Empires are analysed more often than villages, in the same way that temples are analysed more eagerly than houses – both because they are more impressive, and because they are usually better preserved. This means that what we know about rural settlement is substantially less in comparison to other areas of archaeology, but not that rural settlement is therefore less meaningful. Due to the relations between rural and urban development our understanding of rural settlement in the Neo-Assyrian Empire can contribute to our view of the Neo-Assyrian Empire as a whole.
For the purpose of this essay – which debates rural settlement rather than Empire – the Neo-Assyrian Empire is an area within which rural settlement took place, and a system within which rural settlement functioned. ‘Rural settlement’ as a process (the verb) and ‘rural settlement’ as a place (the noun) are interrelated as cause and consequence (settling creating settlements) but archaeologically approached differently (landscape versus site archaeology). At present, evidence of Neo-Assyrian rural settlement is dominated by surveys rather than excavations. While this makes it possible to draw conclusions about the functioning of the wider Empire, it is difficult to answer questions about everyday life within the settlements: who worked in the fields? What were the relationships between men and women? These questions remain largely unanswered.
This essay will set out by placing the Neo-Assyrian Empire in a broader context, and then briefly discussing the role of various kinds of site-based evidence for rural settlement. This is followed by three case studies on the wider landscape (figure 1), which will best support the subject of this essay. The first, Tell Beydar area, s...
... middle of paper ...
...ogical landscapes: current issues. Philadelphia: UPenn Museum of Archaeology.
Wilkinson, T. J., 2003. Archaeological Landscapes of the Near East. Tuscon: University of Arizona Press.
Wilkinson, T. J., 1998. Water and Human Settlement in the Balikh Valley, Syria: Investigations from 1992-1995. In Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 63 - 87.
Wilkinson, T. J., 1993. Landscape Studies in Upper Mesopotamia. Available at: http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/ar/92-93/jazira.html [Accessed April 7, 2011].
Winter, I., 2009. Ornament and the “Rhetoric of Abundance” in Assyria. In On Art in the Ancient Near East: Of the First Millennium B.C.E. Leiden: BRILL.
Yener, A. K. & Wilkinson, T. J., 2007. Archaeological Survey in the Amuq Valley: 1995-1996 Annual Report. Available at: http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/ar/95-96/amuq.html [Accessed April 10, 2011].
An Assyrian Emperor’s Resume: Ferocious Conquests a Specialty, written by an unknown author, offers evidence about the Assyrian Society around the time of 875 BCE, under the rule of Emperor Ashur-Nasir-Pal II, including insight in to the Assyrian society as well as what they valued and thought was important, however we cannot believe that this source is one hundred percent accurate.
Anson Rainey and R. Steven Notley are the authors of The Sacred Land Bridge, which is an Atlas of the biblical world and includes maps, pictures, and historical cementation as to the significance of this region. The biblical world that this atlas focuses on is defined as the eastern Mediterranean littoral, or more commonly called the Levant in modern archeological discussions. In my critique of this book I will be focusing on pages 30-34 which will define the boundaries and explain the importance of the Levant.
“The Barbeau archives at the Canadian Museum of Civilization: some current research problems” Anthropologica 43(2): 191. Accessed November 2004 on ProQuest http://proquest.umi.com/. ProQuest document ID: 357968991
Hallo, William W. and Simpson, William Kelly. The Ancient Near East: A History. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc., 1971. Hansen, Donald P. “New Votive Plaques from Nippur,'; in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol.
During the years of 3500 BC to 2500 BC, the geography of a land often impacted a civilizations development in great measures. Depending on the resources available or the detriments present due to certain topographical characteristics like rivers or deserts, a civilization could flourish or collapse. By studying the geographic features of growing societies like the Nile, Euphrates, and Tigris Rivers as well as the Mediterranean Sea of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the link between developing cultures and geography will be examined through sources, including Egypt: Ancient Culture, Modern Land edited by Jaromir Malek and Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek. To determine the extent of its influence, this investigation will attempt to compare and contrast the role of geography in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, focusing on the civilizations’ various periods of development and settlement.
Cothren, Michael W. "Art of the Ancient Near East." Art History Ancient Art. By Marilyn Stokstad. Fourth ed. Print.
The Iliad alone would never have been a reliable source without archaeological evidence to verify the actuality of a Trojan war. Therefore archaeologists have been working on the site known as hissarlik since the 1800’s to uncover truths about the myth. Frank Calv...
Mesopotamia was a great nation that influenced many other nations that surrounded it. When I began this research, I did not know much about Mesopotamia and its culture or historical background. I did keep in mind the different factors that influenced the culture of the people as well as how it compared to our culture now. It was a big commercial industry, that included metalworking. Metal was an important, but very rare so Mesopotamia was a hot spot for silver, copper, and gold. This meant that many foreigners would come in and out of the land. In this paper I will be comparing the cultural differences of our time now and the time back then. I will also compare the theology of the people, how families worked back then, how economy was a factor
Hause, S., & Maltby, W. (2001). The Ancient Near East: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Phoenicia and Israel. Essentials of Western Civilization (pp.7-15). California: Wadsworth.
W. Raymond Johnson, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, (1996), pp. 65-82, Date viewed 19th may, http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3822115.pdf?&acceptTC=true&jpdConfirm=true
Gates, Charles. Ancient Cities: The Archaeology of Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece, and Rome. London: Routledge, 2003. Print.
Fleming, Sean Michael. "Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia." Library Journal 15 Feb. 2006
The development of an empire is a change strongly emphasized in the Archeology as a radical departure from the Hellenic tradition, and consequently a major source of conflict among the Greeks. Prior to the adven...
Early in Sumerian civilization, eighty to ninety percent of those who farmed did on land they considered theirs rather than communal property. The Sumerians indicated a trend that was common among others....
Winter, Irene. "Ornament and the 'Rhetoric of Abundance' in Assyria." Eretz-Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies 27 (2003): 252-264, at 253.