Jerusalem, Israel/Palästina. Geophysikalische Erkundung der Lage und des Verlaufs der herodianischen Stadtmauer unter dem heutigen christlichen Viertel der Jerusalemer Altstadt

The project aims to find traces of the Herodian city wall (‘Second Wall’) in Jerusalem. Since there is no possibility to undertake new excavations within the Old City the project uses geophysical methods. Within two seasons (autumn 2015 and 2016) the 7 m deep sondage underneath the Church of the Redeemer as well as several places at the Muristan, the Cardo, Suqs and of the ‘Via Dolorosa’ have been measured. The first season in 2015 was a pilot study in order to proof the geographical and local measurement conditions and to solve the technical challenges given by the deep and narrow sondage underneath the Church of the Redeemer as well as by a survey in an urban area. The geophysical survey of a historical city as Jerusalem pose some demands which requires new ground penetrating radar (GPR) concepts. The project tried to meet these requirements by the implementation of a unique GPR prototype. The new method has a large impact on the implementation technology of GPR devices leading to simplified electronics and better device performance. In the second season the locations mentioned above have been measured by using the new high sensitive devices

Jerusalem, Israel/Palästina. Die Grabung auf dem Zionsberg im Südwesten der Altstadt von Jerusalem (im Bereich des historischen Anglikanisch-Preußischen Friedhofs)

The area in the south of Mt. Zion lies within the borders of the Protestant Cemetery. Two English pioneers, F. Bliss and A. Dickie, followed the course of the ancient city walls at the end of the 19th century by digging in subterranean tunnels and discovered that there are three walls above each other in this area. The most recently constructed one is from the first half of the 5th century. An older one with the same outline as the aforementioned is the one that Flavius Josephus refers to in Jewish Antiquities and the oldest one belongs to the Iron Age. This last wall might be a rare example of the wall that Hiskijahu built as he enlarged the city to create a protected space for the refugees from the northern Kingdom of Israel at the end of the 8th century BC. In addition to Bliss and Dickie, another excavation was begun in the same area by father B. Pixner in the 1980s. Y. Zelinger, who works for the IAA, then undertook a more focused excavation in an area near the cemetery that shows the continuation of the same city walls. His results allow a partial reconsideration of the findings in the cemetery. The GPIA started its work at this exceptional and unstudied site of ancient Jerusalem in 2015. In a first season, the old excavations were carefully cleaned and documented after more than 20 years of neglect. The work concentrated on the city walls as well as on the so-called “Essene Gate” which is also mentioned by Flavius Josephus. In 2016 the project was enlarged and three large new squares were opened. These squares are in the inside of the ancient city of Jerusalem; the aim of the project is to study the city’s settlement structures. After digging through banking structures from the Modern, Islamic and Medieval periods, the excavation has now reached the Byzantine level. Many promising loci have been documented that lead into the city extension built during the time of the influential empress Eudokia in the first half of the 5th century. The upcoming seasons are expected to reveal not only fascinating Byzantine structures but monumental Hasmonean/Herodian buildings. Since there are still three meters of cultural debris to the bedrock, also the traces of the Iron Age city can be awaited in that area. The GPIA’s Mt. Zion Excavation project offers the great and rare opportunity to research the history of Jerusalem in a huge and so far untouched area directly related to the old city walls.

The dating and provenance of glass artefacts excavated from the ancient city of Tall Zirā‛a, Jordan

The first deliberate manufacture of glass occurs in the sixteenth century BC, although the origin of the material is still a focus of debate; Egypt or Mesopotamia being the most likely innovator. The conventional approach is that glass technology first developed in Mesopotamia (Barag, 1970, p131-4; Moorey, 1994, p192; Shortland et al., 2017) and that the subsequent transfer to Egypt could be ascribed to tribute associated with the successful military campaigns in the Levant by the Egyptian king, Tuthmosis III (1479-1425 BC). Although there is textual and iconographic evidence for the production, supply and transport of glass between Egypt, its vassal Levantine states and Mesopotamia, it is very rare to find Egyptian glass in Mesopotamia or vice versa (Walton et al. 2009). The exceptions to date are two green glass rods found in Amarna, Egypt, which have trace element compositions consistent with Mesopotamian glass, and a collection of blue glass beads and a scarab recovered from a tomb in Gurob, Egypt, which also showed compositional consistency with glasses of known Mesopotamian origin (Varberg et al., 2016; Kemp, McDonald, A and Shortland, 2017; Kemp et al., 201

Claimed and Controlled Space. The Identificability of Political Spaces in Palestine on the Basis of Written and Archeological Evidence in the Iron Age Kingdom of Moab

Der moabitische Aufstand gegen Israel im 9. Jh. v. Chr. wird in schriftlichen Quellen aus verschiedenen Blickrichtungen gespiegelt. Die Vorgeschichte und der Ablauf der kriegerischen Handlungen können auf einem chronologischen Hintergrund verständlich gemacht werden. Die religionsgeschichtlichen Phänomene im Umfeld dieser Kriegszüge sind nicht minder interessant. Angesichts der gegenwärtigen Debatte über die Erkennbarkeit politischer Räume mit archäologischen Mitteln wird auf die deutlichen Grenzen archäologischer Erkenntnismöglichkeit im geografischen Kleinraum bzw. innerhalb kurzer Zeitabläufe hingewiesen.The Moabite rebellion against Israel in the 9th century BC is variously presented in the written sources. A chronological background can help make the prehistory and the course of the conflict comprehensible. Aspects of religious history surrounding these military campaigns are no less interesting. In view of the ongoing debate about the identifiability of political spaces using archaeological means, the article points out the distinct limitations in archaeology’s ability to make such identifications in a small geographical area or a short historical period

Wanderungssagen der Erzväter Israels im Lichte der Geschichte des 12. und 11. Jahrhunderts v. Chr.

Die Thora enthält zwei wegweisende Wanderungssagen aus der Frühgeschichte Israels. Beide Überlieferungen werden im Kleinen geschichtlichen Credo Dtn 26,5-9 (Gerhard von Rad) aufgenommen, das die Israeliten und Judäer am Erntedankfest bei der Darbringung der Früchte des Feldes vor ihrem Gott zu sprechen hatten. Die vorliegende Sammlung von Wanderungssagen der Erzväter aus dem 6.–5. Jahrhundert v. Chr. im Buch Genesis ist im heutigen Bestand nicht als historischer Reflex anzusehen, sondern vielmehr als Landbesitz- und Landanspruchserzählung einer späteren Epoche zu verstehen. Dennoch könnten in den Erzvätererzählungen auch Traditionen aus der Zeit der Ansiedlung von Proto- Israeliten/Judäern bewahrt worden sein. So wird der im 12./11. Jahrhundert v. Chr. vor- herrschende kulturelle Einfluss aus dem Norden, die Nähe zu den ostjordanischen Königtümern (Jakob-Esau-Erzählkreis; Abraham-Lot-Erzählkreis), die Begründung der Zusammengehörigkeit der israelitischen Stämme (Königszeit) und die Abgrenzung von den übermächtigen Seevölkern und Phöniziern sowie den in der Küstenebene und der Schefela lebenden ,Kanaanäern‘ zutreffend hervorgehoben.The Torah contains two groundbreaking sagas of wanderings from the early history of Israel. The two stories were combined into the Kleines geschichtliches Credo Deut. 26:5–9 (Gerhard von Rad), which Israelites and Judeans were to recite at their harvest festival when offering the fruit of the land to their God. The surviving accounts of the wanderings of the patriarchs of Israel from the 6th – 5th c. BC in the Book of Genesis are not to be understood today as historical reflections, but rather as stories from a later period about landholding and land claims. Nevertheless, it may be the case that traditions from the proto-Israeli/Judean settlement period have been preserved in the stories of the patriarchs. Accordingly, appropriate emphasis is placed on the predominant cultural influence from the North, on the nearness of the kingdoms of Eastern Jordan (Jacob-Esau story circle; Abraham-Lot story circle), the establishment of common bonds among Israeli tribes (regal period) and the dissociation from overly powerful seafaring nations and Phoenicians, as well as from the Canaanites dwelling in Shfela and in the coastal plains