BIBLE NEWS

Daily News

Cultural Heritage Disaster Protection Conference

November 19, 2009

The Israel Antiquities Authority recently sponsored a conference that was focused on the protection of cultural heritage sites at risk from both natural and human-related disasters. There are many sites throughout the world that have been subject to impact by either natural events such as earthquakes, storms and flooding, or human activities such as vandalism and looting. The conference centered on policies that can be enacted quickly after a disaster strikes—response time is often the determining factor in damage mitigation.

Restoration of the “Garden of Eden”

November 16, 2009

The marshland between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, drained decades ago by Saddam Hussein and believed by some scholars to be the Biblical Garden of Eden, is being partially restored to its previous rich and lush environment. Saddam Hussein engineered numerous canals after the Gulf War in 1991 as means of diverting the river’s waters so as to drive out the rebels, the “Marsh Arabs,” who were resisting his regime. The abundant, maze-like waterways made the area an ideal hiding place for Hussein’s enemies.

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Event Watch

Britain’s Ashmolean Museum Reopens

The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology

Reopening November 7, 2009

After a multi-million pound renovation, Britain’s oldest public museum—the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford—reopened on November 7, 2009. The revamped museum consists of 39 galleries that include 4 temporary exhibition galleries, an education center, state-of-the-art conservation studios and Oxford’s first rooftop restaurant, The Ashmolean Dining Room.

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Milestones

Obituaries

Elisha Linder (1924–2009)

Moshe Weinfeld (1925–2009)

Grants and Endowments

Archaeology department co-founder named to newly endowed professorship

Awards

Harvard Graduate Student Wins Dever Prize

Announcements

BAS Publication Awards 2009

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