"Outcomes of Battle: Triumphal Celebrations in Assyria" published on 01 Jan 2013 by Brill.

Pottery samples from the Pompeii archaeological site were investigated by IR Raman spectroscopy and EDAX measurements. The analysis of the Raman spectra of the surfaces reveals the presence calcium hydroxide (peak at about 780 cm⁻¹) while the calcium carbonate is totally absent. The comparative studies on the carbonation effect of the surfaces were performed on laboratory grown samples of calcium hydroxide. The samples were treated at high temperature and exposed to different ambient conditions, and the analysis suggests that the original surfaces of Roman pottery were scattered by calcium hydroxide (limewash) before the cooking process in the furnace. The result of this surface treatment not only permits a vitrification of the surfaces but also seems to reduce the content of CO₂in the furnace atmosphere and then obtain a more oxidant ambient during the cooking of the pottery. These results give new insights on the real degree of knowledge of the Romans about the art of ceramics and more generally about chemistry and technologies.

Fluvial avulsion is an important process in the dynamics of the riverscapes and plays a key role in the drainage network evolution in lowland areas, also influencing past and present social processes and economic activities. Crevasse splays represent significant geomorphological features for understanding the fluvial morphodynamics in lowland areas dominated by avulsion processes. Within wide floodplains characterized by very low elevation ranges, the detection and accurate mapping of crevasse splay morphology and features, such as crevasse channels, levees, and deposit, can be very challenging considering floodplain extension, anthropic impact on the natural channels network, logistic difficulties, and in some cases, climate conditions that prevent field work. This research aims at improving the detection and mapping of crevasse splays in lowland areas through the combination of different remote sensing techniques based on optical multispectral imagery and topographic data derived from satellite earth observation missions. The Lower Mesopotamia Plain (LMP) offers a unique opportunity to study the avulsion processes because it presents numerous examples of crevasse splays, characterized by different sizes and states of activity. Furthermore, in this area, a strong correlation exists between the formation and development of crevasse splays and the expansion of agriculture and early societies since the Early Holocene. Different supervised classification (SC) methods of Landsat 8 satellite images have been tested together with topographic analysis of the microrelief, carried out based on two different 1-arcsec DEMs (AW3D30 and GDEM2). The results of this study demonstrate that the combination of multispectral imagery analysis and topographic analysis of the microrelief is useful for discerning different crevasse elements, distinguishing between active and relict landforms. The methodological approach proved helpful for improving the mapping of erosional and depositional landforms generated by the avulsion process and, in the study area, provided the best results for the active landforms.

During his excavations “in the south-east corner of the mound” at Nimrud, ancient Kalhu, A. H. Layard discovered some fragments of painted bricks (1853b: 164–7; 1867: 52–7). These can be dated to Esarhaddon on the basis of both iconographic style and subject matter. Thanks to the name “Tell of Athur” reported in Layard's accounts, we can plausibly identify the location as the site of Fort Shalmaneser; unfortunately, Layard does not give a more precise location. Although we can assert that the fragments belong to Fort Shalmaneser at the time of its renovation by Esarhaddon in the seventh century BC, we are not able to define exactly the rooms or outer façade that these fragments originally decorated.Some hypotheses have been suggested as to the original location of the glazed bricks, either in the south-east corner of the inner south-east courtyard (Oates 1959: 111, fn. 20; Nunn 1988: 183) or in Courtyard T (Postgate and Reade 1976–80: 317; Oates and Oates 2001: 183–4) (Fig. 1), where they seem to have adorned an outer façade, either the façade of Throne Room T1 or that of Courtyard T, where Shalmaneser's glazed-brick panel was found lying in front of the doorway of ante-chamber T3 (Reade 1963: 38–47; Dayton 1978: PL 24,1).