Ancient Near East (Archaeology)

B. Horejs, M. Mehofer, E. Pernicka, Metallhandwerker im frühen 3. Jt. v. Chr. - Neue Ergebnisse vom Çukuriçi Höyük, Westtürkei, Istanbuler Mitteilungen 60, 2010, 7-37.

by Mathias Mehofer

Neue Ausgrabungen auf dem Çukuriçi Höyük, Westtürkei, erbrachten zahlreiche Hinweise auf Metallwerkstätten, die in die... more Neue Ausgrabungen auf dem Çukuriçi Höyük, Westtürkei, erbrachten zahlreiche Hinweise auf Metallwerkstätten, die in die frühe Bronzezeit datieren. Fest installierte Öfen in großer Zahl erlauben die Lokalisierung dieser Werkstattareale im ursprünglichen Zentrum des Tells. Ein Raumkomplex der jüngsten Besiedlungsphase wird in seiner Datierung und dem dazugehörigen metallurgischen Ensemble vorgestellt und diskutiert. Das vielfältige Spektrum lässt auf unterschiedliche Gusstechniken in der Herstellung schließen. Darüber hinaus belegen Gussformen im Fundmaterial die Herstellung von Metallbarren für den weiteren Austausch. Erste Analyseergebnisse mittels Rasterelektronenmikroskopie und Röntgenfluoreszenzanalyse zeigen, dass die Metallhandwerker des Çukuriçi Höyük offenbar auch über metallurgisches Spezialwissen verfügten, wie am Beispiel eines Objektes aus einer Kupfer-Silberlegierung veranschaulicht wird. Funde mit ähnlicher Zusammensetzung und Zeitstellung finden sich vom Balkan bis Mesopotamien und lassen die Einbindung des Çukuriçi Höyük in ein weiträumiges Kommunikationsnetzwerk vermuten.

Acem Hoyuk - Ulama - Purushattum ?

by Joost Blasweiler

Comments are welcome !

Human sacrifice in the ancient Near East

by Laerke Recht

Laerke Recht. 2010. Human sacrifice in the ancient Near East. pp. 168-180 in Trinity College Dublin Journal of Postgraduate Research 9.

Tell al-Mashhad report on 2011 season

by francesco benedettucci

Unpublished Report

Work Notes on Etruscan Mirrors and Murals, Part I

by Mel Copeland

This is a PDF file from our website covering Etruscan Mirrors and Murals, with images compiled from the Etruscan Phrases website http://www.maravot.com/Etruscan_Phrases_a.html.

In contrast to offerings from the British Museum and University of Bologna, where their analyses, following Pallottino, are generally speculation based on guesswork relating to short funerary inscriptions, the Etruscan Phrases work is supported by a strong grammar and vocabulary based on all texts, small and large. Thus, to clear the mystery of the Etruscan language alleged by such esteemed institutions, it is imperative that the Etruscan Phrases GlossaryA.xls be audited. We mention this since the only prospect of clearing up the Etruscan Mystery is through a verifiable audit of the Etruscan Grammar recorded in Etruscan Phrases. The British Museum, University of Bologna and other "Pallottino School" works have not produced a vocabulary or grammar that can be audited, since their theory is that the Etruscan language is unlike any other known to man, not Indo-European. Etruscan Phrases claims that the Etruscan Language is similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian, an Indo-European language. It offers a grammar, declension patterns and regular, measurable shifts between Etruscan and these languages; ergo the work can be easily audited.

Most important to the work are the Etruscan mirrors and murals that contain known Classical stories and the names of the principle characters in the stories. The star of the mirrors is Helen of Troy who was the young daughter of King Tyndareüs of Sparta and abducted by the equally beautiful son of King Priam of Troy, thereby causing the Trojan War. While the entire story has captured the hearts and imaginations of generations since that event (Troy was destroyed ~1180 B.C.) we can presume through Etruscan mirrors that the event was part of their history – and they had a somewhat different recollection of it than the Greek version passed down to us.

Because the story is familiar and linking the genesis of Greek heroes and gods, containing their names and actions, we have comparative texts to use in analyzing the Etruscan language, its shifts from Greek and Latin to Etruscan. For instance the heroes of the story follow a regular shift, of dropping vowels and final consonants, etc. Heracles (L. Hercules) is Hercle (almost like the French, Hercule). Helen’s name declines: Helenai and Helenei, leading us to the declension of other nouns. Her father was Zeus who transformed into a swan and raped the goddess Nemesis THALNA (retribution) who had transformed into a goose. She laid an egg or two eggs, one of which was Helen which was found by shepherds near Sparta and taken to Tyndareüs and Leda to bring up. From the egg came Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world.

The most beautiful man at the time was Alexander, spelled ELCHSENTRE and he abducted Helen from her husband Menelaus, MENLE, the brother of King Agamemnon: ACHMEMNVN. His wife Clytemnestra is CLVTHVMVSTHA who murdered her husband in the bath upon returning from the Trojan War, and their son, Orestes (VRSTE) killed her and her lover in revenge. Athena (L. Minerva) is MENRFA; Hera (L. Juno) is VNI, her consort is Zeus (L. Jupiter) Etr. TINIA. Thetis is THETIS and THETHIS, she was a dangerous shape-changer and compelled by the gods to wed her husband Peleus, PELE; they produced the Greek hero of the Trojan War, Achilles who the Etruscans call ACHLE. The mother of Helen, Leda, is LATFA and her brothers, Castor and Polydeukes (Pollux) are CASTVR and PVLTVCEI. Their father Tyndareüs is TVNTLE. Aphrodite (Etr. TVRAN) was a cause of the Trojan War when she was judged by Alexander as “The Fairest” as written on an apple thrown into the wedding of Thetis and Peleus by Eris (Etr. ERIS). Aphrodite’s son was Eros (Etr. ERVS) – appearing in many texts. Another popular figure in Etruscan mirrors is Hermes (L. Mercury) TVRMS.

Apollo (APLV) and Artemis are represented frequently in the texts. Ajax Telemonos EIFAS TELMVNVS committed suicide after Achilles was killed, because he did not deserve Achilles’ armor. Apollo (APLV) and his sister the virgin huntress Artemis (ARTVMES) were highly active in the Trojan War. The Etruscans introduce a new character like Artemis called MEAN who crowns Alexander, awarding him the hand of Helen, though we understand from the Greek version that it was Aphrodite (Etr. TVRAN) that awarded Alexander the hand of Helen in the Judgment of Paris. MEAN appears to be a goddess of the hunt like Artemis from Lydia, recalling the old name of Lydia, Maionia (Μαιονία). This is just a tease, for the mirrors and murals carry amazing details never before known to modern man. The images, names and texts associated with the mirrors and murals set the baseline for understanding Etruscan Grammar and the words recorded in Etruscan Phrases GlossaryA.pdf. (The most current version available at http://www.maravot.com/Etruscan_Phrases_a.html.

We should hope, therefore, that there will be many linguists / scholars who will jump at the chance to clear up the Etruscan Mystery and rewrite the histories so clearly overshadowed by the Pallottino School theories, to help even the museums containing Etruscan artifacts explain a bit more about the items in their displays.

Etruscan GlossaryA.pdf an index to about 2,500 Etruscan words that are similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. Declension patterns follow those in Latin. The 2,500 words equal the repeated words in 6,000 words of the major extant texts. The texts have been frozen in time, covering ~700-400 B.C., representing a lens to understanding the early formation of Indo-European languages, particularly the early Italic-Latin-Celtic languages, such as Italian, French & Romanian / Dacian. (By 45 BC. the language was a dead language - no one understood or could write Etruscan)

This GlossaryA works together with Indo-European Table 1 which refutes theories by the Pallottino school of thought that the Etruscan language is not Indo-European and an isolate, unlike any other language. It is very close to Latin and, curiously, Romanian, Italian and French. The Latin suffix, "us" shifts to "o" as in Italian (Titus vs Tito); first person conjugation patterns are similar to French and Romanian. This GlossaryA provides a quick look at the grammatical structure of the Etruscan language, how closely it coincides with Latin. A more detailed Declension Table can be seen on the Etruscan Phrases website. These PDF documents facilitate independent confirmation of the words in GlossaryA.xls , the Grammar and Declension Table. All words can be examined from actual images of texts on the Etruscan Phrases website. Over 150 texts, with about 6,000 words can be examined at Etruscan Phrases.

The Etruscans surfaced in Italy about 1,000 B.C., reputed to have arrived from Lydia / Phrygia. The Phrygians originated near Macedonia in Thrace, according to Herodotus. One may therefore inquire whether the ancient Thracians (Dacians, Gettae, modern Romanians), spoke a language common to the Phrygians, at the time of the Trojan War and after (~1180 B.C.). The Thracians, Phrygians and Lydians (also dead languages) were allies of the Trojans, according to the Iliad. Etruscan Phrases finds a common vocabulary among Latin, Italian, French, Romanian, Etruscan and Phrygian. While French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian are considered Romance languages, showing a similar Latin heritage, Etruscan is not, of course, a Romance language, as it preceded Latin, at least in the written form (giving Rome its alphabet).

Resolution of the Etruscan Mystery may be likened to Michael Ventris' decipherment of Linear B and Jean-François Champollion's decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics using the Rosetta Stone - written in Egyptian hieroglypics, Demotic and Greek. The decipherment of Etruscan is a bit more challenging, since we have no multilingual Rosetta Stone, but we do have enough vocabulary and grammar to establish that Etruscan is similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. (Certainly far more vocabulary and a more extensive grammar is provided in Etruscan Phrases than that used by Ventris to claim translation of Linear B as an old form of Greek)

The mirrors with the Devotional Plates may be an easy entry into an audit, for those who are hesitant to examine the larger texts, such as the Zagreb Mummy (Script Z).

Materialisations of memory- remembering the pyramid kings

by Serena Love

This paper attempts to challenge ideas concerning the social motivations behind monumental architecture by asking a... more This paper attempts to challenge ideas concerning the social motivations behind monumental architecture by asking a different set of questions, focused on new theories concerning social memory. Egyptologists have traditionally studied and hypothesized about how and why the pyramids were built, the labor force required and the level of bureaucratic organization necessary. But are these the only explanations and reasons that justify pyramid building?

In attempt to address these issues, this paper will focus on recent work in the ‘archaeologies of memory’ and the relationship between monuments and memories. Monuments, as memorials, are deliberately designed to provoke memories. One difference between Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom funerary structures was the extensive use of stone, greatly enhancing the durability of the monument, evoking an intention by kings to memorialize themselves for eternity. But this concept of stone memorials is nothing new in Egypt. However, if the enduring materiality of the object is considered, then perhaps the monument can serve as a link between the past, the present and the future.

Building on ideas borrowed from material culture studies, which proposes that objects are produced through memory and, inversely, memory can be reproduced through objects. Objects possess an association with past events and people and are invested with memories associated with certain activities. Thus, objects can act as a link between the past and the present through their materiality and can create ‘topography of remembrance’.

For the purpose of this discussion, pyramids are viewed as active material culture and address larger issues of monumentality as a means of memorializing the past for the present. By comparing and contrasting the archaeological record with the textual record, I will illustrate just where and how the Old Kingdom pyramid kings were ‘remembered and forgotten’.

Stones, ancestors and pyramids- the pre-pyramid landscape of Memphis

by Serena Love

“Past peoples knowingly inhabited landscapes that were palimpsests of previous occupations. Landscapes were occupied... more “Past peoples knowingly inhabited landscapes that were palimpsests of previous occupations. Landscapes were occupied and re-occupied. Rarely was this a meaningless or innocent re-use” (van Dyke and Alcock (ed). 2003. Archaeologies of Memory).

This paper explores the implications of this quote in the context of the pre-pyramid landscape of early Memphis. It is argued that the Memphite necropolis is an inscribed landscape of social memory that contributed to a developing Egyptian identity.

Egyptological research appears to be entering a new paradigm, focusing on how the pyramids built Egypt rather than how the Egyptians built the pyramids. This paper aims to further the notion that pyramid construction contributed to the creation of social identity and ideology by examining the pre-pyramid landscape of early Memphis, from a purely symbolic approach. Building from over 50 years of research concerning the pragmatics of pyramid construction this paper will focus on the lesser-known symbolic associations of the Memphite landscape, such as the archaeology of natural places and the cultural appropriation of local topography. The accumulation of this material suggests that the deliberate placement of monuments was an act to acknowledge the ancestors and legitimize power.

The intention of this paper is to illustrate the degree of cultural activity that preceded pyramid construction. The purpose here is to examine two ideas: 1) the landscape was sacred before it was used for pyramid building and, 2) the patterns of Predynastic and Early Dynastic land use and how it may have influenced later pyramid placement. Over 1,000 years of life and death are represented in Memphis before the first pyramid was conceived, although the archaeology is very thin as not all activities leave a mark upon the land. There is substantial archaeological material to suggest long-term occupation and sedentary communities. It will be suggested here that these early communities of Egyptians had created specific symbolic associations with the landscape, where symbolic meaning and cultural significance was gained from repeated use. Memphis was thus ‘marked’ hundreds of years before a pyramid was ever built.

Archäologie des Nomadischen

by Ulf Scharrer

Co-authored with Sören Stark and Mohammad Ababneh,
in: Annegret Nippa (ed.): Kleines ABC des Nomadismus, Hamburg 2011, p. 28-30.

Göbekli Tepe – insanlığın ilk kutsal anıtı

by Oliver Dietrich

co-authored with Ç. Köksal-Schmidt, C. Kürkcüoglu, J. Notroff, K. Schmidt

Aktüel Arkeoloji 26, Mart-Nisan 2012, 52-55.

A short account of some recent finds from Göbekli - in Turkish. A short account of some recent finds from Göbekli - in Turkish.

A Radiocarbon Date from the Wall Plaster of Enclosure D of Göbekli Tepe.

by Oliver Dietrich

Co-authored with Klaus Schmidt.
Neo-Lithics 2/2010, 82-83.

Beyond Aššur: New Cities and the Assyrian Politics of Landscape

by Ömür Harmansah

Harmanşah, Ömür; 2012. "Beyond Aššur: New Cities and the Assyrian Politics of Landscape," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 365: 53-77.

This article investigates the making of Assyrian landscapes during the late second and early first millennia b.c.e.... more This article investigates the making of Assyrian landscapes during the late second and early first millennia b.c.e. From the late 14th century b.c.e. onward, the Assyrians designated the emergent core of their territorial state as the “Land of Aššur” in their royal inscriptions. However, over the course of the next several centuries, the cultural geography of the Land of Aššur was continuously redefined while gradually shifting northward from the arid environs of the city Aššur to the well-watered and resourceful landscapes around the confluence of the Tigris and the Upper and Lower Zab Rivers. Contemporaneously, the landscapes of the Upper Tigris basin (southeastern Turkey) and the Jazira witnessed extensive settlement and cultivation as Assyrian provinces and frontiers. Drawing on archaeological survey evidence and a critical reading of the textual accounts of urban foundations, this paper argues that such mobility of Assyrian landscapes was part and parcel of broader processes of environmental and settlement change in Upper Mesopotamia. Assyrian annalistic texts point to an elaborate rhetoric of landscape that portrays state interventions in the form of city foundations and building programs, construction of irrigation canals, planting of orchards, opening of new quarries, and settlement of populations. Furthermore, the making of commemorative monuments such as rock reliefs and stelae allowed the Assyrian state to inscribe symbolically charged places in foreign landscapes and incorporate them into the narratives of the empire. By drawing attention to the long-term trends of settlement in Upper Mesopotamia during the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages and the agency of landscapes, the article contextualizes the Assyrian political rhetoric of development at the time of a highly fluid world of geographical imagination.

Across Assyria’s Northern Frontier: Tell Fekheriye at the End of the Late Bronze Age

by Peter Bartl

co-authored with Bonatz, D.
in: Aslihan Yener (ed.), Across the Border: Late Bronze-Iron Age Relations between Syria and Anatolia, Leuven (in print).

Preliminary Report on the Excavations at Tell Fekheriye 2009 and 2010

by Peter Bartl

co-authored with Bonatz, D.
in: Chronique Archéologique en Syrie, Vol. VI (in print)

Giricano and Ziyaret Tepe: Two Middle Bronze Age sites in the Upper Tigris Region

by Peter Bartl

in: N. Laneri – P. Pfälzner – S. Valentini (eds.), Looking North. The Socio-economic Dynamics of the Northern Mesopotamian and Anatolian Regions during the Late Third and Early Second Millennium B.C., Studien zur Urbanisierung Nordmesopotamiens (SUN), Serie D, Bd. 1, Wiesbaden (2012), 175-191

Marduk

by Peter Bartl

in: Eggler J., Uehlinger Ch. (eds.), Iconography of Deities and Demons in the Ancient Near East, (2009)

Online-Prepublication
Text:
more Online-Prepublication
Text:
http://www.religionswissenschaft.unizh.ch/idd/prepublications/e_idd_marduk.pdf
Figures:
http://www.religionswissenschaft.unizh.ch/idd/prepublications/e_idd_illustrations_marduk.pdf

Bericht über die erste und zweite Grabungskampagne in Tell Feheriye 2006 und 2007

by Peter Bartl

co-authored with Bonatz, D., Gilibart, A. and Jauß, C.
in: Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orientgesellschaft 140 (2008), 89-135

Preliminary Report of the Excavations at Tell Fekheriyeh in 2006 and 2007

by Peter Bartl

co-authored with Bonatz, D.
in: Chronique Archéologique en Syrie, Vol. III (2008), 175-186

Kleider machen Leute

by Peter Bartl

in: Antike Welt 4/2007, 33-35

Des Königs neue Kleider? Die Orthostatenreliefs Assurnasirpals II. und ihre Ritzverzierungen

by Peter Bartl

in: Alter Orient Aktuell 6 (2005), 4-11

Beitrag in: Andreas Schachner, Ausgrabungen in Giricano (2000-2001). Neue Forschungen an der Nordgrenze des mesopotamischen Kulturraums

by Peter Bartl

in: Istanbuler Mitteilungen 52 (2002), 17-23