Abstract:

This book is a tribute to the remarkable achievements of Peter M.M.G. Akkermans in the archaeology of West Asia. A focus on previously overlooked periods and regions has been the hallmark of his work. Instead of investigating the traditional key transitions and core regions that have been central to the archaeology of West Asia, Peter always aimed to shed light on the ‘in-between’ periods and regions, often dismissed as being ‘marginal’ (in his words ‘marginal to whom or what?’). Through his long-term, systematic research in the ‘backwaters’ of the Balikh and the Badia, Peter demonstrated that these supposedly ‘marginal’ places and periods have, in fact, very rich and complex archaeological histories and are of key importance for understanding West Asia’s past and present.

Throughout his long career Peter has collaborated with and inspired many researchers, and he has mentored generations of upcoming archaeologists. Here, a selection of his former students and colleagues present a series of studies on societies and periods at the margins of research in West Asia. The contributions, written by an international group of authors, are organised in three broad themes that have also featured in Peter’s career: ‘death and society’, ‘settlements and society’, and ‘images, objects, and society’. We are convinced that colleagues working on West Asian archaeology who have appreciated the work of Peter M.M.G. Akkermans will find much of interest in this volume.

Contents

Archaeology in the Backwater: Peter Akkermans in the Balikh and the Badia
H. Huigens and K. Duistermaat

Bibliography of Peter M.M.G. Akkermans
Compiled by H. Huigens

I. Death And Society

Cause and Manner of Death at Late Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad: A Forensic Discussion
E. Smits

Between Life and Death: Continuing Bonds at Late Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria
K. Croucher and J.-H. Plug

The Syrian Excavations at Amrith VIII – The Tombs Excavated in 1954
M. Al-Maqdissi and Eva Ishaq

And The Flames Went Higher: A Study of a Late Bronze Age Pyre-Pit Grave from Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria
Keshia A.N. Akkermans

On Ends and New Beginnings: Monumentality and Changing Funerary Landscapes in Palmyra (3rd – 8th century CE)
Lidewijde de Jong

II. Settlement and Society

The 9th Millennium BCE in the Northwestern Badia of Jordan: Wadi Jilat 7 and Mushash 163
K. Bartl

Defining the Boundaries: Radiocarbon Dating Late Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad
J. van der Plicht and J.-H. Plug

Developments in Food Storage at Late Seventh Millennium BCE Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria: Buildings with Suspended Floors
M.L. Brüning

Round Versus Rectangular. Some Thoughts on the Interpretation of Early Houses.
D.J.W. Meijer

Where There’s Smoke, There’s… Ritual? Interpreting Burnt Buildings of the Cypriot Chalcolithic
V. Klinkenberg

Shifting Societies in Chalcolithic Cyprus
B.S. Düring

Workers of Assyria Unite! Building the Walls of Dur-Šarrukēn
A. Politopoulos

III. Images, Objects, and Society

Dividing the World, Directing the Mind: Boundaries, Art and Ritual at Göbekli Tepe
M. Verhoeven

Figurines in Transition. Changes in Figurine Practices at Tell Sabi Abyad from the Initial Pottery Neolithic to the Transitional Phase (ca. 7000 – 5900 BCE)
M. Arntz

Hidden Hunters: Hunting Scenes as Micro-Landscapes in Black Desert Rock Art
N.Ø. Brusgaard

T-Scraper or an ‘Eccentric Bucranium’? Interpretations of an Enigmatic Artefact from the Ruwayshid Flint Mines in North-East-Jordan
B. Müller-Neuhof

Experiencing Gypsum Plaster
B. Nilhamn and S. Kume

Stirring the Spirit: Magical Treasure Hunting and Europeans in West Asia (ca. 1800-1930 CE)
K. Berghuijs