This study aims to determine whether current and past research on the Badarian culture of early Egypt accurately reflects the evidence uncovered in the past and the evaluation of the excavation reports by the early excavators. An archaeological re-evaluation of the Badarian culture and relevant sites is presented in the introduction. Inter-regional development of the Badarian is crucial to placing the Badarian in the temporal ladder of the predynastic cultures, leading up the formation of the dynastic era of Ancient Egypt. The following thesis is not meant to be a definitive answer on the origins and placement of the Badarian people in the Predynastic hierarchy of ancient Egypt, but one of its aims is to stimulate discussion and offer alternatives to the narrative of the Badarian culture. A set of outcomes is presented to test all hypotheses. Research questions are discussed to determine whether the Badarian culture is a regional phenomenon restricted to a small area around the Badari-Mostagedda-Matmar region, or as a wider inter-regional variable carrying on into the later Nagada cultures. To reach a hypothesis, the chronology of the Badarian is analysed, in-depth study of the original excavation reports and later research on the Badarian question. An important facet of this study is a literature review of the Badarian culture, past and present. The Badarian culture had always been a subject of speculation, especially in terms of its chronology and regional development. There is no consensus on the chronology of dispersion out of the desert to the Nile Valley, as well as areas north and south of the Nile Valley. It is important to establish the concept of an agronomic sedentary lifestyle by the Badarian, and to re-evaluate the evidence for the long-standing idea that the Badarian was in fact the first farmers of the Nile Valley, also in terms of their perceived exchange and trade networks. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Ancient Near Eastern Studies)

The historicity of the United Monarchy has recently come under attack. The biblical 'minimalists' say that a reconstruction of ancient Israel is impossible with the sources that we have access to, and the glory and wealth of Solomon's empire is mere fiction. They disregard the Bible as a reliable source, and archaeology because it is mute and open to interpretation. Some scholars have suggested lowering the traditional dates on certain archaeological strata, resulting in an entirely different picture of the tenth century BCE. Other scholars say that the United Monarchy definitely did exist and consider the Bible a valuable historical source. The evidence for the tenth century and the United Monarchy as shown by the Hebrew Bible and archaeology is investigated as well as various key sites in Israel. The conclusion is that the traditional chronology and viewpoint of the United Monarchy still needs to be respected. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / M.A. (Biblical Studies)

The search for a ‘historical Moses’ is one which has been debated for several centuries. In spite of copious archaeological finds in Egypt and other parts of the ancient Near East, no material remains have been found to substantiate the Exodus story. Mythological stories from the ancient Near East bear striking similarities to the Moses narrative found in the Hebrew Bible. The inconsistencies found in the Hebrew Bible further hamper the attempt to find a historical Moses, instead Moses is found only in tradition. Taking these issues into consideration, other possibilities need to be investigated. This dissertation places Moses growing up in the court of Akhenaten an 18th Dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh in the middle of the 14th century BCE. The study investigates the possibility of Moses as a son of Akhenaten with Nefertiti as a stepmother, his own biological mother, a Mitannian princess, having died giving birth to Moses. Several similarities between Akhenaten and Moses are discussed throughout the study. The study moves into the 21st century with the groundbreaking discovery of DNA, which provides new conclusions which before were only debated. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / M.A. (Biblical Archaeology)

Cette thèse se consacre aux découvertes en verre d’époque gallo-romaine (récipients, petits objets et verre architectural) effectuées sur les territoires des Mandubiens (Alésia), des Lingons (Langres et Mirebeau) et des Séquanes (Mandeure-Mathay), situés en Bourgogne et en Franche-Comté. À l’époque antique, cette zone constituait un des principaux carrefours du nord-est de la Gaule et le faciès du mobilier en verre en témoigne. Celui-ci est en effet composé d’importations du bassin rhodanien, de la Suisse occidentale, de Rhénanie et même d’Italie et de Méditerranée orientale. Cependant l’examen du répertoire des formes et de certains éléments caractéristiques liés à l’artisanat verrier indique que les besoins de vaisselle en verre devaient être principalement assurés par des ateliers régionaux. Par ailleurs, la confrontation des assemblages de mobilier issu de sites de nature différente (domestique, artisanale, cultuelle, funéraire) indique qu’une vaisselle en verre d’usage courant devait être choisie pour répondre à des besoins ou pratiques particuliers. Ainsi une étude comparative soutenue par une analyse statistique des ensembles de verreries peut contribuer à la caractérisation de sites archéologiques. / This PhD thesis is devoted to the findings of glass material (recipients, small objects and architectural glass) dated to the Gallo-roman era in Mandubian (Alésia), Lingon (Langres et Mirebeau), and Sequanian (Mandeure-Mathay) territories, situated in Burgundy and Frank-County. In Antiquity, this area constituted one of the main crossroads of North-Eastern Gaul, a situation which is corroborated by the features of the findings glass in the region. It is composed of numerous imports from the Rhone basin, western Switzerland, the Rhine region and even Italy and the Eastern Mediterranean. However the present investigation of the available repertory of shapes and of certain elements representative of distinctive glassmakers indicates that the needs in glass vessel must have been primarily fulfilled by regional workshops. Moreover a confrontation of the different ensembles of from sites of various nature (domestic, handicraft, religious, funerary) indicates that vessel of common usage were specifically chosen to meet particular needs or practices. In this way, a comparative study supported by a statistical analysis of glass ensembles contributes to the characterization of archeological sites.

Les fibules de l’oppidum de Bibracte sont l’objet de ce travail. D’ordinaire, les fibules sont classifiées et analysées par types, mais cela pose des problèmes méthodologiques. Pour les éviter, je développe une nouvelle méthode pour construire une chronologie en général et pour dater les fibules de Bibracte en particulier. Je me fonde sur l’approche théorique de John Collis (2009) et j’adopte ainsi le concept d’horizon chronologique, qui n’a donc pas de fin et se concentre sur des caractéristiques spécifiques à la place des types. La chronologie de fibules pour le site de Bibracte se fonde sur 122 fibules stratifiées de cinq fouilles du site, datées par les autres catégories de trouvailles comme la céramique. Cette chronologie se divise en huit horizons de fibules définis par une première occurrence de 130 caractéristiques de fibules et huit combinaisons des caractéristiques. Sur cette base il est possible de dater une fibule de manière transparente et vérifiable objectivement. La datation d’une fibule peut être estimée automatiquement sur la base de données numériques ci-jointe. Cette méthode est transférable à d’autres sites et catégories de trouvailles. La chronologie des fibules de Bibracte développée dans ce mémoire de thèse permet d’observer le développement de l’occupation de Bibracte, la durée de l’utilisation de la nécropole associée et le développement de la fabrication des fibules. / This work is about the brooches from the oppidum Bibracte. Commonly brooches are classified and chronologically interpreted as types. However, inherent methodological issues are evident, in particular for today’s chronological system of the late iron age. To overcome these issues, I consider a theoretical approach by John Collis (2009), and develop a new method to construct chronologies in general and to date the brooches of Bibracte in particular. Thereby I primarily use the concept of a chronological horizon, that has only a beginning but never ends, and rather focus on brooch attributes than on types. Based on the aforementioned, I construct an alternative brooch chronology using 122 stratified brooches from five excavations in Bibracte, whose stratigraphies are dated absolute in time by ceramic finds. The herein constructed chronology consists of eight brooch horizons, that are defined by the first appearance of 130 individual brooch attributes and of eight attribute combinations. The brooch chronology obtained in this manner allows to date any brooch or fragment of a brooch replicable and inter-subjectively verifiable for future work; the brooches can be dated automatically by means of the enclosed database. Moreover, the method presented is transferable to other archaeological sites and materials. On the basis of the alternative brooch chronology of Bibracte, various results about the settlement activity of the oppidum, the utilization period of the associated cemetery and the development of the brooch production in Bibracte are obtained. / Gegenstand dieser Arbeit sind die Fibeln aus dem Oppidum Bibracte. Für gewöhnlich werden Fibeln nach Typen klassifiziert und chronologisch ausgewertet. Dies birgt jedoch methodische Probleme, die u. a. im derzeitigen Chronologiesystem der späten Eisenzeit begründet sind. Um diese Probleme zu vermeiden, entwickle ich auf der Basis eines theoretischen Ansatzes von John Collis (2009) eine neue Methode zur Konstruktion von Chronologien im Allgemeinen und zur Datierung der Fibeln von Bibracte im Besonderen. Grundlegend sind hierfür das Konzept eines chronologischen Horizontes, der nur einen Beginn hat, jedoch kein Ende, sowie die Konzentration auf Merkmale anstatt auf Typen. In diesem Sinne konstruiere ich anhand von 122 stratifizierten Fibeln aus fünf Grabungen in Bibracte, deren Stratigrafien mithilfe der Keramik absolut datiert sind, eine alternative Fibelchronologie. Diese besteht aus acht Fibelhorizonten, die durch das jeweils erste Auftreten von 130 einzelnen Fibelmerkmalen und von acht Merkmalskombinationen definiert werden. Die auf diese Weise konstruierte Fibelchronologie ermöglicht es zukünftig, Fibeln und Fibelfragmente transparent und intersubjektiv überprüfbar zu datieren sowie die Datierung mithilfe der beiliegenden Datenbank automatisch zu berechnen. Diese Methode ist auch auf andere Fundorte und Fundkategorien übertragbar. Auf der Basis der alternativen Fibelchronologie von Bibracte werden darüber hinaus u. a. Ergebnisse zur Besiedlungsgeschichte des Oppidum erzielt, zur Belegungszeit des zugehörigen Gräberfeldes und zur Entwicklung der Fibelherstellung in Bibracte.

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Digital technologies are constantly changing our daily lives, including the way scholars work. As a result, also Classics is currently subject to constant change. Greek and Latin sources are becoming available in a digital format. The result is that Classical texts are searchable and can be provided with metadata and analyzed to find specific structures. An important keyword in this new scholarly environment is “networking”, because there is a great potential for Classical Philology to collaborate with the Digital Humanities in creating useful tools for textual work. During our workshop scholars who represent several academic disciplines and institutions gathered to talk about their projects. We invited Digital Humanists who have experience with specific issues in Classical Philology and who presented methods and outcomes of their research. In order to enable intensive and efficient work concerning various topics and projects, the workshop was aimed at philologists whose research interests focus on specific phenomena of ancient texts (e.g., similes or quotations). The challenge of extracting and annotating textual data like similes and text reuses poses the same type of practical philological problems to Classicists. Therefore, the workshop provided insight in two main ways: First, in an introductory theoretical section, DH experts presented keynote lectures on specific topics; second, the focus of the workshop was to discuss project ideas with DH experts to explore and explain possibilities for digital implementation, and ideally to offer a platform for potential cooperation. The focus was explicitly on working together to explore ideas and challenges, based also on concrete practical examples. As a result of the workshop, some of the participants agreed on publishing online their abstracts and slides in order to share them with the community of Classicists and Digital Humanists. The publication has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the Open Science Office of the Library of the University of Leipzig.

During our workshop scholars who represent several academic disciplines and institutions gathered to talk about their projects. We invited Digital Humanists who have experience with specific issues in Classical Philology and who presented methods and outcomes of their research.

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