Post-Doctoral Fellowships in Middle Eastern Archaeology

FAIN: RA-50088-10

Albright Institute (Arlington, VA 22207-1210)
Seymour Gitin (Project Director: August 2009 to April 2016)

Funding details:
Original grant (2010) $320,400.00
Supplement (2014) $54,089.92

The equivalent of two twelve-month fellowships a year for three years.

The W.F.Albright Institute is applying for 2 fellowships at $50,400 each, for a total of $100,800 per year, for each of the academic years 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14, plus related costs for publicity and selection in the amount of $6,000 per year. These would be continuous, residential fellowships at the Institute, which is located in Jerusalem. Fellows are expected to pursue a research project, give a public lecture to the academic community while in residence, and participate in the activities of the Institute's scholarly community. The fellows' research projects should culminate in a scholarly publication(s). The impact of this research, transmitted through the Albright's hundreds of alumni to institutions all over the world, has had a profound effect on the understanding of western civilization and its origins in the ancient Near East. The Albright supports scholarly work in Near Eastern studies from prehistory through the early Islamic period.

Associated Products

Evil Within and Without: The Source of Sin and Its Nature as Portrayed in Second Temple Literature (Book)
Title: Evil Within and Without: The Source of Sin and Its Nature as Portrayed in Second Temple Literature
Author: Miryam Brand
Abstract: Miryam T. Brand explores how texts of the Second Temple period address the theological problem of the existence of sin and describe the source of human sin. By surveying the relevant Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, and Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as the works of Philo and (where relevant) Josephus, the study determines the extent to which texts’ presentation of sin is influenced by genre and sectarian identification and identifies central worldviews regarding sin in the Second Temple period. The analysis is divided into two parts; the first explores texts that reflect a conviction that the source of sin is an innate human inclination, and the second analyzes texts that depict sin as caused by demons. The author demonstrates that the genre or purpose of a text is frequently a determining factor in its representation of sin, particularly influencing the text’s portrayal of sin as the result of human inclination versus demonic influence and sin as a free choice or as predetermined fact. Second Temple authors and redactors chose representations of sin in accordance with their aims. Thus prayers, reflecting the experience of helplessness when encountering God, present the desire to sin as impossible to overcome without divine assistance. In contrast, covenantal texts (sectarian texts explaining the nature of the covenant) emphasize freedom of choice and the human ability to turn away from the desire to sin. Genre, however, is not the only determining factor regarding how sin is presented in these texts. Approaches to sin in sectarian texts frequently built upon already accepted ideas reflected in nonsectarian literature, adding aspects such as predestination, the periodization of evil, and a division of humanity into righteous members and evil nonmembers.
Year: 2012
Primary URL: http://http://www.v-r.de/en/title-188-188/evil_within_and_without-1008736/
Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 978-3-525-3540
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

Early Megiddo - On the East Slope (the “Megiddo Stages”): A Report on the Early Occupation of the East Slope of Megiddo - Results of the Oriental Institute’s Excavations, 1925-1933 (Book)
Title: Early Megiddo - On the East Slope (the “Megiddo Stages”): A Report on the Early Occupation of the East Slope of Megiddo - Results of the Oriental Institute’s Excavations, 1925-1933
Author: Eliot Braun
Abstract: Between 1925 and early 1933 the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute’s expedition to Megiddo created a large dumping area in a convenient locale to the southeast of the high mound for fills removed from excavations on the upper tell. So that the new dumps would not additionally cover any ancient remains in the vicinity of the tell, that area the excavators labeled the “East Slope” was systematically and incrementally stripped bare of its soil overburden and archaeological deposits down to bedrock. Excavations on that rocky East Slope unearthed a patchy and confusing series of sequences of human utilization, most of which could not be easily correlated with finds on the high mound. Although a final report on the excavation of the East Slope was planned, the vagaries of the several excavators’ careers, their states of health, and cessation of the expedition’s work due to World War II effectively prevented creation of final reports for that and other areas of the site. Until the present the sole published evidence for the East Slope (sometimes, albeit erroneously, known as the “Megiddo Stages”) was confined to several preliminary reports, all published prior to the second half of the last century. The present work synthesizes all available documentary and artifactual evidence, most unpublished, found in two primary repositories, the Oriental Institute in Chicago and the Israel Antiquities Authority in Jerusalem. The aim of this project was to recreate a detailed and definitive account of the archaeological record of the East Slope unearthed by its excavators, as far as it is possible more than eight decades after the excavations’ completion.
Year: 2013
Primary URL: http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/oip/oip139.html
Primary URL Description: Publisher's Web Site
Secondary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/title/early-megiddo-on-the-east-slope-the-megiddo-stages-a-report-on-the-early-occupation-of-the-east-slope-of-megiddo-results-of-the-oriental-institutes-excavations-1925-1933/oclc/879121786&referer=brief_results
Secondary URL Description: WorldCat entry
Access Model: print
Publisher: Oriental Institute Publications No. 139
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 978-1-885923-9
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

Conspicuous Destruction and the Economy of Sacrifice in the Bronze and Early Iron Age East Mediterranean (Book Section)
Title: Conspicuous Destruction and the Economy of Sacrifice in the Bronze and Early Iron Age East Mediterranean
Author: Louise Hitchcock
Editor: A. Houtman, M. Porthuis, J. Schwartz and J. Turner
Abstract: abstract not available
Year: 2014
Publisher: Brill
Book Title: The Actuality of Sacrifice: Models of Interaction Between Judaism and Christianity in past and present

Beyond Creolization and Hybridity: Entangled and Transcultural Identities in Philistia (Article)
Title: Beyond Creolization and Hybridity: Entangled and Transcultural Identities in Philistia
Author: Aren Maier
Author: Louise Hitchcock
Abstract: Recent finds and new perspectives warrant a new understanding of the underlying mechanisms and processes relating to the Philistine culture – from its appearance in the 12th cent BCE until its ultimate demise in the late Iron Age, in the 7th cent. BCE. While it is evident that a major component of the Philistine culture is foreign, it is clear that these foreign facets are of a mixed nature – including features from the Aegean, Cyprus, Anatolia, SE Europe and beyond. Likewise, it is now clear that the Philistines did not capture and destroy the Late Bronze Age sites of the Canaanites, at most destroying elite zones in some of the sites. On the contrary it appears that from the very beginning of the Iron Age, the foreign components became entangled with local Canaanite elements. Thus, from the very early stages of its appearance, the Philistine culture was characterized by an ongoing negotiation between various cultural groups of local and foreign origin. As a result of such entanglements, the process of change of the Philistine culture should not be viewed through the lens of a simplistic process of cultural change. Here as well, multivalent patterns of identity negotiation can be seen between the various groups within Philistia (as evidenced in distinct material culture patterns at different sites within Philistia), and between these groups and surrounding polities and ethnicities, with influences going in both directions. While the Philistine culture did change drastically throughout the Iron Age, shedding many of their earlier, non-local attributes, other attributes which clearly were of importance in their ongoing group definition and identity continued to be used throughout the Iron Age.
Year: 2013
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Archaeological Review from Cambridge 28.1

Destruction and Identity: Trauma, Migration, and Performativity in the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean (Book Section)
Title: Destruction and Identity: Trauma, Migration, and Performativity in the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean
Author: Louise Hitchcock
Editor: J. Driessen
Abstract: Destruction remains a relatively unexplored and badly understood topic in archaeology and history. The term itself refers to some form and measurable degree of damage inflicted to an object, a system or a being, usually exceeding the stage during which repair is still possible but most often it is examined for its impact with destructive events interpreted in terms of a punctuated equilibrium, extraordinary features that represent the end of an archaeological culture or historical phase and the beginning of a new one. [this is a description of the book in its entirety.]
Year: 2013
Primary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/title/destruction-archaeological-philological-and-historical-perspectives/oclc/857819164&referer=brief_results
Publisher: Presses universitaires de Louvain
Book Title: Destruction: Archaeological, Philological, and Historical Perspectives

Gender in Greek and Aegean Prehistory (Book Section)
Title: Gender in Greek and Aegean Prehistory
Author: Marianna Nikolaidou
Author: Louise Hitchcock
Editor: D. Bolger
Abstract: abstract not available
Year: 2013
Primary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/title/companion-to-gender-prehistory/oclc/815474264&referer=brief_results
Book Title: A Companion to Gender Prehistory
ISBN: 978-0-470-6553

Baal and the Politics of Poetry (Book)
Title: Baal and the Politics of Poetry
Author: Aaron Tugendhaft
Abstract: Baal and the Politics of Poetry provides a thoroughly new interpretation of the Ugaritic Baal Cycle that simultaneously inaugurates an innovative approach to studying ancient Near Eastern literature within the political context of its production. The book argues that the poem, written in the last decades of the Bronze Age, takes aim at the reigning political-theological norms of its day and uses the depiction of a divine world to educate its audience about the nature of human politics. By attuning ourselves to the specific historical context of this one poem, we can develop more nuanced appreciation of how poetry, politics, and religion have interacted—in antiquity, and beyond.
Year: 2018
Publisher: Routledge
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9781138063624
Copy sent to NEH?: No

Reading Between the Lines: Jewish Mortuary Practices in Text and Archaeology (Article)
Title: Reading Between the Lines: Jewish Mortuary Practices in Text and Archaeology
Author: Karen B. Stern Gabbay
Abstract: not available
Year: 2017
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Archaeology and Text: A Journal for the Integration of Material Culture with Written Documents in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East

The Columns of the Heraion at Olympia: Dorpfeld and Early Doric Architecture (Article)
Title: The Columns of the Heraion at Olympia: Dorpfeld and Early Doric Architecture
Author: Philip N. Sapirstein
Abstract: not available
Year: 2016
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: American Journal of Archaeology

Pattern Matching and the Analysis of Damaged Ancient Objects: The Case of the Column Drum (Article)
Title: Pattern Matching and the Analysis of Damaged Ancient Objects: The Case of the Column Drum
Author: Philip N. Sapirstein
Abstract: not available
Year: 2016
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage

Cultivating Subjects in the neo-Assyrian Empire (Article)
Title: Cultivating Subjects in the neo-Assyrian Empire
Author: Melissa S. Rosenzweig
Abstract: not available
Year: 2016
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Journal of Social Archaeology

New Insights into the Philistines in Light of Excavations at Tell es-Safi-Gath (Article)
Title: New Insights into the Philistines in Light of Excavations at Tell es-Safi-Gath
Author: A.M. Maeir
Author: Louise Hitchcock
Abstract: not available
Year: 2018
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Near Eastern Archaeology

Art and Efficacy in an Icon of St. George (Book Section)
Title: Art and Efficacy in an Icon of St. George
Author: Lisa Mahoney
Editor: Rossitza Schroeder
Editor: Andrea Olsen Lam
Abstract: not available
Year: 2017
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Book Title: The Eloquence of Art: Studies in Honor of Henry Maguire

The Appearance, Formation and Transformation of Philistine Culture: New Perspectives and New Finds (Book Section)
Title: The Appearance, Formation and Transformation of Philistine Culture: New Perspectives and New Finds
Author: A.M. Maeir
Author: Louise Hitchcock
Editor: Fischer and Burge
Abstract: not available
Year: 2017
Book Title: The Sea Peoples Up-To-Date: New Research on the Migration of Peoples in the 12th Century BCE

Rethinking the Philistines: A 2017 Perspective (Book Section)
Title: Rethinking the Philistines: A 2017 Perspective
Author: A.M. Maeir
Author: Louise Hitchcock
Editor: O. Lipschits, et al.
Abstract: not available
Year: 2017
Publisher: Eisenbrauns
Book Title: Rethinking Israel: Studies in History and Archaeology of Ancient Israel in Honor of Israel Finkelstein

An Astynomos at Ascalon (Article)
Title: An Astynomos at Ascalon
Author: Kate Birney
Abstract: N/A
Year: 2018
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Eretz Israel 33

'All the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites (Samuel 2:15-18)’ - An Up-to-Date Account of Minoan Connections with the Philistines (Book Section)
Title: 'All the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites (Samuel 2:15-18)’ - An Up-to-Date Account of Minoan Connections with the Philistines
Author: Louise Hitchcock
Editor: I. Shai, J. Chadwick, J. Uziel, A. Dagan, C. McKinney and L.A. Hitchcock
Abstract: N/A
Year: 2018
Publisher: Ugarit-Verlag
Book Title: Tell it in Gath: Studies in the History and Archaeology of Israel: Essays in Honor of A.M. Maeir on the Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday

From "Global" to "Glocal": Cultural Connectivity and Interactions Between Cyprus and the Southern Levant during the Transitional Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages (Book Section)
Title: From "Global" to "Glocal": Cultural Connectivity and Interactions Between Cyprus and the Southern Levant during the Transitional Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages
Author: Ann E. Killebrew
Editor: Lukasz Niesiolowski-Spanò and Marek Wecowski
Abstract: N/A
Year: 2018
Publisher: Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz
Book Title: Change, Continuity, and Connectivity North-Eastern Mediterranean at the turn of the Bronze Age and in the early Iron Age

The Levant in Crisis: The Materiality of Migrants, Refugees and Colonizers at the End of the Bronze Age (Book Section)
Title: The Levant in Crisis: The Materiality of Migrants, Refugees and Colonizers at the End of the Bronze Age
Author: Ann E. Killebrew
Editor: Jan Driessen
Abstract: N/A
Year: 2018
Publisher: Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain
Book Title: An Archaeology of Forced Migration Crisis-induced Mobility and the Collapse of the 13th c. BCE Eastern Mediterranean

Archaeologies of Empire and Environment (Article)
Title: Archaeologies of Empire and Environment
Author: Rosenzweig, Melissa S. and John M. Marston
Abstract: N/A
Year: 2018
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 52 - Special Issue

Assessing the Politics of Neo-Assyrian Agriculture (Article)
Title: Assessing the Politics of Neo-Assyrian Agriculture
Author: Melissa S. Rosenzweig
Abstract: N/A
Year: 2018
Periodical Title: Special Issue of Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association 29(1), “Uneven Terrain: Archaeologies of Political Ecology”

Ordering the Chaotic Periphery: The Environmental Impact of the Neo-Assyrian Empire on its Provinces (Book Section)
Title: Ordering the Chaotic Periphery: The Environmental Impact of the Neo-Assyrian Empire on its Provinces
Author: Melissa S. Rosenzweig
Editor: J. MacGinnis, D. Wicke, and T. Greenfield
Abstract: N/a
Year: 2016
Publisher: Oxbow Press
Book Title: The Provincial Archaeology of the Assyrian Empire

The Spiritual and the Social Landscape during the Chalcolithic Period (Book Section)
Title: The Spiritual and the Social Landscape during the Chalcolithic Period
Author: Yorke Rowan
Editor: A. Yasur-Landau, E. Cline and Y. M. Rowan
Abstract: N/A
Year: 2019
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Book Title: The Social Archaeology of the Levant: From Prehistory to the Present

The Social Archaeology of the Levant: From Prehistory to the Present (Book)
Title: The Social Archaeology of the Levant: From Prehistory to the Present
Editor: A. Yasur-Landau, E. Cline and Y. M. Rowan
Abstract: N/A
Year: 2019
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Type: Edited Volume
Copy sent to NEH?: No

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