Ancient Near East

In December 2018, the looting of an Iron II rock-cut burial cave in the village of Abu Ghosh was spotted, subsequently leading to a salvage excavation carried out by the Antiquities Theft Prevention Unit and the Jerusalem Regional Office of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Among the finds from the extensively disturbed tomb were the remains of at least ten individuals, two of which were analyzed by ancient DNA methods.

1 Department of Chemistry, University of Antwerp, Campus Drie Eiken, Universiteitsplein 1 • 2610 Antwerp • Belgium 2 CCLRC, Daresbury Laboratory • Warrington • UK WA4 4AD 3 Department of Analytical Chemistry, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281-S12 • 9000 Ghent • Belgium, ...

The generative value of visual artworks as resources for the creation and reproduction of social relations and identities comes from the combination of their iconography, style, and materials with their role in socially efficacious performances. In this article, the ResourceCultures approach toward art as a resource is compared with Becker’s theory of ‘art worlds’ that produce artworks from the interactive constellation of the people, ‘conventions’, and ‘resources’ that constitute those worlds. Concepts from these two frameworks are then applied to the example of a Late Bronze Age (ca. 1600–1200 BC) figurative style of eastern Mediterranean ivories that has been argued to have played a constructive role in early Iron Age Levantine (ca. 1200–800 BC) social relations. The discovery of a new object in this style in an unexpected medium at Zincirli, Turkey, prompts an exploration of the interplay among style, materiality, knowledge, value, practice, and identity in the Iron Age Levantine art world. The evidence for the ResourceComplexes of luxury arts in ivory and steatite suggests that stylistic differentiation of objects made in different materials does not necessarily indicate the separation of the production and consumption of these materials according to status distinctions or exclusive aesthetic knowledge, but could instead reflect an aesthetic of appropriateness within a common art world that designated certain formal conventions as fitting for particular materials.

This study presents an assemblage of complete and fragmented clay-made boat models uncovered during controlled archaeological excavations from Yavneh-Yam, which is located on the southern coastal plain of Israel.
First, the relevant contexts from the Persian and early Hellenistic periods at the site that yielded these models are contextualized within the framework of contemporary geopolitical dynamics. Th is is in order to clarify the
geopolitical status of Yavneh-Yam during these periods and the crucial role of the Phoenician agency. A detailed presentation of the boat models follows, including their typology, petrography (thin-section), and technological examination. Finally, we discuss a possible function and use of this group of votive objects, with far-reaching implications for deciphering the possible Phoenician ritual practices related to Phoenician seafaring activity in the Mediterranean.

Das Methodenlehrbuch ist in mehrfacher Hinsicht einzigartig, denn Manuel Nägele will Theologiestudierende und kirchliche Mitarbeiter für die wissenschaftliche Exegese gewinnen. Das Lehrbuch versteht Nägele er als Grundlage einer theologischen Grundkompetenz, die die Praxis prägt, sei es bei der Vorbereitung einer Predigt, bei ethischen Entscheidungen oder im allgemeinen theologischen Diskurs (9). Angesichts der komplexen biblischen Texte aus verschiedenen Zeiten und von verschiedenen Autoren braucht es nach Nägele ein "multifunktionales Tool", das sich unter dem Namen "historisch-kritische Methode" durchgesetzt hat.

This contribution discusses the agricultural units defined as gardens (giš-kiri 6 or giš-nu-kiri 6) in the archive of Palace G at Ebla. Here, gardens can be understood as consisting of fruit tree groves, although the available documentation does not offer many hints at the kinds of crops cultivated in these plots. Indeed, most evidence rather concerns the relevant workers, among which can be distinguished proper "gardeners" (giš-nu-kiri 6), that is, adult male skilled workers; "apprentice gardeners" (dumu-nita giš-nu-kiri 6), who could be the sons of gardeners; and, sporadically, also women (dam). Individuals from both foreign and local centers are classified as gardeners. Indeed, garden produce was not simply conceived as foodstuffs for consumption, but also as delicacies employed within diplomacy between states.

© 2014 MAA Printed in Greece. All rights reserved. The development of three-dimensional documentation technologies such as LiDAR and Structure from Motion (essentially digital photogrammetry) has led to a recording revolution, as these methods are increasingly applied to field archaeology. 3D methods have the potential to become an integral part of the archaeological toolkit, as they have the capability to produce spatially-referenced outputs, such as orthophotos and digital elevation models (DEMs), with greater efficiency than traditional methods. The combination of Structure from Motion and low-altitude aerial photography can facilitate the production of these GIS outputs, which can then be used for digitization or as basemaps. These methods allow for accurate and precise recording with a relative minimum of field time. As the existing body of 3D data increases in size, museums have the unique opportunity to be able to take advantage of these datasets to update their exhibits and ...

Motifs and traditions as analytical units No fixation of a story or a description of cosmological ideas is an exact copy of any other. Even minor differences between variants can become important in light of further research. The mapping of such details in the global, regional or local scale can reveal regularities crucial for understanding of different historical processes.

The peace treaty of 674 BC between Elam and Assyria is a unique treaty in the history of relations between these two states since this treaty is the only friendly treaty that one can speak of it with certainty. The context of this treaty has not left but there are references to it in Assyrian letters, prophecies and royal inscriptions that can affirm its existence. The reasons for its conclusion and violation have not been examined before and since this treaty shows a clear turning point in the policies of two sides, we will survey these reasons in this research. In studying this treaty we have no Elamite evidence, so our emphasis is on the Mesopotamian sources. According to these sources in the seventh century BC Iranian plateau by the arrival of Scythians and Cimmerians and rise to power of Iranian peoples who entered the plateau before this time experienced dramatic changes. The coalitions between peoples who were residing in the plateau, especially Iranian peoples and these newc...

“… there is a clear parallel between the Inscription of Esarhaddon and a
text of Assurbanipal [who] … says that he has brought the peoples that
live in the sea and those that inhabit the high mountains under his yoke,
and this reference, as we understand it, is very like Esarhaddon’s text,
since it is also “a general summary”.”
Arcadio Del Castillo and Julia Montenegro.

BM 49087 (1881-11-3, 1798) is a fragment from the obverse of a Late Babylonian tablet from somewhere in Babylonia. It measures 21+ × 37+ × 8.9+ mm (width × height × thickness) and comprises two columns on each side. Traces of a so-called firing hole can be seen in the space between the columns at its lower break. Traces of the last signs of the left column and part of the right column with the protases of omens are preserved. The first eight omens concern a person whose face is similar to that of gods (the name of the goddess Ereškigal can be read) or of various animals, followed by omens referring to descriptions of various parts of the eye. Omens comparing the face of a person with gods, demons and animals are preserved in three other sources: i. the physiognomic omen series alamdimmû tablet VIII (DIŠ pa-nu-šu GÍD.DA, “If his face is long”, see BÖCK 2000: 108–117; SCHMIDTCHEN 2018: 484–485); ii. in a commentary tablet  o alamdimmû (BÖCK 2000: 250–253); iii. in the second tablet of the sub-series to alamdimmû called šumma dea liballiṭka (VON SODEN 1981; SCHMIDTCHEN 2019: 95–111). Two omens on BM 49087 – the face of a lion (II 7’) and the face of a pig (II 4’) – duplicate omens from those three other sources but not in that sequence. Thus, BM 49087 could either be an excerpt tablet of the series alamdimmû or a tablet with extra-serial omens (aḫû omens).

Gourab Tepe is one of Iran’s most important prehistoric sites, located in the city of Malayar in the province of Hamedan. Unlike Godin Tepe, Gourab’s transition from the Late Chalcolithic period to the Early Bronze Age was without any ruptures, and the Bronze Age artifacts found there belong to the Kura-Araxes culture, a culture covering a vast geographical area whose wide spread through the region and the reasons for their expansion have been subjects of great fascination to archeologists. Petrography is a scientific method used in the geological sciences to identify minerals based on their optical properties. The pottery found on Gourab Tepe provides an incredible opportunity to study the transition from the Late Chalcolithic period to the Early Bronze Age, which in itself is an important topic of discussion for archaeology. This article aims to understand the makeup of the minerals present in the pottery found on Gourab Tepe and analyze the transition from the Late Chalcolithic period to the Early Bronze Age to understand the influence of cultural changes on the structure, texture, and makeup of the pottery in the region. Research questions include: Which minerals are present in the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age potteries, and what does their presence signify about the geological structure of the region? What effect did the Cultural transition and change have on the structures of potteries, and in the case of these changes, how can we interpret and analyze this phenomenon from an archeological standpoint? The petrographic study analyzing 20 samples—10 of which were from the Late Chalcolithic period and 10 of Kura-Araxes origin—showed that the Gourab Tepe potteries underwent significant structural changes from the Late Chalcolithic period to the Early Bronze Age, and whilst these potteries were produced in the same region, the clay and the pottery-making techniques used had fundamental differences.

В ходе анализа предлагается возможность закрепления за пятью 12-летиями 60-летнего китайского цикла функций, а также их онтологическое обоснование. Автором предлагается метод онтологического моделирования, в рамках которого наиболее общие структурные схемы как современные, так и древние приобретают статус схем функциональных. 60-летний цикл открывает стадия (период), на которой формируется некая новая общность, и закрывает стадия, на которой утверждается новая политическая реальность. Центральный «треугольник» этой модели составляют: стадия выявления противоречий, стадия кризиса, прорыва в новое пространство и формирования ценностей, стадия снятия противоречий. Автор анализирует наиболее известные пятиэлементные модели древности и современности, проясняющие онтологическую структуру этого цикла и функции, реализуемые каждым из 12-летних периодов. Апробация полученной универсальной модели развития осуществляется на материале четырёх 60-летних циклов российской, а также мировой истории. Анализ показал, что некоторые тенденции регулярно повторяются в российской истории, некоторые тенденции более значимы для западных стран. Полученный результат свидетельствует о том, что все перечисленные 5-элементные модели, включая мифологические, занимают полноправное место в современной научной парадигме.

The existence of a space dedicated to nature and gardens in the city enhances the living environment of its inhabitants, preserves biodiversity, and limits urban pollution. This work is based on the analysis of Raffaoui Garden (Ex-Barral) and its location in the historical city center of Setif, Algeria. It is one of the historical markers of the city’s stratification of civilizations, marked by the archaeological character of the nymph inherited from the Roman period. In this study, the methodology used is based on a combination of a historical approach, observation, and a questionnaire addressed to the users of the garden. The first results show the importance of nature as an element of differentiation through the aesthetics it brings to the historic center of Setif. They also reveal the lack of urban furniture necessary in this kind of public space. From a functional point of view, the frequentation and use of the park are mainly limited to 50- and 60-year-olds, former residents, ...

Both from an artistic and statistical perspective the funerary portraiture from Palmyra constitutes the unique set of visual monuments attested at the Roman East. The men of Palmyra were frequently shown with the writing tools held usually by the right hand. The writing tools constitute the largest group of Palmyrene male attributes, yet definitely not a homogeneous one. On their funerary representations, Palmyrenes were shown with styluses, tablets, rolls and open polyptychs whilst the codexes and the capsae occasionally appeared in the background. Further, tablets can take wide and narrow forms. Moreover, the tablets and possibly the squeezed papyrii could have been shown as schedulae, the narrow, trapezoidal form of iconographic representation which has been worked out by Palmyrene workshops by the mid-second century. Contrary to tablets and schedulae the representations of other objects like codexes are small in number, approximately less than a dozen. Still, they are extremely interesting because they document the familiarity with Graeco-Roman imagery. The Palmyrene workshops were replicating similar models and were operating on the akin technological level as at the other sites of the vast Roman Empire. But the evidence provided by the broader contexts attested in Palmyra and Roman East makes it possible to reconstruct the several identities that were related to social roles performed by Palmyrene men: (a) schoolboys; (b) citizens of the Greek polis and the Roman Empire; (c) representatives of the Roman civil and military administration; (d) merchants and caravan organizers; (e) tomb owners; (f) priests. There is also some evidence on the education and literacy of women. The wide spectrum of possible identifications depicts the broad range of social roles that were stressed by writing tools shown in the figures’ hands.

This paper discusses the written evidence for the word šaḫūru, which denotes a building or part of a building in Assyrian and Babylonian structures. A comparison of the textual evidence with the archaeological evidence from Aššur and Mari is used to consider the meaning and function of šaḫūru. Finally, it is discussed whether šaḫūru could have played a special role in the organization of festivals at the sites mentioned.