Academic program

ACADEMIC PROGRAM

2017 ASOR ANNUAL MEETING

The Westin Boston Waterfront, Boston, Massachusetts


*Please note that times and rooms are subject to change

* The presenter’s name will be underlined if they are not the first author or only author

Wednesday, November 15
7:00–8:15pm Plenary Address
Harbor Ballroom
Irene J. Winter, (Professor Emerita, former William Dorr Boardman Professor of Fine Arts, Harvard University), “Archaeology, Object History, Art History: Questions of Definition and Discipline.”
8:30–10:00pm Opening Reception

Marina Ballroom

Thursday, November 16
8:20–10:25am Session 1



1A. Archaeology of Mesopotamia

Harbor 1

Theme: This session presents new excavations and new work on old excavations in Mesopotamia, understood broadly.
CHAIR: Lauren Ristvet (University of Pennsylvania)
PRESENTERS:
8:20
Introduction (5 min.)
8:25
Emily Hammer (University of Pennsylvania), “The City and Landscape of Ur: An Aerial, Satellite, and Ground Reassessment” (15 min.)
8:45
Andrea Polcaro (University of Perugia) and Davide Nadali (Sapienza University of Rome), “Results of the First Three Campaigns of Excavation (2015–2017) to Tell Zurghul, Ancient Nigin, in Southern Iraq” (15 min.)
9:05
Darren Ashby (University of Pennsylvania), “A New Interpretation of the Bagara and the Ibgal, Two Religious Complexes from Tell al-Hiba, Ancient Lagash” (15 min.)
9:25
Jennifer R. Pournelle (University of South Carolina), Liviu Giosan (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), and Aimen Al Rubaie (University of Basra), “A Brain Coral’s Memoir of a Mesopotamian Port” (15 min.)
9:45
Arthur Stefanski (University of Toronto), “State Formation and the Emergence of Imperialism in the Akkadian Period at Khafajah” (15 min.)
10:05
Mark Schwartz (Grand Valley State University) and David Hollander (University of South Florida), “Evolving Colonies: A Reconstruction of Middle to Late Uruk Exchange Dynamics as Seen through Analyses of Ancient Trade Goods” (15 min.)

1B. Yerushalayim, Al Quds, Jerusalem: Recent Developments and Problems in the Archaeological and Historical Studies from the Bronze Age to Medieval Periods I

Harbor 2
 

CHAIR: Yuval Gadot (Tel Aviv University)
PRESENTERS:

 

8:20

Israel Finkelstein (Tel Aviv University), Oded Lipschits (Tel Aviv University), and Ido Koch (Tel Aviv University), “The Mound on the Mount: A Possible Solution to the Problem with Jerusalem” (15 min.)
8:40
Yuval Baruch (Israel Antiquities Authority), “The Temple Mount: Results of the Archaeological Investigations of the Past Decade” (15 min.)
9:00
David Gurevich (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) "Ancient Water Supply, GIS, and Archives: The Northern Aqueduct of the Temple Mount" (15 min.)
9:20
Guy Steibel (Tel Aviv University), “‘A Light Unto the Nations’—Symbolic Architecture of Religious Buildings” (15 min.)

 

9:40

Beatrice St. Laurent (Bridgewater State University), “Mu‘awiya’s Urban Vision for Early Islamic Jerusalem, 638-680” (15 min.)
10:00
Gideon Avni (Israel Antiquity Authority), Discussant (15 min.)
1C. Integrating Organic Residue Analysis into Archaeology (Workshop)

Harbor 3



Theme: OpenARCHEM (http://openarchem.org) is an open and collaborative database to facilitate the sharing of scientific datasets especially as they pertain to organic residue analysis (ORA). This workshop seeks to gather both specialists and non-specialists to discuss obstacles and best practices while offering feedback on the beta version of the OpenARCHEM database.
CHAIRS: Andrew J. Koh (Brandeis University) and Kate J. Birney (Wesleyan University)

PRESENTERS:

Part I: ORA in Practice

8:20
Andrew J. Koh (Brandeis University), Opening Remarks (5 min.)

8:25
Elsa Perruchini (University of Glasgow), Claudia Glatz (University of Glasgow), and Jaime Toney (University of Glasgow), “Can’t Touch This!: Preventing Excavation and Post-Excavation Contamination” (10 min.)

8:35
Zuzana Chovanec (Tulsa Community College), “Transforming Chemistry into Anthropology: Issues in the Interpretation of Analytical Results" (10 min.)

8:45
Alison M. Crandall (University of California, Los Angeles), “Field ORA in the Storerooms of Tel Kabri” (10 min.)

8:55
Andrew J. Koh (Brandeis University) and Kate J. Birney (Wesleyan University), “The Value of Legacy ORA Data and Objects: Case Studies” (10 min.)
Part II: Building for the Future

9:05
Kate J. Birney (Wesleyan University), Introductory Remarks (5 min.)

9:10
Andrea M. Berlin (Boston University), “The Levantine Ceramics Project” (10 min.)

9:20
Anna K. Krohn (Brandeis University), “Designing the OpenARCHEM Archaeometric Database” (10 min.)

9:30
Eric H. Cline (George Washington University), Discussant (10 min.)

9:40
General Discussion (45 min.)

1D. Ancient Inscriptions I

Burroughs

CHAIRS: Heather Dana Davis Parker (Johns Hopkins University) and Michael Langlois (University of Strasbourg)
PRESENTERS:
8:20
Introduction (5 min.)
8:25
Brent Davis (University of Melbourne), “The Phaistos Disk: A New Way of Viewing the Language behind the Script” (15 min.)
8:45
Federico Zangani (Brown University), “The Satirical Letter of Hori on 8 Ostraca from the Museo Egizio of Turin” (15 min.)
9:05
Aren Wilson-Wright (Universität Zürich), “Māṯ Gets a Promotion: A Revised Reading of Sinai 349” (15 min.)
9:25
Douglas Petrovich (The Bible Seminary), “Egyptian Elements in the Proto-Consonantal Hebrew Inscriptions of the Bronze Age” (15 min.)
9:45
Jessie DeGrado (University of Chicago), “The God ŠYY in the Second Amulet from Arslan Tash” (15 min.)
10:05
Tracy Spurrier (University of Toronto), “Not Just Another Brick in the Wall: New Shalmaneser III Inscriptions in the Nimrud Tombs” (15 min.)

1E. Reports on Current Excavations

Carlton

Theme: This session serves as an opportunity for current excavations, both ASOR-affiliated and non-affiliated, to report on their latest findings.
CHAIRS: Jack Green (Cornell University) and Robert Homsher (Harvard University)
PRESENTERS:
8:20
Carrie Duncan (University of Missouri), Robert Darby (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), and Erin Darby (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), “The 2017 Season at the ‘Ayn Gharandal Archaeological Project, Jordan” (15 min.)
8:40
James Riley Strange (Samford University), “A Report of the 2016 and 2017 Shikhin Excavation Project” (15 min.)
9:00
Michael G. Hasel (Institute of Archaeology, Southern Adventist University), “Socoh of the Judean Shephelah: The 2010 Survey” (15 min.)
9:20
Nicholaus Pumphrey (Baker University) and Ann E. Killebrew (Pennsylvania State University), “Tel Akko Total Archaeology Project: Preliminary Report on Eight Seasons of Excavation and Survey” (15 min.)
9:40
Erez Ben-Yosef (Tel Aviv University), Sabine Kleiman (Tel Aviv University), and Assaf Kleiman (Tel Aviv University), “Social and Chronological Aspects of Early Iron Age Copper Production in the Southern Arabah: New Ceramic and Radiocarbon Studies of the Central Timna Valley Project (CTV)” (15 min.)
10:00
Daniel Warner (New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary), “‘One Thing Leads to Another’: New Insights on the Development of Tel Gezer from Eight Seasons of Excavations of the Gezer Water System” (15 min.)

1F. Archaeology of the Ancient Near East: Bronze and Iron Ages I

Lewis

CHAIR: Eric Lee Welch (University of Kansas)
PRESENTERS:

8:20
Introduction (5 min.)

8:25
Susan Cohen (Montana State University), “Diet, Drink, and Death: The Transition from the Intermediate to the Middle Bronze Age in the Southern Levant” (15 min.)
8:45
Naama Yahalom-Mack (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Irina Segal (Geological Survey of Israel), and Israel Finkelstein (Tel Aviv University), “The Complexity of the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean Copper Trade: A View from the Southern Levant” (15 min.)
9:05
Igor Kreimerman (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), “Destructions at the End of the Late Bronze Age: A Comparison between the Northern Levant, the Southern Levant, and Cyprus” (15 min.)
9:25
Margreet Steiner (Independent Scholar), “The Late Bronze Age Temple at Deir Alla: A Reassessment” (15 min.)

9:45
Tiffany Earley-Spadoni (University of Central Florida), Arthur Petrosyan (Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences, Armenia), and Boris Gasparyan (Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences, Armenia), “Digital Storytelling as Public Archaeology: Results from the 2017 Vayots Dzor Fortress Landscapes Project (Armenia)” (15 min.)

10:05
General Discussion

1G. Study of Violence from the Region of the Ancient Near East and Its Neighbors I

Otis
Theme: Violence from the region of the ancient Near East and its neighbors: anthropology and hermeneutics of text and image analysis.

CHAIRS: Vanessa Juloux (École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University) and Leann Pace (Wake Forest University)
PRESENTERS:
8:20
Introduction (5 min.)
8:25
Tracy Lemos (Huron University College; University of Western Ontario), “Order from Chaos: The Mental and the Material in Explanations of Ancient Near Eastern Violence” (20 min.)
8:50

Amanda Morrow (University of Wisconsin–Madison), “Poetics of Violence in Neo-Babylonian Period Judah: An Anthropological Approach to Violence in the Archaeological and Textual Record” (20 min.)

9:15
Seth Richardson (University of Chicago) and Steven Garfinkle (Western Washington University), “Community Violence in the Middle Bronze Age” (20 min.)
9:40
Laura Battini (Laboratoire PROCLAC-Collège de France), “The Message of Violence and Its Audience in Third Millennium B.C. Mesopotamia” (20 min.)
1H. Madaba Plains Project at 50: Tall Hisban

Stone



Theme: Contextualizing MPP at Tall Hisban. This is the first of three sessions marking 50 years of research in Jordan by the Madaba Plains Project or MPP. The goal is to present a history of the people, ideas, and research agendas that shaped fieldwork priorities and strategies at each site.
CHAIRS: Oystein LaBianca (Andrews University) and Lawrence Geraty (La Sierra University)
PRESENTERS:
8:20
Lawrence Geraty (La Sierra University), “Contextualizing the Quest for Biblical Heshbon at Tall Hisban” (20 min.)
8:45
Bert de Vries (Calvin College), “Contextualizing the Quest for Early Christianity at Esbus” (20 min.)
9:10

Bethany Walker (University of Bonn), “Contextualizing the Quest for Islamic Housban at Tall Hisban” (20 min.)

9:35

Frode Jacobsen (Western Norway University of Applied Sciences), “Al Musallah: Local Ideas about Tall Hisban” (20 min.)

10:00

Oystein LaBianca (Andrews University), “Contextualizing the Quest for Theories of the Longue Durée at Tall Hisban” (20 min.)

1I. Peoples of the Mountain: Settlement Dynamics in the Galilean Highlands I

Webster

Theme: Settlement Patterns, Subsistence Modes, and Socio-political Developments from the Chalcolithic Period to the Iron Age
CHAIRS: Uri Davidovich (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and Ido Wachtel (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
PRESENTERS:
8:20
Dina Shalem (Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee), “Was There a Galilean Cultural Entity in the Late Chalcolithic Period?”‎ (20 min.)
8:45

Austin Hill (Dartmouth College), Yorke Rowan (Oriental Institute, University of Chicago), and Morag Kersel (DePaul University), “Filling in the Gaps: Fifth Millennium B.C.E. Villages in the Galilee” (20 min.)

9:10

Uri Davidovich (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), “The Emergence of Highland Polities: Qedesh and the Upper Galilee during the Early Bronze Age” (20 min.)

9:35

Ido Wachtel (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), “Settlement Shifts and Demographic Changes in the Upper Galilee during the Bronze and Iron Ages” (20 min.)

10:00

Karen Covello-Paran (Israel Antiquities Authority), “Socio-economic Strategies at Ramat Razim, a Mid-second Millennium B.C.E. Site on the Slopes of Mt. Canaan, Upper Galilee” (20 min.)

1J. The Cultural Mosaic of Maresha: Reconstructing Domestic and Ritual Life from Subterranean Contexts

Hancock

CHAIR: Ian Stern (Hebrew Union College; Archaeological Seminars Institute)
PRESENTERS:
8:20

Introduction (5 min.)

8:25

Ian Stern (Hebrew Union College; Archaeological Seminars Institute), “The Cultic Remains from Maresha Subterranean Complex 169” (25 min.)

8:55

Adi Erlich (University of Haifa),“Terracotta Figurines from SC 169: Between Koine and Local Traditions” (25 min.)

9:25

Gerald Finkielsztejn (Israel Antiquity Authority), “Hellenistic Maresha: Instrumenta, Trade, Administration and History” (25 min.)

9:55

Esther Eshel
(Bar Ilan University), “The Aramaic Texts from Maresha” (25 min.)

10:25–10:40am Coffee Break
Galleria


10:40am–12:45pm Session 2
2A. The Archaeology of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq I

Harbor 1

Theme: Recent research focused on the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age of the Kurdistan Region.
CHAIR: Jason Ur (Harvard University)
PRESENTERS:
10:40
Introduction (5 min.)
10:45

Gil Stein (University of Chicago), “Kurdish Chalcolithic Conundra: Regional Identities and Local Variation at Surezha and Greater Mesopotamia” (15 min.)

11:05

Agnese Vacca (Sapienza University of Rome), “Recent Results from Ongoing Archaeological Researches at Helawa, Southwest Erbil Plain, Iraqi Kurdistan: New Data on the Late Chalcolithic and Late Bronze Age Periods” (15 min.)

11:25 - CANCELLED: Tim Skuldbøl (University of Copenhagen), Carlo Colantoni (University of Leicester), and Mette Marie Hald (National Museum of Denmark), “Exploring the Anatomy and Development of Early Urbanism in NE Iraq. Five Years of Investigations by the Danish Archaeological Expedition to Iraq (DAEI)” (15 min.)
11:25

Glenn M. Schwartz (Johns Hopkins University) and Laurel Poolman (Johns Hopkins University), “Kurd Qaburstan, A Second Millennium BC Urban Site on the Erbil Plain: Excavations in 2017” (15 min.)   

11:45

Martin Uildriks (Brown University), “Living on the Edge: Calculating Flood Damage in the Dūkan Reservoir” (15 min.)

12:05
Marshall Schurtz (University of Pennsylvania), “Locating Kakmum: Searching for the Bronze Age Polity of the Northern Zagros” (15 min.)
12:25
Jason Ur (Harvard University) and Nader Babakr (Directorate of Antiquities, Erbil Governorate, Kurdistan Region of Iraq), “The Evolution of the Assyrian Landscape in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq” (15 min.)
 

2B. Yerushalayim, Al Quds, Jerusalem: Recent Developments and Problems in the Archaeological and Historical Studies from the Bronze Age to Medieval Periods II

Harbor 2

CHAIR: Gideon Avni (Israel Antiquities Authority)
PRESENTERS:
10:40
Omer Sergi (Tel Aviv University) “The Emergence of Judah as a Political Entity between Jerusalem and Benjamin” (15 min.)
11:00
Yuval Gadot (Tel Aviv University) and Johanna Regev (Weizmann Institute of Science), “The Elusive Stratum 13: Evaluating New Finds from Iron Age Levels in Jerusalem and Their Contribution for Understanding the City’s Growth” (15 min.) 

11:20
Abra Spiciarich (Tel Aviv University), Omri Lernau (Independent Scholar), and Lidar Sapir-Hen (Tel Aviv University) "Animal Economy of Jerusalem in the Eighth Century B.C.E. in Light of 30 Years of Publications” (15 min.)

11:40
Zubair Adawi (Israel Antiquities Authority), “Biblical Netofa, Byzantine Metoba, and Early Islamic Umm Tuba—A Multi-period Settlement on the Road from Bethlehem to Jerusalem (15 min.)

 

12:00

Helena Roth (Tel Aviv University), “Talking Trash: The Role of Botanical Remains in the Identification of Garbage in Archaeology” (15 min.)

 

12:20

Amit Re’em (Israel Antiquities Authority), “The Tomb of David and the Room of the Last Supper on Mount Sion: New Findings—Theories vs. Reality” (15 min.)

2C. Archaeology of Israel I

Harbor 3

Theme: This session focuses on the presentation of data from recent excavations of Bronze and Iron Age sites in Israel.
CHAIR: J. P. Dessel (University of Tennessee, Knoxville)
PRESENTERS:
10:40

Aren Maeir (Bar-Ilan University), “The 2017 Season of Excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath” (20 min.)

11:05

Nava Panitz-Cohen (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), “A Unique Architectural Quarter at Ninth Century B.C.E. Tel Rehov” (20 min.)

11:30

Avraham Faust (Bar-Ilan University), “Tel ‘Eton in the Tenth Century B.C.E.: The Resettlement of the Shephelah in the Iron Age IIA and the United Monarchy” (20 min.)

11:55

Robert Mullins (Azusa Pacific University), Naama Yahalom-Mack (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), and Nava Panitz-Cohen (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), “Results of the Fifth Season of Excavations at Tel Abel Beth Maacah” (20 min.)

12:20

Assaf Yasur-Landau (University of Haifa), Eric Cline (George Washington University), and Andrew Koh (Brandeis University), “Preliminary Report on the Results of the 2017 Excavation Season at Tel Kabri” (20 min.)

2D. Ancient Inscriptions II

Burroughs

CHAIRS: Heather Dana Davis Parker (Johns Hopkins University) and Michael Langlois (University of Strasbourg)
PRESENTERS:
10:40
Introduction (5 min.)
10:45
K. Lawson Younger, Jr. (Trinity International University–Divinity School), “Arameans in the Zagros: The Cuneiform and Aramaic Evidence” (15 min.)
11:05
Jan Dušek (Charles University, Prague), “Dating the Aramaic Stela Sefire I” (15 min.)
11:25
Matthew Richey (University of Chicago), “A Bull Figurine with an Old Aramaic Inscription” (15 min.)
11:45
Bezalel Porten (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), “Provenanced Aramaic Ostraca from the Land of Israel” (15 min.)
12:05
Robert Deutsch (Independent Scholar), “Revising the Reading of Recently Published Hebrew Seals and Seal Impressions” (15 min.)
12:25
Samantha Lindgren (Johns Hopkins University), “Siloam Tunnel Inscription, among Its Contemporaries” (15 min.)

2E. Career Options for ASOR Members: The Academy and Beyond

Carlton

CHAIR: Emily Miller Bonney (California State University, Fullerton)
PRESENTERS:
10:40

Johanna Best (Smithsonian Institution), “Working ‘For The Increase and Diffusion of Knowledge’: Being A Public Fellow at the Smithsonian” (25 min.)

11:10

Andrew Cohen (U.S. Department of State), “The Federal Government as a Career Option: A Perspective from the State Department's Civil Service” (25 min.)

11:40

Charles Jones (The Pennsylvania State University), “Living an #Alt-Ac Life” (25 min.)

12:10

Suzi Wilczynski (Dig-It! Games), “From the Known to the Unknown: Utilizing Archaeology in Software Development” (25 min.)

2F. Archaeology of the Ancient Near East: Bronze and Iron Ages II

Lewis

CHAIR: Eric Lee Welch (University of Kansas)
PRESENTERS:

10:40
Introduction (5 min.)

10:45

Ian Cipin (University College London), “EB III Jezreel and its Significance in a Regional Context” (15 min.)

11:05

Nadeshda Knudsen (Tel Aviv University), “The Terracotta Herd: Zoomorphic Figurines in the Early Bronze Age Southern Levant” (15 min.)

11:25

Gilad Itach (Israel Antiquities Authority; Bar-Ilan University), Dor Golan (Israel Antiquities Authority), “‘The Thinker’: A Unique MB II Burial Complex from Tel Yehud” (15 min.)

11:45

Jeffrey Chadwick (Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center), “How to Build a Glacis: Construction Dynamics of the MB II Fortifications at Tell es-Safi/Gath” (15 min.)

12:05 - CANCELLED

Robert Homsher (Harvard University) and Melissa Cradic (University of California, Berkeley), “Rethinking Amorites” (15 min.)

12:25
Golan Shalvi (University of Haifa), Shay Bar (University of Haifa), Shlomo Shoval (The Open University of Israel), and Ayelet Gilboa (University of Haifa), “The Tel Esur Courtyard House: A Glimpse into the Lives of the Lower Classes in Rural Areas in Late Bronze Age Canaan” (15 min.)

2G. Study of Violence from the Region of the Ancient Near East and Its Neighbors II

Otis
Theme: Violence from the region of the ancient Near East and its neighbors: anthropology and hermeneutics of text and image analysis.

CHAIRS: Vanessa Juloux (École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University) and Leann Pace (Wake Forest University)
PRESENTERS:

10:40
Niv Allon (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), “Cruel Art: Ancient Egyptian Violence in Literary Texts and Tomb Art” (20 min.)

11:00
Angelos Papadopoulos (College Year in Athens [CYA] Greece), “Images of Battle and Hunting in the Late Bronze Age: Why Is the Aegean So Different from Its Eastern Neighbors?” (20 min.)
11:20
Anne-Caroline Rendu Loisel (University of Strasbourg), “Senses and Violence in Cuneiform Texts (Second–First Millenium B.C.)” (20 min.)
11:40
General Discussion (20 min.)
12:00
Terhi Nurmikko-Fuller (Australian National University) and Sanna Nurmikko-Metsola (Brunel University London), “A Strategy of Violence? Using Game Theory to Analyze Political Power in the Ancient Near East” (25 min.)
12:25
General Discussion (20 min.)

2H. Madaba Plains Project at 50: Tall al-‘Umayri

Stone



Theme: Contextualizing MPP at Tall al-‘Umayri: This is the second of three sessions marking 50 years of research in Jordan by the Madaba Plains Project (MPP). The goal is to present a history of the people, ideas, and research agendas that shaped fieldwork priorities and strategies at each site.
CHAIRS: Douglas Clark (La Sierra University) and Larry Herr (Burman University)
PRESENTERS:
10:40
Timothy Harrison (University of Toronto), “Contextualizing MPP at Tall al-‘Umayri: The Early Bronze Age” (20 min.)
11:05

Kent Bramlett (La Sierra University), “Contextualizing MPP at Tall al-‘Umayri: The Late Bronze Age” (20 min.)

11:30

Douglas Clark (La Sierra University), “Contextualizing MPP at Tall al-‘Umayri: The Early Iron Age” (20 min.)

11:55

Larry Herr (Burman University), “Contextualizing MPP at Tall al-‘Umayri: The Late Iron Age and Early Persian Period” (20 min.)

12:20

Gary Christopherson (University of Arizona), “What Happened When the Tall al-‘Umayri Regional Survey Met Fernand Braudel’s Temporal Hierarchy?” (20 min.)