Excavation at Bakr Awa 2010 and 2011

The site of Bakr Awa is situated in north-eastern Iraq, in the Plain of Shahrizor. Excavations were undertaken in 1960/61by the Iraqi Department of Antiquities and 2010/11 by the University of Heidelberg/Germany. Occupation layers from the beginning of the Early Bronze Age tothe Ottoman period were uncoveredin the lower city and on the citadel. Archaeological evidence from the secondmillennium B.C. shows the most intensive settlement activities and apparent prosperity at Bakr Awa. Several forms of pottery, small finds and architecture reflect dynamic processes of cultural and political transformation at this site located in an area of transition between northern and southern Mesopotamia and western Iran.

News from an Old Excavation: Two Hitherto Unnoticed Measure Capacity Signs on an Egyptian Stone Vessel of the Middle Kingdom from Royal Tomb II at Byblos

Excavated by French Egyptologist P. Montet in the 1920s, Royal Tomb II at Byblos (Bronze Age Gubla) yielded a significant number of Egyptian objects of the Middle Kingdom. Among these finds is a stone vessel with lid that carries the cartouche of a king named Amenemhat, often believed to be Amenemhat IV of the late Middle Kingdom. Hitherto unnoticed by the scholarly community, however, are two Egyptian measure capacity signs on the stone vessel itself. Since measure capacity signs on stone vessels dating to the Middle Kingdom are only rarely attested even in Egypt, the signs on the stone vessel from Royal Tomb II at Byblos therefore contribute considerably to our understanding of the use and application of such signs. The article deals with the examination of these signs and tries to correlate them with the actual capacity of the vessel.