Talks by Valentina Tumolo
Paper presented at the 12th ICAANE (Bologna, 6-9 April 2021). Abstract: During the 4th and the 3r... more Paper presented at the 12th ICAANE (Bologna, 6-9 April 2021). Abstract: During the 4th and the 3rd millennium BC, the practice of pot-sealing becomes widespread across the whole of Syria-Palestine and surrounding regions, but is most common in the Levant. This system features both technical and aesthetic aspects which are shared across the whole area, as well as more circumscribed regional characteristics. The images shown by the seal impressions include both geometric designs and figurative representations. While some themes and iconographies are widespread across larger areas, others are confined to smaller regional borders. In such a scenario, the Northern Levantine visual repertoire has similarities with the inventories from both the rest of the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia, suggesting the existence of diverse degrees of connectivity within and between the areas. This paper will illustrate common visual features and specific regional expressions, focusing on selected motifs. Such an overview will contribute to the evaluation of the dissemination of the images, both in diachronic and geographical perspectives, highlighting preferential pathways of interaction - and regional boundaries as well - within the Northern Levant and beyond.
During the second half of 3rd millennium BC – a time of state formation and diffuse urbanization ... more During the second half of 3rd millennium BC – a time of state formation and diffuse urbanization in the Near East – new kinds of food preparation tools and cooking and serving ceramics appear, along with the proliferation of a new standardized range of vessels specifically designed for consuming liquids. Hama, in the Orontes Valley, seems to have been at the center of a Western Syrian use of a new, improved cooking pot in this period, characterized by the co-occurrence of distinct characters: the ovoid or globular shape; the reddish/brownish porous fabrics rich in large calcite aggregates; the combing of the outer surface. Some of these vessels were impressed with cylinder seals, a practice whose purposes are still debated (administrative devices, trademarks, decorative images?).
The paper seeks at revising the evidence of seal impressed cooking pots from Hama J (8-1), making use of both published and unpublished vessels, now kept at the Nationalmuseet of Denmark. The technical characteristics of the seal impressions (i.e. position and orientation) and the iconography will be correlated with any variation in the physical features of the vessels – such as ware, dimensions, or shape – in order to detect possible statistically meaningful associations useful for reconstructing the dynamics of production and distribution of the seal impressed pots in the Northern Levant, throwing also new light on the purpose(s) of impressions.
Papers by Valentina Tumolo
In M. D'Andrea, M.G. Micale, D. Nadali, S. Pizzimenti, A. Vacca (eds), Pearls of the Past. Studies on Near Eastern Art and Archaeology in Honour of Frances Pinnock (marru 8), 2019
In A. Vacca, S. Pizzimenti and M.G. Micale (eds), A Oriente del Delta. Scritti sull'Egitto ed il Vicino Oriente antico in onore di Gabriella Scandone Matthiae (Contributi e Materiali di Archeologia Orientale XVIII), 2018
A few years ago, Johanna Regev and colleagues proposed a new, considerably higher, absolute chron... more A few years ago, Johanna Regev and colleagues proposed a new, considerably higher, absolute chronology for the Early Bronze Age of the southern Levant based on radiocarbon data (Regev et al. 2012; Regev, de Miroschedji, and Boaretto 2012). While the historical impact of this new chronology is still under discussion, as the many papers, including those published in the present volume, vividly demonstrate (e.g., Höflmayer and Eichmann 2014; Meller et al. 2015; Höflmayer 2017), the original radiocarbon dataset is being continuously supplemented by new results from different sites throughout the region, such as Khirbet al-Batrawy, Jordan (Höflmayer 2014), Tell Fadous-Kfarabida, Lebanon (Höflmayer et al. 2014, in press), or Megiddo, Israel (Regev et al. 2014) (fig. 13.1). In the framework of the project CINEMA, new short-lived samples were selected and analyzed from stratified contexts of Khirbet ez-Zeraqon, and, together with a reappraisal of older data already published by Hermann Genz (2002), a new radiocarbon model was created for the stratigraphic sequence of the site (see preliminarily Höflmayer 2015, 2017). 1 This new evidence
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Talks by Valentina Tumolo
The paper seeks at revising the evidence of seal impressed cooking pots from Hama J (8-1), making use of both published and unpublished vessels, now kept at the Nationalmuseet of Denmark. The technical characteristics of the seal impressions (i.e. position and orientation) and the iconography will be correlated with any variation in the physical features of the vessels – such as ware, dimensions, or shape – in order to detect possible statistically meaningful associations useful for reconstructing the dynamics of production and distribution of the seal impressed pots in the Northern Levant, throwing also new light on the purpose(s) of impressions.
Papers by Valentina Tumolo
The paper seeks at revising the evidence of seal impressed cooking pots from Hama J (8-1), making use of both published and unpublished vessels, now kept at the Nationalmuseet of Denmark. The technical characteristics of the seal impressions (i.e. position and orientation) and the iconography will be correlated with any variation in the physical features of the vessels – such as ware, dimensions, or shape – in order to detect possible statistically meaningful associations useful for reconstructing the dynamics of production and distribution of the seal impressed pots in the Northern Levant, throwing also new light on the purpose(s) of impressions.