Books by lorenzo d'alfonso
StMed 17, Pavia: Italian University Press, 2005
Edited volumes by lorenzo d'alfonso
ISAW Monographs, New York University Press, 2024
Ancient Near Eastern Studies Supplement Series, 58, 2021
This volume is devoted to the search for borders in archaeology and takes as a case study the arc... more This volume is devoted to the search for borders in archaeology and takes as a case study the archaeology of Anatolia and the South Caucasus in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Up until the mid-first millennium BCE, these regions differ in interregional and macro-regional interactions, political complexity, economic and mobility strategies, and communication of identities, among which is the use and spread of writing through time. They are united by their representation in ancient sources and modern literature as borderlands. These features represent the core of the discussion developed in the volume. Chapters include theoretical discussion of borders and boundaries, and regional investigations of the Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age (Assyrian colony period, Hittite empire in Anatolia, Kura-Araxes, Trialeti-Vanadzor, Van-Urmia and other traditions in the South Caucasus), the Early Iron Age and Middle Iron Age (Troy, Phrygia, Urartu), until the unification under the Achaemenid Empire. They offer a balanced interplay between site-based investigations and landscape archaeology in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.
CITTÀ E PAROLE ARGILLA E PIETR A STUDI OFFERTI A CLELIA MORA DA ALLIEVI, COLLEGHI E AMICI a cura di, 2020
StMed 22, Pavia: Italian University Press, 2010
Articles by lorenzo d'alfonso
Arkeoloji ve Sanat 139, 2012
Y akındoğu'da Son Tunç Çağı'nın karmaşık diplomasi ağında, Mısır'dan Hatti topraklarına buğday gö... more Y akındoğu'da Son Tunç Çağı'nın karmaşık diplomasi ağında, Mısır'dan Hatti topraklarına buğday gönderilmesinin kanıtı şaşırtıcı bir öğedir. Karnak Büyük Yazıtı'nda (Luxor, Mısır), firavun Merneptah, kendisinin buğday yollamasıyla Hatti'nin ayakta kalmış olduğunu ileri sürmektedir. Diplomasi Çağı'nın bu iki büyük devleti arasındaki yazışmalar, özellikle Ramesses II krallığı sırasında, Büyük Hatti Kralı'nın birçok kez Mısır kralına, doğrudan ya da kendine bağlı Ugarit Devleti aracılığıyla buğday göndermesini istemek için başvurduğunu göstermektedir.
Near Eastern Archaeology, 2011
During the 2009 survey season in the Plain of Iskenderun, a storage jar handle with a seal impres... more During the 2009 survey season in the Plain of Iskenderun, a storage jar handle with a seal impression bearing Anatolian hieroglyphic signs was found on the lower western slopes of Dağılbaz Höyük (Site 45), located located near the Kişla Köy village southeast of the modern city of İskenderun. The impression, which is quite well preserved, belongs to a flat, round stamp seal. It consists of five Anatolian hierglyphic signs in two columns and dates to 15th–14th centuries BCE. This would indicate that in the İskenderun Plain the adoption of the Anatolian hieroglyphic script predates the Syrian campaigns of the Great King Šuppiluliuma I to the region and is not directly connected to the installation of the imperial provincial administration south of the Taurus Mountains.
Journal Articles by lorenzo d'alfonso
Buildings , 2024
In recent years, at the Kınık Höyük archeological site in Nigde province in Turkey, a city square... more In recent years, at the Kınık Höyük archeological site in Nigde province in Turkey, a city square (plaza) located in the town’s acropolis was discovered. Context and spatial finds indicate that this stone-paved plaza dates to the Hellenistic era. It is made of a large cobblestone masonry structure made of local amorphous units that were fixed only with compacted earth. The conservation plan concentrated on enclosing the unbound free edges by using new pavement and a retaining wall to stop the ongoing decay because the plaza had already lost its integrity before the discovery. To distinguish between the original application and modern interventions, new cladding was designed and installed lower than the ancient pavement’s level using smaller stones from the same source.
Additionally, a retaining wall was planned and built to be plastered to achieve a plain surface, where the pavement’s texture created contrast and highlighted neat craftsmanship. For this consolidation application, a hydraulic lime-based binder was combined with local earth for compatibility with the older application. The application’s suitability and durability were demonstrated after it was observed for a few years while being subjected to atmospheric impacts without any protection.
Therefore, the examination confirmed that the suggested method is safe to apply in situations where similar stabilization needs arise.
Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History 11, 2024
Over the last twenty years, due to the growing concern with the humanenvironment relationship in ... more Over the last twenty years, due to the growing concern with the humanenvironment relationship in the contemporary world as well as in the study of the ancient world, Resilience Theory (RT) has been adopted and adapted from the study of ecosystems to the study of stress dynamics within socio-political systems. The adaptation is indebted to the seminal work of Holling and Gunderson (2002. "Resilience and Adaptive Cycles." In Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems, edited by L. H. Gunderson, and C. S. Holling, 25-62. Washington, DC: Island Press), reviewed recently for application in archaeology in a volume edited by Faulseit (2016b.
Anatolian Studies, 2022
This paper offers a full reconsideration of the bestknown subgroup of pottery from Iron Age centr... more This paper offers a full reconsideration of the bestknown subgroup of pottery from Iron Age central Anatolia, commonly labelled Alişar-IV ware (see 'Definition of the Alişar-IV ceramics', below). The appearance and spread of this ceramic production are specifically bound to the region of the central Anatolian plateau and to the centuries following the fall of the Hittite empire. The central Anatolian plateau is an upland at an elevation ~1,000m asl, defined to the north by the Pontic mountains, to the south by the Taurus mountains, to the east by the Anti-Taurus and to the west by the Phrygian highlands (the modern provinces of Eskişehir, Afyonkarahisar and
Recent works on post-Hittite Central Anatolia once again insist on its profound discontinuity in ... more Recent works on post-Hittite Central Anatolia once again insist on its profound discontinuity in social structure, political complexity, economic organization and cultural/artistic expression compared to the previous period of Hittite hegemony. In this interpretive framework, any form of political complexity and technological, cultural or artistic expressions related to the Hittite legacy re-emerging during the Middle Iron Age are considered secondary and derived by contacts – either peaceful or hostile – with the northern Mesopotamian world, that is the Syro-Hittite principalities and the Assyrian empire.
This contribution aims to provide a response to this interpretation based on relevant archaeological evidence excavated at the site of Niğde-Kınık Höyük, as well as on an evaluation of the the early use of Anatolian Hieroglyphic in central Anatolia after the fall of the Hittite empire. We will offer a critical synthesis on past investigations on the LBA/IA transition at Niğde-Kınık Höyük, and present novel results from a deep sounding excavated in 2020. This evidence shows that, notwithstanding major breaks after the LBA, political complexity and its visual and material expression had an early development disentangled from the contacts with northern Mesopotamia. Finally, on considering recent developments in the Anatolian Hieroglyphic paleography and the suggested backdating of important IA inscriptions, the last section raises the possibility of a localized independent resilience of hieroglyphic writing traditions in Central Anatolia after the collapse of the Hittite empire.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2021
In this paper, we studied building materials from the Niğde-Kınık Höyük archaeological site (Sout... more In this paper, we studied building materials from the Niğde-Kınık Höyük archaeological site (Southern Cappadocia, Turkey) with the support of historical, architectural, and geological research. The samples were collected within the framework of the Kınık Höyük Archaeological Project, which began excavations at the site in 2011 in a bid to conserve the ancient buildings that would be discovered there. The objective was to characterize the fine-grained building materials as a means of understanding the structural stability they offered, in order to explain how the remains had managed to survive for such a long time. Samples were taken from the coating on different walls, from mud bricks and rendering, and from soil-beaten floors from the different buildings in the settlement. Samples were first observed using a video microscope and then studied by means X-ray diffraction and optical and scanning electron and transmission microscopies. The materials studied were composed of volcanic sands coming from the materials that outcrop in the area. In general, the samples were porous and fissured and minerals of volcanic origin were identified such as quartz, plagioclases, cristobalite, pyroxenes, micas, amphiboles, and olivine together with others of sedimentary origin, such as calcite, and small amounts of clays. The possible presence of hydrated calcium silicates was closely investigated due to their important role in the preservation of ancient building materials, but although we searched for them with a range of different techniques, none was found. This indicates that the longterm conservation of the Niğde-Kınık Höyük archaeological site may be due to the fact that it was buried at constant temperature and humidity conditions and so protected from the weather conditions, which are milder in this area than in any other region of Central Anatolia.
Near Eastern Archaeology , 2020
Journal of Cuneiform Studies , 2019
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Books by lorenzo d'alfonso
Edited volumes by lorenzo d'alfonso
Articles by lorenzo d'alfonso
Journal Articles by lorenzo d'alfonso
Additionally, a retaining wall was planned and built to be plastered to achieve a plain surface, where the pavement’s texture created contrast and highlighted neat craftsmanship. For this consolidation application, a hydraulic lime-based binder was combined with local earth for compatibility with the older application. The application’s suitability and durability were demonstrated after it was observed for a few years while being subjected to atmospheric impacts without any protection.
Therefore, the examination confirmed that the suggested method is safe to apply in situations where similar stabilization needs arise.
This contribution aims to provide a response to this interpretation based on relevant archaeological evidence excavated at the site of Niğde-Kınık Höyük, as well as on an evaluation of the the early use of Anatolian Hieroglyphic in central Anatolia after the fall of the Hittite empire. We will offer a critical synthesis on past investigations on the LBA/IA transition at Niğde-Kınık Höyük, and present novel results from a deep sounding excavated in 2020. This evidence shows that, notwithstanding major breaks after the LBA, political complexity and its visual and material expression had an early development disentangled from the contacts with northern Mesopotamia. Finally, on considering recent developments in the Anatolian Hieroglyphic paleography and the suggested backdating of important IA inscriptions, the last section raises the possibility of a localized independent resilience of hieroglyphic writing traditions in Central Anatolia after the collapse of the Hittite empire.
Additionally, a retaining wall was planned and built to be plastered to achieve a plain surface, where the pavement’s texture created contrast and highlighted neat craftsmanship. For this consolidation application, a hydraulic lime-based binder was combined with local earth for compatibility with the older application. The application’s suitability and durability were demonstrated after it was observed for a few years while being subjected to atmospheric impacts without any protection.
Therefore, the examination confirmed that the suggested method is safe to apply in situations where similar stabilization needs arise.
This contribution aims to provide a response to this interpretation based on relevant archaeological evidence excavated at the site of Niğde-Kınık Höyük, as well as on an evaluation of the the early use of Anatolian Hieroglyphic in central Anatolia after the fall of the Hittite empire. We will offer a critical synthesis on past investigations on the LBA/IA transition at Niğde-Kınık Höyük, and present novel results from a deep sounding excavated in 2020. This evidence shows that, notwithstanding major breaks after the LBA, political complexity and its visual and material expression had an early development disentangled from the contacts with northern Mesopotamia. Finally, on considering recent developments in the Anatolian Hieroglyphic paleography and the suggested backdating of important IA inscriptions, the last section raises the possibility of a localized independent resilience of hieroglyphic writing traditions in Central Anatolia after the collapse of the Hittite empire.
in the settlement dynamics and material culture at the
site of Kınık Höyük (province of Niğde, Southern
Cappadocia, TR), between the Achaemenid and Hellenistic
periods. In particular, we will present and discuss
the available archaeological information on the life
of a settlement and a local sanctuary during the 4th–1st
c. BCE.
archaeological excavations at Kınık Höyük, in southern Cappadocia (Turkey) in 2011. The team has since uncovered traces of a site that was inhabited for about 4000 years. Among the excavated architecture are the especially important portion of the citadel walls along the north side of the site’ s central mound which reveals different architectural phases; the last one dating back to the Late Bronze Age (15th-12th c. B.C.E.). The paper describes part of this multidisciplinary research, still in progress, that aims at de-veloping a study about the fundamental architectural elements of the citadel walls and the practical and social motivations that undergo the use of this technique and, later, the aban-donment of the site and its associated technologies. The dry masonry shows some interesting building peculiarities, such as the well-preserved mud plaster and the presence of wooden fragments in regular rows of voids that are visible on the façade. The comparison between the citadel walls at Kınık Höyük and other architecture in pre-classical Anatolia highlights the particularity of the building techniques of the citadel walls at Kınık Höyük. These considerations spurred a wider investigation of Iron Age build-ing technology in this territory, with the aim to learn skills for the purpose of planning preservation procedures respectful to historical building features.
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