These three volumes present the impressive results of the Zeugma 2000 rescue excavations conducted by Oxford Archaeology. As explained in the foreword by D.W. Packard and the preface by A., the Zeugma Rescue excavation 2000 project was a direct response to a cultural heritage crisis made possible by the generous donation of the Packard Humanities Institute. The donation made it possible to hire Oxford Archaeology to undertake rescue excavations and Centro di Conservazione Archeologica di Roma to undertake the conservation of the areas under immediate threat from the rising water level produced by a new dam near Birecik. Other Turkish and international teams worked at Zeugma but, as stated in the preface, collaboration on the publication failed and the three volumes only publish the material excavated by Oxford Archaeology (A., I: p. ix). Results of the projects under the Gaziantep Museum and the University of Nante will be published separately.
Except for the monumental building in Trench 15, the areas excavated are all domestic, and the volumes offer rich and captivating evidence for the habitation and destruction of the ancient city. The post-depositional history of the site has done much to protect Zeugma from both natural and cultural enemies. The well-preserved site delivers a rare urban context for interior domestic ensembles including floor and wall decorations both provided with a TAQ. The three volumes run to more than 1,000 pages of text and illustrations (not including plates) written by a wide range of specialists within their fields and admirably made available in open access (for the table of contents see http://zeugma.packhum.org/toc). It is beyond the capacity of the reviewer to comment on all the contributions and indeed it is difficult to do justice to a work of such scale. The review will highlight some of the results while attempting a general critical account of the volumes.
The volumes follow the classical format of excavation publications sorting chapters into synthesis, contexts and finds/sample groups: first there is an excellent introduction to the project, context and conditions including a full summary and discussion of the results (A., Volume I, Chapter 1). This is followed by a chapter on site conservation, a highly critical issue as the project was continuously faced with the rising water level which would eventually cover the rescue excavated areas (Nardi & Schneider, I). Chapter 12 on the topographical survey of the 2001 shoreline is a follow-up to the chapter by R. Nardi & K. Schneider (A., Volume I, Chapter 12). The first volume also includes four chapters on contexts: the houses (Tobin, I), the monumental building (A., Volume I, Chapter 4), the geophysical survey (Van den Hoek & A., I) and catalogue of context descriptions (A., Volume I, Chapter 13). Volume III includes a chapter on the military installations north-west of Belkis Tepe (Hartmann & Speidel, III) as well as one on historical military implications (Elton, III). The remaining chapters could be classified as an impressive range of specialists' reports introducing methodologies and analysing specific finds groups/sample types as well as individual finds, although there is no chapter discussing the terracotta architectural elements such as tiles, which were abundant according to A. (Volume I, Chapters 1 and 13), and pipes. All chapters have individual endnotes and bibliographies. With the exception of the two large-scale plans and the rich illustrations for the chapters on the houses and context descriptions presented in 169 plates at the end of volume I, and the 109 plates of ceramics at the end of volume II, illustrations (all photos in colour) are embedded in the text.
P. Kenrick and P. Reynolds have established the chronology for the published material including seven groups from the second half of the second century b.c. to the Islamic period (see below). The bulk of material belongs to the Roman period, supporting the scepticism concerning the lack of lasting value of Seleucid colonisation in Syria (A., Volume I, Chapter 1, p. 9). The layout of ancient Zeugma follows at least two different orientations according to the topography. The core of the Hellenistic city and the bridge is placed on a terraced promontory between Trenches 3, 15 (of the only monumental building) and 12 where geophysical analyses have revealed a street grid matching the one across the water at Apamea (Van den Hoek & A., I: pp. 232, 240).
Of finds associated with the city under Commagene rule should be mentioned the new fragments of two stelai associated with a temenos of the cult of Antiochus I, including the limestone relief depicting the dexiosis scene of Antiochus I and Apollo/Helios of which a fuller text than previously is offered by C. Crowther (I), as well as a synthesis of the cult by B. Rose (I). It is slightly confusing that Crowther consistently refers to the divinity as Apollo, while Rose refers to him mostly as Helios. Neither is incorrect, according to the inscription the god has multiple names including Apollo and Helios.
The volumes make the most of the number of Roman finds specifically associated with the military, which are discussed in specialist chapters on individual finds groups such as ‘Copper Alloy Objects’ (Khamis, III) and ‘Ironwork’ (Scott, III), in the chapter ‘Arms, Armor, and Other Military Objects’ (Scott, III), the overview of the Swiss archaeological investigations of the military installations at Meydanı north-west of Belkis Tepe (Hartmann & Speidel, III), as well as the brief military historical assessment by Hugh Elton (III). This topic is of special relevance because of the location of Zeugma in ʻa frontier situation', its use as a legionary base (Legio IIII Scythica [see also A. Volume I, Chapter 1, p. 1 and Crowther, I: pp. 203–4]), the destruction followed by partial abandonment associated with the Sasanian sack in a.d. 252/3, and because the areas excavated by Oxford Archaeology were predominantly domestic. The latest datable coin to come from assemblages associated with the sack is a radiate of Trebonianus Gallus from Antioch, even if Butcher and A. do not seem to agree on the beginning of the series in 251 or 252 (Butcher, II: pp. 18, 39; A., Volume I, Chapter 1, p. 9). According to A. (Volume I, Chapter 1, p. 9), ʻthe evidence does not warrant a pretense of further precision'. However, in Trench 2 a pot with 20 pomegranates and walnuts was found in a deposit associated with the sack suggesting this took place in the early autumn (Challinor & Moulins, III: p. 418; Tobin, I: p. 80). Unfortunately, this vessel was not found for study in 2002 (A., Volume I, Chapter 13, p. 253). One external result of the date of the Sasanian sack at Zeugma is the potential down-dating of post-Severan mosaics in Antioch (A., Volume I, Chapter 1, p. 3; Dunbabin, I: pp. 159–60).
Evidence for a much smaller post-Roman settlement is a few new constructions associated with ceramics groups E–F, for example in Trench 5 (Tobin I: pp. 91–2) as well as a Christian funerary stele (Crowther, I: p. 208). The Islamic group G is only associated with Trench 1 (Tobin, I: pp. 108–9).
Most of the artefact categories are difficult to date and therefore the chronology relies to a great extent on the chapter on the pottery excluding transport amphorae by P. Kenrick. The seven groups providing the chronology are carefully and convincingly argued and supported by the analysis of the transport amphorae by P. Reynolds (except for group E). Each group is composed of well-dated contexts, and the material is broken down into numbers and weight by type; for example, table wares make up 67.6% of the Flavian(/Trajanic) group which is composed of four contexts. Although the typology is based on the correlation between fabric and function, there are no quantitative functional analyses of specific assemblages (see below). The two chapters on petrographical analysis by C. Doherty are partly structured around questions and answers. This is very helpful to the archaeologist reader who wishes to understand the significance of the fabric groups. To archaeologists working in the region, the definition of local and regional wares should be very useful.
The specialists' reports tend to open with a paragraph carefully explaining the conditions of their investigations, which becomes somewhat repetitive, but most readers will not be reading the three volumes from start to finish. These readers will be other specialists or excavators searching for parallels, and since working conditions were unusual it seems prudent to remind the reader. Specialists of smaller finds groups tend to stress that the published material is only a small part of the total number of finds. Most of the specialist chapters also include detailed discussions of research strategies and methodology, and conditions of quantification. Some even include a general introduction to their field of study, for example K. Butcher's (III) chapter on coins and hoards, which should greatly benefit the newcomer to the specific challenges of numismatic studies. The specialist chapters contextualise their material regionally (in several cases illustrated with maps of locations mentioned) and/or within the standard reference works within their field. Some specialists single out specific types of artefacts for a more detailed analysis, for example H. Parton's (III) discussion of the Quern Type 002, although for this section an illustration would have been helpful. The specialist chapters contain many little gems of information on the material culture and lifestyle of the inhabitants of ancient Zeugma. For instance, possibly influenced by Persian cuisine, the inhabitants of Zeugma ate quantities of wild pistachios, which still grow in the area (Challinor & de Moulins, III: p. 418). They also ate peaches, a fruit mentioned by Pliny as the most expensive one (Challinor & de Moulins, III: p. 418). However, ʻthe general isolation from long-distance trade and evidence for local production are recurrent themes' (A., Volume I, Chapter 1, p. 25).
Several chapters include tables quantifying the distribution of different finds types over the trenches, often suggesting clear patterns. For instance, Table 2 in A.'s introduction (Volume I, Chapter 1, p. 7) shows the distribution of bulk finds (including or excluding catalogued finds? Table 3 shows the distribution of catalogued objects sorted by material, but not by trench) over the trenches sorted into finds groups. The distribution pattern reveals some interesting anomalies when calculated proportionally: 67% of all the glass recorded by the project came from Trench 2, 95% of which was window glass (see also Grossmann, II: p. 218), but we must take into account that Trench 2 represents only 16% of the surface excavated (compare with A., Volume I, Chapter 1, table 1). 55% of all ceramics was recorded in Trench 9 of the Houses of Tesserae and Hoards, which represents only 2% of the surface excavated. Of course, it is difficult to demonstrate the real significance of the patterns observed without information on cubic metres excavated. According to A. (Volume I, Chapter 1, p. 7) ʻno less important is the contribution of the vast quantity of bulk finds to the interpretation of each context', but the reviewer fails to see how this comes across in the publication.
Generally, spatial connections of finds are less developed. As is evident in every chapter, the excavation was a race against the rising water. Under these special circumstances choices had to be made concerning recording and collecting, such as recording finds in single contexts, not with individual coordinates, which affects interpretations of finds assemblages (A., Volume I, Chapter 1, pp. 4–6). In the chapter by J. Tobin, houses are defined and described by individual phases broken down room by room including dimensions, materials, decorations, features and special finds. Apart from the chronological implications, there is no discussion of the pottery excavated from the houses; instead there are references to the catalogue of context descriptions (Tobin, I: p. 71). The context descriptions include a list of catalogued finds and an unquantified list of types of non-catalogued ʻbulk' finds such as ʻceramics'. The same applies to the chapters on pottery (see above). The exception is the ironworks, which are sorted according to a functional typology; and because the complete assemblage was studied spatial analysis was possible, allowing the author to discuss depositional behaviour as well as room functions (Scott, III). A spatial analysis of the pottery distribution could have told us much about the daily life of the inhabitants, but under the special circumstances it seems unfair to stress this point unduly.
The volumes are very handsomely illustrated and produced. The system of referencing is somewhat inconsistent, sometimes in the text in brackets, other times in the endnotes (e.g. Kenrick; Reynolds, II). However, the volumes leave behind an impression of ‘no stone left unturned’ under uniquely difficult working conditions. No doubt they will become a standard reference work for projects working in this area in the future.
Reading the foreword and the preface one does get a strong sense of the enormous challenges of international collaborations. The Packard Humanities Institute Zeugma 2000 rescue excavations present a gigantic effort and everyone involved should remember their personal involvement in the Zeugma rescue project with the pride it rightly deserves.
