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This chapter shows the use of European paper in Egyptian Islamic court documentation and in manuscripts, the varieties of papers used, the dominance of paper manufactured by certain European countries, specifically France and Italy, and how the local Egyptian economy failed to produce paper in sufficient quantities to maintain its age-old paper industry. Then, it turns to the re-export of paper to the Bilād al-Sūdān, where there was an increasing demand for paper. The chapter examines paper used in manuscripts in Nigeria as a way of gauging the trans-Saharan paper trade and showing similarities of the papers used in Egypt. A "paper chronology" established for Egypt may be useful to historians interested in the types of paper circulating in the eastern and western Sudan. The Italians and the French dominated the imported paper trade in fairly well demarcated periods as evidenced in a survey of Egyptian manuscripts and archives. Keywords: Bilād al-Sūdān; Egyptian economy; trans-Saharan paper trade; western Sudan

This paper introduces the recently discovered site at Jinsha in the western suburbs of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province. In 2001, hundreds of objects of gold, bronze, jade, stone, and other materials were unearthed at Jinsha, and subsequent fieldwork has revealed that the site was a major settlement of the late Shang and Western Zhou periods, occupying an area of 3 sq km and following in date the famous Sanxingdui site. This paper situates the Jinsha site in its geographic and natural environment, discusses previous excavations in the area, describes the major localities and associated finds at the site, and analyzes the chronology and cultural classification of the site as well as the archaeological significance of its discovery. This is the first survey of the Jinsha site in English.

In the ongoing effort to define the exact nature of the Bamboo Annals and its relation to ancient Chinese chronology, scholars both Chinese and Western have debated the authenticity of this chronicle. The purpose of this paper is to present some of the ideas generated in an ongoing study of the Bamboo Annals by David Nivison and myself in the context of its textual history and dating information. The paper will begin with an account of recent scholarship on the "Modern Text" and an introduction to new directions of research, and recent discoveries and controversies relative to this work. While many Chinese scholars have basically treated the "Modern Text" as a forgery,new studies by American scholars suggest that these Chinese scholars may have neglected intriguing aspects of the "Modern Text." The thorough studies of the "Modern Text" by Chinese scholars have been supplemented by Nivison and Shaughnessy,whose findings require the reconsideration of the importance of the "Modern Text." Such studies allow claims for a close relationship between the two-chapter "Modern Text"—often held to be inauthentic—and the various collections of fragments known as the "ancient text" and that the "Modern Text" can actually give us important information for reconstructing chronologies of ancient China. This suggests a need to reconsider prevailing views of the "Modern Text." The paper concludes with an assessment of the need for future work on the analysis of the Bamboo Annals .

This paper seeks to establish the chronology of an important long term change in the technology of the Chinese salt industry. The change was from chzen, ignigenous salt, to shai, solar evaporated salt, as the predominant method of production. It was long term because it extended from the late Yuan to the early Min-kuo. It was important not only because it concerned one of the biggest components of the secondary sector of the premodern Chinese economy, but also because it shaped attitudes to energy beyond its own industry. Fundamental to these wider repercussions is chronology. This paper therefore will focus on the first appearance, subsequent growth and final predominance of the shat method in each of the salt divisions in which the change occurred. These subsections correspond roughly to the Ming, Ching and early republican periods. For the first and second, the principal sources are the successive divisional yen-fa chih, together with other standard administrative handbooks. For the third, use has been made of Maritime Customs, consular and foreign salt inspectorate reports and of the first and last editions of the Chungkuo yen-cheng shih-lul). These are the major sources, but others are

The consensus of present-day historians that Jesus was crucified around the year 30 ce has been challenged by a minority of scholars who argue that the execution of John the Baptist could not take place earlier than 35 ce, and for that reason Jesus must have been crucified at the Passover of 36 ce. This paper argues that both parties have strong and convincing arguments, and for that reason we must conclude that John was probably executed after Jesus’ death. The collective memory of the early Christians did not succeed in retaining the chronological order of these events, and this circumstance allowed the synoptics to turn the Baptist into a forerunner of Christ.

This paper proposes an alternative chronology for the Xia dynasty [ca. 2100-1600 BCE] based on the respective year counts and generation numbers of the Xia, Shang [ca. 1600-1046 BCE], and Zhou [1046-256 BCE] dynasties. It argues that Qi 啟 founded the Xia dynasty midway through the twentieth century BCE and further discusses questions relating to the capital cities and culture of the Xia. By integrating archeological material, it further contends that the ancient city of Wangchenggang 王城崗 located in Dengfeng 登封 was Yangcheng 陽城, the capital established by Yu 禹. It also argues that the Wadian 瓦店 site in Yuzhou 禹州 may have been inhabited by Yu and Qi, that the ancient city of Xinzhai 新砦 was an early capital of the Xia dynasty from the reigns of Qi to Shao Kang 少康, and that the Erlitou 二里頭 site was the capital of the Xia dynasty during its middle and late periods after the reign of Di Huai 帝槐. Xia culture should be approached as a concept that blends the disciplines of archeology and history and defined as the Xia people and the Xia dynasty within its region of governance or a culture whose creators mostly consisted of the Xia people. Furthermore, the ruins of the Xinzhai period represent Xia culture during its formative period, while Erlitou culture represents Xia culture during its maturity.

This paper presents the first in-depth analysis of the textiles held by the Museo de la Real Colegiata de San Isidoro de León, providing a careful investigation of textile features and raw materials, in addition to carbon-14 dating and archival research. These new data have allowed us to redate the fabrics, placing them within their tenth- through early thirteenth-century Mediterranean and European contexts. The result is a more complex image than was previously assumed, and it offers a significant starting point for further research into the roles played by textiles in medieval Iberia.

Reflexes of Proto-Tai initial clusters *pl-, *ml-, *kl- show a rich array of forms across modem Northern Tai, and these forms are worth studying for their phonotactic patterns. These lenitions to pj-, mj-, kj-, or py-, my-, ky-, or eventual palatalizations to tʃ- in Northern Tai are not extensively discussed in the literature: Li (1977) offers some crucial data but with little analysis, Qin (1997) offers further data with a chronology of the changes. It is precisely Qin's chronology that this paper challenges. The paper offers a chronology that is more plausible based on Qin's data and cross-linguistic evidence as well as Northern Tai phonotactics.

Vietnamese has numerous early-era Chinese loanwords with ngang and huyền tones, which in Middle Chinese loanwords correspond to the pingsheng level tone category, for words that should have sắc or nặng tones, corresponding to the Middle Chinese non-level qusheng departing tone category. 1 It is proposed that this layer of Early Sino-Vietnamese represents borrowing of Chinese words in the period after which Old Chinese had lost final *-s and prior to tonogenesis in Viet-Muong, thus leading to words with the level-tone category when tones emerged in Viet-Muong. This paper provides 60 items of Early Sino-Vietnamese that exemplify this phenomenon of ngang/huyền tones in qusheng words, but also 120 items exemplifying the previously noted reversal of sắc/nặng and hỏi/ngã tones between Early Sino-Vietnamese and later Sino-Vietnamese (the formalized readings of Chinese characters). Altogether, this allows for an overall relative chronology of the development of tones in both Sinitic and Vietic.

The burial ground of Tagisken North, characterised by seven monumental mausolea and other adjoining structures made of mud brick and rammed earth, was excavated and studied by members of the “Khorezm Expedition” (KhAEE) in the 60’s and dated to the beginning of the 1st millennium BC (9th-8th centuries BC). This cemetery boasts a significant amount of artefacts pertaining to the Late Andronovo period. In light of new archaeological findings and recent chronological refinements, and thanks to improved scientific cooperation within the academic world, greater accuracy in determining the chronology of steppe cultures through abundant radiocarbon dating and better research standards, the time has now come for a general revision of the chronology of this burial ground. The radiocarbon sequence for the Andronovo culture is notably a subject of heated debate, due to the wide range of absolute dating. The differences between the chronological frames of Central Asia proposed by Russian-Central Asian and foreign archaeologists are considerable. Calibrated dates have, of course, extended the traditional periodization leading to alternative “high” chronologies, i.e. 300-500 years earlier than the traditional chronologies based on cross-cultural analogies and formal comparisons. Steppe and Pre-Aral materials may now be unquestionably linked to artefacts from Middle Asia. In the best of circumstances, the latter may in turn be linked to historical chronologies established for the Ancient Near and Middle East. In light of this evidence, this paper proposes that the northern part of the Tagisken plateau was used as a burial ground as far back as the mid-2nd millennium BC, if not earlier, and continued to be used as such until the 13th century BC.

This article describes the research questions and presents the initial AMS dates of the Middle Draa Project (southern Morocco), a collaborative field survey project between the University of Leicester and the Institut National des Sciences de l’Archeologie et du Patrimoine (INSAP) of Morocco. Starting from a very low baseline of past archaeological research in this pre-desert valley, the overall objective of the project is to establish the extent, character and chronology of the rich archaeology of the Wadi Draa. The results presented here detail a hitherto unknown phase of major occupation in the Draa in the 4th-6th centuries AD evidenced by complex hilltop settlements and extensive cairn cemeteries (an initial typology is presented). A second medieval phase comprised major urban centres that are contemporary with the Almoravid and Almohad periods of Moroccan history. Alongside these urban centres, there are the remains of substantial mudbrick oasis settlements and irrigation and field-systems of a contemporary date. A key contribution of this paper concerns the construction of an outline chronology based upon initial analysis of the ceramics collected, but crucially supplemented and supported by a major program of AMS dating. The remote sensing and field survey data collected by the project enable us to develop some hypotheses concerning the long-term history of this important oasis valley.Cet article presente le cadre du projet de reconnaissance intitule “Middle Draa Project” (dans le sud du Maroc) et en donne les premieres datations radiocarbones. Ce projet fait l’objet d’une collaboration entre l’Universite de Leicester (Royaume-Uni) et l’Institut National des Sciences de l’Archeologie et du Patrimoine marocain (INSAP). Se basant sur un tres faible volume de recherches archeologiques prealables dans cette vallee pre-desertique, l’objectif general du projet est de determiner l’abondance, la nature et la chronologie des nombreux vestiges archeologiques presents dans la region de l’oued Draa. Les resultats presentes dans cet article detaillent une importante phase d’occupation, jusqu’a present inconnue, entre le 4eme et le 6eme siecle de notre ere. Elle est caracterisee par de complexes villages perches et de vastes cimetieres de cairns, dont nous donnons une typologie preliminaire. Il existe ensuite une deuxieme phase medievale comprenant de grands centres urbains contemporains des periodes Almoravides et Almohades de l’histoire marocaine. Datant de la meme epoque se trouvent par ailleurs dans l’oasis d’importants restes de villages en brique crue et de systemes de champs et d’irrigation. L’une des contributions majeures de cet article concerne l’elaboration d’une trame chronologique a partir de l’analyse preliminaire de la poterie, mais surtout complementee et supportee par un important programme de datations radiocarbones. Les donnees recueillies par teledetection et reconnaissance sur le terrain nous permettent de proposer quelques hypotheses quant a l’histoire de cette importante vallee.This article is in English

The three small Buildings D, E, and F, usually identified as naiskoi, are located on both sides of the theater building at Aigeira. Together with the adjacent buildings they form a substantial complex erected in the Hellenistic period that remained in use until Roman times. The prominent location of multiple examples of the relatively small “naiskos” building type is striking. However, during the excavations in the 1970s and 1980s, neither the chronology nor the function of these buildings could be identified. The new study aims to reveal the architectural layout, the chronology, and the function of these small buildings. The first results of this research are presented in this paper. The clarifying of the relative chronology between Buildings D and E is crucial for understanding the development of the building arrangement. Differences in building technique, measuring units and construction dates of the individual “naiskoi” lead to considerations about different groups of people responsible for designing as well as building them. Moreover, several modifications that took place over the course of time on the three buildings hint to the history of their use, while interior design suggests multi-functionality.

The study area presented in this paper comprises two geographical entities in northern Upper Nubia located between the Second and the Third Cataract of the Nile River: Sai Island and the Amara West district, on the present left bank of the river. Four sites, three at Sai Island and one in the Amara West district, were excavated. They represent three distinct archaeological complexes, named Arkinian, Khartoum Variant, and Abkan, which encompass a long time period from ca. 11,000 to 6000 cal years BP (9000–4000 BC) and range from late foraging to early pastoralism. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating was applied to multiproxy materials in order to provide a frame of reference for this important chronological and economic period in this area. Different types of materials were selected, namely wood charcoal, charcoal tempers in pottery, ostrich eggshell, and aquatic gastropod shells. Twenty-four new AMS radiocarbon dates are presented to (a) cross-check the accuracy and reliability of the chronology of late foraging and early pastoral sites in our study area; (b) integrate, update, and revise the previously available radiometric dates; and (c) reconstruct a comprehensive framework of the chronology of late foraging and early pastoralism in Upper Nubia.

Up until recent years, Corded Ware has remained poorly studied in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland, located in north-eastern Europe. Traditionally, this region has been considered marginal in terms of Corded Ware, but new research has started to change this view. This paper presents the Corded Ware material known up to the current date (2016) from the eastern area of the Gulf of Finland, i.e. the Karelian Isthmus and Ingria (western Leningrad oblast, Russia); currently ca. 30 sites and ca. 60 stray finds are known in the research area. Based on this and previously published data from the adjoining regions, features related to the material culture, the contact networks, and the chronology of Corded Ware are discussed. Even though focusing the research may skew the picture, there are good grounds to propose, that there was a distinctive Corded Ware sphere of interaction in the eastern area of the Gulf of Finland, also including areas in north-eastern Estonia and south-eastern Finland. Due to its particular cultural background, local preferences, and consequently, development trajectories, the area had a clear regional character. Further, populations inhabiting it also maintained active contacts with other Corded Ware groups in the sphere of Baltic Sea and further to the east, as well as with non-Corded Ware settlers of north-eastern Europe.

We report on excavations of a small rock shelter — Putslaagte 8 (PL8) — located on the arid interior fringe of South Africa’s Fynbos biome. The shelter preserves a long sequence of Holocene and late Pleistocene occupation dating back beyond 75,000 years BP. This paper presents data on the technological, faunal and chronological sequence. Occupation is markedly pulsed and includes three late Pleistocene Later Stone Age (LSA) units (macrolithic, Robberg and early LSA), as well as several distinct Middle Stone Age (MSA) components from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3–5. Pulsing may reflect the arid and possibly marginal environments in which the shelter is situated, and to that end some elements of the sequence contrast with occupational patterns towards the coast. Viewed in a regional setting PL8 suggests: 1) complementarity of resource movements between the coast and interior in terminal MIS 2; 2) distinctions in material selection, and possibly technology, between the coast and interior in earlier MIS 2; 3) an MSA lasting to at least 40,000 years before present; 4) a weak Howiesons Poort and post-Howiesons Poort in the interior; 5) possibly distinct periods of denticulate manufacture within the MIS 5 MSA; 6) highly localised patterns of material acquisition in the earlier MSA.

Archaeological investigations in Ghazni, the ancient capital city of the Ghaznavid dynasty (late 10th-12th c.), delivered a large corpus of monumental inscriptions. Official and religious texts are executed in Arabic, though many occurrences attest to the epigraphic use of Persian. Presented in this paper are some preliminary analyses concerning Ghaznavid inscriptions in Persian, their alleged chronology and function. This overview reveals that, in all likelihood, the tradition of decorating buildings with Persian epigraphy had developed in Ghazni since the early 11th century. Persian seems to be particularly used for inscribing poetic texts, which allow us to highlight the Ghaznavid contribution to the development of an artistic tradition destined to persist in the eastern Islamic lands.

This paper reconstructs an alternative planimetric and structural history of al-Aqṣà mosque in the pre-crusader period and reassesses the chronology. In particular, it proposes reading the plan of the first Aqṣà, which emerged from Hamilton’s excavations, as oriented towards the east rather than the south, thus having an astronomical orientation like other 7th-century and early 8th-century mosques. The identification of the eastern wall rather than the southern as the qiblī wall would mean the aisles would not be perpendicular but rather parallel to it, thus indicating an arrangement usually found in Umayyad mosques. It follows that the precocious appearance of the transept and the aisles perpendicular to the qiblī wall in the second Aqṣà would result from the re-orientation to the south of the previous structure. This change is interpreted as connected to the introduction of the concave miḥrāb and its axial relationship with the Dome of the Rock.

Abstract The first mention of Kush in the Assyrian sources comes in the context of the resolution of the conflict between Sargon and the rebellious prince of Ashdod, Iamani, in ca. 707 BCE. However, this event plays a critical role in our understanding of the chronology of the end of the 24th and beginning of the 25th Dynasties. This paper re-examines the relevant data pertaining to the period in an attempt to synchronize the historical and chronological relationships presented in the Assyrian and Egyptian sources. As a result of this work, a reversal of the conventional order of the kings Schabako-Schebtiko, which was obscured in Manetho’s epithoma and is thus exclusively a matter of modern reconstruction, is needed. The new chronology put forward by the author also necessitates the re-evaluation of several other documents essential to the history of this period.

Geophysical survey at Kilwa Kisiwani, southern Tanzania, has recovered evidence for several aspects of town layout and the use of space within the town that enhance our understandings of this important Swahili site. Although excavations in the 1960s recovered substantial monuments at this stonetown and traced a chronology for the development of the site from the eighth to the sixteenth centuries AD, the overall site layout has remained poorly understood. This paper outlines the possibilities that geophysics creates for positioning the excavations within a broader urban landscape, and reports on a preliminary season of survey at Kilwa. Two areas were the focus of fieldwork during 2011. First the main town centre was surveyed, and the results suggest a denser town plan of coral-built houses that have subsequently been robbed. Second, the enigmatic enclosure of Husuni Ndogo was explored, and revealed evidence for activity relating to metalworking in this monumental space.

This paper presents new information obtained from a recent excavation and reassessment of the stratigraphy, chronology, archaeological assemblages and environmental context of the Apollo 11 rockshelter, which contains the longest late Pleistocene and Holocene archaeological sequence in Namibia. The Middle Stone Age (MSA) industries represented at the site include an early MSA, Still Bay, Howieson’s Poort and late MSA. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of individual quartz grains yielded numerical ages for the Still Bay and Howieson’s Poort, and indicated the presence of a post-Howieson’s Poort phase. OSL dating also verified conventional and accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon ages for a further two later MSA phases. The timing of the transition from the MSA to the early Later Stone Age was also investigated. Improved resolution of the excavation and a more detailed stratigraphy revealed the presence of near-sterile cultural layers, which in some cases assisted in subdividing the MSA cultural phases. Such information, in combination with the new radiocarbon and OSL chronologies, helps address questions about the duration and continuity of MSA occupation at the site. Analyses of the faunal and archaeobotanical remains show some differences between the occupation phases at the site that may be associated with changing environmental conditions.

Following a line of research amply discussed in a paper that appeared in this same journal (Vol. 3 [1], 2005: 103- 115), the data presented here represent a further attempt to “track” the movements of the Western Desert dwellers into the Nile Valley and to reinforce the hypothesis that the Western Desert and the Nile Valley were, even in the Early Holocene, part of an integrated ecological and cultural system. The continuous search for archaeological data to prove this link led us to a site located nearly 45 years ago by the Colorado Expedition in Nubia in Wadi Karagan that displays a lithic assemblage that literally looks like a “photocopy” of some of the El Kortein/Bir Kiseiba collections. A comparison with these assemblages and a detail analysis of their chronological setting allow the establishment of a relative date for site 11-I-13 and pinpoint some new problems to be solved.

The site of Garumele (Widi, Republic of Niger) has many times been described, not least because of its alleged connection to the early Kanem-Borno polity: it is said to have served as a capital after Njimi was abandoned, and before Birnin Gazargamo was built. But Garumele had never been subjected to systematic archaeological excavation, while in contrast neighbouring sites in Nigeria, with apparently a shared history, have been well studied in the past decades and detailed and systematic analyses made of the ceramics excavated. Accordingly, preliminary archaeological work was initiated at Garumele in 2005, with special attention to issues of ceramic traditions and chronology. This paper presents an overview of the research undertaken and the results of the pottery analysis. The latter are considered in relation to assemblages of the wider region in order to suggest how Garumele may fit, culturally and chronologically, within Kanem-Borno’s activities.

Projet SAHEL, a multidisciplinary project, was initiated to investigate long-term patterns of human occupation in the environmentally sensitive and archaeologically under- researched Sahel. This paper outlines an initial field survey carried out in this context in December 2004, in the Mekrou Valley, Parc W, Niger. This pilot study incorporated specialists in Palaeolithic and historic archaeology, and aimed to refine our understanding of the chronology and nature of the occupation of this area, an occupation already known from earlier work by other researchers to have been extensive. On the Palaeolithic front, Projet SAHEL carried out sampling aimed at assessing the potential for OSL dating of the Pleistocene sediments lining the Mekrou Valley — dating remains the major unknown in this sequence — and explored questions linked with raw materials procurement and the pattern of Pleistocene landscape use. On the historical front, Projet SAHEL carried out the first systematic collection of ceramic material, and obtained dates on an iron-working episode which allowed the cross-checking of radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating and extends the known time-depth of iron-working in the area.

Tobacco pipes are among the most frequently recorded artifacts from historic period sites in West Africa, and can be used to both establish tight chronologies and address issues of social and economic change.This paper is a discussion of the 300-year sequence of tobacco pipes recovered from excavations at Jenne, Mali in 1999. The assemblage, which includes over 300 fragments, is first placed in its historical and archaeological context. The pipes are fully described using a multivariate approach, and the results illustrate a clear sequence. Following a reassessment of Daget & Ligers’ previously proposed pipe chronology for the Inland Niger Delta, the pipes are analyzed using two primary frames of reference. On a broad regional scale, the assemblage is compared with those from sites throughout West Africa, while on the local level possible motivations for the types of changes seen in the assemblage are discussed.

In chronological studies, approximations through carbon-14 analysis can be improved with more work. But a mistaken date reached by historical detective work is either right or wrong, and if wrong it must be discarded: one cannot "improve" a flat mistake. Almost every date in the Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project's published report is wrong. The basic cause of error is the Project's failure to examine carefully counterevidence in the "Shijia" chapters of the Shiji, in bronze inscriptions, and in the "modern text" Bamboo Annals. The present paper examines two results of this error: The eighth Western Zhou king Li Wang is wrongly given a pre-exile reign of 37 years, following the Shiji "Zhou benji." (A pre-exile reign of 18 years is probably correct.) Accordingly the Shanfu Shan ding, date "37th year," and the Jin Hou Su bell set, date "33rd year," are dated in Li Wang's reign rather than in Xuan Wang's reign, as they should be. The former must be dated to 789 BC, counting from 825 BC rather than from 827 BC, showing that the Nivison-Shaughnessy "two yuan" theory is correct (the Project ignores inscription evidence for this theory). The latter must be dated to 795–794 BC, and one result of the correct dating is to show that Wang Guowei's "four quarters" analysis of lunar phase terms in dates is correct. Either of these results is enough to upset the Project's entire chronology for the Western Zhou. Adequate attention to the "modern text" Bamboo Annals would have shown that no official endorsement of a chronology is justifiable until the status of this text is settled. This text is often judged to be a late forgery, but the question of its authenticity is in fact actively debated.

A systematic chronology of Stone Age complexes from the Russian Far East is constructed based on radiocarbon dates from key sites. This paper reports all known (published and unpublished) radiocarbon dates as of early 2000. More than 190 radiocarbon dates from 59 sites pinpoint the timing of such events as the Paleolithic–Neolithic transition (ca. 13,000–10,000 bp); the origins of pottery making (ca. 13,000 bp); the beginning of marine resource exploitation (ca. 6000 bp), and the beginning of dryland millet agriculture (ca. 4000 bp). One of the most important findings is that there were at least two independent centers of pottery origins in Northeast Asia, namely the Japanese Islands and the Lower Amur River basin. The correlation of cultural processes with adjacent areas of Northeast Asia, including Northeast China, Korea, and Japan, becomes possible with accurate and precise radiocarbon chronologies for these territories.

George J. Brooke, in his paper "The Thematic Content of 4Q252", sets out a broad agenda for dealing with Qumran texts of this sort which stresses the appropriate contextual interpretation of the texts within the framework of Second Temple literature. Brooke divides the contents of 4Q252 into eight parts: chronology of the flood, Noah to Abraham, Abram chronology, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cleansing of the land, the binding of Isaac, Isaac's blessing of Jacob, Amalek, and the blessings of Jacob. The author prefers to divide it into exegetical units, focusing on the underlying passages of the Hebrew Bible, the difficulties of which the commentary attempts to resolve.Keywords:4Q252; Bible; chronology; George J. Brooke; Qumran

The chronological framework suggested by R. de Vaux for the settlement at Qumran is based almost exclusively upon the numismatic evidence, in conjunction with historical/literary considerations. De Vaux divided the settlement of the sectarian community at Qumran into three phases, which he termed "Period Ia," "Period Ib," and "Period II." These "periods" were defined on the basis of stratigraphic and architectural evidence. In approximate terms, de Vaux dated Period la to the third quarter of the second century BCE, Period Ib from the last quarter of the second century BCE to 31 BCE, and Period II from 4-1 BCE to 68 CE.' This paper reexamines the evidence for the 30-plus year occupational gap postulated by de Vaux between Periods Ib and II. According to de Vaux, the end of Period Ib was marked by an earthquake and a fire. Evidence for earthquake damage was found throughout the settlement. It is perhaps clearest in the case of one of the cisterns (locus 49), where the steps and floor were split and the eastern half had dropped. The testimony of Flavius Josephus2 enabled de Vaux to pinpoint the date of this earthquake to 31 BCE. In addition to the earthquake damage, there was evidence for a fire in the settlement. De Vaux concluded that the earthquake and fire were simultaneous, because it was the simplest solution, but he readily admitted that there was no evidence to confirm this.3 De Vaux used the numismatic evidence to support his interpretation. All ten identifiable coins of Herod the Great found at Qumran came from mixed levels, where they were associated with later coins. De Vaux noted that the Herodian coins were not dated, and cited a then recent study assigning such coins to the period after 30

This collection of eighteen papers makes wide-ranging original contributions to the study of the inscribed laws and decrees of the city of Athens, 352/1-322/1 BC, laying the groundwork for the author’s new edition of these inscriptions, IG II³ 1, 2.

This paper investigates the issue of chronology with specific regard to the myths of Pythian 10 and Olympian 3. By way of his analysis of Pythian 10, the author says that there is no way in which the chronological sequence of the mythical events of the ode can be ascertained. In a number of ways, the case of Pindar’s Olympian 3 is similar to that of Pythian 10. Again, the myth, describes an encounter with the Hyperboreans; and again, the chronological sequence of the events is heavily debated. In conclusion, with regard to both Olympian 3 and Pythian 10, there is no need to assume that Pindar and his audience had no interest in different levels of pastness. In Pythian 10 the chronological ambiguity may serve to enhance the ode's encomiastic rhetoric, whereas in Olympian 3, the chronological order of the mythical events can be reliably inferred from the context. Keywords: Hyperboreans; Mythical Chronology; Ode; Olympian 3; Pindar; Pythian 10

When al-Birlni wrote, history meant only political and military history of wars and battles; but it was not so with him. In his well-known book Kitab fi Tahqiq md li'l-Hind (Researches on India), he did not record the military and political history of India in any detail but wrote its cultural, scientific, social and religious history, thus showing that he had as wide a concept of history as that of a modem historian. It is difficult to discuss his contributions to all aspects of the history of India within the short space of this paper. Therefore, it will deal mainly with whatever information al-Birlni provides concerning the political history of India. But before this is undertaken, it is desirable to give some idea of his concept of history. It appears that al-Biruini has not discussed his idea of history specifically in any of his works; but glimpses into this aspect of his thought may be obtained from his introductions to the two important worksal-Athdr 1 al-Baqiya (The Chronology of the Ancient Nations) and Kitdb fi Tahqiq ma li'l-Hind 2 (Researches on India). In the former, he takes a