The Siloam Pool — 'Solomon's Pool' — was a Swimming Pool

Abstract

The Herodian Siloam pool discovered recently by Reich and Shukron was probably the 'Solomon's Pool' mentioned by Josephus (War 5. 145). It seems likely that it functioned as a swimming pool. Other pools in Jerusalem may have served in the same role.     

Ruins about Merj Hîn in Subalpine Lebanon

Abstract

An attentive examination of the impressive finds of the mausoleum uncovered in 2007 in Herodium has demonstrated that these are not in accord with the characteristics of Herodian architecture as postulated by the late Prof. Ehud Netzer. The following four arguments show that this monument, which was indeed built by Herod, did not serve as his eternal resting place: ? Its moderate dimensions.

? The absence of an appropriate gateway to the burial ground, and an adequate assembly space around the tomb.

? A stratigraphic argument: The stairway leading up to the palace-fortress on the hilltop leaves the mausoleum ‘in its shade’, being also overlaid on top of the single irrigation pool that served the small garden that had surrounded the tomb.

? The absence of any correspondence between the axis of symmetry of the mausoleum, and that of Greater Herodium, indicating that these two were entirely different building projects.

Two alternative proposals are presented for the possible locations of the tomb, which might have disappeared.     

Excavations at the Quaker Burial Ground,Kingston-upon-Thames,London

Abstract

Excavations in a Quaker burial ground at Kingston-upon-Thames uncovered the remains of 360 individuals buried between 1664 and 1814. Historical records combined with the evidence from the excavations have provided an insight into burial rites and undertaking practices of an early Nonconformist community. The archaeological evidence suggests that the simplicity and plainness of Quaker lifestyle were to a large extent reflected in burial. A detailed osteological analysis indicated a healthy, thriving community.     

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?     

The Nature and History of the Birkat Isra'il and its Relation to the Pool 'With the Expanse of the Sea' (Sir 50: 3): Rereading Charles Warren

Abstract

The Birkat Isra'il was the largest pool in Jerusalem when it was constructed. Yet when it is studied, it is often done in connection with the extent of the Temple Platform rather than for its own sake. Charles Warren studied the pool in considerable detail yet several aspects of it remain unexplained, particularly its location within the es-Sahireh valley. Data provided by Warren suggest that the Herodian form of the pool is a secondary construction and that a previous pool had been situated directly over the lowest point of the valley and that this is the pool 'with the expanse of the sea' (Sir 50: 3) built by Simon II.     

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.     

Zedekiah,Josephus and the Dating of the Books of Chronicles*

ABSTRACT

The Bagoses story from Josephus, Antiq. XI 297-301 turns out to be helpful for two riddles. Rainer Albertz has argued that the events narrated in that story fit very well the developments in Jerusalem in the final decade of the fifth century BCE. I will argue, that the report on the conquest of Jerusalem in 2 Chronicles 36,11-21 can be seen as a key that matches the historical lock that is evoked by Josephus. As a result, I would argue that this report was composed in that very period as a mirror for the infidelity of some priests. In generalizing the proposal: if the entire Books of Chronicles were composed at that time, a good argument for the silencing of Samaria is found.     

Folded wheel-made oil lamps,standing pit burial caves and Judaean ethnic identity in the Hasmonean period

ABSTRACT

Two distinct archaeological phenomena appeared between the middle of the second century BCE and the middle of the first century: the Hasmonean folded wheel-made lamp and the standing pit burial cave. Following an examination of their dating, distribution, and social significance we suggest that this material culture was characteristic of the Jews in Judaea during this time and that it reflects the creation of an ethnic identity. The fact that the Hasmonean folded wheel-made lamp and the standing pit burial cave were typical of Jews in Judea indicates that they were ethnic features of Jewish society. By these means the Jews emphasized their dissimilarity from the rest of the population. The archaic appearance of the lamps and the burial caves, which replicates the cultural characteristics of the Kingdom of Judah during the monarchic/first Temple period, indicates that Jewish society in the Hasmonean period sought to legitimize its existence through the use of its former culture and memory.     

Quebrada Tacahuay,Southern Peru: A Late Pleistocene Site Preserved by a Debris Flow

Abstract

Here we describe the properties of a debris flow apparently generated by a warm phase El Niño event that buried an intermittently occupied Late Pleistocene forager site located in the southern coastal desert of Peru. Although the event deposited roughly one meter of sediment over the initial occupation, our analyses of debris flow dynamics and data from large scale archaeological investigations indicate that the earliest anthropogenic deposits at the site of Quebrada Tacahuay were preserved intact as a result of the burial episode; there is no evidence that the debris flow scoured or disturbed the cultural deposits. The event that buried the oldest archaeological contexts at Quebrada Tacahuay differs from other flood events that are characterized by turbulent, fast-moving floodwaters. Our data on debris flow dynamics and our results from excavation have implications for identifying, investigating, and interpreting other deeply buried archaeological sites both in the central Andes and in other geographic regions.     

Recent Research on the Upper Palaeolithic Phase in India

Abstract

Recent discoveries of artifactual assemblages based on blade-tool technology, occurring in post-Middle Palaeolithic and pre-Mesolithic contexts in different parts of India, are filling the gap in the Indian Stone Age sequence. These lithic industries, along with the bone tools obtained from the Kurnool caves, the faunal associations at some sites, and the available radiocarbon dates, are now seen beyond doubt to represent the Upper Palaeolithic period.     

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.     

A Selection of Books on Zionism and the Land of Israel, 1989

Barnet Litvinoff, ed., Selected Letters of Weizmann, Am Oved and Yad Chaim Weizmann, 463 pp.

Meir Miber‐Maiberg, In the Shadow of the Citadel: The Stand of Safed, Milo Publishers, 379 pp.

Eliahu Eilat, Through the Mists of Time: Memoirs, Yad Yitzhak Ben‐Zvi, Jerusalem, 233 pp.

Hagit Lavsky, ed., Jerusalem in Zionist Consciousness and Deed, Shazar Center and the Center for the Study of Zionism and the Yishuv, 464 pp.

Twenty Years in Jerusalem — 1967–1987, a collection of articles edited by Professor Joshua Prawer and Ora Achimeir, Defense Ministry Publishing House and the Jerusalem Institute for the Study of Israel, 267 pp.     

The Caesarea Ancient Harbor Excavation Project (C.A.H.E.P.): Preliminary Report on the 1980–1983 Seasons

Abstract

Underwater and shoreline survey and excavation at the Herodian harbor of Sebastos, the port of Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean coast of Israel, have provided important new information on Roman harbor design and construction. Local and imported materials were carefully selected and used to construct two immense breakwaters that framed outer and inner basins. Hydraulic concrete was used in a sophisticated manner, and ingenious sluice gates and a subsidiary breakwater provided protection against siltation and storm damage.     

‘Tufala kev blong devil’: People and spirits in North West Malakula,Vanuatu — implications for management

Abstract

Yalo and Apialo are two caves of great archaeological significance in NW Malakula, Vanuatu. They are also focal points in the life and death of the local Small Nambas and Big Nambas indigenous peoples. This paper introduces the caves, their kastom significance and efforts currently being undertaken to develop a community-based plan of management for the sites and nearby linked places.     

FAMILY,KINSHIP AND REVOLUTION: THE RUSSIAN NOBILITY, 1917-23

Abstract

This article examines the importance of family and kin to the Russian nobility during the Russian Revolution. It focuses on the experiences of four interrelated families to show how nobles used family connections for a variety of purposes prior to I9I7. This helped them to maintain their predominant position within tsarist society. The article argues that these links continued after the revolution, helping nobles survive everyday hardship and official persecution under the new regime; in some cases, surprisingly large family ‘communities’ of nobles emerged. These communities persisted into the I920S and even when they disbanded the wider family maintained its central position in noble life.     

Rewriting the Latin liturgy of the Holy Sepulchre: text,ritual and devotion for 1149

ABSTRACT

An extraordinary reform of Jerusalem’s liturgy took place under the patriarchate of Fulcher of Angoulême (1146–57). The refocusing of Jerusalem’s rite positioned the commemoration of Easter as its central theological theme. This was effected to a level unparalleled in the liturgical traditions of the West. However, rubrics from extant twelfth-century liturgical books from Jerusalem further reveal how this reform was made to coincide with the 1149 rededication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the 50-year celebration of the capture of Jerusalem. From this newly discovered perspective, this study argues that liturgy, through its active rewriting, formed an integral part of a hitherto unexplored religious programme carried out by Patriarch Fulcher. Liturgy, alongside architecture and civic festivities, was used as a central tool to reshape the devotional identity of Jerusalem and the Latin East.     

Children, ‘healthy’ food,school and family: the ‘[n]ot really’ outcome of school food messages

ABSTRACT

This paper draws on a multi-method study with 50 families in Victoria, Australia. Primary school children were asked about food knowledge from school and whether they felt motivated to bring knowledge home. Generally, children and parents felt school food messages are unclear, contradictory and not relevant to them and this reduced the likelihood of messages coming home from school. We identify a critical difference in how families thought about healthy eating and food practices at home and the framework of school messages. Families focused on children’s eating in a pragmatic way, infused with nurturance as well as concern. We argue their practices can be viewed as a form of relational consumption (Lindsay and Maher 2013. Consuming Families: Buying, Making, Producing Family Life in the Twenty-First Century. New York: Routledge.) where food is part of the everyday exchange of love and care. A disjunction exists between familial relational approaches and the regulatory framework of school food messages that impacts how messages move between these spaces. Attention to relational aspects of food consumption at school might allow for a more valuable exchange between family and schools that supports family endeavours to feed children well.     

Mortuary patterns in burial caves on Mangaia,Cook Islands

The behavioural, cultural, and political implications of archaeological human remains in non‐mortuary, possibly culinary, contexts requires that we understand the range of mortuary practices in a particular region. Although several rockshelter sites on Mangaia, Cook Islands have yielded burned, fragmentary human bones in earth ovens that seem to support archaeological models and ethnohistoric accounts of ritual sacrifice and cannibalism, the absence of data on the range of Mangaian mortuary patterns obscures these interpretations. We describe burial patterns based on 40 above‐ground interments representing at least 92 individuals in caves of Mangaia, Cook Islands, in order to begin to develop an island‐wide perspective on mortuary patterns. Sampling both pre‐ and post‐European contact sites we found that multiple interments dominate probable pre‐contact burials (73%, 19 of 26) and single interments dominate post‐contact contexts (80%, eight of ten burials), probably reflecting the influence of Christianity on mortuary ritual. Subadults were more frequent in all post‐contact contexts suggesting alternative burial places, probably church cemeteries, for adults. Burial cave remains are broadly consistent with ethnohistoric accounts of interment in caves, however, they also illustrate additional burial practices and differences between time periods, such as primary body position and the role of multiple‐individual interments, which are not discussed ethnohistorically. The mortuary practices in Mangaian burial caves differ from burials associated with marae and seem completely unrelated to the presence of highly fragmentary and burnt human remains in pre‐contact rockshelter middens elsewhere on the island. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.