Table of Contents for NEA 86.2 (2023) - American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR)

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Table of Contents for <em>NEA</em> 86.2 (2023)

Table of Contents for Near Eastern Archaeology 86.2 (June 2023)

Pp. 80–91: “A Review of Nemrik Culture Following Findings in the Southeast Area at Boncuklu Tarla during the 2020 Excavation Season: (Upper Tigris Valley, Mardin, Turkey)

Boncuklu Tarla, located in the upper Tigris Valley, has been inhabited continuously from the Proto-Neolithic until the end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. This uninterrupted sequence is not the result of a constant mounding process, but can be seen as the presence of a single occupation layer in large areas during different periods. One of these single-layered areas is located in the southeastern part of the settlement and is dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA). The finds unearthed during excavations in this section, in particular the architecture and chipped stones, display similar characteristics to Nemrik Culture, which is thought to be unique to the East Jezirah. These similarities are visible in the architecture and in regular find assemblages. This study considers newly recovered data from southeastern Boncuklu Tarla in regard to their apparent rapport with Nemrik Culture, as well as to outline different cultural aspects of the upper Mesopotamian PPNA.

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Pp. 92-101: “A Unique Painted Sherd from the Mid-Sixth Millennium BCE Neolithic Context of Northeastern Iran,” by Kourosh Roustaei

Depicting animal motifs on pottery vessels of prehistoric cultures of the Iranian Plateau was begun as early as the turn of the seventh millennium BCE in the lowland Susiana Plain of southwestern Iran. Such motifs appeared in the Neolithic of northeastern Iran, known as Chakhmaq Culture, as early as the early sixth millennium BCE. During a stratigraphic excavation at a Neolithic site, dated to ca. 7000–5000 BCE, in the Shahroud Plain of northeastern Iran, a body sherd was found depicting a scene of mating goats rotating around the vessel. Regarding its early date, ca. 5650–5550 cal BCE, and its naturalistic way of representing the animal motifs, this sherd is unique among the contemporaneous Neolithic sites of the Iranian Plateau.

Pp. 102-111: “attīma nannarat šamê u erṣetim—“You Are the Light of Heaven and Earth”: A Study of Two Cylinder Seals with the Goddess in a Nimbus from the Bible Lands Museum, Jerusalem,” by Takayoshi Oshima

In the hypothesis presented by the authors, stratified, nonmonumental inscriptions and their radiometric datings take center stage for the first time. It is in the living script of these texts rather than in the artificial alphabet of monuments that the evolution of the alphabet in Iron IIA can be studied properly. A key take-home lesson of the work is the significant ninth-century transformations of the alphabet from precursive Proto-Canaanite to supraregional cursive, thence to the well-known regional variants. Under the Omrides, the alphabet in Israel is attested minimally. No Omride texts were recognized at Samaria, nor Baashide texts at Tirzah. The newly founded West Semitic kingdoms since ca. 900 BCE will have constituted the cradle of the cursive, while papyrus or parchment and ink were the cursive’s likeliest vehicle. Alphabetic inscriptions on monuments, including Byblos, all cursive-inspired, will only have emerged in the last third of the ninth century.

Pp. 111-121: “Networks of Specialized Knowledge: Cult and Its Imagery in Early Iron Age Malizi and Palastina,” by Nathan Lovejoy

Recent research focused on the regions of Malatya and the northern Levant has allowed scholars to improve our understanding of the political history of the polities of Malizi and Palastina. The present article examines recent archaeological evidence from Arslantepe and several northern Levantine sites alongside a corpus of textual and iconographic data from the upper Euphrates and the northern Levant in an attempt to identify Early Iron Age networks of cultural exchange that resulted in shared specialized cultic and artistic knowledge. While networks of interaction between these regions may have begun as a product of persistent sociopolitical ties following the fragmentation of the Hittite Empire, this article proposes that it is due to the resilience of major cult centers that Malizi and Palastina were able to exchange specialized cultic knowledge and artistic traditions and employ them in the definition of their new Iron Age cultic and political communities.

Pp. 122-131: “Excavations of Parthian Human Bone Remains at Liyarsangbon Cemetery, Amlash District, Guilan Province, Iran: with Special Reference to Sexed Patterns of Burial and Gender Discrimination,” by Mohammad Reza Eghdami, Vali Jahani, Majid Gholamzadeh Roudbordeh, and Seyed Hashem Mousavi

[NB: This article deals with human remains]
Forty-nine graves were excavated at Liyarsangbon cemetery during two working seasons. The area is covered with thin layers of lime, rocky, and calcareous materials, with a relatively neutral to alkaline soil pH, good for the preservation of human skeletal remains. The remains discovered in excavation were dated to the Parthian and Sasanid periods per the grave goods. With the exception of one adolescent girl killed by knife and some bones of both sexes with cut marks, disease was determined to be the standard cause of death in the population. Furthermore, statistical analysis indicates that neither social status nor sex bias influenced burial types in the Parthian period in the region under study.

Pp. 132-148: “Manufacturing Technology and Usage of Glass Fragments in Jahangir Dome and Goriye, Sasanid Sites in Western Iran,” by Bita Sodaei, Davoud Agha Aligol, and Leila Khosravi

This article introduces the Sasanid glass found during excavations at the western Iranian sites of Jahangir Dome and Goriye in Ilam province. In addition to architectural remains, different types of Sasanid pottery, glass, and metal vessels were found at these sites. Considering the importance of the glass industry in this period, the purpose of this article is to study the typological styles and chemical compositions of the glass fragments excavated at Jahangir Dome and Goriye to identify the origin of the vitreous materials. Glass fragments from these sites are divided into four groups based on the form and typology and include: vessel fragments, cosmetic containers, bracelets, and beads. According to the elemental analysis, silicon dioxide, sodium oxide, and calcium oxide are the main chemical components in the studied samples, and analyzed glass materials are of a plant-ash silica-soda-lime glass-type.

Pp. 146-156: “The Climate Crisis and Archaeological Practice in the Middle East and North Africa: Mitigating the Climate Impact of the ASOR Annual Meeting,” by Virginia Herrmann and Lucas Stephens

The practice of archaeologists of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) urgently needs decarbonization in the context of a climate crisis disproportionately affecting this region’s people and cultural heritage. Academic conferences are both an invaluable forum for research exchange and networking and a carbon-intensive practice presenting barriers to diversity, equity, and inclusion. This article summarizes a study by the authors and the ASOR Ad Hoc Climate Impact Committee on the carbon footprint of the American Society of Overseas Research Annual Meeting and potential strategies for making the meeting carbon neutral and accessible while retaining engagement. We find that the best strategies for significantly reducing the about 1266 t CO2e produced by the traditional meeting format are: (1) alternation of in-person and virtual meetings; (2) hybrid in-person and virtual meeting; (3) dual-component in-person/virtual meeting; or (4) distributed meeting with US and MENA hubs. Carefully vetted carbon offsets should be purchased for remaining emissions.

Pp. 158-165: “Revitalizing Legacy Biblical Archaeology Collections: The Case of the Oberlin Near East Study Collection,” by Julian Hirsch and Amy V. Margaris

Biblical archaeology collections at colleges and universities are typically remnants of an earlier era of collecting and teaching. These collections nonetheless still hunker, dusty and underused, in many university closets today. What larger stories do their histories reveal, and what good are legacy teaching collections now? In this article a recent Oberlin College graduate and one of his college faculty mentors team up to address these questions and offer practical advice for revitalizing legacy biblical archaeology collections, using the Oberlin Near East Study Collection (ONESC) as a case study.

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Table of Contents for Near Eastern Archaeology 86.2 (June 2023)

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