May 2013
Vol. 1, No. 2
Welcome to the second issue! This issue features articles on the current state of archaeology in the Middle East and the place of Biblical Archaeology and Near Eastern Studies around the world, from Serbia to Argentina. Jesse Casana’s ‘Archaeology after the Arab Spring’ discusses how politics have affected archaeology in the Near East over past century. In ‘Biblical Archaeology in Germany – Does it Have a Future?’ Martin Peilstöcker discusses the decline of Biblical Archaeology over the past twenty years. You can find these and other articles below. We hope you enjoy this issue. Please let us know what you think in the comments section on each article or by replying to this email. After the first three months, The Ancient Near East Today will only be sent to people who have registered, so please sign up.
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Archaeology after the Arab Spring
By: Jesse Casana
The transformative political events in the Middle East over the past two years have had, among many other unexpected outcomes, profound effects on the direction of research in Near Eastern archaeology. War and civil unrest act as both a carrot and a stick, forcing the cessation of fieldwork in some areas, while promoting new investigations in places that might otherwise have gone unexplored. The geopolitics of the post-Arab Spring world are changing where we are able work, and by consequence they will shape the research questions we investigate, as well as the regions where future generations of scholars will likely specialize…[READ MORE]
Ten Years after Iraq: Archaeology, Archaeologists, and U.S. Foreign Relations
By: Morag M. Kersel and Christina Luke
Ten years ago, in April of 2003, a coalition led by the United States invaded Iraq. This quickly toppled the Ba’athist regime of Saddam Hussein but also resulted in the loss of life, local unrest, displacement, and the ransacking of cultural institutions, archives, libraries, and the national museum in Baghdad. During that eventful month we both worked for the U.S. Department of State in the Cultural Heritage Center– Christina as a cultural property analyst and Morag as a contractor, administering the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation…[READ MORE]
The Ancient Near East Today features contributions from diverse academics, a forum featuring debates of current developments from the field, and links to news and resources. The ANE Today covers the entire Near East, and each issue presents discussions ranging from the state of biblical archaeology to archaeology after the Arab Spring.
