L’ASPRO: un exemple d’interface cartographique pour la consultation d’un corpus archéologique

The Atlas of Near Eastern sites (ASPRO - Atlas des Sites du Proche-Orient) is an analytical index of nearly 2000 archaeological sites occupied between 14,000 and 5700 BP (about 14,000-4500 BC) in an area extending from the Sinai to Turkmenistan and from Anatolia to the Arabian-Persian Gulf. Its objective is to propose consistent information concerning a wide area and a long period of time, based on evidence which is often difficult to access, and to free this information from the compartmentalization of knowledge. This corpus, which was published in 1994 in book form, and is now out of print, has recently been made available online in an interactive cartographic interface, at the following address: http://www.mom.fr/Aspro/login.jsp. The objective of this development is to sustain consultation of the corpus, to increase its diffusion, while offering new functionalities with more flexibility: consultation through different entries, including the cartographic entry. Thus, it will now be possible to respond to requests on the different tables which compose the base (sites, periods, bibliography, dating), and to display the results in the form of an interactive list (access to files) and in cartographic form. The display is presented in different scales and the sites may be visualized on several thematic maps (hypsometry, pluviometry, bio-geographic zones). The latter also enable selection by spatial intersection. The technical system is now in place, and the project can proceed to a new stage: the updating of the corpus through sharing of information, then validation by a group of specialists

Proto-Neolithic and Neolithic Cultures in the Middle East—The Birth of Agriculture, Livestock Raising, and Ceramics: A Calibrated 14C Chronology 12,500-5500 Cal BC

From the 17th International Radiocarbon Conference held in Jerusalem, Israel, June 18-23, 2000.We present for the first time a fully calibrated radiocarbon chronology of Proto-Neolithic and Neolithic cultures in the Middle East covering the time range from 12,500 to 5500 cal BC. A total of 1300 14C dates were evaluated, leading to the selection of 731 reliable dates. These were calibrated in a special collective approach presented in a series of graphs.The 14C dates are derived from 160 sites across the Middle East. The period with Proto-Neolithic cultures began around 12500 cal BC and lasted for more than 4000 years. The true Neolithic, with agriculture and livestock breeding, appeared just before 8000 cal BC, subsequently spreading across a wide area within just a few hundred years. Ceramics first occurred around 7000 cal BC. The Mesopotamian cultures that emerged around 6000 cal BC started the urban revolution.The Radiocarbon archives are made available by Radiocarbon and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform February 202

Addressing the Desert Kites Phenomenon and Its Global Range Through a Multi-proxy Approach

International audienceThis paper argues that the wide geographical distribution of desert kites, which are huge archaeological structures of stone visible from satellite images, must be more broadly acknowledged as a momentous factor in the study of their variability and function. This is important so that researchers can more accurately understand and interpret their impact on biodiversity, landscapes and subsistence patterns. The first results and perspectives of the Globalkites research project are discussed and presented. Often considered as hunting traps, the kites could have also been used for animal husbandry. In a broader archaeological context, where kites seem to have been operating from the Neolithic to recent historical times, we propose an interdisciplinary approach at the crossroads of anthropology (archaeology and ethnology), geomatics and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), geostatistics, mathematics and computerized data processing and geoarchaeological and bioarchaeological sciences (isotope studies, paleoclimatology, archaeozoology…). The principal aims of the project are to clearly articulate the variability of the structures and their relationship with the function and chronology of the kites. It is also crucial to discuss the wide distribution of these structures across the Middle East and Central Asia as a global phenomenon and the ideas that explain the dispersal and movements of people and/or traditions must be addressed

Beyond the Levant: first evidence of a pre-pottery Neolithic incursion into the Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia

Pre-Pottery Neolithic assemblages are best known from the fertile areas of the Mediterranean Levant. The archaeological site of Jebel Qattar 101 (JQ-101), at Jubbah in the southern part of the Nefud Desert of northern Saudi Arabia, contains a large collection of stone tools, adjacent to an Early Holocene palaeolake. The stone tool assemblage contains lithic types, including El-Khiam and Helwan projectile points, which are similar to those recorded in Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B assemblages in the Fertile Crescent. Jebel Qattar lies ∼500 kilometres outside the previously identified geographic range of Pre-Pottery Neolithic cultures. Technological analysis of the typologically diagnostic Jebel Qattar 101 projectile points indicates a unique strategy to manufacture the final forms, thereby raising the possibility of either direct migration of Levantine groups or the acculturation of mobile communities in Arabia. The discovery of the Early Holocene site of Jebel Qattar suggests that our view of the geographic distribution and character of Pre-Pottery Neolithic cultures may be in need of revision