Biblical Archaeology Forum
2012-2013 Season • Join BAF
Now in its third decade, the Biblical Archaeology Forum (BAF) presents a series of scholarly lectures on the latest archaeological research findings and related fields such as history and texts of ancient times. Reservations are not required. Fees per lecture are $5 Residents of Revitz House, Ring House and students; $8 BASONOVA & JCCGW members; and $10 for the general public. For more information, please contact BAF.JCCGW@gmail.com.
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Levirate Marriage
Sponsored by Har Shalom
Wednesday, May 22 • 8 p.m.
Dr. Susanna Garfein, Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible, Towson University
Deuteronomy 25:5-10 describes the custom of the law of levir, which details what is to happen when a man dies without heir and it falls upon one of his relatives to marry his widow. Provisionally, this is the only stipulation made for the widow within the Bible. In her lecture, Dr. Garfein will discuss the biblical accounts where the law of the levirate is operative to better understand the historical background to this practice and how it was likely followed in the ancient world.
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 Excavations at Tel Burna, Israel
Dr. Matthew Suriano, University of Maryland
Tel Burna is one of the newest, prominent archaeological excavations in Israel. Approximately 25 acres in size, it is located in the Judean foothills (Shephelah) along the ancient border between Judah and Philistia. The site was primarily inhabited in the Bronze and Iron Ages and remains during its later period testify to intense industrial activity.
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Ancient Synagogues In Israel
Dr. Jodi Magness, University of North Carolina
Sponsored by BASONOVA and the Foundation for Jewish Studies, the showcase event for the 2012-2013 season features Dr. Jodi Magness. Professor Magness is arguably the best known American archaeologist currently digging in Israel.
Over 100 synagogue buildings, dating from the first to seventh centuries C.E., have been uncovered in ancient Israel. The slide-illustrated lecture will survey the buildings, focusing especially on the surprising pagan motifs that decorate some of them, and considering such questions as where and when the institution of the synagogue originated.
Professor Magness will demonstrate that synagogues that were clearly built for religious purposes don't appear in the archaeological record until the fourth century. This lecture will trace the religious focus of the synagogue in the fourth century CE to Christianity being declared the official religion of the Roman Empire and detail the ensuing competition for the allegiance of Jewish residents of Israel between Judaism and Christianity.
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 The Nature of Philistine Settlement in
Early Iron Age Israel
Kathe Schwartzberg Memorial Lecture
Dr. Linda Meiberg, Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World, The University of Pennsylvania
The Philistines figure prominently in the Hebrew Bible as a culturally reprehensible people and one of Israel’s greatest enemies. However, major archaeological develo
pments over the past several years have brought to light an entirely different picture of this traditional rival of Israel. Dr. Meiberg’s lecture will focus on various aspects of Philistine origins and their material cultural remains, including the latest discoveries from the field, to show a people at the forefront of architectural and technological advancements in the southern coastal plain of early Iron Age Israel.
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 Underwater Exploration in the Sea of GalileeDr. Alexis Catsambis, Naval Heritage Command, U.S. Department of the Navy
Dr. Catsambis will present an illustrated story of the discovery, recovery and conservation of the so-called “Jesus Boat” from the Sea of Galilee. The boat, definitively radiocarbon dated to the turn of the millennium and in use during the first century CE, functioned either as a fishing boat or ferry, and reveals building technique
s and materials from that time period. It would have supported a crew of five (four rowers and a helmsman) and could carry about 15 additional persons. The restored remains match the image of a boat on a long-celebrated, ancient mosaic. |
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 Yavneh Yam: Greeks and Jews in Maccabean Times; Adaptation, Assimilation and Resistance
Sponsored by B’nai Israel
Dr. Moshe Fischer, Tel Aviv University
Yavneh Yam is on the Israeli coast north of Ashdod and from the Middle Bronze Age forward has been home to Canaanites, Greeks, Phoenicians, Jews, Christians, Pagans, Samaritans, and Muslims. Archaeological remains over millennia have revealed many layers of destruction.
Professor Fischer will use the rich history unearthed at Yavneh Yam as a case study to discuss the multidimensional relationship between Greeks and Judeans during the Maccabean era.
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 Norman and Marilyn
Commemorative Lecture
Writers and Readers in Biblical Israel: Inscriptional Evidence from the Iron Age
Dr. Christopher Rollston,
Emmanuel Christian Seminary
One can scacely pick up an archaeology publication these days that doesn’t quote or mention epigrapher Christopher Rollston. During this lecture, Professor Rollston will present and analyze Paleo-Hebrew inscriptions from ancient Israel and surrounding countries, including a recently excavated (and not yet published) Moabite inscription from the late 9th century BCE.
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 Chieftains of the Highland Clans
Sponsored by Adat Shalom
Dr. Robert Miller, Associate Professor of Old Testament; Biblical Studies Area Director, Catholic University of America
Professor Miller offers an unusually thorough and original reconstruction of Israelite society prior to the rise of the monarchy around 1000 B.C.E. Using the latest archaeological research and anthropological theories, this lecture presents an intriguing picture of what life was like in early Israel. The "complex chiefdom" model best explains the sociopolitical nature of twelfth- and eleventh-century highland Israel.
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Jewish Family Living & Learning
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