Ask a Near Eastern Professional: Who are the Sea Peoples and what role did they play in the devastation of civilizations that occurred shortly after 1200 BCE?

By Eric Cline

The Ancient Near East Today’s premier ‘Ask a Near East Professional’ feature brought over 40 questions from readers. We’ve combined two, from Michael Ferris and Lloyd Dunaway, and put them to Professor Eric Cline, editor of our flagship publication, BASOR.

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Animal Economy in a Temple City and Its Countryside: Iron Age Jerusalem as a Case Study

By Lidar Sapir-Hen, Yuval Gadot, and Israel Finkelstein

Iron Age Jerusalem is the subject of perennial interest, but archaeological understanding of how the city functioned economically has grown more slowly. Our paper is an effort to understand aspects of life in Jerusalem and its hinterland in the first millennium BCE.

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“Godnapping” in the Ancient Near East

By Shana Zaia

When Mesopotamian polities went to war, the successful party gained more than just territory. Triumphant kings boast in their inscriptions that they carried off royal family members, deportees, and precious goods and treasures.

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Tomb Security in Ancient Egypt: How and Why Did the Egyptians Protect Their Tombs?

By Reg Clark

Protecting the dead from abuse is an ancient human instinct but Egypt raised this concern to levels never seen before or since. Tomb robbery is well attested in Egypt from the earliest times and it becomes obvious when looking at the architecture of the Egyptian tomb that physical measures were soon taken to prevent it.

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The Ancient Near East Today features contributions from diverse academics, a forum featuring debates of current developments from the field, and links to news and resources. The ANE Today covers the entire Near East, and each issue presents discussions ranging from the state of biblical archaeology to archaeology after the Arab Spring.

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