Bridging Natural Sciences and Cultural Heritage in the Middle East

3 Dec 2024, 01:30 → 4 Dec 2024, 21:00 Europe/Berlin

Various (SESAME and Jordan Museum, Amman)

Frank Lehner (DESY)

Bridging Natural Sciences, German Institutions and Cultural Heritage in the Middle East

The workshop aimed to connect natural sciences and cultural heritage by highlighting the applications of advanced synchrotron radiation research at SESAME for studying archaeological and historical artifacts. Organized from a “German perspective,” it focused on fostering collaboration between German research institutions and Middle Eastern organizations while promoting regional heritage studies.

Hosted by DESY, HZDR, and SESAME, the event gathered 40 participants, including scientists and cultural heritage officials from Germany and the Middle East. The first day featured sessions and a tour of SESAME’s beamlines and experimental stations, while the second day was held at the Jordan Museum.

 

Group_foto.jpg

Tuesday 3 December

08:30 → 09:30 Transfer to SESAME Lightsource

09:30 → 10:00 Registration

10:00 → 10:20 Opening: Welcome

Convener: Andrea Lausi (SESAME)

10:00 Welcome by the SESAME Director-General and the President of the Council

Speakers: Khaled Toukan, Rolf-Dieter Heuer

10:10 Goals of the Meeting

Speaker: Frank Lehner (DESY)

Goals_of_Workshop_FLEHNER.pdf

10:20 → 11:00 SESAME and Synchrotron Radiation in Cultural Heritage Research

Convener: Rolf-Dieter Heuer

10:20 Overview of the SESAME and opportunities in cultural heritage

Speaker: Andrea Lausi (SESAME)

2024.12.03_LAUSI.pdf

10:40 The importance of synchrotron radiation in archaeology and cultural heritage studies of Southwest Asia: Why now?

Speaker: Gonca Dardeniz (Uni Istanbul)

SESAME_CH_2024_ForWeb.pdf

11:00 → 11:30 Coffee Break

11:30 → 13:00 Ideas, Projects, and Analytical Needs: Written Artefacts I

11:30 Accessing hidden text on papyri - Elephantine and beyond

Speakers: Eid Mertah (Egyptian Museum , Cairo), Heinz-Eberhard Mahnke (Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection and HZB/FU Berlin), Verena Lepper (Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection, Berlin)

Eid Mertah- 2024.12.03 - SESAME.pdf

SESAME-workshop24-online_HEMahnke_VLepper.pdf

12:10 Early Islamic dipinti from archaeological contexts

Speaker: Hagit Nol (Uni Frankfurt)

12:35 Digging up History: Archaeological Investigations at the Caves of the Dead Sea Scrolls by DAJ - EBAF - PAM - ASOR (1949 - 1956)

Speaker: Marcello Fidanzio (Swiss Italian Uni)

MF digging up PPTX.pdf

13:00 → 14:00 Lunch

14:00 → 15:00 Ideas, Projects, and Analytical Needs: Written Artefacts II

Convener: Wolfgang Drube (DESY)

14:00 Understanding Written Artefacts with the CSMC Mobile Lab – Projects, Possibilities and Perspectives

Speakers: Claudia Colini (Center for the Study of Manuscript Cultures CSMC, U Hamburg), Sebastian Bosch (Center for the Study of Manuscript Cultures CSMC, U Hamburg), Shervin Farridnejad (Center for the Study of Manuscript Cultures CSMC, U Hamburg)

20241203_SESAME_Colini-Bosch-Farridnejad.pdf

14:20 Study of enclosed cuneiform tablets with mobile x-ray tomography

Speaker: Katrin Zerbe (Deutsches Elektron-Synchrotron, DESY)

PETRA_III_IV_ENCI_Vorstellung_SESAME.pdf

14:40 Discussions

15:00 → 15:15 Coffee Break

15:15 → 17:15 Ceramics/Pottery and Paintings

Convener: Andrea Lausi (SESAME)

15:15 Petrography and XRD in pottery analysis

Speaker: Hussein M. Al-Sababha (Jordanian Heritage Museum, Yarmouk Uni)

Mineralogical Characterization of Khirbat Edh-Dharih early Bronze Age.pdf

15:35 Natural sciences and cultural heritage: some applications on ancient pottery

Speaker: Eman Khalifa (Uni Cairo)

Khalifa updated Presentation.pdf

15:55 Tall Zira'a and (unresolved) archaeometric questions

Speaker: Patrick Leiverkus (Biblical-Archaelogical Institute, Uni Wuppertal)

16:15 Hellenistic-Roman wall painting in Jordan: Questions from archaeology on material analysis

Speaker: Britta Jansen (German Protestant Institute of Archaeology/GPIA Amman)

16:35 The use of synchrotron radiation for the characterization of Roman Wall paintings from Bayt Ras tomb

Speaker: Sahar al Khasawneh (Department of Conservation and Management of Cultural Resources, Yarmouth University)

SESAME_al Khasawneh.pdf

17:15 → 18:30 SESAME Tour

18:30 → 18:45 Transfer to working dinner

18:45 → 21:00 Working dinner.

21:00 → 21:20 Transfer back to Guesthouse or Hotel

Wednesday 4 December

09:30 → 10:00 Transfer from Marriott to Jordan Museum

10:00 → 10:50 Opening

Convener: Frank Lehner (DESY)

10:00 Welcome by the Director of the Jordan Museum

Speaker: Ihab Amarin (Jordan Museum)

10:30 Opening by the SESAME Council Chair and SESAME Scientific Director

Speakers: Dr Andrea Lausi (SESAME), Rolf-Dieter Heuer

10:50 → 12:15 Ideas, Projects, and Analytical Needs: Ancient Metals and Fossils, human remain

Convener: Andrea Lausi (SESAME)

10:50 Ancient Metals: Searching for the origins of iron technology

Speakers: Ernst Pernicka (Curt Engelhorn Center for Archaeometrz), Ivan Stepanov (Curt Engelhorn Center for Archaeometry), Michael Brauns (Curt Engelhorn Center for Archaeometry)

SESAME Pernicka et al.pdf

11:23 Fossils, human remains: Studying human evolution using synchrotron radiation and microCT

Speaker: Alexander Stoessel (University of Jena and Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology)

SESAME_AStoessel.pdf

11:46 Fossils, human remains: Key Questions in Human Bioarchaeology addressed as SR at SESAME

Speaker: Kirsi Lorentz (The Cyprus Institute)

Lorentz_SESAME-DE_CH-SR_4Dec2024_fD.pdf

12:15 → 12:40 Coffee Break

12:40 → 13:40 Ideas, Projects and Analytical Needs: Ideas Excavation sites

12:40 Exploring Tulul adh-DhahabÖ Excavations, Discoveries and Analytical Needs

Speaker: Asuman Lätzer-Lasar (Uni Marburg)

Lätzer-Lasar_SESAME.pdf

13:10 Preservation of cultural heritage at the excavation site of Quebec el-Hawa, Aswan- Egypt

Speaker: Martin Bommas (Qubbet al-Hawa Research Project, QHRP)

SESAME Amman 20241204.pdf

13:40 → 14:10 Lunch

14:10 → 15:15 Museum Tour

15:15 → 16:30 Forging Cooperation

15:15 The Scientific Infrastructure at LEIZA: past - present - future

Speaker: Roland Schwab (Leibniz-Center for Archaeology, LEIZA)

Scientific infrastructure LEIZA 2024 Amman.pdf

15:45 Building a Corporation Network Germany- Amman

Speaker: Maram Na´es (TU Berlin)

MaramNaes_SESAME_20241205.pdf

16:10 The EU Sunstone Project

Speaker: Mariangela Cestelli Guidi (INFN)

SUNSTONE_Sesame workshop dec24.pdf

16:30 → 17:00 Wrap-Up and Conclusions

17:00 → 17:10 Transfer to Dinner

17:10 → 19:10 Working Dinner, Reem Al Bawadi Resturant