Historical Archaeology in the Ancient Mediterranean

Last Day in Oxford

Today I finished up my research in the David Robinson Collection. The staff at the museum were very accommodating.  Dr. Aileen Ajootian was kind enough to escort me to the archives and give me a tour of the campus.  Below I have posted pictures of the excellent workspace in the museum, the Lyceum (the oldest building on campus and epicenter in 1962 of the admittance of the first African-American to the University of Mississippi and the associated riots), the James Meredith memorial, and of course the Vaught-Hemingway Stadium (home to Ole Miss Rebel football). 

 

 

 

Glandes: Sling-Bullets or Catapult Ammunition?

During the last two days I read Tracey Rihll's, The Catapult: A History.  This book has been on my "intending" to read list for the last year.  Unfortunately, Rihll is not on any of my comps reading lists, was never assigned in a seminar, and I could not quite work it into any of my seminar papers, which explains my delay in reading it.  The comprehensive work chronicles the evolution of the tension, torsion, and two-armed torsion catapults (to name a few) from its origins (asdescended from the bow and sling) to its uses through late antiquity.  Rihll excellently balances the technical developments of the catapult with the social, political, and cultural implications of it. 

My specific interests in the book concern her arguments for the existence of a small hand held catapult originating in the third century B.C.  In Chapter 5, after an exhaustive treatment of the archaeological and historical sources, Rihll provides a very compelling argument that glandes were invented for and shot from a catapult and later were used by the slinger (p. 91-92).  I will admit that after reading that statement I was very skeptical but after reading Rihll's analysis, my skepticism faded quickly.  My only reservation is the ovoid shape of glandes.  Glandes fly straight and far by imparting spin, which was achieved by their shape and by the twisting motion of the sling.  Unless the small catapult described by Rihll had some type of spirally cut barrel, similar to that of a modern rifle, to impart spin, the glandes would no doubt have lost their aerodynamic advantages.  That said I am still pretty convinced by Rihll's argument for a hand held catapult.

Mopsos Survey Info Night

I cannot believe that the Mopsos Survey info night is already here and the application deadline is in a few weeks.  It seems pretty early for deadlines for a summer of 2009 archaeological project.  Given that the project is an official study abroad course and Turkish research visa applications have an early application deadline, we have to have recruitment finished by early November.  I visited 17 classes in the departments of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, History, Anthropology, and Geography to promote the project.  After distributing at least 400 flyers I anticipate a nice turnout tonight.

A Financial Assessment of Summer Fieldwork

Over the past six months I have applied for several grants and fellowships to find my archaeological research this summer in Cyprus and Turkey.  As a graduate student in ancient history, I am expected to raise money for my summer research.  This money comes from different areas including: Penn State, the individual projects themselves, and outside groups (ASOR, CAORC, AIA, etc).  My only major setback was CAORC (Council of American Overseas Research Center).  Despite sending my application electronically via email and physically via Priority Mail, they did not receive my application.  They did receive all of my recommendation letters and transcripts.  It would have been nice to get an email at some point but the director of the scholarship said that she did not have any contact information.  I am not sure I buy this, surly she could have looked me up in the Penn State directory or contacted on of my professors who wrote letters.  I do realize, however, that there were several applicants and it is the applicants responsibility to ensure that they receive all the materials.  It is impossible to know if I would have received any award but I would rather have received a rejection letter than nothing at all.  I have learned a very important lesson, always pay a little extra for delivery confirmation.

I am still waiting on two other funding sources.  Rather than get into specific dollar amounts for each project, I decided to discuss money in generalities.  At this point I have raised $4804.  My total expenses for both projects (transportation and room and board) is $7196.55.  This means I still have to raise $2392.55.  Hopefully one or maybe both of the remaining awards will come through so I do not have to cover the remaining expenses.  If not, one may ask how a graduate student living off his stipend with a wife, child, and one on the way is going to pay for this?  Two words, credit cards!

Airline Tickets and Funding

As a graduate student I am expected to present my research at conference and do archaeological fieldwork.  One of the challenges I continually encounter when securing hotel and airline reservations is funding.  Today I purchased my plane ticket to Turkey.  Coupled with my tickets to Cyprus, North Dakota (for a conference), and Tucson (for the CAMWS conference I have spent about $4000.  One of the few drawbacks for presenting at conferences and working on archaeological projects is that, in most cases, students have to front the expenses and are later reimbursed.  At this point I am still waiting on most of my grant/scholarships applications and do not know exactly how much aid I will receive.  Financial frustrations aside, I eagerly anticipate a great field season in Cyprus and Turkey.

Indiana, Pennsylvania

Yesterday I spent the day in Indiana, Pennsylvania with Dr. R. Scott Moore and his brand new Trimble R8 system.  Unfortunately, Dr. David Pettegrew could not make the trip so Scott showed me the ropes.  We began with the basic assembly of the tripods, base, and rover.  Once we set everything up we took a few points.  I was surprised how user friendly the unit was.  Everything revolves around the hand-held unit, which allows you to calibrate both the base and rover, shoot and save points, start new jobs, indicate the system's accuracy (sub centimeter if you can believe that!), show battery levels, and a whole slew of other features.  The R8 system will be a great tool in Cyprus.  It will allows us to quickly and accurately shoot points for maps, survey units, features, set datums, and possibly use it to take points during excavation.  I was impressed, to say the least, by the accuracy and user friendly features of the R8 system. 

Cilician Survey

When I finish working with PKAP this summer I will to fly to Denver for a week.  It would make life a lot easier to fly from Cyprus to Turkey but I have to attend my sister's wedding and my daughter's second birthday party.  When the festivities concluded, I will drive from Denver to State College (1500 miles) and from State College I will fly to Turkey for four weeks.  It is difficult leaving my family for eight weeks this summer but my wife understands the importance of fieldwork. 

This will be my first year with the Cilician survey.  The site directors are Dr. Ann Killebrew of Penn State University and Dr. Gunnar Lehmann of the Ben-Gourion University of the Negev.  The project is a large pedestrian survey of the Cilician plain.  I do not have any specific research projects with the site at this point but I will take two courses.  The first course is a GIS course for archaeologists and the second is an advanced landscape archaeology class.  My experience with GIS is limited to my first two field schools at Fort Lewis College in 2001 and 2002.  The landscape course requires a major research paper on one aspect of the site.  Both courses will help satisfy my Mediterranean archaeology focus area for the comprehensive exams.  Last year the graduate students kept a blog of their activities and I anticipate that they will continue it this year.  Both PKAP and the Cilician survey will continue to help my development as a Mediterranean archaeologist and prepare me for one of my defined comprehensive test fields.

Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project (PKAP)

This summer will mark my third year with the Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project.  PKAP is under the direction of Dr. R. Scott Moore of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Dr. William Caraher of the University of North Dakota, and Dr. David Pettegrew of Messiah College.  The project is a pedestrian survey of a stretch of coastline in southern Cyprus outside Larnaca.  In the fall of 2005 my former advisor, Dr. William Caraher, asked if I would be interested in doing some field work on his project.  I took full advantage of the opportunity and have been with the project ever since.  This year we plan, among other things, to conduct small scale excavations in selected areas and finish the geophysical work from last year.  All three directors have blogs and often provide updates regarding the project (see Scott, Bill, and David).  Working with PKAP gives me valuable archaeological experience as well as research opportunities.  The site directors all have unique personalities, which provides a great and entertaining academic environment.  I am currently working with the inscribed sling-bullets from the site.  I have posted the abstract below.

Adding Insult to Injury: The Historical and Archaeological Value of Inscribed Leaden Sling-Bullets

Typically, when one ponders the use of the sling in antiquity, the first image that comes to mind is the story of how David slew Goliath. The exact origins of the sling, however, are not precisely known. Classical authors such as Strabo, Vegetius, Thucydides, and Pliny attribute the invention of the sling to several groups including the Aetolians, Baleares, Acarnanians, and Phoenicians. The most renowned slingers attested to in the ancient Mediterranean include those from Acarnania, Aetolia, Thessaly, the Balearic Islands, and Rhodes. Based on the historical and archaeological evidence, it appears that the sling became a popular weapon as early as the Neolithic period. It functioned throughout antiquity and was particularly popular beginning in the late Bronze Age through the Roman periods.

One interesting phenomenon regarding the use of the sling in antiquity concerns the presence of inscriptions on sling-bullets. These inscriptions, in relief rather than incised, offer a unique vantage point into ancient warfare and history. The problem with this material, however, concerns access. Archaeological reports mentioning sling-bullets rarely offer any type interpretation. Synthetic investigations, with a few exceptions, rarely go beyond providing measurements and a basic translation of the inscriptions. Few works ponder how, why, and who would inscribe something as seemingly insignificant as a sling-bullet or how it functioned in society. This work attempts to bridge this historiographic and archaeological gap. By examining the historical sources, both ancient and secondary, and the archaeological material from the ancient Mediterranean, this work intends to contextualize and examine the nature of inscribed leaden sling-bullets from a multi-component site in southern Cyprus and the greater Mediterranean. A thorough examination of this material will provide insight into the role of inscribed leaden bullets in ancient warfare, as well as illustrate what types of information about the past sling-bullets may provide scholars.

One of the central functions of inscribed sling-bullets was to communicate information. Based on the available evidence, five categories of inscription types emerge: commands and exclamations, name of a city or people, personal names, deities, and symbols. These categories reveal useful information for historians and archaeologists. Personal names and group names on sling-bullets reflect issues such as ethnic identity, mobility, and individual manufacturers. The two synthetic investigations that have investigated sling-bullets in any detail have coupled the spatial provenience of the bullets with ancient references to their respective sites to link various names attested to on sling-bullets to known historical figures and events. Exclamations such as “take it,” “ouch,” “appear,” “victory,” and “bit it in vain” represent an early form of psychological warfare. By creating a framework for the study of inscribed sling-bullets based on the historical and archaeological evidence, this work intends to use this framework to contextualize the inscribed sling-bullets from a Hellenistic site in southern Cyprus. The primary goal of this work is to demonstrate the historical value of an understudied epigraphic source from the ancient world.

Summer Fieldwork

It is difficult to begin thinking about summer projects when it has been so cold lately.  I did not think that Pennsylvania would be so cold in the winter.  Temperatures have been between 20 and 30 degrees since January with very few exceptions.  I cannot complain too much given that the wind-chills in North Dakota, my previous home, have reached -50 a few times this winter!  Cold weather aside I am really looking forward to fieldwork this summer.  In the next two posts I will discuss the archaeological projects I will work with this summer.  For any graduate student who intends to incorporate archaeological material in their research projects or do archaeology should participate in fieldwork.  Archaeology is a major part of my research and academic development and thus fieldwork gives me much needed experience and endless research opportunities.   

Roman Commemoration Article Almost Ready to Go

In previous posts I have discussed my work on the commemoration practices of Roman soldiers.  I took my MA thesis and transformed it into a readable article.  The process was a lot more time intensive than I originally thought.  I did not want to let all of the work I put into my MA thesis go to waste so I put the time into making it an article.  Proof of my "grueling" work is evident in my profile picture where I am examining and recording a Roman infantry helmet!  After revising it several times, I asked my PhD adviser to read it over.  I incorporated many of his suggestions and now I am almost ready to send it out.  Before I send it out, however, I would like to see if the readers of this blog have any suggestions.  If anyone is interested, you can access the article here: Download solider_commemoration.doc  Any suggestions and/or comments will be greatly appreciated.