ABU TBEIRAH. PRELIMINARY REPORT OF THE SECOND CAMPAIGN ( OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2012) RSO 2011 (publ....

RIVISTA DEGLI STUDI ORIENTALINUOVA SERIE


Organo scientifico del

DIPARTIMENTO DI STUDI ORIENTALISAPIENZA, UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMA

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Direttore responsabileRaffaele Torella

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Direttore scientificoRaffaele Torella

Editor-in-ChiefFranco D’Agostino

Comitato scientificoGiovanna Calasso, Federica Casalin, Ciro Lo Muzio,

Giorgio Milanetti, Filippo Salviati,Lorenzo Verderame, Maria Gioia Vienna

Segretaria di redazioneFrancesca Gorello

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Pubblicato con il contributodi «Sapienza», Università di Roma

SAPIE NZA, UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMADIPARTIMENTO DI STUDI ORIENTALI

RIVISTADEGLI

STUDI ORIENTALINUOVA SERIE

VOLUME LXXXVI

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(2013)

P I S A · R O M AFABRIZIO SERRA EDITORE

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SOMMARIO

articoli

Meir M. Bar-Asher, Aryeh Kofsky, Kitab al-dala’il fi ma‘rifat al-masa’il of Abu Sa‘id Maymun b. Qasim al-¥abarani: Historical and Doc-trinal Aspects 9

Ernelle Berliet, Barbara Faticoni, From the Mauryas to the Mughals.The imperial history of Mahasthan 25

Odoardo Bulgarelli, Further considerations on the use and the circula-tion of silver in the economies of the Ancient Near East 47

Carlo Giovanni Cereti, In memoria di Gherardo Gnoli 59Franco D’agostino, Licia Romano, Ali Khadem, Mary Anne

Tafuri, Abu Tbeirah. Preliminary report of the second campaign (Oc-tober-December 2012) 69

Federico Giusfredi, Appunti di critica delle varianti degli Annali bilinguidi Hattusili I 93

Camille Lecompte, Zu Dörfern, Weilern und ländlichen Siedlungen invorsargonischer Zeit: Die Entwicklung der Bezeichnungen e2 und e2-duru5 103

Mario G. Losano, L’esotismo del portoghese Wenceslau de Moraes (1854-1929) tra Giappone eroico e Giappone industriale 121

Lode Talpe, The Kalmuck Mongols in Pushkin’s Works 153

recensioni

Karl-Heinz Everding, Tibetische Handschriften und Blockdrucke. DiemTshur-phu-Ausgabe der Sammlung Rin-chen gter-mdzod chen-mo, nachdem Exemplar der Orientabteilung Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – PreussischerKulturbesitz (Michela Clemente) 169

The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History ed. Touraj Daryaee (Carlo Gio-vanni Cereti) 174

ABU TBEIRAH. PRELIMINARY REPORTOF THE SECOND CAMPAIGN(OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2012)

Franco D’Agostino* · Licia Romano**Ali Khadem*** · Mary Anne Tafuri****

1. Introduction

he archaeological activities of the second campaign of excavations at thesite of Abu Tbeirah (Southern Iraq), started on November the 1st and

ended up on December the 18th 2012. The period was unfortunately charac-terized by heavy rain falls between November-December, which unexpect-edly have been the weather mark of the fall in Southern Iraq this year (espe-cially in the area of Nasiriyah). Given this situation, we had the possibility todig effectively for 23 days only.1

Together with the Iraqi Authorities for the Excavations of Iraq (State Boardfor Antiquities and Heritage), represented by Dr Ahmed Kamil, Director ofExcavations, it was decided to continue the work on Trench 1 which was ex-cavated during the first campaign in the South-Eastern sector of the tell. Maingoal of this season was then to clarify the plan of the large building whose ex-ternal wall was discovered during the last season and possibly its function.2

Consequently the excavations were started by enlarging the Trench 1,opening eastwards an area of 5 × 10 m.

2. The Cemeterial Area and the Grave 6 (Fig. 1)

The first context discovered during this season is a rich Grave, cut immedi-ately under the surface in Me-fXIII2+3 (15 cm circa). The Grave belongs to thesame cemeterial area unearthed during the previous season. The inhuma-

* Dipartimento - Istituto Italiano di Studi Orientali, Sapienza - University of Rome. Author of § 1 and 2.** Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità, Sapienza - University of Rome. Author of § 3.*** State Board for Antiquities and Heritage, Iraq. Co-Author of § 1.**** Dipartimento di Biologia Ambientale, Sapienza - University of Rome. Author of § 4.1 The team was formed by: Franco D’Agostino (Director), Licia Romano (Field Director), Melania

Zingarello (Archaeologist), Francesca Gorello (Epigraphist), Mary Anne Tafuri (Anthropologist), GiuliaBarella (Restorer), Silvia Santiloni (Archaeologist); Ali Kadhem (Archaeologist), Wussal Nai’m Jasim (Ar-chaeologist), Wasan Abdel Sahib ‘Isa (Archaeologist), Jamal Abdel’ali (Archaeologist). It is a pleasure forus to cite here all the people who, enthusiastically, participate to the campaign as workers or collabora-tors: Dhaif, Nasrallah, Ghani, Takleef, Amir, Nghamesh, Khaider, Bessam, Jafar. Mr Amir Doshi, writerand man of culture of Nasiriyah, made every effort to support in every possible way our work in South-ern Iraq, and we are pleased to acknowledge here his kindness, culture and helpfulness.

2 See D’Agostino et al. 2012, p. 25 f ad 5; ibid., p. 18ff for a general description of the main character-istics of the site.

T

70 f. d’agostino · l. romano · a. khadem · m. a. tafuri [2]

tions brought to light during the first campaign (Grave 1; Grave 2; Grave 3)3had a poor equipment, composed principally by pottery shapes (such as cupsand beakers) that were not helpful for context dating. Moreover, the only tworound-based jars discovered in Grave 1 were un-diagnostic due to the poorstate of preservation of the rims.

The discovery of the Grave 6, instead, has given some more hints towardsthe determination of the Cemetery’s date. In fact, the rich equipment com-prised at least 11 conical bowls and 2 beakers,4 1 rounded triangular rim jar,54 plain rim jars, 1 triangular rim jar and 1 miniature vessel (Fig. 2). Though itis still not possible to offer a sure dating for the assemblage, the general im-pression is that we are dealing with an Akkadian cemetery. Moreover, the 14Canalysis of a sample from one of the fireplaces near the graves discovered dur-ing the last season gave as result a date comprised between 2470-2295 calBC.6

The deceased (probably the skeleton of a woman) was laid down with thehead toward N-W and looking S-W, with the legs bent equally toward S-W,and holding in the hand a (wooden?) beaker of which has been found only theimpression on the soil (Fig. 3). Of the greatest interest was the discovery ofa pile of bones deposed over the feet of the deceased, at the first momentthought to be remains of an animal. The bones were bigger than those of thewoman and in a very bad (worse than the woman’s) state of preservation.The salt incrustation of the bones and the formation of salt crystals in theempty spaces between the bones and the surrounding soil made the identifi-

3 See D’Agostino et al. 2012, p. 27 ff.4 Here, only the bases and the entire shapes are considered.5 It can be compared with the C-9 type of MacMahon 2006 (in particular Pl. 100, 4). The dating of

this kind of jar fluctuates from the ED IIIb (Al-Hiba) to the Akk-Ur III (Umm al-Hafriyat).6 The analysis have been carried out by the INFN LABEC of Florence. Another similar dating came

from the Grave 1NE that is dated to 2575-2290 calBC.

Fig. 1. Detailed plan of the Cemeterial Area of Trench 1.

[3] abu tbeirah. preliminary report 71

cation and the excavation on the field impossible. Therefore, we decided tobring the bones all together in the laboratory, for accurate micro-excavationand study.

Fig. 2. Grave 6, pottery equipment.

Fig. 3. Grave 6, skeleton.


The bones revealed to belong to another male adult, perhaps the first oc-cupant of the grave, that was removed in order to bury the new body andthen re-deposed at, or better over the feet of the woman.7 The use of thesame grave is a clear sign of a strong relationship (whatever it was) among theoccupants. This impression was confirmed by the anthropological analysis ofthe two bodies: it revealed a genetic similarity, proved by a common skeletalmalformation (see § 4).

The presence in the cemetery of practices of secondary inhumation wasalready hypothesized, but not confirmed, by the discovery of Grave 3, con-taining part of a human skull and one tooth (see § 4 for details on this re-mains). However, the discovery of a genetic tie between the male and the fe-male occupants of the grave allows us to hypothesize the presence in thecemetery of areas used by a specific family group. If we look to the plan ofthe cemetery it seems unusual, in fact, the concentration of two graves (andthree bodies) in an area of 15 × 5 m, separated only by less than a meter ofspace.

Moreover, some findings seem to testify a continuous utilization of thecemetery and hint to a possible specific use of some areas, perhaps for com-memoration rituals following the inhumation: three fireplaces have beenfound in stratigraphic connection with the graves and one big pottery vat(originally interpreted as a looted sarcophagus and called Grave 2) can becompared to a funerary installation discovered at Nippur.8 Further excava-tions and analysis in the area will confirm or reject such hypothesis.

7 Secondary inhumations are attested nor at Abu Salabikh (Martin et alii 1985: 66), neither at Nippur,while earlier examples of multiple inhumation come from the Diyala Region (Delougaz et alii 1967: forexample Grave 87, Grave 91, Grave 92 - Houses 6 - ED period), though the re-use of sub-pavimental gravesinside houses and a new dislocation of the bodies does not surprise. Until now, secondary burials inMesopotamia are testified principally for the prehistoric Periods (Croucher 2012: 60-61).

8 Nippur - Burial 15 – Akkadian Period. We thank Dr. M. Zingarello for this suggestion.

Fig. 4. View of Building A.


3. Building A

During the first campaign a mud-brick wall has been found in MdXIII2, in thenorth-eastern sector of Trench 1. The excavation of the second campaignhave been mainly devoted to the discovery of the building (Building A – Fig.4) and the analysis of its planimetry, as said above. Three rooms, in the N-Wport of the structure have been partially excavated and a fourth one has beenso far only outlined. The plan of the building seems to correspond to thestructure visible from the satellite imagery, which led to start the diggings inthe area9 (Fig. 5).

The excavations brought to light at least three different phases of occupa-tion of the building, partially un-earthed in the three rooms (Room 1, Room2 and Room 3).

3. 1. Phase 1

The first phase of Building A has been investigated in Room 1 and Room 2(Fig. 6).10 Only one line of mud-bricks was preserved, though heavily erod-ed: only 30 cm of soil separated the upper part of the wall from the super-ficial salt crust. The dimensions of the dark yellowish brown mud-brick

9 See D’Agostino et al. 2012, p. 22 f.10 Nothing was discovered in Room 3 belonging to this phase.

Fig. 5. Satellite view of the S-E part f the Tell with the tracesof the settlement visible on the surface.


Fig.

6. S

chem

atic

pla

n of

Pha

se 1

of B

uild

ing

A.


seems to have been of 30/35 cm × 15/17 cm, although the measuring werenot accurate due to the bad state of preservation. The walls were erectedover the pre-existing structure, using a strata of clay to uniform and stabi-lize the base of the new walls.11 As far as the circulation pattern is con-cerned, we discovered two doors in Room 1, one leading westwards to theexternal area, the other opened towards Room 2. Another door has beenidentified in the S-E wall of Room 3, connecting with another still not exca-vated room (Room 4).

3. 1. 1. Room 1

The first phase of occupation in Room 1 was characterized by a beaten earthfloor and a circular fireplace. Among the objects connected to the daily life,12a big plate was found upside-down on the pavement with a big number offish-bones still inside (Fig. 7).13 A pit, filled by a sandy-clay soil with little frag-

11 See for comparison MacMahon 2006: 6.12 The objects found are: a grind-stone and a grinding-stone fragments made of bed-rock (AbT.12.116

and 117); a pestle of big dimension (AbT.12.142); a fragment of an alabaster vessel decorated with little in-cision perpendicular to the plain rim (AbT.12.132).

13 Other pottery fragments have been found in connection with this phase: 6 conical bowls, 3 beaker,1plain rim jar, 1 band rim jar, 1 convex base jar, 1 ring base jar, 1 fragment of a goddess-handled jar.

Fig. 7. The plate with fishbones discovered in Room 1 (Building A - Phase 1).


ments of mud-bricks, one entire brick, a grind-stone and fragments of char-coal cut the beaten earth floor.

3. 1. 2. Room 2

Only this first occupational phase was excavated in Room 2.14 The big di-mension of the area and the findings suggest its use as a courtyard. It was, infact, characterized by the presence of a Tannur inside which four beakers anda shell (Figs 8 and 9) have been discovered. The area surrounding the Tannurrevealed a concentration of ashes and pottery fragments,15 in all likelihoodconnected with the use of the firing structure. Near the Tannur, a little mud-brick wall has been discovered,16 though poorly preserved. A sort of little pas-sage along the N-E wall was closed during this phase of the building withsome mud-bricks of a lighter colour.17

14 We decided to expose all the area of the room before continuing the excavation, in order to bet-ter understand the stratigraphic relationships inside the area.

15 1 coarse ware big jar with triangular rim; 1 coarse ware big jar with an overhanging triangular rim;1 band rim jar; 1 plain rim jar; 1 miniaturistic plain rim jar; at least 3 conical bowls and 4 beakers.

16 The mud-bricks were yellowish brown.17 The mud-bricks closing the passage were very pale brown.

Fig. 8. The Tannur with beakers and cups still in situ (Room 2 - Building A - Phase 1).


3. 2. Phase 2

The second phase of the building has been investigated only in Room 1 andRoom 3 (Fig. 10). The circulation system in these two rooms was different ifcompared to the later Phase 1: in Room 1 only the door along the N-W wallwas present.

The construction technique foresaw the utilization of dark yellowishbrown mudbricks, of 30/35 × 15/20 × 15/20 cm (the dimensions of the mud-bricks were irregular also in the same wall). The adobes were put in rows,with alternation of two stretcher bricks and one header. Clay was used asmortar.

Under the pavement of both the rooms some bowls have been found, per-haps connected with the foundation of the building.18 In the Room 1, twobowls were deposed along the S-E wall, one over the other, while other twowere found along the N-W and S-W walls (Fig. 11). Instead in Room 3, fourconical bowls were deposed along the S-W wall, in groups of two, one overthe other. Two of the bowls were clearly used to contain a substance, put in-side still burning, that left dark traces also on the pottery walls (Fig. 12).

18 On the discovery of foundation bowls see Gibson, Armstrong, MacMahon 1998; MacMahon 2006:13, fn. 11.

Fig. 9. Pottery from the Tannur (Room 2 - Building A - Phase 1).


Fig.

10. S

chem

atic

pla

n of

Pha

se 2

of

Build

ing

A.


3. 2. 1. Room 1

The second phase of occupation of Room 1 was testified by the discovery ofa beaten earth pavement, covered originally with a reed-mat, preserved notcontinuously along the S-E, N-E and N-W walls (in better condition in theN-E part of the area, where probably the collapsed wall helped to preservethe reed-mat, Figs 13-14). This reed-mat was fixed to the pavement throughsome wooden poles: we discovered in fact the presence of a little, circular

Fig. 11. Foundation bowls (Room 1 - Building A - Phase 2).

Fig. 12. Foundation bowls (Room 3 - Building A - Phase 2).


hole, partially filled by the reeds (Fig. 15). Connected to this pavement, a fire-place was found in the S-E part of the area, and it was surrounded by otherfour post-holes, perhaps linked to the roofing or belonging to a simple firing structure used to cook over the hearth.19 The space seems to have been aclosed one, comparable with ethnographic examples from the Marshlands ofSouthern Iraq. It was, in fact, a common use to cover the pavement of the

19 See Moorey-Postgate 1976: 143: “A series of postholes (?) without any apparent pattern was poundnear the fixing places”.

Fig. 13. The reed-mat in Room 1.


Mudhif (the famous reeds-houses) with reed-mat and leave an empty spaceto host the fireplace (Fig. 16). Also poles, fixed in the pavement (and thus inthe reed-mat) and used for sustaining the roofing, are well known from the

Fig. 14. Detail of the reed-mat discovered in Room 1.

Fig. 15. Detail of the hole in the reed-mat of Room 1.


Marshes (Fig. 17).20 As far as the findings are concerned, we discovered in thesoil over the pavement some fragments of daily-life objects: two pestles,21 agrindstone22 and a grinding-stone.23

3. 2. 1. 1. Grave 7

Under the pavement of the room a grave of a child was cut (Fig. 18): its equip-ment consisted of one plain rim ovoid jar and one miniaturistic jar with evert-ed, tapering rim, carinated and high shoulders, and convex base (Fig. 19).24The body was placed near the N-W wall with the head towards S-W, the legsand the arms bent towards the same N-W wall of Room 1. For detail see § 4.

3. 2. 2. Room 3

The second phase of occupation of the building was represented insideRoom 3 by the discovery of a beaten earth pavement connected with a small

20 Young 1977: 115, 158. 21 AbT.12.108; AbT.12.113.22 AbT.12.109 (fragmentary). 23 AbT.12.111 (fragmentary).24 The jar is perforated near the base. Moreover, fragments of other jars and beaker have been found

in the filling of the grave, nevertheless they do not surely belong to the inhumation equipment.

Fig. 16. A hearth inside a Mudhif(from Young 1977).

Fig. 17. The poles of the Mudhif fixedon the reed-mat pavement

(from Young 1977).


angular Tannur. To this phase belongs a copper alloy chisel25 (Fig. 20) thathas been cleaned, restored and consolidated during the campaign and is nowstored in the Baghdad Museum. Among the other findings, there are a frag-

25 AbT.12.163.

Fig. 18. Grave 7 inside Room 1.


ment of a limestone vessel,26 a carnelian bead,27 a sickle blade.28 Under thepavement, a pit and three graves have been discovered (Grave 8, Grave 9 andGrave 10), all belonging to children.

3. 2. 2. 1. Grave 8

Grave 8 was located in the S-W corner of Room 3 (Fig. 21). Unfortunately, theburial was cut in antiquity by a big pit, filled by soil and mud-bricks fragments,that destroyed the upper part of the body of the child. A Trumpet-base29 jarand a double ridged rim jar30 were part of the Grave equipment preserved(Fig. 22). The remains of the body of this grave are now in Nasiriyah Muse-um and will be studied during the next campaign.

26 AbT.12.164. 27 AbT.12.178.28 AbT.12.184. 29 Similar to Moon 1987: n. 592 (6G38:110), dated to ED IIIB.30 This kind of jar is usually dated to the Akkadian period but the stratigraphic position suggests e

dating to the ED IIIB.

Fig. 19. Grave 7 equipment.


3. 2. 2. 2. Grave 9

Grave 9 was located near the N-E Wall of Room 3 (Fig. 23). The body had thehead towards N-W, facing the wall. The equipment consisted in one bigspouted jar, clearly belonging to the ED III pottery horizon.31 Near the jarhalf of an animal skull has been found, with also an animal jaw, while another

31 It can be compared with Moon 1987: n. 666 (6G64:591), dated to early ED IIIA.

Fig. 20. Chisel AbT.12.163 (drawing by S. Santiloni).


skull has been found N-E of the child head, near the N-E wall of the room.Near the body’s left heap there was an object made by vegetable material, per-haps a sort of reed/rope corb. The remains of the body buried in the graveare now in Nasiriyah Museum waiting for studies.

3. 2. 2. 3. Grave 10

Grave 10 was located near the N-W wall of Room 3 (Fig. 24). The remains ofthe body were poorly preserved, probably due to the age of the child. Noequipment was discovered near the body, whose remains are now inNasiriyah Museum and will be studied during the next campaign. Some ani-mal bones were deposed on the left, near the deceased.

4. Preliminary Data on the Human Skeletal Remains

During 2012 campaigns the skeletal remains of 6 individuals were recoveredat Abu Tbeirah. The remains belonged to 3 adults (2 Males and 1 females) and



3 subadults (Table 1). The state of preservation of the skeletons was, gener-ally, rather poor, bones were fragmentary; in some cases this prevented therecording of basic information such as age at death and sex of the individual.For well-preserved individuals age at death of the subadults was estimated us-ing dental development as well as skeletal growth following Ubelaker (1989)and Stloukal and Hanakova (1978). For the adults, age at death was deter-mined through a combination of methods, mainly using dental wear32 and

32 Lovejoy 1985.

Fig. 22. Grave 8 equipment.

Grave no. Individual no. Sex Age at death State of preservation

1 H1 Ind. 5 Poor3 H1 M 30-40 Poor4 H1 Ind. 7 Good6 H1 F 30-40 Good6 H2 M 30-40 Poor7 H1 Ind. 5-6 Good

Table 1. Synthesis of the anthropological data of the human skeletal samplerecovered at Abu Tbeirah during the two campaigns of 2012.Abbreviations: Ind = indeterminate; M = male; F = female.


cranial suture closure;33 the estimation of sex was performed on the basis ofmorphological traits followed several methods as synthetized in Buikstra andUbelaker (1994). Oral health was assessed by recording caries, calculus, ab-scesses and parodontal reactions. Pathological conditions of the skeletonwere also recorded and confronted with the relevant literature.

33 Meindl, Lovejoy 1985.



Aside the anthropological investigation, human bone and dental enamelwere sampled for isotope studies directed towards the identification of foodpractices (stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes) and patterns of intra-groupmobility (strontium isotope ratio).

While we wait for the completion of the excavations to produce an ex-haustive anthropological study, we present here a brief description of theburials and provide preliminary skeletal data.

Grave 1 NE – Trench 2The grave, recovered from the site in a ‘block’ was carefully excavated in thelaboratory. Of the various blocks containing the bones, no human remainscould be identified. On the contrary, several remains of fauna (small ungu-lates? pigs?), were recorded. The restoration of the bronze vase found in thegrave, has revealed the presence of (probable) human remains in extremelypoor state of preservation. It is difficult to asses the age, although a generalattribution to an ‘adult’ could be made.

Grave 1 – Trench 1The burial gave the skeleton of a subadult. The state of preservation wasrather bad, although most of the teeth (both deciduous and permanent) were



preserved. Parts of the skull, of the upper and lower limbs were also recov-ered. On the basis of dental eruption and development the age at death of theindividual can be assessed to about 5 years (±1.5).

Grave 3 – Trench 1A few remains of the vault of a human skull and one tooth were recorded.The remains, excavated in lab could be recorded for morphological and met-ric information. A few diagnostic segments of the skull and the tooth (lowerright M1) led us to interpret the individual as a mature male.

Grave 4 – Trench 1The skeleton of a fairly well preserved individual was partly excavated in thelab. It belongs to a subadult of about 7 years (±1) of age. The axial skeleton pre-served both the clavicles and the scapulae, with fragments of the ribs and the

Fig. 25. Grave 6, the septal aperture of the olecranic fossa on the right humerus of H1and on the left humerus of individual H2.


vertebrae. The skull was preserved only for the mandible and some of theteeth (both dentitions). The upper limb were well preserved as were the low-er, both arms and legs appeared to be in anatomical connection. The bonesof the pelvis were well preserved.

Grave 6 – Trench 1The burial, believed to be single, revealed the presence of two individuals.Human 1 (H1) appears to be the primary deposition of a mature female (30-40years old). The state of preservation of the skeleton is fairly bad although di-agnostic elements (portions of the skull, teeth, shafts of the limbs) are pre-served. It must be stressed that sex estimation is based on the photographicreconstruction of the morphological traits of the coxal bone and the gener-al gracile appearance of the skeleton; a number of morphological traits ofthe skull are, however, male. Human 2 (H2) is in secondary deposition, pos-sibly moved from its original position to make space for the burial of H1. Theskeleton preserved only portions of the skull, some teeth and fragments ofthe limbs. Sex estimate is of a mature male (30-40 years old). Both individualshad severe occlusal wear on the upper dentition, with no correspondence ofthe opposite lower teeth; this might be connected with extramasticatory useof the teeth.

Of interest is the presence for both individual of the septal aperture of theolecranic fossa of the humerus (Fig. 1); this epigenetic trait is normally associ-ated with genetic features and might tentatively interpret as evidence of theconsanguinity of the two individuals.

Grave 7The burial gave the skeleton of a subadult in good state of preservation. Dur-ing the recovering the skeleton was damaged, at present only the lower limbare still intact, within the ‘block’ of soil. At a primary observation of the skele-ton in the lab, according to dental eruption and development and in consid-eration of the length of the femur the individual age at death is estimatedaround 6 years (±1) of age.

ReferencesBuikstra, J. E., Ubelaker, D. H. (eds) 1994: Standards for Data Collection from Human Skele-

tal Remains (= Arkansas Archaeological Survey Research Series 44), Fayetteville.Croucher, K. 2012: Death and Dying in the Neolithic Near East, Oxford.D’Agostino, F. et alii 2012: Abu Tbeirah. Preliminary Report of the First Campaign

( January-March 2012), Rivista degli Studi Orientali 2011: 17-34.Delougaz, P. et alii 1967: Private Houses and Graves in the Diyala Region (Oriental Insti-

tute Publications 88), Chicago.Gibson, M., Armstrong, J., McMahon, A. M. 1998: The City Walls of Nippur and

an Islamic Site Beyond: Oriental Institute Excavations, 17th Season, 1987, Iraq 60: 11-44.


Lovejoy, C. O. 1985: Dental Wear in the Libben Population: its Functional Pattern andRole in the Determination of Adult Skeletal Age at Death, American Journal of Phys-ical Anthropology 68: 47-56.

MacMahon, A. 2006: Nippur V: The Early Dynastic to Akkadian Transition: The WFSounding at Nippur (Oriental Institute Publications 129), Chicago.

Martin, H. P. et alii 1986: Abu Salabikh Excavations. Graves 1 to 99, Hertford.Meindl, R. S., Lovejoy, C. O. 1985: Ectocranial Suture Closure: a Revised Method

for the Determination of Skeletal Age at Death based on the Lateral-Anterior Sutures, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 68: 57-66.

Moorey, P. R. S., Postgate J. N. 1976: Excavations at Abu Salabikh, 1975, Iraq 38/2: 133-169.

Moon, J. 1987: Abu Salabikh Excavations: Catalogue of Early Dynastic Pottery (BritishSchool of Archaeology in Iraq), Hertford.

Stloukal, M., Hanakova, H. 1978: Die Länge der Längsknochen altslawischer Be-völkerungen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Wachstumsfragen, Homo 29:53-69.

Ubelaker, D. U. 1989: Human Skeletal Remains. Excavation, Analysis, Interpretation,Taraxacum, Washington D.C.

Young, G. 1977: Return to the Marshes. Life with the Marsh Arabs of Iraq, London.

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