Volume 46, Number 4
Winter 1996

IN THIS ISSUE

PRESIDENT'S REPORT . . . 1
MINUTES OF THE MEMBERSHIP AND CORPORATION MEETING . . . 2
AFFILIATED ASOR PROJECTS, 1997 . . . 4
ASOR TRUSTEES ELECTED FOR CLASS OF 2000 . . . 5
CAARI NEWS . . . 5
FROM THE PUBLICATIONS DESK . . . 6
NAME CHANGE VOTED FOR BA . . . 7
AIAR 1995-96 POST-DOCTORAL FELLOW'S REPORT, J. EDWARD WRIGHT . . . 9
AIAR-USIA RESEARCH FELLOW'S REPORT, CAREY ELLEN WALSH . . . 10
AIAR-USIA JUNIOR RESEARCH FELLOWS' REPORTS
LISA KAHN . . . 11
JONATHAN GOLDEN . . . 12
AARON JED BRODY . . . 13
CAORC ADVANCED MULTI-COUNTRY RESEARCH FELLOW'S REPORT, CAREL BERTRAM . . . 16
OPPORTUNITIES . . . 17
NEWS AND NOTICES . . . 20
CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENTS . . . 23
EVENTS CALENDAR . . . 25
ASOR E-MAIL DIRECTORY . . . 26

PRESIDENT'S REPORT

As I write, some three weeks after our most formative Annual Meeting in New Orleans, the momentum generated there continues to move us forward. Already the decision to conduct independent meetings in the future has taken form for 1997. On the recommendation of the Annual Meeting and Program Committee, the Executive Committee has approved a contract with the Napa Valley Marriott in Napa, California for meeting dates between November 15 and 21. Our sessions will conclude the day before the AAR/SBL programs commence in San Francisco. The call for papers and related preregistration information is included with this Newsletter and will be made available to members by other means as well.

This decision to conduct meetings on our own is charged both with challenges and opportunities. ASOR has had a long and productive history of association with the Society of Biblical Literature, one important feature of which has involved holding co-terminus meetings. The goodwill of SBL will remain important to our continuing interests and efforts. For this reason I am pleased that the reinstatement of an SBL member representative to full status as a member of our Board of Trustees was included in By-Laws revisions passed by the Board. In this same connection I also want specially to thank ASOR's past Chairman of Publications, Tom Schaub, and SBL Executive Director Kent Richards for the very considerable efforts they took to construct the agreement for ASOR's meeting participation with Joint Ventures this year. While this arrangement was to have continued through 1997, our decision to abrogate it has been met by SBL with regret but with understanding. For this I am most appreciative.

As was clearly evident in discussions at the Members' Meeting, the motivation for our decision springs primarily from the need for ASOR to reaffirm and reinforce its special purposes and identity. The Annual Meeting Committee has already been energized by the prospects of adding new program sections and features. Everyone is committed to working very hard to create the best possible circumstances for our 1997 sessions. During this first year, member attendance and participation will be specially important and everyone is invited to respond promptly to registration opportunities. Early consideration of hotel reservations and travel options is also advised. By April 1 we will need to know how much of the option on room space we should continue to hold and from that point reservation choices will likely become increasingly limited.

Among other formative actions at the meeting, I want to call special attention to the successful conduct of elections. In spite of the fact that the formation of the Nominations Committee was not completed till after the first round of new member elections held by mail last spring and the resulting late circulation of the call for nominees, full slates for all Trustee and Committee positions were assembled and the election processes were conducted in a deliberate and effective fashion. A very sincere vote of thanks is due to Nominations Committee Chair Charles Miller, and to all Nominations Committee Members for their perseverance and hard work. We feel confident that most of the 'bugs' have now been worked out of the system. Members, both Individual and Institutional, should remember that each year new Trustees and Committee members must be elected. A call for nominations will go out in the next Newsletter issue, but nominations can be put forward at any time.

Finally, I believe everyone will agree that that our Centennial Kickoff Reception will provide us with many wonderful memories. The presentation of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East represents a most significant milestone in ASOR history. ASOR past President and encyclopedia editor Eric Meyers, along with his editorial staff, and Jeff Edelstein and the staff of Oxford University Press all deserve the highest honors for preparation of a most handsome and truly formative resource for students and scholars in Near Eastern studies and archaeology.

Similarly deserving of high praise were the other Honorees of the evening. Scheuer Medal Recipient P.E. MacAllister has made significant contributions to ASOR for more than twenty years, most recently making possible its smooth transition to the new Boston office and providing energy and direction to its work as Chairman of the Board of Trustees. In a similar way, previous Scheuer Medal Recipient and Past Board Chairman Charles Harris, through his most constructive past and still continuing service within the organization, provides an ideal model as the first ever Life Trustee on the ASOR Board. As Treasurer of ASOR for almost a decade, W. H. Holden Gibbs has managed ASOR's finances and has guided its way through several presidential terms, always deliberately and as a true gentleman. His award of a certificate of special merit was most appropriate and fitting.

It was likewise most appropriate that ASOR recognize the long term and dedicated service of the Past President of ACOR and of ASOR, Jim Sauer. Jim's special effort to be present with us in New Orleans will be long remembered. The love and respect he has earned from all of us was beautifully represented by the words of Prince Ra'ad Bin Zeid, and by his presentation to Jim on behalf of His Majesty King Hussein of Jordan of the "Order of the Star." We are indeed proud of Jim and thankful for all of the contributions he has made and continues to make within ASOR and for our discipline.

Altogether those honored in New Orleans provide us with models of service, and help explain why ASOR has remained vibrant and successful through almost a full century. I hope that their example will encourage us each likewise to rededicate ourselves to the work of the organization as we prepare for our Centennial, and look forward to the continuation of active programs in Near Eastern archaeology and related research into the next millennium.

Joe D. Seger, President

MINUTES OF THE ASOR MEMBERSHIP AND CORPORATION MEETING
Bayou Rooms, Fairmont Hotel, New Orleans, LA, Saturday, November 23, 1996

This was the first meeting of the combined individual and institutional members of the ASOR. The meeting was called to order by President Joe Seger at 10:05 a. m.

The role was taken by a circulated list, with the proviso that members who are corporate representatives so designate themselves.

The minutes of the corporation members meeting at Philadelphia in 1995 were approved as distributed.

Chairman MacAllister made brief remarks on the recent history of the ASOR, with special attention to matters of reorganization. He noted the shrinking of federal funds for our purposes, and the subsequent requirement, for a while, of deficit financing; he also commented on the new independence of the overseas centers, with consequent fragmentation. Finances for such things as help to the centers and the centennial celebration are a continuing problem.

Charles Miller reported for the Nominations Committee in two parts. Part one involved the presentation of candidates for Trustees representing the Consortium Members and the Individual Members. The report was presented, and there was a call for nominations from the floor; there were none, and it was moved, seconded, and passed that the nominations cease.

Ballots were then cast for both groups of trustees; of course individual members who were also corporate representatives had two votes. Those elected as trustees from the individual members were Julie Hansen, Burton MacDonald, and James Ross. Those elected as trustees from the corporate members were Jodi Magness, John Spencer, and Randall Younker. All will serve for three year terms beginning July 1, 1997.

The report of President Seger emphasized the changing environment of the ASOR, which has brought about new opportunities for the sharing of common interests. The ASOR as such has continuing problems of self-identification and defining its role in the whole enterprise, with the overseas centers as partners.

President Seger also introduced Khalid Neshef as the corporate representative for the new corporation member, the Palestine Institute of Archaeology at Bir Zeit University, Bir Zeit, Palestinian Entity.

He also drew attention to the "blue sheets" prepared by his office to explain the organization and sub-groups of the ASOR (distributed). He also indicated the need for some by-laws changes to be acted on in the subsequent Board of Trustees Meeting:

1. The reinstatement to board membership of the representatives of the founding organizations: SBL, AIA, and AOS.

2. The chairs of standing committees (CAP, etc.) as ex-officio members of the board and the executive committee with vote.

Executive Director Dornemann passed out the Articles of Amendment to the Articles of Incorporation. It was then moved, seconded, and passed to increase the number of trustees to account for the additions noted above, and to shift within the Articles the references to overseas centers members.

Director Dornemann also reported for Holden Gibbs as Treasurer. He distributed a summary sheet for the budget, and noted the draft audit, commenting on some temporary discrepancies. Owing to the move to Boston it will be necessary to acquire new auditors.

In his own report, Director Dornemann mentioned particularly the circumstances surrounding the move to Boston, and commented on the involvement of the overseas centers there.

Eric Meyers reported for the Centennial Committee, which met later that day; he briefly discussed various TV presentations and exhibits.

Charles Miller then presided over Part II of the Nominations Committee Report. Those elected as trustees in Part I were automatically added to the ballots as candidates for membership on the Nominations Committee itself. The nominations for the Individual and Corporate members of the Agenda Committee were presented, and it was moved, seconded, and passed that the nominations be closed. Subsequently Paul Jacobs and Jodi Magness were elected as Corporate members of the Nominations Committee, and Jeff Blakely and Eric Meyers as Individual members of the same. Bruce Cresson was elected as Corporate member of the Agenda Committee, and Vic Matthews as Individual member.

Paul Jacobs reported as Chair of the Committee on Annual Meeting and Program. The committee had been asked last fall to examine ASOR's role in the annual meeting. Jacobs reviewed the history of this issue and highlighted various problems. It appears to the committee that the current arrangements cannot continue on the present basis, although we currently have a contract for this and next year with Joint Ventures, which manages the meeting. It seems unlikely that there can be a significant change for arrangements on the part of the Joint Ventures authorities. Various possibilities for a separate meeting have been explored. Subsequent remarks from the floor emphasized the difficulty a separate meeting would entail for academic members, and suggestions for other meeting combinations, notably with AIA or AOS. Obviously going on our own would allow for greater flexibility of program.

Charles Harris moved (subsequently seconded) that the members direct the board to make such arrangements as would make it possible for the ASOR to meet independently, or with other such organizations, as soon as practicable. The question was called, and the motion was passed by a vote of 89 in favor, and 45 opposed.

Due to the already late hour, Walter Rast deferred his report from the Committee on Archaeological Policy; the full report will appear in the Newsletter.

Al Leonard reported for the Publications Committee. He especially mentioned the good work of Billie Jean Collins, and her role as new editor of the Newsletter. Publication of the Annual is temporarily on hold, but the BASOR and the JCS are catching up. There is a need for more aggressive marketing, and an examination of electronic publishing opportunities.

Member Larry Stager made a rather forceful objection to a certain recent article in and issue of the BA; BA editor David Hopkins responded.

Nancy Serwint reported as director of CAARI, mentioning particularly fellowships, projects, and the increasing use of the hostel.

Pierre Bikai reported as director of ACOR, noting the archaeological park in Madaba, continuing work on the Petra church, the endowment campaign, and various grants.

Seymour Gitin reported as director of the AIAR. He announced final success in the transfer of land and property from the ASOR to the AIAR, done without undue expense or taxes. He also noted fellows at the Institute, various programs, and an extensive inscription discovered at Miqne. There are cordial relationships with Al Quds, Bir Zeit, and the Department of Palestinian Archaeology.

Michael Fuller reported for the Damascus Committee, commenting that there is not a great deal of clarity from the Syrian government. Various projects were mentioned, along with a forthcoming congress. Fuller's written report was circulated to the members. Due to the late hour, Paul Zimansky's report on the Baghdad Committee was deferred for later publication in the Newsletter. The meeting was adjourned at 12:45 p.m.

James F. Ross, Secretary

ASOR Committee on Archaeological Policy
Affiliated ASOR Projects, 1997

(only those reporting included here)

CARTHAGE
Carthage Punic Project (publication)     L. Stager, J. Greene

CYPRUS
Kholetria Ortos (publication)           A. Simmons
Vasilikos Valley Project (publication)	A. South I. Todd
Kourion Amathus Gate Cemetery (field)	D. Parks
Kalavasos-Kopetra (publication)         M. McClellan, M. Rautman
Sydney Cyprus Survey Project (field)	B. Knapp
Vasilikos Valley Project (field)	I. Todd, A. South
Sotira Kaminoudhia (publication)	S. Swiny
Paphos Harbor (publication)	        R. Hohlfelder

ISRAEL
Caesarea Promontory Palace (field)	K. Gleason, B. Burrell
Tell el-Hesi (publication)	        J. Blakely
Rekhes Nafha (field)	                B. Saidel, S. Rosen
'Ein Zippori (field)	                C. and E. Meyers, J. P. Dessel
Lahav Research Project, Phases I-II  (publication)   J. D. Seger
Lahav Research Project, Phase III (publication)	     P. Jacobs, O. Borowski
Combined Caesarea Expedition (field) 	K. Holum
Meiron (publication)	                C. and E. Meyers
Sepphoris Regional Project Ifield)      C. and E. Meyers
Tel Miqne/Ekron (publication)	        S. Gitin, T. Dothan
Neo-Assyrian Project (publication)      S. Gitin
Shiqmim (publication)	                T. Levy
Nahal Tillah (publication)	        T. Levy
Ashkelon (field)	                L. E. Stager

JORDAN
Limes Arabicus (publication)            S. T. Parker
Roman Aqaba (publication)               S. T. Parker
Tell Nimrin (publication)               D. McCreery, J. Flanagan, K. Yassine
Ghwair L, Wadi Feinan (field)           A. Simmons
Wadi el-Yabis (field)                   J. Mabry, G. Palumbo
Tell Jawa (publication)                 M. Daviau
Khirbet Iskander (field)                S. Richard
Kerak Resources Project (field)         G. Mattingly
Expedition to the Dead Sea Plain (publication)	R. T. Schaub, W. Rast
Wadi Ramm Nabataean Temple (field)	        D. Dudley, B. Reeves
Tell Madaba (publication)	        T. Harrison
Levantine Mousterian Sites (publication)        D. Henry
Moab Marginal Agricultural Project (field)      B. Routledge
Madaba Plains Project (publication)     L. Geraty, R. Younker, O. LaBianca
Tell Hesban (publication)               L. Geraty, O. LaBianca
Wadi Fidan 4 (field)                    T. Levy
Kataret es-Samra (publication)          A. Leonard
Tell el-Hayyat (publication)            B. Magness-Gardiner
Surface Survey and Subsurface Testing 

of WY 101 (Neolithic Site)              J. Shea
Tell Abu en-Ni'aj (field)               S. Falconer

SYRIA
Tell Qarqur (publication)               R. Dornemann

WEST BANK
Jericho-Jordan (publication)            R. Schick
Shechem (publication)	                E. F. Campbell
Tell Ta'annek (publication)	        Kh. Nashef, W. Rast

ASOR TRUSTEES ELECTED FOR CLASS OF 2000

In accord with ASOR By-Laws, nine individuals were elected as members of the Board of Trustees Class to serve from July 1, 1997 to June 30, 2000.

Elected by the Individual Members were:

Dr. Julie Hansen, Boston University
Dr. Burton MacDonald, St. Francis Xavier University
Dr. James Ross, Gaithersburg, PA

Elected by the Institutional Members were:

Dr. John Spencer, John Carroll University
Dr. Jodi Magness, Tufts University
Dr. Randal Younker, Andrews University

Elected by the ASOR Board were:

Mr. P.E. MacAllister, Indianapolis, IN
Mr. Gerald Vincent, Cortez, CO
Dr. Joe D. Seger, Mississippi State University

Upon recommendation of the Nominations Committee the ASOR Board also voted to elect the following:

Ms. Deborah Stern, New York, NY - to Trustee Class of 1998
Rev. Charles U. Harris, Deleplane, VA - as Life Trustee
Dr. Ernest Frerichs, Providence, RI - as Honorary Trustee

In addition, the Board of Trustees took action to revise the ASOR By-Laws to include also one representative of each of the three Founding Societies of ASOR (the American Institute of Archaeology, the American Oriental Society, and the Society of Biblical Literature) as a full voting Member of the Board and to include as ex-officio voting members each of the Chairs of the three principal operating committees, viz:

Dr. Al Leonard, University of Arizona - Chair of COP
Dr. Walter Rast, Valparaiso University - Chair of CAP
Dr. Paul Jacobs, Mississippi State University - Chair of CAMP

The member representatives for the Founding Societies will be announced once they are formally designated by their respective organizations.

Warmest congratulations to each of those so-elected, and sincere thanks to all for being willing to serve ASOR in this important way. Most sincere thanks also to Dr. Donald Wimmer of Seton Hall University who will complete his term as Trustee this year.

Joe Seger, ASOR President

CYPRUS AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE NEWS

CAARI Lecture Series
The Lecture Series at CAARI remains the centerpiece of the Institute's program activities, and the lectures offered so far this year have been presented to enthusiastic audiences. Because CAARI Fellows and researchers associated with the institute embrace the gamut of Cypriot studies, the range of subject matter of public lectures offered at CAARI is deliberately varied to appeal to a diversity of interests. The 1996/1997 Lecture Series with its program, to date, is as follows:

- Ms. Nicolle Hirschfeld, Fulbright Fellow and Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Texas at Austin, Scratches and Scribbles on Late Bronze Age Pottery.

- Dr. Peter Matthews, Researcher at the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan, Taro (Kolocasi) in Mediterranean Food Culture.

- Dr. Joanna Smith, 1996 NEH Fellow, The Ins and Outs of an Archaic Sanctuary in Polis- Peristeries.

- Dr. Costas Constantinides, Professor of Byzantine History, University of Ioannina, The Greek Book in Medieval Cyprus.

- Dr. David Frankel, Reader in Archaeology, La Trobe University, Ethnography and Archaeology of Coastal Trade: Models from the Papuan Gulf.

- Dr. Barbara Kling, 1996 NEH Fellow, The Late Bronze Age Mining Settlement at Apliki- Karamallos: Recent Research in the Cyprus Museum.

CAARI Celebrates Christmas
CAARI held its Christmas holiday party on Monday, 16 December in the CAARI Residence. A potluck buffet dinner catered to all tastes while musical entertainment, a blazing fire (with roasted chestnuts), and hot mulled wine set the mood. CAARI residents and staff invited colleagues from the University of Cyprus, staff of the Cyprus Museum, and friends of CAARI from the local community. All at the institute wished the extended CAARI family could have been present at the party, but a toast was mad to all absent friends.

International Symposium
Plans are underway for CAARI to host an international symposium treating the subject of women and gender roles in Cyprus during antiquity. The conference, Engendering Aphrodite: Women and Society in Ancient Cyprus, will be held in Nicosia from March 19-23 1998. Format for the papers is available from CAARI and is also elaborated on in the Call for Papers (see infra). Those interested in participating should submit a title and 250 word abstract to CAARI by 1 April 1996.

REPORT ON PUBLICATIONS

New Appointments
At the annual meeting in New Orleans, the Publications committee, on the recommendations submitted by Robert Hohlfelder, Chair of the publications committee on nominations, approved the following appointments:

Glordia London, Editor of the ASOR Archaeological Reports Series; Larry Herr , Associate Editor of BASOR; BASOR Editorial Board Class of 2000: Sidnie White-Crawford, S. Thomas Parker and Ziony Zevit; BA Editorial Board Class of 1999: Louise A. Hitchcock, Douglas A. Knight (2d term), Mary Joan Leith (2d term), J. P. Dessel (2d term) and Liz Bloch-Smith (2d term); Committee on Publications: Eric Cline and David Schloen. All terms begin January 1, 1997.

Budget
Publications ended the Fiscal Year 1995-1996 with a surplus in our Scholars Press Account of $19,000. This surplus is due to the fact that three books that were budgeted for ($30,500), did not come out on schedule. The surplus was, in fact, lower than it should have been since sales of books this year were nearly half the projected amount. All expenses for the year were within the projected budget. The projected budget for 1996-97 will leave Publications with a modest surplus of $50.

Publications Office
The projected move-in date for the new Scholars Press Center is January 1998. ASOR Publications has committed $25,000 for three offices in this new center to be paid over four years beginning July 1997. Until that time, the Publications Office will continue to be located in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at Emory University.

Books
Due to its high production costs and low sales, the ASOR Annual has been suspended temporarily. The last volume will be 53 for 1995 and is due to appear in February. The CAARI Monographs are set to appear in the ASOR Archaeological Reports Series. The first volume will be Res Maritimae: Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean: Prehistory to Late Antiquity. Proceedings of the Second International Symposium "Cities on the Sea" Nicosia, Cyprus, October 18-22, 1994. S. Swiny, R. L. Hohlfelder and H. W. Swiny, eds. Also due to appear in this series are the Ceasarea reports. The first volume will be The Greek and Latin Inscriptions of Caesarea Maritima by C. M. Lehmann and K. G. Holum.

Two titles appeared in the ASOR Books Series this summer. Larry Herr's Published Pottery of Palestine and Itamar Singer's Muwatalli's Prayer to the Assembly of Gods Through the Storm-God of Lightning are both selling well in their first few months in print. The ASOR Books Series is edited by Victor Matthews.

Journals
Volume 47 of the Journal of Cuneiform Studies will be out in January 1997. Volume 48 is expected to appear in August 1997.

The editorial board of Biblical Archaeologist unanimously approved a motion to change the name of the journal following a year long investigation into this possibility by the journal's editor, David Hopkins. This recommendation was brought to the Committee on Publications, which passed the motion by a vote of 9 to 2. The motion then went before the Trustees of ASOR, who, after some discussion also approved the motion. The decision as to the Journal's new name has been postponed pending further research into possible alternatives (see p. 7 for more on BA's name change).

The Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research is gradually getting back on schedule. The manuscript base for the journal is steadily increasing.

Future Plans
Much of the discussion at the various publications editorial board and committee meetings involved future plans for ASOR's publications. With the arrival of the Centennial Celebrations, both BASOR and BA are planning to produce one or more special volumes celebrating ASOR's contribution and commitment to Near Eastern archaeology.

Increasing our marketing abilities in general and our technological know-how for the purpose of actively pursuing electronic publication of excavation reports are two of Publications' primary goals for the next year.

Billie Jean Collins, Director of Publications

MANUSCRIPTS SOLICITED

The ASOR Book Series was recently initiated with Victor Matthews as editor. This series is designed to accommdate publication of manuscripts wthat do not fall into the parameters of other ASOR series. For instance, its first two publications have been Itamar Singer's Muwatalli's Prayer to the Assembly of Gods Through the Storm-God of Lightning (CTH 381) and Larry Herr's Published Pottery of Palestine. Since this series will publish a variety of studies (textual analysis and commentary, historical monograph, bibliographic work), the format and size of the volumes will be styled to best present the author's data. Authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts dealing with aspects of the history, culture, literature, and religion of the ancient Near Eastern and Levantine world. They should be sent to Victor Matthews, Religious Studies Department, Southwest Missouri State University, 901 S. National, Springfield, MO 65804. E-mail: VHM970F@NIC.SMSU.EDU; Tel. (417) 836-5491; Fax (417) 836-4757.

Victor Matthews, ASOR Books Editor

NAME CHANGE VOTED FOR BA

ASOR has made a long-contemplated and emotionally difficult decision. Based upon action of BA's Editorial Committee and ASOR's Publication Committee, the Board of Trustees voted at the annual meeting to authorize a change in the title of its most public journal. Taking cognizance of deep attachment for the time-honored name Biblical Archaeologist among readers and board members alike, the decision rested on the disciplinary realities of archaeology in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East and the changed world in which ASOR must communicate the findings of its members' research.

The vast majority of those who responded to BA's readership survey placed a high value on the journal's name. If the survey were a vote, then Biblical Archaeologist would win hands down! So, if the readers favor the current name, then why change it? The simple answer is that BA's readership has been stagnant for years despite substantial efforts to increase its numbers. BA readers by-and large understand Biblical Archaeologist as a descriptive term applying in general to archaeological work carried out in the modern Middle East. The problem is that the circle of those who have adopted this view-the broad vision of the journal's founding philosophy-is not itself broad enough to support a viable, professional journal. Times have changed: the adjective "biblical" no longer attracts the way it did sixty years ago. Potential subscribers who are already interested in the ancient Near East are turned off by the descriptive term. On the other hand, the journal does not very long hold the interest of subscribers who would understand Biblical Archaeologist at face value as dealing primarily with archaeology as it relates to the Bible. This is simply because BA has for years been consistently publishing the wide range of ASOR research. ASOR scholars are engaged in an abundance of archaeological research that lies outside the chronological and geographical purview of this more literal and more obvious definition of BA's name. At the same time, ASOR scholars do not produce enough "biblical archaeology" to sustain a quarterly publication. While "biblical archaeology" regularly and rightly graces the pages of BA, biblically oriented readers find the journal insufficiently focused. Meanwhile many ASOR scholars think, despite BA's record of publication, that their work is not represented by the journal with its current title. Political concerns enter into the equation at this point as well, forcing a number of scholars to think twice before publishing in a journal whose name and tenor might be misconstrued. Younger scholars have difficulty convincing colleagues in university-based anthropology or classics programs that Biblical Archaeologist is not a narrow publication. Thus, except within the circle of current BA subscribers, the title Biblical Archaeologist is either a false lead or a misnomer. A change in the current title would better reflect the disciplinary realities of Near Eastern research, especially its chronological and geographical breadth, The same realities recently produced the name of ASOR's Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, chosen above the first proposal, "The ASOR Handbook of Biblical Archaeology."

BA publishes serious scholarship with an emphasis on engaging and effective presentations for educated readers with a keen avocational or vocational interest in the ancient Near East. It does not appeal to a mass audience, nor does it endeavor to do so. Though it is not a "popular" magazine, subscription growth is the unequivocal key to BA's survival and the achievement of its raison d'etre-to disseminate the results of ASOR research to the public. This growth will be achieved by advertizing what the magazine actually does rather than clinging to a title that obscures this. Biblical Archaeologist is an honorable and historic title that has ceased effectively to communicate BA's scope to a larger world. ASOR committees noted that interest in research that deals constructively with biblical literature, history, and archaeology can be accommodated in a journal with a broader name and anticipated that readers could expect continuing coverage of this dynamic intersection.

The path toward a title change has been a long and slow one, measurable in more than the seven years I have been associated with the publication. ASOR's Publication Committee and BA's Editorial Committee have come to their recommendation not precipitously, but with long thought and not a little regret. We all look forward to the future growth and development of the magazine under a new title. Though plans remain incomplete, the historic title will not be jettisoned completely. I anticipate that it will retained and employed as an irregular or annual serial focused exclusively on the biblical periods of Palestine. This use may parallel earlier editors efforts at gathering and republishing the most significant of BA's articles under the title Biblical Archaeologist Reader.

As for the new title, ASOR's Board of Trustees postponed action on its selection until the Board's spring meeting. The new title will be put in place with the first issue of volume sixty-one (1998). In the meantime, there is plenty to do to sustain and advance the journal's professional coverage of the archaeological world from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean, its continuing commitment under any name. I hope that the journal's loyal readers and many new ones besides will turn to its pages for the same authoritative analyses and vibrant images that it has provided through its distinguished six-decade history.

David Hopkins, BA Editor

Biblical Archaeologist and the Siloam Tunnel

When Professor Lawrence Stager began to read his prepared statement at the ASOR business meeting, I experienced a sense of foreboding prompted no doubt by earlier animated discussions at the Biblical Archaeologist Editorial Committee. Here was proof that the publication of John Rogerson and Philip Davies' article challenging the dating of the Siloam tunnel was causing more controversy than I had anticipated. Professor Stager made a "forceful statement," as the meeting's minutes published in this Newsletter record, attacking the scholarship of the article's authors and the competence of the editor. While unpleasant, this sort of personal attack comes with the editorial territory. However, I was unprepared for and cannot countenance the disdain heaped upon the enterprise of the journal itself. At this point Professor Stager's critique crossed the line from potentially helpful airing of serious disagreement to destructive diatribe.

Controversy regarding the publication of Rogerson and Davies accompanied the editorial decision-making process from its beginning, and I bear the responsibility for the final decision to proceed. Ultimately I decided for an open discussion of the interpretive issues they raise, in particular the methodological issue of interrelating archaeological, literary, and epigraphic data sets and the epistemological issue of the sources of our knowledge. I also solicited a response to the authors' epigraphic presentation-the most significant bone of contention-and scheduled the response for the very next issue (December, now out). I bear responsibility for designing a cover that succeeded too well in drawing attention to the article-"legitimizing" it and its authors, detractors would claim. I had reasoned that the cover would attract some attention to the magazine (beware, you may get what you wish for!)

However one judges the editorial decision-making process and the editor, it is both myopic and misinformed to deride the recent record of BA. Within the past four volumes, the facts of BA's record are timely publication, enhanced presentation values, full electronic production and a stable subscription base-all on a budget two-thirds the size of that of 1990. The facts are: diverse and significant content-articles on the archaeology of Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey, on Neolithic through Medieval periods, by a presitgious list of authors including Banning, Borowski, Cohen, Dever, Finkelstein, Hesse and Wapnish, Levy, Margueron, Sasson, and Ward, to name just ten researchers, all of them subjected to peer review by members of the Editorial Committee and others (even if one judges the process to have failed in a particular case, the process is consistently applied). The facts are: more timely content ("Arti-Facts"); a column on electronic opportunities in archaeology; acclaimed theme issues on nomadic pastoralism and ceramics and ethnicity; the rejuvenation of the frequently cited Archaeological Sources for the History of Palestine series, including plans for publication of a comprehensive textbook; a CD-ROM project; the mounting of BA on the World Wide Web; and the resolution of decade-old indecisiveness about the journal's title. The list goes on. Professor Stager is on record proclaiming the nadir of Biblical Archaeologist. While I am distressed that one ASOR's most distinguished scholars views the journal with such discouragement, I am convinced that he is utterly mistaken.

David Hopkins, BA Editor

AIAR 1995-96 POST-DOCTORAL FELLOW'S REPORT

J. Edward Wright
University of Arizona

This past December my family and I returned to Jerusalem after an eight year absence. I received a Yad-Hanadiv/Barecha Foundation Fellowship in Jerusalem and was awarded a "junior sabbatical" from the University of Arizona. We were especially pleased also to have a postdoctoral appointment at the Albright since ten years ago I was the 1986-87 J. Henry Thayer Fellow and Keeley worked as Sy's assistant from 1985-87. We became intimately familiar with the school, its staff, programs, and traditions. While we learned a great deal during those years, the highlight came when our daughter Angela was born in Jerusalem in 1987. She came earlier and faster than we had anticipated, nearly being born in the foyer of the Albright! many of our family's professional and personal friendships can be traced back to our "Albright days." Returning to Jerusalem this past winter was, therefore, an eagerly anticipated event for our family.

My research this winter focused on my monograph tentatively entitled "The Early History of Heaven." I am tracing the origin and development of the depictions of the heavenly realm(s) in early Judaism. I was able to finish editing three chapters and make good progress on two others. Because the book touches on the conceptions of the heavenly realms in other ancient Near Eastern cultures, the resources of the Albright were immensely helpful, especially with reference to the inscriptional and iconographic sources from across the Near East. My work focuses on how Jews in antiquity conceived of and described the heavenly realms. It will show how ancient Israelites and early Jews developed or adopted and adapted views of the heavenly realms to create their own images. The ancient Israelites in part inherited these images from their Canaanite ancestors and neighbors and then transformed these views to accord with their particular theologies. The tradents of the Bible took these traditions and further refined them to fit a strictly monotheistic theology. The Jews of the Greco-Roman period faced a dilemma: the model of the heavenly realms they inherited from their ancestors as well as from the biblical materials was becoming obsolete as they learned the astronomical speculations of the Greeks. The Jewish texts of the Greco-Roman period indicate that while some were content with the traditional view of the heavenly realms inherited from the Bible, others had abandoned the biblical traditions in favor of the Greek models of the universe. While some Jewish authors had only a superficial understanding and appreciation of the Greek models which they adopted to fit their traditional religious orientation, others applied fully developed Greek models and thereby transformed some aspects of their view of the universe. Even the later rabbis, traditionalists to be sure, adopted a model of the universe that was more Hellenistic than biblical. The earliest Christians, most of whom were not formerly Jewish, continued to depict the universe in Hellenistic fashion. When Christianity became the religion of the Roman empire, the state became the enforcer of theological and scientific orthodoxy. Variety in the depictions of the universe began to disappear. There remained, both in the religious as well as in the scientific community, those voices proposing alternate models. In my monograph, therefore, I trace how these many early Jewish depictions of heaven and the structure of the universe evolved. This evolution reflects the religious and social tensions within the early Jewish communities regarding tradition and modernization. These conflicts did not produce simply a winner and a loser, they produced a method whereby Jewish communities learned to adapt to a world that was constantly changing.

Our return to the Albright afforded us the opportunity to see first hand how the Albright is doing. We were impressed by the way the academic program of the school has grown though the years. The fellowship program is healthy and the seminar and lecture programs are consistently of high quality and well-attended. Rereading Philip King's volume on ASOR, and leafing through some of the old, dusty, original reports of the committee that worked to establish the school reminded me that all of us who have a connection to the Albright are part of an honorable tradition. I was impressed by the foresight of the founders who sacrificed and worked diligently to establish this school. Because of what they did earlier in this century, we have an inviting home and valuable resource that supports international work on matters pertaining to Near Eastern archaeology, biblical studies, and ancillary disciplines. I also noted that the while the Albright's academic programs are thriving, the physical plant is showing clear signs of its age. Perhaps it is time that our generation think seriously about what we will do for future generations. While the founders built the school, the time has come that we "rebuild" or at least refurbish the Albright so that it can be around to serve future scholars, perhaps even my own daughter who was nearly born in the building. It's a project that we and the board should consider seriously. The Albright was built by wise people who were looking to the future; the school now needs similarly future-minded people to see to it that its future will be as bright as its past.

AIAR-USIA RESEARCH FELLOW'S REPORT

Carey Ellen Walsh
Harvard University

The research project I conducted this year at the Albright Institute is for my doctoral dissertation and involves a study of wine production and consumption in the domestic economy of ancient Israel during the Iron II period. I applied for a USIA Fellowship to finish this project so that I could use the archaeological materials at the Albright and gain first hand an understanding of the climate, soils, and topography of the land of Israel. The final part of my stay involved travel throughout the various regions of the country for study of its agricultural potential in antiquity.

Through a synthesis of the archaeological and literary sources for wine, my dissertation presents a reconstruction of how viticulture was practiced by the ancient farmer. It involves analyses of the archaeology of the wine press and the rock-hewn cellar, the ceramic repertoire for the storage, straining, and serving of wine, and the epigraphic evidence of viticulture and wine in the Gezer Calendar, Samaria Ostraca, and on jars from various Iron II sites. The next phase of investigation was the reconstruction of wine as a facet of domestic life, namely, from the grape harvest to storage to social use. For this phase, biblical traditions of farming, classical works on agronomy, and ethnographic study of traditional agriculture were enlisted. A final phase was a literary analysis of the biblical scenes of drinking for the variant cultural values on wine that they may reflect.

Wine has enjoyed a long history of production in the Levant dating back to the fourth millennium BCE. Pips of cultivated grapes were found at Jericho and 'En Besor from the Early Bronze Period (3500-3100 BCE). Canaanite wine is one of the goods imported by the pharaohs of Egypt as early as 1900 BCE, as the reliefs at Beni Hasan show. The Egyptian Tale of Sinuhe, also from the Middle Kingdom period, praises the land of Syria-Palestine for its horticulture and the abundance of its wine:

It was a good land, named Yaa.
Figs were in it, and grapes.
It had more wine than water.

Wine production continued in Canaan into the Late Bronze Period (1500-1200) as evidenced at Ugarit on the Syrian coast. Viticulture and wine production, then, were established fairly early in the history of Syria-Palestine. Israelite society continued this Levantine tradition of wine production and use throughout its existence in the Iron Age (1200-586 BCE). One iconographic representation of Israelite vines exists in the reliefs of Sennacherib's 701 seige of Lachish. There grape clusters on vines dot the background hills. Archaeological remains - in the form of installations, ceramics, and epigraphy - and biblical narrative and poetic traditions indicate that wine was a part of Israelite life, primarily in the Iron II period (1000-586 BCE). These materials suggest that wine rather than beer was the prevailing alcoholic beverage of ancient Israel. Why was this so? Why was it wine and not beer as it primarily was in Egypt and Mesopotamia? Why did the Israelite farmer go to the trouble of incorporating a vineyard into his agricultural regimen? My project has sought to answer these questions in a reconstruction of Israelite viticulture.

I spent my time at the Albright Institute investigating the material culture and literary repesentation of viticulture for ancient Israel. I reconstructed how viticulture was practiced in Iron Age Israel and examined how biblical authors were appropriating vine-growing practices into portraits of people and their deity. The project is, then, an historical reconstruction of the social history of Israelite viticulture and an exegetical analysis of biblical traditions of vines and wine.

Much of my research was done in the Albright library where I concentrated on ancient agriculture and the archaeology of Iron II, particularly the evidence for wine presses, field towers, and the epigraphic material concerning wine in the Gezer Calendar, Samaria Ostraca, and LMLK and Gibeon jar handles. I also researched the characteristics of wine jugs, jar stoppers, strainers, and storage facilities for the Iron Age. Research at the Albright was instrumental to my project and has given me solid grounding for further work in the Iron II period. The USIA fellowship has enabled me to expand my knowledge of archaeology and explore new questions of material culture.

My study next demonstrates the influence of Iron II period wine production on the literary traditions of the Bible. Hence, it is at once a textual and archaeological study. I reconstruct what likely went in to vine cultivation and vineyard care in ancient Israel and then turn to wine production and consumption. I address the production and use of wine as daily features of Israelite agrarian life and then gauge how they were appropriated as literary topoi. The methodological approach to the biblical texts has been social-scientific, with its focus on daily life customs of a people and incorporation of archaeological and epigraphic data.

For analysis of wine consumption, I focused on the issues of commensality and feasting as they are depicted in the biblical texts. The use of an intoxicant, I argued, with its ability to loosen inhibitions and depress the central nervous system, can both solidify and potentially threaten these social encounters. Israelite cultural values toward wine, then, have significance beyond the agricultural product. They reflect social relations. This is true for the domestic and civic arenas, as it is for cultic offerings to Israel's God, Yhwh. Wine use and abstention in the cult, as in the social sphere, signifies the esteem with which an interaction is held. I have argued from the archaeological and textual evidence that viticulture was both fundamental and prized in Israelite life and so was an effective resource for biblical writers. My thesis is that biblical scenes of drinking and inebriation are the fairly natural or pedestrian expressions of a society practicing viticulture, and as such connote not opprobrium, but rather, levels of social intimacy and cohesion among the participants. The concluding, exegetical chapters of my dissertation argue that viticulture, no less than drinking, marked the social sphere of its practitioners in the Hebrew Bible.

AIAR-USIA JUNIOR RESEARCH FELLOWS' REPORTS

LISA KAHN

Following the 1995 summer excavation season, there were approximately 8,000 fragments of glass recovered from vault 2 on the south coast of Caesarea. This excavation, the Caesarea Maritima Vault Project, is part of the Combined Caesarea Expeditions and is directed by William J. Bennett Jr. and Jeffrey A. Blakely. The project was designed to excavate and fully study the vault and its contents. Focusing on issues of trade, commerce, and technology, the project sought to define and document the occupation of the vault. The glass was recognized as a significant body of material and it was hoped, therefore, that its study might offer data complementary to that provided by the study of the ceramics. While the ceramics formed the basis for investigations of site formation processes and the distribution and quantification of material culture, the large collection of glass is being studied with these same issues in mind.

The glass was recovered during two seasons of digging, 1993 and 1995. A great deal of the preliminary work on the glass occurred on site during those seasons. Most of the glass was cleaned, and it was all packaged, labeled, and then registered. The study of this corpus of material remained to be undertaken during the course of my fellowship year at the Albright Institute. The goal was to prepare a study of this material for publication, but in order to accomplish this it was first necessary to sort, restore, photograph, and draw the glass. About 100 drawings were done during the summer of 1993 by Mary Chambers, and a selection of these were digitized for inclusion in the 1993 Season Report . Over 400 fragments were identified for drawing from the pieces found in 1995 and I spent the first few months of the award period accomplishing this. Following this, research material was collected and studied for historical and technical analysis. This stage of the work entailed in-depth research into the subject of ancient glass, of the Syro-Palestinian region in particular.

The glass is representative of all periods from the late Hellenistic to modern times. The vault contained material predating its construction in the second century CE, and revealed glass associated with its use from that time through the Byzantine period. Sometime in this latter period the vault was blanketed beneath a thick layer of sand and later, during Crusader times, as well as periodically throughout more modern times, was used as a cemetery. Material culture from the Islamic periods is also evident, although not clearly stratified. The glass is being used diagnostically to confirm these dates and associations. The glass study is also intended to reveal commercial networks, technology, and taste of these periods. Having collected resource material during the award period, I will continue looking at these questions in the following months. There is still work to be done in establishing a typology of the wares from this site and this will be the next step in the study. When all this has been accomplished, the findings will be published in the form of a journal article. This work, however, is part of a long range project, for during this past year I was able to discuss the possibility of working towards a major publication of the glass from Caesarea, incorporating studies from the other excavations at this site. Some of these other sites already have scholars studying their glass and we have begun to make plans for future collaboration.

The opportunity to work abroad for an extended period of time has provided me with the chance to meet the Israeli scholars of ancient glass, who were highly supportive of my work. The fact that, at present, there are so few scholars who are working in this area has made the need for cooperation in the discipline all the more apparent, and initial steps have been taken to organize glass specialists into a group in order to meet and discuss issues of common interest. It is hoped that we will soon address problems of general terminology, so that our studies will prove more compatible.

One of the highlights of living in Jerusalem this year was the accessibility of the glass collection in the Israel Museum and the staff of the Antiquities Authority who work with it. The Albright library was highly beneficial to my research and another valuable resource in Jerusalem. Most of the major excavation reports with glass studies and journal articles on the subject are there, and the Albright library provides an excellent base of operations. Between this library and those at the Rockefeller Museum and l'Ecole Biblique, most everything necessary was available to me and within walking distance.

The time in Jerusalem was made all the more interesting by Albright field trips and the wide array of outside lectures. I was able to attend a series of lectures on the acculturation of the Greco-Roman world at the Hebrew University Institute of Advanced Studies, and several archaeological reports at the Rockefeller Museum, presented by AIAR and HUC. The presentations by the Albright fellows during the year were also informative and provided a good forum for discussion and feedback on work in progress.

The Albright staff was helpful in many ways, providing contacts and introductions to other scholars. In terms of living conditions, the camaraderie made up for what would have otherwise been a very difficult situation with staff so greatly reduced by the closures this year. Because of this I wish to sincerely thank Director Sy Gitin and the staff and trustees of The W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem for my award of the United States Information Agency Junior Research Fellowship.

JONATHAN GOLDEN

During my tenure at the Albright, I conducted research for my doctoral dissertation. This research is part of a larger project involving MASCA-University of Pennsylvania Museum, The German Mining Museum-Bochum, and the Albright Institute. The major goal of this research is to investigate the earliest use and production of metal in the southern Levant.

My current research project includes both laboratory and library component, the first of which has been conducted at a number of insitutions in Jerusalem. The portion of my work that I have been conducting in the laboratory involves the detailed examination of artifacts related to the archaeometallurgy of the southern Levant during the Chalcolithic period (c. 4500-3500 BC). One set of questions relates to the technological problems of early metallurgy. How were the various metal artifacts manufactured, and with what proficiency were they produced? In order to address these issues, I have been examining the remains of metallurgical furnaces and crucibles. As there are few, if any, complete smelting furnaces from this period, reconstructing such installations from their excavated remains allows for speculation about the numerous technological questions regarding early metallurgy (e.g. furnace temperature). Close examination of the crucible fragments is necessary for understanding the dynamics of smelting and melting copper. Furthermore, through metallographic and elemental analysis of slags and metallic residues from both the furnace and crucible fragments, it is possible to learn what types of raw materials (ores) were used and what types of metal produced. Finally, it is possible to estimate the total volume of copper production by considering the number of furnaces and crucibles that were utilized, as well as the amount of ore consumed and metal manufactured during these processes.

In order to approach these research problems, I have examined artifacts from several metallurgical assemblages. Each artifact was catalogued and a set of quantitative data, e.g. weight and size, recorded. When possible, both crucible sherds and furnace remains were treated as a pottery assemblage to estimate the complete shape and total number of these objects. In addition, certain noteworthy artifacts, i.e. particularly informative crucible and furnace fragments as well as complete objects such as copper tools, were drawn and photographed. Ultimately, I hope that this work will result in documentation that will be satisfactory to an interested audience and sufficiently accessible through publication.

The specific types of scientific analysis mentioned above, namely metallograpy and elemental analyses, require specialized apparatus and will be completed at MASCA in the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia, and the German Mining Museum in Bochum, Germany. The archaeological material that I am studying for my dissertation includes a wide range of artifact types from a number of sites. These artifacts and associated excavation records are housed at a number of different institutions in Jerusalem, including the Centre de Recherche Francais de Jerusalem, the HUC-JIR Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology, the Israel Museum, the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Rockefeller Museum, and the Pontifical Biblical Institute. My fellowship has given me continual access to these institutions and has allowed me to participate in a lively and exciting archaeological community.

A rather different aspect of my research is the study of cultural patterns in the late prehistory of the Near East as a whole, particularly from the perspective of metal and metallurgical technology as a mobile commodity. While it is often taken for granted that the Chalcolithic period is distinguished by the presence of metal technology, there has been little effort to address the issue of its first appearance in the southern Levant. This topic also raises questions regarding the transition from the late Neolithic to the Chalcolithic period in the southern Levant, as well as contact with cultural groups in Anatolia, Syria, and northern Iraq that were working with metals at a substantially earlier date. For instance, where are the origins of the Beer'sheva/Ghassulian Chalcolithic culture to be found, and can long distance contacts be observed from a metallurgical perspective? When does metal first appear in the southern Levant, and at what stage of development does this industry make its debut? Is it possible to formulate a sequence of development for metallurgy within the Chalcolthic period?

Recent archaeological research has contributed a great deal to these topics; however, much can also be learned from a reconsideration of earlier work in the region. I have been able to conduct this research by taking advantage of the extensive collection of early Near Eastern site reports to be found in the volumes and journals of the Albright Library. I would also like to thank the Board of Trustees of the Albright Institute and the United States Information Agency for offering this generous fe

llowship, and providing me with an opportunity to pursue these research interests.

AARON JED BRODY

I arrived at the Albright in August for my third extended stay at the Institute with the goals of finishing my dissertation on the religion of Levantine sailors and then turning the work into a publishable manuscript. I completed my thesis, defended it successfully, and am now nearly finished with revisions for the manuscript. During this year I was also able to take advantage of the Albright fieldtrips, both in country and abroad, and the abundance of scholarly lectures and events at the institute and affiliated organizations.

In the Fall, thanks to the resources at the Albright and neighboring libraries, I nearly completed my research before returning to the States to deliver a paper at the ASOR meetings in Philadelphia. The time freed up by the assistance of the institute's staff, who take care of most of one's basic needs, allowed me to concentrate fully on my work. Before the Meeting in Philadelphia, I spent two weeks away from the Albright helping to excavate a Byzantine shipwreck at the Tantura Lagoon just south of Tel Dor. The project, run by Prof. Shelley Wachsmann of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A & M, was the first time I'd been able to return to my interests in underwater archaeology since I worked with the Department of Maritime Civilizations in Haifa back in 1986-87. I also had a chance to rekindle earlier interests in Late Bronze Age trade through discussions with fellows Nicolle Hirschfeld and Michael Sugerman, whose research is expanding our knowledge of interconnections in the eastern Mediterranean.

While their work deals with the profane, I have been able to draw new conclusions about the sacred beliefs and practices of Canaanite and Phoenician seafarers. I have found that because of the hazards faced at sea, Canaanite-Phoenician mariners took on guardian deities to guarantee divine protection. In order to appease these sacred benefactors, sailors worshipped their patrons in port temples and in isolated shrines erected on promontories along sea routes, as well as on board ship. Vessels contained sacred areas, at their prow or stern, for conducting ceremonies at sea, and the ships were imbued with the spirit of a tutelary god to ward off the dangers of the deep. Rituals were performed at transition points in the voyage, to ensure a safe journey. If a ship was lost at sea, however, fellow mariners gathered on shore to conduct mourning rites and sing laments. Mortuary rituals included the interment of seafarers with symbols of their profession, such as sacred anchors and models of divinely protected ships. This evidence describes the specialized nature of the religion of Canaanite and Phoenician sailors. Maritime religion was a discreet subset of the general religious beliefs and cultic practices of Canaanite and Phoenician society, generated by the unique uncertainties and dangers faced while living and voyaging at sea. The picture developed permits us to connect this aspect of Canaanite and Phoenician life with what we have long known of the crucial importance of maritime trade to the early Levantine cultures that pioneered seafaring and exploration throughout the Mediterranean.

After my talk at the ASOR meetings on sacred space aboard Canaanite and Phoenician ships, I was able to put the finishing touches on my dissertation and defend it in February. Since then I have returned to Jerusalem, and have been editing and expanding sections in preparation for submitting the manuscript for publication in the Harvard Semitic Monograph series. The Albright trip to Jordan was a welcome distraction from my work and the recent tensions in Jerusalem. Robert Schick guided us through the southern part of the country, with his expert, first-hand knowledge of the history, archaeology, and geography of Jordan. Highlights included seeing Petra for the first time, Dibon, Tell el-Kheliefeh, Araq el-Amir, Pella, and the Bronze age mounds in the Jordan Valley.

I would like to thank the United States Information Agency and the staff and fellows at the Albright Institute, without whose help this year would not have been such a success.

CAORC ADVANCED MULTI-COUNTRY RESEARCH FELLOW'S REPORT

Carel Bertram

Although these may be fighting words, in spite of a skyline dominated by the Dome of the Rock and the Dome of the Holy Sepulcher, the Old City of Jerusalem was arguably just a provincial Ottoman town. I didn't come to the Albright Institute to prove or disprove this, but rather to explore Jerusalem in the context of provincial Ottoman urbanism. I arrived from Aleppo and Damascus, via Amman, three cities that were important satellites in the Ottoman cosmos. My projects there, as in Jerusalem, were almost too enjoyable to be believable-to obtain a close familiarity with Ottoman period street patterns as well as with the siting of neighborhood schools, religious institutions, houses, and street furniture (such as public fountains). My earlier research in Anatolia and the Balkans had convinced me that the siting patterns of buildings such as orthodox schools, dervish lodges, and Armenian pilgrimage sites could yield otherwise unavailable insights about how Ottoman society dealt with its social diversity. With the help of a CAORC grant for advanced multi-country research, I had come to Damascus and Jerusalem to see whether this methodology, so fruitful in Anatolia and the Balkans, would repay further investigation here.

While at the Albright, I had the enviable task of learning about Jerusalem from the ground up-how the old city and the city outside the walls was planned and built during the last years of the Ottoman empire. But my work here, as in Anatolia and the Balkans, was not merely to gather information about the physical setting of "lost" Ottoman cities. In fact, as I gathered my material in Anatolia, my project began to change from attempting to "map" the Ottoman urban past to attempting to reconstruct how that Ottoman past has been visualized over time. Instead of drawing my own pictures of nineteenth century Ottoman towns, I began to ask how past generations "pictured" their own cities and how this information might help us understand how the various elements of the Ottoman empire-its different ethnic groups, for example-had felt about its urban experience.

I presented the results of some of my work at a workshop at the Albright Institute in April. I worried about this, wondering how I could present my work on something as ephemeral as the urban imagination to a group of archaeologists, who deal with the most concrete type of evidence. To be both believable and safe, I included some photographs of ancient coins in my slide presentation. But I was wrong to worry, for the archaeologists, who spend their lives interpreting urban form, were sympathetic both to my material and to my dilemmas and were generous in their suggestions for new angles from which to approach my evidence.

My time at the Albright was short. I stayed not even two months. I continually had to remind myself that my time there was only intended to be used to develop a perspective on my earlier work and as a reconnaissance venture for future work. It was successful on both counts. I have been particularly impressed by how differently the Ottoman presence is expressed and remembered in non-Turkish towns as opposed to the Turkish ones I have been working on in Anatolia and Bosnia. For example, Ottoman architectural expressions in non-Turkish towns are often more visible in private interiors than in public facades. More importantly for the thrust of my current work, I am finding that there is a conflation of Arab and Ottoman in the urban imagination, although the idea of "The Turk" continues to have an independent resonance. By spending long hours in the late-Ottoman neighborhoods outside the walls, I am now more able to understand authors whose works hold keys to the urban imagination, such as Yehuda Burla from Ezrat Yisrael. I have also gathered memories from the Mandate period in these neighborhoods from people whose parents lived in late Ottoman times, such as the Chazan Aryeh Grayewsky from Yemin Moshe, and Bishop Gyuregh Kapikian from the Armenian quarter. I am certainly closer to interpreting the preservation and restoration issues of the old city as explained by modern urban planners like J. Sevitzky, or as described by urban historians like David Kroyanker.

Discussions with many of these people, forays to libraries, and walks in the old and new city were utterly exhilarating and utterly exhausting. I would return to the sanctuary of the Albright with great relief each evening. Here I could talk over my ideas or my worries with other scholars, or not; use the library, or the photocopier, or write frantic e-mail letters to my advisor, Dr. Irene Bierman, at UCLA, or make phone calls to colleagues or to potential informants. The Albright library was particularly useful, especially with the help of Bella Greenfield and Sarah Sussman, as it holds material on Damascus, Aleppo and Amman that have helped me keep a perspective on what I had recently seen and what I was seeing now. My CAORC time in Jerusalem has been intellectually valuable and pleasurably sociable, a rare combination made possible by the chance to associate with colleagues of diverse backgrounds in safe and pleasant surroundings and with dinner on the table six nights a week.

I have CAORC and the Albright Institute to thank for their financial support and for a research environment that allowed me to test the methodology that I developed for Anatolia and the Balkans. I feel much stronger and certainly more focused as I continue on to Turkey for the final stages of my dissertation research. But I certainly will return to Jerusalem, for it is now clear that my line of research is a productive one here as well as in Damascus-and, I suspect, for other areas in the Middle East.

NEWS AND NOTICES

Cyprus Earthquake

On 9 October, a strong earthquake rocked Cyprus causing damage primarily along the southern coast of the island. The quake struck at 4:11 p.m. and lasted for over two minutes. Measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale, the epicenter was thought to be sited about 40 km to the southwest of Paphos. Because the epicenter was located in the sea tens of kilometers deep, it has been reported that Cyprus was spared the more severe damage thatwould have been expected from a quake of this magnitude.

The quake was the strongest to strike the island since 1953. More than 300 buildings were damaged with Paphos, Limassol, and Larnaca hardest hit, and 85 people were injured. Reports saythat around 25 villages in the Paphos area suffered damage while old and uninhabited houses were destroyed in the section of the old town of Limassol. The Larnaca airport reported that the quake caused a glass door to shatter and a ceiling panel to collapse. Landslides blocked some mountain roads in the Petra tou Romiou area, and road closures were reported at Kourion and Pissouri.

Over 1,300 aftershocks, with several measuring 5.0 and greater, have continued after the quake and more are expected over the course of the next two to three months. The quake (and aftershocks) were also felt in Nicosia and the initial tremor was strong enough for CAARI to be rocked. The CAARI building sustained very little damage-existing cracks in walls lengthened only slightly, and small patches of mortar facing on the institute's facade fell off in places.

ARGOS: A Limited Areas Search Engine of the Ancient and Medieval Worlds

argos.evansville.eduA test version of an experimental search engine dedicated to the ancient and medieval portions of the internet is now on-line. Argos--a cooperative effort from the editors of ABZU (Charles Jones), Byzantium (Paul Halsall), Diotima (Ross Scaife and Suzanne Bonefas), Exploring Ancient World Cultures (Anthony Beavers), Kirke (Ulrich Schmitzer), Perseus (Gregory Crane) and Romarch (Pedar Foss)--is the first (?) peer-reviewed search engine on the internet. As such, it attempts to filter out portions of the internet irrelevant to ancient and medieval interests. To learn more about how Argos works and what "peer-review" means in this context, please see the "about" page accessible from any Argos page.

We ask that you keep in mind that the current version of Argos is a "beta" release. We are in the process of fixing errors. We are putting Argos on-line at this time to test its performance under real conditions. If you would like to know more about the current state of Argos and our immediate plans, please see the "Version Announcement" accessible by clicking "Beta Version" on the top of any Argos page.

Argos was designed by Anthony Beavers and Hiten Sonpal at the University of Evansville.

Jordan Antiquity, Rami G. Khouri's weekly feature on Jordanian archaeology and history, is now available for international subscription and publication. The weekly articles of approximately 1200 words each cover the results of the latest archaeological excavations and surveys in Jurdan, and include occasional reviews of new books.

Personal and institutional subscriptions, and reprint rights for publications: Interested individuals or institutions that wish to receive the feature every week by e-mail (to read, but not to reprint or electronically post) can subscribe at an annual cost of $45 for individuals and institutions, for 48 articles per year. Publications that wish to reprint all or some of the articles may do so upon paying an annual syndication fee of US$600 for publications...

The American Schools of Oriental Research