ASOR Blog
2013
December 2013
Introduction to Archaeology and the New Testament (Mandarin Language)
By: Wenhua Shi
There are currently few resources available in the Mandarin language for the study of the archaeology of Israel/Palestine as it relates to the study of nascent Christianity. The demand for such resources in China is growing and as the study of early Christian literature expands so too does the need…Read More
Travels Through Time: Imagining Migration in the Early Aegean
By: Saro Wallace
As a student, I had travelled and excavated in other parts of the Middle East (Jordan and Lebanon) before, but had never visited Israel. My three-months as the Glassman Holland Research Fellow was intended to enable me to work on the Iron Age chapter of a new book considering the role of migration in social transformations in the ancient Aegean…Read More
Reconstructing Jerusalem: Persian Period Prophetic Perspectives
By: Kenneth A. Ristau
In rare agreement, successive Greek, Jewish, and Roman writers, Hecataeus of Abdera, Aristeas, Philo, Josephus, and Pliny, extol Jerusalem as one of the great cities of the eastern Mediterranean world. Of the Herodian period, Martin Goodman has argued in a seminal article (recently reprinted in his 2007 collected essays) that Jerusalem developed a significant tourism economy, consistently drawing in pilgrims from the Diaspora in numbers many times its own population…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 12-27-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR Facebook or Twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
The Roots of Violence: The Lesson from the Southern Levant
By: Issa Sarie
The research, which was a joint project with Prof. Israel Hershkovitz of Tel Aviv University, aimed to analyze the range and nature of violence experienced by prehistoric and historic (urban) populations based on their skeletal remains recovered from various excavations conducted in the ruins of abandoned settlements littered throughout the Levantine landscape…Read More
The Dynamics of Dream-Vision Discourse in the Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls
By: Andrew Perrin
TAlthough it has been sixty-five years since the initial discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the full critical publication of these materials from the mid to late Second Temple period was only completed within the last few years. The Aramaic Scrolls were among the latest materials to appear in the editio princeps, constituting approximately 10-13% of the Qumran library…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 12-20-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR Facebook or Twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
An Investigation into the Figurative Expressions of Ancient Egyptian in Different Text Genres
By: Shih-Wei Hsu
During my award period, I continued to work on my dissertation thesis, which deals with figurative expressions in Ancient Egyptian texts, especially royal inscriptions. The dissertation consists of three parts: the first part is an introduction to the study of figurative language, which defines figurative language and differentiates between simile and metaphor. The second part focuses on an overview of the usage, function and purpose of figurative language in different text genres…Read More
Legitimacy of Kingship in Biblical Narrative and Chinese Classic Shu: A Comparative Study
Dr. Yan Wan
The comparative study I conducted at the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research during my tenure as a Noble Group Fellow focused on the legitimacy of kingship in the Hebrew Bible and in a Chinese classic Shu (Book of Historical Documents). By comparing and contrasting these two different kinds of legitimacy of kingship, my aim was to reach a better understanding of the monarchical traditions in East and West…Read More
Persia and the East: Relationship between Central Asia and the Achaemenid Empire
By: Wu Xin
During the last decade, the focus of scholarship on the Achaemenid empire (ca. 550-330 B.C.) has gradually shifted from a study of the overall structure of the empire on the basis of material from the imperial heartland in western Iran to an examination of the empire’s mechanism through its local manifestation. A number of recently published books exemplify this new trend of scholarship…Read More
Data Integration without Taxation: A Revolutionary Approach to Collaboration
By: Sandra R. Schloen
The rallying cry for project collaboration resounds from every corner. Collaborative research grants earn their own category within major funding agencies. New centers are springing up, like the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society at the University of Chicago (http://neubauercollegium.uchicago.edu), designed to facilitate integrative research that transcends traditional boundaries…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 12-13-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR Facebook or Twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
Egyptian and Egyptianized Material in Late Bronze Age Canaan: An Examination of Cultural Identity
By: Krystal V.L. Pierce
The research I was able to conduct while in residence at the Albright resulted in the completion of my Ph.D. dissertation at UCLA entitled, Living and Dying Abroad: Aspects of Egyptian Cultural Identity in Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Canaan. I am grateful to the director and the staff for their hospitality and efforts towards providing both a home and a place for research…Read More
“The Territory Facing Jaffa”: Cultural Landscapes of a Mediterranean Port and its Hinterland
By: George A. Pierce
The ancient mound of Jaffa, situated on the southern Levantine coast south of the outlet of the Yarkon River, was the closest maritime outlet for inland centers in ancient times. Jaffa has the distinct status of being one of the few ports on the southern Levantine coast featuring an almost continual occupation history from the Middle Bronze Age through the modern era…Read More
American Schools of Oriental Research Call for New Member-Organized Sessions and New Workshop Sessions Proposals
By: LeeAnn Barnes Gordon
The ASOR Annual Meeting provides a venue for scholars, students, and interested members of the public to come together for three and a half intensive days of academic lectures, poster presentations, business meetings, evening receptions, and general conversation on an array of topics related to the history and archaeology of the Near East…Read More
Digging at a Copper Mining Region in Southern Jordan
By: Juan Manuel Tebes
Thanks to an ASOR Platt Fellowship I was able to participate in the 2013 season of the Barqā Landscape Project (BLP), Jordan, directed by Dr. Russell B. Adams (University of Waterloo, Canada). My participation in this project stemmed from my interest in the archaeology and history of the southern arid margins of the Levant during the Iron Age – the Negev and biblical Edom…Read More
A Hotbed of Healing: Ritual Cures in Roman Palestine
By: Megan Nutzman
My dissertation looks at ritual healing in Roman and late antique Syria-Palestine. Significant scholarly work has been done in the areas of “magical” healing, through the use of amulets and incantations, and on localized healing cults, such as those of Asclepius or healing saints. However, previous scholarship has often emphasized cures labeled as either “religious” or “magical” to the exclusion of the other category…Read More
The Bioarchaeology of Agriculture in the Prehistoric Southern Levant
By: Matthew A. Gasperetti
The Educational and Cultural Affairs Fellowship which I held at the Albright Institute this year gave me access to world-class bibliographic resources in Jerusalem as well as to an international community of scholars, both of which proved invaluable as I worked on my dissertation entitled: “The Bioarchaeology of Agriculture in the Prehistoric Southern Levant.” Over the past several years, I have conducted a variety of research projects…Read More
Agnès Garcia-Ventura Kicks Off the 2013 ASOR Annual Meeting Session Videos
This year, at the 2013 ASOR Annual Meeting, we decided to try something new. We asked for volunteers to come in and reread their papers on camera. Our goal was to promote all the great academic content that can be experienced every year at the ASOR Annual Meeting…Read More
Baal and the Problem of Politics in the Bronze Age
By: Aaron Tugendhaft
My research explores the intersections between conceptions of the divine, forms of human artistic making, and the foundations of politics in the Near East. As an NEH Fellow at the Albright Institute from December, 2012 to March, 2013, I was given the opportunity to spend four months working on my current book manuscript—a revision of my 2012 New York University dissertation, “Baal and the Problem of Politics in the Bronze Age…Read More
November 2013
The Mystery of Existence: The Construction of Authority in 4QInstruction
By: Benjamin Wold
In late 1947, a small fragment (1Q26) of a previously unknown Hebrew document was discovered in Cave 1 near Khirbet Qumran. In 1952, at least six more manuscripts of this same text were found in Cave 4 (4Q415-418, 4Q418*, 4Q423). In 1999, John Strugnell and Daniel Harrington published the critical edition of these manuscripts in the Discoveries in the Judean Desert series and since that time this composition has attracted considerable attention…Read More
“A Bathtub Murder”: (Re)Investigating Mesopotamian Bathtub Coffins
By: Laura B. Mazow
Bath-shaped basins dated to the Bronze and Iron Ages, discovered in both burial and habitation contexts, have been interpreted as either burial coffins or bathing tubs that reflect immigration or elite emulation of foreign traditions. I have previously proposed that Bronze Age bath-shaped basins were used for processing wool…Read More
Greek Architecture and the Near East
By: Philip Sapirstein
I have pursued several projects this year during my time as an NEH Fellow at the Albright. As a specialist in the architecture of ancient Greece, I came to the Albright to examine the evidence for influences from the eastern Mediterranean. One topic has been the origins of the barrel vault in Greece, which first appears in a series of aristocratic Macedonian tombs some time after 350 B.C…Read More
Final Report on the Archaeological Excavations at Khirbet Qana: Field II, the Synagogue
By: Tom McCollough
Initiated by the late Douglas Edwards, the principle aim was to integrate the archaeological data from urban sites dating to the Roman and Byzantine periods with those recovered from rural village sites. The site was known from earlier surveys of the region and the pre-excavation survey of 1998 revealed plentiful evidence of human activity from the Neolithic through the Ottoman periods with the most extensive and significant occupations occurring in the Early Roman and again in the Late Byzantine periods…Read More
Organic Residue Analysis: Views from the Field
By: Zuzana Chovanec, Susanne Grieve, Laura Mazow
Organic Residue Analysis (ORA) from archaeological materials offers exciting prospects for researchers into how objects have been used by past cultures. While ORA is not a new presence in archaeology, developing technologies have made instrumentation more accessible and new collaborations between archaeologists, analytical chemists, and even conservators demonstrates the interdisciplinary nature of the subject…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 11-15-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR Facebook or Twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
OLD TESTAMENT JERUSALEM: EVOLUTION OR REVOLUTION?
Late Bronze Age Jerusalem is renowned as the source of six letters written by its king, Abdi-hepa, found in the archive of international correspondence preserved at Tell el-Amarna in Egypt. Iron Age Jerusalem is renowned as the capital of Israel’s United Monarchy described in the Old Testament’s accounts of David’s capture of Jerusalem from the Jebusites and Solomon’s construction of a temple on Mt. Moriah, and as the capital of Judah destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, in the early 6th c. B.C.E. Evidence provided by the Amarna letters and the Old Testament have informed all modern histories of Jerusalem…Read More
Jewish Popular Piety in Late Antiquity
By: Michael L. Satlow
The four and a half months that I spent as the Seymour Gitin Distinguished Professor at the Albright Institute have been among the most productive and intellectually stimulating of my career. I entered the fellowship with two goals: (1) to further my project on Jewish popular piety (or “lived religion”) in late antiquity and (2) to gain, as somebody who has worked primarily with texts, a better understanding of the archaeological materials and techniques related to my research interests….Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 11-8-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR Facebook or Twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
A Political History of the Arameans: From Their Origins to the End of Their Polities
By: Lawson Younger
The Arameans were a large group of linguistically related entities that played a significant role in the history and culture of the ancient Near East. While their greatest legacy was, undoubtedly, the Aramaic language that became a lingua franca, they contributed in many other ways to Iron Age civilization…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 11-1-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR Facebook or Twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
The Archaeology of Conflict and Remembrance at Gallipoli
By: Sarah Midford and Jessie Birkett-Rees
The First World War was an unprecedented catastrophe, killing millions and setting Europe on the path to further conflict. The eight month battle for the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915 provides an outstanding example of the entrenched conflicts over strategic patches of land during the ‘Great War.’ However, in spite of the large-scale loss and destruction, the conflict at Gallipoli helped provide the national foundation of three young nations: Turkey, Australia and New Zealand…Read More
October 2013
Ask an Archaeologist: Mummies, Ghosts, and Aliens
Ask an Archaeologist is a new YouTube series dedicated to answering your questions about Archaeology. The series is based on questions submitted by viewers. Viewer’s questions are then answered by professional archaeologists with years of experience...Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 10-25-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section...Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 10-18-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section...Read More
Atarah in the Archives: Nelson Glueck’s Canine Companion
By: Cynthia Rufo-McCormick
A few months ago, while transcribing diaries from the Nelson Glueck Papers, we came across a short, curious entry penned by Glueck on December 12, 1938. We quickly learned from Glueck’s meticulously-captioned photos that Atarah was his Alsation – what we now call a German Shepherd…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 10-12-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 10-4-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
A Look into Our Past
October is a busy month for the world of Archaeology. There’s the International Archaeology Day (IAD) on October 19th, Archaeological Institute of America’s (AIA) Archaeology Day Fair at the Museum of Science in Boston, and over 300 archaeology events throughout the month in various parts of the world. October also kicks off Archives Month here on the ASOR Blog…Read More
DIGGING UP ABEL-BETH-MAACAH
By: Rimon Armaly
In the 2013 season, I participated in a dig at Abel-Beth-Maacah. I am currently a second-year archaeology student at Trinity International University. The program at Trinity requires the participation of students in a dig somewhere in the Middle East. From among the various options, I chose Abel-Beth-Maacah in Israel. I made my decision to travel to Israel after a brief discussion with my professor, John Monson, who shared with me some options…Read More
Ad-Deir Plateau Archaeological Survey
By: Daniel King
This past May, I participated in an archaeological survey of the Ad-Deir Plateau in Petra Archaeological Park, Jordan with the help of a Heritage Fellowship from the American Schools of Oriental Research. In conjunction with the Jordanian Department of Antiquities and the onsite team directed by Dr. Cynthia Finlayson of Brigham Young University, I was given the opportunity to map the Ad-Deir Plateau in near entirety by performing a pedestrian survey…Read More
September 2013
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 9-27-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
An Afternoon at the Museum – The Dead Sea Scrolls
By: Kaitlynn Anderson
Saturday, September 21st, was a beautifully sunny, breezy day. I gathered my equipment and headed off to Westborough, MA. My plan? To see Dr. Eric Meyers lecture on the Dead Sea Scrolls and experience the exhibit at the Museum of Science. The lecture took place at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, and was co-sponsored by Friends of ASOR. Dr. Meyers, who traveled to Boston for this event, is a leading authority on Jewish History, Archaeology and Old Testament Writings…Read More
The Value of Bricks
By: M. Barbara Reeves
Bricks don’t get a lot of respect as artifacts. Perhaps it’s because they’re so ubiquitous on many archaeological sites. Or perhaps it’s because their form, composition, and function seem so very obvious to everyone. After all, human beings the world over have been making bricks—baked and unbaked—in essentially the same way for as long as they have been building. All of these factors make bricks very familiar artifacts, and, as the saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt…Read More
2013 Expedition to Khirbat Iskandar and its Environs
By: Cassandra Parsons
Normally, my response to the typical back-to-school or September-time question—the dreaded “How was your summer?”— is rather boring. Usually, summers are hot, and I typically work in a local pizza shop almost every day. That wasn’t the case this year, thanks in part to a Heritage Fellowship that the American Schools of Oriental Research awarded me. As a result of ASOR’s grant, I can say that I had the adventure of a lifetime this summer working on the archaeological site of Khirbat Iskandar in Jordan…Read More
Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) Newsletter
TURKEY, JUNE 2013 — Theoretical Archaeology GroupMeetings, which were initiated in UK in 1979, have been carried out in many countries since then. In 2012, autumn Fahri Dikkaya (Bilkent University) and Çiler Çilingiroğlu (Ege University) initiated TAG-Turkey and assembled the Turkish group for Theoretical Archaeology. Regarding the practice of theoretical archaeological methods worldwide, the major aim of TAG-Turkey was determining the position of Turkish archaeology within that sphere as well as bringing the related scholars and students together in order to create a discussion ground…Read More
Excavating Village Life in Roman-Period Galilee
Alex Ramos
This summer, I was able to join the Samford University-led excavations of Shikhin, thanks in no small part to the ASOR fellowship that helped fund my stay. I was invited to come on as an area supervisor, in charge of the excavation and meticulous recording of two 5 x 5 meter squares. An excellent field experience for a budding scholar interested in engaging with archaeology in addition to the literary source I have been trained in…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 9-13-13
Happy Friday the 13th! If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
Tel Hazor Ninth and Eighth Centuries B.C.E. Photo Gallery
If you find this photo gallery helpful, sign up to receive The Ancient Near East Today via email for FREE! The articles will be delivered straight to your inbox, along with links to news, discoveries, and resources about the Ancient Near East. Just go here to sign up...Read More
Robert Jehu Bull, A Remembrance
by Jane DeRose Evans
Bob’s car carried the license plate “Jehu” – which was, of course, his middle name, but also referred (as he told me while looking at me sideways) to Jehu, “who drives furiously.” Near to the first time I met him, this moment summarizes Bob so well: learned to a great degree, especially in the ancient world and its seminal texts, full of good humor, and racing enthusiastically to grab life’s experiences, moments, and relationships…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 9-06-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
2013 Platt Fellowship: A Summer at Hippos Sussita
By: Matt Winter
My initial introduction to the site of Hippos Sussita, near Kibbutz Ein Gev in Israel, was one which left me feeling a sense of the grandeur this ancient city must have had. One of the member cities of the Decopolis, a region of ten major cities in what is today Israel, Jordan and Syria. Hippos was an important polis on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee during the late Hellenistic, Roman and Early Byzantine periods…Read More
ASORtv: How the Grants Help
When ASOR Director Andy Vaughn traveled to Israel and Jordan in 2012, he met up with recipients of the Platt and Heritage Fellowships. He asked them three questions…Read More
Jefferson Travels: Kibbutz Ruhama
By: Jeff Porter
Among the bustling crowd–the ruby-eyed transients who resemble prisoners more than travelers, gang of three-foot pigeons carelessly strutting while complaining about the filthy bathrooms, and intermittent track meets by world-class sprinters with luggage in tow–there is not much to distract you in Terminal C. So, my eleven hour layover in the JFK Airport is a great chance to reflect on my field experience. I find myself questioning what I gained from this year’s research season…Read More
August 2013
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 8-30-2013
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
The “Earthquake House” in Cyprus
Erin Daughters
Every day at Kourion, Cyprus, thousands of tourists arrive to see the beautiful mosaics, monumental buildings, baths, and theatre. My little sliver of Kourion, located to the southeast of the major architecture, is less visited. We have a few groups come by occasionally. We talk to the tourists about our methodology, joke about the heat, and send them in the direction of the Kourion Museum in nearby Episkopi…Read More
Pottery and the Petra Garden and Pool Complex (PGPC) Excavation
By: Sarah Wenner
This summer was one of the busiest and most exciting I have ever had, thanks in large part to Heritage Fellowship I received through ASOR, and one which showed me the diversity of sites in the Wadi Musa area. My first project was an excavation of the Petra Garden and Pool Complex (PGPC), directly east of the Great Temple in Petra. I had worked extensively with pottery from Nabataea over the past year with my advisor…Read More
ASORtv: Excitement on a Dig
When ASOR Director Andy Vaughn traveled to Israel and Jordan in 2012, he met up with recipients of the Platt and Heritage Fellowships. He asked them three questions…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 8-23-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
Journal of a Rowanduz Archaeological Project (RAP) Participant
By: Kyra Kaercher
While waiting for our permit to be signed for the Rowanduz Archaeological Project (RAP), we went to a few gatherings hosted by the Mayor of Rowanduz. RAP is a project located in Northern Iraq, in the Autonomous Kurdish Region. This project is a joint venture between Boston University and the University of Pennsylvania. The first season occurred this summer, from May to July…Read More
2013 Platt Fellowship: From Student to Supervisor in Cyprus
By: Lydia Dwyer
The ancient city-state of Idalion was once one of the largest copper-producing cities on Cyprus. The volcanic hills of the island hide copper-rich pillow lavas that Idalionites would mine, process, and then export to one of the port cities. Dr. Pamela Gaber has operated the site since 1987, though many people have excavated Idalion before her. I came to Cyprus as a student for the 2012 season, and Dr. Gaber invited me back as a supervisor for the 2013 season…Read More
Hogging the Attention: Cuisine and Culture in Ancient Israel
By: Edward F. Maher
The Iron Age of Ancient Israel (1200 – 586 BCE) includes the rise and decline of two well known cultural groups. The interactions between Israel and their nemesis the Philistines are described in the Old Testament that emphasized the differences between their cultures, heritage, and general ways of life. One of those distinctions was the observance of consumption taboos; Israelites did not eat pork products whereas the Philistines had no such dietary restriction…Read More
The So-Called “Solomonic” City-gate at Megiddo
By: David Ussishkin
Following the discovery in 1958 of the six-chambered gate at Hazor, Yigael Yadin published his famous concept equating the six-chambered gates of Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer with 1 Kings 9:15 which states that Solomon built those three cities. This equation clinched the attribution of the Megiddo gate to the reign of Solomon. Megiddo Stratum VA-IVB, the administrative city characterized by palaces, was assigned by Yadin to the reign of Solomon, while Stratum IVA, the overlying city of stables, was assigned by him to the Omride kings…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 8-16-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
Tel Hazor Iron I and Iron IIa Ages Photo Gallery
Photo Gallery: Here’s a gallery of all the images that appear in Near Eastern Archaeology 76.2 (2013) for Hazor in the Iron I and Iron IIa Ages. Smaller versions of some of the images also appear in the article “Hazor in the Tenth Century BCE” on the ASOR Blog / ANE Today which you can read here…Read More
Hazor in the Tenth Century BCE
Few topics are more controversial than the biblical kingdoms of David and Solomon. Were they and their rulers real, and if so, what archaeological remains did they leave? Or were they literary creations, exaggerations or even fabrications of later biblical writers? The arguments have raged for almost three decades without end, polarizing biblical Archaeology—and the public—like no other issue...Read More
Words in the Sand: Discovering A New Monumental Latin Inscription at ‘Ayn Gharandal (Ancient Arieldela), Jordan
“The stone was huge, well over 500 pounds. It was quite a thing to witness. It was face down in the dirt, and using lots of muscle the workmen were able to stand it up. I looked at it and all I saw on its face was packed sand. For a split second I was very disappointed, thinking that we were wrong and there was no inscription carved on it. Then one of the workers started brushing the sand off with his hand, which we were not supposed to do...Read More
Recipe for Surviving an Archaeological Excavation
By: Marielle Velande
I’m already halfway through my three weeks as an archaeologist at Tel Kabri, a Middle Bronze Age palace in northwestern Israel, my participation made possible by the Meyers Fellowship through the American Schools for Oriental Research (ASOR). I’ve learned a lot already about what is necessary to get through hard physical labor while maintaining a passion for finding broken pottery sherds. In this post I will lay down four key ingredients for surviving an archaeological excavation...Read More
Remembering Martin Bernal
by Alex Joffe
Buried deep in the footnotes of Martin Bernal’s first volume of Black Athena is a reference to an undergraduate paper about the Sea Peoples. I no longer have a copy of that paper, nor do I remember what I wrote back in 1980. But as someone who took several classes with Martin at Cornell University during the late 1970s, his death has caused sadness and has set me to thinking about those days and his scholarship….Read More
Digging the Iron Age at Bethsaida
By: Olga Goussev-Sushinsky
For my first archaeological dig, I decided to choose Bethsaida. The site is located at north-east shore of the Sea of Galilee and is most known for its role in the New Testament. It is also renowned for being the capital of the Biblical kingdom Geshur…Read More
Excavating Canaanite remains at Tel Jezreel
By: Ashley Motes
From May to June, I spent four weeks at Tel Jezreel in Israel participating in the Jezreel Expedition. Norma Franklin of Zinman Institute of Archaeology at Israel’s University of Haifa and Jennie Ebeling of University of Evansville were the directors of the project. The focus of the Jezreel Expedition is to expand our knowledge of Tel Jezreel…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 8-2-13
By: Ashley Motes
The University of Leicester team lifted the lid of a medieval stone coffin only to find a lead coffin inside, during the final week of their second dig at the Grey Friars site, where the King Richard III was discovered in September…Read More
July 2013
Shalom from Huqoq, Israel!
By: Megan Hynek
Deciding to dig in Israel was an easy decision. I am currently a fourth year archaeology student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. All archaeology students there are required to attend a dig field school. We have several options including digs in northern Peru, Mississippi, and Crete…Read More
Archaeological Field Work in Egypt After the Revolution
By: James K. Hoffmeier
On January 25, 2011 the Egyptian revolution that toppled the thirty-year dictatorial reign of Hosni Mubarak began. On February 11th, Mubarak resigned. While the political news gripped much of the world, reports of some looting in the Cairo museum surprised everyone. Though limited in scope, security was quickly tightened and a human chair of volunteer guards locked arms around the historic museum. What happened to the museum seemed like a replay of the vandalism that occurred in Baghdad during the Iraq war of 2003, although the losses from the Cairo Museum were minimal. After only a brief interlude, the museum reopened…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 7-18-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
Tel Hazor Bronze Age Photo Gallery
Photo Gallery: Here’s a gallery all the images that appear in Near Eastern Archaeology 76.2 (2013) for Hazor in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. Smaller versions of some of the images also appear to illustrate the abridged version of the article on Hazor’s Ceremonial Precinct found on the ASOR Blog / ANE Today which you can read here.…Read More
The Big Dig Video Roundup
We have compiled some of our favorite archaeology videos from the past months for your viewing pleasure…Read More
Archaeology in the News! 7-12-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
Near Eastern Archaeology in Malta
By: Anthony J. Frendo
The Maltese archipelago lies practically at the centre of the Mediterranean, roughly midway between the eastern and the western Mediterranean Sea, and between the island of Sicily to its north and Libya to its south. Given this unusual location – between the Near East and Classical worlds and at the epicenter of the Punic world – one would expect Near Eastern archaeology to be a long-standing academic discipline. This is not the case, at least not yet..…Read More
Biomolecular Archaeology & the Westward Spread of Wine
From the Penn Museum
France is renowned the world over as a leader in the crafts of viticulture and winemaking—but the beginnings of French viniculture have been largely unknown, until now. Imported ancient Etruscan amphoras and a limestone press platform, discovered at the ancient port site of Lattara in southern France, have provided the earliest known biomolecular archaeological evidence of grape wine and winemaking—and point to the beginnings of a Celtic or Gallic vinicultural industry in France circa 500-400 BCE…Read More
Archaeology in Lebanon Today: Its Politics and Its Problems
By: Hélène Sader
Lebanon has a long and very rich past, but in spite of the country’s wealth of ancient settlements, compared to neighboring countries archaeological research is far behind. While in the last decades archaeological research has greatly enhanced our understanding of Syria’s, Jordan’s, and Palestine’s past, Lebanon appears to be lagging behind and its ancient history, with the exception maybe of prehistory, is almost terra incognita…Read More
Cooking in the Hebrew Bible
By: Cynthia Shafer-Elliott
Lebanon has a long and very rich past, but in spite of the country’s wealth of ancient settlements, compared to neighboring countries archaeological research is far behind. While in the last decades archaeological research has greatly enhanced our understanding of Syria’s, Jordan’s, and Palestine’s past, Lebanon appears to be lagging behind and its ancient history, with the exception maybe of prehistory, is almost terra incognita…Read More
June 2013
Editor’s Picks: The 10 Most Influential BASOR Articles
We’re celebrating the release of the first issue of the new and expanded Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research this month with free access to the Editor’s list of the ten most influential articles from BASOR’s long history. Just click the links below to go through and read the articles, which are available for free until July 30…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 6-28-13
ASOR member Jodi Magness’ excavation at Huqoq has unearthed another mosaic featuring Samson. The mosaics, which consist of hundreds of tiny stone cubes, depict scenes from in the Bible and have been dated to the fifth century…..Read More
Turning Dirt into Pixels
By Colleen Morgan
In archaeological field work it is easy to become entranced. We have a cyclical mode of work, and it is this work that field archaeologists like the best, the kind that happens when the sun is shining, there’s a cool breeze at your back, and the archaeology is making sense…Read More
Legacy Excavations and Linked Open Data: A Virtual Vision of Sir Leonard Woolley’s Ur
By: W.B. Hafford
Digital data plays an ever increasing role in archaeology. Archaeologists use computers for virtually every task, from artifact recording to site mapping, and the amount of data we gather is staggering. This is a good thing, but proper management and archiving of the data can overwhelm a dig crew. Take, for example, field photos. Sir Leonard Woolley, digging at the ancient city of Ur some 90 years ago, took 2,350 photos over twelve seasons…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 6-14-13
The secret to making sustainable, strong concrete may have been at the bottom the Mediterranean Sea for the past 2,000 years: Researchers believe that the ancient Romans created concrete that is more environmentally friendly and durable than modern cement…Read More
Living in the Golden Age of Open Access Archaeology
By: Mitch Allen
Arguments over open access in scholarly publishing have crossed the radar of every scholar, publisher, or librarian not suffering from terminal senility. Open access would represent a global shift of control of scholarly publications from largely (but not exclusively) the private sector’s group of publishing houses to some as-yet-undefined group of scholarly individuals and institutions…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 6-7-13
The ivory carvings and plaques found at the 8th century BCE Phoenician city of Arslan Tash — “Stone Lion” — may appear as flat monochrome objects when viewed in museums today, but once they shone with brilliant blue, red and several other colors as well as glittering with real gold paint….Read More
Augmented Reality, a New Horizon in Archaeology
Firstly, I would like to thank Jen Fitzgerald for asking me to contribute a guest post to the ASOR Blog. I am currently undertaking a doctoral thesis at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London – researching the middle ground between phenomenological, in situ landscape investigation and computer-based analysis…Read More
The Virtual World Project: Touring The Ancient World
By: Ronald A. Simkins and Nicolae Roddy
There is nothing quite like teaching at an archaeological site, where ancient remains almost speak out to students as witnesses of the past. Both authors have led study tours in Israel, taking students to archaeological sites like Tel Dan, Bethsaida, Megiddo, Arad, Beer-sheba, and others, lecturing there among the stones on archaeology, history, and the Bible…Read More
iPads in the Field and Reflections on Archaeology’s Digital Future
By: William Carahe
This past summer my excavation on Cyprus experimented with using iPads to document our excavations in the field. Since 2003, I have co-directed the Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project with Prof. R. Scott Moore of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Prof. David K. Pettegrew of Messiah College…Read More
Sustainability at Any Price is not Sustainable: Open Access and Archaeology
By: Eric Kansa
This blog post looks at the open access debate, and notes how sustainability is as much of an ideological and political question as it is a financial issue. It is intended to follow up on previous blog posts that discuss how the Aaron Swartz prosecution and death highlighted tremendous injustices in the legal framework governing scholarly communications.…Read More
May 2013
Hand in Hand with Politics: The Challenges of Egyptian Studies in Serbia
By: Branislav Anđelković
There is a saying that Balkans, sometimes rightly compared to a “powder keg”, is a place where the East offered a hand to the West but the West refused to shake it. The Balkan Peninsula is a land bridge between Europe and Asia, through which pass major cultural boundaries…Read More
Remix: Mohammad “Abu Ahmed” Adawi, Chef at ACOR (1968-present)
Contributed by Sarah Harpending
Mohammed “Abu Ahmed” Adawi has spent more than 40 years cooking for archaeologists in Jordan and Palestine. He began as a laborer at the dig in Jericho with Kathleen Kenyon in 1956. By 1960 he was cooking at ASOR in Jerusalem under then Head Chef Omar Jibrin. Abu Ahmed learned his basic techniques on the job, but he recalls that Omar could be secretive about his recipes…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 5-31-13
Parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls are up for sale – in tiny pieces. Nearly 70 years after the discovery of the world’s oldest biblical manuscripts, the Palestinian family who originally sold them to scholars and institutions is now quietly marketing the leftovers – fragments the family says it has kept in a Swiss safe deposit box all these years….Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 5-24-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
The Ancient Near East in Brazil and Argentina From the Origins of Research to the Present
By: Josué Berlesi
Brazil and Argentina are not the first places you think of for ancient Near Eastern studies. But the story of ancient Near Eastern studies in these places is both interesting in its own right and says important things about education and culture in these countries…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 5-17-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
Remix: Hisham M’Farreh, Chef at the Albright Institute (1994-Present)
Contributed by Hisham M’Farreh
Recently, I was looking through some of this blog’s original posts to remove spam comments when I came across this article by the Albright Institute’s chef, Hisham M\’Farreh. The included recipe looked easy to follow and delicious, so I decided to try it at home…Read More
Biblical Archaeology in Germany – Does it Have a Future?
By: Martin Peilstöcker
What if Biblical Archaeology went extinct in your native country? More than twenty years ago I left my native Germany to get a Ph.D. at Tel Aviv University and to work for the Antiquities Authority in Israel. But when I returned in 2009, the situation I found in Germany came as a shock. Biblical Archaeology is an endangered species and may never recover….Read More
Study of Early Pottery Workshops in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Near East Around 6,000 cal. BC
By: Ingmar Fran
The goal of my project was an in-depth survey of the literature focusing on early pottery production in the Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic periods in the Eastern Mediterranean Basin and the Near East. The well-organized Albright library provided the opportunity for me to find almost every source I needed. Discussions with the fellows at the institute were also fruitful and contributed to the success of my project…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 5-3-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
Trade and Trophy: Near Eastern Imports in the Sarmatian Culture
By: Oleksandr Symonenko
The main purpose of my project was the study of Near Eastern artifacts from Sarmatian graves. The Sarmatians were Iranian-speaking nomads who inhabited the territory stretching from the Altai Mountains up to the Danube from the 3rd – 4th centuries CE. The Near Eastern artifacts objects came to the Sarmatians in two main ways, as military trophies and as traded merchandise…Read More
April 2013
Typology and Semantics of Cryptograms and Acrolexa in the Orthodox East in the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Period
By: Emmanuel Moutafov
For some scholars, the letter abbreviations with encoded meaning on cryptograms and acrolexa are the creation of a monachus ludnes (a monk having fun), who has been instructed to hide his identity or his personal message in an acrostic or in visual poetry, writes his signature through cryptographs, laughs at monastery moralizing anecdotes and does not want his identity to be revealed in the vanity of mundane life…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 4-26-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
A Seminar on The History and Material Culture of Ottoman Palestine at the Kenyon Institute, Jerusalem
By: Micaela Sinibaldi
On the 9th and 10th of February 2013 I had the great pleasure to organise a seminar entitled: The History and Material Culture of Ottoman Palestine at the Kenyon Institute in Jerusalem. The seminar consisted of a day of papers and a roundtable discussion at the Kenyon and a day of tours of the Old City led by some of the seminar scholars…Read More
Terracotta Oil Lamps from Qumran and Ein Feshkha (R. de Vaux’s Excavations, 1951-1958): Typology, Chronology and the Question of Manufacturing Centers
By: Jolanta Mlynarczyk
The aim of my research at the Albright was to study an assemblage of ca. 200 oil lamps discovered at Qumran by archaeologists from the Ecole Biblique at the settlement itself and in the caves (1951-1956) as well as at Ein Feshkha (1958). The importance of this cluster of sites for our understanding of the late Second Temple period is indisputable, yet in the past many lamps have not been properly described within their archaeological context…Read More
Ecclesia Diaboli: The Demonization of the Gentile Religion in Jewish and Christian Thought
By: Aleksander Michalak
My preliminary examination of several Second Temple texts, 1 Enoch, the Book of Jubilees, Joseph and Aseneth, Testament of Job, the First Epistle to the Corinthians, and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs indicates that there is already at this time a connection between demons and the cult of foreign gods, although they are not always explicitly identified with one another…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 4-12-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
Ancient Tsunamis and their Modern Significance
By: Beverly Goodman
On March 11, 2011, the word “tsunami” went from being an esoteric term to a household word. The world’s television screens were filled with images of destruction and carnage when massive waves generated by an offshore earthquake devastated large portions of northeastern Japan…Read More
ASOR and Archaeological Ethics
By: Lynn Swartz Dodd
What should American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) members do if new Dead Sea Scrolls are found? What if our country’s military actions increase uncontrolled looting of ancient sites? Or if war creates a situation where people and ancient things exist under occupation? How should we deal with the remains of human beings we encounter in burials? How should ASOR members and others support international laws dealing with antiquities…Read More
Using Inscriptions from the Antiquities Market: Polarized Positions and Pragmatic Proposals
By: Christopher A. Rollston
Archaeological sites in the Middle East have been ransacked, pillaged, and plundered for many decades. The motivations of the actual pillaging are normally economic: the pursuit of marketable artifacts. That is, the pillagers wish to find objects that can be sold to collectors…Read More
March 2013
More than Just Airfare: ASOR’s Good Investment
By: Mehrnoush Soroush
In the summer of 2012, I received an ASOR fellowship to join a field project in central Turkey, in the region of Cappadocia. Elsewhere, I described my immense happiness about receiving the fellowship and the invaluable experiences I gained in the field…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 3-29-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
The Relationship of Egypt and its Vassals as Reflected in the Amarna Tablets
By: Yuan Zhihui
During my four-and-a-half month fellowship at the Albright, my research project focused on “The Relationship of Egypt and its Vassals as Reflected in the Amarna Tablets.” The aim of the project was to reveal the diplomatic system between Egypt and its vassal states in Canaan…Read More
Thomas Verenna: History’s ‘The Bible’ in Broader Contexts
By: Thomas Verenna
In lieu of writing a much longer piece for an online journal, I have thought it useful to open up some to a conversation concerning the History Channel’s ‘The Bible’. Recently lots has been made about the inaccuracies of the miniseries, as well as Glenn Beck’s (racist?) comments about how similar is their Satan character to “that guy”. But not much has been said in its defense…Read More
A Lasting Impact on My Head and Heart
By: Heather Pillette
It was a huge honor and great blessing to be one of the recipients of the Heritage Fellowship last year. I journeyed to the beautiful northern Beth-Shean Valley of Israel to participate in the final dig of a beloved tel: Tel Rehov. It was an incredible journey and experience, one which would not have been possible without the Heritage Fellowship…Read More
The Origins of the Early States in China and Israel: Through A Comparative Study
By: Xinhui Luo
During my fellowship at the Albright, my main project was entitled “Ideology of the Early State: East and West.” The goal of this project was to examine the ideologies of the early states in Mesopotamia and in China, and to find the similarities and the differences between the two.…Read More
Wil Gafney: History Channel’s Satan and President Obama
By: Wil Gafney
Many viewers of the History Channel’s Bible mini-series saw and see a resemblance between the character of Satan and President Barack Obama. Comparison photos such as the one above are circulating on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms. The History Channel denies any resemblance and any attempt to pattern the character after the President…Read More
Mark Goodacre: The Bible Series — Drama and Historical Context
By: Mark Goodacre
While I realize that the only thing people seem to want to talk about at the moment in connection with The BibleSeries is the alleged resemblance between a still of Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni and President Obama, I will risk talking about several other features of the most recent installment of the drama, which was broadcast in Sunday evening on History Channel…Read More
Archaeology Students, the Academic Artists
By: Justin Yoo
I once heard it said about artists, that they essentially go through life as ‘beggars.’ Even when they are employed, they are always looking for their next job and meal. Sometimes as a graduate student in archaeology, I feel we students can relate to this notion…Read More
A Quadcopter over Tel Dan
By: Thomas Beyl
This past summer I had the great honor of receiving an ASOR Heritage Fellowship, which allowed me to pursue my dream of using a remote controlled aircraft to do aerial photography on an excavation. In the fall of 2011 I was invited by Dr. David Ilan to return to Tel Dan as an area supervisor for the 2012 dig season…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 3-22-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
The Image of Suffering Women in the Book of Lamentations and Nanjing Holocaust Literature: A Cross-Textual Reading
By: Zhe Li
The aim of my research was to decentralize a male-gendered interpretation tradition of Lamentations 3, and to reinterpret the neglected image of “Daughter Zion” (בת־ציון) in Lamentations 1 and 2 in the sense of human suffering. Meanwhile, reexamining the counterpart image of suffering women through the lens of Nanjing Holocaust literature also helps to demonstrate how these different types of texts transform the unique voices and experiences of women into the memories of human disasters…Read More
A Monumental Surprise in Turkey
By: Dylan Johnson
ASOR’s Heritage Fellowship afforded me, along with many other students with an interest in Near Eastern archaeology, the opportunity to participate in archaeological excavations throughout the Near East. This past summer, I worked at Tell Taʾyinat, a small site in the southwestern province of Hatay, Turkey, close to the Syrian border…Read More
Chinese and Western Cultural Exchange in Archaeology: A Focus on Glassware
By: Shuo Geng
My project at the Albright Institute during the academic year, 2011-2012 was entitled “Chinese and Western Cultural Exchange in Archaeology：Focusing on Western Glassware Found in China from the First Century B.C. to the Sixth Century A.D.” It was during this period that China initiated wide-ranging cultural contacts with the western world, resulting in large numbers of western artifacts being found in China at sites and in tombs, such as gold, silver, and glass ware, as well as pottery, brass objects, textiles, seals, and coins, etc…Read More
Support Archaeology Students
Haven’t given to ASOR’s March Fellowship Madness yet? We are giving away a copy of The Photographs of the American Palestine Exploration Society (AASOR v. 66) by Rachel Hallote, Felicity Cobbing, and Jeffrey Spurr to one of the donors to our fellowship fundraising drive…Read More
Fulfilling my Dream
By: Kristen Johnson
As someone who has spent a large portion of their adult life studying the intricacies of the Hebrew Bible narrative, subscribing to Biblical Archaeology Review, and learning ancient dead languages like Biblical Hebrew, getting the opportunity to experience my studies tangibly in their natural habitat of Israel through an archaeological dig was always a dream…Read More
A Wonderful Season
By: Amanda Hopkins
I received financial assistance as a Heritage Fellowship recipient which helped me to purchase my plane ticket. In addition to this practical benefit, I was able to share my experiences through the ASOR blog. Now, as I reflect upon my earlier posts (First, Second, Third, and Last) I have various markers that show me how understanding is a journey of perspective.…Read More
ASOR Heritage Fellowship: Helping Students Achieve Their Aspirations
By: Stephanie Boonstra, 2012 Heritage Fellow
Returning to Khirbat al-Mudayna as a square supervisor this past summer was a life-changing experience for me. I was awarded the Heritage Fellowship thanks to the generous donors of ASOR, which allowed me to revisit to the ancient Kingdom of Moab to supervise and excavate under the direction of Dr. P.M. Michèle Daviau…Read More
Archaeology in the News! 3-15-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
Nomad Archaeology in the Near East
By: Jiafen Cheng
My project involved using Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis with ethno-archaeological materials in researching the nomads in the Negev region in Israel with the aim of explaining the patterns of ancient pastoral and nomadic settlement in late antiquity. I chose two small areas in this region – Makhtesh Ramon and Har Karkom – as a case study…Read More
With ASOR’s Help No Need to Stowaway
By: Sara Rich
Last summer, I received a Platt Foundation Fellowship to return for the third season of the Mazotos Shipwreck Excavation in Cyprus. The 18-m long cargo vessel went down a few decades before the Kyrenia, during the Late Classical Period (mid-fourth c. BC). Previous years had exposed three lead anchor stocks and sections of preserved hull and keel wood at the bow…Read More
Evidence of the Arabian Incense Trade in the Southern Levant: Altars and Alabaster Perfume Jars from the Axial Age (8th-4th Centuries B.C.E.)
By: William Zimmerle
Hundreds of portable altars made of stone and clay have been uncovered from archaeological contexts dated to the beginning of the first millennium B.C.E. until the early Roman Near East. Drawing upon anthropological models of trade, cult and economy, this project examines the replication of one specific type of altar, the portable domestic cuboid-burner, the chronological horizon of which extends from the late Iron Age II into the Hellenistic-Roman phases of the southern Levant…Read More
ASOR Heritage Fellowship: The Beginning of a Grand Adventure
By: Nate Ramsayer
My participation in fieldwork was entirely predicated upon receiving a Heritage Fellowship; it allowed me to buy a plane ticket to the Middle East. Had I not been granted an award, you’d find a much grumpier, much more naïve Hebrew Bible student still sitting at Logan Airport in Boston, probably with a cup asking for change, trying to figure how in the heck he’s gonna make it overseas in time for next summer’s season…Read More
Changing perceptions through fieldwork
By: Nicholas Ames
The first thing that struck me once the post-excavation haze wore off a few weeks after my return to the United States, was the sudden realization of the vast difference between “education” and “edification.” The classroom’s education provides the theoretical framework with which to situate my perception of the world, but through the context of labor, the act of archaeology provides an ephemeral emic understanding of the past, becoming a contextualized reification of the course-based educational experience…Read More
Archaeology in the News! 3-15-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
Geographical Factors in the Defense of Judah and Israel
By: Kyle Keimer
My research focused on describing the varying strategies for defense of Israel and Judah in light of each kingdom’s topographical realities and the changing political situation over the course of the Iron II. I began with two basic questions: 1) how, in military terms, did fortifications work? and 2) where were they placed and in response to which circumstances?…Read More
The Platt Fellowship’s Impact
By: Andrew LoPinto
Being selected to receive the ASOR Platt Excavation Fellowship has profoundly impacted me and my career in numerous ways. On a practical level, the support of the Platt Excavation Fellowship made it possible for me to join the staff of the Pennsylvania State University expedition to Mendes for the 2012 season by covering the cost of my airfare to Egypt…Read More
The Emergence of Social Complexity: Changes in Animal Management Strategies between the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age in the Near East
By: Austin C. Hill
The Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age transition in the southern Levant has long been considered a threshold event in the development of social complexity in the Near East. Societies are argued to have shifted from small scale, village-based chiefdoms to true “urban” or city-state level societies…Read More
The Platt Fellowship Changed My Life
By: Caroline Carter
In the summer of 2011, I attended my first archaeological excavation during the opening season of the Huqoq Excavation Project in Huqoq, Israel under the direction of Professor Jodi Magness of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Israel Antiquities Authority…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 3-1-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
February 2013
From Code to Discourse: The Semantics of Ancient Near Eastern Ritual
By: Yitzhaq Feder
My fellowship at the Albright Institute provided me with the opportunity to make significant progress in my large-scale inquiry into the origins of ritual symbols and their sociological and political functions in cultural discourse. This project builds upon the recognition of the foundational role of concrete imagery in processes of human conceptualization and expression (as elucidated in ‘embodiment’ theory), particularly as reflected in the languages and rituals of the ancient Near East…Read More
Metal Implements and Tool Marks from the Levantine Second Millennium BC
By: Nicholas Blackwell
The primary purpose of my Spring 2012 fellowship at the Albright Institute was to compile an extensive dataset of metal tools from the Levantine second millennium BC. This research began to round out the previously-incomplete Levantine category of a tool database assembled for my dissertation on Middle and Late Bronze Age metal tools from the Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean, and Anatolia (Bryn Mawr College, 2011)…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 2-22-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
The Tel Burna Archaeological Project
By: Joe Uziel
In 2009, Dr. Itzhaq Shai and I initiated a long-term archaeological project at Tel Burna. The site is located in the Judean Shephelah on the northern banks of Wadi Guvrin. While described by a number of scholars over the years as a prominent ancient site, it is one of the last tells in the Shephelah to be excavated. Since 2009, an ongoing survey, including several different methods has been conducted alongside excavations…Read More
To Unify and Distinguish: The Making of “Crusader” Art
By: Lisa Mahoney
The crusades to the Holy Land defined all of western Christendom during the 12th and 13th centuries, even if this was not continuous and did not affect all of Christendom at the same time. In the Holy Land, however, once cities had been conquered and loca sancta “freed,” the military component of this enterprise was superseded by other matters—the creation and maintenance of a new, identifiable community despite the cultural dissimilarity of its members and the remove of their origins…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 2-15-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
The Philistine Remains at Tell es-Safi/Gath: Their Regional and Transcultural Connections with the Aegean and Cyprus
By: Louise Hitchcock
My sabbatical semester at the Albright resulted in a preliminary analysis of the stratigraphy, finds, and architecture from Area A2, in the early Philistine sector of Tell es-Safi/Gath, in collaboration with Prof. Aren Maeir and specialist members of the excavation team. The Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project is a long-term collaborative project begun in 1996 under the direction of Prof. Maeir of Bar-Ilan University, Israel as a consortium involving foreign research partners…Read More
The Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age (EB) Transition – Investigation of a Weak Link
By: Eliot Braun
My tenure as an NEH Fellow at the Albright was exceptionally productive as it freed me to direct virtually all my energies into research and writing related to the above project. I was able to complete an article in which I challenge some scholars’ interpretations suggesting there was no Late Chalcolithic occupation at Ashqelon. In it, I demonstrate that Chalcolithic and EB I settlements occupied hilly ridges and troughs between them…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 2-8-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
The Source of Sin and its Nature as Portrayed in Second Temple Literature
By: Miryam T. Brand
My fellowship at the Albright this year has enabled me to further develop the topic of my dissertation with the aim of producing a book for academic readers: Evil Within and Without: The Source of Sin and its Nature as Portrayed in Second Temple Literature, to be published in the Journal of Ancient Judaism Supplement series. The aim of my study has been to examine how sin, specifically, the source of sin, is presented in Second Temple literature, including Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Philo and the Dead Sea Scrolls…Read More
The Source of Sin and its Nature as Portrayed in Second Temple Literature
By: John C. Franklin
Kinyras is the legendary king of Cyprus, generally known only for his incestuous seduction by his daughter Myrrha (Ov. Met. 10.298–502). Yet a large body of scattered references—never completely assembled—ranges from Homer to Byzantine poets and scholars, and even the sixteenth-century Franco-Cypriot historian Étienne de Lusignan…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 2-1-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
January 2013
The transformation of the Metropolis of Myra into an Ottoman village
By: Ebru Fatma Fındık
The ancient city of Myra (mod. Demre) is situated in a plain of Lycia, surrounded by the Taurus Mountains to the north and by the Myros River (mod. Demra Çayı) to the east. Located to the south-west, on the banks of the Andrakos River, is its ancient harbour Andriake (mod. Çayağzı). The city has a large rural territory and during the Byzantine period the city had close religious, social, and economic ties with its territory…Read More
The Cultural Afterlife of Mosaics in Turkey
By: Laurent Dissard
Sensational discoveries of mosaics periodically make the headlines of newspapers in Turkey. After being discovered, unearthed, cleaned, and removed, these ancient floors slowly make their way to museums or private collections. For this month’s ASOR Blog on the Archaeology of Anatolia, I wish to examine the curious afterlife of mosaics in, out of, and more recently, back to Turkey. I want to analyze their transformation from buried and forgotten things in the ground, to sanitized artifacts, aesthetic masterpieces, and contested objects of desire…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 1-25-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
Basalt Connections at Zincirli Hoyuk
By: Leann Pace and Eudora Struble
When Eudora and I began graduate school together at the University of Chicago, I don’t believe either of us was planning to work on a long-term archaeological project in Turkey. Eudora was very involved with archaeology in Jordan and my limited experience led me to believe that I wanted to work on excavations in Israel. However, we were given the opportunity to join what would become the Neubauer Expedition to Zincirli…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 1-18-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
Ethics, Archaeology, and Open Access
By: Eric Kansa
The issue of open access to scholarly works recently gained renewed attention following the tragic suicide of Aaron Swartz, an Internet activist charged with felony computer and intellectual property crimes involving the mass download of articles from JSTOR. ASOR uses JSTOR as a repository for the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (BASOR) and Near Eastern Archaeology (NEA)…Read More
The Gordion Furniture Project
By: Krysia Spirydowicz
The ancient Phrygian capital of Gordion in central Anatolia was first explored in the early 1950s by a team from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Located approximately 100 km southwest of Ankara, this impressive site consists of a flat city mound with occupation levels dating from the Early Bronze Age to Hellenistic times and nearby clusters of burial mounds or tumuli. Rodney Young, the first director of excavations, explored three of the largest tumuli (Tumulus MM, P and W) as well as sections of the City Mound…Read More
Prehistoric Anatolia and the Archeology of Warfare
By: Stephanie Selover
My dissertation project centers on the study of evidence of warfare from Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age Central and Southeastern Anatolia. To date, research on the subject of warfare in the Ancient Near East in general and Anatolia in particular has been largely limited to overviews that include the entirety of the Ancient Near East and go into few details…Read More
Ulucak: A Prehistoric Mound in Aegean Turkey
By: Özlem Çevik and Çiler Çilingiroğlu
Ulucak is a settlement mound located 25 km east of İzmir, in western Turkey (Fig. 1). The mound contains cultural accumulations spanning periods from the Early Neolithic to Late Roman-Early Byzantine periods. The lengthy sequence at Ulucak allows observations on long-term continuities and discontinuities in the settlement layout, architecture, material culture, and subsistence patterns in Aegean Turkey over many millennia…Read More
From History and Myth, Anatolians in Mycenaean Greece
By: Josh Cannon
The Late Bronze Age (LBA) of Anatolia is a period that has been described to us through history and myth. The history of LBA Anatolia comes primarily from the Hittites, who actively created and maintained records. Written in cuneiform, these records provide us with a wealth of information ranging from sweeping royal military campaigns to the correspondence of local leaders discussing missing slaves…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 1-11-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
Archaeology Weekly Roundup! 1-5-13
If you missed anything from the ASOR facebook or twitter pages this week, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some of this week’s archaeology news into one convenient post. If we missed any major archaeological stories from this week, feel free to let us know in the comment section…Read More
