Bismaya
Recovering the Lost City of Adab
by Jacob Lauinger, Monica Louise Phillips, Benjamin Studevent-Hickman and Karen Wilson
This monograph presents this large and significant corpus of unpublished material and includes analyses of stratigraphy, architecture, sculpture, cylinder seals, metalwork, and pottery, and discussions of chronology, the succession of the first kings of Adab, and administrative practices during the third millennium B.C.
An expedition from the University of Chicago excavated the site of Bismaya (ancient Adab) from December 24, 1903, until late June 1905. The excavations were directed first by Edgar J. Banks and then, briefly, by Victor S. Persons. Over 1,000 artifacts, many of them early cuneiform documents, were sent to Chicago, where they are now housed in the Oriental Institute Museum The results of the Bismaya excavations were never properly published, and most of the material was never published at all. Banks wrote a lively and highly readable popular account, Bismya, or the Lost City of Adab, that appeared in 1912 and gave the impression that his field methods were considerably less than satisfactory. However, that was not the case. Banks kept a careful field diary, complete with highly accurate sketches, and sent detailed weekly reports, lavishly illustrated with his own drawings, back to Chicago. These materials show that he excavated a mid-third millennium B.C. temple and discovered some of the world’ s first historical inscriptions incised on stone vessels dedicated in that structure. He also uncovered residences of the late Early Dynastic period, two Akkadian administrative centers, and a palace of the Isin-Larsa/Old Babylonian period. This monograph presents this large and significant corpus of unpublished material and includes analyses of stratigraphy, architecture, sculpture, cylinder seals, metalwork, and pottery, and discussions of chronology, the succession of the first kings of Adab, and administrative practices during the third millennium B.C.
- By (author) Jacob Lauinger
- By (author) Monica Louise Phillips
- By (author) Benjamin Studevent-Hickman
- By (author) Karen Wilson
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Cuneiform Texts from the Ur III Period in the Oriental Institute, Volume 2
Drehem Administrative Documents from the Reign of Amar-Suena
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On the Margin of the Euphrates
Settlement and Land Use at Tell es-Sweyhat and in the Upper Tabqa Area, Syria
Volume 124
Excavations at the prehistoric mound of Chogha Bonut, Khuzestan, Iran
Seasons 1976/77, 1977/78, and 1996
Volume 120
Early Megiddo on the East Slope (The ‘Megiddo Stages’)
A Report on the Early Occupation of the East Slope of Megiddo. Result of the Oriental Institute's Excavations, 1925-1933
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Ancient Settlement Systems and Cultures in the Ram Hormuz Plain, Southwestern Iran
Excavations at Tall-e Geser and Regional Survey in the Ram Hormuz Area
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The Amuq Valley Regional Projects, Volume 1
Surveys in the Plain of Antioch and Orontes Delta, Turkey, 1995-2002
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The Temple of Khonsu. Volume II
Scenes and Inscriptions in the Court and the First Hypostyle Hall
Volume 103
Temple of Khonsu, Volume 3
The Graffiti on the Khonsu Temple Roof at Karnak: A Manifestat
Volume 123
Tell Hamoukar, Volume 1. Urbanism and Cultural Landscapes in Northeastern Syria
The Tell Hamoukar Survey, 1999-2001
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Archaeology of the Bronze Age, Hellenistic, and Roman Remains at an Ancient Town on the Euphrates River
Excavations at Tell Es-Sweyhat, Syria Volume 2
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Reliefs and Inscriptions at Luxor Temple, Volume 1
The Festival Procession of Opet in the Colonnade Hall
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The Egyptian Book of the Dead
Documents in the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago
Volume 82
Excavations in the Plain of Antioch III
Stratigraphy, Pottery, and Small Finds from Chatal Hoyuk in the Amuq Plain
Volume 143
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