Publications by Year: 2007

The Neolithic Pottery from Lerna: Results of excavations conducted by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens

Beneath the famous remains of the House of the Tiles and the other Bronze Age remains found at Lerna, a large amount of Neolithic pottery was found during 1950s excavations by the American School of Classical Studies. Although the mixing of material makes it impossible to establish an independent ceramic sequence for the site, the author is able to differentiate Early and Middle Neolithic types using her knowledge of material from the well stratified Franchthi Cave, across the Argolic Gulf. By placing the ceramic material in archaeological context, the author makes a number of important new claims about Lerna's earliest history. While the date of the first settlement is still unclear, the Middle Neolithic was clearly a time of intensive occupation at Lerna, when the digging of at least one long ditch across the site suggests some internal planning. Sherds of the first Late Neolithic phase (Franchthi Ceramic Phase 3/ FCP 3) are totally absent, suggesting that Lerna had been abandoned by the end of the Middle Neolithic but substantial quantities of Final Neolithic pottery, found largely in pits and two graves, suggest ritual re-use in this period. A final chapter summarizes the results of the study, including the changing patterns of burial practices over the course of the Neolithic. This final chapter is repeated in Modern Greek.
"The publication of this manuscript on the Neolithic material from Lerna will be of outstanding scientific importance for Neolithic research in Greece. Much to the benefit of the reader, the author has succeeded in making a vividly clear and coherent account out of a highly complex situation." Mats Johnson, Göteborgs Universitet.

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The unique feature of the settlement at En-Gedi, which was occupied virtually without interruption from 650 BCE to 650 CE, was its homogeneous Jewish character throughout its long history. Founded in a desolate region, it almost always received assistance from a central government because it produced perfumes more precious than gold. The settlement was periodically destroyed: during the destruction of the First Temple, at the end of the Persian period, and during the First and Second Jewish Revolts against Rome; but in each of these cases, it soon recovered and was rebuilt as a Jewish settlement. Other populations also settled there from time to time: some clear Edomite and Phoenician influences can be discerned among its early remains, and signs of the Nabateans and of the Roman army are evident in its later stages.

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Joan du Plat Taylor originally undertook rescue excavations at Apliki in 1938 and 1939, discovering evidence of Late Bronze Age metallurgical activities. This volume forms the first part of a comprehensive re-examination of her findings, with the aim of furthering a greater understanding of primary copper production in the Bronze Age. It includes a detailed description of the excavated areas and finds and special studies of some of the most important categories of materials - pottery, loom weights, marked objects, stamp seals, stone tools and animal bones.

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The Moshe Dothan excavations (1959-1960) at Tel Mor uncovered a series of large buildings that dominated the summit of this small tell throughout the Late Bronze Age. Two of the buildings excavated had sizable amounts of Egyptianized pottery and it is argued that these were Egyptian garrisons in Canaan. This excavation report presents the stratigraphy and building remains of the site, as well as the Late Bronze and Iron Age pottery and other finds.

Read a review of the publication by Susan Cohen in The Journal of Near Eastern Studies (Vol. 71, No. 1 (April 2012), pp. 158-161, U. of Chicago Press) HERE.

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This is the final report of the excavations of the large fortress of Horvat 'Uza, which was originally built in the Iron Age and re-used with modifications in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and the smaller frontier outpost of Horvat Radum, which was abandoned at the end of the Iron Age. In addition, the results of the excavation of part of a newly-discovered Iron Age settlement (no. 24) are presented. These excavations, which spanned the years 1982-1988 and 1996, were carried out as a joint venture by the Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University and the University of Waco, Texas, under the direction of Itzhaq Beit-Arieh and Bruce C. Cresson, respectively. This publication contains the contributions of several specialists in their fields and covers the architecture, stratigraphy, pottery, epigraphic finds, numerous small finds, archaeobotanical and archaeozoological remains, and an historical overview. The results make an important contribution to the knowledge of the Judahite defense system on its eastern border during the last days of the kingdom in the First Temple Period and the nature of its relationship with Edom – "the enemy from the east."

Available for purchase through the publisher's website HERE.

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