Kish Excavations, 1923-1933
Author: Field Museum-Oxford University Joint Expedition to Mesopotamia
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 1978
Total Pages: 284
ISBN-13:
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Where Kingship Descended from Heaven
Author: Deborah Bekken
Publisher: Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures
Published: 2023-04-10
Total Pages: 384
ISBN-13: 1614910936
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →From 1923 to 1933, the Chicago Field Museum and the University of Oxford conducted archaeological excavations at the site of Kish, located on the floodplain of the Euphrates River in modern Iraq approximately 80 kilometers south of Baghdad. Over the course of ten years of work, the expedition explored seventeen different mounds both inside and outside the ancient boundaries of Kish. The finds were divided at the end of each season, with the Iraq Museum retaining half of the objects and any one-of-a-kind items and the two excavating institutions splitting the remainder. Beginning in 2004, the Field Museum undertook a reevaluation of its Kish holdings. To highlight new research and insights into the material culture from Kish and our understanding of the importance of the site to Mesopotamian archaeology, the Field Museum held a symposium in 2008 that brought together an international group of scholars who presented papers on various aspects of the ancient city. This volume, which grew out of that symposium, presents a wide array of studies on the excavated material remains from Kish, including cuneiform texts, animal figurines, human remains, lithics, figural stucco wall decorations, and more.
Bioarchaeology and Behavior
Author: Megan A. Perry
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Published: 2018-02-19
Total Pages: 228
ISBN-13: 0813063558
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →While mortuary ruins have long fascinated archaeologists and art historians interested in the cultures of the Near East and eastern Mediterranean, the human skeletal remains contained in the tombs of this region have garnered less attention. In Bioarchaeology and Behavior, Megan Perry presents a collection of essays that aim a spotlight on the investigation of the ancient inhabitants of the circum-Mediterranean area. Composed of eight diverse papers, this volume synthesizes recent research on human skeletal remains and their archaeological and historical contexts in this region. Utilizing an environmental, social, and political framework, the contributors present scholarly case studies on such topics as the region’s mortuary archaeology, genetic investigations of migration patterns, and the ancient populations’ health, disease, and diet. Other key anthropological issues addressed in this volume include the effects of the domestication of plants and animals, the rise of state-level formations, and the role of religion in society. Ultimately, this collection will provide anthropologists, archaeologists, and bioarchaeologists with an important foundation for future research in the Near East and eastern Mediterranean.
Reclaiming a Plundered Past
Author: Magnus T. Bernhardsson
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 2013-08-21
Total Pages: 511
ISBN-13: 0292749031
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The looting of the Iraqi National Museum in April of 2003 provoked a world outcry at the loss of artifacts regarded as part of humanity's shared cultural patrimony. But though the losses were unprecedented in scale, the museum looting was hardly the first time that Iraqi heirlooms had been plundered or put to political uses. From the beginning of archaeology as a modern science in the nineteenth century, Europeans excavated and appropriated Iraqi antiquities as relics of the birth of Western civilization. Since Iraq was created in 1921, the modern state has used archaeology to forge a connection to the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and/or Islamic empires and so build a sense of nationhood among Iraqis of differing religious traditions and ethnicities. This book delves into the ways that archaeology and politics intertwined in Iraq during the British Mandate and the first years of nationhood before World War II. Magnus Bernhardsson begins with the work of British archaeologists who conducted extensive excavations in Iraq and sent their finds to the museums of Europe. He then traces how Iraqis' growing sense of nationhood led them to confront the British over antiquities law and the division of archaeological finds between Iraq and foreign excavators. He shows how Iraq's control over its archaeological patrimony was directly tied to the balance of political power and how it increased as power shifted to the Iraqi government. Finally he examines how Iraqi leaders, including Saddam Hussein, have used archaeology and history to legitimize the state and its political actions.
Remembering the Dead in the Ancient Near East
Author: Benjamin W. Porter
Publisher: University Press of Colorado
Published: 2014-10-15
Total Pages: 272
ISBN-13: 1607323257
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Remembering the Dead in the Ancient Near East is among the first comprehensive treatments to present the diverse ways in which ancient Near Eastern civilizations memorialized and honored their dead, using mortuary rituals, human skeletal remains, and embodied identities as a window into the memory work of past societies. In six case studies, teams of researchers with different skillsets—osteological analysis, faunal analysis, culture history and the analysis of written texts, and artifact analysis—integrate mortuary analysis with bioarchaeological techniques. Drawing upon different kinds of data, including human remains, ceramics, jewelry, spatial analysis, and faunal remains found in burial sites from across the region’s societies, the authors paint a robust and complex picture of death in the ancient Near East. Demonstrating the still underexplored potential of bioarchaeological analysis in ancient societies, Remembering the Dead in the Ancient Near East serves as a model for using multiple lines of evidence to reconstruct commemoration practices. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian societies, the archaeology of death and burial, bioarchaeology, and human skeletal biology.
The Oxford Handbook of Museum Archaeology
Author: Alice Stevenson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2022-08-25
Total Pages: 625
ISBN-13: 0192586750
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This Handbook provides a transnational reference point for critical engagements with the legacies of, and futures for, global archaeological collections. It challenges the common misconception that museum archaeology is simply a set of procedures for managing and exhibiting assemblages. Instead, this volume advances museum archaeology as an area of reflexive research and practice addressing the critical issues of what gets prioritized by and researched in museums, by whom, how, and why. Through twenty-eight chapters, authors problematize and suggest new ways of thinking about historic, contemporary, and future relationships between archaeological fieldwork and museums, as well as the array of institutional and cultural paradigms through which archaeological enquiries are mediated. Case studies embrace not just archaeological finds, but also archival field notes, photographic media, archaeological samples, and replicas. Throughout, museum activities are put into dialogue with other aspects of archaeological practice, with the aim of situating museum work within a more holistic archaeology that does not privilege excavation or field survey above other aspects of disciplinary engagement. These concerns will be grounded in the realities of museums internationally, including Latin America, Africa, Asia, Oceania, North America, and Europe. In so doing, the common heritage sector refrain 'best practice' is not assumed to solely emanate from developed countries or European philosophies, but instead is considered as emerging from and accommodated within local concerns and diverse museum cultures.
The Lives of Sumerian Sculpture
Author: Jean M. Evans
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2012-10-08
Total Pages: 291
ISBN-13: 1107017394
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This book examines the sculptures created during the Early Dynastic period (2900-2350 BC) of Sumer, a region corresponding to present-day southern Iraq. Featured almost exclusively in temple complexes, some 550 Early Dynastic stone statues of human figures carved in an abstract style have survived. Chronicling the intellectual history of ancient Near Eastern art history and archaeology at the intersection of sculpture and aesthetics, this book argues that the early modern reception of Sumer still influences ideas about these sculptures. Engaging also with the archaeology of the Early Dynastic temple, the book ultimately considers what a stone statue of a human figure has signified, both in modern times and in antiquity.
The Sumerian World
Author: Harriet Crawford
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-08-29
Total Pages: 689
ISBN-13: 1136219129
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The Sumerian World explores the archaeology, history and art of southern Mesopotamia and its relationships with its neighbours from c.3,000 - 2,000BC. Including material hitherto unpublished from recent excavations, the articles are organised thematically using evidence from archaeology, texts and the natural sciences. This broad treatment will also make the volume of interest to students looking for comparative data in allied subjects such as ancient literature and early religions. Providing an authoritative, comprehensive and up to date overview of the Sumerian period written by some of the best qualified scholars in the field, The Sumerian World will satisfy students, researchers, academics, and the knowledgeable layperson wishing to understand the world of southern Mesopotamia in the third millennium.
Glass and Glass Production in the Near East during the Iron Age
Author: Katharina Schmidt
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Published: 2019-03-12
Total Pages: 331
ISBN-13: 1789691559
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This book examines the history of glass in Iron Age Mesopotamia and neighbouring regions (1000–539 BCE). This is the first monograph to cover this region and period comprehensively and in detail and thus fills a significant gap in glass research.
Testing the Canon of Ancient Near Eastern Art and Archaeology
Author: Amy Gansell
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2020-02-03
Total Pages: 485
ISBN-13: 0190673168
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This book considers the "Greatest Hits" of ancient Near Eastern art and archaeology, including canonical objects, sites, and monuments from Egypt, the Levant, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, from the prehistoric era through the Classical period. Gansell, Shafer, and their contributors investigate the factors that have made these historical artifacts so well known for so long. By questioning the canon, this book allows readers to better reflect on the range of ancientNear Eastern culture and revise the canon so it can accommodate new discoveries, represent the values of heritage communities, and remain relevant to contemporary and future audiences.
