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Pronkjewails in distant places: Mortuary studies in the eastern Mediterranean by the GIA. The Greek Archaeology research group of the GIA specializes in mortuary archaeology, studying sites in the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East that date from the Bronze Age through to the Late Roman period. Our methodology includes theoretical approaches; cemetery excavations; the analysis of legacy data; studies of grave architecture, tombstones and grave goods; osteological analyses; digitization of datasets and digital applications; and DNA analysis, as well as isotopic and biomolecular studies, and we are focused on performing integrated studies with thorough contextual analyses. Our central question is how people dealt with death and what their funerary remains tell us about their lives and their world. Together with our local and international network of researchers and laboratories, our staff and students aim to perform innovative research, reach out to the public, and provide diverse perspectives on life and death in the ancient eastern Mediterranean.

Entre las creencias escatológicas del cristianismo medieval europeo destaca la imagen del infierno como un monstruo de grandes fauces que engulle las almas de los condenados. En estrecha relación con este tema, en ocasiones los difuntos fueron representados siendo cocinados en grandes calderos como parte de su martirio. Para tratar de explicar el porqué de esta iconografía, algunos autores han comparado estas imágenes con las referencias veterotestamentarias acerca de Leviatán y también del She’ol hebreo como ente que se alimenta de los pecadores. Junto a esta propuesta, otra parte de los investigadores ha hecho lo propio tomando como referentes a varios seres híbridos documentados durante la Antigüedad en diferentes tradiciones religiosas mediterráneas y próximo-orientales. En la presente publicación se pone de relieve que tanto las referencias hebreas como las del resto del ámbito mediterráneo son expresiones religiosas de una misma idea ampliamente extendida: la muerte como entidad devoradora de amplias fauces, añadiéndose nuevos ejemplos iconográficos anteriores al cambio de era., In Medieval Europe, Hell was usually represented as a devouring monster. Also, the souls of the deceased were represented as being cooked in large cauldrons to be later ingested by the devil and his assistants. In order to explain the origin of this view, some authors have compared these images with the Old Testament references to Leviathan and the Hebrew She’ol as a place that devours dead people. Along with this proposal, another part of the researchers has done the same considering several hybrid beings documented during Antiquity in different Mediterranean and Near Eastern religious traditions that engulfed the deceased. In this publication it is emphasized that both the Hebrew references and those of the rest of the Mediterranean area are religious expressions of the same idea: death as a devouring entity of vast jaws, including new iconographic elements dated to before the Christian era.

[ES] In this paper we propose that the sculptures of El Macalón correspond to lions and not to sphinxes, taking into account their morphological features. The number of 5/6 identical sculptures allows us to propose the existence of a single monument linked to a necropolis, located at the entrance to the settlement of El Macalón. Chronological references point to the second half of c. VII and VI B.C. The iconography of the lion has a strong religious and political implication, and it is related to an appropriation of the territory and communication channels by communities that show important links with products of oriental origin. In the VI a.C. the site shows signs of violence coinciding with the crisis that affects the Phoenician world in the entire southeast area., [EN] En este trabajo se propone que las esculturas de El Macalón corresponden a leones y no a esfinges, teniendo en cuenta sus características morfológicas. El número de 5/6 ejemplares idénticos permite proponer la existencia de un único monumento ligado a una necrópolis, localizada en el acceso al poblado de El Macalón. Los indicios cronológicos señalan una cronología antigua, entre la segunda mitad s. VII y VI a.C. La iconografía del león tiene una fuerte implicación religiosa y política, y se relaciona con una apropiación del territorio y de las vías de comunicación por parte de comunidades que muestran importantes vínculos con productos de origen oriental. En el s. VI a.C. el yacimiento muestra signos de violencia coincidiendo con la crisis que afecta al mundo fenicio en toda la zona del sureste., Proyectos “ALTO SEGURA II” (HAR2015-67355-P, MINECO/FEDER, UE), e “IBERS-CULPTURE” (PGC2018-093600-B-I00)

Every society experiences movement. As a structural component of human behavior and human mind, movement necessarily influences our ways of thinking, our relationship with people, space, time, and traditions; it modifies how we organize as groups, our perception of things and the way in which we interact with them. For its role in shaping societies, mobility has been at the core of archaeology since its inception as a discipline. Throughout archaeology’s history, key topics focusing on the movement of people have included, among others: migration and diffusion; identity; invasion, conquest, and imperial imposition; colonialism; trade and the movement of goods, people, and animals; seafaring and its associated technologies; resource acquiring practices; nomadism. However, especially following the processual turn, scholars tended to minimize the impact of movement on human history placing instead major emphasis on theories about culture and its inherent mutability (e.g. Trigger 1989, Anthony 1990). As a result, despite decades of research into the nature of mobility by anthropologists, sociologists and geographers along with the most recent and sometimes controversial contributions of hard sciences – mainly strontium (Sr) and oxygen (O) isotope analysis, and aDNA analyses (on aDNA see Vander Linden 2016, Furholt 2018 and the controversial connection between cultural and biological identities in Lazaridis et al. 2017) – much archaeological debate seems still to revolve around two polarizing positions: those using movement as all-in-one explanatory device, and those that downgrade its role as active agent in triggering change.

The appearance of Greek settlements (Ktíseis) in Sicily, Italy, is dated to the end of the 8th century BC. The Greeks, however, did not arrive to an Éremos Chóra (empty land) or to somewhere completely unknown; rather, there is evidence of contact between Italian and Greek people since the Early Bronze Age. In the ancient sources we find a well-constructed mythological tradition that is proof of an ancestral link between the two lands, but it is in the material culture especially that we are able to see the contacts and the degree of the connections between social groups. This paper focuses on Sicily, from the Bronze Age to the Archaic Era. Through the observation of literary sources and, principally, material objects, we unveil an entanglement of connections reinforced by exchanges in the artistic, technological, political and social realms. O surgimento das fundações (ktíseis) gregas na Sicília e na Itália do Sul é datado do final do séc. VIII a.C. Os gregos, porém, não chegaram em uma éremos khóra (terra vazia) ou em um lugar totalmente desconhecido; pelo contrário, há testemunhos de contatos entre povos da Itália e da Grécia a partir do Bronze antigo. Nas fontes antigas, encontramos uma tradição mitológica bem construída como prova de uma ligação ancestral entre as duas terras, mas é na cultura material que somos capazes de enxergar os contatos e o grau das conexões entre grupos sociais. Nesse texto é abordado o caso da Sicília, da Idade do Bronze à época arcaica. Por meio da observação das fontes literárias e, principalmente, das fontes materiais se desvenda um emaranhado de conexões reforçadas por trocas no âmbito artístico, tecnológico, político e social.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 278-353). Number of sources in the bibliography: 1110 Thesis (Ph. D.) -- University of Cyprus, Faculty of Letters, Department of History and Archaeology, 2019. The University of Cyprus Library holds the printed form of the thesis. Η διατριβή εξετάζει τις εμπορικές και πολιτιστικές ανταλλαγές μεταξύ της Ανατολικής Μεσογείου και ιδιαίτερα της Λεβαντίνης και της Μαύρης Θάλασσας κατά την αρχαιότητα και ειδικότερα από την περίοδο του ελληνικού αποικισμού έως τη Ρωμαϊκή εποχή. Η έρευνα παρουσιάζει και αξιολογογεί ένα πολύ μεγάλο όγκο αρχαιολογικών δεδομένων που έχουν συσσωρεθεί κατά τα τελευταία χρόνια αλλά βρίσκονται διασκορπισμένα συχνά σε δημοσιεύσεις σε τοπικές επιστημονικές εκδόσεις και περιοδικά, που δεν είναι εύκολα προσβάσιμες. Η έρευνα επιδιώκει επίσης να συμπληρώσει σημαντικά κενά στις έρευνες που πραγματεύονται το διαπεριφερειακό εμπόριο κατά την Αρχαιότητα διερευνώντας αυτό μεταξύ των πολιτισμών της Μεσογείου και των λαών των περιοχών που περιβάλλουν την Μαύρη Θάλασσα, και να εντοπίσει τους άξονες και σφαίρες αλληλεπίδρασης που αφορούν τη Μαύρη Θάλασσα. Ο κύριος στόχος αυτής της έρευνας είναι να διαφωτήσει ένα θέμα που μέχρι πρόσφατα δεν έχει μελετηθεί σε βάθος.. Γίνεται μια αξιόλογη προσπάθεια για να επιτευχθεί η αναπαράσταση των εμπορικών δικτύων, ο προσδιορισμός των χρονολογικών πλαισίων και η ταυτοποίηση εμπόρων, καταναλωτών και μεσαζόντων, λαμβάνοντας υπόψη την πολιτισμική επίδραση των υπερπόντιων εμπορικών συναλλαγών. Ο μεγάλος όγκος αρχαιολογικού υλικού αλλά και των σημαντικών πληροφοριών που παρέχουν οι αρχαίες πηγές αναλύονται τόσο με ποσοτικές όσο και με ποιοτικές παραμέτρους. Ο αξιόλογος όγκος και η ποικιλία των δεδομένων που παρουσιάζονται στη διατριβή επιτρέπουν μια πολυδιάστατη ανάλυση των εμπορικών προτύπων και αυτό συμβάλλει στην έρευνα των διαπολιτισμικών επαφών και κοινωνικών αλληλεπιδράσεων του αρχαίου κόσμου, και ενδεχομένως να δώσει έναυσμα για μελλοντικές έρευνες. Ο δεύτερος βασικός στόχος της έρευνας είναι να επαναπροσδιορίσει τη υφιστάμενη προσέγγιση στην αρχαιολογία της Μαύρης Θάλασσας και να διευκολύνει τη συνεργασία μεταξύ της Δυτικής και της Ανατολικής αρχαιολογικής κοινότητας. Οι πρόσφατες μελέτες για το αρχαίο θαλάσσιο εμπόριο συχνά παραβλέπουν την περιοχή της Μαύρης Θάλασσας. Ωστόσο, η αυξημένη ποσότητα φοινικικών τέχνεργων που έχουν βρεθεί στις περιοχές που περιβάλλουν την Μαύρη θάλασσα, και που έχουν δημοσιευτεί τα τελευταία χρόνια, εγείρει σημαντικά ερωτήματα όσον αφορά τις μακρινές θαλάσσιες εμπορικές οδούς καθώς επίσης και για τον ρόλο των Φοινίκων στα εμπορικά δίκτυα ανταλλαγής μεταξύ της Μεσογείου και της Μαύρης Θάλασσας τα οποία μέχρι πρόσφατα θεωρούσαμε ότι ήταν αποκλειστικά στα χέρια των Ελλήνων. Παράλληλα, η μελέτη τονίζει την εξαιρετική σημασία της Μαύρης Θάλασσας στο υπερπόντιο εμπόριο. Η σημασία αυτή πηγάζει στο γεγονός ότι η περιοχής έχει εξαιρετικά πλούσιο έδαφος κάτι το οποίο ευνοεί την αγροτική παραγωγή και είναι επίσης πλούσια σε πρώτες ύλες όπως μέταλλα. Σημαντικό ρόλο στην δημιουργία και ενίσχυση των εμπορικών δικτύων έπαιξαν επίσης κα κοινωνικοί παράγοντες, όπως η έντονη και συνεχής τοπική ζήτηση για εξωτικά αγαθά. Η παρούσα διατριβή αποτελείται από επτά κεφάλαια. Το πρώτο κεφάλαιο εισαγάγει τους στόχους και τη μεθοδολογία της έρευνας. Το δεύτερο κεφάλαιο παρέχει μια λεπτομερή επισκόπηση της αρχαιολογίας της Μαύρης Θάλασσας και περιγράφει τις οικονομικές δυναμικές στην περιοχή κατά την εκάστοτε υπό μελέτη περίοδο. Το τρίτο κεφάλαιο παρουσιάζει το παρόν στάδιο της έρευνας σχετικά με το φοινικικό εμπορικό δίκτυο στην Ανατολική Μεσόγειο κατά την πρώτη χιλιετία π. Χ., και πραγματεύεται την ορολογία, προηγούμενες μελέτες και τα οικονομικά μοντέλα που σχετίζονται με την έρευνα. Από το τέταρτο μέχρι και το έκτο κεφάλαιο γίνεται μια λεπτομερή ανάλυση των αρχαιολογικών πληροφοριών από τη Μαύρη Θάλασσα και άλλων σχετικών περιοχών, δίνοντας έμφαση στην Αρχαϊκή, Κλασσική και Ελληνιστική περίοδο. This doctoral dissertation investigates commercial and cultural exchanges between the Levant and the Black Sea in a period spanning from the time of the Greek colonisation of this area in the second half of the 7th century BC until the Roman age. The research brings together a large amount of archaeological data which has come out in the last few years but which is dispersed in publications that are often inaccessible because they are published in local journals or monographs. The aim of the dissertation is to fill a gap in the current research of Mediterranean and Euxine interregional trade in Antiquity and specifically to identify the axes and spheres of interaction that involve the Black Sea. The principal objective of the current research is to give insight into a topic that has attracted little scholarly attention until recently. The adopted approach to this end is to reconstruct trade routes, define chronological limits and identify merchants, consumers and intermediaries, while taking into consideration the cultural impact of the long-distance exchange. Both quantitative and qualitative methods have been employed in order to analyse a large body of archaeological and literary material. The volume and variety of the integrated data provides the opportunity for a multi-dimensional analysis of trade patterns that adds to the investigation of interregional trade and intersocietal interaction in this area in Antiquity and potentially will stimulate future research. The second major goal of this research is to reconceptualise the conventional approach to the archaeology of the Black Sea and facilitate the collaboration between Western and the Eastern scholars. The Black Sea region is often overlooked in the studies of ancient maritime trade. However, the increased amount of Phoenician artefacts reported in the last years from various sites within the region raises important questions in terms of far-reaching marine trade routes and the role of the Levant in what had been essentially Greek networks of exchange between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. In this respect, the present study emphasizes the important role of the Black Sea as an integral partner in overseas exchanges, because of its abundant natural resources (like metals) and because of its rich agricultural landscape. At the same time the need to be a part of this wide and intricate trading network was clearly also triggered by social factors, such as the constant local demand for exotic goods. The study is structured in seven chapters. Chapter One introduces the purpose and methodology of the thesis. Chapter Two provides a detailed overview of the Black Sea archaeology and outlines the economic dynamics in the region during the period under study. Chapter Three presents the current state of research regarding Phoenician trade networks in the Eastern Mediterranean in the first millennium BC, and discusses employed terminology, previous studies and economic models relevant to the study. Chapters Four to Six analyse in detail the archaeological evidence from the Black Sea region and beyond, focusing respectively on the Archaic, Classic, and Hellenistic periods.

This paper discusses the use of non-destructive portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) to distinguish sources of variation in 8th Century BC Greek and Sicilian ceramics. The project comprises an element of my PhD study through La Trobe University, concerning Hellenic colonies established from the eighth century BC in the south of Italy, and on Sicily in particular. This specific case study looks at the relationships established between the indigenous site of Monte Finocchito and the Greek settlement of Heloros, both located in south-eastern Sicily. The results demonstrate the usefulness of the pXRF technique for detecting material variations which are not readily apparent using traditional visual analysis during fieldwork.

This book presents a useful GIS procedure to study settlement patterns in landscape archaeology. In several Mediterranean regions archaeological sites have been mapped by fieldwalking surveys, producing large amounts of data. These legacy site-based survey data represent an important resource to study ancient settlement organization. Methodological procedures are necessary to cope with the limits of these data, and more importantly with the distortions on data patterns caused by biasing factors. This book develops and applies a GIS procedure to use legacy survey data in settlement pattern analysis. It consists of two parts. One part regards the assessment of biases that can affect the spatial patterns exhibited by survey data. The other part aims to shed light on the location preferences and settlement strategy of ancient communities underlying site patterns. In this book, a case-study shows how the method works in practice. As part of the research by the Landscapes of Early Roman Colonization project (NWO, Leiden University, KNIR) site-based datasets produced by survey projects in central-southern Italy are examined in a comparative framework to investigate settlement patterns in the early Roman colonial period (3rd century B.C.).

This book presents a useful GIS procedure to study settlement patterns in landscape archaeology. In several Mediterranean regions archaeological sites have been mapped by fieldwalking surveys, producing large amounts of data. These legacy site-based survey data represent an important resource to study ancient settlement organization. Methodological procedures are necessary to cope with the limits of these data, and more importantly with the distortions on data patterns caused by biasing factors. This book develops and applies a GIS procedure to use legacy survey data in settlement pattern analysis. It consists of two parts. One part regards the assessment of biases that can affect the spatial patterns exhibited by survey data. The other part aims to shed light on the location preferences and settlement strategy of ancient communities underlying site patterns. In this book, a case-study shows how the method works in practice. As part of the research by the Landscapes of Early Roman Colonization project (NWO, Leiden University, KNIR) site-based datasets produced by survey projects in central-southern Italy are examined in a comparative framework to investigate settlement patterns in the early Roman colonial period (3rd century B.C.).

This book presents a useful GIS procedure to study settlement patterns in landscape archaeology. In several Mediterranean regions archaeological sites have been mapped by fieldwalking surveys, producing large amounts of data. These legacy site-based survey data represent an important resource to study ancient settlement organization. Methodological procedures are necessary to cope with the limits of these data, and more importantly with the distortions on data patterns caused by biasing factors. This book develops and applies a GIS procedure to use legacy survey data in settlement pattern analysis. It consists of two parts. One part regards the assessment of biases that can affect the spatial patterns exhibited by survey data. The other part aims to shed light on the location preferences and settlement strategy of ancient communities underlying site patterns. In this book, a case-study shows how the method works in practice. As part of the research by the Landscapes of Early Roman Colonization project (NWO, Leiden University, KNIR) site-based datasets produced by survey projects in central-southern Italy are examined in a comparative framework to investigate settlement patterns in the early Roman colonial period (3rd century B.C.).