Fire and the Sword: the Technique of Destruction

Gordon, Douglas

doi:10.1017/s0003598x00024790

Cited by 11 publications

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“…Decorative almenas , however, may have been deliberately targeted as easily damaged features in a raid that included the burning of nearby wattle structures. Gordon's (1953) discussion of military operations in Waziristan during the winter of 1919–1920 (Gordon 1953:149n1) indicates how difficult it is to destroy houses built of adobe and stone. His inadvertent example of “experimental archaeology” indicates that the walls of Cihuatan Structure Q-1 that supported almenas might have survived efforts to burn the structure, which continued to stand for some time after the general destruction at this part of the site.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

CERAMIC ROOF ORNAMENTS (ALMENAS) FROM CIHUATAN, EL SALVADOR: CONTEXTS, DESCRIPTIONS, AND INFERENCES FROM OTHER SITES

Becker

2017

Ancient Mesoam

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Discovery of dozens of broken ceramic roof ornaments (almenas) on the floor abutting the front (western) margin of an elite residence (Structure Q-1) at Cihuatan, El Salvador provides a new context for this category of artifacts. While relatively well-known from sites in the Valley of Mexico, elsewhere in Mesoamerica almenas have been documented only from a single Teotihuacan-style structure at the lowland Maya site of Tikal, one structure at Mayapan, and possibly at a few other sites in Yucatan. A preliminary program to reconstruct a portion of the many box-like almenas at Cihuatan, of a date much later than the one from Tikal, generated seven relatively complete examples of this form, indicated that fragments of perhaps another 50 had been recovered, and that they were used in pairs. The reconstructed sample provides an important demonstration of the ornamentation on an elite residence and also reveals much about how Structure Q-1 and surrounding buildings came to an end, around a.d. 1200. At least eight other buildings at Cihuatan had been adorned with almenas, each building having examples of one specific shape, possibly unique to this city. Comparisons with Aztec and earlier Mexican forms suggest cultural connections, perhaps via Tula. These findings strongly suggest Mexican influences for the use and forms of roof ornaments at Cihuatan.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

CERAMIC ROOF ORNAMENTS (ALMENAS) FROM CIHUATAN, EL SALVADOR: CONTEXTS, DESCRIPTIONS, AND INFERENCES FROM OTHER SITES

Becker

2017

Ancient Mesoam

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“…This was stressed by one of the earliest contributors to this archaeological debate. Calling on his own experience, Colonel D. H. Gordon (1953) noted—with a chilling sense of detail—that, during the 1919–1920 campaigns of colonial repression in Waziristan, it was difficult to apply the usual counterinsurgency methods to destroy the vernacular architecture of Pashtun villages. The resilience and resistance of the earth architecture was such that explosives had to be used to destroy the precious wooden frame and create indraught.…”

Section: The Modus Operandi Of Destructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ruin dynamics: Architectural destruction and the production of sedentary space at the dawn of the Neolithic revolution

Hadad

2018

Journal of Social Archaeology

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Monumental architecture in Levantine sites such as Jerf el-Ahmar, Göbekli Tepe, or Jericho appears to play an important role in place-making practices and in the organization of a possibly hierarchical sociopolitical life at the very beginning of the Neolithic. This paper focuses on an underdeveloped aspect of this phenomenon: all these buildings were ritually destroyed in a highly spectacular and costly fashion. Their ruins were purposefully curated and accumulated. Far from being static remains, these structures are the meaningful result of the dynamic re-production of monumental space and of its inscription in the landscape. Understanding these actions calls for decentering the dominant vision of architectural valuation associated primarily with ideas of “creation” or “heritage.” Architectural destruction, I shall finally claim, may well be more significant than construction for understanding the Neolithic consolidation of sedentism in the Near East.

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“…On the logistical difficulties entailed by large-scale devastation cf. Crawford (2012) 737-8, building on the work of Colonel H. D. Gordon (Gordon (1953)). evidence for Polawhich is partly matched by the evidence at Parentiumshould warn against drawing rash conclusions.…”

Section: Administrative and Agrarian Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Caesar's Aims in Northeast Italy

Santangelo¹

2016

Pap. Br. Sch. Rome

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This paper provides a new assessment of Caesar's activity in north-east Italy, both in the 50s BC and in the aftermath of the Civil War, and discusses it against the background of the earlier Roman presence in the region and of the developments that intervened in the following generation. Its main contention is that Caesar carried out a number of important political and administrative interventions, both in Histria (chiefly through the foundation of the colony of Pola) and in the Alpine and pre-Alpine regions, marking a fundamental shift in the quality of the Roman presence in the area. The discussion falls under five headings: the value of the evidence of Caesar's Commentarii for his activity in north-east Italy; an overview of the problems for which inadequate documentation survives (such as the early history and legal status of Tergeste); the date and background of the colonisation of Pola; the changes in the administrative and agrarian setup of Histria and north-east Italy in the late Republican period; and the resulting economic and social developments in the region.The conclusions summarise the main insights emerging from a very fragmentary field of evidence, and seek to explain the inclusion of Histria in the Augustan discriptio of Italy with the exceptional prosperity of the region, which Caesar's interest had contributed to chart and exploit more effectively.It is well known that Julius Caesar had a major impact on Northern Italy, not merely because of the citizenship grant he bestowed on Transpadana in 49 BC, but more widely through the activity he carried out during his provincial command over the preceding decade. However, his work in the north-eastern fringes of the region has received comparatively less attention.A treatment of Caesar's impact on north-east Italy entails at least two preliminary problems.Much of what will be discussed in what follows will pertain to the last few years of Caesar's life, and will involve reconsidering one of the most intensely debated and least satisfactorily documented issues in ancient history: the ambitions that Caesar entertained and the objectives that he pursued, especially after his victory in the Civil War, as well as the factors that informed his strategy on a number of fronts. Moreover, the notion of north-east Italy requires some qualification. It retains its validity, of course, as a 'geographischer Ausdruck', a 'geographical expression', to borrow Prince Metternich's famous dictum, in the study of any historical period. However, it is far from apparent that in Caesar's time the territory on which this study will predominantly focus was regarded as part of Italia.The analysis developed in this paper reflects the highly fragmentary nature of the surviving body of evidence, and falls under five headings. It will open with a survey of the evidence for Caesar's activity in north-east Italy during his governorship (58-50 BC), and will then engage with some important, if woefully under-documented, aspects of the history of region at this time: the coexistence be...

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Fire and the Sword: the Technique of Destruction

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

CERAMIC ROOF ORNAMENTS (ALMENAS) FROM CIHUATAN, EL SALVADOR: CONTEXTS, DESCRIPTIONS, AND INFERENCES FROM OTHER SITES

CERAMIC ROOF ORNAMENTS (ALMENAS) FROM CIHUATAN, EL SALVADOR: CONTEXTS, DESCRIPTIONS, AND INFERENCES FROM OTHER SITES

Ruin dynamics: Architectural destruction and the production of sedentary space at the dawn of the Neolithic revolution

Caesar's Aims in Northeast Italy

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