Relations between Tel Aviv and Jaffa 1921–1936: A reassessment

From the founding of Tel Aviv adjacent to the Arab city of Jaffa, a new and unique reality arose in Palestine in the form of neighborly relations between a Hebrew city and an Arab city. A deep rift in these relations resulted from the riots of 1921 and 1929, and in Zionist historiography it is argued that from the 1921 riots onward, the ties between them weakened and deteriorated constantly. This article aims to shed new light on the question, and to show that there was, in fact, a clear tendency of continuous improvement in the relationship from the first half of the 1920s until the outbreak of the 1936 riots.     

Rethinking Canaanite Palaces? The Palatial Economy of Tel Kabri during the Middle Bronze Age

Here we explore aspects of Canaanite palatial economy through an analysis of finds from the Middle Bronze Age palace at Tel Kabri, a 34 ha site located in the western Galilee of modern day Israel. The palace was founded in the middle part of the MBA I period, and continued without interruption until an advanced part of the MBA II period. Despite the fact that the Kabri palace was vast (perhaps up to 6000?sq?m), functioned as the center of a polity, and could commission wall and floor paintings in an Aegean style, there are no signs of literate administration, or even administrative use of sealings. Patterns of animal husbandry, textile production, pottery manufacture and consumption, and storage within the palace all provide evidence that the palace behaved economically much more like an estate than a redistributive center. Our hypothesis is that the palace had aspects of an Oikos economy, i.e., that it functioned as a large household—richer and more populous than other households of the period, but with minimal involvement in the economy of the private sector. This contrasts with the contemporary polities in Syria, such as Alalakh and Ebla, as well as possibly its neighbor to the east, Tel Hazor, which had literate administrations and redistributive economies during this same period.     

The urban ecology of Iron Age Tel Megiddo: using microvertebrate remains as ancient bio-indicators

The potential of microvertebrate remains for reconstructing the paleoecology of urban sites remains largely untapped except for extensive research carried out at Roman and medieval sites in Britain. We apply taphonomic and ecological approaches to analyzing an assemblage of microvertebrate remains from the Iron Age IIA of Tel Megiddo, Israel. Sampling in a dense residential area including house floors and various fills produced 1080 identifiable specimens including fish, mammal, reptile and bird remains. The mammalian remains show a number of distinct patterns pointing to accumulation from the community of small animals which lived and died on-site. These patterns include evidence for fragmentation due to trampling and presence of burned specimens. The mammalian remains also differed in their taphonomy from an assemblage from Early Bronze Age II Megiddo which originated from predator accumulation during a period of abandonment. These analyses point to an especially low taxonomic diversity in the Iron Age residential assemblage suggesting that the urban environment of Megiddo supported a unique community of small mammalian animals. This differs markedly from ecological conditions in modern day cities which in some cases show greater than background levels of diversity and suggests a dense, homogenous urban environment. We suggest that reconstructing the evolution of urban fauna in greater detail will provide a sensitive tool for tracing historical processes of growth, decline and increasing complexity of urban sites in the Near East as well as other regions of the world.     

An integrated approach to reconstructing primary activities from pit deposits: iron smithing and other activities at Tel Dor under Neo-Assyrian domination

Secondary pit deposits in historical occupations of Near Eastern mounds are usually regarded as uninteresting and are seldom analyzed. We used an integrated approach to study all the artifacts as well as the sediments in a pit at Tel Dor, on Israel's Carmel coast, dating to the 7th c. BCE – a period when the site served as an Assyrian administrative center. This pit was unusually large, had a peculiar ceramic assemblage, and many macroscopic metallurgical wastes. A detailed excavation and analysis revealed that the pit served intermittently as a waste disposal site for an iron smithy and for pottery that was presumably involved in maritime trading. On two occasions the area was also used for animal penning. Despite the obvious importance of the iron industry to the Neo-Assyrian Empire, actual workshops are rare in its archaeological record. Hence the new information regarding an Iron Age iron smithy in the southern Levant contributes to the study of this industry, and also to the history of Dor in this period.     

The ingathering of (non-human) exiles: The creation of the Tel Aviv Zoological Garden animal collection, 1938–1948

This article examines the formation of the animal collection at the Tel Aviv zoological garden. Using Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia, the article analyzes the images and practices of animal importation. It shows that in spite of the importance of Zionist enthusiasm in driving the establishment of the Tel Aviv zoo, and the attribution of Zionist vocabulary to animals living in it, its significance cannot be reduced to Zionist ideology and practice. The zoo’s animal collection was the product of the specific historical, colonial-imperial circumstances formed under the British Mandate. The gathering of the animals reflects the indispensable British contribution to the development of cultural endeavors in Palestine, and the coexistence of British and Zionist aspirations.     

A Fresh Look at the Egyptian Environment of the Pharaonic Period

Abstract

The article deals with the territorial history of the southern steppe areas of the Levant in the period between ca. 1050–750 BCE. In the early days of the Iron Age, until the mid-9^th century BCE, parts of them, were ruled by local desert entities: in the late Iron I a Moabite polity and in the early Iron IIA and the early years of the late Iron IIA the Tel Masos-Beer-Sheba-Negev Highlands Highlands entity. This situation changed in the later years of the Iron IIA as a result of Damascus' rise to hegemony in the Levant. In the second half of the 9^th century BCE Judah, under Damascene domination, expanded for the first time into the Beer-Sheba Valley. In the first half of the eighth century BCE, with the revival of Assyrian power in the days of Adad-nirari III, Damascene authority was replaced by north Israelite domination in the south.     

New Evidence of the Purple‐Dye Industry at Tel Shiqmona,Israel

Pottery sherds stained with purple dye were found in the excavations at Tel Shiqmona, and were dated to the Iron Age II period. Analysis by HPLC‐DAD identified the dye as ‘true purple’, derived from the Hexaplex trunculus sea snail, which is associated with the purple‐dye industry that flourished in the coastal area at that time. This result is compatible with the classification of over 1000 Muricidae shells that were found in the excavation. Hexaplex trunculus constitutes 80% of this group, indicating that it was the most commonly used species in the dye production at Tel Shiqmona.     

The Iron Age lower settlement at Kabri revisited

ABSTRACT

During the 2017 excavation season at Tel Kabri, Iron Age remains were found cutting into the western part of the Middle Bronze Age palace. These remains consisted of a segment of a large structure and a series of sizable pits. Similar Iron Age remains were unearthed during previous soundings in Areas D and F of the excavation and were loosely dated to the Iron Age II. The ceramic assemblage from these soundings demonstrated a disproportionate number of imports and cooking pots, which prompted the excavators to suggest that the lower settlement was engaged in the processing of agricultural products connected to the nearby forts located elsewhere on the tell. A recent re-examination of the pottery from the previous excavations suggest that the forts could have only existed during the Iron Age IIA and IIC. Our examination of the pottery indicates that the imports can be dated to the Iron Age IIA, while the large number of cooking pots should mostly be dated to the Iron Age IIC. We would therefore like to suggest a new interpretation for the function of the lower settlement at Kabri during the Iron Age II in relation to the forts and the political reality in the Galilee at that time.     

The Iron Age Maritime Interface at the South Bay of Tel Dor: results from the 2016 and 2017 excavation seasons

The aim of the Tel Dor joint Sea and Land Project is to reassess and expand understanding of the maritime interface of Iron Age Dor. During 2016 and 2017 five features excavated under water provided new data about the development and chronology of this interface. The results support a revised dating and interpretation of previously excavated structures and the identification of several new stone‐built coastal fortification and maritime features, dating to the Early Iron Age. A later phase of construction attributed to the 7th century BCE Assyrian period at Dor was also documented. The outcome of the excavation is the introduction of new aspects of the development of Dor in the Iron Age, including what is likely part of the Iron Age II city's harbour. This may encourage revisiting current views of harbour evolution in the eastern Mediterranean.     

Iron age chronology and biblical history rejoinders: The late bronze/iron age transition,Tel ʿEton and Lachish

ABSTRACT

In this article, I review three recent articles. In the first, Asscher and Boaretto (2018 Asscher, Y. , and Boaretto, E. , 2018. ‘Absolute time ranges in the plateau of the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition and the appearance of Bichrome pottery in Canaan, Southern Levant’, Radiocarbon 60, 1–25. doi: 10.1017/RDC.2017.96 [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]. ‘Absolute time ranges in the plateau of the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition and the appearance of Bichrome pottery in Canaan, Southern Levant’, Radiocarbon 60, 1–25) suggest that the Late Bronze/Iron I transition occurred in neighboring sites a century and more apart. In the second, Faust and Sapir (2018. ‘The “Governor's Residency” at Tel ?Eton, the United Monarchy and the impact of the old-house effect on large-scale archaeological reconstructions’, Radiocarbon 60, 801–820.) date the construction of a solid building at Tel ?Eton to the tenth century bce and interpret this as validation for the historicity of the United Monarchy of ancient Israel. In the third, Garfinkel et al. (2019a Garfinkel, Y. , et al. , 2019a. ‘Lachish fortifications and state formation in the Biblical kingdom of Judah in light of radiometric datings’, Radiocarbon 61, 1–18. doi: 10.1017/RDC.2019.5 [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. ‘Lachish fortifications and state formation in the Biblical kingdom of Judah in light of radiometric datings’, Radiocarbon 61, 1–18) announce the discovery of a city-wall belonging to Level V at Lachish, and affiliate it with the building operations of King Rehoboam of Judah, described in 2 Chronicles. Scrutiny of the methods and facts dismisses all three theories.