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Today, we had a very interesting visit to the Tell es-Safi/Gath lab. Dr. Philipp Stockhammer, from Heidelberg University, an expert on Mycenaean pottery (and who works on the pottery from Tiryns, Greece), came to the lab to look at the LB and Iron I pottery from Tell es-Safi/Gath. Along with him came Louise Hitchcock, who is already a full team member of the Safi team, but wanted to see some of the materials in lab.
The visit was very important, and interesting, as their was some fascinating discussions on the relevant pottery (local and imported pottery of the LB and Iron Age, and in particular, the Aegean and Aegeanizing pottery from these period). Philipp, with this extensive experience with Aegean pottery had several important observations on the finds from Safi.
Joe Uziel was in the lab and explained about the LB pottery, and Alex Zukerman explained about the Iron I pottery.
All told, a very interesting afternoon.
Aren
The following call for applications for the 2009 field school in archaeological science (see reports on last year’s field school, here and here, and general information here), to be held as part of the Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project’s upcoming season has been published.
Here is a nice picture of the archaeological science field school as it looks in the excavation area and how it is integrated into the regular field work of the project
And here’s a picture of some of the field office lab facilities in which results are analyzed in the afternoon/evening, after the day’s work in the field
See below for the full text of the call:
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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!!
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We have been informed by David Schloen, that the new Festschrift in honor of Larry Stager (that David edited) is about to appear and will be presented to Larry during the coming ASOR meeting in Boston.
Among the many VERY interesting articles in the book (some of which have already been sent to me courtesy of the authors), there is also an article on Tell es-Safi/Gath by yours truly.
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Today, the special issue of the Israel Journal of Earth Sciences (56 (2-4): 2007) dedicated to “Archaeological Science in Israel” has appeared. This triple issue, which was edited by Elisabetta Boaretto, Ruth Shahack-Gross, Sariel Shalev, Ehud Weiss and Steve Weiner, contains a collection of articles that summarize what’s happening in Israel in some of the main fields of archaeological science (see table of contents here).
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As mentioned in previous posts, Louise Hitchcock and her team in Area A2, came up with some very interesting finds. Among others, and probably most importantly, they excavated a small portion of an early Iron IIA level, most probably dating to the 10th or early 9th century BCE, which had on it typical early Iron Age IIA pottery (decorated with red slipped, handburnished surfaces), a fragment of a clay seal impression dating to ca. the reign of Siamun (in the 10th century BCE [NOT a seal with the name of Siamun as has been spread in some rumours...]) and a round, pebbled hearth.
Hi! I just came back from vacavation and found a mess load of photos of the work in Area D that had been taken by Lotte Vandorpe, one of the volunteers in the excavation (sent through Amit Dagan). So that you know what I meant by A LOT OF FINDS IN AREA D, here is a photograph of a regular “day at the office” this season in Area D.
Please – try not to salivate on your keyboard … :-)
Well, interesting things are still appearing, even in the last week…
In Area E, we excavated an almost complete skeleton of an equid, apparently a donkey, found in the late EB levels, apparently in a pit.
In Area P, Rona has found a nice collection of rodent skeletal material in the material that was collected from the Iron I food storage room with the Phytolith level. Right below this, a rich level with late LB pottery was found – this is what awaits us in the next season.
In Area D – the finds are simply astounding, more an more vessels are appearing – next year we will have a lot of fun …
That’s all for now …
Aren
We finished the 3rd week of excavations now, and are about to start the 4th and final week. The 3rd week was absolutely astounding, with some phenomenal results from different areas and periods.
Several noteworthy finds can be mentioned:
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Just a quick update on some very nice finds from the last few days:
Area A: Louise and her team have pulled out a extraordinary electrum crescent-shaped pendant (LB/Iron I) and fragments of a very nice Myc IIIB pyxis
Diana and her team are working in the 9th cent. destruction level and have discovered a large group of vessels, some loomweights, etc.
Area D: Joe and his team are finding a “ton” of finds form the destruction level, including several complete vessels (including a really nice “Akhziv ware” juglet) and parts of a food preparation area with a collection of 8 or so grinding stones.
Area E: Itzik and his team have found a small copper point from the EB levels and gamepiece.
Area F: Jeff is excavating several Iron Age levels, the MB fortification and the Crusader tower and perhaps, may have evidence of the 8th cent. earthquake mentioned in the book of Amos!!!
Area G: They’ve found bedrock!!
Area P: Rona and her team are excavating a great early Iron I level, with the granary already mentioned a various other architectural and other finds.
That’s it for now!
Aren
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