IntranetTo which degree are central places influenced by their environment? Is the centrality higher in areas where the environmental conditions are more favourable in contrast to other? And if so: why? And if not: why?
These are some questions this doctoral thesis deals with. It is the general aim to reconstruct the environmental parameters that influenced the centrality of sites. The concept of central places as defined by Christaller (1933) as well as its theoretical enhancements and adaptions to archaeological questions [see also Projekt A-I-21] are the theoretical base. Since these concepts do not integrate the natural environment an assessment of it is very individual and subjective. This work attempts to formulate general environmental parameters that influence human and their spatial behaviour (e.g. the suitability for agricultural and traffic purposes or the access to resources) and – more importantly - integrate these in the description of a place’s centrality. This is the base of a holistic comparison of A-I’s different case studies. Preliminary results show that there are different spatial scales that shape the centrality of a place – naturally and culturally. Furthermore, there is a natural centrality and an artifical centrality. The first mainly characterizes areas of long settlement continuity and is strongly related to the environmental conditions. The latter is opposite to this and marked by a very high centrality for a short time. Nevertheless, depended from the duration of their importance they can sustainably influence the spatial palimpsest. At the moment analysis are conducted at the Syrian city Halab (Aleppo) in cooperation with the project A-I-6 as well as in Western Anatolia in cooperation with A-I-8.
The area under investigation is the region around Aleppo, within a radius of about 30-35 kilometres. It is defined by the Turkish border to the north, by the Nahr edh-Dhahab valley – i.e. the western part of the Jabbul plain – to the east, by the Matah/al-Madkh region – the marshy area where the Nahr al-Quwayq disappears – to the south and by the Afrin river valley and the Jebel Sim’an to the west and the north-west.
The project is divided into an historical-philological part and an archaeological part. All textual materials, especially of historical-geographical interest, have been gathered and analysed in order to identify – whenever possible – the ancient name(s) of the archaeological sites and their change in toponymy during different ages. The purpose of the historical study based on the ancient sources is to better understand the role of the large Syrian city as a regional capital and as a religious reference point for succeeding cultures, from the early Syrians to the Amorites to the Luwians and the Aramaeans. Concerning the archaeological aspect, one of the most important goals of the project is to determine how the density and the patterning of settlement changed through time. In parallel, the geoarchaeological investigation aims at reconstructing the spatial environment and assessing human adaptation to natural conditions in the region of Aleppo.
The studied area has been the object of some previous survey projects, but no systematic survey of the Aleppo region has hitherto been performed. The result of this is that we have historical-geographical, geoarchaeological and archaeological information on the region only at specific “points”. In particular there is no general picture of the area for the four most interesting historical phases in which it was the focus of settlement:
a) the Early Bronze Age, i.e. the period of the flourishing of Ebla;
b) the “Yamkhad period” (Middle Bronze II) of which much more is known from the textual evidence than from the archaeological materials;
c) the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age transition period, which however is archaeologically known in more detail than the previous ones;
d) the period of Neo-Assyrian domination and its Neo-Babylonian appendix which presents specific archaeological problems relevant to the definition of the ceramic horizons involved.
Therefore the data from previous surveys require important integrations so as to gain a full picture of the studied area., At the same time, they are extremely useful as benchmarks for the data obtained during our research.
To obtain a general vision of the settlement patterns within the chosen region, the possible archaeological sites were identified on the CORONA images (September 30th, 1969), on Google Earth – which is developed from high resolution satellite images, which are very useful in identifying ways to access the sites, other topographic features and in charting the agricultural exploitation of the territory – and on the topographic maps (scale 1:50000).
The most relevant preliminary result is probably the conclusion that the environs of Aleppo are characterized by a series of empty and full spaces for settlement, or, from another point of view, by lines of dense anthropic presence and total absence of sites in pre-Hellenistic Antiquity. This pattern responds primarily to three convenience requirements: proximity of water sources, availability of resources, strategic position. The region under investigation looks very promising for the exploration of second rank, smaller, possibly rural sites in the hinterland of Aleppo, an aspect of Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement structure often neglected by research.
Roswitha Del Fabbro studied Archaeology at the University of Udine (Italy), where she obtained her Master’s Degree in 2008 (thesis title: “I gioielli a Mari: Testi, tipologie e archeologia dell’oreficeria di una città siriana sul medio-Eufrate (XVIII sec. a.C.)“). She took part in several archaeological projects in Syria (Mishrifeh/Qatna – archaeological excavation), Turkey (Yassihöyük – archaeological survey), and Italy (Aquileia, San Benedetto dei Marsi, Poggibonsi/Poggio Imperiale, Variano – archaeological excavations). She is currently writing her Ph.D. dissertation (“Archaeological and geoarchaelogical investigation of the Aleppo hinterland“) within the Topoi research group A-I “Central places and their environment“.
The area under investigation is the region around Aleppo, with a ray of about 30-35 kilometres. It is defined by the Turkish border to the north, by the Nahr edh-Dhahab valley – i.e. the western part of the Jabbul plain – to the east, by the Matah/al-Madkh region – the marshy area where the Nahr al-Quwayq disappears – to the south and by the river ʻAfrin valley and the Jebel Simʻan to the west and the north-west.
The project is divided in a historical-philological part and in an archaeological part. All textual materials, especially of historical-geographical interest, have been gathered and analysed in order to identify – whenever possible – the ancient name/s of the archaeological sites and their change in toponymy during different ages. The purpose of the historical study based on the ancient sources is to better understand the role of the large Syrian city as a regional capital and as a religious reference point for succeeding cultures, from the early Syrians to the Amorites to the Luwians and the Aramaeans. Concerning the archaeological aspect, one of the most important goals of the project is to determine how the density and the patterning of settlement changed through time. In parallel, the geoarchaeological investigation aims at reconstructing the spatial environment and assessing human adaptation to natural conditions in the region of Aleppo.
The studied area has been the object of some previous survey projects, but no systematic survey of the Aleppo region has hitherto been performed. The result of this is that we have historical-geographical, geoarchaeological and archaeological information on the region only by specific “points”. In particular there is no general picture of the area for the four most interesting historical phases in which it was the focus of settlement:
- the Early Bronze Age, i.e. the period of the flourishing of Ebla;
- the “Yamkhad period” (Middle Bronze II) which is much more known from the textual evidences than from the archaeological materials;
- the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age transition period, which however is archaeologically known in more detail than the previous ones;
- the period of Neo-Assyrian domination and its Neo-Babylonian appendix which presents specific archaeological problems relevant to the definition of the ceramic horizons involved.
Therefore the data from previous surveys require important integrations so as to gain a full picture of the studied area, while at the same time proving extremely useful as benchmarks for the data obtained during our research.
To obtain a general vision of the settlement patterns within the chosen region, the possible archaeological sites were identified on the CORONA images (September 30th, 1969), on Google Earth – which is developed from high resolution satellite images, very useful to recognize the ways of access to the sites, other topographic features and to chart the agricultural exploitation of the territory –, and on the topographic maps (scale 1:50000).
The most relevant preliminary result is probably the fact that the environs of Aleppo prove to be characterized by a series of empty and full spaces for settlement, or, from another point of view, by lines of dense anthropic presence and total absence of sites in pre-Hellenistic Antiquity. This pattern responds primarily to three convenience requirements: proximity of water sources, availability of resources, strategic position. The region under investigation looks very promising for the exploration of second rank, smaller, possibly rural sites in the hinterland of Aleppo, an aspect of Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement structure often neglected by research.
Alessandro Bezzi is prehistorian archaeologists graduated in the Universities of Padua (Italy) and member of the Arc-Team, a company dedicated to archaeological fieldwork, architectonical documentation and study of the historical and cultural heritage. In 2009 he was Senior Fellow in the group Archaeometry – Archaeoinformatics (A-III), with a focus on “Digitale Aufnahme- und Auswertungsmethoden in der Archäologie”.
Luca Bezzi is prehistorian archaeologists graduated in the Universities of Padua (Italy) and member of the Arc-Team, a company dedicated to archaeological fieldwork, architectonical documentation and study of the historical and cultural heritage. In 2009 he was Senior Fellow in the group Archaeometry – Archaeoinformatics (A-III), with a focus on “Digitale Aufnahme- und Auswertungsmethoden in der Archäologie”.
This research project aims to analyze and model settlement patterns and long-term land use in mountain
environments, focusing especially on the integration of lowland and mountain in a comparative way in several case studies. The theoretical framework of the project incorporates landscape archaeology as well as computational archaeology.
To build diachronic models of resources exploitation, land use and movement practices on a micro-regional scale, the data on test areas in Central European, Alpine and Mediterranean environment will be analyzed using a GRASS GIS-based approach.
Fundamental research in computational archaeology are carried out by elaborating analytical grid-based and agent-based methods for the evaluation and understanding of the long-term ecological and economic impact of agropastoral activity, the organization and perception of marginal landscapes in the transect plain/middle altitude/high altitude.
