Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology in Mainz

In the course of the constitution of the SFB 295 (Cultural and Linguistic Contacts), a new professorship in Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology was institutionalized by the university, which was first filled in 1996 by Eva A. Braun-Holzinger was appointed for the first time in 1996. She not only headed several SFB sub-projects on intercultural aspects of iconographic research, but also brought the DFG-funded excavation project in Haft Tappeh/Iran to Mainz under the excavation director Behzad Mofidi Nasrabadi. The professorship was located at the Institute of Egyptology. The library and workrooms were located on the JGU campus in a former barracks building at Friedrich-von-Pfeiffer-Weg 5 in very cramped conditions.

In 2001, another new professorship for Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology was established at JGU Mainz, the most important neighboring subject of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology. The offer of appointment was made to Doris Prechel, who specializes in Assyriology and Hittitology. In 2002, the institute was given the more comprehensive name “Institute of Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies”.

Thanks to various acquisitions and donations, including the libraries of Max Freiherr von Oppenheim and Rainer M. Boehmer, a library for all areas of Ancient Near Eastern Studies was established in Mainz during these years, which, despite its young age, has extensive old and new holdings. The newly established Magister degree program in Ancient Near Eastern Studies could be studied with two tracks of study (archaeology and philology). When JGU created the B.A. in Archaeology in 2003 in anticipation of the bologna reform, Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology was also integrated into this degree program as a specialization.

In 2009, Adelheid Otto succeeded E.A. Braun-Holzinger as head of the subject Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and brought further research projects to Mainz: the DFG-funded excavation of Tall Bazi (Syria), a French-German (ANR/DFG) project on the historical geography of Upper Mesopotamia and participation in the international excavation project of Tall Beydar (Syria), which was coordinated by Aaron Schmitt and Alexander Pruß.

Dirk Wicke came to Mainz as an employee of the SFB 295 and received his post-doctoral professorial qualification in the subject of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology in 2010. Since 2007 he has been involved in the management of the excavation project in Ziyaret Tepe/Turkey. In 2014, he received an offer of appointment at the Goethe University Frankfurt and took up the professorship there at the beginning of 2015.

Behzad Mofidi Nasrabadi continues to head the DFG-funded excavation project in Haft Tappeh/Iran and received his post-doctoral qualification in Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology in 2013.

During A. Otto’s tenure, the subject underwent a number of spatial and organizational changes in Mainz. In 2011, the space situation was significantly improved when the Institute moved to Hegelstraße 59, although this came at the cost of a considerable distance from the campus and the central institutions of the university and faculty. In 2013, the Institute was merged with some neighboring subjects to form the newly created “Institute of Classical Studies”.

In 2013, Adelheid Otto was appointed to the LMU Munich. The professorship was then vacant for a year and was substituted by Astrid Nunn in the winter semester 2014/15. Alexander Pruß has held the Chair of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology in Mainz since April 2015.

The program of study of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology

Object:

Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology (VA) is concerned with the study of social, economic, cultural and historical conditions in ancient West Asia (“Ancient Orient”) on the basis of the program of study of archaeological sources. The research area thus essentially comprises present-day Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey, the states of the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Cyprus and the South Caucasus. For a long time, interest focused on Mesopotamia, the cultural region along the lower reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. For several decades now, the subject has also increasingly focused on the neighboring areas of this region.

In chronological terms, the subject covers the period from the Neolithic (from around 10,000 BC) to the end of the Persian period (around 330 BC), although depending on the self-image of individual researchers and institutes, more recent periods are also included (e.g. the Parthian and Sasanian empires).

Archaeological finds and features form the source basis of the VA. Finds are usually immovable structures that are uncovered during excavations or documented in the field. These include, for example, the remains of buildings (dwellings, temples, palaces, etc.) and other structures (e.g. graves, terraces, installations such as storage pits or ovens, etc.) as well as all types of deposits whose origin can be traced back to human activity (e.g. layers of rubble, the contents of waste pits, etc.).

Finds are the individual movable objects that can (at best) be related to an archaeological feature. These include Ceramic finds, all types of tools and weapons, pictorial works as well as seals and sealings (glyptic). The documentation and interpretation of the find contexts is of central importance in the scientific examination of the finds.

With regard to the historical periods (from the late 4th millennium BC), VA is closely linked to Ancient Near Eastern Philology, which deals with the languages and history of Ancient West Asia on the basis of surviving written sources (clay tablets, inscriptions).

Methods:

The data that Near Eastern archaeologists deal with (finds and features) are generated in the course of archaeological excavations, through site exploration(surveys) or remote sensing procedures (e.g. evaluation of satellite images, geophysical measurements, etc.). The systematic indexing of collections (museums) and the question-related examination of already published data also form a basis for academic papers.

In the course of data evaluation, different methods are used in VA – depending on the specific question: these range from the Art History-iconographic examination of certain objects or groups of objects to the use of geoinformation systems and the application of quantitative methods. As in other archaeological subjects, the use of natural sciences methods is also playing an increasingly important role in VA, whether in connection with the age and material determination of finds or in the reconstruction of ancient technical processes. To explain archaeologically observed phenomena, archaeologists often draw on concepts and models that have been developed (primarily) in the context of other cultural and social sciences.

Research topics:

The (diverse) topics that Near Eastern archaeologists deal with include, among others:

• the transition from the appropriative to the productive and sedentary way of life (Neolithization)
• the emergence of complex organized societies, early cities (urbanization) and states
• Settlement history (development of individual settlements and entire settlement systems)
• Emergence and use of early information technologies (e.g. tokens, seals and early writing)
• Economic history
• Art History of Ancient West Asia
• Chronology (dating, locating aspects of material culture in time)
• Burial rites (concepts of the afterlife, graves as a source for the reconstruction of social conditions)
• The material culture of ancient empires (e.g. Akkad, empires of the Assyrians, Mittani, Elamites, Babylonians, Urartians)
• Archaeological building research
• Living conditions and everyday life (e.g. gender relations)
• Landscape archaeology (formation and change of cultural landscapes)
• Religious beliefs and ideologies
• Archaeological monument preservation

Important: Since the summer semester 2024, the program of study is only possible as part of the Bachelor’s and master’s degree programs ALPHA.

Occupational fields:

Near Eastern archaeologists have career opportunities at universities (research and teaching), research institutions, science management and coordination, museums and in publishing.

Former professorship

• Prof. Dr. Adelheid Otto
• Prof. Dr. Eva A. Braun Holzinger

Former employees

• Prof. Dr. Dirk Wicke
• Prof. Dr. Aaron W. Schmitt
• Dr. Helen Gries
• Dr. Michael Herles
• Dr. Tobias Helms