History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons^™

A Settlement From The Middle Ages And The Byzantine Period At Khirbat Ibreika (Hebrew, Pp. 37*–47*; English Summary, Pp. 199–200), Eli Yannai

'Atiqot

Six excavation squares were opened, revealing three strata: Stratum I, from the days of the British Mandate; Stratum II, from the Middle Ages; and Stratum III, from the Byzantine period. Most of the finds indicate intensive plundering of masonry from Stratum II. Stratum III yielded part of a press bed of an oil press with a mosaic pavement. The pottery finds attest that the Byzantine settlement was established in the sixth century CE, and continued until the end of the Mamluk period, and probably up to modern times. A hand axe, typical of the Upper Acheulian period, was found in …

The Excavation At Khirbat El-Batiya (Triangulation Spot 819) (Hebrew, Pp. 21*–28*; English Summary, Pp. 197–198), Hanaa Abu ‘Uqsa

'Atiqot

The western part of a large building was exposed, dating to the end of the Byzantine period. Two main strata were observed (I, II). Stratum Ia included the remains of a dry-built building, constructed from finely dressed limestone blocks arranged in headers and stretchers. The floors were paved with stone slabs, and the walls were probably coated with plaster. The finds from this phase date to the fifth–sixth centuries CE. Stratum Ib represents slight modifications that were carried out in the building. In Stratum II the building continued to be used, mainly in the southern part. A jug and a …

The Glass Finds From Khirbat El-Batiya (Triangulation Spot 819) (Hebrew, Pp. 29*–36*; English Summary, Pp. 198–199), Yael Gorin-Rosen

'Atiqot

Fragments of gold-glass tiles were retrieved from the excavation, together with well-known vessel types from the late Byzantine–Early Islamic periods. It is the first time that gold-glass tiles were found in situ. The glass vessels include a beaker/bowl, wineglasses and a bottle, as well as an exceptional mold-blown cosmetic flask from medieval times. The gold-glass tiles were probably part of the decoration of the Stratum I building, which was connected with a monastery or a church.

Kisra (Hebrew, Pp. 9*–19*; English Summary, Pp. 196–197), Hanaa Abu ‘Uqsa

'Atiqot

Two areas were excavated. In Area A, three strata were uncovered, from the Hellenistic, Byzantine and Crusader/Mamluk periods, alongside pottery from the Roman period. The Byzantine-period building housed an oil press installation, which was put out of use by a conflagration. In Area B, two strata were observed, from the Byzantine and Crusader/Mamluk periods.

Coins From Messillot (P. 93), Donald Ariel

'Atiqot

Fourteen coins were found in the excavation; all but one, which is gold, are copper. The coins appear to reflect occupation at the site in the fourth century CE and in the Umayyad period.

A Late Byzantine–Early Islamic-Period Farmhouse At Mesillot In The Bet She’An Valley (Pp. 181–192), Pinhas Porat

'Atiqot

Three strata (III–I) were identified during the excavation. The date of Stratum III is unknown. Stratum II, the main building phase at the site, probably dates to the late Byzantine period. A large, roughly square building was unearthed, comprising a large central courtyard surrounded by at least 16 rooms. It probably served as a farmhouse. Stratum I represents repairs and additions to the Stratum II building, possibly during the Early Islamic period. The finds from Strata II and I include pottery vessels, mostly domestic, iron objects, stone objects, a clay tile and coins. The latest coin dates from 739/740 CE …

Excavations At Khirbat Marmita (Pp. 139–178), Lilly Gershuny

'Atiqot

Three building complexes were uncovered at the site, as well as various installations that were quarried into bedrock. The buildings date from the first half of the first century BCE (Building 20/23), from the Hellenistic–Early Roman period (Building 84) and from the Herodian period (c. 30 to at least 67 CE; Building 104). Among the installations were five simple winepresses, typical of the Roman and Byzantine periods; a lever-and-weights oil press; cisterns with square or circular shafts; 33 cupmarks; caves; quarries; and a miqweh. The finds include pottery vessels, stone and basalt vases, glass vessels and metal artifacts. It seems …

The Coins From Khirbat Marmita (P. 179), Helena Sokolov

'Atiqot

Five coins were found at Khirbat Marmita, all of bronze. Three of the coins date to the reigns of Antiochus VII, Alexander Jannaeus and Nero; one is from the second year of the Jewish Revolt; and one is from the fifth century CE.

An Iron Age Pottery Assemblage From Underground Chambers At Jatt (Tel Gat) (Hebrew, Pp. 1*–7*; English Summary, P. 195), Michael Cohen

'Atiqot

Pottery vessels dating to Iron Age II were recovered from four underground units. They belong to a single ceramic assemblage, comprising bowls, kraters, cooking pots, jars, a jug and a lamp, indicating that they originated in dwellings. The vessels are characteristic of the northern coastal plain, dating primarily to the second half of the tenth–beginning of the ninth centuries BCE. This small-scale excavation sheds light on this early phase of occupation at Tell Jatt. The purpose of the underground units was not determined.

Archaeozoological Finds From The Excavations West Of Tell Qasille (Pp. 135–137), Moshe Sade

'Atiqot

Animal bones were found inside four of the tombs dated to Middle Bronze Age II. Each tomb contained the remains of one sheep/goat, usually within vessels. It seems that the people at this site raised cattle. A large number of donkey bones were also found. Sea shells were also present, probably due to the proximity of the site to the Mediterranean shore. Many animal bones were found in the Hellenistic-period assemblage.

Petrographic Analysis Of Pottery From A Middle Bronze Age Ii Site West Of Tell Qasille (Pp. 129–131), Anat Cohen-Weinberger

'Atiqot

In this study, 32 vessels were examined from the Middle Bronze Age II settlement, tombs and kilns to determine the nature of the raw materials. Most of the samples were related to the same petrographic group, the nature of which points to a coastal origin. The results of this study suggest a homogenous raw material for the examined assemblage.

Anthropological Remains From A Middle Bronze Age Ii Site West Of Tell Qasille (Pp. 133–134), Yossi Nagar

'Atiqot

The human skeletal remains from the Middle Bronze Age II graves were fragmentary, in a poor state of preservation. At least 26 individuals were identified, including infants, children, sub-adults and adults of both sexes, indicating a normal civilian population.

A Middle Bronze Age Ii Site West Of Tell Qasille (Pp. 65–128), Raz Kletter

'Atiqot

The site remains comprise a cemetery, two pottery kilns and a settlement dating to Middle Bronze Age II. Ten burials were excavated, all except one (T800) were rectangular pit-graves dug into kurkar sandstone. Each grave contained one to three individuals; T800, which was round, contained seven individuals in secondary deposition. The average grave assemblage comprised about ten pottery vessels, which were usually placed in a row next to one long side of the burial. The pottery kilns are almost identical in size, direction and structure. They are of the vertical type, with two main superimposed parts: a combustion chamber and …

Chalcolithic Burial Sites At Ma‘Abarot And Tel Ifshar (Pp. 45–63), Yosef Porath

'Atiqot

The two burial sites are located in the Sharon plain, south and north of Naḥal Alexander. The kidney-shaped cave at Ma‘abarot was hewn in the kurkar sandstone. All the burials in the cave were secondary. Of the 63 burials identified, 42 were placed in three types of ceramic vessels—house-shaped ossuaries, chest-shaped ossuaries and large domestic kraters—and 21, in ‘bone heaps’. The finds consisted of pottery vessels typical of the Chalcolithic period, e.g., V-shaped bowls and fenestrated bowls and bottles, and a flake from a flint digging tool. At Tel Ifshar, two burial places were discovered, both damaged by infrastructure work. …

A Chalcolithic Burial Cave At Eṭ-Ṭaiyiba (Pp. 1–44), Eli Yannai, Yosef Porath

'Atiqot

The cave, hewn in soft limestone, is of an irregular oval shape, with high margins that served as benches. A minimum of 38 ossuaries were found in the cave, some open and box-shaped, others closed and house-shaped; ossuary jars and kraters were also found. The ossuaries were decorated with plastic ornamentation, depicting pegs, noses, eyes and rope decoration, as well as painted ornamentation in various patterns, e.g., triangles, lines and arches. Funerary goods included only pottery vessels characteristic of the Chalcolithic period: V-shaped bowls, cornets, amphoriskoi, fenestrated pedestal bowls and cylindrical stands. It seems that the people buried in the …

78 | Paneas V: Paneion Excavations 1988–1993; Part I, Zvi Uri Ma‘Oz

IAA Reports—Monograph Series of the Israel Antiquities Authority

This volume is the first of two presenting the results of the excavations conducted at Paneas by Z.U. Ma'oz in the area that housed the sanctuary of Pan (Paneion) established in the Roman period. It presents the archaeological remains uncovered at the site, shedding light on activity prior to the establishment of Paneion, the construction and use of the sanctuary, and the continued human presence after the Roman period, when the site ceased to function as a cultic compound. The chapters include an introduction to the excavations, a discussion of the site's name and identification, geological aspects, the stratigraphy of …

Love In Passing Time, Elysa T. Adams

Masters Theses

Elysa Adams, 2026

Love in Passing Time reflects on how the Black church has molded my understanding of faith, family, and community. Working across relief, screenprint, sculpture, and sound, my practice explores how knowledge is shared across generations through music, tradition, and adornment.

The exhibition draws on my upbringing as a pastor’s child, in which the church serves as both a spiritual and communal home. These experiences appear through sculptural paper garments based on childhood memories, tambourines featuring the faces of people who have impacted my life, carved portraits of my grandparents, and sculptural pews that reference the architecture of …

The Image Falls Apart, Alexa N. Curran

Masters Theses

The Image Falls Apart is a phenomenological account of my collision with Rogier van der Weyden’s The Descent from the Cross (ca. 1435). In an ever-expanding landscape of visual stimuli, how do we make sense of images that are an encounter with the sacred? Of what use to a modern viewer is an altarpiece of the late medieval period that, in its miraculous rendering of each of its human figures, reflects the impending iconophobia of the Protestant Reformation? And what does falling have to do with it? With careful attention to the assembly of bodies in space, this multidisciplinary project, …

Hammurabi’S Laws: Ancient Traditions Of Violence, Aaron Secrist

The Confluence

The tradition of enforcing private property through violence is truly ancient, and goes back thousands of years to the first civilizations. There exists a prevailing attitude that contemporary culture is more “civilized” than the first organized societies – and while it’s true in some ways, our laws are still remarkably similar to those practiced in antiquity. In the following essay, I analyze the Law Code of Hammurabi and examine its parallels to the way laws function today. First, I will provide context for the technological advances that made the first city-states possible, then give a cultural and economic overview of …

Catacombs In Context: Exploring Roman Architectural Influence In The Catacombs Of Rabat, Malta, Emily S.R Hodson

Classical Mediterranean and Middle East Honors Projects

Previously, scholarship on the Mediterranean catacombs has focused on isolated sites or on the religious significance and iconography of regional groups. By contextualizing the archaeological data through comparison and recentering the discussion on architecture, this research offers a contextualized, non-apologetic picture of ancient Mediterranean catacombs. This architectural comparison between the Roman catacombs and those of St. Paul and Abbatija Tad-Dejr in Malta reveals both significant architectural change and the persistence of archaic features, suggesting a high degree of cultural continuity under Roman provincial governance on Malta (218 BCE - c. 5th - 6th centuries CE). This, paired with the emergence …

Candi Perwara Pada Percandian Ijo, Plaosan Lor, Dan Plaosan Kidul: Sebuah Kajian Arsitektur Dan Tinjauan Inskripsi, Dwi Ratna Sylvia Widyahastuti, Agus Aris Munandar

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

Temple or Candi are sacred Hindu and Buddhist buildings constructed in accordance with the prescriptions of the Vāstuśāstra, including subsidiary temple or candi perwara. This study examines the candi perwara of the Ijo, Plaosan Lor, and Plaosan Kidul Temple Complex to analyze their technical aspects, religious functions, and chronological positions within their respective temple complexes. Employing a descriptive-comparative method and a historical-archaeological approach supported by epigraphical review, the research identifies similarities in the roof forms and ornamental reliefs. Differences are observed in ground plans, stone materials, construction systems, vestibule, base forms, body variations, …

Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Gethsemane: Christian Art And Tradition In The Passion Of Albus Dumbledore, John Anthony Dunne

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This essay contends that Professor Dumbledore drinking a potion from a goblet administered by Harry Potter in the cave from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince evokes Jesus’s prayer in Gethsemane from the Gospels and his request that "the cup" be removed from him. Even though the Gospels portray Jesus all alone, and Dumbledore has Harry with him, I argue that Harry Potter evokes the expanded Lukan account of Gethsemane, which contains a textually uncertain passage about an angel ministering to him (Luke 22.43–44). I argue further that this Lukan text informs Harry Potter specifically as mediated through visual representations …

Res Historica, Volume 5, Alpha Rho Epsilon Phi Alpha Theta, Lindsay Rae Smith Privette Phd

Res Historica

The 2026 journal of historical research by Anderson University students, Res Historica.

The editorial team for this edition of Res Historica was Dr. Lindsay Rae Smith Privette, Julia Ackerman, Callyn Wright, Logan Davis, and John Hinton. Cover art by Mary Beth Lee.

Long Live The Good King: A Niebuhrian Analysis Of Arthur’S Ethical Kingship In The Once And Future King, Camille Bewley

Tenor of Our Times

The classic The Once and Future King, written by T.H. White, is a selection of four fantasy novels with one, linear plot: the story of Arthur, the mythological King of England. Reinhold Niebuhr’s book Moral Man and Immoral Society details the Christian realism of a world in need of justice without the ability to achieve perfect application. Through good education, Arthur is well endowed with Niebuhr’s requirements for a functional society: knowledge, honor, wisdom, and compassion. Such king-like qualities make him one of the most influential mythological characters in history, and a grand exemplar for maintaining ethical goals and personal …

Parallel Concepts Found In The Thousand And One Nights And Sufi Hagiography, Walaa Kamal Emam Kamel

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues that The Thousand and One Nights functions as more than mere populist entertainment; rather, it constitutes a literary corpus imbued with Sufi mystical epistemologies that reflect the spiritual quests and Sufi concepts evident in hagiographical traditions. Through discourse and intertextual analysis of two Nights stories, “The City of Brass” and “The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad,” alongside Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār’s Tadhkirat al-awliyāʾ, this study demonstrates how shared rhetorical strategies—specifically David Pinault’s Leitwörter analysis and L.A. Paul’s Transformative Experience concept—reveal a narrative and rhetorical emphasis on the metamorphosis of the self from worldly attachment toward …

Western Mansions In The Gardens Of Perfect Brightness, Another History Of High Qing Sino-European Exchanges, Nicolas Woreth

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

The Gardens of Perfect Brightness, the favorite residence of Chinese Emperors in the High Qing era (1683-1799), held mysteries that will remain forever concealed from the public eye after French and British imperialist forces looted it and burned it beyond repair during the Second Opium War (1856-1860). Behind the doors of the secret garden, scarcely open to anyone but the emperor, his wives, and servants, worked European artists and scientists. Most of them were Jesuit missionaries who served the emperor in the hope of gaining his favor and support for the spread of Christianity in China.

This paper aims to …

Infinite Line, Infinite Knowledge: The 'Spera' And Organized Chaos In Lambert's Encyclopedia, The 'Liber Floridus', Ava Romano

Theses and Dissertations

The Liber Floridus is a medieval encyclopedia renowned for its program of circular diagrams, or sperae. Inside this manuscript of 190 chapters, these diagrams frame and embody written knowledge, revealing a connection between encyclopedism and life in the Benedictine monastery by creating a coherent visual organization of chapters.

The Spiritual And Emotional Impact Of Color In Luis Barragán’S Convento De Las Capuchinas Sacramentarias, Ivana Martin

MA Theses

This thesis examines how Luis Barragán’s Convento de las Capuchinas Sacramentarias (1955) is a medium for spiritual experience. In his work, Barragán explores the use of color, light, and emotion as central elements and the ways in which they transform sacred space into an embodied, contemplative experience. There is also a comparison to other churches and other similar projects that were done during the same time period, specifically in Mexico. Modernist architecture in mid-century Mexico was largely defined by rationalist and more functional ideals, but Barragán separated himself from these tendencies to create an architecture that privileges silence, intimacy, and …

Faik Tagirov And Tatar Constructivism: The Making Of A New Tatar Book, Miriam Akhmetshin

Scripps Senior Theses

Working in the style of constructivism, Faik Tagirov primarily designed book covers for Tatar agitational literature in the 1920s. Studying at VKhUTEMAS and working for numerous publishing houses, Tagirov participated in several domestic and international exhibitions with well-known artists like Aleksandr Rodchenko and El Lissitzky. Tagirov utilized photomontage, geometricism, and unique typographical designs to create potent materials for a Tatar population. Current scholarship fails to adequately acknowledge the diverse influences impacting the work of non-Russian artists such as Tagirov. Using visual and iconographic analysis, I argue for an approach that recognizes Tagirov's work as syncretic in nature, utilizing both indigenous …

The Divine Feminine Reframed: Dogma And Doctrine, Icon And Flesh, And The Sacred Embodiment Of Reclamation, Natasha Keckley

Dance (MFA) Theses

This thesis interrogates Marian iconography and its role in constructing a moral binary that marks female bodies as either sanctified or sinful. Drawing on feminist and postcolonial theory, iconographic analysis, and historical case studies, the research analyzes how Christian symbology established the Marian Mold: a theological aesthetic apparatus that exalts feminine sanctity through ideals of virginity, obedience, and maternal receptivity while constraining feminine expression. This paradigm, propagated through the British Empire’s colonial regimes, shaped the regulation and reinterpretation of embodied traditions. The thesis investigates these dynamics through two case studies: the Devadasi tradition and Bharatanatyam’s reformulation in South India, and …