I shall be lecturing on the “Cities of the Bible” for the Smithsonian Associates in Washington, DC on Wednesday, March 9, 2016 at 6:45 p.m. There will be a book signing to follow.
Speaker: Robert R. Cargill, Ph.D., University of Iowa Dept. of Classics and Religious Studies Lecture: “Cities of the Bible” Location: S. Dillon Ripley Center, 1100 Jefferson Dr SW, Washington DC (Metro: Smithsonian – Mall exit) Enter in the copper domed kiosk on Jefferson Drive between the “Castle” and the Freer Gallery of Art. Date: Wednesday, March 9, 2016 Time: 6:45 pm Lecture Description:
From Athens to Jerusalem to Babylon, understanding the Bible means understanding the cities and cultures that produced it. The story of these centers—their history, their archaeology, their mysteries, and the people who inhabited and later excavated them—is also the story of the Bible itself.
Weaving together biblical archaeology, history, and personal experience, Robert Cargill, assistant professor of classics and religious studies at the University of Iowa, shares a host of surprising facts. For example there is no archaeological evidence for the biblical Exodus or the existence of Jesus—and no authentic literary evidence from the first century outside of the Bible that mentions Jesus.
Cargill leads a fascinating tour through cities in the Holy Land and beyond, including Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Qumran, Babylon, Athens, Alexandria, and Rome to reveal how their stories shed new light on the Bible. Cargill’s book The Cities that Built the Bible (HarperOne) is available for sale and signing.
If you are in the Washington, DC area, you can find ticket and lecture information here.
If you want to hear/watch the lecture, simply click the above link, right-click on the “Download Podcast” icon at the bottom of the list on the right, and save it to your computer. (The file is 111 MB total.) After it downloads, add .mp4 to the end of the file name, and then simply double-click to play or open it in QuickTime.
Many thanks to Dr. Hector Avalos for the invitation to speak. It was a beautiful evening on a beautiful campus in Ames, IA
Summary:
Robert Cargill, an assistant professor of Classics and religious studies at the University of Iowa, will discuss how recent advances in the fields of archaeology and the digital humanities have enabled scholars to create digital reconstructions of archaeological remains at Qumran, the site associated with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He uses 3D and virtual reality to introduce the audience to the ancient sites, proposes various reconstructions, and highlights the process for databasing archaeological data. Cargill was the chief architect and designer of the Qumran Visualization Project at UCLA’s Center for Digital Humanities. He has appeared as an expert on the National Geographic special, Writing the Dead Sea Scrolls, and History’s documentary series Bible Secrets Revealed. He is also the author of the recent book, Qumran through (Real) Time: A Virtual Reconstruction of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Be sure to check out the fascinating work being done by Cale Staley, a graduate student in Religious Studies at the University of Iowa working in Digital Humanities research. He digs at Tel Azekah in Israel and is doing much of the modeling on Iowa’s Digi-Tel Azekah archaeological model.
I am honored to have been invited to give the faculty address, but I only have a few minutes to speak. And since most faculty speeches say the same thing, that is, “Congratulations”, “We’re proud of you”, “Good luck”, etc., I thought I’d use my time instead to give you something a bit more memorable.
Not only is this graduation ceremony being streamed live, but because my speech has to be so short, and because I’m also a professor working in the digital humanities, I’m going to be live tweeting my speech as I speak.
And I’m going to start with some pictures, but I need your help. I need you to take some pictures with me. And then you can tweet your photos using the hashtag #UIGrad2014 while the other students’ names are being read.
And you can re-tweet this speech and my photos available at my Twitter account: Robert Cargill, which is @XKV8R, that’s at X-K-V-8-R, as well.
So listen to the speeches, and then re-tweet during the reading of the names. Got It?
OK. Let’s start out with the ultimate “Class of 2014” graduation picture. Parents and friends up in the stands, you can play along too. We’ll all take pictures together.
Ready? What’s that? No, I will not take a picture with your camera.
OK, ready? Please, please…do not flash the graduation speaker.
— Robert R. “Dr. Bob” Cargill (@xkv8r) May 17, 2014
Second, find a faculty member after the ceremony and say, “Thank you.” Maybe send them an email. # Or Endow Their Chair
Second, find a faculty member after the ceremony and say, “Thank you.” Maybe send them an email. #OrEndowTheirChair
— Robert R. “Dr. Bob” Cargill (@xkv8r) May 17, 2014
And finally, find a student you don’t know, or never really talked to, and say, “Hi”, and give them a hug. # Guys, This Is Your Last Chance. # I’m Trying To Help.
Posted on February 24, 2014 by bobcargill (@xkv8r)
Tel Azekah digital model
I’m giving a lecture tonight for the Iowa chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America entitled “New Approaches in Digital Archaeology at Tel Azekah, Israel.”
Info for this AIA Iowa Society Lecture Program is as follows:
Title: “New Approaches in Digital Archaeology at Tel Azekah, Israel” Presenters: Robert R. Cargill, Ph.D., Asst. Prof of Classics and Religious Studies, University of Iowa
Cale Staley, MA Student, Department of Religious Studies, University of Iowa Location: Room 116 of the Art Building West, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA Date: Feb 24, 2014 Time: 7:30 PM
Abstract: This presentation examines the University of Iowa’s 3D, virtual reconstruction of Tel Azekah, located in the Elah Valley just west of Jerusalem after its initial two seasons of excavation. The presentation offers a new methodology for the systematic digital cataloging, visualization, and reconstruction of archaeological excavations as they progress.
About the Presenter: Robert Cargill is Assistant Professor of Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Iowa, where he has taught since 2011. He came to Iowa from the University of California, Los Angeles Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. While at UCLA, he also served as the Instructional Technology Coordinator for UCLA’s Center for Digital Humanities. He is part of the Public Humanities in a Digital World cluster of faculty.
Sponsored by: The AIA Iowa Society Lecture Program, with the support of the Office of the State Archaeologist, the University of Iowa Departments of Anthropology, Classics, Religion, Art and Art History, and the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History.
University of Iowa assistant professor Robert Cargill is pictured in his office this week. Cargill, an archaeologist and biblical scholar, is a consulting producer and appears on a six-part History Channel series that debuts next week. / Josh O’Leary / Iowa City Press-Citizen
The Iowa City Press-Citizen has a front page story today on my role in the History channel’s newest six-part documentary series, “Bible Secrets Revealed,” which begins airing Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 10/9c.
Josh O’Leary, a reporter for the Press-Citizen, authored a story which touched on many rather personal aspects of my life, including my childhood, my time in Los Angeles, and my work in television and archaeology. Many thanks to him for the interview and article.
The story also includes a video clip where I (and my Movember beard, which raises awareness for prostate cancer and other men’s health issues) share a few comments about the making of the documentary series.
Title: “Toward an Archaeological Standard for Digital Imagery”
Place: Michelle Smith Collaboratory for Visual Culture (4213A – Art-Sociology Building) Date: Wednesday, November 20, 2013 Time: 16:00 to 17:30 Abstract:
“With the increased use and power of digital imagery tools comes the increasingly frequent manipulation of these images for purposes ranging from humor to advertisement. Unfortunately, these purposes also include the manufacture of evidence to support revisionist theories of history and religion.
And while fields such as journalism have begun setting standards for acceptable practices concerning the processing of digital imagery, many scholarly fields within the humanities have not yet effectively addressed digital media processing and manipulation.
A rise in frequency of pseudo-archaeological claims made by amateurs employing manipulated digital imagery to support their sensational claims necessitates the immediate establishment of a set of standards and best practices for the use of processed images in academic settings. This talk highlights some recent examples of digital manipulation and offers a set of standards for future use of digital media within the academy that preserves the integrity of the imagery and enhances the credibility of those employing digital media.”
About the Lecturer: Robert Cargill is Assistant Professor of Classics and Religious Studies at The University of Iowa, where he has taught since 2011. He came to Iowa from the University of California, Los Angeles Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. While at UCLA, he also served as the Instructional Technology Coordinator for UCLA’s Center for Digital Humanities. At Iowa, he is part of the Public Humanities in a Digital World cluster of faculty. He also authors an active blog XKV8R, that covers wide-ranging subjects, chief among them ancient archaeology, and digital manipulation and the hazards therein.
Posted on September 19, 2013 by bobcargill (@xkv8r)
I recently gave “Studio Talk” about Tel Azekah and Digital Archaeological Modeling entitled “Digi-Tel Azekah: Digitally Modeling Archaeological Remains on the Judean-Philistine Borderline” at the University of Iowa Digital Studio for Public Arts & Humanities (DSPAH). I presented with my Dept. of Religious Studies graduate student, Cale Staley.
If you have ever asked the following questions:
What is Digital Humanities?
What is Digital Humanities at the University of Iowa?
What is Digital Archaeological Modeling?
Why is the Digital Humanities important?
How do the Digital Humanities help my research?
How do the Digital Humanities help my instruction?
and most importantly, why should I join Iowa’s archaeological dig in Israel next summer? (besides losing weight, getting fit, getting a great tan, traveling the Holy Land, and earning 6 units doing undergraduate research)…
…then watch this video and all your questions will be answered.
The UCLA Visualization Portal displays a 3D virtual reconstruction of Karnak.
Congratulations to Dr. Elaine Sullivan at UCLA, who was recently featured in the Harvard Gazette regarding her research on a 3D virtual reconstruction of “The Temple of Amun-Ra at Karnak: 2000 Years of Rituals and Renovations in 3-D.”
The Karnak model depicts the temple from its earliest hypothesized form in the Middle Kingdom, about 1950 B.C., through the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. It allows the viewer to trace the changes of the temple over time, considering how each new stage of construction was a response to the existing landscape, Sullivan said.
And Harvard’s Philip J. King Professor of Egyptology, Dr. Peter Der Manuelian, understands the power of virtual modeling ancient archaeological sites:
The 3-D models are “terrific tools for teaching and also terrific research tools, because you begin to ask questions that were not possible before.”
Kudos to Dr. Sullivan on her years of work on Digital Karnak, which can be viewed in detail at UCLA’s Digital Karnak website.
NonStampCollector (@nonstampNSC; YouTube; blog) has just released his latest provocative video. This time, he addresses the issue of biblical slavery.
Definitely watch this video! It is a GREAT encapsulation of the very weak arguments many people make in defense of slavery in the Bible. The “it’s totally different” refrain is particularly priceless (and quite accurate).
It’s also another excellent contribution to his larger argument that the ethics and morality dictated in the Bible cannot and should not be used to regulate a modern society simply because they are “biblical”. Rather, we should recognize that we have evolved and matured as a society over the past 2000-3000 years, and that many of the so-called “ethical” commands in the Bible are reprehensible and worthy of disregard.
Slavery was God-ordained and God-regulated in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, and the practice was retained and re-endorsed in the New Testament (e.g., Col. 3:22; 1 Pet. 2:18; Eph. 6:5). Claiming that it was “totally different” from slavery in the US South is a weak, easily debunked, and rather disturbing argument made in the defense of God’s ethical character.
Watch the video. I invite your comments.
(Also, for those of you wanting to read the script (or use it in a class), you can find the script and references here.)
I shall be lecturing on the “Cities of the Bible” for the Smithsonian Associates in Washington, DC on Wednesday, March 9, 2016 at 6:45 p.m. There will be a book signing to follow.
Lecture Description:
The University of Maryland’s 
XKV8R: The (Retired) Blog of Robert R. Cargill, Ph.D. 