Membership Survey Report – Follow Up

Posted on June 26, 2016 by Jared Koller

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MEMBERSHIP SURVEY REPORT – FOLLOW UP

[/vc_column_text][mk_image src=”http://www.asor.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/ASOR-Membership-Survey.jpg” image_width=”615″ image_height=”200″ crop=”false” hover=”false”][vc_column_text]Written by Inda Omerefendic

78% of those who completed our recent Membership Survey agreed to take a longer survey with a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card. 137 individuals completed the survey. Let’s see what they had to say…

The questions posed were:

Specify the importance of each membership benefit:
- Receive some of all of ASOR’s journals
- Receive discounts on ASOR books and site reports
- Receive discounted rate to the Annual Meeting
- Know that I support ASOR’s work through my membership dues
- Receive various ASOR e-newsletters
- Receive access to exclusive webinars on topics related to career and professional development
- Attend ASOR events in addition to the Annual Meeting
- Interact with fellow ASOR members in an online community forum
- Gain opportunities to share my research and professional work
- Receive discounts to related organizations, institutions, and museums
How did you learn about ASOR?
Do you attend our Annual Meeting?
- In the last five years, I have attended the Annual Meeting…
- If you answered “No,” why do you not attend the Annual Meeting?
Do you follow our social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, or the ASOR Blog?
- Which social media site do you visit the most and do you have suggestions for improvement?
- Do you have suggestions for getting more social media followers to become ASOR members or attend the Annual Meeting?
What is your preferred method of contact for matters other than membership renewal reminders?
How do you like to receive your membership renewal reminders?
Would you support ASOR offering a graduated membership rate based on student status and/or level of employment even if it meant that your membership dues might increase?
Specify whether the following are reasonably priced: ASOR Membership, ASOR book publications (not journals), ASOR Annual Meeting registration fee, and ASOR Annual Meeting hotel rates.
Do you think that you have a role in ASOR’s decision-making process?
Describe your interactions with the ASOR office staff.
Additional comments for ASOR?

Please specify the importance of each membership benefit…

The membership benefit that was ranked most important, with 81% of survey-takers giving it a 4 or a 5 (out of 5) was, “Receive some or all of ASOR’s journals.” A close second, with 78% giving it a 4 or a 5, was, “Receive a discounted rate to the Annual Meeting.” When looking at the benefits that were ranked least important, the two that were rated with either a 1 or a 2 were, “Interact with fellow ASOR members in an online community forum,” with 49%, and, “Receive access to exclusive webinars on topics related to career and professional development,” with 47%. The other benefits received a majority of responses in between “Most Important” and “Least Important.” While I’m glad to see that two benefits we already provide are deemed most important, we hope to provide more reasons for you to look forward to your ASOR Membership every year.

How did you learn about ASOR?

45% of those who completed the survey have been members of ASOR for over 10 years, while only 1% learned about ASOR through an online promotion or e-mail. So far, our most established members seem to be the most vocal based on their high participation rate in both surveys. We hope that more and more of our new members join the conversation soon![/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Do you attend our Annual Meeting?

55% answered, “Yes,” 32% answered “Sometimes,” and 13% answered, “No.” The most common response for the number of times the individual attended the Annual Meeting in the past five years was five meetings with 33%. The other options (1-4 meetings) all had percentages evenly spread in the teens.

The most common responses for why someone doesn’t attend the Annual Meeting came as no surprise, with money and time being the main reasons, especially for those who live far from meeting sites or outside of the US. These reasons are well known to us at ASOR, and we are continuously trying to find more ways to offer more discounts and travel support to our members.

What are some ways we can extend the experience of the Annual Meeting to those who cannot attend? Feel free to reach out to us if you have an idea, and we’ll take it into consideration!

Do you follow our social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, or the ASOR Blog?

55% of you follow our social media sites! Woo! However, 39% stated they do not, but I do hope some of those numbers head over to the “Yes” column sometime soon.

Based on the statements provided, the most followed sites were Facebook and the ASOR Blog. Some suggestions for improvement included posting more highlights regarding ASOR Member achievements, broadening our focus by sharing more general archaeology news (not just Near Eastern), incorporating more personal interest pieces (Someone cited the “What’s In Your Dig Bag?” as an enjoyable piece – I thought so too!), and providing more links to ASOR-affiliated projects while excavations are in progress or a blog by students in the field at different ASOR-affiliated dig sites. We love all of these ideas! If you have a news item regarding an ASOR-affiliated project or would like to highlight an ASOR member’s achievement, please do not hesitate to share your news with me at asorpubs@bu.edu or with Kaitlynn Anderson at asormedia@gmail.com. While we can’t promise that we’ll be able to share everything that comes our way, sometimes the only way a news items is brought to our attention is when someone in ASOR sends us a notice, which anyone is welcomed to do!

We asked for suggestions on how to encourage social media followers to become ASOR Members or attend the Annual Meeting:

“Offer discounts or promotional periods for registration and perhaps also competitions where people could enter to win discounts on the hotel registration.”

“Have Annual Meetings in MAJOR academic centers/cities.”

“Subtitles on YouTube would provide a better understanding of the various talks for the non-English speakers and vice versa since the lecturers whose origin is not from native English speaking countries have an tremendously varied accents. That makes it difficult to understand the original research from very interesting talks.” –This is something we’ll work on right away!

“Membership Drive type events like March Fellowship Madness, but focused on memberships at a discounted rate.”

“Advertise the Annual Meeting hashtag and encourage people to tweet during the meeting – which means having good phone reception and/or wifi available in all meeting rooms.”

“I think the social media presence does not reflect what happens at the Annual Meetings. This isn’t a bad thing, but if I am a non-professional and decide to come to an Annual Meeting because I like what is posted on ASOR’s Facebook page, I’d probably be lost at the meetings (and a little irritated) because the paper topics are much too scholarly. So, I think the question/challenge is about enhancing/articulating the benefits of membership for non-professionals, without diluting the scholarly content that professionals rely on.”

[What is your preferred method of contact?]

For question #5 regarding what is the preferred method of contact for matters other than membership renewals, the winner with 82% was email. E-newsletters received a percentage of 14%, while paper mailings received 4%. The option for telephone contact received 0%.

For question #6 regarding what is the preferred method of receiving membership renewal reminders, the winner with 85% was email, while paper mailings got 11%. E-newsletters received 1%, while the telephone option again received 0%.

Over the past few years, we’ve rolled out a lot of improvements in terms of email design and outreach via email. We hope to continue improving and working to make online transactions something with which everyone is comfortable.

Would you support ASOR offering a graduated membership rate…?

66% of the responders answered that they’re interested in the idea; 13% said that they were not interested; 20% said that they were not sure how they felt about the idea.[/vc_column_text][mk_image src=”http://www.asor.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/grad-rate.png” image_width=”593″ image_height=”366″ crop=”false” hover=”false”][vc_column_text]

Specify whether ASOR Membership, ASOR books, Annual Meeting registration, and Annual Meeting hotel rates are reasonably priced.

Most of the answers fell in the 3 or 4 range (out of 5 for “strongly agree”). The only response that had a stronger sense of disagreement was that the Annual Meeting hotel rates were not reasonably priced. 27% of respondents said they disagreed with the “reasonably priced” statement, while 12% of respondents, or fewer, disagreed with the statement that ASOR memberships, ASOR books, and ASOR Annual Meeting registration were reasonably priced.

Do you think you have a role in ASOR’s decision-making process?

57% said, “Yes,” while 43% said, “No.” Last year, we held elections via an online voting process for the first time. The process went very well, and we hope to bring more decision-making opportunities directly to our members’ inboxes![/vc_column_text][mk_image src=”http://www.asor.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/interact-rate.png” image_width=”597″ image_height=”388″ crop=”false” hover=”false”][vc_column_text]

Which of the following best describes your interactions with the ASOR office staff?

I’m happy to report that 89% of members said that your experience with the ASOR staff was either positive or very positive.

Additional comments?

I know that I have just listed off a lot of numbers and percentages that may make it difficult to get a sense of how ASOR members really feel about ASOR, but we hope that it will at least shed some light on their views, especially on areas where there is room for improvement.

Additional comments received provide further suggestions on possible discounted memberships, membership changes, concerns raised by the location of our Annual Meetings, and other news items people would like to hear about. With our Strategic Plan recently finalized for 2016-2020, all this feedback not only provides us with areas that we can focus on, but also with a number of suggestions to consider when looking on how to move forward in the best possible way. Please see below for some of those additional comments:

“One point the membership committee needs to consider is that THERE IS NO LOGICAL REASON for a student (grad/undergrad) to join the organization if they are at a member school. The membership committee should be trying to find an active way to get students, particularly MA/PhD to join and have a stake in the organization.”

“I have never had a negative experience with ASOR, whether it be with the staff, event, new letters it’s always been a great experience!!!”

“If ASOR is keen to increase its profile with the public and increase the number of avocational members, it could look to the AIA and its system of local societies and local, public lecture series. It does take some effort to set these up and keep them going, but it does a lot of good for the profile of the AIA and the promotion of archaeology, good archaeological practices and awareness.”

“Regarding graduated membership rates: I’d suggest adding retirees as another category for discounts. Maybe also distinguish between professionally employed (e.g. faculty) and those not working in the field (alt. ac., etc.).”

“I’d like to see the annual membership actually go from date of joining to 365 days later rather than membership being tied to the journal publication quarters. I ” lost” nearly 2 months of membership due to joining at a time in between journal publication cycles. For example, if I join on August 13th, then my membership should expire 365 days on the following August 13th.”

“It would be good if ASOR were to consider more ways to specifically help graduate students discuss the their work, i.e. sessions at the Annual Meeting devoted to grad students paper, for example. Both ASOR and SBL could be doing a lot more in this area. Expanding the size of the Annual Meeting to have more slots for papers and thus less rejections every year might be considered.”

“ASOR staff are helpful and efficient in dealing with direct inquiries. As an overseas member there is less opportunity for me to serve on committees etc. but I am OK with that.”

“The undergraduate rate is very welcome, but I think it would be fair to have a lower rate for post-graduates and those not yet at an institution because it’s a very hard time finance-wise for us. You might even get MORE people interested if the price was fairer and not need to raise other rates.”

“I renew my membership and register for the next meeting every November because I know it’s the least expensive rate I’ll get. There may be an opportunity for more professional mentoring beyond the “Junior Scholars” group, which is largely a grad student group and focused on grad student issues. I would love to see early career scholars have professional development opportunities under the mentorship of ASOR’s senior members.”

“I would like to see ASOR become the digital archives for all CAP excavation reports so members can access the data freely.”

“PLEASE do more targeted advertising of ASOR and related events. There was a talk at the Wadsworth Atheneum, in Hartford this spring, and I did not find out about it until afterward. I’d have gone and taken students. I am very sorry I missed it.” –If there is ever a news item or event that you think would be of interest to ASOR, please send it to us and we’ll do our best to share it in a timely matter and avoid this happening!

“The scholarships and fellowships that ASOR provides students and junior faculty are wonderful.”

– – – – –

What to do now? Quite a few suggestions raised revolved around the news items we share regarding related events and ASOR Member achievements. I’m excited about this because this issue has a simple solution – get in touch with us! Please never hesitate to contact someone on the ASOR staff regarding news you’d like to share, ASOR member or institution announcements, or questions you may have regarding memberships or the Annual Meeting. This survey was intended to start a conversation within ASOR, and we need your help to keep that conversation going!

The winner of the $100 Amazon gift card from this survey was Kathryn Simonsen, and you can find the announcement of her win on our Facebook and Twitter!

Membership Survey Report written by:[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1504410921804{padding-right: 20px !important;}”][mk_image src=”http://www.asor.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Inda.gif” image_width=”136″ image_height=”213″ crop=”false” hover=”false”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Inda Omerefendic
Publications and Fulfillment Manager
asorpubs@bu.edu
(617) 358-4376[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684098866{margin-right: 5px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_wp_posts title=”BROWSE THE NEWS ARCHIVE” number=”4″][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684008271{margin-right: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 30px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_column_text]Tweets by ASOResearch [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

A Message from the Treasurer

Posted on June 20, 2016 by Jared Koller

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A MESSAGE FROM THE TREASURER

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Dear Fellow ASOR Members and Friends:

We are hurtling towards the June 30 fiscal year end. In his June 7 message, Executive Director, Andy Vaughn, focused on our goal of 410 discrete donors for Fiscal Year 2016. With less than ten days to go, we have 280 discrete donors.

We have a long way to go in a short period of time. We need your help. And we need it now. So if you have not made a donation this fiscal year, please consider doing so. Your gift—no matter the amount—is crucial to achieving our goal. And while we’re at it, let’s go ahead and set a new all-time record of 418 discrete donors in a single fiscal year.

Remember—high donor participation by our members translates into large grants from foundations and substantial individual donations. Success breeds success. For the last two years, ASOR has ranked first among learned societies in membership donor participation—let’s keep it that way.

But I also want to speak to the actual dollars received. With less than ten days to go in Fiscal Year 2016, we have received $393,742 in memberships and subscriptions revenue. The all-time record is $412,750. So while we are setting a new record for the number of discrete donors, let’s also set a new record for memberships and subscriptions revenue in a single fiscal year.

Why? Because ASOR delivers on its membership benefits and publications, and we want to continue to do so.

But we also want to continue to grow and strengthen the organization; produce successful and thought provoking Annual Meetings; expand our student scholarships; engage in programs to safeguard and protect cultural heritage; and support our members in their research and professional endeavors through fellowships and grants.

All of which takes money. Your money. And I am not too bashful to ask for it.

This is an exciting time to be an ASOR member. Our Annual Meeting will be at a beautiful, family-oriented resort in the Texas hill country. We recently adopted an ambitious strategic plan that will expand our presence on the world stage, and further our mission into the next decade. We also are in the throes of a re-branding process that will result in a totally overhauled ASOR website. It will be visually stunning, chock full of useful information, and provide enhanced membership benefits. And, of course, be more user-friendly.

Did I mention it takes money to do all of this stuff? It does and we need it. Whether $10, $25, $100 or more, your contribution will be significant and meaningful. And it also could be record setting.

So if you haven’t made a contribution this fiscal year, now is the time to stand and deliver. June 30 is fast upon us. We accept cash, checks, and money orders. Credit card donations may be made through the ASOR website (just click here to DONATE).

If you have already contributed, thank you for supporting ASOR. That said, please consider joining me in chipping in a little bit more. Let’s set some records.

Best regards,

Richard L. Coffman
ASOR Treasurer[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684098866{margin-right: 5px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_wp_posts title=”BROWSE THE NEWS ARCHIVE” number=”4″][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684008271{margin-right: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 30px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_column_text]Tweets by ASOResearch [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Request for Proposals for Prepress Work for Near Eastern Archaeology

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Jared Koller

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REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR PREPRESS WORK FOR NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY

REVIEW OF PROPOSALS TO BEGIN JULY 14, 2016

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]ASOR, The American Schools of Oriental Research, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to initiate, encourage, and support research into, and public understanding of, the history and cultures of the Near East and wider Mediterranean world, from the earliest times. ASOR is apolitical and has no religious affiliation.

ASOR seeks an experienced production person or team for a longstanding quarterly popular publication (Near Eastern Archaeology) in archaeology. Each issue is 8.5 x 11” trim, 64 printed pages + 4 cover pages, two-column text and contains multiple color illustrations and some ads. We occasionally produce issues of 96 pages. Approximately 20 articles are published each year (about 25 if there are several 96-page issues). Expected timetable of 8-10 weeks between receipt of approved manuscript of each issue and delivery to printer. Production person/team should be knowledgeable about production of professional journals and semi-popular magazines. It is important to have the ability to work with scholars; careful attention to schedules and details is essential. Please provide sample publications produced and quote a fixed cost per page.

Tasks include:

Design of 8.5 x 11” cover and interior templates in conjunction with journal’s editor and ASOR publications office.
Light electronic copyediting of manuscripts according to CMS style, including confirming consistency in references.
Occasional heavy copyediting of manuscripts from non-native English-speaking authors.
Identifying and informing editor of material used that requires copyright permission.
Sending copyedited manuscript to authors and journal editor for approval; incorporating corrections.
Issuing and monitoring return of contracts for each article; advising editor of any contract problems.
Designing issue cover in conjunction with journal editor from camera-ready art provided you.
Typesetting and placement of approved text into design template; image placement and ad placement of material provided to you in camera-ready format
Working with journal editor to ensure proper length of issues, adjusting articles to fit as necessary.
Proofs for authors and editor(s): Proofreading each issue; first proofs to authors/editors; revised proofs to editors; and final proofs of any remaining corrections. Bid should include correction of all typesetting errors and up to 15 hours per issue of author/editor changes.
Preparation of PDF files for printer: Will be done according to printer specifications and include standard preparations of the figures. Designer will work with the ASOR office to download barcodes (ASOR will pay cost of the barcode). ASOR office has already obtained print bids, and the ASOR office will submit print orders. Designer will communicate with printer as necessary and coordinate as necessary. Designer will review printer proofs and communicate with the ASOR office about any changes needed.
Preparation of web-ready PDF offprints: Will work with the ASOR office to insert the appropriate footer and make PDF copies ready for authors. ASOR office will divide the issue into separate articles and send the articles to the authors.
Submit a DVD or CD to the ASOR office with the print-ready PDF file and the typesetting package (i.e., the InDesign files and supporting folders / images). ASOR will pay reasonable shipping costs.
Preparing xml-ready files and metatags for electronic load according to guidelines provided by electronic platform vendor.

Submission of proposals / bids: We require that all proposals be submitted electronically by e-mail. ASOR requests that proposals contain an inclusive / comprehensive price assuming 272 pages per year (including covers). We anticipate one or two blank pages per issues and the insert of several (hopefully 3-4) trouble free ads. Some half-page and quarter-page ads will also need to be inserted. The ads may use up blank pages or one or more of the covers per issue. Please also include an additional price for each issue that might contain 96 pages.

Additional services: (please list per hour price; no work to be undertaken without first checking with the ASOR’s Publications Manager [not the editor]): trouble-shooting problems with files; data entry of Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, etc.; author/editor changes over 15 hours per issue; processing and correcting images; additional graphics work; shipping charges for DVD or CD (see above).

Deadline for submission of proposals: Midnight EDT, Thursday, July 14, 2016.

Address for submission of proposals:
Dr. Andrew G. Vaughn, ASOR Executive Director
c/o Ms. Britta Abeln, Assistant to the Director)
E-mail: asor@bu.edu

Questions and requests for more information:
Ms. Inda Omerefendic, ASOR Publications Manager
E-mail: asorpubs@bu.edu
Telephone: 617-358-4376[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684098866{margin-right: 5px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_wp_posts title=”BROWSE THE NEWS ARCHIVE” number=”4″][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684008271{margin-right: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 30px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_column_text]Tweets by ASOResearch [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Membership Survey Report

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Jared Koller

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MEMBERSHIP SURVEY REPORT

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Written by Inda Omerefendic

Recently, ASOR sent out a short, four question survey to all our members regarding ASOR membership. 302 of you completed the survey, providing insightful feedback about your interactions with ASOR and how we can improve your member experience.

The questions posed were:

1. Why are you an ASOR member?
2. What benefit(s) would you like to receive with your membership? (The options included benefits that were both currently available and not yet provided.)
3. Do you find the membership renewal process simple?
-If you answered No to the question above, why?
4. Would you be willing to participate in a longer survey for a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card?

Why are you an ASOR member?

Rather than summing up all the unique and insightful reasons, I’ll provide you with a few quotes that stood out:

[I] am a member of ASOR for two basic reasons. First, it is an intellectually vibrant academic society serving and uniting my fields of interest. Second, it provides a very welcoming place where several generations of scholars can meet and socialize.

I am studying archaeology and being an ASOR member is a good way to meet other archaeologists and learn about news and popular topics.

As a professional archaeologist it is THE organization to belong to for the best, most accurate information on excavations in the Middle East. It is not a political organization so the facts are objective (for the most part), and thought stimulating.

I intended to be an archaeologist from the time I was a child, and succeeded to get as far as a BA in Anthropology concentrating on archaeology, but life took several turns in other directions. I still keep up, though, with this membership and others. I would like to think that my membership helps.

Because I believe strongly in the importance of what ASOR does. It is a professional group that I enjoy being part of.

While not everyone expressed sentiments similar to the ones above, I hope that as we work to improve the membership experience and as ASOR continues to grow, more individuals will feel that their ASOR membership is part of something greater than a professional necessity or a requirement for participating in the Annual Meeting. Thanks for all the thoughtful responses!

What benefit(s) would you like to receive with your membership?

For this question, we provided a list of benefits that are either currently available or not yet offered. There was also the option to write in a response. The list was as follows: receive some or all of ASOR’s journals, receive discounts on ASOR books and site reports, receive a discounted rate to the Annual Meeting, know that I support ASOR’s work through my membership dues, receive various ASOR e-newsletters, serve on ASOR committees, attend ASOR events in addition to the Annual Meeting, interact with fellow ASOR members in an online community forum, gain opportunities to share my research and professional work, receive discounts to related organizations, institutions, and museums, receive access to exclusive webinars on topics related to career and professional development, and other.

The results can be viewed on the graph below that was automatically created within our email service provider (Informz):[/vc_column_text][mk_image src=”http://www.asor.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/memb-graph.png” image_width=”942″ image_height=”370″ crop=”false” hover=”false”][vc_column_text]The bottom lines are difficult to read but they are the benefits listed in the order listed in the first paragraph of this section. “Receive some or all of ASOR’s journals” was the most selected benefit with 86% of respondents stating that it is a benefit they want to receive with their membership. In second place with 77% was “receive a discounted rate to the Annual Meeting.” Under “Other” some wrote that their ASOR membership helps them gain access to funding opportunities and that they feel pride in participating in ASOR-affiliated projects.

Do you find the membership renewal process simple?

95% of the individuals who responded to this survey question answered, “Yes.” Of the 5% that answered “No,” follow-up comments provided feedback for the ASOR staff who process memberships and provided insights regarding ASOR more generally and our members’ experiences.

Comments we received noted that it would be better if the confirmation email included the journals selected with one’s membership, since print professional/student/retired memberships have a choice of 2 out of 3 journals. If nothing is selected at the time of the purchase, NEA and BASOR become the default selections, but a note in the confirmation email would definitely be helpful. We hope to come to a solution by working with our database provider that creates the email templates. But if you are ever unsure about your purchase, regarding your selected journals or anything else, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Something else that was expressed was that the separate process for Annual Meeting registration and membership purchase is annoying. This happens when a new member is registering for the meeting when one’s membership has lapsed. Unfortunately, the registration system will only show meeting registration options if there is a current membership on your account, and, sadly, it does not register the membership in your shopping cart. This will be another topic that will be discussed with our database provider.

Another common response was that our online shopping environment can be (and should be) improved and streamlined. We hope to improve this in the near future. On the topic of online shopping, one person said that a useful feature would be a 1-click purchase button that would purchase the same membership you had previously.

One final comment was the concern that our membership expiration dates coincide with four quarterly dates, rather than a full year from the purchase date. This is something we have in place because of our journal publication schedule and for internal processes. But this will be discussed with our Membership and Outreach Committee as a result of the concerns raised in this survey.

Would you be willing to participate in a longer survey for a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card?

78% of people answered “Yes” to this question, and the survey has already gone out and been completed. Check out Facebook and Twitter for the winner of the $100 Amazon gift card!

– – – – –

We had a wonderful turn-out for this first membership survey, and we hope to make them more frequent to keep the channels of communication open between our members and those that work on providing them with membership benefits. The winner of the $50 Amazon gift card from this survey was Joan Branham, and you can find the announcement of her win on our Facebook and Twitter![/vc_column_text][mk_image src=”http://www.asor.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/JoanBranham.jpg” image_width=”940″ image_height=”788″ crop=”false” hover=”false”][vc_column_text]Membership Survey Report written by:[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1504410921804{padding-right: 20px !important;}”][mk_image src=”http://www.asor.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Inda.gif” image_width=”136″ image_height=”213″ crop=”false” hover=”false”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Inda Omerefendic
Publications and Fulfillment Manager
asorpubs@bu.edu
(617) 358-4376[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684098866{margin-right: 5px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_wp_posts title=”BROWSE THE NEWS ARCHIVE” number=”4″][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684008271{margin-right: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 30px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_column_text]Tweets by ASOResearch [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

A Message from ASOR’s Executive Director Regarding Donor Participation

Posted on June 2, 2016 by Jared Koller

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A MESSAGE FROM ASOR’S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REGARDING DONOR PARTICIPATION

[/vc_column_text][mk_image src=”http://www.asor.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/donor-participation-june6.png” image_width=”648″ image_height=”337″ crop=”false” hover=”false”][vc_column_text responsive_align=”left”]Dear fellow ASOR members and friends:

As the graph above illustrates, one of the reasons that ASOR has thrived over the past few years is the amazing support that we receive from our members. We are unique among learned societies in having almost 1 in 4 members who make a charitable gift over and above their membership dues. We also have an extremely high percentage of members who donate their time to help make us great.

As we move near the end of our fiscal year (June 30), please consider joining 400 of your fellow members and friends in making a gift to ASOR. Our goal is to have 410 discrete donors for Fiscal Year 2016. As you consider joining us as a donor, I wanted to share some of the things that your membership dues and charitable donations have enabled us to accomplish over the past year:

We held an extremely successful Annual Meeting in 2015, and we have more paper proposals than ever before for the 2016 meeting.
We continued to publish three journals that carry out our mission to disseminate knowledge about the Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds.
We published three volumes in the Archaeological Reports and ASOR Annual series.
We provided two Harris Grants of $5,000 each to support field projects. We provided a Mesopotamian Fellowship of $7,000 research in cuneiform studies. We also awarded a Dever Fellowship of $7,000 so that a non-tenured biblical scholar could have extensive experience in archaeology.
We announced the establishment of the Joe D. Seger Endowment for support of archaeological projects. We also saw the endowments for the Strange/Midkiff, Meyers, and MacAllister Funds continue to grow with new gifts.
We continued to award scholarships that enable students and junior scholars to participate in archaeological fieldwork.
We established two new, named awards at the Annual Meeting: The Joy Ungerleider Poster Award and the Nancy Lapp Popular Book Award.
We created an Undergraduate Membership category and now offer a discounted membership rate for new non-North American student members to make membership more accessible and affordable for students.
We provided 16 scholarships for students and junior scholars to attend the Annual Meeting.

We also continued our increasingly important work in protecting and preserving the cultural heritage of the Near East and wider Mediterranean:

We were recognized internationally as a leader in advocating for the protection and safeguarding of cultural heritage. Our programs have been acknowleged by both UNESCO General Secretary Irina Bokova and U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
We played an instrumental role in advocating for the passage of H.R. 1493—a bill that gives the same protection to looted antiquities from Syria as is given to items from Iraq.
We co-sponsored a World Heritage Day event at the Smithsonian Institution and held a special symposium the prior evening at The George Washington University Elliott School, where we launched the Cultural Heritage Monitor—a crowd-sourcing web app to aid anonymous reporting of heritage damage and looting.
We played a significant leadership role in bringing cultural heritage groups together work collaboratively, and this work was publically recognized by NEH Chairman William Adams.
We signed a cooperative agreement with the German Archaeological Institute for the sharing of our heritage inventories and research in Syria. We also signed a cooperative agreement with the Getty Conservation Institute to work collaboratively on the development of Arches—an open source geospatial tool that is available online.
We were proud to have ASOR Cultural Heritages Initiatives Academic Director Michael Danti testify before Congress about the looting and trafficking of antiquities.

Also:

We completed a strategic planning process that will help us become even more effective in carrying out our mission.
We were recognized by the NEH and ACLS as one of the organizations that most effectively demonstrates the relevancy of the humanities in the 21st century.
We received a legacy gift of almost $75,000 from the Wendell W. Weir estate that provided crucial support for ASOR’s general endowment.
Most important, we continued to support our members in their research and professional endeavors.

Your contribution, regardless of whether it is $10, $50, $1,000, or $5,000, is significant and meaningful. The aggregate contributions will help ASOR achieve our goals. Your individual gifts will also help us maintain a high donor participation, which is crucial for attracting large donations from foundations and individual donors.

Thank you for your consideration.

Best regards,
Andy Vaughn
ASOR Executive Director

Other ways you can donate:

Donate by Phone

Call ASOR (number temporarily unavailable until June 29th)

Donate by Mail

Send a check to:

ASOR
P. O. Box 15729
Boston, MA 02215

Make a Pledge (Donate Later)

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ASOR and AIA Play Important Role in Passage of Cultural Heritage Law

Posted on May 28, 2016 by Jared Koller

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ASOR AND AIA PLAY IMPORTANT ROLE IN PASSAGE OF CULTURAL HERITAGE LAW

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]On Monday, May 9, 2016, President Obama signed into law H.R. 1493, the “Protect and Preserve International Cultural Property Act,” which directs the President to exercise his authority to impose import restrictions with respect to any archaeological or ethnological material of Syria.

Our members should know that ASOR has been actively advocating for the passage of this legislation for more than a year, and we are particularly grateful for the work of ASOR member Dr. Patty Gerstenblith of the DePaul University College of Law who prepared numerous briefs for our members and the National Humanities Alliance (NHA)—a 501(c)(4) organization of which ASOR is a proud member.

(Press release about the bill’s passage from US Committee of the Blue Shield)

ASOR’s role in the advocacy work from April 2015 – February 2016

Last April and May, ASOR encouraged its members to contact their congressional representatives and advocate for the passage of this bill. The House passed H.R. 1493 in June 2015 with bi-partisan support; however, the legislation lingered in the Senate for almost eight months until the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the bill with an amendment in February 2016.

ASOR members and cultural heritage experts identified the passing of this bill as a high priority. Thus, ASOR and AIA developed a summary of the legislation that we shared with ASOR officers who are constituents of senators whose support might be helpful for the passage of the bill. In particular, ASOR’s Board Chair, Dr. B.W. Ruffner (from Tennessee) was instrumental in persuading Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, who serves as Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to move this legislation forward. Similarly, ASOR’s executive director (who is a citizen of Maine) met with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who subsequently reached out to ranking members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Other ASOR members also reached out to their senators in support of this bill.

National Humanities Alliance Advocacy Day (March 15, 2016) and subsequent passage

ASOR partnered with the NHA to include a “Cultural Heritage Briefing” sheet in the materials available to NHS members who participated in “Humanities Advocacy Day,” which took place on March 15, 2016. This briefing sheet, written by Dr. Gerstenblith and other AIA and ASOR volunteers, was shared by NHA members with staff of senators and House members on the Foreign Relations Committee during “Humanities Advocacy Day” meetings — thererby dramatically widening ASOR’s advocacy impact by including the dozens of leaders in the humanities who took part in Humanities Advocacy Day. ASOR President Susan Ackerman and ASOR Executive Director Andy Vaughn were pleased to join in these efforts by joining the delegations of NHA members who were meeting with the staffs of several members of the Foreign Relations Committee—Sen. Ben Cardin (MD), Sen. Johnny Isakson (GA), Sen. David Perdue (GA), Sen. Marco Rubio (FL), and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (NH)—as well as with the staffs of several other senators and representatives (a total of 8 scheduled meetings for Andy, and 9 for Susan).

The result, in addition to the hoped-for result of getting the bill passed and to President Obama’s desk, was a lot of great visibility for ASOR in the offices of the Senate and the House of Representatives. ASOR was also prominently featured at the National Humanities Alliance meetings on the previous day, where the Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities William Adams specifically mentioned the NEH-funded summit that ASOR convened in Washington, D.C., in December 2015 in conjunction with the AIA. More specifically, Chairman Adams cited this summit, which brought together over twenty organizations engaged in cultural heritage projects in Syria and nearby regions, as an example of the way NEH is promoting the public relevance of the humanities by showcasing the powerful opportunities the humanities have to speak to important issues in the public sphere.

While ASOR, AIA, and the NHA were not the only groups advocating for passage of this legislation, we were proud to play a significant part in seeing this legislation become law. We are also pleased that the National Humanities Alliance has already reached out so that we might continue our partnership with the NHA by developing a new Cultural Heritage Briefing sheet about other issues of importance that are currently being considered in Congress. We are working with NHA on this new briefing sheet, and we will report back to the ASOR membership in an upcoming issue of News@ASOR.

Overview of the legislation that was signed into law

This legislation imposes import restrictions on cultural materials illegally removed from Syria after March 2011, the beginning of civil war there, and will fulfill United States obligations under U.N. Security Council Resolution 2199. In addition, the legislation will empower the executive branch, under the auspices of the Department of State, to coordinate all federal agency activities that concern protection of cultural property abroad. Such coordination is needed to reduce duplication of effort, increase effectiveness of efforts, and ensure that those agencies with special expertise are called upon in appropriate circumstances.

This legislation serves national interests in the following ways:

The archaeological remains of the Middle East, North Africa, and the broader Mediterranean Basin are a significant part of our shared cultural heritage.
This heritage is increasingly subject to damage, destruction and looting of sites and repositories as a part of armed conflict and other threats.
The sale of looted archeological objects funds the terrorist activities of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). This legislation ensures that the United States is not a market for these objects.
The destruction of sites and historic structures is another form of ISIL terrorism perpetrated on the local populations.
The destruction of cultural heritage diminishes our ability to learn, reconstruct, and understand our past.

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Vienna 2016 Statement on Threats to Cultural Heritage by the 10th International Conference on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East

Posted on May 25, 2016 by Jared Koller

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VIENNA 2016 STATEMENT ON THREATS TO CULTURAL HERITAGE BY THE 10TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

ASOR’s friends and colleagues on the steering committee of the 10th ICAANE (International Conference on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East) Conference that just took place in Vienna last week have asked ASOR to share “The Vienna Statement 2016” with our members. It is a “Statement About the Threat to Cultural Heritage in the Near East and North Africa.” ASOR has a long-standing commitment to safeguarding cultural heritage, and we are pleased that past ASOR President Timothy Harrison presented the plenary address on international cultural heritage efforts at the conference and that the ASOR Cultural Heritage Initiatives team also gave a presentation in a workshop last Thursday.

The following is the text of “The Vienna Statement 2016”:

Vienna Statement 2016
Statement about the Threat to Cultural Heritage in the
Near East and North Africa
10th International Conference on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East
(10th ICAANE)

On April 27, 2016 the special section ‘Cultural Heritage under Threat: Challenges and Solutions’ took place as part of the 10th ICAANE in Vienna. The Vienna Organising Committee and Scientific Board of the 10th ICAANE and participants in this event affirm the following:

1. The Near East and North Africa are among the richest cultural landscapes in the world, with remains from almost all periods of human history. Their importance is underlined by numerous inscriptions in the UNESCO World Heritage list.

2. The cultural property of these regions is in great danger. Destruction due to conflict and warfare, looting and illegal excavation, combined with the illicit trade in antiquities, has already led to the partial or complete loss of important historic monuments and objects.

3. The continuing and significant loss of cultural heritage through accidental or deliberate action poses a grave threat to the cultural identity and economic potential of these regions. Furthermore, the destruction of cultural archives constitutes an irreplaceable loss to humanity as a whole.

4. The situation requires intense international cooperation at all levels. Regional authorities, in particular antiquities bodies, scientific institutions, UNESCO, police, and border control, must cooperate over the long term. Such cooperation has been promoted by numerous international meetings, and these must continue to occur regularly.

5. Representatives and staff of the regional and local authorities, in particular antiquities bodies, in the affected regions should be supported in preserving the cultural property in their care by both national and international institutions, organizations, and committees (for example, through guest residencies for training and courses).

6. At a scientific level, dialogue with national authorities (such as departments of antiquities) must be initiated or continued with respect to the exchange or transfer of research data on archaeological sites and historical monuments generated in the affected countries by international research institutions.

7. Campaigns to raise awareness in printed, broadcast and social media are the basis for increasing public awareness of the problem of endangered cultural property. The extensive efforts made in recent years must continue at an international level.

8. Criminal investigations into the illegal trade in antiquities must be facilitated, and supported by professional expertise.

9. There is a clear need for international, UNESCO-supported conferences where expert analysts, in collaboration with national authorities, can develop proposals for consolidation, mitigation and preservation projects as a response to damage to and destruction of cultural property.

10. Advanced training abroad in the areas of consolidation, preservation, and reconstruction should be facilitated for young scholars from the affected regions in the following disciplines: archaeology, architecture, heritage conservation, and tourism management.

11. Study-abroad opportunities for students of archaeology, architecture, heritage conservation, and tourism management should also be made possible and facilitated.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684098866{margin-right: 5px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_wp_posts title=”BROWSE THE NEWS ARCHIVE” number=”4″][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684008271{margin-right: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 30px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_column_text]Tweets by ASOResearch [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

ASOR Members Can Receive $60 off the Gitin Pottery Volumes

Posted on May 24, 2016 by Jared Koller

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ASOR MEMBERS CAN RECEIVE $60 OFF THE GITIN POTTERY VOLUMES

Or, You May Make a Contribution So That A Student May Receive the Two-Volume Resource

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Dear fellow ASOR member,

I am pleased to recommend to you the recent publication of what many are calling “The Ceramics Bible.” The official title is The Ancient Pottery of Israel and Its Neighbors from the Iron Age through the Hellenistic Period. I am even more pleased to share that, because ASOR is a sponsor of these volumes, they are available to ASOR members at a discounted rate of $180, which is $60 off the regular price.

Whether or not you already own the volumes, I would like to encourage you to make a gift that will enable Palestinian, Jordanian, Cypriot and Israeli students (or junior scholars) to own the volume. You may make a gift to ASOR online, and we will work with our affiliated research centers to put the pottery volumes in the hands of deserving students. A $200 contribution will pay for the volumes and shipping. Simply click here to make a gift online and choose “Pottery Volume for Students” in the drop-down menu. Gifts of amounts greater or less than $200 are welcomed and will be pooled to support deserving students and junior scholars. If you prefer, you can also mail a check to ASOR (656 Beacon Street, 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02215). Please also e-mail Selma Omerefendic at ASOR and let her know if you wish your gift to support a Palestinian, Jordanian, Cypriot, or Israeli student or jr. scholar.

If you do not own the volumes, I want to encourage you to purchase a copy at a discounted price. As one of the volumes’ supporting institutions, ASOR is offering our members a special discounted price of $180, plus shipping. Click here for an order form, which should be mailed directly to the publisher, the Israel Exploration Society in Israel.

If this special offer were not enough, I am also glad to report that all sales of Volumes I and II will directly support the production and printing costs of Volumes III and IV.

Please do not hesitate to contact the ASOR office (617-358-4376) if you have any questions.

Faithfully,
Andrew G. Vaughn
ASOR Executive Director[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684098866{margin-right: 5px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_wp_posts title=”BROWSE THE NEWS ARCHIVE” number=”4″][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684008271{margin-right: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 30px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_column_text]Tweets by ASOResearch [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

ASOR Awards Two Harris Grants of $5,000 to Affiliated Excavation Projects

Posted on May 15, 2016 by Jared Koller

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ASOR AWARDS TWO HARRIS GRANTS OF $5,000 TO AFFILIATED EXCAVATION PROJECTS

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]ASOR is pleased to announce that two ASOR-affiliated excavation projects have been awarded $5,000 each to help with their field work in 2016. In contrast to previous years when most awards ranged from $750 to $1,500, the committee decided to award fewer grants but raise the total amounts of the awards. The grants thus have a greater impact and carry more prestige. The two successful projects for the 2016 field season are the “Omrit Settlement Excavation Project” directed by Jennifer Gates-Foster and “Madaba Archaeological Park West Project” directed by Douglas R. Clark, Suzanne Richard, Andrea Polcaro, and Marta D’Andrea (see below for more details).

Harris Grants are made possible by the Charles Harris Endowment that provides modest fellowships to worthy field projects that are CAP-affiliated. The grants are designed to assist newer and smaller projects, to help them get started. Grants may also be used to fund discrete components of larger projects. The Endowment also provides support for off-season research, analysis, and publications.

ASOR members interested in making gifts to support endowments for similar grants in the future may make gifts to either the Harris Endowment or the Joe D. Seger Endowment. Please contact ASOR Executive Director Andy Vaughn for more information.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text responsive_align=”left”]

Successful Harris Grant Projects for the 2016 Field Season

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text responsive_align=”left”]The Madaba Archaeological Park West in downtown Madaba, Jordan, including the Burnt Palace and Byzantine Mosaics, the Roman Road, and the Ottoman Building. Directed by Douglas R. Clark, Suzanne Richard, Andrea Polcaro, and Marta D’Andrea.

The 2016 pilot fieldwork season will investigate the area as well as to do preliminary restoration of monuments from the Roman through Ottoman periods in the Madaba Archaeological Park West in Madaba, Jordan. This pilot season is an essential first step in an approved proposal with the Department of Antiquities, Jordan to move the Madaba Museum and make it an integral part of the stunning array of churches and monuments within the Archaeological Park in the heart of the city. The plan to revitalize the area envisions a multifaceted /multi-functional space that will showcase the cultural heritage of Jordan, enhance the economy of the city by attracting visitors, and, especially, exemplify engagement between archaeologists and local communities. The project focuses on a) the partially excavated Burnt Palace whose floors are some of the rarest 6th century Byzantine mosaics, including iconographic motifs typical of domestic units not related to church decorations; b) the 2nd-3rd c Roman cardum; and, c) one of the best examples of a traditional 19thc Ottoman period complex with 12 rooms.

As directors of Archaeological Expeditions in Jordan (Madaba Plains Project-‘Umayri, Khirbat Iskandar, Jebel al-Muttawwaq), Clark, Richard, D’Andrea, and Polcaro conceived this international project in community archaeology, i.e., archaeology as a common, public asset, to be used for public education through collaborative projects. It is a combined American, Italian, and Jordanian commitment to the construction of new exhibition wings and the new set-up for the archaeological exhibitions from regional archaeological projects, realized within and integral to the rich heritage of monuments from the Roman – Ottoman periods. Briefly, the plans drawn up creatively integrate exhibition space with passageways among the monuments, innovatively use augmented reality and virtual reality in exhibition to enhance visitor interaction with the past, and create a model of exhibition itinerary, plant designs, and a communication system flexible and adaptable enough to be a model for other regional museums in Jordan. The plan envisions partnerships with universities and private organizations, including educational support in Museum Studies from American universities, etc. In a period when cultural heritage is in danger, this project seeks to raise awareness of cultural and archaeological assets among the local communities, to train local specialists through cooperative research, and to enhance tourism as an important economic boost to the region.

The Omrit Settlement Excavation Project, Horvat Omrit, Israel. Directed by Jennifer Gates-Foster.

The Omrit Settlement Project will document and publish pottery from critical deposits at the Late Roman and Byzantine site of Omrit in Northern Israel. Specifically, the grant funds will be used during the 2016 field season to support: 1) the restoration and drawing of vessels from a significant 2-3rd century deposit; 2) the drawing of key types documented from the Late Roman deposits; and 3) the petrographic analysis of regional fabrics common at the site. The results of this research, to be published in an article and in a comprehensive catalog of pottery from the site, further our research goal of articulating the ceramic assemblages for the site’s major periods of occupation and enabling comparative work with contemporary settlements in the Upper Galilee.

The Omrit Settlement Excavation Project focuses on the archaeological remains from Omrit and its immediate hinterlands through an examination of the communities living at the site over the broad span of its history, which stretches from the Hellenistic into the Ottoman era. During the 4th-5th centuries CE, major changes in the religious character of communities in the Galilee took place along with alterations in settlement morphologies and agricultural practices. At Omrit, the remains of a large domestic and agricultural complex, which also contains a significant number of Christian artifacts, has the potential to contribute much to our knowledge of how these transformations looked in practice, and give us new insights into how Late Roman/Byzantine cultic topography responded to the remains of a monumental Roman Temple (Nelson 2015) in the landscape. One of our goals has been to fully articulate the character, function and depositional history of this Late Roman complex and to assess the relationship between it and earlier phases associated with the flourishing of the pagan temple.

Key to that endeavor has been a critical focus on rigorous methods of recovering and documenting the pottery recovered from the excavations, which has the potential both to date the most important occupation phases and to offer new information about the economic and political networks that connected Omrit to the Late Roman world. Careful work with the pottery excavated over the last two seasons has begun to yield exciting results. For example, Late Roman (4-6th c AD) Omrit is connected primarily to supply networks extending from the Syrian coast, Cyprus and the Aegean with a significant reliance on locally-produced wares, some of which are not well-documented at any other sites in the region. The almost complete absence of cooking wares and storage jar types (such as Kefar Hanaya and Gaza amphora) common only a few kilometers to the south show that the economy of the site is oriented strongly to the north and biased towards regional producers, especially the wares made in the Golan. One of our main questions at this stage is how to contextualize this observation. Some forms recovered at the site, including a ceramic polycandelon, have very few parallels and deserve special attention on account of their form, function and fabric.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684098866{margin-right: 5px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_wp_posts title=”BROWSE THE NEWS ARCHIVE” number=”4″][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684008271{margin-right: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 30px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_column_text]Tweets by ASOResearch [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Remarks on ASOR CHI’s Cultural Heritage Monitor

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Jared Koller

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REMARKS ON ASOR CHI’S CULTURAL HERITAGE MONITOR

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The following talk was given by ASOR’s Cultural Heritage Initiatives team member, Bisher al Issa, at The George Washington University’s Elliott School on April 17, 2016

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]It is often said the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. In the case of the preservation of cultural heritage the line is always between us and the community, not only because they are the beneficiaries and owners of their cultural assets but also because they are the sphere/equator that keeps these assets resilient and alive.

Cultural Heritage Monitor has set up this open call in order to engage Syrians and Iraqis, and give them a voice in safeguarding their cultural heritage.

In order to evaluate the CHM initiative, it’s important to look at the subject of cultural heritage in these countries from a bit of a historical perspective.

The nature of the political regimes in Syria and in Iraq is well known; regimes who rely on repressing community and individual identity in favor of a totalitarian ideology. An ideology which is so embedded in the system, in schools, newspapers, NGOS, etc. The subject of cultural heritage is also limited to promoting national propaganda.

Syria is a society of 22 different ethnic and cultural groups, speaking 8 different languages,
with a history of coexistence and great cultural achievements. Unfortunately this legacy has been used to create division rather than nurture community. Under the title of Arabization, the Baathists overlooked ethnic or cultural identity leaving Syrians and Iraqis without a voice for over 40 years.

We see this now with ISIL as they strive to confiscate the entire region’s heritage and consolidate it under one single interpretation of Islam that comes from the 8th century. The systematic destruction by ISIL in Syria and Iraq is an exaggerated example of what the Baath party had already been doing.

In 1982, the Syrian regime’s brutal attack on Hama left over 70% of the medieval city destroyed. Until now maps of the old city are considered classified. Sharing photos or information about the destroyed monuments will put you at risk of being jailed for weakening “national identity”. Later the redevelopment of the city’s former heritage center included a bizarre five star hotel surrounded by a large park. This is one of many examples of how the destruction of cultural heritage is not limited to terrorist groups but to any totalitarian regime acting above the law of human rights.

In looking at this recent history and the present atrocities of ISIL, it leaves us with the question of how are we going to give these people back their voice? How are we going to contribute to building the community identity? How are we going to create a resilient cultural heritage?

Many of the answers lay in what cultural heritage monitor is now hoping to achieve as an added value.

Over the last 3 years we’ve seen international organizations focused on cultural heritage build intervention plans on the basis of a post-conflict scenario. Instead this project has not delayed. They are getting their hands dirty now in the short term and taking it to the people on the ground. This is essential work.

By adopting a community development approach, CHM has moved from the initial documentation phase of cultural properties towards creating a long-term partnership and engagement with the Syrians and Iraqis in the process of preserving them.

CHM is act now vs. act later. There’s no doubt that both Syrians and the Iraqi people will be more in favor of “acting now” and engaging with the people through their existing social networks, particularly for those who are still inside the country.

This offers a window of opportunity and of hope; that there is somebody not only paying attention to their humanitarian and cultural crises but acting on them today.

The second point links to the aspirations of the cultural heritage monitor. For the first time, people are being given a voice to speak about their own cultural heritage, regardless their ethnicity or religion, and being recognized and acknowledged in this regard.

Tell them your voice is important, you are a partner in this effort, that your choice to stay and not become a refugee is important. And most important, tell them this whole effort is dedicated to you and is going to be handed to you.

Giving the people a voice and a stake in their cultural heritage will result in increasing community resilience toward both atrocities of the regime and ISIL. It will inspire a sense of ownership and pride and contribute to building a resilient cultural heritage in the future.

The crisis has dismantled the social and cultural fabric of the Syrian society. Every day we see more polarization of political views. The subject of cultural heritage is probably one of the last remaining elements which can be used now and post-conflict to unite people over a shared interest and bridge these differences.

However this needs to be managed carefully so that old norms aren’t re-established and cultural heritage is used as part of political propaganda as we see happening right now in the northeast of Syria between the Kurds and other minority groups. It should also not serve as a vessel to undermine the community and to invite further foreign military intervention in Syria such as what we now see happening in Palmyra. If we want to build a resilient society and a resilient cultural heritage, it has to represent the voice of a people and to celebrate their togetherness and diversity and, most importantly, their engagement in preserving it.

This is just a milestone in a long-term approach where the overall evaluation of the project will depend upon the degree of community engagement. Over the course of this period your continuous support and positive feedback is essential.

Visit the Cultural Heritage Monitor website.[/vc_column_text][mk_image src=”http://www.asor.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/chm-screenshot.jpg” image_width=”576″ image_height=”360″ crop=”false” hover=”false”][vc_column_text]Other initiatives by Bisher al Issa

Current work on producing databases of inventory of Syrian museums by using previously collected information and data from 15 years of frequent field visits to these sites. The objective is to fill the obvious gap in the “in country” records and to raise awareness among the Syrian public about their shared heritage.
Work on mapping the locations of cultural property assets inside of Syria; a collaborative activity with other Syrian academics, scholars and activists who are located both in and outside of Syria.
Advocate for community engagement and their right to protect their cultural property in order to build a resilient cultural heritage