BASOR 296 Abstracts
The History of the Chalcolithic Settlement in the Nahal Beer Sheva Area: The Radiocarbon Aspect
ISAAC GILEAD
Archaeological Division
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
84105 Beer Sheva, Israel
There are now dozens of 14C determinations from the Chalcolithic sites in the Nahal Beer Sheva area, most of them from the site of Shiqmim. The role of those dates, and stratigraphy, in establishing the history of the Chalcolithic settlement is described. Outlined also are the problems and prospects of defining phases of settlement by averaging sets of radiocarbon dates. The radiometric data suggest that the sites of Horvat Beter and Bir es-Safadi were settled centuries after Shiqmim was established. The article also illustrates that the radiocarbon dates cannot support the hypothesis that the subterranean structures in the Nahal Beer Sheva sites preceded the above-ground buildings.
The Vounous Jars Revisited
JAMES F. ROSS
Virginia Theological Seminary
Alexandria, VA 22304
An imported jar found in Tomb 164B at Vounous in Cyprus is shown to be from Palestine, dating to either very late EB III or early EB IV. Otherjars from Tombs 64 and 68 are somewhat later, but still in EB IV, probably from Syria. The evidence of these imports supports raising the chronology of the periods represented by the tombs, respectively EC I and II and MC I.
The Archaeological Origin and Significance of the Dolphin Vase as Determined by Neutron Activation Analysis
PATRICK E. McGOVERN
Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology (MASCA)
The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
33rd and Spruce Sts.
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104
JANINE BOURRIAU
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
62 Sydney St.
Cambridge CB2 IJW
United Kingdom
GARMAN HARBOTTLE
Department of Chemistry
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Upton, NY 11973
SUSAN J. ALLEN
Egyptian Art Department
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
5th Avenue at 82nd St.
New York, NY 10028
The Dolphin Vase which was excavated from a Middle Kingdom Egyptian tomb at the capital city of Lisht, is so named because of its naturalistic depiction of dolphins. This pottery jug, dated ca. 1750-1700 B.C., epitomizes the network of international relations of a prosperous period: found in Egypt, the dolphins appear to be Minoan in style and yet the vessel shape and manufacture are of Levantine inspiration. Statistical evaluation of the chemical composition of its pottery ware by neutron activation analysis (NAA) makes it virtually certain that the Dolphin Vase originated in the Gaza region of southern Palestine. Trade relations between the latter region and Egypt, with consequent s listic and technological exchange, intensified under the so-called "Hyksos," a Semitic dynasty that controlled the eastern Nile Delta between ca. 1700 and 1550 B.C.
Israel in the Merneptah Stela*
MICHAEL G. HASEL
Department of Near Eastern Studies
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85716
The name Israel in the Merneptah stela of ca. 1207 B.C. has entered a new phase of discussion and debate in recent reconstructions of the origin of ancient Israel. Some of the issues involved include the translation of tht, name Israel and the location and nature of the entity Israel. Attempts to resolve some of these concerns have included linguistic analyses of the designation Israel; structural analyses of the final hymnic-poetic unit; and some attempts to identify archaeological correlations with Merneptah's campaign in Palestine. This study assesses a number of linguistic analyses indicating that the Egyptian designation is properly translated as Israel. Our new structural analysis reveals that Israel is located within the region of Canaan and Hurru, designations that stand parallel to each other. Israel is an agricultural/sedentary socioethnic entity. The term "seed," Egyptian prt, based on contextual relations in other military texts, means "grain," supporting the identification of Israel as a largely agricultural, noncity-state entity.
The Stela from Dan: Epigraphic and Historical Considerations
BARUCH HALPERN
Department of History and Jewish Studies Program
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
The first fragment of the Tel Dan stela, discovered in 1993, caught the attention of the public particularly for its mention of the "house of David," providing a stratified index of the historicity of thatfigure, and of the early monarchy. The editio princeps placed the inscription early in the ninth century B.C.E., relating it to the invasion of Ben-Hadad I. Reconsideration of the stela suggests, however, that it belongs to the end of the ninth century, when Aramean ascendance over Israel was on the verge of being broken. The language of the stela also indicates that the Aramaic of Damascus in this era had close connections with Hebrew and Moabite.