BARlines

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Jordanian Ambassador Cancels Reception for Sauer Lecture Because of Mention of Israelites

No American archaeologist is more highly respected and admired in Jordan than James A. Sauer, president of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR). For seven years, Sauer served as director of ASOR’s Amman school, the American Center for Oriental Research (ACOR). Sauer has taught at the University of Jordan and is a close personal friend of many Jordanian archaeologists, including Adnan Hadidi, director of the Jordanian Department of Antiquities. No one is more closely attuned to Jordanian archaeological sensitivities than Sauer.

It was only natural that the Jordanian ambassador to Washington, Ibrahim Izzidin, offered to host a reception at his ambassadorial residence for students enrolled in a Smithsonian lecture course on “Ancient Peoples in Conflict: Archaeology of the Middle East,” to follow the opening lecture in the series to be delivered by Sauer in Washington on January 22.

The Jordanian embassy reception was widely publicized by the Smithsonian in its effort to sign up students. Then the Jordanian ambassador learned the title of Sauer’s lecture: “Ammonites and Israelites.” The reception at the ambassador’s residence was abruptly cancelled.

Embarrassed and concerned because of the promise made to the students for an ambassadorial reception, the Smithsonian called the Israeli embassy. A reception at the Israeli embassy was hastily arranged.

The incident is a minor one and would probably never have been noticed had it not been reported in the New York Times. It is significant, however, because it reflects how political concerns threaten to affect the archaeological enterprise. Should Sauer have changed the title of his lecture? Or the subject? If not, what is the lesson to be learned?

According to the New York Times report, Sauer believes the blame must be shared by ASOR and the Smithsonian. What about the Jordanian ambassador? Ambassador Izzidin refused to speak to BAR about the incident.

It Had to Happen

The editorial office has just been advised of a BAS first.

Margery Mitton and Robert Magruder, who met on the 1984 Israel Seminar, have announced their plans to marry next August.

Magruder, 68, and Mitton, 56, were eager to talk about their summer’s experience. “The whole trip was super,” says Mitton. “Everyone from the seminar is so excited for us.”

“The people on the seminar couldn’t help but notice that there was an attraction between us,” says Magruder, with a chuckle. “After the first few weeks, we were together all the time—and I don’t think anyone is surprised.”

Both Magruder and Mitton have been married before, and each has five children. Between them, they have 15 grandchildren. Magruder, a retired paper plant manager, lives in Augusta, Georgia, and Mitton lives in Framingham, Massachusetts, where the two will live after the wedding. In Framingham, Mitton works as an assistant to the pastor at the United Methodist Church, and also studies at Framingham State College for a B.A. in liberal arts.

“Living in Massachusetts will mean starting over for me,” says Magruder. An amateur astronomer, he’s looking forward to joining the National Association of Variable Star Observers, an organization that recruits individuals who own telescopes to help scientists observe stars with variable brightness. Magruder also raises orchids; he hopes to have many in bloom for the August wedding. For their honeymoon, the couple plans to travel in Scotland, where both have family roots.

BAR offers no matchmaking guarantees, but all interested parties should see the Israel Seminar ad.

Bible Scholars Gather in Strasbourg

Over 125 scholars from more than a dozen countries including Germany, France, Israel, England, Italy, Finland, South Africa, Korea, Australia and the United States, gathered in the beautiful medieval French city of Strasbourg on August 16 and 17, 1984, for the Second International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL).

Following the first successful European SBL gathering in Salamanca, Spain, in 1983, the Strasbourg meeting provided another opportunity for European scholars to share ideas and to meet face-to-face with Americans working in related fields.

The relatively small scale of the Strasbourg meetings was a pleasant contrast to the very large annual SBL meetings in the United States, where several thousand scholars offer a sometimes confusing array of simultaneous lectures and overlapping sessions.

Sessions at Strasbourg treated Hebrew literature, New Testament, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, social sciences and Bible and archaeology. Two evening sessions focused on the scholarship of Sigmund Mowinckel and Rudolph Bultmann.

SBL Executive Secretary Kent Richards reports that next summer the international SBL meeting will take place in Amsterdam Holland, on August 14 to 16. The addition of another meeting day will allow fuller coverage of Biblical archaeology. For further information about the international SBL meeting in 1985, write to Kent Richards, Executive Secretary, Society of Biblical Literature, Iliff School of Theology, Denver, Colorado 80210.

New Chairs Created at Harvard, Yale and Johns Hopkins

Search committees at three major universities are looking for senior scholars to fill newly created positions in Bible studies, archaeology and Judaica.

At Harvard University, an endowed chair in the archaeology of Israel has been established through a gift of $1,200,000 from the Dorot Foundation. Joy Ungerleider-Mayerson, president of the Dorot Foundation of New York, is a former director of the Jewish Museum in New York, a trustee of the American Schools of Oriental Research, author of a soon-to-be-published book on Jewish folk art and, through the Dorot Foundation, a 006generous supporter of educational programs in Israel and in this country relating to archaeology and the Bible.

Harvard’s search committee is looking for a Biblical archaeologist with extensive field experience, as well as competence in Hebrew and related Semitic languages. The odds-on favorite for the position is Lawrence E. Stager, currently of the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute. In the summer of 1985, Stager, who already has very considerable field experience in Israel, Cyprus and North Africa, will begin a major new excavation at Ashkelon on Israel’s Mediterranean coast. Stager is very highly regarded by Israeli archaeologists and is considered an innovative and careful scholar by his American colleagues. BAR readers will remember Stager as the coauthor (with Samuel P. Wolff) of “Child Sacrifice at Carthage—Religious Rite or Population Control?” BAR 10:01. If he gets the nod, Stager will become Harvard’s Dorot Professor of the Archaeology of Israel in the fall of 1985.

At Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, where the great William F. Albright spent most of his academic career, a chair in his name has been created through a gift of $1,250,000 from Harvey and Lyn Meyerhoff. The Meyerhoffs are well-known philanthropists who have supported numerous institutions in Baltimore and elsewhere.

The leading candidate for the William Foxwell Albright chair in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies is P. Kyle McCarter of the University of Virginia. McCarter, a member of BAR’s Editorial Advisory Board, has been a book reviewer for BAR. McCarter has also been a popular faculty member at BAS’s vacation seminars and this summer will teach a BAS Bible Seminar in Montreat, North Carolina.

Finally, Yale University is searching for a distinguished scholar to be the first incumbent of the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Professorship in Hebrew Language and Literature.

More Dig Information for Volunteers

In our January/February issue, we published a listing of digs that need volunteers this summer (“Wanted: Volunteers,” BAR 11:01). Here are more to consider.

Gilgal

A new excavation breaks ground this summer at Gilgal, about 16 miles northeast of Jerusalem. The staff, headed by Israel Finkelstein of Bar-Ilan University and the Institute for Advanced Studies at Hebrew University, draws on five years of experience digging at nearby Shiloh.

The Israelites first entered Canaan at Gilgal (Joshua 4:19) after 40 years in the wilderness. There, with flint stones, Joshua circumcised the Israelite men who had been born in the wilderness.

Initial surface finds at Gilgal, located between the Biblical towns of Geva, Benjamin and Michmash, lead excavators to believe that Iron Age II material will be uncovered.

Volunteers participating in the first season, July 21 to August 8, 1985, will be lodged in the field school house in Ofra, a nearby town with direct bus service to Jerusalem. The cost for the three-week period is $325 and includes membership in the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel.

For more details, write to I. Robert Kaufman, 9 Hamlin Road, Edison, New Jersey 08817. Tel: (201) 572–1590.

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Ein Yael

In the Judean hills outside Jerusalem, volunteers at Ein Yael will attempt to reconstruct the industries of the ancient village. This site and nearby settlements were the major food producers in Biblical times.

In addition to the volunteer opportunities at Ein Yael announced in the January/February BAR, a two-week long “mini-course” on the environmental archaeology of the Judean hills has been announced for this spring and summer at Ein Yael. Gershon Edelstein will conduct the course, which is sponsored by the Society for the Archaeological Survey of Israel.

Environmental archaeology stresses the interaction of people and nature. Lecturers from the Hebrew University and the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums will speak on natural resources of ancient settlements in the Judean hills, the physical characteristics and health status of ancient and modern people, and the environment and archaeology at the time of the New Testament. Each mini-course includes work at the dig, as well as lectures and trips that provide background on the archaeology of the site. This is the third season of excavations at Ein Yael.

The cost of the course for a single participant is $150, including transportation to and from the site, field trips, guides and lectures. Group participation for 15 to 20 persons is $3,000. Accommodations and health insurance are not included.

For more information write: Gershon Edelstein, Department of Antiquities and Museums, P.O. Box 586, Jerusalem 91004, Israel.

Beth Shemesh

Founded in the Middle Bronze Age, Beth Shemesh was occupied, with interruptions, until the Byzantine period. Its name, apparently Canaanite in origin, means “house of the sun” and suggests that there was once a temple to the sun god here. In Joshua 19:41, the city is referred to as Irshemesh, “city of Sun.”

This season’s excavations deal primarily with the Iron Age II (1000–586 B.C.), the latter half of the Judean monarchy. The dig begins on July 21 and lasts until August 17. Tel Aviv University and the University of Pennsylvania offer academic credit. Volunteers will stay at a nearby hotel. The cost of room, board and tuition for the four-week session is $950.

For more information contact Frederic R. Brandfon, Arts and Humanities, Stockton State College, Pomona, New Jersey 08240. Tel: (609) 652–1776, ext. 380.

Pessach Bar-Adon 1907–1985

Pessach Bar-Adon, a pioneer of the land of Israel and one of the young state’s first generation of archaeologists, died on January 10. Born in Poland, Bar-Adon had graduated from rabbinical seminary at the age of 17, when he immigrated to Palestine. The teenager became a member of Kibbutz Merhavia in the Jezreel Valley, but left the kibbutz for a three-year sojourn with a Bedouin tribe. Bar-Adon always considered his experience with the Bedouin a highlight of his life. Under the Arabic name he was given, Aviv Effendi, he wrote a book while living with his adopted tribe.

In 1936, Bar-Adon, a kibbutznik again, was recruited by Benjamin Mazar for the excavations at Beth Shearim. As Mazar tells it: “I discovered Bar-Adon sitting on a horse. I took him off the horse and into my excavations. And he became an archaeologist too!”

After completing studies in archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Bar-Adon joined the Department of Antiquities. He excavated at Beth Yerah from 1949 to 1955 and in 1961 made the spectacular discovery of the “Cave of the Treasure,” in Nahal Mishmar in the Judean Desert. This remote cave held a hoard of over 400 copper artifacts dated to the Chalcolithic period (fourth to third millennia B.C.). The volume and the extraordinary workmanship and beauty of the pieces make this cache unparalleled in the history of archaeological finds.

Bar-Adon’s wife, the writer and poet Dorothy Kahn, died in 1950. He is survived by a son and four grandchildren.

Callaway Joins BAR Board

Professor Joseph A. Callaway, president of the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, has been appointed to the BAR Editorial Advisory Board. Callaway teaches during the summer term at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he is senior professor of Old Testament and archaeology.

Callaway has already published three of four volumes on the landmark excavations he directed at Ai and Raddana, from 1964 to 1976, including The Early Bronze Age Citadel and Lower City at Ai (1980). His many other publications include “A Visit with Ahilud,” BAR 09:05, a down-to-earth account of one of the hardy, early Israelite settlers in Canaan, and “Sir Flinders Petrie: Father of Palestinian Archaeology,” BAR 06:06. Readers of this issue can share Callaway’s reflections in “Was My Excavation of Ai Worthwhile?” in which he comments on “The Problem of Ai,” by Ziony Zevit.

Well-known to Biblical Archaeology Society travelers, Callaway has taught at several BAS Vacation Seminars, including this winter’s seminar in Florida and last winter’s Caribbean cruise.

Dahood Memorial Prize

The first Dahood Memorial Prize, established as an incentive for young scholars, was awarded to John Day, lecturer in Old Testament at the University of 073Oxford. Day, who last year was one of the faculty at the first BAS vacation-seminar at Oxford, presented his winning paper on the assigned topic, “Asherah in the Hebrew Bible and Northwest Semitic Literature,” at the recent annual meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), the American Academy of Religion (AAR), and the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) in Chicago. A fellow and tutor of Lady Margaret Hall, Day edited the third revised edition of the Oxford Bible Atlas.

The Dahood Memorial Prize honors the memory of Mitchell Dahood, a distinguished Ugaritic scholar who taught at Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute. Dahood died in 1982.

The competition’s required topic in 1985 is “Parallel Themes in the Ugaritic Epic Poems and the Hebrew Bible.” All entries must be received by April 30, 1985. This year’s contest is open to any qualified junior faculty member or graduate student who has not reached his or her 40th birthday by December 31, 1985. The winner of the $1,000 prize will be announced at the annual meetings of SBL, AAR and ASOR in Anaheim, California, next November, and the winner will present his or her paper at those meetings.

The contest is sponsored by Doubleday and Company, and the competition committee consists of Frank Moore Cross, Harvard University; Marvin H. Pope, Yale University; and Patrick D. Miller, Union Theological Seminary. David Noel Freedman of the University of Michigan serves as secretary to the committee.

Queries, nominations and submissions may be addressed to David Noel Freedman, University of Michigan, 445 West Engineering Building, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109.

International Art Trade Conference in Geneva

The legal aspects of the international trade in art—an increasingly complex subject because of the conflicting interests and the laws involved—will be addressed in a conference at the University of Geneva on April 11, 12 and 13, 1985. The conference, sponsored by the Institute of International Business Law and Practice in Paris, covers such practical questions as the validity of an international sale, the liability of the vendor or the expert, the role of the state, and the protection of a dispossessed owner and that of a bona fide purchaser of a work of art.

The conference is expected to attract scholars, art collectors and interested laypersons. After an exchange of opinions, the participants may find practical solutions to facilitate the everyday movement of works of art and collectors’ items all over the world, while ensuring the rights of all parties concerned. For more information, write: The Institute of International Business Law and Practice, I.C.C., 38, Cours Albert I, F-75008, Paris, France (Tel 00331 562.34.56, ext. 13.05), or the Université de Genève, Faculté de Droit, Department de droit international privé, Place de l’Université 3, CH-1211 Genève 4, Switzerland (Tel 022 20.93.33, ext. 2174)

Corrections

In the January/February BAR, with the exception of the first photograph in the article, all of the illustrations for “Crucifixion, the Archaeological Evidence,” BAR 11:01, appeared courtesy of the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums.

In the same issue, the plan of the Mt. Ebal altar is the work of Zvi Lederman.

Jordanian Ambassador Cancels Reception for Sauer Lecture Because of Mention of Israelites