Final Reports of the Syrian-German Excavations at Tell el-ʻAbd, Volume III

Tell el-ʻAbd (Northern Syria, Tabqa Dam Basin) has been investigated in 1971/72 by Adnan Bounni and 1992–1994 by Altorientalisches Seminar of Tübingen University, confirming the earlier Syrian results and – more significantly – supplemented them with levels from the first half of the 3rd millennium BC, certainly the most important period of the tell. This volume (marru 5/2) is dedicated to the small objects  (anthropomorphic figurines, animal figurines, jewellery, an objects made of bone, metal and stone) and the results of environmental studies (archaeobotany, archaeozoology and anthracology). It thus adds the evaluation of the remaining finds plus the results of the investigations into fauna and flora so that finds and environmental conditions together make arise an overall picture of the settlement. Stratigraphy and architecture are intended will be fully elaborated as the topic of the third and last volume of the Final Reports (marru 5/1, in preparation) which began in 2014 with the presentation of the 3rd-millennium ceramics (AVO 16/2). 

List of figures, tables and plates / Abbreviations / Editor’s preface / Acknowledgements

1. Introduction (Uwe Finkbeiner/Paola Sconzo)

1.1 The excavations at Tell el-ʻAbd (P. Sconzo)

1.2 Structure of the volume (U. Finkbeiner)

PART I. Small Objects

2. Sealings (Candida Felli)

2.1 Catalogue

2.2 Summary

3. Anthropomorphic figurines (Ferhan Sakal)

3.1 Handmade figurines from the 3rd millennium B.C.

3.2 Figurines that were completely or partially made in the mould

3.3 Figurines that could not be assigned

3.4 Figurines that have not been treated

4. Animal figurines, model vehicles, rattles and architecture models (Alexander Pruss)

4.1 Animal Figurines

4.2 Model vehicles

4.3 Vehicle wheels and lentoid discs

4.4 Rattles

4.5 Architecture models

5. Bone objects (Hermann Genz)

5.1 Decorated bone tubes

5.2 Awls

5.3 Spatulae

5.4 Pins/rods

5.5 Spindle whorls

5.6 Conclusions

6. Metal objects (Aaron Schmitt)

6.1 Pins and needles

6.2 Weapons

6.3 Tools

6.4 Nails

6.5 Miscellaneous

7. Stone objects (Uwe Finkbeiner)

7.1 Containers, fragment of a spoon

7.2 Grinding stones and mortars

7.3 Pestles

7.4 Spindle whorls

7.5 Whetstone

7.6 Pivot stones

7.7 Weights

7.8 Gaming pieces, dice

7.9 Sling stones

7.10 Round discs with holes (loom weights or net sinkers)

7.11 Discs

7.12 Objects of various other shapes

8. Baked and unbaked objects of clay (Uwe Finkbeiner)

9. Jewellery (Uwe Finkbeiner)

9.1 Beads

9.2 Rings

9.3 Pendants

PART II. Environmental Studies

10. Archaeological and anthropological analysis of Burial 1 (Susanne Wilhelm)

11. The faunal remains of Tell el-ʻAbd. Subsistence in a Bronze Age setlement in Syria (Monika Doll)

11.1 Species composition

11.2 Domestic species

11.3 Wild species

11.4 Summary

11.5 Measurements

12. Resource management at Tell el-ʻAbd. E conomic specialization despite or because of environmental limitation? (Simone Riehl)

12.1 Introduction

12.2 Materials and methods

12.3 Results

12.4 Discussion

12.5 Conclusions

13. Charcoal remains from third millennium BC Tell el-ʻAbd (Katleen Deckers)

13.1 Introduction

13.2 The site and the samples

13.3 Methods

13.4 Discussion

13.5 Conclusion

14. On the Tell el-ʻAbd radiocarbon chronology (Katleen Deckers)

15. Conclusion. Tell el-ʻAbd through the ages (Uwe Finkbeiner)

Bibliography

Abbreviations

References

Appendices

Appendix A. Small objects by inventory-number

Appendix B. Small objects by square and locus

Catalogue and Plates