This paper uses a political economy framework to explore the role of external agents of change in... more This paper uses a political economy framework to explore the role of external agents of change in Iran, and the impact of foreign trade during the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly with Russia and Britain. The results of an historical archaeology exploring landlord villages in the Tehran Plain are analysed here to show how the extremely long-lived landlord village form of land tenure and economic and social control offers a useful case study through which to approach an understanding of the impact of the political economy on rural populations of the period.
The ancient Sri Lankan city of Anuradhapura is currently the subject of one of the world's la... more The ancient Sri Lankan city of Anuradhapura is currently the subject of one of the world's largest and most intensive archaeological research projects. Having traced its growth from an Iron Age village to a medieval city, the research team now moves to the task of modelling the surrounding landscape. Three seasons of fieldwork have located numerous sites of which the most prominent in the urban period are monasteries. Here is a clue about how the early urban hinterland was managed which has implications well beyond Sri Lanka.
Although archaeobotanical sampling and recovery programmes are a relatively recent implementation... more Although archaeobotanical sampling and recovery programmes are a relatively recent implementation in East African archaeology, results from sites where they have been carried out follow a similar trend. This is one of abundant recovery of wood charcoal, but very little in the way of other macroscopic plant remains. Restricted archaeological evidence and ethnographic interviews show the importance of grains, in particular finger millet (Eleusine coracana), for the Bunyoro people of Uganda in pre-colonial times. It has been suggested that one of the possible reasons why finger millet is not being recovered in quantity from archaeological contexts is because the processing of this crop does not involve heating and hence there is not the chance of being deposited in charred form in the archaeological record. Recent ethnographic work on finger millet processing in Uganda shows that it is exposed to heat and potential charring during cleaning and preparation of the grain for either storage or cooking, and this regime is discussed in terms of its activities and products. These findings reinforce the need for archaeobotanists and archaeologists working in this region to look for other possible causes of the scarcity of macroscopic plant remains, and also the importance of considering integrated evidence for agricultural activity on prehistoric sites.
East Chia Sabz is a PPN site located in the Seimareh Valley, western Iran. 14C dating results ind... more East Chia Sabz is a PPN site located in the Seimareh Valley, western Iran. 14C dating results indicated that the site was occupied from the early 9th millennium to the early 7th millennium BC. As we have very little information about early Neolithic sites in Iran in comparison with the other regions of the Near and Middle East, the site of East Chia Sabz will provide a new benchmark for investigating the Neolithisation process in Iran. It is important to note that further investigation of Chia Sabz will certainly provide more secure information about how and when the Epipaleolithic transition to the Neolithic started in the region. This paper will present the recent excavations at the site, and then, based on the 14C dates, will discuss the site’s importance in western Iran.
This book offers a critical synthesis of the archaeology of South Asia from the Neolithic period ... more This book offers a critical synthesis of the archaeology of South Asia from the Neolithic period (c.6500 BCE), when domestication began, to the spread of Buddhism accompanying the Mauryan Emperor Asoka's reign (third century BCE). The authors examine the growth and character of the Indus civilisation, with its town planning, sophisticated drainage systems, vast cities and international trade. They also consider the strong cultural links between the Indus civilisation and the second, later period of South Asian urbanism which began in the first millennium BCE and developed through the early first millennium CE. In addition to examining the evidence for emerging urban complexity, this book gives equal weight to interactions between rural and urban communities across South Asia and considers the critical roles played by rural areas in social and economic development. The authors explore how narratives of continuity and transformation have been formulated in analyses of South Asia&#...
... By RAE Coningham, H. Fazeli, RL Young, GK Gillmore, H. Karimian, M. Maghsoudi, RE Donahue and... more ... By RAE Coningham, H. Fazeli, RL Young, GK Gillmore, H. Karimian, M. Maghsoudi, RE Donahue and CM Batt ... The site of Tepe Pardis (A06) was identified as a Chalcolithic site by Mr Naser Pazuki of the ICHTO and visited, at his request, by the survey team in the summer of ...
ABSTRACT This paper presents direct evidence in the form of a triangular cross-section channel (1... more ABSTRACT This paper presents direct evidence in the form of a triangular cross-section channel (1 m in width and 0.24 m in depth), for Late Neolithic artificial water management on the Tehran Plain, which may represent the earliest example of artificial water management in Iran. The antiquity of this channel is supported by dating directly above and below by C14, associated ceramic sherds and correlation with Late Neolithic levels. The nature and function of this channel is evaluated through comparisons with natural channels (ancient and modern) together with evidence from palynology and sedimentology. It is here interpreted as a silted-up artificial canal with infill-deposits that indicate periods of shallow relatively quiet flow, periods of drying-out and occasional episodes of greater flow. This study strongly suggests that 6th millennium farmers at Tepe Pardis in Iran were irrigating their crops, and complements the evidence from Choga Mami in Iraq concerning early irrigation systems.
... By RAE Coningham, H. Fazeli, RL Young, GK Gillmore, H. Karimian, M. Maghsoudi, RE Donahue and... more ... By RAE Coningham, H. Fazeli, RL Young, GK Gillmore, H. Karimian, M. Maghsoudi, RE Donahue and CM Batt ... The site of Tepe Pardis (A06) was identified as a Chalcolithic site by Mr Naser Pazuki of the ICHTO and visited, at his request, by the survey team in the summer of ...
ABSTRACT This paper presents direct evidence in the form of a triangular cross-section channel (1... more ABSTRACT This paper presents direct evidence in the form of a triangular cross-section channel (1 m in width and 0.24 m in depth), for Late Neolithic artificial water management on the Tehran Plain, which may represent the earliest example of artificial water management in Iran. The antiquity of this channel is supported by dating directly above and below by C14, associated ceramic sherds and correlation with Late Neolithic levels. The nature and function of this channel is evaluated through comparisons with natural channels (ancient and modern) together with evidence from palynology and sedimentology. It is here interpreted as a silted-up artificial canal with infill-deposits that indicate periods of shallow relatively quiet flow, periods of drying-out and occasional episodes of greater flow. This study strongly suggests that 6th millennium farmers at Tepe Pardis in Iran were irrigating their crops, and complements the evidence from Choga Mami in Iraq concerning early irrigation systems.
Subordination is based fundamentally on the concept of one group or individual exerting power ove... more Subordination is based fundamentally on the concept of one group or individual exerting power over one or more different groups or individuals. In theory, therefore, subordinate societies would be social groups that are under the control of a more powerful, more important social group. Within archaeology, being able to both record subordinate groups and understand the relationship between subordinate and subordinating groups is a valid aim. However, as the investigation and interpretation of material culture, archaeology may often lack the means to do this. If material evidence for subordinate groups does not survive, or, equally importantly, if methodologies do not exist to distinguish between different groups, then subordinate groups may well remain unnoticed. This issue of archaeological 'invisibility' may prevent archaeologists from being able to investigate subordinate groups, or groups perceived as subordinate and their relationships with other groups. The presence of ...
This paper uses a political economy framework to explore the role of external agents of change in... more This paper uses a political economy framework to explore the role of external agents of change in Iran, and the impact of foreign trade during the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly with Russia and Britain. The results of an historical archaeology exploring landlord villages in the Tehran Plain are analysed here to show how the extremely long-lived landlord village form of land tenure and economic and social control offers a useful case study through which to approach an understanding of the impact of the political economy on rural populations of the period.
The ancient Sri Lankan city of Anuradhapura is currently the subject of one of the world's la... more The ancient Sri Lankan city of Anuradhapura is currently the subject of one of the world's largest and most intensive archaeological research projects. Having traced its growth from an Iron Age village to a medieval city, the research team now moves to the task of modelling the surrounding landscape. Three seasons of fieldwork have located numerous sites of which the most prominent in the urban period are monasteries. Here is a clue about how the early urban hinterland was managed which has implications well beyond Sri Lanka.
Although archaeobotanical sampling and recovery programmes are a relatively recent implementation... more Although archaeobotanical sampling and recovery programmes are a relatively recent implementation in East African archaeology, results from sites where they have been carried out follow a similar trend. This is one of abundant recovery of wood charcoal, but very little in the way of other macroscopic plant remains. Restricted archaeological evidence and ethnographic interviews show the importance of grains, in particular finger millet (Eleusine coracana), for the Bunyoro people of Uganda in pre-colonial times. It has been suggested that one of the possible reasons why finger millet is not being recovered in quantity from archaeological contexts is because the processing of this crop does not involve heating and hence there is not the chance of being deposited in charred form in the archaeological record. Recent ethnographic work on finger millet processing in Uganda shows that it is exposed to heat and potential charring during cleaning and preparation of the grain for either storage or cooking, and this regime is discussed in terms of its activities and products. These findings reinforce the need for archaeobotanists and archaeologists working in this region to look for other possible causes of the scarcity of macroscopic plant remains, and also the importance of considering integrated evidence for agricultural activity on prehistoric sites.
East Chia Sabz is a PPN site located in the Seimareh Valley, western Iran. 14C dating results ind... more East Chia Sabz is a PPN site located in the Seimareh Valley, western Iran. 14C dating results indicated that the site was occupied from the early 9th millennium to the early 7th millennium BC. As we have very little information about early Neolithic sites in Iran in comparison with the other regions of the Near and Middle East, the site of East Chia Sabz will provide a new benchmark for investigating the Neolithisation process in Iran. It is important to note that further investigation of Chia Sabz will certainly provide more secure information about how and when the Epipaleolithic transition to the Neolithic started in the region. This paper will present the recent excavations at the site, and then, based on the 14C dates, will discuss the site’s importance in western Iran.
This book offers a critical synthesis of the archaeology of South Asia from the Neolithic period ... more This book offers a critical synthesis of the archaeology of South Asia from the Neolithic period (c.6500 BCE), when domestication began, to the spread of Buddhism accompanying the Mauryan Emperor Asoka's reign (third century BCE). The authors examine the growth and character of the Indus civilisation, with its town planning, sophisticated drainage systems, vast cities and international trade. They also consider the strong cultural links between the Indus civilisation and the second, later period of South Asian urbanism which began in the first millennium BCE and developed through the early first millennium CE. In addition to examining the evidence for emerging urban complexity, this book gives equal weight to interactions between rural and urban communities across South Asia and considers the critical roles played by rural areas in social and economic development. The authors explore how narratives of continuity and transformation have been formulated in analyses of South Asia&#...
... By RAE Coningham, H. Fazeli, RL Young, GK Gillmore, H. Karimian, M. Maghsoudi, RE Donahue and... more ... By RAE Coningham, H. Fazeli, RL Young, GK Gillmore, H. Karimian, M. Maghsoudi, RE Donahue and CM Batt ... The site of Tepe Pardis (A06) was identified as a Chalcolithic site by Mr Naser Pazuki of the ICHTO and visited, at his request, by the survey team in the summer of ...
ABSTRACT This paper presents direct evidence in the form of a triangular cross-section channel (1... more ABSTRACT This paper presents direct evidence in the form of a triangular cross-section channel (1 m in width and 0.24 m in depth), for Late Neolithic artificial water management on the Tehran Plain, which may represent the earliest example of artificial water management in Iran. The antiquity of this channel is supported by dating directly above and below by C14, associated ceramic sherds and correlation with Late Neolithic levels. The nature and function of this channel is evaluated through comparisons with natural channels (ancient and modern) together with evidence from palynology and sedimentology. It is here interpreted as a silted-up artificial canal with infill-deposits that indicate periods of shallow relatively quiet flow, periods of drying-out and occasional episodes of greater flow. This study strongly suggests that 6th millennium farmers at Tepe Pardis in Iran were irrigating their crops, and complements the evidence from Choga Mami in Iraq concerning early irrigation systems.
... By RAE Coningham, H. Fazeli, RL Young, GK Gillmore, H. Karimian, M. Maghsoudi, RE Donahue and... more ... By RAE Coningham, H. Fazeli, RL Young, GK Gillmore, H. Karimian, M. Maghsoudi, RE Donahue and CM Batt ... The site of Tepe Pardis (A06) was identified as a Chalcolithic site by Mr Naser Pazuki of the ICHTO and visited, at his request, by the survey team in the summer of ...
ABSTRACT This paper presents direct evidence in the form of a triangular cross-section channel (1... more ABSTRACT This paper presents direct evidence in the form of a triangular cross-section channel (1 m in width and 0.24 m in depth), for Late Neolithic artificial water management on the Tehran Plain, which may represent the earliest example of artificial water management in Iran. The antiquity of this channel is supported by dating directly above and below by C14, associated ceramic sherds and correlation with Late Neolithic levels. The nature and function of this channel is evaluated through comparisons with natural channels (ancient and modern) together with evidence from palynology and sedimentology. It is here interpreted as a silted-up artificial canal with infill-deposits that indicate periods of shallow relatively quiet flow, periods of drying-out and occasional episodes of greater flow. This study strongly suggests that 6th millennium farmers at Tepe Pardis in Iran were irrigating their crops, and complements the evidence from Choga Mami in Iraq concerning early irrigation systems.
Subordination is based fundamentally on the concept of one group or individual exerting power ove... more Subordination is based fundamentally on the concept of one group or individual exerting power over one or more different groups or individuals. In theory, therefore, subordinate societies would be social groups that are under the control of a more powerful, more important social group. Within archaeology, being able to both record subordinate groups and understand the relationship between subordinate and subordinating groups is a valid aim. However, as the investigation and interpretation of material culture, archaeology may often lack the means to do this. If material evidence for subordinate groups does not survive, or, equally importantly, if methodologies do not exist to distinguish between different groups, then subordinate groups may well remain unnoticed. This issue of archaeological 'invisibility' may prevent archaeologists from being able to investigate subordinate groups, or groups perceived as subordinate and their relationships with other groups. The presence of ...
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Papers by Ruth Young