J. Cale Johnson studied Assyriology, Comparative Semitics and Linguistics at UCLA, receiving his PhD in Assyriology in 2004 with a dissertation on applicative constructions in Sumerian and the role of specificity in their interpretation (a substantially revised version appeared in 2010 under the title “Unaccusativity and the double object construction in Sumerian” [Vienna: LIT]). Since coming to Berlin in 2008, he has focused on the early history of writing, particularly the decipherment of UD.GAL.NUN (encoded mythological materials from the Early Dynastic period), as well as Middle Assyrian administration and calendrics. Over the past two years he has also become involved in the reconstruction of Mesopotamian therapeutic compendia (particularly those dealing with respiratory diseases) and the comparative study of ancient medicine.

Monograph

• 2010. Unaccusativity and the double object construction in
  Sumerian. Vienna: LIT.

Recent papers

• 2014. The Origins of Scholastic Commentary in Mesopotamia: Second-order Schemata in the Early Dynatic Exegetical Imagination. In Shai Gordin, ed., Visualizing Knowledge and Creating Meaning in Ancient Writing (BBVO 23, Berlin: PeWe), 11-55.
• 2014. Sumerian Adjectival Passives Using the *im-Prefix. In S. Garfinkle and M. Molina, eds., From the 21st Centruy B.C. to the 21st Century A.D. (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns), 19-48.
• 2013. Indexical iconicity in Sumerian belles lettres. Language and Communication 33: 26-49.
• 2013. The cost of cosmogony: Ethical reflections on
  resource extraction, monumental architecture and urbanism in the Sumerian literary
  tradition. In Natalie May and Ulrike Steinert, eds., The Fabric of Cities (Brill), 43-75.
• 2013. With Adam Johnson. Contingency and innovation in
  native transcriptions of encrypted cuneiform (UD.GAL.NUN) In J.
  Englehardt, ed., Agency and Epigraphy (University of Colorade Press), 165-182.
• 2013. With Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum. Middle Assyrian Calendrics
  State Archives of Assyria Bulletin [SAAB] 19 (2011-2012), 87-152.
• 2013. Contractual Formalism and Zukunftsbewältigung in Middle Assyrian Agricultural Accounting. In L.Feliu, J. Llop, A. Millet Albà and J. Sanmartín, eds., Time and History in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 56th RAI (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns), 525-548.
• 2011. The metaphysics of mantic/prophetic authentication devices
  in Old Babylonian Mari. In G. Barjamovic, J. L. Dahl, et al., eds., Akkade is King:
  a collection of papers by friends and colleagues presented to Aage Westenholz on the
  occasion of his 70th birthday 15th of May 2009 (PIHANS 118; Leiden: NINO), 151-161.
• 2011. Sound Symbolism in The Disputation between Bird and Fish
  102-109. Altorientalische Forschungen 37(2): 230-241.
• with Veenker, Ronald. 2009. The appellate process in a legal record
  (di til-la) from Ur III Umma. Altorientalische Forschungen 36: 349-364.
• 2008. Decomposing the DP in Sumerian: Definiteness, specificity
  and the BNBV diagnostic. Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 98:
  151-188.
• 2008. Corpus-driven models of lexicography and Mesopotamian
  cultural heritage preservation at CDLI. In R. Biggs, J. Myers and M. Roth, eds.,
  Proceedings of the 51st Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, pp. 69-74. SAOC 62.
  Chicago: Oriental Institute.

Recent book reviews

• 2013. Review of Paul Delnero, The Textual Criticism of Sumerian Literature. BSOAS 76: 495-497.
• 2013. Review of Sacha Stern, Calendars in Antiquity: Empires, States and Societies. BSOAS 76: 301-302.
• 2012. Review of H. Freydank / B. Feller, Mittelassyrische
  Rechtsurkunden und Verwaltungstexte IX. WZKM 102: 343-347.
• 2012. Review of W. Horowitz / U. Gabbay / F. Vukosavovic,
  eds., A Woman of Valor: Jerusalem Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Honor of Joan
  Goodnick Westenholz. WZKM 102: 347-350.
• 2011. Review of S. Parpola / R. Whiting, eds.,
  Assyrian-English-Assyrian Dictionary. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African
  Studies 74(2): 311–312.
• 2007. Review of Stephen Houston, ed., The First Writing: Script
  Invention as History and Process. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 17(2): 298-300.