https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/7837 2026-04-27T13:13:14Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/7860 Title: Phoenician and Punic exploitation of territory and resources : agriculture as a case study Abstract: Before the theoretical shifts in archaeology which took place during the latter half of the twentieth century, the priority of Phoenician and Punic research was focused on civic or religious centres, while debates were mostly concerned with issues of expansion and colonisation processes. The rural aspect of the Phoenician and Punic culture remained generally understudied, especially since research was mostly driven by historical documents, where the rural view hardly ever features. It is only in the last decades that the potential of Phoenician and Punic landscape studies is being re-assessed and explored by several authors. Recent archaeological research has shown how landscape is indispensable for the formation of societies since it provides for their social and economic needs Thus, a study on exploitation of territory and resources will provide better insight on cultural identity and how the environment reflects on social and political changes. Given that agriculture lies at the basis of this interchange between humans and their environment, agricultural practices may reveal different forms of exploitation of the available natural resources. The recent publication by Peter van Dommelen and Carlos Gómez Bellard presents a view on Punic landscapes based on archaeological data. Taking this publication, namely Rural landscapes of the Punic world, as a point of departure, this research will seek to identify archaeological indicators for agricultural practices in order to understand what type of agricultural exploitation was undertaken in the Phoenician and Punic world. Description: M.A.ARCHAEOLOGY 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/7847 Title: Deities and medicine in ancient Egypt : from the Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom Abstract: ‘Magic was the child of man’s ideas about his place in the Cosmos. It is generally believed that, at a primitive stage of his evolution, he imagined the world as a huge mechanism of which he was just one cog, moving in strict dependence on all others; while he was influenced by their movements, his actions influenced theirs. Related to this conception were certain ideas according to which his body was the ‘microcosm’, a reduced model of the Universe, or ‘macrocosm’, the respective parts of which were regarded as strictly independent. The idea of strict independence must have been modified later, when man became conscious of his individuality and of his possessing a distinct will and soul. Extending their conception to the surrounding world, he attributed similar souls and wills to each object or phenomenon, and he naturally imagined them as intervening in his daily life. They became gods. As a protection, he elected one of them to be his ancestorguardian, symbol, and god, i.e., to be the ‘totem’ of his clan.’ Human beings are susceptible to some form of ailment at one point or another during their lifetime. During these circumstances human beings often resort to supernatural powers and some form of medical intervention. The various levels of dependency of the use of both supernatural powers and medical intervention depend on multiple possible combinations determined by various attributes. Consequently, deities and medicine were often found in affiliation throughout time. The association of deities and medicine is often found within the artifactual, textual, and iconographic record since, in ancient Egypt, religion and magic were linked to medicine. Academic research within the field of medicine in ancient Egypt has been limited to the identification and comparison of ancient medicine with modern medicine, and to the identification of magical practice within medicine. Ancient texts considered to be strictly “medical” or “magical” texts were translated and interpreted by scholars and non-scholars alike throughout the last hundred and fifty years. Thus, the study of these “medical” and “magical” texts was carried out by two main groups of individuals: • individuals that were interested in identifying and interpreting ancient Egyptian medicine in the textual and iconographic record by means of analogy with modern medicine; • and individuals interested in the identification of magical practice within ancient Egyptian medicine. Description: M.A.ARCHAEOLOGY 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/7839 Title: Are we being multi-vocal? : the case of presenting archaeological heritage in Malta Abstract: This research exercise was inspired by the plurality which exists in society and the multiple voices that ?surround? any archaeological site. Throughout the 20th century, scholars and heritage managers dealt with these voices in a variety of ways. This parallels the development of archaeological thinking, moving away from so-called traditional archaeology to the New Archaeology of the 1960s, and ultimately the formation of processualism and post-processualism in the 1970s and 1980s. Perhaps the school of thought which engaged most with non-archaeological voices was the post-processualist school. One of its advocates, Ian Hodder, coined the term ?multi-vocality? which involves allowing space for multiple interpretations, even those interpretations which are put forth by non-archaeologists. This approach, applied by Hodder at the site of Çatalhöyük in Turkey, has generated both admiration and negative criticism from professional archaeologists. One of the biggest concerns of many archaeologists is how to correctly define a multi-vocal approach and to what extent is it possible to apply it in practical terms. Given that this debate has been devoted relatively limited study in the Maltese Islands, the research looks at how multiple voices have been approached in presenting archaeological heritage in Malta in the past. This is done by presenting two case-studies, one linked to the site of G?ar Dalam and the other linked to the Muslim cemetery in Rabat. The case-studies were approached using qualitative research techniques, namely interviews and textual analysis of newspaper article and history text-books. Ultimately the research explores the ramifications of applying a multi-vocal approach in presenting archaeological heritage in Malta. Following the development of archaeological sites from simply an educational and touristic resource to agents of social change leads to the identification of three pillars that need to support together the contemporary concept arising from today?s debates, especially multi-vocality. These pillars can be identified to support studies by others, namely Grima (2004) and his interactive model for creation and dissemination of archaeological knowledge, which shows how interpretation and presentation are integral to one another and cannot be separated. Description: M.A.ARCHAEOLOGY 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z