Cross-cultural interaction (Archaeology) Research Papers (original) (raw)

INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH: Egypto-Levantine relations have varied from the Neolithic through Persian periods, ranging from overland and maritime commerce, diplomatic missions, emigrants, imperial expansion, and alliances, while at other times Asiatics have traded, raided, pastured their flocks, infiltrated, taken refuge in, served as mercenaries, and sometimes controlled parts of Egypt. Although fluctuations occur in the intensity of contact, in general interactions have increased over time, with local adoptions and emulations of different aspects of each culture: language, literature, religion, art, and artifacts.

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- Ancient History, Archaeology, Egyptology, Egyptian Archaeology

SUMMARY: Chapter 9, in Renfrew & Bahn's textbook (Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice), covers the various types of trade and exchange in past societies, and how one may assess it, including different types of interactions (e.g., gift exchange), various scientific techniques (e.g., microscopic examination of materials; trace-element analysis; isotopic analysis), studying material and/or artifact distributions, assessing production and consumption, and analyzing the various means of exchange and interaction. In my view, this is one of the best college textbooks available, and is invaluable for students, archaeologists, and the public in general, to obtain a top notch overview of approaching and interpreting the archaeological record. UPDATED/REVISED March, 2021, some editing and new formatting, minimal new materials.

- by Gregory Mumford
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- Archaeology, Anthropology, International Relations, International Trade
- by Kordula Gostencnik
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- Cultural History, Cultural Studies, Classical Archaeology, Classics
- by Daniela Hofmann and +1
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- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Cross-cultural interaction (Archaeology), Archaeology of Mediterranean Trade

The female figure is a persistent theme in South Asian artistic traditions from ancient times. Early Buddhist monuments of India proliferate with large-scale sensual images of women with bared breasts and ample hips. Stone sculpture produced between the 1st and the 4th centuries CE, from the Buddhist sites of Gandhāra in modern-day Pakistan and Afghanistan, however, abandons the overt sensuality and voluptuous monumentality of the female form. In addition to jewelled adornments, intricately sculpted drapery becomes a significant part of female iconography. In this artistic tradition, visual representations of women come to be associated with specific settings and recurrent themes. Furthermore, depictions of elaborately attired donor women become ubiquitous while visual representation of nuns remains largely absent. Little attention has been paid to the topic of women and gender in Gandhāran scholarship. Discussions on Gandhāran visual culture either remain mired in reductive discourses on 'artistic influences' or address images as mere illustrations of Buddhist texts. Through the examination of visual and material records from the region of Swat—stone relief panels, images of donor women, and inscriptions—this paper presents a preliminary exploration of the gendered visual rhetoric in Gandhāran art and its role in the construction of social ideals and gender norms in Gandhāran society.

- by Moizza S Elahi
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- Gender, Women, Sculpture, Social History

The author analyzes how Medieval culture and civilization in Europe was able to manage cultural, social and religious plurality and diversity without posing a threat to solidarity, openness, dynamism and the actual functioning of society using selected phenomena. The monograph explores questions connected with Medieval anthropology and the concept of the relationship between the Church and society. Additional chapters are dedicated to the Medieval Inquisition and the influence of Christianity on the social and economic arrangement of society and all of this from a transcultural perspective.

- by Tomáš Petráček
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- Religion, History, European History, Cultural History

The late Antique mosaic of Orpheus decorated a small room, approximately 18 m2 in area, connected with two even smaller ones, in 4 m2 and the other 2 m2 in area, belonging most likely to a small funerary chapel (or tomb) discovered in the ancient necropolis by the Damascene Gate in Jerusalem; it was discovered in 1901 by H. Vincent.
The author proposes a new interpretation of the iconographic program of the Orpheus myth used by wealthy Christians in a sepulchral context (see Olszewski M.T. «Orphée endeuillé de la mosaïque funéraire de Jérusalem», in Rey Mimoso-Ruiz, B. ed., Actes du colloque «Orphée entre Soleil et ombre», à l’Institut Catholique de Toulouse du 16 au 17 novembre 2007, Inter Lignes, numéros spécial – mars 2008, pp. 205-214, 226). He also proposes a new interpretation of the role Orpheus played in Roman funerary art, concentrating on the importance of the play on words and the visual and textual punning that was popular in ancient art and especially in funerary art. He rejects the popular interpretation of Orpheus as Christ in the Roman catacombs and proposes to interpret the image as that of Orpheus, bard of the departed souls, without any ahistorical connection with Christ. The program of the mosaic from Jerusalem is thus explained as a play on the words Orpheus-orphanos and Chiron (Chi-Rho) and Pan [Παν(τοκράτωρ)].The frequently used Christian funerary formula of resting in peace, Christ or the Lord corresponds
perfectly with the mood created around the mythical bard.
Orpheus’ universal role as singer and musician moving even the most stony of hearts, extolling the beloved departed, is absolutely justified in the context of a 6th-century Christian tomb. Orpheus is a popular and neutral figure, meaning that in effect it does not constitute a threat to Christian theology and can be tolerated by the educated Christians of Jerusalem.

Aboriginal Australians have been observing the stars for more than 65,000 years, and many of their oral traditions have been recorded since colonisation. These traditions tell of all kinds of celestial events, such as the annual rising of stars, passing comets, eclipses of the Sun and Moon, auroral displays, and even meteorite impacts. But new research, recently published in The Australian Journal of Anthropology, reveals that Aboriginal oral traditions describe the variable nature of three red-giant stars: Betelgeuse, Aldebaran and Antares. This challenges the history of astronomy and tells us that Aboriginal Australians were even more careful observers of the night sky than they have been given credit for.

- by Duane Hamacher
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- History, Ancient History, Cultural History, Ethnohistory
- by Yang Liu
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- Archaeology, Art History, Chinese Studies, Chinese Religions

Özet
Kültürel ilişki, bir kültürün çekirdek bölgeden daha geniş bir coğrafyadaki diğer kültürlerle etkileşim içine girerek değişmesini sağlayan bir döngüdür. Akad Çağı boyunca Anadolu ile Mezopotamya’nın birbiriyle
bağlantı halinde olduğu Arkeolojik ve filolojik belgelerle kanıtlanmıştır. Anadolu’da bulunan Akad Çağı kabartmaları da bizzat Akad Krallarının bölgeye ilgisinin kanıtlarını sunar. Bu çalışmanın amacı; Arkeolojik
kanıtların tipoloji ve kronoloji bakımından değerlendirilmesiyle, Akad Çağı’nda Anadolu ile Mezopotamya arasındaki kültürel ilişkilere ışık tutmaktır. Farklı kültürel özelliklere sahip her iki bölgede de metalik seramik, Suriye şişeleri, tankardlar, ‘topf mit Zwillingsösen’ veya çift ip delikli kulplu çömlekler, ay biçimli baltalar, boğumlu mızrak uçları, toggle-pin türü iğneler, altın hilal biçimli küpeler, dörtlü spiral kolye taneleri, disk
biçimli boncuklar, uçlara doğru daralan silindir formlu akik kolye taneleri, Akad mühürleri veya bullaları ile kurşun figürinler veya taş kalıpları gibi benzer tipteki pekçok maddi kültür kalıntısı, Akad Çağı boyunca kültürel
ilişkilerin boyutunu ortaya koymaktadır. Bunlar kolay taşınabilir veya yerleşimlerde sipariş üzerine üretilebilir olmaları bakımından ticari ürün olmalıdır. Anadolu ve Mezopotamya’da yaygın bir şekilde kullanılan eserler, ortak beğeniyi yansıtmaktadır. Örneğin disk biçimli boncuklar Anadolu, Mezopotamya, Kafkasya ve Mohenjo Daro’ya kadarki geniş bir alana yayılmıştır. Bu durum Akad Çağı’nda Anadolu ve Mezopotamya’nın çevre kültür bölgelerini de zaman zaman etkilediğini gösterir. Sonuç olarak Anadolu - Mezopotamya kültürel ilişkileri ışığında ithal veya bunların yerel taklidi olan süs eşyaları, silahlar, mühürler, metal veya seramik kapların Anadolu’da ortaya çıkması; MÖ III. Bin sonunda iki bölge arasında ticaretin varlığını ve fikir alışverişinin olduğunu göstermektedir.

This article discusses the octagonal-hilted swords which were developed in Bronze Age Central Europe but also occur in large numbers in Northern Europe. Furthermore it tries to explain this remarkable distribution and the adoption of foreign objects into the Nordic Bronze Age. The study of their forms, ornaments and technical details indicates that ordinary import or local imitation in the North are not sufficient explanations. Instead, a model for their distribution should comprise imports of swords with ornamentation in Central European tradition along with other, non-decorated swords, which were finished and decorated differently in Northern Europe. This led to reciprocal contacts and influences. Comparing the find circumstances of octagonal-hilted swords and indigenous solid-hilted swords in Northern Europe, there is no difference in interaction with these sword types. A short comparison with the foreign earliest swords and some Late Bronze Age swords in Northern Europe shows that there are also different ways of the adoption of foreign objects.

- by Susan Frances Jones
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- Cultural Studies, Word and Image Studies, Painting, Cryptography
- by Caterina Maderna
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- Cultural History, Classical Archaeology, Roman History, Iconography

INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH: The overall objectives of the University of Toronto expedition to South Sinai include tracing pharaonic routes and camps en route to the turquoise and copper mining region, investigating pharaonic and indigenous camps, mines, and their material culture assemblages in this region, and assessing Egypto-Sinaitic cross-cultural relations within this region. The 2000-2001 reconnaissance work and 2002 excavations in South Sinai focussed on Site 346, a New Kingdom anchorage and copper smelting camp beside the Red Sea, located at the northern end of El-Markha Plain and west of the mining region around Serabit el-Khadim. A topographic map was generated for Site 346 and this mound yielded a limited repertoire of pottery, copper furnaces, copper nodules, and crucible fragments, grinding stones and pounders, lithics, some faience beads, marine shells, urchin spines, and fish bones. A surface survey revealed two contemporary, small pottery scatters (Sites 346a-b) two km to the south. The project also investigated a circular, limestone structure (Site 345), 1.7 km to the south of 346. In addition, the project has incorporated satellite image interpretation to isolate vegetation signatures and associated water sources within the arid environment of El-Markha Plain, thereby detecting potential archaeological sites for ground reconnaissance work. This report concentrates mainly on the results of the 2000-2001 reconnaissance, but incorporates some preliminary results from the 2002 excavations.

- by Gregory Mumford
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- History, Ancient History, Military History, Archaeology

This paper considers the possible social role of La Hoguette pottery in its dynamic relation to the Linearbandkeramik

The following is chapter 1 (text and plates) from my PhD dissertation on the analysis of social interaction in west and central Anatolia during the Early Bronze Age (EBA, c.3200-1950 BC). The dissertation aims at identifying potential rationales for and mechanisms of exchange from the intra-settlement to the interregional scale, within the context of growing socio-economic and political complexity experienced by the local communities across the EBA. Through distributional and contextual analysis of a large range of case studies, this dissertation explores how different products, raw materials, technological knowledge and cultural behaviours circulated within Anatolia, and does so both by mapping likely flows of goods and ideas and by analysing the context of artefact use and deposition. It also investigates how increasing degrees of organization affected patterns of exchange, both at the production (specialisation, scale and intensity of production) and the circulation stages (presence of specialised exchange intermediaries, innovations in transport technology, investment in road infrastructure, control over routes). This research further attempts to reconstruct the structure of physical and social networks in EBA Anatolia, looking at how topographic and cultural constraints funnelled movement (and hence interaction) along specific landscape corridors. Lastly, it explores the role played by rising local elites and the importance of Anatolia’s vast metal resources in the process of expansion of long-distance exchange networks, which ultimately allowed the integration of Anatolia within the Near Eastern and Aegean worlds towards the end of the EBA.

Greek scholars have produced a vast body of evidence bearing on nuptial practices that has yet to be mined by a professional economist. By standing on their shoulders, the author proposes and tests radically new interpretations of three important status groups in Greek history: the pallakē, the hetaira, and the nothos. It is argued that legitimate marriage—that is, “marriage by loan of the bride to the groom”—was not the only form of legal marriage in classical Athens and the ancient Greek world generally. Pallakia—that is, “marriage by sale of the bride to the groom”— also was legally recognized. The pallakē-wifeship transaction is a sale into slavery with a restrictive covenant mandating the employment of the sold woman as a wife. The book proposes and tests the hypothesis that the likelihood of bride sale rises with increases in the distance between the ancestral residence of the groom and the father’s household. The “bastard” (nothoi) children of pallakai lacked the legal right to inherit from their fathers but were routinely eligible for Athenian citizenship.. It is argued that the basic social meaning of hetaira (“companion”) is not “prostitute”/”courtesan” but “single woman”—that is, woman legally recognized as being under her own authority (kuria). The defensive adaptation of single women is reflected in Greek myth and social practice by their grouping into packs, most famously the Daniads and Amazons.

- by Morris Silver
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- Greek Comedy, Intellectual and cultural history, Ancient Greek Religion, Greek Law

ABSTRACT: This lecture covers the period succeeding the First Persian occupation of Egypt, and including the Second Persian Occupation, namely Dynasties 28-31: (1). Independent Late Period Egypt, Dyns.28-30: ca. 404–343 BC; (2). Dynasty 28: 404-399 BC, King Amyrtaeus (II); (3). Dynasty 29: 399-380 BC: Kings Nepherites I; x (Muthis?); Hakor (Achoris); Nepherites II; (4). Dynasty 30: 380-343 BC; Kings Nectanebo I; Teos (Tachos); Nectanebo II; (5). The Second Persian Occupation: “Dynasty 31”: 343-342 BC; Kings Artaxerxes III (Ochus); Arses; Darius III (Codoman); and concluding with (6). The advent of the Macedonian Dynasty: Alexander the Great. The lecture then proceeds with a brief examination of other Aspects of Late Period Egypt (especially Dyns.27-31), including (a). An Overview of various broad aspects and trends; (b). Sculpture; (c). private burials and mummification; animal cults and animal mummification; and (e). International Relations, At the end of the lecture, I provide some selected sources on Late Period Egypt, primarily Dyns.27-31, and some selected sources on Alexander the Great.

- by Gregory Mumford
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- Ancient History, Archaeology, Egyptology, Anthropology

This study explores a new perspective on the archaeological record of Taxila in the Gandhara region through object-focused analyses and considering wider historical implications, in order to better understand cultural interaction in ancient Central Asia. The city of Taxila was a nodal point between 'East' and 'West', well-known for its so-called Greco-Buddhist artefacts. These objects have been traditionally categorised according to ethnic and/or cultural criteria, which has led to incorrect interpretations of the archaeological record that still prevail today. This article presents a new analysis of the data to investigate how different cultural elements interacted in Taxila.

- by Marike van Aerde
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- Archaeology, Cross-cultural interaction (Archaeology), Greco-Buddhism, Gandhara

La dynastie hékatomnide est souvent, et depuis longtemps, considérée comme le parangon de l'hellénisation des élites anatoliennes et le précurseur des politiques culturelles menées par les royautés hellénistiques. Issus d'une famille de dynastes cariens locaux probablement originaire de Kindye (ou Cindye), ses membres s'établirent dans le courant du Ve s. av. J .-C. à Mylasa, au coeur de la région carienne, siège du sanctuaire de Zeus Karios. Les Hékatomnides jouèrent alors un rôle central dans l'organisation religieuse, politique, voire militaire, de la Carie, grâce à la prêtrise du Koinon des Cariens à laquelle était associé le titre de Basileus. Du reste, il est possible que la position qu'ils occupaient à ce titre au sein du dispositif politico-religieux carien ait joué un rôle non négligeable lors de la réorganisation ...

- by Olivier Henry
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- Numismatics, Greek Archaeology, Ancient Greek Religion, Ancient Greek History

This study explores three houses, namely Abdülkadir Pasha Mansion, Dokmak Family House and Oral Family House, constructed by Muslim, Christian and Jew families in Mardin in the end of the 19th century. The houses in question were constructed in an era when Tanzimat bureaucrats implemented the Tanzimat reforms in the Eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Tanzimat and Islahat reforms effected the non-Muslim communities largely as they promised to non-Muslim communities an equal citizen status, and rights to preserve and develop their cultural identities and to participate in political life in the Ottoman world. The article aims to discuss the subject by analyzing the architectural characteristics, decorations and stylistic features of the houses and by focusing on the cultural and political processes that influence the formation of architectural styles that different ethno-religious groups living together for centuries have developed in Mardin. In connection with this, the spatial organization of housing and the relationship between society and housing will be analyzed. Thus, it will describe architectural and decorative features of each house, compare with each other and explore their main commonalities and distinctnesses. In addition to the critical use of the limited literature on the subject, the study, carried out on the basis of archival documents and fieldwork, also addresses the processes of intercultural relations, formation of architectural styles and processes of political change in the holistic approach.

- by Birgül Açıkyıldız
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- Cultural History, Art History, Ottoman History, Armenian Studies
- by Rickie Lette
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- Cultural History, Cultural Geography, Medieval Studies, Crusades
- by Görkem Kökdemir
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- Ancient History, Archaeology, Classical Archaeology, Anatolian Studies

As part of the VIDI 'Cultural innovation in a globalising society: Egypt in the Roman world', this PhD thesis explores manifestations of Egypt in the material culture of Augustan Rome. This period was a crucial turning point for the urban landscape of Rome, which was characterised by cultural diversity. Previous studies focus primarily on Greek influences on the development of Augustan material culture, while Egypt remains neglected or simply categorised as exoticism or Egyptomania. This research, in contrast, set out to investigate whether or not ‘Egypt’ constituted an integral part of Augustan material culture during this period. By comprising for the first time a comprehensive and interpretative overview of manifestations of Egypt in Augustan Rome –including public monuments, paintings, and architectural elements as well as pottery, gems, and jewellery from private contexts– a wide variety of case studies could be conducted, among which object reappraisals as well as new finds and contextual analyses were featured. By focusing on the archaeological data, this study demonstrates that Egypt was not an exotic Outsider in Rome, but constituted a remarkably diverse part of Roman material culture and the Augustan urban landscape, and was integrally part of the inherently flexible Augustan material culture repertoire.

- by Marike van Aerde
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- Archaeology, Egyptian Archaeology, Egypt, Acculturation

The political and economic changes involving the Po area in the transition from the Iron Age to Romanization imply a change in the cultural assets of the territory.
The contacts between different peoples (Celts, Ligurians, Etruscans), which populate the region at this stage, involve a permeability that makes it difficult to identify the boundaries between the various communities.
The extra-urban sanctuaries, the sacred enclosures and, more simply, the natural places characterized by the presence of physical phenomena are privileged scenarios of ritual linked to the sacred and, therefore, important witnesses of this cultural porosity.
In particular, the sacred sites linked to the trans-Apennine road system and associated with the peaks cult document how the Ligurian presence, during the 4th century BC, holds strategic points control to protect the trade routes, in some cases replacing the Etruscan element, where present, weakened by a new territory reorganization and by new cultural dynamics, attributable to the Laten Celts expansion starting from the late 4th century BC. Characterized by a cultual continuity until the threshold of Romanity, sites such as the Pietra di Bismantova, Mount Barazzone, Mount Valestra, Mount Cimone, Mount Penna, Mount Alfeo and La Sella del Valoria can provide important informations about the communities involved, the venerated deities and their acceptance within the Roman world.
The focus of this study is to highlight the contribution that the archeology of the sacred can provide to the knowledge of the political, economic and religious dynamics of the Po Valley in the transition from the Iron Age to Romanization

- by Silvia Fogliazza
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- Religion, Cross-cultural interaction (Archaeology), Romanization, Iron Age

The terrace of Pasargadae, Tall-i Takht, is one of the few Achaemenid period monuments in the Persian heartland that “directly” feature characteristics of Ionian-Lydian architecture. According to earlier scholarship, the beginning of construction of the platform of Tall-i Takht dates to the reign of Cyrus, but it remained unfinished when Cyrus died, and Darius changed its function. In fact, leaving aside some few blocks at the center of the western facade and on the southern one, the majority of blocks of the terrace still await final dressing. A new analysis of the unfinished state of these blocks has provided significant information about the construction of the terrace, including the organization of labor, allowing for a reconsideration of the origins of Achaemenid masonry and indeed of cross-cultural interaction between Persians and the West.

The “chieftain’s grave” in the Kurgan of Maikop epitomizes for over a century the spectacular wealth of the North Caucasian Early Bronze Age. Perhaps even more remarkable than the material and artistic value of its objects appears the involvement of North Caucasian society with the developed urban centers of the Near East. Andrew Sherratt insightfully described Maikop as “the world’s first ‘barbarian’ society, generated on the fringe of the area of initial urban expansion” and transmitting lifestyle and technology to the steppe region. The traditional opinion sets this transmission in the context of large-scale urbanization and long-distance state-controlled trade at a developed stage of the Near Eastern economic system. A more recent alternative view, though, perceives Maikop as an offspring of the Near Eastern urban economies and trading networks in their formative phase during the Uruk period. The span of about one thousand years between these two contexts provides reason for an enduring dispute over the chronology of the Maikop period. This paper reviews the available evidence for dating the North Caucasian Early Bronze Age and comments on the recent shift to “high” dating and its implications.

More than 20 years after presenting his first interpretation of the mosaic from the House of Aion in a paper entitled “Uwagi na temat mozaiki z Domu Aiona w Nea Paphos (Cypr)” (Meander 9/10, 1987, p. 421-438, in Polish, and translated to English: « The Immortality of the Human Soul and the Dionysiac Mysteries in the 4th Century Allegory [in Connection with the Interpretation of the Mosaic from the “House of Aion” at Paphos in Cyprus]»), where he proposed reading the five mythological panels (1. Leda and Zeus; 2. Dionysus on Mount Nysa; 3. The Dionysian thiasos; 4. Apollo and Marsyas; 5. The Apotheosis of Cassiopeia) as an allegory of the destiny of the human soul and body, starting with conception and ending with the liberation of the soul and its apotheosis, the author now enhances his initial interpretation with numerous reflections concerning the historical context of this work of art, created in the years 320-360.
If, according to the author, the mosaic is a “Hymn” in honour of the pagan gods, Man (his soul) and his place in the (pagan) universe, then at the same time it polemicises with the Christian faith and its God, Jesus Christ.
The author puts forward numerous new solutions relating to the mosaic’s iconography and iconology. Analysis of the mosaic also leads him to propose a solution to the as-yet unanswered question regarding the absence of images of the crucified Christ in Christian art of the 3rd and 4th centuries, up until 420/430, when the first images of Christ on the cross appear.
CONTENTS:
Introduction
1. Research to-date (recap)
2. Description of mosaic (recap)
2.1. Composition of five mythological scenes
2.2. Brief iconographic description of mythological panels
2.3. Outline of individual iconographic elements and their respective roles
2.4. The pagan gods’ air of majesty and dignity as an expression of piety
3. A few words about the pagan reaction
4. An apology of pious human life according to pagan principles and a polemic on the Christian model of Man and his theological idol, Jesus Christ
4.1. Divine intervention in the act of human conception (allusion to/polemic on the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary)
4.2. The Epiphany of Dionysus (an allusion to the Epiphany of Christ – Theou Pais)
4.3. The procession and dissemination of Dionysian order (allusion to/polemic on Christ’s entry into Jerusalem)
4.4. The error of Marsyas (polemic on/allusion to the error of Jesus the Messiah): arrest, sentencing for arrogance and lack of piety (asebeia) and condemnation to a martyr’s death
4.5. The anabasis (or anagoge psyches) of a ‘beautiful soul’ (allusion to/polemic on the Ascension of Christ)
5. A few words on the mosaic programme prior to final conclusions
Final conclusions
Key words: mythological mosaic, House of Aion, Nea Paphos, Late Antiquity, Roman art, allegorical narrative, allusive language of mythological pictures, wordplay (Marsyas-Messias), Jesus Christ, anti-Christian polemic, Dionysos, Cassiopeia, Apollon, Nereides, Abstract Personifications, Greek Mythology, ΚΥΠΡΟΣ

- by Marisa Marthari
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- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Death Studies, Pottery (Archaeology)

The purpose of this poster is to highlight some cultural connections between the upper Middle Euphrates Valley and the Eastern Mediterranean, focusing in particular on Cyprus, the Levantine, and the Aegean coasts. This analysis particularly concerns both the pottery assemblage and the coroplastic
repertoire.
As for the ceramic horizon, some specimens of Black on Red (BoR) pottery retrieved at Karkemish are taken into consideration. Among these, jugs and juglets belonging to this class have been found in funerary contexts, together with local simple wares. A typological analysis of some of these kraters
and jars is provided, in order to attest the presence of a local production, but related to the Mediterranean coast. These ceramic traditions and influences seem to have moved from Cypriot centres to Al Mina and then throughout the Amuq Valley up to the city of Karkemish, which can be considered as the easternmost point of spread of the BoR pottery.
On the other hand, the iconographic analysis of the lron Age day figurines from Karkemish reveals some important similarities with the Aegean world. In particular, the elaborate headdresses worn by the Syrian Pillar Figurines (SPF) represent a relevant link with a W est Anatolian style as it is being currently newly defined. This East-West influence may reveal not a mere transmission of iconographies, but also a shared inter-cultural tradition in the public role of women.

- by Barbara Bolognani and +1
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- Cypriot Archaeology, Late Iron Age (Archaeology), Cross-cultural interaction (Archaeology), Terracotta Figurines

Decorated coarse ware represents an underestimated and yet a key aspect for deciphering the complexity of cultural interactions in central Cisalpine regions (i.e., eastern Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia, and western Veneto). The period addressed is the second half of the 1 st millennium BC to the early imperial age when the Po valley is a mosaic of cultures and social actors on the move, and whose material culture challenges traditional interpretative categories. The aim of this paper is to discuss some technical and theoretical issues related to a specific class of coarse ware. This pottery, handmade or manufactured on the slow potter's wheel, is decorated with styles and techniques influenced by non-local neighbouring cultures (e.g., Liguria, Central Europe), showing a super-regional and hybridized cultural aspect.

This comprehensive study examines the famous 13th - 12th century BC vessels and jewelry found a century ago in the Egyptian Nile delta at Bubastis. New discoveries in the Egyptian Museum include Canaanite jewelry, metal scrap, and additional vessels; two of the latter are decorated, one inscribed. All vessels belong to wine services; some containers reference Bastet, Neith, Hathor, or Anat/Astarte, and, by inference, the Distant Goddess. Inscriptions name the One of Hesret (Thoth), Ramesses II, Merenptah, and Tawosret. Private names include Atumemtaneb, Amy, Ameneminet, and Meritptah; a related vessel names Sakawahikhana and the goddess Sekhmet. This expanded body of material sheds light on ramesside history and the internationalism of the period. It will also aid the study of first millennium B.C. Phoenician bowls and ivories found in the Levant, Cyprus, and Near East.

This study discusses the effects of cultural contact between lower and upper Mesopotamia during the so-called ‘Uruk expansion’ in the 4th millennium B.C. 1- The paper argues that the world’s first cities were developed in Southern Mesopotamia of the 4th millennium. The reason is that these settlements participated in large networks of trade and cultural exchanges. 2- Uruk seems to have been at the heart of an interactive network of cities competing for import of raw materials necessary to produce “status goods” used by political elites as means of consolidating political power. 3- It is possible to classify the earliest cities as microstates. 4- The long-distance trade was one of the stimuli of early state formation. 5- The early city-states, which were characterized by their lack of economic self-sufficiency, had a natural inclination to seek for colonial expansion. 6- The Uruk expansion was an actual colonial phenomenon, involving the emergence of Mesopotamian trading enclaves among preexisting local polities.

- by İzzet Çıvgın
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- History, Ancient History, Cultural History, Economic History

The Aegean archipelago constitutes one of the most intriguing ‘laboratories’ of island archaeology in the Mediterranean, due to the unique geomorphological configuration among the various island groups, as well as their varied cultural and historical developments. In recent years, there has been renewed interest in the study of intra- and interisland connections and island/continent interactions through the application of spatial and maritime network analysis, as well as artefact analysis and the reconstruction of technological (châine opératoire approach) and distributional patterns. To a certain degree, such an interdisciplinary focus was developed for the eastern Aegean and western Anatolian borderland, an area where maritime interaction and communication via the sea has occupied archaeological scholarship over the past two decades. Although only separated by narrow sea straits, the islands and the Anatolian mainland are often considered archaeologically through the lens of boundedness and separateness. These concepts interpret archaeological frontiers of insular versus mainland areas by postcolonialist models of core-periphery relationships, in which the islands are frequently considered to be passive. In this paper, developments and diachronic changes during the Early Bronze Age (EBA) in the ceramic repertoire of the east Aegean islands are discussed, emphasising mainly on evidence from Lemnos, Lesbos, Chios, and Samos, in relation to traditions from the central Aegean (Cyclades) and the adjacent Anatolian coastlands. Focusing on the seascape/coastscape perspective and the concept of the peraia, this research also explores what constitutes the distinct cultural identity of these island communities and how this is formed and transformed through time during the 3rd mill. BCE.

ABSTRACT: El-Markha Plain is a key coastal region providing an anchorage for Egyptian expeditions traveling to the copper and turquoise mining region in South Sinai. The University of Toronto expedition investigated a mound at Ras Budran and uncovered a late Old Kingdom, circular stone structure. It represents one of three Egyptian “forts” identified from the Early Dynastic through Old Kingdom period and augments two published Old Kingdom sites in South Sinai. It clarifies and underscores the perceived dangers in and the importance of South Sinai to Egyptian mining expeditions during this period. It displays an unusual circular design for an ancient Egyptian structure and an uncommon application of stone to a “fort”. Its construction, occupation, possible destruction, and abandonment reflect contemporary late Old Kingdom records for Egyptian campaigns against Asiatic “Sand-dwellers” and a Bedouin massacre of an Egyptian expedition beside the Red Sea. The site illuminates multiple aspects of a period associated with the Old Kingdom’s “collapse” and the activities and cross-cultural interactions of a transitory garrison on Egypt’s eastern frontier.

- by Gregory Mumford
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- History, Ancient History, Military History, Archaeology
- by Albert de Jong
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- Cross-cultural interaction (Archaeology), Hatra, Parthian Empire

INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH: To-date, there has been a greater focus on Egypto-Asiatic relations in the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1550–1150 BC) than during much of the succeeding Iron Age to early Persian periods (ca. 1150–525 BC). In regards to the Iron Age, the first few centuries of which have sometimes been labeled a “Dark Age,” most studies have relied more upon textual-pictorial evidence and have yet to explore the full potential offered by the extant archaeological record, especially regarding the quantification and analysis of diverse data. Although this deficiency is related to less pertinent archaeological and textual evidence having survived from the Iron Age, sufficient data remain to clarify diverse aspects of Egypt’s relations with the Levant. The following paper addresses these issues, summarizing and augmenting the Iron Age portion of this writer’s Ph.D. dissertation (1998) and related research.

- by Gregory Mumford
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- History, Ancient History, Archaeology, Egyptology
- by Adriano Orsingher
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- Pottery (Archaeology), Phoenicians, Anthropology of Food, Identity (Culture)

"In 1623 an Italian traveller, Pietro della Valle, reached the Portuguese colony of Goa in western India, after nine years of travel in the Near East. That same year, Christopher Borrus, a Jesuit on his way back to Italy from doing missionary work
in Cochin-China (southern Vietnam), also stopped in Goa. The two men — della Valle, who was trained in Near Eastern languages, and Borrus, who was skilled in astronomy, cartography and mathematics — worked together to translate into Persian a short Latin work of Borrus’s on the Tychonic system. As it has come down to us, the translation takes the form of a Persian-Italian manuscript letter made into a booklet. Addressed to a Persian astronomer named Zayyn al-dīn al-Lārī, it eventually became part of the collections of the Vatican Library. Such a collocation of evidence fused the vast geographical and cultural gaps among the three men and extended to the East what has become known as ‘the Galileo affair’."

ABSTRACT: Our current understanding of Egypt's New Kingdom relations with the Sinai and Levant relies heavily upon the extant textual-pictorial record. It has mostly neglected the full potential of the archaeological record, even during periods of relatively few contemporary pertinent, historical sources. This paper summarizes and updates results from this writer’s doctoral dissertation, quantifying the nature, proportions, and spatial and temporal distributions of Egyptian and Egyptianizing artefacts from occupation, mortuary and cultic assemblages in the Sinai (featuring a New Kingdom temple of Hathor and Sopdu at Serabit el-Khadim, and a small Hathor shrine in the southern Arabah [Negev]) and 21 selected Levantine sites. This data is balanced by an assessment of the dispersal of New Kingdom royal-name items and monuments throughout the Near East, and textual-pictorial sources recording the nature and dispatch of Egyptian products and personnel to the Levant. The overall Egyptian(izing) artefact proportions from individual and combined contexts at Levantine sites display peaks in Egyptian activity in LB 1B (1450-1400 B.C.) and late LB 2B to Iron 1A (1250-1150 B.C.), with a definite decline in early-mid Iron 1B (late Ramesside period).

- by Gregory Mumford
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- Ancient Egyptian Religion, History, Ancient History, Archaeology
- by Caterina Maderna
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- Iconography, Transculturation, Graeco-Roman Egypt, Cross-cultural transfers