Lev 36 Zincirli Amulet (730 BCE)

Front Side of Zincirli Amulet

Front Side of Zincirli Amulet

(Jan. 23, 2023) Amulet is now at the Vorderasiatisches (Pergamon) Museum in Berlin. Identification number: S 03604. It is 9.2 x 5 cm in size and 1.4 cm thick.
The present amulet (field registration number S. 3604) was excavated during the fourth season (March 20–June 28, 1894) of the German expedition to Zincirli Höyük under the direction of Felix von Luschan. It was first published by Walter Andrae (1943: 146–47, pl. 9c) in the fifth volume of final excavation report. 
Image online at: https://id.smb.museum/object/2075086/amulett-gegen-die-d%C3%A4monin-lamaschtu
Back Side of Zincirli Amulet with crescent moon, Pleiades, and constellations.

Back Side of Zincirli Amulet

This side has the text with an illustration at the top of the night sky consisting of the crescent moon (goddess Ayu), the Pleiades, and presumably below those are some of this culture's constellations. The Pleiades dipped below the horizon at Mediterranean latitudes at the start of the stormy season in Late October/November so they became associated with rain and wind. In Greek mythology they were associated with the goddess Artemis (Ayu). The illustration at the bottom seems to represent a ritual procession.
The present amulet (field registration number S. 3604) was excavated during the fourth season (March 20–June 28, 1894) of the German expedition to Zincirli Höyük under the direction of Felix von Luschan. It was first published by Walter  Andrae (1943: 146–47, pl. 9c) in the fifth volume of final excavation report. The museum name for this amulet is: "Amulet against the demon Lamashtu" 
Image from: DeGrado, and Madadh. (2017) 
Back Side of Zincirli Amulet with letter assignments
Photo in DeGrado, and Madadh. (2017). Letter assignments by Olmsted. 
Map showing find spot of Zincirli Amulet

Nourishments for Life-Powers Being Blocked by the Astrological Powers.

(Jan. 23, 2023) The letter style of this text is unexpectedly Etruscan indicating a trade link. It is blaming the astrological motion powers for a drought. Because of that drought mention is mostly likely dates to 730 BCE although dates of 850 BCE and 600 BCE also work linguistically (see drought table below)

Translation in Akkadian (Levant Text 36)

(read right to left. Capital letters on stone. Small letters are inferred Inner vowels)
  1. Bu GaLu IBu. Ḫu Pu EPu
  2. BeTu PaLu Tawu ReYu

In English

  1. Nourishments are being detached by the enemy. Hu (sun god) is opening the drying
  2. The house (zodiac) is ruling the pasture's (night-sky's) shepherds (magic-crafters)

References

DeGrado, Jessie and Richey, Madadh. (2017) An Aramaic-Inscribed Lamashtu Amulet from Zincirli. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 377: 107-33. Online at: https://www.academia.edu/31676727/DeGrado_Jessie_and_Richey_Madadh._2017._An_Aramaic-Inscribed_Lamashtu_Amulet_from_Zincirli._Bulletin_of_the_American_Schools_of_Oriental_Research_377_107-33?email_work_card=view-paper

The website for a more recent excavation is hosted by the university of Chicago. A nice site but all their translations of other texts are wrong because they they were done without following any standards.

https://zincirli.uchicago.edu/site-and-setting/

Main Iron Age Letter Styles

Translation Resources Used

All texts translated to the scholar's standard.

Lexicon Used

Olmsted, D.D (January 1, 2022) Mediterranean Akkadian Lexicon 3rd Edition – 2022. DOI Permanent URL:   http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/nbb6-wg16. Online at: https://www.academia.edu/66851810/Mediterranean_Akkadian_Lexicon_3rd_Edition_2022

Letter Charts Used

Letter Class Comparison ChartCentral Mediterranean Iron Age Letters
Lake bottom Core sample data from the Sea of Galilee showing the droughts
Lake bottom Core sample data from the Sea of Galilee. In historical times it shows two major droughts. The 50 year long Great Drought of 1180 to 1140 BCE (Iron Age 1 period) which ended the Bronze Age (called the "Late Bronze Climate Crisis" in the chart) and the 10-year long Elijah drought of 850 BCE. The yellow gives the tree pollen level while the green gives the non-tree pollen level. Minor droughts are indicated anytime the curves turn downward. (Langut and Finkelsein 2013)

Droughts Defined the Archaeological Periods in the Levant

(August 9, 2022) Like most regions of the earth, correlating the archaeology of the southern levant with carbon 14 dating and absolute dating has been undergoing some debate. The best correlation with linguistics is the chronology proposed by Amihai Mazar in 2014. This chronology is reproduced below: 

References

Langut, D. Finkelsein, I, Litt, T. (2013) Climate and the Late Bronze Collapse: New Evidence from the Levant. Tel Aviv 40:149-175. Online at https://www.academia.edu/6053886/Climate_and_the_Late_Bronze_Collapse_New_Evidence_from_the_Southern_Levant
Mazar, Amihai (2005) The Debate over the Chronology of the Iron Age in the Southern Levant: its History, the Current Situation and a Suggested Resolution. pp. 15-30 in: T. Levy and T. Higham (editors), The Bible and Radiocarbon Dating - Archaeology, Text and Science. London. Online at: https://www.academia.edu/2632501/The_Debate_over_the_Chronology_of_the_Iron_Age_in_the_Southern_Levant_its_History_the_Current_Situation_and_a_Suggested_Resolution_2005