Tell es-Safi/Gath in the list of this year’s most important finds in Biblical Archaeology

Todd Bollen, who runs an excellent blog and website on biblical studies and biblical archaeology related issues, has compiled a list of the 8 most important finds in biblical archaeology for this year.

Number 2 on the list is Tell es-Safi/Gath. What is particularly nice is that Todd places the Tell es-Safi/Gath excavations in the list, not on the basis of this or that particular find, but based on the overall finds and general contibution that the Tell es-Safi/Gath excavations has provided on a wide variety of issues.

Thanks Todd!!

Evening in honor of Prof. Itamar Singer

This evening, I had the pleasure in participating in the evening in honor of Prof. Itamar Singer of Tel Aviv University (previously mentioned on the blog here), on the occassion of his retirement. Itamar, one of the leading and most respected historians of the ancient Near East, and an highly respected Hittitologist, was honored by a series of talks by students and colleagues from Israel and Germany (see here for the program), including perhaps the leading Hittitologist in the world, Prof. Gernot Wilhelm.

While all the talks were particulary enjoyable and informative, in my humble opinion, the most interesting talk was by Prof. Jared Miller of Munich University, who discussed some extremely important texts from Boghazkoy, with important ramifications for the history of the Near East during the Amarna and post-Amarna period during the LB. Among others, he discussed texts which apparently mention Haremheb, the last Pharoah of the 18th Dyn., before he became Pharaoh, during the reign of his predecessor Ay. Importantly, he showed an extremely important synchronism between the 7th and 9th year of Mursili II of Hatti, and Egypt. One of the results of this synchronism is that now it appears that a controversy that has lasted for about a century can now be solved – the Egyptian king who died and whose queen requests the Hittite king to send his son so that she can marry him, can now be identified with confidence as Akhnaten, and not Tutankhamun, as some had suggested. (note – I have corrected this last sentence since last night, where I mixed the two Pharaohs up – Aren)

Very interesting.

Judges 16:2-3

Not much to add…

Aren

Just a nice picture…

So that those of you who are thinking of joining us this summer (July 1-31, 2009) have an idea what’s in store, here’s a nice picture of “yet another day at the office” during the last season. As you can see, the finds just seem to be popping out of the ground at Tell es-Safi/Gath.

So, why don’t you, your friends, fellow students, and family, join us for a once-in-a-lifetime experience – of tangibly learning about the history and archaeology of the Holy Land!

These are some finds from the 9th cent. BCE destruction level in Area D (the lower city of Gath of the Philistines).

And here are some “happy campers” discussing how to remove some of the finds (Joe Uziel, the Supervisor of Area D is at the left).

So now, if you are interested in joining our team and participate in the discovery of finds like this, please go to here, for more information and registration forms.

See you in the summer!

Aren

Happy holidays to all!

Just a quick note to wish all of our numerous bloggers and surfers a happy “holiday of holidays”! Since there is almost an overlap between three major holidays, Id el-Adha (last week), Chanuka (this week and the beginning of next week) and Christmas/Gregorian New Years (end of this week and next), in one blessing for a happy and fulfilling holiday season, one can manage to cover a lot of ground …

So:
Eid Mubarak!
Chag Urim Sameach!
Season’s Greetings!

Plus, all the other best wishes!

The DVD has started to arrive!

At long last, I have received reports that the DVD with the pictures and Powerpoint presentations about the 2008 season at Tell es-Safi/Gath have begun to arrive to those who ordered them abroad.

Please note! If you have ordered it and do not receive it by mid-January, please write to me and I will send another.

For those of you who have received it, please do show this to your family and friends, and in particular, to those people who will be so enthralled by the contents that they will wish to join our team in the 2009 season!

And for those who are interested in changing their minds and ordering it now, before it becomes a rare collector’s item, read information about ordering it here.

Best,
Aren

Tell es-Safi/Gath in the new B.A.R. issue

The January/February 2009 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review has appeared, and although I have not yet received my printed copy, much of it has appeared online. This is, apparently, the “Dig Issue” – which in addition to the regular articles, has a list of the digs that will take place this summer. Clearly, this is an important issue for all those interested in joining a dig in the summer, and needless to say, for those of us who want the volunteers to join a specific dig … (YES! do join our team at Tell es-Safi/Gath!!!).

In any case, from what I have seen online, Tell es-Safi/Gath has made it into this BAR issue in at least two places.

The first is in the article about high-tech archaeology, which includes not only several pictures of the people digging at Tell es-Safi/Gath, but also has a very nice small section about the archaeological science work going on at the dig, and in particular, the field labs that we have on site (discussing some of the importance of this unique feature) and the similarly unique field school in archaeological science (which is conducted on site, along with our “regular” field school in field archaeology).

In addition, there is a very nice piece about one of our volunteers from last year, Yvonne Oleson, who received a grant from the BAS to join the dig. In a very nice piece, “Vonnie”, who joined the dig along with her husband Ole, describes her experiences at the dig, which seem to have been very positive…

Visit to Herod’s tomb at Herodion

Unconnected to Safi, last Thursday, as part of group activities of the research group on Interconnections and Regional Narratives in Mediterranean Archaeology which I am participating in at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Jerusalem, we had a very interesting visit to Ehud Netzer’s excavations at Herodion. I had not been there since the discovery of the tomb, so it was quite fascinating. Based on the finds that Ehud showed, I think one can quite clearly and decisively say that it is the tomb of Herod. The finds are unparalleled and quite convincing, from many points of view. In addition, he showed us a just recently exposed find, right near the tomb, a small theatre built into the side of the mountain, and near it, a various other very interesting finds (all connected to Herod as well).

Above is a picture (taken by M.-H. Gates – thanks!) of yours truly, Ami Mazar and Sharon Zuckerman obviously enjoying ourselves (I just had told a funny story …), at the northern edge of the tomb.

A comment on historical research

For those interested in a rather funny comment on historical research and interpretation, see this cartoon.

Clearly, each and every historian will see his rivals mirrored in this …

Aren

Two new articles on Tell es-Safi/Gath

For those of you who may not have been updated on this, I would like to point out two new articles that have just recently appeared, that deal with relatively new finds from the excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath.

The first one is the in-depth publication of the so-called “Goliath Inscription” – the late Iron I/early Iron IIA archaic alphabetic inscription from Tell es-Safi/Gath, which according to our interpretation contains two non-Semitic, Indo-European (Aegean or Anatolian) names, written in alphabetic script. The names, while not directly etymologically connected to the name Goliath (as originally thought), are very nice examples of the use of non-Semitic names by the Philistines (such as, e.g., Goliath, Achish, and others) during the late Iron I/early Iron IIA. Also, it provides excellent contextual evidence for the relatively late appearance of very archaic style alphabet in Philistia. Needless to say, extra significance has been added to this find in light of the recently reported alphabetic inscription found at Kh. Qeiyafa, which is more or less of the same date.
The article has appeared in BASOR 351, and its full reference is:
Maeir, A.M., Wimmer, S.J., Zukerman, A., and Demsky, A. 2008
A Late Iron Age I/early Iron Age IIA Old Canaanite Inscription from Tell es­-S­âfi/Gath, Israel: Palaeography, Dating, and Historical-Cultural Significance. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 351:39–71.