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"Again he began to teach by the lakeside, but such a huge crowd gathered round him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there. The people were all along the shore, at water's edge." Mark 4:1 (JB)

Publishedwith the financialassistanceof ZION RESEARCH FOUNDATION Boston, Massachusetts A nonsectarianProtestantfoundation for the study of the Bible and the historyof the ChristianChurch

Seals

Cylinder

of Third-Millennium Palestine Ben-Tor Amnon The first part consists of a detailedcatalog,includingline drawings and photographs of all third-millennium cylinder seals and seal impressions found in Palestine. The major part comprises a discussion of the artistic motifs, geographical distribution, comparativematerialfromneighboringcountriesand chronologyof the seals and seal impressions.Finally,the placeof the glypticartof Palestinein the context of that of the entire ancient Near East is reviewed.

Biblical Archeologist is published quarterly (March, May, September, December) by the American Schools of Oriental Research in cooperation with Scholars Press. Its purpose is to provide the general reader with an accurate scholarly yet easily understandable account of archeological discoveries, and their bearing on the biblical heritage. Unsolicited mss. are welcome but should be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Address all to Biblical editorial correspondence Archeologist, 1053 LSA Building, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. Address business correspondence to Scholars Press, .P,-O.Box 5207, Missoula, MT 59806.

Copyright ? 1977 American Schools of Oriental Research. Annual Subscription: $10.00. Current single issues: $2.50. Printed in the United States of America, Printing Department, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812.

Editor: David Noel Michigan

Freedman,

University

of

77-13226

ISBN0-89130-188-7

AvailableJanuary,1978

PRSS SCHOLARS OF MONTANA UNIVERSITY

Order No. 100022

MONTANA 59812 MISSOULA,

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Editorial Committee: Frank M. Cross, Harvard University Edward F. Campbell, Jr., McCormick Theological Seminary John S. Holladay, Jr., University of Toronto H. Darrell Lance, Colgate-Rochester Divinity School

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Cover Galilee-Site Sketch of CapernaumAmphitheater.

Credits: "The Acoustics of Crowd Capacity of Natural Theaters in Palestine:"charts by Mark Myles, c/o Bolt, Beranek & Newman Inc.; photographs by Mark Myles and B. Cobbey Crisler, c/o B. Cobbey Crisler. "The Search for Maccabean Gezer:"Fig. 1 by R. A. Lyons, Fig. 2 by Susan Moddel, Fig. 3 by R. A. Lyons; all figures c/ o Joe D. Seger. "Kadesh-barnea: Judah's Last Outpost:" Fig. 2 c/o Carol Meyers, Rudolph Cohen, and the Israeli Department of Antiquities and Museums; Fig. 1 c/o Richard W. Cleave. "St. Paul Shipwrecked in Dalmatia:" all illustrations c/doOtto F. A. Meinardus.

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BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGIST

B. Cobbey Crisler

128

THE ACOUSTICS AND CROWD CAPACITY OF NATURAL THEATERS IN PALESTINE A manwitha pinand sevenredballoons,standingon a rockin the Lake of Galilee,devisesa remarkablearcheologicaltest.

Joe D. Seger

142

THE SEARCH FOR MACCABEAN GEZER Macalister's"MaccabeanCastle"has now been recognizedas a Solomonicgate.Butthenwhereis thegarrisonof 1 Maccabees13?

Otto F. A. Meinardus

145

ST. PAUL SHIPWRECKED IN DALMATIA Themongooserunswildin onlyone placein Europe,anda slender oral traditionlinks St. Paul to just that spot.

Carol Meyers

148

KADESH BARNEA: JUDAH'S LAST OUTPOST New evidenceon the tenacityof Judeansettlersin the northern Negeb.

George E. Mendenhall

152

"CHANGE AND DECAY IN ALL AROUND I SEE": CONQUEST, COVENANT, AND THE TENTH GENERA TION Further reflections on a famous hypothesis that traumatic political and culturaldiscontinuityoccurredroughlyevery250 yearsin the ancientworld.

122

A LETTER TO THE READERS

124

POLEMICS & IRENICS

125

NEWS FROM THE FIELD

158

TWENTY FIVE YEARS AGO

160

COLOPHON

A LETTER TO THE READERS

Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary offers two developed meanings of the word culture. The first is: enlightenmentand excellenceof taste acquiredby intellectualand aesthetictraining. The second is: a. a particularstage of advancementin civilization. b. the characteristicfeaturesof such a stage or state. c. behaviortypicalof a groupor class. Of these two meanings, the first is value-laden, and the second aspires to be value-free. When we speak of "a gentleman of culture,"we have the first meaning in mind. When we speak of "the culture of the Trobriand Islands," we have the second meaning in mind. Biblical archeology began as the recovery of the material remains of a set of cultures prized rather than studied, reverentlycelebrated ratherthan dispassionately examined. To be sure, the ancient Israelite and early Christian cultures were not honored for their aesthetic brilliance nor, without heavy qualification, for their intellectual power. But as Athens for thought and Rome for government, so Jerusalem was the model for religion and morality; and the recoveryof Jerusalem'sculture was the effort to unclog a tributaryflowing into a riveralready swift and sure in its course: the main stream of European culture. Scientific archeology, by contrast, arose as the study of the material remains of cultures understood in the second of the two quoted senses; and it arose when -

122

and perhaps because - Europe had begun to lose confidence in its synthesis of Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem. Scientific archeology, to no small extent, was an anxious search for better alternatives. In Archaeologists and What They Do, Robert J. Braidwood made this distinction as follows: Some archaeologistswho have written about the historyof thisbranchof knowledgespeakof twoseparate and distinctarchaeologies.The first archaeology,they say,aroseduringthegreatrebirthof intellectualcuriosity, the Renaissance,whichspreadfromItalyinto the restof Europe following about A.D. 1400. This intellectual curiosity had as a particularfocus of attention the antiquityof Greece,Rome,and the Biblelands.Johann a Germanbornin 1717,whospentmostof Winckelmann, his life as an art historianin Rome, is often called the "father of archaeology." Winckelmann wrote, for example,that "by no people has beautybeen so highly esteemedas by the Greeks."The archaeologistswho followed in the intellectualtraditionof Winckelmann had,as a rule,littleinterestin any otherpastthanthatof Greece, Rome, or the Bible lands. Nor were these archaeologistsmuch interestedin the objects that the ordinaryGreekor Romanor NearEasterneruseddaily. The archaeologists of the Winckelmann fine-arts traditionconcentratedtheirstudyon suchthingsas vase painting,sculpture,and monumentalarchitecture. The secondor alternatestreamof archaeologyis said to havearisenjust over one hundredyearsago, as partof the greatburstof interestin the naturalsciences.

DECEMBER 1976

The appearanceof CharlesDarwin'sOriginof Speciesin 1859and of Sir CharlesLyell'sTheAntiquityof Manin 1863could perhapsbe takenas the base line of serious archaeologyin the traditionof the naturalsciences.It was, however,the earlysociologistsandanthropologists, such as the AmericanLewis Henry Morgan and the EnglishmenHerbertSpencerand EdwardBurnettTylor, who gave the archaeologyof this traditionits particular slant. In effect, these men asked, If there was natural biological evolution, why might not there be social evolutionas well?Arethere,perhaps,stillexistingin outof-the-wayplacesin theworld,livingsocialfossils?Or,by excavatingthe remainsof peopleswhooncelivedin other partsof the world than in Greece,Rome, or the Bible lands,maywe not findotherfossilsof socialevolution?

The progress to which Albright referred was undeniable and has continued. However, more than he may have realized, it was the result not of the sudden maturation of archeology into a science but rather of the application of the attitudes and techniques of an already scientific archeology to a subject matter previously controlled by the humanities. Biblical archeology has by now developed scientific techniques and specializations of its own, but to some extent its rapid progress has been financed with intellectual capital accumulated in the more value-free, naturalistic archeology that arose after Darwin to investigate pre-historic and non-western remains. A knowledge of the Bible, including the geography and monumental remains of the Holy Land, was once part of culture in the gentlemanly sense. Now, that same knowledge has been appropriated for a less a first As BIBLICALARCHEOLOGIST gentlemanly purpose and bids fair to be integrated into a year completes in its new format, we may be excused if we pause to glance program not of its own making. The question before biblical archeology today backward and forward, asking in just what sense biblical then is whether it will study the cultures of ancient Israel culture constitutes the object of our study. The beginnings and the early Christian church because it believes them to of an answer, and a reminderof our debt to teachers and have an excellence worthy of close understanding and, in be W. F. remarks Albright's sought colleagues, may mutatis mutandis, of propagation into our own time or thirteen years ago on the occasion of G. Ernest Wright's whether it will study them simply as one set of cultures retirementas editor of the journal he had founded. Under the heading "George Ernest Wright and the BIBLICAL among many, pregnant perhaps with some insight into the nature of culture or some feature worthy of ad hoc ARCHAEOLOGIST," Albright wrote: imitation but offering nothing like a comprehensive Withina fewmonthsof receivinghis Ph.D. (June,1937), revelation. Dr. Wright launched a modest quarterly into the Either alternative has its coherence. BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGIST chooses the former.Those who edit and competitivenaumachy.The first issue had only four pagesof offset,containingtwo shortarticles,one by the write for this quarterlywere, in the main, convinced even writerof theselines,theotherby theeditor,as wellas two before they began their learned investigation, that the short announcements.The first "volume"had only 32 cultures (in the second sense) of ancient Israel and the pagesof offset,but the secondvolumewas partlyprinted early Christian church deserved to make a privileged and ran to 48 pages.After two enlargementsin format, contribution to the culture (in the first sense) of our own in type-face,Vol. accompaniedby markedimprovements day and our own part of the world. Social evolution, they XXIII (1960)increasedin sizeto 132pages. Meanwhile, believe, cannot be progresswithout this contribution. The the pricehad risenfrom50 centsto $1.50.It is still[1963] techniques of scientific archeology may be value-free, but only $2.00 a year, which is remarkablyinexpensive the program of biblical archeology, taken as a whole, is, consideringthe cost of printingand engravingtoday. they believe, value-laden, and unapologetically so. The Now the Schools can look backon a quartercenturyof task of turning new tools to an old purpose without either this extraordinarilyuseful and reliablelittlejournal,as destroying them in the process or allowing them subtly to well as on a steadilygrowingsubscriptionlist.... dictate a new purpose is as difficult as it is unavoidable; WhenDr. Wrightbeganto publishthe BIBLICAL but it is to that purpose that this quarterly is dedicated. over a quarter-centuryago, it was much ARCHAEOLOGIST harderto find suitablecontributorsand contributions than it is today. Biblicalarchaeologywas then a field largely occupied by amateurs without any serious John A. Miles, Jr., who came to BIBLICALARCHEOLOGIST preparationin any scholarlyor scientificarearelevantto a year ago to manage the re-design of the quarterlyand its the subject.Theprogressregisteredin the fieldsince1938 re-direction to a larger audience, leaves after the present hasbeenperfectlyincredible,at leastfromthestandpoint issue to return to his own writing and to his position as of that date. Well-trainedyounger men are now associate editor for religious books at Doubleday and appearingall overtheworld,andwe maybe permittedto Company, Inc. The comments reprintedin"Polemics and cherisha hope thatthisprogresswillcontinue,withoutan Irenics" (see below) are a tribute to Jack's imagination abruptend,in a worldwhichchangesbeforeourveryeyes and perseverance in a difficult task. Ave atque vale. - often for the worse. BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGIST

123

Congratulations on the new format for the Biblical Archeologist. I like it very much. I think that the editorial board is making the proper move in restoring the original purpose of the journal.

POLEMICS & IRENICS BIBLICAL

ARCHEOLOGIST welcomes

correspondencefrom its readers and will make every effort to print those letters, particularly, that bring new evidence or fresh opinions to bear on key issues. The editors reserve the right to edit for brevity and clarity. Three Sargons, Not Two Saul N. Vitkus ("Sargon Unseated," September, 1976) speaks as if there were only two Sargons, Sargon of Agade and Sargon II of Assyria. Actually, there were three, and Sargon II of Assyria of the eighth century B.C. was "second" by reference to an earlier Assyrian monarch, one of the predecessorsof Shamshi-Adad of the 18th century B.c., and not by reference to "history'sfirst emperor," as Vitkus rather grandiloquently chooses to characterize the Akkadian monarch. No doubt, Vitkus had in mind the theory that Sargon II, by styling himself arkuti, the "Latter-day"Sargon, was consciously harking back to Sargon the Great. I myself feel that this is to read too much into the use of an archaic word: royalty under all circumstances is enamored of archaic language. As for Vitkus's attempt to turn Sargon the Great and "Ebrum"of Ebla into Hector and Achilles, the less said the better. Everything hangs on one extremely questionable synchronism, as far as I can tell; and even if that synchronism is verified, we have evidence for Akkadian use of Sumerian signs in the 27th-26th century, earlier than anything even claimed by Matthiae and Pettinato. Vitkus would have us believe that the path of culture ran from Sumer to Ebla and then back into Mesopotamia - a patent absurdity. Sargon the Great may have been the Mesopotamian Charlemagne, but Ebla was surely not his Ireland. Washington, D.C.

Name withheld on request.

Comments on the "New" Biblical Archeologist I should also like to add a complimentary word on the new format of the periodical. Not since I discovered the British-oriented CurrentArchaeology in 1970 have I been so impressed. This kind of innovative effort deserves our genuine congratulations and fullest support. University of Wisconsin, Prof. Clyde Curry Smith River Falls River Falls, Wisconsin Professor of Ancient History

124

Lubbock Christian College Don Shackelford, B.D. Lubbock, Texas Chairman, Biblical Studies I was most impressed by the new format, and purpose, of the BA, and was interested to note that you were seeking potential writers from among the "core audience" to contribute in various ways. Skokie, Illinois

Aryeh Finklestein

I'm impressed with the new format of BA. The layout and photographs are vigorous and appealing. I've only seen the March'76 issue (which came last week); the May '76 issue is awaited eagerly. Garland, Texas

James A. Glasscock

Here is an opportunity to communicate to this generation of "new literates" something of the background of the peoples and places that make archeology a sheer joy to ponder, instead of the "dry, dusty" endeavor it is sometimes thought to be. Hardin-Simmons University Dr. John C. H. Laughlin Division of Religion Abilene, Texas What a wonderful surprise!You have brought the old BA back to life. I can hardly wait for the next issue. Cambridge, Massachusetts

Geri Green

et-Tell Is Not Biblical Ai After reading the article on et-Tell in Volume 39, Number 1 ["Excavating Ai (et-Tell): 1964-1972"], I wonder if et-Tell is the biblical city of Ai. The article makes it clear that et-Tell had a complex Early Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, but it had no Middle Bronze or Late Bronze Age (were there any pottery or faint remains from either of these two periods?). Joshua destroyed a big city by fire. I do not believe that the Early Iron Age settlement without walls is the answer. Pritchardwrites in Gibeon, Wherethe Sun Stood Still (pp. 157-58): "It is at the end of the Late Bronze period, late in the thirteenth century, that the earliest biblical reference to Gibeon must be placed. The Gibeonites emerge first on the biblical scene as the wily deceivers of Joshua, the leader of the conquest by which Israel came into control of certain principal cities of Palestine. Since Gibeon is

DECEMBER 1976

described as a 'great city' at this time, one would expect to find city walls and houses if the tradition preserved in the Book of Joshua is historically trustworthy. Yet traces of this city of the latter part of the Late Bronze period have not come to light in the four seasons of excavations. The two richly furnished tombs of the period discovered on the west side of the mound in 1960would seem to indicate that somewhere on the mound itself there was a permanent settlement. Tombs filled with articles that had been imported from distant lands are not likely to have been those belonging to nomadic tribes which camped on the site. Perhaps in an area not yet excavated-to date we have dug into a fraction of the total area-the remains of the 'great city' of Joshua's day are to be found." Yadin agrees with Pritchard that the time of Joshua's conquests was the Late Bronze and not the Iron Age. Yadin, discussing the chronology in the Lower City writes in his book, Hazor, the Rediscovery of a Great Citadel of the Bible (pp. 35-36): "We can now understand the reasoning behind Garstang'sdating. Having found no Mycenaean pottery, he legitimately came to the conclusion that the occupation of the enclosure came to an end prior to the appearance of the Mycenaean pottery in the area, that is, roughly before 1400 B.C. One can readily imagine our excitement therefore, when we uncovered an abundance of Mycenaean pottery on the floor of the two topmost strata. As we carefully removed the earth, there emerged quantities of the IIIB type (typical of the thirteenth century) on the floors of the top level (IA) and of the IIIA type in the lower stratum (IB). These finds not only indicated that the settlement of IB was the city of notorious Abdi-Tirshi mentioned in the el-Amarna letters, but, even more important, they made it quite clear that the large city of Hazor in the enclosure (which we may, from now on, call the lower city, to distinguish it from the settlement discovered on the tell proper) was destroyed during the thirteenth century B.C., while Mycenaean pottery was still in use. According to Furumark, Mycenaean pottery went out of fashion roughly around 1230 B.C., so the evidence in hand, contrary to Garstang's conclusions, shows that the city was destroyed at 1230 at the latest. As will be explained in due course, we have substantial evidence to indicate that the destruction took place some time in the third quarter of the thirteenth century, say between 1250 and 1230 a.c. This evidence was substantiated in all the other areas of the lower city and is, indeed, among the most important and decisive archaeological testimonies ever uncovered in excavations concerning the date of the conquest by Joshua, and indirectly, of the Exodus itself." In searching for the right stratum of Joshua, both Pritchardand Yadin were searchingfor a substantial Late Bronze Age cities. Et-Tell does not match either requirement. Perhaps Khirbet Haiyan and Khirbet Khudriya should be re-examined to see if they have Middle Bronze Age and Late Bronze Age strata. Hebrew Union College Los Angeles, California

Marvin Arnold Luckerman Docent, Skirball Museum

BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGIST

NEWS FROM THE FIELD

Nine-year Temple Mount Dig Ending. Abraham Rabinovich in the Jerusalem Post, December 14, 1976. "Prof. Binyamin Mazar's archaeological dig on the peripheryof the Temple Mount, one of the most intensive and historically significant excavations ever carried out, is coming to an end after nine years of continuous labour. "A reduced work force will remain on the site until next April to secure walls, finish digging in a few corners and otherwise tidy up. But the main dig under Mazar's direction which shed rich, and sometimes startling, light on 24 centuries of Jerusalem's history, has virtually come to a halt. "A major reason for closing down the current expedition is to give Prof. Mazar and his colleagues a chance to sort out the enormous amount of material which has been gathered and to begin publishing the finds in a seriesof scientific volumes. In an interview ... , Prof. Mazar, now 70, cited two additional factors - the need for an emotional and physical break from the rigors of the long dig and the shortage of money. "The expedition's deputy director, Meir Ben-Dov, said the excavation was also coming to an end because the border which had been set for it - the road skirting the southern wall of the Old City - had been reached. BenDov said the expedition would very much like to continue its dig in the area of the Western Wall plaza. This is unlikely, however, until a government decision on an overall development plan for the plaza. "Mazar stressed that the cessation of the expedition had nothing to do with the condemnations of the dig by UNESCO over the years. He said the one difficulty caused by the UNESCO resolutions was the time he had to devote to journalists visiting the site as a result.

125

"The end of the Mazar expedition does not mean the end of excavations in the area. A committee headed by Yigael Yadin has been set up to determinethe direction of future digs in the Old City area. The committee will also choose the man or men who will lead the excavations. "A likely site for future excavations is the Ophel David's City - south of Mazar's dig. "About 15 per cent of the 22-dunam area dug by Mazar has not been completely excavated in order to leave paths through the site. These areas are expected to be excavated within the next few years. "The paths will be needed while restoration work presently planned for the site is carried out. The Jerusalem Foundation is to incorporate part of the excavations within an archaeological park to run along the southern wall of the Old City. "The Mazar expedition was set up by the Israel Exploration Society and Hebrew University. It began its work in February, 1968. Unlike other archaeological expeditions, whose annual digging season usually lasts for three months or so, Mazar's expedition has worked without a break for almost nine years. "The expedition has cost IL20m. according to Yosef Aviram, director of the Israel Exploration Society. Half the money was furnished by the Government and half by foreign sources, particularlyAmbassador College in California. "For most of its existence, the expedition has employed a 30-man professional staff including 10 archaeologists, architects, pottery restorers and a photographer. It also had 60 salaried manual workers Jews and Arabs - and volunteers who swelled in number from 15 to 20 during most of the year to 300 during the summer. This force has been cut back to 10 staff, 40 workers and about six volunteers. "The Mazar expedition uncovered remnants of Jerusalem'shistory from the First Temple Period (7th-8th century B.C.E.)until the Ottoman period (16th century C.E.). It revealed Christian structuresfrom the Byzantine and Crusader periods and Ommayad palaces from the beginning of the Arab period whose existence had been unknown even to Arab historians. The most impressive finds, however, centered on the magnificent structures and town plan of the Second Temple period. "The preliminary reports emanating from the expedition have given the world the first comprehensive glimpse of the grandeur of ancient Jerusalem."

New Byzantine Finds at Khirbet Ruheibeh. The Jerusalem Post, November 9, 1976. "A Greek burial inscription from the fifth century, tombstones of priests and bishops, a Byzantine dwelling and Nabatean sherds are among the finds in the third season of excavations, just completed, at Rehobot in the central Negev (Khirbet Ruheibeh). "Focus of this year's dig, as in the two previous seasons, was the northwestern church, largest of the four

126

churches in the town, and the unusual undergroundcrypt found beneath its altar, which was completely uncovered this season. Originally panelled in marble, it has a small apse in its eastern wall with a special depression underneath, intendedfor holding the small box in which a saint's bones were buried. The box itself was not found, and it may reasonably be assumed that it was simply taken by the residents when they left the place following the Arab conquest in the 7th century. "Burial inscriptions in Greek on the church floor provide information about the residents of the town, one of the largest and most populous in the Negev highlands starting from the Nabatean era, which reached its peak of flourishing in the Byzantine period when it was situated on the main road to Sinai. The tombstones found were for the most part from graves of priests, two of them apparently bishops. Other inscriptions mention Greek names such as Stephanos, Macedonios and Georgios and clearly Christian names taken from the holy scriptures, such as John, Mary, Jacob and Elias. "The dates found on some of the tombstones are between the years 489-555 C.E. From this it may be concluded that the church was already built in the second half of the fifth century. "Thedig was conducted by the Hebrew University Institute of Archaeology and the Israel Exploration Society, with Hebrew University archaeologist Dr. Yoram Tsafrir in charge. Assisting him were students of the Archaeology Institute and volunteers from Israel and abroad."

X-Ray Identification of King Tut's Grandmother. Under a headline privately deplored by at least one New York Times editor, "The Grandmummyof King Tut Is Identified," reporter Boyce Rensberger told (October 14, 1976) of the identification by skull X-ray and hair analysis of the mummy of Queen Tiy, grandmother of Tutankhamen of Egypt. The team that made the identification was headed E. Harris of the University of Michigan who Dr. James by has been X-raying mummies in Cairo for ten years, studying the inheritance of facial and dental features. Queen Tiy was known of, but her mummy had not been located when Dr. Edward F. Wente, an Egyptologist at the University of Chicago and one of Harris' collaborators, suggested that one of three unidentified mummies in the tomb of Amenhotep II might be she. Dr. Wente's clue was the fact that the mummy's left arm lay across the chest in a manner reserved for nobility. With the aid of Ibrahim L. Nawawy, head of the Egyptian Museum's King Tut collection, the mummy was relocated and X-rayed. A sample of the mummy's hair was snipped off for comparison with hair found in a locket in Tutankhamen's tomb with an inscription saying that it was Queen Tiy's. Dr. Harris took the X-ray pictures to Ann Arbor where, using a computer that converts the contours of a skull into mathematical formulae, he compared them

DECEMBER 1976

with X-ray pictures from all the other royal mummies. The unidentified mummy fit at only one point in the lineage - between Thuyu, known to have been Queen Tiy's mother, and Tutankhamen himself. The inherited features of her skull could not have come from another ancestor or been passed on to another descendant. With this information in hand, Dr. Harris asked Egyptian authorities for hairs from the locket in King Tut's tomb. Three hairs were flown to Ann Arbor where analysis using a beam of electrons bounced off the hair revealed the relative abundance of all its chemicals. Such analysis is, in effect, a 'chemical fingerprint," since the chemical composition of hair varies greatly from one individual to the next. The chemical fingerprint of the hair in the locket and the hair snipped from the unidentified mummy matched exactly. The resultfor King Tut's grandmummy: a new home in the Cairo Museum where all duly identified royal mummies are housed together.

Of Scrip and Scripture. Writing in the Sunday Times of London, Antony Terry reports (October 31, 1976) the reissuance of the Gutenberg Bible in a 1282-page vellum facsimile edition to sell for ?15,000 or, depending on exchange rates, $15,000-30,000 each. The two German firms producing the facsimile, Von Hase & Koehler of Mainz and Idion of Munich, based their publishing decision on market research that uncovered between twenty and thirty wealthy Gutenberg fanciers throughout the world, but mainly in the USA and West Germany. The total print-run will be 895, most of which will be printed on parchment and sold for a paltry ?2,000 each to doctors and lawyers in West Germany and Switzerland. Original plans to reprintthe Bible using metal type in exactly Gutenberg'smethod have now been abandoned in favor of a new photographic process. The main cost of the deluxe edition will be calfskin. Eight thousand calfskins will be necessary to produce a mere 30 vellum books, and skeptics in the publishing trade believe that the German houses will not be able to produce their deluxe edition for less than $30,000-35,000 per copy. The precedent here is not encouraging since Gutenberg borrowed heavily to produce his original edition and lost not only 185 printed Bibles but his printing works as well when he went bankrupt. On the other hand, from the consumer's point of view, an exact facsimile of a Gutenberg Bible has to be considered a bargain: last August, a single copy of the original edition sold in New York for well over $3 million. A "Sierra Club" in the Holy Land. BIBLICAL

ARCHEOLOGIST

readers

may

be

interested to learn of a relatively new Israeli organization called The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel. A promotional leaflet for this nationalistic but BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGIST

transparently good-natured and high-spirited group contains the following description of available tours: One of our mostpopularnationalpastimesis walkingor hiking through the differentregions of the country. AlthoughIsraelis a smallcountry,it containsanunusual varietyof wild-life,landscapesand historicalsites. Our toursleavethemainroadsandpenetrateintolittle-known and relativelyinaccessibleareas. Experiencedguides explainthe naturaland humanhistoryof these regions and point out hiddenplaces of fascinatingbeautyand interest.... On most of our toursguidingis in Hebrew, but many of our membersspeak English and other foreign languagesand someone is usually on hand to explain and translatefor those who don't understand. Theatmosphereisfriendlyandexperiencehasshownthat languageis seldom a problem.The tours we list here usually leave from Tel-Aviv. We travel in specially adaptedtruckswith seats.On tripslongerthanone day, we sleepunderthe stars,in youth hostelsor in S.P.N.I. Field StudyCenters.Roomsusuallyhave4-6 beds. Hot showers are often-but not always--available. Each participantbringshis own well-packedfood. The tours alwaysincludewalking- some more, some less. There follows a -listing of ten different types of tours, including "Driving and Walking Tours," "Hiking Tours," which we later learn "cover difficult terrain and may entail climbing or descending cliffs with the aid of ropes and swimming through deep pools of water," "Special Topic Tours," which center on ecology, archeology, birds, caves, skin-diving, and (apparently) whatever the group thinks of, and various other kinds of tours. For information, one may write to: Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel 4 Hashfela St. Tel Aviv, 66 183 Israel. S.P.N.I. publishes a quarterly,Israel - Land and Nature, copiously illustrated with photographs in color as well as black-and-white, which is included in the $10 annual membership fee. Antiquities in Dayan's Garden. The Jerusalem Post, November 9, 1976. "The Antiquities Department recently recovered two archaeological finds from Moshe Dayan's garden in Zahala, after receiving a tip-off that the objects were there. "This was reported..,. to the Knesset Education Committee ... by Avraham Eitan, head of the Department of Antiquities and Museums at the Education Ministry. "Eitan said that policemen and judges were becoming increasingly aware of the importance of preventing unlawful acquisition of antiquities. He said that in the last 18months some 60 thieves had been caught red-handed stealing objects, had been tried, and had received stiffer punishments than were common in the past."

127

THE

ACOUSTICS AND

CAPACITY

OF IN

NATURAL

CROWD THEATERS

PALESTINE B. COBBEYCRISLER

An amateur archeolgist and a sound engineer put an ingenious hypothesis to an electronic test. The hypothesis: that cities like Shiloh and Shechem became religious capitals in part because they lay in natural theaters and that Jesus made use of another such

theateron the shore of the Lake of Galilee.

In late December, 1974, just prior to Christmas Day, my wife and I were walking over the ruins of Shiloh. It was quiet and we were alone. The sound of a human voice broke in upon us suddenly. Startled, we looked around but could see no one. The voice recurred. In a short while, our mysterious voice became visible as a shepherdcalling to his flock and climbing the valley's gentle slope from the modern village of Turmus Aiya to the more commanding level of ancient Shiloh. What struck us immediately was the clarity of his voice at a distance. We waited until the shepherd passed by before experimenting further. Then, climbing to the spot where the most visible ruins are located, I asked my wife to position herself at the edge of the road directly in front of me but approximately ninety meters away. Keeping my voice at normal level, I asked if she could hear me. She answered, "Perfectly"and her voice was modulated as if for private conversation. Then I tried a loud whisper. She heard it. One fact was obvious. The site had natural acoustical properties at least in the cooler air of that winter climate. As we looked around us, one more fact became clear. The slope of the land was naturally

B. CobbeyCrisleris a trusteeof the DaycroftSchool in Greenwich, Connecticut. This is his first appearance in BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGIST.

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configured so that it could accommodate easily several thousands of assembled people, all of whom could have faced the presentsite of the ruins and had an unobstructed view of events. Obviously, we had to find out more. A Question Those of us in the twentieth century forget that generations before us had to congregate by the hundreds and thousands to hear the words of civilization's leaders and misleaders without the aid of sound engineers and public address systems. But the need to hear and see collectively was still there. We can all think of biblical incidents with significant audio-visual ingredients in their substructure. Jotham delivered his fable of the trees, for instance, from the top of Mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said unto them, "Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you." Apparently, the Shechemites in the valley heard every syllable even though Jotham remainedat a safe distance. Adonijah and his political cronies at En Rogel actually heard their political death knell when the supporters of Solomon shouted "God save King Solomon" at Spring Gihon and trumpets blew and pipes piped "so that the earth rent with the sound of them." Christ Jesus had to be heard by thousands on a Galilean hillside while he stood offshore in a boat. With what great audio-visual impact, Jeremiah must have smashed the potter's earthen bottle in the Valley of Hinnom. DECEMBER1976

My question is: could some of these locations have been known and chosen for their audio-visual characteristics rather than being simply fortuitous? Did Jotham already know, for instance, the spot from which his voice could be heard by a wide audience below while he remained secure above? Contrary to the proverbial preference regarding children, people need to be seen and heard. This social and political need existed in ancient times as much as it does today. The Greeks and Romans understood acoustical and visual requirements. Test their ancient theaters today. From the focal point of stage center of the theater in Caesarea Maritima, whispers can be heard in the final row of seats. But it is clearly in Old Testament history that we are faced with the greatest ancient need for mass communication out-of-doors. Whatever the actual number of the people in the historic Exodus, the audiovisual problems must have been Moses' heaviest unrecorded burden. That is, unless he knew the Sinai well and could pre-select those areas with the acoustical properties he needed. Let's not be surprisedif he did, since even modern technicians go to the trouble of checking cavernous convention halls before national political conventions; and sound engineers explore stadiums and arenas in advance of our evangelists or rock and roll bands. Why? To be sure there are no dead spots in the sound space and all the equipment is operable.

The Acoustics of Kadesh-Barnea Was the "thunder of Sinai" aided by the natural acoustics of the area? The sound conditions could easily be tested today. Is there any particular significance that the Hebrew word qol is translated alternately "voice"and "thunder"in the Scriptures?Pent up in that word may be a primitive suggestion of acoustical properties ratherthan an already-erupted theory of volcanic action. Was Kadesh-Barnea selected by Moses just for its water supply? In 1975, on another trip to Israel, my wife and I stood at the traditional site of ancient Israel's encampment and heard our voices easily echo off the parallel mountain ridges that wall this oasis - as well as the chilling click of safety catches releasing from the Uzi machine guns of our accompanying Israeli soldiers. How would the tribal alarm trumpets have sounded in the same defile we wondered? The oasis was a zipper of green in a coat of tan, luxuriant with olives and dates, peaceful and quiet except for a Bedouin girl tending a flock of baby goats. The air, however, seemed alive with potential sound. A jet plane shattered the sound barrier overhead and disappeared. The boom remained and was accentuated down below. Perhaps induced by the soldiers' presence, we felt nature itself was on perpetual alert to amplify the slightest sonic suggestion. It was at Kadesh-barneathat Moses had to replace one generation of loose recalcitrant tribes with a new generation forged into a cohesive, responsive nation. BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGIST

How much mass communication was required?The need is strongly implied in incidents as dramatic as the decision to send twelve spies and to receive their final report. Could the acoustical properties of this particular oasis (close by what may be one of Uzziah's desert fortresses) help to strengthen archeological opinions about the actual site of Kadesh-Barnea? Scholarly Encouragement Before leaving Israel in early January of 1975, we had occasion to visit with Professor Benjamin Mazar in his office near the Temple Mount excavations. At that time, my wife was doing research on utensils and foods of Bible times for a specialty cookbook now published. As we were talking about this subject to Professor Mazar, I mentioned casually and almost apologetically our thoughts on Shiloh. He showed a decided interest, remarkingit was the most important possiblity he'd heard all week. (Of course, it might have been an unusually dull week.) Like Dr. Bob Bull, however, whom we had earlier consulted, he urged us to document quickly the evidence so that the theory could be communicated plausibly. He also stressed that Shechem and Shiloh should be explored and treated together in any article on the subject. On September 2-16, 1976, a further probe into the acoustical possibilities of various sites in Israel and its occupied territories became a reality through generous grants by Zion Research Foundation and The Foundation for Biblical Research of Charlestown, N. H. Robert Koehler, of the latter, had recommended that I contact, for technical assistance, the acoustical firm of Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Inc. of Cambridge, Mass. Intrigued by the concept, this company designated a representative, Mark Myles, who was willing to accompany me on the trip and bring the acoustical test equipment necessary. Mark and his company donated their time and simply charged for the costs of equipment

My question is: could some of these locations have been known and chosen for their audio-visual characteristics rather than being simply fortuitous? rental. The Foundation paid for this as well as the other costs of the trip. Without such backing and thoughtful assistance, our September project would not have been possible. We are also indebted to David Noel Freedman for encouragement, advice, and the full use of the Albright Institute's resources. Professor Benjamin Mazar, dean of Israeli archeologists, was again supportive and gave us much time. Dr. Avraham Biranof Hebrew Union College dropped everything to help us locate a shofar and provided several helpful insights. Mrs. Pomerantz and Miss Aftergood of the Rockefeller Museum generously let us study the Danish Expeditions' files on Shiloh.

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Shiloh We started our acoustical investigationsin Shiloh. This seemed only appropriate. Here was where the Children of Israel made their first attempt to found a permanent place for worship of the one God. Perhaps every synagogue and church existing today can trace its motivational foundations to this Shiloh ancestry. Shiloh is fascination itself for the Bible historian. What happened there is often only hinted at, but its early Israelite importance from Joshua to the birth of Samuel cannot be overstated. It is clear that the site identified today as ancient Shiloh existed prior to Israelite occupation. Archeological evidence reported by Albright and Glueck shows as much. This has led some to the suggestion that Shiloh, an otherwise unlikely spot for Israel's first religious capital, may have been chosen because of yet undiscoveredcultist precedents at the site. Shalom Paul and William Dever, however, write: "It is not clear why Shiloh was chosen as the site of this important temple. The selection of Jerusalem and most other important sites follows known patterns, but there is no evidence that the early Israelites were attracted to Shiloh by virtue of its prior religious, demographic, administrative, or strategic significance." Then, they propose the general conclusion that "it was selected as a cultic center for the Israelite tribes primarily because of its imposing position, and because it was fairly central in the early area of habitation." These are certainlylogical reasons. They satisfy, at present, because of lack of information and the silence of our historical sources. But, out of that silence, there may yet emergea "still,small voice"- one that remindsus of a point we may have taken for granted. There was,

It was quiet enough at Shiloh to hear a human voice quite distinctly at up to about 500 meters. unequivocally, an acoustical need for leadership to communicate to the full-assembled tribes as well as for these tribes to be seen and heard by the leadership. All present could thus bear witness to the important proceedings that called forth such gatherings. The Test Engaged as we were in acoustical projects, it was interesting for us to note that God's lessons concerning Shiloh were phrased in acoustical terms. At this intensely quiet site, Jeremiah's message rang with stark clarity, especially in the absence of any visible Iron Age ruins. "Go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh" would have an impact on any worshipper, then or now. Shiloh had not listened. The structurewas destroyed. Could it be coincidence, we wondered, that practically every Old Testament reference to Shiloh stresses that there is salvation in listening?

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Fig. 1. MarkMylesof Bolt, Beranekand Newmanrecords the silenceat Shiloh,"thequietestspot he had ever measured." An acoustical study of the site recalls these passages. If today's natural conditions are roughly equivalent to those at the time of Joshua and Samuel, Shiloh would have had a natural listening environment. "It was quiet enough at Shiloh," Mark Myles recorded, "to hear a human voice quite distinctly at up to about 500 meters." In fact, Mark indicated to me it was the quietest spot he had ever measured(see fig. 1). The resultsof these field measurements of the Octave Band Sound Pressure Level are shown in Chart A. Simply put, the "ambient noise" level (interferenceof outside sound) is well below what is considered to be the ideal requirementof the best concert hall. This was the most important acoustical discovery at the site, for we could assume that such a quiet environment existed at the other sites as well as at Shiloh. The lack of modern-day noisemakersand the existence of quiet, attentive listeners would have further enhanced speech communication. Our experiments had to be based on an assumption as to the location of the ancient sanctuary or temple. This requires a brief review of earlier site exploration. The location of the town of Shiloh at Khirbet Seilun has been generally accepted by archeologists. Abundant literary referencesexist as well, and Albright was able to record in the Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly (1927), while the first Danish expedition was in progress, "In this case, fortunately, archaeology is in perfect accord with other data." DECEMBER1976

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Subsequent discoveries have altered details but have not changed the identification of Shiloh with Seilun. A major remaining mystery, however, is the famous sanctuary's location. Two traditions seem to fuse in the biblical record about this sanctuary. Josh 18:1indicates plainly that the tabernacle was placed there before the final dividing of Canaan into tribal territories. During Samuel's childhood, however, the biblical account strongly suggests not only a more established form of worship, but also of architecture.The term miqdash, for instance, is used to describe the structure (1 Sam 1:7), as it is used to describe Solomon's temple in Jerusalem (1 Kgs 3:1). In their book, Biblical Archaeology, Shalom Paul and William Dever go so far as to say that, "Apartfrom severalunspecified references, the term mikdash (sanctuary)is applied exclusively to two temples, at Shiloh and Jerusalem. .. ." The editors' list of

these references includes, of course, the structure at Shechem.

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Paul and Dever refer further to the tradition that "holds that the temple at Shiloh was constructed of stone." Eli's seat "by a post" and the fact that Samuel "opened the doors of the house of the Lord" are cited as textual indications of a more permanent construction than a tent or tabernacle (p. 69). No verifiable remains, however, of either the sanctuaryor its location have been found. Millar Burrows in What Mean These Stones? reports the Danish excavators' discovery that, "The foundations of a church of the Byzantine period were found to have the dimensions given for the tabernacle in the Old Testament," but concludes that this was a guess on the part of the builders (1941 edition, p. 202). The head of the early Danish expeditions, H. Kjaer, also was struck by what he found at "Weli Settin, a little southeast of the 'Pilgrims' Church." His report in the Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly for 1931 (p. 86) continues that Weli Sittin "is still, in spite of its ruinous condition,

DECEMBER 1976

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