Ancient Near Eastern Studies Supplement Series – serie

The creation of a model to explain the transforms between behaviour and material remains is the underlying, structuring principle of ethnoarchaeology. Despite the value of this interpretative paradigm for archaeology in broadening the interpretative bases upon which archaeological analysis is carried out, very few studies have focused on the Near East. The approach taken by this research project has attempted to characterise similarities and differences in each of the settlement levels at the ancient mound site of Sos Hoyuk. Analogy is drawn between the processes and conditions that structure behaviour in a modern village setting and the patterning left behind by such processes in the past. Although the village of Yigittasi is located on the same site as the ancient settlements of Sos Hoyuk, there is no simple correspondence between modern and ancient.

This study presents both the technological aspects of iron and iron-making in north-east Anatolia, as well as commenting on the socio-economic, political and symbolic aspects of metallurgy.In the first instance, a technical study of iron objects from two north-east Anatolian highland sites Büyüktepe Höyük (Bayburt) and Sos Höyük (Erzurum) is presented. These results are compared with the status and production of iron in the Early and Late Iron Age periods in eastern Anatolia generally. What emerges is a significant exposition of the use of iron and changes in its use throughout the first millennium BC, and strong indications that some iron-making traditions in this region were idiosyncratic when compared to the rest of the Near East.In line with more recent discussions, this study also interprets the results in terms of human behaviour. Given the seasonality of human activity in the highlands and the likelihood of comparatively small-scale production units, it was appropriate to consider that iron and industrialisation were not always interdependent in antiquity. Using ethnographic considerations, survey and textual evidence of settlement patterns, the basis of post-Urartian iron manufacture is inferred to be small-scale not surpassing the immediate needs of the community to generate inter-local trade or exchange. Nonetheless, considerable community organisation and effort are reflected in the material characteristics of the iron objects examined. In particular, those objects that demanded a high standard of skill and perseverance, even by modern standards, are strong indicators of an extensive and established crafting tradition.

This volume presents a framework for interpreting cultural development in the highlands of Anatolia from the earliest settlements to the recent past. Begun in 1988, investigations by the University of Melbourne in cooperation with the Erzurum Museum have studied how past human societies adapted to and modified highland environments. After considerations of concepts such as 'frontiers', 'borders' and 'boundaries' that can be easily applied to north-east Anatolia, the study moves to an analysis of the complex literary tradition with a view to detailing an historical geography of the Bayburt and Erzurum regions. The ethnicity of the Diauehi, the identification of Sinoria of Mithradates fame and a new proposal for the route taken by Xenophon and his 10,000 troops are among the novel ideas now associated with this once neglected region. The second part deals with material culture. Beginning with an environmental conspectus, the study presents the results of a survey carried out in Bayburt during 1988 and 1990-93. An ample catalogue of finds supplements a detailed Register of Sites. To ensure comprehensiveness, as complete a ceramic sequence for north-east Anatolia as is possible to prepare at this stage is also provided. Using both textual and archaeological data, this study provides an extensive yet holistic picture of cultural change in the highlands. As such it provides a valuable resource for the study of the antiquity of east Anatolia and neighbouring lands.

Since time immemorial the Song of Songs (SofS) has been a source of amazement and inspiration. The countless translations and interpretations of this book differ strongly from each other. Does the Hebrew text indeed justify this? To answer this question, an unprejudiced philological analysis is necessary that keeps strictly to the text, which does justice to the context, and approaches the book intrinsically as rationally as possible.These methods followed by the author make clear that the SofS is a continuous story, which runs from SofS 1.2 to 8.14 with a cohesive structure, which is readily comprehensible and logical. That even applies to verses (e.g. 2.15; 6.12), which are seen by everyone as puzzling. Emendations are practically never necessary, eliminations not at all.The analysis makes plausible that SofS 1.2-8.4 is set in the harem of Solomon. The female protagonist, who has earlier lost her heart to a shepherd, is held their against her will and prepared physically and mentally for a meeting with Solomon by a personal attendant, who first appears in SofS 1.9; she does not succeed in winning her for Solomon.In the SofS a consistent use of language is employed, which means, for example, that the individual speakers are recognisable; this, together with the intrinsically cohesive structure of the work, is a strong argument for one author/editor. The use of veiled language for specific female or male parts of the body occurs more often than is recognised by others.The SofS is the story of the love, which unites two people. It is unique and faithful, and encompasses the whole of the person. Full justice is done to the related erotic-sexual aspect in a satisfying and harmonious manner.