Συνέδριο για την αρχαία
Εγγύς Ανατολή
The 2019 ASOR
ANNUAL MEETING
November 20-23
San Diego, California
The Westin San Diego
Το συνέδριο
προσελκύει περίπου 1.000 μελετητές και λάτρεις της αρχαιολογίας, της
γλωσσολογίας, της γεωγραφίας, της επιγραφικής, της ανθρωπολογίας και άλλων
πεδίων, που σχετίζονται με την μελέτη της αρχαίας Εγγύς Ανατολής.
The 2019 ASOR Annual Meeting will be held in San Diego, CA, from
November 20th to 23rd at The Westin San Diego. The Annual Meeting brings
together ASOR’s vibrant academic community to present their current findings
and discuss their research. The conference attracts approximately 1,000
scholars and enthusiasts of archaeology, linguistics, geography, epigraphy,
anthropology, and other fields related to the study of the ancient Near East.
Check this page often for updates about the hotel and city, travel
discounts, the Call for Papers, and more!
2019 Conference
Information
·
Travel Information (coming soon)
Highlights from the 2018
Annual Meeting
·
2018 Photo Album
Forms
·
Online Annual Meeting Registration
Descriptions of Sessions & Workshops
ASOR-Sponsored Sessions
Ancient Inscriptions: Recent Discoveries, New
Editions, New Readings
Session Chairs: Michael
Langlois, Strasbourg/University of
France; Anat Mendel-Geberovich, Tel Aviv University
Description: The focus of this session is epigraphic material
from the Near East and Wider Mediterranean. Paper proposals that consist of new
readings (of previously published inscriptions) or constitute preliminary
presentations of new epigraphic discoveries are of special interest.
Description: Traces of practices relating to dress and the body are present in many ways in the archaeological,
textual and visual records of the ancient world, from the
physical remains of dressed bodies, to images depicting
them, to texts describing such aspects as textile production and sumptuary customs. Previous scholarship has
provided useful typological frameworks but has often viewed these objects as static
rappings of status and gender. The goal of this
session is to lluminate the dynamic role of dress and the body in the
performance and construction of aspects of individual and social identity, and to encourage
collaborative dialogue within the study of dress and the body in antiquity.
Description: This session is meant to explore the
intersections between History, Archaeology, and the Judeo-Christian Bible and
related texts.
Session Chairs: Margaret
Cohen, Albright Institute of
Archaeological Research, Deirdre Fulton, Baylor University, and Elizabeth
Arnold, Grand Valley State
University
Description: The Archaeology and History of Food and Feasting
session addresses the production, distribution, and consumption of food and
drink. Insofar as foodways touch upon almost every aspect of the human
experience—from agricultural technology, to economy and trade, to nutrition and
cuisine, to the function of the household and its members, to religious acts of
eating and worship—we welcome submissions from diverse perspectives and from
the full spectrum of our field’s geography and chronology.
Archaeology of Anatolia
Description: This session is concerned with current fieldwork
in Anatolia, as well as the issue of connectivity in Anatolia. What, for
example, were the interconnections between Anatolia and surrounding regions
such as Cyprus, Transcaucasia, Mesopotamia, and Europe?
Session Chairs: Mark Kenoyer, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Steven
Karacic, Florida State University
Description: This session seeks contributions covering a wide
spatio-temporal swath from the Paleolithic to the present centered on the
Arabian Peninsula but including neighboring areas such as The Horn of Africa,
East Africa, and South Asia. Contributions might be tied to the region
thematically (e.g pastoral nomadism, domesticates, or agricultural strategies),
methodologically (e.g. Landscape archaeology, or satellite imagery
technologies) or through ancient contacts such as trade along The Red Sea,
Persian/Arabian Gulf or Indian Ocean.
Description: This session is open to papers that concern the
archaeology of the Black Sea and Eurasia.
Description: This session is open to papers that concern the
Near East in the Byzantine period.
Description: This session focuses on current archaeological
research in Cyprus from prehistory to the modern period. Topics may include
reports on archaeological fieldwork and survey, artifactual studies, as well as
more focused methodological or theoretical discussions. Papers that address
current debates and issues are especially welcome.
Archaeology of Egypt
Session Chairs: Krystal Pierce,
Brigham Young University; Kerry Muhlestein, Brigham Young University
Description: This session is open to research on all areas
related to the archaeology of Egypt, including current and past fieldwork,
material culture, textual sources, religious or social aspects, international
relations, art, and history.
Description: This session explores the archaeology of Iran.
Description: This session explores the archaeology of Islamic
society.
Description: The focus of this session is on current
archaeological fieldwork in Israel.
Session Chairs: Marta D’ Andrea, Sapienza
Università di Roma; and Barbara Reeves, Queen’s University
Description: This session is open to any research from any
period relating to the Archaeology of Jordan. The session is open to papers on
recent fieldwork, synthetic analyses of multiple field seasons, as well as any
area of current archaeological research focused on Jordan.
Description: The focus of this session is on current
archaeological fieldwork in Lebanon.
Description: This session seeks submissions in all areas
illuminated by archaeology that relate to the material, social, and religious
culture, history and international relations, and texts of ancient Mesopotamia.
Description: This session is open to papers that concern the
Near East in the Bronze and Iron Ages.
Description: This session is open to papers that concern the
Near East in the Classical periods.
Description: This session seeks contributions covering a wide
spatio-temporal swath from the Paleolithic to the present centered on the
Arabian Peninsula but including neighboring areas such as The Horn of Africa,
East Africa, and South Asia. Contributions might be tied to the region
thematically (e.g pastoral nomadism, domesticates, or agricultural strategies),
methodologically (e.g. Landscape archaeology, or satellite imagery
technologies) or through ancient contacts such as trade along The Red Sea,
Persian/Arabian Gulf or Indian Ocean.
Description: The focus of this session is on current
archaeological fieldwork in the southern Levant.
Session Chair: Clemens Reichel, University of Toronto; Caroline Sauvage, Loyola
Marymount University
Description: This session is concerned with all areas of
Syria that are illuminated by archaeology.
These include a discussion of recent archaeological
excavations, history, religion, society, and texts.
Session Chairs: Allison Thomason, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; Kiersten
Neumann, Oriental Institute,
University of Chicago
Description: This session welcomes submissions that present
innovative analyses of any facet of Near Eastern artistic production or visual
culture.
Description: This session welcomes papers that present
bioarchaeological research conducted in the Near East. Papers that pose new
questions and/or explore new methods are encouraged.
Description: Applicants for tenure-track positions at
universities and colleges confront diminished demand for faculty. Increasingly
junior scholars are forced to look for adjunct or temporary appointments and
face the possibility of no appointment at all. This three-year session
aims to provide insights into alternative careers for both the next generation
of ASOR scholars and those interested in a career change. Each year one or two
panels of four to six scholars who developed careers outside the academy will
discuss their careers, answering fundamental questions in 15- to 20-minute
presentations. How did they discover the job opportunities that became a
meaningful career? Did they begin in the academy and leverage that experience
to gain access to a different career or were they able to move from graduate
school into this work? How important, if at all, was a post-doc in the choices
they had? How long did it take to get into the position where they have spent
most of their professional lives? What additional training did they need? Have
they been able to continue their research and/or excavation projects: that is,
what was the overall impact of the career choice on their scholarship? Sessions
will include time for questions and discussion.
Session Chairs: Glenn Corbett,
American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR); Suzanne Davis, Kelsey
Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan
Description: This session explores theory and practice in the
areas of archaeological site and collections conservation, presentation,
education, and management. Discussion of community-engaged projects is
especially welcome.
Description: This session will present papers that describe
significant advances in or interesting applications of the digital
humanities. Topics may include public digital initiatives, 3D scanning and
modelling, spatial analysis (GIS and remote sensing), social network
analysis, textual analysis, textual geographies, digital
storytelling, data management etc. In addition to methodological topics,
the session also welcomes papers that focus on broader debates in the
digital humanities.
Note: When submitting an abstract online for this
session, select the session titled “Archaeology of the Natural Environment:
Archaeobotany and Zooarchaeology in the Near East”
Session Chairs: Melissa Rosenzweig,
Miami University; Madelynn von Baeyer, University of Connecticut
Description: This session accepts papers that examine past
human resources (flora and fauna) uses and human/environment interactions in
the Ancient Near East.
Description: This session pertains to on-going
archaeological, art historical, and/or anthropological work and research into
the construction and expression of gender in antiquity, ancient
women/womanhood, masculinities (hegemonic and otherwise), Queer Theory, and the
engendering of ancient objects and spaces.
Description: Papers in this session examine the history of
the disciplines of Biblical Archaeology and Near Eastern Archaeology.
Description: This session invites submissions touching on any
aspect of glyptic studies. Papers may approach seals and sealings as object,
text, and/or image, and rely on multiple strands of evidence. Applied
methodologies from a variety of disciplines are encouraged. While seals and
sealings form the core subject of investigation for this session, papers that
rely on a wide range of comparative objects are welcome. Glyptic-related topics
covering the full geographical and chronological horizon of the ancient Near
East are considered
Description: This session brings together scholars investigating
regional-scale problems of settlement history and archaeological landscapes
across the ancient Near East. Research presented in the session is linked
methodologically through the use of regional survey, remote sensing, and
environmental studies to document ancient settlements, communication routes,
field systems and other evidence of human activity that is inscribed in the
landscape. Session participants are especially encouraged to offer analyses of
these regional archaeological data that explore political, economic, and
cultural aspects of ancient settlement systems as well as their dynamic
interaction with the natural environment.
Description: This session welcomes papers that concern marine
archaeology in terms of methods, practices, and case studies in areas
throughout the Near East.
Description: This session is open to papers that concern the
Prehistoric Near East, particularly in the Paleolithic, Neolithic, and
Chalcolithic
Description: This session is for projects with ASOR/CAP
affiliation.
Description: This session is for projects without ASOR/CAP
affiliation.
Description: This session welcomes papers that examine the
issue of technology in archaeology.
Session Chair: Tobin
Hartnell, American University of
Iraq, Sulaimani; Darrell J. Rohl, Calvin
College
Description: This session welcomes papers that deal
explicitly with theoretical and anthropological approaches to ancient Near
Eastern and east Mediterranean art and archaeology.
Member-Organized Sessions
Session Chairs: Douglas
Inglis, Texas A&M
University; Miroslav Bárta, Czech Institute of Egyptology, Charles
University in Prague
Description: Boats were essential to life and death along the
waterways of Ancient Egypt and the Near East. They facilitated long-distance
travel and trade, state formation, the construction of the pyramids, and even
navigating the world beyond. Their importance to maritime societies resulted in
their use as persistent symbols, as well as their integration into religious
and cultural metaphors throughout the region. This double session will examine
the significance of watercraft as both cultural and technological objects, and
explore their integration into cultic practice, funerary beliefs, and displays
of social status.
Description: Ambiguity in the Ancient Near East explores
ambiguity as a fruitful strategy of signification across ancient Near Eastern
cultures. This year, we invite presenters whose work investigates constructions
of gender. Gender was one productive form of identity construction in the
ancient Near East, enabling the definition of individuals and peoples in
relationship to larger social groups. This session explores gender as a site of
identity formation and/or transgression that tells us about ancient Near
Eastern mentalities more generally. Was gender fixed in binary terms? Under
what circumstances were traditional categories of gender blurred, and for what
purposes, or to what effects? We welcome papers that explore ANE gender as it
was defined by culturally-prescribed actions, or gender as it relates to
ancient professions, political or other forms of leadership, law, sexuality,
and/or ritual. Papers could also explore the difference between ancient and
modern systems of classification, the role of ambiguity and liminality in
interpersonal relations, and/or constraints beyond gender that might lead to
ambiguous identity in the ANE. Papers on social and cultural constructions and
expressions of identity are also welcome. Presenters are invited to make use of
archaeological, art historical and/or textual data.
Description: Geoarchaeology has long been a component of Near
Eastern archaeological research programs. Recent innovations in geoscientific
techniques and sample collection strategies have greatly increased the variety
of information available through geoarchaeological studies. Geoarchaeology
complements other multi-disciplinary archaeological specialties such as
paleobotany, isotope analysis, faunal analysis, and archaeo-geophysics.
However, of these specialties, geoarchaeology seems the least accessible to the
general archaeological community. With continued interest in environmental
reconstruction, landscape analysis, environmental archaeology, and political
ecology, the methods and techniques of geoarchaeology have much to offer Near
Eastern archaeological research programs. The primary objective of this
workshop is to increase the accessibility and applicability of
geoarchaeological studies to Near Eastern archaeologists. The workshop will be
conducted as a round table discussion open to all interested in the application
of geoscientific techniques to the archaeological record. Since
inter-disciplinary research strategies will play a role in much of the
discussion, archaeological specialists are encouraged to attend.
Session Chairs: Stephen D.
Humphreys, Durham University; Rona Evyasaf, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
Description: An increasing body of peer-reviewed research
demonstrates that participation in archaeological fieldwork offers physical,
psychological, and social benefits. Participant-oriented archaeology is now
being used to aid military veterans struggling with PTSD and provide an outlet
for children with autism, as well as to promote civic renewal, build community,
and bridge social divisions. This focus on enhancing benefit to excavation
participants is distinct from established attempts to increase outreach and
generate popular interest (usually termed ‘community archaeology’ or ‘public
archaeology’), which are intended to benefit the study and preservation of
archaeological sites and encourage collaboration with archaeologists in meeting
research objectives. As our society becomes more dependent upon artificial
means to remain connected, archaeology provides an opportunity to interact in
person while pursuing a relevant, unifying research objective, ie. the
excavation and preservation of a site. This approach to archaeology is in its
infancy but could potentially impact the manner in which archaeological
projects are funded, promoted, and conducted. We welcome proposals depicting
innovative projects attempting to use archaeological fieldwork, archival
work, or other forms of engagement with the material record to benefit
participants, promote social benefit, and to advance the idea that archaeology
can contribute to the public good.
Description: For centuries, the written word was the preferred
medium for transferring archaeological academic knowledge to the broader
public. With the advent of modern communication technology like radio, TV, and
the internet the possibilities to interact with the audience were broadened.
Video-games have since the 1980’s been a part of this new wave of
telecommunication, but they remain underrepresented as a Aeld of study in academic
scholarship. In this session, we aim to correct this by offering a
multidisciplinary discussion of theoretical and methodological approaches to
the study of archaeology
and video gaming. Archaeogaming, as it is often
called, is a systematizing framework that includes the use of archaeological
methods within game worlds, the creation of video-games for, or about,
archaeological practices, or the critical study of how archaeology is
represented in video-games. Themes can include using archaeological tools and
methods to conduct archaeological investigations into synthetic worlds,
exploring heritage through play, and the use and ethics of virtual reality in
digital spaces. In this session, we aim to present a diverse array of topics
that sit on the intersection of the archaeology of the Near East and video
games, opening up debate on the multifunctionality of this medium for research,
education and heritage management.
Description: We expect to offer perspectives on a variety of
topics such as open access publication, data collection, data publication,
Creative Commons/copyright, data access, sustainability, self-archiving,
negotiating author agreements, and the like.
First year topic: Networking and Publishing:
Navigating social media, conventional and digital dissemination services
Second year topic: Best practices in different
sub-disciplines (ceramics, lithics, zooarch, GIS)
Third year topic: Best practices in publishing digital
content
Description: Cities first emerged in the fourth millennium B.C.E.
in ancient West Asia and Egypt and quickly became the centers of civilization.
As such, cities were also the centers of economic, ideological, and cultural
exchange. This session will feature papers that speak to issues such as the
movement of goods and/or people, economic and socio-cultural relationships
between cities, changes in urban networks related to political or ideological
forces, and any other subjects related to inter-city relationships. We invite
proposals that speak to these themes from methodologies including, but not
limited to, literary, philological, archaeological, and anthropological
approaches.
Description: The nature and extent of the changes caused by the
emergence and expansion of Islam in the mid-7th century C.E. continue to
generate considerable debate. Due to the nature of the evidence this
transitional period has most often been examined in light of broad political,
administrative or economic shifts, with increasing emphasis being placed on
regional variation and environmental stressors. Yet there are the beginnings of
significant cultural transformations occurring during this period as well, and
signs of transition at this scale have recently been the focus of much work
despite practical and
methodological barriers. The proposed 3-year session
attempts to place a renewed emphasis on change and continuity in daily life
through this turbulent period as demonstrated by architecture, art, and
material culture. Over three years, the session will examine material practice
(2018), changes in the urban and rural environment (2019) and
mortuary and zooarchaeological approaches (2020). These sessions provide an
opportunity for contributors to explore topics related to daily activity,
belief, and interaction among elites and non-elites alike in or around the 7th
century.
Creative Pedagogies for Teaching in the Ancient Near
East and Egypt: Next Steps – Collaborating, Sharing, and Validating Creative
Approaches to Teaching (Workshop)
Description: As enrollments in the humanities continue to drop
and students demand more immersive class experiences, faculty teaching the
ancient Near East are looking to more creative pedagogical tools and methods to
improve student experience and encourage continued engagement with the study of
the ancient world. These pedagogies range from single creative projects, to the
increasing use of digital tools, or even semester-long collaborations with
faculty in other disciplines.
Following on last year’s Creative Pedagogies sessions,
this workshop invites participants to again share their experiences in
undertaking non-traditional pedagogical approaches to the study of the ancient
world, and to take the next steps in thinking about the role of such strategies
in today’s academy. Participants in this workshop will consider three questions
that were raised in the 2018 sessions: 1) How do we share new ideas and
approaches? 2) How can collaborations with colleagues inside and outside our
institutions lead to innovation in teaching? 3) How can we encourage
institutional actors to recognize, support, and reward the efforts involved in
developing these creative projects? Presenters will be asked to limit their
presentations to 5-7 minutes so that most of the session can be devoted to
discussion and planning.
Description: This session addresses continuing research based on
the excavations conducted at the Early Bronze Age urban center of Titriș Höyük
from 1991-1999. The themes of the session revolve around the lived experiences
of commoners at an ancient Near Eastern urban center through studies of their
houses and households, technology and craft production, food production,
storage and consumption, mortuary ritual, and social organization. The
contributions to this session will be carefully integrated to provide a
synthesis of daily life at the site. Although focused on a single case-study,
the contributions to this session will present an exploration of the broader
implications of the results from Titriș Höyük for our understanding of
urbanization in the Early Bronze Age.
Session Chairs: Sarah Kielt
Costello, University of Houston –
Clear Lake; Diana Stein,
Birkbeck University of London
Description: Ecstatic experience played a vital role in the
ancient world, a subject that has hitherto received little systematic
attention. In large part, this is because the methods and performance of
ecstatic rites are usually secret, the visual and textual allusions enigmatic
or abstract, the associated cultic equipment often ritually broken and decommissioned,
and the experience’s universal core and impact on belief systems frequently
obscured by a veneer of culturally specific objects and interpretations.
Nevertheless, the rewards of scholarly inquiry are potentially great, with
patterns and commonalities that cross-cut the civilizations of pharaonic Egypt,
the ancient Near East, the Bronze Age Aegean, and the classical Mediterranean.
Our session seeks papers on all aspects of this experience: How was the
experience defined and by what means was it achieved? Who was involved? Where
and when were its rites carried out? How was it referred to in literature and
art? What was its relation to myth and religion?
Encoding Data for Interdisciplinary Use and Digital
Collaboration
Session Chairs: Vanessa Bigot Juloux,
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE), Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL) and
Andrews University; Amy Gansell, St. John’s University
Description: Data encoding entails an analog-to-digital
conversion in which the characteristics of an object, text, image, or
archaeological site can be represented in a specialized format for computer
handling. Once encoded, data can be stored, sorted, and analyzed through a
variety of computer-based techniques ranging from specialized data-mining
algorithms to user-friendly mobile apps. Especially when using linked open
data, researchers around the world can collaborate on the collection, encoding,
and analysis of data. A single encoded corpus could be analyzed concurrently by
multiple projects, and encoded data can be linked across corpuses to facilitate
broader, potentially interdisciplinary, studies.
This three-year session offers a venue for the
presentation of methodologies, projects, and discoveries based on encoding or
encoded data. We describe and demonstrate a wide spectrum of research that will
include studies of stratigraphy, object typologies, provenance, cultural
heritage, epigraphy, e-philology, and prosopography. Ultimately we will show
the value of cyber-research as a powerful resource for revealing otherwise
imperceptible information about ancient Near Eastern time. We welcome art
historians, historians, epigraphers, philologists, anthropologists, and archaeologists,
including prehistorians, Bible scholars, Hittitologists, Egyptologists,
Aegeanists, and Byzantinists. This session will inspire new networks and
designs for digital collaboration.
Description: This session will feature recent research involving
experimental and experiential archaeology projects. This type of work allows
archaeologists to put themselves into the past to better understand the
production processes of everyday life activities, and to attempt to access
ancient human existence, albeit through the lens of our modern perspectives.
Experimental and experiential archaeology projects test archaeological interpretations
of ancient manufacture by reconstructing objects and recreating their
production methods. Through the experiments, one can try to identify the
intentions and goals involved in ancient production and to understand the
limitations and challenges that may have been present throughout these
processes. This includes, but is not limited to, craft production, food
preparation, building construction, tool making, technological innovations, and
much more. The act itself of conducting an experiment replicating past
procedures, as opposed to simply studying them, allows for greater insight into
the complexity of the overall process as well as personally experiencing the
physicality of a task and other related sensations. The outcomes of
experimental and experiential archaeology projects are invaluable for many
reasons: testing hypotheses about ancient manufacture, use as pedagogical tools
for education purposes, for creating accurate living history museums, and in
simulation models and exercises.
Session Chairs: Laura Battini, CNRS, Collège de France, Paris; Aaron
Brody, Pacific School of Religion; Sharon Steadman, SUNY
Cortland
Description: Recent studies have foregrounded the importance
of the house and household in multiple periods and over varied regions of the
Near East and North Africa. Various methods have been employed including
household archaeology and textual studies, viewed through frameworks of
anthropological and social theories. This session aims to continue the
conversation between varied sub-disciplines and regions by highlighting the
structural, social, and ritual data and interpretations from domestic settings.
Themes are not limited, but may include culture, economy, gender, ethnicity,
and religion taking a bottom-up approach to understanding the ancient world. Varied
methodologies, including household archaeology, domestic micro-archaeology, 3-D
reconstructions, etc. welcome.
Description: Positioned between the First and Second Temple
periods, relatively little attention has been paid to the archaeology of the
Persian and Hellenistic periods in Israel in general, and to that of Idumea
(roughly equivalent to the southern Judean Lowland and the northern Negev
Desert) in particular. In recent years, however, the rich results of
excavations in such sites as Horbat Midras, Horvat e-Rasem, Maresha, Horbat
‘Amuda and Horbat Beit Loya (Lehi) have greatly increased our understanding of
settlement history in the region during this time. Based on the ceramic and
numismatic evidence, a picture emerges of satellite/peripheral villages of
Maresha first established in the late Persian (5th–4th cent. B.C.E) or early
Hellenistic period (4th–3rd cent. B.C.E.) and abandoned and/or destroyed during
the Hasmonean Revolt of 167–164 B.C.E. – and not, as previously believed,
during the conquests of John Hyrcanus ca. 113/112 B.C.E. These conclusions are
indeed novelties in the modern scholarship of Israeli archaeology, worthy of
presentation and discussion in the 2019 conference.
Interconnected Communities
and the Origins of Internationalism: The Late Third to Early Second Millennium
B.C.E. in the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia
Session Chairs: Nadia
Ben-Marzouk,
University of California, Los Angeles; Amy B. Karoll, University of California, Los Angeles
Description: For many communities around the eastern
Mediterranean and western Asia, the late third millennium marked a new period
of interconnectivity. As interregional exchange networks underwent
intensification, the crystallization of new communication arteries resulted in
the invention and exchange of new technologies and practices, the negotiation
of new identities, and the establishment of shared ideologies. The goal of this
session is to bring together specialists from different regions to investigate
the social processes that resulted in establishing a landscape of
interconnectivity during the late third millennium, providing the backdrop for
the so-called internationalism of the early second millennium B.C.E. This
session welcomes any paper whose goal is to better understand the nature of
contact between communities during this period. Potential papers might: compare
and contrast the power and identity negotiations employed by emergent elites;
analyze the contexts and causes of technological innovation, adaptation, or rejection
in the wake of increasing internationalism; examine the causal mechanisms of
economic intensification; explore the changing relationship between community
and landscape as a result of shifting exchange networks; or investigate the
mechanisms resulting in the development of shared practices, styles, or
ideologies between regions.
Session Chairs: G. Bike
Yazıcıoğlu-Santamaria,
University of Chicago; Maureen E. Marshall, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Description: Biogeochemical research on the human condition in
the ancient past is a rapidly growing field. Isotopic investigations targeting
questions about climate change, human mobility, animal trade, herding
strategies, crop management, diet and subsistence, and infant-feeding practices
in the Broader Ancient Near East have increased in number over the past decade.
However, biogeochemical techniques and understandings continue to develop and
be re-evaluated, necessitating venues for scholarly exchange, comparison, and
discussion. The objective of this session is to encourage a dialogue among
researchers conducting and using biogeochemical techniques in the region,
integrating analytical methods with social and historical questions. In
consecutive years the session will incorporate the results of most recent and
ongoing research in the region with methodological advances in techniques and
approaches, in tandem with the developing agenda of the “Archaeological
Isotopes Working Group” Business Meetings.
Session Chairs: Assaf
Yasur-Landau,
University of Haifa; Gil Gambash, University of Haifa; Thomas E. Levy, University of California San Diego
Description: Maritime connectivity, comprising trade, migration
and other marine interactions, served also as an adaptive strategy for risk
management in the environmental uncertainty of the Mediterranean. The eastern
Mediterranean, with its rich archaeological record, provides an ideal
laboratory to test models of connectivity and adaptation to maritime
environment in Mediterranean micro-regions. Natural anchorages and artificial
harbors are pivotal interfaces between land and sea and the place in which
interregional interactions occur, in connection with coastal communities. This
session aims to explore case studies of maritime and coastal activities in the
eastern Mediterranean between the epi-paleolithic period and the Medieval
period and explore the role of these activities in the changing patterns of
human adaptation to the Mediterranean environment. The breadth of the topic and
the numerous recent innovations related to it would justify a double session.
Topics to be highlighted:
1. The impact of climate change and political changes
on patterns of maritime activity
2. The impact of new ship- and port-building
technologies on local economy and culture.
3. Changing patterns of aquaculture and animal
husbandry in coastal micro-regions
4. Diachronic changes in coastal settlement patterns
and their causes
5. Tools for studying human and natural ecosystems
Description: The topic of the session is the economies of the Ancient
Near East, moving beyond the dichotomy between “ancient” and “modern” economy.
Planned for two-three years, the sessions will include papers based on written
as well as archaeological evidence relating to different ANE
cultures/societies, mainly of the Bronze and Iron Ages. The
session is open to lectures on economic modes of exchanges (barter, bullion,
the transition to coinage); systems of measures and of defining value; wealth
deposits (hoards); dynamics of prices and salaries; markets; and trade and
traders.
Each year we will focus on a certain subject, though
additional lectures (as long as they relate to ANE economies) are welcomed.
2017: Measuring value: hoards and systems of weight
2018: Markets and traders
2019: Prices, salaries, and the transition to coinage
Description: Recent bibliometric analysis shows that network
research is flourishing across the humanities and social sciences. Near Eastern
archaeologists and historians are well-positioned to take advantage of network
approaches given the range of data at their disposal. However, there remains an
urgent need for a rigorous focus on the appropriate application of network
terms, concepts and techniques in Near Eastern studies. What kinds of questions
can network analyses help us answer? What types of data are amendable to such
analyses? How can formal network methods be integrated into traditional Near
Eastern research frameworks? To address these questions, this session explores
recent efforts that incorporate network approaches to the study of both
material cultural and textual data. These case studies demonstrate the potential
of network methods and models to address socio-political complexity and change
over various spatial and temporal scales.
Session Chairs: Chris McKinny, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi; Kyle Keimer, Macquarie University; Aharon Tavger, Israel Heritage Department at Ariel University
Description: This session aims to provide a platform at ASOR for
archaeologists and historians to present original research related to
Historical Geography. We would like to have topical discussions that are more
narrowly defined by chronological or regional considerations. While we hope to
see studies connected with the historical geographical details of the Hebrew
Bible and other related texts, we also would like to see the discipline of
historical geography be applied to texts and regions beyond both the southern
Levant and the Bronze and Iron Ages.
Workshop Chairs: Douglas
Clark, La
Sierra University; Suzanne Richard, Gannon University; Andrea
Polcaro, Perugia
University; Marta D’Andrea, Sapienza University of Rome; Basem Mahamid, Department of Antiquities, Madaba
Description: This workshop seeks to encourage collaborative
presentations, panel discussions, and structured conversations focused on
issues in the Madaba Region of central Jordan, as defined by the Department of
Antiquities: the area between southern Amman, the eastern desert, the Wadi
Mujib, and the Dead Sea. Archaeological issues—whether generically
archaeological, geo-political, architectural, anthropological, ethnographic,
conceptual and theoretical, cultural heritage- or community-related, or
technological—are enlarged, enriched, and enhanced when approached
collaboratively in a regional context.
2019
Madaba Region strategies and plans for preserving
cultural heritage and fostering community archaeology. This would involve short
reports/conversations among excavations/projects already carrying out heritage
protection initiatives and/or community archaeology (such as Hisban, Tall
Madaba, MRAMP, Mukawir, Lahun?), those with plans to do the same (`Umayri?),
MOTA/DoA initiatives, USAID/ACOR/SCHEP endeavors, all in the service of
cross-pollination of ideas and practices in the region.
2020
Collaborative presentations/conversations among Madaba
Region archaeological excavation projects, centered on the current Madaba Archaeological
Museum where regional finds are stored, studied, and displayed. In hopes of
success on our application for a US Ambassador’s grant (AFCP – Ambassador’s
Fund for Cultural Protection), how should we conceive a totally upgraded and
repurposed storage and research facility for our collective artifacts?
2021
Collaborative presentations/conversations among Madaba
Region archaeological excavation projects, centered on the proposed new Madaba
Regional Archaeological Museum where regional finds will be displayed in a
state-of-the-art facility. For example (one among many), one innovative feature
imagined for the new museum is the use of a room in the introductory section of
the Madaba Archaeological Park West as a springboard for exploring
archaeological sites in the region, equipped with regional maps and directional
indicators to these sites, including hard-copy and digital (perhaps
smart-phone) access to information about the sites and directions for getting
to them. Other issues involving the new museum will provide ample subject
material for collective thinking and planning.
Description: This workshop will occur in two parts within the
same schedule time-block. The first part will present an overview of
village-centered lamp manufacturing technologies used in Galilee in the
Hellenistic and Roman periods, with some comparative information from
manufacture and distribution of other small ceramic objects, namely terracotta
figurines from Hellenistic and Roman Palestine. Both wheel-made and
mold-made lamp making will be covered. In the second half of the workshop,
attendees will have an opportunity to carve designs into lamp molds and to make
clay lamps. Yeshu Dray will supply 4–6 soft chalk blanks and small hand tools
for carving decorations in molds. James Strange will supply moist clay for
impressing into molds. Note: This workshop is not accepting
paper/presentation proposals.
Description: This session explores connections between polities
and geography, and how ancient people negotiated systems of power and
government within their physical settings. Our knowledge of political geography
in the ANE is filtered through centuries of scholarship at times promoting
notions of control that could use amended analyses. In light of this, this
session welcomes papers that reinterpret dynamics between polities based on supporting
archaeological or textual discoveries, or experiment with theoretical
approaches that enlighten our understanding of an established data-set. Papers
could argue, for instance, that a different model of control is more
appropriate to explain evidence of a geopolitical relationship than previously
put forth, or show how recent archaeological or textual discoveries require us
to reevaluate our understanding of the power dynamics in a region. Special
attention to how people in the ancient world perceived their own geopolitical
structures or how geography served to define a city or region is encouraged.
Session Chairs: Vanessa Bigot Juloux, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE), Paris
Sciences et Lettres (PSL) and Andrews University; Leann Pace, Wake Forest University
Description: Violence is a common motif that appears throughout
the well-studied narrative and historical texts and images from the region of
the ancient Near East and its neighbors, from Prehistory to Late Antiquity.
Although depicted in both divine and human realms (e.g. Enuma Elish, Stele of
Vultures, Chronicles, Battle of Qadesh, Baʿlu Cycle, Torah, Josephus),
violence, whether physical or psychological (e.g. interpersonal, corporate, or
structural), has been insufficiently studied from the perspectives of intention,
motivation and legacy. During this three-year session, we will investigate the
topic of violence through different methodological frameworks: (1) in 2017, the
anthropology and hermeneutics of text and image analysis, (2) in 2018, the
intentions (voluntary or not) and motivations of the authors in their use of violence as part of the narrative arc,
and (3) in 2019, examining the contexts of violent acts and violent
actors (who, why, how) in text and image and the social, moral, and political
implications of their violence. We welcome abstracts from art
historians, philologists, historians, anthropologists, and scholars interested
in extending their analysis of violence beyond the bounds of traditional
text-oriented approaches and determinism. We envision an interdisciplinary
session attracting papers from Prehistorians, Assyriologists, Bible scholars,
Hittitologists, Egyptologists, Aegeanists, and Byzantinists alike.
Workshop Chairs: Beth Alpert
Nakhai, The University of
Arizona; Jennie Ebeling,
University of Evansville
Description: This ASOR Initiative on the Status of Women workshop
explores ways in which people, especially women, who work in Near Eastern
archaeology manage the challenges of jobs, fieldwork, and family. For most
people in today’s workforce, integrating professional and family
responsibilities is complex and often stressful. In many cases, the intersection
of patriarchal norms with 21st-century
expectations creates heavy burdens for women. For everyone who does fieldwork,
the addition of weeks or months spent abroad further complicates already
complicated lives.
In this workshop, individuals (whether engaged in
fieldwork or not) will reflect upon the ways in which they have accomplished or
modified their goals, the ways in which they have succeeded, and the ways in
which they have been stymied by personal and/or professional obstacles to
success. The workshop format avoids traditional presentations. Rather, a call
through the ISW Facebook page will solicit short personal statements, which
will be read at the beginning of the workshop.
This will be followed by an open-mic session, during
which attendees are invited to contribute their thoughts and concerns regarding
this critically important matter. The focus will be on opening conversations,
sharing ideas, and considering solutions to problems shared by many of us.
Toward that goal, the workshop will steer clear of detailed personal
narratives, public accusations, and the like.
Session Chairs: Bob Mullins, Azusa Pacific University; Naama
Yahalom-Mack, The
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Description: This session will provide a comprehensive update to
seven seasons of archaeological excavations at Tel Abel Beth Maacah; an ASOR-affiliated
project carried out on behalf of Azusa Pacific University and the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem. Before excavations began in 2013, virtually nothing
was known about the site, despite references to it in the Hebrew Bible. Since
then we have produced abundant evidence for robust occupation during the second
and first millennia B.C.E. The Iron Age is particularly notable in light of the
interesting sequence of religious cult throughout Iron Age
I-IIA, the extensive administrative-industrial complex with evidence of
bronze and iron metalworking, and in the upper city, what appears to be a
citadel from the 9th century B.C.E., inside which was found the small faience
head of a bearded Levantine male now on display in the Israel Museum
Description: This session highlights research on all aspects of
history and archaeology focused on the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and adjacent
areas
The Early Bronze Age in the Southern Levant: New
Discoveries and Implications from the Greater Hesi Region and Beyond
Session Chairs: Kara Larson, Mississippi State University; Geoffrey
Ludvik, University of
Wisconsin-Madison
Description: Archaeological research in the Greater Hesi region
began with excavations on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund in 1890,
continued with the Joint Archaeological Expedition starting in 1970, and now
continues with the Hesi Regional Project through survey and excavation. While
most current studies have focused on the Iron Age occupations in the Greater
Hesi region, new research seeks to re-visit and reanalyze material from Early
Bronze Age excavations across the Southern Levant. This session will include an
interdisciplinary collection of papers focused on the Early Bronze Age
occupations in the Hesi and Negev regions, specifically presenting new evidence
for socioeconomic activities and interregional connectivity during this
important period. In addition to papers presenting previously unpublished
excavation and survey results, the session will include papers presenting new
research using archaeometric techniques, isotopic analyses, and other
quantitative methods, as well as new theoretical perspectives in light of the
revised Early Bronze Age chronology (i.e. Regev et al. 2012). In all, this
session will explore new avenues of research in the Early Bronze Age Southern Levant
with an emphasis on synthesizing these new interpretations with discoveries
from other sites and helping contextualize the Hesi region in the Early Bronze
Age world.
Session Chairs: Lissette
Jimenez, San Francisco State
University; Kiersten Neumann, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago
Description: Objects have unique histories, beginning with where
they were made, followed by how they may have been used, discarded, discovered,
bought and sold, stored, and displayed. The lives and stories of objects
persist as archaeologists, art historians, and museum professionals continue to
appropriate, objectify, and re-contextualize them in an attempt to uncover the
histories and sometimes hidden truths surrounding these artifacts. Researching
and contextualizing objects can shed light on issues of provenance and
provenience; raise discussions of repatriation; and potentially redefine the
histories of disciplines. The focus of this session will be on the importance
of context and object histories and how current object-based research
encourages a dialogue of challenging ethical issues.
Year one of this multi-year session will highlight the
importance of object research and context. Contributions to this session will
focus on collections research, archival research and redefining disciplinary
histories, and repatriation efforts. Year two will focus on the creation of
counter histories and narratives through cultural institutions, exhibitions,
research, and publications. Contributions will explore how the reception and
meaning of objects changes based on their mode of presentation. Lastly, year
three will explore the application of technology or digital humanities projects
to the study of objects and collections. Contributions to this session will
discuss the benefits of interdisciplinary and collaborative object-based
research and suggest future possibilities for object and collections studies.
Thinking, Speaking and Representing Animals in the
Ancient Near East: New Perspectives from Texts and Images
Description: In the ancient Near East, animals have always been
important; employed by humans as a labor force, as food, as transportation, and
for enjoyment, they are represented everywhere (works of art, furniture, dress,
everyday objects, amulets) and arecmentioned in private and official texts.
This session focuses on “official” and popular representations of animals to
better understand the complex relationships between men and animals. The first
year papers concerning birds are encouraged. The second year the focus will be
on two special animals, dogs and equids, because of their particular relations
with men. Finally, pets will be the topic of the third year.
2019: Birds are particularly linked to deities: bird wings
characterize all the gods, being symbols of their heavenly origin. More
specifically, some deities are linked to a particular bird: Ashtarte is linked
to the doves, Nanshe or Old Babylonian Ishtar to the geese, Papsukkal to a
walking bird, Shuqamuna and Shumalia to a bird on a pole. Representations of
birds go on in the Parthian time (goose like bird on a tall pole). The specific
links bird/divinity till exists in the Greeek and Roman worlds : Zeus/Léda
to the swan, Athéna to the owl, Junon to the peacock, Minerva to the owl. In
this session we would like to better understand the links between gods and
birds, why it is so widespread and in so different societies. But this search
can not be separated by the comprehension of the feelings that humans had for birds
Workshop Chairs: Emily Miller
Bonney, California State
University Fullerton; Leann Pace, Wake
Forest University
Description: This workshop aims to reconsider traditional modes
of conceptualizing making in prehistoric societies. We interrogate the notion
that the dominant material from which an object is made (metal, clay, wood,
plant fibers, etc.) defines the skills the artisan needs as there is little
site-based evidence for such full-time specialists. We will explore evidence
for a redefinition of specialist that does not depend primarily on the dominant
material, challenging ideas about craft specialization. During the three years
for which the workshop is proposed we will consider first whether specific
sites or artifacts indicate the presence of cross-craft activities with people
specializing in certain ways of making, for example controlled use of heat. Can
we identify knowledge that transcends traditionally defined craft boundaries?
Physical craft skills may be learnt through manipulation of materials and
tools. Do these in turn help shape what a craftsperson does? Second, are
specialists defined by type of artifact produced rather than materials or
methods? And third, what role do the consumers of these artifacts play? The
workshop, in which participants will present papers of nor more than 6 minutes,
aims to test ideas, compare evidence and debate a revised approach to studying
and discussing production activities.
Tracing Transformations in the Southern Levant: The
Transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age at Tel Lachish and Beyond
Session Chairs: Felix
Höflmayer, Austrian Academy of
Sciences; Katharina Streit, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Description: The aim of this session is to present first results
of the project “Tracing Transformations” and the Austrian-Israeli excavations
at Tel Lachish. Tracing Transformations reassesses the chronology, material
culture, and history of the southern Levant at the turn from the Middle to the
Late Bronze Ages, especially regarding connections with Egypt, the end of the Second
Intermediate Period and the dawn of the New Kingdom. In this session we will
present our newest excavation results at Tel Lachish and the “Tracing
Transformations” project and discuss both excavation results and historical
conclusions in a wider interregional context and in the framework of ongoing
scholarly debates regarding this critical period.
Description: Recent discoveries at Timna, Tel Eton, Khirbet Ra’i,
Khirbet en-Nahas, Tel Dor, and the Hesi region relating to mining, the
domestication of camels, climate, communication, and even simply unexpected but
significant sites like Khirbet Ra’i and Khirbet Summeily do not fit with the
accepted regional understanding and are changing our interpretations of what
the south was like in the late 11th and early 10th centuries B.C.E. This
workshop would bring together representatives of these and other projects to
provide the time and a forum for an open discussion of the new discoveries and
their interpretation. A few short presentations would summarize the newest
finds before a panel discussion would discuss inter-relationships between sites
and discoveries.
Session Chairs: William G. Dever, Professor Emeritus, University of
Arizona; Jesse C. Long, Jr.,
Lubbock Christian University
Description: In recognition of the significant contribution that
Suzanne Richard has made to the archaeology of the Early Bronze Age in the
southern Levant, this session will represent the best of scholarship in her
areas of interest and publication in the field. Professor Richard is best known
for her work on the Early Bronze Age, especially the EB III-IV. More recently,
she is concerned with interconnectivity in the Levant during the Early Bronze
Age, including the critical transitions between the northern and southern
Levant with the Chalcolithic and the Middle Bronze Age. The papers in this
section will reflect recent scholarship on urbanism and cultural transitions in
the Bronze Age.
Yerushalayim, Al Quds, Jerusalem: Recent Developments
and Dilemmas in the Archaeological and Historical Studies from the Bronze Age
to Medieval Periods
Session Chairs: Yuval Gadot, Tel-Aviv University; Gideon Avni, Israel Antiquities Authority; Joe Uziel, Israel Antiquities Authority
Description: This session will be devoted to the presentation of
new archaeological and historical research related to the political, social and
economic history of Jerusalem from the Bronze Age to the Medieval periods. The
importance of Jerusalem for the history and archaeology of the Southern Levant
cannot be overestimated. For over three millennia the city has stood as a
center of political, economic and religious affairs. As such it has attracted
the attention and imagination of scholars across the globe and finds from the
city and its region echo in the public realm. The session will present an
assortment of studies relating to the most recent finds from the many excavations
conducted within the city and its hinterland, focusing on several major topics
in which significant contribution to the knowledge of Jerusalem’s history has
been made.
The 2019 planned session will be devoted for
discussing the contribution of science based methodologies to the explorations
of Jerusalem’s past. It will also host lectures presenting new finds from the
city.
ΛΕΞΕΙΣ-ΚΛΕΙΔΙΑ: Συνεδριο, αρχαιολογια, γλωσσολογια, γεωγραφια, επιγραφικη, ανθρωπολογια, Εγγυς Ανατολη, επιγραφη
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