Publications by Year: 2017

2017
Jacob Kaplan's Excavations of Protohistoric Sites 1950s—1980s Vols. I&II
Gopher, Avi, Ram Gophna, Ruth Eyal, and Yitzhak Paz, Jacob Kaplan's Excavations of Protohistoric Sites 1950s—1980s Vols. I&II (Eisenbrauns / Emery and Claire Yass Publications in Archaeology : ©Tel Aviv University - Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology Monograph Series Number 36, 2017), pp. 714.Abstract

With contributions by Hay Ashkenazi, Eliot Braun, Anna Eirikh-Rose, Rinat Favis, Yosef Garfinkel, David Gersht, Talia Goldman, Jacob Kaplan, Liora Kolska Horwitz, Ofer Marder, Zinovi Matskevich, Danny Rosenberg, Moshe Sade, Haward Smithline, Katharina Streit, Eli Yannai and Dmitry Yegorov

 

Jacob Kaplan was a dynamic field archaeologist and an original researcher of the Pottery Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods in the Levant who was not accepted by the mainstream scholarly community of his time. Today we know that he played an important role in shaping the archaeological sequence of the late prehistory of Israel. His groundbreaking achievement in the early 1950s was the discovery and definition of the Wadi Rabah culture — a major entity in the late Pottery Neolithic period. On a broader scale, Kaplan incorporated the Pottery Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods of Israel into the sequences of the late prehistory of the Levant and touched, even if indirectly, on the question of the end of the Neolithic period — one of the most intensive, creative and transformative eras in human history.

In Jacob Kaplan's Excavations of Protohistoric Sites 1950s—1980s, the authors present some of Kaplan's unpublished field work. They also offer a broad canvas of the thoughts, theories and considerations that placed Kaplan in the forefront of Israeli archaeology of his time. His views on some of the basic crono-cultural issues of the Pottery Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods endure to this very day. This book accords Kaplan the full recognition he deserves as an original, leading researcher of the late prehistory of Israel.

Alassa. Excavations at the Late Bronze Age Sites of Pano Mantilaris and Paliotaverna 1984 – 2000
Hadjisavvas, Sophocles, Alassa. Excavations at the Late Bronze Age Sites of Pano Mantilaris and Paliotaverna 1984 – 2000 (Lefkosia, Cyprus Department of Antiquities, 2017), pp. 669 + xxiv.Abstract

With contributions by Priscilla Keswani and Ariane Jacobs

During the Late Bronze Age a number of important towns with diverse elite and public architectural complexes developed in Cyprus in conjunction with the expansion of the local copper industry and the intensification of external trade.  One of the most impressive centers of this era is the site of Alassa, located 34,758° North, 32,922° East, set on a triangular plateau in the Troodos foothills of southwestern Cyprus. At the locality Paliotaverna on the upper part of the plateau, excavations uncovered a group of three large ashlar buildings, one of which contained a wine press, the only one thus far discovered from this period. At the locality Pano Mantilaris 250 m to the southeast, settlement remains revealed evidence for metalworking in the midst of domestic and ritual activities. Alassa's far-flung international connections are attested by the Aegean characteristics discernible in its monumental architecture, the presence of imported and Aegean-inspired pottery, the Mycenaean and Syrian influences apparent in the pithos seal impressions, and the occurrence of tomb goods made from imported materials such as gold and chlorite.

It is probable that Alassa was the seat of a regional polity that controlled the adjacent copper-producing areas of the Troodos to the north, along with a series of settlements extending 10 km south to Episkopi Bamboula and the coast near ancient Kourion. In addition to metallurgical and trading pursuits, members of the ruling elite at Paliotaverna also engaged in wine production and the collection and storage of agricultural products, possibly for the purposes of staple finance (redistribution) and/or ceremonial feasting. These activities may have supported and legitimized their control over local economic resources and labor.

This final report on the 1984–2000 investigations at Alassa begins with the presentation of the rescue excavations of the settlement (Chapter 2) and tombs (Chapter 3) at Pano Mantilaris. This is followed by the account of the elite architecture and associated finds uncovered at Paliotaverna (Chapter 4) and a detailed description and discussion of the remarkable seal impressions found on many of the Alassa pithoi (Chapter 5). In-depth studies of the Alassa pithoi and all of the other pottery found at the site are presented in Chapters 6 and 7 by Priscilla Keswani and Ariane Jacobs, respectively. Reports by other specialists on a variety of topics may be found in the 10 appendices: the cylinder and stamp seals (Aruz), metallurgical finds (Kassianidou and Van-Brempt), marked pottery (Hirschfeld), C14 dates (Manning), human remains (Lorentz), faunal remains (Croft), coins (Destrooper), ground stone objects (Souter), and archaeometric studies of the pithoi (Nodarou) and other pottery (Jacobs et al.). The results from all of these studies are integrated within the conclusions that the author offers in Chapter 8 regarding the chronology and importance of Alassa within the broader cultural and sociopolitical context of LBA Cyprus. 

 

Jewish Quarter Excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem Vol. VII. Conducted by Nahman Avigad, 1969-1982. Areas Q, H, O-2, and Other Studies
Geva, Hillel, Jewish Quarter Excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem Vol. VII. Conducted by Nahman Avigad, 1969-1982. Areas Q, H, O-2, and Other Studies (Israel Exploration Society, Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2017), pp. 368.Abstract

with contributions by N. Amitati-Preiss, D.T. Ariel, A. Ben Haim, D. Ben-Shlomo, N. Brosh, A. de Vincenz, E. Eshel, A. Grossberg, L. Habas, Y. Israeli, J. Magness, H.K. Mienis, R. Nenner-Soriano, R. Palistrant Shaick, O. Peleg-Barkat, R. Rosenthal-Heginbottom, R. Talgam, I. Yezerski

From 1969 to 1982 extensive archaeological excavations were conducted in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem under the direction of the late Professor Nahman Avigad on behalf of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Israel Exploration Society, and the Department of Antiquities (now the Israel Antiquitites Authority). During these excavations remains of fortifications, public buildings, and domestic dwellings were found, as well as numerous artifacts from all periods of the continuous settlement of this area, dated from the end of the First Temple period through the Ottoman period.

Among the major discoveries made during the Jewish Quarter Excavations are fortifications, including the northern portion of the First Wall; luxurious residences of the Upper City of Jerusalem dated to the late Second Temple period, including the Palatial Mansion; the Cardo and the Nea Church of the Byzantine period; a bazaar dated to the Crusader period; and portions of the southern fortifications of the Islamic-period city. These and other finds from the Excavations in the Jewish Quarter have changed many long-accepted ideas regarding the size and topography of ancient Jerusalem.

This volume is the seventh of the final reports of the excavations in the Jewish Quarter. It presents the finds from Area Q, H and O-2, including architectural remians and small finds. These range in date from the end of the Second Temple (Herodian) period to the Byzantine period. The most significant are the remains of a large public Miqweh with surrounding staircases on all four sides, fragments of monumental columns, and part of an elaborate dwelling with decorated mosaic floor. The volume also includes various studies on other finds. These are in addition to and supplement the many important finds published in previous volumes of the Jewish Quarter publications.

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Parian Polyandreia
Agelarakis, Anagnostis, Parian Polyandreia (Oxford, UK, Archaeopress, 2017), pp. 396.Abstract

The Late Geometric Funerary Legacy of Cremated Soldiers' Bones on Socio-Political Affairs and Military Organizational Preparedness in Ancient Greece

The anthropological study of two late 8th century BC monumental graves, designated as T144 and T105, at the ancient necropolis of Paroikia at Paros, initially intended to investigate inter-island features of the human condition, observable as ingrained traces in the human skeletal record, as it may have related to the Parian endeavors in the northern Aegean for the colonization of Thasos.

Through the 'Paros Polyandreia Anthropological Project,' it was possible to retrieve insights into aspects of the human environments and experiences that had transpired in a Parian context, elucidated by a considerable population sample of cremated male individuals, transcending to broader features that would have involved Thasos; discerning further facets of the human condition during the Late Geometric to the Early Archaic periods in the ancient Hellenic world.

This book integrates the basic anthropological data, evaluations and assessments derived from the study of the human skeletal record of Polyandreia T144 and T105. Bioarchaeological and forensic anthropological research results include the morphometric analyses of biological developmental growth and variability in relation to manifestations of acquired skeleto-anatomic changes, along with inquiries into the demographic dynamics, and the palaeopathologic profile of the individuals involved. Such intra-site data juxtaposed afforded the possibility to deliberate on issues of the preparedness, intended purpose, function, and symbolic meaning of the funerary activity areas and to reflect on the organizational abilities and capacities of the political and military affairs of the Parians.

Moreover, inter-site evaluations where relative with the burial grounds of Orthi Petra of Eleutherna-Crete, Plithos of Naxos, Athenian Demosion Sema, Pythagoreion of Samos, and Rhodes offer comparisons on taphonomy, on cremated materials' metric analyses, and on aspects of the funerary customs and practices in the interring of cremated war dead.

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Predynastic Maadi in Context. The Research of the Italian Expedition Revisited (1977-1986)
Bajeot, Jade, Predynastic Maadi in Context. The Research of the Italian Expedition Revisited (1977-1986) ("Sapienza" Università di Roma - Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità : Studi di Preistoria Orientale (SPO) #4, 2017), pp. 302.Abstract

With contributions by R.T.J. Cappers, S. Drudi, M. Gleba, A. Hauptmann, G. Siracusano, and D. Zampetti.

Between 1977 and 1986 an Italian expedition from the Sapienza University of Rome carried out six archaeological campaigns in the well-known Predynastic site of Maadi (4th mill. B.C.). The investigation, conducted by the Missione Italiana per le Ricerche Preistoriche in Egitto e Sudan (MIRPES) under the direction of S. M. Puglisi and A. Palmieri, covered an area of around 450m2 and was located in the eastern part of the ancient settlement, diametrically opposite to the more recent diggings carried out by the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut.
This publication is the result of the elaboration of the unpublished data collected during these campaigns and is conceived as an excavation report. In particular it was possible to deepen the stratigraphic aspect which was fundamental for understanding the dynamics of formation and development of the settlement and this allowed us to complete the information contained in past monographs dealing with the first excavations carried out at Maadi. Finally we also could study for the first time the artefacts in a chronological perspective and to reconsider this site in the light of the latest research made in the Nile Delta.

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Bet Yeraḥ Vol. III. Hellenistic Philoteria and Islamic al-Sinnabra. The 1933-1986 and 2007-2013 Excavations
Greenberg, Raphael, Oren Tal, and Tawfiq Da'adli, Bet Yeraḥ Vol. III. Hellenistic Philoteria and Islamic al-Sinnabra. The 1933-1986 and 2007-2013 Excavations (Jerusalem, Israel Antiquities Authority Reports #61, 2017), pp. 234.Abstract

This, the third and final volume of reports dedicated to the publication of the 1933–1986 excavations at Khirbat al-Karak (Kh. Kerak)/Tel Bet Yeraḥ, describes the contiguous Hellenistic and Early Islamic remains excavated in the northern and southern parts of the site. These form an important component in the history of occupation on the mound and make a significant contribution to the archaeology of both periods. Their identification at the site in fact predates that of the Bronze Age remains: Eleazar Sukenik, who was asked to visit the road cut through ‘the Kerak’ in 1921, was the first to note their existence (Sukenik 1922), and the first to posit the identification of the site with Philoteria (see Chapter 2).

Substantial Hellenistic remains have been found, by several excavators, in virtually every part of the mound (Plan 1.1; Tables 1.1, 1.2): in all the areas excavated along its southern side (Areas BS, MS/EY, MK, GE), along considerable parts of the last Early Bronze Age fortification line (Wall C, principally in Towers 5, 8, 11 and 14 and near the ‘sortie tunnel’ [C10]) and in the various excavations of the northern sector (Areas GB, DK). In the central part of the mound, evidence is spotty, with the more substantial remains in Areas AC and BH, pits only in Areas UN and RV, and few finds reported in soundings undertaken by Delougaz and Haines in the western part of the mound. This distribution might indicate a bimodal concentration of houses on the two higher portions of the mound in the north and south, with the intervening saddle being, perhaps, only sporadically occupied (Table 1.2).

Earlier considerations of Hellenistic Philoteria, based for the most part on the sketchy preliminary publications of the excavation and on chance finds such as a cache of silver tetradrachms attributed to the site (Baramki 1944) and the later Tyche presumably found in the road cut (Sukenik 1922), had asserted the existence of a fortified town occupying the entire mound (Negev 1976; Hestrin 1993). The attribution of the fortifications (EB III Wall C, described in BY I: Chapter 6) to the Hellenistic period rested both on Hellenistic finds made by Bar-Adon within several towers and the assumption that round towers should be ascribed, by default, a Hellenistic date. However, the most recent considerations of the latest stone fortifications, by Getzov (2006) and by Greenberg et al. (BY I), supply evidence for an original Early Bronze Age date for Wall C, as well as for the presence of Hellenistic burials in or near the fortifications that imply that at least parts of the wall were considered to be separate from the settlement. The recent work of the Tel Aviv University team (Greenberg and Paz 2010) has allowed us to observe site formation processes in various parts of the mound. These observations suggest that when Hellenistic settlers first arrived at the site, most of which had been abandoned for two millennia, they found not the gently undulating surface of the modern mound, but an uneven surface pockmarked with ruins and with prominent stone foundations of fortifications and of monumental structures. The main concentrations of houses were built away from the massive earlier remains, which were used for refuse disposal and possibly for crafts such as potting (a large pit with kiln fragments was excavated in the Early Bronze Age Circles Building in 2009).

Post-Hellenistic presence on Tel Bet Yeraḥ was quite limited in extent and did not produce massive deposits. Early excavators reported Roman remains, but virtually nothing of this period can be identified in the remaining collections. Byzantine occupation appears to be limited to the church excavated and published by Delougaz and Haines (1960). The same excavators also identified substantial Early Islamic construction above the church; this was associated with the historical Umayyad palatial site of al-Ṣinnabra, although it was generally thought that the palace itself was located north of the mound.

 

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HAZOR VII. The 1990-2012 Excavations. The Bronze Age
Ben-Tor, Amnon, Sharon Zuckerman, Shlomit Bechar, and Débora Sandhaus, HAZOR VII. The 1990-2012 Excavations. The Bronze Age, ed. Tsipi Kuper-Blau (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Exploration Society, 2017), pp. 737.Abstract

With contibutions by Vladimir Avrutis, David Ben-Shlomo, Daphna Ben-Tor, Ruhama Bonfil, Manuel Cimadevilla, Simon Conner, Wayne Horowitz, Othmar Keel, Ron Kehati, Dimitri Laboury, Ron Lavi, Justin Lev-Tov, Marcel Marée, Nimrod Marom, Mario Martin, Liat Naeh, Tallay Ornan, Laura A. Peri, Maud Spaer, Miriam Tadmor, Dalit Weinblatt, Naama Yahalom-Mack, and David Ziegler

The seventh volume of the Hazor final reports, published in 2017 by Israel Exploration Society in cooperation with the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is dedicated to the Bronze Age finds in Area A, located at the center of the acropolis. This monumental volume brings to light the results of the renewed excavations in 1990–2012. Part I presents the stratigraphic analysis of the architectural finds dated to the third and second millennia (Strata XX–XIII), offering a new understanding of some of these strata. Part II offers an analysis of the ceramic finds dating from the Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age. This part includes typological schemes of the Bronze Age ceramic finds from Hazor as well as a discussion of the functional, regional and chronological aspects of the Hazor assemblages. Part III presents the many other finds dating from the Bronze Age, including statues, figurines, jewellery, tools, weapons and cuneiform tablets.

752 pages; 34 × 23.5 cm; hard cover. Numerous photos and drawings; ISBN 978-965-221-112-5; price: $120 ($90 to IES members); postage: airmail USA $58; Europe $30; surface mail $20

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