Student profiles
Diederik J. H. Halbertsma
Website: https://liverpool.academia.edu/DiederikHalbertsma
Email: diek.halbertsma@gmail.com
Thesis Title
Institution
Supervisors
Dr Bruce Routledge
Prof Douglas Baird
Research Summary
The early Iron Age in the Southern Levant is often described as ‘dark ages’, during which the region had to reconfigure after the Late Bronze Age collapse, adapting to newly emerging power structures. It is often seen as a period devoid of a fixed social hierarchy, with a focus on smaller-scale architecture and isolated village structures. In contrast to this picture, the early Iron Age archaeological record shows ample evidence for large-scale building works. In a period characterised by decentralisation of power this sudden appearance of highly organised building projects at numerous sites in the Southern Levant is unexpected, and shows that the idea of this period being ‘dark ages’ is outdated. This project will focus on investigating the large fortification structures, construction events and archaeological material from the early Iron Age site of Khirbet al-Mudayna al-‘Aliya, Jordan, and their implications for the archaeological debates on Early Iron Age social organisation and complexity.
Research Interests
Archaeology,
religion,
state formation,
archaeological excavation,
Iron Age Jordan,
long-distance trade
and architectural energetics.
Publications
Halbertsma, D. J. H., C. Scott, JR Peterson, L. Alshboul, R. Stokes, J. Plug and B. Routledge, submitted. Ground-based photogrammetry at an aerial scale: preliminary results from the 2022 Survey at Khirbat al-Mudyana al-‘Aliya, Jordan. Antiquity.
Routledge, B. and D. J. H. Halbertsma, accepted. Bōz el-Mushelle Revisited: Casemates, Copper and “Early Moab”. Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins 139(2).
Halbertsma, D. J. H., submitted. Worshippers, Travellers, and Trade: the Tell Damiyah ‘Sanctuary’ in its Context. In: Petit, L. P. and Z. A. K. Kafafi (eds.), Tell Damiyah. The 2004-2019 Seasons. Papers on Archaeology of the Leiden Museum of Antiquities. Leiden: Sidestone Press.
Halbertsma, D. J. H., 2022. Does Practice Make a Place ‘Perfect’? Approaching Utopia in Iron Age Levantine Religions. Semitica 64, 237-254.
Halbertsma, D. J. H., 2022. The 2022 Survey Season at Khirbet al-Mudayna al-‘Aliya, Jordan. Palestine Exploration Quarterly, DOI: 10.1080/00310328.2022.2136903.
Halbertsma, D. J. H. and B. Routledge, 2021. Between Rocks and ‘High Places’: Challenges Regarding ‘Religious Architecture’ in the Iron Age Southern Levant. Religions 12(9): 740. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12090740
Halbertsma, D. J. H., 2021. Review: A Wayside Shrine in Northern Moab: Excavations in Wadi ath-Thamad. Edited by P. M. Michèle Daviau and Margreet L. Steiner.Wadi Ath-Thamad Project I. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2017. Pp. 272 + 120 figures + 1 plate. £60 (cloth). Journal of Near Eastern Studies 80(2), 444-447. https://doi.org/10.1086/716058
Kafafi, Z. A. K., L. P. Petit, H. Abu Dalu, L. Amkreutz, S. Azaizeh, M. Bataineh, R. Fraihat, M. al-Ghrabsheh, M. Grimbergen, D. J. H. Halbertsma, R. Khalayleh, J. Rensen, A. van der Wal, and Y. al-Zu’bi, in press. Recycling the Valley: Preliminary Report of the 2016 and 2018 Excavations at Tall Dāmiyah. Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan.
Routledge, B., D. J. H. Halbertsma, and J. Plug, in prep. Dating Events, Not Periods: Building a New Chronology of the Iron Age I in Jordan. Radiocarbon.
Halbertsma, D. J. H., in prep. Casting a Light: Exploring Evidence for Large-Scale Metalworking at Iron Age I Tell Deir ‘Alla.
Halbertsma, D. J. H., 2019. Revisiting Tell Deir ‘Alla: a Reinterpretation of the Early Iron Age Deposits. Liverpool (Unpublished MPhil Thesis).
Halbertsma, D. J. H., 2016. More than a Building: Re-evaluating the Iron Age IIC ‘Sanctuary’ at Tell Damiyah, Jordan. Leiden (Unpublished BA Thesis).
Public speaking
2023
Presentation “Beyond the Household at Khirbet al-Mudayna al-‘Aliya, Jordan: Exploring Communal Labour Projects in the Early Iron Age. Presented at the Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology Household Seminar Series Conference.
Presentation “Large-Scale Photogrammetry without the use of Drones: the 2022 Survey at Khirbet al-Mudayna al-‘Aliya, Jordan”. Presented at the University of Liverpool Photogrammetry Team Seminar Series, University of Liverpool.
2022
Presentation “Tell Deir ‘Alla 2022”. Presented at the Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology workshop “What you did last summer”.
Presentation “Does Practice Make a Place ‘Perfect’? Approaching Utopia in Iron Age Levantine Religions”. Presented at the international workshop “Sacred Spaces in the Ancient Near East: Between Reality and Utopia”. College de France, Paris, February 4–5, 2022.
Presentation “Episodic Labour Mobilisation During the Early Iron Age Levant: The View from Khirbet al-Mudayna al-‘Aliya” at the University of Liverpool Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology ‘Work in Progress’ Seminar Series.
2021
Presentation “Episodic Labour Mobilisation During the Levant’s ‘Dark Ages’: The View from Khirbet al-Mudayna al-‘Aliya” at the University of Liverpool Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology PGR Conference.
Presentation “Casting a Light: exploring evidence for large-scale metalworking at Iron Age I Tell Deir ‘Alla” at the BANEA ‘British Association of Near Eastern Archaeology’ 2021 Online Conference, Bournemouth University.
2020
Presentation “Episodic Labour Mobilisation During the Levant’s ‘Dark Ages’: The View from Khirbet al-Mudayna al-‘Aliya” at the NWCDTP ‘Work in Progress’ Conference.
2019
Presentation “Down by the River: Recent Discoveries from Tell Damiyah, Jordan” at the BANEA ‘British Association of Near Eastern Archaeology’ 2019 Conference, University of Liverpool.
Session chair for the academic session “Morphology, Infrastructure and Relational Space in Iron Age Settlements”, at the BANEA ‘British Association of Near Eastern Archaeology’ 2019 Conference, University of Liverpool.
Presentation “Down by the River: Recent Discoveries from Tell Damiyah, Jordan” for Continuing Education, at the 8th Archaeology and the Bible Conference, University of Liverpool.
2018
Presentation “Revisiting Tell Deir ‘Alla: the Early Iron Age deposits” at the BANEA ‘British Association of Near Eastern Archaeology’ 2018 Conference, Durham University.
2016
Presentation “Religion at Tell Damiyah” at the ‘Recent Results and Reflections on Ongoing work at Tel Kinrot and Horvat Kur’ Workshop, Dutch National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden.