Studies in Ancient Cultures – Serie

The tombs and mortuary temples of Thebes have proved an enduring topic of interest thanks to a quickly expanding corpus of field materials and a series of conferences devoted to the subject. This volume, the fourth in a series of occasional proceedings from the ongoing Theban Workshop, presents new research on wall decoration in the Theban necropolis. Its thirteen essays, by an international array of leading scholars, attest to the wide and varied scope of the theme.

From 1923 to 1933, the Chicago Field Museum and the University of Oxford conducted archaeological excavations at the site of Kish, located on the floodplain of the Euphrates River in modern Iraq approximately 80 kilometres south of Baghdad. Over the course of ten years of work, the expedition explored seventeen different mounds both inside and outside the ancient boundaries of Kish. The finds were divided at the end of each season, with the Iraq Museum retaining half of the objects and any one-of-a-kind items and the two excavating institutions splitting the remainder. Beginning in 2004, the Field Museum undertook a re-evaluation of its Kish holdings. To highlight new research and insights into the material culture from Kish and our understanding of the importance of the site to Mesopotamian archaeology, the Field Museum held a symposium in 2008 that brought together an international group of scholars who presented papers on various aspects of the ancient city. This volume, which grew out of that symposium, presents a wide array of studies on the excavated material remains from Kish, including cuneiform texts, animal figurines, human remains, lithics, figural stucco wall decorations, and more.

Robert Kriech Ritner (1953-2021) was the Rowe Professor of Egyptology at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures of the University of Chicago. His trendsetting scholarship revolutionized our views of ancient Egyptian religion and helped launch a renaissance in the study of magic in the ancient world. In this volume, twenty-seven of Robert K. Ritner's closest friends, colleagues, and students have come together to honour him by presenting the latest groundbreaking research in Egyptology and beyond.

Insights into Islamic Archaeology and Material Culture explores the evolution of this dynamic field, highlighting new methodologies, interdisciplinary approaches and shifting paradigms. It examines whether the means and goals of Islamic archaeology have changed significantly from those that defined the discipline's major advances in the twentieth century. The book's fourteen contributors reassess long-held perspectives, emphasizing the need to move beyond orientalist interpretations and historiographic dependencies and instead foster a more neutral and analytical approach to early Islamic material culture. The collection showcases research on key sites such as Qusayr 'Amra, Khirbat al-Mafjar and al-Sinnabra and offers fresh views on settlement patterns, agricultural economies, and the sociopolitical functions of Umayyad palaces, among other topics.The volume also highlights the interplay among archaeology, conservation and cultural heritage studies, illustrating how technical advances—such as the conservation of Qusayr 'Amra's frescoes—have reshaped scholars' understanding of early Islamic visual culture. Its essays challenge established narratives of cultural decline following the rise of Islam, demonstrating instead a dynamic period of adaptation, innovation and exchange still reflected in later eras, as evidenced by Islamic interactions with the Frankish world. Insights into Islamic Archaeology and Material Culture serves as both a reassessment of the field's past and a blueprint for its future, advocating for an inclusive approach integrating archaeology with the broader humanities and social sciences.