Evidence of the Arabian Incense Trade in the Southern Levant: Altars and Alabaster Perfume Jars from the Axial Age (8th-4th Centuries B.C.E.)

By: William Zimmerle, University of Pennsylvania, Educational and Cultural Affairs Fellow

Hundreds of portable altars made of stone and clay have been uncovered from archaeological contexts dated to the beginning of the first millennium B.C.E. until the early Roman Near East. Drawing upon anthropological models of trade, cult and economy, this project examines the replication of one specific type of altar, the portable domestic cuboid-burner, the chronological horizon of which extends from the late Iron Age II into the Hellenistic-Roman phases of the southern Levant.

Excavated among a repertoire of perfume-related objects such as the lesser-known Arabian alabaster jars and their lids from the Hellenistic period, and the well-attested Iron Age II cosmetic palettes made of stone, these “Persian-period” hand-held burners are the remains of an ancient overland exchange of aromatics that moved between Arabia and the Levant, on the one hand, and Mesopotamia, on the other. In Israel, we find the cuboid burners in significant numbers from the late Iron Age IIC-Persian period sites and settlements throughout the Negev on the way from Petra to Gaza and en route to the Mediterranean maritime markets. Along with trading perfume, incense, stones and metals, and all kinds of spices, long-distance caravans pushed the idea, form, and technology of these devices, depositing them along a vast network of roads and tolls that produced economic wealth for the surrounding Near Eastern kingdoms. Indeed, such Arabian commodities helped form the cities and states of the Iron Age, under the guise of Mesopotamian imperialism.

With this summary in mind, my project had one goal this semester: I intended to enlarge the present-day corpus of incense related paraphernalia and publish it in one catalogue. My catalogue includes valuable information such as the metrics, fabrics, contexts and provenances of key objects gleaned from visiting museum collections in Europe and the Middle East. Using this methodology, the burners were photographed, weighed, drawn, described, and finally, situated within the broader material culture of an axial age. In the process of achieving this goal, I have thus been able to analyze patterns of distribution, networks and cult-ritual activities along roads, stations, and caravanserai of the Negev.

Along with visiting libraries and museums to integrate published and unpublished objects with final excavation reports, I spent most of my time formatting the catalogue and writing up my final results. This time at the Albright Institute helped me to familiarize myself with material from the Israel Antiquities Authority storerooms in Beth Shemesh and Har Hotzvim as well as the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem—all of which have the best study collections for handling and learning the material culture of this land.

I also had the pleasure of organizing and leading the Albright’s archaeological study tour to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan this year. Over five days, we visited sites from Umm Qais in the north to Petra in the south. In Amman, our host was ACOR.

Most importantly, I wish to convey my gratitude to the Educational and Cultural Affairs Bureau of the United States, the Albright Trustees and Fellowship Committee, the Albright Director, and the Administrative, Library and Hostel Staff for helping me to focus solely on my project and to complete it this year using the resources of the Albright. Next year, I plan to publish my final catalogue-commentary as a monograph. The project offers new insights into how the Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, and Achaemenid Persian Empires interacted with Arabian kingdoms and tribes in the southern Levant through the synthetic presentation of key material culture excavated from this land.

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