This paper deals with the question of when hill forts – or enclosed mountains – were built and to what purpose, by examining two enclosed mountains (RAÄ 78 and 79) in Grödinge parish in the province of Södermanland. A phosphate analysis was conducted to trace anthropogenic activities. The analysis showed only a slight elevation of phosphate content in the soil. A histogram indicated that the elevations were not normally distributed, which could suggest that they were caused by anthropogenic activities. A focus on boundaries is evident in the material, whether it is about erecting physical barriers or the boundary between life and death.

During the first millennium BC, the people of the chalk landscapes of the Yorkshire Wolds began carving up their world with monumental linear earthworks. This project explores the meanings of the later prehistoric boundary systems of the Yorkshire Wolds. It writes a biography of the linear earthwork landscapes of the north-central Wolds, using geographic information systems (GIS), original fieldwork and theories of agency and memory. Tracing the construction, use and modification of particular linear earthworks, it examines how these monuments would have related to other features in the landscape, and how they could have exercised agency within networks of interconnected people, animals, objects and other places. Finally, the project attempts to situate these boundary systems within the larger context of Late Bronze Age and Iron Age society in order to understand how the later prehistoric people of East Yorkshire would have experienced their world. Taking a biographical approach to landscape and allowing linear earthworks to become the protagonists of this narrative, the project charts the life histories of the earthworks at Wetwang-Garton Slack and Huggate Dykes and investigates the collective authorship of the wider landscape. To understand the rural, monumental landscapes of the Wolds, we must consider the agency of not only people, but also of animals and of monuments themselves. By focussing on the relationships which bound together linear earthworks and other agents, we can begin to understand the ways in which monumentalised landscapes both reflected and generated the cosmologies of prehistoric communities.

During the first millennium BC, the people of the chalk landscapes of the Yorkshire Wolds began carving up their world with monumental linear earthworks. This project explores the meanings of the later prehistoric boundary systems of the Yorkshire Wolds. It writes a biography of the linear earthwork landscapes of the north-central Wolds, using geographic information systems (GIS), original fieldwork and theories of agency and memory. Tracing the construction, use and modification of particular linear earthworks, it examines how these monuments would have related to other features in the landscape, and how they could have exercised agency within networks of interconnected people, animals, objects and other places. Finally, the project attempts to situate these boundary systems within the larger context of Late Bronze Age and Iron Age society in order to understand how the later prehistoric people of East Yorkshire would have experienced their world. Taking a biographical approach to landscape and allowing linear earthworks to become the protagonists of this narrative, the project charts the life histories of the earthworks at Wetwang-Garton Slack and Huggate Dykes and investigates the collective authorship of the wider landscape. To understand the rural, monumental landscapes of the Wolds, we must consider the agency of not only people, but also of animals and of monuments themselves. By focussing on the relationships which bound together linear earthworks and other agents, we can begin to understand the ways in which monumentalised landscapes both reflected and generated the cosmologies of prehistoric communities. / The Appendices A to E are not included online.

Long-term human-environmental interactions in naturally fragile drylands are a focus of geomorphological and geoarchaeological research. Furthermore, many dryland societies were also affected by seismic activity. The semi-arid Shiraki Plain in the tectonically active southeastern Caucasus is currently covered by steppe and largely devoid of settlements. However, numerous Late Bronze to Early Iron Age city-type settlements suggest early state formation between ca. 3.2-2.5 ka that abruptly ended after that time. A paleolake was postulated for the lowest plain, and nearby pollen records suggest forest clearcutting of the upper altitudes under a more humid climate during the Late Bronze/Early Iron Ages. Furthermore, also an impact of earthquakes on regional Early Iron Age settlements was suggested. However, regional paleoenvironmental changes and paleoseismicity were not systematically studied so far. We combined geomorphological, sedimentological, chronological and paleoecological data with hydrological modelling to reconstruct regional Holocene paleoenvironmental changes, to identify natural and human causes and to study possible seismic events during the Late Bronze/Early Iron Ages. Our results show a balanced to negative Early to Mid-Holocene water balance probably caused by forested upper slopes. Hence, no lake but a pellic Vertisol developed in the lowest plain. Following, Late Bronze/Early Iron Age forest clear-cutting caused lake formation and the deposition of lacustrine sediments derived from soil erosion. Subsequently, regional aridification caused slow lake desiccation. Remains of freshwater fishes indicate that the lake potentially offered valuable ecosystem services for regional prehistoric societies even during the desiccation period. Finally, colluvial coverage of the lake sediments during the last centuries could have been linked with hydrological extremes during the Little Ice Age. Our study demonstrates that the Holocene hydrological balance of the Shiraki Plain was and is situated near a major hydrological threshold, making the landscape very sensitive to small-scale human or natural influences with severe consequences for local societies. Furthermore, seismites in the studied sediments do not indicate an influence of earthquakes on the main and late phases of Late Bronze/Early Iron Age settlement. Altogether, our study underlines the high value of multi-disciplinary approaches to investigate human-environmental interactions and paleoseismicity in drylands on millennial to centennial time scales.

The significance of Yesemek Stone Quarry and Sculptural Workshop in Gaziantep Islahiye province is rooted in its basalt quarry and stone sculptures found at the site. Yesemek was first discovered by Felix Von Luschan in 1890 while he was excavating Zincirli (Sam&rsquo / al). Between 1958 and 1961, the site was excavated by a team under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Bahadir Alkim. The excavations at the site yielded approximately three hundred finished or unfinished lion, sphinx and mountain god sculptures. While the exact function of these sculptures are still not known, the thesis will explore the function of these sculptures by examining the architectural structures where the sculptures could have been used as architectural decoration. Another issue that will be discussed in the thesis is the date of Yesemek workshop and sculptures. To that end, Yesemek sculptures will be stylistically compared to Late Bronze and Iron Age sculptures.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sergio Aguiar Montalvao.pdf: 4155492 bytes, checksum: a213811f014ea7757553427efbefe028 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-10-21 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This doctoral thesis aims to present what came to be built through the Solomon s First Temple Imaginary, which many people still believe in the nowadays that it is factual. However, the Temple as presented in the Hebrew Bible never existed, because no more than an annex king s palace; it s also not factual the myths circulating the kings David and Solomon, which were not as grand as the Hebrew Bible points. Nevertheless, on two occasions in the history of Judah, the Deuteronomist Revolution and the Return of the Captivity, the Temple had a centralizating function and required many founding myths to legitimize it. With such myths, the people who were near the Temple felt more part of the House of Yahweh for believing participate of a plan established by the Creator of the Universe and all the stories invented and developed by the Deuteronomist and the Priestly gave them greatest joy and hope. What happened in fact was the king s power legitimacy in the context of Deuteronomist Reform and the priest s power in the return of the Captivity in the early Persian period. As for the post-exile, for being a more recent period, is greater amount of elements that characterize the stimulation of popular imaginary regarding the First Temple than in the period of the Deuteronomist Reform, despite the latter being period of prosperity for the Kingdom of Judah / A presente tese de doutorado visa apresentar o que veio a ser construído através do imaginário sobre o Primeiro Templo de Salomão, o qual muitas pessoas ainda acreditam nos dias de hoje que seja factual. Entretanto, o Templo, conforme o apresentado na Bíblia Hebraica, jamais existiu, pois não passava de um anexo do palácio do rei; tão pouco são factuais os mitos que circulam em torno dos reis Davi e Salomão, que não foram tão grandiosos quanto a Bíblia Hebraica aponta. Apesar disso, em dois momentos da História de Judá, na Revolução Deuteronomista e no Retorno do Cativeiro, o Templo teve uma função centralizadora e necessitava de diversos mitos fundantes para ser legitimado. Com tais mitos, o povo que estava próximo ao Templo sentia-se mais parte da Casa de Yahweh por acreditar fazer parte de um plano estabelecido pelo Criador do Universo e todas as histórias inventadas e elaboradas pelo Deuteronomista e pelo Sacerdotal lhes davam maior alegria e esperança. O que houve, de fato, foi a legitimação do poder do rei, no contexto da Reforma Deuteronomista, e do poder do Sacerdote, no retorno do Cativeiro, no começo do Período Persa. No pós-exílio, por ser um período mais recente, encontra-se maior quantidade de elementos que caracterizam o estímulo do imaginário popular sobre o Primeiro Templo do que no período da Reforma Deuteronomista, apesar deste último ser um período de prosperidade para o Reino de Judá

Shetland boasts exceptionally well-preserved, but largely overlooked, field systems spanning a period of approximately 4000 years (Neolithic/Bronze Age – Viking/Norse). These have the potential to vastly increase our understanding of past agricultural practices and life styles. This study uses topographical survey, Shape Analysis, GIS, soil survey and micromorphology to answer questions relating to their location, form and function/management, pioneering the use of new tools and testing current models. An holistic landscape approach to the field systems is developed and tested against a multi-period site. Previously unknown types and periods of field systems are identified through survey and shape analysis, tools demonstrated to be valuable in refining the emerging model of field classification. GIS has illuminated pre-, during and post- construction factors influencing boundary form. New insights into location arise from the survey and GIS. Soils work has demonstrated that existing models of soil management over-simplify a complex situation, that thin acidic soils retain cultural information and that accretion was important to the sustainability of these peaty soils. While soils were sustainable over extended periods, the cultural inheritance of managed land appears to be limited. This thesis therefore presents the most holistic and comprehensive understanding of Shetland field systems which has so far been attempted.