2004 Volume 40
The most observant will have noticed that the Institute
has a new address. As this volume is published a building at LaTrobe
University is being renovated in readiness for the Institute to set
up late in the year. It will be the first time in its history that the
Institute has been able to bring all its assets together in one building.
The association with LaTrobe University promises to
be a stimulating one. Many of the objects in the Institute’s care
have not been seriously studied and we expect that the facilities available
to us will allow that to be remedied.
This volume of Buried History begins with a tribute to a long time supporter
of the Institute, Mary Dolan, who died in 2004 while travelling to a
conference as the Institute’s representative. We are pleased that
Professor Greg Horsley, a colleague of Mary’s at the University
of New England, was able to provide the tribute. Mary was a remarkable
woman of extraordinary energy; our condolences go to her family.
The volume ends with a paper that Mary was preparing
at the time of her death. We are indebted to Bill Leng who prepared
the paper for publication. He retained Mary’s writing character
while completing unfinished portions, adding introductions and conclusions
and finalising references. Again the observant will have noted that
Bill has recently joined the Institute’s Council. We thank him
for his contribution.
Continuing the tradition started in the last volume
we publish Professor Alan Millard’s 2004 Petrie Oration. The Institute
was delighted to have Alan and his wife Margaret as visitors during
the year. Alan worked on the Institute’s cuneiform material and
we expect that the next volume of Buried History will include a paper
reporting on that work.
Dr Gillian Bowen has provided a report on the work
she has undertaken at the Dahkleh Oasis in Egypt with a Monash University
team. She acknowledges that excavations within the Christian cemetery
are directed by Dr J. E. Molto, formerly of Lakehead University, Ontario,
Canada while overall direction of excavation for the Dakhleh Oasis Project
is under the control of Dr Colin A. Hope, Centre for Archaeology &
Ancient History, School of Historical Studies, Monash University. We
are delighted to have her contribution.
Professor Sue Balderstone’s paper on early Christian
churches was presented at a conference a couple of years ago and we
a pleased that she has decided to publish it in Buried History. Sue
is a conservation architect with Heritage Victoria has been working
on early ecclesiastical architecture in Jordan for over twenty-five
years.
Christopher J Davey
January 2005
Table
of Contents
Tribute : Mary Dolan: 2 December 1931 - 2 April
2004
Papers
Alan Millard - 'Half a Pot is Better than No Pot at
All: The Role of Accident in Archaeology' Read
Abstract
Gillian E. Bowen - 'Aspects of Christian Burial Practice'
Read Abstract
Susan Balderstone - 'Architectural expression of liturgy
and doctrine in the Eastern churches of the fourth to sixth
centuries: towards a theologically contextual typology' Read
Abstract
Mary Dolan - 'Jezebel: A Hebrew Disaster' Read
Abstract
Tribute - Mary Dolan (2.12.1931 - 2.4.2004)
When Mary Dolan's funeral was held at St. Paul's Presbyterian Church
in Armidale, NSW on 7 April this year, the building was filled to overflowing.
People were standing inside and outside. Present were family and friends
from near and far, colleagues, members of probably every local church,
and members of none. It was explicitly a service to give thanks for
the life of one who had loving service of others and of her Master as
her first priority. Mary had died suddenly in Sydney while on AIA business;
and it is her longstanding link with the Institute which makes it right
to record her passing in Buried History.
To read the complete Obituary, Order
Buried History Vol 40 Today
Abstracts
Alan Millard
Half a Pot is Better than No Pot at All: The Role of Accident in
Archaeology
The paper illustrates how archaeology has often advanced
with discoveries made in serendipitous cicumstances and how the remains
themselves have regularly been the result of ancient accidents.
The objects are commonly fragmentary and while they
themselves may not be precious, the information they and their context
may provide can be invaluable. Some of these discoveries have been at
odds with accepted wisdom and they caution those who may be inclined
to be conclusive about what has not been discovered.Read
More... Order Buried History Vol 40 Today
Gillan E. Bowen
Aspects of Christian Burial Practice
Few early Christian cemeteries have been excavated
in Egypt and consequently insufficient is known of the burial practices
adopted by Christians in the late third and fourth centuries. The cemeteries
at Ismant el-Kharab, ancient Kellis, in Dakhleh Oasis are an exception.
To date, at least 560 graves in a large Christian cemetery have been
excavated and their archaeology and the pathology of those interred
well recorded. Christians established separate cemeteries from their
pagan neighbours and were buried in simple pits aligned on a north-west
axis, head to the west and without grave goods. During the 2000 to 2002
field seasons two large pagan mausolea were excavated: North Tombs 1
and 2. The remains of 35 individuals were retrieved from North Tomb
1 and at least 20 could be identified with confidence as Christian.
The neighbouring North Tomb 2 preserved the remains of 34 bodies; none
exhibited the burial traits that would identify them as Christian. This
seemingly anomalous phenomenon of Christian burials in one pagan mausoleum
but not its neighbour raised several questions relative to early Christian
burial practices. In the 2003/4 field season, excavation was undertaken
in a further six mausolea within the North Tomb Group; a major component
of the research programme was to determine whether it was common practice
for Christians to reuse pagan tombs for the burial of their dead and
to consider the implications of the results. The results were conclusive;
of the six tombs excavated, Christian burials were confined to North
Tomb 1.Read More...
Order Buried History Vol 40 Today
Susan
Balderstone
Architectural expression of liturgy and doctrine in the Eastern
churches of the fourth to sixth centuries: towards a theologically contextual
typology
Many scholars of Byzantine architecture have theorised
about the reasons for church form and structure, with most relating
them to sources in pagan architecture or local traditional construction
methods (Krautheimer, Crowfoot, Ward-Perkins, Mango and Hill); to aspects
of provincialism, regional independence or location peripheral to empire
(Megaw, Delvoye, Wharton), or to environmental constraints such as frequent
earthquakes (Curcic). But just as the wording of the various creeds
and ecumenical statements responded to aspects of contemporary non-orthodox
beliefs or "heresies", so did the theological debate inform
the liturgical practices and consequently church planning. It could
be expected that these responses would also be reflected in the architectural
approach to form and symbolism. Thus a contextual typological framework
is proposed, based on the association of different architectural approaches
to church planning and form in the 4th to the 6th centuries with the
contemporary doctrinal disputes over the true nature of Christ. Read
More... Order Buried History Vol 40 Today
Mary
Dolan
Jezebel: A Hebrew Disaster
IThe investigation of a child’s mummified human
remains from the Graeco-Roman Period, as part of the Melbourne Mummy
Project has produced some interesting results that may offer an alternate
explanation for the poor condition of the remains. The body wrapped
in linen and decorated with mismatched cartonnage coverings shows signs
of being interred for some time before mummification. Although removal
of the brain and internal organs has occurred post mortem, there is
other evidence suggesting that the body has suffered unexplained injuries
and damage not necessarily due to poor mummification techniques. Read
More... Order Buried History Vol 40 Today
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SUBMISSION OF PAPERS
Papers complying with the Notes
for Contributors may be submitted to the Editor for consideration
director@aiarch.org.au.
EXCHANGE
The Australian Institute of Archaeology is keen to exchange Buried History
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If you are interested an Institutional Exchange, please contact the
Director on director@aiarch.org.au
or + 61 4 2159 5966
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