Following Odysseus Not the end of the world Amarna city of light Constantine the Great

58 Pages·2013·15.41 MB·English

NoVemBer/DecemBer 2012 miNerVamagaziNe.com

Constantine Amarna
the Great city of light
Was he really Akhenaten’s
a Christian? new capital
Not the end Following
of the world Odysseus
What did the How Homer’s hero
Mayan calendar inspires films,
really predict? music and books
Queens of Egypt
Nefertiti, the most beautiful woman in the world,
and Cleopatra, the wickedest?
Volume 23 Number 6
5
9
Lady Carnarvon talks about Howard Carter, the 5th Earl 5.
£
of Carnarvon and Highclere Castle’s Egyptian connections
contents
N OVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012 MINERVAMAGAZINE.COM
Constantine Amarna
the great city of light volume23 number6
Wa Cahs rhiset iraena?lly Ankehwe ncaatpeinta’sl
Not the end Following
of the world Odysseus Features 10
Dprided tihcte AMramyaag reedadlloyn ? Homwu iHsnicos pmainreedrs’ s bfi holmeorksos,
Queens of Egypt
8 The mysterious Mr Mellaart
Nefertiti, the most beautiful woman in the world,
and Cleopatra, the wickedest?
A tribute to an old friend and fellow archaeologist who led a rich, inspired
Volume 23 Number 6
Laanddy H Ciagrhncalerrveo nC atastllkes’ sa Ebgoyuptt Hiaonw caorndn Cecatritoenr,s the 5th Earl of Carnarvon and sometimes controversial life. John Carswell
The world-famous bust of Queen
Nefertiti will be at the centre of 10 Amarna – city of light
In The Light of Amarna, a new
A century after the world-famous head of Nefertiti was discovered,
exhibition opening at the Neues
Museum in Berlin on 6 December we look at what life was like in Akhenaten’s capital city. Barry Kemp
– it was discovered on this day
100 years ago. Painted limestone/
16 Roaming with Romer
gypsum. New Kingdom, 18th
dynasty, 1340 BC. Height: 19.5ins Talking to Egyptologist, historian and writer John Romer. Diana Bentley
(50cm). © State Museum of Berlin.
18 Is this the wickedest woman in history?
Annual subscription (6 issues) 18
Published bi-monthly. Going beyond scathing Roman propaganda and glamorous Hollywood
UK £30; Europe £33 images in search of the real Cleopatra. David Stuttard
Rest of world £38
For full information see 22 Carnarvon, Carter & the curse of Tutankhamun
www.minervamagazine.com
subscribe online, or via our Lady Carnarvon explains her husband’s deep family connections with
London office. Egypt and why she loves the country and its people. Lindsay Fulcher
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Taking a look at the meaning of handprints and stencils in prehistoric
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Trade Distribution The cultural journey of Homer’s hero across the centuries. Edith Hall
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Did the Maya really predict the end of the world? Murray Eiland
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Disticor, Toronto 38 Constantine the great
Egypt & the Near East:
Looking at the man behind the revolutionary Edict of Milan, which
American University
in Cairo Press, established Christianity in Europe. Dalu Jones
Cairo, Egypt
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Printed in England by
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22
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mechanical, photo copying, recording,
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© 2012 Clear Media Ltd. archaeologists, Classicists, art historians and students. Kirsten Amor
Minerva (issn no 0957 7718) is
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Minerva November/December 2012 1
fromtheeditor
Those ladies Editor-in-Chief
Dr Mark Merrony FSA
Editor
Lindsay Fulcher
of the Nile Publisher
Myles Poulton
Editorial Consultant
Murray Eiland
Art Director
Nick Riggall
Ancient Egypt is a passion for some, an obsession for others, but
no one can ignore the grandeur and mystery of its civilisation Designer
Lyndon Williams
On 6 December it will be 100 years history, with the legend of the so-called pharaoh’s Advertising, Subscriptions and
Circulation Manager
since the exquisite, unfinished head curse taken up by every newspaper and magazine.
Georgina Read
of Queen Nefertiti, that graces our We speak to Lady Carnarvon about the curse and
cover, was found on a shelf in a about the relationship between her husband’s great
Editorial Advisory Board
sculptor’s dusty workshop among grandfather and Carter. You can still see a fascinating
Prof Claudine Dauphin
the ruins of the city of Amarna. exhibition of Egyptian antiquities at the Carnarvon Paris
Anyone who has seen the head – family seat, Highclere Castle. Massimiliano Tursi
displayed as it is in a glass cabinet, so it can be seen Lord and Lady Carnarvon have a great respect and London
from every angle, in Berlin’s Neues Museum – can- affection for Egypt and its people, as does archaeol- Prof Howard Williams
not help but agree that she is one of the most beauti- ogist John Romer, who talks about his work in the Chester
Prof Roger Wilson
ful women ever portrayed. Valley of the Kings, which started during the 1970s,
Vancouver
Her husband Akhenaten, on the other hand, was a more or less where Howard Carter left off.
strange-looking man who could almost be described As well as focusing on Ancient Egypt, we visit
Correspondents
as horse-faced, with large ears, a pot belly and a Milan to see an exhibition about the life of the great
Nicole Benazeth, France
slouching posture. When he decided to change the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, who, with his Dalu Jones, Italy
religion of Ancient Egypt and to build a new capi- mother Helena, established Christianity in Europe. Dr Filippo Salviati, Rome
tal city much further north than Thebes, he turned We also hear how the Museum of Archaeology and Rosalind Smith, Cairo
the country’s stable and ordered history upside down Anthropology in Cambridge opened a, literally, new
for over 20 years, some would say for ever. Professor door on to its refurbished galleries earlier this year. Minerva was founded in 1990
by Dr Jerome M Eisenberg,
Barry Kemp has been excavating at Akhenaten’s cap- In our travel slot, we take a tour of northern Spain
Editor-in-Chief 1990-2009
ital, Amarna, for 35 years, so who better to describe meeting a few Romans and Visigoths en route, and
Published in England by
the setting that this radical king and his wife inhab- Professor Edith Hall tells us how Homer’s Odyssey
Clear Media Ltd on behalf of the
ited over 3,000 years ago? has inspired many writers and film-makers to create
Mougins Museum of Classical Art
Another alluring, much later, Egyptian queen was stories about voyages of adventure and homecoming.
Cleopatra VII who, despite Elizabeth Taylor’s smoul- George Nash, on the other hand, looks at palm prints Clear Media is a
dering film portrayal, was not a great beauty – but in cave art and as used in modern graffiti. Media Circus Group company
what she lacked in looks she more than made up for And we delve into the mysteries of the Maya who, www.clear.cc
in personality, intelligence and political instinct. Two some believe, predicted that the world would end on www.mediacircusgroup.com
of the greatest Roman generals were captivated by this year’s Winter Solstice (21 December, which hap-
Minerva
her charms, but the third defeated her and she died, pens to be my birthday). The Maya are the subject
20 Orange Street
allegedly, from a snake bite. of a major exhibition at Penn Museum which runs
London WC2H 7EF
It was an infected mosquito bite that led to on into the New Year; like its curators, we believe Tel: [phone]
the early demise of the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, that the end is probably not nigh and hope to be Fax: [phone]
who with Howard Carter discovered the tomb of back in the New Year with another sparkling edition of Email:
Tutankhamun. This caused the first media frenzy in Minerva. Meanwhile, seasonal greetings from us all. [email protected]
ContribUtorS
Barry Kemp Edith Hall John Carswell Ursula Kampmann
is director of the Amarna is Professor of Classics at is a writer, artist and scholar. was a coin dealer with
Project and chairman of King’s College, London and He joined the American Münzen und Medaillen
the Amarna trust. He Consultant Director of the University of beirut in 1956, AG until 2001. She is the
divides his time between Archive of Performances of was made a Visiting Professor founder and editor-in-
Cairo and Amarna, where he Greek and roman Drama. at SoAS in 1976, became chief of MünzenWoche/
has worked since 1977. He is Emeritus She has taught at oxford, Cambridge, Curator of the oriental institute at the Coins Weekly, and she also organises
Professor of Egyptology at Wolfson Durham and reading Universities. Her University of Chicago in 1978, and was exhibitions and writes books. Her latest
College, Cambridge, and, in 2011, he books include The Return of Ulysses and Director of the islamic and South Asian research project is editing the letters of
was made a CbE for his work in Egypt. Greek Tragedy: Suffering under the Sun. Department at Sotheby’s from 1988-96. the collector Hans von Schellenberg.
2 Minerva November/December 2012
inthenews
recent stories from the world of ancient art and archaeology
A Roman shipwreck in Antibes
A team of French archaeologists from the wreck itself was uncovered during the
Institut National de Recherches excavation of the last section, lying on its
Archéologiques Préventives (INRAP) have side in shallow water (less than 1.60
uncovered a Roman shipwreck in Antibes metres below the ancient sea level), and
in what was once part of the bustling the preserved section is over 15 metres.
ancient port of Antipolis. It all started with In conjunction with the Camille Jullian
a routine exploration prior to the building Centre, INRAP commissioned a specialist
of an underground car park on the site of in naval archaeology to analyse and
the ancient harbour basin, which silted up interpret this important find.
in antiquity and today is located between The remains consist of a keel and
the modern marina and the ramparts. several hull planks joined together by
A preliminary diagnosis carried out in thousands of wooden pegs inserted into
2007 by core-boring (the bottom of the mortises hollowed out in the planks.
ancient port is 4 to 5 metres below today’s About 40 transverse ribs (shown right) are
sea level) revealed archaeological material lying on top, some fixed to the hull by
from the third century BC to roughly the metal pins. The wood used is mainly suggested both by stratigraphy and by the
sixth century AD, and the possibility of conifer. Parts of the hull are reinforced by ceramics collected near the vessel: around
finding a shipwreck was not ruled out. lead plating held in place by small nails. the second century AD. The ship can be
Excavation proper could only start when Tool marks (saw and adze) are also clearly classified as a typical imperial Roman vessel
seawater was pumped out of the basin, in visible, as is the pitch used to make the trading in the western Mediterranean. The
early 2012. Layers of sediment were hull watertight. This was a medium-sized wreck has been taken apart and sent off to
examined and numerous objects extracted. trading sailing boat (20-22 metres long, 6-7 the ARC-Nucléart laboratory in Grenoble,
Because the sediment was below sea level, it metres wide, with a hold about 3 metres which specialises in treating ancient
helped to preserve organic material such as deep). The fact that the hull was not built waterlogged wood. In 18 months’ time it will
wood, leather (used for the soles of shoes) over a frame and that the ribs were only be reassembled and exhibited in Antibes.
and cork (stoppers for amphorae). The there to reinforce it, confirm the dating Nicole Benazeth
Winner of the Minerva/Peten Travels Prize Draw
In our January/February issue we announced senior archaeologist. Their enthusiasm was n
de
ato Purri zoef DArnacwie nfot rA an a1t6o-ldiaa yfo arr ctwhaoe o(wloogritcha l bwoaus nudnleexssp aecntde din afnecdt ieoxuesm, apnladr yth.eir patience ritten
C
over £6,500). Here, the lucky winner, ‘Besides these two famous excavations, on
m
Roald Knutsen, describes his trip: our tour also included Kaman-Kale Höyük, y Si
‘When I heard that I had been fortunate Pteria, Alaca Höyük, ŞSapinuwa, the city o b
enough to win the Hittites and Phrygians remains of Bogazköy-Hattusa, Kültepe and hot
P
tour arranged by Peten Travels of Istanbul Açik Höyük, the neo-Hittite rock relief of
(www.petentour.com), I could hardly believe King Warpalawas at the mountain site of Ivriz.
my luck. My personal interest in the region ‘We saw buildings from all periods, ancient
lies in the ancient trade routes that led east to early medieval, temples and other sacred
along the famed Silk Road, so here was a rare places, ancient sculpture and excellently laid-
opportunity not to be missed. out modern museums displaying the most
‘It is difficult to outline briefly all we important finds. Outstanding for me was
saw, as we visited so many important to see one of the three surviving cuneiform
ancient sites scattered across the Anatolian texts of the peace treaty between the Hittite
plain. But I will say that at each of them leader Muwatalli and the Egyptian pharaoh
– ranging from the Phrygian capital of Ramesses II after the Battle of Kadesh.
Gordion, near the tomb of King Midas’ ‘Throughout the tour, put together by Mrs
father, to the incredible 10,000-year-old Iffet Ozgonul, Director of Peten Travels,
site of Catal Höyük, an ancient city which we were accompanied by an excellent and
once had a population of 8,000 people – knowledgeable guide and supported by
Minerva/Peten Travels Prize Draw winner Roald
we were welcomed and guided round them Minerva. If ancient Anatolia interests you, Knutsen by the Sphinx Gate at the entrance to
by the excavation director himself or a don’t hesitate – book your place now.’ Alaca Höyük, a Hittite city on the Anatolian plain.
Minerva November/December 2012 3
inthenews
Lost Roman town resurfaces
Having lain dormant for 1,500 years, the original colonial settlement features. Interamna Lirenas distinguishes itself
town of Interamna Lirenas, 50 miles south Led by Martin Millett, Laurence considerably from nearby Fregellae,
of Rome, has been rediscovered and is Professor of Classical Archaeology at which is also on the Via Latina – the
changing scholars’ view of the nature of Cambridge and Fellow of Fitzwilliam principal road leading south-east out of
Roman colonial settlements. College, and Dr Alessandro Launaro, Rome – and which was previously thought
Long known about from the writings of Postdoctoral Fellow at the British Academy to be a comparable colonial town.
the Roman historian Livy and the Greek and Fellow of Darwin College, the team Millett explained the significance of the
geographer Strabo, Interamna Lirenas had knew that a full-scale excavation of the find: it challenges the formerly held view
always been seen as a quiet town of little site, which covers more than 25 hectares, that Rome projected a certain image of
consequence, which followed the standard would be impractical, so they started with itself by building all colonial towns to a
template of urban development. But the geophysical mapping. pattern, and hence organising what the
recent work of a collaborative project By using a combination of scientific communities’ priorities would be, a view
involving Cambridge University, the British techniques – ground-penetrating radar and this discovery now challenges.
School at Rome, the British Academy and magnetometry – the team began to build There are hopes that excavation may
the Italian State Archaeological Service has up a picture of the original street plan, and begin again in earnest in summer 2013,
shed more light on this supposed backwater. specific features came to the fore. starting with the northern corner, which
The exact location of the town, in the The greatest surprise was the appearance incorporates the theatre and the forum,
Liri Valley in Southern Lazio, was gleaned of a building with radially arranged walls this would hopefully allow the precise
from ancient sources. The fact that it was and tiered seats within, which soon dating of these structures. The local mayor
still unexcavated, and was thought to revealed itself to be a Roman theatre. hopes to turn what is know an unassuming
have developed relatively little during the This suddenly changed the perception stretch of farmland into an archaeological
Imperial Roman era, made the town an of this town as a small settlement. park in the future.
ideal candidate to accurately reflect With its dominant temple and forum, Geoff Lowsley
Dental detritus reveals useful facts
The idea of picking through long-term evolutionary history collapsed. Unlike Egyptian techniques causing an imbalance
someone else’s dental detritus of human health and disease, mummies, they did not have in the bacteria within the gut.
would fill most of us with right down to the genetic code their organs removed and, It is possible that identifying the
horror, but it is by doing exactly of individual pathogens, and it incredibly, some of the tissue bacteria carried by our ancestors
this that Christina Warriner, should allow us to reconstruct a is still intact. could help to determine what is
of the Centre for Evolutionary detailed picture of the dynamic The aim of her project is to a healthy balance.
Medicine at the University interplay between diet, infection find evidence for an inherited This type of study need not be
of Zurich, is gleaning valuable and immunity that occurred genetic trait, a deficiency in limited to digestive conditions,
information about the lives thousands of years ago’. the enzyme G6PD (glucose-6 however. Warriner explains:
of Iranian miners who died Her particular area of interest -phosphate dehydrogenase), ‘Diseases and disorders such as
2,000 years ago. is the mummies of miners from which causes anaemia, a periodontitis, heart disease,
Archaeological geneticists the salt mines of Chehr Abad, particularly common condition allergies and diabetes all have an
study some of the more unusual in north-west Iran, dating from in modern-day Iran. evolutionary component related
elements of the material remains the 4th century BC to the 4th It has been postulated that to the fact that we live in a
of our ancestors to gain an century AD. The bodies of men many of today’s digestive different environment to the one
insight into the past. From were naturally preserved by disorders may be precipitated in which our bodies evolved.’
animal, plant and bacterial desiccation when the salt mines by modern food-production So we may also learn valuable
remains to human tissue, bone lessons that can help in modern
and teeth, all the biomolecules medical treatment.
left in what was once living While dentists tell us to brush
can pass down a vast amount our teeth regularly, we are
of information about the fortunate that those before us
surrounding environment. were not schooled in dental
Warriner explained how hygiene, as we now have this
r
millions of threads of DNA invaluable archaeological ne
n
belonging to bacteria that record written in their plaque. ari
W
inhabited the mouth and throat Geoff Lowsley a
n
are captured in dental calculus risti
(Ecxotmramctoinngly a cnadll eedx apmlaiqnuineg). Cmharnisdtiibnlae Wshaorrwininegr edxeanmtailn ceasl acu lus y of ch
these DNA threads should and ante-mortem tooth loss in a rtes
u
‘allow us to investigate the DNA clean lab o
c
4
Ancient obsidian trade in
Syria reflects current conflict
1
Dr Ellery Frahm, an archaeologist archaeologists over the last five Such specificity was possible Bronze Age – the parallels to
from the University of Sheffield, decades. However, the team using a combination of scientific the recent history of the area are
has revealed the origin and also discovered a set of exotic techniques, including a portable extraordinary. I went to Syria as
trading routes of razor-sharp artefacts made from obsidian X-ray analyser and instruments an American after the US had
stone tools 4,200 years ago in originating from a volcano that measure weak magnetic called Syria part of the “Axis
Syria, where many ancient sites in central Turkey, three times signals within rocks. of Evil”, and only had positive
are under threat due to further away. Just as important The earliest techniques of experiences there. The degree of
the current conflict. as their distant origin is where matching Middle East obsidian hospitality I encountered was
An interdisciplinary research the artefacts were found: a royal artefacts to their volcanic extraordinary. Perfect strangers
team hopes this new discovery, palace courtyard. origins were developed partly took me into their homes during
which has major implications They were left there during at the University of Sheffield by my journey from Damascus
for understanding the world’s the height of the world’s first Colin Renfrew, Lecturer in the to the site, which involved a
first empire, will help to empire, the Akkadian Empire Department of Prehistory and nine-hour bus-ride through the
highlight the importance of – the Akkadians invaded Syria Archaeology from 1965 to 1972. desert. I was welcomed, fed,
protecting Syria’s heritage. in the Bronze Age. These finds Dr Frahm commented: ‘Studying offered a shower and change
Obsidian, naturally occurring have exciting implications for the use and origin of obsidian of clothes, introduced to family
volcanic glass, is smooth, hard, understanding links between reveals some compelling and friends, and shown around.
and far sharper than a surgical resources and empires in the parallels with the modern-day ‘The current situation in
scalpel when fractured, making Middle East. Middle East and has resonance Syria is tragic and precarious.
it a highly desirable raw material Dr Frahm, Marie Curie with issues that the region faces It can be so overwhelming and
for crafting stone tools during Experienced Research Fellow today. For example, we think heartbreaking that I have to take
most of human history. In fact, at the University of Sheffield’s that invading powers, intent on a break from it which, unlike the
obsidian tools continued to be Department of Archaeology, controlling access to valuable people who are living through
used throughout the ancient who led the research said: ‘This resources, would have faced the fighting, I have the luxury
Middle East for millennia after is a rare, if not unique, discovery resistance to occupation from of doing. Whatever the future
the introduction of metals, in Northern Mesopotamia small states across the region holds, there will be a lot of work
and obsidian blades are still that enables new insights ruled by peoples who were to do there, both humanitarian
used today as scalpels in some into changing Bronze Age ethnic minorities elsewhere in and archaeological, and I’m
specialised medical procedures. economics and geopolitics. We the Middle East. very much interested in the
Researchers from social can identify where an obsidian ‘A mountain insurgency could interfaces between them. How
and earth sciences studied artefact originated because each have resulted in a blockade can archaeology perhaps help
obsidian tools excavated from volcanic source has a distinctive of natural resources, and the Syria recover from this?’
the archaeological site of Tell “fingerprint”. This is why colonisers may have been forced d
Mozan, in Syria. Using new obsidian sourcing is a powerful to instead seek resources from • Dr Frahm’s original paper is heffiel
methods and technologies, the means of reconstructing past more distant sources and forge published online in the Journal of s
team successfully uncovered the trade routes, social boundaries, alliances with other regional of Archaeological Research at y
hitherto unknown origins and and other information that powers to raise their status. This www.sciencedirect.com/science/ versit
movements of this coveted raw allows us to engage in major was 4,200 years ago during the article/pii/S0305440311004857. ni
U
material during the Bronze Age, social science debates.’
more than four millennia ago. Not only did Dr Frahm and 3
Most obsidian at Tell Mozan, his collaborators identify the
and surrounding archaeological particular volcano where the
sites, came from volcanoes some obsidian originated, they were
200km away in Eastern Turkey; able to pinpoint two particular
this can be confirmed by models areas on the exact flank of the
of ancient trade developed by mountain where it was collected.
1. Dr Ellery Frahm, Marie Curie
2
Experienced Research Fellow
at the University of Sheffield’s
Department of Archaeology.
2. Some of the ancient obsidian
blades, dating from 4,200 years
ago, excavated at the site.
3. The site of Tell Mozan in Syria
is situated near the border with
Turkey and Iraq.
Minerva November/December 2012 5
inthenews
Mystery red head identified
A fine, Roman, red porphyry and possibly in the same atelier, Four views of the red porphyry head of a Tetrarch recently identified by n
a
head, recently sold by the probably in Rome. Richard Falkiner at the Temple Gallery in London. This head is related to ath
Temple Gallery in London, The style of the London one in the Vatican and two others (still attached to their original pillars) re n
in the Louvre. The back view clearly shows how this one was damaged ai
has been identified as that of a head is quite different to the cl
when it was wrenched from its column. y/
T4tehtr caernchtu, rdya AtinDg. from the early mscourlpe tcurrued eem satynlaet ionfg p forropmh yry aller
g
Because of its Julio-Claudian Eastern Europe – like that from posthumous images of set of Tetrarchs. The attribution mple
hairstyle, at first glance the of the massive, full-length Alexander the Great, who died is further strengthened by the fact te
head appears to belong to the Tetrarchs (scandalously looted in 323 BC, particularly on the that this group of four heads is
beginning of the Roman Imperial from Constantinople in 1204) coins of Lysimachus (d. 281 BC). not replicated elsewhere.
period, circa 50 BC – circa AD 50. that now stand outside the It seems to me that the It should be conceded that
But this retrospective look was Duomo in Venice. London head is one of an the two examples in the Louvre
probably intentional because Roman portraiture had original group of four; the other have been recorded as the heads
any dynasty, particularly during become increasingly less three being the Vatican head and of Nerva (AD 96-98) and Trajan
insecure times – and these times realistic by the end of the two other busts, still attached to (AD 98-117). There is also a
were indeed insecure – would 3rd century, as easily datable their original pillars, that are in porphyry head of Trajan in the
clearly want to proclaim its coins show, and images of the the Louvre. Like them, both the Glyptotheque Ny Carlsberg,
legitimacy by linking itself to an emperor and members of his Vatican and the London heads Copenhagen that is probably
impressive imperial lineage. family were hardly portraits but were also originally attached co-eval with them, although
There is a very similar more properly representations to pillars. This is demonstrated it might date to the early 2nd
example in the Vatican (except of the high office that they held. by similar damage to the back century AD.
that it is a complete bust) that The London head is in of both heads. The back of Recent research, however,
is said to be Constantius II excellent condition. The face has the London head has a chip suggests later dates (early
(d. 361). This bust, now in been polished in recent times – and the hair below it down to 4th century) for both the
the Museo Pio Clementi, was during the Renaissance or later the nape of the neck has been Copenhagen and Louvre heads
acquired in 1772 from Princess (there is no way of knowing re-cut and the back of the neck as the earlier dates that have
Cornelia Costanza Barberini exactly when) – but despite this shows re-polishing. The surface been attributed to them are
so, unlike the famous porphyry the original form has not been of the hair on the rest of the before Imperial porphyry was
sarcophagi of Constantine and markedly altered. head shows some wear but the more generally available.
Helena, it cannot be said that Still apparent is the ethereal, re-cut hair is crisp and new. The The identification of this new
this item has resided on the rather dreamy expression of Vatican head exhibits similar head at the Temple Gallery is
Vatican Hill since late Roman the eyes and countenance, first traits and this damage is clearly an exciting event matched only
times – but that is not to say used in AD 313 or shortly where the integral plain support by my finding, in 1993, of
the bust has not been in Rome before, at about the time has been torn away. another porphyry (the head of
since it was made. This and when Christianity became the This corpus constitutes a an emperor) that now resides
the London head are closely Rome’s state religion although, group of four heads that would in the Ashmolean Museum.
related, made at the same time in fact, this look is derived be consistent with their being a Richard Falkiner
6 Minerva November/December 2012
Obituary
The Mysterious Mr Mellaart
Professor John Carswell
pays tribute an old friend
and fellow archaeologist
who led a rich, inspired and
sometimes controversial life
I
first met James Mellaart (Jimmy to his
friends) at Jericho in 1952. He was
one of a group of disenchanted young
Egyptologists who had been unable to
pursue their chosen career because Egypt
was in the clutches of Gamal Abdel Nasser
and thus forbidden territory. The group
of youthful aspirants included Diana
Kirkbride and Neville Chittick, both of
whom, because of this reverse, became
instead pioneers of investigative archaeol-
ogy in Palestine and East Africa.
My own role, a very humble one, was to
draw pottery and plans of tombs for the for-
midable ‘Great Sitt’ (sitt means ‘lady’), as
Kathleen Kenyon was known to all the Arab
workmen, with no aspirations of any sort
except to earn my living (£1 a week) and
free board and lodging. In those years we
stayed in tents around an old two-storey
farmhouse beside Elisha’s Spring, which
pumped out thousands of gallons of fresh
water every day and sustained the luxuriant
gardens and orchards of modern Jericho
(Ariha). It also sustained a refugee camp of
over 60,000 Palestinians who had fled their
villages in the wake of the Israeli conquest of
Palestine in 1948.
James Mellaart enjoying a cigarette on site at Çatal Höyük, the extraordinary Neolithic town in
Meals were taken on the first floor of the Anatolia that has been dated to circa 7,500–5,700 BC, which he discovered in 1958
farmhouse, under the beady eye of the Great
Sitt, who sat at the head of the table, at that witnessed a spectacular demonstration of confronted by what he had done, she gra-
stage in the evening sustained by several stiff her authority. One day at breakfast she ciously conceded that he was right and
gins and an ever-present pack of cigarettes. was informed that a mob of thousands of began to dig down even further. The rest, as
This did not suit Jimmy at all, and he and Palestinian refugees were gathered below, they say, is history. Or rather, prehistory, for
other non-conformists took their dinner in a just about to storm the camp. She calmly fin- the epic achievement of Jericho was to join
little annexe off the main room, where they ished eating, then strode downstairs to face history as we know it on to the prehistoric
held subversive conversations about the dig the mob, across the stream from Elisha’s past of our cave-dwelling ancestors, and the
and its progress. The ground floor beneath Spring. Planting her feet akimbo, she quietly evidence for the invention of farming and
was occupied by the cook and his kitchen lit a cigarette and simply stared at them. As the domestication of animals, and civilisa-
staff, and also served as a pottery storehouse if hypnotised, the mob quietly dispersed. tion as we know it today.
where finds could be conveniently washed in In the meantime the great main trench The climax came when she did indeed
the spring and laid out to dry on rush mats. across the centre of the mound progressed reach bedrock, and the evidence of semi-
There was also an outhouse which was on downwards, until Kathleen Kenyon pro- subterranean dwellings. Kathleen bellowed,
the Great Sitt’s office, where she spent long nounced that bedrock had, at last, been ‘Get Dot!’ Dot was Dorothy Garrod, who
hours after dinner pondering on the daily reached, and retired to Jerusalem for the was immediately flown out to Jericho and
results of her campaign. Incidentally, such weekend. But Jimmy was cheekily not con- sent down the trench for two whole days.
was the powerful image of the Great Sitt, vinced, and on the Sunday returned to the The conversation at dinner that night was
who proudly wore the hockey shorts she had site with his group of workmen and pro- monosyllabic: ‘Well, Dot, what have you
had as a schoolgirl, that one of the younger ceeded to dig a hole in the bedrock. got?’ To which Dot replied: ‘K, you’ve got it!’
workmen told me he was more frightened To give Kathleen her due, when she What was ‘it’? ‘It’ was the moment, just
of her than of his own father. I myself once returned on Monday morning to be after the last Ice Age, when mankind left its
8 Minerva November/December 2012
Obituary
The Mysterious Mr Mellaart
comfortable caves and a hunter-gatherer it secret (which he did) until she told him house in the village which housed the archae-
existence, to settle beside the spring at he could release the news. But she and the ologists. One day, working on the site, I con-
Jericho and build a village based on agri- hoard both vanished into thin air. In 1958, tracted sunstroke and was carried back to the
culture and the domestication of animals – he revealed his manuscript of over 60,000 village in a bullock cart. Arlette, who was
the first definite evidence of a link between words and annotated drawings, which were acting as interpreter, photographer and gen-
the historical past and prehistory, some time then published in the Illustrated London eral manager, took a maternal interest in my
around 9500 BC. It was Jimmy’s scepticism News. This caused a sensation, and a pub- recovery. Later I stayed with the Mellaarts in
that had been the trigger for this momen- lic outcry in Turkey, which accused him of Arlette’s stepfather’s magnificent wooden yali
tous discovery. being a party to a criminal theft. He denied at Kanlica, on the Asian side of the Bosphorus.
James Mellaart was born in 1925 in the charge, and an independent investiga- Sadly it was destroyed by a fire which also
London, of a Dutch father and an Irish tion by the BIAA exonerated him. The entire burnt many of Jimmy’s excavation notes.
mother. The family moved to Amsterdam manuscript has remained locked up by the Seton Lloyd was a highly intelligent man
in 1932, where his mother died and his BIAA till this very day. The few individu- who early on recognised Jimmy’s extraordi-
father remarried, moving in 1940 moved to als who have seen it were astonished by the nary talents, making him Assistant Director
Maastricht. As a young man Jimmy worked depth and detail of his record, which went of the BIAA from 1959 to 1961 and, as I
at the National Museum of Antiquities way beyond the imagination of any scholar. have said, jointly excavating Beycesultan
in Leiden and studied Egyptology. He The truth of the Dorak Affair has gone with with him. The only thing that disconcerted
returned to England in 1947 to start a BA at Jimmy to his grave. me was the fact that Jimmy proceeded to
University College in London. Arlette was his devoted partner at this redraw all my pottery drawings. I realised
Jimmy was conspicuously proud of his time and remained so for the rest of his life. many years later that this was not because
Scots ancestry, as a member of the Maclarty I remember meeting both of them when I they were inaccurate, but simply to etch
clan, a branch of the Macdonalds. This was passed on by Kathleen to Seton Lloyd, the images in his own prodigious memory.
led to a fervent admiration of everything Director of the BIAA, to work as a draught- That this can happen I can testify from my
Scottish and a lifetime’s happy consump- sman between her seasons at Jericho, fol- own experience, for I can remember almost
tion of whisky, one of the many endearing lowed by a similar instruction to Sinclair to this day thousands of drawings I made
aspects of his singular personality. Hood, Director of the British School of at Jericho, which are indelibly etched into
In England he participated in one of Archaeology in Athens, to keep me occu- my consciousness.
Kathleen Kenyon’s postwar excavations at pied in Athens and subsequently at Knossos. I also remember being asked to make a
Sutton Walls, an Iron Age site in south-west At Beycesultan, where Seton Lloyd and copy of a wall painting at Beycesultan which
England. He graduated from the Institute Jimmy were working in tandem, I again was they were convinced depicted a man leap-
of Archaeology in 1951, and was promptly paid a nominal sum, and accommodated in a ing over a bull’s horns. I simply could not
given a two-year Fellowship at the British tent in the grounds of the old Anatolian see this, and decided I would just copy the
Institute of Archaeology at Ankara (BIAA). marks on the wall as best I could. They were
There he devoted himself to exploring much perfectly happy with the result.
of south-western Turkey, either on foot or Jimmy’s real moment of glory came with
using buses and trains for transport. It was his discovery of Çatal Höyük in 1958 and
then that he revealed his remarkable stam- its subsequent excavation. This conclu-
ina, tireless in his search for Chalcolithic sively proved that the development of man-
and Bronze Age sites, of which he found kind was not limited to the Levant and the
numerous examples, including Beycesultan. Fertile Crescent, but extended westward
He also learned fluent colloquial Turkish into the Cenani Anatolian heartland. This
by staying overnight in villages anywhere revolutionary discovery gave him fame and
he could find a bed, and being interrogated secured his immortality. Its extensive settle-
by his inquisitive hosts about his motives ment and extraordinary array of artefacts
before being allowed to go to sleep. can be dated to circa 7500-5700 BC.
In 1952 he met Arlette Cenani, whom he Finally established as Lecturer in
married in 1954 and who bore him a son, Anatolian Archaeology at the Institute of
Alan, in 1955. This was also the moment Archaeology in London, and disdainful
when the curious incident of the Dorak of committees and any formal academic
Affair happened. As he told the story, he was responsibilities, James Mellaart inspired
accosted while on a train journey to Izmir generations of young scholars with his sheer
by an attractive young Greek woman, Anna enthusiasm and breadth of knowledge.
Papastrati, wearing an ancient gold bracelet. His name has been linked to the concept
She took him into her confidence, told him of genius, which he may well have been.
the bracelet was part of a fabulous treasure But for his many friends he will be remem-
hoard reputedly unearthed in the village of bered much more as a lovable human being,
Dorak in Bursa province. She then invited with all those eccentricities that made him
The formidable archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon,
him back to her house to see the hoard and utterly unique.
or the Great Sitt, as she was known to the Arab
allowed him to draw it and to make notes workmen who helped her excavate Jericho • James Mellaart
about it. In return he gave his word to keep during the 1950s. (Photograph PA) (14 November 1925–29 July, 2012)
Minerva November/December 2012 9
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