Bulletin of Nabataean Studies (BNS)

Nabataean Culture – An interdisciplinary workshop under the auspices of the Durham Centre for the Study of the Ancient Mediterranean and the Near East

Department of Classics & Ancient History – University of Durham
38 North Bailey, Durham DH1 3EU
Saturday, 8 March 2008

10.50 am – 11 am
Welcome

11 am – 11.50 am
Peter Alpass (Durham): «Three sanctuaries in central Nabataea: form, function and followers»

11.50 am – 12.10 pm
Coffee

12.10 pm – 1 pm
John F. Healey (Manchester): «Law and religion in Nabataea»

1 pm– 2 pm
Lunch

2 pm – 2.50 pm
Andreas Kropp (Nottingham): «Nabataean Petra: the royal palace and the Herod connection»

2.50 pm – 3.10 pm
Tea

3.10 pm – 4pm
Rubina Raja (Aarhus): «In search of the Nabataeans: temple architecture in the Hauran»

There is no registration fee for the workshop and lunch will be provided. Please inform Ted Kaizer if you wish to attend the workshop, so that the right amount of food, coffee and tea can be arranged.

The Peoples of the Eastern Desert from Prehistory to the Present

A meeting organized by The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA and the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo
Cairo, 25–27 November 2008

Those interested to partake in this meeting are invited to convey their intention to participate to the organizers at their earliest convenience, through the NVIC E-mail address info@nvic.net.eg. Please indicate the title and the subject of the intended contribution in a short summary (300–500 words). Presentations are in English and should not exceed 30 minutes. The conference will take place 25–27 November 2008 in the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (Zamalek) in the presence of a small audience. There will be no conference fee, but there are only very limited possibilities to cover travel expenses or accommodation of the participants. Hotels within walking distance of the NVIC range from budget to five star. Kindly contact the NVIC with any questions or concerns and feel free to forward this Call for Papers.

More information will be circulated in due course by NVIC (Eastern Desert Conference) or the project’s website. The complete call for papers is available as PDF document.

Red Sea IV: Connected Hinterlands – The fourth international conference on the peoples of the Red Sea region

25–26 September 2008
Centre for Maritime Archaeology, University of Southampton
Supported by «The Society for Arabian Studies» and «The Saudi-British Society»

Please send abstracts of 250–500 words to redsea@soton.ac.uk
Submission deadline: 1st March 2008

Building upon the Society for Arabian Studies’ successful Red Sea biennial conference series, the Centre for Maritime Archaeology of the University of Southampton is delighted to bring Red Sea IV to Southampton in September 2008. Red Sea IV explores themes of connection and communication across and along the Red Sea through the material culture, anthropology, ethnography, history, and languages of peoples living in the hinterlands of the sea from the earliest times to the early modern period. The committee welcomes submissions on the following topics:

• Seafaring and navigation
• Trade routes, ports and harbours
• Human migration and contact
• Ethnicity and identity
• Religion and pilgrimage
• Coastal heritage management
• Linguistics

The committee also welcomes academic posters for display at the conference. The proceedings of previous Red Sea conferences have been published by Archaeopress as part of the Society for Arabian Studies Monograph Series. The committee intends to continue this tradition. Red Sea IV is hosted by the Centre for Maritime Archaeology of the University of Southampton. The conference organizers wish to thank the Society for Arabian Studies for its financial and practical support.

The organisers of Red Sea IV are Dr. Lucy Blue, John Cooper, Ross Thomas, and Julian Whitewright. They can be contacted on all conference-related matters at redsea@soton.ac.uk.

The two-day conference will be held at the Avenue Campus of the University of Southampton. An evening reception will be held at the end of the first day. For details of accommodation, travel, or other conference-related matters, please see the conference website.

ASOR session 2008: «The Ancient Red Sea: Archaeology, Trade, and Cultural Exchange»

I am planning to propose a session entitled, «The Ancient Red Sea: Archaeology, Trade, and Cultural Exchange», for the 2008 ASOR annual meeting. This meeting will be held in Boston, MA from November 19–22, 2008. The website for the meeting is www.asor.org/AM/am.html. I envision a session of four or five papers, of 15 minutes in length, perhaps with a respondent if time permits. I hope that you would be willing to submit an abstract.

The deadline for new session proposals is February 1st 2008, so I would need to hear from any interested parties relatively soon. The plan is to continue the discussion of the Red Sea during future ASOR meetings when the session would be able to participate in the regular conference call for papers.

Papers on any topic associated with the ancient Red Sea are welcomed. This includes papers from chronological periods spanning the beginnings of exploration by the Egyptian Pharaohs until the collapse of the Umayyad dynasty. Geographically, papers examining the modern Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean, and the regions connected by these bodies of water will be considered. Topically, papers could cover the results of archaeological excavations, analysis of materials, discussion of trade, cultural exchange, or other topics related to the ancient Red Sea.

The presentation of a paper at the ASOR annual meeting requires registration with the conference. Early registration prices (prior to April 2, 2008) range from $20 for a first time graduate student presenter to $120 for a professional member (as a special discount this year, first time attendees can become members and register for the conference for the same price – $120).

Feel free to send this email to anyone who you believe may be interested, including graduate students. I also welcome papers from those who will be attending the Red Sea IV conference this September at the University of Southampton. Please send inquiries to Walter Ward.

Many thanks and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Walter Ward (cand. phil., UCLA)

Death, Burial and the Transition to the Afterlife in Arabia and Adjacent Regions

The Society for Arabian Studies is pleased to announce the next in its series of biennial conferences, entitled Death, Burial and the Transition to the Afterlife in Arabia and Adjacent Regions, to take place at the British Museum from November 27–29, 2008.

For further informations go to the Society for Arabian Studies.

Past «news» are available for the years: 2007 2006