Papers by Alexei I . Jankowski-Diakonoff
Proceedings to celebrate the centenary of Nikolai Merpert, 2023
Two years after the work of the Russian Institute of Archaeology expedition in Syria became impos... more Two years after the work of the Russian Institute of Archaeology expedition in Syria became impossible due to the civil war, preparations began for a new Russian project in Iraq. A multimedia exhibition in Brussels in 2013 and the conference “Facing the Chaos” at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts in St.Petersburg in 2016 helped to assess the situation in Southern Iraq and to make the necessary contacts. Thanks to the advice and support from British, American and Italian archaeological teams based in Ur (Southern Iraq), and thanks to the previous experience of the Mesopotamian expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a new Iraqi-Russian Project conducted short surveys in 2019 in Maysan and Dhi Qar Governorates, and soundings at Tell Dehaila in Dhi Qar in 2020 and 2021.
Три иракских истории (Tri irakskih istorii), 2014
Three examples of destruction of the Iraqi cultural and historical heritage and the efforts to re... more Three examples of destruction of the Iraqi cultural and historical heritage and the efforts to rescue it in, roughly, 1991-2008: the looting, investigation, and partial return of artefacts from the Iraq Museum; the looting and efforts to protect the archaeological sites in Southern Iraq; the destruction and restoration of the Iraqi National Libraries and Archive. The text is in Russian.
Kratkie Soobshchenia Instituta Arkheologii [Short Publications of the Institute of Archaeology], 2022
During the second season of the Iraqi-Russian Multidisciplinary Project at Tell Dehaila-1 in Sout... more During the second season of the Iraqi-Russian Multidisciplinary Project at Tell Dehaila-1 in Southern Iraq (Fig. 1: 1), two soundings were excavated down to the virgin soil, No. 1 on the edge of the latest Eridu River floodplain (Fig. 1: 2; 3: 1) and No. 2 in the central part of the city (Fig. 1: 2; 2). The earliest occupation layer in Sounding 1 reposes on a sterile man-made ballast brought from the river to protect the habitable surface from seasonal flooding (Fig. 3: 1). In Sounding 2, a monumental system of mudbrick structures was uncovered, including a wall 4 m wide, preserved to a height of 2 m including a 1 m high foundation (Fig. 2). The foundation of this wall was built upon a crevasse splay, a strong argument in favour of this area being the place of the initial building activity at the site.
The character of the uncovered structures suggests they were part of the inner walls of the sacred area (temenos) dating to the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. New surface and stratified finds of objects datable to the 1st millennium BCE speak for a later presence at Tell Dehaila as well; however, the late occupation phase within the sounding on the temenos is represented only by a semi-nomadic camp.
Восток (Oriens), 2020
The settlement of Tell Dehaila-1 was a large Old Babylonian city, located in the southern margins... more The settlement of Tell Dehaila-1 was a large Old Babylonian city, located in the southern margins of the Mesopotamian alluvium 30 km west of Ur, on the edge of the Arabian desert and on the east bank of the ancient Eridu River that connected to the Euphrates. As the river shifted to the east, the city expanded onto the meander scar. With time, the silting of the Eridu River forced the inhabitants to build a canal from the western branch of the Euphrates originating downstream of Tell Homor. Opposite the central part of the city, a crevasse splay emerged, creating a marsh, one of the sources of water for Ur. Tell Khaiber, a small but important Sealand period site, is situated to the north of this marsh. Among the surface and stratified potsherds from Dehaila's riverside, probably a harbour, are forms comparable to the Sealand pottery from Tell Khaiber and to shapes from periods IIc (c.1800-1700 BCE) or IIIa (c.1650-1500 BCE) at Qala'at al-Bahrain (Dilmun). The resumption of trade between southern Mesopotamia and Dilmun in the Sealand period is also known from other sources. Otherwise, the Dehaila pottery collection so far shows typical Old Babylonian and Late Old Babylonian forms, with some Sealand and Early Kassite potential. After the end of urban life at Dehaila, part of the former settlement was used as a cemetery. A defensive trench, cutting into the edge of the former city, was built to the south to protect agricultural assets from nomads.
Vostok (Oriens) No. 6, 2019
Recent geomorphological and palaeoclimatologic research showed that irrigational agriculture was ... more Recent geomorphological and palaeoclimatologic research showed that irrigational agriculture was not an absolute condition for settlement of Southern Mesopotamia starting from the 11th millennium BCE. Between the 6th and the 4th millenia BCE (starting from Ubeid 0), a marine transgression took place. As a result, the entire territory from Tell Oueilli and Eridu up to Nippur became a wetland ecosystem, with Tell Oueilli, Ur and Eridu being not far from the outer delta edge. With this “Ubaidian transgression” coming to an end and reversed, accompanied by a further aridisation, the inhabitants of the Southern alluvium had to rely more on the levee agriculture, while still continuing to take advantage from the wetland resources and from the seasonal marshland pastures. In the 3rd and the 2nd millennia the “sea”, a-ab-ba of the cuneiform sources, found near Ur and Lagash, was a complex deltaic structure of freshwater and saline open stretches, intermixed with tidal flats and reed marshes. The deurbanisation at the end of the Old Babylonian period could be the end of an adaptation cycle to the changing conditions of this wetland zone. The reasons which led to the creation and collapse of social complexity, urban society and state in Southern Mesopotamia invite a study in the light of deltaic processes supported by modern ethnographic data. Returning to Iraq after a long time gap, the Russian archaeological mission will focus on a multidisciplinary study of the wetlands and their surroundings. We present a preliminary report of reconnaissance at Tell Dehaila (ES 34), one of the biggest urban centers (comparable to Ur) of the Old Babylonian period.
Последняя проповедь Джона Донна (1631) Перевод с английского, вступительная статья и комментарий... more Последняя проповедь Джона Донна (1631) Перевод с английского, вступительная статья и комментарий Н.Н.Казанского и А.И.Янковского (1998) / The last sermon of John Donne (1631). Russian translation, introduction and commentary by N.N. Kazansky and A.I. Jankowski (1998)
In: Proceedings of the International Conference Dedicated to the Centenary of Igor Mikhailovich D... more In: Proceedings of the International Conference Dedicated to the Centenary of Igor Mikhailovich Diakonoff (1915-1999), St.Petersburg, 2018, pp.291-304
The Umma region, renowned for its Ur III documents omnipresent in world cuneiform collections, comprises several tells along the Main Outfall Drain in the North-Western Dhi Qar province in Southern Iraq. The region attracted looters since the end of XIXth century, probably due to an accidental find of an administrative Ur III archive. In the turmoil of 1990ies local population was impoverished and demoralised by the intentional destruction of their ecosystem — the draining of the Mesopotamian Marshes — and went to loot the sites on an unprecedented scale. The outstanding efforts to protect them, led by a handful of Iraqi and international scholars and helped at some points by the US and Italian governments, had limited success. In the context of this effort, salvage excavations and surveys were made at tells Jokha, Umm al-Aqarib, Ibzeikh and Shmeet. Though limited in time and scarcely published, they remain so far the only scientific excavations of the region and brought interesting results; among others, a possible attribution of the toponym Giš(š)a to Early Dynastic Umm al-Aqarib.
Published in Russian in " The City and the Art / Город и искусство ", Moscow 1996, pp. 169-174.
... more Published in Russian in " The City and the Art / Город и искусство ", Moscow 1996, pp. 169-174.
The socio-psychological climate in the Greek city-states of the VIth century BCE is being discussed in relation with and through the evidence of the first mentions of the tragedy. While the comedy continued further as a popular distraction, the tragedy took on a serious character when it became a state undertaking. Adopted by the tyrants who needed it in the changing socio-psychological setting, the dithyramb got transformed into a dialogic structure heading for catharsis, as a useful remedy for the fears and griefs of the time.
In this book, co-edited by Stefano Francia di Celle, Enrico Ghezzi and Alexei Jankowski, we gathe... more In this book, co-edited by Stefano Francia di Celle, Enrico Ghezzi and Alexei Jankowski, we gathered critical reviews and biographical accounts from closest collaborators of Alexander Sokurov since 1970-ies to 2003. The published paper documents work with Alexander Sokurov in 1986-2003 on "Painful Indifference", "Days of Eclipse", "Moloch", "Dolce" and "Elegy of a Voyage".
In an answer to the publication of "The Kirkenes Ethics" (1944-1986), a "small treatise" on the u... more In an answer to the publication of "The Kirkenes Ethics" (1944-1986), a "small treatise" on the universal ethics by the Assyriologist Igor Diakonoff, in Harvard Theological Review, this paper gives the background of the creation of "The Kirkenes Ethics" and discusses some important points of it.
The concept of self-organised criticality (SOC), put forward by physicists Bak, Tan and Wiesenfel... more The concept of self-organised criticality (SOC), put forward by physicists Bak, Tan and Wiesenfeld in 1987, has been applied to many phenomena in natural and human sciences, including human history. We consider the free will in human interactions as a source of energy necessary for a SOC system, which can have important implications for theories of history and for practical attempts at regulating a society on a global scale. (Article in Russian)
Conference Presentations by Alexei I . Jankowski-Diakonoff
Contemporary History of Kurdistan-Iraq Through a Private Life Story
The story of a Russian-born ... more Contemporary History of Kurdistan-Iraq Through a Private Life Story
The story of a Russian-born wife of one of the "500 Barzani", caught between wars and governments, traces a long sequence of events starting from the fall of the Republic of Mahabad in 1946, the internment of Mustafa Barzani's fighters by the Soviets, their return to Iraq in 1959, and the subsequent calamities there, until the formation of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan-Iraq.
Uploads
Papers by Alexei I . Jankowski-Diakonoff
The character of the uncovered structures suggests they were part of the inner walls of the sacred area (temenos) dating to the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. New surface and stratified finds of objects datable to the 1st millennium BCE speak for a later presence at Tell Dehaila as well; however, the late occupation phase within the sounding on the temenos is represented only by a semi-nomadic camp.
The Umma region, renowned for its Ur III documents omnipresent in world cuneiform collections, comprises several tells along the Main Outfall Drain in the North-Western Dhi Qar province in Southern Iraq. The region attracted looters since the end of XIXth century, probably due to an accidental find of an administrative Ur III archive. In the turmoil of 1990ies local population was impoverished and demoralised by the intentional destruction of their ecosystem — the draining of the Mesopotamian Marshes — and went to loot the sites on an unprecedented scale. The outstanding efforts to protect them, led by a handful of Iraqi and international scholars and helped at some points by the US and Italian governments, had limited success. In the context of this effort, salvage excavations and surveys were made at tells Jokha, Umm al-Aqarib, Ibzeikh and Shmeet. Though limited in time and scarcely published, they remain so far the only scientific excavations of the region and brought interesting results; among others, a possible attribution of the toponym Giš(š)a to Early Dynastic Umm al-Aqarib.
The socio-psychological climate in the Greek city-states of the VIth century BCE is being discussed in relation with and through the evidence of the first mentions of the tragedy. While the comedy continued further as a popular distraction, the tragedy took on a serious character when it became a state undertaking. Adopted by the tyrants who needed it in the changing socio-psychological setting, the dithyramb got transformed into a dialogic structure heading for catharsis, as a useful remedy for the fears and griefs of the time.
Conference Presentations by Alexei I . Jankowski-Diakonoff
The story of a Russian-born wife of one of the "500 Barzani", caught between wars and governments, traces a long sequence of events starting from the fall of the Republic of Mahabad in 1946, the internment of Mustafa Barzani's fighters by the Soviets, their return to Iraq in 1959, and the subsequent calamities there, until the formation of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan-Iraq.
The character of the uncovered structures suggests they were part of the inner walls of the sacred area (temenos) dating to the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. New surface and stratified finds of objects datable to the 1st millennium BCE speak for a later presence at Tell Dehaila as well; however, the late occupation phase within the sounding on the temenos is represented only by a semi-nomadic camp.
The Umma region, renowned for its Ur III documents omnipresent in world cuneiform collections, comprises several tells along the Main Outfall Drain in the North-Western Dhi Qar province in Southern Iraq. The region attracted looters since the end of XIXth century, probably due to an accidental find of an administrative Ur III archive. In the turmoil of 1990ies local population was impoverished and demoralised by the intentional destruction of their ecosystem — the draining of the Mesopotamian Marshes — and went to loot the sites on an unprecedented scale. The outstanding efforts to protect them, led by a handful of Iraqi and international scholars and helped at some points by the US and Italian governments, had limited success. In the context of this effort, salvage excavations and surveys were made at tells Jokha, Umm al-Aqarib, Ibzeikh and Shmeet. Though limited in time and scarcely published, they remain so far the only scientific excavations of the region and brought interesting results; among others, a possible attribution of the toponym Giš(š)a to Early Dynastic Umm al-Aqarib.
The socio-psychological climate in the Greek city-states of the VIth century BCE is being discussed in relation with and through the evidence of the first mentions of the tragedy. While the comedy continued further as a popular distraction, the tragedy took on a serious character when it became a state undertaking. Adopted by the tyrants who needed it in the changing socio-psychological setting, the dithyramb got transformed into a dialogic structure heading for catharsis, as a useful remedy for the fears and griefs of the time.
The story of a Russian-born wife of one of the "500 Barzani", caught between wars and governments, traces a long sequence of events starting from the fall of the Republic of Mahabad in 1946, the internment of Mustafa Barzani's fighters by the Soviets, their return to Iraq in 1959, and the subsequent calamities there, until the formation of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan-Iraq.