The el-Atan Tomb: an Early Bronze IVB female burial in the heart of Bethlehem

An Early Bronze IVB tomb was discovered by the MOTA-DACH on June 2009 in the city of Bethlehem, nearby the Milk Grotto. Its architectural features, burials and associated funerary equipment are here considered and compared with those of other Early Bronze IV cemeteries and necropoleis of Southern Levant to grasp the historical-archaeological meaning of this discovery

3D scanning, modelling and printing of ultra-thin nacreous shells from Jericho: a case study of small finds documentation in archaeology

This paper springs out from a collaborative project jointly carried out by the FabLab Saperi&Co and the Museum of Near East, Egypt and Mediterranean of Sapienza University of Rome focused at producing replicas of ultra-thin archeological finds with a sub-millimetric precision. The main technological challenge of this project was to produce models through 3D optical scanning (photogrammetry) and to print faithful replicas with additive manufacturing. The objects chosen for the trial were five extremely fragile and ultra-thin nacreous shells retrieved in Tell es-Sultan/ancient Jericho by the Italian-Palestinian Expedition in spring 2017, temporarily on exhibit in the Museum. The experiment proved to be successful, and the scanning, modeling and printing of the shells also allowed some observations on their possible uses in research and museum activities

Bollettino delle attività del Museo del Vicino Oriente, Egitto e Mediterraneo della Sapienza, anno 2015

During its first year of life, the Museum of Near East, Egypt and Mediterranean has launched various activities such as seminars, conferences, concerts, in order to make the museum as a space for reflection and knowledge of the ancient cultures of the Near East, Egypt and the Mediterranean

Bollettino delle attività del Museo del Vicino Oriente, Egitto e Mediterraneo della Sapienza, anno 2016

A summary of the activities and exhibits organized by the Museum VOEM in year 2016 is offered in this paper. They included workshops and conferences for the wide public, and seminars and trainings for scholars and researchers. As regards outreach, the Museum participated into numerous academic initiatives to promote and encourage the knowledge of the ancient cultures of the Near East, Egypt and the Mediterranean and to the many activities carried out by the Polo Museale Sapienza

Khalet al-Jam’a. A Middle Bronze and Iron Age necropolis near Bethlehem (Palestine)

During Spring 2013, the MOTA-DACH Office of Bethlehem was informed of the retrieval of a tomb during the construction of an industrial area roughly 2.2 Km south-east of the Basilica of the Nativity on the Hindaza hill slope called Khalet al-Jam’a. Palestinian archaeologists recovered a number of items identifying there a multi-period necropolis. The site was the object of a rescue excavation in the following Spring 2014. Eleven tombs and their fittings were rescued and recovered in the MOTA storerooms. In May 2015, a joint Italian-Palestinian team preliminary surveyed the necropolis and recorded its finds, planning a future systematic exploration. At a provisional exam, KJ necropolis was in use during Intermediate Bronze Age (EB IV), Middle Bronze Age and, successively, through the whole Iron Age

Not invasive analyses on a tin-bronze dagger from Jericho. A case study

Tin-bronze makes its appearance in Southern Levant during the Early Bronze IV, the post-urban phase of the last centuries of the 3rdmillennium BC, when arsenical copper was still the most widespread copper alloy. Only from the following Middle Bronze Age tin-bronze will be the utmost spread alloy. The adoption of tin as alloying metal purports new technological skills, and a changed trade supply system, through new routes, thanks to itinerant coppersmiths. The examination of dagger TS.14.143 found in an EB IV (2300-2000 BC) tomb at Jericho by mean of trace elements and Energy Dispersive X-ray Diffraction analyses, provided info about its metal composition and technology. The detection of tin, testified only by a few specimens at the site so far, allows some reflections about the beginning of diffusion tin-bronze, and the presence of a small-scale melting activity in the post-urban phase in the key-site of Jericho

Recent discoveries in Bethlehem (Palestine): results of the 8th (2022) Italian-Palestinian research season

The joint Italian-Palestinian Expedition of Sapienza University of Rome and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Palestine – Department of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage (MoTADACH) to Bethlehem, funded by Sapienza University and by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, 1 has been active since 2015 with annual excavation seasons and research study on the necropolis of Khalet al-Jam’a, and with emergency excavations, surveys and documentation campaigns in other threatened sites, in order to protect the archaeological heritage of the district of Bethlehem, subject to increasing building activity. The following is the summary report of the research activities carried out during the 8th season, in spring 2022

Qalet Hamra: a Mamluk khan north of Zarqa, Jordan

The site of Qalet Hamra was well known in Zarqa but it never attracted archaeologists and surveyors until a few years ago, possibly due to its location on a spur dominating the bifurcations between Wadi az-Zarqa and Wadi Shomar, a sort of shortcut leading straight ward to the west, in direction of the Jordan Valley. Moreover it was nearby a major ford across the river, which both banks were caravan tracks in antiquity. In 2015 and 2018 Sapienza University of Rome and the Department of Antiquities of Jordan surveyed, which allowed to identify it as a small caravanserai dating back from the Mameluk period, even though earlier pottery finds may suggest that the site was occupied at least from the Late Roman/Early Byzantine time

Bollettino delle attività del Museo del Vicino Oriente, Egitto e Mediterraneo della Sapienza anni 2018-2020

This bulletin gives account about the opening to the general public and the new dissemination program, the adhesion to the Sapienza initiatives, and the schedule of recurring activities represent, together with the participation of schools, child-friendly visits and educational workshops, the updated mode of hospitality and mediation structured in recent years by the Museum VOEM to broaden the boundaries of the university archaeological museum

3d modelling of archaeological small finds by a low-cost range camera. Methodology and first results

The production of reliable documentation of small finds is a crucial process during archaeological excavations. Range cameras can be a valid alternative to traditional illustration methods: they are veritable 3D scanners able to easily collect the 3D geometry (shape and dimensions in metric units) of an object/scene practically in real-time. This work investigates precisely the potentialities of a promising low-cost range camera, the Structure SensorTM by Occipital, for rapid modelling archaeological objects. The accuracy assessment was thus performed by comparing the 3D model of a Cipriot-Phoenician globular jug captured by this device with the 3D model of the same object obtained through photogrammetry. In general, the performed analysis shows that Structure Sensor is capable to acquire the 3D geometry of a small object with an accuracy comparable at millimeter level to that obtainable with the photogrammetric method, even though the finer details are not always correctly modelled. The texture reconstruction is instead less accurate. In the end, it can be concluded that the range camera used for this work, due to its low-cost and flexibility, is a suitable tool for the rapid documentation of archaeological small finds, especially when not expert users are involved