This thesis uses Continuing Bonds Theory to reinterpret kispum, an ancient Mesopotamian family funerary practice, in a new way. Traditional scholarship has portrayed the purpose of the ritual as apotropaic, and that the family dead are feared as hostile ghosts. This study suggests that profound beliefs about life and death in Mesopotamia, and interactions between the family and deceased loved ones can be found in the material and textual evidence. A new perspective focusing on evidence from the second millennium BC in ancient Mesopotamia is used to investigate the kispum ritual using ideas from the archaeology of emotion and Death and Dying studies. Current understandings based on textual based studies and the varied traditions of archaeological investigation are introduced in Chapter 2. Then, using notions of continued bonds, new insights are explored to better understand the ongoing relationship between the living and the dead. In Chapters 3 through 6 textual sources and archaeological evidence are assessed against this background, and against each other, with attempts to correlate textual with archaeological details. In the context of ancient Mesopotamia, this thesis employs new approaches to mortuary archaeology to provide new insights suggesting ways that conventional methods may be enhanced. Finally, this study also brings us back to an archaeology of death which is interested in attitudes toward the dead.

The principal aim of this research is to contribute to solving a widely debatable question relating to the northwestern territorial extent of the empire of Akkad, indicated by the royal inscriptions and the historical literary or epic texts, during the reign of Sargon. It is unfortunately impossible to define its territorial extent with certainty. However, some contributions toward solving this historical problem have made an attempt to identify the places involved. The capital city of the empire of Akkad has still not been located. If we were to discover its capital city of Agade, it would raise the great possibility that excavations on the site might produce evidence, which could eventually define the question of Sargon's supremacy over the northwest. The same can be said for the locations of some northwestern places mentioned in two different genres of the cuneiform texts, the royal inscriptions and the historical literary or epic texts. According to these texts, Sargon may have had a sort of political or military supremacy over some places beyond Mari in the northwest of Mesopotamia. However, we still cannot identify the locations of some of these places. Again, if the locations of these places can be identified, we may also expect the discovery of written and archaeological evidence, which might answer this controversial question. Chapter 1 considers the nature of the problems surrounding Sargon's territorial expansion toward the northwest of Mesopotamia, in the light of both the royal inscriptions and the historical literary or epic texts. We cite and consider the varying scholarly opinions relating to this problem. Following chapter 1, we consider the methodology for identifying the locations of the toponyms. We try to define the different natures of a number of pieces of topographical information, dividing them into three different genres: primary topographical information or evidence, secondary topographical information or evidence, and supportive secondary topographical information or evidence. We describe how to use these pieces of evidence with the so-called cartographic approach. From chapter 3 onwards, we begin the actual investigation into the locations of the toponyms. We start searching for the capital city of Agade. In chapters 4 to 7, we investigate the locations of the toponyms, which are referred to in the royal inscriptions of Sargon in relation to his northwestern political supremacy. These places are Tuttul, Iarmuti, the Cedar Forest and the Silver Mountains. In Chapters 8 to 9, we investigate the locations of two cities: Hassum and Purushanta, which are only mentioned by the historical literary or eplc texts. The inquiry concludes with chapter 10. We firstly sum up the possible location of the city of Agade. Subsequently, we define the possible northwestern territorial extent of Sargon's empire in relation to the locations of the northwestern toponyms mentioned in the royal inscriptions, then we compare its extent with the locations of the northwestern toponyms of the historical literary or epic texts and identify their geographical relation. Finally, we consider the possibility of Sargon's visit in the northwest in relation to the horizons of the historical geography of Sargon's Empire of Akkad.

No description available.

This thesis is concerned with the Early Trans-Caucasian culture. It falls roughly into two parts: the first, Chapters I and II, describe the architecture and pottery from Mr. C. A. Burney's excavations at Yanik Tepe and Haftavan Tepe VIII in north-western Iran. In the second part this evidence and the conclusions derived from it are used as a basis for a re-examination of the E.T.C. culture. In Chapter III a chronological scheme for the development, expansion and contraction of the culture is presented, together with a discussion of the original homeland of the culture. This involves the re-dating of, on the basis of the long stratigraphic sequence at Yanik Tepe, some of the published excavations in the Armenian S.S.R., Georgia and the Azerbaijan S.S.R., as well as in north-western Iran. There is also some discussion of the history of the culture in eastern Anatolia and its extension into Syria and Palestine. Extensive use is made of Carbon 14 dates and their reliability and accuracy is assessed. In Chapter IV the archaeobotanical remains from Haftavan Tepe VIII are presented and evidence for the environment, with particular reference to north-western Iran and the Van region, is considered in the light of the settlement pattern and the economic basis of the culture. In Chapter V the material culture is used to broadly define E. T.C. cultural regions or zones and some evidence pertaining to the structure of E.T.C. society is discussed. Finally, in Chapter VI, the problem of the ethno-linguistic identity of the E.T.C. peoples is examined and the argument that they were of Hurrian stock is re-advanced in detail.

No description available.

The Gorgan Plain of northeast Iran was one of the northern frontiers of the Sasanian Empire (c. AD 225-640), and was marked by considerable investment in water management and defensive features such as canals, fortifications and the nearly 200 km long-wall known as the Gorgan Wall. However, in comparison we know very little about settlement and land use associated with urban, rural, and mobile pastoral communities in this period. What impact did Sasanian investment in this landscape have on settlement patterns, networks of movement, and subsistence economies of the communities inhabiting the plain, and how do these developments fit within the long-term settlement history of the region? This thesis reconstructs Late Iron Age through Islamic settlement and land use patterns utilising data obtained from historical (CORONA) satellite imagery, integrated with the available settlement data draw from field surveys conducted by the Gorgan Wall project, other published surveys, and historical and ethnographic information. At the local and regional scale, the observed trends are discussed in terms of changes in site type and location, subsistence strategies and agricultural investment. These trends are then compared to landscape developments associated with the later territorial empires in other regions of the Near East.

This thesis introduce new approaches into the understanding of chronology and cultural-technological development of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlements within the Central Plateau of Iran through the study of the evolution of ceramic craft specialisation between ca. 5700-4800 BC by analysing newly excavated pottery from the different three areas of this region: the Tehran, Qazvin and Kashan plains. Despite having been investigated for almost 90 years, the prehistoric ceramics of the Central Iranian Plateau have mainly been studied in a basic manner, based on the study of colour and decoration of pottery as the criteria to identify, characterise, and compare the various pottery types of the region with little attention to technology and production. In the present thesis a multidisciplinary research method has been adopted by utilising scientific analysis technics such as X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) as well as typological classification and more advanced methods such as phylogenetic analyses in studying and characterisation the pottery. Based on the results of scientific analyses as well as the archaeological data this research will provide valuable information on the course of evolution and the origin of the changes observed in ceramic technology, and will determine the level of specialisation and standardisation in the pottery-making, as well as the mode of production in these prehistoric sites. Through comparison of the pottery characteristics from different sites of the same tradition it will also assess the similarity of sources of raw materials and the techniques of shaping and firing the pottery. Utilising the valuable information gathered by the aforementioned methods this thesis represents a more comprehensive and reliable information concerning the economic and cultural connections and interactions of the prehistoric communities living in this region in the Late Neolithic and the Transitional Chalcolithic periods.

As the urban environment rapidly changes, conservation management plays a significant role in increasing people’s awareness about heritage, its protection and enhancement. With increasing attention paid to the care of cultural heritage, conservation management systems that protect and enhance cultural heritage, and control new development, continue to evolve at local, national and international levels. The pilgrimage city of Najaf, in Iraq, has a long history yet many of its buildings are under threat as a result of unclear conservation management in practice. This thesis addresses questions about the value and significance of Najaf’s heritage, the city’s development policy relating to conservation and the impact of interventions in its historic fabric. It explores levels of understanding about conservation values in the context of contemporary Iraq. To achieve this, three case studies are presented that examine conservation knowledge in terms of the value placed on preserving physical and social fabric, local and national development control procedures and current conservation practices. The original contribution to knowledge that this thesis makes is in outlining how heritage has been understood, designated, protected and managed in Iraq, along with a critical analysis of current conservation infrastructure. The findings show that the Iraqi people and authorities have a limited understanding of conservation management and few clear policies or controls are currently being employed in practice. In Najaf, key decision makers prioritise accommodating pilgrims and modernisation of the city, rather than safeguarding heritage. The thesis argues that the heritage documentation system is inadequate and that there is significant overlap in decision-making responsibilities. The study therefore proposes the rationalisation of policies and regulations; overhaul of Iraqi heritage education programmes to include architects, planners, politicians, archaeologists, key-workers and others; and further support for better rehabilitation procedures where conservation plans are often lacking and building activities involve unqualified workers.

No description available.

The late fourth millennium B.C. of Mesopotamia is best known for an expansion of material culture from Southern Mesopotamia known as the Uruk Expansion or Uruk Phenomenon. The precise nature of this expansion remains unknown, but at its core it evidences unprecedented levels of interregional interaction whether in the form of colonies, trade diasporas, or otherwise. This thesis uses quantitative route analysis to examine the hollow ways across the North Jazira region of northern Mesopotamia before, during, and after the Uruk Expansion in the late fourth millennium B.C. to learn more about the phenomenon. To accomplish this, new methodologies were required. A bottom up method for reconstructing land cover was developed and the first velocity-based terrain coefficients were calculated to factor both land cover and slope into the route models. Additionally, the first quantitative method for directly comparing route models to preserved routes was developed to statistically assess the significance of three physical route choice variables: easiest, fastest, and shortest. First, it is statistically proven that, for the North Jazira, physical variables did not play a major role in route choice, highlighting the importance of cultural variables. Second, it is shown that the routes evidence the formation of polities starting in the late fourth millennium. Thirdly, it is demonstrated that the Uruk Expansion was a disruptive force that broke down previous east-west dynamics, spatially polarizing the population. Furthermore, when east-west movement resumes in the early third millennium B.C., the region remains divided in two distinct sub-regions. Finally, the poor performance of route models based on physical variables frequently used for predicting route locations has implications for the usefulness of this practice, particularly in areas with flatter terrain. What was important to other cultures cannot be assumed, but must be based on evidence from the cultures themselves.