Archaeological Reports – serie

Includes 114 illustrations, some in colour. Recent scholarship on the Roman Empire has focused on the nature of its economy, including sites that served as nodules of commercial exchange. Aila was such a port city on the Red Sea on the southeastern frontier of the Empire, now within modern Aqaba in Jordan. The city of Aila emerged in the late 1st century BC within the Nabataean kingdom, a client state of the Roman Empire. The port continued to flourish into the early Islamic period, handling trade between the Empire and south Arabia, east Africa, and India. The Roman Aqaba Project aimed to reconstruct Aila’s economy diachronically. The project research design included a regional archaeological and environmental survey, excavation of the ancient city, and analysis of material remains relevant to Aila's economy. Six field seasons were conducted between 1994 and 2002, providing a detailed picture of the economic history of the city. Excavation revealed major elements of the city, such as domestic quarters, industrial facilities, fortifications, and a monumental building interpreted as an early Christian church. This first of three projected volumes of the project’s final report focuses on the regional environment and the regional survey. Analysis of the environment employs a wide range of evidence to analyse the physiography, geology, soils, seismic history, climate and natural resources. Various lines of evidence are employed to reconstruct the paleoclimate, which seems to have remained essentially hyperarid since early historical times. The report also includes results of an intensive archaeological survey of Wadi Araba, the shallow valley extending north from Aqaba to the Dead Sea. The project surveyed the southeastern the valley, recording 334 archaeological sites, most previously unrecorded. These of these were small and unobtrusive and ranged in date from Paleolithic to Late Islamic, but especially common were sites of the Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age and the Early Roman/Nabataean periods, suggesting more intensive occupation in these periods. The volume also includes chapters on artifacts collected by the survey, including chipped stone tools, pottery, and Nabataean inscriptions. Aila apparently lacked any significant agricultural hinterland. The city was largely dependent on imports from more distant sources.

Includes 124 b/w figures. The last three decades have witnessed the introduction of gendered approaches to the social sciences in general, and archaeology in particular, developing initially within the rubric of women’s studies by American feminists and other politically minded academics who formed part of the Women’s Movement of the early 1970s. By examining archaeological remains from the perspective of gender, we can begin to formulate approaches to the study of past cultures more deliberately and intimately. The papers in this volume focus on issues of gender and society in ancient Cyprus from the Neolithic to Roman periods. The introduction of gender as a focal point in archaeological research will continue to advance the discipline by contributing vital new approaches to the social interactions of the island’s rich and dynamic past.

This volume presents the stratigraphy and architectural remains of the tell of ancient (biblical) Shechem on the eastern outskirts of the modern municipality of Nablus, in what was at the time of excavation the independent village of Balatah. First identified as an ancient ruin and proposed as ancient Shechem in 1903, the site was excavated by an Austro-German team in the period between 1913 and 1934, and by the Drew-McCormick Archaeological Expedition, later named the Joint Expedition, between 1956 and 1973. Now, 87 years after Ernest Sellin began the dig, and 27 years after the expedition mounted by G. Ernest Wright left the field, this volume sets out to give that sort of portrayal to this mound of ancient cities that began its history at least 4000 years BCE and ended its premodern history in 107 BCE.

Includes 102 figures, 136 plates and 17 tables (b/w). The excavations at Sotira Kaminoudhia in southern Cyprus revealed the remains of tombs and an Early Bronze Age settlement. This is the first Early Bronze Age settlement to be excavated in Cyprus, an era previously known only from mortuary deposits. This volume provides a final report on the excavations and includes specialist studies on various artifact groups, including: ceramics, chipped and ground stone, metals and terracottas. Other chapters focus on the skeletal remains, local flora and fauna, the geology, the environment, and a regional archaeological survey. This important report provides a wealth of new material from the southern part of the island, material that may now be compared with finds from the contemporaneous site of Marki Alonia in the centre of the island.

Pyla-Koutsopetria I presents the results of an intensive pedestrian survey documenting the diachronic history of a 100 ha microregion along the southern coast of Cyprus. Located around 10 km from the ancient city of Kition, the ancient coastal settlements of the Koutsopetria mircoregion featured an Iron Age sanctuary, a Classical settlement, a Hellenistic fortification, a Late Roman town, and a Venetian-Ottoman coastal battery situated adjacent to a now infilled, natural harbour on Larnaka Bay. This publication integrates a comprehensive treatment of methods with a discussion of artefact distribution, a thorough catalogue of finds, and a diachronic history to shed light on one of the few undeveloped stretches of the Cypriot coast. Illustrated in b&w with 137 illustrations and 56 tables.

Includes 168 b/w figures and 10 tables. Following the annexation of Samaria by Sargon II, around 700 BC, a new settlement was established just south of the urban center at Tel Dor. The site, known as Krokodeilon Polis "Crocodile City" to the Greeks (modern Tel Tanninim), was excavated from 1996 to 1999 by the Tanninim Archaeological Project, revealing significant Persian and Hellenistic period remains. Located on the Crocodile River in the Sharon Plain in Israel, this fishing village experienced something of a renaissance in the Late Byzantine period (450-640 AD), boasting several fresh water fishponds supplied by the Caesarea Maritima aqueduct and a large basilica church atop its mound. The site continued to be occupied sporadically through the Ottoman period. This volume is a final report of the excavations at this important site.

Between 491 and 1191 AD, Cyprus was influenced by various political and cultural centres that vied for dominance in the Eastern Mediterranean. This collection of essays primarily focuses on the island's archaeology when it was governed by the Byzantine capital of Constantinople. Greek and Orthodox Christian identity was cultivated during this period, which provided a sense of unity among the various provinces; and yet, the surviving historical and archaeological data concerning Cyprus is unique in that it expresses both local and regional characteristics. By investigating the various threads, whether textual, numismatic, architectural, or artistic, narrative has emerged that challenges our past assumptions.  The themes covered in this volume developed from a conference held in Nicosia, organized by the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute celebrating the 50th year anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus. An international group of experts explored several themes such as: the impact of recent archaeological discoveries; the shift from studying Late Antique urbanism to rural development; indicators of Cypriot identity; shifts in population settlement, production and trade; cultural interaction between Islam and Christianity; the significance of ceramic and numismatic evidence; monumental figural arts and their iconographical interpretation. The resulting chapters provide new and previously unpublished data, and should be considered a major contribution to Late Antique and Medieval studies. 151 colour and black & white illustrations included.

Includes 132 b/w figures and 6 tables. In the northwest quarter of the site of Caesarea Maritima is Field O, the location known as "the synagogue site and Jewish Quarter." Although excavated in 1956 and 1962, archaeologists and scholars researching the excavation results have been limited to seeing a brush-choked patch of excavated ruins, viewing a few artifacts in museums, and to the frustrating examination of the confusing, often contradictory published preliminary reports. For whatever reason, there was no final report published and there were no published photographs, site plans, or plans of the structures. This lack of clear understanding threatened to keep the site out of the corpus of synagogue sites forever. Now, comprehensive research has discovered previously unknown records from the 1962 excavations and produced a comparative study of the 1945/46, 1956/62, and 1982/84 excavation photographs and the complete findings from the Joint Expedition to Caesarea Maritima survey and excavation seasons. Included for the first time are a site plan of the excavated remains and reconstruction drawings of the excavated structures.

Illustrated in b/w with 70 figures and 43 plates. This is the final publication of the Persian and Hellenistic pottery from the American Joint Expedition to Shechem, 1956-1968. Since these were the last periods of occupation of the site, most of the pottery comes from the early seasons, especially 1956, 1957, 1960, and 1962. The later strata were defined by these excavations as Early Persian (Stratum V) and Early Hellenistic to Late Hellenistic (Strata IV-I). This volume presents the complete pottery corpus of these periods from Shechem.

Illustrated in b/w with 193 figures, 22 plates and 23 tables. This volume is the first in a planned series of final reports on the Archaeological Expedition to Khirbat Iskandar and its Environs, Jordan, begun in 1981 by Principal Investigator, Suzanne Richard of Gannon University. Khirbat Iskandar is an important Early Bronze Age site situated on the WΓdi al-WalΓ north of Dhiban. Due to its extensive stratified Early Bronze IV (ca. 2300/2000 BCE) occupation on the tell, Khirbat Iskandar is a seminal site for the period. This volume focuses on the excavation of Area C from 1981-1987, where a gateway came to light. In a period known for one-phase sites and isolated cemeteries, the stratified remains at Khirbat Iskandar offer important data on rural complexity in a sedentary community of the late third millennium, BCE. The volume also includes the results of excavations in the contemporaneous cemeteries discovered in the environs of the site. Along with studies of stratigraphy, the environment, ground stone and other artifacts, faunal remains, skeletal remains from the tombs, and C14 determinations, there are quantitative and petrographic ceramic studies.

Includes 397 b/w figures and 31 tables. Humayma, ancient Hawara, was the only significant settlement in the Hisma, the desert between Petra and Aqaba. Founded by a Nabataean king in the late first century B.C., the site flourished for 750 years as a Nabataean, Roman, Byzantine, and Early Islamic settlement. In 25 years of survey and excavation, the author has recovered unique architectural and artifactual remains of all these cultures. In this final report volume, the first of four, he presents the topography and ecology of the region, the history of the site, and a detailed examination of the integrated water-supply system that made the settlement possible. A long synthetic chapter evaluates this system in the context of the water-supply technology of the ancient Near East. This book will be of interest to both students and scholars concerned with ancient hydraulic technology, the Nabataeans, the Romans in the Near East, early Byzantine culture, and the origins of the Abbasid family.

Two volumes, with DVD. Includes 74 figures, 24 tables and 100+ lithic drawings. Although segments of the ARNAS territory have been investigated for the past one hundred years, a comprehensive and systematic survey of the area had never been undertaken prior to the work of the ARNAS team members. The main goal of the project was to discover, record, and interpret archaeological sites within the survey territory. Some other objectives included: the discovery, on the basis of the artifactual material identified, the area's settlement patterns from the Lower Paleolithic (ca. 1.4mya) to the end of the Late Islamic period (AD 1918); a study of surface trends to determine, on the basis of the number of sites and the amount of lithics and/or sherds collected, where in the territory "settlements" were concentrated in antiquity; an investigation of the Khatt Shabib or "Shabib's Wall," a low stone wall running in a generally north-south direction to the east, ca. 5-10 km, of the Via Nova Traiana (Trajan's road built between AD 111-114); and to document the rock art, tribal markings, and inscriptional material of the region. ARNAS team members accomplished the objectives of the project by transecting and recording the archaeological remains found in 140 randomly-chosen squares (500 x 500 m), covering around five percent of each of the three topographical zones of the survey territory. This resulted in a statistically valid sample of the archaeological materials of the area. In addition, team members recorded 389 archaeological sites encountered within, adjacent to, or on their way to-from the squares. Lithic archaeological periods/cultural-temporal units represented in the survey territory are: Lower Paleolithic; Lower Paleolithic/Middle Paleolithic; Middle Paleolithic; Middle Paleolithic/Upper Paleolithic; Upper Paleolithic; Upper Paleolithic/Epipaleolithic; Epipaleolithic; Pre-Pottery Neolithic; and Chalolithic/Early Bronze I. As is often the case in the deflated landscapes of Jordan, Middle Paleolithic and Middle/Upper Paleolithic combined samples are the most prevalent lithic analytical units identified in the survey. Ceramic archaeological periods/cultural-temporal units represented in the survey territory are: Chalcolithic-Early Bronze; Iron II; Nabataean; Roman; Byzantine; and Late Islamic. In addition, sherds, in small numbers and at only a few sites, from the Late Bronze, Iron I, Hellenistic, Early Islamic, and Middle Islamic are also represented. The types of sites recorded included: agriculture villages or hamlets; aqueducts; camps -probably seasonal and pastoralists; caves; cemeteries and individual tombs/graves; check dams and terraces; cisterns; farms; forts; inscriptions; knapping areas; lithic and sherd scatters; milestones; reservoirs; roads; rock art and/or tribal markings; walls; watchtowers; water catchment facilities; and winnowing areas. The accompanying DVD contains Random Square Descriptions and Images, Site Descriptions and Images, a table compiling all debitage, cores, and retouched pieces, and Settlement Pattern Maps for all of the Cultural-Temporal Unites represented at ARNAS sites.

Includes 95 b/w figures and 8 tables. This is the first publication on a deposit of broken marble statues, discovered in 1992 during excavations of the Roman Sanctuary of Pan at Caesarea Philippi , in Panias, Israel. From 245 fragments, twenty-nine statues ranging from colossal to miniature and representing mainstream Graeco-Roman deities and mythological figures are reconstructed. Most date stylistically to the first through the late fourth centuries AD. A catalogue discusses each sculpture's subject, comparanda, workshop associations, and date; three interpretive chapters present the artistic and material origins of the sculptures; patterns of patronage, chronology of sculptural dedication, and display; and sculptural evidence for the sanctuary's pantheon.

Tell er-Rumeith lies at the eastern edge of the Irbid plain in northern Jordan not far from the Syria border and the present town of Ramtha.  The publication presents the most complete corpus of Iron Age pottery for this area and its occupation reflects the Biblical traditions of the region.  Tristan Barako and the other authors have used the field notes, reports and photographs of Paul Lapp's excavations in the 1960s to bring together this final report.  In Part I of the volume, Barako presents the basic stratigraphy of the site and the corpus of Iron Age pottery that represents its main period of occupation.  Part II presents studies of artifacts by a variety of authors, including the post-Iron age pottery, noteworthy presentations of the community health (the human skeleton evidence) and textile production at the site, as well as fascinating collections of figurines, groundstone and other small finds. Illustrated with 207 b&w illustrations and 38 tables.

Substantial ceramic and architectural remains attributable to the Late Bronze Age were excavated in Field XIII in 1968 by the Drew-McCormick Expedition. The Late Bronze Age sequence spanning the Late Bronze I, IIA, and IIB contains ceramics from occupational contexts and also from a cache of 850 restorable and complete vessels from a Basement Chamber sealed below destruction debris. This analysis provides data on the ceramic typological development and the technological processes or chaîne opératoire at a Northern Hill Country site. While mostly domestic in nature, the ceramic assemblage also comprises imported Cypriot White Slip and Base Ring Wares that place the territorial kingdom, governed by the ambitious ruler Lab'ayu, within a wider regional trade system encompassing the Dothan-Jezreel and Beth Shean Valley routes.  The findings from this investigation align with recent scholarship that shows the early Late Bronze I was defined by contracted settlement over a protracted period of time, in contrast to the architectural and ceramic complexity exhibited in the Late Bronze IIA, and to a limited extent in the Late Bronze IIB. This report continues the effort to publish the excavation findings from ten seasons of excavations spanning 1957 to 1972 and originally led by Expedition Director G. Ernest Wright. 33 b&w illustrations and 33 tables.

Robert J. Bull began the excavation of a vault on the south side of the Inner Harbour of Caesarea Maritima, Israel. The vault was one of a row of warehouses built to store goods unloaded from the harbour built by Herod the Great.Begins with an introduction to the excavation process; the study of the stratigraphy (analysis of the order and position of layers of archaeological remains) considers the later excavations of the adjoining vault, and includes new photographs, plans, and section drawings. The original construction phase, the vault's transformation into a Mithraeum (a sanctuary or temple of the god Mithras), abandonment, and final use as a "charnel house" are discussed in detail.Also, includes detailed studies of the fragmentary wall paintings depicting Mithraic iconography, and of the medallion found inside the vault, in the context of the practices of Mithraism in the ancient world. The reconstruction of the ceiling splay and the interpretation in terms of astrological symbolism important to Mithraism are also detailed.A second volume describing the structure of the vault and the material culture found is planned.

The publication of the Eastern Desert Roads Surveys brings together the research of two survey projects, the Michigan-Assiut Koptos-Eastern Desert Project and the University of Delaware-Leiden University Eastern Desert Surveys. From 1987 to 2001 and intermittently thereafter until 2015, these two survey teams worked independently to explore and document the archaeological remains along the routes connecting the Nile Valley cities of Koptos (modern Qift) and Apollinopolis Magna (modern Edfu) to the Red Sea port city of Berenike in Egypt. The result of these surveys was the documentation of seventy discrete archaeological sites ranging in date from the late Dynastic to the Late Roman periods, with many sites demonstrating long-term, multi-period occupation. The survey also recorded road sections, route marking cairns and graves/cemeteries. This monograph brings together and integrates the discoveries of both teams, presenting a coherent analysis of the extensive surveys and the materials documented by each. Emphasis is placed on the physical setting of each site, its material remains--including preserved architecture, pottery and other surface finds--and relevant textual evidence, such as inscriptions, ostraka and related historical texts. A single chapter in gazetteer form is devoted to the sites themselves (excluding mines and quarries, which form a separate chapter), while other chapters present the geology of the region and ancient mines and quarries, which made use of the road network, the pottery evidence by phase, and specialist studies. An Introductory chapter offers historical and disciplinary context for the surveys and their subjects, tying the Berenike-Nile roads surveys into the corpus of archaeological surveys in Egypt and the wider Mediterranean world.

The results of the many years of excavation by the Combined Caesarea Expeditions, a project to explore the city and harbour of ancient Caesarea, built by the Jewish king, Herod the Great, at the end of the first century BCE.The volume publishes the discoveries on land, both on the Temple Platform (Area TP), built by Herod for his magnificent harbour temple to Roma and Augustus, the neighbouring quarters (Areas TPS and Z), and in the Inner Harbor quays (Area I). Holum presents CCE's original research questions, the overall stratigraphy of the site, and the team's findings about Caesarea from the Hellenistic period to the end of antiquity in the seventh century CE.In so doing, the book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the transition from paganism to Christianity in Late Antiquity. It explores in depth King Herod's pagan temple, which existed until about 400 CE, when the now Christian authorities deliberately dismantled it, removing all but its deepest foundations, and let the site lose its holiness. A century later, in 500 CE, the authorities built a grand Octagonal Church in exactly the same spot and on the same alignment as Herod's temple, so that it functioned as a harbour church, visible from far at sea. In the Byzantine period, Caesarea prospered and reached its largest extent.This book presents the archaeological evidence for these developments, paying careful attention to the foundations of the temple and church, fragments of the superstructure of both monumental buildings, the Herodian and Byzantine staircases that rose directly from the harbour to the temple and church, the pottery, coins, and other evidence, as well as of the vibrant city which surrounded these commanding religious structures.

This volume is dedicated to Stuart Swiny who served as long-time Director of the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute. Stuart Swiny was professor in Classics and Anthropology at the University at Albany; he is an archaeologist whose work on Cyprus now spans six decades. His research, mentorship as professor, and leadership as CAARI Director has had a profound effect on the development of the discipline on the island and benefited many archaeologists working there. The book celebrates his contributions to Cypriot archaeology with papers from colleagues, friends, and former students, covering a wide range of topics that reflect his interests in the history and culture of Cyprus. Ranging from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic to ethnoarchaeology in the recent past, the papers cover archaeological landscapes, material culture, settlement studies, and regional interaction. The influence of Swiny's contributions is a common thread tying topics together. Beginning chapters recount the personal and professional history of Stuart Swiny, and the focus then moves to academic papers that document his methodological foresight in archaeological survey and excavation, build from his prior work with particular artifact classes, publish new information about his major excavation site Sotira Kaminoudhia, or take inspiration from his interest and encouragement in studying all things Cypriot. Specific chapter topics include: Bronze Age climate change, textile technology, evidence for use of the opium poppy, ancient board games, Roman to modern carob trade, Iron Age Cypriot coinage, ethnoarchaeology of pottery production, and intra-island interaction in the Neolithic. The volume is also forward-looking, taking stake of where Cypriot archaeology stands after roughly forty years since Swiny's directorship began. It anticipates new projects, innovations and approaches that the next generation of Cypriot scholars will use to build on his work.

Paul Lapp's team last excavated at Tell Ta'annek in 1968, over fifty years ago. During that time, much effort has been expended on the final publication of the site's stratigraphy and material, even though few final manuscripts have reached the publication stage. Walter Rast's work with the Iron Age pottery was the notable exception and was published in 1978. The present volume uses Rast's ceramic chronology as the basis for the periodization of the Iron Age strata excavated by Lapp in 1963, 1966, and 1968.After covering the background of the site and Sellin's excavation of it in the early twentieth century, Mark W. Meehl presents the Iron Age stratigraphy area by area, period by period, based on the field notes, reports, plans, and photographs of the excavators. Two chapters describe the Iron Age occupations on Tell Ta'annek, setting them in their regional contexts. Appendices addressing the date of the Iron Age fortifications and fire installations and pits follow. Iron Age pottery forms and drainpipes not included in Rast's book are included in a third appendix.

This is the first volume in a projected series of final reports on the 1997-2012 University of Michigan/University of Minnesota excavations at Tel Kedesh, located in the Upper Galilee of modern Israel and the hinterland of ancient Tyre. It presents the 2nd century BCE Hellenistic archive and the 2000+ sealings found there. The Kedesh archive complex was situated within a large, multipurposed administrative building, first constructed under Persian rule in the late 6th century BCE and then modified under Ptolemaic and Seleucid rule in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE. The sealings in the archive date to the final Seleucid phase of occupation in the first half of the 2nd century BCE. The first part of the volume situates the Kedesh archive within the context of excavated Hellenistic archives from Carthage in the west to Selucia-on-the-Tigris in the east and reflects on the varieties of archives, clienteles, and sealing practices so far known from the Hellenistic world. The second part presents an annotated illustrated catalog of the images and iconography of the 1,733 readable impressions found on the sealings. The subject matter of the 1,293 seal rings that produced the impressions was for the most part Greek. With contributions by Donald T. Ariel, Andrea M. Berlin, Paul Lesperance, and Anastasia Shapiro.

This third publication of the Humayma Excavation Project presents the most thorough excavation report and analysis of a Roman frontier fort yet published. Humayma, ancient Hawar or Hawara, began life as a small Nabataean settlement in the Hisma desert of Southern Jordan, 80 km south of Petra. Soon after the Roman conquest of the Nabataean kingdom in 106 CE, the town was incorporated into the new Provincia Arabia as Hauarra, and a fort was built on the slope above the original settlement. Hauarra flourished through the Byzantine period and in the late seventh century was purchased by the Abbasid family, which built an elaborately frescoed manor house and mosque. Henceforth known as al-Humayma, the town withered away after the Abbasids moved to Iraq in 749 and led the revolt against the Umayyad caliphate. Oleson began excavation in the fort with a small probe in 1987, followed by 10 seasons of extensive excavation and geophysical survey between 1993 and 2005, and a follow-up campaign by Reeves in 2012. The excavations provided important new information about the process of the Trajanic conquest of the Nabataean kingdom, the development of Roman military fortification design, the organization of the southern portion of the Provincia Arabia and adjacent frontier of the empire, and relations between Nabataean town dwellers and their Roman occupiers from the second through the fifth centuries.Published as a two-volume set.

Includes 36 figures, 23 tables, 90 lithic drawings, 33 architectural drawings, and 38 photos (b/w). This report presents the archaeological evidence for human settlement and land use in the Tafila-Busayra region of southern Jordan from the Palaeolithic (ca. 500,000 BP) to the 20th century AD. The 480-square-kilometre survey stretched from Tafila and Busayra in the west to Jurf ad-Darawish in the east, adjoining areas earlier surveyed by MacDonald - the Wadi al-Hasa (1979-1983) and the southern Ghor and northeast Arabah (1985-1986). Using a combination of random and purposive sampling, reinvestigation of documented sites, and aerial photography, the survey recorded some 290 sites, ranging from the well known Iron Age citadel at Busayra to architectural ruins, camp sites and cemeteries along with isolated sherd or lithic scatters and other cultural features such as watch towers, terraces, water channels, quarries and roads.

Includes 25 figures, 8 plates and 11 tables, some in colour. This volume presents the numismatic results from nineteen seasons of fieldwork by the Joint Expedition to Caesarea Maritima (1971-1987 and 1993-1993). The expedition recovered just over 8,000 coins, of which about 2,700 were datable between 350 BC and AD 640. The volume provides a complete descriptive catalogue of the datable coins along with a separate section illustrated with colour photographs of a spectacular hoard of 99 gold Byzantine solidi of Valens and ValentinianI discovered in 1993.