In this article, we shed new light on the series with the emic title ‘Ancient Sumerian’, previously known from the Late Babylonian ritual texts for the New Year Festival. We first establish a new reading of the title, the key to which lies in a Late Babylonian pseudepigraphic letter. Following that, we present the contents of the series, including the edition of the hitherto unpublished tablet BM 32544+ that according to its colophon belongs to the series. Finally, we discuss the possible purposes of the series in its Late Babylonian context, where ritual in its written form took on an unprecedented role in the temple cult.

The so-called ‘Revetment’, is a massive wall that has been entirely exposed over a length of c. 2 km at Tel Lachish in the years 1933–4. Based on historical considerations and the well-known Sennacherib relief that depicts the Assyrian attack of 701 bc, the wall was dated to the Iron Age. This was decided in London in 1932, before the excavation had even begun. Current field observations, however, indicate that this fortification system was built in the Middle Bronze Age, about a millennium earlier than suggested so far. This study has two objectives: to summarise the available data on this wall, emphasising 21 points along its circumference, and to analyse the implications of the new data for the dating of this construction. This is one of the best exposed Middle Bronze Age fortifications in the Levant.

This article investigates how ritual transforms the ordinary into something extraordinary. It is the capacity of ritual to differentiate, and to be differentiated from other activities, that provides a group with a framework for seeing what they are doing as being meaningfully different than ordinary. Without the proper focusing lens – ritualization – special nonordinary acts and objects can look very mundane indeed. Furthermore, there is often a stark contrast between what ritual actually does, and what is claimed is being done. This study analyzes a first millennium BCE ritual from Mesopotamia – attested both archaeologically and textually – that deals with preparing and manufacturing various materials and paraphernalia necessary for laying a temple’s foundations, to underscore (1) the fundamental utility of these notions in broadly studying ritual, (2) the processes and mechanisms that transform ordinary materials into special, perhaps “sacred,” products, and (3) how ritual merges the gap between the real and ideal.

This paper introduces the results from our excavations of the open-air late Upper Paleolithic site of Kalavan 6, Armenia. The site is embedded in a sedimentological sequence spanning from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; 26.5–19/20 ka) to the Holocene (i.e., from MIS 2 to 1). Our findings are presented together with chronological, environmental, and climatic data. Luminescence dating provides a temporal framework for reoccupation of the Armenian Highlands after the LGM, while two vegetation proxies (pollen assemblages and leaf waxes) characterize the environment. Based on these pollen data, a quantitative climate reconstruction (temperatures and precipitation) is offered. Techno-typological characterization of the lithic assemblages is presented together with the sourcing of the entire obsidian assemblage by portable X-ray fluorescence, providing insights into the occupants’ exploited territories. Such a framework, which incorporates both environmental reconstruction and hunter-gatherer behaviors, enables us to contextualize possible links between population dynamics during the height of the LGM and post-LGM environmental oscillations. We suggest that, during the LGM between ca. 24 and 19 ka, the combination of declining temperatures and the extension of the winter season limited the occupation feasibility of the region. The regional occupation resumed when environmental circumstances ameliorated. These results support our interpretation that temperatures and the duration of the seasons conditioned the past hunter-gatherer's occupation of the region.

The impact of human-driven hunting on large carnivores has been an important factor in altering recent and sub-recent ecosystems. However, comprehending this vital interaction in ancient times is compromised by the scarcity of carnivore remains in archaeological records. To address this, we examined historical human carnivore hunting dynamics in the Judean Desert of the Southern Levant using archaeological leopard traps, a unique hunting device common throughout the Saharo-Arabian region which has never been subjected to comprehensive analytic research. In this research, we applied a multi-faceted approach involving OSL dating, distribution modeling, and ancient DNA techniques, that provide direct evidence to spatio-temporal trends in top predator hunting. Our investigation dates the oldest known traps and implies that human hunting has been directed towards the Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) population in the Judean Desert since the mid-Holocene. Leopard hunting, which was probably carried out mostly by nomadic herding communities, intensified during the late Holocene, resulting in a substantial decline in the leopard population. By the time conservation regulations were enforced in the region, the leopard population had already plummeted to unsustainable levels due to these historical hunting practices.

Nahal Dimona 24 is a Middle Paleolithic rock shelter, the first Middle Paleolithic sheltered site identified and excavated in the arid Negev region, southern Israel. The site exhibits at least one well preserved in situ archaeological horizon that was dated by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) to MIS 3–4 (Late Middle Paleolithic). The lithic assemblage from Nahal Dimona 24 is dominated by the centripetal Levallois knapping mode, sharing technological characteristics with earlier Middle Paleolithic sites from the southern Levant such as Qafzeh Cave and Nesher Ramla Quarry. At the same time, Nahal Dimona 24 differs from other late Middle Paleolithic sites mainly in the paucity of unidirectional convergent Levallois strategy and triangular end-products. Within the southern Levant Middle Paleolithic, dominance of centripetal Levallois knapping mode has frequently been associated with MIS 5 chronology and is seen by some as a cultural marker of human demic diffusion into the Levant during this time span. Based on the lithic assemblage and OSL ages from Nahal Dimona 24, we suggest that within the technological variability of the Middle Paleolithic in the Levant, the dominance of a specific lithic production mode is not a sufficient cultural or chronological marker. We further propose that since long stratified sequences may be a result of many visits by different human groups, short-term occupations like Nahal Dimona 24 might shed new light on the use of the different modes of Levallois preparation in the late Middle Paleolithic since they may better reflect the use of specific technological traditions related to Levallois preparation.

The Early Epipaleolithic (EEP) of the Southern Levant, roughly dated to 25-18 ka BP, is characterized by microlithic industries with highly variable synchronic and geographic techno-typological characteristics, the chronology of which remains poorly understood.

Here, we present the results from excavations at Idan VII, a well-preserved site amongst a cluster of newly discovered EEP occurrences in the hyper-arid Arava Valley, Israel. The finds are embedded within the Late Pleistocene Lisan Formation lacustrine sediments, an extensively studied paleo-hydroclimatic archive in the Rift Valley. This unique situation enables contextualization of the archaeological finds within the detailed paleo-climatic chronology.

The data presented include the stratigraphy (geomorphology and micro-geoarchaeology), relative (related to paleo-lake curve) and absolute (radiocarbon and U–Th) chronology, and archaeological (lithics, faunal and botanical) remains. The results demonstrate that the Idan EEP occurrences are situated within a localized relatively short-lived paleo-wetland area adjacent to Lake Lisan, during or immediately after the extremely cool and locally dry Heinrich Event 2 (H2), ca. 24 ka BP.

The results are critically examined with respect to available radiocarbon dates from EEP archaeological sites in the Southern Levant. These, together with the geomorphological evidence, indicate that the Idan VII assemblage, while superficially resembling the so-called ‘Late Kebaran’ industry, actually significantly predates its most pertinent techno-typological analogs, highlighting the necessity of re-evaluating the “Kebaran complex”. Rather, it is coeval with the local, but unrelated ‘Masraqan’ and ‘Nebekian’ industries at the very onset of the EEP, demonstrating the high degree of Last Glacial Maximum hunter-gatherer cultural diversity then present in the Levant.

In contextualizing the results within the Northern Hemisphere chrono-climatic framework, we conclude that within the Southern Levant, the H2 provides a solid chrono-climatic anchor for the appearance of fully-fledged backed bladelets microlithic industries, which probably reflects a technological change in composite projectile hunting gear that occurred during the EEP.

In April 2020, a small square-shaped clay object, possibly a docket, was found on the surface of Tell Jemmeh. The object bears an image of a soldier leading a bound naked captive, a rare motif in the iconography of the Southern Levant. By comparing and contrasting ancient Near Eastern parallels, this study suggests a Late Bronze Age date for the object, thus placing it in the geopolitical reality of that period.

This article engages the houses of the southern Phoenician coastal city of Tel Dor as a means to explore the social practices and smaller-scale economic activities of residents. It uses access and lighting analyses alongside observations of architectural planning and decoration in four case-study houses from distinct areas of the city. The approach elucidates how particular domestic spaces function and the social logic that shapes them. It shows that socially diverse residents lived within the city. While there is a locally distinctive approach to domestic architecture connecting these Hellenistic- to Roman-era case studies, preferences for the articulation of space vary by neighborhood and status. Even within social class, some houses show greater receptivity to new planning and decorating styles. Finally, it demonstrates that only the very finest house clearly eschews the broader Roman trend of incorporating household industries to support the economic growth of the residents.

The Temple eclipsed in its splendor and importance all other institutions of the Jews, both in the Land of Israel and in the Diaspora. It was the center of religious and national life; a goal of pilgrimage. Already in the 19th century, 'The Quest for the Temple' had spread beyond the limited circles of Jewish commentators, becoming an interest also of Christian scholars. The Dead Sea Scrolls, especially the Temple Scroll, first published in 1977, brought new source materials pertaining to the pre-Herodian Temple to the fore. Some water cisterns still extant under the upper platform of the present Muslim compound are hiding a telling story, left unnoticed so far. Its unravelling in an interdisciplinary approach, an attentive re-reading of all available literary sources, and a re-evaluation of the said archaeological remains, lie at the core of the studies presented here. [Publisher's text].