Your Mother was a Hittite and Your Father an Amorite: Ethnicity,Judaism and Palestine's Cultural Heritage

ABSTRACT

The article argues, in continuation of previous contri-butions by the author, that “Judaism”/”Jews” are from the outset ideological and religious constructs rather than ethnic entities. As-syrian Judáa and Persian Yehud were geographical and political designations limited to the Southern highland of Palestine and it is unlikely that the extensive references to yehudim known from the Hellenistic period onwards should in all cases cover people origi-nating from that particular area. The origins of Judaism should not be sought in any invariable ethnic quality of the various populations of Palestine in antiquity but in the influence and shaping of reli-gious ideologies with the holy city of Jerusalem as a strong and cen-tral symbol.     

Empire of Scholars: Universities,Networks and the British Academic World, 1850–1939, by Tamson Pietsch

ABSTRACT

This article reconstructs the history of animal protection organisations in Palestine from the British occupation to the beginning of World War II. Although Arab and Jewish mandate state subjects consistently rejected these organisations, animal protection remained an important part of the mandate government throughout the political upheavals of the interwar period. Despite their seemingly apolitical nature, animal welfare associations enjoyed unique legal privileges and drew support from the most prominent British personnel in Palestine. Managing cruelty and compassion towards animals, I argue, was a means of making Palestine part of the British Empire. Animal protection functioned both as a tool for direct financial control over agriculture, and as an educational project that promoted an emotional ‘civilizing mission.’ In the spirit of inter-war British imperial humanitarian networks, animal welfare created civilizational hierarchies through compassion, and revised the role of the human-animal divide in imperial culture.     

Sacred,but not surveyed: Nineteenth‐century surveys of Palestine

Abstract

Nineteenth‐century Palestine mapping projects based on systematic land surveying reached a peak with the Ordnance Survey of Western Palestine between 1871 and 1877, conducted on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund by officers of the British Royal Engineering Corps. Various other nineteenth‐century proposals for an organized survey of the country—some of which bore partial results while others were never implemented—are also presented. The surveying of one region, Mesopotamia, during the 1830s and 1840s, forms the basis for the discussion of the reasons for the relative lateness of the topographical survey. The sacredness of the region seems not to have been a sufficiently convincing motive for entrepreneurs to organize and finance such a survey. The main reason for the delay in mapping the country as a whole was that it was not especially important, either strategically or geo‐politically, for the European nations engaged in the international struggles in the Middle East until the last quarter of the nineteenth century.     

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.     

A ‘SMALL TOWN’ DISCOVERED TWICE: A FORGOTTEN REPORT OF MAJOR H. H. KITCHENER

Abstract

This paper revisits the contribution of the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) to the study of the ancient copper mines of Faynan, Jordan. It reveals that it was a PEF expedition that first reported smelting remains in the northern part of the Faynan region, and demonstrates that the reported remains are the Iron Age site of Khirbat al-Jariya.     

Reviews

Abstract

The existence of sacred places is a widespread phenomenon throughout Palestine, one which is reflected in various types of local sites, such as water sources, graves, caves, trees and constructed shrines (maqams). In Islamic Palestine, the construction of maqams originated with the Fatimid (a Shiite group), in order to memorialise and 'greet' distinguished figures descended from the family of the prophet Muhammad. Thereafter, the Sunni faith actively adopted this concept and dedicated more than 2,500 sites to prophets, holy people, the righteous and martyrs. The sacred place of Sheikh Shihab ed-Din, like several hundred other Islamic maqams throughout Mandate Palestine, is located on top of a natural hill commanding a panoramic view. This place has held religious importance during the Byzantine and Ayyubid-Mamluk periods, right through to the present day. This paper studies the construction of the maqam as well as its related archaeological remains. It is based on a field study, a survey of the literature, and archaeological explorations conducted during a brief excavation season.     

The Protestant Garden Tomb in Jerusalem,Englishwomen, and a Land Transaction in Late Ottoman Palestine

Abstract

In 1894 the Garden Tomb Association concluded the purchase of a small property outside of the Old City of Jerusalem. The site in question was known as 'Skull Hill' or 'Gordon's Calvary' and was reputed to be the real site of the burial place of Jesus. This case study of a land transaction in Ottoman Jerusalem reveals several important themes from the period. The purchase by foreigners of sites in Palestine was a circuitous process that sometimes involved the intervention of foreign consuls and it sheds light on the Ottoman land laws. The Garden Tomb, a unique property, was part of a larger process of the development of new holy places in Palestine by Europeans. Lastly, the association that purchased the site was primarily funded, initiated and run by notable English women, illustrating their increasing involvement in 19th century religious and activist movements.     

Church and Empire: Free-Church Ecclesiology in a Global Era

Abstract

Jesus was cruelly executed as the alleged "king of the Jews" because of his efforts for grassroots religious renewal and resistance to Roman rule in Palestine through local religious-political elites. By the fourth century CE, however, Christianity had become the official religion of the Roman imperium. An ambiguous account of both resisting and supporting imperialism has shaped all church history. Today the United States of America is widely recognized as the central power in a new global empire.     

Report on the pottery from Tell Sufan in Nablus,Palestine

ABSTRACT

This research report aims to give detailed information on the pottery from the 1999 and 2013-16 excavation campaigns taking place at the Tell Sufan site in Nablus, Palestine. These were conducted by the Department of Antiquities at An-Najah National University (ANU) in Nablus. It is of note that this ancient pottery has never previously been the subject of research nor has any literature been published on it. Our methodology consists in: analysing the pottery by identifying it, typifying it, and giving it a function; providing chronological information on the site; comparison of the pottery with that from other sites in Palestine, using archaeological information from the site; and contextualising our findings with other historical and archaeological studies. Examination of the functional use of the pottery allows us to demonstrate human activity at the Tell Sufan site, giving information on the most prosperous phases of occupation in regard to economic aspects, through the late Bronze Age, Iron Age and Byzantine-Early Islamic periods.     

Archaeology and Politics in the Holy Land: The Life and Career of P. L. O. Guy

Abstract

Philip Langstaffe Ord Guy's (1885–1952) career in archaeology began as Woolley's assistant at Carchemish and as Chief Inspector for the Department of Antiquities of Palestine during the 1920s. He is best known as director of the Megiddo Expedition (1927–1934), where he employed innovative techniques in balloon photography, and provided a highly influential identification of the pillared buildings found there as stables. He dated these buildings to the Solomonic era, sowing the seeds of a long-running debate over the role of the Bible in archaeological interpretation. Guy was later appointed director of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem (1935–1939), initiating the short-lived Archaeological Survey of Palestine. After World War II and Israel's War of Independence, Guy became a senior figure within the fledgling Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums as Director of Excavations and Surveys. Active involvement in Zionist politics through his marriage into the Ben-Yehuda family was a controversial factor that impacted on his career within 1920s and 1930s Palestine. Recent archival research allows an assessment of Guy's double life as archaeologist and political activist and the degree to which these areas intersected. His name can be added to the diverse spectrum of archaeologists working in the Holy Land during this formative but turbulent colonial and post-colonial era.     

Laurence Oliphant: Financial Sources for his Activities in Palestine in the 1880s

Abstract

Laurence Oliphant's interest in the development of Jewish settlement in Ottoman Palestine preceded his interest in the plight of Jewish communities in Eastern Europe. While his intensive involvement in these matters is well known, especially in modern Israel, the fact that the funds for his largesse were contributed by the Christadelphian Brotherhood has not previously been published. The present article brings to light material from the archives of this sect, and thus, too, the motivation behind these efforts.     

Performing Palestine in Contemporary France: Mohamed Rouabhi's Transcolonial Banlieue

Franco-Maghrebi reactions to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have received much attention in the French media in recent years, particularly since the Second Intifada began more than a decade ago. Less well known is the longer genealogy of Franco-Maghrebi involvement with Palestine, starting with the comités Palestine formed by Maghrebi immigrants and the Gauche prolétarienne in the aftermath of May '68. This article begins to excavate the genealogy of Franco-Maghrebi representations of Palestine through a close reading of Mohamed Rouabhi's unpublished play El menfi (L'Exilé), which crosses the memory of 17 October 1961 and the question of Palestine. The author argues that Rouabhi's play mobilises Palestine in order to rearticulate the vexed relationship between the French Republic and its (post)colonial citizens, displacing the memory of colonisation through transcolonial identification with Palestine.     

The Lost Loci of Tell El-'Ajjul: Petrie's Area C

Abstract

Flinders Petrie excavated the site of Tell el-'Ajjul in southern Palestine over five seasons between 1930 and 1938, with publication of his finds following swiftly on the heels of his fieldwork. These reports were only ever meant to be a preliminary investigation into the potential of this rich site, and often raised as many questions as they answered. This material is now the subject of the Petrie Palestinian Project, based at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, which aims to re-evaluate Petrie's finds in the light of more recent research. In the course of this work a detailed study of Petrie's field practices has helped clarify a number of issues relating to this site, which remains of major importance to the Bronze Age archaeology of Southern Palestine. One of the more problematic of these issues has been chosen for discussion here: the location of Petrie's area C.     

A REDISCOVERED LOST SEAL FROM GEZER

Abstract

A carnelian pebble stamp seal excavated by Macalister at Gezer and believed lost, and a seal kept today in the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem, are one and the same. A cast of the original kept by the Palestine Exploration Fund in London proves to be identical to the seal in Jerusalem. The unique iconography of the seal showing a man in a cultic gesture in front of a griffin, as well as its stylistic details, show it to be an Assyrianized product of the late eighth or seventh century bc, possibly of local production.     

Reports

Abstract

Coins provide a useful historical source for the momentous events that took place in Palestine during the seventh century A.D., but relatively few have been properly published in excavation reports. This article catalogues 21 Byzantine and 10 Arab-Byzantine coins from the PEF collections, all of which are previously unpublished, including a number from excavations at Jerusalem, Nessana, Gezer and Kafr Harib. Apart from their intrinsic interest as individual coins, they provide some useful information on the coinage in circulation immediately before the Arab conquest and in the early years of Arab rule.     

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.     

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.     

Nazi plans and Arab collaboration: New research about old questions

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The Diplomatic Career and Historical Work of Olympiodorus of Thebes

Abstract

The rise of the Druze emir, Fakhr al-Din II Ma’n, is best treated as a case study in political dynamics. A tax farmer in the Shuf in 1590, who received his first administrative appointment three years later, he became the most powerful provincial leader along the Levantine coast by the late 1620s, when he controlled three districts (sanjaks) in the Ottoman province of Damascus, and also the province of Tripoli. Except for Jaffa and Alexandretta, he controlled the key ports along the coast of Syria and Palestine — Sidon, Beirut, and Tripoli; smaller ports like Acre; and most of the trade in regional goods and the associated revenues. ¹ Of die five ports along the southern Levantine coast - Acre, Sur, Hait~, Tanmra, and Jaffa - olfly tile last earned sigtfificant revenues ill tile late sixteenth century, from pilgrims: W. Hfitteroth and K. Abdulfattah, Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan, and Southern Syria in the Late 26th Century (Erlangen, t977)., pp. 15, 18q9, 2.5-6, 95.      

A Russian Before and After the Revolution: P. P. Efimenko,a Pioneer of Levantine Prehistoric Research

ABSTRACT

This paper offers a reappraisal of the Levantine prehistoric chronological sequence constructed by Pyotr Petrovich Efimenko (1884–1969). As a young Russian prehistorian, Efimenko visited Palestine in 1913, collected material from several sites and, in 1915, published a synthesis in which he compared the prehistory of Europe with that of the Near East. This was part of his comprehensive monograph on the Prehistory of Eurasia which was also based on his work at the sites of Mezin and Kostenki and the Palaeolithic of Russia. The current paper also attempts to evaluate the career of Efimenko particularly in light of the unfamiliarity of his work among prehistorians working in the southern Levant.