FRIENDS OF ASOR WEBINARS
Secrets of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom Capital: el-Lisht
Friends of ASOR present the next webinar in our monthly series on February 8, 2023, at 6:00 pm EST, featuring Prof. Sarah Parcak and moderated by Prof. Kara Cooney. This lecture will discuss exciting new discoveries and ongoing work at the site of Lisht, Egypt. Lisht was Egypt’s Middle Kingdom Capital, called Itj-Tawy, dating to ca. 1900 BCE, and contains the pyramids of the two co-founders of Dynasty 12, Amenemhat 1 and Senwosret 1 (father and son), as well as a cemetery with the tombs of the many thousands of officials, artisans, and soldiers who called Itj-Tawy home. The city itself is buried in the floodplain, and its exact location is not known by Egyptologists. It is Egypt’s greatest primarily unexcavated ancient capital, and contains countless treasures that will help to rewrite the history of a period of time about which we know relatively little compared to Egypt’s Old and New Kingdoms (The Pyramid age and Egypt’s Golden age).
The Lisht Mission, a Joint project between the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities, commenced work in 2015, discovering a tomb of a previously unattested individual, over 800 Middle Kingdom tombs, and the hints of Itj-tawy’s suburbs. We will discuss the project, as well as future plans at the site using new mapping technologies.
Join Prof. Parcak as she uncovers the secrets of this intriguing site and what it can tell us about life in Egypt during the Middle Kingdom period. The webinar will conclude with a Q&A session with fellow Egyptologist, Prof. Kara Cooney (University of California, Los Angeles).
Sarah Parcak, is an Archaeologist and Egyptologist and has worked on excavations in 14 countries across the globe since 1999. Sarah attended Yale University for her BA, and received her M.Phil and PhD degrees from Cambridge University in the UK in 2005. She lectured at the University of Wales-Swansea before starting work in the Dept of Anthropology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2006, where she is now a full Professor.
Sarah is the author of Satellite Remote Sensing For Archaeology (Routledge 2009) and Archaeology from Space: How the Future Shapes Our Past (Henry Holt 2019), which won the Phi Beta Kappa 2020 Book Award for Science, as well as many peer-reviewed academic papers. She is a National Geographic Society Explorer, a Young Global Leader, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, a TED Senior Fellow, winner of the 2016 TED Prize, 2016 recipient of the Smithsonian Institute American Ingenuity Award, a 2018 recipient of the Explorer’s Club Lowell Thomas Award, and a 2020 recipient of the Roy Chapman Andrews Society Distinguished Explorer’s Award.
Sarah serves as the Founder and President of Globalxplorer, a non-profit dedicated to using cutting edge technologies to protect and preserve cultural heritage. She co-directs the Joint Lisht Mission with Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities, which focuses on the excavation and survey of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom capital. Her research has been featured in multiple BBC-Discovery Channel and PBS-Nova documentaries.
Sarah collaborates with her husband, Dr. Greg Mumford, on multiple archaeology projects, when they are not busy chasing after their 10 year-old son Gabriel, who already knows more about ancient Egypt than they do. Her hobbies include birdwatching, golf, and baking.
This webinar will be recorded and all paid registrants will be sent a link to view the recording.
ASOR Sustaining Members: $0 | ASOR Members: $6 | Public: $12
Season Pass: ASOR Sustaining Members: $0 | ASOR Members: $75 | Public: $150
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To receive your ASOR member discount, log into the online store. If you are new to ASOR, please click on the “New Visitor Registration” link to register your e-mail address and choose a password for our online store. Once logged in, navigate to “Meeting and Event Registration” to register for the webinar and pay the fee. Each paid registrant will receive a confirmation e-mail when you pay for the webinar. If you do not receive this e-mail, then you are not registered. Please e-mail membership@asor.org with any questions or issues with registering.
All proceeds from this webinar are used to fund scholarships for members as well as increasing ASOR’s online resources, which are free to the public.
READY FOR A WEBINAR SEASON PASS?
Buy a season pass for all the webinars* of the 2022-2023 FOA Webinar Season! 1) You will automatically receive the Zoom link for each webinar so no need to register each time. 2) You will also receive the recording of each webinar automatically after the event.
If you have missed webinars earlier in the season and still want to buy the pass, you will receive the links to the recordings of the webinars you missed in your automatic confirmation email after you buy the pass.
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Pricing:
Members: $75.00
Non-Members: $150.00
ASOR Sustaining Members: $0 (automatic registration for each webinar)
Not a member yet? Click here to join as a member and receive the 50% off a season pass!
Log into our online store to purchase the season pass for 2022-2023. If you are new to ASOR and do not have a record in our store yet, click here to register. After you login, navigate to the left to “Meeting and Event Registration.” Please e-mail membership@asor.org if you have any questions or issues.
WHY SPONSOR A WEBINAR?
Several levels of support from $50-$1,000 are available. Proceeds go towards membership scholarships and towards increasing ASOR’s virtual resources. Each sponsorship is tax-deductible and you can give your friends free registrations to a webinar!
Bronze Level ($50): up to 2 guest registrations
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After you sign up for a sponsorship online or over the phone, email the names and email addresses of your guests to Felice Herman at membership@asor.org, who will send your guests a confirmation and the Zoom link before the webinar.
PAST WEBINARS
You can now purchase the link to the recording of any webinar. You can also purchase the bundle packages of all webinars from the 2020-2022 seasons. Please e-mail membership@asor.org for purchase details.
To see a printable pdf of the webinar titles from the 2020-2021 season, please click here. To see a printable pdf of the webinar titles from the 2021-2022 season, please click here.
Pricing:
Members: $6.00 per recording
Non-Members: $12.00 per recording
Bundle of 2020-2021 Webinars: $75.00
Bundle of 2021-2022 Webinars: $75.00
Bundle of 2020-2022 Webinars: $125.00
2021-2022 Season
A World at War: Protecting Cultural Heritage in Times of Conflict
Patty Gerstenblith (DePaul University), Lisa Ackerman (Columbus Citizens Foundation), Andrew Cohen (Government Professional and Cultural Heritage Expert) | May 12, 2022
Preserving Cultural Heritage in Hisban and Umm al-Jimal, Jordan
Øystein LaBianca (Andrews University), Elizabeth Osinga (Umm al-Jimal Archaeological Project), Darrell Rohl (Calvin University) | April 24, 2022
Back to the Field: Recent Discoveries & Summer Plans 2022
Lorenzo d’Alfonso (ISAW), Kathryn Grossman (NC State University), James R. Strange (Samford University) | April 3, 2022
Uncovering What is Nubian Beneath the Veneer of Egyptianness: Excavating the Archives
Debora Heard (University of Chicago) | March 20, 2022
Where Are They Now?: A Preview of 2022 ASOR-Affiliated Fieldwork Projects
Michael Given (University of Glasgow), Xenia-Paula Kyriakou (Florida Gulf Coast University), Stephen Batiuk (University of Toronto), Monique Roddy (Walla Walla University), Kent Bramlett (La Sierra University), Friedbert Ninow (La Sierra University), and Michael Hoff (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) | March 8, 2022
Excavations at Tel Gezer: A Personal Story
Sam Wolff (Tel Gezer Laboratory) | February 20, 2022
Tel Rehov: A Major Bronze and Iron Age City in the Jordan Valley
Amihai Mazar (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Nava Panitz-Cohen ( Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Nota Kourou (Athens University), Naama Yahalom-Mack (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Robert Mullins (Azusa Pacific University) | February 10, 2022
The Not-So-Innocents Abroad: The Beginnings of American Biblical Archaeology
Rachel Hallote (Samford University) | January 20, 2022
Synagogues as Jesus Knew Them
James R. Strange (Samford University) | December 2, 2021
Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World’s Most Contested City
Andrew Lawler | November 4, 2021
Jesus and Jerusalem on TV: How Do Bible Documentaries Get Made?
Robert Cargill (University of Iowa) | October 17, 2021
Digging the Divine?: Judahite Pillar Figurines and the Archaeology of Israelite Religion
Erin Darby (University of Tennessee) | October 7, 2021
David, Solomon, and Rehoboam’s Kingdom—The Archaeological Evidence
Yosef Garfinkel (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) | September 19, 2021
From Standing Stones to Sacred Emptiness: Textual and Visual Portrayals of Israel’s God
Theodore Lewis (Johns Hopkins University) | August 29, 2021
2020-2021 Season
Making May Matter: Webinarathon to Endow Diversity
Multiple Speakers | May 21-23, 2021
Archaeogaming: Why Video Games Deserve Their Own Archaeology
Tine Rassalle (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Shannon Martino (Morton College), Matthew Winter (University of Arizona), Michael Zimmerman (Rhode Island) | April 18, 2021
How the Bible Became a Book
William Schniedewind (UCLA) | March 21, 2021
The Mysteries of Mithras in Caesarea: Exploring the Cult’s Rites and Remains
Jane DeRose Evans (Temple University), Alexandra Ratzlaff (Brandeis University) | March 11, 2021
Archaeology and the Hidden Religious Culture of Israelite Women
Carol Meyers (Duke University) | February 21, 2021
Meet the Directors—Fundraiser to Support ASOR’s Affiliated Overseas Research Centers
Matthew J. Adams (AIAR), Pearce Paul Creasman (ACOR), Lindy Crewe (CAARI) | February 11, 2021
Early Synagogues, Jesus, and Galilee—A Jewish Perspective
Eric Meyers (Duke University) | December 13, 2020
Home Sweet Home: Ancient Israelite Households in Context
Cynthia Shafer-Elliott (William Jessup University) | October 18, 2020
Priestesses in the Days of Solomon and Ahab
Susan Ackerman (Dartmouth College) | September 13, 2020
Digging Deeper: How Archaeology Works
Eric H. Cline (The George Washington University) | August 9, 2020
Dr. Kyle Keimer is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Archaeology, History, and Language of Ancient Israel at Macquarie University, Sydney. He co-directed excavations at the site of Khirbet el-Ra’i in southern Israel and is the co-host of The Biblical World podcast. His research bridges both text and archaeology, with an emphasis on the early Iron Age and early Israelite monarchy. His interests also include historical geography and ancient warfare. After finishing his PhD at UCLA, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeology before becoming a Senior Lecturer at Macquarie University. He has over 20 years of archaeological experience in Israel and Cyprus, working on excavations spanning from the Early Bronze Age to the Ottoman Period. His publications include two edited volumes and over 30 articles.
administrative activities, which helped the kingdom consolidate its power over neighboring regions.
Tiffany Earley-Spadoni is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Central Florida. Her research consists of spatially-oriented investigations of expansionary state development in the ancient Near East. She received her PhD in Near Eastern Studies from the Johns Hopkins University.
This webinar continues with an examination of an aspect of the decoration from Niankhnisut’s tomb, namely Egypto-Nubian relations in the Old Kingdom: Several scenes from this tomb, like many other Old Kingdom elite tombs, illustrate the presence of exotic fauna, frequently in conjunction with little people (i.e., “dwarfs” and/or pygmies), which reflect Egyptian interrelations with Nubia and Punt, which is widely attested via archaeological and textual-pictorial sources. The Old Kingdom court and elite often feature the employment of little people as animal handlers alongside imported Nubian primates, felines, and dogs, with an added emphasis upon the desirability of utilizing dwarfs and sometimes sub-Saharan pygmies, for diverse employment within the royal court and broader settings, including jewelry production, animal handlers, bearers, entertainers, and other roles. The presentation cannot encompass the much broader aspects of Egypto-Nubian relations during the second millennium BCE, but will touch upon further aspects in relation to Niankhnisut’s tomb scenes and the importation of exotic animals from Nubia. The webinar will conclude with a live Q&A session moderated by Prof. Stuart Tyson Smith (University of California, Santa Barbara).
