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ARTICLES
Abandonment, Urbanization,
Resettlement and the Formation of the Israelite State
by Avraham Faust
The Challenges of Ketef
Hinnom: Using Advanced Technologies to Reclaim the Earliest
Biblical Texts and Their Contexts
by Gabriel Barkay, Marilyn J. Lundberg, Andrew G. Vaughn,
Bruce Zuckerman and Kenneth Zuckerman
Digging Up Deborah: Recent
Hebrew Bible Scholarship on Gender and the Contribution of
Archaeology
by Susan Ackerman
Engendering Syro-Palestinian
Archaeology: Reasons and Resources
by Carol Meyers
DEPARTMENTS
ARTI-FACTS
Cultural Interaction through
the Ages: The Ninth International Conference
on History and Archaeology of Jordan
by May Shaer and Burton MacDonald
An Internet Bibliography of
Archaeological Excavations in the Southern Levant
by Wade Kotter
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Abandonment, Urbanization,
Resettlement and the Formation of the Israelite State
by Avraham Faust
State formation. Urbanization. The transition from Iron I
to Iron II. The tenth century question. The historicity of
the Davidic monarchy. Is there anything fresh to add to our
well-rehearsed debates on these topics that does not merely
repackage previously held opinions? Yes, says Avi Faust, who
looks to the data from excavated rural sites, often neglected
by “tell-minded” archaeologists.
162
The Challenges of Ketef Hinnom:
Using Advanced Technologies to Reclaim the Earliest Biblical
Texts and Their Contexts
by Gabriel Barkay, Marilyn J. Lundberg,
Andrew G. Vaughn, Bruce Zuckerman and Kenneth Zuckerman
The two paleo-Hebrew Ketef Hinnom inscriptions are famous
for being our oldest biblical manuscripts. (Yet they contain
even morer eadings than the famous priestly blessing of Numbers
6.) The present analysis provides the most reliable readings
to date. They clarify two points of dispute: the date and
nature of the artifacts. The authors support the thesis that
these inscriptions constitute amulets with apotropaic functions
and date them to the end of the seventh or the beginning of
the sixth century BCE. Just as important, readers will find
here an inside look at how epigraphers use state of the art
technology to bring new readings to light.
172
Digging Up Deborah: Recent
Hebrew Bible Scholarship on Gender and the Contribution of
Archaeology
by Susan Ackerman
Susan Ackerman notes how feminist scholarship of the last
twentyfive years has tended to focus on literary studies of
the Hebrew Bible rather than historical studies. Preferring
more attention being given to the latter, Ackerman, a biblical
scholar, looks to archaeology to fill the gap where texts
are incomplete. Building on Carol Meyers’ work, Ackerman
suggests that the portrait of women in the book of Judges
can resonate with village-based demographics of the Iron I
period. For the Iron II period, she finds that texts and archaeology
alike support women’s roles in bread-making and textile
production, with certain texts suggesting these to be acts
of religious devotion.
185
Engendering Syro-Palestinian
Archaeology: Reasons and Resources
By Carol Meyers
According to Carol Meyers, the field of Syro-Palestinian archaeologists
has been “barely touched by the paradigm shift in the
academy that has brought gender into the mainstream of scholarly
discourse in most humanities and social science disciplines.”
Meyers offers reasons for this “intellectual lag.”
She critiques previous macrolevel investigations (often elite/male
centered) and offers directions for resetting the agenda—including,
in particular, the way in which data are recovered and published.
Most helpful of all, Meyers presents a resource guide whereby
Syro-Palestinian archaeologists can learn from the insights
of our anthropological colleagues.
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