Books by Tiffany Earley-Spadoni
“This rigorous book will change how we think about the ancient kingdom of Urartu as well as the d... more “This rigorous book will change how we think about the ancient kingdom of Urartu as well as the dynamic roles that landscapes played in mediating violence and trauma in the ancient Middle East."
—Benjamin Porter, University of California, Berkeley
Landscapes of Warfare offers an in-depth exploration of the Urartian empire, which occupied the highlands of present-day Turkey, Armenia, and Iran in the early first millennium BCE. Lesser known than its rival, the Neo-Assyrian empire, Urartu presents a unique case of imperial power distributed among mountain fortresses rather than centralized in cities. Through spatial analysis, the book demonstrates how systematic warfare, driven by imperial ambitions, shaped Urartian and Assyrian territories, creating symbolically and materially powerful landscapes.
Tiffany Earley-Spadoni challenges traditional views by emphasizing warfare’s role in organizing ancient landscapes, suggesting that Urartu’s strength lay in its strategic optimization of terrain through fortified regional networks. Using an interdisciplinary approach that includes GIS-enabled studies and integrates archaeological, historical, and art-historical evidence, she illustrates how warfare was a generative force in structuring space and society in the ancient Middle East. Landscapes of Warfare situates Urartu’s developments within the broader context of regional empires, providing insights into the mechanisms of warfare, governance, and cultural identity formation.
Papers by Tiffany Earley-Spadoni
After Dark The Nocturnal Urban Landscape and Lightscape of Ancient Cities, 2022
The night was dark and full of terrors in the Mesopotamian world, but the people there sought way... more The night was dark and full of terrors in the Mesopotamian world, but the people there sought ways to drive out the darkness, be it an enemy at the city gates, a ghost, or a witch. In this contribution, the author traces the historical evidence for fire beacon communications networks and discusses nocturnal magical rituals like the early first millennium Maqlû series. By the early first millennium BCE, Mesopotamians had been using fire as a means of nighttime communication for centuries. Textual and archaeological evidence makes it abundantly clear that fire beacons were an important part of how they avoided peril. No less real than enemy invaders, ghosts, and witches haunted the night in Mesopotamia, and people developed rituals to protect themselves. In sum, the essay integrates archaeological and textual evidence from the early first millennium BCE states of Assyria and Urartu to discuss the various ways in which ancient Mesopotamians sought agency over the unpredictable.
Global Perspectives on Landscapes of Warfare, 2022
This essay investigates the organizational logic of regional, rural fortification systems in the ... more This essay investigates the organizational logic of regional, rural fortification systems in the ancient Middle East through a non-site-based approach. Utilizing two case studies from Middle Bronze Syria and Iron Age Assyria and Urartu, an analysis of archeological and textual sources reveals that distributed landscape features situated as networks along roads served multiple functions besides the imposition of sovereignty and defense. Fortified regional networks consisting of forts, fortresses, fire beacon stations, and other fortified structures were hubs for communication and intelligence gathering. The distributed nature of these networks means that they are best understood and investigated as cultural landscapes.
Digital storytelling is an outgrowth of the field of new media studies, a humanistic discipline t... more Digital storytelling is an outgrowth of the field of new media studies, a humanistic discipline that explores the nexus of computing, science and visual culture. Digital storytelling began as a workshop-based approach utilizing digital media to create short audio-visual stories, frequently oriented towards the autobiographical and confessional, but has subsequently expanded in its application to include fields such as public history
Advances in Archaeological Practice, 2019
The methodical recording and representation of spatial data are central to archaeological fieldwo... more The methodical recording and representation of spatial data are central to archaeological fieldwork and research. Until recently, centimeter-level precise geolocation equipment was the exclusive domain of researchers who could afford setups costing tens of thousands of dollars. However, high-quality measurements are being made more accessible by rapidly evolving technologies. These new tools, when used together with mobile technology for efficiently recording field data, open up the possibility of capturing the precise location of every find during an archaeological surface survey. An important step in reaching the desired outcome—centimeter-level recording for all—is experimentation with a variety of emerging low-cost setups. Accordingly, we tested the Reach and Reach RS, differential global navigation satellite systems (dGNSS) equipment produced by the company Emlid, during a surface survey in Armenia in June 2018. Our field application demonstrates that the use of dGNSS is alread...
International Journal of Humanities and Arts Computing, 2020
To some, archaeology is best framed as a science, and to others it is envisioned as part of the h... more To some, archaeology is best framed as a science, and to others it is envisioned as part of the humanities; but in our view archaeology as a discipline is strongest when it acknowledges the value of and incorporates both scientific and humanistic perspectives. Despite the many successes of scientifically-oriented archaeology, we contend that our discipline cannot achieve its broader aims without the humanities. We illustrate our argument by delineating three research domains – Deep Time Perspectives, Spatial Histories, and Public Engagement – and reviewing recent studies in each that have successfully integrated scientific and humanistic approaches to spatial archaeology.
The present dissertation-an interdisciplinary study incorporating archaeological data, textual so... more The present dissertation-an interdisciplinary study incorporating archaeological data, textual sources, art-historical evidence, and ethnography-investigates state development in the highland, non-urban empire of Urartu and the Early Iron fortress-states that preceded it during the early first millennium BCE. GIS studies take social agents into account, employing Social Network Analysis and human-scale analysis techniques. Vision acts as an organizing principle for the present study and provides a window into the priorities and decision making of the people who created the ancient states in question. The investigation of Iron Age fortress states has been hindered by a paucity of systematic, multi-regional studies. In order to understand the spatial development of Urartu, the dissertation employs a large-scale, temporally-sensitive study, utilizing results from archaeological survey performed by German and Italian expeditions to Iranian Azerbaijan and the Lake Sevan region in Armenia. An examination of the data-both historical and archaeological-reveals, contrary to previous scholarship, that the strategies of the Urartian empire varied across space as well as in time. Furthermore, the Urartian occupation in the studied areas did not constitute a dramatic break with previous modes of regional organization, but intensified pre-existing patterns, particularly those of regional defense. The role of systematic warfare in the large-scale organization of states is examined. The visibility studies reveal that forts, fortresses and settlements were iii strategically placed for defensive communication and the systematic surveillance of roads, and that these patterns were already in place by the Early Iron Age. The insecurity created by the threat of warfare is understood as only one of a variety of factors that influenced the organization of the studied Iron Age states along with economic incentives, ritual importance and the ideological impact of sociallyconstructed space. It is furthermore proposed that fortress-states, dominated by military architecture and frequently accompanied by bellicose philosophies and religious ideas, are a response to crisis and may promote continued cycles of violence.
International Journal of Humanities and Arts Computing, 2020
To some, archaeology is best framed as a science, and to others it is envisioned as part of the h... more To some, archaeology is best framed as a science, and to others it is envisioned as part of the humanities; but in our view archaeology as a discipline is strongest when it acknowledges the value of and incorporates both scientific and humanistic perspectives. Despite the many successes of scientifically oriented archaeology, we contend that our discipline cannot achieve its broader aims without the humanities. We illustrate our argument by delineating three research domains –Deep Time Perspectives, Spatial Histories, and Public Engagement – and reviewing recent studies in each that have successfully integrated scientific and humanistic approaches to spatial archaeology.
Advances in Archaeological Practice, 2019
The methodical recording and representation of spatial data are central to archaeological fieldwo... more The methodical recording and representation of spatial data are central to archaeological fieldwork and research. Until recently, centimeter-level precise geolocation equipment was the exclusive domain of researchers who could afford setups costing tens of thousands of dollars. However, high-quality measurements are being made more accessible by rapidly evolving technologies. These new tools, when used together with mobile technology for efficiently recording field data, open up the possibility of capturing the precise location of every find during an archaeological surface survey. An important step in reaching the desired outcome-centimeter-level recording for all-is experimentation with a variety of emerging low-cost setups. Accordingly, we tested the Reach and Reach RS, differential global navigation satellite systems (dGNSS) equipment produced by the company Emlid, during a surface survey in Armenia in June 2018. Our field application demonstrates that the use of dGNSS is already possible and that the described advances in precision enable improved recording and representation of spatial data. El registro y la representación sistemático de datos espaciales son fundamentales para el trabajo de campo y la investigación arqueológicos. Hasta hace poco, el equipo de geolocalización de precisión en centímetros era de dominio exclusivo para los investiga-dores que podían costearse herramientas de decenas de miles de dólares. Sin embargo, el área se está acercando rápidamente a un momento en que las mediciones de alta calidad se harán más accesibles mediante tecnologías de rápida evolución. Cuando se usan junto con la tecnología móvil para registrar datos de campo de manera eficiente, esto abre la posibilidad de capturar la ubicación precisa de cada hallazgo durante un examen de la superficie arqueológica. Un paso importante para alcanzar el resultado deseado-el registro a nivel de centímetros para todos-es la experimentación realizada por investigadores con una variedad de equipos emergentes de bajo costo. Por consiguiente, probamos el Reach y Reach RS, el equipo diferencial GNSS producido por la empresa Emlid, durante un reciente estudio de superficie en Armenia en junio de 2018, e informamos de nuestros resultados aquí. Concluimos que, incluso con algunos desafíos, nuestra aplicación de campo demuestra que el dGNSS asequible ya es posible, y que los avances descritos en la precisión permitirán un mejor registro y representación de los datos espaciales. Palabras clave: prospección arqueológica, sistemas globales de navegación por satélite diferenciales, flujo de trabajo digital Analysis of archaeological context depends on the three-dimensional location of finds. Provenience, interpreted within a horizontal and vertical stratigraphic framework, relates all other types of data. The quality of spatial data is determined by a combination of precision, accuracy, and quantity. Various technologies from tape measures and optical levels to electronic distance measurers like total stations enable the recording of position, orientation, and scale. Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are the most promising geolocation technology to have emerged in recent decades. The U.S. national system-the global positioning system (GPS)-has been widely recognized and adopted, but other nations provide similar GNSS services. When deployed in the specific configuration of differential GNSS (dGNSS), this technology can provide immediate real-world coordinates with centimeter-level precision. The relevance to archaeological fieldwork is clear; however , prohibitively expensive equipment has limited the use of dGNSS to projects with abundant resources; moreover, these projects deploy only a single measuring system. Recent advances in technological design and manufacturing make possible the provision of a full dGNSS setup for the price of a decent laptop, ultimately enabling the simultaneous use of many devices.
ARAMAZD, 2019
The Vayots Dzor Fortress Lansdscapes Project investigates the rise and fall of fortress culture i... more The Vayots Dzor Fortress Lansdscapes Project investigates the rise and fall of fortress culture in southern Armenia, focusing on the Late Bronze/Early Iron and medieval periods. The paper summarizes the findings of the inaugural field season in 2017. The team performed extensive and intensive survey in a high alpine valley that was a key transportation corridor between Lake Sevan in the north and Nakhichevan and northwest Iran to the south. The project employed digital mapping, drone photogrammetry and digital storytelling in support of digital humanities approaches. Important findings include the documentation of Late Bronze/Early Iron cyclopean fortress architecture situated along roads as well as evidence for Urartian control of the valley. Furthermore, medieval structures and monuments are prominent features in the archaeological record of the valley.
Geospatial technologies are transforming the practice of the Digital Humanities, and these develo... more Geospatial technologies are transforming the practice of the Digital Humanities, and these developments have direct relevance to the practice of scientifically oriented archaeology. The most recent " spatial turn " among digital humanists can be attributed to both the prevalence of tools like ArcGIS that facilitate such investigations as well as an interdisciplinary convergence upon theoretical models that conceive of socially constructed space. This article will briefly review the current state-of-the-art in the field of Spatial History as well as discuss a number of emerging trends such as deep mapping, digital storytelling and data visualization, utilizing examples from a variety of applications. Moreover, archaeologists can benefit from the substantial investments by the academy in the Digital Humanities, particularly in the United States and Canada. In sum, the article proposes that the scope of archaeological applications of geospatial technologies would be productively broadened through an increased engagement with the Digital Humanities.
Intervisibility analysis provides valuable insight into the sociocultural significance of archaeo... more Intervisibility analysis provides valuable insight into the sociocultural significance of archaeological features such as tombs, settlements, signaling installations and other landscape markers. Yet, it is difficult to determine whether these observed patterns are intentional. Archaeological remains that are highly visible in general may be intervisible with other constructions only by coincidence. The present study analyzes Early Iron and Urartian (Biainili) fortified architecture in the Lake Sevan region of Armenia (1100–700 BCE). A Social Network Analysis (SNA) approach to classic GIS intervisibility analysis demonstrates that these ancient people constructed an elaborate fire beacon system. Random-point simulation, statistical validation and historical documentation support these findings, and show that the spatial organization of these fortress-states was the result of regional coordination. The analysis described in this paper constitutes a novel method for discerning the agency of social actors. Moreover, the study reveals that a fire beacon system was already in place by the Early Iron period, and its continuation during the Urartian period betrays a preoccupation with persistent conflict in this ancient landscape of warfare.
1 As much as possible, we have used the modern Azerbaijani alphabet to record placenames and have... more 1 As much as possible, we have used the modern Azerbaijani alphabet to record placenames and have not transliterated these into Turkish or used English transliterations of the Cyrillic forms of these names. The one exception to this is the Araxes, where we use the English version.
Reviews by Tiffany Earley-Spadoni
Review of: Digital Heritage and Archaeology in Practice: Presentation, Teaching, and Engagement, edited by Ethan Watrall and Lynne Goldstein, Gainesville, FL, University Press of Florida, 2022, 360 pp., $90.00 (hardcover), ISBN 9780813069319 California Archaeology, 2024
Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 2019
Scholars of the ancient Near East were early pioneers of digital research. The Cuneiform Digital ... more Scholars of the ancient Near East were early pioneers of digital research. The Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI) and the Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) revealed the findings of large collaborative research projects to a global scholarly community, providing investigators in other fields a model for open digital research. It is, therefore, striking that synthetic works on digital research in the ancient Near Eastern context have been relatively infrequent. The editors of the volume under review sought to address this gap in the literature by presenting a body of new digital research performed by scholars of the ancient Near East. Citing the isolation under which many digital projects are conducted, the editorial team also aimed to initiate dialogue among digital researchers toiling away in their lonely silos
H-WAR Reviews, 2019
Commissioned by Margaret Sankey (Air University) Few figures known from ancient Near Eastern hist... more Commissioned by Margaret Sankey (Air University) Few figures known from ancient Near Eastern history lend themselves to biographical treatments due to the nature of the sources available. It is precisely this rarity in approach that makes the recent Ashurbanipal exhibition and resulting museum catalog both unique and compelling. Ashurbanipal was a neo-Assyrian king in the seventh century BCE who ruled over a vast empire extending from Egypt to Iraq. He was a complex figure known to have commissioned unspeakable acts of horror , such as the flaying of live victims in the context of systematic warfare waged by the state. Yet he also styled himself something of a scholar and amassed an incompa-rable library of cuneiform texts. He is much better known for the latter, even in specialist circles. Apparently, good public relations can pay off.
Thesis Chapters by Tiffany Earley-Spadoni
Download complete dissertation at: https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/39623
The ... more Download complete dissertation at: https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/39623
The present dissertation—an interdisciplinary study incorporating archaeological data, textual sources, art-historical evidence, and ethnography—investigates state development in the highland, non-urban empire of Urartu and the Early Iron fortress-states that preceded it during the early first millennium BCE. GIS studies take social agents into account, employing Social Network Analysis and human-scale analysis techniques. Vision acts as an organizing principle for the present study and provides a window into the priorities and decision making of the people who created the ancient states in question.
The investigation of Iron Age fortress states has been hindered by a paucity of systematic, multi-regional studies. In order to understand the spatial development of Urartu, the dissertation employs a large-scale, temporally-sensitive study, utilizing results from archaeological survey performed by German and Italian expeditions to Iranian Azerbaijan and the Lake Sevan region in Armenia. An examination of the data—both historical and archaeological—reveals, contrary to previous scholarship, that the strategies of the Urartian empire varied across space as well as in time. Furthermore, the Urartian occupation in the studied areas did not constitute a dramatic break with previous modes of regional organization, but intensified pre-existing patterns, particularly those of regional defense.
The role of systematic warfare in the large-scale organization of states is examined. The visibility studies reveal that forts, fortresses and settlements were strategically placed for defensive communication and the systematic surveillance of roads, and that these patterns were already in place by the Early Iron Age. The insecurity created by the threat of warfare is understood as only one of a variety of factors that influenced the organization of the studied Iron Age states along with economic incentives, ritual importance and the ideological impact of socially- constructed space. It is furthermore proposed that fortress-states, dominated by military architecture and frequently accompanied by bellicose philosophies and religious ideas, are a response to crisis and may promote continued cycles of violence.
White Papers by Tiffany Earley-Spadoni
A field guide that describes a low-cost, low-water procedure for soil sample flotation for macrob... more A field guide that describes a low-cost, low-water procedure for soil sample flotation for macrobotanical analysis. The guide includes a materials list featuring items that are commonly available in field contexts.
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Books by Tiffany Earley-Spadoni
—Benjamin Porter, University of California, Berkeley
Landscapes of Warfare offers an in-depth exploration of the Urartian empire, which occupied the highlands of present-day Turkey, Armenia, and Iran in the early first millennium BCE. Lesser known than its rival, the Neo-Assyrian empire, Urartu presents a unique case of imperial power distributed among mountain fortresses rather than centralized in cities. Through spatial analysis, the book demonstrates how systematic warfare, driven by imperial ambitions, shaped Urartian and Assyrian territories, creating symbolically and materially powerful landscapes.
Tiffany Earley-Spadoni challenges traditional views by emphasizing warfare’s role in organizing ancient landscapes, suggesting that Urartu’s strength lay in its strategic optimization of terrain through fortified regional networks. Using an interdisciplinary approach that includes GIS-enabled studies and integrates archaeological, historical, and art-historical evidence, she illustrates how warfare was a generative force in structuring space and society in the ancient Middle East. Landscapes of Warfare situates Urartu’s developments within the broader context of regional empires, providing insights into the mechanisms of warfare, governance, and cultural identity formation.
Papers by Tiffany Earley-Spadoni
Reviews by Tiffany Earley-Spadoni
Thesis Chapters by Tiffany Earley-Spadoni
The present dissertation—an interdisciplinary study incorporating archaeological data, textual sources, art-historical evidence, and ethnography—investigates state development in the highland, non-urban empire of Urartu and the Early Iron fortress-states that preceded it during the early first millennium BCE. GIS studies take social agents into account, employing Social Network Analysis and human-scale analysis techniques. Vision acts as an organizing principle for the present study and provides a window into the priorities and decision making of the people who created the ancient states in question.
The investigation of Iron Age fortress states has been hindered by a paucity of systematic, multi-regional studies. In order to understand the spatial development of Urartu, the dissertation employs a large-scale, temporally-sensitive study, utilizing results from archaeological survey performed by German and Italian expeditions to Iranian Azerbaijan and the Lake Sevan region in Armenia. An examination of the data—both historical and archaeological—reveals, contrary to previous scholarship, that the strategies of the Urartian empire varied across space as well as in time. Furthermore, the Urartian occupation in the studied areas did not constitute a dramatic break with previous modes of regional organization, but intensified pre-existing patterns, particularly those of regional defense.
The role of systematic warfare in the large-scale organization of states is examined. The visibility studies reveal that forts, fortresses and settlements were strategically placed for defensive communication and the systematic surveillance of roads, and that these patterns were already in place by the Early Iron Age. The insecurity created by the threat of warfare is understood as only one of a variety of factors that influenced the organization of the studied Iron Age states along with economic incentives, ritual importance and the ideological impact of socially- constructed space. It is furthermore proposed that fortress-states, dominated by military architecture and frequently accompanied by bellicose philosophies and religious ideas, are a response to crisis and may promote continued cycles of violence.
White Papers by Tiffany Earley-Spadoni
—Benjamin Porter, University of California, Berkeley
Landscapes of Warfare offers an in-depth exploration of the Urartian empire, which occupied the highlands of present-day Turkey, Armenia, and Iran in the early first millennium BCE. Lesser known than its rival, the Neo-Assyrian empire, Urartu presents a unique case of imperial power distributed among mountain fortresses rather than centralized in cities. Through spatial analysis, the book demonstrates how systematic warfare, driven by imperial ambitions, shaped Urartian and Assyrian territories, creating symbolically and materially powerful landscapes.
Tiffany Earley-Spadoni challenges traditional views by emphasizing warfare’s role in organizing ancient landscapes, suggesting that Urartu’s strength lay in its strategic optimization of terrain through fortified regional networks. Using an interdisciplinary approach that includes GIS-enabled studies and integrates archaeological, historical, and art-historical evidence, she illustrates how warfare was a generative force in structuring space and society in the ancient Middle East. Landscapes of Warfare situates Urartu’s developments within the broader context of regional empires, providing insights into the mechanisms of warfare, governance, and cultural identity formation.
The present dissertation—an interdisciplinary study incorporating archaeological data, textual sources, art-historical evidence, and ethnography—investigates state development in the highland, non-urban empire of Urartu and the Early Iron fortress-states that preceded it during the early first millennium BCE. GIS studies take social agents into account, employing Social Network Analysis and human-scale analysis techniques. Vision acts as an organizing principle for the present study and provides a window into the priorities and decision making of the people who created the ancient states in question.
The investigation of Iron Age fortress states has been hindered by a paucity of systematic, multi-regional studies. In order to understand the spatial development of Urartu, the dissertation employs a large-scale, temporally-sensitive study, utilizing results from archaeological survey performed by German and Italian expeditions to Iranian Azerbaijan and the Lake Sevan region in Armenia. An examination of the data—both historical and archaeological—reveals, contrary to previous scholarship, that the strategies of the Urartian empire varied across space as well as in time. Furthermore, the Urartian occupation in the studied areas did not constitute a dramatic break with previous modes of regional organization, but intensified pre-existing patterns, particularly those of regional defense.
The role of systematic warfare in the large-scale organization of states is examined. The visibility studies reveal that forts, fortresses and settlements were strategically placed for defensive communication and the systematic surveillance of roads, and that these patterns were already in place by the Early Iron Age. The insecurity created by the threat of warfare is understood as only one of a variety of factors that influenced the organization of the studied Iron Age states along with economic incentives, ritual importance and the ideological impact of socially- constructed space. It is furthermore proposed that fortress-states, dominated by military architecture and frequently accompanied by bellicose philosophies and religious ideas, are a response to crisis and may promote continued cycles of violence.
This paper presents a Landscape of Warfare case study, combining historical evidence, archaeological data and GIS analysis to elucidate the effects of pervasive warfare on the development of the ancient empire known to the Neo-Assyrians as Urartu (Biainili). Specifically, this investigation utilizes survey data collected by German and Italian expeditions to Iranian Azerbaijan and the Lake Sevan region in Armenia and employs these for viewshed and intervisibility studies (views-from and views-between). The paper concludes that forts, fortresses and fortified settlements were strategically placed for both defensive communication as well as the systematic surveillance of roads; moreover, Biainili participated in a historically-documented network of international espionage and counter-espionage with its neighbors (e.g. SAA 1 29, SAA 5 95 & SAA 5 105).