Taygete Atlantis: Excavation Blogs (Antiquity)

The Joint Expedition to Malqata is co-sponsored by the Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University in Atlanta, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

View of the west bank from Luxor
Friday February 3, 2012
We are back in Luxor! This third season, scheduled for February 2011, had to be postponed because of last year’s historic events in Egypt – Diana Craig Patch and Catharine H. Roehrig (MMA) had plane tickets for January 29, Peter Lacovara (Carlos Museum) was working at Abydos and the expedition in that area were evacuated. We are all very glad to be back!
This year we joined up in Cairo on Sunday, January 29. We spent several days in Cairo taking care of business. First we stopped in at the American Research Center in Egypt to say hello to old friends and pick up Madame Amira, who accompanied us to the offices of the Supreme Council of Antiquities where we collected the papers that give us the permission to work in Egypt. Later we ran some errands and, on Wednesday, we came down to Luxor. Once again, thanks to the generosity of our friend Ray Johnson we are staying at Chicago House, home of the Epigraphic Survey in Luxor.
Friday is the Moslem holy day and will be our day off each week. Tomorrow is the Moulid al-Nibbi, the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed. This is a holiday in Egypt, but because our season is only one month, our workmen and our antiquities inspector have generously agreed to work with us.

The “Narrow House” in the south village at Malqata. Photograph courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This season we continue one of our long term goals, a detailed plan of the palace-city of Amenhotep III known locally as Malqata, which is how we refer to our site. Our surveyor, Joel Paulson (who arrives today), has been able to make an overall map of the site using plans made 101 years ago by the Egyptian Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum. However, we have not been able tie in a huge plan of an area called the “south village.” So, tomorrow, Catharine and Joel will try to locate the position of the “narrow house” – a long narrow building that is between two of the Birket Habu mounds. To do this, they will use old photographs, like the one above, that show the house in relation to the desert cliffs and the Coptic monastery in the upper center-left of the photograph.
More on this tomorrow.
Catharine, Peter, and Diana

p.s. Happy Birthday, Diana!

Thank you to everyone who has entered to contest.  We have had some wonderful responses ranging from the practical and feasible to the nonsensical and highly imaginative.  It certainly makes from some great reading.

 

In this picture you can see Deland standing in the sewer channel.  Thanks to Deland's ingenuity he was able to survey a portion of the sewer and determine that it extends at least 10 meters to the east and west of the opening in which he stands.

 

 

 

 

 As you can see, the sewer is largely silted up but there is maybe a foot or two of space at the top that is not filled in and which gives us an opportunity to get inside safely with the right plan.

 

Maybe your plan will be the one we put into action.

 

Grid 47, I expect you to have some good ideas. 

 

The contest continues until March 31.  The winner will be announced May 1st. 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you read the most recent New York Times article on Ashkelon?  Read about it here.  The article is about a collaboration between the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon and the Weizmann Institute and the emerging field of microarchaeology.

 

As Alex Zukerman, long-term senior member of the team (who is now, among other things, working on the analysis of the Iron I pottery from Area A), was looking through some of the Iron I pottery, a little fish on a sherd swam by him…

Turns out that this is an unfortunately incomplete depiction of a fish and some wavy lines on a bichrome Philistine sherd. We have had other depiction of fauna on Philistine pottery, and if I’m not mistaken, even a fish or two before, from the Safi materials. While this is known from other Philistine sites (and these figurative decorations have been the subject of Linda Meiberg’s [who also was on our team for a few years] recently completed dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania) – it nevertheless is nice to see this!

This brings me to my theory about the origins of Gefilte Fish. Perhaps, the etymology is actually “GePhilistine Fish” – and only in the middle ages, with the advent of Yiddish, did it turn into “gefilte”… :-)

I have clear supporting evidence for this. As you may know, it is customary to eat gefilte fish with horseradish, known as khreyn in Yiddish, and Hazeret (חזרת) in Hebrew. Now since we know that the Philistines ate pig – Hazir (חזיר) in Hebrew, the connection is quite clear… :-P

Now that’s rather fishy

Joking aside, the depiction of fish, birds and other fauna on Philistine pottery is quite interesting. This is due to its rarity, its connections with decorative traditions in other pottery families (whether Aegean, Levantine or other), and the possible implications it has for understanding the worldview and cultural backgrounds of the Philistines. For those interested, get your hand on Linda’s PhD where she develops many of these topics!

Aren

On February 12, 2012, Nicola Terrenato will present a lecture entitled, "The Gabii Project Excavation in Central Italy: The Mystery of the ‘Lead Burrito’" for the local society of the Archaeological Institute of America in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. At the center of the talk is an unusual lead sarcophagus excavated at Gabii in July 2009. 

The abstract of Terrenato's talk is here.

The event will be held at 3.00pm at the University of Manitoba 
University College 237, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.

For information on the society, the lecture, or other questions about this event, contact the Winnipeg society of the AIA.

The call is out for applications to participate in the archaeological science field school, run by the Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science, Weizmann Institute, which will be held during the 2012 season at Tell es-Safi/Gath.

See Safi archaeological science field school_call for applicants_2012 for further information.

Check it out – it is a very interesting program and a wide range of topics are covered – and only a small group will be able to participate.

So, if you are interested, apply soon!

Aren

A short article on yours truly just appeared. See here.

Smile and enjoy!
:-)

Aren

Today, we had an opportunity to do some digging in the lab! As you may recall, last summer, in the excavation of Area D, we found a complete cooking pot in the 9th cent. destruction level, about 5 meters from the stone altar. The cooking pot and sediments inside it were removed from the excavation intact, and were taken to the lab.
Today, Dr. Udi Weiss (our archaeobotanist) came to the lab to “excavate” the sediments from within the cooking pot – in the hope of finding remains of the “last supper” of whoever lived in this building before it was destroyed.
As you can see in the pictures below, Udi excavated away at the sediments, and although he did not find a complete side of meat in the pot, he saved the fine sediments from within which will be sifted and hopefully, we may find evidence of what was cooked that last day in the pot!

Here are Udi and Shira as the excavation starts!

Here is a closeup of Udi removing the sediments from the pot

Here is the cooking pot almost empty…

And here it is after it was completely emptied!

Next time – perhaps we’ll find the recipes as well! :-)

Aren

After much to'ing-and-fro'ing to make sure that I didn't miss out on my daughter's high-school graduation, we've settled on our dates for the 2012 season, our fifth, at the Vicus ad Martis Tudertium site:

24 June - 21 July, 2012

Those include the initial Sunday and final Saturday to make sure that everyone realizes they have to get to Italy the day before we actually get our hands dirty and that the last Friday is a workday. As usual I'll be there a few days earlier to get things set up.

Interested in attending? Check out the project website. And don't forget that you don't have to be a student to join us! Adult participants are welcome to come for a week or more. Contact me for details or see the Visitors section of the website..

Oh, and we've got a nifty flier for this year too, as you can see.

The lure of built space under ground, especially when it is intact, is very powerful.  During the 2011 field season in Grid 47, the sewer we discovered wasn't the only subterranean architecture we uncovered. 

 

 

 

 

 

The first hint we had of this other architecture came during the 2010 when we found a smooth, plastered object on top of a foundation of cobble size stones which we suspected, but had no way of proving, was a cistern.  As is the case with all such intriguing objects, this one was stuck in the baulk.

You can see the architecture in question, along the dirt bualk on the right side of the picture, just to the right of the red block.

 

 

 

 

We decided to expand the grid prior to the 2011 season and this included the area to the east of the suspected plastered cistern.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That expansion meant we had to say good bye to our lovely winter garden but doing so would allow us to, we hoped, catch the eastern edge of the odeon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What we found was very interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

It looked like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then, when it was all cleaned up, it looked like this. 

Readers of the blog and diggers in Grid 47 will remember exactly what it is.  Everyone else will have to wait a little longer to learn what it is, what happened to it and how we have been excavating it.

 

 

Stay tuned for more...

I will say that much like the sewer, this object had volunteers clamoring to get inside.

In the last few months, Dina Castel, our pottery restorer, has been busy restoring the pottery from the 2010 and 2011 seasons in Area D. This assemblage, from the 9th cent. BCE destruction level (wrought by good ole Hazael), includes a wide variety of pottery types. Many of these vessels were found in the immediate vicinity of the horned altar which has been mentioned before.

Here are some pictures of Dina with the restored vessels and of a bunch of vessels being prepared for drawing.
Quite a nice bunch!

What can I say? This is nice stuff!

And if you join us this coming summer – you may have a chance to find such things yourself!

Aren

P.S. As some may have noticed – I corrected the dates of the seasons based on a comment from Todd Bolen…

While the registration is still going at a slow pace, we are starting to get a nice idea about some of the organized groups that will be joining the team this summer. As of now, we will have the following groups:

University of Melbourne – led by Louise Hitchcock
Yeshiva University – led by Jill Katz
University of Manitoba – led by Haskel Greenfield
Central Bible College – led by Mark Jenkins
William Jessup University – led by Cynthia Shafer-Eliot
A Korean group – led by MiYoung Im (and perhaps, another Korean group as well)
Bar-Ilan University – led by Aren Maeir
Weizmann Institute – led by Steve Weiner
Brigham Young University – led by Jeff Chadwick

In addition, various potential team members have been in touch about volunteering.

I believe we will have a great team this year – as in previous seasons.

And, please note – don’t hesitate to contact me if you have ANY questions about the project.

So do the only logical thing – join the 2012 team!!! :-)

Aren Maeir

Today, I was fortunate to be able to participate in a very interesting workshop on Iron Age I pottery from the Northwestern Negev, organized by Prof. Gunnar Lehmann (prof. as of yesterday!!), from Ben-Gurion University.
The workshop, which was held at Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, including two lectures (by David Ben-Shlomo on the Iron I materials from Tel Jemmeh; and by Mario Martin on a petrographic study of the pottery from the Iron I/II Negev Highland sites [with some very interesting results regarding the origin of the handmade "Negebite" pottery and the wheelmade ones as well]), and then a hands-on survey of a very nice selection of Iron I (and early IIA) pottery from a series of sites in the NW Negev, including:
Qubur el-Walayda; Tel Sera; Nahal Patish (and see here a description of our visit to this site a few years ago); Tel Jemmeh; Tell el-Farah (South); as well as a few other small sites in the general region.
The viewing of the assemblages demonstrated how micro-regional features are extremely important in analyzing pottery assemblages, and that each region (and subregion) has unique features and characteristics.
It was a fascinating and enriching day – and I hope we have many other such opportunities in the future.

Thanks to Gunnar!

Aren

Yesterday, Thursday, January 25th, a group of us visited the tell to take some samples for analysis from Area A. Alex, Louise, Steve Weiner, Elisabetta Boaretto, Yotam Asscher and some visitors from Australia came to the tell to take some samples for phytolith analysis and 14C dating from the early Iron Age levels in Area A (Louise’s area).
Since it has rained in the last few days, there was a lot puddle around the tell, but we were very lucky and had great weather. As usual, the views of the tell and the surroundings at this time of year are stupendous – and for those of you who only see it in the dry summer months – quite hard to believe.

Here are some pictures that I took yesterday:

A view of the tell from the north

Here are some of the group that was on the tell – all happy and cheerful!

Here is a view of the puddles in the squares in the eastern side of Area A – notice that so far, the balks are still standing not too badly!

Here is a view to the Bedouin camp just to the east of the tell

And here is Yotam – actually doing the work…

It’s always a pleasure to visit the site during the winter months!

Aren

Todd Bolen has blogged about Neot Kedumim and put up a great video clip about this fantastic place.

Neot Kedumim is a center where they try to recreate the nature and agriculture of biblical times – very well worth a visit!

Aren

Here are two more travel grant opportunities for those who would liek to join us:

ASOR - http://www.asor.org/fellowships/excavation.html

PEF - http://www.pef.org.uk/grants/

and don’t forget the BAS (already posted) and the AIA (posted earlier today).

 

For those of you thinking of joining us, and haven’t been on a dig yet – check out this grant opportunity:

http://www.archaeological.org/grants/708

Good luck!

 

By Jennifer Burley

The small collection of sculptures that we have from Calixtlahuaca reflects the diversity of sculpture production at the site.

(SS-00-01) A composite photograph of anthropomorphic heads, shown here, exemplifies the varying sizes and styles. The anthropomorphic body appears to be a common theme in sculptural representation.

(SS-00-04) In addition to heads, we also have a relatively large number of sculptures of clothing and body parts. The object in the upper left is part of a headdress, and the object in the upper right is a hand that could have held something. The hand would have been part of a seated anthropomorphic figure with the arms rested on his crossed knees. I was able to identify sculptures similar to both of these in local museums. The object on the bottom left, I believe, is a conical shaped headdress.

(SS-00-03) Many of the sculptures or fragments we have are unknown pieces; a large portion of these are badly damaged. This photograph clearly illustrates the varying styles, sizes, and types of rocks used in sculpture production.

Based on visual analysis, I would like to offer some preliminary conclusions. First, anthropomorphic figures make up nearly half of the collection. If we include heads, body parts, and clothing at least 10 of the 22 sculptures are of anthropomorphic figures. This percentage may be higher, as there were a number of the objects that I was unable to identify. This is indicative of a general interest in the body, either deities or human beings, or both. It is not possible to determine whether these sculptures represent humans or supernatural beings, since we do not have any intact pieces, and there are no defining marks of deities on any of them. Second, there is little uniformity in size, style, and type of stone used. This signifies that the sculptures were not obtained from an organized labor or distribution source. The quality and lack of uniformity reflect local, rather than imperial-style production. Although there are examples of later imperial-style sculptures found at the site, such as the Calixtlahuaca Ehecatl, these were displayed in large-scale ceremonial contexts, while common people likely utilized locally made, cruder sculptures in their homes.

References

Garcia Payón, José. 1936. La Zona Arqueológica de Tecaxic-Calixtlahuaca y los Matlatzincas. México: Talleres Gráficos de la Nación.

Umberger, Emily. 2007. “Historia del arte e Imperio Azteca: la evidencia de las esculturas.” Revista Española de Antropología Americana 37.2: 165-202.

Angela Huster

I just finished up six months in the lab in Toluca. For the past four and a half of those (every since the end of the summer lab season, which I was also here for), I was collecting data for my dissertation project. Most of what I was doing was a more detailed recording of a sample of the ceramics from each of our domestic contexts (each chronological phase for each house or midden). I was recording number of more detailed attributes than our general ceramic classification covers, for an average of eight data points for each of five thousand sherds. These included details of vessel and rim form, rim diameter and percentage, slipping, particular decorative motifs, molcajete (grinding bowl) patterns, and paste type. At the same time, I was selecting a random sample from each context to export for INAA analysis.

I will be using the combination of the project’s basic ceramic classification, my attribute analysis, and the INAA results to investigate a number of changes resulting from the Aztec conquest of Calixtlahuaca. These include changes in the food preparation and serving vessel forms present in household assemblages (such as the comals discussed in an earlier post), changes in items used in household ritual, such as incense burners, and changes in the types and sources of imported ceramics. Stay posted for further updates as I start the number-crunching stage of analysis…

Just before Christmas I received two boxes of artifacts, sent FedEx from Mexico. We exported a bunch of potsherds, obsidian tools, and charcoal for various technical analyses. Angela was working in the lab all fall, so she had the honor of lugging these boxes to Mexico City and hassling out the final steps of paperwork. To get artifacts out of Mexico, we have to document them thoroughly (with catalogs, descriptions, drawings, photos, etc.) and then convince the Mexican archaeology authorities that we are doing rigorous analyses and have a valid reason for exporting artifacts. Once they approve, officials have to seal up the boxes, and obtain the export forms for Mexican and U.S. Customs. Then someone (Angela in this case!) has to get the material either to the U.S. directly (by car or plane), or to a FedEx office for shipping.

So, now we will submit 20 or 30 charcoal samples for accelerator radiocarbon dating at the University of Arizona; we will send sherds off to Jenny Meanwell for thin sectioning and petrographic analysis (see Angela's post on selecting this sample), and Adrian Burke will get a shipment of obsidian for sourcing using X-Ray flourescence.

We sampled a couple of nearby obsidian sources that are not well documented in the literature in 2010. I thought we had a blog post on this sampling, but it looks like in all the haste and activity at the end of the lab season, no one got around to writing this up. I guess we were so overwhelmed at visiting the Otomi Ceremonial Center that everyone forgot that we only saw that place because we were in the area looking for obsidian. We found a hill completely covered with obsidian. It was wild, which is why I am having such fun in the nice photo that Brad took of me that day. Unfortunately, Brad and Adrian don't think that we have much obsidian from this source, which is pretty low quality material. But we did get source samples and the chemistry will tell......

Brent Davis, senior member of the Univ. of Melbourne team at Tell es-Safi/Gath (and Louise Hitchcock’s chief assistant) has informed my (and sent me a pdf) of an article of his that was just published, discussing the possible use of Cypro-Minoan writing in Philistia.

Briefly put, after reviewing the relevant evidence from Philistia and beyond, Brent is rather sceptical regarding suggestions to ID Cypro-Minoan inscriptions from Philistia, in particular regarding the inscription from Ashkelon that Cross and Stager published in 2006 in IEJ (mentioned here).

As Brent is one of the leading experts in the field of Aegean writing systems, his input and perspectives on this issue is important, since much of what has been written on this topic has been written by people who were not bona fide experts on this topic.

The article is entitled: Davis, B. 2011. Cypro-Minoan in Philistia. Kubaba 2: 40–74.

Very interesting – and a very important study on the topic of early Philistine language and literacy, of which we know so little.

Way to go Brent!

Aren

A very nice journalistic piece has just appeared on the use of archaeological science at Tell es-Safi/Gath and other sites, with interviews with Steve Weiner (WIS) and yours truly.

Aren

Since I have not posted recently, I thought it time to post on something completely out of the blue, only vaguely connected to Safi (one has to do this once in a while…).
A few years ago, one of the volunteer team members on the dig (and I apologize for having forgotten who it was – I’ll gladly add the name of who it was, if this can be provided – UPDATE – my “senior moment” noted above has been circumvented! Louise Hitchcock has reminded me that it was VAIA LIOUSAS, from the Univ. of Melbourne team – THANKS VAIA!!!), visited Syria right before coming to Israel for the excavations. To my surprise and enjoyment, she was nice enough to bring me a can of cola from Syria! Most amusingly, it turned out that the popular local cola beverage in Syria is called “Ugarit Cola” – named after the well-known ancient site in NW Syria – Ugarit/Ras Shamra.
In light of the very difficult news that we have been hearing from Syria in the last few months, I can just hope that in the near future things will be peaceful – and perhaps even if there is a regime change – might we even wish for peace between Israel and Syria, and then I could even go and get my own can of “Ugarit Cola”!
In any case, here is a picture of the can – and I decided to put it with a background of one of the original reports on the first French excavations (by C.F.A. Schaeffer) at Ugarit (Schaeffer, C. F. A. 1962. Ugaritica IV. Mission de Ras Shamra XV. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale):


And now, that we have made a connection between Safi and Ugarit, hopefully in the future seasons we will find actual material evidence of this at Tell es-Safi/Gath…
:-)
Aren

P.S. I have not yet opened the can – so I don’t really know how it tastes…

Louise Hitchcock has kindly uploaded to YouTube a video (taken by her husband Brian two weeks ago) giving a 360 degree panoramic view of Tell es-Safi/Gath and its surroundings, taken from the summit of the upper tell. The clip starts and ends from the north and gives a view, in the following order:
Ekron, Ramleh, Beth Shemesh area, Elah Valley, Sephelah and Judean hills, Maresha and Beth Guvrin, Lachish region, Tel Zayit region, Qiryat Gath region, Ashkelon, Qiryat Malachi, Ashdod, nearby power station, Kibbutz Kfar Menachem.

The clip gives a nice perspective on the importance of the viewpoints from the site and why it was so important a site in so many periods.

The clip was taken on the modern outlook point on the top of the tell, which was built above the remains of the Crusader castle, Blanch Garde.

Thanks Louise and Brian!

Aren

The restoration of the pottery from Area is turning out a very nice assemblage of Iron IIA pottery, including new types that we have not seen in previous contexts from this period. This includes many nice Late Philistine Decorated Ware pottery, as well as many bowls, jars, jugs, cooking pots, etc. Also we have a few very unusual vessels, such as several which have holes as a spaghetti strainer! It seems that the assemblage will be a very nice addition to the large assemblage from this period that we already have – mainly in Area A.

Needless to say, the context is of interest as well – found in the area of the stone altar – and perhaps will help us understand activities in this area.

In addition to the inscription on the jar reported a while ago, yesterday we may have found another inscribed ceramic object – but this needs further clarification before we can be sure about this. More details will follow when possible…

Here’s a picture of a complete cooking pot in situ in Area D – several more of this type – which becomes particularly common in the 8th cent. BCE – have now emerged from the pottery restoration carried out by or resorator Dina Castel.

:-)

Aren

Unexcavated but not forgotten, the sewer in Grid 47 stands ready for exploration.  If only we had a good reason to go in and a safe way to investigate this truly remarkable discovery.

My argument for why we should excavate the Roman period sewer discovered during the 2011 season -- "Because it's cool!" -- didn't persuade anyone to let us dig it but yours might.

This is your chance to win an ice coffee, or non-alcoholic beverage of your choice, from the Dan Gardens Hotel as well as fame and glory in our informal "Because It's Cool!" I Want to Excavate the Sewer Contest.

It's simple really.  In 1000 words or less describe how we can explore the sewer without putting a person inside.  Your proposal should include why you think the sewer is worth exploring, your plan, the equipment and/or technology required to implement it and the approximate cost of your plan.  The lucky winner may, just may, see their plan put into action.

Mail your plan to tracy@digashkelon.com.

Entries are due by March 31st and the winner will be announced on May 1st. 

 

 

Be creative!  Be inspired!  And find me a way to get into the sewer!  I'm ready to see where it goes!

 

Christina Bregard is our first volunteer for the 2012 season!  this is not only exciting because of our first volunteer, but because Christina was with us for both the 2011 Spring and Summer season, and is not only great in the field but also a great person and a lot of fun to have with us.  here is a picture of christina enjoying her time on the dig.

Great to have you back Christina!

Shira Gur-Arieh has informed me that there is a new series on Israeli TV called “Yehefim” (= Barefoot), which is about life in a kibbutz. It is filmed on location at Kibbutz Revadim, where the Tell es-Safi/Gath team stays during the season.

See here a clip from the film in which one of the main characters shoots and kills a peacock – the same peacocks that drive us all crazy during the season! I’m sure you remember – the peacocks that continuously say “Lior! Lior!”

Finally – someone with a real solution!
:-)

And if you watch the clip to the end, there are some nice views of the landscape around the kibbutz.

But please – don’t think of also shooting them this summer – it won’t be appreciated (or legal)…

Aren

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

Madison Square Garden can seat 20,000 people for a concert. This blog was viewed about 66,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Madison Square Garden, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Well today, I received the first registration forms and payment for one of the volunteer team members in the coming 2012 summer season. While some of you may be thinking: “why only now?” – I see this as the indication of a soon to appear massive flood of applications! I have my rain gear on – send ‘em! :-)

Remember – if you won’t be there this summer when we find all the goodies – you may never forgive yourself for missing out on this opportunity!

Just to get an idea, here’s a couple of pictures what it looks and feels like to find something nice as you are digging:

Would you like to have your picture taken in a similar situation???

See you in July!

Aren

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 12,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

News is emerging of a possible “Cairo Geniza” like find in Afghanistan. What may be a large repository of scrolls dating to about 1000 CE may have been found in Afghanistan, and if so, may have important ramifications for the study of Medieval Jewry specifically, and Central Asia in general at the time. Quite exciting!

Fun fact – did you know that the earliest known written document in Yiddish was supposedly found in the Cairo Geniza??

Being that this may be an exciting find – I guess we will have to find at Tell es-Safi/Gath this summer the equivalent of a Genizah – a favissa (a cultic repository; see here about the Yavneh favissa)!

Aren

Here’s wishing a Happy New Year to all.

And for those of you who will be drinking themselves silly on this occasion, here’s a picture of a Philistine drinking set, including a spouted strainer jug and bowl.

Le-chaim!

:-)

Aren

As I mentioned yesterday, Gabi Barkay today gave a talk at BIU at the Jerusalem conference of the Rennert Center in which he spoke about a group of bullae which save for one, all derived from the antiquities market. While those of you who are interested will have to buy the conference proceedings to read more, the gist of Gabi’s quite brilliant idea is to connect between a group of fiscal bullae, with a formula “placename LMLK” to the fiscal system during the reign of Manasseh. He suggests that even some of Manasseh’s regnal dates appear on some of these bulla!
If Gabi is correct, this is quite fantastic, as it provides a previously unknown system for another of the Judahite kings. Also, if correct, it raised additional questions regarding Oded Lifschutz et al. suggestions on the continuation of the use of the LMLK stamps into the early 7th cent. BCE.
Really nice – and that what makes archaeology so much fun! Exciting new finds and interpretations all the time!

Aren

Yesterday (Wed.) evening, there was a very nice event in honor of the Eretz Israel volume in honor of Amnon Ben-Tor. It was held at Yad Ben Zvi in Jerusalem. Many of the “archaeological crowd” in Israel came to event and there were several very moving talks by Amnon’s friends and colleagues – as well as by Amnon himself.
I got my own personal hard copy of the volume and managed to glance at the quite impressive collection of very important articles on a wide range of topics relating to the Bronze and Iron Ages, mainly in the Levant but extending to other regions as well.
There were a few articles by Safi people, including Louise and your’s truly article on Philistine hearths, Itzik Shai and Philistine circumcision and Joe Uziel on MB and LB figurines.
On the way home from the meeting I managed to get a preview of what Gabi Barkay will be talking about in the Rennert Center Jerusalem meeting, which will be held today at BIU, and it is VERY interesting! I’ll let him be the first to discuss the details, but he has some VERY important insights on fiscal bullae, some published already and one new one. The full details will have to wait – and will definitely be worth the wait!!!!

Aren

Yes, it can happen - a geographic convergence of sorts, Gabines coming to the hills of Rome. This was the case on the evening of Saturday, July 9, 2011, when the American Academy in Rome and the University of Michigan's Office of Development hosted a reception for friends of the Gabii Project in the Academy's Bass Garden. Welcoming the group were project director Nicola Terrenato, Brodie Remington from the Office of Development, and T. Corey Brennan, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor-in-Charge of the School of Classical Studies at the American Academy. The welcome highlighted the strengths of the University of Michigan and its tradition of Roman studies and Classical archaeology, as well as the ties between the two institutions. After a discussion in the garden about the aims of the Gabii Project, the group adjourned to the Casa Rustica on the Academy's grounds for a visit with the lead sarcophagus excavated at Gabii in 2009. It was a lovely evening - with perfect weather - and the Gabii Project is grateful to its friends and supporters for coming out to share in both a lovely evening in Rome and in our fieldwork outcomes.

Yesterday, I received my “hard copy” of the new BAR “dig issue” in the mail. As mentioned previously, on the cover there is a great picture of Mike Ellingsen and the stone altar from Tell es-Safi/Gath, inside there is a piece that I wrote about the altar and its significance (with nice pictures of the altar and Merav Levmore from our team), and also, we noticed that there is a picture of Dr. Elisabetta Boaretto (Lisa) from the Weizmann Institute, taking samples from an Iron Age Philistine hearth at Tell es-Safi/Gath (on p. 20).
And, of course, there is the list with the upcoming digs this summer, including Tell es-Safi/Gath.

Not to bad PR for the dig – and all in one issue…

Aren

Louise Hitchcock visited the tell yesterday with her husband Brian who came to Israel for a short visit. Due to the fact that it rained quite hard on this past weekend, the tell and its surroundings were quite muddy. Louise has posted on Facebook a clip of her driving on the dirt road that goes from the eastern side of the tell (below Areas A and E) around the northern side. For those of you who may remember what this area looks like in the summer (rather dry…), the view may seem quite surprising!

Thanks Louise!

Aren

Today we celebrated Dina Castel’s birthday in the lab. Dina, as many of you know, is our pottery restorer, and is currently restoring scores of vessels from Area D – including the jar with the inscription (which it turns out we have almost all the fragments!).
Here is a picture of Dina and “Ahmed” cutting the cake!

Happy Birthday Dina!

Aren

The Gabii Project will be well represented at the upcoming meetings of the Archaeological Institute of America to be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The AIA will convene January 6-8, 2012, at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown (1201 Market Street · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107 USA). 

The following Gabii Project presentations are planned:

• Friday, January 6, 2012, 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM. Rachel Opitz, Anna Gallone, Marcello Mogetta, and Nicola Terrenato. "The Gabii Project: the 2011 season" in AIA Poster session 2J 
• Sunday, January 8, 2012, 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM: Anna Gallone. "The Use of Lead in Central Italian Funerary Contexts: The New Evidence from Gabii" in Paper session 7B (Roman Funerary Images and Ritual) 

Also on Friday, January 6, material related to the Gabii Project will be presented in a colloquium session focused on 'Comparative Urbanism in the Ancient Mediterranean World.' In that session, organized by Jeffrey Becker and Jamie Sewell, material relevant to Gabii will be part of papers by Becker ("Storied pasts? Archaic and Republican Urbanism Compared"), Marcello Mogetta ("Urban Villages: Comparing Iron Age Settlement Structure in Greece and Italy") and in the discussion offered and moderated by Nicola Terrenato.

We hope to see many of our Gabii Project friends and alums in Philadelphia!

Tomorrow afternoon, as part of the departmental seminar of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University, I will be giving a talk on recent finds from Tell es-Safi/Gath. I’ll be reviewing and discussing major finds over the last few seasons.

The talk starts at 4:15.

Update: The talk was very well-received and there was a very nice discussion afterwards!

Aren

Today I participated in a meeting at the offices of the central district of the Nature and Parks Authority (which is located on Tel Aphek/Antipatris). I presented to the participants the finds and future plans of the excavations and how both sides can work together.
In particular, we spoke about the need to work together to stop plans to build a wide road running in the Elah Valley, right next to the northern side of the tel, which would connect to Route 6 (the “Trans-Israel Highway”). If this should come to fruition, not only would this be a serious eyesore and have a very negative impact on the nature and landscape in the region, it would directly damage the northern parts of the site!
I do hope that this planned road can be shot down! Over the last 15 years, the idea has periodically come up, and I hope that it will be buried once again!!

Here is a view from Route 6, looking east, towards the tell – this is the area which potentially would be damaged by such a road:

Aren

For many volunteers, the expenses of joining a dig make it difficult .  However, there are several funding opportunities that can help your way to Tel Burna.  here is the one such scholarship:

“BAS offers scholarships of $1,000 every year to a few people who would otherwise not be able to volunteer. To apply, simply send a letter to BAS Dig Scholarships, 4710 41st St., NW, Washington, DC 20016, or send it by e-mail to bas@bib-arch.org, stating who you are, where and why you want to dig—and why you should be selected for a scholarship. We require your mailing address, phone number, e-mail and the names, addresses and phone numbers of two references. Applications must be received by March 15″

Two days ago, I mentioned how playing with Photoshop with pictures of the inscription from Area D did wonders. I was immediately swamped with requests to show pictures of the inscription!

Since I am a nice guy, and in the spirit of the holidays (Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza, etc.), I decided to post something that will at least partially fulfill these requests (and will whet the appetite for more… :-).

So:

Since I already had mentioned in a previous post that there is a very nice “mem” in the inscription, here is a picture of the “mem” before and after the Photoshop manipulation!

For those of you who are familiar with the chronological typology of the Hebrew alphabet, you’ll see that this fits in very well with other 9th/early 8th cent. inscriptions.

This is the “pre-Photoshop” “mem”

And this is the “post-Photoshop” “mem”

Quite a difference!!!!

And that is all for now…

Aren

Today, I brought to the lab in BIU a few things that had come back from the conservation lab.

In addition to the jar fragments with the inscription mentioned yesterday (and today we found some additional fragments of this jar in the pottery restoration – but without any more writing), there were several interesting objects. This includes a group of metal objects, including several arrowheads and a blade, as well as several other objects, which were all fused together. These objects had all been found 4 seasons ago in Area D, in the 9th cent. destruction level (not far from where we found the altar this year) within a beautiful “Late Philistine Decorated Ware” jug (which is also being restored now).

This is a picture of a group of the Late Philistine Decorated Ware (from Area A, but from the same destruction level)

And here is a picture of Shira Gur Arieh and yours truly excavating the jug with the metal objects during the 2008 season. Due to the large quantity of finds that were taken out that day (and that we did not want to leave complete vessels exposed overnight for fear that they would be stolen), we had to work in the afternoon and even after sundown, so we put on headlamps to be able to remove the last objects (including the jug with the metal objects group) from the ground.
Too many finds… :-)

Very interesting find! While its meaning and function is not yet clear, it might very well be related to a cultic/religious function if connected to the altar and its vicinity.

This definitely warrants further study!

Aren

For all those of you who couldn’t take the wait – the registration forms are here – click below or the link on the left!

http://telburna.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/2012_information_registration_package.pdf

 

Thanks to Charlie Draper’s heads-up (who is a 2011 Safi team member), I would like to point out the great picture that appears on the cover of the new, “Dig Issue” of Biblical Archaeology Review – a great picture of Mike Ellingsen, long-time team member and square supervisor in Area F, and doctoral candidate at Trinity International University! And not to mention – Mike is giving the stone altar a very friendly hug! :-)

In addition, inside the dig issue, as a sidebar to the listings of the upcoming digs this summer (including, of course, the July 1-27 excavations at Safi), there is a piece that I wrote about the excavation and significance of the new altar that we found, along with two very nice fotos (including a picture of Merav Levmore, assistant supervisor in Area D, next to the altar during the excavations).

All in all, that is what I call – GREAT PR FOR THE DIG!!!

Aren

Today, I used a very nifty tool in Photoshop (Photoshop CS4, version 11.0) to make an inscription much clearer!
As you may recall, I previously mentioned that we found an ink inscription (and next to it part of an inked-design) on the fragments of a storage jar that was found in Area D, this last season (2011), right next to the stone altar.
The inscription was just returned to me from the conservation lab, where it was cleaned and now the inscription is a bit clearer – but not clear enough.
So – what did I do? I took a regular picture of the inscription (without special lighting, just natural), opened it in Photoshop and then by playing with the “Hue and Saturation” function (under Image : Adjustments) I managed to make the inked inscription stand out astoundingly – almost as if I had taken pictures using an Infra-Red lens! The difference was quite impressive. So much so, that I suggest that everyone who deals with an inscription should do this – even if you have no in-depth knowledge of photography and/or Photoshop!

And no – I’m not going to tell you what it says in the inscription (it is very brief)!

And yes – this is a bit of tease! But hey – you gotta have some fun once in a while…
:-)

Aren

P.S. It’s quite clear that additional fragments of this jar may be found in the coming season! So, if you want to join the fun – here is your chance!

With the news that Kim Jong Il, the dictator of North Korea, has died, I can but hope and pray that this will not be an excuse for the “somewhat” deranged North Korean leadership to revert to violent actions against neighboring South Korea!

I can but wish only the safety and security to our past and future Korean team members, and their family, friends, etc.!

Who knows, perhaps the apparent heir to the leadership of North Korea, Kim Jong Il’s son, Kim Jong Un, will decide to change the country’s policy and rejoin the family of nations?! Perhaps his experiences in the west when he was younger (and the fact that he is an NBA fan…), might just do this. One can hope and pray!

Aren

On Thursday, I participated in a workshop, organized by the IAA and the Institute of Archaeology of the HU, which dealt with times of crisis. Various papers were presented, dealing with Prehistoric, Bronze/Iron Ages and the Roman periods.
Yours truly gave a paper on how I understand the process of transformation between the LB and Iron Ages, with particularly focus on the Sea Peoples and the Philistines.
I started by pointing out that many of the “explanations” on the Sea Peoples/Philistines over the last decades are overly simplistic – both the classical “conservative” ones, as well as the newer, at times “iconoclastic” suggestions. I brought various examples of this to accentuate the problem.
I then suggested that perhaps we need to look for more multi-faceted explanatory frameworks, which would enable us to envision more complicated processes and situations. I particularly suggested that explanatory frameworks such as those recently suggested by Philipp Stockhammer and others (“Entanglement/Verflechtung”) and Louise Hitchcock (“Transculturalism”) may help move out of what seems to be an impasse in the understanding of these complicated processes.
I definitely think this is a direction worthwhile exploring.

Aren

Aren

Today I received a PDF of a chapter by Bob Mullins and yours truly on
the Tell el-Yahudiyeh ware pottery from Beth Shean and the Central Jordan
Valley, which is about to appear in one of the Tell el-Daba excavation
report volumes.

The paper is entitled:
Maeir, A. M., and Mullins, R. 2011. The Tell el-Yaduhiyeh Ware from Beth
Shean and the Central Jordan Valley. Pp. 577–89 in Tell el-Daba VIII: The
Tell el-Yahudiyeh Ware and Its Classification, D. Aston and M. Beitak.
Denkschriften der Gesamtakademie Untersuchungen der Zweigstelle Kairo des
Österreichischen Archäologischen Instituts. Vienna: Austrian Academy of
Sciences.

Nothing to do with Tell es-Safi/Gath, Philistines, etc., but nevertheless – interesting!

Best,
Aren

Well, the Tell Edfu 2011 season is over. We packed up our calipers and trowels and headed back to the US December 10. Now it's time to ink the pottery drawings, digitize the profile drawings, and start analyzing the small finds (like the several hundred seal impressions we found)- there's plenty of work for the next 10 months!

If you'd like to help us for future digs, please click here! We want to thank all of our wonderful backers- without you, this project would not be possible! We would also like to thank the SCA and our inspector Osama for making this a productive and successful season.

We thank you for following us on our journey and hope you'll join us next year!
- The 2011 Edfu Team

See this view on archaeological activities (“entering ruins”) from the Babylonian Talmud – makes one think… :-)

Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berakhot, 3:a-b
Our Rabbis taught: there are three reasons why one must not go into a ruin: because of suspicion, of falling debris and of demons. — [It states] ‘Because of suspicion’. It would be sufficient to say, because of falling debris’? — When the ruin is new. But it would be sufficient to say: ‘because of demons’? — When there are two people. If there are two people, then there is no suspicion either? — When both are licentious [there is suspicion]. — [It states] ‘Because of falling debris’. It would be sufficient to say: ‘because of suspicion and demons’? — When there are two decent people. [It states] ‘Because of demons’. It would be sufficient to say; ‘because of suspicion and falling debris’? — When there are two decent people going into a new ruin. But if there are two, then there is no danger of demons either? — In their haunt there is danger. If you like I can say, indeed the reference is to one man and to a new ruin which was situated in the fields; in which case there is no suspicion, for a woman would not be found in the fields, but the danger of demons does exist.

Ahem!

Aren

The third edition of my book, The Aztecs, is now out. I just received my advance copies; it should be available for purchase in about a month (although you can go ahead and order it now!). Calixtlahuaca is discussed in a number of places in the book, and there are some photos and drawings from our project.

I managed to get a photo of Calixtlahuaca on the cover of my book, Aztec City-State Capitals (2008). For the new edition of The Aztecs, the cover shows the nice double-stair pyramid of Teopanzolco in Cuernavaca.

Louise Hitchcock was interviewed for the radio show “Landminds” by the hosts Barnea Selavan and David Willner (whose intelligent and well-informed questions and discussions stand out as an excellent example of how journalism SHOULD be done!), and Louise talks about her research in general and her work and ideas about the excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath – in particular her views on the Philistine culture, its origins, and significance.

Click here for the first part of the interview and here is the 2nd part of the interview.

Check it out! Very nice interview.

Aren

Today, Louise Hitchcock and Josephine (Jo) Verducci, from the Univ. of Melbourne team to Safi, came to the lab in BIU.

Louise came to go over (with Alex and yours truly), some of the pottery baskets from the early Iron Age levels in the part of Area A that Louise supervises. We did in fact re-read this pottery and saw a nice amount of LB (including Mycenaean and Cypriote imports), earliest Iron I (including Myc IIIC) and mid-Iron I (including Philistine Bichrome). It seems quite sure that in the next season (or maximum two), they will be excavating levels of the very beginning of the Iron Age with substantial Myc IIIC pottery

Jo on the other hand came to the lab to start looking at the Iron Age jewelry from the site, as part of her PhD on Philistine jewelry. In particular, she was looking at the jewelry from the Iron I tomb that was excavated in Area T a few years ago, which we are now in the midst of preparing a comprehensive, final publication (for a preliminary study of some of the finds from this tomb, see the article mentioned here).

T’was an interesting day!

Aren

Thanks to Stephen Savage and Eric Cline, here is a must read – if you want to truly understand what archaeology and archaeologists are all about!

:-)

Enjoy!
Aren

As the days are getting colder (this morning it is 50 degrees Fahrenheit / 10 degrees Celsius here, the same temperature as in Chicago!) we are getting near the end of our 2011 season. Our last day on the tell will be on Thursday, December 8th. During the next few days we will be busy in packing up everything on site and do the last drawings and recordings. Natasha, Janelle and Lindsey are taking care of the large amount of pottery sherds which will be packed according to their respective archaeological contexts in plastic bags and cardboard boxes before getting put into the pylon of the temple which is their temporary storage location until we come back next year. Greg and Hratch are finalizing work at the pyramid, mapping the structure with our Total Station equipment and finishing the cleaning work along the northern side. Meanwhile the guards' house is also almost ready and once we have left, guards will be stationed there to protect the site. Kat and Nadine will be going to the magazine at Elkab tomorrow in order to take the last boxes of small finds (mainly animal bones and some stone and clay tools) where they will be stored for future study.

Today we have two site visits: The Chicago House team is coming for their annual visit and we are all really excited to have them as our guests and show them the results from this season. Our kitchen staff, led by our Chef Mohamed is also pretty excited, they have been preparing today's lunch since last night! There is somewhat of a competition between Mohamed and Tayeb, the Chef from Chicago House....
We will also have a group of tourists from Ancient World Tours (AWT) visiting the site today which is in fact our first official visit this year. We are looking forward to show them the site including the silo court and underlying columned hall of the late Middle Kingdom administrative complex. Since it is only a small group, Osama (our inspector from the Edfu inspectorate) gave us the permission to take them up on the tell which is a real advantage for any site visit.

As previously mentioned, Louise Hitchcock, leader of the Univ. of Melbourne team at Safi, presented a very nice lecture at the Albright Institute this evening, to a packed room of listeners.
Louise, after introducing herself, the excavations at Safi and other things (including several pictures of the Australian ambassador[s]), gave a very nice talk in which she presented her understanding of the Philistine/Sea Peoples processes in general, and how the finds from early Iron Age Tell es-Safi/Gath and in particular from Area A where her team is digging can be used to understand these, and other processes.
In particular, she discussed her ideas about seeing the Philistine/Sea Peoples cultural processes as a process of “Transculturalism” (or “multivocality”), in which the many cultural influences seen in the Sea Peoples’ cultures are taken into account, whether foreign, local, and the various intermixes of this.
In particular, she presented finds from Area A which she believes are of ritual/symbolic meaning, and how these finds can inform us about the processes of the creation of the Philistine identity during the Early Iron Age.
For those of you interested in reading some of the issues that she discussed, you can look at her paper that is about to be published:
Hitchcock, L. A. 2011. ‘Transculturalism’ as a Model for Examining Migration to Cyprus and Philistia at the End of the Bronze Age. Ancient West and East 10: 267–80.

I enjoyed the talk very much – and believe that Louise laid the groundwork for some very interesting studies, in relationship to the understanding of the finds from the Tell es-Safi/Gath excavations, the Sea Peoples/Philistine “question”, the LB/Iron Age transition, and general conceptions on cultural interaction and change.

Hooah Louise!!

:-)

Aren

After some silence on our blog due to internet connectionproblems, we are back on track now with our regular updates on the work at TellEdfu. Everything is very quiet here in Edfu and we are continuing our work asusual. On Friday we were joined by our photographer Julia Schmied who usuallyworks at Chicago House for most of their season (thanks to Ray Johnson we canhave her for a week working with us). Juli is in charge of taking photos of allthe small finds especially the sealings. Those are often difficult to see withthe naked eye and good photos are necessary for any further study of them.

As reported in our last blog entry, excavation work on thetell stopped last Thursday and the current activities focus in different areassince Saturday:

2.    At the tell work focuses on the analysis of thepottery from the silo / columned hall area by Natasha and Janelle with Lindseyhelping wherever an extra hand is needed. Valerie is in charge of the OldKingdom material newly discovered this season.

3.    Kat and Nadine are spending most of these daysin the magazine at Elkab studying the hundreds of sealings found during theprevious seasons while Juli is using the dark room there to take the photos. 

Valerie and Magdy working on the Old Kingdom pottery

Stephen Savage (thanks Stephen) has pointed out a very important review of the careers and achievements of some of the leading figures in the field of archaeology.
Clearly, this is a well-written, judicious and important contribution for those interested in defining the leading figures in our profession, delve into the history of modern research, and more fully understand the sociology of science…

:-)

Aren

This is the second week that Kat and Nadine have been working on the analysis of all the clay sealings found during the excavations of the late Middle Kingdom administrative building and the silo court. There are over 1500 sealings currently stored in the magazine of Elkab!!! Now that we are more familiar with  the motifs and inscriptions that occur at Edfu, it is possible to identify even the smallest fragments of the seal impressions. Another major focus has been the correct identification of the backtypes, whether the sealings were originally attached to wooden boxes, doors, bags, baskets and papyrus letters. We identified many peg sealings which usually form the majority of backtypes at other sites but we can further distinguish between round and square pegs of different sizes that were closing wooden boxes and doors. There is also a relatively high number of basket and bag sealings present while the papyrus seals are the least frequent type. Another surprise was to find a sealing of Sobekhotep IV (mid 13th Dynasty) with his paternal affiliation, so far we only had several sealings naming his mother.
The two of us are able to analyze about 160 to 200 sealings a day and the iPads have been a very useful tool for recording the details. This work should be finished by the end of the week.  

Nadine and Kat working in the magazine with the iPads

Thisproject, which is directed by Gregory Marouard is closely linked to the TellEdfu Project and has the objective of cleaning and protecting the lastunexplored pyramid which belongs to a group of small provincial step pyramids.  Like the other six known examples thisstep pyramid was built at the end of the 3rd Dynasty or at the very early 4thDynasty at the latest (reign of Huni to Snofru). Each pyramid is situated near a major provincial center (Elephantine, Edfu, Hierakonpolis, Naqada etc.). None of these monuments had a funerary purpose (there is noburial chamber or pit) but it seems to have had a symbolic function linked tothe cult of the royal ka or acting as a marker for the royal power in theprovinces.

The fastgrowing village nearby and ever expanding cemetery near this site have hadmuch impact on its preservation. At the moment the site is alsothreatened by the construction of a new gas pipeline. These reasons haveconducted us to take action and start this rescue project.

Cleaning work started one week ago and withthe help of 40 workers, Greg and Aurelie have been able to clear already a large part of the structurefrom the sand and rubble that was covering it.  This work progressed much faster than initially assumed. 

The pyramid before the cleaning work started

Thesuperstructure measures 18.5 m along its sides and still reaches a height ofabout 6 m, which is about half of its original height. The angles and the threesteps of the structure are now visible. The foundations have been reached alongthe western half of the southern face revealing six layers of well-cut stoneblocks which are in fact the original face of this pyramid and which are perfectlywell preserved. Some graffiti have been noticed which will be studied in depthby Hratch Papazian who joined our team on Thursday.

The southern face on Thursday

Thecleaning work will continue for another week in order to expose the wholemonument and conduct some careful cleaning along the base of the pyramid inorder to check for any possible associate structures of mud-brick.

At the same time we are helping the localinspectorate to finish the building of a small hut for the guards who will bepermanently stationed at the site for its protection when we are gone. Nextseason we are planning to focus on the conservation – restoration aspect of thismonument including a long-term site management plan if funding permits. TheEdfu pyramid is still available for adoption!

The cleaning of the pyramid in progress

On Thursday afternoon (4 pm), December 1st, 2011, Louise Hitchcock, long-term senior team member of the Tell es-Safi/Gath team (and leader of the University of Melbourne team at the excavations) will be presenting a lecture at the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem (26 Salah ed-Din st., Jerusalem).
The lecture is entitled: “The Philistine Remains at Tell es-Safi/Gath and their Regional and Transcultural Connections with the Aegean and Cyprus”. In this lecture, Louise will discuss the finds relating to the Philistine culture that have been found at Tell es-Safi/Gath and their implications for understanding the development and relations with other cultures and regions in the eastern Mediterranean.
If you are interested in listening to this lecture, do get in touch with the Albright Institute to inform them that you will be coming to the lecture.

Here is a picture of Louise (with the green shirt) and some of the members of the Melbourne team, standing around an early Iron Age I Philistine garbage pit (it is quite astounding what it takes to make archaeologists happy!)…

Aren

So today is quite a productive day, as in addition to the article mentioned in the last post, I received today as well the pdf of another article that was just published:
Maeir, A. M., and Hitchcock, L. 2011. Absence Makes the Hearth Grow Fonder: Searching for the Origins of the Philistine Hearth. Eretz Israel (A. Ben-Tor Volume) 30: 46*-64*.
In this article, Louise Hitchcock and I discuss the appearance of hearths in the early Iron Age at Philistine sites. We also discuss the various types of hearths, their origins, and suggest various issues relating to the origin of the Philistines and the development of their culture.

Here is a picture of Elisabetta Boaretto and Shira Gur Arieh sampling one of the hearths from Area A.

Aren

P.S. I’m sure you also noted that rather cute pun in the title…
I’ll guess I’ll have to have a few hearth to hearth talks about this…

A new article on the finds from Tell es-Safi/Gath has just been published. The article, written by Adi Eliyahu-Behar and 8 other scholars (including yours truly) deals with a metallurgical production location found two years ago at Tell es-Safi/Gath. This production location (a “smithy”) dates to the Iron Age IIA and is located in Area A right next to the Iron I/IIA temple (with the two columns – see for example here). The uniqueness of this feature is, inter alia: 1) it is the first such feature found in Iron Age Philistia; 2) its proximity to the temple; 3) that both Bronze and Iron objects were produced at this location (usually, these two technologies are not found in the same location).
For those of you interested in the biblical text, the discovery of metallurgical remains in early Iron Age Philistia is interesting in relationship to I Sam 13:19-23, which some scholars believe implied a Philistine monopoly on Iron production. If this text does reflect early Iron Age times, it should be noted that it does not have to be understood as implying an actual monopoly. Not to mention that there is evidence of metal production from Israelite sites, such as the contemporary smithy from nearby Beth Shemesh.
The finds have been mentioned previously in this blog, for example here and here.

The article is entitled:
Eliyahu-Behar, A., Yahalom-Mack, N., Shilstein, S., Zukerman, A., Shafer-Elliott, C., Maeir, A. M., Boaretto, E., Finkelstein, I., and Weiner, S. 2012. Iron and Bronze Production in Iron Age IIA Philistia: New Evidence from Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel. Journal of Archaeological Science 39(2): 255–67.

Aren

Another objective of this season has beenthe cleaning of two large enclosure walls, which are situated along thenorthern part of Tell Edfu.  Aftertwo weeks of cleaning work a 70 m long section of the First Intermediate Periodtown enclosure wall is now clearly visible. This enclosure was doubled on itsexterior during the early Middle Kingdom by a new wall made of remarkably largemud -bricks. Further investigations in this area revealed some settlement remains built against the insideof the enclosures, which were spared by the sebbakhin. Those were also cleaned and are now ready for excavation which isplanned for next year. These settlement remains provide a good glimpse of thedevelopment of the town in this area, and the ceramics from these levels will helpto establish the chronology of the occupation related to the town walls. 

                                       (by NMoeller and GMarouard)

View south-west of enclosure wall

Silos leaning against the town wall

While the SBL meeting is not over yet, it is almost time for me to leave San Francisco, and I thought I’d give a rundown of events from my perspective.  The ASOR meeting included many lectures – a number of which either dealt with Tel Burna (such as those by Chris McKinny, Amit Dagan, Joe Uziel and Itzick Shai) or were given by various members of the Tel Burna team (Debi Cassuto, Itzick Shai in a different lecture, and Michael Press, with two lectures, including his talk on “(Pytho) Gaia in Myth and Legend: The Goddess of the Ekron Inscription Revisited”, for which he received the Aviram Prize).

In addition to the lectures – our close friend, colleague and advisor for many years – Aren Maeir, received the Ernst G. Wright from ASOR for his book on the Jordan Valley in the MB! Way to go Aren!

At the SBL, our lecture was part of a session on Judah in the Iron Age, chaired by Ann Killebrew and Tammy Schneider, who spoke of the late Anson Rainey and his strong presence in this session in the past.  Not only was Tel Burna featured, but so was Tell es-Safi/Gath (Aren Maeir) and Tel `Eton (Avi Faust), as well as a reappraisal of the finds from Tell Nasbeh (Jeffrey Zorn).  While the session was very interesting, admittedly the ceremony unveiling the book in memory of Hanan Eshel was even more moving, particularly the touching words by Aren and Estie.  Hanan was one of three prominent scholars that we recently lost Anson Rainey and Ehud Netzer being the other two.  At both meetings, several sessions were dedicated to the memory of these three scholars – two of which I am proud to say that I had the honor of studying with.  In general, their presence was felt throughout the meetings, as they have helped form what scholarship is in our field today. Yehi Zichram Baruch.

Today we gave a lecture at the meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature on the finds at Tel Burna, particularly the fortifications and the ability to securely date them to the Iron Age II, and how this helps reconstruct the geopolitical situation in the Shephelah.  afterwards, we attended a ceremony announcing the publication of the volume in honor of Hanan Eshel, which will go on sale tomorrow through Brill publishers.

Here is the presentation we used for our lecture.

Burna_SBL Presentation

Today, I went to some of the sessions at the SBL meeting and in particular to the two sessions on Bible and Archaeology which were organized by Tammi Schneider and Ann Killibrew. In the 2nd session I gave a paper on the 8th cent. at Gath, along with, inter alia, papers on Tel Burna and Tel Eton.
Then after the session, I went over the Qumran session, where we had a small event where Jodi Magness and I presented the volume in memory of Hanan Eshel to Esti Eshel. The volume by the way can now be purchased at the Brill booth at the SBL.
And tomorrow its back to Israel.

Aren

Just a couple of things about the last two days at the ASOR meeting.
On Friday, I started out the day with a nice little thing – I was awarded the Ernst G. Wright from ASOR for my book on the Jordan Valley in the MB!
I then had to go for a full day meeting for the editorial board of the Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception with a short lecture at the BAS Bible Fest.
On Saturday, in the morning, a bunch of us went out for a walk around SF, and then in the Afternoon I heard several nice lectures, including by Rona Avissar, Louise Hitchcock and Brent Davis.

And now its off to supper!

Aren

Today, we continued to participate in the ASOR conference, meeting many friends, including Matt Suriano and hearing interesting lectures about a slew of topics, including a paper by our very own Debi Cassuto, who spoke about differentiating domestic and industrial weaving contexts.  Of course the highlight of the day was presenting our paper on the finds from Tel Burna.  The paper summarized the finds from the first two seasons of excavation.  basically we ran down the Late Late Bronze Age strata in Area B, and the Iron Age II-III sequence on the summit, including the fortifications and silos.  All in all, the paper was well recieved and generated much interest.  Here is the Power Point presentation that we gave:

Burna_ASOR Presentation

Today was the first full day of lectures at the annual ASOR conference in San Francisco.  Among many interesting lectures given, the Burna crowd shined, with Itzick giving a lecture (albeit not on Tel Burna) on the immigration of the Philistines, Amit gave a paper on the 8th Centruy pottery at both Tell es-Safi Gath and Tel Burna, and Chris gave a paper on the history of research of Tel Burna, including researchers from the mid 1800′s until today.  All three lectures were informative, interesting, well-presented and thought provoking.

Hopefully tomorrow will be another great day here in SF.

Although it is not over, I’m taking a break since I’m totally jet-lagged. The morning was very nice. The Philistine session that Jeff and I chaired was very well attended and lots of very nice papers. I mentioned the yet-undeciphered inscription from near the altar in Area D and that got a lot of questions from the crowd.
After the session, I went to a few other very interesting talks, including about Qubur el-Walayda, Tell Hammam, and Dhiban.
After that, the lack of sleep got to me and I had to go rest.
Now going back for some afternoon lectures.
No rest for the wicked… (actually, there was…)

Aren

I arrived today in San Francisco for the ASOR and SBL meetings. Great weather in town and looks things will be very nice.

Flew in yesterday from Israel, and made an overnight stop in Springfield MO, where I lectured at Central Bible College, at the invitation of Mark Jenkins, who has led the CBC team to Safi in the last two years. It was nice to meet up with some of the CBC Safi team. The lecture went well and I hope this coming season we will have a nice group from CBC!

Aren

Last night, we gave a lecture to a crowd of around 50 people at the Kinnelon Public Library in Kinnelon New Jersey, where Debi’s parents live (special thanks to them for setting it up and hosting us!).

The talk gave a rundown on what archaeology is, what Biblical archaeology is, Tel Burna, some of the nice finds and our intentions with different projects, such as running an open excavation where anyone can come – even for a day – and the Rebuilding the Walls project.

The lecture went very well, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. afterwards we received some interesting questions before closing up.

All in all – a great success.  Thanks to everyone who came out to hear us!

For those who didn’t – you can still catch us in San Francisco

Here is a picture of our wonderful hostess, Myrna Weisselberg, in front of the board announcing our talk.

We have reached the end of the excavations in the silo - columned hall area today (Zone 1) which has been the focus of our excavation since 2005! The last floor levels in relation to the northern columned hall have been excavated. The only things left to do there is to sieve the soil from this excavation for sealings and to analyze the small finds that were found within them. Then two more profile drawings need to be made and that's it!

Greg, Aurelie and Ali are excavating the last layer of the columned hall

Greg with the last muktaf of pottery

Lindsey also finished the excavation in her area which lies on the exterior of the silo court wall. We still need to take photos of this part which is planned for tomorrow morning.
From Saturday onwards, work will start at the small step pyramid situated 4 km south of Tell Edfu near the village of el-Ghonameya. Greg is in charge of this rescue excavation (there are plans for a pipeline to be placed right through the site!) and will start extensive cleaning work on the pyramid itself. More about this part of the Tell Edfu Project soon!

Taya and Abu Fathma are sieving the last heap of soil for sealings

Tasha and I have been frantically trying to get the pottery drawn. We have a big announcement to make: we know why the Middle Kingdom collapsed! An abundance of hemipherical-cups and bread moulds indicates that Edfu was constantly partying at the end of the Middle Kingdom (and since Edfu was always the trend-setter, the rest of the country must have followed suit). This allowed the Hyksos to easily come into the country and take the throne!*

*Not intended to be a factual accounting.

So far we have almost 100 sherds drawn, though "Pottery Town" doesn't seem to be running low on inhabitants, and since Lindsey has delivered 23 baskets-worth in the past 3 days, Pottery Town is actually growing! Kat has been rummaging around in Pottery Town for more ostraca from Silo 388, and has added 4 more to her corpus.

-Janelle

Tuesday, November 15 at 7:00 PM

Have you ever thought of what it feels like to uncover a hidden lost world?  To touch history – not just read about it?  That is what archeology is all about, and we would like to share excitement and experiences with you.  Tel Burna – a fortified town over 2500 years old – is located on the border between two ancient political rivals:  Judah and Philistia.  The archeological research at the site has begun to reveal how people living in this border city lived and interacted with others, and how their lives were affected by their close proximity to “the enemy”.

Please call the Library at (973) 838-1321 to register for this free program.

Work on small finds this season is focused on both excavated material from this year and from previous seasons. Small finds documentation on site includes everything from figurines and beads to animal bones and flint chips. All small finds are brought down from the tell to be documented (measured, described, sketched, and labeled) and entered into our database in the field.

In only three weeks we have already added to our corpora of seal impressions and demotic and hieratic ostraca. The Columned Hall area has yielded over 1,100 seal impressions in the last five years and our exciting new additions include the institutional seal of the mayor of Edfu and seal impressions with royal names. Over 200 new impressions have been found in the Columned Hall during the last two days of excavation. In addition to looking at the design of the seal impression, we also examine what they were sealing. Negative impressions of cloth, papyrus, wood, pegs, and string let us know if the seals were placed on bags, boxes, doors, or papyrus documents and help us reconstruct the activities that were taking place in the Columned Hall. Work for the next week and a half on site will focus on registering the seal impressions so that they can be transported to the magazine at el-Kab for further study, photography, and storage.

Seal Impression from the Columned Hall

Seal Impression Back with Papyrus Impression

In the magazine at el-Kab, I am further documenting the ostraca from previous seasons. The magazine staff is extremely helpful and the magazine is a great work space. More than 300 complete and fragmentary Hieratic, Demotic, Coptic, and Greek ostraca have been found at Tell Edfu. During the summer, we had the infrared filter removed from a Nikon CoolPix camera in order to convert it to an IR camera. Using the camera and additional IR filters when needed, I have been working on photographing all of our ostraca. The camera is perfect for ink that is faded, smudged, erased, or obscured by dirt and salt. Although it sounds complicated, the setup is extremely easy and ideal for working in the magazine at el-Kab or even in the field. The results so far are exciting—some texts that I thought were too damaged to read are remarkably clear in the photos.

Infrared Camera Setup

Work on objects will continue in the field and in the magazine for the rest of the season!

UniKent Archaeological Fieldwork Evening 2011 Recent discoveries and current research of The Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies Tuesday 29th November 7-9 p.m. KLT5 An evening of illustrated lectures: free, and open to all. Dr Francesco Trifilo  Estate agents’ distance meters and ancient gameboards: a report on fieldwork in the Forum Romanum, Rome Ms Celine [...]

Last night, Prof. Gershon Galil (Haifa), who was the (principal) co-editor has informed me that the volume of the proceedings of the conference on the early Iron Age that was held in Haifa in 2010 (which had been mentioned previously in this blog here), is about to appear (should be out in January 2012), and has appeared on the Ugarit-Verlag website.

The volume is entitled:
Galil, G., Gilboa, A., Maeir, A. M., and Kahn, D., eds. 2012. The Ancient Near East in the 12th-10th Centuries BCE: Culture and History. Proceedings of the International Conference held at the University of Haifa, 2–5 May, 2010. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 392. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.

For TOC of the volume, see here.

Among other articles in the this volume, there is a long paper by yours truly that summarizes the finds from the Iron Age from the 15 years of the Tell es-Safi/Gath Project – and discusses their implications on various issues.

In addition to the paper on the Safi excavations, there are quite a few very interesting and important articles within this volume, dealing with a wide range of historical and archaeological topics relating to the Iron Age of the ancient Near East (and beyond).

Aren

Wanted to give a “heads up” for several lectures that I will be giving in the US as of next week, all of them relating to the finds at Tell es-Safi/Gath.

On Tuesday evening, Nov. 15th, 2011, at 6 pm, I will be lecturing on the excavations at the Central Bible College in Springfield MO.

On Thursday morning, Nov. 17th, at Annual ASOR meeting which will be held this year in San Francisco, I will be co-chairing a session (from 8:20 to 10:20, and giving a paper (from 8:25 to 8:40), on a short synopsis of main the results of the 2011 season at Tell es-Safi/Gath. In addition, in the same session, there will be papers on finds from Safi by Eric Welch, Amit Dagan and Jo Verducci (here is a link to the session schedule: plan of philistine session ASOR 2011).

The next day (Friday Nov. 18th), at 9 am, I will be speaking at the BAS Biblefest (also in San Francisco), giving an hour long survey of the new finds from the excavations.

And finally, on Sunday, Nov. 20th from 4 to 6:30 pm, there will be a session on Iron Age and Persian Period Judah at the Annual SBL meeting (also in San Francisco) in which I will be presenting a paper on Tell es-Safi/Gath in 8th cent. BCE and its relationship with the surrounding peoples and polities (here is a link to the session schedule: SBL session Iron Age 2011).

You are all invited to come to these lectures!

Aren

Although I have not seen the book and the final version of my contribution, I now see that an article of mine that deals with the archaeology of Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Jerusalem has appeared. In this paper, which is an updated but abridged version of a Hebrew paper that appeared in the first volume of “Sefer Yerushalayim” in Hebrew in 2000, summarizes all the then available data on Jerusalem from the Protohistoric periods until the beginning of the Iron Age II. Since writing the paper, additional relevant data has been uncovered. The paper appears in a volume with many very interesting papers on various aspects relating to the study of ancient Jerusalem. Definitely looks like an important volume!

The article is entitled:
Maeir, A. M. 2011. The Archaeology of Earliest Jerusalem. Pp. 171–88 in Unearthing Jerusalem: 150 Years of Archaeological Research in the Holy City, eds. K. Galor and G. Avni. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.

While not directly connected to the excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath, the importance of Jerusalem during these formative periods – and the relationship which did exist between Gath and Jerusalem during the Late Bronze (as we know from the el Amarna letters mentioning Shuwardata king of Gath and Abdi-Heba, king of Jerusalem), does, in some way, tie this to our excavations.

I assume that the volume will be on display at the ASOR and SBL meetings next week in San Francisco and I look forward to seeing – and eventually getting my copy of the article and the book.

Aren

Gabii Project 2011 team photo

The Gabii Project will offer a field program for students and volunteers in 2012; the program will run from June 24 until July 28, 2012.  Applications will be accepted online via the project's website and the deadline for applying to the program is February 28, 2012; all qualified students are eligible to apply, not just those associated with the University of Michigan. Notifications of acceptance will be made by March 16, 2012, and accepted volunteers must submit their payment in full by April 2, 2012, in order to secure their spot. No volunteer may participate in the program if the program fee has not been settled in full.  The cost for the 5-week program, inclusive of accommodation in Rome, Italy, insurance, equipment, and local transportation, will be $3,600 (USD) in 2012. At this time the possibility of receiving academic credit for participation in the field program is still being negotiated. A final decision will be reached before the application deadline. A credit option might involve an additional fee.

In order to apply

1. Please complete the online application form. Please complete all required fields.  
2. Then, please be sure to ask two professional recommenders (who know you either from an academic setting or a prior fieldwork experience) to send letters on your behalf to Dr. Jeffrey Becker (gabiiproject-at-umich.edu - replace at with @) not later than February 28, 2012.

Travel

• Volunteers are responsible for covering their own travel costs to and from Italy.
• The point of arrival is Rome, Italy. Rome is served by two airports that handle international traffic. These are Leonardo da Vinci airport, also known as Fiumicino (FCO), and Ciampino airport (CIA) [also known as Aeroporto di Roma-Ciampino or Giovan Battista Pastine Airport].  Fiumicino handles long-haul international flights while Ciampino tends to receive short-haul, EU zone carriers.
• The arrival packet distributed to confirmed volunteers will include specific arrival information and information and logistical details. 

Accommodation in Rome, Italy

Accent International residence

• The team will be accommodated in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood in dormitory/apartments provided and administered by the study abroad firm Accent International.
• Student accommodations have two to four bedrooms with one to two bathrooms per residence.
• All accommodations have been renovated recently and include common area, kitchen facilities, refrigerator, washing machine, television, and wireless internet. On-site 24-hour/7-days-a-week logistical support is also included.
• Team members will also have access to a study center / business center operated by Accent International.
• The program fee covers the cost of lunch (Monday-Friday), but not other meals which are self-catering.

 Work and instruction on-site at Gabii

• Volunteers will work on-site Monday through Friday, usually arriving on-site by 7.30am. Prospective applicants should note that this is a labor-intensive program and be aware that working long hours in the hot sun is to be expected.  Average daytime temperatures will be in the range of 90˚ F or higher.
• Applicants must be in good health, have passed a recent physical examination, and provide up-to-date records of current inoculations.
• Volunteers will work in small teams supervised by experienced excavators.  Additionally, the field program will expose participants to all facets of fieldwork, including working with ceramics and other archaeological materials, environmental sampling, flotation, topography, conservation, and documentation.  A regular rotation will be established for field program participants.
• Regular site tours (usually once every 7 to 10 days) will help keep all team members up to speed on the progress of excavation work in the various areas of the site.
• Several optional weekend outings will be arranged where guided tours will be offered by staff members.  In past years weekend trips have included the Forum Romanum and Palatine Hill as well as Ostia Antica.

2011 volunteers at Ostia Antica

Atmosphere and Experience

• The Gabii Project is a large team (50+ people) effort.  Teamwork is the key to our success, but the working conditions can be intense.  The successful applicant will be ready to work as part of a large team and welcome the opportunity to work and learn cooperatively.
• The combined experience of the Gabii Project’s multi-national staff offers volunteers the opportunities to learn and practice some of the latest and most cutting edge techniques of field archaeology.  Additionally, an excellent staff to student ratio guarantees close instruction in field methodology. 

For University of Michigan Students

• You may be eligible for financial aid via the University of Michigan.
• You may be eligible for University of Michigan credit by enrolling for a fall 2012 independent study with Professor Nicola Terrenato. Contact Marcello Mogetta with your questions.
  

A note on funding

Students accepted for the field program are encouraged to seek outside funding sources to support their participation as the Gabii Project does not offer need-based financial support. Possible sources include one's home department or institution, as well as various competitive fieldwork fellowships like those administered by the Archaeological Institute of America and the Etruscan Foundation.

Trench tours on-site in 2011

Need more information?

Please contact Dr. Jeffrey Becker via email.

Download the .pdf version of the field program flyer.

At the request of Amit and members of the Area D team, I hereby post a very nice photo of the team in Area D towards the end of the excavation, all standing very proudly in back of the altar.
Nice looking group!

Aren

Sometimes, in the desire each day to get as much done as possible (there’s less than two weeks left of excavation in the columned hall area!), we forget that we are excavating the remains of the day-to-day life of real people. Today, we had a small reminder in my area- an actual footprint! It came up in a lower layer of a very thick floor level of what may have been a house courtyard. The pottery analysis indicates an early 18^th dynasty date for the area. It was one of our workers, Ahmed, who noticed the footprint in the floor. Much like how today children- and adults- will step in wet concrete to leave their mark, over 2500 years ago someone trod barefoot through the wet mud plaster floor in this courtyard.

Here is a photo:

And here is the outline of the footprint, if you can't see it in the original (only four toes were easily visible on the imprint):

Next week, we leave for the USA, for our whirlwind tour of lectures on Tel Burna:

The first will be given on Tuesday Night, in Kinnelon New Jersey, where Debi, Itzick and Joe will give a public lecture on “Reliving Biblical Times: A View from Tel Burna. Where Past and Present Meet”.  http://kinnelonlibrary.org/adults/programs/reliving-biblical-times

 

We travel from there to San Francisco, where we will put flowers in our hair,  for the annual ASOR and SBL conferences, including several lectures dealing with Tel Burna, including the above-mentioned people, as well as Amit Dagan and Chris McKinny.

All told, we will be making a splash. If you’re around – make sure to come hear us.

Hope to see you there!

Today the Ibex students went out again for more test pit excavations.  they had a great time as usual, but hit the jackpot, when one team came a cross a pretty little thing – which turned out to be a beautiful seal! what great luck.  Here are some photos from today:

Just recently, a female Striped Hyena (Hyaena hyaena syriaca) was caught in an illegal trap near the city of Modi’in, about 20 km to the north of Tell es-Safi/Gath.
See here a short clip how the Nature and Parks Authority Rangers brought it in to the NPA wild animal hospital, “fixed it up” and let it loose in nature again.

http://mediadownload.ynet.co.il/flowplayerlive/flowplayer.commercial-3.2.5.swf
If for some reason the link to the clip does not work, see the original article, with the clip, here.

Hyena’s are also seen in and around Tell es-Safi/Gath, and on two occasions I have seen them. Once I “bumped” into one that was the size of a pony (!!) early in the morning not far from the tell, and once, I saw one being run over by a truck in the Elah Valley, a few km to the east of the site.

And BTW – if you ever “bump” into one – give it plenty of room. They are fierce animals with bone-breaking jaws!

Aren

Today the team from Ibex went out to Tel Burna to dig some test pits. Just to remind you all, test pits are a method of surveying, in order to gather information about a site, where instead of collecting artifacts from the surface, you excavate small random pits around the site, to a depth of 20 centimeters.  by sifting the material, you are able to collect a more diversified and well-balanced sample than surface collection.  here are some pics of the IBEX group at work.

Thanks to the group from IBEx and hope tomorrow is another great day!

 

The Edfu team is currently on a small break during the Eid el-Adha feast in Luxor and work at Tell Edfu resumes again tomorrow which will allow us to work for most of the week.
The second week of excavations at Tell Edfu saw much progress especially in the Old Kingdom area and the beginning of cleaning work in a new area to the north of the site.

1. The Old Kingdom area

With the help of 70 local workers from Edfu and the surrounding villages the clearance work in the Old Kingdom zone advanced considerably. It has been possible to clear almost another meter of old excavation and sebbakh debris which is currently covering the Old Kingdom settlement remains and we can now see the first in situ layers appearing at the surface. It is necessary to build another supporting stone wall to contain this side of the tell as we go deeper and we have hired a local stone mason to start with this work on Monday.

Work in progress in the Old Kingdom area

Meanwhile, the cleaning and small scale excavation of the vertical sebbakh cuts of the tell in this area (see entry about the results from week 1) has also progressed under the supervision of Greg with Susan and Janelle drawing profiles and excavating small areas here. So far we have discovered several domestic houses and associated occupation levels with much Old Kingdom pottery dating from the end of 4th to 6th Dynasties.

Occupation level dating to the 5th Dynasty showing a breadmould (vessel to the left) and large bowl

2. Columned hall and silo area

Excavation also continued in the silo area and it has been the aim to excavate more of the layers associated with the final phases of use and abandonment of the northern columned hall. On Thursday two new sealings naming two different pharaohs have been discovered in the same layer of abandonment. These two kings have been traditionally estimated to have reigned about 80 to 100 years apart from each other, a hypothesis that turns out to be impossible in view of the new archaeological evidence!

Hole left when stone column base was removed in the northern columned hall

Additionally, the last silo (Si 323) that has not been fully excavated up to now, was dug down to its floor level and exposing a second lower lying mud-floor which might have functioned with the first phase of silos in this area. The aim is to reach parts of the northern columned hall floor here, too.

Work in progress inside silo Si 323

3. First Intermediate and early Middle Kingdom town walls along the northern end of the tell

Week 2 saw the beginning of new work along the northern part of the tell. Remains of several massive enclosure walls have been visible among heaps of rubble and debris including some settlement remains which were spared by the sebbakhin and which are leaning against the inside of the enclosures providing a glimpse of the settlement in this area.

Our work this season will mainly focus on an extensive cleaning operation in order to fully expose the preserved structures including the towns wall which will be mapped and studied in more depth as part of the NEH research program which is currently funding the Tell Edfu Project. Photos and further details will follow soon!



We would also like to thank Ray Johnson and his team at Chicago House, Luxor, who kindly invited us to stay for three days during our mini break! We very much enjoyed spending time with our colleagues from the Oriental Institute!

This season, we have been asked to help train a few new SCA employees in what we do on an excavation. They have been helping us by cleaning, measuring, and drawing several of our blocks in the block yard so that we will have a record of them. They do not speak much English, and many of us don’t speak a lot of Arabic, so it is sometimes difficult to converse. Our inspector Ossama has been a huge help with this.

The following was posted today on the Bible.com blog:
“You can now register for the 2012 season at Gath. This is one of the most popular excavations in the world”
(thanks Todd…)

Cool…
:-)

Aren

This evening, I gave a lecture on recent finds from the excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath, at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem to a fall hall of listeners. Among other topics, I showed pictures and discussed the stone altar found this summer. Nice crowd – nice lecture! :-)
While I was there, I had a chance to look at the very nice exhibit “Sound the Shofar” which is about the shofar that is currently being shown. The exhibit traces the history of the shofar, its significance from a religious and symbolic point of view, various archaeological examples of the shofar, up to the actual shofar that Rabbi Shlomo Goren used when he blew the shofar at the Western Wall after its capture in the Six Day War. Very interesting – well-worth a visit (and there is a very nice catalogue for the exhibit).

Aren

Susan and I have been working in a little corner in the Old Kingdom area. A wall has been exposed by the sebakhin and it actually has a whole door intact. I have been excavating an area just to the left of the door, where the wall had collapsed, leaving some beautiful OK stratigraphy:

Note the wall where it looks like the bottom of the wall was shored up by adding an extra layer of brick and plaster.

Susan has been working to the right of the door, where a giant ash layer has been exposed. She is currently working on drawing the profile.

You can see one of the ash layers just above a caved-in area.

We've found lots of good pottery of solid OK date. In fact, I found some items of the 4th, 5th, and 6th Dynasties in my demolition layers. We are excited to have Valerie Le Provost, a specialist in Old Kingdom pottery, coming in a few weeks to look at what we are finding.

- Janelle

Silos are pretty much everywhere at Tell Edfu- besides the Second Intermediate Period silos in the columned hall area, Greg is finding them during the cleaning of the enclosure walls at the north end of the tell, and my little area is producing it’s own- albeit small- silos (right). At the beginning of the excavation, I had a few thin walls leaning on a much older wall poking out of the ground, to the west of the columned hall/silo area. After a week of excavation, I had two phases of small storage silos, roughly 3 meters by 2 meters, with at least 6 interior compartments. Preliminary pottery analysis indicates an early 18^th dynasty date for their use.

Today, I removed the second phase of silos, to find even more storage (left)! The precursor to the small storage compartments was at least 4 large pots/basins which left imprints in the mudbrick floor of the installation. Interestingly, the shallow depressions in the floor, where visible, were in the exact locations of the compartments of the later storage area. The next step is to see how all of this connects with the nearby walls. So far my area has been a great exercise in archaeology!

As mentioned a few days ago, after planning to do it, this week I started teaching with the Ipad 2 in my classes at BIU. All told, the teaching worked out very well and I had very few problems with presenting things on the screen in the class from the Ipad.

There were a couple of things to note:
When putting up presentation slides with Hebrew in Keynote and texts with Hebrew in Docs-to-Go, the Hebrew was aligned to the left (instead of the right).
On the other hand, when I started using SlideShark, which is a great program (you upload your presentations to their website and they prepare the presentations for the Ipad, and then you download the presentation to your Ipad and use it), the Hebrew alignment issue was solved, but the down side is that in SlideShark – they don’t have the nifty feature which is offered in Keynote in which you press down on the Ipad screen and it shows up like a laser pointer dot. I have asked the SlideShark people to see if they can add this – let’s see if they do! (also the SlideShark limit on 100MB of files that you upload to their site is NOT enough).

Otherwise – it worked out well – and I highly recommend this method of teaching for all.

I have definitely “been bitten” – and the Ipad 2 is a very convenient (and cool!) teaching tool!

Aren

On Thursday evening, November 17th, many of the Safi team members who will be in San Francisco for the ASOR meeting will be getting together for a supper. Although the exact time and location has not yet been determined, if you are a former or present Safi team member and you would like to participate and you have not received the email invitation – do write me an email.

And don’t worry – the threat of a nerve gas attack on San Francisco has been eliminated! :-)

See you all in SF!

Aren

The Edfu Team hasn’t had much time to post new finds in the past few days because of a short one-day trip to Luxor. Dr. Ray Johnson, the Director of Chicago House, kindly extended an invitation to the Chicago House Halloween party to the members of the Tell Edfu Project. Everyone had a fabulous time! We also took the opportunity to handle some visa extensions while we were in Luxor on Sunday. The students had a little free time while waiting for visas:

We’ll be back tomorrow with new finds of the past few days!

On Sunday and Monday, November 6th and 7th, IBEX will be joining us for two days of work in the field.

We will be working on excavating more test pits around the site, as we did last November.

If anyone wishes to join us – please contact us.

Here is a map marking the locations of the test pits, and a couple of photos showing the work done last year.

Although it would seem that there is a long time to the summer and the next season of excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath, in fact, time flies very quickly. For those of you who are thinking of joining the team this season – it’s now the time to start thinking of plans, details, finances, etc.

To help with this, the new “Registration and Information Package” for the 2012 season is now available online.

Here is the “package”: 2012_information_registration_package

Please download it and check it out – do join our team in the July 2012 – there should be some great finds coming out!

And for those of you who are thinking of joining and have never been on a dig, here is a picture that can give you a feeling of the atmosphere during the dig (this is a shot of part of the team [the Area F team specifically] during the excavation)


See you in July!

Aren

Just received this very interesting notice from the Research Group for Palaeocological and Geoarchaeological Studies (GEPEG) of the University of Barcelona (which is run by Prof. Rosa Maria Albert, who excavated with us at Safi a few years ago) regarding a new Phytolith-Core Reference Collection, which can be very helpful for any archaeologists working on issues relating to the environment and plant-use at archaeological sites.

Here is the notice:

Dear colleagues,

The Research Group for Palaeocological and Geoarchaeological Studies (GEPEG) of the University of Barcelona was created in 2005 with the purpose of, among others, conducting phytolith and mineralogical analyses of archaeological sediments to better understand the exploitation of plant resources by past populations, as well as to conduct climatic and vegetation reconstructions, taking into account the different postdepositional processes that can affect the archaeological material.

Along these years of research, GEPEG has created microphotographs of phytoliths that might serve as a reference catalog to identify the phytoliths from the different areas of study.

We are pleased to present the GEPEG Phytolith-Core Reference Collection. This is a new phytolith catalog which is available at http://gepeg.org/enter_PCORE.html

The catalog is based on phytolith images collected from three different sources:
- Modern reference plant material from the study areas.
- Modern soils collected from the same areas as modern plants or from areas that were previously described in terms of vegetation.
- Archaeological material.

The catalog not only provides microphotographs of phytoliths but also related information such as provenience of the sample, date of collection, in the case of modern soil assemblages, description of the vegetation from where the samples were collected, etc.

We hope it is of interest to you,

Sincerely yours,

GEPEG group

We have justcompleted our first full week of excavations and we have already obtained a numberof significant results:

1.     We have found evidence for the pillagingof three more column bases, which confirms the existence of a larger columnedhall to the north, adjacent to the southern one. We can now reconstruct 6columns in total and there were certainly more but it will be difficult toexcavate those because the northern and eastern part of the excavation area iscovered by several meters of stratified settlement remains dating to laterperiods.

Greg using the iPad to record finds in the database

2.     It has been possible to confirm thepresence of a large doorway between the southern columned hall and the northernone, most of it had been covered by the later Silo Si 316. Susan has beenexcavating the stratigraphic sequence above the mud-brick wall that separatesthe two columned halls. After the excavation it became clear that the easternface of this wall had not been cut by the foundation trench of the later silo butwas in fact the eastern face of the doorway.

Susan using the Total Station, Lindsey holding the prism

3.     A square stamp sealing naming the mayorof the town of Djeba (the name of Edfu from the Middle Kingdom onwards) hasbeen discovered by Greg. It was found in a fill layer that contains materialcontemporary to the late Middle Kingdom administrative building, which wasmixed with later layers when the column bases were pillaged. This is the firsttime that we have concrete evidence for the mayor of Edfu linked to thecolumned hall complex.

4.     Another small area which lies along theexterior of the silo court has been prepared for excavation. Lindsey hascleaned and drawn the key profile during the past week. Here a good sequence ofstratified remains will provide some new information on the development andchronology of the exterior to the western side of the silo court.

Lindsey drawing the profile

5.     We have started excavating Old Kingdomsettlement remains in the north-eastern part of the tell. Several mud-brickwalls, which seem to belong to domestic buildings have been thoroughly cleanedand recorded by several of our specialist workers from Luxor supervised by Greg.The pottery indicates a sequence possibly from the 4^th until the endof the 6^th Dynasty. Next week, Janelle and Susan will also work inthis area with the aim to excavate the interior of an Old Kingdom house with asmall doorway. 

Reis Islam overseeing the work in the Old Kingdom area

Old Kingdom settlement remains in situ

Today, I sat in at one session at the annual joint HU/IAA conference on Jerusalem, which was held at the Mt. Scopus campus of the HU. In the session, I heard three lectures. One dealt with the new rural temple recently found in Jerusalem, near the village of Walaja (in the Rephaim Valley), which I had mentioned that I had visited awhile ago.
The 2nd lecture, by Ronny Reich, was primarily about the discovery of a few Iron IIB rooms, quarried out in the bedrock, just to the south of Warren’s Shaft near the Gihon Spring in Jerusalem. Although most of these features had been previously excavated by Parker, some very interesting features were noted.
And finally, the last lecture that I heard was about a fascinating miniature bone icon box, less than 2 cm long, which opened up and inside there were two pictures of a man and a women, most probably of Jesus and Mary. The icon, which was found in the Givati Parking excavations in the City of David, dates to the Byzantine period.
There were other lectures at the meeting – but I was not able to attend them.

Aren

Yesterday one of our workmen made an exciting find- an institutional sealing! This broken seal with a wood impression on the back mentions the mayor of Edfu. This is our second institutional sealing found- last year’s find was of a different mayor and overseer of priests. Sadly, this year’s find is only about half preserved, but hopefully more official sealings will come up in the area. The sealing was found between Silos 316 and 388, in a late Middle Kingdom layer connected to the columned hall administrative building. This brings our total number of seal impressions from Edfu to over 1,100 (with more coming up each day)!

Two new articles related to the Gabii Project's work have appeared this fall.

• David Potter and Benjamin Fortson. 2011. "A Fragmentary Early Republican Public Inscription from Gabii." Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik (ZPE) 178:255ff.

• Jeffrey A. Becker and Jessica Nowlin. 2011. "Orientalizing infant burials from Gabii, Italy." BABESCH 86:29-37.

While Lindsey, Susan, Dr. Moeller and Greg get dirty up on the tell, Natasha and I have been spending our days (many times staying until 4, long after everyone else has gone home) in the shade down with the pottery. Don’t get me wrong, we still get plenty hot in the afternoon, but we typically come home much cleaner than the rest of the bunch.

The focus of the work in the columned hall area has been to excavate the layers close to where the Khayan sealings were found last season. It is the aim to extend the excavation in this area in order to better understand the second column hall that seems to have been the principal feature of the administrative building complex.

We have so far been working on some of the Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period pottery that was discovered last year. Natasha spends a lot of her time sorting, counting, describing, and numbering sherds, while I draw the sherds that will prove helpful in dating the layers. Drawing takes many steps and we use upwards of 5 tools on each sherd, not to mention the specific pencil leads, sharpeners, erasers, and paper (3 different kinds!!) that are needed to each and every sherd so that we create a drawing as accurate and detailed as possible. It’s a hard job and we’re a little kooky at the end of the day, but someone’s gotta do it!

Janelle drawing pottery

- Janelle Wade

Although this is not directly connected to the excavations, I thought I’d share a very interesting pedagogic development that I am trying out. Next week, the academic year begins and I return to teaching. Now that I have access to an Ipad 2, I’ve decided to try to teach my classes with it – giving the PowerPoint presentations with the Ipad 2.
So far, seems as it will work out! What I did is the following:
1) Loaded Dropbox on the Ipad, which gave access to updated files from my desktop computer
2) After trying a few apps with various PowerPoint-like features that were not that good, I loaded Keynote, which works very well – reading almost seamlessly the various presentations that were made in PowerPoint.
3) Then, I simply download the relevant files from Dropbox and open them in Keynote and they work very nicely! Keynote for the Ipad has some nice features, such as a “laser pointer” like feature, where if you press the screen, a red dot like from a laser pointer appears on the screen – quite handy!

What I still have to get is an adaptor to connect between the Ipad and the VGA connector of the projector (such as this).

Next week, I’m going to try this out. So far, it looks really nice. If it works out, it will save me a lot of schlepping, the need to always have a computer and/or “disk-on-key” – since all the files can be downloaded from the wireless internet on campus.
And – it is quite cool! :-)

I also came across a really nice application – Webpad – which enables you to draw on the screen and anyone with the correct URL can see what you are drawing. In theory, if all students have an online laptop – you can use this instead of a blackboard!

I’m quite excited about trying all this out!

Aren

Exciting new finds came up today up on the tell. First of all, Susan, on her first day of excavating her area in the columned hall, found three new ostraca, much to the delight of our resident ostraca expert, Kat. Workmen also found seal impressions in the area deemed the “new” columned hall area- the area just north of the columned hall excavated over the past several seasons. The “new” columned hall seems to have larger column bases, indicating even more impressive architecture than the previous area excavated. It might be the principal hall of the administrative complex. We are ecstatic to be discovering such exciting finds so early in the season!

Today was also the day of very, very dirty Edfu team members- at least those that work up on the tell! My first assignment after being sick for several days was to clean and draw a profile.

A profile is a section of the tell to be excavated which shows the stratigraphy (different levels of occupation) of the area. Profile drawings are used to better understand the different phases of human occupation at Tell Edfu. Cleaning a profile is one of the dirtiest jobs onsite because of the scraping and brushing to make the area vertical. The dust blows everywhere, covering you in a fine layer of dark brown dirt. I was covered in dirt by 9am this morning, from head to toe. Greg, as usual, was covered in dirt by the end of the day. He always wins the dirtiest clothes award- and is rewarded by the first opportunity to shower back at the house! Susan, in her little spot in the columned hall, was covered in dirt from the excavations on slightly higher elevations. And of course, Dr.Moeller was covered in dirt as she ran around the tell managing all the different excavation areas.

Our pottery people, Natasha and Janelle, stayed out of the dirt- and sun- below the tell drawing pottery all day. Lucky them!

-LM

I’ve been informed that the fantastic two-horned stone altar that we found this last summer in Area D at Tell es-Safi/Gath (see, for example, here and here) has been chosen as the “Find of the Year” for the “Dig Issue” of BAR, which should be appearing in late 2011/early 2012.

Fame and fortune to us all!!!

And just so that you remember what they are talking about, here is a nice picture:

:-)

Aren

Today excavations began and we were thrilled to have 59 local workmen join us for the clearing of the Old Kingdom area. Should we continue to get so many workers, we should be finished clearing this area by the Eid break in about 2 weeks. We are extremely excited to see some seal impressions already coming out of the ground.

Susan, Natasha, Janelle, and Dr. Moeller braved the temple pylon in search of the pottery boxes from previous seasons. Even though they had to dig for some time to find the exact boxes they were looking for, a tarp managed to keep most of the bat guano off of the boxes (a fact that greatly pleased the girls). Natasha and Janelle have a lot of work to do getting all of the pottery drawn over the next few weeks.

The total station was brought out for the first time this season and Susan recorded the first points of the season. For those of you that aren’t familiar with this piece of equipment, it quickly mark points in its memory bank (for instance, each corner of a brick in a wall will have its points taken). This data is then transferred to a computer, where a long game of connect-the-dots takes place, resulting in the beautiful (and highly accurate!!) plans you see in the Edfu publications.

Also, for any of you that heard about the cats from previous seasons, Patches, Kiri, and Afrit are all alive and happy we have returned. We found Patches curled up right next to the food bag when we got to site today and they all happily inhaled the food we gave them. Patches and Kiri spent the next few hours cuddling against Natasha, Susan, and Janelle as they sorted pottery. We are all happy to see that not only are our Edfu mascots still around, they remember and trust us!

Today was the day off for the team, but we think this is the perfect opportunity to introduce the students who are working this season! All of them attend the University of Chicago, where they are graduate students in either Egyptology or Egyptian Archaeology.

Natasha Ayers: Natasha is our site ceramicist. Her dissertation is looking specifically at the late Middle Kingdom, Second Intermediate Period, and New Kingdom pottery and what that says about the site of Edfu. She spends most of her time in “Tasha Town”, a large part of the tell where all the pottery has been set out according to where in the excavated area it came from.

Kat Bandy: Kat is our “small finds” super-woman. She registers, boxes up, and stores all of the trinkets we find (including amulets, beads, figurines, ostraca, etc). Her dissertation focuses on the Second Intermediate Period hieratic administrative ostraca. She travels back and forth between the Edfu site and the magazine in El-Kab, about 40 minutes away.

Lindsey Miller: Lindsey is an all-around site monkey.  This is her second year with the Edfu team- last year she did some excavation, but mostly helped with the seal impression corpus and some pottery drawing.  This year she will be excavating her own areas on site, starting off in the Old Kingdom area.  While seal impressions were her MA focus, she isn’t quite sure what she wants to focus on for her dissertation quite yet.

Susan Penacho: Susan is a rookie to Egypt, but not to archaeology. She has dug in Turkey and the United States for the past 6 years. We are overjoyed to have her with us, but she can only stay for half of the season. Her dissertation is on the Nubian forts from the Middle Kingdom Egyptian pharaohs.

Janelle Wade: Janelle is also a rookie to Tell Edfu and this is the first active archaeological site she’s seen. Her main objective is to help Natasha with drawing the mounds and mounds of pottery, as well as try her hand at excavating some of the Old Kingdom area. Her dissertation topic is not yet finalized, but she’s hoping to look at bread moulds.

A few other team members from all around the world will be joining us for a few weeks at a time later in the season. We will introduce them and their work as they arrive. Tomorrow we will start excavation!

Elisabetta Boaretta, Ruty Shachak-Gross and Shira Gur-Arieh just returned from what seems to have been a fascinating trip to Uzbekistan. Lisa and Ruty (both from WIS [and up to just recently from the now unfortunately defunct joint BIU/WIS program in archaeological science]) are well-known on this blog (such as here and here) in relationship to their archaeological science work that they have also conducted at Tell es-Safi/Gath, while Shira, who has been a member of the Tell es-Safi/Gath staff for many years, is working on her PhD on methods of cooking in the Iron Age (with a focus on finds from Tell es-Safi/Gath, Megiddo and a few other sites).
(As you may recall, I recently mentioned a short study on soot patterns by Shira, Ruty and yours truly)
As part of their ongoing research, they traveled to Uzbekistan to conduct enthoarchaeological research. They documented traditional technologies, with a focus on mudbrick and baking/cooking techniques.

See here some of the fascinating pictures taken by Shira.

Aren

Itzik Shai, long-time senior staff member of the Safi excavations and co-director of the Tel Burna excavations, just put out a very interesting article on Philistia in the Iron Age IIA. Based on archaeological remains from Philistia – with a strong focus on the important Iron IIA remains from Safi, Itzik discusses the materials characteristics of the Philistine culture during this period, and suggests what can be understood from this on the developmental processes of the Philistine culture.

See:
Shai, I. 2011. Philistia and the Philistines in the Iron Age IIA. ZDPV 127:119-134.

Mabruk!

Aren

Today we continued setting up in preparation to begin proper excavations on Saturday. Dr. Moeller and Kat Bandy went to our magazine in El Kab to check on our “small finds” from pervious seasons. Everything appears to be in great shape there, as well!

Natasha Ayers continued restoring her pottery site from the pesky desert dogs. They had eaten most of her metal tags from last season, so new ones had to be made. Why the dogs decided metal was fun to eat might be the conundrum of the season.

Basic cleaning continued in the silo area where excavation will commence in earnest on Saturday. Susan Penacho and Janelle Wade were given a more extensive tour of the silo area, including its stratigraphy and where they will begin digging next week.

Tomorrow is our rest day, and most of the team is looking forward to finally recovering from jet-lag!

Our team was able to head out to Tell Edfu today. We are incredibly lucky to have received full permissions to dig at Tell Edfu. We arrived this morning to find the site was fully intact. We got to work setting up the site, removing our tools from storage, and meeting our new inspector, Osama. We are very excited to be working with him again- he was our inspector in 2008 as well. Our two newest team members received a tour of the site from Dr. Moeller and toured the Edfu temple in the late morning. Tomorrow we will begin preparations to remove last season’s backfill, with full excavation to begin on Saturday.

This year we decided to better educate the temple visitors coming to the Edfu about our project by placing colorful and informative signs near the pottery drawing and small finds areas, as well as in front of the Old Kingdom excavations. We hope this helps visitors better understand not only the work we are doing at Edfu, but how archaeological digs function in Egypt and their importance in the study of Egyptian history. Here, you can see what the signs look like in situ:

We are looking forward to a great season here in Edfu!

In case you didn't see it, check out this article about the threats to Leptis Magna in Libya.  Emperor Septimius Severus was born in Leptis Magna and devoted great resources to the embellishment of the city until it rivalled Carthage and Alexandria.  Or that was the plan.  

During the reign of Septimius Severus, the ancient city of Ashkelon also underwent signficant architectural embellishment.  It is believed the odeon we are currently excavating was built during his reign.

Now, to the picture.  The picture I posted an eon and a day ago is of some of the destroyed medieval fortifications in the vicinity of the Jerusalem Gate.  This is the area where the team from Hebrew University worked during the 2011 field season.  

Please note the following event:
On Sunday, November 20th, from 6:30-6:45 pm, Aren Maeir, Jodi Magness, and Lawrence Schiffman will present a festschrift volume that they co-edited in honor of Professor Hanan Eshel z”l to Dr. Esti Eshel. The presentation will take place during the upcoming Annual SBL meeting in San Francisco, in Room 2018 at the San Francisco Convention Center (at the end of the SBL Qumran session that afternoon).
All are welcome to attend.

Here are the details of the relevant session, at the end of which the presentation will be made:

S20-334
Qumran
11/20/2011
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 2018 – Convention Center
Theme: Qumran Texts and Contexts

Eibert Tigchelaar, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Presiding
Armin Lange, Universität Wien
The Severus Scroll in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls (25 min)
Jonathan Ben-Dov, University of Haifa
Reassessing the Role of Natural Sciences in the Yahad (25 min)
Mika Pajunen, Helsingin Yliopisto – Helsingfors Universitet
To Be the Elect or Not to Be? Well, that is a Question of Behavior: A Re-Appraisal of the Contents and Function of 4Q381 (25 min)
Miryam T. Brand, New York University
Demonic Sin in Jubilees and Qumran Prayer (25 min)
Daniel K. Falk, University of Oregon
Mythologies of Evil in the Dead Sea Scrolls (25 min)
Discussion (25 min)

Aren

Just today the online, final, version of an article on the processes and finds relating to the 9th cent. BCE destruction level at Tell es-Safi/Gath has appeared on the website of the Journal of Archaeological Science.

The study is entitled:
Namdar, D., Zukerman, A., Maeir, A. M., Katz, J. C., Cabanes, D., Trueman, C., Shahack-Gross, R., and Weiner, S. 2011. The 9th Century BCE Destruction Layer at Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel: Integrating Macro- and Microarchaeology. Journal of Archaeological Science 38(12): 3471–82.

Here is the abstract:
Destruction events in multi-period sites are valuable marker horizons that represent time-synchronous
events across the site and sometimes between sites. Destruction layers often preserve rich finds that provide insights into site use. Here we use both macro- and microarchaeological methods to study a destruction event from the late 9th century at Tell es-Safi/Gath in Israel. A major conflagration at this
specific location resulted in the consolidation of parts of the roof construction materials, thus enabling us to differentiate between roof, walls and floor materials. We could reconstruct the events which lead to
the formation of an approximately 80 cm thick layer. The base of this layer that overlies the floor surface
is a thin charred organic material-rich ash layer. As the clays in this layer were not altered by heat and the ceramics still have preserved residues, we conclude that the ash was produced elsewhere and was
redistributed to this location. Ceramics that are associated with burnt roof sediments do not have preserved residues. We also estimate the time that each of the accumulation events might have taken, and conclude that this accumulation occurred over decades. The architecture and artifacts found within and beneath the destruction do not allow us to unequivocally identify the function of this area prior to destruction. We do however identify an unusual bin and associated stone pavement, and a corner rich in artifacts, phytoliths and charred organic material. We also show that a wall was built of fired mud bricks;
a most unusual occurrence for this time period in the Levant. This study demonstrates well the usefulness of an integrated macro- and microarchaeological approach to understanding the archaeological record, as well as the benefits of using an on-site laboratory.

This study was the result of a very fascinating and fecund collaboration between a group of researchers with very different perspectives, who manages to bring together their varies views, methods and perspectives, both in the field and in the lab.

Aren

Today I received a pdf copy of a new article that just appeared:
Gur-Arieh, S., Maeir, A. M., and Shahack-Gross, R. 2011. Soot Patterns on Cooking Vessels: A Short Note. Pp. 349–55 in On Cooking Pots, Drinking Cups, Loom Weights and Ethnicity in Bronze Age Cyprus and Neigbouring Regions. An International Archaeological Symposium Held in Nicosia, November 6th-7th 2010, eds. V. Karageorghis and O. Kouka. Nicosia: A.G. Leventis Foundation.

In this study, conducted as part of Shira’s PhD research, an experimental study was conducted on how soot forms on cooking pots, when the pots are exposed to open fires. This is important since in the Iron I, with the arrival of the Philistines, a new types of cooking installation, the hearth, and a new type of cooking vessel, the cooking jug, appear (evidence of non-local influences brought by the Philistines) and we have been attempting to understand how these installations and vessels were used. Replicating soot patterns on modern vessels and comparing them to the soot patterns on ancient ones, may provide some insights on how the ancient vessels were used.

Aren

Yep, we're already working on next summer's season and part of that involves publicizing the field school. Our off-campus office here at Drew just got the Vicus ad Martis project listed on the Study Abroad website. Check it out!

As Joe Uziel at the Tel Burna blog has given us the heads up, kudos to Amit Dagan, senior staff member of the Safi project and Area Supervisor of Area D, has just published his first article in a peer-reviewed journal!

The article, which just appeared in the new issue (38/2) of Tel Aviv, is a study of the “Negebite Pottery” based on finds at the site of Horbat Shimon, a small Iron Age II site near Tell es-Safi/Gath, which Amit studied in his MA thesis (and will publish it as part of the Safi final publication series).

Here is the title and abstract:
Negebite Pottery beyond the Negev
Amit Dagan
Bar Ilan University

A salvage excavation conducted at the site of Horvat Shimon in the
western Sephelah uncovered a rural site dating to the 8th century BCE.
The excavation revealed a unique mudbrick structure that contained a
rich pottery assemblage with typical wheel-made pottery alongside a
large quantity of handmade vessels similar to ‘Negebite vessels’. The
discovery of this assemblage of handmade vessels calls into question
existing interpretations of the importance of this family. The paper
suggests that the ‘Negebite vessels’ were not a regional phenomenon,
but rather a functional product of rural life.

Mabruk (that’s, more or less, “congratulations” in Arabic) to Amit!

Aren

Amit Dagan – one of the core members of the staff at Tell Burna, has just published an article in the peer-reviewed journal Tel Aviv, discussing the appearance of what are generally termed “Negebite” vessels (he prefers the term HMV – Hand Made Vessels) outside the Negev and what that mans as far as there function and meaning.  Below is an abstract of the article.

Congratulations Amit!

Negebite Pottery beyond the Negev
Amit Dagan
Bar Ilan University

A salvage excavation conducted at the site of orvat Shimon in the
western Sephelah uncovered a rural site dating to the 8th century BCE.
The excavation revealed a unique mudbrick structure that contained a
rich pottery assemblage with typical wheel-made pottery alongside a
large quantity of handmade vessels similar to ‘Negebite vessels’. The
discovery of this assemblage of handmade vessels calls into question
existing interpretations of the importance of this family. The paper
suggests that the ‘Negebite vessels’ were not a regional phenomenon,
but rather a functional product of rural life.

Keywords  Handmade vessels, Negebite pottery, Shephelah, 8th century BCE

An astounding video clip was put online, in which one sees a Hartebeest antelope running over a trail biker.
How does this connect to Tell es-Safi/Gath? Just two weeks ago, Liora Horwitz, our zooarchaeologist, while going over bones from the LB and Iron I levels at Safi, came upon some Hartebeest bones (Alcelaphus buselaphus). This species, which is not found in Israel nowadays, is already relatively well-known from archaeological sites in Israel. Interestingly, most recently, Z. Amar et al. (in JHS 10 [2010]) suggested that the Hartebeest should be identified with the biblical יחמור – which in the past was usually identified as the Mesopotamian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica).

For the fantastic clip (which tells you always to look to your sides when bike riding), see:

Aren

We received official word this morning that our permits have been approved. Most of the team will be arriving in Luxor on Monday, with the excavation beginning on Tuesday. The excavation is scheduled to run through December 10, so we anticipate almost a full season, even with the delays. Please check back next week for updates regarding the actual excavation.

Yesterday, while we were walking around the tell (as mentioned here), we walked over to Area C6, where back in the early 2000s we excavated portions of the siege trench and associated features (such as the berm and a tower relating to the siege, as well as features from other periods).

Among other issues, we checked out the location of our deep excavation of the trench, where we had reached bedrock and cleared it out completely.

Here is what this location looked like in the 2001 season:

And here is what it looks like today, quite overgrown (with a nice carob tree [Ceratonia siliqua] growing at the bottom of the trench):


And in both pictures, Oren Ackermann appears, so you can also see how he has changed over a decade…

Aren

Yesterday, which happened to be a very hot day (35C in mid-October!), Liora Horwitz (Zooarchaeologist), Udi Weiss (Archaeobotanist), Oren Ackermann (Geoarchaeologist) and I, spent the day at the site and its surroundings. Although it was hot, it was very nice to see the site right before the beginning of the winter season.
The reason that we were on site was connected to an additional research project that we have started in which we will be (re)studying the environment, ecology, agriculture and geomorphological history of the tell and its surroundings, combining contemporary data, various data from the last century and a half, and early archaeological and historical information. One of the aims of the present project is to have a better understanding of the relationship between the tell and its surroundings from a “longue duree” perspective.

We walked around the site, looking at locations where we had already conducted previous archaeo-environmental soundings in the past, and located additional points where we will conduct new ones.

Hopefully, this will provide us with some very interesting data, and additional understanding of the site, and its environs in various periods.

Needless say, as always, as we walked around the site, all kinds of interesting things were seen. For example, we say a very impressive, well-built wall right only the southern edge of the river bed of the Elah Valley, most probably an additional section of the city wall of the lower city during the Iron Age.

Here is a picture of two donkeys and a camel just to the north of the site.

And here are Liora, Udi and Oren standing over the deep well just to NE of Area D (on the other side of the river bed). This well was connected to the water wheel (Saqiya) which was located here until 1948 (Yes! A water wheel, which was powered by the water from some springs located just slightly to the east, which unfortunately, in the last few years has completely dried out).

And here is a view of the inside of the well – quite deep!

And on this occasion – best wishes for a happy Sukkot (Feast of the Tabernacles).

Aren

For those of you who have not visited the site since the excavations began – allow this Google Earth Image to update you on our progress!

View Larger Map

According to Google Earth this satellite image was captured 3/30/11 – or in other words – the second to last day of our spring excavation (compare to Balloon shots and satellite pic below). A notable day indeed. If you look closely you can make out Area A (center tan area), Area B (left tan area) and the shade area (center black area below Area A). Tan vs. Green = signs of progress!

2004 Satellite Image - Virgin Tel

As of today, we are still waiting on official word regarding our permits. Once the permits are secured, the Edfu Team will leave for Egypt about a week later. Our excavation season may be modified due to the delay, we will keep posting updates here as they come!

Welcome to the new Tell Edfu blog and keep up to date with our latest fieldwork at Tell Edfu! For a general introduction to the site and the project's previous discoveries see www.telledfu.org.

So far we have finished with the preparations for the next season starting early October 2011. We anticipate work lasting approximately two months- which includes various research objectives centered around the exploration of the origins of this ancient Egyptian settlement that might date back as far as 2600 BC. Excavation is planned in four different areas of Tell Edfu.

First, we shall continue to clear and record the Middle Kingdom columned hall and silo areas:

Secondly, we will move into excavating the Old Kingdom area:

Third, we hope to clean the First Intermediate Period enclosure wall.

And finally, part of our team will move to survey the South Edfu provincial pyramid:

At the end of the season, pottery recording and small finds work will occupy the team members not working on the pyramid:

We can't wait to get started again this year. Our excavation season is set to begin some time around October 4, 2011. We hope you'll join us!

Achish and Goliath, with the help of the medium Baal Zebub, have notified me that they have created a facebook account entitled “Excavating Gath“.
And from what I’ve been told – they very much want to have friends…

And by the way, they already have setup an event for this coming summer. Do make sure to check this out!

:-)

Aren

Now that it has been announced that over 1 million people visited the new online Dead Sea Scrolls website (which by the way is VERY cool), I thought it would be appropriate to inform the public of the connection between the excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath and the Dead Sea Scrolls:

Well, actually, there really is no connection, save for the fact that we are not too far from Qumran (in relative terms…).

But if we do ever find a collection of jars with scrolls in them at Safi, I’ll be the first to notify the public!

And also, I always thought of our team as the “Yahad” (usually translated as a “community” – more or less)…

:-)

Aren

It remains for me to thank everyone involved in the Kent expedition to Ostia this year. I am especially grateful to the guys who drove our two buses over the Alps (Zsolt, Joe and Doug), and also to those diggers who ended up doing more than their share of backfill, for various reasons, such as [...]

Our two weeks in Ostia have now finished and the team has returned home. The last day on site saw the trenches in the Bivium, the Paleastra, the Foro delle Statua Eroica and the Piazza della Vittora being closed and backfilled, meaning we could leave the site as we had found it. One of this [...]

One of the highlights of this year’s work has been the rescue excavation and laser survey which we have carried out in the area sacra of the Temple of Hercules. Here the garden service have been busy restoring some of the very crumbly Late Roman walls (here shown after restoration), We are very grateful [...]

The excavations of the Nymphaeum in the Piazza della Vittoria have been progressing nicely. Here a small team led by Bob Harp have been recording a heavily restored late Roman fountain, in order to detect traces of its original decoration. Thankfully the large basin preserves not only traces of two phases of mortar lining, but [...]

In the new issues of BASOR, a joint article by Itzik Shai, David Ilan, Joe Uziel and yours truly has appeared, which deals with the Iron Age of Tel Nagila. Although not directly related to the excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath, it is published by three of the Safi staff (Itzik, Joe and I) and does include aspects which relate to the Iron Age of Tell es-Safi/Gath.

The article is entitled:
Shai, I., Ilan, D., Maeir, A. M., and Uziel, J. 2011. The Iron Age Remains at Tel Nagila. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 363: 25–43.

And here is the abstract:
The paper presents the preliminary results of the analysis of the Iron Age finds from Tel Nagila. The excavations, which took place in the early 1960s under the direction of R. Amiran and A. Eitan, revealed three Iron Age strata. Through the lens of these finds, we reflect on Tel Nagila as an Iron Age settlement on the border between Judah and Philistia, on the ethnic and political affiliations of its population, and how these affiliations may have changed over time.

Aren

Drew University's YouTube channel, Drew Tube, has a short piece up about the dig, featuring current student Alexa Marino, who participated in our fourth season in 2011. A few clips include last year's crew too, so have a look! We're also linked from the main Drew page.

Our web site has also had a little facelift. Check it out!

In September, a team from the CAVE RESEARCH UNIT conducted a survey around Tel Burna, mapping the different features around the site, including caves, agricultural installations and other features, which can help in numerous ways, including planning of future excavation projects and also understanding the exploitation of the landscape by the inhabitants of the city.  Here is a nice map showing some of those features.

The Nymphaeum Bivium is being excavated by Dan Jackson (above with spray can), supported by Joe Williams. Dan has made a great start, reopening the trench of last year to try to resolve some of the tricky stratigraphic relationships found there. It seems that we have found the front wall of the fountain’s basin, which [...]

Today we have enjoyed the visit of two of our patrons, John Beale, who has paid for the bulk of the 2010 and 2011 staff and equipment costs and John Osborn, who has sponsored student placements in both years. John Beale’s donation this year included provision for a photographic helicopter, to take aerial shots of [...]

The palaestra trench has now been completely cleaned. We are ready to context and draw the area, which is being dug by Sebastian Matz, assisted by Judith Wolf and their team. The excavation has revealed a phase of travertine paving for the palaestra, previously unknown, which was replaced by an extensive black and white mosaic [...]

it has been a long time since the last post, and some exciting things have been happening with the project, which will be arriving in various posts over the next week or two.

Here is the first of the bunch, but before I start, congratulations to Michael Press, who was awarded ASOR’s inaugural Aviram Prize sponsored by the Dorot Foundation.  The prize is in recognition for his paper,  ”(Pytho)Gaia in Myth and Legend: The Goddess of the Ekron Inscription Revisited.”

Congratulations Michael – way to go!

As far as Burna Business goes, many of us are starting to get excited about ASOR lectures.  Although they are a couple of months away, many of us will be there, and a few lectures will deal with material we uncovered at Burna over the past two summers.  in the process we are working in getting material together to present.  Just a small sneak preview, here is a plan showing the fortifications of the Iron Age II, courtesy of J Rosenberg – our surveyor. Thanks J.

Remember, more to come.

8th Century BCE Plan

 

9th Century BCE Plan

I’ve never been to Ostia before; in fact, I’ve never even been on an archaeological dig before. Needless to say, I jumped at the opportunity to join the Kent University’s excavation in Italy this year as an administrator and archivist. Our group is about 25 people in total from all different nationalities and specialisms which [...]

Devegetation has finished and trenches have now appeared at the four excavations sites.  In the palaestra, the main aim of the trenches is to uncover architectural proof of changes to the site in the 3rd and 4th century, particularly the date of the mosaic which covers the whole square. The trenches have revealed the foundation [...]

Today Laser scanning began. Helen Moulden and Eamonn Baldwin of Birmingham University brought an enormously heavy box on site and began scanning the Palaestra. It was extremely satisfying to see the devegetation finished and this vital recording taking place. The laser scan will record the position of each brick in every wall, and provide high [...]

Workshop, group photo (by Ryan S.)

Last week we had an informal workshop on the project in my lab at ASU. Emily Umberger came up from Tucson, Maelle Sergheraert attended (it was during the final days of her Postdoc year in my lab), and Brad Andrews came down from Pacific Lutheran University. Angela and Julie and Cindy were here, along with two undergrads: Mary Bowles and Ryan Smigielski. Barbara Stark and George Cowgill showed up—one in the morning and the other in the afternoon—to keep us in line.

Brad and Angela

Brad talked about his work on the obsidian industry. Why were they using bipolar technology, when most archaeologists thought it had gone out of fashion a thousand years earlier? See his blog post for the gory details. Angela reviewed her dissertation plans for investigating the effects of Mexica conquest on the households of Calixtlahuaca. She had just passed her proposal defense the day before, so her research design was really in order! She's back in the lab in Toluca now, working on those sherds.


Julie reviewed her current work, trying to relate the the surface collection data to neighborhood organization  and to wealth levels. I talked a bit about the overall project, including the various analyses not represented at the workshop. Anyone out there interested in ground stone? We've got a nice collection just waiting for the right person!

Jennifer and Maelle

It was great having Maelle as a postdoc in my lab for the past year; she has been working on the altepetl in Aztec central Mexico. At the workshop, she summarized her SAA paper from last spring on the civic architecture at the site. She has evidence for four architecture stages at the site, and we have three ceramic phases. We are pretty sure that the last period in each sequence lines up, but for the earlier stages we still await more chronological research.

Emily Umberger's student Jennifer Burley talked about two things: the group of sculptures that we recovered in our excavations, and her MA thesis research on Ehecatl. Jennifer worked with us in the lab in Toluca for a while this past summer, helping us out in several ways. Emily talked about Aztec notions of sacred mountains, exploring why the Mexica may have taken such a great interest in Calixtlahuaca. She did NOT talk about cosmovision!

Emily and George

Barbara Stark was with us most of the time, providing some good comments, and George Cowgill joined us in time for pizza and the afternoon session. Cindy also participated in the discussion. Two ASU undergrads attended. Mary Bowles is working on a paper comparing Calixtlahuaca to other hilltop capital cities in Mesoamerica, and Ryan Smigielski is a new volunteer with the project.

We did not succeed in putting the two big parts of the project together--our fieldwork in 2006/07 on houses and terraces, and the study of Garcia Payon's findings of sculpture and civic architecture. One thing we agreed on was the  need to get the ethnohistory onto a firmer footing so that we really know all that the sources say about topics like the Aztec conquest of Matlatzinco, the names of the rulers of the site, and the overall political, social, and religious context of Calixtlhauca and the Toluca Valley. So this week we put new volunteer Theresa Araque to work on this!

We will have a big symposium on the project at the 2013 SAA meetings (in Honolulu!!!). Stay tuned.....

Phew. Finally got around to updating the dig website. I got inspired by the great photos by our friend Wendy Robinson, as well as the possibilities offered by Apple's nice website-creation software, iWeb. Expect to see some more updates in coming weeks, including a "testimonials" section by dig alumni. (You have been warned!)

Feedback always welcome, of course.

Today, we drove around the Shephela and southern coastal plain, visiting Tell es-Safi, Ashkelon, and of course – Tel Burna, with Steve Durchslag, a divintiy student at the University of Chicago.  It was great to be out in the open air and see that Burna still looked great! we even saw some deer running at the foot of the tell!

 

So, you worked at Ashkelon for a summer, two or three, or maybe even an eternity and you think you know everything there is to know about the site.  Not so fast. What about Grid 16?  Club Med?  The name of the assistant square supervisor in Grid 50 Square 49 in 1993.  Even if all your questions about Ashkelon aren't easily answered, there is a new source to use for your research.

As part of The Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon's committment to furthering scholarly understanding of this important Mediterranean site, we are proud to make Ashkelon 1 and 2 available to download free of charge. These two volumes, the first of which offers an overview of our first season of excavation in 1985 along with some additional reports and the second of which presents imported Roman period pottery, are the first in a ten volume series.  Eventually, each volume in the series will be available for download making the excavation of Ashkelon one of the most accessible in the world.

Planning has begun for the 2012 field season.  Keep an eye on the website for more information.

 

Meanwhile, I'll leave you with this:

 

 

 

 Any thoughts?