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Claudius Rich's work and his collection of objects, a collection that ended up in the British Museum, came to play a major role for the pioneers who initiated Assyria's archaeological exploration. Jules Mohl managed to persuade the authorities to create the position of a French consul in Mosul, and a young man called Paul Émile Botta was appointed in 1841. Part of his task was to start excavations at Nineveh, in particular on the huge mound known as Kuyunjik, and Mohl had secured funds specifically for this purpose. Austen Henry Layard first turned his attention to Kuyunjik, where, having better luck than Botta, he had made some significant discoveries during his earlier expedition; most importantly, he had found there a vast palace built by Sennacherib around 700 BCE. One of Layard's most important achievements at Kuyunjik was the discovery of a large room filled with mostly fragmentary clay tablets covered with cuneiform writing.

Armed conflicts frequently result in the damage or destruction of archaeological heritage. The occupation by ISIS of parts of Iraq and Syria is no exception. Here, the authors present the results of work focused on Nineveh, as part of a wider research initiative to monitor damage inflicted by ISIS at archaeological sites in northern Iraq. Combining satellite imagery, low-level aerial photography and ground-based reconnaissance, the project presents a condition assessment of Nineveh, as well as a new topographic map of the city. The results demonstrate that a few high-profile acts of deliberate vandalism were accompanied by much more extensive damage caused by construction and rubbish dumping extending across substantial parts of the site.

Vivid sources for reconstructing the lives of Assyrian women In this collection Cécile Michel translates into English texts related to wives and daughters of merchants and to their activities in nineteenth-century BCE Aššur and Kaneš. Discovered in excavations of the Old Assyrian private archives at Kültepe (ancient Kaneš) in Central Anatolia, these letters sent from Aššur reflect the preeminent role of Assyrian women within the family and in the domestic economy, as well as their contribution to long-distance trade. Contracts and other legal texts excavated at Kültepe attest to Assyrian and Anatolian women as parties in marriage and divorce contracts, last wills, loans, and purchase contracts. These unique finds paint a vivid portrait of women who aspire to be socially respected and provide a rare opportunity to reconstruct their daily lives as both businesswomen and housewives. Features More than three hundred letters and documents transliterated and translated with commentary An overview of the study of women and gender in Assyriology A reconstruction of women's roles as textile producers, investors, and creditors within a long-distance commercial network Cécile Michel is Senior Researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS, France) and Professor at Hamburg University (Germany). She is a member of the international group of scholars in charge of the decipherment of the 23,000 tablets found at Kültepe (ancient Kaneš) and of the Kültepe archaeological team. She is the coeditor of and contributor to The Role of Women in Work and Society in the Ancient Near East (2016), Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD (2017), and Mathematics, Administrative and Economic Activities in Ancient Worlds (2020).

This paper discusses the discoveries of early donkey and the earliest mule remains in Central Anatolia from the site Derekutuğun. This site represents the remains of a village dating back to the Early Bronze Age and Assyrian Trade Colonies period, associated with mining. The archaeofaunal assemblage was studied by the author and his team using classical archaeozoological methods. The dental remains of the Equidae found at Derekutuğun have been re-examined and are described in this article. The dental evidence indicates that donkeys, and possibly the earliest mules ever found in Central Anatolia, were kept at this site. Although the paper is based on the archaeozoological remains, written sources from the period also support the faunal identification. Derekutuğun was a small settlement that specialized in processing copper ore, and which was an important hub for a trade network because of its extensive mining and extraction operations.

Excavations during the summer of 2017 in the earlier phases of the courtyard of the palace at Tel Kabri turned up pieces of figurines as well as horn cores within a context of Phase 4 or 5 (late 19th to early 18th centuries B.C.E.). One figurine, portraying two deities, belongs to a type of Anatolian lead figurine known from the Assyrian Colony period. Initial results from Lead Isotope Analysis (LIA) suggest that an Anatolian provenance is indeed a plausible option. This is the first find of its type to be found in the southern Levant.

On two occasions in his description of the siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE, Josephus mentions the “Camp of the Assyrians” as the area in which Titus’ quarters were located. The historian’s account suggests that the location of this site meant that it played an important role in the battles at the city walls. Scholars do not agree on where it was situated, despite the significance of this fact for accurate reconstruction of the progression of the siege of Jerusalem as well as determining the course of the so-called Third Wall. Analysis of the literary and archaeological evidence leads to the conclusion that the name “Camp of the Assyrians” refers to an area lying north-west of the present-day walls of Jerusalem, whose southern borders are demarcated by the remains of an ancient wall unearthed during archaeological excavations and identified by archaeologists as the Third Wall

Men of Bronzetakes up one of the most important and fiercely debated subjects in ancient history and classics: how did archaic Greek hoplites fight, and what role, if any, did hoplite warfare play in shaping the Greek polis? In the nineteenth century, George Grote argued that the phalanx battle formation of the hoplite farmer citizen-soldier was the driving force behind a revolution in Greek social, political, and cultural institutions. Throughout the twentieth century scholars developed and refined this grand hoplite narrative with the help of archaeology. But over the past thirty years scholars have criticized nearly every major tenet of this orthodoxy. Indeed, the revisionists have persuaded many specialists that the evidence demands a new interpretation of the hoplite narrative and a rewriting of early Greek history.Men of Bronzegathers leading scholars to advance the current debate and bring it to a broader audience of ancient historians, classicists, archaeologists, and general readers. After explaining the historical context and significance of the hoplite question, the book assesses and pushes forward the debate over the traditional hoplite narrative and demonstrates why it is at a crucial turning point. Instead of reaching a consensus, the contributors have sharpened their differences, providing new evidence, explanations, and theories about the origin, nature, strategy, and tactics of the hoplite phalanx and its effect on Greek culture and the rise of the polis. The contributors include Paul Cartledge, Lin Foxhall, John Hale, Victor Davis Hanson, Donald Kagan, Peter Krentz, Kurt Raaflaub, Adam Schwartz, Anthony Snodgrass, Hans van Wees, and Gregory Viggiano.

Reade present convergent evidence from diverse sources that support the case, in the ancient Middle East, for much lower chronologies than are usually cited for this period. From about 1450 B.C. onwards, the chronology of literate societies in the region can rely on an accumulation of interlocking king-lists and synchronisms that exclude the possibility of any very great error. For the previous thousand years or so, the evidence is defective, but Assyrian king-lists could be the solution to the problem.

This paper investigates the historicity of Hezekiah and Josiah's reforms of the bāmôt. A description of a bāmāh is derived from the biblical text. Structures matching the description are then sought in Iron Age II cities of Judah and Samaria. Cult sites matching the description are found, but these sites were not destroyed as a result of the edicts of these reforming kings. Rather, they were destroyed during the onslaughts of Pharaoh Sheshonq I and of the Assyrian kings Tiglath-pileser III, Shamaneser V, and Sennacherib. The historicity of the reforms is not supported by archaeological data. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the principle of continuity of sacred space, the Sitz im Leben of Deuteronomy 12, and the date of the Deuteronomist.

The 41 rock-cut tombs at Etenna provide a clear impression of this very early and widespread tradition for the region. They allow us to compare the Lycian, Pamphylian, Cilician and Pisidian rock-cut tomb architecture and understand connections and discontinuities between them. They also illustrate how features of such tombs are based on natural and technical factors, on local architectural traditions, or on the rock-cut architecture of neighbouring cultures. But basic similarities, such as the cutting of a tomb chamber in the rock, could occur without any influence from other cultural regions, for instance because of similar burial needs, similar natural materials or similar architectural knowledge. The influences between the rock-cut tombs of different regions and periods can be seen in the particular details, and their relation to local burial customs. Questions are asked, such as: if there were Lycian tombs in the Classical period, why were there no rock-cut tombs in Pamphylia in this period; why did the ‘dominant Lycian Classical culture’ not influence Pamphylia; and what were the tombs of the higher social classes of the societies of Classical Pamphylia? Etenna'daki 41 kaya mezarı, kendisi ve de bölge için bu erken ve de yaygın geleneǧin çok özel bir resmini çizer. Etenna kaya mezarlıǧı, kentin kaya mezar mimarlıǧını ayrıntılı olarak yansıttıǧı gibi, aynı zamanda Likya, Pamfilya, Kilikya ve Pisidya kaya mezar mimarlıǧını karşılaştırma aralarındakı ilişkileri ve baǧlantısızlıkları anlama olanaǧı saǧlar. Etenna örnekleri, bu gibi mezarlarda, hangi özelliklerin doǧal ve teknik nedenlerden ya da yerel mimarlıktan kaynaklandıǧını ve hangi özelliklerinin komşu kültürlerin kaya mimarlıǧından etkilendiǧini de göstermektedir. Kayaya oda açmak gibi basit benzerliklerin, genellikle diǧer kültürlerden etkilenmeden de ortaya çikabildiǧi, sadece benzer gömme ihtiyaçları, benzer doǧal malzeme ya da benzer mimari temel bilgilerden, çoǧu zaman yerel şartlardan kaynaklandıǧı da anlaşılmaktadır. Farklı kültür bölgelerinin ve dönemlerin kaya mezarları arasındaki etkileşimin özel ayrıntılardaki benzerliklerde saptanması ve yerel gömme gelenekleri ile baǧlantılı deǧerlendirilmesi gerekir. Bu makalede aşaǧıdakilere benzer önemli sorular gündeme getirilmektedir: Klasik Çaǧ Likyası'nın özgün kaya mezarlarının varlıǧına raǧmen, aynı dönemde neden Pamfilya'da kaya mezarlıǧı yok? ‘Baskin’ Likya kültürü neden Pamfilya'yı etkilemedi? Pamfilya'nın Klasik Çaǧı'nda üst sınıfın mezarları nasıldı?