|
Showing 1 - 7 of
7 matches in All Departments
The central issues discussed in this new collected work in the
highly successful ancient textiles series are the relationships
between fiber resources and availability on the one hand and the
ways those resources were exploited to produce textiles on the
other. Technological and economic practices - for example, the
strategies by which raw materials were acquired and prepared - in
the production of textiles play a major role in the papers
collected here. Contributions investigate the beginnings of wool
use in western Asia and southeastern Europe. The importance of wool
in considerations of early textiles is due to at least two factors.
First, both wild as well as some domesticated sheep are
characterized by a hairy rather than a woolly coat. This raises the
question of when and where woolly sheep emerged, a question that
has not up to now been resolvable by genetic or other biological
analyses. Second, wool as a fiber has played a major role both
economically and socially in both western Asian and European
societies from as early as the 3rd millennium BCE in Mesopotamia,
and it continues to do so, in different ways, up to the modern day.
Despite the importance of wool as a fiber resource contributors
demonstrate clearly that its development and use can only be
properly addressed in the context of a consideration of other
fibers, both plant and animal. Only within a framework that takes
into account historically and regionally variable strategies of
procurement, processing, and the products of different types of
fibers is it possible to gain real insights into the changing roles
played by fibers and textiles in the lives of people in different
places and times in the past. With relatively rare, albeit
sometimes spectacular exceptions, archaeological contexts offer
only poor conditions of preservation for textiles. As a result,
archaeologists are dependent on indirect or proxy indicators such
as textile tools (e.g., loom weights, spindle whorls) and the
analysis of faunal remains to explore a range of such proxies and
methods by which they may be analyzed and evaluated in order to
contribute to an understanding of fiber and textile production and
use in the past.
Soviet archaeological research in southern Turkmenistan revealed a
series of small Late Neolithic and Aeneolithic villages strung
along the streams that emerge from the Kopet Dag and water the
narrow foothill zone separating the mountains from the Kara Kum
desert. A commonly accepted premise of their work was that these
communities garnered their technological knowledge if not their
populations from regions to the south and west in present-day Iran.
Since 2010 we have reinvestigated one of these sites, the small
Late Neolithic (ca. 6200-5600 BCE) and early Aeneolithic (ca.
4800-4350 BCE) village of Monjukli Depe. Our research examines
microhistories of cultural techniques as a source of insights into
long-term and spatially extensive change as well as internal
variations and similarities in material practices. This volume
presents results of this work. A Bayesian modeling of 14C dates
demonstrates a long hiatus between the Neolithic and Aeneolithic
strata of the site as well as a hitherto unattested very early
Aeneolithic phase (“Meana Horizon”). A sequence of densely
built, well preserved Aeneolithic houses exhibits marked
similarities to earlier Neolithic architecture in the region.
Despite overall standardized plans, the houses reveal significant
variations in internal features and practices. Similar flexibility
within a set of common dispositions is evident in burial practices.
Very limited quantities of pottery offer a stark contrast to the
frequent occurrence of spindle whorls, indicating a substantial
production of thread, and to a large and varied assemblage of clay
tokens. A wide variety of fire installations attests to routinized
handling of fire, which did not prevent at least one building from
succumbing to a conflagration. Animal herding was heavily based on
sheep and goats, while cattle figured prominently in feasts. The
Meana tradition at Monjukli Depe exhibits significant structural
similarities to other early village societies in Western Asia and
will make this volume of interest to scholars working on similar
times and contexts.
Soviet archaeological research in southern Turkmenistan revealed a
series of small Late Neolithic and Aeneolithic villages strung
along the streams that emerge from the Kopet Dag and water the
narrow foothill zone separating the mountains from the Kara Kum
desert. A commonly accepted premise of their work was that these
communities garnered their technological knowledge if not their
populations from regions to the south and west in present-day Iran.
Since 2010 we have reinvestigated one of these sites, the small
Late Neolithic (ca. 6200-5600 BCE) and early Aeneolithic (ca.
4800-4350 BCE) village of Monjukli Depe. Our research examines
microhistories of cultural techniques as a source of insights into
long-term and spatially extensive change as well as internal
variations and similarities in material practices. This volume
presents results of this work. A Bayesian modeling of 14C dates
demonstrates a long hiatus between the Neolithic and Aeneolithic
strata of the site as well as a hitherto unattested very early
Aeneolithic phase ("Meana Horizon"). A sequence of densely built,
well preserved Aeneolithic houses exhibits marked similarities to
earlier Neolithic architecture in the region. Despite overall
standardized plans, the houses reveal significant variations in
internal features and practices. Similar flexibility within a set
of common dispositions is evident in burial practices. Very limited
quantities of pottery offer a stark contrast to the frequent
occurrence of spindle whorls, indicating a substantial production
of thread, and to a large and varied assemblage of clay tokens. A
wide variety of fire installations attests to routinized handling
of fire, which did not prevent at least one building from
succumbing to a conflagration. Animal herding was heavily based on
sheep and goats, while cattle figured prominently in feasts. The
Meana tradition at Monjukli Depe exhibits significant structural
similarities to other early village societies in Western Asia and
will make this volume of interest to scholars working on similar
times and contexts.
This is an in-depth treatment of the antecedents and first flourescence of early state and urban societies in lowland Mesopotamia over nearly three millennia, from approximately 5000 to 2100 BC. The approach is explicitly anthropological, drawing on contemporary theoretical perspectives to enrich our understanding of the ancient Mesopotamian past. It explores the ways people of different genders and classes contributed and responded to political, economic, and ideological changes. The interpretations are based on studies of regional settlement patterns, faunal remains, artifact distributions and activity patterning, iconography, texts and burials.
This is an in-depth treatment of the antecedents and first flourescence of early state and urban societies in lowland Mesopotamia over nearly three millennia, from approximately 5000 to 2100 BC. The approach is explicitly anthropological, drawing on contemporary theoretical perspectives to enrich our understanding of the ancient Mesopotamian past. It explores the ways people of different genders and classes contributed and responded to political, economic, and ideological changes. The interpretations are based on studies of regional settlement patterns, faunal remains, artifact distributions and activity patterning, iconography, texts and burials.
|
You may like...
Loot
Nadine Gordimer
Paperback
(2)
R398
R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
|