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Recent Announcements of interest to ASOR Members

Spot Tests for Material Characterization workshop to be held in July 2010 in Turkey

To be held in the new conservation laboratory at Kaman-Kalehoyuk excavation, Turkey, by Nancy Odegaard and Scott Carrlee (formerly Scott Carroll) from July 5 to July 8, 2010 (4 days). Kaman-Kalehoyuk is located approximately 3 hours by automobile southeast from Ankara. The workshop will be hosted by the Japanese Institute of Anatolian Archaeology, sponsored by the Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan (MECCJ), (Tokyo). A maximum of 12 participants can be accepted.

This four day course provides conservators and other professionals with a "tool kit" of practical tests for materials characterization, useful for research and examination of artifacts. The instructors use their text Material Characterization Tests for Objects of Art and Archaeology (2005). The course takes a hands-on approach and most of the course time will be spent by the participants preparing and executing characterization tests in a lab setting. Curriculum will include:

  • micro-sampling techniques such as electrolysis of minute amounts of artifact material onto filter paper
  • testing organic artifact materials such as proteins, cellulosics, and plastics
  • testing inorganic artifact materials such as metals and minerals
  • testing of contextual materials such as surface deposits, stains, and soils
  • background in the chemical processes and reaction stages used in each test
  • interpretation of test results

The workshop will be held in the English language and therefore fluency in English is required of the participants. We anticipate that this workshop will be of particular interest to conservators and archaeologists working in Turkey although people who are working in other countries may also attend.

Tuition is 820$, room and board is included in this cost. Payment in advance will be required in order to hold your place in the workshop that will be carried out by bank draft (wired) to Tokyo. Visas are required of non-Turkish citizens to attend the course and must be applied for in December 2009. Participants will be required to bring a few supplies, including the publication Material Characterization Tests for Objects of Art and Archaeology, by Nancy Odegaard, Scott Carroll, and Werner Zimmt, Archetype Publications, 2nd ed., 2005.

Please contact Alice Boccia Paterakis for further information. To register for the course please send your c.v. and a letter of interest to the email address below as soon as possible. Your place in the workshop will be secured once payment has been received in Tokyo. Further details regarding payment procedure will be provided upon request. Those who are not already planning to be working in Turkey in July 2010 will have to apply for a visa in December 2009 so time is short. The cost of the visa varies according to nationality.

Alice Boccia Paterakis
Director of Conservation
Kaman-Kalehoyuk Excavation
Japanese Institute of Anatolian Archaeology Turkey
Email: alicepaterakis@yahoo.com

Eisenbrauns offers special discount to ASOR members (additional 10%) as part of annual meeting exhibit

In order to receive the special additional 10% discount available to ASOR members, the following rules apply:

  1. You must place your order on the Eisenbrauns web site (no phone, fax, mail, or e-mail orders): www.eisenbrauns.com.
  2. Your order must be placed between November 2 and November 15, 2009.
  3. In order to be sure that the 10% additional discount is granted, you must enter “ASOR” or “ASOR member” in the “purchase order” field on the web order form. Your on-line total will NOT reflect the additional 10% discount; it will be applied to the order when Eisenbrauns processes the order. (Sale prices as shown in the “virtual booth” do not reflect the 10% ASOR discount.)
  4. Only books included in the “Virtual ASOR booth” on the Eisenbrauns web site are eligible for the additional ASOR 10% discount; other books from the Eisenbrauns web site are excluded from this special sale.
  5. Regular shipping terms apply to all orders on this sale: free shipping within the continental U.S. on all orders more than $99 (before the 10% discount); regular foreign shipping rates apply.
  6. No returns on this sale; all sales are final; discounts do not apply retroactively to sales before November 2, 2009.

ASOR Receives Major NEH Grant

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced that The American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) has received an outright grant of $300,903 for a 27-month long project to digitize, arrange, describe, and make accessible ASOR's geographically dispersed archives. The archives focus on archaeological excavations and the history of archaeology in the Middle East from 1871 to the present. The archives are presently located at the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, at the Semitic Museum at Harvard University, and at ASOR's headquarters at Boston University. The project will also create finding aids and mount digitized materials on the internet. The project is directed by Eric Meyers (Duke University). The ASOR Archives Initiative Advisory Committee will be co-chaired by Meyers and Rachel Hallote (Purchase College SUNY). Other members of the advisory committee include Jeffrey Blakely (University of Wisconsin), Joseph Greene (Harvard University), Phillip King (Boston College), Lawrence Mykytiuk (Purdue University), and Andrew Vaughn (ASOR).