SHARE
[/vc_column_text][mk_image src=”http://www.asortest.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/social-fb-icon4.jpg” image_width=”42″ image_height=”42″ hover=”false” custom_url=”https://www.facebook.com/ASOResearch/” margin_bottom=”0″][mk_image src=”http://www.asortest.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/social-tw-icon4.jpg” image_width=”42″ image_height=”42″ hover=”false” custom_url=”https://twitter.com/ASOResearch?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor” margin_bottom=”0″][mk_image src=”http://www.asortest.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/social-in-icon4.jpg” image_width=”42″ image_height=”42″ hover=”false” custom_url=”https://www.linkedin.com/company/american-schools-of-oriental-research” margin_bottom=”0″][mk_image src=”http://www.asortest.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/social-ml-icon_7.jpg” image_width=”42″ image_height=”42″ hover=”false” custom_url=”mailto:info@asor.org” margin_bottom=”0″][mk_image src=”http://www.asortest.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/blog-icon3.jpg” image_width=”42″ image_height=”42″ hover=”false” custom_url=”http://asor.org/blog” margin_bottom=”0″][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496683923840{margin-right: 20px !important;border-left-width: 2px !important;padding-right: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;border-left-color: #99422f !important;}”][mk_divider divider_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0.01)” thickness=”1″ margin_top=”3″ margin_bottom=”3″][vc_column_text] [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1487276122024{margin-right: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 30px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 30px !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 responsive_align=”left”]What is a Dual Component Annual Meeting?
[/vc_column_text][mk_divider][vc_wp_text]ASOR’s members come from all over the world. In 2020, more than 45% of ASOR Annual Meeting presenters were from countries other than the United States. We are committed to providing inclusive opportunities for all colleagues to share research, collaborate, and engage.As part of our commitment to fostering inclusivity for all of our members, the 2021 Annual Meeting will have both in-person and virtual components. As long as it is safe and possible, the in-person component will take place in Chicago, November 17-20. The virtual component will take place online, December 9-12, and will feel much like the 2020 virtual meeting. Here some of the key features of the dual component Annual Meeting:[/vc_wp_text][vc_column_text]
- Meeting registration includes both components.
- Scholarships are available: Due to COVID-19, and thanks to our generous members, current ASOR members with a need may request a 25%, 50%, or full Annual Meeting scholarship. Email your scholarship request to programs@asor.org before you purchase registration.
- In-person papers will be presented live during the sessions in Chicago.
- Virtual paper presentations will be recorded and uploaded to ASOR’s virtual platform in November.
- Many sessions and workshops are being hosted as part of both components.
- A member may present the same paper both in-person and online and this will count as 1 program appearance.
- Make sure to submit your abstract via both the In-Person AND Virtual proposal forms if you would like to present your paper as part of both components.
- March 15 is the Call for Papers deadline to propose a paper or workshop presentation.
- UPDATE: The extended deadline to submit paper proposals is April 1, 2021.
Abstracts submitted between March 16 – April 1 are subject to a $25 late fee payable in the ASOR Online Store. This fee does not apply if the abstract is solicited by a session chair.
Chicago, November 17-20
Approved Sessions and Workshops: Chicago
A
SOR is watching the pandemic and following health and safety guidelines as we make plans to hold a safe in-person meeting. ASOR attendees will enjoy an iconic downtown location at the Hilton Chicago. The hotel overlooks Grant Park and Lake Michigan, and is located within walking distance of museums, restaurants, shopping, and many of Chicago’s top attractions. Read more about the hotel and Chicago here.
The academic program will include an opening plenary address, paper sessions, workshops, and posters. In addition, attendees will have access to exhibitors, receptions and networking opportunities.
Program participants may choose to share their work with those who are not able to attend in person by preparing the same paper or poster for presentation during the virtual component. ASOR is not planning to live stream or record presentations in Chicago, however, presenters may prepare a recording to upload to the virtual component platform.
March 15 is the deadline to propose a paper or workshop presentation proposal for Chicago:
In-Person Abstract Submission Form (Chicago, November 17-20)
Virtual, December 9-12
Approved Sessions and Workshops: Virtual
The second component of ASOR’s 2021 Annual Meeting will take place online, December 9-12. As was the case for the 2020 Virtual Annual Meeting, the online session time will be used for discussion of presentations. Pre-recorded paper presentations and digital posters will be available to view on demand before the virtual component takes place. Those presenting a paper as part of the virtual component will need to pre-record their presentation and upload the .mp4 file to ASOR’s virtual platform in November. This format will allow scholars who presented in Chicago to share their work with virtual attendees, and vice versa.
A Note About Virtual Workshops: The format for workshops is different from a traditional paper session. Whereas paper presentations for the virtual component will be pre-recorded, workshops will take place live and do not include pre-recorded content or paper presentations. Workshop presentations are limited to 10 minutes maximum.
March 15 is the deadline to submit a paper or workshop presentation proposal for the virtual component:
Virtual Abstract Submission Form (Online, December 9-12)[/vc_wp_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]Tweets by ASOResearch [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Our $20,000 March goal is part of a larger campaign to support broader ASOR diversity initiatives. Thanks to a generous 
ASOR Photo Collection has been growing over the past couple of months! Take a look at the 550+ images in 
[/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]
modeled to depict what is commonly interpreted as people engaged in ritual activities in front of a shrine. The vessel has long intrigued archaeologists working in Cyprus, partly because unambiguous evidence for religious structures and paraphernalia has eluded them in the archaeological record. However, excavations at the Early–Middle Bronze Age site of Alambra in central Cyprus have yielded an artifact that closely resembles the finials placed atop the “throne” depicted in the Vounous Bowl. Its find context—in a room within a domestic structure that also contained a human burial—supports those interpretations of the Vounous Bowl that emphasize its sacred dimensions and its possible connections with the mortuary domain.
It includes a high mound and several lower terraces, ca. 25 ha in area. The site gained notoriety when an imported potsherd bearing an Egyptian royal symbol (a serekh) incised with the hieroglyph of an early ruler, Narmer, was found in Excavation Area D. Large-scale exposure there in the 1950s and 1960s, under the direction of Shmuel Yeivin, unearthed a rather lengthy and complicated stratigraphic sequence that has prompted numerous attempts at correlating its Early Bronze Age strata with Dynasty 0 and the early 1st Dynasty in Egypt. Yeivin’s cursorily published results illustrate only partial and rudimentary plans of the Early Bronze Age strata in Area D, most of which lack elevations. One exceptionally large building boasting seven substantial mudbrick pillars has attracted researchers’ attention, as it likely had a public function. This essay, based on Yeivin’s original, unpublished plans that include elevations, as well as information derived from recent excavations in Area D, offers a detailed reconstruction of the plan of that building, which suggests its likely chrono-stratigraphic ascription to late phases of the Early Bronze I. It further notes its importance for understanding the relationship between Egypt and the southern Levant in this late prehistoric period, and especially the place of Tel ʿErani as one of a growing number of sites in the southern Levant known to yield definitive evidence for the onset of its earliest complex, hierarchical societies in the first centuries of the 4th millennium b.c.e.
engagement with the international maritime trade networks of the eastern Mediterranean. A longstanding scholarly preoccupation with interregional trade has encouraged the development of theoretical models that aim to reconstruct the economy of the island and generally view Late Cypriot coastal sites as gateway communities channeling copper to the eastern Mediterranean. Studies have also highlighted the local and regional significance of these communities and have shed light on their complex economic networks. In this paper, we use data from coastal Tochni-Lakkia, an actively eroding site located near two major Late Bronze Age centers (Kalavasos-Ayios Dhimitrios and the Maroni Complex) to add nuance to smaller-scale regional interaction networks along the south-central coast of the island. To do that, we engage evidence from trial excavations and archaeological and geophysical surveys at Tochni-Lakkia in the form of a preliminary report with theoretical approaches that highlight the potential for and role of regional maritime networks and the concept of coastscape.
The results outline elements in Jerusalem’s nearby woody vegetation, characterized by a mosaic of native Mediterranean maquis-forest species and olive orchards, and possibly pine and cypress stands. The arboreal surrounding of Jerusalem supplied the city with pruned olive branches and other types of agricultural refuse to serve as firewood. Local conifers (pines and cypress) as well as imported conifers (cedar of Lebanon), were used for construction purposes. The results further highlight important issues such as social status and importation of wood. The occurrence of prestigious imported tree species within the charcoal assemblage of the Lower City (e.g., cedar, boxwood) indicates the presence of wealthy residences, standing in contrast to prior assumptions that suggest a low social status for the inhabitants within this area.
At this early date, iron was already used rather extensively for utilitarian purposes at the site, though bronze was not yet restricted to decorative use. The metal assemblage from Khirbet Qeiyafa, therefore, provides a rare glimpse into the transition from bronze to iron at the beginning of Iron Age II. This article presents the typology and spatial distribution of the finds, followed by a discussion of their possible cultural and social implications.
Recent excavations provide the first unequivocal indication that the site was inhabited during the Late Bronze Age as a farm/hamlet, perhaps also a waystation. The main architectural feature is a large partially-excavated structure, whose contents—mainly pottery—were well preserved by a destruction level. We propose that the destruction assemblage dates around the mid-14th century b.c.e. and that the structure was built around 1400 b.c.e., thus somewhat later than Thutmose III’s famed first campaign. Since pottery of this period is known primarily from large/central sites, Tel Esur offers an exceptional glimpse into a 14th century b.c.e. assemblage from the rural Canaanite domain. Currently, it is also the only small site excavated along the ʿAruna Pass between Megiddo and the Sharon, inter alia offering insights about this stretch of the Via Maris during the Late Bronze Age. This is the first synthesis of Tel Esur during this period. We focus on typo-chronology, and on the main characteristics of the ceramic assemblage, including unique phenomena such as storage in Cypriot-Style pithoi and Egyptianizing pottery in a rural setting.
It offers a first glimpse of life at Gordion during the mid-6th century (end of the Middle Phrygian period, Yassıhöyük Stratigraphic Sequence 5A). Greek imports provide a relatively firm date for the deposit and allow a chronologically specific snapshot of locally produced fine, household, and coarse wares. Vessels made of traditional Phrygian black-polished ware were used primarily for drinking. Lydian influence at the site is seen in the large number of burnished gray stemmed vessels, although the size of Gordion’s stemmed dishes and the way in which they were used apparently differ from the Lydian capital, Sardis. Bowls come in a variety of wares, shapes, and sizes, while large jars and jugs are primarily gray-slipped household wares, with some imports. Puzzling is a large terracotta object with pseudomorph appliqués suggesting metal attachments, which may have been a niche for a household cult. This initial presentation of the pottery from the mid-6th-century dump provides insight into multiple concerns and behaviors of Gordion’s inhabitants just before the Achaemenid Persian Empire.
The bulla originally sealed a papyrus document. Thanks to its excellent preservation, it is possible to identify a series of key aspects of the object: the motif and type of seal used to stamp it, the way the bulla was created, and even the way in which the original document was folded and tied. These details allow us to identify the probable origin and date of the seal and contextualize its associated bulla within the site of Qedesh. This evidence, in conjunction with information from the late 5th century b.c.e. Murašû archive in Nippur, allows us to suggest that the seal’s user may have been a person with Tyrian ties—perhaps a member of the Tyrian diaspora—who acquired his seal in Nippur and traveled to Qedesh where he used it to seal a document.
This paper focuses on the latest known period of occupation at Tayinat, which during the Iron Age was the Syro-Anatolian city of Kunulua. In 2004, following a 67-year hiatus, the University of Toronto’s Tayinat Archaeological Project (TAP) resumed excavations at the site. Here we present the preliminary results of TAP’s investigations of the Iron Age II and III settlement, including the topography of the 1st millennium settlement, super- and sub-structural remains associated with Building II (a temple first discovered in the 1930s), a second, newly discovered temple (Building XVI), part of a large Assyrian-style courtyard building, and the remains of additional monumental architecture on the Iron Age citadel. The terminal phases of these structures date to the Iron Age III period, or the late 8th and 7th century occupation of Kunulua following the Assyrian conquest in 738 b.c.e., and collectively point to the transformation of Kunulua’s royal citadel into a Neo-Assyrian provincial administrative center, a pattern witnessed at contemporary sites elsewhere in southeastern Anatolia and northern Syria.
located in the Iraq Museum that must have originated in Umma or its environs. This account of equids is unique in that it is the first “mu-iti” type that carries a year name; this is also the first known such year name from the reign of Manishtusu, the third ruler of the Sargonic dynasty of the late third millennium BCE.
Aside from the institutional households, a good number of “private” estates are known from Ur III sources. These private households were usually named after their owners (members of the royal entourage, the military or the local elite, merchants, cultic officials etc.), and controlled extensive resources, but were only rarely mentioned in the administrative documents from the provincial archives. One of the best-documented private estate is the one that belonged to a certain Ur-DUN. His estate was located in the Ĝirsu/Lagaš province and played an important role in the raising of slaughter animals and wool production. The aim of the present paper is to describe the economic activities of the Ur-DUN household according to the available sources and to highlight how this private household interacted with the provincial economy and the crown/military sector.
archaeological mission of the University of Torino has made it possible to propose the identification of the site with ancient Keš. The present contribution reexamines the location of Irisaĝrig in light of its well-known textual connections with and physical proximity to Keš.
While these investigations were mostly dedicated to the study of the village periods, the presence of early state formations on the plain was also documented by their surface surveys. Tepe Farukhabad was an exception, but because it was only a small settlement in the third and second millennia BCE, the excavations there did not yield fruitful results for this period. Based on their systematic surface study of Tepe Musiyan, Wright and Neely argued that during the third and second millennia BCE, this settlement played a central role in this strategic plain due to its location on the route from Susa to Der (Badra in Iraq). Recently, our team again surveyed the Deh Luran Plain. Our visit to Musiyan provided us with a cylinder seal discovered by one of the locals. The inscription reveals the owner as a person with an Amorite name who may have been present in Musiyan sometime during the early centuries of the second millennium BCE, contemporary with the end of the Šimaški period, which in Mesopotamia extends from late in the Third Dynasty of Ur until the early Old Babylonian period.
and Šamaš does not conform to the Old Babylonian beard type. Moreover, the linear workmanship of the lower part of the king’s beard suggests that the relief was never finished. Considering the troubled history of the stele—made and erected in Babylonia in the late fifties of the eighteenth century BCE and carried away to Susa in the mid twelfth century—it is proposed that the resculpting of the Stele was undertaken by Šutruk-Naḫḫunte or his son Kutir-Naḫḫunte upon the Elamite capture of the monument with the goal of making it their own. An attempt to clarify the circumstances and motivation of this reworking is offered in the article.
together with the duplicate lines found on the obverse of the Kassite period exercise tablet CBS 7884. The text is of historical-literary content and depicts an otherwise unknown uprising at Karkar. A first edition of the text is offered together with a brief introduction regarding its problematic historical setting.
According to the new interpretation, the inscription narrates the events of a four-year-long war between a western coalition led by an unnamed Phrygian king and a coalition of post-Hittite rulers from south-central Anatolia, led by Great King Wasusarma. The careful study of paleography, scribal practice, script development, and literary aspects yields a dating of the inscription to the late tenth or early ninth century BCE. In view of the growing archaeological evidence for the central Anatolian Dark Ages, the new interpretation of the inscription has far-reaching implications for the overarching historical picture of the early first millennium BCE in Western Asia. It also provides the earliest attestation for the kingdom of Phrygia, and the sole occurrence of the toponym Phrygia and derivatives outside of the western Greco-Roman sources.
in the Yale Babylonian Collection and in the Princeton Theological Seminary. Not only are NCBT 660 and PTS 2232 among the very few completely preserved examples of such lists, they also belong to the earliest known specimens of their genre, dating to the third (602/1 BCE) and first (604/3 BCE) year of Nebuchadnezzar II. These texts are valuable additions to the rather sparse dossier containing information on the Eanna cult during the formative phase of the Neo-Babylonian Empire; moreover, they are related to a text that concerns Nabonidus’s cultic reforms in the Eanna.
