ASOR Blog
2017
March 2017
Pirates in Fact and Fiction
By: Dr. Louise A. Hitchcock
When we think of pirates, we think of eye patches, peg legs, and hook hands; the Jolly Roger, drunkenness, wenches, good times, and buried treasure in the form of gold, pearls, and jewels. In researching historical piracy to develop an anthropological model to further develop our understanding the Sea Peoples as pirates, we are struck by several things.
The Practice of Repairing Vessels in Ancient Egypt: Methods of Repair and Anthropological Implications
Near Eastern Archaeology Vol. 79, No. 4, December 2016 article, “The Practice of Repairing Vessels in Ancient Egypt: Methods of Repair and Anthropological Implications,” by Julia Hsieh (Yale).
February 2017
The Generative Power of The Always-Yet-Never-Here Apocalypse
By: Kelly J. Murphy and Justin Jeffcoat Schedtler
The funny thing about the apocalypse is that it has never happened, and yet it is always in our face and right around the corner. Consider the just released Netflix series “Santa Clarita Diet,” which one reviewer notes, “gives the zombie apocalypse a refreshing new origin story.
A Rare Discovery at Tel Achziv: A Phoenician Clay Mask Mold from the Ninth Century B.C.E.
Near Eastern Archaeology Vol. 79, No. 4, December 2016 article, “A Rare Discovery at Tel Achziv: A Phoenician Clay Mask Mold from the Ninth Century B.C.E.,” by Michael Jasmin (CNRS laboratory), Yifat Thareani (EPHE), and Philippe Abrahami (University of Lumière Lyon 2).
How to Use Photography to Document Ancient Sites and Why It’s Important
By: Brandy Forrest
Archaeological excavation photography (AEP) is a means of documentation vital to both the historical and archaeological record. I began AEP several years ago after being frustrated over the availability of good quality photos for my doctoral dissertation.
Lessons Learned from a New Collaborative Archaeological Adventure
Lessons Learned from a New Collaborative Archaeological AdventureBy: Douglas R. Clark
It all began over a decade ago. Then Director General of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan (DoA), Fawwaz Al-Kraysheh, sat me down in his office, looked me straight in the eyes, and issued three rapid-fire requests, or more like three urgent appeals.
A Clay Bread Stamp from Khirbet et-Tireh
Near Eastern Archaeology Vol. 79, No. 4, December 2016 article, “A Clay Bread Stamp from Khirbet et-Tireh,” by Salah H. Al-Houdalieh (Al-Quds University). The clay bread stamp presented here was found at in a monastic complex dating to the Late Byzantine-Early Islamic period at Khirbet et-Tireh, approximately 16 km northwest of Jerusalem.
A Hellenistic Household Ceramic Assemblage from Tell el-Timai (Thmuis), Egypt: A Contextual View
BASOR No. 376, November 2016 article, “A Hellenistic Household Ceramic Assemblage from Tell el-Timai (Thmuis), Egypt: A Contextual View,” by Nicholas Hudson (University of North Carolina). Large deposits of domestic pottery from primary contexts in Ptolemaic Lower Egypt are uncommon and seldom presented in their entirety.
Diodorus of Sicily’s Library and the Ancient Near East
By: Jan P. Stronk
Though I was acquainted with the figure and work of Diodorus of Sicily, it only became familiar to me thanks to my work on another Greek author, Ctesias of Cnidus. Fifteen-odd years ago, I started to work on the Persica (Persian History) of Ctesias, an early fourth century BCE physician and author, who allegedly had spent seventeen years at the Persian court.
What language(s) did the Philistines speak?
By: Dr. Brent Eric Davis, University of Melbourne
The evidence that we have for the language(s) spoken by the Philistines is not plentiful, but what we do have is interesting (though far from conclusive). Two types of evidence predominate: (1) inscriptions that may have been produced by Philistines, and (2) Philistine words and names borrowed into other languages of the region and recorded (however imperfectly) in non-Philistine records.
