Yorke M Rowan
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 144154 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Yorke M Rowan |
| NOMBRES | Yorke M |
| APELLIDO | Rowan |
| FIRMA | ROWAN Y M |
| AFILIACIONES | University of Chicago |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6577-1215 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 41 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 115 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 41 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1991 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2025 |
| ÍNDICE H | 7 |
The Ground Stone Assemblage from Ashqelon, Afridar—Area E
Not a place for respectable people, but the ends of the earth converge there
New data, recovered by the Eastern Badia Archaeological Project, from substantial structures at Wisad Pools have provided insights into the nature and context of eastern Jordan’s Black Desert Neolithic cultural complex, dating to between c. 7000 and 5000 cal. BC. Hunter-herder-trapper communities, with economies based partially on ante-mortem exploitation of domestic sheep, were adept at maintaining a balance between local and non-local adaptatio…
Fieldwork in an Increasingly Variable Climate
Archaeologists commonly include climatic data in their analyses of living in the past, but rarely do current weather conditions achieve mention in our professional considerations. The Kites in Context Project (KiC) focuses on a multi-scalar investigation of desert kites in the eastern badia region of Jordan. During the Neolithic (7000–5000 b.c.) period, people began building large animal traps, known as desert kites, across a wide swath of southw…
Local-scale environmental gradients in ‘snail-shell’ stable isotopes from Holocene Jordanian archaeological sites
Reconstructing environments around archaeological sites is complicated by past land management practices and regional-scale climate proxies that can be contradictory and are often located at a distance from the sites themselves. Here we explore environmental information from fossil snail shells which, even when few in number on an archaeological site, may prove invaluable in constructing site-specific data. The palaeoecology of fossil snails and …
On Hedgehogs and Marvelous Minds
The collection of 3D point data is a common bottleneck for archaeological excavations despite an increasing range of powerful spatial data collection technologies. Total stations often require a dedicated operator, and they are optimal for excavation-level data collection over relatively short line-of-site distances. Precision Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) require reliable communication with constellations of distant satellites and m…
Late Prehistory of the Lower Galilee
In the southern Levant, fundamental changes in economic organization, mortuary practices, and settlement patterns took place during the 5th to early 4th millennium b.c.e., or the Chalcolithic period (ca. 4500–3700/3600 b.c.e.). Our best evidence derives from sites in the Negev, and to a lesser degree, the Jordan Valley and Golan Heights, and the mortuary sites along the coast. The goal of the Galilee Prehistory Project is to examine this period b…
Inscribed landscapes in the Black Desert
Petroglyphs are well known in the Negev, eastern and southern Jordan, and the Arabian Peninsula. Intensive documentation of hundreds of petroglyphs at the site of Wisad Pools in the Black Desert of eastern Jordan records animals, humans, hunting traps and geometric designs, connecting people and places to the larger landscape. These were recorded at the landscape scale with drones and photogrammetry, and the local scale through the construction o…
Fodder, pasture, and the development of complex society in the Chalcolithic
Tel Yaqush—An Early Bronze Age Village in the Central Jordan Valley, Israel
This article highlights the results of five excavation seasons at Tel Yaqush, Israel, conducted between the 1989 and 2000 on behalf of The Oriental Institute at The University of Chicago. Tel Yaqush was a medium-sized village, inhabited during the entire Early Bronze Age period, from the mid-4th to the mid-3rd millennia b.c.e. The excavations exposed a dense settlement begun in the Early Bronze Age (EB) I, which ended in a severe conflagration. A…
Expediting Reincarnation in the Fifth Millennium BCE
We examine and reinterpret the phenomenon of containers used for the secondary burial of human remains – ossuaries – in the Chalcolithic period of the southern Levant, c.4500–3700 BCE. Ossuary form and decoration, both plastic and painted, is evocative and symbol‐laden. Since their first discovery in the 1930s, several hypotheses have sought to explain ossuary iconography, but none provides an integrated, holistic interpretation. Chalcolithic ico…
Eastern Badia Archaeological Project
From May 25 to June 22, 2018, the Eastern Badia Archaeological Project team worked at the remote site of Wisad Pools in the panhandle of eastern Jordan. With a generous PEF grant and sponsored by t
Droning on in the Badia
Drones, or Unpiloted Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), are quickly changing approaches to archaeological mapping. They are effective tools for documenting smaller ancient features that might be missed by the resolution limitations of satellite imagery. As part of the Eastern Badia Archaeological Project, this article presents the preliminary results of a large-scale aerial survey of Wadi al-Qattafi, Jordan undertaken to map the kites and smaller features c…
The Late Neolithic Presence in the Black Desert
Major cultural transformations took place in the southern Levant during the late prehistoric periods (ca. mid-seventh through fourth millenna B.C.E.). General syntheses rarely include more than cursory mention of the more arid regions of the southern Levant (Negev, eastern and southern Jordan). The Eastern Badia Archaeological Project [EBAP] study area comprises a west–east transect across the southern part of the eastern badia, selected to inclu…
Introduction. Leave no stone unturned
Ground stone tools served in many physical and social contexts through millennia, reflecting a wide variety of functions. Although ground stone tool studies were neglected for much of early archaeology, the last few decades witnessed a notable international uptick in the way archaeologists confront this multifaceted topic. Today, with the advance of archaeology as a discipline, research into ground stone artefacts is moving into a new phase that …
Gazelles, Liminality, and Chalcolithic Ritual
Endangered today, gazelles were both economically and symbolically important to the peoples of the ancient Near East. In various contexts, the gazelle has represented liminality, death, and rebirth. Gazelles held special significance in the southern Levant, where archaeologists have documented cases, spanning 20,000 years, of ritual behavior involving gazelle body parts. What roles did gazelles play during the Chalcolithic (ca. 4500–3600 B.C.), a…
The Judean Desert as a Chalcolithic Necropolis
Cave deposits represent a special category of archaeological context that invokes its own set of research questions. The interpretation of these deposits, however, is often based on unfounded assumptions. The idea of ‘cave men’ utilizing caves as domestic space persists to this day, both in the public imagination and in archaeological interpretation. But a cave is not generally a good place to live; the adoption of caves as living space occurs in…
Feasting at Marj Rabba, An Early Chalcolithic Site in the Galilee
Feasting is a common part of human culture in the present and past that can serve a variety of roles such as creating and maintaining social identities within and between social groups. In zooarchaeology, feasting evidence, rather than the accumulated and mixed refuse from long‐term consumption, often gives us some of the only data from individual events at a site. A cattle bone refuse pit at the site of Marj Rabba, Israel, provides evidence for …
Gods and scholars
These two edited volumes reflect the continuing surge of interest in the archaeology of religious practice and belief. Over the past 20 years, archaeologists have turned their focus on the study of ritual and religion, challenging what Hawkes (1954: 162) considered the highest and most difficult to reach rung on his ladder of inference: "religious institutions and spiritual life". Renewed interest in the archaeology of religion and ritual was lar…
First chronometric results for 'works of the old men
Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating and spatial analysis of geometric lines in the Northern Arabian Desert
The “land of conjecture
Major cultural transformations took place in the southern Levant during the late prehistoric periods (ca. late 7th–4th millennia b.c.). Agropastoralists expanded into areas previously only sparsely occupied and secondary animal products played an increasingly important economic role. In the arable parts of the southern Levant, the olive in particular became increasingly significant and may have played a part in expanded exchange contacts in the r…
The Late Neolithic colonization of the Eastern Badia of Jordan
Pioneering research by Betts and by Garrard in the eastern steppe and desert of Jordan demonstrated the presence of Late Neolithic (c. 7000–5000 cal bc) pastoral exploitation of this currently arid/hyper-arid region, but the scale of Late Neolithic presence in the area was difficult to assess from the reports of their surveys and excavations. Recent investigations by the Eastern Badia Archaeological Project at Wisad Pools and the Wadi al-Qattafi …
Ground-penetrating radar investigations at Marj Rabba, a Chalcolithic site in the lower Galilee of Israel
Mapping with Aerial Photographs
A rapidly expanding array of innovative technologies, combined with traditional techniques, allow more sophisticated photographic and photogrammetric techniques to document and analyze archaeological features, sites, and landscapes. With multiple ways to put a camera aloft over archaeological sites and landscapes, aerial photographs are more than a “bird's eye view.” Over five seasons at the Chalcolithic Period (c. 4500–3700 b.c.e.) site of Marj …
Animal Management Strategies during the Chalcolithic in the Lower Galilee
Le Chalcolithique (4500-3600 cal. av. J.-C.) du Levant Sud est le foyer d’une différentiation sociale et d’une spécialisation économique accrue. Parmi les principales sources de spécialisation économique figurent les produits d’origine animale, particulièrement les produits dérivés des moutons, chèvres et bovins. Les suidés tiennent également une place importante, bien que négligée dans la littérature. Dans cet article, nous utilisons les informa…
Beyond Belief
Until recently, the study of religion and ritual by archaeologists was typically found among those studying "world religions," particularly those with the benefit of texts. Building upon a renewed interest in archaeological explorations of ancient religion and sacred ritual, the authors in this volume construct new understandings of the material forms of religion through the combination of multiple perspectives and differing methodological approa…
Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating and spatial analysis of geometric lines in the Northern Arabian Desert
Animal Management Strategies during the Chalcolithic in the Lower Galilee
Le Chalcolithique (4500-3600 cal. av. J.-C.) du Levant Sud est le foyer d’une différentiation sociale et d’une spécialisation économique accrue. Parmi les principales sources de spécialisation économique figurent les produits d’origine animale, particulièrement les produits dérivés des moutons, chèvres et bovins. Les suidés tiennent également une place importante, bien que négligée dans la littérature. Dans cet article, nous utilisons les informa…
Fodder, pasture, and the development of complex society in the Chalcolithic
The “land of conjecture
Major cultural transformations took place in the southern Levant during the late prehistoric periods (ca. late 7th–4th millennia b.c.). Agropastoralists expanded into areas previously only sparsely occupied and secondary animal products played an increasingly important economic role. In the arable parts of the southern Levant, the olive in particular became increasingly significant and may have played a part in expanded exchange contacts in the r…
Ground-penetrating radar investigations at Marj Rabba, a Chalcolithic site in the lower Galilee of Israel
The Archaeology of the Daily Grind
Few people in the world today work with stone tools that they, or their immediate community, manufactured. But this is a recent development, as stone tools have played a central role in daily life for many millennia, for hunter-gatherers, settled agriculturalists and pastoralists. As a fundamental component of the food-production tool kit, these are the most visible artifacts to provide information about a daily activity necessary to human surviv…
Mapping with Aerial Photographs
A rapidly expanding array of innovative technologies, combined with traditional techniques, allow more sophisticated photographic and photogrammetric techniques to document and analyze archaeological features, sites, and landscapes. With multiple ways to put a camera aloft over archaeological sites and landscapes, aerial photographs are more than a “bird's eye view.” Over five seasons at the Chalcolithic Period (c. 4500–3700 b.c.e.) site of Marj …
Inscribed landscapes in the Black Desert
Petroglyphs are well known in the Negev, eastern and southern Jordan, and the Arabian Peninsula. Intensive documentation of hundreds of petroglyphs at the site of Wisad Pools in the Black Desert of eastern Jordan records animals, humans, hunting traps and geometric designs, connecting people and places to the larger landscape. These were recorded at the landscape scale with drones and photogrammetry, and the local scale through the construction o…
The Late Neolithic Presence in the Black Desert
Major cultural transformations took place in the southern Levant during the late prehistoric periods (ca. mid-seventh through fourth millenna B.C.E.). General syntheses rarely include more than cursory mention of the more arid regions of the southern Levant (Negev, eastern and southern Jordan). The Eastern Badia Archaeological Project [EBAP] study area comprises a west–east transect across the southern part of the eastern badia, selected to inclu…
First chronometric results for 'works of the old men
Expediting Reincarnation in the Fifth Millennium BCE
We examine and reinterpret the phenomenon of containers used for the secondary burial of human remains – ossuaries – in the Chalcolithic period of the southern Levant, c.4500–3700 BCE. Ossuary form and decoration, both plastic and painted, is evocative and symbol‐laden. Since their first discovery in the 1930s, several hypotheses have sought to explain ossuary iconography, but none provides an integrated, holistic interpretation. Chalcolithic ico…
The Judean Desert as a Chalcolithic Necropolis
Cave deposits represent a special category of archaeological context that invokes its own set of research questions. The interpretation of these deposits, however, is often based on unfounded assumptions. The idea of ‘cave men’ utilizing caves as domestic space persists to this day, both in the public imagination and in archaeological interpretation. But a cave is not generally a good place to live; the adoption of caves as living space occurs in…
Feasting at Marj Rabba, An Early Chalcolithic Site in the Galilee
Feasting is a common part of human culture in the present and past that can serve a variety of roles such as creating and maintaining social identities within and between social groups. In zooarchaeology, feasting evidence, rather than the accumulated and mixed refuse from long‐term consumption, often gives us some of the only data from individual events at a site. A cattle bone refuse pit at the site of Marj Rabba, Israel, provides evidence for …
Chalcolithic Hamlet Excavations near Shiqmim, Negev Desert, Israel
We explore the nature of three small villages or “hamlets” situated in close proximity to Shiqmim—one of the largest Chalcolithic (ca. 4500–3600 CAL B.C.) settlements in the southern Levant. Located in the northern Negev Desert of Israel, Shiqmim and other large sites in the Beersheva valley have yielded data suggesting the emergence of a regional chief dom-level social organization in this period. Identifying chiefdoms in the Near Eastern archae…
Local-scale environmental gradients in ‘snail-shell’ stable isotopes from Holocene Jordanian archaeological sites
Reconstructing environments around archaeological sites is complicated by past land management practices and regional-scale climate proxies that can be contradictory and are often located at a distance from the sites themselves. Here we explore environmental information from fossil snail shells which, even when few in number on an archaeological site, may prove invaluable in constructing site-specific data. The palaeoecology of fossil snails and …
Droning on in the Badia
Drones, or Unpiloted Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), are quickly changing approaches to archaeological mapping. They are effective tools for documenting smaller ancient features that might be missed by the resolution limitations of satellite imagery. As part of the Eastern Badia Archaeological Project, this article presents the preliminary results of a large-scale aerial survey of Wadi al-Qattafi, Jordan undertaken to map the kites and smaller features c…
New Evidence on Prehistoric Trade Routes
Obsidian artifacts are rare finds in prehistoric sites in Israel. The scarcity of the material and the absence of obsidian sources in Israel makes such artifacts especially important for understanding ancient exchange patterns. The closest sources of obsidian found in Israel are in the Cycladic Islands of Greece to the west and Anatolia to the north. Using neutron activation analysis (NAA), we identify the origin of seven obsidian artifacts from …
Use Wear Analysis of a Chalcolithic Scraper Assemblage from Shiqmim
YORKE ROWAN, THOMAS E. LEVY, יורק רוואן, תומס א. לוי, ניתוח סימני שימוש במכלול של מגרדים כלכוליתיים משקמים / Use Wear Analysis of a Chalcolithic Scraper Assemblage from Shiqmim, Mitekufat Haeven: Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society / מתקופת האבן, כרך כ"ד (תשנ"א / 1991), pp. 112-134
Proto-Canaanean Blades of the Chalcolithic Period
The discovery of an assemblage of large prismatic flint blades at the Chalcolithic cult site of Gilat in Israel’s northern Negev desert, adds a new corpus of technological and cultural data concerning the Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age transition in Palestine. A description of these blades and their cultural significance is presented here.
New Evidence on Prehistoric Trade Routes
Obsidian artifacts are rare finds in prehistoric sites in Israel. The scarcity of the material and the absence of obsidian sources in Israel makes such artifacts especially important for understanding ancient exchange patterns. The closest sources of obsidian found in Israel are in the Cycladic Islands of Greece to the west and Anatolia to the north. Using neutron activation analysis (NAA), we identify the origin of seven obsidian artifacts from …
Egyptian-Canaanite Interaction at Nahal Tillah, Israel (ca. 4500-3000 B. C. E.)
The nature of the Dynasty 0-Dynasty I Egyptian presence in southern Israel has been a source of debate since the excavations of Tel Erani on the fringe of the northern Negev in the 1950s when numerous Egyptian artifacts were discovered. Since then, a wide range of models have been used to characterize the nature of Egyptian-Canaanite relations. These models include warfare/conquest, commercialization, distance parity, and world systems. The recen…
Town and Country in the Southern Carmel
This report deals with the results of a project of landscape archaeology in the hinterland of Tel Dor (Tanturah) in the northern coastal plain of Israel. An introduction to previous research made in the region is followed by a description of the survey methods employed during the project and the characteristics of the five geographical subunits investigated (Zones I–V) The patterning of settlement remains and the chronology of landscape features …
The Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic Periods in the Southern Levant
The Archaeology of the Daily Grind
Few people in the world today work with stone tools that they, or their immediate community, manufactured. But this is a recent development, as stone tools have played a central role in daily life for many millennia, for hunter-gatherers, settled agriculturalists and pastoralists. As a fundamental component of the food-production tool kit, these are the most visible artifacts to provide information about a daily activity necessary to human surviv…
The Chalcolithic in the Central Highlands of Palestine
Major formative socio-economic changes occurred during the Chalcolithic period (c. 4500-3600 BC) in the southern Levant, including the beginnings of metallurgy, intensified craft production, new mortuary practices and elaborated iconographic and symbolic expression. Although a mosaic of regional groups are located within discrete geophysical zones, much of our knowledge of these transformations derives from survey and excavation in a few core are…
Modeling Time and Transition in Prehistory
Chalcolithic Hamlet Excavations near Shiqmim, Negev Desert, Israel
We explore the nature of three small villages or “hamlets” situated in close proximity to Shiqmim—one of the largest Chalcolithic (ca. 4500–3600 CAL B.C.) settlements in the southern Levant. Located in the northern Negev Desert of Israel, Shiqmim and other large sites in the Beersheva valley have yielded data suggesting the emergence of a regional chief dom-level social organization in this period. Identifying chiefdoms in the Near Eastern archae…
The Chalcolithic Period of the Southern Levant
The Archaeology of Ritual. Cotsen Advanced Seminar 3 . Evangelos Kyriakidis
Stone Vessels in the Levant . Rachael Thyrza Sparks
Deconstructing and Recomposing the Narrative of Spiritual Life in the Chalcolithic of the Southern Levant (4500–3600 B.C.E.)
The serendipity of discovery can determine the process and progress of the archaeological interpretation of religious belief and ritual practice. The Chalcolithic period (4500–3600 B.C.E.) of the southern Levant is used as a case study. Had the material expressions of Chalcolithic religion been discovered in a different sequence, our understanding of that religion might have been distinctly altered. We first present a chronological narrative of d…
Beyond Belief
Until recently, the study of religion and ritual by archaeologists was typically found among those studying "world religions," particularly those with the benefit of texts. Building upon a renewed interest in archaeological explorations of ancient religion and sacred ritual, the authors in this volume construct new understandings of the material forms of religion through the combination of multiple perspectives and differing methodological approa…
Beautiful, Good, Important and Special
Through an examination of representations of cultural heritage in miniature this paper tackles the recurrent question of how culture, the nation, and the past are presented to the public. Exploring how this is achieved at the microcosm of Mini Israel, an outdoor park midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv where you can "see it all small" (Shapira 2003: 1), we conclude that Mini Israel offers visitors (foreign or local) what they want; an unthreate…
Animal Management Strategies during the Chalcolithic in the Lower Galilee
Le Chalcolithique (4500-3600 cal. av. J.-C.) du Levant Sud est le foyer d’une différentiation sociale et d’une spécialisation économique accrue. Parmi les principales sources de spécialisation économique figurent les produits d’origine animale, particulièrement les produits dérivés des moutons, chèvres et bovins. Les suidés tiennent également une place importante, bien que négligée dans la littérature. Dans cet article, nous utilisons les informa…
The Late Neolithic colonization of the Eastern Badia of Jordan
Pioneering research by Betts and by Garrard in the eastern steppe and desert of Jordan demonstrated the presence of Late Neolithic (c. 7000–5000 cal bc) pastoral exploitation of this currently arid/hyper-arid region, but the scale of Late Neolithic presence in the area was difficult to assess from the reports of their surveys and excavations. Recent investigations by the Eastern Badia Archaeological Project at Wisad Pools and the Wadi al-Qattafi …
Ground-penetrating radar investigations at Marj Rabba, a Chalcolithic site in the lower Galilee of Israel
Mapping with Aerial Photographs
A rapidly expanding array of innovative technologies, combined with traditional techniques, allow more sophisticated photographic and photogrammetric techniques to document and analyze archaeological features, sites, and landscapes. With multiple ways to put a camera aloft over archaeological sites and landscapes, aerial photographs are more than a “bird's eye view.” Over five seasons at the Chalcolithic Period (c. 4500–3700 b.c.e.) site of Marj …
Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating and spatial analysis of geometric lines in the Northern Arabian Desert
The “land of conjecture
Major cultural transformations took place in the southern Levant during the late prehistoric periods (ca. late 7th–4th millennia b.c.). Agropastoralists expanded into areas previously only sparsely occupied and secondary animal products played an increasingly important economic role. In the arable parts of the southern Levant, the olive in particular became increasingly significant and may have played a part in expanded exchange contacts in the r…
Introduction. Leave no stone unturned
Ground stone tools served in many physical and social contexts through millennia, reflecting a wide variety of functions. Although ground stone tool studies were neglected for much of early archaeology, the last few decades witnessed a notable international uptick in the way archaeologists confront this multifaceted topic. Today, with the advance of archaeology as a discipline, research into ground stone artefacts is moving into a new phase that …
Gazelles, Liminality, and Chalcolithic Ritual
Endangered today, gazelles were both economically and symbolically important to the peoples of the ancient Near East. In various contexts, the gazelle has represented liminality, death, and rebirth. Gazelles held special significance in the southern Levant, where archaeologists have documented cases, spanning 20,000 years, of ritual behavior involving gazelle body parts. What roles did gazelles play during the Chalcolithic (ca. 4500–3600 B.C.), a…
The Judean Desert as a Chalcolithic Necropolis
Cave deposits represent a special category of archaeological context that invokes its own set of research questions. The interpretation of these deposits, however, is often based on unfounded assumptions. The idea of ‘cave men’ utilizing caves as domestic space persists to this day, both in the public imagination and in archaeological interpretation. But a cave is not generally a good place to live; the adoption of caves as living space occurs in…
Archaeology (38 obras) · Geography (34 obras) · History (29 obras) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (28 obras) · Ancient history (22 obras) · Archaeology and Historical Studies (22 obras) · Bronze Age (19 obras) · Chalcolithic (18 obras) · History (14 obras) · Archaeological Research and Protection (12 obras)