Wie alt ist der Name Joachim?

Books

Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 281, 2019

The yearly missions at Tell Tweini conducted by a Belgian-Syrian team have halted since 2011; how... more The yearly missions at Tell Tweini conducted by a Belgian-Syrian team have halted since 2011; however, the continuous research of the prodigious amount of data available has not. Over the past years the research team headed by Joachim Bretschneider (University Ghent) has focused on the study of particular groups of artefacts, ecofacts and landscape, resulting in new and exciting insights on various aspects of the settlement of Tell Tweini presented in this book.
Tell Tweini or ancient Gibala is located in the Syrian coastal plain and represents the southernmost harbour of the Ugaritic Kingdom in the Late Bronze Age. As one of the few sites under excavation in the Northern Levant with a full archaeological sequence spanning the Early Bronze Age IV (ca. 2400 BCE) up to the Iron Age III period (ca. 500 BCE), Tell Tweini (Field A) is a key site for the study of the developments in the Northern Levant especially where the Bronze to Iron Age transition is concerned.

"The 'Round City', Tell Beydar (ancient Nabada) is located in the Upper Syrian Jezireh. Its main ... more "The 'Round City', Tell Beydar (ancient Nabada) is located in the Upper Syrian Jezireh. Its main occupation dates back to the Early Dynastic/Early Jezireh IIIb period during which time Beydar was subordinate to Tell Brak (ancient Nagar).
Tell Beydar, excavated since 1992 by a joint Syro-European expedition headed by Marc Lebeau and Antoine Suleiman, has produced more than 1500 sealings, representing 215 different designs, many of the finest quality. Eighty-five percent of these sealings can be ascribed to the final phase of the Early Jezireh IIIb Official Upper City Complex (dated around 2300 BC). This glyptic material is the largest corpus of Early Bronze Age sealings from Northern Mesopotamia attributed to an official household. The study of the different designs, the functional aspects and the contextual analyses of the sealings give an impression of the official administration in an Early Bronze Age palatial complex.
The authors were responsible for the glyptic study of the 1995 - 2001 seasons, but earlier published glyptic data - the 1994 season conducted by Béatrice Teissier and the 2002 - 2006 seasons by Elena Rova - have also been incorporated in this research.

Les fouilles syro-belges de Tell Tweini, entamées en 1999, ont pour but d‘étudier l'histoire du s... more Les fouilles syro-belges de Tell Tweini, entamées en 1999, ont pour but d‘étudier l'histoire du site dans son contexte syro-mésopotamien. Cette recherche archéologique et historique s‘intègre dans un programme d‘études interdisciplinaires qui a pour but de récréer l'environnement dans lequel les civilisations du Levant se sont développées. Située dans une zone de contact entre le monde Egéen et le Nord de la Mésopotamie, la ville antique de Tweini, probablement Gibala possède une importance historique et culturelle considérable.

"An archaeological and historical study based on eight seasons of excavations at Tell Tweini (Sy... more "An archaeological and historical study
based on eight seasons of excavations at Tell Tweini (Syria)
in the A and C fields (1999-2007)"

Public buildings reflect the investment of social resources and are usually interpreted as the em... more Public buildings reflect the investment of social resources and are usually interpreted as the embodiments of political, social, religious and economic power. The architecture of such buildings is often especially devised to reflect the performance of this power, incorporating a symbolism that served as a signpost for a particular social order. This symbolism was especially carried by monumentality and enhanced by scale, location, decoration, materials and visual impact. By making particular use of the natural landscape and the artificially created environment, the monumentality of public buildings helped to improve social cohesion and legitimated a particular societal system. Moreover, their intergenerational use gave such buildings great potential for communication and remembrance, especially during specific ceremonies. This volume is the reflection of an international conference which brought together specialists from two sides of the Eastern Mediterranean, the Near East and the Aegean, two areas that interrelated at different levels and at different moments during the Bronze Age, in order to examine how public architecture was used within this process.

Alter Orient und Altes Testament, Bd. 229, 1991

Pyla-Kokkinokremos (Cyprus) Papers/Press

The excavations of the joint Belgian-Greek team directed by Prof. Joachim Bretschneider (UGhent),... more The excavations of the joint Belgian-Greek team directed by Prof. Joachim Bretschneider (UGhent), Prof. Jan Driessen (UCLouvain) and Dr. Athanasia Kanta (Mediterranean Society Iraklion) took place from October 26 to November 14. As before, the three teams continued work in respectively the west lobe (MS Iraklion, Sector 4), the east lobe (UGhent, Sectors 5 and 7) and the central plateau (UCLouvain, Sector 3) of the hart-shaped hill.

Ägypten und Levante 31, 2021

The Late Bronze Age presents a peak in the cultural interactions between the different empires in... more The Late Bronze Age presents a peak in the cultural interactions between the different empires in the ancient Near East. Bulk goods and small quantities of luxury products were exchanged between the kings and the local elite over long distances. During the 2019 excavation campaign, such a luxury item was discovered at the site of Pyla-Kokkinokremos in Cyprus: an Egyptian calcite-alabaster drop jar incised with geometric and floral decorations. In the present publication, this exceptional find is contextualized by examining other decorated drop jars from the Near East.

Ougarit, un anniversaire. RSO XXVIII, V. Matoïan (ed.), 2021

Chypre et le Levant nord avec le royaume d'Ougarit ont été touchés par des changements socio-cult... more Chypre et le Levant nord avec le royaume d'Ougarit ont été touchés par des changements socio-culturels drastiques peu après 1200 av. J.-C., dont les causes et les effets restent à discuter. Cet article résume certaines des recherches les plus récentes, en tenant compte des sources historiques et archéologiques. Dans le cadre de cette analyse supra-régionale, une attention particulière est accordée à l'établissement de Pyla-Kokkinokremos sur l'île de Chypre. Le site, localisé juste à l'est de la baie de Larnaca, sur un plateau naturellement fortifié, fait de nouveau l'objet de recherches archéologiques depuis 2014, par une mission conjointe de l'Université de Gand (J. Bretschneider), de l'Université catholique de Louvain (J. Driessen) et de la Mediterranean Archaeological Society (A. Kanta). Pyla-Kokkinokremos est exceptionnel en raison de son occupation de courte durée : établi avant la fin du XIIIe s. av. J.-C., le site est soudainement abandonné au début du XIIe. En tant que tel, l'établissement représente une « capsule temporelle » documentant une phase critique (Chypriote récent IIC-IIIA) de l'histoire de l'île au Bronze récent. Le caractère multi-ethnique, déjà reconnu pour les découvertes faites sur le site de Kokkinokremos, est confirmé par les fouilles en cours, grâce à des objets provenant de Sardaigne, de Crète, d'Égypte, d'Anatolie, de Grèce mycénienne (en particulier d'Argolide) et de la côte syropalestinienne. Certaines questions comme par exemple de savoir qui fonda ce site en cet endroit stratégique spécifique et pourquoi l'installation fut soudainement abandonnée peu après, ne peuvent trouver de réponse définitive mais restent importantes pour comprendre les relations entre Chypre et Ugarit au crépuscule de l'âge du Bronze.

A sixth joint excavation campaign between the Universities of Ghent, Louvain and the Mediterranea... more A sixth joint excavation campaign between the Universities of Ghent, Louvain and the Mediterranean Archaeological Society took place at Pyla-Kokkinokremos from the 26th of March until the 26th of May, 2019.
Since its discovery in the early 1950s, the Late Bronze Age settlement of Pyla-Kokkinokremos has occupied a prominent position in the debates surrounding the ‘collapse’ of Bronze Age Mediterranean societies c. 1200 BCE. Several elements contributed to the site’s particular status in the Late Cypriot IIC-IIIA settlement landscape:
- the short-lived character of the site – founded towards the end of the 13th c. BCE and abandoned during the first quarter of the 12th c. BCE
- its exceptional ‘casemate’ architecture
- its multi-ethnic material culture – with references to Sardinia, Crete, Egypt, Anatolia, the Syro-Palestinian coast and Mycenaean Greece.
In 2014, Prof. Joachim Bretschneider (UGhent), Prof. Jan Driessen (UCLouvain) and Dr. Athanasia Kanta (Mediterranean Archaeological Society) inaugurated a new excavation project at Pyla-Kokkinokremos following previous successful investigations by Dr. Dikaios, Prof. Karageorghis and Dr. Kanta.

Regional Environmental Change, 2019

Keywords: Late Bronze Age crisis / Climate change / Drought / 3.2kaBPevent / Food shortages / Fam... more Keywords: Late Bronze Age crisis / Climate change / Drought / 3.2kaBPevent / Food shortages / Famine / Eastern Mediterranean

In Eastern Mediterranean history, 1200 BCE is a symbolic date. Its significance is tied to the important upheavals that destabilised regional-scale economic systems, leading to the dislocation of mighty Empires and, finally, to the “demise” of a societal model (termed “the Crisis Years”). Recent studies have suggested that a centuries-long drought, of regional scale, termed the 3.2 ka BP event, could be one of the motors behind this spiral of decline. Here, we focus on this pivotal period, coupling new palaeoenvironmental data and radiocarbon dates from Syria (the site of Tell Tweini) and Cyprus (the site of Pyla-Kokkinokremnos), to probe whether climate change accelerated changes in the Eastern Mediterranean’s Old World, by inducing crop failures/low harvests, possibly engendering severe food shortages and even famine. We show that the Late Bronze Age crisis and the following Dark Ages were framed by an ~ 300-year drought episode that significantly impacted crop yields and may have led to famine. Our data underline the agro-productive sensitivity of ancient Mediterranean societies to environmental changes, as well as the potential link between adverse climate pressures and harvest/famine.

Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, 2018

Scientific visualization is a well-recognized method of inquiry into data across a wide range of ... more Scientific visualization is a well-recognized method of inquiry into data across a wide range of disciplines. 2D still images have a long history of use in archaeology, mainly depicting artifacts, structures or plans of archaeological sites. 3D models have a relative long history in modern archaeology, mostly for presentations to the public, musealisation services or engagement in education programs. The article below aims at filling the gap, by presenting a chaine opératoire archaeological investigation of an artifact, by implementing methods of scientific visualization and shape analysis on the 3D digital and physical replicas of the object. The item is a unique stone object found at the Late Bronze Age site of Pyla-Kokkinokremos; the article details the methodological approach, implemented analysis pipeline and critical discussion of adopted methodology and the resulting archaeological interpretation.

UF 48, 2018

A fifth joint excavation campaign between the Universities of Ghent, Louvain and the Mediterranea... more A fifth joint excavation campaign between the Universities of Ghent, Louvain and the Mediterranean Archaeological Society took place at Pyla-Kokkinokremos from the 27th of March until the 26th of May.
The site of Pyla-Kokkinokremos represents a singularly short-lived settlement in the island’s Late Bronze Age history. Established only a generation or so prior to its eventual abandonment in the early 12th century BC, the site provides important evidence relating to the crucial period at the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 12th century BC. Former excavations suggest the entire plateau of ca. 7 ha to have been densely occupied. Excavated parts on the plateau were laid-out regularly within a perimeter ‘casemate’ wall. During the 2018 season excavations continued both on the west and east lobe in an effort to better understand the layout, organisation and functional specialisation of the settlement.

The site of Pyla-Kokkinokremos, located ca. 15 km east of Larnaka along the coast of Cyprus, repr... more The site of Pyla-Kokkinokremos, located ca. 15 km east of Larnaka along the coast of Cyprus, represents a singularly short-lived settlement in the island’s Late Bronze Age history. Established only a generation or so prior to its eventual abandonment in the early 12th c. BC, the settlement is a valuable ‘time capsule’ of the Late Cypriot IIC/IIIA (1230-1170 BC) critical phase.

Located on the southeast coast of Cyprus, Pyla-Kokkinokremos was only founded a few decades prior... more Located on the southeast coast of Cyprus, Pyla-Kokkinokremos was only founded a few decades prior to its eventual abandonment at the beginning of the 12 th c. BC. This limited occupation makes the site an excellent case study to explore the impact of the so-called crisis years on the island. Since the settlement was never reoccupied and has an overall lifespan of less than fifty years, Pyla's material culture can be considered a 'time capsule' for this LC IIC-IIIA critical phase.

Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 281, 2019

The yearly missions at Tell Tweini conducted by a Belgian-Syrian team have halted since 2011; how... more The yearly missions at Tell Tweini conducted by a Belgian-Syrian team have halted since 2011; however, the continuous research of the prodigious amount of data available has not. Over the past years the research team headed by Joachim Bretschneider (University Ghent) has focused on the study of particular groups of artefacts, ecofacts and landscape, resulting in new and exciting insights on various aspects of the settlement of Tell Tweini presented in this book.
Tell Tweini or ancient Gibala is located in the Syrian coastal plain and represents the southernmost harbour of the Ugaritic Kingdom in the Late Bronze Age. As one of the few sites under excavation in the Northern Levant with a full archaeological sequence spanning the Early Bronze Age IV (ca. 2400 BCE) up to the Iron Age III period (ca. 500 BCE), Tell Tweini (Field A) is a key site for the study of the developments in the Northern Levant especially where the Bronze to Iron Age transition is concerned.

"The 'Round City', Tell Beydar (ancient Nabada) is located in the Upper Syrian Jezireh. Its main ... more "The 'Round City', Tell Beydar (ancient Nabada) is located in the Upper Syrian Jezireh. Its main occupation dates back to the Early Dynastic/Early Jezireh IIIb period during which time Beydar was subordinate to Tell Brak (ancient Nagar).
Tell Beydar, excavated since 1992 by a joint Syro-European expedition headed by Marc Lebeau and Antoine Suleiman, has produced more than 1500 sealings, representing 215 different designs, many of the finest quality. Eighty-five percent of these sealings can be ascribed to the final phase of the Early Jezireh IIIb Official Upper City Complex (dated around 2300 BC). This glyptic material is the largest corpus of Early Bronze Age sealings from Northern Mesopotamia attributed to an official household. The study of the different designs, the functional aspects and the contextual analyses of the sealings give an impression of the official administration in an Early Bronze Age palatial complex.
The authors were responsible for the glyptic study of the 1995 - 2001 seasons, but earlier published glyptic data - the 1994 season conducted by Béatrice Teissier and the 2002 - 2006 seasons by Elena Rova - have also been incorporated in this research.

Les fouilles syro-belges de Tell Tweini, entamées en 1999, ont pour but d‘étudier l'histoire du s... more Les fouilles syro-belges de Tell Tweini, entamées en 1999, ont pour but d‘étudier l'histoire du site dans son contexte syro-mésopotamien. Cette recherche archéologique et historique s‘intègre dans un programme d‘études interdisciplinaires qui a pour but de récréer l'environnement dans lequel les civilisations du Levant se sont développées. Située dans une zone de contact entre le monde Egéen et le Nord de la Mésopotamie, la ville antique de Tweini, probablement Gibala possède une importance historique et culturelle considérable.

"An archaeological and historical study based on eight seasons of excavations at Tell Tweini (Sy... more "An archaeological and historical study
based on eight seasons of excavations at Tell Tweini (Syria)
in the A and C fields (1999-2007)"

Public buildings reflect the investment of social resources and are usually interpreted as the em... more Public buildings reflect the investment of social resources and are usually interpreted as the embodiments of political, social, religious and economic power. The architecture of such buildings is often especially devised to reflect the performance of this power, incorporating a symbolism that served as a signpost for a particular social order. This symbolism was especially carried by monumentality and enhanced by scale, location, decoration, materials and visual impact. By making particular use of the natural landscape and the artificially created environment, the monumentality of public buildings helped to improve social cohesion and legitimated a particular societal system. Moreover, their intergenerational use gave such buildings great potential for communication and remembrance, especially during specific ceremonies. This volume is the reflection of an international conference which brought together specialists from two sides of the Eastern Mediterranean, the Near East and the Aegean, two areas that interrelated at different levels and at different moments during the Bronze Age, in order to examine how public architecture was used within this process.

Alter Orient und Altes Testament, Bd. 229, 1991

The excavations of the joint Belgian-Greek team directed by Prof. Joachim Bretschneider (UGhent),... more The excavations of the joint Belgian-Greek team directed by Prof. Joachim Bretschneider (UGhent), Prof. Jan Driessen (UCLouvain) and Dr. Athanasia Kanta (Mediterranean Society Iraklion) took place from October 26 to November 14. As before, the three teams continued work in respectively the west lobe (MS Iraklion, Sector 4), the east lobe (UGhent, Sectors 5 and 7) and the central plateau (UCLouvain, Sector 3) of the hart-shaped hill.

Ägypten und Levante 31, 2021

The Late Bronze Age presents a peak in the cultural interactions between the different empires in... more The Late Bronze Age presents a peak in the cultural interactions between the different empires in the ancient Near East. Bulk goods and small quantities of luxury products were exchanged between the kings and the local elite over long distances. During the 2019 excavation campaign, such a luxury item was discovered at the site of Pyla-Kokkinokremos in Cyprus: an Egyptian calcite-alabaster drop jar incised with geometric and floral decorations. In the present publication, this exceptional find is contextualized by examining other decorated drop jars from the Near East.

Ougarit, un anniversaire. RSO XXVIII, V. Matoïan (ed.), 2021

Chypre et le Levant nord avec le royaume d'Ougarit ont été touchés par des changements socio-cult... more Chypre et le Levant nord avec le royaume d'Ougarit ont été touchés par des changements socio-culturels drastiques peu après 1200 av. J.-C., dont les causes et les effets restent à discuter. Cet article résume certaines des recherches les plus récentes, en tenant compte des sources historiques et archéologiques. Dans le cadre de cette analyse supra-régionale, une attention particulière est accordée à l'établissement de Pyla-Kokkinokremos sur l'île de Chypre. Le site, localisé juste à l'est de la baie de Larnaca, sur un plateau naturellement fortifié, fait de nouveau l'objet de recherches archéologiques depuis 2014, par une mission conjointe de l'Université de Gand (J. Bretschneider), de l'Université catholique de Louvain (J. Driessen) et de la Mediterranean Archaeological Society (A. Kanta). Pyla-Kokkinokremos est exceptionnel en raison de son occupation de courte durée : établi avant la fin du XIIIe s. av. J.-C., le site est soudainement abandonné au début du XIIe. En tant que tel, l'établissement représente une « capsule temporelle » documentant une phase critique (Chypriote récent IIC-IIIA) de l'histoire de l'île au Bronze récent. Le caractère multi-ethnique, déjà reconnu pour les découvertes faites sur le site de Kokkinokremos, est confirmé par les fouilles en cours, grâce à des objets provenant de Sardaigne, de Crète, d'Égypte, d'Anatolie, de Grèce mycénienne (en particulier d'Argolide) et de la côte syropalestinienne. Certaines questions comme par exemple de savoir qui fonda ce site en cet endroit stratégique spécifique et pourquoi l'installation fut soudainement abandonnée peu après, ne peuvent trouver de réponse définitive mais restent importantes pour comprendre les relations entre Chypre et Ugarit au crépuscule de l'âge du Bronze.

A sixth joint excavation campaign between the Universities of Ghent, Louvain and the Mediterranea... more A sixth joint excavation campaign between the Universities of Ghent, Louvain and the Mediterranean Archaeological Society took place at Pyla-Kokkinokremos from the 26th of March until the 26th of May, 2019.
Since its discovery in the early 1950s, the Late Bronze Age settlement of Pyla-Kokkinokremos has occupied a prominent position in the debates surrounding the ‘collapse’ of Bronze Age Mediterranean societies c. 1200 BCE. Several elements contributed to the site’s particular status in the Late Cypriot IIC-IIIA settlement landscape:
- the short-lived character of the site – founded towards the end of the 13th c. BCE and abandoned during the first quarter of the 12th c. BCE
- its exceptional ‘casemate’ architecture
- its multi-ethnic material culture – with references to Sardinia, Crete, Egypt, Anatolia, the Syro-Palestinian coast and Mycenaean Greece.
In 2014, Prof. Joachim Bretschneider (UGhent), Prof. Jan Driessen (UCLouvain) and Dr. Athanasia Kanta (Mediterranean Archaeological Society) inaugurated a new excavation project at Pyla-Kokkinokremos following previous successful investigations by Dr. Dikaios, Prof. Karageorghis and Dr. Kanta.

Regional Environmental Change, 2019

Keywords: Late Bronze Age crisis / Climate change / Drought / 3.2kaBPevent / Food shortages / Fam... more Keywords: Late Bronze Age crisis / Climate change / Drought / 3.2kaBPevent / Food shortages / Famine / Eastern Mediterranean

In Eastern Mediterranean history, 1200 BCE is a symbolic date. Its significance is tied to the important upheavals that destabilised regional-scale economic systems, leading to the dislocation of mighty Empires and, finally, to the “demise” of a societal model (termed “the Crisis Years”). Recent studies have suggested that a centuries-long drought, of regional scale, termed the 3.2 ka BP event, could be one of the motors behind this spiral of decline. Here, we focus on this pivotal period, coupling new palaeoenvironmental data and radiocarbon dates from Syria (the site of Tell Tweini) and Cyprus (the site of Pyla-Kokkinokremnos), to probe whether climate change accelerated changes in the Eastern Mediterranean’s Old World, by inducing crop failures/low harvests, possibly engendering severe food shortages and even famine. We show that the Late Bronze Age crisis and the following Dark Ages were framed by an ~ 300-year drought episode that significantly impacted crop yields and may have led to famine. Our data underline the agro-productive sensitivity of ancient Mediterranean societies to environmental changes, as well as the potential link between adverse climate pressures and harvest/famine.

Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, 2018

Scientific visualization is a well-recognized method of inquiry into data across a wide range of ... more Scientific visualization is a well-recognized method of inquiry into data across a wide range of disciplines. 2D still images have a long history of use in archaeology, mainly depicting artifacts, structures or plans of archaeological sites. 3D models have a relative long history in modern archaeology, mostly for presentations to the public, musealisation services or engagement in education programs. The article below aims at filling the gap, by presenting a chaine opératoire archaeological investigation of an artifact, by implementing methods of scientific visualization and shape analysis on the 3D digital and physical replicas of the object. The item is a unique stone object found at the Late Bronze Age site of Pyla-Kokkinokremos; the article details the methodological approach, implemented analysis pipeline and critical discussion of adopted methodology and the resulting archaeological interpretation.

UF 48, 2018

A fifth joint excavation campaign between the Universities of Ghent, Louvain and the Mediterranea... more A fifth joint excavation campaign between the Universities of Ghent, Louvain and the Mediterranean Archaeological Society took place at Pyla-Kokkinokremos from the 27th of March until the 26th of May.
The site of Pyla-Kokkinokremos represents a singularly short-lived settlement in the island’s Late Bronze Age history. Established only a generation or so prior to its eventual abandonment in the early 12th century BC, the site provides important evidence relating to the crucial period at the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 12th century BC. Former excavations suggest the entire plateau of ca. 7 ha to have been densely occupied. Excavated parts on the plateau were laid-out regularly within a perimeter ‘casemate’ wall. During the 2018 season excavations continued both on the west and east lobe in an effort to better understand the layout, organisation and functional specialisation of the settlement.

The site of Pyla-Kokkinokremos, located ca. 15 km east of Larnaka along the coast of Cyprus, repr... more The site of Pyla-Kokkinokremos, located ca. 15 km east of Larnaka along the coast of Cyprus, represents a singularly short-lived settlement in the island’s Late Bronze Age history. Established only a generation or so prior to its eventual abandonment in the early 12th c. BC, the settlement is a valuable ‘time capsule’ of the Late Cypriot IIC/IIIA (1230-1170 BC) critical phase.

Located on the southeast coast of Cyprus, Pyla-Kokkinokremos was only founded a few decades prior... more Located on the southeast coast of Cyprus, Pyla-Kokkinokremos was only founded a few decades prior to its eventual abandonment at the beginning of the 12 th c. BC. This limited occupation makes the site an excellent case study to explore the impact of the so-called crisis years on the island. Since the settlement was never reoccupied and has an overall lifespan of less than fifty years, Pyla's material culture can be considered a 'time capsule' for this LC IIC-IIIA critical phase.

The Department of Antiquities, Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works announces the comp... more The Department of Antiquities, Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works announces the completion of the 2016 excavation season at the Late Bronze Age site of Pyla-Kokkinokremos, near the village of Pyla in the Larnaca District.

According to an official press release, the excavations are conducted under the direction of Prof Joachim Bretschneider (University of Ghent & KU Leuven), Dr Athanasia Kanta (Mediterranean Archaeological Society) and Prof. Dr Jan Driessen (Université Catholique de Louvain) and took place from March 27th to April 24th 2016.

The Department of Antiquities has announced the completion of the 2016 excavation season at the L... more The Department of Antiquities has announced the completion of the 2016 excavation season at the Late Bronze Age site of Pyla-Kokkinokremos, near the village of Pyla in the Larnaca District

Travels through the Orient and the Mediterranean World. Essays presented to Eric Gubel, OLA 302, 2021

About Tell Tweini (Syria): Artefacts, Ecofacts and Landscape. Research Results of the Belgian Mission, 2019

About Tell Tweini (Syria): Artefacts, Ecofacts and Landscape. Research Results of the Belgian Mission, 2019

About Tell Tweini (Syria): Artefacts, Ecofacts and Landscape. Research Results of the Belgian Mission, 2019

About Tell Tweini (Syria): Artefacts, Ecofacts and Landscape. Research Results of the Belgian Mission, 2019

Akkadica 140, 2019

A rare, high quality cylinder seal bearing the depiction of a hero fighting a winged horse/’Pegas... more A rare, high quality cylinder seal bearing the depiction of a hero fighting a winged horse/’Pegasus’ was discovered within an Iron Age II context at the A Field of Tell Tweini. This floor deposit comprised an assemblage of artefacts consisting of two cylinder seals, one stamp seal, five beads and a large quantity of pottery.
Based on recently published parallels from Assur - in motif and style - and according to the comparative chronological categorization the Tweini seal can be dated to the 13th century BC, probably to the reign of Tukulti-Ninurta I (1243-1207 BC). This period is well attested in the rich archaeological record of Level 7 -Late Bronze Age II at Tweini. Since the floor deposit comprising this cylinder seal was dated to Level 6AB - Iron Age II, the seal consequently appears to have been kept over a long period.

Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 281, 2019

Cold and dry outbreaks in the eastern Mediterranean 3200 years ago Geology, 47, 2019 by David Kan... more Cold and dry outbreaks in the eastern Mediterranean 3200 years ago
Geology, 47, 2019
by David Kaniewski, Nick Marriner, Rachid Cheddadi, Christophe Morhange, Joachim Bretschneider, Greta Jans, Thierry Otto, Frédéric Luce and Elise Van Campo

The present volume presents the proceedings from the international workshop entitled Egypt and th... more The present volume presents the proceedings from the international workshop entitled Egypt and the Near East – the Crossroads, dedicated to the study of the relations between the two regions. The symposium took place from September 1–3, 2010 at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague. The main objective of the workshop was to enhance our understanding of the historical processes and the development of the abundant and complex relations between Egypt and the Near East during the period defined by the end of the Chalcolithic Period and the dawn of the Iron Age. In light of this, special attention was given to the region of Syria-Palestine. In order to obtain a well-balanced insight, the subject was discussed both from an archaeological and from a philological point of view. The volume contains fourteen papers, all of them closely related with the topic of the workshop with seven papers based on the study of material culture and archaeological data, and seven papers devoted to the study of written sources. The first group (archaeology and material culture) contains studies devoted to the Egyptian statuary from Qatna (A. Ahrens), to material from a grown settlement of the late Middle Kingdom at Tell el-Dabca (B. Bader), an overview of results of recent excavations at Tell Tweini (J. Bretschneider / A.-S. Van Vyve / G. Jans) and Tell el-Farkha (M. Czarnowicz), a study of the predynastic Egyptian influence in the Jordanian site of Tall Hujayrat al-Ghuzlan (F. Klimscha); an essay on religious symbolism in the Southern Levant in the Bronze Age according to iconography (F. Lippke) and finally, an analysis of the Levantine combed ware from Heit el-Ghurab (A. Wodzińska / M. Ownby). As for the second group of texts (written evidence) the volume contains the following papers: a reappraisal of the tale of Wenamun in the context of Ancient Near Eastern law (Ch. Brinker), a revision of the chronology of the Amarna letters sent by Aziru, the ruler of Amurru (Cordani); a detailed revision of relations between Egypt and Ḫatti set into the context of Ancient Near Eastern chronology (E. Devecchi / J. Miller), a linguistic analysis of the terminology used to refer to the king in Egyptian and Hittite texts from Ramesside period (J. Mynářová); a study of historical topography concerning the location of the toponym Qode (Z. Simon); a reconstruction of the translation processes in the production and reception of the Amarna letters (H. Tarawneh) and finally, an analysis of the relations between Egypt, Kush and Assyria before the battle of Eltekeh (S. Zamazalová).Format: 272 x 210 mm, 350 pages, hardcover, in English.

Proceedings of the …, Jan 1, 2009

The excavations at Tell Tweini/Syria have unearthed several types of Middle Bronze age tombs. Dur... more The excavations at Tell Tweini/Syria have unearthed several types of Middle Bronze age tombs. During seven seasons the Syro-Belgian team discovered several jar and other simple burials, a bee-hive structure and chamber tombs in an urban context. The rich inventories of these graves consist of seals, bronze ornaments, jewellery, a fenestrated bronze axe (duckbill variety), figurines, numerous red and black slipped juglets, Syro-Cilician ware vases and Cypriote White Painted jugs. Nearly all the burials were undisturbed. Of particular interest is a collective chamber tomb containing 58 individuals that was built under the floor of a building; a large plastered basin was set in the floor above the tomb suggesting mortuary cult practices. This brief presentation illustrates the different modes of burial customs within the urban area Middle Bronze Age Northern Levantine community at Tell Tweini.

Proceedings of the …, Jan 1, 2008

Proceedings of the …, Jan 1, 2011

KULeuven. ...

During the past eleven years, excavations at Tell Tweini, Syria have focused on different periods... more During the past eleven years, excavations at Tell Tweini, Syria have focused on different periods visible in the archaeological record. Both the Bronze and the Iron Age periods are well attested and have been examined extensively
Recently, however,traces of an Early Iron Age settlement, often lacking at neighbouring sites, have been uncovered at Tell Tweini.
In the Eastern Mediterranean, the period spanning the time between the end of the 13th and the 12th centuries B.C.E. is known as a period of crisis during which the
significant Aegean, Cypriot, Anatolian and Levantine centres deteriorated. Immediately after 1200 B.C.E., the entire Mediterranean region was faced with catastrophic
obliterations (Lehmann 2001). Considerable destruction and ash layers have been observed at numerous sites in the Levant. Once important sites at the Syrian coast,
like Ugarit, were abandoned and destroyed along with many other Mediterranean cities, never to be rebuilt. For this entire period, known as the Dark Ages, the archaeological
and in particular the historical sources are especially scarce.
Based on recently excavated data from Tell Tweini, significant knowledge about the development of urbanisation, architecture, pottery, burial customs and art in the Northern Levant during the post-Ugaritic period can be acquired. Multidisciplinary
studies, combined with an analysis of the architectural structures and archaeological inventory, have allowed obtaining initial information on a complex and obscure period in the history of the Ancient Near East.

ATLAL : The Journal of Saudi Arabian Archaeology , 2019

The research in the Al-Ghat region - an area with a very rich history located in North Central Sa... more The research in the Al-Ghat region - an area with a very rich history located in North Central Saudi Arabia - was inspired by the Abdulrahman Al-Sudairy Foundation.
The Al-Ghat project is four-fold:
1. The study of the iconographical material incised on rocks (G. Jans, A.-S. Van Vyve & J. Bretschneider),
2. The study of the textual material incised on rocks (J. Tavernier & E. Gorris),
3. A survey project looking for early human activity (Ph. Van Peer), and
4. The topographical documentation of several significant sites in the Al-Ghat region (N. Kress).

Atlal - The Journal of Saudi Arabian Archaeology , 2019

Adumatu. A Semi-Annual Archaeological Refereed Journal on the Arab World, 2017

The aim of the joint Saudi Arabian-Belgian Al-Ghat field project was three-fold: the study of the... more The aim of the joint Saudi Arabian-Belgian Al-Ghat field project was three-fold: the study of the iconographical and textual material incised on rocks, a survey and study project looking for early human activity in the area, and the topographical documentation of significant sites. The rich textual and iconographic material in the Wadi Markh area adds to the importance of the Al-Ghat region for the ancient history of Saudi Arabia. In bringing forward evidence of prehistoric cultural connections to Africa as well as the Levant, the project contributes to the unravelling of the early expansion history of
our species in a landscape different from today.

The political and military history of Syria in the 3rd quarter of the 3rd millennium is primarily... more The political and military history of Syria in the 3rd quarter of the 3rd millennium
is primarily known from the Ebla Archives, which cover a period of less than 50
years before the Akkadian domination. Aside from the archives and the royal
inscriptions of Sargon and Naram-Sin, mentioning military campaigns to the
North and the destruction of Mari and Ebla, textual evidence, including seal inscriptions,
is scarce.
The already lively dispute concerning the historical reconstruction of military
events at the end of the Early Dynastic period and the beginning of the Akkadian
hegemony in Syria can be enriched by the recently unearthed seal impressions
from Mari and Tell Beydar. During the Early Dynastic as well as the
Akkadian period important historic or military events were often translated to
historical documents as well as to royal art.

Archäologen der Universität Leuven ist es erstmals gelungen, eine 4500 Jahre alte Palastbürokrat... more Archäologen der Universität Leuven ist es erstmals gelungen, eine
4500 Jahre alte Palastbürokratie im Norden Mesopotamiens zu entschlüsseln.
Über 1500 Siegelabrollungen dokumentieren komplexe Sicherungssysteme innerhalb des Palastes von Nabada. Die mit figürlichen Bildszenen verzierten Siegelbilder waren Meisterwerke der Steinschneidekunst und bieten einen tiefen Einblick in die Glaubens- und Lebenswelt dieser Zeit.

Ugarit-forschungen. Internationales …, Jan 1, 1998

KULeuven. ...

KULeuven. ...

Special Editions, Jan 1, 2005

Excavations in northern Syria reveal the metropolis of Nabada, founded 4,800 years ago. Its elabo... more Excavations in northern Syria reveal the metropolis of Nabada, founded 4,800 years ago. Its elaborate administration and culture rivaled those of the fabled cities of southern Mesopotamia.
IN 1993 AND 1994 excavators made a surprising discovery: a collection of clay tablets with a meticulous record of the palace's daily accounts. Since then, we have found 216 tablets inscribed with a cuneiform script familiar from southern Mesopotamia. Most of the tablets were part of the floor of a house; they had evidently been discarded and reused as building material. We came across a heap of trash thrown over the palace wall, including many tablets. These written documents date to 2350 B.C.E., their age making them an important key to the culture.

The tablets are curious in one aspect: the script is Sumerian, but the language is Semitic. Philologists assume that Semites migrated into Mesopotamia around the end of the fourth millennium B.C.E., intermingling with Sumerians and finally dominating Mesopotamian civilization. They adopted the Sumerian script—the only one available—to express their own language. The tablets of Tell Beydar represent the largest collection of Old Semitic texts found in the Kha-bu-r area.

The Semitic royal cities of Mari and Ebla had yielded archives of this period. Mari, discovered in the 1930s, lay halfway between southern and northern Mesopotamia and formed a link between the two cultures. Around 2400 B.C.E. it ruled much of the region to its north. Ebla, in western Syria, was discovered in 1968 by an Italian team led by Paolo Matthiae of the University of Rome "La Sapienza." Here the archaeologists found an extensive archive of cuneiform tablets, which describe trade relations with Nagar and Mari. Nagar was said to lie on an international trade route between the mountains, which were rich in ores, and southern Mesopotamia, with its major center at Kish.

In Syrië, waar vandaag de oorlog in alle hevigheid woedt, groeven archeologen een 4.300 jaar oud... more In Syrië, waar vandaag de oorlog in alle hevigheid woedt, groeven
archeologen een 4.300 jaar oud paleis op. Meer dan 1.500 zegels
en verzegelingen vertellen over het leven in een van de oudste paleizen van Noord-Mesopotamië.
Nabada, machtige stad in
Noord-Mesopotamië

Nabada bereikte zijn culturele hoogtepunt rond
het midden van het derde millennium v. Chr. Toen
was de politieke en economische macht van de
regio geconcentreerd in een aantal grote steden
zoals Kisch, Lagash, Umma, Ur en Uruk in Irak en
Tell Chuera, Ebla, Nagar, Urkish, Nabada en Tuttul
in Syrië.
Nabada diende onder andere als rust- en bevoorradingsplaats
voor internationale handelskaravanen
die de grote centra van het Middellandse
Zeegebied, Mesopotamië en Anatolië verbonden.
In de eerste helft van het derde millennium v. Chr.
bouwden de eerste bewoners van Tell Beydar een
circulaire nederzetting van 600 meter in diameter.
Op het einde van de 25ste eeuw werd Nabada
onder het bewind van Nagar (Tell Brak) geplaatst.
Een ringvormige omwalling van vijf meter breed
beveiligde de stad. Het paleis en de tempels van
Nabada in het centrum van de stad werden nog
extra beschermd door een massieve binnenmuur.
Veel muren van het paleiscomplex, opgetrokken
uit ongebakken leemtichel, zijn tot vier meter hoog
bewaard, inclusief de deuropeningen.
Rond 2.300 v. Chr. veroverden de Akkadiërs de
stad, waarna ze werd verlaten. De benedenstad
werd vanaf 1.500 v. Chr. opnieuw bewoond door
de Mitanni. In de 7de eeuw v. Chr. bouwden de Assyriërs
een nieuwe stad op de ruïnes van de Mitanni

Bretschneider J., Königsgrab und Herrscherlegitimation in Alt-Syrien im 3. Jahrtausend v. Chr.in: Berlejung A. & Janowski B. (eds.), Tod und Jenseits im alten Israel und in seiner Umwelt (Forschungen zum Alten Testament), 631-654.

Den Ausgangspunkt der Untersuchungen zur Topographie von Herrschergräbern in Syrien im 3. Jt. v.... more Den Ausgangspunkt der Untersuchungen zur  Topographie von Herrschergräbern in Syrien im 3. Jt. v. Chr.  bilden  die Grabkomplexe  von Tell Beydar, Ebla, Mari und Tell Bi’a. Die unterirdischen Grabanlagen mit ihren reichen Befunden verändern grundlegend unsere  Kenntnisse zu den Herrschergräbern  des 3. Jahrtausends v. Chr. in Nordmesopotamien. Neben einer vergleichenden Analyse der verschiedenen Grabanlagen steht der Grabbau in seinem topographischen Kontext im Mittelpunkt der Ausführungen.

"During the 2000 excavation season a built tomb comprising three chambers and a passageway was un... more "During the 2000 excavation season a built tomb comprising three chambers and a passageway was uncovered below the floor in the main room of late Early Dynastic/ Early Jezirah IIIb Temple A on the acropolis of Tell Beydar.
What is most striking about this burial is indeed not the grave goods themselves – though indicative of elite status and certainly wealth (21 bronze objects, 2 silver (?) and 65 ceramic) they are not unusual. Indeed the lack of more jewelry or gold objects is perhaps notable. But the indications of ritual actions performed in conjunction with the burial is highly significant and offers substantial clues to the identity of the individual therein. The adze was carefully broken just below the head; the broken staff placed in the dead man’s hand, the adze head placed just to the side of where it would have been if unbroken. The largest of the daggers (the most likely to have been an actual, used weapon) was stabbed into a carefully made pile of stones. A large animal, possibly equid , was butchered and placed beneath a similar pile of stones. A figurine, perhaps representing the ‘spirit’ of the man, was cut in two. Except for the last of these, whose meaning is uncertain, these actions relate not simply to the cessation of life but to the cessation of office or role. The adze is a symbol of power; the dagger and equid (?) the tools of a warrior. The personal ornaments though silver were simple – the diadem perhaps may indicate high status, but there was no jewelry besides the bracelet, and even the beads found were not from a necklace worn by the deceased. Indeed the diadem and possibly the bracelet are themselves probably functional – indicative of a particular rank and not simply general wealth.""

N. Cholidis – S. Kulemann-Ossen – E. Katzy (Hrsg.), Zwischen Ausgrabung und Ausstellung. Beiträge zur Archäologie Vorderasiens. Festschrift für Lutz Martin, marru 9, Münster 2020, 311-323., 2020

The Religious Iconography of the Vulture in Ancient Iran: The Bronze Beaker from Tomb 42 of Marlik

Ugarit Forschungen

Ugarit-forschungen. Internationales …, Jan 1, 2008

The Saudi-Belgian research in the Al-Ghat region - an area with a very rich history located in th... more The Saudi-Belgian research in the Al-Ghat region - an area with a very rich history located in the Alhamada valley in North Central Saudi Arabia - was inspired by the Abdulrahman Al-Sudairy Foundation and His Excellency Marc Vinck, the Belgian ambassador in Saudi Arabia. The project works under the aegis of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), Riyadh and the KU Leuven. The project is directed by Mr. Mohammed Ali Alsalouk (SCTA) and by Prof. Joachim Bretschneider (KU Leuven). The survey project looking for early human activity in the region, coordinated by Prof. Philip Van Peer, is one of the sections of the overall Al-Ghat project. The first three study seasons were conducted from 2012 through 2014.

 Belgian-Saudi scientific cooperation at Al-Ghat, Riyad 16.03 - 18.03.2014: Exhibition of the jo... more  Belgian-Saudi scientific cooperation at Al-Ghat, Riyad 16.03 - 18.03.2014: Exhibition of the joint archaeological project in Al-Ghat rigion on the occasion of the Econmic mission to Saudi Arabia with Princes Astrid

The site of Pyla-Kokkinokremos, located ca. 15 km east of Larnaka along the coast of Cyprus, repr... more The site of Pyla-Kokkinokremos, located ca. 15 km east of Larnaka along the coast of Cyprus, represents a singularly short-lived settlement in the island’s Late Bronze Age history. Established only a generation or so prior to its eventual abandonment in the early 12th c. BC, the settlement is a valuable ‘time capsule’ of the Late Cypriot IIC/IIIA (1230-1170 BC) critical phase.

Raw data for the Tell Tweini pollen dataset obtained from the Neotoma Paleoecology Database.

Ougarit, un anniversaire, 2021

Chypre et le Levant nord avec le royaume d'Ougarit ont été touchés par des changements so... more Chypre et le Levant nord avec le royaume d'Ougarit ont été touchés par des changements socio-culturels drastiques peu après 1200 av. J.-C., dont les causes et les effets restent à discuter. Cet article résume certaines des recherches les plus récentes, en tenant compte des sources historiques et archéologiques. Dans le cadre de cette analyse supra-régionale, une attention particulière est accordée à l'établissement de Pyla-Kokkinokremos sur l'île de Chypre. Le site, localisé juste à l'est de la baie de Larnaca, sur un plateau naturellement fortifié, fait de nouveau l'objet de recherches archéologiques depuis 2014, par une mission conjointe de l'Université de Gand (J. Bretschneider), de l'Université catholique de Louvain (J. Driessen) et de la Mediterranean Archaeological Society (A. Kanta). Pyla-Kokkinokremos est exceptionnel en raison de son occupation de courte durée : établi avant la fin du XIIIe s. av. J.-C., le site est soudainement abandonné au début du XIIe. En tant que tel, l'établissement représente une « capsule temporelle » documentant une phase critique (Chypriote récent IIC-IIIA) de l'histoire de l'île au Bronze récent. Le caractère multi-ethnique, déjà reconnu pour les découvertes faites sur le site de Kokkinokremos, est confirmé par les fouilles en cours, grâce à des objets provenant de Sardaigne, de Crète, d'Égypte, d'Anatolie, de Grèce mycénienne (en particulier d'Argolide) et de la côte syropalestinienne. Certaines questions comme par exemple de savoir qui fonda ce site en cet endroit stratégique spécifique et pourquoi l'installation fut soudainement abandonnée peu après, ne peuvent trouver de réponse définitive mais restent importantes pour comprendre les relations entre Chypre et Ugarit au crépuscule de l'âge du Bronze.

Ougarit, un anniversaire, 2021

Ägypten und Levante, 2021

The new excavations have also confirmed the surprising ethnic mix of material culture at Pyla: a ... more The new excavations have also confirmed the surprising ethnic mix of material culture at Pyla: a Minoan amphoroid krater together with Cypriote pithoi and Canaanite jars in Sector 4, a Cypriot spindle bottle together with imported deep bowl and mug rhyton from the central plateau Trench 3.1, or a Canaanite jar, Mycenaean stirrup jar, Cypriot storage jar from the northwest trench , etc. To these may be added the Sardinian, Mycenaean and Hittite vases encountered in previous seasons. In view of the brevity of occupation and localization of the site, many of these objects may be regarded as resulting from intensive trade. The discovery of such mixed assemblages in all parts of the site, however, seems to suggest that all households had already adopted and adapted to a new set of practices. Why and how they did this are questions we would like to see answered during the following campaigns.

About Tell Tweini (Syria), 2019

Compared to Cyprus and the Aegean, the Levant suffers from a noticeable dearth of ship imagery fo... more Compared to Cyprus and the Aegean, the Levant suffers from a noticeable dearth of ship imagery for the Late Bronze Age (LBA) and Early Iron Age (EIA) periods alike. To make matters worse, a disproportionate number of the representations come from outside the Levant itself – chiefly from Egyptian, Assyrian, and Cypriote sources. Thus of the forty three known individual contexts, less than half are from the Levant itself. The corpus furthermore skews heavily towards merchant vessels, in particular for the LBA. This means that prior to the representations on Phoenician coins (5th century onwards), there are only a handful of certain depictions of Levantine oared galleys, and virtually none before the mid to late-8th century Assyrian sources. Finally in terms of mediums, ship imagery on Levantine seals is particularly rare, counting a mere eight examples spanning a huge timespan from the 18th to the mid-6th century BC, to which two more can be added from Cyprus. The new sealing from Tell Tweini is therefore a highly significant addition to the corpus on both contextual and technical grounds, as it is not only unusual for its use on a jar handle, but currently represents the earliest secure indigenous depiction of a Levantine galley.

The Kranzhugel, Tell Beydar (ancient Nabada) is located in the Upper Syrian Jezireh. Its main occ... more The Kranzhugel, Tell Beydar (ancient Nabada) is located in the Upper Syrian Jezireh. Its main occupation dates back to the Early Dynastic/Early Jezireh IIIb period during which time Beydar was subordinate to Tell Brak (ancient Nagar). Tell Beydar, excavated since 1992 by a joint Syro-European expedition headed by Marc Lebeau and Antoine Suleiman, has produced more than 1500 sealings, representing 215 different designs, many of the finest quality. Eighty-five percent of these sealings can be ascribed to the final phase of the Early Jezireh IIIb Official Upper City Complex (dated around 2300 BC). This glyptic material is the largest corpus of Early Bronze Age sealings from Northern Mesopotamia attributed to an official household. The study of the different designs, the functional aspects and the contextual analyses of the sealings give an impression of the official administration in an Early Bronze Age palatial complex.

Tell Tweini or ancient Gibala is located in the Syrian coastal plain and represents the southernm... more Tell Tweini or ancient Gibala is located in the Syrian coastal plain and represents the southernmost harbour of the Ugaritic Kingdom in the Late Bronze Age. As one of the few sites under excavation in the Northern Levant with a full archaeological sequence spanning the Early Bronze Age IV (ca. 2400 BCE) up to the Iron Age III period (ca. 500 BCE), Tell Tweini (Field A) is a key site for the study of the developments in the Northern Levant especially where the Bronze to Iron Age transition is concerned. The yearly missions at Tell Tweini conducted by a Belgian-Syrian team have halted since 2011; however, the continuous research of the prodigious amount of data available has not. Over the past years the research team headed by Joachim Bretschneider (University Ghent) has focused on the study of particular groups of artefacts, ecofacts and landscape, resulting in new and exciting insights on various aspects of the settlement of Tell Tweini presented in this book.

Pyla-Kokkinokremos, located just to the east of Larnaca Bay on top of a naturally fortified plate... more Pyla-Kokkinokremos, located just to the east of Larnaca Bay on top of a naturally fortified plateau, represents a singularly short-lived settlement in the island’s Late Bronze Age history. Established only a few decades prior to its eventual abandonment in the early 12th c. BC, the settlement represents a very valuable ‘time capsule’ of the Late Cypriot IIC-IIIA critical phase. The site was explored on several previous occasions, respectively by P. Dikaios, 1952; V. Karageorghis, 1981-1982; V. Karageorghis and A. Kanta, 2010-2011; Kanta, 2012-2013 (Karageorghis & Demas 1984; Karageorghis & Georgiou 2010; Karageorghis & Kanta 2014). Since 2014 Kokkinokremos is the object of a joint venture between the UGhent (J. Bretschneider), the UCLouvain (J. Driessen) and the Mediterranean Archaeological Society (A. Kanta) (Bretschneider, Kanta & Driessen 2015 & forthcoming). Intensive excavations suggest that the entire plateau of ca. 7 ha was densely occupied; excavated parts of the settlement ...

The Saudi-Belgian Research Project in the Al-Ghat Region: Preliminary Results of the 2013 - 2014 ... more The Saudi-Belgian Research Project in the Al-Ghat Region: Preliminary Results of the 2013 - 2014 Campaigns: The research in the Al-Ghat region - an area with a very rich history located in North Central Saudi Arabia - was inspired by the Abdulrahman Al-Sudairy Foundation and His Excellency Marc Vinck, the former Belgian ambassador in Saudi Arabia. The Al-Ghat project is four-fold: 1. The study of the iconographical material incised on rocks (G. Jans, A.-S. Van Vyve & J. Bretschneider), 2. The study of the textual material incised on rocks (J. Tavernier & E. Gorris), 3. A survey project looking for early human activity (Ph. Van Peer), and 4. The topographical documentation of several significant sites in the Al-Ghat region (N. Kress)

A rare, high quality cylinder seal bearing the depiction of a hero fighting a winged horse/Pegasu... more A rare, high quality cylinder seal bearing the depiction of a hero fighting a winged horse/Pegasus' was discovered within an Iron Age II context at the A Field of Tell Tweini(1). This floor deposit comprised an assemblage of artefacts consisting of two cylinder seals, one stamp seal, five beads and a large quantity of pottery. Based on recently published parallels from Assur - in motif and style - and according to the comparative chronological categorization the Tweini seal can be dated to the 13th century BC, probably to the reign of Tukulti-Ninurta I (ca. 1243-1207 BC). This period is well attested in the rich archaeological record of Level 7 - Late Bronze Age II at Tweini. Since the floor deposit including this cylinder seal was dated to Level 6AB - Iron Age II, the seal consequently appears to have been kept over a long period.

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