Opgravingen/excavations 1: Tell Abu Sarbut

In 2011 zijn Noor Mulder-Hymans, Jeannette Boertien en Margreet Steiner, in samenwerking met de Universiteit van Groningen en gesponsord door Stichting Nour, een nieuw archeologisch project gestart: The Renewed Excavations at Tell Abu Sarbut. Tell Abu Sarbut ligt in de oostelijke Jordaanvallei, niet ver van Tell Deir `Alla. Van 1988–1992 zijn hier Nederlandse opgravingen uitgevoerd, met name gericht op de Islamitische bewoningsfasen. Bij dit onderzoek kwam ook Romeinse bewoning aan het licht. Het huidige onderzoek concentreert zich op deze periode. Van de Romeinse bewoning in de rurale gebieden van Jordanië is nog maar weinig bekend, aangezien archeologisch onderzoek zich (nog steeds) vooral richt op steden, tempels en forten. Dit project vult deze lacune op. Het eerste opgraafseizoen vond plaats in 2012. In maart 2014 start de tweede campagne. Meer informatie op: http://tellabusarbut.wordpress.com/ [This is the first item in a series covering the excavations in which WAP-members have a prominent role.]

New book on Levantine tribal life in the 19th century

Eveline van der Steen, Honorary Reseach Fellow in the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool, has recently published her new book:

Near Eastern Tribal Societies During the Nineteenth Century: Economy, Society and Politics Between Tent and Town

Series: Approaches to Anthropological Archaeology
Author(s): Eveline van der Steen
ISBN: 1908049839; ISBN-13: 9781908049834
Publication date: 16 May 2013
Publishing house: Acumen Publishing
Pages: 320 (234 x 156 mm)
Format: Hardback
List price: £70.00

Until the First World War, Near Eastern society was tribally organised. In the Levant and the Arabian peninsula, where the Ottoman empire was weak, large and powerful tribes such as the Anaze, Beni Sakhr and Shammar competed for control of the land, the people and the economy. This in-depth study explores the history, archaeology and anthropology of tribal society, economy and politics in the villages, towns and deserts of the Near East in the nineteenth century.

Drawing on a wide range of historical accounts from travellers, adventurers and explorers as well as archaeological evidence, the book sheds new light on tribal life and tribal organisation as a driving force in Near Eastern society. While a straight comparison between ancient and more recent tribal communities must be treated with caution, the book shows how a better understanding of nineteenth-century tribal ethics and customs provides useful insights into the history and power relations of the more distant past and the underlying causes for the present conflicts of the region.

Table of contents
Introduction
1. What is a Tribe?
2. Travellers in the Levant in the Nineteenth Century
3. The Dynamics of Territorial and Power Structures
4. Oral Traditions
5. Tribal Society and its Relation to the Landscape
6. Tribal Institutions
7. Relations Between the Tribe and the State
8. From Tribe to Tribal State: Three Case Studies
9. The Economy of Tribal Societies
10. Ethnicicty and the Sense of Belonging
11. Women in Tribal Societies
12. Religion and Folklore
13. Back in Time: Historical Parallels

The book is an important addition to new research on Bedouin life and culture and will be of interest to historians, archaeologists, anthropologists and scholars of the Near East.

Divine Surprise! Exhibition in Amsterdam

"Divine Surprise! Het vrouwelijke in God [the female in God]." This is the title of an exhibition organised by the FemArt Museum and the Bible Museum in Amsterdam. "Divine Surprise!" introduces the exciting feminine traits of the biblical image of God. This exhibition is one of the results of almost 50 years of archaeological, iconographic and exegetical research by Othmar Keel (emiritus professor for Biblical Studies) in collaboration with world-renowned archaeologists and feminist theologians. This exhibition, based on the collection of the BIBEL + ORIENT Museum in Fribourg (Switzerland), will be in the Bijbels Museum from the 8^th of March 2013 till the 25^th of August 2013. Before coming to Amsterdam, the exhibition has been on loan in other musea (see the English review on the ASOR website). Amsterdam, however, is probably the last stop before the exhibits will be incorporated in a longer-term exhibition in Fribourg. A richly illustrated cataologue (a revised version of Gott weiblich: Eine verborgene Seite des biblischen Gottes) will be available in Dutch.