Sechzehn Beiträge zur Kulturgeschichte und zu archäologischen und schriftlichen Hinterlassenschaften des Alten Orients sind dem Amsterdamer Assyriologen F. A. M. Wiggermann gewidmet. Tafeln und Trinken in rituellen, zeremoniellen und alltäglichen Kontexten werden erörtert. Schwarze Hunde und Sieben Dämonen erhalten die ihnen gebührende Aufmerksamkeit; und ebenso babylonische Winde, assyrische Kronprinzen und der Ursprung von Karten.
"This study focuses on a major issue in Near Eastern prehistoric archaeology: the rise of the Halaf culture, ca 5900 - 5400 cal BC. The book presents in a detailed, quantified and lavishly illustrated manner the ceramics excavated by the National Museum of Antiquities Leiden at Tell Sabi Abyad, northern Syria. Concentrating on the 1996 - 2000 campaigns, the book also synthesizes much earlier work in order to come to a comprehensive overview. Tell Sabi Abyad thus far remains the only archaeological site in the Near East where the shift from a Pre-Halaf to an Early Halaf cultural assemblage can be followed within a continuous, meticulously stratified sequence. The book is of interest not only to specialists of prehistoric pottery but to a wider archaeological audience as well."--BOOK JACKET