Memory and its Materiality: The Case of Early Iron Age Khirbet Qeiyafa and Jerusalem

2015 ◽  
Vol 127 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel D. Pioske
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Over Time

In den wenigen Jahren seitdem Ausgrabungen in Khirbet Qeiyafa durchgeführt wurden, haben sich schon einige wichtige Studien mit seiner beeindruckenden Hinterlassenschaft aus der frühen Eisenzeit beschäftigt. Was bislang unberücksichtigt blieb, sind die Folgerungen der Befunde für die Schriftkultur, die für das Bild dieser Periode in der Hebräischen Bibel verantwortlich ist. Die Absicht dieser Studie besteht darin, das literarische Schicksal von Khirbet Qeiyafa mit dem des frühen und späten eisenzeitlichen Jerusalem zu vergleichen und zu ermitteln, was das Nichtvorkommen bzw. Vorkommen dieser Standorte in der Hebräischen Bibel über die Quellen der biblischen Verfasser aussagt, über die sie im 11. und 10. Jh. v. Chr. verfügten. Zugleich wird gefragt, welchen Beitrag Ort und Erinnerung bei der Überlieferung dieser Geschichten im antiken Israel und Juda hatten.In the few short years since excavations were first carried out at Khirbet Qeiyafa a number of important studies have been devoted to its impressive early Iron Age remains. Yet what has not been pursued within these discussions are the implications of the settlement’s material culture for our understanding of the scribal cultures responsible for the portrayal of this time period in the Hebrew Bible. In comparing the literary fate of Khirbet Qeiyafa with that of the contemporaneous site of late Iron I/early Iron IIA Jerusalem, the intent of this study is to examine what the absence and presence of these two sites in the Hebrew Bible indicates about the sources biblical scribes possessed about the 11th–10th centuries BCE, and how place and memory contributed to the transmission of these stories over time in ancient Israel and Judah.Dans les quelques années qui ont suivi les fouilles à Khirbet Qeiyafa, un bon nombre d’études conséquentes ont été consacrées à ses impressionnants vestiges du début de l’âge de Fer. Cependant, ce qui n’a pas été développé dans ces discussions, ce sont les implications de la culture matérielle de ce site pour notre compréhension milieux de scribes responsables de la description de cette période dans la Bible hébraïque. En comparant le destin littéraire de Khirbet Qeiyafa avec celui de Jérusalem, site contemporain de la fin du Fer I et du début du Fer IIA, cette étude cherche à examiner ce que la présence et l’absence de ces deux sites dans la Bible hébraïque indiquent au sujet des sources que les scribes bibliques possédaient sur les 11–10

Material Culture and Making Visible: On the Portrayal of Philistine Gath in the Book of Samuel

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-27
Author(s):  
Daniel Pioske
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
The Past ◽  
Book Of Samuel

Over the past twenty years our understanding of Philistine Gath's history (Tell es-Safl) has been transformed by what has been revealed through the site's early Iron Age remains. But what has received much less attention is the effect these ruins have on how we read references to the location within the Hebrew Bible. The intent of this study is to draw on the archaeological evidence produced from Tell es-Safl as an interpretive lens by which to consider the biblical portrayal of the site rendered in the book of Samuel, where the material traces of more amicable associations between Gath and highland populations invite us to reconsider the city's depiction in this ancient literary work.

A Past No Longer Remembered

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Pioske
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Narrative Prose

Chapter 4 examines the phenomenon of absence in the Hebrew Bible, or why certain early Iron Age locations do not appear in the stories told about this time period in the biblical writings. This study focuses on six locations from the early Iron Age that were of substantial significance during this era, but which are nevertheless not referred to in the Hebrew Bible. After surveying the archaeological evidence from these sites, it is maintained that the absence of these places from the biblical narrative was likely the outcome of Hebrew scribes not having access to information about these settlements, rather than an intentional act of suppressing what knowledge they had. This manner of forgetting was occasioned, it is argued here, because these particular locations had lost their cultural and political significance by the time in which past memories were being textualized by Hebrew scribes into stories of narrative prose.

Gath of the Philistines

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Pioske
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
The Creation ◽  
A Site ◽  
The City

Chapter 2 begins a series of case studies that are devoted to exploring what knowledge was drawn on by the biblical scribes to develop stories about the early Iron Age period. This chapter’s investigation is devoted to the Philistine city of Gath, one of the largest cities of its time and a site that was destroyed ca. 830 BCE. Significant about Gath, consequently, is that it flourished as an inhabited location before the emergence of a mature Hebrew prose writing tradition, meaning that the information recounted about the city was predicated primarily on older cultural memories of the location. Comparing the biblical references to the site with Gath’s archaeological remains reveals moments of resonance between these stories and the material culture unearthed from the location. Accordingly, what comes to light through this chapter’s analysis is one mode of remembering that informed the creation of these biblical stories: that of resilience.

A New Look at Interpretations of the Early Iron Age in East Africa

1975 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 127-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter R. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
East Africa ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Analytical Method ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Temporal Domain ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Archeological Evidence

Since the publication in English in 1965 of Jan Vansina's Oral Tradition, historians of Africa have been increasingly concerned with developing methods which confirm the historical value of oral traditions. Independent proof for the historicity of oral traditions is often lacking; consequently the historian is usually left with comparative analysis as his primary analytical method. Archeologists such as Merrick Posnansky, Frank Willett, and John Sutton have in part attempted to show linkages between oral traditions and archeological evidence.Posnansky, especially, has contributed much to the idea that it is possible to combine the two sources to obtain a more comprehensive view of Hfeways usually referred to as ‘prehistoric’ Recent research, though, now suggests that the concept ‘prehistoric’ must be questioned, particularly in cases where there is a demonstrated tie between archeological evidence and oral traditions. When archeology affirms the accuracy of oral traditions which explain, comment on, interpret, or locate activities and sites which predate a literate tradition, then the germaneness of the concept must be critically questioned. It is my position here that when archeological evidence confirms the historical value of oral traditions about preliterate life, then those cultural phenomena in that time period should be considered historic rather than prehistoric. To retain ‘prehistory’ as a concept in this context ignores and even militates against the historiographies and historical concepts of other cultures. The ramifications of this relativist perspective are considerable both for the study of history and of prehistory. Given this logic, historians must begin to reassess and expand their concepts of what history is and prehistorians must prepare to forfeit part of the temporal domain previously considered as prehistory.

scholarly journals A 360-Day Administrative Year in Ancient Israel: Judahite Portable Calendars and the Flood Account

2021 ◽  
Vol 114 (4) ◽  
pp. 431-450
Author(s):  
Jonathan Ben-Dov
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Second Temple Literature ◽  
A Chain ◽  
The City ◽  
Material Evidence

AbstractAdministrators in ancient Judah used schematic 30-day months and a 360-day year alongside other annual frameworks. This year was never practiced as a “calendar” for any cultic or administrative purpose, but rather served as a convenient framework for long-term planning, as well as for literary accounts that were not anchored to a concrete calendar year. Examples for such a usage are attested here from Mesopotamian texts. Material evidence for the 360-day year in Judah comes forth from a series of small perforated bone plaques from various sites in Iron Age Judah. One such item was recently unearthed in the city of David. These objects can reasonably be understood as reflecting a schematic 360-day year, serving as desk calendars for Judahite administrators. Several priestly pentateuchal texts are best understood against this background, such as the dating of some festivals and most notably the dates in the Flood narrative (Gen 7–8). The original dating system is best represented in LXX Gen 7:11, while the reading of MT is a late modification, inserted later, when calendar debates took a central place in the religious discourse. MT is thus a link in a chain of later reworking of this narrative in Second Temple literature. The 360-day year is thus a unique case where material culture dovetails with literary evidence, and may shed light on the material culture of priestly sources. This insight is significant for future studies of biblical time reckoning.

Changing Patterns in Objects and in Perception

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter S. Wells
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Changing Patterns ◽  
Over Time

The preceding chapters examined three categories of objects—pottery, fibulae, and swords with their scabbards—and two ways of manipulating objects—arrangements in graves and performances involving human bodily action with objects—over the two-thousand-year period from the Early Bronze Age to the end of the prehistoric Iron Age. The focus has been on visual aspects of objects and the changes in their visual character over time. This chapter synthesizes the material laid out in chapters 5 through 10. It draws attention to the consistency of the patterns in the visual character of material culture in each of the three main periods of time considered in this book, and to the character of the changes that took place in the fifth century BC and in the second century BC.

scholarly journals Survey and excavation at an Iron Age enclosure complex on Turin Hill and environs

2020 ◽  
Vol 149 ◽  
pp. 83-114
Author(s):  
James O'Driscoll ◽  
Gordon Noble
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Geophysical Survey ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Time Period ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Hill ◽  
Dense Concentration

This paper presents the results of a programme of survey and evaluative excavation at a complex of five enclosures on Turin Hill in Angus, Scotland. This includes one large bivallate hillfort, an oblong fort and three smaller duns. The aim of the investigation was to re-map the surviving archaeological features and clarify the chronology of the sites. Geophysical survey was also undertaken and clarified various aspects of the enclosures on the hill, revealing a dense concentration of features within the interior of the large bivallate hillfort. Keyhole excavation was undertaken with basic chronological information being obtained for four out of five of the enclosures and dating samples from one other dun on the same ridge at Rob’s Reed. All the samples produced dates falling in the Iron Age and importantly, despite their location overlooking the rich assemblage of early medieval sculpture at Aberlemno, there was no definitive indication of early medieval activity or settlement at Turin Hill or its immediate environs. Evaluation of the rampart of the large bivallate hillfort produced an Early Iron Age date, and as such, may represent one of the few dated forts from this time period presently known in Scotland. Canmore ID 34899 Canmore ID 33776 Canmore ID 34959

scholarly journals Vyatka-Vetluga Archaeological Culture (Comb-Cord Ceramics) of Ananyino Cultural and Historical Area

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (35) ◽  
pp. 8-22
Author(s):  
Andrei A. Chizhevsky ◽  
◽  
Eduard I. Orudzhov ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Initial Phase ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
New Name ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
The Early 21St Century

In the beginning of the early Iron Age, the banks of the Vyatka and Vetluga rivers were populated by the carriers of a material culture belonging to the Ananyino cultural and historical area. One of the brightest elements of this culture was ceramics decorated with comb and cord ornaments. In the 1990s and the early 21st century, a name was suggested for the Vyatka antiquities of the initial phase of the early Iron Age, which reflected this very element of its material culture – the Ananyino culture of comb and cord ceramics. This paper features the results of an analysis of ceramic complexes from the Vyatka sites of the Ananyino period. The authors noted that throughout the entire existence of the culture, the number of comb and cord vessels was small and rarely exceeded the threshold of 16%. In addition, they established that comb and cord ceramics was widely spread only at the early stages of the culture’s existence; at later stages, the tradition associated with its manufacture had been lost. The discrepancy between the name and nature of the culture suggested that the authors should correct its present name. Instead of the currently used term – the Ananyino culture of comb and cord ceramics, it was proposed to introduce a new name – the VyatkaVetluga culture.

scholarly journals Excavations of the burial mound near the Yalta village in 2019

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (28-29) ◽  
pp. 31-51
Author(s):  
Viacheslav Zabavin ◽  
◽  
Serhij Nebrat ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Burial Mound ◽  
State University ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
New Research ◽  
Sea Area

The article presents the results of new research of the archeological expedition conducted by Mariupol State University in the North-East Azov Area. Archaeological research was carried out in the South of Donetsk region near the village of Yalta in 2016. In the mound 9 graves of the Bronze Age and 1 burial of the early Iron Age were investigated. The primary embankment was built during the Early Bronze Age by the tribes of the Pit Grave culture. The oldest burials in the mound are 4, 5 and 7. The most interesting was the children's burial 7. The buried child was accompanied by four ceramic vessels. Subsequently, another grave of the Pit Grave culture was built in the mound – burial 8. During the Late Bronze Age the population of the Zrubna / Timber-grave culture continues to use the necropolis. Researched at least three burials of the Zrubna / Timber-grave culture – 1, 2 and 10. Based on the typological analysis of the ritual-inventory complex, they can be attributed to the second (developed) horizon of the Zrubna / Timber-grave culture burial grounds of the North Azov Sea Area. As regards burial 3, presented by the authors, date back to the early Iron Age and precede the sites of the Scythian time. The burial 3 from Yalta are determined as complex of Chernohorivka type / Chernohorivka group of Cimmerian Culture or as late Chernohorivka complex. The authors consider peculiarities of the rite and inventory complex as well as some aspects of cultural and chronological character, spiritual and material culture of the tribes which, in the researchers’ view, are conflated with the historical Cimmerians. The burial in the mound placed near the villag of Yalta demonstrate some certain features of ingenuity. The man buried in the mound was most likely to have something to do with the religious or the hieratic sphere of life. The materials of the investigated burial mound enrich our knowledge about the ancient past of the population of the Azov steppes.

Cultural and Economic Type and Archaeological Appearance of the Cimmerians (a Brief Historiographical Review)

2021 ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Sergei B. Valchak
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
The South ◽  
Scythian Period ◽  
The Russian Language

The article discusses various opinions related to the solution of the “Cimmerian problem”, set out in the Russian-language scientific literature in the period of the XX-beginning of the XXI centuries. Special attention is paid to the historiography of the question of the cultural and economic type of the Cimmerians and the approach of various researchers to its definition. The author also considers the question of the material culture of the Cimmerians and the archaeological sites associated with them, their interpretations and various hypotheses proposed at different times by researchers of the archeology of the Early Iron Age, chronological concepts. The author supports the hypothesis of T.M. Kuznetsova about the insufficient argumentation of the statement about the Cimmerians-nomads and the hypothesis of V.R. Erlikh about the identification with the Cimmerians of archaeological sites of the classical Novocherkassk stage of the pre-Scythian period, which is characterized by a peculiar and massive complex of horse equipment and weapons of soldiers-riders. In a wide chronological range, these sites can be dated no earlier than the last quarter of the 8th, and probably no later than the middle of the 7th century BC. The horizon of the few monuments of the “Jabotinsky type” in the south of Eastern Europe, which does not have a local substrate, is considered to belong to the early Scythians no earlier than the end of the first quarter of the 7th century, before the beginning of their cam-paigns in Transcaucasia, the countries of Near Asia in the 7th century BC.

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