Today, I had the pleasure of participating in a mini-symposium on archaeological science that was held at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, and was organized by Prof. Steve Weiner. As I’ve already mentioned in the past (here and here, for example), Steve and I co-direct the Joint BIU/WIS Program in Archaeological Science, which has, if I may say, turned out to be quite a success!

In the mini symposium there were several very interesting lectures from several guests from abroad, and I capped off the day (the grave yard shift…), with a lecture on how we integrate field archaeology and archaeology science at the Tell es-Safi/Gath excavations.

Here is a list of the lectures:
* Prof. Martin Jones (University of Cambridge): “Why humans share food”
* Prof. Joseph Maran (University of Heidelberg): “Reflections on the relation between science and archaeology”
* Prof. Walter Kutschera (University of Vienna): “Why the puzzle of dating the Minoan Eruption of Santorini is still not solved?”
* Prof. Tim Jull (University of Arizona): “AMS dating studies at the University of Arizona applied to archaeology and paleoclimate in the Americas”
* Dr. Melinda Zeder (Smithsonian Institution): “Archaeological Sciences and the Origins of Agriculture”
* Dr. Bruce Smith (Smithsonian Institution): “General Patterns of Niche Construction by Small-Scale Pre-Industrial Societies”
* Prof Aren Maeir (Bar Ilan University): “Integrating Field Archaeology and Archaeological Science at Tell es-Safi/Gath”

All told, a very interesting, informative and enlightening day. In addition, I got meet in person several people who I only knew from reading their publications. It’s always nice to be able to “put a face” on a familiar name.

Quite a nice crowd showed up for the symposium, both from the WIS and other institutions in Israel.

Aren