Table of Contents for Bulletin of ASOR 381 (May 2019)

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Pp. 1–19: “The Terra-cotta Figurines from a Lamp Workshop at Khirbat Shumeila near Beit Nattif, Israel,” by Benyamin Storchan and Achim Lichtenberger

In 1934, excavations conducted at Beit Nattif, in the Judaean Shephelah region, uncovered a rich assemblage of waste from a terra-cotta lamp and figurine workshop. The items produced at the workshop, which are now known by the name of the site, are dated to around 300 c.e. and can be considered a hallmark of the regional material culture of the Late Roman period, a time of wideranging cultural influences. Recent excavations at Khirbat Shumeila, located in the immediate Beit Nattif region, have uncovered the remains of a Beit Nattif lamp workshop. The Khirbat Shumeila workshop can be dated to the late 4th century c.e. During the excavations, a number of typical Beit Nattif figurines and a figurine mold were uncovered, providing an opportunity to analyze the stylistic and morphological development of the figurines over 100 years. While the new workshop was focused primarily on lamp production, figurine production existed as a secondary industry, further implying the existence of multiple parallel workshops in the region.

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Pp. 21-40: “Correlated Change: Comparing Modifications to Ceramic Assemblages from Qizlar Qalʾeh, Iran, and Ancient Merv, Turkmenistan, during the Seleucid and Parthian Periods,” by Gabriele Puschnigg, Maria Daghmehchi, and Jebrael Nokandeh

From the Seleucid period onward, substantial transformations occurred in the ceramic assemblages from Qizlar Qalʾeh on the Gorgan Plain and ancient Merv (modern Gyaur Kala). Using quantitative and archaeometric analyses, we assess and compare modifications in vessel repertoires, production techniques, and material sources across both sites to understand the nature and chronology of these changes. Similar technological developments are observed at Qizlar Qalʾeh and Merv, and are examined with regard to a potential Hellenistic reception in the ceramic material. Variations in the chronological distribution of innovations and assemblage composition help us to elucidate the neighborhood relations between eastern Iran and western Central Asia at this time. Our comparisons point toward a common cultural environment for both sites especially during the Early Parthian period, which is demonstrated in the many analogies of manufacturing techniques and vessel shapes. At the same time, we see different continuing local traditions, highlighting the flexible mode in which ceramic repertoires are adapted to the changing requirements under Hellenistic rule.

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Pp. 41-56: “Four Judean Bullae from the 2014 Season at Tel Lachish,” by Martin G. Klingbeil, Michael G. Hasel, Yosef Garfinkel, and Néstor H. Petruk

The article presents four decorated epigraphic bullae unearthed in the Level III destruction at Lachish during the 2014 season, focusing on the epigraphic, iconographic, and historical aspects of the seal impressions.

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Pp. 57-81: “Uninscribed Amethyst Scarabs from the Southern Levant,” by Arlette David

Prompted by the discovery of a schematic uninscribed amethyst scarab at Tel Abel Beth Maacah in the Upper Galilee, an overview of such scarabs found in the southern Levant is provided, with a typological analysis and a tentative dating and origin of these pieces.

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Pp. 83-105: “Foreign Food Plants as Prestigious Gifts: The Archaeobotany of the Amarna Age Palace at Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel,” Ehud Weiss, Yael Mahler-Slasky, Yoel Melamed, Zvi Lederman, Shlomo Bunimovitz, Shawn Bubel, and Dale Manor

In contrast with the relatively rich documentation from the el-Amarna archive related to the main city-states of the southern Levant in the Amarna Age (Late Bronze Age IIA; 14th century b.c.e.), archaeological data from these sites is still wanting. This unfortunate situation highlights the importance of the ca. 60,000-item plant collection from the recently exposed Late Bronze Age IIA palace at Tel Beth-Shemesh. Room L1505 in the palace—apparently a pantry due to its contents of foodstuffs and vessels for food preparation and consumption—contained eight deposits of carbonized crop plants. Deposits of almost pure grains and very low numbers of weed seeds were found, indicating that these stored food plants were ready to be used in food preparation. Of special interest is the presence of a sizeable amount of two rare pulses in Levantine archaeobotany—fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) and Cyprus vetch (Lathyrus ochrus)—only found in two other Bronze Age royal contexts: Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt and the Late Minoan II Unexplored Mansion in Knossos. Thus, in addition to attesting to the agricultural practices and culinary preferences of a Canaanite ruling court during the Amarna Age, this botanical assemblage also hints at prestigious royal gift exchanges of exotic food plants.

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Pp. 107-144: “Tel Yaqush—An Early Bronze Age Village in the Central Jordan Valley, Israel,” by Yael Rotem, Mark Iserlis, Felix Höflmayer, and Yorke M. Rowan

This article highlights the results of five excavation seasons at Tel Yaqush, Israel, conducted between the 1989 and 2000 on behalf of The Oriental Institute at The University of Chicago. Tel Yaqush was a medium-sized village, inhabited during the entire Early Bronze Age period, from the mid-4th to the mid-3rd millennia b.c.e. The excavations exposed a dense settlement begun in the Early Bronze Age (EB) I, which ended in a severe conflagration. Apparently rebuilt at the beginning of EB II, the village remained a small site and technically non-urban throughout the period. Destroyed at the end of EB II, it was renewed in EB III, coinciding with the arrival of people bearing the Khirbet Kerak Ware ceramic tradition. This preliminary report includes new observations following recent studies of Tel Yaqush finds, including a new sequence of 14C dates from EB I to III (published in detail elsewhere). The excavation results summarized here reveal the unique role Tel Yaqush played during the shift to urbanism, and its contribution to our understanding of Early Bronze Age village society in the central Jordan Valley.

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Pp. 145-162: “‘Crossing the Lines’—Elaborately Decorated Chalcolithic Basalt Bowls in the Southern Levant,” by Rivka Chasan, Edwin C. M. van den Brink, and Danny Rosenberg

The Late Chalcolithic period in the southern Levant shows a marked increase in symbolic expression. While most Late Chalcolithic basalt bowls are undecorated, notable amounts of these were adorned, and their decorations typically conform to a few canonized conventions. A small amount of the decorated Late Chalcolithic basalt bowls are further incised with unconventional, unique designs on their exteriors. These elaborately decorated basalt bowls stand in sharp contrast to the conventionally decorated ones, thus signifying their different roles. This article discusses their geographic distributions, frequencies, and characteristics, and offers further suggestions as to their position within the Late Chalcolithic symbolic and prestige item systems. The analysis reveals regional patterns—the elaborately decorated basalt bowls are constrained to south of the Yarkon River—suggesting that the function and symbolic value of these bowls were probably geographically restricted. Their limited distribution underlines the exclusivity of these elaborately decorated bowls during the Late Chalcolithic period.

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Pp. 163-191: “Canaanite Reḥob: Tel Reḥov in the Late Bronze Age,” by Amihai Mazar, Uri Davidovich, and with an Appendix by Arlette David

Tel Reḥov, identified with Reḥob, was one of the largest Canaanite cities in the southern Levant during the Late Bronze Age (15th–13th centuries b.c.e.). Unlike many other Canaanite settlements, the city was founded in the 15th century after a hiatus beginning in Early Bronze Age III. In this article, four major Late Bronze Age occupation strata are described. Notable is a monumental structure dated to the 14th century b.c.e. with unusual architectural features that could be either the residence of a high-ranking family or an administrative building. During the 13th century b.c.e., this building was replaced by a new structure containing a metalsmith’s workshop, inspired by Egyptian 19th Dynasty techniques, while later building phases belong to the final stages of the Late Bronze Age. No destruction layers were found, and the Late Bronze Age city was rebuilt and continued to thrive throughout the Iron Age I. Five Late Bronze Age plaque figurines, some of particular interest, are also described. An appendix discusses a rare funerary scarab of an Egyptian high official found in the 14th-century b.c.e. edifice.

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Pp. 193-202: “Abracadabra, or ‘I Create as I Speak’: A Reanalysis of the First Verb in the Katumuwa Inscription in Light of Northwest Semitic and Hieroglyphic Luwian Parallels,” by Timothy Hogue

Previous translations of the Katumuwa Inscription have either rendered the first verbal phrase (qnt ly) “I commissioned for myself,” or “I acquired for myself.” No scholars have yet defended the possibility that it simply means “I made.” In fact, this is likely the case given the typical monumental rhetoric of Northwest Semitic and Hieroglyphic Luwian monumental inscriptions. In particular, a comparison with verbs of monumenting in Hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions suggests that the monumenting phrase in the Katumuwa Inscription was calqued on a Luwian phrase. This difference is significant because it reveals an important aspect of the inscription’s monumentality and the Syro-Anatolian conception of the stele. The stele that Katumuwa created was not understood merely as the inscribed object. Rather, the monument was the conjunction of material object, ritual engagement, and the resultant manifestation of the monument’s commissioner. There was no monument apart from Katumuwa, whose voice was preserved in the inscription and whose presence could be reactivated through ritual. Therefore, Katumuwa did in fact “create” the stele as he spoke through it to his monument’s users.

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Pp. 203-210: “An Inscribed Sherd in Aramaic Script from Barikot, Pakistan,” by Michael Zellmann-Rohrer and Luca Maria Olivieri

This article discusses a sherd inscribed with a text in Aramaic script from Barikot in Pakistan. The site, known in classical sources on Alexander the Great, has been regularly investigated over the last 40 years. In recent excavation campaigns, new evidence of the earliest phases of the city (500–50 b.c.e.) has been discovered, including the sherd treated here, among other inscribed pottery in Greek and Brāhmī.

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Pp. 211-236: “An Eighth-Century b.c.e. Gate Shrine at Tel Lachish, Israel,” by Saar Ganor and Igor Kreimerman

Excavations conducted on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority at Tel Lachish exposed the southern half of the six-chambered gate in Level III. In the eastern chamber, a gate shrine was uncovered. The shrine was split in two: a larger northern room and a smaller southern room. The southern room, which served as the holy of holies, had a niche in its southern wall in front of which a double altar was placed. Dozens of bowls and oil lamps were revealed inside the shrine. At some point, evidently prior to the destruction of Level III by Sennacherib in 701 b.c.e., the shrine was desecrated and sealed. This act was evident in the breakage of the altar’s horns and the placement of a latrine in the holy of holies. The available data suggests that the desecration of the shrine should be associated with Hezekiah’s cultic reform (2 Kgs 18:4).

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