Bulletin of Nabataean Studies (BNS)

Colloquium: «Central places in Arabia during the Hellenistic and Roman periods: common trends and different developments»

Berlin, 3.–5. December 2009

In the frame of research conducted within the Area A-I of the excellence cluster Topoi – The Formation and Transformation of Knowledge in Ancient Civilisations and within the German-French project Early Petra – The Formation of an Arab Kingdom in the Hellenised Orient (DFG/ANR), we would like to create a platform for the exchange of ideas and hypo-thesises with colleagues from in- and outside the abovementioned research programs working on similar questions.

Reaching out from programs of Topoi Area A-I related to central places and their hinterland, the geographic frame of the colloquium shall be defined as the regions between Palestine, Jordan and the Arabian Peninsula, the chronological frame as the Hellenistic and Roman periods (no matter whether these rather Mediterranean terms can or cannot in any case be applied to the Arabian Peninsula). Within that frame we would like to explicitly deal with questions related to central places:

• what makes a central place?
• what distinguishes a central place from «secondary places»?

These primary questions shall be approached dealing with geographic position, urbanism, architecture, forms of representation and others more. Comparing central places between each other as well as with secondary agglomerations shall finally lead to the question whether there are elements of overriding importance that can define a central place and so on.

Invited speakers and chairpersons shall specifically deal with these questions during the colloquium. The papers of the colloquium are planned to be published, the official language of the colloquium is English, both for papers and contributions.

Conference venue: Topoi Building Mitte, Hannoversche Strasse 6, 10115 Berlin, GERMANY

Institutions

• Topoi – The Formation and Transformation of Space and Knowledge in Ancient Civilisations
• German Archaeological Institute
• German Research Foundation
• Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Organising committee

• Prof. Dr. Ortwin Dally (DAI, Berlin)
• Prof. Dr. Ricardo Eichmann (DAI, Berlin)
• Dr. Arnulf Hausleiter (DAI, Berlin)
• Prof. Dr. Stephan G. Schmid (Humboldt-Universität, Berlin)

Provisional program

The provisional time schedule is based on a 40 min unit for each paper (including 30 min. for the paper and 10 min. individual discussion) followed by a discussion of each session lead by the chair (c. 15 min).

Thursday, December 3rd

6:00 pm
Ortwin Dally (Berlin): «Welcome address and introduction»

6:30 pm
Michael C. A. Macdonald (Oxford): «The invention of Arabia: How the Peninsula became the ‹Central Place› of the Arabs» (Keynote lecture)

Friday, December 4th

Session 1: Northwest-Arabia
Chair: John F. Healey (Manchester)

9:30 am
Laïla Nehmé (Paris): «Central and Secondary Places in North-Western Arabia during the Nabataean Period»

10:10 am
Arnulf Hausleiter (Berlin): «Tayma»

10:50 am
Discussion

11:15 am
Break

Session 2: Petra
Chair: Robert Wenning (Münster)

1:30 pm
Bernhard Kolb (Basel): «Petra and the Rest: Private Architecture in the Nabataean and Roman Periods»

2:10 pm
Stephan G. Schmid (Berlin): «Petra – A Nabataean Central Place? A Showcase? A Difficult Case!»

2:50 pm
Zbigniew T. Fiema (Helsinki): «Roman Petra: A ‹Showcase› in the Central Place»

3:30 pm
Christian Augé (Amman/Paris): «Coin-Circulation in Petra and Hegra: A Comparison in the Light of Recent Finds»

4:10 pm
Discussion

4.25 pm
Break

Session 3: Central and non-central places of the region
Chair: Stephan G. Schmid (Berlin)

5:00 pm
Francois Villeneuve (Paris): «Dharih, Centre of the Hasa Valley or Stop on the Main Road?»

5:40 pm
John-Peter Oleson (Victoria): «Hawara (Ancient Humayma): A Case Study of the Spread of Water-Supply Technology in the Nabataean Kingdom»

6:20 pm
Tali Erickson-Gini (Jerusalem): «Oboda and its Territory»

7:00 pm
Achim Lichtenberger (Münster): «Jerusalem and Beyond. Central Places in the Herodian Realm»

7:40 pm
Discussion

Saturday, December 5th

Session 4: Yemen / South and Southwest Arabia
Chair: J.-M. Dentzer (Paris)

10:00 am
David F. Graf (Miami): «Jurash in the Asir, a Central Place on the Caravan Route between South Arabia and Petra»

10:40 am
Michel Mouton (Paris): «Mleiha, a Central Place in Late Pre-Islamic South-Eastern Arabia»

11:20 am
Discussion

12:30 am
Ricardo Eichmann (Berlin): «Conclusions and perspectives»

Seminar for Arabian Studies

Provisional Programme

A provisional programme is available. Full details, programme, abstracts and registrations forms will soon be available on the Seminar’s webpage at www.arabianseminar.org.uk.

Registration

Currently a registration form can be gained by e-mailing to seminar.arab@durham.ac.uk. It would be greatly appreciated if ALL participants fill in and return a registration form by the 30th of June so that catering requirements can be more accurately estimated and that name badges can be provided.

Accomodation

A very limited number of rooms are available in Ramsay Hall student accommodation. The cost of bed and breakfast is £37.00 per night and accommodation can only be reserved by filling in a registration form.

Posters

For those that wish to present posters at the Seminar please e-mail this address for details and a registration form.

IWFP – Preliminary report on the 2007 season

«The International Wadi Farasa Project» (IWFP) has published its preliminary report of the 2007 season.

Website: www.auac.ch/iwfp/

CHANGES AND CHALLENGES – 11th International Conference on the History and Archeology of Jordan

Under the Patronage of HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal

Paris, 7–14 June 2010

As the word has already started to spread, this is to inform you formally that the next ICHAJ conference will be held in Paris from the 7th to the 14th of June 2010 : the opening ceremony will take place on Monday morning June 7, and the closing session on Saturday June 12. The host institution in Paris is the University Paris-1, Panthéon-Sorbonne, which will offer its premises of the National Institute of the History of Art (Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art), Vivienne Street, in the heart of Paris.

The organizing institutions of the 11th ICHAJ conference are:

• The Department of Antiquities of Jordan
• The French Institute of the Near East (Amman, Beirut, Damascus) – IFPO, in collaboration with
• The National Center for Scientific Research (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique – CNRS)
• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, France

Other partners will join us soon in organizing the conference.

In response to this first circular, we expect to receive, by return email (please provide information: your names (first – middle – last), nationality, institution of affiliation, status, post address (work or personal), phone number, the most used email etc.), your intention to participate to the conference, and an abstract of your presentation, not later than the 1st of September 2009 – deadline.

An expert committee will evaluate the abstracts received and select the papers to be accepted. The theme of the conference covers the most recent developments in our knowledge related to the archeology and history of Jordan, considering the modernization of techniques for acquiring such knowledge. It will also cover the new approaches, methodological and intellectual, of this knowledge, from prehistory to modern times. A large section of the symposium will be devoted to the conservation and enhancement of heritage.

A website «ICHAJ» will be available soon (you will be informed on a second circular). By the time the website is available, your responses are expected immediately to Caroline Kohlmayer-Ali

In the present context, the travel expenses and all other costs will be paid by the individual participants, lecturers or not, except for lunch (paid by conference) and excursions to be held during the conference. The next circular will provide a list of approved hotels with whom we are negotiating special offers. The price should not exceed 100 euros per night.

Further information will soon be sent to you on your address or on the website, but we look forward to receiving your preliminary answers by return email, and a summary of your paper for the 1st of September 2009. We thank you in advance.

Best regards, the organization unit, IFPO-Amman

Jean-François Salles
Caroline Kohlmayer-Ali
Brigitte Mermoud

Seminar for Arabian Studies

We are very pleased to announce that the Seminar for Arabian Studies will again be held at the British Museum in 2009. Details of the Seminar will be posted on the website www.arabianseminar.org.uk and further information will be sent out in April.

If you wish to offer a paper please send a 200-word abstract before the 16th of February 2009 for consideration. The abstract must set out what the paper intends to cover, the approach it will take and indicate the significance of the topic.

Due to the limited time available, and the increasing number of abstracts we receive there is no guarantee that all papers will be accepted. All abstracts received by the February deadline will be considered by the Steering Committee in early March and will be selected on the basis of quality, originality, and importance of the topic. As in previous years we can normally only accept one paper from any given project.

The Committee is happy to announce that this year there will be a Special Session entitled «The Development of Arabic as a Written Language». This session is being arranged by Dr Robert G. Hoyland, Michael C. A. Macdonald and Dr Venetia Porter.

The Committee also encourages individuals that wish to present posters at the Seminar. If you are interested in offering a poster at this year’s Seminar please send an abstract, clearly stating that it is for a poster, before the 30th of June.

If you know of anyone who would like to be added to the Seminar mailing list please ask them to email or write to us and we will be happy to oblige.

Yours sincerely, The Steering & Editorial Committee