Kevin McGeough | University of Lethbridge (original) (raw)

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Papers by Kevin McGeough

Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History 9(2): 243-258., 2022

In a non-monetary economy, one of the main mechanisms for the storage of wealth is debt. For peop... more In a non-monetary economy, one of the main mechanisms for the
storage of wealth is debt. For people living on the margins of the major urban
societies of the Bronze Age Near East, debt and credit offered means of participating in larger aspects of economic life yet simultaneously allowed elites to gain access to their bodies, their family members, and their property as means of wealth storage. This paper seeks to explore how debt and credit were used to entangle marginal and liminal groups but also, perhaps, offered these same groups opportunities for resistance or for integration into larger polities. Textual evidence for debt and credit can allow us the opportunity to gain access to different information about the lives of marginal and liminal people. Using the Late Bronze Age Syrian city of Ugarit as a case study, this paper will explore some of the possible ways that the debt and credit mechanisms attested in the administrative record reflect practices through which marginal and liminal individuals became integrated into a larger Ugaritic society.

Archaeology on the Brink: Papers in Honour of John W. Brink, 2022

Throughout the 1980s, Jack Brink conducted excavations on behalf of the Archaeological Survey of ... more Throughout the 1980s, Jack Brink conducted excavations on behalf of the Archaeological Survey of Alberta at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. One of his major accomplishments was developing an extensive understanding of what has come to be called the “Processing Area”. Because of these excavations, we now know of how bison that were hunted at the jump were transformed into food and supplies. A joint team from the University of Lethbridge and the Royal Alberta Museum returned to the site in 2021 with the express goal of digging beneath where Jack had stopped and unearthing the earliest stages of use at the Processing Area. The team also initiated investigations in the Spring Channel Area, where the earliest materials from Head-Smashed-In had been found out of context more than 70 years ago. While the materials we discovered were minimal, the results were stunning, revealing that activities have been occurring at the site for more than 8500 years. The results of the 2021 excavations are presented as a tribute to Jack’s contributions to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.

Journal of Religion and Film, 2018

The King David of the Bible, and especially as portrayed in the books of Samuel, is one of the mo... more The King David of the Bible, and especially as portrayed in the books of Samuel, is one of the most complex characters in ancient literature. We are told his story from his youth as a shepherd until his death as king of Israel. He kills a mighty warrior with a slingshot, goes to war with his king and later his son, and has an affair that threatens to throw his kingdom into disarray. The stories surrounding David seem perfect for cinematic adaptation yet what makes this character so compelling has been problematic for filmmakers. Here, three types of Biblical filmmaking shall be considered: Hollywood epics (David and Bathsheba (1951), David and Goliath (1960), and King David (1985)); televised event series (The Story of David (1976) and The Bible: The Epic Miniseries (2013)); and independent Christian films (David and Goliath (2015) and David vs. Goliath: Battle of Faith (2016)). Issues that shall be considered include: tone and genre, casting, democracy and ideology, masculinity, an...

Economic Complexity in the Near East: Management of Resources and Taxation (Third-Second Millennium BC), 2020

Initiative CDOG Colloquien der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft CH Codex Hammurabi CHANE Culture and... more Initiative CDOG Colloquien der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft CH Codex Hammurabi CHANE Culture and History of the Ancient Near East CIRAAS Centro internazionale di ricerche archeologische anropologiche e storiche, Missione archeologica italiana nell'Anatolia Orientale ITT Inventaire des tablettes de Tello

Art/ifacts and Artworks in the Ancient World, 2021

Near Eastern Archaeology 85.1: 54-65, 2022

As Near Eastern archaeology developed into an academic discipline throughout the nineteenth centu... more As Near Eastern archaeology developed into an academic discipline throughout the nineteenth century, it led to serious considerations on the relationships between those ancient civilizations and contemporary cultures. Issues of progress and decline were particularly paramount as citizens of the European and North American powers considered what the collapse of ancient civilizations implied about the present. Related to these concerns were interests in material and technological progress, and thus the materiality of the ancient Near East became a subject of debate in regard to contemporary design. Here are explored some of the ways that ancient Egypt and the Near East were presented in these hyperreal spectacles, why the past was so fundamental to discussions of the present and future in the nineteenth century, and why comparative geographical approaches to the topic have been so compelling for nonacademic audiences.

Receptions of the Ancient Near East in Popular Culture and Beyond, 2020

Journal of Religion and Film, 2016

When The Passion was released, its extremely graphic violence horrified critics and scholars of r... more When The Passion was released, its extremely graphic violence horrified critics and scholars of religion although its success at the box office indicates that this, if anything, made the story of Jesus more appealing for viewers. Now that more time has passed and expectations surrounding levels of acceptable violence in cinema have changed, it is worth reconsidering how cinematic violence is used as reception strategy in Biblical cinema. Considering The Passion with more recent Biblical films, Noah and Exodus: Gods and Kings, it becomes apparent that violence is not only used to expand laconic Biblical narratives but to invest them with a sense of verism, to situate the stories in either specifically historical or generally mythological time, to elicit audience sympathy, to remake Biblical characters into figures of heroic masculinity, and to harmonize Biblical story-telling with cinematic genre conventions. Viewing violence from a genre perspective, this article explores how consid...

Recent excavations at the ancient city of Hazor in northern Israel have uncovered an impressive p... more Recent excavations at the ancient city of Hazor in northern Israel have uncovered an impressive palace complex and temple, linked together by a courtyard. This courtyard contained a raised structure, presumably an altar. Excavations in the courtyard produced a large faunal assemblage, found near the altar. Contemporary Near Eastern texts enable us to identify the bones as the detritus from a special event. Particularly important is a collection of religious texts excavated from the Syrian site of Emar. We argue that the faunal evidence from Hazor was produced during a religious feast; the Emar texts detail the occasions for, contents of, and participants in what may have been similar feasts. Completing this circle, the faunal remains suggest the existence of ritual activities that go beyond those described in the texts. Together, the textual and the archaeological evidence paint a picture of identities enforced and manipulated through public feasting. The role of foodways in creatin...

Ur in the Twenty-First Century CE, 2021

Archaeological Dialogues, 2018

In recent years, ethnoarchaeology and the use of ethnographic analogy have come under increasing ... more In recent years, ethnoarchaeology and the use of ethnographic analogy have come under increasing criticism. Analogy seems necessary because, as post-industrial academics, archaeologists worry that they do not possess the knowledge necessary to interpret archaeological materials directly and thus must consult with coeval ‘premodern’ peoples to develop interpretive baselines. In this paper, we draw attention to a form of scholarly enquiry – 19th-century Bible customs books – that faced a similar challenge and used methodologies that parallel archaeology's use of ethnoarchaeological data. These were books written by missionaries who lived in Palestine for extended periods of time and studied Palestinian life to make sense of obscure elements of the biblical text, believing that life there had remained fundamentally unchanged for the past three thousand years. Using the Bible customs books as a kind of ‘cautionary tale’ typical of ethnoarchaeology, we argue that a consideration of t...

Relegere: Studies in Religion and Reception, 2015

Ethnoarchaeology, 2015

texts. The difficulty in these latter studies is in deciding when such conclusions can be extende... more texts. The difficulty in these latter studies is in deciding when such conclusions can be extended to other societies and periods in the past, and at what level of specificity: thus, we probably do not need Oromo examples to understand that prehistoric European iron tools could be ambiguous artifacts, fraught with the potentials for both life and death. Other papers, on the traces of the WW2 Italian bandit “el Castrin,” on graffiti and on chain letters, for example, might best be thought of as materially focused social or microhistory. There is very wide variation through the text in the strength of relationships between material evidences and cultural generalizations. The question might thus arise: is there anything in this work that we can identify as characteristic of a specifically Mediterranean ethnoarchaeology, beyond the fact that almost half of the papers involve fieldwork done in this region? There is a good deal of eclecticism in the theoretical stances taken in papers, ranging from theory-avoidance through approaches that we might define as processual, logicist, and post-processual. Many of the paper demonstrate a strong sense of place, of the specifics of geographical and cultural configurations in particular communities and localities. This can certainly be a strength in the grounding that it provides for analysis, but many of the papers do not place their conclusions in a comparative perspective and there is comparatively little engagement with the always-fraught ethnoarchaeological issue of generalization to more distant archaeological cases. The editors have undertaken a significant service in making this collection available to ethnoarchaeologists in other countries, and thus contributing to the vitality of ethnoarchaeology as a diverse and global discipline. One future challenge might involve distilling the results of these eclectic articles into a more focused consideration of the place of Mediterranean ethnoarchaeology within that wider discipline.

Ur in the Twenty-First Century CE: Proceedings of the 62nd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Philadelphia July 11–15, 2016, 2021

Economic Complexity in the Near East: Management of Resources and Taxation (Third-Second Millennium BC), 2020

T & T Clark Companion to Jesus and Film, 2020

Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History 9(2): 243-258., 2022

Archaeology on the Brink: Papers in Honour of John W. Brink, 2022

Journal of Religion and Film, 2018

Economic Complexity in the Near East: Management of Resources and Taxation (Third-Second Millennium BC), 2020

Art/ifacts and Artworks in the Ancient World, 2021

Near Eastern Archaeology 85.1: 54-65, 2022

Receptions of the Ancient Near East in Popular Culture and Beyond, 2020

Journal of Religion and Film, 2016

Ur in the Twenty-First Century CE, 2021

Archaeological Dialogues, 2018

Relegere: Studies in Religion and Reception, 2015

Ethnoarchaeology, 2015

Ur in the Twenty-First Century CE: Proceedings of the 62nd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Philadelphia July 11–15, 2016, 2021

Economic Complexity in the Near East: Management of Resources and Taxation (Third-Second Millennium BC), 2020

T & T Clark Companion to Jesus and Film, 2020

Discourses in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Studies, 2022

Representations of Antiquity in Film offers an introduction to how the ancient world is represent... more Representations of Antiquity in Film offers an introduction to how the ancient world is represented in film and especially Hollywood cinema. McGeough considers the potential that movies have for helping us think about antiquity and their relationship to more traditional academic historical work. The book shows how contemporary issues are drawn out through the cinematic presentations of the past and how modern values are naturalized through their presentation in ancient settings. Through discussion of films from the silent film era to the present, McGeough traces the formative role that films of various genres have had in shaping our perceptions of Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Holy Land, Greece, Rome, barbarian Europe, and the Maya. Not ignoring the traditional historical epic film, the book also presents detailed analyses of comedies, action films, art house fare, exploitation flicks and any type of movie in which audiences experience depictions of the past. By considering cinematic narrative as well as various elements of film design, McGeough presents a comprehensive overview of the topic designed for students and scholars with varying backgrounds in media studies, archaeology, religious studies, and ancient history.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, little was known of the ancient Near East except for ... more At the beginning of the nineteenth century, little was known of the ancient Near East except for what was preserved in the Bible and classical literature. By the end of the nineteenth century, an amazing transformation had occurred: the basic outline of ancient Near Eastern history was understood and the material culture of the region was recognizable to the general public. This three-volume study explores the various ways that non-specialists would have encountered ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Holy Land and how they derived and constructed meaning from those discoveries. McGeough challenges the simplistic view that the experience of the ancient Near East was solely a matter of ‘othering’ and shows how different people claimed the Near East as their own space and how connections were drawn between the ancient and contemporary worlds.

Volume III argues that fiction and fantasy play an important role in establishing expectations about the past. Changing sensitivities towards realism in art meant that imaginary visions were charged with an archaeological aesthetic. Orientalist painting offered seemingly realistic glimpses of ancient life. Stage plays and opera used the ancient Near East for performances that explored contemporary issues. Mummy stories evolved from humorous time-travel tales into horror fiction rooted in fears of materialism, and adventure novels ruminated on the obligations and dangers of empire.

Alongside these explicitly fictional modes of thinking about the past, the nineteenth century saw a rise in popularity of esoteric thinking. People offered alternative versions of ancient history, imagining that ancient religious practices continued into the present, through secret societies like the Freemasons and the Rosicrucians or in the new movements of Mormonism and Theosophy. Volume III ends by examining the interpretations of the Near East offered by Sigmund Freud and H.P. Lovecraft, showing how these two figures influenced later popular experiences of the ancient Near East.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, little was known of the ancient Near East except for... more At the beginning of the nineteenth century, little was known
of the ancient Near East except for what was preserved in the
Bible and classical literature. By the end of the nineteenth century,
an amazing transformation had occurred: the basic outline
of ancient Near Eastern history was understood and the
material culture of the region was recognizable to the general
public. This three-volume study explores the various ways that
non-specialists would have encountered ancient Egypt,
Mesopotamia, and the Holy Land and how they derived and
constructed meaning from those discoveries. McGeough challenges the simplistic view that the experience of the ancient
Near East was solely a matter of ‘othering’ and shows how
different people claimed the Near East as their own space and
how connections were drawn between the ancient and
contemporary worlds.

Volume II examines the different ways that non-specialists
encountered the materiality of the ancient Near East over the
course of the nineteenth century. During this time, people collected artifacts while traveling in the region or paid to see the
collections that others brought back. The public experienced
the ancient world in museum exhibits that privileged ‘real’ artifacts
in a new context or in hyper-real displays (like the Crystal Palace) where whole buildings from the ancient Near East were reconstructed. Men and women dressed as biblical characters in travelling fairs or spent an evening unwrapping a mummy. Individuals bought Assyriological souvenirs and employed
Egyptian styles in their design, first in higher quality designer
products and later in novelty items. Egyptian temples provided the architectural inspiration for buildings in London and the ancient use of colour was a strong argument for reimagining Victorian style. The adoption of Egypt, especially, in the world’s-fair phenomenon linked the ancient Near East with a global future in which change was naturalized and consumers were taught not to be afraid of the transformations brought by the industrial age.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, little was known of the ancient Near East except for... more At the beginning of the nineteenth century, little was known of the
ancient Near East except for what was preserved in the Bible and
classical literature. By the end of that century, an amazing transformation had occurred: the basic outline of ancient Near Eastern history was now understood and the material culture of the region was recognizable to the general public. This three-volume study explores the various ways by which non-specialists would have encountered ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Holy Land and how they derived and constructed meaning from those discoveries. McGeough challenges the simplistic view that the experience of the ancient Near East was solely a matter of ‘othering’ and shows how different people claimed the Near East as their own space and how connections were drawn between the ancient and contemporary worlds.

Volume I traces how the study of the ancient Near East developed
into a professional discipline and how interpretative frameworks were gradually standardized throughout the nineteenth century. Some of the best-sellers of the period were accounts of the early explorers of the region and, beginning with the Napoleonic expedition, the book examines how ancient Near Eastern discoveries were communicated to the public. It looks at how archaeological reporting was shaped in this period and how the study of the ancient Near East was employed to understand issues of progress and decline and was referenced in the political and social satire of the period. It also documents the growth of middle-class tourism to the region and considers how the changing experiences of travel influenced Near Eastern studies. Throughout, the book observes how the ancient Near East mirrored and subverted British society and played a role in European and North American thinking about their places in a larger global and historical perspective.

Excavations at Late Bronze Age Ugarit (in Syria) have provided a wealth of information about econ... more Excavations at Late Bronze Age Ugarit (in Syria) have provided a wealth of information about economic activities within the city itself and in the Eastern Mediterranean more generally. This volume explores how economic agents in and around Ugarit operated in different exchange networks and how elite actors could gain power by operating across more than one network. By applying a Network-based model to both the textual and the archaeological data from the site of Ugarit, economic activities at the site are reconstructed in this volume. The textual evidence is investigated in detail, with special attention paid to the alphabetic economic texts and associated vocabulary. The archaeological evidence is examined seperately and both types of data are then used in tandem to reconstruct ancient economic relationships at Ugarit. This volume is of interest not only to specialists in Ugarit and Ancient Syria but to any scholar interested in exploring new methods for understanding ancient economic relationships.

Ugaritic Economic Tablets: Text, Translation and Notes provides new translations of more than 800... more Ugaritic Economic Tablets: Text, Translation and Notes provides new translations of more than 800 Late Bronze Age economic texts written in the alphabetic script of the Syrian city of Ugarit. Each translation is accompanied by transliteration as well as commentary, textual notes and up-to-date bibliography. The texts are grouped according to findspot and indexed by both publication numbers and excavation numbers allowing for easy reference. An extended introduction discusses some of the grammatical and historical problems with interpreting these texts. Produced as a companion volume to McGeough's Exchange Relationships at Ugarit and edited by Mark S. Smith, this volume will be of use to Ugaritic specialists, Near Eastern studies and Biblical scholars, historians of ancient economics, and students new to Ugaritic studies or economic history/anthropology.

Near Eastern Archaeology, Jan 1, 2006