Serious (and not-so-serious) musings about the project
Just before we start the 2017 season, it’s a good time to acknowledge and thank all the various institutions, organizations and agencies who have taken an active part, collaborated with and/or supported the project, both now and in the past. Each and everyone has contributed to the project over the years, and deserve credit and thanks for this.
Here is a collection of their logos (and if I overlooked someone – do tell me!):
Joe Uziel, Nahshon Szanton, Elisabetta Boaretto and Johanna Regev, who have all played (and still play) major roles in the Safi project, have recently received a lot of press (see for example here and here) on their new article in Radiocarbon on there lower dating for the fortifications of the Gihon Spring in Jerusalem.
In their study, they claim that 14C analyses show that either the fortification was built in the Iron Age, or that it was originally made in the MB (as the original excavators suggested), but was substantially rebuilt in the Iron Age.
And needless to say, this has sparked a lot of interest – and debate!
Today, I visited Safi with the field trip of the very nice conference on “Archaeology, Life Science and Environment, organized by Itzik Shai and Oren Ackermann of Ariel University (see details here). After visiting the Soreq cave and hearing an excellent explanation about the geological research there by Avner Ayalon and Mira Bar-Matthews, we eventually got to Safi with the group and Oren and I presented the archaeological and environmental studies on the site.
And just next to the site, an enormous corn field has appeared – popping up just in the last few weeks.
So in the spirit of “Oklahoma” – “The Corn is as High as an Elephant’s Eye”!
And for those that don’t know what I’m talking about, see the original:
Aren
Last week, I sent out the lecture and field trip schedule to the 2017 season team members. Just in case they want to check this online, or you want to see what you are missing because you did not join us this year, check out the schedule below.
And if you are really impressed – sign up for next year’s season (2018)! We will have a great schedule next year as well!
Aren
Just came back from a really nice conference at the University of Udine, in Udine Italy. This conference, the 5th in an ongoing series, is focused on enabling early career researchers present at a meeting in which most of the presenters are early career colleagues, along with a small amount of senior presenters (who presented keynote lectures).
This was, without a doubt, a smashing success. The papers given by the early career researchers were excellent; the organization was meticulous; the hosting was impressive; and we were wined and dined (with a particular focus on the wined…) quite impressively!
It was also very special to reconnect with some old friends, turn some long-time email friends into face-to-face friends, and also meet a lot of new friends and colleagues.
I presented one of the keynote lectures on new perspectives on the LB/Iron Age transition, with focus on new aspects, finds and understandings regarding the Philistines – with of course a lot of discussion of finds from Safi.
Add to that, I came back with a very impressive “catch” of books (see below).
This format was so successful that I would highly recommend participation in this series in the future – and also to make other similar venues!
Today we received notice that the volume The Sea Peoples Up-To-Date: New Research on the Migration of Peoples in the 12th Century BCE. Denkschriften der Gesamtakademie 81, Contributions to the Chronology of Eastern Mediterranean 35. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences, 2017, has appeared.
The volume, edited by Peter Fischer and Teresa Bürge, is the proceedings of a very interesting conference held in Vienna in 2014.
The volume includes a series of very interesting papers dealing with various aspects relating to the Sea Peoples, as well as other related issues of the same time frame (LB/Iron Age transition).
Louise and I have an article in this volume as well, which as soon as I get the PDF, I’ll post it as well.
The article’s title is:
Maeir, A. M., and Hitchcock, L. A. 2017. The Appearance, Formation and Transformation of Philistine Culture: New Perspectives and New Finds. In The Sea Peoples Up-To-Date: New Research on the Migration of Peoples in the 12th Century BCE, eds. P. Fischer and T. Bürge. Denkschriften der Gesamtakademie 81, Contributions to the Chronology of Eastern Mediterranean 35. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Looking forward to receiving a copy of the volume!
Aren
Chris Hale, who was on the Safi team last year and will be working on the LB/Iron I pottery from Area A at Tell es-Safi/Gath, has received a very fellowship for this research from the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research (AIAR).
Chris has been awarded the Glassman Holland Research Fellowship (research topic: “The Late Bronze Age to Iron I Pottery from Tell es-Safi/Gath, Area A”).
In addition, Chris recently passed around the news that he just received a position as an Assistant Professor in the Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities at O.P. Jindal Global University just outside of New Delhi.
Way to go Chris!!
Aren
