The Chalcolithic, especially the 5th millennium BC, cultural period of Marv Dasht plain, Fars, southwest Iran, is called the Bakun period. It has been classified into Early, Middle, and Late phases. Some researchers identify this period as the initial stage of socioeconomic complexity (Sumner 1994; Alizadeh 2006). While the processes of the changes in settlement patterns during the Bakun period have been well studied to clarify social development, those of ceramic changes have not been well researched, except for the decorated motifs and vessel forms (Voigt and Dyson 1992). This paper analyzes ceramic changes by using ceramic materials now curated in the University Museum of the University of Tokyo and in the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, from four Bakun period sites: Tall-i Jari A (Early Bakun), Tall-i Bakun B (Early Bakun), Tall-i Gap (Middle Bakun), and Tall-i Bakun A (Late Bakun). This paper focuses particularly on the ceramic assemblages, the amount of fine ceramics, and the ceramic production technology. It finds that the peak in the amount of fine ceramic produced was in the Middle Bakun phase, while the craftsmanship which enabled craft specialization gradually and locally improved over time.

This article reexamines a pair of elevation drawings of an Ancient Egyptian shrine preserved at the Petrie Museum of the University College London, which is known as the “Ghurob Shrine Papyrus”. The physical characteristics of two sheets of papyrus show the following striking similarities: Both are about one royal cubit wide, both were drawn over a grid of 14 squares wide of the same dimensions, and the vertical lines of the grid at the bottom edge of the drawing depicting the side view, continue from the top edge of that showing the front view. These characteristics confirm the previous assumption that the two sheets of drawings were originally a single sheet, the side view being at the top, and the front view being at the bottom.

   Observation of the drawings and of the traces of the ink allows a reconstruction of the technique used to draw the grid. Points are marked on each end of the vertical grid lines, and down the grid there are four rows of points at intervals of about 50 cm. This indicates that the lines of the grid were drawn by extending lines using a ruler one royal cubit (about 52.5 cm) long.

   Previous studies dated the elevation drawing to the New Kingdom, or specifically to the 18^th Dynasty. However, a comparison of the size of the grid with other papyrus drawings and a stylistic analysis of the shrine proves that these drawings should rather be dated to the Late Period and afterwards, in particular, from the 30^th Dynasty to the Ptolemaic Period. Judging from the absence of any indication of the actual dimensions and the extraordinary large size of the drawings, they are to be seen as those of an ideal or theoretical shrine instead of an actual construction project.

This article investigates the use of cereal barley (hordeum vulgare) in Islamic society between the 9th and 15th centuries. Among barley products, barley bread, boiled barley water, barley porridge, and parched barley are attested in dietetic works (both cuisine and medicine), agricultural manuals, works of literature, and so forth.

   Works of adab literature and the sole extant agriculture manual from the period (10th c.) show that between the 9th and 12th centuries, barley bread was the staple food of the peasantry and that barley was deemed the cereal most suitable to the peasants' nutritional needs.

   Among the many references to food in the hadith, both barley bread and barley porridge are mentioned as dishes enjoyed daily by the Prophet and his followers.

   The dietetic sources treat barley as a medicament for cooling the body. On the other hand, in the sole extant book of cooking recipes from the period (10th c.), barley does not appear except as the main ingredient of barley water. While barley continued to be prescribed for medicinal purposes, the members of the Abbasid court and the urban elite apparently did not consider it an important ingredient of their food.

   Sources from the 13th century on describe barely products being used in urban society under such conditions as hot weather, outbreaks of plague, or high fever. They show in particular that barley water was a daily household necessity for urban dwellers.

   The spread of the consumption of barley water and other barley products in the urban society from the 13th century on reflects the incessant outbreaks of famine and plague that cities in the Islamic society were suffering at that time.

Since the latter half of the nineteenth century, Coptic Christians in Egypt have gradually become integrated as Egyptian citizens. Previous studies took for granted that the Copts developed their sense of belonging to the Egyptian nation-state. However, because the Copts’ cultural traits and historical views differ from those of the Muslim majority, it is important to analyze how the Copts constructed their Egyptian national identity.

   This article provides insight on how the Copts reconstructed their group consciousness by using their cultural ties to ancient Egypt to develop their Egyptian national identity. Specifically, this article focuses on Coptic language revival at the turn of the twentieth century−a revival started by a Coptic language lecturer, Iqlawdiyūs Labīb, at the Coptic Seminary.

   In his magazine, ʻAyn Shams, Labīb claimed that the Coptic language, the ecclesiastical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church, was the Egyptians' ethnic language because of its connections to the ancient Egyptian language. He also described Coptic as "the current Egyptian language," and called for its revival as a spoken language. By linking Coptic culture to ancient Egypt, Labīb positioned the Copts as culturally authentic Egyptians.

   Although his attempt to revive the Coptic language did not succeed as a movement, it attached new meaning and position to Coptic religious culture. It is important to note that his attempts to revive the Coptic language led to a transvaluation of the ecclesiastical language as Egyptians' ethnic language and contributed to the Copts' construction of Egyptian national identity in a way that was different from mainstream secular Egyptian nationalist thought.

Since most of the Middle Kingdom shaft tombs in Egypt have been thoroughly plundered, until now analyses of cemeteries have relied on the patchy evidence of the remaining objects. However, the subterranean structure of the tombs was usually unaffected by robbery. It is possible to complement the lack of information and obtain an overall view of the cemeteries by analyzing these structures. This paper examines the date, social status of the owner, and orientation of the shaft tombs in Dahshur North.

   This paper classified shaft tombs into six types by form and three groups by size, Small, Middle and Large. Tombs with datable objects were sorted in chronological order, but analysis showed that there is little relationship between type, size and date. In contrast, a marked correlation between size and social status of the owner was observed. The burial equipment of the Middle and Large groups was superior both in quality and quantity to that of the Small group, and the former groups were equipped with objects of the "court-type burial" a style common at the highest social level in royal cemeteries during the late Middle Kingdom. The relation between social difference and tomb size was also demonstrated by the much greater expense of digging the larger shaft tombs.

   As for the orientation, the long axes of the twelfth to early thirteenth dynasty tombs were oriented north-south, while those of the early thirteenth dynasty or later tombs were oriented almost northwest-southeast. It is assumed the difference is because there is a late twelfth dynasty pyramid to the east of Dahshur North, and a mid-thirteenth dynasty pyramid to the northeast. Therefore it is probable that people buried in Dahshur North were closely related to the elite class buried in the royal cemeteries.

While Questions on Medicine (Al-Masāˀil fī al-ṭibb) is generally known as a work of Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq (d. 873), sources inform us that it was completed by his nephew and pupil Ḥubaysh ibn al-Ḥasan who made the additions that now comprise the latter part of the work. An important question that remains unanswered is where exactly the additions by Ḥubaysh begin. This article attempts to shed some light on this question through an examination of the structure and the sources of the sixth chapter of the work, the last question of which has traditionally been held to be where the additions by Ḥubaysh start.

   The author of Chapter Six uses arguments taken from Galen and the Alexandrian Compendia (Jawāmiˁ) of Galenic works. The first part of the chapter contains sentences that closely parallel the summary of Galen's On the Temperament, Book III, as found in the Jawāmiˁ. The second part is composed essentially of citations from Galen's On the Properties of Simple Medicaments, Books I and IV. The close resemblance of this part to the Galenic treatise suggests that the author wrote it by translating the Greek text himself. The rest of the chapter, with the exception of the last question, is heavily dependent on On the Composition of Medicaments according to Kind, Books I and II.

   The style of argument in the chapter is different from the question-and-answer style used in the earlier chapters. The contents of the chapter closely reflect those of the above-mentioned pharmaceutical works of Galen. The expressions used in this chapter are characteristic of Ḥubaysh There is also a tradition that tells us that Ḥubaysh's contribution begins in the middle of Chapter Five. These considerations lead us to conclude that Chapter Six of Questions on Medicine was written by Ḥubaysh and not by Ḥunayn.