前報において,イラン出上の古代金属利器でB.C.約1000年頃の製作品と推定されている矛および剣の化学的研究の結果により,古代イランにおいても,これらの金属利器類の製作された年代の前後に,への変遷が行なわれたのであろうという銅器・青銅器両時代の転換期説との存在性説とを提唱した。
今回もイランのほぼ同時代の製作品と考えられているヤジリ7点の化学的研究を行なったところ,幸いにも上記の銅器・青銅器両時代の転換期説ならびにの存在性説をさらに強調確証し得るような結果が得られた。

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東京大学イラク・イラン遺跡調査団がイラン地区の現地において発掘または入手された同地区の古代金属利器中の,発掘品である矛および剣合計6点(B.C.約1000年頃の製作品と推定されるもの)の提供を受け化学的研究を行なったところ,これらの金属利器類中にスズをほとんど含んでいない銅器と,スズを相当量含有している青銅器とがあった。よって著者はイラン地区においても,さきに古代中国の場合について報告したのと同様,これらの金属利器類の製作された年代の前後に,への変遷が行なわれたのであろうとの銅器・青銅器両時代の転換期説,さらに引いてはが存在しておったであろうというの存在性説を提唱するにいたった次第である。

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Pottery with cord decoration was spread throughout the Balkan Peninsula in the 4^th and the 3^rd millennia cal. BC. Researchers have considered that this reflects the spread over Europe of herders who supposedly belonged to the Proto-Indo-European group. Previous studies have focused on the Kurgans (mound tumuli) to tackle the issue of how the people spread. However, this paper looks at the issue by exploring whether and how the cord decoration was diffused from the northern Pontic area into the upper Thracian plain. In order to test the diffusion model mentioned by N. Merpert and G. Georgiev, I analyzed the pottery with cord decoration in the eastern Balkans, ranging from Southern Bulgaria (Upper Thrace) to Eastern Romania (the Moldova plain), focusing on decorating technique, vessel form and stylistic pattern. In particular I looked at the small bowls with a straight open rim, decorated with a fine geometric motif using a thin (less than 2 mm in width) Z-plied cord, which first appeared in Upper Thrace at around 3,000 cal. BC. The absence of this small bowl in the Balkans except in Upper Thrace suggests that the bowl was not imported from the north. My comparative analysis also showed that besides these bowls in Upper Thrace, thin Z-plied cord was used to decorate pottery only in the western Moldova plain during the 4^th and the earlier 3^rd millennia cal. BC. Therefore, the similarity in cord impression technique between the two regions demonstrates that this technique was presumably brought into Upper Thrace from the north when the northern groups moved southwards and had contacts with indigenous groups in Upper Thrace. It is highly probable that this technique was not diffused directly from the western Moldova plain to Upper Thrace. It must derive from the north Pontic area. It is clear that more research is needed on this subject.

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The exploitation of copper in Ancient Western Asia has a long history. Already in the Neolithic period malachite was used as raw material for bead and pigment, and then native copper was shaped into small objects by hammering and annealing. Based on the evidence from copper objects and workshops found in Iran and Anatolia, smelting and casting were carried out in the 5^th millennium B.C. In the early copper production it is likely that the oxide ores such as malachite were used as raw material which was smelted in the crucible set on the shallow pit furnace with the aid of blow pipes. The advent of alloy in the late 4^th millennium B.C., another significant development in early metallurgy, might make casting easier and more successful. The first copper alloy was arsenical copper which continued to produce until the end of the Middle Bronze Age along with bronze, an alloy of copper and tin. By the second half of the 3^rd millennium the copper production in the vicinity of the sources became prevailing. The Late Bronze Age shipwrecks in the Mediterranean provide good evidence for the long distance trade of copper and tin in the shape of ingot.

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Our research project entitled “Comparative Studies of Burial Practices of Semitic Ancient Pastoral Nomads” shed light on Bronze Age cairn fields in the northwestern flank of Mt. Bishri, central Syria. A comparative study of a toggle pin from Burial Cairn No. 09 of Wadi Hedaja 1 enabled us to tentatively date them to a time range the end of Early Bronze Age to the beginning of Middle Bronze Age. This paper briefly discusses the dating from another viewpoint, namely, a chronological review of stone and faience beads. Their reexamination shows that the Bishri Bronze Age cairn fields include Types 3 and 16 beads of K. R. Maxwell-Hyslop’s classification, and that similar examples were also found at the Early to Middle Bronze Age settlements along the Middle Euphrates River Basin. Both observations revalidated our previous dating.

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In Palestine, the so-called “Tree of Life” motif had been represented repeatedly on Late Bronze Age potteries and cylinder seals. The style on the latters reflects almost Mitannian common style. In this connection, the author defined characteristics to the Mitannian glyptic or ornamental representation as following: 1) Union Jack pattern, 2) lattice pattern and 3) maximum use of drilling in the Tree of Life and animals of peculiar style, according to Speiser and Buchanan.
Tracing the cylinder seals under such conditions unearthed in Palestine back to archaeological context, it was attested that they were distributed to or around some of the public or sacred Late Bronze Age constructions in the cities along the main or sub-international trade route. Most of these cities accord those which have been referred in the Amarna letters as politically or strategically important points. Active economic give-and-takes among the big powers in the Amarna Age Orient may have given them direct contacts to the Mitannian art through caravans via northern Syria and small groups of northern people settled in the cities.

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During 1997-1998 seasons of excavation in Tel Rehov, Israel, a small religious structure from the time of the United Kingdom (Iron Age IIA) was unearthed. Amihai Mazar, its excavator, has already published a preliminary report, in which he called this structure a “bamah”. However, he has not discussed its nature in detail and the ambiguity of the term “bamah” is well known. Since it is a fascinating structure in understanding the real picture of Israelite religion during the Kingdom period, we attempted to define its nature by setting it in the typological development of the religious structures in ancient Palestine.
As a result, we can point out the following significances.
1. This structure reflects the religious situation of the beginning of the Iron Age, when the great temples of LB period disappeared almost completely and small local sanctuaries increased. Small sanctuaries within towns closely related to daily activities are especially the hallmark of this period. This may suggest that the establishment of the Israelite State and the building of the central Temple in Jerusalem deprived the independent positions of the great temples of the Canaanite City States.
2. This structure will give insights to the variety of the local religious activities during the Israelite Kingdom. The small sanctuaries of this period can be subdivided into ones inside towns, outside towns, and around city gates. The first and the second both have interior and open-air types. The structure of Tel Rehov can be categorized as one inside the town and open-air. Animal sacrifice and community meal seem to have been included in its religious rite. Since most of the sanctuaries inside towns are of interior type, the one in Arad, which is not reported in detail, is the only other example of this type. The sanctuaries at Lachish and Hazor have both cult rooms and open courtyards. However, their open areas do not have any evidence of animal sacrifice, and in this sense they are not exactly the same as the ones in Tel Rehov and Arad. The religious structure found in Tel Rehov, therefore, is a unique example which enables us to clarify the full picture of th e local religious activities held in the open courtyard during the Iron Age.

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