Abstract The sanctuary known as Beregovoï-4 is situated on the Taman Peninsula (Kerch Strait between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea), 5 km north-west of the ancientpolisof Patraios.The large amount of terracotta figurines and other sacral objects, in conjunction with the absence of any groups of buildings, testifies clearly to the fact that this archaeological site was a sanctuary. The contexts of the finds are extremely significant – there are simple altars –escharae– made from stones and mud bricks, burnt places, sometimes covered with sea grass and containing numerous pits filled with charcoal and ash, situated in the north-west corner of the site.All the lamps originated from the upper level, which can be dated to a period from the 4thto the first quarter of the 1stcentury BC. There is a complete absence of lamps in the earliest levels of this sanctuary (late-6thto the first half of the 5thcentury BC).Most lamps have several tiers (ranging from 2 to 6/7) and several nozzles. They were never used for lighting (the nozzles very often do not even have holes connecting them to the oil reservoir). Small pieces predominate among the several hundred fragments of these lamps found at the sanctuary. Their state of preservation makes it clear that they must have been broken deliberately during rituals (most probably at the end of the latter). Almost complete lamps (broken into large pieces) were found in the upper level, in the turf.Highly significant for our purposes is the fact that multi-nozzle lamps of a similar shape have been recorded at the sanctuary on Mount Maïskaya situated not far from Phanagoria – the largestpolisof the Asiatic Bosporus. A remarkable parallel for our lamps originated from the sanctuary of Demeter at Selinunt in Sicily, where many types of multi-nozzle lamps were found. Dozens of other parallels originated from the territory of Sicily, Italy and Greece, where broken multi-nozzle lamps, often without any traces of burning, have been found at sanctuaries of Demeter and Persephone.

Abstract Many of the sizeable inventory of Urartian bronze objects are unfortunately unprovenanced objects, which strongly limits our understanding of such Urartian metalwork. This article is devoted to one class of bronze artifacts – helmets – and takes into consideration only those of certain and recognized provenance. The authors also briefly describe some helmets from neighboring regions, such as Transcaucasia and northern Iran, which possess similar features, in order to highlight similarities and differences.

Abstract Studies on Gandharan art have not yet produced an unbiased interpretation of its participation in the wide phenomenon of ‘Hellenism’. This incertitude is mirrored by ambiguous and debatable definitions such as ‘Hellenised Orient’ or ‘Gréco-bouddhique’, which contain an implicit, though mostly unintentional, notion of civilising influence. The emphasis on Hellenistic forms may mislead our interpretative efforts, especially when, as in the case of India, art history is based on weak historical grounds. Indeed, in order to develop more effective analytical tools we have to draw upon methodical and scientific archaeology. The aim of the present work is to offer an overview of the most important achievements of the IsIAO’s Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan with regard to the vexata quaestio of the inception of Gandharan art and, implicitly, the inclusion of Hellenistic elements into the local figurative languages. In the course of over fifty years of field research the Italian Archaeological Mission has created a repository of data that enables us to bring vis-à-vis the single site and the regional environment, as well as the religious settlement and the lay world around, thus providing reliable grounds for a better understanding of the historical, political and social framework of Gandharan art and its Hellenistic components.

Abstract This article is devoted to the publication of the Scythian barrow Semÿkina Mogila, to the South of the town of Dnieprorudnoye, in the Zaporozhie Region, which was excavated in 1974 and which had contained two funerary structures looted in antiquity. This analysis is devoted to the burial of a warrior in the lateral catacomb: the grave goods from this burial included a set of bronze arrowheads and a silverphiale. The silverphialewhich had been standing next to the funeral feast has been the subject of detailed research. Thephialefrom Semÿkina Mogila has features in common with finds from Bashova Mogila in Thrace, from the Kuban region (now in the Maïkop Museum) and in the cache within Chmÿreva Mogila as regards its decoration, technique of manufacture, dimensions and, in part, weight. This enables us to date it to the first half of the 4thcentury BC, most probably the first quarter of that century. The date of the funerary complex can be determined as falling in the last quarter of the 4thcentury or even the turn of the fourth and third century BC on the basis of the shape of the funerary structure, the location of the monument within a group of barrows in the lower reaches of the Dnieper River and the arrowheads. Consequently the silverphialefrom the Semÿkina Mogila barrow belongs to a period, somewhat earlier than the date of the burial by at least two or three decades and at most by almost a century. Finally finds of metalphialaiin barrows from the Scythian period in the North Pontic region are considered.

"Harris, D., Origins of Agriculture in Western Central Asia. An Environmental-Archaeological Study. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010, XVI+304 p., 8 color plates, ISBN 978-1-934536-16-2." published on 01 Jan 2012 by Brill.

Abstract This note contributes to the analysis of the epitaph of Smikros (CIRB 118) that originates from Kertch or its nearest vicinity. It suggests a new reconstruction for the last fourth verse of the epitaph.

Abstract Architectural Terracottas of the Archaic to the Hellenistic Period from SinopeDecorated architectural terracottas held in the Sinope Museum are re-examined here from several angles: techniques of manufacture, combinations of different series on one and the same building, importing of models, export of these exclusively local products to cities of the North Pontic region, style and chronology. Reconsidered so as to take into account all significant features, this form of production ‐ recorded from as early as the 6th century BC ‐ provides some continuation of the ‘Milesian’ tradition, which was widespread in the North of the Aegean and in the poleis of the Black Sea region. Yet, from the second quarter of the 4th century BC onwards, this production also manifests real originality of its own. Sinope would, however, probably not have developed its own style, if it had not received specific orders from Panticapaeum and the main cities of the Bosporan Kingdom. After gradually being deprived of this stimulus for production towards 300 BC, the workshop in Sinope quickly lost its impressive reputation, even though the volume of its tile production remained considerable. From all points of view, it would appear to have been subject to the political and economic vicissitudes experienced by its clients.

Abstract Archaeological research conducted to date has shown that the earliest settlements in the province of Sinop date to the Late Chalcolithic period. However, despite these Late Chalcolithic period cultural strata, identified during the Kocagöz Höyük and Boyabat-Kovuklukaya excavations, the stone bracelet fragments from Maltepe Höyüğü and potsherds supposedly from Kıran Höyük and Kabalı Höyük (but hitherto unpublished) indicate that the settlement process of the region may have started in the Early Chalcolithic or even Late Neolithic period. In the Early Bronze Age, following the Late Chalcolithic period, the number of settlements increased in parallel with the population. A number of settlements identified during the excavations at Kocagöz Höyük and Kovuklukaya, as well as during surveys, indicate that the Early Bronze Age was a very active period in the province of Sinop. Finds from the ensuing Middle Bronze Age, pointing to the fact that the Sinop area was one of the northern extremities of the commercial network of the Assyrian Trade Colonies period, centered at Kültepe/Kaneš, have come to light from the Gerze-Hıdırlı cemetery and its settlement at Keçi Türbesi Höyüğü. As is the case with the neighboring province of Samsun, it is understood that the province of Sinop probably did not host any settlements in the late phases of the Middle Bronze Age. All along the Black Sea coast of Anatolia no centre or even find dating to the Early Iron Age (1190-900 BC) has been identified to date. However, settlements become more frequent in the inland part of the central Black Sea region during the Middle Iron Age (900-650/600 BC), and by the Late Iron Age (650/600-330 BC) they are seen both inland and along the coastline. Evidence to confirm this pattern has been obtained from the city centre of Sinop and Kovuklukaya.