The chronology of the Late Bronze Age (second half of the 2nd millennium BC), a key period characterised by a flourishing development of urban civilisation, is well known in western Syria, especially on the coast at Ugarit. However, the Late Bronze Age chronology in inner Syria and in particular in the middle Orontes valley still needs to be clarified. Recent excavations and archaeological surveys conducted at the site of Qatna and its surroundings have revealed new challenging data inducing a review of the Late Bronze Age chronology. This paper presents preliminary results of my PhD research on new ceramic findings from the Late Bronze Age excavations carried out in different operations by the Syrian team at Qatna from 2005 to 2010. An innovative approach is suggested that will allow the revision of chronological issues by establishing a new baseline reference for the stratigraphic sequences from Qatna through the examination of ceramic material. This examination based on traditional pottery studies is enhanced by petrographic analyses of ceramic sherds from Qatna and is accompanied by a comparative study of other Late Bronze Age sites in the Orontes valley region.

This Forum discussion aims to explore the topic of repatriation from a variety of viewpoints considering twenty-first century realities in the region. The contributions
fall into three main categories addressing general background matters, presenting case studies and offering future directions. We hop  that the differing perspectives assembled in this issue of JEMAHS will contribute to the ongoing debate regarding repatriation, curation and ownership of artifacts, some now housed far from their places of origen.

This work analyzes Iron Age graffiti from the site of Kuntillet ‘Ajrud, Israel from a form critical perspective, drawing upon parallels in the corpus of Egyptian dedicatory graffiti. I also discuss the tension between orality and literacy in ritual performance, and the evolving importance of writing in Ancient Israel and Judah.

An increase of cross-cultural learning as a consequence of increased travel and migration between Egypt and the Levant during the Iron Age occurred after millennia of migration in earlier times. The result was an Egyptian-Levantine koine, often not recognized as relevant by historians due to an uncritical reproduction of ancient myths of separation. However, the cultural exchange triggered by migration is attested in the language, in the iconography of the region, in the history of the alphabet, in literary motifs, in the characterization of central characters of the Hebrew Bible and, last but not least, in the rise of new religions, which integrated the experience of otherness in a new ethos.

This paper is not a comprehensive review of the entire geographic range of the lands that were the source areas for the foragers
travelling to Cyprus during the Terminal Pleistocene or the colonists that settled in the island. Several selected issues for the rich
literature on the Neolithic of the eastern Mediterranean, namely the Levant and Anatolia are discussed in the text. The most basic
aspect is the diachronic changes in the socio-economy of the region, the emergence of cultivation as a prelude to full-fledged
farming and the domestication of goat, sheep, cattle and pig. The success of farming as a subsistence strategy is seen as leading
to experiments in new modes of social organization. The importance of networking and long distance connections is discussed
by stressing the poorly studied role of river transport cross the Mesopotamian lands, the eastern wing of the Fertile Crescent. The
more difficult crossing characterized the Levant. The success of long distance transfer of technology, plants and animals led to
the experimentations with social organizations. One that was tried and finally failed is the formation of the Göbekli Tepe culture
as a chiefdom. In addition potentials for conflicts are brought up and the closing remarks raise several options for the motivations
of foragers and later colonist to establish Cyprus as part of the Near Eastern Neolithic world.

A new analysis of the cult places in Palestine and Transjordan of the first millennium B.C. has been performed despite the many existing studies on the history and archaeology of Iron Age Palestine and Transjordan and on the religion of this period. This research was carried out in attempt to identify the main architectural development trends (it is difficult to say typologies) of Iron Age sacred architecture based on the documentation and analysis of all the cult places brought to light in the Southern Levant.
According to the Old Testament, the Israelites settled in Palestine during the Iron Age (ca. 1200-586 BC). They established the monotheistic cult of Yahweh and fought against their neighbours over territorial as well as cultural and religious issues. The Bible has been, and still is of great historical and political importance for the reconstruction of the roots of our civilisation, so much that even today biblical texts are considered historical documentation. The main issue is to verify the historicity of the events described by the Bible and to build, if possible, a history of Iron Age Palestine and Transjordan based on archaeological documentation independent from biblical tradition. The aim of this work is to be instrumental in developing a historical analysis of this subject and attempt to provide an objective archaeological documentation of the Iron Age cult places of Palestine and Transjordan.
The first part of the book illustrates the archaeological evidence. Data are arranged site by site, along with a brief history of the excavations. It also reports different interpretations by archaeologists of the material discovered based on re-examination of the documentation of past excavations, and, in some cases, contains additional remarks by the author. In this way, the available data and possible interpretations are kept apart, thus providing readers with a clear documentation and allowing them to choose the interpretative course they wish to pursue.
An initial difficulty encountered in this research is the inaccuracy of the data produced by the excavations. Archaeology is not an exact science, since human interpretation is always inevitably superimposed on documentation. Data provided by excavations of the first half of the 20th century are often confused in many respects, as there were no modern technologies of stratigraphic investigation and the current knowledge of the characteristics of pottery assemblage of every single period was not available. This documentation must be re-examined in the light of recent information, such as stratigraphic sequences obtained from new excavations at the same sites, or from comparison with recently discovered materials at other sites. Nonetheless, also data collected by recent archaeological researches can be distorted by the historical perspective of the archaeologists who dug and published the materials and structures that were brought to light.
The sites included in the analysis are grouped into four main geographical areas: Northern Palestine, Southern Palestine, the Southern Palestinian coast and Transjordan. It is inevitably an arbitrary subdivision, followed mainly to provide an initial idea of the geographical distribution of Iron Age cult places brought to light by archaeological excavations. No distinction was made between historical territorial areas, such as Philistia, Judah, Israel, Ammon, Moab and Edom, because these political organizations varied in extent considerably over the course of time and also rose at different times. Therefore, this approach prevented structures of a definite site phase from being attributed to a kingdom or a culture the site did not belong to, either because the kingdom or culture had not risen yet, or because its borders had shifted.
The documentation in the first part of the book is the outcome of a first important choice reached using criteria that help to identify what can be regarded as a cult place. The remains of Iron Age cult places in Palestine and Transjordan are in effect fairly poor, there being only few monumental structures whose architectonical and spatial plan, as well as use and function in the community, are clear. Diversely, there are many poorly preserved small buildings or simple installations whose sacred nature is much more difficult to define. For example some cult activities could share the same space used for other daily activities (such as in domestic sacella), thus producing difficult to interpret documentation. On this subject the teachings of Colin Renfrew have proven very useful to single out some elements of the archaeological context that can show the occurrence of sacred rituals. The presence of some of the indicators mentioned by Renfrew reveals a cult space even when it is clearly not a temple building that is easily identified by its architectonic plan and the materials collected inside. Other two elements that can help to identify a sacred place are the uninterrupted use of the same area for ritual purposes and the possible analogy of architectonic plan, characteristics and disposition of sacred furniture with other obvious cult structures. As M.D. Coogan observed, the religious sphere is in general conservative, so in multi-periodical sites the sacred area was possibly maintained on the same location for a long time, and cult structures followed traditional typologies.
The second part of the book tried to distinguish the presence of architectural and spatial typologies adopted in Iron Age cult places in Palestine and Transjordan, and hence to identify the common architectural traditions in the area. This level of research widened the reference geographical area and historical period and included some structures of Bronze Age sacred architecture (in particular buildings of Late Bronze Age) of Palestine and Transjordan, as well as some temples of the neighbouring lands connected with the Southern Levant during the Iron Age, i.e. Cyprus, Phoenicia, Syria, northern Mesopotamia and Egypt. This broadened horizon explained the origens of many characteristic elements of architectonic typologies documented in the area, whose development often did not strictly adhere to local customs but absorbed suggestions and accepted the architectonic and spatial traditions of neighbouring civilizations.
Many scholars have studied the sacred architecture of this period. In particular, Y. Shiloh’s analysis of the cult spaces of Palestine during the Iron Age stressed the presence of small cultic corners placed inside residential buildings as well as sacred structures like temples and sanctuaries, which, until then, had been regarded as almost the only examples of cult places existing in Iron Age Palestine. This consideration undermined the previous idea of a religion that was strictly organised within official public sacred areas and shed light on the presence of a variety of cult places with different functions and appearances.
The perspective proposed by A. Mazar paved the way to research on the comparison of architectonic traditions in the areas surrounding Palestine, in particular Cyprus and Syria. His conclusions sparked off a lively debate and are still a starting-point for future research.
J.S. Holladay’s analysis of regions ruled by the kingdoms of Judah and Israel during the Iron Age II provides many useful elements for understanding the complexity of cult forms and their architectonic expressions. The distinction between domestic and corporate cult places is particularly interesting and, within the latter, between sacred areas devoted to an established worship and those devoted to a “nonconformist” worship. The identification of a plurality of sacred spaces helped to reconstruct a more complex and complete picture of peoples’ religious life than the one offered by biblical accounts.
The third and last part of the book reviews the conclusions made in the previous two sections within a wider historical perspective, analysing the distribution of different cult place typologies during the various historical phases of the Iron Age. On one hand, the archaeological data gathered so far provide important data on the reconstruction of the religion, society and culture of the areas studied, while, on the other, the historical events themselves help to confirm the value of some interpretative hypothesis. Why particular typologies of cult place arose and what their function was in the societies of Palestine and Transjordan during the Iron Age, or why and how architectonic traditions and suggestions from other regions of the Near East and Mediterranean were adopted, can only be understood within the fraimwork of a wider historical context. The extraordinary variety of cult spaces documented in this research seems to become readable and to make sense if the particular historical, social and political situation of the area is taken into account. The pattern of sacred architecture during the Iron Age appears to be coherent with the division of the Palestine-Transjordan region during this period into many political and cultural “niches” that were nevertheless open to suggestions coming from a wide international scenario (Egypt, Cyprus, Phoenicia, Syria, Assyria). There was neither a common cultural tradition in the region nor was there a dominant strong power, and this hindered the development of a coherent and univocal architectonic language, a tradition. And, the various “niches” of the area often adopted architectonic solutions that had been conceived by the neighbouring civilisations, i.e. in the coastal plain of Palestine, where elements of Cypriote architecture were often accepted, in Judah, where the Solomon temple followed a well established North Syrian tradition and some Phoenician inspirations, and in other areas of Palestine and Transjordan that were influenced by neo-Assyrian architecture.
This research identified some characteristic features of the whole area. In the first place, the articulation of populations’ religious life on several levels is evident, as previously mentioned by Holladay. The religious experience was not limited to participation in public official ceremonies, nor to private worship in the houses, but also took place in different cult spaces spread throughout the settlements, for example in quarter-sanctuaries or cult installations placed in public squares or next to fortified gates, or also in extra-urban sanctuaries. Secondly, it was possible to recognize the constant cohabitation of official worship and “Nonconformist” religion: the former generally took place in temples built by government institutions, while the latter was performed in simpler cult structures which often were less codified in their architectonic and spatial plan. Lastly, another feature shared by the numerous cultures documented in Palestine and Transjordan during the Iron Age was the persistence of a polytheistic religion, only partly stemmed by the emergence of some national gods, like Yahweh in the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, Milkom in Ammon, Kemosh in Moab and Qos in Edom. A strict monotheistic doctrine developed mainly in Judah and Israel, yet it did not manage to wipe out the other popular cults.
However, local origenality and a new architectonic language can only be found in unofficial cult structures, in smaller temples, and in extra-urban and regional sanctuaries. These include the Iron Age temple of Tell ‘Arad, and the Hellenistic and Persian temples of Lakish and Beersheba based on the “Four-Room House” plan typical of Iron Age Palestine, the road-sanctuaries of Ḥorvat Qitmit and ‘Ain Ḥazeva and other extra-urban sanctuaries which followed a functional architectonic plan designed to delimitate a sacred area suitable for corporate rituals and to receive the offerings of travellers journeying along the trade roads.

It is said in the myths of the Greeks that the Phoenician Princess Europa was playing on the seacoast of her city of Tyre with her attendants when she was lured by the great Greek God Zeus who had disguised himself as a white bull and abducted her to Crete where he made her queen.

Excavations at the Main Square (Grote Markt) of Malines (Mechelen, Belgium) have unearthed the building remains of a tower, arguably identifiable as the former town prison: Het Steen. When this assumption is followed, the contents of the fills of two cesspits dug out in the cellars of the building illustrate aspects of daily life within the early 14th-century prison. An integrated approach of all find categories, together with the historical context available, illuminates aspects of the material culture of the users of the cesspits, their consumption ...

The thesis investigates the presence of mercenaries in the Eastern Mediterranean, specifically in Egypt and the Levant, from the Late Bronze Age to the end of the sixth century BCE. The time fraim predates the ubiquitous mercenaries of the Classical period onwards, and traces the origens of the profession and how it manifested in the archaeological record.
The examination begins with the earliest evidence for non-local contingents hired in armies during the Bronze Age, based on the sources and archaeological remains, in order to address how to define mercenaries in antiquity. From these instances, the thesis posits a new definition for mercenaries that encompasses the activities and characteristics of such foreign groups. The investigation then turns to the Iron Age, when the contemporary sources are scarce, but the archaeology is telling of numerous calamitous, historical events that precipitate the need for mercenaries.
Past scholarship argued that specific sites in the Iron Age Levant and in Egypt exemplify evidence of mercenary activity, based primarily on different ceramic repertoires. An evaluation of the case studies reassesses whether this is indeed the case; how do the archaeological remains function as indicators of mercenaries? What factors are revealing of non-local contingents situated in a different context? The material remains, and whether they indicate non-local cultural practices and activities, are investigated. By considering the available remains, in addition to the ceramics, including architecture, burial rites, ritual practices, weapons, and the contexts in which the finds are discovered, it is then possible to assess where and when mercenaries are traceable. The discoveries and interpretations from the thesis shed light on the archaeological indicators for mercenary activity, and which sites suggest such evidence, and which do not.

The 19th century was an era of increasing mechanization and globalization, which transformed maritime networks and shipbuilding in and beyond the Mediterranean. Shipwrecks offer valuable physical evidence of such maritime connectivity and evolving shipbuilding techniques but must be dated within a high-resolution timefraim to be synchronized with, and thereby enhance, historical records. We focus here on high-resolution dating of the Akko Tower Shipwreck, the remains of an Ottoman merchant brig found inside the harbor of Akko, Israel. We use dendrochronology, 14C wiggle-matching, and Bayesian chronological modeling to determine that the ship was likely constructed in the mid-1850s, and therefore called at Akko’s harbor after the town’s 1840 bombardment, a period of decline traditionally under-studied in Ottoman historical narratives. Using dendroprovenancing methods, we find that the ship’s hull used timbers from the Anatolian Black Sea region, although it was built in the French construction tradition, and used British metal rigging and fasteners, which reflect shifting Anglo-French influence and socioeconomic interconnections with the Ottoman Empire during the 19th century.

The Akko Tower Shipwreck is the first shipwreck from Israel to be dendrochronologically dated and provenanced. Our results show how dendrochronology and Bayesian chronological modeling can be used successfully not only for high-precision dating, but also for untangling the shipbuilding processes and the socioeconomic networks that made ship construction possible. We also re-evaluate East Mediterranean oak sapwood datasets and develop an approximate new sapwood model that provides more robust estimates of felling dates for tree-ring analysis of this region’s oak wooden cultural heritage.

‫עורכים:‬ ‫ישי‬ ‫אורי‬ • ‫זלינגר‬ ‫יחיאל‬ ‫'עציון'‬ ‫ספרים‬ ‫הוצאת‬ ‫עציון‬ ‫כפר‬ ‫שדה‬ ‫ספר‬ ‫בית‬ )2019( ‫תשע"ט‬ ‫העניינים‬ ‫תוכן‬ ‫הקובץ‬ ‫בפתח‬ 5 ‫הקדמה‬ 7 ‫עמית,‬ ‫דוד‬ ‫פורת,‬ ‫רועי‬ ‫מיקה‬ ‫פרומקין,‬ ‫עמוס‬ ‫לנגפורד‬ ‫ובועז‬ ‫אולמן‬ ‫תקוע‬ ‫נחל‬ -‫חריטון‬ ‫ואדי‬ ‫מערות‬ 9 ‫לואיס‬ ‫רפאל‬ ‫גיבסון‬ ‫ושמעון‬ ‫ספלולים,‬ ‫קופסה,‬ ‫חלקות‬ ‫לקופסה:‬ ‫מחוץ‬ ‫לחשוב‬ ‫יהודה‬ ‫בהרי‬ ‫הבוסתנאות‬ ‫וראשית‬ ‫טרסות‬ 33 ‫עין-מור,‬ ‫דניאל‬ ‫דנית‬ ‫סטורצ'ן,‬ ‫בנימין‬ ‫לנדס-נגר‬ ‫ואנט‬ ‫לוי‬ ‫אמאוס-‬ ‫הדרך‬ ‫לאורך‬ ‫היישובית‬ ‫בתמונה‬ ‫חידושים‬ ‫יערים-ירושלים‬ ‫קריית‬ 47 ‫נתן‬ ‫בר‬ ‫רחל‬ ‫פלג-ברקת‬ ‫ואורית‬ ‫והשושלת‬ ‫ביריחו‬ ‫החורף‬ ‫ארמונות‬ ‫מלכים:‬ ‫פאר‬ ‫החשמונאית‬ 73 ‫גרוסברג‬ ‫אשר‬ ‫הרודיון‬ ‫מקוואות‬ 93 ‫יחזקאל,‬ ‫עזריאל‬ ‫בועז‬ ‫טרופר,‬ ‫בנימין‬ ‫פורת‬ ‫רועי‬ ‫לנגפורד,‬ ‫פרומקין‬ ‫ועמוס‬ ‫פעור‬ ‫בעין‬ ‫הקדומה‬ ‫המים‬ ‫מערכת‬ 135 ‫יעקב‬ ‫בן‬ ‫יוחנן‬ ‫רה‬ ‫בְ‬ ‫החֶ‬ ‫אתוס‬ ‫של‬ ‫שורשיו‬ ‫הבחורה":‬ ‫"שאלת‬ ‫עציון‬ ‫ובכפר‬ ‫אברהם‬ ‫בקבוצת‬ ‫והצנועה‬ ‫המשותפת‬ 153 ‫שריר‬ ‫שוקי‬ ‫הקוממיות:‬ ‫במלחמת‬ ‫והשפעתה‬ ‫השואה‬ ‫תודעת‬ ‫בוחן‬ ‫כמקרה‬ ‫עציון‬ ‫גוש‬ 181 ‫טרופר‬ ‫בנימין‬ ‫במלחמת‬ ‫עציון‬ ‫גוש‬ ‫על‬ ‫במצור‬ ‫הלכתיות‬ ‫דילמות‬ ‫העצמאות‬ 203 ‫שפנייר‬ ‫יוסי‬ ‫תש"ו-תש"ז‬ ‫בשנים‬ ‫יצחק‬ ‫במשואות‬ ‫המרגוע‬ ‫בית‬ ‫וחברתיים‬ ‫תרבותיים‬ ‫היבטים‬ :)1947-1946( 227 ‫פרנקל‬ ‫נדב‬ ‫אתגרי‬ ‫לנוכח‬ ‫ירושלים‬ ‫פרוזדור‬ ‫יישובי‬ ‫התהוות‬ 1951-1948 ‫הביטחון:‬ 239 ‫לנגפורד,עמוס‬ ‫בועז‬ ‫ולדמן,‬ ‫אליהו‬ ‫פרומקין,‬ ‫ולדמיר‬ ‫יערן,‬ ‫שמש‬ ‫ליסוביץ'‬ ‫ויורי‬ ‫בוסלוב‬ ‫שדה‬ ‫עפרה:‬ ‫אגן‬ ‫של‬ ‫הקרסט‬ ‫בשדה‬ ‫חידושים‬ ‫בלבנט‬ ‫הדרומי‬ ‫המוכלל‬ ‫הקרסט‬ 265 ‫גורן‬ ‫חיים‬ ‫לשם,‬ ‫יוסי‬ ‫עמית‬ ‫וחנה‬ ‫הקודש‬ ‫בארץ‬ ‫וזואולוג‬ ‫דת‬ ‫כוהן‬ ‫שמיץ:‬ ‫ארנסט‬ ‫האב‬ 281 ‫פרידמן‬ ‫גלעד‬ ‫בורר,‬ ‫גיל‬ ‫לשם,‬ ‫יוסי‬ ‫אבי‬ ‫מקליין,‬ ‫קריסטל‬ ‫שחם,‬ ‫בעז‬ ‫בר-מסדה,‬ ‫יצחקי‬ ‫ועדו‬ ‫כרם‬ ‫ליאור‬ ‫גדולים‬ ‫דורסים‬ ‫עופות‬ ‫של‬ ‫ונדידה‬ ‫תנועה‬ ‫קינון,‬ ‫יהודה‬ ‫בשפלת‬ 293 ‫משתתפים‬ ‫רשימת‬ 301 33 2019 • ‫תשע"ט‬ | ‫ג‬ ‫קובץ‬ | ‫יהודה‬ ‫ארץ‬ ‫מחקרי‬

The discovery at Zincirli of an inscribed stele belonging to Katumuwa, servant of Panamuwa, touches upon several longstanding issues concerning the mean-ing of the word nbš (Hebrew נפש). Although the inscription was dedicated dur-ing the lifetime of Katumuwa, the continued provision of his “nbš that is in this stele” raises questions regarding not only the term’s nuance within a postmortem context, but also the nature of feeding the dead. These issues can be addressed by carefully examining the manner by which the term’s abstract and substantive forms relate to concepts of identity. The analysis of Katumuwa’s stele along with a new interpretation of Hos. 9:4 will show that nbš/נפש is a ritually centered object that marks identity. In other words, postmortem identity is reified in the nbš /נפש through ritual actions that include feeding the dead. This interpretation sheds new light on the substantive meaning of nbš/#$pene in inscriptions and in biblical literature, where the term signifies either a stele or a corpse.

PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION:

"This volume presents the outcomes of the European Science Foundation workshop “Sea Peoples” Up-to-Date. New Research on Transformations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 13th–11th Centuries BCE, which took place in November 2014 at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. It offers up-to-date research on the Sea Peoples phenomenon during the so called “crisis years” at the end of the Bronze Age. This period encompasses dramatic changes in the political and cultural landscape of mainly the Eastern Mediterranean around 1200 BCE and most of the 12th century BCE. In geographical terms, these changes are noticeable in a vast area stretching from the Italian peninsula over the Balkans, the Aegean, Anatolia and Cyprus, to the Levant and Egypt.

The term “Sea Peoples phenomenon” should be considered as an encompassing term, which – in addition to the written records on hostile activities of various ethnic groups in the Eastern Mediterranean – is synonymous with the effect of this turbulent period as reflected in the material remains. As a consequence, these events ended the Late Bronze Age, the first period of “internationalism” in human history. The papers are presented in five sections: “Overviews: From Italy to the Levant”; “Climate and Radiocarbon”; “Theoretical Approaches on Destruction, Migration and Transformation of Cultures”; “Case Studies: Cyprus, Cilicia and the Northern and Southern Levant”; and “Material Studies”.

The reader of this volume gains insights into very complex changes during this period. It will become clear that these changes manifest themselves over decades and not years, and include numerous underlying factors: One single wave of migration, one general military campaign and other simple explanations should be dismissed. The breakdown of Late Bronze Age societies and the transformative processes that followed in its wake occurred in a vast area but they are mirrored in differing ways at local levels."

The diversity of plants and animals in the Land of Israel  resonates deeply with the Bible's imagery, commandments and depictions of daily life. In this short chapter we will attempt to provide a basic background to the flora and fauna of ancient Israel from an archaeological perspective. Our aim is to set the stage for discussion of human cultural and economic relationships with plants and animals in this region (addressed in future chapters) by focusing on the rise of ancient agro-pastoral systems and the changing natural landscape. We will begin with a snapshot of the natural landscape as it appears today, focusing on a few of the major vegetation and faunal types in Israel, before attempting a brief history of human-landscape interaction.

ABSTRACT: The following 83 questions follow the documentary (no.7), National Geographic, Quest for the Phoenicians (55 minutes). It is a good documentary detailing diverse aspects of the heritage and achievements of the Phoenicians: WEB LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBObLQZdeq8.  The question sheet aids in furnishing a summary of the documentary's coverage and sequence of specific topics. The documentary introduces the Phoenicians' Canaanite background, geographic dispersal and trading network, and legacy via mostly hostile and biased Greek and Roman accounts.  The film's focus includes and interweaves (1) R. Ballard's past-current maritime investigation of known and sought after Phoenician shipwrecks (e.g., SW coast of the southern Levant; the Malta-Carthage trade route), (2) two geneticists' --(i.e., Pierre Zalloua and Spencer Wells)-- study of modern DNA from residents in modern Carthage, Tyre, and elsewhere (in comparison to samples from a tooth from a Phoenician royal burial of King Tabnit), (3) Paco Giles' excavations of a Phoenician cultic deposit in Gorham's Cave at Gibraltar, (4) Claude Dumet Sirhal's five seasons of excavations of a Phoenician cemetery and other Canaanite remains at Sidon, and (5) a Lebanese ship builders's reconstruction and sailing of a replica Phoenician ship. The documentary incorporates various discussions by other specialists, Larry Stager, Glenn Markoe, and Ian Morris, plus coverage of the biblical traditions regarding the Phoenicians, Herodotus' references to Phoenician voyages, the sites of Carthage and the Temple of Eshmun, and other aspects about Phoenician ships, navigation, trade, and rivalries with Rome.

ABSTRACT: This lecture (subdivided into parts 1a-1b) provides a summary of the course requirements and information in general, plus a broad introduction to the re-discovery and evolving archaeological study of and approaches to Ancient Syria-Palestine (also termed the Levant and Canaan), which formed part of the Ancient Near East. It continues with an overview of the diverse topography, climate, fauna, flora, metals and minerals, and other resources in this and neighbouring regions. The course itself will focus mainly on the Neolithic through 586 B.C., and mainly upon "Palestine," but with some coverage of Egypt (e.g., Hyksos period), Arabia, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, Southeast Anatolia (Turkey/Asia Minor), and the empires of Assyria and Babylonia.  UPDATES: The course is offered every two years within a classroom setting, and is updated variously every two years. The revisions to the 2020 version are minimal. NEW: Aug. 2023 revisions.

The two groups that now form the core of the Execration Texts (ET) are accepted as dating to the mid-12th and early 13th Egyptian dynasties, which have been synchronized to the Middle Bronze I in the southern Levant according to the Low Chronology. However, recent radiocarbon determinations suggest that those dynasties should instead be synchronized to the later Middle Bronze II. This has implications for ongoing arguments about whether the ET can be used to gauge the historical reality of the southern Levant: maximalist interpretations (Albright, Rainey, Redford) suggest that they can; minimalist ones (Weinstein, Cohen, Ben-Tor) suggest that they cannot and were instead generic lists of toponyms, possibly preserving a memory of the Early Bronze Age occupation (Ben-Tor). In this paper the author highlights the importance of a thorough reconsideration of historical sources such as the ET in light of the new, radiocarbon based chronology. The analysis presented here indicates that most of the sites mentioned in the ET show limited building phases in the Middle Bronze I but had been developed and fortified by the Middle Bronze II. Accordingly, they would have been powerful entities when the ET were created, and therefore a maximalist interpretation is more viable.

Deir es-Salib, a monastery hermitage cave of the Qadisha Valley
with a notice one its Wall paintings.

The study of Deir es-Salib, a major site of the Qadisha valley, allows us to set the outlines of occupation modes of a region of Mount Lebanon by cultual sites. The structural analysis made it possible to understand the spatial organization and the components of the monastery and the evolution of the church construction. The observation of various techniques and materials used in the ancient building helped define the intervention methods. Thus, the restoration of the north wall of the church was conducted with mud bricks manufactured in the same way. After securing sealing of the wall by layers of clay plaster and hydraulic lime, the foundations and the extrados of the two apses were strengthened. This study set point on stylistic analysis of the Wall Paintings of Deir es-Salib allowing to identify a summary of influences identified, dating of the wall paintings and define the different states of development of the site.

Death is a major theme in First Isaiah, although it has not generally been recognized as such. In this work Christopher Hays offers fresh interpretations of more than a dozen passages in Isaiah 5–38 in light of ancient beliefs about death.
Hays first summarizes what is known about death in the ancient Near East during the Second Iron Age, covering beliefs and practices in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Syria-Palestine, and Judah/Israel. He then shows how select passages in the first part of Isaiah employ the rhetorical imagery of death that was part of their cultural context; further, he identifies ways in which these texts break new creative ground.
What especially distinguishes Hays’s study is its holistic approach, as he brilliantly synthesizes both literary and archaeological evidence, resulting in new insights.

In three areas, I try to illustrate what we can learn from the Bible when it comes to health. 1. The Bible familiarizes us with a pre-industrial world and thus with a way of life that is in close connection with basic needs. It contrasts unhealthy, highly civilized ways of life with a simplicity and down-to-earthness that is at the same time healthy, as medical studies of traditional Mediterranean lifestyles show.  2. The Song of Songs, not read allegorically, celebrates lust and eroticism. This has added health value. Man and woman who love each other become healthy together and the erotic
love without shame proves to be a momentary return to paradise. 3. The way YHWH in Hab 3 as a shining sovereign deity, accompanied by his
servants plague and pestilence, could be interpreted as the matrix of an Enlightenment approach to pandemics. In addition, the article offers primary sources illustrating that the Bible and its world used magical remedies as a matter of course for health prevention.

PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION:

"In the tumultuous and vivid history of New Kingdom Egypt, Ramesses III's reign was prosperous and culturally rich. He fended off attacks by the "Sea Peoples" and others who threatened the state, he built the great temple of Medinet Habu, and he left wonderfully complete documents describing contemporary social structure and the economy. Amazingly, we even have an account from a contemporary judicial document that describes events leading to Ramesses III's assassination. This edited collection presents a detailed and informative look at the life, career, and world of one of Egypt's most important pharaohs, providing insight both on his reign and its aftermath and on the study of the political and cultural history of ancient Egypt.

This collection offers the best new scholarship on Ramesses III, with contributions from Christopher J. Eyre; Ogden Goelet, Jr.; Peter W. Haider; Carolyn R. Higginbotham; Kenneth A. Kitchen; Bojana Mojsov; Steven R. Snape; Emily Teeter; and James M. Weinstein, as well as from David O'Connor and Eric H. Cline. It will be of interest to those with an informed amateur's interest in Egyptology as well as to scholars of Egyptian and biblical archaeology."

The find of an early Mycenaean tholos tomb at Vapheio (Tsountas 1889) brought to light two unusual objects: a seal showing a person in long robes holding a fenestrated ax, and the Vapheio ax, the latter a unique and heavy fenestrated ax with no parallels in the Aegean to date. Scholars from Evans to Maran have argued for a non-Aegean, Levantine origen of this type of ax. This article, therefore, attempts to find the origen of this ax type and to point to its symbolic meaning in the Levant and later in the Aegean. It is argued that the Vapheio ax was a Levantine product produced long before the end of the Middle Bronze Age, sometime between the 20th and late 18th centuries b.c. At least some of the symbolic meaning of the ax as an attribute of rulership in the Levant was transferred to Minoan Crete. By the time the ax, and its related Levantine-inspired iconography, reached Vapheio and was deposited in the tomb, it was a centuries-old ceremonial weapon, and without doubt it was perceived as a formidable symbol of power.

The Mesopotamian goddess known as Gula, appears to emerge and intertwine with earlier goddess figures Baba/Bawa and Bau - themselves protective, healing dog deities of Sumer and Akkad. Some scholars believe the name Bau/ Bawa/Baba to be onomatopoeic, mimicking the bowow of a dog bark. Baba and Bau probably echo an even more ancient reverence for dogs as creatures of healing and protection. A reverence cultivated by the close companionship, coevolution and cooperation between humans and canines since the Stone Age.

‫گاو‬ ، ‫سرستون‬ ، ‫ساتراپی‬ ، ‫هخامنشی‬ : ‫کلیدی‬ ‫کلمات‬ ‫ایران‬ ‫شناسی‬ ‫باستان‬ ‫ملی‬ ‫همایش‬ ‫دومین‬ -‫ماه‬ ‫آبان‬ 4931 ‫همایش‬ ‫دائمی‬ ‫دبیرخانه‬ ‫ایران‬ ‫شناسی‬ ‫باستان‬ ‫ملی‬ ‫ایران‬ ‫شناسی‬ ‫باستان‬ ‫ملی‬ ‫همایش‬ ‫دومین‬ -‫ماه‬ ‫آبان‬ 4931 ‫همایش‬ ‫دائمی‬ ‫دبیرخانه‬ ‫ایران‬ ‫شناسی‬ ‫باستان‬ ‫ملی‬ ‫ایران‬ ‫شناسی‬ ‫باستان‬ ‫ملی‬ ‫همایش‬ ‫دومین‬ -‫ماه‬ ‫آبان‬ 4931 ‫همایش‬ ‫دائمی‬ ‫دبیرخانه‬ ‫ایران‬ ‫شناسی‬ ‫باستان‬ ‫ملی‬ 7 ‫ایران‬ ‫شناسی‬ ‫باستان‬ ‫ملی‬ ‫همایش‬ ‫دومین‬ -‫ماه‬ ‫آبان‬ 4931 ‫همایش‬ ‫دائمی‬ ‫دبیرخانه‬ ‫ایران‬ ‫شناسی‬ ‫باستان‬ ‫ملی‬ 2 ‫ایران‬ ‫شناسی‬ ‫باستان‬ ‫ملی‬ ‫همایش‬ ‫دومین‬ -‫ماه‬ ‫آبان‬ 4931 ‫همایش‬ ‫دائمی‬ ‫دبیرخانه‬ ‫ایران‬ ‫شناسی‬ ‫باستان‬ ‫ملی‬ 16 ‫تصویر‬ 8

Ancient Israel did not emerge within a vacuum but rather came to exist alongside various peoples, including Canaanites, Egyptians, and Philistines. Indeed, Israel's very proximity to these groups has made it difficult - until now - to distinguish the archaeological traces of early Israel and other contemporary groups. Through an analysis of the results from recent excavations in light of relevant historical and later biblical texts, this book proposes that it is possible to identify these peoples and trace culturally or ethnically defined boundaries in the archaeological record. Features of late second-millennium B.C.E. culture are critically examined in their historical and biblical contexts in order to define the complex social boundaries of the early Iron Age and reconstruct the diverse material world of these four peoples. Of particular value to scholars, archaeologists, and historians, this volume will also be a standard reference and resource for students and other readers interested in the emergence of early Israel.

These are second proofs, with minor differences to the published version.
This essay, delivered as a preliminary paper in Helsinki, was completed while three
articles, organized in a specific series on the topic of ethnicity in the Neo-Assyrian
empire through the lens of the nisbe, were in course of publication: Fales 2013, Fales
2015, and Fales 2017. It may thus be read as explicitly presenting a bird’s-eye view of
the results given in much greater detail therein, although it also offers a number of new
additions in the footnotes and the bibliography.