The Varna Cemetery

The accidental discovery of the Varna Cemetery (otherwise known as the Varna Necropolis) on the Black Sea coast of modern day Bulgaria has shed light onto the lives of the people in the vicinity and the burial customs they practiced.

When it was discovered in 1972, a mass of gold and other metals were uncovered, dating back to the 5^th and 4^th millennium BCE, and this was one of the many reasons why archaeologists flocked to the area to study the area. The majority of the gold discovered was in the form of gold beads, but other forms were discovered. One of the more famous items found was the penis sheath. Other items found included hammered sheet pectorals, and “the gold appliqués (often zoomorphic in form) with perforated edges for sewing onto the clothing of the deceased” (Scarre, p.403). According to scholars, many of the discoveries were decorations; some worn around the wrists or upper arms, pushed through holes in the lips or ears or sewn onto their clothing.

The fact that many of these items were highly prized decorative objects is particularly interesting. It has led to the theory that they were specially made for the purpose of burial and not for use while the person was alive. It indicates the method of how societies in this time were able to show the differences in social status.

It has been suggested by scholars that due to the richness of its treasures, especially the considerable quantity of gold jewellery, that these were the tombs of rulers. However, it should be stressed that there is no evidence at this time to back up this hypothesis.

Not all the graves contained a rich amount of grave goods. Indeed, while the majority have up to 10 items placed in the graves, there were 23 graves that contained none at all. Most interestingly, was the discovery of no skeletons in some of the graves, even though these were handsomely furnished with objects. These have been classed as ‘cenotaphs’ – a memorial to those whose body could not be found or buried in another location.

The Varna Cemetery offers us great insight to the growing complexity of communities in southeast Europe during the 5^th millennium BCE. While certain questions cannot be answered at this present time, the continual study of the Varna Cemetery will continue to provide unknown aspects of the Black Sea societies in the future.

Bibliography:

Scarre, Chris (2005) The Human past – Holocene Europe, Thames & Hudson, London.

The History of African Red Slip Ware

Studying the history of African Red Slip ware allows us insight into the culture of North African Roman society as well as the industrial history of the period. It is my intention to look at the history and the significance of African Red Slips Ware through the archaeological and literary records available.

African Red Slip Ware (henceforth ARS) is named so by archaeologists since there is no name for this type of pottery in the historical record. Archaeologists coined this phrase due to the red glaze or slip, which was applied on top. The production of ARS is of importance to the history of North Africa, since it was a local production which went on to supply Roman citizens throughout the Empire.

The production and trade of ARS can be seen as a mechanism for both spreading and defining a ‘Roman’ material culture and, indeed, a Roman identity. This is due to the fact that ARS was a product that developed in North African long after the Roman occupation and archaeological evidence has not unearthed any pottery similar to ARS with pre-Roman characteristics.

Italian sigillata was the main imported fine-ware in the 1st century CE. In the first half of the 2nd century, however, as Italy became a mass consumer of merchandise, Italian sigillata disappears from the Corinthian market. Throughout the 2nd and most of the 3rd century, Eastern Sigillata B (ESB) and Candarli ware from Asia Minor were important imports. But Candarli ware nearly disappears from Corinth in the early 4th century and is replaced by ARS, which forms at least 30 percent of all fine-wares in both the 4th and 5th centuries (Slane, p.331).

ARS was manufactured in several distinct areas of Tunisia, in the North near Carthage and Cap Bon, in the Sahel, and on the high steppe near Sbeitla. Despite the immense interest in ARS, some type remain rather vaguely dated, particularly those of the later second and early third century and those of the fifth century (Mattingly & Hitchner, p.201)

The lack of information regarding ARS has led to difficulties in understanding the ‘material culture’ of the Romans identity. Nevertheless, the study of ARS will continue to shed light on the Roman industrial history and on the people themselves.

Bibliography:

Mattingly, David J. & Hitchner, R. Bruce (1995) Roman Africa: An Archaeological Review, The Journal of Roman Studies, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies.

Slane, Kathleen Warner (2003) Corinth’s Roman Pottery: Quantification and Meaning, Corinth, American School of Classical Studies at Athens.

The Origin of the Name Horus

Horus is one of the most famous and iconic gods from ancient Egypt; the falcon-headed god born from Osiris and Isis after his father had been murdered and cut into pieces by his brother Set (Seth). The pieces of Osiris’ body was scattered throughout Egypt and Isis gathered them all and brought him back to life again to create their son.

But where does the name come from? What does it mean?

Archaeologists have believed that the name Horus stemmed from the root hr, 'to be far', that is to say 'He Who Is Far Away' - an explanation that seems to correspond the original concept of Horus as a sky god. However, this is based on later sources which confuse with the verb hr, and although this may have been the original meaning, “there is no early evidence for such paronomasia with the name of Horus”.

One way of determining the origin of Horus’ name is through the Coffin Texts, where Spell 148 states that his mother Isis says to him, 'O falcon, my son Horus, dwell in this land of your father Osiris in this your name of Falcon who is on (or 'above') the battlements of the mansion of Him-whose-name-is-hidden'. His ornithological name is Bik; it is only after he has been born does she call him Horus, his divine name. She goes on to say, 'Falcon who is on (or 'above') the battlements of the mansion of Him-whose-name-is-hidden’.

The name hr (Horus) was only given to him when he took his first flight after being instructed by Isis. “Consequently, one is tempted to consider the possibility that the present text regards Bik hry znbw hwt Imn-rn as the primary name of Horus, and that Hr may have been derived from it, perhaps even being a short form or a by-name”.

No matter what, Hr became the principal name of Horus. However, there is no firm round for the accepted etymology of Hr, 'He who is far away’; despite the fact that being up and away is a feature of a flying falcon. This does not constitute a etymological value. “The late association of the name Hr in a play on words with the root hr does not actually show anything beyond the propensity of the Ancient Egyptians towards puns, and does not convey anything about the original meaning of the name”.

Bibliography:

Gilula, Mordechai (1982) An Egyptian Etymology of the Name of Horus? The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Egypt Exploration Society.

The Syro-Hittite Ritual Burial of Monuments

The Syro-Hittite cultures flourished in ancient Mesopotamia from the Late Bronze Age to the time when they were finally annexed by Assyria sometime in the eighth century BCE. One of the many features they are known for are their remarkable pieces of art and architecture, especially giant lions where they were placed in front of palaces and temples.

Many of these beautiful monuments were later burnt to the ground by invaders who conquered these areas. These gate-lions and other statues were also broken down into smaller pieces and then taken away as spoils of war, to be reused for their own monuments or simply left buried underneath the rubble for an extraordinary long period.

However, at least five locations - Alalakh, Hazor, Zincirli, and Arslantepe near Malatya – archaeologists have discovered that these monuments were carefully buried in the ground, suggesting a Syro-Hittite burial ritual.

In Alalakh, archaeologists discovered several temples that were destroyed sometime in the 13^th century BCE when they were destroyed by the Sea Peoples. They also found evidence of a short occupation in the 12^th century BCE. A large statue of the king, Idri-mi, would have been firmly fixed onto a throne in an annex.

However, Woolley remarks, “In a room in the annexe of the temple proper ... we found a hole which had been dug into the floor and filled with earth and large stones (the largest weighing nearly a ton and a half) and smoothed over; under the stones there was a broken statue; the head, which had been knocked off, was set beside the body together with two smaller fragments, one of the beard, the other of a foot; only part of one foot was missing. The statue belonged to the throne found on the temple floor.... We can be sure that the statue was on its throne when the temple was destroyed because the breaking of the feet must have resulted from its being knocked violently off its base into which the feet were socketted.... After the sack of the temple someone must have crept back and piously collected all that he could find of the figure and hidden it in a hastily-dug hole ...”. The statue of the king had clearly been collected and buried carefully under the floor.

As with Alalakh, archaeologists found other temple monuments which, after invasion by a hostile enemy, had been buried in the ground. In Zincirli, five gigantic lions were dragged from their original places and buried in a specially made pit. When taking into account how heavy and the difficulties in moving them, it is clear that this was a case of ritual burying.

For a period of at least half a millennium, the Syro-Hittite people clearly practiced a ritual of burying monuments. However, there are questions that arise when looking at the information yielded from these temples. Why were only a small number of temple monuments buried in a ritualistic manner? Why did other temples not do this as well? Although the number of cases is relatively small, the sheer extent to which these ancient people went to bury these monuments clearly shows that it is not accidental.

The burial of monuments seems to indicate their importance in the cults and the ancient beliefs of the Syro-Hittite world. “The ritual burial seems to support the view that the gate-lions were not merely decorated orthostats meant to strengthen the superstructure of the gates in which they were incorporated, but, as guardians of the gate were considered to possess godly, demonical, or punitive powers”.

Bibliography:

Ussishkin, David (1970) The Syro-Hittite Ritual Burial of Monuments, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, the University of Chicago Press.

The History of the Xiajiadain Period in Ancient China

Before the major dynasties of ancient Chinese history, there were several Neolithic cultures that sprang up around the valleys of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers. These ancient civilizations, known as cultures, established agricultural communities in the Bronze Age which later gave way to better known cultures such as the Shang civilization.

The Lower Xiajiadain culture was established in Inner Mongolia and Liaoning and Hebei provinces in the north of China. At the time it emerged (around 2200 BCE) it was contemporary with the Longshan culture. Excavations have separated the Xiajiadain period into three phrases with the known 2000 sites falling into one of the three categories, based on size and the presence of defences.

Some Xiajiadain sites had large walls for protection; the largest site covers more than 10 ha (25 acres). Smaller defended sites and those without walls clustered around a large central place. An example of this can be found at Chijiayingzi. A number of these stone walls included bastions of stone or stamped earth and had plastered walls and floors.

Different locations had slight variations. For example, in Sifendi in Inner Mongolia, houses were constructed as circular buildings with a diameter of not more than 4m (13ft), dominated by a hearth in the middle of the room.

The Xiajiadain culture was based on millet cultivation and many storage pits were likely to have been dug to store millet for the winter period. Archaeologists have unearthed large amounts of cultural implements, such as stone hoes, sickles, spades made from animal shoulder bones, and bones from several types of animals. The animal bones strongly indicate that the Xiajiadain people had raised livestock as well as hunting deer. From grave excavations, it appears pigs were placed with the bodies as ritual offerings.

Graves have been found at many sites belonging to the Xiajiadain culture. At Dadianzi, some 800 burials have been excavated. The elite classes were placed in large graves of up to 8.9m (29ft) where a wooden coffin was placed at the bottom. On top of the coffin finely painted ceramic vessels and limbs of domestic pigs were placed in niches at the side. Archaeologists have also found polished stone battle-axes, lacquer-ware, rare jades, ornaments made from bronze and skeletons of dogs and pigs.

Not only can the Xiajiadain culture tell us what the society was like, it can also tell us what the conditions were like to live in at the time. “Pollen collected from graves of the Lower Xiajiadian period, however, suggests that conditions did not significantly deteriorate during the 5th and 4th millennia B.P. Analysis of pollen collected from Lower Xiajiadian graves showed that in some samples, tree pollen accounted for up to 99% of the total pollen, while in others bush and grass pollen accounted for 95% of the pollen. Among the trees, pine and other polipodia dominated the pollen spectrum. This suggests that the area had a wooded environment with patches of grassland and agricultural fields. On the basis of the types and relative frequencies of plants identified, a wetter environment than the present is suggested”.

The Xiajiadain period was a remarkable period in Chinese history; because of this ancient society, it is believed they were, in part, the ancestors of the Shang civilization.

Bibliography:

Linduff, Katheryn. M., Drennan, Robert D. & Shelach, Gideon (2002-2004) Early Complex Societies in NE China: The Chifeng International Collaborative Archaeological Research Project, Journal of Field Archaeology, Boston University.

Higham, Charles (2005) The Human Past – Complex Societies of East and Southeast Asia, Thames & Hudson, London.