Number 298 May 1995

IN MEMORIAM
  • ROBERT GORDON BOLING and JEAN GADE BOLING . . . . . 1
  • JONAS C. GREENFIELD . . . . . 3
ARTICLES
  • BRYAN JACK STONE: The Philistines and Acculturation: Culture Change and Ethnic Continuity in the Iron Age . . . . . 7
  • PHILIP MAYERSON: A Note on Iotabe and Several Other Islands in the Red Sea . . . . . 33
REVIEW ARTICLES
  • WILLIAM G. DEVER: Will the Real Israel Please Stand Up? Part II: Archaeology and the Religions of Ancient Israel . . . . . 37
  • RON E. TAPPY: Did the Dead Ever Die in Biblical Judah? . . . . . 59
OVERSEAS RESEARCH PROJECTS
  • SEYMOUR GITIN: W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem: Project Descriptions of Albright Appointees 1994-1995 . . . . . 69
  • DANIELLE PARKS: Research Projects at CAARI . . . . . 79
REVIEWS
  • ALEXANDER H. JOFFE: Settlement and Society in the Early Bronze Age I and II, Southern Levant (Walter Rast) . . . . . 81
  • CYRUS H. GORDON and GARY A. RENDSBURG, eds.: Essays on the Ebla Archives and Language (Dennis Pardee) . . . . . 83
  • EPHRAIM STERN: Dor: Ruler of the Seas (Philip J. King) . . . . . 84
  • JODI MAGNESS: Jerusalem Ceramic Chronology, circa 200-800 C.E. (Marcus Rautman) . . . . . 85
  • KAREL J. H. VRIEZEN: Die Ausgrabungen unter der Erlöserkirche im Muristan, Jerusalem (1970-1974), mit Beiträgen von Ian A. Carradice und Eitan Tchernov (Jodi Magness) . . . . . 87
  • HILLEL GEVA, ed.: Ancient Jerusalem Revealed (Carol Meyers) . . . . . 89
  • S. AHITUV and B. A. LEVINE, editors: Eretz-Israel Vol. 24 (Avraham Malamat Volume) (Joe D. Seger and Oded Borwoski) . . . . . 90
  • JAMES H. CHARLESWORTH et al., editors: The Dead Sea Scrolls: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Texts with English Translations. Volume 1: Rule of the Community and Related Documents (Russell Fuller) . . . . . 92
  • YORAM TSAFRIR, editor: Ancient Churches Revealed (Robert Schick) . . . . . 94
  • GARY D. PRATICO: Nelson Glueck's 1938-1940 Excavations at Tell el-Kheleifeh. A Reappraisal (William G. Dever) . . . . . 95

 

The Philistines and Acculturation: Culture Change and Ethnic
Continuity in the Iron Age

BRYAN JACK STONE

Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
6 Divinity Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
Harvard University

Acculturation influenced the development of Philistine culture for its entire 600-year history. Using an anthropological approach to examine archaeological and textual data, this article develops a model of the process of Philistine acculturation, which eventually led to the "Levantization " of Philistine culture. It concludes that the commonly held assumptions that the Philistines "lost their cultural core" or assimilated into Canaanite society are unjustified. The Philistines absorbed many outside cultural influences, but they modified those influences to suit their own needs and retained a distinct cultural and political identity throughout the Iron Age. The case of Philistine acculturation provides an excellent opportunity to demonstrate how archaeologists working in Syria-Palestine can contribute to, and benefitfrom, anthropological research while addressing historical problems.

A Note on Iotabê and Several Other Islands in the Red Sea

PHILIP MAYERSON
Department of Classics
New York University
New York, NY 10003

The location of Iotabê, an island in the Red Sea that served as a port of trade, remains in doubt. According to historical sources, it changed handsfour times between 473 and 534 C.E. without a word of an amphibious operation. Several other ports of trade, on islands in the Red Sea that were in close proximity to the mainland, may offer a clue to the location of Iotabê.