Tag: cuneiform

Report from Jerusalem #56, 8th December 2013

Cuneiform Tablets to be Returned to Iraq

Nearly ten thousand cuneiform tablets will be returned to Iraq by Cornell University. The tablets date from the 4th millennium BCE and later, and are suspected to have been looted from Iraq, which has demanded their return. They were donated to the university by a collector who bought them on the market seven years ago, and they have been preserved, photographed and published over the last few years by scholars at the university, which has now agreed to return them to Iraq museum in Baghdad. The university acknowledges that there may be concerns about the safety of the tablets, but has stated that “the Iraq Museum seems to be secure at this point”. The tablets include the private records of a Sumerian princess of Garsana, who administered her husband’s estate after his death, who gave equal rights and wages to women, and allowed them to direct male workers on building projects. Other tablets record details of temple rituals, the treatment of refugees and the yields of agricultural products.

Climatic Changes at the end of the Late Bronze Age

A study conducted by Dafna Langgut and published in the Journal of the Tel Aviv Institute of Archaeology shows that there was a great climatic change in the period of 1250-1100 BCE, that may have accounted for the upheavals in the civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean, in Egypt, Greece, Crete, Syria and in Israel, where the first monarchy was established. The study was based on core samples taken from deep under the Kinneret, Sea of Galilee, in 18m. long cores containing fossil grains of pollen, which Langgut claims is the most enduring organic material in nature. The pollen was blown into the water and the particles show details of the vegetation that grew around the lake and the climatic conditions of the period. The study was conducted together with Prof. Israel Finkelstein of Tel Aviv University, Prof. Thomas Litt of Bonn University and Prof. Mordechai Stein of Hebrew University. Prof. Finkelstein notes that this pollen study had a precision of forty years, as compared to other pollen studies of only several hundred years, which may have missed the changes now revealed. The results correlate with text records of drought and famine in locations from Anatolia to Egypt.

Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) Arrests Looter

Uzi Rotstein of the IAA Theft Prevention Unit reported the arrest of one of a group of six illegal metal-detector operators who were looting Byzantine coins at a site in the Nahal Sorek basin in the Judean hills. Excavating an ancient site without a permit from the IAA is considered to be a criminal act that can result in a prison term of up to five years. Members of the Theft Prevention Unit are not police officers but carry small arms and have the right to make arrests.

Ancient Wine Cellar Unearthed at Tel Kabri

At Tel Kabri, 3 km. east of Naharia, archaeologists have unearthed a large wine cellar dated to 1700 BCE. It was part of a luxurious palace and estate that may have belonged to a rich northern Canaanite ruler. The find amounted to forty plain 1 m. high storage jars and is one of the largest wine cellars ever found. By residue analysis, the excavators, Eric Cline of  George Washington University, Andrew Koh of Brandeis University and Assaf Yasur-Landau of Haifa University, showed that the wine, both red and white, was flavoured with honey,  juniper, mint, cinnamon and myrtle. The cellar was about 5 x 8 m. and adjacent to a large banqueting hall, both of which may have been destroyed by earthquake. At the end of the dig, two doors were found leading out of the cellar, which will have to await examination until the next season in 2015.

Chalcolithic Village found near Beit Shemesh

Since 2004, archaeologists of the IAA have been exposing domestic remains on a site south of Beit Shemesh, alongside road 38, which is due to be widened. The finds include a building of the pre-pottery Neolithic period dated to about 8000 BCE, the oldest such structure to have been found in this country, according to Dr. Amir Golani, in charge of the dig. Other buildings of a later date were also uncovered, together with axes, flints and stone tools, which will be cleaned and preserved by the IAA at their nearby offices.  Next to the oldest building was found a standing monolith (1.2m. high and weighing a quarter of a ton), that had been tooled on all six sides, which suggests it may have served a cultic function alongside the building.

Hasmonean Period Building in Jerusalem

A building of 64 sq. m. nearly 4m. high has been uncovered in the Givati parking area by the City of David, and dated to the Hasmonean period. According to Dr. Doron Ben-Ami, one of the directors of the dig, this is the first evidence of a building of this period to be found in Jerusalem. Dating has been made easier by the discovery on the floor of over forty silver and bronze coins of the second century BCE, which are now being cleaned and will take another year, Ben-Ami said. Only part of the structure has been uncovered so far, but it is not domestic in nature and likely to have been a public building. It is hoped to find further evidence of the period as the dig proceeds.

Stephen Gabriel Rosenberg,

W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem.

Report from Jerusalem, #24, July 2010

Honey Bees at Tel Rehov, Bet Shean Valley

During excavations at Tel Rehov, under the direction of Prof. Amihai Mazar of the Hebrew University, thirty intact beehives were found in 2007, as well as evidence of over another 100 hives made of straw and clay. From their context these hives could be dated to about 900 BCE. It was surprising to find these hives in the middle of the city, and the residue of the hives, which included bee fragments, were sent for biological analysis by Prof. Guy Bloch of the HU Department of Ecological Science. He confirmed the great age of the hives that had become carbonized, and he found remnant of bee larvae and pupae, remnants of wings and legs.

The type of bee was different from the local Syrian species, and not similar to the known Egyptian or Persian varieties, but was found to be related to the Anatalyan type found in central Turkey. It may have been that they were indigenous to Israel in antiquity or that they were somehow imported to the region. The reason for their use at Rehov was that the species is known for their high productivity as well as their docility, which made them suitable for an urban setting. Evidence was found of moving bees in large pottery hives and an Assyrian stamp of the 8th century BCE (from elsewhere) showed that some bees had been brought 400 km. from the Taurus mountains in Turkey, to a southern location. Bloch therefore speculated that the Rehov beekeepers had started with the Syrian variety but, after finding them too aggressive for an urban location, they had taken the trouble of importing the more docile species from Turkey in the north.

Jerusalem: Herod’s Gate reinaugurated

Four years into a five-year programme of renovation of the Old City walls, the work to Herod’s gate, at the north-east sector, has been completed. It is one of the seven major gateways and all its stonework has been repaired, cleaned and repointed. Ugly electrical and drainage conduits have been removed or concealed and the interior of the gate refurbished. The gate dates from 1539 and leads into the Muslim Quarter. The work was co-ordinated with the local residents so as not to disrupt their busy commercial activities during the four months of the facelift.

The complete renovation project is funded by the Prime Minister’s Office, administered by the Jerusalem Development Authority and executed by the Conservation Department of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). The next phase of the work will concentrate on the Damascus Gate and the Lion’s Gate, on the north and east walls of the Old City. During work near the Damascus Gate, the workmen found an area of shattered stone that concealed an old hand-grenade. The police were called and it was identified as a Turkish-era weapon and removed it for controlled detonation. It was considered to have lain hidden in the wall for at least eighty years.

Jerusalem: large medieval monastery fresco

Remains of the 9m. x nearly 3m. high fresco were discovered during rescue excavations in the Kidron valley, next to Gethsemene in 1999. The fresco probably came from a wall of 12th century Abbey of St Mary of the Valley of Jehoshaphat. At the time it had to be cut up and taken for safekeeping into the storage rooms of the Israel Museum to avoid being destroyed by the sewage line that was being built in the valley, and it is now being restored by expert Jacques Nagar and prepared for exhibition in the newly renovated Israel Museum, which is opening its doors this week.

The coloured fresco depicts Jesus in the centre flanked by Mary to his right and John the Baptist to his left, both seeming to plead for forgiveness for Humanity. There are further incomplete figures and a Latin inscription from St. Augustine that reads “Who injures the name of an absent friend, may not at this table as guest attend” which is a warning against loose talk. According to Jon Seligman of the IAA, who was in charge of the original discovery, this will be an opportunity for the public to see one of the few remaining frescoes in Israel.

Wadi Ara, near Katzir Harish: bronze tablet is chariot-wheel pinhead

During excavations by Prof. Adam Zertal of Haifa University in 1997 at El-Ahwat in the Wadi Ara, a small bronze circular tablet was found, only 2 cm. in diameter and 5 mm thick. It depicts the head of a woman with large wheel-like earrings and has now been identified by scientist Oren Cohen of Haifa University as the decorative plaque set on the end of the linchpin that held the axle of a Canaanite chariot. He came to his conclusion after seeing similar objects on the chariots in the battle scenes in the Temple of Ramses III in Luxor, Egypt.

Dating from its context in the ‘Governor’s House’ of the town, it is suggested by Zertal that the 12th century BCE pinhead may have served one of the 900 chariots of the foreign general Sisera in his fight with the Israelites under Deborah and Barak at the battle of Mount Tabor in the lower Galilee. Zertal claimed 13 years ago that the site of El-Ahwat was most likely the Haroshet Hagoyim mentioned in the Book of Judges (4:2) as the headquarters of Sisera. It appears that having one’s head on such a linchpin was a sign of insult and indignity, and that this woman depicted here was a Hittite goddess, one hated by the Egyptians and presumably also by the Canaanites, who were being led by Sisera.

Bethsaida, north of the Sea of Galilee: unique gold coin found

In this year’s excavations, directed by Dr. Rami Arav, of University of Nebraska at Omaha, a gold coin of Antoninus Pius (138-161 CE) 15th Roman Emperor, was found in a residential building of this town of fishermen, mentioned in the New Testament as being visited by Jesus.

The coin was minted to announce that Antoninus Pius had been designated consul by the Roman Senate for the second time, a very high honour. It is the first such coin found in Israel, having the head of the Emperor on the obverse and the goddess Pietas before an altar on the reverse. The coin is 98% gold, and weighs 7gm. It is unusual to find such a high-value coin in a provincial town, but a silver coin had been found there in a previous season and it is possible that the town was an active trading post on the shores of the lake that attracted wealthy merchants from further afield.

Jerusalem: fragment of cuneiform tablet found near City of David

A 2cm by 4cm fragment of a larger document was found in fill from the Ophel area, north of the City of David, in excavations directed by Dr. Eilat Mazar of the Hebrew University. It is only a tiny fragment but the cuneiform writing is of a good quality and indicates that it was the work of an expert scribe working for a high-level administration. The date assigned to the context is 14th century BCE and shows that it was contemporary with the El Amarna correspondence that was exchanged between the Egypt of Akhenaton and prince Abdu-Heba of Jerusalem.

The piece has been identified by Prof. Wayne Horowitz of the Hebrew University as being of high quality but there is insufficient of it to read its meaning, although a few words such as ‘you were’, ‘to do’ and ‘later’ are mentioned.

Nevertheless the fragment indicates the importance of Jerusalem at this early date. Mazar described this piece as one of the most important finds of her dig and thought that the appearance of one fragment might well lead to the discovery of further pieces of this document.

Tel Hazor in the north: another cuneiform fragment

Several fragments of cuneiform tablets were recently found in the palace area of Tel Hazor, during excavations directed by Prof. Amnon Ben-Tor and Dr. Sharon Zuckerman of the Hebrew University. The language is Akkadian and the words ‘slave’, ‘master’ and ‘tooth’ have been deciphered, which makes the subject similar to one treated in the Code of Hammurabi of the 18th century BCE from Elam and Mari in the East.

The newly discovered fragments will be published, together with others found previously, by Prof. Wayne Horowitz of the Hebrew University. They form the largest body of cuneiform documents so far discovered in Israel. The collection indicates that Hazor was an important trading, administration and cultural centre in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages.

Work on site continues with the excavation of a large monumental Bronze Age building where the team hopes to recover further fragments.

Stephen Gabriel Rosenberg,
Albright Institute, Jerusalem