Publications by Year: 2022

Located 50 km to the north of Latakia, the coastal site of Bassit was initially studied under the direction of Paul Courbin. Following on from excavations of the Hellenistic and Roman acropolis (1971–1972) and the Iron Age Necropolis (1973–1974), the ‘tell’ was excavated from 1972 to 1984. This volume presents a detailed description of the stratigraphy and architecture of the ‘tell’, together with the associated ceramic assemblages, and the mobile finds dating from the Late Bronze I and II periods. Bassit was established on the northern margins of the Kingdom of Ugarit in the mid-sixteenth-century BC. Excavations revealed that Cypriot imports were numerous throughout the Late Bronze Age, while Aegean pottery appears to have been very rare. The site was destroyed well before the passage of the so-called ‘Sea Peoples’, c. 1200 BC. During the Iron Age, Bassit played an ongoing role in controlling maritime access from Cyprus and coastal shipping. The trade in Cypriot pottery clearly dominates the levels Iron I and II (Aegean and Etruscan, respectively), as well as Iron III (Attic). During the Hellenistic period, the production of amphorae and coins at Bassit confirms the site’s association with Poseidon. Finds from the Roman levels are marked by an amphorae production.

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The volume is authored by Frank Braemer and Pascal Darcque, from a grant awarded to Dr. Jacques Perreault.

UC Berkeley excavations uncovered a district of large dwellings and wide streets near the Maški Gate (MG22), providing a stratigraphic history of Late Assyrian ceramics at the centre of the empire through to the 7th century BC. Pottery from the University of California, Berkeley Excavations in the Area of the Maški Gate (MG22), Nineveh, 1989-1990 presents the pottery from the UC Berkeley excavations in 1989 and 1990. Nineveh is one of the longest occupied cities in the world, with a record of habitation extending back to at least the middle of the 7th millennium BC, continuing in an almost uninterrupted sequence through today. It was one of the major urban centres in which the fundamental features of modern civilization first emerged. Its political and religious significance – particularly during its apogee as the capital of the Assyrian Empire in the late 8th and 7th centuries BC – secured its status as a legendary metropolis in history and literature. In 1987, the University of California at Berkeley initiated a program of archaeological investigations at Nineveh. The expedition aimed to elucidate the character and layout of the city’s urban neighbourhoods; an aspect of Assyrian urbanism that had received little close attention in prior excavations. Near the Maški Gate (MG22), the UC Berkeley team uncovered a district of large dwellings and wide streets. Multiple layers of occupation and rebuilding suggest the area was occupied during the period when the city was handsomely embellished and enlarged by the Assyrian monarch, king Sennacherib (705/704-681 BC). The work in MG22 provides a stratigraphic history of Late Assyrian ceramics at the centre of the empire through at least the 7th century BC.

The publication project was directed by Dr. Eleanor Wilkinson.
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With contributions by Susanne Berndt, Ahmet Çinici, Yilmaz Selim Erdal, Evangelis Piskin, Noël Siver, and Francoise Summers and Turkish summary by Güzin Eren
 

The city on the Kerkenes Dağ in the high plateau of central Turkey was a new Iron Age capital, very probably Pteria. Founded in the later seventh century BC, the city was put to the torch in the mid-sixth century and then abandoned. Excavations at what we have identified as the Palatial Complex were conducted between 1999 and 2005. The stone glacis supporting the Fortified Structure at the eastern end of the complex was revealed in its entirety while the greater portion of the Monumental Entrance was uncovered. Portions of buildings within the complex were also excavated, notably one-half of the heavily burned Ashlar Building, one corner of the Audience Hall, and parts of other structures. This volume documents as fully as possible the results of those excavations with the exception of sculpture, some bearing Paleo-Phrygian inscription, already published (OIP 135). The location of the complex, its development from foundation to destruction, and its architecture are discussed and illustrated. Within the Monumental Entrance were extraordinary, unexpected, semi-iconic stone idols, and other embellishments that include stone blocks with bolsters, bases for large freestanding wooden columns, and stone plinths. Extensive use was made of iron in combination with timber-framed facades and large double-leafed doors. Objects of gold, silver, copper alloys, and iron attest to former splendor. Organization of the volume is roughly chronological, beginning with the Fortified Structure, and concluding with the Monumental Entrance. Presentation of material culture is organized with an emphasis on context. Specialist chapters report on alphabetic and nonalphabetic graffiti and masons' marks, animal bones among which was found the jawbone of a dolphin, and a Byzantine-period burial. This volume provides further dramatic and surprising new evidence for the power, wealth, and sophistication of an eastward expansion of Phrygian culture exemplified by architecture, cultic imagery, Paleo-Phrygian inscriptions and graffiti, pottery, and artifacts. The brief existence of this extraordinary city, hardly more than one hundred years, together with the excellent stratigraphic context provided by the destruction level, offer an unparalleled window onto the first half of the sixth century BC on the Anatolian Plateau.

The publication project was directed by Dr. Geoffrey Summers.
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The sanctuary located on the hill of Bitalemi, in Gela, is among the best-known sites of Demetriac worship in Greek Sicily, also thanks to an accurate identification of the goddess worshipped here (Demetra Thesmophoros), as mentioned in some graffiti; the value and the peculiarity of the findings, only published in a preliminary way, contributed to the fame of the sacred area.

The volume presents the long-awaited systematic publication of the excavations conducted by Piero Orlandini in the campaigns of 1963, 1964 and 1967. The study of the structures and the materials just concerns the first phase of attendance of the sanctuary (the so-called stratum 5), which began in the second half of the 7th century BC and was sealed by a casting of clay around 550 BC. The volume focuses on the site’s historical-religious aspect in the light of the exceptional circumstances in which the votive offerings were found: almost all of them were primary deposits, protected by a layer of sand which allowed them to be preserved in good conditions.

The finds are therefore concisely presented, including almost 3000 deposits found in situ and the fragmentary objects, which are catalogued in a separate list. The catalogue is followed by a rapid class-by-class commentary, which provides a useful framework of the ritual objects brought to light; these mostly consist in imported or locally made pottery, but metallic objects, terracotta figurines and loom weights are also presented. After suggesting some hypothesis on the sanctuary’s activity in this first attendance period and on the number of offerings, an extensive discussion on the ritual practice is proposed, relying on the archaeological data and the worship practice. Some interesting information on the reconstruction of Thesmophoric feasts can be gained from the comparison of the findings and their deposition with the epigraphic evidence.

The complete publication of the excavation journal from the 1960s can be found in the appendix, according to the excavator’s indications.

The volume is authored by Marina Albertocchi, with the collaboration of Maddalena Pizzo.

This volume reports the findings of a legacy archaeology project, the largest ever undertaken in southwest Afghanistan. For the decade of the 1970s, the joint US-Afghan Helmand Sistan Project conducted extensive survey and excavation in the lower Helmand Valley and adjacent areas, documenting 200 archaeological sites in the region from the Bronze Age to the present. Four decades of warfare since that time have made further work in this region almost impossible.  The Helmand River valley was one of the main routes between Mesopotamia, Iran, India, and Central Asia. Mythical and historical figures from Alexander of Macedon to Zoroaster and from Rustam to Tamerlane passed through and left their marks.

This book provides the first archaeology-based cultural history of the region, fleshing out and often challenging what we know from historical documents.  Among key findings of the project were the tracing of extensive canal systems through the desert, the discovery of a previously unknown early Iron Age occupation and of the westernmost Buddhist shrine from the early expansion of the religion, and archaeological evidence of the otherwise unstudied local Islamic dynasty, the Saffarids, who controlled much of the Middle East and Central Asia from Sistan in 9^th and 10^th centuries CE.   While Volume 1 provides a description of each site studies, a second volume in development addresses the environmental and geological context, reports on the material culture finds including inscriptions, coins, and ceramics, and summarizes the importance of these finds for the study of the Afghan past.

The volume is authored by William B. Trousdale and Mitchell Allen.
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The project is located online at http://www.sistanarchaeology.org

Tell Afis is located at the southern edge of the Jazr plain in the Idlib region of northern Syria. The site, measuring 570m x 500m, consists of a very large lower city with an acropolis on its northern edge. After initial excavation in the 1970s, fieldwork resumed in 1986 under a mission jointly directed by Stefania Mazzoni and Serena Maria Cecchini.

This volume concerns the excavation of area N, the eastern part of the acropolis. The first chapter describes these field investigations from 2001 until 2007. A detailed analysis of the occupation of the area during the Bronze Age follows. The Middle Bronze Age fortifications are discussed (Chapter II - phase XIf-a), followed by the Middle Bronze to Late Bronze Age transition (Chapter III - phase X) and Late Bronze Age occupation, including various architectural phases dating mainly to Late Bronze II (Chapter IV- phase IX-VIIb), the transition between Late Bronze and Iron Age I (Chapter IV - phase VIIa). Chapter V is entirely dedicated to the occupation sequence of the Iron Age I period of which six major phases with related sub-phases were identified (phases VI-I). Chapter VI compares the ceramic sequences between areas N and E, located in the western part of the acropolis. The final chapter (Chapter VII) places the excavation results in a historical context and re-analyses site B, located in the northern sector of the lower city. The volume concludes with an appendix giving a detailed analysis of the faunal remains of Area N by Barbara Wilkens, in addition to an itemized abstract in Arabic.

Each chapter includes an examination of the stratigraphic and architectural data, and the objects found in each context. This is followed by a detailed section examining the pottery from each phase. Extensive illustrations (comprising phased plans, sections, photographs and ceramic tables, accompanied by additional tables and graphs) supplement the text.

The author is Angelo di Michele.

For purchasing and further information, please contact the publisher:
https://www.lelettere.it/libro/9788893663014

From 1984 to 1999, the French archaeological mission of Kition, under the supervision of M. Yon, conducted extensive excavations to the north of the Bamboula sanctuary. These excavations revealed the remains of shipsheds of the Classical period, among the best preserved in the Mediterranean, which opened to the north on a closed harbour basin. This book offers a detailed and cross-cutting study of this outstanding discovery: the building is contextualized in its paleo-environment (both at the local and regional levels), the chronology of its different phases is established, its architecture is carefully described and restored for the missing parts (superstructure). Finally, we assess the importance of this military harbour for the history of Kition, Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean, at the time of the Classical kingdom (4th century BC) and at the beginning of the Hellenistic period. The volume is completed by a study of the ceramics from the Roman period discovered in the filling of the basin.

The archives of the excavation are available on the open access web-portal chypre.mom.fr.

The full volume is available with open access through OpenEditions Books.

The publication project funded by the White Levy Program was directed by Prof. Jean-Christophe Sourisseau.

With contributions by Vittoria Cardini and Raffaella Pappalardo

This is the final report on the excavations of the lower town at Tilmen Höyük, a capital city of the Middle Bronze Age located at the fringes of the North Syrian Plains (Gaziantep province, South-Eastern Turkey). The publication covers the results of the excavations undertaken between 2003 and 2008 by the joint Turco-Italian team directed by N. Marchetti, and includes a detailed analysis of topography, stratigraphy, architecture, ceramics and finds.
The site of Tilmen Höyük lies in the Islahiye valley, which connects the lower Orontes valley to the central Taurus southern piedmont. The region belongs to the Inner Syria cultural contexts, and held a highly strategic significance, over the course of time, for the connections between Upper Mesopotamian and Levantine lowlands on the one hand the Anatolian highlands on the other. Settled since the LC period, the city attained its major flourishing during MBA 2, when it is probably to be identified with ancient Zalbar/Zalwar. Key evidence suggest that the site hosted a Babylonian trading station, which was part of a network parallel to that of Assur running from the Middle Euphrates to Cilicia. With its massively enclosed lower town and fortified acropolis, the ‘Cyclopean’ basalt blocks architecture, Tilmen Höyük is one of the most monumental cities of the area in this period.

This first volume in the series is authored by Dr. Valentina Orsi.

Visit the publisher's website to download and for other information: https://www.orientlab.net/pubs/