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Start date: 2018End date: 2019

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    Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern palaces. $n Volume II : Proceedings of a workshop held at the 10th ICAANE in Vienna, 25 -26 April 2016
    (Harrassowitz Verlag, 2019) Bietak, Manfred; Matthiae, Paolo; Prell, Silvia
    The study of the semiotics of palaces in the Ancient Near East and Ancient Egypt provides the historian with diverse information as size and type of architecture demonstrate the kind of representation chosen by rulers towards their world. Some features were adopted from temples in order to stage the appearance of the ruler like a divine epiphany. Some further integrate a temple within the palace, showcasing the desire of the ruler to live with a specific deity under one roof for divine support and protection. The importance of this ruler can also be reflected by the size of the throne room and the number of columns, showing as well a hierarchy in the use of space within the whole building complex and its different units. For instance, the presence of a rather intimate throne room or a second small throne room points to space for confidential exchange between the ruler and his visitors. The capacity of storerooms additionally gives us insight into the economic power standing behind the palace. The comparison of different elements between palatial and domestic architecture also proves helpful in identifying the origins of particular components.0Exploration of such semiotics was initiated with the publication of the first palace volume in 2018 (Verlag der ÖAW, Vienna) following a conference held in London 2013. The present volume stands in direct continuation and is the result of a second palace conference that took place at the 10th ICAANE 2016 in Vienna. Besides introducing other palaces in Egypt and Nubia, this volume is dedicated primarily to Near Eastern palaces which are presented and studied by prominent experts in this field
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    Urbanized landscapes in early Syro-Mesopotamia and prehispanic Mesoamerica : papers of a cross-cultural seminar held in honor of Robert McCormick Adams
    (Otto Harrassowitz GmbH & Co. KG, 2018) Domenici, Davide; Marchetti, Nicolò
    Meant as a homage to the memory of Robert McCormick Adams and born out of a conference organized at the University of Bologna to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of his book The Evolution of Urban Society: Early Mesopotamia and Prehispanic Mexico(1966), the volume brings together contributions by scholars tackling ancient urbanism from different regions and theoretical perspectives aiming at providing elements that could enhance cross-cultural dialogue and cross-fertilization between various theoretical and methodological approaches.
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    Why did ancient states collapse? : the dysfunctional state
    (Archaeopress Publishing Ltd, 2019) Levitt, Malcolm,
    Ancient states were rooted in agriculture, sedentism and population growth. They were fragile and prone to collapse, but there is no consensus on the causes or meaning of collapse, and there is an ongoing debate about the importance, nature and even existence of state-wide collapse Explanations of collapse in terms of competing mono-causal factors are found inferior to those incorporating dynamic, interactive systems. It is proposed that collapse should be explained as failure to fulfil the ancient state’s core functions: assurance of food supplies, defence against external attack, maintenance of internal peace, imposition of its will throughout its territory, enforcement of state-wide laws, and promotion of an ideology to legitimise the political and social status quo. To fulfil these functions certain necessary conditions must be met. The legitimacy of the political and social status quo, including the distribution of political power and wealth, needs to be accepted; the state should be able to extract sufficient resources to fulfil its functions such as defence; it must be able to enforce its decisions; the ruling elite should share a common purpose and actions; the society needs to reflect a shared spirit (asibaya) and purpose across elites and commoners who believe it is worthy of defence. Weaknesses and failure to meet any condition can interact to exacerbate the situation: maladministration, corruption and elite preoccupation with self aggrandisement can induce fiscal weakness, reduced military budgets and further invasion; it can induce neglect of key infrastructures (especially water management). Inequality, a commonly neglected factor despite ancient texts, can erode asibaya and legitimacy and alienate commoners from defence of the state. These themes are explored in relation to the Egyptian Old Kingdom, Mycenae, the Western Roman Empire (WRE), and the Maya. They all exhibit, to varying degrees, weaknesses in meeting the above conditions necessary for stability. (Some of the explanatory political and social factors involved have modern analogies but that issue is not examined).