1,720,966 research outputs found

    “Deconstructing” the Northern Levantine Palace: Genesis and Development of a Public Building

    No full text
    Palaces, in many respects, represent the main outcome of the great socio-economic transformation that characterised the outgrowth of urban societies during the first half of the second millennium BC. In the Levant, the type of building that appeared was characterised by traits that make it quite different from similar and contemporaneous buildings located in Mesopotamia. This fact suggests the existence of an independent local tradition in the Levant which has thus usually been analysed in distinct chronological segments, with separate discussions of the relevant Middle Bronze Age (MBA) and Late Bronze Age (LBA) evidence to hand. This work uses two case studies of palace architecture dating to the MBA and LBA from Qatna to propose an analysis that highlights the existence of several shared traits. Via comparisons with contemporary examples, in particular Alalakh, a common genesis that developed along a unique and continuous path is suggested for both MBA and LBA palaces. The social role of northern Levantine palaces is thus seen as an expression of new local leaderships and as the vehicle of a common language whose origin might be traced back to the emergence of the so-called Amorite Koiné

    Asingeran, a Neolithic and Chalcolithic “Iceberg” in Northern Mesopotamia

    No full text
    Among the many results achieved by the Land of Nineveh Archaeological Project (LoNAP), one of the most notable was the discovery of a number of Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites distributed especially in the Plain of Navkur. One of these, Asingeran, is of particular significance due to considerable evidence of occupation dating to both periods, with a substantial continuation during the second millennium BCE (in particular during the Mitannian and Middle Assyrian period). Since 2018, Asingeran has been investigated by a joint archaeological project conducted by the University of Udine and the Directorate of Antiquities of Dohuk, which aims to throw light on its extensive archaeological sequence and in particular the late Neolithic - Chalcolithic periods. This paper discusses the results of the first archaeological campaign: albeit preliminary, the data to hand reveal Asingeran’s important contribution to our understanding of the development dynamics that characterised Northern Mesopotamia during the late 5th - early 4th millennium BCE. The study of Asingeran has furnished information that explains the site’s formation, its visibility in the plain and the existence of a hidden archaeological landscape that may characterise much of the plain of Navkur and probably a significant portion of Northern Mesopotamia

    2. Beyond Subsistence? Settlement Strategies of the Late Chalcolithic Period in the Selevani Plain (Upper Iraqi Tigris)

    No full text
    The aim of this paper is to provide an integrated overview of the settlement and social dynamics present in the upper sector of the Iraqi River Tigris Valley and its immediate hinterland during the Late Chalcolithic period. This has been achieved by processing and interpreting the results of two extensive regional survey projects, namely the Eastern Ḫabur Archaeological Survey (EHAS) and the Land of Nineveh Archaeological Project (LoNAP), recently undertaken along the eastern bank of the river. These results mark a significant advancement in the study of settlement patterns and cultural history compared to what was previously known of this region, which was mostly terra incognita prior to the current opening of Iraqi Kurdistan to a new era of archaeological field exploration

    INTEGRATION OF PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND PORTABLE MOBILE MAPPING TECHNOLOGY FOR 3D MODELING OF CULTURAL HERITAGE SITES: THE CASE STUDY OF THE BZIZA TEMPLE

    Full text link
    In this paper, we present a multi-sensor approach employed to obtain the 3D model of the Roman temple of Bziza (Lebanon) and its surroundings, a work carried out as part of the archaeological Northern Lebanon Project (NoLeP). The integration of photogrammetry and portable mobile mapping technology was tested to overcome the weaknesses of each individual surveying method, with the aim of producing a complete and realistic 3D reconstruction of the whole site, as well as capturing at high-resolution the architectural features of the main structure. Moreover, this case study serves to further investigate the accuracy that can be reached with mobile laser scanners, highlighting benefits and limitations of this rapid and efficient mapping technique also in the field of Cultural Heritage documentation

    Multispectral and high-resolution images as sources for archaeological surveys. New data, from Iraqi Kurdistan

    Full text link
    The paper presents the results of a two-year archaeological survey carried out in the Iraqi Kurdistan, namely within the Navkur plain that has been extensively explored by the University of Udine since 2012. The surveys were planned in advance using Remote Sensing products available online and processed with Google Earth Engine, a large-scale cloud computing service specifically designed to process geospatial big data and especially satellite imagery. Images from Landsat 5, Landsat 7 and Sentinel-2 platforms were selected, processed and assessed. After two years, an overall number of 46 new and previously unknown sites have been localized and surveyed, contributing to the knowledge of the past history of this portion of the Kurdistan region and testing the use of Remote Sensing cloud-computing applications in the context of Near Eastern archaeological research

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

    Full text link
    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Variations on the Author

    Full text link
    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

    Full text link
    We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
    corecore