https://hcommons.org/groups/near-eastern-archaeology/ Activity feed for the group, Near Eastern Archaeology. Sun, 05 Apr 2026 01:53:37 -0400 https://buddypress.org/?v=10.6.0 en-US 30 hourly 2 2df3dded593ac319aa7a6a6942b12716 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1881300/ Fri, 29 Mar 2024 03:01:05 -0400 Mounted seals have frequently been uncovered in Middle Bronze Age archaeological contexts in the Levant and Egypt. However, direct evidence for the deployment of such seals to mark objects does not appear to have been systematically studied to date. This article presents an initial typology of impressions made using mounted seals found in the…[Read more]

]]> 0 429a78e7528b3fa2a628d4b9a6b5dd0d https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1843879/ Mon, 08 May 2023 02:24:28 -0400 Tags made of mudstone are predominantly found in ancient Egyptian Predynastic cemetery contexts. This study examines the symbolism and significance of mudstone tags that are crescent-shaped and/or feature the recurved horns of hartebeests. The use of syncretic imagery on these tags provides evidence for the fluidity of artistic perceptions in…[Read more]

]]> 0 4d15c41d44167ecda31a957a4e3e04a0 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1837809/ Sat, 18 Mar 2023 02:24:25 -0400 The Late Bronze Age was a period of heightened international diplomacy throughout the eastern Mediterranean littoral and the Near East. A direct result of this supra-regional interconnectivity is argued to have been the formation of an independent hybrid visual style, the ‘International Style’, an iconographic idiom which occurs sparingly on art…[Read more]

]]> 0 43364660d82525d5c1b2d2a9400d5add https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1823284/ Mon, 21 Nov 2022 02:24:24 -0500 The text signs on this comb are Minoan Linear A and not the Proto-Canaanite of Serabit el-Khadim as claimed in its 2022 archaeology report. Like most pre-classical linear texts found by archaeology, the language of this text is Akkadian which was the language of the Neolithic farming culture which spread into Europe from the Near-East starting…[Read more]

]]> 0 c30707d8d3cf55c7ef0ba728aa1ec5ec https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1789910/ Wed, 10 Aug 2022 02:24:55 -0400 What was the significance of ancestors in the Hebrew Bible? The question is spurred by Kerry Sonia’s Caring for the Dead, which argues that the cult of dead kin was an accepted practice in the culture of the biblical writers. In building this thesis, Sonia resists an idea popular in scholarship that the Hebrew Bible promotes a negative view of r…[Read more]

]]> 0 72408478f2ad6486d7d038b18c5f6554 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1789906/ Wed, 10 Aug 2022 02:24:32 -0400 Feeding the dead was an accepted cultural practice in the world of biblical writers. It is circumscribed by cultic considerations in passages such as Deut 26:14, but there are no texts that prohibit the placing of food inside tombs. Thus, the biblical writers tacitly acknowledged the practice, though feeding the dead is never explicitly prescribed…[Read more]

]]> 0 6dee4b8c4c339d1d79c5f2d1943ddddc https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1745538/ Tue, 13 Jul 2021 02:24:05 -0400 This fragmentary text is a debate about the cause of a drought between a Phoenician magic crafter devoted to the motion power class of the Ancient Pagan Paradigm and an Israelite life priest devoted to the life-growth powers. Each side blames the drought on the ineffectiveness of the other. Because the stele fragments were used as fill for or in a…[Read more]

]]> 0 479da9bbec2ec8f7742ac181ca355349 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1741785/ Thu, 17 Jun 2021 02:28:47 -0400 These seven alphabetic gravestone texts and one-coin texts from Sidon date to the Hellenistic era based upon their religious themes and their Greek Island letter styles. In contrast, one earlier coin style from Sidon from the Persian period has the Phoenician letter style. Their underlying language is Akkadian which was the empire language of…[Read more]

]]> 0 c5f02b260bb006d28c48eeeb276b8c9b https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1741779/ Thu, 17 Jun 2021 02:28:43 -0400 This paper translates the inscriptions found on five bronze spearheads found near the village of el-Khadr located 2 miles (5 km) west of Bethlehem. Their underlying language is Alphabetic Akkadian and not Hebrew. These spearheads were part of a cache of 26 found near Bethlehem which were first published by Frank Moore Cross in 1954 and 1980. Four…[Read more]

]]> 0 2cad11c4c30f63ccb27a32c0051b9e5f https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1741337/ Mon, 14 Jun 2021 02:23:43 -0400 A plaque on the wall indicates that this temple in Ekron (Tel Miqne) was devoted to enabling the powers of Yahu. The word “Yahu” is mentioned twice along with the full moon god Su and the image opener goddess, Utu, who is the feminine complement to Yahu. Ekron at this time was ruled by Assyria having been rebuilt over an older destroyed Phi…[Read more]

]]> 0 d52a21b876e3135138b11177683dcbc3 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1741333/ Mon, 14 Jun 2021 02:23:40 -0400 This tablet was declared a fraud my many because it could not be translated from Hebrew yet this paper proves the tablet is authentic because it can be translated from Alphabetic Akkadian, a script unknown when the tablet was discovered. This tablet was once stored in a treasury room in Jerusalem’s royal palace or first temple as evidenced by m…[Read more]

]]> 0 3f29e0c6fe7f8a1e92f9fe68e11c27ef https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1740831/ Tue, 08 Jun 2021 02:25:11 -0400 The Moabite Stele text is a line by line philosophical/religious debate. It was written in Alphabetic Akkadian which was the common trading language of the ancient Mediterranean as evidenced by a growing corpus of texts. The Moabite text is also the earliest archaeological linguistic evidence of Jewish (Judahite) culture yet discovered. This is…[Read more]

]]> 0 289dd41a366ab9272a614abfc265777b https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1740828/ Tue, 08 Jun 2021 02:25:10 -0400 This early (northern) Israelite student teaching text blames the cause of the 840 BCE Elijah drought on the astrological powers of the Ancient Pagan Paradigm. It shows a Pagan Israel just prior to the Yawist revolution by referencing the gods Hu as the Healer, Su as the shepherd corresponding to the full moon, and the goddess Utu as the Opener of…[Read more]

]]> 0 dded6a348fd680681b6138853332e82a https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1740824/ Tue, 08 Jun 2021 02:25:08 -0400 Three previously untranslated Philistine (Sea Peoples) texts are translated in the empire language of Alphabetic Akkadian/Aramaic. Their script style is in the Minoan lineage which began with the Phaistos Disk and continued on with Linear A. Unlike those texts these texts are now fully alphabetic meaning their inner word signs are consonants…[Read more]

]]> 0 3dd6ebdc6bca8997fbade3921cf8bcc0 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1740820/ Tue, 08 Jun 2021 02:25:06 -0400 Two early and still readable linear texts were found carved on the walls of turquoise mine L at Serabit el-Khadim in the Sinai of Egypt by William Petrie in 1906. They were never properly translated. These texts were inscribed within bas-relief steles indicating they were officially sanctioned texts. These texts reference a dimmed sun which would…[Read more]

]]> 0 8952a7d6cc2ee25ba8511f5ee518a254 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1740816/ Tue, 08 Jun 2021 02:25:04 -0400 Translations of three graffiti type texts dating from the last years of ancient turquoise mine at Serabit el-Khadim in the Sinai blame jealousy for an ongoing drought. This drought is continuing due to the lack of magic crafters needed to overcome that negative emotional magic. These texts are in alphabetic Akkadian using a script which derives…[Read more]

]]> 0 50e199a72049807e1d59ce4dd0510f21 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1740813/ Tue, 08 Jun 2021 02:25:02 -0400 The inscriptions at Wadi el-Hol just north of Memphis, Egypt are a late variant of Minoan Linear A showing its progression towards alphabetic writing with its treatment of phoneme signs more as wildcard signs able to be followed by any vowel sound. The Minoans were in Egypt during the early 18th dynasty as revealed by Minoan artwork discovered at…[Read more]

]]> 0 16a226026c76bb0d523ff3ae5a7fafba https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1728136/ Sat, 20 Feb 2021 02:37:07 -0500 Destruction is an element of human behaviour that is universally present throughout our history. But what are the driving forces behind these violent acts? Can an underlying motivation be recognised in the archaeological record? This article focuses on the destruction and mutilation of monumental architecture and figurative works, and puts them…[Read more]

]]> 0 9aee8d3ee7c3619c5124f87faa2510a7 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1691158/ Mon, 15 Jun 2020 16:25:51 -0400 The International Style is a theoretical model used to describe various objects from the Eastern Mediterranean Late Bronze Age that exhibit hybrid diagnostic features (iconography, media, form). Resulting in the inability for archaeologists over the past 150 years to identify cultural source. This paper is a reprint of the chapter on colour…[Read more]

]]> 0 1fbb43068d95556d45daa72fb4049df5 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1688210/ Fri, 22 May 2020 16:28:05 -0400 This paper is a new examination of the original find context of the Saqqara lion tables (CG 1321–2) in ‘Gallery C’, an underground structure in the Step Pyramid complex. The substructure may date to the 1st millennium BCE, and this structure was likely part of an embalming complex for the Apis or other sacred animals. The adjacent Western Galle…[Read more]

]]> 0 05a9fd9b654ffdfa9b48223ee0fc1930 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1688206/ Fri, 22 May 2020 16:27:03 -0400 The Egypt Exploration Society archive contains unpublished pencil drawings by A. Klasens of seal impressions found in the Step Pyramid complex of Saqqara. Digitally inked versions of these drawings are published here for the first time. The seal impressions can be sourced to the Northern Galleries of the complex. The impressions were sealed on…[Read more]

]]> 0 d7a36cb1b18877d1e4f6784a07bbb484 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1676374/ Sun, 26 Jan 2020 16:27:46 -0500 During the third millennium B.C.E., Tell Mozan, ancient Urkesh, expanded to include an extensive outer city. A variety of investigations in the outer city reveal a complex urban environment: a mix of planned and unplanned activity with the environment and large municipal works acting as constraining factors on more localized activity.

]]> 0 8dcef6ec0d9cba66fde5e1302cbdce3c https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1674259/ Sun, 05 Jan 2020 16:30:35 -0500 The relationship between the ‘Two Brothers’ Nakhtankh and Khnumnakht has been heavily debated since the discovery of their mummies in 1907. Re-examining the coffin inscriptions of these two individuals reveals that Nakhtankh and Khnumnakht were likely uncle and nephew.

]]> 0 c182f994e05072017c0c063d36fe9e65 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1674255/ Sun, 05 Jan 2020 16:29:33 -0500 A brief technical re-examination of a paper by George Mann on the Qau skeletons in the Duckworth collection is undertaken. Taking into account the original data and technical aspects of skeletal sexing, it is shown that old data on skeletal sexing may not always be as unreliable as previously thought. Factors that may introduce errors into this…[Read more]

]]> 0 125199275662635ed508fa79a4db4d00 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1664368/ Tue, 24 Sep 2019 16:26:03 -0400 Buccellati, F. 2019. “Perception in Palatial Architecture: The Case of the AP Palace at Urkesh.” In Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Palaces, edited by M. Bietak, P. Matthiae, and S. Prell, 2:31–40. CAENL 8. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

]]> 0 91c91c4c5cf27135ac527e1140fa4f85 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1664367/ Tue, 24 Sep 2019 16:26:02 -0400 Buccellati, F. 2012. “Wie wird ein Palast gebaut und warum?” In Werte im Widerstreit. Von Bräuten, Muscheln, Geld und Kupfer. Ausstellungskatalog Wiesbaden, edited by P. Breunig and C. Trümpler, 31–34. Frankfurt a. M.

]]> 0 cec9303adadccd81bc1c613f0982aff9 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1664366/ Tue, 24 Sep 2019 16:26:02 -0400 Buccellati, F. 2015. “What Might a Field Archaeologist Want from an Architectural 3D Model?” In How Do We Want the Past to Be? On Methods and Instruments of Visualizing Ancient Reality, edited by M.G. Micale and D. Nadali, 157–69. Piscataway: Gorgias.

]]> 0 98fc460dd8fe845d09247ff81608584f https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1664365/ Tue, 24 Sep 2019 16:26:01 -0400 Buccellati, F. 2014. “Understanding Households – a Few Thoughts.” In House and Household Economies in 3rd Millennium B.C.E. Syro-Mesopotamia, edited by F. Buccellati, T. Helms, and A. Tamm, 35–42. BAR International 2682. Oxford: Archaeopress.

]]> 0 b7e8e10f31bb850eaf72160242ee5749 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1664364/ Tue, 24 Sep 2019 16:26:01 -0400 Buccellati, F., and E. Kansa. 2016. “The Value of Energetic Analysis in Architecture as an Example for Data Sharing.” Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage 3: 91–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.daach.2016.07.001.

]]> 0 23d4c8f280a55cb88ae7f6a9311a87bd https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1664363/ Tue, 24 Sep 2019 16:26:01 -0400 Buccellati, F., N. Dell’Unto, and M. Forte. 2005. “The Tell Mozan/Urkesh Archaeological Project: An Integrated Approach of Spatial Technologies.” In The Reconstruction of Archaeological Landscapes through Digital Technologies: Proceedings of the 2nd Italy-United States Workshop, Rome, Italy, November 3-5, 2003, Berkeley, USA, May 2005, edite…[Read more]

]]> 0 82afd0badb1b56d48319d7e8f05873bd https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1664362/ Tue, 24 Sep 2019 16:26:00 -0400 Buccellati, F. 2010. “The Monumental Temple Terrace at Urkesh and its Setting.” In Kulturlandschaft Syrien: Zentrum und Peripherie Festschrift für Jan-Waalke Meyer, edited by J. Becker, R. Hempelmann, and E. Rehm, 71–86. AOAT 371. Münster: Ugarit.

]]> 0 efb02952f75e88be34ca6716139a8cd4 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1664361/ Tue, 24 Sep 2019 16:26:00 -0400 Buccellati, F., T. Helms, and A. Tamm, eds. 2014. House and Household Economies in 3rd Millennium B.C.E. Syro-Mesopotamia. BAR International 2682. Oxford: Archaeopress.

]]> 0 00933dfc566f3111e8dba51198f52ba2 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1664360/ Tue, 24 Sep 2019 16:25:59 -0400 Buccellati, F. 2001. “Digital Photography and Architectural Modeling as Elements of Conservation.” In Gli Opifici Di Urkesh, edited by S. Bonetti, 83–88. Bibliotheca Mesopotamica 27. Malibu: Undena.

]]> 0 27fbbe161ab9e125e4a69d98b8279eb4 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1664359/ Tue, 24 Sep 2019 16:25:59 -0400 Buccellati, F. 2014. “Diachronic Developments at the Central Monumental Complex of Ancient Urkesh (Tell Mozan).” In Proceedings of the 8th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East: 10 April-4 May, 2012 University of Warsaw, 1:313–22. Wiesbaden: Harassowitz.

]]> 0 e7eb27fbd60ea7c2c98b8153422b923f https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1664358/ Tue, 24 Sep 2019 16:25:59 -0400 Buccellati, F. 2016. “3D Models as Vehicles for Archaeological Research: Stratigraphy, Emplacement and Construction.” Studia Eblaitica 2: 15–22.

]]> 0 381851d375e575c518c806a56f6f9905 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1664357/ Tue, 24 Sep 2019 16:25:58 -0400 Buccellati, F. 2019. “Monumentality: Research Approaches and Methodology.” In Size Matters – Understanding Monumentality Across Ancient Civilizations, edited by F. Buccellati, S. Hageneuer, S. van der Heyden, and F. Levenson, 41–63. Bielefeld: transcript. https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839445389.

]]> 0 20b34271a0ac4d670f110a15b9720ebd https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1664356/ Tue, 24 Sep 2019 16:25:58 -0400 Buccellati, F., S. Hageneuer, S. van der Heyden, and F. Levenson. 2019. “Introduction.” In Size Matters – Understanding Monumentality Across Ancient Civilizations, edited by F. Buccellati, S. Hageneuer, S. van der Heyden, and F. Levenson, 11–14. Bielefeld: transcript. https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839445389.

]]> 0 0a6875c2e36143461b9c728c1e45f2b5 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1664352/ Tue, 24 Sep 2019 16:25:47 -0400 Buccellati, F. 1998. “3-D Rendering and Animation at Tell Mozan/Urkesh.” In Urkesh and the Hurrians: Studies in Honor of Lloyd Cotsen, edited by G. Buccellati, 53–64. Bibliotheca Mesopotamica 26. Malibu: Undena.

]]> 0 4b519a9a1dc93fceb3e9809d4e663cc4 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1664351/ Tue, 24 Sep 2019 16:25:46 -0400 Buccellati, F., S. Hageneuer, S. van der Heyden, and F. Levenson, eds. 2019. Size Matters – Understanding Monumentality Across Ancient Civilizations. Bielefeld: transcript. https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839445389.

]]> 0 d486e2730facccb24eac2ac9f1802fdd https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1657155/ Tue, 09 Jul 2019 16:25:26 -0400 A private seal impression with the Hebrew name "Ezer (son of) Haggai" discovered in the excavations at Tel Burna, Israel. The seal impression dates to the Iron II period and has parallels found at Gezer and Azekah.

]]> 0 b35cad171931090156444e01978cb5ae https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1641785/ Wed, 05 Jun 2019 16:40:46 -0400 Brief overview of the visual and linguistic evidence for the value of minerals and colours in ancient Mesopotamia

]]> 0 5d45a1c612cb9db1c2a393553bb7c34d https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1639671/ Mon, 06 May 2019 16:25:57 -0400 We analyze the processing of cereals and its role at Early Neolithic Göbekli Tepe, southeastern Anatolia (10th / 9th millennium BC), a site that has aroused much debate in archaeological discourse.

]]> 0 946e66d39d5cbd8462a2775c8c79d83b https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1625767/ Fri, 14 Dec 2018 16:27:05 -0500 This article discusses the identity of the Daniel character mentioned in the Book of Ezekiel.

]]> 0 4c9f4a1a31a041a290cace054527b9aa https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1610882/ Fri, 15 Jun 2018 04:12:57 -0400 The problem with using royal inscriptions as historical sources is their inherent bias. The interests of the king drive the narratives of royal inscriptions. Yet this essential feature reveals their underlying concept of history. In royal inscriptions, historical thought is defined by the life and experience of the king. This article will present…[Read more]

]]> 0 629073de1f607a1a0eba93016a25b23f https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1610804/ Thu, 14 Jun 2018 04:15:06 -0400 The Samaria Ostraca contain a subset of receipts that record wine shipments from what were evidently royal vineyards. But this particular group of ostraca has been largely overlooked in the study of the Northern Kingdom, probably resulting from the fact that not all of the ostraca were published in the editio princeps. This article presents a new…[Read more]

]]> 0 09f398eb5e266eb3dd7b43b36c588aa2 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1599282/ Thu, 01 Feb 2018 04:13:11 -0500 While the Met expedition to Ctesiphon, Iraq was in the field in winter of 1931/1932 they received word that Winlock, an archaeologist from the Egyptian department, a department to which some of the Ctesiphon staff belonged, had been promoted to the director of the Museum. Around the same time the Near Eastern Art department was being formulated as…[Read more]

]]> 0 c7a58b14ac6c1d0f918b3d9ea6a6e25c https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1587778/ Fri, 10 Nov 2017 01:54:29 -0500 The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between dwelling size, household structure and social status in urban Babylonia during the first millennium BC.

]]> 0 83e38606cb7fa56152dc854a8ed873ff https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1587761/ Fri, 10 Nov 2017 01:53:17 -0500 This paper examines the relationship between house and household in first-millennium BC Babylonia, drawing on both textual and archaeological evidence. It builds on previous research by the author which has focused on elucidating the Babylonian terms for parts of the house and correlating these with architectural forms, based on comparison with…[Read more]

]]> 0 38da372595079d5a1a34e023c9126dd4 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1578602/ Sat, 12 Aug 2017 01:00:40 -0400 A short note on a 2012 find from Göbekli Tepe - a seated figurine with an animal on its shoulder.

]]> 0 0f049a761ace5f6e1883bafd2a948745 https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1569876/ Tue, 09 May 2017 01:00:35 -0400 Encyclopedia entry on the concept of the "Neolithic Package".

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