We are happy to share some of the new books and new journal volumes that are now available in our library:
Summaries are taken from publishers websites.
Excavations at the Ottoman Military Compound (Qishle) in Jaffa, 2007, 2009 (2021) | Yoav Arbel (ed.)
The excavations published in this volume are the first systematic investigation of Ottoman remains in the lower town of Jaffa and the only such volume in Israel dedicated largely to a final excavation report of Ottoman period remains. This is profound, because cultural heritage remains from after 1799 CE have not been previously identified in legal terms as antiquities in the manner in which earlier remains are treated as archaeological. Salvage archaeological work, particularly in an urban environment, still faces many limitations. These excavations, in the former Israeli police compound of Jaffa, complete the archaeological investigation of the northern part of Jaffa’s lower town. In addition to the stratigraphy (chs. 2–3), the volume presents ceramic finds of the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods (ch. 4–6), Crusader pottery (ch. 7), porcelain and ceramic vessels of the Ottoman period (ch. 8), coins (ch. 17) and small finds of other materials (ch. 18–25), as well as weapons (chs. 14–16).
The Temple Complex at Horvat Omrit, Vol 1: The Architecture (2015) | Michael C. Nelson
Volume One of The Temple Complex at Horvat Omrit presents a detailed examination of the surviving architecture of the three Roman period temple phases at the newly excavated sanctuary at the archaeological site of Omrit in northern Israel. All three temples were built according to the Corinthian order and the author describes and illustrates the state of the remains, proposes reconstructions of each phase, and places each temple in the broader historical context.
The Temple Complex at Horvat Omrit, Vol 2: The Stratigraphy, Ceramics, and Other Finds (2021) | J. Andrew Overman, Daniel N. Schowalter, and Michael C. Nelson
HorvatOmrit is a Roman period sanctuary complex in northern Israel with well-preserved temple architecture. This report presents artifacts recovered in the temenos excavations from 1999 to 2011. The volume begins with a discussion of the excavated stratigraphy, the major building phases, and the dates associated with them. Subsequent chapters examine Hellenistic and Roman ceramics, lamps, terracotta figurines, wall paintings and frescoes, coins from the Roman and medieval periods, a dedicatory pavement inscription, a 3rd-century BCE Aramaic inscription, faunal remains, jewellery, an 8th-century BCE cylinder seal, a marble sphinx, a stucco relief, and a small, inscribed altar. An appendix associates the catalogued artifacts with their stratigraphic locations. Altogether the artifacts contribute to the archaeology and history of a diverse Galilee.
Hellenistic Inter-state Political Ethics and the Emergence of the Jewish State (2022) | Doron Mendels
Against the background of a reconstructed inter-state ethical code, the rise of the Hasmoneans,Judea's ruling dynasty, is given a new perspective. Doron Mendels explores how concepts such as liberty, justice, fairness, loyalty, reciprocity, adherence to ancestral laws, compassion, accountability and love of fatherland became meaningful in the relations between nations in the Hellenistic Mediterranean sphere, as well as between ruling empires and their subject states. The emerging Jewish state echoed this ethical system.
Leviah: An early Bronze Age fortified town in the Megalithic landscape of the Golan (2018) | Yitzhak Paz
Part I. The excavations at Leviah:
The geography of the region
The site, its stratigraphy and architecture
The finds.
The Pottery
The flint / Ron Shimelmitz and Yizhak Paz
The stone objects
Miscellaneous
Faunal Remains / Liora Kolska Horwitz
Discussion.
Dating the fortification system
The southern cemetery
The architecture–A comparative study
The settlement history
Part II. The Golan 'enclosures':
Excavated and surveyed sites.
Gamla
The surveyed sites
'Enclosures' or sedentary settlements?
Explaining Leviah
The enclosed fortified settlements of the Southern Levant
The urbanization process of the Golan—Spatial, political and socio-economic aspects
The Golan's megalithic features in light of a post-processual approach
Conclusions
Epigraphy, Iconography, and the Bible (2022) | Meir Lubetski and Edith Lubetski (eds.)
The study of the Bible has long been illuminated by 'light from the East' (in the famous phrase of Adolf Deissmann in 1908). Almost daily, new artifacts and inscriptions are announced that will have an impact on how the Bible is read and understood.
Following Meir Lubetski's SPP collection New Seals and Inscriptions, Hebrew, Idumean and Cuneiform in 2007 and his Festschrift, Visions of Life in Biblical Times in 2015, the present volume garners papers from a wide and distinguished panel of specialists in the Ancient Near East that revisit former assumptions and present new insights on the relevance of its material culture to the Bible.
Among the papers, Alan Millard reviews the issue of the use of the early alphabets, Andr© Lemaire revisits the Mesha stele (the Moabite Stone), and Pieter Gert van der Veen takes a fresh look at the seal of Shema with its famous lion (still adorning the cover of the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament). Bezalel Porten contributes a fascinating study, illustrated by twenty colour diagrams, of documents on papyrus or ostraca requesting provisions from storerooms-an insight into the practicalities of daily administrative life in Egypt, Idumea and Israel.
There are papers also on the arks of the Hebrew Bible (Yigal Levin), on alleged identifications of Hebrew kings in inscriptions (Lawrence Mykytiuk), on literary images in the Tell Fekheriye inscription and the book of Lamentations (Gideon Kotz©) and on Judaean pillar figurines of women that are ubiquitous in archaeological excavations from Iron Age Judah.
Epigraphy, Iconography, and the Bible, in sum, is something of a cornucopia of new and revised data about the Hebrew Bible in its ancient context, intelligible to scholars, students and a more general public alike.
Animal Iconography in the Archaeological Record: New Approaches, New Dimensions (2021) | Laerke Recht and Katarzyna Zeman Wisniewska(eds.)
Animals pervade our lives, both today and in the past. From the smallest bug through pets and agricultural animals to elephants and blue whales, the animals themselves, animal-derived products and representations of animals can be found everywhere in our daily lives. This book focuses on the representations of animals in the past: How were animals represented in iconography, and how is the craftsperson interpreting animals within his or her own cultural context? What do the representations tell us about the role and function of both animals and the representations themselves?
A series of papers explore these questions through images of animals. This is, for example, done by using technologies like 3D models to emphasize the dimensionality of objects, or through theoretical and interdisciplinary approaches that examine the intersection of the human and the animal. The papers challenge the notion of animals purely as objects, instead focusing on the many ways in which humans and animals interact. The importance of animals in all aspects of our lives means that the study of human-animal relations is an extremely relevant one both in the past and today. The papers take us on a journey through time and space, demonstrating exactly this relevance. Starting in the Neolithic and ending in the Medieval period, from the Mediterranean and Northern Europe through Siberia and the Baltic to the other side of the world in Australia, we have the privilege of encountering lions, horses, dogs, monkeys, birds, kangaroos and octopuses, among many other wonderful creatures.
The book is an important and exciting contribution to the study of human-animal relations. It should be of interest to anyone working on this topic and the interpretation of images – both modern and ancient.
Archaeology, Nation, and Race : Confronting the Past, Decolonizing the Future in Greece and Israel (2022) | Raphael Greenberg and Yannis Hamilakis
Archaeology, Nation, and Race is a must-read book for students of archaeology and adjacent fields. It demonstrates how archaeology and concepts of antiquity have shaped, and have been shaped by colonialism, race, and nationalism. Structured as a lucid and lively dialogue between two leading scholars, the volume compares modern Greece and modern Israel — two prototypical and influential cases — where archaeology sits at the very heart of the modern national imagination. Exchanging views on the foundational myths, moral economies, and racial prejudices in the field of archaeology and beyond, Hamilakis and Greenberg explore topics such as the colonial origins of national archaeologies, the crypto-colonization of the countries and their archaeologies, the role of archaeology as a process of purification, and the racialization and "whitening" of Greece and Israel and their archaeological and material heritage. They conclude with a call for decolonization and the need to forge alliances with subjugated communities and new political movements.
The Moon God Sîn in Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Times (2021) | Aino Hätinen
The moon god Nanna/Sîn is one of the primary deities in the Sumero-Babylonian pantheon, and, for this reason, has been of interest since the early days of Assyriological research. In addition to the ubiquitous presence of Sîn in cuneiform sources, and the crescent moon in Mesopotamian art, scholarly interest in him can be attributed to his prominent role in the context of celestial divination: the lunar omens dominate the sphere of celestial divination in the 1st millennium BCE. Also, the marked interest of the Sargonid kings of Assyria in the Ḫarranian moon god in the 8th–7th centuries BCE and the veneration of Sîn by Nabonidus in the 6th century BCE have received much attention from various scholars. The theological concepts surrounding Sîn are by no means limited only to his role as the god of the moon, but he shared numerous abilities and powers with other deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon depending on the context. The sources from the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods describe the moon god Sîn first and foremost as the moon, a celestial luminary that embodies cosmic order and regulates time, conveys messages about the decisions he or other deities have made, brings stability to the reign of the king, allows people (and animals) to procreate, and afflicts them with epilepsy and skin diseases (but also heals them, if he wills). He is present not only in cult images in and around sanctuaries but also in the night sky, where he unceasingly makes himself manifest from day to day, month to month; the jewel of heavens, surrounded by rejoicing stars.
The present study is subdivided into two main parts: “Theologies of the Moon God in Assyria and Babylonia”, characterizing himself and his family and entourage, and “The Cult of Sîn in Babylonia and Assyria” on his role in the context of his places of worship and temples. These parts are supplemented by editions of selected texts and extensive indices.
The Haus Am Hang at Hattusa : A Late Hittite State Scriptorium and Its Tablet Collections (2022) | Giulia Torri
During the first excavations in Lower City of Hattusa, conducted by H. Winckler and Th. Makridi in 1907, Makridi discovered a palace built east of the main Temple. The building was later named Haus am Hang (House on the Slope, HaH) because it leaned on the terraces leading up to the royal palace on Buyukkale. Several fragments of clay tablets in cuneiform script were discovered within and around the building during this period and in the following archaeological investigations until the 1960s. These text fragments exemplified the various text typologies produced by Hittite scribes. Giulia Torri's research focuses on this collection of texts in search of the original criteria for its organization inside the building and provides a new approach in outlining the cultural environment in which the Hittite texts were produced: As a first step, the range of information about the discovery and the find-spots of the fragments is analyzed and contextualised (Part I). In the second part the texts, classified according to their content as administrative texts, chancellery texts, and texts of the scribal tradition, are collected, studied, and compared with their duplicate versions from other locations, with the aim of showing how the Hittite scribes composed and preserved them in this area of the Lower City (Part II).
At the Interface of Religion and Administration: The Hittite Cult Inventories (2021) | Michele Cammarosano
The so-called cult inventory texts report on the state of religious festivals, rites, cult objects, and cult supplies in a number of provincial towns and villages under Hittite control, thereby documenting the interaction between the central administration and local settlements. As such, they do not concern the official “state cults,” but rather a variety of rites and customs, which in part preserve local traditions. Because of its nature and size, this corpus is unique in the ancient Near East, and is relevant to the comparative history of religions and centre-periphery studies. Within Anatolian studies, the corpus is especially relevant to the study of historical geography, regional and local Hittite panthea, religious iconography, the production and logistics of cult supplies, and the participation of village communities in rites and festivals.
Expanding upon a comprehensive edition of 450 cuneiform tablets and the pertinent database “Hittite local cults,” the volume provides an in-depth overview of the text genre; a study of the material, palaeographic, orthographic, and linguistic aspects of the manuscripts; a thorough investigation into the geography of the local cults as well as into the local panthea and cult calendar; and finally critical editions of a representative selection of original texts.
Ve-’Ed Ya‘aleh (Gen 2:6) : Essays in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies Presented to Edward L. Greenstein (2021) | Michele Cammarosano
Sixty-six colleagues, friends, and former students of Edward L. Greenstein present essays honoring him upon his retirement. Throughout Greenstein's half-century career he demonstrated expertise in a host of areas astonishing in its breadth and depth, and each of the essays in these two volumes focuses on an area of particular interest to him. Volume 1 includes essays on ancient Near Eastern studies, Biblical Hebrew and Northwest Semitic languages, and biblical law and narrative. Volume 2 includes essays on biblical wisdom and poetry, biblical reception and exegesis, and postmodern readings of the Bible.
ממצא חומרי בעידן דיגיטלי: מסע לעבר הארכיאולוגיה של העולם (2022) | גלי ב. יפה
פרויקט #ארכיאולוגיה_אונליין נוסד מתוך מטרה להנגיש את עולם הארכיאולוגיה להמונים דרך כלים דיגיטליים ובשפה פשוטה וסיפורית שנועדה לעורר עניין. הפרויקט הזה נולד מתוך רצון לשתף ולחשוף קהלים חדשים ורחבים יותר לעולם הארכיאולוגיה דרך הרשתות החברתיות וכך נולדו להם פוסטים ורצפי ציוצים ("שרשורים") בטוויטר, שמציגים בכל פעם תגלית, ממצא או אתר ארכיאולוגיים ומספרים את סיפורם בעברית פשוטה ובצורה ברורה, הכוללת תמונות.
הספר הזה נולד מתוך שרשורי טוויטר מהשנים האחרונות, והוא אסופה של אותם שרשורים, ערוכים בצורה כרונולוגית, שביחד מעניקים מבט רחב על התפתחויות, אתרים וממצאים שונים בעולם. בעוד רובנו מכירים מעט מההתפתחות ההיסטוריות באזורנו, ספר זה מאפשר לקורא לראות בעצמו כיצד בכל העולם מתרחשים אירועים כל הזמן במקביל ובכך הספר שופך אור על ההיסטוריה האנושית כפי שהיא מתגלה במחקר הארכיאולוגי.
In Centro (במרכז): Collected Papers. Volume I: Motion, Movement and Mobility | 2022
1.Travelling with Subarctic Hunter-Gatherers by Adrian Tanner
2.Domestic Animal Mobility during the Bronze and Iron Ages: Insights from Ancient DNA Research on Pigs and Cattle by Meirav Meiri and Israel Finkelstein
3.Rise and Fall: Changes in the Symbolic Perception of Donkeys during the Bronze and Iron Ages by Lidar Sapir-Hen
4.The Way to the Next World? An Enigmatic Structure from the Chalcolithic Period by Gilad Itach 19*
5.On the Way to the City: The Central Role of ʿEin ʿEsur (ʿAsawir) in the EB IB Settlement Pattern in the Coastal Plain of Israel by Itai Elad and Yitzhak Paz
6.Hellenistic Hip Baths in Hasmonaean Farmsteads by Avraham S. Tendler
7.Trade in Antiques during the Early Islamic Period by Hagit Torgë
8.Between the Citadel and the Temple: On Administration and Worship on the Shores of Nahariya by Ron Beʾeri, Nimrod Getzov and Yair Amitzur
9.Glycymeris Shell-Paved Floors from Meṣad Ḥashavyahu: A Continued Local Architectural Tradition? By Daniel Ein-Mor, Michal Mermelstein and Federico Kobrin
10.A Roman Merchant Ship Cargo of Scrap Metal and Raw Materials in the Caesarea Harbor: Preliminary Report by Jacob Sharvit and Bridget Buxton
11.Maritime Activity at Jaffa during the Mamluk and Early Ottoman Periods: The Ceramic Evidence from Ramla by Edna J. Stern
In Centro (במרכז): Collected Papers. Volume II: Memory | 2022
1.“Remember and forget”: On the Ways of Shaping the “ Myth of the Empty Land” by Oded Lipschits
2.Sailing Memories: Graffiti of Ships from Maresha by Elie Haddad, Ian Stern and Mical Artzy
3.“Megiddo, and They Call it Lajjun”: Memory and Oblivion in Toponymy and Archaeological Finds in the Region of Legio/ Kefar ‘Othany by Yotam Tepper.
4.Excavating Tailing Piles at Kakal Spur (Kerem Ben Zimra) Locality in the Nahal Dishon Prehistoric Flint Extraction and Reduction Complex, Northern Galilee, Israel by Meir Finkel, Avi Gopher and Aviad Agam.
5.An Inscription from a Byzantine Cemetery in Yafo (Jaffa) by Ayelet Dayan and Leah Di Segni
6.Bridging the Gap: Preservation of Contested Narratives of Archaeological Sites by Chemi Shiff
7.Plastered Skulls, “Meomry” and Social Fabric in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B of the Southern Levant by Ianir Milevski.
8.Old Memories and New Consciousness: Forging New Social Identity in the EB IB City of ‘En Esur by Yitzhak Paz and Itai Elad
9.Short-Term Memory: Historicak Archaeology of Russian Compounds by Yana Tchekhanovets, Kfir Arbiv and Kirill A. Vach.
Artifax | Volume 38 (2) | 2022
1.Ancient Curse Tablet Deciphered from Tablet Found During Archaeological Wet Sift on Mt. Ebal
2.Jerusalem Elite Preferred Their Wine with Vinegar
3.Altar Horns Found at Shiloh, Ramat Gan Safari Sarcophagi
4.Israel Archaeology News
5.Is the Screaming Mummy the First-Born Son of Pharaoh?
Biblical Archaeology Review | Volume 40 (2) | 2022
1. Moses and the Monks of Nebo by Debra Foran
2. 1177 B.C.—The Collapse of Bronze Age Civilization by Eric H. Cline
3. Pharaoh’s Fury: Merneptah’s Destruction of Gezer by Steven Ortiz and Samuel Wolf
4. Ezra and the Dead Sea Scrolls by Charlotte Hempel
Journal of Ancient Civilizations | Volume 36 (2) | 2021
1. Republished Texts in the Attic Orators (139–172) by Zilong Guo
2. Delian Accountability and the Cost of Writing Materials (173–200) by Irene Berti
3. Pictorial Elements vs. Composition? “Reading” Gestures in Comedy-related Vase paintings (4th Century BC) (201–233) by Elisabeth Gunther.
4. Wealthy Koans around 200 BC in the Context of Hellenistic Social History (235–267) by Perter Kato
5. Early Roman Syene (1st to 2nd Century) – A Gate to the Red Sea? (269–297) by Stefanie Schmidt