Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Institute of Archaeology and Museology Master’s Diploma Thesis 2015 Bc. Barbora Kubíková Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Institute of Archaeology and Museology Centre of Prehistoric Archaeology of the Near East Bc. Barbora Kubíková Morphological Study of Sling Projectiles with Analysis of Clay Balls from the Late Neolithic Site Tell Arbid Abyad (Syria) Master’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Phil. Maximilian Wilding Brno 2015 Bc. Barbora Kubíková Morphological Study of Sling Projectiles with Analysis of Clay Balls from the Late Neolithic Site Tell Arbid Abyad (Syria) Master’s Diploma Thesis DECLARATION I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. I agree with storing this work in the library of Prehistoric Archaeology of the Near East at the Masaryk University in Brno and making it accessible for the study purposes. I further agree that permission for copying of this thesis in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes may be granted by the scientific researchers who supervised my thesis work or, in their absence, by the Head of the Institute of Archaeology and Museology or the Dean of the Faculty of Arts in which my thesis was done. It is understood that any copying, publication, or use of this thesis or parts thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the Masaryk University in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my thesis. Requests for permission to copy or to make other use of material in this thesis in whole or in part should be addressed to: Centre of Prehistoric Archaeology of the Near East Veveří 470/28 602 00 Brno Czech Republic Brno 30th of November 2015 ................................................................ Signature ABSTRACT Title: Morphological Study of Sling Projectiles with Analysis of Clay Balls from the Late Neolithic Site Tell Arbid Abyad (Syria) Author: Bc. Barbora Kubíková Institute/Department: Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts, Institute of Archaeology and Museology, Centre of Prehistoric Archaeology of the Near East (PANE) Supervisor of the master thesis: Dr. phil. Maximilian Wilding Abstract: The thesis aims to put the draft into the practice for further substantial research into the sling missiles in the Near East which has been made in the prior bachelor thesis. The presented work will try to establish a first morphological means for the identification of sling projectiles in the archaeological record in the Near East. The main goal is to concentrate on the metric data and the functional design of projectiles in order to establish parameters which are characteristic only for sling projectiles. The necessary size, weight and form parameters, however, cannot at present be deduced from archaeological artefacts proper, because the identification of "rounded handy-sized objects of clay or stone RHO" (Kubíková 2013, 17) as sling projectiles is disputed and very different functions for the plain and ball-like items are proposed (cooking stones, tokens etc.). The central idea is to get to valid parameters after studying sling projectiles in a secure context, where their identification is unambiguous, namely in their use by recent-ethnographic societies. Studying the attributes of slingstones from the ethnographic contexts from Oceania and Americas, it is hoped that realistic size and shape ranges can be defined which could serve as a supporting tool when designating and interpreting small finds of stone or clay in the Neolithic Near East. The range margins, it is thought, in the first step, will permit to subtract from the archaeological record all RHO items that fall out of the size, weight and form range of ethnographically attested sling missiles. As a testing case, the ethnographically derived parameters will be applied to various kinds of plain clay balls that were found at the Late Neolithic site Tell Arbid Abyad (MU-ARBA Project, NE-Syria, 2007–2010). Beyond that much of the available archaeological information and photographs of slingstones, sling balls and sling projectiles are brought together to spur an archaeological comparison and which could help archaeologists with a correct identification of small artefacts. Keywords: sling projectiles, slingstones, clay balls, morphology of sling ammunition, ethnographic use of sling, identification of artefacts, metric data, slingstones of the Pacific Islands, sling-use in America, Late Neolithic period, Tell Arbid Abyad site ANOTACE Název práce: Autor: Bc. Barbora Kubíková Katedra/Ústav: Masarykova univerzita, Filozofická fakulta, Ústav archeologie a muzeologie, Pravěká archeologie Předního Východu Vedoucí bakalářské práce: Dr. phil. Maximilian Wilding Abstrakt: Cílem této práce je uvést v praxi návrh na další výzkum v oblasti prakových kuliček na Předním východě, který byl vytvořen v předchozí bakalářské práci. Současná práce se pokusí představit morfologickou metodologii k rozpoznání prakových kuliček v archeologickém materiálu na Předním východě. Hlavním cílem je soustředit se na metrická data a funkční design projektilů, aby bylo možné určit parametry, které jsou charakteristické pouze pro prakové projektily. Důležité parametry jako je velikost, váha a forma nemohou být v současnosti určeny ze samotných archeologických nálezů, protože identifikace kulatých předmětů malé velikosti z hlíny nebo kamene "RHO" (Kubíková 2013, 17) jako prakových projektilů je sporná a těmto prostým a kulovitým předmětům jsou přidělovány různé funkce (varné kameny, tokeny, atd.). Klíčovou myšlenkou je získání platných parametrů na základě studia prakových projektilů v pevném kontextu, kde je jejich rozpoznání jednoznačné, zvláště v jejich používání současnými etnickými skupinami. Autorka doufá, že díky studiu atributů prakových kamenů z etnografického kontextu z Oceánie a Amerik se podaří definovat realistický rozsah velikostí a tvarů, což by mohlo sloužit jako podpůrný prostředek při určování a interpretování malých kamenných nebo hliněných nálezů v neolitu na Předním východě. Hranice rozmezí, dle předpokladu, v prvé řadě dovolí vypustit z archeologického materiálu všechny RHO předměty, které nespadají do rozměrového, váhového a formového rozsahu etnograficky doložených prakových projektilů. Pro otestování této teorie poslouží lokalita Tell Arbid Abyad (MU-ARBA Project, SV Sýrie, 2007–2010), kde budou aplikovány etnograficky odvozené parametry na různé druhy prostých hliněných kuliček. Kromě toho, bude mnoho z dostupných archeologických informací a fotografií prakových kamenů, prakových kuliček a prakových projektilů sloučeno proto, aby započalo archeologické porovnávání, které by mohlo archeologům pomoci se správnou identifikací malých artefaktů. Klíčová slova: prakové projektily, prakové kameny, hliněné kuličky, morfologie prakové munice, etnografické využití praku, identifikace a označení archeologických artefaktů, metrická data, prakové kameny na Tichomořských ostrovech, využití praku v Americe, pozdní neolit, lokalita Tell Arbid Abyad ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis consumed a huge amount of own work, research and dedication. Still, it would not have been possible if I did not have a support of many individuals to whom I owe my sincere gratitude. First of all I am deeply thankful to my supervisor Dr. Phil. Maximilian Wilding for his guidance throughout the work and my studies, for many consultations and the feedback given, his time and thoroughness. My sincere appreciation goes accordingly to the head of Centre of PANE Mgr. Inna Mateiciucová, Ph.D for her mentoring during the whole course of my studies. I am also very grateful to namely Dr. Hans-Georg K. Gebel (FU, ex oriente e. V., Berlin) and Dr. Arnulf Hausleiter (PD of FU, DAI Orient – Abteilung, Berlin) for being short-time consultants during the Erasmus period at FU, to Dr. Dörte Rokitta-Krumnow (DAI, Berlin) and Dr. phil. Laura Dietrich (DAI, Berlin) for the information provided to me about sling balls from the Shir excavation, to Dr. Bernd Müller-Neuhof (DAI, Berlin) for the discussion concerning his PhD work on the conflict and weaponry topic in the Neolithic of the Near East and Dr. Olivier Nieuwenhuijse for granting me an access to the databases of Tell Sabi Abyad for a closer look at the clay specimen referred to as sling missiles. I am much obliged to Darlene R. Moore, archaeologist of the Micronesian Archaeological Research Services, Inc. in Guam, who provided me the information on the sling stones from the Mariana Islands, to Merel Brüning (Leiden University) who helped with the databases of Tell Sabi Abyad, to Dr. Gregory G. White (California State University, Chico) for the report and the data on sling specimen from Californian sites, to Dr. John L. Craib (Queensland, Australia) for sending slingstones metric data from two sites on Rota Island in the Pacific Ocean and to Dr. Matthew Schmader (Parks and Recreation Department of Albuquerque, New Mexico) for yet unpublished photos and metric data of slingstones from Piedras Marcadas pueblo, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I wish to thank Erik Skov, M.A. (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) for the insights in the experimentation with the sling and projectile types and for the feedback to my bachelor thesis, to Dr. Deyan Rabovyanov (the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences) who provided me his article and translated a table of metric data of sling clay projectiles from Slavonia, to Dr. Rosalind