Archaeologies of Memory (2010-2013)
The group will explore the ways in which events of destruction and processes of decline and collapse affect the collective memory of complex societies. We will discuss the different effects of long-term gradual processes caused by social, economic or cultural decline or global climate changes, and those following dramatic events such as human or natural disasters.
The group aims to analyze the connection between the evidence of such events in textual sources and the archaeological record on the one hand, and their reflection in construction myths of past societies in different periods and geographic ares. Cases of destruction and collapse, marking the profound change or final annihilation of a society, are very influential in terms of the historiography of processes of construction and decline alike. We will also attempt to understand how the perception of such events changed throughout time, and how cases of destruction acquired moral and political value and, consequently, affected the academic communities studying them.
Group Members:
- Prof. Ronnie Ellenblum, Department of Geography (Deceased 2021)
- Prof. Gideon Shelach, Department of East Asian Studies
- Dr. Nili Wazana, Department of Bible
- Dr. Sharon Zukerman, Institute of Archaeology (Deceased 2014)
- Michal Bitton, Department of Geography
- Uri Davidovich, Institute of Archaeology
- Dr. Osnat Suued, Conflict Studies
- Guy Rak, Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies