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The rapid development of cities across Upper Mesopotamia in the third millennium B.C.E. transformed the landscape. Newly formed, densely populated cities concentrated population and resources, and a multitiered settlement system emerged to maximize agricultural production. The cities of Kazane and Harran shared the Harran Plain of southeastern Turkey, a large inland area with optimal dry-farming conditions. I argue that these cities arose as peer polities that shared the resources of the plain even as they likely competed for political and economic influence. I show this process through analysis of settlement patterns in the Harran Plain from the Neolithic to the Islamic period. Calculation of the agricultural sustaining needs of these cities reveals a multitiered supply structure indicative of agricultural intensification. This work is significant because it evaluates the quality of Harran Plain survey data, and it expands and situates these data in the context of Upper Mesopotamian urban settlement systems. For the Early Bronze Age, the results are consistent with models of urban-center food supply in dry-farming environments, but they raise the question of how as-yet undocumented irrigation or herding may have altered the size of sustaining areas.

A 2016 study season and 2017 excavation season at the 95-hectare walled site of Kurd Qaburstan on the Erbil plain have generated a variety of new results. Geophysical survey on the lower town revealed details of the Middle Bronze occupation in the southeast part of the site, including the city wall, a large open area, streets, houses, and a monumental temple comparable to examples from Tell al Rimah, Aššur, and Larsa. Excavations confirmed the Middle Bronze date of the temple and explored further Middle Bronze contexts elsewhere on the lower town. On the High Mound North Slope, Middle Bronze occupation included a fortification wall and large-scale architecture inside it. On the High Mound East, Late Bronze architecture of apparent elite character was documented. Archaeobotanical analyses complementing the excavations reveal the existence of naan-style bread in both Middle and Late Bronze contexts. Given radiocarbon and ceramic results, the Middle Bronze occupation at Kurd Qaburstan is datable to c. 1800 B.C., while the Late Bronze phases on the High Mound East belong to an early LB horizon in the 16–15th centuries B.C., perhaps predating the imposition of Mittani political authority in the region.

Excavations at the 109 hectare site of Kurd Qaburstan on the Erbil plain in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq were conducted by the Johns Hopkins University in 2013 and 2014. The Middle Bronze Age (Old Babylonian period) is the main period of occupation evident on the site, and the project therefore aims to study the character of a north Mesopotamian urban centre of the early second millennium b.c . On the high mound, excavations revealed three phases of Mittani (Late Bronze) period occupation, including evidence of elite residential architecture. On the low mound and the south slope of the high mound, Middle Bronze evidence included domestic remains with numerous ceramic vessels left in situ. Also dating to the Middle Bronze period is evidence of a city wall on the site edges. Later occupations include a cemetery, perhaps of Achaemenid date, on the south slope of the high mound and a Middle Islamic settlement on the southern lower town. Faunal and archaeobotanical analysis provide information on the plant and animal economy of the second millennium b.c . occupations, and geophysical results have documented a thirty-one hectare expanse of dense Middle Bronze Age architecture in the northern lower town.

Excavations at the 109 hectare site of Kurd Qaburstan on the Erbil plain in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq were conducted by the Johns Hopkins University in 2013 and 2014. The Middle Bronze Age (Old Babylonian period) is the main period of occupation evident on the site, and the project therefore aims to study the character of a north Mesopotamian urban centre of the early second millennium b.c. On the high mound, excavations revealed three phases of Mittani (Late Bronze) period occupation, including evidence of elite residential architecture. On the low mound and the south slope of the high mound, Middle Bronze evidence included domestic remains with numerous ceramic vessels left in situ. Also dating to the Middle Bronze period is evidence of a city wall on the site edges. Later occupations include a cemetery, perhaps of Achaemenid date, on the south slope of the high mound and a Middle Islamic settlement on the southern lower town. Faunal and archaeobotanical analysis provide information on the plant and animal economy of the second millennium b.c. occupations, and geophysical results have documented a thirty-one hectare expanse of dense Middle Bronze Age architecture in the northern lower town.

Excavations at the 109 hectare site of Kurd Qaburstan on the Erbil plain in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq were conducted by the Johns Hopkins University in 2013 and 2014. The Middle Bronze Age (Old Babylonian period) is the main period of occupation evident on the site, and the project therefore aims to study the character of a north Mesopotamian urban centre of the early second millennium B.C. On the high mound, excavations revealed three phases of Mittani (Late Bronze) period occupation, including evidence of elite residential architecture. On the low mound and the south slope of the high mound, Middle Bronze evidence included domestic remains with numerous ceramic vessels left in situ. Also dating to the Middle Bronze period is evidence of a city wall on the site edges. Later occupations include a cemetery, perhaps of Achaemenid date, on the south slope of the high mound and a Middle Islamic settlement on the southern lower town. Faunal and archaeobotanical analysis provide information on the plant and animal economy of the second millennium B.C. occupations, and geophysical results have documented a thirty-one hectare expanse of dense Middle Bronze Age architecture in the northern lower town. جرت تنقيبات في موقع كورد قبرستان الذي تبلغ مساحته 109 هيكتار وواقع في سهل أربيل من كردستان العراق من قبل جامعة جون هوبسن في عامي 2013 و 2014 . العصر البرونزي المتوسط (فترة بابلية قديمة) هو فترة الاستيطان الرئيسية في الموقع، ولهذا يهدف المشروع الى دراسة طبيعة هذا المركز الحضري الواقع في شمال بلاد ما بين النهرين والذي يعود تاريخه الى فترة مبكرة من الألف الثاني قبل الميلاد. كشفت الحفريات التي تمت على تل عال عن ثلاث مراحل من استيطان (مملكة) ميتاني (العصر البرونزي المتأخر) وتتضمن أدلة على تواجد هندسة معمارية سكنية ذات مستوىً عال. تضمنت الأدلة التي عثر عليها على التل الصغير وعلى المنحدر الجنوبي من التل الكبير على آثار منزلية وعدد كبير من الأواني الخزفية لم تزل في مواقعها الأصلية. كما عثر من العصر البرونزي المتوسط على أدلة عن جدار لمدينة يقع على حدود الموقع. شمل الاستيطان اللاحق مقبرة لعلها من العصر الأخميني، وذلك على المنحدر الجنوبي من التل العالي وكذلك مستوطنة من العصر الإسلامي المتوسط في المدينة الجنوبية السفلى. قدمت تحليلات علم الحيوان والنباتات الأثرية معلومات عن الاقتصاد الحيواني والنباتي لمستوطنات الألف الثاني قبل الميلاد، كما وثّقت التحاليل الجيوفيزيائية عمارة كثيفة من العصر البرونزي المتوسط في مساحة من الأرض تبلغ واحد وثلاثين هيكتار في المدينة الشمالية السفلى.

Khirbet al-Mafjar is an Islamic monument near Jericho, famous for its mosaics, statues and stuccos of the Umayyad period. The site was excavated in the 1930s and 1940s. New excavations called the Jericho Mafjar Project are a joint venture by the Palestinian department and the University of Chicago. The present article demonstrates the process of hypothesis and excavations employed in the course of this research. The most recent season in 2015 found a new data set using remote sensing techniques. This new information has produced a new hypothesis on a Roman occupation, presented from different perspectives.

Immunotoxins are rationally designed cancer targeting and killing agents. Disulfide stabilized antibody Fv portion—toxin conjugates (dsFv-toxin) are third generation immunotoxins containing only the antibody fragment variable portions and a toxin fused to the V H or V L . Pseudomonas exotoxin fragment (PE-38) is a commonly used toxin in immunotoxin clinical trials. dsFv-toxin purification was previously published, but the recovery was not satisfactory. This report describes the development of a cGMP production process of the dsFv-toxin that incorporated a novel purification method. The method has been successfully applied to the clinical manufacturing of two dsFv-PE38 immunotoxins, MR1-1 targeting EGFRvIII and HA22 targeting CD22. The two subunits, V L and V H PE-38 were expressed separately in Escherichia coli using recombinant technology. Following cell lysis, inclusion bodies were isolated from the biomass harvested from fermentation in animal source component-free media. The dsFv-toxin was formed after denaturation and refolding, and subsequently purified to homogeneity through ammonium sulfate precipitation, hydrophobic interaction and ion-exchange chromatography steps. It was shown, in a direct comparison experiment using MR1-1 as model protein, that the recovery from the new purification method was improved three times over that from previously published method. The improved recovery was also demonstrated during the clinical production of two dsFv-PE38 immunotoxins—MR1-1 and HA22.

This dissertation addresses the problem of the development of cities in Upper Mesopotamia in the third millennium B.C.E. I investigate these cities through their settlement patterns and urban plans. I argue that these cities were not planned or organic, but exhibited degrees of planning. I treat my reconstruction of the developmental pathways of these cities as urban life histories. This approach examines how socio-political and economic processes are expressed in the social production and construction of urban space. At the core of this dissertation is a case study of the 100 hectare city of Kazane Höyük, located in southeastern Turkey, which was the capital of a regional polity. My study of regional settlement patterns identifies the shape of Kazane's polity, its growth and decline, and its relation to other nearby polities. I study the organization of space within Kazane through magnetometry analysis of several large areas. I study the use of space through excavations and analysis of artifacts and ecofacts. The results reveal a roughly 2 hectare area in the outer city that is characterized by elite and institutional architecture, including houses, storage facilities, and temple-related contexts, adjacent to a main street. My analysis of storage capacity indicates that this part of the city engaged in specialized administration and distribution of cereals and other products. Faunal remains show that this area also participated in a highly specialized system of animal management. Finally, I compare Kazane's urban plan and life history with that of several other third millennium cities in Upper Mesopotamia. I find that their plans are most in keeping with the theoretical perspective that these polities were heterogeneous societies in which even the most powerful ruling families were rarely able to control all socio-political or economic aspects of the polity. Instead, different factions in society concentrated on the specific socio-economic goals that best suited their needs. These strategies, and the tension between them, are expressed in the urban plan and the life history of the city.

During the summer of 1999 members of the Upper Tigris Archaeological Research Project (UTARP) conducted archaeological excavations and surveys at two sites in the upper Tigris river region of southeastern Turkey. This article presents the results of that research. At the site of Boztepe excavations yielded four Halaf period burials, all of which contained grave goods, and an Iron Age house dated by C14 to the Assyrian Imperial period. Intensive surveys at Talavaş Tepe and Boztepe have refined the chronology and size of both sites. Although the exposures of the Halaf period are very small, these data add important insights into Halaf mortuary practices, while evidence from both Boztepe and Talavaş Tepe supplements our understanding of the upper Tigris river region during the Iron Age. 1999 yılı yaz aylarında Yukarı Dicle Arkeolojik Araştırma Projesi (UTARP) üyeleri Türkiye'nin güneydoǧu Anadolu bölgesinde yer alan yukarı Dicle bölgesindeki iki yerleşimde arkeolojik kazı ve yüzey araştırması yapmıştır. Bu makale bu araştırmanın sonuçlarını içermektedir. Boztepe yerleşiminde yapılan kazılar, hepsinde mezar buluntuları olan dört tane Halaf dönemi mezarını ortaya çıkarmıştır. Ayrıca C14 yöntemi ile Asur Krallık dönemine tarihlenen bir Demir Çaǧ evi de bulunmuştur. Talavaş Tepe ve Boztepe'de yapılan yoǧun araştırmalar ise, her iki yerleşimin de kronolojisini ve büyüklüklerini ortaya koymuştur. Her ne kadar, Halaf dönemine ait ortaya çıkan buluntular çok azsa da, bu bulgular Halaf ölü gömme uygulamalariyla ilgili bilgilerimizin önemli derecede artmasina neden olmuştur. Boztepe ve Talavaş Tepe bulgulan ise, Demir Çaǧda yukarı Dicle bölgesini daha iyi anlamamızı saǧlamıştır.