Eberhard Sauer

An Imperial Frontier of the Sasanian Empire: further fieldwork at the Great Wall of Gorgan

Abstract The 2006 season has yielded significant new insights into the Great Wall of Gorgans relation to landscape features and settlement, notably the division of the associated complex water supply system into sectors. The westernmost part of the wall is buried deeply beneath sediments from a past transgression of the Caspian Sea. An unexpectedly high number of brick kilns, of standardised design, shed light on the manner of the walls construction. Geophysical survey, satellite images and excavations have established that some or all of the associated forts were densely occupied with buildings, thought to be barracks, suggesting a strong military garrison.

Linear barriers of northern Iran : The great wall of gorgan and the wall of tammishe

Le grand mur de Gorgan, appele aussi mur d’Alexandre ou mur de Feroz, est une vaste structure defensive de pres de 200 km de long, entre la Mer caspienne et la chaine de l’Elbrouz. La date de sa construction est controversee, et elle varie selon les auteurs sur une plage chronologique allant de la conquete macedonienne a la conquete islamique. Le projet porte par l’universite d’Edimbourg, l’Iranian Cultural Heritage et l’organisation du tourisme du Golestan consistait a trancher la question de la datation du Grand mur de Gorgan et du mur de Tammishe en utilisant les methodes modernes de prospection archeologique et de datation absolue. Ces recherches ont revelees l’existence de structure hydrauliques mais surtout, les methodes de datation au radiocarbone et par luminescence stimulee optiquement (OSL) ont permis de cerner avec une grande precision la date de ces monuments. Ils ont ete eriges autour du Ve siecle de notre ere, donc vraisemblablement par l’empereur Sassanide Feroz, pour proteger l’empire des Huns Hephtaliques.

Landscape evolution and agro-sylvo-pastoral activities on the Gorgan Plain (NE Iran) in the last 6000 years

The Gorgan Plain (NE Iran) is characterized by fertile soils formed on a loess plateau and is at present primarily exploited for intensive agriculture. However, the timing and intensity of the human impact on the landscape in the past are still unclear. A sediment core, taken from the centre of the eastern Gorgan Plain in the Kongor Lake covering the major part of the Holocene from 6.1 to 0.8 ka (all ages are calibrated before present), has been studied for pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, botanical macroremains, insects, charcoal, geochemistry, biomarkers and magnetism in order to provide new insights into the evolution of the landscape and to estimate the intensity of human activities. The data obtained suggest a dry period between 5.9 and 3.9 ka and an increase in regional humidity afterwards with a maximum between 2.7 and 0.7 ka, during the period of the Persian empires (Achaemenid through Sasanian) and the Islamic era. The eastern part of the Gorgan Plain was characterized by open steppe landscapes during the last 6 ka, which most likely were used for pasture and at least since 2.7 ka for agriculture including arboriculture. The strongest anthropogenic impact on the environment around the Kongor site is documented during the Parthian and Sasanian Empires (200 BC–651 AD) and the Islamic era up to the eve of the Mongol invasion.

Sasanian walls, hinterland fortresses and abandoned ancient irrigated landscapes: the 2007 season on the Great Wall of Gorgan and the Wall of Tammishe

Abstract The 2007 season yielded significant new insights into settlement expansion into the land north of the line of the Gorgan Wall and the later abandonment of these sites in the steppe, prior to the construction of the Wall. It also provided us with a better understanding of Sasanian hydraulic engineering and the date and strategic role of large square fortifications south of this linear barrier. Via underwater archaeology, we explored installations associated with the Tammishe Wall and now submerged in the Caspian Sea. A detailed study of the pottery from a variety of sites associated with the Walls, as well as of settlements in the hinterland, is beginning to provide us with a clearer picture of pottery typology and the sequence of building projects and settlement patterns in the Gorgan Plain.

Ancient goat genomes reveal mosaic domestication in the Fertile Crescent

How humans got their goats Little is known regarding the location and mode of the early domestication of animals such as goats for husbandry. To investigate the history of the goat, Daly et al. sequenced mitochondrial and nuclear sequences from ancient specimens ranging from hundreds to thousands of years in age. Multiple wild populations contributed to the origin of modern goats during the Neolithic. Over time, one mitochondrial type spread and became dominant worldwide. However, at the whole-genome level, modern goat populations are a mix of goats from different sources and provide evidence for a multilocus process of domestication in the Near East. Furthermore, the patterns described support the idea of multiple dispersal routes out of the Fertile Crescent region by domesticated animals and their human counterparts. Science, this issue p. 85 Ancient goat genomes elucidate a dispersed domestication process across the Near East. Current genetic data are equivocal as to whether goat domestication occurred multiple times or was a singular process. We generated genomic data from 83 ancient goats (51 with genome-wide coverage) from Paleolithic to Medieval contexts throughout the Near East. Our findings demonstrate that multiple divergent ancient wild goat sources were domesticated in a dispersed process that resulted in genetically and geographically distinct Neolithic goat populations, echoing contemporaneous human divergence across the region. These early goat populations contributed differently to modern goats in Asia, Africa, and Europe. We also detect early selection for pigmentation, stature, reproduction, milking, and response to dietary change, providing 8000-year-old evidence for human agency in molding genome variation within a partner species.

Northern outpost of the Caliphate: maintaining military forces in a hostile environment (the Dariali Gorge in the Central Caucasus in Georgia)

Abstract The strategic significance of the Dariali Gorge, the main pass across the central Caucasus, has long been recognised. It forms a border today as it has done for much of the past 2000 years. But how was an effective military force sustained in an isolated Alpine environment? Excavations, osteoarchaeology and landscape survey have revealed that the Early Middle Ages saw as much investment in controlling this key route as there was in Antiquity. Guarded by the same Muslim-led garrison for at least a quarter of a millennium, its survival in a harsh environment was made possible through military effort and long-distance food supplies.

Alchester, a Claudian ‘Vexillation Fortress’ near the Western Boundary of the Catuvellauni: New Light on the Roman Invasion of Britain

Recent excavations at Alchester have shown that this Roman small town in Oxfordshire with its rectangular ground-plan had a military predecessor. It was preceded by one, possibly two, successive vexillation fortresses. Parts are buried deep beneath the civilian occupation layers of the later town. However, west of the late second-century town walls, a significant amount of the earlier vexillation fortress (or a large annexe to such) are more easily accessible to archaeological investigation. This paper focuses on the excavations in 1999, the first ever to take place within the vexillation fortress (or its annexe). The main emphasis is on the military phase. The discoveries from Alchester have major implications for the history of the Roman invasion of Britain. Although the investigations are still in progress and are to continue until 2003, analysis of the mid-first-century finds is well advanced so that there is little doubt about the general historical interpretation.

The aurochs, nature worship and exploitation in eastern Gaul

The unusual assemblage of aurochs horn cores from the baths of Bourbonne-les-Bains suggests votive deposits. But were they? The authors describe the assemblage, date it to the later Roman to early medieval period, discuss its possible environmental and ritual connotations, but also raise the possibility that it relates to craft-workers making use of the hot water supply to work the horn.

Mithras in Scotland: a Mithraeum at Inveresk (East Lothian)

Excavations to the east of the Roman fort of Inveresk in 2010 partly uncovered remains of a Mithraeum — the first from Scotland and the earliest securely dated example from Britain. A large rectangular sunken feature with lateral benches contained two altars buried face down at its north-western end. One was dedicated to Mithras, with iconography of both Mithras and Apollo as well as libation vessels. The other was dedicated to Sol, with a frieze above showing the Four Seasons. The Sol altar had a recess in the rear for a light which would have shone through his pierced rays, eyes, mouth and nose. Remains of an iron rod behind the nose hint at a more complex arrangement to create special visual or acoustic effects. Paint and plaster traces were recorded on both altars. The dedicator, G(aius) Cas(sius) Fla(…), a centurion, may have been in command of the garrison or of a legionary detachment. Stylistic links, especially in letter form, connect the work to sculptors of Legio XX. The stones and pigments are most likely from local sources. Little of the setting could be explored but there were traces of a precinct. A pit beside the Mithraeum included a large part of a well-used fineware beaker, which represented a deliberate offering. The Supplementary Material available online (http://journals.cambridge.org/bri) contains detailed descriptions of the altars, observations on the stone-working technology, lithology and pigment analysis, with extensive illustrations.

Religious Rituals At Springs In The Late Antique And Early Medieval World

The extent to which spring veneration survived the Christianisation of the Roman Empire and that of its early medieval successor states has been the subject of much academic controversy. Scholars have mainly focused on information provided by ecclesiastical writers and medieval legislation. This study explores what contribution a systematic analysis of the archaeological evidence can make, notably coins. It takes into account a series of important discoveries, never discussed in this context before. At least up to the late 4th c., there is ample proof for widespread spring veneration within the Empire and beyond. However, changes to associated rituals, probably at least in part a result of the increasing scarcity of base metal coins and other popular non-organic offerings, make it more difficult to prove or disprove continuity of cult into the period after A.D. 400.