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Bernhard Schneider will speak on "The Age of Empire in Rural Babylonia (c. 720-150 BCE, Southern Iraq)." Refreshments will be available from noon to 12:30. Join us in person or on Zoom!

Lecture Abstract:

The project RuBab: Rural Babylonian Settlements during the Early Age of Empire (c. 720-150 BCE) will be presented in this talk. The still under-researched countryside is the main focus of the work and should provide an additional dimension to the urban-based research in the area. The project covers the area to the East and Southeast of Nippur/Niffer until the region surrounding Adab/Bismaya, not exclusively but mainly with drone survey and geomorphological examination. This is a region that housed several villages and settlements known from the texts, e.g., the Murašû archive (c. 450-400 BCE), etc, which were named after different ethnic groups or professions. So far, none of them could be identified by archaeology. Some first results are presented from the first RuBab campaign in 2024, and also ,an outlook is provided for the upcoming season with excavations at Ishan Hâfudh, a site first visited by Raymond P. Dougherty (Yale) in 1926.