WELCOME TO THE ASOR BLOG ARCHIVE

The American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) is the preeminent society for individuals interested in the archaeology of the eastern Mediterranean and the Biblical Lands. This blog was intended to facilitate ASOR’s mission “to initiate, encourage and support research into, and public understanding of, the cultures and history of the Near East from the earliest times.”

Free ASOR eBooks

Get your free copy of The Ancient Near East Today: Vol. V, No. 11!

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.

Articles in this issue include:
“Beyond the Texts: An Archaeological Portrait of Ancient Israel and Judah” by William Dever
“An Affair of Herbal Medicine? The ‘Special’ Kitchen in the Royal Palace of Ebla” by Agnese Vacca, Luca Peyronel, and Claudia Wachter-Sarkady
“The Bible as Tool for Learning to Evaluate Competing Voices in an Age of “Fake ” by Brendon Benz
“Not Just for the Birds: Pigeons in the Roman and Byzantine Near East” by Jennifer Ramsay

Click here to download this e-book for free!

Get your free copy of The Ancient Near East Today: Vol. V, No. 10!

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.

Articles in this issue include:
“Making Amulets Christian: Artefact, Scribes, and Contexts” by Theodore de Bruyn
“Revolutionary Biblical Discoveries and the Need for Historical Amnesia” by Philip Jenkins
“The Antikythera Device – A Working Model of the Cosmos” by Alexander Jones
“Fighting Over the Bible: Jewish Interpretation, Sectarianism and Polemic from Temple to Talmud and Beyond” by Isaac Kalimi

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Get your free copy of The Ancient Near East Today: Vol. V, No. 9!

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.

Articles in this issue include:
“The Pharaoh’s Magic – Imagery and Diplomacy in the Late Bronze Age” by Flora Brooke Anthony
“The Exodus in Archaeology and Text” by Richard Elliott Friedman
“Rebuilding Eden in the Land of Eridu” by Marco Ramazzotti
“The Grammar of Messianism” by Matthew V. Novenson
“The Christian Monks Who Saved Jewish History” by Malka Simkovich

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Get your free copy of The Ancient Near East Today: Vol. V, No. 8!

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.

Articles in this issue include:
“Rescuing Syriac Manuscripts in Iraq” by Amir Harrak
“The Invention of Judaism: Torah and Jewish Identity from Deuteronomy to Paul” by John Collins
“Were YHWH and Dionysus Once the Same God?” by Nissim Amzallag
“Sunlight and Shade in the First Cities – A Sensory Archaeology of Early Iraq” by Mary Shepperson

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Get your free copy of The Ancient Near East Today: Vol. V, No. 7!

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.

Articles in this issue include:
“San Miceli in Sicily: Excavation of an early Christian Basilica and Village” by Randall W. Younker and Élisabeth Lesnes
“The Big Bad Wolves of the Ancient Near East Speak: Royal Apologetic in Context” by Andrew Knapp
“Göbekli Tepe: Neolithic Gathering and Feasting at the Beginning of Food Production” by Jens Notroff & Oliver Dietrich
“Silk Textiles in the Southern Levant” by Orit Shamir and Alisa Baginski

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Get your free copy of The Ancient Near East Today: Vol. V, No. 6!

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.

Articles in this issue include:
“Discovering Genesis” by Iain Provan
“Sumerian Art and Modern Art from Gudea to Miró” by Pedro Azara
“The Land before the Kingdom of Israel: Asking New Questions of Old Data” by Brendon C. Benz
“The VALUE project: Video Games and Archaeology at Leiden University” by Aris Politopoulos

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Get your free copy of The Ancient Near East Today: Vol. V, No. 5!

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.

Click here to download this e-book for free!

Get your free copy of The Ancient Near East Today: Vol. V, No. 4!

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.

Click here to download this e-book for free!

Get your free copy of The Ancient Near East Today: Vol. V, No. 3!

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.

Click here to download this e-book for free!

Get your free copy of The Ancient Near East Today: Vol. V, No. 2!

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.

Click here to download this e-book for free!

Get your free copy of The Ancient Near East Today: Vol. V, No. 1!

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.

Click here to download this e-book for free!

Get your free copy of the 5 Most Popular Biblical Archaeology Articles From The Ancient Near East Today!

“One of the most remarkable things about Biblical archaeology in the 21stcentury is that it exists all. Thirty years ago, many scholars and laypeople were confidently predicting Biblical archaeology’s demise but today it is still going strong.” – Alex Joffe, Ancient Near East Today Editor

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Get your free copy of The Ancient Near East Today special edition, “Passover as Jesus Knew It.”

We’re happy to offer this special edition Ancient Near East Today e-book with the theme of “Passover as Jesus Knew It.” Leading scholars James Strange, Eric Meyers, Helen Bond, James Charlesworth, and Adela Yarbro Collins discuss different aspects of Passover in Jesus’s time, from the rituals he would have celebrated, to the political environment he encountered in Jerusalem.

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Get your free copy of The Ancient Near East Today: Vol. IV, No. 12!

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.

Click here to download the issue for free!

Get your free copy of the complete 2014 issue of The Ancient Near East Today e-book!

We’re happy to offer the complete The Ancient Near East Today Volume II. The ANE Today appears on the third Tuesday of each month, and we’ve gathered every issue from 2014 into this eBook. It features contributions from diverse academics 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.