On this page a list is given of all Ph.D. research which has been completed.
de Vries-Melein, Martine (Utrecht/Netherlands)
- Hematite in Mesopotamia ca. 3500-300
BC
Hematite, shadanu, was used for
cutting small objects like beads, seals, weights. In metallurgy it was used as a
flux in smelting copper and as a rich iron ore. As hematite is not indigenous in
Mesopotamia, it had to be imported, like many basic materials. Combining
archaeological, philological, metallurgical and geo-archaeological data, this
study aims to expand our knowledge about a typical feature of Mesopotamian
society, its dependence on contacts with the surrounding
territories. Contact
Date
of completion: July 2, 2005
Jackson,
Samuel (Sydney) - A comparative
look at pre-first-millennium B.C. ancient Near Eastern law collections
The thesis compares various aspects of these collections
and attempts to place the differences between them in their cultural/societal
context. The results question the assumption of many that the
ancient Near East shared a common culture. New insights on the
comparative method in general are made as well as a critique of
those who have attempted it previously. The thesis gives insights
into the cultural differences and similarities within the ancient
Near East as well as more general insights into how cultures operate.
The thesis also critically analyses previous historiography on
this issue and places movements within this in their historical
and intellectual contexts. Contact
Date of completion: Oct 1, 2006
Justel Vicente,
Josué-Javier (Zaragoza/Spain) - The
Social Position of Women in Syria during the Late Bronze Age.
Contact
Date of completion: April 25, 2007
Kapelus, Magdalena (Warsaw/Poland)
- Cult of the dead in Hittite Anatolia
I. Introduction. II. Anatolia: 1 Sources
philological (texts) and archaeological (cemeteries); 2
Terminology: man (body, soul, spirit), death, to die; 3 Netherworld:
a. man after death (body, inhumation, cremation), souls, spirits;
b. the way to the Netherworld, the rite of passage (Totenrituale),
the mythological passages, the natural passages; c. mausolea (different
names or different institutions), places of inhumation, places
of cult; 4 Between dead and alive: inheritance, care about inhumation
and sacrifices to the dead, magical contact; 5 Other rituals and
festivals for the dead; 6 Gods related to the Netherworld: protohittite
(Lelwani and its cercle), taknas UTU, gods from hurrian and mesopotamian
inheritage (Ereskigal, Allani, Allatum etc).
III Review of the cult of the dead in Syria (Ebla, Nuzi, Ugarit)
and Mesopotamia with some excurtion to the egyptian sources. Contact
Date of completion: Dec 1, 2006