The deviant dead of ancient Mesopotamia
Beheaded, bound, or partially burnt – Leif Inselmann examines irregular burials from the ancient Near East.
Bronze Age Near East
The Early and Middle Bronze Age in the Central Balkans
This volume examines the later phases of the Early Bronze Age and the Middle Bronze Age in the central Balkans, offering a comprehensive review of the archaeological evidence from the region. The book is organised into five chapters: an introductory…
Love, War, and Diplomacy: The Discovery of the Amarna Letters and the Bronze Age World They Revealed
After exploring the Bronze Age Collapse of 1177 BC in his previous two books (reviewed in AE 85 and AE 143), Eric Cline travels back some 200 years to investigate the inter-relationships between the ‘great kings’ and vassal rulers of…
Threads of Contact: Tracing the relationship between Egypt and the Southern Levant through textile tools
REVIEW BY HILARY WILSON Spinning and weaving are among the earliest ancient technologies, and implements used in textile production turn up in archaeological excavations worldwide. Introducing this volume, part of Oxbow’s ‘Ancient Textiles’ series, Chiara Spinazzi-Lucchesi emphasises the rarity of…
Between Two Rivers: ancient Mesopotamia and the birth of history
REVIEW BY TIMOTHY MATNEY The academic world inhabited by Sumerologists and Assyriologists is highly specialised and largely inaccessible for even the hardiest lovers of history. The texts themselves are fragmentary, often pieced together from disparate copies, deliberately anachronistic, and range…
Copper-smelting workshop
An Egyptian team excavating the Wadi el-Nasab site in south Sinai has discovered a copper-smelting and -casting workshop with administrative buildings at what was one of the most important ancient mining centres. Copper ingots of different sizes and shapes were…
Science Notes: Mind your own beeswax – Insights into the composition of the Nimrud writing tablets
In ‘Science Notes’, we often talk about how new technologies are revolutionising our approach to archaeology. And while this is most certainly still the case, the reliability of previous methods can sometimes be taken for granted. This month we are…
Lapis Lazuli, The Blue Road: Seeking the sources of the longest trade
Establishing the origin of the lapis lazuli used in ancient artefacts has long been beyond the reach of science. Now an innovative technique has revealed, in a non-invasive way, where the precious stone was coming from. Alessandro Lo Giudice, Alessandro Re, Laura Guidorzi, Marta Magalini, Norman Hammond, Randall Law, Guy Clutterbuck, and Georgina Herrmann guide us from a laboratory in Italy to a remote mine.
World news
Earliest archaeological evidence of silk in China Mineralised fabric remnants found in pits at a Bronze Age burial site in the Sichuan Basin, south-western China, have undergone specialist analysis which has identified them as silk. The Sanxingdui settlement is believed…
Bronze Age – Fires of change
A major exhibition at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden explores a period of massive transformation in the Netherlands and beyond. Amy Brunskill spoke to curator Luc Amkreutz to find out more.
Worlds beneath the waves: Seeking the submerged story of Liman Tepe
A chance discovery at Liman Tepe prompted a pioneering archaeological project that is setting the submerged portions of this ancient city alongside its remains on dry land. Evidence won from the sea is revealing new stories about how a major emporium evolved over the millennia, as Vasıf Sahoglu explained to Matthew Symonds.
Silk at Sanxingdui
A specialised analytical approach has identified the first archaeological evidence for silk at the Bronze Age site of Sanxingdui. The settlement, which lies in the Sichuan Basin in south-western China, is believed to have been the capital of the ancient…
Qarn al-Harf: Exploring a Bronze Age refuge
Around 2000 BC, a successful and prosperous Bronze Age culture in Southeast Arabia suddenly collapsed. Traditions and settlements that had developed over centuries disappeared, apart from in one small enclave towards the north of their former territory. Derek Kennet told Matthew Symonds how attempts to hold on to the past ushered in a new era.
Life and death at the ‘German Stonehenge’
Archaeological work around the ring sanctuary of Pömmelte in Saxony-Anhalt has uncovered a landscape rich in ancient monuments and settlements. Franziska Knoll tells us more about the discoveries.
Building a Bronze Age boat
A reproduction of a type of Bronze Age vessel known as a ‘Magan Boat’ has just completed its maiden voyage off the coast of Abu Dhabi. The ‘Magan Boat’ is named after an ancient region in present-day Oman and the…
Byblos: A Legacy Unearthed
REVIEW BY PAUL NEWSON This lavishly produced A4 book is one outcome of a recent major exhibition jointly organised by the Netherlands and Lebanese antiquities services, and held in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden during the winter of 2022…
New origin for an ancient game
The game of 58 Holes – also known as ‘Hounds and Jackals’ – is one of the oldest games in the world. It was long thought to have originated in Egypt, with the oldest example dating to the Eleventh Dynasty…
Assyria: The rise and fall of the world’s first empire
REVIEW BY JONATHAN VALK Assyria stands out in history as the fountainhead of empire. It was perhaps the first state to subdue the bulk of its world, extending in every direction until its frontiers consisted almost entirely of sand, sea,…
After 1177 BC: The Survival of Civilizations
REVIEW BY SARAH GRIFFITHS In his 2014 book 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed (reviewed in AE 85) Eric Cline charted the ‘perfect storm of calamities’ that led to the sudden collapse of the thriving interconnected Bronze Age civilisations. In…
Bronze Age lipstick
What is it? This small, intricately decorated cylindrical vial, measuring 6.7cm long and 1.9cm in diameter, is made of a greenish chlorite-schist and contains a deep red cosmetic mixture believed to be lip paint. The container, which comes from Iran,…
Mapping histories: Recent fieldwork at Jebel Hafeet
An international team of archaeologists specialising in early prehistory has undertaken pioneering survey work in and around one of the tallest mountains in the United Arab Emirates. George Nash, Genevieve von Petzinger, Aitor Ruiz, Juan F Ruiz López, and Yamandu Hilbert explain how their work unfolded and what they discovered.
The power of mud bricks
Ancient bricks inscribed with the names of Mesopotamian kings are offering an important opportunity to identify variations in the Earth’s magnetic field thousands of years ago.
Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A new history of the Ancient Near East
REVIEW BY ECKART FRAHM Mesopotamian history, Amanda Podany argues in the introduction to her new book, ‘is more of a weathered mosaic than a grand narrative’. What she provides in her long but never boring account, which covers events and…
Science Notes: Plant DNA successfully extracted from 2,900-year-old brick
It seems that every few months ‘Science Notes’ is covering another breaking story on advances in a DNA research, a testament to how quickly the field is evolving. After our reporting of the successful, non-invasive extraction of human DNA from…
Liman Tepe: A bridge between worlds
For over 30 years a pioneering project has investigated the prehistory of the Izmir region of Turkey. What has it discovered? Vasıf Şahoğlu told Matthew Symonds an epic tale of rise and fall, connectivity and technology, and the long shadows cast by devastating natural disasters.
Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions: Volume 3.3
Review by Andrew Robinson The Indus civilisation – which flourished c.2500-1900 BC – was about twice the size of its equivalent in Egypt or neighbouring Mesopotamia. In its own way, it was as extraordinary as those civilisations, with its technically…
Gold and amber jewels revealed in Bronze Age tomb in Armenia
Inside the cist tomb were the remains of a man and a woman, thought to have died in their 30s
Lost Sumerian palace uncovered in Iraq
Known today as Tello, Girsu is one of the oldest cities in the world.
Study reveals more details about the Bronze Age city of Hala Sultan Tekke
The site of Hala Sultan Tekke, named after a nearby mosque, flourished for around 500 years as a lively trading hub.
Ancient mesopotamian tavern uncovered
The recently discovered tavern, dating to c.2,700 BC, consisted of an open-air public eating area and a kitchen
Mountain rock art at Saimaluu Tash: battle chariots and ploughing scenes at an altitude of 3,000m
The remote, mountainous location of Saimaluu Tash has ensured that its ancient rock art remains remarkably well preserved. Some of the images, though, feature subjects such as ploughing and chariots. The presence of activities best suited to much lower altitudes raises questions about who was creating this rock art and why. Christoph Baumer is our guide to an extraordinary concentration of ancient artistry.
Early example of cranial surgery identified in late Bronze Age tomb
This discovery represents the earliest example of its kind found in the ancient Near East.
Assyrian palace excavated in the ancient city of Nimrud
Finds from the palace include a large stone vase and inscribed fragments of ivory and of ostrich eggshell.
Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East
Review by Diana Bentley The ancient Near East has not always attracted the popular attention it deserves, especially in comparison with other cultures of the surrounding area, like Greece, Rome, and Egypt. This latest work by Amanda H Podany, Professor…
Minerva Magazine 199
• Painting Pompeii: how Roman houses were decorated
• Silk Road oases: exploring ancient Uzbekistan
• Chariot kings: the evolving image of the pharaoh
• Shock and awe: the imaginative work of Henry Fuseli
• Persia and beyond: the mythical legend of Alexander the Great in the East
Van Archeology and Ethnography Museum
A new museum in Van, Turkey, explores the rich history of the area. Nick Kropacek visited to find out more.