Press Releases
What: Archaeological Institute of America, Public Lecture
Presenter: Dr. Sidnie White Crawford, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lecture Title: Women in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran: A New Synthesis
Date: Sunday, February 10, 2008
Where: Abbott Lecture Hall, Joslyn Art Museum, 2201 Dodge Street, Omaha
Time: 2:00 PM
The Lincoln-Omaha Society of the Archaeological Institute of America announces its third lecture of the 2007-08 season. Dr. Sidnie White Crawford, one of the foremost authorities on the Dead Sea Scrolls, will deliver a lecture on her research involving the role of women at the community that created the Scrolls in the first century CE.
Since the first announcement of their discovery in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls have been a source of fascination and enlightenment both in the scholarly world and for the general public. The Scrolls have increased our knowledge exponentially concerning the history and text of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and the history and culture of Judaism in the last two centuries BCE and the first century CE. Yet many questions remain unresolved. In this lecture, Dr. Sidnie White Crawford will explore two of them. First, what is the relationship between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the ruins of Khirbet Qumran, which lie close to the eleven caves where the majority of the Scrolls were found? Second, were women part of the community described in some of the Scrolls, and did they live at Qumran? Dr. Crawford will discuss the latest research on these two questions, and present her own conclusions.
Sidnie White Crawford is professor and chair of the Department of Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. A member of the editorial team for the publication of the Dead Sea Scrolls, she has been working in the field of Scrolls research for over twenty years. After editing 14 Scroll manuscripts for the series Discoveries in the Judaean Desert, she has gone on to publish numerous books and articles on the Scrolls. Her most recent monograph, Rewriting Scripture in Second Temple Times, has just been published. As past president of the W. F. Albright Institute in Jerusalem, she is familiar with the latest trends in Syro-Palestinian archaeology, and especially with the archaeology of Khirbet Qumran. She is a member of the Archaeological Institute of America.
Future AIA Talks:
March 2 - Susan Rotroff, Washington University
Sun., 2:00 PM The Unsolved Mystery of the Bone Well in Ancient Athens
Abbott Lecture Hall, Joslyn Art Museum, 2201 Dodge Street, Omaha
April 7 - John Pollini, University of Southern California
Mon., 7:30 PM - Christian Destruction and Desecration of Images of Classical Antiquities
Room 15, Richards Hall, Stadium Drive, UNL
April 20 - Francis Harrold, University of Nebraska - Kearney
Sun., 2:00 PM - The Fate of the Neanderthals: Current Research and Debate
Room 15, Richards Hall, Stadium Drive, UNL
