Gur-Arieh
Biographic Data
| ID | 35400 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gur-Arieh |
| FAMILY NAME | Gur-Arieh |
| SIGNATURE | GUR-ARIEH |
| AFFILIATIONS | Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2015-7817 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 218 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Ashes from Pompeii
Incense burners are frequently excavated at Roman period sites, attesting to acts of combustion within domestic ritual practices, but what was burnt is still uncertain. Here, the authors use microscopy and spectrometry to analyse burnt residues contained within two censers from domestic contexts in Pompeii and a nearby villa . Their results indicate that woody plants were burnt in both censers, either as fuel or offerings, alongside stone fruit o…
Assembling the puzzle pieces
This study offers an integrated analysis of pottery and firing installations, used to investigate ancient pyrotechnology. Such combined approaches remain rare in archaeology, as kilns and other firing structures are often overlooked compared to the ceramics they produced. This limits insights into technological practices, resource management, and production systems. The Dinka Settlement Complex (DSC), recently discovered in the Peshdar Plain (Sul…
A micro-geoarchaeological look at adaptive and glocal socio-economic aspects
Adaptative mechanisms used by coastal urban Middle Bronze Age (MBA) settlements in the southern Levant are regularly studied from the point of view of maritime connectivity. Here we look into the adaptive mechanisms of MBA Tel Dor by investigating the utilization of geogenic (rock, soil, sediment) resources for construction — materials used for wall foundations, mudbrick superstructure and wall plaster — and for pottery making. The composition an…
Rethinking Occupation Intensity during the Levantine Middle Epipalaeolithic
The open-air Epipalaeolithic (Geometric Kebaran) site of Neve David (Mount Carmel, Israel) has played an important role in reconstructing scenarios of sedentarization in the Levant since its initial excavation in the 1980s, and has been seen as heralding later Natufian socioeconomic adaptations. However, little was known about the site’s formation processes and spatial organization, hindering the testing of this view. Employing new field data fro…
Reconstructing dietary practices at Tell Kamid el-Loz (Lebanon) during the Bronze and Iron Age III / Persian to Hellenistic periods using plant micro-remains from dental calculus and stable isotope an…
Tell Kamid el-Loz (Lebanon) was an important Bronze Age urban center that dominated one of the central crossroads of the Ancient Near East, connecting Egypt and the Levant with northern Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and Syria, as well as the interior with the Mediterranean coast. However, by the early Iron Age, the site had shrunk to a small rural settlement. Later, in the Iron Age III / Persian-Hellenistic, only enigmatic pits and a large cemetery rema…
(Don’t) Use Your Hands
The Late Chalcolithic period in the southern Levant saw notable changes in almost every aspect of daily life. Some of the most significant shifts during this time seem to have been anchored in the subsistence economy and involved food and its cooking, processing, storage, serving, and handling with vessels and tools. The paper offers a comprehensive overview and analysis of one utensil that is likely to have been caught up in these developments—t…
Beyond identification
Animal dung is still considered a secondary by-product of domestication, even though a growing body of evidence is showing that humans recognized its properties as fuel and fertilizer and utilized dung prior to—and alongside—the process of animal domestication. In this paper, we review the advancements made in dung identification over the last decades and suggest a multi-proxy workflow for fast screening for dung in the field laboratory and more …
Palaeoenvironmental and chronological context of hominin occupations of the Armenian Highlands during MIS 3
Archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence from the Armenian Highlands and wider southern Caucasus region emphasises the significance of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 3 (c. 57–29 ka) as a crucial period for understanding hominin behaviours amidst environmental fluctuations. Ararat-1 cave, situated in the Ararat Depression, Republic of Armenia, presents potential for resolving emerging key debates regarding hominin land use adaptations during t…
An interdisciplinary approach to the study of kiln firing
Pottery kilns are a common feature in the archaeological record of different periods. However, these pyrotechnological installations are still seldom the target of interdisciplinary investigations. To fill this gap in our knowledge, an updraft kiln firing experiment was run at the Campus Galli open-air museum (southern Germany) by a team consisting of experimental archaeologists, material scientists, geoarchaeologists, and palaeobotanists. The en…
A Multi-Method Study of a Chalcolithic Kiln in the Bora Plain (Iraqi Kurdistan)
Pyrotechnology has always been a core topic in the archaeological debate concerning phases of deep cultural transformations, such as the Chalcolithic period in the Near East (c. 6000–3500 BC). However, previous studies on pyrotechnological installations, such as pottery kilns, pertaining to this period, have often been mainly descriptive, with a limited use of archaeometric investigations. This work presents a multi-method investigation of a Chal…
Ash and Dung Calcitic Micro-remains
Seeing Shit’
Widespread ethnographic evidence exists for the addition of animal dung to clay during the process of ceramic production. However, conclusive evidence of dung tempering in archaeological ceramics is relatively rare. The aim of this study is to ascertain whether, and under which conditions, dung tempering of pottery is identifiable. To answer these questions, we assessed whether a combination of micro-particle analysis in loose sediment and thin-s…
New Data from Shovakh Cave and Its Implications for Reconstructing Middle Paleolithic Settlement Patterns in the Amud Drainage, Israel
This study presents the geoarchaeological and geochronological aspects of Shovakh Cave and the first comparative context to the nearby Amud Cave (~ 500 m downstream), providing an exceptional opportunity to explore the range of human behaviours within a small geographic area. Sediment samples from two newly excavated areas at the rear and entrance of the cave were analysed using infrared spectroscopy, micromorphology and phytolith analysis and da…
Technological Insights on Philistine Culture
More than a century of study of the Philistines has revealed abundant remains of their material culture. Concurrently, our understanding of the origins, developmental processes, and socio-political matrix of this fascinating culture has undergone major changes. Among other facets, Philistine technology has been discussed, but in our opinion, a broad view of its importance for understanding Philistine culture is still lacking. The more than twenty…
Potentials and limitations for the identification of outdoor dung plasters in humid tropical environment
Dung has been an important material used by humans since at least the early Neolithic Period. It accumulated within domesticated animal enclosures and it was used as fuel and fertiliser as well as construction material. While the formers were studied in details, to date, the use of dung as a construction material received less attention. Here, we present a geo-ethnoarchaeological pilot study aimed at understanding the archaeological formation pro…
Shell we cook it? An experimental approach to the microarchaeological record of shellfish roasting
In this paper, we investigate the microarchaeological traces and archaeological visibility of shellfish cooking activities through a series of experimental procedures with direct roasting using wood-fueled fires and controlled heating in a muffle furnace. An interdisciplinary geoarchaeological approach, combining micromorphology, FTIR (in transmission and ATR collection modes), TGA and XRD, was used to establish a baseline on the mineralogical tr…
Cooking Installations through the Ages at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath
While it is debated when exactly humans began regularly to cook their food (Sandgathe and Berna 2017), it is clear that once they did, they never looked back. Cooking raw food improves its nutrient values by enabling more complete digestion, it kills bacteria, and it sometimes helps to preserve the food. But above all, cooking makes many food products taste much better. The combination of such practical benefits, which are essential for our wellb…
Early Bronze Age pebble installations from Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel
Pebble stone installations are commonly found at various Early Bronze Age sites in the southern Levant. However, their function is often assumed or unknown. Thirteen circular pebble installations were found scattered throughout a residential neighbourhood dating to the Early Bronze Age III at Tell es-Safi/Gath. Five such installations were recently studied by implementing an integrated micro-archaeological approach by which all micro- and macro-a…
The taphonomy and preservation of wood and dung ashes found in archaeological cooking installations
An ethnoarchaeological study of cooking installations in rural Uzbekistan
Formation processes in Philistine hearths from Tell es-Safi/Gath (Israel)
Ancient cooking installations yield important evidence for cooking technology and human diet. A cooking installation termed the Philistine pebble hearth is associated with the arrival of the Philistines at the beginning of the Iron Age in the southern Levant (ca. early/mid-12th century b.c.). These installations have been studied using traditional methods, focusing on a description of form and style in relation to the pottery of the period. Here …
The taphonomy and preservation of wood and dung ashes found in archaeological cooking installations
An ethnoarchaeological study of cooking installations in rural Uzbekistan
Shell we cook it? An experimental approach to the microarchaeological record of shellfish roasting
In this paper, we investigate the microarchaeological traces and archaeological visibility of shellfish cooking activities through a series of experimental procedures with direct roasting using wood-fueled fires and controlled heating in a muffle furnace. An interdisciplinary geoarchaeological approach, combining micromorphology, FTIR (in transmission and ATR collection modes), TGA and XRD, was used to establish a baseline on the mineralogical tr…
Palaeoenvironmental and chronological context of hominin occupations of the Armenian Highlands during MIS 3
Archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence from the Armenian Highlands and wider southern Caucasus region emphasises the significance of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 3 (c. 57–29 ka) as a crucial period for understanding hominin behaviours amidst environmental fluctuations. Ararat-1 cave, situated in the Ararat Depression, Republic of Armenia, presents potential for resolving emerging key debates regarding hominin land use adaptations during t…
Seeing Shit’
Widespread ethnographic evidence exists for the addition of animal dung to clay during the process of ceramic production. However, conclusive evidence of dung tempering in archaeological ceramics is relatively rare. The aim of this study is to ascertain whether, and under which conditions, dung tempering of pottery is identifiable. To answer these questions, we assessed whether a combination of micro-particle analysis in loose sediment and thin-s…
Potentials and limitations for the identification of outdoor dung plasters in humid tropical environment
Dung has been an important material used by humans since at least the early Neolithic Period. It accumulated within domesticated animal enclosures and it was used as fuel and fertiliser as well as construction material. While the formers were studied in details, to date, the use of dung as a construction material received less attention. Here, we present a geo-ethnoarchaeological pilot study aimed at understanding the archaeological formation pro…
Formation processes in Philistine hearths from Tell es-Safi/Gath (Israel)
Ancient cooking installations yield important evidence for cooking technology and human diet. A cooking installation termed the Philistine pebble hearth is associated with the arrival of the Philistines at the beginning of the Iron Age in the southern Levant (ca. early/mid-12th century b.c.). These installations have been studied using traditional methods, focusing on a description of form and style in relation to the pottery of the period. Here …
Beyond identification
Animal dung is still considered a secondary by-product of domestication, even though a growing body of evidence is showing that humans recognized its properties as fuel and fertilizer and utilized dung prior to—and alongside—the process of animal domestication. In this paper, we review the advancements made in dung identification over the last decades and suggest a multi-proxy workflow for fast screening for dung in the field laboratory and more …
Technological Insights on Philistine Culture
More than a century of study of the Philistines has revealed abundant remains of their material culture. Concurrently, our understanding of the origins, developmental processes, and socio-political matrix of this fascinating culture has undergone major changes. Among other facets, Philistine technology has been discussed, but in our opinion, a broad view of its importance for understanding Philistine culture is still lacking. The more than twenty…
An interdisciplinary approach to the study of kiln firing
Pottery kilns are a common feature in the archaeological record of different periods. However, these pyrotechnological installations are still seldom the target of interdisciplinary investigations. To fill this gap in our knowledge, an updraft kiln firing experiment was run at the Campus Galli open-air museum (southern Germany) by a team consisting of experimental archaeologists, material scientists, geoarchaeologists, and palaeobotanists. The en…
A Multi-Method Study of a Chalcolithic Kiln in the Bora Plain (Iraqi Kurdistan)
Pyrotechnology has always been a core topic in the archaeological debate concerning phases of deep cultural transformations, such as the Chalcolithic period in the Near East (c. 6000–3500 BC). However, previous studies on pyrotechnological installations, such as pottery kilns, pertaining to this period, have often been mainly descriptive, with a limited use of archaeometric investigations. This work presents a multi-method investigation of a Chal…
Rethinking Occupation Intensity during the Levantine Middle Epipalaeolithic
The open-air Epipalaeolithic (Geometric Kebaran) site of Neve David (Mount Carmel, Israel) has played an important role in reconstructing scenarios of sedentarization in the Levant since its initial excavation in the 1980s, and has been seen as heralding later Natufian socioeconomic adaptations. However, little was known about the site’s formation processes and spatial organization, hindering the testing of this view. Employing new field data fro…
Reconstructing dietary practices at Tell Kamid el-Loz (Lebanon) during the Bronze and Iron Age III / Persian to Hellenistic periods using plant micro-remains from dental calculus and stable isotope an…
Tell Kamid el-Loz (Lebanon) was an important Bronze Age urban center that dominated one of the central crossroads of the Ancient Near East, connecting Egypt and the Levant with northern Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and Syria, as well as the interior with the Mediterranean coast. However, by the early Iron Age, the site had shrunk to a small rural settlement. Later, in the Iron Age III / Persian-Hellenistic, only enigmatic pits and a large cemetery rema…
Formation processes in Philistine hearths from Tell es-Safi/Gath (Israel)
Ancient cooking installations yield important evidence for cooking technology and human diet. A cooking installation termed the Philistine pebble hearth is associated with the arrival of the Philistines at the beginning of the Iron Age in the southern Levant (ca. early/mid-12th century b.c.). These installations have been studied using traditional methods, focusing on a description of form and style in relation to the pottery of the period. Here …
An ethnoarchaeological study of cooking installations in rural Uzbekistan
The taphonomy and preservation of wood and dung ashes found in archaeological cooking installations
Early Bronze Age pebble installations from Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel
Pebble stone installations are commonly found at various Early Bronze Age sites in the southern Levant. However, their function is often assumed or unknown. Thirteen circular pebble installations were found scattered throughout a residential neighbourhood dating to the Early Bronze Age III at Tell es-Safi/Gath. Five such installations were recently studied by implementing an integrated micro-archaeological approach by which all micro- and macro-a…
Cooking Installations through the Ages at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath
While it is debated when exactly humans began regularly to cook their food (Sandgathe and Berna 2017), it is clear that once they did, they never looked back. Cooking raw food improves its nutrient values by enabling more complete digestion, it kills bacteria, and it sometimes helps to preserve the food. But above all, cooking makes many food products taste much better. The combination of such practical benefits, which are essential for our wellb…
New Data from Shovakh Cave and Its Implications for Reconstructing Middle Paleolithic Settlement Patterns in the Amud Drainage, Israel
This study presents the geoarchaeological and geochronological aspects of Shovakh Cave and the first comparative context to the nearby Amud Cave (~ 500 m downstream), providing an exceptional opportunity to explore the range of human behaviours within a small geographic area. Sediment samples from two newly excavated areas at the rear and entrance of the cave were analysed using infrared spectroscopy, micromorphology and phytolith analysis and da…
Technological Insights on Philistine Culture
More than a century of study of the Philistines has revealed abundant remains of their material culture. Concurrently, our understanding of the origins, developmental processes, and socio-political matrix of this fascinating culture has undergone major changes. Among other facets, Philistine technology has been discussed, but in our opinion, a broad view of its importance for understanding Philistine culture is still lacking. The more than twenty…
Potentials and limitations for the identification of outdoor dung plasters in humid tropical environment
Dung has been an important material used by humans since at least the early Neolithic Period. It accumulated within domesticated animal enclosures and it was used as fuel and fertiliser as well as construction material. While the formers were studied in details, to date, the use of dung as a construction material received less attention. Here, we present a geo-ethnoarchaeological pilot study aimed at understanding the archaeological formation pro…
Shell we cook it? An experimental approach to the microarchaeological record of shellfish roasting
In this paper, we investigate the microarchaeological traces and archaeological visibility of shellfish cooking activities through a series of experimental procedures with direct roasting using wood-fueled fires and controlled heating in a muffle furnace. An interdisciplinary geoarchaeological approach, combining micromorphology, FTIR (in transmission and ATR collection modes), TGA and XRD, was used to establish a baseline on the mineralogical tr…
Ash and Dung Calcitic Micro-remains
Seeing Shit’
Widespread ethnographic evidence exists for the addition of animal dung to clay during the process of ceramic production. However, conclusive evidence of dung tempering in archaeological ceramics is relatively rare. The aim of this study is to ascertain whether, and under which conditions, dung tempering of pottery is identifiable. To answer these questions, we assessed whether a combination of micro-particle analysis in loose sediment and thin-s…
A Multi-Method Study of a Chalcolithic Kiln in the Bora Plain (Iraqi Kurdistan)
Pyrotechnology has always been a core topic in the archaeological debate concerning phases of deep cultural transformations, such as the Chalcolithic period in the Near East (c. 6000–3500 BC). However, previous studies on pyrotechnological installations, such as pottery kilns, pertaining to this period, have often been mainly descriptive, with a limited use of archaeometric investigations. This work presents a multi-method investigation of a Chal…
Palaeoenvironmental and chronological context of hominin occupations of the Armenian Highlands during MIS 3
Archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence from the Armenian Highlands and wider southern Caucasus region emphasises the significance of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 3 (c. 57–29 ka) as a crucial period for understanding hominin behaviours amidst environmental fluctuations. Ararat-1 cave, situated in the Ararat Depression, Republic of Armenia, presents potential for resolving emerging key debates regarding hominin land use adaptations during t…
An interdisciplinary approach to the study of kiln firing
Pottery kilns are a common feature in the archaeological record of different periods. However, these pyrotechnological installations are still seldom the target of interdisciplinary investigations. To fill this gap in our knowledge, an updraft kiln firing experiment was run at the Campus Galli open-air museum (southern Germany) by a team consisting of experimental archaeologists, material scientists, geoarchaeologists, and palaeobotanists. The en…
A micro-geoarchaeological look at adaptive and glocal socio-economic aspects
Adaptative mechanisms used by coastal urban Middle Bronze Age (MBA) settlements in the southern Levant are regularly studied from the point of view of maritime connectivity. Here we look into the adaptive mechanisms of MBA Tel Dor by investigating the utilization of geogenic (rock, soil, sediment) resources for construction — materials used for wall foundations, mudbrick superstructure and wall plaster — and for pottery making. The composition an…
Rethinking Occupation Intensity during the Levantine Middle Epipalaeolithic
The open-air Epipalaeolithic (Geometric Kebaran) site of Neve David (Mount Carmel, Israel) has played an important role in reconstructing scenarios of sedentarization in the Levant since its initial excavation in the 1980s, and has been seen as heralding later Natufian socioeconomic adaptations. However, little was known about the site’s formation processes and spatial organization, hindering the testing of this view. Employing new field data fro…
Reconstructing dietary practices at Tell Kamid el-Loz (Lebanon) during the Bronze and Iron Age III / Persian to Hellenistic periods using plant micro-remains from dental calculus and stable isotope an…
Tell Kamid el-Loz (Lebanon) was an important Bronze Age urban center that dominated one of the central crossroads of the Ancient Near East, connecting Egypt and the Levant with northern Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and Syria, as well as the interior with the Mediterranean coast. However, by the early Iron Age, the site had shrunk to a small rural settlement. Later, in the Iron Age III / Persian-Hellenistic, only enigmatic pits and a large cemetery rema…
(Don’t) Use Your Hands
The Late Chalcolithic period in the southern Levant saw notable changes in almost every aspect of daily life. Some of the most significant shifts during this time seem to have been anchored in the subsistence economy and involved food and its cooking, processing, storage, serving, and handling with vessels and tools. The paper offers a comprehensive overview and analysis of one utensil that is likely to have been caught up in these developments—t…
Beyond identification
Animal dung is still considered a secondary by-product of domestication, even though a growing body of evidence is showing that humans recognized its properties as fuel and fertilizer and utilized dung prior to—and alongside—the process of animal domestication. In this paper, we review the advancements made in dung identification over the last decades and suggest a multi-proxy workflow for fast screening for dung in the field laboratory and more …
Ashes from Pompeii
Incense burners are frequently excavated at Roman period sites, attesting to acts of combustion within domestic ritual practices, but what was burnt is still uncertain. Here, the authors use microscopy and spectrometry to analyse burnt residues contained within two censers from domestic contexts in Pompeii and a nearby villa . Their results indicate that woody plants were burnt in both censers, either as fuel or offerings, alongside stone fruit o…
Assembling the puzzle pieces
This study offers an integrated analysis of pottery and firing installations, used to investigate ancient pyrotechnology. Such combined approaches remain rare in archaeology, as kilns and other firing structures are often overlooked compared to the ceramics they produced. This limits insights into technological practices, resource management, and production systems. The Dinka Settlement Complex (DSC), recently discovered in the Peshdar Plain (Sul…
Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (18 works) · Archaeology (16 works) · Geography (16 works) · Geology (11 works) · History (8 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (8 works) · Pottery (8 works) · Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis (6 works) · Paleontology (6 works) · Bronze Age (5 works)