An assemblage of stone vessels and stone statues belongs to the extensive archaeological material brought to light during the excavations conducted by the Czech Institute of Egyptology in the mortuary complex of king Neferre (5th Dynasty) at Abusir. Neferres' assemblage represents a unique archaeological complex where the artefacts are complemented with their recorded archaeological context (structure, site, etc). The monograph includes not only the analysis of the stone vessels assemblage by its material characteristics, but also a separate chapter on certain aspects of the stone statues found in Neferre's mortuary complex.

by Fred Wendorf and Romuald Schild The Eastern Sahara is a fascinating place to study structures. These larger, more complex sites are almost prehistory. Confronted with the stark reality of a hyper always in the lower parts of large basins, most of which arid environment that receives no measurable rainfall, were formed by deflation during the Late Pleistocene lacks vegetation, and is seemingly without life, it would hyper-arid interval between about 65,000 and 13,000 seem to be an unlikely place to find a rich and complex years ago. Their location near the floor of these basins mosaic of archaeological remains documenting past was influenced primarily by one factor - water. During human presence. Despite this impression of a hostile wet phases, runoff from extensive catchment areas environment, there is widespread and abundant caused the development of large, deep, seasonal lakes, archaeological evidence. or playas, in the lowermost parts of these basins. This It is obvious that this area was not always a lifeless surface water would last for several weeks or months desert. Faunal and plant remains found in the excavations after the seasonal rains, and by digging wells after the at Holocene-age settlements, dating between 9500 and playa became dry, water could still be obtained during 5000 radiocarbon years ago, indicate that rainfall during most, if not all, of the dry season.

In 1963 excavations at Tepe Guran in Luristan revealed a series of occupations, representing a small Neolithic village with an economy based on dry-farming, herding, and hunting, and strongly dependant on the nearby rivers and hills. A unique sequence of a-ceramic and early ceramic levels covering a period of more than a thousand years (c. 6700-5500 BC) were uncovered. Peder Mortensen's book is the final report on the excavations, supplemented by sections on the prehistoric environment and on hunting and early animal domestication at Tepe Guran by Kent V. Flannery and Pernille Bangsgaard. The results are presented within a framework of reflections relating to the author's and to other scholars' recent research on the development of Neolithic settlement and subsistence patterns in the Central Zagros region.

This work presents the most recent views on a subject of primordial importance for all students of history: the understanding of humankind's process of becoming, viewed through the study of the beginnings of pottery in the late forager, and early farmer societies of Europe. It is a collection of essays, by some of the prominent European scholars and young dynamic archaeologists whose works focus on the early European and Middle Eastern pottery, intended to present a new perspective on the rise of a new technology in prehistory. With the breadth, variety and novelty of the approaches presented, Early farmers, late foragers and ceramic traditions. On the beginning of pottery in Europe is a fascinating read for scholars, as well as for the public at large.

Ce volume de 779 p. dont 111 planches photographiques en couleur, illustre de 497 figures au trait donnees dans le texte ou dans l'un des 25 depliants de releves reunis, avec 3 plans, dans un coffret annexe, presente les resultats de sept campagnes de fouilles menees de 1981 a 1990 sur 10 ermitages de cette agglomeration monastique des Kellia. L'architecture, l'epigraphie copte, l'iconographie et la ceramologie fournissent pour chacun d'eux une abondante moisson de donnees nouvelles. Dans un important chapitre de synthese intitule Kirche und Diakonia: Gemeinschaftsraume in den Eremitagen der Qusur el-'Izeila, G. Descoeudres etudie les dispositifs architecturaux et les pratiques religieuses que revelent les salles communautaires, tantot agapeia, tantot eglises, qui marquent l'evolution de la vie monastique d'un ascetisme eremitique vers une pratique plus communautaire et plus ouverte aux pelerins (Peeters 2001)

Ancient Israel did not emerge within a vacuum but rather came to exist alongside various peoples, including Canaanites, Egyptians, and Philistines. Indeed, Israel's very proximity to these groups has made it difficult-until now-to distinguish the archaeological traces of early Israel and other contemporary groups. Through an analysis of the results from recent excavations in light of relevant historical and later biblical texts, this book proposes that it is possible to identify these peoples and trace culturally or ethnically defined boundaries in the archaeological record. Features of late second-millennium B.C.E. culture are critically examined in their historical and biblical contexts in order to define the complex social boundaries of the early Iron Age and reconstruct the diverse material world of these four peoples. Of particular value to scholars, archaeologists, and historians, this volume will also be a standard reference and resource for students and other readers interested in the emergence of early Israel. "Paperback edition is available from the Society of Biblical Literature (www.sbl-site.org)"

The small town of Pathyris, modern Gebelein, is located south of Thebes. After a huge revolt suppressed in 186 B.C., a Ptolemaic military camp was built in this town, where local people could serve as soldiers-serving-for-pay. The Government took several initiatives to Hellenize the town, resulting in a bilingual society. The town produced hundreds of papyri and ostraka, discovered during legal excavations and illegal diggings at the end of the 19th century and in the 20th century. Katelijn Vandorpe and Sofie Waebens describe the history of the town and reconstruct the bilingual archives by using, among other things, prosopographical data and the method of museum archaeology.

Sinds meer dan een eeuw zijn Belgische archeologische missies aan het werk in Egypte. Veel van de door hen geleverde inspanningen en behaalde resultaten ontgaan het grote publiek. Dit boek probeert daaraan tegemoet te komen en biedt de lezer een overzicht van alle wetenschappelijke activiteiten die de voorbije eeuw door Belgische archeologische missies in Egypte werden verricht.

The ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts form a corpus of ritual spells written on the inside of coffins from the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000-1650 BCE). Thus accompanying the deceased in a very concrete sense, the spells are part of a long Egyptian tradition of equipping the dead with ritual texts ensuring the transition from the state of a living human being to that of a deceased ancestor. The texts present a view of death as entailing threats to the function of the body, often conceptualised as bodily fragmentation or dysfunction. In the transformation of the deceased, the restoration of these bodily dysfunctions is of paramount importance, and the texts provide detailed accounts of the ritual empowerment of the body to achieve this goal. Seen from this perspective, the Coffin Texts provide a rich material for studying ancient Egyptian conceptions of the body by providing insights into the underlying structure of the body as a whole and the proper function of individual part of the body as seen by the ancient Egyptians. Drawing on a theoretical framework from cognitive linguistics and phenomenological anthropology, Breathing Flesh presents an analysis of the conceptualisation of the human body and its individual parts in the ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts. From this starting point, more overarching concepts and cultural models are discussed, including the ritual conceptualisation of the acquisition and use of powerful substances such as "magic", and the role of fertility and procreation in ancient Egyptian mortuary conceptions.

This up-to-date revision of a classic work draws on the latest archaeological and linguistic research to fill in the historical realities behind the great stories of the Bible.

This account of the historical context for the Hebrew Bible explores the diverse origins of such stories as the creation and the flood in the cultures of the ancient Near East. The authors show the striking parallels in the foundational stories told in the Egyptian, Persian, Greek, and Hebrew cultures of the time.