The Minerva Center
for the Relations between Israel and Aram in Biblical Times
Vanessa Workman
Bar-Ilan University
Vanessa Workman is a PhD candidate and Azrieli Fellow in the Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University, under the supervision of Prof. Aren Maeir and Dr. Adi Eliyahu-Behar. Her dissertation research focuses on the adoption of iron production technologies and their greater historical, technological, and social implications in the early Iron Age Levant and eastern Mediterranean. Her research interests include the macro- and micro-investigation of various forms of craft production in the Bronze and Iron Age Levant and their sociocultural impacts, including textile production and fiber technologies (MA thesis, Tel Aviv University). She has lectured on these subjects at several guest lectures and recently as a lecturer for the workshop Early Iron Production- an Experimental Archaeology (ISF workshop, Israel, Feb 2020).
Vanessa is a core team member and area supervisor in the Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project (Area D West), has previously worked on the Central Timna Valley Project and the Bethsaida Excavations Project (2010–2015), and has participated in the excavations at Tel Azekah and Ashdod-Yam during her MA studies.
Selected Publications:
Workman, V., Maeir, A.M., & Eliyahu-Behar, A. Forthcoming. In Search of the Invisible Hearth: An experimental perspective on early Levantine Iron Production. JAS Reports. Special edition: Contributions of Experimental Archaeology to Excavation and Material Studies.
Workman, V., Maeir, A.M., Dagan, A., Regev, J., Boaretto, E. & Eliyahu-Behar, E. 2020. An Iron IIA Iron and Bronze Workshop in the Lower City of Tell es-Safi/Gath. Tel Aviv 47/2: 208–236.
Eliyahu-Behar, A., Workman, V., & Dagan, A. 2019. Early Iron Production at Philistine Tell es-Safi.Gath vs. Israelite Tel Megiddo: A Proposed Comparative Study. In: Berlejung, A. and Maeir, A.M., eds. 2019. Research on Israel and Aram: Autonomy, Interdependence and Related Issues. Proceedings of the First Annual RIAB Center Conference, Leipzig, June 2016. (RIAB 1). Tübingen: 251–261.
Eliyahu-Behar, A. & Workman, V. 2018. Iron Metal Production at Tell es-Safi/Gath. Near Eastern Archaeology 81/1: 34–36.