Megan Nutzman, Contested Cures: Identity and Ritual Healing in Roman and Late Antique Palestine (Edinburgh University Press) 2022
2022
Carolina López Ruíz, Phoenicians and the Making of the Mediterranean (Harvard University Press) 2022
2021
Geoffrey Khan, The Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew (Open Book Publishers) 2020
2020
Theodore J. Lewis, The Origin and Character of God: Ancient Israelite Religion Through the Lens of Divinity (Oxford University Press) 2020
2019
Sidnie White Crawford, Scribes and Scrolls at Qumran (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.) 2019
2018
Matthew J. Suriano, A History of Death in the Hebrew Bible (Oxford University Press) 2018
2017
Sara J. Milstein, Tracking the Master Scribe: Revision through Introduction in Biblical and Mesopotamian Literature (Oxford University Press) 2016
2016
Mark Smith, Where the God Are, Spatial Dimensions of Anthropomorphism in the Biblical World (Yale University Press) 2016
2015
Eugene Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Developmental Composition of the Bible (Brill) 2015
2014
Nicholas Postgate, Bronze Age Bureaucracy: Writing and the Practice of Government in Assyria (Cambridge University Press) 2013
2013
Frederick J. Murphy, Apocalypticism in the Bible and Its World: A Comprehensive Introduction (Baker Academic) 2012
2012
James C. VanderKam, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.) 2012
2011
Christopher Rollston, Writing and Literacy in Ancient Israel: Epigraphic Evidence from the Iron Age (SBL Press) 2010
2010
Seth Sanders, The Invention of Hebrew (University of Illinois Press) 2009
2009
Ron E. Tappy and P. Kyle McCarter, Jr., Editors, Literate Culture and Tenth-Century Canaan, The Tel Zayit Abecedary in Context (Eisenbrauns)
2007
Bruce Lincoln, Religion, Empire and Torture: The Case of Achaemenian Persia, with a Postscript on Abu Ghraib (The University of Chicago Press) 2007
2006
Gordon Hamilton, The Origins of the West Semitic Alphabet in Egyptian Scripts (Wipf and Stock Publishers) 2006
2005
Mark Smith, The Memoirs of God: History, Memory, and the Experience of the Divine (Fortress Press) 2004
2004
Ziony Zevit, The Religions of Ancient Israel: A Synthesis of Parallactic Approaches (Bloomsbury Academic) 2001
2003
Michael Homan, To Your Tents, O Israel! The Terminology, Function, Form, and Symbolism of Tents in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East (Brill) 2002
2002
Ehud Netzer, Hasmonean and Herodian Palaces at Jericho, Volume 1: Stratigraphy and Architecture (Israel Exploration Society) 2001 & The Palaces of the Hasmoneans and Herod the Great (Israel Exploration Society) 2001
Amanda H. Podany, Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East (Oxford University Press) 2022
2022
Paul Collins, The Sumerians (Reaktion Books) 2021
2021
Max Price, Evolution of a Taboo: Pigs and People in the Ancient Near East (Oxford University Press) 2020
2020
D. Fairchild Ruggles, Tree of Pearls: The Extraordinary Architectural Patronage of the 13th-Century Egyptian Slave-Queen Shajar al-Durr (Oxford University Press) 2020
2019
Kara Cooney,When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt (National Geographic) 2018
2018
Eric H. Cline,Three Stones Make a Wall (Princeton University Press) 2017
2017
Patrick E. McGovern,Ancient Brews: Rediscovered and Re-created (National Geographic Books) 2017
2016
Reinhard Pummer, The Samaritans, A Profile (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.) 2016
2015
Jacob L. Wright, David, King of Israel, and Caleb in Biblical Memory (Cambridge University Press) 2013
2014
Eric H. Cline, 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed (Princeton University Press) 2014
James Osborne, The Syro-Anatolian City States: An Iron Age Culture (Oxford University Press) 2020
2022
Andrea De Giorgi and A. Asa Eger, Antioch: A History (Taylor & Francis) 2021
2021
Allison Mickel, Why Those Who Shovel Are Silent: A History of Local Archaeological Knowledge and Labor (University Press of Colorado) 2021
2020
Raphael Greenberg, The Archaeology of the Bronze Age Levant: From Urban Origins to the Demise of City-States, 3700-1000 BCE (Cambridge University Press) 2019
2019
Assaf Yasur-Landau, Eric H. Cline, and Yorke M. Rowan, The Social Archaeology of the Levant (Cambridge University Press) 2018
2018
James A. Fraser, Dolmens in the Levant (Routledge) 2018
2017
Glenn Schwartz, Rural Archaeology in Early Urban Northern Mesopotamia: Excavations at Tell al-Raqa’i (Cotsen Institute of Archaeology) 2015
2016
Seymour Gitin (ed.), The Ancient Pottery of Israel and its Neighbors from the Iron Age through the Hellenistic Period (Israel Exploration Society) 2015
2015
A. Asa Eger, The Islamic-Byzantine Frontier: Interaction and Exchange Among Muslim and Christian Communities (I.B. Tauris Publishers) 2014
2014
Benjamin W. Porter, Complex Communities: The Archaeology of Early Iron Age West-Central Jordan (University of Arizona Press) 2013
2013
Phillip C. Edwards, Wadi Hammeh 27, an Early Natufian Settlement at Pella in Jordan (Brill) 2013
2012
Oded Lipshitz & David Vanderhooft, The Yehud Stamp Impressions: A Corpus of Inscribed Impressions from the Persian and Hellenistic Periods in Judah (Penn State Press) 2011
2011
Aaron Burke, Martin Peilstöker & Aren Maeir, The History and Archaeology of Jaffa 1 (Cotsen Institute of Archaeoology Press) 2011
2010
Aharon Sasson, Animal Husbandry in Ancient Israel: A Zooarchaeological Perspective on Livestock Exploitation, Herd Management and Economic Strategies (Equinox Publishing) 2010
2009
Alan Simmons, The Neolithic Revolution in the Near East: Transforming the Human Landscape (University of Arizona Press) 2007
Rachel Banks, Cassandra DeGaglia, Amy Dixon, Kara Larson, and James Hardin, “The Spaces Between: Spatial Reconstruction of a Proposed Iron Age IIB”
2019
Christopher J. Davey, Luis R. Siddall, Carla A. Raymond, and Joseph J. Bevitt for “Hidden Text: Imaging and reading an ancient tablet in an envelope”
2018
Morag Kersel, Marly Prom, and Students in ANT256 (DePaul University) for “Where Are They Now? Following Pots into Archives, Educational Institutions, and Museum Vitrines”
2017
Rebecca Seifried and Chelsea A. M. Gardner for The Value of Travelers’ “Itineraries in Archaeological Research: A GIS Analysis of Pathways through the Mani Peninsula, Greece”
2016
Robert S. Homsher, Adam B. Prins, Melissa S. Cradic and Matthew J. Adams, for “New Dimensions in Digital Documentation: Tomb 50 of Megiddo”
2015
Petra Creamer (University of Pennsylvania) for “The Apotropaic Nature of Old Babylonian Terracotta Plaques”
2014
Blair Heidkamp, Gabrielle Borenstein, and Joyce Fountain for the poster “The Final Season: Marj Rabba 2014”
Student Paper Award
2025
Aaren (Zhengfang) Zhou, “Cooking Pots and Negotiating Identity: Material Culture and Adaptive Agency During the Egyptian Occupation of Beth She’an.”
2024
Nicole Constantine, “Materializing Ptolemaic Power: Ruler Cult and Festival in the Hellenistic Mediterranean”
2023
Morganne Ottobre, “Between Two Cultures: Translation and Multimodality in the Tell Fekheriyeh Inscription”
2022
Alia Fares, “Archaeology at Your Doorstep-Building Heritage Awareness on the Lebanon Mountain Trail and for Beirut’s Traumatized Youth.”
2021
Gretchen Emma Zoeller, “A Paleopathological Investigation of Amputation in Ancient Nubia”
2020
Noam Cohen, “How to Talk about Domestic Abuse in Old Babylonian”
The Levantine Ceramics Project (LCP) Handbooks Series (LCPH) is a comprehensive series consisting of peer-reviewed ceramic guides built from data on the LCP’s open access digital platform. The series is a user-friendly resource providing up-to-date, comprehensive overviews and quick identification of a range of wares common on Mediterranean sites. Each volume focuses on a class of pottery, a particular region and/or era, or a particular ceramic phenomenon.
This handbook to the Late Roman Amphora 1 (LRA1) is a publication of the Levantine Ceramics Project, an open-access resource for the study of Levantine pottery, its societies, cultures, and economies, from the Neolithic era (ca. 5500 BCE) until today. For four hundred years (fourth–seventh centuries), the LRA1 served as both agent and symbol of the deeply entwined, far-flung economic network of the later Roman and Byzantine worlds. The handbook offers an up-to-date overview and user-friendly identification guide to known production sites, petrographic data, and current information on distribution, which stretches from Scotland and Wales to Yemen and India.
1. Samuel Grady Gillett and Veronica Iacomi. The LCP Handbook to the Late Roman Amphora. Columbus, GA: August 2025. Paperback available from ISD. Open access eBook available from Lockwood Press.
How to Order
The LCP Handbooks Series is available for purchase by individual volume or by subscription via a standing order. To set up a standing order or an individual order, please contact ISD.
Customers in North America: ISD 70 Enterprise Drive, Suite 2 Bristol, CT 06010 1-800-584-6546
Customers in Europe and the Middle East: ISD International PO Box 270 South Brent, TQ9 9FX United Kingdom Tel: +44 1364 255364
Holier than Thou? The Temples at Tel Moza and Reflections of Ritual Practices in Ancient Judah
Friends of ASOR present the first webinar of the 2025-2026 season on September 10, 2025, at 12:30 pm EDT, presented by Dr. Shua Kisilevitz. This webinar will be free and open to the public. Registration through Zoom (with a valid email address) is required. This webinar will be recorded and all registrants will be sent a recording link in the days following the webinar.
The recent discovery of not one, but a succession of two temples from the First Temple period at Tel Moza—just 7 km from Jerusalem—has reignited debate about how religion took shape in ancient Judah and the wider region. The revelations at Tel Moza are especially intriguing when set against the backdrop of traditional scholarship, which was both heavily guided by biblical texts and paradigms and hampered by the rarity of confirmed temple remains in Judah.
At Tel Moza, excavations revealed a cultic precinct containing a modest early shrine that was later replaced by a monumental “long-room” temple whose plan, scale, and decoration closely echo the Bible’s description of Solomon’s Temple. Indeed, the similarities between the temples at Tel Moza and Jerusalem, and the proximity between the two, sharpen questions of cultic centralization, reform, and practice, and they suggest that Jerusalem’s temple was neither the only one in Judah nor necessarily the “first.”
Because such temple evidence is so scarce in Judah, the Tel Moza finds are unusually revealing. They include altars, offering tables, standing stones, sacrificial remains, and cultic paraphernalia that were found in sealed, well-documented contexts that reflect continuous rebuilding and refurbishing of the temples. Altogether, these discoveries provide a rare glimpse into how worship was actually practiced and how traditions formed over centuries. In this lecture, Dr. Kisilevitz will trace the development of the two Tel Moza temples and the rituals practiced there, setting them alongside biblical descriptions and regional parallels. Through plans, objects, and visual reconstructions, she will show how the patterns at Tel Moza likely reflect broader traditions that shaped religious life in Jerusalem and across the southern Levant.
Shua Kisilevitz is Assistant Director of the Albright Institute and a research fellow at Tel Aviv University. She received her B.A.and M.A. in Archaeology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and her PhD from Tel Aviv University. She has participated in excavations across Israel and has directed excavations at 15 sites in the region of Jerusalem and Judea. Since 2012, she has spearheaded the research and publication of the Iron Age site at Tel Moza, and she is co-director of the Tel Moza Expedition Project. Dr. Kisilevitz specializes in the archaeology of religion and ritual of the southern Levant in the Iron Age.
SUPPORT THE WEBINAR PROGRAM!
Friends of ASOR is pleased to announce that the first webinars of the 2025-2026 season will once again be free and open to the public with a goal to raise $10,000 so that the entire webinar season will be free. Will you support this outreach effort with a tax-deductible contribution? All donors/sponsors with gifts of $100 or more will be recognized in subsequent webinars. Help ensure these webinars stay free and available to all by donating today!
Designate your gift for “Webinars” in the drop-down menu.
The Trustee Nominations Committee announces an open call for (self) nominations for the ASOR Board of Trustees (Class of 2028). Trustees will serve a three-year term, starting January 1, 2026. There are three primary responsibilities of the members of the Board of Trustees:
Governance: Being aware of issues brought forward to the Board, attending two meetings per year (at your own expense), and bringing issues of concern to the Board.
Fundraising and financial management: Leading in development by thinking of new opportunities, leading in giving, and providing oversight on the audited financial statements. We ask that individual trustees aspire to contribute $500 or more annually.
Strategic planning and policy development: Leading especially in measures that accord with ASOR’s mission.
We anticipate two openings for Membership-Elected Trustees. Any full ASOR member may be considered for nomination as an Membership-Elected Trustee. If there is someone that you would like the committee to consider—including yourself—please send the person’s name and email address to Marta Ostovich in the ASOR office. Please check with the nominee as to whether they are interested in serving on the ASOR Board of Trustees before sending in their name. If you have any questions about the responsibilities and satisfactions of being a board member, please email Kathryn Grossman, Chair of the Trustee Nominations Committee.
The ASOR office, or a representative from the Nominations Committee, will contact all nominees to describe the responsibilities in greater detail, and to make sure that the nominee is willing to have his or her name discussed by the Trustee Nominations Committee. Please note that nominees will need to submit a brief biography and a mission (or vision) statement for what they would like to accomplish as a trustee to be considered by the Nominations Committee. A sample of these statements can be found in last year’s “Meet Your Board Nominees” webpage. Brief biographies and mission statements should be ca. 200 words each and submitted via e-mail to Marta Ostovich by noon EDT on Monday, September 22, 2025.
After the Committee selects individuals for nomination, the election will take place by electronic ballot during October. ASOR is once again conducting online voting to ensure that more of our members are able to participate in this important process. The ASOR office will work with any person who is not able to complete an electronic ballot to ensure that everyone is included.
In order to receive full consideration by the committee, nominations (including supporting documents) should be submitted to programs@asor.org by noon EDT on September 22, 2025.
Next summer, join 15+ ASOR archaeologists* for an unforgettable journey through Cyprus, where archaeology meets breathtaking Mediterranean beauty. Immerse yourself in behind-the-scenes tours with scholars, archaeologists, excavators, and museum curators who will personally guide the group through a curated itinerary of sites and museums, including:
Kourion
Idalion
Koukila
Cyprus Archaeological Museum
The Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute (CAARI), among many other sites.
Friends of ASOR is excited to announce the launch of our first archaeological tour of Cyprus from arrival onJune 14 to departure on June 23, 2026. Some of the ASOR archaeologists are pictured below. Tour leaders will be ASOR’s own Dr. Rachel Bernstein and Dr. Andy Vaughn. Tour highlights include exploring Idalion with Dr. Pamela Gaber, investigating the new excavation areas around Kalavasos with Dr. Kevin Fisher, conversing with Dr. William Dever over dinner, and touring and dining at the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute with Dr. Lindy Crewe.*
Space is limited to 28 people—reserve your place now to travel with fellow archaeology enthusiasts and ASOR experts!
Double occupancy: $5,750 (includes a $1,000 tax-deductible gift) | Single room supplement: +$900
What’s Included
The tour price covers:
Accommodation
Guided site visits
Ground transportation
Breakfasts and dinners
Entrance fees
In addition, a $1,000 tax-deductible contribution supports Friends of ASOR’s outreach initiatives, archaeological engagement, and education programs.
Registration Rates
Early Bird (through September 30, 2025): $4,750 + $1,000 tax-deductible gift to Friends of ASOR Super Saver (October 1 – November 4, 2025): $4,850 + $1,000 tax-deductible gift to Friends of ASOR Advance (November 5 – December 15, 2025): $4,950 + $1,000 tax-deductible gift to Friends of ASOR Regular (December 16, 2025 until space is full): $5,050 + $1,000 tax-deductible gift to Friends of ASOR
Payment Schedule:
To reserve your place: $250 gift to Friends of ASOR Tours (applied toward your total $1,000 contribution). When making your gift, please select the “Friends of ASOR Tours Cyprus” category from the drop-down menu. Half of the tour cost (excl. remainder of Friends of ASOR contribution): Due by December 15, 2025 (or at registration if after this date.) Remaining tour cost (excl. remainder of Friends of ASOR contribution): Due by March 31, 2026. Remainder of $1,000 contribution ($750): Due by May 1, 2026.
Example of Total Cost:
If you register during the Regular period: $5,050 (tour rate) + $1,000 (tax-deductible gift) = $6,050 total
Please e-mail us or call +1 (703) 789-9234 with any questions.
Cancellation Policy
ASOR strongly recommends that all participants purchase travel insurance because ASOR is required to make non-refundable deposits. ASOR cannot be responsible for refunds except as noted below.
All tax-deductible gifts to ASOR’s Friends of ASOR outreach initiatives are irrevocable and thus not refundable.
Schedule of refunds for trip cost and single supplement (if any):
From time of payment until January 15, 2026: $600 cancellation fee
From January 16, 2026 until March 31, 2026: $1,800 cancellation fee
From April 1, 2026 until May 1, 2026: $2,750 cancellation fee
From May 2 onward: full amount / no refund
*Speakers and full itinerary are subject to change.
The Officers Nominations Committee of ASOR announces a general call for nominations and applications for individuals to be considered for the position of Vice President of the Corporation. This is a three-year term of office beginning on January 1, 2026 and ending on December 31, 2028. A general description of the Office of Vice President and its responsibilities is in the ASOR Bylaws, available on the ASOR website (see Article IV, Section 4.7). Nominating an officer is an important way for members to participate in the governance of their organization, and we encourage you to self-nominate or nominate others. All ASOR Members in good standing are eligible for nomination as Vice President.
The Vice President’s primary responsibilities are to chair the Chairs Coordinating Council and serve on ASOR’s Executive Committee. The Vice President will also perform additional duties as the Board of Trustees, the Executive Committee, the President, or the Board Chair may prescribe from time to time. In the event that both the President and Chair of the Board are unable to be present to discharge the duties of the President, the Vice President shall perform the duties of the President until a new President can be elected. The Vice President agrees to attend three meetings each year at his/her own expense: the ASOR Board of Trustees meetings in November and May, and the Executive Committee retreat in January or February. General information on ASOR’s mission statement, bylaws, and strategic plan can be found on the ASOR website.
Submit inquiries and nominations via Google Form to Bob Mullins (ramullins@apu.edu), Chair of the Officers Nominations Committee. Review of applications and nominations will begin on August 15, 2025 and continue until the position is filled. The Officers Nominations Committee expects to present a nominee for Vice President to the ASOR Board of Trustees for a vote during the November 23, 2025 Board meeting in Boston, MA. Nominations should include the candidate’s name, a one-paragraph academic biography – including membership and activities in ASOR, a brief statement as to why the candidate would be appropriate for the position, and the candidate’s contact information. Self-nominations including the same information are encouraged. The Officers Nominations Committee will ask semi-finalists to submit a CV and vision statement.
ASOR is an Equal Opportunity Employer. ASOR affirms its commitment to equality of opportunity and pledges that it will not practice or permit discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, gender, national origin, age, religion, creed, disability, veteran’s status, sexual orientation, or gender identity. The Board actively seeks candidates who represent the diversity within its membership for positions of leadership.
As you embark on fieldwork and research this summer, ASOR invites you to make Dig Diaries and submit them to our Virtual Archaeology Initiative.
Dig Diaries can be any of the following (coordinate with your project director(s) to ensure their permission):
1) a short teaching video that explains a specific process or element of an excavation/survey, how that element fits within the overall objective of the project, and/or how it fulfills some responsibility that we as archaeologists have to study, preserve, document, and make accessible the materials we excavate;
2) a video field diary recording in which you discuss research questions for your given project/season along with progress reports throughout the season to show how those research questions are met and/or how they change; 3) a digital image with explanation of the pictured stratigraphy/object/etc.
Check out our current submissions on YouTube or TikTok for examples. We are also open to other kinds of virtual assets, so if you have a great idea, please feel free to share it with us. We hope that you choose to join us in developing Virtual Archaeology at ASOR. Submissions and any questions can be directed to info@asor.org.
Developed by ASOR’s Membership & Outreach Committee, the Virtual Archaeology Initiative is a growing collection of digital resources that illustrate or teach various steps involved in the archaeological process. In addition to creating teaching tools that will benefit students/educators and generate interest in archaeology, this will allow people who cannot or would not participate in actual excavations to feel as if they still can. Read more about the Virtual Archaeology Initiative here.
This contribution provides an edition of a small new join to paragraph §10′ of the Zalpa Text (CTH 3.1), one of the most intriguing texts of early Hittite historiography. The join is notable for containing the name Ḫuzziya. The ongoing discussion on the dating of the Zalpa Text is critically reviewed, and it is argued that the Ḫuzziya mentioned in the join is Ḫuzziya I, probable founder of the Hittite kingdom. While not ending the dating debate once and for all, the join represents another step forward toward situating this puzzling text in the arc of early Hittite historiography.
ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here.
This article publishes nine new texts relating to ritual and cult in Old Babylonian Sippar. On internal grounds, they likely stem from Sippar-Amnānum (Tell ed-Dēr). Seven of these explicitly attest the banquets of particular deities, including Gula, Adad, Sîn, Šamaš, and Ea. Evidence for the influence of Annunītum and her cultic household is given in the texts. One text attests a night-vigil and provides evidence for a ritual most likely connected to (Ištar) Annunītum.
ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here.
This contribution provides a new edition of TCL 15, 8 (AO 5374) and interprets the text as a mortuary ceremony for an (early) Old Babylonian royal figure, who is helped in his transition from this world to the next by netherworld gods and kings of the past, and eventually ends up in the skies as a star. The new edition is an occasion to discuss the relationships among Old Babylonian Emesal liturgies and relationships between Old Babylonian and later texts. The list of past kings includes the names of Ur III monarchs as well as kings of the Isin Dynasty. Such use of the past is further illustrated by an administrative text found at Ur (U.30628) that inventories precious objects in memory of kings of both dynasties (appendix 1).
ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here.
Cuneiform incantations present modern researchers with a conundrum. On the one hand, they appear to be texts spoken over an individual to heal and protect from harm, but on the other, they are written on clay tablets, a medium more associated with educated scribal literature. Inscribed amulets, however, provide examples of written incantations that clearly had a place in magical praxis. This article presents editions of four zi … pa₃ incantations from amulets—two of which are entirely new to scholarship—and uses these four texts as a test case for comparison with zi … pa₃ incantations from clay tablets. This comparison reveals that there are significant similarities between the amulet incantations and those from single incantation tablets and larger compendia, suggesting that there may be less of a divide between the Sumerian incantation tradition and actual magical praxis than is sometimes thought. At the same time, the variation among the amulet texts themselves and between the amulet texts and other early zi … pa₃ incantations indicates that the amulets are not copies or excerpts from precisely worded scripts but appear to be creative adaptations of basic forms and textual structures.
ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here.
Located in the storage of the archaeological collections of the Finnish Heritage Agency lies a well-preserved clay cylinder inscribed with cuneiform script. The text on it describes the building activities of the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (604–562 BCE), and in particular recounts his renovation of the temple of the god Lugal-Marada in Marad. As one of around fifty known recensions of this inscription, the Helsinki Cylinder reveals limited new historical information. Instead, much more pressing is the question of how the cylinder arrived in Finland and how it ended up seemingly forgotten in the storage of the Finnish Heritage Agency. In this article, we trace the cylinder’s journey to Finland, discuss how we, as scholars, should deal with unprovenanced objects such as this one, and provide an edition of the text it contains.
ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here.
This article aims to enhance the understanding of the Hittite god Pirwa by analyzing descriptions of his statues in two oracle texts (KBo 44.209(+) and Çorum 6-1-96) and a cult inventory (KUB 38.4). In contrast to previous interpretations, I propose that the term 𒀹dupau-x[ in KUB 38.4 obv. 4 is a noun denoting a striking weapon rather than a Luwian genitive adjective linked to el-tù-ḫu “whip.” Accordingly, Pirwa is depicted as a horseman holding a striking weapon in his right hand and a whip in his left. The study also investigates the term ašuša-, suggesting it may refer to either the god’s earrings or components of the horse tack or rider’s gear. Furthermore, the mention of a mountain in Çorum 6-1-96 obv. 5′ is interpreted not as a specific mountain name but as a mountain-shaped feature of the divine statue. The article additionally delves into the hapax legomenon karzana- in Çorum 6-1-96 obv. 6′, linking it to the noun karza(n)-, which is associated with weaving activities in festival texts. Both terms are traced to the Indo-European root *(s)ker– meaning “to cut/scratch,” proposing that while karza(n)– likely signifies a weaving stick or shuttle, karzana– might denote a stick-shaped device used as a type of insignia or a weapon.
ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here.
Old Babylonian precursors of terrestrial omens generally cover topics similar to those found in the first millennium series Šumma ālu ina mēlê šakin without having identical omens. The present article will focus on a group of omens that are handed down in a hitherto unknown continuity over nearly 1500 years. They are first attested in the Old Babylonian omen compendium MS 3104 and are integrated almost verbatim as the thirty-third nisḫu in the divinatory corpus of Late Babylonian Uruk. Four excerpt tablets from Nineveh and a Neo-Babylonian manuscript have been discovered by the authors to record a choice of the very same omens. The article discusses the place of these omens in the Šumma ālu series and gives a full edition of the “thirty-third nisḫu” omens as well as copies of the newly identified manuscripts.
ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here.
Ancient Near Eastern scribes used several nonphonetic signs and marks to improve the readability of their texts. One of these resources was the so-called Glossenkeil. This article presents the first study of the use of the sign, here called “wedge-mark” to avoid terminological bias in the analysis of its function, in documents from ancient Nuzi. Based on the analysis of a wide repertoire of sources, the article concludes that the sign only had a paragraphemic function and was used optionally. To understand how Nuzi scribes used the sign, other topics related to it are also discussed, such as indentation. Finally, the evidence from Nuzi is considered in the light of general ancient Near Eastern scribal practice.
ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here.
In this article, we present an updated edition of a Sargonic document first published by Bertrand Lafont in 2020. We offer several new readings and perspectives but admit that our understanding of the text is still incomplete. The preserved portion of the text records a land claim against Adab by Šubur-Nagarpae, the ensi of Umma usually known as Šubur, and settled by Naramsin in favor of Adab. The process involved witnesses from neighboring (yeta’ātim) towns and Adab, but also cities from much further east, Tallani, Ibrat, and Pašime. The last preserved section of the text describes the “piling up of the boundary markers” (in sapāki pulukke) in the presence of both ensis. Lugal-ša, ensi of Adab, is attested here for the first time.
ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here.
This article presents a new edition and commentary of the Hittite letter HKM 48, from the ancient town of Tapikka (Maşat Höyük), dating approximately to the early fourteenth century BCE. In this letter, two subordinates of the Hittite king, Mariya and Ḫapiri, write to their lord with news on a task they were assigned: the capture of birds and, perhaps, other animals. The second part of the article discusses various aspects of interest within the letter’s content. In particular, a novel understanding of the primary concerns of the text and of the logic within the epistolary exchange is proposed, primarily centered on a new identification of the animals mentioned in a passage difficult to interpret.
ASOR Members with online access: log into ASOR’s Online Portal here. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal’s current issue Table of Contents. Click on the “Current Issue” button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press’s (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found here.
ASOR 2025—STRENGTHENING OUR FOUNDATION | EXPANDING HORIZONS—A CALL TO ACTION
[/vc_column_text][mk_divider thickness=”1″][vc_column_text]In 2025, ASOR will be hitting its 125-year mark. Yes, fellow ASOR members and friends, our quasquicentennial is nearly upon us, and we have cause to celebrate!
A first cause for celebration is that ASOR members continue to be engines of research, education, publication, and engagement about the history and cultures of the Near East and the wider Mediterranean world.
In light of recent events and conflicts, this work has never been more needed. So, amid celebration, we confront challenges. Worldwide threats to cultural heritage are a great concern, because we know that targeting people’s cultural heritage is a first step toward violence and extremism. Also, such losses cannot be undone. The humanities bring this into focus, yet dollars to fund these departments and this research are being siphoned off elsewhere. Some professional organizations focused on past human experience are shrinking. Not so for ASOR!
There is a second cause for celebration. Our membership is expanding. ASOR is in solid financial shape. You have created a foundation for positive change and action.
To continue this momentum, ASOR has embarked on a grand challenge, a $5 million dollar—$5,000,000—fundraising initiative. Our third cause for celebration is that generous members already have pledged or given $4.9 million dollars, with more coming.
This is a call to action, asking you to help shape the future through the discovery, documenting, and protecting of cultural heritage in innovative ways. I ask you to think how you can join in this effort to equip ASOR to meet the challenges of this moment.
Your gift of support to ASOR makes a real difference. With your participation, ASOR can:
Increase membership support: You can strengthen and widen ASOR’s geographic impact throughout the Middle East and North Africa with scholarships, research fellowships, and excavation project grants, many of which will benefit citizens from countries that lack resources.
Widen and expand ASOR’s publications: You can ensure that ASOR continues to disseminate knowledge and educate the public in an economic climate where support for scholarship is shrinking.
Make ASOR more accessible to everyone: You can address financial need for access in North America, North Africa, the Middle East, and around the world. With you, ASOR can set an example with diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that span language and cultural divides.
Grow Cultural Heritage Initiatives: You can support cultural heritage stabilization, documentation, and mitigation efforts. You can guarantee that ASOR continues to be seen as a world leader in protecting heritage and ensure the continuation of education and stewardship programs that combat violent extremism and misuse of heritage.
Develop Greater Online Access: You can fund innovations in the rapidly growing field of online and virtual resources to make research accessible to everyone with a computer, tablet, or phone.
Expand the Friends of ASOR Programs: You can help underwrite education and outreach programs that will broaden ASOR’s membership and bring non-academic supporters with an interest in the ancient world to our organization.
Strengthen the Foundation of ASOR’s Operations: You can safeguard ASOR’s work to 2050 and beyond through the Annual Fund, or with endowment gifts to sustain operational staffing and capital needs at the James F. Strange Center.
These are but a few ideas. Studies of the human past have never faced greater obstacles, but ASOR has the financial stability and talent to find innovative solutions. Each of us is a critical part of this effort. If you and I do not respond to this call to action to shape the future of our profession and document and protect cultural heritage in innovative ways, who will? You can be part of this historic moment, creating change and making a legacy. Organizations thrive because of people like you. Please join in celebrating our 125th year with “ASOR 2025— Strengthening Our Foundation | Expanding Horizons—A Call to Action.”[/vc_column_text][mk_divider thickness=”1″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]
Completed pledge forms can be emailed to programs@asor.org or printed and mailed to the ASOR office: 209 Commerce St. Alexandria, VA 22314.
The recent discovery of not one, but a succession of two temples from the First Temple period at Tel Moza—just 7 km from Jerusalem—has reignited debate about how religion took shape in ancient Judah and the wider region. The revelations at Tel Moza are especially intriguing when set against the backdrop of traditional scholarship, which was both heavily guided by biblical texts and paradigms and hampered by the rarity of confirmed temple remains in Judah.
Shua Kisilevitz is Assistant Director of the Albright Institute and a research fellow at Tel Aviv University.
The Trustee Nominations Committee announces an open call for (self) nominations for the ASOR Board of Trustees (Class of 2028). Trustees will serve a three-year term, starting January 1, 2026. There are three primary responsibilities of the members of the Board of Trustees:
As you embark on fieldwork and research this summer, ASOR invites you to make Dig Diaries and submit them to our 
