Rethinking on the Urartian Ivory Artefacts, AnAr 20, 2017.

in Origini XLI, 139-169, 2018

This paper presents a new outstanding discovery from 2016 at the site of Arslantepe (Malatya, SE Turkey), a finely made ivory plaque found in an Iron Age context approximately dated at the beginning of the 8th century BCE. The object belongs to the well-known “Flame and Frond” ivory carving school and its discovery at Arslantepe suggests intriguing cross-cultural relationships with the Levantine and northern Mesopotamian worlds. The article describes and discusses the new finding within the corpus of the 1st millennium BCE Near Eastern production of ivory and luxury goods. It aims at evaluating innovative aspects of intercultural communication as well as the legacy of ancient traditions in the formation of the new artistic trends at Arslantepe and within the flourishing of the Iron Age societies.

Ivory as a material has a unique and fascinating appeal by virtue of its rich warm colour and sheen. Since very early times, ivory has been synonymous with luxury, as witnessed in the Old Testament reference to Ahab's " house of ivory ", the epitome of luxurious living; in Amos' imprecation against the rich " that lie upon beds of ivory "; and in Ezekiel's lament for Tyre, perfect in beauty, where the very benches are made of ivory.' In addition, we are told that Solomon's royal throne was made of ivory, commissioned from Phoenician craftsmen who excelled in this art.2 Finally, the identification of ivory with luxury and hence corruption is clear in the Homeric allusion to the " Gate of Ivory ", through which dreams pass that mislead.3 The discovery of actual ivory objects more-or-less contemporary with the literary references during excavations of the Assyrian palaces at Nimrud in the mid-nineteenth century thus engendered great excitement.4 The pieces were not only beautiful in themselves; they also brought the ancient traditions to life. The esteem in which the ivories were held in their own time is clearly reflected in the many references by Assyrian kings to objects and tusks taken in booty or received as tribute, as well as in the care with which such transactions were represented on royal reliefs.5 Since the early excavations at Nimrud, a number of other sites in the Near East, such as Hasanlu, Khorsabad, Tell Halaf, Arslan Tash, Zincirli, Tell Tainat, Hama, and particularly Samaria, seat of Ahab and capital of ancient Israel,

Crafts and Images in Contact: Studies on Eastern Mediterranean art of the first millennium BCE, 2005

The production, diffusion and exchange of luxury goods have always played a major role in the symbolic communication of human societies, be it among various segments within societies or across geographical distance and cultural boundaries. In this volume, historians and archaeologists look at so-called minor art from the Near East and the eastern Mediterranean, particularly ivory carvings of the early first millennium BCE, in their triple function as artifacts, visual media and reflections of cultural contact and artistic emulation. Objects and images are considered as material culture, i.e. products of craftsmen, workshops and schools drawing on various styles and iconographic repertoires; and in iconological terms as media vehiculating culturally encoded messages and as symbolic expressions of particular traditions, worldviews and beliefs. What happened to images and styles when they moved from one place to another within larger contexts of cultural exchange and socio-political and economic relationships? Before trying to address such a question, one must determine the origin and date of the material objects and object groups. The coherent classification of the primary evidence is one of the most basic research issues. What are the assumptions and criteria that scholars apply when they define groups according to material, function, style or iconography? Is it possible to relate such categories to historical entities (such as 'workshops' or 'schools') and to locate these more specifically in space and time? Such were the basic questions of an international workshop held at the University of Fribourg in February 2001, the proceedings of which are published in the present volume. Several contributions concentrate on typology, classification, terminology and method, from the point of view of the practitioner or in more theoretical terms. As an epigrapher used to long-established criteria of phenotypical classification, A.R. Millard examines script on artifacts. G. Herrmann and I.J. Winter expound on the classification of ivories in general. Taking the so-called "roundcheeked and ringletted" style group of ivory carvings as an example, D. Wicke asks whether and how it is possible to identify and to locate specific regional styles. Horse trappings, a particular class of objects that were predominant on the Phoenician coast, are discussed by E. Gubel, while E. Rehm investigates the depiction of another class of objects, royal furniture in Assyrian monumental art. Ch. Uehlinger reassesses ivory carvings found at Samaria and raises questions about ivory craftsmanship in Iron Age Israel. Further classes of objects looked at include North Syrian pyxides and bowls made of stone (S. Mazzoni) and Cypriote stone statuary of Egyptianizing style (F. Faegersten). Two studies concentrate on iconography, exploring particular motifs that occur in various media and across cultures: the winged disc (T. Ornan) and the Egyptianizing figure carrying a ram-headed staff and a jug (S.M. Cecchini). Crete is the focus of two contributions: one reviews its orientalizing metalwork and vase painting (H. Matthäus), whereas the other scrutinizes present interpretations of imports and borrowings, raising the question how to define cultural identity from material culture (G. Hoffman).

Archaeological Research in Asia, 2018

This paper presents the detailed stylistic and functional analysis of a large collection of artifacts made from Asian elephant ivory discovered at the Oxus Civilization site of Gonur Depe in southern Turkmenistan. Artifacts in ivory of Asian elephant from Bronze Age sites in Middle Asia have usually been considered as evidence for the import of finished items from the greater Indus Valley. The detailed study of the Gonur Depe ivories has instead proven that there are significant morphological and stylistic differences between these artifacts and those found at contemporaneous sites in the Indus Valley. This evidence raises important questions about the provenance of the raw material and about the origin and training of the craftsmen who manufactured the objects. Detailed research in textual sources about traditional arts and crafts in South Asia and in classical and medieval commentaries about ivory carving, integrated with ethnographic data about skilled crafting in traditional societies, has led to propose new hypotheses about the complex socioeconomic and cultural organization of manufacturing and trade of Asian elephant ivory during the Bronze Age.

The highland of eastern Anatolia, southern Caucasia, and northwestern Iran were the main territory of pre-Urartians, in other words, small local independent polities of the land of Nairi and Uruatri communities. Grooved ware related to the local communities of Nairi-Uruatri lands is spread for centuries over this vast area associated with other distinct pottery groups in peripheries during the EIA, from the c. 13 th-12 th centuries to the 9 th century BC. It decreasingly continued with new forms during the MIA until the 7 th century BC. The distribution and chronology of the grooved pottery well matched the borders and dates of the Nairi and Uruatri lands mentioned in Middle Assyrian sources starting from the 13 th century BC. The fortified site area, the settlement system of the Nairi and Uruatri territory, which is the formation of a mobilesedentary lifestyle of local communities, also contains these borders. The existence of grooved ware beyond eastern Anatolia in the south indicates to spread of these agro-pastoral groups in the Middle Euphrates and Upper Tigris valleys during the temporary void of the Assyrian Empire. The east side of the Lake Van basin within the vast pre-Urartian land shows a particular situation with its different pottery subgroups and fine wares. It seems that Urartian red polished ware (Biainili ware) was derived from the pinkish-buff red slipped ware of the pre-Urartian period on the northern and eastern shores of Lake Van, where major pre-Urartian and Urartian settlements were located and most probably the core area of grooved ware. The northern and eastern sides of Lake Van, which is the heartland of the Urartian Kingdom, are also well matched to Uruatri land. The characteristics of the foundation of the Urartian Kingdom seem mainly developed based on the local traditions of the pre-Urartians who lived in the eastern part of Lake Van. Later, establishing the Urartian capital in the same area reinforces this suggestion.

Elephant ivory tusks have circulated beteen Asia and Mesopotamia as early as the IIIrd millennium BC, via the sea routes and the Persian Gulf and via the land route and Central Asia, reaching the land of Sumer, together with other Indus and Central Aisan imports such as carnelian and lapis lazuli. In honour of the Late Victor Sarianidi, this paper looks at the . Ivory pieces found in Gonur depe from the angle of the network of circulation of ivory, raw tusks and finished pieces.