This study presents results relevant to understanding the spread of early metallurgy obtained by extracting patterns from a dataset of ancient genomes. It finds that, conservatively, the spread of metallurgy into Italy Remedello Chalcolithic culture can be linked to a probably Bulgaria Chalcolithic-shifted population represented by the genome of an individual associated with Bodrogkeresztúr pottery in Romania. Also conservatively, either a population related to this sample or to populations sampled from the Chalcolithic era Great Hungarian Plain can be associated with Italy North Bell Beakers and some Bell Beakers in France. Traces the samples examined have left give a sense of the geographical spread of the populations they represent. This paper illustrates the use of a data mining technique to support archaeological and humanistic inquiries on cultural developments.
Articles
The Cucuteni A-B settlement of Băiceni – Dâmbul Morii. History of research.
The research of the settlement from Băiceni – Dâmbul Morii (known in the archaeological literature as Cucuteni – Dâmbul Morii) is closely related to the excavations carried out in the eponymous site of Cucuteni-Cetățuia. The first mention, under the name of “Settlement in the valley”, was made by the German scientist Hubert Schmidt, the author of the first monograph dedicated to the Cucuteni culture. The research carried out during several campaigns, in three sectors called A, B, and C, made important
contributions in establishing the periodization of the Cucuteni A-B phase. Eight dwellings and a defensive ditch were investigated. The already known information regarding the settlement from Dâmbul Morii was completed by applying modern research techniques (geophysical surveys).
Camel, blockade and a historical memory perspective: a theme of historical memory portrayed at Qatar National Museum
Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica 26(2): 185–198 DOI: 10.47743/saa-2020-26-2-4 M. AL-HAMMADI, K. EXELL, S. EL-MENSHAWY ABSTRACT Camels from ancient times as early as 1200 BC were used as military vehicle and have been associated with the Near East and the Arabian Peninsula. In modern times they remain an important element of Bedouin life and culture (animal protein, dairy products and raw materials, an effective desert vehicle of transport and an indication of wealth). As such, camels are an integral component of heritage and society, essential to the development of Bedouin economies in many regions in the Middle East, North Africa, and Asian regions. Here it is investigated the viability of addressing the topic of the impact on camels by the blockade that has affected Qatar since 5th June 2017 as a theme of historical memory in the Qatari heritage in the National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ). The topic addresses the value(…)
On the Ionian League in the fourth century BC
The author argues that the revival of the Ionian League, most likely dissolved by the Persians right after 494, happened ca. 373 BC. The League seems to have been refounded then as a purely religious association. Its life was very long this time: the League most probably did not cease to exist not only during the rest of the 4th century BC but it was the same one which functioned almost interruptedly throughout further several centuries and disappeared only at a moment after the mid-3rd century AD.
Cicero on Odium
The article analyses Cicero’s use of the concept of odium. The author has concluded that Cicero uses odium in different writings for more than 200 times, most often in his orations. The concept has a rather wide palette of meanings: from hate to enmity and anger. The notion of odium has such epithets as personal or public, open or secret, fair or unfair, big or small, sudden or long-term. Odium acts as a homogeneous member of a sentence with words denoting positive or negative emotions, or moral categories, and they are often connected by conjunctions, prepositions, particles (et / et … et, atque, aut / aut … aut, cum, sine, -que, vel, neque / neque … neque) or with a comma. Cicero employs the concept of odium together with invidia, ira, iracundia, which often form synonymous series. Cicero speaks of hatred (odium) when discussing crimes (scelera) and wars (bella). Odium is often combined with words denoting vices (libido, crudelitas, etc.) and negative emotions (cupiditas, metus, etc.). Odium as a negative emotion is opposed to positive moral categories (dignitas, misericordia, benevolentia, virtus, etc.) and positive emotions (spes, fides, etc.), especially in orations in order to persuade listeners. In his writings on rhetoric Cicero includes odium in the list of emotions that a speaker should exercise; with odium he also indicates the ability of the orator to change emotions of the audience depending on the situation, turning hatred into friendship or vice versa.
The logistics of marking in the Baetic Amphoras. The use of numerals in the organizational systems of ceramic pro ductions
The objective of this study is to identify, by means of the analysis of the graffiti ante cocturam on the Roman amphoras, the different processes of production which are registered in the amphorae workshops. The olive oil produced in the Baetica served massively to nourish the western provinces of Roman Empire for more than 300 years. The standardization of the selected amphoric type, which extended over more than one hundred amphora workshops, allows us to observe certain patterns of similarity in the amphoric productions, at either a typological or epigraphic level, that allow us to understand the production organization of these amphoras. We apply here a development of the categorization of graffiti ante cocturam on these olive oil amphoras (i.e. Dressel 20) that allows us to analyze the set of the epigraphs which have been published so far from a new point of view. Our work focuses on the analysis of graffiti belonging to thirteen different archaeological surveys conducted on the surface of Monte Testaccio (Rome, years 1989 to 2000 and 2005). Before now the graffiti found in the different excavations of Monte Testaccio have been studied and published independently, and only through a global analysis can we present a joint vision of graffiti for more than a century, appreciating certain patterns or key trends which are important for understanding the different processes of production of the Dressel 20 amphorae in the production areas. The results suggest that the presence of numerals responds to a clear will on the part of the artisan collective who was dedicated to the manufacture of these amphoras to quantify the lots produced in any of the various phases of a production system. The fact that one is a part of a complex system of artisanal ceramic manufacturing at industrial levels necessitated a strict organizational control of all the productive phases. The continuity over time and the dispersion of the marking method in the territory makes us think of possible well-defined standardization processes, with learning processes common to the ceramic artisan communities and their possible mobility through the different workshops that produced the same type of amphora. The same results could be understood as part of the internal control of the contracted productions, as well as constituting a log of the internal logistics of the baking phase or for its control, when storing them in one of the first phases of formation of the amphora.
Les inscriptions concernant les soldats originaires de la Mésie Inférieure dont l’origine rurale est certe: les ailes et les cohortes
The author analyses the epigraphic sources on soldiers originating from the rural milieu of Lower Moesia, more precisely those whose rural origin is certain. The militaries from the alae and cohortes are studied here. The author tries to identify the moments of their enlistment and the historical events connected to these moments.
The Festival of Hermes Kriophoros in Tanagra (Boeotia): an anthropological interpretation
The subject to be considered is the festival of Hermes Kriophoros in Tanagra. A brief Pausanias’ reference (9.22.1) contains very few but remarkable details of the celebration as it was held in Late Antiquity. All indications concerning the procedure and the content of the festival inferred from Pausanias’s description are analyzed in combination with the attested characteristics and attributes of Hermes, as well as with the religious symbolism universally attached to the ram, the divine shepherd, and ritual circular movement. The ethnographic evidence for similar rituals is also adduced. It is concluded that the Tanagran festival originated in an ancestral communal ceremony of annual territorial lustration. That ceremony was linked to the increase of solar activity in midspring and therefore also included the parallel magical stimulation of the sun’s course. Gradually, that primitive magic ritual would have been elaborated in a more complex seasonal ceremony of stimulation of the generative solar power of the Great Mother-Goddess with the help of a young male ram-god and was eventually transformed into a celebration of the sacred marriage between the Great Mother-Goddess and a young beautiful divine shepherd. In the process of the formation of polis, the festival became a more social celebration, which served to secure the city-state’s secure existence under the protection of Hermes Kriophoros.