17吃瓜News Archives - Page 11 of 30 - American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR)

Fieldwork Report: Lauren Cook

Posted on January 16, 2025 by Marta Ostovich

Construction: The Ancient Anatolian Way

Lauren Cook, 2024 BIPOC Scholarship Fieldwork Recipient

This summer, I had the opportunity to excavate for the first time at the site of Alalakh (Tell Atchana) in Hatay, T眉rkiye. Although I had obtained my masters in Archaeology back in 2021, I had not had the chance to participate in archaeological fieldwork at that time because of the COVID-19 pandemic. When I was accepted to excavate at Alalakh this July I could not wait for the project to begin, however, I was surprised by the unique and interesting work I got to be a part of there. Apart from our normal excavation project, my fellow colleagues and I got to be a part of an exciting and groundbreaking experimental archaeological initiative where we worked to reconstruct the site鈥檚 mudbrick walls and protect its ancient foundations.

On my first day at the site Dr. Akar, our site director, stated that although one of our goals was to uncover the site鈥檚 mudbrick architecture; exposing the ancient mudbrick to the elements causes it to rapidly deteriorate. In order to preserve the site鈥檚 ancient foundation and to give visitors a better sense of what the site would have looked like in antiquity we would spend part of the summer鈥檚 excavation season creating mudbricks and reinforcing the site鈥檚 mudbrick walls using ancient building techniques.

To begin making a mudbrick wall you first need to create the mud bricks. Dr. Akar consulted with members of the local community on mud brick recipes, as up until relatively recently in the adjoining village of Tayfurs枚kmen and the surrounding areas people where still building with mudbrick. However, the practice had sharply fallen out of favor, being replaced by more modern building techniques. The mud that we used was a mixture of soil, straw, and water which we would mix until it was wet and could hold shape. Working in pairs we would then throw the mud into brick shaped molds; the trick was to make sure that copious mud was packed into the corners as this gives the brick its stability. Once the molds were filled, my workmate and I, would remove the mold with one swift, fluid movement 鈥� leaving a mud cube behind. Then we would re-set and start the process all over again.

These bricks would be set aside to dry for at least a week before they would be utilized in the next stage of the process, construction. Water was the key ingredient in this step as it allowed us to adhere and secure the bricks to the foundations and to each other. We would wet the surface on which the bricks were to be set and add a substantial, but flattened layer of mud to act as an adhesive. We would then wet the bricks and carefully place them in the mud, adding layers of mud between them so that they would adhere. Finally, we would cover the newly created wall with a final layer of mud and leave it to dry. Once the wall had dried over several days, we would go back and add a final layer of mud in order to smooth and plaster the wall.

This was a messy and labor-intensive process to be sure and we would always end these days covered in mud from head-to-toe, but the days where we made mudbricks and built walls were also the most fun. Some of my best memories from Alalakh were when we would plaster the mudbrick walls while dancing to YMCA, or when the team would get into an inevitable mud fight! There was also something magical about the process of building as working with the mud would often transport us back to the Middle Bronze Age where we could see in real time the problems that ancient builders would have encountered, and following in their footsteps often used stones, ceramic fragments, water, mud, and straw as solutions. Once we were done with our work looking down at the freshly made walls from the top of the tell, I was often filled with a strong sense of pride knowing that these efforts would help to preserve the site for years to come.

Lauren Cook is a Baltimore-based doctoral student studying Art History at Johns Hopkins University. She is interested in imperialism and alterity in Ancient West Asia. Lauren received a dual BA in Art History and Archaeology from Pitzer College as well as a MPHIL in Mesopotamian Archaeology from the University of Cambridge.

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Fieldwork Report: Kiley Stoj

Posted on January 7, 2025 by Marta Ostovich

A Day in the Life at 脟ad谋r H枚y眉k

Kiley Stoj, 2024 Eric and Carol Meyers Fieldwork Scholarship Recipient

A typical day living in the small village of Peynir Yemez started about an hour earlier than needed with the adhan informing us that it was 4:30am. This was never really an issue as it was a much more melodic wakeup than the typical jarring buzz of an alarm. Although uncharacteristic for the time of year, there were several mornings we were also greeted with thunderstorms. I can remember a huge clap of thunder waking almost everyone up; we all came out of our rooms and just admired the rain and lightning together while sipping tea and coffee. Unfortunately, after this storm we lost internet connection for almost the remainder of the season, and it was believed the thunder and lightning may have been to blame. Most of the time it was easy enough to fall back asleep until the official wakeup around 5:30; giving most people just enough time to put on their least dusty pieces of clothing, brush their teeth, and grab a cup of coffee and a slice of jellied bread before packing up the van to make the 15-minute drive to the site. The drive over was actually livelier than one might expect for such an early wakeup. We would chat about the games we liked to play, movies we had strong opinions on, and funny anecdotes from prior years or previous digs.

The site of 脟ad谋r H枚y眉k is located in the Yozgat province in north central Anatolia, T眉rkiye. Excavations began in 1994 and continue today. Over this time period the team has documented six millennia of occupation at the site; from at least as early as 5200 BCE to final abandonment in the 13th century CE. The Turkish workers assisting with the project came from the next closest city of Sorgun and were usually waiting for us. Without hesitation they would begin the journey up the mound soon after we arrived; it was a good mix of younger and older workers, some with prior experience and some brand new. The new workers were especially eager to learn the ropes often asking many questions and excited to practice some English with us. It was fun getting to learn a bit about the workers that were a part of our team, their day jobs ranged from farmers, cartographers, and engineers to medical and veterinary students.

The morning started with most supervisors looking over the stratigraphy of their trenches and deciding what task to tackle first. Many times I could look out from my trench and see a group of supervisors huddled around an area delicately, and with the most amazing precision, excavating bones or reading an especially interesting piece of pottery. Many of the foreign members of the team (US, Canada, Europe) would do our best with the little Turkish we knew to delegate tasks; the workers were very patient with us, and I learned pretty quickly that hand signs are an amazing tool. Some of the women I became friends with while there loved to flash me a heart from across the dig to let me know they missed me. We would work until 8am, at which time there was a break for water and some small goodies that the workers always seemed to magically produce, including cookies and fruits. Work in the mornings was always the nicest; it was pleasant to dig before the sun became too intense and wind picked up, as was typical for the afternoon.

At 9am we called 鈥減aydos鈥� or 鈥渂reak鈥� which meant it was time to head down to second breakfast; everyone鈥檚 favorite part of the day. We would sit under a tent forming what we called a sandwich circle, passing around the various fixings, everyone either with their preference of many olives or absolutely none. We also always had fresh fruit and small cookies to dunk in our tea 鈥� you had to be quick with it or risk ending up with a tea-cookie soup as half your biscuit crumbled off into your cup. This was also a time for the entire team to share their thoughts about their trenches with the group as well as a time to get to know everyone better. Second breakfast was a real pick-me-up, giving everyone their second wind to work through the afternoon.

In the afternoons it was typical for supervisors to hop around from trench to trench seeing how others鈥� work was going and assist if they needed help troubleshooting a difficult locus or feature. The trenches differed immensely! Some had countless hearths found one on top of the other as they excavated down, others had beautiful stone walls and huge expanses of rooms, one was a marbled masterpiece of mudbrick red, and charcoal black (beautiful but hard to understand), while yet another had walls with huge piles of rocks in between (again amazing to see, less amazing to meticulously draw). When work ended around 12:30-1 we had the option to take the bus back, but many of us would opt to simply drop our bags there and walk. It was peaceful strolling through the village, a great way to wind down and clear your head after a hard day of work. The walk took us past golden fields, and through the village where we would wave to some of the local workers, and occasionally have to skirt around territorial geese.

Back at the dig house we had down-time until lunch; however, downtime usually meant either cleaning or helping bag artifacts; our director called them 鈥渆vil jobs鈥� and would always give us a warning on the days we could expect to return to more work. Thankfully many hands made light work, and the jobs were never really as 鈥渆vil鈥� as we were made to believe. We would all sit down to lunch at 2pm; everyone would take pretty large helpings of food after digging all day and almost always we would make Turkish coffee after so that we had a little kick to keep on going. After lunch people went their separate ways to shower, take naps, or do some reading before our lab hours, which started at 5pm. Many days before lab I would spend time with my new friends picking apricots and plums from the trees, trying my best to learn some Turkish words, and sitting in the sun with a cup of tea as a cool breeze blew by.

The lab hours were a time to write in our notebooks, fill out feature and locus sheets, or do additional work 鈥� such as sorting through soil samples to look for seeds, like the project I was assisting with. It was exciting when someone had uncovered a particularly interesting artifact from that day, and everyone gathered around to see what we could learn. Dinner came shortly after 7pm; everyone would hangout for a bit after dinner ended, but no one stayed up too late after the long workday. Usually at sunset small groups would leave the dig house to walk around the village, it was beautiful to see the reds and pinks of the sunset melt into the expansive landscape of gold and yellow. The village was always very quiet and peaceful; mostly being broken by the bells and bleats from the large herds of sheep and cows on their way home for the night. There were special occasions throughout the season where we would go watch meteor showers; finding a dark hill and lying on the ground all betting on which direction the next one would come from. And on Wednesdays we would have a movie night, projecting a film onto the wall of the lab. Card games also became a very popular past time toward the end of the season, and they would get quite lively and competitive; not only for the ones playing but even drawing in small audiences that would root for different players. Eventually, when the fun had been had, everyone would collapse into bed, ready to start work again the next morning.

I am so fortunate to have had the opportunity to be part of the amazing team at 脟ad谋r H枚y眉k. Life and research with limited internet helped slow me down and appreciate the knowledge I had as well as the insights of those around me. Time on this dig has left me with new experiences in archaeological methods and teamwork, provided insight into rural Turkish life, and enriched my life through the many sincere and interesting people I had the pleasure of working with.

Kiley loves travel, experiencing new things, and meeting people.听After graduating from SUNY Cortland,听she spent time in India researching medicinal Ayruvedic plants found in the archaeological record from the Iron Age, supported by a Fulbright-Nehru Student Researcher Fellowship.听 She is interested in the cross-roads of biology and archaeology and extremely thankful that the 17吃瓜scholarship provided an opportunity to explore this further.听Currently Kiley is working on her PhD at the University of South Carolina, investigating nocturnal plant-insect interactions and how anthropogenic stressors impact these relationships.听

17吃瓜is now accepting applications for 2025 Fieldwork Participation Scholarships. Learn how to apply here.听

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Shepard Urgent Action Grant Report: Umm Al-Qurun on the Darb Zubaydah

Posted on January 6, 2025 by Moni Islam

2024 Shepard Urgent Action Grant: The Rest-stop and Minara of Umm Al-Qurun on the Darb Zubaydah

Rajwan Al-Maiyali (University of Al-Qadisiyah), Richard Wilding (Eye on Heritage)

The Darb Zubaydah

For centuries before the advent of modern air travel, pilgrims travelled long distances by land and sea. In addition to their religious function, pilgrimage routes also served as important arteries for commercial and cultural exchange. The听丑补箩箩听(the annual Islamic pilgrimage)听routes followed pre-Islamic trade pathways but gradually evolved to accommodate the specific needs of Islamic pilgrimage. Various routes emerged and flourished during different historical eras, adapting to the rise and fall of successive Islamic empires

The route connecting the Iraqi cities of Kufa and Baghdad to Makkah was known as the听Darb Zubaydah.听It grew in importance during the first hundred years of the Abbasid Caliphate from 750 to 850 CE, a period renowned as a golden age of Muslim civilisation. The flourishing Abbasid economy greatly increased the numbers of pilgrims able to undertake the journey to Makkah, exerting greater pressure on the limited water and food resources available in a 1,300 km stretch of desert with no permanent lakes or rivers.

The听Darb Zubaydah听was named in honour of Zubaydah bint Jafar, wife of the Abbasid Caliph Harun Al-Rashid, recognising enhancements made to infrastructure along the route under her patronage. Zubaydah had witnessed the hardships endured by pilgrims when undertaking the听丑补箩箩听in 792 CE and dedicated her considerable power and resources to improving pilgrims鈥� safety and comfort.

The Abbasids originally constructed a series of 27 stations between Kufa and Makkah at intervals suited to the travelling speed of donkeys, horses and camels. They were built at regular distances calculated in听barid, a unit of measurement also meaning 鈥減ostal service鈥�, reflecting the postal and intelligence network that developed alongside the pilgrimage trail to help the Abbasid Caliphs maintain communication and control across their wide empire.

An additional 27 intermediate stations were later added to cater for the increasing number of pedestrian pilgrims, while improvements were also made to the original 27 main stations. The new and enhanced infrastructure included a system of wells, cisterns and dams to provide water for travellers and their animals. Caravanserais, palaces and forts were constructed to improve the pilgrims鈥� safety and comfort, and some stretches of the route were paved. A series of milestones and markers were installed, with the addition of lighthouses to guide pilgrims who often travelled at night to avoid the daytime heat.

In the 10th century, a break in relations between Iraq and Makkah affected the ability of Iraqi and Persian Muslims to undertake the pilgrimage, leading to the progressive decline of the听Darb Zubaydah. It was partially revitalised in the 11th century, but never recovered the status of its heyday in the 8th century.

The final organized pilgrimage was carried out in 1243 CE during the reign of Al-Musta鈥檚im, the 37th and last Abbasid caliph ruling from Baghdad. In the following centuries, the trail was almost completely abandoned by pilgrims who forged new routes to Makkah. The last two centuries have seen even more dramatic changes to听丑补箩箩听travel, with the emergence of European maritime companies, the opening of the Suez Canal, the Ottoman Hijaz railway, and finally the arrival of air transport from the mid-20th century.

UNESCO Nomination

The Darb Zubaydah听is a transnational nomination for UNESCO World Heritage Site status, jointly submitted by the Republic of Iraq and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It comprises a series of key stations dating from the Abbasid period on the route between Kufa and Makkah. This nomination is part of a long-term programme that also aims to inscribe other听丑补箩箩听pilgrimage routes including the Egyptian and Syrian hajj roads.

The section of the听Darb Zubaydah听located in present-day Iraq covers approximately 1/5th of the total length of the route, while the other 4/5th is located in present-day Saudi Arabia. The nomination includes 13 sites, four in Iraq and nine in Saudi Arabia. The four sites in Iraq, from north to south, are the stations at Umm al-Qurun, Talhat, Sharaf and Al-Aqaba.

Umm Al-Qurun

The pilgrim station of Umm Al-Qurun lies 56 km south of Kufa in the Wadi Al-Seba鈥�. It is the first surviving rest-stop on the听Darb Zubaydah听heading south from Kufa towards Makkah, and the northernmost site of the UNESCO transnational nomination.

The site comprises a pilgrim station complex equipped with water and residential facilities, and a unique surviving example of a听manara, or lighthouse, built to guide pilgrims travelling by night.

The station complex includes a square-shaped rest house (qsar), two basins (birkat) and two square wells. Although largely filled with sand, the basins are covered with a sparse wild vegetation that indicates more humid soil in contrast to the surrounding desert.

The lighthouse of Umm Al-Qurun stands alone in the desert 1.35 km from the station. Its separate location was possibly due to the need for siting on higher ground, whereas the station complex needed to be located at a lower elevation for water collection and wells.

The lighthouse tower has collapsed at an undefined date. The remains of the fallen tower reveal an interior made of fired bricks that likely contained a staircase to access the roof. The cylindrical tower, decorated externally with geometrical patterns, was built over a two-meter- high stone square substructure, and probably reached a total height of 12 metres.

Contemporary developments

Being the closest surviving station on the听Darb Zubaydah听to the city of Najaf, the surviving architecture at Umm Al-Qurun, especially the lighthouse (manara)听and rest house (qsar), has been vulnerable to intentional and unintentional damage. Both structures are now in an extremely vulnerable state and in need of greater protection and stabilisation.

One particularly concerning development is the construction of a modern tarmacked road from Najaf along the route of the听Darb Zubaydah. In addition to potentially disrupting important archaeology relating to the听丑补箩箩听route, the road passes extremely close to the site of Umm Al- Qurun, even passing between the station complex and听manara.

Groundworks associated with the road building have resulted in the digging of numerous ditches close to the听manara, and tracks left by bulldozers demonstrate how easily damage could be inflected, even unintentionally, to this unique historical structure. The road will also improve access to the site by private and commercial traffic from Najaf, increasing the risk to these unprotected sites.

Project Outcomes

Funding from 17吃瓜has allowed the project team led by Rajwan Al-Maiyali from the University of Al-Qadisiyah and heritage consultant and photographer Richard Wilding to complete the following measures:

1. Emergency protection measures around the听manara听including the erection of a protective fence and covering of the听manara
2. Documentation through photography and drone filming of all structures at Umm Al- Qurun in their current state of preservation.
3. Community engagement with local stakeholders to increase awareness of the site鈥檚 importance and need for greater protection

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Photographic Documentation

In addition to photographing the听manara听before and after the emergency protection measures, the team has also undertaken photography and drone filming of the other structures at Umm Al-Qurun, including the rest house (qsar), basins (birkat) and wells.

Community Engagement

On 14 September 2024, as part of the project鈥檚 public outreach and engagement efforts, Rajwan Al-Maiyali and Richard Wilding gave presentations about Umm Al-Qurun and the听Darb Zubaydah听in a seminar hosted by the Association of Literature and Writers in Najaf. Following the presentations, the team answered questions posed by the audience. The event was subsequently broadcast by two national television stations in Iraq.

Further outreach work is being undertaken through visits to elders at the Great Mosque of Kufa and a forthcoming workshop being organised with the Karbala Holy Shrines Endowment.

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President-elect Jane DeRose Evans’s Vision Statement

Posted on January 3, 2025 by Rachel Bernstein

PRESIDENT-ELECT JANE DEROSE EVANS鈥橲 VISION STATEMENT

Jane DeRose Evans was elected as ASOR鈥檚 next President by the Board of Trustees during the Annual Meeting in November 2024. Jane will serve as the President-elect during 2025 as current President Sharon Herbert finishes her term. Below is her vision statement for ASOR:

17吃瓜is in a very healthy place overall 鈥� we have an active annual meeting where important information is shared and discussed; we produce excellent publications; we provide support for fieldwork of different kinds; and we have strong support in terms of development from a host of members. Because of ASOR鈥檚 health and size, we have been able to shift out of crisis mode and into long-range planning mode. I suggest that this long-term planning would include broadening ASOR鈥檚 audience for its programs, publications, and outreach. This includes scholars of ancient history, archaeology, Biblical studies, cultural heritage, digital humanities, and philology, as well as serious laypersons who are interested in these same topics. We can ensure the long-term viability of 17吃瓜by bringing younger members into positions of responsibility, making sure that they have a voice in the future of ASOR, and that we readily acknowledge their contributions of time, thought, and work to the organization. We do not need to, nor should we, replicate other learned societies, but we need to provide programming and member opportunities to learn about and work in regions or areas of specialty that are specific and of interest to the membership.

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2024 Dana Grant Report: Modeling Punic Space at Motya

Posted on December 12, 2024 by Marta Ostovich

2024 Dana Grant Report: Modeling Punic Space at Motya

Jason Herrmann, University of Pennsylvania and Paola Sconzo, University of Palermo

Ancient Motya (modern Isola San Pantaleo, Sicily, Italy), founded in the late 8th century BCE by Phoenician wayfarers, was a significant hub in the central Mediterranean, serving as a crucial point of contact between Carthage and Sicily at the city鈥檚 height in the 5th听century BCE. Unlike many other Phoenician-Punic urban centers, Motya has remained largely undisturbed by subsequent occupations, offering archaeologists a rare and valuable opportunity to study Punic urban planning in its original context.

Since 2017, we have been conducting comprehensive geophysical surveys on the island for the Space and Identity at Ancient Motya project. Our goal is to map the layout of the city鈥檚 structures and to use their configuration to interpret Motya鈥檚 social organization and expressions of ethnic identity. This project is a collaboration between the University of Palermo and the Penn Museum and operates as a subproject under the University of Palermo Archaeological Mission to Motya, with the support of the Superintendency for Cultural and Environmental Heritage of Trapani.

Thanks to the support of the 17吃瓜Stevan B. Dana Grant, our multidisciplinary project was able to continue with the assistance of an international team of eleven students from the University of Palermo and the University of Pennsylvania. These students contributed to both the geophysical survey and the ongoing excavations carried out toward two primary objectives. The first was to expand the geophysical survey coverage beyond the areas that were accessible for magnetic gradiometry in previous years. To this end, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical soil resistance helped to document subsurface features where vegetation or other surface conditions made magnetic gradiometry unfeasible.

Our second goal was to further investigate ambiguous features observed in the magnetic gradiometry that required additional clarification. One area of particular interest was a depression in the northeast sector of the island where magnetic data were inconclusive. Here we employed GPR, a technique that measures how radio waves are reflected off changes in the textures of buried materials. Preliminary results show that, unlike the rest of the island, this area was not covered with streets and houses during Motya鈥檚 urban expansion, suggesting that it was reserved for some special purpose.

We were also interested in determining the depths of key features across the island to aid the development of a digital reconstruction of the ancient city and landscape. For this, we combined GPR with electrical soil resistance, a method that measures the ease with which an electrical current travels in sediments, to measure the depth of streets that had been previously mapped in the magnetic data. Unlike magnetic gradiometry, GPR and electrical resistance data allow for precise estimation of the depths of the observed features, providing critical information for reconstructing the ancient city鈥檚 layout.

We thank 17吃瓜and the Stevan B. Dana project grant for enabling broad student participation in our 2024 field season. Because of this support, we have been able to come closer to a complete map of Motya鈥檚 ancient urban plan with geophysical survey and have been able to verify some of the features we observed in the geophysical data through excavation. This information, supported by data from aerial surveys, surface collection, and legacy excavations is enabling us to develop detailed interpretations of the use of space for multiple phases of the life of ancient Motya, and establish a strong foundation for future work on this island site.

Learn more on the

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Fieldwork Report: Nate Welch

Posted on December 6, 2024 by Marta Ostovich

A Short Month in Iraq

Nate Welch, 2024 Steinmetz Fellowship Recipient

The project I was able to join this season is titled 鈥淩ural Landscapes of Iron Age Imperial Mesopotamia鈥� or RLIIM for short. The project was spearheaded and directed by Dr. Petra Creamer with the assistant director and my professor being Dr. Kyra Kaercher. These very talented women have been on this project for several seasons prior to my arrival and have an impressive systematic approach to excavating the several trenches held within the site.

I am not an archaeologist but a biologist, however I did learn the importance of proper technique. An example that comes to mind is the pickaxe. The pointed end is preferred as damage will be minimal compared to the blunt crushing end. Archaeology is destructive in nature and cannot easily be undone. That statement rung in my ears the entire time I was in Iraq and knowing that helped me cope with the meticulous digging taking place day in and day out.

What broke up the monotony of digging was the discovery of ceramic sherds, bone, spindle whorls and various other items. The ceramics were coming up by the bucketful with over 10,000 pieces by the end of the short season. These sherds were then painstakingly cleaned, analyzed and categorized by the team. This was how the majority of the days were spent however my true calling came when the farmers harvested their grain. With the fields cut down we were now able to collect magnetometry data.

I had learned of the process from my professor in my first archaeology course, however I had no hands-on experience until now. Walking with the contraption strapped to a backpack felt almost natural after the first day however I know those who were able to watch from a distance would argue otherwise. The idea was simple, walk back and forth in 20-meter increments for hours while keeping the instrument as steady as possible. The practice was a little more difficult with uneven terrain and spiky vegetation stabbing into your feet and legs all while trying to stay in step with the timer which beeped every time you should have gone one meter exactly. I haven鈥檛 even mentioned the fact that there was no shade, and temperatures would be near the 100-degree Fahrenheit mark. With all this in mind the director did an excellent job ensuring nobody would become a casualty of heat illness.

It is appropriate now to confess that I loved every day I got to spend there and all the work that went into the project. My back and knees aching were small prices to pay, and I would gladly do it again. I personally love the busy work that the ceramics and tedious digging provided because physical labor is what I do best. By nature, I am somewhat of an introvert and this opportunity allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and interact with people from all over the world.

I have done this before when I joined the Marines, however I had never been to Iraq, and I can say that my presumptions of the area were entirely incorrect. The people were very friendly, the food was great and there was so much to do and explore such as Shanidar Cave which we were able to tour. I understand I kept this report rather vague, but it sums up the journey quite well and I am the type of person that doesn鈥檛 like to disclose too much because it is not my project, and the truly exciting things should come from the director when she publishes her reports.

I鈥檝e always been interested in history and tied in with that is archeology which made this experience all the better. I hope more opportunities like this will arise for me, but I fear my dog won鈥檛 let me leave so easily next time.

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!

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2024鈥擨mpact of 17吃瓜Fellowships and Grants

Posted on December 4, 2024 by Rachel Bernstein

2024鈥擨MPACT OF 17吃瓜FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS

See how 17吃瓜supported our members in the field in 2024 with more than $250,000 in scholarships, fellowships, and grants. 17吃瓜provided $30,000 in membership and annual meeting scholarships, and $220,000 in fieldwork participation scholarships, research fellowships, and project grants.

Click on the PDFs below to read about how each 17吃瓜fund impacted the research of students and scholars in 2024.

Scholarships for Fieldwork Participation:

BIPOC Fieldwork Scholarships (PDF)
Eric and Carol Meyers Fieldwork Scholarships (PDF)
Shirlee Meyers/G. Ernest Wright Fieldwork Scholarships (PDF)
Harva L. Sheeler Fieldwork Scholarships ()
Steinmetz Fieldwork Scholarships (PDF)
Stevan B. Dana Fieldwork and AM Scholarships (PDF)
Strange-Midkiff Fieldwork Scholarships (PDF)

Grants for Archaeological Projects:

Joe D. Seger Project Grants (PDF)
Stevan B. Dana Project Grants (PDF)
Shepard Urgent Actions Grants (PDF)

听

Research Fellowships for Members:

Study of Collections Fellowships (PDF)

Thank you, 17吃瓜donors, for continuing to support 17吃瓜members鈥� research and for encouraging young scholars in the field.

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2024 17吃瓜Honors & Awards

Posted on December 3, 2024 by Moni Islam

2024 17吃瓜HONORS & AWARDS

Each year at the Annual Meeting, 17吃瓜recognizes individuals who have performed outstanding service for the organization, those who have published exceptional academic work, and those who made significant contributions to our field. The following award recipients were honored at the 2024 Annual Meeting in Boston and during the Members鈥� Meeting on November 22nd. Awards were presented by Lynn Welton, co-chair of ASOR鈥檚听Honors and Awards Committee.

The Richard J. Scheuer Medal. This award honors an individual who has provided truly outstanding, long-term support and service contributions to 17吃瓜(this medal is awarded when such an individual is identified).

Awarded posthumously to听Carolyn Midkiff Strange听and听James F. Strange, for their exceptional contributions and service to 17吃瓜over many decades (presented to James R. Strange).

The Charles U. Harris Service Award. This award is given in recognition of long-term and/or special service as an 17吃瓜officer or Trustee (one award is given annually).

Awarded to听Ann-Marie Knoblauch, Associate Professor of Art History and Director of the School of Visual Arts, Virginia Tech, for her work as 17吃瓜Secretary, as well as her previous years of Board service.

The P. E. MacAllister Field Archaeology Award. This award honors an archaeologist who, during his/her/their career, has made outstanding contributions to ancient Near Eastern and eastern Mediterranean archaeology (one award is given annually).

Awarded to听Sturt W. Manning, Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences in Classics, Cornell University, for his impactful contributions to the archaeology of Cyprus and the wider Near East and Eastern Mediterranean.

Community Engagement and Public Outreach Award. This award recognizes individuals, teams, and organizations who have initiated outstanding educational, informational, or practical projects (including but not limited to classes, programs, exhibits, resources, events, and platforms) with the goal of making subjects and information about the ancient world accessible to wider (particularly non-academic) audiences.

Awarded to the听听Jordan Sketchfab Team, including听Matthew D. Howland, Brady Liss, Ian W.N. Jones, Anthony Tamberino, Mohammad Najjar, and Thomas E. Levy, for their development of pioneering digital resources and platforms intended to present the archaeology of the Faynan region of Jordan to the general public.

17吃瓜Membership Service Award. This award recognizes individuals who have made special contributions on behalf of the 17吃瓜membership, through committee, editorial, or office services.

Awarded to:听Kevin McGeough, Professor of Archaeology, University of Lethbridge, for his work as Chair of the Publications Committee.

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Awarded to听Jane DeRose Evans, Professor of Roman Art and Archaeology and Chair of Art History, Temple University, for her work as Chair of the Cultural Heritage Committee.

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Awarded to听Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, Associate Professor of History, University of Central Florida, for her work as co-chair of the Early Career Scholars Committee.

The W. F. Albright Service Award. This award honors an individual who has shown special support or made outstanding service contributions to one of the overseas centers (AIAR, CAARI), or to one of the overseas committees 鈥� the Baghdad Committee and the Damascus Committee. This award is given when such an individual is identified.

Awarded to听Nadia Bandak, Finance Manager at AIAR,听Hisham M鈥橣arreh, Chef and Kitchen Manager at AIAR, and听Photoulla Christodoulou, Housekeeper at CAARI. Nadia and Hisham are celebrating 30 years of service at AIAR, and Photoulla is retiring next year after nearly 40 years of service at CAARI.

The G. Ernest Wright Award. This award is given to the editor/author of the most substantial volume(s) dealing with archaeological material, excavation reports and material culture from the ancient Near East and eastern Mediterranean. This work must be the result of original research published within the past two years (one award is given annually).

Awarded to听Glenn M. Schwartz, Whiting Professor of Archaeology, Johns Hopkins University, for听, from Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press.

The Frank Moore Cross Award.听This award is presented to the author/editor of the most substantial volume(s) related to the history and/or religion of the ancient Near East and Eastern Mediterranean. Primary consideration will be given to historical, epigraphic, textual, and comparative literary studies; or to works that advance and/or evaluate new methodological approaches to the literary record(s). This work must be the result of original research published during the past two years (one award is given annually).

Awarded to听Karen Radner听(Alexander von Humboldt Chair of Ancient History of the Near and Middle East, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit盲t M眉nchen),听Nadine Moeller听(Professor of Egyptian Archaeology, Yale University),听and听D.T. Potts听(Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and History, ISAW, New York University), for editing the five-volume听, from Oxford University Press.

The Nancy Lapp Popular Book Award. This award is presented to the author/editor of a book published in the last two years that offers a new synthesis of archaeological or textual evidence intended to reach an audience of scholars as well as students and the broader public (one award is given annually).

Awarded to听Eckart Frahm, John M. Musser Professor of Assyriology, Yale University, for听, from Basic Books.

The Joy Ungerleider Poster Award. This award is conferred upon the author(s) of the poster presenting the results of a study about ancient Near Eastern societies in a clear, legible fashion using original graphic content. Subject matter may be based in archaeological sciences, history, anthropology, epigraphy, ethnography, heritage or other scholarly approaches to understanding ancient people in the areas covered by 17吃瓜(one award is given annually).

Awarded to听Helen C. Wong, University of Pennsylvania, and听Erin M. Brantmayer, University of Texas, Austin, for the poster: 鈥淭he Boundaries of Death: Outlining Mortuary Landscapes at Jebel Khalid.鈥�

Student Paper Award. This award is conferred upon the author(s) of a paper presented during the 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.

Awarded to听Nicole Constantine,听Stanford University, for her paper 鈥淢aterializing Ptolemaic Power: Ruler Cult and Festival in the Hellenistic Mediterranean鈥�.

Browse the News Archive

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Fieldwork Report: David Rhys Sharpe

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Collections Fellowship Report: Jennie Ebeling

Posted on December 2, 2024 by Marta Ostovich

2024 Study of Collections Fellowship Report

Jennie Ebeling, University of听Evansville

In recent decades, many archaeologists who research Bronze and Iron Age sites in the southern Levant have shifted their focus from investigating historical questions to asking more anthropological ones. Household archaeology approaches can be applied not only to ongoing excavation projects, but also to legacy collections, as has been demonstrated by studies that have utilized the rich artifact assemblages from Iron Age Tell en-Nasbeh (biblical Mizpah). William Frederic Bad猫 of the Pacific School of Religion (PSR) in Berkeley, CA directed excavations at Tell en-Nasbeh, Palestine for five seasons between 1926 and 1935 on behalf of PSR and 17吃瓜and brought some of the excavated artifacts to Berkeley through partage in the 1930s. While many of the artifacts in the collection have been published or made available through Open Context, some 150 ground stone artifacts in the Bad猫 Museum of Biblical Archaeology at PSR have never been assessed by a stone artifact specialist and published. In summer 2024, I was awarded an 17吃瓜Collections Fellowship to study the mortars, stone vessels, handstones, pestles, grinders, scrapers, weights, sling stones, and other stone artifacts in the collection to learn how this these artifacts can contribute to our understanding of daily life activities at Tell en-Nasbeh in the first half of the first millennium BCE.

During a ten-day research period in June 2024, I examined all of the ground stone artifacts kept in the Bad猫 Museum storeroom. In addition to assessing, measuring, sketching,and photographing each object, I searched the publications, photographs, and original field ledgers and artifact cards for all available documentation of them. While the collection primarily comprises small, complete objects 鈥搈ost of them handheld processors made of limestone, flint, and other materials available locally 鈥搒everal fragments of large and more specialized objects are among the assemblage along with artifacts made of basalt that were probably brought from Galilee or farther north. Particularly interesting is a small collection of tools made of scoria, a highly vesicular volcanic rock. While similar artifacts are known from other Iron Age sites in the region, their functions are not completely understood. One object was described as a 鈥渇oot scraper鈥� in McCown鈥檚听Tell en-Nasbeh I听apparently on the basis of ethnographic information: they 鈥渁re supposed to have been used to rub the thick and sometimes painful callouses from the soles of the peasant鈥檚 feet鈥� (1947: 250). Other artifacts were likely used in food processing and other activities. Ongoing research of this material will offer more insights into the function of household spaces at Tell en-Nasbeh during the Iron Age. I would like to thank Aaron Brody, Director of the Bad猫 Museum of Biblical Archaeology, for his help and encouragement and 17吃瓜for making this research possible.

ECS Poster and Student Paper Preparation Session

Cultural Heritage Committee Seeks New Members

Fieldwork Report: David Rhys Sharpe

FOA Webinar Panel: From Tunis to Tataouine

Fieldwork Report: Evelyn Patterson

Posted on November 4, 2024 by Marta Ostovich

Multi-Temporal Excavation with the Menorca Archaeological Project at the Site of Torre d鈥檈n Galm茅s, Menorca, Spain

Evelyn Patterson, 2024 Strange-Midkiff Scholarship Recipient

With the generous award of the Strange鈥揗idkiff Fieldwork Scholarship from 17吃瓜this summer, I was able to return for a second year of excavation with the听听at Torre d鈥檈n Galm茅s, Menorca, Spain. The MAP project is directed by Dr. Amalia P茅rez-Juez (Boston University), Dr. Alexander Smith (SUNY Brockport), and Dr. Kathleen Forste (Boston University), and involves the work of a team of truly spectacular people. Last summer, I received a Summer Undergraduate Research grant from SUNY Brockport to travel to Menorca and work with the MAP team for one month from June 15th to July 15th. During the following fall and spring semesters, I did independent research for an Honors College thesis based on an object found by the MAP team in 2021. I was thrilled to be invited back to excavate for another month this summer, and this fieldwork scholarship made that possible.

The Menorca Archaeological Project is primarily concerned with the investigation of the multi-temporal remains of Torre d鈥檈n Galm茅s, the largest preserved prehistoric site in the Spanish Balearic Islands. This site displays evidence of multiple periods of occupation and interaction, with an array of megalithic indigenous domestic structures dating to the Post-Talayotic or Late Iron Age (550-123 B.C.E.) and a series of later structures built during the Medieval Islamic period of occupation in the 12th and 13th centuries C.E. The stark contrast and interactions of the structures is fascinating and raises an interest in understanding the use and re-use of spaces and materials over time, and the shifting social structures of the populations that used them, both within the communities of Menorca itself and within the greater Mediterranean context.

Torre d鈥檈n Galm茅s, along with other sites around Menorca, is absolutely covered with the remains of limestone rubble from collapsed structures. This was the primary building material of the megalithic domestic and ritual spaces of the Bronze and Iron Age, and in the Medieval Period. The presence of all this stone means that excavation involves an incredible amount of rock-moving and trained eyes to see the remains of walls or features. This summer, the MAP team focused heavily on the task of clearing up the central patio and surrounding walls of Spatial Unit 7, a series of later Medieval period rooms which were constructed with the incorporation of rubble and remaining megalithic limestone rocks used in an earlier Post-Talayotic structure.

Even with a focus on defining the architecture, plenty of ceramic sherds were found as well, a substantial portion of which consisted of the remains of ceramic roof tiles, with some areas of preserved tile-falls and mortar. Other ceramic sherds appeared as repio, the fill used in the construction of the stone walls, and consisted of a mix of Post-Talayotic, Roman, Punic, Islamic, and other typologies of ceramics. In addition to excavation, our work this summer was concerned with lab work and data collection. I practiced taking spatial data points using a total station to outline features and interesting in situ finds, mark spots for phytolith and archaeobotanical sampling, set up new areas to excavate, and track the depth of our excavations. This is a skill I continued to use at another project, the Frost Town Archaeology field school, later in the summer, where I got to supervise students and teach them about archaeological techniques and collecting data. We also used this season to organize all the old finds from past seasons and input the information into an updated database. This was an insight into the reality of the meticulous process of documenting and photographing the collection to decide what needs to be kept physically, and what only needs to be kept digitally.

Returning to Menorca this summer also gave me a chance to revisit the basis of my thesis that I wrote for the SUNY Brockport Honors College, which was advised by Dr. Alexander Smith. Last summer in 2023, I was incredibly lucky to have left Menorca with an idea for my thesis, investigating interpretations of indigenous Post-Talayotic ritual objects. I spent both semesters of my senior year preparing my research and I was proudly able to present it at SUNY Brockport鈥檚鈥� Scholars Day on April 15th and at the Summer Undergraduate Research Conference at Suffolk Community College on April 26th. This summer I went back to the Museu de Menorca with clearer goals in mind of what objects and documents I wanted to see in order to further expand on my research in the future.

My involvement with the MAP team these past two summers has given me numerous insights and hands-on opportunities to explore my interests in the field. I am so grateful to the team for welcoming me and helping me to build my professional network in the field. I look forward to continuing my work with the team in future excavation seasons, and to exploring other projects. I extend my thanks to Mrs. Carolyn Midkiff-Strange and the Midkiff-Strange Fieldwork Scholarship, ASOR, the entire Menorca Archaeological Project team, the Museu de Menorca, and SUNY Brockport.

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