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.

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.

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)"

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 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.