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Table of Contents for Near Eastern Archaeology 86.2 (June 2023)

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Pp. 80–91: “A Review of Nemrik Culture Following Findings in the Southeast Area at Boncuklu Tarla during the 2020 Excavation Season: (Upper Tigris Valley, Mardin, Turkey)

Boncuklu Tarla, located in the upper Tigris Valley, has been inhabited continuously from the Proto-Neolithic until the end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. This uninterrupted sequence is not the result of a constant mounding process, but can be seen as the presence of a single occupation layer in large areas during different periods. One of these single-layered areas is located in the southeastern part of the settlement and is dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA). The finds unearthed during excavations in this section, in particular the architecture and chipped stones, display similar characteristics to Nemrik Culture, which is thought to be unique to the East Jezirah. These similarities are visible in the architecture and in regular find assemblages. This study considers newly recovered data from southeastern Boncuklu Tarla in regard to their apparent rapport with Nemrik Culture, as well as to outline different cultural aspects of the upper Mesopotamian PPNA.

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Pp. 92-101: “A Unique Painted Sherd from the Mid-Sixth Millennium BCE Neolithic Context of Northeastern Iran,” by Kourosh Roustaei

Depicting animal motifs on pottery vessels of prehistoric cultures of the Iranian Plateau was begun as early as the turn of the seventh millennium BCE in the lowland Susiana Plain of southwestern Iran. Such motifs appeared in the Neolithic of northeastern Iran, known as Chakhmaq Culture, as early as the early sixth millennium BCE. During a stratigraphic excavation at a Neolithic site, dated to ca. 7000–5000 BCE, in the Shahroud Plain of northeastern Iran, a body sherd was found depicting a scene of mating goats rotating around the vessel. Regarding its early date, ca. 5650–5550 cal BCE, and its naturalistic way of representing the animal motifs, this sherd is unique among the contemporaneous Neolithic sites of the Iranian Plateau.

ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”10″ margin_bottom=”30″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner css=”.vc_custom_1570041002103{padding-right: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”90277″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/724781″][mk_padding_divider size=”10″][vc_column_text]Pp. 102-111: “attīma nannarat šamê u erṣetim—“You Are the Light of Heaven and Earth”: A Study of Two Cylinder Seals with the Goddess in a Nimbus from the Bible Lands Museum, Jerusalem,” by Takayoshi Oshima

In the hypothesis presented by the authors, stratified, nonmonumental inscriptions and their radiometric datings take center stage for the first time. It is in the living script of these texts rather than in the artificial alphabet of monuments that the evolution of the alphabet in Iron IIA can be studied properly. A key take-home lesson of the work is the significant ninth-century transformations of the alphabet from precursive Proto-Canaanite to supraregional cursive, thence to the well-known regional variants. Under the Omrides, the alphabet in Israel is attested minimally. No Omride texts were recognized at Samaria, nor Baashide texts at Tirzah. The newly founded West Semitic kingdoms since ca. 900 BCE will have constituted the cradle of the cursive, while papyrus or parchment and ink were the cursive’s likeliest vehicle. Alphabetic inscriptions on monuments, including Byblos, all cursive-inspired, will only have emerged in the last third of the ninth century.

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Pp. 111-121: “Networks of Specialized Knowledge: Cult and Its Imagery in Early Iron Age Malizi and Palastina,” by Nathan Lovejoy

Recent research focused on the regions of Malatya and the northern Levant has allowed scholars to improve our understanding of the political history of the polities of Malizi and Palastina. The present article examines recent archaeological evidence from Arslantepe and several northern Levantine sites alongside a corpus of textual and iconographic data from the upper Euphrates and the northern Levant in an attempt to identify Early Iron Age networks of cultural exchange that resulted in shared specialized cultic and artistic knowledge. While networks of interaction between these regions may have begun as a product of persistent sociopolitical ties following the fragmentation of the Hittite Empire, this article proposes that it is due to the resilience of major cult centers that Malizi and Palastina were able to exchange specialized cultic knowledge and artistic traditions and employ them in the definition of their new Iron Age cultic and political communities.

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Pp. 122-131: “Excavations of Parthian Human Bone Remains at Liyarsangbon Cemetery, Amlash District, Guilan Province, Iran: with Special Reference to Sexed Patterns of Burial and Gender Discrimination,” by Mohammad Reza Eghdami, Vali Jahani, Majid Gholamzadeh Roudbordeh, and Seyed Hashem Mousavi

[NB: This article deals with human remains]
Forty-nine graves were excavated at Liyarsangbon cemetery during two working seasons. The area is covered with thin layers of lime, rocky, and calcareous materials, with a relatively neutral to alkaline soil pH, good for the preservation of human skeletal remains. The remains discovered in excavation were dated to the Parthian and Sasanid periods per the grave goods. With the exception of one adolescent girl killed by knife and some bones of both sexes with cut marks, disease was determined to be the standard cause of death in the population. Furthermore, statistical analysis indicates that neither social status nor sex bias influenced burial types in the Parthian period in the region under study.

ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”10″ margin_bottom=”30″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner css=”.vc_custom_1570041002103{padding-right: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”90283″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/724783″][mk_padding_divider size=”10″][vc_column_text]

Pp. 132-148: “Manufacturing Technology and Usage of Glass Fragments in Jahangir Dome and Goriye, Sasanid Sites in Western Iran,” by Bita Sodaei, Davoud Agha Aligol, and Leila Khosravi

This article introduces the Sasanid glass found during excavations at the western Iranian sites of Jahangir Dome and Goriye in Ilam province. In addition to architectural remains, different types of Sasanid pottery, glass, and metal vessels were found at these sites. Considering the importance of the glass industry in this period, the purpose of this article is to study the typological styles and chemical compositions of the glass fragments excavated at Jahangir Dome and Goriye to identify the origin of the vitreous materials. Glass fragments from these sites are divided into four groups based on the form and typology and include: vessel fragments, cosmetic containers, bracelets, and beads. According to the elemental analysis, silicon dioxide, sodium oxide, and calcium oxide are the main chemical components in the studied samples, and analyzed glass materials are of a plant-ash silica-soda-lime glass-type.

ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here. [/vc_column_text][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”10″ margin_bottom=”30″][vc_single_image image=”90284″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/724780″][vc_column_text]

Pp. 146-156: “The Climate Crisis and Archaeological Practice in the Middle East and North Africa: Mitigating the Climate Impact of the ASOR Annual Meeting,” by Virginia Herrmann and Lucas Stephens

The practice of archaeologists of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) urgently needs decarbonization in the context of a climate crisis disproportionately affecting this region’s people and cultural heritage. Academic conferences are both an invaluable forum for research exchange and networking and a carbon-intensive practice presenting barriers to diversity, equity, and inclusion. This article summarizes a study by the authors and the ASOR Ad Hoc Climate Impact Committee on the carbon footprint of the American Society of Overseas Research Annual Meeting and potential strategies for making the meeting carbon neutral and accessible while retaining engagement. We find that the best strategies for significantly reducing the about 1266 t CO2e produced by the traditional meeting format are: (1) alternation of in-person and virtual meetings; (2) hybrid in-person and virtual meeting; (3) dual-component in-person/virtual meeting; or (4) distributed meeting with US and MENA hubs. Carefully vetted carbon offsets should be purchased for remaining emissions.

ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”10″ margin_bottom=”30″][vc_single_image image=”90285″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/724786″][vc_column_text]

Pp. 158-165: “Revitalizing Legacy Biblical Archaeology Collections: The Case of the Oberlin Near East Study Collection,” by Julian Hirsch and Amy V. Margaris

Biblical archaeology collections at colleges and universities are typically remnants of an earlier era of collecting and teaching. These collections nonetheless still hunker, dusty and underused, in many university closets today. What larger stories do their histories reveal, and what good are legacy teaching collections now? In this article a recent Oberlin College graduate and one of his college faculty mentors team up to address these questions and offer practical advice for revitalizing legacy biblical archaeology collections, using the Oberlin Near East Study Collection (ONESC) as a case study.

ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684098866{margin-right: 5px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_wp_posts title=”BROWSE THE NEWS ARCHIVE” number=”4″][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684008271{margin-right: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 30px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_column_text]Tweets by ASOResearch [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Table of Contents for Bulletin of ASOR 389 (May 2023)

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Pp. 1-19: “When “the Sweet Gifts of Bacchus” Ended—New Archaeological Evidence for Settlement Changes and the Decline of Wine Production in Late Antique Southern Palestine,” by Gideon Avni, Guy Bar-Oz, and Gil Gambash

Based on the accumulated data from numerous excavations in the hinterland of Gaza and Ashkelon and the results of the comprehensive bioarchaeological research on Late Antique settlement and economy of the Negev Highlands, this article addresses the decline of the flourishing wine industry of southern Palestine, dating it to the second half of the 6th century c.e. The decline in wine production in the region had a direct effect on the rapid abatement of Elusa, the main city of the Negev, and Shivta, a wealthy large village in the western Negev Highlands. Consequently, the extensive system of industrial farms that formed the hub of the flourishing wine industry declined at the same time. This article suggests connecting these events with changes in the patterns of demand, supply, and production of the “sweet gift of Bacchus,” taking into consideration regional aspects, environmental fluctuations, economic transformations, and the decline of consumption markets.

ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”10″ margin_bottom=”30″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner css=”.vc_custom_1651155064988{padding-right: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”90312″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/724049″][mk_padding_divider size=”10″][vc_column_text]

Pp. 21-33: “Grain Mills from the Late Roman Legionary Camp in Palmyra,” by Grzegorz Majcherek

The Late Antique grain mills from the Roman army camp in Palmyra (Syria) are the first archaeologically documented examples of Roman geared mills in the Levant. Their discovery in the 1980s by the Polish Expedition excavating the Camp of Diocletian provided a body of data that has proved to be of significance for students of both military architecture in Late Antiquity and ancient milling technology. This paper presents the evidence for an advanced type of geared mill and discusses its implications in reference to the existing theoretical reconstruction of the Vitruvian mill.

ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”10″ margin_bottom=”30″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner css=”.vc_custom_1651155073486{padding-right: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”90313″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/724059″][mk_padding_divider size=”10″][vc_column_text]

Pp. 35-64: “Middle Islamic Rural Occupation at Kani Shaie in Iraqi Kurdistan,” by Mustafa Ahmad and Steve Renette

A wave of new fieldwork in Iraqi Kurdistan during the past decade offers the opportunity to study societies of the Islamic periods from an archaeological perspective. Unfortunately, our current understanding of ceramic typology and chronology in the region still hinges overwhelmingly on datasets from major urban centers and the long-standing analysis of the technological development of glazed wares. The material culture of rural communities, on the other hand, is poorly understood. This causes problems for the reconstruction of the social and economic history of Islamic-era societies, and for survey projects that aim to assess longue durée changes in settlement patterns based on chronological assessments of surface collections. This article presents a coherent corpus of Middle Islamic pottery retrieved from a series of large pits from the site of Kani Shaie in Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraqi Kurdistan. Given the small size of the site, the lack of contemporary settlement remains, and the nature of the ceramic assemblage, it is proposed that these pits were used to dump refuse by a small nomadic community or household that returned to the site for a number of years in the 11th–13th century c.e. This small dataset offers glimpses into the lifeways of people who inhabited the border zone between the urbanized lowlands of Mesopotamia and the Zagros Highlands.

ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”10″ margin_bottom=”30″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner css=”.vc_custom_1651155081236{padding-right: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”90338″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/724269″][mk_padding_divider size=”10″][vc_column_text]

Pp. 65-73: “Grain Tribute in Hittite Syria and the Fall of Ugarit,” by Yoram Cohen and Eduardo Torrecilla

This paper examines the term mānaḫātu in the letters from Hittite officials found at the House of Urtenu from Ugarit and recently published in the Ras Shamra-Ougarit 23 volume (RSO 23, Lackenbacher and Malbran-Labat 2016). This paper proposes that the exact meaning of mānaḫātu—in Ugaritic mnḥ(t)—depends on the context, since it was both a vassal tribute due to the empire by the Ugarit palace (consisting of vast amounts of grain staples) and a form of taxation imposed by the Ugarit palace on merchants and citizens of the kingdom at a local level. In addition, the letters concerning mānaḫātu reveal that the Hittite pressure on its vassal to meet its requirements likely contributed much to exacerbate the food shortage suffered by the kingdom of Ugarit, not long before its fall in the early 12th century b.c.

ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”10″ margin_bottom=”30″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner css=”.vc_custom_1651155088757{padding-right: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”90314″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/724363″][mk_padding_divider size=”10″][vc_column_text]

Pp. 75-97: “Honoring the Elite Deceased: A Re-Examination of the Shechem Courtyard Complexes,” by Holly A. Winter

The function of the enigmatic Middle Bronze Age Courtyard Complexes at Shechem has remained at the forefront of debate concerning the courtyard palace form. Shechem’s excavators have been unable to agree on the function of the Courtyard Complexes, with some viewing them as palaces and others as temples. Since the only detailed analysis of the Shechem Courtyard Complexes occurred almost four decades ago (Toombs 1985), a reassessment of the material is overdue. An analysis of the Phase 902 Courtyard Complex, the best preserved of the five sequential complexes, supports its architectural association with the courtyard palace form (Oren 1992), while also highlighting a commemorative function, centered around housing and honoring the deceased elite and administering the ancestral funerary cult. Moreover, a functional link with the later Migdol temple and standing stones suggests at least a partial transference of function to this new, and possibly introduced, temple form in the later Middle Bronze Age. Therefore, the Shechem Courtyard Complexes are to be associated with the courtyard palace form, along with a primarily funerary/commemorative function and are perhaps better viewed as elite funerary complexes.

ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”10″ margin_bottom=”30″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner css=”.vc_custom_1651155096100{padding-right: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”90315″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/724058″][mk_padding_divider size=”10″][vc_column_text]

Pp. 99-119: “The Bamu Stela, Shahr-i Fadak, and Tapeh Shaho: Why Were so Many Monuments Erected around Mount Bamu?” by Sajjad Alibaigi and John MacGinnis

The reliefs and stelae created in the area stretching from Rania in Iraqi Kurdistan to Sar Pol-e Zahab in Iran are among the outstanding cultural materials of the late 3rd and early 2nd millennium b.c., supplementing the information in cuneiform texts for telling the story of important political and military events in the region. Based on the concentration of these reliefs on the northern side of the present-day city of Sar Pol-e Zahab and the picture presented in the cuneiform texts, it appears that the region along the Great Khorasan Road—and especially the area surrounding Sar Pol-e Zahab (ancient Halman)—was the center of major political and military events of that time. The recent discovery of a new stela at Sarab-e Sey Khan and two new rock reliefs at Darvan-e Duhol, coming in addition to the long-known relief at Shaikhan and the stela discovered on Mount Bamu in 1955, requires us to re-evaluate our understanding of this sector of the western Zagros in the late 3rd and early 2nd millennium b.c. This article addresses the question as to why no less than five important monuments were erected in the vicinity of Mount Bamu. The results suggest that these monuments commemorate victories by rulers over the indigenous Bronze Age populations from the mountain kingdoms that lay between Mesopotamia and the high Zagros. Furthermore, study of the archaeological landscape leads to some proposals for the identifications of the polities that were the objects of these attacks. Specifically, sites on the western slopes of Mount Bamu such as Tapeh Shaho, Tapeh Ama-Husein, and Tapeh Qalandari, all three of which appear to have been occupied at this time, lead us to surmise that the main purpose of the attacks on this area was to conquer these settlements, and that these monuments were erected to commemorate these victories.

ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”10″ margin_bottom=”30″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner css=”.vc_custom_1651155102141{padding-right: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”90316″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/724418″][mk_padding_divider size=”10″][vc_column_text]

Pp. 121-163: “Towards a Better Understanding of the Chronological and Geographical Distribution Patterns of Plain and Painted Handmade Wares in Bilād al-Shām,” by Piotr Makowski

Though it has now been more than 90 years since the phenomenon of plain and painted handmade wares first became apparent to field archaeologists working at historical sites in the territory of Bilād al-Shām, so far relatively little effort has been made to explain it sufficiently. The current paper provides an introductory survey of the available literature and attempts to organize the overall discussion regarding the patterns of their chronological and geographical distribution. Particular attention has been paid to the dating of the appearance of handmade wares and the first phase of their development. Illustrating the occurrence of handmade wares in the form of maps and charts, this article also intends to assess the regional differences in their status as well as the mutual relationship between plain and painted wares.

ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”10″ margin_bottom=”30″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner css=”.vc_custom_1651155108357{padding-right: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”90317″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/724419″][mk_padding_divider size=”10″][vc_column_text]

Pp. 165-189: “Drowned Landscapes: The Rediscovered Archaeological Heritage of the Mosul Dam Reservoir,” by Paola Sconzo, Francesca Simi, and Andrea Titolo

Like natural catastrophes or armed conflicts, resource extraction projects herald the alteration or destruction of natural and cultural landscapes alike. Dam construction is a major threat to cultural heritage in Western Asian archaeology. One event may result in obliterating hundreds of sites, most of which never reappear or do so only sporadically following cyclical water fluctuation. Destruction of sites remains ongoing, necessitating constant assessment of damage and the establishment of strategies of documentation and maintenance. This paper proposes a new paradigm for future safeguarding and, more widely, a new tool for managing contiguous terrestrial and lacustrine cultural zones. It outlines a new set of cost-efficient tools for observing these archaeological localities’ “emergence patterns” and quickly assessing damage timescales and site areas. As a case study, Iraq’s largest hydroelectric basin, the Mosul Dam reservoir on the upper Tigris, is discussed, as it offers several insights into tackling endemic issues of site recording, monitoring, and threat assessment in a constantly shifting environment. The research has profited from an unexpected drought in 2018 yielding archaeological sites and villages thought forever lost and is informed by new archaeological projects recently undertaken on the eastern bank of the lake.

ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”10″ margin_bottom=”30″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner css=”.vc_custom_1651155116429{padding-right: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”90318″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/724457″][mk_padding_divider size=”10″][vc_column_text]

Pp. 191–216: “The Archaeology and History of Rock-cut Cisterns and Open Water Reservoirs in the Negev Highlands,” by Andrea Junge, Zachary C. Dunseth, Ruth Shahack-Gross, Israel Finkelstein, and Markus Fuchs

This article provides the final assessment of a large-scale optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating project of water installations in the arid Negev Highlands, southern Israel. Results from five open reservoirs and five rock-cut cisterns are reported. By sampling spoil piles, feeding channels, and accumulation of sediments within reservoirs and cisterns, their construction and phases of maintenance and abandonment are dated. Conventional wisdom argued for progress from simpler open reservoirs in the Bronze or Iron Ages to the more sophisticated rock-cut cisterns of the Nabatean–Byzantine periods. It is shown that open reservoirs were dug throughout the history of the region, likely from the Early or Intermediate Bronze Ages until the medieval period, including periods with no stone-built remains in the region. The construction of subterranean cisterns, which calls for more resources and skill, characterize the Late Roman/Byzantine to Early Islamic period. The significance of these results for reconstructing the history of human activity in the region is also discussed.

ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner css=”.vc_custom_1651155116429{padding-right: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”90319″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/724364″][mk_padding_divider size=”10″][vc_column_text]

Pp. 217-234: “The Identification of the Deity Aramiš/s and the Locations of Qarnē/Qarnīna and Azaʾi/Aṣî in the Tell Taʿyinat Treaty,” by K. Lawson Younger Jr.

For many years not much was known about a deity Aramiš/Aramis, being only mentioned in a few personal names. His identity remained a mystery. But with the discovery of the Esarhaddon Succession Treaty from Tell Taʿyinat, an association with the city and land of Qarnē/Qarnīna, the city and land of ˹azaʾi˺, came to light. Based on the available data found in the personal names, toponymy, and iconography, this article explores the possible identification of this deity and the two toponyms associated with it.

ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”10″ margin_bottom=”30″][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684098866{margin-right: 5px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_wp_posts title=”BROWSE THE NEWS ARCHIVE” number=”4″][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684008271{margin-right: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 30px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”ca-sidebar-99363″][/vc_column][/vc_row]