News: Jill Kamil talks to director Ray Johnson about the work in progress at Epigraphic Survey at Chicago House in Luxor

Never bettered, never better
Al-Ahram Weekly
25 November - 1 December 2010, Issue No. 1024

As the Epigraphic Survey at Chicago House in Luxor enters its 87th six-month season in Luxor, Jill Kamil talks to director Ray Johnson about the work in progress.

"Preserving Egypt's ancient records for present and future generations is what we strive to do," says Ray Johnson, director of Chicago House, the iconic home of the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute archaeological team in Luxor. Johnson says that the documentation techniques pioneered by founder James Henry Breasted, while now augmented with new digital tools, have never been surpassed. "When a photograph or a scan is not clear enough, or the wall surface is terribly damaged, we use non-invasive photographic and digital images as the basis for precise line drawings that continue to set the standard for epigraphic recording everywhere," he says. "This technique has become known simply as the Chicago House method, and it still sets the disciplined and meticulous course of the work of our documentation teams...

 

Clockwise: Medinet Habu blockyard moving, coordinated by conservator Lotfi Hassan; conservator Hiroko Kariya preparing display group; Khonsu Temple epigraphic team Brett McClain, Jen Kimpton, and Keli Alberts puzzle over an inscribed block; open-air museum at Luxor Temple

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The OI's Edfu Project

The Tell Edfu Project

 The remains of what once had been the provincial capital of the 2nd Upper Egyptian nome can be found at Tell Edfu, which is one of the best well-preserved ancient towns in Egypt. The continuous occupation over several millennia led to the constant build up of settlement layers which created an artificial mound or a tell of considerable height. Tell Edfu is one of the rare examples where almost three thousand years of ancient Egyptian history are still preserved in the stratigraphy of a single site and therefore provides an enormous potential for increasing our understanding of ancient urbanism in Egypt, a topic that is still poorly understood since it relies almost entirely on archaeological data. There are only very few ancient Egyptian settlement sites currently accessible and even fewer have been excavated and published. The past excavation seasons (2005-2010) at Tell Edfu have focused along the eastern part of the tell which yielded evidence for the early administrative center of the town. So far we excavated a small part of this area and the first results already proved to be spectacular such as the large grain silos that are so far unique in the archaeological record in Egypt. For the first time it has been possible to discover archaeological settlement remains that complement the abundant textual sources dealing with the complex system of administration. Not surprisingly it seems that texts and archaeology do not always tell the same story! At Tell Edfu we have the chance to gather completely new archaeological data for the study of an important urban center in southern Egypt and its development during the whole pharaonic period. Urbanism and settlement studies dealing with ancient Egypt are very rare and this stands in sharp contrast to other regions in the Near East where the exploration of tell sites is a common phenomenon. Thus, the Tell Edfu Project has a significant impact on our knowledge of Egyptian urbanism in general.

For more information see:

Tell Edfu Project

• Introduction
• Annual Reports
• Updates on ongoing excavation
• Results
  • Technology
  • 2009
  • 2008
• Project Team
• Support
• Contact

The Epigraphic Survey 2009-2010 Field Season

The Epigraphic Survey 2009-2010 Field Season

The Luxor Temple blockyard conservation program coordinated by Hiroko Kariya assisted by Tina Di Cerbo and Nan Ray continued with final preparations for the Luxor Temple blockyard open-air museum. This three-year project, supported by the World Monuments Fund (a Robert W. Wilson Challenge to Conserve Our Heritage grant) was completed and opened to the public on March 29, 2010 in a ribbon-cutting ceremony presided over by SCA Luxor director Mansour Boraik and about 100 friends and colleagues. More than sixty-two fragment groups have now been reassembled chronologically for public display with educational signage in English and Arabic. Sandstone pavement, protective fencing, and lighting for nighttime viewing are now in place to the east of the Luxor Temple sanctuary along platforms that support reassembled fragment groups from the Middle Kingdom through the Ptolemaic, Roman, Christian, and Islamic periods. Other platforms display material recovered during the USAID-supported dewatering trenching to the east of Luxor Temple by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), a conservation section, and a rotating exhibit section that now features "Egyptian Creatures" in art and inscriptions. An online catalogue of the museum displays is being prepared that will eventually be accessible from this Web site...

News: Mandarin Audio tour of the OI Museum

Museum in Chicago to attract more Chinese visitors with Mandarin audio tour
English.news.cn   2010-10-29 13:24:29

CHICAGO, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Oriental Institute Museum of the University of Chicago now offers a Mandarin audio tour to attract more Chinese visitors.

The tour features highlights of the museum to help visitors understand the remarkable artifacts on display from the ancient Middle East.

"It is a great opportunity to show Chicago as such a global city," Joleen Haran, assistant director of tourism at the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau, told Xinhua. Haran said that China has been a fast-growing market of international travelers to the United States since both countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2007...

Oriental Institute Museum Self-guided Audio Tours

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News: Three Articles About “Visible Language: Inventions of Writing in the Ancient Middle East and Beyond”

Hunting for the Dawn of Writing, When Prehistory Became History
New York Times, Art & Design
By GERALDINE FABRIKANT
Published: October 19, 2010

 CHICAGO — One of the stars of the Oriental Institute’s new show, “Visible Language: Inventions of Writing in the Ancient Middle East and Beyond,” is a clay tablet that dates from around 3200 B.C. On it, written in cuneiform, the script language of ancient Sumer in Mesopotamia, is a list of professions, described in small, repetitive impressed characters that look more like wedge-shape footprints than what we recognize as writing... [read the rest...]

Olaf Tessmer, Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin

A clay tag from around 3200 B.C. has signs that scholars call proto-cuneiform.

Invention of Writing Exhibition
Fine Books Magazine Blog
By Nate Pedersen on October 15, 2010 9:54 AM

Early writing developed independently at four spots around the ancient world: Mesopotamia, China, Egypt, and Mesoamerica.  For the first time in 25 years, examples of writing from all four civilizations are on display together at the Oriental Institute's new exhibition Visible Language, viewable now through March, 2011 at the University of Chicago.  

The highlights of the exhibition are the earliest known cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia, dated to 3200 B.C., which have never before been shown in America.  The Oriental Institute has the tablets on loan from the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin.  Other items on display include ancient labels from the tombs of the first Egyptian kings, inscribed oracle bones from China, and a miniature altar with Mayan hieroglyphics... [read the rest...]

Oriental Institute exhibit draws on history of writing
“Visible Language: Inventions of Writing in the Ancient Middle East” features artifacts ranging from cuneiform tablets to papyrus manuscripts. 
The Chicago Maroon
By Sara Hupp
Published: October 15th, 2010

If Indiana Jones were still at the U of C, he’d probably consider the Oriental Institute's latest exhibition the holy grail — of linguistics, at least.

While you won’t find any crystal skulls or lost arks, a new exhibit at the Oriental Institute displays some of the oldest examples of writing; “Visible Language: Inventions of Writing in the Ancient Middle East” features artifacts ranging from cuneiform tablets to papyrus manuscripts.

“The invention of writing was the first information revolution,” said Chief Curator Geoff Emberling, an archaeologist specializing in Mesopotamia. “Today, we are living through a revolution in the storage and processing of information, so it is very timely that we look back.”... [Read the rest...]

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Oriental Institute Enterprises, Limited

Several copies of this document, a blank shares certificate in

Oriental Institute Enterprises, Limited

turned up in a desk drawer in the Oriental Institute some time in the 1980's.  Oral tradition current at the time suggested that it was a membership premium issued some time earlier.  I've never seen reference to it in published OI Annual Reports or anywhere else for that matter.

The Human Adventure is Online

The Human Adventure is now online at The Oriental Institute's Youtube Channel.

This 1935 film, produced by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago under the supervision of Dr. James Henry Breasted was written and told by his son, Charles Breasted. Though we no longer think about archaeology in the same way, this film gives us insight into the early days of the field.

Data (minimal) on the Human adventure at IMDb, and at Turner Classic Movies.
And see a Review of a Review of The Human Adventure.

News: Did Uruk soldiers kill their own people?

Did Uruk soldiers kill their own people? 5,500 year old fratricide at Hamoukar Syria
Heritage Key
Submitted by owenjarus on Thu, 09/23/2010 - 03:28

 Five years ago an archaeological team broke news of a major find that forever changed our views about the history of the Middle East.

Researchers from the Oriental Institute, and the Department of Antiquities in Syria, announced in a press release that they had found the “earliest evidence for large scale organized warfare in the Mesopotamian world.”

They had discovered that a city in Syria, named Hamoukar, had been destroyed in a battle that took place ca. 3500 BC by a hostile force. Using slings and clay bullets these troops took over the city, burning it in the process. Their motive may have been to gain control over trade in the area – particularly that of copper coming from Southern Turkey.

The likeliest culprit for this act is a city named Uruk – located to the south in modern day Iraq. The artifacts found at Hamoukar which postdate the battle, were created in the same style as those discovered at Uruk.

"If the Uruk people weren't the ones firing the sling bullets, they certainly benefited from it. They took over this place right after its destruction," site excavator Dr. Clemens Reichel told the New York Times, back in 2005.

But now archaeologists have made a new discovery that sheds more light on this battle. They have found evidence that an Uruk colony near Hamoukar was also destroyed in this conflict.

So, if the invading army was from Uruk, did they kill their own people? If so why?

The information was first released in the 2008-2009 annual report on the Oriental Institute’s website. Before now it has not appeared in popular media.

This story is a long one so bear with me....

An archaeologist uncovers a skeleton at the Uruk colony. Was this person killed by his/her own people? Photo courtesy Professor Clemens Reichel

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OI News & Notes 2010 Summer and Fall issues

The 2010 Summer and Fall issues of the Oriental Institute's News & Notes are now available for download.

News & Notes is a Quarterly Publication of The Oriental Institute, printed for members as one of the privileges of membership.

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2010	Winter (#204)	Spring (#205)	Summer (#206)	Fall (#207)
2009	Winter (#200)	Spring (#201)	Summer (#202)	Fall (#203)
2008	Winter (#196)	Spring (#197)	Summer (#198)	Fall (#199)
2007	Winter (#192)	Spring (#193)	Summer (#194)	Fall (#195)
2006	Winter (#188)	Spring (#189)	Summer (#190)	Fall (#191)
2005	Winter (#184)	Spring (#185)	Summer (#186)	Fall (#187)
2004	Winter (#180)	Spring (#181)	Summer (#182)	Fall (#183)
2003	Winter (#176)	Spring (#177)	Summer (#178)	Fall (#179)
2002	Winter (#172)	Spring (#173)	Summer (#174)	Fall (#175)

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For years prior to 2002 only the Lead Article(s) from various issues are being made available electronically with the permission of the editor.

For a listing of all Oriental Institute publications available online see:  AWOL - The Ancient World Online - 2: The Oriental Institute Electronic Publications Initiative

News: Pictures at an excavation In central Turkey, OI faculty and staff help get to the bottom of a puzzling ruin.

Pictures at an excavation: In central Turkey, OI faculty and staff help get to the bottom of a puzzling ruin.
University of Chicago Magazine, July-August 2010

“The great expanse of ruins, once teeming with life and resounding with the voices of a powerful people who dominated most of Asia Minor, now lies mute and barren.” So wrote archaeologist H. H. van der Osten in 1926 about Kerkenes Dag, the low mountain in Turkey where a vast city once stood. Those who had seen the ruin couldn’t agree on its age, so James Henry Breasted asked his colleague Erich Schmidt, who was stationed nearby codirecting the Oriental Institute’s Hittite Survey, to look more closely.

Schmidt’s succinct wire back, “kerkenes posthittite preclassical + schmidt,” confirmed that the city belonged to the late Iron Age—not a period of immediate interest to the OI expedition. That was the end of any serious digging at Kerkenes for seven decades.

Fast-forward to 1993, when Geoffrey and Françoise Summers of Middle East Technical University launched a new excavation that soon drew researchers affiliated with the OI. Scott Branting, AM’96, then a Chicago master’s student in Hittitology and Anatolian Archaeology, wound up writing his dissertation on the city plan at Kerkenes. Today Branting is a codirector of the excavation as well as director of the OI’s Center for Ancient Middle Eastern Landscapes (CAMEL) and assistant research professor. 

Last summer Branting and assistant conservator Alison Whyte spent time working at Kerkenes. When they returned, they fielded questions about the significance of the site and the role of conservators at an excavation.

Read the rest...

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