Monthly Archives: October 2026

ECS Poster and Student Paper Preparation Session

Posted on by

Early Career Scholars Poster and Student Paper Preparation Session

Preparing a Poster or Student Paper

Join ASOR’s Early Career Scholars on October 30, 2026 at 12:00pm ET via Zoom for a virtual session on preparing a poster or student paper for the 2026 Annual Meeting.


Are you submitting a poster or student paper to the 2026 17吃瓜Annual Meeting? Drop into our “Preparing a Poster or Student Paper” session this fall. Poster Session Chair Natalia Handziuk will share advice focusing on effective poster composition and presentation. Mandy Porter, a member of the evaluating committee for the Student Paper Award, will speak about expectations for the paper and share tips.

We are here to answer your questions and hope to see you there.

The event is FREE for the 17吃瓜community, but registration is required.

Browse the News Archive

Cultural Heritage Committee Seeks New Members

Posted on by

Cultural Heritage Committee Seeks New Members

The Cultural Heritage Committee seeks nominations for two openings (including self-nominations) from 17吃瓜members who are interested in serving on the committee. Committee members will serve a three-year term (January 1, 2027 鈥� December 31, 2029) with the option to renew for a second term. Committee members are expected to attend quarterly meetings via Zoom and an in-person meeting at the 17吃瓜Annual Meeting each year.

The Cultural Heritage Committee advises the President, the Executive Director, the Board, and other 17吃瓜leaders regarding initiatives 17吃瓜might undertake, either individually or jointly with other bodies in the field of cultural heritage, to help protect and preserve the cultural heritage of the Near East and the wider Mediterranean. Pre-eminently, the Cultural Heritage Committee advises the President, the Executive Director, the Board, and other 17吃瓜leaders regarding the 17吃瓜Cultural Heritage Initiatives program (17吃瓜CHI), regarding both current and prospective 17吃瓜CHI projects. The Cultural Heritage Committee also advises the President, and ASOR鈥檚 leadership more generally, on cultural heritage issues affecting 17吃瓜as well as maintains contact with cultural heritage committees in sister learned societies. This committee reserves one line of membership for an Early Career Scholar and three lines of membership for 17吃瓜members from outside of North America, in countries where 17吃瓜promotes Cultural Heritage Initiatives.

In order to receive full consideration by the committee, must be submitted by noon ET on November 13, 2026. For questions and concerns, please contact Fred Winter, Committee Chair (fawinterassociates@gmail.com).

Browse the News Archive

Fieldwork Report: David Rhys Sharpe

Posted on by
A view from the area of Idalion looking down at the modern village of Dali.

Fulfilling a Freshman鈥檚 Dream: Digital Archaeology at Idalion, Cyprus

David Rhys Sharpe, 2026 Eric & Carol Meyers Scholarship Recipient

鈥淵ou鈥檙e majoring in archaeology and computer science? Are you planning to try and combine those?鈥�

I hear that question almost every time I tell someone my undergraduate major. I usually smile politely and respond that yes, I鈥檓 looking at how to combine my two majors. There鈥檚 just been one problem.

I haven鈥檛 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鈥檛 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鈥攚ith graduate school approaching financial pressure on my family had been pronounced. But I wouldn鈥檛 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鈥檇 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.
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鈥攐ften 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.
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鈥攁nd 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鈥檚 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.听

A sunrise from the dig house uphill from the site.
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 beginning an M.A. program in the Bible and the Ancient Near East at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Project Links:听

Idalion project website:

Want to help more students and early career archaeologists get into the field? Donate to the cause today by selecting 鈥淔ieldwork Scholarships鈥� as your gift purpose!

Browse the News Archive

FOA Webinar Panel: From Tunis to Tataouine

Posted on by

FRIENDS OF 17吃瓜WEBINARS

From Tunis to Tataouine: ASOR鈥檚 Cultural Heritage Partnerships in Tunisia

Friends of 17吃瓜presents the next webinar of the 2026-2027 season: “From Tunis to Tataouine: ASOR鈥檚 Cultural Heritage Partnerships in Tunisia” on October 28, 2026, at 1:00 pm EDT, with panelists Emna Mizouni, Safouane Tlili, Assia Sabri, Ibtissem Sabri, and Ines Mathlouthi (moderated by Darren Ashby). This webinar will be free and open to the public. Registration through Zoom (with a valid email address) is required. This webinar will be recorded and all registrants will be sent a recording link in the days following the webinar.

Join us for a panel discussion on ASOR鈥檚 partnerships in Tunisia and hear directly from local partners that work to preserve Tunisian heritage.听

Ines Mathlouthi is a leader and project manager at the Tunisian Scouts organization. She has previously worked on TOURATH, a project aimed at preserving and protecting Tunisian national heritage for future generations, in partnership with the US Embassy in Tunis.听

Emna Mizouni is a strategist dedicated to building equitable digital futures working at the intersection of technology, human rights, global policy, and the preservation of global cultural heritage. Her commitment to storytelling and documenting history and heritage led her to found Carthagina, an organization dedicated to preserving Tunisian heritage through digital innovation.

Assia Sabri听holds a university degree in accounting and finance. She is also a traditional jewelry maker and civil society activist.

Ibtissem Sabri is a civil society activist in Tataouine in southern Tunisia. She is also a representative on the local council of Tataouine Sud in Douiret.

Safouane Tlili is a photographer who specializes in documenting the material and intangible heritage of Tunisia, especially on the island of Djerba. He has held several art exhibitions and is a civil activist in several human rights and cultural associations.

SUPPORT THE WEBINAR PROGRAM!

Friends of 17吃瓜is pleased to announce that the first webinars of the 2026-2027 season will once again be free and open to the public with a goal to raise $10,000 so that the entire webinar season will be free. Will you support this outreach effort with a tax-deductible contribution? All donors/sponsors with gifts of $100 or more will be recognized in subsequent webinars. Make your gift today and select 鈥淲ebinars鈥� from the drop-down menu.

Browse the News Archive

2026 Nominees for 17吃瓜Board Elections

Posted on by
detail of Palermo Cathedral

2026 NOMINEES FOR 17吃瓜BOARD ELECTIONS

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 17吃瓜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 (Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, Timothy Matney, Stephanie Selover, and Stuart Tyson Smith). There are two candidates for two openings as Institutionally-elected Trustees for 3-year terms (Kiersten Neumann and Jason Ur). All 17吃瓜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.

17吃瓜will conduct the elections by online ballot, and ballots were sent via email on October 10, 2026. We will send out two reminders, and all ballots must be completed by 5:00 PM Eastern Time on Friday, November 13. If you have difficulties completing the online ballot, please contact Marta Ostovich at programs@asor.org.

Nominees for Membership-elected Trustees
(two to be elected)

Tiffany Earley-Spadoni

Dr. Tiffany Earley-Spadoni is Associate Professor of History at the University of Central Florida and Director of the Kurd Qaburstan Project, an ASOR-affiliated excavation of the ancient city of Qabra in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Her archaeological and historical research focuses on landscapes, urbanism, warfare, empires, and digital approaches. She is the author of Landscapes of Warfare: Urartu and Assyria in the Ancient Middle East, recipient of ASOR’s 2025 Frank Moore Cross Book Award. She has received both the 17吃瓜Mesopotamian Fellowship and the Shepard Urgent Action Grant.

Earley-Spadoni served as Chair of the Early Career Scholars Committee from 2018 to 2024 and also served on the Chairs Coordinating Council and Finance Committee. She currently serves on the Honors and Awards Committee. She received 17吃瓜Membership Service Awards in 2023 and 2024 for her contributions to the organization. She has chaired more than twenty 17吃瓜annual meeting sessions and workshops and founded the Digital Archaeology and History session, now an 17吃瓜Standing Session.

Mission Statement:

Over the past eighteen years, I have participated in 17吃瓜as a member, presenter, session organizer, committee member and chair, mentor, excavation director, grant recipient, and student volunteer. These experiences have given me a strong appreciation for ASOR’s role in advancing research, supporting fieldwork, and fostering scholarly community.

If elected to the Board of Trustees, I will focus on two priorities: advocating for increased grant funding opportunities for 17吃瓜members in light of reduced federal support and supporting ASOR’s early career scholars. I will support expansion of ASOR-administered fellowships, project grants, and travel support. I am also committed to strengthening mentorship, training, and networking programs for early career scholars. These efforts are essential to help members navigate funding challenges and ensure opportunities for the next generation of researchers.

Throughout my 17吃瓜service, I have worked to create opportunities for members to connect, collaborate, and develop new skills. As a trustee, I would build on that experience and work collaboratively to ensure 17吃瓜remains a strong, sustainable, and intellectually vibrant organization for years to come.

photo of Timothy Matney
Timothy Matney

Timothy Matney (BA Institute of Archaeology, London 1987, MA 1991 and PhD 1993 University of Pennsylvania) is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Akron. His areas of research include urbanism, the Early Bronze and Iron Ages, Neo-Assyrian archaeology, geophysics, and rurality in imperial Assyria. Matney co-directed excavations for seven seasons at the Early Bronze Age city of Titri艧 H枚y眉k with Guillermo Algaze (1994-1999) and directed excavations at Neo-Assyrian administrative center of Ziyaret Tepe (1997-2014). His co-authored volume Ziyaret Tepe: Exploring the Anatolian Frontier of the Assyrian Empire (with J. MacGinnis, D. Wicke, and K. K枚ro臒lu) won the 2019 AIA Felicia A. Holton Book Award for the best work representing archaeology to the public. Matney is currently editing the final publications of both the Titri艧 H枚y眉k and Ziyaret Tepe excavations. His current ASOR-affiliated fieldwork, started in 2023, the Sebittu Project explores seven small villages in the Neo-Assyrian imperial heartland of the Erbil Plain in the Kurdish Region of Iraq. Matney has been a regular participant at 17吃瓜meetings since giving his first 17吃瓜paper in 1995 and served on the Baghdad Committee at ASOR.

Mission Statement:

As a long-time participant at ASOR, I am always impressed at how many things 17吃瓜does well in its mission to advance archaeology, inform the public, and serve as a steward for cultural heritage in the Near East. One of the biggest challenges that scholars now face in the US are disruptions to decades-old federal support system for archaeological fieldwork (e.g., NSF and NEH) which were the mainstay of many early career academics. 17吃瓜already provides over two dozen grants and fellowships. One question to ask is whether, at this junction, it is possible to find resources for 17吃瓜to do even more to fund fieldwork for those at the start of their careers. Likewise, I have always worked with the local communities where my fieldwork is located to give back knowledge of what our research has revealed about the past. Efforts like giving public lectures in the villages near my field sites, designing permanent displays at regional museums, and training local archaeologists in field techniques are common at many projects. Recently, I decided to take things a step further and build local infrastructure by providing permanent geophysical equipment to the General Directorate in Erbil so that staff, after training, could conduct surveys themselves. In the case of Iraq, this allows local archaeologists to document sites endangered by economic development, changes in land use, and conflict. I would like to help expand ASOR鈥檚 active cultural heritage initiatives by finding more resources to foster these kinds of collaborations with our partners in host countries.

Stephanie Selover

Stephanie Selover (MA and PhD, University of Chicago; BA, Stanford University) is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures and an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Washington. Her research interests and publications focus on the domestic and technological archaeology of Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Anatolia, the domestic archaeology of Iron Age Jordan, the archaeology of warfare and violence in prehistoric Anatolia, and the effects of modern politics on the archaeology of the Middle East. She has excavated archaeological sites in Jordan, T眉rkiye, Syria, Israel, Italy, and the United States. She is currently Co-Director of the excavations at 脟ad谋r H枚y眉k in T眉rkiye and Field Director at Khirbat al-Balua in Jordan.

Mission Statement:

I have been a member of 17吃瓜since 2007 and attended nearly all annual meetings since then. I am also a member of the Committee on Archaeological Research and Policy and the Committee on Growth, Innovation, and Visibility.

As an archaeologist and professor, I believe it is the duty of archaeology not only to interpret the past, but also to make it as accessible to as many people as possible. As an undergraduate, I was able to participate in my first excavations because of scholarships provided through my university. Those opportunities allowed me to discover my passion for archaeology and cultural heritage, a passion that has not abated to this day.

I firmly believe that archaeology should be accessible to anyone who wishes to participate, and I have always worked to help students find the financial resources necessary to attend field schools. I also believe strongly in the importance of community in archaeology. Excavations should be, first and foremost, part of and responsive to, the local community, with its interests and needs serving as a foundation for excavation goals.

If elected, I hope to continue supporting ASOR’s commitment to being a safe, open, and welcoming organization for all people, improving financial accessibility and support for students, and providing opportunities and funding for better incorporating local communities into archaeological research and practice.

Stuart Tyson Smith

Stuart Tyson Smith is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara (M.S. Ed. from USC and M.A. and Ph.D. in Archaeology from UCLA). At UCSB, he has served as Chair of Anthropology and Director of the Institute for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research. Ancient Egyptian colonialism, intercultural interaction, identity, and the origins of the Napatan state, whose rulers conquered Egypt becoming Pharaohs of the 25th Dynasty, provide the focus of his current archaeological research. He has published on the dynamics of Egyptian imperialism and royal ideology, the use of sealings in administration, death and burial in ancient Egypt and Nubia, and the ethnic, social and economic dynamics of interaction and colonialism between ancient Egypt and Nubia. In a new line of research, he applies a postcolonial critique to modern views of ancient Egypt as not truly African and Nubia as its subordinate. Smith鈥檚 material specialization lies in ceramic analysis, including the chemical characterization of absorbed residues. He is also an active field archaeologist, having excavated in Egypt and since 1997 directed archaeological projects in Sudanese Nubia, in particular at Tombos with Sudanese archaeologist Prof. Mohamed Faroug Ali (Africa Institute, UAE) and bioarchaeologist Prof. Michele Buzon (Purdue). With fieldwork in Sudan made untenable by the civil war, he has joined Egyptian archaeologist Dr. Essam Nagy and Prof. Danielle Candelora (Holy Cross) as co-Director of the Osiris-Ptah Nebankh Project, a Nubian (Kushite) chapel at Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt.

Mission Statement:

I have been increasingly involved in 17吃瓜with the organization’s broadening of regional focus from its traditional emphasis on the Levant to the wider Mediterranean world, western and central Asia, and especially for me north Africa. I also appreciate the increasing engagement with theoretical perspectives that cross cut regional specialties, making 17吃瓜a welcoming place for often marginalized areas of study like Nubiology. As a scholar focused on Africa, I have also been impressed by the ASOR’s commitment to making a difference in the context of this expanded focus by pursuing donations and supporting local scholars, particularly in places with critical needs like the recent initiatives in Libya and Sudan, helping to preserve heritage and repair the damage of civil war. One of my goals as a member of ASOR鈥檚 Board of Trustees would be to continue to foster and develop this larger regional focus, which I feel strongly benefits the organization as a whole. Promoting diversity in our field is also a priority for me, especially in these trying times. I would work to maintain and develop endowments for supporting the participation of students from underrepresented groups and indigenous students and scholars from the regions we study who do not have the resources to attend the annual meetings and acquire training and expertise through fieldwork.

Nominees for Institutionally-elected Trustees
(two to be elected):

Kiersten Neumann

Kiersten Neumann听is an art historian, archaeologist, curator, and educator specializing in ancient West Asia, with a focus on Assyria and Persia and their connections with Arabia. She is Curator of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (ISAC) Museum, Research Associate at ISAC, and Lecturer in the Department of Art History at the University of Chicago. Her work explores sensory experience, ritualized practice, and visual culture, as well as museum practice, collecting histories, provenance research, and cultural heritage preservation. She has curated numerous exhibitions at the ISAC Museum, including听most recently Artifacts Also Die听(2023) and听Megiddo: A City Unearthed, A Past Imagined听(2025鈥�26), and the reinstallation of the museum鈥檚 permanent galleries (2019). She is co-editor of听The Routledge Handbook of the Senses in the Ancient Near East听(2022) and Scribal Worlds: Scholarship and classification in cuneiform cultures (2026). She has conducted archaeological fieldwork in Turkey (Tell Tayinat) and Greece (Athenian Agora), and is part of the Nineveh East Archaeological Project, a collaboration between the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage and ISAC. She also collaborates on international museum, art, and cultural heritage projects, and works with diaspora artists and communities to advocate for and renew engagement with the heritage of West Asia. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, she earned her B.A. and M.A. from the University of British Columbia and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley (2014).

Mission Statement:

Joining ASOR鈥檚 Board of Trustees in 2024 opened a new window onto the organization and deepened my interest in serving. I now chair the Development Committee; co-chair the Program Committee and the new Friends of 17吃瓜Committee; and serve on the Executive and Finance Committees, the Chairs Coordinating Council, and the editorial advisory committee of The Ancient Near East Today. Seeing how a concern raised by a single committee member moves through every level of the organization has been invaluable. When I first ran for the Board, I hoped to bring greater recognition to the museum world: this year鈥檚 plenary speaker is Kim Benzel, Curator in Charge of Ancient West Asian Art at The Met; more support is now available to members working with collections; and the Museum Professionals Working Group I co-founded in 2022 continues to meet each year at the Annual Meeting. I also wanted to build partnerships with scholars across the regions at the heart of ASOR鈥檚 work, which led me to establish the Tigris Travel Grant in 2024; it has now brought five scholars from Iraq and its Kurdistan Region to the Annual Meeting.

17吃瓜has always stood out to me for its collegiality as much as its scholarship, yet our field is marked by deep rifts right now, felt across our membership. I believe more strongly than ever that we need policies members can have confidence in and that reflect our shared values and ethical commitments. On the Program Committee, I鈥檝e worked to apply our Policy on Professional Conduct consistently and transparently, and I鈥檓 encouraged by the work of the Taskforce now reviewing it. To members who feel unheard, my ask is simply to get involved鈥攖o join a committee, talk to trustees, and bring your perspective to the conversations that lead to change. Through it all, I remain heartened by ASOR鈥檚 growth: its expanding geographical and chronological reach traces a map with increasingly blurred boundaries, one that better reflects what our research keeps showing鈥攁n ancient world of widespread trade and contact over land and sea, with communities and their heritage continuing into the present.

Jason Ur

Jason Ur is Stephen Phillips Professor of Archaeology and Ethnology in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University. He specializes in early urbanism, landscape archaeology, and remote sensing, particularly the use of declassified US intelligence imagery. He was trained in Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania (BA 1994) and in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago (PhD 2004). He has directed field surveys in Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Iran. He is the author of Urbanism and Cultural Landscapes in Northeastern Syria: The Tell Hamoukar Survey, 1999-2001 (2010). Since 2012, he has directed the CAP-affiliated , an archaeological survey in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq. He is also preparing a history of Mesopotamian cities.

Ur joined 17吃瓜as a student member in the late 1990s. He held the 17吃瓜Mesopotamian Fellowship in 2000-2001 and served on the Committee on Mesopotamian Civilization from 2009-2013. He was the plenary speaker at the 2014 17吃瓜annual meeting. He organized and chaired the Settlement and Society in the Ancient Near East session from 2008-2010. The Archaeology of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq session, which he founded and chaired from 2017-2019, is now a Standing Session. He was first elected to ASOR鈥檚 Board of Trustees as Harvard鈥檚 Institutional Trustee in 2021 and has also served on the Board鈥檚 Executive Committee since 2025.

Mission Statement:

As a member of ASOR鈥檚 Board of Trustees, I will continue to promote its mission to create and disseminate knowledge of the history and culture of the societies of the Near East, past and present. I advocate for a geographically-inclusive 17吃瓜that involves broader areas of West Asia beyond ASOR鈥檚 traditional areas of strength, and a comparative anthropological perspective to complement its culture-historical emphases. I am particularly interested to amplify new voices in ASOR: those of our research partners in the Middle East, and those of the next generation of scholars in our graduate and undergraduate classrooms. Finally, I hope to advocate for digital methods of research and outreach, with the goal of making 17吃瓜members鈥� scholarship more accessible to our colleagues, to the public, to stakeholders in the countries where we conduct our research, and to future generations.

Browse the News Archive

2026 Student Paper Award

Posted on by

2026 ANNUAL MEETING STUDENT PAPER AWARD

17吃瓜is accepting applications for the 2026 Student Paper Award. This award is conferred upon the author(s) of a paper presented (in-person or online) during the 2026 hybrid 17吃瓜Annual Meeting that conveys the results of a study about ancient Near Eastern and wider Mediterranean societies in a clear, understandable and convincing fashion. The first author and presenter of the paper must be a registered student at the time of presentation in order to be eligible for consideration for this award. This year the award is accompanied by a $500 prize.

Students will need to complete the following steps by November 4听to be considered for the award:

1. Please complete this in order to apply for the Student Paper Award.

2. Upload your recorded presentation to ASOR鈥檚 Student Award Application Dropbox folder by navigating to the 2026 Annual Meeting Presenter Information page. From there, you will find instructions and the Dropbox link, as well as tips and tutorials for presenters.

Applications and recorded paper presentations are both due by November 4.

Please note that this award is independent of the Sean Dever Memorial Prize, which is conferred by the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research. To learn more about Awards presented at the Annual Meeting, please visit the Honors and Awards page. For questions and inquiries please email info@asor.org.

Aaren Zhou, winner of the 2025 Student Paper Award.
Browse the News Archive

ECS Fall Brown Bag: Beyond the Tenure Track

Posted on by
Sunset at Brac Island Croatia

Early Career Scholars Fall Brown Bag: Beyond the Tenure Track

Panel Discussion: Beyond the Tenure Track

What does an archaeology career look like outside a traditional academic appointment? Join ASOR鈥檚 Early Career Scholars on October 16, 2026 at 12:00pm ET via Zoom for the Fall Brown Bag, “Beyond the Tenure Track,” a panel on career paths and opportunities outside of academia.

听

This discussion features panelists Zuzana Chovanec, Anashya Srinivasan, and Amanda Hope Haley鈥攑rofessionals working in public-facing archaeology writing, cultural resource management, the U.S. Department of State, and the tourism sector. They’ll share how they built their careers, what their work looks like day to day, and how the skills you’re developing now can translate into a range of pathways. Whether you’re a student thinking about your first job or an early career scholar looking for some advice, we hope to see you there!

The event, a part of our Brown Bag lunch series, is FREE for the 17吃瓜community, but registration is required.

Browse the News Archive

News from ASOR’s President and Looking for Your Input

Posted on by

News from ASOR’s President and Looking for Your Input

October 5, 2026

Dear All,

As our profession grows and changes, one of my highest priorities as 17吃瓜president is to involve you, our members, directly in the discussion and decision-making about ASOR鈥檚 important policies and initiatives. With the Annual Meeting approaching, I want to share some information about what to expect there and what has been happening at 17吃瓜over the summer.

Please take a look at the Annual Meeting schedule and find the exciting talks that interest you most. I want to draw your attention to two new parts of the meeting:

Meet Your Board Members: On Friday, November 20, at 10:20 am, ASOR鈥檚 Board members will be in the Grand Ballroom to informally talk to you and hear your thoughts and ideas about all things ASOR-related. Grab your coffee or tea and come say hello.

Share Your Thoughts: Later that day at the Members鈥� Meeting (12:55-1:55 pm, Waldorf Room), I have set aside time for members of the听Taskforce on the Review of the Code of Professional Conduct to answer questions from members. This Code, a guide for all Board and committee actions, serves as the foundation for how 17吃瓜members contribute to ASOR鈥檚 mission and steers the actions on extremely complex and timely issues. It is also intended to be updated on a regular basis, which the Taskforce has been asked to consider. While I have initiated discussion at this level, I know that we will need time and lots more input from 17吃瓜members before we are ready to bring a revised document to the Board.听

I am looking to you for help. Please read the Code of Professional Conduct and send us your thoughts in the anonymous survey that was sent via email today. I hope the Taskforce can get as many questions answered as possible during the meeting, but if not there, we can set up another venue to discuss the issues with 17吃瓜members.

Here are a couple of other things that happened at 17吃瓜over the summer:

Title IX Changes: As 17吃瓜president, I signed a letter to the US Department of Education suggesting that the proposed changes eliminating peer review in the Title IX grant application reviews were not needed nor helpful. Both of ASOR鈥檚 overseas centers apply and receive Title IX funding. If you would like to see the letter, please let me know. I decided that writing this letter was not a contradiction of ASOR鈥檚 policy of not making political statements, as 17吃瓜could offer expertise on this particular issue.

鈥淥rphaned鈥� Objects: I also signed a letter in collaboration with the Archaeological Institute of America suggesting that the proposed changes to policies on the publication of 鈥渙rphaned鈥� objects (those with no known history after 1970) was contrary to 17吃瓜policies, which were put in place to help combat illegal excavations. This proposal was made within UNIDROIT (an international independent organization that helps to create uniform legal standards for global commerce). If you are interested in the joint letter, I can also share that with you.

17吃瓜Website: If you have had a chance to look at the website, please thank Jared, Moni, Marta and the committee that has been cleaning up the pages to make them more useful. The committee is also working with other 17吃瓜committees to expand the usefulness of the site and you will see more changes in the coming months.

I鈥檓 looking forward to seeing many of you in Chicago,

Jane DeRose Evans, 17吃瓜President

Browse the News Archive

Mesopotamian Fellowship Report: Ella Egberts

Posted on by

The Iraqi Western Desert PLACES Project: Pleistocene Landscapes and Early Human Behavior in the Shbicha Region

Dr. Ella Egberts, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 2025/2026 Mesopotamian Fellowship Recipient

At the heart of southwest Asia, in the north of the Arabian Peninsula, lies the Iraqi Western Desert (Figure 1). Southwest Asia has long been recognized as a key region for studying human evolution and behavioral adaptation (Solecki 1963; Hershkovitz et al. 2018; Grouchett et al. 2021). Repeated climatic fluctuations during the Pleistocene (ca. 2.58 million鈥�11,700 years ago) shifted the landscapes of southwest Asia between wetter and drier environments, shaping early human presence, dispersals and adaptations. It is here that we find early evidence of Homo sapiens outside Africa, and where they most likely first encountered Neanderthals. Increasingly complex and diverse technologies 鈥� and the connections between the human groups who made them 鈥� can be traced across this large region and beyond. In other words, some pivotal steps in our human story played out here, and over a hundred years of Paleolithic research in the Levant, Zagros and the Arabian Peninsula has done much to reveal them. Yet, sitting right in the middle of this well-studied arc, the Iraqi Western Desert has remained largely unexplored.听

Figure 1. Location and topographical setting of the study area. Left, a map of southwest Asia showing the location of the Iraqi Western Desert along the northern extent of the Arabian Desert. The location of Shbicha region is also indicated. The map on the right shows a Google satellite image overlain with a FABDEM digital elevation model, to illustrate the topography of the Shbicha region. Dark dots represent the location of sites identified during the 2024 fieldwork; white dots represent the sites identified during the 2025 fieldwork (漏 E. Egberts).

The Geomorphological and Paleolithic Survey of the Western Desert of Iraq addresses this gap by assessing the presence of Paleolithic material, establishing its landscape context, and recontextualizing historic finds. Given the vast expanse of the desert, the survey currently employs a targeted reconnaissance approach. The multi-scale multi-method survey consists of broadly reconstructing the geomorphological history (how the landscape formed and changed over time) of various regions of the desert based on high-resolution satellite images, elevation data, and geological datasets, before zooming in on a regional landscape survey, investigating areas of archaeological potential and paleoenvironmental interest. This includes potential paleo-lakes, wadis, stratigraphic profiles, springs, potential raw material sites, and high-points in the landscape. Selected points of interest are visited and surveyed through fieldwalking, and selected sites are subjected to intensive, systematic survey.

This 17吃瓜Mesopotamian Fellowship built on results from a Pilot Project funded by the British Institute for the Study of Iraq (BISI). With the identification of seven new Paleolithic findspots and several paleo-lakes, the BISI supported pilot study (conducted in 2024) identified the Shbicha (Al-Shabakah) region (Figure 1) as having a high potential for preserving Paleolithic material and Pleistocene landscape features (Egberts et al. 2025). With this Fellowship, the aim was to identify and investigate additional sites, conduct in-depth technological and typological artefact analyses, develop hypotheses regarding Pleistocene landscape preservation and Paleolithic findspots, and train Iraqi students through fieldwork participation, workshops and lectures.

The fieldwork, carried out in November 2025, identified eight new Paleolithic sites (Figures 1 and 2). These consist of mostly mixed assemblages with sporadic Lower Paleolithic finds and substantial Middle Paleolithic material (Figure 3).

Figure 2. The landscape of the Iraqi Western Desert around Shbicha (漏 E. Egberts).

Remarkable is the discovery of several (Initial) Upper Paleolithic lithic concentrations. Two sites, Shbicha 2 and 3, were selected for more detailed investigations, including systematic collection of lithics (Figure 4), detailed technological and typological artefact analyses, and integration of these results with hypotheses of Pleistocene landscape preservation.

Figure 3. Me picking up a piece (left), and professor Philip van Peer examining lithics in the field (right).
These photos illustrate that wow-moment when you find a particularly interesting artefact during survey (漏 E. Egberts).
Figure 4. Some taking a break during the systematic survey whilst others can鈥檛 stop (漏 E. Egberts).

Focusing on these sites proved to be an excellent decision. In a wadi, alongside the surface finds of Shbicha 3, we discovered a recently eroded sediment profile with lithics in stratigraphy (Figure 5). The rich Paleolithic surface assemblages provide large and easily accessible datasets for technological and typological analyses of lithics, providing insights into broad age ranges and technological and typological affinities between lithic assemblages across the wider region (Figures 6-9). However, absolute dating of these important archaeological records requires stratified finds. The discovery of this profile, with lithics preserved in stratigraphy, offers an exciting opportunity to build the first absolute chronological framework for Palaeolithic material from the Iraqi Western Desert 鈥� and, more broadly, the first direct dating of such material from inland northern Arabia.

Figure 5. The sedimentary sequence bearing lithic artefacts (漏 E. Egberts).
Figure 6. Archaeology students washing and processing lithics (漏 E. Egberts).
Figure 7. A table full of classified lithic artefacts (漏 E. Egberts).
Figure 8. Dr Andreas Nymark conducting lithic analysis by a make-shift desk lamp in the excavation house (漏 E. Egberts).
Figure 9. Dr Stefan Smith photographing lithic artefacts using his home-made rotational device for 3D recording (漏 E. Egberts).

The discovery of these stratified lithics is a major step forward: it confirms that Pleistocene deposits capable of preserving Palaeolithic archaeology survive in the region, and feeds directly into our hypotheses on landscape preservation. Excavating this profile in the future could recover an in-situ assemblage. We’re extremely grateful to 17吃瓜for making this discovery possible. The results underscore the region’s major research potential, and this Fellowship has given us exactly the evidence needed to direct future work.

We are grateful to the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage for the research permit and for their support of the work.听

Egberts, E., et al. 2025. New evidence for Pleistocene hominin presence in the north-east Arabian Desert, Iraq. Antiquity, 99(408), p. e51. .

Groucutt H.S., et al. 2021. Multiple hominin dispersals into Southwest Asia over the past 400,000 years. Nature, 597(7876), 376鈥�380.

Hershkovitz I., et al. 2018. The earliest modern humans outside Africa. Science 359, 456-459.

Solecki, R.S., 1963. Prehistory in Shanidar Valley, Northern Iraq: Fresh insights into Near Eastern prehistory from the Middle Paleolithic to the Proto-Neolithic are obtained. Science139, 179-193.

Browse the News Archive