Author: Yazdan Safaee

Cyrus, Georg . 2025. Die Aneignung und Umnutzung von Herrschaftsräumen am Beispiel der Squattersiedlung der südwestasiatischen Eisenzeit. Bicester: Archaeopress.

Following the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, former monumental sites in northern Mesopotamia and the Zagros Mountains became long-lasting squatter settlements. This study compares four such sites, revealing creative reuse of space and framing squatting as a distinct cultural phenomenon of the 6th–5th centuries BCE.

In the 6th century BCE, with the collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, a new form of cohabitation was established in many places in northern Mesopotamia and the neighbouring Zagros Mountains: squatter settlements. Once monumental structures seem to have lost their significance as elite sites and were now used for domestic purposes. This book analyses this form of cohabitation.

In a qualitative comparison between the squatter settlements of the four sites Tell Sheikh Hamad, Nimrud, Godin Tepe and Nush-i Jan, this thesis identifies similarities and differences in the appropriation of monumental spaces. Lefebvre’s theory of space is used as a theoretical basis for understanding these appropriations. Methodologically, Hillier and Hanson’s space syntax analysis and Klinkenberg’s sequence-of-events approach are used.

Ultimately, this analysis leads to the conclusion that squatter settlements were not simply temporary settlements that only existed for a few years, but rather established settlements that existed for centuries. It also turns out that the inhabitants of squatter settlements faced particular challenges with the decaying monumental structure, which they met with creativity and inventiveness. Squatter settlements therefore deserve their own consideration and should be seen as a cultural phenomenon of the 6th and 5th centuries in northern Mesopotamia and the central Zagros Mountains.

Messina, Vito & Jafar Mehr Kian (eds.). 2025. Shami, Kal-e Chendar: Research of the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzestan. Bicester: Archaeopress.

This report details the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition’s research (2012-2018) at Kal-e Chendar, Khuzestan. It reveals a multifunctional religious complex from the Hellenistic and Parthian periods (3rd century BCE to 2nd century CE), with interconnected religious, funerary, and social functions.

This report publishes the results of the research conducted between 2012 and 2018 by the Iranian- Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzestan at Kal-e Chendar, in the valley of Shami, about 30 km north of present-day Izeh. The project aimed to shed new light on one of the most intriguing religious complexes of Hellenistic and Parthian Iran, located in highland Khuzestan, the heart of ancient Elymais. Identified thanks to the accidental discovery of statues (some fragmentary) in 1935, the site of Kal-e Chendar was briefly investigated by Sir Marc Aurel Stein, one of the most famous explorers of Inner Asia, and Bahman Karimi, Inspector of the Iranian Antiquities Service, early in 1936. It was subsequently to fall into oblivion for many decades despite the importance of the discoveries they made. Based on an interdisciplinary approach, the research project aimed to acquire new information on the materiality of the site and to systematically study its archaeological context, putting forward new interpretations of the function, chronology and meaning of the complex.

Based on previous investigations and the results of this new research, it is clear that an important religious complex existed at Kal-e Chendar in the Hellenistic and Parthian periods, from about the 3rd century BCE to the 2nd century CE. The complex was multifunctional. Its religious dimension, although of paramount importance, was not the only characteristic of the site: monumental terraces, built to support sacred buildings now lost, alternate with a wide cemetery, implying that religious and funerary functions were here strictly interrelated. The complex also probably had social meaning.

Martino, Stefano de, Elena Devecchi and Maurizio Viano (eds.). 2024. Eating and drinking in the ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 67th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Turin, July 12–16, 2021 (dubsar 33). Münster: Zaphon.

This volume comprises many of the papers presented at the 67th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale in July 2021 in Turin. Due to pandemic restrictions the participants of the conference could not meet in person. The encompassing topic “Eating and Drinking in the Ancient Near East” is broad and declinable under different perspectives. Key lectures (1) have been delivered by Cécile Michel on “Gender Aspects in Food and Drink Preparation” and by Theo van den Hout on “Hittite Foodways: The King as the Provider of his People”. Subsequent lectures grouped around the following sections: (2) Food Production, (3.) Resource Management, (4.) Rituality, Banquet and Commensality, (5.) Medicine and Literature, (6.) Philological and Archaeological Researches, (7.) Varia. The lections feature both philological as well as archaeological topics, presenting new insights into well-known texts as well as hitherto unpublished material. Among others Paola Paoletti examines “Butter and Cheese Production in the Third Millennium BCE Babylonia”, Juliette Mas “Funerary Drinking Vessels in Early and Middle Bronze Age Upper Mesopotamian Burials”, while Ludovico Portuese pursues “The Assyrian Royal Banquet”, and Jan Tavernier “The Use of Eggs in Mesopotamian Medicine and beyond”, to list just a few of the 35 articles.

Two contributions investigate topics that are related to ancient Iran:

• Francesca Giusto: Dairy Production in SW Iran from the Middle Elamite to the Neo-Elamite Period
• Trudy Kawami: What Fine Ceramics Can Tell Us About Social Drinking in Iron Age Iran