Robert J. Littman, Jay Silverstein, Dora Goldsmith, Shaun R. Coughlin, Hamedy Mashaly
{"title":"Eau de Cleopatra","authors":"Robert J. Littman, Jay Silverstein, Dora Goldsmith, Shaun R. Coughlin, Hamedy Mashaly","doi":"10.1086/715345","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/715345","url":null,"abstract":"A combination of Classics, Egyptology, and experimental archaeology were utilized to recreate the (in)famous perfume used by Queen Cleopatra VII. Especially important was the use of classical sources and paleobotany to determine the identity of the Egyptian sacred oils such as camphor and balanos. Excavations at the site of Tell Timai revealed a perfumery that contributed to our ability to recreate the process of perfume manufacture. This ancient “Mendesian” perfume has since been recreated in the lab, exhibited at the Smithsonian, and worn again for the first time in millennia.","PeriodicalId":51934,"journal":{"name":"NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY","volume":"84 1","pages":"216 - 229"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48714342","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Communal Architecture at Boncuklu Tarla, Mardin Province, Turkey","authors":"Ergül Kodaş","doi":"10.1086/714072","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/714072","url":null,"abstract":"The site of Boncuklu Tarla is located in the province of Mardin in Turkey. It was identified in 2008 and salvage excavations have been taking place since 2012 in the shadow of the construction of the Ilısu Dam. The archaeological excavation of Boncuklu Tarla represents a new opportunity to examine the complete chronology of the preceramic Neolithic in the Upper Tigris Valley thanks to the presence of archaeological strata dating from the Epipaleolithic to the end of the late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB). In the eastern section of Boncuklu Tarla the remains of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) came to light in 2017 and 2019, allowing us to revisit the architecture both communal and domestic, as well as spatial organization in a concrete chronological context during the tenth millennium. In this region, we identified a communal building in the midst of surrounding houses.","PeriodicalId":51934,"journal":{"name":"NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY","volume":"84 1","pages":"159 - 165"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/714072","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46537965","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Shira Faigenbaum-Golovin, Arie Shaus, B. Sober, Yana Gerber, Eli Turkel, E. Piasetzky, I. Finkelstein
{"title":"Literacy in Judah and Israel","authors":"Shira Faigenbaum-Golovin, Arie Shaus, B. Sober, Yana Gerber, Eli Turkel, E. Piasetzky, I. Finkelstein","doi":"10.1086/714070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/714070","url":null,"abstract":"This article deals with the question of literacy in Israel and Judah. We deploy algorithmic and forensic methods to reveal the number of authors in two corpora of ostraca: Arad in Judah (ca. 600 BCE) and Samaria in Israel (eighth century BCE). In Judah, literacy disseminated down the military system to the quarter-master of the remote fort of Arad and possibly to his assistant. At Samaria our algorithmic work revealed two scribes over a minimum period of seven years, which seems to represent palace administration apparatus.","PeriodicalId":51934,"journal":{"name":"NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY","volume":"84 1","pages":"148 - 158"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/714070","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43983560","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Divine Cults in the Sacred Precinct of Girsu","authors":"S. Rey","doi":"10.1086/714121","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/714121","url":null,"abstract":"The Sumerian site of Girsu with its sacred precinct, known as the Urukug, is among the first cities of the ancient world. In the third millennium BCE it was considered the sanctuary of one of the great gods of the Sumerian pantheon, the mighty Ningirsu, who ruled the powerful city-state of Lagash from his temple Eninnu, also known as The White Thunderbird. It is well known that the birth of archaic states in Mesopotamia happened primarily through the mediation of religion. In Girsu, it was specifically the Urukug sanctum and its age-old temples at the heart of the preurban consecrated area that constituted the focal point around which the city and its territory crystallized. Renewed excavations at the temple site after decades of fieldwork interruption have provided a wealth of new insights into the sacred landscape of Girsu and the rituals related to the great cults of its chief deities.","PeriodicalId":51934,"journal":{"name":"NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY","volume":"84 1","pages":"130 - 139"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/714121","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46800738","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Yotvata in the Southern Negev and Its Association with Copper Mining and Trade in the Early Iron Age","authors":"L. Singer-Avitz","doi":"10.1086/714075","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/714075","url":null,"abstract":"The Iron I Yotvata “fortress” is situated in the area of the Yotvata Oasis, located in the Arabah Valley in the southern Negev. It was built atop a high, steep hill that faced the oasis and the routes leading to it. The site is surrounded by an irregular case-mate wall. The casemate rooms contained various finds and pottery. Significantly, two pottery vessels of Qurayya Painted Ware, which originate in the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula, were found here. The location and character of this site possibly indicates that it was established in order to protect the water sources of the oasis and supervise the nearby crossroad extending along the Arabah Valley. In addition, due to its relative proximity to Timna, it appears that the oasis formed the main source of water and wood supply for the copper mines in Timna, where trees are scarce and water hardly available.","PeriodicalId":51934,"journal":{"name":"NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY","volume":"84 1","pages":"100 - 109"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/714075","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43553510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Spiritual Life of Teleilat Ghassul and Building 78","authors":"Ben Greet","doi":"10.1086/714073","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/714073","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the spiritual life of the community at Chalcolithic Teleilat Ghassul through a reinterpretation of the frescoes within Building 78 on Tell 3. The building itself was likely used as a “lineage house” and a center of ritual activity, which is evidenced through the frescoes (the bird fresco and spook masks), numerous cornets, and 200–300 years of phasing. This article argues, through ethnographic and ecological evidence, that the bird fresco represents a moorhen, symbolizes spiritual liminality, and is tied to cyclical symbolism through the location of Teleilat Ghassul on a major migration route. Furthermore, the spook masks can be interpreted as hedgehogs that are also tied to a cyclical symbolism through their hibernation patterns. This reinterpretation may allow us to posit the types of rituals that occurred in Building 78, for example, harvest or coming-of-age rituals.","PeriodicalId":51934,"journal":{"name":"NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY","volume":"84 1","pages":"140 - 147"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/714073","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44402733","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
L. Horwitz, Maria Eniukhina, Ron Kehati, Iris Groman-Yaroslavski, A. Maeir
{"title":"A Bone Projectile Point and Its Possibly Associated Workshop from the Iron Age IIA of Tell eṣ-Ṣafi/Gath","authors":"L. Horwitz, Maria Eniukhina, Ron Kehati, Iris Groman-Yaroslavski, A. Maeir","doi":"10.1086/714071","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/714071","url":null,"abstract":"In 2006, we published in Near Eastern Archaeology a bone tool workshop dating to the Iron IIA destruction level at Tell eṣ-Ṣafi/Gath. We managed to reconstruct the chaîne opératoire of the production of this workshop and although we did not find a finished object, we suggested that bone arrowheads were manufactured here and that they may have been produced in connection with the Aramean siege and destruction of Tell eṣ-Ṣafi/Gath in ca. 830 BCE. In the present article, we describe and discuss a bone arrowhead from the same destruction, but from Area M in the lower city of the site. We suggest that it may very well have been produced in this previously reported workshop (or in a very similar one).","PeriodicalId":51934,"journal":{"name":"NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY","volume":"84 1","pages":"120 - 129"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/714071","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48951288","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}