Levantine Archaeology

The symbolism of the two complementary figurines found at the Chalcolithic site of Gilat—a woman with a churn and a ram with cornets—is reconsidered. The male sexual symbolism of the ram, the seminal associations of the cornets, and their position on the animal’s back suggest that the ram figurine expresses the belief that semen, the vital element of paternal issue, originates in the spinal cord. With her emphasized genitals and the uterine symbolism of the churn, the woman figurine evokes the transformation of the semen into bones in the womb. Analysis of the red painting used in the figurines suggests that heat was considered the physical factor behind the production of semen and its ensuing transformation into bones. The analysis also underscores the importance of blood, the maternally transmitted vital fluid, for the formation of flesh in the embryo. These findings, echoed in other ancient cultures, attest to the earliest integrated representation of the phenomenon of procreation discovered so far. This representation, however, is perceptible only after the viewer is made aware of the hidden continuity in the ceramic wall between each figure (ram, woman) and its associated artifact (cornets, churn). It is concluded that, given that this esoteric information focuses on the mysteries of procreation, the two figurines may not necessarily represent deities.

The chronology of the Late Bronze Age (second half of the 2nd millennium BC), a key period characterised by a flourishing development of urban civilisation, is well known in western Syria, especially on the coast at Ugarit. However, the Late Bronze Age chronology in inner Syria and in particular in the middle Orontes valley still needs to be clarified. Recent excavations and archaeological surveys conducted at the site of Qatna and its surroundings have revealed new challenging data inducing a review of the Late Bronze Age chronology. This paper presents preliminary results of my PhD research on new ceramic findings from the Late Bronze Age excavations carried out in different operations by the Syrian team at Qatna from 2005 to 2010. An innovative approach is suggested that will allow the revision of chronological issues by establishing a new baseline reference for the stratigraphic sequences from Qatna through the examination of ceramic material. This examination based on traditional pottery studies is enhanced by petrographic analyses of ceramic sherds from Qatna and is accompanied by a comparative study of other Late Bronze Age sites in the Orontes valley region.

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.

An increase of cross-cultural learning as a consequence of increased travel and migration between Egypt and the Levant during the Iron Age occurred after millennia of migration in earlier times. The result was an Egyptian-Levantine koine, often not recognized as relevant by historians due to an uncritical reproduction of ancient myths of separation. However, the cultural exchange triggered by migration is attested in the language, in the iconography of the region, in the history of the alphabet, in literary motifs, in the characterization of central characters of the Hebrew Bible and, last but not least, in the rise of new religions, which integrated the experience of otherness in a new ethos.

In 2018, a team from the Austrian Archaeological Institute uncovered an alphabetic inscription that was painted onto a fragment of a Cypriote White Slip II milk bowl. The significance of the Lachish Milk Bowl Ostracon (LMBO) for biblical history cannot be overstated, as this ostracon ties the Israelites of Joshua's campaign directly to Canaan at the end of the 15th century BC. This inscribed potsherd from Lachish’s destruction layer, which dates to near the end of the Late Bronze Age I, attests to Israelites in Canaan just before 1400 BC. The ostracon includes a brief but legible writing in the script of the world’s oldest alphabet, whose prior attestation is reserved almost exclusively for inscriptions from Egypt (Lahun, Wadi el-Ḥôl) and Sinai (Wadi Naṣb, Serâbîṭ el-Khâdim), which the author previously demonstrated to be written in the Hebrew language. The LMBO is possibly the most definitive form of evidence of the Israelite conquest of Canaan yet discovered by archaeologists excavating in Israel.

Renewed excavations by Rome "La Sapienza" University at Motya in the last ten years (2002-2011) provided a new set of archaeological data concerning the area of the so-called "kothon" and the nearby South Gate, with the identification of a huge sacred compound, including a monumental temple (called Temple of the Kothon, since it was connected with was proved to be a sacred pool), and several other cult installations and structures. Investigations both in the temple proper area and in the southern sector of this compound brought about the earliest layers of Phoenician occupation in the island, with a series of wells, a huge building and the earliest cult devices. Diagnostic ceramic finds, with striking comparisons in Phoenicia, hint at dating in the second quarter of the 8 th century BC for the foundation of the colony, that is roughly 50 years earlier than previous thought. 1 Una presentazione preliminare della stratigrafia e della ceramica dall'area del Tempio del Kothon dall'VIII al VI secolo a.C. è offerta in L. NIGRO, "Alle origini di Mozia: stratigrafia e ceramica del Tempio del Kothon dall'VIII al VI secolo a.C.", in L. NIGRO (ed.), Motya and the Phoenician Repertoire between the Levant and the West, 9th -6th century BC.

Israel Finkelstein’s detailed criticism of my 2019 publication “The Architectural Bias in Current Biblical Archaeology” provides an opportunity to further clarify my arguments and to deepen the discussion on issues related to the early Iron Age archaeology of the Arabah and nearby regions. In addition to pointing out specific problems in Finkelstein’s treatment of the archaeological evidence—the dating of Khirbat en-Nahas fortress, the material culture of Tel Masos and more—I elaborate on my main argument regarding the prevailing methodological deficiencies in the interpretation of biblical-era nomads. I maintain that the chance discovery of a strong nomadic polity in the Arabah, whose existence is known to us solely because of its engagement in the archaeologically visible copper production activities, necessitates a revision in the common treatment of nomads in archaeology-based historical reconstructions. The basic conclusion is that archaeology is inadequate for providing any substantial historical and social insights regarding mobile societies; and while it might be frustrating to scholars who use archaeology as history, adhering to notions about nomadic existence that have not changed much since the days of William Foxwell Albright is not conducive to the quest for accurate historical realities (to the degree that these even exist).

This paper aims at highlighting a methodological flaw in current biblical archaeology, which became apparent as a result of recent research in the Aravah's Iron Age copper production centers. In essence, this flaw, which cuts across all schools of biblical archaeology, is the prevailing, overly simplistic approach applied to the identification and interpretation of nomadic elements in biblical-era societies. These elements have typically been described as representing only one form of social organization, which is simple and almost negligible in historical reconstructions. However, the unique case of the Aravah demonstrates that the role of nomads in shaping the history of the southern Levant has been underestimated and downplayed in the research of the region, and that the total reliance on stone-built archaeological features in the identification of social complexity in the vast majority of recent studies has resulted in skewed historical reconstructions. Recognizing this "architectural bias" and understanding its sources have important implications on core issues in biblical archaeology today, as both "minimalists" and "maximalists" have been using stone-built architectural remains as the key to solving debated issues related to the geneses of Ancient Israel and neighboring polities (e.g., "high" vs. "low" Iron Age chronologies), in which-according to both biblical accounts and external sources-nomadic elements played a major role.

ABSTRACT: Preface to the Guide:

Focus and limitations:
The compilation of this guide began in Spring 2007 as a series of check lists and book requests for the somewhat small collection of Egyptological and related works in M. H. Sterne library at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  During the development of several courses on Ancient Egypt, the Ancient Near East, and other areas spanning Prehistory through to the Roman period (and later), the collection grew, and continues to expand, and began to require a research paper guide for students enrolled in courses dealing with these geographic areas and time periods. The nature of the prime cliental, namely undergraduate to MA students in a North American setting, in conjunction with limited funding, has steered  –of necessity– the building of both Sterne library’s collections and this guide towards mostly English-language sources, less expensive works, and more easily available and more recent publications.

Overall aims:
In order to maximize student and public research usage of the existing, albeit still limited, collections, I have since compiled and incorporated selected journal articles, book chapters, encyclopedia entries, and other book titles from Sterne Library’s physical holdings (i.e., non-electronic sources) into diverse categories of research topics/subjects.  In addition, every effort has been made to add a full listing of electronic sources (including links) available to researchers of the geographic and temporal areas covered by this guide (i.e., mainly Prehistoric to Roman period Egypt).  The guide also provides general assistance for more serious/professional scholars (i.e., a quick reference to key articles, chapters, and volumes), but remains a tool aimed at English-speaking undergraduate-MA students and the public, focusing on Sterne’s holdings (note: other emerging Egyptological libraries will also approximate Sterne’s holdings).

Design and usage:
An attempt has been made to obtain sources spanning all aspects of Ancient Egypt and related areas, which have in-turn influenced the subdivision of the guide into general works, time periods, and diverse subject areas. Some of these categories have grown sufficiently large to merit further subdivision, such as the New Kingdom section, which has a general list of sources, materials regarding individual rulers, and a few affiliated topics of interest (Exodus; Sea Peoples).  I have attempted to place each source (i.e., books; book chapters; encyclopedia entries; journal articles) under each pertinent topic category that it covers, but naturally I may have missed some categories, while there may be other complementary and broader works that cover such topics elsewhere.  A list of the pertinent call number ranges has been placed at the end of the guide (see table of contents) to assist in the merits of additional shelf-browsing.

Beyond the guide:
Naturally there are numerous significant Egyptological sources outside Sterne Library’s holdings (including electronic links: e.g., JSTOR) that might be retrieved via interlibrary loan.  Sterne Library’s current Egyptological resources, however, are sufficient to introduce most areas of Egyptological research, and enable the researcher to consult the endnotes/footnotes and bibliographic data listed in recent books, articles, and encyclopedia entries to compile a list of further resources that may either be accessed via interlibrary loan, or possibly by visiting directly a neighbouring professional Egyptological library: e.g., the instructor (UAB); Atlanta (Emory University); Memphis (Memphis State University).

The collections in other Birmingham and Alabama libraries have online links via Sterne Library’s website, and offer many duplicate and different Egyptological works that are often accessible to the public/students: e.g., Birmingham Public Library, Gorgas Library (UA).  Naturally, I encourage students, faculty, and public researchers to see me for further assistance with this guide and their research topics.

Gregory Mumford (UAB)
Update: 15 Jan., 2021

PLEASE NOTE: This resource has received substantial updates in pertinent sections within the guide.  Some additional sorting of various articles/entries is still required, but these articles can be found, unsorted, at the end of the guide (e.g., articles from KMT, JSSEA, EA, etc., listed chronologically and by issue). I anticipate another update in the following year ...

A new analysis of the cult places in Palestine and Transjordan of the first millennium B.C. has been performed despite the many existing studies on the history and archaeology of Iron Age Palestine and Transjordan and on the religion of this period. This research was carried out in attempt to identify the main architectural development trends (it is difficult to say typologies) of Iron Age sacred architecture based on the documentation and analysis of all the cult places brought to light in the Southern Levant.
According to the Old Testament, the Israelites settled in Palestine during the Iron Age (ca. 1200-586 BC). They established the monotheistic cult of Yahweh and fought against their neighbours over territorial as well as cultural and religious issues. The Bible has been, and still is of great historical and political importance for the reconstruction of the roots of our civilisation, so much that even today biblical texts are considered historical documentation. The main issue is to verify the historicity of the events described by the Bible and to build, if possible, a history of Iron Age Palestine and Transjordan based on archaeological documentation independent from biblical tradition. The aim of this work is to be instrumental in developing a historical analysis of this subject and attempt to provide an objective archaeological documentation of the Iron Age cult places of Palestine and Transjordan.
The first part of the book illustrates the archaeological evidence. Data are arranged site by site, along with a brief history of the excavations. It also reports different interpretations by archaeologists of the material discovered based on re-examination of the documentation of past excavations, and, in some cases, contains additional remarks by the author. In this way, the available data and possible interpretations are kept apart, thus providing readers with a clear documentation and allowing them to choose the interpretative course they wish to pursue.
An initial difficulty encountered in this research is the inaccuracy of the data produced by the excavations. Archaeology is not an exact science, since human interpretation is always inevitably superimposed on documentation. Data provided by excavations of the first half of the 20th century are often confused in many respects, as there were no modern technologies of stratigraphic investigation and the current knowledge of the characteristics of pottery assemblage of every single period was not available. This documentation must be re-examined in the light of recent information, such as stratigraphic sequences obtained from new excavations at the same sites, or from comparison with recently discovered materials at other sites. Nonetheless, also data collected by recent archaeological researches can be distorted by the historical perspective of the archaeologists who dug and published the materials and structures that were brought to light.
The sites included in the analysis are grouped into four main geographical areas: Northern Palestine, Southern Palestine, the Southern Palestinian coast and Transjordan. It is inevitably an arbitrary subdivision, followed mainly to provide an initial idea of the geographical distribution of Iron Age cult places brought to light by archaeological excavations. No distinction was made between historical territorial areas, such as Philistia, Judah, Israel, Ammon, Moab and Edom, because these political organizations varied in extent considerably over the course of time and also rose at different times. Therefore, this approach prevented structures of a definite site phase from being attributed to a kingdom or a culture the site did not belong to, either because the kingdom or culture had not risen yet, or because its borders had shifted.
The documentation in the first part of the book is the outcome of a first important choice reached using criteria that help to identify what can be regarded as a cult place. The remains of Iron Age cult places in Palestine and Transjordan are in effect fairly poor, there being only few monumental structures whose architectonical and spatial plan, as well as use and function in the community, are clear. Diversely, there are many poorly preserved small buildings or simple installations whose sacred nature is much more difficult to define. For example some cult activities could share the same space used for other daily activities (such as in domestic sacella), thus producing difficult to interpret documentation. On this subject the teachings of Colin Renfrew have proven very useful to single out some elements of the archaeological context that can show the occurrence of sacred rituals. The presence of some of the indicators mentioned by Renfrew reveals a cult space even when it is clearly not a temple building that is easily identified by its architectonic plan and the materials collected inside. Other two elements that can help to identify a sacred place are the uninterrupted use of the same area for ritual purposes and the possible analogy of architectonic plan, characteristics and disposition of sacred furniture with other obvious cult structures. As M.D. Coogan observed, the religious sphere is in general conservative, so in multi-periodical sites the sacred area was possibly maintained on the same location for a long time, and cult structures followed traditional typologies.
The second part of the book tried to distinguish the presence of architectural and spatial typologies adopted in Iron Age cult places in Palestine and Transjordan, and hence to identify the common architectural traditions in the area. This level of research widened the reference geographical area and historical period and included some structures of Bronze Age sacred architecture (in particular buildings of Late Bronze Age) of Palestine and Transjordan, as well as some temples of the neighbouring lands connected with the Southern Levant during the Iron Age, i.e. Cyprus, Phoenicia, Syria, northern Mesopotamia and Egypt. This broadened horizon explained the origins of many characteristic elements of architectonic typologies documented in the area, whose development often did not strictly adhere to local customs but absorbed suggestions and accepted the architectonic and spatial traditions of neighbouring civilizations.
Many scholars have studied the sacred architecture of this period. In particular, Y. Shiloh’s analysis of the cult spaces of Palestine during the Iron Age stressed the presence of small cultic corners placed inside residential buildings as well as sacred structures like temples and sanctuaries, which, until then, had been regarded as almost the only examples of cult places existing in Iron Age Palestine. This consideration undermined the previous idea of a religion that was strictly organised within official public sacred areas and shed light on the presence of a variety of cult places with different functions and appearances.
The perspective proposed by A. Mazar paved the way to research on the comparison of architectonic traditions in the areas surrounding Palestine, in particular Cyprus and Syria. His conclusions sparked off a lively debate and are still a starting-point for future research.
J.S. Holladay’s analysis of regions ruled by the kingdoms of Judah and Israel during the Iron Age II provides many useful elements for understanding the complexity of cult forms and their architectonic expressions. The distinction between domestic and corporate cult places is particularly interesting and, within the latter, between sacred areas devoted to an established worship and those devoted to a “nonconformist” worship. The identification of a plurality of sacred spaces helped to reconstruct a more complex and complete picture of peoples’ religious life than the one offered by biblical accounts.
The third and last part of the book reviews the conclusions made in the previous two sections within a wider historical perspective, analysing the distribution of different cult place typologies during the various historical phases of the Iron Age. On one hand, the archaeological data gathered so far provide important data on the reconstruction of the religion, society and culture of the areas studied, while, on the other, the historical events themselves help to confirm the value of some interpretative hypothesis. Why particular typologies of cult place arose and what their function was in the societies of Palestine and Transjordan during the Iron Age, or why and how architectonic traditions and suggestions from other regions of the Near East and Mediterranean were adopted, can only be understood within the framework of a wider historical context. The extraordinary variety of cult spaces documented in this research seems to become readable and to make sense if the particular historical, social and political situation of the area is taken into account. The pattern of sacred architecture during the Iron Age appears to be coherent with the division of the Palestine-Transjordan region during this period into many political and cultural “niches” that were nevertheless open to suggestions coming from a wide international scenario (Egypt, Cyprus, Phoenicia, Syria, Assyria). There was neither a common cultural tradition in the region nor was there a dominant strong power, and this hindered the development of a coherent and univocal architectonic language, a tradition. And, the various “niches” of the area often adopted architectonic solutions that had been conceived by the neighbouring civilisations, i.e. in the coastal plain of Palestine, where elements of Cypriote architecture were often accepted, in Judah, where the Solomon temple followed a well established North Syrian tradition and some Phoenician inspirations, and in other areas of Palestine and Transjordan that were influenced by neo-Assyrian architecture.
This research identified some characteristic features of the whole area. In the first place, the articulation of populations’ religious life on several levels is evident, as previously mentioned by Holladay. The religious experience was not limited to participation in public official ceremonies, nor to private worship in the houses, but also took place in different cult spaces spread throughout the settlements, for example in quarter-sanctuaries or cult installations placed in public squares or next to fortified gates, or also in extra-urban sanctuaries. Secondly, it was possible to recognize the constant cohabitation of official worship and “Nonconformist” religion: the former generally took place in temples built by government institutions, while the latter was performed in simpler cult structures which often were less codified in their architectonic and spatial plan. Lastly, another feature shared by the numerous cultures documented in Palestine and Transjordan during the Iron Age was the persistence of a polytheistic religion, only partly stemmed by the emergence of some national gods, like Yahweh in the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, Milkom in Ammon, Kemosh in Moab and Qos in Edom. A strict monotheistic doctrine developed mainly in Judah and Israel, yet it did not manage to wipe out the other popular cults.
However, local originality and a new architectonic language can only be found in unofficial cult structures, in smaller temples, and in extra-urban and regional sanctuaries. These include the Iron Age temple of Tell ‘Arad, and the Hellenistic and Persian temples of Lakish and Beersheba based on the “Four-Room House” plan typical of Iron Age Palestine, the road-sanctuaries of Ḥorvat Qitmit and ‘Ain Ḥazeva and other extra-urban sanctuaries which followed a functional architectonic plan designed to delimitate a sacred area suitable for corporate rituals and to receive the offerings of travellers journeying along the trade roads.

To date, the earliest modern human fossils found outside of Africa are dated to around 90,000 to 120,000 years ago at the Levantine sites of Skhul and Qafzeh. A maxilla and associated dentition recently discovered at Misliya Cave, Israel, was dated to 177,000 to 194,000 years ago, suggesting that members of the Homo sapiens clade left Africa earlier than previously thought. This finding changes our view on modern human dispersal and is consistent with recent genetic studies, which have posited the possibility of an earlier dispersal of Homo sapiens around 220,000 years ago. The Misliya maxilla is associated with full-fledged Levallois technology in the Levant, suggesting that the emergence of this technology is linked to the appearance of Homo sapiens in the region, as has been documented in Africa.

Until 1993 there were conducted first excavations in what promised to be the site of one of the most important buildings of Petra, the stunning capital of the Nabataean kingdom. Its construction, whose initiation century BC, several changes, reconstructions and landslides along its more than five hundred years of operation. But despite this still unknown for certain functions for which it was designed and that, regardless of the construction elements, materials have been located just still less inscriptions that shed some light on a mystery that will try here exhibit various theories that enable closer to resolution.

Ce projet de recherche propose d'étudier les stratégies d'adaptation en milieu fragile (désert, steppe) au travers des « desert kites », de grandes constructions faites d’alignements de pierres convergeant vers un enclos (fig. 1). Longtemps considérés comme des pièges de chasse, les kites pourraient aussi avoir servi à la domestication animale. Dans un contexte archéologique large, où les kites semblent avoir été utilisés du Néolithique aux époques subactuelles, nous proposons une approche interdisciplinaire à la croisée de l’anthropologie (archéologie et ethnologie), de la géomatique et des sciences géoarchéologiques et bioarchéologiques.
Le projet couvre un domaine géographique important, qui s’étend du Caucase et de l’Asie Centrale au sud de la péninsule Arabique (Échallier & Braemer, 1995). Un premier inventaire bibliographique et des observations préliminaires d’images satellitaires ont révélé l’existence de plus de 1300 structures, dont 61 % connues et 39 % inédites (fig. 2). Ces découvertes récentes soulignent le potentiel tout à fait exceptionnel du projet : l'étude des kites à travers le temps et l'espace permettra de définir les stratégies d'exploitation des ressources animales en milieux bio-climatiques à fortes contraintes et d'analyser leurs conséquences, directes ou indirectes, sur le milieu.

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.

A cache of artifacts, recovered in 2014 by the cultural heritage squadron of the Guardia di Finanza (Gruppo Tutela Patrimonio Archeologico of the Nucleo Polizia Tributaria di Roma), included two Mycenaean stirrup jars among the pottery illegally brought into Italy from the Northern Levant. The stirrup jar has one of the most distinctive shapes of the Mycenaean repertoire and is found throughout the Mediterranean around the end of the Late Bronze Age. Even if removed from their original context, both of these stirrup jars can be ascribed to a distinctive cultural milieu within a specific chronological range, based upon morphological and stylistic parameters. Furthermore, their good state of preservation suggests that the original context of deposition may have been a tomb. Comparison with stirrup jars found at key sites in the Eastern Mediterranean allows us to re-contextualize them as part of the wide diffusion of Mycenaean luxury goods in the Levant.

Aufgrund der zahlreichen Elfenbein-und Knocheneinlagen, die in den Räumen R und Y des " Unterstadtpalastes " von Qaṭna gefunden wurden, hat sich schon M. Luciani mit dieser Fundgattung beschäftigt und auf die Möglichkeit eigener, in Qaṭna angesiedelter Elfenbeinwerkstätten hingewiesen, was sich aufgrund der neuesten Funde von Elefantenknochen im Palastbereich zu bestätigen scheint. Unter den Objekten, die aus der Gruft des Königspalastes in Qaṭna geborgen wurden, fanden sich ebenfalls zahlreiche Elfenbein-und Knochen-artefakte. Die meisten dieser Objekte sind aufgrund ihrer einseitigen Bearbeitung als Einlagen anzusprechen. Sie sollen im Folgenden in Gruppen eingeteilt, beschrieben und anschließend auf ihren Fundkontext und ihre Verteilung in der Gruft hin untersucht werden, um zu beleuchten, inwieweit eine Erschließung der genauen Funktion und der etwaigen Zusammengehörigkeit der Funde aus Elfenbein und Knochen möglich ist.

After summarizing earlier researches on Western Asiatic and Egyptian vitreous materials, the paper focuses on the relationship between faience and the development of glass manufacture in 2nd millennium Near East. It posits a fundamental cross-craft shifts in Upper Mesopotamia after the fall of Babylon, one in which metallurgical practices played a critical role in the emergence of glass vessel ateliers.

A preliminary analysis has been conducted on a zooarchaeological assemblage from the rescue excavation site of MDWR67 in Beirut, Lebanon. The small assemblage was recovered from agricultural deposits, mainly dating to the 4th-6th century AD (late Roman - early Byzantine period). Zooarchaeological studies from Roman-era Lebanon are virtually non-existent, despite the numerous large-scale contract and rescue archaeological projects that have been carried out since the end of the civil war (1990-present day). The aim of this paper is twofold: 1) To define a very basic outline on the animal economy and the diversity of species in the agricultural deposits from the outskirts of Beirut. 2) To highlight the necessity of collecting faunal remains to understand the role of animals within human societies in Lebanon during any archaeological period.

The image of the stone with seven eyes in the book of Zechariah 3-4 is very puzzling, and has been interpreted in various ways. In this study I will suggest that the most logical interpretation of this image lies in the Babylonian kalû ritual and the well-known mythological Sibittu iconography that was familiar and accepted by the returning Babylonian exiles. This iconography was chosen for a specific reason, and then was given a new identity by the prophet, probably as part of a certain agenda.

The diversity of plants and animals in the Land of Israel  resonates deeply with the Bible's imagery, commandments and depictions of daily life. In this short chapter we will attempt to provide a basic background to the flora and fauna of ancient Israel from an archaeological perspective. Our aim is to set the stage for discussion of human cultural and economic relationships with plants and animals in this region (addressed in future chapters) by focusing on the rise of ancient agro-pastoral systems and the changing natural landscape. We will begin with a snapshot of the natural landscape as it appears today, focusing on a few of the major vegetation and faunal types in Israel, before attempting a brief history of human-landscape interaction.

The flow of time can be divided into three aspects: past, present, and future. It is often believed that the past creates the present, and thus the future. Yet, the quest for the past is always motivated by perspectives from the present, and writing past events is an action inevitably related to the present of the authors/readers. In this sense, the present creates the past. Investigating archaeology’s past relating to the Hebrew Bible is nothing more than an examination of the contemporary situation of archaeology and the Hebrew Bible. To understand the current situation and proceed to the future, it is necessary to collect information from what happened in the past. This paper will present a history of the relationship between archaeology and the Hebrew Bible, from the origin of biblical archaeology to the era in which biblical archaeology was lauded as proving the historicity of biblical story, through the fall of biblical archaeology, and the rise of archaeology independent of the Hebrew Bible, and finally to a future where these two disciplines have the potential to work in harmony with each other.

ABSTRACT: The following 83 questions follow the documentary (no.7), National Geographic, Quest for the Phoenicians (55 minutes). It is a good documentary detailing diverse aspects of the heritage and achievements of the Phoenicians: WEB LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBObLQZdeq8.  The question sheet aids in furnishing a summary of the documentary's coverage and sequence of specific topics. The documentary introduces the Phoenicians' Canaanite background, geographic dispersal and trading network, and legacy via mostly hostile and biased Greek and Roman accounts.  The film's focus includes and interweaves (1) R. Ballard's past-current maritime investigation of known and sought after Phoenician shipwrecks (e.g., SW coast of the southern Levant; the Malta-Carthage trade route), (2) two geneticists' --(i.e., Pierre Zalloua and Spencer Wells)-- study of modern DNA from residents in modern Carthage, Tyre, and elsewhere (in comparison to samples from a tooth from a Phoenician royal burial of King Tabnit), (3) Paco Giles' excavations of a Phoenician cultic deposit in Gorham's Cave at Gibraltar, (4) Claude Dumet Sirhal's five seasons of excavations of a Phoenician cemetery and other Canaanite remains at Sidon, and (5) a Lebanese ship builders's reconstruction and sailing of a replica Phoenician ship. The documentary incorporates various discussions by other specialists, Larry Stager, Glenn Markoe, and Ian Morris, plus coverage of the biblical traditions regarding the Phoenicians, Herodotus' references to Phoenician voyages, the sites of Carthage and the Temple of Eshmun, and other aspects about Phoenician ships, navigation, trade, and rivalries with Rome.

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.

Archaeological discussions on prehistoric ritual are largely concerned with their material remains, including architectural debris. The first step in interpretation of such remains is their precise identification and categorization. There are numerous terms for objects and architectural remains that are widely utilized in the archaeological jargon, including, but not limited to, the terms temple, sanctuary and shrine. During almost a century of studying the Chalcolithic Ghassulian culture of the southern Le-vant, various architectural structures excavated at the sites of Teleilat Ghassul, Gilat and En Gedi have all been interpreted as temples, sanctuaries, or shrines – terms that in case of the Ghassulian culture are used as synonymous of temples. However, the actual architectural remains from these sites differ significantly and explicit definitions on what is meant by the terms used are rare. Apart from demonstrating the importance of properly defining a term in a context in which it is used, the aim of the present paper is to compare these various architectural remains, as well as various interpretations of Ghassulian society and the role the presumed temples played in them. This will be the basis for evaluating how classifying archaeological structures as temples has influenced interpretations of Ghassulian social organization.

Study of Levantine ivories has focused overwhelmingly on stylistic classification in pursuit of attribution to specific locations of production. This focus has had the effect of overlooking a consideration of the uses of ivories in the Levant as a whole. Starting from ivories found in predominately Levantine cultural contexts at Zincirli, Ḥamāh and Tall Ḥalaf, this paper examines the range of genres and forms of ivory objects consumed by Iron Age Levantine communities. As parts of furnishings, containers, toiletry items, and military gear, ivory played a central role in the display of elite Iron Age Levantine identities, both in life and death.

The last king of Ugarit, Ammurapi, sent Pharaoh Merenptah a letter in which he asked for a sculptor to be sent to Ugarit in order to make a statue of the Pharaoh. He promises to erect this statue in the renovated temple of Ba‘al of Ugarit. This request sheds not only interesting light on the development of new diplomatic ties between Egypt and Ugarit, but also the habit of the Egyptian kings to sent statues and stelae to the Levant and to have them erected in cities and temples abroad. This article discusses texts mentioning such statues of gods and royal personalities and also discoveries of such statues in Byblos, Beth Shean, Serabit el-Khadim and other places in the Levant from the 18th to the 22nd Dynasty.