A Desert Revolution – Transformations in Northwestern Arabia and the Arid Southern Levant in the Late 2nd Millennium BCE
Archaeology speaks frequently about revolutions, but arid zones are left out of the discussion. But new evidence shows that deserts experienced their own momentous, if slower movin
The Archaeology of Clothing in the Ancient Near East
Everyone wore clothes in the ancient Near East but direct evidence is sparse in the archaeological record. Can new methods and a careful look at art bring us closer?
The Tree of Life
The Tree of Life is a key feature in the Genesis stories. So why are there so few references in later ancient Near Eastern and in Biblical texts and imagery?
#MeToo-potamia (or systemic gender inequality in Mesopotamia)
The contributions of Mesopotamian women must be pieced together from texts. The evidence indicates more than two thousand years of increasing marginalization.
Max von Oppenheim and His Tell Halaf
Born into a prominent banking family, Max von Oppenheim seemed destined to study law. But his real contribution was to uncover an Iron Age city in north Syria.
Charity (Tzedaqah) as a Late Antique Rabbinic Religious Idea
Charity is a key means of demonstrating righteousness before God. But for different generations of rabbis the core elements of charity – and their underlying meanings – were qu
Epidemics in Mesopotamia
Epidemics have been with us since long before the dawn of history. Three collections of documents record some of the ways ancient Near Eastern societies suffered and coped.
Are Monuments History? (Neo-) Hittite Meditations on Two Memes
Many societies express power by building monuments to commemorate people or events. Tearing down monuments are also expressions of power, but of a different sort.
The First Archeological and Ethnoarcheological Survey Project in the Sefidkuh Makran Mountains of Baluchistan
The Sefidkuh region of southern Baluchistan is a huge and nearly impassable mountain range. A new project has explored both archaeological sites and modern villages.
Fire Beacons and Message Relays: Staying in Touch in the Ancient Near East
In the ancient world, people were able to communicate messages at the speed of light. That light was provided by fire signals, part of sophisticated communications networks created