American Journal of Archaeology

A stark division is usually drawn between Late Roman and Early Medieval burials in Britain. This has allowed works of synthesis to create opposing data sets of osteological information. A close understanding of the period 300–600 C.E. suggests that some graves currently assigned to the Late Roman period may actually date to the fifth or sixth century C.E. Two recent case studies demonstrate this point, and radiocarbon dating is advocated as a partial solution. Until radiocarbon dating is more widely deployed, many “Late Roman” cemetery data sets may contain chronological ambiguities that diminish their significance in wider works of osteological synthesis.

Excavations at the relatively small but strategically placed site of Hirbemerdon Tepe, located along the west bank of the upper Tigris River in modern southeastern Turkey, have yielded significant results. During the Middle Bronze Age (2000–1600 B.C.E.), the site was situated in an ecologically stratified landscape that included river terraces suitable for agriculture as well as forested uplands ideal for pastoral and hunting activities. A significant result of these excavations, which were conducted by the Hirbemerdon Tepe Archaeological Project, was the discovery of a well-preserved architectural complex with associated ritual artifacts on the northern side of the high mound. This report describes and situates this Middle Bronze Age site within its geographic, cultural, and ecological context. It examines the emergence of this small regional center and investigates the role of ritual activities in the development of socially integrated communities in the frontier zone of northern Mesopotamia during the beginning of the second millennium B.C.E.

The nature and extent of the urban development of Roman Gerasa (modern Jerash) has for decades been a topic of discussion among scholars studying settlement patterns as well as public and private life in the Roman empire. Research has, however, mostly focused on the development of the city along its main street. The aim of a new archaeological project, which was initiated in 2011, is to investigate the settlement history of the Northwest Quarter of Jerash through all periods. Following an architectural and geophysical survey, two excavation campaigns have been undertaken. The Northwest Quarter, the highest area within the walled city of Gerasa, is located west of the Artemision. The investigation has so far revealed that the urban situation in the Roman period in this area of Gerasa differs from what has previously been assumed. This prominently located area seems to have been sparsely occupied during Roman times; only traces of quarries and water installations can be dated to this period. Settlement in this area of the city was at its peak during Byzantine and Islamic times. The results of this project therefore change our understanding of the overall settlement history of Roman Gerasa.

The recovery of large quantities of fragmented carbonized olive stones from archaeological sites around the Mediterranean indicates that olive oil pressing waste (pomace) was used as a domestic and industrial fuel source throughout antiquity. Olive pomace burns at a high and constant temperature, making it an ideal fuel for heating and cooking as well as firing pottery and lime kilns. The Roman period is characterized by an expansion in pomace use both quantitatively and geographically. Beginning in the first century C.E., pomace fuel was introduced into new urban markets and began to play a larger role in industrial production. This article highlights the history of pomace use in antiquity, focusing primarily on the changes that took place during the Roman period. The article also seeks to establish a set of identification criteria that will enable archaeologists to distinguish pomace residue from other sources of carbonized olive stones, including ritual and table waste.

Three unpublished rupestral inscriptions from the Phokian town of Panopeus/Phanoteus are presented here. Number 1 is a Late Archaic text concerning the distribution of parts of sacrificial animals as established by the legendary Phanotos (eponym of the town) for his daughter, Boupyga. Of special interest, this text is the original of a copy set up by the Labyadai in ca. 400–350 B.C.E. at Delphi, where it was found during the French excavations before 1895. Our commentary thus compares the original text of the Late Archaic period with the copy made about 100–150 years later. Inscription number 2, also a Late Archaic text, seems to be a dedication of the Phanoteans to the eponymous hero Phanoteus. Number 3 is a Hellenistic dedication to Dionysos. Finally, the article analyzes the three main variant forms of the toponym, the ethnicon, and the heronym (Panopeus, Phanoteus, and Phanopeus) and the possible links between the variants; the mythic history of eastern Phokis; and the position of the city Panopeus/Phanoteus and its proximity to the Boeotians.

A systematic comparison between funerary and house-floor artifacts at the site of Titriş Höyük in southeastern Turkey demonstrates that an overall sense of domesticity and routine was a large part of residential mortuary practice in Mesopotamia in the late third millennium B.C.E. In particular, this comparative analysis reveals that undecorated, everyday dishes were among the most common grave goods in residential burials, suggesting that repetitious, quotidian activities were the primary focus of mortuary symbolism in these tombs. The living do not seem to have incorporated special material culture when they buried their dead. Whether these artifacts were mortuary gifts or remains of funerary feasts, only ordinary items were placed in the tombs as grave goods. This is consistent with the apparent absence of interest in special embellishment of the corpse or the tomb architecture. The observed patterns include the diminished importance of certain aspects of regular life and the minimized expression of individual identities in the mortuary contexts.

Seventeen marble samples drawn from the Scylla, Polyphemos, and Pasquino Groups, the Theft of the Palladium statue group, and the Ganymede statue discovered at Sperlonga in 1957 were investigated scientifically and proved to be all Docimium marble from the quarries of İscehisar near Afyon. New quarry data now available for the lithos lartios of Rhodes and for the white marble of the island of Kos and the quarries of Göktepe near Aphrodisias allow us to rule out old hypotheses as well as newly discovered sources of marble. These results as well as technical details about the manufacture of the sculptures seem to fully cohere with Andreae’s hypothesis that the Sperlonga groups were made on-site during the Tiberian age. They also tend to exclude alternative chronologies. The same arguments, however, make it difficult to believe that the Sperlonga sculptures and the Laocoön, thought to be made by the same Rhodian sculptors (Plin., HN 36.37) joining together several blocks of Parian Lychnites, are coeval. This apparent incongruity is briefly discussed, and the possibility of reconciling prosopographical and art historical considerations with technical marble data is examined.

Research on the earliest Neolithic in the South Caucasus is still in its early stages. Establishing a solid chronological framework will help determine the timing of the emergence and subsequent development of regional Neolithic societies. This article reports on 46 radiocarbon dates obtained from the two recently excavated Early Pottery Neolithic sites of Göytepe and Hacı Elamxanlı Tepe, the oldest farming villages known to date in West Azerbaijan. Comparing the dates from other related sites demonstrates that several settlements representing the earliest Pottery Neolithic emerged almost simultaneously at the beginning of the sixth millennium B.C.E. in the northern and southern foothills of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains. The lack of evidence for plant cultivation or animal husbandry at earlier sites suggests a foreign origin for agricultural economies in the South Caucasus. However, cultural items characterizing the initial agropastoral communities were not brought to the region as a package. Instead, we suggest that these early farming communities—that is, the Shomutepe-Shulaveri—underwent gradual but significant autochthonous developments likely deriving from the aceramic stage. The chronological framework provided by Göytepe and Hacı Elamxanlı Tepe serves as a reference point for identifying details of early farmers’ cultural developments in the South Caucasus.