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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
1

Prehistoric copper production and technological reproduction in the Khao Wong Prachan Valley of central Thailand

Pryce, T. O. January 2009 (has links)
Employing a technological approach derived from the ‘Anthropology of Technology’ theoretical literature, this thesis concerns the identification and explanation of change in prehistoric extractive metallurgical behaviour in the Khao Wong Prachan Valley of central Thailand. The ‘Valley’ metallurgical complex, amongst the largest in Eurasia, constitutes Southeast Asia’s only documented industrial-scale copper-smelting evidence. The two smelting sites investigated, Non Pa Wai and Nil Kham Haeng, provide an interrupted but analytically useful sequence of metallurgical consumption and production evidence spanning c. 1450 BCE to c. 300 CE. The enormous quantity of industrial waste at these sites suggests they were probably major copper supply nodes within ancient Southeast Asian metal exchange networks. Excavated samples of mineral, technical ceramic, and slag from Non Pa Wai and Nil Kham Haeng were analysed in hand specimen, microstructurally by reflected-light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and chemically by polarising energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence spectrometry ([P]ED-XRF) and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence spectrometry (SEM-EDS). Resulting analytical data were used to generate detailed technological reconstructions of copper smelting behaviour at the two sites, which were refined by a programme of field experimentation. Results indicate a long-term improvement in the technical proficiency of Valley metalworkers, accompanied by an increase in the human effort of copper production. This shift in local ‘metallurgical ethos’ is interpreted as a response to rising regional demand for copper in late prehistory.
2

The agricultural economy during the Longshan period : an archaeobotanical perspective from Shandong and Shanxi

Song, J. January 2011 (has links)
This project aims to examine the agricultural production, agricultural organization, and changes in agriculture that underpin the emergence of social complexity during the Longshan period (ca. 5000-4000BP), which represents the transition from earlier Neolithic economies to the hierarchical societies of the Bronze Age. Samples from regional survey archaeobotany in the Sushui valley, Shanxi and intensive on-site excavation at the Tonglin site, Shandong are analyzed and results are compared with other published data from northern Chinese sites with systematic flotation. Data from the Sushui valley and Tonglin site together with published data from other sites indicate that the Longshan agriculture in northern China was mainly based on millets with the addition of rice. However, the role of rice varied between different sites, which was probably due to the effect of regional climatic patterns that structured local environments in terms of water availability. Wheat was introduced into China but it seems more common in the peripheral areas than in the core area of Henan. Soybean could also be cultivated and it was more ubiquitous in Shandong and Henan than in Shanxi. The incorporation of wheat and soybean into the cropping system could also indicate possible crop rotations between wheat and rice, millets and soybeans developed from the Longshan period. Crop processing analysis indicates a shift from the Yangshao uniformity to the Longshan diversity in crop processing practices. This could be related to agricultural mobility during harvesting time, which then reflects possible social organization changes. The change in crop processing practices from Yangshao to Longshan could indicate the change of social organization from semi-communal/egalitarian to a more centralized/hierarchical system at some sites, and differentiation between different sites in the settlement system. Weed ecology analysis demonstrates that Longshan agriculture was based on permanent fields and the cultivation of permanent fields had already started in the Yangshao period. In addition, other cultivation practices, such as harvesting height, harvesting time, tillage, and soil fertility, were also inferred. This project also shed some light on the role of agriculture in the emergence of social complexity in other regions of the world such as the Near East.
3

The construction of personhood in Veneto (Italy) between the late Bronze Age and the early Roman period

Perego, E. M. January 2012 (has links)
This research offers a theoretically informed application of the concept of 'personhood' to archaeology by analysing the rich funerary record of Veneto (1050 BC - AD 25). Anthropologically, ‘personhood’ is understood as a moral categorization discriminating between the individuals given full or partial membership in society and those denied it. Today, the ascription of personhood to subjects such as foetuses and brain-dead patients is an issue painfully at the core of debates over human rights, female reproductive concerns and the acceptable limits of the control that states and individuals can achieve over the human body. Within this framework, I explore whether practices relating to personhood in 1st millennium BC Veneto – albeit concerned with different issues than those of modern Western cultures – were equally embedded in a social milieu entailing elite control over subordinates, reproduction of inequalities and exclusion of marginal individuals from the centre of society. My argument is that Venetic cemeteries were ritual spaces actively structured to enhance inequality ideologically. Therefore, I argue that differences in funerary treatment offer important glimpses into the degree of social recognition granted to the deceased. Methodologically, I use a set of different databases holding complete information on over 1,500 graves from the entire region to develop statistical, contextual and spatial analysis of the evidence. Data drawn from such an analysis are plotted on maps of the cemeteries to show how burials with specific characteristics were purposely arranged in the graveyard in order to delineate the degree of social inclusion granted to each individual. Overall, I demonstrate that Venetic personhood was hierarchical and changeable over time due to the socio-political development of this region. In particular, I suggest that not all Venetic individuals were granted complete social integration, depending on their gender, age, rank and family affiliation; importantly, this changed through time, especially after crucial historical turning points, including Rome’s conquest of Veneto.
4

Wage accounting in Deir el-Medina

Mandeville, Richard January 2010 (has links)
No description available.
5

Homeless heritage : collaborative social archaeology as therapeutic practice

Kiddey, Rachael January 2014 (has links)
To be defined by a lack of something – homeless – creates problematic identity challenges and fundamentally ruptures a person’s sense of ontological security. Archaeology as a contemporary material and creative practice involves working back and forth between material culture (landscapes, places and things) and intangible heritage (memories, stories and experiences). Through this work, narratives emerge which inform identities, challenge dominant stereotypes and aid a sense of belonging which enhances resilience and self-esteem among those involved. This thesis presents fieldwork conducted in the U.K. between 2008-2013 in which contemporary homeless people were engaged as colleagues (rather than participants) and facilitated to interpret the heritage of homelessness in ways and words meaningful to them. Working collaboratively with archaeology students, homeless colleagues mapped and documented landscapes and undertook two archaeological excavations of homeless sites. Two co-curated interactive public exhibitions were produced. This thesis considers how the archaeological process – counter-mapping, field-walking and talking, working as a team, identifying sites and artefacts of significance and constructing narratives – can be shown to have significant therapeutic effects. Memory and identity work are considered in relation to psychological observations concerning the qualitative benefits of hope and its role in motivating people. Recent neuroscience work is also drawn upon. Findings suggest that neural plasticity can be affected by the social environment in health damaging or health promoting ways (McEwan 2012). Significant positive outcomes from the Homeless Heritage project include increased ‘social connectedness’, independent living and employment among those involved and suggest that collaborative archaeological work can provide positive social environments and function as low level support. It is suggested that associated health benefits offer a potentially rich avenue for further collaborative research between archaeologists interested in how the discipline might function in socially useful ways and neuroscientists keen to explore non-pharmaceutical approaches to treatment of trauma and social sustainability.
6

Mining in Al-Baha region, south-western Saudi Arabia in Islamic-era : the archaeology of Asham

Alzahrani, Abdullah January 2014 (has links)
During the early Islamic empire, gold and silver were necessary for minting coins for the single currency of the Caliphate to facilitate trade from the western Mediterranean to eastern Persia. Iron, copper and tin were also necessary to equip the armies needed to defend and expand the empire, as well as for construction and domestic use. Although people have focused on the Arab-Islamic expansion in terms of military, religious and trade aspects, the internal production of the state has been largely neglected (i.e. mining and making things, the physical basis of the civilization). Thus, studying mining settlements as a model of internal production settlements is necessary to enrich our understanding of mining activity and its role in Islamic civilization and the medieval world. The importance of this study lies in studying the characteristics of the mining landscape in the region of Al-Baha, by analysing the mining activities taking place at the mining settlement of Asham, one of the most famous mining settlements mentioned by several classical Arab writers. These mining sites were surveyed generally and the mining tools examined. After completing the general survey, Asham settlement was surveyed intensively and excavated with six archaeological trenches to study the stratigraphy of the settlement in order to present an overview of the successive occupation levels and to expose more mining evidence. Materials recovered include over 1112 pieces of pounders and grinders, and 2153 fragments of pottery, soapstone and glass. The study of the mining landscape in Al-Baha region indicates that there were at least three metals mined there during the Islamic era: copper, gold and silver. These metals were processed in three patterns of settlements of different compositions and functions with evidence of state supervision and integration with regional and international trade routes. The research critically analysed the classical Arab-Islamic narratives with regard to the archaeological evidence of tools and facilities. The evidence confirms the extensive scale of mining activities in Al-Baha and its importance to the broader Arab-Islamic world. Rudimentary patterns of mining settlement were overhauled with extensive investment and state involvement during the classical Islamic civilization (c. 630-1100 CE), in the context of the great fillip Arabian trade received under the Umayyad and early Abbasid Caliphates which enabled full and stable exploitation of the natural factors amenable to mining in Al-Baha. The decline of the mining settlements was related to the political disintegration of the Abbasid Caliphate and the rise of a series of Turkic dynasties from the Seljuks onwards, reflected in the fact that the natural conditions still facilitate modern mining in the region, which poses a great threat to the important archaeological remains.
7

'The Gods of the Nations are idols' (Ps. 96:5) : paganism and idolatry in Near Eastern Christianity

Nichols, Sebastian Toby January 2014 (has links)
This thesis will explore the presentation in Christian literature of gentile religious life in the Roman Near East in the first few centuries AD. It will do so by performing a close study of three sources – the Syriac Oration of Meliton the Philosopher, the Syriac translation of the Apology of Aristides, and the Greek Address to the Greeks of Tatian. It will compare their presentation of a number of areas of gentile religious life – focussing particularly on iconolatry, sacrifice, and morality – and attempt to build a coherent picture of Christian attitudes to these areas. It will then compare these attitudes with a variety of non-Christian evidence: the majority of this will be literary sources, and in particular Lucian of Samosata, but will also include epigraphic evidence from the region. Other Latin and Greek sources will be compared when applicable, but the focus will remain on religious life in the Roman Near East. In the process, this dissertation will not only determine whether it is possible to talk about a single Christian ‘attitude’ towards gentile religious life in the area, but also develop a more detailed picture of the perception of that religious life by its gentile participants. This dissertation will also help to improve our understanding of the relationship between Christians and their gentile neighbours in the Roman Near East. In particular, it will explore the role that Christian literature played in the development of hostility towards the cult in this period. It will conclude by exploring the reasons for this hostility, and placing Christian literary attitudes in their proper context, by demonstrating that Christian literature, and the attitudes that it promotes, could have had a significant impact on their interaction with gentiles, and that this impact has largely been overlooked in scholarship on the development of Christianity.
8

Nationalism, politics, and the practice of archaeology : the case study of Iran

Daroogheh-Nokhodcheri, Rana January 2014 (has links)
Since the first pillars of the discipline of archaeology were laid in the nineteenth century, archaeologists have been aware of the potential employment of their research for political purposes. Despite the recognition of the role of archaeology in politics, and specifically in the instigation and promotion of different brands of nationalism, there have been few studies that focused on Iran. To fill this lacuna, this thesis aims to examine the close relationship between the rise of nationalism and its impact on the birth and development of Iranian archaeology. It is argued that during different political periods, in particular during the Qajar, Pahlavi and post-Revolutionary Administrations, various aspects of Iranian history and identity were selected to assist the construction of new State-sponsored narratives. The utilisation of archaeological sites to support the competing brands of nationalism promoted by each of these Administrations is analysed in this thesis through the selection of three case studies that represent the Prehistoric (Sialk), pre-Islamic (Persepolis), and Islamic (Friday Mosque of Isfahan) archaeological periods. Following an interpretive analysis of the internalist and externalist dimensions that fostered the foundation and development of Iranian archaeology, it is concluded that the discipline was born out of nationalistic traditions, and remains exploited as a potential instrument of legitimisation. It is further argued that during certain periods of modern Iranian history, the employment of archaeology to authenticate particular aspects of Iranian identity resulted in the institutionalisation of the discipline. In contrast, during periods when authenticity was sought in ‘charismatic leadership’ or ‘populism’, archaeology was cast aside as a pseudoscience to legitimise the ‘tyranny’ of Iranian dynasties or, alternatively, employed for populist projects to assert a particular impression of Iran as the protectorate of Shi’a Muslims across the globe. This thesis aims to demonstrate that it is only through such analyses of the fluid nature of Iranian archaeology and the review of the history of attempts at its politicisation that Iranian archaeologists can begin to address the potential challenges to their discipline and raise caution against the instrumental application of archaeology as a political tool in service of different political administrations and their nationalistic policies and resume a focus on the outstanding research questions and preservation challenges.
9

Image and performance, agency and ideology : human figurative representation in Anglo-Saxon funerary art, AD 400-750

Brundle, Lisa Mary January 2014 (has links)
This thesis investigates the topic of human imagery and hybrid human imagery rendered on metalwork of early Anglo-Saxon date recovered within eastern England. It presents the first definitive catalogue of its kind in this region and timeframe. Taking inspiration from recent transitions in thinking on early Anglo-Saxon art, the major topics of consideration include: a) the interrelationship between image, object and the user, b) the changing portrayal of human representation and the social implications of such developments and c) the emergence of new bodily gestures in representational art. These key themes might provide an understanding of how and why human imagery changed as it did, how and by whom it was deployed in life and death and the role this type of imagery performed in the construction and presentation of social identity.
10

Changes in Suid and Caprine husbandry practices throughout dynastic Egypt using linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH)

Bertini, Louise Catherine January 2011 (has links)
Linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) is the most commonly identified form of enamel defect in teeth. Defined as a deficiency in enamel thickness encountered during dental development, LEH can occur as horizontal lines or depressions of irregular enamel, or clusters of pitting on the enamel surface. These defects are caused by physiological stresses such as disease or poor nutrition, causing a disruption of enamel secretion. Studies on LEH have been used as a way to understand the health status and husbandry practices of both ancient and modern animal populations. As there are no data that describe the prevalence of LEH in either ancient or modern Egyptian animal material, this thesis aims to establish the frequency of LEH in the archaeological remains of pigs and caprines (sheep and goat) from thirteen different ancient Egyptian sites, investigating the links between LEH, possible changes in husbandry practices, geographic, as well as site contexts, and compare it to modern Egyptian pig and caprine data from similar geographic contexts. Results indicate that enamel hypoplasia is common throughout the thirteen different sites throughout Egypt discussed in this thesis. These defects are related to key events in the animal’s life such as weaning, nutritional stresses associated with winter, along with environmental stresses and diachronic changes including the annual flood of the Nile (which is known to change over time) and management choices (i.e. sites with free-ranging versus penned animals).

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