The excavation of the site of Gatwa-sûr in the Zagros region of the Kurdistan region of Iraq has provided valuable insights into Early Christian burial practices in Northern Iraq during the Sasanian period. The discovery of an earthenware coffin adorned with symbols that highlight the presence of Christian oriented groups in the region provides new data on burial customs under Sasanian rule. This archaeological evidence strengthens our knowledge of the coexistence of different religious faiths within the Sasanian Empire. Despite the challenges posed by repeated disturbances to the burial site over ancient and modern times, the recovered skeletal remains offer crucial evidence for understanding the health, lifestyle, and demographic profile of individuals during this era. Anthropological analysis revealed common ailments such as tooth loss, degenerative osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, and infectious periostitis. Additionally, the presence of enthesopathies suggests engagement in strenuous physical activities, likely related to agricultural or manual labor. The interdisciplinary approach, involving archaeologists, residents, and media, has raised awareness about the importance of protecting archaeological sites and fostering community engagement in research endeavors. Overall, the Gatwa-sûr excavation contributes significantly to our understanding of religious, cultural, and social dynamics in the Kurdistan region of Iraq in Late Antiquity, emphasizing the need for further exploration and preservation efforts in the region.

This article presents the results of excavations in Early Bronze Age levels at the site of Hamoukar in northeastern Syria. During the 2008 and 2010 field seasons, excavations in the lower town at Hamoukar uncovered evidence for three distinct architectural phases dating to the second half of the third millennium B.C. Prior to these excavations, attention had been focused on the final phase of Early Bronze Age occupation in the lower town, when the settlement was violently destroyed and then abandoned. It is now possible, however, to provide a backstory for the settlement’s violent end and also a more complicated––if still preliminary––account of exactly how the urbanisation process played out at the site. This article presents a summary of the Early Bronze Age stratigraphic sequence in the lower town at Hamoukar and, at the same time, a description of new evidence for the evolution of social, economic, and ritual practice across three phases of urban development. A brief comparison with urban trajectories at two other contemporary sites highlights the heterogeneity of cities and urban dynamics in Early Bronze Age northern Mesopotamia.

This article revisits the editorial history of the Babylonian (Akkadian) version of the Bīsotūn (Behistun) Inscription (DB) to establish the extent of the surviving text in light of a re-examination of the inscription at Mount Bīsotūn (Behistun). Questions arising about the reliability of the standard edition presented in Von Voigtlander (1978) prompted a critical review of her new readings, which significantly expand the text by approximately two-thirds compared to what previous commentators recorded and what is visible on the rock face today. The article focuses on the results of this scrutiny, supported by information from Von Voigtlander’s correspondence with George G. Cameron and Matthew W. Stolper, highlighting the implications of their discussions.

This article is the publication of the first bilingual inscription from Hatra, combining Greek with Hatran Aramaic. It is known only from a slide in the archives of the Italian Archaeological Mission to Hatra and, as the first bilingual document from the city itself, it deserves special attention from a multidisciplinary perspective. The inscription is discussed here in its wider context, first with regard to what it can contribute to our understanding of codeswitching between Greek and Aramaic, at Hatra itself and within the wider Near East, and second concerning our knowledge of the development of the city’s local religious life. It is argued that the new inscription casts light on the way in which the goddess ʾAllāt, under influence of the royal house, came to join the Sun god Šmeš (Šamaš) at the heart of Hatrene religion.

At Balawat in 1956 M.E.L. Mallowan excavated a small group of 18 Neo-Assyrian documents near the Mamu Temple. These are now published here in copies by A.R. Millard and J.N. Postgate, along with four tablets from his later work at the site in 1957 which were not included in Barbara Parker’s edition of the majority of the texts from that season. They are all Neo-Assyrian utilitarian documents from the 7th century BC, mainly “legal” but in a few cases administrative. Parker observed (1963: 89) that the 1956 tablets “are a quite distinct group from the present collection” (that is, the 1957 group), and indeed there is little overlap in respect of content and prosopography between the two groups. A few of the 1956 tablets show that individuals whose private documents were kept in the town were engaged in agricultural and horticultural activities in (presumably) neighbouring villages, but they also include some rather informal conveyances of males and females.

Intertextual linkages between Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptions and mythological narratives have significantly contributed to our understanding of royal self-presentation and historicization. Less explored, however, are how such linkages may be interpreted and visualized within royal art. In this paper, I propose an intervisual connection between Ninurta mythologies and Assyrian royal lion hunts by unpacking modes of display and interaction embedded between image, text, and lived experience in the palace art of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh. Intervisuality was arguably deployed as an innovative strategy to craft a sophisticated connection between royal and divine kingship. I explore how Anzû, a mythological adversary of Ninurta that embodies chaos and disorder, was conceptualized and manifested across media, including cylinder seals and in relief art. Consequently, the paper displaces the typical focus given to the Assyrian king by instead investigating the roles of animals and monsters in upholding royal narratives. I argue that the form and actions of Anzû as embodied and performed in objects act as powerful symbolic referents that anchor its transformed image in royal hunt narratives. In conclusion, I consider why Ashurbanipal may have employed visual references to Anzû in his palace art.

This paper investigates how Assyrian kings protected their material legacies for posterity and why in some prominent instances such protections failed, with a particular focus on the palaces of Kalḫu and Nineveh during the Sargonid Period. I approach this question through the lens of intergenerational reciprocity; Assyrian worldviews provided various channels through which past, present, and future kings could engage with one another in reciprocal and coercive relationships across time. Unlike curses and blessings, which were relatively easy for Assyrian kings to disregard, these reciprocal relationships provided more compelling incentives for rulers to honour and preserve their predecessors’ material legacies. However, practical or ideological concerns would sometimes result in the need to alter buildings in ways that damaged the material legacy of a past ruler. In some of these instances, steps were taken to symbolically compensate the past ruler in question for this damage. In this fashion, rulers were able to negotiate the ideological tension between tradition and innovation to preserve historical memory while adapting living cultural heritage to meet current needs.

This article presents editions and hand-copies of the cuneiform tablet BM 46590 and the tablet fragments K.13919 and 82-3-23, 108. These new pieces either duplicate or expand the ritual for undoing the effects of unpropitious lunar omens known from K.6018+//, providing new information on Akkadian incantation-prayers to the moon god. Most importantly, the prayer “Sîn 5”, previously known only from a couple of fragmentary lines, can now be read almost in full.