Spending the summer in Marmaris with the Phoenix Archaeological Project has been nothing short of incredible.
The people I worked with in the project are more than just colleagues. For me, this is one of the most beautiful aspects of our discipline. Every summer, people from different corners of the world come together in one place: Taslica. While we have scientific goals, we also share daily challenges, laughter, and mutual support under often demanding conditions. Looking back, I realize that the moments from the summer that stay with me most are the ones with the Phoenix Project team in Marmaris. It might sound cliché, but it is here that I learned the most. It was not only about archaeology, it was about so many other things. Even something as simple as a song playing on the radio on our way to the field became part of that shared memory, one that I value just as much as the ancient press stones and pottery finds we documented.
Me in the field carrying our GNSS. (Photography: Ayse Ozaydin)
Life in the Field
At the Phoenix Archaeological Project, we work in the ancient region of Caria, today’s Marmaris area in southwestern Turkey. The terrain is demanding: steep hills and rocky paths (which made me cry once, though thinking about it now actually makes me laugh), but that is also what makes the work so rewarding. A typical day begins early. By sunrise, we have breakfast, and shortly after, we pack our equipment and head into the hills. Every evening, during team meetings, the we set the plan for the following day. That means that when we leave in the morning, we know exactly where we are going and what we are searching for. Of course, the land itself has the power to change plans. Sometimes we encounter unexpected things, or we find a site denser in material than anticipated, which forces us to adjust our schedule.
Fieldwork in the hills of "carian chersonese".
With my dear professor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Koray Konuk and our project director Dr. Asil Yaman (top right), together with my colleague and friend Ilayda Alikaya (bottom left) and myself (bottom right). (Photography: Ayse Ozaydin)
By midday, the heat in Marmaris becomes little overwhelming. Before temperatures rise too high and our water bottles empty, we return to our research center for lunch. At lunch we discuss the morning’s work, observations from the field, and sometimes also share jokes about an oversized rabbit that startled us. Yes, we enjoyed documenting even the tiniest sherds, since they contribute meaningfully to our academic work, but we also enjoyed the moments of laughter which made the long and tiring days at the field both productive and memorable.
Me and my dear professor Dr. Anna Sitz during our sunday "estampage" practice in the field.
After lunch, we usually take a pause to rest and take care of personal needs. In the late afternoon, office work begins. This is where “fieldwork” is turned into more scientific data. Out in the field we spent a lot of time around agricultural terraces and farm structures. We came across press stones, cisterns, and weight stones, which I helped measure and record with my teammates. Even small things like roof tiles or amphora bases around old farmhouses became important to document, because these small finds tell us a lot about the history of the place. Every time we found ceramics, we carefully recorded them, since pottery is one of the best ways to figure out the age of a structure.
One of our daily team meetings.
One of my main responsibilities was working with the GNSS device (the Spectra Sp60). I often walked along ancient paths and terraces to record the exact coordinates of structures and finds. At the end of the day, I would hand these over to my dear friend Bahar Cansel, who put them into QGIS so that all of our data came together in one big map. It was nice to see how the dots and lines we collected in the field turned into a detailed picture of the area.
Me recording GPS points during the morning survey.
Community and Camaraderie
What makes the Phoenix Project great is not only the research but also the community it creates. After office hours, we often gather in the garden. Dinners in the evening are followed by late-night conversations (sometimes it was not the best idea, since we have to wake up around 5am, oopsie!) with friends who, in just a few weeks, come to feel like family. Balancing personal space and constant teamwork on archaeological projects can be challenging. We live and work together nearly every hour of the day. but we always find a way to overcome any negativities.
A fun coincidence: my teammate Ilayda Alikaya and I accidentally wore the same clothes on the same morning without planning it. Girlhood is everywhere.
Participating in an archaeology project can be physically demanding, but also mentally and emotionally taxing. To be honest, it is also incredibly rewarding. Every sunrise over the mountains, every small find, or architectural complexes we find, every conversation with a teammate adds to whole experience. For me, the Phoenix Project was more than a regular survey experience, it was a place where I learned academic work as well as being a team. I am so glad to continue to work with them in 2026!
Cleaning some thorny plants to see the structure of the ancient walls and other remains.
Aleyna Uyanik is a Classical Archaeology and Philosophy student at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. She has worked in archaeology and museum projects in Turkey and Germany, with a focus on Greek and Roman material culture.
Want to help more students and early career archaeologists get into the field? Donate to the cause today by selecting “Fieldwork Scholarships” as your gift purpose!
Each year, ASOR offers a series of fascinating Friends of ASOR webinarsthat are free to the public. In order to keep this program running and make sure webinars stay free and accessible for all, ASOR needs to raise $10,000 every fiscal year. This year, two anonymous donors have generously pledged $3,000 in matching gifts to support the webinars. That means for every gift you make between now and November 26th, these generous donors will match your gift one-to-one until we hit $3,000.
Thanks to everyone who has donated thus far. As of November 24, we are at $1,865 of our $3,000 goal. There’s still time for you to have an impact by making a gift today.
Andrew Victor Rivadeneira, 2025 Katherine Barton Platt Fieldwork Scholarship Recipient
After 3 years of excavations at the hillfort Gradina Rat on Brač Island in Croatia, this year was a study season. The site is about an hour ferry ride from Split on the mainland. Gradina Rat has a long history of occupation from the Bronze Age through the 19th century. The focus this season was on analyzing and cataloging artifacts previously excavated, instead of on uncovering new material. As researchers, we focused on the processing of the finds and started to build a clearer picture for the function of the site for reports and publication. This was my third year as part of the project and second as a staff member. My role was to aid in processing archaeobotanical samples and help with the field reports.
Views from the ferry boat going from Split to Supetar on Brač.
Flotation is a key archaeological method for recovering small scale artifacts such as seeds, charcoal, and fish bones from sediment. These smaller materials are hard to see during excavation of the deposits. Yet their low density allows them to float and become more visible in water, hence the flotation method. Samples were taken from each context after the modern layers and kept separated throughout the process. We used a full-sized metal water sieve device that was loaned from the University of Zadar for the last two field seasons. The drum was filled with water near the bottom, and then soil was poured from the top over the mesh in the drum. The mesh allowed the dirt to pass through while keeping larger material on the top of the mesh, and for the smaller material to float. The floating material and water then were slowly pushed out of an opening near the top of the drum. There were two different sized micro mesh trays that would then catch the material while allowing the water to filter through and out of the device. Afterwards the collected micro material was dried and later sorted.
Floating a soil sample with my colleague Hannah Hungerford.
Piece of metal found during flotation.
Sorting the floated material proved a meticulous and at times painstaking process. Once dried, samples were transferred onto plastic trays, and then tweezers were used to separate tiny seeds, charcoal, bone, and shell. Trying to distinguish this material from compact dirt or rocks was another challenge especially for seeds. The material then was treated separately, seeds were saved for our archaeobotanist to study to help get a better understanding of possible diet, agriculture, and environment. Fish bones and scales were of particular interest when found since they are so small, and this method is one of the best ways to find them. Other bones are often too shattered and small to be identifiable in most instances to be particularly useful. Larger material gathered from the top mesh were sherds of ceramics, lithics, and metals. Sorting the top mesh was much easier and partially done during flotation.
Spending a night out with the team after the work week.
Working on this project has been extremely rewarding personally and professionally. There is still much to discover and understand about Croatian archaeology. This site provides a fascinating component in helping us understand something about the past. A portion of an early fortification wall was found on the terraced hillside, and there are plans to try to preserve it for the public. There appear to be other signs of domestic structures on the hilltop and slopes, and there is evidence for trade—both locally and abroad—with other Mediterranean civilizations for over a thousand years. The complete story of this site still needs further investigation, though for now we must work with what we currently have. Hopefully this site will soon be accessible to hikers and bikers with signage directing people to the prehistoric wall as part of a Croatian state conservation project!
Preliminary preservation of section of an early fortification wall.
Andrew Rivadeneira is a second year PhD student in Anthropology: Archaeology of the Mediterranean World at the University of Arizona. His research interests are in migration and entanglement in the central Mediterranean, digital/cyber-archaeology, and ways of bringing the ancient world to modern people.
Want to help more students and early career archaeologists get into the field? Donate to the cause today by selecting “Fieldwork Scholarships” as your gift purpose!
Missing Ritual Objects from the Nelson Glueck Excavations of Kheleifeh in the ASOR Archives at the American Heritage Center
Erin Darby, University of Tennessee, 2025 Study of Collections Fellowship Recipient
Paul Flesher, American Heritage Center
You never know where in the world Near Eastern archaeology will take you! Erin Darby’s 2025 ASOR Study of Collections Fellowship took her to Laramie, Wyoming where the American Heritage Center (AHC) houses the American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR) Archives (1900-2023) at the University of Wyoming. Since 2022, the AHC has been the caretaker of this important repository that includes not only documents associated with the history of ASOR but also several collections of records from American-led excavations from the early twentieth century. In her particular case, Erin was on the hunt for unpublished religious artifacts from the Nelson Glueck excavations at Tell el-Kheleifeh.
Paul and Erin with the Tell el-Kheleifeh records from the ASOR Archives in the AHC.
Kheleifeh plays a prominent role in attempts to understand the geopolitical organization of southern Israel and Jordan, particularly in the Iron IIB-C. Since its excavation in 1938-1940, scholars have been interested in whether the site was controlled by the Israelites, Judahites, Edomites, unaffiliated tribal communities, or the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires. When it comes to the study of cultic artifacts, however, Kheleifeh is most notable for its absence from the conversation. With the support of AHC staff this past June, Erin was able to excavate a number of unpublished artifacts from the archive and create a database of cultic remains from the site. Owing to the importance of the collection, the University of Tennessee and the AHC are teaming up this coming year to digitize the site’s artifact registration lists so that scholars from anywhere in the world who are interested in the objects from Kheleifeh will be able to identify the relevant records in the AHC holdings.
The American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming.
Tell el-Kheleifah is only one of several sets of excavation records in the AHC’s ASOR archives. The collection also holds materials from: Khirbet et Tannur, Dibon, Issawiya, Jerash, Nippur, Beth-Zur and Carthage, as well as small holdings of records from Jerash, Lehav and Tell Hesban, and others. (In general, note that artifacts, as opposed to records, are held by Harvard University’s Museum of the Ancient Near East.) There are several collections of Middle East photographs, with the earliest from 1875. Other sections of the collection hold records of past ASOR presidents, including those of W.F. Albright, Nelson Glueck, G. Ernest Wright, Carl Kraeling, Paul Lapp and William Dever. And of course there are ASOR administrative materials from across the decades, including records of ASOR committees and awarded grants. Overall, the American Society of Overseas Research collection holds 180 cubic feet of materials plus 155 GB of digital copies.
The American Heritage Center is an excellent home for the ASOR collection. Even though it is one of the ten largest non-government public archives in the USA and so is large enough to have the resources to look after the collection, it is small enough to care about all its collections and to look after each patron personally. The AHC has a number of services that enable scholars to access the ASOR collection. Laramie, Wyoming, the home of the American Heritage Center, is less than a three-hour drive north of Denver, or just 30 minutes by plane. Start planning a trip by consulting the finding aid for the ASOR collection, readily available online, and then request materials ahead of time from the Reference Services Department (AHCref@uwyo.edu, 307-766-3756).
Collection materials can also be accessed remotely. The Center’s Reference Services department can easily be contacted to answer remote inquiries. (Recently, we looked up old municipal records for the Albright Institute in Jerusalem.) The AHC has a large digitization lab and can digitize collection materials at cost. Finally, the Center has the RRAD program (Remote Research and Discovery) that matches a researcher with a research assistant via Zoom and document camera for a nominal cost. This enables researchers to look through collection materials remotely and identify materials they wish to study. These can then be digitized for more careful examination. The AHC looks forward to helping archaeologists and other scholars from around the world to research its historic ASOR collection.
Fulfilling a Freshman’s Dream: Digital Archaeology at Idalion, Cyprus.
David Rhys Sharpe, Southern Adventist University, 2026 Eric & Carol Meyers Scholarship Recipient
“You’re majoring in archaeology and computer science? Are you planning to try and combine those?”
I hear that question almost every time I tell someone my undergraduate major. I usually smile politely and respond that yes, I’m looking at how to combine my two majors. There’s just been one problem.
I haven’t known how.
Certainly, I can read research papers, but knowing how to use technology in the field is a different skill entirely. As far back as my freshman year, I wanted to learn the practical side of digital archaeology, but I didn’t have much chance to do so. Eventually, I moved away from pursuing archaeology directly and refocused on biblical studies.
I was one of nine students from Southern Adventist University who joined the American Expedition to Idalion, Cyprus for three weeks of the 2026 season. It was my last class before graduation. Even before the dig started, the scholarship was already a godsend—with graduate school approaching financial pressure on my family had been pronounced. But I wouldn’t realize how much of a godsend it would be until after the dig. One simple opportunity changed my interests and goals in a way I’d never expected. One of the associate directors, Andrew Wright, managed a variety of technological tools for the dig, including positioning sensors, 3D scanners, and a database system. Early on, he started showing interested volunteers how to use these tools. For the first time, I got to see how digital archaeology worked in the field.
A view from the area of Idalion looking down at the modern village of Dali.
The first of these systems was the real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning sensors. Capable of calculating centimeter-level accurate points, the RTK system used a base station that had to be set up and taken down every day. Andrew Wright put another student and I in charge of setting up the RTK sensors each day, making sure they were level and ready to take elevations. This was one of my first practical lessons in using technology in the field—often the most difficult part is not the technology itself. Leveling the tripod and tribrach was by far the most time-consuming and tricky part of the setup process.
Later on, Andrew Wright showed the volunteers how to use an Artec Spider II 3D scanner to create a 3D model of artifacts. A few of us, myself included, had the opportunity to take a scan of an object ourselves. I digitized a small statue fragment found near the beginning of the season. The scanner was both incredibly easy to use and incredibly powerful, creating a detailed model in minutes.
Another incredible opportunity was getting a basic introduction to OCHRE, a database application developed by the University of Chicago. A massive, incredibly sophisticated system, OCHRE provided a powerful, flexible way to keep track of all the data turned up during an excavation. It let us keep track of loci, pottery buckets, features, and special finds with ease. Above any other tool, OCHRE helped me get a feel of how data recording works in the field.
Me during the first week of excavation, cleaning rainwash from a square in the Lower
City. Photo Credit: Karis McConnell.
Learning about positioning sensors, 3D scanners, and OCHRE reawakened my dormant interest in digital archaeology. Just as influential, however, was a conversation with another associate director, Valerie Woelfel, about the power GIS can bring to excavations. She had worked on a startling variety of sites, able to contribute her GIS skills to projects spanning different archaeological contexts. That conversation reshaped my research interests. My goal now is to develop skills in digital archaeology in order to be able to contribute in a similar fashion to a variety of archaeological projects.
Although my focus is still biblical studies, my first real taste of digital archaeology demonstrated the power archaeological excavation can bring to textual studies—and the power technology can bring to an excavation. It gave me a reason to continue pursuing archaeology and a way to put it into practice. And that would have been significantly more difficult without this scholarship’s sponsors and their generosity. Receiving a scholarship for Idalion relieved a great deal of financial pressure and opened the door to putting my freshman-year dream into action.
A sunrise from the dig house uphill from the site.
David Rhys Sharpe is a recent graduate of Southern Adventist University with a B.A. in Archaeology and Computer Science. His passion is studying the world of the Bible and integrating linguistics and archaeological context into textual studies. He is preparing for an M.A. program in the Bible and the Ancient Near East at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Want to help more students and early career archaeologists get into the field? Donate to the cause today by selecting “Fieldwork Scholarships” as your gift purpose!
Trustee Nominations Committee has selected six highly qualified members to stand for election for four open positions on the Board of Trustees. The Board sets the direction for ASOR and provides oversight for our organization. Among other responsibilities, members of the Board agree to attend two meetings each year, to participate thoughtfully in the governance process, and to contribute financially to ASOR.
There are four candidates running for two openings as Membership-elected Trustees for 3-year terms (Sarah Kielt Costello, Ido Koch, Nadine Panayot, and Yorke Rowan). There are two candidates for two openings as Institutionally-elected Trustees for 3-year terms (Kathryn Grossman and Michael Hasel). All ASOR members are eligible to vote in the Membership-elected Trustee Election, while only Institutional Representatives of the 60 ASOR-member schools may vote in the Institutionally-elected Trustee Election. Missions and brief biographies of the nominees will be available in the ballot.
ASOR will conduct the elections by online ballot, and all members and Institutional Representatives will receive the appropriate ballot(s) via email on or around October 16, 2025. We will send out two reminders, and all ballots must be completed by 12:00 PM Eastern Time on Monday, November 17. If you have difficulties completing the online ballot (once they are distributed), please contact Marta Ostovich at programs@asor.org.
Nominees for Membership-elected Trustees (two to be elected)
Sarah Kielt Costello
Sarah Kielt Costello (MA Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology, Bryn Mawr College; Ph.D. Anthropology, Binghamton University) is Professor of Art History at the University of Houston – Clear Lake, a Hispanic-serving regional university dedicated to educating a broad community of scholars, including first-generation, working-class and incarcerated students. She has won two University-wide teaching awards and a University Faculty Fellowship in recognition of exemplary teaching, research and service. At UHCL, she has served in leadership roles including Department Chair and Faculty Senate Executive Committee, in which she oversaw the creation of an equitable workload policy for faculty. She has been active in archaeological fieldwork since 1995, working in Israel, Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus. In her research, Costello specializes in seals and related artifacts; ethics and museum practices; Neolithic imagery; and archaeological theory. Her recent publications include Ethics in Archaeological Practice (AASOR 2024) and Object Biographies, Selections from the Art of the Ancient World in the Menil Collection (Menil/Yale 2021), a volume that takes on the ethical challenges of unprovenienced museum collections.
Mission Statement: In the nearly 30 years that I’ve been involved with ASOR, I’ve seen its membership grow significantly and its members develop far-ranging research agendas. In recent years, ASOR members have forged research pathways into areas such as cultural heritage, sensorial archaeology, climate, bioarchaeology, and ancient dress, and have been on the forefront of developing cutting edge digital and technological approaches to archaeology. Geographically, ASOR has had the opportunity to expand beyond its traditional emphasis on the archaeology of the Bible Lands as its members have engaged in projects in Central Asia, Kurdistan, Egypt, and the Gulf states. It is vital that ASOR continue to embrace new areas of research, and at the same time, confront the ethical challenges of our time by setting agendas and policies that support best practices. Challenging political times put ASOR members in the middle of contentious issues; as a Trustee, I would help maintain our focus on our shared interests in research and stewardship of the past, and the important relationships that sustain that work.
Ido Koch
Ido Koch is Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University. A field archaeologist of the southern Levant, his research explores interregional connectivity, colonial encounters, visual language, craft, and material religion. He is the author of several monographs, dozens of articles, and co-editor of ten volumes. Koch co-directs the Tel Hadid Archaeological Project, the renewed excavations at Tel Qasile, and the final publication of the Tel Arad excavations—all of which place strong emphasis on innovative documentation strategies, community outreach, and the dissemination of archaeological knowledge to diverse audiences. He is co-PI of several collaborative ventures, including the historical–archaeological study of the depopulated Palestinian village of al-Haditha (one of the few academic archaeological projects addressing the recent past of Israel/Palestine), and the Stamp Seals from the Southern Levant Project together with its comprehensive open-access online companion database. Koch also serves as Editor-in-Chief of Tel Aviv: Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv Universityand sits on several international editorial boards. Through his research and teaching, he integrates advanced digital tools with inclusive, community-based approaches, engaging both Jewish and Arab students, to help build inclusive and forward-looking connections between academic, archaeological, and wider communities in the study of the southern Levant.
Mission Statement: I have been a member of ASOR since 2009, have attended nearly all annual meetings since then, and have interacted with scores of ASOR members of all ages and backgrounds. ASOR has been my professional cradle and the place where I learned to appreciate the value of an international network, a value I hope my students will inherit.
As a scholar based in the Middle East, I believe ASOR must strengthen the representation of voices from the regions it studies. The societies who live in the lands whose pasts we uncover deserve a place in shaping how that past is researched, understood, and represented. As an Israeli archaeologist working on the remote and recent past of the southern Levant, I am acutely aware of the region’s diversity and complexity. Based on my experience, ASOR and its sister institutions (such as the W.F. Albright Institute) are uniquely positioned to foster dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian scholars, a dialogue urgently needed now more than ever. I see my role as a bridge: between ASOR and local scholarly and cultural communities, and between those communities themselves. In times of deepening divisions, we must hold fast to both our professional and human ties. In my fieldwork and collaborations, I strive to create spaces where Jewish and Arab students, alongside colleagues from different backgrounds and perspectives, can work together toward shared understanding. Archaeology can and should serve as a medium of dialogue, and as a reminder of our intertwined pasts and shared humanity.
Drawing on my experience directing and co-directing field projects, I recognize the need for ASOR to advance ethical, inclusive, and community-oriented archaeology. I propose developing a collaboratively produced “fieldwork toolkit,” drawing on the collective knowledge of ASOR-affiliated projects. This toolkit would guide projects that prioritize community engagement, the dissemination of results to local institutions, and accessible digital platforms for sharing data. Through such initiatives, I hope to help ASOR lead by example—making archaeology both academically rigorous and socially meaningful.
Nadine Panayot
Nadine Panayot is an archaeologist currently serving as Curator of the Archaeological Museum and Associate Professor of Practice at the American University of Beirut. A graduate of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, she specializes in the heritage of the Classical Mediterranean, with over three decades of fieldwork across Lebanon and Southwest Asia. Her work focuses on the intersection of archaeology, cultural preservation with a growing emphasis on digital technologies, and community engagement.
Previously, she chaired the Archaeology and Museology Department at the University of Balamand, where she established a Master’s program in Museum Studies and Cultural Heritage Management and co-founded the Ethnographic Museum. She has curated numerous exhibitions and interdisciplinary events, both locally and internationally, emphasizing inclusive practices, accessibility, and cross-cultural dialogue. Following the 2020 Beirut port explosion, she led the restoration of AUB’s shattered glass collection, recognized with the 2023 Nigel Williams Conservation Award (Runner-Up).
A committed advocate for community-led conservation, she directs the Hima Anfehreserve and serves on several scientific and advisory boards. A member of ICOM since 1992, she has held leadership roles in national and regional committees and currently presides over the working committee of the UNESCO National Commission while also serving on the Scientific Committee of ALIPH. In 2023, she was named Chevalier des Arts et Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. Through her teaching, curating, and policy work, she positions museums and heritage sites as agents of resilience, healing, and social cohesion.
Mission Statement: I am committed to advancing ASOR’s mission of promoting inclusive and rigorous scholarship, safeguarding cultural heritage, and sustaining open, evidence-based inquiry that transcends political and ideological boundaries.
The protection and study of cultural heritage is not only an academic responsibility but an essential ethical imperative. The recent and ongoing destruction of heritage, represents an irreparable loss to humanity, erasing material witnesses to identity, history, and memory. Acknowledging such losses, and working collectively to prevent them, aligns with ASOR’s foundational mission to document, preserve, and interpret the human past. Upholding this principle reaffirms our shared commitment to dignity, justice, and cultural continuity, and reminds us that heritage protection is inseparable from the recognition of our common humanity.
Equally vital is ASOR’s dedication to intellectual integrity and freedom of thought. Scholarship reaches its highest potential when guided by evidence, methodological rigor, and openness to diverse perspectives. When inquiry becomes constrained by ideology, it compromises its ability to engage with complexity and nurture genuine understanding. ASOR’s continued vitality will depend on its capacity to sustain spaces where thoughtful analysis and open dialogue can thrive, uniting scholars and institutions across diverse traditions.
As a Membership-Elected Trustee, I would work to broaden equitable participation, re-engage scholars from Southwest Asia, and Africa and strengthen collaborative and digital initiatives that enhance accessibility, exchange, and trust; ensuring that ASOR remains a beacon of principled, inclusive, and forward-looking scholarship.
Yorke Rowan
Yorke Rowan is an anthropological archaeologist and Research Professor at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (formerly the Oriental Institute) at the University of Chicago. He focuses on later prehistory (Late Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Early Bronze), with thematic research interests in death, prehistoric ritual performance, and material objects mediating these human actions. He is a Fulbright Scholar to Jordan and a NEH Fellow at the W.F. Albright Institute for Archaeological Research in Jerusalem and the American Center of Research in Amman. His most recent publications include The Social Archaeology of the Levant: From Prehistory to Present (2019, Cambridge Press, co-edited with A. Yasur-Landau and E. Cline), “Desert Kites: Neolithic Infrastructure in the Margins” in Infrastructure in Archaeological Discourse: Framing Society in the Past (2024, Routledge, co-authored with A. C. Hill) and “The Black Desert Drone Survey: New Perspectives on an Ancient Landscape” in the journal Remote Sensing (2022) with A.C. Hill. He co-directs the NSF funded Kites in Context and Eastern Badia Archaeological Projects, two projects in the Black Desert of Jordan.
Mission Statement: Since the 1990s, ASOR has been fundamental to my development as a professional scholar and field archaeologist. The first grant I received for field research was an ASOR travel scholarship, and the first national professional paper I delivered was at ASOR in New Orleans. I have a long dedication to the success of ASOR, serving on the editorial boards of Bulletin of the American Schools of Overseas Research and Near Eastern Archaeology, co-chairing the Program Committee after for two previous terms on the committee, serving on the Honors and Awards Committee, and the Committee on Archaeological Policy. In addition, I co-chaired and co-organized various sessions such as the standing session “Prehistoric Archaeology” (2015, 2019-2021) and the member organized “Archaeology of Religion and Ritual” (2005-2006). My involvement with ASOR is complemented by extensive engagement with communities on the ground in different countries, emphasizing my commitment to creating more collaborative opportunities with colleagues based abroad.
The organization has grown tremendously since I joined as a graduate student, with a welcome expansion to include a broader range of topics, geographic regions, and chronological periods. This growth is not limited to scholarly interests but includes increased worldwide accessibility through a hybrid meeting format. I believe it is important to sustain and build on this positive trend to build membership, engage with members at different career stages, and seek to find new collaborative partnerships that will only strengthen ASOR. As ASOR faces new challenges like complicated funding realities, regional civil unrest, and climate change, the organization must mount new initiatives and endeavors to respond to member needs. As a member of ASOR’s Board of Trustees, my goal will be to promote its mission to disseminate knowledge of western Asia and Mediterranean ancient societies, and to make that scholarship more accessible to the public. Finding creative ways to promote our research, particularly those of our research partners, to a variety of audiences is a challenge that will strengthen our organization and continue to interest future generations of students, the public, and scholars.
Nominees for Institutionally-elected Trustees (two to be elected):
Kathryn Grossman
Kathryn Grossman is Assistant Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at North Carolina State University. She is an archaeologist with expertise in the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age cultures of Cyprus and Mesopotamia and a methodological specialty in zooarchaeology. She is Director of the ASOR-affiliated Makounta-Voules Archaeological Project (Cyprus), as well as zooarchaeologist for the Kani Shaie Archaeological Project (Iraqi Kurdistan), the Wadi el-Hudi Expedition (Egypt), and the Petra North Ridge Project (Jordan). She is currently co-editing, with Jesse Casana and Eric Jensen, the final report on the excavations at Tell Qarqur, Syria.
Mission Statement: I have been involved with ASOR for seventeen years. I began attending and presenting at the annual meeting as a graduate student, and my engagement has deepened over time. I served on the Committee on Archaeological Policy for two terms, and during that time I also chaired the CAP Fellowships Subcommittee. In 2018, I presented the work of the Fellowships Subcommittee at that year’s Legacy Dinner, and in 2023 I received an ASOR Service award for my work on the CAP Fellowships Subcommittee. I chair the Archaeology of Syria sessions at the Annual Meeting, am a member of the Damascus Committee, a member of the Executive committee, the chair of the Trustees Nominations Committee, and I serve as the institutional representative for ASOR at North Carolina State University. In my time as an ASOR member, I have watched the organization grow dramatically in its geographic scope and evolve to meet the demands of 21st-century scholarship. In serving as an Institutionally-elected member on the ASOR Board of Trustees, I look forward to helping ASOR move forward with the issues that loom before us, including increasing our outreach to diverse audiences at home and abroad, and promoting the preservation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
Michael Hasel
Michael G. Hasel is Director of the Institute of Archaeology and Lynn H. Wood Archaeological Museum at Southern Adventist University, where he also serves as Professor of Near Eastern Studies and Archaeology since 1998.
Hasel has participated and served in administrative capacities on eleven different excavations in the Middle East, including Gezer, Ashkelon, Dor, Miqne-Ekron, Masada, and Hazor, in Israel; Idalion, Cyprus; and Jalul in Jordan. He has directed excavations and surveys at Khirbet Qeiyafa and Socoh and currently is co-director of The Fourth Expedition to Lachish. As curator of the Lynn H. Wood Archaeological Museum, Hasel was responsible for planning and displaying art and objects from the ancient Near East in a state-of-the-art exhibit entitled “Vessels in Time: A Journey into the Biblical World” and several temporary exhibits including “Peace and War: The Assyrian Conquest of Lachish” (2023-2025) and “The Ivory Comb: Lice and Literacy at Lachish” (2025).
Hasel, an ASOR member since 1989, has chaired several ASOR sessions and served on the Agenda Committee. He held the Samuel H. Kress Fellowship at the W. F. Albright Institute for Archaeological Research (AIAR) in 1995-96 and a Fulbright at the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute (CAARI) in 2005 and the NEH Fellowship at the Albright Institute in 2025-26. He is also a fellow of the Institute for Biblical Research and Tyndale House, Cambridge.
Hasel joined the ASOR Board in January 2014.
Mission Statement: Over the past 36 years of my involvement with ASOR, I have watched ASOR grow into a strong society representing a wide variety of interests and research foci in the ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean worlds. During that same period, I have been actively involved in excavations in Israel, Jordan, and Cyprus while also engaged in Egyptological research. As an excavator I am interested in encouraging the archaeological interplay between text and material culture. This integration has been one of the historic strengths of ASOR and I believe it remains vital as ASOR continues to position itself as an important and relevant voice to a large segment of North America. As a museum director part of my vision is to make our field relevant for future generations through popularizing archaeological discoveries and making it accessible to a larger segment of society. This would include encouraging young scholars who are searching for direction and belonging to get involved in ASOR while fostering connections in the regions it serves. To accomplish these goals, I would welcome the opportunity to continue to support and serve as a member of the Board of Trustees for another term.
Join the Carolyn Midkiff Strange Committee on Growth, Innovation, and Visibility
The Carolyn Midkiff Strange Committee on Growth, Innovation, and Visibility (GIV) serves as a resource for and leader in engaging and broadening the professional community of ASOR, in order to expand access to the history and cultures served by ASOR. For more information about the committee, click here.
GIV Committee members volunteer to serve a three-year term (January 1, 2026—December 31, 2028) with the possibility to renew for a second term. Committee members are expected to attend monthly hour-long Zoom meetings during the academic year and to contribute to ongoing committee initiatives. If the time is not right for you now, this open call will be held every year.
Please fill out the committee application form,by Saturday, November 1, 2025 to be considered for the GIV Committee Class of 2028. Your responses and materials will be reviewed and considered by the current members of the GIV Committee, the Chairs Coordinating Council, and select ASOR Staff.
2025 Shepard Urgent Action Grant: Emergency Stabilization of Cuneiform Tablets and Sealings at Kurd Qaburstan: a Conservation Partnership
Tiffany Earley-Spadoni (University of Central Florida)
Unfired clay objects are incredibly fragile and begin to deteriorate rapidly as soon as they are exposed during excavation. Without prompt conservation, newly discovered Middle Bronze Age cuneiform tablets and sealings from Kurd Qaburstan risk permanent damage. This ASOR-affiliated project is led by grantee Tiffany Earley-Spadoni of the University of Central Florida, working in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
2025 excavations in the lower-town east
In summer 2024 and 2025, archaeologists excavating the lower-town palace complex at Kurd Qaburstan, ancient Qabra, uncovered a remarkable group of air-dried cuneiform tablets and sealings dating to the early second millennium BCE. ASOR’s Shepard Urgent Action Grant made it possible to respond immediately, addressing ancient objects in need of immediate care.
Conservator Carmen Gütschow, one of the most experienced professionals working in Iraq today, joined the team in Erbil to lead the conservation efforts. Using scalpels, soft brushes, and magnification, she gently cleaned each object and stabilized its surface with adhesives suited to Iraq’s climate. More than 80 sealings and a group of tablets were successfully treated. In several cases, broken fragments were rejoined with impressive results: inscriptions that had been illegible became clear again. These objects are now being studied by the team’s lead epigrapher, Paul Delnero, and its art historian, Marian Feldman, both of Johns Hopkins University.
A young visitor joins the conservation team at IICAH
The project also prioritized collaboration and training. ASOR funding allowed the Kurd Qaburstan Project to organize a two-day workshop at the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage (IICAH), where Gütschow shared her methods with local museum professionals. One memorable moment came when a young visitor, accompanying her parent, was invited to try a simple restoration technique on a practice tablet. Her quiet concentration captured the spirit of the work: careful, hands-on engagement with the past.
Dr. Abdullah Khorsheed, director of the IICAH, greets workshop participants with Carmen Gütschow. Pictured right in the photo is Muhammad Hamakharib Muhammed, simultaneous translator.
Thanks to ASOR’s support, cultural heritage was preserved, conservation skills were shared, and the story of ancient Kurd Qaburstan became a little clearer. The excavators also thank the University of Central Florida College of Arts and Humanities for co-funding the conservation endeavor, and the National Science Foundation for supporting broader research at Kurd Qaburstan.
Gabrielle Puckett, 2025 Eric and Carol Meyers Fieldwork Scholarship Recipient [/vc_column_text][mk_divider margin_top=”10″][vc_column_text]It’s 4:00am in the sleepy town of Polis Chrysochous, Cyprus. The sun isn’t up yet, but the alley cats are finding their morning snacks. I’m on breakfast duty, so in addition to the egg boiling and tomato cutting of the night before, it’s my team’s job to go fill the coolers and water jugs for the field day ahead. We pile Landy, the beloved but ancient Land Rover of one of our co-directors, with the equipment and food for the day.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”105749″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][mk_padding_divider size=”10″][vc_column_text]After our work for this morning’s breakfast is complete, we take a rest in the seats at the bottom of the apartment building and wait for the bus to arrive. I find it vital in these moments to remind myself to take in every single detail of this amazing experience so that I have things to look back on when I make the inevitable journey home. My favorite thing about these dark and tiresome mornings is the way the sun looks as it starts to rise just barely over the peaks of the mountains while the moon still shines bright above.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”105754″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][mk_padding_divider size=”10″][vc_wp_text]Making our way to the bus at 5:00am and climbing in, I find my favorite seat right next to the door on the window side. A ritual I have developed for these short bus rides is to take in the view of the sea as we drive past. Of course, I am also covering myself in more sunscreen than has ever been deemed necessary because you can never be too careful.[/vc_wp_text][vc_single_image image=”105750″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][mk_padding_divider size=”10″][vc_column_text]Arriving at the site of Makounta-Voules, we have the first hill climb of the day, a beautiful path (if I do say so myself) we landscaped the first day being here that only steals some breath on the journey up. I remember before this trip how worried I was that I wouldn’t like this enough to be happy with the early mornings and heat, but I can safely say that’s not an issue as I now know I need to do this for the rest of my life. I leave the trench fifteen minutes before breakfast to help with my roommate and the rest of our breakfast crew setting out the tarp on which we will feast and nap while we set out the food. At around 8:30am we can hear the call of “BREAKFAST” shout down the mountain and prepare for the incoming team ready to fuel themselves for the rest of the day.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”105751″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][mk_padding_divider size=”10″][vc_column_text]We spend the day digging and taking elevations, pictures when necessary, and reminding ourselves to trust our guts while we sift. It’s Thursday, which means at the end of the day it’s time for everyone’s favorite segment: Trench Tours. We show off the work we’ve done for the week, being sure to take a look at the trenches we aren’t a part of in order to learn more about the site as a whole.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”105752″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][mk_padding_divider size=”10″][vc_column_text]After the bus ride home, we have some lunch and begin pot washing, but I have a special task. I am working on a project to clean up our faunal remains from past seasons and remove their thick calcium accretions through various methods. After an hour or two of this lab work, we have some lovely free time which is always best spent at the beach. A view that I strongly believe can’t be beat is the Mediterranean Sea after a long day of digging. With a fifteen-minute walk, we arrive ready to take in the wonderfully clear water. The hours spent on this beach are some that I would be hard pressed to ever give up, let alone the friends I get to spend it with. Throughout this project I have had so many experiences that I hope aren’t limited to being once-in-a-lifetime. We are back at it bright and early tomorrow, and I just can’t stop taking in every detail knowing that there are only so many days left here—but I’ll be back.[/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider size=”20″][vc_single_image image=”105753″ img_size=”450×600″ alignment=”center”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][mk_padding_divider size=”30″ visibility=”visible-dt”][vc_wp_text]Gabrielle Puckett is an undergraduate student in her third year at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. She is a double major in Anthropology and Religious Studies and minors in both Classical Civilizations and Judaic Studies. She has a strong interest in zooarchaeology in the Near East and the applications for isotopic analysis in the area.[/vc_wp_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider][vc_wp_text]
Want to help more students and early career archaeologists get into the field? Donate to the cause today by selecting “Fieldwork Scholarships” as your gift purpose!
ASOR Receives $100,000 Grant for Cyrene Conservation Initiative in Libya
Media Release
ASOR Receives $100,000 Grant for Cyrene Conservation Initiative in Libya Project to Preserve and Educate at Flood-Damaged World Heritage Site
WASHINGTON, DC — The American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR) is pleased to announce it has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the American Institute for Roman Culture in support of the Cyrene Conservation Initiative—a conservation and heritage education project at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Cyrene in eastern Libya.
Developed in close collaboration with the Libyan Department of Antiquities, the Cyrene Conservation Initiative is a response to the devastating impacts of Storm Daniel, which caused catastrophic flooding in September 2023. The project will focus on key areas of the ancient city that were particularly affected by the flood, including Valley Street and the Sanctuary of Apollo terrace, one of the most iconic districts in the city.
“Working together to save and appreciate shared cultural heritage is a crucial element in uniting people today,” said ASOR President Sharon Herbert. “ASOR is proud to be part of this project with archaeologists from the Libyan Department of Antiquities and the American Institute for Roman Culture and Ancient Rome Live.”
Project objectives include:
Documenting and protecting heritage damaged by the flooding;
Restoring safe access to monuments on the Sanctuary of Apollo terrace;
Enhancing on-site interpretation through new educational materials for Libyan and international visitors.
“ASOR has been privileged to work closely with Libyan partners and the U.S. State Department to invest more than $1,000,000 in heritage and education projects over the past decade,” said ASOR Executive Director Dr. Andrew G. Vaughn. “The heritage of Libya is rich and varied, exhibiting important international connections for millennia. ASOR is now honored to begin a partnership with American Institute for Roman Culture and Ancient Rome Live to ensure that the important Roman heritage in Cyrene is conserved and protected from future flood damage.”
Executive Director of American Institute for Roman Culture and Ancient Rome Live, Darius Arya, says, “we are so pleased that for our inaugural grant distribution we are able to partner with such a leader in the field of conservation and participate in the important preservation of such a historically relevant site as Cyrene!”
From its beginning as the earliest Greek colonization in North Africa, Cyrene became a major center of Greek and Roman culture and a dramatic example of urban life on the edge of a mountainous plateau. The Cyrene Conservation Initiative and Ancient Rome Live will help ensure that this unique expression of Libyan heritage endures for future generations. For more information about the Ancient Rome Live online learning platform, please visit https://ancientromelive.org/.
For more information about ASOR’s cultural heritage efforts, please visit www.asor.org/chi.
About ASOR
The American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to initiate, encourage, and support research into, and public understanding of, the history and cultures of the Near East and wider Mediterranean world, from the earliest times. ASOR fosters original research, archaeological excavations, and explorations; encourages scholarship in the Near East’s basic languages, cultural histories, and traditions; builds support for Near Eastern studies; and advocates high academic standards. ASOR is apolitical and has no religious affiliation.
About the American Institute for Roman Culture The American Institute for Roman Culture is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and study of ancient Roman history and culture through innovative educational programming and heritage protection projects.
### Media Contact: Rachel Bernstein Email: rachel.bernstein@asor.org Phone: 703-789-9234
The American Society of Overseas Research The James F. Strange Center 209 Commerce Street Alexandria, VA 22314 E-mail: info@asor.org Telephone: 703-789-9229
Each year, ASOR offers a series of fascinating 
Collection materials can also be accessed remotely. The Center’s Reference Services department can easily be contacted to answer remote inquiries. (Recently, we looked up old municipal records for the Albright Institute in Jerusalem.) The AHC has a large digitization lab and can digitize collection materials at cost. Finally, the Center has the RRAD program (Remote Research and Discovery) that matches a researcher with a research assistant via Zoom and document camera for a nominal cost. This enables researchers to look through collection materials remotely and identify materials they wish to study. These can then be digitized for more careful examination. The AHC looks forward to helping archaeologists and other scholars from around the world to research its historic ASOR collection.
Trustee Nominations Committee has selected six highly qualified members to stand for election for four open positions on the Board of Trustees. The Board sets the direction for ASOR and provides oversight for our organization. Among other responsibilities, members of the Board agree to attend two meetings each year, to participate thoughtfully in the governance process, and to contribute financially to ASOR.
The Carolyn Midkiff Strange Committee on Growth, Innovation, and Visibility (GIV) serves as a resource for and leader in engaging and broadening the professional community of ASOR, in order to expand access to the history and cultures served by ASOR. For more information about the committee, click 
