Kultepe at the Crossroads Between Disciplines


Book Description

This fifth volume of a collection devoted to the interdisciplinary meetings held one every two years at Kültepe, ancient Kaneš, brings together eighteen contributions dedicated to the archaeology and history of this Central Anatolian site and its surroundings. Each chapter within the volume presents the results of current research into Kültepe, thus continuing the holistic approach first demonstrated in earlier volumes of the Kültepe International Meetings sub-series of revitalizing one of the most important cultural centres of early Anatolia and of emphasising its importance as a pilot site for interdisciplinary studies. Drawing on Kültepe's unique textual and archaeological data, the studies gathered here are organized into four key thematic sections devoted respectively to politics, law and religion; women, family and correspondence; human and animal skeletons; and to the most recent archaeological excavations in Kültepe covering a period from the Chalcolithic to Hellenistic times




Cultural Exchange and Current Research in Kultepe and Its Surroundings


Book Description

This fourth volume in a collection based on the biennial interdisciplinary meetings held in Kultepe, ancient Kane, draws together sixteen contributions that explore the archaeology and history of this site, with the ongoing aim of taking a holistic approach to revitalizing this important early Anatolian cultural centre. The papers gathered here present both current research and recent important results derived from research in Kultepe and its wider surroundings through four key thematic strands: cultural exchanges between this site and its environs; material culture; sealings, writings, and history; comparisons with other sites across Central Anatolia. Through this approach, this volume is able to explore not only the historical importance of Kultepe, but also to highlight the settlement's future importance as a pilot site for interdisciplinary studies, thanks to its unique textual and archaeological data.




Movement, Resources, Interaction


Book Description

This second volume in a series of publications of the Ku'ltepe International Meetings collects sixteen papers on the Anatolian and Syrian Bronze Age read at the Second Ku'ltepe International Meeting in July of 2015. It anchors the site in the dimensions of time and space by bringing together specialists to present studies on the effects of commercial and cultural interaction in a broad chronological and geographical perspective. Focus is on the period 2500-1600 BCE when Central Anatolia was divided into dozens of densely populated microstates, each centred on an individual urban and palatial institution, but connected through a shared linguistic, material and religious horizon. Tying together this competitive system of peer polities was also a complex network of commercial exchange operated by local and foreign merchants working in and beyond the region. The site of Ku'ltepe provides the best documentation for this international network through a unique convergence of textual, physical and scientific data. This allows volume authors to extrapolate beyond the confines of the site itself to explore some of the foundational technological, commercial, cultural and biological connections that spanned the Eurasian landmass in the Bronze Age under the headings 'Movement, Resources, Interaction'.




Ancient Kanesh


Book Description

The ancient Anatolian city of Kanesh (present-day Kültepe, Turkey) was a continuously inhabited site from the early Bronze Age through Roman times. The city flourished c.2000–1750 BCE as an Old Assyrian trade outpost and the earliest attested commercial society in world history. More than 23,000 elaborate clay tablets from private merchant houses provide a detailed description of a system of long-distance trade that reached from central Asia to the Black Sea region and the Aegean. The texts record common activities such as trade between Kanesh and the city state of Assur, and between Assyrian merchants and local people. The tablets tell us about the economy as well as the culture, language, religion, and private lives of individuals we can identify by name, occupation, and sometimes even personality. This book presents an in-depth account of this vibrant Bronze Age Anatolian society, revealing the daily lives of its inhabitants.




Over the Mountains and Far Away: Studies in Near Eastern history and archaeology presented to Mirjo Salvini on the occasion of his 80th birthday


Book Description

This volume is a tribute to the career of Professor Mirjo Salvini on the occasion his 80th birthday, composed of 62 papers written by his colleagues and students. The majority of contributions deal with research in the fields of Urartian and Hittite Studies, the topics that attracted Prof. Salvini most during his long and fruitful career.




Mesopotamia


Book Description

Der erste Teil bietet eine kritische Gesamtschau unseres Wissens und zugleich eine EinfÃ"hrung in das Studium der altassyrischen Epoche (die ersten beiden Jahrhunderte des 2. Jahrtausends), wie wir sie durch Entdeckungen in Assur und die Keilschriftarchive der altassyrischen Händler kennen, die in der Handelskolonie (genannt karum) in der Unterstadt des alten Kanesh (moderne KÃ"ltepe) in Zentralanatolien lebten. Die ersten Kapitel bestimmen, was "altassyrisch" ist und analysieren die Chronologie und die verfÃ"gbaren archäologischen und schriftlichen Quellen. Darauf folgt eine kritische Darstellung der Veröffentlichungen zu den altassyrischen Quellen. Nach einem Abriss der Altassyrischen Geschichte folgt ein Ãberblick zur "anatolischen Situation", der die Städte, lokale Herrscher und die rund vierzig altassyrischen Handelsniederlassungen in Nordmesopotamien und Anatolien behandelt. Ein eigenes Kapitel ist den wichtigen altassyrischen Handelsverträgen gewidmet. Der zweite Teil fasst die jÃ"ngsten Erkenntnisse zur Geschichte Nordsyriens zeitgleich mit der späten Phase des altassyrischen Handels zusammen. Der ausfÃ"hrlichen Untersuchung der Quellen ist ein Appendix der wichtigsten Texte beigefÃ"gt. Das Buch ist durch umfassende Indices erschlossen und enthält eine ausfÃ"hrliche Bibliographie.




Overturning Certainties in Near Eastern Archaeology


Book Description

This volume, Overturning Certainties in Near Eastern Archaeology, is a festschrift dedicated to Professor K. Aslıhan Yener in honor of over four decades of exemplary research, teaching, fieldwork, and publication. The thirty-five chapters presented by her colleagues includes a broad, interdisciplinary range of studies in archaeology, archaeometry, art history, and epigraphy of the Ancient Near East, especially reflecting Prof Yener’s interests in metallurgy, small finds, trade, Anatolia, and the site of Tell Atchana/Alalakh. "The richness of this volume inevitably emerges from those contributions on exchange and technology using philology and/or archaeology." - David A. Warburton, Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations, Northeast Normal University, in: Bibliotheca Orientalis 76,1-2 (2019)




Egypt and the Ancient Near East


Book Description

From Neo-Assyrian winged lions of the 9th century BC to the stunning silver head of a 4th-century AD Sasanian king, this beautifully photographed book from the Metropolitan Museum of Art explores the art of Egypt and the Near East through close examinations of 118 outstanding pieces, illustrated with large color plates. -- Provided by publisher.







The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant


Book Description

This Handbook aims to serve as a research guide to the archaeology of the Levant, an area situated at the crossroads of the ancient world that linked the eastern Mediterranean, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. The Levant as used here is a historical geographical term referring to a large area which today comprises the modern states of Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, western Syria, and Cyprus, as well as the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the Sinai Peninsula. Unique in its treatment of the entire region, it offers a comprehensive overview and analysis of the current state of the archaeology of the Levant within its larger cultural, historical, and socio-economic contexts. The Handbook also attempts to bridge the modern scholarly and political divide between archaeologists working in this highly contested region. Written by leading international scholars in the field, it focuses chronologically on the Neolithic through Persian periods - a time span during which the Levant was often in close contact with the imperial powers of Egypt, Anatolia, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia. This volume will serve as an invaluable reference work for those interested in a contextualised archaeological account of this region, beginning with the 'agricultural revolution' until the conquest of Alexander the Great that marked the end of the Persian period.