PhD Thesis by Matthew (Mat) Dalton
The conquest of Upper Nubia (ancient Kush) by the New Kingdom Egyptian state around 1500BC instig... more The conquest of Upper Nubia (ancient Kush) by the New Kingdom Egyptian state around 1500BC instigated over four centuries of pharaonic control of the region. Over the course of this occupation, the state founded a number of towns along the Middle Nile Valley, each typically provided with monumental enclosure walls, one or more cult temples, and administrative buildings and housing. The architecture and material culture of these settle-ments overwhelmingly parallel those of contemporary Egypt proper. Yet significant evidence from these sites and their associated cemeteries also indicates the existence of a hybrid cultural horizon drawing upon both indigenous Nubian and pharaonic traits. The study of these sites is therefore an exercise in both pharaonic urban archaeology and a set of highly specific colonial circumstances.
Households constituted the fundamental socioeconomic unit across pharaonic society, and are generally the finest-grained social entity amenable to archaeological investigation in New Kingdom settlements, where textual evidence for non-elite individuals is scarce. The manner in which houses were arranged, used and conceptualised by their residents and builders would have shaped and been shaped by culturally and contextually-contingent as-pects of social structure and household life, settlement economy, and private religious beliefs and worldviews. The preserved remains of houses, their contents, and the activities that took place within them thereby provide essential sources for reconstructing these im-portant components of ancient lifeways.
This thesis presents the results of high-resolution geoarchaeological and macroscopic investigations of house floors and associated features at the extremely well-preserved site of Amara West, the administrative capital of Kush in the later part of the New Kingdom (~1300–1070BC). These methodologies allow the identification of otherwise invisible or ambiguous traces of ancient human activity. By combining this fine-scale evidence with patterning in architecture, and floor and fixture provision between multiple diverse houses, and with other artefactual, textual and representational sources, this thesis primarily aims to reconstruct residents’ conceptions of domestic space over time.
This research builds upon and complements wider ongoing scientific investigations of do-mestic lifeways at Amara West. As the site’s housing is firmly situated within a wider New Kingdom tradition, insights gained through this research are also capable of nuancing current understandings of household life during this period as a whole.
Papers by Matthew (Mat) Dalton
Geoarchaeology, 2023
Across a 1000-km stretch of the River Nile, from the 1st Cataract in southern Egypt to the 4th Ca... more Across a 1000-km stretch of the River Nile, from the 1st Cataract in southern Egypt to the 4th Cataract in Sudan, many hundreds of drystone walls are located within active channels, on seasonally inundated floodplains or in now-dry Holocene palaeochannel belts. These walls (or river groynes) functioned as flood and flow control structures and are of a type now commonly in use worldwide. In the Nile Valley, the structures have been subject only to localised investigations, and none have been radiometrically dated. Some were built within living memory to trap nutrient-rich Nile silts for agriculture, a practice already recorded in the early 19th century C.E. However, others situated within ancient palaeochannel belts indicate construction over much longer time frames. In this paper, we map the distribution of these river groynes using remote sensing and drone survey. We then establish their probable functions and a provisional chronology using ethnoarchaeological investigation and the ground survey, excavation and radiometric dating of the structures in northern Sudan, focusing on the Holocene riverine landscape surrounding the pharaonic settlement of Amara West (c. 1300–1000 B.C.E.). Finally, we consider the historical and economic implications of this form of hydraulic engineering in the Nile Valley over the past three millennia.
The Holocene, 2022
The desert regions of the Arabian Peninsula and Levant are criss-crossed by innumerable pathways.... more The desert regions of the Arabian Peninsula and Levant are criss-crossed by innumerable pathways. Across large areas of northwest Arabia, many of these pathways are flanked by stone monuments, the vast majority of which are ancient tombs. Recent radiometric dating indicates that the most abundant of these monuments, elaborate and morphologically diverse 'pendant' structures, were constructed during the mid-to-late third millennium BCE. Thousands of kilometres of these composite path and monument features, 'funerary avenues', can be traced across the landscape, especially around and between major perennial water sources. By evidencing routes of human movement during this period, these features provide an emerging source for reconstructing important aspects of ancient mobility and social and economic connectivity. They also provide significant new evidence for human/ environment interactions and subsistence strategies during the later Middle Holocene of northwest Arabia, and suggest the parallel existence of mobile pastoralist lifeways and more permanent, oasis-centred settlement. This paper draws upon the results of recent excavations and intensive remote sensing, aerial and ground surveys in Saudi Arabia to present the first detailed examination of these features and the vast cultural landscape that they constitute.
Choice Reviews Online, 2013
... imprint of John Wiley & Sons, formed by the merger of Wiley's global Scientific, Tec... more ... imprint of John Wiley & Sons, formed by the merger of Wiley's global Scientific, Technical and ... A. Talbert Road Connectivity and the Structure of Ancient Empires: A Case Study from Late ... Adam Silverstein received his PhD in Islamic history at the University of Cambridge, and has ...
Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, Jun 27, 2021
The monumental stone structures of the Arabian Peninsula have been notoriously difficult to date.... more The monumental stone structures of the Arabian Peninsula have been notoriously difficult to date. Due to their visibility in the landscape, they have suffered from extensive robbing and later reuse, which has compromised dating methodologies. In particular, our understanding of when the elaborate “pendants” (also known as “tailed cairns” or “tailed tower tombs”) of north-west Arabia were first constructed has remained incomplete. Recent work undertaken by the Aerial Archaeology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia –Khaybar project provides some of the first radiometric dates for the pendants of Saudi Arabia. These structures can now be dated as far back as the third millennium BCE, revealing for the first time a hitherto undocumented, large-scale, monumental funerary landscape dating to the Early Bronze Age. These radiocarbon dates bring the advent of the pendant building tradition in line with funerary developments across the wider Arabian Peninsula, and may mark a profound reconfiguring of the wider Harrat Khaybar landscape during the third millennium BCE.
Antiquity, 2021
Northwestern Arabia is marked by thousands of prehistoric stone structures. Of these, the monumen... more Northwestern Arabia is marked by thousands of prehistoric stone structures. Of these, the monumental, rectilinear type known as mustatils has received only limited attention. Recent fieldwork in AlUla and Khaybar Counties, Saudi Arabia, demonstrates that these monuments are architecturally more complex than previously supposed, featuring chambers, entranceways and orthostats. These structures can now be interpreted as ritual installations dating back to the late sixth millennium BC, with recent excavations revealing the earliest evidence for a cattle cult in the Arabian Peninsula. As such, mustatils are amongst the earliest stone monuments in Arabia and globally one of the oldest monumental building traditions yet identified.
Environmental Archaeology, 2018
This paper presents the results of integrated geoarchaeological and archaeobotanical analyses of ... more This paper presents the results of integrated geoarchaeological and archaeobotanical analyses of desiccated and charred ovicaprid dung pellets from the New Kingdom pharaonic settlement of Amara West (Sudan). These analyses reveal diagnostic phytolithic evidence for considerable variations in plant diet amongst the site's ovicaprid population. These data shed light on aspects of ancient animal husbandry practice, the settlement's subsistence economy and residents' exploitation of natural resources. We also observe that specic phytolith types correlate with the presence (and quantity) or absence of calcium carbonate faecal spherulites in analysed dung pellets. This evidence, augmented by experimental analysis of analogous modern plant material, suggests that dietary Ca intake is implicated in faecal spherulite crystallization within the ovicaprid digestive system.
Nubia in the New Kingdom: Lived Experience, Pharaonic Control and Indigenous Traditions, 2017
The household surfaces upon which the people of ancient Egypt and Kush lived much of their lives ... more The household surfaces upon which the people of ancient Egypt and Kush lived much of their lives have thus far received far less attention than the houses containing them. This paper presents some preliminary results of the application of high-resolution geoarchaeological methodologies – particularly thin section micromorphology – to better understand the ancient use and creation of domestic space at Amara West, as materialised in the construction, formation and modification of floor surfaces within houses in the Ramesside settlement. This undertaking is complemented by ethnoarchaeological research into the role that comparable mud flooring and house building practices play in contemporary Sudanese Nubia. Evidence gained from the modern case study assists in the interpretation of these very well preserved ancient features, particularly in providing a basis for the identification of individual or shared technological signatures that may allow for the partial reconstruction of those involved in their creation.
The arid environment and lack of modern development around Amara West has preserved distinctive a... more The arid environment and lack of modern development around Amara West has preserved distinctive and high-resolution records of changing Holocene river behaviour, both in a palaeochannel immediately adjacent to the town, and in one 2km further north. Combining optically stimulated luminescence and 14C dating, alongside investigation of channel morphology and reach-scale flood inundation simulation, a chronological framework for the dynamic riverine environment in this part of the Nile Valley is reconstructed for the 2nd and 1st millenniums BC. The palaeogeographical setting of Amara West changed dramatically and rapidly after the founding of the town as channels dried out and the riparian zone contracted. Evidence from excavations in the town and cemeteries, alongside micromorphological analyses of sedimentary deposits from the settlement and bioarchaeological study of the human remains, is deployed to explore how the ancient inhabitants experienced, and sought to mitigate the effects of, these environmental challenges.
It has become increasingly common in archaeology to utilise virtual globes for regions where few ... more It has become increasingly common in archaeology to utilise virtual globes for regions where few if any aerial photographs are available. Saudi Arabia is one such and it has proved specially useful for identifying and mapping the prolific structures commonly referred to as the ‘Works of the Old Men’, most prominently kites. These are now generally accepted as hunting traps for migratory animals. Although a few were known in Saudi Arabia, the increasing availability of high resolution ‘windows’ on virtual globes has revealed them in ever-larger numbers. Such windows can be exploited to define and map archaeological remains and develop methodologies. One particular region with such potential is Harret Khaybar. Progressive additions of high-resolution windows for this harra have revealed 917 kites. Beyond mere counting, analysis allows the development of typologies and identification of locally distinctive forms—notably the ‘barbed’ form; mapping and the interpretation of patterns in relation to geology, soils, water sources and vegetation; and associations with other ‘works’, with scope for creating at least relative chronologies. The present study provides data and preliminary analysis, and guidance for such a holistic ground-based archaeological project should the opportunity arise.
Report of the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus 2007 (p. 157-174), 2007
The Egkomi (Enkomi) Mapping Project brings together the published geographical and chronological ... more The Egkomi (Enkomi) Mapping Project brings together the published geographical and chronological mortuary data from the many different excavators of Enkomi-Ayios Iakovos and more recent studies, creating for the first time an inclusive graphical overview of known Late Cypriot tomb and burial distribution over the site as a whole. The project includes revised locations for every previously mapped tomb, colour chronological distribution maps and systems for evaluating the accuracy of its new results, and is presented here as a resource for researchers interested in this perennially intriguing and exceptionally important site.
Archaeological Review from Cambridge 28.2, Nov 2013
Report of the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus 2010
Report of the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus 2009, 2010
Archaeological Review from Cambridge, Apr 2015
Vision is the element of ancient sensory experience most readily accessible to archaeological met... more Vision is the element of ancient sensory experience most readily accessible to archaeological methodologies. Monumentality and display, intervisibility, the aesthetics of materials and the provision of light -to name but a few areas of archaeological inquiry explicitly linked to sight -all add to our interpretation of the meaning and use of ancient space, taken here in an inclusive sense to mean both the built environment and the wider landscape.
Edited volumes by Matthew (Mat) Dalton
Site and scene: Evaluating visibility in monument placement during the Bronze Age of West Penwith... more Site and scene: Evaluating visibility in monument placement during the Bronze Age of West Penwith, Cornwall, United Kingdom Chelsee Arbour (In)visible cities: The abandoned Early Bronze Age tells in the landscape of the Intermediate Bronze Age southern Levant Sarit Paz 'All that we see or seem': Space, memory and Greek akropoleis Robin Rönnlund Becoming visible: The formation of urban boundaries in the oppidum of Manching (Bavaria) Thimo Jacob Brestel Mutable spaces and unseen places: A study of access, communication and spatial control in households at Early Iron Age (EIA) Zagora on Andros
Posters by Matthew (Mat) Dalton
Thin section analysis of intact ovicaprid dung pellets from Amara West demonstrates a correlation... more Thin section analysis of intact ovicaprid dung pellets from Amara West demonstrates a correlation between specific phytolith types and the presence or absence of calcitic faecal spherulites. It is suggested that only animals ingesting sufficient quantities of calcium-rich vegetation will produce spherulites. This has important implications for the identification of dung in archaeological deposits.
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PhD Thesis by Matthew (Mat) Dalton
Households constituted the fundamental socioeconomic unit across pharaonic society, and are generally the finest-grained social entity amenable to archaeological investigation in New Kingdom settlements, where textual evidence for non-elite individuals is scarce. The manner in which houses were arranged, used and conceptualised by their residents and builders would have shaped and been shaped by culturally and contextually-contingent as-pects of social structure and household life, settlement economy, and private religious beliefs and worldviews. The preserved remains of houses, their contents, and the activities that took place within them thereby provide essential sources for reconstructing these im-portant components of ancient lifeways.
This thesis presents the results of high-resolution geoarchaeological and macroscopic investigations of house floors and associated features at the extremely well-preserved site of Amara West, the administrative capital of Kush in the later part of the New Kingdom (~1300–1070BC). These methodologies allow the identification of otherwise invisible or ambiguous traces of ancient human activity. By combining this fine-scale evidence with patterning in architecture, and floor and fixture provision between multiple diverse houses, and with other artefactual, textual and representational sources, this thesis primarily aims to reconstruct residents’ conceptions of domestic space over time.
This research builds upon and complements wider ongoing scientific investigations of do-mestic lifeways at Amara West. As the site’s housing is firmly situated within a wider New Kingdom tradition, insights gained through this research are also capable of nuancing current understandings of household life during this period as a whole.
Papers by Matthew (Mat) Dalton
Edited volumes by Matthew (Mat) Dalton
Posters by Matthew (Mat) Dalton
Households constituted the fundamental socioeconomic unit across pharaonic society, and are generally the finest-grained social entity amenable to archaeological investigation in New Kingdom settlements, where textual evidence for non-elite individuals is scarce. The manner in which houses were arranged, used and conceptualised by their residents and builders would have shaped and been shaped by culturally and contextually-contingent as-pects of social structure and household life, settlement economy, and private religious beliefs and worldviews. The preserved remains of houses, their contents, and the activities that took place within them thereby provide essential sources for reconstructing these im-portant components of ancient lifeways.
This thesis presents the results of high-resolution geoarchaeological and macroscopic investigations of house floors and associated features at the extremely well-preserved site of Amara West, the administrative capital of Kush in the later part of the New Kingdom (~1300–1070BC). These methodologies allow the identification of otherwise invisible or ambiguous traces of ancient human activity. By combining this fine-scale evidence with patterning in architecture, and floor and fixture provision between multiple diverse houses, and with other artefactual, textual and representational sources, this thesis primarily aims to reconstruct residents’ conceptions of domestic space over time.
This research builds upon and complements wider ongoing scientific investigations of do-mestic lifeways at Amara West. As the site’s housing is firmly situated within a wider New Kingdom tradition, insights gained through this research are also capable of nuancing current understandings of household life during this period as a whole.
Photorealistic digital 3D reconstructions, when created with reference to the fullest possible range of archaeological data, can work to bridge this gap between excavated remains and interpretation, providing a powerful and accessible means for modern audiences to better understand prehistoric life and the relationships between people and the buildings they inhabited.
As part of a larger project to elucidate and present the cultural heritage of Kissonerga village, directed by Dr Lindy Crewe, the author digitally reconstructed the architecture and artefacts of the Late Chalcolithic ‘Pithos House’ at Kissonerga-Mosphilia—a site excavated by Professor Edgar Peltenburg of the University of Edinburgh between 1979-1992. This paper will demonstrate the methodologies used to create this reconstruction and explore the potentials for presenting this Late Chalcolithic built heritage to different audiences through a variety of media.
frequently investigated from a top-down
perspective of monochrome house plans, macroscale
features and architectural syntax. When
viewed in isolation, this evidence may lead towards
the interpretation of a normalised and static model
of domestic life at the expense of the almost
certainly varied and complex lived experiences and
agencies of these buildings’ original inhabitants.
Reconstructing these themes requires the detailed
examination of occupation deposits and
architectural phasing. Recent applications of this
approach at Amara West have revealed a subtle
and complex narrative of urban development and
adaptation over time, while the town’s tell-like
growth has resulted in the survival of
superimposed and extremely well-preserved laid
mud house floors and informally or naturally
deposited sedimentary use surfaces.
This paper will present some early results of the
micromorphological thin-section analyses of the
formation, composition and evidence for
anthropogenic activities in a number of these
deposits — sampled from both within houses and
an outdoor pubic space — to illustrate the
methodology’s potential for elucidating
environmental and human agencies at work within
the town. The paper will also touch upon
associated ethnoarchaeological research being
carried out in modern-day Nubia that aims to
contribute towards an understanding of the cultural
implications of ancient inhabitants’ application of
built floors as an architectural material culture.