Final Reports of the Syrian-German Excavations at Tell el-‘Abd, Volume III

Small Objects and Environmental Studies

edited by Uwe Finkbeiner

Book cover: Final Reports of the Syrian-German Excavations at Tell el-‘Abd, Volume III

Extent: 364 pages

Publisher: Zaphon

Subjects: Ancient Near East, Mediterranean Archaeology

Series: marru

Series volume number: 5.2

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(April 2019)

ISBN: 9783963270406

Price: $132.00

In stock

PDF (Published)

(April 2019)

ISBN: 9783963270413

Price: $132.00

Tell el-‘Abd (Northern Syria, Tabqa Dam Basin) has been investigated in 1971/72 by Adnan Bounni and 1992-1994 by Altorientalisches Seminar of Tubingen University, confirming the earlier Syrian results and-more significantly-supplemented them with levels from the first half of the 3rd millennium BC, certainly the most important period of the tell. This volume is dedicated to the small objects (anthropomorphic figurines, animal figurines, jewelry, an objects made of bone, metal and stone) and the results of environmental studies (archaeobotany, archaeozoology and anthracology).


Tell el-‘Abd (Northern Syria, Tabqa Dam Basin) has been investigated in 1971/72 by Adnan Bounni and 1992-1994 by Altorientalisches Seminar of Tubingen University, confirming the earlier Syrian results and – more significantly – supplemented them with levels from the first half of the 3rd millennium BC, certainly the most important period of the tell. This volume (marru 5/2) is dedicated to the small objects (anthropomorphic figurines, animal figurines, jewellery, an objects made of bone, metal and stone) and the results of environmental studies (archaeobotany, archaeozoology and anthracology). It thus adds the evaluation of the remaining finds plus the results of the investigations into fauna and flora so that finds and environmental conditions together make arise an overall picture of the settlement. Stratigraphy and architecture are intended will be fully elaborated as the topic of the third and last volume of the Final Reports (marru 5/1, in preparation) which began in 2014 with the presentation of the 3rd-millennium ceramics (AVO 16/2).

List of figures, tables and plates / Abbreviations / Editor's preface / Acknowledgements 1. Introduction (Uwe Finkbeiner/Paola Sconzo) 1.1 The excavations at Tell el-'Abd (P. Sconzo) 1.2 Structure of the volume (U. Finkbeiner) PART I. Small Objects 2. Sealings (Candida Felli) 2.1 Catalogue 2.2 Summary 3. Anthropomorphic figurines (Ferhan Sakal) 3.1 Handmade figurines from the 3rd millennium B.C. 3.2 Figurines that were completely or partially made in the mould 3.3 Figurines that could not be assigned 3.4 Figurines that have not been treated 4. Animal figurines, model vehicles, rattles and architecture models (Alexander Pruss) 4.1 Animal Figurines 4.2 Model vehicles 4.3 Vehicle wheels and lentoid discs 4.4 Rattles 4.5 Architecture models 5. Bone objects (Hermann Genz) 5.1 Decorated bone tubes 5.2 Awls 5.3 Spatulae 5.4 Pins/rods 5.5 Spindle whorls 5.6 Conclusions 6. Metal objects (Aaron Schmitt) 6.1 Pins and needles 6.2 Weapons 6.3 Tools 6.4 Nails 6.5 Miscellaneous 7. Stone objects (Uwe Finkbeiner) 7.1 Containers, fragment of a spoon 7.2 Grinding stones and mortars 7.3 Pestles 7.4 Spindle whorls 7.5 Whetstone 7.6 Pivot stones 7.7 Weights 7.8 Gaming pieces, dice 7.9 Sling stones 7.10 Round discs with holes (loom weights or net sinkers) 7.11 Discs 7.12 Objects of various other shapes 8. Baked and unbaked objects of clay (Uwe Finkbeiner) 9. Jewellery (Uwe Finkbeiner) 9.1 Beads 9.2 Rings 9.3 Pendants PART II. Environmental Studies 10. Archaeological and anthropological analysis of Burial 1 (Susanne Wilhelm) 11. The faunal remains of Tell el-'Abd. Subsistence in a Bronze Age setlement in Syria (Monika Doll) 11.1 Species composition 11.2 Domestic species 11.3 Wild species 11.4 Summary 11.5 Measurements 12. Resource management at Tell el-'Abd. E conomic specialization despite or because of environmental limitation? (Simone Riehl) 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Materials and methods 12.3 Results 12.4 Discussion 12.5 Conclusions 13. Charcoal remains from third millennium BC Tell el-'Abd (Katleen Deckers) 13.1 Introduction 13.2 The site and the samples 13.3 Methods 13.4 Discussion 13.5 Conclusion 14. On the Tell el-'Abd radiocarbon chronology (Katleen Deckers) 15. Conclusion. Tell el-'Abd through the ages (Uwe Finkbeiner) Bibliography Abbreviations References Appendices Appendix A. Small objects by inventory-number Appendix B. Small objects by square and locus Catalogue and Plates

  • Edited by Uwe Finkbeiner