Gezer Under Assyrian Rule

This article examines whether or not the sequence of excavation numbers for cuneiform tablets excavated during the 1939 season at Alalaḫ (Tell Atchana) can reflect "excavated dossiers," that is, groups of tablets that were intentionally assembled and stored together in antiquity as a meaningful file. The first half of the article reconstructs the field method of Alalaḫ's excavator, Sir Leonard Woolley, and utilizes unpublished field cards from the excavation to conclude that it may be possible to discern excavated dossiers from the sequence of excavation numbers. The second half of the article identifies and discusses one such dossier, re-editing a constituent text and highlighting the dossier's importance for understanding the contingent political status of Alalaḫ's rulers under the hegemony of Yamḫad (Middle Bronze Age/Old Babylonian period). Appendices provide transcriptions of the field cards for epigraphic material found during the 1939, 1947, and 1948 seasons, a list of the find-spots of the Level VII cuneiform material, and a concordance of publication and excavation numbers for the same.

Three cuneiform texts from the Department of Middle Eastern Studies of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, 2020

The Department of Middle Eastern Studies of the Faculty of Arts at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen acquired three clay fragments inscribed with cuneiform script several years ago. There is no doubt that these artifacts originate from the ancient Near East and can be dated to the era from the 3 rd to 1 st millennia BCE, the epoch of the efflorescence of Mesopotamian civilizations. However, the objects are so badly damaged that only several words or even signs can be identified with certainty on their surfaces. The aim of this study is to date these objects more accurately and, at least partially, reconstruct the texts that they bore.

This paper reconsiders a group of cuneiform tablets allegedly excavated in Seal-Impression Strata (SIS) 5-4 at Ur (Iraq). Analysis of unpublished records and texts kept in the British Museum of London revealed fresh information that is instrumental to re-discuss provenance and use of the tablets, analyzed here both as excavated artifacts and as economic accounts.

Excavation at Gezer has been conducted since early in the 20 th century. LB material has been recovered by R.A.S. Macalister, Raymond Weill, the HUC and Tandy excavations. The material from the tel, factors into the many discussions of the LB, which are too numerous to evaluate here. Each data set presents issues in its interpretation and each offers insights into the nature of the period at the site. As part of continuing research this study will focus on a composite interpretation of the LB tomb material from the various excavations at Gezer.

Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, 2017

Drehem, ancient Puzriš-Dagān, is well known as the place of origin of more than 15,000 cuneiform tablets from the Ur III period that were sold on the antiquities markets from 1909 onwards. The State Board of Antiquities and Heritage of Iraq undertook the first controlled excavations at the site in 2007 under the direction of Ali Ubeid Shalkham. The cuneiform texts and fragments found there not only add to the well-known royal archives dealing with cattle, treasure or shoes, but they include many records on crafts and agriculture. With this evidence, the subsistence economy behind this important administrative center and royal palace of the Third Dynasty of Ur becomes more evident.1 The Iraqi Excavation at Drehem (First Season 2007) by Ali Ubeid Shalkham At the site of Drehem, scientific excavations only began in 2007.2 Previously, activities at the site were limited to uncontrolled excavations that took place throughout the 1 We thank the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, the Iraq Museum Baghdad and Mr Ali Ubeid Shalkham for the permission to publish the tablets from the excavation season of 2007. The stays of Nawala Al-Mutawalli at LMU Munich in 2015 and 2016 in order to prepare this article were generously funded by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung. We are grateful to Margarete van Ess for the invitation to a first meeting in 2013 at the DAI Orientabteilung, Berlin. Thanks are owed to Manuel Molina for his careful reading of this article and his helpful remarks and Frans van Koppen for his editorial care. Walther Sallaberger's work also contributes to his "Sumerisches Glossar" project.-All photos and plans of the excavation were made by Ali Ubeid Shalkham, the tablets in the Iraq Museum were photographed by Nawala Al-Mutawalli Mahmood. The abbreviations follow the Reallexikon für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie. The online digital resources CDLI (cdli.ucla.edu) and especially BDTNS (bdtns.filol.csic.es) have proven once more to be indispensable for our studies of lexicography and prosopography. 2 This summary is based on the official report of the excavations at Drehem that will be published in Arabic in the journal Sumer of 2017.

Cuneiform Digital Library Journal, 2009

Special Collections department of Robert Manning Strozier Library and arranged for them to be photographed and published. 1 §1.2. The tablets are numbered according to Banks' original inventory. The proveniences of seventeen of the tablets could be identifi ed on internal grounds; all but one matched Bank's given proveniences. Proveniences as given only by Banks, without independent confi rmation, are marked with an asterisk in the table below ( §6). The collection contains nineteen tablets from the Ur III period, mostly from Umma; fi ve from the Old Babylonian period, including two inscriptions of Sînkaešid; and one illegible neo-Babylonian tablet. §1.3. As well as the Banks collection, FSU owns a large round cuneiform tablet with about 30 lines of damaged fi rst-millennium script (unnumbered, not edited here) and a drill-cut cylinder seal of grey semi-precious stone from the neo-Assyrian period, showing a hero clutching two four-legged animals, perhaps ibex. §1.4. In the following, we fi rst present the dated tablets from Umma in chronological order, then the undated tablets from the same city, followed by the remaining Ur III tablets. The Old Babylonian tablets are given at the end.