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Papers by S.E. (Reina Sinne)

The Ancient Near East (A.N.E.) is the first hub where agricultural techniques were adopted into e... more The Ancient Near East (A.N.E.) is the first hub where agricultural techniques were adopted into early hunter-gathering lifestyles, binding the people to the land through sedentism, glimpsed, through the first farming villages. This led A.N.E., from ~4000 BCE, to become the first home of cities. How did agriculture lead to the “domestication of the human species” (Cauvin,1978,77)? The answer perhaps lies in changing ideology and separation from the natural world which facilitated farming and more importantly sedentism. Furthermore, changing geography, climate, religious and social theories helps understand the formation of early cities such as Uruk, Tell Brak and Eridu. And ultimately what defines a city.

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The preconception of Upper Palaeolithic (U.P.) being more behaviourally complex than Middle Palae... more The preconception of Upper Palaeolithic (U.P.) being more behaviourally complex than Middle Palaeolithic (M.P.) lingers to modern day. It originates in assumption of Homo sapiens’ superiority and antiquated perspectives on Neanderthals, “thoughts…never soared beyond those of a brute” (King,1986,96). Sequencing of Neanderthal genome revealed that most Modern Humans (MH) share around 1-5 % of Neanderthal DNA (Green et al,2006,331), from MH and Neanderthal interbreeding. Consequently, people’s views of Neanderthals changed to perceive them more like MH. However, Neanderthals belong to a different evolutionary trajectory meaning different cerebral connections. Some researchers suggest this could mean they were less behaviourally complex (Pearce et al,2013,1,6). However, archaeological evidence of social relations suggests otherwise. To understand how behaviourally equal and different Neanderthals were to MH, investigations into evidence of care, social networks and long-ignored topic of prehistoric childhood, integral to development of social relationships are required (Spikins et al, 2014, 111).

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Ideological and power relationships are inextricably connected (Miller and Tilley,1984, 14) and a... more Ideological and power relationships are inextricably connected (Miller and Tilley,1984, 14) and are seen in most aspects of society, whether it be in material culture, traditions or in the way people interpret the natural world. Ideology, power and sometimes ritual are attached with connotations that they only facilitate the legitimisation of a dominant culture (Bourdieu 1979). Is this always the case? Or can it be argued that ideology is a system of beliefs and ideals of a social group, which can be used to both subvert and facilitate the dominant culture depending on beliefs. The main ways in which ideology and power will be identified is through symbolism and art. This will be applied to the Upper Palaeolithic (UP), Mesolithic, and Neolithic/ Bronze Age (BA) to enhance our understanding of world views, social hierarchy, and gender. However, whilst doing this, present societal preconceptions and ideologies need to be considered as they have also hindered the field of prehistory.

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“Mass cannibalism in the Linear Pottery Culture at Herxheim (Palatinate, Germany)”, was published... more “Mass cannibalism in the Linear Pottery Culture at Herxheim (Palatinate, Germany)”, was published by Antiquity in 2009. The authors are Boulestin , Zeeb-Lanz , Jeneusse , Haack2, Arbogast3 and Denaire3,4.The authors re-analyse in greater depth the significance of skeletal assemblages, faunal bones and pottery deposited together, forming new insights into what occurred at Herxheim in the Final Linear Pottery period. This article provides strong evidence of ritual activity in relation to cannibalism. The authors support this through detailed analyses of bone modification. However, cannibalism might not be the clear-cut conclusion due to its difficult identification and the several discrepancies between the data and the assumptions made.

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Past research has been dominated by meat consumption, particularly if considering prehistoric die... more Past research has been dominated by meat consumption, particularly if considering prehistoric diets. More recent archaeological studies have started to place a larger emphasis on plant and dairy consumption (Calderon, 2019; Hardy 2018). It can be argued that aDNA studies have enhanced our understanding of prehistoric diets through evolutionary insights surrounding origins of cooking whose details cannot be extracted from archaeological record due to preservation. Furthermore, the limitations of using aDNA will be discussed and compared to non-aDNA studies to determine whether aDNA has future potential in understand ancient hominid diets.

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This project will examine the key ideas of Witchcraft in Ancient Greece and Rome. Furthermore, th... more This project will examine the key ideas of Witchcraft in Ancient Greece and Rome. Furthermore, there will be an in-depth discussion on the possible origins of Hekate the goddess of witchcraft and crossroads and how her depiction and role changed over time. It will also be closely looking at how ancient Greek philosophers called Neoplatonists viewed her as one of their creation goddesses. In addition, it will give the many different examples of how the ancients revered her through Deiphon and made sacrifices to her. It will also bring up the question who the goddess was and what did she mean to her believers? This dissertation will also be exploring ancient Greek magic and its origins. It will give detailed examples of the different roman laws banning magic and what really stopped it in the end. There will be an exploration on the ideas concerning Hermes Trismegistus and the strongest ideas advocating his possible Egyptian and Greek origins. Moreover, the subject of witches in classical literature will be explored to question why there were such negative images attached to them.

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Thesis Chapters by S.E. (Reina Sinne)

This dissertation aims to demonstrate the potential of medicinal plants use as a regular method o... more This dissertation aims to demonstrate the potential of medicinal plants use as a regular method of treatment in Upper Palaeolithic care. This will be carried out by recording and analysing the use of medicinal plants from sites with Upper Palaeolithic plant assemblages. Three of these archaeological sites (Ohalo 2 (Israel), Ghar-e Boof (Iran) and Cova de les Cendres(Spain) will be critically assessed for medicinal plant use. The medicinal properties of these plants in combination with local ethnographic knowledge will be used to help understand how Palaeolithic people might have processed and used these plants for their ailments. The data from these U.P. sites provided a strong argument for medicinal plant use in treating wounds, coughs and possibly as birth control. The factors most likely driving medicinal plant choice and who might have administered them are dependent on that society’ world view, their social structure, genetics, and climate.

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To understand the significance of medicinal plant use in the U.P., this literature review will fr... more To understand the significance of medicinal plant use in the U.P., this literature review will frame it in the broader theme of Palaeolithic care and how it only recently became a more established focus of study in prehistory. The Upper Palaeolithic skeletal evidence and its case studies will be explored. Finally, the small amount of literature concerning U.P. medicinal use will be summarised and discussed.

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