165 Boekbesprekingen — Archeologie 166 Kopanias, K

165 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ARCHEOLOGIE 166

(A) Excavation (field)/survey reports The great majority is excavation/survey reports. Most of them deal with multi period sequences but some of them are focused on single periods. Almost all of the authors offer a paragraph on the history of research of the particular site or region referencing earlier literature. Most of the papers con- tain a description of the physical-geographical, environmen- ARCHEOLOGIE tal and hydrological situation of the site or region; many projects have developed special programs for the reconstruc- KOPANIAS, K. and J. MacGINNIS (eds.) — The Archaeol- tion of the palaeo-environmental conditions. Four articles ogy of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Adjacent deal with sites outside of the region of Iraqi Kurdistan, these Regions. Archaeopress, Oxford, 2016. (29 cm, XVII, being 04 (Biglari and Shidrang), and 10 (Hozhabri), both in 455). ISBN 978-1-78491-393-9. £ 80.00. Iran, 14 (Koizumi, Yoneda, Itoh, and Kobayashi) and 31 The editors claim no less and not more than to have edited (Pulhan and Blaylock), both in Turkey. Chronologically a “the outcome of a conference” (p. XVII) ‘Archaelological line can be drawn between sites from the Common Era and Research in the Kurdistan Autonomous Region of Iraq and those from Before the Common Era. I will categorize my the Adjacent Areas’ held at the University of Athens, Novem- notes in ber 1st-3rd 2013. Well equipped with satellite images, maps, (A.1) Survey reports (including collateral soundings), plans, drawings, and photographs the book covers 41 contri- (A.2) Excavation (field) reports of sites from Common Era butions out of “… more than 100 scholars from across the (A.3) Excavation (field) reports of sites from Before Com- world participating in the first forum of its kind … .” mon Era (p. XVII). The editors draw on “the most vibrant” archaeo- logical activities in the region of North and Northwest Iraq (A.1) Survey reports (from west to east) and beyond, i.e. Turkey and Iran during the past decade. The first four surveys, the EHAS, LoNAP, UGZAR, and Rightly they emphasize that this region has been held back EPAS are cooperating in a working group entitled ‘Assyrian exploring its heritage in the past due to political factors Landscapes Research Group’ sharing common methodologi- remaining an archaeological terra incognita. However, the cal approaches (30 Pfälzner and Sconzo, 324-25). more recent political development mainly in Iraq and Syria 30 (Pfälzner and Sconzo), ‘The Eastern Habur Archaeo- shifted the region of Kurdistan to the focus of international logical Survey’ (EHAS): This project covers an area of about archaeological attention because of its fairly stable condi- 4400 km² in the northern and western parts of the province tions and the generous treatment and handling of the General of Dohuk. The authors report about the first season 2013, Directorate of Antiquities of the Kurdish Region of Iraq. which was limited to a portion of less than 80 km² in Zone The book is more than a snapshot. It should be viewed as B within the Selevani Plain south of Jebel Biḫair. The largest a first compendium, manual, guide or reader to the ongoing mound of this area is Bassetki that is considered a key ele- archaeological research in the region. It is especially reward- ment in historical topography. Much time and effort was ing to find the scope of the volume not restricted to the polit- spend on a site survey. Special attention was devoted to the ical borders but rather including related activities in neigh- Neo-Assyrian rock relief of Mila Mergi the inscription of boring countries. Due to the date of the conference in 2013, which was found to have been destroyed in large parts. At some of the contributions cover very early stages of the pro- the end of the season a total of 21 unrecorded archaeological jects. Confusingly, some papers are based on work in 2014 sites and heritage monuments had been documented. or report on projects started in 2015. It would have been 11 (Iamoni) ‘The Land of Niniveh Archaeological Project’ helpful to find some clarifying remarks on this. (LoNAP): Surveyed since 2012 the vast area of the LoNAP However, the reader’s expectations are dimmed slightly extends east of the EHAS. Explaining the targets and the because the communications are not structured, neither by applied methods the author summarizes the state of the art of type of research, nor by geography/province, or by chronol- prehistoric and protohistoric research in Upper Mesopotamia ogy. They seem to have been edited as they came in. They before reflecting the preliminary results of the 2015 season are not numbered either. The figures of each communication within the framework of his sub-project ‘Human Adaptabil- start from cipher one and can be quoted accurately only by ity and the Formation of Urban Societies’ (HAFUS) con- citing the full title of the article. Preparing this review, I have cerned with the settlement dynamics in the 7th to the 4th mill. numbered the communications from 1 to 41 for clear refer- BC. Out of more than 830 registered sites about 150 are ence and to avoid quoting lengthy titles. May I ask anyone occupied in the Neolithic – Chalcolithic periods. He rises to do the same before starting to read the following notes? awareness to the promising site of Tell Asingrian in the The type of research consists of excavation/survey field Navkur Plain rising to about 10 meters and covering about reports (A), case studies (B), and reports on heritage projects five hectares. (C). Chronologically the communications cover the whole Please note that the contributions 07, 08, and 27 are related range of human civilization in the region, from the Palaeo- to the LoNAP. They are considered case studies (B, see lithic to actual problems of safeguarding the heritage. Geo- below). graphically the focus of research lies on the provinces of 15 (Kolinski), ‘The Upper Greater Zab Archaeological Erbil and Sulaymaniyah. Reconnaissance Project’ (UGZAR): The survey area covers 3058 km². This communication reports on the survey results of the 2012 and 2013 seasons in which 99 sites were ­registered out of which 92 were fully documented. Two 167 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXXV N° 1-2, januari-april 2018 168 histograms illustrate the distribution of sites in four environ- it very likely that this must have been a significant witness mental zones according to periods Hassuna to Late Islamic of Christianity in the first Mill. AD. (Fig. 5). Special attention is drawn to the Gunduk rock relief 10 (Hozhabri), Char-Ghapi (Iran): This study discusses (of the 3rd mill. BC) parts of which were found to be the question whether the ruins of Char-Gapi in the province destroyed by treasure hunters. Two fragments of panel 2 of Kermanschah, Iran, close to the border of Iraq and the were recovered from the scree though allowing for a new town of Kalar, represent a Sasanian fire temple or a Christian reconstruction (Fig. 8). The resolution of the quotation Reade church. Arguing by the orientation of the architecture and the and Anderson 2013 is missing in the bibliography. position of the mithraeum the author concludes that it should There is no report on the ‘Erbil Plain Archaeological Sur- be considered a church. Two new thermoluminescence sam- vey (EPAS, J. Ur, Harvard) proper. ples (1350+/-75 and 1370+/-70 years BP) and historical 26 (Nováček), Medieval urbanism in Adiabene: However, arguments date the complex to the Late Sasanidian period, the Survey of Medieval Urban Sites in Adiabene was carried most likely to the reign of Chosroe II (590-628). out in cooperation with EPAS in 2013 and 2014. The author 24 (Müller-Wiener and Mollenhauer), 16 (Kurapkat), investigated five medieval towns/centers south of the focal Bazaar of Erbil: These two communications report on the point of Erbil in the former Parthian province of Adiabene same research project conducted in 2012 and 2013 that is for “a case study for regionally defined archaeological concerned with the planning of refurbishment of the Bazaar research of ‘Islamic’ cities.” (p. 269). of Erbil. Presenting a broader general view on the history and 23 (Mühl and Fassbinder) Shahrizor Plain survey: Located structure of the Bazaar of Erbil and comparing it with southeast of Sulaimaniyah between Arbat and Halabja (for a Bazaars in Koysinjaq, Kifri, Sulaimaniyah, and Kirkuk Mül- description of the Shahrizor Project see no. 25, p. 258) the ler-Wiener and Mollenhauer (24) should be read first. Kurap- survey activities of large and middle sized sites was run in kat gives a detailed insight in the history and layout of the 2009 and 2011. After 2011 the focus shifted to small flat two trade buildings (Qaisariaya) of the Bazaar of Erbil. He sites. One of these small tell sites is Gird-I Shatwan, north- ends up with a brief damage evaluation and a structural anal- west of Tell Begum. The mound is dated to the Ubaid period ysis proposing a master plan for conservation. but carries on top Parthian remains, which were documented well by the application of magnetometry. Related to this (A.3) Excavation (field) reports of sites from Before Com- report is the paper 25 by Nieuwenhuyse, Odaka and Mühl. mon Era 36 (Şerifoǧlu et al.), The Sirwan (Upper Diyala) Regional Project: The research area is situated south of the Shahrizor 04 (Biglari and Shidrang), palaeolithic rock shelters, Iran: plain between Darband-i Khan in the north and Khanaqin in Intensive surveys conducted in 2009 and 2010 by the Ker- the south bordered in the east by the Iraq-Iranian frontier, manshah office of the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts covering some 4000 km². The Sirwan River (Upper Diyala) and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) have revealed the connects the Zagros Mountains and piedmont with Central impressing number of 300 caves and rockshelters of the Mesopotamia. Within this area lies the rock relief of Dar- Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic periods. The article band-i Belula or Darband-i Sheikh Khan of the second Mill. focuses on the Sar Qaleh Plain in the Salas-e Babajani dis- BC. Many of the high mounds of the area have suffered from trict presenting selected examples of the 29 caves and rock- the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). The report on the first season shelters of Tang-e Janga, Sewar Hawar, and Sheikh Rozin 2013 mentions four intriguing Pottery Neolithic to Chalco- presenting a selection of Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeo- lithic (Ubaid, Uruk) period sites and a number of large lithic lithic materials. (cf. chronologically related: 33, Bronze Age sites. Furthermore, a dense cover of Sasanian ­Reynolds et al., Shanidar Cave). settlements was noticed similar to other regions. 06 (Curtis and Al-Rawi), Tell ed-Daim (Sulaimaniyah): Situated in the former Rania-Bangird Plain (now flooded, (A.2) Excavation (field) reports of sites from Common Era near Tell Shemshara) the site was excavated in 1956 prior to the construction of the Dokan dam. While the mound Exclusively reporting about remains/horizons of Christian/ revealed multi-period occupation debris from 11 levels, the Islamic sites are: oldest Hassuna period, the article focuses on the youngest, 01 (Yaqoobi et al.), Citadel of Erbil: After summarizing level 1, from the Achaemenid period. A large building, partly earlier research activities since 2006 the authors report on eroded, was exposed measuring as restored about 25×22 m. five sondages in 2011 and 2012 to locate the Grand Gate of Some diagnostic objects of this building are discussed and the mid nineteenth century. In 2013 and 2014 further excava- published for the first time, confirming the Achaemenid date. tions were conducted along the massive fortification walls It is surmised that the building might have been the seat of a (and tower) in Area E in the NNW of the citadel. The present Persian governor. architecture may date to the mid 18th century. It rests on 13 (Kepinski and Tenu), Kunara: Situated only five km older destruction layers and fortification walls. Cuneiform southwest of Sulaimniyah excavations were carried out in sources report on a fortification already in the 18th cent. BC. 2012 and 2013. Structured in a Citadel and a Lower Town 02 (Ali and Deroche), The site of Bazyan: The authors four excavation areas were opened. They furnished a report on the monastery of Bazyan near the modern town of sequence of cultural periods I-III associated with Middle Takiya about 45 km north-west of Sulaimaniyah. The nearby Bonze / Isin-Larsa (I), Early Bronze / Ur III (II), and Early pass of Bazyan is one of the important crossovers of the Bronze / Akkad (III). Kunara II is the best attested one cov- Zagros through time. After excavations in 2011-2013 ering also the large but as yet unexcavated building which the foundation and dedication of the monastery still remain was detected by magnetometry in the Lower Town. Another obscure. Three construction phases date to the Sasanian large building built on a platform was attested in Area A on period and one to the Omayyad and Abbasid periods making the Citadel. 169 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ARCHEOLOGIE 170

14 (Koizumi et al.), Salat Tepe, Turkey: Reporting on the 28 (Pappi), Satu Qala: Located 70 km southeast of Erbil 2010 to 2012 seasons in the Step Trench the authors claim on the Lower Zab Satu Qala has been identified with the to have discovered a workshop of pottery production of the Assyrian town of Idu. A joint mission of the Universities of Post Ubaid Period. In another part of the Step Trench a burial Leiden, Leipzig, Erbil, and Pennsylvania carried out excava- of a child from the Ubaid period with 2500 beads was dis- tions in 2010 and 2011. Encountered in Operation D only the covered. Below that a house with ‘Ubadian Tripartite Plan’ earliest occupation dates back to the Neolithic (not speci- was uncovered. Backed by radiocarbon dates the described fied). In Operations A and B the earliest levels A7 and B4 record can be dated within the Late Ubaid to Terminal/Post are allocated to the Late and Post Neo-Assyrian period. Ubaid range. Buildings 2 and 3 were constructed of re-used materials of 19 (Marti and Nicole), Bash Tapa: Situated 35 km south- (glazed) bricks containing inscriptions of local kings and of east of Erbil Bash Tapa is one of the major mounds rising Adad-nirari II (911-891 BC). A wall of levels A6 and A5 25 m above the plain. The authors report about a tell survey consists of re-used materials also and levels A4-A3 are allo- and two soundings in 2013. In sounding 1 they uncovered a cated to the 6th-4th century BC. The upper levels of both areas sequence from Ninevite V to Early Dynastic III periods date to the history of the modern village. below modern and Islamic loci. Sounding 2 at the top of the 29 (Peyronel, Vacca and Zenoni), Helawa: Located 28 km tell they encountered a Middle Assyrian building underneath southwest of Erbil the site was surveyed in 2013 by a team modern and Islamic phases. In room 144 they discovered of ‘The Italian Archaeological Expedition in the Erbil Plain seven cuneiform tablets of that period. (MAIPE). Based on an analysis of the surface pottery the site 20 (Masetti-Rouault and Calini), Qasr Shemamok: The was a major settlement during the Samarra, Halaf, Northern report covers the seasons 2011-2013. Situated 25 km south- Ubaid, and Late Chalcolithic 1-2 periods covering about west of Erbil and about the same distance east of the Assyr- 6.5 ha. A re-occupation is attested for the Late Bronze Age. ian capital of Nimrud / Kalḫu, the site is identified as the 31 (Pulhan and Blaylock), Gre Amer (Turkey): Situated Neo-Assyrian city of Kilizu. The region must have been on a natural hill on the east bank of the Garzan tributary to under Middle Assyrian control as was confirmed by frag- the Tigris in the province of Batman the site is threatened by ments of foundation documents from the time of Adad- the future water reservoir of the Ilisu dam. The report covers nirari I (1295-1264 BC) from remains of a royal palace exca- the seasons 2009-2013 and draws on the season of 2014 vated in area A in 2013. In both excavation areas (A and B) occasionally. Having excavated almost 4000 m² of the four- Parthian-Sasanian and Hellenistic levels were observed. In hectare site the results have been associated to four cultural area A they sealed a Neo-Assyrian ramp. The Middle Assyr- “Levels”. Level 1 comprises the mid.-late 1st millennium BC ian evidence comes from fill layers in which the Neo-­ (Persian – Hellenistic), Level 2 (Neo-Assyrian), Level 3 Assyrian brick platform had been founded. (Early Iron Age), and Level 4 (Middle Bronze Age). Unstrat- 21 (Matthews et al.), ‘The Central Zagros Archaeological ified Early Bronze Age artefacts (grey and metallic wares, Project’ (CZAP) is a collaborative program of institutions Ninevite 5 ware), a “Piedmont Jendet Nasr-style sealing on from Great Britain, Iraq and Iran (University of Reading, a lid fragment”) confirm the presence of Early Bronze Age Sulaimaniyah and Erbil Antiquities Directorates, Bu Ali Sina occupation but no excavation of these levels has occurred. University of Hamedan, and the Iranian Centre for Archaeo- Essentially being of village character some artefacts indicate logical Research). The research on the Iraqi-Kurdistan side craft specialization and administrative organization within focuses on excavations in Bestansur and Shimshara. The the settlement. mound of Bestansur is located 33 km southeast of Sulaimani- 32 (Radner et al.), Gird-i Bazar and Qalat-i Dinka (Pesh- yah city. The upper layers belong to the Sasanian and Neo- dar Plain Project): Situated northeast of the Dokan Lake in Assyrian periods. Neolithic artefacts scatter over an area of the district of Raniyah the Peshdar Plain is dominated by the 250 m in the fields around the mound. Building 5 in trench center of Qaladze whose Tell demonstrates that it has had 10 has revealed a full plan with extraordinary features mainly this position since antiquity. A chance find of a Neo-Assyr- in space 50 featuring disarticulated remains of at least ian cuneiform tablet on a field at Dinka inaugurated the pro- 55 individuals. The most diagnostic lithic type is the so ject in 2015. Neighboring Dinka is the shallow site of Gird-i called Çayönü tool dated to the eighth and seventh millennia. Bazar, covering about 1.5 ha of which one third has been Shimshara was re-investigated in two trenches, furnishing destroyed recently by the construction of a chicken farm. Çayönü tools and a greater variety of Obsidian artefacts. According to the results of the geomagnetic survey of the Both records are clearly dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic twin sites the areas of excavation on Gird-i Bazar were cho- catapulting the so far poorly known Zagros region into the sen. As expected, a one period (Neo-Assyrian) architecture light of the PPN-world. was encountered indicating an industrial function. Both sites 22 (Miglus), Bakr Awa: Located at the outskirts of Hala- should be allocated to the border march of the Palace Herald bja the site is one of the largest of the region consisting of a according to the cuneiform tablet. The program is enhanced citadel and a lower town covering more than 50 hectares. by a bioarchaeological sampling strategy aimed at the recon- Excavations in areas 1-6 have been conducted during four struction of the environment and subsistence. seasons in 2010-2011 and 2013-2014. Extending from the 33 (Reynolds et al.), Shanidar Cave: Excavation at this beginning of the Early Bronze Age to the Ottoman period a renown site was resumed in 2014 and continued in 2015 in diagram reflects the continuous settlement periods in relation a 4x4 extension of Solecki’s main trench. Traces of human to the excavation areas (Fig. 2). Belonging to the lot of activity were found in Baradostian layers. Further Neander- twenty tablets discovered during the Iraqi excavations seven- thal bones were excavated near the findspot of the Neander- teen cuneiform tablets were uncovered in Area 2 dating to thal individual Shanidar V recovered earlier by Solecki. (cf. the Late Bronze Age. Four cylinder seals were discovered in chronologically related: 04, Biglari and Shidrang, rockshel- Middle and Late Bronze Age contexts. ters, Iran) 171 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXXV N° 1-2, januari-april 2018 172

34 (Rouault and Calini), Kilik Mishik: Located in the (B) Case studies southern suburbs or Erbil the site was investigated in spring of 2010 under “an informal collaboration with a team from As case studies, I consider those communications that ana- the Department of Archaeology of Saleheddin University”. lyze selected groups of newly recorded material in a wider The authors emphasize that the report covers only those context of material culture, settlement history, epigraphy, art areas (A-C) which were excavated under the direction of history or other headings. O. ­Rouault. A Parthian-Sasanian level was encountered in 03 (Beuger), Tell Nader: Aiming to strengthen the indica- Trench C. A mud brick platform of the Iron Age II-III occu- tions of a pre-third-millennium settlement at Ashur the author pation was observed in trench A overlying Middle Bronze discusses potential comparisons of pottery of Northern Ubaid II-III debris. From disturbed contexts of trench A derive Late and Post Ubaid “main types” from Tell Nader (within the Bronze Age artefacts such as ‘piecrust’ pot stands and Mit- outskirts of Erbil) with some intrusive pottery sherds from tanian pottery. In a small deep sounding in trench C Ninevite the Archaic Ishtar Temple at Ashur. V material is attested and Ubaid shards were collected from 09 (Hadjikoumis), Tell Nader: The author has studied the the surface. faunal remains from the 2012 excavation at Tell Nader dat- 35 (Schwartz) Kurd Qaburstan: Located in the Erbil ing to the Late Ubaid/Early Uruk period. The scarcity of wild plain southwest of Erbil and covering 109 hectares the site species indicates that the subsistence of the human popula- is one of the largest Bronze Age ones in the region. Consit- tion was relying on husbandry of sheep/goat, pig, and ing of a central high mound and a surrounding Lower Town cattle. the village of Yedi Kizlar is occupying its southeastern 07 (Fales and del Fabro), Inscription D at Jerwan: Within extension. The report covers the first season in 2013. On the framework of the LoNAP the authors re-studied the the high mound occupation layers of the Mittani period (ca. anomaly of the southwest façade of the aqueduct at Jerwan 1600-1300 BC) revealed mud brick architecture including featuring ‘inscription D’. They confirm the observations features of baked brick, plain pottery wares and Nuzi made by Jacobsen and Lloyd in 1933 that the cause for the painted wares. In the Lower Town some features present on troublesome reconstruction of the inscription was a breach CORONA satellite images were tested revealing Islamic in the aqueduct that had been repaired haphazardly with occupation layers only. A test trench was to verify the city stones from the original masonry without attention to the wall; a soil matrix of uniform red-brown hard material with inscription. no indications of mudbrick was encountered but featuring 08 (Gavagnin), Pottery and Settlement Patterns of 3rd Mil- exclusively Middle Bronze Age pottery. This is taken as lennium: Based on 1350 sherds the author presents a prelimi- an indication of support for the identification of the site nary study on settlement patterns of the third Millennium BC with the Middle Bronze Age city of Qabra, capital of a within the realm of the LoNAP-project. The lacking material kibgdom. evidence of the terminal Uruk and Late Excised Ninevite 37 (Skuldbol and Colantoni) Bab-w-Kur: The title of this 5 phases are blurring the transitions from the Late Chalco- report is somewhat misleading because it suggests a report lithic (4th mill.) to the Ninevite 5 period (3rd mill.) and from on a survey in the Rania Plain. The ‘Danish Archaeological the terminal 3rd mill. to the beginning of the 2nd mill. BC Expedition to Iraq’ (DAEI) combines both survey and tar- respectively. Settlements of the Late Chalcolithic decrease geted soundings at selected sites. However, the present com- from 96 to 29 sites thereafter rising to 125 sites around the munication reports on the excavation of the twin sites called mid-late 3rd millennium BC. No distribution maps are given. Bab-w-Kur, Bab being the larger on. They are situated within 27 (Palermo), From the Fall of Niniveh to the Sasanians: the flood zone of Lake Dokan. Soundings have revealed an This is a very useful ‘overview’ on the settlement history of occupation from the Late Chalcolithic 2-5 period (4200-3100 the LoNAP-region based on distribution of sites per period BC). At Kur a niched building was exposed and in trash and material culture, mainly pottery, from the first two sea- deposits large numbers of beveled rim bowls were discov- sons 2012 and 2013, contextualizing the historical setting. ered. In combination with the survey results, the authors Underlayed with a presentation of diagnostic ceramics from emphasize that there are more than 30 sites of the Late Chal- various sites it discusses the transition of power from the colithic recorded across the plain. No plans or drawings of Neo-Assyrian to the Persian (Achaemenid) Empire / period pottery are given. as well as to the Hellenistic/Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian 39 (Tomé, Cabral, and Renette), Kani Shaie: Located at periods. the center of the Bazyan valley the site is small covering one 17 (Lawecka), Ninevite 5: Reevaluating the criteria of hectare but nevertheless one of the largest and most promi- “Ninevite 5 – culture or regional pottery style” the author is nent sites of the valley. Following a survey of the valley in calling for excavating more sites equipped with these mate- 2012 in which palaeolithic sites were recorded excavation rial phenomena. started in 2013 in two step trenches. The small exposures 18 (Marf) Bradost-Sidekan: This comes along like a report revealed LC 4-5 levels containing pottery of the typical on a field survey but is in fact a survey of artefacts from the southern Uruk tradition. A fired clay tablet with an impres- Late Bronze and the Iron Ages collected in the region since sion of a unique cylinder seal and a numerical mark was about 1970 when it was closed for archaeological research recovered out of context. After a violent end of the LC set- and suffered from military unrest. The author investigates tlement the site was reoccupied during the Ninevite 5 period. Urartian column bases, Scythian(?) funerary statues, and Some of the contextualized pottery resembles the Hasan Ali ceramics from Mdjeser, Tell Haudian, and from the village Ware of the Urmia region, other wares and decorations are of Abd-Bakra. In his bibliography, he has omitted to unravel unparalleled. A seal impressed jar sealing and a seal the quotations of Boehmer 1973, 1979, and 1993. impressed body sherd attests continuous administrative 25 (Nieuwenhuyse, Odaka, and Mühl), Halaf settlements function. in Shahrizor Plain survey: After an account on the state of 173 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ARCHEOLOGIE 174 the art of research on the Halaf period and pottery, the 2008-2011 the authors report on the establishment, history, authors discuss the Halaf evidence from seven sites of and function of the ‘Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of the Shahrizor survey. The pottery yielded diagnostic types Antiquities and Heritage’. The focus of this institution was and a plant-tempered Coarse Ware not known elsewhere pos- on building capacities by offering training courses in three sibly marking the transition to Halaf. Concerning the Early basic areas of conservation education, that were managed by Halaf the Shahrizor material revealed none of the character- the University of Delaware since 2011. These were ‘The istic features from North Syrian sites. Most of the Shahrizor Archaeological Site Preservation Program (ASP), ‘the Col- material seems to belong to the Middle and Late Halaf peri- lections Care and Conservation Program (CCC), and single ods. Concerning the Halaf-Ubaid transition the authors point units of teaching according to current demand. to a technical feature, the plant tempering of the fine ware, 40 (Watanabe), Cuneiform tablets in the Sulaimaniyah so far not observed in the Halaf-Ubaid Transition Fine Ware. Musuem: This project aims to determine the lost provenance Settlements in the following Ubaid period increase but do not of cuneiform tablets held in the Museum of Sulaimaniyah by become larger averaging two hectares. The authors rise chemical analysis using X-ray fluorescence and Neutron acti- awareness to the Wadi Shamlu region in which they have vation. This impressive collection of more than 7000 tablets identified 27 mounds of the Halaf period clustering around was brought together mainly during and after the Iraq war in Tell Begom, Gird-i Shamlu, and Tell Qortas. This report is 2003 from looters and illicit trafficking. Comparative data related to the paper 23 by Mühl and Fassbinder. were collected from analyzing tablets in western Institutions 38 (Terribili and Tilia), the ‘Italian Archaeological Mis- such as the British Museum. Analyses on tablets from sion in Kurdistan’ (MAIKI): This article does not feature a Sulaimaniyah were carried out in 2013 und 2014, the results survey report even though it is based on the survey area await publication, yet. along the road between Chamchamal and Darbandikhan touching the western slopes of the Qara Dagh east of it. In Final remarks this mountain range the historical passes of Paikuli, Sagirma, For the purpose of overall orientation, one would have and Delzha are located. Instead, it focuses on the Paikuli appreciated to find a map giving the locations of all the sites, monument of which 106 inscribed blocks are held in the the names of the major mountain ranges and passes, as well Museum of Sulaimaniyah. It is aimed to re-evaluate the older as rivers and major modern cities reported in the volume (cf. editions of the inscription (particularly by E. Herzfeld) on the map on p. 139 as an example). Compensating for that the account of 22 blocks with Middle Persian and Parthian map by M. Altaweel (Iraq 78 (2016) 285) listing recent and inscriptions so far not considered. A further aim is to recon- current activities of Archaeology in Iraq may be of some use. struct the architecture of the monument by using 3-D meth- Regardless of these criticisms, the scientific potential of ods of documentation, particularly the position of the busts the research projects reported in this volume is obvious. of king Narseh (293–302), son of Shapur I (240-270). Of They will change the historic-cultural landscape of Iraqi special interest is the fifth bust rendered in the round to Kurdistan significantly. Expectations on future scientific which a so far not considered fragment of the crown can be benefit pertain to the research of palaeolithic caves (04, 33, added (Fig. 5). This image on p. 424 corresponds to Fig. 2 39), the Pre Pottery Neolithic (21), the Pottery Neolithic of communication 05 on p. 51. (Hassuna Samarra, and especially Halaf) (25, 29) and — par- 41 (Zouboulakis), The Gaugamela battlefield: After re- ticularly interesting — to the Ubaid and Late Chalcolithic evaluating the sources of Greek and Roman historians and (Late Uruk) periods (03, 08, 14, 29, 37, 39). So far, the discussing the ‘northern’ and the ‘southern’ hypothesis in Ninevite 5, Early Bronze Age, Early Dynastic periods are a detail the author suggests to abandon the identification of bit underrepresented (08, 13, 17, 19, 39). A wealth of new Gaugamela with Tell Gomel north of Jebel Maqlub. Instead information is to be expected from the Middle and Late the battlefield should be looked for in the plain of Erbil. The Bronze Age, i.e. Old and Middle Assyrian, Mittanian, Kas- reproductions of the maps in this paper are of bad quality. site periods (13, 22, 31, 35 respectively 19, 20, 22, 34, 35). Information about Neo-Assyrian settlements and provincial (C) Reports on heritage projects administration will improve much (07, 28, 31, 32). Several 05 (Cereti and Colliva), Activities of Sapienza-University sites have furnished cuneiform documents already, i.e. 07, of Rome: The authors report on a two year project entitled 19, 20, 22, and 39 (Uruk tablet). Beyond the Assyrian col- ‘Safeguard and Enhancement of Cultural heritage in Iraqi lapse the research on the Achaemenid (06, 07, 31), Hellenis- Kurdistan’ promoted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign tic (27), Parthian and Sasanian (10, 27, 34, 38) periods will Affairs. They cooperated with the High Commission for be enhanced significantly. The editors have to be congratu- Erbil Citadel Revitalization (HCECR), the General Directo- lated to have published this compendium on current archaeo- rate of Antiquities of the Kurdish Regional Government, the logical activities in the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan in Directorates of Antiquities of Erbil, Sulaimaniyah and Duhok Iraq within a short time in such an appealing quality of lay- and the museums of these cities. Aiming to strengthen the out and figures. capacities of these institutions eight training courses were offered in numismatics and museology, Sasanian history and Institut für Vorderasiatische Hartmut Kühne epigraphic, topography, photogrammetry and GIS, architec- Archäologie tural restoration, and archaeological methodology. A geo- Freie Universität Berlin physical survey at the bottom of the Citadel slope in front of January 2018 the North Gate in 2014 did not reveal any archaeological structures. * 12 (Johnson, Khorsheed and Lione), The Iraqi Institute: * * Having been founded and financed under a US grant from 175 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXXV N° 1-2, januari-april 2018 176

NESBITT, M., J. BATES, G. HILLMAN and S. ­MITCHELL explains in simple terms the sampling and recovery systems — The Archaeobotany of Aşvan: Environment & Cul- which were used for this study and some of the quantifica- tivation in Eastern Anatolia from the Chalcolithic to the tion issues such as seed counts and weights of seeds. Chapter Medieval Period. (British Institute at Ankara Mono- 3 consists of thirty-three pages of a seed catalogue which graph, 33). Oxbow Books, Oxford, 2017. (297 cm, 244). includes a discussion on various subjects such as grain size, ISBN 978-1-898249-17-7. £ 45.00. use of plants, evidence for morphological domestication and identification criteria. This chapter also includes 33 minutely Specialists have been impatiently waiting for the publica- detailed beautiful hand-drawn illustrations of individual tion of “The Archaeobotany of Aşvan”. Their long wait has charred seeds. The quality of these illustrations is excep- been rewarded. To appreciate this book it is necessary to tional. Tables and graphics give detailed information with understand that the Aşvan project, led by David French, regard to seed size. This chapter provides valuable informa- which took place some 50 years ago, was the big bang of tion which will allow archaeobotanists to compare their iden- environmental archaeology and in particular archaeobotany tifications. The full lists of identifications are given in appen- in the Near East. This project was a field and experimental dix 1. Following on in a logical fashion, chapter 4 deals with school for bioarchaeology. Never before or after has there pathways to preservation by examining sample composition. been such an ambitious and integrated approach to environ- This leads to the question of what do charred seeds represent, mental archaeology applied to a limited region. Gordon are they elements of crop processing, remains of food, weeds, ­Hillman, the project archaeobotanist, is undoubtedly one of fuel, medicine, ritual, dung, fodder or artisanal use of plants? the most imaginative and innovative archaeobotansts and This is central to archaeobotanical interpretation. Thus in will continue to inspired future generations. Having partici- chapter 5 we arrive understandably at the interpretive part, pated in the project myself, I well remember catch phrases which provides evidence of plant husbandry and plant use. such as “total recovery, extrapolation of data” and “site Of particular interest are diachronic changes in crop assem- catchment analyses”. There was a pioneering atmosphere blages, weed assemblages and evidence for irrigation, all among the team and this was when Binford’s “the new based on very substantial sample sizes from the four sites. archaeology” was a novel subject for discussion. The project To present the data, chapters 5 and 6 use straightforward was inspired by a broad interest in natural history by almost percentages, ratios, ubiquity and abundance in the numerous all the participants and their appetite for the necessity to figures. This allows the reader to readily assess the qualita- recover a maximum amount of plant and animal remains. In tive and quantitative significance of the data (which can be addition, during the field seasons participants lived alongside double-checked in appendix 1) as opposed to correspondence the occupants of a traditional village of self-sufficient sub- analysis or discriminant analysis which may mask essential sistence farmers whose way of life and agricultural methods aspects of the data. Chapter 6 addresses the question of cli- and techniques were not so different from those who occu- mate change. The authors discuss evidence for climate pied the region over the last few thousand years. This was change in eastern Anatolia based on off-site evidence such truly inspirational. In addition, because the region was to be as lake sediments and ice cores perhaps in more detail than lost to flooding, David French felt it was important to record is necessary. They quite correctly dismiss the possibility that the natural history of the area including village life. Indeed archaeological sediments contain reliable evidence for cli- Gordon Hillman’s precious ethnobotanical work was largely mate change. However they do discuss the possibility that carried out in and around the village of Aşvan during the changes in crop use may be an adaptation to climate change. project and it was Hillman’s observations of crop processing This discussion gives the impression that the inhabitants and weeds that were used as a “baseline” for the interpreta- were aware of climate change and made choices accordingly. tion of crop processing techniques not just at Aşvan but at Surely any adaptation would result from evolutionary natural many other sites. selection (perhaps cultural not biological) rather than human So it was this unique field situation which to a great extent choice (Mesoudi 2011). laid the foundation for Gordon Hillman’s immense contribu- The final chapter puts the four Aşvan sites in their local tion to interpretive archaeobotany which lies at the origin of and wider regional contexts. And finally the authors suggest this publication. This is the background field work and initial avenues for future research, despite the fact that this publica- study, but much of the analyses of the charred material from tion is far more comprehensive than most equivalent publica- four sites and the publication itself were entrusted to Mark tions, but they do go on to say no archaeobotanical report can Nesbitt by Hillman, who was his supervisor and who had ever be final. So maybe there will more to come. other commitments. The sheer quantity of charred material This archaeobotantical study started with the Aşvan “field recovered in the field which was subsequently studied is school” project of almost 50 years ago which sought to breathtaking, not to mention the chronological sequence. unearth a maximum of environmental information. This, plus Thus Nesbitt is the principal author of the publication. Jen- the long drawn-out process of analysis, reflection and writ- nifer Bates worked on the publication in its final years while ing-up, enabled Mark Nesbitt and the other authors to pro- studying for her PhD at Cambridge. Stephen Mitchell’s con- duce a publication (which at first sight might be taken as a tribution as an archaeologist (archaeologists are so often standard archaeobotanical report) but which is in fact an absent from purely archaeobotanical reports) makes the example of excellence that will be used as a model for report all the more complete. archaeobotanical publications in the future. In addition Chapter 1 introduces the vegetation setting and the climate throughout this publication the authors discuss the strong of the area today and goes on to present a comprehensive points, the weak points, the pitfalls and the reliability of picture of the archaeology of the four sites concerned. The archaeobotanical data. This publication is a must for the chapter ends with five fundamental research questions which bookshelves of archaeobotanical laboratories and specialists are least partially answered in subsequent chapters. Chapter 2 alike. 177 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ARCHEOLOGIE 178

Bibliographic reference religions, syncretism, multiculturalism, dispersals and fusions of a multiplicity of cultic customs, practices and beliefs in a Mesoudi, A. (2011), Cultural Evolution: How Darwinian theory culturally and ethnically complex landscape, where Jewish, can explain human culture and synthesize the social sciences. Syrian, Egyptian, Hellenic, Roman, Christian and other cul- Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. tural elements came to interact. The content is divided into five parts, along the thematic Directeur de Recherche Emérite, George Willcox axes. Part I “Cult in Context” offers four papers that deal CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique). with both tangible and intangible aspects of cult. Most papers St André de Cruzières 07460 France. take a view on the wider Greco-Roman world. Belayche’s March 2018 diachronic survey of cut places in southern Levant cross- references literary sources and archaeological data (sites, * inscriptions, landscapes). The suggested methodology of not * * studying sets of evidence in isolation is borne out through studies (e.g. the identification of the deity worshipped at the TAL, O. and Z. WEISS (eds.) — Expressions of Cult in the temples in Beth Shean/Scythopolis). Southern Levant in the Greco-Roman Period. Manifesta- In discussing the relationship between cult and culture in tions in Text and Material Culture. (Contextualizing the the sphere of public entertainment, Weiss analyzes the Sacred, 6). Brepols, Turnhout, 2017. (28 cm, XXIII, archaeological data for reconstructing the nature of perfor- 288). ISBN 978-2-503-55335-1. € 120,-. mances held at theatres, aphitheatres and hippo-stadia in This volume, edited by Prof. Oren Tal (Tel Aviv Univer- southern Palestine (e.g. Ceaesarea Maritima, Gerasa, Phila- sity) and Prof. Zeev Weiss (Hebrew University of Jerusa- delphia, Eleutheropolis). Weiss argues that while certain ritu- lem), deals with aspects of cult in the southern Levant during als took place at such edifices, “under the auspices of gods the Hellenistic-Roman period, as manifested both in the and emperors”, the performances held primarily fulfilled the material record and textual sources. The book is intended for function of public entertainment within urban culture. Still, the scholarly community but also “those interested in the this would have created a difficult situation for monotheistic life, cult, culture, and social behaviour of the various reli- communities, forced to balance social prescriptions of urban gious communities residing in the region in classical times life with the prohibition of idolatry. The author mentions rab- and Late Antiquity” (p. xxiii). The study of the ancient past, binic sources prohibiting attendance at theatres for reasons as a professional pursuit, is only meaningful in as much as it of idolatry and immorality, but allows for the possibility that can contribute to the present (and the future) of societies, some individuals may have participated as spectators, with- which nowdays in the busy, hectic, heavily institutionalised out considering it an expression of faith (e.g. after sacrifices). academic landscape gets often forgotten. This is not so with One Mishnaic source, Rabbi Gamaliel’s response to Proclus on the “bath of Aphrodite” in the ‘Avodah Zarah (3, 4), may the present work, whose editors explicitly state that “We will 6 have achieved our ends if the reader gains insight from her support this view. ) or his observations and subsequently brings the past into the Salzman’s paper focuses on a subject spatially wider than cult in south Levant, treating one of the several imperial cults present through invigorating discussions” (p. xxiii). In that rd aim, this work is poised to succeed, as it furnishes the reader institutionalized in the 3 C.E., that of the Sol Invictus. Using with penetrating insights into understanding past societies, historical, philosophical and cosmological texts from the with critical acumen. period, and coin icnography, the author postulates that Aure- The choice for the subject of the volume, as the editors lian instituted the cult so as to legitimize his imperial posi- note, is the dearth of studies on cult in the southern Levant.1) tion (given his tenuous dynastic credentials), in the process Indeed, the topic has been mostly treated in old compendia,2) building a temple in Rome, and instituting a college of subsumed under the Levant as a whole,3) or only briefly in priests, a festival and games. A fusion of Near Eastern solar recent publications,4) even as the subject of ritual in neigh- cults, neoplatonic ideas and the significance of the cult of Sol bouring regions such as Syria is receiving attention. 5) The within the military cannot be seen as a mere evocatio (the topics represented in the volume were born within the cult of an imported deity), but as the product of eastern and research group “Contextualising the Cult of the Southern western fusion. Salzman’s innovative suggestion is that the Levant in the Greco-Roman Period: Monotheism and Poly- date of the Natalis Invicti, on 25 December, turned popular theism between Continuity and Change”, co-headed by the astrological views on the winter solstice, current in the east editors at the Israel Institute of Advanced Studies at the and west of the empire, into a Roman holiday of the “birth Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2013-2014), dealing with of the sun”, aided by the penetration of neoplatonic ideas of “synchronic and diachronic expressions of cult” in Southern the Sol in senatorial elites, and the continuation of older Levant, and taking as a departure point three axes: cultic imperial interests in the sun as a supreme deity (e.g. Julian’s places, people, and objects (p. xvii). Thus, the collection of Fourth Oration to the Sun). 18 papers deal with diverse aspects of synchronic and dia- Lamberton’s examination of philosophical attitudes to the chronic cultic manifestation in a region and period character- waning, polytheistic religion is textually-based. Concerned ised by the co-existence of monotheistic and polytheistic with scholarly suggestions of “neoplatonic activism” for the rejuvenation of the decaying polytheism, Lamberton mainly uses the cases of Imablichus and Proclus’ relevant philo- 1) For cult in the Levant in general, see Keizer (2006). sophical standpoints to reject such modern suppositions. The 2) Kuhnen (1988). 3) Keizer (2006). 4) Blömer et al. (2015). 5) E.g. de Jong (2017) on funerary ritual. 6) But see Schwarz (2001), who problematizes this interpretation. 179 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXXV N° 1-2, januari-april 2018 180 paper forms a corrective to previous hypotheses and is only evident loss of religious import, evolving into merely orna- tangentially related to the southern Levant sensu stricto (the mental, towards the Late Antiquity. most obvious link being its treatment of the period charac- In a paper where the cultic significance of the evidence is terised by the “Levantine arc of destruction” of pagan similarly not always demonstrable, Rosenthal-Heginbottom shrines, while Imablichus was probably active in Syria and investigates four classes of artefacts from Roman-period, Proclus in Athens). domestic contexts at Tel Dor for cultic significance: lead and Part II “Cult and Cult Places in the Urban Sphere” collects mirror plaques, a marble griffin and lamps. These artefacts three papers whose cohesion lies in shedding light on civic were associated with military and civill administrative per- cults. Ecker delivers a penetrating paper on the extent to sonnel arriving from Egypt, which the author tentatively sug- which civic cults influenced individual worship outside the gests may have led to the introduction of new cults under the official religion. This contextual investigation of epigraphic Severans. To this reviewer, the cultic interpretation of these dedications demonstrates a mosaic of different expressions of artefacts seems tenuous. For example, the author does not religious beliefs, ranging from the conformity to the official delve into what cultic significance the scene of “pygmies and cult in the private domain to their waning significance. This cranes” may have had. Certainly, its origins suggest other- is partially predicated on the origins of the town. In Ascalon, wise. References to “pygmies” living by the Ocean and continously inhabited, the local cult of Derketo-Atargatis fighting migratory birds (geranomachai) are known from dominated public and individual worship. Semaria-Sebaste, a Homer (Il. 3.2-6) and Herodotus (4.43). Iconographic render- Macedonian colony on the site of a Samaritan town and later ings of this mythological motif, often in comical versions, a Herodian refoundation, approached the official Capitoline appear on askoi, volute-kraters, rhyta and other Greek vases cult with detachment, yet embraced the cult of ‘Kore’, which from the 6th century BCE onwards, without any cultic sig- may have arrived with the Macedonian colonists. Caesarea nificance per se.7) It is even less likely that this Greek stock Maritima’s predilection for Egyptian-Hellenistic cults (e.g. image would have been imbued with cultic import by Roman Serapis’ cult) in private was at the expense of the official times in the Levant. Roman cult. In sum, coloniae and other refoundations veer Bohak furnishes an exceedingly insightful study on the more sharply towards the official cults from Rome, although practice of magic at cemeteries, supported by the paper that these were not as popular as cults introduced earlier. follows it, presenting a welcome Levantine counterpart to (in Focusing on cultic sculpture in Caesarea Maritima, Gerscht­ places biased) Ogden’s study on Greek and Roman necroman- identifies the deities portrayed, reconstructing context and cy.8) Bohak’s paper also comes to temporally complement function. Several deities with superimposed layers of origins recent research on Levantine magic, on the Phoenician “miss- and meanings (Egyptian, Hellenistic, Roman), and deified ing link” for the transmission of Egyptian magic to the Greeks Julio-Claudian family members demonstrate imperial patron- (golden lamellae, Orphic texts), showing the longevity of age. Yet Gerscht takes a partly different view than Ecker cross-cultural magic practices in the eastern Mediterranean.9 regarding private worship, arguing that the limited evidence Following up, Tal and Taxel discuss the cultic/magical use from private homes is unrepresentative of wealthy mansions’ of lamps from refuse dumps, analysing the evidence for lych- customs of displaying statues of gods. Interestingly, Chris- nomancy from the Apollonia-Nof Yam dump in tandem with tian decoration with sculptures of Hygeia and Aslepeios con- an unpublished Cairo Genizah magical text in Aramaic. The tinued even after the decay of pagan religion, symbolically results presage the study of lamps from the forthcoming final showing a concern for the health of the city. report on the excavations at Apollonia-Arsuf.10 In a first, detailed reconstruction of the architectural Patrt IV “Coins as Evidencing Cult” looks to numismatics remains of the postulated Hadrianeum in Tiberias, Miller for answers on cult-related questions. Lichtenberger argues combines numismatic evidence, rabbinic and patristic sources that cross-referencing numismatic and archaeological evi- to situate this temenos spatially and socially within a pre- dence reveals that coin iconography should not be dismissed dominantly Jewish city. Recalling Weiss’ contribution, the prima facie as unrealistic, but that it offers an added set of author persuasively suggests that a cluster of pagan monu- evidence for reconstructing temple architecture, where the ments in the centre replicates the standard, urban cityscape collective evidence permits. in the Roman empire, albeit devoid of religious input for its Farhi discusses Gaza’s self-image through its city mint inhabitants. iconography (1st-3rd century CE). Concentrating on two dei- Part III “Cultic Practices beyond the Temple Premises” ties, Io and Minos, appearing on its coins from Hadrian discusses cult evidence outside normative spaces and putative onwards, the author relates the choice of a local pantheon to cultic evidence. The first paper by a large team of researchers a regional climate of city rivarly. Why two deities from the (Zissu et al.), brings to the public the spectacular work done Greek mythological side-lines found a strong foothold in on the long-term cult site of the Te’omim cave in the western Gaza is unclear. Postulated ancient connections with Crete Jerusalem Hills, with finds presented in detail shedding light may explain Minos’ presence according to Farhi, but with Io on the long-term use of the cave as a cultic site, on its func- one cannot escape euhemeristic interpretations, as the earliest tion in the war-time period of the Bar Kochba Revolt, while reference according to the author dates to 2nd century CE. importantly, furnishing a unique methodologial case-study for Bijovsky’s paper interprets some rare coin types, shedding the investigation of similar cave sites. light onto the cult of Pan at Caesarea Panias. Coins known Barbet treats funerary iconographic motifs common in the from Sepphoris, Tel Dover and two unprovenanced specimens Levant, from the vantage point of craftsmen active in the wider Mediterranean, demonstrating the dispersal and conti- 7) See Mitchell (2009, 105-109). nuity of a pan-Mediterranean iconographic repertory. Some 8) Ogden (2001). of the evidence for cultic substance is rather negative, in that 9) López-Ruiz (2015). several motifs are applicable cross-religiously, with an 10) Teixeira Bastos et al. (forth). 181 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ARCHEOLOGIE 182 from private collections bear images of kourotrophoi, some diversified and localised the pattern was, from rural to urban, with females of the Severan dynasty on the obverse. Bijovsky from town to town and from community to community, carefully uses literary and archaeological data to connect these through the diverse interplay of several religions and cults, coins to the cult of Pan and its fertility elements, catalysed by each context influenced by historical contingencies. Effec- women within the Severan dynasty who had Syrian origins. tively, the response to the editors’ guiding investigation on Part V “Cult-related Issues of Jewish Faith” collects arti- “the extent to which, if at all, cultic practices formed a cles dealing with aspects of research that most Classical coherent cultural system” (p. xviii), should be a qualified archaeologists of the Greco-Roman Near East fail to regu- ‘no’, with the only cohesive aspect of cult being that of larly encounter (due to disciplinary divisions etc), which porous and flexible polytheistic systems co-existing spatially results in one-sided approaches. This part confers a great with Judaism and later, with Christianity, in a state of flux advantage on this volume. Lapin’s paper is a hypothetical according to external historical factors, imperial demands estimation, based on statistical calculations, of the resources and internal community dynamics. required by the Temple in Jerusalem based on Pentateuchal Concluding, major advantages of this volume are its inter- laws, showing them to have been very high. The author sug- disciplinary perspective, the collections of topics that would gests that that this would have been circumvented by strate- be difficult to find elsewhere in a single volume, as well as gies of pilgrim economy. The importance of the contribution the presentation and analysis of until now unpublished lies in showing the impact of the sacred economy on the archaeological material by researchers who are active in wider economy of Judea. fieldwork in the region. The format of the volume, supported Gordon’s paper follows up on the impact of the Temple by many illsutrations, aids the reader in following the con- on the local economy. The author discusses how the late Hel- tent. Last but not last, the papers investigate identity fluidity, lenistic and early Roman legal stipulations on cultic property mutation and transformation, but do not subscribe to the nox- affected local economy, by prohibiting the consecration of ious tendency to prima facie relativise every ontological cat- property to the Temple in cases where the aim was to block egory, in an anachronistic, 21st-century fashion. It is a valu- its appropriation from creditors, employees or family mem- able work, offering a wealth of information and analytical bers. The author suggests that though such transgressions interpretations without veering towards the abstruse or the would have been a small part of the sacred Judean economy, arcane. they may nevertheless have been tolerated by the authorities. Lastly, Adler’s study deals with the supposed cessation of ritual purity observance ca. 70 CE, traditionally connected to References the destruction of the Second Temple. Redating the archaeo- Blömer, M., Lichtenberger, A. and Raja, R. (eds.) 2015. Religious logical markers for this hypothesis, Adler concludes on the Identities in the Levant from Alexander to Muhammed. Continu- basis of archaeological evidence, that the miqwa’ot (stepped ity and Change. Turnhout: Brepols. pools for ritual baths) and chalk vessels for purity rituals De Jong, L. 2017. The Archaeology of Death in Roman Syria. Bur- were used widely for several decades after the destruction of ial, Commemoration and Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge Uni- the Temple, with a reduction in the Galilee ca. 150 CE. On versity Press. the basis of rabbinic sources and archaeological evidence, Kaizer, T. 2006. In Search of Oriental Cults: Methodological Prob- Adler does not consider critical for this development the lems Concerning “the Paticular” and “the General”. Near East- ern Religion in the Roman World 55.1: 26-47 practical difficulties created by the Bar Kohba Revolt and Kuhne, H.-P. 1988. Palästina in Griechisch-Römischer Zeit. (Hand- the Hadrianic persecutions. Rather, the author explains the büch der Archaeologie). München: C.H. Beck. reduction in ritual observance practices in terms of a shift López-Ruiz, C. 2015. Near Eastern precedents of the “Orphic” from considering these Pentateuhal prescriptions “norma- gold tablets: the Phoenician missing link. Journal of Ancient tive” to a “reductive” reading, where only the explicitly pre- Near Eastern Religions 15: 52–91. scriptive purity laws were observed. Mitchell, A. 2009. Greek Vase-Painting and the Origins of Visual The aim was to furnish a volume that would study the Humour. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. multi-faceted aspects of a region as multi-cultural and com- Ogden, D. 2001. Greek and Roman Necromancy. Princeton, N.J.: plex as southern Levant in the Greco-Roman period from an Princeton University Press. Schwarz, S. 2001. The Rabbi in Aphrodite’s bath: Palestinian soci- interdisciplinary perspective, using historical, art historical, ety and Jewish identity in the High Roman Empire. In Goldhill, archaeological and textual approaches. The volume fully suc- S. (ed.), Being Greek under Rome. Cambridge: Cambridge Uni- ceeds in that, demonstrating that each article has been written versity Press, 335–361 taking into account the many ways possible to approach and Teixeira Bastos, M., Taxel, I. and Tal, O. (forth.). Chapter 2.2: engage with the material and the textual record associated Lamps. In: Tal, O., Apollonia-Arsuf: Final Report of the Excava­ with its specific subject studied, whether that is the identifi- tions. Volume II: Excavations Outside the Medieval Walls (2002, cations of origins of a Roman cult, the comparative study of 2006, 2009, 2017) and in the Hinterland (1996, 2012, 2013). Tel iconographic motifs found in cult places or aspects of Jewish Aviv: Monograph Series of the Institute of Archaeology. cultic practice. Thus, it is evident that the inter-disciplinary focus of the research group course, which led to this volume, FAPESP Eleftheria Pappa formed a preparatory backbone with the digestion of multi- (São Paulo Research Foundation) faceted perspectives and approaches to the study of ancient Post-Doctoral researcher cultic practice. Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology The volume fleshes out the folly of the construct ‘oriental University of São Paulo cults’ as argued previously by Kaizer,11) by showing how February 2018

11 * ) Keizer (2006). * * 183 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXXV N° 1-2, januari-april 2018 184

SCHLUDE, J.M. and B.B. RUBIN (eds.) — Arsacids, power and competence of the leadership to the princeps’ sub- Romans and Local Elites. Cross-Cultural Interactions of jects in Rome and thus increase the consensus. the Parthian Empire. Oxbow Books, Oxford, 2017. The third chapter by Kenneth R. Jones, Marcus Antonius’ (24 cm, XVI, 158). ISBN 978-1-78570-592-2. £ 27.00. Median War and the Dynastic Politics of the near East, anal- yses the Parthian campaign of Mark Antony (36 BC) in The book gathers a series of contributions on the Parthian detail, providing new and interesting perspectives. First, the empire written by a group of scholars mainly based in North problem of the reliability of the extant sources is pointed out. America and Australia. It is the result of several meetings The role played by Octavius’ propaganda in later historiog- and discussions, which took place between 2013 and 2014. raphy, in particular concerning the account of the last years The volume consists of seven chapters where each scholar before the final confrontation at Actium is an element that deals with a specific topic connected to volume’s general must be taken into account. In addition, most of the informa- theme: the cultural and political relationships between the tion about Antony’s military operations in the Near East Arsacid Empire and its neighbours. comes from the monograph written by one of his lieutenants, Jeffrey Lerner’s contribution, Mithridates I and the Par- Q. Dellius, who later switched sides joining Octavius’ fac- thian Archer, deals with the image of an archer appearing on tion. Jones reconstructs the events basing himself on the the reverse of all Parthian coins since the time of Arsakes I. ample and detailed accounts of Plutarch and Cassius Dio. In Traditionally this element has been seen as directly influ- the author’s opinion, the situation before the war was peace- enced by contemporary representations of Apollos on Seleu- ful. Antony and the new Parthian king Phraates IV, were both cid coinage. Lerner traces the origin of the archer motive interested in negotiations in order to build a solid peace after back to the later Achaemenid period and the coinage iconog- the Arsacid defeat of 38 BC and decided the restitution of the raphy of the Persian satraps. He thus proposes to identify the Roman standards and prisoners. Persuaded by the Armenian figure wielding the bow with the legendary Ārash, a popular king Antony launched an invasion of Media Atropatenes, but character from Iranian epic, listed among Arsakes’ ancestors. was taken by surprise by the Parthian intervention on the In the reign of Mithridates I (171-138 BC) the diphiros on Median side. During the military operations, the will of Par- which the archer appears seated is substituted by an ompha- thian officers and leaders to find quickly a peaceful solution los. This element seems to support the identification with the emerged on several occasions. These efforts have been per- Greek deity from Delphi as frequently portrayed on Seleucid haps too hastily labelled as “ruses” by the later sources. coins. According to author’s opinion the purpose behind this Antony’s strategy consisted in using the military force spe- change was to convey a message of universal rule and royal cifically against Media in order to include that kingdom in legitimacy over the new conquered lands to both the Iranian his system of dynastic eastern alliances, while separately and the new Greek subjects of the Parthia king, whose com- concluding a lasting peace with Parthia, a scenario very dif- munities had become part of the Arsacid empire after Mith- ferent from the supposed invasion of Parthia followed by a ridates’ the successful campaign against Bactriana. This idea disastrous military defeat. will surely contribute to a discussion among scholars and In the following contribution, Finding Common Ground: lead to a reconsideration of the Greek-centered approach too Roman Parthian Embassies in the Julio-Claudian Period, often adopted regarding the first phases of the Parthian rule. J. Schlude and B. Rubin discuss the historical role of diplo- Jake Nabel’s following contribution, The Seleucids Impris- matic embassies, and in general of the entire diplomatic oned: Arsacid and Roman Hostage Submission and Its Hel- activity between Rome and Parthia, from its beginning with lenistic Precedents, deals with the Roman and Parthian prac- Sulla until the end of the reign of Nero. The two authors tise of taking the defeated kings and/or other members of consider these relationships an important element in trigger- the ruling dynasty as hostages. In particular the case of the ing and facilitating the cultural exchange and knowledge of Seleucid kings is taken into consideration. In many cases the “other”. The exchange of gifts and hostages was an both the Romans and the Arsacids took prisoners the Greek important instrument in improving the understanding of the rulers of Syria. The author contests the communis opinio foreign people’s culture. The sojourn of the Arsacid high according to which the foreign defeated monarchs were dignitaries in Rome was a chance for the Roman leadership forced to spend a long period of captivity at the court of the to get in touch with Parthian culture. The hostages them- Parthian kings or in Rome in order to absorb part of the host selves, once instructed in the basics of Greek and Roman culture and become an instrument for their political action- culture and sent back to their homeland would have pro- before they were allowed to go back to their kingdoms. For moted the knowledge of the western culture there. On the both the Romans and the Parthians, this proved not to be the Parthian side the case of Musa, a western slave donated as a case. Once back on the Seleucid throne Antiochus IV and gift to the Great King by Augustus, who managed to become Demetrius II put into action a completely independent policy, Queen mother and then co-ruler along her son seems repre- which threatened Roman and Arsacid interests in Western sentative. The choice made by Musa of putting her own por- Asia. In the second part of the chapter, the role and the politi- trait wearing an elaborated tiara on the Arsacid coinage close cal function of the Arsacids and the nobles delivered by the to that of her son, the king, reveals according to the authors Parthian king to the Romans is investigated. In the light of the strong bound with her cultural origin. Musa imitated the what emerged in the first section the author maintains that in coinage of the Hellenistic queens who appeared often in most of the cases the Arsacids exploited the chance to get rid the coinage of their kingdoms, a common feature in the west, of possible rivals to the throne or troublesome aristocrats. but also a scandalous innovation for the Parthian court. Nabel concludes that the Romans did not use, as commonly Herod the Great, king of Judea is the subject of the fifth thought, the royal hostages in their possession to destabilize chapter, by J. Schlude and J.A. Overman: Herod the Great: the Arsacid kingdom. Their primary function was to be used A Near Eastern Case Study in Roman-Parthian Politics. The as pawns of the imperial propaganda in order to show the authors consider the role of the minor kings within the 185 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ARCHEOLOGIE 186 political and diplomatic conflict between the two major on Hatra, the city of Northern Mesopotamia, another vassal superpowers of Rome and Parthia. The analysis of the rich Arsacid kingdom. Anderson places Hatra, along with De sources concerning Herod the Great reveals that even though Jong, in the so-called “Parthian Commonwealth”: a network the kingdom of Judea belonged to the Roman sphere of influ- of “cultures that were within the orbit of the Parthian Empire, ence since Pompey’s organization of the East, Parthia played but were not inhabited mainly or chiefly by Parthians or a relevant role in the ascension to power of the ambitious other Iranians”.1) Some scholars have considered that in king. The Arsacid invasion of the Roman provinces, with the Hatra one finds examples of Parthian art. The author stresses placement on the throne of Jerusalem of Herod’s enemy, the the difficulty of spotting the traces of classical or canonical filo-Parthian Aristobulos and the close connections the for- Parthian art due to the lack of interest of the Arsacids in mer Roman client kings hurried to establish with the invad- imposing an official state art. The Parthians let local forms ers, revealed how risky the Roman position in the area was. of art develop autonomously in the political subjects that Only after the attempts at opening a diplomatic channel with depended on the Arsacids. Thus, the form of art visible in the Parthians failed, Herodes resolved to ask Rome for sup- Hatra constitutes only a local phenomenon where Syrian, port. Stressing the seriousness of the circumstances and the Greek, Nabatean, Iranian and Asiatic elements are combined possible role he could play on Rome’s side, he managed to with extraordinary and peculiar results. obtain the royal title from the Senate. As king of Judea, he It is encouraging to see that the relatively new field of demonstrated to be a skilful diplomat in dealing with both studies concerning the Parthian kingdom and its vassal states Rome and the Arsacids. The restitution of his former patron, is attracting the interest of so many skilled scholars. It is also the Hasmonean Hyrcanus II, prisoner at the Parthian court interesting to see how geographically close researchers man- and sent back to be Herod’s co-ruler, is the proof of the exist- aged to create a working group to discuss topics, share opin- ence of independent diplomatic initiatives between the ions and influence each other’s work while pursuing their Roman ­client kingdoms and the eastern “barbarians”. These individual interests and their specific piece of research. The relationships were interrupted probably abruptly once Herod result of that close and effective network activity is this after Antony’s defeat at Actium was forced to eliminate book, which undoubtedly constitutes an important contribu- ­Hyrcanus in order to present himself to the new leadership, tion to the field and where the coordinating efforts of the two as the sole possible ruler of Judaea. editors, J.M. Schlude and B.B. Rubin, are evident and deci- P. Edwell’s chapter, Osrhoene and Mesopotamia between sive for the quality of the research. Rome and Arsacid Parthia, again stresses the autonomy of the frontier kingdoms, but now from the perspective of the Durham University Leonardo Gregoratti North- Mesopotamian kingdom of Osrhoene (Edessa). November 2017 According to the author’s opinion, after the rapid and suc- cessful invasion of Mesopotamia (launched by emperor Tra- * jan and thus after the Roman had displayed their military * * power through abruptly entering into the political horizon of the Parthian client kingdoms) the kings of Edessa maintained an open diplomatic channel with the Roman emperors until LILLIOS, K.T. and M. CHAZAN (eds.) — Fresh Fields and Lucius Verus’ following campaign. Kings Manu VII and Pastures New. Papers Presented in Honor of Andrew Manu VIII, who reigned after the filo-Roman Parthamaspates M.T. Moore. Sidestone Press, Leiden, 2016. (26 cm, (undoubtedly with Roman consent) were the protagonists of 205). ISBN: 978-90-8890-348-9. € 39,95. this double-faced policy. Officially loyal to the Great King, A variety of articles constitutes this Festschrift that honors Manu VIII put into action a policy of balanced equidistance, Andrew Moore who made a career in the prehistory of the which allowed him to switch to the Roman side when Levant and the Balkans. Known by the reviewer in particular L. Verus’ legions showed up on the eastern bank of the as the excavator of Abu Hureyra, Moore was, in addition to Euphrates. This betrayal cost him the throne when the Par- a range of academic functions he held in American universi- thian substituted him with the loyal Wael, whose coins depict ties, also active in archaeological research in one of the Bal- Vologases III, the Parthian king and himself. Manu’s friendly kan countries. Hence the diversity of the assembled contribu- attitude towards the Romans seems evident from the fact that tions made by students and colleagues reflecting the course once victorious, the emperors Verus and Aurelius decided to of his scientific life. Most articles are dedicated to the Epi- place him again on the Edessan throne. His first coinage paleolithic and Early Neolithic periods of the Near East, the seems to be influenced by that of his predecessor, except for original activity area of the guest of honour. Not all of them the obvious absence of the Arsacid king. In his first types, are compelling narratives, like the report on the rather insig- the legend in Syriac appears along with the portrait of the nificant investigation results of Tor Sageer, a small Epipaleo- king wearing a tiara, which was later substituted by Verus’ lithic site in the Jordanian marshlands. Fortunately, other effigy. Soon he adopted a series of types, which looked like contributions, for example the one on “Exploring Terminal the contemporary Roman ones bearing the portrait of Marc Pleistocene Hunter-Gatherer Activities in Eastern Jordan”, Aurelius, Lucius Verus and their wives. He adopted the title take the bundle to a higher level. philoromaios along with an explicit reference to the recent The question that had bothered the reviewer for years, how Roman victory. His son Abgar VIII (ruler since 177 AD) put Moore got caught up in Balkan prehistory, is answered in “A again his effigy on his coinage, but along with that of the Life in Service of Archeology.” Due to his twin function of sole Roman emperor. From 165 until the Severeans the kings of Edessa remained loyal vassals of Rome. 1) A. De Jong, Hatra and the Parthian Commonwealth, in L. Dirven, The final contribution by B. Anderson, Beyond Rome/Par- Hatra. Politics, Culture and Religion Between Parthia And Rome, Oriens thia: Intersections of Local and Imperial Traditions, focuses et Occidens 21, Steiner, Stuttgart, 2013, pp. 143-160. 187 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXXV N° 1-2, januari-april 2018 188

Dean at the Rochester Technical Institute (NY) and of its Instead, Boyd’s repeated refering to past colonial occupa- annex in Dubrovnik, circumstances led to his acquaintance tion of the region rather shows a more receptive mind to the with Dalmatian archeologyy. It was, as M. Mendusic states recent history of the Near East. One wonders what relation- in his paper “The Neolithic in Dalmatia and Andrew ship might exist between yesterday’s events and the Epipale- M.T. Moore’s contribution to its investigation”, the begin- olithic period. ning of a fruitfull cooperation. The tandem revisited sites A last remark of critics. When running through the bibli- investigated since the middle of the past century and reexca- ographies of different articles on Near Eastern archeology, it vated some of them with the intention to refine the chronol- is evident to me that most authors (not all) avoid refering to ogy and gather new data about subsistence strategies. publications in French – in all probability out of necessity. In line with this work lies the project described by S. Mc This monolingual approach, as one should know, contains Glure and E. Podrug and entitled “Villages, Landscapes, and the risk of impoverishing the debate on the transition of Early Farming in Northern Dalmatia”. It is a valuable con- hunter gatherers to an economy of food production in the tribution that presents a compilation of excavation reports Levant, to which the largest part of this volume dedicated. and studies of work done on early settlement (Early, Middle This impoverishes the book, because much basic work has and Late Neolithic) in the northern part of Dalmatia. Mean- been done here by French archaeologists. One should be while, since much of the literature in question is written in aware of the reality that excluding indispensable sources of Serbo-Croatian, the article has the merit of opening a win- information, c.q. in French, inevitably has an adverse effect dow on early farming in Dalmatia for quite a few archeolo- on the scientific debate. It is much worse, however, and gists who are unfamilair with Slavic languages. The presen- absolutely unadmissible when people purposely exclude col- tation is orderly and gives the reader the pleasant feeling of leagues from the debate, whatever excuse may be provided. having grasped the essence of the Dalmatian Neolithic period This Festschrift is perhaps attractive for those who in one after half an hour of reading. Excavation projects are ongo- way or another are connected to the honored and his work, ing, often by revisiting earlier excavated sites, and by focus- but the somewhat disparate collection of articles, a charac- ing on environmental studies, including landscape evaluation teristic that is notoriously proper to this category of publica- and spatial analysis, that are complementary to pottery typol- tions, will speak less to the imagination of others. ogy studies. Although much work is ahead, according to the authors an image of incipient and developing settlement in Santpoort, Jacob Roodenberg open-air sites and exploitation of the landscape by agropas- January 2018 toralists in the 6th and 5th millennium is already emerging in outline. Besides a vivid account on the epipaleolithic skeletal remains from Abu Hureyra, in which T. Mollesson largely repeats what has been published earlier, B. Boyd recollects the highlights of the excavations at the latter site that were carried out in 1972 and 1973. From more than one perspec- tive Hureyra is undeniably an unique settlement. Considered as the northern most spot on the Natufian map (if a few sites in the Anatolian mountains are ignored) and far out of range from the core area in the southern Levant, Hureyra has yielded valid evidence of the exploitation of natural resouces by hunter-gatherers, respective early farmers. Although envi- ronmental research was not a novelty in the early seventies, here considerable energy was put in the recovery of micro- fauna and flora by means of wet sieving.1) The reader may be a little surprised how this re-evaluation of the works at A.H. nearly conceals the existence of a grosso modo contem- poraneous and equally important site in the close vicinity: Mureybet, situated some 30 kms upstreams on the left bank of the Euphrates. Its mere presence illustrates that there were more outposts like Hureyra. Moreover, Mureybet is equally famous for its yield of relevant data concerning man’s exploitation of the wild. Finally, refined analysis of its flint and bone industries and other elements of the material cul- ture of these Late Natufians and their successors including housing and household has produced a solid knowledge base for further research. All these facts are swept under the car- pet by the author.

1) At Selenkahiye, a Bronze Age settlement excavated in the early sev- enties and situated ca. 50 kms NW of Abu Hureyra, floatation was a stand- ard practice in which the reviewer took part.