John Walton, who is a professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College, and the father of Josh Walton, who has worked at Safi for several seasons (well-known for his torn yellow t-shirt that by the end of season has been known to go up to the tell on its own…) has put up a VERY FUNNY clip about how one should truly study the Bible.

Here it is – enjoy!

Clip thanks to John Anderson at the Hesed ve-Emet Blog

Who said biblical studies are boring!?

Aren

I have been informed that Louise Hitchcock, of the University of Melbourne, who has been on our team (and played an important role, see e.g., here) for the last three years, has just been awarded a very large grant from the Australian Research Council. The grant will provide funding for the next three years for Louise and 20 or so students from Melbourne to participate fully in the excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath and related research activities.

Here is Louise’s description of the grant:
“In the Wake of the Sea Peoples, In the Footsteps of Goliath:

Excavating the Philistine Site of Tell es-Safi/Gath

Australian Research Council Funded Discovery Project Administered by the University of Melbourne: 2010-2012

This project will enhance the international reputation of Australian research by bringing it into current scholarly debate on Philistine archaeology, a quickly growing sub-discipline in Mediterranean archaeology. Marginalized in the Bible as decadent, recent research sees the Philistines as a cosmopolitan culture resulting from migration from Cyprus and the Aegean, and interaction with the local Canaanite population.

The goals of the project are to:

• Work in collaboration with the project directory to identify local, regional, and foreign components in the Philistine material at Tell es-Safi/Gath.
• Compare these features to those at Canaanite, Cypriot, Aegean, and other Philistine sites.
• Document and analyze continuity and change in the earlier Late Bronze Age (14th-13th c BCE) and Iron Age I-II (between 1180 and 800 BCE).
• Consider the formation of Philistine culture as a product of interaction by a limited number of migrants from multiple neighboring regions in the Mediterranean
• Increase the presence of Australian scholarship in Near Eastern and Aegean archaeology
• Produce collaborative publications and workshops on the site of Tell es-Safi/Gath with other members of the team
• Subsidize teaching relief for the production of research publications
• Funding to support up to 4 post-graduate excavation assistants and 16 undergraduate student trainees from the University of Melbourne to excavate at Tell es-Safi/Gath”

The grant has even made headlines in the Australian press.

Way to go Louise!

Aren

Debi Cassuto, one of the core staff of the project, recently published an article “Bringing Home the Artifacts: A Social Interpretation
of Loom Weights in Context,” in a volume edited by Beth Alpert Nakhai, “The World of Women in the Ancient and Classical Near East” (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008).

This volume has been reviewed by S.L. Budin in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review (http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2009/2009-10-60.html) and Debi’s article in particular received extremely high praise.

Way to go Debi!!!

Aren

Thanks to Yotam Asscher (who is a PhD candidate at the Weizmann Institute of Science in archaeological science) here are two clips from the 2009 season.

The first clip, which is more serious (for the most part), shows various aspects relating to the archaeological science work conducted in the field. Do take a look at it, since it gives you a nice idea of some of the very interesting and innovative field methods used as a regular part of the excavation. And, thanks to Yotam, there are some “other” shots as well…

The 2nd clip is a little more “light hearted”…
During the season, while bringing the equipment trailer to the top of the tell, Nir, our technical guy, forgot to check if the trailer was properly attached to his truck. Subsequently, the trailer ended up at the bottom of the tell, in a pit.
See some of the “action” in this clip.

Enjoy.
Aren

As I had mentioned on Saturday night, yesterday I went for a quick visit to the excavations in Faynan. Along with a small group of archaeologists from Israel (including Debbi Cassuto from the Safi team), we drove down to the Eilat-Aqaba border in the middle of the night on Saturday, crossed over to Jordan, drove up by bus to Faynan, met some 4X4 cars and then were given the “royal tour” of the excavations at the site, by the directors, Tom Levy and Mohammad Najjar. After a 5 hour visit to the site, we turned around and returned to Israel. I got home at 11:15 pm on Sunday.
Since this was my first visit to Faynan, I was particularly interested in going, even though it was quite an intensive trip with little sleep. There is no doubt that the site is quite a fantastic site and that it is without a doubt one of the most interesting sites in the Levant.
Without going into the details, I am very convinced with Tom and Mohammad’s interpretation of the Iron Age sequence at the site, meaning that there is a substantial stratigraphic, artifactual and 14C evidence for substantial evidence for 10th cent. BCE intensive metallurgical activities at the site (despite, e.g., a recent article by Israel Finkelstien claiming the opposite).
This clearly has important implications regarding the understanding of the formations of polities in the southern Levant during the Iron Age IIA.

Here are some pictures from our visit:

Here is Tom explaining the site of Khirbet Nahas to the group.

And here Mohammad explaining at Khirbet Nahas

Here is Tom explaining next to the giant (6 meter deep) pile of copper slag at the site.


Here Tom and Neil Smith are explaining about the excavations at Kh. Ifdan, where there were both Iron IIA and Iron IIC remains. Notice the camels on the left and our convoy of cars on the right.

Aren

Tonite, I’m off to Jordan for a quick visit to Tom Levy’s excavations at Faynan. Will update when I return – should be very interesting.

Aren

This afternoon, once again I had a chance to have a fun and interesting time with Simcha Jacobovici, the “naked archaeologist” and his team. Simcha and team came to the Safi lab at Bar-Ilan to look at finds from the excavations, including the so-called “Goliath sherd” as well as a few other as yet unpublished inscriptions, and some other finds.
As always – I had a great time – a combination of great humor, intelligent people and ideas, AND whacky ideas… :-)

Aren

Tonight, I gave a lecture on the excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath to a very interested group of students from IBEX, the Master’s College Israel Bible Extension program. The program, which is based at Yad Hashmonah, which is just outside of Jerusalem, between Abu Gosh and Neveh Ilan, is a hands on program for students from Master’s college, who come to Israel to learn about the history, archaeology and geography of the Holy Land.

Must say – it was a very nice group!

Aren

Joe Uziel and Itzik Shai, team members of the Tell es-Safi/Gath project, have started their own project in the Judean Shephelah, at the lovely site of Tel Burna, perhaps to be identified as Judahite Libnah.

Joe and Itzik have now joined blogdom and have started a blog about the project - do check it out.

Way to go!

Aren

Itzik Shai, one of the core team members of the Safi project has just informed me that an article, by itzik, Raz Kletter and David Ilan, has just been published in the Palestine Exploration Quarterly.

The article is entitled:
Shai, I, Ilan, D. and Kletter, R. 2009. An Aegean Fire-Stand from Tel Nagila. Palestine Exploration Quarterly 143/1: 161-167.

In this study, the publish a fragment of a very interesting “fire stand” of apparent Aegean influence, that was found in the excavations at Tel Nagila many years ago, and is being published as part of the publication project of these old excavations (led by J. Uziel and A. Maeir).

The object, which was found in an Iron Age context at a site in Philistia, is seen as an additional piece of evidence of the Aegean cultural influences seen in the later stages of the Iron Age.

Congrads!
Aren