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Rupert L. Chapman III, Putting Sheshonq I in His Place. Palestine Exploration Quarterly 141 (2009), 4–17.
In 1925 a key piece of evidence, a fragment of Sheshonq I’s victory stela, was discovered at Megiddo during the preparations for the excavations of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Unfortunately it was found on the surface, on one of the spoil heaps of the previous German excavations. The Chicago team tentatively assigned the fragment to the lowest level reached in the area, initially called Stratum IV, but said little more about it. In recent years, fresh information concerning both the location and the circumstances of the discovery has been published, which, in the author’s view, makes it possible to locate the context in which the stela fragment was found, both horizontally and vertically. It is now clear that the lowest level reached in the area was Stratum V, and the author suggests below that the fragment was reused in Stratum VA, the stela having originally been set up in Stratum VB, dated to the 9th century BC by the current excavators.
Anat Mendel-Geberovich et al., A Brand New Old Inscription, Arad Ostracon 16 Rediscovered via Multispectral Imaging. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 378 (2017), 113–125.
Arad Ostracon 16 is part of the Elyashiv Archive, dated to ca. 600 b.c. It was published as bearing an inscription on the recto only. New multispectral images of the ostracon have enabled us to reveal a hitherto invisible inscription on the verso, as well as additional letters, words, and complete lines on the recto. We present here the new images and offer our new reading and reinterpretation of the ostracon.
Keywords: Arad | Elyashiv Archive | Judah | literacy | seventh century b.c. | multispectral imaging | epistolography | Northwest Semitic epigraphy
Anat Mendel-Geberovich, Arie Shaus, Shira Faigenbaum-Golovin, Barak Sober, Michael Cordonsky, Eli Piasetzky, and Israel Finkelstein
Igor L. Pioro (Hrsg.), Handbook of Generation IV Nuclear Reactors. Woodhead Publishing Series in Energy 103 (Amsterdam 2016).
Norma Franklin, Revealing Stratum V at Megiddo. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 342 (2006), 95–111.
BASOR348-049-Ussishkin.pdf, BASOR348-071-Franklin.pdf
This article focuses on Stratum V, Stratum VA-IVB, and Stratum IVA at Megiddo. The true nature of Stratum V is revealed, showing it to be an important multiphased city, complete with two palatial buildings, one of which has similarities with the Om ride Palace in Samaria. In addition, the existence of a distinct Stratum IVB (VA-IVB) is questioned, and an alternative layout for Stratum IV in the crucial southern area of the tell is proposed.
In short, the Stratum V city was a long-lived, multi-phased city with two monumental palaces. It was continuously maintained and rebuilt, and not destroyed. Eventually, it was dismantled and buried, and replaced by the “stable and courtyard” city of Stratum IV.
Norma Franklin, Response to David Ussishkin. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 348 (2007), 71–73.
In this brief response, the author replies to David Ussishkin’s comments, reiterating in particular that an analysis of the stratigraphy of Iron Age Megiddo and Samaria cannot be judged solely via the available published material, especially when such has been found wanting, but must also include a consideration of previously unavailable archival material.
Robert S. Lamon & Geoffrey M. Shipton (Hrsg.), Megiddo I, Seasons of 1925–34 – Strata I–V. University of Chicago Oriental Institute Publications 42 (Chicago 1939).
C. Steuernagel (Hrsg.), Tell el-Mutesellim, Band 1: Ausgrabungen 1903 bis 1905: Fundbericht. (Leipzig 1908).
David Ussishkin, Megiddo and Samaria, A Rejoinder to Norma Franklin. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 348 (2007), 49–70.
BASOR348-071-Franklin.pdf
Norma Franklin recently offered various suggestions regarding the stratigraphy, monumental architecture, and chronology of Megiddo and Samaria during the ninth eighth centuries b.c.e., defining in them two chronologically and culturally correlated stages. Emphasis was put on the dating of drafted stones, masons’ marks, color-painted guide lines, and the use of the cubit for measuring. Finally, Franklin identified in Sa maria two rock-cut caves as royal Israelite tombs (“Tombs” A and B).
Examination of Franklin’s stratigraphie and chronological suggestions with regard to Megiddo and Samaria leads to the conclusion that they cannot be accepted. The same applies to her suggestions related to the architectural elements mentioned above. As to the suggested royal Israelite tombs in Samaria, it appears that “Tomb B” does not exist and “Tomb A” is a cave not used as a tomb.
Carl Watzinger (Hrsg.), Tell el-Mutesellim, Band 2: Ausgrabungen 1903 bis 1905: Die Funde. (Leipzig 1929).
Roswitha Badry, Der friedvolle ,gender-dschihad’ muslimischer Aktivistinnen gegen patriarchalische Lesarten des Korans, ,Islamischer Feminismus’ in der Diaspora als Wegbereiter für ein globales Phänomen? Freiburger Zeitschrift für Geschlechterstudien 25 (2011), 139–157.
Asma Barlas, “Believing Women” in Islam, Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur’an. (Austin 2010).
J. Robson, Had{\i}th. In: H. A. R. Gibb (Hrsg.), The Encyclopaedia of Islam. (Leiden 22012).
Jennifer E. Kay, Early models successfully predicted global warming. nature 578 (2020), 45–46.
Climate models published between 1970 and 2007 provided accurate forecasts of subsequently observed global surface warming. This finding shows the value of using global observations to vet climate models as the planet warms.
John E. Kutzbach, Jian Guan, Feng He, Andrew S. Cohen, Ian J. Orland & & Guangshan Chen, African climate response to orbital and glacial forcing in 140,000-y simulation with implications for early modern human envir. PNAS 117 (2020), 2255–2264.
pnas117-02255-Supplement.pdf
A climate/vegetation model simulates episodic wetter and drier periods at the 21,000-y precession period in eastern North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Levant over the past 140,000 y. Large orbitally forced wet/dry extremes occur during interglacial time, 130 to 80 ka, and conditions between these two extremes prevail during glacial time, 70 to 15 ka. Orbital precession causes high seasonality in Northern Hemisphere (NH) insolation at 125, 105, and 83 ka, with stronger and northward extended summer monsoon rains in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula and increased winter rains in the Mediterranean Basin. The combined effects of these two seasonally distinct rainfall regimes increase vegetation and narrow the width of the Saharan–Arabian desert and semidesert zones. During the opposite phase of the precession cycle ( 115, 95, and 73 ka), NH seasonality is low, and decreased summer insolation and increased winter insolation cause monsoon and storm track rains to decrease and the width of the desert zone to increase. During glacial time ( 70 to 15 ka), forcing from large ice sheets and lowered greenhouse gas concentrations combine to increase winter Mediterranean storm track precipitation; the southward retreat of the northern limit of summer monsoon rains is relatively small, thereby limiting the expansion of deserts. The lowered greenhouse gas concentrations cause the near-equatorial zone to cool and reduce convection, causing drier climate with reduced forest cover. At most locations and times, the simulations agree with environmental observations. These changing regional patterns of climate/vegetation could have influenced the dispersal of early humans through expansions and contractions of well-watered corridors.
Keywords: paleoclimate | Africa | climate modeling | glacial and orbital forcing | human dispersal
Significance: A computer model calculates the changing climate/vegetation from 140,000 y ago to the present for Africa, Arabia, and the Mediterranean Basin. The results illustrate how and when changes in Earth’s orbit, greenhouse gases, and ice sheets change the climate. The model makes this long calculation using the full set of dynamic/thermodynamic equations with sufficient spatial resolution to calculate monsoon and storm track rainfall over this region. The results explain when andwhere the climate was wetter or drier and how the vegetation changed. The simulated environmental changes agree with observed paleoenvironmental data in most areas. The results will help assesswhether and how climate, hydrology, and vegetation changes may have influenced human dispersal out of Africa.
Walter Wundt, Die Mitwirkung der Erdbahnelemente an der Entstehung der Eiszeiten. Geologische Rundschau 34 (1944), 713–747.
Der Wechsel in der Schiefe der Ekliptik, der Exzentrizität der Erdbahn und der Perihellage wird in seiner klimatischen Auswirkung als astronomische Theorie der Eiszeiten bezeichnet. Steillage der Erdachse begünstigt die Entstehung von Eiszeiten auf beiden Halbkugeln; Perihellage im Winter, wenn sie mit starker Exzentrizität verknüpft ist, solche auf der einen Hemisphäre. Als wichtige Sekundäreinflüsse treten die Verspätungserscheinungen und der Reflexionseffekt auf, der eine Selbstverstärkung der Vereisung zur Folge hat. — Die astronomischen und physikalischen Grundlagen der Theorie werden kritisch gewürdigt; auch geographische und geologische Einflüsse sind wesentlich an der Entstehung der Eiszeiten beteiligt. Kontinenten- und Polverschiebung kommen für die quartäre Eiszeit kaum in Betracht, wohl aber (aus den Fjordbildungen zu schließen!) Landhebungen und Sperrung der Warmwasserzufuhr zu den Polen, wobei das Auftauchen der nordatlantischen Schwelle besondere Bedeutung besitzt. Die Verteilung der Luft- und Meeresströmungen zur Eiszeit wird einer besonderen Betrachtung unterzogen. Zum Schluß wird die Gliederung der quartären Eiszeit auf Grund der Strah-lungskurve zusammen mit den fossilen Zeugen kurz erörtert.
Valentina Yanko-Hombach, Allan S. Gilbert & Pavel Dolukhanov, Controversy over the great flood hypotheses in the Black Sea in light of geological, paleontological, and archaeological evidence. Quaternary International 168 (2007), 91–113.
Currently, two Great Flood scenarios have been proposed for the Black Sea: (1) an Early Holocene event caused by catastrophic Mediterranean inflow at 7.2 ky BP (initial hypothesis of [Ryan et al., 1997. An abrupt drowning of the Black Sea shelf. Marine Geology 138, 119–126]) or 8.4 ky BP (modified hypothesis of [Ryan et al., 2003. Catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Science 31, 525–554.); and (2) a Late Pleistocene event brought on by Caspian influx between 16 and 13 ky BP [Chepalyga, A.L., 2003. Late glacial Great Flood in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. GSA Annual Meeting and Exposition, 2–5 November 2003, Seattle, USA, p. 460]. Both hypotheses claim that the massive inundations of the Black Sea basin and ensuing large-scale environmental changes had a profound impact on prehistoric human societies of the surrounding areas, and both propose that the event formed the basis for the biblical Great Flood legend.
This paper attempts to determine whether the preponderance of existing evidence sustains support for these Great Floods in the evolution of the Black Sea. Based upon established geological and paleontological data, it finds that the Late Pleistocene inundation was intense and substantial whereas the Early Holocene sea-level rise was not. Between 16 and 13 ky BP, the Late Neoeuxinian lake (the Late Pleistocene water body in the Pontic basin pre-dating the Black Sea) increased rapidly from -14 to -50m (below the present level of the Black Sea), then rose gradually to -20m by about 11 ky BP. At 11–10 ky BP (the Younger Dryas), it dropped to -50 m. When the Black Sea re-connected with the Sea of Marmara at about 9.5 ky BP, inflowing Mediterranean water increased the Black Sea level very gradually up to -20 m, and in so doing, it raised the salinity of the basin and brought in the first wave of Mediterranean immigrants. These data indicate no major drawdown of the Black Sea after the Younger Dryas, and they do not provide evidence for any catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea in the Early Holocene.
Hai Ashkenazi, Sometimes Defence is Just an Excuse, Fortification Walls of the Southern Levantine Early Bronze Age. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 30 (2020), 45–67.
The Early Bronze Age (EBA) of the southern Levant was the first period in which many sites became fortified. This process reached its climax during the latter part of the period (namely Early Bronze III). Until recently, most scholars saw this phenomenon as an indication that the period was characterized by a high level of organized conflict. The following article analyses the fortifications of eight EBA sites, as well as other markers of warfare, and argues that the period’s fortifications were not as tactically efficient as they seem. Furthermore, other markers of war are generally missing. It seems that the period’s fortifications were built mainly to demonstrate a town’s might and power while deterring potential attackers. Taking into account the rise of social complexity during the period, they were also used to consolidate the society through the construction process and possibly to control movement and serve as a boundary marker. Incipient leaders, who planned and coordinated the construction, used possible threats and the construction process to aggrandize themselves as being the ‘protectors’ of the settlement.
Bisserka Gaydarska, Marco Nebbia & John Chapman, Trypillia Megasites in Context, Independent Urban Development in Chalcolithic Eastern Europe. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 30 (2020), 97–121.
The Trypillia megasites of the Ukrainian forest steppe formed the largest fourthmillennium BC sites in Eurasia and possibly the world. Discovered in the 1960s, the megasites have so far resisted all attempts at an understanding of their social structure and dynamics. Multi-disciplinary investigations of the Nebelivka megasite by an Anglo-Ukrainian research project brought a focus on three research questions: (1) what was the essence of megasite lifeways? (2) can we call the megasites early cities? and (3) what were their origins? The first question is approached through a summary of Project findings on Nebelivka and the subsequent modelling of three different scenarios for what transpired to be a different kind of site from our expectations. The second question uses a relational approach to urbanism to show that megasites were so different from other coeval settlements that they could justifiably be termed ‘cities’. The third question turns to the origins of sites that were indeed larger and earlier than the supposed first cities of Mesopotamia and whose development indicates that there were at least two pathways to early urbanism in Eurasia.
Francesc Marginedas, Antonio Rodriguez-Hidalgo, Maria Soto, Silvia M. Bello, Isabel Caceres, Rosa Huguet & Palmira Saladie, Making skull cups, Butchering traces on cannibalised human skulls from five European archaeological sites. Journal of Archaeological Science 114 (2020), 105076, 1–13.
JAS114-a105076-Supplement.pdf
The presence of skull cups (bowls made from human calvaria) is considered evidence of the ritualistic treatment of human bodies. These artefacts are characterised by careful manufacturing which can be taphonomically observed in bone surface modiications (BSM) as cut marks and percussion marks. These BSM show morphological similarities across Upper Palaeolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age assemblages. This study is focused on the analysis of the frequency and spatial distribution of cut marks on skull cups from Gough’s Cave (UK), Herxheim (Germany), and El Mirador Cave (Spain), as compared to the frequency and spatial distribution of modiications on human skulls (non-skull cups) from TD6.2 of Gran Dolina (Spain) and Fontbregoua (France), with the aim of identifying a common pattern related to a symbolic background. Nearest neighbour analysis and Kernel analyses were used to identify the distribution pattern of anthropogenically induced modiications. The results indicate that the frequency and distribution of cut marks on human skulls modiied into skull cups are unique and are most likely to be the result of meticulous cleaning of skulls. A similar frequency and distribution pattern of modiications was also observed on skulls from Fontbregoua, possibly related to the collection of skulls as war trophies. No parallels with the treatment of skulls of Homo antecessor at TD6.2 of Gran Dolina were observed. We suggest that the treatment of human skulls for ritualistic purposes therefore results in a consistent pattern of modiication.
Keywords: Ritualization of skulls | Cut marks | Scalping | Cannibalism
Kenneth Anderson Kitchen, The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 B.C.). (Warminster 21986).
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