GAZA, the future has an ancient heart | Fondazione Merz Fondazione Merz, Museo Egizio di Torino and MAH - Musée d’art et d’histoire of Geneva present GAZA, the future has an ancient heart. Materials and memories of the Mediterranean, a major international ...

The exhibition is sponsored by Fondazione Merz, The Egyptian Museum (Turin) and the Museum of Art and History (Geneva). www.fondazionemerz.org/en/gaza-the-...

Gaza’s historic treasures saved by ‘irony of history’ JERUSALEM: Gaza’s ancient Greek site of Anthedon has been bombed, its “Napoleon’s Palace” destroyed and the on・・・

Much of the cultural heritage of Gaza has been heavily damaged/destroyed by Israel since Oct. 7, 2023. The material in this exhibition was spared a similar fate because it was sent abroad for display in 2006 & never returned due to Israel's 2007 Gaza blockade. www.arabnews.jp/en/middle-ea...

Image from the discovery of the Phoenician necropolis at Sidon, Lebanon in 1887 showing locals standing beside an enormous anthropomorphic sarcophagus.

Image from the discovery of the Phoenician necropolis at Sidon, Lebanon in 1887 showing locals standing beside the lid of a sarcophagus.

Image from the discovery of the Phoenician necropolis at Sidon, Lebanon in 1887 showing the removal of a large sarcophagus from the tomb.

Exhibition label text from the series of manipulated images from Sidon: An Extraordinary Event, 2018 8 inkjet prints 44,6 x 357 x 3,5 cm edition of 7 + 2 AP © Akram Zaatari Courtesy of the artist and Thomas Dane Gallery, Sfeir-Semler Gallery The work refers to the discovery, in 1887, by Osman Hamdi Bey of seventeen sarcophagi from the Sidon necropolis at Ayaa. At the time, they were displayed in a nearby citrus grove belonging to Chibli Abela. The citrus grove thus became a temporary open-air museum housing archaeological finds before they were transported by sea to Constantinople. Hamdi Bey took photographs at the time, which became part of Sultan Abdulhamid's album collection, bearing witness to certain aspects of modern life in the empire, including archaeology. Zaatari has selected eight of these, in which labourers, peasants and members of the Vilayet authorities also appear. Thus, An Extraordinary Event plays with two presences: on the one hand, there are the artefacts, unearthed after two thousand years in the dark and now shining so brightly as to be almost invisible; on the other hand, there are the people, the citrus trees, the earth and everything surrounding the archaeological objects.

I particularly like this series of manipulated images from the famous discovery of the Phoenician necropolis at Sidon, Lebanon in 1887. The artist, Akram Zataari, has transformed the archaeological discoveries into luminescent, ghost-like apparitions.

"Byzantine marble column from Bayt Lahiya, recycled by the British as a fallen officer's grave marker after the third and final Gaza battle against the Ottoman forces in August 1917. The name chiseled onto the column was Lieutenant Fas Lanslow, who was from the Indian subcontinent. The fact that he was a Bengal, a member of the Bengal Lancers, makes it particularly fitting as the closing piece of the exhibition, as it evokes the whole issue of colonialism and the policies that laid the ground for so many of the disasters that continue to plague the Middle East. After the war, the bodies of those who fought in the British forces were unearthed and brought back to a central cemetery belonging to the British Commission, so the old markers were removed, which is how the column became free again." https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/41977

Islamic stone architectural element with geometric designs.

Islamic stone architectural element with geometric designs.

Islamic stone architectural element with geometric designs.

Collection of architectural elements, including pieces dating to the Islamic period, and a Byzantine column re-purposed as a tombstone for a British soldier killed in Gaza during World War I (see ALT text for additional details).

Map of the Eastern Mediterranean showing Gaza trade connections with Egypt, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Greece and Italy.

Collection of amphorae and other ceramic vessels from various archaeological sites in Gaza.

Anthropomorphic terracotta lid of an Egyptian slipper coffin dating to the New Kingdom.

collection of glass, ceramic and stone vessels from Gaza.

Some photos from the opening of the #Gaza exhibition we attended last night in Turin, which represents "a dialogue between #archaeology and contemporary art" highlighting "the historical and cultural depth of Gaza, a millennial crossroads of trade, cultures and beliefs".🏺

📣 EAA Members 📣
If you haven't signed yet or have been trying to sign today, the original Google form was removed (all data saved, thankfully!)
🍉✊🏼🍉
Here is the NEW LINK: saco.csic.es/apps/forms/s...

Call for a Special Meeting of the EAA Recent events during the Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists* have generated profound discontent and distrust toward the current Executive Board among members of the associati...

We are starting to move an initiative from concerned EAA members, mainly from Spain… if you are/were and are interested to support it, sign and share!

forms.gle/cTp7BXiUD1qC...

I've just sent my letter to the board. Let's hope they respond.

Another aspect of the dystopian future we can look forward to.

Photograph of two public noticeboards in Turin showing the accumulated remnants of posters and other public notifications.

Unintentional collage art on these public noticeboards in Turin.

Are you disputing that Maya Wind is a scholar and has written extensively on this subject? Interesting.

The Complicity of Israeli Academia Scholar Maya Wind discusses Israeli universities’ longstanding role in Palestinian subjugation.

As scholar Maya Wind has documented, all Israeli universities are deeply complicit in the military occupation of Palestine, including HUJI, which hosts the Havatzalot training program for IDF officers. jewishcurrents.org/the-complici...

Drop the collab with Hebrew University immediately The Ministry of Higher Education says you should not to collaborate with such institutions. Researchers ask in new featured comment: What more do you need, UCPH?

Since 1967, the university has expanded its campus beyond the armistice line and into occupied East Jerusalem. uniavisen.dk/en/drop-the-...

And it's deeply ironic that the EAA criticizes the "collective punishment" of scholars affiliated with Israeli institutions (who were not prevented from presenting at the conference), while the Israeli military has been collectively punishing the people of Gaza without mercy for nearly two years.

The board "deeply regret any harm to our affected colleagues", but (apart from a wishy-washy, both-sides statement issued in 2024) no mention of the very real and ongoing harm committed by Israel against the Palestinian people and their cultural heritage.

Screenshot of today's statement by the EAA executive board from the conference website: "At its Belgrade meeting on 1 September, the majority of the Executive Board decided to reverse its earlier decision to remove the affiliations of delegates from Israel. On further reflection, the Board recognised this action had been rushed and misjudged due to lack of sufficient information, and time pressure. We deeply regret any harm to our affected colleagues, with whom we will shortly be in touch. Our prime objective is to move forward on all EAA matters in a way that better represents the spirit and ethos of the EAA as enshrined in its Statutes: to eliminate political actions, which includes collective punishment. The Board seeks to develop a long-term strategy, a plan that focuses on how to be productive within the remit of the EAA, and this process needs some time. The Membership will have the opportunity to comment and endorse it in due course."

Really pathetic statement on their part as well. What information could they possibly be lacking? They certainly seem to have missed yesterday's announcement by the International Association of Genocide Scholars that “Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide”.

Utterly disappointing decision by @archaeologyeaa.bsky.social to reverse this decision, and really gross to see intimidation tactics being instructed for session monitors. Support colleagues who speak up and who refuse to enforce the EAA's instructions. 🏺

Early morning photograph of Copenhagen taken from the lakes looking towards the Dronning Louise's bridge.

Last photo of Copenhagen before heading to the airport.

Photo of an apartment filled with boxes and disassembled furniture.

Photo of a building exterior with a furniture lift taking our belongings down from the 5th floor balcony.

Photo of a building exterior with a furniture lift taking our belongings down from the 5th floor balcony.

Photo of an empty apartment after the movers have completed their work.

Last day in Copenhagen. After six years, it's time to start a new adventure in Torino.

Do they look like terrorists to you?

Police have arrested an 83-year-old priest and a human rights lawyer among 25 others for holding these signs in Parliament Square today.

Showing support for Palestine Action now constitutes a terrorism offence under UK law. 🤡

Galaxie 500 - Fourth of July (Official Video) HD YouTube video by Sam

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUD5...

‘Beyond anything imaginable’: dozens killed at busy Gaza seafront cafe Witnesses describe explosion, flames and smoke plumes as airstrike transforms peaceful scene at al-Baqa into a horror

‘Beyond anything imaginable’: dozens killed at busy Gaza seafront cafe. “The hospital was completely full of the wounded and the dead – because the cafe was crowded with women, children and the young. It was not a suspicious or military place.” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Understanding Early Large-Scale Collectives: A Global Perspective This volume brings together perspectives from different parts of the world that showcase the wide variety of practices, institutions, and ideologies that allowed for shared identities and coordinated ...

Out today! New research on how people create large-scale collectives in the past, and how elites were not a prerequisite to the process. Each chapter provides an authoritative overview of a different part of the world. #archaeology #inequality

www.routledge.com/Understandin...

"First hand reports from Gaza overnight talk about some of the most intense airstrikes.. one building that was hit in eastern Gaza city, for example, was a former school where hundreds of families were sheltering.. & there said to be several fatalities there"

But Glastonbury!

Congratulations Tom!

This is literally exhibit A for why queer joy is so profoundly subversive. Anger is important too. But joy -- "smiling and talking and crying and laughing" -- that's what the fascists want to stamp out. That's the real challenge to their reign.

“A Network of Mutualities of Being”: Socio-material Archaeological Networks and Biological Ties at Çatalhöyük - Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory Recent advances in archaeogenomics have granted access to previously unavailable biological information with the potential to further our understanding of past social dynamics at a range of scales. Ho...

Since our big Science paper on female lineages at Çatalhöyük is out now, it seems like a good time to repost our related paper that we published earlier this year on material and biological ties🙂🌼

🧬In Neolithic Çatalhöyük, family was built on social relations rather than blood ties.
Genetic analysis shows that over time, co-residents were no longer genetic relatives. Female subadults were buried with 5x more grave goods.
🔍A surprising story of Neolithic social life.

BREAKING: DR Congo and Rwanda sign peace deal in ‘turning point’ after years of war aje.io/3n0wrv

Out-of-Anatolia: Cultural and genetic interactions during the Neolithic expansion in the Aegean West Anatolia has been a crucial yet elusive element in the Neolithic expansion from the Fertile Crescent to Europe. In this work, we describe the changing genetic and cultural landscapes of early Hol...

We also published a second paper on the spread of farming from Anatolia into SE Europe. Our results challenge the assumption that cultural entities frequently correspond to genetically homogeneous populations. Pots don’t equal people! 🏺
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...