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June1991
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bical Arcae APublication of theAmerican Schoolsof Oriental Research
Volume 2 54 Number
June1991
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A Century-oldCartographicEmr Corr
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AMERICAN SCHOOLS OF ORIENTALRESEARCH ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE ASOR,711 WEST40TH STREET SUITE354, BALTIMORE, MD 21211 (301)889-1383
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EricM. Meyers,President
James W. Flanagan, First Vice President for Publications Walter E. Rast, Second Vice President for Archaeological Policy
Cough W.Thompson, Jr.,Chairmanof the Boardof Trustees Robert H. Johnston, Vice Chairman, of the Board of 7hlstees Paul F.Jacobs, Vice President for the Corporation Lydie Shufro, Vice President for Development
GeorgeM. Landes,Secretary
Roger S. Boraas, Assistant Secretary
Holden Gibbs, Theasurer KateGould, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Wilhelm, Executive Director RudolphH. Dornemann,AdministrativeDirector Pam Turner, Administratiive Assistant
ASORNewsletter;VictorH. Matthews,Editor BiblicalArchaeologist;EricM. Meyers,Editor Bulletinof the AmericanSchools of Oriental Research; lames W Flanagan,Editor Journalof CuneiformStudies;ErleLeichty,Editor Editorfor Books,WalterE. Aufrecht W.F.AlbrightInstitute of ArchaeologicalResearch(AIAR) PIO. Box 19096,91 190 Jerusalem,Israel. SeymourGitin, Director JoeD. Seger,President Carol Meyers, First Vice President Joy Ungcrleider-Mayerson, Second Vice President;
Acting BoardChair
John Spencer, Secretary-7easurer
BaghdadCommittee forthe BaghdadSchool JerroldS. Cooper,Chairman Near EasternStudies The JohnsHopkinsUniversity Baltimore,MD 21218 AmericanCenterof OrientalResearch(ACOR) P.O. Box2470, JebelAmman, Amman, Jordan. Bertde Vries,Director James Sauer, President Lawrence T Geraty, Vice President MarjorieCooke, Secretary Anne Ogilvy, 7reasurer
CyprusAmericanArchaeologicalResearchInstitute (CAARI) 41 KingPaulStreet,Nicosia, Cyprus. StuartSwiny,Director GiraudFoster, Presietlent Lydie Shufro, Vice President
Ellen Herscher,Secretary' AndrewOliver,Jr.,7Leasurer ASORAncient ManuscriptsCommittee lames C. VanderKam,Chairman I)epartmentof Philosophyand Religion North CarolinaState University Raleigh,NC 27695-8103 DamascusCommittee Giorgio Buccellati,Chairmati Center for MesqpotamianStudies 40. HilgardAve. LosAngeles,CA 90024
Biblical
Archaeologist
P.O. BOXH.M., DUKESTATION DURHAM,NC 27706 (919)684-3075 Biblical Archaeologist(ISSN0006-0895)is publishedquarterly (March,June,September,December)by The JohnsHopkins UniversityPressfor the AmericanSchools of OrientalResearch (ASOR),a nonprofit,nonsectarianeducationalorganization with administrative*offices at 711 West40th Street,Suite 354, Baltimore,MD 21211. Subscriptions:Annual subscriptionratesare $35 for individuals and $45 for institutions. There is a special annual rateof $28 for retirees.Single issues are $9 for individualsand $12 for institutions. In foreigncountries,add$5 forannualsubscriptionsand $2 forsingle issues. Ordersshould be sent to ASORMembership/ SubscriberServices,P.O.Box 15399,Atlanta,GA 30333-0399 (telephone:404-636-4757;Bitnet SCHOLARS@EMORYUI). Postmaster:Send addresschangesto Biblical Archaeologist, ASORMembership/Subscriber Services,P.O.Box 15399,Atlanta, GA 30333-0399.Second-classpostagepaidat Baltimore,MD 21211and additionaloffices. Copyright 1991by the AmericanSchools of OrientalResearch. All rightsreserved.No portionof this journalmay be reproduced by any processor techniquewithout the formalconsent of the AmericanSchools of Oriental Researchand ScholarsPress. Authorizationto photocopyitems for personalor internaluse is grantedfor librariesand other users registeredwith the CopyrightClearanceCenter(CCC)TransactionalReportingService, providedthat the copierpaythe base fee of $1.00 percopy plus $.10 perpagedirectlyto CCC, 27 CongressStreet,Salem, MA 01970.This consent does not extend to other kinds of copying, such as copyingforgeneraldistribution,for advertisingor promotionalpurposes,forcreatingnew collective works,or for resale.0006-8095/$87$1.00 + .10 Editor-in-Chief Associate Editor Associate Editor Book ReviewEditor SeniorEditor Assistant Editor Designer
EricM. Meyers LawrenceT Geraty David C. Hopkins JamesC. Moyer ToddMcGee StephenGoranson LauraHughes
EditorialCommittee WalterE. Aufrecht A. T. Kraabel JackSasson EdwardF Campbell Thomas E. Levy Neil A. Silberman P. KyleMcCarter MarkS. Smith Douglas L.Esse VolkmarFritz DavidW McCreery StuartSwiny L. MichaelWhite Carol L. Meyers SeymourGitin S. Thomas Parker JoAnn Hackett Advertising:Correspondenceshould be addressedto-Dennis Fordor SarahFoster,ScholarsPress,P.O.Box 15.399,Atlanta, GA 30333-0399(telephone:404-636-4757;fax:404-636-8301). Biblical Archaeologistis not responsibleforerrorsin copy preparedby the advertiser.The editorreservesthe rightto refuse any ad. Ads forthe sale of antiquities will not be accepted. EditorialCorrespondence:Article proposals,manuscriptsand editorialcorrespondenceshould be sent to the Biblical Archaeologist, P.O.BoxH.M., Duke Station, Durham,NC 27706. Unsolicited manuscriptsmust be accompaniedby a selfaddressed,stampedenvelope.Foreigncontributorsshould furnish internationalreplycoupons. Manuscriptsmust conformto the formatused in Biblical Archaeologist,with full bibliographicreferencesanda minimum of endnotes.See recentissues forexamplesof the properstyle. Manuscriptsmust also include appropriateillustrationsand legends.Authorsare responsibleforobtainingpermissionto use illustrations. Compositionby LiberatedTypes,Ltd.,I)urham,NC. Printedby PBMGraphics,Inc., Raleigh,NC. Publisher:The lohns Hopkins UniversityPress
Bib lical Archaeolo A Publication of the American Schools of Oriental Research
Page76
Volume 54 Number 2
June 1991
The ViaMarisin LiteraryandCartographicSources Barry J.Beitzel
64
Many prominent archaeologists and scholars believe that the via maris (way of the sea) of antiquity was an ancient highway that arched across the Fertile Crescent and ultimately linked Mesopotamia and Egypt. However, this assertion rests on many claims and beliefs that are not factual. Evidence now shows that the via maris was a road that linked the town of Acco/ Ptolemais/Acre, a port city on the Mediterranean, with Capernaum, situated on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, on a generally east-west axis.
Desolation and Restoration:The Impactof a BiblicalConcepton NearEasternArchaeology
76
Neil Asher Silberman
Page97
When archaeologists began exploring the Middle East in search of tangible evidence supporting the biblical story in the nineteenth century, many were shocked at the degraded modem civilization in the region. They became convinced that the contemporary state of affairs in the Holy Land was a literal fulfillment of prophecies of Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah. Their archaeological work was influenced by their views of restoration.
The Church of Saint Anne laroslav Folda
88
Historical accounts as early as the sixth century C.E.claim that the Virgin Mary and her mother, Saint Anne, were born in Sepphoris, a small village about 5 miles northwest of Nazareth in the hills of Galilee. A Crusader church was built here and apparently dedicated to Anna during the twelfth century C.E.The Church of Saint Anne was presumably built over the site where Anna lived with her husband, Saint Joachim, and Mary. BAGuidetoArtifacts
Microartifactsandthe Studyof Ancient Societies
97
Arlene Miller Rosen Artifacts like amphorae, terracottas, inscribed bowls and structural remains garner much attention from archaeologists, who learn much about the history of a particular site and era from these relics. Often overlooked, however, are microartifacts, or pebble- and sand-sized artifactual remains. Microartifacts are a great source of information about building functions, the delineation of activity areas and the processes involved in site formation.
The ElusiveSamaritanThmple
104
Robert T Anderson
Page110
It is widely believed that Samaritans built a temple on Mount Gerizim during the second century B.C.E. However, archaeologists have yet to turn up any indisputable evidence for such a temple. Add to this a surprising lack of historical documentation, and there is continuing sentiment that the temple never existed.
Arti-FACTS: News,Notes,andReportsfromthe Institutes QumranUpdate Introducingthe Authors BookReviews
108 108 62 113
On the cover:This 1702 Dutch map is a copy of Nicolaus Visscher'sLatinmap, a detail of which appearson page 64. Courtesyof the EranLaorCartographicCollection, Jewish National and University Library,Jerusalem.On the back: Acco, the Mediterraneanport which is the western terminus of the via maris.
Introducing the
Authors
JaroslavFolda is professor of the history of art at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has researchedthe art and architecture of the Crusadersin the Holy Landwith annual visits to the Near East from 1973 to 1988. In 1974-75, Dr. Foldareceived a National Endowment for the Humanities grant for independent researchwhile in residence at the W.E AlbrightInstitute of Archaeological Research. He is currently writing a study on Crusader Art, the first volume of which will cover the period from 1099 to 1187. Arlene Miller Rosen is a postdoctoralfellow at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot,Israel.She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago in 1985. Her research expertise includes geoarchaeology and microbotanical analyses, and she is the author of Cities of Clay: The Geoarchaeology of Tells (University of Chicago Press, 1986). Dr. Rosen has participated in fieldwork in Central America and North Africa as well as the Middle East. Neil Asher Silberman,a member of the editorial boardof Biblical Archaeologist, has participatedin excavationsin Jerusalemand Akko. In addition to his many magazine articles, he wrote Digging for God & Country:Archaeology, Exploration, and the Secret Strugglefor the Holy Land (Alfred A. Knopf, 1982) and Between Past and Present:Archaeology, Ideology, and Nationalism in the ModernMiddle East (HenryHolt, 1989).He is currently researchinga biographyof the late Yigael Yadin,a noted archaeologist. BarryJ. Beitzel is Associate Academic Dean and Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languagesat Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill. Following theological training at Fuller Theological Seminary, Beitzel earned his Ph.D. from Dropsie University in Philadelphia.His publications include articles in a broad range of journals, from Iraq to Biblical Archaeology Review, and he is the author of The MoodyAtlas of Bible Lands, published in 1985. His interest in the history of biblical mapmaking has taken him to the Library of Congress, where he is involved in research leading to a publication titled Maps of the Bible Lands:Cartobibliography of Printed Maps in the Collection of the Library of Congress. Robert T. Anderson is Professor of Religious Studies at Michigan State University. He has previously served as president of the Midwest American Academy of Religion and of the Central Michigan American Institute of Archaeology. In addition to articles on Samaritan Studies in journals, books and encyclopedias, Dr. Anderson is the author of Studies in Samaritan Manuscripts and Artifacts (American Schools of Oriental Research, 1978).
62
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
Ebla
The Reignof
ThutmoseIV
A NewLookat
History GiovanniPettinato translated byC. FaithRichardson
BetsyM. Bryan
Forthousandsof yearsthe ruinslay buriedbeneaththe sandsin northern Syria.Capitalof a once-flourishing empirewhoseveryexistencewas unknownto the world,the cityof Eblawasamxodern thrivingcenterof tradeduringthe BronzeAgeanda formidablepoliticalpower.Itsexploration byarchaeologists ledto the sensational findof a royalarchivethatheld16,000 tabletsinscribed withan unknown cuneiformlanguage. Deciphered by GiovanniPettinato,thesetablets tella storythatisobliginghistorians to rewritethe historyof the ancient NearEast. $36.95hardcover
THE ILLUSTRATED ATLAS OF
"ThutmoseIVwasa significant ruler whoseachievements havenot been properly appreciated becausethe data on hisshortreignarescatteredand difficultto interpret-and BetsyM. Bryanhasbroughthimfullyintothe lightof history.Herthoroughness, criticalskill,andinterpretive strengths haveproduced a formatthatwillbe followedbyothers.TheReignof Thurmose historyin its fullest IVapproaches senseandcoversaspectsof royaldeification,the royalfamily,the roleof royal women,andthe complexbureaucracy of Egypt." - DavidO'Connor,Universityof Pennsylvania hardcover $55.00
THE NEW ATLAS OF AFRICAN HISTORY
G.S.P.Freeman-Grenville "TheNewAtlas comDan Bahat with Chaim T. Rubinstein ofAfricanHistory and 103 of bines 64 pages commentary Foreword Mazar by Benjamin Foreword Mazar mapsto providethe readerwith a cartoma Introduction by EricMeyers and textualpictureof 5,000 "This is the firsttrulyhistoricalatlas yearsof Africanhistory...an excellent devotedspecificallyto the ancientand introductionand overviewfor these modem site of Jerusalem...covers over veryspecifictopics/timeperiods.The 3000 yearsof geography,archaeology, commentaryand the map for each architecture,history,and biblicalstudy topic areon facingpages,which results of the city. The detailed,informative in ease of use for the reader." - RBB/Booklist text is basedon recentfindingsand is March1991 144pp.e 8 3/8 x 11 1/2 well presented,with over400olor ISBN: 0-13-612151-9$65.00. maps, drawings, and illustrations. recommended for public Hihly larger Pre-publication price: $S55.00 and academiclibrariesas well as for theNopLib biblicalstudentor MiddleEast
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in eographical dogmas
The Via ifi
Marits
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Sources byBarryJ.Beitzel An enlargedsection of a copperplateengraving, colored by hand, in which Nicolaus Visscher has depicted the territorialallocations of Israel's12 tribes. This map clearly differentiates between the major transportationartery, Via in Egyptumducens ("the[high]way which leads to Egypt),that ran diagonally from the northwest cornerof the Sea of Galilee (Mare Galilaeae) past Megiddo (Mageddo)at upper left, and the Via maris, which stretchedfrom Ptolemais, on the Mediterraneanshoreline, to Capernaum(Capharnaum),immediately west of the mouth of the Jordanriver.T7aversing the tribal allotments of Asher (Aser)and Naphtali (Nephthalim),the Via maris is depictedpassing the towns of Sior,Bethlehem, Abdon, Nephthalim, Azanoth-Thaborand Bethsaida beforearrivingat Capernaum. Despite tentative locations suggestedfor Bethlehem, Abdon and Azanoth-Thabor (Bethsaidais altogethermislocated), it is impossible to delineate with any degreeof certainty the actual course the Via maris might have taken. This map originally appeared in 1659 and is oriented to the west. Reprintedcourtesy of the EranLaorCartographic Collection, Jewish National and University Library(Jerusalem).
Near Easternand biblical studies are often discoveredto rest on the most tenuous of foundations, occasionally even resting on false knowledge. Take,for example, the case of the via maris. About 100 years ago, German archaeologist Gottlieb Schumacher equated the via maris (wayof the sea) of antiquity with the Syro-Palestiniansector of the preeminent internationaltransportation artery that arched across the Fertile Crescent and ultimately linked ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt.In his report of a survey conducted for the German Society for the Exploration of the Holy Land,Schumacher discussed the location of a number of roads that transsected the Golan. One of these roads extended southwest from Damascus, swept across the upper Golan past the town of Kuneitra,crossed the JordanRiver at the Bridgeof Jacob'sDaughters (Jisr and approachedHaBanatel-YaCquib) zor before it veered south towardsthe Sea of Galilee and eventually arrived at the Mediterranean.Schumacher had asserted that it was "knownin antiquity and the middle ages as the 'via maris,'because it connected Damascus with the sea .. ." (1888:
62-63). However,Charles Druitt questioned this because both the equation itself and the claim of Middle Ages precedents were undocumented assertions made by Schumacher. In his published reply to Druitt, Schumacher conceded (1889:78-79) that he was merely following the opinion of Carl Ritter and Franciscus Quaresmius. Ritter was a renowned nineteenth-century scholar from Berlin who is commonly credited with co-founding the modern geographical discipline. Quaresmius was a French Minorite who lived in Jerusalem from 1619 to 1652 and edited a massive and influential twovolume work on the history of Palestine, which included the collection and assessment of significant, per-
tinent publications from the classical and medieval periods. However,Ritter himself was merely echoing the sentiment of Quaresmius and offeredthe following quotation from the Frenchmanas his only supportforthe equation:"via maris publica quedam via est, qua venitur ex Assyria ad mare mediterraneum"("thevia maris is a kind of public [high]waythat is traversed from Assyria to the Mediterranean Sea") (1850: 271).' As part of his
defense, Schumacher cited Ritter's
The gap between the mountains of Upper Galilee (left background)and the Golan Heights (rightbackground)created by the Jordanriveris shown. In the foreground,the riverand the modern bridgecross the Jordan at the same place as the "Bridgeof Jacob's Daughters,"as described in historical literature.The roadcomes fromMegiddoand Hazor from the left, passes over the Jordan,and wends its way across the Golan Heights in the direction of the oasis of Damascus.
quotation of Quaresmius (Schumacher 1889: 78). Subsequentpublications overthe past century have only perpetuated this viewpoint and elevated it to veritable dogma. Through the writings of countless eminent authorities (Smith 1894:279; Thomsen 1917: 33-34; Abel 1938:219; Mazar 1990: 8, 233, 282; Fischer 1896:248; Aharoni 1966: 10-11, 14-15; 1967:41-42; Wildberger1972:364, 373), Schumacher'sequation has become so
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
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prevalentin scholarly and popular traditions that contemporaryliterary or cartographicworks almost universally treat it as an established fact and proceed from it axiomatically. Denis Baly's(1974:96) succinct observation is an example:"Themajor highways,or mesilloth, ran from north to south of the country [of Canaan],following the main lines of relief. Easily preeminent was the TrunkRoad, connecting Egyptwith the northern Levant,and from there with either Anatolia or Mesopotamia. Called by Isaiah 'the way of the sea' (Isa.9:1),and for this reason known by many scholars as Via Maris, it is the great artery,as it were, of the Levant."With few exceptions, it now passes for fact that the via maris was the roadwaythat stretched between the cities of Damascus, Kuneitra, Hazor,Megiddo and Gaza. Moreover, many modern authorities repeat Schumacher'sassertion that such an equation can be tracedback into the Middle Ages (Baedeker1891, 1912; Abel 1938;Aharoni 1966, 1967;Wildberger 1972;Barth 1977).However, this equation is scarcely 100 years old in cartographictradition2and is not even attested in literary sources prior to the nineteenth century. I believe that when the via maris or an equivalent expression is found on earlier maps or in manuscripts that purportto identify a distinct roadwaywithin Canaan, the terminology consistently designated a roadthat linked the town of Acco/ Ptolemais/Acre,a port city on the
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Picturedhere is the dominant and heavily fortified uppercity of Hazor in the foreground, aligning the road. Tothe northwest of the uppercity is the largerarea of Hazor'slower city. Unless otherwise noted, all photos courtesy of Richard Cleave, RohrProductions.
Mediterranean,with Capernaum, situated on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, on a generally eastwest axis. Moreover,there exists a strikingly close correlation between the testimony of art and literature concerning just when via maris was first used to denote a road in Canaan, further supportingthis theory. Evidence from Literature The Latin expression via maris ultimately derives from Jerome'srendi-
tion of Isaiah 9:1 [Hebrew8:23b]in the Vulgate,while the Hebrew phraseology (derekhayyam) occurs here and also in Ezekiel 41:12and 1 Kings 18:43.3In Isaiah and 1 Kings the phrase is at best ambiguous, and in Ezekiel it definitely cannot mean a roadway.The citation in Ezekiel is embedded in a description of the new temple. The prophet declares that "theenclosing wall that was facing the temple yardon the west side (i.e.direk hayyam) was 70 cubits
The volcanic cone of the Horns of Hattin is visible in the foreground.Beyond the planted fields lies the sharp cleavage of Arbel Pass, throughwhich ran one branchof the Great Trunk Road en route to Hazor,Damascus and Mesopotamia.Just beyond the pass lies the northern segment of the Sea of Galilee.
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
invertedorder)occurs in the LXX,in broad"(italics added).Here, the This is an enlargedsection of a map titled an unrelatedpassageof the Apocrypha "TerraeSanctae."Notice how the viamaris phrase clearly cannot mean a route trans jordanemextends inland from the of any kind. (Wisdomof Solomon 14:3,where Sea (darkarea at bottom), just Mediterranean The terminology is imprecise in north Noah's lack of seamanship is de(left)of Acco (Achon),as far as the north 1 Kings 18, which reads:"Andhe side of the Sea of Galilee (mare tiberiadis),at scribed),6in the New Testament Capernaum(Cafarnaum).Although Nicolaus (Matthew4:14-16, where the evange[Elijah]said to his servant, 'Go up this a from directly Germanus copied map list and look toward the sea (i.e. applies the Isaiah passage to now, 1320 Sanuto-Vesconteoriginalpreparedto " direk yam)' (italics added).It could convince PopeJohnXXIIthat he should Jesus'move from Nazareth to Capernaum by the sea), and in five passages be arguedthat Elijahwas instructing undertakeanother crusade, the one innovation not on the original is Germanus'addition his servant to look "towardthe sea" of from classical literature that either the via maris. The orientation of this map recite or comment on the Bible: or to look at "the way is to the east, and it was first published in (i.e. westward) of the sea"(although here the lexeme 1474. Reprintedcourtesy of the Biblioteca once in Athanasius' Theology Apostolica Vaticana(Rome). yam is anarthrous).However,from (Migne 1857b:687-88, citing Isaiah the vantagepoint of Elijah's 9:1),three places in Euse' servant atop Mount Carmel Ecclesiastical History bius' , \ 1U"t~ Wd~ is who asked to (Migne 1857a:711-12, cit(verse42), b~ observe any clouds that .........r ing Isaiah 9:1 in his Psalms arise out of the might commentary; Heikel 1913: Mediterranean(verse44), a 423, citing Matthew 4:1416 in his Apologetics; between roadwayextending and Hazor would Ziegler 1975:411, in his Megiddo -7 - ,.t Isaiah commentary), and be out of the purview, for the servant is looking in one time in JohnChrysosthe tom's SacredHistory precisely opposite (Migne 1859:217, in his direction.' erL~ 5 The meaning is also Matthew commentary). In * * r elusive in the Isaiah pasnone of these citations did Here the dethe author attempt to idensage. prophet clares: "Inthe former time tify any particularroadway ~~w*-. r he [God]brought the land with the via maris of bib'% of Zebulun and the land of lical tradition. Aside from this, howNaphtali into contempt, but in the latter time he ~J C ever,neither the precise via will make glorious the way maris expression nor its the sea derek P of haycorrespondingphraseology (i.e. + in any other languageis yam), the land beyond the .i *J~p~ ~ Galilee of the nafound in any context even Jordan, tions" (italics added).While marginally related to a the general thrust of this roadwaywithin Canaan to be offeruntil the late thirteenth passage appears The consolation to Galilean tribes mentaries 1973: Koch 164; century. ing expression is not at(Meshel tested at all in other classical writings, who had experienced the trauma 1978:277).5Therefore,an assessand degradationof Assyrian domina- ment of the biblical data leads to except for a few isolated references tion or deportation (compare2 Kings uncertain geographicalconclusions, to the Red Sea event (forexample Josephus,Antiquities of the Jews 15:29),the immediate context is too but one may at least averthat the to determine if via a of Schumacher maris 3.86.3-4; Vulgateand/orLXXin ambiguous specific equation Numbers 14:25and21:4;Deuteronomy road is envisaged or, if so, where it finds no unequivocal, compelling 1:40and 2:1;Wisdom of Solomon in should be located. the Bible. support the Commentatorshave traditionally ex19:7;Isaiah 51:10).This phraseology Beyondthis, equivalent construed the phraseology in one of pression is found in the Vulgateand in does not otherwise appearin the three ways: a compass point (i.e. Jerome'sIsaiah commentary (Migne ante-Nicene or post-Nicene fathers and is not found on any Roman milea road that leads to the 1845: 124),although in the latter westward); stone or inscription in the Near Mediterranean;and a road that leads case Jeromeincluded no discussion to the Sea of Galilee, which is the of a particularroadway.The Greek East7 It is non-existent among early conclusion of most modern comChristian pilgrim treatises or Roman counterpart (thaldsses hod6s: in an ..
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
67
itineraries (Cuntz 1929;Fraipont Shown here is an enlargedsection of a map of work became the linchpin in the arthe Holy Land. the original displays terrain 1965;Radke 1973)and its Arabic guments made by the scholars who from the mountains of Lebanonto Egyptand follow Schumacher'svia maris equivalent (al-tariqal-bdhri)is not equathe Nile River.This map delineates a number extant in the vast writings of Arab tion and in their contention that of roads and road names, including the Via Jezreeland Via vallis (bottomright).Notice such an equation can be traced to the geographersbetween the seventh the road that extends from the north side of and twelfth centuries, which takes Middle Ages. Not only is Quaresthe Sea of Galilee (topcenter)diagonally to in all the Islamic itineraries through the southwest that bears the title Via quae e mius' work the oldest volume cited the land of Palestine.8It is also unSyriaDucit in Aegyptum("the[high]wayout by proponents of the Schumacher It is the main attested among Crusaderliterature, of Syriawhich leads to Egypt"). tradition, it is also the only named transportationarteryjoining Damascus and and it does not occur in the writing Megiddo(Magi-, at the veryedge of the lower source whose publication date is of the early Mamluke period before right);on the original this road continues even remotely close to the Middle south pastAphek and Gaza and ends in Egypt. the thirteenth century. and could theoretically support Ages On the other hand, observe the via maris Uncertainties still remain that that contention. extending from the coast line at Ptolemais arise from the natureof this evidence, (Acco, bottom),eastward to Capernaum But a look at the original 1639 (Capharnaum).The via maris extends beyond and due caution is warrantedin ofof Quaresmius reveals publication to Corazim Capernaum (Chorazin[misthat Ritter'sand Schumacher'squolocated on map]) where it divides into two fering any kind of broadhistorical roads. Christian von Adrichom is the author/ tation of the French scholar is enanalysis at this point. Nevertheless, of this map, which was originally cartographer the voluminous and wide given body published in 1584 and is oriented to the east. tirely contrived;only by extracting and radically rearrangingisolated range of literature availableto this Reprintedcourtesy of the EranLaorCartoNational and Collection, such a graphic Jewish words and phrases of three separate massive, sweepinvestigation, UniversityLibrary(Jerusalem). in the attestation of this scholars cited on the page in question ing gap cannot interbe can the "quotation"ascribed phraseology a as result of to Quaresmius be made to preted solely ?o,, , --= D''64 89 "14 .~?I the physical destruction of exist! The folio in Quares. nor can it be reamius' work that Ritter and evidence, attributed to the Schumacher cite is the sonably mere consequence of the only folio in either volume, f r c cncrAc -alTc accident of archaeological V accordingto the subject Cpoddiscovery. index, where Quaresmius . The via maris expresdiscusses the via maris. A sion does not recur until Quaresmius'text may have after the Crusaderperiod, undergone a second edition ~LSAW when Burchardof Mount that could have contained Zion (1283)describesa Transthe quotation in question, ISA road that ran bebut that is highly unlikely; jordanian tween Kedar/Gamlaand and in any event, the vol)IgbLQ .26 ume was certainly only Capernaum (Stewart1896: AS C6 29- 30). It is subsequently hjl ? QWW i~ published once in 1639, found in the writings of, which is the date cited by Cardinal CaRitter and Schumacher. among many, jetan (1532:folio 11),WolfAlso, the text and accomh Musculus gang panying map make clear (1548:55-57), Christian von Adrichom the fact that Quaresmius 4L and on three defined the via maris in ac9a~A-: LAr (1584:115 maps), ~ ~o (b\ e cordance with his sources JohannPiscator (1612:117), Cornelius a Lapide(1625: (i.e. for him it was a road 226- 27), Cornelius Jansen connecting Acco and CaQuaresmius (1639:50-51), pernaum).At no point does folio 19 and he depict or speak of the (1639: map), via maris as a roadwaythat 3, Hugo Grotius (1644:281) and Campegius Vitringa followed a course past Damascus, Kuneitra,Hazor and (1724:233-34). In everycase, however, the towns of Acco and Capernaum. where one of these authors seeks to In this regard,it is necessary to Megiddo,or any alternative course. delineate or define a roadway,it is take another look at the writing of On these facts rest my claim that without exception a roadthat joined Quaresmius. As noted earlier,this the quote is contrived. 0
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Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
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It is admittedly true that other documentary sources are invoked by the authorities who argue for the prevailingcurrent tradition; these include works by Ulrich Seetzen, Wilhelm Gesenius and RichardHartmann. However,it is necessary to note how these sources are employed and what they are actually saying. Ritter cites Seetzen (in Zach 1808: 345-50), but only in the context of identifying the name of the bridge that crossed the Jordan(JisrBanat el-Yacqilb),and not in terms of the present or past name of a roadway. Seetzen makes no mention of the via maris. Gesenius (1821:349-50) is only concerned with the identity of the sea in his Isaiah commentary, whether it should correspondto the Mediterraneanor to the Sea of Galilee (which is the option he prefers). He makes no mention of a specific Isolatedin the GolanHeightsis thesite of Gamla(Kedar/Kadar). Notehow the wadion its roadwaynor of a medieval tradition. north side proceeds downward in the direction of the Sea of Galilee in the background. Hartmann'sarticles (1910;1918)are preoccupied with geography:he is seeking to delineate the roadbetween Damascus and Canaan by locating the intermediate villages that served as caravanserai for either Islamic or Crusadertravelersbetween 1200-1700. Hartmann'spublications are insightful, even groundbreaking,but his evidence is not really to the present point. The concern is not whether a roadwaypassed over this terrainat any time during the Middle Ages (a roadpast Kuneitrawas one of at least four roads emanating from Damascus, which linked that city with the MediterraneanSea), nor is the concern whether the road past Kuneitra was the principal roadway in any period, although Israel Roll9 indicates that this roadway shows no signs of being a Roman road (pace Schumacher 1889: 79; Smith 1894: 279; compare van de Velde 1858: map 3). Theobald Fischer (1896: 247-48) and Valentin Schwobel (1904: 69-70) amassed a fair amount of evidence suggesting that the main road from Damascus to the Mediterranean until after the Crusades was
Acco (Ptolemaisin the New Testament;Acre of the Crusaders)sprawls along the Mediterranean coast. Tbthe right is the northernportion of the crescent bay that extends south to Haifa at Mount Carmel. Justinland from the northernmoststretches of this crescent lies the site of the tell of Old TestamentAcco.
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
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the one past Banyasto Tyre,and thence to Egyptby water (compare Rainey 1981: 146-49). Whateverthe case, never once does Hartmann supply documentation showing that any of his sources identified the road past Kuneitraas the "viamaris."The putative assertion, therefore,that
maps also depict a thoroughfarethat passes between Damascus, Hazor, Megiddo and Gaza, but it bears another designation (ordesignations) and is never once called the via Evidence from Art A similar pattern emerges from the. maris. I have found no maps at all cartographicperspective.In my search from this same period or even earlier that label the roadpast Kuneitraor for ancient or medieval maps that and label the via delineate maris, any other road the via maris or other I have discoveredan arrestingcorequivalent terminology. to this documentary respondence evidence. I have examined most of Identifying the Capernaumand the Via Maris Since Capernaumis the toponymic in the the cartographicholdings road Kuneitra, UniEranLaorCollection (Hebrew past versity Library)and the Libraryof and Hazor Megiddo A linkage between Congress in both unbound and atlas form. To date I have turned up about maris as the via three dozen maps that actually the maris and via delineate and label the via maris has no literary (excludingduplicate copies or later Capernaum is more reproductionsby the same artist). In substantiation. a time every case that roadwayis shown likely during joining Acco/Ptolemais with Capernaum. The maps date from 1474 to when the was town 1800 and derive from Holland, Gerthe roadpast Kuneitra,Hazor and when and/or many,Italy, Spain, Portugal,France Megiddowas known in the Middle occupied Ages as the via maris, when stripped and Great Britain.The cartographers of the resonant accretions that have may be Jewishor Christian, and their travel to the town arisen over the past century, is found map specimens may be oriented to the north, east or west.'0 Quite interto be utterly without literary subsafe. was fairly stantiation. What one has here, estingly, a number of these same
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constant on these maps and manuscripts, a brief survey of that town's occupational history may be relevant, at least on the reasonablepremise that a linkage between the via maris Thisis a portion of the northernsheet of a map that depicts the Holy Landon both sides of the Jordanriver,divided among the tribes and according to the division into provinces as they existed in the time of Jesus Christ.It clearly differentiates between the roadway stretchingfrom Damascus (upperright)and Maximianopolis (nearMegiddo[Mageddio], lower left), and the road-Via MarisTrans Jordanem- that extended from Ptolemais (Acco,left at shoreline) as far east as Capernaum (Capharnaum).FromCapernaum,the Via Maris crossed the Jordanriverand ran past Bethsaida and across the territoryof Batanea to a point just north of Thantia. Note that the via maris is marked with a double line and is labeled, unlike otherroads. is William De L'Isle, The author/cartographer the map was originallypublished in 1782, and the orientation is to the north. Reprinted courtesy of the Geographyand Map Division, Libraryof Congress(Washington,D.C.).
Shown here is the northernsection of a twosheet copperplatethat depicts the territories of the 12 tribes of Israel in the period of the Monarchy This map displays the via maris stretchinginland from Ptolemais (Acco)at the shore line in the tribal allotment of Asher (Aser),as far as Capernaumat the north side of the Sea of Galilee. The author/cartographer is PierreDu Val,the map was originallypublished in 1677, and the orientation is to the north. Reprintedcourtesy of the Geography and Map Division, Libraryof Congress (Washington,D.C.).
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and Capernaumis more likely to have ,I occurredduring a time in which the town was at least occupied, and/or when travel to the town was relativeVI, In safe. Christian times ly early Capernaum is known from many --_-. the New Testasources, including 3 L SRALL?4k i RAZ APJCA RIJIVJ taken was there ment, Josephus(who by his troops after having been in. s .~^&A& , . . .?L r ,#X ? ~ _.&A juredduring the first Jewishwar ' -E I R E"NI ASANT [Life72]),rabbinic literature, EusejPNlwtLJL bius and Jerome.Among early Christian pilgrims, Egeriain 383 c.E. (Devos 1967: 165-94), Paula (386-87), Antoninus Martyr (the Piacenza Pilgrim, 570) and Arculf (Adomnan, around 679-88) visited the site. Beda (702-3). abandonment. is listed in the "second the time of Willibald Howeverit came about, someCapernaum By (723time duringthe seventh century, itinerary"of Theodosius (circa 520) 26), the synagogue at Capernaum and in the guide-bookof the Venerable was alreadyin ruins and there reCapernaumapparentlylapsed into mained only one house and a large decline. By the end of the eighth wall. There are several theories for century the town, as it had been trathis. Orfali an excaditionally known, fell into oblivion. (1922:6), early r '4~? vator of the that In the Middle Ages, pilgrims were site, suspects .~' Caperr-4* naum was destroyedaround665-67, shown a "house of Peter"in Tiberias at the same time that Tiberias was ratherthan in Capernaum (Kopp ~C~i~L ?? r Muslims. 1963: 226; Wilkinson 1981: 194). destroyedby invading feels that Crusadershad an aversionto The Blenkinsopp (1989:207) the political chaos surroundingthe Capernaumand held no interest in ~f~s~ final years of Umayyad rule (743-50) the town whatsoever (see Benvenisti or a disastrous earthquakeknown to 1976: 15);accordingto Daniel the have taken place in 746 may just as Abbot (1106)this was because they account for believed the antichrist would appear likely Capernaum's demise. Tzaferis (1989:214-15; 1983: there, based on Jesus'stern denunciation of the city (Matthew 11:20-24). 198-204) argues for a seventh cenabandonment of the inThe writings of Saewulf (1101),Fretury site, The Mount Carmel mountain rangeis segthe and tellus (circa 1130),Peter the Deacon cluding synagogue church, mented by a few passes that served as road that was followed by a new, different (1137),Belardof Ascoli (circa 1155) conduits throughoutmost of history. The and slightly repositioned settlement and Jacobde Vitry (1180)mention most important of these passes is the Nahal Iron (wadi Ara, or the so-called 'ArunaPass") that continued until the mid-eleventh Capernaum,albeit without includas it divides the Carmelrangeand carries century. On the other hand, Corbo ing significant detail (de Sandoli even the modern road frompoints south into concludes that the Jezreelvalley. This road proceedsnorth (1975:220) Caper1980);a few of them describe connaum met its end by a gradualexile throughthe Carmel rangeand breaks out ontinued ruins. to the Jezreelabout .5 miles east of Megiddo. rather than by sudden destruction or Evenfromthe thirteenth century T
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Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
71
part of the via maris tradition either before the end of the eighth century C.E. or in the aftermath of the Crusades, during the Mamluke and early Ottoman era (thirteenth to sixteenth Conclusion If this argument is defensible and if centuries). There is no literary evidence the primaryevidence presented here and an accurate coherent pic- independent of the Bible, which we paints have alreadyseen to be obscure and ture of Capernaum'soccupied exisinconclusive at best, and no cartothat this it tence, appearsprobable town could have become a pivotal graphicconcurrence whatsoever supportingthe eighth century c.E. option. The latter option conforms precisely to the cartographicevidence I have referredto, in terms of chronology,and accords with the literary documentation very well; it is only slightly anticipated by just one piece of evidence found in the early Mamluke period (Burchard). Earlypost-Crusaderpilgrims knew their scriptures through the Latin languageand would thereforehave been well acquaintedwith the via maris expression. On the other hand, being Christians, and therefore intimately familiarwith the New Testament Gospels, these pilgrims would have been intent on visiting the site The biblical site of Jezreel,foreground,aligns the southernflank of the Jezreel(Esdraelon)valley of the headquartersof Jesus'Galilean (extremeleft). Immediately behind this site are the highlands of Mount Gilboa (rightbacktravelers the seasons in some have whose sides would for rainy higher ground provided ministry before proceeding on to ground), negotiating the lower Jezreelvalley.Photo courtesy BarryJ.Beitzel. Peraeaand/orJudaea.'2 Consequently, this combination onwards,in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of Crusader rule, reportsof Jewishand Christian pilgrimages to Capernaummore or less repeat the same refrain.Rabbi EshtoriHaparhi(circa 1322)avows that the synagoguelay in ruins, a comment subsequently confirmed by RabbiIsaac Chelo from Spain (1333)11despite the fact that Rabbi Menahem of Hebron (1215)had
spoken of a Zadokite cemetery located at Capernaum.Moreover, Christian pilgrims Marino Sanuto (1321),Niccol6 of Poggibonsi (circa 1347),Ludolphvon Suchem (1350) and JohnPoloner (circa 1421)offer about the same verdict.Beyondthese, however,only a few sketchy details about Capernaumare known until nearly the end of the Mamluke and the early Ottoman periods, when pilgrimages to the town became considerablyless perilous. The Ottoman Turks,anxious to curry the favorof western Christians, offeredland grants for the erection of churches, hospitals and schools, and createdan environment in which travel to this region could be carriedout in secured safety.Not surprisingly,therefore, Capernaumexperienced a ratherre-
72
markablerenaissance in this period (Sapirand Neeman 1967:30-33; Corbo 1975:221).
The depressionof the Jezreel(Esdraelon)valley separates the mountains of Galilee from those of Samaria.An extremely flat valley,its eroded topsoil-at places as deep as 150 feet-is very rich for agriculturalproductivity.At a point along the southwestern edge of this valley lies the monumental site of Megiddo (in the background).This site guarded the pass in the Carmel range throughwhich ran the Great TrunkRoad to points south and into Egypt.Photo courtesy BarryJ.Beitzel.
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
of the antiquity and synchronism of literary and cartographic attestation of the via maris, when placed under the grid of an occupational profile of the site of Capernaum, renders probable the hypothesis that the original biblical phraseology was resurrected in the post-Crusader periods, after a hiatus of more than 800 years (from Jerome to Burchard of Mount Zion), and assigned a new, and essentially pilgrimage, function. Pilgrims disembarking from their ships at the preeminent port of Acco/Acre were escorted across a section of Lower Galilee (e.g. Beth Netofa valley), across the Beth Kerem valley or, more likely, across the Esdraelon (Jezreel) Valley, to Capernaum, where they could reflect on the life, miracles and teachings of their Lord along the shores of the Sea of Galilee. But along the way, these post-Crusader pilgrims would have traversed the ancient lands of Zebulun and Naphtali to get to Capernaum, like Jesus before them (Matthew 4:14-16), and they would have arrived in Jesus' "own city" by means of the "via maris," as the road had come to be known to them.13 Be that as it may, where in the Common Era the expression via maris is known to be describing a road within Syro-Palestine, it surely denotes an east-west passageway between Acco/Acre and Capernaum, almost certainly a passageway of post-Crusader vintage and no earlier, notwithstanding the ill-conceived mutation Ritter and Schumacher introduced in the last century.
Mount Tabor,isolated from the neighboringmountains of LowerGalilee and the heights of Samaria to the south, overlookedmost of the surroundingterrainof the Jezreel,as well as the Great TrunkRoad, which ran adjacent to its southeastern flanks. The modern town of Daberath is in the foreground.
is, of course, necessary to differentiate on maps between the via maris and the via maritima, which extended along the eastern Mediterraneanshoreline and linked the cities of SyrianAntioch and Alexandriain Egypt.
this essay as well as the pitfalls of anachronism or modern politics, which may be inherent in other alternative designations. 6Myobservationshere arelargely dependenton a computer searchavailable
3The vetus latina reads reliqui qui juxta mare estis at this point in Isaiah
through the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae
9:1. The expression viam maris (1Kings 18:43)and maris viam (Isaiah51:10)is, however,representedin Old Latin (see viam maris rubri in Numbers 21:4). The
MasoreticText offersthe renderingderek yam-stzphfour times (Numbers 14:25 and 21:4 and Deuteronomy 1:40and 2:1). 4The servant could have seen a short segment of a connecting road stretching between Megiddoand Acco. 5Recently,a slightly differentchronological twist has been given to this passage (Hayesand Irvine: 1987: 176-79). Derek hayyam is the name routinely assigned on modern Israeli maps to the Notes thoroughfarethat bypasses Tel Aviv in 'It is surely significant to point out the direction of PetahTiqwaand Netanya. that this quotation ascribedto Quaresmi- It was through substantially this same us was removedfrom the 1866 English terrainthat a portion of the ancient translation of Ritter'sbook, while all of transportationroadwaycoursed, joining the surroundingtext was translatedintact Canaan with the remainderof the bibli21 have uncoveredone cartographic cal world and vitally linking and sustainsource, a volume by August Dichsel ing every sector of the FertileCrescent that antedates Schumacher in all historical periods.To denote this map (1870: 6), and depicts the way of the sea stretching highwayon Bible maps as the "Great between Hazor and Megiddo.On other TrunkLand"(orsome similar nomengrounds,however,this work reflects a clature)avoidsboth the historical and marked dependence on Ritter'swork. It cartographicalproblems describedin
(University of Californiaat Irvine).In orderto capturethe oblique case usage, I requestedthe root hod- in all contexts in which thaldsses also appears.As a result, other unrelatedmatches were found, including Appianus,Mithridatica, 186.4; Dionysius Halicarnassensis,Antiquitates Romanae, 7.6.1; Eustathius, Commentarii ad Homeri Odysseam, 1.113; Historia Alexandri Magni 6.39.8, as well as
many false matches. 7Accordingto ProfessorBenjamin Isaac,personal communication. 8Accordingto ProfessorFredDonner, personal communication. See also E Zayadine (1985:162),who suggests that the main arteryintersecting Canaan was known in Arabic as tariq el-farama'
(Pelusium). 9Accordingto Israel Roll, personal communication. Moreover,no such road appearson the Peutingermap, nor is it included among the Roman roadsdescribed in the Itinerarium Antonini.
1oSomemay arguethat all (oreven most) of these maps derivefrom a single literary or cartographicsource, which is unequivocally absurd.Even admitting the widespreadplagiarismthat com-
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
73
monly characterizedmedieval and early modern cartography,severalindependent cartographictraditions are represented in these specimens. This independence is reflected in many ways, including discreet ways of portrayingthe network of riversconnecting the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean,in dissimilar shapes of the Dead Sea'ssouthern basin, in peculiar configurationsof the Mediterraneancoastline, in certain mistaken locations not plagiarizedand in distinctive thematic preoccupations. This essay is part of a largerstudy I have undertakenwhich seeks better to understandthe history of mappingbiblical lands. I have determinedthat research is needlessly tedious after the time of Napoleon, when scientific surveysof the Holy Landwere reintroducedand trigonometrically-basedmaps began to appear;hence the maps in this essay date only to 1800. The Acco-Capernaum configurationof the via maris doubtlessly continued into the nineteenth century, however,as it is reflected in additional map specimens from that later era I have uncoveredin both the Jerusalemand Washington,D.C. collections. "The authenticity of Chelo'swork is no longer certain;the text may in fact derive from the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries. I am indebtedto Professor Isaac for this information. '2Somesources from that period mistakenly located a Capernaumalong the Mediterraneancoast near Acco, between Mount Carmel and cAthlit (for example, Daniel the Abbot, Benjaminof Tudela,William of Tyre,Vinisauf;Jacob de Vitry visited both sites), a fact that I will take to suggest that Capernaumwas high among the repertoireof "required" towns to be shown to pilgrims by tour guides at that time. 3It is perhapsnecessary to understand Matthew'sgospel to be saying that Jesusarrivedin Capernaum,having passed through the region or territoryof the sea (N.B.hod6n, not hod6s [the word must be construed as an adverbialaccusative]).Fora contraryopinion, see Stendahl (1968: 105).
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74
GeorgeBraun. Aharoni,Y 1966 Entryto Exile. Pp. 9-67 in The Jews in TheirLand,edited by D. BenGurion. GardenCity, NY:Doubleday and Company,Inc. 1967 The Land of the Bible:A Historical Geography.Translatedby A. Rainey from Hebrew.Philadelphia:Westminster Press. Baedeker,K. 1891 Paldstina und Syrien:Handbuch fiir reisende. Leipzig:K. Baedeker. 1912 Palestine and Syria:WithRoutes throughMesopotamiaand Babylonia and the Island of Cyprus.London: Dulau and Company. Baly,A.D. 1974 The Geographyof the Bible. New York:Harper& RowPublishers. Barth,H. in der Josiazeit. 1977 Die Jesaja-Worte Neukirchen-Vluyn:Neukirchener Verlag. Benvenisti,M. 1976 The Crusadersin the Holy Land. Jerusalem:IsraelUniversities Press. Blenkinsopp,J. 1989 The LiteraryEvidence.Pp. 201-11 of Excavationsat Capernaum(19781982),edited by V.Tzaferis.Winona Lake,IN: Eisenbrauns. Cajetan,T. de Vio 1532 Evangeliacum commentariis ... in quat(t)uorEvagelia& Acts apostolorum. Paris:JohnParvum& Johannem Roigny. Corbo,V. 1975 Cafarnao:Gli Edifici della Cittta, volume 1. Jerusalem:Franciscan PrintingPress. Cuntz, O. 1929 ItinerariaRomana.Leipzig:B.G.
ume 1. Paris:S. Cramoisy& G. Cramoisy. Hartmann,R. 1910 Die Strassevon Damaskus nach Kairo.Zeitschrift der Deutschen MorgenldndischenGesellschaft 64: 665-702. 1918 Zur Geschichte der Via maris. Zeitschrift des Deutschen PalistinaVereins41: 53-56. Hayes,J.,and Irvine, S. 1987 Isaiah the Eighth-CenturyProphet: His Times and His Preaching.Nashville: AbingdonPress. Heikel, I., editor 1913 Eusebius Werke,volume 6: Die Demonstratio evangelica. Series:Die Griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller 23. Leipzig:J.C. Hinrichs. Jacoby,K. S., editor 1885 Dionysii Halicarnasei antiquitatum Romanarumquae supersunt,volume 1. Leipzig:B.G. Teubner.Reprinted in 1967 by Teubnerin Stuttgart. Jansen,C. 1639 Tetrateuchus,sive Commentariusin sancta Jesu Christi Euangelia,volume 1. Louvain:JacobZegeri. Koch,K. 1978 derekh.Pp. 270-93 in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, volume 3, editedbyG. Botterweckand H. Ringgren,translatedby J.Willis and G. Bromileyfrom German. GrandRapids,MI:William B.Eerdmans Publishing Company. Kopp,C. 1963 The Holy Places of the Gospels. New York:Herderand Herder. Kroll,W.,editor 1926 Historia Alexandri Magni,volume 1. Berlin:Weidmann. Lapide,C. a 1625 Commentariain Isaiam prophetam. Teubner. A. Antwerp:MartinNutium. Dichsel, 1870 Bibel-Atlasin 8 lithographirtenund Mazar,A. 1990 Archaeologyof the Land of the Bible colorirtenKartenund 7 Tafelnmit 18 xylographirtenAbbildungen und 10,000-586 B.C.E..New Yorkand London:Doubleday. eine Karte.Breslau:Carl Diilfer. Meshel, Z. Devos, P. 1973 WasThere a 'ViaMaris'?Israel 1967 LaDate du Voyaged'igerie. Analecta Bollandiana 85: 165-94. ExplorationJournal23: 162-66. Migne, J.-P,editor Fischer,T. 1896 Palastina.Eine landerkundliche 1845 PatrologiaeCursus Completus,volume 24. Paris:J.-P.Migne. Studie. GeographischeZeitschrift 2: 241-61. 1857a Patrologia.Series Graeca,volume 23. Paris:J.-P.Migne. Fraipont,I., editor 1857b Patrologia.Series Graeca,volume 1965 Itinerariaet alia Geographica. 28. Paris:J.-P.Migne. Corpus Christianum,Series Latina, 1859 Patrologia.Series Graeca,volume volume 175. Turnhout:Brepols. 57. Paris:J.-P.Migne. Gesenius, W. 1821 Commentariuberden Jesaia,volMusculus, W 1548 In EvangelistamMatthaeum comume 1. Leipzig:F.C. W Vogel. mentarii . . . quibus non solum sinGrotius,H. 1644 Operaomnia theologica:Annotagula quaeq exponuntur,sed & quid tione ad VetusTestamentum,volsingulis Marci & Lucaedifferentibus
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
locis notandum sit, diligenter expenditur. Basil:I. Hervagius. Orfali,G. 1922 Capharnailmet ses ruines d'apras les fouilles accomplies aiTell-Houm parla Custodie Franciscainede Terre Sainte (1905-1921).Paris:A. Picard. Piscator,J. 1612 In prophetamEsaiam commentarius. Herborn,Germany. Quaresmius,F. 1639 Historica Theologica et Moralis Terrae Sanctae Elucidatio, volume 1. Antwerp:BalthasarisMoreti. Radke,G. 1973 Viae publicae Romanae.Columns 1415-1686 in Supplementary volume 13 of Pauly-Wissowa,RealderklassischenAltertumsEncyclopddie wissenschaft. Munich: Alfred DruckenmiillerVerlag. Rainey,A. 1981 ToponymicProblems. TelAviv 8: 146-51. Ritter,C. 1850 Die Erdkundeim Verhiltniss zur Naturund zurGeschichtedes Menschen, oder Allgemeine, vergleichende Geographie,volume 15. Berlin:G. Reimer. de Sandoli, S., editor 1980 Itinera Hierosolymitana Crucesignatorum, volume 2. Jerusalem:Franciscan Printing Press. Sapir,B., and Neeman, D. 1967 Capernaum:History and Legacy,Art and Architecture.Tel Aviv:The Historical Sites Library. Schumacher,G. 1888 The Jauldn.Series:Palestine Exploration FundNo. 19. London: RichardBentley and Son. 1889 The 'Via Maris':A Reply.Palestine ExplorationFund Quarterly22: 78-79. Schw6bel,V. 1904 Die Verkehrswegeund Ansiedlungen Galilias in ihrerAbhiingigkeitvon den natifrlichenBedingungen.Kapitel III.Zeitschrift des Deutschen Paliistina-Vereins27: 57-88. Smith, G. A. 1894 The Historical Geographyof the Holy Land. London:Hodder& StoughtonLtd. Stallbaum,G., editor 1825 Eustathii archiepiscopiThessalonicensis commentarii ad Homeri Odysseam, volume 1. Leipzig:J.A. C. Weigel.Reprintedin 1968 by G. Olms in Hildesheim. Stendahl,K. 1968 The School of St. Matthew and its Use of the Old Testament.Philadelphia:FortressPress.
Stewart,A., editor 1896 Burchardof Mount Sion. Palestine Pilgrims'Text Society,volume 12. London:Committee of the Palestine ExplorationFund. Thackeray,H. St. J.,editor 1976 Josephus,volume 1. Pp. 146-49 in The LifeAgainst Apion. Series:The LoebClassical Series. London: William Heinemann. 1978 Josephus,volume 4. Pp.358-59 in JewishAntiquities, Books I-IV. Series:The LoebClassical Series. London:William Heinemann. Thomsen, P. 1917 Die r6mischen Meilensteine der Provinzen Syria,Arabiaund Palaestina. Zeitschrift des Deutschen PalastinaVereins40: 1-95. Tzaferis,V. 1983 New ArchaeologicalEvidenceon Ancient Capernaum.Biblical Archaeologist 46: 198-204. 1989 Historical Summary.Pp. 213-21 of Excavationsat Capernaum(19781982),edited by V Tzaferis.Winona Lake,IN: Eisenbrauns. van de Velde,C. 1858 Map of the Holy Land. Gotha:Justus Perthes. Viereck,P.,Roos, A. G., and Gabba,E., editors 1939 Appiani historia Romana,volume 1. Leipzig:B.G. Teubner.Reprintedin 1962 by Teubnerin Leipzig. Vitringa,C. 1724 Commentariusin librum prophetiarum Jesaiae,volume 1. Leeuwarden: Henricus Halma. Wildberger,H. 1972 Jesaja.BiblischerKommentarAT, 10/1.Neukirchen-Vluyn:Neukirchener Verlag. Wilkinson, J.,translator 1981 Egeria'sTravelsto the Holy Land. Jerusalem:Ariel Publishing House. Zach, E von., editor 1808 FortgesetzteReise-Nachrichtenvon U.J.Seetzen ... auf einem briefe an den herrn oberhofmeistervon Zach. Monatliche Correspondenzzur Beforderundder Erd-und HimmelsKunde 18:331-57. Zayadine,F. 1985 CaravanRoutesBetween Egyptand Nabataeaand the Voyageof Sultan Baibarsto Petrain 1276. Studies in the History and Archaeologyof Jordan2: 159-73. Ziegler,J.,editor 1975 Eusebius Werke,volume 9: Der Jesajakommentar.Series:Die Griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller. Berlin:Akademie-Verlag.
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Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
75
The
Impact
of
a
Restoration: on Near Eastern
Desolation and Biblical Concept
byNeilAsherSilberman Old
the
As
Archaeology
Testament and
prophets
New
Testament had
apostles the predicted,
Land
would
laid
waste
for
sins
of
Holy
its
be the
people.
by many ewwestern archaeologistsJerusalemthe Fallen, astheperceived nineteenth
and explorersof the Middle East in the nineteenth century failed to comment on what was, in their eyes, the degraded modern level of civilization in the region in comparison with the impressiveness of its ancient remains. Formany of those who worked in Palestine in particular,and whose
76
early Europeanexplorersof century,offereda dramatic contrast with the traditional western idealization of the Holy Land.Engravingfrom J.S. Buckingham, Travelsin Syriaand the Holy Land,1822.
main interest was locating sites and monuments mentioned in the Bible, the gulf between ancient ideal and
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
I
i
modern reality was enormous. In fact, to an influential segment of nineteenth-century western clerics, pilgrims and scholars, the contemporarystate of affairsin the Holy Landappearedto be nothing less than a literal fulfillment of biblical prophecy (Faber1809;Wylie 1841; Clemens [Twain]1867;Melville 1876). As both the Old Testament
evidence of a Divine historical plan prophets and the New Testament apostles had predicted, the Holy (Verete1972;Kochan 1986).The end Landwould be laid waste for the sins of the eighteenth century and the of its people, to languish in divinely- beginning of the nineteenth century decreed desolation until "theend of was a time of intense millennial exdays."Isaiah warned that the Lord's pectation in England,Franceand wrath towardthe people of the Holy America. Many were convinced that Landwould not end "until (its) cities the Second Advent of Jesuswas near lie waste without inhabitant ... and (Brown1952; Sandeen 1970). Since the land is utterly desolate"(6:11). the restoration of the Holy Landwas Jeremiahforetoldthat the Lordwould seen as an important precondition to make "the fruitful land . .. a desert" the establishment of a Divine kingAnd Ezekiel that dom on earth and the beginning of prophesied (4:26). to the people of the Holy Land,the the millennium (Titcomb 1854;FineLordwould "bringthe worst of the stein 1986),restoring the desolated nations to take possession of their land to its ancient splendor offered houses"and that "theirholy places Europeansa programof action. The shall be profaned"(7:24). conquest and "modernization"of the In the eyes of many western, Holy Landcame to be seen as Europe Christian explorers, these prophecies were vividly fulfilled in the contemporarypolitical and economic conditions. The famous cities ?[ of Jerusalem,Bethlehem, Hebron, Nazareth and Jaffabore little resemblance to their glowing i biblical descriptions; they were now, as Isaiah had seemingly predicted, little more than villages, sparselypopulated and poor (Ben-Arieh 1975).Agriculture in the "Landof Milk and Honey,"as Jeremiahhad warned, had become difficult and only rarelyproductive Large-scaleEuropeaninvolvement in the modern affairsof the Holy Land was first 1975: Bitan 1982: 185-243; (Avitsur made manifest in missionary work. Christ 27-80). Most striking of all, the opChurch,completed in 1848, served as a focus of Anglican activity in Jerusalem.Its studied pressive rule of the Ottoman Turks Gothic Revival set it apartfrom ("theworst of the nations"mentioned the otherpublicarchitecture Jerusalem.From buildings of in Ezekiel?)generously contributed W H. Bartlett, JerusalemRevisited, 1855. to the desolation of the country and America'smanifest spiritual through its violent methods for order and its maintaining public destiny (Elsbree1928;Tuchman 1984). tax collectors' corrupt greed (Ma'oz Mission, economic involvement and education were one level of Euro1968;Cohen 1973: 179-269). While this apparentfulfillment pean restorativeactivity, pointed to of ancient prophecymight have been the future (Tibawi 1961, 1966;Hopexplained in terms of secular history, wood 1969;Ma'oz 1975:485-514; many Europeanand American Chris- Kark 1983).European-stylearchaetian observerspreferredto see it as ology and historical study came to be
another, pointed to the past (Conder 1878;Macalister 1925).Both shared the motivation that the land, in its present state, needed "improvement" of a kind that could be broughtabout only through Europeanpatronage (Silberman 1990b).Just as Europeanstyle schools, roads,hospitals and shops began to appearacross the landscape, so did ancient biblical cities -whose material relics and religious significance seemingly confirmed Europeanideas of the divinely predestined course of human history. The origins and development of Europeanarchaeologicalactivity in the Holy Landin the nineteenth century were, I believe, guided by the ideologically suggestive concept of "restorationfrom desolation"from the start. This biblical concept, transformedin the late nineteenth century into a secular belief in material progress, remained firmly embedded in the aims and methodology of Palestinian archaeology, and, as I will suggest in the following pages, continues to exert its ideological impact on archaeological agendas and interpretationsin the Middle East today. A Promised Landand its Sacred Relics The spiritual link between European Christians and the Landof the Bible survived the defeat and expulsion of the Crusaders.Throughout the Late Middle Ages and into the early modern period, the flow of European pilgrims, although affectedby political and economic changes, continued under the supervision of the Franciscanorderin the Holy Land (Sumption 1975; Simon 1980).A majorhistorical turning point, however, came with the Reformation. While Catholic pilgrimagecontinued,
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
77
Protestantleaders encouragedthe faithful to embark on a more metaphorical journey- a pilgrimageof the soul. The Holy Landwas thus transformed from a place to a metaphor in Protestantthinking. It came to be seen as a prefigurationof the Divinelyinspired, ideal realm that would be established by the TrueChurch at the "Endof Days"(Jones1956;Lowance 1980).This new understandingwas first developedby radicalmillenarian sects of the EarlyReformationPeriod (Cohn 1970:252-80), but most concretely applied by the seventeenth century English Puritan colonists in their "errandinto the wilderness"of New England,where they regularly gave biblical place-names to their
and miracle-seeking supplicants fill- country, and described the linguistic ing the Church of the Holy Sepulchre transformationsby which, they bein Jerusalemand the Church of the lieved, ancient Hebrew placenames Nativity in Bethlehem, among many others, was enough to convince many and visitors To many Protestant travelersthat the historical claims of the older churches (and the of their Frenchand Russian patrons) Holy explorers, were worthless and the traditional Land's historical holy sites were frauds (Seetzen 1810; Buckingham 1822). far more was The result was a new kind of pil- essence grimage, in which the object was not than its appealing only to criticize mendacious ecclesiastical legends, but also to identify condition. the "true"sites of biblical history present (as first explicitly outlined in Clarke 1817).The techniques of this modern had been transformedinto modern Arabic. biblical geographytook form with The study of the historical the explorations in 1838 by Edward new settlements geographyof Palestine was, in Robinson's (Levine 1958). words, "afirst attempt Changing geoto lay open the treapolitical trends at the sures of Biblical Geogend of the eighteenth raphy ... which have century finally forced a lain for ages unexphysical confrontation between Protestant plored, and had become so coveredwith the Europeand the earthly dust and rubbish of Landof the Bible. The many centuries, that strategic importance of their very existence Middle Easterntrade was forgotten" routes, the southward (E.Robinson 1841 (I): expansion of Imperial Russia and the attempt xii-xiii). Although "the dust and rubbish" by Napoleon to conquer (which was the Egyptwere among the common European factors that intensified estimation of Palescompetition among the tine's modern cultures) Europeanpowerswithin the Ottoman Empire.National, ter- The icon-filled churchesat the most sacred representeda history certainly sites of the Holy Land were uneasily shared no less meaningful for the counritorial ambitions were effectively by the Latins, Orthodox,Armenians and servedby cultivating religious attry's inhabitants than its earlier other eastern denominations. Protestant epochs, it was, for Robinson and tachments, which resulted in an in- skepticism over their historical reliability encourageda new kind of explorationof the his successors, merely an uncreased flow of western European Holy Land. The Grottoof the Nativity in traders,explorers and military men Charles Wilson, Bethlehem, from Picturesque pleasant obstruction that had to be Palestine, 1880. in Palestine (Marlowe1971;Benswept away. To many visitors and explorers, Arieh 1979; Silberman 1982: 10-27). These new visitors were not tra- Robinson and Eli Smith (E.Robinson the Holy Land'shistorical essence was thereforefar more appealing ditional Holy Landpilgrims; the ra- 1841).During the course of an amthan its present reality. Beginning in bitious three-month journeyfrom tionalist orientation of many made the 1850s, western archaeologists Smith Suez to Beirut, Robinson and them instinctively hostile to the started digging into the earth to find overdozens of identified previously spiritual authority of the Catholic looked biblical in Palestine.' and Orthodox churches locales, speculated tangible relics of that essence, rather than merely speculating overmaps The alien appearanceof gilded icons on the ancient landscape of the
78
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
the New Canaan to the Old in 1838, 'TFrom EdwardRobinson broughtpious New England devotion to the Bible to his study of the historical geographyof the Holy Land.From - Claude Conder,Palestine, 1872.
Fund's Surveyof WesternPalestine (ratherthan any existing Ottoman political divisions) provedcrucial in the delineation of the shape and extent of MandatoryPalestine after WorldWarI (Franco-
BritishBoundaryCommission
1921;Ra'anan1976:40-41, 97-
•i 141).Still later, in the twentieth
(Ben-Arieh1979; Silberman 1982). Digging had an advantageover geographicalstudy, in that its finds possessed an emotional and religious significance comparableto the saints' bones, shrouds and relics of earlier times (Hunt 1982: 128-54). Biblical cities, once identified, could now be physically resurrectedand take their place as shrines in a new sacred geography.In Jerusalemespecially, digging offereda clear message. Excavationreporttitles and historical summaries of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, such as The Recoveryof Jerusalem (Wilson and Warren1871),UndergroundJerusalem (Warren1876 and Vincent 1911),and Inner Jerusalem(GoodrichFreer 1904)implied-consciously or unconsciously-that the modern-day Jerusalemof living places, working places, prayingplaces and marketplaces was somehow an illusion, and that the real Jerusalemhad been somehow lost, buried or concealed beforewestern archaeologists arrived. The impact of this kind of historical restorationwas not merely academic; through the replacement of an existing landscapewith a "biblical"geography,a new territorial entity was effectively defined. The boundaries of the "Landof the Bible" as determined first by Robinson and later by the Palestine Exploration
few influential Europeansand Americans believed, as they had so fervently at the beginning of the century, that the natural culmination of the story of mankind lay in an imminent, divinely directed mil-. lennium. Instead, the ease with which Europeanarmies and technology overwhelmed local resistance in the places they chose for their imperialpossessions led many European historians to believe that human history was, in essence, the story of the triumph of the more talented and technologically advancedraces over the less talented ones (Stocking 1987: 233-37; Bowler 1989). The widespreadacceptance of Social (andHistorical) Darwinism did not, however,imply a philosophical rejection of biblical imagery;it merely pavedthe way for a verification of the concepts of desolation and restoration in rational and scientific terms (Trigger1981, 1984:363-65). Redemption was now seen as the result of steady human technological achievement, of an improvingstandardof living in which the culmina-
century, the principles of European historical geography,having established the outline, helped to fill in the details. The official adoption of biblical place-names, linguistically and historically approvedby the British MandatoryGovernment (Government of Palestine 1929)and later by the Names Committee of the Academy for the HebrewLanguagein the State of Israel (Hareouveni1979), created a modern geographydramatically different than that known to the nineteenth-century inhabitants and explorers of Palestine. Modernbiblical archaeologyand geographythus effectively assisted political developments in the land of the Bible by providinga concrete means of reshapingits history, and specific territorial foci on which to exercise national claims. The shift from passive pilgrimageto active "improvement"was to have far-reaching implications for the future. By remaking Palestine'sgeographyand history in the image of their own biblical understandings,the explorers and scholars of the great powers of the West were instrumental in the ideological validation of a political and economic transformationhardly less far-reachingthan that so successfully accomplished in the colonial Ancient secrets buried beneath the modern Bethlehems, Nazareths, Hebrons, New Canaans and New Jerusalems of America. From Prophecy to Racial Progress By the end of the nineteenth century,
streets of Jerusalemwere an endless source of fascination to Westerntravelersand explorers. Here Charles Warrenexamines an ancient inscription in one of his shafts dug alongside the Haramesh-Sharif,fromIllustratedLondon News, 1869.
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
79
ii
PI .
'1
PILI
ri"-FT
TIN-. BAN K
.
P1Lrariir B6w 14,
tion of human history would be ushered in with a man-mademillennium of progressand heavy industry (Houghton 1957:33-45; Nisbet 1980). The rapidextension of European power and influence in the Middle East (as elsewhere) seemed to be a prelude to that golden age. Already in the Holy Land,the intensified commercial and religious activity of the British, French,Germans and Americans towardthe end of the nineteenth century resulted in dramatic technological and economic change (Ma'oz1975;Gerber 1982). The Europeanconquest of the Middle East seemed no longer to be a pious hope, but an historical inevitability. A growing number of European statesmen saw the value of anticipating the western triumph over the Ottoman Empireby transforming the modern Holy Land through ambitious, often visionary development schemes (Friedman 1977; Shilo 1988).
80
WithgrowingEuropeaninvolvement in the Middle East toward the end of the nineteenth century, the Holy Land was profoundly transformed.Here, Kaiser Wilhelmand his entouragepass throughthe streetsof Jerusalem duringhis official visit in 1898. Fromthe Matson Collection, Libraryof Congress, Washington,D.C.
1907, 1912;for the broaderhistorical context, see Lorimer 1988).Implicit in this historical perspectivewas the belief that the present expansion of the Westinto the Middle Eastwas but the latest in a sequence of racial conquests that stretchedback for millennia. With deep faith that racial conflict was a naturaland even inevitable counterpartto progress,Petrie became an influential apostle of a new biological gospel of desolation and restoration in the Middle East. In Egypt,Petrie found sequences of distinct archaeological cultures that he unhesitatingly ascribedto successive invasions and conquests of the country from the outside by biologically homogeneous groups (Petrie 1906).Yet the sequence of those identified conquerors(fromthe "hairybushmen of the Paleolithic"[?] to the Greek and Romans at the end of antiquity) uncannily mirrored contemporary,pseudo-scientific conceptions of racial hierarchy (Gould 1981).One of the main tenets of eugenics was that historical change came about through"racialdegeneration"of conquering races through uncontrolled interbreedingwith their subjects (Galton 1870:351-62). Thus, Petrie dutifully distinguished successive stages of "rise,""flourit" and "decline"in every ethnicallyrelated pottery type (Petrie 1899). Petrie'sepoch-making 1890 excavations at Tell el-Hesi in southern Palestine bore clear signs of his eugenical orientation. His separation of the mound'sarchaeological deposits into distinct strata (based on the predominanceof ethnically related pottery types in each) sug-
William Matthew FlindersPetrie, generally regardedas the father of modern Near Easternarchaeology, was a strong advocateof such European technological and political involvement in the Middle East (Silbermanforthcoming).Although many of his students and successors have acknowledgedthe strictly scholarly significance of his archaeological work, (Macalister1925:43-45; Albright 1932:24; Wright 1962:24), few have commented on the extent to which Petrie'sinterpretationsand methodology can also be seen as ideologicalvalidationsof late nineteenthcentury Europeanimperialism. Petrie was deeply influenced by the theory of eugenics of his friend Sir FrancisGalton (Drower1985: 302-3; Silbermanforthcoming).He identified the motive force of history in the Middle East, as elsewhere, as the hereditaryinequality of racesgested several successive episodes of with "superior"human types natural- racial domination (Petrie 1891: 14-15). ly dominating "inferior"ones (Petrie His classification of the main stages
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
EAST
E RN
F AC E
OF
T EL L
H ESY 5 Y
. No6rth
",
o , "
2-'1
1
31
.-:..-:
ir
.
•_.bL
!
L
:L
LIO.
-...l ~. _ . Neatly segmented chunks of time and superimposed layers of ethnic cultures represented a striking new element in the historiography of the Holy Land. Schematic stratigraphic section of Tell el-Hesy, site of the first modern excavation in Palestine. From F J. Bliss, A Mound of Many Cities, 1894. .
I~r??m
L?rl ------t-I ,,_.Z-._._.
of development of the pottery types found in each of the strata neatly paralleled the eugenically predicted stages of conquest, flourit and eventual decline (Petrie 1891:47-48). These basic tools of analysis were, in fact, eventually identified as the hallmarks of modern archaeology (Callaway 1980;Fargo1984).Eventhough many of Petrie'sspecific chronological divisions and ethnic attributions were later revised (Gitin 1985)and his statistical methods challenged (Kendall1963, 1969),his basic message of ethnic biographyretained its significance in modern Near Eastern archaeology. Indeed, from the beginning of the twentieth century until well after WorldWarII, the main emphasis of Near Easternarchaeologywas to identify discrete historical strata by means of stratigraphicand ceramic analysis. The history of the region was seen as a sequence of violent, historically recorded(orarchaeologically inferred)racial or ethnic conquests, based on the equation of new pottery styles and destruction levels with the arrivalof foreign ethnic groups (Albright 1932:24-58; Wright 1962: 89-91; for a critique, see Glock 1985: 465). This brandof culturalhistorical archaeology,born in the age of Europeanimperial expansion, saw ancient remains as little more than the recordof the diffusion and conquests of historically "vigorous" ethnic groups (Trigger1989: 148-206). Whether in the Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman era or at the end of the
---
-
----
-.-1
were often seen as "thewolves of Arabia"-natural enemies of civilization, unwilling and congenitally incapable of adoptinga settled life (Mayerson1986:36). The conquest of much of the Middle East by the forces of Islam representedan inexplicable defeat for the True Faith in the eyes of many Christians. As a result, Europeans came eventually to identify the Arabsas God'schosen agents of desolation, who destroyedthe fertility and prosperityof the Holy Landas punishment for Christian corruption and sin (Rodinson 1987: 11-13).The ultimate failure of the Crusades crystallized this theological interEuropeans eventually pretation (Metlitzki 1977).And just as archaeological remains were used came to identify the in the nineteenth century as illustrations of the glories of biblical history, Arabs as God's chosen Europeandescriptions of the backwardness of modern populations of o f desolation. agents the Holy Landplayed an equally powerful ideological role. The Necessity of Desolation In the best of cases, the modern From the beginning of European peoples of Palestine were depicted Palesof not as living people, but as quaint, archaeological exploration the modern and cultures fossilized illustrations of biblical life tine, peoples of the country were, at least to Euro- (as noted by Glock 1985:468-69; Bretell 1986).A shepherdboy tendpeans, negative referencepoints which both the and fuagainst past ing his flocks, drawnor described, ture were assessed (Said 1978;Benbecame David; a peasant girl at the Arieh 1990:48). This attitude was well, Rachel;a pale rabbiin Jerusalem, but an updatedversion of a longa Pharisee. Individuals,whose comin standing ideological position plex social, economic, religious and whose were basic outlines Europe political context was studiously igestablished the seventh already by nored, became mere cutout illustraFor even before the rise tions of the primitive and the ancient C.E. century of Islam, the "Saracens"of the region that were pasted onto the romantic
Byzantine period, the archaeological reconstructions of ancient Near Easternhistory became increasingly monotonous variations of a melodramatic Gilbert and Sullivan-style opera of triumphant "nationalwill" played out in biblical costume. Yet the traditional religious approach was not entirely superseded.The rise and fall of conquering races offered a universalizing, repetitive version of the earlier biblical concept of desolation and restoration-now seen occurring again and again throughout the country's history.
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
81
backgroundthat the Europeansassumed to be there. In the worst of cases, and this was far more common, the local inhabitants of the Holy Landbecame the reason for the country's desolation. Bedouinwere the enemies of agriculture;LevantineJewsand Christians were the intriguing enemies of general prosperity;and the zealous Muslims were the main obstacles to religious enlightenment (Smith 1975). Because Europeanswere determining the emerging form of the country's archaeology,the periods of importance to them naturally became the periods and sites that were restored(a common phenomenon in archaeology;see Trigger1984). Throughout the nineteenth century, biblical cities and monuments predominated, supplementedby RomanByzantine ruins and the monumental architectureof the Crusades.By the early twentieth century,prehistory had been addedto the picture, in accordancewith Europeanideas of evolution and progress.Yetthe late medieval and early modern periods received scant attention from any archaeologists.The tools used so effectively in biblical and classical archaeology- stratigraphyand pottery analysis -were never seriously applied to remains from later than the end of the Crusaderperiod (Silberman 1989a:231-37). The "Late Arab"or "Turkish"period remained unnuanced and undivided (Palestine ExplorationFund 1923: 55), thus creating the impression of desolation if it did not, in fact, exist. The antiquities laws instituted by the European colonial administrations in the region transformed this chronological-cultural conception into a legal boundary. In Mandatory Palestine, for instance, the Department of Antiquities had no formal jurisdiction over architecture or artifacts from after 1700 c.E. The negative image and neglect of late historical remains thus became another confirmation of the
82
At least archaeologicallynothing was known, for the historical interpretation of history in the country after the Muslim Conquest proved to be a fertile groundfor ideologicallyinspired historiography(Silberman 1989b).The history of the country after the Byzantine period was seen as a continuous, undifferentiated process of decline -with the "Arab mentality" ratherthan environmental, economic or political causes seen as the cause (Tsafrir1984).The implicit belief was that the population and culture of the country fundamentally (andnegatively) changed with the Muslim Conquest, and the situation continued to deteriorate until the return of beneficial, civilizThe Fatherof ModernArchaeologyin the ing influence from the West. Landof the Bible, W M. F Petrieis shown Forarchaeologists working in here in the Gardenof the American School of Palestine, however,a careful distincOriental Research(now the Albright Instition of pottery evidence or a sophisin in the 1930s. Courtesy tute) Jerusalem American Schools of Oriental Research. ticated analysis of sedentary-nomadic relations wasn't really necessary if the main object of the archaeological enterprise was the "rescue"or "restoEuropeanunderstandingof the ration"of the country'sarchaeological mechanics of history. Like the deremains. The work of a faith healer, struction levels that blanketed most strataof civilization, and like pottery after all, can be considered a miracle forms that had become degenerate only if his or her patient is dead. No before their complete disappearance, living man, culture or country can the modern populations of the coun- serve as a Lazarus.It was thus only by emphasizing the deadness of the try were seen as evidence of historimodern cultures of the country that cal deterioration,a civilizational the archaeologicalrestorationof its nadir that would be soon conquered and improved.As a result, except for earlier,biblical antiquities seemed occasional ethnographiccomparisons quite so miraculous. with biblical customs and passages, the recent history and the development of the material culture of the modern population were never seen Archaeologistshave as appropriatesubjects for European their shift to archaeologicalresearch (fora Greek begun parallel see R. Robinson 1985: 157). In contrast to the detailed archaefrom focus primary ological study of the biblical periods at the country's major sites, pracand history political tically no attention was paid to the later remains at those sites. And to ethnic biography medieval of remains the regarding and early modern towns and villages adaptation ecological located away from the sites of earlier biblical cities, virtually nothing social and change. was known.
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
New Prophetsand New Prophecies Recent changes in the archaeology of the region have begun to eat away at the period of archaeological desolation. Theoretical developments in Europeand America have begun to shift archaeologists'primary focus from political history and ethnic biographyto ecological adaptation and social change (Klejn1977;Leone et al 1987;Trigger1989).In the archaeological historiographyof the ancient Near East, the theme of Catastrophism is now gradually being supplanted by the theme of Evolution-in a strange echo of the development of scientific thought in the early nineteenth century (Gordon 1974). Whether in the transition from the Chalcolithic period to the Early BronzeAge (Schaub1982;Levy 1990), the EarlyBronze to the Middle Bronze (Dever 1980),the LateBronze to the EarlyIron Age (Bunimovitz 1990), or the Byzantine to Early
Islamic period (Schick 1988)-where neat "invasionand conquest"theories were once universally acceptedscholarly consensus now centers on continuity and economic reorganization of indigenous populations. Images of invadinghordes, flashing swords,and burning cities have been replacedby new understandingsof social tensions, economic fluctuations and adaptivechange. Like all previous archaeological developments in the Middle East, these new interpretationshave been closely linked to the course of contemporary western activity in the region;in this case, the rise of an efficiency-anddevelopment-orientedworld order and an international corporateeconomy (Miller 1980;Patterson 1986). The rise of modern nation-states in the Middle East (as elsewhere) has brought about a dramatic shift in the social context of local archaeology (Fowler1987).The region is no longer seen exclusively as the "FertileCres-
cent"or the "Cradleof WesternCivilization,"but as the homelands and domains of independent peoples, whose connection to the land-be it ethnic or religious - is immediate, not abstract.The past now serves new political functions: The elaboration of "national"histories is used as a tool in the maintenance of the new nation-states'social solidarity (Silberman 1989a, 1990a).To that end, the various antiquities services, as branches of national governments, focus symbolic attention on national antiquities both for the edification of foreign tourists and for the education of the country'syouth (Gathercole and Lowenthal 1990).These developments are in many respects similar to those that occurredin the nineteenth-century nation-states of Europe,where social and political considerations encouragedan intensive effort to substantiate "roots" (Sklenar 1983:62-101). Yetwhere the Europeanand
A clear hierarchyof power is evident in this 1926 staff photographof the University of ChicagoExpedition to Megiddo. Seated at center is the director,ClarenceFisher.Standing behind him are Egyptianworkers,pottery menders and domestics. Courtesyof the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. ?,
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American archaeologists of the last century (andeven today)rationalize their connection to the antiquities of the region through the inherited themes of the Bible, or more general "westerncivilization,"the local emphasis today is often on specific, ethnic links. In Israel, the emotional connection between the modern Jewishpopulation and the ancient Israelites and Judaeansis made explicit and encouragedby the loud but often superficial archaeological interest of the political leadership (Elon 1971:280-89). The modernizing Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, once enamored of the tradingNabateans and the urbanpopulations of the Roman cities, is now turning its interest to the Paleo-bedouinand the Umayyad caliphs (Hadidi 1982).In Egypt,the power of the ancient pharaohs was stressed, especially under Anwar Sadat (Reid1985: 246). The Yemen ArabRepublichas newfound archaeologicalforefathersin the Sabeans (Piepenburg1983:31-41); the LebaneseMaronites in the Phoenicians (Shavit 1983; Seeden 1990: 146-47); the Syrians in the Eblaites (Buccellati 1988);and SaddamHussein's Iraqin the mighty kings of ancient Babylon(Lewis1989).The list
84
W
Ap
of "chosenpeoples"and "goldenages" can be extended to every country of the Middle East and the eastern Mediterraneanbasin. Its ultimate impact is different only in scale from that of the Europeanarchaeological interpretationsof the nineteenth century. Many local archaeologists, trained in Europeanand American universities, continue to see archaeological formations as divisible into discrete blocks of time, markedlike chaptersin an unfolding (biblical?) narrative.They continue to apply rise-flourit-fallcategorization to pottery types and artifacts of all periods, and often still link them uncritically to homogeneous social groups.Particular chronological periods- seen as crucial to the history of modern ethnic groups,religions,nation-states or modern urban civilizations - are selected for intensive investigation and romantically linked to the present across an assumed period of civilizational, political or religious neglect. Thus, despite continuous technical advancesin excavation techniques in the post-WorldWarII era, the main message of "desolation and restoration"endures. The identification and restora-
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
A new social context for biblical archaeology arosein Palestine during the Britishmandate, with awareness of the political and emotional significance of archaeologicaldiscoveriesfor the Zionist movement. Picturedhere is the ArchaeologyDepartment of the Hebrew Universityin the mid-1930s. Seated to the left is Nahman Avigad. In the background,examining a pottery vessel, is EleazerSukenik,father of YigaelYadin.Fromthe Matson Collection, Libraryof Congress,Washington,D.C.
tion of "goldenages"and the selection of "chosenpeoples"implicitly discredit the history of people who are not chosen. It also requiresthat their "goldenage"be bounded by periods that are despised, devalued and, most of all, archaeologically ignored. In this light, the modern nation-state is often seen as a radical revolution, the culmination of the nation's long history. That the monuments of its history are discoveredby "descendants"who are assuming power after centuries or millennia of political subjugationis a chronological correspondence possessing the same emotional significance as the fulfillment of the biblical prophecies of the "endof days." In this neo-millennialist scheme of history (as in the original European version) the period of desolation is hardly less significant than either the "modernizing"present or the cherished past. Its pivotal place in the sequence: Ancient Glory--Desolation - Modern Renaissance is
the factorthat has providedNear Easternarchaeologywith its great emotional and political power in the region for almost 200 years. Notes 'Overthe centuriesof Ottomanrule, a complexlegalstatusquoof privileges andcustodianshipin the most important Christianshiines in the HolyLandhad beenaccordedto the CatholicandOrthodoxchurchesbythe Sultan(Cust1980; Simon1980).Bythe late eighteenthcentury,the maintenanceof theseprivileges becamea matterof supremepolitical active significance,in lightof France's church of the Orthodox support (BenArieh 1984: 184-264; Silberman 1982:
63-64).Inthe mid-nineteenthcentury, the disputeoverCatholic-Orthodox rights
Callaway,J.A. 1980 Sir FlindersPetrie:Fatherof Palestinian Archaeology.Biblical Archaeology Review 6 (6):44. Bibliography Clarke,E. D. Albright,W.F. 1817 Travelsin VariousCountries of 1932 The Archaeologyof Palestine and Europe,Asia, and Africa, volumes 4the Bible. New York:Fleming H. 5. London:T. Cadell and W.Davies. RevellCo. Clemens, S. L. Avitsur,S. 1867 The Innocents Abroad. Hartford, 1975 Daily Lifein EretzIsrael in the 19th CT:American Publishing Company. Century.Jerusalem:Am HaSefer(in Cohen, A. Hebrew). 1973 Palestine in the 18th Century.JeruBen-Arieh,Y. salem: MagnesPress. 1975 The Populationof the LargeTowns Cohn, N. of Palestine During the FirstEighty 1970 The Pursuitof the Millennium. Yearsof the Nineteenth Century. Oxford:OxfordUniversity Press. Pp. 49-69 in Studies on Palestine Conder,C. R. During the Ottoman Period.Jeru1878 Tent Workin Palestine. London: salem: MagnesPress. Palestine ExplorationFund. 1979 The Rediscoveryof the Holy Landin Cust, L. G. A. the Nineteenth Century.Jerusalem: 1980 The Status Quo in the Holy Places. MagnesPress. Jerusalem:Ariel Publishing House. 1984 A City Reflectedin its Times:JeruDever,W.G. salem in the Nineteenth Century, 1980 New Vistas on the EBIV ("MBI") volume 1. New York:St. Martin's Horizon in Syria-Palestine.Bulletin Press. of the American Schools of Oriental 1990 Perceptionsand Imagesof the Holy Research237: 35-64. Land.Pp. 37-53 in The Land that Drower,M. S. Became Israel:Studies in Historical 1985 FlindersPetrie,A Life in ArchaeGeography.New Haven, CT:Yale ology. London:Victor Gollancz. University Press. Elon, A. Bitan,A. 1971 The Israelis. New York:Holt, Rine1982 Changesof Settlement in the Lower hart, and Winston. EasternGalilee. Jerusalem:YadItzhak Elsbree,O. Ben-Zvi(in Hebrew). 1928 The Rise of the Missionary Spirit on Bowler,P.J. New England,1790-1815. The New 1989 The Invention of Progress:The VicEngland Quarterly 1:295-322. torians and the Past. Oxford:Basil Faber,G. S. Blackwell. 1809 A General and Connected View of Bretell,C. B. the Propheciesrelative to the con1986 Nineteenth-CenturyTravelers'Acversion,restoration,union, and counts of the MediterraneanPeasant. future glory of the houses of Judah Ethnohistory33: 159-73. and Israel;the progressand final Brown,I. overthrowof the antichristian con1952 Watchersfor the Second Coming. federacyin the land of Palestine; Mississippi ValleyHistorical Review and the ultimate diffusion of Chris39: 441-58. tianity. Boston:William Andrews. Buccellati, G. Fargo,V.M. 1988 Ancient Syria,Introduction.Bulletin 1984 Sir FlindersPetrie. Biblical Archaeof the American Schools of Oriental ologist: 47: 220-22. Research270: 1-2. Finestein, I. 1986 EarlyandMiddleNineteenth-Century Buckingham,J.S. 1822 Travelsin Palestine Throughthe British Opinion on the Restoration Countriesof Bashan and Gilead, of the Jews:Contrastswith America. East of the RiverJordan.London: In WithEyes TowardZion- Volume II: Themes and Sourcesin the ArLongman,Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown. chives of the United States, Great Britain, Thrkey,and Israel. New Bunimovitz, S. 1990 CulturalProcessesand Socio-Political York:Praeger. Finn, J. Change in the Central Hill Country in the LateBronze-IronI Transition. 1878 StirringTimes, or Recordsfrom Jerusalem Consular Chroniclesof 1853 Pp. 257-83 in FromNomadism to to 1856. London:C. K. Paul and Co. Monarchy,editedby IsraelFinkelstein and Nadav Na'aman.Jerusalem:Yad Fowler,D. D. 1987 The Uses of the Past:Archaeologyin Itzhak Ben-Zvi(in Hebrew).
in the "HolyPlaces"became a causus belli for the Crimean War(Finn 1878).
the Service of the State.American Antiquity 52: 229-48. Franco-BritishBoundaryCommission 1921 Franco-BritishBoundaryConvention of December 23, 1920. Cmd. 1195. London:H. M. StationeryOffice. Friedman,I. 1977 Germany,7trkey, and Zionism, 1897-1918.Oxford:OxfordUniversity Press. Galton, F 1870 HereditaryGenius:An InquiryInto Its Laws and Consequences.New York:D. Appletonand Co. Gathercole,P.,and Lowenthal,D. 1990 The Politics of the Past. London: Unwin Hyman. Gerber,H. 1982 Modernizationin NineteenthCentury Palestine-The Role of ForeignTrade.Middle East Studies 18:250-64. Gitin, S. 1985 Stratigraphyand Its Application to Chronologyand Terminology. Pp. 99-107 in Biblical Archaeology Today,edited by A. Biranand others. Jerusalem:IsraelExplorationSociety. Glock, A. E. 1985 Traditionand Changein TwoArchaeologies. American Antiquity 50: 464-77. Goodrich-Freer,A. M. 1904 InnerJerusalem.New York:E. P. Dutton. Gordon,M. A. 1974 The Social History of Evolutionin Britain.American Antiquity 39: 194-204. Gould, S. J. 1981 The Mismeasureof Man. New York: W.W.Norton & Co. Governmentof Palestine 1929 ProvisionalSchedule of Historic Sites and Monuments. Official Gazette, 15 June 1929. Hadidi, A. 1982 Studies in the History and Archaeology of Jordan,volume I. Amman: Department of Antiquities. Hareouveni,E. 1979 The Settlements of Israel and Their Archaeological Sites. Ramat-Gan, Israel:Massada(in Hebrew). Hopwood,D. 1969 The Russian Presencein Syriaand Palestine, 1843-1914.Oxford:Oxford University Press. Houghton, W.E. 1957 The VictorianFrameof Mind. New Haven, CT:YaleUniversity Press. Hunt, E. D. 1982 Holy Land Pilgrimagein the Later Roman EmpireAD 312-460. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press.
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Jones,H. M. 1956 The Landof Israelin the Anglo-Saxon Tradition.Pp. 229-50 in Israel:Its Rolein Civilization, editedby Moshe Davis. New York:Harper& Row. Kark,R. 1983 Millenarism and agriculturalsettlement in the Holy Landin the nineteenth century.Journalof Historical Geography9: 47-62. 1990 TheLandthat Became Israel:Studies in Historical Geography.New Haven, CT:YaleUniversity Press. Kendall,D. G. 1963 A Statistical Approachto Flinders Petrie'sSequenceDating. Bulletin of the International Statistical Institute 40: 657-86. 1969 Some Problemsand Methods in Statistical Archaeology.World Archaeology 1:68-79. Klejn,L. S. 1977 A Panoramaof Theoretical Archaeology. CurrentAnthropology18:1-42. Kochan,L. E. 1986 JewishRestorationto Zion: Christian Attitudes in Britainin the Late 19th and Early20th Centuries-Comparative Approach.In WithEyes Toward Zion-Volume II Themesand Sources in the Archives of the United States, Great Britain, Turkey,and Israel. New York:Praeger. Leone,M. P.,and others 1987 Towarda Critical Archaeology.Current Anthropology28: 283-302. Levine,S. H. 1958 Palestine in the Literatureof the United States to 1867. Pp. 21-38 in EarlyHistory of Zionism, edited by IsidoreS. Meyer.New York:American JewishHistorical Society. Levy,T. E. 1990 Productionand Social Changein ProtohistoricPalestine. Paperpresented at the symposium "Population, Production,and Power"at the IIInternationalCongressof Biblical Archaeology,June24-July4, 1990, in Jerusalem. Lewis,P. 1989 Ancient King'sInstructionsto Iraq: Fix My Palace.New YorkTimes, April 19. Lorimer,D. 1988 Theoretical Racism in LateVictorian Anthropology,1870-1900. Victorian Studies 31: 405-30. Lowance,M. I. 1980 The Languageof Canaan:Metaphor and Symbol in New Englandfrom the Puritans to the Transcendentalists. Cambridge,MA:Harvard University Press. Macalister,R. A. S. 1925 A CenturyofExcavationin Palestine. London:The ReligiousTractSociety.
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Ma'oz,M. 1968 Ottoman Reformin Syriaand Palestine. Oxford:OxfordUniversity Press. 1975 Studies on Palestine During the Ottoman Period.Jerusalem: MagnesPress. Marlowe,J. 1971 PerfidiousAlbion: The Originsof the Anglo-FrenchRivalryin the Levant.London:Elek Books. Mayerson,P. 1986 The Saracensandthe Limes. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research262: 35-47. Melville, H. 1876 Clarel,a Poem and Pilgrimagein the Holy Land.New York:G. P. Putnam'sSons. Metlitzki, D. 1977 The Matterof Arabyin Medieval England.New Haven,CT:YaleUniversity Press. Miller, D. 1980 Archaeologyand Development. Current Anthropology21: 709-26. Nisbet, R. 1980 History of the Idea of Progress.New York:Basic Books. Palestine ExplorationFund 1923 A New ChronologicalClassification of PalestinianArchaeology.Palestine ExplorationFund Quarterly1923: 54-55. Patterson,T. C. 1986 Some Postwartheoretical trends in U. S. Archaeology.Culture6: 43-54. Petrie,W.M. E 1891 Tellel-Hesy (Lachish).London:Palestine ExplorationFund. 1899 Sequence in PrehistoricRemains. Journalof the RoyalAnthropological Institute 29: 295-301. 1906 Migrations.Journalof the RoyalAnthropologicalInstitute 36: 189-232. 1907 Janusin ModernLife.New York: G. P.Putnam'sSons. 1912 The Revolutionsof Civilization. New York:Harper& Brothers. Piepenburg,R. 1983 Traveller'sGuide to Yemen.Sana'a: The YemenTouristCompany. Ra'anan,U. 1976 The Frontiersof a Nation. Westport, CT:HyperionPress. Reid, D. M. 1985 IndigenousEgyptology:The Decolonization of a Profession?Journal of the American Oriental Society 105:233-46. Robinson,E. 1841 Biblical Researchesin Palestine, Mount Sinai, and Arabia Petraea:A Journalof Travelsin the Year1838. Boston:Crockerand Brewster. Robinson,R. 1985 TobaccoPipes of Corinth and the AthenianAgora.Hesperia54: 149-201.
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Rodinson,M. 1987 Europeand the Mystique of Islam. Seattle, WA:University of Washington Press. Said,E. 1978 Orientalism. New York:Pantheon Books. Sandeen,E. R. 1970 The Roots of Fundamentalism:British and American Millenarianism, 1800-1930. Chicago:University of Chicago Press. Schaub,R. T. 1982 The Origins of the EarlyBronze Age WalledTownCulture of Jordan. Pp. 67-75 in Studies in the History and Archaeologyof Jordan,volume I. Amman: Departmentof Antiquities. Schick, R. 1988 Christian Life in Palestine During the EarlyIslamic Period.Biblical Archaeologist 51 (4). Seeden, H. 1990 Searchforthe Missing Link:Archaeology and the Public in Lebanon.Pp. 141-59 in The Politics of the Past. London:Unwin Hyman. Seetzen, U. J. 1810 A BriefAccount of the Countries Adjoining the Lakeof Tiberias,the Jordan,and the Dead Sea. London: Palestine Association. Shavit, Y 1983 HebrewsandPhoenicians:a case of an ancient historicalimageand its usage. Cathedra29: 173-91 (in Hebrew). Shilo, M. 1988 Experimentsin Settlement: The Palestine Bureau,1908-1914.Jerusalem: YadItzhakBen-Zvi(in Hebrew). Silberman,N. A. 1982 DiggingforGod and Country:Archaeology, Exploration,and the Secret Strugglefor the Holy Land (17991917).New York:AlfredA. Knopf. 1989a Between Past and Present:Archaeology, Ideology,and Nationalism in the ModernMiddle East. New York: Henry Holt. 1989b ThunderingHordes:The Imageof the Persianand Muslim Conquests in PalestinianArchaeology.Paper presentedat the American Schools of OrientalResearchAnnual Meeting, November20, 1989, in Anaheim, California. 1990a The Politics of the Past:Archaeology and Nationalism in the Eastern Mediterranean.Mediterranean Quarterly 1:99-110. 1990b Petrieand the FoundingFathers. Paperpresentedat the IIInternational Congressof Biblical Archaeology, July 1, 1990, in Jerusalem. forth- Petrie'sHead:Eugenicsand Near coming EasternArchaeology.InMainstreams and Margins:Towarda History of
Archaeology,edited by Alice Kehoe Warren,C. Wylie,J.A. and JaneWaldbaum.Ames, IA:Iowa 1876 UndergroundJerusalem.London: 1841 TheModernJudea,Ammon, Moab, State University Press. R. Bentley. and Edom Comparedwith Ancient Simon, R. Wilson, C., and Warren,C. Prophecy.Glasgow:William Collins. 1980 The Strugglefor the Christian Holy 1871 The Recoveryof Jerusalem.London: Places in Eretz-Israelin the Ottoman R. Bentley. Period, 1516-1853. Cathedra 17: Wright,G. E. 107-26 (in Hebrew). 1962 Biblical Archaeology.Philadelphia: WestminsterPress. Sklenar,K. 1983 Archaeologyin CentralEurope: The First500 Years.New York:St. Martin'sPress. Smith, C. G. 1975 The Geographyand Natural ReANNENBERG RESEARCH INSTITUTE sources of Palestine as seen by BritPost Doctoral Fellowships 1992/93 ish Writersof the Nineteenth and Application Deadline November 1, 1991 EarlyTwentiethCentury.Pp. 87-100 in Studies on Palestine During the The Institute invites applications from scholars engaged in Ottoman Period.Jerusalem:Magnes Press. advanced research in Judaic and Near Eastern Studies, the Stocking, G. W. latter including pre-Christian, Christian, and Islamic history 1987 VictorianAnthropology.New York: and culture, from ancient to modern times. The FreePress. J. Sumption, 1975 Pilgrimage:An Image of Medieval Any topic within these fields may be proposed. For academic Religion. Totowa,NJ:Rowmanand year 1992-93, the main topic of investigation will be: Littlefield. THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS Tibawi, A. L. 1961 British Interest in Palestine, The institute will welcome scholars dealing with texts from the 1800-1901. Oxford:OxfordUniJudean Desert from a variety of points of view, including versity Press. 1966 American Interestsin Syria, editing and publication of texts, philological and exegetical 1800-1901. Oxford:OxfordUnistudy, and the elaboration of the importance of these finds for versity Press. the study of the history of Judaism and Christianity. Titcomb, J.H. 1854 The Final Exodus:Or, the Restoration to Palestine of the Lost 7?ibes, The Institute intends to have a working group dealing with the the Result of the Present Crisis; Dead Sea Scrolls, but by no means wishes to neglect all other with a Description of the Battle of areas of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies, and thus encourages Armageddon,and the Downfall of submission of applications in other areas of study. Russia, as Deduced Whollyfrom Prophecy.London:Seeleys. Trigger,B. Stipend amounts are based on a Fellow's academic standing 1981 Anglo-AmericanArchaeology.World and financial need, with a maximum of $45,000 for the acaArchaeology 13:138-55. demic year. A contribution may also be made towards travel 1984 AlternativeArchaeologies:Nationexpenses. alist, Colonialist, Imperialist.Man 19:355-70. 1989 A History of Archaeological Fellows are expected to lead one seminar in each semester Thought.Cambridge:Cambridge dealing with their work, and to contribute a publishable paper University Press. at the end of the academic year. Tsafrir,Y. 1984 The ArabConquest and the Process Awards will be announced January 15, 1992. of PopulationDecline in Eretz-Israel. Cathedra32: 69-74 (in Hebrew). For application material and further information, write to: Tuchman,B.W 1984 Bible and Sword.New York:BallanSecretary, Fellowship Program tine Books. Annenberg Research Institute Verete,M. 420 Walnut Street 1972 The Restorationof the JewsinEnglish Philadelphia, PA 19106 ProtestantThought, 1790-1840. (Telephone) 215-238-1290 Middle EasternStudies 8: 3-50. (Fax) 215-238-1540 Vincent, H. 1911 UndergroundJerusalem.London: (Bitnet) ALLEN@ANNENRES H. Cox.
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
87
The
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byJaroslavFolda tosomemedievalSepphorisduringthe Crusades ccording
pilgrims'accounts, the Virgin Mary and her mother, Saint Anne, were born in Sepphoris,a small village about 5 miles northwest of Nazareth in the hills of Galilee. Johnof Wurzburg, a Latin pilgrim, wrote circa 1165that Sepphoriswas where Anna gavebirth to Mary.Around 570, the Piacenza Pilgrim referredto relics of the Virgin Mary he saw in Sepphoris, which apparentlyled to the belief that she lived there as a child (de Sandoli 1980:230; Wilkinson 1977: 79, 155).Other Latin pilgrims'accounts, for example that of Fretellus written in 1137 (Boeren1980:25) or Theodorich, written around 1173 (Wilkinson 1988: 193, 313), support the claim that Anna was born in Sepphoris. Sometime during the mid-to-late twelfth century C.E.,a Crusader church was built in Sepphoris and was apparently dedicated to Anna. The Church of Saint Anne was presumably built over the site where Anna lived with her husband, Saint Joachim, and Mary. Parts of the church exist today, even though it has been destroyed and rebuilt several times since its original construction.
88
Sepphoriswas largely overshadowed as a town and Christian holy site by its largerand more important neighbor, Nazareth. The capital of Galilee before Tiberias was founded around 18 C.E.,Sepphoris is perhaps best
known from Crusadertimes as the well-wateredcampsite the Crusader army left before it met catastrophic defeat at the Horns of Hattin on July 4, 1187.Sir StevenRunciman gives an excellent description of the situation:
Crusaders
conquered the during
initially Sepphoris
they had remained by the Pools of Goliath four years before, Saladinwould never risk attacking them. Their armywas nearl) as large as his own, and they had the advantageof the terrain... That evening ... [King]Guy held a council in his tent.... Raymond [of Tripoli] ... repeatec
the speech that he had made at Acre but with more desperate emphasis. He showed the folly of leaving the present strong position and making a hazardous march in the July heat over the barrenhillside (Runciman 1952:456).
Sepphoriswas initially conqueredby Crusadersduring the first Crusade when Tancred,nephew of Bohemund of Antioch, established after Crusade himself in Galilee after Jerusalem was capturedin July 1099. The Cruwas Jerusalem saders apparentlyheld Sepphoris until Saladinoverranthe Latin Kingi n 1099. captured dom in 1187afterthe battle of Hattin. The town was returnedto Crusader hands by treaty,apparentlyas part On the afternoon of 2 Julythe Christiansencampedat Sephoria. of the corridorof access to Nazareth It was an excellent site for a negotiated by FrederickII in 1229. Geoffroyde Joinville,the biographer camp, with ample water and of King Louis IX of France,refersto for the horses. good pasturage Werethey to remain there, as Sepphorisin 1250 as a Templarout-
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
first
A general view of the east end of the CrusaderChurchof Saint Anne at Sepphoris. The tripartiteCrusaderelements are visible, including the gently pointed arches of the deep central apse and its choir bay, the shallow south apse and the entrance to the north room, which was walled-up in modern times. Thereis a modern second story on top of the Crusaderapsidals. Bases of the cruciform composite piers are visible in the middle. All photos are by the author.
(quadratislapidus) with a nave and two aisles and, at the east end, three apses (Quaresmius 1639: 852). The Franciscansacquiredthe church in 1870 and apparentlybuilt a modern second story onto the east end. A photographtaken in 1873 by the Palestine ExplorationFundshows the eastern end with no second story post. In March 1251 Louis IX visited and the nave occupied by village the village, and no doubt the church, houses, so the rebuilding must have on his pilgrimage to Nazareth, acbeen done after that time (Bagatti 1971: 118-20). The church still cording to Geoffroyde Beaulieu. In April 1263 Sepphoriswas destroyed, belongs to the Custody of the Holy along with the church, surroundingspringsand crusader castle, by Baybars,a ruthless and powerfulMamlukesultan who had a policy of destroying capturedChristian churches.
Land,but the orphanageof the Sisters of Saint Anne, founded in 1924 and installed here, holds the keys. It was not until the nineteenth century that the church was studied in any detail.' Although a few scholars imagined it might have dated to EarlyChristian times, most correctly saw it to be a Crusaderbuilding. Certain characteristicsof the church, however,caused scholars to debate whether it was a Romanesque or Gothic church. Because the church has never be( fully excavated,it is unknowr if any earlier Byzantine churches were on the site,2 not to mention anybuildings, Jewishor otherwise, from the time of the Roman town (Guerin 1880:371;Waterman 1937;Ovadiah 1970: 182-83; Avi-Yonah1978: 1051-55). However,excavations by ProsperViaud in the early 1900s uncoveredmosaics with Hebrew inscriptions under the original north wall of the Crusaderbuilding, indicating the church was built partly over an early Jewishsynagogue (Viaud 1910: 179-91; Saller 1972: 16;Avi-Yonah1978: 1055).In the Crusaderchurch these mosaics were completely covered,as far as we know, and there are no other identifiable reused materials from the synagogue,although further excavation would undoubtedly turn up more evidence. Comparisons with other Crusaderchurches. There is little written documentation on the Church of Saint Anne The church at Sepphorisand the Churchof at Sepphoris.Comparative analysis Saint Anne in Jerusalemshared certain basic of its extant characteristics, characteristicssuch as the gently pointed however,shows that it belongs to a arches, the cruciformpiers (but without engaged columns as at Sepphoris)and their group of Crusaderchurches erected size. The church at Sepphorismay also have in the Latin Kingdom sometime had groined vaults in the nave and transverse arches separatingthe bays as seen here, but it between the mid-twelfth century certainly did not have a domed first bay in and 1187,when ecclesiastical confront of the central east apse. struction was flourishing. a
The Church of Saint Anne The Church of Saint Anne was located near the springs south of Sepphoris,where the Crusaderarmy camped in 1187, and on the west side of where the modern town stood. The town was largely rebuilt in the eighteenth century on medieval foundations before it was destroyed in 1948. During medieval times, Sepphoriswas on the main route between Nazareth and the port of Acre and was visited by various travelers to the holy land before and after the Crusadersleft in 1291.Burchardof Mount Sion in 1283 and Sir John Mandeville in 1322 referred to the town but did not mention the church specifically. The churchagainbecame a focal point around 1600, after the Franciscansbegan organizing pilgrimages to Sepphoris from Nazareth. In 1639 Francesco Quaresmius specified that the church was built on the site where the house (domus) of Joachimhad stood. He further described the church as built of ashlar masonry
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
89
Given the plan dimensions of about 37 by 22 meters, the church was medium-sized by Crusaderstandardsbut very large for a village the size of Sepphoris.It was about the same size as the betterknown Church of Saint Anne in Jerusalembut much smaller than the largest Crusader churches. Forinstance, the Holy Sepulchrewas about 80 meters long, the Church of Saint John3at Ramla was about 45 meters long, the Church of Saint Johnat Sebastewas around59 meters long andthe Church of Notre Dame at Tortosawas about 47 meters long (Vincent and Abel Like the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre,this plan of the cathedral at Tyreshows a large 1926:685-742, 1914:260-90; Enlart church with a complex plan that included an 1925-28: 136-426; Pillet 1929:40-51; apse, choir bay, crossing and transepts.There was a dome over the crossingof the Church Deschamps 1964: 163-236; Boase of the Holy Sepulchreand the cathedral at 1977: 74-110). Plyre,just as found at Saint Anne at Jerusalem. Its essentially rectangularplan The church at Sepphoris,by contrast, had a and thick walls show that the that nonethemore smaller, simplified plan less included some elements of the larger Sepphorischurch may have also churches,such as the engaged columns on been used as a fortress, similar to the the side walls and composite cruciformpiers. well-known but somewhat smaller (27 meters long) Hospitaller church in Abu-Ghosh, a village west of Jerusalem (Enlart1925-28: 315-25; Deschamps 1964:222-26; Benvenisti 1970:347-51; Boase 1977: 112-13).A fortified church was a prime feature of small settlements protectedby one of the major military orders, such as the Hospitallers in AbuGhosh andthe Templarsat Sepphoris. The Church of Notre Dame at Tortosa was also a fortified church with thick walls as well as external buttresses, the latter of which was not evident at Sepphoris. The plan consisting of a nave and two aisles with a tri-partiteapsidal arrangementwas typical of the afore-
Saint Johnin Beirut and the cathedral at Tyre(Enlart1925-28: 68-82, 352-73; Boase 1977: 106-7). Among this group,Saint Anne's at Sepphoris has the most complex cruciform pier design. The shape of these piers suggests that not only the side aisles but also the nave bays were vaulted with groins and possibly ribs, although no ribs exist today.Other than the Church of the Holy Sepulchrein Jerusalem,few extant twelfth century Crusaderchurches had ribbedvaults. The church at Sepphorisalso shows unusual richness in the architectural articulation of its eastern apsidal area in its moldings and its engagedcolumns and capitals with wall reveals.The extant elevation of the east end shows comparablerichness with the churches at Tortosa and Ramla, and the stringcourse molding profile, with a deep cavity between two protrudingelements, is analogous to that at Notre Dame in Tortosa.The capitalswith largeleaves under pronouncedvolutes on either side of the central apse have general, if not exact, parallels at Tortosa, Ramla, Sebaste and at the Church of Saint George in Lydda,which the Crusadersrebuilt on Byzantine remains (Enlart1925-28: 272-74; Benvenisti 1970: 167-70; Boase 1977: 100;Pringle 1982: 12, 35). Interestingly,however,the wall revealsflanking the central apse at Sepphorisare stepped back three times as much when comparedto the largerchurches at Tortosaand Ramla, which only have one. This gave the wall at Sepphoriseven greaterplasticity and correspondsin
mentioned Crusader churches along with the nearby Church of the Annunciation at Nazareth (Viaud 1910; Enlart 1925-28: 292-310; Bagatti 1984; Folda 1986: 7, 69) and the recently excavated Crusader church in Tiberias is a reduced church The plan of the Sepphoris (Harif 1984: 103-9).4 Howand modified version of the basic plan exemever, the use of cruciform piers with plified by the Churchof NotreDame at Tobrtosa single engaged columns on the side shown here. Like the churchof Saint Johnat walls was restricted to important has a more Ramla, the church at Tobrtosa and sizeable churches like those at regularplan and is approximately30 percent largerthan Saint Anne at Sepphoris. Nazareth, Tortosa, the Church of
style to the lower proportions of its central apse (about 10 meters high by 5 meters wide) compared to those at Tortosa (about 16 by 6.5 meters) and Ramla (about 14 by 5.6 meters). Distinctive features of Crusader architecture. What is immediately evident at Sepphoris, as in the churches at Tortosa, Ramla, the Holy Sepulchre and Saint Anne's in Jerusalem, is that the shape of the apsidal arches (and all large arches in these churches, in
90
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
The Churchof Saint Johnat Ramla, shown here, has similar, gently pointed arches as the church at Sepphoris,but is somewhat larger.The church at Ramla has simpler cruciformcomposite piers, unlike Saint Anne at Sepphoris,and a barrelvault in the nave, unlike Saint Anne at Jerusalem.
contrast to the small windows with round arches)is ogival, or pointed. In these cases, however,the pointed arch is broadand gracefully rounded, not sharplypointed as we find in later gothic examples. Broadly-pointedarches are found in Romanesquechurches in the west, like the famous church of Saint Lazarein Autun from the 1130s that is one of the outstanding examples of BurgundianRomanesque (Baudry, Grivot and others: 1962: 153-97; Conant 1966:plate 69) or the church of Santo Sepolcro in Barlettafrom the late twelfth century (Ambrosi 1976).But there were also important examples-Crusader and Moslemof broadly-pointedarches in the east, so the architects and masons in the mid-twelfth century would not necessarily have patterned these arches after distant monuments in western Europe.The south transept facadeof the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, dedicated July 15, 1149, and the west facade of Saint Anne's at Jerusalem, also probablyfrom the 1130sor 1140s, as well as the interiors of these churches prominently displayed similar pointed arches. Longbefore the Crusadersarrived,however,the Mosque al-Aqsaon the Haram alSharifin Jerusalem,whose history begins in the Omayyadperiod (Creswell 1958;Hamilton 1949;Duncan 1972:59-67) and the immense cistern of Saint Helena in Ramla (BiralAneziyya) dating to 789 C.E. (Creswell 1958:228-30) were impressive monuments built by Arabs that featured the same type of broadlypointed arch (Creswell 1969:442-44). Variousfeatures-pointed arches, moldings, floriated capitals and architectural articulation, the plan and proportions of the nave and twoaisled church with a tri-partite apsidal end - in Crusader churches
were, to some extent, an adaptation of Romanesque style. In fact, these churches have reminded many of FrenchRomanesque churches in Europe(Enlart1925-28: 32).
Crusader
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Crusaderchurches were not, however,mere imitations or reflections of what was going on in the West, whether in Franceor Italy.Instead, they were new adaptationsof a flexible Romanesque style that produceda different result because
of new patrons,functions, materials and stone masons, as well as the special needs of each individual site. As a church celebrating a particular holy site, Saint Anne's at Sepphoris had special needs and a unique function. Its climate did not requirea steeply angled roof to ward off snow. Instead,pilgrims and worshipers needed protection from sun, heat and rain, so flat levantine roofs and substantial stone walls were used. In a small village where manpower must have been limited, local masons may have worked local stone for the priest in chargeof the site, his managing architect and his patron, which in this case may have been the Templars.In sum, the Church of Saint Anne resembled a EuropeanRomanesque church. But its specific components were mostly different from those in the Westbecause the architect and the patrons were forced to rely on levantine re-
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
91
Left:The entrance to the hidden room in the south wall of the choir bay The room may have been used as a safe to store the church
valuables.In theforeground aretheengaged columnsandwallrevealsof thecentralchoir bay Totherightaretheengagedcolumns andvoussoirsof thesouthapse.Below:The terminationof thenorthaisle as seenfrom thenave.At left is thesplayedwindowin the northwall of thefirstbay.Themodernwall closingoff thesquarevaultedroomis visible at left-center.Totheright,in theforeground, aretheengagedcolumnsand wallrevealsof the centralchoirbay.
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sources. The results were strongly shaped in terms of the visual world of the medieval holy land. Special features of the Church of Saint Anne. The rectangularplan of the church at Sepphoriswas comparableto the church at Abu Ghosh, its size and proportionswere similar to the Church of Saint Anne in Jerusalem, and its architecturalarticulation was similar to the churches at Tortosaand Ramla. It has other characteristics, however,that are unique or, at best, indirectly parallel to certain aspects of the Church of Notre Dame of Tortosa. Although the eastern end of the church at Sepphorishas the standard arrangementof three arches facing the nave and aisles, there are only two apses as such; on the north side the aisle terminates in a square,ribvaulted room set in greatly thickened walls. The walls seem to indicate the original intention to have a tower above this room, which may have served as a sacristy even though it does not connect directly with the central apse. Such towers were useful for bells later in the century, as at the Holy Sepulchre in the 1150s,in Bethlehem at the Church of the Nativity during the 1160s,and possibly at Tortosa,after about 1150,where the northeastern apse and the western tower are separated.In fortified buildings, they were also used as lookouts. A second curious feature of the church at Sepphorisis a small room behind the apse on the southeast side of the east end. Todaythere is a medium-sized rectangularwindow
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
for that room in the wall of the south apse, a window that was presumably addedin modern times. In Crusadertimes, this room apparently connected only directly with the central choir through an opening just behind the wall reveals on the right (south) side. The opening is small -one has to bend over to get through it - and is paired with a
niche on the opposite wall of the choir. Neither the entry (northe niche) are easily visible from the nave and are high abovethe floor level of the apse at that points Because it was so small and so difficult to reach, the room was not used regularlynor in any ceremony, so it was probablynot a sacristy.Given its somewhat hidden character,that its entrance could be masked as one of a pair of niches in the choir and that it was imbedded into the fabric of the church near the sanctuary,it is possible the room was used as a treasury to keep church valuables and/orrelics. The third unusual feature of this east end is found in the main apse and choir itself. Justbehind the niche on the north side and the entry on the south side the floor of the choir rises about 1 meter and extends into the apse behind due to the presence of roughly dressed living rock. Living rock within a Crusaderchurch typically indicated a holy site of special importance, as with the Holy Sepulchre,the hill of Calvary,the grottoes of the Annunciation and the Nativity, and the rock on which Christ prayedin Gethsemane. Could the rock at Sepphorisidentify in some way the traditional site of the house of Joachim and Anna, where it was believed Mary was born and where she lived as a girl? It is possible, but it must be pointed out that a similar claim was made for the grotto under the Church of Saint Anne in Jerusalem. Such multiple attributions for the same event did occasionally arise as the Crusaders attempted to locate where in the holy land the events of the life of
ExtantRemainsof the Church of SaintAnne The Churchof Saint Anne originally contained a central navewith two aisles
that were four or five bays in length. Only the complex eastern end survives today, and it consists of two apsidal terminations: a large central apse and a smaller apse on the south side. Behindthe southern apse is a rectangularroom in the southeast corner of the church.'There is a larger,square,vaulted room with no apse on the northeast side. The central apse is the focal point of the east end. It is announced by the highest, largestarchandhas a rectangularchoir in front of it about 4 meters deep. It also has exposed living rock at floor level 1 meter high in its rearhalf. A small, very deeply splayed, round-archedwindow is midway up the center of its semicircular wall. The smaller southern apse is very shallow, which allows space in the fabric of the building for the hidden room behind it, which is about 4 by 3 meters.There is no apse on the north side but instead a high room about 5 by 5 meters. The squared exterior of the east end has rectangularprojections in the northeast corner where the wall was thickened to supporta tower. Very little of the original church remains west of the apses and vaulted rooms. The bases of two composite piers in the nave exist along with the bases and two fragmentarycolumn shafts on the side walls that define the first bay of the nave and side aisles. Small portions of the original walls, ashlar-facedwith rubblefill, enclose the first bay to the height of the apsidalarches. Small, deeply splayed, round-archedwindows pierce the walls on the north and south sides abovethe stringcoursemolding. West of the first bay the church precinct is defined by a lower modern wall, built in 1879 (Bagatti1971:118-20).It was presumablymostly constructedon the foundation courses of the original church exterior wall, but is not as thick. A single western entrance near where remains of the original western wall were located defines the approximatelength of the naveand gives access to the church enclosure, which retains several fallen column segments, capitals and bases. These were arrangedto separate the nave from the aisles. Some of these fragments must have been used in the engagedcolumns of the aisles or as parts of other nave piers. There are also a few pieces among them that may not have belonged to the church originally and, thus, might have been brought from elsewhere in the village. If the modern enclosure is similar to the original plan, which seems likely, then the Crusaderchurch would havebeen about 37 by 22 meters. The aisle bays would havebeen roughly5 by 5 meters.The originalwalls were about 2.25 meters thick on the north and south sides. The composite pier bases were about 2 meters square and the main apse was about 10 meters high to the top of its slightly pointed arch. The parts of the church that survive were built of small stone, ashlar masonrywith materialthat probablycame froma local quarry,the exact location of which is unknown. There is evidence that some of the material was reused,as often was the case in Crusaderbuildings, but much of the stone was apparently new. The stone used forthe ashlarmasonry exhibits the typical Crusadercharacteristic of diagonallystriateddressing,which is derivedfromthe tools used to cut the stone, either an axe or, perhaps, a chisel. Of interest is the total lack of masons' marks, which are often found on Crusaderwork (Pringle 1981:176-77; de Sandoli 1974:xliv-xlvii andpassim).This may indicate that local stonemasons were used instead of Franks(Crusaders)or recently arrivedwesterners. By contrast, the architectural design seems closely related to other wellknown Crusader churches, although no single parallel offers all the special featuresfound in the church at Sepphoris. Notes 'ConderandKitchener(1881:335)reproduced a tiny sketchplanthat suggeststhe roommayhavebeenrebuiltsincetheyinspectedit in the 1870s.We southeastrectangular havefollowedthe plan of R. D. PringleandP.Leach,who see the southeasterncornerof the church as original to the first story.
A plan of the survivingeast end of the Church of Saint Anne at Sepphorisshows the apsidal elements and the first bays of the nave, and the north and south aisles. Flanking the central apse and choir bay on the north is the square vaulted room with thick wall foundations, presumably for a tower. On the south side is the smaller apse in front of the hidden room. Twocruciformcomposite piers and two engagedcolumns on the side walls define the first bays in front of the tripartiteeastern apsidal unit.
This is a view of where the south apse terminates the south aisle. At right is the splayed window in the south wall of the first bay. In the center is the shallow south apse with engaged columns, and voussoirsforminga gently pointed arch. Thereis a (modern)window in the apse wall. Tbthe left are the engaged columns and wall revealsof the centralchoir bay
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
93
two churches can hardly be accidental. However,it was important that the church at Sepphorisbe distinct as well; thus, some of the main features of the Jerusalemchurch were apparentlyomitted, like the dome Conclusion over the crossing, the transepts and Despite the lack of written sources the undergroundgrotto.6 Also, it is to document its history, the church possible that the rock in the choir at Sepphoriswas most likely dediand apse marked the site of Joachim cated to Saint Anne in the Crusader and Anna'shouse7 period. Sometime after TancredconWhen Sepphorisfell to Saladin quered Galilee for the Crusaders,the in 1187,Christian access was cut off holy sites of Nazareth and Sepphoris but the church was not damaged. were recognized and, in due course, Later,after successful negotiations new churches were constructed. At by FrederickII, pilgrims could once Nazareth a church was erected imagain visit Sepphorison their way to mediately after 1099 and then enand from Nazareth. But in 1263 largedafter 1150.We do not know Sepphoriswas again lost to the Cruexactly when the church at Sepphoris saders as Baybarsconquered Galilee. Christ andhis mother had takenplace. was built because we know so little Nazareth was taken and the Church What would distinguish the about the village duringthe Crusader of the Annunciation was destroyed Church of Saint Anne in Sepphoris period. Because the church was apexcept for the Shrine of the Annunfrom the Church of Saint Anne in parently dedicated to the holy site ciation, which was allowed to remain Jerusalem?Forone, the direct acces- alone and was not the seat of a Latin intact. It was presumably at this time sibility of the apse in Sepphorisalbishop, however,it would be reason- that the Church of Saint Anne was lowed visiting pilgrims to see the able to assume it was built at a later also largely destroyed.Laterpilgrims rock immediately behind the high date, in the 1150sor, more likely, and travelersconsistently mention altar and praybefore it without delay. after the earthquakein Galilee in the eastern end as all that survived.8 The proximity of Sepphoristo Naza- 1170.The church seems to have The fragment of the church we see been dedicated to Anna because of today is very likely from the same the tradition that she and Mary were church that Baybarsleft in ruins in born in Sepphoris,and the site may The site have 1263, although some of the surroundmay have been chosen because of the being village houses have since been lief that the house of Joachimand been chosen because removedand a second story and Anna once stood there. walled enclosure was erected by Earlierscholars were inclined to the Franciscansin the 1870s. of the belief that date the church parallel with earlier the house of developments in the West because of comparisons with churches in BurNotes or Apulia. However,the buildand Anna gundy Joachim I would like to express my warm thanks ing should be considered in the to Dr. R. Denys Pringle (Edinburgh)for Crusadercontext of the second half once stood there. readingthis article in draftand making of the twelfth century. The rich, many valuable comments on its content. decorative style of mature Crusader Dr. Pringle'sforthcoming corpus of Crureth, where Josephand Mary lived in churches that Saint Anne's can be saderChurches in the Latin Kingdomof Jerusalemwill include an entry on the another,presumably similar, house comparedwith is our main direct Church of Saint Anne in Sepphoris. no doubt would also have lent releindicator and provides the most 'E. D. Clarke (1812:533) refersto his and even authensubstantial visual evidence for this vance, plausibility visit to Sepphorisfor example. While to the identification of this ticity proposition. "thatsuperstitioustrumpery" denigrating as the house of Anna When the Sepphorischurch was place Joachim, of Christian the holy places, he nonetheand Mary.Unfortunately, other than built, the architect and patron, both less acquiredthree icons at Sepphoris the existence of the rock we have no of whom may have been Templar,no taken from an old vaulted lumber room evidence for this idea, which is high- doubt knew of the Church of Saint of the church. Unfortunately he does not Anne in Jerusalem,so the relationly speculative and offeredonly as a specify the location of or what he means possibility while researchcontinues. ship of size and proportionof the by a lumber room. Boase (1967:31)charThis Crusadercapital, with its broadleaf forms, is similar to capitals on the engaged columns of the south side of the south apse. This capital is part of the spolia found on the groundinside the churchprecinct.
94
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
acterized the icons as coming from the local Christians and said they had Arabic inscriptions. Whether they had Arabic or Greek inscriptions, the icons were taken to Cambridge, England, where they may still be, but have not yet been identified. 2Guerin (1880: 371) assumed the Crusader church replaced an earlier one on the spot, and believes that the stone was mostly reused. As evidence he points out that most of the columns of grey granite left on the ground in the nave or still standing on the side walls must have been taken from that church and, perhaps, ultimately from an older monument. These granite columns were more likely used in the Crusader church, however, and need not have come from an earlier church for which there is no other evidence. 5Many Crusader churches have been identified in modern times as being dedicated to Saint John, but there is no evidence for this dedication in Crusader times for some of these churches, like those at Beirut and Ramla. 4This church is somewhat smaller (16 by 32 meters) and the easternmost aisle bays with the tri-apsidal arrangement are slightly different than at Saint Anne's. The composite piers and set-backs on either side of the main apse are similar, along with the basic plan of five bays. 5It should be noted that the current level of the floor of the nave is not the original level in the twelfth century, but somewhat lower. When Viaud excavated here he apparently dug through the medieval floor to get down to the wall footings. 6It is of course possible that the Church of Saint Anne at Sepphoris had a dome and inscribed transepts as at Saint Anne's in Jerusalem, the church at Jacob's Well (the dome) or at Sebaste (the inscribed transepts); after all, we do not know anything certain about the configuration of the church to the west of the extant cruciform piers. On the other hand, until shown otherwise, I propose that the church at Sepphoris was designed to be distinct from that of Saint Anne in Jerusalem in certain ways to help establish its identity, and that it was therefore four or five bays long with no dome or transepts. 7We should point out, however, that the specific identification of the house of Joachim and Anna in the Church of Saint Anne in Sepphoris first appears in the sources in the seventeenth century
(Quaresmius 1639). Thus the association of the location of the house may be a modern development derived from circumstantial evidence. 8Besides noting that Baybars destroyed the nearby church at Nazareth except for its holy site, the grotto of the Annunciation, and that his general policy was to destroy Crusader buildings so that the Franks would not return, we should also observe that the Church of Saint Anne at Sepphoris was not the only church to survive Mamluk or natural destruction with only the apse end remaining. The most famous extant example close to Sepphoris is the Cathedral of Tyre (Enlart 1925-28: plate 149, figure 472). There were other examples visible in Saint Jean d'Acre in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Bibliography Ambrosi,A. 1976 Architetturadei crociati in Puglia: II Santo Sepolcrodi Barletta.Bari: Dedalo libri. Avi-Yonah,M. 1978 Sepphoris.Pp. 1051-55 in Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land,volume IV.Englewood Cliffs, NJ:Prentice-Hall. Bagatti,B. 1971 Antichi VillaggiCristiani di Galilea. Jerusalem:FranciscanPrintingPress. 1984 Gli Scavi di Nazaret, volume II.Jerusalem: FranciscanPrinting Press. Baudry,J.,Grivot, D., and others 1962 BourgogneRomane.AbbayeSainteMariede la Pierre-qui-vire:Zodiaque. Benvenisti,M. 1970 The Crusadersin the Holy Land, Jerusalem:IsraelUniversities Press. Boase,T. S. R. 1967 Castles and Churchesof the Crusading Kingdom.Londonand New York:OxfordUniversity Press. 1977 EcclesiasticalArt in the Crusader States in Palestine and Syria.Pp.69139 in A History of the Crusades, edited by K. M. Setton, volume IV, edited by H. W.Hazard.Madison,WI, and London:University of Wisconsin Press. Boeren,P C., editor 1980 Descripcio cuiusdam de locis sanctis. Pp. 6-46 in RorgoFretellusde Nazareth. Amsterdam,Oxford,New York: North Holland Publishing Company. Clarke,E. D. 1812 Travelsin VariousCountriesof Europe,Asia and Africa, volume II. London:Printedfor T. Cadell and W.Davies. Conant, K. J.
1966 Carolingianand Romanesque Architecture800 to 1200, second edition. Harmondsworthand New York:PenguinBooks. Conder,C. R., and Kitchener,H. H. 1881 The Surveyof WesternPalestine, volume I. London:The Committee of the Palestine ExplorationFund. Creswell,K. A. C. 1958 A ShortAccount of EarlyMuslim Architecture.Harmondsworth: PenguinBooks. 1969 EarlyMuslim Architecture: Umayyads A.D. 622-750, second edition. Oxford:OxfordUniversity Press. Deschamps, P 1964 TerreSainte Romane.AbbayeSainteMariede la Pierre-qui-vire: Zodiaque. Duncan, A. 1972 The Noble Sanctuary.London: Longmans. Enlart,C. 1925- Les Monuments des Croisis dans le 1928 Royaumede fJrusalem:Architecture religieuse et civile, two volumes and album. Paris:LibrarieOrientaliste PaulGeuthrier. Folda,J. 1986 The Nazareth Capitals and the Crusader Shrineof the Annunciation. University Park,PA,and London: PennsylvaniaState University Press. Gudrin,V. 1880 Descriptiongeographique,historique et archeologiquede la Palestine, 3e partie.Paris:Auguste Durand. Hamilton, R. W 1949 The StructuralHistory of the Aqsa Mosque. London:OxfordUniversity Press. Harif,A. 1984 A CrusaderChurchin Tiberias. Palestine ExplorationQuarterly 116: 103-9. Lange,S. 1965 Architetturadelle Crociatein Palestina. Como: Pietro Cairoli editore. Lesourd,P., and Ramiz, J.M. 1969 On the Path of the Crusaders.Jerusalem: MassadaPress, Ltd. Mayer,H. E. 1988 The Crusades,secondedition. Oxford and New York:OxfordUniversity Press. Ovadiah,A. 1970 Corpusof the Byzantine Churches in the Holy Land.Bonn:P.Hanstein. Pillet, M. 1929 Notre-Damede Tortose.Syria:40-51. Prawer,J. 1975 Histoire du Royaumelatin de Jfrusalem. Paris:Editionsdu Centre Nationale de la RechercheScientifique. Pringle,R. D. 1981 Some Approachesto the Study of CrusaderMasonryMarksin Pales-
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tine. Levant 13: 173-99. 1982 Church-Buildingin Palestine before the Crusades.Pp. 5-46 in Crusader Art in the TWelfthCentury,edited by J.Folda.Series:BARInternational Series 152. Oxford:The British School of Archaeologyin Jerusalem. Quaresmius,E 1639 Historica Theologicaet Moralis Terrae Sanctae Elucidatio, volume II, Antwerp,edited by P.Cyprianode Tarvisio.Reprintedin Venicein 1880. Robinson,E. 1856 LaterBiblical Researchesin Palestine, and in the Adjacent Regions. London:J.Murray.Reprintedin 1977 by Arno Press in New York. Runciman,S. 1952- A History of the Crusades,volume II. 1954 Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press. Saller,S. J. 1972 Second Revised Catalogue of the Ancient Synagoguesof the Holy Land. Jerusalem:FranciscanPrinting Press. de Sandoli,S. 1974 CorpusInscriptionum Crucesignatorum TerraeSanctae. Jerusalem: FranciscanPrintingPress. 1980 ItinerariaHierosolymitana Crucesignatorum,volume II.Jerusalem: FranciscanPrinting Press. Savage,H. L. 1977 Pilgrimagesand Pilgrim Shrines in Palestine and Syriaafter 1095.Pp. 36-68 in A History of the Crusades, edited by K. M. Setton, volume IV, edited by H. W Hazard.Madison,WI, and London:University of Wisconsin Press. Viaud,P. 1910 Nazareth et ses deux eglises de l'Annonciation et de St. Joseph.Paris: LibrairieAlphonse Picardet fils. Vincent, H., and Abel, E-M. 1914- J1rusalem,volume II, J rusalem 1926 nouvelle. Paris:LibrairieVictor Lecoffre. de Vogue,M. 1860 LesEglises de la TerreSainte. Paris: V.Didron (in French).Reprintedin 1973 by the University of Toronto Press in Toronto. Waterman,L. 1937 PreliminaryReportof the University of MichiganExcavationsat Sepphoris, Palestine, in 1931.Ann Arbor,MI: University of MichiganPress. Wilkinson, J.editor 1977 JerusalemPilgrimsBeforethe Crusades.Warminster:Aris & Phillips, Ltd. 1988 JerusalemPilgrimage:1099-1185. Second Series:Number 167, The Hakluyt Society.London:The Hakluyt Society.
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research eoarchaeological
has shown that excavation sediments contain a high percentageof pebbleand sand-sized artifactualremains (A. M. Rosen 1986, 1989).When systematically sampled and analyzedin the process of microartifactanalysis, or microarchaeology- these microartifactsprovidea great deal of information about building functions and the delineation of activity areas as well as processes involved in site formation. In recent years, more archaeologists have become concerned with site formation processes (see, for example, Schiffer 1987),or how sites transformedfrom living settlements into the wall stumps and scattered artifacts that characterizeexcavation sites today. Over the course of severalyears I have used the technique of microartifact analysis to study site formation processes and activity area analysis at a wide rangeof protohistoric and historic sites in Israel (A. M. Rosen 1986, 1989).In this article, I will examine the process and describe the kinds of microartifacts usually found at a site, focusing on microartifactsuncovered at the Iron Age urban site of Tel Miqne-Ekron.I hope to show how this technique can be used to solve many archaeologicalproblems.
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Site FormationProcesses Archaeologists interested in historical and anthropologicalproblems realize the importance of learning as much as possible about the social organizations,economic systems, political structures and religious lives of the ancient inhabitants whose cities and towns they investigate. To do this, they must be able to identify the functions of buildings under excavation-if they were public structures,elite or common residences, or perhapscultic centers. They must also understandthe nature of the activities that took place in a given structure.A cultic building, for example, can be identified by the vessels found within it, but the actual rituals that took place there usually remainunknown. With regardto residences, a knowledge of activity areas can help determine if male and female activities were kept separateand if there were nuclear or extended families. It can also help determine the mode of production of goods, whether for domestic use or the marketplace.This is important because domestic productionof goods for household consumption implies one type of social organization, and cottage industries suggest another. In most circumstances archae-
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
ologists depend on artifacts found in a room to help them interpretits function; however,complete or restorablevessels and tools are not always found. Even when whole artifacts are present, archaeologists cannot be sure they represent a complete assemblage of the items used in a room throughout its history,
Archaeologistsrely on
in
artifacts
found
a
to
them
help its
room
interpret function.
with no intrusive elements discarded there after the room went out of use. It is often difficult to distinguish intrusive artifacts from those in situ, especially those from contemporary periods. The reconstruction of activity areas assumes that artifacts remained where they were used last through the millennia with little post-occupational disturbance.This type of deposition is known as primary refuse. In reality, most artifacts
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are removedfrom the location of use and, when broken, deposited in midden dumps. This second type of deposition is called secondary refuse (Schiffer1987). Some refuse, such as sherds and bone, can be deposited on floors also as the result of brick wall collapse. Severalfactorswork against the preservationof primaryrefuse in situ. First, during the occupation of a site artifacts are purposefully removed from their areas of use for a variety of reasons, such as reuse in other locations; second, waste materials remaining from activities are removed by the sweeping of floors; and, third, refuse is often dumped into secondary locations. In addition, the function of a room can change over time, resulting in the removal of artifacts.Also, ancient people sometimes disturbed existing remains by digging pits for storage and the manufactureof mudbricks. Different processes go into effect after a site is abandoned.If the abandonment is gradual,few usable artifacts are left behind. Rooms that go out of use first often become garbage dumps, and this introduces unrelated secondary deposits onto room floors. Natural processes, such as running water and burrowingby animals,
also take place during abandonment and displace artifacts.Therefore, many artifacts found on archaeological floors and surfaces were actually introduced secondarily. This fact has providedthe impetus for severalethnoarchaeological studies designed to determine under what conditions artifacts are preserved in a primary context (Gifford 1978; Schiffer 1983;McKeller 1983). One study determined that, during the occupation of a site, objects smaller than 3 centimeters (approximately 1 inch) in diameter are more likely to be lost or trampled into the sediment of living surfaces than are largerobjects. These very small artifacts are usually ignored and discarded,although they occur in abundanceand contain information that cannot be obtained from larger artifacts. Thus, for archaeologists interested in locating activity areas within a structure, or identifying the function of a structure itself, it is advisable to use microartifactanalysis to sample and analyze the smaller artifactual remains incorporatedin living floors. Not only do these microartifacts leave a recordof activities at the moment of abandonment, as do largerartifacts,they also record
The distribution of microartifactsover the surfaces of the stratum IVacourtyardand the stratum IVb courtyard,field IV TelMiqne. Numbers 7 through16 and 25 through31 are sample numbers. Graphicsby David Hully with permission of the Miqne-EkronProject.
the nature of activities through time; as the level of the floor rises during occupation, these microartifacts accumulate in floor sediments.
Methods Microarchaeological
The methods used in microarchaeological analysis are simple, relatively quick and requirea minimum amount of equipment. Samples can be collected from room floors, courtyardsand streets, along with some samples of collapsed brick and pit fills for purposes of comparison. The sampling process can be a variation of randomsampling, wherebya given room is divided into squareswith assigned numbers and a table of random numbers is used to select the squaresto be sampled (Redman1987). If a room is small enough, samples can be collected from severalcenter and side locations because any activity in the room would have covereda largeenough portion of the surfaceto be detected by at least some of the samples. With either sampling method, however,all sample locations must be markedon an archaeological plan of the structure. A clean knife is used to collect the samples. A square approximately 20 by 20 centimeters is cut into the floor sediment 2 centimeters deep.
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
99
easier to view and adds information Each type of microartifacthas its about the grain-sizedistribution of own characteristicsand significance The fracartifacts. within a floor sample. specific separate ar e bitions are then examined a Charcoal. This indicates a hearth, using microarchaeology nocular industrial stereomicroscope.Percentages activity, food processing of different can be estiand the location of grain sometimes components relatively simple, mated with the use of a visual peris It storage. important to differenand chart the tiate between wood and seed charspatial centage showing require quick distribution of scattered items at dif- coal; when found together they sugamount a minimum ferent percentageintervals (Bullock gest cooking, but wood found alone and others 1985:figure 24). can relate to industrial activity or of equipment. of Microartifacts even animal sacrificewhen positively Types The most common types of microcorrelatedwith animal bone (Rosen artifacts - and ecofacts - found on 1986: 103). Bones. During an occupation, most All of the material within the square floors are charcoal, bone, sherds, flint and sometimes slag. These bones that are droppedon a floor are is scooped up and put into a clean materials are found in differing swept awayor eaten by dogs and other scavengers,but small bones or fish scales, as well as fragments of larger animal bones, are often trampled
The
methods
used
in
quantities; their relationships to activities performedat the spot are related to their relative frequencies of occurrence. Rarerartifacts are somefor which is left open plastic bag, times indicative of activities on a severaldays in orderto dry the sample. When it is dry,the sample is presence/absencebasis. These include weighed and a volume measurement such items as metal fragments,beads, is taken.Then the sediment is washed eggshells and grinding stone chips. througha finely meshed sieve in order to remove the clay, silt and very fine Microartifacts can sandy sediment adheringto the microartifacts.Having experimented with many mesh sizes, I recommend an affirm activity the quarter-millimetersize (A. M. Rosen 1986:98). Sediment that is by their presence of a millimeter than a larger quarter can be dry sieved through a set of five or absence nested sieves -5 to 4 millimeters, 2 millimeters, 1 millimeter, one-half when compared millimeter and one-quartermillimeter. This separatesthe sample with other evidence. into size fractions, which makes it
100
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
into the living surface. When analyzing small fractions of bone, it is in-
formative - and relatively easy- to
distinguish bone fragments of larger mammals from the bones of fish, birds and rodents. Smaller animal bones are often missed by traditional excavationprocedures,but they contribute a great deal of information about diet and environment. Sherds.These microartifactsare ubiquitous, and even in small sizes it is sometimes possible to distinguish coarse from fine ware by the temper. The grain-sizedistribution of sherds can indicate the extent of trampling on a given surface (Kirkby and Kirkby 1976).A high percentage of sherds in the smaller fractions indicates that the room had a great deal of traffic, which could be an important indicator of public versus private use of a building. Sherds occurring exclusively in largerfrac-
tions can indicate secondarydeposits or simply the remains of a vessel that was broken after abandonment. Flint. When found in large quantities, chips of this material can indicate tool manufacturing (Fladmark 1982;Hull 1987).Flint is often present in small fractions, but the quantity found at historic sites is usually low. This is because flint implements were progressivelyreplaced by metal, and existing flint tools, such as sickles, were probably manufacturedby specialists off site (S.A. Rosen 1984).The few chips found on domestic floors probably resulted from tool sharpeningor from chipping during use. Artifacts that occur less fre-
Microarchaeologicalmethods are simple, relatively quick and requirea minimum amount of equipment. Fromleft to right, sediments are initially washed througha .25-millimetersieve to removesilt and clay particles. After the silt and clay particles are removed, the remaining microartifactsand sediment are dried and sifted througha set of nested sieves to separate them into size fractions. Eachsize fractionis weighed and viewed under a binocular stereomicroscopeto record the percentagesof microartifactsin each sediment fraction. This microartifact assemblage includes bone (elongatedpiece in center of photo), charcoal (black pieces), crushed sherds (greypieces) and limestone (white fragments).Photos by Arlene Miller Rosen.
Age (Gitin and Dothan 1987). Samples for use in microartifact analysis were collected from most of the strataexcavatedat Miqne. One of the best preservedstructures is an eleventh-to-tenth-century-B.C.E. Philistine building in field IV,which contained vessels with cultic significance (Gitin and Dothan 1987: 204-5). Microarchaeological samples were collected from all phases of the courtyardand rooms of this structure. Samples from two strataof the courtyard(IVaand IVb) showed contrasts perhaps related to changing functions. These will be comparedwith microartifactsfrom other rooms. Severalgeneral characteristics
quently can testify to an activity by their presence or absence when comparedwith other evidence. For example, chips of grinding stone material, such as basalt or beach rock, can indicate grain processing when found in conjunction with charredgrain. The remains of insects and rodents, together with charred grain, can indicate use as a storage facility. Phytoliths (plant silica) suggest reed mats, perhaps for bedding, straw for fodder,or animal dung, depending on the context in which they are found as well as other associated finds.
set this building apartfrom ordinary domestic residences at the site. These include rareitems, access to which was probablyrestricted to the wealthiest classes of society. One this technique. such item is the microscopicpresence of eggshell that is comparablein Tel Miqne, site of the Philistine thickness and surface morphology capital city of Ekron,is an urban mound 50 acres in areaand 7 meters to chicken eggs. BrianHesse, an archaeologist and faunal analyst (about23 feet) high, located on the borderof the coastal plain and the from the University of Alabama, Judaeanfoothills. Recent excavations identified the bones of a largeground conductedby SeymourGitin, director bird, possibly a chicken, associated of the W F.Albright Institute of Arwith this structure(Gitin andDothan in Research 1987:205). These bones could repreJerusalem, chaeological and TrudeDothan of the Hebrew sent an elite source of food that was unavailableto the generalpopulation, University of Jerusalemhave shown as the eggshell and bones were found Microarchaeologyat T1lMiqne-Ekron that the site was occupied from at Preliminary results of microarchae- least the Late BronzeAge (around only in this location at the site. 1550 to 1200 B.C.E.)through the sixth Another rareitem came from ological analyses at the site of Tel a room adjacentto this structure, Miqne during the 1987 season will century B.C.E.,With some evidence serve as an example of the kind of for a presence in the Late Chalcowhere fine sediment fractions were information that can be obtainedby lithic through the Middle Bronze found to contain many tail bones of
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
101
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sherds and flint- can be mapped over the surface of the courtyardin orderto determine the nature and location of activities at two different time phases (strataIVaand IVb).One general contrast that can be made between the remains from these two phases is a very strong positive correlation between the percentagesof charcoal and bone in stratum IVa and the lack of a significant correlation in stratum IVb.The positive relationship between charcoal and bone in stratum IVa,together with the presence of both wood and seed charcoal, point to cooking and the processing of both animal and plant foods. The lack of this correlation in stratum IVbsuggests that the deposition of bone was independent of the deposition of charcoal. Other archaeologicalfinds, such as a possible silo and a pit containing pottery, suggest that duringthis phase the courtyardwas used for storage ratherthan for food preparation. The distribution of charcoal and bone across the courtyardwas examined to determine the areas of most intensive use. In stratum IVa, the highest values of cooking resi-
These graphsshow the percentagesof bone and charcoal for the courtyardfloors of strata IVaand IVb.In stratum IVa,with an increase in the percentageof bone thereis a corresponding increase in the percentageof charcoal. This does not occur in stratum IVb. Thus there is a positive correlation between bone and charcoal in the northernportion of the courtyardin stratum IVabut little correlation between the two categoriesin stratum IVb. (Forstratum IVa,r = .89, p < .01;for stratum due charcoal, bone and eggshell IVb, r = .15, p > .05.) Graphspreparedby came from the northern portion of Arlene Miller Rosen with permission of the Miqne-EkronProject. the courtyard,whereas the southern-
small mammals, which tentatively suggests that furs were used to cover the floor of the room (BrianHesse, personal communication). This evidence, together with a high percentage of phytoliths on the same surface, may point to a sleeping area containing reed mats and furs. Finally, sandsized remains of iron pyrite, iron ore and a translucent material, possibly amber,were found on the surface of another room of this structure.These materials are not usually found in ordinarydomestic settings and may thereforesignify the presence of valuable products or resources that were unavailableto other residents of the site (Smith 1987). The distribution of more common remains - charcoal, bones,
102
most section contained flint chips. This demonstrates that the two sections were used for different activities. In stratum IVb,charcoal and bone were somewhat evenly distributed across the surface of the courtyard.There were markeddifferences in the percentagesof sherds, and this may be related to the locations of activities involving ceramics as well as the extent of trampling. When preliminary results from the courtyard are compared with finds from the interior rooms, they form the basis on which to begin These graphsshow the distribution of microartifacts by size fractionsfor samples from the courtyardfloors of strata IVaand IVb, field IV TelMiqne. Graphspreparedby Arlene Miller Rosen with permission of the Miqne-EkronProject.
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
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building hypotheses about female versus male work areas and domestic versus ritual activities. Forexample, if we assume that food preparation was conducted by women and that flint tools were used by men, it is possible to isolate areaswithin the northern part of the courtyardat stratum IVathat were female work stations. Likewise, the presence of flint chips in the southern portion of the courtyardmay point to male activities at that location. Also, although the raresubstances found in the Iron Age structure have been associated with cultic vessels and may have had some ritual function, the percentages of charcoal and bone from the courtyardappearto be no different from those in an ordinary domestic household. This suggests that the structure functioned at least partially as a residence.
niques of microarchaeologyare simple, relatively fast and requirea minimum of equipment and expertise. With a large sample from many differentlocations at a particularsite, it is possible to compare and contrast activities and building functions in a wide rangeof situations. The technique can greatly assist in answering questions of a historical nature, such as distinguishing Iron Age stables from storehouses,as well as questions with an anthropologicaland sociological orientation, such as male/ female activity areas and their relationships to family social structure. The examples presented here are but a small demonstration of how the application of this technique can help us understandsome aspects of the use of an elite Philistine structure. This endeavorcan be expandedto include examinations of sediments from common residences and industrial areas to compare Conclusion I have presented examples of micro- household activities with those of an industrial nature as well as differarchaeological analysis from Tel access to goods and resources. how ential to to demonstrate Miqne try microartifacts and ecofacts from the In essence, the technique of microsediment matrix provide a wide vari- artifact analysis can help bring to life elements of past behavior in the ety of information concerning accontext of archaeology. areas and room functions. tivity When these remains are a part of Acknowledgments I want to expressmy gratitudeto Seymour
Gitin and TrudeDothan, directorsof the Microarchaeology Tel Miqne-Ekronproject,for their peri n assist can mission to use data from field IV,excagreatly vated in 1987 by YosefGarfinkel,priorto its publication in the Miqne-Ekronfield t h e determining reportseries. I also want to thank David Hully for preparingillustrations to show of a site. history the distribution of microartifactsover
undisturbed floor sediments, they can be relied on as primary,in situ refuse that accumulated throughout the life of a room. Unlike largerartifacts, they also can define the spatial limits of a given area of use. Thus, it is worthwhile to expand our conception of what an artifact is in orderto include those cultural and ecological remains that form a majorportion of the archaeological sediment. As stated previously, the tech-
strataIVaand IVbin the courtyardof field IV,and Thomas E. Levy and Steven A. Rosen for their comments on a previous version of this article. OranEinhorn Aviv demonstratedthe techniques of microarchaeologyfor the photographs used in this article. The researchreportedhere was conducted with the supportof a fellowship from the National Endowmentfor the Humanities administeredby the American Schools of Oriental Researchthrough the W.E Albright Institute of Archaeological Researchin Jerusalem.
Bibliography Bullock, P.N., and others 1985 Handbook for Soil Thin Section Description. Wolverhampton:Waine ResearchPublications. Fladmark,K. R. 1982 MicrodebitageAnalysis:Initial Considerations.Journalof Archaeological Science 9: 205-20. Gifford,D. P. 1978 EthnoarchaeologicalObservationsof Natural ProcessesAffecting Cultural Materials.Pp. 77-101 in Explorations in Ethnoarchaeology,edited by R. P.Gould. Albuquerque,NM: University of New Mexico Press. Gitin, S., and Dothan, T 1987 The Rise and Fallof Ekronof the Philistines: Recent Excavationsat an UrbanBorderSite. Biblical Archaeologist 50: 197-222.
Hull,K.L.
1987 Identificationof Cultural Site Formation Processesthrough MicrodebitageAnalysis. American Antiq-, uity 52: 772-83. Kirkby,A., and Kirkby,M. J. 1976 GeomorphicProcesses and the Surface Surveyof ArchaeologicalSites in Semi-aridAreas.Pp. 229-53 in Geoarchaeology:EarthScience and the Past, edited by D. A. Davidson and M. L. Shackley.London: Duckworth. McKeller,J.A. 1983 Correlatesand the Explanationof Distributions. Series:Atlatl, Occasional Papers4. Tucson:Anthropology Club, University of Arizona. Redman,C. L. 1987 SurfaceCollection, Sampling,and ResearchDesign: A Retrospective. American Antiquity 52: 249-65. Rosen, A. M. 1986 Cities of Clay: The Geoarchaeology of Tells.Chicago:University of Chicago Press. 1989 Ancient Townand City Sites:A View from the Microscope.American Antiquity 54: 564-78. Rosen, S. A. 1984 The Adoptionof Metallurgyin the Levant:A Lithic Perspective.Current Anthropology24: 504-05. Schiffer,M. B. 1983 Towardthe Identificationof Formation Processes.American Antiquity 48: 675-706. 1987 FormationProcesses of the Archaeological Record.Albuquerque,NM: University of New Mexico Press. Smith, M. E. 1987 Household Possessions and Wealth in AgrarianStates:Implications for Archaeology.Journalof Anthropological Archaeology6: 297-335.
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
103
that t iswidely believed
Samaritansbuilt a temple on Mount Gerizim during the second century B.C.E.However,
archaeologists have been stymied so far in their attempts to turn up any indisputable evidence for such a temple. Add to this a surprisinglack of historical documentation, and there is continuing sentiment that the temple never existed. Legendhas it that the Samaritan Temple was authorized by Alexander the Great and built of unhewn stone, was comparablein size and proportion to the temple at Jerusalem,and was destroyedby John
servedthe politicalor theological
The Elusive
Temple byRobertT Anderson
that, ratherthan at Mount Gerizim, "Thewhole community of the Israelites met together at Shiloh and established the Tent of Presence there"(Joshua18:1). Further,there is no suggestion anywhere of any archaeological evidence for such a temple. The recent arguments regardinga possible temple on Mount Ebal are not relevant to any claims regardingthe Samaritans (Kempinski 1986; Zertal 1986). The Samaritanchronicles and traditions are surprisingly silent on the building of a temple in the second half of the first mil-
Josephus,a Jewishhistorian from the first century C.E.,
provides the earliest and most explicit documentation in Jewish Antiquities (book 11, sections 7-8; Marcus 1966)and is es-
Archaeology has to
for
a
Samaritan
temple Mount
find
evidence
any
The Templein HistoricalLiterature SamaritanaccountsstatethatJoshua built a templeon MountGerizim andplacedthe tabernaclein it (Bowman 1977:64; Stenhouse1985:33). No accountor descriptionof the buildingis offered,andthereis no otherattestationto such a building. The Hebrewscripturesnot only fail to mentionanytemplebuilton MountGerizimbut explicitlystate
Samaritan
Hyrcanus in 168 B.C.E.
failed
needs of the Samaritans;and the archaeologicalevidence is simply not there.
on
lennium B.C.E.Only Abu'l
Gerizim.
Fath, in the fourteenth century C.E.,speaks of such
sentially the exclusive source for the myriad repetitions of the assumption that the temple did exist. Unquestioning references to the Samaritan Temple dot commentaries, histories of Hellenistic Palestine and general statements about the Samaritans.Nevertheless, serious reasons remain to question the existence of the temple: none of the accounts of its building are ultimately creditable;it would not have
104
Excavationson the main peak of Mount Gerizim early in the exploration that began in 1984 under the direction of Itzhak Magen. It was already clear that the site contained only remains from the Hellenistic period. Hopefully,these excavations will illuminate the Samaritan use of the site and possibly shed light on the likelihood of a temple. Photo courtesy of ReinhardPummer.
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
a temple, and that very sparingly. In chapter 20 of his Annals, he describes the Samaritanexiles returning from Babyloniaand building the temple soon thereafter. The total account reads, "TheTemple (literally "house")building was 35 cubits square"(Stenhouse 1985:95). The startling lack of detail or expected story structure (Anderson 1989),the denial of any superfluous wealth in the "house"(Stenhouse 1985: 128) and the subsequent lack of any men-
tion of this temple or "house"all call such a building into question. Abu'l Fathwants to argueagainst Josephus that the SamaritanTemple (assuming, but not arguing,that there was one) was not built by the Greeks, but by the Persians. Tabernacleversus temple. Samaritan literature is much more likely to speak about a tabernacle than a temple. The famous Abisha scroll, a likely eighth or ninth century c.E. scroll attributed to the grandnephew of Moses, was purportedlywritten not in a temple, but at the door of the Tent of Meeting: "I,Abisha, the son of Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest - God's favorand glory be upon them-have written the holy book at the door of the Tent of Meeting on Mount Gerizim in the thirteenth year of the settlement of the children of Israel in the land of Canaan, within its bordersroundabout.I give thanks to God"(Crown 1975:49). The majortheological work of the Samaritans,the Memar Markah composed in the third or fourth
monarchy,as the Samaritanswere, a tabernaclewas sufficient. Non-Samaritanliterature also implies, if not states, that the Samaritans did not have a temple. The cryptic comment of II Maccabees 6:1-3 is not much help. The New English Bible provides a typical translation: "ShortlyafterwardsKing Antiochus sent an elderly Athenian to force the Jewsto abandontheir ancestral customs and no longer regulate their lives accordingto the laws of God. He was also commissioned to pollute the temple at Jerusalemand dedicate it to Olympian Zeus, and to dedicate the sanctuary on Mount Gerizim to Zeus God of Hospitality, following the practice of the local inhabitants."The word neos (temple) can be used in both a broader(sanctuary) and narrower(shrine)sense, and in any case is not actually repeated in referenceto Gerizim in the text. Procopius, a Byzantine historian
up to the summit of the mountain to pray on all occasions, not because they have everbuilt any temple there, but because they worshippedthe summit itself with the greatest reverence"(Buildings, book V, section 7, lines 1-2; Dewing 1961).Procopius is a late source and his argument has been questioned (Kippenberg1971: 104-9), but it does fuel the cumulative doubt. Josephus'saccount in Antiquities has been frequently challenged. It is suspiciously parallel to the account of the building of the Jerusalem Temple. ReinhardPummer (1988: 771) has commented: "The whole account of Antiquities 11:302-12 seems to be a midrash on Nehemiah 13:28."In his article "Josephusand the JudaeanRestoration"Lester Grabbefirst suggests the possibility about a midrash on Nehemiah (1987:236-42). Grabbethinks that Josephusis passing on a midrash of from the sixth century C.E.,wrote which he is aware,ratherthan creat"InPalestine there is a city named ing one. Theodor H. Gaster suggests above which a rises "that Neapolis, high Josephusgrotesquely patched mountain called (Gerizim).This his story together by fusing a Jewish mountain the Samaritansoriginally and Samaritantradition"(1962: 192). century C.E.,is preoccupied with the tabernacle and does not mention a held; and they had been wont to go Josephus'saccount does seem to be When the temple. polemical literature SamaritanMessiah ratherthan historical ac(Taheb)comes, (Anderson1989). Two of the major cording to a hymn by Abisha ben Phineas cultural factorsassociated with a temple (1340-1364), he will the rediscovin mutual sancand bring ered tabernacle vestion with it are monsels to the Holy archy and wealth, Tabernaclereestabneither of which was lished on Mount a relevantfactor for Gerizim (Bowman the Samaritancom1977: 271). munity. The northern Since the Torah monarchy was long describes the tabergone before the Sanacle and not a maritans became a distinctive group. temple, it is not surthat the When "theplace" prising Teller-Rasfrom the main peak of Mount Samaritansplaced significance on a Gerizim with Mount Ebal in the background. (Deuteronomy 12),Jerusalem, tabernacle.A temple, which is fraught Discovery of building B beneath the remains became part of the polemic against of Hadrian'sTempleawakened hopes that the the with political implications, is the Samaritans,the Samaritans SamaritanTemplehad been found. Subsequent of the and anchors palace deity, repudiatedthe temple at Jerusalem analyses indicated that building B was more a built to raise A. and in the likely for several reasons, including the platform building deity monarchy signifiPhotocourtesy of ReinhardPummer. cant political locality. Bereft of political association it had with
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
105
the south and particularlywith Solomon, who was anathema to the Samaritans. Lack of monarchy eliminated much of the motivation for a temple (Meyers1987:364) and the economic condition of post-exilic Samaria did not help. Oppressedby Assyrians, Babyloniansand Persians,the Samaritanshad minimal resources. A significant temple would require tremendous financial and labor resources,which the post-exilic Samaritanslikely lacked. Consider the disappointment expressed in the comparison of the post-exilic Jewish temple with its Solomonic predecessor built in somewhat similar circumstances of poverty and oppression (Meyers1987:368). The Jews apparentlyviewed the Samaritans with contempt ratherthan anger,as if the Jewsconsidered them beneath their class. This is reflected in the New Testament comment that Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans (John4:9). Archaeological evidence. Archaeological evidence has played a frequent role in the search. There are three peaks on Mount Gerizim, each of which is a possible location for the temple. No archaeologicalreport mentions any indications of buildings on the westernmost peak, which at 807 meters is the lowest of the three. The central peak, at 881 meters the highest, has receivedconsiderable attention. A German expedition, led by Alfons M. Schneider,excavated this peak in 1930 but found no materials dating from any period relevant
c
' "!,
have no inscriptions identifying this structure, the evidence below convinces us that it (buildingB) is the temple of the Samaritans"(Bull 1969: 8). As evidence, he cited that it is on Mount Gerizim, dates from the Hellenistic period, is surroundedby a high temenos wall of the same date and structure, is made of unhewn stones and stands alone for its size and period on Gerizim and thus supports the recordof Josephus. Charles W.Wilson excavatedthe site in 1866 on behalf of the Survey of WesternPalestine. Bull cites Wilson: "Atthe extremity of the arm running northwardsfrom the castle is a mound, partly artificial, and isolated from the ridge by a deep ditch. There are traces of steps on four sides leading to the summit of the mound, which was occupied by a building fifty-threefeet square,having walls of great thickness. Some excavations were made. But with the exception of a few Roman coins nothing of interest was found"(Bull 1968: 61).Bull comments that "Surface examination failed to locate clear evidence of the building (53 feet square)mentioned by Wilson" Views of Mount Gerizim on three different coins of Flavia Neapolis dating from mid(Bull 1967:390). second century to early third century c.E. Coins have alreadyindicated Eachportraysa large building on the left, of the structures on this peak some presumably Hadrian'sZeus Templeon Tell er-Ras,and another structureon the right, and the central peak. "Onthe left likely on the centralpeak since it is portrayed hand peak is the temple which, on a higher level and in appropriateperspective from Neapolis. It is smaller and has been since it first appearson coins of Pius is doubtless the temple of Zeus variouslyinterpretedas a Pagansanctuary (Montgomery1907:89), an altar (Hill 1914: Hypsistos built by Hadrian"(Hill xxix) and a Samaritansynagogue(Pummer 1914:xxviii-xxix). 1987:33). Photos are used courtesy of Reinhard Pummer,BiblicalArchaeologyReview Two significant structures have and Zev Radovan,and the Israel Museum. been excavatedon Tell er-Ras.Build-
to a SamaritanTemple (Schneider 1951:209-334). At the northern end of the peak, that expedition and others found and identified the tomb of Sheikh Ghanim, which was originally a sixteenth century watchtower,the adjacentTheotokos church built about 484 C.E.,and a fortification built by Justinianto protect the church. Samaritantradition places the temple about 100 meters further south on this peak, but no remains have been identified. Some ancient coins depict a structure on this peak:"Onthe other (right-hand)peak is a construction which seems again to be ratheran altar than a small temple"(Hill 1914: xxix). This evidence could arguefor an altar without a temple. North of this central peak and at a somewhat lower elevation (831 meters) is the peak known as Tell er Ras, a small conical mound about 120 by 80 meters that has been the primaryfocus of archaeologicalresearch in the past generation. In the late 1960s, RobertBull referredto the "long sought Temple of the Samaritans"and offered:"Whilewe
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Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
ing A is assumed to be the temple of Zeus Hypsistos built on Mount Gerizim by Hadrianin 130c.E. BuildingB "canbest be visualized as a half cube 20.93 (by)20.14 (by)about 10 meters, some 4000 cubic meters of unhewn stone set in a square-shapedfoundation trench cut into the bedrock of the mountain top"(Bull 1978: 1,022). The stones were a local limestone dressed to dimensions 1.2 meters long, 1 meter wide and .5 meter thick (Bull 1978: 1,021).No architectural or numismatic materials were found in the massive fill that surroundedthe wall, and the pottery dated to Roman times. Bull believes that "buildingB was constructed in the center of a courtyardof walls and on a center line which was the north-south axis of building B and the mid-point of the gatewayin the east-westwall north of building B" (1978: 1,022).No evidence of a ramp, steps or other approachto building B was found. A section of the perimeter wall at the northwest corner was found to be in earth ratherthan bedrock and yielded some pottery datSince ing to the third century B.C.E. building B seems to have been built in the center of the courtyardformed by the walls, Bull deduced that it was also built in the third century. George E. Wrightled the DrewMcCormick excavations at Shechem (1956-64), but based his observations about the Samaritantemple on Josephus,whom Wrightassumed had three sources available (citing Ralph Marcus):a Jewish source, a Samaritan source and an anti-Samaritan source (Wright1965: 178)."Fromall this it seems to me that we may accept the following as fairly certain: (1)The substantial reliability of Josephus' first source about the Samaritans: namely, the story about the founding of the Temple on Mt. Gerizim by permission of Alexander the Great .. ." Excavations on Mount Gerizim were taken up anew in 1984 by Itzhak Magen. He has issued no published reports, but Pummer has followed the excavations and communicated
several times with Magen. In a 1988 book review,Pummer reported"The large 'BuildingB'on Tell er-Rashas been shown to date only from Roman times, and the excavations currently underwayon the main peak have so far not brought to light any remains older than the second century B.C.E." (Pummer 1988). A year later, Pummer made a more extensive reporton Magen's excavations (Pummer 1989).Bull's main dating device for building B, the sherds found in the northeast corner of the surroundingwall, are now thought to have been brought in as fill from the central park. All the speculation on building B seems to be renderedmoot. It is most likely that building B was a platformto raise building A to a higher elevation. Magen'sexcavations shift interest back to the central peak for pursuit of the elusive SamaritanTemple. Traditionand practice would make that peak a more likely site, and now excavations beneath the Theotokos church revealthe outlines of a large building, holding out yet another thread of hope for those who expect to find a SamaritanTemple. Bibliography Anderson,R. 1989 Josephus'Accounts of TempleBuilding: History,Literatureor Politics? Pp. 246-57 in Proceedingsof the EasternGreat Lakes and Midwest Biblical Societies 9. Bowman,J. 1977 SamaritanDocuments Relating to their History,Religionand Life.Pittsburgh:Pickwick Press. Bull, R. 1967 A PreliminaryExcavationof an HadrianicTempleat Tell er Ras on Mount Gerizim. American Journal of Archaeology 71:388-92. 1969 The Hadrianicand Samaritan Temples.American Schools of Oriental ResearchNewsletter No. 10. 1978 Er-Ras,Tell (MountGerizim). Pp. 1,015-22 in Encyclopediaof ArchaeologicalExcavationin the Holy Land, volume 4, editedby M. Avi-Yonah.EnglewoodCliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Crown, A. 1975 The Abisha Scroll of the Samaritans. Bulletin of the JohnRylands University Library58: 36-65.
Dewing, H., translator 1961 Procopius:Buildings, volume VII. Series:The LoebClassical Library. Cambridge,MA, andLondon:Harvard University Pressand Heinemann. Gaster,T. 1962 Samaritans.Pp. 190-97 in Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, volume IV. New York:Abingdon. Grabbe,L. 1987 Josephusandthe JudaeanRestoration. Journalof Biblical Literature106: 236-42. Hill, G. 1914 A Catalogueof the Greek Coins of Palestine. London:The British Museum. Kempinski,A. 1986 Joshua'sAltar-An IronAge I Watchtower.Biblical Archaeology Review 12 (1). Kippenberg,H. 1971 Garizim und Synagoge.Berlin: Walterde Gruyter. Marcus,R., translator 1966 Josephus:JewishAntiquities, volume VI. Series:The LoebClassical Library.Cambridge,MA, and London:HarvardUniversity Pressand Heinemann. Meyers,C. 1987 David as TempleBuilder.Pp.357-76 in Ancient Israelite Religion, edited by P.Miller,Jr.,P.Hanson and S. Dean McBride.Philadelphia:FortressPress. Montgomery,J. 1907 The Samaritans:The EarliestJewish Sect, TheirHistory,Theologyand Literature.New York:KTAV.Reprinted in 1968. Pummer, R. 1987 The Samaritans. Leiden:E. J.Brill. 1988 Review of JosephusFlavius und die Samaritaner:Eine terminologische Untersuchungzur Identitatsklarung der Samaritaner.Journalof Biblical Literature107:771. 1989 SamaritanMaterialRemainsand Archaeology.Pp. 135-77 in The Samaritans,edited by A. Crown. Tiibingen:J.C. B.Mohr. Schneider,A. 1951 Romische und byzantine Bautenauf dem Garizim. Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palistina-Vereins68: 209-34. Stenhouse,P, translator 1985 The Kitab al-Tarikhof Abu' Fath. Sydney:MendelbaumTrust,University of Sydney. Wright,G. E. 1965 Shechem. New York:McGrawHill. Zertal,A. 1985 Has Joshua'sAltar Been Foundon Mt. Ebal?Biblical Archaeology Review 11(1). 1986 How Can KempinskiBe so Wrong! Biblical ArchaeologyReview 12 (1).
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
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Yt'
and ACOR During JORDAN AMMAN,
im.
continuednormallythroughout the fall. However,after Christmas,as the January15 deadline set by the United Nations drewnearer,further securitymeasureswereimplemented, which resulted in a severecurtailmentof almost all ACOR operations from Januaryto March.FourACOR residents went abroad for Christmasholidays,and I instructedthem to not returnin January.In the days before January15,afterthe Jordanian
lot?
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)
universitystudentscompleted anyACOR their fall semester use of activities
r- %44 ly
-4I
the library,all books,periodicals and computers were boxedand stored.This effectively closed the libraryand stopped computer-basedorderingandofficework.Grants administratorCynthiaShartzerleftforCairoonJanuary12, andSallydeVriesmadeit out on the lastflightfromAmman on January15 at 11:45p.m. I left on January22 to give a lecture at Calvin College, afterit becameapparentthat nothing positive was to be
gainedfromstayingin Amman. On advice of the Jordanian boardmembers,I stayedaway until March17. Forthat period, responsibilityfor ACOR wasturnedoverto a caretaking committee made up of board binZeid, membersPrinceRa'ad Mr.MohamMrs.WidadKawar, mad Asfour and Dr. Ghazi Bisheh. Daily affairs were performedcapablyandcourageously by interim administrator Sa'adAsfour and caretaker Oscar Hicban, both of whom lived in the building. The ACORcommunity owes
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Internaciona Sobre Congreso ELESCORIAL,SPAIN
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March,36
from 1 scholars
11 countries gathered for the latest in a series of international scholarly meetings devotedto some or all of the Dead Sea Scrolls.The meeting, the best so far of a series thatbeganwith the New York University Conference in 1985, was held from March 18-21 in the splendidmountain setting of El Escorial, approximately50 kilometers outside Madrid(the sessions on the thirddaywere held in Salamanca). Professors Julio Trebolle
Complutensede Madridwere ments. Also, the conference especiallyinstrumentalin or- providedan opportunityfor ganizingthis meeting,which the editorsof the biblicaland featuredscholarsfromCanada non-biblicaltextsto meetwith (1),England(1),France(1),Ger- the three principaleditorsof many(6),Hungary(1),Israel(9), the Scrolls,EmanuelTov,EuItaly (1),the Netherlands(1), geneUlrichandEmilePuech. The titles of the major Poland (1),Spain (4) and the United States (10). papers(the first six of which The lively sessions that had assigned respondents) filled the four days demon- indicate the diverse topics stratedthat a vast amount of covered at the congress: workis beingdonein Qumran "Pluriformityin the Biblical scholarship,both in studying Text, Text Groups, and Quesandreexamining long-available tions of Canon," by Ulrich; texts and in preparingnew "TheTextualStatus of 4Q364ones for publication. In fact,
367 (4QPP) [Pentateuchal
about one-thirdof the papers Paraphrase]," by Tov; "The Barreraand Luis VegasMon- offered material from pre- Qumran Essenes as a Local taner of the Universidad viously unpublished docu- Group of a WidespreadJewish
j iArchaeologist, June 1991 =
After the War a debt of gratitude to these six people for their diligent performances in a period of great stress and uncertainty. During March, April and May, ACOR has been returning to normal. Regular staff hours resumed March 18, and the library reopened to the public on March22 and is once again frequentedby university students. The Pella-Umm Qeis project,which did not entirely stop during the war, is now working in full force, the Cultural Resource Management Program resumed in late Feb-
Los
ruary, and the other contract projects resumed in April. ACOR's hostel is open, and resident scholars and visitors are welcome to come back. All research facilities in the country, libraries, museums, etc., are accessible. There areno travelrestrictions in Jordan,and visits to known archaeological sites are possible as usual. Field work by foreign teams will be possible after June 15, with the usual procedures for permits and security clearances in force. Two major field projects -Tell
el-Umeiri and Humeimadirectorship will go as schedplan to be in the field from uled. Pierre and Patricia Bikai will arriveat ACOR on June2, June to August. The Arabic SpeakingAca- and I will depart soon after the demic Immersion Program end of my term on June 30. Bert de Vries plans its opening semester for the fall of 1991. Those interACOR Director ested in ACOR Fellowships should watch for information updating the flier published this January,or write ACOR Fellowships, c/o ASOR, 711 W 40th St., Suite 354, Baltimore, MD 21211.An extensive offering of fellowships for resident scholars is in its final planning. The transition of the
Manuscritos del Mar Movement," by Hartmut Stegemann; "The Disqualifications of Priests in 4Q Fragments of the 'Damascus Document,' "byJosephBaumgarten; "11QTempleb," by Florentino Garcia Martinez; "New Light from Qumran on the Jewish Pseudepigrapha4Q390," by Devorah Dimant; and "Fragmentsdun apocryphe de IAvi et le personnage eschatologique. 4QTestIvic-d (?)et 4QAJa,"by Puech. The congress, which attracted considerable media attention in Spain, was not lacking in dramatic moments. The papers themselves often provoked lively discussions,
but the most exciting moment came when Magen Broshi of the Israel Museum gave a report about the results of a new kind of carbon-14 test conducted recently on several of the Qumran fragments. The new method does less damage to the fragments than the older one because it requires destruction of a smaller amount of material. To an audience that eagerly awaited his words, Broshi announced that, in all but one case, the dates indicated by the new carbon-14 tests were nicely compatible with the system of paleographic datings established by scholars such as
Muerto
Frank Moore Cross. The only exception of the 13 or 14 fragments tested came from a test that was rated as very unreliable by the scientist at the laboratory where the analysis was done. A second particularly memorable moment was the "Sesion de Clausura" held at the Real Coliseo Carlos IL,a short distance from the conference site. There, Queen Sofia presided before an audience that consisted of local people, university students, faculty and administrators, conference participants and government officials. Cross delivered a lecture (that was
translated simultaneously into several languages) titled "Some Notes on a Generation of Qumran Studies."After his presentation, Queen Sofia conferred a medal on Cross to honor his more than 40 years of distinguished contributions of the study and publication of the scrolls. J6zef T. Milik was to be honored in a similar fashion, but an illness in his family prevented him from attending. James C. VanderKam Chairman, ASOR Ancient Manuscripts Committee
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
109
FurtherQumran Archaeology Publications in Progress aretheremore glassware (evidently of high
only NotQumran
cave manuscripts which we can hope to read soon, but, as well, we can expect in the near future further information on the archaeology of the site of Qumran. This is thanks to a group of archaeologists, including Robert and Pauline Donceel, associated with the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem and with the Universities of Louvain and Fribourg.They arepreparing to publish a final excavation report on the work at Khirbet Qumran directed by Roland de Vaux, who died before completing publication work. de Vaux (1973) did publish a useful volume, which includes a bibliographyon his extensive preliminary reports, but much remains to be done. de Vaux'sexcavation work has received mixed reviews, ranging from high praise (Davies 1983: 35) to harsh criticism (Davies 1988). Significant questions of interpretation remain on such issues as the beginning of the Hellenistic period settlement, Period Ia, for which de Vaux did not publish pottery. Additionally, the current research reportedly will suggest different functions for some loci than de Vaux proposed. Of more fundamentalimportance than the interpretations, the new publications will finally present the available data on the material remains. This will include new architectural drawings, pottery (for which more parallels are available than previously), extensive
110
quality), coin finds (though perhaps without adequate recording of find spots), metal tools (which may reveal more after laboratory treatment of their corrosion) and a fine geometric inlaid pavement. This welcome news of research for the Qumran final excavation report will of course renew debate on the nature of the site and the identity of its inhabitants. In addition to the issues already mentioned, three of de Vaux'sconclusions will come under renewed scrutiny: first, that the inhabitants were Essenes; second, that Qumran was a monastery; and third, that Qumran included a room used as a scriptorium. That the Qumran residents were Essenes has been proposed by many scholars of diversebackgroundsand is too complex to examine in detail here. (Forthree recent reviews of the evidence for the Essene see Broshi identification, 1990; Sussmann 1990; and VanderKam 1991.) As more Qumran manuscripts arepublished, parallels to Essene thought in some of the sectarian texts become more numerous; for example, some Qumran texts appear to refer to resurrection, a belief that would exclude a Sadducee author. Additionally, it is becoming apparent that Second Temple period sectarian terminology needs to be considered in a way that allows a more complex calculus of variations over time than, say,
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
Josephus' three Jewish group names (Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes). In other words, some ancients called the Qumranites part of the Essene movement, while some opponents prefered to call them other names. Whether Qumran should properlybe called a monastery is another issue that may depend on one's perspective. Obviously, the monastic movement in medieval Christianity practiced an ascetic life based on some different beliefs than the Qumranites. Forexample, celibacy, as it appearsin some Qumran manuscripts, may have involved only certain people for designated times and in certain places, ideas related to their interpretation
much criticized as an anachronistic term. The tables and benches found in that room have been characterizedas not suitable for use by ancient scribes; additionally, this furniture may have been reconstructed at incorrect heights (see, forexample, Clark, 1963). The exact function of these tables has not been resolved. However that issue may be interpreted,there is considerable evidence that the Qumran site included a place for writing, whether or not one wishes to call it a scriptorium. In addition to the archaeological links between Khirbet Qumran and the Qumran manuscript caves that surround it, the main evidence for scribal activity at Qumran is its un-
Threeinkwells found during the Qumranexcavations of Roland de Vaux.The middle inkwell is made of bronze;the others are ceramic. Photocourtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority
of the functions of priesthood and temple. On the other hand, no discussion of this issue should neglect to mention that the earliest known usages of the Greek word monasterion appear in Philo of Alexandria's On the Contemplative Life (25 and 30);he wrote of a group of Jewscalled Therapeutae,whom he clearly associated with the Essenes. The term "scriptorium," which de Vaux used for locus 30 at Qumran, has also been
usually numerous collection of inkwells. Qumran Inkwells Three inkwells were recovered in the excavations of de Vaux. This is remarkable by itself, since three extant inkwells from such a small site appears to be unparalleled in ancient Palestine. Additionally, it is not usually noted that subsequently a fourth, and possibly a fifth, inkwell from Qumran have survived for nearly 2,000 years.
de Vaux found two inkwells, one ceramic and one made of bronze, in locus 30. The third inkwell, also ceramic, came from locus 31, which is adjacent to and east of locus 30, the scriptorium (see de Vaux 1954: 212 and plates 5, 6, and 10b). Ceramic inkwells of a similar type have been excavated in a Herodian period tomb in Meiron, Upper Galilee (Meyers, Strange and Meyers 1981:109, 118-19) and in the "Burnt House" in late Second Temple period Jerusalem (Avigad 1984: 127). In 1966 and 1967, before the Six Day War, Solomon Steckoll, working under the
This unbrokeninwell, with dried ink inside, was found at Qumran during the excavations of Solomon H. Steckoll. It measures 55 millimeters in height and 39 millimeters in diameter;the opening, which extends as a lip part way inward, has a diameter of 15millimeters. Photos courtesy of the Hecht Museum, University of Haifa.
Department of Antiquities of Jordan,conducted excavations at Qumran, primarily in the cemetery. However, Steckoll, now deceased, also carriedout restoration work on the ruins.
At Qumran he found "acomplete inkwell with a residue of dried ink"(Steckoll 1969a:35). Steckoll's excavation was much criticized by de Vaux and others; many surveys on Qumran simply omit his reports. But the material remains discovered are important, even if his publication of them left something to be desired. Unfortunately, he did not publish the locus of this find; despite many inquiries, we have not been able to determine the locus. Steckoll printed photos of the inkwell in two publications not usually noticed by Qumran researchers (1969b: 260 and 1973-1974: 241). This inkwell is now part of the Hecht Museum in the University of Haifa. A container of the dried ink is also kept there. One of
This inkwell from the Archaeological Research Collection, University of Southern California, measures 53 millimeters in height. Its provenanceis possibly Qumran. Photo by WendyRosin Malecki, courtesy of USC Periodical Department.
de Vaux's inkwells also retained some residue of ink. Eventually, this ink may be useful for further scientific analysis and comparison with other finds. A possible fifth extant inkwell from Qumran is now in the Archaeological Research Collection at the University of Southern California, a gift of Gerald LaRue. A photograph was published in a museum catalog (Fine 1987: plate 1).
This inkwell was obtained in 1967, after the war, from Kando (Khalil Eskander Shahin), the antiquities dealer who had been the middleman for many Qumran manuscripts and, to a lesser extent, artifacts brought to him by the bedouin. This inkwell is supposedly from Qumran, but since it was obtained in this manner, one cannot be certain of its provenance. Opinions will vary as to this likelihood. The possibility that it may be from Qumran seems sufficiently strongat least to record
it along with the other four more definitely attested Qumran inkwells. Whether one accepts four or five known Qumran inkwells, such a number is remarkable, especially when comparing Qumran to larger sites where writing certainly took place, such as Sepphoris or Dura-Europos, where inkwells have evidently not yet turned up. Though some may wish to, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that Qumran was a location at which considerable writing took place.
Bibliography
Avigad,N. 1984 DiscoveringJerusalem.Oxford:Basil Blackwell. Broshi,M. 1990 The Dead Sea Scrolls: Discovery and Identification. Israel Museum Journal9:31-41. Clark, K. W 1963 The Posture of the Ancient Scribe. Biblical Archaeologist 26: 63-72. Davies, P.R. 1983 Qumran. Series: Cities of the Biblical World.Grand Rapids, MI:William B.Eerdmans. 1988 How Not to Do Archaeology:The Storyof Qumran.Biblical Archaeologist 51:203-7. Fine, S. 1987 The TangibleTalmud:Textand Artifact in the Greco-Roman Period. Los Angeles: University of Southern California ArchaeologicalResearchCollection. Laperrousaz,E.-M. 1976 Qoumran, I'•tablissement essinien des bords de la Mer Morte:Histoire et archeologiedu site. Paris:A. & J.Picard. Meyers,E. M., Strange,J.E, and Meyers,C. L. 1981 Excavations at Ancient Meiron, Upper Galilee, Israel, 1971-72, 1974-75, 1977. Cambridge,MA:American Schools of Oriental Research. Steckoll, S. H. 1968 Investigationsof the Inksused in writing the Dead Sea Scrolls. Nature 220: 91-92. 1969a Marginal Notes on the Qumran Excavations. Revue de Qumran 7: 33-40. 1969b An Inkwell from Qumran.Madac 13:260-61 (InHebrew). 1973- The Community of the Dead Sea Scrolls.Atti: Centrostudi e 1974 documentazione sull'Italia romana 5: 199-244. Sussmann, Y. 1990 The Historyof Halakhaandthe Dead SeaScrolls:Preliminary Observationson Miq at Macase Ha-Torah(4QMMT).Tarbiz 59: 11-76 (InHebrew). VanderKam,J. 1991 The People of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Essenes or Sadducees? Bible Review 7 (2):42-47. Vaux,R. de 1954 Fouilles au Khirbet Qumrin: Rapport preliminaire sur la deuxieme campagne.Revue Biblique 61: 206-33. 1973 Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Oxford:OxfordUniversity Press.
Stephen Goranson Assistant Editor
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
111
Book
Reviews
The IllustratedAtlas of Jerusalem,by Dan Bahat with Chaim T Rubinstein, 152 pp. New York:Simon and Schuster, 1990; $95.00.
laborativeeffort, involving the contributions of many scholarsand graphicartists, as indicated in Bahat'sacknowledgements. Chaim T. Rubinstein compiled and arrangedthe maps for the chapters The wealth of materials resulting from on Divided Jerusalem,1948-1967, and archaeologicalresearchesand historical United Jerusalem,since 1967. studies on Jerusalemin recent years has The reproductionof the maps and necessitated a publication such as this: line drawingsis stunning, thanks to the an atlas that presents the data relating to high standardsof quality adheredto by the history of Jerusalem(fromancient Carta,the designer and producerof the to contemporarytimes) so that the reader original Hebrew publication (1989),of understandsquickly and clearly the significance of what is known about the city (primarilyfrom archaeological data).Bahatreadily acknowledges that Jerusalem'shistory is so vast that it cannot be presented in a single atlas. He ~;.?4 stated his objective was "topresent the i? i main situations and events to the extent t .?. possible in graphicand cartographic 4 Y -r\ form."Where the data have been subject .'rIC to varyinginterpretations,the readeris F~r-V .r..tf' ~4;? + `" informed (usually,but not always)of \ ~3~?-L both the rangeof interpretationsand " what the author holds to be the correct C.C r i .r assessment. 'i?l r I, .Perhapsno one is as qualified as Bahat,the official archaeologistfor the city of Jerusalem,to have undertakenthis projectand to have produceda volume that must be considered, on the whole, a success. It is certainly a majorwork in the history of publications on the holy city as well as the culmination of Bahat's which this publication is the first English own publishing history of atlases on edition. A wide rangeof bright colors has Jerusalem.He has providedan aid that is been used, enhancing the visual effect but occasionally renderingthe maps truly remarkablein the vast amount of information it contains, while being at difficult to read. In a few instances (for the same time a model of brevity and example, the maps on archaeological sites [pages18-19], Divided Jerusalem, clarity. It is no easy task to accomplish these objectives without some sacrifices 1948-1967 [pages136-37] and the Britalong the way.The general readeris well ish Mandate [page128])the use of mauve and other red-purplecolors made it diffiserved,but the specialist may be disapcult to readthe identifications. But such pointed at times in finding instances where more could have been said, espeinstances are few and certainly not a cially in regardto alternative opinions majordetraction. In the case of photoon the interpretationof data. The overall graphicreproductionsof old maps and success of the work must be attributed similar graphicdepictions (12altogether), to the utilization of over 400 color maps, not all are easy to read,either because of line and isometric drawings,photographs size or color or both (forexample, the and other illustrations. In some chapters, CrusaderLondonMap [page101]and that of Marino Sanuto [page111]).I also found as much, if not more, text is given to the clarification of the illustrations as to myself wishing that in each case a schethe main body of the text. This was a col- matic diagramof the map was provided.
Something like this was done for the circular maps of CrusaderJerusalem-one drawingcontaining the elements common to most of the maps (page96). Readersof BA will be interested in the attention given to the wall and gates of the city duringthe FirstTemplePeriod (see the maps on pages 25, 30-31), especially in respect to the variety of opinions (minimalist/maximalist)on the extent of the wall. As for the three walls of the Second TemplePeriod,a good deal of attention is given to the archaeological data relating to the second and third walls (andwhat was once thought to relate, but probablydoes not; pages 41-43), but not to alternative opinions - only a somewhat vague allusion to "numerous speculations"in respect to the second wall. This may leave the general reader wonderingwhy maps in other publications (suchas those utilized in the Oxford Annotated Bible) place the second and third walls differently.This leads me to suggest something that could well be incorporatedinto subsequent editionsa bibliographicallisting at the end of each chapterby which the general reader could be informednot only of the archaeological reportsupon which Bahat's work has been based, but also on the secondaryliterature in which alternative interpretations(the "numerousspeculations")might be found. The bibliographyis a good basic bibliography,but not always sufficient to serve the general readerin respect to the variety of interpretationsthe data have generated. One other remarkis in orderconcerning the usefulness of this volume for the generalreader.The cost (undoubtedly necessitated by the graphicsand illustrations- including the time of the many specialists involvedin the production) has placed this work among those books that will be necessary for librariesto add to their referenceshelves. It may be beyond the budget of most general readers, especially students. In the future, hopefully the publisher will be able to market subsequent editions at a lower cost, or to bring out a students'edition that is financially accessible to a wider readership.
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This work is aptly titled The IllustratedAtlas of Jerusalem.There are, of course, various types of atlases- for example, the scientific/cartographicand the historical. This work belongs to the tradition of the historical atlas, which in modern times has evolved (with technological developments in printing)into the illustrated atlas. The evolution of this particularpublication may be traced ultimately to the author'smodest atlas published (in Hebrew)in 1967, which underwent subsequent expansions and translations,being known most recently as Carta'sHistorical Atlas of Jerusalem: An Illustrated Survey(Jerusalem:Carta, 1983).At the same time, it utilizes fully the results of modem Israeli scientific/ cartographicstudy (compareDavid H. K. Amiran, Arie Shacharand IsraelKimhi, Atlas of Jerusalem,with companion volume, Building History from the Earliest Times to the Nineteenth Century:Urban Geographyof Jerusalem[Jerusalem:Israel Academyof Sciences and Humanities, HebrewUniversity, IsraelExploration Society, MassadaPress/Berlin:de Gruyter, 1973]).As Bahathas stated, "thoughwe have not used a cumbersome scientific apparatus,[we have]ensured that it is scientifically exact."This may be why Eric M. Meyers (in the introduction) calls Bahat'swork "thefirst true atlas of Jerusalem." The readermay judgewhether this is the first true atlas of Jerusalem.It is truly a remarkableatlas in its presentation and a beautiful gift from a scholar who has devoteda lifetime to the work that made this publication possible. JamesD. Purvis Boston University
of the Landof the Bible, Archaeology 10,000-586 B.C.E.(The Anchor Bible
ReferenceLibrary),by Amihai Mazar, xxx + 572 pp. New York:Doubleday, 1990; $30.00. Forseveralyears,American scholars and teachers of biblical and Near Eastern archaeologyhave anxiously awaitedthe appearanceof an updatedsummary text that would providea concise statement of the progressof archaeologicalinvestigations in the Syro-Palestinianarea,including the results of work undertakenin the very active recent decades.Amihai
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Mazar'sArchaeology of the Land of Mazarfollows a generallyconsistent the Bible may be that text. Not since pattern for each of the main periods studied. This begins with a review of the publication of W.F Albright'sThe in revised Palestine Archaeology of chronological terminology and includes (last Archaeof and Kathleen discussion of settlement patterns and Kenyon's 1960) ology of the Holy Land (firstpublished population;site and settlement plans and in 1960 and only very modestly revised architecture;burial customs; pottery; in later editions through 1984)has such a and other artifactgroups.Concluding comprehensive and well balanced treat- sections are used to discuss topics conment been availablein English. The only cerning historical relations and to problems concerning cultural origins and comparablerecent works are those in German by VolkmarFritz (Einfuhrungin continuity. die biblische Archaeologie, WissenThrough this organizationalplan, schaftliche Buchgesellschaft:Darmstadt, Mazarhas managedto set forth the vast arrayof data involvedin a convenient 1985)and Helga Weippert(Palastinain and readableform, while maintaining a vorehellenistischerZeit, Charles Beck: Munich, 1988).Mazar'swork has the ad- very high level of scholarly integrity and vantageof being more complete and less accuracy.Most remarkableis the eventhematic than Fritz'sbook and more fo- handedway in which he manages to precused and concise than Weippert'swork. sent and review the various key issues currently being debatedwithin the disNotwithstanding the title of the book, Mazar'sintention is to present a cipline. Throughouthe gives fair and straightforwardand objective introduc- deliberateattention to each of the most tion to the archaeologyof Palestine. In significant competing positions, yet leaves the readerwith clear signals rediscussing the term "biblicalarchaegardingthe conclusion he currently ology"(pages31-32) he arguesthat current archaeologicalresearchin Palestine accepts or supports.A graphicinstance of his incisive approachcan be observed is "professional,secular,and free from in the two paragraphsdevotedto discustheological prejudices."Yethe also concludes that "theimplications of archae- sion of the much debatedproblem of ological researchfor biblical studies and terminology relating to the transition between the EarlyBronzeand Middle history are sometimes of prime imporarchaeBronzeperiods at the close of the third and thus "'biblical that tance;' ology' is still a justified term for this field millennium B.C.E.(page 152). His decision of inquiry."He accordinglyfinds it proper is to use the composite term "EBIV/MBI" to include referenceto the biblical narra- in order"toavoid utter disorientation." While colleagues cannot in all cases be tives at appropriatepoints throughout the volume. expected to agreewith his judgments, his carefuldelineation of the issues will Primarily,however,the book is to be and specifically appreciated. designed simply While the book is by no means encysurveythe results of archaeological researchin Palestine. In scope it seeks to clopedic, it providesa fairly complete representationof ongoing work in the present the relevantevidence from the time of the earliest permanent settlediscipline. The recurrentattention to ments around 10,000 B.C.E. to the period patterns of settlement and estimates of of the Babylonianconquests in 586 B.C.E. population reflects the broaderregional focus of contemporaryresearchand After an introduction that describes the and reviews various scholarship in the field. Among other geographicalsetting positive featuresof the work are its selecpreliminaryaspects (includingthe history of research,excavationmethodology tive use of endnotes to direct the readerto and chronological terminology),the fol- significant supplementaryinformation and referencematerials, and its set of lowing nine chapterstreat in sequence the archaeologicaleras from the Neostrategicallychosen and well produced lithic period through IronAge II.The graphicaids. It also has a very useful General Index as well as a brief Scripconcluding two chaptersare devotedto topical discussion of aspects of IronAge tures Index. The book is not, however,without material culture; to the cultural influsome limitations. Perhapsthe most seriences of Israel'sand Judah'sneighbors; and to effects of their successive domina- ous of these involves Mazar'stendency at various points to advanceunsupported tion by the Assyrians and Babylonians.
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
purpose is "topresent a comprehensive, anthropologicalspeculations. Thus in discussing Chalcolithic ossuaries (page updated,and as objective as possible 84) he concludes that "thedecorations of picture of the archaeologicalresearchof the ossuaries indicate belief in life after Palestine relating to the Old Testament death."On the skeletal remains from period."This purpose is very well achieved.Archaeology of the Land of the EarlyBronzeI tombs at Babedh-Dhra' Bible will swiftly establish its place in flesh was "The he (pages99-100) states, the discipline of Palestinian archaeology probablyextractedfrom the bones by boiling, a curious practice which would as the most current startingpoint for serious study available,and as an excelhave suited the lifestyle of wanderers lent handbookfor referenceand review. who may have kept the bones of the deceased in temporarygravesor shelters It will easily remain as such well through until they could bringthem to final burial the 1990s. in their central,possibly sacredcemetery." JoeD. Seger While such speculations are quite approState Mississippi University priate, and add to the book's interest, the failureto provideat least some additional supportingrationale or evidence for presenting them is disappointing. In addition, readersof the book are Persiaand the Bible, by Edwin Yamauchi, assumed to have a more detailed knowl- 578 pp. Grand Rapids, MI:BakerBook edge of the geographyof the Palestinian House, 1990; $34.95. region than can normally be expected. Modempolitical eventshavekeptresearchThis is especially noticeable when site locations are referencedonly in relation ers from probinginto the past grandeur to modern Israeli settlements. Moreover, of Iran,the home of the Achaemenid (or there are some minor errors,most deriv- Persian)Empirewhich, at its height, ing from the use of preliminary reports dominated almost all of the civilized as part of the effort to include the results world. Under such conditions it is approfrom current excavations.In most cases these are likely to be noticed mainly by projectmembers of the excavations involved. Thus, for example, the published edition of the Field I Caves volume in I EDWIN the Gezer series should be correctedto M.I.YMI'M'I Gezer V not "GezerIV"as indicated in the bibliographyof sites on page xx; and the stratanumbers for the EBphases at Pu Tell Halif in Table3 on page 109 should A N D T H C be updatedto "EBI = StratumXVI:and While there are "EBIII = StrataXV-XII." also a few typographicalerrorsand matters of awkwardsyntax, these are exceedingly minor irritations. Overallthe text is exceptionally clean and very cogently written. Mazarhas indicated that the initial impetus for the volume rose from the need to providehis own university students with an up-to-datewritten guide. In its final form, however,the book priate that scholars take stock of what is in hand and present a synthesis of our clearly also serves a broaderaudience. All members of the general public with knowledge of Persianhistory and culture at the time of its imperial expansion. serious interest in the field will find it helpful reading.Moreover,archaeological This is precisely what Persiaand the Bible undertakesto do. With considercolleagues, graduatestudents and colable skill Edwin Yamauchi,Professorof historical and other in biblical, leagues Ancient History at Miami University, related disciplines will find it a much needed and useful resource. Ohio, has compiled a significant volume. Yamauchi'sstudy goes farbeyondthe As stated in its Preface,the book's
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boundariesof Persia'sencounter with the worlds of the Old and New Testaments. Iran'sprehistory,the careerof Cyrus prior to his conquest of Babylon in 539 B.C.E.,
the historiesof the importantAchaemenid capitals, and the developments of Zoroastrianism and Mithraism are among the areas coveredin the work. By weaving into his narrativethe relevantarchaeological and historical data, Yamauchi has producedan accessible and up-todate analysis of Persianhistory, culture and religion. While the work as a whole is impressive evidence of the author's expertise, readersshould be alerted to severalareaswhere others working in this periodwould have difficulty agreeing with Yamauchi'spresentation. Much of what we know of the Persian empire is derivedfrom Greek sources, that is, from the historians, oratorsand biographersfor whom the exotic Persians were a fascination. Our problem in relying on such sources for our own reconstructions of Persianmatters is that these sources must be carefullyevaluated beforewe can assume their trustworthiness. A case in point is the valuableevidence affordedus by Herodotus in his Histories. While Yamauchistrongly defends Herodotus'reliability against more skeptical critics (pages77-78), at a number of points he is forcedto conclude that Herodotus is in error,such as on the details of Darius'invasion of Scythia (page161),or where Herodotus flatly contradicts data providedby the Old Testament (page233). If Herodotus is wrong on points where we would expect him to have been accurate,is there any justification to follow him on more suspect points, as Yamauchidoes on Herodotus' inflated figure for the amount of tribute collected from the easternmost satrapy (page 154)?Throughouthis presentation, Yamauchiemploys data from Herodotus without asking why it should be believed, and consequently portions of his reconstruction may reflect more the imagination of Herodotus than the reality of Persian experience. In addition to the naggingproblem of the reliability of Greek sources from the period of the Persianempire, there is the issue of the use of other ancient historians as sources of information, despite the fact that they were writing centuries removedfrom the events they relate.Thus the geographerStrabois cited for the reasonbehind the foundingof Pasargadae,
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despite his writing 500 years after the event (page81);or the writer Polyaenus, from the mid-second century C.E.,being cited as a source from the life of Darius I who lived some seven-and-a-halfcenturies earlier (page148).Similarly Plutarch, a Romanbiographerof dubious historical value for the fifth century B.C.E., is treated as an "importantsource"(page192)for the period. Yamauchiemploys datafrom these writers with no regardfor the time that removesthem from the period under consideration, and seems to assume that because they were ancients, they representreliable information on Persianaffairs.This is contraryto the views of most specialists on the period. This problem with sources regrettably affects some of the most central topics of Yamauchi'spresentation. For example, in discussing the background for the missions of Ezraand Nehemiah, Yamauchitakes note of the Egyptian Revolt of the 450s B.C.E., led by the Egyptian leader Inaros.He notes the Greek historian Thucydides,a near contemporaryof these events, recordshow the PersiangeneralMegabyzospromised Inarossafety if he surrendered.However, Yamauchigoes on to say that following his surrenderand transportto the Persian capital,Inaroswas executedby Artaxerxes I. This led Megabyzos,the official in chargeof the satrapy"Acrossthe River" that included Jerusalemand its surrounding region,to revolt,thus setting the stage for Nehemiah's mission to Jerusalema few years later (pages250-51). Yamauchi has derivedthis reconstruction from the Greek historian Ctesias, a writer of the late fourth century B.C.E. who is hardlyto be trusted on these events (page79). Yet Yamauchifails to note that this is where he has derivedthis information, and he does not note that Thucydides records that Inaroswas killed in Egyptand never surrenderedto Megabyzos.If Thucydides is correct, then there was no occasion for a revolt by Megabyzos.And if there was no revolt by Megabyzos,then the need for the military dimension to Nehemiah's mission must be sought elsewhere. In his handling of the archaeological evidence from the period, Yamauchioccasionally makes assumptions that are unsupportedby the evidence, or fails to note limitations in the evidence. A case in point are the marvelous silver bowls from Tellel-Maskhutain the easterndelta of Egypt,bearingAramaic inscriptions of
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a son of "Geshem,"who is mentioned as an opponent of Nehemiah's.Why should these incidental finds be interpretedas demonstratingthat Geshem had control over"vastareas"of northeast Egyptand southwest Palestine (page269)?Similarly, in his use of Mesopotamianevidence for explaining the economic reformsof Nehemiah 5, Yamauchifails to suggest why this datafrom a differentmarket system than Jerusalem'sshould have relevanceto the internal problems of a remote provincein the empire (page273). The final chaptersof the book on the Persiancontribution to the religions of Mithraism and Zoroastrianismare particularly valuable as summaries of the often convoluted argumentsoverthese religious systems. On Zoroastrianism's possible influence on the rulers of the Persianempire, Yamauchiis particularly thorough in noting the diversity of opinions that have been advanced (pages420-24). This is a critical issue in assessing possible Persianinfluence on the religious thought of the biblical world, andYamauchi'sevident good sense and wide knowledge of the currentdebates providesthe readerwith a clear picture of how fragilethose arguments in favorof Zoroastrianinfluence on ancient Israelare (pages458-66). The maps, numerous illustrations, and extensive indexes and bibliography all roundout this useful and important work. Despite its problems in reconstruction, Persiaand the Bible represents an impressive achievement and a useful entry into the worldof the PersianEmpire. Kenneth G. Hoglund WakeForestUniversity
Between Pastand Present:Archaeology, Ideology and Nationalism in the Modem Middle East, by Neil Asher Silberman, xiii + 273 pp. New York:Henry Holt and Company,1989;$24.95. This volume is an unusual treat for the specialist and for those less initiated in the problems of recent archaeological work. While the basic format is that of a travelogue,there are insights for every reader.The book moves from Yugoslavia to Greece, Turkey,Cyprus,Israel,Egypt, Arabiaand back to Israel.The work representsa two-and-a-halfyear study
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trip by Silbermanbeginning in 1984 and opens up a wide vista of excavationdata. The book surpasses the limits suggested by the title, "ModernMiddle East,"with the treatments of the Macedoniansin Yugoslaviaand northernGreece.Furthermore, the inclusion of recent work in Arabia- Yemen in particular-clearly goes beyondthe traditional sites of the Middle East. Silbermanfirst attempts to survey the numerous archaeologicalsites selected, historically and through examining availabledata.While often coveringin varying detail the controversies regardinginterpretations,he relies on extensive interviews with many of the archaeologistsinvolved to returnto the original hypotheses. These interviews give a sense of authority even though he does not alwaysaccept the original conclusions. However,the true breadthof Silberman'sexperiences and observationsare evident in his analysis of how current politics affects archaeologyin the Middle East. He constantly demonstrateshow archaeologicalinterpretationand modern ideology are intertwined in the political contexts. He separatesthe academic, nationalistic and religious pressuresat work in the various countries. A good illustration is seen in the vivid comparison of the ruins at Stobi in Yugoslaviaand Verginain Greece. At Stobi, the emphasis in the excavations is on Byzantine Macedonia,while at Vergina,the excavators are primarily interested in Hellenistic Macedoniaof the fourth and third even though similar centuries B.C.E., remains are evident at both sites. Silberman concludes that "thepast may not have an independentexistence apart from the present"(page29). The book contains a wide diversity of specifics. The sites selected cover many differentgeographicalsituations, a variety of methodologies in excavation techniques, multiple interpretations, divergentcultural conditions both past and present, variedpolitical implications and multiple religious traditions. The sites chosen also representmany periods and types, including prehistoric, classical, mythological, biblical and Ottoman as well as representingindustrial, cultural and religious interests. The strengths of the work are the valuable interviews with recent and current archaeologistsconnected with
the sites and the astute observations that demonstrate how important time, place, politics, nationalism, religion and culture can be in the process of interpreting raw data. The omission of data or untowardemphasis on certain material remainshas too long coloredconclusions. While archaeologyhas become primarily an academic discipline, sectarian and nationalistic pressureshaveoften entered the academic process. Another strength is the thoroughly annotated 24-pagebibliographythat adequately serves as a bridgeto a more exhaustive study of each area and, more specifically, to each site discussed. The book also has its weaknesses. The travelogueformat leaves the reader feeling as if he is on a guided tour. However,this does give it a popularflavor. While the readermay recognize the relation of special concerns in the many geographicalentities, the chaptersare really separatestudies with minimal similarities. Actually, the theme of dissimilarity is evident in the overallmovement from Yugoslaviato Yemen.The particularconcerns of each arearepresent a great diversity in application of archaeologicalmethodology. The study is held together by the conclusion that nationalistic resurrection and the search for golden ages in various countries have greatly influenced archaeological interpretationsand conclusions. Silbermanconcludes his study by writing: Today'sarchaeologists,like their nineteenth-century predecessors, could not help but be productsof their times and national traditions. And their archaeologicalinterests could not help but reflect the challenges, fears,and problems faced by their contemporarysocieties. Willingly or unconsciously, the region'sarchaeologistshad become the authors of a modern Creation myth... (page248). While this is an overstatementof the situation in every country in the Middle East, it does demand careful analysis. Incidentally,while the author seriously questions the regional archaeologists of the areas covered,he speaks highly of the American Schools of Oriental Research(ASOR)and the Albright Institute in Jerusalem.He refersto the fact that ASOR was "initiallyjust one of several competing western archaeologi-
cal institutions"that has now "gainedascendancy over all the others."He further describes the Albright Institute as "asociety of scholars dedicatedto studying the past without referenceto specific religious or national claims."MayASOR continue to merit such judgments! A few further quotes may create interest in readingthis unusual approach to archaeologicalendeavor: Today,archaeologicalimages not only are the basis for our understanding of the rise of Westerncivilization, they also have become the official national symbols of modern peoples (page7). In Egypt,the national fascination with the pharaonicpast has waxed and waned severaltimes in the last century, in direct relation to the country'spolitical position in the modern world (page9). Schliemann'ssuccess was in mythmaking,not in science (page42). Whether searchingfor ancient Macedonians,Mycenaeans,Minoans, Trojans,or Cypriots, the archaeologists have, in many ways, discovered what they have set out to find (page85). The archaeologicalremains on the Summit of Masadawere not so much tangible proof of the story's historical accuracyas they were elaborate and persuasive stage scenery for a modern passion play of national rebirth (page88). But the Ottoman period-except
the understandingsof what appropriately constitutes a book on "theNew Testament world." Johnand Kathleen Court'swork is a beautiful book with abundantcolor illustrations and photographsaccompanyinga very readableand "centrist" explanation of the New Testamentas seen by currentbiblical scholarship. In appearanceand format it suggests a "coffee-table" book of the sort one often finds at mall bookstores (often at sale price!).This initial impression of the book, however,is only partially correct. In fact, it is more similar to a textbook written forundergraduateintroductory New Testamentcourses (apart from the ratherlavish illustrative materials). It would be a good introduction to contemporarybiblical scholarshipfor an interested readerwithout prior exposure to academic biblical scholarship. (Infact, there is a useful paperbackInstructor's Manual availablefor the book that includes helpful summaries of the text, possible tests and discussion topics for classes. This should make the Court'svolume more acceptablefor classroom use.) The anticipated organizationis found, arrangedmostly chronologically with greaterattention paid to Paul and the Gospels (with 40 pages devotedto "otherN.T.writings,"25 to Gnosticism, and 20 to explore the idea of "basic Christianity").Moreover,the positions taken by the authorsarealwaysmoderate, consensus ones, so the unknowing reader will encounter majority opinions on in its most lavish expression . .. atalmost every issue. tracted virtually no archaeological One of the book'sgreatest strengths is that it is quite readablewithout being attention, either as an important chapterin the history of Western simplistic. The initial chapter,which civilization or as a source of national explains the historical method of study pride (page231). (textual, form, and literary criticism), Kyle M. Yates,Jr. would be easily followed by a novice Oklahoma State University reader.Ironically,half of this chapteris all that is explicitly focused upon the "New TestamentWorld"-contraryto what we anticipate from the book'stitle. This is limited to a few topics. The New TestamentWorld,by Johnand The discussion of each Gospel emKathleen Court,384pp. Englewood Cliffs, ploys a set of grid questions (givenon NJ:Prentice Hall, 1990; $40.00. page 26) about how Jesusis presented and how this may relate to the experiBackgroundsof EarlyChristianity, ences of those who producedand treaby EverettFerguson,xvi + 515 pp. Grand Rapids, MI:Eerdmans, 1987; sured the writings. The chapterson the $24.95 (paper). four Gospels comprise roughly half of the book. This redactionaland Comparing these two books with similar sociological exposition of each of the titles reveals once again how variedare four Gospels is perhapsthe strongest
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part of the book. In a non-technical way, the authors communicate the value and gains from such study of the Bible. The discussion of Paul and his letters, the only other extensive treatment in the book, is generallywell done. This is especially the case with the discussion of integration in Paul'swritings between his message of the gospel and the social concerns of his churches (pages99-109). The treatment of "otherN.T.writings"is more variedin success. Revelationis looked at from the question of whether it representsa sectarianoutlook (although only six pages are devotedto this lengthy book-half of which are art work!).The pastoralscontinue to be examined, regrettably,as "asingle unit" (page302). Other sections I found interesting were the discussion on the methodology of ancient historians (pages143-47); the similarities between the eschatology and hermeneutical approachesof Matthew and Qumran (pages201-10) and the christological titles in the Gospel of John(pages245-56). The most serious flaw is that the title does not accuratelyrepresentthe contents. At least as the terms are commonly used today,the title does not imply an introduction to New Testament study,but more of history, archaeology and sociology of the historical matrix of the New Testament.However,little of this is actually presented,and too often the realia that are picturedare poorly relatedto their position in the text. Some might purchasethe book and be disappointedat what it does not present; others may not even consider the book and miss out on something they would appreciate. There are times when the choice to present the consensus of scholarly views may not let the uninformed readerknow about other alternativeunderstandings (forexample on Paul in Acts and his letters, page 88, or the importance of the failure of the parousia in the formation of the New Testament,page 272). Similar is the allusion to the confrontationbetween Peterand Paul as a key to the New Testament (page362) which reminds us how long is the shadow of Baur.The section on Gnosticism is probablyoversimplified (what 25-pagestatement would not be!),but is useful in communicating important concerns about this segment of early Christian selfunderstanding.
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The book by EverettFergusonis very differentin scope, presentationand production.This book has forgonesome of the printing quality of the first book, with few charts andmaps,no color photographsand lower quality paper.This is not a fault, for to have included such would made the book unusable in both size and cost! Nevertheless, the differences are stark. Ferguson'sbook is an impressive achievement in both scope and execution. It covers all major,and minor, aspects of the matrix of early Christianity in both the Jewishand Greco-Roman aspects. The majorsections are:Political History,Society and Culture,HellenisticRoman Religions, Hellenistic-Roman Philosophies, Judaism,and (briefly) Christianity in the Ancient World.What the book presents, within 500 pages,is an amazing amount of material gathered, reviewedand interpreted. Its strengths are its comprehensiveness and its very valuablebibliographical resources.While it is not organizedas a dictionary,it would serve well as a starting place for a review of many topics of interest to students of early Christianity (forexample, the valuable,succinct summaries on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Apocryphaand Pseudepigripha).There is little here that is innovative or speculative, but ratherit is a conservative (in the best sense) and traditionaltreatment. There are some charts, which are helpful, and a number of photographs that usually help illustrate the discussion (however,the quality is often poor). I found especially interesting the sections on the generalcharacterof Hellenistic religion (pages132-38), which is highly dependentupon Nock andNilsson. Also the treatment on the rise and expansion of the RulerCult (pages153-59) is interesting. Grantinga necessary oversimplification, I appreciatedas well the section on defining apocalyptic (pages 377-80). These summary discussions and others should be helpful to students. Occasionally a difficult vocabulary on page is employed (e.g.,"opprobrium" 342), although that relates to the readership intended, which is the biggerissue. The introduction says "Thisvolume is intended as a textbook"(pageix), which raises the question about the courses for which it might be used. As a majorresource volume for a graduateseminar on the backgroundof early Christianity,it
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
would serve well. It seems most like a Handbuch German students use to review for doctoralexams. Beyondthese particulars,however, we see againboth how importantandhow difficult it is to integrateChristianity with its historical matrix. Much that is said aboutHellenistic religion andphilosophy is of great interest to me but seems tangential to early Christianity (e.g.,the discussion of LateNeoplatonism on pages 313-14). Somewhat troubling, although perhapsunavoidable,is the which may designation "background," of an convey expectation pre-Christian topics, whereas much discussed is contemporarywith Christianity.The German Umwelt is a more accuratedesignation, but hardto equate in English. Bothof these books aregood offerings. The volume by the Courts will be more useful to the layperson,and Ferguson's more helpful to the graduatestudent and scholar.Butonce againwe aremade aware of how fluid and amorphousthe category of "BiblicalBackgrounds"remains. WendellWillis Southwest Missouri State University
The History and Culture of Ancient Western Asia and Egypt, by A. Bernard
Knapp,xvi + 284 + xx pp. Chicago:The Dorsey Press, 1988; $32.50 (hardcover), $20.25 (paper).
In six chapters (fourof actual narration), A. BernardKnappoffers"anintroduction to the ancient [non-classical]world. It does not pretendto cover all relevant subjects nor to treat any of them in the detail they deserve.The surveyencompasses a broadspectrum:from prehistoric times to the death of Alexanderthe Great in Babylon;from WesternAsia and Egyptthroughthe EasternMediterranean to the bordersof Greece"(page5). This statement summarizes the volume in its scope and limits. The first chapterreviews the concept, nature, relevanceand means of study of history and ends with "ANote on Chronology"- absolute and relative dating, and the methods now used to set up ancient chronology.Curiously, this is the only chapternot furnished with a compact bibliography(orSupplementaryReadings, to use the author'sterm),giving no guid-
ance for further inquiry.In his opening pages, Knappneatly condenses an entire chronology from 9000 B.C.E.to 1 B.C.E.
into one double-spreadoutline chart, by regions and by intervals of 1000 years and 500 years.The dates followed are fairly conventional (dependingon, e.g., the "middledate"for Hammurabiof Babylon; and in Egypt 1991 B.C.E.for the Twelfth Dynasty and 1570 B.C.E.for the
Levant,as illustrated by Ebla. Society, institutions, religion, economics, etc., are deftly profiled and interwovenwith the political framework,as throughout the book. In the case of a "traditional"figure like Gilgamesh, for whom contemporary sources are lacking, Knappweighs some of the pertinent considerations and (probablyjustly) finds for his having been a historical person. On one point, however,Knappfalls prey to an inherently wrong approachall too common at present (particularlyin biblical studies). Of the Gilgamesh and Aggaepic, Knapp avers (page76) "this specific conflict cannot be considered historical, inasmuch as no contemporaryevidence exists to
to Eritrea(Kitchen 1971, 1982).Arabiais excluded in terms of fauna, population and language-traces;both Somalia and Arabiaare excluded by the datum of rain on the mountains of Punt draininginto the Nile, only possible from the western, main block of Ethiopianhighlands. ChapterV completes the narrative for the first millennium B.C.E.through
Alexanderthe Great. Assyrian and NeoEighteenth).Certainly in Egyptduring Babyloniansupremacyappositely takes the last decade or more, 1550 B.C.E.for the leading role. Apartfrom the Wenathe Eighteenth Dynasty (1479and 1279 mun narrative,Egypt's700 years suffers for Tuthmosis IIIand Ramesses II,not a non-profilein barelytwo pages (241-42); in the list of dynasties given in lieu of 1490, 1290)has now become standard (Hornung1964;Astr6m 1987-90). Howhistory, the Twenty-thirdis a Libyanoffshoot of the Twenty-secondandnot "Egypever, this issue does not unduly affect confirm it .. ."This is the persistent tian."Phoenicia as a tradingforce fares Knapp'snarrative. errorof confusing no evidence with con- much better, as do the biblical Hebrews from exodus to exile. Here, Knapptreads traryevidence. Time and again, it must be stressed that absence of evidence is very judiciously the fine line between not evidence of absence, or of error.The sharply-opposedviews, taking a sensibly more positive line than some of the epic might well commemorate a given neurotic negativism currently in fashion. conflict, regardlessof whether we now can find evidence of it or not. As for the Achaemenid Persiaends the story.Then Egyptiangods (page105),the most comChapterVIgives a too heavily compressed mon form of representationin most glance at such topics as the role of writcases is neither as animal nor as purely ing, literature (almost zero), sciences, human, but as animal-headedhuman medicine, music and arts, technology where appropriate. and a note comparingwith Greece. The book ends with a useful glossary ChapterIV miraculously coversthe tumultuous second millennium B.C.E.in of the more specialized terms used and I HE some 70 pages.The narrativeably moves of common words used in specialized HISTORY andCULTURE of from the newly-expandedstates of ways, and an excellent index. ANCIENT WESTERN ASIA andEGYPT Shamshi-Adad's Assyriaand Hammurabi's Any attempt to write a comprehenBabylon(with a glance at the Kassites)to sive account of the ancient Near East is S. Bernard Anapp the Middle Kingdom,Second Intermedi- a majorand hazardousundertaking,esate Period(with the Hyksos) and imperial pecially in compact form. Therefore,it is New Kingdomin Egypt,then reviewing properto recordone's admirationof the play of trade and power-politicsin Knapp'sachievement. Overall (butnot the Levant,bringing in the Hittite realm, infallibly) a good balance is maintained, ChaptersII-Vcomprise the history and roundingoff with the Aegeanworld proper.ChapterII coversthe prehistoric despite some lapses into shorthandthat from Neolithic times through the impact fail to satisfy at particularpoints, even preludeto history, around9000-3000 of the Sea Peoples in the early twelfth on the small scale of this work. The book B.C.E.The conditions for, and rise of, the earliest human cultures in Mesopotamia, century B.C.E.Again, we have a good, is written in a pleasing style, easy to read, with almost none of the jargonthat polEgypt,the Levantand Asia Minor are flowing narrative,incorporatingvarious facets of human activity within the hislutes so much writing these days.It is characterized,culminating in urban in and a pleasure to handle and use. It should development Mesopotamia Egypt torical framework.Inevitably,at times, andthe emergenceof writing.Not all the compression leads to errors,or hypo- serve as a good introduction to the thesis stated as fact, or a lack of real pro- ancient Near East for high school stuphilologists would deny the existence of towns in Egypt (page50)-the very hiero- file. Sinuhe (page165)is not necessarily dents, first-yearcollege students and for an interested public. If it sparksenough glyph niwt for "town,city" is a walled just "pseudo-autobiography"-it may settlement with cross-streets,in miniawell be based on a real person and text. enthusiasm in such readersto explore the subject further,it will indeed perture;we also have dmi for "village,settle- The hesitant equation of the land of Punt with "the Somali coast or with form a useful service. ment, town quarter"as well as "quay." coastal Arabiaopposite it" (page174)is ChapterIIIfluentlyoutlinesthe thirdmillenniumB.C.E.,markedbythe more than 20 years out-of-date.Herzog Bibliography first climax of the great literate civiliza(1968)was able to set Punt in East Africa Astrom, P. tions of Mesopotamiaand Egypt,and the (east Sudan),but amended to include the 1987- High, Middle or Low?,Parts 1, 2 and Red Sea coast from roughly Port Sudan 1990 3. Gothenburg:PaulAstrim Forlag. EarlyBronzeAge achievements in the
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
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Herzog,R. 1968 Punt.Glickstadt:AugustinVerlag. Hornung,E. 1964 Untersuchungenzur Chronologie und Geschichte des Neuen Reiches.
Wiesbaden: OttoHarrassowitz. Kitchen,K.A. 1971 PuntandHowto GetThere.Orientalia40: 184-207. 1982 Punt, in LexikonderAgyptologie,
volumeIV,editedbyW.Helckand Otto Wiesbaden: W.Westendorf. Harrassowitz. Kenneth A. Kitchen of University Liverpool,England
Channelsof Prophecy: The Social
Dynamics of PropheticActivity, by Thomas Overholt, xii + 193 pp. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1989; $19.95.
The complexity of the study of the diverse propheticmaterials from Israeland Judah is indisputable.This difficulty is compounded considerablywhen comparing Israeliteand Judahitepropheticmaterials and those of the surroundingcultures. As one moves further away temporally and geographically,the obstacles increase. How does one compareprophetic phenomena in cultures and times far removedfrom the biblical context? Can these materials be used legitimately to bridgethe gaps in our knowledge of biblical prophecy? Thomas Overholt, a leading scholar of the biblical propheticmaterial, has taken this challenge seriously.Inprevious researchhe carefully and productively studied the prophetic within cultures beyond the ancient Near East, drawing in particularon the prophetic elements within American Indian communities. In this volume, Overholt continues this trajectoryand moves the discussion forwardsignificantly. He begins by broadlydefining prophetsas "intermediarie?whose primarybusiness is to facilitate communications between a divine reality and a human audience" (pages4 and 117).This allows him to consider a broadrangeof figures as prophetic, at times even including figures who make no prophetic claim. Overholt then proposes that a productiveapproachto the study of prophets from diverse cultures may be found in examining "thesocial dynamics of intermediation as a process of communi-
120
cation"(page145).These dynamics can be found in the context of prophetic actions (andreactions),ratherthan the specific content of the propheticdeclarations. With this limitation in mind, Overholt develops a model that can be used to examine the propheticprocess. This model includes the figure of the prophet,the supernatural,the audience and the prophet'sdisciples (figure2, page 45), located within a specific cultural and historical context. In subsequent chaptersOverholt examines the implications of the use of this model for an understandingof the nature of propheticauthority (basedon the decision of the people), the role of prophetic"actsof power"(the legitimation of the prophet),the relation between divination and prophecy (bothmay and did coexist), and the "end"of prophecy (the audience no longer acknowledgesa performanceas prophetic).The final chapterexamines contemporarycandidates for the role of prophet (all criteria for judgingare inherently ambiguous). Severalfurther questions may be raised by Overholt'sstudy.What are the implications of using his model to study the actions of the prophets in the Hebrew Bible, given that the source of information concerning these actions is a literaryproduct?Does the evidence reflect authentic action by prophets?A cross-culturalexamination of literary accounts of prophetswhose actions may be historically verified might shed light on this question. It would also have been useful to include a discussion of extrabiblical materials such as LachishLetter No. 3 and the Deir Allah inscriptions. Do these confirm the depiction of the activity of the prophetsfound in the texts and suggestedby Overholt'smodel? In severalcases Overholt questions the value of theological discussions of the prophetic material. However,one of the main elements of his model is the interaction between the supernatural, the prophetand the audience. How do statements about this interaction, which Overholt himself acknowledgesto be outside the scholar'sfield of observation (page70), differfrom the more explicitly theological statements others have made?A more objectiveapproachmight deal with the supernaturalsimply in terms of the claims of the prophetand his audience. A primarymeans of judgingthe
Biblical Archaeologist, June 1991
value of a work is the questions it raises and the productivityof its ideas. On these bases, Overholt'swork is exceptional. The models and approacheshe suggests providea useful frameworkto guide furtherexplorationof the role of prophets in diverse cultures. Overholt'sgoal was "toset out as clearly and coherently as possible one strategyfor studying prophecycross-culturallyand some of the implications that follow from such an approach"(page15).This he has done in a way that is accessible to all interested in examining critically the propheticin society. RobertD. Haak AugustanaCollege
Book Review Correction Furtherreview of the Zondervan NIV Atlas of the Bible, by Carl Rasmussen, has demonstratedsufficient coordination between the maps and text and more than a simple restatement of the biblical text to warrantour raising of Zondervanto the same level as Moody, Harper's, Facts on File and Readers BibleAtlases.(See"BibleAtlases:Which Ones areBest?"Biblical Archaeologist 53:4 [December 1990],especially page 226 and pages 229-31.) The authors regretthis error. Although no one has asked us to make this change, we think it is the right thing to do to be fair to the publisher andauthorand to all ourreaders. JamesMoyer Book Review Editor
BOOKPUBLISHERS Please send all review copies to: Dr. JamesC. Moyer Department of Religious Studies Southwest Missouri State University 901 South National, Box 167 Springfield,MO 65804-0095
Why a Female Hegemony?
A FurtherNote on Purple Dyeing
Almost incidental to the main arguments, which are iconographic, in "Sumerian Bats, Lion-headed Eagles, and Iconographic Evidence for the Overthrow of a Female-priest Hegemony" by Naomi F Goldsmith and Edwin Gould in Biblical Archaeologist 53: 142-56, the authors assume that an original femalepriest dominion was overthrown by male warriorsat the dawn of history. In making such unexamined claims, they are following views popular among feminist spiritualists, pop anthropologists and some mythographers and also suggested by certain anthropologists and archaeologists (Gimbutas 1982; Leacock 1981). However, the idea of prehistoric female dominance is not universally accepted by anthropologists, classicists or others who deal with the artifacts and accounts presumably related to gender roles in archaic societies. The arguments for and against such a supposition are too diverse and complicated to review here. Yet brief mention of several problems with the assertions about primeval female hegemony are in order. First, the identification of certain female figurines from pre-literate contexts as goddesses, priestesses or prostitutes can never be certain. Without inscriptional labeling or textual clues to iconographic coding that can suggest links between figures preserved in the material culture and mythic or human females known from literature, it is impossible to establish that artifactual renderings of females are meant to represent political female ascendancy. Other explanatory models are no less viable (Binford 1979). Thus, predicating the notion of female political supremacy upon the putative identification of such artifacts is fraught with serious methodological difficulty. Second, even if artifacts and subsequent myths could be justifiably linked to the concept of an original female-dominated society later overthrown by male warriors, such a concept may not in fact be a reflection of sociopolitical reality. Indeed, it has been shown that some myths and rituals apparently suggesting that women once had power and subsequently lost it are commonly misunderstood (Bamberger1974). Myths are rarely exact mirrors of society; rather, as part of the cultural record of a people, they often provide ahistorical aetiological justification for an historical present (Lefkowitz 1981). In terms of the bats and eagles in the article, the supposed overthrow of the "once dominant" lioness may simply be an assertion of male power and political ascendancy. Rather than representing a historical event, it portrays the way things are. The verdict is not yet in on the tantalizing subject of possible female rule in prehistoric societies. Powerful arguments and counter-arguments have been offered. Unless Goldsmith and Gould see some features in the iconographic evidence that can establish the validity of the claim for female hegemony, such an assertion ought to be set in the context of the vigorous anthropological discussion about the origin of gender inequality.
I.IrvingZiderman'sarticle on "SeashellsandAncient PurpleDyeing"in Biblical Archaeologist 53: 98-101, brings a vast knowledge of biochemistry to amplify a specific problem in the field of biblical archaeology.This note is to correctthe scientist's statement on the languages of the ancient Near Eastthat referto purpledyeing. Accordingto Ziderman,"Thefirst written recordsof purpledyeing, fromNuzi, Mesopotamia,areabout3,500 yearsold, followedby texts in Hebrew(thebook of Exodus,3,300 yearsold),Ugaritic (3,000yearsold), Akkadian(2,700yearsold),Greek,and Latin."Thisstatement is confusing at best, with multiple errorsand omissions to be noted as well. Zidermanbegins correctly:the earliest referenceto purpledyeing in ancient Near Easterntexts comes from Nuzi, about 1425 B.C.E. The Nuzi tablets are written in Akkadian,albeit an Akkadianwith a heavy mixture of Hurrian. Scholars debate whether the specific word for purple,kinahhu, is Hurrian(thus William E Albright)or Semitic (thus EphraimA. Speiser)in origin. The next possible reference to purple dyeing comes from the Amarnalettersaround1350B.C.E.,specifically in EA 14,wherethe word puati is consideredby some scholarsto be a wordforpurple.These texts also arewritten in Akkadian,althoughit is probablethat this particular wordis Canaanite. Ziderman'sdating of the Hebrewand Ugaritic material is to be reversed.Althoughscholarsdebatewhen the book of Exoduswas written, all agree that it postdates the Ugaritic texts. Accordingly,next in line comes the Ugaritic documentation, which has two candidates for purple. The words in question are argmn and pwt. Although not all scholarsareconvincedthat both of these wordsreferto purple,either or both of them could have this meaning. If pwt does mean purple,and if Amarnapuatialso meanspurple,then quite clearlythese two wordsare cognates. Fromapproximatelythe same time as the Amarnaevidence and the Ugariticmaterialcomes the entry puwattis in a Hittite lexical text. The exact meaning of this wordcannot be determinedwith certainty, but it may mean purple.If this is correct,then this word is most likely a borrowingfromSemitic (seeAmarnapuati, Ugariticpwt) into Hittite. Next in line comes the earliest referencesto Hebrew 'argaman,although againno firm date can be establishedfor Exodus25:4 and36:35, the two passagesthat use this wordin the list of materialscollected for the construction of the tabernacle. The placement of Akkadianlast in Ziderman'slist requiresqualification. As noted above,purpledyeing is referredto in the Nuzi tablets andpossibly in the Amarnaletters, both written in Akkadian.It is possible, even probable,that the wordsin question, kinahhu andpuati, are not Akkadian, but obviously Mesopotamiawas well awareof purple dyeing long before 700 B.C.E. Nevertheless, it is approximatelyat this time when the wordargam/wannubegins to appearin Akkadiantexts. Finally,no note on purplein Near Easternlanguageswouldbe complete without mention of the ultimate source of the most commonly used wordfor this color. Hebrew 'argamanand its cognates are all borrowedfromHittite, wherearkammanmeans tribute.Exactlywhen and where the wordfortributecame to mean purplecannot be determined, but it is likely that this processwas underwayat Ugarit.This majorport was within the Hittite realm,andboth meaningsareattestedforargmn in the texts discoveredthere. An importantarticle that can be addedto Ziderman'sbibliography, and from which some of the abovedatahas been extracted,is "Ugaritic pwt: A Termfrom the EarlyCanaaniteDyeing Industry," by H. A. Hoffin the lournal of the American Oriental Society 87 (1967):300-3. nor Gary A. Rendsburg Cornell University
Bibliography Bamberger,J. 1974 The Mythof Matriarchy:WhyMen Rule in PrimitiveSociety.Pp.26380 in Women,Culture, and Society, edited by M. Z. Rosaldoand L. Lamphere.Stanford:StanfordUniversityPress. Binford,S. R. 1979 Myths and Matriarchies.Human Behavior8: 63-66. Gimbutas,M. 1982 The Gods and Goddesses of Old Europe:Myths and Cult Images. Berkeley,CA: Universityof CaliforniaPress. Leacock,E. B. 1981 TheMythsof MaleDominance.New York:The MonthlyReviewPress. Lefkowitz,M. 1981 PrincessIda,The Amazons,anda Women'sCollegeCurriculum.Times LibrarySupplement,November27.
Carol Meyers Duke University
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