?
A Well-Oiled Future: Recreating Old Babylonian Oil Divination
This paper looks at arguably the most ancient documented form of fortune-telling: Old Babylonian oil divination. The principle aim is to raise awareness of a much under-studied element in the ancient Mesopotamian textual record, giving some suggestions regarding its social function along the way. Additionally, the investigation provides a short case study demonstrating how practical work can be used to provide an insight into a psychological framework which neither archaeology, nor textual records, can adequately reveal. This in turn has important applications for outreach activities, designed to raise wider awareness of the ancient world among the modern public, as the reconstructive methodologies in question can extend their appeal far beyond conventional academic circles.