The Spade and the Text: The Interaction between Archaeology and Israelite History Relating to the Tenth-Ninth Centuries bce

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
AMIHAI MAZAR
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Late Time ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Ancient History ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
United Monarchy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Biblical Sources

There exists today a wide spectrum of views concerning the process of the writing and redaction of the various parts of the Hebrew Bible, as well as the evaluation of the biblical text in reconstructing the history of Israel during the Iron Age. An archaeologist must make a choice between divergent views and epistemological approaches when trying to combine archaeological data with biblical sources. There are five major possibilities, one of which is to claim that the biblical sources retain important kernels of ancient history in spite of the comparatively late time of writing and editing. Archaeology can be utilized to examine biblical data in the light of archaeology and judge critically the validity of each biblical episode. This chapter examines why we should accept the historicity of the biblical account regarding ninth-century northern Israel and discredit the historicity of the United Monarchy or Judah. It also discusses Jerusalem as a city during the tenth to ninth centuries and its role in defining state formation in Judah.

Biblical Israel in the Ninth Century?

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
PHILIP R. DAVIES
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Critical History ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
United Monarchy ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Crucial Part

Most archaeologists of ancient Israel still operate with a pro-biblical ideology, while the role that archaeology has played in Zionist nation building is extensively documented. Terms such as ‘ninth century’ and ‘Iron Age’ represent an improvement on ‘United Monarchy’ and ‘Divided Monarchy’, but these latter terms remain implanted mentally as part of a larger portrait that may be called ‘biblical Israel’. This chapter argues that the question of ‘biblical Israel’ must be regarded as distinct from the kingdoms of Israel and Judah as a major historical problem rather than a given datum. ‘Biblical Israel’ can never be the subject of a modern critical history, but is rather a crucial part of that history, a ‘memory’, no doubt historically conditioned, that became crucial in creating Judaism. This realization will enable us not only to write a decent critical history of Iron Age central Palestine but also to bring that history and the biblical narrative into the kind of critical engagement that will lead to a better understanding of the Bible itself.

The Northern Kingdom in the Late Tenth-Ninth Centuries bce

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
NADAV NA’AMAN
Keyword(s):  
Ninth Century ◽  
Early History ◽  
Historical Reconstruction ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
United Monarchy ◽  
Northern Kingdom ◽  
Royal Inscriptions ◽  
History Of

A major problem in the discussion of the kingdom of Israel in the late tenth–ninth centuries is the evaluation of the Books of Kings as a source for historical reconstruction. In addition to Kings, there are some late tenth–ninth century Egyptian, Assyrian, Aramaic, and Moabite royal inscriptions that refer to various events in the history of the kingdom. However, the number and scope of these inscriptions are limited, and on their basis plus the archaeological data alone we would be unable to draw even a schematic history. The reconstruction of the early history of the Northern Kingdom must begin by tackling a major problem: that of the historicity of the United Monarchy. From the reigns of Jeroboam and Rehoboam on, the years of each king in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah are accurately enumerated. In addition to the above, this chapter also looks at the early dynasties of the Northern Kingdom, including that of the Omrides, and Jehu's rebellion.

Enemy at the Gates: The Phenomenon of Fortifications in Israel Reexamined

2013 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 368-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doron Ben-Ami ◽  
Nili Wazana
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Initial Phase ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Urbanization Process ◽  
Iron Age Ii ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Biblical Sources

Abstract This article addresses the phenomenon of fortifications in Iron Age Israel and tries to portray the specific historical background behind their construction by integrating the archaeological data, the extra-biblical sources and the analysis of the biblical text. Of the two clear stratigraphical phases of fortifications noticed in several Iron Age cities, the latter is more massive and elaborated compared with its predecessor. We propose that the developed phase of fortifications in Israel was created under the Omrides, in a time of economic and political strength, as a response to the expansion policy of Aram Damascus. This analysis offers an explanation to the intriguing absence of any biblical reference to the Assyrians prior to Tiglath-pileser III, and casts a fresh look upon the current debate on the chronology of the Iron Age II. If the elaborate fortification systems were initiated during the first half of the ninth century, the initial phase of the urbanization process, which preceded this developed stage, must have begun in the days prior to the Omride dynasty, namely in the tenth century.

Homer's Use of the Past

1929 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-159
Author(s):  
H. L. Lorimer
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Literature ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Literary Tradition ◽  
Present Form ◽  
Present Writer ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
The Past ◽  
Systematic Examination ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
History Of

Of the sources of Homer in the literary sense we can know nothing. There is no antecedent, no contemporary literature extant; and no analysis of later works will yield anything that can be proved to represent a literary tradition earlier than Homer. Archaeology, however, which has made the origins of Hellenic culture in some degree intelligible, has at least furnished a solid stage and a veritable background for the action of the Iliad. How much did Homer know of the past? A systematic examination of the archaeological data which the poems offer suggests that he knew a great deal; knew it with a precision which cannot be explained away as fortuitous, and about so remote a past that we must postulate a stream of tradition traceable much further back than the siege of Troy. For the purposes of this paper Homer means the author of the Iliad in substantially its present form, whose floruit the present writer would not put earlier than the ninth century, and the term is used, without prejudice, for the author of the Odyssey also. Eratosthenes' date of 1184 for the fall of Troy is assumed less because it came to be accepted as the standard date in antiquity than because it fits so well into what we know of the history of the Mediterranean world at that time.

scholarly journals Actual Trends in the Latest Research of the Pianobor and Kara-Abyz Archaeological Cultures

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 14-22
Author(s):  
Lyasovich Vsevolod I. ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Urals ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Ancient History ◽  
The Southern Urals ◽  
Trade Relations ◽  
History Of ◽  
Archaeological Cultures ◽  
Theoretical Developments

Today, an understanding of the state of knowledge of the Pianobor and Kara-Abyz archaeological cultures is quite relevant for archaeologists of the Urals and Prikamye. A variety of scientific approaches to understanding the nature of the above cultures gave rise to a lot of questions and problems in the scientific literature relating to the reconstruction of the ancient history of the Southern Urals. This article cites and analyzes recent works related to the history of studying the antiquities of the Pianobor and Kara-Abyz archaeological cultures of the Southern Urals of the early Iron Age. Based on them, thematic historiographic blocks are identified and conceptual directions in the study of the above-mentioned cultures are determined. Today’s situation shows that in the field of studying the forest-steppe cultures of the Ural region of the Early Iron Age, certain scientific trends have developed, in which theoretical knowledge of the ancient history of this region is developing. Moreover, each of them touches upon a specific feature of the functioning of the Kara-Abyz and Pianobor archaeological cultures in the Early Iron Age in the Southern Urals. The author outlines six actual lines of development of studies of the above-mentioned cultures: 1) historiography; 2) natural science methods in archaeological research; 3) analysis of trade relations; 4) the introduction into the scientific circulation of excavation materials; 5) problems of chronology; 6) problems of the genesis and historical fate of archaeological cultures. In many cases, these theoretical developments of scientists overlap, forming a circle of problems and interests, creating discussions, or complementing each other’s scientific concepts. The latter trend allows us to form a unified system of knowledge and characteristics in understanding the historical development of the Pianobor and Kara-Abyz archaeological cultures. Keywords: Early Iron Age, pianoborskaya culture, kara-abyzskaya culture, South Ural, Pre-Ural, forest-steppes Pre-Ural, historiography

“To the God Who is in Dan”: The Archaeology and History of Biblical Dan

2009 ◽  
Vol 106 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-359
Author(s):  
John C.H. Laughlin
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Iron Age Ii ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Northern Kingdom ◽  
History Of ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Biblical Texts ◽  
The City

This article consists of two foci. First, the archaeological history of Tel Dan as revealed by the longest running excavation ever conducted in Israel will be surveyed. Emphasis will be given to the major periods of known urbanization of the site: The Early Bronze Age; the Middle Bronze Age; and the Iron Age II. The materials dated to Iron Age II will be especially emphasized because they have the most significance for any attempt to understand the city of Dan during the biblical period. The second issue to be discussed is the thorny one of relating biblical texts to archaeological data or vice-versa. The Bible is not written as straightforward history, whatever that may be. Thus biblical texts cannot often be taken at face value in evaluating their historical content. It will be argued that is especially true of the mostly negative and hostile attitude seen towards the City of Dan in the Bible. It will be concluded that this view of Dan is due to the literary formation and editing of the texts as we now have them in the Bible. This hostility represents a Judean perspective which is very negative of the northern kingdom of Israel that was created after the death of Solomon.

Historicity of the Qur’anic Dhu al-Qarnayn and the Myths of Alexander

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 126
Author(s):  
Ataullah Bogdan Kopanski
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Ancient History ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Historical Drama ◽  
Diodorus Siculus ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Christian Writer ◽  
Of Greece

Several verses of  SËrah al-Kahf (the Qur’an 18:85-98) contains   a didactic lesson of history  which  unlike the moralistic lesson of Plato on the rise, growth  and fall of mythical Atlantis, is  an abridged record on events in  the unnamed  Eurasian empire  threatened by  terror of the raiding hordes of ferocious nomads from the Northeast  in the Iron Age.  It is neither history of Alexander the Macedon’s conquest of Greece, Phoenicia, Egypt, Persia and India  reported  by Arrian, Quintus Curtius, Diodorus Siculus, Polybius, Appian, Plutarch and Justin  nor  the Alexandrine Romance  composed by the anonymous Syrian Christian writer (or writers) in the early Middle Ages of the Mediterranean.  Didactica of this Qur’anic SËrah  is  not based  on the Persian Iskander-name, either. Like the life of the historical Prophet Isa (Jesus,a.s.), the historicity of Qur’anic monotheistic ruler DhË al-Qarnayn deeply divides  the Muslim, Jewish, Christian and agnostic readers of the ancient history. Their opinions are intellectual mirrors of continuous struggle between monotheism, henotheism and secularism, contextualized into historical drama  of  divided  nations and empires. 

scholarly journals Finds of Artifacts from the Charyshsky District of the Altai Territory

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-60
Author(s):  
Grushin S. ◽  
◽  
Afanasieva E. ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Fluorescence Analysis ◽  
The Body ◽  
Ancient History ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Time

The paper is devoted to the generalization and characterization of random finds from the territory of the Charyshsky district of the Altai Territory. The summary includes both previously published items and new artifacts, information about which was received by the authors during the archaeological research of the Ust-Teplaya burial ground in 2020. The collection of artifacts published for the first time consists of three items. This is a double-headed iron psalium with sculptural design of the tips in the form of the heads of mythical birds with an elongated beak, a horn double-headed psalium and a bronze knife with a ring pommel. These items supplement the body of random finds from the area under consideration, which includes items already published in the scientific literature, such as stone drilled axes belonging to the Afanasyevo culture of the Eneolithic era of the 31st — 27th centuries BC, stone mace pommel and bronze dagger of the early and Middle Bronze period of the 22nd — 15th centuries BC and bronze bits of the Early Scythian time of the 8th — 6th centuries BC. The paper also presents the results of X-ray fluorescence analysis of a metal knife and bit, which showed that the objects were cast from a copper-tin alloy. The analyzed artifacts, random finds from the territory of the Charyshsky district of the Altai Territory, reflect various historical and cultural stages of the development of the population of Northern Altai. The artifacts add to the collection of archaeological sources on the ancient history of the region, from the Eneolithic to the early Middle Ages inclusively. Keywords: random finds, artifacts, psalia, bits, knife and dagger, mace pommel, stone axes, Eneolithic, Afanasiev culture, Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, Early Scythian time, Pazyryk culture, Early Middle Ages

scholarly journals The main stages of the ancient history of Japan (materials for educational course "Archaeology of overseas Asia")

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 9-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Komissarov ◽  
E. A. Solovieva ◽  
A. V. Tabarev ◽  
A. I. Soloviev
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Main Task ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
History Of ◽  
Northeast Asian ◽  
Oriental Studies ◽  
Different Cultures

This review of the main publications about the problems of Japanese archaeology (from Paleolithic epoch up to the period of Kofun culture) represents teaching materials for students with specialty in archaeology (within the course «Archaeology of overseas Asia») and with specialty in oriental studies (within the course «History and culture of Japan»). Taking into account the main task of this publication – namely, support for educational process – authors of this review, first of all, engaged most authoritative summarizing editions, because their conceptions and conclusions passed through necessary approbation and were maintained by the greater part of academic community. The main problems under discussion in Japanese archaeology are as follows: chronology of the first inhabitation of Archipelago; classification of the stone implements according technologies of production and ways of usage; early ceramics in the context of Northeast Asian archaeology; the origin of Ainu and their predecessors; beginning of agriculture and development of bronze and iron metallurgy; semantics of dogu and haniva figurines; characteristics of megalithic monuments; attribution of «horse-rider culture»; correlation between ethno-linguistic and archaeological data; using of historical records for interpretation of excavated relics; the routes of ancient migrations etc. As a result, this review of ancient past of Japan obviously demonstrates that so called isolation of insular population had quiet relative character. During thousands and thousands years, islanders came into contacts with bearers of different cultures of Eurasian mainland and island part of it, as well. The result of these permanent cultural exchanges served as foundation for creation of Japanese ethnos. In certain periods the contacts were more intensive along Northern, or Southern routes; the most significant way went through Korean Peninsula. For Siberian archaeologists the matter of special interest is represented by the finds of early ceramics on Honshu and in East Amur area; by analogies between cultures of Archipelago and Maritime regions of Russia (including Sakhalin and Kuril Islands) in Early Iron Age; by similarities between «Old-kurgans’ culture» at Japan and those in Central Asia. In selection of published materials for this review the preference was given to those available for teachers and students in the universities’ libraries or through free Internet access (published mostly in Russian and English as working languages).

scholarly journals On the Origins of Churches and Churchyards of Southern Estonia: The Evidence of Early Grave Finds

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heiki Valk
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Burial Site ◽  
Rural Churches ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Parish Priest ◽  
History Of ◽  
Christian Origins ◽  
The Church

Data about the earliest history of medieval churches of southernEstonia are fragmentary, being limited to the first mentions ofthe parish, priest or congregation, or to mostly scanty historicalinformation about the architecture. Some information can also beprovided by archaeological grave finds, which often date back furtherthan the first data about the churches.The article presents a brief survey of the finds from the churchyardsof southern Estonia, the area of medieval diocese of Tartu, frombefore ca. 1450 AD. The finds, mostly jewellery and fragments ofcremated bones, show that churches were often built on top of oldcemeteries from the Final Iron Age, whereby the pre-Christianjewellery items, mostly brooches, rings and bracelets, date mainlyfrom the 11th to the early 13th centuries. If the cases in which thearchaeological information is limited or non-existent are excluded,60% of the rural churches of southern Estonia (9 out of 15) were builton pre-Christian cemeteries. The percentage may even be higher,since archaeological data for more than half of the churchyards iseither missing or insufficient for drawing any conclusions. In thecases where major temporal gaps exist between the Final Iron Agefinds and the first written or architectural data about the church,the cemetery probably functioned continuously as a village cemeteryin the Christian period.The pre-Christian origins of the cemeteries in the churchyards indicatethat the local communities were actively involved in choosing thelocations for the churches at the time of Christianization. Place continuityalso shows that, despite the violent nature of Christianization,the natives of southern Estonia did not oppose having Christiansanctuaries built on pre-Christian cemeteries, and evidently, thecontinuous use of the former burial site was considered important.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document