The Last MBAS meeting in 1996/7 was:

Date: November 20, 1996

 Time: 7:30 PM

 Location: Grainger Hall, UW Campus, Room 1100

 Speaker: Dr. Leendert Petrus Ritmeyer

 Subject: "New Light on the Location of the Jerusalem Temple"

Our guest lecturer will be Dr. Leendert Petrus Ritmeyer. His illustrated lecture will deal with one of the most controversial subjects in the archaeology of Jerusalem today -- the location of the Holy Temple on the Temple Mount in biblical times.

Dr. Rittenmeyer has had extensive experience as an archaeological architect, including work on the Temple Mount excavations in the 1970s under famed Israeli archaeologist Benjamin Mazar. He and his wife, an archaeologist in her own right, live in England but do much of their work in Israel, producing reconstruction drawings, planning archaeological restorations, and educational materials, including CD-ROMs.

We have not yet set a date for the next MBAS lecture of the 1996/7 academic year. No MBAS meeting will be held in December due to the busy holiday schedule. The following speakers will likely be presenting in the coming months.

 1) Dr. Joy McCorriston, Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota

Joy will talk about either early human agriculture in Mesopotamia and Israel/Jordan or about her recent trip to Yemen.

 2) Dr. Gil Stein, Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University

Gil will talk about various aspects of archaeology in Anatolia or Syria.

3) Angela Roskop, Department of Hebrew and Semitic Studies, UW

Angie is a student in the Hebrew Department and participated in a dig at Aqaba last summer. She will talk about this type of experience and southern Jordan.

4) Claudia J. Christen, University of Alabama-Birmingham

Claudia is a UW graduate who is working toward her MA at University of Alabama at Birmingham in faunal analysis of the ancient Middle East. Her MA thesis is the bones of Caesarea Maritima. Claudia will give a good talk on faunal studies, their importance, and the bones of Caesarea.

5) Dr. Jeffrey A. Blakely, Albright Institute of Archaeological Research

Our own club Co-President will give a presentation on either "New Light on Tell el-Hesi," or "News from the Field, 1996- 97," or "AIAR Field-Trips 1996-97."

Best wishes for the year ......

Tuesday, July 9th

 7:00 PM Memorial Union (Check "Today in the Union" for room)

Speaker: Professor Keith Schoville, University of Wisconsin-Madison

 Topic: Archaeology and the Bible

 Keith Schoville is professor of Hebrew and Semitic studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Author of Bible Review's Hebrew for Bible Readers column, Schoville wrote Biblical Archaeology in Focus (Baker, 1979).

Wednesday, March 20th

 7:30 PM Room 313 Edgewood College

Topic: Jerusalem 3000

 Speakers: Gordon Govier will show a video related to the 3000th year anniversary celebration and then answer questions,

Keith Schoville will show slides and talk about other aspects of Jerusalem's archaeology and history,

and

Jeff Blakely will show slides and talk about the images of Jerusalem sent home to western Europe and the United States by the 19th century explorers and pilgrims. These illustrations provided images of Jerusalem in the minds of the faithful throughout the 19th and into the 20th century.

As many of you know, 1996 is a special year in Jerusalem. This year has been established as the 3000th year anniversary celebration for Jerusalem since its capture under the kingship of David. While the precise year to celebrate this 3000 year anniversary is somewhat arbitrary, it is certainly close. If I was forced to state the year the capture took place and the defend it, I would say 996 B.C.E. By my count then this would be the 2991st anniversary, but then I will not celebrate the new century and new millennium until January 1, 2001....so what is the difference! The point is 1996 has been proclaimed the year of the 3000th anniversary and a series of celebrations will occur in Jerusalem over the remainder of this year. MBAS wants to share some of this celebration with our members here in Madison.

Tuesday, February 13th

 7:30 PM Dag Hammerskold Room (109) Wisconsin Union South, UW Campus

Speaker: Dr. Anson Rainey, Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University

 Topic: The "House of David" inscription from Biblical Dan
Professor Rainey is presently on sabbatical at Penn State University. He has spoken here before and is a well known figure in the archaeological and epigraphic community of Israel. He has decades of archaeological experience and his talk should be very interesting. This time he will be discussing the interpretation and imporance of the recently discovered Tel Dan inscription.

Wednesday, December 6th

 7:30 PM Room 313 Edgewood College

Speaker: Dr. David McCarthy, University of Wisconsin

 Topic: Interpretation of Biblical texts in light of ancient inscriptions

Tuesday, November 7th

 7:30 PM Room 313 Edgewood College

Speaker: Dennis Groh, Garrett Evengelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, Ill.

 Topic: Christians in the Negev: Excavations at Nessana
Professor Groh has worked in New Testiment Period Archaeology for over two decades. Previously he has worked in the Galilee and Cesaerea Maritima, but recently he has been working at the southern desert city of Nessana.

Wednesday, October 11th

 7:30 PM Room 313 Edgewood College

Speaker: Dr. James Phillips, University of Chicago

Dr. Phillips worked on the Israeli survey of the Sinai in the 1970's and he has worked dilligently to index and prepare the finds from his work so that they could be turned over Egypt last year. He has a wealth of experience in the Sinai and will dicuss the region and sites, especially those related to the period of the Exodus.