A02: Landscape and Structure of Ancient West Asian Cities

Based on philological and archeological data, A02 analyzes urban landscape and the transformation and diversity of social functions in the wide spread of the periods between the 3rd millennium BC to the AD 3rd century in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Archeological excavations related to urbanization in Mesopotamia and Egypt are conducted.

Research Group 02:
Urban Landscape and Functions of Ancient West Asia

Centralized around Mesopotamia and its surrounding regions between the 3rd millennium BC to the AD 3rd century (the Parthian period), the urban landscape and the political, social and cultural functions of ancient West Asian cities are studied through both historical documents and archeological records. Their various aspects of transformation and diversity are diachronically and synchronically elucidated. The archaeo-geographic data of the cities and their surrounding observed through the analysis of satellite images and fieldwork are compared with terminology found in historical documents (e.g., city walls, city gates, city blocks, cultivated land, ponds, livestock, pasture) in order to understand ancient urban landscape. Mainly based on analyses of cuneiform tablets, the urban industry and economy of each period are clarified through observing politics and administration by royal authorities, temples and bourgeoisie, as well as urban social structure, occupations (e.g. agriculture, animal husbandry, and handicraft), trade, commerce, real estate, foodstuffs, silver, the lending and buying of labor resources, taxation, and tributes. Also, the role of cities which enabled the formation and passing down of learning and comprehension is examined through documents that had been passed down as the tradition of knowledge (e.g., religious texts, scientific documents, mythologies, literary works, historical documents, dictionaries), which were gathered and preserved in the main cities of Mesopotamia. For the archaeological survey, city sites of the Bronze and Iron Age of Mesopotamia and its surrounding region are investigated, and archaeological data is used to restore the local urban landscape of these regions, where local cities played a certain role in the administration of the Middle- and Neo-Assyrian Empire.

Research Organization

Project Leader

Shigeo Yamada　Assyriology; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba

Co-investigators

Fumi Karahashi　Sumerology; Faculty of Letters, Chuo University

Jun Ikeda　Semitics; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba

Shinichi Nishiyama　Archaeology: Bronze & Iron Age; College of Humanities, Chubu University

Daisuke Shibata　Assyriology: Religious history; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba

Seiro Haruta　Ancient Iran; School of Cultural and Social Studies, Tokai University

Kazuya Maekawa　Sumerology; Kyoto University

Hirotoshi Numoto　Mesopotamian archaeology; Faculty of Physical Education, Kokushikan University

Chikako Watanabe　Ancient Mesopotamia; Faculty of International Studies, Osaka Gakuin University

Yasuyuki Mitsuma　Seleucid period; School of Humanities, Kwansei Gakuin University

Kazuya Shimogama　Archaeology; Chiba Institute of Technology

Nobuya Watanabe　GIS & Geoarchaeology; College of Humanities, Chubu University

Keisuke Takai　Semitics; College of Intercultural Studies, Kanto Gakuin University

Yoko Watai　Assyriology; Chuo University

Tohru Maeda　Sumerology; Waseda University

Wakaha Mori　Sumerology; Kokushikan University

Akiko Tsujita　Assyriology; Graduate Student, Leiden University

Ichiro Nakata　Assyriaology; Chuo University

Masamichi Yamada　Assyriology; Lecturer, Faculty of Letters, Chuo University

Katsuji Sano　Assyriology; Research Fellow, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba

Sanae Ito　Assyriology; Nagoya University

Yuki Tatsumi　Geoarchaeology; Researcher, Archaeological Institute of Kasihara

Gina Konstantopoulos　Assyriology; University of California, Los Angeles

Hidetoshi Tsumoto　Archaeology: Bronze and Iron Age; The Ancient Orient Museum

Shuichi Hasegawa　Old Testament Study, Biblical Archaeology; Rikkyo University

Saki Kikuchi　Assyriology; Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg

Toshihiro Osada　Art History; Faculty of Art and Design, University of Tsukuba

Toru Miura　Isramic History; Toyo Bunko / Ochanomizu University

Timothy Scott Hogue　Assyriology: History and culture of the Iron Age Levant; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba

Research Group 03:
Urban Landscape and Structure in Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egyptian civilization has been called “a civilization without cities”, but certain aspects of ancient Egyptian villages and cities are becoming clearer due to developments in recent archaeological excavations. Traditional Egyptology had placed emphasis on studying cemeteries, temples and cultic installations, but now the importance of understanding the macro context based on their relations with its villages and cities is being realized. Recently, analyses of satellite images and geological research have developed, and character of cities and their geographical distributions in ancient Egypt are becoming clearer. In light of the development of such research, this study investigates urban landscapes and structures across prehistoric Egypt in the 4th millennium BC to the Late Antiquity, through both historical and archaeological documents with the aim to elucidate diachronically and synchronically the emergence and transformation of these urban landscapes and structures. To reconstruct the ancient urban landscapes and networks between cities, satellite images, geophysical data, archeological and geographical data are analyzed and compared to historical documents on the distribution of cities as well as other urban elements. Also, as the roles of temples and royal palaces are extremely important in ancient Egypt, archaeological evidence as well as textual evidence are utilized to elucidate on the urban structures based on festivals related to the temples and royal palaces in central cities such as Thebes and Memphis, as well as their relation to the formation and development of cemeteries. Also, for urban structure, urban planning in ancient Egypt is analyzed in detail from the perspective of architectural history. The results of these analyses are reflected in reconstructing the urban landscape, including its diachronic urban formation and development. In addition, for the periods between Hellenistic and Late Antiquity, the new phase of urban transformation in Egypt are clarified, including not only cities in the Nile Valley but also its relationship with the Mediterranean—a connecting point between Egypt and the Roman and Greek worlds.

Research Organization

Project Leader

Jiro Kondo　Egyptology: Archaeology; Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Waseda University

Co-investigators

Nozomu Kawai　Egyptology: Archaeology; Institute for Frontier Science Initiative, Kanazawa University

Izumi Takamiya　Archaeology: Pre-Dynasty; Faculty of literature, Arts and Cultural Studies, Kindai University

Masahiro Baba　Archaeology: Pre-Dynasty; Institute of Egyptian Archaeology, Higashi Nippon International University

Tomoaki Nakano　Egyptology: Archaeology; College of International Studies, Chubu University

Sugihiko Uchida　Egyptology; Institute for the Study of Ancient Civilizations and Cultural Resources, Kanazawa University

Keiko Tazawa　Egyptology: Religious culture; The Ancient Orient Museum

So Hasegawa　Archaeology: Hellenistic period; Comprehensive Research Organization, Waseda University

Yoshiyuki Suto　Ancient Greece; Graduate School of Humanities, Nagoya University

Shinichi Nishimoto　Ancient Egyptian architecture; Faculty of Architecture, Nippon Institute of Technology

Hiroyuki Kashiwagi　Ancient Egyptian architecture; Institute of Egyptian Archaeology, Higashi Nippon International University

Sumiyo Tsujimura　Ptolemaic period; Paleological Association of Japan

Ken Yazawa　Archaeology; Institute of Egyptian Archaeology, Higashi Nippon International University

Seria Yamazaki　Egyptology: Archaeology; Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Waseda University

Masahiro Etaya　Satellite image analysis; Research & Information Center, Tokai University

Kazumitsu Takahashi　Archaeology; Institute for Frontier Science Initiative, Kanazawa University

Nobuyuki Fujii　Egyptian cities in the first millemmium BC; Kansai University

Koichiro Wada　Ptolemaic period; Kokugakuin University

Links to other research groups

• X00
• A01
• A02
• B01
• C01