Archaeology of Empires

This study, which focuses on the Assyrian Empire in southwestern Asia (ca. 1350-609 BC), provides an overview of the political institutions enabled by the Assyrian authorities across space and time. It reviews established models of imperialism in the light of the available textual and archaeological evidence to assess to what degree the institutions of governance of the Assyrians varied significantly by region and depended, in part, on the long-term socio-ecological dynamics prevailing in different cultural enclaves. A comparison between the Middle Assyrian (ca. 1350-935 BC) and the Neo-Assyrian (ca. 883-609 BC) periods reveals that the institutions enabled in both periods were similar and are to be interpreted along a temporal continuum. The overall picture is that the Assyrian Empire is not to be considered a homogenous and monolithic political unit exerting a standardized system of control over the dominated territories. In contrast, the Assyrians used a variety of flexible and adaptative institutions to avoid centrifugal tendencies of the subject communities and to consolidate their power over a multi-ethnical polity stretching over one million square kilometres at its maximum extent during the Neo-Assyrian period.

I was involved in the research and writing of the article titled 'Investigating the Newly Discovered Rock Relief from the Sasanian Era in England' for Ancient Iranian Studies, 2025. I recently discovered that in a second version of the article, my name was removed from the list of authors without my consent. Please refer to the following cash data left on Google Search from the journal:

https://www.ancientiranianstudies.ir/?_action=article&au=1556824&_au=%D8%BA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85%DB%8C%D8%8C%20%DA%A9%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%B4&lang=en

__________
Mehrdad Malekzadeh, an archaeologist who has personal issues with me, called the journal and requested the removal of my name, violating academic practices. Additionally, the journal incorrectly listed my education as a Master’s in Archaeology from the University of Waterloo, whereas my actual degree is a Master’s in Chemistry from the University of Waterloo. I find this deeply concerning, as it undermines my contributions and the integrity of the collaborative process.
A formal dispute has been filed to address this.

Little is known about human mobility in the Iranian Central Plateau during the Parthian and Sasanian periods. To fill this
gap, we measured 87Sr/86Sr values in 22 human enamel samples from Shahr-i Qumis, Semnan Province, retrieved from
collective burials in the ruined buildings of an abandoned capital city of the Parthian state. The skeletons were radiocarbon
dated to the Late Parthian and Sasanian periods. The results were compared to 87Sr/86Sr values measured in 41 plant
samples and 3 snail shells collected from spots along the southern slopes of the Alborz Mountains between Qazvin Plain
in the west and the Jajarm Plain in the east. All but one of the 87Sr/86Sr values in human teeth are consistent with local
strontium isotope values, and therefore the skeletons likely represent people who did not change their location between
infancy and death. This suggests that the cemetery was used by a relatively immobile population of farmers who took
advantage of the favourable conditions at the alluvial fan for crop cultivation or stationary animal husbandry, rather than
transhumant/nomadic pastoralists who would have used larger and more distant areas as pastures.

This paper reconsiders three royal inscriptions of King Merenra (Sixth Dynasty) in the region of the First Nile Cataract. They have long been known to scholars but have not received extensive treatment beyond translations. The inscriptions appear to be among the first explicit royal statements addressing the limits of Egyptian territory and the begin- nings of foreign lands. The paper situates the inscriptions within more comprehensive scholarship related to border studies, the geographic setting of the First Cataract region, and the historical context of the late Old Kingdom. We argue these inscriptions provide key information about political border-making during this period.

This new and significant discovery marks a milestone in the scientific research conducted by the Polish-Peruvian project 'Castillo de Huarmey' in our region, Ancash. Ten years ago, in 2014, Antamina joined this effort to preserve our local history and culture, highlighting the importance of the Wari Empire—the predecessor of the Inca Empire—on the north coast of our country. This endowed Huarmey with a rich heritage of traditions and culture, which we can now appreciate through this archaeological find. Once again, we want to acknowledge and thank the 'Castillo de Huarmey' project for the opportunity to participate in this process, which enables us to learn more about our local history. This allows us to explore new and better opportunities to promote sustainable tourism and the cultural and economic dynamism that this activity brings. We are convinced that by learning more about our past, we can build a better future for the new generations of Huarmey citizens, who today are even more proud of their historical legacy.

Although Thymbra spicata is not a native Egyptian plant, a freshly picked twig was discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun. Such a plant could have been cultivated in Egypt by “the state,” or by a foreigner sojourning in Egypt. The twig is an example of plant acclimatization, such as plants brought by Hatshepsut’s mission to Punt and those collected during Thutmose III’s expedition in Retjenu depicted on the walls of Amun’s temple in Karnak. The maximal span of elapsed time between the Battle of Megiddo and the death of Tutankhamun is less than 150 years (at most four or five generations). A study of a family of royal gardeners suggests that T. spicata was cultivated in Egypt during the Eighteenth Dynasty and the twig found in Tutankhamun’s tomb was a progeny of such an introduction. Eventually its cultivation failed, and the plant vanished from Egypt.

Maresca, G. (2023) Review of: Pierfrancesco Callieri, Alireza Askari Chaverdi. “From Ctesiphon to Firuzabad. Towards the Origins and the Meaning of Circular Cities in Pre-islamic Iran”, Abstracta Iranica 45, document 18. CNRS (UMR 7528 Mondes iraniens et indiens), Éditions de l’IFRI; ISSN: 1961-960X ; DOI: 10.4000/abstractairanica.56657.

****Please feel free to contact me if you would like a copy.

Despite varying interpretations regarding the social significance of the phenomenon, the presence of large quantities of locally manufactured Egyptian-style pottery at Late Bronze Age sites throughout the southern Levant has been regarded as a key datapoint for understanding local manifestations of the New Kingdom empire. Treatments have differed but have largely sought to assess whether the forms provide direct evidence for the presence of Egyptians as part of the New Kingdom imperial apparatus. In this paper, I propose a new, multi-level approach for assessing the social significance of Egyptian-style pottery as it pertains to Egypto-Levantine interaction. Drawing on theories of practice, I analyze the phenomenon within three distinct spheres of social interaction: the community of specialists that produced Egyptian-style pottery, the imperial administration that saw to the provisioning of the garrison community, and the garrison community that adopted, adapted, and—at times—rejected the new forms. Using a new radiometric chronology and ceramic data from the garrison site of Jaffa (modern Israel), it is possible to investigate these three social spheres from the earliest Late Bronze Age IB levels exhibiting evidence for Egyptian involvement down to the last decades of Egyptian rule at the end of the 12th century BCE. By examining ceramic production and consumption patterns over time, several key points about social relations at the site can be clarified. First, at the level of the potters, the community of practice that produced Egyptian-style ceramics remained fully separate from their Levantine counterparts over three centuries of imperial occupation at Jaffa. Indeed, the group was potentially derived from itinerant potters from Egypt brought in specifically to supply the garrison and cycled out regularly. At the level of the garrison administration, there seems to have been a certain degree of top-down provisioning wherein a select group of ceramic forms were deemed necessary to sustain specific foodways derived from Egyptian modes of doing. While this top-down initiative likely structured the body of forms made available at the site, it must be separated from the use and appreciation of Egyptian-style forms that occurred on a day-to-day basis. This final social sphere, the garrison population that utilized these ceramic forms, demonstrates dynamic shifts in consumption patterns that often correspond with major—sometimes violent—sociopolitical shifts within the community. These data are joined by a reanalysis of previously published data from Ramesside Beth Shean (modern Israel), which also suggest a similar picture. Collectively, the three spheres reveal a situation wherein the production and consumption of Egyptian-style ceramics must be viewed as an extension of the empire itself, with the availability and desirability of these forms being inseparable from the imperial and colonial institutions that sustained New Kingdom territorial control in the region.

Maresca, G. (2022) Review of: Morteza Djamali, Elnaz Rashidian, Alireza Askari-Chaverdi, Cyril Aubert, Elodie Brisset, François Demory, Nicolas Faucherre, Emmanuel Gandouin, Hamid Lahijani, Nick Marriner, Abdolmajid Naderi-Beni, Andrew Parnell. “Early Sasanian landscape modification: New geoarchaeological evidence from the Ardashir Pond in southwest Iran (Palace of Ardashir, third century CE)”, Abstracta Iranica 44, document 5. CNRS (UMR 7528 Mondes iraniens et indiens), Éditions de l’IFRI; ISSN: 1961-960X ; DOI: 10.4000/abstractairanica.55102

Although Thymbra spicata is not a native Egyptian plant, a freshly picked twig was discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun. Such a plant could have been cultivated in Egypt by “the state,” or by a foreigner sojourning in Egypt. The twig is an example of plant acclimatization, such as plants brought by Hatshepsut’s mission to Punt and those collected during Thutmose III’s expedition in Retjenu depicted on the walls of Amun’s temple in Karnak. The maximal span of elapsed time between the Battle of Megiddo and the death of Tutankhamun is less than 150 years (at most four or five generations). A study of a family of royal gardeners suggests that T. spicata was cultivated in Egypt during the Eighteenth Dynasty and the twig found in Tutankhamun’s tomb was a progeny of such an introduction. Eventually its cultivation failed, and the plant vanished from Egypt.

La edición “Rutas Ancestrales de Qhapaq Ñan” es una publicación que nos invita a recorrer el Qhapaq Ñan a través de imágenes, e informa al viajero sobre los mejores tramos para caminar y sobre los principales sitios arqueológicos, los paisajes y la cultura viva de sus comunidades ancestrales.

Las rutas seleccionadas en este libro incluyen tramos longitudinales y transversales del Camino Inca, estos últimos con especial valor, ya que por su trazo se logra una conexión entre diversos pisos ecológicos y comparte a lo largo de su recorrido una gran diversidad cultural y paisajística.

Focalizados en el estudio de la vialidad incaica y sus antecedentes en el territorio andino, los artículos publicados en este volumen permiten evaluar el importante rol cumplido por el Qhapaq Ñan o Camino Real del Tawantinsuyu en la articulación de los pueblos, paisaje y recursos de los Andes prehispánicos.

Mexica (Aztec) stone sculpture is recognized on a global scale by its emblematic monumental pieces, like the Sun Stone or Coatlicue, but despite this popularity, more than half of the artifacts that have been recovered remain unpublished and understudied, which prevents researchers from truly understanding the range of narratives depicted on stone. Since the beginning of scientific studies in 1790 until the present, stone sculpture has been understood under a common framework that focuses on the creation of taxonomies. The goal of this chapter has a double objective: first to show a general view of Mexica history to situate the relevance of stone sculpture and its significant developments over time; and second to examine what these objects can tell us about the emerging Aztec empire. I will discuss the different perspectives that previous scientific literature has used to study these artifacts but also propose a new interpretative approach. Under this new perspective, stone sculpture is seen as being part of a social context of change and becoming through a succession of historical events rather than as one single event. In this view, each stone monument was an active agent of Mexica culture, and I will explore the ideo-logical narratives of a series of people in charge of the Mexica state by examining and interpreting their material culture from the island of Tenochtitlan. Archaeological material from the Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan is used as a mean to explain how visual works promoted the physical force of the Mexica army but also served as a mechanism to achieve unity within the dominant group and as the medium for ideological agendas. From this perspective, these narratives carved in stone served to present, perpetuate, validate, and normalize violence and inequality by fusing together cosmological and social order that make certain norms of behavior seem worthy. In this chapter, I will concentrate on the sculptures made of volcanic stones after the Aztec empire gained its autonomy in 1428 until the arrival of the Spanish in 1519. In less than 91 years, this art underwent a revolutionary transformation that is evident in an authentic explosion of creativity and increase in production.

Almost all of the obsidian used to craft stone tools in the Near East from the Palaeolithic onward originated from volcanoes in two geographic regions: Central Anatolia and Eastern Anatolia. Five decades of obsidian sourcing has led to the view that Central Anatolian obsidians largely followed the Mediterranean coast and rarely reached farther east than the Middle Euphrates, whereas Eastern Anatolian sources almost exclusively supplied sites east of the Euphrates. This paper discusses the identification of Central Anatolian obsidian artefacts at the Bronze-Age site of Tell Mozan (Urkesh) in northeastern Syria. Most of the obsidians at Tell Mozan (97%) came from the Eastern Anatolian sources, as expected from established distribution models. Artefacts of Central Anatolian obsidian, however, were excavated from one wellconstrained context: the deposits on a palace courtyard that date to the height of the Akkadian empire's influence at this third-millennium Hurrian religious and political centre. In particular, the obsidian came from the Kömürcü source of Göllü Da g. Potential explanations for this exotic obsidian are discussed. This obsidian might have "piggybacked" on the distribution of Central Anatolian metals or arrived at this city as royal gifts or prestige items. Other discussed mechanisms include Akkadian-linked changes in either territoriality involving pastoral nomads responsible for the arrival of Eastern Anatolian obsidians or identity construction of elites based on involvement in Central Anatolian economic and political networks.

Wari is sometimes described as the first empire of the Andes, conquering and controlling a broad region during the Middle Horizon (600-1000 CE). This article synthesizes archaeological research to offer a new perspective on Wari's rise, expansion, and collapse. Wari emerged in a rapidly urbanizing environment as a set of ideas about the world and how it should work that blended foreign ideas with local traditions. Heartland cities were organized around elite kin groups who competed for followers by hosting small-scale gatherings. Wari-related ideas, objects, and people circulated far more widely, creating a dynamic cultural horizon of considerable heterogeneity. Efforts to centralize decision making in the ninth century CE may have led to the polity's decline. Although this reconstruction of Wari politics differs from previous models, it is in keeping with contemporary interpretations of collective and low-power early expansive polities in other parts of the world.

Alan Gardiner was the first to reconstruct and review the written sources regarding the so-called "Ways of Horus", a chain of fortresses established in North Sinai during the New Kingdom. To this day, his 1920 article "The Ancient Military Road between Egypt and Palestine" is the stepping stone and the starting point for every discussion on the argument. The article's enduring importance is connected not only to the fact that Gardiner convincingly connected the 12-forts description contained in Papyrus Anastasi I with the depiction present in the Karnak Reliefs of Seti I; and that he reconstructed the deteriorated (and deteriorating) reliefs on the base of copies made during the 19 th-century. His 11-forts reconstruction of the reliefs has been used by virtually every scholar ever since. However, reconciling the discrepancies between the two documents, particularly regarding the number of forts, has proven to be an unsolvable problem. This article demonstrates that a twelfth fortoriginally present in the Karnak Reliefs-went unnoticed by Gardiner. It shows that Ippolito Rosellini depicted it in a copy of the Reliefs made in 1829, and that he described it in his notes. It highlights that the University of Chicago's Epigraphic Survey of the Reliefs found traces of the name of the fort's accompanying well. It finally reassesses the subject of the so-called "Ways of Horus" and, by recognizing the existence of this " forgotten fort", supports Alan Gardiner's century old argument that the description in Papyrus Anastasi I aligns with the depiction in the Karnak Reliefs.

people were involved in the first seasons of work in Argentina and we all share many memories. My ex-wife Adriana Muñoz assisted me during important parts of the fieldwork and I made pleasant visits to her parents, Víctor and Irene, in San Juan. She also revised the Spanish summary together with Lilian Alemany and Dario Gallo. Among the personnel and students at the National University in Tucumán, several of whom were involved in the investigations at Pichao, my thanks go to, among others,

This paper categorizes the Early Silla Tombs of the Wolseong North Burial
Ground according to rank, and also identifies the different personal ornament
assemblages found within these tombs, in order to consider the nature of
social stratification at the time. The main tomb type of the Wolseong North
Burial Ground, in Gyeongju, was the wooden chamber tomb with stone
mound. However, other types of tombs also existed; some of these tomb types
have been used from the Incipient Silla phase, whereas other types newly
emerged in the Early Silla phase. These different tomb types could be ordered
hierarchically, focusing on the wooden chamber tomb with stone mound, as
could the personal ornament assemblages identified within these tombs. During
the first quarter of the Early Silla phase, five ranks could be identified for the
tombs. This increased into six ranks towards the later stages, as subdivision
occurred amongst the higher ranks. Based on an analysis of the tomb ranks, it
was possible to identify that an hierarchial relationship had existed between the
tombs.
The personal ornaments worn by the deceased differed, in terms of type
and quality, according to tomb rank, and differences could also be observed in
the nature of the grave goods. The most ubiquitous type of personal ornament
was the thick·thin earring, and the personal ornaments most closely associated
with the social identity of the deceased were the crown and belt. At present,
eleven different personal ornament assemblages have been identified amongst
the tombs of a later date, when the number of tomb ranks increased into six.
A future research aim is the study of social stratification represented in the
regional tombs located outside of Gyeongju. A key focus of interest will be to see how the results from these regional tombs were influenced by the above
presented framework of tomb rank and personal ornament pattern derived from
Wolseong North Burial Ground, which was not only the central burial ground of
the Gyeongju region but also the Silla Kingdom. It will also be interesting to see
how the above mentioned framework was applied to the regional tombs.

We describe an analysis of the flaked stone tools recovered from households in the Postclassic central Mexican city of Calixtlahuaca (A.D. 1130-1530). Most artifacts are obsidian and represent the blade-core technology, but biface and bipolar artifacts are also represented. Even though household residents were involved in limited biface and bipolar reduction, it appears that the city did not have any resident blade producers. This finding is at odds with the views of many archaeologists, who tend to associate craft production with the emergence of complex Mesoamerican urban centers. We examine the technologies from temporally distinct Calixtlahuacan household assemblages. We discuss why the quantity and quality artifacts associated with blade production are not consistent with resident blade making in the city. Finally, we examine four models for blade provisioning: (1) whole-blade trade, (2) processed-blade trade, (3) long-distance itinerant craftsmen, and (4) local, hinterlandbased craftsmen. Evaluating how the Calixtlahuacans got their flaked stone tools has important implications for the comparative understanding of the organization and scale of economic provisioning systems in Postclassic central Mexico. This analysis supports new inferences about the nature of commercial networks that supplied the Toluca Valley prior to the arrival of the Spanish in the sixteenth century.

mediante el concepto de despoblado, la transecta altitudinal que une Cobija y Calama se destaca a la luz de la investigación histórica y arqueológica como un escenario en donde distintos grupos humanos desplegaron a lo largo del tiempo diversas estrategias de habitar y transitar, comunicando la costa arreica, la cuenca del Loa medio y los oasis interiores de la Región de Antofagasta. Integrando estrategias de relevamiento de datos y metodologías de análisis, que incluyen el estudio de cartografía histórica y crónicas, prospecciones arqueológicas y el uso de tecnologías de información geográfica, se abordan los paisajes viales configurados por el desplazamiento de personas y bienes en este espacio internodal en momentos históricos, relevando información respecto de su materialización en rutas de tránsito concretas y a los factores socioeconómicos, geopolíticos, ambientales y tecnológicos que marcaron su surgimiento, uso, reestructuración y abandono. Palabras claves: Cobija, caminos históricos, paisajes culturales, SIG. Contrating the image of desolation and hostility implanted on the Atacama's Intermediate Depression through the concept of wilderness, the altitudinal transect linking Calama and Cobija stands in the light of historical and archaeological research as a scenario in which different human groups deployed over time various strategies of dwelling and travelling, communicating the coastal desert, the Middle Loa basin and the inner oasis of the Antofagasta Region. Integrating strategies for data gathering and analysis methodologies, including the study of historical chronicles and maps, archaeological surveys and the use of geographic information technologies, highway landscapes shaped by the movement of people and goods through this internodal space in historical times are addressed, relieving information regarding their realization in concrete transit routes and the socioeconomic, environmental and technological factors that marked their emergence, use, restructuring and neglect.

Angkor is one of the world's largest premodern settlement complexes (9th to 15th centuries CE), but to date, no comprehensive demographic study has been completed, and key aspects of its population and demographic history remain unknown. Here, we combine lidar, archaeological excavation data, radiocarbon dates, and machine learning algorithms to create maps that model the development of the city and its population growth through time. We conclude that the Greater Angkor Region was home to approximately 700,000 to 900,000 inhabitants at its apogee in the 13th century CE. This granular, diachronic, paleodemographic model of the Angkor complex can be applied to any ancient civilization.

Angkor is one of the world's largest premodern settlement complexes (9th to 15th centuries CE), but to date, no comprehensive demographic study has been completed, and key aspects of its population and demographic history remain unknown. Here, we combine lidar, archaeological excavation data, radiocarbon dates, and machine learning algorithms to create maps that model the development of the city and its population growth through time. We conclude that the Greater Angkor Region was home to approximately 700,000 to 900,000 inhabitants at its apogee in the 13th century CE. This granular, diachronic, paleodemographic model of the Angkor complex can be applied to any ancient civilization.

Sommaire 1 Abréviations utilisées dans les notes de bas de pages et les tableaux synoptiques 16 II ) Les sources internes, le corpus : classification et traductions. 89 2.1 Présentation générale. 90 2.1.1 Dénombrement et classification des sources. 90 2.1.2 Les absences et les vides : les tablettes et les sceaux ; les sources louvites hiéroglyphiques entre le début du XIIème siècle et la fin du IXème siècle. 98 2.2 Questions de transition 1 : les sources du royaume de Tarhuntassa (XIIème siècle ?). 100 2.2.1 Les raisons de l'intégration de ces sources dans notre corpus. 100 2.2.2 Les inscriptions rupestres des grands rois Mursili et Hartapu : KIZILDAĞ-KARADAĞ-BURUNKAYA. 103 2.3 Questions de transition 2 : les sources de l'âge du fer ancien en Cappadoce. 103 3.2 La société et les élites : professions, statuts et titres. 145 3.2.1 Familles, profesions et statuts : 145 1. Les métiers et les professions. ° le huhurpari(ya)-° le hur(a/i)nal(l)i-° le kukisati-° le lah(i)nal(l)a/i-° le sarkunala-° le tarpala(n)za-° le uzakali-° le waralaza-° le uwatari-2. Les indicateurs de sexes et de statuts sociaux : ° le masculin, la femme et l'homme : VIR / CAPUT-ti-(ziti-) et FEMINA-ti-(wanat(i)) ° l' « homme libre » : l'arawani-° le « notable » : le MAGNUS-ra-z(z)a-(uraz(z)a-) 3. Les structures familiales : ° d'après les textes funéraires ° d'après le fragement de census de Kululu 3.2.2 Les élites : l'univers aulique et l'administration royale. 152 1. Les titres auliques : hauts-fonctionnaires, administrateurs et intendants. ° le vizir : (LIGNUM)sukala-° le « Seigneur de Maison » : DOMUS-ni-DOMINUS-ni-i-sa-° le « chef des majordomes [du roi] » : MAGNUS.URCEUS ° l'émissaire : MAGNUS + ra/i-ia-li-(uriyal(l)i-) ° le « a-[sa?-tara/i?](-)MAGNUS+RA/I?-ia » : un « uriyal(l)idu trône » ? ° les eunuques ° autres agents du pouvoir sans titre 2. Le gouvernorat : titres et fonctions. (152) ° proto-féodalité et tentatives de reconstructions de pouvoirs monarchiques centralisées ° le « seigneur des hommes du pithos » ° les « gouverneurs » : le LEPUS + ra/i-ia-li-(tapariyali-) et les SERVUS des rois. ° le « maire », l'administrateur local : le hazani-° le hiéroglyphe LIGNUM et l'iconographie du « dirigeant amu-X au bâton ». ° bilan : les différentes fonctions des administrateurs locaux. VOLUME II : parties IV-VI, conclusion, bibliographie. IV ) Une idéologie et une propagande politico-religieuses entre montagne, vigne et justice. 320 4.1 Le rocher et la montagne : socles sacrés de traditions et d'héritages politicoreligieux hittites. 323 10 4.1.1 Montagne, économie, peuplement et territoire : 324 1. Montagne et peuplement 2. Montagne et frontières 3. Montagnes et ressources naturelles 4.1.2 Entité rocheuse et religion en Tabal : 333 1. La pierre inscrite, le bloc ; les stèles et leurs socles ; les propriétés magiques de la pierre brute 2. Le rocher et la falaise 3. Les failles et les pics montagneux 4. Montagnes divines et épiphanie 4.1.3 Montagne et pouvoir royal : 352 1. Reliefs et inscriptions rupestres royaux : propagande rupestre et aménagement du territoire 2. La figure du roi-prêtre « sur la montagne » 3. Les souverains et leurs liens étroits avec deux divinités orophiles : Tarhunza et Sarruma. 4.2 La vigne et l'orge : une idéologie et une religion d'abord et avant tout agrarienne au Ier millénaire. Propagande agraire, propagande des cycles (cycle du cosmos, cycle de l'eau, cycle du pouvoir royal et de son renouvellement). 358 4.2.1 La vigne et les céréales : usages et symboliques politico-religieuses. 359 1. La vigne et le raisin. a ) La vigne, son iconographie et sa symbolique religieuse : abondance et fertilité. -la vigne et le vin à l'âge du bronze hittite -l'iconographie de la vigne en Cappadoce à l'âge du fer -la vigne, le vin et leurs symboliques b ) La vigne et la royauté : force, « longue vie » et guérison. -vigne, « longue vie » du personnage royal et prospérité du règne -la vigne et le vin en Cappadoce comme symboles du pouvoir royal même 2. L'orge et les grains. a ) L'orge, son iconographie et sa symbolique religieuse b ) Nouvelle propagande économique et préservation de l'oenomia : recensement et redistribution des richesses. 4.2.2 La propagande agraire des rois tabaliens. 369 1. Changements climatiques, agriculture et propagande agraire. (369) 2. Les topoi agraires. (370) a ) Un lexique et une iconographie de l'abondance et de la satiété b ) Le diptyque pluies nombreuses / sols fertiles c ) Les « justes prix » des denrées alimentaire 3. Rois, dieux et agriculture. (379) a ) Le roi et la célébration des divinités du monde agricole, de l'eau et de la fertilité b ) Le roi pasteur c ) Le roi paysan 4.2.3 Le roi, la vigne et l'orge à Ivriz. 384 1. Les motifs de l'abondance et de la fertilité : les symboles décorant le manteau d'apparat, l'orge, la vigne, la faucille, l'aigle et la spirale. 2. Une démonstration de la richesse et du multiculturalisme du souverain. 3. Une « fête du SAHANA », fête agricole ? 4.3 La justice et le « bon gouvernement » : des structures du pouvoir des rois et des élites entre permanences et mutations, entre traditions et innovations. 390 4.3.1 Le poids des héritages politiques hittites : les permanences. 390 1. Gestion, administration et pouvoir délégué : l'administration des grands rois d'Hattusha comme modèle. (391) 2. Des titulatures et des formules annalistiques en grande partie héritées : une conservation des archives hittites ? (394) a ) Titre et épithète : -le titre « Grand Roi ». une épithète importante et à part à l'âge du fer : l'épithète « Héros ». les épithètes « aimé du dieu X » et « aimé des dieux ». b ) Les formules annalistiques et les topoi impériaux qu'elles véhiculent -le roi comme « serviteur » d'une divinité, la divinité comme « seigneur » du roi -la formule « le(s) dieu(x) X courai(en)t devant moi » -la formule le « dieu X jeta [ou coucha] mes ennemis à mes pieds » -le présent plutôt que le passé : le topos du dépassement des prédécesseurs -le rayonnement international : l'épithète « célèbre à l'Ouest comme à l'Est » c ) Une conservation des archives hittites ? 3. Les cinq fondements traditionnels de la royauté louvite : (406) a ) Le chef politique pontifex maximus et sa pietas b ) Le roi bâtisseur, qui marque et aménage de son territoire c ) Le roi chasseur d ) Le roi guerrier e ) La propagande temporelle et dynastique des dirigeants tabaliens : l'équilibre chronologique et diachronique de l'univers. 4.3.2 « Bon gouvernement », nouvelles valeurs et nouvelles figures dirigeantes : les mutations. 416 12 1. Les nouvelles capacités et valeurs morales des souverains et des élites : un buon governo ? (417) a ) La tarwana-: la « justice ». b ) La sanawasatara-: la « bonté ». c ) L'atanasama-: la « sagesse ». d ) La qualité warpi-, une forme d'excellence : bravoure ou αρετή ? 2. « Pour le bien de mon peuple » : des dirigeants soucieux du bien-être de leurs sujets et acteurs de la gestion de leur territoire. (426) a ) Le chef politique : un être fondamentalement humain, pieux et désarmé. b ) Le chef politique : une figure paternaliste bienveillante pour les autres êtres humains. c ) Synthèse : le nouveau « rôle du pouvoir politique comme fournisseur direct de richesse et de bien-être pour la société administrée » (M.G. Masetti-Rouault). 3. Le nouveau sur l'ancien : évolutions géopolitiques, structures territoriales, titres et figures du pouvoir en Cappadoce à l'âge du fer. (431) a ) Structures et évolutions politiques et géopolitiques en Cappadoce (XIIème -milieu du VIIème siècle) : cinq grandes périodes. b ) La cité-Etat en Cappadoce : réflexions autour d'une structure-type. c ) Synthèse : des traditions cappadociennes durables mais des innovations réelles et propres à l'âge du fer. ° La notion de royauté limitée. ° Deux titres totalement nouveaux : le titre-anthroponyme T/tuwati et le tarwani. ° Une claire hiérarchie des titres politiques ? V ) L'héritage visible : l'iconographie, les aménagements rupestres et l'archéologie des paysages aux IIème et Ier millénaires avant notre ère. Pour une étude comparée et diachronique des monuments et des lieux saints de Cappadoce. 449 2 ) Ouvrages les plus fréquemment cités, sous formes abrégées (voir les références complètes dans la bibliographie finale) : Anatolia, on the trail... = Anatolia : on the trail of the hittite civilization. Cities, temples, inscriptions, monuments, wars and treaties. From Hattusha, the capital, to Syria (Kılıçkaya et Yazıcı 2011).

Organisers: Hajnalka Herold (University of Exeter, UK), K. Patrick Fazioli (Mercy University, US), David Petts (University of Durham, UK)

This session aims to investigate how the concept of a "Global Middle Ages" can facilitate a more dynamic and inclusive medieval archaeology. Originally developed by medievalists in history and literary studies, the Global Middle Ages approach has sought to challenge the Eurocentric nature of medieval research by foregrounding long-distance connections, cross-cultural analyses, and non-western contexts. However, on the one hand, ‘Eurocentric’ medieval research has usually not included all of Europe, but only western Europe, or sometimes even only Britain more specifically. And, on the other hand, the notion of Global Middle Ages has received comparatively little attention in archaeology, especially outside of the Anglophone world, despite the tremendous potential to explore these themes based on the archaeological record.
We invite papers on the archaeology of the Global Middle Ages from any region, but especially those that have been traditionally underrepresented in this framework. Both synthetic, theoretical explorations and specific case studies are welcome. Possible themes include, but are not limited to: How does widening our geographical perspective shape the questions we ask of the archaeological record? Should a global framework be limited to investigating clearly related topics, like long-distance trade, migration, and communication, or should it infuse our entire understanding of the past? How can we make the geographical coverage within Europe more balanced? In what ways is the ‘New World’ part of Global Middle Ages? What are the advantages (and dangers) of framing non-western societies as 'medieval'? Can a global approach to medieval archaeology address inequalities in the contemporary research landscape?

The Call for Papers is available at www.e-a-a.org/eaa2024/scientificprogramme deadline 12 February 2024

The Greater Angkor Region was the center of the Khmer Empire from the 9th until the 13th to the 14th centuries CE, when it entered a period of decline. Many studies have suggested that the decline of Angkor was precipitated by several factors, including severe monsoons, geopolitical shifts, and invasions. In this paper, we use light detection and ranging and ground penetrating radar to investigate the possible intersection of two of these existential threats in one feature: the North Bank Wall. Our results indicate that this feature was designed with dual functionality of extending the urban area’s defenses to the east of Angkor Thom while maintaining the existing infrastructure for the distribution and disposal of water. These findings suggest that the North Bank Wall was built before the severe droughts in the mid-13th century. The timing of the construction indicates that the perceived need for additional security—whether from internal factional disputes or external adversaries—p...

RESUMEN Si todos están de acuerdo en el hecho de que Pachacamac fue un asentamiento mayor adentro del Tahuantinsuyu, y también que los cambios llevados por los incas fueron importantes, no existe un consenso real sobre la naturaleza de estas transformaciones y tampoco la cronología de los monumentos que las atestigarian. En el marco de este ensayo, vamos a tratar de hacer un balance de esta cuestión mediante el exámen de los diferentes modelos que se han propuesto desde el fin del siglo pasado. Vamos a ver que si todos bién se basan en la arqueología, y no en los textos, las interpretaciones difieren en muchos puntos.

This paper presents information on human occupation at Vilcashuaman based on written and material evidence which allow to trace its historical process. Special attention is dedicated to ceramics and architecture of the central highland people during the Late Intermediate Period in order to explain the inca occupation of this area.

“When translation of the final poetic strophe is corrected to account for these on the basis of more recent knowledge, it becomes clear from this,
and supporting evidence at the temple of Amun in Karnak, that the text
is not describing Merneptah’s past conquests but events that took place
during his predecessors’ reigns”.
Patrick Clarke.

El regadío, los lagos y los mitos de origen Jea nette Sherbondy MI INTERES EN el uso del agua subterránea para la irrigación en el Cusco me condujo a investigar el contexto en el cual se trata de este asunto en los Andes. Se dice que el agua para el canal de Tambo Machay proviene del lago Coricocha por medio de un canal subterráneo que construyeron los Incas,este lago también se considera la fuente de agua para varios otros ríos y sistemas de regadio. Aunque se encuentran rasgos de canales subtérraneos artificiales en el valle de Huatanay, la conexión entre Coricocha y el canal de Tambo Machay no es ni natural ni artificial. Sencillamente, no hay ninguna conexión. El concepto de que un lago es el origen de otras fuentes de agua es importante en los Andes. Se considera que un lago es un cuerpo de agua tal como el mar, aunque de menor escala, y que el agua del lago proviene del mar. Por eso se deduce lógicamente que los canales subterráneos son vías de comunicación entre el mar y los lagos y entre éstos y los ríós, riachuelos y canales de irrigación. El mar juega un rol importante en la cosmología andina. Se asocia con los orígenes del mundo..La deidad creadora quechua, Ticsi Viracocha, se

In this paper, I argue that in crucial ways Bradley Parker anticipated the political ecology turn in archaeology (Morehart et al. 2018). Parker himself never used the term political ecology in his work, and I have no reason to believe that he ever thought of himself as a political ecologist or considered his research a part of this theoretical critique of human-environment interactions. Nonetheless, as I will demonstrate, in his studies of the Neo-Assyrian empire Parker consistently appreciated the power dynamics of authority-subject relationships that filtered, and were filtered by, land-use practices. In this respect, Parker provided an early, influential and effective template for infusing archaeological research, especially that concerning empires and states, with a political ecology perspective.

Este artículo describe un análisis astronómico y paisajístico de cuatro sitios incas ubicados en los Nevados de Cachi, Valle Calchaquí Norte, en la Provincia de Salta, Argentina. En particular, consideramos las plataformas ushnu existentes y sus elementos arquitectónicos asociados, como gnomons y un petroglifo en Guitian, Cortaderas, El Apunao y Uña Tambo. Estos resultados muestran la ubicación, la disposición espacial y la disposición de estructuras particulares dentro de los asentamientos incas basados en orientaciones astronómicas que involucran solsticios, equinoccios y paradas lunares.

Numerosos trabajos refieren sitios inkas en cumbres, precumbres
y laderas de altura, pero hay poca evidencia de copresencia
de representantes imperiales y locales allí, y menos de la
existencia de sitios preinkaicos. Se discuten aquí los resultados
de investigaciones en el sitio de Uña Tambo (X = 4707 msnm),
incluyendo análisis de la arquitectura, de la cerámica y fechados
radiocarbónicos sobre carbones vegetales recuperados en las
excavaciones. Argumentamos que Uña Tambo es el resultado de
una larga historia iniciada al comienzo del Período Intermedio
Tardío y continuada durante la ocupación inka.

For most of the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1550-1200/1150 BCE) Canaan comprised part of the Egyptian empire, which controlled it mainly through local clients. During the 13th century BCE the empire tightened its grip over the region, moving to a more direct form of control. In the second half of this century, a massive wave of settlement was initiated in the highlands that were mostly outside this direct control. This settlement phenomenon, continuing until the 11th century, had received a great deal of scholarly attention, mainly as part of the debate over the "Israelite settlement". Interestingly, this surge in settlement was one stage in a cyclic process of settlement growth and decline that was typical of the highlands, with earlier – though smaller – peaks in the Early and Middle Bronze Ages. The difference between this and previous settlement waves, however, was not only quantitative but also qualitative, as earlier settlements there formed part of same "culture" as the lowlands, and despite the obvious differences no sharp boundaries were identified between the regions. The settlement surge under discussion, regardless of the population's origins, led to the formation of a different "highland" identity, eventually giving rise to highland kingdoms, transforming the traditional geopolitical composition of the country. Paying more attention to the unique circumstances in which the highland settlements were formed, and the "frontier", highland context in which they subsequently developed, is a key factor in understanding the process's results, including the transformation of highland identities (Israel), and later the formation of a kingdom(s) in the region.

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A group of coins excavated at Qasr-e Abu Nasr, Shiraz, in south-central Iran, now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was studied and analyzed to examine the minting processes and to reconsider the numismatic history of the site. For this purpose, forty-three gold-, silver-, and copper-based coins were studied and analyzed by micro-X-ray fluorescence, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and metallographic techniques. The results of the analyses showed a wide range of alloy compositions. The gold coins are comprised of impure gold and electrum, while the silver coins are made of either near pure silver or debased silver copper. The copper-based coins are struck from a range of alloys, namely impure copper, tin bronze, leaded copper, and high-leaded tin bronze, closely correlated to the date and place of minting. The results of this interdisciplinary study provide new insights into the archaeology of Qasr-e Abu Nasr, as well as present new information about the history of minting on the Iranian Plateau.

Two events characterised the importance of early Roman Catholicism, the first of these was the empire of Charlemagne and its legitimation by the Pope creating a Christian empire in the west, and the second the later connection of the Holy Roman Empire with the German polity under Otto 1 of Saxony in association with the Papacy. This propelled the break between the Papacy and the Greek Orthodox Church in Constantinople, the largest urban site at the time in Europe. The Orthodox Church's development of Kyiv Rus reflected the development of West European Christian empires and Kyiv's empire, such as it was, was driven by them through the countering ambition of the Byzantine Church. 1 Implicit in the re-emergence of empires in the West was the resuscitation of the Roman Empire within concepts of Papal ambition, competing intentionally or accidentally with the still existent Roman Empire of the Byzantines in Eastern Europe, and the continued pressure of Islam, a religious empire, on its borders.

A course reader for the undergraduate/graduate seminar, A History of Power: States and Empires in the Mediterranean and Middle East

Power is organized and manifested in myriad ways in human history: sociologist Michael Mann, in a four-volume study beginning in 1986 entitled The Sources of Social Power, articulated four major sources of social power: ideological, economic, military, and political. These sources of power operated in intricate and overlapping networks concentrated and dispersed throughout any given society. As human groups scaled up in complexity, these power networks became increasingly organized, developing into the world’s first state-level societies by the late fourth millennium BCE in the Fertile Crescent. The first empires followed in the third and second millennia in this region, and even bigger empires arose in the Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds in the first millennia BCE and CE. Throughout this long history, cities and city-states – at times fiercely independent, at other times banded together into larger leagues and even empires themselves – played a major part in the configuration of these power networks.

How did cities, states, and empires in these regions organize and make use of these various forms of power, and how do we study these power networks? Is there a logic to human power, and by extension to states and empires, that we can uncover through analyzing long-term history?

In this course, we are studying some of the oldest states and empires in human history through their literary and material culture. Building off of a foundation in anthropological and sociological theories of power, state, and empire formation, students have the opportunity to practice working with a variety of primary sources and to experiment in applying theory to data to articulate the workings of power in human history.

El siguiente artículo tiene como propósito determinar la interacción entre los elementos naturales y artificiales del periodo Inka, ubicada al Sur del cerro Senq'a, todo esto perteneciente al Parque Arqueológico de Saqsayhuamán al norte de la ciudad del Cusco.

Excavations at Ojakly (site 1744) in the Murghab alluvial fan in Turkmenistan mark the first systematic collection of archaeological materials related to Bronze Age mobile pastoralists in the region, and the earliest evidence to date of their occupation patterns, subsistence practices, and ceramic production activities. Because the appearance of mobile pastoral groups in the Murghab during the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1950-1500 B.C.) is traditionally associated with significant changes in regional sociopolitical structures, these data are important for establishing local strategies of and the relationship between sedentary agricultural and mobile pastoral populations. Here, we present ceramic, faunal, archaeobotanical, and lithic data that force us to reconsider the traditional sedentary-mobile dichotomy. Specifically, we find that while the subsistence economies are distinct at urban and non-urban sites, the ceramic production and trade interactions are significantly intertwined and more complex than previously acknowledged for this time period. Additionally, the presence of a ceramic kiln at Ojakly (Turkmen for ''place with kiln'') containing unfired ceramics of a type typically associated with sedentary farmers in the Bronze Age Murghab suggests the transfer of technical knowledge between groups who nevertheless maintained distinct material cultural identities. Ojakly provides important new data about coexisting economies in the Late Bronze Age Murghab that can productively unsettle traditional notions of dominance, control, and polarization in sedentary-mobile interactions.

Recent archaeological research in the Murghab region of modern Turkmenistan has highlighted the variable interweaving of material, technological, and social traditions between sedentary farmers and mobile pastoralists during the late 3rd through first half of the 2nd millennium BCE. This research has also made apparent significant gaps in collective scientific knowledge, particularly in relation to the materials and habits of mobile pastoralists. In this paper, we address the lack of a basic quantitative and qualitative description of mobile pastoralist ceramics for the prehistoric Murghab by presenting the results of a multi-faceted ceramic analysis for the occupation at Ojakly. Results demonstrate a greater degree of variability in form, function, and style of handmade coarseware than expected, calling into question the characterization of "nomadic jars" as a uniform type of material culture, and further emphasizing the plurality of mobile pastoralist strategies and behaviors in this key region.

The goal of this study, broadly speaking, is to better understand how Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055–1650 BCE) kingship worked from a non-royal perspective. Egyptological scholarship has traditionally taken for granted both that Egyptian kings were omnipresent in ancient Egyptian society, and that the intricacies of kingship were restricted to royal and elite circles. This contradiction between expected omnipresence and simultaneous restriction is most often explained through the concept of “decorum,” which as applied in Egyptology proposes that royal symbols and the image of the king were confined to the royal sphere. This is a reductive approach that removes the agency of those outside the royal circle. Instead, this dissertation prioritizes non-royal agency in engagement with kingship.

The dissertation’s main argument is constructed from two separate but related parts: first, kingship was not omnipresent; second, kingship was still relevant and present in non-royal society in specific context-dependent ways. The simultaneous omnipresence and restrictedness of kingship can be differently explained if one considers the relevance that kingship had to non-royal Egyptians in different circumstances. In highlighting relevance, this study makes an argument that restrictedness is not necessarily an imposition from above, but that it may also be a choice for something else by non-royals. This argument was developed based on evidence from settlement contexts in Egypt (Chapter 3), royal, divine, and elite monuments and rituals (Chapter 4), and funerary practice (Chapter 5). Rather than simply a critique of decorum, this study proposes an opposing explanation for the role of kingship in broader ancient Egyptian society that takes into account the agency and priorities of different actors, rather than just the king.

This study can be thought of as a bottom-up exploration of kingship, one framed by and contextualized in methodologies employed in the archaeologies of empire and sovereignty. The primary way in which Egyptology has approached interactions with kingship in the past—as a largely uniform engagement conditioned by strict decorum—has gotten in the way of our proper understanding of both kingship itself, as well as how it fit into broader Egyptian society. Kingship cannot be said to not have been important. But based on the evidence discussed in this study, it also cannot be said that the king or kingship were always overarching concerns. The ways in which kingship was engaged with by different parts of the population could differ dramatically, and previous models used to explain non-royal engagement with kingship have obfuscated that variability. Kingship in the Middle Kingdom was not monolithic: it was not experienced in the same way by all Egyptians, and it was more relevant and invoked by some more than others.

The deeply engrained stereotype of opposing 'steppe' and 'sown' societies has strongly influenced interpretation of Bronze Age Central Asia. This has led to the idea that the agricultural Oxus civilisation and non-Oxus mobile pastoralists formed two distinct cultural-economic groups in this region that are easily distinguishable through archaeological remains. Recent excavations of campsites in southern Turkmenistan, however, provide new evidence of variability in exchange between sites, suggesting adaptation by pastoralist groups in their interactions with settled Oxus farming groups. Rather than wholly reiterating or dissolving the distinctions between them, such practices dynamically reshaped the boundaries of these social and economic groups. These findings challenge us to move away from notions of centre-periphery, dependency and diffusion in discussions of intercultural contact in Eurasian prehistory.

The present study is an investigation into the processes involved in interpreting ethnic identity in the ancient world. Specifically, it focuses on the various-Libyan‖ groups currently found in Egyptological literature who are attested in ancient Egyptian sources from the dawn of Egyptian civilization. 4.4.1 The Eighteenth Dynasty…………………………..82 4.4.2 The Nineteenth Dynasty…………………………..86 4.4.3 The Twentieth Dynasty…………………………...89 4.4.4 The Iconography of the Rebu at Medinet Habu…..95 4.4.

This paper reports on the recent discovery in western Xinjiang of three Late Bronze Age walled sites located on high hilltops, with a fourth on a terrace above a river bed. The hilltop sites contain very small clusters of residential structures and overlook one of the richest areas of seasonal pasture in the upper Bortala Valley, in the western Tian Shan. The walls do not fully encircle the residential structures but protect the most vulnerable points of access to the hilltops, and in particular protect against direct access from the pastures. The discovery of these walled sites in the western Tian Shan is surprising and significant in terms of regional patterns of increased social complexity in the Eurasian Late Bronze Age. It is suggested that the walled hilltop sites were lookout posts, with a small garrison of herders prepared to defend the area in the event of attack by rival pastoralist groups, and that in the Late Bronze Age the Upper Bortala Valley was home to a number of pastoralist groups who contested access to the best pastures.