Objects and materials (antiquities & material culture)

La recherche s’articule autour de trois axes principaux : une lecture approfondie des aspects visibles et matériels qui composent l’œuvre d’art c’est-à-dire les parties sculptées et les inscriptions ; la relation de l’œuvre avec les sources littéraires ; enfin la relation de l’œuvre avec le contexte. L’application d’une méthode globale qui considère l’œuvre d’art comme un objet complexe fait de signes de lieux et d’intentions artistiques a permis une nouvelle interprétation de l’œuvre ouverte à des enjeux tout à fait actuels d’histoire de l’art et connectée à la notion d’histoire et d’anthropologie des objets en constante relation avec le temps et l’environnement.

Ce livre se compose de huit chapitres qui affirment et décomposent à la fois le « système » des colonnes ; ils sont précédés d’une mise en perspective historiographique. L’ouvrage présente également un catalogue exhaustif de fiches décrivant pour la première fois une à une les scènes et les inscriptions des colonnes.

This volume presents contributions by leading scholars on various topics and aspects of Islamic Archaeology a discipline which has recently seen the development of exciting new approaches to the study of the material culture of the Muslim world. This material culture was produced by and/or for Muslims as well as by and/or for non-Muslims living under Islamic rule from the 7th century onward in an expanding and ultimately vast area reaching from southern Europe to West Asia.

The contributions in this book focus on Jordan Oman Spain Turkey Lebanon as well as Israel and cover a timespan from the 7th century through the Mamluk period to the early 20th century. They highlight the archaeology of large Islamic centers in the past but also of the material culture in smaller sites and peripheral regions. Special emphasis is paid to pottery as one of the main artifacts that carry information on past societies but other finds and materials are discussed as well. The aspect of Islamic material culture which receives particular attention is ‘production’ specifically the production of clay vessels glaze mercury and crops.

What unites the new approaches presented here is that Islam is understood as both a ‘religion’ and a framework for economic cultural and social networks and influence. In this perspective the volume aims to offer students of Islamic archaeology historians of Islam and archaeologists of different disciplines a glimpse of the state-of-the-art in current Islamic Archaeology

Landscape archaeology has in recent years expanded as a discipline to include various aspects of human-environment interactions in the past. In line with this trend this volume offers a comprehensive perspective on three topics: theoretical and textual approaches to landscape which provides an important framework for interdisciplinary research; the use of land and resources which while a popular topic in Southwest Asian archaeology remains relatively understudied in connection to ancient technologies; and human impact on the highlands. The contributions gathered in this volume cover topics as diverse as agricultural practices metallurgy trade and environmental research and draw together evidence from both textual and material evidence to shed light on different places and periods from the Bronze Age through to the Roman era. Together these varied case studies offer new insights into how different methods can be utilized to assess unique patterns in human-environment interactions in Southwest Asia.

The ancient city of Neapolis (modern Kavala Greece) was founded by Thasos in the seventh century bce at a strategic location where the Thracian hinterlands meet the Aegean Sea. The patron deity of this North Aegean polis was Parthenos (the Maiden) known to us through epigraphic and archaeological evidence. Her sanctuary came to light in the twentieth century during rescue excavations and yielded numerous finds most of which date from the Archaic period.

This monograph provides a discussion of the history of excavations at this sanctuary as well as a contextual examination of the material leading to a new interpretation of Parthenos’ identity. Among the wealth of finds from the site the corpus of incised and painted ceramic inscriptions stands out as it offers a unique glimpse into the history of the cosmopolitan temenos and the dedicatory practices and rituals that took place there. The inscribed vessels carry dedications numerical and other graffiti and dipinti as well as the initials of the goddess which designate them as sacred equipment. When considered in the context of the ceramic inscriptions from sanctuaries across Aegean Thrace they further underscore the important role of Neapolis and the Sanctuary of Parthenos in the commercial networks and cultural dynamics of the Aegean both in the early stages of Greek colonization and in the centuries that followed.

The spurs of horse riders have long been acknowledged as an important item of grave furniture in the Late Roman and Migration period burials of Poland a reflection of the high social position held by the deceased. Yet while spurs have been studied at a general level and typo-chronological studies have been conducted on spurs found in southern and central Poland no such research has so far been conducted on finds from the West Balt Circle in north-eastern Poland. This volume is an attempt to rectify the situation by offering a thorough examination of finds attributed to the Bogaczewo and Sudovian Cultures. The author here offers a comprehensive assessment of surviving materials from the period many of which are scattered through museums across Europe together with an in-depth analysis of archival sources (included among them the private inventories of archaeologists working in the pre-war period) in order to reconstruct our understanding of the furnishings and data relating to spurs. This detailed research carefully contextualized against our wider understanding of Barbarian Europe offers an important new reference for our understanding both of the West Balt Circle and its inter-cultural relations with surrounding regions as well as of the symbolic meaning of spurs and their significance in burial rites.

The XVI International Numismatic Congress held in Warsaw Poland in September 2022 was a landmark event drawing the largest number of participants in its history. With over 550 papers presented during thematic sessions and round tables this congress showcased the latest advancements and research in the field of numismatics from leading experts and scholars in their field.

A curated selection of papers from the conference have now been drawn together into peer-reviewed conference proceedings representing a comprehensive spectrum of numismatic studies from antiquity to modern times. Each paper is meticulously illustrated with high-quality images often of unique specimens along with detailed diagrams maps and die/typological chains. Topics covered include coins and coin finds medals tokens banknotes the history of collections and collecting and cutting-edge chemical analyses and technologies used in coin examination.

This volume the second in four thematic volumes focuses on Roman coinage. Divided into two separate volumes covering respectively forty-three chapters on coinage and forty-one on circulation the contributions gathered here explore not only Rome and the imperial mints but also local phenomena from Spain to Asia Minor including graffiti imitations and copies of Roman coinage.

The ancient city of Neapolis (modern Kavala Greece) was founded by Thasos in the seventh century BCE at a strategic location where the Thracian hinterlands meet the Aegean Sea. The patron deity of this North Aegean polis was Parthenos (the Maiden) a goddess often associated with Artemis and known to us through epigraphic and archaeological evidence. Her sanctuary came to light in the twentieth century during rescue excavations and yielded numerous finds most of which date from the Archaic period.

This edited volume draws together the material evidence from the Sanctuary of Parthenos with a particular focus on the ceramic wares stone inscriptions and small finds from the site. Published as a counterpart to an earlier publication in this series Amalia Avramidou’s monograph The Sanctuary of Parthenos at Ancient Neapolis (Kavala): Incised and Painted Ceramic Inscriptions from the Sanctuary and in Aegean Thrace the essays gathered here nonetheless form a stand-alone volume that sheds light on both the importance of the site as a place of cult and more broadly the role that it played within the commercial networks and cultural dynamics of the Aegean.