Laerke Recht

This volume substantiates the island of Cyprus as an important player in the history of the ancient Eastern Mediterranean and Near East, and presents new theoretical and analytical approaches. The Cypriot Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Bronze Age are characterised by an increasing complexity of social and political organisation, economic systems, and networks. The book discusses and defines how specific types of material datasets and assemblages, such as architecture, artefacts, and ecofacts, and their contextualisation can form the basis of interpretative models of social structures and networks in ancient Cyprus. This is explored through four main themes: approaches to social dynamics; social and economic networks and connectivity; adaptability and agency; and social dynamics and inequality. The variety and transition of social structures on the island are discussed on multiple scales, from the local and relatively short-term to island-wide and eastern Mediterranean-wide and the longue durée. The focus of study ranges from urban to non-urban contexts and is reflected in settlement, funerary, and other ritual contexts. Connections, both within the island and to the broader Eastern Mediterranean, and how these impact social and economic developments on the island, are explored. Discussions revolve around the potential of consolidating the models based on specialised studies into a cohesive interpretation of society on ancient Cyprus and its strategic connections with surrounding regions in a diachronic perspective from the Neolithic through the end of the Bronze Age, i.e. from roughly the seventh millennium to the eleventh century BCE. Dynamics and Developments of Social Structures and Networks in Prehistoric and Protohistoric Cyprus is intended for researchers and students of the archaeology and history of ancient Cyprus, the Aegean, and the Eastern Mediterranean. Teresa Bürge is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Universities of Gothenburg and Bern and at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Her research focuses on the Bronze and Iron Ages in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant, in specific pottery and pottery provenance studies, economy, trade, and exchange of goods as well as depositional practices, ritual, and cult. She has co-directed the Swedish excavations at Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus, and is the expedition's ceramic expert.

This paper offers a new comprehensive catalogue and discussion of Late Helladic III chariot kraters, and explores what they reveal about horse–human relations in Greece and Cyprus in the Late Bronze Age. The nearly 400 known examples of chariot kraters were produced in mainland Greece and exported to Cyprus and the Levant. Although the vessels were surely adapted to local contexts, the motif of horses and chariot was part of the ‘international’ spirit of the Late Bronze Age and was meaningful throughout the eastern Mediterranean. Following a discussion of the chronological and geographical distribution of the kraters, alongside notes regarding changes in shape, we examine each of the elements of the characteristic horses-and-chariot motif in depth. This close analysis, supplemented by evidence from faunal remains, Linear B and other visual media, and combined with modern equine knowledge, allows us to understand some of the complexities of horse–human relations in ancient Greece and...

Animals have always been an integral part of human existence. In the ancient Near East, this is evident in the record of excavated assemblages of faunal remains, iconography and – for the later historical periods – texts. Animals have predominantly been examined as part of consumption and economy, and while these are important aspects of society in the ancient Near East, the relationships between humans and animals were extremely varied and complex. Domesticated animals had great impact on social, political and economic structures – for example cattle in agriculture and diet, or donkeys and horses in transport, trade and war. Fantastic mythological beasts such as lion-headed eagles or Anzu-birds in Mesopotamia or Egyptian deities such as the falcon-headed god Horus were part of religious beliefs and myths, while exotic creatures such as lions were part of elite symbolling from the fourth millennium bc onward. In some cases, animals also intruded on human lives in unwanted ways by sc...

This volume substantiates the island of Cyprus as an important player in the history of the ancient Eastern Mediterranean and Near East, and presents new theoretical and analytical approaches. The Cypriot Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Bronze Age are characterised by an increasing complexity of social and political organisation, economic systems, and networks. The book discusses and defines how specific types of material datasets and assemblages, such as architecture, artefacts, and ecofacts, and their contextualisation can form the basis of interpretative models of social structures and networks in ancient Cyprus. This is explored through four main themes: approaches to social dynamics; social and economic networks and connectivity; adaptability and agency; and social dynamics and inequality. The variety and transition of social structures on the island are discussed on multiple scales, from the local and relatively short-term to island-wide and eastern Mediterranean-wide and the longue durée. The focus of study ranges from urban to non-urban contexts and is reflected in settlement, funerary, and other ritual contexts. Connections, both within the island and to the broader Eastern Mediterranean, and how these impact social and economic developments on the island, are explored. Discussions revolve around the potential of consolidating the models based on specialised studies into a cohesive interpretation of society on ancient Cyprus and its strategic connections with surrounding regions in a diachronic perspective from the Neolithic through the end of the Bronze Age, i.e. from roughly the seventh millennium to the eleventh century BCE. Dynamics and Developments of Social Structures and Networks in Prehistoric and Protohistoric Cyprus is intended for researchers and students of the archaeology and history of ancient Cyprus, the Aegean, and the Eastern Mediterranean. Teresa Bürge is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Universities of Gothenburg and Bern and at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Her research focuses on the Bronze and Iron Ages in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant, in specific pottery and pottery provenance studies, economy, trade, and exchange of goods as well as depositional practices, ritual, and cult. She has co-directed the Swedish excavations at Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus, and is the expedition's ceramic expert.

This paper examines the role of equids in the Bronze Age in Cyprus. A detailed review of the iconographic and faunal material from Early Cypriot through to the end of Late Cypriot III reveals chronological transformations and the changing importance of equids during this period; a special focus on the crucial LC II–III period reveals how animals—in this case equids—featured in the broader developments of the events at the end of the Bronze Age in the eastern Mediterranean. So far, the types of equids identified on the island are limited to donkeys (E. asinus) and horses (E. caballus), both introduced to Cyprus in the Bronze Age, the donkey as early as the Philia phase, and the horse probably only appearing later, in the Middle Cypriot or Late Cypriot I–II period. Each had different roles and each indicates a variety of human-equid relations, donkeys with a strong association with trade and transport, and horses, along with the light, two-wheeled chariot, in particular being part of elite ideologies and expressions of identity that closely resemble those found in the entire eastern Mediterranean in the Late Bronze Age. The human-equid relations involved further imply a deeper social and economic impact of equids on the island, including a system of care, feeding, training, specialised personnel and international relations.

During the eighth field season at the Bronze Age city of Hala Sultan Tekke, excavations in City Quarter 1 (CQ1) exposed massive industrial and domestic structures belonging to three phases of occupation (Strata 3-1) dating to the 13th and 12th centuries BC (LC IIC-IIIA). Geora-dar survey, penetrating to a maximum depth of approximately 1 m, guided the excavation of walls of Strata 1-2, both of which were destroyed by conflagration. Excavations 1.5-2 m below the surface and also below the maximum penetration depth of the radar revealed a heretofore buried phase of occupation with substantial architectural units. For the first time, massive Stratum 3 structures with a markedly different building technique were exposed. Copper smelting installations, much ash and slag, and storage facilities also belong to this phase of occupation. Additional excavations guided by results from a magnetometer survey were carried out in Area A, roughly 600 m to the southeast of CQ1. Numerous circular anomalies were excavated. These were identified as Late Cypriot wells, rich offering pits, and a tomb from the same period. In addition to numerous intact locally produced vessels and other finds, the tomb contained a complete Late Minoan II/IIIA piriform jar with bird motifs which have exact parallels from Knossos. Other finds from this tomb include a diadem of leaf gold, amethyst jewellery, and nine sphen-donoid shaped balance weights of haematite together with a hornblende whetstone. The features from Area A cover a period from the 16th to the 13th centuries BC (LC IB-IIC).*

This paper examines the concept of animals as social actors in the ancient Near East through a case study of human-equid relations. In particular, examples where equids may be seen as expressing resistance, as depicted in the iconography of the third and second millennia BC, are analysed. The first part of the paper discusses how animals have been perceived in scholarly debates in philosophy, archaeology and human-animal studies. It is argued that an acknowledgement of animals as social actors can improve our understanding of the human past, and the relation of humans to their broader environment. The second part of the paper presents three examples from the ancient Near East where equids may be interpreted as pushing back or resisting the boundaries placed by humans, resulting in a renegotiation of the relationship.

Human and faunal remains are frequently associated in mortuary practices. The instances range from single fragmentary animal bones in human burials through secondary deposits of both human and nonhuman animal remains to complete animal skeletons side by side with humans. In particular single and fragmented animal remains are often under-reported or summarily mentioned as part of the grave offerings. nI this session, we aim to take a closer look at this practice, including the range of species and skeletal elements represented (paying also close attention to what might be considered unusual or even intrusive species), in order to better understand the variation and roles of animals when incorporated into depositions of human remains. While many may be and traditionally have been interpreted as food, either as part of funerary celebrations of the living, kispum or food for the deceased, we here encourage papers that explore the underlying relations and practices, the role of nonhuman animals, and the fragmentary nature of such remains.
The session focuses on papers examining material from Western Asia as broadly conceived.
As this si already a large area with a wide range of different practices, we aim to use this as a starting point that may later be extended to include other regions. The time period is
open, and papers can focus on a specific period and site, or explore diachronic developments.
We encourage papers devoted to:
- Animal burials
- Animal bones in human burials
- Methodological approaches to studying commingled animal and human remains in burials
- Animal symbolism ni funerary contexts, ancient texts &art representations