Jacob Dahl is an Assyriologist with a specialization in Sumerian, pre-Classical socio-economic history, and early Near Eastern writing systems. He received his education from the University of Copenhagen and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Upon
completing his dissertation at UCLA, he received a two-year post-doctoral position at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris, where he spent half his time working at the Louvre Museum.
He is currently a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG), Berlin, and lecturer at the Free University, Berlin, where he teaches Sumerian and Akkadian
Dahl’s dissertation topic was a prosopographical analysis of an elite family from the Sumerian city of Umma during the Third Dynasty of Ur (ca. 2100 - 2000 BC). Addressing widely held theories of ancient Near Eastern patterns of succession, the dissertation tries to bridge the apparent gap between the seemingly incompatible systems of patrilineal and fratrilineal succession evident in the textual record by offering a new theory of succession during the Neo-Sumerian period.
Since 2001, Dahl has, in collaboratoin with Robert K. Englund (UCLA) and Peter Damerow (MPIWG), led research on the corpus of proto-Elamite tablets (ca. 3100 - 2900 BC). Proto-Elamite is the last undeciphered writing system from the ancient Near East with a substantial number of sources. Initially inspired and influenced by archaic cuneiform from Mesopotamia, proto-Elamite was a very short-lived writing system.
However, more than 1,500 tablets have been found, the majority during the French excavations of Susa in the beginning of the 20th century, accounting for a total of more than 10,000 lines of text. Dahl is currently preparing a new sign list of the full corpus, and an edition of ca. 150 previously unpublished tablets and fragments in the Louvre Museum.
As a researcher at MPIWG, Dahl has of late directed the digital capture of a number of significant cuneiform collections for the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative, instructing collaborators on the use of digitization and data management tools developed by the project. During the past two years, he has digitized tablets in Aleppo (Syria), New York, Chicago, Berlin, Oslo, and Birmingham (UK), making the form and content of thousands of cuneiform tablets available to colleagues around the world through the Internet.
Academic positions:
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From April 2007:
Lecturer, Institute for Near Eastern Studies, Free University, Berlin
Research Associate, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG), Berlin,
October 2005 - March 2007:
Postdoctoral Researcher, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG), Berlin,
October 2003 - September 2005:
Postdoctoral Researcher, National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Paris
Education:
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2003: PhD degree (download a PDF copy [1.7 MB] of the dissertation)
University of California, Los Angeles
(Near Eastern Languages and Cultures)
1999: Candidatus Magisterii, summa cum laude
(the Danish Master's level degree equivalent of an American MA degree)
University of Copenhagen
(Assyriology)
1995: BA degree
University of Copenhagen
(Near Eastern Languages and Cultures / Assyriology)
Teaching experience:
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Lecturer: Free University, Berlin (courses taught: Introduction to Sumerian, Sumerian IIa, and IIb, Akkadian IIa and IIb)
Intern Supervisor: Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin (since April 2007)
Reader: University of California, Los Angeles, Fall 2002 (for the course “History of Mesopotamia”)
Teaching assistant: University of Copenhagen, 1996, and 1998 (for the courses History and society of Mesopotamia, Akkadian text-reading, and Elementary Akkadian
Publications:
Monographs:
Dahl, Jacob L., The Ruling Family of Ur III Umma: A Prosopographical Analysis of a Provincial Elite Family in Southern Iraq ca. 2100-2000 BC (= PIHANS 108, Leiden 2007).Dahl, Jacob L., The Neo-Sumerian Texts in the Schøyen Collection (NSTSC), manuscript expected to be finished by the end of 2008.
Dahl, Jacob L., The Proto-Elamite Sign-List, including edition of ca. 150 unpublished texts from the Louvre Museum manuscript expected finished by end of 2009.
Articles:
Dahl, Jacob L., “Land Allotments During The Third Dynasty of Ur: Some Observations,” AoF 29/2 (2002) 330-338. (PDF copy [6 MB])Dahl, Jacob L., “The Quest for Eternity. Studies in Neo-Sumerian Systems of Succession,” 117-136, in: J.-G. Dercksen, ed., Assyrian and Beyond, Studies Presented to Mogens Trolle Larsen (Leiden, 2004). (PDF copy [12.1 MB])
Dahl, Jacob L., “Complex Graphemes in Proto-Elamite,” Cuneiform Digital Library Journal (CDLJ) 2005:003 Cuneiform Digital Library Journal 2005:3 (PDF copy).
Dahl, Jacob L., “Animal Husbandry in Susa During the Proto-Elamite Period,” SMEA 47 (2005) 81-134. (PDF copy [7.7 MB])
Dahl, Jacob L., “Early Swine Herding,” 31-38 in: B. Lion et C. Michel, eds., De la domestication au tabou : Le cas des suidés dans le Proche-Orient ancien, Travaux de la Maison René-Ginouvès 1 ( Paris, 2006). (PDF copy [1/4])
Dahl, Jacob L., & Hebenstreit, Laurent F., “19 Ur III texts in a Private Collection” (manuscript submitted to Revue Assyriologie, expected date of publication Fall 2006).
Dahl, Jacob L., “Dating the Proto-Elamite Texts,” article in preparation.
Dahl, Jacob L., “ A Babylonian Gang of Potters,” article in preparation.
Dahl, Jacob L., “ Early Writing in Iran, a Reappraisal,” article in preparation.
Notes and reviews:
Dahl, Jacob L., “Proto-Elamite Sign Frequencies,” CDLB 2002:001 (2002) Cuneiform Digital Library Bulletin 2002:1 (PDF copy).
Dahl, Jacob L., “A Note on Ur III Text Duplicates,” CDLB 2003:005 (2003) Cuneiform Digital Library Bulletin 2003:5 (PDF copy).
Dahl, Jacob L., Review of Dominique Charpin, Dietz Otto Edzard , Marten Stol, Mesopotamien: Die altbabylonische Zeit, Review of Biblical Literature 02/2005.
Dahl, Jacob L., “bala Revisited,” review article (Tonia Sharlach: Provincial Taxation and the Ur III State), JAOS 126.1 (2007?), xxx - xxx.
Selected Papers:
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“Towards a Greater Understanding of Proto-Elamite,” scholarly Talk at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Januray 17, 2006.
“Pigs and pig-herding from Late Uruk to Ur III times,” paper read at the international colloquem “Les suidés au Proche-Orient: de la domestication au tabou” at Nanterre University (CNRS, Paris I (Sorbonne), and Paris X (Nanterre)) December 1, 2005.
“Deciphering Proto-Elamite,” paper read at the 51st Rencontre Internationale d'Assyriologie in Chicago, July 21, 2005.
view slides (.mov file) or download paper (word doc.)
“The Beginning of Writing,” invited guest-lecture at the Department of English, California State University, Northridge, July 9, 2003
“Wives of the Énsi's: Elite Women of Third Millennium B.C. Mesopotamia,” talk at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA, October 10, 2001
“Land Allotments During The Third Dynasty of Ur: Some Observations,” paper presented at part I of the First Berlin-Copenhagen Seminar, December 3 - 6, 1998, at the Seminar für Altertumskunde, Freie Universität, Berlin. Paper published in AOF 29/2 (2002).
Awards and Scholarships:
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Chancellor’s Dissertation Year Fellowship (University of California, Los Angeles), 2002-2003
Danish Research Academy scholarship to study at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA, for the PhD degree, for the duration of three years (2000 - 2003)
Graduate Student Researcher in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures (UCLA). March to December 2000, and March 2001 to July 2002
Regents ATC Stipend/USAP from UCLA, 2001
Electronic contributions:
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Contributing partner of the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI), 1998 to present
Personal data:
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Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, 1972
Danish citizen
Married to Sasha M. Dahl (nee Mosley) 2002