This paper presents the pottery assemblage from Building 2 at Knossos–Gypsades, excavated in 2014–15 as part of the ‘Knossos–Gypsades Excavation Project’, a synergasia of the British School at Athens with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Heraklion. Building 2 was constructed in Middle Minoan (MM) IIB, but its main occupational phase occurred during the subsequent MM IIIA phase. At the end of MM IIIA the building was severely damaged, probably due to an earthquake. The damage was rather extensive, resulting in its final abandonment. Contextual, typological and statistical analyses are applied to analyse the ceramic material and to clarify site formation processes. The ultimate aim is to assess whether the archaeological strata under study result from primary, secondary or even tertiary depositional episodes, and to delineate chronological phasing within the cultural-historical period straddling the end of the Old Palace period and the beginning of the New. Building 2 was revealed as undisturbed by later building activity, allowing its original architectural plan and construction to be evaluated, and to document the sequence of events that signal the final stages of its use-life. Furthermore, this study may contribute to the critical debate on Knossian chronological and ceramic phasing, as well as provide a fuller picture of the city of Knossos in the Gypsades neighbourhood, in terms of settlement pattern and spatial configuration.

This article explores a possible correlation between centralised planning and economic homogenisation within residential neighbourhoods in ancient cities. Pre-planned and constructed urban living quarters may have contributed to the concentration of residents with similar levels of material wealth. Distinct groups of people may be identified among different districts, neighbourhoods or specific sections within a neighbourhood at the intra-site level. Several examples from different parts of the world are given to show this correlation. Also, a case study to test this correlation is drawn from the third millennium B.C. cities of Tell Asmar and Khafajah in central Mesopotamia. Excavations at these sites unearthed dozens of houses within residential neighbourhoods, with one of the occupation areas at Khafajah displaying a well-structured project dating to around 2400–2300 B.C. Utilizing the Gini coefficient and Lorenz curve, I observe that the houses constructed as part of the centralised project exhibit a slightly higher degree of economic similarity compared to those houses found at other levels within these sites.

Interpretation of the function and role of the Mesopotamian – and peri-Mesopotamian – bevel-rim bowl (BRB) is enriched by recent residue analysis methods. A promising theme of secondary and even alternative primary uses of the BRB in the Uruk periphery during the fourth millennium B.C. is emerging. I make the case for such uses hinging not on its general utility as a small rough bowl (where it would compete with a range of conical cups) but on its pivotal characteristics: a sophisticated system of rapid, low skilled, production line manufacture of containers with specific features (notably thick walls for heat retention), and with an elegant technology-transfer concept of a single BRB as a portable manufacturing template and mould, notably suited to mobile groups. The BRB’s novel ‘system’ suggests it was initially devised for one specific purpose – as I argue, for large-scale baking of leavened bread, perhaps for commensal feasting events. But the renowned BRB discard stacks or stockpiles (perhaps from single-use commensality events or seasonal batch BRB manufacture) lent them readily to secondary use, notably in the Uruk periphery, where their original cultural resonance may have been diluted. The BRB’s virtues of speed and ease of manufacture might well then have encouraged production for more general purposes and new needs, including culinary – an evolution potentially detectable through morphology. The residue analysis to date additionally suggests a specific functional factor in the adoption of BRBs for secondary and eventually primary use: their heat retentive capabilities, making them specifically valuable as ‘thermal paint-pots’ for meltable materials such as bitumen, beeswax and animal fats. These materials could be heated in a larger vessel and decanted into thermally efficient BRBs for use, perhaps with a form of paintbrush, for coating, in a wide range of industrial and other uses.

To start: I thank the responding authors for their generosity and thoughtfulness in engaging in this debate about ‘Attending to unproof: an archaeology of possibilities’ (Frieman 2024) and also the journal's editors for facilitating this discussion.

This article provides an edition of a group of unpublished cuneiform tablets from the Old Babylonian period (c. 2003–1595 BCE) excavated at the archaeological site of Tall Ḥarmal, ancient Šaduppûm. The texts consist of economic accounts as well as one round school tablet. The former in particular highlight some aspects of agriculture and land use when the city was under the control of king Ibāl-pî-El II (1779–1765 BCE) of Ešnunna. Thanks to the systematic excavations, most of the Šaduppûm texts are stored in the Iraq Museum and can fortunately be associated with their archaeological context, which makes it easier to reconstruct their archival relationships.

This paper derives from new work on Mesolithic human skeletal material from Strøby Egede, a near coastal site in eastern Sjælland, with two foci. The first confirms sex identifications from original work carried out in 1986. The second, and central focus, re-examines comments by one of us (CM) based on work in 1992, and a new statistical analysis including data from the two Strøby Egede adults. In 1998 it was suggested that the Strøby Egede sample more closely resembled Skateholm, on the coast of Skåne in southern Sweden, than Vedbæk-Bøgebakken on Sjælland, fitting lithic patterns noted earlier by Vang Petersen. We revisit the 1998 suggestion below, comparing data from Strøby Egede to those available from southern Scandinavia and Germany, and suggest that the 1998 comment was, in all probability, incorrect. The analysis below suggests overall morphological similarity between individuals in eastern Sjælland and Skåne, while noting the existence of apparent outliers.

This paper presents the results of new research on two sarsen stones, known as the Cuckoo Stone and Tor Stone, both former standing stones that lie on opposite banks of the River Avon and straddle the eastern border of the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site. Geochemical analysis indicates that both stones were probably transported to their present site from West Woods on the Marlborough Downs in north Wiltshire, a source that likely also supplied the large sarsen monoliths at Stonehenge. The paper examines the geological conditions necessary for the formation of sarsen across the site of the present-day Salisbury Plain to address the apparent absence of natural sarsen in the area. The results are integrated with those of archaeological fieldwork from nearby contemporaneous sites to suggest that the Cuckoo Stone and Tor Stone were probably introduced into the Stonehenge landscape in the early part of the Late Neolithic period, ie, contemporary with Phase 1 of Stonehenge and some 400–500 years before the construction of the principal sarsen settings at the monument. Visibility analysis indicates that the two stones were probably intervisible and likely to have formed part of a planned landscape and were positioned to create a formal portal to the Stonehenge area on either bank of the River Avon.

I find myself largely in agreement with the argument presented in Frieman's debate article (2024) on knowing and narrativity in archaeology, and I share the author's view of feminist epistemology as key to embracing the conditions of the discipline (see e.g. Pétursdóttir & Sørensen 2023; Sørensen et al. 2024). Here, I consider some of the perspectives that Frieman leaves slightly underexplored.

The article presents a previously unknown hymn in praise of Marduk, the Esagil, Babylon and the Babylonians. It contains unparalleled descriptions of the healing powers of Marduk, the splendor of Babylon, the spring borne by the Euphrates to the city’s fields and the generosity of the Babylonians themselves. The text survives in 20 manuscripts, from the 7th to the 2nd/1st centuries BCE, and it can be shown that it was a fixture in the school curriculum of the time. The author of this highly accomplished piece immortalized his devotion to his city, gods, and people in words that resonated until the final decades of cuneiform culture.

Edition with translation of a Sumerian liturgical fragment kept today in Birmingham City Museum. Three such fragments were edited in a previous article (Iraq 85). The fourth fragment tells us a dramatic story of Dumuzi in the steppe, which, thanks to the help of loving women and of the gods Utu and Nanna, finds a happy end.

Investigations of stable carbon isotope composition in α-cellulose extracted from tree rings of pines (Pinus sylvestris L.) growing in the unpolluted Suwałki region, northeastern part of Poland, are undertaken. The presented carbon isotope record covers the period of 1931–2003. Values of δ13C measured in the tree ring α-cellulose are compared to meteorological data. These δ13C values in tree ring cellulose respond to summer temperature, insolation, relative humidity, and precipitation. The best correlation is observed between relative humidity and carbon isotope data. The August relative humidity is found more influential on δ13C values than relative humidity for any other month or combination of months (r = –0.65). Relations between isotopic and meteorological data demonstrate that precipitation influences the stable carbon isotopic ratios to a lower extent than humidity. The intensity and duration of summer rainfall events can determine this effect. The temporal stability of climate-proxy connections is an important issue in paleoclimatic reconstruction. Therefore, the temporal stability of climatic signals recorded by stable carbon isotopes is analyzed in this research using the moving correlation function for moving intervals with a 25-year window. Based on those investigations the highest time stability of correlation was found for the carbon isotope and the August relative humidity. More variability is observed for the correlation of δ13C values with precipitation.

Time, place, and the rhythm of the seasons, essential constituents of ancient ritual, collaboratively shaped and channeled the experience of religious performance. Focusing on agricultural and civic time reckoning, this article investigates the orientations of the monuments at the extra-mural Sanctuary of the Thirteen Altars at Lavinium and their coordination with viticultural activities amid the shifting social and religious circumstances of the 6th and 5th c. BCE. The article will argue that the 6th- and 5th-c. altars were aligned in such a way as to face sunrise at a particular location on the horizon on two very particular days in the seasonal year. The altars at Lavinium, playing an important role in the emerging urban community's economic life, will be shown to be themselves a form of agentic seasonal timekeeping that closely determined the integration of local agricultural, religious, and economic practices.