Sebastiano Soldi

University of Florence | UNIFI · Dipartimento di Storia, Archeologia, Geografia, Arte e Spettacolo (SAGAS)

This paper deals with the employment and diffusion of "Assyrian glazed hands" (also called "Ishtar hands") during the early 1st millennium B.C. in Northern Mesopotamia and Northern Syria. These objects were made in clay, almost always covered by a green glazed surface, in the shape of a hand, with fingers represented as in a cupped hand or fist and...

Abstract. The aim of this paper is to discuss the issue of the employment of coloured glazed devices in architecture in the Iron Age Northern Levant, in light of current researches and archaeological evidence from old and recent excavations in Northern Syria and Southern Anatolia. Glazed ceramics from Tell Afis (Syria) and Zincirli (Turkey) are dis...

This article presents the results of the renewed excavations at Zincirli Höyük, in the İslahiye valley in the province of Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey, focusing on the local ceramic assemblage and on some imported items. The excavations both in the lower town and on the citadel mound have yielded abundant documentation useful to analyze the loc...

This article deals with Iron Age Red Slip pottery from the site of Tell Afis, in north-western Syria, and its comparanda in the broader region.

Abstract – Recent archaeological excavations by the University of Pisa at the site of Tell Afis, in the district of Idlib, have shed new light on Syrian culture in the Iron Age, bringing new evidence from one of the largest Aramaean settlements in western Syria. The massive city wall in the lower town and a large sacred building of the in antis typ...

This paper deals with the story behind the acquisition of an Old-Syrian seal of the region of Aleppo which was found in 1901 in the area of a late-Roman graveyard dated to the 3rd-4th century AD in Vicenza, in northern Italy. The seal was found in the field of Mr Pietro Tapparelli, owner of the area of the excavations, and was initially thought to...

This paper presents new ceramic data from the excavations conducted by the Chicago-Tübingen Expedition at Zincirli, the capital of the Iron Age kingdom of Sam’al, in south-eastern Turkey. Excavations in the lower town and on the citadel mound revealed a small but relevant collection of Red Slip Ware dated to the local Iron Age II and III. The local...

Recent excavations at the site of Zincirli Höyük in southeastern Turkey have revealed significant remains of the Middle Bronze Age II period, with evidence for local food (and probably wine) production and storage, textile production, and administrative activities. Certain cylinder seal and vessel types further indicate that the site was well-integ...

The aim of this paper is to give some insights on the results coming from the renewed excavations in Zincirli, in south-eastern Turkey, carried out by the Chicago-Tübingen Expedition, in order to analyze and bring new data to the discussion of the mutual relationships between Assyria and local communities in the northern Levant during the period of...

This paper aims in providing a general overview on the Iron Age II-III Red Slip production in Northern Levant, with special reference to the ceramic assemblage from Tell Afis, Chatal Höyük and Zincirli, emphasizing common features and differences.

Eighteen glazed objects from Nimrud, Hasanlu and Borsippa dated to a period from the ninth to sixth century BCE were analysed by micro X-ray fluorescence (μ-XRF), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and micro-Raman spectroscopy (μ-Raman). While calcium antimonate (Ca...

The northern Levant in the first half of the 1st millennium bCE offers an interesting case study for identities in evolution across the span of a few centuries. According to historical sources the region between southern Anatolia and northern Syria is included into the boundaries of the Neo Assyrian empire, with a remarkable increase of land contro...

This article presents an overview of the attestation and distribution of Iron Age Red Slip Ware at Tell Afis, in northwestern Syria. The aim of the paper is to show the impact of this pottery class at the site, analysing its distribution between the lower town and the acropolis. The analysis is specifically focused on the typological inventory of A...

This paper focuses on a peculiar class of objects found in the area of the Iron Age Temple AI on the acropolis of Tell Afis, in north-western Syria. Funnels with a flat exterior, sometimes covered with a whitish-green glaze, have been found all around the large sacred building, and can be interpreted as architectonic devices. Only a few comparisons...

The paper describes a carinated bronze bowl found in 2007 in the area of Temple AI on the acropolis of Tell Afis, in north-west Syria. The shape and style of the artefact and its stratigraphic provenance lead to attribute it to a northern Syrian or, most likely, Neo-Assyrian workshop of the late 8th or 7th century B.C. (Iron Age III). Though the ex...