scholarly journals PIGS AND PLAQUES: CONSIDERING RM. 714 IN LIGHT OF COMPARATIVE ARTISTIC AND TEXTUAL SOURCES

Iraq ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 80 ◽  
pp. 151-165
Author(s):  
Gina Konstantopoulos
Keyword(s):  
British Museum ◽  
Potential Functions ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Cylinder Seals

Rm. 714, a first millenniumb.c.e.tablet in the collections of the British Museum, is remarkable for the fine carving of a striding pig in high relief on its obverse. Purchased by Hormuzd Rassam in Baghdad in 1877, it lacks archaeological context and must be considered in light of other textual and artistic references to pigs, the closest parallel being a sow and her piglets seen in the reliefs of Court VI from Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh. Unlike depictions of pigs on later cylinder seals, where they are often shown as a dangerous quarry in hunting scenes, Rm. 714's pig appears in a more neutral, non-aggressive posture, similar to the sow in the Assyrian reliefs. Although Rm. 714's highly curved reverse would inhibit its use as a mounted or otherwise easily displayed object, the tablet may still have served as an apotropaic object or sculptor's model, among other potential functions.

qlqlt' tubkinnu, Refuse Tips and Treasure Trove

1983 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 123-129
Author(s):  
Jonas C. Greenfield ◽  
Aaron Shaffer
Keyword(s):  
British Museum ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Refuse Dump ◽  
Treasure Trove ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Rubbish Dump ◽  
The Needy ◽  
Refuse Tips ◽  
Aramaic Dialects

The Tell Fekherye inscriptions contained more than one surprise for both the Assyriologist and the Aramaist. In this article we will deal with Aramaic qlqlt' which was previously known from texts in various Aramaic dialects from the first millennium C.E. and also with tubkinnu its equivalent in the Akkadian text. Richard Barnett, to whom this article is dedicated, has opened one of the great treasure troves to the scholarly world – the Western Asiatic collections of the British Museum. We take this occasion to also comment on treasure trove in the ancient world.The word qlqlt' occurs in the Tell Fekherye inscription in 1. 22 of the Aramaic text: wmn qlqlt' llqṭw 'nšwh š‘rn klw “may his people scavenge barley to eat from the rubbish dump(s)”. The noun qlqlt' in this form occurs in various Targumic texts. Thus in 1 Sam 2:8 (= Ps 113:7) mē'ašpōt yārīm 'ebyōn “He lifts up the needy from the refuse heap” is translated miqqilqilātā/mĕrīm/yerīm hĕšīkā. The ša‘ar ha-ḥarsīt of Jer. 19:2 is translated tĕra‘ qilqiltā “dung gate” and the enigmatic śēfātayim of Ps 68:14 was interpreted as a plural of 'ašpā “dung heap, refuse dump” and translated qilqilātā. The same translation was offered for 'ašpātōt of Lam 4:5.

The Type of the Crouching Child and the ‘Temple Boys’

1969 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
pp. 95-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodora Hadzisteliou-Price
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Young Age ◽  
The Other ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
The Temple ◽  
Of Greece

Statuettes of children crouching on the floor with one knee bent up or both legs folded have been found in many parts of Greece, in sanctuaries, graves, and living quarters. In the course of a study of the cult of the Greek Kourotrophos there arose the problem of their typology and interpretation, as such statuettes are common finds in the sanctuaries of deities concerned with child-care. Before one can come to any speculations about their meaning and use, the type must be examined; its origin, distribution, and variations.The crouching posture is not uncommon in eastern, especially Egyptian art. Child-Horus, crouching on the lotus, appears in Egyptianizing Phoenician ivories from the early first millennium B.C. Faience pendants of a squatting child, datedc. 900 B.C., were excavated in tombs in Lachish. Most interesting for this study is the small faience statuette of a crouching boy from an Egyptian grave, now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Plate 20, 1). It is exactly in the posture that the Greek examples appear in: one knee bent up, the other on the floor; it has its finger on its mouth and bears the side-curl of youth. A real child is represented. This is also the case with three statuettes in the British Museum, one in copper and two in ivory, the latter inscribed with the names and titles of the owners. They too come from graves. All are dated around the beginning of the second millennium B.C. by a statuette of the same type coming from the tomb of the Pharaoh Pepi II. It is interesting to know that this posture and the hand on the mouth, as well as the nudity, are significant of young age in Egypt, since the hieroglyph for youth is a naked figure in this posture.

Early Maya ceremonial at Cuello, Belize

Antiquity ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 54 (212) ◽  
pp. 176-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman Hammond
Keyword(s):  
Joint Venture ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
National Geographic Society ◽  
National Geographic ◽  
Maya Civilization ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Late Formative ◽  
Middle Formative

The formative period of Maya civilization has been the subject of recent attention, both in discussion (e.g. Adams, 1977) and in excavation; several projects have been established specifically to investigate the processes that led to the Classic Maya florescence in the first millennium AD. Among these has been the Cuello Project, a joint venture of the British Museum, the National Geographic Society and Rutgers University; this article summarizes the results of the third and final season of the project’s excavations at Cuello, Belize (Fig. I), which took place from January to March, 1980. The terminology for excavated features, structures etc. is detailed in Hammond (1978).The site was discovered during extensive surveys in 1973–4 (Hammond, 1974, Fig. I), and its potential for the study of the Preclassic or Formative period which preceded the rise of Classic Maya civilization led to a test excavation in 1975. The sequence of building levels and pottery preserved by the growth of Platform 34, a large flat construction with a small superincumbent pyramid (Str. 35) (PL. XXVIa), lying to the southwest of the main part of the site (Donaghey, et al., 1976, Fig. 2), showed that the uppermost floors on the platform had been laid in the Late Formative (conventionally 300 BC–AD 250 ), over structures of the Middle Formative (1000–300 BC). Below these were earlier deposits associated with pottery of pre-Middle Formative date which was assigned to the Early Formative (2000–1000 BC).

Excavation and documentation of the Rhodian countryside and Dodecanese islands in the first millennium BC

2019 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 157-175
Author(s):  
Nicholas Salmon
Keyword(s):  
British Museum ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Research Project ◽  
The Past ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Archival Documentation ◽  
The University

This contribution offers an overview of recent fieldwork and museum-based projects focused on the Rhodian countryside and Dodecanese islands. The excavations conducted by the Ephorate of Antiquities of the Dodecanese over the past two decades, paired with the study of Rhodian collections in the Louvre and British Museum, among other museums, have developed and promoted the archaeological record of the region. The Kymissala Archaeological Research Project led by the University of the Aegean and a collaborative doctoral project investigating the British Museum’s collections from Kamiros each demonstrate the potential of revisiting historic excavations through topographical surveys and archival documentation.

EXCAVATIONS AT THE DARBAND-I RANIA PASS, KURDISTAN REGION OF IRAQ: REPORT ON THE 2016 AND 2017 SEASONS

Iraq ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
pp. 139-178
Author(s):  
John MacGinnis ◽  
Kamal Rasheed Raheem ◽  
Barzan Baiz Ismael ◽  
Mustafa Ahmad ◽  
Ricardo Cabral ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Kurdistan Region ◽  
The Road ◽  
Southern Shore ◽  
Strategic Location ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Major Route ◽  
And Control ◽  
Column Bases

This paper presents the results of the work of the new field initiative launched by the British Museum at the Darband-i Rania pass in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The pass is located at the northeastern corner of Lake Dokan, where, though now subsumed into the lake, the Lower Zab flows from the Peshdar into the Rania Plain. It is a strategic location on a major route from Mesopotamia into Iran, and control of both the road and the river must always have been important. The aim of the work, which commenced in autumn of 2016, is to explore a cluster of sites that commanded the pass, with a particular focus on the first millennium b.c. Excavation is being carried out principally at two sites: Qalatga Darband, a large fortified site at the western end of the pass, and Usu Aska, a fort inside the pass itself. The occupations of these two sites are predominantly Parthian and Assyrian respectively. Smaller operations have also been carried out at Murad Rasu, a multi-period site situated on a headland across the waters on the southern shore of Lake Dokan. The results have included the discovery at Qalatga Darband of a monumental complex built of stone and roofed with terracotta roof tiles containing the smashed remains of Hellenistic statuary. Other features indicative of Hellenistic material culture are Mediterranean-type oil-presses and Corinthian column bases and capitals. At Usu Aska remains are being uncovered of an Assyrian fortification of massive proportions.

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