List of Plates List of Figures List of Maps Notes for the Reader 1. Chronological Terminology 2. Problems in Historical Geography INTRODUCTION 1. The Agricultural Foundations 2. Resource Procurement 3. Craft and Industry: Methods of Study I. THE STONEWORKING CRAFTS: THE COMMON STONES 1. Introduction 2. Sculpture and Sculptors 3. Stone Vessel Manufacture II. THE STONEWORKING CRAFTS: ORNAMENTAL STONES 1. The Materials 2. Manufacturing Techniques III. WORKING WITH BONE, IVORY, AND SHELL 1. Antler 2. Horn 3. Bone 4. Wild Boar's Tusk 5. Hippopotamus Ivory 6. Elephant Ivory 7. Ostrich Egg shells 8. Tortoiseshell 9. Marine and Freshwater Shells IV. THE CERAMIC AND GLASSWORKING CRAFTS 1. The Craft of the Potter 2. Working with Faience 3. Working with Egyptian Blue 4. Glass and Glass-Making V. METALWORKING 1. Specialist Terminology 2. Precious Metals 3. Base Metals VI. THE BUILDING CRAFTS 1. Bricks and Brickmaking in Mud and Clay 2. Plasters and Mortars in Building 3. Bitumen in Building and Other Roles 4. Building in Stone 5. Building with Wood 6. Building with Reeds Bibliography Index

Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries: The Archaeological Evidence

1 Archaeology, archaeological science and microarchaeology 2 Information embedded in the microscopic record 3 Completeness of the archaeological record 4 Common mineral components of the archaeological record 5 Biological materials: bones and teeth 6 Biological materials: phytoliths, diatoms, eggshells, otoliths and mollusk shells 7 Reconstructing pyrotechnological processes 8 Biological molecules and macromolecules: protected niches 9 Ethnoarchaeology of the microscopic record: learning from the present 10 Absolute dating: assessing the quality of a date 11 Reading the microscopic record on-site 12 Infrared spectroscopy in archaeology

Microarchaeology: Beyond the Visible Archaeological Record

Publisher Summary
This chapter reviews turquoise sources and their analysis in Mesoamerica and the southwestern US context. As civilizations expand, the demand for rare resources becomes more systematized. Systematic demands are concomitant with systematic acquisition techniques. Mesoamerica, viewed as an ancient world system, certainly had such demands. Rare resource source areas eventually became so heavily exploited by Mesoamericans that province formation and/or colonization was finally reached in some cases. The term turquoise is used in two quite different manners: (1) the narrow definition, which is a chemical one, and (2) a broader designation, a cultural term embracing a whole range of blue and blue–green stones. The cultural term would not only include chemical turquoise but also certain types of malachite, azurites, chrysocollas, a green garnet, and several other copper-bearing minerals not yet fully identified. The turquoises appear to have been the second Teotihuacan luxury rare resource enterprise. Evidence suggests that Teotihuacan was trading for turquoises before attempts to control the rare resource province more directly were made.

Turquoise Sources and Source Analysis: Mesoamerica and the Southwestern U.S.A.

The volume under review contains a much needed synthesis of the major industries and technologies of the ancient Near East. Although the geographical emphasis is on Mesopotamia, the author's range extends from Anatolia to the Indus Valley and from central Asia to the Arabian Peninsula. The chronological focus is on the Bronze and Iron Ages within the above regions. The book is an indispensable guide to the archaeological discoveries, physico-chemical analysis, and textual references pertaining to the crafts of pottery, metal, glass, faience, and stone working, and to the role of bricks, mortar, and plaster in architectural construction.

Our Past Matters: Materials and Industries of the Ancient Near East@@@Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries: The Archaeological Evidence

The primary significance of compositional analysis in archaeology lies on the spatial dimension, in distinguishing products made by locally or regionally-based groups. If compositional analysis is to be carried beyond the descriptive recording of similarities and differences, the resource procurement zone (and its geographical relationship to inferred places of manufacture) is a basic operational concept (Rands and Bishop 1980). A zonal concept is clearly indicated in the case of pottery, which frequently is derived from raw materials, clay and temper, that do not necessarily coincide in their place of procurement. Moreover, depending on geomorphological and geochemical variables, these materials may show considerable homogeneity over a fairly extended area. On the other hand, unless there is strong, selective patterning in the exploitation of resources, great heterogeneity within a restricted region may result in fragmented procurement zones that are difficult to equate with the products of specific manufacturing centers. Under favorable circumstances, however, it appears that methods of compositional analysis are approaching the point at which microzones of limited geographical extent can be recognized and assigned heuristically useful boundaries.

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Biblical Studies through Activation Analysis of Ancient Pottery

Physical and chemical analyses of soft stone vessels from southwest asia

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