Spring Study Tour, Paul J. Ray, Jr.
Tappy Lecture, Carrie Rhodes
Drehem Archive, Paola Paoletti
Random Surveyhttps://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/iaham-news/1028/thumbnail.jp

Paoletti, Paola

Ray, Paul J., Jr.

Rhodes, Carrie

English

Andrews University

Andrews University Digital Commons @ Andrews University The Institute of Archaeology & the Horn Archaeological Museum Newsletter The Institute of Archaeology & the Horn Archaeological Museum Fall 2006 The Institute of Archaeology & Siegfried H. Horn Museum Newsletter Volume 27.4 Paul J. Ray Jr. Carrie Rhodes Paola Paoletti Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/iaham-news Table of ContentsPageSpring Study TourTappy LectureDrehem ArchiveRandom SurveyINSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGYHORN ARCHAEOLOGICALMUSEUMNEWSLETTERPaul J. Ray, Jr. EditorConstance E. Gane Assoc. EditorRandall W. Younker Assoc. EditorDarrell J. Rohl Asst. EditorThe Newsletter is published four times ayear by the Institute of Archaeology,Andrews University. Annual subscriptionprice is $7.50. Museum membership,subscription, and editorial correspon-dence should be addressed to the HornArchaeological Museum, Institute ofArchaeology, Andrews University,Berrien Springs, MI 49104-0990,Telephone 269-471-3273, Fax 269-471-3619, e-mail hornmusm@andrews.edu.Volume 27.4 Fall 2006ISSN 1095-2837Spring Study TourFrom March 17-27, 2006 the Institute of Archaeology sponsored a short tour to Egypt andJordan. The purpose of the tour was to visit sites in Egypt and Sinai, especially those that theMuseum/Institute personnel had not previously had opportunity to see, as well as for the purposeof taking digital pictures for the ever-expanding archive at the Institute. A short two-day stopoverin Jordan was also made in order to followup some post-dig issues from the previous summer’sexcavation. The tour was led by Drs. Randall Younker, David Merling and Paul Ray. Other participantsincluded PhD student Ronald Wakeman, several MDiv students (Caleb and Tara VinCross,Gregory and Melissa Howell, Jeremy Jacko and Samuel Millen) as well as a couple of spouses(Rebecca Jacko and Angela Millen), Zechariah Ray, son of Dr. Ray, and Boyd Lundell, a pastorfrom the Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.  While the group had hoped to visit some specific sites such as Kadesh-barnea, many of theparticipants had not previously been to Egypt or Jordan, so the itinerary was also designed to takein a number of the better-known sites within both countries. With the tour beginning in Cairo, sitessuch as the Giza Pyramids, Saqqara and the Cairo Museum were visited. The group also went tothe site of Dashur, south of Saqqara, where the Bent Pyramid of Sneferu was built. Until recently,this pyramid, an intermittent type between the stepped and true varieties, and the others within thisTop-bottom: Gregory Howell, Randall Younker and Zechariah Ray descend from Gebel Musa. 1234(cont’d on p. 2)Newsletter 27.4.color.qxp  7/19/2007  4:27 PM  Page 1complex were in a military zone, andhence unavailable to the general public.While a couple of the Institute staff had atone time gained entrance to the complexwith permission, photographs and freeaccess to the site had proved fruitlessuntil the present visit.Due to recent security concerns inthe Sinai, certain parts of the peninsulaare currently off-limits to foreigners, so acouple of places on the itinerary wereunavailable to visit. Hence, the time wasspent exploring other sites in the areasuch as the Hathor Temple at Serabit el-Khadim, the proto-Sinaitic inscriptionsand some camel petroglyphs in WadiNasib, the latter of special interest to Dr.Younker, and climbing Gebel Musa, thetraditional site of Mount Sinai. Whilerelaxing at Nuweiba, the group took timeto look into the claims that this was theRed Sea crossing point of the Israelites atthe time of the Exodus. Part of the group,who are certified scuba-divers, dove tothe natural table coral formations, whichsome have thought to be chariot wheels.Pharaoh Island, possibly the site ofEzion-geber of the Bible, was also visit-ed. In addition to dig-related business inJordan, the group took time to tour suchsites as Amman, Petra and Jerash as wellas dining at Kan Zaman, a unique Arabdining and cultural experience housed inan Ottoman-period building south ofAmman. (Paul J. Ray, Jr.)Tappy LectureOn April 6, 2006 Ronald Tappypresented an illustrated lecture entitled“Tel Zayit in the Early Iron II Period: ABiblical City on the Border of Judah” forthe Horn Museum Lecture Series. Dr.Tappy is from the Pittsburgh TheologicalSeminary where he serves as G. AlbertShoemaker Professor of Bible andArchaeology, director of the James L.Kelso Bible Lands Museum at theSeminary, and director of excavations atTel Zayit (Tell Zeitah in Arabic). Work began in 1999 at Tel Zayit, anancient village believed to be biblicalLibnah in ancient Judah, on the border ofJudah and Philistia.  Libnah is first men-tion in Joshua 15:20 as one of the citiesof this region which is located in the cen-tral valley system of the lowlands.  Atfirst glance this site shows little indica-tion of anything of significance, butrecent discoveries are changing that opin-ion. The site was inhabited during theLate Bronze Age (ca. 1500-1200 BC) atwhich time there are indications ofEgyptian presence, as can be seen in thebuilding structures, jewelry, and otherartifacts found at this site. There are alsoCypriot imports such as Bichrome wareand evidence of a destruction (ca. 1250BC).  This destruction was followed byan occupational gap of about 250 yearsfrom 1250-1000 BC.  During this timethe Philistines were at their strongest as adistinct culture, but unlike Lachish, TelZayit appears not to have come undertheir domination. At least three Early Iron Age II levelshave been discovered at the site so far,consisting of  local levels III-I, dating tothe 10th, early 9th, and late 9th centuriesBC respectively. Local Level I wasdestroyed by fire. This destructionappears to correlate with Hazael’s cam-paign (2 Kings 12:17-18).In Square N-20 there was a beaten-earth surface against a flimsy wall withpits everywhere.  Part of the floor was cutaway and secondary deposits were found.Under this floor a large number of  intactamphorae with rounded bottoms thatcould be set in a hole in the floor of ahouse were located.  They are not typicalJudahite jars, but Coastal Plain jars fromthe late 9th century BC also found atPhilistine sites. Ash and grain from thelocal Level I destruction was dated to thelate 9th century BC using Carbon 14. In Square O-20 there were two pitscontemporary with the late 9th centuryBC building, which appear to have beenused for storage and contained Judahitepottery with red-slip vertical-hand bur-nish.  There was also coastal plain one-Dr. Merling “deified” at Hathor Temple.Sam and Angie Millen befriend Camel.Ron Tappy.Newsletter 27.4.color.qxp  7/19/2007  4:27 PM  Page 2handled jars, Ashdod ware with black andwhite bands on 2-handled jars.  In the bot-tom of the pit there were large clay ballsof unbaked clay weighing about 900grams that appear to be fermentation stop-pers which they would stuff with cloth. In Square O-19 there were more pitsand a large wall with earthquake cracksdating to early 8th century BC (cp. Amos1).  A monolith was discovered, thatturned out to be part of an interior wall.Another monolith was found 12 m away,with a third monolith at another 12 m dis-tance, and so on all the way around thesite.  In the 10th century BC, when thissite was rebuilt it appears that the inhabi-tants built a defense system enclosing theupper city.  A two-story house with a col-lapsed upper room was also found.Underneath the debris was a flagstonefloor.  In the lower room there was aburned beam and a lot of sling stonesindicating a destruction which dates to thelate 10th century BC, after the reign ofSolomon.  During the last two days of the sea-son, a volunteer saw some scratches on arock in a wall.  Its position in the wallsuggests it was intended to be seen.When the stone was removed, they founda cavity on the bottom side indicating pre-vious use.  The inscription contains all 22Hebrew consonants, but there are somepeculiar features.  The normal order ofsome of the consonants is reversed andappears in following order: wau and heh(unattested), et and zayin (attested inIsbet Sartah), lamed and kaf (unattested),pe and ayin (attested in the Hebrew Bibleacrostic poems in the Psalms and in a fewother places in the OT).  Whether the twounattested transpositions are scribal errorsor simply an early tradition of the Hebrewalphabet is as yet undetermined. The formof the Tell Zayit letters appears to havemore archaic traits than the Gezer calen-der (also 10th century BC).  The signifi-cance of this find is that it provides moreevidence of written forms of Hebrew inthe 10th century BC. (Carrie Rhodes)Paola Paoletti, a PhD candidate atthe Insitut für Assyriologie undHethitologie at the Ludwig-Maximilian-Universitaet in Munich, was at the HornMuseum in May of 2006 to study some ofthe Neo-Sumerian tablets in the colletion. A particular characteristic of the writ-ten tradition of ancient Mesopotamia isthe large amount of documents reflectingeveryday life. From the time of the Ur IIIDynasty (21st century B.C.) about 60,000administrative documents have been pre-served. These documents come, for themost part, from state or provincialarchives and are written in the Sumerianlanguage. In terms of administrative docu-ments, the Treasure Archive of Drehem(about 10 km SW of Nippur in Iraq) occu-pies an important role in a cultural-histor-ical sense and a central role socially.While the largest administrativearchive of Drehem pertains to the statelivestock administration, the subjects ofthe Treasure Archive are prestige items.The dissertation of the present writerincludes a detailed treatment of 180 ofthese documents (30 so far unpublished). The tablets can be categorized intotwo basic types: delivery of goods  (rawmaterial and with it the credit balance atits disposal) and expenditures (finishedproducts). Raw material, especially pre-cious metals, was probably delivered byindividuals (often as exponents of institu-tions), or reflects booty from militarycampaigns, or tribute. Personal deliveries,possibly in form of tax, play an importantrole in the system of silver circulation inold Mesopotamian society.Expenditures can be divided into cul-tic and secular. The former were offer-ings, usually from the king to the deities.The deliveries to persons are defined as“gifts” (niĝ2-ba). The expenditures men-tion only the delivered object and therespective recipient (often a member ofthe highes  t social stratum). The occasionfor the delivery is also frequently men-tioned. As with deliveries to the statearchive, these expenditures are ultimatelydonations of the king, even if  not person-ally ascribed to him. Some of the deliver-ies in the Treasure Archive might fall atregular intervals, but the expenditures(gifts and offerings) are always uniqueacts, not regular allotments. Besides this administrative aspect ofthe redistribution of goods, a political andsocial function is also connected to thegifts. The king distributed gifts to foreignemissaries, that were to be repaid withcounter-gifts. The diplomatic exchange ofgifts could result in a dynastic marriage,and builds on the practice of peacefulrelations between neighboring regions.The king distributed gifts to his followersin large quantities, assuring  the affectionof the recipients. Comparable expendi-tures have been found in the archives atEbla and Mari. Through these gifts, theroyal clientele is rewarded and its loyaltyto the royal house fortified. The presence of foreign emissariesand the elite of the Ur III Dynasty reflect-ed in the texts of the Treasure Archivemake it an important historic resource asthe figures of the royal circle and thepractices of the court are decisively indi-cated by the frequent description of theoccasion for the distribution. Hence, asystematic analysis of these documentsmakes a valuable contribution to ourknowledge of the social and politicalinteractions of the Ur III Dynasty. (PaolaPaoletti)Paola Paoletti.Drehem ArchiveNewsletter 27.4.color.qxp  7/19/2007  4:27 PM  Page 3Thera Eruption:Scientists have recently discoveredevidence that the Bronze Age eruption of the Thera volcano wasmore severe than originally estimated. It has been thought forsome time that the volcanic eruptionhad devastated civilizations in theregion.  New surveys of theSantorini island arc have revealedvolcanic pumice to a depth of 80 m,covering the ocean floor in all direc-tions.  The volcano may have pro-pelled 60 cubic km of magma out ofthe crater.  It appears the residents ofnearby Akrotiri evacuated, as nohuman remains have been found.Ancient Thracian City Found:Archaeologists working in central Bulgaria have found what is believed to be a Thracian city,dating to the fifth century BC, covering ca. 2.5 ha. in area. It contains a large royal residencethat has roof tiling unlike other Thracian buildings discovered to date.  Byzantine Port Unearthed:Archaeologists have discovered an ancient Byzantineport in Istanbul, thought to be the port of the emperorTheodosius.  Wall sections that appear to be part ofConstantine’s Wall have also been unearthed in thewestern part of the site, and graves of the 4th century.Pharaonic Hall Discovered:An Egyptian-Spanisharchaeology team workingin Zira Abu al-Naga on thewest bank of the Nile Riverin southern Egypt has  discovered a pharaonic hallwhile excavating a tomb sitethere.  It is believed that thishall belonged to an officialresponsible for temple andtomb decorations during thereign of Queen Hatshepsut(1502-1482 BC).  Thebuilding is 34 m long andcontains many carved drawings on the walls.  Thehall, which opens into thetomb area, appears to be thelongest one of its kind discovered to date.To discover more about archaeology, theInstitute, and the Museum, contact us at:VOX: 269-471-3273FAX: 269-471-3619E-mail: hornmusm@andrews.eduor visit our Web site at:www.andrews.edu/archaeologyThe Institute of ARCHAEOLOGYSiegfried H. Horn MuseumAndrews University, Berrien Springs, MI 49104-0990Address Service RequestedNon-profit OrganizationU.S. Postage  PAIDPermit No. 5Berrien Springs, MI 49103Scythian Mummy Found in Mongolia:During the summer of 2006 a Scythian mummy was discovered ina burial mound in the Altai Mountains at a height of 8,500 feet.The mummy’s skin is in good condition and shows several tattoos.The burial was complete with two horses and saddles, along withweapons and vessels.  The Scythians were nomadic Iranians andtheir remains had previously only been found on the Russian sideof the Altai Mountains.Newsletter 27.4.color.qxp  7/19/2007  4:27 PM  Page 4

The Institute of Archaeology & Siegfried H. Horn Museum Newsletter Volume 27.4

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The Institute of Archaeology & Siegfried H. Horn Museum Newsletter Volume 27.4

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