What is Archaeology? Trends and Currents in Contemporary Archaeological Discourse in Israel

Via Oded Lipschits on FB-

The Lautenschläger Azekah Expedition– What is Archaeology? Trends and Currents in Contemporary Archaeological Discourse in Israel

Thursday, December 27, 2012, Room 496, Gilman Building, Tel Aviv University (All lectures are in Hebrew).

9.00-9.30 – Reception

9.30-9.45 – Opening statement – Assaf Nativ and Mark Iserlis

9.45-10.00 – Shlomo Bunimovitz- Children of three paradigms: my generation in Israeli archaeology

Session One: Archaeology and the personal; Chair Shlomo Bunimovitz

10.00-10.30 – Yifat Thareani- Margins’ Girl: On frontiers as multi-cultural archaeological spaces

10.30-11.00- Haggai Misgav- Archaeology and contemporary religious conceptions

11.00-11.15- Recess

Session Two: Archaeology as profession; Chair Oded Lipschits

11.15-11.45 – Ianir Milevski- What is archaeology? A materialist dialectic approach

11.45-12.15- Alon Shavit- Community archaeology in Israel: on the connection and discord between the archaeological community and society

12.15-12.45 – Eran Arie- Archaeology in a museum: visit and Critique

12.45-14.00- Lunch break

Session Three: Archaeology as a discipline; – Chair Yuval Goren

14.00-14.30 – Steve Rosen- Archaeology: a personal perspective

14.30-15.00 – Amihai Mazar- The rusty Marshalltown

15.00-15.30 – Yuval Yekutieli- Archaeology as a story

15.30-15.45- Recess

Session Four: Summary and discussion; Chairs Mark Iserlis and Assaf Nativ

15.45-16.15 – Summaries: Rafi Greenberg, Avi Gopher, Snait Gisis

16.15-17.00 – Discussion

The Dog Who Fell into a Pit, and Discovered a First Temple Era Winepress

I guess if tv journalists can stumble into pits, so can dogs.

He never studied archeology and knows more about bones than about antiquities, but he is probably the first dog in history to uncover a major archeological site.  It all began five years ago when Zach, a mongrel, took a walk at Jerusalem’s Ramot Forest with his owner, Shaul Yona. As he was joyfully running around the forest, Zach suddenly fell into a hole in the ground.  Yona managed to get his dog out safe and sounds. As he took a deep breath following the drama, he peeked into the hole and realized that it was not just a random pit.  He alerted archeologists, who checked the hole and discovered that it had been used as a grape pressing area during the First Temple period.  The sensational discovery led to an extensive excavation, which exposed additional pits, pottery pieces and bronze coins from the Second Temple period. The dig was orchestrated by Prof. Amihai Mazar, who was awarded the Israel Prize in archaeology in 2009.

And more…

Congratulations to Amihai Mazar On His Election to the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Via Chris Rollston-

Amihai Mazar of Hebrew University has been elected to membership in the prestigious Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities….Kudos to him for this much deserved honor (and my gratitude to Sam Wolff for bringing this to my attention).

Indeed, congratulations! The Israeli archaeologists from Tel Aviv and Hebrew University are doing brilliantly!