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Table of Contents for BASOR 388 (November 2022)

Posted on November 29, 2022 by Felice Herman

Table of Contents for听Bulletin of ASOR听388 (November 2022)

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Pp. 1鈥�29: 鈥淩ecent Discoveries of BE Arrowheads and Joppa Coins in the Eastern Desert of Egypt: In the Footsteps of the Ptolemaic Army,鈥� by听B茅rang猫re Redon and Thomas Faucher

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The article presents recent discoveries made by the French Archaeological Mission to the Eastern Desert of Egypt in two Ptolemaic forts occupied in the second half of the 3rd century b.c., Bir Samut and Abbad, located along the road leading from Edfu to Berenike on the Red Sea Coast at the southern fringes of the Ptolemaic Empire. These artifacts, three copper-alloy arrowheads marked with the monogram BE and four Ptolemaic coins minted in Joppa, were recovered in contexts securely dated to the last decades of the 3rd century b.c. Due to the sealed stratigraphy and the discovery of thousands of ostraca and dozens of coins in the same deposits, it is clear that the forts and these objects were abandoned on the eve of the Great Theban Revolt in Egypt, around 207鈥�206 b.c. These discoveries offer an occasion to reassess the corpus of similar arrowheads and coins found in the Eastern Mediterranean. The catalog presented here includes 45 BE arrowheads and 18 Joppa coins and a careful reassessment of the corpus suggests that they were probably produced by the Ptolemaic regime in direct association with the Fourth Syrian War, which ended with the Battle of Raphia in 217 b.c. The geographic distribution of the arrowheads and coins discussed in the article demonstrates the mobility of the Ptolemaic troops after this intense period of conflict.

17吃瓜Members with online access: log into ASOR鈥檚 Online Portal听. Once logged in, click the JOURNALS tab in the top navigation bar. From here you may select which journal you would like to read. If you have online access, you will see your selected journal鈥檚 current issue Table of Contents. Click on the 鈥淐urrent Issue鈥� button and you will then be redirected to the University of Chicago Press鈥檚 (UCP) platform to immediately start reading any issue of your choice. Tutorials for how to log in to the Online Portal as well as how to navigate to the Portal Journals page can be found听here.

Pp. 31鈥�49:听鈥淭wo Iron Age Alphabetic Inscriptions from Tell e峁�-峁⒚i/Gath, Israel,鈥� by Esther Eshel, Tania Notarius, Amit Dagan, Maria Eniukhina, Vanessa Workman, and Aren M. Maeir

This paper presents two brief alphabetic inscriptions from Area D in the lower city of Tell e峁�-峁⒚i/Gath, both deriving from Iron Age IIA contexts. The first is written in an Early Alphabetic script similar to an inscription previously published from the site (Maeir et al. 2008) and is interpreted as being related to the storage of wine. The second, written in later, 鈥渇ormalized鈥� alphabetic script, is quite fragmentary and difficult to decipher, for which several possible interpretations are suggested. These two new inscriptions join the relatively large number of alphabetic inscriptions from Tell e峁�-峁⒚i/Gath, second only in number to contemporaneous Tel Rehov, and provide additional evidence to the outstanding role of the site during the early Iron Age.

Pp. 51鈥�72:听鈥淧ost-Destruction Squatter Phases in the Iron Age IIB鈥揅 Southern Levant,鈥� by听Eli Itkin

The destructions caused by the military campaigns of the Neo-Assyrian empire in the southern Levant during the Iron Age IIB and IIC (8th鈥�7th centuries b.c.e.) led to mass deportations of local populations and a forced displacement of refugees. Although several studies in recent years have focused their attention on displacement and refugees in the ancient Near East during the period in question, they often deal with large scale processes, while generally neglecting more localized phenomena. Such phenomena include, among others, post-destruction squatter phases. These frequently overlooked strata reflect the resettlement of a site following its destruction by local individuals who were forced, to some degree, to leave their homes for an unknown period. This paper attempts to define some of these post-destruction squatter phases in the archaeological record during the Iron IIB鈥揅 through the analysis of nine case studies, and to examine this phenomenon from a refugee standpoint.

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Pp. 73鈥�89:听鈥淲hy Were the Leaders of the Sea Peoples Called 士葷.w and Not wr.w? On the Size and Raiding Character of the Sea Peoples鈥� Groups,鈥� by听Uro拧 Mati膰

This paper discusses the use of the terms 士葷 and wr for the designation of enemy leaders in ancient Egyptian texts of the Ramesside period. Focus is placed on the choice of the term for leaders of the various Sea Peoples鈥� groups in the texts of the Medinet Habu temple of Ramesses III. The leaders of the Sea Peoples and Shasu are referred to as 士葷.w, whereas the leaders of other groups are referred to as wr.w. The terms used for different enemy leaders are indicative of the ancient Egyptian perception of the social organization of the enemy. Focusing on their social organization can provide us with a more stable ground for understanding the Sea Peoples. Several features indicate that they were warrior groups similar to pirates or mercenaries conducting raids, rather than large groups of migrants: 1) the choice of the term for their leaders during the reign of Ramesses III, 2) the relatively small numbers of their captives in the lists of spoils of war of Merneptah, and 3) the fact that no women and children are ever mentioned in these lists, although they are accompanying one of the Sea Peoples鈥� groups in a single scene from Medinet Habu.

Pp. 91鈥�111:听鈥淟achish 鈥淟etter鈥� 2 (BM 125702): A Polite Letter, an Accreditation Pass, or a Text Used to Teach Letter Writing?,鈥� by Alice Mandell

Lachish 2 is typically described as an enigmatic letter, one that consists mainly of the protocol language used in letter introductions. However, past studies have wrestled with Lines 5鈥�6 of this letter, and noted the linguistic crux posed by the verb ybkr. The present study argues that while Lachish 2 looks like a letter, it plays a different role than letters are traditionally conceived to do (as written communication media that articulate the words of a sender to a recipient). This text鈥檚 form, organization, and focus on formulae, and its lack of clear message suggest that Lachish 2 was used as an instructional tool that outlines a letter鈥檚 organization and sample epistolary formulae, serving perhaps as a template. This ostracon offers insight into both the practice of letter writing as seen from the internal perspective of a writer, and into education in the process of letter writing in the later days of the Judean monarchy.

Pp. 113鈥�132:听鈥淭he Formation of Edom: An Archaeological Critique of the 鈥淓arly Edom鈥� Hypothesis,鈥� by听Piotr Bienkowski

According to the Early Edom hypothesis, the late Iron II kingdom of Edom in southern Jordan emerged from the complex copper-producing society of early Iron II Faynan. A review of the archaeological evidence from the final publication of the Faynan excavations demonstrates that the hypothesis is untenable. There was a chronological gap of 50 to 100+ years between the end of settlement at Faynan, at the end of the 9th century b.c.e., and the earliest settlement in the Edom Highlands; evidence of decreasing social and political complexity at Faynan; no continuity in the scale or technology of copper production at Faynan between early and late Iron II; and completely different settlement patterns at early Iron II Faynan and in the late Iron II highlands, indicating a different economic and social basis. The evidence suggests that early Iron II Faynan was short-lived and linked to the contemporary society in the Negev Highlands, through administration, economy, and workforce. The kingdom of Edom and late Iron II settlement developed in the late 8th century b.c.e. under Assyrian stimulus, which had a direct impact on the expansion of settlement and agriculture, the production of pottery and other goods, and the Arabian trade across the Negev.

Pp. 133鈥�152: 鈥�Note on a White Lustrous Wheel-made Ware Spindle Bottle from Ras Shamra,鈥� by Caroline Sauvage

This study discusses the archaeological and chronological context of a small White Lustrous Wheel-made Ware (WLW-mW) spindle bottle excavated in Ras Shamra by Claude F.-A. Schaeffer in 1933. This spindle bottle is the first of its kind to be positively identified in the Minet el-Beida/Ugarit region, but others could be also identified from Schaeffer鈥檚 publications. This spindle bottle belongs to a group of now four similar small WLW-mW examples found in the eastern Mediterranean, which should probably be added to the classification of this ware as a Type IIb. More generally this article reviews the chronology of WLW-mW in the eastern Mediterranean and argues for a broad Late Bronze IB date (1550鈥�1450 b.c.e.) for the ware.

Pp. 153鈥�179: 鈥淎n Elite Middle Bronze IIA Warrior Tomb from Yehud, Central Coastal Plain, Israel,鈥� by Gilad Itach, Dor Golan, and Shirly Ben Dor Evian

A salvage excavation held at the city of Yehud (Israel) revealed an unusual burial of the Middle Bronze (MB) IIA period. The grave was isolated from other MB burials in the Yehud area and was exceptionally large and rich in terms of the types and diversity of burial offerings, which included pottery vessels, metal objects, and animal bones. An outstanding find among the burial goods was an anthropomorphic jug whose neck was shaped in the form of a seated figure supporting its head with the right hand, evoking the image of Rodin鈥檚鈥淟e Penseur.鈥� This paper presents the grave and offerings uncovered in the excavation and an interpretation of these finds, along with a discussion of the grave within the wider context of Middle Bronze Age burials in Yehud and beyond, suggesting it was associated with an elite warrior, who served most likely as a local leader.

Pp. 181鈥�210: 鈥淭he Khirbet Qeiyafa Ostracon: A New Collation Based on the Multispectral Images, with Translation and Commentary,鈥� by Brian Donnelly-Lewis

This paper provides a new collation of the Khirbet Qeiyafa ostracon on the basis of the multispectral images produced by Gregory Bearman and William Christens-Barry in collaboration with a number of imaging labs in 2009. It proposes 59 letters in total, with 12 new readings, including 5 new partial reconstructions, all supported by an analysis of these detailed, high-definition images. This new collation permits a renewed attempt at translation of the ostracon, which is interpreted as a record of the summons of a defendant in a legal dispute. In the course of analysis, it is argued that if the decipherment is accepted, the language of the text appears to be an archaic, dialectal form of Hebrew.

Pp. 211鈥�233: 鈥淧it, Loculus, and Ossuary: The Family and the Individual in Late Second Temple Judean Burial Caves,鈥� by Eyal Regev and Omri Y. Abadi

From the Hasmonean period until 70 c.e., there were three consecutive types of family burial in Judea: pit-bench caves, loculi caves, and ossuaries. In each, the treatment of skeletal remains and their distribution within the caves attest to different types of family relationships and different ways in which families perceived themselves. It is suggested that the place of the individual within the family developed gradually along with these burial methods. Pit-bench caves from the Hasmonean period were used by a limited number of families who wished to strengthen their ties or self-identity. The skeletal remains in most of the loculi and ossuaries included adults and children who were buried together. Those buried in the loculi and ossuaries were probably nuclear families, maintaining their identity in relation to other members of the extended family who may have been buried in other loculi/ossuaries in the cave. This attests to the growing importance of the nuclear family in society. Burying a person with only a few close relatives (e.g., young children and spouse) commemorated the individual鈥檚 identity. Interment in loculi, and to a greater degree in ossuaries, rendered the identity of the nuclear family and the individual more distinct from other nuclear families and individuals in the cave.

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Fieldwork Report: Nathan Lovejoy

Posted on November 28, 2022 by Erin Anderson

K谋n谋k H枚y眉k 2022: Short but Sweet

Nathan Lovejoy, 2022 Steinmetz Scholarship for Active/Reserve Military or Veterans Recipient

This year, thanks to the generosity of Charles Steinmetz and the help of ASOR, I was able to return to the excavations at K谋n谋k H枚y眉k in Ni臒de province, Turkey after two years missed due to the pandemic and the birth of my first child. Unfortunately, this season was also shortened by delays in acquiring our excavation permit and research visas, but even so, it was wonderful to be back on the site and at the dig house, and back with friends and colleagues that I hadn鈥檛 seen in such a long time. Not to mention, back to such a wonderful morning view before heading to the field.

Nathan holding the fragmentary bronze bowl.

My work this year focused on continued excavations in a Late Iron Age room (ca. 7th-6th c. BCE), which I began to expose in 2017. This entailed excavating a Late Hellenistic occupation layer and Achaemenid period deposits 鈥� about two meters of earth 鈥� before secure Iron Age contexts were reached. While most of these intervening layers lack a well-defined context, they did produce several interesting finds. One such discovery was a crushed and fragmentary, but mostly complete, bronze bowl found resting on a loosely structured external surface of beaten earth. The bowl awaits restoration to allow for further analysis, but we were quite happy for the discovery in the field.

As for the Late Iron Age room itself, we opened a southern extension of the previously excavated space hoping to better understand its connection with adjacent rooms. The space is particularly interesting in its final phase of use (or perhaps disuse?), when it served as the locus for a midden heap rich in anthropic materials 鈥� the collection of these materials has become even more urgent in the last year, as the robust ceramic assemblage is now the focus of PhD research of a colleague at the University of Pavia, Italy. Additionally noteworthy are the peculiar faunal assemblage suggestive of ritual activity in the vicinity 鈥� presented at 17吃瓜2021 鈥� and the recent identification of bone horse bridles, of which we have three 鈥� so at least definitely more than a single pair! The new materials collected this year require further analysis before any conclusions can be made, but from impressions made in the field, they appear consistent with past discoveries. One entirely new discovery from the room in the same period as the midden heap was a well-structured oven composed of stones, mud-bricks, and large ceramic sherds 鈥� apparently debris collected for reuse. The chamber of the oven sloped downwards to allow for heating without direct exposure to the fire, and the innermost part of the chamber was entirely full of burnt ashy remains of the fuel used for cooking.

In all, the season felt way too short, but we all made the best of the time we had. Materials still need to be studied, and more excavations will be needed next year, but the campaign still feels like a success. And in the end, even if we hadn鈥檛 been able to put a single trowel to the earth, the renewed collegiality and rekindled friendships with scholars and students from across the globe would have made the short season worth every effort anyway. Thanks again to ASOR, Charles Steinmetz, and the Universities of New York, Pavia, and Florence for facilitating my research and participation in the excavations of K谋n谋k H枚y眉k this year.

Nathan Lovejoy is in the final year of his PhD at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University, where he is writing a dissertation on institutional change and identity maintenance in the northeast Mediterranean during the Iron Age. He is a US Army veteran, a father to his amazing son Arthur, and husband to his ever-supportive wife Maggie.

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

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Geraty Grant Report Update

Posted on November 14, 2022 by Erin Anderson

A Children鈥檚 Book, A Local History Book, Summer Camps, and a Maintenance Agreement: An Update on the Lawrence T. Geraty Community Archaeology Endowment, 2022

In 2020 Andrews University partnered with the American Society of Overseas Research to establish the Lawrence T. Geraty Endowment to foster and serve as an accelerant for the development of know-how and innovative approaches for local community engagement with the custody and care of archaeological sites. The first distribution from the endowment happened in 2021 (read the 2021 report here). A second distribution from the endowment took place this past summer, and here is a brief update on how the funds were spent.

Karam and Hesban is the English translation of a children鈥檚 book in Arabic about Hisban authored by Rasha Dababneh and illustrated by Safa Abudoush. The book, which was published in 2021, tells the story of a little boy, Karam, who visits Hisban and while there, meets a local shepherdess, who becomes his guide while also grazing her sheep on the slopes of the tell. The project of producing the book was initiated and supervised by the writer and AlRaqeem,听 with funding provided in part by the 17吃瓜Geraty Endowment. Copies of the book have been distributed for free to children living in Hisban. The book is part of the book series 鈥淒iscover Jordan with Karam.鈥� The sale of the book in local bookstores supports the protection of the site.

Husban Culture and Heritage is a local history book authored by Abdullah Abdulazeese Al-Masha鈥檒ah. It was published in 2022 in Arabic and English and offers a local account of the agricultural know-how, crafts, and wisdom of past generations of the contemporary Ajarmah families of Hisban. The book also offers a local perspective on archaeological discoveries at the site. As with the above-mentioned children鈥檚 book, the project of producing the book was initiated and supervised by the writer and AlRaqeem,听 with funding provided in part by the 17吃瓜Geraty Endowment. The book has been distributed for free to local residents and is available for purchase in local bookstores.

Another archaeology summer camp for Hisban community children and others was organized and supervised on the hill of Hisban by our /AlRaqeem.听 The leader was Amr Awawdah, a teacher in the local schools who also is a veteran of more than two decades of excavations at Hisban. Activities for the children鈥攎ost of whom are elementary level鈥搃nclude learning about stratigraphy, pottery, excavation techniques, and documentation. A capstone activity is a play produced by the children that tell a story that ties in some way to the history of the site . Funding for these camps was provided by the Geraty Endowment.

A Memorandum of Understanding between Andrews University and the Department of Antiquities represents a major milestone on the road toward a sustainable future for the Hisban Archaeological Park. The agreement commits our team to provide funding for an archaeologist to supervise four local workers for 12 weeks spread throughout each of the next three years: 2 weeks in November, 2 in February, 4 in May, 2 in July, and 2 in September. The salary of the archaeologist supervisor will be paid by the Geraty Endowment, while the local workmen鈥檚 salaries will be paid by the Department of Antiquities. The overall arrangement and work will be supervised by AlRaqeem and will provide proof of concept for such a partnership involving a foreign university and the Department of Antiquities. The agreement, which was signed in June 2022, also allows time for raising funds to sustain the arrangement into the future.

We are excited about the many ways in which the 17吃瓜Geraty Endowment is proving to be a powerful accelerant for learning about ways to engage host communities as partners in caring for archaeological sites such as Hisban in Jordan. You can help sustain and further grow the impact of the Endowment by selecting 鈥淕eraty Endowment Fund鈥� from the drop-down menu at the following .

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ECS Poster and Student Paper Preparation Session

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FOA Webinar Panel: From Tunis to Tataouine

CHI – Morocco Updates

MOROCCO UPDATES

17吃瓜CHI Symposium | Cultural Heritage Initiatives in Africa Today

On April 11-13, 17吃瓜CHI hosted a three-day symposium,听Cultural Heritages Initiatives in Africa Today, which highlighted the work of local heritage professionals, academics, and civil society organizations to protect, preserve, and promote cultural heritage in North Africa and the Sahel. 17吃瓜welcomes you to view the symposium recordings.

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Voir cette page en fran莽ais

賲卮丕賴丿丞丕賱氐賮丨丞亘丕賱賱睾丞丕賱毓乇亘賷丞

CHI UPDATE: Documenting the Mellahs (Jewish Quarters) of Tiznit, Morocco

17吃瓜implementing partner Ratiba Rigalma presents an introduction to her research on the mellahs of Tiznit, a city on the west coast of the region of Souss-Massa, Morocco. Mellah is Moroccan Arabic for referring to a neighborhood inhabited only by people of Jewish faith. This study is the first to analyze all known examples of known tangible Jewish cultural heritage in the region. Rigalma examines numerous aspects of Jewish daily life through the documentation of homes, synagogues, souks (markets), and cemeteries.

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賳賯乇賴賳丕賱賱丨氐賵賱毓賱賶丕賱賳爻禺丞丕賱毓乇亘賷丞

UPDATE: Digital Documentation of Cultural Heritage in Morocco Using 17吃瓜CHI Programs

The High Atlas Foundation worked with local partners in Ouarzazate, Taroudant, Tiznit, and Guelmim to celebrate the cultural pluralism that characterizes these regions, which is reflected in their local traditions. During this collaboration, Dr. Ouguinaz trained groups of local youth from the seven communities on open-source technologies and programs offered by ASOR, and used for documenting the diverse cultural heritage of Morocco.

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Click here for the Arabic version (丕賱鬲賵孬賷賯丕賱乇賯賲賷賱賱鬲乇丕孬丕賱孬賯丕賮賷亘丕賱賲睾乇亘)

UPDATE: 17吃瓜Initiatives to Safeguard Cultural Heritage in North Africa

Last year, 17吃瓜Cultural Heritage Initiatives (17吃瓜CHI) received a major grant from an anonymous donor to document, preserve, and promote the cultural heritage of ethnic and religious minorities in Tunisia and Morocco by focusing on the rich traditions of communal collaboration within Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In late 2022, 17吃瓜received a follow-up grant from the anonymous donor to expand the project to Sahel region of Africa (Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso). Many heritage sites in the region face acute threats, which could lead to the loss of an irreplaceable heritage.

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UPDATE: Documentation Efforts Safeguard Minority Cultural Heritage in Morocco

Thanks to generous funding from an anonymous donor, and in partnership with Moroccan and Tunisian colleagues, 17吃瓜recently launched an initiative to promote religious and ethnic freedom in Tunisia and Morocco through heritage site documentation, protection, and advocacy. This article presents an overview of our work in Morocco. In the coming weeks, future articles will highlight ASOR’s efforts in more detail throughout the region.

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Annual Meeting Updates for Boston

Posted on November 1, 2022 by Arlene Press

2022 In-person/Boston Annual Meeting

All of us at 17吃瓜are looking forward to welcoming more than 800 attendees to Boston for the in-person component of ASOR鈥檚 2022 Annual Meeting, November 16-20.

If you haven鈥檛 made your hotel reservation yet, the Boston Park Plaza has added a limited number of rooms to ASOR鈥檚 discounted room block.听听by November 6.

Schedule

The 17吃瓜Registration tables and Help Desk will be open extended hours from 12:00pm to 8:30pm EST on Wednesday, November 16 in order to avoid a rush before the Plenary Address. Stop by the tables, located on the 2nd floor Mezzanine, at your convenience during the day to say hello, pick up your name-badge, and get a tote-bag. The exhibit tables will open at 4:00pm and the Plenary Address by Dr. Solange Ashby begins at 7:00pm in Grand Ballroom A.

Use听to find the sessions and presentations you want to attend and sign-in to bookmark sessions and network with attendees. If you haven鈥檛 already signed-in to the online program (powered by Oxford Abstracts) you can create a free account to use the Chat tool for individual and group messages. The Oxford Abstracts program will replace the mobile app this year.

Visit the听2022 Annual Meeting Schedules听page for updates and to find the 2022 Schedule of Business Meetings & Events.

Masks

ASOR鈥檚 COVID-19 protocols听require 17吃瓜attendees to wear face masks in the conference meeting and exhibit space except when presenting, responding, or actively eating or drinking. Read more about this decision in a letter from ASOR鈥檚 President and Executive Director听here.

Boston Highlights

听will offer free admission to 17吃瓜Annual Meeting attendees between November 15 鈥� 23 (closed on Monday 11/21). Conference goers should stop at the Admissions desk (or the podium in the Courtyard) and show their 17吃瓜Name Badge in order to get free admission. Information on current exhibits, hours, and location can be found听.

)听is hosting a private reception for 17吃瓜Annual Meeting attendees on Saturday, November 19.听 Attend one of two time options (7:15-8:15pm or 8:30-9:30pm EST) being offered in order to safely accommodate as many people as possible. Tickets are complimentary, however, space is limited and advanced registration is required. Learn more about the reception and听reserve a complimentary ticket here.

听is offering free general admission to 17吃瓜Annual Meeting attendees from November 16 鈥� 23, 2022. Show your 17吃瓜name badge at the admissions desk for free entrance. If you forgot your badge, you can self-identify as an attendee of the 17吃瓜Annual Meeting and provide a business card/ID that shows you are affiliated with a museum or cultural institution. For information on opening hours, planning your trip, and special exhibits (additional fee may apply), please visit the听.

Save at the Boston Park Plaza听鈥� 17吃瓜Attendees receive a 10% discount at听听restaurant and bar located in the hotel lobby, as well as a 10% discount on听at听.

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Fieldwork Report: Margarita Apffel

Posted on October 28, 2022 by Marta Ostovich

If Rocks Could Talk

Margarita Apffel, 2022 Strange/Midkiff Families Scholarship Recipient

Karak, Jordan is the home of the Iron I and II Moabite site of Khirbat al-Balu鈥檃, an 17吃瓜affiliated archaeological project that I joined through La Sierra University in Riverside, CA. At the听听I was appointed as square supervisor, my first archaeological supervisory role due in part to my previous excavation experience and for my being a full season student. This was made possible thanks to the generosity of the 2022 Strange/Midkiff Families scholarship.

The first week at any excavation site is always the hardest, which I say with complete confidence since this is not my first time attending an archaeological field school or a regular excavation project. Leaving family and the comfort of one鈥檚 home behind for the pursuit of education in another country is not for the faint of heart, one must quickly acclimate to a whole new landscape, work schedule, language, culture, time zone, and cuisine. This can be physically challenging and emotionally taxing, but a very rewarding experience, nonetheless.

During the first and hardest week of the season, we received our assigned area of excavation, the Qasr (Castle), and got to meet our team members and team leaders. We had to prepare the area before excavations could begin, we first set up the soil sifts and made sure they were facing the Wadi Mujib and its fantastic sunrises to make the weeks to come more pleasant. Then came the arduous task of clearing the area of inter-seasonal debris and piles upon piles of rocks and tumble. We were lucky enough to have a constant breeze blowing from the west; the Jordanian desert was kind to the team. Once we cleared most of the rocks from our area, set up balk lines, and assigned individual tasks, we were ready to begin excavations.

The Qasr view from the west

The team clarified walls, cobbled surfaces, and doorways and found pottery sherds, stone artifacts, and faunal remains by the buckets. Any artifacts found in situ were immediately recoded using Global Positioning System (GPS), then collected for processing and laboratory analysis, though some of the stone artifacts excavated were too big to carry and were left in the field. The teams washed and sorted the excavated pottery sherds in preparation for the pottery readings, we took notes on pottery types and periods then sent the diagnostic pot sherds for publishing and the nondiagnostic sherds back to the field. We also completed daily and weekly reports in which we reviewed the strategy, implementation, and outcome of each project. And did I mention we moved more rocks?

On weekends, we had the opportunity to go on field trips to learn about castles such as Karak and Ajlun as well as other archaeological sites like Jerash and Tall al-Umayri. The highlight of the season was a weekend spent in Petra, a Nabatean city in the Wadi Musa. In Petra, we visited features such as the Treasury, the Highest Sacrificial Place, and the Monastery. We also had the opportunity to have sweet tea with many Bedouin women and men, haggled for prices at the various shops in the city, and rode a camel and a mule. This was a bit precarious for someone who is not accustomed to riding beasts of burden.

Our days in Jordan were never dull, at the site we were visited daily by large herds of sheep, goats, donkeys, and camels all being led by our worker鈥檚 friends or family who鈥檇 stop by from time to time to say hello. The Bedouin were very friendly and hospitable, they often shared Arabic sweet tea and sang songs for us, which made us feel very welcomed. The diversity of our team, their knowledge and sense of humor were the best part of the season. I said that the first week is always the hardest, but so is the last week when we have to say goodbye to the people with whom we discovered commonalities, developed friendships, and shared inside jokes for the past four to seven weeks. These relationships are the rewards we get to treasure when we leave our comfort zone in pursuit of knowledge and adventure in faraway places.

Margarita Apffel was born in Culiacan Sinaloa, Mexico but moved to California to study English and became the first in her family to go to college. She is a master鈥檚 student of Near Eastern Archaeology in the H. M. S. Richards Divinity School at La Sierra University in Riverside, California, and received a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from California State University, San Bernardino. She has participated in various excavations projects in Menorca, Spain; Riverside, California; Karak, Jordan, and completed Museum Studies in Rome, Italy. Her goals are to further her education in the field of archaeology and museum studies and to continue to travel the world for as long as she can.

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

Browse the News Archive

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

FOA Webinar: Morag Kersel on December 1

Posted on October 26, 2022 by Felice Herman

FRIENDS OF 17吃瓜WEBINARS

Something from the Time of Jesus? Tourists, Souvenirs, and Buying the Holy Land

Friends of ASOR听present the next webinar in our monthly series on听December 1, 2022, at 6:00 pm EDT, featuring Prof. Morag M. Kersel and moderated by Prof. Jennie Ebeling.听This presentation shares insights into why people want to own Holy Land artifacts.听Is the consumer a harmless character who spends their days sorting stamps, acquiring coins, buying a souvenir or a gift? Or the very opposite, a wily speculator investing in the past in order to increase their capital (cultural, economic, social,听sensu听Bourdieu)?

It is legal to buy and sell antiquities in the licensed market in Israel and for almost 20 years I have been interested in people buying things in that market. What they buy, why they buy, and what they do with antiquities from the Holy Land. While research demonstrates there is a direct link, particularly in the acquisition of Holy Land objects, innocent buyers have no reason to connect supply (the looting of archaeological sites) with demand (their purchase). In this webinar using data gathered from archaeological ethnographies, I examine the consumption of archaeological artifacts by tourists, the unintended consequences of such demand, and how we can create a more informed set of buyers in the legal antiquities market in Israel.

Join Prof. Kersel as she explores why people want to own Holy Land artifacts and the unintended consequences of this consumerism. The webinar will conclude with a live Q&A session moderated by Prof. Jennie Ebeling (University of Evansville).

Morag M. Kersel is an archaeologist who works in the Eastern Mediterranean Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age periods. Morag is an associate professor in the Anthropology Department at听. In addition to participating in archaeological excavations and surveys in Egypt, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Palestinian Authority areas, and Turkey, Morag is interested in the relationship between cultural heritage law, archaeological sites and objects, and local interaction. Basically, she is interested in how artifacts go from the ground to the consumer, the paths they take, the hands they pass through, and the places they end up.

She also works on the public display and interpretation of archaeological artifacts in institutional spaces. Currently, she is the co-director of the Galilee Prehistory Project and the听听鈥� tracing the movement of Early Bronze Age pots from the Dead Sea Plain in Jordan. Recently, she has become obsessed with Neolithic Masks and is a recipient of the Palestine Exploration Fund/W.F. Albright Institute Fellowship to support this obsession. She was 2021 17吃瓜Annual Meeting听.

This webinar will be recorded and all paid registrants听will be sent a link to view the recording.

17吃瓜Sustaining Members: $0 | 17吃瓜Members: $6 | Public: $12
Season Pass: 17吃瓜Sustaining Members: $0 | 17吃瓜Members: $75 | Public: $150

To receive your 17吃瓜member discount,听. If you are new to ASOR, please click on the 鈥溾€� link to register your e-mail address and choose a password for our online store. Once logged in, navigate to 鈥淢eeting and Event Registration鈥� to register for the webinar and pay the fee. Each paid registrant will receive a confirmation e-mail when you pay for the webinar. If you do not receive this e-mail, then you are not registered. Please e-mail听听with any questions or issues with registering.

You will be e-mailed the Zoom Webinar link in the week prior to the lecture on December 1, 2022. If you do not receive the link by the close of business on the Tuesday before the webinar, please e-mail听听immediately. This webinar will be recorded and all paid registrants听will be sent a link to view the recording.

All proceeds from this webinar are used to fund scholarships for members as well as increasing ASOR鈥檚 online resources, which are free to the public.

READY FOR A WEBINAR SEASON PASS?

Buy a season pass for all the webinars* of the 2022-2023 FOA Webinar Season! 1) You will automatically receive the Zoom link for each webinar so no need to register each time. 2) You will also receive the recording of each webinar automatically after the event.

If you have missed webinars earlier in the season and still want to buy the pass, you will receive the links to the recordings of the webinars you missed in your automatic confirmation email after you buy the pass.

*Special symposiums may be excluded from the season pass price.

No more registering for a year if you buy your pass today!

Pricing:

Members: $75.00
Non-Members: $150.00
17吃瓜Sustaining Members: $0 (automatic registration for each webinar)
Not a member yet?听Click here to join as a member听and receive the 50% off a season pass!

听to purchase the season pass for 2022-2023. If you are new to 17吃瓜and do not have a record in our store yet,听. After you login, navigate to the left to 鈥淢eeting and Event Registration.鈥� Please e-mail听membership@asor.org听if you have any questions or issues.

WHY SPONSOR A WEBINAR?

Several levels of support from $50-$1,000 are available. Proceeds go towards membership scholarships and towards increasing ASOR鈥檚 virtual resources. Each sponsorship is tax-deductible and you can give your friends free registrations to a webinar!

Bronze Level ($50): up to 2 guest registrations
Silver Level ($100): up to 5 guest registrations
Gold Level ($500): up to 20 guest registrations
Platinum Level ($1,000): up to 50 guest registrations

After you sign up for a sponsorship online or over the phone, email the names and email addresses of your guests to Felice Herman at听membership@asor.org,听who will send your guests a confirmation and the Zoom link before the webinar.

WANT TO SAVE $6.00 ON THE NEXT WEBINAR?

Join 17吃瓜as a member!听Click here for more details听about discounts for events and other benefits of membership. Memberships start at $40 for the year as an听Associate Member.

Not ready to join yet? Become a听Friend of 17吃瓜for FREE!

Click here for more details about our online resources.

PAST WEBINARS

You can now purchase the link to the recording of any webinar. You can also purchase the bundle packages of all webinars from the听2020-2022 seasons. Please e-mail听membership@asor.org听for purchase details.

To see a printable pdf of the webinar titles from the 2020-2021 season, please听click here. To see a printable pdf of the webinar titles from the 2021-2022 season, please听click here.

Pricing:

Members: $6.00 per recording
Non-Members: $12.00 per recording
Bundle of 2020-2021 Webinars: $75.00
Bundle of 2021-2022 Webinars: $75.00
Bundle of 2020-2022 Webinars: $125.00

2021-2022 Season

A World at War: Protecting Cultural Heritage in Times of Conflict
Patty Gerstenblith (DePaul University), Lisa Ackerman (Columbus Citizens Foundation), Andrew Cohen (Government Professional and Cultural Heritage Expert) | May 12, 2022

Preserving Cultural Heritage in Hisban and Umm al-Jimal, Jordan
脴ystein LaBianca (Andrews University), Elizabeth Osinga (Umm al-Jimal Archaeological Project), Darrell Rohl (Calvin University) | April 24, 2022

Back to the Field: Recent Discoveries & Summer Plans 2022
Lorenzo d鈥橝lfonso (ISAW), Kathryn Grossman (NC State University), James R. Strange (Samford University) | April 3, 2022

Uncovering What is Nubian Beneath the Veneer of Egyptianness: Excavating the Archives
Debora Heard (University of Chicago) | March 20, 2022

Where Are They Now?: A Preview of 2022 ASOR-Affiliated Fieldwork Projects
Michael Given (University of Glasgow), Xenia-Paula Kyriakou (Florida Gulf Coast University), Stephen Batiuk (University of Toronto), Monique Roddy (Walla Walla University), Kent Bramlett (La Sierra University), Friedbert Ninow (La Sierra University), and Michael Hoff (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) | March 8, 2022

Excavations at Tel Gezer: A Personal Story
Sam Wolff (Tel Gezer Laboratory) | February 20, 2022

Tel Rehov: A Major Bronze and Iron Age City in the Jordan Valley
Amihai Mazar (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Nava Panitz-Cohen ( Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Nota Kourou (Athens University), Naama Yahalom-Mack (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Robert Mullins (Azusa Pacific University) | February 10, 2022

The Not-So-Innocents Abroad: The Beginnings of American Biblical Archaeology
Rachel Hallote (Samford University) | January 20, 2022

Synagogues as Jesus Knew Them
James R. Strange (Samford University) | December 2, 2021

Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World鈥檚 Most Contested City
Andrew Lawler | November 4, 2021

Jesus and Jerusalem on TV: How Do Bible Documentaries Get Made?
Robert Cargill (University of Iowa) | October 17, 2021

Digging the Divine?: Judahite Pillar Figurines and the Archaeology of Israelite Religion
Erin Darby (University of Tennessee) | October 7, 2021

David, Solomon, and Rehoboam鈥檚 Kingdom鈥擳he Archaeological Evidence
Yosef Garfinkel (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) | September 19, 2021

From Standing Stones to Sacred Emptiness: Textual and Visual Portrayals of Israel鈥檚 God
Theodore Lewis (Johns Hopkins University) | August 29, 2021

2020-2021 Season

Making May Matter: Webinarathon to Endow Diversity
Multiple Speakers | May 21-23, 2021

Archaeogaming: Why Video Games Deserve Their Own Archaeology
Tine Rassalle (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Shannon Martino (Morton College), Matthew Winter (University of Arizona), Michael Zimmerman (Rhode Island) | April 18, 2021

How the Bible Became a Book
William Schniedewind (UCLA) | March 21, 2021

The Mysteries of Mithras in Caesarea: Exploring the Cult鈥檚 Rites and Remains
Jane DeRose Evans (Temple University), Alexandra Ratzlaff (Brandeis University) | March 11, 2021

Archaeology and the Hidden Religious Culture of Israelite Women
Carol Meyers (Duke University) | February 21, 2021

Meet the Directors鈥擣undraiser to Support ASOR鈥檚 Affiliated Overseas Research Centers
Matthew J. Adams (AIAR), Pearce Paul Creasman (ACOR), Lindy Crewe (CAARI) | February 11, 2021

Early Synagogues, Jesus, and Galilee鈥擜 Jewish Perspective
Eric Meyers (Duke University) | December 13, 2020

Home Sweet Home: Ancient Israelite Households in Context
Cynthia Shafer-Elliott (William Jessup University) | October 18, 2020

Priestesses in the Days of Solomon and Ahab
Susan Ackerman (Dartmouth College) | September 13, 2020

Digging Deeper: How Archaeology Works
Eric H. Cline (The George Washington University) | August 9, 2020

Browse the News Archive

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

Shepard Grant Report: Roman Bath House in Petra, Jordan

Posted on October 26, 2022 by Erin Anderson

2022 Shepard Urgent Action Grant Report: Conservation of the Roman Bath House in Petra, Jordan

17吃瓜Editorial Note:听The 17吃瓜Team is pleased to share a report from a Shepard Urgent Action Grant awarded to Sela for Training and Protection of Heritage for repairs and conservation work to the Roman bath house at Petra, Jordan. These grants are intended to provide emergency funds to carry out critical stabilization, excavation, or documentation projects. Because time is of the essence with these proposals, funds for the grants can be disbursed 4-6 weeks after an application is received. The mortar, wall plaster, and structures themselves within many of the rooms of the bath house were in need of emergency consolidation and restoration after many years of continued exposure to the elements as well as vandalization of standing structures.

Thanks to the听Shepard Urgent Action Grant,听听was able to conduct important emergency conservation works at the Roman Bath house in Petra.

The Bath house was built between 106 AD and 113/114 AD and represents one of the first Roman interventions aiming at the 鈥淩omanization鈥� of Petra after the annexation in 106 AD. It stayed in use for over four centuries before being abandoned after the 551 AD earthquake. It is unique for its small size and elegant structure and its architectural features combining the mastery of Nabatean water engineering with the Roman Pompeian bathhouse style. With its 22 rectangular and square rooms with a row of windowed parallel rectangular rooms overlooking the palaestra to the west, this balneum covers an area of almost 1000 sqm.

The grant supported the work of a senior conservator, Dr. Fatma Marii, and a conservation technician, Ms. Nesreen Albdoul and involved interventions aiming at: (a) the emergency conservation of the standing structures (Cleaning 鈥� Salt removal 鈥� Mortar repair); (b) the consolidation of the wall plaster and the stone pavements (repair of detached plaster from the walls and stone slabs from the pavements); (c) anastylosis of the vandalized structures of the calidarium.

Map of the Roman Bath house (Source: Joukousky, M. (2009) 鈥� Surprises at the Great Temple: A retrospective in Studies on the History and Archaeology of Jordan X, 2009 鈥� pp. 291-311)

The monument was documented in 2021 and a preliminary assessment was conducted in November 2021 and again in February 2022. In May 2022 after the awarding of the Shepard Grant a new assessment was conducted to determine the emergency interventions to prioritize for the preservation of the monument. The following interventions were identified:

Vestibule (B): This room presents bricks in a fragile state of conservation in need of consolidation. The mortar presented several horizontal and vertical cracks and required consolidation and repair.

Caldarium (C): This room presents several extremely deteriorated bricks. Walls needed salt removal and mortar consolidation and repair. After the assessment, it was concluded that anastylosis of vandalized structures was not appropriate since most of the collapsed structures were the result of previous interventions of reconstruction occurred in the 90s. All fragments from the original structure were numbered, removed, cleaned, consolidated and arranged in Room F for future interventions.

Loutron (D): The floor mortar of this room is made of lime-based mortar and required cleaning.

Vestibule (E): The mortar of the Eastern wall was extremely fragile and needed cleaning and consolidation.

Praefurnium (F): Mortar on the doorway between Room F and Room C required consolidation.

Service Passage (G): This small corridor on the eastern side of the bath presents plaster remains on the Eastern wall that needed consolidation and reinforcement.

Vestibule (H): The room presented several plaster remains in need of cleaning, consolidation and reinforcement.

Caldarium (I): The caldarium presented mortar in extremely fragile conditions that needed consolidation and repair.

Tepidarium (J): The Southern wall presents some plaster fragments and mortar relatively stable condition. The plaster needed cleaning and surface consolidation.

Ornamental Pool (L): The room presented plaster fragments on the Southern wall in need of reinforcement and consolidation. There are traces of copper alloy hangers on the Northern and Southern walls.

Vestibule (M): Plaster and mortar remains in the niches needed cleaning, reinforcement, consolidation, and repair.

Frigidarium (N): The walls presented plaster remains in fragile, but stable conditions that needed cleaning, reinforcement, and consolidation. Mortar both on the walls and on the pavement bedding needed cleaning and consolidation.

Small Cistern (P): The thick plaster lining the walls of the cistern needed reinforcement and consolidation.

Bathroom (Q): Plaster fragments in the niche of the Eastern wall required cleaning, reinforcement, and consolidation. The niche wall behind the plaster required mortar repair.

Anteroom (R): Plaster fragments on the Western and Southern walls required reinforcement and consolidation. Before proceeding with the interventions on the plaster, the Western wall required cleaning and consolidation.

Apodyterium (S): Plaster fragments at the corners of the southern wall needed reinforcement and consolidation. The walls needed mortar repair.

Well (T): A plaster fragment at the east corner of the southern east corner and one on the north niche needed reinforcement and consolidation. There are remains of lead alloy at the bottom of the water channel.

Colonnaded Corridor (U): There is a broken stone at the floor (a step), as well there is a fallen mortar require cleaning and consolidation. At the northern wall corner there are missing stones and broken, that the wall requires to be reconstructed.

Palaestra (W): On the eastern wall of this room the plaster is red painted. The plaster and the painting appeared stable. It required cleaning and reinforcement.

1. Emergency conservation of the standing structures

Standing walls are made of sandstone cut blocks, mostly affected by granular disintegration and erosion (caused by wind and rainfall). The standing walls were cleaned, salts efflorescence was removed and the surface was consolidated by spraying a protein based consolidant (calcium caseinate) in order to slow down and minimize the deterioration process. The choice of calcium caseinate as consolidant is crucial for the sustainability of the intervention since chemical and water based consolidants are not available in Jordan. Calcium caseinate can be locally produced and therefore sustainable for future interventions.

The original lime mortar has disintegrated and crumbled. Mortar consolidation and repair were implemented using calcium caseinate for consolidation and a lime-based mortar made of slaked lime, limestone powder and basalt powder (to increase water resistance) and crushed granite (to make the mortar recognizable as modern) for mortar repairs.

Mortar remains were mechanically cleaned using brushes and wooden sticks, and then using brushes and water. Mortar was consolidated either by spraying a filtered solution of water and calcium caseinate or by injecting a solution of water and acrylic emulsion.

Gaps and cracks in the mortar were filled using a mixture of 1 part of slaked lime, 0.5 parts of acrylic emulsion, 1 part of yellow sand and 1.5 parts of basalt powder.

The mortar mixture used for mortar repairs was made of 1 part of lime, 1 part of stone powder, 0.5 parts of crushed granite and 1.5 parts of basalt powder.听All materials used in the mortar are locally available and easy to procure for future maintenance interventions.

2. Consolidation of wall plaster and stone pavements

Several rooms presented remains of plaster and mortar pavement beddings.

The main process for conserving the plaster fragments and the mortar beddings involved:

Mechanical cleaning of accumulated soil and other materials on the plaster surface and edges using soft brushes, toothbrushes, toothpicks, wooden stick, and blower.
Chemical cleaning using water, distilled water, and ethanol (as needed) with sponges, brushes, toothpicks, or sprayers.
Filling the gaps and reinforcement of the edges using a mixture of 1 part of yellow sand, 1 part of slaked lime, 0.25 parts of acrylic emulsion (Primal), and 0.25 parts of water. Wet clothes or burlap were used to keep it wet during hot hours to assure a slow hardening process.
Consolidation was implemented either using a filtered solution of water and acrylic emulsion applied with syringes or spraying a solution of water and calcium caseinate.

Stone surfaces were cleaned and consolidated with calcium caseinate.

-Maria Elena Ronza, Vice President, Sela for Training and Protection of Heritage

Click here to read more about applying for a Shepard Urgent Action Grant.

Browse the News Archive

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

Friends of 17吃瓜Tours: Archaeological Tour of Israel & Palestinian Authority Areas 2023

Posted on October 26, 2022 by Felice Herman

FRIENDS OF 17吃瓜TOURS

Archaeological Tour of Israel & Palestinian Authority Areas 2023

听

13-day tour with听visits听to over 27 sites and museums with internationally renowned scholars
Guided tours of sites and museums by Yoav Arbel, Shlomit Bechar, Hushney Cohen, Katia Cytryn, Meir Edrey, Adi Erlich, Michael Eisenberg, Yuval Gadot, Peter Gendelman, David Gurevich, Yakov Kalman, Anastasia Kleshman, Robert Kool, Igor Kreimerman, Shelley-Anne Peleg, Issa Sarie, Katharina Schmidt, Avi Solomon, Guy Stiebel, Katharina Streit, Aharon Tavger, Joe Uziel, Sam Wolff, Assaf Yasur-Landau, and Irit Ziffer
More scholars, museum curators, and excavators are being听confirmed every day with almost 30 anticipated
Due to cancellations, we have two rooms left, book today!

Friends of 17吃瓜is excited to announce the launch of our first archaeological tour of Israel and Palestinian Authority areas from听arrival on听February 19 to departure on March 3, 2023.听17吃瓜is partnering with a premier touring company,听, to create a custom 13-day trip for the Friends of ASOR. We will be visiting famous sites and speaking with scholars, excavators, and museum curators who are currently conducting or have conducted archaeological research projects in these regions.听Due to cancellations, we have two rooms left, book today!

Participant sharing a double room: $7,500 | Participant in a single room: $9,000

A $300 non-refundable tour deposit is required at the time of registration. Please see听听before paying the deposit.

Price for this tour includes a $1,000 tax-deductible donation to 17吃瓜and supports the听Friends of ASOR听programming.

Price includes all accommodation, 12 breakfasts, 11 lunches, 11 dinners, 11 days of private group transportation, all tips for drivers & staff, honorariums for speakers and guides, all site/museum entrance fees, water on the bus throughout the tour, a digital booklet including maps and plans of each site sent out before the trip, a personal headset for daily use, a licensed tour expert for the entire trip, dedicated pre-trip customer service, and on-ground support.

Moderate activity level. Average walking distance 2-3 miles per day (not all at once). Expect hills, stairs, and uneven pavement and terrain, especially on archaeological sites. Please bring comfortable footwear and walking poles are recommended if needed.

Tour includes 7 nights in Jerusalem, 2 nights in Galilee, 2 nights in Haifa, and 1 night in Tel Aviv 鈥� Jaffa.

Price does not include airfare, arrival/departure transport, travel and health insurance, or transportation outside of group itinerary.

Please e-mail听membership@asor.org听with any questions or issues.

Tour Itinerary*

Participant sharing a double room: $7,500 | Participant in a single room: $9,000

A $300 non-refundable tour deposit is required at the time of registration. Please see听听before paying the deposit.

Please e-mail听membership@asor.org听with any questions or issues.

Price for this tour includes a $1,000 tax-deductible donation to 17吃瓜and supports the听Friends of ASOR听programming.

Tour includes 7 nights in Jerusalem, 2 nights in Galilee, 2 nights in Haifa, and 1 night in Tel Aviv 鈥� Jaffa.

Price does not include airfare, arrival/departure transport, travel and health insurance, or transportation outside of group itinerary.

Hosts

Sharon Herbert听is the Charles K. Williams II Distinguished University Professor of Classical Archaeology Emerita and Research Associate at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan. Formerly, she served as the chair of the Department of Classical Studies and Director of the Interdepartmental Program in Classical Art and Archaeology at Michigan, where she has enjoyed a remarkable career as a field archaeologist, teacher, and academic administrator since she joined the Michigan faculty in 1973. She is also the former Curator of Greek and Hellenistic Collections and Director Emerita (1997-2013) of the University of Michigan鈥檚 Kelsey Museum.

Herbert鈥檚 research specialties include Hellenistic Egypt and the Near East and ancient ceramics. She is best known for her contributions to the archaeology of Israel, as director of the Tel Anafa excavations from 1978 to 1981 and as co-director of the Tel Kedesh excavations from 1997 to 2012. She has also conducted archaeological fieldwork in Greece, Italy, and Egypt.

Before assuming her position as ASOR鈥檚 President on January 1, 2020, Herbert served as 17吃瓜Vice President from 2013-2019. Herbert also served as the President of the W. F. Albright Institute for Archaeological Research (AIAR) from 2013-2018. In November 2017, Herbert received ASOR鈥檚 W. F. Albright Service Award, in recognition of her work on behalf of the Albright.

听

Andrew (Andy) Vaughn听became ASOR鈥檚 Executive Director in听 2007. Prior to this appointment, Vaughn taught at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN from 1997鈥�2007, where he was Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible and later served as Chair of Department of Religion. His teaching and research interests include cultural heritage, history, archaeology, Semitic languages, and Israelite religion. He is a past recipient of the Mitchell Dahood Prize for Biblical Scholarship, and he was a Fulbright Fellow at Tel Aviv University from 1993鈥�94. Since 2014, Vaughn has served as Co-Director of 17吃瓜Cultural Heritage Initiatives and overseen major heritage projects in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, and (most recently) the Sahel (Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso).

听

Norma Franklin听is a field archaeologist who is happiest with complex stratigraphy. Other interests include ancient building techniques, water systems, and technology 鈥� old and new. Her research has focused on the three key cities of the Northern Kingdom of Israel: Samaria, Megiddo and Jezreel. She took part in the previous expedition Jezreel in 1990, directed by David Ussishkin of Tel Aviv University. In 1992 she became a founding member of the Megiddo Expedition, and served as a field archaeologist, successively directing 4 of the excavation areas. She resigned in 2011 in order to launch the Jezreel Expedition. Norma is the co-director of the Jezreel Expedition and a Research Associate at the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, Israel and an Associate Fellow of the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem.

Site Guides / Speakers

Yoav Arbel听received his B.A. in Archaeology and African Studies from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the UCLA, San Diego. He was a staff member in various large-scale projects at Gamla, Bet She鈥檃n, and Maresha and regional projects at the Negev. Arbel was also a member of staff in excavations in England, Germany, Turkey, Jordan and Tanzania. Many of the salvage excavations he directed with the Israel Antiquities Authority took place in and around Jaffa. Arbel鈥檚 focuses his research on Historical Archaeology, and most of his publications discuss Jaffa and Israel鈥檚 archaeology and history in the Ottoman period.

听

Shlomit Bechar听is a post-doctoral fellow at The Haifa Center for Mediterranean History at the University of Haifa. She also conducts ongoing research at the Institute of Archaeology at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Shlomit received her M.A. in 2012 and Ph.D. in 2019, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has been digging at Tel Hazor since 2007 and became co-director of the excavations in 2015. Her book,听Political Change and Material Culture in Middle to Late Bronze Age Canaan, was published in 2022 by Eisenbrauns, and she is co-author of听Hazor VII听and is currently co-authoring听Hazor VIII.

听

Katia Cytryn听is Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Archaeology and Dept. of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She specializes in Islamic Archaeology and Material Culture and teaches a variety of courses, from introductions to specialized seminars, dealing with her main areas of expertise: Umayyads, Mamluks, Mosque Architecture and road archaeology. While her research on Mamluks and road archaeology goes back to her doctoral thesis, her interest on the Umayyads and early Islamic mosque architecture deepened following her ongoing archaeological projects at Khirbat al-Minya and at Tiberias, both on the western side of the Sea of Galilee.

听

Meir Edrey听is the Professional Director & Research Associate of the Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies at the University of Haifa. He is also an Adjunct Lecturer and Post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Maritime Civilizations. Meir鈥檚 research focuses on the Phoenician Culture during the first millennium B.C.E. in the Orient and the Occident, dealing specifically with issues related to Phoenician terrestrial and maritime religion and cultic practices. His recent studies include different aspects of the material culture of Tel Kabri, Tel Achziv, and the underwater site of Shavei Zion. He is also the director of the Kh. es-Suwweida Excavation Project (GIF funded).

听

Michael Eisenberg听is a senior researcher at The Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa. He does research in Cultural History, Historical Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology and mainly Classical Period Archaeology. He is also the Director of the Hippos of the Decapolis Excavations Project. His other interests include military architecture, the art of fortifications, and siege warfare during the Hellenistic and Roman periods.

听

Adi Erlich听is a researcher at the Zinman Institute of Archaeology and a senior lecturer in the departments of Art History and Archaeology at the University of Haifa. Her Ph.D. was published as a monograph, The Art of Hellenistic Palestine (Oxford 2009). She studies art and archaeology at sites in Israel from the fifth century B.C.E. to the seventh century C.E., with a focus on terracotta figurines. She is a member of the executive board of the Association for Coroplastic Studies (ACoSt) and is the director of the Beth She鈥檃rim excavations, a main Jewish town in Galilee in the Roman period.

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Yuval Gadot听is the head of the Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University. Since 2013, he has directed Tel-Aviv University excavations in the 鈥楥ity of David鈥� and is co-directing the 鈥淟autenschl盲ger Azekah Expedition.鈥� His research in Jerusalem covers the ancient urban city and an interdisciplinary study of its rural landscape. Gadot obtained his Ph.D. in 2004 from Tel-Aviv University. Gadot鈥檚 publications include The Bronze Age Cemetery at 鈥楢ra (2014), Ramat Rahel III 鈥� Final Publication of Yohanan Aharoni鈥檚 Excavations at Ramat-Ra岣l (2016), and the co-editing of 鈥淩ethinking Israel,鈥� an edited volume published in honor of Prof. Israel Finkelstein (2017).

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Peter Gendelman听is a senior archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority. Gendelman鈥檚 main research focus encompasses the area of Caesarea, a port city originally built by King Herod that served as an administrative center during the Roman Empire and the capital of a Byzantine province as well. Caesarea is considered one of the most impressive archaeological sites of Israel. As the head of excavations at Caesarea, Dr. Gendelman and his team have unearthed stunning finds like an altar dedicated to Augustus Caesar and a mother-of-pearl tablet bearing the inscription of a menorah. He also takes part in restoration and conservation efforts to preserve the area for tourists.

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David Gurevich听is an archaeologist as well as a former Fulbright Post-Doctoral Fellow in 2014-2015. With both an M.A. and Ph.D. in Archaeology from the University of Haifa, Dr. Gurevich鈥檚 main academic focuses include the history and archaeology of Jerusalem and Temple Mount, particularly during the Second Temple period. He has given lectures covering more modern topics as well, including geo-politics and Israel鈥檚 role in our international world. He also founded the academic program 鈥淎mbassadors Online鈥� through Haifa University which aims to prepare Israeli students to take part in international conversations. Along with his many academic accolades, Dr. Gurevich is a licensed tour guide in Israel.

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Yakov Kalman听is an agriculturalist and archaeologist who started his career in the early 1970鈥檚 surveying and excavating various sites in the Negev Highlands. In the early 1990鈥檚, he spent four years in the Arava, excavating at Ein Hazeva for the Israel Antiquities Authority. He has worked at Masada and Jericho, and since 1997 has worked as field supervisor at Lower Herodium, and then on the mount鈥檚 eastern slope, where he helped exposed Herod鈥檚 tomb and private theatre. He has also worked as co-director and field supervisor at Horkania (Judean Desert), and at Bet Loya (Lachish area). He is currently an MA archaeology student at the Hebrew University.

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Robert Kool听is a senior Curator at the Coin Department with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). Some of his research interests include medieval and crusader coinages and seals, as well as both the monetary and economic developmental history of Jerusalem in the Mamluk and Ottoman periods. Through the study of coinages, Kool has identified many rare finds, including a 2,000 year old silver coin that may have been minted in the Temple of Jerusalem during the Great Jewish Revolt against the Romans in the Second Temple period.

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Igor Kreimerman听is a lecturer in the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research combines the use of geoarchaeology, experimental archaeology and traditional archaeological methods for the study of formation processes, especially construction and destruction, in the Bronze and Iron Age Levant. His areas of interest are the archaeology of the Bronze Age and Iron Age in Israel, ancient construction materials and techniques, architecture, urban planning, destruction by fire, the seam between archaeology and text-based disciplines. He currently serves as the director of the renewed excavations at Tel Beit Mirsim.

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Zvi Lederman听is a professor of archaeology at Tel Aviv University. Dr. Lederman is also the director of excavations at Tel Beth-Shemesh, a unique border site ideal for the examination of trade, communication, and interaction between the different ethnic and cultural groups that interacted with one another during the Iron Age. As a border site, Tel Beth-Shemesh reveals much information about the interplay and conflict between the local people and the Philistines. Dr. Lederman has excavated several villages and cities within Tel Beth-Shemesh that indicate conflict and rivalry between different factions.

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Shelley-Anne Peleg听is a specialist on cultural heritage, conservation procedures of cultural built heritage (archeological sites and historical cities) with a focus on the Old City of Akko. She is fellow researcher and lecturer in the Department of Israel Studies at the University of Haifa, and a lecturer at Kinneret College. Her Ph.D. dissertation was based on 25 years of work at the Israel Antiquities Authority. During that time, she served as the Director of the International Conservation Center 鈥� Citta鈥� di Roma (situated in the Old City of Akko). She established national and international curricula and training programs in practical conservation and cultural heritage studies at Akko.

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Issa Sarie听Issa Sarie is a lecturer of anthropology and archaeology at the Institute of archaeology at Al Quds University. Sarie received his education from Birzeit University, Yarmouk University, and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is also a fellow of the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem. He has lectured and worked in both the U.S. and in France. His research interest is broad and multidisciplinary in that it combines archaeology and anthropology. His main research focus is the impact of agriculture invention, animal husbandry, and domestication on human health status during the Natufian and Neolithic periods.

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Katharina Schmidt听recently accepted the post of the Director of the W.F. Albright Institute in Jerusalem in June 2022. From 2016 to 2022, she was the Director of the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology (GPIA) in Amman, Jordan. She studied Near Eastern Archaeology, Assyriology, and Pre-and Proto History at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich (Ph.D. in 2016). Dr. Schmidt has done fieldwork throughout the Near East and Europe including Jordan, Syria, Turkey, and Germany. Since 2016, she has directed the Tall Zira麓a excavation project (Jordan). She has curated a special public outreach exhibition in the Jordan National Museum and coordinated a cultural heritage project with UNESCO.

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Guy Stiebel听is a senior lecturer in Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University, Israel and leads the archaeological expedition to the World Heritage site of Masada. He earned his Ph.D. at UCL for the study of militaria in Roman Palestine. Stiebel has published extensively on military archaeology and history. The new discoveries at Masada, most notably those concerning the horticulture and viniculture of King Herod, were recognized by the Third Shanghai Archaeological Forum, being awarded one of the 10 World discoveries in Archaeology. Stiebel was recently nominated by Israel鈥檚 Minister of Culture as the Chair of the Israel Archaeological Council.

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Katharina Streit听is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Martin Buber Society of Fellows in the Humanities at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, researching development and changes in material culture from the Middle to the Late Bronze Ages (Material Culture Project). She co-directs the Tel Lachish excavations with Felix H枚flmayer and Ilan Sharon. Katharina has published extensively on chronological questions and radiocarbon dating from the Chalcolithic to the Iron Ages. Katharina began her studies at the University of Freiburg, received her undergraduate training at Oxford University, and finished her M.A. and Ph.D. studies at the Institute of Archaeology of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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Aharon Tavger听is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Aharon received his M.A. in 2012 from Bar-Ilan University, and his Ph.D. in 2019 from Ariel University. His research combines the use of historical-geography and archaeology, focusing mainly on the highlands of Ancient Israel and Judah during the Bronze and Iron Ages and the Persian period. Since 2016, he has served as a senior staff member in the archaeological expedition to Tel Burna, and currently serves as the lab director of the project. Aharon also as the director of the Heritage Center for the Study of the Kingdom of Israel at Ariel University.

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Joe Uziel听graduated with his Ph.D. from Bar-Ilan University in 2008. He has since worked for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), excavating several areas in the City of David and the Western Wall Tunnels, uncovering a range of finds from the Middle Bronze Age through to the Mamluk period. Joe鈥檚 discoveries have inspired further research on the archaeology of Jerusalem, particularly relating to the Bronze and Iron Ages and Roman period. In January 2020, Joe was named head of the Dead Sea Scrolls Unit at the IAA. The Dead Sea Scroll Unit is dedicated to the conservation, curation, documentation, and research of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

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Sam Wolff听received his Ph.D. from University of Chicago in 1986. He was Field Supervisor and later Assistant Director at the 1985-1990 excavations at Ashkelon (Israel). In 1991, he began a 25-year career as a field archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). He has excavated at the Iron Age I site of Ein Hagit, the multi-period site of Tel Megadim, and the Iron Age II site at Tel Hamid, a satellite of Tel Gezer. He worked as Co-Director and photographer at the 2006-2017 excavations at Tel Gezer. Since retiring from the IAA in 2017, he has been managing the Tel Gezer laboratory.

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Assaf Yasur-Landau听is a professor in the Department of Maritime Civilizations at the University of Haifa, the director of the Laboratory for Coastal Archaeology and Underwater Survey, and a senior researcher at the Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies. After attending Tel Aviv University for both his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees, Dr. Yasur-Landau attended Harvard University to complete his post-doctoral research. As an archaeologist interested in the connections between the Aegean and the Levant during the Bronze Age, he is involved in several archaeological projects including codirecting both the excavations at Tel Kabri and the underwater excavations at the ancient port of Tel Dor.

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Irit Ziffer听is an archaeologist, art historian, and the former curator of the Ceramics and Nehushtan pavilions at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv. She received her Ph.D. in ancient Near Eastern art from Tel Aviv University, and was an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Art History at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 2007-2008. Dr. Ziffer鈥檚 academic interests lie in the methods in which the ruling class utilized art and images for political purposes. She has also taught in the Department of Archaeology and ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University and took part in the Aphek-Antipatris excavations from 1976-1979 and 1981-1982.

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Fieldwork Report: Allison Densel

Posted on October 17, 2022 by Erin Anderson

The Beginning of My Archaeology Journey

Allison Densel, 2022 Strange-Midkiff Scholarship Recipient

The weeks leading up to the project were some of the longest of my life. Ever since Kara Larson, a PhD student as well as my academic mentor at the University of Michigan, told me she needed undergraduates to come with her to Israel last fall, I could barely contain my excitement! This was finally my chance to go out and conduct archaeological research in the field, something I had desired for as long as I could remember. Naturally, then, it was difficult for me to wait for the trip. On the chalkboard in my bedroom, I counted down the days until my flight to Tel Aviv.

As excited as I was, however, I remember worrying about what it would be like. I had never been in the field before, let alone traveled internationally, so I had no idea what to expect. How was I going to feel if actually doing archaeology did not hold the same fascination as reading about it all of these years?

Working at Tell el-Hesi was hot, dirty, and absolutely exhausting. We faced scorpions, jackals, and distant rocketfire. I loved every second of the experience.

Michigan students in front of the Treasury in Petra, Jordan.

Our project,听A Multi-Survey Exploration of Residences Near Tell el-Hesi, Israel, consisted of two studies. The primary objective of these surveys was to identify areas with high potential for occupation by Early Bronze Age (EBA) pastoralists. This is the focus of Kara鈥檚 PhD dissertation.

We began our fieldwork with a brief exploration of the region around the site. From a previous survey from several years ago, we started with a set of GPS points that had a high potential EBA yield. We spent the first few days of the trip driving to these points (sometimes on real roads, sometimes not) and conducting a basic cardinal survey at each one. Based on the quantity of EBA artifacts we found on the surface, such as characteristic potsherds and lithics, we will now be able to identify the most promising locations for potential EBA settlements. In total, we surveyed more than 30 individual sites using this method. This also served as a wonderful opportunity to see the Israeli countryside, which is absolutely beautiful.

The main pedestrian survey took place at the Tell itself. In the field at the base of the mound, we set up a grid of 86 squares, each 20 by 20 meters in size. These squares were then divided into 5 by 5 meter units. Kara would assign each of us undergraduates, myself and two others, a unit, and then set a timer for 5 minutes. In that time, we would carefully patrol our squares, collecting any artifacts we found on the surface. Over the course of the trip, we surveyed over 600 of these 5 by 5s, approximately 15,000 square meters!

By far, my favorite artifact was a fragment of a stone sickle that I found during our main survey. It is a rather intact piece, made from a light brown chert and most likely EBA in origin. The blade edge has a slight sheen to it, indicating that it was used to harvest grain or other crops. Its size (about 2 inches in length) and condition are just spectacular given its age. This is my go-to answer whenever someone asks me what kinds of things we found!

I am beyond grateful for the fieldwork I participated in this summer. Not only did I learn a lot about the process of archaeological research, but I also grew as a student and person, as clich茅 as that sounds. Because of the work our team accomplished, Kara will be able to excavate at Hesi next summer. I plan on being there as a junior staff member. I鈥檓 already looking forward to it! This was truly a life-changing experience, and I would like to extend my most sincere gratitude to Carolyn Midkiff-Strange, ASOR, the University of Michigan, and to Kara Larson. Without all of your support, I would not have had such an amazing and transformative experience.

Allison Densel was born and raised in Sudbury, Massachusetts. After enrolling at the University of Michigan, she began to get involved with archaeological research, working with Dr. Natalie Abell and Kara Larson. It is her dream to be able to pursue archaeology into her professional life, hopefully as faculty at an institution of higher education.

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