Animals, Ancestors, and Ritual in Early Bronze Age Syria: An Elite Mortuary Complex from Umm el-Marra


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Series: Monumenta Archaeologica 50
ISBN: 978-1-950446-42-1
Publication Date: Feb 2024
Price: $150.00
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Glenn M. Schwartz

This book is a final report of the excavation of Early Bronze Age remains at Tell Umm el-Marra (perhaps ancient Tuba) on the Jabbul plain of northern Syria, conducted 1994–2010. In the Early Bronze Age, urban, complex societies first emerged in Syria. By focusing on a “second tier” urban center, the work at Umm el-Marra complements results from larger, better-known early cities such as Ebla, Mari, and Brak. Especially significant at Umm el-Marra is the large elite mortuary complex raised up in the center of the community. In this complex, tombs with human remains and objects of gold, silver, and lapis lazuli were accompanied by the burials of high-prestige animals (donkey x wild ass hybrids, known as kungas).  

Unique in the archaeology of third-millennium BC Syria, the Umm el-Marra necropolis of elite humans and animals allows for the reconstruction of funerary practices in detail and illuminates the importance of ancestor veneration, social memory, and animal agency in the development of Syria’s first urban civilization.   
Table of Contents

 Chapter 1: Introduction and Research Objectives. Glenn M. Schwartz               

  • The Radiocarbon Chronology from Umm el-Marra. Lyndelle Webster and Glenn M. Schwartz

Chapter 2: Architecture and Stratigraphy. Glenn M. Schwartz

Chapter 3: The Pottery of Third-Millennium BC Umm el-Marra. Glenn M. Schwartz

Chapter 4: Small Finds. Sally S. Dunham, Albert Jambon, Anne-Sophie Laurent, Romain Prévalet, David S. Reese, Glenn M. Schwartz, and Avary Rhys Taylor

  • Glyptic. Sally S. Dunham
  • Clay Figurines. Avary Rhys Taylor and Glenn M. Schwartz
  • Baked Clay Model Vehicles and Miscellaneous Clay Objects. Glenn M. Schwartz
  • Model Wheels, Spindle Whorls, and Pierced Potsherd Disks. Glenn M. Schwartz and Sally S. Dunham
  • Metal Objects. Anne-Sophie Laurent         
  • Gold Jewelry: A Technical Study. Romain Prévalet           
  • A Meteoritic Iron Pendant from Umm el-Marra Tomb 1. Albert Jambon
  • Bone, Ivory, and Shell Objects. Glenn M. Schwartz, Sally S. Dunham, and David S. Reese
  • Stone Objects. Glenn M. Schwartz and Avary Rhys Taylor
  • Beads and Pendants. Glenn M. Schwartz
  •  

Chapter 5: Bioarchaeology at Tell Umm el-Marra. Ernest K. Batey, III

Chapter 6: The Faunal Remains from Third-Millennium Umm el-Marra. Jill A. Weber

Chapter 7: Discussion and Conclusions. Glenn M. Schwartz