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From January to March of 2011 theFollow the Potsproject embarked on a field project at the Early Bronze Age site of Fifa on the Dead Sea Plain in Jordan. Fieldwork embodied a two-part approach to recording the landscape: archaeological and ethnographic. We had no problem at all carrying out the archaeological groundtruthing and mapping of the looted cemetery at Fifa — producing detailed maps and successfully testing a theory about the uses of Google Earth in monitoring archaeological site looting. As a second prong of this project we sought input from interested communities, those who may be directly or indirectly associated with the looting of the area. We were unsuccessful at engaging with local communities — they were all busy harvesting tomatoes, something we had not factored into our “collaboration.” Our take-home message from this project is that community engagement is situational, context-dependent, and a negotiated process between equal partners.

The Christianisation of Ireland in the fifth century AD produced distinct monastic practices and architectural traditions. Recent research on Inishark Island in western Ireland illuminates the diverse material manifestations of monasticism and contributes to the archaeological analysis of pilgrimage. Excavations revealed a ritual complex (AD 900–1100) developed as both an ascetic hermitage and a pilgrimage shrine. It is argued that monastic communities designed ritual infrastructure to promote ideologies of sacred hierarchy and affinity that legitimated their status and economic relations with lay worshippers. In a global context, this research emphasises how material and spatial settings of pilgrimage can accommodate and construct social distinctions through patterns of seclusion, exclusion and integration in ritual.

Drawing on folklore, oral history, songs, historic ethnography, literature, and archaeology, this study investigates the economic, social, and material evidence of traditional late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century wakes along coastal Ireland through the lens of an archaeological case study on the island of Inishark. We analyze material practices of “good” and “bad” deaths, and explore the myriad ways that islanders used everyday material culture in mortuary rituals, particularly wakes and funerals. We argue that material culture could hold multiple symbolic valences throughout its history, especially everyday items used in ritual contexts. Finally, we describe the material residues associated with mourning practices on Inishark.

The intensification of agriculture as farming communities grew in size did not always produce a successful and sustainable economic base. At Ras an-Numayra on the Dead Sea Plain, a small farming community of the late fourth millennium BC developed a specialised plant economy dependent on cereals, grapes and flax. Irrigation in this arid environment led to increased soil salinity while recurrent cultivation of flax may have introduced the fungal pathogen responsible for flax wilt. Faced with declining yields, the farmers may have further intensified their irrigation and cultivation schedules, only to exacerbate the underlying problems. Thus specialised crop production increased both agricultural risk and vulnerability to catastrophe, and Ras an-Numayra, unlike other sites in the region, was abandoned after a relatively short occupation.

The high mountains of the Mediterranean are often considered as refuges of ancient traditions, particularly of pastoralism and brigandage. Is this image true? This paper reports the first systematic archaeological research on Aspromonte, Southern Calabria. Archaeological, cartographic and air photo evidence suggests that people used the high mountains in all periods from the Neolithic onwards. However, early usage was low-intensity and probably for special purposes such as iron-smelting, charcoal-burning and logging; only in the Classical Greek period was there sustained effort at inhabiting higher areas. The real development of the mountains came in the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries. From the 1920s onwards, there were large-scale, state-fostered projects for economic exploitation of forests, political control of territory, and creation of a recreational landscape. These endeavors tied into modernist ideas of the state, as well as period concepts such as Alpinism and healthy outdoor recreation for city dwellers. Ironically, as soon as these modern efforts made the high mountains accessible, they were assigned a chronotope, and were reimagined as the exemplification of an ancient way of life.

The Early Bronze Age (EBA) in the Southern Levant saw the emergence of socioeconomic inequality, fortified towns, and craft specialization. Livestock production was key to facilitating these socioeconomic changes, but the precise forms of animal husbandry and the economic contributions of domestic animal herding to EBA economies in the Southern Levant remain under-explored. Here, we investigate faunal remains recovered from Tall al-Handaquq South (THS), a walled Early Bronze III settlement located in the northern Jordan Valley. Zooarchaeological analyses indicate that small-stock (sheep and goat) herding formed the basis of subsistence and surplus production, while cattle husbandry provided much needed labour for intensive cereal production. The high relative abundance of cattle and the preference for goats, which thrive on low quality forage typical for more marginal landscapes beyond the valley floor, over sheep may indicate use of a more extensive herding strategy that kept herds off of agricultural fields while maintaining animal production. Notably, caprine management systems shifted throughout the EB III at THS from strategies emphasizing the optimal production of meat obtained from prime-aged sheep and goats to one focused on the exploitation of older animals, perhaps for fiber production. During this time, however, goats continued to outnumber sheep, possibly reflecting the long-term importance of grain production, which is expected to be reflected in the faunal record by high proportions of goats and cattle. Comparing the data from THS to other sites in the Southern Levant, the data indicate an evolution towards a greater focus on agricultural and livestock commodity production, factors that may have contributed to the abandonment of THS and, perhaps, other walled sites in the region. L’âge du Bronze ancien (BA) au Levant Sud est marqué par le développement des inégalités socioéconomiques et l’émergence de villes fortifiées et de productions spécialisées. La production de bétail, en particulier de ruminants, est un élément clé qui a favorisé ces changements, mais les formes précises de l’élevage et leurs contributions aux économies du BA dans le Sud du Levant restent encore mal comprises. Nous présentons ici une analyse des restes fauniques trouvés à Tall al-Handaquq Sud (THS), un village fortifié datant du début du Bronze ancien III, situé dans le nord de la vallée du Jourdain. Les analyses archéozoologiques indiquent que l’élevage des petits ruminants (ovins et caprins) constituait la base de la production de subsistance et de surplus, tandis que l’élevage bovin a permis la production intensive de céréales. L’abondance relativement élevée des bovins et l’exploitation préférentielle des chèvres qui peuvent se nourrir de végétaux de plus faible qualité au-dessus des fonds de vallée, par rapport aux moutons, suggèrent un élevage plus extensif qui maintient les troupeaux hors des champs agricoles tout en assurant la production animale. Ainsi, les systèmes de gestion des caprinés ont évolué au cours du Bronze ancien III, passant de stratégies ciblant la production optimale de viande de moutons et de chèvres en pleine force de l’âge à un élevage orienté sur l’exploitation d’animaux plus âgés, peut-être pour la production intensive de fibres (toison). À la même période, cependant, les chèvres continuent à être plus abondantes que les moutons, ce qui pourrait refléter l’importance de la production de céréales. Dans l’ensemble, les données indiquent une évolution vers une plus grande attention portée sur la production agricole et animale, facteurs qui peuvent avoir contribué à l’abandon de THS et, peut-être, d’autres sites fortifiés dans la région.

No detailed description available for \"Daily Life, Materiality, and Complexity in Early Urban Communities of the Southern Levant\".

The necessity of removing dead bodies from a habitation setting is important, given the realities of decomposition and putrefaction. However, burial practices go far beyond the needs of hygiene, providing a glimpse of the wider worldview of those performing the rituals (Andrews and Bellow 2006). Inferring what death meant and to whom, and how that was expressed, however, risks projecting modern values on ancient practices (Ashmore and Geller 2005). This chapter will explore changes in mortuary practices as sedentism intensified and population size increased at Early Bronze Age (EBA ) Bab edh-Dhra‘ located in modern day Jordan (Figure 5.1). We

Archaeologists investigating Middle Bronze to Early Iron Age periods (1600-900 b.c.) in southern Italy often explore linkages between emerging inequality and foreign trade connections, establishing a coupled trope of \"change emerges from external forces\" and \"waiting for civilization to arrive\". Based on excavations at the Recent/Final Bronze and Early Iron Ages (RFBA/IA, 1200-900 b.c.) site of Sant'Aniceto in Calabria, we offer an alternative narrative in which hierarchy and institutionalized inequality held little sway in this community. By employing a building biography approach, we examine the variety of ways people sustain their communities through the creation and value of difference (e.g., age, knowledge, or skill) that characterize daily life, even when political hierarchy is absent. Our research at Sant'Aniceto centers on understanding the locally-grounded experiences and lives of people by approaching social difference through the lens of the materialities of everyday life.

The Early Bronze Age (EBA) in the Southern Levant saw the emergence of socioeconomic inequality, fortified towns, and craft specialization. Livestock production was key to facilitating these socioeconomic changes, but the precise forms of animal husbandry and the economic contributions of domestic animal herding to EBA economies in the Southern Levant remain underexplored. Here, we investigate faunal remains recovered from Tall al-Handaquq South (THS), a walled Early Bronze III settlement located in the northern Jordan Valley. Zooarchaeological analyses indicate that small-stock (sheep and goat) herding formed the basis of subsistence and surplus production, while cattle husbandry provided much needed labour for intensive cereal production. The high relative abundance of cattle and the preference for goats, which thrive on low quality forage typical for more marginal landscapes beyond the valley floor, over sheep may indicate use of a more extensive herding strategy that kept herds off of agricultural fields while maintaining animal production. Notably, caprine management systems shifted throughout the EB III at THS from strategies emphasizing the optimal production of meat obtained from prime-aged sheep and goats to one focused on the exploitation of older animals, perhaps for fiber production. During this time, however, goats continued to outnumber sheep, possibly reflecting the longterm importance of grain production, which is expected to be reflected in the faunal record by high proportions of goats and cattle. Comparing the data from THS to other sites in the Southern Levant, the data indicate an evolution towards a greater focus on agricultural and livestock commodity production, factors that may have contributed to the abandonment of THS and, perhaps, other walled sites in the region. L’âge du Bronze ancien (BA) au Levant Sud est marqué par le développement des inégalités socioéconomiques et l’émergence de villes fortifiées et de productions spécialisées. La production de bétail, en particulier de ruminants, est un élément clé qui a favorisé ces changements, mais les formes précises de l’élevage et leurs contributions aux économies du BA dans le Sud du Levant restent encore mal comprises. Nous présentons ici une analyse des restes fauniques trouvés à Tall al-Handaquq Sud (THS), un village fortifié datant du début du Bronze ancien III, situé dans le nord de la vallée du Jourdain. Les analyses archéozoologiques indiquent que l’élevage des petits ruminants (ovins et caprins) constituait la base de la production de subsistance et de surplus, tandis que l’élevage bovin a permis la production intensive de céréales. L’abondance relativement élevée des bovins et l’exploitation préférentielle des chèvres qui peuvent se nourrir de végétaux de plus faible qualité au-dessus des fonds de vallée, par rapport aux moutons, suggèrent un élevage plus extensif qui maintient les troupeaux hors des champs agricoles tout en assurant la production animale. Ainsi, les systèmes de gestion des caprinés ont évolué au cours du Bronze ancien III, passant de stratégies ciblant la production optimale de viande de moutons et de chèvres en pleine force de l’âge à un élevage orienté sur l’exploitation d’animaux plus âgés, peut-être pour la production intensive de fibres (toison). À la même période, cependant, les chèvres continuent à être plus abondantes que les moutons, ce qui pourrait refléter l’importance de la production de céréales. Dans l’ensemble, les données indiquent une évolution vers une plus grande attention portée sur la production agricole et animale, facteurs qui peuvent avoir contribué à l’abandon de THS et, peut-être, d’autres sites fortifiés dans la région.