Author Archives: Marta Ostovich

2025 Geraty Grant Report: Tall Hisban

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Giving Back: Community Archaeology and Education at Tall Hisban: 2025 Update on the Lawrence T. Geraty Community Archaeology Endowment

 

The ASOR Lawrence T. Geraty Community Archaeology Endowment was established to honor Dr. Lawrence T. Geraty’s pioneering commitment to community engagement in Near Eastern archaeology. The endowment supports initiatives that strengthen relationships between archaeological projects and local communities, including participatory research, heritage festivals, youth training programs, and digital heritage initiatives.

At Tall Hisban, support from the Geraty Endowment has helped make possible the Hisban Heritage Festival, student-led community history projects, and the Madaba Region Heritage Internship. Its impact is visible in renewed partnerships, expanded educational opportunities, and a deepened sense of shared stewardship between archaeologists and the people of Hisban.

On a warm June afternoon in 2025, the courtyard of the Hisban Women’s Association overflowed with song, laughter, and the aroma of traditional Jordanian sweets. Villagers, students, and dignitaries gathered to celebrate the Hisban Heritage Festival, marking more than five decades of partnership between the people of Hisban and the Madaba Plains Project (MPP). The festival opened with greetings from the Department of Antiquities, the Hisban Women’s Association, and Andrews University.

In his keynote remarks, Øystein S. LaBianca, Senior Research Professor of Anthropology, reflected on the evolution of archaeology at Hisban—from excavation to collaboration: “Archaeology here is no longer about extraction. It’s about relationships, about listening, and about telling stories together—stories that include shepherds and schoolteachers, potters and farmers, grandmothers and grandchildren.”

A highlight of the festival was the public display of archival photographs from the original Heshbon Expedition (1968–1976). For many families, these were the only surviving photographs of fathers and grandfathers. This “visual repatriation” returned history, dignity, and memory to the community whose labor shaped the early excavations.

Pottery painting at the Hisban Women's Center.
Pottery painting at the Hisban Women's Center.

Research by Andrews University undergraduate students featured prominently. Spencer Chase, Nicole Lombard, Laurel Renner, and Julia Whitcomb, presented work on Hisban’s relationship to the Roman Decapolis, utilizing archaeological data, literary sources, and GIS visualization. Melani Dubon and Nathalie Gonzalez conducted oral history interviews with descendants of workers from the early expeditions, linking archival field notes to living memory.

Presentation of early ethnography by Melani Dubon and Nathalie Gonzalez.
Presentation of early ethnography by Melani Dubon and Nathalie Gonzalez.
Melani Dubon presenting a poster at the 2025 ASOR Annual Meeting
Melani Dubon presents her research during the poster session at ASOR's 2025 Annual Meeting in Boston.

Stacie Hatfield, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, emphasized that “the next generation of archaeologists must be facilitators—connecting academic rigor with community engagement.” This participatory model is now central to the MPP approach.

The Madaba Region Heritage Internship, coordinated by Al Raqeem for Services and Training, Sela for Training and Protection of Heritage, Andrews University, and the University of Liverpool, extends this commitment regionally. The Pottery Internship trains young Jordanians in ceramic analysis and conservation, while the Archaeotrail Internship prepares them to create bilingual (Arabic–English) content for the Madaba Archaeotrail app. Interns graduate with certification and a professional portfolio, contributing to a new generation of Jordanian heritage leaders.

Together, these initiatives demonstrate what ASOR has long championed: that archaeology is most meaningful when it builds bridges between past and present, research and renewal, local voices and global audiences. As one participant at the festival remarked, “We used to think archaeology was about the foreigners who came to dig. Now we know—it is about us, our stories, and our future.”

These ongoing efforts—including the Hisban Heritage Festival, the Madaba Region Heritage Internship, and the proposed Learning through Heritage initiative—reflect meaningful partnerships supported by the ASOR Lawrence T. Geraty Community Archaeology Endowment and Andrews University.

Paulo Oliveira, Melani Dubon, Spencer Chase, Isable Srour, Stacie Hatfield, Oystein Labianca, Ilda Faiella, Lolo Renner, Julia Whitcomb, Maria Elena Ronza, and Nathalie Gonzalez.
Paulo Oliveira, Melani Dubon, Spencer Chase, Isable Srour, Stacie Hatfield, Oystein Labianca, Ilda Faiella, Lolo Renner, Julia Whitcomb, Maria Elena Ronza, and Nathalie Gonzalez.
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2026 Fieldwork Opportunities

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2026 Fieldwork Opportunities

Team members at Çadır Höyük, Turkey.

Are you a student or volunteer looking to join an ASOR-affiliated project for fieldwork? The projects below all have fieldwork planned for 2026. Check out the project websites to find the one that is right for you.

Once you’ve found a project, we encourage you to apply for a 2026 Scholarship for Fieldwork Participation. These scholarships are $2,000 and support your travel and participation on an ASOR-afilliated project.

If you’re a project director or specialist on an ASOR-affiliated project, you are invited to apply for 2026 Project Grants. Project grants vary from $2,500 to $5,000. If you’d like your project listed below, please email programs@asor.org.

The deadline for both Fieldwork Scholarships and Project Grants is February 23, 2026.

Note: while some projects may be conducting fieldwork in 2026, not all of them are taking students or new team members. Please check with the project director and staff. The full list of ASOR-affiliated projects can be found here. 

Digging in the trench

Gabrielle Puckett excavating with the Makounta-Voules Project in 2025.

Cyprus

 
Figure 2: The EIMAWA team

Lorenzo Guardiano and the 2024 Egyptian Italian Mission at West Aswan team.

Egypt

Syeda Sukena Zehra working with the Gadachrili Gora Regional Archaeological Project Expedition in Georgia.

Georgia

Hannah Borotsik laying out tile from the Athenian Agora excavations. Photo by James Razumoff.

Hannah Borotsik laying out tile from the Athenian Agora excavations. Photo by James Razumoff.

Greece

Anna Taibi recording a looting pit with the ReLand Project in 2025.

Anna Taibi recording a looting pit with the ReLand Project in 2025.

Iraq

 
Juan Camilo Bonilla Hurtado working with the Selz Foundation Hazor Excavations.

Juan Camilo Bonilla Hurtado working with the Selz Foundation Hazor Excavations.

Israel

Helen Wong conducting ground-penetrating radar survey at Motya, Sicily.Italy

 
Megan Nishida working with the Kites in Context team in Jordan.

Megan Nishida working with the Kites in Context team in Jordan.

Jordan

The team during our Open Doors Day for the public. Photo credit A. Smith

Menorca Archaeological Project team at Torre d’en Galmes in 2024. Photo credit A. Smith

Spain

 
Lauren Cook and Zeynep Türker, holding a cuneiform tablet at Alalakh/Tell Atchana.

Lauren Cook and Zeynep Türker, holding a cuneiform tablet at Alalakh/Tell Atchana.

Turkey

 
Talia Neelis and team members at Kissonerga-Skalia, Cyprus in 2025.

Want to help more students and early career archaeologists get into the field? Donate to the cause today by selecting “Fieldwork Scholarships” as your gift purpose!

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Harris Grant Report: Alalakh/Tell Atchana

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2025 Harris Grant Report: Documenting Archival Dynamics in the Late Bronze Age: A New Archive of Cuneiform Tablets from Alalakh/Tell Atchana

Jacob Lauinger, Johns Hopkins University; Zeynep Türker, Johns Hopkins University; Murat Akar, Hatay Mustafa Kemal Üniversitesi[1]

This past summer, with the generous support of a Charles Harris Project Grant, a team of PhD students in the Departments of Near Eastern Studies and History of Art at Johns Hopkins University joined the ASOR affiliated Turkish Ministry of Culture & Tourism and Mustafa Kemal University excavations at Tell Atchana, ancient Alalakh, in Hatay, Türkiye, which are under the direction of Murat Akar, to investigate one of the most promising discoveries made at the site in recent years: the possible remains of a Late Bronze Age archive of cuneiform tablets. What made this group of excavators distinctive was that each student had been trained not only in archaeology but also in reading Akkadian cuneiform, bringing together the two areas of expertise needed to recover and document such an archive with exceptional care.

Figure 1: Johns Hopkins PhD students (left to right): Defne Bilgili; Kyle Dillon; Lauren Cook; Zeynep Türker; and Faith Myrick.

Background to the Project

Following the devastating 2023 earthquakes, over the past three years the excavation team has focused on restoring the iconic Bronze Age monuments originally excavated by Sir Leonard Woolley in the 1930s and 1940s. Further restoration efforts have included the stabilization of sections of the Area 1 squares excavated between 2003 and 2016, adjacent to the Level IV Palace and the Administrative Castle Complex. This large-scale restoration program, partially funded by the ASOR Shepard Urgent Action Grant in 2023, has also led to new discoveries at the site.

In particular, four cuneiform tablets were discovered during cleaning and stabilization operations conducted in the southern section of Sq. 32.54 in the 2024 season. One of the team’s experienced field supervisors, Baran Kerim Ecer, spotted the tablets within an extremely burnt deposit sealed by the succeeding building phase known as the Hittite Fortress. To test the possibility that additional texts may have survived, the 2025 excavation season was planned to include work in Sq. 32.64 (south of Sq. 32.54), which had previously been explored only on a limited scale.

Accordingly, project excavation’s staff epigraphers, Jacob Lauinger and Zeynep Türker, applied to ASOR for a Charles Harris Project Grant. The funds provided by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism and ASOR enabled the excavation team to carry out 16 weeks (!) of intensive fieldwork. The targeted burnt deposit was sealed beneath the massive mudbrick foundations of the Hittite Fortress, previously explored in the adjacent squares and published as part of the Alalakh Excavations second monograph (Figure 2).

The location of Sq.32.64 in relation to Level IV Palace and the Administrative Castle Complex

Excavations in Sq. 32.64

Excavations began in May, and the first eight weeks were devoted solely to understanding the architectural layout and the stratigraphic relationship between the Level II–III Hittite Fortress and the burnt deposit (Level IV) beneath it. This initial phase of work was conducted by Arman Alp, an MKU graduate student trained at Tell Atchana. The team of PhD students from Johns Hopkins arrived at the Tell Atchana Excavations and Amuq Valley Reseach Center in July to begin the excavation of the Level IV burnt deposit. The square was under the supervision of Zeynep Türker and Lauren Cook, both of whom had previously gained field experience at Tell Atchana and were familiar with the site’s stratigraphy thanks to ASOR’s travel grant program for PhD students.

Once the Hittite Fortress level had been fully explored within the boundaries of the square, an area measuring 7 × 5 meters in the northern half was initially leveled down to reach the burnt deposit. Following the removal of the fortress foundations, and contrary to the typical practice in Near Eastern archaeology, the project adopted a “Do-It-Yourself” policy. Only a skilled and experienced team of archaeologists, assisted by archaeology students, worked in the trench due to the extremely delicate nature of the context (Figs 3-6). The excavations almost immediately confirmed our initial assessments: more than a dozen tablets and fragments were recovered from this relatively small exposure, along with seal impressions and sealing materials (Fig 7).

Many of the tablets were discovered in the burnt destruction layer containing collapsed mudbricks, large carbon deposits, and dense concentrations of pottery, as well as ornaments made of gold and faience. The burnt deposit partially exposed on the northern section of Sq.32.64 is understood to be very thick and due to delicate and slow excavation methodology applied, the associated floor levels has not been reached yet. Therefore, it was decided to explore this level to the full extent of the square in order to better understand the architectural layout and the contextual distribution of the finds. At present, excavations are still ongoing at the site, carried out by the core members of the Alalakh excavation team, with the aim of removing the remaining portions of the Hittite Fortress, preparing the area for continued exploration that will further investigate the burnt level beneath, in 2026 (Fig. 8).

Figure 3: Kyle Dillon holding a cuneiform tablet that he discovered.
Figure 4: Lauren Cook. Faith Myrick, Arman Alp, and Baran Kerim Ecer excavating in Sq. 32.64 in which the cuneiform tablets were found.
Figure 5: Lauren Cook, Kathrine Shields, Kyle Dillon, Abdullah Öz, and Haluk Ergil cleaning in Sq. 32.64.
Figure 6: Lauren Cook and Zeynep Türker, holding a cuneiform tablet that they discovered.
Figure 7: A tablet fragment photographed in situ.
Figure 8: Aerial view of Sq. 32.64 with the Hittite Fortress above (Level II-III) and the exposed burnt deposit below (Level IV) where tablets were revealed.

Most of Alalakh’s tablets were excavated in the 1930s and 1940s, often with limited documentation of their archaeological context. The discovery of this new archive provides a rare opportunity to examine such material in situ. Each tablet was photographed and recorded with a total station to document their spatial distribution in a three-dimensional context. The associated organic materials were collected for radiocarbon analysis, and soil samples were carefully taken to preserve contextual information for future study. All excavated soil was sifted, allowing the recovery of additional seal impressions and tablet fragments smaller than a thumbnail, demonstrating the necessity of employing a meticulous excavation strategy. The finds were then carefully transferred to the Tell Atchana Excavations and the Amuq Valley Research Center. In close cooperation with Jacob Lauinger and Zeynep Türker, the cleaning and conservation of the tablets were carried out by Hatice Nur Aydın, a highly skilled conservator who has specialized in tablet restoration due to the large number of tablets recovered at the site over the past three years (Fig 9). This process was followed by high-resolution photographic documentation prior to in-depth epigraphic study.

Figure 9: The red cabinet of curiosity at Tell Atchana Excavations laboratory where newly found tablets are stored prior to their allocation to the Hatay Archaeological Musuem.

Re-Excavating the Level IV Palace

While the Sq. 32.64 team focused on exploring this previously untouched area of the Royal Precinct of Alalakh, another team concentrated their efforts on re-excavating the Level IV Palace. Many of the rooms had been filled with decayed mudbrick following the original excavations of the monument in the 1930s, while others contained backfill from Woolley’s excavation dumps. This line of work has also led to exciting new discoveries, including additional tablets from the palace that are contemporary with those from Sq. 32.64. Together, these finds provide new perspectives on Woolley’s legacy excavations at Tell Atchana and the associated archival data (Fig 10).

Figure 10: Re-excavation and restoration of the Level IV Palace which revealed new epigraphic data.

Conclusion

Although further excavation will be necessary to confirm the architectural layout and extent of the deposit and further conservation and study of the cuneiform tablets is required to fully grasp the nature of their documentation and to integrate them with other cuneiform tablets from both the site and the larger region, this new archive promises to add valuable new data to our understanding of Alalakh and its Late Bronze Age society.

Preliminary assessment of the content of the tablets suggests that most of them are administrative in nature (although two are legal texts). The administrative texts record diverse matters such as personnel, the disbursement of goods, and furniture. In other words, both the context and also the content of the tablets strongly suggest that we are dealing with the remains of an archive located in a building in this area of Alalakh’s palace-castle complex. This brings up to possibility of exploring another self-contained administrative building adjacent to the Level IV palace.

The 2025 season brought exciting leads but also with many open questions. In 2026, excavation of the square will continue in order to clarify the extent of the archive and the nature of the space in which it was stored. The international team of archaeologists including the Johns Hopkins University graduate students are eager to be back at the site. Working closely with the Hatay Archaeological Museum, the team is committed to preserving these finds and sharing their significance with both scholars and the local community. We are deeply grateful to ASOR for supporting this work possible. Your support allowed our team to carefully excavate, document, and study what may prove to be one of the most important discoveries at Alalakh since the renewed excavations began at the site over twenty years ago.

[1] The excavations at Tell Atchana, Alalakh are carried out with the generous support of the Republic of Türkiye’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Geleceğe Miras (Heritage for the Future) initiative, and funds provided through the Hatay Governorship. Special acknowledgment is extended to Governor Mustafa Masatlı for his invaluable support of the 2025 excavation season. The authors also thank Lauren Cook for sharing her report on Sq. 32.64. Of course, any errors are entirely our own responsibility.

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Fieldwork Report: Don’Neka Hayslett

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Looking Beyond: Finding the New in the Old

Don’Neka Hayslett, 2025 ASOR Fieldwork Scholarship Recipient

On my first few days at the Cadir Höyük 2025 project, I was introduced to a tool I had never used before: the dumpy level. At its core, it is a simple instrument for measuring horizontal levels—a tripod, a level head, and a staff marked with precise centimeters. But the challenge wasn’t in the setup; it was in the seeing. When I first looked through the lens, I kept getting lost in the landscape. My eyes drifted toward the mound, the hills, even the horizon, when all I really needed to find was a tiny line on the staff. It was only after practicing that I realized the trick: I had to look beyond the distractions in order to focus on what mattered. The dumpy level trained me to see not just what was directly before me but the exact measurement that would help piece together the excavation.

That realization became a metaphor for both archaeology and life. Archaeology is the art of connecting fragments—small sherds, soil layers, or architectural features—into a larger story of how people once lived. Like the dumpy level, it requires looking beyond what you can immediately see to uncover the bigger picture. Each tiny detail is meaningful, but only when joined with others does the whole emerge.

This idea also echoed a sermon I once heard about John in the book of Revelation. Exiled to Patmos, John could have focused only on his suffering or the power of Rome around him. But instead, he looked beyond his circumstances to receive visions of Christ and the churches. In doing so, he pieced together a larger truth: that God’s kingdom stood above earthly kingdoms, and that the faithful were called to live not by what was seen but by what was true.

My pastor also preached a sermon about a woman, described in Revelation as “Jezebel,” who lured people into sin. Many in that Roman city depended on her approval—or on society’s approval, to keep their businesses and livelihoods. Because the city was steeped in pagan worship with many gods, Christians were pressured into compromise. Their choice was stark: pursue wealth by following her influence, or trust God to provide. It’s unlikely that the woman’s actual name was Jezebel; rather, Jesus used the name to highlight her behavior, much like the Old Testament Jezebel who led Israel astray, claiming her words were from God. In the same way, false teaching must always be tested against Scripture. Every message should be weighed carefully, studied, and confirmed by the Word. It reminds me of using a dumpy level. You can either glance at the staff and guess your alignment, or you can use the notches to measure precisely. One way looks convincing, but the other ensures accuracy. Likewise, we must align every teaching with God’s Word rather than relying on appearances.

Both in the field and in faith, the discipline is the same. Whether sighting through a dumpy level or searching Scripture, the task is to look beyond what is immediate or distracting. To focus on the small pieces long enough for them to connect. To trust that fragments—whether centimeters measured in the dirt or words written on an island two thousand years ago—can be assembled into a greater whole.

At Cadir Höyük, every careful measurement helped transform scattered stones into walls, walls into houses, and houses into a once-living community. And in my faith, every act of looking beyond reveals a glimpse of God’s larger design. Both remind me that to find the new in the old, you must learn to see beyond the surface and trust that each fragment, no matter how small, belongs to a greater story.

Don’Neka Hayslett is a recent graduate of the University of Memphis with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Earth Sciences. She hopes to further her knowledge of Mediterranean archaeology through various excavations and to explore how ancient art forms continue to influence contemporary culture.

Learn more about this project here.

Want to help more students and early career archaeologists get into the field? Donate to the cause today by selecting “Fieldwork Scholarships” as your gift purpose!

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Fieldwork Report: Yishu Deng

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How Archaeology Bridges the Past and Present

Yishu Deng, 2025 Eric and Carol Meyers Fieldwork Participation Scholarship Recipient 

After completing my MPhil in Archaeology degree at the University of Cambridge, I had the privilege of joining the excavation team at Kani Shaie in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq for the second consecutive year. The project is directed by my MPhil supervisor, Dr. Steve Renette, and offers a great opportunity to engage directly with ongoing archaeological research in the Near East. Fieldwork abroad is financially challenging. I was deeply honored to receive the generous support of and Eric and Carol Meyers Fieldwork Participation Scholarships through ASOR, which enabled me to continue pursuing my passion and advancing my career in archaeology.

The Kani Shaie Archaeological Project is a unique chance for my academic development. My primary research interest lies in metal production at military sites, and although Kani Shaie is modest in size, it has yielded consistent evidence of metallurgical activity across multiple seasons. A notable quantity of metal slag was found, as well as an assortment of iron artifacts, including arrowheads, blades, and other tools. This season was particularly exciting: in the Lower Town trench, we found a small crucible in situ, embedded in the middle of a firepit. Looking at it in its place of function and imagining its ancient use was profoundly inspiring.

Overview of the Lower Town trench at Kani Shaie.

Another remarkable object excavated this year was a complete iron hook found inside a tanoor (traditional clay oven), which further ignited my curiosity. It is exceptionally well preserved and was also found in the place where it was used to stoke the fire or remove ashes. These simple yet powerful finds vividly evoked scenes of daily life from thousands of years ago.

In addition to metal objects, Kani Shaie has revealed a wide range of artifacts: all types of pottery, seals, sealings, figurines, spindle whorls, etc., suggesting that the site possibly served administrative, domestic, and military functions. Mapping the distribution of metal working features in relation to other potential activity areas across the site may help us understand where and how metal production occurred, and how this industrial activity related to the broader organization of the settlement. Scientific analysis of the metal artifacts may provide further insight into production techniques and the provenance of raw materials. All such studies can be interesting future research projects.

Another compelling aspect of Kani Shaie is its long history of human activities, spanning from around 6000 BCE to the Ottoman period. This long temporal sequence offers a unique opportunity to study how a site evolves through time—how it was used, reused, and transformed, as well as how excavation can be best carried out to uncover this entangled history. It is our responsibility as archaeologists to discern both the changes and the continuities in these long-lived spaces. This season, I learned a great deal not only about excavation methodology but also about how the present-day lives of people in the region can inform us in archaeological studies.

The crucible found in situ in the middle of a fire pit.
The crucible.

One particularly memorable discovery came from the potentially late Parthian to early Sassanian level in the Lower Town trench, where we uncovered five tanoors, including the one where the hook was found. The place was likely a communal cooking area. The tanoor that contained the hook was connected at the back to a raised platform made of large stones. Steve suggested that the platform may have been supporting the tanoor. Under his guidance, we left the stones in situ and carefully excavated and sectioned the exposed half of the tanoor. What followed was an unexpected revelation: the tanoor contained a remarkably well-preserved stratigraphy. The upper layers consisted of ash in varying colors, while the lower layers comprised medium-sized stones. Beneath these stones, we found the complete iron hook. Finally, there was a grey layer of ash on the bottom of the tanoor, under the iron hook.

What made this find even more meaningful was the connection to present-day practices. Local team members told me that they still have similar tanoors in their homes for baking bread. After my fervent request, Mr. Zana Abdulkareem Qader kindly took me to see one at our neighbor’s house. It was strikingly similar to the ones we had excavated. There was even a similar iron hook hanging on the wall. Moreover, the tanoor was installed inside a stone-cement platform, which supported the tanoor just like the stones that we found. This type of installation is called sart-tanoor, as Zana explained. The next day at the site, I sat on the stone platform beside the excavated structure and imitated the motions of making bread using the tanoor. The height and layout felt just right.

The tanoor section that showed exceptional stratigraphy. The stone supporting platform is in the back.

For someone like me—raised in a modern city in a different country—it had always been difficult to visualize how such installations functioned in the past. Seeing these traditions alive in the present helped me connect the dots. It was a powerful reminder of how cultural practices endure over time, and how archaeology can bridge the past and present.

The precious experience at Kani Shaie this season would not have been possible for me without the generous support of ASOR and Profs. Eric and Carol Meyers. Their scholarship significantly alleviated the financial burden of travel and living expenses, for which I would like to express my gratitude once more. I am also grateful to my supervisor Dr. Steve Renette and the project’s co-directors André Tomé and Dr. Michael Lewis. Special thanks to Mr. Zana Abdulkareem Qader for his kindness and generosity, and to other local colleagues for their hard work and friendliness. I also learned so much from other students. This season has been invaluable, and I go forward with both knowledge and gratitude.

Picture of me excavating. I like covering myself to resist the sun and dust. Others often question if it is hot, and the answer is: not really.

My name is Yishu Deng, and I’m originally from Beijing, China. My current research focuses on metallurgy and military fortifications in the Ancient Near East, with a particular emphasis on the Sasanian period.

The Kani Shaie Archaeological Project Instagram page: @kani_shaie_arch_project

Want to help more students and early career archaeologists get into the field? Donate to the cause today by selecting “Fieldwork Scholarships” as your gift purpose!

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Fieldwork Report: Kearyn Hall

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Disturbance and Discovery: Learning from Looting at Humayma

Kearyn Hall, 2025 Harva L. Sheeler Fieldwork Scholarship Recipient

The 2025 field school began in Amman, the capital of Jordan, where our first week was devoted to lab-based training. Under the guidance of our instructors, we handled ceramics, practiced drawing profiles, reconstructed fragments, and grew accustomed to the meticulous process of cataloging. This initial week was invaluable; it allowed us to encounter the material record in a controlled environment before confronting its fragmentary and often damaged reality in the field. By the time we left Amman, I carried with me not only a set of practical skills but also a growing awareness of how even small sherds and fragments could speak volumes when studied carefully.

In the lab at Amman, gluing fragments to reassemble a ceramic tile.
During the first week in the lab, we not only became familiar with local pottery typologies and classifications, but also received training in photogrammetry and the collection of RTK points.

Travelling south to Humayma shifted our focus dramatically. The site itself lies in an austere yet striking landscape of desert plains framed by sandstone ridges. At first glance, it appears modest compared to monumental Nabataean or Roman centers, yet its significance lies precisely in its layered history. Established as a Nabataean settlement, later transformed by the presence of a Roman fort, and subsequently home to Byzantine churches and early Islamic occupation, Humayma presents a unique cross-section of centuries of cultural, religious, and social change. Standing within its ruins, one could trace how different communities shaped the same terrain, leaving behind traces that are at once fragile and enduring.

A camel standing before the Jebel Qalkha at Humayma, which was venerated as the source of water in antiquity.

Life at Humayma quickly settled into a rhythm. Early mornings were spent in the field, where small teams divided their efforts among photogrammetry, architectural recording, survey, and midden documentation. Some days were devoted to tracing architectural features with RTK mapping, others to carefully noting the distribution of ceramics within middens. Afternoons were often spent reviewing notes, comparing interpretations, and discussing questions raised by the day’s work. Evenings, though quieter, were filled with writing, preparation, and the informal but equally important conversations that come with living and learning in close quarters.

Among the many tasks we undertook, the reality of looting stood out most starkly. It was impossible to ignore; it was everywhere. Some disturbances were recent, the scars from metal detectors fresh in the soil. Graves had been torn open, leaving human remains displaced, stripped of the context that would have allowed us to understand their original placement and significance. In another area, a marble platform had been ripped apart, apparently under the assumption that it concealed valuables. In truth, it was nothing more than a built surface, its destruction a senseless erasure of evidence. These episodes made clear how devastating looting is, not only for material culture but for the fragile stories of lives once lived.

Looting also shaped our daily practice. It was evident that looters were aware of our presence, and we were advised not to linger in any single area for too long. This necessity forced us to adapt; recording and documentation were carried out with a heightened sense of urgency, trying to get everything done at once so we didn’t have to worry about it still being there tomorrow to document. It was a sobering reminder that the work of archaeology does not unfold in isolation, but in a living landscape where the past and present are in constant negotiation.

Setting up the north arrow before photographing a looter’s pit that contained human remains.

For me, the most difficult moments were those involving disturbed human remains. Confronting looted graves was unsettling; faced with the incivility of leaving someone once buried to wither away on the surface, at first, I questioned whether I was truly suited to pursue bioarchaeology. Yet when I was able to contribute to the documentation of these remains, I realized how meaningful it was simply to approach them with care and respect. That experience did not erase the destruction I witnessed, but it gave me a sense of purpose in responding to it. It reminded me that archaeology is not only about recovering knowledge, but also about honouring the people and cultures whose traces we encounter.

Overlooking the site of Humayma during the hike on our final day in the field.
Field School group photograph at the Treasury in Petra, taken on our excursion en route from Amman to Aqaba.

I am deeply grateful to ASOR and to the Sheelers for supporting my participation in this project. This opportunity not only allowed me to gain invaluable field experience, but also helped me realize that I have found something I truly love to do. Thank you for supporting my dream and helping me take these first steps toward a career in archaeology.

Kearyn is in her final year of her Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Classics at the University of Alberta. She is currently applying to Master’s programs with a focus on Osteoarchaeology.

Learn more about this project here.

Want to help more students and early career archaeologists get into the field? Donate to the cause today by selecting “Fieldwork Scholarships” as your gift purpose!

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2025 Dana Grant Report: Erbil Plain Archaeological Survey

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2025 Dana Grant Report: Developing an Accessible Digital Ceramic Typology for the Erbil Plain Archaeological Survey (EPAS)

Elise Laugier, Utah State University

For more than a decade, the Erbil Plain Archaeological Survey (EPAS) has documented the settlement and land use history of the agricultural plain surrounding Erbil, the capital city of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. With more than a thousand sites documented to date, EPAS has revealed the Erbil Plain to be one of the richest archaeological landscapes in northern Mesopotamia.

Drone image of the Erbil Plain near EPAS site 761, showing ongoing agricultural activity and landscape development. Image courtesy the Erbil Plain Archaeological Survey (EPAS).

In recent years, urban expansion and agricultural intensification have placed increasing pressure on the region’s archaeological sites and cultural landscapes. Rapid documentation and accurate dating of surface materials have become critical for protecting the region’s cultural heritage. The EPAS ceramic typology, long used internally by the project, offers a standardized system for identifying pottery across 21 chronological phases (from the Proto-Hassuna to the Islamic periods) but has not yet been widely available.

EPAS team members analyzing ceramics at the Erbil Directorate of Antiquities. From left: Jason Ur, Rebwar Jalal, Mohammed Lashkri, Elise Laugier, Madeline Ouimet.

Our goal in the last two seasons has been to expand access to EPAS’s ceramic typology by developing a bilingual, image-rich digital platform, an app that will allow archaeologists and heritage professionals to quickly identify pottery and date sites in the field. The app, accessible on both desktop and mobile devices, integrates detailed ceramic descriptions, diagnostic criteria, and color images, and will soon include both English and Kurdish. Once finalized, this accessible resource will provide students, archaeologists, and heritage officials in Iraq with a standardized system for ceramic classification, ensuring consistent documentation of sites across the Erbil Plain and adjacent regions.

A selection of photographed sherds from the Mid-Late 3rd Millennium BCE through the Islamic periods (left). EPAS team members selecting ceramic types (right).

With support from ASOR’s Stevan B. Dana Grant, our 2025 season focused on expanding and completing the image database that underpins this typology. Working at the Museum at Erbil Directorate of Antiquities, the team processed and added dozens of images from early phases (Proto-Hassuna through Ninevite 5) to the existing ArcGIS Online mobile application. We also photographed hundreds of additional sherds representing later periods (Mid-Late 3rd Millennium through Islamic), creating a database of over 2,500 high-resolution images. Together, these materials form the foundation of the first comprehensive digital typology for the Erbil Plain.

Example of the desktop EPAS Ceramic Typology interface, displaying color images and descriptive text of Hassuna Period painted sherds.

This project supports local capacity building and collaboration with Kurdish heritage professionals, ensuring that vital archaeological expertise is shared widely and sustainably. By transforming years of specialized field research into an open, bilingual reference, the project contributes to both heritage preservation and digital innovation in Mesopotamian archaeology.

We thank ASOR and the Stevan B. Dana Grant for its generous support in helping us transform a decade of research into a shared resource for the archaeological and heritage communities of the Erbil Plain and beyond.

Learn more about the project on their website or follow the project on Facebook.

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2025 ASOR Honors & Awards

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A photo of Ghat Fort in Libya, taken at night.

2025 ASOR HONORS & AWARDS

 

Each year at the Annual Meeting, ASOR recognizes individuals who have performed outstanding service for the organization, those who have published exceptional academic work, and those who made significant contributions to our field. The following award recipients were honored at the 2025 Annual Meeting in Boston and during the Members’ Meeting on November 21st. Awards were presented by Lynn Welton, co-chair of ASOR’s Honors and Awards Committee.

The Richard J. Scheuer Medal. This award honors an individual who has provided truly outstanding, long-term support and service contributions to ASOR (this medal is awarded when such an individual is identified).

Awarded to Sharon Herbert, for her exceptional contributions and guidance during her two terms as both Vice President and President of ASOR.

The Charles U. Harris Service Award. This award is given in recognition of long-term and/or special service as an ASOR officer or Trustee (one award is given annually).

Awarded to Charles E. Jones, Tombros Librarian for Classics and Humanities at Pennsylvania State University, for his time as ASOR Vice President from 2020-2025, most prominently his work with the Chairs Coordinating Council (CCC).

The P. E. MacAllister Field Archaeology Award. This award honors an archaeologist who, during his/her/their career, has made outstanding contributions to ancient Near Eastern and eastern Mediterranean archaeology (one award is given annually).

Awarded to Yorke Rowan, Research Professor, Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures at the University of Chicago, for his impactful contributions to the archaeology of Eastern Badia, Wadi al-Qattafi, and major Chalcolithic sites.

Community Engagement and Public Outreach Award. This award recognizes individuals, teams, and organizations who have initiated outstanding educational, informational, or practical projects (including but not limited to classes, programs, exhibits, resources, events, and platforms) with the goal of making subjects and information about the ancient world accessible to wider (particularly non-academic) audiences.

Awarded to Chad Spigel (Trinity University) and Paul Flesher (University of Wyoming), for their development of the website for the Duke University Galilee Database, which makes publicly available all of the original field records for the 1970-1981 excavations of four synagogues of Upper Galilee: Meiron, Gush Halav, Khirbet Shema, and Nabratein. The database provides a searchable presentation of all field notes: from locus sheets and top plans to pottery readings and object lists, from daily notes to weekly and end-of-season reports.

ASOR Membership Service Award. This award recognizes individuals who have made special contributions on behalf of the ASOR membership, through committee, editorial, or office services.

Awarded to: Theodore W. Burgh, Professor, University of North Carolina Wilmington, has been an exemplary leader for ASOR’s Membership and Outreach Committee during his two terms as its chair, from 2020 through 2025.

 

 

 

 

 

Awarded to Allison Thomason, Professor, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, for her work as Co-Chair of the Program Committee for the last six years and compassionate approach to her service to ASOR.

 

 

 

 

Awarded to Vanessa Workman, University of Pennsylvania, who has served on the Early Career Scholars (ECS) Committee since 2017 and became its Co-Chair in 2023.

The W. F. Albright Service Award. This award honors an individual who has shown special support or made outstanding service contributions to one of the overseas centers (AIAR, CAARI), or to one of the overseas committees – the Baghdad Committee and the Damascus Committee. This award is given when such an individual is identified.

Awarded to Matthew J. Adams, Director of the Center for the Mediterranean World, who served as Director of the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research from 2014 to 2022, revitalizing its facilities, programs, finances, and global reach.

The G. Ernest Wright Award. This award is given to the editor/author of the most substantial volume(s) dealing with archaeological material, excavation reports and material culture from the ancient Near East and eastern Mediterranean. This work must be the result of original research published within the past two years (one award is given annually).

Awarded to Kevin D. Fisher, Associate Professor of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology, University of British Columbia, for his substantial contribution to the archaeology of Cyprus in Monumentality, Place-Making and Social Interaction on Late Bronze Age Cyprus (Equinox Publishing).

The Frank Moore Cross Award. This award is presented to the author/editor of the most substantial volume(s) related to the history and/or religion of the ancient Near East and Eastern Mediterranean. Primary consideration will be given to historical, epigraphic, textual, and comparative literary studies; or to works that advance and/or evaluate new methodological approaches to the literary record(s). This work must be the result of original research published during the past two years (one award is given annually).

Awarded to Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, Associate Professor, University of Central Florida, for the novel analysis of Urartu as a decentralized non-urban empire with a political organization constructed around a dispersed fortified regional network in Landscapes of Warfare: Urartu and Assyria in the Ancient Middle East (University Press of Colorado).

The Nancy Lapp Popular Book Award. This award is presented to the author/editor of a book published in the last two years that offers a new synthesis of archaeological or textual evidence intended to reach an audience of scholars as well as students and the broader public (one award is given annually).

Awarded to Tate Paulette, Associate Professor at North Carolina State University, for In the Land of Ninkasi: A History of Beer in Ancient Mesopotamia (Oxford University Press), which synthesizes the long and colorful history of Mesopotamian beer.

The Joy Ungerleider Poster Award. This award is conferred upon the author(s) of the poster presenting the results of a study about ancient Near Eastern societies in a clear, legible fashion using original graphic content. Subject matter may be based in archaeological sciences, history, anthropology, epigraphy, ethnography, heritage or other scholarly approaches to understanding ancient people in the areas covered by ASOR (one award is given annually).

Awarded to Defne Bilgili, Johns Hopkins University, for the poster: “Preservation and Public Engagement at Tell Atchana, Alalakh: A Digital Reconstruction of the Middle Bronze Age Gate Complex.”

Student Paper Award. This award is conferred upon the author(s) of a paper presented during the Annual Meeting that conveys the results of a study about ancient Near Eastern and wider Mediterranean societies in a clear, understandable, and convincing fashion. The first author and presenter of the paper must be a registered student at the time of presentation in order to be eligible for consideration for this award.

Awarded to Aaren (Zhengfang) Zhou, New York  University, for her paper “Cooking Pots and Negotiating Identity: Material Culture and Adaptive Agency During the Egyptian Occupation of Beth She’an.”

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Fieldwork Report: Aleyna Uyanik

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Dusty, Sweaty but very Happy!

Aleyna Uyanik, 2025 Katherine Barton Platt Fellowship Recipient. 

Spending the summer in Marmaris with the Phoenix Archaeological Project has been nothing short of incredible.

The people I worked with in the project are more than just colleagues. For me, this is one of the most beautiful aspects of our discipline. Every summer, people from different corners of the world come together in one place: Taslica. While we have scientific goals, we also share daily challenges, laughter, and mutual support under often demanding conditions. Looking back, I realize that the moments from the summer that stay with me most are the ones with the Phoenix Project team in Marmaris. It might sound cliché, but it is here that I learned the most. It was not only about archaeology, it was about so many other things. Even something as simple as a song playing on the radio on our way to the field became part of that shared memory, one that I value just as much as the ancient press stones and pottery finds we documented.

Me in the field carrying our GNSS. (Photography: Ayse Ozaydin)
Me in the field carrying our GNSS. (Photography: Ayse Ozaydin)

Life in the Field

 

At the Phoenix Archaeological Project, we work in the ancient region of Caria, today’s Marmaris area in southwestern Turkey. The terrain is demanding: steep hills and rocky paths (which made me cry once, though thinking about it now actually makes me laugh), but that is also what makes the work so rewarding. A typical day begins early. By sunrise, we have breakfast, and shortly after, we pack our equipment and head into the hills. Every evening, during team meetings, the we set the plan for the following day. That means that when we leave in the morning, we know exactly where we are going and what we are searching for. Of course, the land itself has the power to change plans. Sometimes we encounter unexpected things, or we find a site denser in material than anticipated, which forces us to adjust our schedule.

Fieldwork in the hills of "carian chersonese".
With my dear professor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Koray Konuk and our project director Dr. Asil Yaman (top right), together with my colleague and friend Ilayda Alikaya (bottom left) and myself (bottom right). (Photography: Ayse Ozaydin)
With my dear professor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Koray Konuk and our project director Dr. Asil Yaman (top right), together with my colleague and friend Ilayda Alikaya (bottom left) and myself (bottom right). (Photography: Ayse Ozaydin)

By midday, the heat in Marmaris becomes little overwhelming. Before temperatures rise too high and our water bottles empty, we return to our research center for lunch. At lunch we discuss the morning’s work, observations from the field, and sometimes also share jokes about an oversized rabbit that startled us. Yes, we enjoyed documenting even the tiniest sherds, since they contribute meaningfully to our academic work, but we also enjoyed the moments of laughter which made the long and tiring days at the field both productive and memorable.

Me and my dear professor Dr. Anna Sitz during our sunday "estampage" practice in the field.

After lunch, we usually take  a pause to rest and take care of personal needs. In the late afternoon, office work begins. This is where “fieldwork” is turned into more scientific data. Out in the field we spent a lot of time around agricultural terraces and farm structures. We came across press stones, cisterns, and weight stones, which I helped measure and record with my teammates. Even small things like roof tiles or amphora bases around old farmhouses became important to document, because these small finds tell us a lot about the history of the place. Every time we found ceramics, we carefully recorded them, since pottery is one of the best ways to figure out the age of a structure.

One of our daily team meetings.

One of my main responsibilities was working with the GNSS device (the Spectra Sp60). I often walked along ancient paths and terraces to record the exact coordinates of structures and finds. At the end of the day, I would hand these over to my dear friend Bahar Cansel, who put them into QGIS so that all of our data came together in one big map. It was nice to see how the dots and lines we collected in the field turned into a detailed picture of the area.

Me recording GPS points during the morning survey.

Community and Camaraderie

 

What makes the Phoenix Project great is not only the research but also the community it creates. After office hours, we often gather in the garden. Dinners in the evening are followed by late-night conversations (sometimes it was not the best idea, since we have to wake up around 5am, oopsie!) with friends who, in just a few weeks, come to feel like family. Balancing personal space and constant teamwork on archaeological projects can be challenging. We live and work together nearly every hour of the day. but we always find a way to overcome any negativities.

A fun coincidence: my teammate Ilayda Alikaya and I accidentally wore the same clothes on the same morning without planning it. Girlhood is everywhere.

Participating in an archaeology project can be physically demanding, but also mentally and emotionally taxing. To be honest, it is also incredibly rewarding. Every sunrise over the mountains, every small find, or architectural complexes we find, every conversation with a teammate adds to whole experience. For me, the Phoenix Project was more than a regular survey experience, it was a place where I learned academic work as well as being a team. I am so glad to continue to work with them in 2026!

Cleaning some thorny plants to see the structure of the ancient walls and other remains.

Aleyna Uyanik is a Classical Archaeology and Philosophy student at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. She has worked in archaeology and museum projects in Turkey and Germany, with a focus on Greek and Roman material culture.

Phoenix Archaeological Project Website: https://www.phoenixprojesi.com/en/homepage/

Want to help more students and early career archaeologists get into the field? Donate to the cause today by selecting “Fieldwork Scholarships” as your gift purpose!

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New BASOR Editors Announced

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Ammonite Iron Age Tower in Jordan

NEW BULLETIN OF ASOR (BASOR) EDITORIAL TEAM ANNOUNCED

ASOR welcomes Jason Ur as a new interim co-editor of TheBulletin of the American Society of Overseas Research (BASOR). This co-editor appointment was unanimously approved by the Executive Committee on recommendation from the Committee on Publications. Ur will serve an interim term, ending December 31, 2026, alongside one of the current co-editors, Marwan Kilani. The Committee on Publications thanks the three outgoing editors, Susan Cohen, Jana Mynářová, and Regine Pruzsinszky, for their dedication, professionalism, and service.

Jason Ur is Stephen Phillips Professor of Archaeology and Ethnology in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University. He specializes in early urbanism, landscape archaeology, and remote sensing. He was trained in Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania (BA 1994) and in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago (PhD 2004). He has directed field surveys in Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Iran. He is the author of Urbanism and Cultural Landscapes in Northeastern Syria: The Tell Hamoukar Survey, 1999-2001 (2010). Since 2012, he has directed the Erbil Plain Archaeological Survey, an archaeological survey in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq. In 2014, he was the plenary speaker at the 2014 ASOR Annual Meeting with his talk, “The Renaissance of Archaeology in Iraq and its Kurdistan Region.”

Marwan Kilani is an Egyptologist and linguist working on cultural and linguistic interactions between Egypt and the Levant. He has a strong interest in methodological questions, and in digital humanities and computational methods applied to the study of the ancient world. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Basel and has served as BASOR co-editor since January 1, 2021.

Those interested in publishing in BASOR should continue to submit manuscripts through the online submission system.

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