February 2014
Vol. 2, No. 2
Welcome to The Ancient Near East Today, Vol. II, No. 2! This month, we are pleased to feature both articles and videos that highlight exciting work from the ancient Near East. Brian Rose, former president of the Archaeological Institute of America, discusses the problem of archaeologists confronting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Jerrold Cooper discusses the controversial problem of looted cuneiform tablets and argues in favor of publishing them. Debra Foran asks why the residents of modern Madaba feel no connection to the ancient site and what could be done to increase a sense of ownership. Suzanne Richard shows how one community, Khirbet Iskandar, adapted as a result of climate change at the end of the third millennium BCE. Brian Colless and Jacob Wright discuss the biblical period. Last but not least, we are delighted to present a roundup of ASORtv videos.
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“Cultural Heritage Protection in Zones of Armed Conflict: Lessons Learned and Future Strategies” with C. Brian Rose (Video)
ASOR
ASOR is delighted to have the opportunity to share a video of the Plenary Address given at our 2013 Annual Meeting by C. Brian Rose.
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Remembering King David
By Jacob L. Wright
Why didn’t the biblical authors present a more flattering image of King David, and why did they make his stories so complex? In his 1943 biography of King David, the British diplomat Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich, insisted that the biblical account of this figure must be factual. Why? Because no people would invent a national hero so deeply flawed.
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Cuneiform Exceptionalism: An Argument for Studying and Publishing Unprovenanced Tablets
By Jerrold S. Cooper, Ph.D.
I always opposed the publication of looted cuneiform tablets, until I had a sudden epiphany at the 2004 ASOR meeting in San Antonio. There, archaeologist John Russell, newly returned from Iraq, estimated that tablets were leaving Iraq at the rate of thousands per month.
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Surviving Collapse: Khirbat Iskandar, Jordan in the EB IV Period
By Suzanne Richard
Calamity, upheaval, and dislocation, whether wrought by human disasters such as war or natural agents such as earthquake and climate change, eventually face all societies.
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This Is Our City
By Debra Foran
The question of who owns the past is a difficult one to address. There are often multiple stakeholders and the notion of a site’s importance for a global cultural heritage must be considered.
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The Lost Link
By Brian E. Colless
I have just made a surprising discovery about the way the alphabet was used by the Israelites in their early period of settlement in the Promised Land, that is, the time of the Judges (including Samuel) or, archaeologically speaking, Iron Age I (ca. 1200 to 1000 BCE).
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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.
