ASOR

Mandy Porter, a master’s student at Columbia University, was a 2025 Strange/Midkiff Families Scholarship Recipient. Excavating at Kissonerga-Skalia in Cyprus for a second season, Mandy was the small finds registrar and worked closely with prehistoric Cypriot material. Read her report here: https://buff.ly/11JiPiO

Check out the June 2026 issue of Near Eastern Archaeology, featuring articles such as: Settlement Pattern and Urbanization in Kültepe-Kanesh Lower Town Level II; Egyptianizing Female Figurines in Late Bronze Age Cyprus; Rhodian Amphora Stamps from Taşlıgeçit Höyük; Stable Isotope Analysis and Forensic Reconstruction on Byzantine Human Remains from Khirbet Ras Al-Tin, Palestine; and more. View the Table of Contents here: https://buff.ly/w88OMx4

Reminder to submit your poster proposals for the 2026 Poster Session during the ASOR Annual Meeting, November 18–21, in Chicago and online. Poster abstracts may be submitted in the ASOR Online Portal until August 1! Please read the 2026 Call for Posters to learn more about the Poster Session: https://buff.ly/Xda2LRl

ASOR's fiscal year ends on June 30, 2026, and we have created our preliminary Fiscal Year 2026 Honor Roll listing donors: https://buff.ly/tFRgezi. If you made a gift to ASOR this fiscal year, thank you! If there are any errors in how your name is listed, please contact us.

If your name is not on our list, it's not too late to show your support for ASOR before June 30! Give here: https://buff.ly/crrlKwm

Our is a cuneiform tablet recording the peace treaty between Ramesses II and Ḫattušili III—popularly known as the Treaty of Kadesh—ca. 1259 BCE. Replica displayed in the Istanbul Airport Museum. Photo credit: Jessica Nitschke.

Unlike the great territorial states of the Bronze Age, Byblos did not build an empire. Its influence rested on something less visible but equally effective: its position within networks. Read the newest ANE Today, "Byblos and the Making of an Ancient Maritime Hub", here: https://buff.ly/i3zYAyV


📸 Southern harbor hypothetical reconstitution (© Gédéon Programmes – Drawing conception: Martine Francis-Allouche).

Congratulations to the recipients of ASOR's 2026 Project Grants and Research Fellowships! Check out the awardees and their projects here: https://buff.ly/nvAIcsN

Archaeological Mission at Tell el-Ghaba Tel Hadid Expedition

ASOR is seeking Session/Workshop Assistants to help support the hybrid aspects of the 2026 Annual Meeting. In exchange for Session Assistant service, ASOR will cover a set number of nights at the Hilton Chicago as well as Annual Meeting registration fees. Funding for Session Assistants is made possible through the Thomas/Bishop Annual Meeting Endowment. Learn more here: https://buff.ly/rLWvKmH

If you are in the Washington D.C. area, please join our friends Archaeology in the Community for the 2026 DC Day of Archaeology Festival held on Saturday, June 6, 10am-3pm at Catholic University.

Join archaeologists, historians, and community partners for a day of hands-on activities, artifacts, storytelling, and discovery for all ages. Whether you’re curious about local history, love digging into the past, or just want a fun family outing — this festival is for you.

Laura Alvarez, recipient of ASOR's 2025 Study of Collections Fellowship, examines ancient Near Eastern concepts of identity through museum collections, analyzing mirrors from Mesopotamia and the Levant to explore how ideas of self and social relationships were expressed in the Bronze Age. Read her fellowship report here: https://buff.ly/fAvNhRF
📸 Copper-alloy mirrors from the collections of the Louvre Museum