DOCSLIB.ORG

Neolithic Lifeways

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Neolithic Lifeways 14 Neolithic Lifeways Microstratigraphic Traces within Houses, Animal Pens and Settlements WENDY MATTHEWS, LISA-MARIE SHILLITO, SARAH ELLIOTT, IAN D. BULL AND JAMES WILLIAMS Introduction RECENT RESEARCH ON EARLY FARMING GLOBALLY has identified considerable local variation in community lifeways and relations with plants and animals (Barker 2006). For the Near East, Willcox (2005) argues that there were multiple local centres of domestication within the heartland of wild progenitor species of wheat, barley, sheep and goats. There is also, however, evidence for remarkable contact between communities across this region (Kozlowski and Aurenche 2005). Asouti and Fuller (2013) have recently argued that to understand these local variations and pathways in early farming we need to develop more contextual approaches that consider a wide range of evidence of different spheres of life and to integrate interdisciplinary analyses and ecological and social approaches. One of the challenges in integrating different data sets is that during routine excavation and bulk sampling, aspects of the diversity, context and association of bioarchaeological, artefactual and sediment residues from activities are irreversibly lost, bulked together or separated. In this process, finely stratified lenses, too thin and numerous to excavate separately, may be bulked together and the specific actions and timescales that they represent are irreversibly amalgamated and homogenised. Even when excavated and sampled as single depositional units, only selected materials are recovered in many analyses during processes of excavation, dry or wet sieving, flotation and extractions from spot or bulk samples of deposits. Each material is also often and necessarily studied separately. In addition, crucial information may also frequently be lost on the environment and history of deposi- tion and post-depositional alterations that are discernible from geoarchaeological analysis of sedimentary context. This loss of information in composition and of contextual relations has a direct impact on methodological and research issues in the study of early farming. Many Proceedings of the British Academy 198, 251–79. © The British Academy 2014. 252 Wendy Matthews et al. studies of early plant management and domestication are based principally on the study of charred plant remains recovered from bulk sampling and water-flotation and wet- or dry-sieving. Charred plant remains, however, only represent plants that have been burnt, and generally only those that have been burnt at low temperatures <500°C, which are exceeded in many domestic or other fires (Boardman and Jones 1990, Van der Veen 2007, W. Matthews 2010). To widen the range of plant materials analysed, other plant materials in archaeological deposits are increasingly being recovered, even in these semi-arid environments. Pollen has been recovered from on-site Epi-Palaeolithic-Neolithic deposits in the Zagros (Leroi-Gourhan 1969) and could be more widely studied. Plant silica phytoliths are increasingly being recovered by extraction from spot samples of deposits to provide information on non-burnt as well as burnt plant remains (Rosen 2005, Ryan 2011). Interpretation of the ecological and social significance of these separate plant materials, however, is not straightforward. First, these plant remains specimens are often disarticulated during extraction, making identification of plant anatomy, species and original configuration when deposited problematic, particularly in the study of phytoliths (Shillito 2013). Secondly, dissociation of these plant remains from their precise depositional context and associations makes it more difficult to interpret their diverse depositional and taphonomic pathways and thereby their ecological and social significance (Van der Veen 2007). The earliest stages in animal management, furthermore, may be problematic to detect in zooarchaeological assemblages as changes in bone morphology indicative of domestication may be delayed by 500–1,000 years, and studies of kill-off profiles are dependent on identification of indicators of sex and age, which are influenced by a range of factors including environment (Zeder 2005). New indications of environment, vegetation, animal diet and management practices are being provided by analysis of a range of stable isotopes in animal and human bone more widely (this volume). These analyses, however, do not provide information on specific plant species, critical to in-depth study of ecological niches and wild and domestic resources, and often represent bulk seasonal or indeterminate longer-term time fluxes. The presence of dung on archaeological sites is one potential independent marker of greater human proximity to animals and early management, as traces of dung collected for fuel or from penning, for example (W. Matthews 2005a, 2010; Bull et al. 2005; Shahack-Gross 2011; Portillo et al. 2009; Shillito et al. 2011). Studies of dung and plant and microfossil content provide indicators of wider environment and vegetation (Ghosh et al. 2008) as well as animal diet and management practices at timescales of one to two days (Shahack-Gross 2011). These integrated studies are particularly important in the investigation of interrelations between environ- ment, early plant and animal management and sedentism. In addition, dung burnt as fuel is one major routeway for the presence of charred plant remains on archaeological sites, but remains difficult to identify (Charles 1998, Valamoti 2013). Charred dung pellets may be recovered by flotation, but many are difficult to identify NEOLITHIC LIFEWAYS 253 due to fragmentation either in antiquity during trampling in pens or dung-cake manufacture, for example, or during recovery in flotation. It is currently uncertain whether an increase in the diversity of charred plant species in the Epi-Palaeolithic to Early Neolithic sites represents a ‘broad spectrum revolution’ in human diet or plants consumed by animals and burnt as dung fuel (Miller 1996, Jones 1998). This chapter briefly reviews ways in which integrated approaches that include micro-contextual analysis of materials in situ within their microstratigraphic sequence in large resin-impregnated thin-sections may contribute to more precise data on the diversity and contextual significance of materials in early farming sites. It also examines ways in which micromorphological approaches can be linked to geochemical and phytolith analyses. The aim of this research is to develop integrated high-resolution micro- contextual approaches and to apply these first to evaluate how in situ analysis of diverse plant materials within their precise depositional context can contribute to understanding plant taphonomy and thereby their ecological and social significance. A second aim is to study dung as an indicator of animal management, especially in its earliest stages. The third aim is to examine the interrelationship between changes in plant and animal management and changes in activities, roles and relations at the scale of individuals/households and communities. This chapter begins with a review of the case studies and methodology. It then examines climate and environment as a key context for local and regional variation in early farming and sedentism, and then considers micro-contextual data on plant taphonomy and use; dung as an indicator of early management; and the nature and organisation of Neolithic activities, roles and relations. Case studies The case studies are selected from one of the key heartlands of early plant and animal management, in the central Zagros in the east of the Fertile Crescent. Selective comparison is made to Neolithic sites in central Anatolia, over 1,000km to the west where similar analyses have been conducted, in order briefly to examine local and regional variation in early farming strategies and lifeways. In the Zagros, many key interdisciplinary approaches and theories in the study of early farming were forged during field work in the 1950s–60s (Braidwood et al. 1961, Flannery 1969, Hole et al. 1969). Although subsequent research has identified earlier Neolithic sites and domesticated species in Cyprus, Anatolia and the Levant (Vigne et al. 2012), new research in the Zagros is re-emphasising the importance of this region in studies of local, regional and global options and pathways in the development of agriculture and more sedentary lifeways and early stages in this (Charles 2008, Zeder 2009, Riehl et al. 2013). A wide range of early Holocene sites have been identified by new surveys and excavations in the Iranian and Iraqi Zagros 254 Wendy Matthews et al. (R. Matthews and Fazeli-Nasheli 2013). In addition, recent analysis of modern DNA suggests that the Zagros may have been one area where barley and goat were domesticated (Morell and Clegg 2007, Naderi et al. 2008). This chapter examines results from new excavations and interdisciplinary research by the Central Zagros Archaeological Project to investigate local variation in ecology and lifeways at sites on a transect through different ecozones from the high to low Zagros mountains spanning 290km (Figure 14.1; R. Matthews et al. 2013). The two principal sites examined in this chapter are Sheikh-e Abad (9800–7600 cal BC) and Jani (c. 8000 cal BC) 90km apart in the high Zagros in Iran. Both are settlement mounds, c. 1 hectare in size, characteristic of many Neolithic sites (Baird 2005), and 10 and 8m high respectively. These sites were excavated, recorded and sampled in 2008 (R. Matthews et al. 2013). At Sheikh-e Abad, three
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Download The
    TOKENS Culture, Connections, Communities EDITED BY ANTONINO CRISÀ, MAIRI GKIKAKI and CLARE ROWAN ROYAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 57 LONDON 2019 © The authors Royal Numismatic Society Special Publication No. 57 ISBN 0 901405 35 3 All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopy- ing, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the authors. Typeset by New Leaf Design, Malton, Yorkshire Printed in Malta by Gutenberg Press Ltd, Tarxien, Malta CONTENTS 1 Introduction by ANTONINO CRISÀ, MAIRI GKIKAKI & CLARE ROWAN 1 2 The invention of tokens by DENISE SCHMANDT-BESSERAT 11 3 Some notes on Athenian bronze tokens and bronze coinage in the fifth and fourth centuries BC by KENNETH A. SHEEDY 19 4 Tokens inside and outside excavation contexts: seeking the origin. Examples of clay tokens from the collections of the Athens Numismatic Museum by STAMATOULA MAKRYPODI 27 5 The armour tokens from the Athenian Agora by MARTIN SCHÄFER 41 6 A rare clay token in context: a fortunate and recorded discovery from the necropolis of Tindari (Messina, 1896) by ANTONINO CRISÀ 63 7 Roman tesserae with numerals: some thoughts on iconography and purpose by ALEXA KÜTER 79 8 Lead token moulds from Rome and Ostia by CLARE ROWAN 95 9 Tokens of Antinous from the Roman province of Egypt by DENISE WILDING 111 10 Tokens in the Athenian Agora in the third century AD: Advertising prestige and civic identity in Roman Athens
    [Show full text]
  • Tentative Lists Submitted by States Parties As of 15 April 2021, in Conformity with the Operational Guidelines
    World Heritage 44 COM WHC/21/44.COM/8A Paris, 4 June 2021 Original: English UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION CONVENTION CONCERNING THE PROTECTION OF THE WORLD CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE WORLD HERITAGE COMMITTEE Extended forty-fourth session Fuzhou (China) / Online meeting 16 – 31 July 2021 Item 8 of the Provisional Agenda: Establishment of the World Heritage List and of the List of World Heritage in Danger 8A. Tentative Lists submitted by States Parties as of 15 April 2021, in conformity with the Operational Guidelines SUMMARY This document presents the Tentative Lists of all States Parties submitted in conformity with the Operational Guidelines as of 15 April 2021. • Annex 1 presents a full list of States Parties indicating the date of the most recent Tentative List submission. • Annex 2 presents new Tentative Lists (or additions to Tentative Lists) submitted by States Parties since 16 April 2019. • Annex 3 presents a list of all sites included in the Tentative Lists of the States Parties to the Convention, in alphabetical order. Draft Decision: 44 COM 8A, see point II I. EXAMINATION OF TENTATIVE LISTS 1. The World Heritage Convention provides that each State Party to the Convention shall submit to the World Heritage Committee an inventory of the cultural and natural sites situated within its territory, which it considers suitable for inscription on the World Heritage List, and which it intends to nominate during the following five to ten years. Over the years, the Committee has repeatedly confirmed the importance of these Lists, also known as Tentative Lists, for planning purposes, comparative analyses of nominations and for facilitating the undertaking of global and thematic studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Tracking the Near Eastern Origins and European Dispersal of the Western House Mouse
    This is a repository copy of Tracking the Near Eastern origins and European dispersal of the western house mouse. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/160967/ Version: Published Version Article: Cucchi, Thomas, Papayiannis, Katerina, Cersoy, Sophie et al. (26 more authors) (2020) Tracking the Near Eastern origins and European dispersal of the western house mouse. Scientific Reports. 8276. pp. 1-12. ISSN 2045-2322 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-64939-9 Reuse This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence. This licence allows you to distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the work, even commercially, as long as you credit the authors for the original work. More information and the full terms of the licence here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN Tracking the Near Eastern origins and European dispersal of the western house mouse Thomas Cucchi1 ✉ , Katerina Papayianni1,2, Sophie Cersoy3, Laetitia Aznar-Cormano4, Antoine Zazzo1, Régis Debruyne5, Rémi Berthon1, Adrian Bălășescu6, Alan Simmons7, François Valla8, Yannis Hamilakis9, Fanis Mavridis10, Marjan Mashkour1, Jamshid Darvish11,24, Roohollah Siahsarvi11, Fereidoun Biglari12, Cameron A. Petrie13, Lloyd Weeks14, Alireza Sardari15, Sepideh Maziar16, Christiane Denys17, David Orton18, Emma Jenkins19, Melinda Zeder20, Jeremy B. Searle21, Greger Larson22, François Bonhomme23, Jean-Christophe Auffray23 & Jean-Denis Vigne1 The house mouse (Mus musculus) represents the extreme of globalization of invasive mammals.
    [Show full text]
  • Ch. 4. NEOLITHIC PERIOD in JORDAN 25 4.1
    Borsa di studio finanziata da: Ministero degli Affari Esteri di Italia Thanks all …………. I will be glad to give my theses with all my love to my father and mother, all my brothers for their helps since I came to Italy until I got this degree. I am glad because I am one of Dr. Ursula Thun Hohenstein students. I would like to thanks her to her help and support during my research. I would like to thanks Dr.. Maysoon AlNahar and the Museum of the University of Jordan stuff for their help during my work in Jordan. I would like to thank all of Prof. Perreto Carlo and Prof. Benedetto Sala, Dr. Arzarello Marta and all my professors in the University of Ferrara for their support and help during my Phd Research. During my study in Italy I met a lot of friends and specially my colleges in the University of Ferrara. I would like to thanks all for their help and support during these years. Finally I would like to thanks the Minister of Fournier of Italy, Embassy of Italy in Jordan and the University of Ferrara institute for higher studies (IUSS) to fund my PhD research. CONTENTS Ch. 1. INTRODUCTION 1 Ch. 2. AIMS OF THE RESEARCH 3 Ch. 3. NEOLITHIC PERIOD IN NEAR EAST 5 3.1. Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) in Near east 5 3.2. Pre-pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) in Near east 10 3.2.A. Early PPNB 10 3.2.B. Middle PPNB 13 3.2.C. Late PPNB 15 3.3.
    [Show full text]
  • Archaeopress Open Access
    The Archaeology of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Adjacent Regions Access Open Edited by Konstantinos Kopanias and John MacGinnis Archaeopress Archaeopress Archaeology Copyright Archaeopress and the authors 2016 Archaeopress Publishing Ltd Gordon House 276 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 7ED www.archaeopress.com ISBN 978 1 78491 393 9 ISBN 978 1 78491 394 6 (e-Pdf) © Archaeopress and the authors 2016 Access Cover illustration: Erbil Citadel, photo Jack Pascal Open All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owners. Archaeopress Printed in England by Holywell Press, Oxford This book is available direct from Archaeopress or from our website www.archaeopress.com Copyright Archaeopress and the authors 2016 Contents List of Figures and Tables ........................................................................................................................iv Authors’ details ..................................................................................................................................... xii Preface ................................................................................................................................................. xvii Archaeological investigations on the Citadel of Erbil: Background, Framework and Results.............. 1 Dara Al Yaqoobi, Abdullah Khorsheed Khader, Sangar Mohammed, Saber Hassan Hussein, Mary Shepperson and John MacGinnis The site
    [Show full text]
  • Archaeozoology of the Near East Viii
    TRAVAUX DE LA MAISON DE L’ORIENT ET DE LA MÉDITERRANÉE N° 49 ARCHAEOZOOLOGY OF THE NEAR EAST VIII Actes des huitièmes Rencontres internationales d’Archéozoologie de l’Asie du Sud-Ouest et des régions adjacentes Proceedings of the eighth international Symposium on the Archaeozoology of southwestern Asia and adjacent areas TOME I edited by Emmanuelle VILA, Lionel GOURICHON, Alice M. CHOYKE, Hijlke BUITENHUIS Aswa VIII Lyon 28 juin-1er juillet 2006 Lyon, June 28th-July 1st, 2006 Ouvrage publié avec la participation de la Région Rhône-Alpes et de l’UMR 5133, Archéorient, Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée SOMMAIRE Tome I Emmanuelle VILA, Lionel GOURICHON Avant-Propos .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 13 Preface .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 17 François POPLIN 3URORJXHDQWKURSR]RRORJLTXH±$QLPDOYUDLVDFUL¿FHHWGRPHVWLFDWLRQODLWLqUH.............................. 21 $QWKURSR]RRORJLFDOSURORJXH²7UXHDQLPDOVDFUL¿FHDQGWKHGRPHVWLFDWLRQRIGDLU\DQLPDOV................ 33 Liora KOLSKA HORWITZ, Hitomi HONGO 3XWWLQJWKHPHDWEDFNRQROGERQHV$UHDVVHVVPHQWRI0LGGOH3DODHROLWKLFIDXQDIURP $PXG&DYH ,VUDHO .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 45 Hervé MONCHOT 'HVK\qQHVWDFKHWpHVDX3OpLVWRFqQHVXSpULHXUGDQVOH=DJURV JURWWH:H]PHK,UDQ ........................ 65 Anne BOUTEAUX, Anne-Marie MOIGNE, Kasman SETIAGAMA eWXGHVDUFKpR]RRORJLTXHVGHVLWHVMDYDQDLVGX3OpLVWRFqQHOHVVLWHVGHSOHLQDLUGXG{PHGH6DQJLUDQ
    [Show full text]
  • Primary Sources of Archaeobotanical Datasets and Radiocarbon Dates from Southwest Asia
    Asouti, Eleni, and Dorian Q Fuller. A Contextual Approach to the Emergence of Agriculture in Southwest Asia: Reconstructing Early Neolithic Plant-Food Production. Supplement A: Primary Sources of Archaeobotanical Datasets and Radiocarbon Dates from Southwest Asia. Current Anthropology 54(3). Supplement A: Primary Sources of Archaeobotanical Datasets and Radiocarbon Dates from Southwest Asia We have assembled in this supplement the primary sources of archaeobotanical datasets retrieved from sites in Southwest Asia (Part 1) and the radiocarbon dates by which these sites have been assigned calendrical ages (Part 2). Part 3 presents the radiocarbon dates for early PPN sites that, to date, have not produced relevant published archaeobotanical assemblages. Part 1: Sites with Published Archaeobotanical Datasets For general overviews see Asouti and Fuller (2012), Charles (2007), Colledge and Conolly (2007), Colledge, Conolly, and Shennan (2004), Fuller et al. (2012), Garrard (1999), Willcox (1999, 2007) and Zohary, Hopf, and Weiss (2012). Sources for individual sites are indicated below, listed alphabetically by site name, followed by a short assessment of plant domestication status for all sites listed in Tables 3-4, and a list of bibliographic references. 1A. Archaeobotanical primary data sources Abdul Hosein, Tepe Iran Hubbard 1990. ‘Abr, Tell Syria Willcox et al. 2009, Willcox et al. 2008. Abu Hureyra, Tell Syria Colledge and Conolly 2010; Hillman 2000; Hillman et al. 1989; Hillman et al. 2001; de Moulins 1997, 2000. ‘Ain Ghazal Jordan Rollefson et al. 1985. Ali Kosh Iran Helbaek 1969. Aşıklı Höyük Turkey van Zeist and de Roller 1995. Aswad, Tell Syria van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1985 [1982]. Ayios Epiktitos Vrysi Cyprus Kyllo 1982.
    [Show full text]
  • Genetic Evidence for a Second Domestication of Barley (Hordeum Vulgare) East of the Fertile Crescent
    Genetic evidence for a second domestication of barley (Hordeum vulgare) east of the Fertile Crescent Peter L. Morrell* and Michael T. Clegg Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-2525 Contributed by Michael T. Clegg, December 21, 2006 (sent for review October 22, 2006) Cereal agriculture originated with the domestication of barley and frequencies among eastern and western landrace barleys have early forms of wheat in the Fertile Crescent. There has long been also been reported (14, 19, 20). For example, at three of four speculation that barley was domesticated more than once. We use esterase loci examined by Kahler and Allard (20), Central Asian differences in haplotype frequency among geographic regions at and Far East landraces had alleles at Ϸ20% or greater frequency, multiple loci to infer at least two domestications of barley; one which were found at much lower frequencies in European within the Fertile Crescent and a second 1,500–3,000 km farther landraces and in wild barley from Israel and Turkey. Although east. The Fertile Crescent domestication contributed the majority there has been criticism of the methods used (21), neighbor- of diversity in European and American cultivars, whereas the joining clustering based on distance among amplified fragment second domestication contributed most of the diversity in barley length polymorphism genotypes lead Badr et al. (14) to conclude from Central Asia to the Far East. that cultivated barley had a single origin. Zohary (13) also argues that independent domestications are nucleotide polymorphism ͉ population structure ͉ resequencing ͉ likely to select for nonallelic mutations that govern the principal Neolithic agriculture ͉ archaeology domestication-related traits (e.g., nonbrittle ears in cereals and the loss of germination inhibition).
    [Show full text]
  • Articulating the Disarticulated: Human Remains from the Early Neolithic of the Eastern Fertile Crescent (Eastern Iraq and Western Iran)
    Articulating the disarticulated: human remains from the Early Neolithic of the eastern Fertile Crescent (eastern Iraq and western Iran) Book or Report Section Accepted Version Walsh, S. and Matthews, R. (2018) Articulating the disarticulated: human remains from the Early Neolithic of the eastern Fertile Crescent (eastern Iraq and western Iran). In: Bickle, P. and Sibbeson, E. (eds.) Neolithic Bodies. Neolithic Studies Group Seminar Papers (15). Oxbow Books, Oxford. ISBN 9781785709012 Available at http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/68881/ It is advisable to refer to the publisher’s version if you intend to cite from the work. See Guidance on citing . Publisher: Oxbow Books All outputs in CentAUR are protected by Intellectual Property Rights law, including copyright law. Copyright and IPR is retained by the creators or other copyright holders. Terms and conditions for use of this material are defined in the End User Agreement . www.reading.ac.uk/centaur CentAUR Central Archive at the University of Reading Reading’s research outputs online Articulating the disarticulated: human remains from the Early Neolithic of the eastern Fertile Crescent (eastern Iraq and western Iran) Sam Walsh and Roger Matthews (Note: all cited dates are calibrated BC) The Neolithic transition in the eastern Fertile Crescent In the eastern Fertile Crescent region of the Middle East, the Early Neolithic period, c. 9800- 7000 BC, is critical in hosting one of the earliest transitions from hunter-forager to sedentary farmer and animal herder, the so-called Neolithic transition (Mithen 2003; Barker 2006). During this period, in the context of a steadily ameliorating climate in the aftermath of the Younger Dryas cold spell, small groups of humans across the hilly flanks and high plains of the Zagros chain of mountains of western Iran and eastern Iraq developed their food- procuring strategies to include new modes of intensified plant cultivation (Riehl et al.
    [Show full text]
  • Short Fieldwork Report. Human Remains from Ali Kosh, Iran, 2017
    Bioarchaeology of the Near East, 11:76–83 (2017) Short fieldwork report Human remains from Ali Kosh, Iran, 2017 Arkadiusz Sołtysiak*1, Hojjat Darabi2 1 Department of Bioarchaeology, Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, 00-927 Warsaw, Poland email: [email protected] (corresponding author) 2 Department of Archaeology, Razi University, Bagh-e Abrisham, Kermanshah, Iran ◦ 0 00 ◦ 0 00 Ali Kosh on Deh Luren plain (32 33 28 N, 47 19 30 E) was excavated in 1961 and 1963 by an American expedition directed by Frank Hole and Kent Flannery as a part of a larger regional project (Hole et al. 1969). Dated to c. 9500-8500 cal. BP (Hole 2000), Ali Kosh is an important Neolithic site located at the eastern edge of the Fertile Crescent (Figure 1), providing ample evidence of plant (cf. Moore 1982) and animal domestication (cf. Zeder 1999). In May 2017 a small stratigraphical trench was opened by Hojjat Darabi with the intention of revising the chronology of the site and to gather samples for research on subsistence strategies (Darabi 2017) (Figure 2). Figure 1. Map of Deh Luren plain showing the location of Ali Kosh. Drawing by S. Bahramiyan. During this recent small-scale excavation, a dense cluster of 13 human burials was found at a depth of roughly 4–5m below the surface. Due to time constraints they were not explored in situ. Several of the skeletons were cut with large blocks of Short fieldwork reports 77 Figure 2. A general view of the 2017 excavations at Ali Kosh.
    [Show full text]
  • University Microfilms International 300 N ZEEB ROAD, ANN ARBOR, Ml 48106 18 BEDFORD ROW, LONDON WC1R 4EJ, ENGLAND / 791734*
    INFORMATION TO USERS This was produced from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the material submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or notations which may appear on this reproduction. 1. The sign or "target" for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is "Missing Page(s)". If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting through an image and duplicating adjacent pages to assure you of complete continuity. 2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a round black mark it is an indication that the film inspector noticed either blurred copy because of movement during exposure, or duplicate copy. Unless we meant to delete copyrighted materials that should not have been filmed, you will find a good image of the page in the adjacent frame. 3. When a map, drawing or chart, etc., is part of the material being photo­ graphed the photographer has followed a definite method in "sectioning" the material. It is customary to begin filming at the upper left hand corner of a large sheet and to continue from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. If necessary, sectioning is continued again—beginning below the first row and continuing on until complete. 4. For any illustrations that cannot be reproduced satisfactorily by xerography, photographic prints can be purchased at additional cost and tipped into your xerographic copy.
    [Show full text]
  • New Investigations in the Environment, History and Archaeology of The
    1 NEW INVESTIGATIONS IN THE ENVIRONMENT, HISTORY, AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRAQI HILLY FLANKS: SHAHRIZOR SURVEY PROJECT 2009–2011 By , , Ü, , , and 1 Recent palaeoenvironmental, historical, and archaeological investigations, primarily consisting of site reconnaissance, in the Shahrizor region within the province of Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan are bringing to light new information on the region’s social and socio-ecological development. This paper summarises two seasons of work by researchers from German, British, Dutch, and Iraqi-Kurdish institutions working in the survey region. Palaeoenvironmental data have determined that during the Pleistocene many terraces developed which came to be occupied by a number of the larger tell sites in the Holocene. In the sedimentary record, climatic and anthropogenic patterns are noticeable, and alluviation has affected the recovery of archaeological remains through site burial in places. Historical data show the Shahrizor shifting between periods of independence, either occupied by one regional state or several smaller entities, and periods that saw the plain’s incorporation within large empires, often in a border position. New archaeological investigations have provided insight into the importance of the region as a transit centre between Western Iran and northern and southern Mesopotamia, with clear material culture links recovered. Variations between periods’ settlement patterns and occupations are also beginning to emerge. Introduction In 2009, a joint team from the University of Heidelberg and the Directorate of Antiquities of Sulaymaniyah initiated an archaeological survey in the province of Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, in the region of the Shahrizor Plain. Since 2011, the Shahrizor Survey Project (SSP) has been joined by staff from University College London, focusing on historical and palaeoenvironmental research, and from Leiden University, investigating prehistoric periods.2 The survey area lies in the east of the province near the border with Iran.
    [Show full text]