Beyond weaponry and socialist internationalism: Soviet engagement with postcolonial state-building in the Arab Middle East, 1954-1966

This research investigates the Soviet Union’s role in guiding state-building processes of postcolonial Arab countries of the Middle East, leading them to adopt economic and political elements of the socialist-Leninist models of development. The widespread narrative depicts the Soviets as having failed to export communism in those states and, therefore, as having failed to bring them closer to Moscow’s sphere of influence and values. However, various Soviet archives suggest a different reality. As the Cold War burst forth, between the mid-1950s and mid-1960s, contacts between Soviet and Arab officials were not just incredibly frequent but they went to the core of all main issues of socio-economic development of these transforming countries: party politics, institution building, agrarian reforms, industrialisation, security sector reforms, etc. The research focuses on a period that may be labelled as ‘the launching phase’ of the Soviet Middle East policy, which established a long-lasting framework for the Soviet-Arab dialogue. It also places significant attention on the ‘personal dimension’ of such a dialogue, showing how Moscow’s influence went hand in hand with the ability of Soviet leaders and diplomats to establish relations of personal trust with postcolonial Arab élites. A selected number of Arab countries are examined: Egypt, Iraq and Syria. For each of these countries, a limited period of time will be taken into consideration, when Soviet influence reached its peak and state-building policies might have drawn from the Soviet model (for Egypt 1954-1958; for Iraq 1958-1963; for Syria 1961-1966). On the one hand, the analysis of specific case-studies will allow to investigate the relationship between Moscow and each of these new Arab regimes; on the other, such a large geographical scope will permit to grasp the elements and the objectives of the broader Soviet policy towards the Middle East region.

Sealing practices in the Near East during the Late Bronze II period: administration and trade in the age of internationalism

This PhD research investigates sealing practices in the Near East during the Late Bronze II period (ca. 1375-1175 BCE). Sealings from archaeological contexts in the Southern Levant, North Syria, Upper and Lower Mesopotamia and South-Western Iran are taken under consideration and analyzed on multiple aspects at local, regional, and international levels. The contextual, functional, and iconographic analysis of these materials, in fact, allows to reconstruct the nature of the transactions and the agents involved in the sealing operations within local administrative systems, highlighting at the same time aspects of inter-regional interactions during the age of internationalism. Following a survey of the available evidence, a corpus consisting of 1845 records from 28 different sites across the ANE, has been filed using MS Access and MS Excel, including 740 unpublished sealing from Karkemish. Among this large evidence, the corpus of recently discovered sealings from Karkemish and the other scattered sealings from the North Syrian provinces, for instance, provide insights on the core-periphery relationships under the Hittite Empire; while the deposit from Building P at Tell Sheikh Hamad, that of the Middle Assyrian houses at Tell Fekheriye, and of the dunnu of Tell Sabi Abyad, significantly contributes to defining the administration of provinces within the Middle Assyrian state and the regional circulation of good. The less extensive evidence from South Mesopotamia under the Kassite rule and from Middle Elamite contexts in South-Western Iran somewhat contribute as well to the understanding of sealing practices in the LB II period. The South Levantine kingdoms, on the other hand, seems participates to the Egyptian regional network of exchanges and sealing practices.

Radiocarbon and stable isotopes in the shell organic matrix: a new approach for the use of mollusk shells in the study of human evolution

Mollusk shells are often found in archeological sites, given their great preservation potential and high value as a multipurpose resource. They are often the only available material to use for radiocarbon dating, due to a lack of well-preserved bones in many archeological sites, especially for the key period of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition. However, radiocarbon dating on mollusk shells is often regarded as less reliable compared to bones, wood, or charcoals due to the various factors influencing their radiocarbon content (e.g., Isotope fractionation, marine reservoir effect etc.). For the development of more accurate chronologies using shells, it is fundamental to continue improving the precision of the techniques applied, as has been done for other materials (wood and bones). Thus, improving the chemical pretreatment on mollusk shells might allow researchers to obtain more reliable radiocarbon determinations allowing for the construction of new radiocarbon chronologies in archeological sites where so far it has not been possible. Furthermore, mollusk shells can provide information on the climatic and environmental variables present during their growth. Using shells for paleoclimatic reconstruction adds more evidence helpful for the interpretation of scenarios of human migration, adaptation, and behavior. Standard methods for both radiocarbon and stable isotope studies use the carbonate fraction of the shell. However, being biogenic structures, mollusk shells also consist of a minor organic fraction. The shell organic matrix has an important role in the formation of the calcium carbonate structure and is still not fully understood. This thesis explores the potential of using the shell organic matrix for radiocarbon dating and paleoenvironmental studies. The results of the work performed for this thesis represent a starting point for future research to build on, and further develop the approach and methodology proposed here.