The American Palestine Exploration Society and the Survey of Eastern Palestine

Abstract

The Survey of Western Palestine, carried out from 1871 to 1878 by the Palestine Exploration Fund, has become one of the central pieces of scientific research for this region. From its outset, it was conceived as one half of a two-fold project, the other being a survey conducted in the same manner in Transjordan. The Society that was to undertake this, in collaboration with the PEF and their work in Western Palestine, was the American Palestine Exploration Society (APES), founded in 1870. However, by the autumn of 1877, the APES had ceased to exist, and their survey was never widely published. As the first American Society to focus on the Levant as an area of study, the APES is significant, despite its failure to produce a map of lasting value. Many of the founding members went on to be significant players in later, more successful American ventures, notably the American School of Oriental Research. The PEF's archives hold a record of the relationship between the APES in New York, and the PEF in London, and chart the fortunes of the two societies, and their endeavours to map the region east of the Jordan.     

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting for the Palestine Exploration Fund, 9 June 2016

Abstract

Palestine's archaeological heritage is facing a serious crisis due to the prevalence of illicit digging. Antiquities looting is a widespread and flourishing phenomenon throughout the Palestinian National Territories (PNT) and has resulted in a large number of primary and secondary archaeological sites and features being damaged, disfigured, or completely destroyed, and in the extraction of at least hundreds of thousands of heritage items. The main aim of this research project is to explore the physical hazards encountered by the Palestinian antiquities looters. To this end I interviewed 53 antiquities looters residing in 41 different villages in the West Bank. The physical hazards which they encountered are classified by type as follows: cave-ins; the use of equipment, including heavy machinery (back-hoes, front-end loaders, bulldozers, etc.), other power implements, and traditional excavation tools; falling stones or tools; contact with insects, snakes, scorpions, and spiders; work during inclement weather; and attack by the jinn.     

Relief Maps and Models in the Archives of The Palestine Exploration Fund in London

Abstract

The primary objective of the article is to present the relief maps and models of Palestine, Jerusalem and some historical monuments, which are kept in the PEF Archives in London. We will describe each of these objects, try to identify its date, maker, and circumstances of its making. We will present them according to the site represented in them, but suggest also classifying them as (a) artifacts brought as souvenirs from Jerusalem; (b) models and relief maps created by the Fund and its members as a product of their scientific endeavours; and (c) models and relief maps created by scholars who were not directly connected with the PEF.     

Qumran Textiles in the Palestine Exploration Fund,London: Radiocarbon Dating Results

Abstract

Three pieces of fabric from Qumran's Cave 1 have been stored in the Palestine Exploration Fund collection since the 1960s but have hitherto never been tested or re-examined. The fabric is made of linen, and was probably used for wrapping or packing scrolls, or sealing jars. New radiocarbon dating on one piece of fabric indicated a probability of 55% for it being made between 1 and 55 A.D., and a probability of 95.4% that it was made between 50 cal B.C.–80 cal A.D.     

Early Bronze Age Levantine Metal Weapons from the Collection of the Palestine Exploration Fund

ABSTRACT

Metal weapons found during the two historic excavations of Tell el–Hesi and Gezer carried out by W.M.F. Petrie, J.F. Bliss, R.A.S. Macalister, and Alan Rowe, on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund are here re-evaluated and compared in the light of recent discoveries. An in-depth study allowed some considerations about the connection existing between Southern Levantine ‘urbanisation’ and metal weapons, remarking the relation between such a kind of specimens and hoards, depots and funerary sets.     

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Palestine Exploration Fund, 11 June 2009

Abstract

A total of 119 rock-cut burial caves of the Roman and Byzantine periods were surveyed in the study area, all of which had been subjected to robbing at some point in the recent past. This tomb raiding in the Saffa region has resulted in severe damage to a large number of rock-cut tombs, the desecration of several hundred ancient burials, and in the extraction of thousands of funerary objects from their original context. This study depends mainly on interviews with several of the raiders of these tombs and on a field survey carried out by the author in February and March 2011. The main aim of this study is to address three questions: What are the present and future challenges facing the tombs of the Roman and Byzantine periods in the study area? Could an ethnographical study help us to expand our understanding of the looting history of these burial caves and the kinds of looted objects that were found there? What can such an ethnographical study add to our understanding of the past?