Animals, Ancestors, and Ritual in Early Bronze Age Syria

An Elite Mortuary Complex from Umm el-Marra

Buch | Hardcover

718 Seiten

2024
Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA (Verlag)
978-1-950446-42-1 (ISBN)

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This is a final report of the excavation of Tell Umm el-Marra in northern Syria, conducted in 1994--2010. It is likely the site of ancient Tuba, capital of a small kingdom in the Early and Middle Bronze periods, in the Jabbul plain between Aleppo and northern Mesopotamia. Its study advances our understanding of early Syrian complex society beyond the big cities of Antiquity. Of particular importance in the Early Bronze excavations from Umm el-Marra are the results from the site acropolis. The architecture, location, and contents of the tombs, including objects of gold, silver, and lapis lazuli, indicated that this necropolis contained the remains of high-ranking persons. The tomb area was in use for some three centuries or more, and included separate installations where equids were interred (kungas, donkey x onager hybrids), sometimes along with human infants. The kungas were expensive and prestigious animals associated with royalty and divinity and thus are apt inclusions in an elite necropolis. Their burial in separate tombs reveals their particular importance, and this site provides the first archaeological attestation of the kunga equids, unique in the archaeology of third-millennium Syria and Mesopotamia.

Glenn Schwartz is a Near Eastern archaeologist at Johns Hopkins University, whose research focuses on the emergence and early history of urban societies in Syria and Mesopotamia.

Chapter 1: Introduction and Research Objectives. Glenn M. Schwartz

The Radiocarbon Chronology from Umm el-Marra. Lyndelle Webster and Glenn M. Schwartz

Chapter 2: Architecture and Stratigraphy. Glenn M. Schwartz

Chapter 3: The Pottery of Third-Millennium BC Umm el-Marra. Glenn M. Schwartz

Chapter 4: Small Finds. Sally S. Dunham, Albert Jambon, Anne-Sophie Laurent, Romain Prévalet, David S. Reese, Glenn M. Schwartz, and Avary Rhys Taylor
Glyptic. Sally S. Dunham
Clay Figurines. Avary Rhys Taylor and Glenn M. Schwartz
Baked Clay Model Vehicles and Miscellaneous Clay Objects. Glenn M. Schwartz
Model Wheels, Spindle Whorls, and Pierced Potsherd Disks. Glenn M. Schwartz and Sally S. Dunham
Metal Objects. Anne-Sophie Laurent
Gold Jewelry: A Technical Study. Romain Prévalet
A Meteoritic Iron Pendant from Umm el-Marra Tomb 1. Albert Jambon
Bone, Ivory, and Shell Objects. Glenn M. Schwartz, Sally S. Dunham, and David S. Reese
Stone Objects. Glenn M. Schwartz and Avary Rhys Taylor
Beads and Pendants. Glenn M. Schwartz

Chapter 5: Bioarchaeology at Tell Umm el-Marra. Ernest K. Batey, III

Chapter 6: The Faunal Remains from Third-Millennium Umm el-Marra. Jill A. Weber

Chapter 7: Discussion and Conclusions. Glenn M. Schwartz

Erscheinungsdatum	17.05.2023
Reihe/Serie	Monumenta Archaeologica
Zusatzinfo	69 Tables, unspecified; 449 Figures
Verlagsort	Los Angeles
Sprache	englisch
Maße	213 x 279 mm
Gewicht	2534 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Archäologie
ISBN-10	1-950446-42-5 / 1950446425
ISBN-13	978-1-950446-42-1 / 9781950446421
Zustand	Neuware