Workshop: Luxury Goods: Production, Exchange, and Heritage in the Near East during the Bronze and Iron Ages

Transcription

1 Workshop: Luxury Goods: Production, Exchange, and Heritage in the Near East during the Bronze and Iron Ages January 17 and 18, Barrows Hall, UC Berkeley Sponsored by: The France-Berkeley Fund, The Townsend Center for Humanities, and the Department of Near Eastern Studies A central goal of the workshop is to promote discussion among scholars with diverse methodological backgrounds who nonetheless share common research interests in the field of prestige objects. Prestige objects play an essential role in the history of civilizations. The social functions of these items are inseparable from the development of complex society and the appearance of the state. Such objects were endowed typically with strongly theological and supernatural aspects. The distribution of materials destined to become prestige items and the precious objects themselves occupied a central place in medium and long distance trade linking the ancient societies of the Near East. Presentations are meant to stimulate discussion on both a specific and more general methodological/theoretical level. The workshop itself will be quite small, with the audience limited to other scholars having an interest in the topic, in order to promote conversations among participants (both presenters and other attendees). Each session will have a related pair of short (approximately 20 minute) presentations (aside from the last session which has 3 papers scheduled). The sessions, scheduled for an hour and forty-five minutes, should therefore provide ample opportunity for responses and discussions following the presentations. TENTATIVE PROGRAM Thursday January 17 Session 1: 9:00-10:45 Christine Lorre Egyptian Predynastic Stone Vessels Catherine Demos Tepe Hisar and Semi-Precious stone working Coffee Break: 10:45-11:15 Session 2: 11:15-1:00 Michèle Casanova Luxuries of Precious Materials from Egypt to Central Asia, Evidence of Intercultural relations in the Near East: vessels & Personal Adornment, 4th-2nd Millennia B.C. Irene Good Strands of Connectivity: assessing evidence for long distance exchange of silk in later prehistoric Eurasia

2 Berkeley FBF Workshop 2 Lunch: 1-2:45 Session 3: 2:45-4:30 Niek Veldhuis Knowledge as a Precious Commodity Laurie Pearce The Materials of Knowledge Speakers Dinner: 6:30 pm Friday January 18 Session 4: 9:00-10:45 Dana DePietro An Appetite for Excess: Organic Trade Goods and Consumable Luxury Items in the Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean. Alice Petty So Work the Honeybees: Apiculture and Kingship, Cross-Cultural Transmission and Luxury Status Coffee Break: 10:45-11:15 Session 5: 11:15-1:00 Sabrina Maras Iconography and Identity in Achaemenid Persia: Glyptic Art and the Ruling Elite Elizabeth Minor The Use of Egyptian and Egyptianizing Material Culture in Classic Kerma Burials: the case of the Winged Sun Disc Lunch: 1-2:45 Session 6: 2:45-5:15 Caroline Sauvage Archaeological exchange of chariots and related artifacts in LBA eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia Marian Feldman Representations of Chariots in LBA Eastern Mediterranean and Near East: A Case for Exchange or Not? Aaron Brody Bronze Bangles from Tell en-nasbeh: Cultural and Economic Observations on an Artifact Type from the Late Iron Age-early Persian Period

3 Berkeley FBF Workshop 3 ABSTRACTS: (in alphabetical order of presenter s last name) Aaron Brody Bronze Bangles from Tell en-nasbeh: Cultural and Economic Observations on an Artifact Type from the Late Iron Age-early Persian Period Excavation of Tell en-nasbeh in northern Judah produced a wealth of Iron Age-early Persian period material culture, much of which has yet to be explored systematically. In order to understand the various roles of metal in Judean culture and economy, we chose to investigate bronze bangles from the site using a material science and contextual archaeological approach. The goal was to learn more of what the bangles were made of, how they were manufactured, and possible regions of origin. The excavation produced over 100 bronze bangles primarily from extramural tomb contexts, and a few from stratified habitation levels. From our material science testing, we have concluded that the raw materials for the Tell en-nasbeh bronzes were not local to Judah, the bronze was not alloyed at the site, and that one category of bangle was not manufactured using a Judean weight system. These conclusions directly contradict popular notions in the secondary literature with regard to Iron II and Persian period industry, The majority of jewelry consists of earrings, rings, bracelets, and anklets of bronze and iron... all of these pieces were undoubtedly produced locally... (Stern 2001: 529). While bronze bangles may have been finished locally, their raw materials, alloying, and metrology were all foreign to ancient Judah. Michèle Casanova Luxuries of Precious Materials from Egypt to Central Asia, Evidence of Intercultural relations in the Near East: vessels & Personal Adornment, 4th-2nd Millennia B.C. The circulation of the materials used to manufacture objects of prestige plays an essential role in the networks of medium and long distance trade in the societies of the Near East, from the 4th through the 2nd millennia B.C. The paper will center on objects made with fine stones and soft stone, comparing those known from Iran (in particular Eastern Iran) with others from Central Asia, the Persian Gulf, as well as Mesopotamia (the Royal Cemetery of Ur), Syria and Egypt. The central questions will be those of manufacture, function and distribution, from the 4th through 2nd millennia B.C. Materials and objects originally coming from Eastern Iran or Central and Southern Asia reached southern Mesopotamia via land routes crossing Iran or by the maritime route passing via the Persian Gulf and thus Bahrain. The diffusion of these products in Mesopotamia and the neighboring regions raises the problem of identifying the details of their circulation, locating the original sources and the processing centers as well as their social functions and their value. We will concentrate on fine stones like lapis lazuli since these are among the most important and best documented elements in this exchange network, simultaneously imbued with economic, political and symbolic values.

4 Berkeley FBF Workshop 4 Catherine Demos The proposed talk will present a detailed diachronic analysis of the published grave groups dating to the late fourth and third millennia at Tepe Hissar, Iran. The analysis comprises one major part of the author s dissertation on the socio-cultural implications of highly-valued stone commodity processing and exchange in eastern Iran. By synthesizing information from Schmidt s final report together with the Restudy Project publication by Dyson and Howard, the Hissar II graves will be contextualized in their association with workshops on the South Hill. The diachronic composition of the stone commodities in the Hissar graves will be outlined and some conclusions will be offered as to the changing nature of the resources present in the graves. Preliminary thoughts will also be offered as to the differences between the third millennium grave goods at Tepe Hissar and those of Shahr-i Sokhta, the other main site with evidence of lapis lazuli processing workshops and with significant deposits of highly valued carved stone objects inside its graves. Dana DePietro An Appetite for Excess: Organic Trade Goods and Consumable Luxury Items in the Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean. The famed Cape Gelidonya and Uluburun shipwrecks discovered off the southern Turkish coast in 1960 and 1982 have yielded two of the largest assemblages of Late Bronze Age trade goods to date. These finds continue to provide unique avenues for understanding the systems of trade and reciprocal exchange which took place between international elites and their intermediaries at that time. References to the trade of gold and ivory figurines, copper oxhide ingots and other precious items found in the wrecks are abundant in the royal archives of Ugarit and Tell el-amarna and depictions of these goods as trade items can be found in Egyptian tomb paintings, most notably the 14th century tomb of Kenamun at Thebes. What is more, because of the unique conditions of preservation, archaeobotanical evidence has show the abundant presence of organic goods including dates, almonds, pistachios, pomegranates, coriander and over one ton of terebinth resin aboard the Uluburun shipwreck. These organic trade goods clearly played prominent roles as important commodities in trade networks of the Late Bronze Age, however they all too often take second-tier status to their better-preserved inorganic counterparts. As a number of studies by Bernard Knapp, Cheryl Haldane and others have shown, textual and iconographic sources referring to the trade of organic goods are not only plentiful, but can provide unique insight into products, personages and patterns involved in Bronze Age Mediterranean trade systems. Using the Gelidonya and Uluburun shipwrecks as starting point, this short paper will attempt to provide an overview of the textual, iconographic and archaeological evidence relating to the trade of organic goods in the Late Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean as well as evaluate the varying methods

5 Berkeley FBF Workshop 5 used in the collection and interpretation of such evidence through a number of relevant case studies. Questions pertaining to the luxury status of organics, the role played by raw materials in trade and the ephemeral nature of consumable goods will be explored, as well as the need for interdisciplinary approaches to this topic highlighted. Marian Feldman Representations of Chariots in LBA Eastern Mediterranean and Near East: A Case for Exchange or Not? In general, however, the use of the chariot in battle and the hunt provided a theme which was shared by the various nations in contact through war, diplomacy, and trade in the cosmopolitan period that began in the sixteenth century B.C. (W. S. Smith, Interconnections in the Ancient Near East, 1965, p. 28) The preceding quote reflects general scholarly opinion regarding chariots in the eastern Mediterranean and Near East during the great international flowering of the Late Bronze Age (c BCE). Indeed, in my own work I have echoed these same sentiments: Images of hunting from a chariot pervade Late Bronze Age artistic production throughout the eastern Mediterranean and Near East, thereby arguing for a classification of these examples as international objects (Feldman 2006, 66). Yet, upon renewed scrutiny of the evidence for chariot representations in the Late Bronze Age, a rather different and more nuanced picture emerges. While representations of chariots are certainly numerous during the Late Bronze Age, when the use of the 2-wheeled, light chariot became widespread throughout the regions, their prevalence is actually less than one might expect in certain regions, particularly given the frequency with which they are reproduced in the scholarship. In addition, distinct regional patterns of occurrence, use, context, and iconography suggest less of a homogeneous international bearing and more what might be thought of as variations on a theme, each one having a particular local flavor. This paper presents some of these representational variations and asks how we might interpret them in light of both international and local social, economic, or political factors. Irene Good Strands of Connectivity: assessing evidence for long distance exchange of silk in later prehistoric Eurasia Peabody Museum, Harvard University The presence of silk has been documented in western Asia and the Mediterranean region as early as the mid second millennium BC, though the extent and antiquity of this fiber technology is presently unclear. The domesticated silkworm Bombyx mori is derived from a species native to northern India known as Bombyx mandarina Moore, but it was in China that this moth was domesticated. Accurate discernment between silk made from Bombyx mori and that made from other wild but economically viable silks (such as

6 Berkeley FBF Workshop 6 several of the Antheraea species) is essential to understanding the real extent of access to silk before the formal establishment of trade under the Han Dynasty of China. Study of ancient silk fragments through conventional microscopy is hampered not only by often poor preservation but also by poor understanding of the material itself. Biochemical study of silk proteins can positively confirm silk in archaeological samples, allowing more accurate reconstruction of the nature and extent of early sericulture, and of the longdistance exchange of this important luxury commodity. The peculiar nature of the structure of silk fibroin, the filament protein, makes it particularly amenable to study in a degraded state. Christine Lorre Egyptian Predynastic Stone Vessels Curator of the Comparative Archaeology Department Musée d Archéologie nationale, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France The presentation will deal essentially with stone vessels, especially made of alabaster and basalt because both of them seem to have been the preferred materials of ancient predynastic Egyptians to complete most of their funerary assemblages. As it is a work in progress, we ll try to describe briefly what has already been done in this respect. Taking into account earlier finds that are kept today in public collections and also more recent finds from field researches during the last twenty years, we ll emphasize materials, quarries and some aspects of the vessels fabrication. Then some points about comparisons with other similar products from the Near East may draw attention to possible exchanges of materials and artifacts and the role of such archaeological objects for the understanding of social hierarchies in this part of the Ancient Old World during the Early Bronze Age (circa B.C.). Sabrina Maras Iconography and Identity in Achaemenid Persia: Glyptic Art and the Ruling Elite Seals were probably the most commonly used medium in the ancient world upon which a symbol or message could be transmitted and infinitely repeated. This special quality makes the glyptic of a period an inestimable resource for symbols, messages and meanings reflecting politics, religion and even cultural cues. This is certainly true in the case of seals of the Achaemenid Persia era, where the rich variation in the types of motifs used, in conjunction with the patterns of elite imagery found in royally administered seals, attest to a conscious attempt to portray the identity of the ruling elite in contrast to other members of the multi-cultural empire specifically through religious and numinous imagery. Darius the Great (c BCE), third ruler of the Persian empire, was not unaware of the exploitive power of royal and elite art through which his political aims and ideals could be disseminated. His knowledge of the potential influence of images on the extremely diverse subjects of his empire is attested through his use of a codified set of

7 Berkeley FBF Workshop 7 imagery in both monumental relief and smaller objects such as seals to disseminate messages, which ultimately served to stress his power and right to rule. Often his message of rightful rule and even his own identity was bound up with images and textual references to the Persian god Ahuramazda. Examples of this royal focus on connecting the identity of the ruling clan with the deity can be found in abundance in the royal administrative seal impressions from the center of power at Persepolis in both the Persepolis Fortification and Treasury archives of texts. Iconography in seals and sealings from the center of Achamenid power (Parsa), however, may have substantially differed from motifs that are found in peripheral centers of the empire. What types of elite iconography are found or not found on the seals of these peripheral regions? Is there a code of imagery found uniformly on seals throughout the empire that acts to unify the ruling class? Or is there a distinction between what iconography is used on royally administered seals from the capital city and those of the peripheral elite to construct boundaries of power? In this study, questions of identity, religion and the use of elite iconographic codes will be discussed. Elizabeth Minor The Use of Egyptian and Egyptianizing Material Culture in Classic Kerma Burials: the case of the Winged Sun Disc An investigation of the use of the Egyptian winged sun disc motif in Nubian burials of the Classic Kerma period demonstrates an active use of foreign prestige goods and symbolism. Winged sun discs are present in several forms at the site of Kerma, ranging from unmodified imports, reworked imports, and replications of the motif. The pattern of use of this motif illustrates both internal and external social relationships. The imported examples can be sourced to a raided Southern Egyptian religious site, and likely held meaning for the Nubians as references to their military hegemony. Winged sun discs were incorporated into a limited number of objects designed by Nubians, and the context of these objects demonstrates an internal Nubian social hierarchy. The original religious meaning of the Egyptian motif was likely not relevant inside of Nubia, rather the political and cultural associations of the imported objects gave the symbol meaning to the Kermans. Laurie Pearce The Materials of Knowledge Once knowledge is defined as a luxury good and valuable commodity, we should then consider the materials on and methods by which such knowledge was preserved. Beyond the lumps of clay fashioned into admittedly unattractive and overly abundant "sheep and goats" tablets, there are documents that validate, through their material, manufacture or both, the exclusivity of the commodity "knowledge". An inventory of the precious materials used for writing surfaces, description of their distribution and deposition, and a consideration of the integration of artistic and intellectual skills in the production of

8 Berkeley FBF Workshop 8 cuneiform text substantiate the identification of knowledge as luxury good. In the context of second- and first-millennium craft-production and trade, many of the materials of knowledge belong to the elite realms of luxury and power. Alice Petty So Work the Honeybees: Apiculture and Kingship, Cross-Cultural Transmission and Luxury Status So Work the Honeybees is an investigation into the meaning of an inscribed monument of Samas Res User, a governor of Suhu c. 824 BC. In this text, Samas Res User claims to have mastered the technology of apiculture and to have introduced it to his people. This claim operates on two levels. First, it sheds light on the history and nature of honey and wax production in ancient Syria. Second, it raises the provocative possibility that this claim may function as a symbolically charged metaphor- a proclamation of his possession of the archetypal attributes of kingship. This opens a new, potentially fruitful avenue of inquiry into the role that perishable consumables may have played in elite exchange networks. Caroline Sauvage Archaeological exchange of chariots and related artifacts in LBA eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia Chariots appeared during the first half of the second millennium BC around the upper Euphrates in the Mitanni Kingdom area. Shortly thereafter, this new technological invention spread to the Hittite empire and to Egypt through the Hykssos. It was then widely diffused and became the perfect war and hunting platform, mostly used by high ranking persons or specific social groups: le cheval était en quelque sorte la Mercédès du Bronze Récent (Pardee, 2002, p. 223). This prestigious conception of chariot and horses was present in the different regions of the Eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia. However, by reviewing evidence of the context, uses of chariots and related objects, and the social status of chariot owners, we want to question if distribution patterns and regional characteristics appear. The aim of this paper is to glance at the ideology of different regional social groups when dealing with a similar prestigious object: the two wheels chariot. Niek Veldhuis Knowledge as a Precious Commodity Lexical texts (cuneiform dictionaries) belong to the most prestigious and precious kinds of knowledge in Mesopotamia. Lexical texts were used as text books in scribal schools, but the knowledge of Sumerian and the cuneiform writing system that these texts contain goes far beyond the practical necessities of cuneiform teaching. I will discuss the various

9 Berkeley FBF Workshop 9 ways in which lexical texts, which belonged to the Babylonian intellectual tradition, were received and adapted to the local situation in non-babylonian contexts in the late second millennium, the period in which cuneiform literacy spread over the entire Near East. In Amarna (Egypt), where the local cultural heritage was carried by a local writing system with a considerable historical depth, lexical texts were copied strictly for teaching cuneiform literacy. In the areas dominated by Hatti and Mitanni, where cuneiform was practically the only writing system available, scribes engaged much more intensely with Babylonian knowledge traditions, while at the same time experimenting with encoding local traditions. The most extreme situation is found at Assur, the city-state which in a short span of time grew into an empire and started to compete on the international scene. The Assur rulers were in need of an heritage that was suitable for this new political situation. For this end the lexical tradition that was available in the area (the area that until recently had been dominated by Mitanni) was not good enough. Reliable knowledge was genuine Babylonian knowledge and the Assur scribes went at great length to make sure that their lexical texts were accurate copies of genuine Babylonian originals. The Babylonian lexical tradition is an example of a knowledge tradition that is exported and disseminated over a large geographical area. Rather than tracing the exact route of this dissemination, this talk intents to demonstrate different types of reception, reaction, and adaptation.