalls um einen lokale and several other institutions and universities. The site was Erscheinung, sondern um jene Zäsur, die zur Folge der kolos- first discovered and explored in 1962 by Yohanan Aharoni salen ökologischen Krise am Ende des Klimaoptimums and Ruth Amiran during an survey of the region. The book 631 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ARCHEOLOGIE 632 contains an extensive report of these excavations, discussing displaying Edomite influence and a few vessels imported stratigraphy and architecture (part 1), the finds (part 2) and from the Shephelah and coastal areas. Some sherds of Cypri- some interdisciplinary studies (part 3). ote origin we also encountered as well as a complete Cypriot The earliest remains uncovered are some walls and floors amphora. The pottery is presented first by type, and then by from the Early Bronze III period (Stratum IX). Sherds from locus. Only complete or nearly complete vessels are illus- this period were found in every locus on bedrock. No occu- trated and described, but for the statistical analysis also sherds pation was found from the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. In were used, especially rims and distinctive body sherds. Alto- the beginning of Iron Age II a small unwalled settlement was gether some 1400 items were used. The counts for some built on the eastern part of the hill, as witnessed by the important loci of for strata in certain areas are given in figs. remains of walls, floors and pottery (Stratum VIII). In the fol- 6.12-6.18 and in tables 6.22-6.25. It is a pity that the statis- lowing stratum VII a large fortified settlement was built. An tical analysis is used for dating purposes only, and not to give elaborate system of fortifications was found, with a solid information of the function of buildings or interregional rela- wall, 580 m. long, surrounding the hill, and at the eastern end tionships of the site. of the tell a segment of a casemate wall, incorporated in the Comparative material gives a date ‘in the very beginning solid wall. This defence system was reinforced by a stone of the 8th century for the first Iron Age Stratum VIII, while revetment, a glacis, watch towers on the long northern sides the site was densely occupied throughout the 8th and 7th cen- and a six-chambered gate with two watch towers and possi- turies, giving way to a small settlement in the Persian period bly an outer gate at the eastern extremity of the tell. Several at the beginning of the 6th century BCE’, writes Liora Freud public buildings were located at the eastern part of the tell, on p. 227. Strangely enough this dating is not in agreement while private houses were erected along the defensive walls. with Beit-Arieh’s table on p. 174, where the beginning of Building 512 was 6 x 15 m. large, had 5 rooms and was inter- Stratum VIII is dated to the end of the 10th century, and the preted as a public building, although no evidence is given — densely populated towns of Strata VII and VI to the 7th and the plan of the building is not illustrated but only vaguely 6th centuries BCE. This confusion is rather annoying. Stra- indicated on a photograph and special finds are not men- tum VI is dated to the 2nd half of the 7th and the 6th cen- tioned. Another building was called ‘the Storehouse’ because turies BCE on p.174, but said to have been destroyed around more than 30 large pithoi were found there. The centre of the 600 BCE. on p.176. This latter dating is based on the pottery, tell was devoid of buildings, and here several stone-lined silos especially the Cypriot amphora, which is of a type ‘wide- were found, partly cut into bedrock. On the eastern slope of spread around 600 BCE’. However, on p. 216 the amphora the hill a cemetery was found with at least 20 rock-cut tombs is dated to the 6th and 5th centuries BCE. On p. 174 the Per- from this period. The pottery from this stratum was dated to sian settlement (Stratum V) is dated to the 5th and 4th cen- ‘the end of the 8th — first half of the 7th century BCE’ (p turies BCE (and thus not to the beginning of the 6th century, 176). The town is thought to have been built by the Judean as on p. 227). king Manasseh after the destructions wrought by the Assyr- Raz Kletter discusses the large pithoi found in the ‘Store- ians in 701 BCE, and it functioned as a defensive fort to pro- house’ of Stratum VII. There is a strange confusion con- tect the trade routes against invading Arabs and Edomites. cerning the number of pithoi found. According to figs. 6.75- This stratum was violently destroyed, but the excavators 79 there were 31 vessels, on p. 87 a total of 30 is mentioned, refrain from suggesting a name for the enemy who captured of which 11 complete ones, figure 3.38 shows 28 vessels in this well-defended town. the storehouse, while p. 350 mentions 32 pithoi, of which 17 After the destruction the town was rebuilt on the same lay- complete, and, lastly, fig. 6.153 lists 34 pithoi, of which 15 out (Stratum VI). This town was destroyed by fire around 600 are ‘complete’ and 4 ‘nearly whole’. Eight of the Tel ‘Ira BCE. No occupational remains from the Babylonian period pithoi were subjected to petrographical analysis. These were were found. Stratum V shows some remains from the Persian all made from the Motza Clay — Dolomite sand-group, period, a re-use of some Iron Age buildings and several pits, which is found around Jerusalem. Kletter has concentrated but occupation was sparse. This phase ended in the 2nd half on the potter’s marks, but has to conclude that ‘a single expla- of the 4th century BCE. In the Hellenistic period (Stratum nation for these marks is hard to find’ (p. 359). Furthermore, IV) new buildings were erected, rooms abutting the old town there are studies on the four rosette stamp seal impressions wall that was still in use. After being abandoned the site and the 39 fragments of figurines. The latter group consti- remained unoccupied until the Early Roman period (Stratum tutes a typical Late Iron Judean assemblage, contrasting III). Then a new settlement was built, apparently still using sharply with that of the nearby site of Horvat Qitmit. Petro- the now very ancient town wall. Based on the pottery, which graphical analysis has shown that they were locally made. A is typical Judaean, the site is thought to have been inhabited solid mould-made hermaphroditic figurine with tambourine by a small Jewish community. Stratum II refers to the Byzan- is discussed by Pirchya Beck. Jewellery from the tombs, tine period, when a settlement extended over the entire tell some Hebrew and Aramaic ostraca, stone artefacts from the again. A new city wall was built, but a new gate was not Byzantine period, the mosaics from the monastery, 56 coins found. Over the ancient gate a monastery complex with dating from the Persian to the Mamluk periods, four glass mosaic floors was built. On the neighbouring hill of Har bottles from the Umayad period, 130 Iron Age loom weights, Bariyah a large houses dated to this period was found. The weaving tools, agricultural implements from several periods, final occupation on the tell took place in the Early Islamic stone weights and beads — these are all analysed, illustrated period (Stratum I), making use of the Byzantine structures. and discussed by specialists. The botanical remains show that In Parts 2 and 3 of the book several find groups are being in the Iron Age grain was grown on the slope of the hill. A presented. The Iron Age pottery assemblages are said to be study of the animal bones gives some insight in the made up of types widespread throughout Judea as well as economies of the Iron Age and the Byzantine periods — a those common only in the Negev. Also present are vessels theme otherwise not often referred to in this book. Overall 633 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LIX N° 5-6, september-december 2002 634 the faunal lists for both periods are similar. Domestic animals materials were unearthed. This is less problematic than it are of course dominant, with sheep/goats kept mostly for their might have been under other circumstances. Archaeological wool, hides and milk, and cattle primarily for their milk and research on Elam has been more or less on hold throughout labour. Pigs comprise over 20% in the Byzantine period and this period and final publications of other major excavations only 0.35% in the Iron Age. The last chapter of the book is undertaken in the 1970’s are still sporadically emerging. The a study of human bones. The remains of 21 females, 20 males beauty of site reports is that they do not depreciate in value and 24 children form the Iron Age tombs were studied. Aver- and ones of this quality enhance the opportunities that the age lifespan for the adult population is estimated to be 36.9 current hiatus in fieldwork offers for reflection and consoli- years. Of the 37 adults whose age could be defined, only 5% dation of our knowledge of the Elamites. were over 45 years of age. This study also shows that during The EDD area was chosen for excavation because it rep- the Iron Age at least the southern population of Israel was resents the highest point of the rather extensive tell and sur- closely related and differed considerably from the later Hel- face remains suggested it would provide information on the lenistic-Roman-Byzantine population of Israel. later phases of occupation of the site. Magnetometry indi- All in all this is a thorough, well-produced study (that cated strong anomalies in the area and although some of these would have benefited from some serious editing). It leaves, proved to mark the presence of kilns, the burned building that however, open some important questions, such as the func- the excavators hoped to find also materialized. tion and economic base of the town in different periods, the The stratigraphy of the excavated area is divided into four identity of the enemies who destroyed the Iron Age towns “Levels”, of which the two earliest, IV and III, are the most and the precise dating of the strata. important. Level IV saw the construction of the public build- ing in phase B ca. 1250-1150 B.C., and its modification June 2002 Margreet STEINER almost immediately afterward in phase A, which was in turn destroyed by fire. Given that the name of king Huteludush- Inshushinak, whose disappearance after the battle on the Ulai ** brought the great days of the Middle Elamite kingdom to a * close, can be reconstructed on a tablet from the building in an archive of a type that would not be kept for long, one CARTER, Elizabeth — Excavations at Anshan (Tal-e would suspect the fire to have taken place closer to 1100 than Malyan): the Middle Elamite Period. (Malyan Excavation 1000 B.C. In Level III, also divided into two phases, kilns reports; V.2/University Museum Monograph; 82). Univ. and a more modest building were constructed in a part of the Museum of Arch./Anthr. Philadelphia, 1996. (28 cm, area. Very little time appears to have elapsed, and Carter also XVIII, 137, 47 Figures, 24 plates). ISBN 0-924171-22-7. dates this level to c. 1000 B.C. The two uppermost levels are The “Middle Elamite Period” in this well-crafted report is treated summarily: Level II consists of isolated features such confined to two phases of a single partially excavated public as floors, hearths and burials, which do not appear to have building. At first glance, this structure in Operation EDD at any coherence and are collectively assigned to the period Malyan does not appear to have a great deal to offer in the between the abandonment of Level III and the Achaemenid way of archaeological riches. Fewer than 1000 square meters era; Level I is composed of intrusive stone filled shafts of a were uncovered, amounting to less than half of the building’s no longer extant building that Carter believes to belong to the area if the hypothetical reconstruction proposed on the basis Sasanian period. of parallels at Chogha Zambil is accepted. The earliest phase, The report is, as it should be, a clear and straightforward dating to a little before 1100 B.C., may have been nothing description, level by level. Two-thirds of the written exposi- more than a construction course and the second, a remodel- tion is devoted to Level IV, and a quarter to Level III. The ing of the first, was no longer in occupation when the build- format is to first treat the stratigraphy and architecture for a ing was burned. Aside from two groups of administrative level, describing each room and the associated finds. This is texts, published separately by Matthew Stolper1) more than followed by discussions of the ceramics and smallfinds for the a decade ago, there were few noteworthy smallfinds. Yet level as a whole. 59 pages of tables and appendices provide despite limited scope and mundane character, the excavated detail on the technical aspects of the excavation — from materials provide the author with data sufficient to make palaeobotanical and lithic analyses, which many specialists important inferences on the structure of the Elamite kingdom are likely to consult, to lists of lot numbers and features, which when it was a powerful force in the history of greater are hardly of interest to anyone. Melinda Zeder’s important Mesopotamia. work on the faunal evidence, however, does not appear here The book has been a long time in coming. The finds which because it has already been published elsewhere,2) although it describes in detail were made during three seasons of field- its import is discussed in the conclusions. The recording sys- work, the first in 1972, the second in 1974 and the last in tem was in fact a bit cumbersome and designations had to 1976. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 prevented any return changed on occasion, but the volume presents correspondence to the site and sherds from the last season were not available tables, so that anyone wishing to rework this data in the future for post-excavation study. The author records that she fin- will be able to do so. While the rather dry description sends ished the text in 1987 and updated the bibliography in 1992, the reader back and forth between maps, tables and appen- after which the book sat in press for another four years. A dices, a consistent picture of more than local significance generation archaeologists have thus come of age since these emerges for the primary phase of occupation.

1) Matthew W. Stoper. Texts from Tall-i Malyan I: Administrative Texts 2) Melinda Zeder. Feeding Cities: Specialized Animal Economy in the (1972-1974). Occasional Publications of the Babylonian Fund, 6. Philade- Ancient Near East. Smithosian Series in Archaeological Inquiry. Washing- lphia: University Museum, 1984. ton, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991. 635 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ARCHEOLOGIE 636

The evidence presented here poses some interesting his- Gilo, Hirbet Raddana and Hirbet ed-Dawwara. They are cho- torical questions. Anshan was putatively a “second capital” sen because they are exclusively Early Iron Age sites, which of the kingdom during the Middle Elamite Period, when royal have been excavated and published extensively enough to titulary prominently featured the claim of kinship over allow conclusions. Two other, multi period sites have been Anshan and Susa. Yet in this book we find little to corrobo- excavated and published extensively enough to allow con- rate its centrality. Huteludush-Inshushinak is the only king clusions (“aussagekräftig”): Hirbet Seilun (Shilo) and Et-Tell whose building inscriptions were found at the site, and iron- (Ai). They are in a different position from the one period ically, he apparently renounced mention of Anshan that had sites, as their occupation may have been influenced by ear- hitherto been traditional in Middle Elamite royal titulary. The lier, respectively may have influenced later occupation. EDD building is the most substantial structure of the period Five other sites: Betin, Hirbet Rabud, Tell en-Nasbeh, Hir- that the excavators of Maylan were able to locate at the site, bet Tubeqa and Jebel Rumeideh allow “limited conclusions” and both the plan and contents of Level IVA suggest that it (“eingeschränkt aussagekräftig”) on the basis of their pub- had some public function. The exposed portion shows one lished results. set of rooms grouped around a more or less square courtyard All these sites are analyzed following a set of specifica- and another adjoining a portico. Glazed tiles and knobs, tions that together must provide a comprehensive picture of which are associated with temples at Chogha Zambil, and village life in those sites. This is followed by a set of speci- several groups of administrative tablets were found in this fications placing the sites in their wider context. structure. The foundations of the original construction phase Following a short excavation history of each site is an of the building were partially packed with debris in which analysis of the surroundings within their respective catchment there is a good deal of local and earlier broken pottery of the areas (following Vita-Finzi 1978). This shows that most sites Kaftari tradition. On the other hand, the main phase of the are positioned on a defensible location, sometimes sacrific- building is characterized by a very high percentage of “low- ing easy access to water sources. All sites are surrounded by land” wares, indistinguishable from what was being used in a combination of soils that enabled them to conduct agricul- Khuzestan. The administrative tablets found in the building ture as well as pastoralism. With the exception of Kh. Seilun belong to this phase, one concentration of dealing with metal every site is positioned at an elevation that is too high for disbursements, and the other with animals, hides, and food- olive production. stuffs. These were apparently written by and for a small num- Seven settlements had clear domestic architecture. Zwin- ber of people involved with the temple. On these grounds, genberger has analyzed these houses and concludes a large Carter suggests the EDD area essentially represents an variety in layout and general house-shape and size, together enclave of Susiana influence rather than an imperial tradition with the recurrence of a limited number of architectural ele- at home in the Kur River basin. Malyan is the only site in the ments. These architectural elements are rows of pillars, long- area in this period to have this lowland component. rooms of remarkable uniform size and proportions, and The structure of the Middle Elamite kingdom that played benches. Existing theories about the origin of house types, so significant a role in Mesopotamian history remains a great such as whether they originate from the nomadic tent, or mystery, particularly in its relations with the Iranian Plateau, whether these hill-country sites saw the birth of the pillared and more reports like this one are clearly needed. The Malyan or four room buildings can neither be confirmed nor negated project did much to reshape the agenda of research just as it on the basis of the existing house-types in these settlements. was shutting down. One can only hope that some day, within The lay-out was probably largely dependent on the com- our lifetimes, excavators will return to the task of exploring position of the family living in it, whereas the recurring archi- this fertile ground. tectural elements may point to a shared background, which Zwingenberger seems to place in the coastal plain (p. 263). Boston, October 2002 P. ZIMANSKY Village layout has been analyzed for the same settlements, and divided into two types of house grouping: the linear and the compact. Linear grouping denotes a line of houses that ** share a long (back) wall, and this has been seen by several * scholars as an early stage in the transition from nomadic to settled life: the concept of a ring of houses around a shared ZWINGENBERGER, U. — Tell El-Dag’a I. (Orbis Biblicus open space, the back walls forming a defense wall. The com- et Orientalis, 180). Universitätsverlag Freiburg, Fribourg, pact grouping consists of a group of houses forming a clus- 2001. (24 cm, XX, 594). ISBN 3-7278-1344-X; ISBN ter, without a central courtyard. Both concepts appear in the 3-525-53994-0; ISSN 1015-1850. SFr 175,- / / 115,-. analyzed settlements, sometimes together. Discussions about Uta Zwingenberger has written a very thorough analysis of the transition from the first ‘post-nomadic’ settlements to the material culture of ten settlements in central Palestine in the planned towns have involved numerous ‘settlement-typolo- Early Iron Age. Her purpose in doing this was: to build “einen gies’. Zwingenberger discusses these, but comes to the con- neuen, authentischen Zugang zu früheren Zeiten und speziell clusion, rightly, I think, that these village layouts should be zur Basis jüdisch-christlichen Glaubens ermöglichen”. This seen in their own right, and reflect the social structure of the suggests that, being a theologian herself, she is still struggling village. How social structure can be derived from village lay- with the theological discrepancy between the bible as a histor- out is a separate question, which, in my opinion, deserves ical source and the results of archaeological research. Or rather, more attention than Zwingenberger has given it here, as it she assumes that this struggle still exists and promises to pro- reflects the central thesis of the book. vide a solution. That is not what the book is about, however. The economy of five settlements is established to consist Zwingenberger has selected ten settlements in central of a combination of agriculture and pastoralism, supple- Palestine. Three are ‘aussagekräftige “One Period Sites”’: mented with some horticulture. For the other five villages the 637 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LIX N° 5-6, september-december 2002 638 same basic economy is assumed. Although this, in itself, is are a confirmation of the status quo. In spite of some minor well substantiated, both by other research and by a thorough drawbacks, such as the missing drawings in the pottery sec- analysis of the archaeological repertoire, the possibility of tion, or Zwingenberger’s rather irritating habit of insisting on other economic pursuits, such as trade or handicrafts is not the female form every time persons are mentioned considered. Specialized production of different kinds of pot- (‘Bewohnerinnen und Bewohner’, ‘Archäologen und tery, metal objects (Khirbet Raddana!), possibly stone and Archäologinnen’ etc.) this book answers to its purpose, flint objects and several kinds of installations may well have namely to clarify daily life in Early Iron Age village society. been an important element in the (supra) village economy. The storage and preparation of food includes cooking Faculteit der Godgeleerdheid, Eveline J. VAN DER STEEN devices such as ovens, cutting and cooking utensils, and stor- Groningen, June 2002 age facilities, including an excurse on the Collared Rim Jar. It includes an extensive overview of the different pottery ** repertoires according to the conclusions of the excavators of * the different sites. This is followed by an analysis of the meaning of the finds for daily life on the site as a whole and SARTRE-FAURIAT, A. — Des Tombeaux et des Morts. in the various rooms. Conclusions are still drawn mainly from Institut français d’Archéologie, Beyrouth, 2001. (28 cm, the typology and the (lack of) typological links with other Vol. I: VI, 291, Vol. II: VI, 299). ISBN 2-912738-08-3. areas: a ‘relativ autarken, Subsistenzwirtschaft betreibenden Gesellschaft’. Drawings of the different pottery groups and It will be interesting to see what contemporary style types would have been useful here. reviewers will make of this book. Surely it must be recog- In the paragraph on personal items, such as clothing and nised universally as a very good example of a very good type jewelry I miss one of the more common finds on most exca- of book. An archaeological work in the traditional meaning vations: the loom weight, which is the clearest evidence of of the term “archaeology”, the study of the past as it is weaving activities. Whether this means that they have not revealed by material remains (i.e. not the exemplification of been found is not clear. In the next chapter, on handicrafts, current social theory by reference to past circumstances). weaving is also missing. Here the possibility of specializa- Annie Sartre’s work is Vol 138 in the Archaeological and tion is touched upon, although the consequences of craft spe- Historical series of the French Institute of Near East Archae- cialization for inter-village interaction still deserve more ology (now established equally in Beirut, Damascus and attention than they get here. Amman). It deals with the sepulchral manifestations of the Zwingenberger moves from the material to the ideological idiosyncratic culture of the Hauran (the basalt country of sphere when she analyzes the religious remains in the settle- South Syria) during later antiquity, i.e. the 1st century BC to ments. Most of the remains that can or might be interpreted the Moslem conquest. The title “Tombs and the Dead” as religious, such as figurines, possible cult stands and clearly indicates the line of approach via (Vol I), an exhaus- painted pottery, point to a house cult that is difficult to define, tive catalogue of funerary monuments (graves, sarcophagi, and to a continuation from the Late Bronze Age. The ques- effigies) with (Vol II) a detailed systematic analysis of this tion of Shilo remains open as there is no definitive evidence material (geographical, typological, tumuli, underground and for a cult site. surface remains, general character). This treatment of the Burial customs are a continuation from the Late Bronze remains is then followed by an analytical assessment of cul- Age traditions. ture and society in the region as centred on the “structuring” Finally an effort is made to put the interaction between the rôle of the dead and the burial of the dead. The analysis is settlements into a methodical framework by analyzing the set- based on epigraphy, as illustrating the nature and social con- tlement patterns within the five and ten kilometer range. The dition of the dead, the legal status of tombs, the proprietory results of this are a bit disappointing. The conclusion that the rights inhering in them; and the findings are presented with northern group of sites lived in a more densely settled envi- reference to the religious beliefs and rites in society. The ronment than the southern group, and that this necessitated overall conclusion is articulated with historical acumen more cooperation is something of an open door. Catchment around the abiding issue of the Hellenisation of a society with areas are determined by numerous factors, such as fertility of its own more ancient (eastern) culture — a process con- the land, geography and geology, even climate. Zwingen- strained to operate by way of a class division. Every neces- berger fails to integrate these factors in her analysis. Inter- sary adjunct to the text: photographs, drawings, plans, ana- national trade is touched upon, but no conclusions drawn. lytical tables, indexes, detailed notes, bibliography is Zwingenberger’s conclusions are not sensational. She con- provided fittingly. Additionally there are useful précis in Eng- cludes that the villagers had a pragmatic lifestyle, and ‘dur- lish, German and Arabic. chaus nicht unintelligent oder unkreativ waren’. They lived Having given some overall idea of the content of Annie in egalitarian villages consisting of several extended families. Sartre’s assessment of the society and culture of Graeco- Finally she does not escape the classical debate concerning Roman Hauran as recorded by the material remains of funer- the origins of Israel. She finds herself siding with Finkelstein, ary practice, there now follows the severe task of giving in but with reservations, concluding, like most of us do these brief compass an assessment of this assessment. In justice to days, that the origins of Israel may be too complex and the circumstantiality of her treatment some comment must be diverse to ‘fit’ into one single school or theory. offered on the individual components before expressing opin- In general this book breathes ‘deutsche Grundlichkeit”. ions on its overall merits. Most aspects of daily village life are treated in a thorough The author’s general introduction is valuable and very manner. They may not lead to revolutionary new insights, but raisonné. It characterises the geographical region and its his- then we should not expect them too. To a large extent they tory with great insight, and outlines the progress of report and 639 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ARCHEOLOGIE 640 investigation in both ancient and modern times. Also she is eventually dynamited, but no trace of funerary arrangements able very well to illuminate the motivations and intentions of was ever revealed. Odeinath was probably a phylarch prior her own treatment. To skip this is a loss. She clearly speci- to Roman rule, and clearly a philhellene. Date, beginning of fies the questions to which she addressed herself — or rather Christian era. addressed the data amassed in the field and in the library. As opposed to instances like the foregoing, there are occa- “Who were the dead and who built the tombs” she asks first; sions where tombs exist which have not been previously and then “what have they to say about life in this land”, investigated. At Bosra Annie Sartre records 10 tombs hith- which was somehow a hortus clausus, very near to the cen- erto unpublished (pp. 19-52). They are for the most part tre of things and close by a beaten track (as it still is). In turn hypogaea constructed in fine monumental masonry; but there this life must be seen in the light of its differences from and are two or three of different types (tower, free standing, sar- ressemblances to life in parts near at hand (e.g. Palestine) and cophagi). All are provincial Roman in date, ca 2nd-3rd cen- further off (e.g. Anatolia) sharing a common basis of a strong tury AD. Annie Sartre gives an exemplary résumé publica- indigenous culture subject to Hellenisation and then Roman tion of these monuments with first class photographs and rule. This is not a trifling theme. succinct text organised according to her standard pro-forma. The corner-stone of the work is the catalogue of the Finally some instances should be adduced of her “third Tombs. Site by Site (Vol I pp 11-214), which comprises 118 division”: her notices of tombs in the Hauran of which no tombs located about 54 villages. This is organised according trace survives and which were never published, indeed on to a standard pro-forma: type; location: dimensions; mater- occasion never recorded — her detective work, shall we say. ial; mode of sepulture; epigraphy; state of preservation — A neat example is at Sanamein, the site of the well known then comment and date. The following main types emerge temple (pp. 149-50). she mentions two vanished tombs, nei- from the catalogue: tower tombs (square and round); Mau- ther are published and lacking any surviving account. soleum (with or without upper storey); columbarium; tumu- The first tomb is testified to only by a long inscription not lus; sarcophagus; hypogaeum (built or rock-cut); “fosse” found in situ (IGLS XIV, 564) which speaks of a columbar- (earth grave). The best way to indicate its scope is to take ium style of tomb built in 354 AD. The second tomb is tes- several tombs and see what Annie Sartre has to say about tified to by an unpublished drawing in the Bankes’ archives them. (fig. 202), which shows a tower tomb of some architectural Probably the best known funerary monument in South development featuring a fragmentary, illegible inscription, Syria is the monument for Hamrath, wife of Odeinath, at and is stated to be located in a field some distance from Suweida — remarked on by virtually every traveller in the Sanamein. Appearances suggest this tomb to be also of the region, and de Vogüé’s elegant drawing of it has been repro- columbarium type, specified for Tomb I. duced on several occasions. Alternative circumstances are the following. At Khisfin in Annie Sartre (pp 196-98) give the exact location of the the Jawlan (now territory occupied by Israel) a cemetery of tomb and notes the funerary context: numbers of towers on rock cut tombs to the south of the village were excavated in the ridges South West of the citadel and also to the East of 1944 by the Syrian Department of Antiquities. There was no Suweida, e.g. along the road to Qanawat (which are said to publication of this work and no records of it remain. How- have yielded lamps and bracelets). She also mentioned the ever many of the objects were accessioned by the Damascus recent discovery of tumulus tombs, as yet uninvestigated. In Museum and are now referred to in Abdul Hak’s Catalogue addition to the inscription on the monument there are many of the Museum (1951). The objects date the cemetery to other funerary inscriptions (on lintels) from the region (with- provincial Roman times. Annie Sartre records this material out context) recorded in I.G.L.S. (ca 60 lots), which includes much precious metal, ivory and Annie Sartre prefixes her description of the monument glass — giving Abdul Hak’s Catalogue numbers and the with a detailed bibliography which includes: Seetzen; Museum inventory numbers (Table pp. 84-89). Burkhardt; Buckingham; Comte de Laborde; Robinson; Next follows a typed catalogue of sarcophagi — a Lord Lindsay; Monk; Porter; Rey; Graham; de Vogüé; Mer- favoured mode of sepulture in the region (pp. 217-40). All ril; Butler; Brunnow & Domascewski; Mascle; Dentzer- are basalt and the decoration clearly from local workshops, Feydy. Also she mentions an unpublished drawing by Banks. even where the subjects are classical. (There is an exception, She typifies the monument as a solid block of masonry (i.e. a lid from a marble Attic style sarcophagus). Annie Sartre not containing a chamber) with (stepped) pyramidal roof. It categorises them into 13 types according to the decoration is of square plan on a side of ca 10 m and allowing 5.10 m and representations they bear; e.g. mythical scenes; medail- for the pyramid the total heigth was ca 10.50 m. It was built lions with victories; funerary banquets; lions; nephesh; gar- of finely dressed basalt blocks. Nothing is known of the mode lands; crowns; vases; geometrical or architectural devices; of any associated burial (but presumably in a fosse beneath Christian symbols and (significantly) motifs left in draught the monument). A bilingual Greek and Nabataean inscription form. on the north face of the monument records its construction Finally there is a typed catalogue of funerary figural sculp- by Odeinath for his wife Hamrath. No vestige of the monu- ture (pp. 243-91). All items with one exception are of local ment now remains and it is illustrated by Brunnow & Doma- workmanship in basalt and none have been found in situ. scewski’s photographs (at the end of the 19th century and by Annie Sartre considers them firstly according to vehicle: de Vogüé’s well known drawing (at the middle of the cen- relief busts on stelai; relief busts on lintels or other blocks; tury). The monument bears engaged architectural ornament full figure in relief on stelai; busts in the round; full figure of the Doric order (described in detail). Earlier travellers saw in the round — and subdivides the categories according to two courses of retreating masonry above the cornice demon- whether or not they also bear inscriptions; the attitudes of the strating the stepped pyramid roofing (v. fig. 272). The mon- free standing figures, etc. The photographic illustrations are ument was damaged incessantly by tomb robbers and was excellent and the author much at home with this material. 641 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LIX N° 5-6, september-december 2002 642

Volume II contains the synthesis which Annie Sartre centenerians — and also a few very, very old people e.g. of develops from the material catalogued in Vol I. Chap I dis- 105, 110 years. Obviously direct information concerning the cusses the tomb sites according to the following scheme: economy of the Hauran is given by the occupations of the cemeteries in the plain; cemeteries in the mountains; solitary dead. tombs; tombs located by inscriptions — all categories sub- The following occupations are mentioned: soldiers (both divided to good purpose. Chap II deals with the tomb as it active and exservicemen); civic officials; men of religion; figures in epigraphy. Very informative is comparitive con- landed proprietors; artisans; odds and ends. The presence of sideration of the 16 nouns used for “tomb” and their relative Roman army detachments (notably the III Cyrenaica) was a occurrence — e.g. mn±ra (71 times), túmbos (16), tafov very important economic consideration of the region — also (13), s±ma (13), etc., but n.b. naóv (2), stßlj (2)! Equally they recruited locally and recruits maintained ties with their so the different verbs used in this connection; for what was village of origin. Tribal leaders became local government engraved was always meaningful and useful. In fact the Hau- officials and thus sedentarised and hellenised. There is not ran matches Palmyra in the amount of significant informa- much account of religious figures, neither pagan nor Christ- tion conveyed by funerary inscriptions (and exceeds other ian. The record of landed proprietors (often evidenced by for- regions, e.g. North Syria, Phoenecia, Palestine, Transjordan). mulae describing the source of funds for tomb building) is Moreover the Greek expression is not shaky. In Chap III we very interesting in its economic ramifications — particularly return to the basic matter of the typology of funerary monu- as manifested in the differing economy of the plain and the ments. This is worked out with penetration in great detail, Jebel. Trades and professions are not commonly mentioned and it is impossible here in short compass to discuss it and funerary inscriptions are not accompanied by represen- worthily. Only we should not omit to note that the typology tations of tools of trade etc. which is such a common prac- is worked out on a comparitive basis and therefore is very tice elsewhere in the Roman world. Reference to professions useful indeed for the study of cemeteries and tombs anywhere and trades are mainly those connected with building: archi- in the Middle East. Chapter IV resumes the architectural tects, plasterers, carpenters, masons, mosaic workers. There aspects of the monuments (i.e. the funerary architecture of are also some odds and ends as teachers, men of law, busi- the Hauran), both design and construction. Again this is too ness agent, entertainer. broad a field to discuss here — but it is typical of the author’s In Chap III Annie Sartre deals with property rights inher- capacity to seize onto a question of general significance, that ing in tombs, a subject of such general significance as to war- she includes a very interesting examination of the geograph- rant a monograph (cf. F. de Visscher Le Droit des Tombeaux ical and chronological distribution of the alternative types, Romains Milan 1963). Thus her remarks should be useful the loculus tomb and the arcosolium tomb. generally. Her sub-headings are: owners and beneficiaries in With this Annie Sartre passes onto her own personal mon- the case of single builders, builders in common, honorific ument: the vision of culture and society in the Hauran tombs, monastic tombs; legal provisions governing owner- afforded by her diligent study of funerary remains and prac- ship in common, rights to particular plots, transfer of rights, tices. This is directly evolved out of the epigraphical evidence rights of women, protective measures. Finally the price of (some 2,500 inscriptions) available; and here she is obviously tombs is considered as an economic index. on her home ground. Part the Second Chap I discusses the Chap IV, Funerary dispositions as witnesses to culture, vehicles of the funerary inscriptions for the information they harvests “the seeds of wisdom”. There are two immediate afford in the social and historical-geographical instances. The funerary witnesses to culture: literature and art, more nar- following classes can be specified: stelai; masonry blocks rowly: poetry and portraiture. (n.b. lintels of tombs); tomb doors; funerary altars: sar- One very direct indication of living culture given by the cophagi. The distribution of inscriptions between these vehi- records of the dead is the verse epitaph — and it may be sur- cles and its development is analysed very finely (II pp. 137- prising to learn that the proportion of these in the Hauran is 38). And this analysis gives profitably on to many questions: very high (much higher than in the neighbouring areas). Also local inhabitants and foreigners; hellenised and non-hel- even in prose epitaphs, poetry tags are quoted and echoed to lenised; Greek and Semitic expression; nomad and seden- extol the defunct. This readiness of allusion demonstrated tary; mortal remains and spiritual presence; individual buri- clearly the high degree of classical literacy that prevailed in als and family tombs; inhumation and cremation; Nabataean the region. Indeed the frequency with which some lines in and non-Nabataean areas; pre- and post-Roman control; the Greek Anthology are represented has suggested that they Pagan and Christian etc. Special mention must be made of originated in the region. Equally when portrait sculpture the nephesh stelai (more than 2,000 are known). They are a appears on stelai and lintels, clothing and hairstyles are recog- very distinctive and significant feature of the region, and of nisably Roman. Also the stone sarcophagi are of Graeco- great archaeological importance. Roman origin. Yet withal there is no mistaking an underly- With Chap II Annie Sartre opens her re-animation of the ing indigenous formation everywhere. Hauran in Graeco-Roman times. Very properly the first ques- Having spoken of funerary testimony to the culture of the tion is “Who were the dead (recorded in ca 2000 inscriptions) region there remains the testimony to its religious beliefs and as indicated by their names, sex, age, manner of death, date practices, which is given in Chap V under the heading of of death, profession, place of origin; also by the (good) qual- “Conception of the Hereafter”. This is noticeably less than ities ascibed to them and the endearments accorded them by that afforded for culture. Definitive religous symbols are not their relatives and friends. This questionnaire sounds both in common — there is principally the Christian cross (but a the demography and in the social-economy of the region. The complete absence of the Menorah). Also occasional repre- demographic picture is akin to that of comparable Roman sentation of pagan symbols connected with religion; e.g. provinces; but in the Hauran there is exceptional record of a stylised palms, vines, the flowing vase, crowns, lion head, number of very old people, i.e. approaching a century and etc. Also there are some textual references to deities e.g. 643 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ARCHEOLOGIE 644

Ares, Zeus Ammon (for III Cyrenaica personnel), Apollo- areas. The book will thus be very useful to field archaeolo- Helios. As for personal attitudes to death and the hereafter gists preparing reports on tomb excavations over a wide area the inscriptions (here often metric) run through the common of the Middle East. Also the Hauran is a defined region of gamut of hope, despair, don’t care, take care, etc. Finally very marked character. If Lawrence characterised Syria as there is an account of what can be made out of rites of despo- “The Garden of the Enchantress”, this region is a private sition: libations, coffined, uncoffined, how clad, accompa- reserve within the garden. Its hellenisation and its social and nied by what offerings. cultural development under Roman rule have their measure All the foregoing is summarised tellingly in a brief gen- and a good measure as threads in the fine historical tapestry eral conclusion. of the Hellenised Orient. In this fashion the book will be read It is common in reviews, when much approbation has been with profit by many in addition to field archaeologists. accorded, to save up the broadsides for the end. In this instance there are no broadsides. In my opinion Annie Sartre is always Avignon – Subiaco, G.R.H. WRIGHT speaking to some point which she makes very clearly. This is December 2001 obvious, but it is not so obvious that such results from insight and vision to recognise the points at issue in the data. This is ** the office of the conductor who can hear the music before it * is played, and because of this it is played well. Here there is a strange omission in this carefully planned YULE, P. — Die Gräberfelder in Samad al Shan (Sultanat book which is difficult to account for. It noticeably lacks as Oman). 2 Bände. (Orient-Archäologie Band 4). Verlag a frontispiece Marie Leidorf, Rahden/Westf., 2001. (30 cm, Text Band: a) a map of the Middle East boxing the position of the Hau- XXII, 514, Tafel Band: 8, 611 Tafeln). ISBN 3-89646- ran (b), and indicating the various places referred to in the 634-8; ISSN 1434-162X. comparative discussion. b) a large scale topographical map of the Hauran region In a massive, two volume work Paul Yule presents the showing physical feature, the sites referred to and as far results of many years of fieldwork and study devoted to late as possible, contemporary paths of communication. pre-Islamic and early Islamic Oman. The precise definition of the book’s chronological parameters is problematic, how- A further comment is made not by way of criticism but as ever. On the one hand, it is said (p. 1) to be the so-called a suggestion. One concern runs through Annie Sartre’s book Samad period and culture in central Oman, which the author like a basso continuo — it is the theme of hellenisation and dates roughly to between 300 B.C. and 1000 A.D. (Tab. 1.1). the modifications to the indigenous culture of the region On the other hand, as the title of the work indicates, the study effected by it. These modifications are precised accompanied is devoted to the cemeteries of Samad al Shan, and this has with comparative evidence. However the indigenous culture led the author to include graves of the 2nd and early 1st mil- of the Hauran is nowhere sketched in outline as a backdrop lennia B.C. which clearly pre-date the Samad period and do to the theme of the book. And this is certainly not because it not necessarily have anything to contribute to its under- is well known or fully treated elsewhere. In fact the situation standing, even if the author suggests otherwise. is quite the contrary. There is very little evidence available Introductory sections devoted to chronology and the his- concerning the indigenous culture of South Syria in the tory of archaeological research in the region immediately period prior to this study. Annie Sartre is aware of this fact alert the reader familiar with this area to some obvious bib- as it related to her concern with tombs. However the phe- liographical omissions. The reason, however, is not hard to nomenon is general. South Syria appears to record itself only find, for the 2001 publication date of this work is deceptive. from the time Rome makes its presence felt in the region. Originally presented in early 1994 as the author’s Habilita- This results in strange anomalies. Perhaps the most extensive tionsschrift at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität in Heidelberg, surviving remains of the Persian temple (i.e. the square box the work by and large refers, with very few exceptions, to within a box plan) are from the region. However although the few works published after 1993, the main exceptions being region was part of the Achaemenid Empire for two hundred the author’s own publications (some in collaboration with G. years, the temples all date from the beginning of Roman Weisgerber), dating to 1996, 1998 and 1999. A brief ‘Nach- hegemony in the area, 300 years later. Annie Sartre has wort’ (pp. 219-220) lists several publications, theses and field shown in the present book a very expert and sympathetic investigations which post-date the completed Habilitation, but knowledge of Hellenised South Syria. What a benefit it by no means all of the relevant literature which has exploded would be if she extended her researched and published a gen- in quantity during the past decade, much of it published in eral work on “South Syria before Hellenisation” — describ- Arabian Archaeology & Epigraphy and the Proceedings of ing the indegenous culture of the region with its sources and the Seminar for Arabian Studies, is cited, nor are a number affinities. of relevant monographs (e.g. on pre-Islamic coinage, glass But to return to Des Tombeaux et des Morts. from ed-Dur, excavations at Al Sufouh, surveys on the Abu This book drawns together all the information available Dhabi islands, etc). This makes the present work, while obvi- concerning sepulchral remains and practices in the Hauran ously a basic text for the primary publication of the Samad — manifesting control in dealing with “environment”, his- graves, far less useful than it might have been. tory, epigraphy; as with building forms, art forms, small finds Ch. 4, ‘Grabarchitektur’, introduces the main object of the and dirt archaeology. The sepulchral remains and questions study, 227 graves of the Wadi Suq, Lizq/Rumaylah (Iron Age) relating to them are of significant interest in themselves and Samad periods, to use the author’s preferred terms. These extending beyond themselves to provide important compar- are presented in all their typological detail, and a large num- ative evidence for the study of sepulchral remains in cognate ber of formal variants, denominated by geographically-based 645 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LIX N° 5-6, september-december 2002 646 names (e.g. ‘Grabtyp Nizwá’, ‘Grabtyp Juffa’) are identified. book. A catalogue of the graves excavated in eleven ceme- This typology, however, is also problematic, or at least the teries (Maysar 8 and 27; Samad 10, 20, 21 North, 21 South, inclusion of certain types in this work is, for here the author 22, 23, 26, 28 and 30) with a description of their architec- once again seems unable to decide just what it is he wants to ture, human remains, and complete list of finds (pp. 224-362) write about, including, e.g. graves from Dhofar — far to the provides the basic documentation on which the book is actu- south of his real study area — and ed-Dur — far to the west ally based. To this is added a chapter summarizing burial and — which, while perfectly legitimate types in a formal sense, settlement information from a wide range of sites outside of seem out of place in a typology of the graves found in the the Samad study area, ranging geographically from the coast cemeteries of the Samad region of central Oman. of the U.A.E. to the southern province of Dhofar (pp. 363- The same inability to excise material that is termporally 408). It is not quite clear what has been included and what and regionally irrelevant affects Ch. 5, ‘Die Funde’. Helpful omitted in this section. For example, although Tell Abraq, a though it is, one must ask why, for example, metal types of site with both Wadi Suq and Iron Age occupation, is men- the pre-Wadi Suq, Hafit and Umm an-Nar periods, are tioned elsewhere in the book, it is omitted from this chapter. included in what is a wonderfully complete typology of cop- Similarly, only the Iron Age material from Hili 8 is included per-bronze tool and weapon types from the entire Oman (p. 379), but none of its Wadi Suq material, which is surely peninsula (pp. 48-58), when the ceramic section of the same just as relevant, given the author’s decision to commence his chapter ignores Hafit and Umm an-Nar types and commences study with the Wadi Suq-period graves of the Samad region? with the Wadi Suq period (p. 59)? Similarly, why in the cat- The second volume of this work will undoubtedly be of egory ‘Gewichte’ (p. 79), if a comprehensive typology is the greater interest to most readers than the first, for in it is con- aim, have the Harappan weights from Shimal and Tell Abraq tained the complete graphic documentation on all of the been omitted, and why is the late 3rd millennium comb from Samad graves dealt with in Vol. 1, as well as some of the Tell Abraq not included under ‘Kämme’ (p. 80)? These are supplementary material (e.g. from Suhar, Rustaq and else- as ‘relevant’ (or irrelevant as the case may be), as Hafit and where) mentioned above. The plans and artifact drawings are Umm an-Nar axe and dagger types and one should either be of a uniformly high standard. Very few photographs are consistent in including everything, or very strict in excluding included and these have usually not reproduced as well. The all find categories not represented in the Samad cemeteries. catalogue in Vol. 1, in which the contents of these graves are One can understand why the author had to work through all verbally described, does not include citations of parallels with of the various types of aceramic Neolithic, Hafit and Umm material from other sites, however. For this one must look to an-Nar-period beads (pp. 92-102), for example, in order to the earlier sections on discrete artifact categories where a par- be able to identify heirlooms in later graves, but surely the ticular type, once defined, will be cross-referenced to the same logic must then be applied to all categories of finds, or, graves in which it occurs. This makes for a considerable where an heirloom can be identified, an explanation could be amount of going backwards and forwards for the reader. The given as to why it is so dated. Finally, the author’s decision fact that the artifact drawings are in one volume, and the type to list the various ‘Fundgattungen’ alphabetically has resulted series in another, helps alleviate the burden placed on the in the physical separation within the chapter of e.g. arrow- reader, but a real problem arises in that the lists of artifacts heads (Pfeilspitzen, pp. 102-109) from axes (Äxte, p. 48), contained in each grave (i.e. listed in each grave catalogue daggers (Dolche, pp. 53-57) or lance and spearheads (Lanzen- entry) do not contain references to the types defined in Ch. und Speerspitzen, pp. 80-83). Most scholars would, I pre- 5 (‘Die Funde’). Furthermore, even when one can refer an sume, have found it easier to have finds grouped by mater- actual artifact illustrated in Vol. 2 — e.g. the soft-stone ves- ial, thus keeping all metal, stone, glass, ceramic artifact cat- sel lid from grave S2117 (Taf. 261.4) — to a specific type egories intact for ease of reference. defined in the typology section — in this case Abb. 5.20.2, In spite of the author’s stated aim of investigating the it transpires that the numbered examples in the relevant fig- Samad culture, Ch. 6, ‘Verbreitung und Chronologie’, begins ure — 17 in all — do not correspond to the 7 types of soft- with a detailed investigation of the Wadi Suq and Lizq/Rumay- stone lids defined verbally on p. 138. This is more than lah material (pp. 142-144). This section contains a very mildly confusing. I suspect that scholars will not, therefore, important analysis of the available radiocarbon dates, but the adopt the type identifiers (e.g. B03, MeP2, etc.), but will sim- dates from the Samad graves are problematic. Tab. 6.8 ply use the typological section for its references to compara- reports the dates calibrated to only 1-sigma, which means the nda (up to 1993) and will mainly exploit the illustrations in ‘true’ date has only a 68% chance of falling within the stated Vol. 2 when working on their own material. date range. Citing a 2-sigma calibration, which has a 95% In the end, it is surprising that the author himself has not chance of covering the real date of a C14 determination, better exploited the dated graves and their assemblages to would have been far better. In either case, the reality is that address the problem of the internal chronology of the Samad many of the dates from the Samad graves have such a large period. Even accepting the validity of a period which extends standard deviation that they are of little use anyway. A date from 300 B.C. to 1000 A.D. — a timespan which obviously such as KN-4401, from grave S2006, of 247 ± 434 could be extends from the Hellenistic period through the almost anywhere in the entire Samad period. Many of the Parthian/Roman, Sasanian/Byzantine, early Islamic and early dates have standard deviations over 150 years, and when the Medieval periods in the terminology of some of the neigh- 2-sigma calibration is applied, these dates cover such a wide bouring regions — it is difficult to believe that the material span that they become almost meaningless. culture of central Oman remained unchanged for some 1300 Chapters on grave goods associated with male and female years. It would have been quite interesting, for example, burials (Ch. 7, pp. 165-170) and the historical geography, eth- using the 25 graves listed in Tab. 6.8 from which C14 dates nicity and socio-economic character of the region (Ch. 8, pp. are available — and which the author has himself organized 171-202) constitute the main interpretive sections of the in a list from latest to earliest — to set out the datable graves 647 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ISLAMICA 648 and examine just how much variation in grave form and con- tents can be seen across the entire Samad period. Other schol- ars may, in principle, simply reject the notion that such a long period of cultural homogeneity could exist, particularly in view of the far shorter periods of distinctive material culture traditions in the region (e.g. the Hafit period lasted c. 500 years [c. 3000-2500 B.C.]; the Umm an-Nar period c. 500 years [c. 2500-2000 B.C.]; and the Wadi Suq period c. 700 years [c. 2000-1300 B.C.]). But having said that, even if we accept the definition of the Samad period as presented here, the lack of any internal divisions seems far-fetched. Cultural continuity between the pre-Islamic and Islamic era may have been strong, but a complete absence of change in material culture over a period of 1300 years, even without the Islamization of Oman, is scarcely credible. These remarks notwithstanding, the author has made a fun- damental contribution to Arabian archaeology with this work, and provided a wealth of data for which all students and schol- ars concerned with the region will be eternally grateful. Much of the criticism voiced above pertains to what are, in many respects, trivial matters which could have been avoided through advice and editing. Some of it stems from the thesis- like nature of the work; some from the author’s desire to include elements of his work which were not strictly pertinent to the stated aims of the thesis; and indeed, some of it stems from the very definition of exactly what the Habilitation was meant to focus on. Much of what I have suggested is irrele- vant in the present context is perfectly worthy of publication on its own. Be that as it may, one can only admire the huge investment of time; the high quality of the publication; and the lasting contribution of Paul Yule’s studies on Oman. His work is bound to stimulate others to follow in his footsteps, and no scholar should be dissatisfied if he has achieved that.

University of Sydney, Mai 2002 D.T. POTTS