Laura Dietrich & Oliver DietrichPraehistorische Zeitschrift 86:1 (May 2011): 67-84.
The fine wares of the Wietenberg Culture in Transylvania during the Middle Bronze Age are characterised by compositions of uniform, repetitive 'spiraloid' or 'meandroid' motifs. These patterns – referred to collectively as 'spiral ornamentation' – were often associated with the Mycenaean region.
Matthieu Ghilardi, David Psomiadis, Stéphane Cordier, Doriane Delanghe-Sabatier, François Demory, Fatiha Hamidi, Theodoros Paraschou, Elissavet Dotsika & Eric FouacheQuaternary International 266 (July 2012): 47-61.
The site of Nea Nikomideia is one of the oldest and most important Neolithic settlements in Northern Greece and the wider Balkan Peninsula, having been first occupied by early farmers at around 6500 cal. BC. Important archaeological excavations conducted in the 1960s suggested that the settlement was located close to an ancient coastline during the Neolithic.
Flouda, G., Vavouranakis, G., Katsaros, Th., Ganetsos, Th. & Tsikouras, B.in Radvan, R., Akyuz, S., Simileanu, M. & Dragomir, V. (eds), Proceedings of The Third Balkan Symposium on Archaeometry: The Unknown Face of the Artwork (Bucharest 2012): 45-51.
This paper examines stone vessels from two prehistoric funerary assemblages at Apesokari, a site situated in the region of Mesara, south central Crete, Greece.
Uroš Matićin Ing-Marie Back Danielsson, Fredrik Fahlander & Ylva Sjöstrand (eds), Encountering Imagery. Materialities, Perceptions, Relations (Stockholm 2012): 235-253.
‘Minoans’ have been recognised as pre-Hellenic race or closed ethnic group in Egyptian representations of Aegean figures from Eighteenth Dynasty Theban tombs. Modern construct of ‘Minoans’ thus merged with an ancient Egyptian construct of Aegean foreigners.
M.W. Dee, J.M. Rowland, T.F.G. Higham, A.J. Shortland, F. Brock, S.A. Harris & C. Bronk RamseyAntiquity 86:333 (2012): 868-883.
Egypt has some of the oldest written records and extended lists of named rulers. But radiocarbon dates have only fulfilled expectations 66 per cent of the time. So why haven't the two types of dating made a better match? The authors provide a dozen excellent reasons, which will sound the alarm among researchers well beyond Dynastic Egypt.
Lindy Crewe & Ian HillLevant 44:2 (November 2012): 205-237.
Whilst use of alcoholic beverages is considered an important feature of most societies, identifying alcohol production and consumption in the archaeological record is notoriously difficult. Presented here is a recently excavated oven-like installation, unique in the Cypriot Bronze Age, from the south-western settlement of Kissonerga-Skalia.
Joseph W. ShawAmerican Journal of Archaeology 116:4 (October 2012): 555-571.
Among Heinrich Schliemann's discoveries of architecture at Mycenaean Tiryns in the Argolid Plain in southern Greece, one of the most impressive was a single huge rectangular stone slab that covered the floor of a relatively small square room.
Olga PhilaniotouAnnuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente LXXXVIII (2010):311-346.
Η ιστορική μοίρα της Λήμνου, από την αχλύ της προϊστορίας ως τις μέρες μας είναι στενά συνυφασμένη αφενός με την καίρια γεωστρατηγική της θέση στην είσοδο σχεδόν των Δαρδανελλίων και αφετέρου με τη γεωμορφολογία της που πρόσφερε ασφαλείς όρμους και άφθονη, εύφορη καλλιεργήσιμη γη. Την πρώτη μεγάλη άνθηση της γνώρισε η Λήμνος ως γνωστόν, κατά την Πρώιμη Εποχή του Χαλκού με παραπάνω από 20 εντοπισμένους ως σήμερα οικισμούς.
A. A. Tsonis, K. L. Swanson, G. Sugihara & P. A. TsonisClimate of the Past 6 (2010): 525-530.
Climate change has been implicated in the success and downfall of several ancient civilizations. Here we present a synthesis of historical, climatic, and geological evidence that supports the hypothesis that climate change may have been responsible for the slow demise of Minoan civilization.
Gert Jan van Wijngaarden, Andreas Sotiriou, Vladimir Stissi, Anton Bonnier & Lyn ErismanPharos XVII:2 (2009-2010): 165-182.
The 2009 campaign of the Zakynthos Archaeology Project took place in the area of Lithakia and Keri in the south-west of the island. The Landscape in this area is characterized by the Lake of Keri. The lake constitutes a good natural harbour and possesses natural sources of pitch, which, according to historical sources, have been used to repair ships.
A clay ball with a Cypro-Minoan inscription excavated in a LH IIIC Developed workshop context at the northern tip of Tiryns’ Lower Citadel forms the basis for this discussion on interaction patterns and contacts between Mycenaean Tiryns and Late Bronze Age Cyprus.
Nikolai N. KazanskyA virtual birthday gift presented to Gregory Nagy on turning seventy by his students, colleagues and friends. Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University online publications.
The correspondence between the ideogram АВ 21for “sheep” in Linear A and the syllabic interpretation of this sign as /qi/ in Linear B script allow us to suggest that Linear A was used for an IE language in which the initial laryngeal was reflected as a guttural (*H2wi- or *H3wi- > kwi).
Anthony SnodgrassA virtual birthday gift presented to Gregory Nagy on turning seventy by his students, colleagues and friends. Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University online publications.
With academic subjects as with people, many a close and intimate relationship can become cool and distant. It may even be broken off altogether, and replaced by a different relationship. In the case of academic disciplines, such a transfer of affections can lead to a radical and positive transformation of a subject, even when this also means the virtual disappearance of its older configuration.
Louise Martin & Lynn MeskellCambridge Archaeological Journal 22:3 (October 2012): 401-419.
This article presents a study of the zoomorphic figurine assemblage from Neolithic Çatalhöyük in central Turkey. Figurine manufacture, depositional condition and contexts of discard are discussed, to find that their fragmentation seems related to fabrication methods and use rather than intentional breakage.
Oliver Dietrich, Manfred Heun, Jens Notroff, Klaus Schmidt & Martin ZarnkowAntiquity 86:333 (September 2012): 674–695.
Göbekli Tepe is one of the most important archaeological discoveries of modern times, pushing back the origins of monumentality beyond the emergence of agriculture. We are pleased to present a summary of work in progress by the excavators of this remarkable site and their latest thoughts about its role and meaning.
