These volumes of studies in honour of Manfred Bietak include contributions from a wide variety of research areas. Articles deal with pre- and proto-dynastic periods in Ancient Egypt as well as with aspects of dynastic to modern times. Others focus on the interaction between Egypt, the Levant, Cyprus, the Aegean and Phoenicia, whereas in another section Minoan, Mycenaean and Cypriote aspects are covered. Scholars from Near Eastern studies contributed as well as researchers working with Nubian and Meroitic material. Further articles cover issues from Graeco-Roman Egypt to Classical studies and Art History. Articles in a further section deal with Sciences and Chronology, reflecting Manfred Bietak's interest in these subjects as well.

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.

English summary: Comparative analysis of Kellia after 451 AD and synthesis of the development of the site. Studies and categorization of ceramics, coins, inscriptions, and decorations, and some specialized studies. French text. French description: Le Kom 1 (QIs 1), en marge de l'ensemble monastique de Qoucour Isy, dans le desert des Kellia, a ete fouille integralement entre 1965 et 1978. Il contenait les plus anciens temoins de l'occupation du site et le centre de reunion hebdomadaire des ermites, jusqu'a sa desaffectation au second quart du VIIe s. Developpe a partir d'un groupe de cellules primitives (seconde moitie du IVe s.), QIs 1 a ete dote de trois eglises (fin IVe s.; apres 451; dernier quart VIe s.). Neuf etats successifs sont decrits et reconstitues de maniere detaillee, dates par de riches ensembles ceramiques et monetaires. L'analyse propose les fonctions des constructions decouvertes: enceintes, tour-refuge, memoriae, cellules, locaux pour reunions et repas, cuisines, boulangeries, ateliers, magasins... Analyse comparee du second centre de reunion des Kellia, apres 451 AD (Qacr Ouaheida) et synthese du developpement du site. Etude et catalogues de la ceramique, des monnaies, inscriptions et decors (dont un opus sectile en verre). Etudes specialisees (reliques, installations textiles, restes vegetaux et animaux, briques et mortiers).

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)

This volume, published in memory of Barbara Adams, presents 57 contributions by authors from 16 different countries and contains the results of the latest research on Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt. In addition to papers originally presented at the 2002 conference in Krakow, there are the invited contributions by the friends and colleagues of Barbara Adams, including several on new discoveries from and thoughts about the site of Hierakonpolis.

Double names have a long history in Egypt. They are already attested on Old Kingdom funerary monuments, where concern about eternal life required a correct identification of the deceased. When Greek and Egyptian cultures came into contact under the Ptolemies, bilingual polyonymy (i.e. the combination of an Egyptian and a Greek name) became more popular. During this period, Greek ethnicity was valued as a symbol of power and social status, and was used to create borders between the rulers and the ruled. At the same time, however, it was a flexible concept and this made it a useful tool for crossing the very same boundaries it constructed. As ethnicity became a crucial aspect of one's identity, it is not surprising that bilingual polyonymy was well attested among those that formed a bridge between the ruling class and the Egyptian population: particularly military, administrative and priestly officials. Since they moved between largely separated ethnic contexts, combining names of different linguistic origins was a way to negotiate their ethnic identities. Rather than serving as a reliable source for ethnic origin, names can therefore be interpreted as an expression of the ethnic identity of an individual in a certain space or context.

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.

This reprint of Sukenik's article "The Earliest Records of Christianity" is presented as the first volume of Gorgias Press's Analecta Gorgiana series with a new introduction by George Anton Kiraz. This fully illustrated archaeological abstract is sure to be of interest to readers concerned with the archaeology of the area around Jerusalem, as well as those interested in early artifacts of Christianity.

The 4,000-page Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vaticana is described as "the first and best encyclopedia for the study of early Syriac Christian literature" by the Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity. It is the standard encyclopedia in the field.

Willi Heffening publishes here the Arabic version of the "sermon against laughter" attributed to Ephrem. Heffening accompanies the Arabic text with a brief introduction, a German translation, and a critical apparatus with variants from the Greek version.

This book proposes a new occupation model for the remains of Khirbet Qumran, the site associated with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Using the latest in virtual reality technology, the author reconstructs the site of Qumran and demonstrates that the site was initially built as a Hasmonean fortress, and was later expanded into a residence for a self-sufficient community responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls.

This volume resurrects the forgotten history of early American involvement in biblical archaeology. Frederick Jones Bliss, an American from a prominent missionary family, is central to the story as he was the first of any nationality to scientifically excavate the tells of Palestine.