The Egyptianizing, male, limestone statuary from Cyprus - a study of a cross-cultural, Eastern Mediterranean votive type

This thesis is a study of a particular limestone votive statuary type which was dedicated in the sanctuaries on Cyprus during the entire 6th century B.C. Common to the group of figures is that they are wearing a Cypriote version of an Egyptian-type outfit, including characteristic Egyptian royal headgear and jewelry. In order to be able to answer questions on the origin of the Egyptianizing iconography encountered on the island, the reasons for the introduction of this particular votive statuary type in the Cypriote workshops, and the significance of the Egyptianizing figures within the sanctuaries of the island, a series of analyses are introduced. A typological analysis of the apparel of the figures is carried out, and the stylistic properties of the statuary are outlined. In addition, the archaeological contexts of the figures are investigated. The foreign iconography found in these Cypriote figures made it necessary to turn outside the island: the focus is placed on the only other find concentration of Egyptianizing statuary outside Cyprus, on the Phoenician coast. Through a similar series of analyses carried out on the Phoenician material, it can be stated that part of the statuary found there was Cypriote imports, while another part constituted indigenous, Phoenician Egyptianizing stone statuary. Against this background theories on the transmission of this particular iconography and votive figural type to Cyprus are presented. Through an analysis involving detailed comparisons with different categories of foreign material, it is suggested that the material and the craft tradition which lay behind the introduction of the Egyptianizing statuary on Cyprus were not the ones behind the Phoenician stone statues, nor was there any actual direct connection to contemporary Egyptian craftsmanship and technology or the Nilotic religious sphere. The analysis points rather towards a material category which for obvious reasons is only very sparsely preserved in the archaeological material record: Phoenician, large-scale ivory-on-wood statuary. Based on this suggestion, it is possible to better understand the significance of the Egyptianizing statuary on display in the ancient Cypriote sanctuaries: they are not to be viewed against an Egyptian religious background, but rather as an outcrop of a royal Phoenician iconography which found its way to the island, an iconography where a decorative and colorful statuary type clad in Egyptian-type dress was an acknowledged means to attract the attention of the divine powers

The hybridising tree of life: a postcolonial archaeology of the Cypriot Iron Age city kingdoms

The people of early Iron Age Cyprus worshipped at sanctuaries where a sacred tree was the focus of their rituals. The tree was closely associated with a goddess thought to inhabit the natural landscape in which the fields and settlements grew, and in which the people lived and worked. This thesis explores why the tree of life was the central symbol of Cypriot Iron Age rituals, covering the period from the end of the Bronze Age to 500 B.C. Although the tree of the goddess has been studied as an artistic motif, and ceramic material from Cyprus has been studied scientifically, material carrying the motif has never been studied within a fully contextualised archaeology that queries its prevalence in Cypriot material culture, its role within the sanctuaries and necropolises of the city kingdoms and the meanings the material carried in those places. This research project addresses the complex, abstract, iconography of the Geometric and Archaic material in a methodical and theoretical manner, and with respect to the local and regional landscape settlement contexts from which it was recovered. The study takes a fresh, postcolonial approach and follows contextualizing, multiscalar methods towards an improved understanding of cultural structures, meanings and individual events. Old concepts of race and fixed groups are discarded in favour of a more nuanced approach that sees individual identities as constantly changing and material culture as both a driver and an indicator of social hybridisation. This research also serves as a vehicle to study a controversial transitional phase in East Mediterranean history, when the ancient agricultural empires gave way to the poleis and colonial systems of the maritime networks. Although the emergence of a ‘great divide’ between east and west has been postulated for this period, the alliances and cultural exchanges that preceded this transformation have not yet been adequately explored in mainstream academic histories. This research focussing on Iron Age Cyprus illuminates regional interaction between African, Levantine and Aegean cultures, and shows that the island existed within a continuous and contiguous cultural milieu that stretched from the Nile to Athens

Maritime narratives of prehistoric cyprus: seafaring as everyday practice

This paper considers the role of seafaring as an important aspect of everyday life in the communities of prehistoric Cyprus. The maritime capabilities developed by early seafarers enabled them to explore new lands and seas, tap new marine resources and make use of accessible coastal sites. Over the long term, the core activities of seafaring revolved around the exploitation of marine and coastal resources, the mobility of people and the transport and exchange of goods. On Cyprus, although we lack direct material evidence (e.g. shipwrecks, ship representations) before about 2000 BC, there is no question that beginning at least by the eleventh millennium Cal BC (Late Epipalaeolithic), early seafarers sailed between the nearby mainland and Cyprus, in all likelihood several times per year. In the long stretch of time—some 4000 years—between the Late Aceramic Neolithic and the onset of the Late Chalcolithic (ca. 6800–2700 Cal BC), most archaeologists passively accept the notion that the inhabitants of Cyprus turned their backs to the sea. In contrast, this study entertains the likelihood that Cyprus was never truly isolated from the sea, and considers maritime-related materials and practices during each era from the eleventh to the early second millennium Cal BC. In concluding, I present a broader picture of everything from rural anchorages to those invisible maritime behaviours that may help us better to understand seafaring as an everyday practice on Cyprus

Phoenician Mortuary Practice in the Iron Age I – III (ca. 1200 – ca. 300 BCE) Levantine “Homeland”.

This dissertation examines the mortuary practices of the Iron Age I-III Levantine Phoenicians to document and analyze material expressions of social identity. The history of the Levantine Phoenicians has long been told from the perspective of their neighbors – via the texts of the Hebrew Bible, Greek and Roman authors, and inscriptions from Western Phoenician and Punic “colonies.” While extensive excavation is not possible in the most significant Phoenician cities (e.g. Byblos, Sidon, Tyre), a significant number of Iron Age burials found outside settlement boundaries have been explored or excavated since the 1850s. This project catalogs all burials known from the Phoenician “homeland” (coastal southern Syria, Lebanon, and northern Israel), offering a substantive contribution to a social history of these Phoenicians in the earliest periods of their cultural distinctiveness. The study begins with a reassessment of inscriptions relating to Phoenician mortuary practice thought to date to the Iron I-II (Chapter II) and Iron III/Persian – Hellenistic (Chapter III) periods. The literary sources for Phoenician mortuary practice are then addressed, namely the Biblical (Chapter IV) and classical texts(Chapter V). This textual corpus is finally supplemented with a discussion of the burial database and mortuary landscapes of the Iron I-III period Levantine homeland (Chapter VI). All of this material is incorporated into a discussion of the treatment of the dead as a stage for Phoenician meaning-making in the Iron I-III periods (Chapter VII). Previous scholarship on Phoenicians has emphasized their city-based political allegiances on the one hand, and relatively uniform material culture on the other. But an examination of the Phoenician mortuary record indicates no expected regional distinctions in material culture reflective of a city-based model of Phoenician identity. Instead, a significant degree of variation is evident in individual cemeteries, indicating that most Iron I-III period Phoenicians wished to signal not political allegiance or ethnic identity, but other aspects of their social identities in death. On the other hand, innovative Iron III practices shared by individuals across this territory willing to expend extensive resources on burial may point to the creation of a new “elite” identity or affiliation under Achaemenid influence.PHDNear Eastern StudiesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/99972/1/helendix_1.pd

Ceramic Architectural Models from the Madaba Plains Region: A Selected Art Historical Analysis

Problem Architectural models can be described as small, ceramic, house-shaped structures that come in an often bewildering array of shapes and sizes. They appear all over the ancient Near East, and although evidence shows that they were created as early as the Neolithic period, they seem to have peaked in popularity and proliferation during the Iron Age. A few studies and several typologies have been offered over the years, but none have addressed iconography or artistic motifs as well as shape. Furthermore, no in-depth typology of architectural models within the country of Jordan has been offered. This dissertation explores the symbiotic relationship between art-historical analysis and archaeology by comparing mostly unpublished architectural models and fragments from two sites in Jordan, Tall al-\u27Umayri and Khirbet \u27Ataruz, and paralleling them with the larger corpus of architectural models from surrounding regions. Method Drawing on previous studies and typologies, this study involves a comprehensive description of each object from an art-historical viewpoint. Visual inspection and study of these objects first-hand was placed against a broader picture put forth by publications, focusing on iconography, potential interpretation, and architectural models in general. Positioned within the context of the archaeological setting, this analysis has allowed for suggested interpretations about the iconography, creation, use, and proposed cultic practices of which these objects were part. Results and Conclusions The results of this study have shown that the architectural models and fragments chosen for research were an important part of a thriving cultic life during the Iron Age at both Tall al-\u27Umari and Khirbet \u27Ataruz. The study has also revealed a busy architectural model industry that is demonstrated by the varying styles, ability levels, and cultural influences found within each object. By analyzing the formal artistic qualities of each object within the archaeological context, the importance that these objects had upon the lives of those who created them as well as the patrons who utilized and worshiped through them has been demonstrated. The analysis of fragments along with more complete forms has also allowed for a greater picture of distribution and has revealed that these objects were more common than previously thought. The compilation of the data gathered in this study called for a new type of typology to be created in order to unify and streamline research for the architectural models of Transjordan. The creation of the Madaba Plains Architectural Model Typology allows for a more streamlined categorization based on type and ornamentation and is easily adaptable as new data comes to light

Late Bronze Age Polychrome Faience in the 'International Style'

The Late Bronze Age was a period of heightened international diplomacy throughout the eastern Mediterranean littoral and the Near East. A direct result of this supra-regional interconnectivity is argued to have been the formation of an independent hybrid visual style, the ‘International Style’, an iconographic idiom which occurs sparingly on artefacts from elite funerary and temple assemblages. This fusion of motifs, themes and forms occurs on regionally diverse and technologically sophisticated artefacts constructed from a variety of prestige materials and complex technologies that are known to have been exchanged between palaces at this time. Faience replete in this iconography is rarer still, incompletely documented and often fragmentary. In this dissertation I examine polychrome faience from various loci flanking the eastern Mediterranean, in particular three small vessels from the site of Kition in Cyprus. Master of Arts dissertation with the University of Melbourne, Australia

Non-scribal Communication Media in the Bronze Age Aegean and Surrounding Areas

This volume is intended to be the first in a series that will focus on the origin of script and the boundaries of non-scribal communication media in proto-literate and literate societies. Over the last 30 years, the domain of scribes and bureaucrats has become much better known. Our goal now is to reach below the élite and scribal levels to interface with non-scribal operations conducted by people of the «middling» sort. Who made these marks and to what purpose? Did they serve private or (semi-) official roles in Bronze Age Aegean society? The comparative study of such practices in the contemporary East (Cyprus, Anatolia, the Levant, and Egypt) can shed light on sub-elite activities in the Aegean and also provide evidence for cultural and economic exchange network

Yavneh II: The 'Temple Hill' Repository Pit

Yavneh II is the second and last excavation report on the dramatic favissa/genizah pit full of Philistine votive objects, discovered by Raz Kletter in the city of Yavneh, Israel, near the Mediterranean coast (south of Tel Aviv). The first volume, Yavneh I (OBO.SA 30, 2010) included studies on the history and archaeological exploration of Yavneh, the excavation, the stratigraphy and the interpretation of the pit as a favissae of votive objects that originate from a public temple; but especially on the mysterious cult stands, which number more than a hundred and include many stands with zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figures. In the present volume we publish many additional cultic finds, including fire pans or shovels that could be used for moving hot coals and for burning incense (comparable to the biblical maḥtāh); a rectangular shrine-model (naos) with detached pillars; zoomorphic vessels; a larger sample of pottery with statistical analysis; imported Cypriot pottery; dog bones (probably related to ritual); an inscription on a bowl; fragments of worked stones (perhaps from altars); and chemical residues from juglets and chalices, which seem to indicate presence of hallucinatory and incense materials. In addition, we offer an update on the iconography of the Yavneh cult stands and a study of the larger world of cult stands in the southern Levant; criteria for identifying favissae and their appearance from the Late Bronze Age to the Persian Period in Palestine; and a concluding discussion on Yavneh, incense, and Philistine ethnicity