Book Chapter by Shannon Martino
An Educator's Handbook for Teaching about the Ancient World, 2020
Vanessa Bigot Juloux, Amy Rebecca Gansell, and Alessandro di Ludovico eds. Cyberresearch on the Ancient Near East and Neighboring Regions: Case Studies Archaeological Data, Objects, Texts, and Digital Archiving, 2018
In the interest of omitting subjectivity from typological analyses, archaeologists sometimes use ... more In the interest of omitting subjectivity from typological analyses, archaeologists sometimes use statistical methods; yet such methods were originally created for the analysis of quantitative data rather than the qualitative data that archaeologists usually use to characterize objects. Here we present a new computer program developed specifically to produce typologies. We will show how it can be applied to a database of almost 2000 Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age figurines from southeastern Europe and Anatolia as well as to Early Bronze Age pottery from the site of Demircihuyuk in northwestern Anatolia. This method is not only time saving given large data sets, it helps to assuage concerns of subjectivity and illuminate areas where the data is incomplete.
We explain the necessity of a collaborative process between programmer and archaeologist and show how our program can quantify some of the remaining subjectivity of a typological analysis. Lastly, we will explain how the results from our program can quantify diversity in the data.
Articles by Shannon Martino
The Archaeology of Anatolia Volume IV: Recent Discoveries (2018-2020), 2021
Mountains are often groundlessly thought of as romantic backwaters lacking in development and civ... more Mountains are often groundlessly thought of as romantic backwaters lacking in development and civility, and portrayed as unruly places to pass through by academics working under the influence of ideologies of the state. Binaries of the urban and the rural, or the perception of civilized lowlands and crude shepherds and loggers, do not adequately account for the linear ecologies that intimately connect the plains to the mountains. In this chapter we advocate for the significance of these connecting ecologies that resist the colonial or statist marginalization of mountain peoples and places. These connecting linear ecologies are substantive landscapes of everyday movement, the flow of water, taskscapes, and interconnected land use, and are not limited to roads and routes.
Academic perspectives on ancient communities of the mountains tend to associate them with “landscapes of terror” (e.g., Matthews 2004). In these scenarios, marginalized mountain peoples are presented either as “tribal” threats to urbanized elites of the prosperous plains and lowland and river valleys, or impediments to regional circulation (Horden and Purcell 2000: 80). Such perspectives are produced under the influence of urban archives; they are typical of uncritical characterizations of mountains from an elitist bias and have to be taken with a grain of salt. Archaeological survey evidence, strengthened by ethnohistorical research, presents a far more even-handed perspective on life in the mountains. In this chapter we point to the intimately entangled nature of lowlands and mountains in the local context of west central Anatolia. This chapter is a modest attempt to bring back mountains as complex and connected landscapes of alterity and to invite mountains back to their place within settlement history.
Near Eastern Archaeology, 2021
Anatolica, 2018
The cult practices of the Hittites have long been of interest, particularly in terms of the bronz... more The cult practices of the Hittites have long been of interest, particularly in terms of the bronze statues, stone reliefs, and iconic representation and discussion of the ritual feeding of the wooden, stone, or metal statue of a Hittite deity. Too often, scholarship overlooks religious and magical practices that involve the use of figurines in less precious materials, and therefore could have been practiced by more members of society than just the elite. Such practices are visible in the production of clay anthropomorphic figurines from Seyitömer in western Turkey to Alişar Höyük in central Turkey to Tell Mardikh in Syria; yet until now, these figurines have received little attention due to their crude and unstandardized manufacture and the lack of contextual information that often accompanies their publication. This paper begins to address this inconsistency by contextualizing the Middle Bronze Age figurines from the site of Alişar Höyük using a synthesis of findings from archival research and past publications, highlighting the value of examining the primary source materials of archaeology.
Near Eastern Archaeology, 2017
Graphite has been used by many societies since the first experiments in mineral applications on p... more Graphite has been used by many societies since the first experiments in mineral applications on pottery in the Neolithic. Yet, recognizing its presence is problematic
since, due to firing temperatures, it can appear in many distinct shades of color from black, to a silvery sheen, to a white residue. Nonetheless, scientific studies that can conclusively identify the presence of graphite have lagged behind a multitude of macroscopic identifications and it has not been recognized as the widespread phenomenon that it is. While this study too will rely on a preliminary, mostly macroscopic study of
the ceramics, a closer examination of scattered scholarship on ceramics from the Balkans to Iran and Egypt from the Chalcolithic to the Bronze Age points to the practice of creating a lustrous surface that is strikingly similar—upon microscopic inspection—to known applications of graphite. A more rigorous identification of ceramic surface treatments is necessary, particularly with regard to the appearance of graphite.
Aegean Archaeology, 2009
During the Early Bronze Age, the promontory of Chrysokamino in the Mirabello Bay area of Crete ho... more During the Early Bronze Age, the promontory of Chrysokamino in the Mirabello Bay area of Crete housed a small copper smelting installation. Under the direction of Philip P. Betancourt, a team from Temple University excavated the site from 1996 to 1997. Slag from the smelting operations was abundantly present, up to sixty centimeters deep. Initial analyses of the slag suggested that the smelting operation, although relying upon simple technology, was nonetheless effective. With chimneys and artificial draft, the furnaces probably reached temperatures of up to 1230° C, sufficient to separate copper from its ores and produce slag. Utilizing petrographic thin section analysis, we offer new descriptions of Chrysokamino slags, including slag condensed inside chimneys and slag from furnaces. Our analysis of the furnace slag identifies several microscopic structures, such as plagioclase crystals, pyroxene crystals, and a glassy matrix with olivine. Olivine only forms at temperatures above 1200° C, so we confirm that the furnaces reached temperatures high enough to smelt copper. In addition, the form of the crystalline structures, which appear to be quench crystals, suggests that the slag cooled rapidly upon exposure to air; thus, we suggest that we have identified tapped slag. We differentiate the tapped slag from the chimney slag by illustrating the greater abundance of crystalline structures, especially pyroxene, and absence of olivine, which indicates that the chimney slag cooled at a lower temperature and more slowly. This new analysis confirms that the smelting process at Chrysokamino was both effective and efficient.
Anatolica, 2014
The site of Alişar Höyük in north central Anatolia has long been known to be one of great importa... more The site of Alişar Höyük in north central Anatolia has long been known to be one of great importance as well as a site riddled with chronological issues, especially regarding its early periods. Given recent reconsiderations regarding the dating of the site as well as my own examination of the site's finds in the collection of the Oriental Institute new insights about the site's place in interregional networks have come to light. A classification of the figurines from Alişar Höyük and their relationship to contemporary figurines forms the basis of this work. Several figurines that have never before been published or in some cases even inventoried are included in this analysis. Because so many sites have been excavated in Turkey and neighboring countries since the excavation of Alişar Höyük, this reconsideration of the site's figurines is due. We can now illustrate the extensive nature of networks that ran through Alişar Höyük from its earliest levels. These networks spanned from southeast Europe to central Anatolia and beyond and seem to show that, culturally, Alişar Höyük was initially oriented to the west and north, particularly to southeast Europe and northern Anatolia, and only later began to develop traditions unique to the site and/or central Anatolia.
Presentations by Shannon Martino
Society for Historical Archaeology, 2022
Civilization began in 1991 as a turn-based strategy game in which players lead a human civilizati... more Civilization began in 1991 as a turn-based strategy game in which players lead a human civilization over the course of millennia, organizing technological developments, exploration and conquest, diplomacy and trade. There have been a total of six iterations of this game, from Civilization I in 1991, to Civilization VI in 2016. This game series has been rightfully criticized over the years for its highlighting and glorification of imperialism and settler colonialism. This paper will seek to explore the phenomenon of settler colonialism in the Civilization series, focusing on depictions of Contact and post-Contact American and Native American culture in multiple editions of the game, and asks if there is a place for decolonization of the archaeological record in Civilization and similar games. In other words, can a version of the game which is more archaeologically and culturally accurate be created without affecting the underlying mechanics of the game, creating a more "decolonized" version of the game, similar to what is being done with Oregon Trail?
American Society of Overseas Research, 2021
2021 was the last field season of the Yalburt Yaylası Archaeological Landscape Research Project, ... more 2021 was the last field season of the Yalburt Yaylası Archaeological Landscape Research Project, which has aimed to provide a diachronic examination of the richness of habitation and history in the Ilgın region of Central Anatolia. This goal has been somewhat elusive when it comes to prehistory, as little is known about even the whole of Konya between the Middle Chalcolithic and the Middle Bronze Age. Initial results from the Neolithic and Early to Middle Chalcolithic ceramic studies were presented earlier this year, given the relative ease of comparison with the already well-known site of Çatalhöyük. These results showed that the settlement history of the Ilgın region was tied to the mineral components of the earliest ceramics, particularly in the large volcanic inclusions of so-called gritty wares. After this year’s field season, similar results can be observed in the material from the Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age—though the use of clays with large volcanic inclusions notably decreases. This paper will present preliminary results and offer comparison with excavated material from elsewhere in central Anatolia, particularly the nearby sites of Canhasan and Sızma Höyük, illustrating the long and continuous occupation of the Ilgın region as well as its tendency to follow the general ceramic trends of Central Anatolia.
Archaeological Institute of America Annual Meeting, 2021
This paper will present the preliminary results of Neolithic to Early Bronze Age ceramic analysis... more This paper will present the preliminary results of Neolithic to Early Bronze Age ceramic analysis from the Yalburt Yaylası Archaeological Landscape Research Project. While the Neolithic evidence is minimal, the evidence for an expansive Middle Chalcolithic presence in the area is growing. The material analysis will be discussed in the context of regional hydrology and geological sources as well as relative chronology in order to illuminate settlement patterns and resource use outside of nearby and well-recognized prehistoric centers, such as Çatalhöyük. Preliminary analyses indicate that local resource use can be identified in the ceramic fabric, particularly during periods when mineral tempers were used, and one need not focus only on a narrative of interregional networks when doing survey. Identifying the use of local clays and inclusions also highlights the importance of further scientific analysis for identifying local resource procurement and landscape interaction.
American Society of Overseas Research, 2019
- Sid Meier’s Civilization is a game that tens of thousands of people play around the world and f... more - Sid Meier’s Civilization is a game that tens of thousands of people play around the world and for many it is often their first introduction to the history, culture, and art of previous civilizations. While it has been criticized in the past for its cultural biases in presentation, today’s version VI has been lauded for making necessary changes to promote a more diverse acknowledgement of advances. This diversity is reflected in a wider array of cultural wonders and achievements as well as relics and artifacts which are both easily spotted and unearthed by archaeologists. At the same time, the game’s designers have made choices in the play of the game that continue to reflect cultural biases and biases against non-aggressive play. This paper will examine the judgements inherent in a game designed to duplicate real world relationships between civilizations in the omnipresent battle of wills between military and cultural supremacy.
10th International Congress of Hittitology, 2017
The cult practices of the Hittites have long been of interest, particularly in terms of the bronz... more The cult practices of the Hittites have long been of interest, particularly in terms of the bronze statues, stone reliefs, and the iconic representation and discussion of the ritual feeding of the statue of a Hittite deity. Too often, however, we overlook the role of less public practices that would have involved the greater populous in the personalized worship of a deity or the belief in the magical effectiveness of anthropomorphic figures. Such practices might be seen in the production and use of clay anthropomorphic figures found at a variety of Hittite sites, from Seyitömer in western Turkey to Alishar Höyük in central Turkey.
American Schools of Oriental Research, 2017
Archaeologists and art historians have long recognized that style overlaps boundaries; it is not ... more Archaeologists and art historians have long recognized that style overlaps boundaries; it is not confined to language groups, ethnicity, or governed areas. Rather, style is fluid and can be shared across these perceived social boundaries as well as across the boundaries of material and artifact type. It is often once an artifact reaches the museum that these boundaries become codified, however, the categorization of artifacts is often based on the research foci of their catalogers and their country of origin. While the relatively recent move for museums to make their collections’ databases available to the public has been a welcome advance for researchers and the greater public alike, the visualization of that material remains an issue, particularly given the thousands of materials in those collections and the categories to which each object has been bound.
We aim in this paper to propose a method for visually representing the stylistic variety of materials held by museums using an interface designed to be useful for both researchers and laymen who wish to learn more about the past. Our case study will focus on one museum’s collection for which we will create a diachronic viewing method for excavated artifacts that easily crosses borders and takes into account available contextual information.
Balkan Heritage Field School , 2017
American Schools of Oriental Research, 2016
Typologies are fraught with subjectivity; one characteristic is considered relevant, while anothe... more Typologies are fraught with subjectivity; one characteristic is considered relevant, while another may go unnoticed entirely, sometimes leading to more than one typology being created for the same set of data, each researcher claiming to better represent the data. The creation of a typology, however, is a creative process inspired by leaps of intuition. Ultimately, intuition and its inherent subjectivity ought to be explained by scientific reasoning.
In the interest of omitting subjectivity from typological analyses, archaeologists sometimes use statistical methods, yet such methods were originally created for the analysis of quantitative data rather than the qualitative data that archaeologists usually use to characterize objects. Here we will present a typology for a database of almost 2000 Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age figurines from southeastern Europe and Anatolia. This typology was created by a computer program designed specifically for the creation of typologies for archaeological artifacts. This method was not only time saving given the large data set, it helped to assuage concerns of subjectivity given the known spatial and unknown chronological separation of the figurines. By weighing all characteristics equally - both formal and technical, significant factors emerged from the analysis rather than being defined by the researcher.
In our presentation we will explain the necessity of a collaborative process between programmer and archaeologist. We will also show how our program can quantify some of the remaining subjectivity of a typological analysis. Lastly, we will explain how the results from our program can quantify diversity in the data.
Central Anatolia During the Early Bronze Age: New Research and Possibilities, 2010
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Book Chapter by Shannon Martino
We explain the necessity of a collaborative process between programmer and archaeologist and show how our program can quantify some of the remaining subjectivity of a typological analysis. Lastly, we will explain how the results from our program can quantify diversity in the data.
Articles by Shannon Martino
Academic perspectives on ancient communities of the mountains tend to associate them with “landscapes of terror” (e.g., Matthews 2004). In these scenarios, marginalized mountain peoples are presented either as “tribal” threats to urbanized elites of the prosperous plains and lowland and river valleys, or impediments to regional circulation (Horden and Purcell 2000: 80). Such perspectives are produced under the influence of urban archives; they are typical of uncritical characterizations of mountains from an elitist bias and have to be taken with a grain of salt. Archaeological survey evidence, strengthened by ethnohistorical research, presents a far more even-handed perspective on life in the mountains. In this chapter we point to the intimately entangled nature of lowlands and mountains in the local context of west central Anatolia. This chapter is a modest attempt to bring back mountains as complex and connected landscapes of alterity and to invite mountains back to their place within settlement history.
since, due to firing temperatures, it can appear in many distinct shades of color from black, to a silvery sheen, to a white residue. Nonetheless, scientific studies that can conclusively identify the presence of graphite have lagged behind a multitude of macroscopic identifications and it has not been recognized as the widespread phenomenon that it is. While this study too will rely on a preliminary, mostly macroscopic study of
the ceramics, a closer examination of scattered scholarship on ceramics from the Balkans to Iran and Egypt from the Chalcolithic to the Bronze Age points to the practice of creating a lustrous surface that is strikingly similar—upon microscopic inspection—to known applications of graphite. A more rigorous identification of ceramic surface treatments is necessary, particularly with regard to the appearance of graphite.
Presentations by Shannon Martino
We aim in this paper to propose a method for visually representing the stylistic variety of materials held by museums using an interface designed to be useful for both researchers and laymen who wish to learn more about the past. Our case study will focus on one museum’s collection for which we will create a diachronic viewing method for excavated artifacts that easily crosses borders and takes into account available contextual information.
In the interest of omitting subjectivity from typological analyses, archaeologists sometimes use statistical methods, yet such methods were originally created for the analysis of quantitative data rather than the qualitative data that archaeologists usually use to characterize objects. Here we will present a typology for a database of almost 2000 Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age figurines from southeastern Europe and Anatolia. This typology was created by a computer program designed specifically for the creation of typologies for archaeological artifacts. This method was not only time saving given the large data set, it helped to assuage concerns of subjectivity given the known spatial and unknown chronological separation of the figurines. By weighing all characteristics equally - both formal and technical, significant factors emerged from the analysis rather than being defined by the researcher.
In our presentation we will explain the necessity of a collaborative process between programmer and archaeologist. We will also show how our program can quantify some of the remaining subjectivity of a typological analysis. Lastly, we will explain how the results from our program can quantify diversity in the data.
We explain the necessity of a collaborative process between programmer and archaeologist and show how our program can quantify some of the remaining subjectivity of a typological analysis. Lastly, we will explain how the results from our program can quantify diversity in the data.
Academic perspectives on ancient communities of the mountains tend to associate them with “landscapes of terror” (e.g., Matthews 2004). In these scenarios, marginalized mountain peoples are presented either as “tribal” threats to urbanized elites of the prosperous plains and lowland and river valleys, or impediments to regional circulation (Horden and Purcell 2000: 80). Such perspectives are produced under the influence of urban archives; they are typical of uncritical characterizations of mountains from an elitist bias and have to be taken with a grain of salt. Archaeological survey evidence, strengthened by ethnohistorical research, presents a far more even-handed perspective on life in the mountains. In this chapter we point to the intimately entangled nature of lowlands and mountains in the local context of west central Anatolia. This chapter is a modest attempt to bring back mountains as complex and connected landscapes of alterity and to invite mountains back to their place within settlement history.
since, due to firing temperatures, it can appear in many distinct shades of color from black, to a silvery sheen, to a white residue. Nonetheless, scientific studies that can conclusively identify the presence of graphite have lagged behind a multitude of macroscopic identifications and it has not been recognized as the widespread phenomenon that it is. While this study too will rely on a preliminary, mostly macroscopic study of
the ceramics, a closer examination of scattered scholarship on ceramics from the Balkans to Iran and Egypt from the Chalcolithic to the Bronze Age points to the practice of creating a lustrous surface that is strikingly similar—upon microscopic inspection—to known applications of graphite. A more rigorous identification of ceramic surface treatments is necessary, particularly with regard to the appearance of graphite.
We aim in this paper to propose a method for visually representing the stylistic variety of materials held by museums using an interface designed to be useful for both researchers and laymen who wish to learn more about the past. Our case study will focus on one museum’s collection for which we will create a diachronic viewing method for excavated artifacts that easily crosses borders and takes into account available contextual information.
In the interest of omitting subjectivity from typological analyses, archaeologists sometimes use statistical methods, yet such methods were originally created for the analysis of quantitative data rather than the qualitative data that archaeologists usually use to characterize objects. Here we will present a typology for a database of almost 2000 Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age figurines from southeastern Europe and Anatolia. This typology was created by a computer program designed specifically for the creation of typologies for archaeological artifacts. This method was not only time saving given the large data set, it helped to assuage concerns of subjectivity given the known spatial and unknown chronological separation of the figurines. By weighing all characteristics equally - both formal and technical, significant factors emerged from the analysis rather than being defined by the researcher.
In our presentation we will explain the necessity of a collaborative process between programmer and archaeologist. We will also show how our program can quantify some of the remaining subjectivity of a typological analysis. Lastly, we will explain how the results from our program can quantify diversity in the data.