Strata: Yigael Yadin Fellowships for Senior Scholars

The Biblical Archaeology Society is now accepting applications for the 2016 Yigael Yadin Fellowships. The fellowships enable one or more “retired” senior scholars to attend and give a paper at the annual meetings of American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) or the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), held in the same city in the United States each November. The 2016 meetings will be in San Antonio. The fellowship stipend of up to $2,500 is intended to cover the cost of the winner’s travel expenses.

Senior scholars are often technically considered “retired” at 65. They are relieved of some teaching duties, but they are in fact quite young, and they continue working full time on their research and publications. Yet they may not receive university funds to attend these important annual meetings.

The fellowships honor Yigael Yadin, Israel’s most famous and distinguished archaeologist, who passed away in 1984.

The 2015 fellowship was awarded to Professor Bezalel Porten of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His paper, “Akkadian Names in Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt,” follows in the footsteps of earlier studies that deal with Egyptian names and Persian names in Aramaic documents. He classifies the Akkadian names as theophoric (embedding the name of a god), hypocoristic (shortened names) and profane (secular). Additionally, he compares and contrasts them with Hebrew names. Professor Porten also lectured at the 18th Annual Bible and Archaeology Fest organized by the Biblical Archaeology Society.