Historical Archaeology in the Ancient Mediterranean

ASOR 2008 from Boston

The poster session at ASOR was a success.  Many people stopped by and showed interest in the poster and project.  There were many great papers presented, a few of which I posted below.  I love these large conferences because you never know who you will run into.  I met up with many friends and colleagues.  I even ran into actor Richard Kiel best known for his role as Jaws in the movie "James Bond: The Spy who Loved Me."  Unfortunately I have not watched the movie but I did recognize him from his role as Mr. Larson in "Happy Gilmore." (Should I have admitted that?)  Anyway all in all it was a great conference.   

Just a few of the excellent papers:

Yehuda Rapuano, "The Church of the Episkopos Johannes and the Date of the Pottery at Baraqa."

Mara Horowiz, "Building an Integrated Typology for the Alalakh Ceramic Assemblage."

Juan Manuel Tebes, "Iron Age Edomite Pottery: A New Typology and Its Relationship with the Midianite Wares."

Eric Welch, "Phoenician Gadir and the Tartessian Hinterland: A Study in Port-Hinterland Interaction."

Unfortunately I was unable to attend Eric's talk because it conflicted with the poster session but knowing Eric I have no doubt it was a great talk.

Off to ASOR

I am off to Boston for ASOR's annual meeting.  As discussed in previous posts I will present a poster on the Mopsos Survey.  I also intend to hear a couple of papers from fellow Penn Staters.  In a few days I will provide an assessment of the conference.

The Mopsos Survey at ASOR

This weekend Ben, Amanda, and I will present our poster "The Mopsos Survey: Archaeology in the Cilician Plain."  The poster will consist of three parts: Ben's section showing the spatial distribution of sites in the survey area within three time periods (Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Classical), Amanda's section explaining how we use modern historical sources, and my section arguing how we will determine where the Battle of Issus took place.  The themes of the poster are essentially site distribution and research.  If you have a chance stop by the lobby on Saturday between 12:00-2:00 for the Projects on Parade Poster Session. 

Coursework Update

With the Fall 2008 semester coming to an end I thought I would give a quick update on my remaining coursework.  I have completed the commentary for my sling-bullet paper.  I need another day or two to write up the introduction and conclusion.  I have a commentary and translation for Plato's Symposium, one quiz, and a final for my Greek course and two quizzes, a portfolio, a final, and an oral exam for German.  With the ASOR conference looming Ben, Amanda, and I will spend the next few days finalizing our poster.  I will provide a poster update on Monday.

Big Epigraphy Test

Today we had our big epigraphy test.  Each student had to pick one inscription, of five, and create a transcription with standardized conventions, a translation, and a commentary.  The inscription did not have any glossed words, description, or context.  I found it a good exercise because we were forced to discuss the inscription from the Latin without context.  On a side note I will be out of town for the next week but I will be back next Thursday.