Ancient Near East Introduction Lecture Notes PDF

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST: INTRODUCTION ANTH 116 CAROLINE ARBUCKLE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN discussion. Hunting living space depicts 4 legged creature pigment on a **plaster backround** suggest that they are staying there boar could be depicting a event some lengths inor...

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST: INTRODUCTION ANTH 116 CAROLINE ARBUCKLE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN discussion. Hunting living space depicts 4 legged creature pigment on a **plaster backround** suggest that they are staying there boar could be depicting a event some lengths inorder to pain they need tools pigment in this society they have TIME, enough time and enough food.  NOTE – HUMAN REMAINS Please note, this lecture includes images of manipulated human remains.  FOR THE NEWBIES If you missed last class… Syllabus Take note of all due dates Textbook note Additional readings in Modules Illness / Missing Class PowerPoints posted Note on vocabulary – if you hear a word you don’t know – ASK.  TODAY’S CLASS Term Review A note on Chronology Introduction to the Ancient Near East – Geography The Neolithic in the Ancient Near East Definitions Jericho Göbekli Tepe Carbon-14 Dating Çatalhöyük Overview and Discussion  REVIEW What is Archaeology? the study of the material remains of past cultures…within their excavated contexts What is Archaeological Context? Stratigraphy? Site, Time and space in which the artifact was discovered and objects on the same layer (***Note bolded words and titles on slides)  A NOTE ON CHRONOLOGY Absolute and Relative dates -dating using calender and specific dates -using a relative date. ^periods use realative and archyology usually uses realative. “Technological” or “Material Stages” Stone Age (Neolithic), Bronze Age, Iron Age Dates: BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era) Or BP/YA (Before Present / Years Ago) be consistant when using terms in essays THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST Near East = West Asia bodies of water are important to know where they are  THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST Mediterranean Sea Fertile Crescent Levant Mesopotamia means between to rivers Euphrates and Tigris Taurus and Zagros mostly nomatic societies Anatolia leads in to arabian sea  THE NEOLITHIC IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST  THE NEOLITHIC really early farming The “Neolithic Period” around 10000 BCE transistion from hunter gathers in to farming “the time when men and women first organized themselves in fixed settlements and brought the reproduction and exploitation of plants and animals under their control” The “Neolithic Revolution” no set to one spot in time V. Gordon Childe “Refers to the suite of subsistence techniques and skills that developed during the neolithic period, including agriculture and animal husbandry, pottery making, metallurgy, and pre-writing recording systems”. husbandry: raising and domesicatng animals  JERICHO – SITE CARD Name: Jericho Location: Along Jordan River Valley, Palestine Excavators: John Garstang and Kathleen Kenyon Phases of Archaeological Interest: Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and B – ca. 8500- 6000 BCE will never be asked calender dates but will be asked like pre pottery A and B Particular Significance: Earliest permanent settlement so far discovered in the Near East, early evidence of religious activity  JERICHO A spring – drew even earlier built during the spring hunter-gatherers PPNA: Consists of round houses, see a lot of permanent structures fortification walls, and tower Evidence of plant cultivation Obsidian artifacts long distant trade with obsidian obsidian usualy came from anitolia fortification suggest they needed protection building up a surplus they are investing time energy and ressoures to structure alot of investment in the community becuase they built togther first communal structure in this time period JERICHO – THE TOWER What does the presence of the tower and other fortifications tell us about how life has changed during this period?  JERICHO Jericho in the PPNB Rectangular houses with central courtyard Suggestions of religious practice 10 plastered human skulls Human figurines Emphasis on animal husbandry Processing of secondary products intermeted as ancestoral cult living abive remaines of people they have a connection with. afte PPNB jericho is abbondoned for 1500 years  GÖBEKLI TEPE – SITE CARD Name: Göbekli Tepe possible the earliest ceremonial site ever Location: South-eastern Turkey Excavators: Klaus Schmidt and Lee Clare Phases of Archaeological Interest: Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and B – ca. 10,000-8000 BCE (?) Particular Significance: Earliest ceremonial (?) center; Example of Carbon-14 complications  GÖBEKLI TEPE 20+ circular rooms Stone walls, often with T-shaped roof supports Two additional, monolithic T- shaped piers at center Entrance maybe from roof? Circular rooms with piers – image by Beytullah Eles  GÖBEKLI TEPE Piers decorated with predatory animals Vultures, foxes, scorpions, etc. Some with anthropomorphic arms ^^ means human shaped some sort of a protective element,  GÖBEKLI TEPE What is the purpose? there was settlement some people would travel between each ceremonial sites Hilltop – visible usually built on hill tops Habitation levels present at the site Some potential early plant cultivation more evidence of hunter gathers then farming which is weird due to the fact there was settlement Maybe transitional, hunter-gatherers beginning to experiment with cultivation and sedentary life Arial view showing different levels – image by German Archaeological Institute  CARBON-14 DATING AND GÖBEKLI TEPE What is Carbon-14 Dating? Willard Libby video added on to canvas for more info  CARBON-14 DATING AND GÖBEKLI TEPE Three major layers at Gobekli Tepe I, II, III – III being associated with PPNA Site filled in by debris Given what we know about C14 dating, what already presents as elements that could complicate the results? you need well resevered oganic matter these were made of stone the fill that whith in can be from any period after they were built after the collpase there are some more layers unable to date the fill  CARBON-14 DATING AND GÖBEKLI TEPE Date of loam in plaster from Circle D mid 10th Mill BCE Dating the fill – late 10th early 9th Mill BCE 10 000 CE - 9 000 BCE terminus ante quem  ÇATALHÖYÜK – SITE CARD Name: Çatalhöyük very well preserved site Location: Western Turkey Excavators: James Mellaart, Ian Hodder, Ali Umut Türkcan Phases of Archaeological Interest: ca. 6500-5500 BCE Particular Significance: Extremely well preserved evidence for neolithic architecture, technology, religion, agriculture; cutting edge technology for excavation, analysis, and publication very big budget for excavation  ÇATALHÖYÜK Two adjacent mounds Eastern – neolithic 13 hectares Clusters of mudbrick houses elotatian society Image by Dan Lewandowski Image by Omar Hoftun  ÇATALHÖYÜK The Houses Main room and store room Platforms and benches Many decorated Illustration by Kathryn Killackey ÇATALHÖYÜK – WALL PAINTINGS could be earliest painting of volcano arent any close volcanos near this site interpetation picture of volcano next to a settlment could be a stretched animal skin dont know about the scale  ÇATALHÖYÜK Agriculture Great preservation of organic remains Cereals, nuts, legumes cow, sheep, goat - domesticated Additional hunted animals  ÇATALHÖYÜK Craft Production and Objects Obsidian spear heads Beads, pendants Pottery Wooden cups, bowls, boxes Wool and bast textiles Shell beads and turquoise = trade also traved long distance trade do to beads and turquoise Woven bast fibers (from Oak) – image by A. Rast Eicher  ÇATALHÖYÜK Seated Goddess (?) Figurine Large seated woman giving birth Between two leopards How do we interpret the significance of this object? Image by Nevit Dilmen  ÇATALHÖYÜK Health at Çatalhöyük Settlements = Waste Increase in disease, infection Parasites (whipworm) Respiratory health issues Settled life has lots of benefits, but also its challenges Smoke accumulating in reconstructed room – from Lisa-Marie Shillito  ÇATALHÖYÜK: TECHNOLOGY AND EXCAVATION Exceptional use of technology at all stages of excavation, analysis, presentation Excavators work on tablets Immediately accessible communication Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and 3D Imaging Virtual Reality Reconstructions  SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS An introduction to the Ancient Near East Geography An Introduction to the Neolithic and the “Neolithic Revolution” 3 sites that serve to illustrate life during the Neolithic in the Ancient Near East Jericho Göbekli Tepe Çatalhöyük  SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS What we learned: - The beginning of farming and associated settlements - Need for fortifications? - Early craft production and emerging specialists - Early large ceremonial units – associated with transition to settlements? - Artistic expression, documenting beliefs and how people saw their world - Development, “Evolution” of the city, not always a straightforward trajectory, and not all changes are positive - New technologies help us understand and describe ancient cultures – but they are not always as straight forward as it may seem  KNOW THIS! Mediterranean Sea Fertile Crescent Levant Mesopotamia Euphrates River Tigris River Taurus Mountains Zagros Mountains Anatolia (M: Mountains; R: Region; A: Area; W: Water)