Giacomo Benati, Ph.D.

Alma Mater Studiorum – UniversityofBologna

DepartmentofHistory and Cultures –ArchaeologySection

P.zza S. Giovanni in Monte 2

40124, Bologna (Italy)

Contacts:
Phone: (+39)3400586664
Personal email: nstitutional email:
Researcher ID: F-5914-2015
ORCID ID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2555-3122
Profiles:



AcademicAppointments /
  • ResearchFellow/TeachingAssistant, DepartmentofHistory and Cultures, UniversityofBologna. January 2015-present
  • March 2017(-2019), EuropeAid EDUU Project Coordinationteam (

Fieldwork
Karkemish
Archaeological project
(University of Bologna),
Karkamış (Gaziantep, Turkey)
20/05/2017-10/06/2017
04/07/2017-11/07/2017 /
  • Archaeologist and draftsman. Investigation of Late Bronze and Iron Age levels in Area P – West, the so-called Northern Fortress complex connected to the city fortifications, previously investigated by C. L. Woolley.
  • Illustration of small finds from Late Bronze and Iron Age levels. In charge of filing and illustrating LB and IA clay sealings.

Karkemish
Archaeological project
(University of Bologna),
Karkamış (Gaziantep, Turkey)
20/06/2016-03/07/2016 /
  • Draftsman. Illustration of small finds from Late Bronze and Iron Age levels with particular focus on glyptic materials.

TaşlıGecitHöyük archaeological project (University of Bologna),
Islahiye (Gaziantep, Turkey)
07/09/2009-31/10/2009
01/09/2010-02/10/2010 /
  • Archaeologist and draftsman. Co-area supervisor with Nicolò Marchetti and Federico Zaina (Area A). Investigation of a Late Bronze Age military structure and Iron Age domestic occupation levels. Illustrations of the archaeological finds

TilmenHöyük archaeological project
(University of Bologna),
Islahiye (Gaziantep, Turkey)
21/08/2008-13/09/2008 /
  • Archaeologist, completionofthearchaeologicalpark

GEA s.r.l. Research and archaeological documentation
B.go XX Marzo 4, 43100 Parma (Italy)
28/07/2008-08/08/2008
27/07/2009-14/08/2009
01/09/2010-09/10/2010 /
  • Archaeologist

Education /
  • 13/03/2014, PhD in History of the Archaeological and Artistic Heritage (26th cycle), University of Turin. Dissertation title: “The Early Dynastic Period at Ur: Chronology, Stratigraphy, Architecture and Materials from the Trial Pits, the Royal Cemetery and the Ziqqurat Terrace”.Supervisors: Profs. Carlo Lippolis, Stefano De Martino (UNITO). Advisors:Profs. Nicolò Marchetti, Gianni Marchesi (UNIBO), Holly Pittman (UPenn).
  • 09/2012-11/2012; 11-12/2013: Visiting scholar at University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA).
  • 11/10/2010: 2nd level degree (MA) in Archaeology and Cultures of the Ancient World, University of Bologna.
  • 01/2010-06/2010: Exchange student at the Institute of Archaeology (UCL), London.
  • 11/03/2008: 1st level degree (BA) in Arts and Humanities, University of Bologna.
  • Relevant coursework includes: Latin and Greek history and literature; Classic and Aegean archaeology and art history; Ancient Near Eastern archaeology, art history and languages; Archaeological methods and theories.

Qualifications /
  • Extensive research carried out at the British Museum of London (UK) and the Penn Museum of Philadelphia (USA) involved study of the archives and direct examination of the original artifacts from the Ur excavations. Bibliographic and archival researches were also undertaken at Harvard University (Cambridge, MA; 02/2011), and atFrëie University (Berlin, 05/2011).
  • Transliteration, editing and study of the original papers from the British Museum expedition at Karkemish (1911-1914, 1920), carried out between 2011 and 2013 on behalf of the Joint Turco-Italian excavation directed by N. Marchetti (University of Bologna).
  • Illustrator for the exhibition: “Kinku. Seals of the Bronze Age from the Region of Gaziantep in Turkey”, 29thApril-4th September 2011 Museo Civico Medievale, Via Manzoni 4, Bologna. (
  • Editorial assistant and illustrator for the exhibition catalog: N. Marchetti (ed.), Kinku: sigilli dell'eta del bronzo dalla regione di Gaziantep in Turchia, Bologna, museo civico medievale 29 aprile - 4 settembre 2011 (OrientLab 1), AnteQuem, Bologna, 2011.(
  • Editorial assistant for the book “Karkemish. An Ancient Capital on the Euphrates(OrientLab 2), Bologna 2014, edited by N. Marchetti (May 2013-August 2014).
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  • Editorial assistant for the TilmenHöyük publication project (Gaziantep Regional Project Publications [GRPR]; Bologna, 2009-2011;
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe suite (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator), AutoCad (2D-3D modeling), Sketch-Up, Prezi.
  • Proficiency in archaeological drawing, from first documentation to inking. Particular skills in drawing glyptic materials.

Conference Papers
Books (in preparation)
Journal Articles
(*Peer Reviewed)
Book Chapters
Book Reviews
Review Articles /
  • 2011. Changes through Time: The Pit F Sequence at Ur Revisited, 57th Rencontre AssyriologiqueInternationale, Rome (Italy), 4-8 July 2011.
  • 2013. La fase “Archaic I” della terrazza della Ziqqurat ad Ur. Analisi contestuale e materiali inediti di un edificio sacro di III Millennio a.C. in Mesopotamia. Workshop “Lo spazio del sacro nel mondo antico”, University of Turin (Italy), 26/02/2013.
  • 2013. The Early Dynastic Period at Ur: Preliminary Results from an Ongoing Doctoral Research. ASOR Meeting, 20-23 November 2013, Baltimore, MD (USA).
  • 2014. New Light on the Archaic Texts from SIS 5/4 at Ur: A Contextual and Archival Reconstruction, together with C. Lecompte (CNRS – Nanterre). 9th ICAANE, June 2014, Basel.
  • 2015. Administered Flows of Resources in Ancient Economies, paper presented at the conference “Adams@50: Urbanized Landscapes in Early Syro-Mesopotamia and Prehispanic Mesoamerica”, Bologna, 9-10 February 2015 (
  • 2016. Have Empire, Will Travel: The Long-distance Exchange of Consumables in the Late Uruk Period. Paper presented at the “2nd Bologna Seminar on Cross-Cultural Archaeology”, Department of History and Cultures, 08/02/2016. (
  • 2016. The Ties that Bind: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Archaic Texts from Ur, co-authored with C. Lecompte. Paper presented at the 62nd Rencontre AssyriologiqueInternationale, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (US), July 11-15, 2016.
  • 2016. Non-administrative Documents from Archaic Ur and from the Early Dynastic I-II Period, co-authored with C. Lecompte, E. Clevenstine. Paper presented at the 62nd Rencontre AssyriologiqueInternationale, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
  • 2016. Performance, Growth and Institutional Management of Agricultural Production in Early 3rd Millennium BC Southern Mesopotamia. Paper presented at the Workshop “Economic Growth in Antiquity” organized by D. A. Warburton, Excellence Cluster Topoi – Area A, Key Topic Economy, Berlin 18-21 November 2016.
  • Archaeology of Garbage Disposal in the Royal Cemetery Area at Ur: Reconstruction Economic Systems from Debris in Early Mesopotamia(OrientLab Series Maior 3), AnteQuem, Bologna.
  • *2013.The “Archaic I” Phase of the Ziqqurat Terrace at Ur: a Contextual Re-assessment. Mesopotamia48,pp. 197-220.
  • 2013. A Late Bronze Age I Fortress at TaşlıGeçitHöyük and the Defensive Architecture of Anatolia and the Northern Levant during the 2nd Millennium BC(co-authored with F.Zaina),Ocnus21, pp. 9-29.
  • *2014. The Beginning of the Early Dynastic Period at Ur, Iraq 76/1, pp. 1-17.
  • *2015.Re-modeling Political Economy in Early 3rd Millennium B.C. Mesopotamia: Changing Patterns of Socio-economic Organization in Archaic Ur (Tell al-Muqayyar, Iraq).Cuneiform Digital Library Journal2015: 2. Available at: (Winner of the “IAA award the best article written after the Ph.D. in Assyriology and Mesopotamian archaeology”).
  • *2016. From Field Cards to Cuneiform Archives: Two Inscribed Artifacts from Archaic Ur and Their Archaeological Context (co-authored with C. Lecompte), ZeitschriftfürAssyriologie und vorderasiatischeArchäologie106/1, pp. 1-15.
  • *2016. High, Low and in Between: Patterns of Bureaucracy, Storage and Mobilization of Resources in Middle Bronze Age (2000-1600 BC) Northern Levant, StudiaEblaitica 2, pp. 123-176.
  • 2016. Georeferencing Woolley’s “Royal Cemetery” and Deep Soundings at Ur (Iraq), (co-authored with E. Leoni, S. Mantellini), Ocnus24, pp. 9-22.
  • *2017. Nonadministrative Documents from Archaic Ur and from Early Dynastic I-II Mesopotamia: A New Textual and Archaeological Analysis, (co-authored with C. Lecompte), Journal of Cuneiform Studies 69, pp. 3-32.
  • *2018. NEARCHOS. Networked Archaeological Open Science: Advances in Archaeology through Field Analytics and Scientific Community Sharing (co-authored with N. Marchetti et al.), accepted for publication in the Journal of Archaeological Research.
  • 2014. The British Museum Excavations at Karkemish (1911-1914, 1920): A Summary of the Activities and of the Methods Employed, in N. Marchetti (ed.), Karkemish. An Ancient Capital on the Euphrates (OrientLab 2), AnteQuem, Bologna, pp. 52-65. (
  • 2015. Changes through Time: The Pit F Sequence at Ur Revisited. In A. Archi (ed.), Tradition and Innovation in the Ancient Near East. Proceedings of the 57th Rencontre Assyriologique International at Rome, 4-8 July 2011. Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake (IN), pp. 91-104.
  • 2016. New Light on the Archaic Texts from Ur: The “Ancient Room” Tablet Hoard(co-authored with C. Lecompte).In R. A. Stucky, O. Kaelin, H.-P. Mathys, H.-P. (eds.), Proceedings of the 9th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East: June 9-13, 2014, University of Basel. Volume 3: Reports, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, pp. 13-30.
  • 2016. Le complexe de la Ziggurat d’Ur-Namma à Ur / Muqayyar. In Ph. Quenet (ed.), “ana ziqquratim” Sur la piste de Babel, Strasbourg, Presses Universitaires de Strasbourg, pp. 173-177
  • Forthcoming, Shaping Social Dynamics in Early 3rd Millennium Mesopotamia: Solid-Footed Goblets and the Politics of Drinking.
  • 2013. Karen L. Wilson, Bismaya, Recovering the Lost City of Adab (OIP 138), Chicago, The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Pp. xxx+194 + figs. 47, pls. 113, tabs. 13. ISBN 9781885923639. $ 80.Ocnus 21, pp. 265-270. Free download at:
  • 2015. On Reconstructing Past Economies and Lifeways: A View from the Ancient Near East (Review Article of: T.J. Wilkinson, McG. Gibson, M. Widell (eds.), 2013, Models of Mesopotamian Landscapes; P. Matthiae, N. Marchetti (eds.), 2013, Ebla and Its Landscape). Ocnus 23, pp. 199-205.

Invited Lessons
Invited Lectures /
  • 2012. Sessions regarding the Early Dynastic Mesopotamian sculpture and the evidence from the Royal Cemetery of Ur displayed in the Ur gallery at the Penn Museum during H. Pittman survey course (fall 2012) at University of Pennsylvania, Department of the History of Art.
  • 2013-2015. Lessons on the 3rd millennium B.C. evidence from Ur, 2nd Level Degree course of Archaeology and Art History of the Ancient Near East held by N. Marchetti, University of Bologna, Department of History and Cultures (12/03/2013, 24/03/2014, 03/03/2015, 30/03/2015).
  • 2014. Lesson on the urban and social developments of Ur between the late 4th and the early 3rd millennia BC, course of Archaeology and Art History of the Ancient Near East held by D.Nadali, Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Ancient World Studies (27/03/2014).
  • 2017. Lesson on Near Eastern archaeology, Minghetti High School, Bologna.
  • 2012. The Early Dynastic Period at Ur: Chronology, Stratigraphy and Materials. A Work in Progress. 19/10/2012, Jaffe Art History Building, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Invited by Prof. Holly Pittman (Graduate Group in Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World and Al-Hiba Project).
  • 2013. Lectures on visual media and urban planning of the Early and Middle Bronze Age southern Mesopotamia. Seminar “Art and Archaeology of 3rd-2nd millennia BC Mesopotamia”, held at the Archaeological Museum of Bologna (Cultural Association “Esagono”, 12/2012-01/2013)
  • 2013. L'apparato amministrativo di Ur nel periodo Protodinastico. Nuove analisi archeologiche e testuali dei ritrovamenti di C. L. Woolley nell'area del Cimitero Reale, together with C. Lecompte (CNRS - Nanterre), 15/11/2013, Sapienza University of Rome – Department of Oriental Studies, organized by Lorenzo Verderame.
  • 2015. Embedding Texts and Contexts in Early Dynastic Mesopotamia: Archaeology of the Administration in Archaic Ur, together with C. Lecompte (CNRS - Nanterre), Seminar VEPMO – ArScAn (CNRS – Univ. Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne, Univ. Paris Ouest Nanterre la Defénse, Ministère de la culture), 29/05/2015, Nanterre (Paris) – Maison Archéologie Ethnologie René-Ginouvès.
  • 2015.The Sanctuary of the Moon-God Nanna at Ur during the 3rd Millennium B.C.: Archaeological and Textual Evidence, Conference cycle “Ana Ziqquratim – sur la piste de Babel”, 14/09/2015, Strasbourg, Association strasbourgeoise du Proche-Orient ancien (ASPOA) et Institutd’histoire et archéologie de l’Orientancien – Universitè de Strasbourg.

Teaching /
  • 2015. Seminar on anthropological archaeology for BA & MA Anthropology, Religions, Oriental Civilizations. Spring 2015, Department of History and Cultures – via Zamboni 33, University of Bologna
  • 2015. Seminar on economic anthropology for BA & MA Anthropology, Religions, Oriental Civilizations, fall 2015, Department of History and Cultures – via Zamboni 33, University of Bologna
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  • 2017. Laboratory on Ancient Near Eastern materials (with F. Zaina) for MA and Specialization School students. March-April 2017. Department of History and Cultures – UNIBO.

Funding and Awards /
  • 2006-2009. University of Bologna study grants (ca 1.200 EUR x year).
  • 2010. Erasmus scholarship for 6 months exchange period at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL London (UK; ca 2.500 EUR).
  • 2011-2014. Full PhD scholarship at the Department of Historic Studies, University of Turin (Italy; ca 39.000 EUR).
  • 2016. IAA Prize for “Best first article written after the Ph.D. in Assyriology and Mesopotamian archaeology” (1.000 EUR), awarded at RAI 64th in Philadelphia (USA, 15 July 2016) for the CDLJ 2015: 2 article (see above list of publications).
  • 2016. IAA Fund for Recent Ph.D.’s for RAI Attendance (400 EUR), awarded at RAI 64th in Philadelphia (USA, 15 July 2016).
  • 2017. 6000 EUR from the Maison Archéologie et Ethnologie (Nanterre-Paris) for the project: “Entre transition et identitépropre: le début du 3ème millénaireavantnotreèreenMésopotamie et la place de la périodeDynastiqueArchaïque I”, (co-coordinated with C. Lecompte, CNRS).

Referees
Nicolò Marchetti, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Director Scuola di Specializzazione in Beni Archeologici,
Department of History and Cultures,
University of Bologna
Piazza S. Giovanni in Monte
2- 40124
Bologna(Italy)
Phone: +390512097711

Holly Pittman, Ph.D.
Bok Family Professor in the Humanities,
Chair, Department of History of Art,
University of Pennsylvania
106 Jaffe Building, Philadelphia (PA) USA
Phone: 215/898-3251 or 898-3834

Stefano De Martino, Ph.D.
Professor,Chair of Hittitology,
Director of Ph.D. School,
Department of Historical
Studies,
Director Centro Scavi e Ricerche Archeologiche di Torino per il Medio Oriente e l’Asia,
University of Turin
Via S. Ottavio, 20 - 10124 Turin (Italy)
Phone: +390117604813

Davide Nadali, Ph.D.
Researcher in Near Eastern Archaeology,
Department of Ancient World Cultures,
Sapienza University of Rome,
Ex Vetrerie Sciarra
Studio 121
Via dei Volsci, 122
00185 Roma (Italy)