Studia Orontica : open-access journal

Studia Orontica is a French language journal published by the  Centre Syrien de la Recherche Archéologique in Damascus.
It is newly available on open access, and features articles and excavation reports on ancient Syria and its environs

Semitic inscriptions: new online resource

Semitic Inscriptions is website from the University of Strasbourg 

It comprises a database of ancient texts written in Semitic languages inscribed on a variety of media. Information about each inscription is given, and pictures, analysis and translations are also provided.

If you register for an account, you can access additional features such as bibliographies, photographs and maps (via GoogleMaps and GoogleEarth). You can also save your queries in your account space.

The website recommends a Firefox browser for full functionality, and you may need to downland the additional free Unicode fonts suggested by the website in order to view the texts properly.

A manual of Ugaritic: two book reviews

A Manual of Ugaritic, by Pierre Bordreuil (Institute Catholique de Paris) and Dennis Pardee (Oriental Institute, University of Chicago) was first published in English by Eisenbrauns in 2009.
Read two recent reviews from the Society of Biblical Literature's online Review of Biblical Literature

• Ian Young and Lucy Davey (University of Sydney, 13th Janaury 2011)
• Jeremy Hutton (Princeton Theological Seminary, 25th September 2010)

and then have a look at the book in SOAS Library at Ref. QLB415 / 740019

ARCHIBAB: new open-access database

ARCHIBAB is a database from the Archives Babyloniennes in Paris

It currently gives access to some 2,300 documents, most accompanied by transcripts (blue hyper-linked text). at present, documents from Mari form the core of the collection, with over 400 texts from Ur and Larsa, about 100 from Isin and Nippur and 100 from the two Sippurs.

Content is in French, and it is updated every 3 months.

You need to "accept terms and conditions" before entering the database

New open access journals for Ancient History / Archaeology

Two new open-access titles:

Hallesche Beitrage zur Orientwissenschaft

This academic journal published by the Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg (frequently in monograph format) covers a wide range of topics and countries (ancient history, archives, religions, Middle Eastern studies etc.)
It is currently available as digitized open-access texts from Vol.1 (1979) to Vol.44 (2007).

The current link address is via AWOL (Ancient World Online blog)

'Atiqot (Journal of the Israeli Antiquities Authority)

This journal covers the archaeology of "the land of Israel" from prehistory to Ottoman times. Open access coverage begins with Vol.60 (2008). You need to register first, but after that you will be able to login to view and share journal content.

Working with cuneiform tablets at UCLA: YouTube video

Watch a e-video on YouTube of UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures graduate student, Sara Brumfield, talking about cuneiform tablets in the University's collection and their use in study and teaching

Revue d'assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale: open access journal

Selected articles from Revue d'assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale up to 2008 are now available on open-access (PDF or HTML)