see entire Academic Program listing
A15, Aysar Akrawi, Petra National Trust, Jordan
Site Preservation of Petra
The presentation will address the impact of tourism development on the cultural and natural heritage of Petra, a World Heritage Site since 1985. As well, the impact on the communities in the region will be considered. The current status of the preservation of Petra, the city, and the region in general will be assessed. To illustrate, the fundamental considerations affecting preservation, e.g., financial constraints, site management issues, the enhancement of local awareness, watershed management, will be considered. Part of the presentation will investigate the interrelationshipsbetween governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, the local communities, the private sector, international agencies and other nation's archaeological missions in the management and preservation of Petra.
A14, Pauline Albenda, New York City
Grapevines, Date Palms and Mountains: Landscape in Assyrian Wall Reliefs
In narrative scenes of Assyrian wall reliefs, landscape was generally utilized as a means to establish a particular setting, or else it served as a backdrop for human activity. Nonetheless artistic interest in the rendering of landscape as an environment within which human actions unfold was expressed in the wall reliefs. A survey of the artistic output suggests that two aspects of landscape are presented. The first aspect deals with the natural features of a place, which are described variously in works of art. The second aspect is terrain marked by human manipulation; that is, settled lands and artfully planned scenery. This paper singles out several works of art in which the topographical settings accentuate the descriptive actions of figural subjects.
A4, Guillermo Algaze, UC San Diego
Early Bronze Age Settlement and Demography in the Syro-Mesopotamian Plains
A recent proposal argues that earliest urban civilizations in the high plains of southeastern Anatolia, northern Syria, and northern Iraq (thereafter Syro-Mesopotamia) underwent parallel processes of decline caused by environmental deterioration at the end of the Early Bronze Age. Whatever the merits of this position, it presumes the existence of uniform patterns of development across Syro-Mesopotamia. However, when evidence for the ebb and fall of urban societies in the area is looked at in detail and from both a regional and a diachronic perspective, it is clear that the various distinct regions of Syro-Mesopotamia in fact exhibited different developmental rates throughout the EBA. Initial processes of urbanization across the area took place at slightly varying rates in its different subregions and urban agglomeration in one area was often at the expense of neighboring regions. Similarly, we find that urban decline, or even collapse, were not universal phenomena: decline in one river basin led to expansion elsewhere across the plains, either as a result of actual population movements or, at least, as a consequence of differential growth.
A24, Sharolyn Anderson, Archaeological Records Management Section, State of New Mexico, and Richard P. Watson, San Juan College
Archaeological and Geographic Information Systems in the AWPPP
The Azraq Wetlands Prehistory and Paleoenvironment - Archaeological Information System (AWPP-AIS) was developed to meet the specific needs of investigations at the sites of Ain Soda and Ain Qasaya. Developed using a GIS interface, the AWPP-AIS is designed to provide the most complete and integrated documentation, interpretation and analysis of multiple-source archaeological and environmental data possible. The constraints of data collection, input, integration and analysis are presented within the context of the research foci of the AWPPP. The evolution of the AWPP-AIS and the challenges of integrating a broad range of remotely sensed, photogrammetric, GPS, survey and excavation data into a thoroughly integrated spatial data system are discussed. The procedures developed to address these challenges are evaluated and continued development directions presented. The potential of the AWPP-AIS approach and a summary of the lessons learned from the 1997 field season are given. Summary examples of results of the 1997 season are presented using the project AWPP-AIS for data visualization and interpretation and the limitations and benefits discussed.
A9, M. Beatrice Annis, Leiden University
Sardinia (Italy): Fieldwork and the Laboratory in Ceramic Ethnoarchaeology
The ethno-archaeological research into pottery production in Sardinia is a regional, in-depth study which covers the span of two generations (1920-1990). Technology, aimed at the reconstruction of the potter's craft, plays an essential role in the Sardinian research. One of the aspects of the investigation is to try to establish the relationships between raw materials, manufacturing techniques and function of the products under the simulated conditions of an archaeological investigation, i.e. without delivering any knowledge of the ethnographic situation to the analyst. This paper will deal with a few examples of this kind of research carried out recently.
A20, Yael Arnon, University of Haifa
The Early Islamic Age at Caesarea: A New Periodization Based on Ceramic Evidence
A historical periodization is based on the assumption that a new regime causes cultural changes that affect the local population and are reflected in the material culture uncovered in an archaeological excavation. Ceramic production is basically traditional, and it could take at least two generations before noticeable changes are visible. Thus periodization according to historical and archaeological methods may not always match, especially during the transition periods between various reigns. It is a custom to divide the Early Islamic period according to dynasties: Umayyad, Abbasid, Tulunid, and so forth. The excavation conducted in Caesarea since 1993 reveal only three sub-periods according to differentiations in material culture. This reflects the fact that changes in culture do not take place whenever there is a political change. Therefore, it is suggested that the Early Islamic period at Caesarea be divided into sub-periods based on stratigraphy, pottery, coins, and other datable items. The proposed periodization is: 1) Early Islamic I from ca. 700 C.E., after the reform of Abd al-Malik, until the earthquake of 749; 2) Early Islamic II from ca. 750 until 969 C.E., the arrival of the Fatimids; 3) Early Islamic III, from 969 until 1192, the establishment of the second kingdom of Jerusalem.
A7, Michal Artzy, University of Haifa
Islands to Desert: Nami, a Bronze Age International Trading Station
There was a good deal of continuity between the later part of the Late Bronze and the Iron Age, as has been pointed out previously. The continuity was due, not only to the cultural influence of the local Canaanites, but of traders, or their emissaries, who were involved in the trade before, during and after the upheavals in the Eastern Mediterranean. In the later part of the 13th century BC, the anchorage of Nami replaced or augmented Tell Abu Hawam as an international entrepot. While the route from Tell Abu Hawam to Megiddo is known, the one from Nami seems to cross the Carmel Ridge. Both sites have been shown to be part of a larger trade network which extended across the Jordan River via Megiddo and Beth Shan. There it joined the desert route along the eastern bank of the river north to Damascus, Emar and beyond.
The 12th century routes show similar patterns to those of the LBllb 'sea-desert' route via the Jezreel Valley. The fall of the Hittites and especially the destruction of Ugarit, the overseer and financial backer of the trade, forced some changes. Others, among whom was Cyprus, or at least certain parts of it, must have used the void produced by the destruction of Ugarit to penetrate or enlarge its share of the trade in which the Egyptians had economic interests as well. While the initial maritime ports of entrance and the sub-routes may have changed between the 13th and the 12th century, the main routes of trade continued. The 12th century metal finds from Tell es-Sa'idiyeh, Megiddo and now a new hoard attributed to the site of Jatt, are but one part of that trade network.
A9, Abraham van As, Leiden University
Short Visits to Potters Living Near Ancient Sites
The research of the Department of Pottery Technology (Leiden University) centres on the study of ancient pottery production, its organization, and the history of pottery traditions. The investigations include both the analysis of the raw materials and the reconstruction of the manufacturing techniques of archaeological ceramics. The archaeo-ceramic research projects are focused on the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Most of these projects are carried out on the spot. If there is a chance, we visit the potters working in the neighbourhood of the archaeological site. These short visits generally add useful information to the technical study of the pottery excavated at the site.
A28, Gideon Avni, Israel Antiqutites Authority
New Archaeological Evidence for Continuity and Change in Early Islamic Jerusalem
During the last decade, numerous archaeological excavations conducted in and around Jerusalem yielded rich evidence for the physical layout and characteristics of the city and surroundings during Early Islamic times, especially the seventh to eighth centuries C.E.
The excavations west of Jaffa Gate (The Mammila compound) and north of Damascus Gate (The "Third Wall" area) bear evidence for the continuity of the Christian presence in the city well into the Early- Islamic period. The recent excavations conducted adjacent to the Holy Sepulchre, in which a hitherto unknown Early Islamic church was discovered, reinforce this notion.
On the other hand, the construction of four large Islamic administrative centers ("Palaces") in the southern part of the old city, bears evidence for the presence of a new Muslim political regime in Jerusalem. These archaeological finds support the view that the Islamic penetration into Palestine in general and into Jerusalem in particular was a gradual one, and that tolerance toward Christian religious institutions was predominant in Jerusalem during the seventh to eighth centuries C.E.
A1, H. Arthur Bankoff, Brooklyn College, CUNY
Caesarea Maritima: Results of the 1997 Combined Caesarea Expeditions Season
The ninth season of the Combined Caesarea Expeditions was scheduled to take place May 24 through July 25, 1997. Participating institutions in 1997 were Trinity College, Brooklyn College, Temple University, and the Universities of Oklahoma, Haifa, and Maryland. Excavations were planned on land and underwater. The dive team was to explore shipwrecks discovered earlier within the harbor basin and dating from three periods of antiquity. The hope was that dating the wrecks might prove to be another route to understanding the end of the harbor's functional life. On land, the project planned to continue work in Area LL, where the excavators are penetrating Islamic and Byzantine levels in an effort to study underlying Roman and Late Hellenistic occupation levels, thought to be domestic in character. The objective in Area TP, the Temple Platform, was to continue exploring foundations of the newly-discovered Temple to Roma and Augustus. It was hoped that new evidence would emerge for the original design of this temple, for the process of its demise in the fifth and sixth centuries, and for the transition from paganism to Christianity at Caesarea.
A11, Georgia Bonny Bazemore, University of Indianapolis
Regional Patterns of Syllabic Inscriptions
It has long been known that the inhabitants of the southwest corner of the island in the first millennium B C. wrote inscriptions in the Cypriote syllabary using sign forms that varied from those used in the other parts of the island. My study of syllabic inscriptions shows other regional patterns in the writing and use of these inscriptions. Sign form variations also occur in Golgoi, which exhibits its own peculiar subset of forms, but these were not shared by nearby Kythrea or Idalion. The northwest part of the island shows a remarkable lack of inscriptions as a whole. Inscriptions show regional patterns in the medium used, with each site having one or two media on which they created most of their inscriptions; Kythrea is alone in its habit of inscribing plain stone boxes, Kourion is distinguished for inscribed silver and gold objects, Golgoi for inscribed decorated reliefs. Inscriptions also differed in their content according to geographical area, the most obvious example being the Eteo-Cypriote inscriptions of Amathus written in a different, and unread, language. Patterning seen in the contents, medium and sign forms of the Cypriote syllabary are analyzed to observe units and borders which surrounded the process of inscribing in Iron Age Cyprus.
A27, Piotr Bienkowski, Liverpool Museum
Transjordan and Assyria
The three independent Transjordanian Iron Age kingdoms of Ammon, Moab and Edom appear in Assyrian inscriptions from the eighth century BC on. They were tributary states, not provinces, and the difference is both conceptual and practical. Several scholars have proposed that parts of Transjordan became separate Assyrian provinces (Forrer, Die Provinzeinteilung, 1920; Oded, JNES 1970). but the evidence is sparse. Gilead, Haurina and Qarnini in northern Transjordan are usually identified as separate Assyrian provinces. but it is possible they were part of the province of Damascus. There is no evidence for any other Transjordanian provinces. Nevertheless, most reconstructions follow Oded's maximalist' position that Assyrian administration in Ammon, Moab and Edom was the same as in the provinces, with a maintained Assyrian royal road (the 'King's Highway'). Assyrian garrisons and border forts and deportations. There is no evidence for any of these, and no evidence for permanent Assyrian presence. Assyrian influence in the material culture can be explained by the presence of Transjordanian delegations in Assyria and visits by Assyrian travelling envoys, which gave opportunity and inspiration for selective borrowing. A 'minimalist' position of no Assyrian presence in Ammon. Moab and Edom is far more in accord with written and archaeological evidence. This lack of interference by Assyria is normal in its relations with tributary stales: as long as the Transjordanian states performed as required and paid their tribute regularly. Assyria was able to fulfil its objectives at arm's length.
A33, Neal J. Bierling, Ada Christian School/Phoenix Data Systems
Giving the Philistines Their Due
The Old Testament is rife with condemnations of the Philistines. From the days of the biblical judges through the books of the prophets,the Bible presents the Philistine as the implacable enemy. No doubt the picture that the Bible presents led to the dictionary definition of the Philistine as "a person who is lacking in or smugly indifferent to cultured or is contentedly commonplace in ideas and tastes." Today, when someone uses the word "Philistine" in his or her vocabulary, it is usually in a pejorative sense.
It is time to correct our misconception of these maligned people. We will do this by first journeying to the Mycenaean Greek world from which they originated. Then we will go to Egypt to look at the Egyptian monuments that "picture" the Philistine. Finally, we will then visit Philistine sites-especially Tel Miqne-Ekron where a wealth of the Philistine material culture has been unearthed.
The viewer will come to understand how this negative impression of the Philistine occurred. The viewer will also be able to construct a basic 600-year time line for these people, be able to name the Philistine sites, and describe their material culture. The viewer will then understand that a person today who uses the word "Philistine" in a pejorative sense is actually the one who is "commonplace in ideas and tastes."
A8, Pierre Bikai, American Center of Oriental Research, Amman, Jordan
Tall Madaba: Conservation, Restoration, Presentation
ACOR's Madaba project is one of several projects funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for the purpose of creating labor opportunities, touristic development, and foreign currency generation. For ACOR, these projects became an opportunity for involvement in cultural preservation and the development of a philosophy on the implementation of such work. They also, we believe, set an example. The Madaba project included excavation, conservation and presentation of a site, and publication of the work conducted. Where several periods are represented, each received the same amount of attention. The project includes the restoration of part of the city's vernacular architecture, a house and a shop that belong to the Hashemite era, two Ottoman buildings, as well as the Burnt Palace of the Byzantine/Umayyad era, three Byzantine churches, and a Roman street. These monuments represent a long span in the cultural development of Madaba. In the project the aesthetic, artistic, historical, political, and religious values are preserved and presented in an educational way for the local community and the world.
A10, Jeffrey A. Blakely, University of Wisconsin-Madison
A Reassessment of the Chrono-Stratigraphy of Iron Age Tell el-Hesi
The Joint Archaeological Expedition to Tell el-Hesi excavated at that site in eight seasons from 1970 through 1983. A series of preliminary reports promptly appeared in the Palestine Exploration Ouarterly describing the stratigraphic matrix as it was understood after each season. Subsequently a number of other reports have appeared in AASOR, BASOR, BA, and recently in a number of dictionaries and encyclopedias in which aspects of the site's stratigraphy have been addressed. In addition five final reports have appeared that detail the stratigraphic matrix for the Persian Period (Stratum V), the Bedouin Cemetery (Stratum II), and modern military trenching (Stratum 1). Throughout these publications the stratigraphy and slating of the Iron Age occupation and fortifications in Fields I and III have been presented as comprising Strata Vlll (12th-1 Ith centuries), VII (9th-early 6th centuries), Babylonian destruction layer, and Stratum VI (6th century).
Preparation of the final reports for the remainder of the collected data from Fields I and III has now progressed to such a point that it is apparent the published preliminary interpretations of parts of the stratigraphic matrix and the dating of its constiuent parts are erroneous. It is now clear that two unrelated stratigraphic events were lumped together as what has been called Stratum VI and that the preliminary dating for both the end of what has been called Stratum VII and the entirety of "Stratum VI" is probably one to two centuries too late. A summary of the revised stratigraphic matrix, nomenclature, and chronology illustrated with plans, sections, and ceramic plates will be presented for each stratigraphic phase of the Iron Age. The paper will conclude with a critical discussion of how this interpretative error occurred.
A29, Michelle Bonogofsky, UC Berkeley
Early Neolithic Burial Practices at ČAin Ghazal, Jordan
Ritual burial practices at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of ČAin Ghazal consist of primary and secondary interments involving family and community participation. This study will examine the nature of the burials and the subsequent caches of skulls uncovered during excavation seasons 1988-89 and 1993-96, to determine how these practices compare with one another according to site location and time period. This study will inform researchers as to the timing and degree to which different mortuary practices emerged at one of the largest Neolithic settlements in the Near East. The relationship of the burials to possible ritual/cultic features such as hearths and artifact caches will be considered, as will the type and function of included grave goods.
A27, Oded Borowski, Emory University
Herding as a Way of Life in Biblical Times
During the biblical period herding was a way of life. It was practised not only during the period of the settlement but throughout the period of the Monarchy, in the villages and towns as well as in the small cities. This paper attempts to describe the different elements of this mode of life using textual, archaeological, and ethnographic evidence. The paper outlines the place of herding in Israelite society, the economics of herding e.g. the make up of the herds, the daily activities of the herders, the different products and by-products, etc. In addition to the secular side, the paper looks at the influence of herding on the cult.
A10, Eliot Braun, Israel Antiquities Authority
Dealing with Radiocarbon Dates from Late Prehistoric Southern Levantine Sites (Chalcolithic through EB I)
Intensified development has led to large scale excavations at sites of the Chalcolithic and Early EB I horizons in the last decade. Increased knowledge of settlements of these periods includes numerous radiocarbon dates that, inter alia, contribute to the absolute chronology of these periods. Recently several scholars have attempted revised schemes of absolute chronology. This paper takes a long, hard and critical look at the radiocarbon data and attempts to synthesize them with additional evidence from the archaeological record in order to suggest a chronological framework for a Chalcolithic to EB I to EB II sequence.
A23, Magen Broshi, Curator of the Shrine of the Book, Jerusalem
The Archaeology of Khirbet Qumran and its Environs
Magen Broshi has served as curator of the Shrine of the Book from the beginning. He is now retired. He co-directed an excavation of the area of Qumran about 100 meters north of the northern tower. He discovered where some of the Qumranites lived. He will explain the impact of his archaeological research on explaining which of the 12 options for Qumran fit the facts.
A18, Daniel C. Browning, Jr., William Carey College and Amihai Mazar, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
The First Season of Excavations at Tel Rehov
After nine seasons of excavations at Tel Beth Shean, a regional project (The Beth Shean Valley Project) continues with the investigation of Tel Rehov (Tell es-Sarim). The first season of excavations will be conducted June 23-August 1, 1997. The project is sponsored by the Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and directed by Prof. Amihai Mazar.
Tel Rehov, five kilometers south of Beth Shean, is the largest mound in the Beth Shean Valley (12 hectares in area), and was no doubt the center of an important Canaanite city state, perhaps to be identified with the "Rehov" mentioned in Egyptian texts of the New Kingdom. The site is virtually unexplored, with no previous excavation. Research goals of the first season include determination of the mound's stratigraphy and exploration of the Canaanite and Israelite occupation levels.
A22, Alan Ray Buescher, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
An Economic Analysis of State Formation in Ancient Israel
This study redresses the neglect of economic theory in evaluating ancient lsrael's monarchical development, resulting in a new theory through critical economic evaluation. The theory suggests that one reason Israel desired a monarchy was to gain access to international markets via the international trade routes running through Palestine.
This study relied upon current archaeological literature addressing the economic and political climate of Late Bronze Age and Iron Age I Palestine to provide the data for evaluation. Several sociological and anthropological studies on the formation of the Israelite monarchy were evaluated according to modern economic theory. Ideas and insights from these studies that were documented by economic theory were incorporated into the hypothesis of this study.
Evidence presented in this study supports the possibility that a growth in the division of labor among the Israelites resulted in increased production beyond a mere subsistence level. Many Israelites, therefore, especially the more wealthy landowners, sought international trade routes to better their economic situation. Rather than observe religious sanctions against their Canaanite neighbors, Israel sought to be like the other nations in the sense of becoming involved in international trade. The need for property protection from the injustice of fellow Israelites also contributed to the desire for a centralized government.
A26, James H. Charlesworth, Princeton Theological Seminary
John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Essenes
Was John the Baptist an Essene? Was Jesus clearly influenced by the Essenes? How did Christian origins originate and what debt does it have to Essenism? These are some question Charlesworth will address.
A8, Gary Christopherson, University of Arizona
A Regional Approach to Archaeology on the Madaba Plain
From its inception, the Madaba Plains Project has included hinterland surveys in its research designs. This emphasis on a regional approach has led to the collection of a broad range of environmental and archaeological data for the regions of Tall Hisban, Tall al-Umayri, and Tall Jalul. Managed by a Geographic Information System (GIS), data collected by these three surveys provide a unique opportunity for comparison of materials both temporally and spatially. Most interesting is the probability that antiquity sites remain under-represented in archaeological surveys of the region, and the relationship between archaeological sites and the different environments of each survey region.
A7, Eric Cline, Xavier University
The Cypriote Pottery at Bronze Age Megiddo
Although the Cypriot imports from Megiddo are often mentioned, they have never been studied or discussed as a unit. Even preliminary observations, however, can show some surprising facts: nearly all types of the Cypriot wares are present, twice as many Cypriot imports have been found in tombs as in occupational contexts (a situation quite different than the Mycenaean imports), and that they first appear in M.B Stratum XIIIA and continue to be imported throughout the LB Stratum VIIA. A computer-generated, intra-site, locational analysis currently in progress should result in numerous additional observations which may help shed further light on the contacts between Cyprus and the Levant during the Middle and Late Bronze Ages.
A33, Judith Cochran, Modesto, CA
Experiencing Archaeology: A Hands-On Curriculum Unit for Middle and High School Classes
Interpreting finds and problem-solving are at the heart of the archaeological process. This presentation will share great classroom activities from a unit showing these processes at work.
Students asked to interpret artifacts from their own lives go on to interpret and produce equivalent artifacts from the past. As comparisons are drawn between past and present, students gain profound understanding because of the link to their personal lives.
This link is gradually expanded using meticulous record keeping and various ways of interpreting data to add a variety of analytical and critical thinking skills to the mix. Include hands-on involvement, panel discussions and the culminating activity of a simulated archaeological conference where interpretations are presented along with a 'museum display' of student-generated artifacts/projects, and the magic of archaeology comes to life."
A5, Jon Cole, Walla Walla College, Gerald Sandness, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Bradley Matson, State University of New York, Oswego
Subsurface Mapping at Tall al-šUmayri
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys in the 1989, 1992, 1994 and 1996 seasons, with subsequent computer mapping of subsurface structural features, have contributed significantly to archaeology at Tall al-'Umayri. We have mapped more than 6000 square meters of the surface using 300-, 400- and 500-MHz antennas. Profiles along parallel transects with computer interpolation between transects produced maps of structural features similar to those exposed by excavation in adjacent areas. To further enhance resolution of the mapped features, we tracked the GPR antenna by differential global positioning system (GPS) during part of the 1996 season.
The presence of subsurface structural features has been verified by excavation in a portion of the area surveyed by GPR. A likely perimeter wall, as yet unexcavated, appears similar to the Iron I casemate wall excavated in Field B. The south perimeter wall shows a possible gate.
Geophysical mapping should be considered early in the planning for excavation of a site. Not only is the technique valuable in clarifying where excavation might be most profitable, but it also indicates the likely presence of features in areas where excavation is not immediately anticipated. An early, broader view of the site is thus available.
A12, Elisabeth N. Cooper, University of Toronto
The EBįMB Transitional Pottery from Tell Kabir, Syria
Recent salvage work at the Tell Banat settlement complex in Northern Syria has included excavations at Tell Kabir, a small 2.3 ha site, approximately 800 m to the west of the main site of Tell Banat. This paper focuses primarily on the ceramic material recovered from level 6 at Tell Kabir, which is dated to the very end of the third millennium B.C.
An analysis of the Tell Kabir pottery has been carried out in order to clarify two issues. First, it has demonstrated the degree to which the pottery represents cultural continuity between the earlier EBIV period and the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age.
Preliminary observations of the Kabir material (Porter l995), as well as investigations of material from other excavated sites (eg. Algaze 1990) suggests that an uninterrupted development in the ceramic culture clearly existed between the two periods, at least in the region of the Northern Euphrates Valley. These observations refute earlier statements, which suggested that the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age represented a cultural and technological transformation not to be linked with the Early Bronze Age (Mazzoni l985).
Second, an examination of the Kabir pottery has tried to elucidate further the nature of settlement during this "transitional" phase. The current evidence suggests that Tell Kabir was a small village characterized by domestic housing, during a period marked by the demise and abandonment of larger city-centres, including the nearby centre of Tell Banat. Through analyses of vessel types, wares and techniques of ceramic manufacture, this study has tried to generate further conclusions about the scale of economic complexity at the settlement, the degree of social stratification, and the extent to which Tell Kabir operated independently of a higher form of state control.
A20, Carole Cope, Israel Antiquities Authority
Patterns of Animal Husbandry at Caesarea Over Time
Patterns of animal husbandry at Caesarea Maritima are characterized by an unusually long period of stability in animal treatment practices. The chief domesticates were treated in a virtually identical manner from Roman times through the Byzantine period. This discussion explores Roman and Byzantine slaughter and butchering patterns and compares them with the hiatus that occurred at the time of the Islamic invasions.
A23, Sidnie White Crawford, Albright College
The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Rewritten Bible
Sidnie White Crawford will introduce and explain what is meant by the rewritten Bible at Qumran. This phenomenon, which is a recent development in Qumran research, helps us understand the literary category "the Rewritten Bible in the OTP," the developing concept of "canon" in Early Judaism, and the reverence for truth and scripture at Qumran.
A8, P.M. Michele Daviau, Wilfred Laurier University
Two Seasons of Excavation at Khirbat al-Mudayna
The virgin site of Khirbat al-Mudayna, known by travellers and explorers for more than a century, is located on the south bank of the Wadi ath-Thamad. This small tell has produced numerous figurines and pottery identified by Glueck as Moabite. An intensive surface survey in 1995 confirmed the presence of Iron Age occupation on the tell and located an extensive Nabataean settlement at its base. During two seasons of excavations, conducted by the Wadi ath-Thamad Project, we have identified an Iron Age casemate wall system surrounding the mound and a six chambered gate on the north overlooking the wadi.
Occupation resumed at the site in the establishment of a settlement marked by remains that extend south along a modern track. Two buildings at the north end were investigated during 1996 and 1997. Sherds of Nabataean painted pottery, a Herodian style lamp, miniature Nabataean limestone idols, and inscribed stones suggest an important pre-Roman town apparently associated with other settlements in the neighbouring wadis.
A8, P.M. Michele Daviau, Wilfred Laurier University and Andrew Dearman, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
The Wadi ath-Thamad Survey and RS #13
Two seasons of survey in the region of Wadi ath-Thamad have brought to light 15 new sites. For the most part, these sites date to the Iron Age and the Nabataean periods, paralleling the evidence from Khirbat al-Mudayna. Among the Iron Age sites was a group of watchtowers located on the surrounding hills that had a view of several fortified sites including Khirbat al-Mudayna, Rujm al Hiri, and er-Rumeil. The military and political importance of these watchtowers will be investigated as the survey proceeds.
Six Nabataean settlements, each located in an area of fertile fields, suggest that this region was extensively exploited during the first century A.D. Fragmentary inscriptions in Greek and Latin, along with the longest known Thalmudic text, recovered during our survey, may add evidence for the transition between Nabataean control and integration into the Roman Limes.
A18, J. P. Dessel, Independent
Rural Dynamics in the Lower Galilee: The Third and Fourth Seasons of Excavation at Tell ČEin Zippori
Tell ČEin Zippori is a one hectare site located in the Nazareth Basin of the Lower Galilee. Four seasons of excavation have been completed by the Sepphoris Regional Project. The goal of excavation of Tell ČEin Zippori is to examine the evolution of a small scale settlement from the Middle Bronze to the Iron Age from a village or rural perspective, rather than an urban one. Specific issues that will be addressed include assessing the degree of complexity found at the village level and how it affects our understanding of the social, political and economic dimensions of Late Bronze Age city-states, and reappraising the presumed shift in the ethnic landscape during the LB/Iron Age transition in the context of continually occupied villages.
Significant strata dating to the Middle Bronze II/III, Late Bronze I, Late Bronze II, Iron Age I and the early tenth century have, as yet, been uncovered. Ein Zippori is a stable multi-period tell, though clearly not urban in character. It was continually settled for over five hundred years, in part due to its position adjacent to a secure water source and arable land, but also perhaps due to the persistence of entrenched social groups. The presence of imported pottery in the Late Bronze I and II and monumental non-domestic architecture in the early tenth century supports the notion of an enduring tradition of independent rural elite formations.
A15, Bert de Vries, Calvin College
Proposed Umm el-Jimal Archaeological Park
Presuppositions of the Umm el-Jimal park development include: 1. reconstruction is to be limited to prevention of further collapse and ensuring visitor safety, and 2. special measures are to be taken to ensure that the village residents have access to and share in the development and management of the park. The following park components are proposed. A site tour is to lead people through the most accessible and interesting buildings. A Museum/Visitor Center design is proposed within consolidated House 119, which is to include a site museum, site office and a "comfort station." Consolidation is to be limited to buildings on the site tour with the main goal of intervention to be the safety of visitors. Reassembly of the Praetorium is a special case because of the imminent collapse of the spectacular facade.
A12, Rudolph H. Dornemann, ASOR
Report on the Seventh Season at Tell Qarqur, Syria The seventh season at Tell Qarqur concentrated on the Iron Age occupation in four areas of the site. On the highest part of the tell, excavations continued deeper to earlier Iron Age levels in Area B and a new square was opened on the east to extend the exposure toward the fortification wall at the edge of the tell. In Area D on the lower tell, more of the Iron Age domestic architecture was exposed at the level previously encountered in a test pit.
On the southern slope of the high tell, additional portions of the Iron Age gateway were uncovered, as well as associated stone-paved streets and the monumental stairway leading to the gateway. Beneath this phase of the gateway, mudbrick collapse and heavily burnt brick of a large building were articulated. A test trench in Area E on the northern slope of the high tell was expanded to determine the nature of the Iron Age structures there and to see if the stratigraphic situation is similar to that in Area A, where Iron Age construction cuts into underlying Early Bronze Age buildings.
A21, Trude Dothan, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
Ekron - The Rise and Fall of a Philistine City: Excavations at Tel Miqne. Iron Age I (1200-1000 BCE)
The excavations of Ekron and Ashdod show that two of the Philistine Pentapolis cities were built on the ruins of much smaller Canaanite cities. These Philistine cities, rooted in Aegean traditions, both produced evidence of impressive urban momentum, vigorously expanding beyond the confines of the smaller Canaanite cities. They also demonstrate sophisticated town planning, a distinctive ceramic repertoire, adaptations of the megaron plan and the hearth installation, and cult practices, all with Aegean affinities, which, when taken together, form the Sea Peoples/Philistine culture. Tel Miqne-Ekron is the type-site of a Philistine city because its well-preserved Iron Age strata provide a comprehensive profile of the city's expansions and contractions at different periods of its history. The first Iron Age I city, founded in the first third of the twelfth century BCE, encompassed the entire tel - about 50 acres. It developed through the eleventh/tenth century, when it achieved its economic flourit. Its destruction, around 1000 BCE, brought to an end the first phase of Philistine settlement at Ekron.
The excavations of Ekron have produced evidence which enables us to distinguish the internal development of the culture in Philistia proper, to compare this development with that of the settlements outside Philistia, and on this basis, to establish a reliable relative chronology. The excavations have strengthened the view that the transition from the Late Bronze Age to Iron Age I in Canaan was a complex process in which diverse cultures overlapped for certain periods, and that these cultural changes should not be seen as applying simultaneously to all sites.
A26, James D. G. Dunn, Durham University
Paul and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Was Paul or his followers signficantly influenced by the Essenes? Where is Essene influence most evident in the letters attributed to Paul? Is there a progression of Essene influence or a deminution of it as one studies the Pauline letters according to the consensus on dating them? Is it accurate to report that Essene influence is slight in 1 Thessalonians and Galatians but significant in Ephesians? If so, what do we learn from that observation?
A16, Jennie R. Ebeling, University of Arizona
The Groundstone Technology of a Late Bronze Age - Iron I Age Rural Community: A Preliminary Typology and Functional Analysis of the Tell el-Wawiyat Groundstone Assemblage
This presentation will focus on the groundstone artifacts uncovered at the site of Tell el-Wawiyat, Israel. Tell el-Wawiyat was excavated in 1986 and 1987 under the direction of J. P. Dessel, Beth Alpert-Nakhai, and Bonnie Wisthoff on behalf of the University of Arizona: The excavations revealed a small, unfortified settlement with the potential for agricultural self-sufficiency during the Late Bronze and Iron I Ages. There appears to be cultural continuity between the LBII and Iron IA settlements; the Iron IB stratum, however, represents a squatter's reuse of the site, perhaps the result of an Israelite reoccupation of a previously abandoned village. Numerous groundstone artifacts were uncovered at Tell el-Wawiyat, including basalt mortars, grinding stones, vessels, and other artifacts. During the summer of 1997, these artifacts underwent residue and other analyses in order to further understand their functions within their archaeological contexts. Based on comparisons with similar groundstone artifacts from other sites, a preliminary typology demonstrating the continuities and discontinuities in the technology and function of these LB-Iron I implements will also be presented.
A33, Diana Edelman, James Madison University
The Exodus in History, Tradition, and Modern Imagination
The biblical narrative about the Israelite escape from Egypt and the crossing of a body of water that miraculously parted has a long and complex history of development. Three dimensions of the text need to be considered: the literary, theological, and historical. After a brief exmamination of the literary and theological dimensions of Israel's slavery in Egypt and the ten plagues in Exodus 1-13 and a more in-depth literary and theological analysis of the three accounts of the crossing of the sea currently contained in Exodus 14-15, we will consider the historical context for the biblical traditions, critiquing some of the current theories that have been presented in popular treatments or in the press.
A32, Douglas Edwards, University of Puget Sound
The Use of GPS (global positioning systems) and GIS (geographic information systems) in surveys and excavations: The 1997 Survey of Khirbet Kana (Cana of the Galilee)
Fundamental to surveys and excavations is the ability to locate three dimensionally architectural features and artifactual remains within their landscape. Recent technological advances have allowed investigators to collect and display such information with greater accuracy and speed. In the summer of 1997, a small team conducted a survey of Cana of the Galilee. A Trimble Pro-XR GPS unit was used to create an initial map of the site with its corresponding buildings and geographical features. The accuracy of the map ranges from 10į50 cm on the horizontal axis and 20į100 cm on the vertical. This data was then linked to a GIS program in preparation for linkage with photographic, pottery and artifact databases created when the excavations begin at the site in 1998. The demonstration will also show how the GPS unit could be used to provide accurate and quick spatial linkage with surrounding geographical, geological, and archaeological areas.
A4, Julie Pearce Edens and Christopher Edens, University of Pennsylvania
Marks of Distinction: Anatolian and Mesopotamian Communities at Late Chalcolithic Hacinebi
Excavations at Hacinebi, a Late Chalcolithic site near Birecik in the Euphrates valley of southeastern Turkey, have uncovered the remains of an "Uruk expansion" site in which local Anatolian and southern Mesopotamian communities lived at the same time. These two communities interacted with each other, yet maintained their separate identities over the course of as many as several centuries. This study examines two arenas in which this complex process may be traced: the pottery and the chipped stone technologies. A comparison of the production, use, and discard of the local and Uruk assemblages helps to identify the patterns of behavior that distinguished these two communities in interaction.
A9, Murray Lee Eiland, Danville, CA
Petrographic Analysis of Ceramics from Tell Brak, Syria
Select Ceramics from Tell Brak, spanning c. 3500 - 1500 B.C., were examined using the optical microscope (petrography), and subjected to ICP analysis. Technological differences between groups/periods were considered, as well as the question of provenance.
A22, Peter Feinman, Columbia University
The Creation of a Complex State in Iron II Israel
In recent years there has been a great deal of discussion about the application of social science methodologies to understanding the emergence of Israel. Two doctrines in particular have dominated the debate: (1) the cultural evolutionist approach, and (2) the Annales school emphasis on forces of long duration within a given environmental context. This paper will establish a model for the emergence of a complex state in Iron II Israel following the approach taken by David Hackett Fischer in Albion's Seed in tracking four distinctive cultural groups from England to America.
This paper will suggest that a similar study should be done for Israel to determine the origin of the various components of the people. When Israel became a monarchy, it had a variety of models to choose from and included people who previously had been ruled by kings and those who never had. This diverse combination of peoples is textually reflected in the expression of equally diverse views about the king. This analysis will suggest how truly complex the new Iron II state really was.
A25, Peter Feinman, Columbia University
The Israelites as Canaanites: The Meaning of Apophis Imagery in the 19th Dynasty
Of late, there has been a growing emphasis on the ethnic identification of 13th century Israel as Canaanite. The consequences of this identification have not as of yet been fully explored. For example, how did the archaeologically attested Israelites of the Merneptah stele percieve their relationship to the archaeologically attested Jacobs of the Middle Bronze Age and the Hyksos? Certainly, their literature is quite emphatic about there being a link between the Jacob and Israelite people, and therefore it is logical to conclude that there may be an historical link between these Canaanite peoples as well.
The answer to this question may be in the Egyptian records which include references to both the Jacob people and Israel. As the oft quoted Wellhausen text reminds us, stories set in the past may tell us more about the time of their creation than the time of their setting. In this regard, I propose that the Apophis imagery in the 19th Dynasty has more to do with Egyptian-Canaanite relationships in the 13th century than it does with the 16th century, and that it refers to the going forth from the land not of Jacob, but of the sons of Jacob who would become the people of Israel.
A33, Peter D. Feinman, Columbia University
Cosmos and Chaos: Kings of Unity in the Ancient Near East
The establishment of cosmos amidst the surrounding chaos was one of the primary requirements of kings in the ancient world (as maintaining it still is for the commander in chief.) Ancient cultures tended to regard themselves as "the people" who live on "the land" in contrast to those uncivilized being who surround them, i.e., Enkidu before being civilized, the Elamites, etc.
The political leader who could establish order out of chaos would be revered as a great hero within that cultural setting. The foremost examples were the Akkadians Sargon the Great and Naram-sin, the Sumerian Ur III Dynasty, and the Amorite Hammurabi. The memory of their political achievements lived on long after not only they had died but their dynasty had ceased. What does this mean for the formation of Israel and the Davidic dynasty?
A16, Alysia Fischer, University of Arizona
The Production and Distribution of Glass in Northern Israel
A significant number of installations and workshops related to glass production have been excavated since the 1960's in northern Israel. The majority of these workshops date to the Byzantine and Islamic periods. Two types of glass workshops existed, one for making glass, and a second for remelting glass and shaping it into vessels and other objects. The glass making installations, which consisted of large, single event furnaces capable of producing eight to ten tons of glass, were generally located in non-urban areas such as Bet She'arim and Bet Eliezer/Hadera. Vessel making workshops, which imported the raw glass materials and transformed it into vessels, were often located in urban centers such as Sepphoris.
This presentation is a preliminary attempt to look at the archaeological data in conjunction with ethnoarchaeological field work undertaken with glass blowers in Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Turkey in order to discuss trade, craft change, and movement of crafts people. The archaeological sites discussed include Sepphoris, Bet She'arim, Kafr Yasif, Somelaria/Es-Samariya (Shavei Zion), Jalame, Bet Eliezer/Hadera and others.
A28, Rebecca M. Foote, Harvard University
Shopping During the Umayyad Period: Expansion of Marketplaces in Bilad ash-Sham, 650-750 C.E.
There are over a dozen archaeologically-excavated or textually-described urban markets dating to the Umayyad period, located in the Levantine heartlands of their then expanding empire. The dates of construction for these commercial buildings concentrate during the reigns ot two Umayyad caliphs, 'Abd al-Malik (685-705 C.E.) and Hisham (724-743 C.E.)- Analysis of the architecture itself, its diachronic relationship to the size and sites of preceding Byzantine markets, and its implications within the political-economic context are the foci of the paper.
Umayyad authority, which became regionally centered at Damascus in 661, is most often presented as more interested in vast conquests or troubled by internal strife than as enabling economic prosperity. Mediterranean port cities are usually considered inconsequential commercially once the sea became a Byzantine-Umayyad military frontier, and the Syrian steppe has been seen as economically inactive after its collapse as far back as the third century C.E. Exploiting the archaeological evidence, I, however, posit a significant Umayyad role in both maintaining commerce by sea and reinstating diversified long distance trade over land with Central Asia.
Additionally, I contend that many markets were erected in Umayyad administrative centers in response to an increased consumer demand, a demand higher than that of the previous Byzantine period because of the cash-laden military and administrative elite who settled in Levantine cities during the reign of 'Abd al-Malik. In the second quarter of the eighth century, when geographic expansion ended, I further argue that Hisham pursued imperial commercial building throughout the Islamic empire to provide both an income for and a means to control the then fiscally and physically troubled caliphate.
A16, Glenda Friend, Baltimore Hebrew University
The Development of a Textile Production Cottage Industry in the 8th Century BCE.: Tell Gezer, a Case Study
Ancient Israel experienced a dramatic change in textile production in Iron Age II as indicated by the introduction in the 8th c. BCE of a new type of loom weight and a sharp increase in its numbers. The technology of the warp-weighted loom was available in the Levant as early as the third millennium BCE, during the late Early Bronze Age II. The substantial advantages of the warp-weighted loom over previous weaving technologies include extended warps, ease of transport of the loom and faster production rates. It was only in the last third of the 8th c BCE, however, that the warp-weighted loom was employed in large-scale textile production. The fuller exploitation of the warp-weighted loom can be ascribed to the economic interests of the Neo-Assyrian empire beginning with the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III and his military campaigns in the Levant. In particular, this change to intensive production is reflected in the archaeological record at Tell Gezer in the second half of the 8th c. BCE.
In Gezer VII, typological changes and the increased quantities of loom weights found within a number of domestic structures are indicative of a large-scale cottage industry. These phenomena are paralleled at other contemporary sites in the Judean Shephlah: Tell Beit Mirsim, Tell Halif and Lachish.
A22, Volkmar Fritz, German Protestant Institute of Archaeology
Canaanites in Early Israel Albrecht Alt suggested already several decades ago that the population of the United Kingdom was comprised of Canaanites and Israelites. That means that Canaanites must have lived among the Israelites during the 12th and 11th centuries after the collapse of the city states at the end of the Late Bronze Age. Not only is there now enough proof for this theory, the archaeological data must be reconsidered and the historical concept reevaluated.
A12, Michael Fuller and Neathery Fuller, St. Louis Community College
The Tenth Field Season at Tell Tuneinir, Syria
The tenth season of rescue excavation at the site of Tell Tuneinir, Syria was conducted by archaeologists from St. Louis Community College. Tuneinir, an important site along the banks of the Khabur River, will be directly impacted as water impounds behind the Khabur River reservoir in northeastern Syria.
Research continued into the architectural phases of the church and attached priest's residence. Trash pits associated with both the sanctuary and house have yielded pottery, glass and evidence for diet during the Byzantine and Early Islamic Period. A small number of pottery jars found in one trash pit contains the word "father" and two proper names; both Syriac and Arabic were used for the inscriptions.
Excavations in the southwest quarter of Tuneinir have uncovered houses destroyed during the Ayyubid Period (13th century AD). Architectural features, ecofacts, and material culture remains from this part of the city do not reflect the elite social status of the houses exposed on the acropolis of the tell.
Excavation units along the north edge of the tell continued to explore features associated with the Roman and Parthian occupation of Tuneinir. Deep probes have demonstrated that the site was founded during the Ninevite 5 Period (3rd millennium) with subsequent occupation through the Bronze and Iron Ages.
A29, Yosef Garfinkel, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Monumental Neolithic Architecture at Sha'r Hagolan
The Neolithic site of Sha'ar Hagolan, the largest art center in the Levant in the 6th millennium BC was first excavated by M. Stekelis in the years 1948-52. Here the Yarmukian - a Pottery Neolithic culture (ca. 5600-5000 BC) - was first identified. At Sha'ar Hagolan, dozens of anthropomorphic clay figurines, over a hundred anthropomorphic pebble figurines, pebbles with incised geometric patterns, and seals were discovered. Stekelis uncovered only pits, and a similar settlement pattern was found at other Yarmukian sites such as Munhata and Hamadiya.
Four seasons of excavation at Shašar Hagolan revealed a 25 m long street with two monumental complexes at each side. Rectangular and rounded architecture co-existed side by side. More data on the art objects have been collected, as well as evidence on previously unknown aspects, such as Anatolian obsidian and sea-shells .
A4, Marie-Henriette Gates, Bilkent University
Bronze Age Kinet HûyÄk, a Mediterranean Harbor Town in Eastern Cilicia (Turkey)
Excavations in progress since 1992 at the coastal site of Kinet Hoyuk (classical Issos), north of Iskenderun in the Turkish Hatay, have uncovered Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age levels that illustrate the region's commercial and political relations with its neighbors in Anatolia, the Levant and to the west. While the site's Late Bronze component reflects known historical affiliations with the Hittite Anatolian interior, earlier periods show an unexpected cultural orientation toward Syria. Maritime and overland commerce supplemented a flourishing local economy.
A20, Rivka Gersht, Tel Aviv University
Caesarea and Rome: The Sculptural Evidence
From its foundation, the endurance and development of Caesarea were in many respects connected with Rome. Though the sculptural evidence is scanty, it does provide us with some idea of the interrelationship between Caesarea and Rome.
The earliest evidence is the statues of Augustus and Dea-Roma displayed in their temple built by Herod. An equally sophisticated way of expressing the city's loyalty and assimilation to Rome was representing the Tyche of the city as Dea Roma (of the Amazon type) holding a bust of the emperor.
In addition to images of Dea Roma and of theemperors (Augustus, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius), images of the Dioscuri and of Marsyas became emblems in metropolitan provincial cities for demonstrating their political and ideological association with the capital. The Caesarean statues of the Dioscuri and of Marsyas could have something to do with such propaganda, indicating the status of the city under the patronage of Rome.
Cuirassed statues, representations of military or municipal officials, and inscribed bases are the visual documentation for the importance of the city as the seat of the Roman governor and legionnaires.
Likewise, women's coiffures in the private sphere, resembling hairstyles of ladies in the imperial court, as well as representations of deities and funerary symbols or scenes, all manifest the Romanized character of the city that became a sort of reduced version of Rome.
A21, Seymour Gitin, Albright Institute, Jerusalem
Ekron - The Rise and Fall of a Philistine City: Excavations at Tel Miqne. Iron Age II (1000-600 BCE)
The history of Philistia in Iron Age ll is the record of an immigrant society in transition as it struggles to survive, maintaining those features that gave it its own peculiar identity, while adapting to the impact of new political and cultural forces. This dual process of continuity and change, is attested at Tel Miqne, where, in the tenth century, the large Iron Age I Philistine city of Ekron, overwhelmed by Egypt and the United Monarchy, was reduced to a small town confined to the upper tel. Facing a changing political environment and a diminished status, Ekron produced a material culture without traces of earlier Sea Peoples traditions. Peculiar to the Philistine Coastal Plain, this tradition reached its fullest development in the seventh century. It was then that Ekron, under the impact of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, once again became a major urban center, with the largest olive oil production industry known in the ancient Near East.
As a vital part of the vast Neo-Assyrian and Phoenician economic exchange networks in the eastern Mediterranean, Ekron became subject to a wide range of Assyrian, Phoenician, Judean, Egyptian and East Greek cultural influences. The Ekron royal dedicatory inscription and the Temple complex in which it was found illustrate the impact of such foreign influences on !ocal Late Philistine traditions. This was part of the process of acculturation which, together with the Neo-Babylonian destruction of Ekron in 603 BCE and the deportation of its population, contributed to the eventual collapse of Philistia.
A25, Shmuel Givon, Ramat-Gan, Israel
The Smaller Stele of Sethos I from Beth Shan Reconsidered
In his first year (1293 BCE), Sethos I conducted a military campaign to Beth Shan and left there two stelae, the smaller and the larger. The smaller stele is an important Egyptian document that has not received enough attention, and that describes the defense and patronage of the Egyptian regime over semi-nomadic Semitic units that were in the process of settlement.
The inscription of the smaller stele says: "The Apiru from Mt. Yarumta, (perhaps the heights of Issachar), together with the Tayaru assault the clan of Raham." Sethos I sent troops of his Egyptian army to defend the Raham and to subjugate the Apiru and Tayaru. An archaeological witness to these relations of Egyptian defence and patronage over local Semitic groups, which were in the course of settlement in the 13th century BCE, can be seen in the settlement from strata IIIb-I at Tel Masos. In this settlement, three and four room houses were built as private homes, alongside public buildings such as Palace 480 (which is similar to Palace 1500 from stratum VI at Beth Shan), fortresses 410-419, and the Warehouse 420. All the public buildings in Tel Masos were Egyptian in their architectural plan and their method of brick construction.
A12, William D. Glanzman, University of British Columbia
Return to Mašrib: Preliminary Report of the First Field Season Activities of the American Foundation for the Study of Man
After forty-five years the AFSM returned to Mašrib, Republic of Yemen, in order to conduct excavations at the Temple of the Moon deity, 'Ilumquh, known locally as the Mahram Bilqis. The sanctuary is associated with the enigmatic Queen of Sheba. The long-term goals of the AFSM are to bring to completion the excavation it started here in 1951-52, and to assist in developing the monument into a major historic and touristic site. The first field season took place in April-May 1997, with the following goals: create the first accurate architectural plan of the sanctuary complex; compile an accurate description of the extant masonry; create a detailed topographic map of the site; formulate long-term geological research questions pertinent to understanding the history and development of the complex; conduct a sondage along the oval-shaped temenos wall; and create long-term excavation goals based on the results of this field season. The sanctuary, as it stands, spans over a millennium of use, and has the most important set of historical inscriptions recovered from a single site in South Arabia; most are lapidary and some are cursive inscriptions. This project is part of a joint venture with the Deutsches Archaologisches Institut, Sanaa, which will concentrate on excavation of the adjacent cemetery complex.
A19, Kathryn L. Gleason, Cornell University, and Barbara Burrell, University of Cincinnati
The Architectural Phases of the Promontory Palace: Preliminary Synthesis
The Promontory Palace at Caesarea is organized around two main peristylic courts: one at sea level with a great rock-cut pool in the center and the second on an upper level of the promontory, connecting the palace to the adjacent stadium/hippodrome and theater. Ceramic evidence suggests that the building was used actively for over five hundred years. With the recent completion of an accurate survey, entry of architectural plans and trench plans into AutoCAD, and preliminary synthesis of stratigraphy, ceramics, glass, coins, and other artifacts, the University of Pennsylvania Museum Excavation is now able to provide a first assessment of the architectural phases of the palace structure within a chronological framework. The study links the PENN excavations of the upper promontory to earlier excavations by Hebrew University on the lower promontory, and suggests possible relationships to the Israel Antiquities Authority excavations in the eastern half of the upper promontory.
A30, Yuval Goren, Nadav Našaman and Israel Finkelstein, Institute of Archaeology, Tel-Aviv University
Recent Discoveries on the Provenance of the Amarna Letters
Ever since their discovery in the late nineteenth century, the Amarna tablets have supplied significant information about the settlement patterns of the southern Levant, as well as the nature of the interrelations between Egypt and Canaan in the fourteenth century BC. The archaeological as well as the historical data point to the existence of an Egyptian administrative system in Canaan which, although historically recorded in the Egyptian scripts, is still the subject of various interpretations raised by the complexity of the archaeological record. However, at the present state of research only the textual information has been extracted from the documents. Although a single pioneering analytical study, carried out by Artzy and Perlman on a couple of tablets attributed to Alashya, has demonstrated the potential of provenience studies for supplying additional information no attempt has been made so far to systematically investigate the source of the tablets on the basis of their raw materials.
This paper presents the results of a preliminary provenance study made on a sample of about 50 selected Amarna tablets. The samples were examined by petrological means. However, due to the extreme importance and delicacy of the tablets, new sampling methods were introduced. In previous studies, one of us (Y.G.) has developed a new sampling and examination method, which we termed as SPA (scattered petrographic analysis). This method is almost non destructive, requiring a sample of only a few milligrams that can be taken as tiny grains from one or several hidden or fractured spots in the artefact's surface. The sampling process does not require drilling or slicing of any part of the artefact, and the sample is taken entirely superficially. Therefore, this method is far less destructive than XRD, NAA or other mineralogical or chemical methods.
The study of tablets from the Amarna archive, now deposited in the British and the Ashmolean Museums, revealed that in most cases the provenience of the tablets could be disclosed. In many cases, there was a good correlation between the written origins of the tablets and their provenance as determined by SPA. However, part of the tablets that were written by city rulers in Canaan were sent from Gaza. This is a totally new information, suggesting that some of the formal requests for military aids from the Kings were in fact sent from the Egyptian administrative centre in Canaan. The study has also determined the location of several debated cities, such as Gath, Carmel and Yurza, and the origin of several unidentified city rulers.
A13, David Graf, University of Florida, Miami
Nabataean Inscriptions
The Nabataean Arabs, only one of a number of North Arabian groups, came into supremacy during the late Hellenistic and Roman eras. Their onomasticon and inscriptions indicate Arabic was their native language, although a vast majority of their inscriptions are in a peculiar Aramaic language and script that has been called "Nabataean Aramaic." Other Nabataean texts appear in Greek, Latin, Safaitic, Thamudic, and other branches of Aramaic like Palmyrene. The earliest Nabataean Aramaic text is from Elusa (Halusa) in the Negev of Palestine (168 BC), and the latest is from the Hijaz (AD 356). The texts are distributed across a vast landscape extending from Wadi Tumilat in Egypt to Jauf (Dumat al-Janda) in the Wadi Sirhan in the middle of the North Arabian desert and from Syria-Lebanon to the Hijaz of North Arabia. A few scattered texts lie outside these limits, including a few in the Aegean and Italy. The largest concentration is in the southern Sinai, but significant groups of texts are located in the Hauran of southern Syria, Petra in Transjordan and Meda'in Salah in the Hijaz. The relationship of various pockets of Nabataean texts to each other and to other North Arabic texts is mired in controversy. It has been traditional to associate the Nabataean texts with the sedentary Arabic population and the Thamudic and Safaitic texts with nomads. However, a significant number of Nabataean texts are bilinguals, with Greek, Safaitic and Thamudic parallels; and numerous Safaitic and Thamudic texts are being discovered within settled districts and urban centers. Such "cross-over" finds are a reminder of how dificult is is to compress ethnic groups into a single lifestyle, script or language. It is obvious that we are dealing with a complex polyglot community of divergent lifestyles.
A3, Eleanor Guralnick, Chicago
Santorini, Egypt and the Levant: Evidence from Paintings
Since the discovery of Bronze Age wall paintings on Santorini in the Aegean there has been much discussion of possible connections with art of contemporary Egypt. In recent years the discovery of Aegean wall paintings at Tell el-Dab'a in the eastern Nile Delta and of an Aegean painted plaster floor at Tel Kabri in Israel reminded scholars of the frescoes at Alalakh with Aegean motifs, known since the early 1950's. The presentation will consider the evidence for Aegean artists working at sites about the Mediterranean littoral, and for contributions to Aegean wall painting by Egypt and the Near East.
A17, Rachel S. Hallote, Pennsylvania State University
Beyond Fertility: Two Distinct Types of Female Figurine in the Bronze and Iron Age Southern Levant in Relation to Domestic Cult
Female "fertility" figurines appear in many contexts in the Levant, many in domestic settings and tombs. In the past, they have often all been lumped together as "Venus" figurines, and only a limited number of careful examinations have been conducted (Kletter 1996; Tadmor 1982). In this paper I will offer suggestions as to the use of some of these figurines, by building on previous work.
There are at least two categories of female figurines. These do not appear concurrently. One group includes the Late Bronze plaque figurines and the other the Iron Age pillar figurines. A third less easily codified group includes the Neolithic and Chalcolithic figurines known from various sites. It will be suggested that all the figurines represented humans, not goddesses, and that all had apotropaic functions, some having to do with pregnancy, others with birth, and others with suckling. Why different aspects of fertility were apparently emphasized in given periods will also be explored.
Kletter, R. 1996. The Judean Pillar Figurines and Archaeology of Asherah. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.
Tadmor, M. 1982. Female Cult Figurines in Late Canaan and Early Israel: Archaeological Evidence. Pp. 139į73 in Studies in the Period of David and Solomon and Other Essays. ed. T. Ishida.
A31, James W. Hardin, Mississippi State University
Interpreting Domestic Space at Iron II Tell Halif
Several typical Iron II domestic structures were unearthed in Field IV at Tell Halif, Israel during the 1992-93 Phase III excavations of the Lahav Research Project. These structures were destroyed in a conflagration at the end of the 8th century BCE, and lay well preserved under a meter of destruction debris with little disturbance prior to excavation. This paper interprets the function of various areas in these structures by analyzing the numerous ceramic vessels found on floors and in destruction debris in their use contexts, including specific location, associated artifacts and micro artifacts. This analysis leads to a better understanding of the activities and the division of space in domestic areas during the late Iron II period, as well as insights into social and household organization and economy.
A8, Timothy Harrison, The Oriental Institute, University of Chicago
Mesha, the Mishor, and Iron Age Madaba
Although the textual and inscriptional evidence seems to suggest extensive land use and settlement activity on the Madaba Plain during the 19th through 8th centuries BC, the archaeological record generally has been interpreted to reflect a period of limited settlement, with flourishing sedentary activity associated with the era of Assyrian and Babylonian hegemony, or the Late Iron II period. The recently launched Tell Madaba excavations present an opportunity to reassess this view from the perspective of a community that, according to the documentary sources, figured prominently in the development of Iron Age society in the central high land region. This paper will examine the archaeological and documentary evidence concerning Madaba, their implications for an understanding of the history of the region, and directions for future research.
A28, Dar Brooks Hedstrom, Miami University, Oxford, OH
The Arabization of a Desert Monstery in Wadi Natrun, Egypt
This presentation will examine primarily how the material remains from the excavations at the Monastery of John the Little in Wadi Natrun, Egypt, demonstrate the transition of occupation from the Coptic founding of the community in 384 C.E. to its eventual abandonment in the Ayyubid/Mamluk period. The site consists of a large, central compound, which is surrounded by three smaller monasteries (the Abyssinian Monastery, the Monastery of John Kame and the Armenian Monastery) and by over 100 koms, or monastic domiciles. Excavations have concentrated upon uncovering the central church of the Monastery of John the Little, structures abutting the church to the north, and the near complete exposure of one of the koms closest to the monastery wall.
Material remains uncovered from the 1995 and 1996 seasons have shown that the site was heavily occupied throughout the Early Byzantine to Ayyubid/Marnluk periods. Kom 1, located just south of the monastery compound, is one of the earlier settlements with a preponderance of Late Byzantine and Umayyad material. Within the compound, the church and associated rooms to the north, have revealed material that spans from the Early Roman to Mamluk periods. An underground chamber found below the main floor of the church is the earliest structure found on the site, dating from the Late Roman to Early Byzantine periods. One wall was decorated with a Coptic inscription referring to John and wall-paintings of a monk and crosses; presently this room is understood as the founding building of the community of John the Little.
The presentation will conclude with a reflection upon how the evidence gathered from the Monastery of John the Little contributes to the historiographical question of the Arabization of Egypt. Glass fragments, Arabic inscriptions and coins, and glazed pottery with Christian motifs all suggest that the monastery continued to be inhabited by Coptic monks during the Abbasid, Fatirnid, Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. The monastery, located in the Libyan desert, is quite isolated from any nearby urban center - located 60 km from Cairo, the monastery's interaction with this city may have been rather limited. The Islamic material found at the Monastery of John the Little suggests, however, that Arabization was extensive at this remote monastery. The objective now is to determine exactly when the Monastery of John the Little underwent Arabization.
A30, James W. Henderson, Applied Scientific Research, Oregon City
Cross Polarized Enhancement: A New Way to Decipher Ancient Texts
A new protocol has been developed which combines photographic recording with digital enhancement to significantly improve the visual appearance of severely faded artifact pigments. The photographic phase captures subtle details of construction that have become obscured by wear and fading, and produces a "noiseless" photographic record. Digital enhancement further intensifies pigment structure and produces more separation between it and the background substrate. The procedure is particularly effective with ostraca, and was instrumental in providing a clear photograph of the recently deciphered Qumran Ostraca.
A5, Larry Herr, Canadian Union College
Iron Age I at Tall al-šUmayri in the Madaba Plains Region
The Iron Age I at Tall al-šUmayri includes the best preserved highlands site in Palestine. Its fortification system is similar to later Iron I sites in Moab at two of the Mudaynas. It is part of a series of settlements in the region, including Hesban, Madaba, Jalul, and possibly Jawa. Sahab was apparently slightly later, for its pottery connects it with the later Iron I phase we found in 1996 on top of the destruction of the well-preserved town. This later Iron I settlement has forced us to take another look at the overall phasing of ČUmayri and to revise our views on a complete hiatus at the site between the early 12th century BCE and the 9th century BCE. We now must suggest another small settlement dated to the late 12th or 11th centuries BCE.
A3, Louise A. Hitchcock, California State University
Art and Ethnicity in Minoan Crete: A Near Eastern Perspective Studying ethnicity in Prehistoric cultures is problematic, particularly if the language and religion are not well understood. Past attempts have employed a simplistic tendency to regard a particular category of artifact as representative of a people, for example, Beaker people in Neolithic Britain. Recent work treats such characteristics as a single distinguishing attribute among many - not as a defining criterion. Instead, ethnicity is regarded as a social construction. It is not entirely determined by a single component of genetics, linguistics, religion, or material culture. Rather,the character of a culture is determined by the entire repertoire of material culture and certain artifacts become emblematic of cultural boundaries. The boundaries are not necessarily permanent and the emblematic artifacts need not remain constant. A range of items can signal similarity or difference from other areas.
Using this definition of ethnicity, my paper questions the assumption that the Minoans constituted Europe's first civilization and examines the political implications of this assumption. The purpose is to relocate the Minoan civilization on the periphery of the Near Eastern cultural sphere. In doing this, I follow in the tradition of Cyrus Gordon who viewed the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean as developing in relationship to each other instead of in romantic isolation. I will use a variety of visual examples to illustrate that Minoan polities simultaneously participated in the greater tradition of Near Eastern city-states through a broad range of cultural practices including production, ritual practice, technology, monumental architecture, and administration while at the same time maintaining their own regional distinctiveness through an extensive repertoire of items in their material culture.
A4, Robert L. Hohlfelder, University of Colorado and Robert L. Vann, University of Maryland
Aperlai on the Sea: The 1996 and 1997 Survey of a Lycian Coastal Settlement
In 1996 and 1997, a team of archaeologists, architects, and students from the Universities of Maryland and Colorado conducted a preliminary land and underwater survey of the site of Aperlae, a remote classical coastal settlement located between Antiphellos (modern Kas) and Simena (modern Kale) along the Lycian shore. This field work continues the explorations initiated by Robert Carter in the 1970s.
Aperlae is practically an ahistorical site, so a record of its life and times will only be recovered from archaeological investigations. Thus far it appears that the small fortified settlement, situated on a steep mountainside above Asar Bay, dates from the early Hellenistic period (late 4th or early 3rd century B.C.E.). During its Roman occupation, it outgrow its original urban area defined by the Hellenistic fortifications. The southern city wall was dismantled so the settlement could spill down to the sea. The town may have reached its floruit in the 500s C.E., only to decline rapidly in the next century during the massive geopolitical changes that swept the eastern Mediterranean.
The remains of numerous public and private buildings and spaces have been discovered and recorded, including 35 cisterns (the count to date), a possible agora, two bath complexes, an elaborate city wall with numerous gates, two churches from the site's Christian era, and an extensive industrial quarter. Although there seems to have been a well-defined shoreline quay, no breakwaters were constructed to afford Aperlae's anchorage any protection beyond what nature provided. The site never had a sheltered all-weather harbor, but was served only by a natural roadstead.
The results of the preliminary survey have raised a critical question about the very existence of this town. Why was Aperlae built in a remote location not easily reached by foot or wagon, along a section of the Lycian coast devoid of surface water, and on an exposed bay that would have routinely challenged any ancient mariner who trafficked Asar Bay? The answer may be murex. Middens of shells of these marine mollusks, specifically the Murex Trunculus, have been found on the site's western limits. Perhaps Aperlae had some role to play in the production of the purple dye that was arguably the most expensive commodity ever produced in antiquity. This report will explore this possible explanation for Aperlae's raison d'etre.
A2, Larissa Hordynsky, Independent
Determining Utilitarian Patterns: The Flaked Stone Evidence in Cyprus Flaked stone assemblages from Cyprus may exhibit little retouch and can be difficult to classify using a traditional typology. The best way to determine tool use is through microwear analysis, so far a little-used discipline in Cypriot lithic studies. At the aceramic Neolithic site of Kalavasos-Tenta, specific variables that are key to assessing tool function have been identified using a binocular microscope.
The most important variable in determining how a tool was used is not necessarily its formal typological classification, or overall size and shape. At Kalavasos-Tenta, two distinct morphological variables were associated with specific wear patterns. The first was edge angle: the convergence of ventral and dorsal surfaces. The second was edge configuration: straight, convex, or concave. Two edges on the same implement were often used for different activities. Many irregular flakes, as well as material often classified as "debitage," exhibited evidence of wear. Similar-looking specimens that could be classified as the same formal tool type had actually been used to perform different tasks. Formal typology is not necessarily an indicator of tool use. Microwear analysis provides a more valuable approach to the study of intra- and intersite functions.
A10, Fred L. Horton, Jr., Wake Forest University
"Look, Water!"-Edward Robinson's Setting for the Story of the Ethiopian Eunuch Reconsidered
In 1841 Edward Robinson suggested that the Wadi at Tell el-Hesi made a suitable location for the story of the baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch recounted in Acts 8:24-40. Recent scholarship on Acts, however, has called into serious question the accuracy of the Acts' geographical depiction of Syria-Palestine in the first century. Further, several commentators have noted that the text appears to treat the Eunuch as a convert to Judaism, returning from worship at the Temple despite the fact that Jewish law prohibits the conversion of eunuchs and, indeed, even prohibits their entry into the Temple.
This paper will reassess the question of how Luke-Acts employs Syro-Palestinian geography as well as the likely meanings of the report of the Eunuch's travels to Jerusalem for a Greek-speaking audience at the turn of the second century CE. Finally, the authors will consider the relevance of recent archaeological discoveries to the interpretation of this story.
A17, Elizabeth Ann Janis, Tufts University
A "Scriptorium" at Khirbet Qumran?
Room 30 of Qumran was excavated in 1953 and identified by de Vaux as the "scriptorium" of a sectarian community. Based on the furniture and inkwell evidence, the "scriptorium" hypothesis has continued to be the most widely accepted theory although recently, Room 30 was interpreted as the "triclinium" of a winter villa. While a "villa" hypothesis is unlikely, the furniture evidence does support a "triclinium" theory. This paper will explore the posture and furniture of scribes at work, looking at examples from Egypt, the Near East and Rome. By examining the benches and the podium from Room 30 and comparing them to the Christian pre-Constatinian furniture of the Bonn martyrium, a triclinium used for the agape meal, the similarities between the two rooms is striking. It is clear that early forms of Christian worship were influenced by the Jewish Liturgy and the origin of the agape can be directly linked to Jewish communal meals. I propse that Room 30 was not a "scriptorium", but a "triclinium" used by the sectarians for special communal meals. The inkwells suggest that this room was used for writing as well, but not as traditionally envisioned by de Vaux. Most likely, the scribes of Qumran sat on a bench or kneeled on the floor, writing on a tablet that rested in their lap.
A5, Chang-ho Ji, La Sierra University Archaeological Surveys in the Iraq al-Amir Region and the Madaba Plains
The initial season of archaeological surveys of the Wadi es-Seer and the Wadi Kefrein was carried out in 1996, concentrating on the 5 km radius of ČIraq al-Amir. In the area covered, the survey team conducted a salvage excavation at a late Chalcolithic cemetery and visited 50 random squares, and 86 sites of a wide range of periods were recorded. Among many fortunate finds were two dolmen fields which also contained a large number of rock-cut chamber tombs. Finds from the survey indicate that the survey area witnessed high settlement intensification in the Byzantine and Islamic periods and low intensification in the EB, Iron II, Hellenistic, and late Roman periods. Settlement abatement followed each of these peaks. This fact compels us to assume that the Madaba Plains and the ČIraq al-Amir region cannot be treated as a single entity when investigating settlement patterns and history. Implications of this incongruity will be addressed.
A18, Chang-ho C. Ji, La Sierra University
Archaeological Surveys of the Dhiban Plateau, 1996 and 1997 Under the auspices of the Madaba Plains Project, the first two seasons of archaeological surveys in the Dhiban plateau were carried out in the summer of 1996 and 1997, concentrating on the eastern half of the region. According to the surveys, settlement intensification appears to have taken place during the Chalcolithic/Early Bronze, Iron I-II, Roman and Byzantine, and the mid-Islamic period. Accordingly, the occupational history of the Dhiban plateau seems to bear a resemblance to that of the Madaba Plains. The distribution of pattern of Iron Age sites shows that they tended to be along the northern and southern edges of the plateau rim overlooking the Wadi el-Walla and the Wadi Mujib. The results of the surveys show that a systematic archaeological survey is both warranted and long overdue in the Dhiban plateau. Glueck's sites need to be revisited for more precise dating, and there are a large number of archaeological sites that Glueck did not recognize.
A1, Martha Sharp Joukowsky, Brown University
1997 Brown University Excavations at the 'Great' Temple of Petra, Jordan
1997 marks the fifth year of Brown University excavations at the 'Great' Temple of Petra. The site of this once strategically placed religious edifice possesses a wealth of well preserved architectural remains and so offers a unique opportunity to study a major Nabataean complex in its entirety. The principal aims of the excavations are to trace the steps whereby this major religious structure rose through the Nabataean period to a monument of Nabataean-Roman imperial glory and to identify its transformation during the Byzantine period. This research at the 'Great' Temple promises to provide new insights into the nature of urban settlement at Petra.
A3, Niki Holmes Kantzios. Bryn Mawr College
New Meaning for a Borrowed Image
The fanciful tree flanked by ibexes or other animals or birds was a sacred image for peoples of the Levant in the LBA, the time at which the Egyptians were establishing their Levantine empire. Due to the resultant contact with the Canaanites and Mitannians, especially through the massive deportations of people of all classes into Egypt, where some of them occupied important positions at court, and to alliances and intermarriages with the Mitannians, the Egyptian aristocracy was exposed to the idea of the "sacred tree." Originally associated with one or more Levantine goddesses of war, sexuality and the fertility of nature, this religious motif was coopted by the conquerors and bent to political ends.. For the Egyptians, the tree already represented cosmic order, nurture, protection and the giving of life, feminine qualities embodied by the pharaoh, especially from the time of Amenhotep III on. The ibex, a wild desert creature, was an Egyptian metaphor for the Canaanites, whom they stereotyped as rough desert nomads. Thus the tree flanked by ibexes, which appears in Egyptian art only during the imperial period. may have been an emblem of the pharaoh sheltering and feeding the Levantines who turned on him, ie., of an imperial Egypt. The unusual heraldic symmetry of this image is paralleled only by the sma-tawy, traditional emblem of the "united kingdom," an analogy of form that further suggests analogy of meaning (political). By coopting this foreign image into their own political rhetoric, the Egyptians sent a message of dominance and its cosmic justification.
A2, Priscilla Keswani, Independent, and A. Bernard Knapp, University of Glasgow
Bronze Age Boundaries and Social Exchange in the Northern Troodos, Cyprus During the Late Bronze Age a number of towns engaged in copper production and overseas trade arose throughout the coastal regions of Cyprus. While some of these towns were located within a few kilometers of major ore deposits in the Troodos Mts., others were situated much farther away, and presumably acquired their copper supplies through extensive networks of exchange. This paper addresses the question of how such networks may have been structured in the northern Troodos, within and adjacent to the research area of the Sydney Cyprus Survey Project. Based on our analyses of site locational factors, we propose the coexistence of at least two distinct networks of copper procurement and transport, one comprising rural settlements such as Akhera Chiflik Paradisi and Akaki Trounalli, perhaps linked to a town in the Morphou Bay region, and another comprising Aredhiou Vouppes and various sites in the Politiko area, perhaps linked to a town center in the east. A consideration of the finds from settlement and mortuary sites in the northern Troodos and Mesaoria plain suggests a pattern of hierarchical exchange relations between coastal and inland regions.
A13, Fawwaz al-Khraysh, Yarmouk University
Safaitic Sources
Safaitic inscriptions are an important source of information about the language, lifeways and culture of the desert peoples who wrote them. Equally important are inscriptions in related langauges and scripts-Aramaic, Nabataean and Arabic. Finally there are the writings of the classical authors who treated the history and geography of southern Syria before the rise of Islam. Taken together, these sources reveal much of the vocabulary, onomastica and religion of the authors of the Safaitic texts.
A1, Ann E. Killebrew, University of Haifa
Excavations in the Roman "Temple" at Qasion, Upper Galilee-An Early Synagogue or Pagan Temple?
Ancient Qasion, located on the eastern slopes of the Upper Galilee, is situated 9 km northwest of Safed. The remains visible today at the site include a large public building surrounded by a colonnade, with numerous decorated architectural fragments scattered on the surface and in secondary use. This monumental structure is dated to the late second century CE by a Greek inscription on a lintel from the building which records a dedication by the Jews to the Roman Caesars during the reign of Septimius Severus. The site was first recorded by E. Renan who identified the large public structure as a "sacred" building. Based on the dedicatory inscription, he proposed that this structure was an ancient synagogue. In the early twentieth century, E. Kohl and C. Watzinger, in their study of architectural remains in the Galilee and Golan, suggested it was a pagan temple. Throughout most of this century the debate has raged regarding the identification of this building - is it an early Jewish synagogue or a pagan temple? Recent surveys and excavations at Qasion, directed by Rachel Hachlili and Ann Killebrew under the auspices of the University of Haifa, have provided several answers to the plan, possible function, and setting of this monumental structure and a glimpse into Jewish-Roman relations during the late second century CE.
A25, Ann E. Killebrew, University of Haifa
The Aegean and Egyptian Impact on Canaan During the 13thį12th Centuries BCE: Emulation, Trade, Colonization or Migration?
The Late Bronze Age is often characterized as a period of international trade and interconnections between the various regions of the eastern Mediterranean. At the dawn of the 12th century BCE, scholars have traditionally claimed that there was a breakdown of these close ties, resulting in the cessation of international trade and the cultural and political fragmentation of peoples previously unified under Egyptian, Hittite or Aegean suzerainty. However, Aegean- and Egyptian - inspired material culture continues to appear well into the 12th century BCE at numerous sites in Canaan. This paper explores the implications of the shift in the types and function of Aegean- and Egyptian - style objects (especially ceramics), the various production centers, and their distribution in Canaan in light of the changing relationship between Canaan and other regions of the Eastern Mediterranean during the latter part of the second millennium BCE.
A11, Alice Kingsnorth, Independent
Prehistoric Cultural Diversity; the Nature of the Evidence from Cyprus This paper proposes that the discussion of "complexity" in Cypriot Prehistory not be limited to the topics of economic and gender inequalities, but be expanded to consider cultural pluralism. The presentation commences by reviewing several definitions of ethnicity in the Social Science literature. Attempting a cross-cultural approach to the issue of prehistoric ethnic diversity, it examines some attempts to evaluate pluralism in the archaeological record outside of Cyprus. It follows up by considering the role that cultural diversity has played in the Cypriot record for historically documented periods. In view of the foregoing, the paper proposes that archaeologists not automatically reject the possibility that cultural diversity continued back from documented historical phases in Cyprus into prehistoric periods. The paper concludes by examining the nature of the Cypriot archaeological record pertaining to the issue of possible prehistoric ethnic diversity.
A31, Raz Kletter, Israel Antiquities Authority
Iron Age Pillar-Figurines of Judah and the Biblical Asherah
The paper concerns 854 pillar-figurines of the 8thį7th centuries BC from Judah. Former studies had access to less than half this number at most (Holland 1975). These figurines differ from those of neighboring kingdoms, and are Judean artifacts. Less than 4% of them appear outside Judah. This fits historical reconstruction of Judah as a small kingdom, even during Josiah's reign (Na'aman 1991). Many discussed the meaning of these figurines, but neglected the archaeological aspects. A thorough study of contexts, damage patterns, manufacture modes. etc., leads to the following conclusions:
1. The figurines were not deliberately broken. They were found in various contexts, mostly in domestic loci. Very few remained whole, mainly in tombs. Broken fragments reflect disposal patterns rather than patterns of use.
2. There is no direct evidence that connects these figurines with house-cult, magic, or popular religion. Such views are actually based on the preconception that the figurines are ''cultic'' or ''magical'' artifacts.
3. The figurines can be identified with the Asherah, since this is the most likely candidate. The endless identifications of Asherah with all sorts of figurines, cult stands, lions, trees, etc., have no basis.
A17, Barbara Kling, Montclair State University
Re-examining the Late Bronze Age Copper Mining Settlement at Apliki-Karamallos (Cyprus)
The site of Apliki-Karamallos in northwestern Cyprus is the only known Late Cypriot copper mining and smelting site. Discovered in 1938 by the Cyprus Mines Corporation, it was excavated in 1938 and 1939 by Joan duPlat Taylor for the Cyprus Museum, who published a brief report in The Antiquaries Journal for 1952. The site has since been completely obliterated by modern mining activity. The material collected from the site, however, as well as the original notes and photographs of the excavator, have been preserved in the Cyprus Museum in Nicosia and are the subject of reexamination by Dr James Muhly of the Univ. of Pennsylvania, Dr. Vasiliki Kassianidou of the Univ. of Cyprus and the author. The most important materials are tuyeres, crucibles, and stone tools used in the preparation an smelting of ore; copper slag; and a large quantity of pottery. The project is reassessing the site in the context of current scholarship pertaining to the Late Cypriot copper industry and Cyprus' role as a primary supplier of copper to the eastern Mediterranean at the end of the Late Bronze Age. This presentation highlights the progress of this research.
A7, Bernard Knapp, University of Glasgow
The Exotic East and Mediterranean Bronze Age Trade
Several different models about Mediterranean Bronze Age trade have been proposed and increasingly scholars seek to test their theories with real archaeological data. All such theories, however, must now be revamped to take into account the discovery of 'Aegean'-style wall-paintings and/or architectural elements at sites such as Tell ed-Dab'a in Egypt or Tel Kabri in Israel. Indeed this material perhaps suggests that we should be looking through an entirely different lens: we need to incorporate concepts of maritime space, the role of the exotic, and the impact of distance in Bronze Age Mediterranean maritime travel and trade. Were the 'imagined islands' of the eastern Mediterranean inhabited by voyagers who sought easy access to the ideas and products of the exotic civilizations of western Asia? Or did influence flow primarily in the opposite direction? This paper considers these images in considering the roles of distance, power, and space on maritime peoples in the Bronze Age Mediterranean,
A22, Moshe Kochavi, Tel Aviv University
Trade as a Factor in Iron Age State Formation
Following Larry Herr's suggestion, we interpret Iron Age Tripartite Pillared Buildings as the ancient entrepots of Early States in Palestine. The earliest state controlled trade centers, dated to the 11th century BC, appear in non-Israelite gateway cities: coastal Tell Abu Huwam, Tel Hadar and Tel Qasileh, with Tel Masos on the Arabian incense route as well. Centuries later, when the states of Israel and Judah reach maturity they control international trade through an elaborate system of entrepots built on strategic junctions along the main roads of Ancient Palestine.
A5, Oystein LaBianca and Paul Ray, Andrews University
Excavations and Restoration Work at Tall Hisban 1996-97 Tall Hisban was originally excavated between 1968 and 1976. In the 20 years since the last excavation season, the site had greatly deteriorated. Because of its location at the crossroads of two trade routes it played an historic role in the region through the Iron Age as well as the Classical and Islamic periods. Cleaning and restoration activities were begun by the Madaba Plains Project in 1996 with support from both the Department of Antiquities and the village of Hisban.
Along with cleaning and restoration activities, which concentrated on exemplary Iron Age, Classical and Islamic installations in Areas A, B and D, archaeological excavation was carried out in three limited areas. These consisted of work on a Hellenistic round tower that was reused in the Early-Middle Islamic period, a cave used in the Middle Islamic Period and an Ottoman period cave complex. In the process of cleaning out the Middle Islamic cave, levels of part of an Iron I bedrock trench below it were also reached. Since the interpretation of this installation was somewhat enigmatic to the original excavators, excavation on the other parts of this feature were continued in 1997. Work also continued on the other two installations begun in 1996. In addition, cleaning, restoration and a limited excavation was begun in Area C.
A33, Oystein S. LaBianca, Andrews University
The Rise and Fall of Tribal Kingdoms in Iron Age Transjordan: The Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites
The political entities that came into prominence in iron Age Transjordan-namely those of the Ammonites, Moabites and Edomites-were not true nation-states, but rather 'tribal kingdoms.' These kingdoms came into existence in a cascading fashion-first Ammon, then Moab, and, last of all, Edom. Their emergence is attributable to the operation of several related factors. To begin with, there was the expansion of plow agriculture by indigenous tribes in these Transjordanian highlands- a development stimulated in part by the collapse of the Late Bronze Age city -state system. To counter mounting threats-especially from the Israelites-to their increasingly sedentary way of life, these tribes were forced to form more permanent cooperating polities than was possible by means of their traditional tribal coalitions. The solution was to establish 'tribal kingdoms'-polities which gave greater permanence to the cooperative networks customarily forged by tribal peoples to counter external threats to their homeland territories.
A20, Peter Lampinen, Combined Caesarea Expeditions
The Coinage Circulating in the Second and Seventh Centuries C.E.: Differing Reactions to Crisis
In Roman Palestine, the periods between 66-132 C.E. and 618-41 C.E. hold some parallels. Both periods began and ended with warfare and revolt, and in between, Roman control did not rest lightly on the local population. At Caesarea, one approach to understanding these times of troubles can be the evaluation of the coinage in circulation at the time, and the responses of authorities and populace to disruptions in economic life. In the Caesarea of the last quarter of the first and first quarter of the second centuries C.E., the economy of a prosperous trading center and administrative capital of Roman Palestine appears to have functioned under the handicap of a dreadful shortage of circulating currency. The sparse coinage in circulation shows up in extremely worn condition, with an apparent lack of fresh coinage to supplement losses. By contrast, the Caesarea of the first half of the seventh century, traditionally a time of economic and civic decline, boasted a circulating currency that, while not pretty, was abundant and varied. An attempt will be made to explain this contrast by explicating differing civic responses to economic and political upheaval.
A28, C. J. Lenzen
The Transition from Byzantine-City to Umayyad Cities in Northwestern Jordan
The paper will address the built-environment, urban form, between ca. A.D. 600 to 800. Relying on archaeological data, the ideal types framing the period, the Roman city and the Islamic City, will be appraised critically. The definition of city and the transformation of places identified as such will be investigated.
A29, Thomas E. Levy, University of California, San Diego, and Russell B. Adams, University of Sheffield
Excavations in the Wadi Fidan, Jordan (1997 Season) In the summer of 1997, a pilot excavation and geophysical survey was carried out in the Wadi Fidan in the Feinan district of Edom in Jordan. Work focused on the excavation of a very late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze I settlement site and cemetery (Wadi Fidan 4) situated in a narrow gorge in the Wadi Fidan. Previous work indicated the importance of Wadi Fidan 4 in the early metal trade during the late 5thį4th millennium BC. The aim of the new excavations were to expose large samples of both the settlement and cemetery in order to help reconstruct the social dynamics of one of the societies intimately involved in the ancient southern Levantine copper trade. In addition to excavation, geophysical surveys were made of some of the contemporary mines and galleries in the area. This paper presents the results of the inter-disciplinary fieldwork.
A27, Harold Liebowitz, University of Texas, Austin
Roads, Trade and Cultural Diffusion in the Lower Galilee in the Late Bronze Age
While several roads are known to have crossed the Galilee and several ancient sites are located along these roads, no attempt has been taken to point to the routes of choice of the inhabitants of these settlements and the consequent interconnections among these sites. Analyses of ceramic data from Megiddo, Beth Shean, Tel Yin'am and Hazor have enabled us to identify routes of choice for the inhabitants of these sites and enrich our understanding of the inland branch of Via Maris. We have thus succeeded in reconstructing a picture of trade patterns and preferred trade routes in the Galilee in the Late Bronze Age. On one hand, we can identify the routes of choice and, on the other hand, the role that roads rather than geographical proximity played in cultural diffusions.
A14, Carole A. Linderman, University of Pennsylvania
The Building Plan of Nabonidus (556-539 B C)
One of the chief responsibilities of a king in ancient Mesopotamia was the maintenance of the shrines, sanctuaries and temples of the gods. The nature of the major building material - sun dried mud brick - necessitated rebuilding of temples on a regular basis, but to date a survey of published building inscriptions from the late Neo-Assyrian through the Neo-Babylonian periods does not reveal any particular plan, or pattern of the builder/kings, except for Nabonidus. During the reign of Nabonidus, the numerous building inscriptions that have been published reveal that this king seems to have had a focus to his rebuilding projects. Not only did he search for the oldest foundations, but the majority of the temples he rebuilt were related to the cult of Sin. Many of these Temples had not been rebuilt by previous Neo-Babylonian kings, but by previous Neo- Assyrian kings (i.e. Assurbanipal). These patterns seem to indicate that not only did Nabonidus actively promote the god Sin (as known by several studies of this king: Dougherty 1929; Beaulieu 1989), but also revealed his possible ties to Neo-Assyrian royal tradition (rather than Neo-Babylonian tradition).
A5, Gloria London, Burke Museum, Seattle, WA, and Douglas R. Clark, Walla Walla College
Collared-rim Storejars and Pithoi at Tall al-šUmayri
Questions concerning the jar once considered to be the hallmark of the earliest Israelite settlements in Canaan have long remained unanswered, in part due to the relative dearth of samples. Outside the traditional area associated with the vessel, at Tall al- ČUmayri in Jordan, a large number of jars and pithoi excavated by the Madaba Plains Project provides a large collection for analysis. As many as forty jars are currently being reconstructed at Walla Walla College. Preliminary assessment of the manufacturing technique suggests that not all of the jars were made in the same manner, nor were they all made of the same clay body. Some jars have potters' marks pressed into the wet clay prior to firing. The variability of the manufacturing technique used to make jars found together in a single room addresses the issues involving the jars: who made them, why are they distributed over a large geographic region, and what does their presence at a given site signify?
A25, Burton MacDonald, St. Francis Xavier University
Transjordan and its Relation to Egypt and Cisjordan During the 13th Century BCE
Ammon: Contacts with Egypt are archaeologically attested at Pella (modern Tabaqat Fahl). Moreover, ceramic vessels were imported from Cyprus and the Aegean during the Late Bronze Age. There was a strong Egyptian influence, related to trade, at Tell Deir ČAlla at the end of the Late Bronze Age. Moreover, Mycenaean pottery has been excavated at the site. Findings from the 13th century Amman Airport 'Temple' include a large portion of Mycenaean pottery, Egyptian stone vessels and scarabs, and Cypriote pottery.
Moab: It is generally agreed that the name Moab occurs in a topographical list of Ramesses II. Moreover, a war scene from this same Pharaoh mentions the land of Moab. The Baluša and Shihan stelae from Moab are other possible indications of Egyptian influences in the Transjordan at this time.
Edom: Egyptian records from the 13th century mention Mount Seir and the people of Seir, reminiscent of the biblical names identified with Edom. That term first appears in the Egyptian records during the reign of Merneptah.
Canaan: The pottery of Cisjordan and Transjordan may be studied to determine the relationships between peoples on both sides of the river.
A1, Jodi Magness, Tufts University
The North Wall of Aelia Capitolina
The remains of a line of wall about 450 meters to the north of the modern Old City (sometimes called the "Sukenik-Mayer wall;" here referred to as "the northern line") have been identified by many scholars with Josephus' third wall of the Second Temple Period. Others have rejected this identification, proposing a number of alternatives instead. Because the northern line beecame a focus of the controversy surrounding the third wall soon after its discovery, it has never been considered in relation to the city plan of Aelia Capitolina. I believe that the archaeological and historical evidence points to a Hadrianic date for the construction of the northern line, and that it was abandoned by the late third or early fourth century, when the current line of the north wall of the Old City was established. This means that Aelia Capitolina was a walled city and that it had a typical Roman city plan. This interpretation is supported by parallels with Gerasa, another city of the Roman East where Hadrian sponsored construction.
A7, Kate Mackay, University of Arizona
Phoenician Influence in the Eastern Mediterranean: A Cypriote Cemetery
As accomplished mariners, the Phoenicians established extensive trading networks and colonies throughout the eastern and central Mediterranean ,and thus played an influential role in the development of Mediterranean Iron Age society. Much of the data concerning the Phoenician culture relates to the pottery sequence in Phoenician Bichrome, Black-on-Red and Red Slip Wares. This artifact type is essential to a comprehension of the relative chronologies in all the regions touched by Phoenician influence and validates those sources (both biblical and otherwise) that have made it clear that the Phoenicians were an important force in both the political and commercial climate of the Levantine area. Previously unpublished cemetery deposits excavated in the Larnaca area contain numerous examples of these wares dating to between the ninth and sixth centuries BC. They serve as important additions to the corpus of Phoenician material found on Cyprus and, in relation to local and long-range chronologies, form a databank from which relative chronologies and other observations can be drawn. This material helps to illuminate the connections between eastern Mediterranean regions and will contribute to an understanding of the Iron Age in its wider international context.
A31, Dale W. Manor, Harding University
High Places in the Gates: Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives The Josianic report of high places in the gates of Jerusalem has received both linguistic (i.e., satyrs [Hoffmann 1882]) and archaeological discussion. While excavations in Jerusalem have yielded no such installations, examples of high places in the gates have apparently been discovered at Horvat 'Uza (cf. Beit-Arieh and Cressons 1991) and Dan (cf. Biran 1994; Biran and Naveh 1995). Taking a cue from these discoveries, the author reexamines other sites to suggest the presence of high places in the gates at several other locations (e.g., Horvat Radum, Gezer, Tell el-Far'ah North, Tell en-Nasbeh, and perhaps at Beer-sheba as per Yadin). He further employs anthropology of religion to explain the significance of high places in the gates as installations used to appeal for and express thanks for safety in travel. Beit-Arieh, I. and Cressons, B. 1991. Horvat 'Uza: A Fortified Outpost on the Eastern Negev Border. BA 54/3: 126-35.
Biran, A. 1994. More Fragments from "David" Stela Found at Dan. BAR 20/5: 22.
Biran, A. and Naveh, J. 1995. The Tel Dan Inscription: A New Fragment. IEJ 45/1: 1-18.
Hoffmann, G. 1882. Kleinigkeiten. ZAW 2: 175.
A1, W. Harold Mare, Covenant Theological Seminary
The 1997 Excavation Probe at the Abila of the Decapolis: The Theater Complex
The 1997 Excavation at Abila of the Decapolis, May 27 to July 3, 1997, will focus on excavation of a semi-circular depression just east of the east wall of the theater cavea. The purpose of this excavation probe is to determine the nature and function of the structure built within this semi-circular area and to determine any relationship it may have had with the main theater cavea. There is a problem interpreting the true nature and function of the theater cavea since our previous excavations have shown that a large Zeus statue niche was built along a back cross wall within it, and also an Umayyad palace/fort built just to the north of the niche. We anticipate that the excavation of the semi-circular depression will help us in our analysis of this total theater cavea complex.
A17, Lisa Marsio-Cole, University of Arizona
The Red Cross Bowl: A Cross-Cultural Indicator
The Middle Bronze I period in Syria-Palestine represents a complete cultural break from the preceding Early Bronze IV period. It is, therefore, of interest to find artifacts which span these cultural periods. The red cross bowl is one such artifact. The red cross bowl and its variant, the multiple cross bowl, have been found as early as the Early Bronze III period and as late as the Middle Bronze I throughout the Near East. They have been found as far north as Troy in Anatolia and as far south as Bab edh-Dhra' in Transjordan. Their continued appearance over a vast landscape and throughout several centuries may be a key indicator of the origins of the Middle Bronze I culture.
This paper will attempt to document all occurrences of the red cross bowl in the archaeological record and speak to the cultural continuity/discontinuity spanning the Early Bronze III through Middle Bronze I periods in the Near East. Do these bowls indicate a continuity of local traditions or perhaps a renewed Syrian influence? What are the relationships with other ceramic traditions? These questions and others will be addressed in the presentation.
A4, Timothy Matney, Whitman College
Mortuary Customs at Early Bronze Age TitriŦ HûyÄk
Excavations at the late third millennium urban center of Titris Hoyuk in the Urfa district of southeastern Turkey have recovered extensive evidence for mortuary customs among the site's mid-late Early Bronze Age inhabitants. During the mid-EBA, extramural cemeteries located outside the settlement were the norm, while in the late EBA, burials were located in stone-lined burial cysts beneath the floors of domestic living areas. The latter seem to represent family crypts. This paper examines evidence for specific mortuary customs at Titris Hoyuk and explores possible explanations for this shift in practices for the disposal of the dead.
A12, Thomas L. McClellan, Bucksport, ME
Tombs, Temples and Monuments on the Euphrates: Third Millennium Tell Banat
Past seasons of excavations have established that Tell Banat was a major Early Bronze Age settlement cluster that flourished from 2600 to 2300 BC. In the center of the main site of 25 hectares there is a large public structure built on and into a three meter deep gravel platform. Near it there was a large constructed stone tomb that contained an elite burial with luxury goods of gold, lapis and alabaster showing international connections ranging from Troy to Ur. At one of three satellite sites there was a temple; another site consists of the "White Monument", a structure of dirt and gravel covered with corrugated mud plaster. Elsewhere on the main site there is a large quarter for ceramic production but only minor evidence for a domestic area. This season we set out to test several hypotheses to explain and understand the socio-political organization of Tell Banat:
1) It was an independent city state.
2) It was a cultic and funerary center for
a) a larger city state
b) a polity dominated by pastoralists.
The interpretation is in part contingent upon the function of the "White Monument" and the tomb and public building complex. Was the White Monument a ziggurat, introduced from Southern Mesopotamia or a dolmen similar to Rujm el-Hiri? Was the gravel platform, tomb and building complex the site of a palace and dynastic tombs or of a temple and holy burials?
A4, Christopher Mee, University of Liverpool
Anatolia and the Aegean in the Late Bronze Age
This paper considers the evidence for Minoan and especially Mycenaean activity in Anatolia during the MM III-LM I period. It seems clear that trade provided the main incentive for the Minoans and that there was also some settlement. At this stage the Mycenaeans had a peripheral role but they become more involved in LH IIIA-B, particularly at sites on the west coast, most notably Miletus and Muskebi. The use of chamber tombs is an indication that there were Mycenaean settlers but the funeral practices also reveal the hybrid cultural affinities of this region.
When we turn to the interior of Anatolia, Mycenaean finds tail off. What are the implications for the level of contact between the Mycenaeans and the Hittites, especially if the Ahhiyawa = Achaiwa equation is accepted? The high Aegean chronology provides a different context for the earliest of the texts and the location of Ahhiyawa also merits further discussion. The 'special relationship' which existed between Greece and Troy is considered next, and the extent to which the Mycenaeans may have traded in the Black Sea. The final section focuses on Cilicia and the appearance of LH IIIC pottery at Kazanli and Tarsus.
A30, Piotr Michalowski, University of Michigan
On the Study of Cuneiform Paleography Most comments on the paleography of cuneiform writing are limited to short statements lamenting the lack of systematic research in the area. There are many reasons for this state of affairs. The clay tablets that are inscribed with cuneiform characters are almost indestructible, and so many of them have survived that the richness of source material provides an unwelcome side effect, an obstacle to precise paleographic analysis on the grand scale. This paper will provide an introduction to the theoretical and practical problems encountered in the study of cuneiform paleography. It will include a brief summary of work done to date and outline the kinds of issues that have to be taken into account in any approach to the subject. Some of these comments will be reserved for matters that are specific to this very form of writing; other remarks will be directed to matters pertinent to the comparative study of writing systems.
A11, Margaret Morden, Brock University
"Cult from Clay": The Terracottas from Idalion in Cyprus Terracotta sculpture on Cyprus is a fruitful medium to study cult practices because of its quantity, widespread distribution and the adaptability of the medium. Even if one restricts the interpretation of the function of terracottas in sanctuaries to being votive, we are still left with a number of questions. Do they represent the deity worshiped, the votary/worshiper, or the prayer/intent of the worshiper? Are there different relationships between votary and their votive, as well as between deity and worshiper? Do these differences result in patterns that can be interpreted regionally or chronologically?
This paper will address these issues by examining a test case, the terracotta sculpture excavated from the East Terrace Sanctuary at Idalion by Lang in 1868 and 1869, and by the University of Arizona Expedition to Idalion 1992 to the present. The votive/deity relationship observed in the archaeological record at Idalion reflects regional trends as well as island-wide patterns.
A9, Noor Mulder-Hymans, Maastricht, The Netherlands
Research on Clay Bread Ovens in the Near East
During my excavations in the Near East, I realized that bread-ovens, often found in a very deteriorated state, were poorly excavated due to a variety of reasons. However, a well excavated and documented bread-oven can provide helpful data about the village infrastructure. Bread-ovens of the type excavated at ancient sites are still in use in some villages today. I travelled to villages in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel to study bread-oven types, the important position of the bread-oven in each community, and the relation between a special type of bread-oven and the natural environment. The use of bread-ovens is changing rapidly over the past decades and soon important information will be lost forever. I shall also demonstrate the process of building a clay bread-oven such as a Tannur and a Tabun as well as the firing of the Tabun and cooking on it.
A1, Mary-Louise Mussell, Carleton University
A Mudbrick Structure from Roman Aqaba: the Oldest Church in Jordan?
During the 1994 season of the Roman Aqaba Project a large mudbrick structure was identified in Area J, with part of it located beneath the late 4th century C.E. city wall and part extending northward. Though it already became obvious then that the structure had been vaulted, its function was left undetermined. Research suggests that it may have been a church in the style of those built in the Nile Valley in the 5th through 12th centuries C.E. If so, it could be basilical in plan, or square with a dome. In either case the area excavated in 1994 would be the southwest narthex while the rooms beneath the city wall were ancillary structures.
If the structure is in fact a church in the Egyptian style, a number of features could be expected: mudbrick walls with lower courses of stone, narrow slit-like windows, side aisles, a central nave with apse or dome, and a staircase to the upper galleries. In 1996 all features save the central nave and apse or dome were identified, and in the 1997 season, the area in the central portion, where the nave could be expected, was excavated.
The significance of this structure is two-fold. The design of the structure indicates strong ties with Egypt in the 4th century C.E. More importantly, if identified as a church, it will be the oldest church in Jordan.
A13, Khaled Nashef, Bir Ziet University
The Kassite Example
The sources of the ancient Near East are very meager in information related to the nature of interaction between nomads and urban dwellers. One usually relies on parallels from later periods, e.g., the Arab expansion, and on ethnographic material, in order to understand this recurring phenomenon. There are, however, cuneiform sources from the beginning of the second millennium BC which contain direct information on the Kassites during the early stages of their assimilation to settled life in Mesopotamia. Originally the non-Semitic speaking Kassites represented tribal groups, which is evident from the documents in question. Yet their interaction with the urban population of Babylonia was varied in nature, and progressed along different lines. This paper will also point out possible parallels in the modern Near East.
A33, Christine Nelson, University of Western Ontario
Making Near Eastern and Biblical Archaeology Come Alive: Simulating an Excavation in the Classroom
By virtue of its multi-disciplinary nature and the fact that it involves cultural remains, archaeology can be a valuable and exciting teaching tool. It is a way to make learning about ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Archaeology come alive, in a hands-on, participatory fashion. Based on a successful archaeology education outreach program in London, Ontario, this presentation-workshop will provide educators with a multi-faceted archaeology education program that can be incorporated into and customized for their own school curriculum. The program is geared toward elementary and secondary grade levels. A variety of hands-on schoolroom teaching activities are illustrated, which cover introductory archaeological topics such as the concept of culture and cultural remains, artifact preservation and context, stratigraphy and dating methods. The techniques of archaeology are examined focusing on such processes as griding and excavating a site, as well as analyzing and interpreting artifacts and sites. In addition, educators will discover how their students can present archaeological findings in a conference-like fashion. The workshop also features a demonstration on how teachers can create a simulated excavation of a Near Eastern site in the classroom, resulting in their students discovering a variety of exciting details about people who lived in the Near East two thousand years ago.
A18, James Pace, Elon College and John Wineland, Roanoke Bible College
Kerak Resources Project: The 1997 Season The Kerak Resources Project (KRP) was launched in 1995 and continued field research in 1997 (with additional seasons planned for 1999 and 2001). The overall purpose of KRP is to document ways in which inhabitants of the Kerak plateau utilized available natural resources, including site location and access to local and long-distance trade goods. During the 1997 season, KRP operated on three fronts: 1) excavation at the Iron Age site of al-Mudaybiš, 2) an archaeological survey of this site's immediate environs and regional context, and 3) regional scientific studies.
Mudaybiš was selected for excavation because of the well-preserved proto-aeolic capitals observed on the surface at its eastern gate and the site's strategic location on the Fajj, a natural thoroughfare for commercial and military traffic between Arabia and Kerak. Excavation at Mudaybiš concentrated on two areas to determine the site's history of construction and use: 1) the area of the eastern gate, and 2) the area between the northern wall and the "acropolis" of the site.
A15, Gaetano Palumbo, Getty Conservation Institute
Jordan Forum Overview
This presentation will examine the evolution of archaeologists' attitudes towards conservation and explore avenues for the successful integration of research with conservation values and responsibilities. Archaeological research in the last twenty-five years has advanced our knowledge of the history and cultures of Jordan. Some of the discoveries have generated interest beyond elite archaeological circles and have become, in the best case, public attractions. In the worst case, the discoveries have become opportunities for looting. Often, sites are just abandoned to decay after excavation. Archaeologists attitudes concerning their responsibility to conserve sites have undergone significant changes. It is now common to have conservators on-site as well as for parallel projects relating to conservation and restoration to be planned. There is a Jordanian national database (JADIS) which is to be used for cultural resources management and site monitoring. The road towards the convergence of interest and values of the conservation a