Newsletter
The lack of a complete electronic catalogue of the Institute’s museum and library
collections has been a major impediment to the evaluation of its options. This will be
addressed during 2003. Much of the Institute material has not been published and a
start is now being made on this.
of The Institute has a museum collection and library that are significant in the Australian
context. The artefact collection is an excellent archaeological teaching resource and
The Australian Institute of Archaeology the Institute, alone in Victoria, keeps a number of the journal runs and excavation
reports. These collections are most attractive to tertiary institutions and so the
A.C.N. 004 246 682 Institute is seeking accommodation for these assets in that context.
The replica assembly, some aspects of the museum collection, and the teaching
March 2003 No 2 material, including slides, possessed by the Institute are useful to secondary schools.
It would therefore be good for the universities with which we become connected to
also be interested in a secondary school history-classics program.
This newsletter aims to provide news and to bring you up to date with Partly because of the Institute’s immediate past activity there have been inquiries
developments at the Institute. from Primary Schools. The Institute has some equipment that is of interest in that
environment; however there is no apparent viable way that it can now service that
Institute Matters market.
The Institute is evaluating the demand from religious institutions. Theological
colleges report that where archaeological matters are concerned they tend to rely on
The Passing of Dr John A. Thompson input from Universities. In the recent past, the Institute has had no inquiries from
It was with some sadness that many friends of the Institute attended the memorial churches. This again is probably a reflection on the Institute’s focus prior to the
service of Dr John Thompson, the first Director of the Australian Institute of suspension of its activities. Until the 1990’s churches had significant interest in
Archaeology. John died peacefully in Melbourne on 23 November 2002. archaeological matters.
John was a remarkable person and a brilliant scholar with out whose influence the It has to be borne in mind that the world is different from that which saw the creation
Institute would have been only a shadow of what it became. He trained many of the of the Institute. On a good weekend there can be as many as three excellent
people who subsequently became directors and in the case of the present director, was archaeological documentaries on television. The depth and breadth of scholarship
a referee for his entry into Cambridge University. behind many of these programs is more than any one organisation could provide.
Our sympathy is extended to Marion, John’s wife of 62 years. A tribute will be When active in the field in the 1970’s, I was personally acquainted with most of the
presented in a future Buried History. excavators in Syria, Iraq and Jordan and many who were active in Egypt. There was
only one Australian excavation team in these fields at the time. This year Macquarie
University alone has four teams working in Egypt. The amount of archaeological
activity in the Middle East is nothing short of extraordinary.
The State of Play
As most know the Institute lost it low cost accommodation in the city over three years The options now open to the Institute have been narrowed by the reduction of its
ago and suspended most of its operations at that point. Since then the Institute has capital base over the last six years. In the early years the Institute played an active
been waiting for some clear direction. A number of options are now being actively role in financially supporting excavations, now the Institute is not able to employ
pursued. The following comment is intended to reveal some of our thinking. staff.
The Institute has outstanding liabilities in relation to the immediate past issues of It is expected that arrangements for the Institute’s future operation will be made
Buried History and the condition of the collection. These matters will be dealt with as before the end of the year. There are many opportunities for the Institute and the
expeditiously as possible. Council will be evaluating these with a view to making the most practical use of the
Institute’s assets and achieving a sustainable future for the Institute itself.
Buried History Missing Items
Vol 36 Nos 3-4 for the second half of 2000 is now being edited for immediate Sadly the audit of the collection and the Library is revealing that there are objects and
printing and dispatch. books missing. We would request that any one aware that they have such material
from the Institute or know of others who do, to contact the Director.
The council has resolved to publish Buried History as an annual and to have it
refereed. News items relating to the Institute and archaeology will be conveyed either It also seem that some material may have been given away many years ago. There are
in this format or on the website. occasions when scholars want to study material that is thought to be held by the
Institute. Prof Eliezer Orens from Ben Gurion University, for example, studied the
It is intended that Vol37/38 for 2001/02 will contain a complete publication of the Petrie material from Tell el-‘Ajjul when he was in Melbourne last September. It is
Institute’s cuneiform material of about 90 items. This work is well under way. We did important that the Institute knows where this material is. People have come to study
not seek subscriptions for 2002. cuneiform tablets known to have been sent to the Institute, or its founder, only to be
Articles commissioned for Vol 39, 2003 include papers on Museum ethics in the light disappointed to find some items missing. Such material is therefore lost to the rest of
of the Elgin Marble controversy, Excavations in the Wadi Natrun and El-Kharga, Iron the world and the field of knowledge generally.
Age Syrian pottery sequence in the context of the Levant, and The House of the Recently a person presented some objects at the Nicholson Museum at the University
Forest of Lebanon. of Sydney. The curator of the museum recognised the objects as belonging to the
Also in progress for future editions is the publication of the Institute’s papyri and Institute. She was even able to produce the publication from the British School of
Cypriot pottery. Archaeology in Jerusalem that had drawings of the material and a note indicating that
these object were now with the Australian Institute of Archaeology in Melbourne.
Library How then did the gentleman come by them ‘should she call the police?’ she asked.
Matthew Whincop has accepted the position of Honorary Librarian. He has begun an We have followed the matter up and concluded that the items probably went missing
audit of the journal collection to identify missing volumes that we will need to obtain.
from the collection in the 1960’s. Inquiries reveal that there was probably other
The library continues to be open on Wednesdays at its present location, Building EM material taken at the time but that it had already been passed on.
of the Elgar Road Campus of Deakin University.
The ownership trail for archaeological material held by the Institute ends with the
Museum Institute so people taking Institute material to a Museum or an antiquities dealer run
the risk being accused of theft. While people who now have the objects may know the
An audit of the collection currently stored in boxes in a warehouse has been
circumstances under which they are held, others who inherit the material will not be
completed. The collection was packed with out any cataloguing necessitating this
aware of the precise details.
work. Unfortunately a few items have not been located. Objects requiring
conservation, of which there are more that we would like, have been set aside. In the case referred to above there may have been some justification for police
involvement. However the person who originally had the material has passed away.
We are pleased that Dr Nicholas Hardwick has accepted the position of Honorary
Curator for 2003. We are seeking to regularise matters as much as possible. Some organisations and
people have material and we are ensuring that the objects concerned are
Volunteers – are you interested photographed, drawn and catalogued with notes confirming the location of the
Volunteers are assisting the Institute regularly. We would be delighted if you consider material and the terms of the loan or bequest.
that you have the skills to assist.
To complicate matters we have found replicas included with original material
Current jobs include:- revealing a certain level of confusion in the past.
• Slide Collection: sorting, and cataloguing.
If you have material from the Institute, please contact the Director. If you are not sure
• Carpentry – sorting out the display case components.
that what you have are replicas, it may also be wise to call. Cultural heritage issues
• Photography - Digital and slide photographs of the collection, especially
are the subject of increasing international pressure and will become more regularly
papyri, tablets, etc
matters for police action in the future and it would be unwise to be caught. The
• Data entry - into library and collection databases. business requires proper management now. We have no desire to embark on complex
There will be other work from time to time such as mailing out. The Director would legal journeys and believe that all issues can be resolved to everyone’s benefit.
be delighted to hear from anyone able to undertake some of this work.
Institute Events
Walter J Beasley Lecture
The Walter J Beasley Lecture will be delivered by Bishop Paul Barnett on 11 April.
Details are on the back page.
Petrie Oration
The 2002 Petrie Oration given by Prof Anson Rainey of Tel Aviv University on 30
A Drawing of the Inscription (http://dreamwater.org/bccox/ossuary.html)
August was well attended with representatives from all Melbourne’s Universities.
This is an indication of the regard with which Prof Rainey is held. His lecture entitled
The Tell el Amarna Letters: 100 years after Finders Petrie will be published in [wvy ydy pswy rb bwq[y
Melbourne University’s Ancient Near East. Jacob (James) son of Joseph brother (?) of Joshua
This year’s oration will be delivered by Professor Rosalie David, BA, PhD, FRSA, Analysis by Dr Rochelle I Altman has called into question the authenticity of the
Keeper of Egyptology, Manchester Museum, Manchester. The lecture will be entitled latter part of the inscription “brother of Jesus” because it appears to be written by a
Flinders Petrie and the Manchester Mummies: a resource for scientific studies of life different hand. (see http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/Official_Report.htm) When
and death in ancient Egypt" this was done is not clear but according to Altman it is “characteristic of a later
addition by someone attempting to imitate an unfamiliar script and write in what
It will be held at 7:30pm on 1 August 2003 in Lecture Theatre 12, Deakin University,
221 Burwood Highway, Burwood. could have been the correct ‘archaic’ spelling for the language of the right period”.
There are also claims that the ossuary has been known for sometime, and that it is not
a new discovery. Nothing is ever straightforward and it will take some time for the
Archaeological News dust to settle.
The James Ossuary The Joash Inscription
As many will know the Institute has an ossuary. It is a limestone box with a matching Another item to recently show up possibly through the antiquities market has been a
lid that was used to store bones. This was a custom of First Century Judaism. Our tablet written in the old Phoenician script and referring to King Joash. While the
ossuary is not inscribed but recently one that is came to light in Jerusalem. Its experts are assessing its authenticity, the police are quizzing the collector who handed
inscription is in Aramaic and has been translated “James son of Joseph, brother of it over to Israel Antiquities Authority. According to Haaretz (20 March 2003) it
Jesus”. seems he has gone the equivalent of Queen’s evidence. The police are investigating
fraud, theft or illegal excavation or any combination of these. This can be followed up
Biblical Archaeology Review November/December 2002 reports, “The Aramaic through Breaking News (www.bibleinterp.com/news.htm)
words etched on the box’s side show a cursive form of writing used only from about
10 to 70 A.D., according to noted paleographer André Lemaire of the École Pratique It was Haaretz that initially broke the story in January and has since described the
des Hautes Études (popularly known as the Sorbonne University) in Paris, who role it played with police in finding the tablet and the arrest of the person who had
verified the inscription’s authenticity.” The Limestone is said to have come from the custody of it. While the initial pronunciations have branded the tablet a forgery, if that
Jerusalem area according to the Geological Survey of Israel. proves not to be correct, the tablet will be one of the most significant items from the
First Temple Period to come to light. However until an acquisition path is established
The Ossuary is part of a private collection held in Jerusalem. It was obtained on the and its origins become clear, its significance will remain limited.
antiquities market and its history is not known. Professional archaeologists and
historians have an abhorrence of the antiquities market and the private trade in relics The inscription contains fragments from 2 Kings 12:15: "And they did not ask an
because it severely limits the analysis of artefacts and the knowledge that we can accounting from the men into whose hands they delivered the money to pay out to the
derive from them about our common history. workmen; for they dealt honestly."
According to Dr. Barkai, an Israeli archaeologist from Bar Ilan University's Land of
Israel Studies Department, "the problem here is that circumstances of the finding are
not clear... We should wait for the official scientific publication, at which time we
will be able to probe this finding carefully. Right now, of course, we can't rule out The Australian Institute of Archaeology
any possibility. It's too bad that a matter of this sort was kept under wraps, apparently
due to business concerns." (www.shechem.org/eyoash.html) Invites you to the
The Geological Survey of Israel has pronounced the inscription authentic but there
are others who disagree. One such is Prof Yuval Goren, Department of Archaeology
and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University,
2003 Walter J Beasley Lecture
(www.orientalisti.net/ioash.htm).
Again nothing is straight forward. The inscription comes without any information
relating to its origin and history and it may therefore always be open to questions of to be delivered by
forgery.
The Petrie Museum in London
The Lottery Fund has awarded a Stage 1 grant of 5.19 million pounds for the
Bishop Paul Barnett
Petrie Museum elements of the Panopticon project, the aim of which is to
build a new building next to the Bloomsbury Theatre for the Petrie, a entitled
temporary exhibition space, UCL's rare books and manuscripts, two
lecture theatres and an arts and humanities resource centre. More funding is required
but this is good to hear.
Christianity: The First
Contacts: Fifteen Years
To contact the Director:
Email: director@aiarch.org.au, Mobile: 0421 595 966
The Australian Institute of Archaeology:
Burwood Science & Techology Centre
Building L, Deakin University,
7:30pm Friday 11 April, 2003
221 Burwood Highway,
Burwood Vic 3184 Stanway A,
Tel/Fax:9251 7144
www.aiarch.org.au Ridley College
160 The Avenue, Parkville
Admission Free