Domestication of rock: Late neolithic plaster ware from Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria and beyond
Authors
Files
View PDF
Published in Vol. 42 No. 3 (2025) of Muinaistutkija.
Muinaistutkija on Suomen arkeologisen seuran julkaisema lehti, joka julkaisee arkeologista tutkimusta ja muita arkeologiaan liittyviä tekstejä ensisijaisesti kotimaisilla kielillä.
ISSN 2489-785X (verkkojulkaisu)
Taittopohjan ja kannen suunnittelu: Ville Korkiakangas
Lehteen voi lähettää vertaisarvioitavia artikkeleita ja muita tekstejä pitkin vuotta. Sen jälkeen, kun tekstit on hyväksytty julkaistavaksi, ne ilmestyvät seuraavassa numerossa.
Kuuntele Muinaistutkijan arkeologia podcastia Spotifyssa tai Apple Podcastissa.
Abstract
Ny forskning lyfter fram bortglömt neolitiskt material
I en ny avhandling vid Helsingfors universitet med titeln Domestication of Rock – Late Neolithic Plaster Ware from Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria and Beyond, visar Bonnie Nilhamn-Kuosmanen, att förhistoriska samhällen i Mellanöstern tillverkade kärl av gips och kalk, så kallad Plaster Ware, i en tid då keramik precis börjat få fäste (perioden 7100–5600 f.v.t.) Avhandlingen bygger på ett omfattande material från utgrävningar vid Tell Sabi Abyad i norra Syrien som var ett internationellt projekt lett av Prof. Dr. P. Akkermans vid Leiden Universitet (1986–2010). Över 23 000 skärvor av Plaster Ware har dokumenterats. Gips och kalk är två olika råmaterial. Gips bränns vid låg temperatur, är lätt att forma men blir skört; kalk kräver hög värme och mer arbete men ger ett hållbart bruk. Trots detta visar studien att gips föredrogs, vilket tyder på att snabbhet, tillgänglighet eller tradition vägde tyngre än hållbarhet och att valen var medvetna, även organisatoriskt. Kärlen användes länge parallellt med
Files
View PDFReferences
Akkermans, P. P. M. G. 1993. Villages in the Steppe: Later Neolithic Settlement and Subsistence in the Balikh Valley, Northern Syria. Archaeological Series. International Monographs in Prehistory, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Akkermans, P. P. M. G. (ed.) 1996. Tell Sabi Abyad. The late Neolithic settlement. Report on the excavations of the University of Amsterdam (1988) and the National Museum of Antiquities Leiden (1991–1993) in Syria, Istanbul.
Akkermans, P., Bruning, M., Huigens, H. & Nieuwenhuyse, O. 2014. Excavations at Late Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria: The 1994–1999 Field Seasons. Brepols Publishers.
Akkermans, P. M., Cappers, R., Cavallo, C., Nieuwenhuyse, O., Nilhamn, B. & Otte, I. N. 2006. Investigating the early pottery Neolithic of northern Syria: New evidence from Tell Sabi Abyad. American Journal of Archaeology 110: 123–156.
Akkermans, P., Van der Plicht, J., Nieuwenhuyse, O. P., Russell, A. & Kaneda, A. 2015. Cultural transformation and the 8.2 ka event in Upper Mesopotamia. Climate and Ancient Societies 97: 97–112.
De Contenson, H. & Courtois, L. C. 1979. A propos des vases en chaux: recherches sur leur fabrication et leur origine. Paléorient 5: 177–182.
Dunand, M. 1949. Remarques à propos d’un article. Syria 26: 127–32.
Gosden, C. 1994. Social Being and Time. Oxford: Blackwell.
Ingold, T. 2007. Materials against materiality. Archaeological Dialogues 14(1): 1–16.
Ingold, T. 2013. Making. Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture. London: Rout-ledge.
Latour, B. 1994. We Have Never Been Modern, 3. print. (ed.). Transl. by C. Porter. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard Univ. Press. Originally published 1991.
Latour, B. 2005. Reassembling the social: An introduction to actor-network-theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Le Mière, M. 1983. Pottery and White ware, Bouqras revisited: Preliminary Report on a Project in Eastern Syria. Proceedings of the Prehistory Society 49: 351–354.
Maréchal, C. 1982. Vaisselles blanches du Proche-Orient. El Kowm (Syrie) et l’usage du plâtre au Néolithique. Cah. L’Euphrate 3: 217–251.
Nieuwenhuyse, O.P. 2007. Plain and Painted Pottery. The Rise of Regional Ceramic Styles on the Syrian and Northern Mesopotamian Plains, Papers on Archaeology of the Leiden Museum of Antiquities (PALMA). Turnhout: Brepols.
Nieuwenhuyse, O.P. 2018. Relentlessly Plain: Seventh Millennium Ceramics at Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Nieuwenhuyse, O. P. & Nilhamn, B. 2011. Water in the village. Neo-Lithics 2: 53–59.
Nilhamn, B. 2017. Was White Ware Always White? Looking into the World of Painted Plaster. In W. Cruells, O. Nieuwenhuyse, & I. Mateiciucova & (eds.) Painting Pots – Painting People: Late Neolithic Ceramics in Ancient Mesopotamia: 201–212. Oxford: Oxbow.
Nilhamn, B. 2023. Materiality of Plaster Vessels – the Problem of Southwest Asian Neolithic White Ware. In Reconsidering the Chaîne Opératoire: Towards a Multifaceted Approach to the Archaeology of Techniques, Special issue Open Archaeology 9(1): 1–28.
Nilhamn, B. 2024. The Beaded Rim: An Assessment of Functionality of Neolithic Plaster Ware and Pottery. Paléorient 50(1): 43–63.
Nilhamn, B., Brüning, M. L., & Kaneda, A. 2025. A peek behind the curtain: spatial distribution of Neolithic plaster ware in indoor contexts at Tell Sabi Abyad, Northern Syria, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 66: 105344.
Nilhamn, B. & Kume, S. 2024. Experiencing gypsum plaster. In B. Düring & J. H. Plug (eds) The Archaeology of the ‘Margins’. Studies on Ancient West Asia in Honour of Peter M.M.G. Akkermans, Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia: 283–296. Sidestone Press.
Olsen, B., Shanks, M., Webmoor, T. & Witmore, C. 2012. Archaeology: The Discipline of Things. University of California Press.
Shanks, M. 2007. Symmetrical archaeology. World Archaeology 39: 589–596.
Witmore, C.L. 2007. Symmetrical archaeology: Excerpts of a manifesto. World Archaeology 39: 546–562.
Details
| DOI | |
|---|---|
| Published |
November 12, 2025
|
| Issue | |
| Section |
Lektio
|
| License |