I plan on attending the ASOR Annual Meeting in Atlanta next week (Thursday the 18th – Saturday the 20th). Archaeologists and scholars from across the world present their discoveries and research. Here are some of the sessions I find most interesting. Each session includes several presentations of 15 to 25 minutes each. Some of them overlap so I will have to make a few choices.
– “Archaeology and the New Testament: Contexts and Texts”
– “Philistia and the Philistines During the Iron Age”
– “Archaeology and Biblical Studies”
– “Khirbet Qeiyafa: A Fortified City in Judah from the Time of King David” (No choice required here – I’m going to this one.)
– “Hebrew Bible, History, and Archaeology”
– “Warfare, Empire, and Society in the Ancient Near East”
– “Publishing Archaeological Data from the Field to the Web”
Specific presentations in other sessions that I plan to attend:
– “King David’s First Decade as King of Jerusalem and his Relations with the Philistines in Light of the Qeiyafa Excavation and Inscription”
– “A Second-Temple Period Synagogue at Magdala on the Lake of Galilee”
– “On the Date and Function of the Large Stone Structure in the City of David”
– “Jerusalem before the 8th Century B.C.E.: An Archaeological Assessment”
– “Micro Archaeology and Macro History in Reconstructing Ancient (Biblical) Israel”
– “Radiocarbon Dating and Relative Chronologies in the Eastern Mediterranean”
With Dr. Yosef Garfinkel (l), archaeologist at Khirbet Qeiyafa, at the 2009 ASOR meeting in New Orleans.
Bible, Archaeology, and Travel with Luke Chandler 
Hello Luke,
I see you were as determined to listen to Garfinkel’s lecture this year as I was, however I instead attended the Biblical Archaeology Society’s 13th Bible and Archaeology Fest 2010 conference in Atlanta which is still being held (this weekend) at the Westin hotel which is just three blocks away from the Sheraton where the ASOR conference is being held. In fact I had a chance to meet James Hoffmeier for lunch while he was there attending the ASOR conference. Garfinkel presented at the Westin on Friday just before lunch for BAS’s conference and he discussed the new cultic & aniconic findings at Khirbet Qeiyafa this past dig season. I only attended the BAS conference for Friday, so I’ve already headed back home even though the conferences are still going on (SBL was also in the area – making it a trio of conferences all in Atlanta – mostly sharing the same speakers I think).
Garfinkel was very animated and I was impressed with his candor and enthusiasm in presenting his material, and I got to personally speak with him after the Q&A session of his lecture. He invited me to go dig with him, and I said “I’d love to”. I don’t know if I can find the time though. Anyway, did you glean anything interesting from Garfinkel’s presentation at ASOR? Did he discuss the same cultic findings (the three masseba stones, and the cultic room with the libation vessel and bench)? If he discussed anything else I’d love to hear what it was.
Best regards,
Josh
Josh,
Yes, I attended his ASOR presentation, and he mentioned the same finds and conclusions. I was on the Qeiyafa dig for the past two seasons and got to excavate next to the cultic room. Most of this season’s cultic finds were unearthed while I was there. He did not address a shrine that we found, but no doubt it will be covered when he publishes if not sooner than that. (Go back a few posts on this blog to see the shrine.)
Besides the cultic finds, the dig has turned up strong evidence of a centralized polity in Judah during David’s time. This is consistent with the biblical record but stands in contrast to much of the scholarship from the past 25 or 30 years. If he gave the same presentation at SBL, he addressed that evidence on some level. He went into additional detail on this issue in last year’s presentation.
I’m planning to dig again at Qeiyafa for three weeks next July. If you’re interested in the possibility of going with me for part or all of that time, let me know.
Best wishes,
Luke