Kathryn Grossman - North Carolina State University (original) (raw)
Papers by Kathryn Grossman
Levant, 2025
Zooarchaeological research in the arid southern Levant has recently begun to focus on the later h... more Zooarchaeological research in the arid southern Levant has recently begun to focus on the later historical periods: Hellenistic, Nabataean, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic. In this article, a substantial new zooarchaeological data set from salvage excavations at the site of Aila (modern Aqaba), conducted by the late S. Thomas Parker in the 1990s and early 2000s, is presented. This assemblage mainly dates to the Nabataean through Islamic periods. The Aila faunal assemblage is compared with contemporary faunal data sets from other sites in the arid southern Levant in order to demonstrate that, despite the harsh environmental conditions, animal economies were highly variable in this region during these later historical periods.
Petra’s Temple of the Winged Lions, 2024
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2020
The new political communities that emerged in Mesopotamia during the fourth and third millennia B... more The new political communities that emerged in Mesopotamia during the fourth and third millennia BCE have long been held up as classic cases of early state formation. Over the past few decades, however, the veil has been lifted on these states-revealing their weakness, fragility, and instability. In this article, we build on the recently proposed "low-power model" to develop an alternative perspective on state finance that highlights the presumptive character of sovereignty in Mesopotamia. State makers managed to assemble a more-or-less effective vision of sovereign authority by exploiting the inherent ambiguity of certain forms of state capital. Sheep and goats offer a prime example. Drawing on a region-wide compilation of zooarchaeological data, as well as selected material from the cuneiform record, we redirect the archaeological discussion of caprines and the state in Mesopotamia. Caprines were not simply staple goods; they were complicated forms of social, political, economic, religious, and cultural capital, used to finance specific state projects and support specific state claims. In a world of aspirational states and incomplete authority, caprines offered a valuable means of strategic ambiguation, that is, a means of projecting a fuzzy image of broad-based sovereignty that did not yet exist in practice.
Proceedings of the 11th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, 2020
The northern coast of Cyprus has long been of interest to archaeologists researching the Chalcoli... more The northern coast of Cyprus has long been of interest to archaeologists researching the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age on the island. However, no prehistoric sites have been excavated in the region around the Chrysochou Bay, along the island’s northwest coast. With easy access to rich mineral sources, to the sea, to resources in the upland forests, and to arable land, this region would certainly have been attractive to the prehistoric inhabitants of the island. In the summer of 2017, the Cypriot Department of Antiquities granted the authors a permit to conduct surface collection and geophysical survey at the site of Makounta-Voules-Mersinoudia, a large prehistoric site approximately 2.5 km from the coast of Chrysochou Bay, approximately 5 km of the town of Polis. The site of Makounta-Voules-Mersinoudia has been visited by archaeologists many times in recent decades but until now has not been subjected to systematic, intensive survey. In this paper, we present the results of our first season of work at Makounta-Voules-Mersinoudia, outline some of the implications of our
results, and describe our plan for future work at the site. We also present the results of a rescue project that we conducted on behalf of the Department of Antiquities: surface survey and geophysical study at the site of Stroumpi-Pigi-Agios Andronikos, a small prehistoric site just outside the town of Stroumpi.
Discussion of the animal economy in Mesopotamia has been subject to a persistent, pastoral bias. ... more Discussion of the animal economy in Mesopotamia has been subject to a persistent, pastoral bias. Most general treatments assume that the Early Bronze Age (ca. 3000–2000 BCE) animal economy was dominated by the herding of sheep and goats. An examination of the abundant written evidence would support such a contention. Zooarchaeological evidence from northern Mesopotamia, however, clearly demonstrates that pigs played a major role in the diet, despite their virtual absence in the written record. In this paper, we attempt to lay bare and correct for the pastoral bias by reviewing the relatively meager written evidence for pig husbandry and by examining the zooarchaeological evidence for pigs from two angles. First, we use relative abundance data from sites across northern Mesopotamia to demonstrate the ubiquity of pigs and to identify regional-and site-level patterning in pig consumption. Second, we use a series of proxy techniques to reconstruct pig husbandry practices at three sites: Tell 'Atij, Tell al-Raqa'i, and Tell Leilan. Ultimately, we argue that this ''other " animal economy emerged to fill a niche opened up by the twin processes of urbanization and institutional expansion. For households struggling to deal with the impacts of these wide-ranging transformations, pigs offered an alternative means of subsistence and perhaps a way of maintaining some degree of autonomy.
ARCANE Interregional I: Ceramics, 2014
Paléorient v. 39 no. 2, Feb 2014
This study re-evaluates current models of Halaf and northern Ubaid subsistence strategies in ligh... more This study re-evaluates current models of Halaf and northern Ubaid subsistence strategies in light of new faunal data recovered from Tell Zeidan, a prehistoric settlement at the confluence of the Balikh and Euphrates rivers in Northern Syria. Our data indicates that a major shift in the animal economy at Zeidan took place between the Halaf and Ubaid periods. The Halaf period faunal assemblage from Tell Zeidan includes more than 50% wild game. Faunal data from other Halaf sites show that, while a heavy reliance on wild game was common, Zeidan was the only large, permanent settlement with a faunal assemblage that included more than 50% wild game. During the Ubaid period, the animal economy at Zeidan shifted to focus on the exploitation of domesticated taxa (90% of the assemblage), an intensification probably driven by population increase at the site. This increasing use of domesticates does not, however, appear to have been a regional trend, as many Ubaid settlements continued to exploit high percentages of wild game. This study of faunal remains from Tell Zeidan presents a valuable new corpus of zooarchaeological data from a large, permanent settlement in Northern Mesopotamia and provides useful insights into changing regional patterns of animal exploitation during the Halaf and Ubaid periods.
Proceedings of the 8th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Warsaw, Poland., 2014
In 2010, excavations in the lower town at Hamoukar, in northeastern Syria, revealed an architectu... more In 2010, excavations in the lower town at Hamoukar, in northeastern Syria, revealed an architectural complex that included several large fire installations dating to the late Ninevite 5 period (c. 2650-2550 BC). These fire installations were built within a series of rooms arranged around an open-air courtyard. This paper combines a study of the installations themselves with an analysis of the artifactual assemblage from the complex. The paper has two aims: 1) to identify the goods produced in these fire installations, and 2) to discuss what these installations can tell us about the administration and organization of food production at Hamoukar during the late Ninevite 5 period.
H. Weiss (ed.), Seven Generations Since the Fall of Akkad: The Settlement and Population Dynamics of the Khabur Plains ca. 2200-1900 BC. Studia Chaburensia 3., 2012
CAA2014. 21st century Archeaology: concepts, methods and tools. Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, 2015
This paper presents the results of the first three years of a new program of online museum educat... more This paper presents the results of the first three years of a new program of online museum education at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute, a research organization and museum devoted to the study of the ancient Near East. For this new initiative in online education, the Oriental Institute has offered three completely web-based courses for adult learners. Using participant demographics, institute membership rates, satisfaction surveys, and course completion rates as metrics, we argue that our experiences with fee-based, closed access, online courses can contribute to the development of more successful open access courses (e.g. Massive Open Online Courses or ‘MOOCs’). We also explore the ways that online courses (both fee-based courses and MOOCs) can help to increase our public engagement and build our membership. Such a study has implications both for the Oriental Institute and for museum education programs more broadly.
Study of the Paleozoological Collection
In R. Dornemann, Tell Qarqur Excavations (1999–2008). Studia Orontica 1:21–152, 2008
Doctoral Dissertation by Kathryn Grossman
Around 2600 BC, a handful of settlements across northern Mesopotamia expanded rapidly in size, as... more Around 2600 BC, a handful of settlements across northern Mesopotamia expanded rapidly in size, as part of a now well known process of secondary urbanization (or reurbanization). This dissertation refocuses the study of this phenomenon by turning attention away from broad, regional processes and, instead, foregrounding local-scale transformations and “settlement biographies.” The focus is Tell Hamoukar, one of the largest Early Bronze Age settlements in northern Mesopotamia.
Excavations at Hamoukar between 2008 and 2010 uncovered evidence for three phases of occupation in the site’s lower town, beginning with settlement expansion near the end of the Ninevite 5 period and ending with a collapse during the Akkadian/post-Akkadian period (c. 2600-2200 BC). At Hamoukar, the package of features normally associated with urbanization – settlement expansion, a complex settlement hierarchy, labor and craft specialization, monumental architecture, centralized food production, etc. – did not emerge suddenly and in lock-step. To the contrary, a detailed examination of architecture, ceramics, faunal remains, glyptic, and burials in the lower town at Hamoukar reveals that these “urban” features developed over an extended period of time and in a series of discontinuous and protracted stages.
When compared with other contemporary settlements in the region, the Early Bronze Age occupation at Hamoukar does display some macro-level similarities – e.g. in the sudden expansion of settlement and in regional settlement patterns – but this is where the similarities end. Whatever the driving forces, the process of “reurbanization” that was taking place across northern Mesopotamia was by no means a uniform process.
Talks by Kathryn Grossman
Prehistoric Archaeology in the Polis Region: Survey and Geophysics at Makounta-Voules and Stroumpi-Pigi-Agios Andronikos, Cyprus
The northern coast of Cyprus has long been of interest to archaeologists researching the Chalcoli... more The northern coast of Cyprus has long been of interest to archaeologists researching the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age on the island. However, no prehistoric sites have been excavated in the region around the modern town of Polis, along the island’s northwest coast. With easy access to rich mineral sources, to the sea, to resources in the upland forests, and to arable agricultural land, this region would certainly have been attractive to the prehistoric inhabitants of the island. In the summer of 2017, the Cypriot Department of Antiquities granted us a permit to conduct surface collection and geophysical survey at the site of Makounta-Voules, a large, multi-period prehistoric site about 4 km from the coast of Chrysochou Bay, just north of Polis. In this paper, we present the results of our first season of work at Makounta, outline some implications of our results, and describe our plan for future work at the site. We will also present the results of a salvage project that we conducted on behalf of the Department of Antiquities: surface survey and geophysical study of the site of Stroumpi-Pigi-Agios Andronikos, a small prehistoric site threatened by a highway expansion project.
Pork futures past: The pig complex in Early Bronze Age Northern Mesopotamia
Early Bronze Age Hamoukar: “Akkadian”—and Beyond?
Funerary Practices and Urban Development at Early Bronze Age Hamoukar
The 2006-2010 excavations in the lower town at Tell Hamoukar, Syria uncovered three phases of Ea... more The 2006-2010 excavations in the lower town at Tell Hamoukar, Syria uncovered three phases of Early Bronze Age occupation. These phases date to the EJZ IIIV periods (c. 26002300 BC), an era covering Hamoukar’s urban expansion as well as its destruction and abandonment. In nearly every context, excavators recovered human skeletal material, the remains of men, women, and children. During the first two phases, the bodies were buried in pits below the floors of buildings, often with a wide range of grave goods that could include ceramics, bronze and lead jewelry, beads, and more. During the final phase, however, some bodies were carefully buried with grave goods, while others were left out in the open to be gnawed and scattered by scavenging animals. In this paper, we present a recent analysis of the graves at Hamoukar, contextualizing the human skeletal material and artifacts within the broader developments of the site. This analysis allows us to trace the evolution of the disposal of human remains at Hamoukar, and it allows us to explore the links between shifting burial practices, a changing social fabric, and the urbanization of the region.
Moving Instruction Beyond the Museum’s Walls: Priorities in Online Public Education at the Oriental Institute
This paper presents the results of the first two years of a new program of online museum educatio... more This paper presents the results of the first two years of a new program of online museum education at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. The Oriental Institute is an American research organization and museum devoted to the study of the ancient Near East. The Public Education and Outreach Department has long been a key part of the Oriental Institute, advancing its educational mission and helping both to grow the membership and to deepen members' connection to the institute. In 2011, the Office of Public Education at the Oriental Institute began developing a series of online courses as a complement to a long-standing program of non-credit, continuing education courses for adults.
In this new initiative of online education, the Oriental Institute has offered two completely web-based courses, hosted through the University of Chicago's Chalk (Blackboard) system. The first was a general overview of Mesopotamian history and culture, and the second a survey of Egyptian art and architecture. A third course on Egyptian hieroglyphs will be offered for the first time in February of 2014. These courses have been small – capped at 25 students – in order to retain the extensive dialog between student and instructor that the University of Chicago is known for and that Oriental Institute's students have come to expect. The web-based courses have, nevertheless, dramatically expanded the global reach of the Oriental Institute, with students enrolling from Europe, South America, North America, and Australia.
Through detailed pre- and post-course surveys, we have been able to judge our effectiveness at conveying the desired content, as well as the degree of student satisfaction with the courses. In both cases we have been resoundingly successful. Even without such surveys, however, we could gauge the courses' success on the degree of student interaction. Weekly discussion boards were incredibly lively, sometimes with a class of 25 writing as many as 300 posts in a single week. This degree of student interaction is rare in traditional face-to-face classes at the Oriental Institute. This is one of the real benefits in shifting to this new educational format.
Plans are for continued expansion of the online learning initiative. Our goal is to use this new medium to connect students from around the world with the Oriental Institute's major research projects – such as the Demotic Dictionary – museum collection and leading scholars. For example, the new course, Deciphering the Past: Beginning Egyptian Hieroglyphs will bring students directly into the Oriental Institute Museum via video segments that supplement the lesson. The education staff is also in discussions with the University about developing an archaeology focused MOOC, a collaboration with between the Oriental Institute and other University of Chicago faculty. The MOOC would include a flipped classroom component where the instructor uses the MOOC as part of an undergraduate course. The Oriental Institute sees online education as an important frontier in reaching a global community of learners who wish to develop deeper connections to the world's global history.
A Science of Urbanization? Archaeology and the Irreducibly Local in Northern Mesopotamia
Recently, scholars in urban studies have called for the development of a science devoted to uncov... more Recently, scholars in urban studies have called for the development of a science devoted to uncovering the "fundamental laws of the urbanization process: its origins, development, organization, emergent properties, and connections to other social ... processes (Solecki et al. 2013). Such a science - or at least the quest for such a science - has long existed in archaeology, but it has met with significant and sustained critique. The search for broadly applicable, cross-cultural laws of urbanization has often proven inadequate when faced with complex local and regional histories that defy generalization. This paper uses Tell Hamoukar, one of the largest Early Bronze Age settlements in northeastern Syria, as a platform for exploring the possibilities and pitfalls of a top-down, model-based approach to analyzing urbanization. In particular, it argues for a more inductive approach to model-building that embraces the twists and turns of local settlement history and that makes room for a wide array of pathways to urbanism, even within a single region.
The Protracted Process of Urbanization at Early Bronze Age Hamoukar
Hamoukar was one of the largest urban centers in northern Mesopotamia during the Early Bronze Age... more Hamoukar was one of the largest urban centers in northern Mesopotamia during the Early Bronze Age. The settlement expanded to its largest extent during the late Ninevite 5 period (c. 2500 BC) and was eventually abandoned several hundred years later. Results of excavations in Hamoukar’s lower town between 2006 and 2010 now show that, during its life span, the city experienced profound changes in economic organization, particularly in the realms of ceramic production, subsistence, and administration. This paper examines these changes in light of current models of urbanization and urban economy. It argues, based on the evidence from Hamoukar, that transformations in economic organization commonly assumed to be a driving force in the urbanization process may, in fact, be secondary developments.
Shifting Economies at Hamoukar: the Settlement Biography of an Early Urban Center
Levant, 2025
Zooarchaeological research in the arid southern Levant has recently begun to focus on the later h... more Zooarchaeological research in the arid southern Levant has recently begun to focus on the later historical periods: Hellenistic, Nabataean, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic. In this article, a substantial new zooarchaeological data set from salvage excavations at the site of Aila (modern Aqaba), conducted by the late S. Thomas Parker in the 1990s and early 2000s, is presented. This assemblage mainly dates to the Nabataean through Islamic periods. The Aila faunal assemblage is compared with contemporary faunal data sets from other sites in the arid southern Levant in order to demonstrate that, despite the harsh environmental conditions, animal economies were highly variable in this region during these later historical periods.
Petra’s Temple of the Winged Lions, 2024
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2020
The new political communities that emerged in Mesopotamia during the fourth and third millennia B... more The new political communities that emerged in Mesopotamia during the fourth and third millennia BCE have long been held up as classic cases of early state formation. Over the past few decades, however, the veil has been lifted on these states-revealing their weakness, fragility, and instability. In this article, we build on the recently proposed "low-power model" to develop an alternative perspective on state finance that highlights the presumptive character of sovereignty in Mesopotamia. State makers managed to assemble a more-or-less effective vision of sovereign authority by exploiting the inherent ambiguity of certain forms of state capital. Sheep and goats offer a prime example. Drawing on a region-wide compilation of zooarchaeological data, as well as selected material from the cuneiform record, we redirect the archaeological discussion of caprines and the state in Mesopotamia. Caprines were not simply staple goods; they were complicated forms of social, political, economic, religious, and cultural capital, used to finance specific state projects and support specific state claims. In a world of aspirational states and incomplete authority, caprines offered a valuable means of strategic ambiguation, that is, a means of projecting a fuzzy image of broad-based sovereignty that did not yet exist in practice.
Proceedings of the 11th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, 2020
The northern coast of Cyprus has long been of interest to archaeologists researching the Chalcoli... more The northern coast of Cyprus has long been of interest to archaeologists researching the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age on the island. However, no prehistoric sites have been excavated in the region around the Chrysochou Bay, along the island’s northwest coast. With easy access to rich mineral sources, to the sea, to resources in the upland forests, and to arable land, this region would certainly have been attractive to the prehistoric inhabitants of the island. In the summer of 2017, the Cypriot Department of Antiquities granted the authors a permit to conduct surface collection and geophysical survey at the site of Makounta-Voules-Mersinoudia, a large prehistoric site approximately 2.5 km from the coast of Chrysochou Bay, approximately 5 km of the town of Polis. The site of Makounta-Voules-Mersinoudia has been visited by archaeologists many times in recent decades but until now has not been subjected to systematic, intensive survey. In this paper, we present the results of our first season of work at Makounta-Voules-Mersinoudia, outline some of the implications of our
results, and describe our plan for future work at the site. We also present the results of a rescue project that we conducted on behalf of the Department of Antiquities: surface survey and geophysical study at the site of Stroumpi-Pigi-Agios Andronikos, a small prehistoric site just outside the town of Stroumpi.
Discussion of the animal economy in Mesopotamia has been subject to a persistent, pastoral bias. ... more Discussion of the animal economy in Mesopotamia has been subject to a persistent, pastoral bias. Most general treatments assume that the Early Bronze Age (ca. 3000–2000 BCE) animal economy was dominated by the herding of sheep and goats. An examination of the abundant written evidence would support such a contention. Zooarchaeological evidence from northern Mesopotamia, however, clearly demonstrates that pigs played a major role in the diet, despite their virtual absence in the written record. In this paper, we attempt to lay bare and correct for the pastoral bias by reviewing the relatively meager written evidence for pig husbandry and by examining the zooarchaeological evidence for pigs from two angles. First, we use relative abundance data from sites across northern Mesopotamia to demonstrate the ubiquity of pigs and to identify regional-and site-level patterning in pig consumption. Second, we use a series of proxy techniques to reconstruct pig husbandry practices at three sites: Tell 'Atij, Tell al-Raqa'i, and Tell Leilan. Ultimately, we argue that this ''other " animal economy emerged to fill a niche opened up by the twin processes of urbanization and institutional expansion. For households struggling to deal with the impacts of these wide-ranging transformations, pigs offered an alternative means of subsistence and perhaps a way of maintaining some degree of autonomy.
ARCANE Interregional I: Ceramics, 2014
Paléorient v. 39 no. 2, Feb 2014
This study re-evaluates current models of Halaf and northern Ubaid subsistence strategies in ligh... more This study re-evaluates current models of Halaf and northern Ubaid subsistence strategies in light of new faunal data recovered from Tell Zeidan, a prehistoric settlement at the confluence of the Balikh and Euphrates rivers in Northern Syria. Our data indicates that a major shift in the animal economy at Zeidan took place between the Halaf and Ubaid periods. The Halaf period faunal assemblage from Tell Zeidan includes more than 50% wild game. Faunal data from other Halaf sites show that, while a heavy reliance on wild game was common, Zeidan was the only large, permanent settlement with a faunal assemblage that included more than 50% wild game. During the Ubaid period, the animal economy at Zeidan shifted to focus on the exploitation of domesticated taxa (90% of the assemblage), an intensification probably driven by population increase at the site. This increasing use of domesticates does not, however, appear to have been a regional trend, as many Ubaid settlements continued to exploit high percentages of wild game. This study of faunal remains from Tell Zeidan presents a valuable new corpus of zooarchaeological data from a large, permanent settlement in Northern Mesopotamia and provides useful insights into changing regional patterns of animal exploitation during the Halaf and Ubaid periods.
Proceedings of the 8th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Warsaw, Poland., 2014
In 2010, excavations in the lower town at Hamoukar, in northeastern Syria, revealed an architectu... more In 2010, excavations in the lower town at Hamoukar, in northeastern Syria, revealed an architectural complex that included several large fire installations dating to the late Ninevite 5 period (c. 2650-2550 BC). These fire installations were built within a series of rooms arranged around an open-air courtyard. This paper combines a study of the installations themselves with an analysis of the artifactual assemblage from the complex. The paper has two aims: 1) to identify the goods produced in these fire installations, and 2) to discuss what these installations can tell us about the administration and organization of food production at Hamoukar during the late Ninevite 5 period.
H. Weiss (ed.), Seven Generations Since the Fall of Akkad: The Settlement and Population Dynamics of the Khabur Plains ca. 2200-1900 BC. Studia Chaburensia 3., 2012
CAA2014. 21st century Archeaology: concepts, methods and tools. Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, 2015
This paper presents the results of the first three years of a new program of online museum educat... more This paper presents the results of the first three years of a new program of online museum education at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute, a research organization and museum devoted to the study of the ancient Near East. For this new initiative in online education, the Oriental Institute has offered three completely web-based courses for adult learners. Using participant demographics, institute membership rates, satisfaction surveys, and course completion rates as metrics, we argue that our experiences with fee-based, closed access, online courses can contribute to the development of more successful open access courses (e.g. Massive Open Online Courses or ‘MOOCs’). We also explore the ways that online courses (both fee-based courses and MOOCs) can help to increase our public engagement and build our membership. Such a study has implications both for the Oriental Institute and for museum education programs more broadly.
Study of the Paleozoological Collection
In R. Dornemann, Tell Qarqur Excavations (1999–2008). Studia Orontica 1:21–152, 2008
Around 2600 BC, a handful of settlements across northern Mesopotamia expanded rapidly in size, as... more Around 2600 BC, a handful of settlements across northern Mesopotamia expanded rapidly in size, as part of a now well known process of secondary urbanization (or reurbanization). This dissertation refocuses the study of this phenomenon by turning attention away from broad, regional processes and, instead, foregrounding local-scale transformations and “settlement biographies.” The focus is Tell Hamoukar, one of the largest Early Bronze Age settlements in northern Mesopotamia.
Excavations at Hamoukar between 2008 and 2010 uncovered evidence for three phases of occupation in the site’s lower town, beginning with settlement expansion near the end of the Ninevite 5 period and ending with a collapse during the Akkadian/post-Akkadian period (c. 2600-2200 BC). At Hamoukar, the package of features normally associated with urbanization – settlement expansion, a complex settlement hierarchy, labor and craft specialization, monumental architecture, centralized food production, etc. – did not emerge suddenly and in lock-step. To the contrary, a detailed examination of architecture, ceramics, faunal remains, glyptic, and burials in the lower town at Hamoukar reveals that these “urban” features developed over an extended period of time and in a series of discontinuous and protracted stages.
When compared with other contemporary settlements in the region, the Early Bronze Age occupation at Hamoukar does display some macro-level similarities – e.g. in the sudden expansion of settlement and in regional settlement patterns – but this is where the similarities end. Whatever the driving forces, the process of “reurbanization” that was taking place across northern Mesopotamia was by no means a uniform process.
Prehistoric Archaeology in the Polis Region: Survey and Geophysics at Makounta-Voules and Stroumpi-Pigi-Agios Andronikos, Cyprus
The northern coast of Cyprus has long been of interest to archaeologists researching the Chalcoli... more The northern coast of Cyprus has long been of interest to archaeologists researching the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age on the island. However, no prehistoric sites have been excavated in the region around the modern town of Polis, along the island’s northwest coast. With easy access to rich mineral sources, to the sea, to resources in the upland forests, and to arable agricultural land, this region would certainly have been attractive to the prehistoric inhabitants of the island. In the summer of 2017, the Cypriot Department of Antiquities granted us a permit to conduct surface collection and geophysical survey at the site of Makounta-Voules, a large, multi-period prehistoric site about 4 km from the coast of Chrysochou Bay, just north of Polis. In this paper, we present the results of our first season of work at Makounta, outline some implications of our results, and describe our plan for future work at the site. We will also present the results of a salvage project that we conducted on behalf of the Department of Antiquities: surface survey and geophysical study of the site of Stroumpi-Pigi-Agios Andronikos, a small prehistoric site threatened by a highway expansion project.
Pork futures past: The pig complex in Early Bronze Age Northern Mesopotamia
Early Bronze Age Hamoukar: “Akkadian”—and Beyond?
Funerary Practices and Urban Development at Early Bronze Age Hamoukar
The 2006-2010 excavations in the lower town at Tell Hamoukar, Syria uncovered three phases of Ea... more The 2006-2010 excavations in the lower town at Tell Hamoukar, Syria uncovered three phases of Early Bronze Age occupation. These phases date to the EJZ IIIV periods (c. 26002300 BC), an era covering Hamoukar’s urban expansion as well as its destruction and abandonment. In nearly every context, excavators recovered human skeletal material, the remains of men, women, and children. During the first two phases, the bodies were buried in pits below the floors of buildings, often with a wide range of grave goods that could include ceramics, bronze and lead jewelry, beads, and more. During the final phase, however, some bodies were carefully buried with grave goods, while others were left out in the open to be gnawed and scattered by scavenging animals. In this paper, we present a recent analysis of the graves at Hamoukar, contextualizing the human skeletal material and artifacts within the broader developments of the site. This analysis allows us to trace the evolution of the disposal of human remains at Hamoukar, and it allows us to explore the links between shifting burial practices, a changing social fabric, and the urbanization of the region.
Moving Instruction Beyond the Museum’s Walls: Priorities in Online Public Education at the Oriental Institute
This paper presents the results of the first two years of a new program of online museum educatio... more This paper presents the results of the first two years of a new program of online museum education at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. The Oriental Institute is an American research organization and museum devoted to the study of the ancient Near East. The Public Education and Outreach Department has long been a key part of the Oriental Institute, advancing its educational mission and helping both to grow the membership and to deepen members' connection to the institute. In 2011, the Office of Public Education at the Oriental Institute began developing a series of online courses as a complement to a long-standing program of non-credit, continuing education courses for adults.
In this new initiative of online education, the Oriental Institute has offered two completely web-based courses, hosted through the University of Chicago's Chalk (Blackboard) system. The first was a general overview of Mesopotamian history and culture, and the second a survey of Egyptian art and architecture. A third course on Egyptian hieroglyphs will be offered for the first time in February of 2014. These courses have been small – capped at 25 students – in order to retain the extensive dialog between student and instructor that the University of Chicago is known for and that Oriental Institute's students have come to expect. The web-based courses have, nevertheless, dramatically expanded the global reach of the Oriental Institute, with students enrolling from Europe, South America, North America, and Australia.
Through detailed pre- and post-course surveys, we have been able to judge our effectiveness at conveying the desired content, as well as the degree of student satisfaction with the courses. In both cases we have been resoundingly successful. Even without such surveys, however, we could gauge the courses' success on the degree of student interaction. Weekly discussion boards were incredibly lively, sometimes with a class of 25 writing as many as 300 posts in a single week. This degree of student interaction is rare in traditional face-to-face classes at the Oriental Institute. This is one of the real benefits in shifting to this new educational format.
Plans are for continued expansion of the online learning initiative. Our goal is to use this new medium to connect students from around the world with the Oriental Institute's major research projects – such as the Demotic Dictionary – museum collection and leading scholars. For example, the new course, Deciphering the Past: Beginning Egyptian Hieroglyphs will bring students directly into the Oriental Institute Museum via video segments that supplement the lesson. The education staff is also in discussions with the University about developing an archaeology focused MOOC, a collaboration with between the Oriental Institute and other University of Chicago faculty. The MOOC would include a flipped classroom component where the instructor uses the MOOC as part of an undergraduate course. The Oriental Institute sees online education as an important frontier in reaching a global community of learners who wish to develop deeper connections to the world's global history.
A Science of Urbanization? Archaeology and the Irreducibly Local in Northern Mesopotamia
Recently, scholars in urban studies have called for the development of a science devoted to uncov... more Recently, scholars in urban studies have called for the development of a science devoted to uncovering the "fundamental laws of the urbanization process: its origins, development, organization, emergent properties, and connections to other social ... processes (Solecki et al. 2013). Such a science - or at least the quest for such a science - has long existed in archaeology, but it has met with significant and sustained critique. The search for broadly applicable, cross-cultural laws of urbanization has often proven inadequate when faced with complex local and regional histories that defy generalization. This paper uses Tell Hamoukar, one of the largest Early Bronze Age settlements in northeastern Syria, as a platform for exploring the possibilities and pitfalls of a top-down, model-based approach to analyzing urbanization. In particular, it argues for a more inductive approach to model-building that embraces the twists and turns of local settlement history and that makes room for a wide array of pathways to urbanism, even within a single region.
The Protracted Process of Urbanization at Early Bronze Age Hamoukar
Hamoukar was one of the largest urban centers in northern Mesopotamia during the Early Bronze Age... more Hamoukar was one of the largest urban centers in northern Mesopotamia during the Early Bronze Age. The settlement expanded to its largest extent during the late Ninevite 5 period (c. 2500 BC) and was eventually abandoned several hundred years later. Results of excavations in Hamoukar’s lower town between 2006 and 2010 now show that, during its life span, the city experienced profound changes in economic organization, particularly in the realms of ceramic production, subsistence, and administration. This paper examines these changes in light of current models of urbanization and urban economy. It argues, based on the evidence from Hamoukar, that transformations in economic organization commonly assumed to be a driving force in the urbanization process may, in fact, be secondary developments.
Shifting Economies at Hamoukar: the Settlement Biography of an Early Urban Center
Fire Installations in a Late Ninevite 5 Complex at Hamoukar, Syria
In 2010, excavations in the lower town at Hamoukar, in northeastern Syria, revealed an architectu... more In 2010, excavations in the lower town at Hamoukar, in northeastern Syria, revealed an architectural complex that included several large fire installations dating to the late Ninevite 5 period (c. 2600-2400 BC). The complex was made up of a mixture of large, solidly built walls and less substantial ones, and it was built around an open-air courtyard. Three semicircular fire installations were found in rooms immediately surrounding this courtyard. This paper has two aims, 1) to identify the goods produced in these fire installations and 2) to discuss what these installations can tell us about the administration and organization of food production at Hamoukar during the late Ninevite 5 period. The paper combines a study of the installations themselves (e.g., form, size, and construction) with an analysis of the artifactual assemblage from the building complex (ceramics, faunal remains, glyptic, and small finds).
Early Bronze Age Hamoukar: “Akkadian”—and Beyond?
Seven Generations Since the Fall of Akkad session
Foodways in an Ubaid Town: Zooarchaeology at Tell Zeidan, Syria
The large prehistoric site of Tell Zeidan sits at the confluence of the Balikh and Euphrates Rive... more The large prehistoric site of Tell Zeidan sits at the confluence of the Balikh and Euphrates Rivers in Syria. Archaeologists have long been aware of the site’s importance. Surveys indicated that it was one of the largest Ubaid sites in northern Mesopotamia and that it had also been occupied during the Halaf and early Late Chalcolithic periods. In 2008, the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago and the Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums began a joint excavation project at Zeidan. The goal of the project has been to investigate the origins of urbanism and early complex societies in Northern Mesopotamia, with a particular focus on the Ubaid period.
A program of zooarchaeological analysis, begun in 2009, is a crucial component in this investigation. We now have a sizable sample of analyzed animal bones from the Ubaid period. In addition to the usual suite of Near Eastern domesticates (sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs), the Ubaid faunal remains also include the bones of many wild animals (onagers, fallow deer, roe deer, and gazelles). Interestingly, despite Zeidan’s proximity to the swampy confluence of the Balikh and Euphrates, there are very few fish or birds remains. This paper presents the results of three seasons of zooarchaeological analysis. In particular, the paper presents the results of a study of spatial patterning in the faunal remains, a study which is already beginning to illuminate foodways and their connection to social stratification, agricultural intensification, and economic organization at Tell Zeidan.
Hamoukar during the Ninevite 5 Period
Carcasses, Cooking, and Consumption: Foodways at Late Chalcolithic Hamoukar
Hamoukar during the Third Millennium BC: Recent Work
Urban Trajectories in the Third Millennium BC: Recent Excavations in the Lower Town at Hamoukar
Beyond Culture History: Unpacking the Ninevite 5 Horizon
There’s Something Fishy about Tell Qarqur: Fauna and Environment in the Ghab Valley
Feeding the Fort: the Fauna of Hellenistic Hacinebi Tepe
Archaeology, the study of the material remains of the human past, investigates a wide range of qu... more Archaeology, the study of the material remains of the human past, investigates a wide range of questions about our origins, about the diversity and development of societies, and about the relationship of the past to the present. By asking these questions, archaeology gives us a chance to reflect on how we got to where we are today and to explore other ways that humans have lived. In this course, we will learn about the methods and theories that archaeologists use to bring the past to light. We will also survey the world's major prehistoric civilizations, comparing the variability of human society across time and space. The course will be a combination of lectures, activities, and discussions.
Much of what we know about ancient Mesopotamia comes from the rich legacy of the cuneiform texts.... more Much of what we know about ancient Mesopotamia comes from the rich legacy of the cuneiform texts. The culture heritage of Mesopotamia, however, stretches back much earlier than the written word. Archaeological excavations in Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Iran provide us with a window into this prehistoric period. It is becoming clear that many aspects of historical Mesopotamian culture have their roots in the millennia preceding the invention of writing. Religious institutions, artistic traditions, family organization, and economic structures all have their roots in these prehistoric cultures. We will examine the prehistoric cultures of ancient Mesopotamia from the earliest humans to the beginnings of state-level society through a number of different paths: