The German Protestant Institute of Archaeology announces the upcoming lectures:

Wednesday, February 6, 2013: Florian Lippke (Universität Bern, Schweiz) “Comparative remarks on Late Persian iconography: The case of Samaria.”

Monday, February 18, 2013: Dr. Shimon Gibson (University of the Holy Land) “The Bethesda Pool Excavations, 1863 – 1967: A Re-assessment.”

All lectures takes place in the institute (Auguste Victoria Compound, Mount of Olives) at 5 pm.

Source: The Agade list

As you might have guessed, one afternoon is all the time they need to discuss the contributions of Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister. From the Agade list:

Workshop to be held at the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeology, 26 Salah ed-Din Street, Jerusalem on Thursday, December 13, 2012

1:15 Light refreshments

1:30 Welcome and Introduction, Sam Wolff, Israel Antiquities Authority and Albright Institute

1:40 Jonathan Tubb, Keeper, Middle East, The British Museum, R.A.S. Macalister: Villain or Visionary?

2:10 William H. Dever, Professor Emeritus, University of Arizona, A Response to Jonathan Tubb (to be read by S. Gitin)

2:25 Baruch Brandl, Israel Antiquities Authority, Are the Finds from Macalister’s Gezer I-III Still Relevant for Current Research a Century Later?

2:40 Tsvika Tsuk, National Parks Authority, Digging in Macalister’s Footsteps: The Gezer Water System

3:00 Eric Mitchell, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, The Gezer Survey: An Assessment of Macalister’s Work (to be read by S. Wolff)

3:15 Discussion

3:30 Break

3:45 Shimon Gibson, University of the Holy Land R.A.S. Macalister: with Bliss at Tell el-Judeideh
and with Duncan at Jerusalem

4:15 Oded Lipschits and Yuval Gadot, Tel Aviv University “Kabdehu veChasdehu” (“Respect Him but Suspect Him”): Digging Azekah after 113 Years

4:30 Amos Kloner, Professor Emeritus, Bar-Ilan University Subterranean Complexes at Mareshah and Additional Notes on the Judean Shephelah Hiding Complexes

4:45 Aren Maeir, Bar-Ilan University and Rona Avissar, Albright Institute, Bliss and Macalister’s Work at Tell es-Safi: A Reappraisal in Light of Recent Excavations

5:00 David Ussishkin, Professor Emeritus, Tel Aviv University and Ronny Reich, University of Haifa, concluding remarks, followed by discussion

The workshop is open to all interested scholars. Please RSVP your intention to attend to Sam Wolff (sam at israntique.org.il).

The schedule of the 14th Annual Batchelder Conference for Biblical Archaeology has been announced. More than a dozen lectures will be given at the University of Nebraska at Omaha on

November 8, 9, and 10. Entrance is only $10. Lectures include:

Avraham Faust, Israel’s Ethnogenesis: How Israel Became a Nation

Harry Jol, Nazareth, Israel: What is Ground Penetrating Radar
Seeing at Mary’s Well?

Nick Jaeger, Digital Literacy in Biblical Archaeology

Jerome Hall, Jesus, Josephus, and the Migdal Mosaic: Rethinking the First Century Kinneret Boat

David Ussishkin, Jerusalem at the Times of Solomon, Hezekiah and Nehemiah: An Archaeologist’s View

Leonard Greenspoon, What the Bible Translator Has Learned – and Failed to Learn from the Biblical Archaeologist

Kris Udd, Has Radiocarbon Artificially Raised Dates for the Early Bronze Age?

Barney Trams, The Iron Age II Storehouse at Bethsaida

The website links to a promotional flyer and the full lecture schedule.

Christopher Woods of the Oriental Institute is giving a free lecture on “Gilgamesh” for the Assyrian American Civic Club of Chicago, the Assyrian Universal Alliance Foundation, and the Mesopotamian Museum of Chicago. The lecture is this Sunday evening, at 5pm. More details are here.

If you’re near Penn State and are free Thursday evening, you might want to attend a lecture recently added to the 2012-13 program of the Central Pennsylvania Society of the AIA.

Dr. Amir Golani, Israel Antiquities Authority, “Economic Aspects of Silver Hoards and Jewelry at the End of the Iron Age in the Levant.” Thursday, October 25, 8:00 pm, in 101 Chambers  Building
Abstract:  The use of precious metals as a means for bartering throughout the ancient Near East dates back to the Bronze Age. The rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire during the latter portion of the Iron Age II period (8th-7th century BCE) witnessed a steep rise in use of silver, appearing as silver ingots, cut silver chunks and whole and broken down silver jewelry.  The sources of the silver indicate far-ranging trade contacts and its increased use reflects changing geo-political processes in the eastern Mediterranean and the ancient Near East.  The silver, along with various textual sources that specify its use as a form of payment, are witness to the growing reliance on this metal as a medium of exchange.  This talk will explore the sources of silver found in the southern Levant, the various forms in which it appears and how and why silver became a preferred medium of payment in the economic systems of the ancient Near East.

HT: Eric Welch