The Ancient Near East Today – Current News About the Ancient Past

Welcome to The Ancient Near East Today, a digital platform for public scholarship on the Ancient Near East and beyond. Whether you are a student, scholar, or enthusiast, you are bound to learn something new.

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Recent Articles

Close-up of a seal impression on a mudstopper from Saqqara tomb S3503 with serekhs (rectangular symbols that were used to frame an Egyptian king’s name in the Early Dynastic period). Courtesy of the Egypt Exploration Society; used with permission from the author.

Digital Archaeology

Did Meretneith Rule Egypt as a Female King in the First Dynasty?

October 1, 2026

Nahal Omer textile collection: a. Supplementary weft cotton; b. Ikat cotton; b. Wool fragment; d. Green cotton with Ikat patch e. wool and cotton; f. Supplementary weft cotton; g. silk.

Archaeological Method

From Trash to Treasure: Nahal Omer and the Virtual Silk Road

September 17, 2026

Captured Sea People from wall relief in the mortuary temple of Ramses III, Medinet Habu. Photo by Rémih, CC By-SA 3.0.

Bronze Age

Who Were the Sea Peoples? And Did They Bring About the End of the Bronze Age?

September 3, 2026

Featured Articles

Bible

Making Bibles in Early America

January 17, 2019

Bulla bearing Aršāma’s seal, ca. 427-407 BCE. The image depicts the ancestor of the Aršāma line spearing an enemy, with a lion trampling a vanquished fighter behind him. The inscription is partially visible in the upper left hand corner. Bodleian Library Sigill. Aram. V. ©Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. CC By-NC 4.0

Egypt

The House of Aršāma, Persian Satrap in Egypt

July 23, 2026

A reconstructed lion of the Processional Way representing the goddess Ishtar (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Vorderasiatisches Museum, Photo: Olaf M. Teßmer).

Cities & Urbanism

The Ishtar Gate of Babylon: One Monument, Multiple Narratives

April 27, 2023

Princess Sobeknakht Suckling a Prince, ca. 1700-after 1630 BCE. Copper alloy, 10.2 x 7 x 8.3 cm. Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 43.137. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 43.137_SL1.jpg)

Language & Writing

Gender in the Ancient Near East and Egypt

November 2, 2023

History of the Field

From “An” to “The”: The OI at 100

August 5, 2020

A fingerprint found on a figurine. Photo by A. Sanders.

Craft & Industry

Potters and Their Fingerprints

August 8, 2019

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