In the nick: space and time in the Borderlands of Oğlanqala

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Abstract

This chapter examines the relationship between time and space in the ancient world, with specific reference to the site of Oğlanqala, Naxçivan. It argues that the construction of cultural borders is as dependent on claiming identity through time as across space. The elite who built the fortified structures of Oğlanqala Periods IV and III negotiated their identity in terms of the surrounding Urartian and Seleucid empires but were probably never fully subsumed by either. The material culture of Oğlanqala seems to lie between worlds, with clear links to surrounding states, but with an overall assemblage that expresses a unique local identity. This chapter argues that part of this hybridity lies in an attempt to extend borders of power through time in this contested space. The builders of the Period IV citadel may have been specifically pushing back on the Urartian kings’ claim to temporal domination by allying themselves with former local expressions of power. The would-be builders of the unfinished Period III citadel
– who tied their palace into both the Period IV and Achaemenid material culture traditions – may have been seeking to establish their own, ultimately failed, claim on posterity.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationBorders in Archaeology
Subtitle of host publicationAnatolia and the South Caucasus ca. 3500-500 BCE
EditorsKaren Rubinson, Lorenzo D'Alfonso
Place of PublicationLeuven Belgium
PublisherPeeters Publishers
Pages339-357
Number of pages19
Edition1st
ISBN (Print)9789042943735
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Publication series

NameAncient Near Eastern Studies
PublisherPeeters Publishing
VolumeSupplement 58

Keywords

  • temporality of place
  • landscape archaeology
  • South Caucasus

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