You remember that scene in Godfather III, where Pacino complains that “every time I think I’m out, they pull me back in!” Well, the love of the ancient world is in my blood, for all I have forsaken the field, and I’ll be poaching some of the panels at this meeting next week. Here is the schedule. Go on, try to tell me that you’re not utterly absorbed by the idea of hearing about the latest discoveries in Cypriot rural sanctuaries and Canaanite/Minoan interaction in Middle Bronze Age Palace culture.

But perhaps more relevant to what we normally talk about here: a couple of sessions on the state of archaeology in the age of Bush’s wars of choice. Here’s a short list of what I expect to be very interesting speakers on a forbidden subject: the archaeology of Palestine:

Robert R. Sauders (American University), “Political
Liminality and its Impacts on Palestinian
Archaeological and Cultural Heritage Management”

Adel H. Yahya (Palestinian Association for Cultural
Exchange) “Preserving World Heritage in a Conflict
Zone”

Salah al-Houdalieh (al-Quds University) “Demolishing the Archaeological Heritage of Palestine: The Case of Saffa Village”

Osama Hamdan “The State of Cultural Heritage
Conservation in Palestine”

Raphael Greenberg (Tel Aviv University), “The
Archaeology of a Prolonged Occupation: Review of
the Past, Thoughts for the Future”

Elizabeth Stone (Stony Brook University), “Patterns of Looting in Southern Iraq”

Assuming I’m not suicidally depressed after going to these talks, I’ll give you all a report. It will be interesting to see if all the speakers from abroad are allowed in the country; I wouldn’t be surprised if, despite having all the paperwork in order and sponsors in American universities, some of the speakers were denied entry by some knuckledragging Homeland Insecurity officer. It’s happened before.