Lectures Archives - Page 81 of 90

Wednesday Roundup

Ferrell Jenkins has posted some great shots of the royal theater box at the Herodium, along with one of his recent aerial photos.

A bronze signet ring depicting the Greek god Apollo has been discovered at Tel Dor. The University of Haifa press release includes a large photo.

A seal dated to 6200 BC has been discovered in the Yeşilova Tumulus in western Turkey.

G. M. Grena argues from LMLK seals and the Bible that Sennacherib did not devastate the economy of Judah.

Yeshiva University is hosting a conference in March entitled “Talmuda De-Eretz Yisrael: Archaeology and The Rabbis of Antique Palestine.”

You can sign up now for Bible & Archaeology Fest XIII. I went last year and thought it was excellent. The list of speakers is a “who’s who” of archaeology and biblical studies.

Tagged Discoveries, Lectures, Weekend Roundup

Lectures on David and Solomon in Los Angeles

The American Jewish University of Los Angeles is hosting a lecture series in February on the first two kings of the Davidic dynasty. For registration details, see their website.

What Do We Know About the REAL David and Solomon, the Most Glorious Kings of Ancient Israel, and How Do We Know It?
Sunday, February 27 * 9:30am – 4:30pm

In a fascinating day of biblical and archaeological exploration, a group of eminent biblical scholars and archaeologists will broaden our understanding of the life and times of David, the warrior, and Solomon, the wise. They will consider the facts, sift through the evidence and explain their significance.

Please join us as Mr. Fred Simmons author of King David, A Play in Prose and in Verse on How a Poor, Young Shepherd Boy Became the King of Israel, introduces the program, and Dr. Ziony Zevit, AJU Professor of Biblical Literature and Semitic Languages, introduces the topic and our speakers.

Dr. William Schniedewind, Professor of Biblical Studies and Northwest Semitic Languages, UCLA, David and Solomon: How the Bible Tells Their Story and How a Historian Reads It.

Dr. Carleen Mandolfo, Professor of Hebrew Bible, Claremont School of Theology, David and Solomon on the Silver Screen: How Hollywood Tells Their Story and Influences Our Understanding.

Dr. Jon Seligman, Chief Archaeologist, Jerusalem District, Israel Antiquities Authority, The Archaeological Footprints of David and Solomon in Jerusalem.

Dr. Michael G. Hasel, Professor of Near Eastern Studies and Archaeology, Southern Adventist University, Recent Excavations and the Battle Between David, Goliath and the Archaeologists.

Tagged Lectures

11th Annual Archaeology Conference in City of David

11th Annual Archaeology Conference
City of David, Jerusalem, Israel

Wednesday, September 1, 2010
From 4:00 pm visit new excavation sites in the City of David

The City of David

18:30 Gather in the City of David, Area E

19:00 Opening Remarks

Ahron Horovitz, Director of the Megalim Institute
Representative of the Israel Antiquities Authority
Guy Alon, Israel Nature and National Parks Authority

19:15 First Session – Chair: Prof. Aaron Demsky

Prof. Jodi Magness

Archaeological Evidence of the Sassanid Persian Invasion of Jerusalem

Prof. Zohar Amar, Dr. David Illouz

The Persimmon in the Land of Israel

Ms. Sara Barnea

The History of the Mapping of the Jewish Cemetery on the Mount of Olives

20:40 Break

21:00

Second Session – Chair: Dr. Hillel Geva

Dr. Doron Ben-Ami, Ms. Yana Tchekhanovets
The Givati Parking Lot – Roman-Period Discoveries and Finds

Eli Shukron, Prof. Ronny Reich
The excavation between the stepped Shiloah Pool and the interior face of the damming wall at the southern end of the Tyropoeon Valley, Jerusalem

Prof. Ronny Reich, Eli Shukron
The Large Fortification Near the Gihon Spring in Jerusalem, and its Relationship to Wall NB Discovered by Kathleen Kenyon

22:00 Estimated end of conference

Entrance is free, but spaces are limited (there is no advance registration)

It may be cold at night so dress accordingly

Parking is available in the Mount Zion Parking Lot and the Givati

Parking Lot (for a fee)

Public Transportation: Buses 1, 2, 38.

www.cityofdavid.org.il

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Jerusalem, Lectures

Biblical Archaeology in 2010

Brian Janeway has just posted a review of last year’s ASOR meetings in an article entitled “Biblical Archaeology in 2010: Going Strong Still!” If you missed the meetings or just would like a review, start here.

Eight papers were given on Khirbet Qeiyafa, the 10th century site next to the Elah Valley.

Khirbet Qeiyafa is the only known fortified city in Judah dated to the time span from the end of the 11th century to the beginning of the 10th century BC. The excavated pottery places the site in Iron IIA period and includes finger-stamped jar handles, ‘pre-LMLK’ jars, and late Philistine decorated pottery known as ‘Ashdod Ware.’ Petrographic analysis shows that the Philistine vessels were not made locally and were probably imported to the site. Dr. Aren Maeir, director of the excavations at nearby Tel es-Safi/Gath confirmed during the response period that the pottery assemblage was definitely not Philistine. Interesting comments were also offered by Bill Dever and John Holladay, both of whom compared the Qeiyafa pottery assemblage to Gezer 8 below the Solomonic Gate and Jane Cahill believes it parallels material found in Jerusalem above the stepped-stone structure at a time that coincides with an expansion of the city. Ron Tappy spoke about a new early 10th century phase found at Tell Zayit that predates the famous abecedary inscription.

The Elah Valley was the scene of the battle of David and Goliath, and this was the subject of another paper:

Another interesting presentation was given by Jeffrey Zorn of Cornell University entitled “Reconsidering Goliath: An Iron I Philistine Maryannu.” In it he revises the idea that Goliath was an infantry soldier through a textual analysis of his weaponry and accoutrements. Zorn asserts that the fish scale body armor, probably attached to an underlying tunic, bronze greaves, which are only found in Mycenaean Greek contexts c. 1200 BC, and his being accompanied by a shield-bearer, all point toward Goliath being a maryannu. Maryannu is a Hurrian term for an elite warrior who fought on chariots, usually alongside two attendants, as attested in Egyptian depictions at Medinet Habu of 3-man Egyptian and Hittite teams fighting at the Battle of Kadesh (c. 1275 BC).

Janeway reviews other presentations, but I’ll excerpt only one more.

“Hebrew Bible, History, and Archaeology” featured papers by Anson Rainey, who made the case for identifying biblical Ziklag at Tell Sera’, based on biblical and medieval texts and Jeffrey Hudon of Andrews University, who proposed that the now famous LMLK storage jar seals had a longer period of production and use that originated during the reign of King Uzziah in the late 8th century and not to the later Hezekiah. The circumstances in 2 Chron 26:9-10 in its description of royal estates and viticulture occur in the same regions as the stamps have been found. They served as important royal symbols of the Judahite kingdom. These estates were established all across the kingdom from ‘En Gedi to the Shephelah and were the functional explanation for the LMLK stamps according to another paper by Hayah Katz of The Open University of Israel.

The full article is here.

Tagged Lectures, Philistines, Shephelah

Oriental Institute Video Lectures

The Oriental Institute has posted online the video files for the Member’s Lectures series. This is yet another terrific resource from the OI, and you can’t beat the price. Lectures include:

Tracking the Frontiers of the Hittite Empire Ann Gunter, Northwestern University
April 7, 2010

Biblical Archaeology, the Limits of Science, and the Borders of Belief Nina Burleigh
March 3, 2010

Death’s Dominion: Chalcolithic Religion and the Ritual Economy of the Southern Levant Yorke Rowan, Oriental Institute
February 3, 2010

Sea of Galilee Boat Shelley Wachsmann, Texas A&M University
Cosponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America
October 7, 2009

After the Revolution: the Oriental Institute and Archaeology in Iran Abbas Alizadeh, Director, Iran Prehistoric Project, Oriental Institute
October 7, 2009

Past, Present and Future of the Landscape in the Land of King Midas: Gordion, Turkey
Naomi Miller, University of Pennsylvania Museum MASCA-Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology
March 4, 2009

Death and the City: Recent Work at Tell Brak, Syria Augusta McMahon, University of Cambridge
January 7, 2009

Tagged Lectures

Archaeology Conference in Honor of Anson F. Rainey

The following announcement was posted on several lists, including biblicalist. Most lectures are in Hebrew. Dr. Rainey’s astonishing career is surveyed on the Tel Aviv University website.

Bar-Ilan University The Faculty of Jewish Studies The Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology and Tel Aviv University The Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures

The Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology

Cordially invite the public to the 30th annual conference of the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology:

“And They Went Up and Toured the Land” – in honor of Professor Anson F. Rainey on the occasion of his 80th birthday.

Thursday, May 6, 2010, Mintz Auditorium, Building 403, Bar-Ilan University.

8:30-9:00: Registration and Refreshments

9:00-9:20: Greetings:

Prof. Haim Taitelbaum, Vice Rector
Prof. Avraham Faust, Chair, Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology
Prof. Shlomo Bunimovitz, Chair, Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures

9:20-11:00: Session 1: Archaeology. Chair, Prof. Ze’ev Herzog

Yuval Gadot: The Central Coastal Plain in the Late Bronze Age – Geography, History and Archaeology
Shlomo Bunimovitz and Zvi Lederman: The Hanan Clan: Epigraphic Evidence for Iron Age Canaanite Continuity in the Northern Judean Shephelah
Avraham Faust: An Assemblage of Bullae from Tel ‘Eton and the Development of Administration in the Kingdom of Judah
Ze’ev Herzog: The Hezekiah/Josiah Cult Reform Debate: An Archaeological Perspective

11:00-11:30: Break

11:30-13:30: Session 2: Linguistics and Bible. Chair, Prof. Shlomo Izre’el

Israel Knohl: Merneptah’s “Israel” and Biblical “Israel”
Shawn Zelig Aster: Isaiah 31 and Relations Between Judah and Assyria During the Reign of Sargon II
Gershon Galil: The Book of Joshua: Formation and Historical Reliability
Daniel Sivan: The Case System in Northwestern Semitic Languages
Chaim Cohen: Four New Philological Notes Concerning the Languages of the El-Amarna Letters according to the Comparative Philological Method of Prof. Moshe Held z”l

13:30-14:45: Lunch Break

14:45-16:30: Session 3: Historical Geography. Chair, Prof. Joshua Schwartz

Ze’ev Safrai: Historical Geography, 35 Years after Ben-Arieh
Aren Maeir: The Identification of Philistine Gath, 25 Years Later
Oded Lipschits: Further Thoughts on the Ancient Name of Ramat Rahel
Yigal Levin: The Identification of Khirbet Qeiyafa – A New Proposal

16:30-16:50: Break

16:50-19:00: Session 4: History. Chair, Dr Boaz Zissu.

Dr. Paul Wright, Director, Jerusalem University College: Blessings and comments about Anson Rainey (in English)
Victor Hurowitz: Demonyms and Toponyms: Symbolism and Hermeneutics
Brian Schultz: A New Proposal for Tamar/Tadmor in 1 Kings 9:18 (in English)
Aaron Demsky: The Phoenician Connection of the Greek Sphinx
R. Steven Notley: Was the Galilee No Longer Jewish in the Days of Judah Aristobulus?

Closing Remarks – Prof. Anson F. Rainey

All papers will be in Hebrew unless English is specified.

Open admission. For information call 03-5318350 or use email address on the announcement.

Anson Rainey lecturing, Nov. 1963
Photo by David Bivin

Tagged Lectures