4. Interactions and New Directions in Near Eastern Archaeology. Volume 3

Maritime trade in the Persian Gulf has been a pivotal feature of world trading systems from the Bronze Age to the present. Understanding its origins in prehistory is essential for any broader interpretation of early social and economic developments between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean. The key period in this respect is the Mid-Late sixth millennium BC, when material culture of Mesopotamian origin is first documented in the Gulf. The material remains are in the form of potsherds from the southern Mesopotamian Ubaid tradition, which have been found as far as the Straits of Hormuz, 900 km from Iraq. Chemical analysis, conducted on the Ubaid-ware found in Arabia, determined that these potsherds originated from southern Mesopotamia and were not local imitations. These Ubaid-ware sherds, alongside a coarse-ware, believed to be local, are the earliest ceramic material found in Arabia. However, after the Ubaid period came to an end by the end of the fifth millennium BC, ceramic artefacts are not seen again in Arabia for nearly a millennium. Therefore this early appearance of ceramics in the Gulf region takes on a central role in approaching the wider questions of cross-cultural interaction. However, questions concerning provenance remain. This paper details ICP-AES analysis conducted on both the Ubaid-ware and the local ware with the aim of furthering our understanding of the exchange relationship between Mesopotamia and Arabia and putting the Ubaid within the context of the Arabian Neolithic nomadic population.

This paper aims at presenting the results of the topographic fieldwork of a team of professional archaeologists invited by the Ministry of Heritage and Culture of the Sultanate of Oman to excavate and survey three graveyards in the area of Sohar (Falaji as Souq, Wadi al Arad and Liwa) in 2014 and 2015. The construction of the Batinah Express Highway would have led to the destruction of hundreds of burial mounds, therefore the team developed a quick and accurate surveying strategy to document them properly: after a first “test” campaign using monoscopic photogrammetry, the team opted for 3D SfM photogrammetry using a completely open source workflow. This workflow required two surveyors on the field and in the IT lab to ensure the archaeologists updated orthophotos and to update the 2D and 3D vector plans. To manage the huge mass of data coming from the field the team opted for QGIS and the plugin PyArchInit. The mix of surveying methodology and managing system developed on site allowed the team to document the numerous Stratigraphic Units produced during the excavation of hundreds of graves, and also proved to be very helpful as hermeneutic tool as shown in the case of the excavation of Grave 21.

The Arabian-Persian Gulf area has been fertile soil for different civilisations through the centuries, and bears the traces of numerous settlements of many different historical periods. Specifically, the area known in the past as Bēt Qaṭrāyē shows the vestiges of the Christian Syrian presence. The coastal region stretching from Kuwait to the United Arab Emirates, including also some of the Persian islands, displays a strange unevenness between the literary sources and the archaeological data relating to the history of the Christian communities that lived there between the fourth and the ninth centuries. The main texts naming the area, specifically its upper clergy and its most important religious circumstances, are the acts of the councils, but there are also other mentions scattered in different sixth and seventh centuries authors’ texts. Following the path of the ups and downs of the Church of the East, this paper aims at reconstructing a hypothetical history of the dioceses and the settlements in the area that witnessed the Christian presence. Anyway, this history cannot be understood only by relying upon written sources, and needs then to be integrated with the archaeological reports produced during the last decades. The result of this integration is the picture of a highly lively community, strong and self-reliant, whose history was too often forgotten.

Verbal aspects of historiography are barely considered in the German archaeological community. The highly descriptive archaeological writing is still widely seen as desirable because of its seemingly neutral and objective nature, especially compared with other forms of historiographical storytelling such as non-fiction, historical novels or documentaries. Even decades after the linguistic turn, its insights never fully entered the German archaeology of the Near East. Therefore, in this paper, I will address issues of narration and language in archaeological fact-production in comparison to historical novels, which are commonly accused of being ideological, euphemistic and sometimes escapist. This leads me to expose some hidden ideological elements in archaeological writing, which are mostly concealed within our structural way to approach past as well as present societies. While I focus on several ‘-isms’ such as colonialism, eurocentrism or androcentrism, the archaeology of the Ancient Near East serves only as a case study. Parts of the issues discussed here apply to varying degrees to the archaeologies of other times and regions as well.

Seals and seal impressions known at present from the Ancient Near East amount to some tens of thousands. Despite this number only a few matches between extant seals and impressions have been identified. The reason may be ascribed to the mobility of seals and sealed objects in the past as well as in more recent times: clay bullae and tablets could be sent to distant places after being sealed. Actual seals have been often brought to light by illegal excavations and sold on the antiquity market. Seals and sealings might therefore not be found in the same expected place. Moreover, the common practice of re-carving seals caused the loss of many original designs whose existence is now testified only by ancient impressions. Other reasons, however, may be considered. Museum and private collections have been published in several editions and online catalogues. Though a number of innovative methods for imaging and presenting seals and seal impressions have been developed, the cross comparison of seal designs for the discovery of new matches remains a long and laborious process. This paper will discuss some issues related to the matching of seals and their impressions in current studies by presenting a new cataloguing approach for the dataset offered by Kültepe/Kaniš.Seals and seal impressions known at present from the Ancient Near East amount to some tens of thousands. Despite this number only a few matches between extant seals and impressions have been identified. The reason may be ascribed to the mobility of seals and sealed objects in the past as well as in more recent times: clay bullae and tablets could be sent to distant places after being sealed. Actual seals have been often brought to light by illegal excavations and sold on the antiquity market. Seals and sealings might therefore not be found in the same expected place. Moreover, the common practice of re-carving seals caused the loss of many original designs whose existence is now testified only by ancient impressions. Other reasons, however, may be considered. Museum and private collections have been published in several editions and online catalogues. Though a number of innovative methods for imaging and presenting seals and seal impressions have been developed, the cross comparison of seal designs for the discovery of new matches remains a long and laborious process. This paper will discuss some issues related to the matching of seals and their impressions in current studies by presenting a new cataloguing approach for the dataset offered by Kültepe/Kaniš.