Membership and Outreach Committee Seeks New Members
The Membership and Outreach Committee seeks nominations (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 monthly meetings via Zoom and an in-person meeting at the 17吃瓜Annual Meeting each year. Nominees must fill out by October 16, 2026.
The Committee on Membership and Outreach takes responsibility for discussing matters regarding 17吃瓜institutional and individual memberships, including (but not limited to) strategies for membership growth, appropriate membership benefits, the most fitting way to categorize individual memberships (student, recent graduate, etc.), greater enfranchisement of ASOR鈥檚 international members, and resources that members might like 17吃瓜to provide. The committee also oversees ASOR鈥檚 outreach efforts. In addition, it advises the 17吃瓜staff about the presentation and content of several of ASOR鈥檚 digital platforms, including 17吃瓜social media, the 17吃瓜LinkedIn page, ASORTv, and ASOR鈥檚 e-magazine News@ASOR.
In order to receive full consideration by the committee, must be submitted by noon ET on October 16, 2026. For questions and concerns, please contact Laura Mazow, Committee Chair (mazowl@ecu.edu).
Learning My Colors: Excavations and Pigment Analysis at Idalion, Cyprus
Ella Hattem, 2026 Platt Fieldwork Scholarship Recipient
This summer I returned to Idalion, Cyprus, as a first-time staff member, having been a volunteer during the 2025 season. I was very excited to take on more responsibility at such an exciting site and to work with the amazing friends I made this season and last. I spent most mornings in the field, where we were excavating baulks in the Eastern Terrace. At the same time, I was conducting my own project to investigate the pigments used on painted objects that had been found at the site. This included eleven registered objects that are kept at the Cyprus Museum, and several more from the site apotheke. After looking at close to thirty potential objects, I selected five for further analysis. The objects I studied primarily consisted of terracotta figurines and limestone sculpture fragments.
Dinner with other members of the project in Nicosia. From left to right: Liam, myself, Victoria, Cedar, and Traci.
After visual examination, I utilized Visible-Induced Luminescence (VIL) to detect and identify Egyptian blue, followed by portable X-Ray Fluorescence (pXRF) to characterize the applied pigments for all selected objects. As a final stage of analysis, we conducted Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy on two objects鈥攐ne from the museum, andanother from the apotheke. I worked closely with the STARC lab at the Cyprus Institute, which provided both equipment and expertise to perform the pXRF and FTIR analysis. Unlike objects permanently kept at the Cyprus Museum, I was able to bring objects from the apotheke directly to the lab for analysis. I am incredibly appreciative to have been able to work with and learn from the wonderful Cyprus Institute staff. I learned a lot about technical analysis and gained meaningful experience in applying these methods to the questions I’m asking about resource use and artistic practice at Idalion, as well as its relationship with the rest of Cyprus.
As is often the case, all aspects of the work became more intense as the season progressed鈥攏ecessitating more time in the field for all of us, as well as demanding I spend more time on my own project. While it meant balancing my responsibilities in the field with my pigment analysis project, I found it incredibly rewarding to get to engage in so many aspects of archaeological research at the same time, as well as to work with students while still learning myself. I really enjoyed getting to excavate at the same time as conducting rigorous object analysis, and I believed it made my work stronger and better contextualized in all aspects.听
In the field, wrapping up for the day.
During the last week of the field season, one day for me looked like this:
Having already photographed and done VIL and pXRF analysis on all of the Cyprus Museum objects, I spent one final morning in the museum. Typically I would leave Nicosia with the rest of the team at 5:00 am to reach the site, about half an hour away, as the sun was rising. I would then spend the next few hours working on my assigned baulk, either alone or with a student. On the mornings I spent in the museum, however, I was able to begin work at 9:00 am.
Working at my baulk
On this particular morning, the last that I would spend at the museum, I brought a 3D scanner with me. Earlier in the season, I had worked with Andreas Manoli and Pengxiao Hao to perform the pXRF analysis. On this day, we just had one FTIR point to take on a particularly puzzling object. After we concluded the analysis, I remained at the museum by myself for a few more hours to scan and generate 3D models of the eleven museum objects.
By the time I was finished at the museum, morning fieldwork had concluded. I grabbed lunch near Ledra Street and arrived back to the hotel for siesta a little after the rest of the team. I usually took this time to rest or do some light work, such as updating my spreadsheet where I tracked each step of examination for the objects. Earlier in the season, I used the siesta to work on a presentation for the field school students on the scientific techniques and methodology I was using for the project.
pXRF analysis on one of the objects at the Cyprus Museum.
Just before the end of siesta, as I did every day, I stopped by a nearby cafe to grab a delicious Cypriot freddo cappuccino before we all returned to the dig house in Dali for afternoon lab work. On most days, I would use this time to draw a new top plan and update our digital recording software with notes and photos from that morning鈥檚 excavation. As I had already done so for the previous days鈥� progress, I spent the afternoon going through the data I had just collected. Meanwhile, the students were sorting the pottery from the previous day, now washed and dried, to be read. Once they were done and the pottery was being analyzed, I stayed close so that I could provide the requisite information when it was time for my trench鈥檚 pottery.
Once it had cooled back down, I returned to the field with the rest of the team for evening work, which typically consisted of lighter tasks than in the morning, such as cleaning or articulation to prepare for photogrammetry. Once we were done, we went back to the house for dinner, then drove to our hotel in Nicosia.
The Cyprus Museum garden.
Ella Hattem is an M.A. student in Archaeological Studies at Yale University. Aside from Idalion, she has also participated in the Iklaina and Keros projects in Greece. She is interested in ancient pigments and paintings and the implementation of scientific methodologies to understand artistic practice in the eastern Mediterranean.
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!
The Trustee Nominations Committee announces an open call for nominations and self nominations for the 17吃瓜Board of Trustees (Class of 2029). Trustees will serve a three-year term, starting January 1, 2027. There are three primary responsibilities of the members of the Board of Trustees:
Governance: Being aware of issues brought forward to the Board, attending two meetings per year (at your own expense), and bringing issues of concern to the Board.
Fundraising and financial management: Leading in development by thinking of new opportunities, leading in giving, and providing oversight on the audited financial statements. We ask that individual trustees aspire to contribute $500 or more annually.
Strategic planning and policy development: Leading especially in measures that accord with .
We anticipate two openings for Membership-Elected Trustees. Any full 17吃瓜member may be considered for nomination as an Membership-Elected Trustee. If there is someone that you would like the committee to consider鈥攊ncluding yourself鈥攑lease send the person鈥檚 name and email address to in the 17吃瓜office. Please check with the nominee as to whether they are interested in serving on the 17吃瓜Board of Trustees before sending in their name. If you have any questions about the responsibilities and satisfactions of being a board member, please Chair of the Trustee Nominations Committee.
The 17吃瓜office, or a representative from the Nominations Committee, will contact all nominees to describe the responsibilities in greater detail, and to make sure that the nominee is willing to have his or her name discussed by the Trustee Nominations Committee. Please note that nominees will need to submit a brief biography and a mission (or vision) statement for what they would like to accomplish as a trustee to be considered by the Nominations Committee. A sample of these statements can be found in last year鈥檚 鈥�Meet Your Board Nominees鈥� webpage. Brief biographies and mission statements should be ca. 200 words each and submitted via e-mail to by noon EDT on Monday, September 21, 2026.
After receiving the names of nominees, the Nominations Committee will vote on which individuals will stand for election, and the election will take place by electronic ballot over four consecutive weeks in October and November. 17吃瓜is once again conducting online voting to ensure that more of our members are able to participate in this important process. The 17吃瓜office will work with any person who is not able to complete an electronic ballot to ensure that everyone is included.
Position Announcement: Director, Albright Institute of Archaeological Research
The in East Jerusalem, an ASOR-Affiliated Overseas Research Center, invites applications for the position of Dorot Director. The Director serves as chief executive officer of the Institute, overseeing operations, financial strategy, academic programming, development, and institutional relationships with local academic, cultural, diplomatic and governmental institutions.
Candidates should hold a graduate degree, have familiarity with the region, and demonstrate leadership in Near Eastern studies or a related field (such as but not limited to archaeology, anthropology, biblical studies, history, museology, religious studies), along with experience in fundraising and institutional administration. The appointment is for up to five years, and includes a renovated three-bedroom Director’s residence on the AIAR campus.
Applications (letter, CV, and three references) are due 1 September 2026, though review will continue until the position is filled. More details and the application portal can be found here:
Please submit inquiries to the search committee chair, Prof. Eric H. Cline (ehcline@email.gwu.edu).
Currently, 150 projects are affiliated with ASOR. This includes 114 field projects and 36 publication projects. Six new projects have received 17吃瓜affiliation since last summer. Read more about these new ASOR-affiliated projects below.
CAP is continuing to review many applications for affiliation. Stay tuned in the coming months on more newly-affiliated projects!
North Sinai, Egypt (Eva Amanda Calomino, Agustina Scaro)听
The Tell el-Ghaba Mission is an archaeological project supported by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. It seeks to enhance our understanding of the history and archaeology of the North Sinai and Eastern Delta regions of ancient Egypt. Since 1995, we have been engaged in the archaeological recovery of the Tell el-Ghaba site. We study the materials and structures uncovered during excavations, dedicate ourselves to their conservation, and disseminate the results.This work is of great significance, as it provides insights into lesser-known aspects of Egypt鈥檚 past, including the daily lives of its inhabitants and the strategic role this site played on the eastern frontier of the Egyptian state. The area is crucial for both land and maritime trade, linking Egypt with the Levant and the broader Mediterranean region. Our mission also strives to safeguard this heritage, which is situated in a complex and vulnerable area facing numerous conservation challenges.
, Israel (Ido Koch, Jim Parker)
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Photo by Omer Ze鈥檈vi-Berger, Tel Hadid Archaeological Project
Tel 岣did is a prominent archaeological mound in central Israel overlooking the coastal plain and the Ayalon Valley, along major routes connecting the Mediterranean coast with the inland highlands. The site preserves remains from multiple periods, with particularly substantial occupation during the Iron Age, the Hellenistic, Byzantine, and Modern periods. The Tel 岣did Archaeological Project is an Israeli鈥揂merican collaboration led by Tel Aviv University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS). Fieldwork follows rigorous scientific standards, integrating excavation, environmental sampling, and interdisciplinary analyses. Each field season includes the participation of trained supervisors and specialists who assist with the excavation and analysis of ecofacts.
All finds are processed, conserved, and curated at Tel Aviv University, where ceramics and organic materials are treated in the university鈥檚 conservation laboratory to ensure their long-term preservation and accessibility for research. The project is committed to the responsible stewardship of the archaeological record and fully opposes the illicit trade in antiquities. The project also serves as a field school that trains undergraduate and graduate students in archaeological field methods and interdisciplinary research. Particular emphasis is placed on the study of the recent past, including the documentation of the modern village of al-Haditha and other later remains at the site. The project further promotes public engagement through outreach activities and educational tours, and is committed to the timely publication and dissemination of its results.
, Italy (Elizabeth A. Murphy)
The Landscape Archaeology of Southwest Sardinia Project is an international and multi-disciplinary project conducting a diachronic archaeological landscape study of the Sulcis region of Southwest Sardinia. The Project is particularly interested in bringing to light evidence of everyday life and in identifying settlement patterns and activity areas in order to better understand rural communities in this agriculturally fertile and mineralogically rich region over time. Such research is particularly fruitful due to the region’s complex history. Repeatedly incorporated into and then disarticulated from larger political and economic structures (from Late Bronze Age and Iron Age Mediterranean systems, via the empires of Carthage and Rome, to the Byzantine reconquest, the reorganization under the judicate and subsequent European kingdoms, and finally under the Italian state), this region of southwest Sardinia provides an ideal context in which to study the influence of changing political structures on local economic practices and social organization. Thus, the results of the LASS Project serve to balance large-scale historical narratives about the island and its position in the wider Mediterranean world with the lived experiences of local rural communities.
Kom Firin Archaeological Project (KFAP), Egypt (Luiza Osorio G. Silva, Oren Siegel)
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Remains of enclosure walls at Kom Firin, eastern mound (photo by Oren Siegel)
The Kom Firin Archaeological Project (KFAP), started in 2025 by Luiza Osorio G. Silva (University of California, Irvine) and Oren Siegel (University of Toronto), aims to build upon excavations conducted at the site by the British Museum from 2002鈥�2011. Those excavations focused on investigating the remains of a fortified settlement built in the Ramesside period (New Kingdom) and a Late Period town, and established the site鈥檚 chronology. Kom Firin has enormous potential to illuminate the transition from the New Kingdom to the Third Intermediate Period, an understudied era. Around 1,500 years of near continuous occupation are preserved above the relatively low water table at the site, and KFAP seeks to focus its investigations on the sizable western occupation outside the fortified town to explore intersections between the state and the broader Egyptian population in these periods. The aim of our first season in 2026 is exploratory, primarily to survey and document the site and identify future targets for excavation, with a focus on this portion of the settlement mound. We work in close collaboration with the local inspectorate and the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to preserve the ancient remains, as well as the local facilities and infrastructure.
, Israel (Omer Sergi, Karen Covello-Paran, William Schniedewind, Joachim Krause, Hannes Bezzel)
Staff members of the Tel Shaddud Archaeological Project
This project marks the beginning of a new and exciting journey into the heart of the Jezreel Valley. Our mission is to delve into the valley鈥檚 ancient history, to reconstruct its social fabric and rural hinterland across the millennia. We aim to clarify the nature of Egyptian imperial rule in the region and gain groundbreaking insights into the origins and formation of early monarchic Israel. We are not just digging a site; we are building a team. As we grow our expedition, we are thrilled to have you join us in the field to help bring these 鈥渂ig stories to light.鈥�
Please e-mail听the Membership office if you have any questions.
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Until recently, Assyriologists have been mostly unaware of the existence of prescriptive cuneiform law as early as in the Early Dynastic period. A deeper inquiry into the so-called chancery texts from Ebla has allowed Massimo Maiocchi and the present authors to independently conclude that compendia of prescriptive legal provisions, in their typology broadly identical to such well-known later codes as the Laws of Hammurabi, were produced (and, in all probability, implemented) in northwestern Syria as early as the latter third of the third millennium BCE (that is, ca. two hundred years before the Laws of Ur-Namma, the earliest known Mesopotamian specimen of the kind). In the present article, a detailed annotated reedition of a key source representing this text type鈥攁 collection of (mostly penal) stipulations embedded in the context of a treaty between Ebla and Mari鈥攊s proposed, with a special focus on the striking commonalities uniting ARET 16: 30 with the later Mesopotamian, Anatolian, and biblical legal codes.
17吃瓜Members with online access: log into ASOR鈥檚 Online Portal . Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found .
In this contribution, we critically examine the claim that the Assyrian King List (AKL) reliably contains all Neo-Assyrian monarchs up to Shalmaneser V, presenting three historical scenarios in which it can be demonstrated that short-lived Assyrian kings ruled parallel to or between those listed in the AKL鈥檚 first-millennium BCE portion. The first of these is a new rebel king Tiglath-pileser who rose up against his nephew A拧拧ur-d膩n III in 763 BCE (most likely in the wake of a dramatic solar eclipse) and was enthroned in A拧拧ur, before being toppled again by A拧拧ur-d膩n III鈥檚 forces. The second is a new Shalmaneser who we assume succeeded A拧拧ur-n膩r膩r墨 V to the Assyrian throne late in 747 BCE but lost his throne to Tiglath-pileser III a little more than a year later in 745 BCE. The third is earlier in date, a short-lived A拧拧ur-uballi峁� whose reign was usurped by Adad-n膩r膩r墨 II in 912* BCE. Each king was enthroned at A拧拧ur, and enjoyed support from some, if not all of Assyria, but was subsequently defeated or deposed. Evidence of the partial erasure of two of these kings from the historical record can be identified. The new insights thus gained into the cutthroat Assyrian 鈥済ame of thrones鈥� demonstrate that the AKL is not a reliable list of all Neo-Assyrian rulers, but rather of those who reigned long and successfully enough to be included by its editors in an idealized, consecutive order. This reframes our perspective on the motivations behind the compilation of this remarkable text, and the nature of Assyrian kingship itself.
17吃瓜Members with online access: log into ASOR鈥檚 Online Portal . Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found .
The article presents an edition of a previously unpublished Old Babylonian tablet in the collection of the Kramer Institute of Assyriology of Bar Ilan University. The tablet contains three Sumerian compositions: Ninisina鈥檚 Journey to Nippur (Ninisina C), a hymn to Damu, and a hymn to An with wishes for 艩u-ili拧u (艩u-ili拧u B). Besides the philological edition, the article deals with formal features on the tablet such as subscripts, as well as with the possible reason(s) for grouping the three compositions together on one tablet.
17吃瓜Members with online access: log into ASOR鈥檚 Online Portal . Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found .
This article offers the first edition of the Hittite ritual composition cataloged as n. 442 in the Catalogue des Textes Hittites. The text is preserved on three fragments, with the best-preserved fragment represented by KUB 9.28. The synoptic edition of all manuscripts is introduced by a paleographic analysis and followed by a systematic commentary on all relevant grammatical and linguistic features. The structure and content of the ritual are examined in the broader framework represented by the Hittite ritual tradition of Hurrian origin. The paleography of the tablets, along with the presence of specific elements found also in the ritual of Ammi岣玜tna and in the itkalzi ritual, bring us to interpret the document as a late fourteenth century scribal product that reworks ritual traditions likely dating to the time of King Tut岣玜liya II/III.
17吃瓜Members with online access: log into ASOR鈥檚 Online Portal . Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found .
This article presents the first edition of a Neo-Babylonian cuneiform tablet containing a Sumerian Sa臐-ba incantation with an interlinear Akkadian translation. The purpose of the incantation was to strengthen an apotropaic design made of flour paste to keep demons away from the bed or house of a patient. It was utilized in a variety of different ritual settings. The tablet鈥檚 relationship to other known Sa臐-ba manuscripts is examined, and a Sippar provenience in the sixth century BCE or later is suggested based on paleographic and textual evidence.
17吃瓜Members with online access: log into ASOR鈥檚 Online Portal . Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found .
The present article publishes a remarkable school text housed in the Iraq Museum, likely originating from Sargonic Adab. The text, conical in shape, contains a list of fields, each measuring 1 iku, associated with a compilation of ad hoc personal names and unexpected terms. This study discusses the text鈥檚 content, origin, date, paleography, and its unusual names or expressions.
17吃瓜Members with online access: log into ASOR鈥檚 Online Portal . Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found .
The present contribution offers the edition of eight texts from the Ur III period that were confiscated by the Iraqi authorities and subsequently entrusted to the Iraq Museum. These tablets, believed to have originated from royal archives, provide insights into economic activities of royal concern in peripheral areas or within the hinterland of the state鈥檚 core. Thereby, they contribute to adding new pieces to the puzzle of our understanding of the economy and society of the Ur III state, beyond the provincial perspective that has traditionally shaped our understanding of the period.
17吃瓜Members with online access: log into ASOR鈥檚 Online Portal . Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found .
This article presents a new edition of the ritual Tablet of the ritual and incantation series 艩urpu (鈥淏urning鈥�), based on a newly identified manuscript, BM 38656, which supplements and significantly extends the previously unique exemplar VAT 13613. The new fragment preserves much of the Tablet鈥檚 lost second half, clarifies numerous damaged passages, and restores the conclusion of the ritual, including additional incantation incipits and ritual instructions. Together, the two manuscripts reveal the stable transmission of the ritual Tablet for the 伪 version of 艩urpu, and confirm that an entire stage of associated incantations鈥攐mitted in modern editions鈥攆ormed part of the ceremony. This study refines the structure, sequence, and performance of 艩urpu, contributes improved readings throughout, and provides a more secure textual basis for understanding first-millennium ritual practice.
17吃瓜Members with online access: log into ASOR鈥檚 Online Portal . Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found .
CT 15: 5鈥�6, an Old Babylonian tablet of unknown provenience, tells of the origins of I拧um, the divine night watchman: Ninlil bore him to her grandson 艩ama拧, set him on fire, and left him in the street. We learn of these events from words that I拧tar, whom we find fostering the newborn in Ekur, addresses to Enlil. First, this article proposes that Ninlil鈥檚 setting alight of I拧um and his subsequent fostering by I拧tar serve as a native Babylonian explanation for the long-since noted similarity between the name I拧um and the word 颈拧腻迟耻尘, 鈥渇ire鈥�: I拧tar, finding a baby on fire, named him after fire itself. Second, the article defends its preference for translating the key verbal form 耻拧迟腻岣玦锄尘补 as 鈥渟et ablaze.鈥� Third, it argues that CT 15: 5鈥�6 reflects a Mesopotamian, and more broadly ancient Near Eastern, motif of a young woman rescuing and naming a foundling. Fourth, it highlights the perennial difficulty of ascertaining the social reality underlying sources pertaining to Mesopotamian foundlings. And fifth, it reanalyzes Emar 256, an administrative document reflecting that difficulty.
17吃瓜Members with online access: log into ASOR鈥檚 Online Portal . Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found .
This article presents a new manuscript of the Sumerian literary composition 鈥淓nki鈥檚 Journey to Nibru,鈥� housed in the collection of the Mus茅es royaux d鈥橝rt et d鈥橦istoire, Brussels. MRAH O.343 is a two-column, Type I Old Babylonian tablet of uncertain provenance, preserving the complete text of the composition in 127 lines. The colophon permits its dating to the twenty-seventh year of 岣猘mmur膩pi. Analysis of scribal errors suggests that MRAH O.343 was copied from memory. Based on this manuscript, the obscure line 68a of the composition can now be restored with certainty.
17吃瓜Members with online access: log into ASOR鈥檚 Online Portal . Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found .
For 125 years, 17吃瓜has relied on members and donors who believe our work should outlast anyone of us. A planned gift鈥攖hrough your estate, a retirement account, or another long-term vehicle鈥攊s how you ensure the next generation of scholars inherits a thriving organization. The options below range from simple beneficiary designations that take a few minutes to gifts that may also offer significant tax advantages, and any of them can be directed to the area of ASOR鈥檚 work that matters most to you.
Include 17吃瓜in your estate plan (Legacy Circle)
Naming 17吃瓜in your will or living trust is the most flexible way to make a planned gift. A bequest听doesn鈥�t听affect your assets during your lifetime, can be any amount or percentage of your estate, and can be听designated听to ASOR鈥檚听general use听or to a specific fund or endowment. Members who have made this commitment join ASOR鈥檚 Legacy Circle and are recognized in our communications.听
Name 17吃瓜as a beneficiary of your retirement account
Naming 17吃瓜as a beneficiary of a retirement account (401k, 403b, IRA, or similar) is one of the simplest planned gifts to make鈥攊t usually takes a few minutes and can be done at any age. Request a change-of-beneficiary form from your plan administrator and name the American Society of Overseas Research (Tax ID 23-1352617) as a beneficiary for whatever percentage or dollar amount feels right. Many donors begin with a 1% designation. Beneficiary gifts often reduce the tax burden on your heirs, since retirement-account assets passed to individuals can be taxed heavily, while gifts to 17吃瓜pass tax-free.听
Make a tax-free gift from your retirement account (QCDs)
If you are 70陆 or older, you can transfer up to $111,000 per year directly from your IRA to 17吃瓜as a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD). A QCD:听
Counts toward your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) for the year.听
Eliminates听federal income tax on the withdrawal (unlike a regular IRA distribution, which can be taxed at up to 37%).听
Can be directed to the Fund for ASOR, the Annual Fund, or any named endowment, scholarship, or program.听
May reduce future-year RMDs depending on your level of annual QCDs.听
听
To make a QCD, contact your IRA administrator and request a direct distribution to the American Society of Overseas Research (Tax ID 23-1352617).听
Other ways to leave a legacy
17吃瓜also accepts gifts of life insurance (naming 17吃瓜as a beneficiary or owner of a policy), charitable听remainder听trusts, charitable gift annuities, and gifts of appreciated stock or other assets. Each can be structured to fit your financial goals and timeline, and many offer immediate or deferred tax benefits. Our development team is happy to talk through the options.听
Click here for the Fiscal Year 2026 Honor Roll of Donors
Early Career Scholars Poster Abstract Writing Session
Preparing a Poster Abstract
Join ASOR’s Early Career Scholars on July 20, 2026 at 11:00am ET via Zoom for a virtual writing session on preparing a poster abstract for the 2026 Annual Meeting.
Are you thinking about submitting a poster to the 2026 17吃瓜Annual Meeting? Drop into our 鈥淧reparing a Poster鈥� sessions this summer and fall. Over the span of two sessions, we will discuss how to effectively present your research in a poster format.
鈥淧reparing a Poster Abstract鈥� is our first session, designed to support all 17吃瓜members through conceptualizing, proposing, composing and presenting a poster for the 17吃瓜Annual Meeting.
The first session will focus on: (1) Conceptualizing your research and results for a poster format and (2) Composing and submitting an effective poster abstract. We will review the 17吃瓜Annual meeting submission system and share examples of posters from previous meetings.
The second session, 鈥淧reparing a Poster,鈥� will take place in Fall 2026 focusing on effective poster composition and presentation.
We are here to answer your questions and hope to see you in one or both sessions.
The event is FREE for the 17吃瓜community, but registration is required.
As we move into the summer months with time for our excavations, research and relaxation, I wanted to bring you some updates on what is going on, as our committees have been hard at work.
The Taskforce on the Revision of the Code of Professional Conduct has paused its meetings for the summer. As a reminder, the Code was last approved by the Board in 2015 and amended in 2019. Since then, it has become clear that we need to provide clearer guidance to committees and our membership on complicated issues, in a manner that would be consistent with our new Strategic Plan and our Values Statement. The Taskforce, which is comprised of researchers from various areas where we work and have overseas members, have discussed a rough draft of two sections of the current Code: III.A Education and III.B Stewardship. Some of the work was reorganizing these sections of the document, some was trying to move to more positive language about what 17吃瓜members should and could do to fulfill the Strategic Plan, especially 鈥淎SOR鈥檚 place in the world鈥�, by supporting high-quality academic research, cultivating partnerships in our educational and outreach efforts and in our combined efforts to protect cultural heritage. As the Taskforce discussed section III.B Stewardship, we took our first pass at discussing the complex issues of how we should approach site protection, artifact storage and data management; how we study archaeological heritage and cultural heritage especially in areas of open conflict; and how we respond to the problem of looting. It is very clear that our discussions need to be grounded in the knowledge of current international law and conventions, so that will be the focus of our first fall meeting(s). But it is also very clear that the process of updating the Code will need time, thought, and lots of discussion, which I hope you will join.
In case you haven鈥檛 heard, ASOR鈥檚 Committee on Archaeological Policies (CAP) was able to award $128,000 鈥� thanks to generous donors from our membership 鈥� to 46 people who applied for excavation scholarships, project grants or research fellowships. We understand in the era of rising airline costs that these scholarships are important means of augmenting other research funds. Please reflect on whether you are able to help, especially younger scholars who need ASOR鈥檚 support!
The awardees will be working in a variety of areas of ASOR鈥檚 remit: Iraq, Greece, Tunisia, Egypt, Spain, Cyprus, T眉rkiye, Kurdistan, Jordan, Armenia, and Chicago and Philadelphia (on legacy records), as well as to ASOR-affiliated excavations.
Judging from the preliminary schedule of the 2026 Annual Meeting developed by the Program Committee, there will be a panel for your interests, whether you are a teacher of K-12 or in higher ed; interested in cultural heritage issues; interested in new technologies (I am looking forward to 鈥淗ow to Prepare for when Disaster Strikes鈥�); or if you want to catch up on the latest research in the Bronze Age, Iron Age, different materials, or various regions where 17吃瓜members excavate and research 鈥� this is just a meager mention of the riches that will be available in Chicago, or if you prefer, online. I will be working with the Program Committee to set aside a time and place for an informal place for you, ASOR鈥檚 officers and other interested Board members to meet and talk. I hope you can stop by!
A number of members and friends of 17吃瓜just came back from a trip to Cyprus, where we were treated to site visits led by directors of ASOR-sponsored excavations. These visits were a real highlight of the tour, culminating in a delightful dinner at CAARI, hosted by Lindy Crewe, where we got to relax and spend time talking with CAARI staff, fellows and our archaeologist friends working in Cyprus.
Olivia Spink, 2025 Eric and Carol Meyers Fieldwork Scholarship Recipient
I had the privilege and pleasure of attending the Tell Timai International Training Program this July in Egypt. I am so thankful to 17吃瓜and Profs. Eric and Carol Meyers for making this dream a reality. Tell Timai or ancient Thmuis is situated in the Nile Delta, about two hours from Cairo. The site is a town that mostly dates to the Greco-Roman Period. While this was not a typical excavation season, the lectures, workshops, field trips, and training sessions working with Egyptian, American, British, and Australian colleagues was an unforgettable, unique, and informative experience. In this report, I will recount several aspects of the Program and reflect upon the skills learned experiences that ultimately armed me with not only archaeological skills applicable to my career but also with an amplified enthusiasm and drive to focus more on Egyptian archaeology in my graduate studies.
After all team members had arrived in Cairo, we spent a day in the city and our learning began immediately. After an early morning trip to see the Pyramids in Giza, we had the opportunity to visit the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) where we went on a guided tour of the Center and gained insight into their digital archival process. Following the visit, we attended a lecture on 19th century cultural heritage in Luxor by Sylvie Weens at the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo.
We soon departed Cairo and headed to the dig house, which was about 2 hours from the city. Once everyone was settled, we wasted no time in beginning training. Egyptian classical archaeology professor Dr. Mohamed Abouarab from Kafr El Sheikh University presented an introduction to archaeology lecture. After the lecture, we had our first fieldwork training session. Using the floor as a mock trench, with rocks and features included, we were guided through making plan drawings. Over the next few days, we had lectures on all things Timai 鈥� history, history of excavations, recent finds, technologies used, and more 鈥� delivered by project co-director Dr. JaySilverstein from Nottingham Trent University.
One of the most notable elements of the history of Timai was its destruction in the early second century BC. The destruction layer revealed evidence of widespread burning, the sudden abandonment of dwellings, the destruction of a kiln complex, the presence of weapons like arrowheads alongside numerous unburied human remains across North Tell Timai that indicate that the city of Thmouis was destroyed violently. The pattern of destruction at Timai closely resembles accounts of the destruction of Lycopolis, a city in the Busiris nome also in the Nile Delta, during the Great Revolt, which was recorded on the Rosetta Stone in 196 BC.
One particularly fascinating find was the remains of a male human body inside a kiln. The team at Timai has agreed that the body was of a man who went into hiding in a kiln to escape the violence and was then killed while he was inside of the kiln. Osteological evidence has revealed that the man was a warrior and was wounded in the armin a previous battle as shown by the healed callous fusing together his radius and ulna. However, they have also concluded that this man was also fighting in this 鈥渄estruction layer鈥檚鈥� episode of battle, as evidenced by an unhealed fracture in his radius consistent with the ancient combat defensive parry fracture of the 鈥渟hield arm.鈥� (Silverstein and Littman 2022).
The next week, we were joined by ceramic specialist Dr. Amany Shabaan, who delivered several lectures on ceramics at Timai and also in general, everything from what to do when we find a sherd in the field through digital pottery drawing. She also helped us through workshops on sherd identification and hand pottery drawing. I have experience with sorting and cataloguing pottery, but I did not have experience with pottery drawing, which was a skill that is needed to work on the pottery team at many excavations. These training sessions learning ceramic archaeological skills were my favorite workshops! Moving from ceramecology to Zooarchaeology, we also examined a camel skeleton and a horse skeleton, both of which I had never seen before.
Later in the session, we also visited our Egyptian colleagues at their university museum, the Kafr El Sheikh Museum and attended a lecture outlining the contents of the exhibit, which was fantastic and traced the theme of a horseman killing a monster, which also signals the victory of good over evil. The early Egyptian examples include Horus killing his uncle Seth on horseback, a theme that can be seen also in later Christian examples depicting a Saint killing a monster. During my undergrad at New York University, I completed a project exploring iconographic representation of generational succession myths on the Archaic Athenian Acropolis, specifically the Hekatompedon. My project proposes that the Greeks took its inspiration from the Ancient Near East who also tended to portray their succession myths in art as well, but earlier. When I continue this research, I will absolutely include the Egyptian examples of Horus contending Seth that were exhibited at the Kafr El Sheikh Museum.
To conclude, I will mention a few of the most relevant sites and cultural trips that we went on during the Training Period; firstly, our trip to Luxor. In addition to seeing sites like theValley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, Karnak and Luxor temple, we met with Rais Mahmood, who was an important directing archaeologist at Karnak Temple. We met him in his family home for tea and mango juice and heard about his incredible experiences and accomplishments. He graciously invited us over again the next day to have lunch. We had koshari, which is a staple of Egyptian cuisine and might be my new favorite food. He also showed us how ancient Egyptians moved blocks of stone. Later onin the day, he walked us through Luxor Temple. Thank you to Rais Mahmood and the entire Farouk family for bringing us into their home and treating our team like family.
The last days of the program were spent in Alexandria, which was the perfect end to weeks spent learning about the Greco-Roman period of Timai. Arriving at the Archaeology Museum of Alexandria, I anxiously awaited my first glimpse at the pi猫ce de r茅sistance, arguably the most famous piece uncovered in the history of excavations at Timai: the mosaic of Ptolemaic queen Arsinoe II with the ship on her head as the personification of the city of Alexandria. Dr. Jay Silverstein led us through several rooms that had artifacts from Timai, including the aforementioned mosaic. He pointed out severalinaccuracies in the labels and exhibition signage in relation to Timai throughout the museum. Ideas about what sources and authorities to trust were discussed amongst the group. Regardless, it was a privilege to see the pieces in such a renowned museum. While leading us through the museum, Dr. Jay reminded us of next year鈥檚 excavation plans and told us to stay tuned, and it was at that moment that I was convinced that I wanted to return to Timai to excavate next summer.
My experience at the Tell Timai International Training Program was nothing short of spectacular. This program not only strengthened my archaeological skills in areas such as site plan drawing and pottery illustration but also invigorated my academic focus, fueling a renewed passion for Egyptian archaeology that I will carry forward into my graduate research at Cornell University in the MA program in Archaeology. I leave with a clearer vision, strengthened skills, lasting connections, and an eagerness to join the next excavation season (inshaallah). My deepest gratitude goes to the Tell Timai team, ASOR, and Profs. Eric and Carol Meyers.
Olivia Spink is currently pursuing her MA in Archaeology at Cornell’s Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies.
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The in East Jerusalem, an ASOR-Affiliated Overseas Research Center, invites applications for the position of Dorot Director. The Director serves as chief executive officer of the Institute, overseeing operations, financial strategy, academic programming, development, and institutional relationships with local academic, cultural, diplomatic and governmental institutions.
