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This thesis compiles and assesses orientalising artefacts from EIA Crete, which by definition are those that emulate Near Eastern models in design, style or technique. While oriental imports discovered on Crete have been the subject of several recent publications, there are currently no studies that deal with orientalising finds from the island in a similarly comprehensive manner. The aim of the present work is to fill this gap in scholarship and to provide a solid basis for interpretation. Following a multifaceted approach, the thesis offers an in-depth investigation of relevant pottery, terracottas, sculpture and metal finds. These classes of objects are investigated in terms of types, contexts and iconographies; they are then compared to potential Near Eastern models, which are examined in equal detail where appropriate. Based on this evidence, presumed connections to the Near East are challenged or substantiated while novel links are added, offering fresh insights into the meaning of the Cretan material. A critical revaluation of Cretan contacts with the Near East puts gained findings into a larger perspective of socio-political relations. The final part of the thesis suggests a new interpretation of the material, stressing the importance of Cretan agency, cultural self-definition and the multivalent nature of the orientalising phenomenon on the island.

This thesis studies the evidence related to warfare and warriors in the Early Iron Age of Greece, from the eleventh to the early seventh century B.C.E. It argues that "warrior" identity, as expressed through burial with weapons or depictions of armed men and combat in pictorial painting and literature, is connected to violent action in order to create, maintain, and reinforce the relationship between authority and violent action. The forms that this violent action took were variable, from interregional conflict to overseas raids. This is outlined in Chapter 1, which is followed by two chapters summarizing the palatial (Chapter 2) and postpalatial (Chapter 3) background to the Early Iron Age. Chapters 4 to 7 present the evidence. In order to provide a more thorough analysis the focus is limited to the regions of Attica, central Euboea, the Argolid, and Knossos. The study of warfare in this period has been dominated by the study of weapons; in this thesis the approach focuses on the contexts in which these weapons are found, burials (Chapter 4), sanctuaries (Chapter 5), and occasionally settlements (Chapter 6). In these chapters the particular treatment and emphasis on weapons and armour is considered based on an understanding of these contexts in the period. In Chapter 7, representations and the treatment of warriors and warfare in Early Iron Age pictorial pottery is considered, as is briefly the literary evidence from the end of this period, which form the means by which contemporary people came to understand warfare. Chapter 8 discusses the evidence, while Chapter 9 summarizes the conclusions. This thesis shows that while warrior identity and the practice of war are closely related, in these areas of Early Iron Age Greece there are variations in the identification of men as warriors and in the intensity with which war is fought. Throughout the period, these regions express warrior identity in broadly similar ways, but with variations in duration, accessibility, and meaning. The eighth century is particularly a period of change with the intensification of warfare manifest in the destruction of settlements, but these changes are not restricted to this century, and are in many ways similar to the preceding centuries on a larger scale.

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<p>This thesis discusses the differences between how archaeologists and cultural geographerdescribe the early Iron Age on Gotland. What objects, phenomenon and arguments do theyuse to describe this period. Four publications have been analysed in this study, two written byarchaeologists, two by geographers.The differences in how they describe the period in question are significant. Both disciplinesgive a very fragmentary description of the older Iron Age in Gotland.</p>

Did an invasion of the Sea Peoples cause the collapse of the Late Bronze Age palace-based economies of the Levant, as well as of the Hittite Empire? Renewed excavations at Tell Tayinat in southeast Turkey promise to shed new light on the critical transitional phase of the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age (c. 1200-1000 B.C.), a period which in the Northern Levant has until recently been considered a Dark Age, due in large part to the few extant textual sources relating to its history (Hawkins 2002: 143). Specifically, this thesis is based upon a stylistic analysis of a distinctive painted pottery known as Late Helladic IIIC (LH IIIC) excavated at the site. Its core is comprised of a diachronic study of the Tayinat ceramics tied into a synchronic comparison with sites across the region—the Amuq Valley, the Levantine coast, Anatolia, Cyprus, and the Aegean Sea basin. Two key objectives of the pottery analysis are to discern Aegean stylistic characteristics from those that are local, and to chronologically situate the assemblage on the basis of regional parallels. What precisely was the nature of Iron I occupation at the site? Renewed excavations suggest that a rudimentary village settlement may have been constructed. Were the inhabitants that founded the Iron Age settlement immigrants that originated in areas to the west—Cyprus, Western Asia Minor, or the Greek Mainland—who were in iii search of more hospitable environs to settle? Or were they elements of the indigenous population forced to start anew after the socio-economic disruptions at the end of the Late Bronze Age? Perhaps they comprised a mixed population of both groups? Stylistic analysis of the painted ware would seem to support the third alternative, resulting in a hybrid style that fused Aegean shapes and motifs with local traditions. Did they simply relocate from the ruins of neighboring Tell Atchana (ancient Alalakh) or from other settlements in the Amuq Valley? Perhaps the movements were not en masse, but rather consisted of small elite groups or tradesmen that assimilated into the local economy, the result of a prolonged process of acculturation. The nature and relative amount of LH IIIC pottery in the Tayinat assemblage favors a traditional migration model. This research begins to fill a longstanding lacuna in the Amuq Valley and attempts to correlate with major historical and cultural trends in the Northern Levant and beyond.

Did an invasion of the Sea Peoples cause the collapse of the Late Bronze Age palace-based economies of the Levant, as well as of the Hittite Empire? Renewed excavations at Tell Tayinat in southeast Turkey promise to shed new light on the critical transitional phase of the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age (c. 1200-1000 B.C.), a period which in the Northern Levant has until recently been considered a Dark Age, due in large part to the few extant textual sources relating to its history (Hawkins 2002: 143). Specifically, this thesis is based upon a stylistic analysis of a distinctive painted pottery known as Late Helladic IIIC (LH IIIC) excavated at the site. Its core is comprised of a diachronic study of the Tayinat ceramics tied into a synchronic comparison with sites across the region—the Amuq Valley, the Levantine coast, Anatolia, Cyprus, and the Aegean Sea basin. Two key objectives of the pottery analysis are to discern Aegean stylistic characteristics from those that are local, and to chronologically situate the assemblage on the basis of regional parallels. What precisely was the nature of Iron I occupation at the site? Renewed excavations suggest that a rudimentary village settlement may have been constructed. Were the inhabitants that founded the Iron Age settlement immigrants that originated in areas to the west—Cyprus, Western Asia Minor, or the Greek Mainland—who were in iii search of more hospitable environs to settle? Or were they elements of the indigenous population forced to start anew after the socio-economic disruptions at the end of the Late Bronze Age? Perhaps they comprised a mixed population of both groups? Stylistic analysis of the painted ware would seem to support the third alternative, resulting in a hybrid style that fused Aegean shapes and motifs with local traditions. Did they simply relocate from the ruins of neighboring Tell Atchana (ancient Alalakh) or from other settlements in the Amuq Valley? Perhaps the movements were not en masse, but rather consisted of small elite groups or tradesmen that assimilated into the local economy, the result of a prolonged process of acculturation. The nature and relative amount of LH IIIC pottery in the Tayinat assemblage favors a traditional migration model. This research begins to fill a longstanding lacuna in the Amuq Valley and attempts to correlate with major historical and cultural trends in the Northern Levant and beyond.

This thesis discusses the differences between how archaeologists and cultural geographerdescribe the early Iron Age on Gotland. What objects, phenomenon and arguments do theyuse to describe this period. Four publications have been analysed in this study, two written byarchaeologists, two by geographers.The differences in how they describe the period in question are significant. Both disciplinesgive a very fragmentary description of the older Iron Age in Gotland.

Le6 and Le7 are Early Iron Age settlements located in north-eastern South Africa in the Kruger National Park. These two open-air sites, immediately adjacent to one another on the west bank of the Letaba River, likely date to circa 500-800 AD. The wild-dominated Le6 and Le7 faunal assemblages allow for a site-level examination of the treatment of wild species within the highly variable spectra of Early Iron Age animal use. Using previously unanalysed faunal material, this study moves beyond basic procurement interpretation to examine more than just the pure subsistence choices present at these hunting-dominated sites. Instead, new socially-focussed zooarchaeological questions are asked by coupling traditional morphological analysis with taphonomic analyses and theoretical frameworks of intensification. Through this, both the procurement and processing methods utilised at Le6 and Le7 are identified and the significance of these choices are discussed. The occupants at these sites showed an intensive preference for predominantly adult large wild mammals. These were then processed in similarly consistent manners, with explicit focus on the largest, most easily accessible muscle groups and in-bone fat sources. Among other factors, the scant evidence of cooking and signs of speed in processing suggests the majority of preparation was focussed not on immediate consumption, but possibly on secondary transport of the animal resources off these sites. Altogether, rather than traditional residential Early Iron Age sites, Le6 and Le7 are considered as repeatedly re-used, shorter-term hunting bases for intensified, and possibly specialised, large wild mammal-use a potentially new faunal use strategy and site type for the period and region. The socio-economic implications and potential drivers of these faunal choices are then considered within the broader context of the southern African Early Iron Age. The place of expanded zooarchaeological methods and theories in social archaeological questions and more emic lines of site interpretation is also introduced, here specifically presented in the context of re-exploring the role and significance of wild animals at two Early Iron Age sites. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Anthropology and Archaeology / MA / Unrestricted

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