The Neo-Assyrian Kingdom and the Urartian Kingdom were two important Near Eastern states in the Middle Iron Age (ninth to sixth centuries BC) that steered political developments and considerably transformed the lives of populations within their territories. This article aims to explore the origins of Urartian–Assyrian relations: the processes and ways through which Mesopotamian and Assyrian influences reached the eastern Anatolian highlands. The populations who founded the Urartian Kingdom lived mostly as semi-nomadic tribes in eastern Anatolia and surrounding areas during the Early Iron Age (thirteenth to ninth centuries BC). It is impossible to explain the emergence of the Urartian Kingdom in the Van region towards the mid-ninth century BC—which quickly became a powerful rival of its contemporaries—as a natural development of local culture. The main question at this stage is how and from where Assyrian influences were transmitted to the tribes who founded the Urartian Kingdom. Our opinion is that the answer to this question should be sought in the Upper Tigris region, which was inhabited by both cultures (Pre-Urartian and Assyrian) before the foundation of the Urartian Kingdom.

In Roman imperial times, metallurgy reached a high degree of specialization and complexity. The use of iron extended even to building technology, leading to some very particular results, achieving a sophisticated mastery of the technology with a complete understanding of metal properties, in a social and economic context characterized by large financial resources and a high level of creativity applied to architectural projects. A still unpublished device was found in the construction of several floors in the Villa of Giulia, Augustus' daughter, in Ventotene (Italy). In the thermal area, the concrete floors of the bath tubs are supported by an iron grid held in place by vertical iron posts strongly fixed in the underfloor, allowing both widespread hot air circulation and support for superimposed loads. A curvilinear metal grid supported by metal hooks was also used to obtain a tile-line vault, creating an interspace for the circulation of hot air in calidaria; a careful analysis of the remains of two vaulted systems in Villa Adriana, Tivoli (Italy), allows a clear reconstruction of this device. The building process was difficult and complex, requiring careful planning and great accuracy in execution. However, after nearly a century of experimentation, it is possible to propose the hanging ceiling built over the calidarium of the Baths of Caracalla in Rome as the most imposing example of the grid system ever realized.

This paper details a new approach to the study of the Scythian burial mounds—the ‘planigraphy’ (or spatial analysis) of the mound and its burials, which follows two lines of enquiry that have so far been largely overlooked. Firstly, the statistics concerning the depth of all types of graves, such as primary and secondary burials, servants’ and horse graves, have been closely examined and compared because this parameter is an important mark of the social status and hierarchy of the deceased and their burials in Scythian funeral ceremonies. Secondly, grave locations within the mounds have been analysed with regard to their arrangement in relation to the ideal latitudinal and meridian axis of the Scythian mound. This analysis has led to the discovery of new facts concerning the planigraphy of the Scythian burial mound, which contribute to a more detailed understanding of the spatial representation of kinship and family hierarchy in Scythian society. The new evidence also sheds light on their system of geographical orientation in terms of cardinal points.

Between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries AD, the Lower Vistula valley represented a permeable and shifting frontier between Pomerelia (eastern Pomerania), which had been incorporated into the Polish Christian state by the end of the tenth century, and the territories of western Prussian tribes, who had resisted attempts at Christianization. Pomeranian colonization eventually began to falter in the latter decades of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, most likely as a result of Prussian incursions, which saw the abandonment of sites across the borderland. Subsequently, the Teutonic Order and its allies led a protracted holy war against the Prussian tribes, which resulted in the conquest of the region and its incorporation into a theocratic state by the end of the thirteenth century. This was accompanied by a second wave of colonization, which resulted in the settlement pattern that is still visible in the landscape of north-central Poland today. However, not all colonies were destroyed or abandoned in between the two phases of colonization. The recently excavated site of Biała Góra, situated on the western side of the Forest of Sztum overlooking the River Nogat, represents a unique example of a transitional settlement that included both Pomeranian and Teutonic Order phases. The aim of this paper is to situate the site within its broader landscape context which can be characterized as a militarized frontier, where, from the later twelfth century and throughout much of the thirteenth century, political and economic expansion was combined with the ideology of Christian holy war and missionary activity. This paper considers how the colonists provisioned and sustained themselves in comparison to other sites within the region, and how Biała Góra may be tentatively linked to a documented but otherwise lost outpost in this volatile borderland.

What do archaeologists do when approached by groups or individuals with unorthodox, or even simply inappropriate, approaches to, and ideas about the past? What should they do? While much guidance and literature points to education and engagement, in some of the more sensitive or difficult cases it is often more appealing, and simpler, to ignore the issue, in the hopes that it will simply go away. Similarly, on occasions when archaeologists step forward to criticize alternative approaches to archaeological heritage, this does not always meet with positive or desired results. In this paper, in light of recent personal experience with a controversial piece of television programming, I discuss different approaches to responding to challenges to the expertise (and authority) of archaeologists by problematic encounters with concepts of the past. I suggest that while there are arguments in support of (and against) all three of the approaches that I identify (collaboration, condemnation, or ignoring), none provide an absolute solution. In order to discuss these approaches, I draw upon key cases from the literature, as well as personal reflection.

This paper presents the results of the use of a minimally destructive biomolecular technique to explore the resource networks behind one of the first specialized urban crafts in early mediaeval northern Europe: the manufacture of composite combs of deer antler. The research incorporates the largest application of species identification by peptide mass fingerprinting (ZooMS) to a mediaeval artefact assemblage: specifically to collections of antler combs, comb manufacturing waste, and raw antler from Ribe, Aarhus, and Aggersborg. It documents the early use of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) antler, from the 780s AD at the latest, presenting the earliest unambiguous evidence for exchange-links between urban markets in the southern North Sea region and the Scandinavian Peninsula. The results demonstrate that the common conceptual distinction between urban hinterlands and long-distance trade conceals a vital continuity. Long-range networks were vital to urban activities from the first appearance of towns in this part of the world, preceding the historically documented maritime expansion of the Viking Age. We consequently suggest that urbanism is more appropriately defined and researched in terms of network dynamics than as a function of circumscribed catchment areas or hinterlands.

This article seeks to demonstrate the permanent character of at least parts of the marketplace in Ribe (Denmark) from the first decades of its existence at the beginning of the eighth century. As with other early medieval emporia in northern Europe, it has been debated whether the marketplace was a permanent or seasonal site, the conclusion generally being that it would not have become permanently occupied until the AD 780s–790s. Although other markers of ‘urbanness’ can be found in the archaeological evidence from eighth-century Ribe, permanency is here considered as a decisive argument for its definition. Indeed, it is believed that it is through year-round, long-lasting occupation that a distinctively un-rural daily life could take shape. The material from the excavations conducted in 1985–1986 at Sct Nicolajgade 8 forms the empirical basis for this reassessment. By integrating artefacts in the contextual interpretation of the well-stratified deposits that characterize the archaeology of the marketplace, it is possible to identify several markers of permanency (site foundation, domestic life, and houses). Among them, particular focus is put on houses, whose presence at the site has been the object of controversy in previous research. By reconsidering the evidence and by comparing it to house finds from contemporary urban sites in northwestern Europe, former statements about the presence of houses at the marketplace in Ribe are challenged.

Medieval Italian city-states with access to the sea, most notably the Venetian and Genoese, were in need of safe ‘stopovers’ that would allow their inhabitants to travel to distant places across the territories in which they conducted commerce. As the most important ‘stopover’ and centre of consumption, Constantinople became a point of attraction for Italian merchant colonies, particularly after the eleventh century. Among these, the most powerful one with the largest settlement was the Venetian colony. Following a decree dated 1082 (Chrysoboullos) that granted them certain privileges, the Venetians settled across the southern shores of the Golden Horn. In terms of administration, it appears that, until the Latin period (1204–1261), no formal officers were appointed to the Venetian Merchant Colony. ‘The bailo’ was first instituted in Constantinople only after the treaty of 18 June 1265. The mention of a house owned by the bailo dates as late as 1277. Documents on the residence of the bailo remain silent until the early fifteenth century. It is unclear if the palace of the bailo mentioned in fifteenth-century documents and the house allocated to the bailo in 1277 are the same building. Despite the Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the Venetians, albeit with interruptions, continued to live on the historic peninsula. However, it is no longer possible to speak of a Venetian settlement similar to the one that had existed in Byzantine times. Per the agreement signed on 16 August 1454, the Venetians were granted a house and a church that ‘once’ belonged to Anconitans. The possible location and architectural features of the residences of the bailo, which have left behind no archaeological data, are discussed here through written sources including Ottoman documents.