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Civilizations
of the Ancient Near East
Focus of Annual Archaeological Meeting
(For immediate release,11/4/04)
Topics
ranging from the latest findings at one of the oldest cities in the world to the
current debate on "Archaeology and the Silver Screen" will provide the focus for
the 2004 annual meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR).
As one of the most prestigious archaeological organizations
in the US, ASOR is attended annually by scholars and lay persons from throughout
the world. This year will be no exception with some 500-plus archaeologists and
scholars in related fields expected to participate in the Nov. 17-20 gathering.
Most of the proceedings will be held at the
Westin Riverwalk Hotel in San Antonio where Professor Ian Hodder of Stanford University
will offer the plenary address at 7 p.m. Wednesday evening. The author and editor
of a number of books on archaeological theory and method, Professor Hodder will
speak about his multidisciplinary team's discoveries at the ancient city of Çatalhöyük,
a Neolithic site in central Turkey where evidence of early religion was first
discovered in the 1960s.
Archaeology will be
viewed from a different perspective on Friday evening when ASOR holds its second
annual Presidential Forum, "Archaeology and the Silver Screen." The forum will
focus on the image of archaeology in popular culture, particularly in the media.
Following a presentation on "Archaeology, History and 'The Passion of Christ,'"
scholars representing both the Judaic and Christian points of view will comment
on their reactions to the film from an archaeological perspective. The session
will be followed by a special President's reception.
ASOR's
Thursday evening lecture, planned especially for the public, will be held at the
San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) when Professor Bethany Walker will speak on "The
Literary and Spiritual Worlds of Medieval Persia: Exploring SAMA's Islamic Ceramic
Collection." Prof. Walker's lecture will highlight the aesthetics of materials
in the SAMA collections, and explore the connections of these images with themes
in literature and Islamic mysticism. This lecture is free with museum admission
($6 for non-members) to all who wish to attend. (See press
release on this lecture or http://www.sa-museum.org
for additional information).
Of special interest
to high school teachers is a five-hour ASOR workshop to be held Saturday, Nov.
20, also at SAMA. Topics to be addressed include "Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls,"
"Mesopotamia and the Classroom," and the online Uluburun Shipwreck Project. Participants
will receive Professional Development credit hours via the Museum. For details
and registration, contact Gloria London (glondon@earthlink.net).
Interested
members of the public may also register to attend the ASOR academic sessions where
more than 200 papers related to different aspects of ancient Near Eastern civilization
will be presented.
This year three academic sessions will be offered on the
antiquities of Iraq, including two sessions on the Archaeology of Mesopotamia
and one on the Archaeology of Syria. Presentations will discuss efforts to catalogue
and recover items taken from the Baghdad Museum as well as academic responsibility
and the publishing of artifacts of uncertain provenience.
The
popular Archaeology and the Public sessions will include presentations on the
cultural heritage of Jerusalem, where archaeological sites are often subject to
reinterpretation by modern political agendas. Other sessions will be devoted to
such areas as ancient Anatolia, ancient Arabia, Egypt and Canaan, and the southern
Levant. A
detailed program of events, complete with costs, is listed at www.asor.org/AM/am.htm.
The program is also available from the American Schools of Oriental Research,
located at Boston University, 656 Beacon St., 5th floor, Boston, MA 02215, tel.
617-353-6570, fax 617-353-6575.
The ASOR academic
sessions are also open to any interested person. The cost is $70.00 for one day
or $140 for two or more days. Accompanying spouses or partners may attend at a
reduced fee: $40 for one day and $70 for the entire session. ASOR members are
eligible for a reduced fee. A complete program of events is available online (Academic
sessions). Information is also available from the ASOR Administrative Office,
656 Beacon Street, 5th floor, Boston, MA 02215-2010. Tel. (617) 353-6570, fax:
(617) 353-6575, email: asor@bu.edu. *
* *
ASOR was founded in 1900 by a consortium of 21 universities,
including Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Columbia. Today it counts more than 100
institutions in its membership roster. This list includes universities, seminaries,
museums, foundations and libraries. St. Mary's University and Austin Presbyterian
Theological Seminary are both corporate members of ASOR.
ASOR's
stated objectives are to initiate, encourage and support research into the cultures
of the Near East from the earliest times, and to help the public understand these
findings. ASOR fosters such original research as archaeological excavations and
explorations, and encourages scholarship in the basic languages, cultural histories
and traditions of the ancient Near East. ASOR also offers educational opportunities
in Near Eastern history and archaeology to students in North American colleges
and universities, and, through outreach activities, to the public.
Read
more about ASOR's:
Annual Meeting,
its mission, and members of its
consortium |
2004
ASOR Annual Meeting - press release