The Karashamb silver cup is one of the most emblematic protohistoric artefacts of the southern Caucasus, as well as arguably the most outstanding object from the Middle Bronze Age. The cup has been investigated rather widely from a variety ofperspectives including the technological and the contextual, but only partially with regard to its iconography. The objective of this paper is to provide afresh and in-depth investigation of the complex iconographic repertoire that is represented on the objects' several registers. The iconographic system is significantly more intricate than it first appears to be, and because it is susceptible to a polysemous interpretation, it stands as a singular testimony to the degree of complexity that the artisans who created it were able to achieve.
Lithics are crucial to understanding prehistoric lifestyles. Tale Dehdaran (Fath Abad) is located in the west of Kazeroun County in Fars Province. This study deals with the description, classification and typology of lithics collected during surface survey at the site. It reviews the diversity of technologies detectable in lithic artefacts from Tale Dehdaran and other prehistoric sites on the Kazeroun Plain to determine similarities and differences, and thereby better understand the cultural materials of Tale Dehdaran. The systematic surface survey of the Dehdaran site led to the identification and sampling of 230 lithic artefacts, among which retouched tools and fragments were the most abundant. In terms ofproduction technology, the assemblage recovered from Tale Dehdaran can be considered a set of blades-bladelets. The initial steps of the cutting sequence occurred somewhere off site, and the producers accelerated the removal process of blades and bladelets and semi cores.*
Challenges in the study of ancient sources are often linked to the difficulty of situating them within a specific temporal and geographical context. Researchers frequently rely on the information provided by the object or document itself, including its content (such as the text), yet this remains a complex undertaking. Difficulties of this kind are particularly evident in the case of mortuary papyri preserved from Roman Egypt. Traditionally, their contextualisation has been based primarily on the textual content and palaeographic analysis. However, the contribution of iconography-often accompanying religious passages-has frequently been overlooked. In this article, we present a case study that illustrates how religious imagery can refine the chronology ofpBerlin 1522. An analysis of the iconography of its verso enables a more precise dating, refining the broad second-century CE attribution to a more specific period of c. 100-116AD.*
This article examines the Berikldeebi settlement in Georgia, excavated by Aleksandre Javakhishvili in 1978-1991. Berikldeebi is key to understanding the Late Chalcolithic period in the Caucasus, but until recently it had not been fully published. This study situates Berikldeebi within the broader cultural landscape of the Late Chalcolithic South Caucasus and explores its relationship with contemporaneous sites in the region. Particular attention is paid to the rich variety of ware types, which indicate a degree of regional continuity as well as external influence. The presence of Uruk-type ceramics and mudbrick architecture points to interaction with Mesopotamian cultural spheres, while comparisons with other parts of the Caucasus region, like western Georgia and the North Caucasus, reveal shared traditions alongside distinctly regional developments. By examining material culture, spatial distribution and production techniques, this article highlights the role of Berikldeebi as a hub of interregional connectivity and localised adaptation during the Late Chalcolithic period. These findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of cultural entanglement in the prehistoric Caucasus.*
The traditional grammarians of Arabic dealt extensively with the temporal indications of the perfect and imperfect forms when preceded by various particles. Most agreed that the ma yaf'alu construction indicates al-hal; namely, "the present tense" or "a current action". If so, why is la yaf'alu, which has the same indication, not used instead? No satisfactory responses emerge from either grammatical treatises or modern studies. This article focuses on the ma yaf'alu construction and suggests that al-hal refers to the grammatical and lexical aspect of the verb rather than to its tense. Thus al-hal should be rendered as a "state", whereas the whole clause preceded by wa (wa-ma yaf'alu) should be regarded as a circumstantial clause. The analysis also identifies four features that help distinguish the wa-ma yaf'alu construction from other constructions that start with the negative particles 'in, la or ma al-higaziyya: (1) in wa-ma yaf'alu the action is negated and not the agent, unlike in the other three constructions; (2) in some cases, using an active participle or a noun is less acceptable for grammatical reasons, so that a verbal clause is used instead; (3) in the wa ma yaf'alu construction, the particle 'illa is used as an exceptive, whereas in the other constructions,'illa is used as a contrastive or connective particle; (4) ma yastawi and la yastawi have the same indication (gnomic present that expresses a general truth), and there are no grammatical or aspectual differences between them.*
