ArchéOrient-Le Blog is run by members of the « Archéorient » research centre of the University of Lyon 2 (CNRS/University Lyon 2), based at the Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée (Lyon, France). The blog aims to promote exchanges and to give greater visibility to new scientific information in the field of archaeology and history of societies and environments during the Holocene in the Mediterranean, the Near and Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and more recently, the Horn of Africa and West Africa. This Blog is open to all representatives of the international scientific community and welcomes contributions in French and English.
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both philological as well as archaeological topics, presenting new insights into well-known texts as well as hitherto unpublished material.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
This volume gathers the papers presented at sessions 3, 7 and 8 from the conference Broadening Horizons 6, held at the Freie Universität Berlin, 24–28 June 2019, and is available in open access.
The second volume compiles papers presented in three enlightening sessions: Session 3 – Visual and Textual Forms of Communication; Session 7 – The Future of the Past. Archaeologists and Historians in Cultural Heritage Studies; and Session 8 – Produce, Consume, Repeat. History and Archaeology of Ancient Near Eastern Economies. Within this volume, the 20 papers traverse diverse topics spanning multiple periods, from the 5th millennium BCE to the Roman Empire, and encompass a wide array of geographical regions within the Near East.
Among other relevant contributions, the following papers deal with aspects of ancient Iranian history and culture:
Delphine Poinsot: Sexuation of animals’ bodies in the bullae from Qasr-I Abu Nasr
Olivia Ramble: Generations of Writing: The Secondary Inscriptions of Darius’ tacara at Persepolis
Takehiro Miki: Deciphering the Skills of the Prehistoric Painting Technique: Case Study of the Painted Pottery of the 5th Millennium BCE from Tall-e Bakun A (Fars province, Iran)
Shavarebi, Ehsan. 2025. A numismatic history of Barikot (Veröffentlichungen zur Numismatik 69). Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. With a contribution by Luca M. Olivieri.
This volume offers a ‘catalogue and analysis of the coin finds from the excavations at Bīr-koṭ-ghwaṇḍai (Barikot), Swāt, Pakistan (1984–2022)’.
The present volume explores the coins unearthed during the excavations at the ancient city of Barikot (Swāt Valley, northern Pakistan) between 1984 and 2022. The excavations of the Italian Archaeological Mission at Barikot have revealed numerous settlement phases from the prehistoric to the Islamic times. Of particular significance are over 500 coin finds, which are placed in their historical context in this volume to draw a clear picture of the monetary circulation in the Swāt Valley (Uḍḍiyāna) throughout antiquity and the early Islamic period. The chronological framework of the coin finds spans from the third century BCE to the twelfth century CE, i.e., from the Indian Maurya dynasty to the Ghaznavids. The majority of the coin finds are from the Kušān period (first to fourth century CE). Various historical, typological, metrological, and topographical aspects of the coinage and monetary circulation of each period are addressed in separate chapters. The finds from Barikot are also compared with those from other documented sites in Uḍḍiyāna, Gandhāra, and adjacent regions in the Indo-Iranian borderlands. What should be highlighted is the stratigraphic documentation of the find contexts, which, based on the radiocarbon analyses, makes it possible to bring the coins into relation with other types of archaeological artifacts. This subject is discussed in an archaeological contribution by the director of the excavations, Luca M. Olivieri.
The two issues of volume 8 of Ash-Sharq are published and contain several interesting contributions. Below are listed the articles that deal with Iranian studies:
This volume highlights the excellent, wide-ranging work of a diverse collection of Iranian archaeologists, the new voices in Iranian archaeology. Archaeology in Iran has developed in lockstep with the discipline of archaeology itself, in part due to the colonial endeavors that provided impetus for Europeans to travel to distant lands and extract antiquities and other commodities. But centuries before western archaeologists broke ground on excavations in the lands that would in 1935 be called Iran, a deep and meaningful engagement with and reverence for the past was a thread running through Iranian culture since antiquity. For millennia, the residents and rulers of ancient Iranian lands have admired, interacted with, inscribed, invented stories about, and imitated the visible, often ruined, monuments of their ancestors that dotted the landscape
The volume Mannea and Beyond: A Study of Iron Age and Later Pottery from Zanjan in the National Museum of Iran presents a systematic analysis of a ceramic assemblage from Zanjan, stored in Iran’s National Museum. Due to the lack of archaeological context—these artefacts were retrieved through illegal excavations—the study focuses on typology, preservation, and precise comparisons with neighbouring sites. The assemblage is heterogeneous, largely from the Iron Age with some medieval pieces, with several items linked to the Mannaean culture, enriching our understanding of this relatively obscure cultural horizon. The excellent preservation suggests that the materials may originate from a necropolis with unknown position.
The table of contents of the latest issue (62/2) of the journal Iran:
Abbas Moghaddam & Elnaz Rashidian: Visiting Tol-e Tahmachi, a Fifth Millennium BCE Settlement in the Persian Gulf Littoral, Southwest Iran
Sheler Amelirad & Behroz Khanmohamadi: Typological Study of Metal Pins in Northwestern Iran Based on the Bayazid Abad (Bayazi Awa) Archaeological Assemblage
Mostafa Dehpahlavan & Zahra Alinezhad: The Cylinder Seals of Qareh Tepe in Sagzabad, Iron Age II and III
Mohsen Javeri & Majid MontazerZohouri: Vigol and Harāskān Fire Temple: Archaeological Evidence About the Veneration of Fire in the Center of the Iranian Plateau During the Sasanian Period
Shahram Jalilian & Touraj Daryaee: The Image of the Sasanian King in the Perso-Arabic Historical Tradition
Esmaeil Sangari, Zohreh Noori, Amirhossein Moghaddas, Aliakbar Abbasi & Reza Dehghani: The Iconography of Dancers and Their Garments on Sasanid Silver Vessels (Case Study: Four Silver Vessels with Different Features)
Michael Shenkar: The So-Called “Fravašis” and the “Heaven and Hell” Paintings, and the Cult of Nana in Panjikent
Moujan Matin: A Medieval Stonepaste Ceramic Production Site in Moshkin Tepe, Iran: Ceramics, Wasters, and Manufacturing Equipment
Philip Henning Grobien: The Origins and Intentions of the Anglo-Persian Agreement 1919: A Reassessment
Antonetti, Claudia, Bryan De Notariis & Marco Enrico (eds.). 2024. Wine cultures: Gandhāra and beyond (Antichistica 40). Venezia: Venice University Press.
The volume Wine Cultures. Gandhāra and Beyond represents the primary outcome of the MALIWI project (SPIN Ca’ Foscari 2021) directed by Claudia Antonetti. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, this work seeks to explore the production techniques, social functions, and cultural significance of intoxicating drinks with particular reference to wine – an extraordinary beverage that has been intertwined with human history for millennia. This volume gathers contributions by scholars interested in studying wine and drinking culture in Gandhāra and neighbouring regions, including Ancient Assyria, Arachosia, and present-day India. The topic is explored from three fundamental perspectives, employing a diverse range of sources, including literary and historical texts, as well as linguistic, iconographic, archaeological, and anthropological evidence.
