12 research outputs found
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Fierce lions, angry mice and fat-tailed sheep: Animal encounters in the ancient Near East
Animals have always been an integral part of human existence. In the ancient Near East, this is evident in the record of excavated assemblages of faunal remains, iconography and – for the later historical periods – texts. Animals have predominantly been examined as part of consumption and economy, and while these are important aspects of society in the ancient Near East, the relationships between humans and animals were extremely varied and complex. Domesticated animals had great impact on social, political and economic structures – for example cattle in agriculture and diet, or donkeys and horses in transport, trade and war. Fantastic mythological beasts such as lion-headed eagles or Anzu-birds in Mesopotamia or Egyptian deities such as the falcon-headed god Horus were part of religious beliefs and myths, while exotic creatures such as lions were part of elite symbolling from the fourth millennium bc onward. In some cases, animals also intruded on human lives in unwanted ways by scavenging or entering the household; this especially applies to small or wild animals. But animals were also attributed agency with the ability to solve problems; the distinction between humans and other animals often blurs in ritual, personal and place names, fables and royal ideology. They were helpers, pets and companions in life and death, peace and war. An association with cult and mortuary practices involves sacrifice and feasting, while some animals held special symbolic significance. This volume is a tribute to the animals of the ancient Near East (including Mesopotamia, Anatolia, the Levant and Egypt), from the fourth through first millennia bc, and their complex relationship with the environment and other human and nonhuman animals. Offering faunal, textual and iconographic studies, the contributions present a fascinating array of the many ways in which animals influence human life and death, and explore new perspectives in the exciting field of human-animal studies as applied to this part of the world
Ways and Capacity in Archaeological Data Management in Serbia
Over the past year and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire world has witnessed inequalities across borders and societies.
They also include access to archaeological resources, both physical and digital. Both archaeological data creators and users spent
a lot of time working from their homes, away from artefact collections and research data. However, this was the perfect moment to
understand the importance of making data freely and openly available, both nationally and internationally.
This is why the authors of this paper chose to make a selection of data bases from various institutions responsible for preservation
and protection of cultural heritage, in order to understand their policies regarding accessibility and usage of the data they keep.
This will be done by simple visits to various web-sites or data bases. They intend to check on the volume and content, but also
importance of the offered archaeological heritage. In addition, the authors will estimate whether the heritage has adequately been
classified and described and also check whether data is available in foreign languages.
It needs to be seen whether it is possible to access digital objects (documents and the accompanying metadata), whether access
is opened for all users or it requires a certain hierarchy access, what is the policy of usage, reusage and distribution etc. It remains to
be seen whether there are public API or whether it is possible to collect data through API. In case that there is a public API, one needs
to check whether datasets are interoperable or messy, requiring data cleaning.
After having visited a certain number of web-sites, the authors expect to collect enough data to make a satisfactory conclusion
about accessibility and usage of Serbian archaeological data web bases
Neolithic land-use in the Dutch wetlands: estimating the land-use implications of resource exploitation strategies in the Middle Swifterbant Culture (4600-3900 BCE)
The Dutch wetlands witness the gradual adoption of Neolithic novelties by foraging societies during the Swifterbant period. Recent analyses provide new insights into the subsistence palette of Middle Swifterbant societies. Small-scale livestock herding and cultivation are in evidence at this time, but their importance if unclear. Within the framework of PAGES Land-use at 6000BP project, we aim to translate the information on resource exploitation into information on land-use that can be incorporated into global climate modelling efforts, with attention for the importance of agriculture. A reconstruction of patterns of resource exploitation and their land-use dimensions is complicated by methodological issues in comparing the results of varied recent investigations. Analyses of organic residues in ceramics have attested to the cooking of aquatic foods, ruminant meat, porcine meat, as well as rare cases of dairy. In terms of vegetative matter, some ceramics exclusively yielded evidence of wild plants, while others preserve cereal remains. Elevated δ15N values of human were interpreted as demonstrating an important aquatic component of the diet well into the 4th millennium BC. Yet recent assays on livestock remains suggest grazing on salt marshes partly accounts for the human values. Finally, renewed archaeozoological investigations have shown the early presence of domestic animals to be more limited than previously thought. We discuss the relative importance of exploited resources to produce a best-fit interpretation of changing patterns of land-use during the Middle Swifterbant phase. Our review combines recent archaeological data with wider data on anthropogenic influence on the landscape. Combining the results of plant macroremains, information from pollen cores about vegetation development, the structure of faunal assemblages, and finds of arable fields and dairy residue, we suggest the most parsimonious interpretation is one of a limited land-use footprint of cultivation and livestock keeping in Dutch wetlands between 4600 and 3900 BCE.NWOVidi 276-60-004Human Origin