Transcendent Occultation of the Divine in Neo-Babylonian Art [VIDEO]
At the 2014 ASOR Annual Meeting in San Diego, Constance Gane chaired the Archaeology of Mesopotamia session. This session had submissions in all areas illuminated by archaeology that relate to the material […]
FOA Podcast, “A Look Inside BASOR,” Featuring Professors Rollston and Cline
In this episode of the Friends of ASOR podcast, we go behind the scenes for an inside look at the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (BASOR). We’re talking with […]
Filling in the Gaps: New Technologies for Archaeological Reconstructions
At the 2014 ASOR Annual Meeting, Pedro Azara and his team presented the paper, “Filling in the Gaps: New Technologies for Archaeological Reconstructions […]
The Current State of Ugaritic Studies
No other language and culture of Northwest Semitic – the family of languages and cultures used in the Levant including Hebrew, Phoenician and Aramaic – prior to the appearance of the Hebrew Bible has offered a similar corpus of linguistic […]
Corpus of Mesopotamian Anti-Witchcraft Rituals
During my stay, I continued to work on the preparation of critical editions and studies of Mesopotamian Anti-Witchcraft Rituals. But I should preface my report on this work […]
Witchcraft in Ancient Mesopotamia
Belief in witches was as widespread in Mesopotamia as it was in Europe. Incantation and ritual texts preserved on cuneiform tablets provide a vivid image of witchcraft in 2nd and 1st millennium Mesopotamia. But a closer look reveals fundamental […]
When were the Israelites? Understanding Israelite Identity in the Pre-Exilic Period
Scholars have long asked, “Who were the Israelites?” Less frequent is the question, “When were the Israelites?”
“Gilgamesh: Civilization vs. Natural World,” Featuring J.J.M. Roberts
In this episode, ASOR’s own Ancient Near East Today editor, Alex Joffe spoke with Jimmy Jack McBee Roberts (J. J. M. Roberts) the William Henry Green Professor of Old Testament Literature (Emeritus) at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Cities of Desire
By: Ömür Harmanşah Cities Between Imagination and Political Desire In his Invisible Cities, the Italian writer Italo Calvino wrote that “cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else.” Study of ancient cities has […]
“The Tablet That’s Changing an Old Story,” featuring Professor Alan Millard
In this episode, ASOR’s own Ancient Near East Today editor, Alex Joffe talks with professor and author Alan Millard. The podcast focuses on a newly published tablet that is shedding new light on the Epic of Gilgamesh. The epic follows the perilous journeys of the king
“A New Look at an Old Story: the Epic of Gilgamesh,” featuring Dr. Lawson Younger
In this episode ASOR’s own Ancient Near East Today editor, Alex Joffe talks with Dr. Lawson Younger. Dr. Younger is a professor of Old Testament, Semitic Languages, and Ancient Near Eastern History at the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
Ask an Archaeologist: Adam Aja - Harvard Semitic Museum
While at the Semitic Museum at Harvard, Ask an Archaeologist also spoke to Dr. Adam Aja, the Assistant Curator of Collections at the Museum and Assistant Director of Harvard’s expedition at Ashkelon in Israel. [See our interviews with Dr. Joe Greene and Dr. Stephen Bourke] We asked Dr. Aja questions we received from children attending Archaeology […]
“A Bathtub Murder”: (Re)Investigating Mesopotamian Bathtub Coffins
By: Laura B. Mazow, East Carolina University National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research Bath-shaped basins dated to the Bronze and Iron Ages, discovered in both burial and habitation contexts, have been interpreted as either burial coffins or bathing tubs that reflect immigration or elite emulation of foreign traditions. I […]