Syro-Palestinian archaeology

This Forum discussion aims to explore the topic of repatriation from a variety of viewpoints considering twenty-first century realities in the region. The contributions
fall into three main categories addressing general background matters, presenting case studies and offering future directions. We hop  that the differing perspectives assembled in this issue of JEMAHS will contribute to the ongoing debate regarding repatriation, curation and ownership of artifacts, some now housed far from their places of origin.

Most scholars in the late 20th and early 21st century believed that cultic activity in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah was practiced in various temples that were scattered throughout the kingdoms. Still, a detailed study of the archaeological evidence on Israelite cult reveals that Israelite cultic buildings were extremely rare, both in absolute terms and when compared to other ancient Near Eastern societies, suggesting that cultic activity in temples was the exception rather than the norm and that typical Israelite cult was practiced in the household and in other, non-temple settings. Hence, the evidence suggests that rather than viewing temples, like the one in Arad, as exemplifying typical cultic activity, they should be viewed as exceptions that require a special explanation. The first part of the article develops and updates the suggestion, first raised about ten years ago, that Israelite temples were indeed extremely rare. Given the ancient Near Eastern context, however, such practices seems to be exceptional, and the second part of the article will therefore explain why was such a unique pattern not identified in the past, and will suggest a possible explanation as to how was such an outstanding practice developed and adopted.

Temples were nearly ubiquitous across the ancient Near East. Rather than serving as a gathering place for a worshipping congregation, a temple served as a terrestrial divine abode. In it, the god(s) lived amid society, yet carefully sequestered from it behind walls and doors. While primarily a residence, the temple also granted people limited access, usually for the purpose of divine service. The people believed that gods dwelt outside of the realm of human experience. Temples bridged the gap between human and divine, allowing regulated access to the deity, usually present in the form of a cult statue, and giving people the opportunity to influence the gods. Through this mutually beneficial interchange, the gods received the service they desired, while the people hoped their service would elicit divine protection and blessing. Protection and blessing, though, were conditional. The gods would remain and stay favorably disposed only if they were satisfied with their accommodation and service. Temples then, at least in theory, were lavishly and fastidiously constructed and maintained in order to keep the gods happy. This article focuses on the major temples, especially those from 1500–500 BCE, in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Hittite Anatolia, and Syria-Palestine. The article also focuses on the structure and ideology of the temples, not the rituals performed within them. For the most part, biblical and Israelite references will be kept to a minimum, as they are numerous enough to warrant their own article. Too numerous to include, archaeological reports generally have been excluded, yet they are referenced in the works cited and may be found with a Google web search.

Üç semavi dinin kutsal mekânı, Müslümanların ilk kıblesi Kudüs hakkında ne biliyoruz?
Uğrunda mücadeleler verilen ve asırlarca farklı hâkimiyetler altında kalan Kudüs tarih boyunca hep “Halilullah” şehri olarak saygı görmüştür. Mukaddes belde Kudüs, İslam Tarihi boyunca ama özellikle Osmanlı asırlarında bütün dinlerin bir arada yaşayabildiği bir barış adası olmuştur.
Bugün Filistin meselesi sürekli dünya gündeminde yüz yıldır çözüme kavuşturulamıyor. Bu kavganın sebebi bütün dinler nazarında mukaddes sayılan Kudüs’ün ve Mescid-i Aksâ’nın bu topraklar üzerinde yer almasıdır.
Elinizdeki kitap, dünyanın göz bebeği olan Kudüs’ün tarihine ve önemine ışık tutmak amacıyla kaleme alındı. Kudüs’ün tarih sahnesine çıktığı zamanlardan günümüze kadar olan serüveni ve semavi dinler için taşıdığı önemi bütüncül bir bakış açısıyla 100 soruda (başlıkta) anlatıldı. Tarihi süreklilik gözetilerek seçilen sorular cevaplanırken olay örgülerinin arka planı ve sonrasında ortaya çıkan durumlar akıcı bir dille aktarıldı. Eserde verilen soruların cevapları titiz bir çalışmanın ürünü olarak ortaya konuldu. Kitap, güvenilir kaynaklara ve arşiv belgelerine ve onlara dayalı yapılan akademik çalışmalara müracaat edilerek yazıldı.
Elinizdeki kitap, Kudüs okumaları yapacaklar için ilk başvuru kitabı; Kudüs'e seyahat edecekler için de bir tarihi rehber olarak hazırlandı.

Olga Tufnell’s ‘Perfect Journey’

By Jack Green and Ros Henry

Blog published on TrowelBlazers, April 26, 2021.

https://trowelblazers.com/olga-tufnells-perfect-journey/

Excerpt:  Olga Tufnell (1905‒1985) was a British archaeologist who mainly worked in Palestine in the 1920s and 1930s, whose archive of letters and photographs are housed at the Palestine Exploration Fund, London. She is best known for her scholarly publications on the excavations of Tell ed-Duweir (ancient Lachish), as well scarabs and stamp seals from the East Mediterranean. You can read her full TrowelBlazers bio here. Tufnell’s reminiscences and letters provide insights into dig life during the so-called “golden age” of archaeology in the Holy Land, and the wider cultural, political, and gendered context of fieldwork within Mandate Palestine.

In our new open access book entitled Olga Tufnell’s “Perfect Journey.” Letters and Photographs of an Archaeologist in the Levant and Mediterranean (UCL Press), we present her letters from this period for the first time. They provide a personal account of her experiences, shedding light on travel and dig life during extraordinary times.

The letters offer insights into social and professional networks and the history of archaeology. They provide a contemporary view of the role of foreign archaeologists, relationships with local workers and their families, and the colonial frameworks within which they operated. The letters are important because they give Olga Tufnell’s viewpoint as an individual at times and places which saw significant social and political change. The letters reflect the attitudes of the day: some static and resistant to change; others indicating the growing acceptance of women in a man’s world.

Practically every culture distinguishes between clean and unclean things, actions, and people. This is true for simple hygiene as well as for ritual or
religious purity. While in most cultures both men and women can become polluted, impurity is more often associated with women, especially during menstruation. Consequently, restrictions on menstruating women were imposed in a vast number of societies—both ancient and modern—including ancient Israel, where the Bible regarded all bodily emissions as defi ling and women were regulated by the niddah laws.
Throughout history, various societies have developed different ways of separating the pure and the impure, usually by imposing restrictions on the movement and behavior of the impure. The question of impurity, therefore, has a spatial dimension, and rules governing impurity had to be formulated in relation to space. So how were women and their families expected to follow such restrictions within the specific conditions of their settlements and houses?
This paper analyses this question within the context of Iron Age Israel, and demonstrates how this society separated the pure and the impure within the domestic context.

عرض كتاب (العلاقات البحرينية الفلسطينية) لمؤلفه المؤرخ البحريني راشد الجاسم. "باللغة العربية" (كتب هذا العرض: د. علي فيصل الصديقي)

The book (Bahraini-Palestinian Relations) was presented to its author, Bahraini historian Rashid Al-Jassem. (wrote this presentation: Dr. Ali Faisal Al-Siddiqi)-  "In Arabic"

The rural sites of the Middle Bronze Age have not received much scholarly attention. A number of sites were excavated over the years, however, and the accumulating data allows a discussion of Middle Bronze Age rural communities. An analysis of the archaeological evidence indicates that the villages can be divided into two main groups. An in-depth examination of the archaeological data, in light of ethnographic and historical data, suggests that these villages should be interpreted as belonging to the following types: A few villages, exhibiting a surprisingly high standard of living, should be viewed as ‘independent’ villages. Other villages were ‘owned’ by a person/family or by an institution. The latter is divided into two subtypes depending on whether the landlord was present or absent. In the first, poor dwellings were the norm, but one can identify an outstanding structure, greatly surpassing the rest, that hosted the landlord. The second type is characterized by poor standards of living throughout the site, as all the surpluses were sent outside and left the village.

This entry focuses on the religions in the northern Hejaz and neighboring regions during the Late Bronze and Iron Ages and later (ca. 1500-300 BCE), the first time when there is firm archaeological and epigraphic evidence of local cultic practices.

The late Antique mosaic of Orpheus decorated a small room, approximately 18 m2 in area, connected with two even smaller ones, in 4 m2 and the other 2 m2 in area, belonging most likely to a small funerary chapel (or tomb) discovered in the ancient necropolis by the Damascene Gate in Jerusalem; it was discovered in 1901 by H. Vincent.
The author proposes a new interpretation of the iconographic program of the Orpheus myth used by wealthy Christians in a sepulchral context (see Olszewski M.T. «Orphée endeuillé de la mosaïque funéraire de Jérusalem», in Rey Mimoso-Ruiz, B. ed., Actes du colloque «Orphée entre Soleil et ombre», à l’Institut Catholique de Toulouse du 16 au 17 novembre 2007, Inter Lignes, numéros spécial – mars 2008, pp. 205-214, 226). He also proposes a new interpretation of the role Orpheus played in Roman funerary art, concentrating on the importance of the play on words and the visual and textual punning that was popular in ancient art and especially in funerary art. He rejects the popular interpretation of Orpheus as Christ in the Roman catacombs and proposes to interpret the image as that of Orpheus, bard of the departed souls, without any ahistorical connection with Christ. The program of the mosaic from Jerusalem is thus explained as a play on the words Orpheus-orphanos and Chiron (Chi-Rho) and Pan [Παν(τοκράτωρ)].The frequently used Christian funerary formula of resting in peace, Christ or the Lord corresponds
perfectly with the mood created around the mythical bard.
Orpheus’ universal role as singer and musician moving even the most stony of hearts, extolling the beloved departed, is absolutely justified in the context of a 6th-century Christian tomb. Orpheus is a popular and neutral figure, meaning that in effect it does not constitute a threat to Christian theology and can be tolerated by the educated Christians of Jerusalem.

Ancient Israel did not emerge within a vacuum but rather came to exist alongside various peoples, including Canaanites, Egyptians, and Philistines. Indeed, Israel's very proximity to these groups has made it difficult - until now - to distinguish the archaeological traces of early Israel and other contemporary groups. Through an analysis of the results from recent excavations in light of relevant historical and later biblical texts, this book proposes that it is possible to identify these peoples and trace culturally or ethnically defined boundaries in the archaeological record. Features of late second-millennium B.C.E. culture are critically examined in their historical and biblical contexts in order to define the complex social boundaries of the early Iron Age and reconstruct the diverse material world of these four peoples. Of particular value to scholars, archaeologists, and historians, this volume will also be a standard reference and resource for students and other readers interested in the emergence of early Israel.

In a special thematic issue of Journal of Ancient Judaism edited by Jonathan Kaplan and Kelley Coblentz Bautch.

Modern commentators on the Vitae Prophetarum have tended to assume that every prophet’s burial in this text was considered monumental in scale. A close examination of the language used to describe each burial yields a different picture. The monumentality of tombs is scarcely emphasized. Instead, the prophets are buried in one of three ways: in a more-or-less monumental rock-cut tomb just outside Jerusalem, in a rock-cut tomb on the prophet’s own property, or in an indistinct field grave. This typology agrees with the emerging archaeological record of socioeconomic distinctions in burial practices. Whereas Jewish elites were buried in rock-cut tombs around Jerusalem or, more modestly, on their own estates, non-elites were interred in simple trench graves. This study demonstrates that the Vitae Prophetarum corroborates this relationship between burial types and socioeconomic distinctions, placing priestly elites and landowners in rock-cut tombs but the humbler prophets in trench graves.

http://reichert-verlag.de/autor/r/ritter_markus/9783895006791_der_umayyadische_palast_des_8_jahrhunderts_in_hirbat_al_minya_am_see_von_tiberias-detail

The book provides an archaeological and art historical study of the architecture and the architectural decoration of the remarkable palatial residence in Khirbat al-Minya at Lake Tiberias in northern Palestine, modern Israel. It constitutes the first monograph publication of finds from German excavations at the site in 1932–39 and their archaeological record, and it contributes to the discussion on Umayyad art and its relation to Early Byzantine and Late Antique art in the Bilad ash-Sham.

More than 20 years after presenting his first interpretation of the mosaic from the House of Aion in a paper entitled “Uwagi na temat mozaiki z Domu Aiona w Nea Paphos (Cypr)” (Meander 9/10, 1987, p. 421-438, in Polish, and translated to English: « The Immortality of the Human Soul and the Dionysiac Mysteries in the 4th Century Allegory [in Connection with the Interpretation of the Mosaic from the “House of Aion” at Paphos in Cyprus]»), where he proposed reading the five mythological panels (1. Leda and Zeus; 2. Dionysus on Mount Nysa; 3. The Dionysian thiasos; 4. Apollo and Marsyas; 5. The Apotheosis of Cassiopeia) as an allegory of the destiny of the human soul and body, starting with conception and ending with the liberation of the soul and its apotheosis, the author now enhances his initial interpretation with numerous reflections concerning the historical context of this work of art, created in the years 320-360.
If, according to the author, the mosaic is a “Hymn” in honour of the pagan gods, Man (his soul) and his place in the (pagan) universe, then at the same time it polemicises with the Christian faith and its God, Jesus Christ.
The author puts forward numerous new solutions relating to the mosaic’s iconography and iconology. Analysis of the mosaic also leads him to propose a solution to the as-yet unanswered question regarding the absence of images of the crucified Christ in Christian art of the 3rd and 4th centuries, up until 420/430, when the first images of Christ on the cross appear.
CONTENTS:
Introduction
1. Research to-date (recap)
2. Description of mosaic (recap)
2.1. Composition of five mythological scenes
2.2. Brief iconographic description of mythological panels
2.3. Outline of individual iconographic elements and their respective roles
2.4. The pagan gods’ air of majesty and dignity as an expression of piety
3. A few words about the pagan reaction
4. An apology of pious human life according to pagan principles and a polemic on the Christian model of Man and his theological idol, Jesus Christ
4.1. Divine intervention in the act of human conception (allusion to/polemic on the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary)
4.2. The Epiphany of Dionysus (an allusion to the Epiphany of Christ – Theou Pais)
4.3. The procession and dissemination of Dionysian order (allusion to/polemic on Christ’s entry into Jerusalem)
4.4. The error of Marsyas (polemic on/allusion to the error of Jesus the Messiah): arrest, sentencing for arrogance and lack of piety (asebeia) and condemnation to a martyr’s death
4.5. The anabasis (or anagoge psyches) of a ‘beautiful soul’ (allusion to/polemic on the Ascension of Christ)
5. A few words on the mosaic programme prior to final conclusions
Final conclusions

Early balance weights have been found at several Early Dynastic/Akkadian/Ur III sites in southern Mesopotamia since the late 19th century but not all were identified as such and very few have been published adequately. The existence of weight metrology already in the Chalcolithic period cannot be verified so far. In Syria, a steadily increasing number of weights have come to light in excavations at Early Bronze Age sites in the last decades. In a recent comprehensive and not yet published study, the author has assembled nearly 2000 third-millennium balance weights from 163 sites between the Aegean and western India, and discussed them under chronological, contextual and metrological aspects. In this contribution, some results concerning Mesopotamia and western Syria will be presented.

This article is a response to W. Meacham's comment on the coin-on--eye/coin-in-skull burial custom as published in R. Hachlili and A.E. Killebrew 1983 "Was the Coin-on-Eye Custom a Jewish Burial Practice in the Second Temple Period?" that appeared in Biblical Archaeologist 46 (1983).

The construction of the Temple was a massive event in the history of Israel. Many of the sedentary peoples that early Hebrews came into contact with in Canaan had a history of building temples and shrines to their deities. The Hebrews apparently did not (although nothing is known of how they worshipped in Egypt). It is recorded in the Bible that foreigners were used to construct the Temple. An important question is why. Various passages in the Bible make references to worship at high places (which had various structures) as well as a holy tent. Before moving on to the construction of the Temple these two types of semi-permanent/temporary structures will be considered.

The notion of a United Monarchy of Israel has been a hotly debated topic since at least the 1980s, especially since the archaeological record did not seem to reflect a vast kingdom that many presume to have existed, perhaps rivaling that of an empire, if the biblical account is accurate. This has called into question whether a Davidic dynasty ever existed, and whether a historical David ever lived. The archaeological evidence that has been excavated between the 1990s and 2010s has counteracted many of these criticisms, and one of the key sites that has contributed to the silencing of the critics is Khirbet Qeiyafa, a military outpost on the western fringe of the Shephelah designed to deter Philistine advances into Judah. Yosef Garfinkel has argued that the site was occupied exclusively during the Iron Age IIA, which equates to the reign of David. Lily Singer-Avitz has countered that Qeiyafa was inhabited instead during the Iron Age IB, which equates to the reign of Saul. The matter to resolve here is whether the short-lived site of Khirbet Qeiyafa was occupied during Saul’s reign, during David’s reign, or spanned both reigns.

¿Pretende la arqueología “demostrar” la veracidad de la Biblia? ¿Puede ser considerada la Biblia como un libro de historia? ¿Cabe hablar todavía de arqueología bíblica? ¿Por qué surgen tantas fake news en torno a la arqueología bíblica? ¿Qué tipo de luz puede arrojar la arqueología al estudio de la Biblia? ¿Puede localizarse el paraíso terrenal? ¿Existen evidencias del diluvio universal o de la torre de Babel? ¿Qué tienen de leyenda las historias patriarcales? ¿Fue posible en Egipto un éxodo de esclavos? Los israelitas ¿huyeron de Egipto o fueron expulsados? El faraón del éxodo, ¿fue un hombre o una mujer? ¿Cómo fue el asentamiento de Israel en Canaán: conquista violenta, incursión pacífica o evolución progresiva? Las murallas de Jericó, ¿fueron derribadas por las trompetas de Josué o las encontró ya destruidas? ¿Hay evidencias arqueológicas de los reinados de David y Salomón? ¿Cuál es la importancia de Qumrán para la arqueología bíblica? ¿Por qué nunca aparecen en los evangelios Séforis, Magdala o Tiberias? ¿Es verdadera la tumba de Jesús?

Todas estas preguntas te las van a contestar en primera persona los principales arqueólogos de Tierra Santa de todos los tiempos: Warren, Garstang, Woolley, Albright, Flinders-Petrie, Yadin, Kenyon, de Vaux, Parrot, Mazar, Glueck, el matrimonio Dothan, Dever, Ben-Tor, Garfinkel, Barkay, Finkelstein… Aquí radica una de las novedades de este libro. Muchos arqueólogos se han acercado a la Biblia con respeto y delicadeza. Ahora es un biblista el que se acerca a la arqueología con las mismas actitudes, sin pretender usurpar la profesionalidad de un arqueólogo. La presentación es sencilla y fresca —en ocasiones, desenfadada—, que no superficial con 300 fotografías, ilustraciones y mapas. El experto encontrará una síntesis importante del estado de la cuestión en las diversas épocas arqueológicas con materiales bibliográficos actualizados y pistas para seguir profundizando. El lector que se acerque por primera vez a esta disciplina, sea o no creyente, quedará conquistado por las historias de búsquedas y hallazgos, por la explicación de algunos textos bíblicos y cómo la arqueología nos ayuda a comprenderlos, por el descubrimiento de los magníficos tesoros que encierran las páginas milenarias de la Biblia y las colinas de Tierra Santa que apenas están siendo desenterradas aunque hayan pasado ya casi dos siglos de excavaciones.

The  collared pithos has attracted  the  attention of many scholars and  archaeologists for nearly seventy years, largely owing to its reputation as a container associated with the emer­gence of Israel during the Iron I period. However, though it is one of the most discussed vessels appearing in the ceramic assemblage of ancient Israel, its  significance is still poorly understood. This paper re-examines the collared pithos in the archaeological record. Two sites  where collared pithoi have appeared, Beit Shean and Giloh, are showcased here as representing two different  phenomena associated with the appearance of this vessel. A typology is proposed for the collared pithos, and an examination of its context and provenience is summarized.

In 2002, excavations at Qatna, a Bronze Age palatial site located in Syria, uncovered an elite tomb complex underneath the Royal Palace.  The multi-room chamber tomb, associated grave goods, and skeletal remains illustrate some of the clearest archaeological evidence of a Bronze Age Near Eastern ancestor cult that heavily relied on feasting activities and kinship networks.  Mesopotamian textual sources refer to this as kispum, and Ugaritic sources show possible parallels in funerary traditions, albeit with different vocabulary.     
These potential parallels in texts, as well as archaeological practices, such as subfloor burials that permeated Mesopotamia and the Levant in the Middle Bronze Age, raise questions about why societies with such different material culture and development trajectories might have practiced similar burial beliefs and rituals. Analyzing Middle Bronze Age sites in Syria as specific case studies in a wider Mesopotamian and Levantine context illuminates the parallels in these burial traditions.  An emphasis on kinship through feasting-centric funerary rituals allowed the individuals in Israel, Syria, and Mesopotamia to retain a sense of self and identity in a world where borders and political dynasties were constantly shifting between different cultural groups.  This essentially created a pan-Near Eastern mortuary practice, with localized variety and quirks.

The 7th century BCE in Philistia and Judah is characterized by economic prosperity, which is usually regarded as resulting from the “Assyrian Peace”, and from a policy of the Assyrian empire that aimed at maximizing production. The large center for the production of olive oil that was unearthed at Ekron in southern Israel is regarded as the best example of this policy. The present paper questions this scholarly consensus regarding the role of Assyria in the economy of the southern Levant, through a closer look at the olive oil industry in the region.

This Handbook aims to serve as a research guide to the archaeology of the Levant, an area situated at the crossroads of the ancient world that linked the eastern Mediterranean, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. The Levant as used here is a historical geographical term referring to a large area which today comprises the modern states of Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, western Syria, and Cyprus, as well as the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the Sinai Peninsula.

Unique in its treatment of the entire region, it offers a comprehensive overview and analysis of the current state of the archaeology of the Levant within its larger cultural, historical, and socio-economic contexts. The Handbook also attempts to bridge the modern scholarly and political divide between archaeologists working in this highly contested region. Written by leading international scholars in the field, it focuses chronologically on the Neolithic through Persian periods - a time span during which the Levant was often in close contact with the imperial powers of Egypt, Anatolia, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia. This volume will serve as an invaluable reference work for those interested in a contextualised archaeological account of this region, beginning with the 'agricultural revolution' until the conquest of Alexander the Great that marked the end of the Persian period.