SPECIAL GUEST LECTURE
Date: 7:00 – 9:00 pm, 26-Jun-2016 (SUNDAY)
Cost: Meetings are Free to members, Guests $5 – Students with ID $2
Description:
The archaeological work of Eliezer Oren in the 1970s to early 1980s, followed by the excavations of Mohamad Abd el-Maksoud of the Surpreme Council for Antiquities at Tell Hebua. Have advanced our knowledge of New Kingdom fortifications across North Sinai. To these endeavors, we can now add the investigations of the East Frontier Archaeological project which commenced in 1994 with archaeological surveys and geo-morphological work. Our survey and excavations at Tell el-Borg, North Sinai since 1999 have shed new light on the east frontier defense system during the New Kingdom. Our geological work has provided a remarkable picture of the paleo-environment of the region, resulting in understanding the strategic locations of the forts, and the route of the military highway between Egypt and Canaan.
At Tell el-Borg the scant remains of two New Kingdom forts have been uncovered. The earlier one appears to have been constructed during the mid-15th century and continued in use till the end of the 18th Dynasty, while the second one was apparently replaced the former with little or no occupational gap between the two. The second or Ramesside period fort appears to have functioned until the 20th Dynasty when the fort apparently was destroyed and never rebuilt. As a consequence of these discoveries, it is clear that this site was constructed at a critical defensive point on the approach to Tjaru/Sile (Hebua), just 5 kilometers to the NE.
Its proximity to Tjaru/Sile has forced us to rethink the view that the forts of North Sinai on the military highway or “Ways of Horus,” was a supply line that with forts stationed a day’s march apart. As will be argued, the placement of the forts in the western sector is based on strategic defensive entry points into Egypt.
About the speaker:
James K. Hoffmeier, Professor of Near Easter Archaeology and Old Testament at Trinity International University, Divinity School (Deerfield, IL), was born in Egypt where he lived until age 16. He returned has to engage in fieldwork and research in Egypt on a regular basis since 1975. Since 1994 Dr. Hoffmeier has directed the North Sinai Archaeological Project researching Egypt’s eastern frontier leading to excavations at Tell el-Borg between 1999 and 2008.
He graduated from Wheaton College with a BA in Near Eastern Studies and Archaeology. Graduate studies took him to the University of Toronto where he received his MA in Egyptian Archaeology in 1975. He participated in excavations in Egypt in 1975 & 1977 with the Akhenaten Temple Project. In 1980 he returned to Wheaton College as assistant professor and he completed his Ph.D from Toronto in 1982 in Ancient Near Eastern Religions. He remained on the faculty at Wheaton until 1999 when he joined the faculty of Trinity as Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology and Old Testament.
Dr. Hoffmeier has authored and edited a number of books, including “Sacred” in the Vocabulary of Ancient Egypt (Freiburg University Press [Switzerland], 1985); Faith, Tradition and History: Old Testament Historiography in its Near Eastern Context (Eisenbrauns, 1994, paperback 2010); Israel in Egypt: Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition (Oxford University Press, 1997 & 1999); Ancient Israel in Sinai: Evidence for the Authenticity of the Wilderness Tradition (Oxford University Press, 2005/2011), and The Future of Biblical Archaeology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), The Archaeology of the Bible (Oxford: Lion Hudson, 2008) is now available in German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Romanian and Norwegian. He translated Egyptian texts for The Context of Scripture Vols 1-3 (Brill, 1997, 2000, 2002), and contributed the Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt (Routledge, 1999), the Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt (2001), and published more than 60 articles in periodicals like Journal to the Society for the Studies of Egyptian Antiquities, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Egyptian Archaeology, Revue d’Égyptology, and Egypt and the Levant.
His most recent books include Excavations in North Sinai: Tell el-Borg I (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2014) and Akhenaten and the Origins of Monotheism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015).
Hoffmeier has also consulted for and appeared in a number of TV programs on Egypt and the Bible for the Discovery Channel, the Learning and History Channels, National Geographic, and NBC.
Married in 1974, James and his wife Cathy have two children. Jessica is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University in Near Eastern Studies (BA) and Trinity (MA) and began work on her PhD in Egyptology at Memphis. Jessica and her husband Paul Lim are the proud parents of Danny (9) and Peter (4) and Nate (1). Benjamin is a graduate of Centre College and holds his MA from Trinity. He has coached American football at Trinity and Wheaton College and presently coaches in Texas.
Location:
Room EDC 287 in the Education Block at the University of Calgary.
