The Biblical Archaeologist - Vol.43, N.1

68 Pages·1980·18.04 MB·English

by  American Schools of Oriental Research

BIBLICAL Cr
/?:,
ARCH EOLOGIST
L~. ,
, 9I?
~
~?r,. ~ ~ cj~ aurc?
?
-;)
(cid:127),.51~i~
`"?- e .?- ?
;? ? I
?I
Highlightso f the next BA
In "The Ebla Tablets-An
InterimP erspective," Robert
Biggs, a scholar with con-
siderable experience with
ancient scripts addresses
claims which have been made
about the relevance of the
Ebla documents to biblical
narrativesa nd urges cautious
estimation of the significance
of the Ebla finds.
Eric Meyers, a specialist in
Judaic civilization,s hows how
recent study of the earliest
synagogues elucidates cultural
and religious currents of the
Talmudic period.
J. Kenneth Eakins,a licensed
pediatriciana nd professor of
archeology, tells how skeletal
remains help archeologists
understand human develop-
ment and diseases as well as
the historyo f specific pop-
ulations.
N
THE
NEXT BA
f
4 Ar sp, ' p .
J IV
0 li
I Xr
IL
I I-
'*IT
%S, ;Iwo.
0 Ir !b
.I7
( 41
r4?
OdI
loom AV
~i~p~r~ rc ~ rip ~r~~~lr d
BIBLICAL( William H. Stiebing is Associate Professor of
History at the University of New Orleans, where
ARCHEO., LOGIST he has taught ancient history and archeology since
1967. He has served as a staff member on
excavations at Tell es-Saidiyeh, Jordan and
Editor Sarafand, Lebanon.
David Noel Freedman
Associate Editor
HarryT homas Frank Joseph Naveh is a foremost Israeli authority in the
area of Iron Age Canaanite inscriptions. He teaches
Editorial Committee West Semitic Epigraphy and Paleography in the
Frank M. Cross, Jr. Department of Ancient Semitic Languages and in
Tikva Frymer-Kensky the Institute of Archeology at the Hebrew
Sharon Herbert
University in Jerusalem.
CharlesR . Krahmalkov
John A. Miles, Jr.
WalterE . Rast
James H. Charlesworth is Professor of Religion
Production Manager and the Director of the International Center on
BruceE . Willoughby Christian Origins at Duke University. A specialist
in pseudepigrapha, he has published several
Chief EditorialA ssistant
important studies on early Christian writings.
Kent P. Jackson
EditorialA ssistants
Wendy L. Frisch
Linda E. Fyfe Moshe Dothan is Professor of Archeology and
TerrenceM . Kerestes Chairman of the Department of Maritime
KennethA . Mathews Civilizations at the University of Haifa. Having had
extensive archeological experience, he began in
Advertising Layout 1973 to excavate Akko, where he is the Director of
CherylS . Klopshinske
the Akko Excavations Project, an interdisciplinary
Business Manager exploration of the ancient tell and harbor.
Tracy B. Shealy
William G. Dever is Professor of Near Eastern
Composition Archeology and Chairman of the Department of
WendyL . Frisch
MargaretG . Jensen Oriental Studies, University of Arizona. A leader
Louise W. Palazzola in the field of Syro-Palestinian archeology, he has
authored or edited several books and has published
Distribution Manager over 40 articles. He is the editor of the Bulletino f the
R. Guy Gattis AmericanS choolso f OrientalR esearch.
Graphic Designer Burton MacDonald is Associate Professor in the
Rhonda De Mason
Department of Theology at St. Francis Xavier
JournalE xchange University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. He has
Len Niehoff excavated extensively in the Middle East
throughout the past decade and is currently the
SubscriptionS ervices Annual Professor at the American Center of
BelindaK halayly,M anager
Oriental Research in Amman, Jordan.
AndrewE . Hill
David M. Howard,J r.
Hamid Merati
Biblical Archeologisti s published with the financial
Denise Zatsick
assistance of Zion Research Foundation, a non-
sectarian foundation for the study of the Bible and
the history of the Christian Church.
Printed by Printing Services, The University of Michigan.
2 BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGIST/ WINTER 1980
Cover:P ioneersi n Palestinian
archeology:P NreR oland de
Vaux, Sir W. M. FlindersP etrie,
BenjaminM azar,G . Ernest
Wright,A lbrechtA lt, Dame
KathleenK enyon,a nd William
Foxwell Albright.
BIBLICAL(,
ARCHEOLOGIST
Winter 1980 Volume 43 Number 1
William H. Stiebing The End of the MyceneanA ge 7
A closel ook at the breakdowno f Aegeana ndM editerranean
civilizations in the last centuries of the 2nd millennium B.C.
Joseph Naveh The Greek Alphabet: New Evidence 22
The adoption of the Canaanite alphabet by the Greeks: new
evidence suggests the need to revise traditional theories and
traditional dates.
James H. Charlesworth The Manuscripts of St. Catherine's Monastery 26
A recently discovered hoard of ancient manuscripts provides
scholars with new evidence to answer old questions.
Moshe Dothan The Sea Gate of Ancient Akko 35
& Avner Raban An examination of an important structure at an ancient city
and the conclusions that we can draw from its remains.
William G. Dever ArcheologicalM ethod in Israel:A Continuing Revolution 40
The evolution and development of Syro-Palestinian or
"biblical" archeology: an examination of the excavations
and the excavators.
Burton MacDonald Excavations at Tell el-Maskhuta 49
The first season of excavation at a site east of the Nile delta
brings to light artifacts from several different
periods of history.
Biblical Archeologist (ISSN: 0006-0895) is published quarterly Letter to the Readers 4
(Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall) by the American Schools of
OrientalR esearch.I ts purposei s to providet he generalr eaderw ith Polemics and Irenics 5
an accurate, scholarly, yet easily understandablea ccount of
aUrncshoeloicloitgeidc amld siss.c aorvee rwieeslac nodm teh beiurtb sehaoruinldgo bne t haec cboibmlipcaanlh ieedri btayg ae . Notes and News 60
stamped, self-addressed envelope. The American Schools of
Oriental Research is no longer affiliated with the Center for Book Reviews 63
ScholarlyP ublishinga nd Servicesa t Missoula,M ontana.A ddress
aAlrl chedeoitloorgiiaslt , 1c0o5r3r LesSp&onAd Beunicled inagn,Ud naivdevresrittiyso ifn gM itcoh igBaibnl,A icnanl Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World:
A12r6b Ionrm, ManI 4 S8tr1e0e9t., ACdadmrberssida lgle b,M usAin 0e2ss1c 3o9r.r espondencet o ASOR, Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the
Copyright 0 1980 American Schools of Oriental Research. Book of Psalms (Pritchard).
Annual subscription rate: $12.00. Foreign subscription rate:
$14.00 (Americanc urrency).C urrents ingle issues:$ 4.00. Colophon 64
Second class postage paid at Ann Arbor, MI 48106
POSTMASTER:S end address changes to Biblical Archeologist,
1053 LS&A Building, Universityo f Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
48109.
BIBLICALA RCHEOLOGISTW/ INTER1 980 3
Letter
to the
Readers
David Noel Freedman
For this number of BA academic and professional skills and the democratization
we have a rich and varied of knowledge and intellectual skills, and the extension of
menu, articles ranging all culture to a much larger population than had been true
over the Near East, from in the past makes this a subject of perennial interest,
Egypt to the islands of the especially since the process has never come to an end.
Mediterraneanf,r om Akko At the other end of the chronological chain is the
in northern Israel to the third report by James Charlesworth on the manuscript
mountains of Sinai. Some hoard at St. Catherine's Monastery in Sinai. Along with
deal with the minutiae of the first published photos of sample documents comes
handwriting or the arti- an explanation of their potential importance for biblical
facts of archeological ex- studies and the history of manuscript transmission in the
cavation, others with the Ist millennium C.E.
basic issues of historical In addition to these period pieces we have an
causation or the guiding principles of archeological important contribution to the ongoing debate of the role
research. of Near Eastern archeology (in particular, the way it is
Burton MacDonald takes us back along an old trail practiced in Israel) and its relationship to the study of
to the place from which the Exodus began according to the Bible by an acknowledged master in the field, the
the biblical account. While the report of archeological current editor of our sister journal, the Bulletin of the
activity at Tell el-Maskhuta is mainly negative regarding American Schools of Oriental Research, William G.
the Late Bronze Age (latter half of the 2nd millennium), Dever. His observations and conclusions, based on
the generally accepted period of the Israelite movement years of fieldwork, archeological research, and publica-
out of Egypt, many useful data have turned up, and a tion, advance the discussion significantly and will evoke
general picture of the site is becoming clear. thoughtful reflection in many quarters. We hope there
William Stiebing deals with the same general period will be equally thoughtful response and invite our
but far to the north, where the great Mycenean readers to join in the exchange of opinions and insights.
civilization was coming to an abrupt end. His original
hypothesis about this dramatic transition is a subject of
discussion and controversy in classical circles, but it also
has important bearing on the upheaval farther south
involving the countries on the Mediterranean littoral.
The alphabet which is very much with us today has ja,?J A;?e~ LU
its own remarkable history and can be traced back in
recognizable form to the Middle Bronze Age. The
emergence of the direct ancestor of the alphabet which is
in familiar use all over the world can be dated to the
same period, when the great cultural change took place,
along with corresponding shifts both seismic and
political throughout the eastern Mediterranean area.
However, the question of the date when the alphabet
was borrowed from the Phoenicians by the Greeks has
been the subject of much controversy; now Joseph
Naveh has come up with a new theory and a new date.
We may be sure that this provocative thesis will provoke
responses from scholars on both sides-the Phoenician
and the Greek-based upon newly discovered inscrip-
tions as well as those formerly known. In view of all the
known contacts on this frontier between Semitic and
Indo-European-speaking peoples, it looks as though this
particular borrowing took place earlier rather than later
in the Early Iron Age. The incalculable effect of the
spread of the alphabet on literacy, communications,
commerce, the development of new areas of learning, of
4 BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGIST / WINTER 1980
Polemics &
Irenics
Commendation Mycenean or Canaanite?
I had decided to discontinue my subscription to Biblical I was struck upon reading Ephraim Stern's article (BA
A rcheologist, but articles in two of the more recent issues 40 [1977] 89-91) at the striking resemblance between the
have changed my mind, notably, "The Essenes" and LB temple found at Tell Mevorakh and the LB temple
Carol Meyers' "Women in Early Israel." I have been a found at Mycene and cleared in 1968-69 by Lord
subscriber since the first issue but have not been happy William Taylour.
with the emphasis on site excavation reports. On Though smaller (5.1 x 4.2 m), the Mycenean temple
reviewing my recent issues I have concluded that I was has the following features in common with the Mevorakh
being unfair, that there are many excellent recent articles temple: (1) a rectangular plan, to be sure, with a fore-
on more general topics. court; (2) three column bases (instead of one); (3) a
staircase in one corner; and (4) 17 clay snake figurines;
Royal Buscombe cf. the bronze snake figurine of Mevorakh.
Northwestern University I wonder if the presence of Mycenean and Cypriot
pottery, in view of the striking parallels with the temple
from Mycene, may mean that this was a structure built
The Parahyba Inscription not by Canaanites but by settlers from abroad. Reports
Concerning the "Phoenician text" mentioned by by Taylour have appeared in Antiquity 43 (1969): 91-
N. Rosenstein in the September 1978 BA (41.3, p. 85), 97; and 44 (1970): 270-79.
please let me make the following observations. A. Harif, in "Coastal Buildings of Foreign Origin in
Ladislau Netto first made this so-called "Parahyba Second Millennium B.C. Palestine," Palestine Explora-
Inscription" public in April 1873, but as early as 1875, tion Quarterly 110 (1978): 100-6, also calls attention to
and then again in a letter to Ernest Renan in 1885, he the affinities between a number of MB buildings on the
himself admitted that this inscription was actually a Palestine coast and Aegean structures.
blatant forgery. Unfortunately, he never admitted that
he was the forger himself (understandably); in fact, he Edwin Yamauchi
went so far as to suggest that the then emperor of Brazil, Miami University, OH
Dom Pedro II, Netto's great benefactor, was the forger.
In a recent study by G. I. Joffily (Zeitschrift der Prof. Yamauchi is absolutely right in his comment, and
Deutschen Morgenliindischen Gesellschqft 122: 22-36), evidently there is a striking resemblance between the
the final verdict of the author reads: plans of the LB sanctuary at Tell Mevorakh and that of
Mycene. In the resemblance was brought to my
Whoeverh as the opportunityt o readt he unusualp amphlet attention lon.gfa actg,o -at the time of the excavation-by
of LadislauN etto entitled Lettrea i M. Renan will easily A. Mazar, and I do intend to deal with it in the detailed
perceivet hat the Phoeniciani nscriptiono f Parahybaw as a ,final report. But it also should be pointed out that this
trick of internationalp rojection,p erpetratedb y Ladislau resemblance is limited to the temple's plan alone. All the
Netto himself. . . cult objects, pottery vases, and other small finds are
entirely different. Almost all the pottery vases found at
It is, therefore, wasted effort to attempt to uphold Tell Mevorakh are local, excluding a small number qf
the genuineness of the so-called Parahyba Inscription or Cypriot imports and a few sherds qf Mycenean vases.
to draw from it any kind of philological or historical (The last were examined by V. Hankey, who dated them
conclusions. to the 14th century, that is, the second phase of our
Gabriela Martin has attempted to defend the good sanctuary.) The same is true of the small finds, all of
faith of Ladislau Netto, claiming that he was the victim which have many and close analogies in the LB
of a fraud. But even she does not deny that this Canaanite temples in Israel.
inscription is actually a fake (Revista de Hist6ria 51, It is true that the snake appears in both places, but
no. 102: 511-16). the one from Mycene is entirely different, while our
P. J. Balduino Kipper, S.J. snake [at Tell Mevorakh] is a common 'find in many
Colegio Cristo Rei local temples (Hazor, Beth-shan, Timnah, and others).
S. Leopoldo, Brazil It seems, therefore, that the snake as a cult symbol had
an important but independent role in both cultures.
BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGIST / WINTER 1980 5
To sum up, we may say that although there may be Dr. Yadin writes in his book Hazor, the Rediscovery
a certain amount of Mycenean influence on the Tell of a Great Citadel of the Bible, "Considering that the city
Mevorakh sanctuary (which should be studied carefully), was founded on a thick layer of ash (evidence that a fire
this influence is not traced among the finds which had destroyed its predecessor at the end of the Middle
should be regarded as purely Canaanite. For this reason, Bronze period) . . ." (p. 37). The destruction of the thick
it seems to me that our designation of the Tell ash layer showed that the MB city was destroyed by a
Mevorakh sanctuary as "Canaanite" is still valid. great conflagration.
I do not understand, but it is possible that the story
Ephraim Stern of the Conquest may be archeologically represented by
Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University the end of the Middle Bronze Age.
Marvin Arnold Luckerman
Conquest in the Middle Bronze Age? Docent Skirball Museum
I read with great interest the article on the Negeb in the Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles
May 1976 BA (39, pp. 54-76). Dr. Aharoni put forth a
theory that the Conquest may be represented in the
Negeb by the end of the Middle Bronze Age. He wrote
(p. 73):
We thereforea rrivea t a most startlingc onclusion:t he
biblical tradition associated with the Negeb battles
cannot representh istorical sources from the days of
Moses and Joshua,s incen owherei n the Negeba ret here
any remainso f the LateB ronzeA ge. Howevert, he reality
described in the Bible corresponds exactly to the
situationd uringt he MiddleB ronzeA ge, whent wo tels,
and two tels only, defendedt he easternN egeba gainstt he
desert maraudersa, nd the evidencep oints towardst he
identificationo f these tels witht he ancientc itieso f Arad
and Hormah. Thus the biblical tradition preservesa
faithfuld escriptiono f the geographical-historicsailt ua-
tion as it was some threeh undredy earso r morep riort o
the Israelitec onquest.
It occurred to me to see if this would be true in other
areas of the Holy Land. My attention turned immediately
to Jericho, because it is the first city that one thinks of
when recalling the Conquest. Dr. Kathleen Kenyon, who
worked at Jericho, could not find the LB city of Conquest
times. I looked to see if the MB city might have been
destroyed by a cataclysm as described in the Bible. Dr.
Kenyon, describing the destruction of the MB city of
Jericho in her book Archaeology in the Holy Land, wrote
(p. 117):
At Jericho,t he evidencef or the destructionis even more
dramatic.A ll the Middle Bronze Age buildingsw ere
violentlyd estroyedb y fire. The stumpso f the walls are
buied in the debrisc ollapsedf romt he uppers tories,a nd
the faces of these stumpsa nd the floors of the roomsa re
stronglys corchedb y fire.
It seems possible that the central part of the Holy
Land could also fit Aharoni's pattern. But what about the
North? It has been said that although the Conquest
cannot be found in any other parts of the Holy Land, it
can be demonstrated at Hazor. Indeed, there is a level
from the Bronze Age that might be forced to fit the
situation, but is there also a MB level?
6 BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGIST / WINTER 1980
William H. Stiebing
The Dorian invasion has been
accepted commonly as the cause
of the collapse of Mycenean civ-
ilization. But recently this hy-
pothesis has come under strong
attack. Among other alternatives
THE proposed is the possibility that
this collapse was part of a general
END breakdown of society which took
place not only in the Aegean but
OF THE throughout the ancient Near East
as well. The cause of this decline
was not an invasion of outsiders
MYCENEAN
but a series of catastrophic
AGE droughts, followed by economic
collapse and social chaos.
~~tLn
O i~ic"
,~ ,
(cid:127)L?)
..(cid:127)
Q ' 4I
4Gk4
BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGIST / WINTER 1980 7
The 13th century B.C.
witnessed the zenith of
Mycenean civilization,
but within a century,
most major cities were
destroyed.
The 13th century B.C. witnessed into several distinct groups, each The Return of the Heraclids
the zenith of the Mycenean speaking a different dialect (Hains- This explanation of the dialect
civilization in Greece. Elaborate worth 1967). According to modern distribution of classical Greece also
palaces, often within citadels philologists the main division was seemed consistent with ancient Greek
protected by massive Cyclopean between the East Greek dialects traditions concerning the Dorian
walls, flourished at Pylos, Mycene, (Attic-Ionic, Aeolic, and Arcado- invasion or, as the Greeks preferred
Tiryns, Iolkos, Gla, Orchomenos, Cypriot) spoken in Attica, Boeotia, to call it, the Return of the
Thebes, and Athens. Then, within Thessaly, most of the Aegean Heraclids. (The relevant sources are
the span of the succeeding century, islands, the coast of Asia Minor, conveniently gathered together in
all but Athens were destroyed. Many Arcadia, and Cyprus, and the West Hooker 1976: 213-22.) There are
Mycenean sites were abandoned, and Greek dialects (Doric and Northwest some differences and contradictions
some areas of the Peloponnese were Greek) spoken in all of the Pelopon- in detail between various ancient
seriously depopulated. At those sites nese except Arcadia, as well as in accounts, but the outline of the
which escaped destruction or which Crete, Aetolia, and Epirus. story seems clear. Sometime before
were reoccupied in the 12th century, Most interesting is the existence the Trojan War the sons of Heracles
there was a marked decline in of an Arcadian dialectal "island" in were driven from the Peloponnese
material civilization. The cultural the West Greek-speaking Pelopon- by Eurystheus, king of Mycene.
unity which had existed in southern nese. This East Greek dialect is very These Heraclids and their descendants
and central Greece during the closely related to the dialect of wandered from place to place,
Mycenean Age was succeeded by faraway Cyprus. When scholars sojourning for a time at Doris in
many localized developments (Ver- deciphered the Mycenean Linear B central Greece. Thus, they came to
meule 1964: 269-71; Desborough tablets and proved that they were be called Dorians. After one or
1975: 658-60). written in an East Greek dialect more abortive attempts to invade the
What caused this devastation of similar to Arcado-Cypriot, the Peloponnese by way of the Isthmus
the Mycenean culture? The tradi- explanation of the dialect distribu- of Corinth, the Heraclids finally
tional answer has been "the Dorian tion in classical times seemed plain. mounted a successful naval attack
invasion." The concept of an A fairly uniform Mycenean dialect across the Corinthian Gulf some two
invasion of the Mycenean realm by (sometimes called "Achean'")m ust generations after the fall of Troy.
less-civilized groups of Doric- have been spoken all over southern They then seized control of much of
speaking Greeks seemed to account Greece. Then West Greek speakers the Peloponnese, replacing the old
best for the distribution of Greek (Dorians) invaded the Peloponnese dynasties in Messenia, Sparta, and
dialects in historical times. It was in and settled the coastal regions, Argos. Some of the refugees from
keeping with Greek traditions about leaving untouched a pocket of these areas fled to Achea, while
their own past. And, of course, it Mycenean survivors in the moun- others made their way to Athens
provided an explanation for the tains of Arcadia and driving others whence they later continued on to
widespread destruction of Mycenean to settle in Cyprus. Subsequently, Ionia in Asia Minor.
centers. other East Greek dialects developed The area of the Peloponnese,
In classical times the Greeks out of the once-common Mycenean which tradition claims was con-
were aware that they were divided tongue (Chadwick 1975: 810-19). It quered by the Heraclids, is the same
is also possible that a threefold area where the Doric dialect was
division of East Greek existed spoken in classical times. It was also
already in Mycenean times. If so, the heartland of the Mycenean
Still undeciphered after 75 years of Arcado-Cypriot would have descend- civilization and the area most
examination by scholars, the Phaistos
Disk (preceding page) is a witness to the ed from the dialect spoken in the devastated by the wave of destruc-
craftsmanship and artistry of the Bronze Peloponnese in Mycenean times tions at the end of the 13th century.
Age Greek writing systems. (Desborough 1964: 245). The traditions of the Dorian
8 BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGIST / WINTER 1980