Historical Archaeology in the Ancient Mediterranean

10th-Century BC Hebrew Ostracon?

Israeli archaeologists discovered an ostracon (an inscribed potsherd) from Elah in Khirbet Qeiyafa.  According to the archaeologists ceramic analysis and C14 dating suggest that it dates to the infamous 10th Century.  Near Eastern archaeologists and historians have rigorously debated the very existence of King David and a United Monarchy citing a lack of archaeological data to support a large kingdom dating to the 10th century B.C.  Supporters of the United Monarchy either refer to the Tel Dan Inscription, which contains text reading "house of David," or supporters attack the Iron Age chronology suggesting that scholars are inaccurately dating 10th-century material.  Israel Finkelstein is the big name questioning the chronology.  If indeed the Elah ostracon dates to the 10th century, a whole new set of may be asked about the Iron Age chronology and United Monarchy.  Click here for the CNN article.

2008 Penn State Graduate History Conference

Just a quick congratulations to the conference planners responsible for the 2008 graduate history conference here at Penn State.  The panels were well-organized and the papers were of a high caliber.  Great job everyone!

UND Department of History on the Move?

Typically I try to keep this blog oriented to certain topics such as graduate studies in ancient history, archaeology of the Mediterranean, professional conferences concerning the ancient world, etc but I am going discuss a different topic today.  Dr. William Caraher a history professor at the University of North Dakota, a Mediterranean archaeologist, and my former adviser has discussed plans to move the department of history out of Merrifield Hall.  Since I spent two years in the building and thoroughly enjoyed the "nostalgia," I thought I would give my opinion on the matter.

For a description of why the move may happen see this article from the Grand Forks Herald.  As I understand it, one of the main reasons for the move is to place the faltering School of Communications to Merrifield Hall so that they may benefit from "adjacency" to the English department.  The History department although, "one of the university’s most productive and stable departments" will be moved across campus to O'Kelly.  What the UND bureaucracy does not understand is that "one of the most productive departments" has benefited from "adjacency" to the departments of Philosophy and Religion, Languages (which includes ancient Greek and Latin), and English.  This does not surprise me given the, at times, unhelpful and short-sighted tendencies of the UND bureaucracy.  As a former graduate student I found the easy contact with my Greek, Latin, and Philosophy and Religion professors a great benefit.  The history department has enjoyed Merrifield since 1929, the date of its construction.  Hopefully the history department and the UND bureaucracy can reach an agreement where history can put.      

Mopsos Survey Info Night

I cannot believe that the Mopsos Survey info night is already here and the application deadline is in a few weeks.  It seems pretty early for deadlines for a summer of 2009 archaeological project.  Given that the project is an official study abroad course and Turkish research visa applications have an early application deadline, we have to have recruitment finished by early November.  I visited 17 classes in the departments of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, History, Anthropology, and Geography to promote the project.  After distributing at least 400 flyers I anticipate a nice turnout tonight.

Epigraphy Seminar

I have provided posts concerning my epigraphy seminar paper but I have yet to discuss the class.  The graduate seminar is not designed to teach one to be an epigrapher but rather surveys the ways in which scholars use epigraphic evidence to discuss the past.  During the first few weeks we learned what resources are available (CIL, ILLRP, etc) and basic epigraphic conventions.  The last few weeks we have examined topics such as onomastics, statistical approaches, and the epigraphic habit.  All in all the course has proved to be very useful for my research. 

Epigraphy Seminar Paper: An Update

On Tuesday I have to present my research project in the epigraphy seminar.  In a previous post I briefly introduced the topic.  Essentially I will argue that the glandes Perusinae represent a unique discourse of violence when compared to inscribed sling-bullets from Asculum and the Greek world.  The examples concerning violence from Asculum preserve inscriptions such as EM TIBE/MALUM/MALO (the / represents a line break) "Here is evil for an evil one."  One may also translate malum as "apple" or "sweet fruit" and possibly take malo as adverbial or as an ablative of manner.  Another sling-bullet from Asculum reads FVGITIVI/PERISTIS "You fugitives have died."  Peristis is a syncopated perfect (perivistis) and may better be translated as an imperative "Die fugitives!"  By taking the evidence promoting violence from Asculum with evidence from the Greek world (verbs in the imperative translated as "take this" and "ouch") a traditional discourse of violence emerges.  The glandes Perusinae represent a unique discourse of violence.  For example, below I have posted scanned images of CIL XI.6721.11 and ILLRP.1109. 

I transcribed the inscription as LAXE/OCTAVI (obverse) "Octavian is loose" and phallic image/SEDE (reverse).  I took sede as referring to the phallic image, which would read "sit on this" ("this" being the phallus).  Note that the ILLRP entry has not mention of the phallic image presented with SEDE.  Thus, the importance of scrutinizing all the sources.  Other sexually charged words from the glandes Perusinae include culus, landica, fello, and pando.  Since I would like to keep this blog G-rated I will let the readers translate these words!  Here we see a different method of promoting violence.  The use of sexual language to promote violence is unique to inscribed sling-bullets but can be found in the literary traditions of Catullus and Martial.  More on this later.         

Turkey Flyer

Last summer I spent five weeks working with the Mopsos Survey Project.  I found the experience very rewarding and enjoyable.  Recruitment for the project has started so if anyone is interested or has questions please do not hesitate to contact me at bro118@psu.edu

Another Committee Meeting

Today I met with three of my committee members to define the comp exam for my research field: Roman Imperial Military History and Texts.  In a previous post I discussed the comp for my general field: Classical and Hellenistic History/Military History.  We decided that, similar to the general field, the comp will be a hybrid test consisting of two parts.  For the first part of the exam I will be tested on a military author.  I will have a few hours to translate a selected passage or passages (either Greek or Latin) and provide a literary analysis.  The second part of the test is a 48-hour take home essay.  In the next week or so I will be presented a reading list of secondary works on military history to prepare for the second part of the comp.  Granted by suggesting and agreeing to a hybrid comp test I have doubled the workload for my comp exams but the rewards will far out-weigh the work.  In the words of the seemingly immortal Vince Lombardi, "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary."

The Date Has Been Set

Now that I finished my candidacy essay, I can turn my attention back to coursework.  My candidacies are scheduled for December 1st so I have the rest of the semester to write my epigraphy paper, study for Greek and German tests, write a commentary on a selection of Plato, finish my section of the Mopsos poster for ASOR, finish my votive paper for the AIA, and finish my PKAP and Mopsos projects.