Archaeological Anthropology From excavation to interpretation

Begin the Excavation Grid system with datum point Scrape the uppermost surface Stratification creates superposition or sequence of time periods Phasing identifies each distinct layer or stratum Each time period is called a context Each item of interest is called a feature

Grid system and datum point

Grid system in Qulat al Bahrain

Features at C-8

Phasing by stratification

Extracting the Evidence Intensive vs extensive excavation Intrusive vs non-intrusive excavation Overcutting or undercutting the stratum Extraction by tools Separation by screen or sieve Separation by flotation Returning the fill Read pp

Separation

Intensive or extensive?

Interpretation of Evidence By analogy based on established knowledge Date: absolute or relative Economics: trade, labor, products Technology: food foraging or food producing Authority and social stratification Read pp

Dilmun Civilization of Bahrain Trade entrepot Qualat al Bahrain (Bahrain Fort, Seef) Burial Mounds (A’ali)

Trail of Dilmun Seals: trade, currency, craftsmanship

Qualat al Bahrain (Bahrain Fort, Seef): marketplace, labor, trade, houses, roads

Barbar Temple (Saar): 3 successive temples, Sumerian resemblance

Burial Mounds (A’ali): afterlife, social complexity, elite class

Attempts to protect the burial mounds have run into opposition by religious fundamentalists who consider them unIslamic and have called for them to be concreted over for housing. During a parliamentary debate on 17 July 2005, the leader of the salafist Asalah party, Sheikh Adel Mouwdah, said "Housing for the living is better than the graves for the dead. We must have pride in our Islamic roots and not some ancient civilisation from another place and time, which has only given us a jar here and a bone there."

Assignment: Read pp and Plan the event Make 3 instructional videos of 1 minute each 1. Before the dig 2. During the dig 3. After the dig