Author Archives: Cynthia Rufo

Fellowship Report: Nancy Highcock

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WHEN TWO WORLDS COLLIDE…

Nancy Highcock, 2018 Platt Excavation Fellowship Recipient[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Area A: the Hellenistic public plaza in the foreground

For the last five years I have had the exciting opportunity to work at the multi-period site of Niğde-Kınık Höyük, located in south-central Anatolia. The site comprises a walled citadel-mound with four excavation areas (Operations A, B, C, and E) as well as an investigation of the lower town (Operation D), located on the western terrace of the settlement. Work on the citadel has proven extremely interesting for both earlier and later periods: the northern citadel walls were first constructed during the Late Bronze Age when this region was under Hittite hegemony and excavation in Area A has revealed the remains of a substantial local cultic center during the Achaemenid and Hellenistic periods. As a Middle Bronze Age specialist, I have learned a lot about the material culture of other periods in Anatolian history, and my own work in the lower town has proven particularly fruitful in this regard.

Area D: Part of the Achaemenid Building

Since 2013, excavations in the lower town of Kınık Höyük have uncovered part of a large domestic building complex dating to the Achaemenid and Hellenistic periods. As evidenced by a high number of cooking installations and weaving implements such as loom weights, this building witnessed a flurry of domestic production activities over the course of the late 1st millennium BCE. We began the 2018 season by excavating the exposed portions of the building to the same phase in order to conserve the architecture and installations therein for future visitors to the site. They will now be able to see a snapshot of daily life in 5th century central Anatolia!

A big gap in our knowledge about the site, however, was the occupational history of the lower town in earlier periods. In fact, there is generally little data about Bronze and Iron Age lower towns within this region of Turkey. This is where the generous funding of the Platt Excavation Fellowship stepped in to help us out! With the funds provided by the fellowship, we were able to remove a modern dump from the lower terrace which had destroyed the later periods of occupation before excavations had even begun at Kınık Höyük. Our hope was to uncover stratigraphy pre-dating the Achaemenid occupational phases in order to reconstruct a diachronic sequence for the 1st millennium lower town. What we ended up discovering, however, was just as interesting and very, very exciting for me personally.

Area D: Phase of the new sounding dating to the Old Assyrian Colony period

From the first week of excavating in the new area, we began to recover ceramics from disturbed contexts dating to Early and Middle Iron Ages and comparable to types found just inside the western citadel walls (Operation C). What we didn’t expect to find, however, were ceramics dating to the Middle and Early Bronze Ages, including fragments of Anatolian metallic ware jugs (mid-third millennium). Having just completed my dissertation on Middle Bronze Age Anatolia, it was amazing to finally (after 5 years!) have my two research worlds collide in the most unexpected way. Of particular importance is a complete, red-slipped drinking cup recovered from a secure floor context that is identical to examples found in the MBA levels at central Anatolian sites like Acemhöyük and Kültepe. After spending the last few years researching and writing my dissertation on Kültepe, I was blown away to find the same type of material at Kınık Höyük where I had been digging away (happily…) in the Achaemenid period for so long. These discoveries are incredibly important for the site as a whole as we now know that Kınık Höyük was not only occupied during the third and early second millennia, but that it constituted a main center with a lower town that was keyed into trade and production across the entire region. We will now have to adjust our future excavation strategy to address new research questions generated by this season’s finds.

Me giving the tour of the rooms in the Achaemenid Building

The highlight of this season, however, was our end-of-campaign tour and picnic on the last Friday evening of excavation. Many of the men and women from the two local towns, Altunhisar and Yeşilyurt, who work with us (some since 2010 when the project started) came out with their families and friends to hear a site tour in Turkish, offer their own perspectives on their work, and to partake in a delicious feast of lentil soup, lamb, rice and sweets on the lower terrace. It was wonderful to meet everyone’s extended families and to see the site come alive in a different way (and at a much more comfortable temperature). It was a fitting end to a great season that opened up a lot of new possibilities for the site as both a place for the team’s own research but also as site of public education and interest. The future (and the Bronze Age) is looking bright!

 

Nancy Highcock is a recent PhD in Ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian Studies at New York University. She is now starting her new position as a Postdoctoral Research Associate as part of the “Memories for Life: Materiality and Memory of Ancient Near Eastern inscribed private objects” project at the McDonald Institute for Archaeology, Cambridge University.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684098866{margin-right: 5px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_wp_posts title=”BROWSE THE NEWS ARCHIVE” number=”4″][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684008271{margin-right: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 30px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_column_text] [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Fellowship Report: Terri Tanaka

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COME, TELL ME HOW YOU LIVE: LESSONS FROM EXCAVATING IN KURDISTAN

Terri Tanaka, 2018 ASOR Member-Supported Excavation Fellowship Recipient[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]This summer, I was the recipient of an ASOR Member-Supported Excavation Fellowship. The Fellowship made it possible for me to participate in the Qara Dagh Regional

Protecting myself from the elements in the field.

Archaeological Project (QDRAP) in Iraqi-Kurdistan, where I served as the photographer and a trench excavator.

This was our second season of excavation at the site of Ban Qala, which is a Late Chalcolithic site located in the highlands of Qara Dagh. Our work at the site will allow our team to examine how cultural interactions between southern Mesopotamia and the highlands of northern Mesopotamia affected the material culture of the area in comparison to the plains. More urgently, however, this project will assist the Antiquities Department of Sulaymaniyah in documenting the archaeological heritage and cultural importance of the region. Energy companies have been exploring the region for oil and natural gas; in fact, gas pipes have been installed next to the Darband-i-Gawr relief, more commonly known as the Naram-Sin relief, for which the area is best known. Thus, there is an urgent need to preserve these at-risk sites, and our work there can help to draw attention to this need.

The question I got the most from people who knew I was going on this trip was, “Is it safe?” Yes, given all the security measures in place, including security checkpoints between towns, in many ways it felt safer than being at home. The second question was usually, “What’s it like? Is it like [name of character from movie]?” No, not exactly. But excavating was just one part of the overall experience. Here are some things I learned:

Two of our workers wearing traditional scarves.

1. Don’t overpack, but do bring one change of (quick drying) clothing in your carryon bag. The airline lost my luggage for several days, so I was washing out my clothes at night so I’d have something clean to wear. I was surprised at how little I really needed to survive.

2. Protect yourself from the elements. In Kurdistan, the temperatures can reach 50° C (122° F) during the summer. In addition to using sunscreen, I wore a hat, dark glasses, long sleeves, and something to cover my face. Yes, I looked a little funny. But the face covering also kept me from inhaling dust when the wind blew or when we were sifting the dirt removed from the various loci. Even our local workers covered themselves. One of them showed up on the first day with no protection; I thought he was going to faint from working in the sun and the heat. He used one of the local scarves to cover his face for the rest of the season.

3. Take the time to learn a few phrases in the local language. In the area of Kurdistan that we were excavating in, they use the Sorani dialect of Kurdish. We used basic greetings such as “Good morning. How are you? Are you well?” (Beyani baṣ. Çonî? Baṣî?), phrases such as “Thank you!” (Zor spas!/ Dest xoṣ!), and “yes” (bale) and “no” (naxer) every day. Although they laughed at our pronunciation, our workers seemed to appreciate our efforts and even started to teach us useful words and phrases such as “pottery” (goza), “stone” (bard), and “clean (it)” (pakî ka). Numbers were also useful for figuring out prices when we had to purchase things in the bazaar or negotiate taxi (taksi) fares.

Typical Kurdish street food.

4. Try as much of the local cuisine as possible. The locals love to see you trying and enjoying their food. Who knows? You may discover a new favorite. One of my unexpected favorites was an apricot sauce/stew that went really well with chicken and rice. I understand that I missed out on a dish made with a sheep’s head. Maybe next year ….

5. Be flexible. Inevitably, something unexpected will happen, such as the car breaking down or a sudden windstorm blowing the tent down, so plans and schedules may have to change at the last minute. Things you take for granted back home (stable electricity, running water, internet access) may not always be available. In addition, the first law of archaeology seems to be that inevitably, you will find something interesting just when you’re getting ready to shut down the site for the season. (The corollary is that half of your interesting find will be in the wall of the trench, which means that you can’t get to it unless your director plans to open up the trench next to yours the following season.)

I am very grateful to ASOR and the ASOR members who donated so generously to the excavation fellowships fund, which made it possible for me to participate in this excavation. I can’t wait to see what happens next season!

QDRAP Twitter account: https://twitter.com/QDRAProject

 

Terri Tanaka is currently a visiting lecturer in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research interests include dress and identity and, of course, excavating in the Qara Dagh region of Iraqi-Kurdistan.[/vc_column_text][mk_divider][vc_column_text]

Want to help more students and young archaeologists like Terri get into the field? Donate to the cause today by selecting “Excavation Scholarships” as your gift purpose!

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2018 ASOR Honors & Awards

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2018 ASOR HONORS & AWARDS

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Each year at the Annual Meeting, ASOR recognizes individuals who have performed outstanding service for the organization or who have published exceptional academic work or otherwise made significant contributions to our field. The following award recipients were honored at the 2018 Annual Meeting in Denver, CO. Awards were presented by Laura Mazow, Chair of ASOR’s Honors and Awards Committee and Associate Professor at East Carolina University.[/vc_column_text][mk_divider][vc_column_text]The Charles U. Harris Service Award. This award is given in recognition of long term and/or special service as an ASOR Officer or Trustee. (One award is given annually.)

Awarded to Lynn Swartz Dodd, Associate Professor of the Practice of Religion, University of Southern California.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]The P. E. MacAllister Field Archaeology Award. This award honors an archaeologist who, during his/her career, has made outstanding contributions to ancient Near Eastern and eastern Mediterranean archaeology. (One award is given annually.)

Awarded to Aren M. Maeir, Professor, The Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]The G. Ernest Wright Award. This award is given to the editor/author of the most substantial volume(s) dealing with archaeological material, excavation reports and material culture from the ancient Near East and eastern Mediterranean. This work must be the result of original research published within the past two years. (One award is given annually.)

Awarded to James A. Fraser, Senior Curator of the Nicholson Museum, University of Sydney, for Dolmens in the Levant.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]The Frank Moore Cross Award. This award is presented to the editor/author of the most substantial volume(s) related to one of the following categories: a) the history and/or religion of ancient Israel; b) ancient Near Eastern and eastern Mediterranean epigraphy; c) textual studies on the Hebrew Bible; or d) comparative studies of the Hebrew Bible and ancient Near Eastern literature. This work must be the result of original research published during the past two years. (One award is given annually.) Awarded to Matthew J. Suriano , Associate Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Maryland, College Park, for A History of Death in the Hebrew Bible.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]The Nancy Lapp Popular Book Award. This award is presented to the author/editor of a book published in the last two years that offers a new synthesis of archaeological or textual evidence intended to reach an audience of scholars as well as students and the broader public. (One award is given annually.)

Awarded to Eric H. Cline, Professor of Classics and Anthropology, George Washington University and Director of the GWU Capitol Archaeological Institute, for Three Stones Make a Wall.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]The W. F. Albright Award. This award honors an individual who has shown special support or made outstanding service contributions to one of the overseas centers, ACOR, AIAR, CAARI, or to one of the overseas committees – the Baghdad Committee and the Damascus Committee. (This award is given when such an individual is identified.)

 

AIAR: Awarded to Sidnie White Crawford, Willa Cather Professor of Classics and Religious Studies Emerita, University of Nebraska.

ACOR: Awarded to Barbara A. Porter, Director, American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR), Amman, Jordan[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]ASOR Membership Service Award. This award recognizes individuals who have made special contributions on behalf of the ASOR membership, through committee, editorial, or office services. (Up to three awards are given annually.)

Awarded to Charles E. Jones, Tombros Librarian for Classics and Humanities, Pennsylvania State University.

Awarded to Jonathan Rosenbaum, President Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Jewish Studies, Gratz College.

Awarded to Thomas Schneider, Professor of Egyptology and Near Eastern Studies, Department of Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, University of British Columbia.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]The Joy Ungerleider Poster Award. This award is conferred upon the author(s) of the poster presenting the results of a study about ancient Near Eastern societies in a clear, legible fashion using original graphic content. Subject matter may be based in archaeological sciences, history, anthropology, epigraphy, ethnography, heritage or other scholarly approaches to understanding ancient people in the areas covered by ASOR.(One award is given annually.)

Awarded to Morag Kersel, Marly Prom, and Students in ANT256 (DePaul University), for their poster: “Where Are They Now? Following Pots into Archives, Educational Institutions, and Museum Vitrines.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684098866{margin-right: 5px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_wp_posts title=”BROWSE THE NEWS ARCHIVE” number=”4″][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684008271{margin-right: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 30px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_column_text] [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Fellowship Report: John Huggins

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PATCHY PLASTER AND HIDDEN POTS: MY EXPERIENCE AT HUQOQ, ISRAEL (SUMMER 2018)

John Huggins, 2018 Eric and Carol Meyers Excavation Fellowship Recipient

The generosity of Carol and Eric Meyers allowed me to return to Huqoq, Israel for a second season in the summer of 2018. My first season as a field school student in 2017 introduced me to the methods, specialties, and processes of what happens on an archaeological dig. Every day except Saturday we would wake up at 4AM, walk to the site, and begin digging at 5AM all the students would take turns providing a lavish mid-morning field breakfast to the team, then continue working. I became acquainted with archaeological terms that would help me in the excavations, such as: stratigraphy, balk, potsherd, sandbag and bucket chain. On Saturdays we would take trips to archaeological sites in the area, and this year we took a few extra days to journey to Petra. The welcoming environment and exciting nature of the site itself, workers and staff, and overall experience made it a very easy place to want to return.

The site of Huqoq sits in the northern region of the Galilee about three miles from the sea’s edge, where there was a modern Ottoman village called Yakuk. Occupied during the Hellenistic, Early Roman, Abbasid, Fatimid, and Mamluk periods, the area reached the height of its prosperity in the Late Roman and Byzantine periods. In 2011, excavations began at Huqoq to carefully excavate through the later occupation periods to reach the ancient village and define the chronology of its synagogue, which since 2012 has received much attention due to the very unique images uncovered on its mosaic floor. However, the mosaics are not the only focus of the project. Much of the ongoing excavation is working through the modern era down into the period of the ancient synagogue’s construction.

I returned for the 2018 season working in the same square in which I had worked the previous season – area 3000 SW. This area is south of the ancient synagogue, where I continued excavating through the remains of the modern village and the periods of occupation preceding it. After cleaning the area of the accumulation from the past year, the defining features of the area were well visible. The area was defined by collapse and ash pits with bits of plastered floors and partition walls peeking out sporadically. Evidence from previous years’ excavations pulled out many pieces of tabun installations across the ash filled area. My square in particular, however, did not have well defined ash pits, but rather very patchy remnants of a layering of plaster floors. The collapse of the structures above the surface in this area effectively destroyed most of the top layer of the plaster, and the limestone in the soil made it hard to tell whether it was plaster, stone, or something in between. Removal of this first surface showed another layer of patchy plaster that seemed to have no discernible area, then another, then another. Identifying, tracing, and clarifying the spans of plaster was a very time consuming process- at some points incredibly frustrating. Ultimately, the multiple layers of plaster here and the pottery recovered in association with them provided us with data for the sub-phasing of the occupation in this period, and although occasionally grueling, this area taught me much about analyzing stratigraphy and seeing the relations among elements visible in the soil.

Under these first few centimeters excavated, we soon came down on a layer of loose fill, which continued down in almost the entire square for nearly a meter. It seemed as if the fill would never end, as the excavation of this feature of the square took nearly two weeks. Within the fill, pieces of tabun similar to the ones found throughout the area were present, as well as other datable material to provide this construction with a good date range. Bordering this region of fill in the square a large rim peaked out almost completely in-tact, beneath what was before a collection of very large collapse. We had no idea what it was; some people speculated that it was a cistern, others an in-tact tabun. Within the fill a few centimeters away from this rim, fist sized stones were the most common sized stones, however there were several rather large stones in line that appeared as we reached the bottom of the fill on its western edge. Once the fill was completely taken away, these large stones continued, and quickly we found a line of ashlar stones that revealed a very surprising find hidden inside! Wedged between two rows of blocks- and surrounded by a ring of fist sized stones, the unidentified rim turned out to be a large storage vessel. The most fascinating aspect of this vessel was not the quality of the find itself but rather its very intentional and peculiar context. The vessel was wedged so tightly into this niche that I had to use a ladle and a set of tablespoons and teaspoons to excavate it. This vessel is a true mystery at this point, because areas surrounding it seem to have not been in any interaction with the vessel.

This particular find prompted questions and inquiries that led me to join an excavation in the first place: what is this? why is it here? who put it here? More importantly, what can this tell us of the inhabitants and how they lived and interacted with their environment? This shows just how fascinating and puzzling an excavation can be and how accurate and precise documentation are necessary for the preservation of history and culture. Again, it would not be possible for me to have this experience without the generosity of Carol and Eric Meyers and their wish to allow students to see first-hand what an excavation is.

John Huggins is in his final year of undergraduate study at Austin College in Sherman, Texas. He is a Classics major. Currently, he is applying for master’s and PhD programs for Classical Archaeology.

Want to help more students and young archaeologists like John get into the field? Donate to the cause today by selecting “Excavation Scholarships” as your gift purpose!

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ASOR and Its Members in the News

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NEWS@ASOR E-NEWSLETTER

ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY E-NEWSLETTER

PAST ASOR NEWS, MONTH BY MONTH

FY18 HONOR ROLL OF DONORS

ASOR ANNUAL MEETING

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ASOR AND ITS MEMBERS IN THE NEWS

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Be sure to check out these recent mentions of ASOR in the news!

Newly revealed 5th century mosaics a kaleidoscope of Jewish and secular imagery – The Times of Israel

Looted artifacts are making their way home to Turkey – BG Independent News

‘Oriental’ archaeology society reconsiders its name – Nature (International Journal of Science)

A Bronze Age tomb in Israel reveals the earliest known use of vanilla – ScienceNews

An exploding meteor may have wiped out ancient Dead Sea communities – Science News

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The Future of the Annual Meeting: When and Where to Meet?

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NEWS@ASOR E-NEWSLETTER

ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY E-NEWSLETTER

PAST ASOR NEWS, MONTH BY MONTH

FY18 HONOR ROLL OF DONORS

ASOR ANNUAL MEETING

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THE FUTURE OF THE ANNUAL MEETING: WHEN AND WHERE TO MEET?

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]We now face uncertainty about when and where the ASOR Annual Meeting will be held in the future. Why is this and what needs to be done? It is YOUR meeting we need YOUR input…. Again.

As many ASOR members know, we decided during our 2007 meeting that the best time and place for the ASOR meeting was just prior to the SBL meeting and in the same city. However, as the combined SBL-AAR meeting has grown and swallowed up prime hotel space, we have been pushed increasingly to the outskirts of the cities where we meet. This is an issue at this year’s Denver meeting and will be again as we look to book a venue for 2021, when there will essentially be no room for us downtown in San Antonio, the SBL-AAR venue.

 

We started this conversation in late 2016. At that time, we elicited input through an initial survey and at a membership meeting. The results of the survey were posted and are here summarized.

1) Responses: about 270 folks viewed the survey (actually went to the link) and between 220-236 responded (depending on the question);

2) Demographics: half of respondents had been members for 10 years or less and about 2/3 attend the Annual Meeting most or every year; 32% of respondents were SBL members and 40% of these responded that they regularly attend SBL;

3) 25% of respondents said they prefer to meet with SBL, while 33% preferred to not meet with SBL (42% were in the middle)

4) Most (31%) on a 1 to 5 scale preferred to stay with the Nov. Wed-Sat timeframe, even if we do not meet in conjunction with SBL; the rest of the responses were: 4 = 25%, 3 = 27%, 2 = 14%, 1 (strongly favor changing the Nov. Wed.-Sat. timeframe) = 3%.

5) For most, a change in the November date (59%) or days of the week (71%) would make NO difference to their attendance.

6) Although most (64%) were in the middle regarding meeting with another organization, the most popular organization to meet with was AIA (71%).

 

At the meeting and by email, additional input centered around

1) the date – a fall date and thus a spring deadline is difficult for papers involving field work, while spring was noted as already set for attending other organizations;

2) the focus of ASOR as an organization – the historical connection to “Bible” was noted as both important and unimportant;

3) the venue – having transportation readily available, and eateries and “entertainments” close at hand;

4) the cost – making two/multiple trips to national meetings per year was costly.

 

This input gave us a good start in our discussions, but then in March 2017, we got our eviction notice from Boston University (where our headquarters had been for many years) and the process of relocation side-tracked the discussion about the Annual Meeting. This delay proved to be less problematic than it could have been – we were able to contract for both San Diego in 2019 and Boston in 2020 (at the same hotel as our record breaking 2017 meeting). The urgent pressure was relieved. But now it is time to decide, both about our meeting in 2021 and for the years beyond.

As before, it must be understood that the Board is empowered to make this decision – and intends to do so at its Spring 2019 meeting. Thus, it is now time to provide the input necessary to create a decision that is in the best interests of the membership. The Ad Hoc Committee on the Annual Meeting was formed to do just that – provide a recommendation to the Board. This Committee seeks your input through several methods.

First, on Thursday of this year’s Annual Meeting, from 12:45-2:00, an all-member discussion will be held at the annual Early Career Scholars’ Panel. Open to all, this will allow members to present their views and discuss the issues and options with the larger membership. Please note: because we want to give everyone a chance to be heard, there will be a time limit for initial statements of 3 minutes. A record will be kept of these comments and conversations so that the Ad Hoc Committee may have this input moving forward.

A second method for giving input will be through the second membership survey, to be posted in January 2019. Yes, this one will allow for “comments” as well as “multiple choice.”

A third input mechanism is more informal: conversations or emails with an Ad Hoc Committee member. As before, the Chair of this Committee is Gary Arbino – GaryArbino@gs.edu.

Please note that SBL meetings through 2031 will ONLY be held at the following five cities: San Diego, Boston, San Antonio, Denver, and Washington DC.

By way of helping to structure the discussion here are the basic options for our Annual Meeting moving forward:

(1) ALL years: Stay with SBL in terms of city and dates and bend over backwards to figure out the best possible way to make it work.

A) meeting as close as feasible to SBL (Denver Tech park, resorts outside San Antonio);
B) meet in the same city but finish the ASOR meeting before SBL meeting begins- so there is minimal overlap of hotel space (ASOR would meet Tues.-Fri).

(2) ALL years: Split from SBL in terms of city, but NOT in terms of dates – ASOR meets either

A) far from the SBL city (making a long ‘triangle’ trip for double attendees), or
B) “close enough” (for a shorter ‘triangle’ trip; e.g. SBL at San Antonio, ASOR at Austin).

(3) ALTERNATING years:

In years that are MANAGEABLE (Boston, San Diego, Washington) – Stay with SBL in terms of city and dates;

AND

In years where the SBL city is UNAVAILABLE (Denver, San Antonio) – Split from SBL in terms of city, but NOT in terms of dates; either

A) Far from SBL; or
B) “Close Enough” to SBL

(4) ALL years: Split from SBL altogether in terms of city and dates.

NOTE: splitting in terms of dates opens other aspects of the discussion –
when and if we meet with any other organization.

 

ASOR needs and values your input. Please come to the Meeting and make your opinions known.

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Fellowship Report: Harpreet Birdi

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JORDAN: ARCHAEOLOGY BEYOND DIGGING

Harpreet Birdi, 2018 MacAllister Excavation Fellowship Recipient


The author at the Rockefeller Museum.

I would like to begin by thanking ASOR and P.E. MacAllister for selecting me as the recipient of the MacAllister Excavation Fellowship. I must also thank all ASOR fellowship donors that helped me participate in an archaeological project. My journey to Jordan would not have been possible without the support of this fellowship. I am grateful for being given the opportunity to travel to Jordan for the second time to participate in the Town of Nebo Archaeological Project. I would also like to thank my professor, Dr Debra Foran, for inviting me to participate in the project again and assisting me with my directed study.

During this season of the project, I stayed in the city of Madaba where I worked alongside fellow students, graduates and PhD scholars from whom I learned a lot about pottery, faunal remains and remote sensing technology from. I was given the opportunity to complete a directed study which focuses on the community engagement and outreach program for our project. We called this the The Khirbet al-Mukhayyat Community Based


Town of Nebo Archaeological Project site at Khirbet-al Mukhayyat

Archaeological Program (KMCBAP). I spent a lot of my time conducting research, reaching out to locals and developing a plan for implementing community engagement within the Town of Nebo Archaeological Project. One of the primary focuses for this project was to determine the effectiveness of social media and developing a plan for maintaining public engagement. This project was inspired by methodologies of community-based programs from North America and Jordan. One of these projects from Jordan was the Madaba Plains Projects. Thanks to Dr Foran, I had the opportunity to attend the 50th anniversary conference of the Madaba Plains Project and visit the site of Tel-Hisban where I witnessed the community engagement for myself. I learned a lot about community engagement from this project and it was very inspiring to see the type of results and engagement we could bring to our own archaeological project.


Amman Citadel

To improve public and community engagement, I began by improving and updating all the websites and social media pages of our project. Additionally, I was constantly posting photographs and feeds about the 2018 season and the individual research projects that some students were conducting. The results were incredible because we gained the most amount of activity on our web pages than we ever have before! This helped us gain feedback about why our web pages were unpopular and what we were doing wrong. The social media platform is definitely a great place for archaeological projects to establish a relationship with the public and contemporary world. The importance of public archaeology and community engagement is often overlooked when it should be given more attention. To my surprise, many locals living in Madaba were unaware about our archaeological project, however, they all knew about the site and its history. Many people I spoke to were very intrigued about the site and wanted to visit or learn more about our archaeological project. I realized how ineffective our web pages were if locals were unaware of our project. After this season’s effort for increasing the popularity of the web pages, I hope we can soon begin to see a change and an improvement in community engagement.


The author with a goat herd.

Aside from working all day, I also had the chance to travel around Jordan to visit other archaeological sites and enjoy the natural landscapes of Jordan. My fellow colleges and I visited many sites including the Burnt Palace, Martyrs Church, Amman Citadel, Jerash, Umm ar-Rassas, Mount Nebo Memorial Site of Moses and the Dead Sea. We also took a trip to Israel for a few days where we stayed in Jerusalem. We visited the Temple Mount with the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Western Wall, Rockefeller Museum and Israel Museum. Additionally, my birthday happened to be while I was in Jordan which we celebrated at a restaurant inside a 65 million years old cave! It was a very interesting experience and we all had a great night. All the travelling and sightseeing really made all the hard work worth it!

This season was a great learning experience for me and I gained so much knowledge about the different types of research projects archaeologists conduct outside the field. I had a great time meeting new people from our project, other archaeological projects in Jordan and from countless countries across the globe. It was great to be able to return to Jordan again and I would once again like to extend my gratitude to ASOR and P.E. MacAllister for giving me this wonderful opportunity.

Links for the Town of Nebo Archaeological Project:

Website: http://www.townofneboproject.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/townofneboarchaeologicalproject/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/neboarchaeology

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/townofnebo/

 

Harpreet Birdi is a recent graduate from Wilfrid Laurier University who just completed her undergraduate degree in Archaeology and Heritage Studies with a subfield in Osteology and Ancient Mediterranean Studies. This is her second trip to Jordan where she participated in the Town of Nebo Archaeological Project. Harpreet currently lives in Ontario, Canada where she works as an archaeological field technician.

Want to help more students and young archaeologists like Harpreet get into the field? Donate to the cause today by selecting “Excavation Scholarships” as your gift purpose!

Browse the News Archive

Archaeology of Iran at ASOR

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NEWS@ASOR E-NEWSLETTER

ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY E-NEWSLETTER

PAST ASOR NEWS, MONTH BY MONTH

FY18 HONOR ROLL OF DONORS

ASOR ANNUAL MEETING

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ARCHAEOLOGY OF IRAN AT ASOR

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Written by ASOR session co-chairs: Holly Pittman (University of Pennsylvania) and Mehrnoush Soroush (Harvard University)

Over the past several years, ASOR has received the generous support of the American Institute of Iranian Studies (AIIrS) to sponsor the visas of Iranian scholars and to underwrite their participation in the ASOR Annual Meeting. The Archaeology of Iran session is one of ASOR’s permanent standing sessions. It is an important venue for facilitating scholarly exchange and building collaboration between Iranian and American archaeologists.

The ancient heritage of Iran is well known and has been investigated since the middle of the eighteenth century. For many decades in the twentieth century, Iran was the locus of some of the most exciting archaeological engagement for American scholars. Following the revolution in 1979, archaeological work by non-Iranian scholars was greatly reduced in the country, beginning again, with ebb and flow, around 2000. The re-opening of the country to foreign, especially western scholars, was part of a broader change in the Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization, to train a new generation of Iranian archaeologists and to use these talents in new institutional structures devoted to research and preservation of cultural heritage. Since then many young Iranian archaeologists have completed their graduate degrees, especially at the University of Tehran, as well as in Europe and in the United States, and are actively undertaking systematic archeological research in universities or in the wide spread cultural heritage network supported by the central government.

The Archaeology of Iran papers cover all aspects of the science from Paleolithic through the Islamic period. The session usually consists of ten to twelve papers allocated over two sections. Ideally, the sessions are built around a core of Iranian nationals who are actively engaged in field research in the country. In addition, American and European nationals also contribute, some reporting on field work, others focusing on the study of heritage collections, or on the reanalysis of published material.

Securing visas for Iranian scholars is a difficult and prolonged undertaking for the scholars as well as for ASOR and AIIrS. Support from AIIrS includes reimbursement for visa applications, travel and lodging expenses, as well as a contribution to cover ASOR participation fees. The outcome of this process is affected by political environment and is more favorable in some years than others. The program was most successful in 2015, when the five Iranian applicants received visas and attended the meeting.

This year, we are again grateful to AIIrS, and especially to the unflagging support of Dr. Erica Ehrenberg, the Executive Director of the organization, for facilitating the application of five Iranian scholars who submitted papers selected by the organizing chairs. Two scholars, Dr. Mostafa Dehpahlavan and Mr. Hossein Moradi, will present their research in Denver. With permission from ASOR’s Program Committee, the other three scholars will give prerecorded or read presentations. These colleagues are all active field archaeologists and educators or cultural heritage specialists. We look forward to hearing about their ongoing research, addressing a variety of topics including:

Mostafa Dehpahlavan (University of Tehran), Mehrdad Malekzadeh (Iranian Center for Archaeological Research), and Zabih Allah Chaharrahi (Independent Researcher), “Archaeological Survey of Part of the Great Khorasan Road, the So-Called Pataq Defile or the Median Gate”

Hossein Moradi (Independent Researcher), “Site-Size Hierarchy in the Bampur Valley during the Chalcolithic Period: A New Approach for Understanding Complexity in Iranian Baluchistan”

Nasir Eskandari (University of Jiroft), “The Jiroft Archaeological Project 2017: Excavation at the Site of Varamin, Jiroft Plain, Southeastern Iran”

Hamed Vahdati Nasab (Tarbiat Modares University) and Abbas Moghaddam (Iranian Center for Archaeological Research), “Death and Violence During the Fifth-Fourth Millennia B.C., Khuzestan Plain, Southwestern Iran: Tol-e Chega Sofla Cemetery”

Mohammad Esmaeil Esmaeili Jelodar (University of Tehran) and Mohammad Mortezaei (Iranian Center for Archaeological Research), “Certain Evidence of Glazed Ceramic Manufacturing in Jorjan: An Overview of the Results from the Seventh Season”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684098866{margin-right: 5px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_wp_posts title=”BROWSE THE NEWS ARCHIVE” number=”4″][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684008271{margin-right: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 30px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_column_text] [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Fellowship Report: Paula Waiman-Barak & Sveta Matskevich

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IN SEARCH OF A MIDDLE BRONZE AGE HARBOR:
EXCAVATION AT TEL MEVORAKH

Paula Waiman-Barak & Sveta Matskevich, 2017 Shirlee Meyers/G. Ernest Wright Excavation Fellowship Recipients

Tel Mevorakh, first excavation season


Aerial photo of Tel Mevorakh, Mt. Carmel, the Carmel Coast and the Mediterranean.

Tel Mevorakh is a small mound on the southern bank of Nahal Taninim, 2 km inland from the river’s opening into the Mediterranean Sea along the ancient maritime route between Egypt and the Levantine coastal sites. In antiquity, this area was an estuary where salt marshes—influenced by tidal currents, brackish water from local springs and sweet water from the river—formed a wetland interface between the coast and its hinterland. We believe that during the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) Tel Mevorakh served as an inland port of trade for seafaring Canaanite merchants on the crossroad between maritime and land routes.

The tell was previously excavated by Ephraim Stern of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Over four seasons (1973–1976), two excavation areas and one trench revealed a site occupation sequence spanning from the Neolithic to the Byzantine period. Later remains, mostly Crusader and Muslim burials dug into the latest occupation layers, were found in small-scale salvage excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) in 1997 and 2005–2006. Other exposed areas included the presumed “lower town,” located in the lower part of the slope of the tell, unearthed architectural remains dated to the Late Iron Age and the Persian Period.

Since the earliest architectural remains at Mevorakh belong to the Middle Bronze Age, we decided to focus our investigation on this period. During the previous excavation on the tell, MBA remains were found in the lower strata (XIII-XV) in the main areas, as well near the surface in the eastern test trenches. In the main area, a large MBA structure with thickened walls was unearthed (Stratum XIII). Because of the thickened walls of the main building, Stern interpreted it as a garrison. However, adjacent to this structure, Stern described sediments that might be interpreted as characteristic of wetlands. To our minds, this raised the possibility that this structure was built in close proximity to water and therefore required thick walls to withstand the elements of. In the fall of 2017 we opened a small excavation in an attempted to address the question of the ancient environment of the site during the MBA.

On site, it was evident that a new excavation at “Stern’s Garrison” was impossible for safety reasons. We decided instead to reopen the excavation areas on the eastern slope (the easternmost squares of the main area and the “East Cut”), to record the architectural remains and to collect sediments and ceramics for analysis. In addition, for control, we excavated new squares on both sides of this “East Cut.”

The material culture of the site from all periods suggested that there was substantial maritime traffic, and that the economic prosperity of the residents of Tel Mevorakh depended on the interconnections with neighboring communities. However, there were two main interpretations regarding Tel Mevorakh and its place in the settlement history of the area. Stern’s excavations focused on the site and its presumed connections to a terrestrial road network along the Carmel Coast, while Avner Raban, in his 1985 paper on Canaanite harbors suggested that Mevorakh was an inland port on the banks of the Nahal Taninim in an ancient semi-closed marine lagoon.


Excavations on the east slope, Fall 2017.

The paleoenvironment of the broader area nearby was researched extensively by geologists via coring. However, those studies were concerned with environments predating the Bronze Age. Therefore, we decided to approach the problem with a different method: to gather sediments from excavated archaeological contexts, and to analyze them using geological techniques with the aim to derive environmental information. The mineralogical and faunal content of associated sediments can provide a reflection of the environment in which they were deposited. Thus, using sediments from mudbricks with a solid archaeological context can potentially provide a well-dated reconstruction of the paleoenvironment.

During the inaugural 2017 season at Tel Mevorakh we focused the work on the MBA settlement. For this purpose, we reopened one of the old excavation areas on the eastern slope and started several new squares immediately next to it. According to the 1970’s excavation report on the eastern slope, MBA stratum were the uppermost archaeological layer, and these contained a brick wall and MBA ceramics. In our excavation, we re-exposed the MBA brick wall and found it mostly burnt and collapsed on several MBA Canaanite jars (now on our restoration table). One of the jar fragments had shells of Glycymeris (a saltwater marine bivalve mollusk) attached to it. Glycymeris, as well as other marine shells (e.g., Murex, Egyptian Chambardia) were very common in the excavation. This is consistent with the malacological analyses published in the 1970’s excavation report and suggests a marine connection. Although Glycymeris species no longer exist along the Israeli coast, they were common in the Bronze and Iron Ages and were collected by humans for different usages.

Sediment analysis

We collected several sediment samples from the collapsed brick wall based on the assumption that the materials used for making the mudbricks were harvested near the site. A preliminary analysis of the sediment was done in collaboration with Beverly Goodman-Tchernov. In the mudbricks of the MBA wall we found sediments typical of the coastal area with abundant fauna characteristic of marine and brackish wetlands: marine shell fragments, spines of sea urchins and foraminifera of species highly tolerant to both marine and brackish waters. Additional coring in the immediate surrounding of the site is planned. 

Ceramic analysis


Volunteers from Kibbutz Ma’agan-Michael Field School and Sveta Matskevich.

While the study of the sediments in mudbricks is progressing, we apply ceramic petrography to the assemblages of pottery found at our excavation and from the MBA “garrison” published by Stern. Usually, ceramic petrography is used to determine provenance of the artifacts in order to trace commercial interactions. Indeed, we found an abundance of imported pottery from various production centers up and down the Levantine coast, as well as from Egypt and Cyprus. The same method allows us to characterize the clays available in the vicinity o the site, which will give us additional information about the environment of the site during the MBA.

Prior to our excavation, we conducted petrographic examination of the ceramic assemblages from the MBA “garrison” published by Stern. We found an abundance of imported pottery from various production centers up and down the Levantine coast, as well as from Egypt and Cyprus. The ceramic petrography of the local pottery shows a similar sedimentological fingerprint as in the mudbricks, although the mudbricks exhibit a higher ratio of clay minerals and are not fired. The fabric of the ceramics also contains minerals formed in saltwater environments, such as gypsum and glauconite, so far unidentified in the mudbricks.

The ceramics of the 2017 excavation are currently being drawn using the 3D camera scanner and associated computerized morphological analysis at the Computerized Archaeology Laboratory at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A community venture


Ceramic petrography on ceramics from the 1970’s excavation: a jar imported from the Syrian Coast.

The question of the local ecosystem before human activities and before human intervention is very relevant for modern conservation and development plans of the area. The communities in nearby Kibbutz Ma’agan-Michael and Moshav Beit-Hanania embraced this expedition and joined as volunteers. We opened the excavation to families during the Sukkot holiday and the children of the area participated in all activities. This proved to be a very valuable learning experience for all who participated.

Summary and future investigation

The ancient environment at Tel Mevorakh has long been the subject of academic interest. In applying methods from different fields, we are exploring questions regarding the site’s function at the crossroad of land and sea trade routes. This will contribute to the understanding of the role of Tel Mevorakh along land and sea systems, and its connection to the immediate hinterland.

The analysis of the paleoenvironment based on well-dated archaeological remains, both on sediments, architecture and ceramics is a new, innovative approach. Hopefully this research leads to the formation of specific methodological tools and criteria to help in the identification of marine, wetland and riverine harbors in the Bronze Age―an identification so far elusive in the archaeological record.

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Presentation at ASOR 2017

2017 Tel Mevorahk excavation team

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Fellowship Report: Sara Soltani

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FIVE THINGS YOU BRING HOME FROM AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATION

Sara Soltani, 2017, P.E. MacAllister Heritage Fellowship Recipient

Archaeology, known as one of the world’s dirtiest jobs, can also be one of the most rewarding. From participating in the discoveries that redefine history, to the wonderful experiences that excavations bring, it can truly be an experience that will stay with you for a lifetime. After the excavation ends though, what do you bring home other than photos, souvenirs, and memories? For those who are considering participating in an archaeological excavation, or those who are curious about what you gain from an excavation during the three to six-week period, let me share what I’ve learned.


From left to right; Noelle Purcell, Rebecca Larson, and Sara Soltani pose for a group photo after wet sieving. (All photos courtesy of Eric Cline)

When you arrive at your accommodations, you are placed in a room that you share with around one to three other people. Excavations begin at 5 a.m. sharp and continue until you head back for the day at around 1 p.m. for lunch. Upon arriving at the site, you are placed into a locus, or a specific area of excavation, with other participants. Before long, you may become very close with these participants, until they are no longer just fellow participants, but also friends. You all will work through the heat, sweat, and dirt during long and hot days towards a common goal, which creates a real and close friendship.

 

    1. Friendship

From left to right; Analee Nelson and Sara Soltani section a test trench.

Whether or not you study Archaeology, Anthropology, or History, new friendships and connections gained from an archaeological excavation are something you can maintain after the excavation season is complete. For all anthropology-related majors, excavations are a great place to meet new colleagues who will benefit you personally, as well as professionally. Besides the determination and commitment of the staff and participants at the site, nothing would get done without teamwork. Teamwork is the most important factor in making sure that any excavation season is a success. Because of this teamwork, in my experience, relationships formed at an excavation are often some of the strongest and last the longest. Something about a mutual understanding of hard work towards a common goal among all the excavation members compels us to rely on one another and work as a team for the duration of the dig, and that creates a lasting bond.

  1. Multitasking skills

It isn’t possible to be productive in an excavation without learning to multitask. You might think, ‘why would I possibly need to multitask?’ While digging that trench, have you thought about where your dig partners are while you excavate with a 10-lb pickaxe? They might not hear it coming. Are you looking for ceramics, bone, flint, shell, and metal while scooping up the dirt? Sometimes juggling the day-to-day tasks of a field archaeologist can be underappreciated until you experience them for yourself. After the season, you are able to return home with new skills that can be applied to both your career and your personal life. I’ve learned that one of the most beneficial results of this is the ability to manage deadlines while maintaining an active social life.

    1. Fitness

Sara Soltani is collecting the soil for disposal while looking for artifacts.

The hours are long, and the work is intense, but excavations really are as rewarding as they sound. Who wouldn’t love to find artifacts in the ground that haven’t been seen or touched by another human being for thousands of years? Who wouldn’t love to touch a piece of history with their bare hands and see it through its discovery, cleaning, and cataloguing, all while building muscle? Eight-hour excavation days might sound difficult, but you get to work out doing something you love, and reap the benefits. This is obtained by a combination of healthy meals, digging, and a stable support network—you’re all in this together!

    1. Coordination

Sectioning. Something every archaeologist knows all too well. How straight can you make your dirt wall? Are you a coordinated person? If you are, your OCD will thank you for it. Properly hacking at a dirt wall takes some practice, but you can always admire your work in the professional excavation photos. Where are your tools? Making a mental map of the location of each tool and loci will prevent injury and make for a speedier excavation day. Guaranteed, your navigation experience will improve as you learn to understand the layout of not only the site, but also of the ancient buildings you’re excavating. Each of these new skills might even improve your categorization of your possessions at home, and help in navigating yourself around new places, in addition to the obvious benefits to your hand-eye coordination.

    1. Personal growth

Sara Soltani is picking for bone, flint, shell, and metal.

Excavations teach you a great deal about personal responsibility. This is not just in dealing with the objects, but also in dealing with yourself and those around you. Character building is one of the best qualities an excavation can offer. During the excavation season, no matter how long you stay, you obtain a sense of community, gain leadership skills, and come away with a greater knowledge of both the site and of yourself. So, before you turn down the idea of an excavation, know that no matter what your age or professional experience, every archaeological excavation teaches you something different. Every archaeological excavation is a chance to gain professional and personal experiences that stay with you for a lifetime.

Sara Soltani is a senior studying archaeology at The George Washington University. She excavated at Tel Kabri, located in the western Galilee region of northern Israel, with The George Washington University for three weeks. During that time, she was in charge of managing the wet sieving, bone picking, and cataloguing collected samples, in addition to digging.

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