Articles of general interest NEW VERSION

A classic and fundamental formulation of principles to be followed in the use of shelters to protect archaeological sites. Dealing exclusively with broad base shelters, it assumes that implementation takes place only after excavations have been completed, rather than concurrently, in which case it is important to articulate the conservation needs for an architect who come in, extrinsically, from the outside.

– Giorgio Buccellati, 2005

These proceedings deal with many topics about conservation, considered as “a core value for most archaeological societies. It is highlighted in their codes of ethics, statements of mission, and governance. In recognition of this, the World Archaeological Congress, with the Getty Conservation Institute and a consortium of other conservation organizations, brought together scholars working throughout the globe to discuss vital issues that affect archaeological heritage today”. See abstract See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

This contribution aims to answer to a basic methodological question: “How is it possible to monitor the condition of a site or artefact after it has been reburied?” (p. 295). See abstract See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

“Constructing and deconstructing public spaces in second-millennium BC Anatolia, the Near East and the Levant was not only a collaborative physical act but also involved deeply embodied ritual symbolism. This symbolism is materialised in the practice of conducting public foundation and termination rituals that unified individual memories in space and time, transforming the physical act into a collective memory: a process that contributed to the formation of political and cultural memory. The recent rescue excavations conducted by the Hatay Archaeological Museum at the hinterland site of Toprakhisar Höyük in Altınözü (in the foothills above the Amuq valley) add to the understanding of the practice of foundation and termination rituals during the Middle Bronze Age and how these moments may have contributed to the political and cultural memory of a rural community living away from the centre. The practice of foundation/termination rituals is archaeologically documented by caches of artefacts from votive contexts stratigraphically linked to the construction and termination of a Middle Bronze Age administrative structure” (Authors’ abstract on p. 1). See abstract Alternative online text [BIAA] See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

The authors describe in this chapter the main results of the excavations conducted at Alalakh/Tell Atchana from 2018 to 2020, specifically focusing on a specific timespan: “This chapter exclusively deals with, and provides an overview of, the recent archaeological fieldwork (2007–2019) that sheds light on the late Middle Bronze Age (MBA, hereafter) sequence, when the site reached a flourishing state under the hegemony of the Kingdom of Yamḫad as the capital city of the kingdom later called Mukiš. This is defined as a period of prosperity, urban expansion, and establishment of cross-cultural contacts generally accepted to end ca. 1650 BC, according to the Middle Chronology, with the early Hittite campaigns in the region” [p. 75]. [Urkesh is openly mentioned on p. 88, speaking about the monumental structure of the ābi, compared to othe monumental structures in other Syrian cities.] See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2022

The Petra National Trust is an NGO that supervises a large Archaeological Park (265 km2) and an even larger protected area (900 km2). The main difficulties that had to be overcome, in the formative period between 1968 and 2000, related to the interaction among different governmental bodies. See full text

– Giorgio Buccellati, 2005

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

The first identification of clay tokens (to which Amiet refers with the Latin word calculi) as the forerunners of writing. This particular corpus was found in Susa (Amiet refers to the finds of Uruk as well), and Amiet develops, briefly but pointedly (pp. 20-22), the argument that the gathering of the tokens within clay balls, and the authentication of the whole obtained by rolling a seal on the outer surface (hence the Latin term bulla), served as the springboard for the invention of writing. See full text

– Giorgio Buccellati, 2005

An in-depth presentation of the theory and methodology of the interpretation of rock art. Important for our interests is chapter 6, where he addresses the question of “order and logic”, and speaks explicitly of the need to develop a systematic analysis of “grammar and syntax”. See abstract See full text [Google Books]

– Giorgio Buccellati, 2005

This volume displays many different objects coming from the Aegean, Egypt, and the Near East (the Levant, Syria, Anatolia and Mesopotamia), trying to underline the contacts and the trades between these countries in the Middle Bronze Age and in the Late Bronze Age, having a peculiar focus on the so-called ‘international period’. See abstract See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

This study overviews the concept of Gender in Mesopotamian civilization. Moreover, it further arues the interrelation of body and Gender in semantics.

See full text

– Yasmine Mahmoud, 2026

The present publication is divided into five chapters about gender of divinities, describing many characteristics of this topic under a proper archaeological and iconographical analysis. See abstract See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

This study overviews the semantics of nakedness and nudity in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt.

See full text

– pCM, 2026

After a detailed syntesis of the studies on corporeality in Ancient Near East, this paper puts forth a comparative analysis of Mesopotamian body through the lens of Egyptian standards.

– Yasmine Mahmoud, 2026

A detailed study of the terracotta anthropomorphic figurines from the Bronze Age Syria.

See full text

– Yasmine Mahmoud, 2026

A study to evaluate the historical process how Ishtar of Mesopotamian pantheon was hellenized with the arrivals of the Greeks.

See full text [JSTOR.org]

– Yasmine Mahmoud, 2026

A study to reconstruct te Gendered history of Babylon.

– Yasmine Mahmoud, 2026

A study to illustrate the origin of Gender in prehistory.

See full text

– Yasmine Mahmoud, 2026

An edition of the Epic of Gilgamesh

See full text

– Yasmine Mahmoud, 2026

This paper investigates the depiction of cooks on the walls of the Sphinx Gate at Alaca Höyük. [The paper directly involves Urkesh since the Author presents as a comparison for the depictions of cooks at Alaca Höyük also a sealing unearthed at Tell Mozan: more in detail, on p. 81, the Author mentions a seal impression of the female cook (named Tuli) of queen Uqnitum, i.e. seal h3, displayed on p. 128, Fig. 26 of this paper (source for this image: Buccellati, Kelly-Buccellati 1998, p. 209, Fig. V.a). Moreover, on p. 80, the Author also mentions a specific type of traditional wooden churn which is described in Buccellati, Kelly-Buccellati 1998, for which see illustration in Buccellati, Kelly-Buccellati 1998, p. 209, Fig. V.b (reported in the present paper as Fig. 25).] See abstract Alternative text [Academia.edu] See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2022

The present contribution deals in general with the ethnicity of Hurrian people, discussing both methodological issues and actual archaeological and textual elements hinting to the identification of a specific ethnic group which eventually ended in the constitution of the ‘kingdom of Mittani’.

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

The basic topic of the present paper deals with the identification of Hurrian ethnicity, firstly addressing a methodological question on how archaeologists perceive the ‘Hurrian problem’ (or, maybe better, the ‘enquiry about Hurrians’).

See full text See abstract

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

Going beyond treating material remains merely as evidence for reconstructing social or cultural processes, archaeology should focus on how material conditions enabled forms of human existence and action. The central question is not simply what happened in the past, but how human presence was shaped through its engagement with the material world. This shifts archaeological theory toward questions of materiality, agency, and human becoming, rather than solely interpretation and explanation.

– Giorgio Buccellati, 2026

“The Nuzi Ware found in Eastern Mediterranean and Upper Mesopotamia during the Late Bronze Age display similarities with the Kamares Ware of the Aegean world in terms of decoration. Symbolic motifs such as papyrus plants and double-axe observed on the examples found in the western distribution of Nuzi Ware were also frequently used in Aegean cultures. Not only the decoration but also the use of light painting on a dark background technique style is similar. Although both wares spread in different periods and geographies, their possible connection brought about the discussion of the interaction between these cultures. It allows us to understand the effects of maritime connection activities in the Mediterranean in the 2nd millennium B.C. on cultures. This study argues that the Aegean influences on Nuzi Ware emerged as a result of the interaction between two regions” (Author’s abstract). [Tell Mozan is openly quoted on pp. 326-327.] DOI See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

In this paper, G. Beckman discusses the circulation and the knowledge of Gilgamesh’s saga within the Hittite Empire: for sure, on a literary perspective, it is well known that some tablets found in the Hittite capital recorded two Akkadian versions of his tales, later translated also in Hittite and Hurrian. See abstract See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

Using three examples of emerging incongruities in world archaeology, this theoretical paper explores systematic and underlying epistemological problems in orthodox archaeology. The examples analysed were chosen to illustrate three fundamental types of issues: the influence of a popular fad, the effects of overinterpretation of inevitably skewed and ideology-influenced data, and the consequences of employing an inadequate epistemological framework of processing data in deriving interpretations. These considerations lead to the proposition that a paradigmatic shift is essential, particularly in Pleistocene archaeology, to prevent the discipline from sliding into epistemological stagnation. [Published abstract]

The article gives a stong argument in support of the need to more clearly distinguishing between documentation and inference; it does not focus on the epistemic dimension of data recovery as such.

See full text jstor

– Giorgio Buccellati, 2026

The volume consists of five chapters about Philistines, informing about iconography, history, artefacts, and symbolisms of this culture. See abstract See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

«Oriental Institute’s “Syrian-Hittite Expedition” carried on operations in the Amuq (the Plain of Antioch) from 1932 to 1938. As its original name implies, the expedition was expected to concern itself mainly with the archeology of the late, so-called “Hittite,” kingdoms that flourished in northern Syria especially in the early first millennium B.C. This is the second volume on the results of the Expedition’s work» (Publisher’s website).

PDF downloadable at this link

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

The scholar presents a study on the first attested representations of gods in Mesopotamia, discussing about cultic statues and symbols, gods’ attributes and representation, mythology, and glyptic. See abstract See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

Cf. also Brustolon- Rova 2008 Leilan.

PDF available at the this link

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

«The article summarises the results of the analysis of the 1995-collected 4th millennium B.C. ceramic assemblages from the Tell Leilan Regional survey. The fine periodisation adopted –based on well stratified ceramic sequences and recent comparative studies–, allows to follow settlement dynamics in detail. The first part of the period (LC 1-2) shows an increase in the number of village-sized settlements homogeneously distributed on the territory, followed, during the LC 3, by a phase of incipient nucleation, and, between the LC 3 and the LC 4, by the development of the first regional site-size hierarchy. The LC 4 phase is also marked by the appearance of southern Uruk ceramics in the area, possibly accompanied by a limited physical presence of foreigners. Most settlements appear to have been abandoned by the LC 5 period; and occupation remains sparse until the first centuries of the 3rd millennium» (Authors’ abstract).

Cf. also Brustolon- Rova 2007 Leilan.

PDF available at the this link

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

An introduction to palace architecture in pre-classical Syria.

See publisher homepage

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

“The article presents an examination of the cost of construction, in terms of working hours and manpower, of three contemporary 2nd millennium private houses from areas TA and TB at Nippur, calculated using energetic algorithms from the EnCAB digital publication” (Author’s abstract on p. 85). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2022

A review of a publication presenting economic texts dated to the Ur III dynasty (ca. 2000 BC), related to transactions of goods between different places and administrations. The reviewer underlines the wealth of the published documentation and the importance of the discussion of many technical names and titles involving public administration and craft production. The reviewer only stresses the lackness of a full publication of the original cuneiform transcriptions, since the author only provides the transliteration of the texts. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

A review of two publications displaying the history of ancient Syria, so important for the events involving the Bible and the history of Israel. The fist volume (by Michelini Tocci) mainly focuses on the period of Mari (first half of 18th cent. BC), but adding information about other coeval entities (e.g. Yamkhad, Karkemish, Elakhut, Ugarit, Qatna, and Byblos). The second reviewed volume (by Liverani) mostly deals with the history of Ugarit/Ras Shamra, focusing on its rich archival documentation (ca. beginning 14th-end 13th cent. BC), preserving international political documents (treaties and letters) and local administrative sources (transactions, legal acts, and economical texts). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

A review of a volume (divided in seven chapters) devoted to the analysis of the Amorite names from the archives of Mari: the investigation is really noteworthy, since the author provides a strict grammatical analysis of around 303 lexical elements componing ancient Amorite personal names. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

The volume is divided into two parts, dealing with linguistic affiliation of the Amorites and their history, respectively. See abstract See full text [Part 1] See full text [Part 2]

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

This study about ancient Syrian political entities streams directly from “a doctoral dissertation submitted in October 1958 to the Facoltà di Lettere of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan. The title of the dissertation was: Studi sull’ordinamento politico dei regni d’Israele e di Giuda. The dissertation was accepted and publication was recommended. Part of it was published in 1959 in the magazine Bibbia e Oriente under the title: Da Saul a David. The rest is embodied in this book which, however, is different in scope from the original dissertation. During the years spent in Chicago (especially in the summers of 1961 and 1963) I have been able to include a larger amount of material and to elaborate afresh the presentation. A comparison between the tide of 1958 and the present title will show the shift in emphasis which has occurred in the meantime” (from Author’s Preface on p. 7). See full text (Preface and Introduction only)

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

A review of a volume collecting Sumerian and Akkadian mythology, described by the reviewer as such: “Planned as a survey of Sumerian and Akkadian myths for the Italian public, the present book may be divided into three parts, of different character and value” (p. 165). The first part offers an introduction about mythology in ancient Sumer and Akkad; the second section displays “the most important Sumerian and Akkadian myths, with a description of the plot and with an added interpretative section for the most important myths” (p. 165). The last portion of the book provides the reader with seven Sumerian myths translated for the first time in Italian, followed by a critical apparatus. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

A review of a volume related to the development of the kingdom of Urartu, stressing the distinction between the two entities of Nairi and I/Ur(u)aṭri (13th-9th cent. BC), underlining the contacts between these powers and Assyria, and eventually turning the attention to the ethnic problem of affiliation of Urartu with the former Hurrian people. See full text [from JSTOR] JSTOR stable URL

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

The authors reports here the texts of three conferences delivered at Rome in 1971, all related to wisdom documentation in Akkadian literature; the final text is entitled “Gilgamesh in chiave sapienziale: l’umiltà dell’anti-eroe” [“Gilgamesh Under a Wisdom Perspective: the Humility of an Anti-Hero” (English translation by mDP). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

G. Buccellati describes in this paper (presenting a volume in honour of I.J. Gelb) the ‘ferment’ that involved Near Eastern archaeology (and mostly, archaeology in Syria) at the time this contribution has been published: new investigations, both on the field and in museums’ storerooms, led to a much more updated interpretation of the data. See abstract See full text Alternative online version [JSTOR]

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

G. Buccellati retraces in this contribution the paths towards the fundation (in 1973-1974) of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the UCLA, stressing the purposes of such an institution: “ The scope of its research interests reaches as far as there is something to recover from the soil which is meaningful for the undesrstanding of our cultural past” (p. 1). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

The historical analysis proposed by M.B. Rowton [see, as for the present topic, JNES 35/1 (1976), pp. 13-20 (JSTOR)], namely the so-defined ‘structural approach’ (i.e. the attempt to understand historical events as an organic process), is discussed in this paper focused on the problem of the capiru and their definition as ‘fugitives’: since another Akkadian term, munnabtūtu, means almost the same, the author addresses the question of how we could better define the first lemma. See abstract See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

“The single epigraphic find of the second season came from the surface, not far from one of the regular excavation units. It is a small administrative document of the same type as those from Mari dated to the period of the šakkunakku’s. Its importance lies in the inherent implications of (1) close links with Mari at that period, (2) well established archival procedures at Terqa earlier than known heretofore, and (3) possibly a special linguistic affiliation for Terqa in the early periods” (Author’s abstract on p. 1). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

The author clealy states the topic of this contribution at its very beginning: “The evidence for the first «cities» in Mesopotamia is relatively rich and well-differentiated: in addition to the archaeological record, which shows a clear pattern of physical growth from smaller to larger settlements, we have the first known written documents which begin, precisely, in the wake of the «urban revolution»” (Author’s abstract on p. 19). G. Buccellati leads the reader through an analysis of the socio-political (and economical) key-reasons that resulted in the so-called ‘urban revolution’. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

The author clealy states the topic of this contribution at its very beginning: “The evidence for the first «cities» in Mesopotamia is relatively rich and well-differentiated: in addition to the archaeological record, which shows a clear pattern of physical growth from smaller to larger settlements, we have the first known written documents which begin, precisely, in the wake of the «urban revolution»” (Author’s abstract on p. 19). G. Buccellati leads the reader through an analysis of the socio-political (and economical) key-reasons that resulted in the so-called ‘urban revolution’. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

The quthor retraces in this paper the development of writing from its origin streaming to the consequent beginning of history, eventually facing the topic of the ‘cybernetic revolution’. Here a sketch of the content: ‘Energy as the measure of Effectiveness’; ’ Intellectual Presuppositions’; ‘Technnical Antecedents’; ‘The New Extrasomatic Extension’; ‘The New Categorization System’. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

This paper deals with a theoretical insight into the main principles of stylistic analysis of ancient texts, namely those written Akkadian. The starting point of the discussion moves from a precise statement on the definition of the term ‘style’. See abstract See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

A short but very useful manual about the definition of ‘section’ in archaeology (defining different types of sections), describing to beginners or students the basic concepts related to stratigraphy and section recording and drawing. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

In this paper, the author “suggest[s] a cultic setting for the story” of the Sumerian Descent of Inanna. See abstract See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

Introductory speech addressed by G. Buccellati, as representative of the participants at the conference held at Deir ez-Zor in 1983, about the situation of archaeological research in the country. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

“The primary purpose of this new journal is the dissemination of tools for the use of electronic data processing in the various disciplines which deal with the Near East. It is natural, of course, that many of the results obtained in this area would also be of interest for other areas of the humanities and the social sciences” (p. 1). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

Terqa’s final report regarding the archive of Puzurum. The introduction displays, after a paragraph of acknowledgments, the presentation of the final repot itself, offering stratigraphic considerations related to Puzurum’s ‘archive’ and texts from other areas, concluding with historical considerations. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

A critic review of one of the volume of the ‘Cambridge Ancient History’, devoted to the presentation of the prehistory of the Balkans and the Middle East and Aegean World (10th-8th cent. BC). The author stresses some more general criticisms, going beyond the volume itself: “Finally, I wish to note that the criticisms advanced here are as much a commentary on the discipline as on the book itself. It is somewhat like the converse of the mirror on the wall in Snow White’s story. The Cambridge Ancient History reflects only what is at hand, it does not of its own generate new domains of thought, it does not point, beyond the reflection of current standards, to a more promising line of research” (p. 1055). See full text JSTOR stable URL

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

The topic of this contribution is immediately stated at the beginning: “One of the interesting aspects of the epigraphic finds at Terqa is the distribution which they exhibit throughout the site. This phenomenon deserves special attention, particularly when our finds are compared to those of the great archives of other ancient Syrian capitals” (p. 102). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

A review of a book telling about the concept of violence in antiquities and in modern times, stressing how “The most gratifying task of the humanist is to recapture the experience of the past, re-embedding it in our own experience”. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

A short contribution reflecting on the development of computers used in archaeological field, stressing how new technologies can provide scholars with up-to-date systems of recording and analysis. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

In this brief paper, G. Buccellati offers an introduction to archaeology in Syria, stressing the importance of some emerging discoveries, such as the excavations of the ancient cities of Ebla, Mari and Ugarit, and further discussing their connections to the Mesopotamian world. See abstract Alternative online version (JSTOR) See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

A draft paper devoted to the literary analysis of the famous episode of the first encounter between Gilgamesh and Enkidu; the author investigates the background, the structure, the message (both linear and non-linear), and the poetry, lying behind the episode itself. After references, the author eventually provides an autograph copy (by A. Westenholz), the transcription and the translation of the Old Babylonian Pennsylvania tablet discussed in the contribution. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

In this brief paper, G. Buccellati offers an introduction to archaeology in Syria, stressing the importance of some emerging discoveries, such as the excavations of the ancient cities of Ebla, Mari and Ugarit, and further discussing their connections to the Mesopotamian world. See abstract Alternative online version (JSTOR) See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

A paper discussing on the importance of a digital and technological approach in archaeological and historical studies. Starting back from 1968, G. Buccellati traces the paths of the diffusion and spread in the use of computer in Mesopotamian studies, stressing the benefits and the advantages that this technology led both in recording data and in disseminating knowledge between scholars. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

“This paper is the second in a series of ‘Studies in Ebla Graphemics,’ of which the first has appeared in Studi Eblaiti 5 (1982) 39-74 (also in Russian translation in Drevnia Ebla, Moscow 1985, 114-132). The paper reproduces the substance of the text as delivered at the meeting in Idlib, and deals primarily with matters of data structure and file format […]. A differentiated study of outputs like these allows to reach significant conclusions about cooccurrence, covariation, non-occurrence of given phenomena, with a speed and accuracy that remains practically impossible without the computer. And it is precisely on such observations of facts that we can base a distributional type of analysis which is the safest means of attributing meaning to the data” (pp. 1, 8). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

A short report about excavations conducted at Qraya, a small Uruk period site north of Terqa, describing “some experimental work undertaken in 1989 to test certain aspects of a theory pertaining both the nature of the ancient occupation at the site and the function of the stratigraphic assemblage of which the bevelled rim bowls are a part, [suggesting] that Qraya was a commercial station for salt procurement” (quotation from pp. 9-10, adapted by mDP). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

This paper discusses on the term and the historical entity defined as ‘Syro-Mesopotamia’, investigating topics related to etimology, archaeology, history, geography, and philology. The present contribution has to be considered as a part of a wider project, as explained by the author: “It is with much admiration that I am offering these reflections to a scholar [J.-R. Kupper] who came to serve on different occasions as a standard of reference for my own studies, […] during my work on the Amorites or, later, […] during my work at Terqa. The larger research, of which this article is a part, builds broadly on his own pioneering work. Some of the points raised here were first presented during a paper I read at the University of Arizona in 1986. In its present form, this is the last in a series of six articles currently in press or in preparation which deal with the history and geography of ancient Khana. The sequence of articles is as follows: (1) “Salt at the Dawn of History: The Case of the Bevelled Rim Bowls” […];
(2) “’River Bank’, ‘High Country’, and ‘Pasture Land’ : The Growth of Nomadism on the Middle Euphrates and the Khabur” […];
(3) “The Rural Landscape of the ancient Zor : The Terqa Evidence” […];
(4) “The Kingdom and Period of Khana” […];
(5) “The People of Terqa and Their Names” [in preparation];
(6) “From Khana to Laqê : The End of Syro-Mesopotamia” (published here). The current version of this article is rather programmatic in nature. I plan to eventually integrate it, as well as the other articles of the series, into a full-size monograph and at that time I will include a fuller documentation and argumentation than is possible here. I will also include there proper cartographic and photographic illustrations of the geographical phenomena described” (p. 230, note *). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

A review of a book about ancient Damascus: “Following a straightforward chronological thread, Wayne T. Pitard reviews the evidence pertaining to the city of Damascus and its immediate region until the time when Damascus became a province of the Assyrian empire. As a city-state, Damascus was a political entity as well as a settlement, and it is exclusively the political aspect of the city’s history that can today be the object of scholarly investigation, because Damascus as a settlement (for pre-Hellenistic times) is either buried or obliterated, at any rate inaccessible” (p. 141). In the end, the reviewer expresses this evaluation: “A historian will look at the book as a factual resource tool in which data are sorted chronologically in a manner that is commendably reliable and exhaustive. The ‘historical study’ heralded in the subtitle, on the other hand, remains part of the agenda” (p. 141). DOI See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

This contribution deals with the concept and actual definition of the term ‘nomadism’ analyzed within a specific area (the Middle Euphrates and the Khabur), investigating how nomadic people played a specific and peculiar role in urban development and growth in social complexity in that geographical zone: “The goal of my presentation is to reflect on some of the presuppositions which may help us focus more sharply on the data we are excavating. If there is something of a general research design that we all broadly share as we wield our tools on the rich mounds of the Khabur plains it is the expectation that we are dealing with major and distinctive political and ethnic configurations. […] In my paper I would like to look at the question of the socio-ethnic configuration of the populations of the Middle Euphrates and the Khabur from the point of view of the ancient geographical perception of the landscape as documented in the texts” (p. 88). [A specific mention of Urkesh is on p. 112: “What is presumed to be the major third millennium Hurrian center, the capital of Tiš-atal and the seat of the main Hurrian god Kumarbi, i.e. the city of Urkiš, is also in all probability to be found in the Khabur plains, although no conclusive evidence has as yet been discovered to link it with certainty to any specific site in the Khabur plains”.] See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

The author analyzes in this contribution the actual geographical, rural landscape of ancient Syria, according to Terqa documentation: “The present paper deals with the rural landscape of the ancient zor [a term used to define the riverbank bush or a narrow farming strip] on the basis primarily of the texts from terqa. I will look at the physical landscape, referring in particular to the perception which the inhabitants had (and express in their texts) of the physical dimension of their zor environment” (p. 157). On pp. 168-169, the discussion following the author’s lecture is fully reported. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

In this paper, the author investigates the salt production at Qraya, attested and argued on the basis of the founding of many bevelled-rim bowls [for a brief information about this project, see supra Buccellati 1990d]. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

“Within the purview of this notel I will argue for a particular meaning of the term muškēnum from the point of view not of lexical, but rather of broader historical considerations. I will do this by reconstructing a certain distributional array pertaining to Old Babylonian land tenure, with particular reference to data from Terqa. In this array, the term muškēnum is not opposed directly to awīlum or, for that matter, to any other term denoting a social class; rather, it is associated with a set of terms which together refer to an institutional phenomenon juxtaposed to a corresponding, contrasting phenomenon, for which a correlative set of terms obtains” (pp. 91-92). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

In this paper, the author investigates the historical relationships between Ebla and the Amorites. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2022

“This article is in the nature of an interim report on a project of onomastic analysis of the Ebla personal names, which is in turn part of a larger project called Cybernetica Mesopotamica. The purpose of this paper is to outline the conceptual and technical aspects of the onomastic data base; while a fuller assessment of the system will be possible only upon its publication in a complete version, this interim report will focus on the methodological presuppositions” (p. 105). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

This contribution discusses the peculiar features of the Amorites as nomadic people (at the very beginning), able to ‘domesticate’ the steppe; the author further explores different theories about the ‘dimorphic’ nature of Amorites’ tribes, their language affiliation, their relations with Syrian cities, and their final settling in stable cities The second part of the paper investigates the ethnic identity of the Amorites, defined as specific through their language and their common origins. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

In this paper, the author attempts a possible ‘virtual’ reconstruction of some important Akkadian monuments (actually lost), mostly basing such a reconstruction on descriptions of these monuments attested in Old Babylonian documents. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2022

A wide discussion about Eblaite and Amorite names, displaying personal names (analyzed through name composition-schemes and for what concerns semiotics and name-giving), divine names, and geographical names. A first paragraph is devoted to the definition of the different Semitic language groups, pointing out three remarks against a too simplistic dirrentiation into three groups (Old Akkadian, Amorite, and Eblaite). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

“Irreversibly, the unfolding of human history has led to an ever-growing expansion of our collective consciousness. The accretion of experience has never reached a ceiling beyond which further expansion either would be impossible or could occur only at the expense of other experience previously acquired. Like a diamond able to grow outwardly in size and inwardly in clarity, cumulated human experience leads to an evergreater depth of perception. Here lies the worth of culture, which serves as the mechanism for the transmission of personal experience at the social level, and here lies the beauty of history, which helps tell how it all happened” (p. 1685). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

A structural analysis of Babylonian language. Companion website See text (cover, table of content, and introduction)

– Marco De Pietri, 2022

Throughout the analysis of mythological and historical documentation from Mesopotamia, the author reflects on the topic of the differentiation of spaces and realms as ‘public’ and ‘private’, emerging during the so-called ‘urban revolution’, comparing the urban society with the pre-urban villages scattered in the Syro-Mesopotamian area. This differentiation was supported by five factors: 1) political control; 2) manufacturing technology; 3) writing system(s); 4) differentiation of social ranks; 5) detachment of the concept of ‘law’ from ‘custom’. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

G. Buccellati offers in this paper an overview on Akkadian and Amorite phonological system. See abstract See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

In this book review, the author discusses some major topics about archaeology and addresses several questions on how to perceive and define basic problems in this field. The author proposes to publish firstly not depositional inferences but emplacement data (see on this topic the approach of the Urkesh Global Record). See abstract See full text See full text (JSTOR)

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

“I have stressed that the devices described above are not to be seen in isolation: in and of themselves, they are fragmented views of a single organic whole, which is all the more successful the more the parts are, precisely, integrated with each other. Ultimately, it is for our sensitivity as readers to recreate their unity in our perception of the work. This is what has been called so aptly the ‘secret kinship’ of the parts within the whole of a living poetic text (Jakobson)” (author’s Summary on p. 76, adapted by mDP). See abstract See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

As for the content of the reviewed publication: “The result of an important interdisciplinary effort, this volume gathers the contributions of a number of scholars with a variety of interests. The more obvious subdivision is that between ancient and modern data - four chapters being concerned with the former, and six with the latter. They all share equally an interest for archaeology and geography, and to a more limited extent for the ethnography. See abstract See full text See full text (JSTOR)

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

A paper telling the history of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, recalling some of the most important goals of this Institution, and presenting a balance of the main results. Under a methodological point of view, the author makes many references to his paper “An Archaeologist on Mars”. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

The author reflects in this paper about the distinction between the concepts of -emic and etic under a linguistic and archaeological perspective: “In my view, the basic underlying concept is the distinction between an open and a closed system, where -etic refers to the first, and -emic to the second” (p. 12). The last concept is then well-explained with a concrete example, i.e. the perception and formal definition of colours in the archaeological recording process and in the common life, too (mentioning the example of the spotlights). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

G. Buccellati presents in this contribution some thoughts about the logic of the archaeological discipline, underlining the importance of establishing a proper ‘grammar’: “Frequent though it is in common parlance, the term ‘non-linear’ generally exhibits a vague frame of reference (it has a precise meaning in some technical contexts such as mathematics or physics). Perhaps by virtue of its novelty and of the inadequate definition generally given of it, the very term ‘non-linear’ is evoked with almost a sense of awe (I retain here the hyphenated spelling to emphasize the contrast with ‘linear’). An explanation of its import may help to put both term and concept in sharper focus” (p. 37). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

The topic of this paper focuses on the origin of the tribe, under an archaeological and historical perspective, crossing this theme with the development of agropastoralism in Syro-Mesopotamia, by the 19th BC, mostly stressing the features related to the Amorites: “By the 19th century BCE, most of Syro-Mesopotamia had come under the political control of dynasties whose rulers, as well as many of their subjects, had common onomastics and presumably a common ethnic origin. The people behind this movement are known to us as ‘Amorites,’ an English gentilic derived from the Hebrew version of the original name Amurrum” (p. 37). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

Digital thought represents the core of this contribution: after a first step when writing was invented, human beings experimented the birth of “extra-somatic embodiment of intellectual constructs”, i.e. ‘things’, intended as “an object independent of the mental processes that had produced them” (p. 46). The second fundamental step was represented by the introduction of the printing press, providing a wider public with a larger ‘publication’ of information and thoughts. The third step is represented by the introduction of computers and the diffusion of a ‘digital thought’, characterized by wider aspects of discontinuity and fluidity, leading to a fragmentation and integration, influenced by features of non-linearity (for which see supra, Buccellati 2007], strictly connected to a specific ‘grammar’). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

“The commitment to digitize the texts of the Ebla archive was made very early, during the first meeting, in 1977, of the International Committee for the Publication of the Texts of Ebla, just two years after the discovery of the archive. That was my specific task within the Committee, and the goal was to provide the colleagues with a computerized data base that could be used as an in-house resource. This was in line with a similar research project I had undertaken in 1968 with regard to Old Babylonian letters, and in working on both projects it became clear that graphemic analysis was an indispensable component of this research. On the one hand, it was necessary to develop coding and tagging procedures that would allow for a more coherent definition of the data than was possible with the standard transliteration system (the numerals being a case in point). On the other, it became immediately clear how desirable it was to exploit fully the unsuspected potential of the system as a way to develop a more clearly articulated approach to graphemics analysis as such”. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

The paper is devoted to a re-analysis of EA (Amarna Letter) 164, written by Aziru, king of Amurru, to the high Egyptian official Tutu at Akhetaten, during the Amarna period (ca. 1353-1336 BC). The focus of the contribution deals with the re-interpretation of the mention of an Egyptian deity, whose name is written in Akkadian as DINGIRA, previously interpreted as a reference to the god Amun (in 1915, by Otto Schroeder). See abstract See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

Archaeological theory (described in the first section of this paper) is here understood on the basis of a philosophical and linguistical approach, after many studies on this topic and the definition of a ‘contextual archaeology’ by I. Hodder [see e.g. Hodder and Hutson, on CAR website, by mDP] and the perspective of cognitive sciences (C. Renfrew); see e.g. Renfrew, on CAR website, by Giacomo Fornasieri. See abstract See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

“It was in the Upper Paleolithic, or late stone age (50000-10000 B.C.), that an articulate confrontation with time first became a reality. The general cultural context was that of art and language: they both show how humans could begin to relate to their own brain functions as reified items, through which perception acquired an existence of its own. But the most specific evidence of this wholly new mental process, and the one that is most directly linked to our topic, is found in documents from the same general period that offer explicit notations of time sequences on bone and stone. See abstract See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

“It was in the Upper Paleolithic, or late stone age (50000-10000 B.C.), that an articulate confrontation with time first became a reality. The general cultural context was that of art and language: they both show how humans could begin to relate to their own brain functions as reified items, through which perception acquired an existence of its own. But the most specific evidence of this wholly new mental process, and the one that is most directly linked to our topic, is found in documents from the same general period that offer explicit notations of time sequences on bone and stone. See abstract See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

“Kant’s critical concern was aimed at separating clearly the categorial dimension of human reason from the perceptual dimension. A basic assumption that underlies his entire philosophical system (and, for that matter, all of philosophy) is that perception and pure reason coexist in human beings, and have to be clearly separated in order to give pure reason its due. In this perspective, the beginning of pure reason coincides with the beginning of humankind, and a critical approach lays bare what has always been there: a transcendental dimension whereby the apriori operates, as it were, on perception. But what if there was a time when cognition rested only on perception, with no logical overlay at all? It is precisely in this light that we may look at the immensely long pre-linguistic stage of the genus homo. Against this background, the emergence of language and categorial thought, after some two million years of purely perceptual cognition, can indeed be considered a full scale revolution” (p. 47).See abstract See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

«Taking the work on the graphemic and morphemic analysis of the cuneiform texts of Ebla as a starting point, the paper reviews the ‘grammatical’ criteria that make digital coding not only more efficient and dynamic, but also intellectually more in tune with the goal of establishing an argument and unfolding a narrative. This throws light on aspects of software application on the one hand (such as the semantic web) and of the digital humanities on the other, ranging from textual to archaeological data» (Author’s abstract on p. 169).

See full text [DOI 10.14277/6969-182-9/ANT-14-12]

Full volume

– Marco De Pietri, 2025

“Awīliš īwē. It is one of the most beautiful sentences in Mesopotamian literature: Enkidu ‘transformed himself into the nature of man.’ But more properly we should translate: ‘into the nature of a civilized being’ -; because to be truly man (awīlum) means to be ‘a son of a city.’ As for Enkidu in the Gilgamesh poem, ‘naturalize’ therefore means, ‘civilize,’ and not ‘humanize,’ a not insignificant difference. In this short essay I wish to explore this difference in more detail […].” (p. 37, English translation by mDP.) [This paper deals with the topic of human nature and the concept/process of civilization as it is described in ancient Mesopotamian literature.]. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2023

“The cosmological view of reality developed within a mindset that was conditioned by the origin and early development of logical thought and of language: the earliest form we have is the one that was shaped ‘historiogenetically,’ by the literate civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt. The paper will highlight its extremely old prehistory, which can be characterized as pre-logical and pre-linguistic, lasting some two million years, and its culmination in the earliest stages of logic and language, some sixty thousand years ago. I will aim to show how in this period the germs developed that made eventually possible the reflection of the early ‘symbolists’ who, as Voegelin writes, ‘were clearly not satisfied with merely relating [the facts]; they wanted to link them, through an act of mythopoiesis, with the emergence of order in the cosmos.’ My thesis is that these early ‘symbolists’ had not only ‘historical materials’ at their disposal, but also an embryonic sense of order that had been developed by their prehistoric confrères” (Author’s abstract on p. 129). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2022

In this paper (supplemented with and editorial by Danila Iacovelli and a commentary paper by Paolo Paolini), the author deals with the concept of “digital discourse” and the new oppurtunities that digitality provides us to better understand and study ancient history. The contribution discusses the historical importance of the birth of language and logical thought, which “marks a radical change in the relationship to nature” (p. 128), and the later “invention” of writing, which is seen as a mean by which “actions and abstract concepts can also be so coded and referenced to” (p. 129). Digitality (and the related digital thought) enables us to further extend our capabilities in knowing and communicating, since it allows to link a fragment of information to a coherent whole by active (“searching”) and passive means (“hyperlinks”). In the third section of this paper, the author explains the difference between an “electronic discourse” (e-discourse, which “refers to a human discourse applied to data that are available in electronic format”, p. 134) and a “digital discourse” (d-discourse, which is “a discourse that is in itself structured digitally”, p. 134). In the last section, the author presents his “multi-planar model/argument”, which represents “our ability to perceive the whole through an immensely greater univers of fragments” (p. 139), a new approach and methodology which can be applied to websites as a “new ‘form’ of humanism [which] will truly trans-form our way knowing reality, our epistemology” (p. 139). [This paper is the result of a conference held on November 16, 2021 at the “Politecnico di Milano” (Italy); the recording of this event can be found at the following link, divided into two parts: Part 1 and Part 2.] See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2022

A brief reports on the UCLA survey of the desertic areas Palmyrene and the Jebel Bishri (North Syria), conducted in August 1966, aiming to find out archaeological attestations of Bronze Age period. See abstract Alternative online version (JSTOR) See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

The paper reports the most important archaeological investigations undertaken in the area of Terqa/Tell Ashara between 1966 and 1976 by the American team of the UCLA. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

“It is the purpose of this new journal to contribute toward focusing the attention of fellow scholars on such an emerging historiographic horizon, the one which is expressed by the adjective used in the title -; Syro-Mesopotamian. The finds at Tell Mardikh, ancient Ebla, are clearly the single most spectacular pointer in such a direction; but they are not the only ones, nor can they adequately be understood if seen in a vacuum. The overriding importance at Ebla of the cuneiform tradition in general, and of Sumerian in particular, are already a clear evidence of the strong and fundamental ties with Southern Mesopotamia” (p. 1). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

“New excavations at ancient Terqa (modern cAshāra, in Syria) were carried out by American teams in 1975 and 1976, and are planned to continue for several years. Beginning a new type of modular preliminary reports, this fascicle concentrates on the substantive and methodological premises of the excavations and on the stratigraphic record of the two seasons of 1975 and 1976” (Authors’ abstract on p. 73, adapted by mDP). See abstract Alternative online version (Undena Publications) See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

The present and the following entries refer to a magazine contribution published in two issues, all devoted to the presentation to the wider public of the most important archaeological discoveries made in Syria, displaying the history of the pivotal archaeological sites. this first issue focuses on earlier sites such as Ebla, Mari, Urkesh, Terqa, and Qraya [a reference is also presented to the eibition “Ebla to Damascus: Art and Archaeology of Ancient Syria” hosted at the Natural History Museum from March 15 to June 1, 1986]. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

See previous entry for a wider summary; this second section is mostly focused on Ugarit, Aleppo, and Palmira, with a particulary emphasis on the key-role of these centers within the framework of both the Bronze and the Iron Age, stressing the ‘international’ artistic style typical of this area, presenting an interesting insight about the Arameans [a reference is also presented to the eibition “Ebla to Damascus: Art and Archaeology of Ancient Syria” hosted at the Natural History Museum from March 15 to June 1, 1986]. See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

A report of the most important results from the excavations at the ancient city of Qraya is here presented: after a fist paragraph about the history of the excavations, a second paragraph sketches the significance of this site in the landscape of ancient Northern Syria. A third paragraph presents the publication program of all the results achieved by the UCLA mission. The paper is ended by the aknowledgments to the major sponsors and official supporters of the mission. The importance of the excavations on this site is briefly stressed in the very last sentences: “Started and carried out under salvage project conditions, the work at Qraya is now yielding evidence of considerable significance for the understanding of the earliest period of human civilization in Syria and the Near East. We trust that our continued cooperative work at the site will yield ever more abundant fruits in the future” (p. 7). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

One of the most important topics for the Urkesh team, also under a theoretical perspective, is indeed that of the role played by archaeologists working in a land affected by war and political instability (as Syria). The site of Tell Mozan = Urkesh offers the chance to reflect on themes such as the moral commitment of an archaeologists dealing with local communities in trouble. See abstract See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

“The third season of excavations at Tell Ziyada, a small site on the banks of the Khabur in the Salvage Project area south of Hassaka, Syria, took place in May-June 1990” (p. 7), conducted by an UCLA team, under the general direction of Giorgio Buccellati and the field direction of Daniela Buia Quinn (during the first two seasons) and Stephen Reimer (1990). See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2020

“Human females and males make very different contributions to the process of reproduction. Females conceive and incubate the embryo/fetus within their bodies for nine months, with concomitant inconveniences and health risks such as pica, high blood pressure, hemorrhoids, and potential death during pregnancy (especially in cases of incompatible, positive/negative blood types) or parturition. Should the infant be born healthy, the female might make an additional multi-year physical investment in breast-feeding” [publisher’s online abstract (from p. 30).] See full text Alternative online version (publisher website)

– Marco De Pietri, 2023

This book, mostly for Italian readers, is considered as an introductive manual to archaeological stratigraphy and practices for beginners. After a forward and an introduction, the author presents a second (more focused) introduction on stratigraphy and excavation technique. See abstract See full text

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

After a preface, the author presents some reflections about some topic concerning the archaeological work and the deontology of an archaeologist both as a specialist and as a human being, likewise. See abstract See full text (publisher’s page)

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

An insightful Review to the processes whereby the Internet is changing our cognitive habits, with an emphasis on the negative aspects such as the decrease of concentration and reflection. It develops an interesting parallel with the theory of “scientific management” as developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor. See full text

– Giorgio Buccellati, 2005

An updated catalog of cylinder seals from Alalakh/Tell Atchana.

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

«The hitherto published archeological material excavated by the Oriental Institute of Chicago in the Diyala region is completed by a new very important work of P. Delougaz about pottery. By the term of the “Diyala region” is meant a small area east of the Diyala river, tributary of the Tigris near Baghdad. Here the Oriental Institute of Chicago undertook from 1930 to 1937 several consecutive campaigns at the four ancient sites of Khafajah, Tell Asmar, Tell Agrab, and Ishchali. The pottery discovered there by the Iraq Expedition of the Oriental Institute with the material unearthed during two seasons at Khafajah by the University Museum of Pennsylvania and American Schools of Oriental Research in 1937/38 is the subject of this publication. That the pottery from these four sites not far from each other is treated as a whole has the advantage of helping to trace the development of individual types much better than in dealing with insufficient material from one place only.» (publisher’s summary).

PDF downloadable at this link

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

A presentation of the structure and the spatial organization of the royal palace at Mari, according to the textual evidence.

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

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– Marco De Pietri, 2024

«Analytical methods of the Geosciences that have been steadily applied in the last decades in archaeological and historical investigations of ancient societies have yielded substantial contribution to answer various archaeological and historical questions. For this Ph.D. thesis research, two geological methods; petrographic (thin section analysis) and geochemical (X-ray fluorescence analyses) methods were applied to throw light on some archaeological questions related to a variety of selected ancient ceramics. The main goal of the study was to determine the provenance and production technology of three Early Bronze Age (ca. 2800-2000 BC.) ceramics (the so called Dark Rimmed Orange Bowl Ware (DROB-ware), Gray Ware, and North Mesopotamian metallic ware), from northeast Syria and southeast Anatolia and the Late Chalcolithic to the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 3500-1500 BC.) Kura-Araxes ware from Sos Höyük in eastern Anatolia.

In addition, five different Middle Bronze, Late Bronze/Early Iron Age (ca. 2000 to 800 BC.) ceramics (Gray Ware, Brown Ware, Black Burnished Ware, Brown Burnished Ware from Site Didi Gora and Early Iron Age Fine Brick ware from Udabno I in eastern Georgia), were investigated. A total of 174 ceramic samples were analyzed by X-ray fluorescence technique for determination of major and trace element composition. A total of 92 thin-sections of selected samples were prepared and their petrography and mineralogy examined. In addition, 63 geological samples (i.e. local clay samples from the study area) and 15 ceramic sherds of known origin, one recent pot fragment and tree ceramic waste products were also examined for geochemical and petrographic comparison. Dark Rimmend Orange Bowl-ware (DROB-ware): Petrographic and geochemical invest-tigations of the Dark Rimmend Orange Bowl-ware (dated ca. 2250-2000 B.C.) from northeast Syria and southeast Anatolia, suggest that they were manufactured from local clays exposed between Diyarbakir and Bismil in South East Anatolia and then traded to northeast Syria, and as far as south of Al-Hasakah. For their production, at least two different clay sources that occur in the mentioned area were used. At first the raw materials were lavigated. The vessels were made on a turntable, and then burned at a maximum temperature of 850°C under oxidizing atmospheric conditions. This aspect is marked by their typical orange color. The analytical data point to a standardization of the production of the Dark Rimmend Orange Bowl-ware. However, this conclusion needs to be verified by further archaeometric investigations. The Grey Ware: The archaeometric analysis suggest that the Gray Ware from northeast Syria (dated ca. 2600/2550-2000 BC.), that is characterized by burnished surface treatment was produced from local clay sources in northeast Syria. At least four different clay sources exposed in the vicinity of settlement areas were used. There are different procurement pat-terns of clay for production of Gray Ware. The fine variant of the Gray Ware was produced from a single clay source, whereas the coarse one was a product of different clay sources. The clay paste of the coarse variants of Gray Ware was sometimes tampered. The finished vessels were as a rule burned in reducing atmospheric conditions and at a maximum temperature of between 800-850°C. The analytical data show that the fineness of the ware, (grain size of inclusions) can be a criterion for the archaeological classification of the Gray Ware. The well burnished surface feature can also serve as a criterion of the archaeological classification. In contrary, the color of the ceramics that is a result of different burning conditions seems not to be a reliable criterion for their archaeological classification. North Mesopotamian metallic ware: The chemical analyses of the Early Bronze Age (ca. 2800-2200 B.C.) North Mesopotamian metallic ware show that this very interesting ceramic was produced from two very different clay materials, classified according to their CaO content as calcareous metallic ware and non-calcareous metallic ware. The analyses proved that the calcareous variant of the North Mesopotamian metallic ware was produced from local clays in northeast Syria. Geochemical analyses of the present work give first hand clues about the hitherto unknown location of the clay source of the non-calcareous variant of the North Mesopotamian metallic ware. The chemical properties of this group point out that the source rock of this special clay seems to be sedimentary rocks (like slate) that have acidic chemical affinity. Within the frame of this work, one clay sample collected from Uslu Köy situated in the area of so the called Pütürge-Massive, some 35 km south west of the Elazig; province in south east Anatolia, shows great similarity in its chemical composition to the non-calcareous Group of the North Mesopotamian metallic ware. Thus, for the first time giving clues that the clay source of this ceramic might be located in this region. This is at the least an evidence of the existence of clay deposits similar to the North Mesopotamian metallic ware in this region. But this result needs to be confirmed by extensive archaeometric investigations in the region. Kura-Araxes ware: Petrographic and geochemical investigations of the Kura-Araxes Ware (i.e. Proto Kura-Araxes ware, Black Burnished ware, Kura-Araxes ware, Dark Gritty ware and Drab ware) from Sos Höyük in eastern Anatolia (dated ca. 3500 to1500 B.C), revealed that they were produced from at least four different local clay sources in Sos Höyük and/or its vicinity. No specific clay source was preferentially used for a specific ceramic type or at a certain period. As a rule, the finished vessels were burned in reducing atmosphere at a temperature below 850°C. Archaometric data further show that there was no particular change in the production technology during the Late Chalcolithic to the Middle Bronze/Late Bronze Age in Sos Höyük. The production pattern (i.e. use of various clay sources, production technology) suggests that the wares were most probably produced for household use. The analytical data of the ceramic samples of the so called Martkopie-Bedeni Culture, the Bedeni ware, suggest that they were also locally produced. They show no different production technology from the Kura-Araxes ware. Although these results might indicate an adoption of the Martkopi-Bedeni ceramic tradition by the Kura-Araxes society, but it is more plausible that the Kura-Araxes and Martkopi-Bedeni population might have coexisted in Sos Höyük (and in the Pasinler region in eastern Anatolia in general). Ceramics from Didi Gora and Udabno I: Ceramics from eastern Georgia, from the Didi Gora and Udabno I settlements consist of Middle Bronze and Late Bronze/Iron Age (2000-800 BC.) Gray ware, Brown ware, Black Burnished ware, Brown Burnished ware and Early Iron Age Fine Brick ware. Analyses show that all selected ceramics were produced from different local clay materials in eastern Georgia. It comes out that, at least two different clay sources located between Pona and Bodbizchevi localities were used for ceramic production in Didi Gora. Here also no specific clay source was preferentially used for a specific ceramic type or during specific periods. The clay material was partly tampered with, most probably by the addition of sands from Alazani River during production. The finished vessels were usually burned in reducing atmospheric conditions and at temperatures between 700-850°C. The Fine Brick ware that clearly has different clay properties from Didi Gora ceramics were produced from other clay sources. Elemental composition of the clays exposed in Patardzeuli, Ikalto and Bodbiszchevi are close to the Fine Brick ware composition. But the clay samples form Bodbiszchevi show more similarity, especially in their Cr and Sr content, thus suggesting the clay from Bodbizchevi as the most probable source of Fine Brick ware raw material. Production technology of this ceramic type is very different than the Didi Gora. The raw material was levigated and clay paste was carefully prepared. The finished vessels were burned under oxidizing atmospheric conditions and at temperatures of below 850°C» (Author’s abstract).

PDF available for downloading at this link.

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

ToC available on Academia.edu.

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

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See full text.

– Yasmine Mahmoud, 2024

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

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– Marco De Pietri, 2024

The author presents in this publication the results about the reconstruction and comparison of the ‘Tempeloval’ of Urkesh, after the excavation seasons of the DOG in 1998-2001.

See full text

See abstract

[Link to eLibrary]

– Marco De Pietri, 2019

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

«A Ninevite 5-period presumed kitchen discovered in 2010 at the site of Tell Arbid in northeastern Syria is discussed from the point of view of specific cooking installations and objects used for cooking and food processing. The kitchen was furnished with two hearths, a storage bin, two jars sunk in the floor and large fragments of pottery vessels, which could have been used for cooking, processing and storing foodstuffs. Cooking pots are the most numerous, but big bowls, common ware jars, lids and a small shovel were also part of the kitchen accessories.

(Authors’ abstract).

PDF available at this link

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

PDF available at this link

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

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– Marco De Pietri, 2024

«This study of a traditional pottery workshop in Qamishli, Syria, was undertaken in July 1999, within the framework of the Mozan/Urkesh Archaeological Project directed by Drs G Buccellati and M Kelly-Buccellati. The production at this workshop was entirely in the hands of the members of one family, the male potter making most of the ceramic containers while the women of the household built the traditional tannur or bread oven in the ancient coil method. It is suggested that the technical and social information gathered in the context of this and other living pottery workshops can be helpful in the study of ancient ceramic production techniques, as well as informative about gender issues related to the division of labour in a family production unit.» (Author’s abstract).

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

– Marco De Pietri, 2024

An updated grammar of the Hurrian language, involving also the period of the reigns of Tish-atal and Atal-shen at Urkesh.

Full PDF available on Archive.org

– Marco De Pietri, 2025