Archaeology of Ritual Research Papers (original) (raw)

2025, Oxford Journal of Archaeology

SummaryThe site of Uğurlu on the island of Gökçeada (Imbros) is the earliest known Neolithic settlement within the Aegean Islands (c.6800–4500 cal. BC). In total, 37 pits, associated with a rich variety of artefacts as well as human and animal bones were excavated in the Late Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic levels of the site (c.5900–4500 BC). The pits belonging to the early sixth millennium BC levels of Uğurlu were small and located within the houses that seem to have gone through multiple episodes of house destruction and renovation rituals. During the late sixth millennium BC, this area became the focus of extensive pit‐digging activity, when large pits involving rich variety of artefacts were set within the courtyard of a special building (Building 4). Among the pits, a collective human burial pit (P188) incorporating the remains of 11 individuals and another pit (P52) involving a partial human skeleton were also found. From a comparative point of view, the construction techniq...

2025

Se presenta un excepcional simpulum de mango horizontal de bronce recuperado en aguas del Mediterráneo en La Manga del Mar Menor (Cartagena) y donado al Museo Arqueológico de Murcia. Las inusuales dimensiones y estado de conservación invitan a una serie de reflexiones de carácter general sobre esta categoría de objetos, así como a una contextualización histórico-arqueológica para explicar su coherencia en el sureste peninsular.
This paper presents an exceptional bronze horizontal-handled simpulum, recovered from the waters of the Mediterranean in La Manga (Cartagena) and donated to the Archaeological Museum of Murcia. The object’s exceptional dimensions and state of preservation prompt a series of general reflections on this category of ob-jects, as well as a historical-archaeological contextualisation to explain its coherence in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula.

2025, G. Shelach-Lavi, J. Maran, and U. Davidovich (eds). 2025. Rituals, Memory and Societal Dynamics: Contributions to Social Archaeology

Household rituals are often assumed to have been a significant part of the social fabric of early Neolithic societies world-wide. Such rituals are seen as an important aspect of household integration and the establishment of households as the main socio-economic units of village society. However, archaeological evidence of such ritual practices are scarce and difficult to identify and analyze. Based on research carried out at early sedentary sites in North China, we argue that an often-neglected aspect of such ritual activity is the intentional burial of artifacts under the house’s living-room floors. Many of those are utilitarian artifacts originally meant for daily use. When several such artifacts are buried together, they are often identified as “caches,” but their meaning is not well understood. Analyzing the archaeological context and the content of such “caches” and comparing them to known ethnographic examples, can better our understanding of the nature of household rituals and the process by which a mundane artifact become sacred. Comparing such evidence to remains of rituals carried out at the same villages’ public spaces sheds light on the variety of ritual activities that took place in early village societies and enhances our understanding of the social roles they played.

2025, Cambridge Archaeological Journal

Early urban societies feature specialized processes that integrate disparate populations as part of their social construction. One such process is commensalism and the associated display of exotica from interregional interaction. Hosts of a feast between 400 and 300 BCE at the early urban centre of Etlatongo, in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca, Mexico, displayed pottery that manifested relationships with urban elites at Monte Albán and other regions of Oaxaca, but also expressed connections with something fundamentally different. The hosts sacrificed a greenstone sculpture in the Mezcala style from Guerrero state, located to the west and previously unknown in Oaxaca aesthetics. The discovery of this figure contributes to reassessing the extent of interaction during a time often marked by regionalism in Oaxaca as well as providing information on the little-known Mezcala civilization. A relational ontology explores how the discovery of this agentive object and the alterity of its aesthetics facilitates understanding perceptions of distant others or imaginaries, and how such entanglements facilitated processes of status differentiation for nascent urban elites, particularly their role as mediators.

2025, Money Trend 49-50, 2017-2018

Abb. 10: Die Lage des Felsplateaus über dem Pass. Rechts das Gipfelgasthaus. Postkarte aus der Zwischenkriegszeit Gesamt-Stückzahl der bekannten Funde Ca. 99 Stück Keltisch 1 Stück Republikanisch 1 Stück Beginn der Kaiserzeit bis Wende 1./2. Jh. (= bis und mit Trajan) 3 Stück Wende 1./2. Jh. bis Wende 2./3.Jh. (= Hadrian bis und mit Septimius Severus) 8 Stück Wende 2./3. Jh. bis Wende 3./4. Jh. (= Caracalla bis und mit Diokletian) 22 Stück 4. Jh. (ohne Diokletian und bis Valentinian II. [375-392] und Theodosius I. [379-395]) 41 Stück 3. und 4. Jh. 5 Stück Nachantik 2 Stück Unbekannt ca. 16 Stück Abb. 1: In der Tiefe der Pass: Blick vom Mont Vélan auf die Passhöhe des Großen Sankt Bernhard (Bildmitte) mit dem am See gelegenen Hospiz

2025, Money Trend 51-52, 2019-2020

Werfen wir dazu einen Blick auf einige Fundzahlen! Allein auf dem Hauptplatz des antiken Athen, der Agora, wurden so über 50.000 Münzen geborgen. Auch vom Forum in Rom sollen es bis zur Mitte des vergangenen Jahrhunderts über 10.000 Stück gewesen sein. In der schweizerischen Römerstadt Augusta Raurica-Augst bei Basel kamen nur in den Jahren zwischen 1949 und 2012 über 25.000 Einzelfunde zutage. Und in Österreich umfassen die Bestände des Carnuntiner Archäologischen Museums an die 100.000 römische Münzen (nach Chr. Gazdac u.a., In the Shadow of the Heathens' Gate [Cluj-Napoca 2014], S. 8). Davon wurden 38.495 Stück im Rahmen des Sammelwerkes "Die Fundmünzen der römischen Zeit in Österreich" bearbeitet; und 36.251 dieser Münzen waren Einzelfunde. Die Frage, wie solche gewaltigen Mengen zustande kommen, wird schon seit langem gestellt. Die große Zahl von Münzen aller Fundgruppen war bereits dem englischen Historiker William Camden (1551-1623) aufgefallen; er bemerkt dazu: "An Münzen der Römer ... findet sich bei uns ... eine unbegrenzte Menge ... Woher es aber kommt, dass eine so große Menge davon übrig blieb, darüber wunderte ich mich sehr." Erklärlich schien es ihm nur dadurch, dass das Einschmelzen alter Münzen in römischer Zeit verboten gewesen sei (W. Camden, Britannia [Ausgabe London 1617], S. 76). Auch in einem zweiten Werk kam Camden kurz auf das Thema zu sprechen und hob hervor, dass an römischen Münzen "täglich eine große Menge gefunden" werde (W. Camden, Remaines Concerning Brittaine [London 4. Aufl.1629], S. 166). In neuerer Zeit hat der Basler Numismatiker Herbert A. Cahn in einem Aufsatz des Jahres 1942 "die ganze Frage der seltsam häufigen Streufunde aus römischer Zeit" ein "Rätsel" genannt, das "wohl ungelöst bleiben" werde (H. A. Cahn, Jahrbuch der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte 33, 1942, S. 140). In einer Arbeit von 1947 kam er darauf zurück und schrieb über die römischen Streufunde: "Es ist noch nicht erklärt, wieso solche ungeheure Men-Im vergangenen Jahr hat unsere Zeitschrift eine Artikelserie veröffentlicht, die gewissermaßen ein Porträt zweier Gruppen römischer Fundmünzen entwarf: der Weihefunde und der Grabfunde. Beide sind wichtige numismatisch-archäologische Quellen und leisten einen wertvollen Beitrag zu unserem Wissen über die Religionsgeschichte des alten Rom. Mit unserer neuen Serie "Ein Rätsel der Numismatik?" wenden wir uns nun einer anderen Fundgruppe zu: der Gruppe der sogenannten Einzelfunde. Auch mit dieser Fundkategorie verbinden sich interessante und kulturgeschichtlich ergiebige Fragen. Ein Hauptthema ist dabei die spannende Suche nach der Erklärung eines Phänomens, das auch schon als ein unlösbares Rätsel bezeichnet wurde.

2025, Colección Shadum

Reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de este libro puede reproducirse o transmitirse por ningún procedimiento electrónico o mecánico, incluyendo fotocopia, grabación magnética o cualquier almacenamiento de información y... more

2025

Durante la intervención arqueológica realizada con carácter de urgencia en el núcleo urbano de Lorca, se excavaron una veintena de estructuras funerarias de incineración ibéricas entre las que destacó la que aquí estudiamos por su carácter excepcional. Se trata de una fosa datada a finales del siglo IV a C. que contenía un vaso cinerario atípico, denominado genéricamente kernos, de los que se utilizaron normalmente para la realización de libaciones durante un período cronológico extenso a lo largo del Mediterráneo. En esta ocasión, la pieza, que se manifiesta como excepcional dentro de la cultura material ibérica por la escasez de otras similares, contenía restos humanos calcinados en una de sus cazoletas y en otra, restos óseos de mamíferos depositados a modo de ofrenda. En la misma fosa practicada como contenedor del kernos funerario se depositaron más restos humanos calcinados que aparecieron mezclados con otros faunísticos. Entre estos últimos predominan los mamíferos pero desta...

2025, Lucia Lepore

Sono davvero commosso nel presentare, nell'ambito della Collana di monografie annessa alla rivista Thiasos, questo volume di scritti dedicati al nostro indimenticato amico Enzo Lippolis, a cinque anni dalla sua prematura scomparsa nel marzo 2018. La Rivista e la Collana sono stati infatti l'esito di un progetto editoriale comune, fortemente voluto da Enzo e scaturito da una lunga esperienza di ricerca condivisa su temi e contesti archeologici dell'Italia, della Grecia e, più in generale, del Mediterraneo. Archeologo di rango e studioso di vaste prospettive, Enzo era convinto, come tutti noi, che la collaborazione sul campo tra architetti ed archeologi potesse portare, nella condivisione di esperienze e ricerche, all'acquisizione di una metodologia operativa aperta al confronto e consapevole dell'importanza di un approccio multidisciplinare. In quelle esperienze comuni, in particolare in Grecia e nella nostra lunga frequentazione della Scuola Archeologica di Atene, trovò alimento la consapevolezza di quanto si riveli significativa, ai fini di una comprensione organica della cultura del mondo antico, la stretta integrazione tra saperi, in un contesto in cui le diverse competenze si integrano vicendevolmente. Decidemmo così di condividere fin dalla fondazione, nel 2011, la Direzione della Rivista, arrivata ormai a superare i dieci anni di vita, ed è davvero triste che Enzo non abbia potuto festeggiare con noi il riconoscimento da parte dell' Anvur della classe A per le aree CUN 08 e 10, avvenuto proprio pochi mesi dopo la sua scomparsa. Da allora, insieme a Monica Livadiotti, Roberta Belli Pasqua e Luigi Maria Caliò, e ai giovani della Redazione -alcuni dei quali, Rita Sassu, Chiara Giatti, Valeria Parisi, Antonella Lepone, suoi antichi allievi -, portiamo avanti nel ricordo di Enzo la nostra iniziativa editoriale, che anche nel nome vuole richiamare il clima di amicizia in cui era stata concepita. Il titolo della rivista, Thiasos, ripreso nella Collana, rimanda infatti all'appartenenza ad un gruppo, inteso come comunità di studio e di ricerca, che vuole sviluppare in sinergia approfondimenti su tematiche inerenti l'archeologia classica e l'architettura antica. Ed è esattamente in questo spirito che nasce il volume di scritti che oggi ho l'onore di presentare, il 20° di una Collana giovane, inaugurata appena nel 2011, ma che ha dato fino ad ora spazio alle nostre ricerche come e soprattutto a quelle di tanti giovani studiosi, obiettivo che fin dall'inizio era compreso nel nostro progetto editoriale. Trascurando per motivi di spazio altre linee di ricerca importanti per Enzo, come ad esempio quelle in Grecia -a Creta e ad Atene -, il presente volume contiene una serie di approfondimenti volutamente limitati alla Magna Grecia 1 , che rappresentava forse il suo interesse primario, essendo tarantino di nascita, profondo conoscitore della sua terra, nato davvero 'nel segno di Archita' . Come direttore della Collana, ma soprattutto come amico, vorrei esprimere la mia riconoscenza a Roberta Belli Pasqua e Rita Sassu per la cura attenta e paziente degli scritti pervenuti, sottoposti al vaglio di referee esterni, come è regola della nostra Rivista. Ma vorrei ricordare anche Monica Livadiotti, per la cura e l'eleganza dell'impaginato, e la nostra Casa editrice di riferimento, la Quasar di Roma, nella persona dell'amica Martina Tognon, per il sostegno che non ha mai fatto mancare alle nostre iniziative editoriali.

2025, Reviews in Anthropology

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2025, American Antiquity

Several decades ago, the National Park Service's Chaco Project revealed evidence for widespread ornament manufacture at small sites (small houses) in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, as well as possible workshopscale production at two of these locations. Given that consumption of finished jewelry items is clearly concentrated at large sites (great houses), it was suggested that lapidary production was part of a larger corporate political strategy, in which goods produced in surrounding small houses were used to sustain communal events related to construction activities and ritual performances at great houses. This article addresses a critical gap in this narrative-ornament production at great houses. Using Pueblo Bonito as a case study, I present the results of a systematic analysis of lapidary tools from the site and characterize the nature of on-site ornament manufacture. I find evidence that significant jewelry-making was occurring at Pueblo Bonito, at least on par with previously documented small-house jewelry workshops, and that a portion of this was embedded within elite households. These results require us to reconsider the role of ornament production in Chacoan political economy. Resumen Hace varias décadas, el Proyecto de Chaco del Servicio Nacional de Parques halló evidencia de la fabricación de adornos personales en "casas pequeñas" en el Cañon de Chaco (Nuevo Méjico), incluyendo la producción a escala de taller especializado en dos de estos yacimientos. Puesto que el consumo de objetos de adorno está concentado en "las casas grandes", se ha sugerido que la producción lapidaria haya sido parte de una estrategía política corporativa más amplia en la cual los bienes producidos en las casas pequeñas cercanas fueron empleados para sostener eventos comunales relacionados con las actividades de construcción y actuaciones rituales en las casas grandes. Este artículo pretende rellenar un hueco en esta narrativa: la producción de adornos en casas grandes. Con el Pueblo Bonito como caso de estudio, presento los resultados de un análisis sistemática de los utensilios lapidarios del sitio y caracterizo la naturaleza de la fabricación de adornos en este yacimiento. Encuentro evidencia significativa de fabricación en el Pueblo Bonito, al menos tanto como se había documentado anteriormente en talleres de las casas pequeñas, y que una porción de esta producción tomó lugar dentro de residencias de familias de élite. Estos resultados nos obligan a reconsiderar el papel de la

2025, Antropología e Historia de Guatemala

2025

A small loutrophoros fragment (430–420 BCE) discovered in the Sanctuary of the Nymphe, Athens, depicts parts of a decorated loutrophoros, myrtle wreaths and a round object floating in the air between them. A closer look and comparisons with better preserved examples allow us to identify and reconstruct its lacunose scene with a bride engaged in juggling, an iconic ludic activity associated with the parthenos on the brink of marriage. The fragment offers rare evidence for the depiction of a ludic subject pertaining to divination and love magic on a ritual wedding vase which was dedicated to the most important wedding cult site in ancient Athens.

2025, African Archaeological Review

Post-Pleistocene climatic improvement in the Northern Hemisphere after ca. 9550 BC allowed human populations to recolonize large parts of North Africa in what is today the Sahara Desert. In the Egyptian Western Desert, the beginnings of human occupation date as early as ca. 9300 BC. Occupation continued until the middle of the third millennium BC when final desertification of the area no longer afforded human occupation. The settlement of the Neolithic cattle and sheep/goat herders developed along with the rhythm of alternating wet and dry climatic oscillations. One of the areas occupied intensively during the early and middle Holocene was Gebel Ramlah. Pastoral populations established their settlements around the shores of a paleo-lake adjacent to a rocky massif, to exploit the local savannah environment. During most of the Neolithic, they buried their dead dispersed outside of their settlements. Only during the Final Neolithic (after ca. 4600 BC) did they place them exclusively in cemeteries. Of six Final Neolithic cemeteries investigated at Gebel Ramlah to date, one is entirely unprecedented, not only in North Africa but also globally at such an early date. For just under 200 years (ca. 4500-4300 BC), it served exclusively for the inhumation of infants who died around (perinate) or shortly after the time of birth (neonate). Thirty-two burial pits contained skeletal remains of 39 individuals, not only infants but also at least two adult females accompanied by perinates/neonates. Older children (> 3 years) were interred at a nearby cemetery that primarily comprised adults.

2025

International audience"At the end of the first field season (April-May 2010), and after completing the analysis of data and materials recollected, we were able to define three main lines of investigation for the next four years. The first topic deals with the study of the processes that led to the constitution of an agglomeration in Group B of no less than 38 residential patios dating from the Late and Terminal Classic periods. Another theme of research is the understanding of stability or changing trough time of seat of power. But here, we will expose the third line of investigation related to economy: all materials recovered during the first two field seasons clearly indicate that Naachtun had access during a long time to a large quantity and variety of goods andproducts, and this is significant when we try to understand the different aspects of the economy of this major Center. Which roots can we identify to explain the prosperity of the site?" (source éditeur)Voir le l...

2025, Bulletin de la Société Nationale des Antiquaires de France 2005-2006

2025, Η χειροποίητη κεραμική από το Κτίριο Ζ του προϊστορικού οικισμού της Τούμπας Θεσσαλονίκης

Η παρούσα μεταπτυχιακή εργασία επικεντρώνεται στη μελέτη της χειροποίητης επιτραπέζιας κεραμικής του Κτιρίου Ζ και του παρακείμενου δρόμου Χ1, που ανασκάφηκαν στο νότιο τμήμα του προϊστορικού οικισμού της Τούμπας Θεσσαλονίκης μεταξύ 1985 και 1987. Το Κτίριο Ζ αποτελείται από δύο χώρους, τον Ζ1 και τον Ζ2, οι οποίοι απέδωσαν ένα μεγάλο σύνολο κεραμικής, τόσο τροχήλατης όσο και χειροποίητης, και σχετίζεται κυρίως με τη φάση 4 του οικισμού, που χρονολογείται στην προχωρημένη Ύστερη Εποχή Χαλκού. Ο Ζ1 περιλαμβάνει λάκκους και εστίες με στρώμα στάχτης και ο Ζ2 περιέχει λάκκους και πίθους, εκ των οποίων ο ένας εντοπίστηκε μέσα σε λάκκο, ενώ το κτίριο φαίνεται να χαρακτηρίζεται από διάφορες φάσεις ανακατασκευών και χρήσης. Ο κύριος σκοπός της μελέτης είναι η τεχνολογική και τυπολογική ανάλυση της χειροποίητης κεραμικής του Κτιρίου Ζ, με έμφαση στην τυπολογία, στη κατασκευαστική διαδικασία ανά τα διάφορα στάδια της (πρώτες ύλες, τεχνικές κατασκευής, επεξεργασία των επιφανειών, όπτηση) και στη σύνθεση της κεραμικής ύλης. Τα κεραμικά σύνολα των δύο χώρων και του δρόμου τίθενται υπο σύγκριση, εξετάζοντας ποσοτικές και ποιοτικές διαφορές. Η μελέτη συγκρίνει τα ευρήματα με προηγούμενες έρευνες κεραμικής στον οικισμό και να συσχετίσει τη χειροποίητη κεραμική με την τροχήλατη κεραμική του ίδιου κτιρίου, προκειμένου να διερευνηθούν ζητήματα συγχρονικότητας και διαχρονικής χρήσης των χώρων. Τέλος, επιχειρήθηκε η συγκειμενική παράθεση των δεδομένων από μελέτες άλλων αρχαιολογικών υλικών από το ίδιο σύνολο, προκειμένου να εξετασθεί το εύρος των δραστηριοτήτων που λάμβαναν χώρα στο Κτίριο Ζ.

2025, Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 51

Die Redaktorinnen und Redaktoren begutachten als Fachredaktion die Beiträge (peer review). Das Archäologische Korrespondenzblatt wird im Arts & Humanities Citation Index ® sowie im Current Contents ® / Arts & Humanities von Clarivate Analytics aufgeführt. Beiträge werden erbeten an den Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentral museums, Ernst-Ludwig-Platz 2, 55116 Mainz,

2025, Boletin Americanista

La espectacularidad de las estructuras piramidales y palaciegas mayas, determinó que este tipo de estudios, quedasen, siempre, en un segundo plano. Es, gracias a la generalización de los estudios sobre el patrón de asentamiento, en las diversas áreas ocupadas por la cultura maya, (ASHMORE, 1977 et alii), que las estructuras de habitación, donde residían los doversos grupos sociales, han tomado gran relevancia para la interpretación global de esta sociedad. Por otro lado, en la actualidad, contamos con algunos ejemplos donde se encuentran documentadas la suficiente cantidad de este tipo de estructuras, como para permitirnos la realización de interpretaciones rigurosas. sin embargo, su mal estado de conservación, ya que estaban construidas, generalmente, con materiales perecederos, y la propia vegetación del entorno, dificultan la de limitación de las mismas y su valoración. Sonde destacar, como obras de conjunto, las editadas por Linda Manzanilla (MAN-ZANILLA, 1986 y 1987), y que pueden valorarse como un estado de la cuestión, no únicamente para la zona propiamente maya, sino para el amplio espectro cultural mesoamericano. «Una Unidad Habitacional, es un conjunto de construcciones de varias formas y tamaños cuya distribución y materiales asociados revelan la realización cotidiana de diversas actividades de un grupo real)) (MANZANILLA, 1987: 26). Tres son los niveles de análisis a los que se puede someter esta definición: En primer lugar, se está hablando de un conjunto de edificaciones, que, como en las comunidades mayas contemporáneas, responden a diversas necesidades: cobijo, lugar de actividades colectivas, almacenamiento, resguardo del ganado, etc. Generadas por la propia comunidad y que responden a procesos adaptativos al propio ecosistema. Todas estas estructuras, se sitúan alrededor de una plaza o patio de actividades que actúa como eje vertebrador de la dinámica social. En segundo lugar, la definición se centra en la calidad de los diversos materiales constructivos utilizados. Por tanto, este punto obliga a considerar como unidad habitacional, desde una dependencia palaciega, con evidencia reiterada de ocupación, hasta las pequeñas plataformas sobre las cuales se edificaban los hábitats de los campesinos. La función, independientemente de la calidad de la construcción, unifica espacios que, inicialmente, podrían considerarse diferentes. El tercer lugar, se refiere a la evidencia arqueológica que motiva la interpretación de esos espacios como de habitación, es decir, la ocupación continuada de los mismos, y la realización de actividades cotidianas, (decanso; preparación de alimentos; elaboración de útiles diferenciados, etc), justifica que sean considerados como tales. Una segunda definición respecto a los carácteres generales de las -Unidades Habitacionales-es la que encontramos en el artículo de Gordon Willey (WILLEY, ducida, formada por producciones cerámicas locales (propias de esos pequeños hornos (<familiares),), con ausencia de elementos de prestigio: ¿Cúal es la vida de datación cronológica ? En estos casos, se recurre a la generalización, es decir, a la adaptación cronológica de ese espacio, a modelos mejor datados, pero sin la precisión propia requerida. Desconocemos, también, durante cúanto tiemp utilizaban esas estructuras y, evidentemente, no sabemos cual es la representatividad real de las actividades de las cuales sí que tenemos una evidencia material clara. Además, no todos los montículos corresponden a espacios de habitación. Es, mediante la distribución topográfica de los elementos materiales y la cantidad de estos, que puede precisarse, desde la perspectiva arqueológica, su atribución funcional. Este aspecto es de gran importancia a la hora de calcular poblaciones aproximadas de Centros Ceremoniales específicos: A-Unicamente pueden ser contabilizadas aquellas plataformas, (estructuras), de las cuales se conozca, con seguridad, su funcionalidad específica, descartando aquellos espacios ocupados temporalmente, o bien aquellos cuya utilización tenga un carácter puntual y no habitual dentro de la vida cotidiana de las diferentes comunidades analizadas. B-Contabilizar aquellos espacios que presenten una contemporaneidad en SU USO.

2025, Schweizerische Numismatische Rundschau

Deutsch (english and french see below): Zwischen 2020 und 2023 wurden bei mehreren Begehungen und Untersuchungen auf der Flur Franzosenhau der am Hochrhein gelegenen Zürcher Gemeinde Weiach mindestens 62 schweizerische Silberstatere,... more

2025

Curry (22Ok578) is a single-mound, Native American archaeological site located in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi. Curry Mound was constructed between ca. A.D. 1300 and A.D. 1450. This was determined through analysis of Curry’s ceramic assemblage and Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) dating of flotation samples from the 2006 excavation by Nicole Palmer, curated at the Cobb Institute of Archaeology’s Curation Facility. A chronology for construction of the mound was created through the comparison of nineteen AMS dates and the analysis of over 800 ceramic sherds. The construction of the Curry Mound occurred in two stages, Mound Stages I and II, between ca. A.D. 1300 and A.D. 1450. AMS dates from off the mound provide evidence of a later occupation from ca. A.D. 1500 to A.D. 1600. The occupational history of this site ties into the broader regional history of the Black Prairie in Mississippi between the middle Mississippian Period and early Contact period, providing a greater understanding of Mississippi’s Native American history.

2025, Chungara

Partiendo de que la reproducción de toda comunidad requiere instancias de interacción y copresencia entre sus miembros, se propone que lugares de congregación ritual asociados a rasgos de paisaje de especial relevancia cosmológica fueron... more

2025, Тверской археологический сборник. Вып. 10. Т. II. Тверь, 2015. С. 232-244.

Автор предлагает новую интерпретацию фаллических культовых камней-идолов, связывая их с культом предков, публикует новые находки.

2025, The Review of Korean Studies

This article examines the spatial structure and ritual practices of state sacrificial rites during Korea’s Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), focusing on the Hwangudan (Round Altar) and Sajikdan (Earth and Grain Altar) sites in the capital. By comparing them with similar sites in Tang and Song China, the study reveals how Goryeo adopted Chinese ritual models but reinterpreted them to fit its own political, social, and ideological contexts. Uniquely, the king did not perform the rites himself, delegating the task to court officials—a bureaucratic feature that distinguished Goryeo’s ritual system from its Chinese counterparts. Through analysis of historical records, antique maps, and archaeological data, this study highlights how ritual venues in Goryeo were not mere physical sites, but dynamic spaces that embodied political authority and cosmological symbolism. The findings offer a new perspective on how state rites functioned as instruments of governance and legitimacy in East Asia.

2025

The proposed collection "Materials and research on archeology of Eastern Ukraine" № 1
is devoted to publications and research of archaeological sites discovered in recent years in the eastern regions of Ukraine.
Researchers compare local archaeological antiquities with monuments of wide adjacent geography the physical zone, determine their cultural originality and chronological framework.
The collection is designed for archaeologists, teachers and students of universities, museum

2025, Archivo Español de Arqueología, Vol. 98

Presentamos en este artículo los resultados de las intervenciones arqueológicas que el grupo de investigación GRESEPIA-URV, en colaboración con el IPHES-CERCA, ha efectuado entre 2019 y 2021 en la Sala del Llac de la Cova de la Font Major de l’Espluga de Francolí. En este espacio, que ya fue objeto de diferentes trabajos arqueológicos por parte de Salvador Vilaseca entre 1959 y 1964, se recuperaron una gran cantidad de vasos cerámicos, elementos metálicos y restos óseos, que fueron adscritos a una amplia cronología y a una funcionalidad incierta, que combinaba la ritualidad con un espacio de enterramiento. Nuestra reciente investigación en la Sala del Llac ha tenido como objetivo actualizar los datos sobre la secuencia crono-estratigráfica y sobre la interpretación de la funcionalidad de la cavidad. En este sentido se ha incidido en el estudio de los materiales exhumados, trazándose una nueva propuesta de uso de este espacio durante la Protohistoria.

2025, Death Imagined. Ancient Perceptions of Death and Dying

Discussions of metaphors in Sumerian and Akkadian texts, mostly literary.

2025

This study proposes Jabal Harb in northwestern Saudi Arabia as the historically significant Mount Horeb (Mount Sinai), a pivotal site in biblical and Quranic narratives. By synthesizing Quranic geography, archaeological findings, linguistic analysis, and scholarly research, this paper aims to provide a multidisciplinary argument supporting this identification. The implications of this hypothesis extend to understanding regional history, biblical geography, and Islamic tradition.

2025, Journal of Field Archaeology

Among traditional societies, goods acquired from a geographic distance, particularly those that are colorful and lustrous, often are imbued with symbolic power that enhances their use value among recipients. I examine this issue from an economic perspective using an assemblage of chipped stone tools from Woodland-period contexts at Fort Center, a large earthworks site in southern Florida where lithic raw material is non-existent. Raw-material sourcing indicates that stone tools were imported from afar or were scavenged from nearby sites. Archaic-style hafted bifaces (projectile points), particularly those made from thermally-altered silicified coral, have a significant association with mortuary-related contexts. I argue that the symbolic value of the artifacts resided in their geographic distance, temporal (ancestral) distance, and physical properties. These created demand for their ritual use in mortuary ceremonies. Non-utilitarian modification and ritual breakage of some bifaces suggest that they may have been employed in ''costly signaling'' that conveyed ''honest'' information regarding the user's esoteric knowledge and commitment to existing social and power relations.

2025, Arys n°22

Can we architecturally recognise a building used for initiation rites? Can we infer from an architectural form a ritual or even initiatory function of the space thus determined? The sanctuaries of Eleusis and Samothrace provide here the framework for an investigation into the a priori assumptions of the research on mystery rites and their impact on the identification of initiatory structures. The aim is to point out the imaginaries and interpretative blockages that certain pre-established positions induce, to the detriment of a more open and flexible vision of the mysteries and their ritual framework.

2025, ECHO - Interdisciplinary Journal of Communication Languages, Cultures, Societies

Ibrida, transculturale, capace di travalicare epoche e confini geografici: la rappresentazione dell'aldilà è una costante di lunghissima durata, che nella storia della cultura ha conosciuto infinite declinazioni e manifestazioni. Le varianti di questo ricchissimo territorio dell'immaginario, legate ovviamente al mutare delle realtà e dei periodi storici di riferimento, possono essere lette anche come un'ulteriore conferma del fatto che l'aldilà non ha smessoalmeno da quando gli esseri umani hanno iniziato a interrogarsi sulla possibilità di una vita dopo la mortedi generare speculazioni filosofiche e dottrinali, dibattiti, contrasti anche drammatici, invenzioni e in generale narrazioni tradotte in uno sterminato repertorio di forme artistiche. Dalla pittura alla letteratura, dal teatro al cinema alle arti performative, l'esistenza di un mondo o, meglio, di mondi ultraterreni, continua a essere un tema affascinante, che da Omero fino alle più recenti soluzioni post e ipermoderne (solo per limitarsi alla cultura occidentale) ha calamitato un'attenzione pressoché continua. D'altra parte, per quanto legata a codici e convenzioni più o meno latamente spirituali, la dimensione dell'aldilà non è appannaggio esclusivo della sfera religiosa: in questa prospettiva, il concetto di afterworld, nella sua inevitabile elasticità, suggerisce una dimensione plurima e sfaccettata, spesso rivisitatae non solo nella contemporaneitàin chiave laica e immanente. Basta pensare, per fare solo qualche esempio tra i molti possibili, alla fitta schiera di abitanti che popolano l'immaginario mitologico e folklorico, per non parlare della gamma, se non altrettanto nutrita comunque assai vasta, di figure ibride o intermedie, capaci di mettere in crisi l'opposizione binaria tra la vita e la morte suggerita dal senso comune: spettri, vampiri, zombie e in generale revenants di cui la tradizione letteraria è decisamente ricca. O, ancora, possiamo guardare alla dimensione spaziale: non è affatto un caso che l'aldilà sia stato spesso pensato e raffigurato appunto come un vero e proprio territorio, un mondo possibile cheal pari della fictionè dotato di regole di funzionamento specifiche. Un mondo che ha conosciuto, specialmente nelle sue manifestazioni virtuali e digitali, moltiplicazioni ed espansioni vertiginose negli ultimi decenni. Proprio da quest'ultimo aspetto prende le mosse un itinerario, quello del numero 6 di «ECHO», che si propone di esploraresenza alcuna pretesa di esaustività-l'affascinante e variegata dimensione degli afterwolds, con un'attenzione specifica alle diverse raffigurazioni e comunicazioni del tema nelle arti. Il numero, seguendo una progressione cronologica dall'antichità all'ipercontemporaneo, si è proposto infatti di aprire delle nuove finestre di dialogo sulle concezioni degli aldilà. L'aldilà digitale è l'argomento della seconda introduzione di Davide Sisto e dei contributi di Carlotta Susca e Anna Chiara Corradino che aprono e chiudono un percorso che comprende, al suo interno, un campionario rappresentativo di testi, autori, codici e generi diversi. Il numero non trascura infatti la ripresa di elementi già presenti nell'antichità classica: tavole cretesi (Antonio Pio di Cosmo), escerti porfiriani (Andrea Filoni), poesia di epoca medievale di diverse tradizioni linguistiche e culturali; e ancora il novel ottocentesco (Angelo Monaco su George Eliot), il modo fantastico, il Life after death is a fiction. It imagines a world other than our own […] Fiction is also a kind of life after death and, in contemporary culture, the afterlife finds its most pervasive and diverse manifestations in the forms of narrative fiction. A. BENNETT Afterworlds. Comunicazione e rappresentazione dell'aldilà. Introduzione Echo 6, 2024 II romanzo d'avventura moderno (Simone Carati) e i più sperimentali esiti novecenteschi (Fabiana Cecamore su Giorgio Manganelli, Milica Marinkovic su Anne Hébert e Stefania Rutigliano su Isaac Bashevis Singer), sono alcuni degli elementi che compongono un puzzle sfaccettato, capace di comunicare almeno un assaggio dell'ampiezza e della complessità del tema al centro del volume. Una pluralità che, come da tradizione di ECHO, si riflette anche nella composizione del numero. La sezione focus, riservata ai contributi di giovani studiosi e studiose in formazione, affianca una parte dedicata a saggi più estesi e strutturati, andando a delineare la facies più spiccatamente teorica del volume, nei contributi di Maria Ruggero, Marta Romagnoli, Valentina Monateri ed Anna Caterino. Una traduzione a tema infero dai Mystères medievali (e relativo commento) a cura di Susanna Scavello insieme a interviste e riflessioni di performativi restituiscono invece una dimensione maggiormente creativa ma altrettanto rigorosa, aprendo spazi verso concezioni di bioetica, antropocentrismo e performance artistica (nelle discussioni tra Anna Chiara Corradino e Margherita Pevere su Lament e negli scambi curati da Filippo Bosco con Tim Plamper e Alessandro Di Pietro). Due recensioni di saggi critici di recente pubblicazione, infine, confermano, da un'altra angolatura, la vitalità del tema degli afterworlds, oltre all'interesse che continua a esercitare anche tra gli studiosi. La metafora del territorio, e quindi dello spazio, si riflette inoltre, come anticipato, nell'ampiezza geografico-culturale toccata dai contributi di un numero di rivista che, in questo caso specifico, assume un taglio più marcatamente comparatistico. Grecia antica e mondo celtico, epoca vittoriana e modernismo, America latina e folklore ebraico (anche qui per menzionarne solo alcuni) sono da un lato realtà distanti e anche profondamente diverse, dall'altro accomunate da una riflessione multiforme su ciò che, per definizione, sta sulla soglia o oltre di essa. Il risultato suggerisce non solo che la sfida è complessa e del tutto aperta, ma anche che spingersi oltre gli steccati disciplinari, pur senza rinnegareanzi valorizzandola specificità dei diversi campi di pertinenza significa aprire orizzonti imprevisti, e in fondo riscoprire uno dei significati della teoria letteraria di cui, senza addentrarci qui nelle imponenti trasformazioni che attraversano gli studi letterari e culturali oggi, dovremmo provare a fare tesoro: la possibilità di vedere ciò che altrimenti rimarrebbe nascosto, e che, una volta svelato, arricchisce notevolmente la nostra esperienza della letteratura.

2025, Κυκλαδικά στην Κρήτη. Cycladica in Crete (επιμ. Ν.Σταμπολίδης- Π.Σωτηρακοπούλου)

The MMI jug from Malia, republished here, depicts an unsual composition incised on its surface: a large female figure with marked cycladic body and face features is presented with the legs spread wide apart exposing the pubic triangle, a standard feature in the Cycladic marble figurines, yet totally absent from Crete . She is approached by two males rendered on smaller scale gesturing to her. It was found in an ossuary close to the burial enclosure named Chrysolakos at Mallia so the scene is related to the cult of the dead, with the goddess being the central element in the composition. It is probable thereof that the Minoans conceived the naked Cycladic female marble figurines, found in tombs ,as personifications of the goddess protecting the dead

2025, Germania 101

Die wissenschaftlichen Beiträge in der Germania unterliegen dem Peer-Review-Verfahren durch auswärtige Gutachter*innen. Contributions to "Germania" are subject to peer-review process by external referees. Les articles publiés dans « Germania » sont soumis à un processus d'évaluation par les pairs. Der Abonnementpreis beträgt 39,00 € pro Jahrgang. Bestellungen sind direkt an den Verlag zu richten. Mitglieder des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts und Studierende der Altertumswissenschaften können die Germania zum Vorzugspreis von 19,50 € abonnieren. Studierende werden gebeten, ihre Bestellungen mit einer Studienbescheinigung an die Schriftleitung zu richten. Wir bitten weiterhin, die Beendigung des Studiums und Adressänderungen unverzüglich sowohl dem Verlag

2025

A small drystone chamber in what is believed to be a long barrow. Passmore 1934 : 'the builder had [dug] a small circle about 1.7 m in diameter in the soft and easily worked rock to a depth of from 10 -15 cm, around which a wall of flat slabs of rock..was evenly and regularly built.' He makes no further reference to the buried land surface. Passmore suggests this is a beehive burial chamber, although no mortuary evidence was found. Derhem 2002: Clearance and recording of the exposed chamber to a depth of .75 m below ground level. No info on buried land surface. Reference 4 Width (M) 14 NMR # SP 10 NW 10

2025

2025, "LANX" 32 (2024)

The contribution wishes to present, in an introductory and synthetic manner, the main features that distinguished the offering of money in the waters and the diffusion of this specific devotional form in the Roman-Imperial age, starting from the offerings, numismatic and otherwise, found in Anna Perenna's spring in Rome. The fountain, excavated as part of an emergency archaeology intervention by the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma between November 1999 and January 2000, makes it possible to delineate a specific devotional and religious framework from the imperial age to the late antique period, and testifies to a transformation of the specific aspects of the cult of Anna Perenna over time. The presence of coins in the source, although published in a synthetic and incomplete manner, also makes it possible to better identify the evolution of the cult of Anna Perenna over the centuries.

2025

mario denti 220 4 Denti 2008. 5 Toutes les dates sont avant J.-C. Concernant la dénomination de notre céramique, nous avons ici préféré garder la nomenclature conventionnelle « WGS » car plus simple à employer. la transmission de l'imagerie gréco-orientale en italie 221 6 Denti 2024. Nous en présenterons quelques exemples ici par la suite.

2025, Anales de Antropología

Resumen: El arte rupestre es el producto de valores y visiones del mundo compartidos por miembros de una cultura determinada en un tiempo y lugar definidos. Este ensayo busca identificar sus patrones de identidad social, interacción y cambio. A través de esa lente, revisa la distribución de los estilos y contenidos de la imaginería presente en el arte rupestre, tal como aparece en el paisaje, a lo largo del suroeste norteamericano y sus regiones adyacentes. Las continuidades y diferencias sincrónicas y diacrónicas son evaluadas en términos de patrones espaciales de modo que se puedan sugerir relaciones sociales y situaciones de estabilidad regionales, así como los puntos de ruptura ideológica y las cambiantes relaciones con las culturas de México.

2025, The Journal of Archaeological Numismatics 12

The sanctuaries in Olympia, Delphi, Isthmia, and Nemea belong to the constitutive Panhellenic sites in ancient Greece and were a destination for worshippers across the entire ancient world. Over 100 years of excavation history unearthed generously decorated temple buildings, numbers of statues, and votive offerings, which shaped the scientific discussion in Classical Archaeology for decades. Although coins were found at the sites in large numbers, most of the numismatic material from excavation projects in Ancient Greece remains unpublished or is no longer available. The catalog of coins from Nemea remains exceptional. This paper discusses the benefits, an evaluation of Greek sanctuary coin finds can have beyond the numismatic discipline. A graphical presentation of the finds based on a modern statistical method enables the historical and economic analysis of the sites and the function of the coins within the sanctuary. This comparative study of the coin finds from Olympia, Delphi, Isthmia, and Nemea deals with the origin of the numismatic material and reviews the intentionality of coin depositions in sacred spaces. In order to discuss the possibility of new results from old excavations, this paper attempts to reappraise the dedication of coins on the basis of case studies from the four sanctuaries.

2025, A LEGACY OF LEARNING IN NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY CENTENNIAL STUDIES IN MEMORY OF HELENE J. KANTOR

It was not until Helene J. Kantor's in 1944 article on the "Final Phase of Predynastic Civilization," ithat scholars awoke to the fact that there had been a seamless evolution of ancient Egyptian civilization in Africa from the Predynastic up to and through the Pharaonic Period. In examining and comparing assemblages from the full range of Predynastic material culture she demonstrated that the Predynastic period was part of a ‘continuum of Neolithic Nile Valley culture..

2025, Danish Journal of Archaeology

This paper explores the current narratives of migration for the start and spread of the Neolithic with a particular focus on the role that the new ancient DNA data have provided. While the genetic data are important and instructive, here it is argued that archaeologists should also consider other strands of evidence. More nuanced appreciations of migration as a long-term process can be created by exploring modern mobility studies alongside considerations of continued mobility throughout the Neolithic in Europe. We can also re-interpret the material evidence itself in the light of these approaches to help trace multiple possible links and migrations from multiple different origin points. This involves the investigation of complex, but connected, practices, such as monument construction and deposition across wider areas of northern Europe than are currently normally investigated. Such an approach will enable us to address long-term processes of movement, migration and interaction and ...

2025, Antiquity

Göbekli Tepe is one of the most important archaeological discoveries of modern times, pushing back the origins of monumentality beyond the emergence of agriculture. We are pleased to present a summary of work in progress by the excavators of this remarkable site and their latest thoughts about its role and meaning. At the dawn of the Neolithic, hunter-gatherers congregating at Göbekli Tepe created social and ideological cohesion through the carving of decorated pillars, dancing, feasting—and, almost certainly, the drinking of beer made from fermented wild crops.

2025, In: A. Weidinger & J. Leskovar (Hrsg.), Interpretierte Eisenzeiten. Fallstudien, Methoden, Theorie. Tagungsbeiträge der 10. Linzer Gespräche zur interpretativen Eisenzeitarchäologie. Studien zur Kulturgeschichte von Oberösterreich 55 (Linz 2024) 219–230.

The war against the Helvetian tribes and their exodus from the territory of present-day Switzerland occupy a prominent position in Gaius Iulius Caesar‘s reports on the Gallic War and are of outstanding importance for the justification of the Roman army‘s invasion of central Gaul. After a brief, introductory description of Gaul, Caesar not only opens his work „De bello Gallico“ with descriptions of the Helvetii, but also devotes the majority of his first book to them.
It is elementary that Caesar also draws on historical events that occurred several decades earlier. In order to justify his own aims, he deliberately utilises the trauma and disgrace of the defeat against the Helvetic tribe of the Tigurians at Agen in Southwest France in 107 BC, which is anchored in the memory of the Roman population.
It has long been recognised that Caesar‘s „Commentarii de bello Gallico“ is not a factual account or a description of real historical events. Nevertheless, prehistoric researchers are still looking for numerous elements of his accounts in an archaeological context.
This also applies to the evidence of fire and destruction events, as described by Caesar for the exodus of the Helvetii in 58 BC. The Helvetian tribes are said to have deliberately burnt down and destroyed their settlements and agricultural land
before leaving their homeland.
According to archaeological findings, however, only a small number of fire incidents in Switzerland have been documented to date that can be linked to the events described by Caesar. Likewise, there is no clear evidence that the forced return of the Helvetii to their homeland was followed by a recognisable new construction or increase in settlements.
Instead, Caesar‘s descriptions seem to correspond much more closely to actions and events that had occurred several decades earlier in Southern and Southwest Germany. New investigations into the Late La Tène period in Baden-Württemberg have now clearly shown that a „horizon of destruction“ can be identified in the so-called “Viereckschanzen” and open settlements, as well as in the oppida, which in its nature and uniformity goes far beyond individual damaging fires.
The aim is therefore to analyse how these phenomena are related to each other and what consequences this has for the interpretation of the traditions of the Gallic War. At the heart of this is the question of a culturally immanent behaviour of Late La Tène population groups on the one hand and a military propaganda narrative created by Caesar on the other, which has survived over time.

2025

Doing Things With Rings investigates a range of rituals involving amulet rings, and how this set of practices can serve as a window onto some of the broader themes at play in the religious life of eastern Middle Sweden during the Late... more

2025

Il breve articolo, inviato a Etruscan News, è stato pubblicato in forma di lettera per decisione della redazione.

2025, Anthropos

As I mention in the review I was privileged to have worked on the Taraco Peninsula in Bolivia in 1974 with David Browman and Clark Erickson.

2025, Norwegian Archaeological Review

This article presents key results of the excavations of the unique Hølland site in Ogna, Jæren in southwest Norway (cal. date range 203 BC–AD 553). Strategically located in a core region for ceramic production in western Scandinavia, Hølland’s pyrotechnology peaked in the troubled Migration Period (AD 400–550). Its status as the only well-documented workshop site of this kind underscores Hølland’s importance for future research. This study aims (1) to establish a firm pyrotechnological
and ceramic production chronology for Hølland and (2) to situate the
site within a wider frame of craft knowledge networks and sociopolitical dynamics during a key transitional and formative phase in Scandinavia. Our results provide a vital alternative to retrospective narratives of such crafts’ demise as part of a 6thcentury societal collapse. This study argues for the importance of understanding the dynamics of the preceding 5th century. We present a social chronology of resilience and senescence for the two centuries leading up to the mid-6th century, situating Hølland in regional power dynamics, long-distance connectivity and the main flows of craft knowledge, ideas, and materials.