American Journal of Archaeology

Fishermen, Sailors, or Boat Owners? Lead Fishnet Sinkers, Fishing, and Society in the Late Bronze Age III Aegean

website — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:49:44 +0000

The exploitation of marine resources, the role of fish and shellfish in the human diet, and, more generally, the interaction of prehistoric Aegean communities with the sea have recently attracted scholarly attention. The in-depth study of large assemblages of fish remains from recent excavations has allowed for a reconsideration of the idea that the consumption of marine food declined throughout the Bronze Age. In the Middle and Late Bronze Age, rich evidence encompassing iconography, fishing tools, and shipwrecks further facilitates the exploration of this complex subject. However, most studies on fishing address specific phenomena that are not integrated into a broader socioeconomic interpretative framework. To that end, based on the analysis of a Late Minoan IIIA2 (early) set of Aegean lead fishnet sinkers from Tomb 11 at the Kalyvia cemetery near Phaistos on Crete, this article reviews all the discoveries of this understudied class of artifacts in the Aegean. This contextualization sheds new light on the origins and development of a technological innovation that makes a sudden appearance in Late Helladic / Minoan IIIA2. It also contributes to challenging the view that fishing was a secondary, low-status activity throughout the Late Bronze Age Aegean.

The post Fishermen, Sailors, or Boat Owners? Lead Fishnet Sinkers, Fishing, and Society in the Late Bronze Age III Aegean appeared first on American Journal of Archaeology.

Modeling Ritual Communication: Sound and Sight in the Principia of the Roman Legionary Fortress at Novae

website — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:49:44 +0000

While Roman military oratory is popularly depicted as impromptu battlefield speeches, most official communications occurred within the formalized spaces of the camps, predominantly at the principia (headquarters). The social significance of ritualized ceremonies is generally acknowledged, but little quantitative research has examined how architectural layout affected soldiers’ sensory access to these events. This study analyzed the third-century principia at Novae (Bulgaria) using 3D computer modeling and GIS-based viewshed analyses to identify zones of visibility for gestures and facial expressions, complemented by acoustic simulations and crowd capacity estimates based on empirical density factors. Results from five locations indicate that the paved area in the forum militare, likely containing the altar, provided optimal conditions for ceremonial delivery, balancing visibility and audibility for thousands of participants. Conversely, the aedes, despite its symbolic importance, offered limited acoustic reach, reinforcing its role as a sacred space for select audiences. These findings demonstrate that Roman military architects deliberately differentiated spatial zones to modulate sensory experience and ritual engagement, enabling both mass participation and hierarchical control. This approach advances understanding of Roman military ceremony while offering a transferable framework for analyzing embodied rhetoric in ancient built environments, revealing the sophisticated relationship between architecture and communication in Roman military culture.

The post Modeling Ritual Communication: Sound and Sight in the Principia of the Roman Legionary Fortress at Novae appeared first on American Journal of Archaeology.

Collecting Palmyra: The Global Dispersal of Palmyrene Funerary Reliefs

website — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:49:44 +0000

Palmyra has been pivotal in archaeological and historical research due to the wealth of material and the long history of fascination with the site. Its material culture can be found on every continent except Antarctica, in more than 250 public museums and private collections. This article focuses on the modern global dispersal of Palmyra’s material culture, specifically its characteristic funerary reliefs, and examines the ways in which the consumption of Palmyra’s past was underpinned by various motivations and was transferred globally through several mechanisms. The dispersal underlines a long-term global consumption of Palmyra’s material culture since its so-called rediscovery by Europeans in the mid 18th century. Examining in detail the journeys of some of the 4,000 known portraits, this article demonstrates how the disassembly of the objects from their original contexts reflects changing flows of materials, desires, and knowledge over three centuries. The analysis underlines the importance of this material culture to histories of collection that might be more accurately described as histories of dispersal, and therefore histories of the nature of global networks, colonialism, markets, and geopolitical power structures.

The post Collecting Palmyra: The Global Dispersal of Palmyrene Funerary Reliefs appeared first on American Journal of Archaeology.

An Archaeological Survey of Polyaigos: Landscape, Lidar, and Long-Term History on the Largest “Uninhabited” Island in the Aegean

website — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:49:44 +0000

This article presents an archaeological survey of the island of Polyaigos, undertaken in 2022 by the Small Cycladic Islands Project (SCIP). Since 2019, SCIP has surveyed 87 uninhabited islands in the southern Aegean, most of which are well under 1 km2 in size. The larger island of Polyaigos (18 km²) was included in the project in order to investigate the importance of island size (among other things) in long-term population and land-use dynamics. SCIP used a layered approach to survey across different spatial scales: island-wide lidar analysis and ground verification, sample-based intensive fieldwalking, site-based gridded collection, drone survey, architectural documentation, and archaeological ethnography. Pottery finds from Polyaigos range from the Neolithic period to the very recent past, and more than 9,000 chipped stone artifacts were collected and studied. A combination of lidar-based and pedestrian architectural documentation revealed patterns of intensive cultivation and landscape modification. Particularly noteworthy was the discovery of a large, previously undocumented Bronze Age site at a place called Benardou; architecture and surface artifacts indicate that this was a major settlement throughout the Bronze Age. This article discusses the survey results and their significance for Aegean archaeology; it also reflects on how patterns of small-island occupation and use in the Cyclades are relevant to other archipelagic contexts.

The post An Archaeological Survey of Polyaigos: Landscape, Lidar, and Long-Term History on the Largest “Uninhabited” Island in the Aegean appeared first on American Journal of Archaeology.

The Reopened Bardo National Museum in Tunis, Tunisia

website — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:49:44 +0000

This review addresses the reopened (in 2023) Bardo National Museum in Tunis, a government-funded archaeological museum in Tunisia’s capital city. As of June 2025, several galleries had been reorganized or completely redone, but a few rooms remained closed as the renovations continued. Key collections—like one of the world’s largest assemblages of mosaics—are stunning, if perhaps under-interpreted. The updated presentation offers unique insight into the Late Classical and Late Antique Mediterranean worlds, as well as the early history of Islam in the Maghreb. Although labels throughout the museum currently provide uneven guidance for nonspecialist visitors, the renovations have established a strong foundation for further improvements in accessibility and interpretive depth, particularly in areas such as women’s history, African history, and the contemporary reception of the past. The complex legacies of Carthage and Rome, as well as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, are presented as a pluralist cultural vision, in powerful conversation with grand Western narratives about the ancient Mediterranean and the spread of monotheism. The museum’s dominant metaphor can be said to be the mosaic, an assemblage of meaningful stories, each presented as a medallion in the larger pattern of Tunisian identity.

The post The Reopened Bardo National Museum in Tunis, Tunisia appeared first on American Journal of Archaeology.

Maria Coutroubaki Shaw, 1935–2025

website — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:49:44 +0000

The post Maria Coutroubaki Shaw, 1935–2025 appeared first on American Journal of Archaeology.

Weapons, Warriors and Battles of Ancient Iberia

website — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:49:44 +0000

The post Weapons, Warriors and Battles of Ancient Iberia appeared first on American Journal of Archaeology.

The Shaft Graves and Other Late Helladic I and II Remains

website — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:49:44 +0000

The post The Shaft Graves and Other Late Helladic I and II Remains appeared first on American Journal of Archaeology.

Iron and the Iron Age: The Introduction of Iron in Europe and Western Asia

website — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:49:44 +0000

The post Iron and the Iron Age: The Introduction of Iron in Europe and Western Asia appeared first on American Journal of Archaeology.

The World of Homer: Archaeology, Social Memory, and the Emergence of Greek Epic Poetry

website — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:49:44 +0000

The post The World of Homer: Archaeology, Social Memory, and the Emergence of Greek Epic Poetry appeared first on American Journal of Archaeology.