Ancient pseudo-histories may contain kernels of geographic truth. In the Sumerian King List (SKL) the long and south-focused antediluvian era may reflect a combination of the Ubaid and Uruk periods, while the initial post-Flood period, which was short and ruled from the north, may reflect the Jemdet Nasr phase. The SKL’s subsequent return of k…[Read more]

This commentary takes advantage of the provenance established by Hoffman, et al.2018 to explore exclusionary symbol sets in Art, Astrology, and Myth within La Pasiega Gallery C in Spain. Using the One Godz paradigm plus the added parameter of U-TH dating this commentary ascribes meaning to two proximate rock art panels, one homo sapien and the…[Read more]

In this paper we offer an update on the study and imaging of the administrative documents from Pylos in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens from 2013 to 2015, directed by Dimitri Nakassis and Kevin Pluta as part of the full publication of the Pylos tablets in the Palace of Nestor series.

It is suggested that the progressive and destructive aridification during the Old Kingdom was recognised by ancient Egyptians as a sun-driven phenomenon, and that this awareness may have contributed to the rise of the solar cult in the 5th Dynasty.

Linguistic studies in Egyptology, Assyriology and Biblical Studies harbour a persistent trope in which the inhabitants of the Ancient Near East and Egypt are believed to have visualised the past as in front of them and the future as behind them. Analyses of the spatial conceptualisation of time in language have revealed that the opposite is true…[Read more]

Linguistic studies in Egyptology, Assyriology and Biblical Studies harbour a persistent trope in which the inhabitants of the Ancient Near East and Egypt are believed to have visualised the past as in front of them and the future as behind them. Analyses of the spatial conceptualisation of time in language have revealed that the opposite is true…[Read more]

Linguistic studies in Egyptology, Assyriology and Biblical Studies harbour a persistent trope in which the inhabitants of the Ancient Near East and Egypt are believed to have visualised the past as in front of them and the future as behind them. Analyses of the spatial conceptualisation of time in language have revealed that the opposite is true…[Read more]

An ancient Sumerian proverb may be read as “good fortune [is embedded in] organisation and wisdom.” The present centennial survey is solely about organizing the last one hundred years of scholarship for a Sumerian afterlife myth named “Inanna’s Descent to the Netherworld.” The initial discovery of artifacts with snippets of the myth can be dated…[Read more]

The practice of a king appointing his daughter as the High Priestess and consort of an important male deity arose independently in the Ancient Near East and Egypt. In Mesopotamia, the prime example of such an appointee was the EN-priestess of Nanna (EPN) at Ur; in Egypt, its most important embodiment was the God’s Wife of Amun (GWA) at Thebes. B…[Read more]

The practice of a king appointing his daughter as the High Priestess and consort of an important male deity arose independently in the Ancient Near East and Egypt. In Mesopotamia, the prime example of such an appointee was the EN-priestess of Nanna (EPN) at Ur; in Egypt, its most important embodiment was the God’s Wife of Amun (GWA) at Thebes. B…[Read more]

The practice of a king appointing his daughter as the High Priestess and consort of an important male deity arose independently in the Ancient Near East and Egypt. In Mesopotamia, the prime example of such an appointee was the EN-priestess of Nanna (EPN) at Ur; in Egypt, its most important embodiment was the God’s Wife of Amun (GWA) at Thebes. B…[Read more]

In 1st Dynasty Egypt (ca. 3000 BCE), mudbrick architecture may have been influenced by existing Mesopotamian practices such as the complex niching of monumental façades. From the 1st to 3rd Dynasties, the niches of some mudbrick mastabas at Saqqara were painted with brightly-coloured geometric designs in a clear imitation of woven reed matting.…[Read more]

In 1st Dynasty Egypt (ca. 3000 BCE), mudbrick architecture may have been influenced by existing Mesopotamian practices such as the complex niching of monumental façades. From the 1st to 3rd Dynasties, the niches of some mudbrick mastabas at Saqqara were painted with brightly-coloured geometric designs in a clear imitation of woven reed matting.…[Read more]

In 1st Dynasty Egypt (ca. 3000 BCE), mudbrick architecture may have been influenced by existing Mesopotamian practices such as the complex niching of monumental façades. From the 1st to 3rd Dynasties, the niches of some mudbrick mastabas at Saqqara were painted with brightly-coloured geometric designs in a clear imitation of woven reed matting.…[Read more]

As per its title

This thesis describes the evolution of the alphabet from Upper Paleolithic to present. We draw a direct line from Aurignacian rock art to Hebrew STA”M script and from Auriginal Paganism to Kabbalah using a Ginzburg Evidentiary Paradigm. Provides strategies for quantifying concepts, belief, and abstraction such as Art, Language, Religion, and…[Read more]

Buccellati, F. 2019. “Perception in Palatial Architecture: The Case of the AP Palace at Urkesh.” In Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Palaces, edited by M. Bietak, P. Matthiae, and S. Prell, 2:31–40. CAENL 8. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

Buccellati, F. 2012. “Wie wird ein Palast gebaut und warum?” In Werte im Widerstreit. Von Bräuten, Muscheln, Geld und Kupfer. Ausstellungskatalog Wiesbaden, edited by P. Breunig and C. Trümpler, 31–34. Frankfurt a. M.

Buccellati, F. 2015. “What Might a Field Archaeologist Want from an Architectural 3D Model?” In How Do We Want the Past to Be? On Methods and Instruments of Visualizing Ancient Reality, edited by M.G. Micale and D. Nadali, 157–69. Piscataway: Gorgias.

Buccellati, F. 2014. “Understanding Households – a Few Thoughts.” In House and Household Economies in 3rd Millennium B.C.E. Syro-Mesopotamia, edited by F. Buccellati, T. Helms, and A. Tamm, 35–42. BAR International 2682. Oxford: Archaeopress.