In 1939, a rich archaeological find was made in Afghanistan when a hoard of luxury objects was excavated in a "palatial residence" at Begram, site of ancient Kāpisa. Among the precious articles brought to light were hundreds of Indian ivory carvings which at one time decorated royal furnishings belonging to Kushan kings. Kāpisa was once the summer capitol of opulent and powerful rulers who controlled a land extending from the Ganges River into Central Asia. Created by former nomads whose ruling princes gave themselves the dynastic name of Kushan, the Indo-Scythian Empire straddled the routes to Rome, Iran and China and was virtually the centre of the world in the first centuries of our era. Yet no integral record of the Kushans has been found in any traditional source, and their history has been pieced together from fragments of information gleaned over the last century from the study of coins, cryptic textual references, and worn inscriptions. Similarly, the history of India's art from the same period suffers from a paucity of documentation; its chronology, although now receiving the attention of modern scholarship, is still in a state of flux. The discovery of the ivories at Kāpisa enriches not only our knowledge of the Kushans, but it adds another dimension to our information about early Indian art as it was during Kushan rule, prior to the fourth century when a classical civilization began to emerge under the Gupta dynasty. One of the ivories, analyzed in this study, is unique in its wealth of symbolic detail. Representing a torana and two standing female figures, the ivory plaque once adorned a royal couch that possibly served as a Kushan throne. The ivory's iconography relates to the Kushan dynasty's concern with legitimacy of rule; there is an assertion of the sacred and worthy character of Kushan sovereigns. Moreover, the ivory makes various references to Srl-Lakshmi, Indian Goddess of Royal Fortune, a deity analagous with Roma or the Hellenistic Tyche. In the iconography of the two standing female figures, the concept of Srl-Lakshmi is apparent, but these figures are further shown with overtones of Indian godllngs, divine consorts and Near Eastern goddesses whose functions parallel those of Srl-Lakshmi in assuring the regime political and natural prosperity. The syncretic character of the Ivory's iconography corresponds with that of coins and seals from the period of Huvishka, a name taken by one or more Kushan emperors ruling in the second century A.D. The style of the ivory plaque has often been associated with that of Sanchi, an Indian monument of the first century A.D. where a torana gateway bears a carved panel upon which is inscribed "Gift of the Ivory Carvers of Vidisa". With respect to surface treatment, spatial devices, tonal arrangement, naturalism of poses and figural proportions, however, the Sanchi panel does not compare with the Begram plaque. In tracing the evolution of style during the interval between these two works, an Indian ivory found at Pompeii, a relief from Amaravati, the donor figures at Karli, and the Bhutesvar railing figures from the Mathura region are examined. The Bhutesvar figures are believed to coincide with the early part of the reign of Kanishka, most powerful of Kushan monarchs, whose accession initiated an era beginning perhaps about A.D. 110-15. Although the Begram ivory alludes to the Bhutesvar model, the plaque is closer in style to later Mathura works. Relief carvings and sculptures accompanied by dated inscriptions disclose a period of cultural transition during the second quarter century of Kanishka's era, when new Influences permeate the Indian tradition. This stylistic assimilation is reflected by the Begram ivory; hence in style, as in Iconography, the ivory is representative of the period of Huvishka, whose name appears on inscriptions from the year 28 to the year 64 or 67 of Kanishka*s era. / Arts, Faculty of / Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of / Graduate

The archaeology of the Moachat Nootka territory, consisting of Nootka Sound and Tahsis and Tlupana Inlets, was chosen as the specific concern of this thesis. Nootka Sound was an important area in the early historic fur trade and a great deal was written by the early explorers and traders about the inhabitants of this region. However, little archaeological work has been done. A large-scale excavation, carried out at the main Moachat village of Yukwot in 1966 by the National Historic Parks Branch, was the only previous archaeological project. As the material obtained by this excavation had not been published or fully processed at the time of writing, very little of the information was available for the present study. The objectives of the fieldwork were: to visit and describe the sixteen villages and camp sites listed for the Moachat by Drucker (1951: 229), to carry out excavations at one of these sites, to visit and describe the burial caves and pictographs which were known to exist in the area, and to collect whatever ecological and ethnographic information could be conveniently obtained. No site survey was undertaken, although a few previously unrecorded sites were discovered. Excavations were carried out at Coopte (DkSp 1), the winter village of the Moachat, during the summer of 1968. The excavations were rather small in scope, lasting only two months and being conducted sometimes by myself only and sometimes with the help of one assistant. Nevertheless, fifteeen test pits were excavated which yielded 273 artifacts and a fair sample of faunal remains and historic material. This paper includes an account of the excavations at Coopte, as well as descriptions of the other sites visited. It is also an attempt to integrate historic and ethnographic information with the archaeological data. The substantial body of published and unpublished information provides a convenient basis for the interpretation of the archaeological material. It is hoped that this approach will prove useful in attempting to describe the way of life of the aboriginal inhabitants of Nootka Sound. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

No description available.

Analysis of lithics, particularly flake debitage, from a small Preclassic Maya community provides data bearing upon the manufacture and distribution of stone tools in the northern Belizean region during the Middle and Late Preclassic eras. These data suggest a complex relationship among contemporaneous communities with regard to raw material and tool acquisition and manufacture. There is no evidence of monopoly of raw material resources by any one group; rather, a mixed pattern is seen involving distribution both of partly processed raw material and of certain finished formal tool types. These formal types, as well as befaces in general, are seen to be increasingly important through time, possibly related to changing agricultural practices. While no conclusions can be drawn on the basis of presently available lithic data as to the nature of the Preclassic regional lithic distribution system, ethnographic and archaeological analogies are used to suggest some possible economic scenarios.

During the first half of the 8th century, people from the Phoenician Levant came to southern Iberia and founded a chain of settlements along the Spanish Mediterranean coast, as well as the city of Gadir (modern Cadiz) on the Atlantic seaboard. It is generally agreed that these colonisers came to the region to exploit the rich deposits of precious metals. Oriental style objects, which indicate the exchange between the Phoenician settlers and indigenous communities, can be found in almost all indigenous early Iron Age sites in the region. Initially, the purpose of this study had been to detect the elements of Greek and Phoenician influence in the material culture of the early Iron Age (the 8th century until around 600 BC), but as work progressed it became increasingly clear that this undertaking was far more complex than it had been assumed. The Phoenicians turned out to be only one factor in a complex process of transformation from the late Bronze Age way of life to the development of the early Iberian states after 600 BC. While the examination of the interaction between the indigenous communities and the eastern Mediterranean colonisers remained an important part of the study, my investigation now attempts to generate a more general picture of the early Iron Age in modern Andalusia, including the analysis of the social and economic processes which transformed society throughout the period. The investigation is organised on the basis of three major parts: An introduction: including the geography and climate of the region, as well as the history and archaeology of the Pheonician colonisation (with a certain emphasis on Gadir, and the excellently excavated site of Castillo Doña Blanca); as well as the indigenous Bronze Age background, and a number of theoretical considerations. The central part introduces the archaeological evidence, organised in two sections: a topographical section, describing the settlement and cemetery evidence; and a second section, discussing a selection of artefacts which, in my opinion, are particularly useful for a reconstruction of the social processes. Finally, the synthesis attempts to reconstruct various aspects of the early Iron Age culture in the region: such as the economic organisation, social development, ritual practice, and significance of the Phoenician presence for the development of the local cultures, as well as to introduce a regional division of the area under discussion.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.