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ABOUT THE ANNUAL MEETING

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2025 CALL FOR MEMBER-ORGANIZED SESSIONS

2024 CALL FOR PAPERS

2024 CALL FOR POSTERS

HOTEL RESERVATIONS

TRAVEL INFORMATION

ANNUAL MEETING SCHEDULES

EXHIBITORS & SPONSORS

HONORS & AWARDS

PAST & FUTURE MEETINGS

2021 VIRTUAL SESSIONS AND WORKSHOPS

Online: December 9-12, 2021

ASOR’s 2021 Annual Meeting will be held November 17-20 in Chicago, and will include a second, virtual, component to be held online December 9-12. The sessions and workshops on this page will be organized as part of the virtual component to take place online, December 9-12, 2021.

ASOR Standing Sessions will be offered as part of both the in-person and online components. Member-Organized Sessions/Workshops followed by ** (double asterisks) will offer an in-person component as well.

Click here to go to the list of sessions and workshops that are being offered as part of the in-person component to take place in Chicago, November 17-20, 2021.

Paper and workshop presentation proposals may be submitted per the instructions on the Call for Papers from February 15th – March 15th, 2021.  The SAME paper or workshop presentation can be given as part of both the in-person and virtual components and count as 1 appearance, but the presenter must submit the abstract to each component separately for consideration.

ASOR Standing Sessions

**ASOR Standing Sessions will be held as part of both the in-person and virtual components.

Member-Organized Sessions and Workshops to be held online, December 9-12, 2021
** Double asterisks indicate that the session/workshop will also be held as part of the in-person component in Chicago, November 17-20. The SAME paper or workshop presentation can be given as part of both the in-person and virtual components and count as 1 appearance, but the presenter must submit the abstract to each component separately for consideration.

Descriptions of Sessions & Workshops

ASOR-Sponsored Sessions

Ancient Inscriptions

Session Chairs: Jessie DeGrado, University of Michigan; Madadh Richey, University of Chicago

Description: This session focuses on epigraphic material from the ancient Middle East, North Africa, and eastern Mediterranean. Proposals may include new readings of previously published inscriptions or preliminary presentations of new epigraphic discoveries, as well as submissions that situate written artifacts in their social contexts and/or engage broader theoretical questions.

Approaches to Dress and the Body

Session Chairs: Neville McFerrin, Ohio University; Josephine Verduci, University of Melbourne

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 trappings 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.

Archaeology and Biblical Studies

Session Chair: Stephen Cook, Virginia Theological Seminary

Description: This session is meant to explore the intersections between History, Archaeology, and the Judeo-Christian Bible and related texts.

Archaeology and History of Feasting and Foodways

Session Chairs: Elizabeth Arnold, Grand Valley State University; Jacob Damm, University of California

Description: The Archaeology and History of Feasting and Foodways 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

Session Chair: James Osborne, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago

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?

Archaeology of Arabia

Session Chairs: Charlotte Marie Cable, Michigan State University; Lesley Gregoricka, University of South Alabama

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.

Archaeology of the Black Sea and the Caucasus

Session Chair: Lara Fabian, Albert-Ludwigs-Universitaet Freiburg

Description: This session is open to papers that concern the archaeology of the Black Sea and Eurasia.

Archaeology of the Byzantine Near East

Session Chair: Alexandra Ratzlaff, Brandeis University

Description: This session is open to papers that concern the Near East in the Byzantine period.

Archaeology of Cyprus

Session Chairs: Kevin Fisher, University of British Columbia; Catherine Kearns, University of Chicago

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 Chair: Krystal Pierce, 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.

Archaeology of Iran

Session Chair: Kyle Gregory Olson, University of Pennsylvania

Description: This session explores the archaeology of Iran.

Archaeology of Islamic Society

Session Chairs: Ian W. N. Jones, University of California, San Diego; Tasha Vorderstrasse, University of Chicago

Description: This session explores the archaeology of Islamic society.

Archaeology of Israel

Session Chair: Boaz Gross, Israeli Institute of Archaeology and Tel Aviv University

Description: The focus of this session is on current archaeological fieldwork in Israel.

Archaeology of Jordan

Session Chairs: Marta D’Andrea, Sapienza Università di Roma; 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.

The Archaeology of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Session Chair: Jason Ur, Harvard University

Description: This session highlights research on all aspects of history and archaeology focused on the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and adjacent areas.

Archaeology of Lebanon

Session Chair: Hanan Charaf, ASOR

Description: The focus of this session is on current archaeological fieldwork in Lebanon.

Archaeology of Mesopotamia

Session Chair: Darren Ashby, University of Pennsylvania

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.

Archaeology of the Near East: Bronze and Iron Ages

Session Chairs: Pearce Paul Creasman, ACOR and University of Arizona; J. P. Dessel, University of Tennessee

Description: This session is open to papers that concern the Near East in the Bronze and Iron Ages.

Archaeology of the Near East: The Classical Periods

Session Chair: Michael Zimmerman, Bridgewater State University

Description: This session is open to papers that concern the Near East in the Classical periods.

Archaeology of the Southern Levant

Session Chairs: Owen Chesnut, North Central Michigan College; Josh Walton, Capital University

Description: The focus of this session is on current archaeological fieldwork in the southern Levant.

Archaeology of Syria

Session Chairs:  Caroline Sauvage, Loyola Marymount University; Kathryn Grossman, North Carolina State 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.

Art Historical Approaches to the Near East

Session Chair: Stephanie Langin-Hooper, Southern Methodist University

Description: This session welcomes submissions that present innovative analyses of any facet of Near Eastern artistic production or visual culture.

Bioarchaeology in the Near East

Session Chair: Sherry C. Fox, Arizona State University

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.

Career Options for ASOR Members: The Academy and Beyond

Session Chair: Emily Miller Bonney, California State University, Fullerton

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 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.

Cultural Heritage: Preservation, Presentation, and Management

Session Chairs: Glenn Corbett, Editor, Biblical Archaeology Review; 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.

Digital Archaeology and History

Session Chair: Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, University of Central Florida

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.

Environmental Archaeology of the Ancient Near East

Session Chairs: Melissa Rosenzweig, Northwestern University; Madelynn von Baeyer, University of Connecticut

Description: This session accepts papers that examine past human resource (flora and fauna) uses and human/environment interactions in the ancient Near East.

Gender in the Ancient Near East

Session Chair: Stephanie Lynn Budin, Near Eastern Archaeology

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.

History of Archaeology

Session Chair: Kevin McGeough, University of Lethbridge

Description: Papers in this session examine the history of the disciplines of biblical archaeology and Near Eastern archaeology.

Interdisciplinary Approaches to Seals, Sealing Practices, and Administration

Session Chairs: Sarah Scott, Wagner College; Oya Topçuoğlu, Northwestern University

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

Isotopic Investigations in the Ancient Near East and Caucasus

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.

Landscapes of Settlement in the Ancient Near East

Session Chairs: Jesse Casana, Dartmouth College; Emily Hammer, University of Pennsylvania

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.

Maritime Archaeology

Session Chairs: Caroline Sauvage, Loyola Marymount University; Douglas Inglis, University of Chicago

Description: This session welcomes papers that concern marine archaeology in terms of methods, practices, and case studies in areas throughout the Near East.

Prehistoric Archaeology 

Session Chair: Yorke Rowan, University of Chicago

Description: This session is open to papers that concern the prehistoric Near East, particularly in the Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Chalcolithic.

Reports on Current Excavations—ASOR Affiliated

Session Chair: Jack Green, ACOR

Description: This session is for projects with ASOR/CAP affiliation.

Reports on Current Excavations—Non-ASOR Affiliated

Session Chair: Daniel Schindler, Texas Tech University

Description: This session is for projects without ASOR/CAP affiliation.

Technology in Archaeology: Recent Work in the Archaeological Sciences

Session Chair: Bradly Erickson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Description: This session welcomes papers that examine the issue of technology in archaeology.

Theoretical and Anthropological Approaches to the Near East

Session Chairs: Tobin Hartnell, American University of Iraq, Sulaimani; Darrell J. Rohl, Calvin University

Description: This session welcomes papers that deal explicitly with theoretical and anthropological approaches to ancient Near Eastern and eastern Mediterranean art and archaeology.

Member-Organized Sessions and Workshops to be held online, December 9-12, 2021
** Double asterisks indicate that the session/workshop will also have an in-person component in Chicago, November 17-20.

Archaeology, Community, and Mentorship: Celebrating the Legacy of Bert and Sally de Vries **

Session Chairs: Elizabeth Osinga, Umm el-Jimal Project; Darrell J. Rohl,  Calvin University

Description: This session brings together a range of scholars who have been impacted by the long-term service of Bert and Sally de Vries to the scholarship and community development of the Middle East, particularly in Jordan. For more than 50 years, Bert and Sally have made their mark on the archaeology, cultural heritage, and community development and engagement sectors of Jordan, most notably through the Umm el-Jimal Project but also through long-time service and commitment to ACOR. Bert’s plan drawings are ubiquitous in the scholarship of Jordanian archaeology and Sally’s expertise in and collection of traditional textiles is remarkable. Together, they have been faithful champions of Jordan’s archaeology, cultural heritage, and its local communities within the present. Their work has helped to define community archaeology, and they have eagerly supported and mentored numerous local and international scholars and professionals, building capacity for sustainable futures. This session welcomes papers that draw upon or have been inspired by Bert and Sally’s work and that focus on one or more of the key themes of archaeological fieldwork, community archaeology/heritage, and student-scholar mentorship.

Archaeology of Petra and Nabataea**

Session Chairs: Cynthia Finlayson, Department of Anthropology, Brigham Young University; David F. Graf, Department of Religious Studies, University of Miami (Florida)

Description: This purpose of this session is to include projects not only at Petra, but also from throughout the vast Nabataean kingdom and beyond where ever Nabataeans were active (the Mediterranean, Yemen, and Mesopotamia). The capital city of the Nabataeans has been the focus of numerous recent international archaeological projects, including many ASOR projects: the Great Temple, the Temple of the Winged Lions, and the Byzantine Church in the past, and currently the North Ridge, the Hellenistic Petra Project, the Garden Pool and Terrace, and the Ed-Deir complex. The art and architecture of Petra continues to be the subject for art historians. The immediate environs of Petra (Wadi Musa, Baydh, Ba’aja, and Humayma) have also seen renewed interest. In addition, there are recent projects in the Nabataean regions of Saudi Arabia (French, Italian, Polish), Syria (French), the Negev (Israeli), and the Sinai and Egypt (French, American). New Nabataean inscriptions also continue to emerge that illuminate Nabataean culture. We believe the session(s) will attract a host of scholars within ASOR and beyond. Additionally, by separating an independent session on the Nabataeans away from the already existing Jordan Sessions, more scholars will be able to present in all venues.

Archaeology of the Near East and Video Games**

Session Chair: Tine Rassalle, University of North-Carolina at Chapel Hill

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 field 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.

ArtiBites – Approaches to Digitizing Seals and Tablets (Workshop)

Workshop Chairs: Agnete Wisti Lassen, Yale University; Klaus Wagensonner, Yale University; Elizabeth Knott, Yale University

Description: The digital capture of artifacts and the subsequent free dissemination of those digital assets is becoming increasingly important in contemporary museum and archaeological practices. The proper capture of an object does more than just representing it or producing a visual record. It ideally forms the basis for research, comparative analysis (paleography, sealings, joins, etc.), collation, and much more. Collection care takers are faced with the challenge of visually document their holdings in a sustainable, but also cost-efficient manner, as they often rely on third party funding.

This session engages with two artifact groups that are regularly found in collections of materials from West Asia: (1) inscribed cuneiform artifacts and (2) cylinder and stamp seals. Each group comes with its own set of challenges and considerations. This workshop will highlight specific methods and best practices of digital capture, while addressing the various considerations involved in the choice of proper imaging technique (Photography, RTI, Photogrammetry, 3D-scanning) including: time, resources, purposes.

The workshop will consist of a series of ten-minute talks, followed by a one-hour live demonstration of the capture methods used by the Digitizing the Yale Babylonian Collection project.

Complexity Without Monumentality: Rethinking Nomads of the Biblical Period**

Session Chairs: Erez Ben-Yosef, Tel Aviv University; Zachary Thomas, Tel Aviv University

Description: The treatment of nomads/mobile peoples in biblical archaeology and biblical scholarship has until recently been confined to a narrow range of social interpretations, most of which are heavily based on Bedouin ethnography. Accordingly, the prevailing perception of biblical-era nomads has been one of people that could not form strong political entities, and whose influence on the course of history was marginal. Recent archaeological evidence of a strong nomadic polity in the Arabah Valley calls into question the existing research paradigm, with substantial implications for archaeologically based historical reconstructions and textual issues related to mobile groups, including the sedentarization process of the Israelite tribes and the emergence of a kingdom in the highlands. This session aims at furthering discussions of biblical-era nomads as a multi-dimensional phenomenon, consisting of complex continuums of sedentarization and subsistence practices. Papers include new or revised treatments of such societies in texts and archaeology, research on nomadism in other periods and geographic locations that can contextualize the southern Levantine case, and studies related to the epistemological challenges posed by archaeological and textual sources. This session will serve as a forum for scholars seeking to move beyond the existing paradigms and dichotomies around nomads and their socio-political role in the southern Levant and wider Near Eastern world. Following the fruitful discussion in the 2020 Annual Meeting, we aim to continue exploring this topic from various angles.

Contemporary Identities and Self-Reflective Approaches in the Study of the Ancient Near East

Session Chairs: Pinar Durgun, The Alexandria Archive Institute; Liat Naeh, The University of Toronto

Description: The study of the “ancient Near East” has been shaped by past and ongoing political and scholarly agendas of the West. But how do our own identities—the here and now—inform the study of the “ancient Near East”? What questions do we prioritize and what questions do we not ask? This kind of self-reflective scrutiny may be challenging, confrontational, and controversial; but it is also instrumental for the advancement of our field(s).
Our inaugural session in 2020 created a platform for such open discussions between ASOR members, focusing on the ways in which individual cultures, religions, nationalities, epistemologies, and political views are made visible or silenced in research. For this year, we invite contributions that raise questions on the impact of contemporary colonialism, politics, war, national borders and divisions, and localism; or that revisit the values and priorities instilled through higher education, field training, and professional experiences. We especially encourage papers examining contributions that explore local Middle Eastern perspectives, or encounters among the world views of scholars and communities from the Middle East, Europe, and North America or elsewhere, examining issues of ownership, bias, and scholarly narratives.

Cultural Heritage: Before, During, and After Crisis (Workshop)**

Workshop Chair: Tashia Dare, University of Kansas

Description: Cultural heritage can provide people with a sense of identity, dignity, social cohesion, and security. However, all too often that heritage is targeted for these same reasons. As heritage professionals and community members seek to protect this heritage, they frequently find themselves in danger and lacking resources. This multi-year workshop focuses on cultural heritage, heritage professionals, and local communities before, during, and after crisis situations. Two questions in particular to consider are how do we help heritage professionals and local communities be more resilient leading up to, during, and after crisis situations? And how do we empower these groups?

The first year will consider the following questions, among others. What can heritage professionals do when they feel powerless to protect themselves and their families from danger while also trying to protect cultural heritage? How do we keep local stakeholders safe? How do crisis situations affect local communities from accessing, participating, and contributing to their cultural heritage (including archaeological sites and museums)? What role do archaeologists and archaeology have in addressing these issues and other related concerns? What mechanisms are already in place to address these issues? Are these mechanisms working? What mechanisms are missing? How do we fill in the gaps?

The second year focuses on ethical questions and responsibilities for heritage professionals before, during, and after crisis situations.

Cultures of Mobility and Borders in the Ancient Near East**

Session Chairs: Eric Trinka, James Madison University; Shane M. Thompson, North Carolina Wesleyan College

Description: Studies of movement, mobility, and migration in the ancient world are becoming more numerous. Despite recent growth in some important research areas, a key methodological component remains absent from archaeological and textual studies: Few, if any, present works on mobility or movement in the ancient world integrate findings from modern mobility studies. Failure to do so has left noteworthy lacunae in researchers’ epistemologies of movement and place that require redress. The key contribution of this new session is to provide a more solid theoretical grounding for discussing the processes of human movement and contact. We assert that mobility is to movement as place is to location; social construction lies at the core of their distinction from, and relationship to, one another. Mobility does not simply occur in space. It is a constituent element of spatial production. To this end, we seek scholarly contributions that enable us to better understand ancient perceptions of emplaced-ness, movement, and general cultures of mobility in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age Near East. We propose that the first three-year series will center the topics borders, bodies and cultures of mobility.

Yearly Themes
2021: Bringing Mobilities Studies to Bear in the ANE – Theoretical basis
2022: Defining and Controlling Mobile Bodies
2023: Drawing Boundaries / Disrupting Borders

Current Directions in Coroplastic Studies

Session Chairs: Nancy Serwint, Arizona State University; Casey Gipson, Arizona State University

Description: Following on the success of “Figuring Out the Figurines of the Ancient Near East” sessions at the ASOR 2009. 2010, and 2011 meetings, another multi-year session that focuses on sculpture fashioned from clay in the ancient Mediterranean will be offered. The nearly ubiquitous discovery of clay sculpture in a variety of contexts over a chronological and geographic spread has resulted in a surge of research studies that assess the terracotta sculpture from multiple perspectives. The multi-year session will focus on emergent approaches in the discipline and will be titled “Current Directions in Coroplastic Studies.” The first year’s session (2020) will be “Methodologies in the Study of Terracotta Sculpture.” Year two’ session will be “The Materials and Production of Terracotta Sculpture,” while the third year will be titled “Context and the Relationship with Typologies.”

Death and Burial in the Ancient Near East: Open Educational Resources (Workshop)

Workshop Chairs: Pınar Durgun, Curator, The Alexandria Archive Institute; Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, Assistant Professor, The University of Central Florida; Petra Creamer, University of Pennsylvania

Description: With the current shift to virtual teaching, many educators are looking for digital and online educational materials that they can use in their classrooms. The lack of general, cross-cultural, cross-temporal, and up-to-date teaching materials on death and burial in the Ancient Near East makes it challenging for educators to talk about this specialized, yet ubiquitous, topic. This workshop aims to bring together specialists from multiple geographic and temporal specialties in the Ancient Near East with the goal to create Open Educational Resources (OER) on this subject. We invite participants to discuss the organization, presentation, ethical concerns and dissemination of such resources, including thematic topics, mortuary culture specific to region and period, and methodologies for researching mortuary practices.

From Paganism to Christianity: Transformation of Sacred Space in Sepphoris, the Galilee, and Beyond **

Session Chairs: Zeev Weiss, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Shulamit Miller, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Description: This session aims to investigate the social, cultural, and religious implications associated with the transformations of sacred space. The complex mix of ethnicities and religious practices attested in Roman and Late Antique Galilee, provide an excellent setting for investigating material expressions of religious worship, as well as changes transpiring in the religious character of the region over time. As a case study for the transformations of sacred space, this session will focus on the religious milieu of ancient Sepphoris, combining studies of the religious diversity witnessed in the material assemblages of the city; changes in urban space from private to public, temple to church; and visual expressions of religious and cultural identity employed in the sacred architecture and its décor. Each of the studies will address the finds from Sepphoris, contextualizing them within their local Galilean and broader regional contexts.
We invite to this session papers engaging urbanism, religious architecture, visual representations and material finds for the study of shifts in sacred space. We are particularly interested in studies providing insights into processes of social, cultural, political and religious changes taking place in the eastern Mediterranean during the Roman period and in Late Antiquity.

Geophysics and Archaeology in Coastal and Shallow Marine Settings**

Session Chairs: Dr. Beverly N. Goodman Tchernov, University of Haifa; Michael Lazar, Department of Marine Geosciences, University of Haifa

Description: The incorporation and use of geophysical methods in archaeology has become a standard due to the non-destructive manner in which subsurface and surface information from large areas can be obtained quickly and without disturbance. This is particularly important and relevant in the coastal, nearshore, and shallow realms; all of which are today under threat due to global warming and related sea-level rise, coastal erosion, and development. The usefulness of geophysical tools has led to the incorporation of geophysicists into archaeological projects, both for their technological and earth sciences expertise. When such partnerships and collaborations are most fruitful, it can result in wider insights to a site’s natural and anthropogenic history and contribute critical information into interpretations, as well as produce ‘stand-alone’ research. Examples of this include the ability to reconstruct past sea levels, beach morphologies and environmental controls that may have influenced past settlement patterns. The current session is open to all studies carried out in the shallow marine (max 30m) and coastal areas where geophysicists and archaeologists collaborate side-by-side. Studies using ground penetrating radar, seismics, electromagnetics or any other geophysical method are welcome. The session aims to provide a platform for sharing interesting discoveries, problem-solving, and introducing novel approaches.

(Im-)Politeness Research in Ancient Egyptian Texts**

Session Chairs: M. Victoria Almansa-Villatoro, Brown University; Aurore Motte, von Humboldt Foundation – Johannes Gutenberg University of Main

Description: Politeness theory became increasingly popular after Brown and Levinson’s (1987) Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Facework investigates how language is strategically used by speakers (or in the ancient case, writers) to mitigate the imposition of a request, or conceal the offense of an accusation. The speaker can choose between different formulae of Positive (friendliness) or Negative (deferential) Politeness based on different factors, among which social hierarchy, power differences or seriousness of the message in the specific culture. Conversely, Discernment Politeness does not analyse the degree of Politeness as a conscious speaker’s choice, but as a socially imposed set of rules. Both aspects of (Im-)Politeness have been successfully applied to ancient texts. (Im-)Politeness has, however, not received its deserved attention in Egyptology and Coptic studies. Besides some pioneer work on the Late Ramesside Letters, studies on this topic are scarce in spite of its enormous possibilities to provide insight into ancient Egyptian sociolinguistic problems. Therefore, this session aims at investigating Politeness in ancient Egyptian texts with a diachronic perspective (from Old Kingdom to Coptic times) considering different scripts and alphabets, as well as its sociocultural implications to our understanding of life and identity in ancient Egypt.

Interdisciplinary Approaches to Resilience, Resistance, and Collapse in the Near East and Neighboring Regions**

Session Chairs: Nancy Highcock, University of Cambridge; Tobin Hartnell, American Univeristy of Iraq; Lorenzo d’Alfonso, New York University

Description: The 2020 virtual session focused on the themes of risk and resilience using a myriad of historical and archaeological approaches. The 2021 conference will explore these themes whilst expanding the focus of our discussion to include a critical perspective on the meaning of complexity and the role of environmental sustainability. We also invite scholars to think creatively about the strategic environment within which society operates, as a way to highlight the important social relationships that sustain or weaken systems. Should we define sustainability solely through an environmental lens or are there other normative factors that affect sustainability for the Near East and neighboring regions? Is sustainability dependent on specific environmental (or other) conditions in which societies operate? How should we define complexity? How does complexity contribute to environmental sustainability and/or social resilience? How did societies manage uncertainty, real or imagined? What role does partial knowledge or limited understanding of the world play into resistance or collapse? If crises were foreseen, what challenges prevented them being adequately addressed before degradation or collapse? In this light, our session invites historians, archaeologists, environmental scientists, and heritage specialists to contribute to an interdisciplinary dialogue on the study of Collapse, Resilience and Resistance.

Interdisciplinarity at SiMUR – the Shiraki International Multdisciplinary Undergraduate Research Project (Workshop)

Workshop Chair: Dr. Misha Elashvili, Ilya State University

Description: The Shiraki International Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research (SIMuR) project is a new NSF-funded 3-year project born from a collaboration between faculty and students at three public universities (Bridgewater State University, University of California-San Diego, and Ilia State University in Georgia) and the National Academy of Sciences of Georgia. This project is designed to explore the reasons behind depopulation of the Shiraki Plateau in eastern Georgia in the Caucasus in the Bronze Age, the site of a recently discovered early civilization. The focus of this workshop is to explore how interdisciplinary work in the fields of archaeology, geological sciences, cyber-archaeology, computer engineering, information management, and data science contribute to the answering of this important archaeological question.

Islamic Seas and Shores: Connecting the Medieval Maritime World

Session Chairs: Veronica Morriss, University of Chicago; Asa Eger, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Description: While the importance of Islamic seafaring has been historically overlooked, a new wave of research is revealing the many ways that the Islamic world was shaped by water. Outdated paradigms, such as the decline of maritime commerce following the conquest, and old tropes such as the “Arab fear of the sea” are being overturned by studies focusing on how the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and Indian Ocean connected far-flung cultures, communities, and economies. This multi-year session will explore these connections region-by-region, to create a broader understanding of the development, expansion, and impact of Islamic maritime networks. This session aims to create a comprehensive view of the Islamic maritime world through archaeological and historical studies on seaborne trade and travel, mercantile networks, commodity production and maritime industry, as well as ports, coastal communities, and their associated hinterlands.

This session will be organized around the following the regions:
2021: The Red Sea and Western Indian Ocean
2022: The Mediterranean
2023: The Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean

Museums and Social Justice**

Session Chairs: Katherine Larson, Corning Museum of Glass; Caitlin Clerkin, University of Michigan

Description: Public museums originated in 17th century Europe as trophies of imperialism, colonization, and proclaimed European supremacy. As such, they are monuments to white supremacist ideologies. In buttressing racist hierarchies and narratives of “Western Civilization,” museums have alienated many stakeholder communities from cultural heritage materials and from authority over the stories these materials can tell. Yet, museums retain potential as places where diverse publics can gather and access the materials of ancient cultures.

Museums have been negotiating this complex heritage for decades, but calls for museums to diversify their collections, their staff, their audiences, their stories, and their role in society are becoming louder and more frequent. The problem is clear and well defined; solutions are myriad and urgently needed. This session will explore current practices and future possibilities in museums and collections through the lens of social justice. We invite papers offering theoretical and practical perspectives on ways museums, particularly those with ancient middle eastern holdings, can reckon with their legacies to become spaces of and for equity. Potential topics could include collaboration and co-creation, accessibility, countering old and problematic narratives, integration of modern art with ancient objects, provenance, repatriation, restitution, and more.

Navigating the “In Between”: Identifying a Career Trajectory in Academia for the Early Career Scholar (Workshop)**

Workshop Chairs: Vanessa Workman, Bar-Ilan University; Owen Chesnut, North Central Michigan College

Description: The workshop confronts the question that greets every graduate student at the conclusion of their doctoral studies: what next?

Specifically, we will address the critical moment of decision with panels on the academic job market (in-person meeting) and on pursuing post-doctoral positions (virtual meeting). The workshop will present information about the application process, the job market, and the realities of professional life, all from the point of view of recent job and post-doc applicants. In both panels, speakers will briefly relate relevant experiences, followed by a question-and-answer style panel.

The in-person workshop will host a panel of speakers who recently obtained faculty positions and who represent a variety of academic specialties in ancient studies and beyond. The virtual component will host a panel of scholars who currently hold or have recently finished a post-doctoral researcher position at a university or research institute in the United States or abroad.

Network Approaches to Near Eastern Archaeology and History **

Session Chairs: Steven Edwards, University of Toronto; Ioana Dumitru, Johns Hopkins University; Christine Johnston, Western Washington University

Description: This session will explore current applications of network analysis across a range of case studies spanning the Near East. From the rise of social and economic inequality to the development of interregional trade systems, network analysis provides archaeologists and historians with a suite of statistical tools to explore patterns in large, complex datasets. The contributions in this session highlight how network analysis is being used to tackle challenging and important questions of archaeological and historical significance, and showcase the amenability of network approaches to engaging with diverse types of data—whether archaeological or textual in nature.

New Realities? A Critical Approach to Recreating Objects for Examining and Presenting the Past (Workshop)**

Workshop Chairs: Emily Miller Bonney, California State University, Fullerton; Leann Pace, Wake Forest University

Description: The advent of 3-D printers, experimental archaeology, cultural heritage parks, community archaeology and even Virtual Reality and archaeological computer games has created new ways of exploring and thinking about the past. These processes of replicating, reproducing and recreating provide unique ways for archaeologists and students to investigate how people engaged with materials and artefacts across time. While we can make multiple copies of an artefact with a 3-D printer to take the past into the schoolroom we can also attempt to revive the techniques of the past as a way of replicating not just the object but the practice. Reproduction is no longer just about filling museum shops but about extending the life of the object. At the same time all these activities risk separating the object from its cultural context. If we turn the bust of Nefertiti into a t-shirt design or a piece of street art, what are the consequences for the original? How does that prototype now fit into our present? At the same time can such replicas provide ways to remedy colonial appropriations retaining the replica in the museum where the plunder was housed and returning the original to the descendants of that first crafter? From resources for teaching to tools for analysis this session encourages presenters to take a critical approach to different types of recreated objects in presenting and discussing the past. In papers of no more than six minutes in length and using only six slides participants are invited to reflect on the issues raised by the reproduction of the past and to consider doing so by focusing on a single object.

Phoenician Religion and Cult**

Session Chair: Meir Edrey,  PhD. The Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies, University of Haifa

Description: The study of the religion and cult of the Phoenicians relies heavily on archaeology, as written sources that address these matters are often exterior, bias, and anachronistic. Analyses of the remains of rituals and votive offerings, from simple figurines to the gruesome act of child sacrifice, and that of sacred landscapes, from mountain tops to lavish temples, are all imperative for the reconstruction of the religious beliefs and practices of the Phoenicians. This is especially true today, as the amount of data that can be extrapolated from these remains is unprecedented thanks to the ever-growing scientific toolbox in the service of researchers. This session aims at showcasing new archaeological studies concerning the religious, ritualistic, and cultic practices of the Phoenicians in the Orient and the Occident during the first millennium BCE. It wishes to explore not only new findings, but also new attitudes and approaches to the study of the archaeological and textual evidences for religious and cultic practices among the Phoenicians, their continuity from earlier periods, and their changes through time and space.

Preserving the Cultural Heritage of the Madaba Region of Jordan (Workshop)**

Workshop Chairs: Douglas Clark, La Sierra University; Suzanne Richard, Gannon University; Andrea Polcaro, University of Perugia; Marta D’Andrea, Sapienza Università di Roma; Basem Mahamid, Department of Antiquities of Jordan

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. Given the success with our application for a US Ambassador’s grant (AFCP/CATF—Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Protection/Cultural Antiquities Task Force, funded by the US Department of State) for 2019-2021 and building on the introductory presentation in 2019, the workshop will focus on progress in plans for this totally upgraded and repurposed storage and research facility for our collective artifacts, as well as updates on new virtual technologies designed to preserve and present the Madaba region’s extensive cultural heritage.

2021: Collaborative presentations/conversations among Madaba Region archaeological excavation projects and other colleagues, centered on the proposed new Madaba Regional Archaeological Museum (MRAM) where regional finds will be displayed in a new state-of-the-art facility. With the new interactive regional map onsite and online, with the new MRAM website live, and with the development of an enhanced 3D architectural concept design video along with virtual tours and exhibits, visitors can already experience the archaeological richness of the Madaba region digitally. Other issues involving the new museum, including onsite re-purposing of the entry building and introductory/timeline hall (and ongoing repurposing renovations at the current museum), the possible removal of a small cinder-block building, a new regional grant proposal, and proposed new narrative lines for the museum will provide ample subject material for collective thinking and planning.

Protecting Libyan Cultural Heritage

Session Chair: Will Raynolds, Co-Director of ASOR CHI; Ahmad Emrage, University of Benghazi, ASOR CHI

Description: Since 2017, ASOR has partnered with Libyan colleagues to protect cultural heritage around the country, including archaeological sites, historic cities, and rare manuscripts as well as to counter and prevent the illicit trafficking of Libyan antiquities. This session provides members of the Libyan Department of Antiquities, local universities, law enforcement, and civil society organizations to present the latest results of these efforts and build greater collaboration with ASOR members with aligned goals.

Reintegrating Africa in the Ancient World (Workshop)**

Workshop Chair: Brenda J. Baker, Arizona State University; Geoff Emberling, University of Michigan

Description: The archaeology of ancient northeastern African societies has been dominated by a focus on Egyptian civilization, viewed through the lens of western heritage that separates it from Africa. This session aims to confront this colonialist legacy by emphasizing archaeology, bioarchaeology, and history of northeast Africa. Presentations will identify perspectives rooted in colonialism and structural racism that persist in scholarship of the region. Themes addressed include formation and decline of ancient African states and cities, the role of pastoralism in complex African societies, and aspects of identity and interconnections (both cultural and biological) within and beyond Africa in antiquity. The session welcomes work on a range of ancient northeast African cultures, including but not limited to Nubia (Kush), Aksum, Garamantes, and Egypt. Presentations and discussion will be organized around a specific theme each year to highlight the rich prehistory and history of ancient Sudan and northeast Africa.

Year 1: Colonial and anticolonial perspectives on ancient societies of northeast Africa
Year 2: Ancient northeast African interconnections
Year 3: African models of social complexity

This session is sponsored by the American-Sudanese Archaeological Research Center (AmSARC), a nascent organization that aims to support archaeological research in Sudan (https://amsarc.org/).

Scribal Hands and Habits in Cuneiform Texts**

Session Chairs: Nicholas Reid, Reformed Theological Seminary (Orlando) and ISAW, New York University; Klaus Wagensonner, Yale University

Description: With increased access to collections and ongoing digitization projects, the opportunity has arisen to embark on new primary research related to scribal hands. These observations have been largely hidden in the field of Assyriology, since textual copies were produced freehand by scholars. This great service to scholarship that moved the field forward through copies also hid other important data points, since copies are often interpretive and look like the hand of the scholar rather than the scribe. On the basis of the available evidence, scholars organized texts by provenance, personal names, dates, and topics, depending on the internal data of the texts. This approach to the vast number of cuneiform texts produced significant results, but we have not exhausted the available information, as there are other ways to consider these texts. By comparing handwriting, texts that were not able to be linked prospographically, topically, or chronologically may be linked through the handwriting of the scribe. By identifying scribal hands, much can be learned about archives, writing, literacy, and scribal arts. The session consists of papers related to various periods, that can explore scribal techniques, diagnostic features, orthography, textual division, and handwriting. These papers will seek to establish the prospects, limitations, methodological approaches, and early findings related to the study of scribal hands.

Slaves, Prisoners, and Unfree Bodies in the Ancient Mediterranean World**

Session Chair: Ella Karev, University of Chicago

Description: Slaves, prisoners, and other bound laborers leave precious little of their own as evidence; We often rely on elite literary representations, papyrological and archaeological traces, and interpretation of archival silences in order to piece together the lives of the enslaved and bound laborers. This session is intended to highlight the scope and limitations of studying ancient slavery and bound labor across chronological and geographical boundaries.

We welcome contributions that discuss any aspect of slavery, servitude, or forced labor in the ancient world including (but not limited to): chattel slavery, domestic slavery, prisoners of war, penal labor and/or servitude, serfdom, debt bondage, indentured servitude, unwilling/involuntary servitude, forced labor, bound labor, unfree labor, and unfree personhood. We are particularly interested in contributions that discuss these topics through a combination of literary texts, documentary texts, and/or material culture.

So Wicked and So Wild: Aging, Old Age, and Bodily Representation in the Ancient World and Modern Academy**

Session Chair: Alison Acker Gruseke, Union Presbyterian Seminary

Description: Theorists now recognize identity, including ethnicity, age rank, and gender as “a construct and a shifting and mutable terrain” (Greenberg, 2013). And while gender, ethnicity, and now childhood have all been subjected to sustained enquiry among scholars of the ancient world, the nexus between the body and ancient discourses on aging, especially old age, has been more lightly explored. Older women, for example “like the disabled, are mostly nonexistent in records and traditionally invisible…in science, philosophy and the arts” (Juárez-Almendros, 2017), and the biblical Sarah finds her own and Abraham’s aged bodies laughable as vehicles for late-life parenthood (Gen 18, 21).

In the wake of the postmodern, scholars now recognize the situatedness of all kinds of knowing. Two decades after Rivkah Harris’ Gender and Aging in Mesopotamia, the panel invites papers on age, representation, and the body in the context of lived experience— of ancient societies, the modern academy, and the spaces in between.

Stamp Seals from the Southern Levant (Workshop)**

Session Chair: Stefan Münger, University of Bern; Ido Koch, Tel Aviv University

Description: This workshop presents the new project “Stamp Seals from the Southern Levant: A Multi-Faceted Prism for Studying Entangled Histories in an Interdisciplinary Perspective.” The project addresses stamp seals, a common but highly valued and multi-functional artifact class, as a privileged media to study various aspects of ancient Levantine social, economic, cultural, and religious history, especially in pre-Hellenistic times. Its core aim is to develop an online open-access, collaborative and expandable database entitled Corpus of Stamp Seals from the Southern Levant (CSSL) as a sustainable reference tool for future research in several disciplines: archaeology, ancient history, biblical studies, history of religion, Mediterranean studies, and others including exact sciences.

State and Territory in the Ancient Near East: Mapping Relationships and Challenging Paradigms**

Session Chair: Julie B. Deluty, St. Joseph’s University; Heidi Fessler, Loyola Marymount University

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. We welcome papers from diverse fields including archaeology, anthropology, Hebrew Bible, Assyriology, and history.

Structures of Power in Southern Babylonia in the Second and First Millennia B.C.E.: From Local Rule to Provincial Existence**

Session Chair: Odette Boivin, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University; Baptiste Fiette, Collège de France

Description: The focus of this session is to explore changes in the structures of power in central and southern Babylonia from the early second millennium until the late first millennium B.C.E. During that period, the region passes from fragmented local rule to a provincial existence in larger empires, a long process marked by several episodes of rebellion, some of them directed against northern Babylonian and Assyrian domination. The papers presented in this session will explore strategies and means used by institutions and by various levels of state or regional power to rule over the Babylonian south at various times throughout this transformative period of its history. They may include political, economic, legal, and cultural aspects of such strategies.

Bringing together scholars working on these different stages in Mesopotamian history will help identify patterns of long-term continuity and changes, and how this is affected by a shift from local to outside rule. The session is open to specialists of cuneiform studies, historians, archaeologists, and art historians.

This is the panel supported by the Committee on Mesopotamian Civilizations.

The Tell es-Safi/Gath Project after 25 Years**

Session Chair: Aren M. Maeir

Description: In this session, which marks 25 years to the Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project – and the end of large scale excavations of this project, addresses the major finds and impact on research of this long-term project, both on the study of the various periods represented at the site which have been excavated and published, and on general issues relating to these finds (such as Philistia and Philistines in the Iron Age). We invite diverse perspectives on how the project infused new insights and data on previous discussions, opened up new directions of research, and brought new theoretical and methodological approaches to the forefront.

Thinking, Speaking and Representing Animals in the Ancient Near East: New Perspectives from Texts and Images**

Session Chair: Laura Battini, French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS); Collège de France

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 (2020) 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 (2021).

Transcending Borders: Geo-Political and Cultural Developments of the Jordan Valley in the Iron Age

Session Chair: Robert A. Mullins, Azusa Pacific University; Carroll M. Kobs, Trinity Southwest University

Description: The Jordan Valley, part of the great Syro-African Rift, has played a crucial role in the cultural, economic, and political development of the surrounding regions. By dint of its unique geographic features, the Jordan Valley has been both a conduit of connectivity (north/south) and a boundary (east/west). This session will examine the material culture manifestations of these characteristics during the Iron Age at five sites on both sides of the valley: Tall al-Hammam and Tell es-Sultan (Jericho) in the south, and Tel Rehov, Pella, and Tall Abu al-Kharaz in the center. These presentations will compare and contrast the chronological and economic relationships between the sites with the goal of examining the interplay between geographic determinism and cultural and economic processes and events. The final paper will relate the various excavation data to processes in the Jordan Valley from a geo-historical, longue durée perspective.

The True North to the Near East: The Contributions of ASOR in Canada (CASOR) to the Study of the Ancient Near East**

Session Chair: Craig A. Harvey, University of Michigan; Marica Cassis, University of Calgary

Description: Canadian scholars and institutions have been an integral part of ASOR’s mission since its founding and for the past 30 years have continued this involvement through the establishment of ASOR in Canada (CASOR). Since its official incorporation in 1990, CASOR has promoted the archaeology and history of the Near East in Canada through the support of ASOR programs in Canada and by providing funding from Canadian citizens, institutions, and organizations to ASOR and its overseas institutions. This session provides an opportunity for a retrospective look at the contributions of Canadian scholars and institutions to the study of the cultures of the ancient Near East and the wider Mediterranean. Papers in this session will both highlight the work of CASOR’s founding members and present the ongoing scholarship of Canadian projects, including the work of graduate students who will take this work into the future.

Understanding Power in the Ancient World: Approaches, Manifestations, and Responses**

Session Chair: Jessica Tomkins, Wofford College; Shane M. Thompson, North Carolina Wesleyan College

Description: “Power” is referred to frequently in scholarship on the ancient Near East, but the meaning of the concept remains severely underdeveloped. Undertheorized and used heterogeneously by scholars, power is one of the most fundamental yet understudied concepts of the ancient Near East. This session brings together scholars of the ancient world to clarify different approaches and definitions used to study concepts and manifestations of power in the various subfields of the ancient Near East.

This three-year session seeks, first, to collaboratively define “power.” Subsequent years will use new approaches to this broad topic, focusing on how powerful entities exerted themselves in ways that aimed to alter the cultural fabric of society, as well as the responses and resistance to by those in lesser stations. The sessions will bring scholars of Anatolia, Egypt, the Levant, and Mesopotamia into dialog with one another in order to synchronize our understanding of the complex mechanics of power across the ancient Near East. Topics may be broad, focusing on trends in the longue durée, or narrow, focusing on a specific locale, text, and/or time period. We will actively promote interdisciplinary discussions about the concept, use, and study of power across the ancient Near East.

Yearly Themes
2021: Approaches to Power in the Ancient Near East
This session will emphasize interdisciplinary discussions on the modern theories and methods by which scholars of the ancient world (broadly writ) can analyze power in the ancient Near East.

2022: Exerting Power in the Ancient Near East
In this session we seek papers which focus on the means by which certain entities dominate others. These strategies may be either intentioned and active, or tacit interventions to the cultural fabric of society (i.e. acts of social/religious/cultural/economic change).

2023: Resistance: Responses to Power in the Ancient Near East
In this session we seek papers which investigate how power is resisted and responded to. Papers may focus on active resistance to power, or on methods of acceptance of power.

Working with Law Enforcement and the Military to Combat Trafficking and Preserve Cultural Heritage

Session Chair: Catherine P. Foster, U.S. Department of State

Description: Representatives from the U.S. government will discuss the many activities, programs, and initiatives currently being undertaken to combat the trafficking in international cultural property and to preserve heritage sites and objects. Topics for discussion will include seizures and repatriations, investigations and prosecutions, private sector funding and partnerships. Participants will learn how they can contribute to these efforts and the most effective ways to work with law enforcement. Future workshops will explore the role of the military and how the U.S. government, in partnership with the private sector, preserves heritage in conflict and post-conflict situations.

Yerushalayim, Al Quds, Jerusalem: Recent Developments and Dilemmas in Archaeological and Historical Studies from the Bronze Age to Medieval Periods

Session Chair: Prof. Yuval Gadot, Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel-Aviv University; Dr. 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 2020 planned session will be partly devoted for presenting the groundbreaking results of the “Setting the Clock in the City of David: radiocarbon chronology from the Early Bronze to Late Antiquity” project, with lectures presenting results of C14 dating during the Middle Bronze, Iron Age, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Early Islamic periods. At the same time, we will welcome contributions by scholars working in the field or researching Jerusalem’s past.

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