Jens Notroff Profile picture
Nov 23 15 tweets 16 min read
Maybe fuelled by recent claims that #Neolithic hunters were too "simple" and thus not capable of cultural achievements, there seems to be a misunderstanding about the "#pottery" part in #PrePotteryNeolithic (PPN).

They actually *did* use vessels. Just other vessels.

A short 🧵: Illustration of a Neolithic house with a woman sitting on th
Well known and clearly associated with #PrePotteryNeolithic contexts are e.g. #StoneVessels from different places like #KörtikTepe in Turkey or #JerfElAhmar and #TellAbr in Syria as well as (often fragmented though) many more related sites (including Göbekli Tepe by the way). Photo of two stone vessels, bowl-like with perforations at t
Bringing up the #GöbekliTepe fragments since they illustrate why finding complete vessels is comparably rare: the material was too valuable to not re-use it.

@lauradietrich_, @odietrich_, & myself discussed the "afterlife" of such #StoneVessels here:

jensnotroff.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/ii.20_… Plate with drawings of three stone vessel fragments, apparen
We also have to consider a variety of other vessels made from material simply not preserved, e.g. leather containers or wood and bark #vessels - like the exceptional examples found with Late Neolithic/Chalcolihtic #Ötzi or the Bronze Age #Egtved Girl's burial in Denmark: Photon of the remains of a wooden cylinder mad of birch barkPhoto of a bucket made of bark.
The point is: They could - and *did* make vessels.

Just not pottery vessels. Probably because of the fragility of this material - which may not be the most practical thing for highly mobile people repeatedly packing up all their stuff and moving on to the next place.
#PrePotteryNeolithic hunters likely were aware of these properties - they did experiment w/ related materials, as numerous figurines (e.g. from #NevaliCori), sculptures (e.g. from #AinGhazal), even a few small vessels made of gypsum plaster (e.g. from #Karahantepe) demonstrate. Plate with drawings of figurines from Nevali Cori, some wearPhoto of one of the lime and reed sculptures from Ain GhazalScreenshot from an online lecture showing six small bowl-lik
Even more: Already in their seminal works on #Neolithic #lime and #gypsum plasters, Kingery et al. (quite fittingly) described this technology as "The Beginnings of #Pyrotechnology" (J. Field Arch. 2(1/2), 1975 + J. Field Arch. 15, 1988):

repository.si.edu/bitstream/hand…
The term #PrePotteryNeolithic was coined by K. Kenyon at the type site of #Jericho (Tell es-Sultan) to distinguish #Neolithic layers lacking any pottery from those w/ such implements.

It thus is a technical classification applying to this specific region - not a cultural stage.
In fact do we indeed know of earlier examples for #pottery. Pottery #vessels - e.g. from Siberia, Japan, Korea, and China - dating as far back as 18,000 years.

Interestingly often associated with hunter-fisher cultures (with a lower degree of mobility).

science.org/content/articl… Photo of a largely reconstructed conical bowl-like vessel. O
Thanks for your great feedback! Happily taking up some of the suggestions:

#Gourds e.g. has been pointed out as another organic vessel resource - not leaving much of a trace in the archaeological record. W/ view to ethnographic analogies this indeed has to be considered as well. Photo of a round gourd bowl with an incised decoration of stPhoto of a calabash bottle with insides geometric and floral
As well as #basketry. In fact, some ornaments on early pottery vessels do indeed seem to somehow reproduce the appearance of woven surfaces.

Here some breathtakingly well preserved examples from #Neolithic #Spain (with thanks to @AlisonFisk):

And not to forget #OstrichEggs! Many known finds of vessels made out of such eggs, with a wide geographic and chronological variety - including e.g. Neolithic Jordan, Sudan, predynastic Egypt and many more. Well into recent history. Photo of a vessel made of an ostrich egg, decorated with geo
The path to #pottery (vessel) production really is a fascinating cultural development.

A recent volume on "The Emergence of Pottery in West Asia" (eds. A. Tsuneki, O. Nieuwenhuyse, & St. Campbell, Oxbow 2017) gives an overview on the current discussion:

oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/the-emer…
Olivier Nieuwenhuyse's and Stuart Campbell's synthesis on "The Emergence of #Pottery in #WestAsia" in the same volume e.g. makes a great introductory evening reading:

academia.edu/36640138/Synth…

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More from @jens2go

Jul 10
"Look Klaus Bey, that stone's got ears!"

Sometimes, starting excavations in a new area, you only got a vague idea about what's really waiting below topsoil.

This is how innocent the now famous so-called #TotemPole from #GöbekliTepe peeked out upon its very first appearance.
Oliver put together a nice little thread here telling how the story of this discovery continued on after that first glimpse:
This find (calling it a #CompositeSculpture may be the more appropriate archaeological terminology) is of special interest since it represents a special type of early #Neolithic sculpture in the region also known from other sites:
Read 5 tweets
Jul 8
Office with a view, or: Yet another day at the #excavation.

Some illustrated "Tale from a Tell" for this #FieldworkFriday. 1/

(Long version here: jens2go.medium.com/a-digging-on-a…) Drawing of an excavation ov...
4.30 o'clock. Ante meridiem. It's still dark outside, the dim light barely enough to distinguish a black thread from a white one: The muezzin just called the faithful to prayer and, probably unintentionally, the archaeologists to finally get up as well.

2/ Drawing of a minaret in fro...
Breakfast at such an early hour basically consists of not more than some strong tea, a slice of soft white flatbread (which will be rather dry within the hour), and a handful of olives ...

3/ Drawing of a little bowl fu...
Read 24 tweets
Apr 15
It's #GoodFriday, commemorating the #crucifixion of #Jesus which, according Christian tradition, took place in 1st ct. AD Judea (then a #Roman province).

While there are historic sources about this punishment method, archaeological evidence is scarce.

Some #EasterArchaeology:
(Content warning: Images of human remains and some possibly rather explicit details of death and torture.)
#Crucifixion as punishment is predating Roman times and goes back as far as to the Phoenicians, Assyrians, and Persians.

In ancient Rome it was mostly imposed on slaves or exercised as political punishment e.g. for insurrectionist - but usually not against Roman citizens.
Read 14 tweets
Mar 13
Some #SundayArchaeology #Paleolithic haute couture:

These ab. 25-30k y/o so-called #Venus figurines have been discussed a lot as religious, health & fertility symbols, & mother goddesses.

But some of them offer s glimpse at another interesting, often overlooked details …
A number of these figures also show a couple of details which might be interpreted as headdress - and even #clothing from the Upper #Paleolithic #Gravettian (of which we have little evidence otherwise).
There has been, however, some interesting research on such #iconographic evidence for #clothing, e.g. by O. Soffer et al. in Archaeology Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 1(1), 2000:

researchgate.net/profile/David-…
Read 9 tweets
Mar 12
In einem neuen Video gehen #funk & @Kurz_Gesagt der Frage nach, ob es in der langen #Erdgeschichte schon einmal höher entwickelte #Kulturen vor uns gegeben haben könnte - und werfen auch einen Blick darauf, was wir womöglich einmal hinterlassen werden:

funk.net/channel/kurzge…
Ein interessantes Gedankenexperiment, das u.a. auch auf die sog. #SilurianHypothesis zurückgeht, wie sie z.B. 2018 von @ClimateOfGavin und @AdamFrank4 in einem im International Journal of Astrobiology (18(2)) veröffentlichten Aufsatz diskutiert wurde:

cambridge.org/core/journals/…
Ich gebe ehrlich zu, in dieser Frage weniger optimistisch zu sein.

Warum ein solches Szenario (bzw. dessen Nachweis) aus gegenwärtiger archäologischer Sicht sehr unwahrscheinlich ist, durften @drspacejunk und ich mit z.B. @JamieSeidel hier diskutieren:

adelaidenow.com.au/news/special-f…
Read 5 tweets
Jan 28
The Past and the Curious:

Studying the remains of past lives - (re-) constructing narratives of past events and people.

Who's going to claim the title of "#HistoryFirsrArchaeologist"?

Choose your player …
Is it #Khaemweset, the ancient Egyptian crown prince (1281-1225 BC) who uncovered and restored ancient monuments of past rulers and renewed their funerary cults?

Or do you choose #Nabonidus, king of Babylon (c. 609 - c. 539 BC) who excavated the foundations of ancient temples to properly rebuild them - and who tried his hands on building an archaeological chronology?

Read 5 tweets

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