Since the 1970s, the study of molecular organics preserved in archaeological ceramics, commonly referred to as organic residue analysis, has been used to infer vessel use and study dietary, economic, and ritual activities in the past. The purpose of this project is to analyse organic residues from a variety of ancient vessels and attempt to understand further the relationship between molecular organic preservation and vessel characteristics. It has been previously assumed that the absorption of these organics in the ceramic matrix is predominantly responsible for their preservation. The clarification of this or other preservative mechanisms and the further understanding of the relationships of vessels with their contents has a direct impact on the interpretation of organic residues and vessel use. The first section addresses the preservation of molecular organics in pottery vessels from Tel Kabri, Israel; Tel Megiddo, Israel; and Lefkandi, Greece. The one hundred and thirty-three samples from these three sites represent vessels used in domestic, burial, ritual, and elite contexts from the Early Bronze Age through the Iron Age Eastern Mediterranean. The focus of the study is the quantification of residue yields and identification of potential links with vessel properties and characteristics of the ceramic samples. Sequential extractions using two methods, conventional chloroform/methanol solvent extraction and direct FAME extraction/derivatisation, were applied to the sherds to test the absorption and adsorption of organics into ceramic materials. The majority of samples were tested non-destructively, enabling the comparison of residue yields to certain vessel properties and characteristics displayed in the same sherds. Where available, data concerning vessel form, sampling location on the vessel profile, thickness measurements were recorded, and XRF measurements were taken, with this in mind. The second section investigates the question of whether bronze and copper alloy vessels have the capability to preserve molecular organics within their corrosion products. Twenty-two samples of corrosion and associated material from five Early Roman bronze vessels found in cremation burials during the A2 Pepperhill to Cobham project in County Kent, United Kingdom were studied for organic material. These samples provide some of the first evidence that the residues of original content are preserved in copper alloy vessels either through entrapment in or reactions with copper corrosion.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1984 G73 / Master of Science

The late third millennium B.C. in Israel until recently was known by funerary deposits only. At Jebel Qaᶜaqir, the domestic and funerary remains provide an unprecedented assemblage and permit a reassessment of Early Bronze IV society and events culminating in the collapse of the Early Bronze III urban centers. Historically, pottery studies have focused on chronological issues. After reviewing the history of ceramic analysis in Israel for the past one hundred years, the Jebel Qaᶜaqir collection is presented. Variation in the manufacturing technique and incised patterns are described in detail for the purpose of identifying the work of individual potters. Ethnoarchaeological research of pottery production, especially the Filipino potters of Paradijon, provide the model for this analysis. The nature of the late third millennium B.C. pastoral nomadic society is examined in terms of subsistence strategies and settlement distribution. Inferences regarding social organization drawn from mortuary practices, settlement types and organization of labor challenge the idea that an egalitarian society persisted. Finally, these results provide a new perspective on the events following the collapse of the third millennium B.C. urban centers and the succeeding era of a non-sedentary lifestyle in Israel. The nomadic pastoralists are considered in their regional setting as an integral, indigenous part of Early Bronze Age society. Rather than viewing the pastoralists as a new phenomenon, they are considered as an ever-present characteristic of the urban hinterland.

Salvage operations in Hohokam sites of the Colonial, Sedentary and Classic periods. Includes appendices on prehistoric maize and textiles.

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In the earlier part of this century, archaeology was imported into biblical studies as a tool to demonstrate the historical accuracy of the Bible. Methodological differences, however, prevented very meaningful dialogue and eventually the two disciplines drifted apart. Archaeology has matured in the intervening years and now can enter a dialogue with biblical studies as an independent discipline. While biblical studies and archaeology work with different sets of data and approach the same subject with different questions, the disciplines can meaningfully intersect when they are interpreted through the perspective of anthropology of religion. Anthropology, with its study of the nature of religion and ritual, provides a matrix into which archaeology and biblical studies can place their respective data and find an interpretive framework. This dissertation uses Josiah's reforms (2 Kings 23) as a test case to bring archaeology and biblical studies into dialogue. The text lists activities and artifacts that were objects of Josiah's reform. The first three chapters deal with biblical and general anthropological data. Chapters four and five focus specifically on bamot and goddess worship. Chapter six discusses an array of artifacts: worship of the heavenly bodies, cult functionaries, child sacrifice, standing stones, the occult, and figurines. Each section examines the biblical data, anthropological theory, and any artifactual evidence that might reflect cultic practices. The purpose has been not to offer a comprehensive or exhaustive list of artifacts, but to show the types of objects that attracted Josiah's attention.

In order to determine if there is a shared biological lineage among four east central Indiana skeletal populations, the remains have been subjected to nonmetric trait analysis. This technique examines the directly observable manifestations of the genome on the skeleton in order to determine if two or more groups have a shared genetic background beyond the genes that all humans share. This information supplements the archaeological information already available from the cultural remains of these groups, in addition to the metrical data. / Department of Anthropology

The present thesis describes and interprets a large corpus of ceramic material from the ongoing excavations of the University of Crete in the Iron Age necropolis of Orthi Petra, at Eleuthema, Crete. Given that the site is mostly known from preliminary reports, I offer an account of the geology and topography of Eleuthema and the surrounding region, as well as a detailed review of the archaeological remains, with particular emphasis to the Iron Age and the necropolis of Orthi Petra. The core of the study is, however, a formal analysis of ceramics from the latter site. Despite my sustained preoccupation with the chronology and typology of the Eleuthemian pottery, evidence from the whole of Crete is systematically integrated in the discussion. Hence, the analysis of the local ceramics is largely converted into a study of the Iron Age pottery of Crete. To meet the emerging challenges, I embark on building a format of ceramic analysis that facilitates and enhances the reader's understanding of my interpretation of stylistic development. I further pursue a synthetic picture for the chaíne opératoire of the local pottery by laying emphasis on its technology, as well as on the modes of and the interplay between ceramic production, dissemination and consumption. The concept of consumption is also applied to imported pottery and other classes of artefacts from the necropolis to engender a holistic and diachronic assessment of social interaction manifested in the funerary ritual held at Orthi Petra. Imported pottery is further appraised against a Cretan-wide background with regards to its origins, type, distribution and impact on local wares. Issues pertinent to the dissemination of stylistic change, the Orientalizing phenomenon and the interactions between Eleuthema and sites in the Eastern and Central Mediterranean are explored. Lastly, the history of the necropolis is outlined and the issue of the date and cause of its abandonment is reviewed.

Utilising previously unpublished ceramic evidence from the important Late Cypriot settlement of Enkomi, this thesis focuses on the impact on Cypriot social organisation of increased involvement with the complex societies of the eastern Mediterranean at the beginning of the Late Cypriot period, c. 1650 BCE. The main focus is on one aspect of the material culture: the first appearances of wheelmade pottery and the relationship of the wheelmade ceramics to the remainder of the assemblage. The introduction of wheelmade pottery has long been seen as a component of the 'social complexity package' and considered to be indicative of highly complex societies, along with full-time specialisation and mass production. The ceramic and settlement evidence from Enkomi is addressed in detail to evaluate the degree of social complexity present for the initial stages of settlement transformation on Cyprus from MCIII-LCIIB, prior to the appearance of urban centres during LCIIC. The extent of excavation at Enkomi, compared to other sites of the period, and the wealth of finds from both mortuary and settlement contexts has led to assumptions about the site's relative importance to the processes of change occurring on Cyprus. The notion of Enkomi as a pre-eminent town or as an archaic state is questioned in relation to the evidence from other settlements. The thesis is divided into four parts. Part 1 discusses the theoretical background for social complexity and outlines the explanatory models which have been developed for the Late Cypriot. I address the importance of trade, and briefly outline the modes of contact and social organisation in the eastern Mediterranean region in order to provide a framework for the interaction of Cyprus within this sphere. I also discuss the significance that has been placed on the appearance of wheel made ceramics in archaeological assemblages. The identification of wheel made ceramics is more complex than is often assumed and an important distinction should be made between pottery with the superficial appearance of being wheelmade and pottery that is actually wheelmade. Part 2 assesses the evidence of ceramics and settlement from other early LC sites in order to investigate whether Enkomi may be considered to have played a dominant role on the island in terms of site hierarchy or control over resources. A brief summary of the evidence of the ceramic and settlement evidence for the EC-MC and the LCllC-lllA periods is provided for comparative purposes. In Part 3 the Enkomi settlement and ceramic evidence is considered in detail. The combined evidence indicates a more complex sequence of construction, occupation and abandonment than has been assumed. Additionally, the adoption of wheelmade pottery is found to be a sporadic and gradual process, with the handmade and wheelmade versions of the ceramic wares manufactured concurrently from LCl-LCIIB. The conclusions reached are presented in Part 4. The processes by which Cyprus came to play an important role within the trading networks of the Late Bronze Age are more complex and gradual than generally acknowledged. A combination of settlement and ceramic evidence indicates that social organisation during LCI remained small-scale with regional traditions persisting and limited influence between the emergent polities on the island. During LCllA-B, the degree of intra-island contacts increased and a uniform material culture is adopted, developing into a series of highly structured urban polities by LCIIC. It does not appear likely that any site or region exercised islandwide control during LCI and the autonomous polities of LCIIC therefore represent a continuation of the social organisation from the preceding periods, rather than a devolution of centralised control.