Publications by Year: 2016

2016
Palaepaphos-Skales : Tombs of the Late Cypriote IIIB and Cypro-Geometric Periods (Excavations of 2008 and 2011)
Karageorghis, Vassos, and Efstathios Raptou, Palaepaphos-Skales : Tombs of the Late Cypriote IIIB and Cypro-Geometric Periods (Excavations of 2008 and 2011) (Nicosia, The Cyprus Institute, 2016), pp. xvi+162+101 color and b&w plates.Abstract

In this book the authors publish thirteen tombs and two pyres excavated by the Cyprus Department of Antiquities in the cemeteries of Palaepaphos, on the western part of Cyprus. More tombs from the same cemeteries were published by the same authors in 2015 and earlier (by V. Karageorghis) in 1983. They date to the Late Cypriote IIIB (ca. 1100-1050 B.C.) and the Cypro-Geometric I-III periods (ca. 1050-750 B.C.) There is an excavation report for each tomb, a detail catalogue of objects and a commentary for all ceramic types and other items found in each tomb and a note on chronology. A chapter on historical conclusions places these tombs against their historical background. The transition from the end of the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age (Cypro-Geometric period) is marked by the development of an elite society of Greek settlers from the Aegean, who introduced not only artistic styles but also funerary customs.

Of particular interest among the tomb gifts are the bronze vessels; of an exceptionally fine quality is a bronze amphoroid crater found in a tomb of the 11th cent. B.C., whose handles and rim were cast and are decorated in relief with pictorial motifs. Ten appendices written by specialists deal with topics like epigraphy, human and animal skeletal remains, marine molluscs, mineralized textiles etc.

 

Beer-Sheba III - The Early Iron IIA Enclosed Settlement and the Late Iron IIA–Iron IIB Cities
Herzog, Ze'ev, and Lily Singer-Avitz, Beer-Sheba III - The Early Iron IIA Enclosed Settlement and the Late Iron IIA–Iron IIB Cities, Vols. I-III (Winona Lake, IN, Eisenbrauns, 2016), pp. 1534; many illustrations.Abstract

The publication of the full report of the Tel Beer-sheba Iron Age remains is a fulfillment of a scientific dream. The excavations at Tel Beer-sheba, carried out under the auspices of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University, were the highlight of Yohanan Aharoni’s vast research program in the Beer-sheba Valley. He directed this program from 1969 until his untimely death in 1976 at the age of 56. The final season of excavations at Tel Beer-sheba, the eighth, took place in the summer of 1976 and was carried out after Aharoni’s demise by his chief assistants, Ze’ev Herzog, Itzhaq Beit-Arieh, and Anson F. Rainey. The latter two regrettably did not live to see the completion of this publication, but they shared in the work, as did the young staff members who enabled the Tel Beer-sheba project to become a reality.

During the National Parks Authority site development, there was further exposure, mainly of the water supply systems, directed by Ze’ev Herzog with David Sappo (Western Quarter, 1990–1991), with Tsvika Tsuk (the well, 1993) and finally with Ido Ginaton (the water-system, 1994–1995).

Now, after a lengthy process of analyzing the excavations in the storerooms of Tel Aviv University’s Institute of Archaeology and digging through the endless documentary material amassed, the full data is proudly presented. This work is offered not merely as a final report but as a starting point for further scientific inquiry on the abundant architectural, artifactual, and ecofactual data from Tel Beer-sheba.

Volume I reports on the stratigraphy and architecture, volume 2 on the pottery; and volume 3 on the artifacts, ecofacts, and also provides concluding studies. The three volumes are profusely illustrated and an essential resource for anyone interested in the history of Judah, the Beer-sheba Valley, the site itself, and life during the Iron Age in the southern Levant.

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Yadin's Expedition to Megiddo - Final Report of the Archaeological Excavations (1960,1966,1967, and 1971/2 Seasons)
Zarzecki-Peleg, Anabel, Yadin's Expedition to Megiddo - Final Report of the Archaeological Excavations (1960,1966,1967, and 1971/2 Seasons), Vols. I&II (Jerusalem, Israel Exploration Society - Qedem #56. Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2016), pp. 333,12 foldouts.Abstract

This volume publishes the results of the excavations conducted at Tel Megiddo by Yigael Yadin in four short seasons (1960, 1966, 1967 and 1971-2). The expedition's main focus was the northeastern sector of the mound, where excavation uncovered the remains of an extensive public structure attributed to Stratum VA-IVB, which was named "Palace 6000". Additional  probes were carried out in  Area C in the southwestern part of the mound, intended to examine the stratigraphic connection with Gallery 629 and the cave of the spring, and Sounding 2153 in the area of the staircase outside the outer Iron Age gate.
Based on the surviving documentation, the volume presents the architectural remains and ceramic assemblages uncovered in the excavation, together with the hoard of small finds (Stratum VIA) found below "Palace 6000". The author presents Yadin's conclusions as well as her own interpretation of the results of the excavation, and offers a new stratigraphic analysis of some previously published Iron Age II remains excavated by other expeditions.

Purchase from the publisher: The Israel Exploration Society, P.O.B. 7041, Jerusalem, Israel. Fax: 972-2-6247772. E-mail: ies@vms.huji.ac.il

Sahab - Chalcolithic Village Farming Community at Sahab
Ibrahim, Moawiyah M. Sahab - Chalcolithic Village Farming Community at Sahab (Amman, Department of Antiquities of Jordan Publications Series, 2016), pp. 398 (Vol. I).Abstract

Sahab is one of the largest Jordanian archaeological sites located in the transitional zone between the highlands and the desert . The excavations at the site were considered as rescue/salvage operations, which continued for a number of years. It was probably the largest excavation project to be undertaken and sponsored by the Department of Antiquities at that time. Several members of the DoA were trained at the site. However, the budget for the excavations and project members was very limited, which was the main reason for not processing the material towards final publication.

Sahab has a long history of occupation, extending from the Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic period (5th and 4th millenia BCE) to the Late Iron Age (6th century BCE). The site was apparently abandoned until the medieval Arabic Period (11th-13th centuries CE), evidenced by Ayyubid/Mamluk pottery sherds. There was another occupational gap from the 13th century to the 19th century CE, at which time the present inhabitants moved to the site.

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Ramat Raḥel III - Final Publication of Yohanon Aharoni's Excavations (1954, 1959-1962)
Lipschits, Oded, Yuval Gadot, and Liora Freud, Ramat Raḥel III - Final Publication of Yohanon Aharoni's Excavations (1954, 1959-1962) (Winona Lake, IN, Eisenbraun's; Tel Aviv University Nadler Institute of Archaeology Monograph Series Number 35, 2016), pp. x + 283 (Vol I); x + 362 (Vol.II).Abstract
This two-volume report brings to full publication the results of Yohanon Aharoni's 1954, 1959-1962 archaeological excavations at the site of Ramat Raḥel. The authors, who spent years locating and retrieving lost field cards, photographs and finds, present the earliest excavations at the site, until now only published in preliminary form. The full publication of Ramat Raḥel, with its palace renowned for its unique architectural plan, use of stone ornamentation and hundreds of stamped handles, is a welcome addition to scholarly literature on the history and archaeology of Judah during the Iron, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Early Islamic periods.

Volume I offers the reader detailed architectural plans and field photos that serve as a base for a sound and meticulous evaluation of the site's stratigraphy and architecture. It poses an integrative approach that emphasizes well-contextualized pottery assemblages for the dating of the various architectural units.

Volume II is devoted to the full publication of thousands of Aharoni's finds from the diverse periods of settlement, which attest to the site's importance throughout history.

An addendum to the volume is the final publication of Gideon Solimany's 2000-2002 excavations, carried out in preparation of turning the site into an archaeological park.

Ramat Raḥel III will be followed by Ramat Raḥel IV, V, and VI, which are the reports of the more recent renewed excavations at Ramat Raḥel.

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The New Chronology of the Bronze Age Settlement of Tepe Hissar, Iran
Gürsan-Salzmann, Ayşe, The New Chronology of the Bronze Age Settlement of Tepe Hissar, Iran (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press for the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2016), pp. 408 .Abstract

Tepe Hissar is a large Bronze Age site in northeastern Iran notable for its uninterrupted occupational history from the fifth to the second millennium B.C.E. The quantity and elaborateness of its excavated artifacts and funerary customs position the site prominently as a cultural bridge between Mesopotamia and Central Asia. To address questions of synchronic and diachronic nature relating to the changing levels of socioeconomic complexity in the region and across the greater Near East, chronological clarity is required. While Erich Schmidt's 1931-32 excavations for the Penn Museum established the historical framework at Tepe Hissar, it was Robert H. Dyson, Jr., and his team's follow-up work in 1976 that presented a stratigraphically clearer sequence for the site with associated radiocarbon dates. Until now, however, a full study of the site's ceramic assemblages has not been published.

This monograph brings to final publication a stratigraphically based chronology for the Early Bronze Age settlement at Tepe Hissar. Based on a full study of the ceramic assemblages excavated from radiocarbon-dated occupational phases in 1976 by Dyson and his team, and linked to Schmidt's earlier ceramic sequence that was derived from a large corpus of grave contents, a new chronological framework for Tepe Hissar and its region is established. This clarified sequence provides ample evidence for the nature of the evolution and the abandonment of the site, and its chronological correlations on the northern Iranian plateau, situating it in time and space between Turkmenistan and Bactria on the one hand and Mesopotamia on the other.

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