Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica 27(2): 267-278 DOI: 10.47743/saa-2021-27-2-3 Andreas JOHANDI ABSTRACT The main purpose of this article is to study the divine figure(s) who hid behind the writing dMAR.TU during the Ur III period. The question is posed whether this writing signified only Martu/Amurru, the Amorite deity, or is there any reason to believe that Martu was not the only divine concept that stood behind this writing. As we know, in some other cases in Mesopotamian religion, the names of several deities were written in the same way (with the same signs). Some earlier studies have assumed that there was a connection between the similarly named gods Martu and Marduk. In the second part of the article, this question is revisited and it is asked whether the “other” dMAR.TU could be identical with Marduk, the later king of the gods in Mesopotamia. Finally, the relationship of dMAR.TU to the divine(…)

Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica 27(2): 255-266 DOI: 10.47743/saa-2021-27-2-2 Peeter ESPAK ABSTRACT The paper discusses some key texts from Ancient Mesopotamian and also Hebrew mythologies which may have had several indications and contained many ancient understandings about the early views on the modern notions of a nation, national culture and the role of language on these beliefs. The possible connection of the Sumerian epic tale Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta is discussed in context with the Enuma Eliš myth in context with Hebrew Genesis’ the Tower of Babel story and the character of these text and the nature of their evolution is analysed. Based on some Sumerian royal correspondence, hymns, and epic literature and the worldview presented in Sumerian literature it is concluded that that certainly and especially a sort of a language based cultural and also ethnical understanding about a “distinct nation” culturally separate from “other” nations already existed(…)

Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica 27(2): 223-253 DOI: 10.47743/saa-2021-27-2-1 Cristina BARCINA   ABSTRACT This article analyzes current theoretical discourses within the Neolithic and Chalcolithic research of Southwestern Asia, which is still dominated by interpretations that assume a progression of increased hierarchization. Whether explicitly or implicitly, social evolutionary thinking still pervades our scholarship, and prevents innovative theory-building. This entails an inability to break with heuristics of ‘origins’ inherited from the past (e.g. “from the origins of domestication to the origins of civilization”), even though old and new discoveries, when integrated, are already pointing towards alternative research pathways. Sedentism, domestication, and urbanism were all complex, protracted, non-linear processes. Yet, the visualization of an ‘Uruk phenomenon’ expanding over large areas of Mesopotamia during the 4th millennium BC, ridden with problematic inconsistencies, still heralds the triumphal rise of civilization. Instead of relying on obsolete political and economic theories, or fake economy/ritual dichotomies, the investigation of(…)

Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica 27(2): 221-222 Vladimir SAZONOV, Peeter ESPAK, Andreas JOHANDI ABSTRACT Several papers published in this volume were presented at the conference Formative Tendencies in Near Eastern Religions and Ideologies in Beirut, Lebanon, in April 2019. The conference was organized by the Centre for Oriental Studies of the University of Tartu and the Finnish Institute in the Middle East.   FULL ARTICLE Download PDF (free)

Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica 27(1): 213-220 DOI: 10.47743/saa-2021-27-1-11 Vasile DIACONU Interview with Professor Ashley Dumas – University of West Alabama Prof. Ashley Dumas has a rich career and a significant scientific repertory. A graduate of the University of South Alabama (1996), Prof. Dumas earned her Ph.D. from the University of Alabama in 2007 with the topic “The Role of Salt in the Late Woodland to Mississippian Transition in Southwest Alabama.” She later served as an assistant researcher at the Center for Archaeological Studies, and as an Assistant Instructor, at the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, University of South Alabama. Between 2009 and 2014 she was Assistant Director of the Black Belt Museum in the Division of Educational Outreach and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the Department of History and Social Sciences, University of West Alabama. Afterwards, until 2016, she held the position of Assistant Professor of Anthropology, at(…)

Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica 27(1): 199-212 DOI: 10.47743/saa-2021-27-1-10 Bogdan Constantin NECULAU ABSTRACT The present study aims to show sequences of the life of the inhabitants of ancient Palestine (the ancient Israelites, having Abraham as their ancestor), with particular emphasis on education and training: educators, strategies, forms, contents, etc. In particular, we will use the scriptural texts of the Old Testament, from which we will extract the information we need and which will serve as a basis for that presented. Our objective is to present the way in which education was transmitted and assimilated at that time, in accordance with the cultural traditions, with the mentality and with the customs of the time and of the people of Israel, but also to offer an analysis from the perspective of modern pedagogy, with arguments on the validity or limits of certain elements. The study will also make reference to aspects related to(…)

Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica 27(1): 191-198 DOI: 10.47743/saa-2021-27-1-9 Casian GĂMĂNUȚ ABSTRACT An epitaph discovered at Sour Djouab, Algeria, was erected by Decineus, who names himself the brother of the deceased, for a certain veteran named Fulvius Felix. The death of the latter occurred, most probably, towards the end of the 2nd century AD. Despite the doubts about the biological tie between Decineus and his frater, the presence of a Dacian anthroponym at that time in an extremely militarized area of the Roman Empire is enough to raise curiosity regarding the career of this soldier. The author makes use of historical context and archaeological data in order to understand, at least in general lines, how the career of Decineus evolved. This paper aims to reconstruct, as much as possible, the life and military activity of Decineus, as well as to answer questions concerning his recruitment, belonging to an auxiliary unit and(…)

Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica 27(1): 173-189 DOI: 10.47743/saa-2021-27-1-8 Gabriel Mircea TALMAȚCHI, Cristian CEALERA ABSTRACT The authors analyze a monetary hoard fragment found in 2012 that was only partially recovered. The hoard was located at a distance of approximately four km, in a straight line of the western gate of the Roman- Byzantine fortress Tropaeum Traiani. The 36 recovered coins are Roman Imperial denarii struck between the years 100 and 169/170 AD and belong to the following issuers: Traianus, Hadrianus, Antoninus Pius, Diva Faustina and Marcus Aurelius. If this structure given by the issuers respects the general composition of the hoard, it can be assumed that the hoard was hidden in the context of the events that developed in 170 AD, known as the military and robbery incursion lead by the Costoboci people in the Balkan Peninsula. Epigraphical and archaeological evidence regarding the impact of the incursion were found in Tropaeum(…)