Archaeology Magazine - May/June 2018 - 4

EDITOR'S LETTER

ENCOUNTERS WITH THE
NATURAL WORLD

xcavations at Casas del Turuñuelo, an Iron Age complex in southwestern Spain, have
uncovered a scene of ritual destruction involving animal sacrifice on an arresting scale.
"A Sanctuary's Final Farewell" (page 38), by contributing editor Jason Urbanus, details
the site's final days and discloses what is known about the enigmatic Tartessian civilization
that chose to destroy it.
In "Cultivating an Arid Landscape" (page 26), by Sara Toth Stub, we are taken to Israel's
Negev Desert and to Shivta, a once-thriving Byzantine-era village. There, archaeologists
are learning how the region's inhabitants developed a
successful agricultural economy in the middle of the
desert, how members of this Christian settlement may
have coexisted with their Islamic neighbors, and why,
within just a few hundred years, Shivta was abandoned.
During the Neolithic Revolution, some 11,000
years ago, people first learned to domesticate animals
and cultivate crops, and that knowledge spread rapTomb painting, Beni Hassan
idly. "Exploring a Prehistoric Borderland" (page 44),
by deputy editor Eric A. Powell, presents evidence showing that the advance of farming was
actually halted in northern Europe-for some 1,500 years-by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers
who appear to have had exceptional mastery of the environment around them.
For ancient Egyptians, nature carried a variety of meanings. In "Emblems for the Afterlife"
(page 48), by associate editor Marley Brown, tomb paintings from the Beni Hassan cemetery
are replete with depictions of teeming animal and plant life, sometimes paired with military
imagery. Researchers believe that these scenes not only memorialize the deceased's earthly
role, but also articulate a complex relationship with the cosmos.
Even as the Dutch East India Company was getting its start in the seventeenth century and
trade was becoming truly international, nature had its way with hundreds of ships, including
a particular one bearing a collection of sumptuous luxury goods. In "Global Cargo" (page 32),
Tracy E. Robey reports that archaeologists are learning that the contents of the Burgzand
Noord 17 wreck, discovered in the waters off the island of Texel, about 55 miles north of
Amsterdam, typify the kinds of merchandise that could only have been intended to satisfy
the lifestyles of the very rich.
"Desert Orca" (page 42), by senior editor Daniel Weiss, tells of the discovery in southern
Peru of a long-overlooked geoglyph, made primarily by removing dark stones to reveal the
light earth beneath. Depicting an orca and a smaller fish, and dating to around 200 b.c., it
adds to the catalogue of the intriguing Nazca Lines-geoglyphs so large that many can only
be viewed fully from the air.
And do not miss "Letter From the Philippines: One Grain at a Time" (page 54), by Karen
Coates, which gives new meaning to the idea of shaping one's environment to suit both
practical and political ends.

Editor in Chief

Claudia Valentino
Executive Editor

Deputy Editor

Jarrett A. Lobell

Eric A. Powell

Senior Editor

Associate Editor

Daniel Weiss

Marley Brown

Editorial Assistant

Malin Grunberg Banyasz
Creative Director

Richard Bleiweiss
Contributing Editors

Roger Atwood, Paul Bahn, Bob Brier,
Andrew Curry, Blake Edgar, Brian Fagan,
David Freidel, Tom Gidwitz, Andrew Lawler,
Stephen H. Lekson, Jerald T. Milanich,
Heather Pringle, Kate Ravilious, Neil Asher
Silberman, Julian Smith, Nikhil Swaminathan,
Jason Urbanus, Zach Zorich
Correspondents

Athens: Yannis N. Stavrakakis
Bangkok: Karen Coates
Islamabad: Massoud Ansari
Israel: Mati Milstein
Naples: Marco Merola
Paris: Bernadette Arnaud
Rome: Roberto Bartoloni,
Giovanni Lattanzi
Washington, D.C.: Sandra Scham
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Editorial Advisory Board

James P. Delgado, Ellen Herscher,
Ronald Hicks, Jean-Jacques Hublin,
Mark Lehner, Roderick J. McIntosh,
Susan Pollock, Kenneth B. Tankersley

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Claudia Valentino
Editor in Chief

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ARCHAEOLOGY * May/June 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - May/June 2018