Mesopotamian Archaeology Orientation

[us4-he2-gal2]

Mesopotamian Archaeology

The nature of this sub-board is in a sense self explanatory. There may be some confusion as to the need for such a sub-board when in fact we have always discussed the archaeology of Mesopotamia here on enenuru, often without clearly delineating where philology and archaeology intersect, or where they diverge.

In a sense, Mesopotamian archaeology is everything visual and every material thing outside of the cuneiform text or inscription. Hence throughout the years we have talked about Cylinder seals, sculpture, clothing (in art), architecture and ziggurats, archaic standards and so on and all of this falls into the realm of the Mesopotamian archaeologist primarily (and the Mesopotamian historian and philologist secondarily).


Despite a long interest in the fascinating material culture of Mesopotamia, I have never considered myself particularly versed in Mesopotamian archaeology, my interests have tended toward the philological end of things. However with the courses I am taking at the U of Toronto, it seems like as good a time as any to try and sophisticate the enenuru approach to archaeology, and to intentionally engage the current state of that part of the field. So it is with this idea that I am making the Meso. arch. sub-board, which will hopefully compliment and sophisticate our long standing discussions on this subject matter.


**For those not sure about how I use the word sophisticate, I am not talking about white gloves and silver spoons. I'm talking about accessing and using state of the field data in order to make the best distinctions possible - something I believe is possible for the layman and for persons working in academia.


The thread "Not Neglecting Archaeology" will be moved to this sub board. However the below threads are relevant but will be left where they are. This list is not exhaustive, many other threads on the board are relevant or even important for archaeology. Relevance can be defined as anything focusing on Mesopotamian Architecture, Art or Pottery basically, (or even anything material and no writing) please see:

The Archaic Standards Thread


Information Storage Devices


Glazed Steatite Seals


City Seals


Cylinder Seals


Ziggurat Alchemy


Mesopotamian Pottery