In June of 2022, with help from ASOR and the P. E. MacAllister Scholarship I arrived in Jordan for my first archaeological field season. I would be working as a square supervisor at Tell Hisban. Tell Hisban is a site in Northwest Jordan near the capital of Amman. There are many layers of occupation left by many civilizations at Hisban, from the Assyrians all the way through to the Ottomans as well as occupation by more modern local Bedouin. However, inspired by research conducted in collaboration with Dr. Oystein LaBianca, the focus of my field would be into the Hellenistic and Roman eras. Hisban lies within the region historically occupied by the Decapolis. The Decapolis was a semi-formal political and mercantile league of cities, connected by their common Greek culture and language. As I presented in my poster presentation at the 2021 ASOR conference, we believe Hisban was part of a greater overall cultural program of the Decapolis.
The acropolis at Tell Hisban possesses a Byzantine church as well as the foundations of what has long been believed to have been a Roman public building. This public building has been hypothesized as being specifically a Roman temple. Our goal this field season was to excavate atop the acropolis and search for the floor of this public building; and to incorporate our findings into this overarching theory of Hisban within the cultural program of the Decapolis. Finally confirming that this public building was indeed a Roman temple would have gone a long way toward serving this theory.
Our excavations started, and removal of the modern topsoil revealed occupation by modern local Bedouin. However just below the topsoil we began to uncover walls. We found two non-parallel rows of walls made of repurposed Roman ashlar bricks. These came as a complete surprise to everyone on the dig and caused us to totally change our excavation plans. From here, we made the decision to excavate more closely along the northern row of walls. The sherds that were found imply heavy occupation during the Late Byzantine/Early Islamic eras. Of particular note among these sherds was a number of extremely uncommon triple-glazed, molded-relief Byzantine sherds, we believe to be imported from elsewhere in the Mediterranean.
The excavations of the loci on the northern side of the north wall revealed what we believed to be a storage jar, in situ, with its rim peeking just above the ground. We took a few days bringing the other loci into phase and then began to carefully excavate around the jar. As we dug lower the soil began to turn grey and ashy. Then as we dug flush with the bottom of the jar, we noticed the sides came down completely straight and it didn’t have a bottom. As it would turn out it was not a jar at all but a tabun cooking oven! After this revelation we decided to carefully collect and remove each of the pieces of the oven (as it was still in situ but completely shattered) and bag the soil within the oven to be floated for organic materials. The oven was made of a rough handmade ceramic, we believe to date from the Late Byzantine or Early Islamic eras. Another noteworthy find was a red bead nearby the oven. The bead is carnelian with delicate white paint design on it, as well as a bronze wire still attached to it.
The tabun saga continued however. In the days before we were about to leave for the season, another student and I went to visit a local shopkeeper and old friend of the Hisban excavations and archaeologists in Jordan. We told him about the oven we found and showed him photos of it. He instantly corrected us when we said it was a tabun, he said “no this is a zarb”. We weren’t yet aware of what a zarb was. A tabun is a round and stout oven with a large opening at the bottom, not unlike a pizza oven. A zarb is a straight round oven, generally submerged into the ground, in which food is lowered in from the top rather than the side. After we learned about this we all instantly agreed with our friend, it was a zarb after all and not a tabun. This was a really beautiful moment of local knowledge in action.
My first field season, as often happens in archaeology, did not go as planned. That being said, we made a number of very surprising discoveries. It is still unknown whether or not the building on the acropolis was indeed a temple or not, but our findings are important pieces that help put the story of Hisban together. This dig was an amazing experience for me both personally and academically and I look forward to returning to Hisban to continue our excavations on the acropolis.
Colton Hodges graduated from Andrews University in 2022. He received a Bachelors’ Degree in Behavioral Science with a concentration on Anthropological Archaeology. He plans to pursue a PhD in archaeology, and work towards his ultimate career goal of becoming a university professor and field researcher.
Want to help more students and early career archaeologists get into the field? Donate to the cause today by selecting “Student Support” as your gift purpose!
Call for Early Career Scholars Committee Members: Community and Networking Team
The Early Career Scholars Committee (ECS) is looking for new members for our Community and Networking team for the upcoming academic year. We are especially interested in applications from people who represent diversity in the field and/or scholars currently working in research that is underrepresented at ASOR. If you wish to be considered by the committee, please fill out the application form below. We will begin reviewing applications on May 1, 2023, and will continue consideration throughout the summer.
PURPOSE:
The “Community and Networking” sub-committee focuses on fostering inclusivity of Early Career Scholars across ASOR. The committee is responsible for creating a welcoming community space for students and early career researchers to come together, socialize, network, exchange ideas and information, and built connectivity across all ASOR disciplines.
FUNCTIONS:
Organize online, virtual events to grow the ASOR ECS community such as coffee hours and book clubs.
Plan and host the Early Career Scholars reception and city outings at the annual meeting.
Maintain and expand the existing ASOR ECS social media channels on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
COMMITMENT:
This committee would entail one hour-long meeting and three hours of service per month.
2022/2023 Mesopotamian Fellowship Report: The Excavations of Qach Rresh (First Season)
Petra Creamer, Emory University[/vc_column_text][mk_divider][vc_column_text]
I. Goals of the Excavations at Qach Rresh
In the very first season of the Emory University excavations at the site of Qach Rresh, located just a few kilometers north of the village of Trpa Spiyan, the team was interested in investigating several questions:
identifying the exact dates of construction and occupation of Qach Rresh
understanding the function of the large buildings discovered in the magnetometry
investigations of 2022
explore why such a site existed in a relatively marginal agricultural area
With a season lasting 5 weeks (from August 31 – October 2, 2022) and supported by the ASOR Mesopotamian Fellowship, the Emory team opened two trenches over the main building remains at Qach Rresh with the intent to begin answering these questions.
Manipulating the photograph using the Digital Epigraphy’s user interface produces the best known available photograph of the inscription. Compare the previously published photograph to that made during our cataloguing efforts.
Prof. Petra Creamer, Emory University, USA (Project Director)
Dr. Kyra Kaercher, USA (Assistant Director, Ceramicist)
Dr. Nathalie Brusgaard, Groningen University, Netherlands (Zooarchaeologist)
Dr. Elise Laugier, Rutgers University, USA (Micropaleobotanist)
Dr. Lucas Proctor, Goethe University Frankfurt-am-Mainz , Germany
(Macropaleobotanist)
Ms. Glynnis Maynard, Cambridge University, UK (Excavator)
Kurdistan Region Project Staff
Kak Ahmad Jodat, Erbil Antiquities, KRG (Project Representative)
Kak Nader Babakr, Erbil Antiquities, KRG (Erbil Governate Director of Antiquities)
Figure 2: Magnetometry results from 2021, conducted by Petra Creamer as part of EPAS.
Five workmen from Trpa Spiyan
III. Prior Research at Qach Rresh
Qach Rresh was first discovered and recorded by the Erbil Plain Archaeological Survey (EPAS) in 2017 as a single-period Neo-Assyrian (Iron Age) site (EPAS Site Number 458). In 2021, EPAS returned to the site to conduct geophysical investigations with a Bartington 601-2 Gradiometer. The results showed the remains of several large buildings and smaller structures at the site (see Fig. 2).
These results showed an example of an unusual type of Iron Age site which had never been excavated before – a rural village, likely centered around agriculture. However, the presence of large buildings at the site was unexpected, raising questions of imperial involvement in agricultural production.
IV. Excavation and Recording Methodology
The scientific recording of the excavations at Qach Rresh were a combination of digital and traditional. In the field, the excavators would record all contexts and collection lots on paper worksheets, which would then later be entered into digital spreadsheets during lab time in the afternoons.
Spatial recording methods relied upon two Emlid-brand RTK GPSs (Real Time Kinematic Ground Positioning Systems). The setup of two Reach R2 systems (see Fig. 3) allows the user to record points in X-Y space with sub 2cm accuracy. The base RS2 sits stationary while the rover RS2 is moved to mark points. Using this, we were able to mark features of significant interest along the cut, as well as record the location of features within Operation A. These recorded points were then imported into ArcGIS to record the exact location of the features. GIS was a key component of the recording system, since the trenches and their related features could be recorded in real space for reference in this season and future seasons (Fig. 4).
Aerial imagery is now a standard in archaeology. The project employed a Mavic 2 DJI-brand drone to photograph excavation contexts near-daily. The resulting photographs were indispensable in both recording and reconstructing the past features of Qach Rresh. Furthermore, multiple drone photos were used to create 3D digital models of the trenches to record features of interest.
Figure 7: Photograph of A006, the ashy pit abutting Wall A013.
Operation A was opened on August 31st at a size of 20 x 5m. Topsoil removal showed heavy plow scars affecting the remaining features below ground, to a depth of at least 30cm. In the eastern part of the trench (9x3m), we excavated down in 20cm intervals with the intention of uncovering a large set of walls bounding the northwestern part of the courtyard in the main building identified through magnetometry. At a depth of around 50cm, the texture of the soil matrix began to harden, becoming thick and difficult to excavate. While the walls were difficult to identify due to this uniform matrix, we were able to distinguish the wall running roughly from NW-SE based on a pit that had been cut into the fill of the building. The pit itself (A006) was filled with ash, charcoal, animal bone, and broken pottery (Fig. 7). The north edge of the pit abutted the wall, creating a straight line against the south face of it that confirmed the wall’s limits.
The remaining time in Op. A was spent attempting to identify a floor surface of the building’s courtyard. While the fill of the courtyard eventually became less thick (with less collapsed mudbrick) a floor surface remained difficult to identify. We excavated to a depth of 1.83m in the SE corner of the trench in order to reach sterile soil and confirm the beginning of human habitation.
Operation B was opened on September 13 at a size of 10x10m. Like Op. A, the area was affected by plow scars up to 30cm deep underneath the topsoil. Immediately, we noticed a proliferation of broken baked bricks near the top levels, intermixed with river cobbles and sherds. We began to excavate the southern half of the trench, forming a 5x10m area. Roughly 10cm below the surface we discovered two single-course walls of river cobbles, both arranged in right-angles and adjacent to one another (Fig. 9). We theorize that these may be the remnants of pastoral activity, such as pens for livestock or field boundaries.
Figure 11: An example of soil containing calcium carbonate crystals (white nodules)
Once below these walls, we proceeded down in 20cm intervals. It quickly became evident that the western half of the trench was very similar in soil type to much of Op. A, where calcium carbonate crystals were intermingled with dark brown, thick soil. In the eastern half of the trench, however, we began to collect large amounts of sherds and animal bones beginning at a depth of 35cm. To focus our efforts, we separated the trench in half and continued to excavate in the eastern half, while also opening a 4x5m area in the northeastern corner of the trench. Based on soil color and texture, we were able to estimate the orientation and thickness of the mudbrick wall bounding the room on its western side (see Fig. 10). We designated this wall before continuing to excavate the room’s fill.
Ceramics, bones, broken baked brick, and partial mudbricks continued to be found as we excavated the room’s fill. At a depth of 82cm we began to excavate a sounding in the northern part of the room with two goals: to excavate down to the room’s floor, and to identify stratigraphic units in the resulting baulk. In total, we identified at least 130cm of fill and 55cm of mudbrick collapse before reaching what we believe to be the main floor of the building. Additionally, there was 30cm of hard-packed soil with few artifacts located just beneath the floor. Below the hard-packed layer we discovered virgin soil, identifiable by having no artifacts and many calcium carbonate crystals (see Figs. 11&12).
Both the buildings in Operation A and Operation B were difficult to identify based on excavation alone, due to significant deterioration in the mudbrick. By using the magnetometry data together with the excavation, we were able to come to several conclusions about the site after one season:
Many of the artifacts collected from the Qach Rresh excavations likely date to the post-Assyrian phase of the Iron Age (c. 600-500 BCE). This is based on the post- Assyrian forms of the ceramics and the common use of grit instead of chaff as a temper.
The rooms of Building B (in Operation B) were clearly used as a dump in the post- Assyrian period.
The room excavated in Building B this season contains at least 130cm of fill from trash deposition. Below these multiple deposition events (which can be identified in the stratigraphy of the baulk – see Fig. 12) there is what appears to be roughly 55cm of mudbrick collapse, likely from the roof of the building. Below this, there is a 30cm thick layer of hard-packed clay with very few artifacts. We interpret this layer to be the remains of the foundation trench constructed before Building B was built.
While initially we approached Qach Rresh believing it to date to the late Neo-Assyrian period (c. 750-600 BCE) we now believe it to have been mainly used in the post-Assyrian period. It is still unknown in what period the buildings were constructed, though it seems likely based on the chaff- tempered ware recovered from the building in Op. A that they may have been constructed in the Neo-Assyrian period, abandoned, and then reused in the post-Assyrian period. Overall, we are also interested in the potential to investigate the post-Assyrian occupation of the Erbil Plain, considering it has been largely underrepresented in archaeological studies.
VII. Summary and future plans
Ultimately, the 2022 season of excavations at Qach Rresh have shown that our initial expectations of the site should be reconsidered not only regarding the site’s dates of occupation, but also in its occupation use. Next season, we will continue to expand the areas of Op. A and Op. B to expose the floor levels of both buildings. Carbon samples were collected during this season, and will be C14 dated to obtain exact dates of the fill of Building B and the ash pit of Building A. Furthermore, we intend to continue applying archaeological scientific methods to the data from Qach Rresh next season, including isotopic analysis of the faunal remains, phytolith analysis, and ceramic petrography. These, combined with further seasons of excavation, will inform us greatly of Qach Rresh’s past.
Paul Lapp’s team last excavated at Tell Ta’annek in 1968, over fifty years ago. During that time, much effort has been expended on the final publication of the site’s stratigraphy and material, even though few final manuscripts have reached the publication stage. Walter Rast’s work with the Iron Age pottery was the notable exception and was published in 1978. The present volume uses Rast’s ceramic chronology as the basis for the periodization of the Iron Age strata excavated by Lapp in 1963, 1966, and 1968. After covering the background of the site and Sellin’s excavation of it in the early twentieth century, Meehl presents the Iron Age stratigraphy area by area, period by period, based on the field notes, reports, plans, and photographs of the excavators. Two chapters describe the Iron Age occupations on Tell Ta’annek, setting them in their regional contexts. Appendices addressing the date of the Iron Age fortifications and fire installations and pits follow. Iron Age pottery forms and drainpipes not included in Rast’s book are included in a third appendix.
ASOR members (with a mailing address in the USA) can purchase a copy of ARS 29 at the discounted price of $35.00 (ca. 65% discount off the list price + $6.00 US media mail shipping) through June 30, 2023, while supplies last. Purchases are restricted to one volume per member. We are unable to offer this discount to members without a US mailing address due to international shipping costs, but you can purchase and ship a copy through the ISD link below. Please contact programs@asor.org with any questions. Click here to purchase your discounted copy in the online store in ASOR’s Portal.
Returning to Armenia: Excavations and Survey in Vayots Dzor
Aurora Camaño, G. E. Wright/Shirlee Meyers Fellowship Recipient
In 2010, while an archaeology undergraduate student, I participated in an archaeological field school in Vayots Dzor, Armenia at the well-known chalcolithic cave, Areni-1. That experience was my first taste of international travel and I fell in love with both Armenia and archaeology. However, it was not the chalcolithic history of the region that caught my attention, but the medieval churches and fortifications that still speckle the mountainous landscapes of Armenia. It was that trip that made me want to specialize in the medieval Near East and South Caucasus and set in motion the career path that I have since carved out for myself.
I have been fortunate to have worked in the field on a number of projects in the Near East and Mediterranean since that initial trip to Armenia in 2010, but it has always been a dream of mine to return. In 2020, I got in contact with Dr. Tiffany Earley-Spadoni regarding the Vayotz Dzor Fortress Landscape project, and we made plans for me to join the team. Shortly afterwards, the world shut down from Covid – but two years later, in the summer of 2022 we were able to make it happen. In July I flew from Canada to Armenia and returned for a summer of excavation and survey in the same small village that I worked in twelve years previous.
In the evenings, after coffee and sweets, the team had shared lab hours. I was assigned to help organize and record the pottery backlog from previous seasons, recording the details of all the diagnostic pottery finds from the site. Through this process we were able to better understand regional ceramic production, the different vessel and fabric types that frequented the site, as well as the local geology.
I was overjoyed to be able to return to Armenia, and deeply enjoyed my time in Vayotz Dzor working with the VDFLP team. Beyond the interesting archaeological work we conducted in Karaglukh, I enjoyed the many interesting conversations were had over delicious meals and homemade lavash in the village of Areni, strolls through neighbouring apricot orchards, and visits to the local 13th century church.
Aurora Camaño is a PhD Candidate in Archaeology at Simon Fraser University. She is a landscape archaeologist who specializes in built landscapes in the medieval Near East and South Caucasus. Her current dissertation studies landscapes of relocation in medieval Armenian Cilicia. She can be found on Twitter @AuroraCamano.
Want to help more students and early career archaeologists get into the field? Donate to the cause today by selecting “Student Support” as your gift purpose!
Safia S. Boutaleb, 2022 Eric & Carol Meyers Scholarship for Fieldwork Participation
I’d like to preface my report by saying that this trip was possible thanks to Dr. Eric and Dr. Carol Meyers, whose generous scholarship allows graduate students, like myself, to visit Cyprus and not only gain experience excavating but also form new, valuable connections. Thank you!
Tent on the roof of the old Peltenburg Archaeological Centre in Lemba
This report briefly describes my time in the 2022 field school led by Dr. Lindy Crewe at Kissonerga-Skalia (KS), a Bronze Age site in the Paphos region of Cyprus, dating from at least the Philia Phase (~2400 BCE) to the early Late Cypriot period (~1600 BCE). My experience in the field school was overwhelmingly positive and truly one of a kind. It complimented my previous field school experience in 2019 at Kalavasos-Ayios Dhimitrios, which sparked my love of Cypriot archaeology and the Bronze Age. I was admittedly anxious at first about my participation at Skalia due to some sudden and unexpected accommodation changes for the field school participants.
The new accommodations involved camping out in a tent on the roof of the old Peltenburg Archaeological Centre in Lemba for the month. However, after about one week in Lemba, I had adapted to my (very humid) surroundings and realized that the house in Lemba afforded us more independence and the opportunity to become better acquainted with Paul Croft, who resides at and cares for the Lemba centre. The house was beautiful and a place where generations of archaeologists have worked and stayed, making me feel like I had participated in some kind of tradition or initiation into the world of Cypriot archaeology. Moreover, the village of Lemba is an old, picturesque place in the hills overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and boasting thousands of years of human occupation (i.e., not a bad place to call home).
View of sea from Lemba
I was also grateful for the experience of excavating with Crewe and her team at Skalia. Crewe has assembled an eclectic group of supportive and intelligent archaeologists from all kinds of different backgrounds. Some of the supervisors and participants work in academia, others in commercial archaeology and some of them earn a living in entirely different fields. Regardless of their backgrounds, their expertise and experience at the site was invaluable and I greatly appreciated the diversity of their career paths, which can be rare in academic circles.
My own research and responsibilities at the site focused on the faunal remains at Skalia, an experience which I found to be both challenging and rewarding. My own familiarity with animal (and human) anatomy was unpractised, so I benefitted intensely from Croft’s sample collection of bones, which he allowed me to handle whenever necessary. Recognizing gaps in my anatomical knowledge, I did my best to support my team by cleaning and recording the bones, rather than making futile attempts to identify them myself. When errors were made in our records, I took initiative to stay behind and correct the mistake, a process which took two and a half days of work.
Lemba Sunset
View of sea from Lemba
Safia excavating in the field
My honest pride and joy for the season was my work on the floor of Area P/B. I genuinely love field work and I was overjoyed to have found the floor, as I recognize its significance in understanding the basic layout and stratigraphic occupation of a space. Thanks to my cautious work, Muti assigned me responsibility over the floor for about two weeks. A number of my peers came and joined me but none seemed to enjoy it as much as I did. It seems trivial to take such pride in excavating a floor but I remembered how challenging it was to find at Kalavasos-Ayios Dhimitrios and the experience of being able to differentiate tamped earth from mud plaster floor provided me with a skill that I had not anticipated I’d acquire this season. I also felt supported and recognized for my efforts, as the team awarded me the “golden trowel”, one of the many superlative awards given at the end of the field season.
Safia's last day in field!
I would relish the opportunity to return to Kissonerga-Skalia and I am grateful for the experience of meeting and excavating with such an incredible team of professional archaeologists, who taught me not only how to excavate but also showed me that there is more than one path to becoming an archaeologist and that, when in doubt, it is possible to pave your own.
Safia Boutaleb (she/her) is a graduate student completing her Masters of Classical Archaeology at The University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Her thesis focuses on women’s economic participation in Cyprus during the Late Bronze Age and the many ways their activities in daily life remain overlooked in scholarship of ancient economy. Kissonerga-Skalia 2022 was her second field school in Cyprus she has hopes to return to the island each year to research and participate in field work.
Want to help more students and early career archaeologists get into the field? Donate to the cause today by selecting “Student Support” as your gift purpose!
Early Career Scholars Brown Bag on Data Management: Beyond Checkbox Compliance
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Join ASOR’s Early Career Scholars on March 31, 2023 at 1:00-2:00pm EDT via Zoom for a virtual Brown Bag talk and Q&A on Research Data Management for archaeological research projects, job applications, and beyond!
Archaeological field and research projects accumulate A LOT of data. Artifact data, spatial data, analytical data, the list goes on. Whether you’re working on a thesis or dissertation project, managing an excavation, or applying for a job, it is becoming increasingly crucial to plan and implement data management strategies. Academic job calls now frequently require applicants to submit a statement of data collection & management philosophy, and non-academic job opportunities can be expanded by familiarizing oneself with data management strategies. To address this need for data planning and management, ASOR ECS has invited Dr. Eric Kansa, Program Director of Open Context!
Abstract: “Research Data Management” can often seem like a dry and technocratic hassle. Few feel excited by data management plans made in compliance with the demands of grant making bureaucracies. However, if you choose, data management can mean limitless opportunities for intellectual engagement. Creating, organizing, contextualizing, and communicating information- to your current and your future colleagues and publics – are all integral to virtually every aspect of scholarship. We’ll talk about some of the opportunities for research, teaching, and public engagement afforded by data management. We’ll also discuss how demonstrated experience with data management can help open career opportunities inside and outside of the academy.
Presenter: Eric Kansa, Ph.D., is the Program Director for Open Context, a web-based open access publishing service dedicated to the preservation and accessibility of archaeology research data. Eric’s personal research interests explore research data informatics, research data policy, ethics, and professional context of the digital humanities.
The event, a part of our brown bag lunch series, is a *FREE* benefit for the ASOR community. Registrants will receive an email with Zoom access information prior to the event.
2022 Study of Collections Fellowship Report: Imprints of the Past: Preserving the Largest Known and Uncatalogued Collection of Semitic Artifacts in Europe
James D. Moore, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
For many years, I have collaborated with the French Institute’s, Cabinet du Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum (Cabinet-CIS) within the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, and in 2022 an ASOR Study of Collection Fellowship provided me startup funding to seed an ambitious attempt to build the Cabinet-CIS a digital inventory database and begin the process of cataloguing and digitally preserving one of Europe’s most important collections of Semitic artifacts. At the invitation of Christian Robin and Maria Gorea, I was able to complete the build for the collection’s database during two week-long trips to the Cabinet-CIS. This database is now used by scholars and students working on the collection.
The Cabinet-CIS is known for publishing two monumental series through the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, the Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum and the Répertoire d’épigraphie sémitique. Those compiling these works were sent paper mâché squeezes of the inscriptions in those volumes and in some cases photographs along with detailed descriptions. The collection holds an estimated 10,000+ paper mâché squeezes of Semitic inscriptions from the Near East, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. In some cases these squeezes are of inscriptions which are now lost or inaccessible (due to their location in politically contested regions). Additionally, the collection holds hundreds of original objects and dozens of dossiers of many of the field’s most important figures, such as that of Charles Clermont-Ganneau. Unfortunately, the collection is only loosely organized into boxes and cupboards, for which a short inventory had been compiled.
Example of archival materials with squeeze in AIBL-CIS Dossier 12, Chypre 1.
Credit: James D. Moore and Maria Gorea
Example of flat-file storage of Semitic squeezes.
Credit: James D. Moore and Maria Gorea
Although the work was hindered by continued difficulties traveling, due to residual effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, a mid-year trip to the Cabinet-CIS allowed me to assess the needs of the collection and survey its holdings. During that week I built a prototype SQL (PostgreSQL) database and local application which was tested by those working on the collection, specifically Maria Gorea’s students Noémie Carpentier and Narmin Sadykhova. Over the course of many months, I fine-tuned the prototypal database, and at the end of the year, during a second trip to the Cabinet-CIS, I rebuilt the database on the Huma-Num servers using the Heurist database management system, an Open Source information system builder and website publisher developed specifically for Humanities research data. The result is an easy to use inventory database for the Cabinet-CIS’s internal use (though the intention is to make the data accessible through a future website should continued funding be acquired). Here I must thank the Heurist team, in particular Ian Johnson and Michael Falk, for their support and advice along the way.
The database includes record entries where all necessary information about an object in the collection can be stored, including metadata, text, and translation. Each entry includes mapping a timeline features for the object along with additional media storage that can be linked to the object.
Example of a database entry’s “Record” for AIBL-CIS Dos. 12.01.
Example of entry’s “Map” (and timeline) for AIBL-CIS Dos. 12.01
Linked media to the 3D rendering of squeeze AIBL-CIS Dos. 12.01 in the Digital Epigraphy User Interface (see below)
The ultimate objective was to initiate the process of digital preservation of the squeezes and other artifacts. To achieve this, I solicited the support of Angelos Barmpoutis of the Digital Worlds Institute and Eleni Bozia of the Classics Department at the University of Florida, whose Open Source Digital Epigraphy software proved to be an ideal application for our needs. By using scans from a flatbed scanner or raking light photographs one can easily render 3D scans of the squeezes. An example of AIBL-CIS Dos. 12.01.01 “Inscription royale d’Idalion” (446 BCE = RÉS 453; squeeze made in 1887) can be found here.
Manipulating the photograph using the Digital Epigraphy’s user interface produces the best known available photograph of the inscription. Compare the previously published photograph to that made during our cataloguing efforts.
Upper photograph of squeeze AIBL-CIS Dos. 12.01.01 made in 1887 depicts the contures of the inscription verses the lower photograph of a sqeeze made and published in 1939 by A. M. Honeyman, “The Phoenician Inscriptions of the Cyprus Museum,” Iraq 6: 104–8.
The Cabinet-CIS’s Heurist database and Digital Epigraphy software has far reaching applications for the collection. While one of Maria Gorea’s students, Noémie Carpentier, was working on the Cabinet-CIS’s numismatic collection, I trained her in how to use the software to produce 3D renderings of coins. We scanned the following example of a worn Phoenician (Tyrian) coin minted during the reign of Artaxerxes III (AIBL-CIS NUM 01.1000100), and the 3D rendering makes visible the coin’s features, which are invisible to the eye. You can view the coin using the Digital Epigraphy user interface here:
Credit: Original photographs by James D. Moore, Maria Gorea, Noémie Carpentier, and Narmin Sadykhova. Rendered and displayed using the Digital Epigraphy software.
The consorted efforts of all those mentioned above and the support from ASOR allowed us to achieve our objective of building a digital infrastructure for the Cabinet-CIS with which the digital preservation of its invaluable collection can begin.
Additional Notes The long days spent at the Cabinet-CIS also afforded me opportunities to further my own research. Maria Gorea and I have long teamed up to publish important manuscripts in the Cabinet-CIS, and we used time to finalize manuscripts for a number of publications on two new Phoenician papyri accounts which radiocarbon date to the Persian period, fragments of Aramaic papyri from Elephantine, and a new Aramaic religious text from Egypt radiocarbon dated between the 2nd and early 4th centuries CE.
“AIBL-CIS de Ricci no. 2: A New Jewish and Aramaic Religious Text from Egypt Dating between the 2nd and Early 4th Centuries CE” Dead Sea Discoveries, forthcoming
“New Persian Period Phoenician Papyri Accounts from Egypt in the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Cabinet du Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum,” in Advances in Elephantine and Persian Period Research, eds. J. Moore and P. Schmidtkunz, Studies on Elephantine (forthcoming).
“Radiocarbon Dating an Aramaic Papyrus from Elephantine and a New Aramaic Fragment from the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Cabinet du Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum,” in Advances in Elephantine and Persian Period Research, eds. J. Moore and P. Schmidtkunz, Studies on Elephantine (forthcoming).
“Papyri semitiques du Cabinet du CIS,” Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Communication of the AIBL 16 April 2021.
J.D. Moore, New Aramaic Papyri from Elephantine in Berlin, Studies on Elephantine 1 (Leiden: Brill), 2022; Open Access: https://brill.com/view/title/61396. (pp. 16–17)
Andalusian Agriculture: A View from Medieval Menorca
Kathleen Forste, 2022 P.E. MacAllister Scholarship for Fieldwork Participation
Thanks to the ASOR Scholarship for Fieldwork Participation, I was able to join the Menorca Archaeology Project (MAP) in Spain to excavate a portion of the medieval settlement at the site of Torre d’en Galmés. This rural 13th century Islamic village, or alqueria, is built atop and abutting (and certainly borrowing from) the ruins of a large post-Talayotic (Iron Age) settlement, and by studying it we can better understanding what life was like during this period and how medieval lifeways have influenced later periods of life on Menorca.
I am the archaeobotanist on the team, meaning I study plant remains like wood charcoal, seeds, and plant parts. The analysis of these remains can help us answer questions about diet and foodways, the crops that people grew and the wild plants they collected, and the types of plant materials they used to build their houses and fuel their fires.
This season, our excavation focused on two houses, one of which was so well-preserved that the plaster on the interior walls and floor were still intact. These houses were built in the typical form of Muslim houses – multiple rooms formed an L that bordered 2 sides of a patio, which was enclosed by 2 other walls to create a private area for the family to relax and perform everyday tasks such as cooking and carding wool to make yarn. The room that was excavated we are interpreting to be a kitchen, based on the presence of hearths, grinding stones, cooking vessels, as well as parallels in construction to other excavated houses of this era. We also found bronze nails just inside the threshold, hinting at the wooden door that would have graced this entryway.
Beginning our excavation of a medieval Islamic house, surrounded by ruins of other medieval houses and post-Talayotic buildings.
Excavating the east wall of the kitchen. Note the white plaster to the right of the author (middle), and the partially-excavated patio in the background.
The kitchen looking east. Moving left to right you can see the plaster floor, inlaid grinding stone and hand-held grinder in situ, and the doorway (undergoing excavation) that led out to patio.
We recovered carbonized plant remains through flotation, a method of using water to separate carbonized plant remains and microartifacts from their surrounding soil matrix. I built a new flotation tank for the project, and trained team members in this method. I will begin analyzing the plant remains from this season during the academic year, and based on findings from the previous season, I expect to find barley (which is a hardy crop that grows well in hot rocky areas and requires a moderate amount of water) and pulses like lentils and chickpeas (which grow best in cooler temperatures and require moderate amounts of water). Based on the growing requirements of these crops, we can begin to hypothesize which types of habitats Menorcan farmers selected for their fields.
The kitchen looking north. The plaster floor is exposed in the eastern portion (R-hand side) beneath the compacted occupation debris and collapse (intact in the western portion, L-hand side).
Teaching MAP team members how to recover plant remains and microartifacts through flotation.
MAP team members sorting the heavy fraction to recover microartifacts like fish bones and small plaster fragments.
Artifacts recovered from flotation, including lots of wood charcoal (second bag from the left).
Some of the agricultural engineering of the medieval era is still functional today, like this irrigation canal in a barranco(valley) that waters orchards and fields, creating a direct line between ancient and modern land-use practices.
Flotation was one of the methods employed to understand the way in which the medieval inhabitants managed their surroundings, along with mapping and 3D modeling structures and open spaces linking them. Through this multidisciplinary research we will be able to reconstruct the rhythm of life of medieval Menorca, and the ways in which people cultivated and built their landscapes.
Check out more about our project on Instagram: @MAProject360
Kathleen Forste is an anthropological archaeologist who studies agricultural systems through the analysis of archaeological plant remains, historical sources, and environmental data. Her research focuses on how societies adapt their agricultural systems to various environmental and socioeconomic conditions during the Islamic period (7th through 13th centuries) in the Levant and Iberia. She earned her PhD in 2021 from Boston University, where she is currently a Lecturer of Archaeology.
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March Meeting Madness is back! This year, we are raising funds to allow even more people to attend the Annual Meeting in Chicago in November. You can helps us raise $10,000—$5,000 for registration scholarships and $5,000 for Annual Meeting Travel Scholarships. These Annual Meeting travel scholarship awardees will be checking in other attendees at the registration desks and helping in the meeting rooms with the new Zoom integration for our very first hybrid meeting. The purpose of these scholarships is to allow those who could not afford the hotel and travel expenses of the Annual Meeting to attend in Chicago and experience all the meeting has to offer. Attending the ASOR Annual Meeting is an invaluable experience for students thinking about graduate school, for those who are on the academic job market, for those who are planning fieldwork, and for everyone who wants to connect, network, and share their research. The Annual Meetings is also great for those who are not in the field but passionate about learning more about recent research. With the transition to hybrid this year, the ASOR staff will be very grateful of the extra help in making the 2023 meeting a great experience for all.
You can help send more people to the Annual Meeting through ASOR’s Meeting Madness this March!
March Meeting Madness Progress: $4,750 raised of $10,000 goal
The excavations of the loci on the northern side of the north wall revealed what we believed to be a storage jar, in situ, with its rim peeking just above the ground. We took a few days bringing the other loci into phase and then began to carefully excavate around the jar. As we dug lower the soil began to turn grey and ashy. Then as we dug flush with the bottom of the jar, we noticed the sides came down completely straight and it didn’t have a bottom. As it would turn out it was not a jar at all but a tabun cooking oven! After this revelation we decided to carefully collect and remove each of the pieces of the oven (as it was still in situ but completely shattered) and bag the soil within the oven to be floated for organic materials. The oven was made of a rough handmade ceramic, we believe to date from the Late Byzantine or Early Islamic eras. Another noteworthy find was a red bead nearby the oven. The bead is carnelian with delicate white paint design on it, as well as a bronze wire still attached to it.
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