Archaeology, Epigraphy, Philology

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Archaeology, Epigraphy, Philology Christopher T. Begg and William J. Urbrock 1842. [Bishri Cairn Fields, Syria] Takuro Adachi and Sumio Fujii, "Shell Ornaments from the Bishri Cairn Fields: New Insights into the Middle Bronze Age Trade Network in Central Syria," 10 ICAANE, vol. 2, 239-46 [see #2370]. A large number MBA cairn fields have been discovered at Mount Bishri in central Syria. On the basis of an analysis of the 14C data and of sample objects from the site, we conclude that these cairn fields were built by MBA pastoral groups over a short period of time. Quite a few shell ornaments have been recovered from these fields, which, on the basis of the biological classification of the shells in question, can be divided into two groups: northern and southern. These same biological classifications can also be used to examine other Early and Middle Bronze Age sites in northern Syria. In particular, we suggest that the shell ornament associations of the northern group are typical of the Early and Middle Bronze sites situated in the northernmost part of Syria. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 1843. [Ḫirbet Ǧazzīr; Ḫirbet es-Sūq; Jazer] Alexander Ahrens, "Revisting Ḫirbet Ǧazzīr and Ḫirbet es-Sūq on the Transjordanian Plateau. Archaeological and Chronological Remarks on the Search for Biblical Jazer," ZDPV 134 (2018) 177-89. Ḫirbet Ǧazzīr near es-Salṭ is one of the sites proposed in the scholarly literature as the site of biblical Jazer (Hebrew Yaʿzēr), which is mentioned several times in the OT. This identification has been proposed ever since R. de Vaux visited the site in 1937. Although the location of Ḫirbet Ǧazzīr seems to fit well with the geographical descriptions given in the various written sources for the location of Jazer, a recent re-evaluation of the pottery found at the site and the apparent lack of IA pottery there makes it unlikely that there ever was an IA occupation there. The site does not, in fact, seem to be an actual settlement, but may rather have functioned as an outpost (fortress or watchtower) or perhaps a rural farm-stead associated with a settlement in the vicinity and offering good views of the region of the Wādī Šuʿēb toward the Jordan Valley and a commanding overview of the surrounding fields and the approaches to the Transjordanian Plateau. Additionally, just opposite the site of Ḫirbet Ǧazzīr, across the wadi bed of the Wādī es-Salṭ (a tributary of the Wādī Šuʿēb), several fragments of IA II pottery have been found at the site of Ḫirbet es-Sūq, thus giving this site a degree of plausibility as a tentative localization for biblical Jazer. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 1844. Sergio Alivernini, "Mathematical Aspects of Earth-Moving Linked to Hydaulic Works in Ur II Umma," Iraq 80 (2018) 15-34. A.'s paper studies mathematical aspects of earthwork projects in the Ur III city of Umma, ca. 2053–2032 b.c. The main purpose of the paper is to describe the practical procedures involved in moving earth for hydraulic works in the Umma region. It also shows how Old Babylonian pedagogical "mathematical texts" about earthworks dating to the early 2nd millennium b.c. are indebted to the practical procedures adopted by Ur III officials. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] [End Page 605] 1845. María Eugenia Aubet, "Las estelas de Tiro en su contexto arqueológico," Revista di Studi Fenici 44 (2016) 67-72. The group of Phoenician funerary stelae found in the necropolis of al-Bass, in Tyre, is the largest and most impressive such assemblage found hitherto in the Levant. Since 1997, systematic excavations at the site have made clear the stelae's linkage with Iron Age cremation burials. The funerary evidence obtained over the course of several archaeological campaigns at the site has not only allowed us to reconstruct these artifacts' archaeological context, but also their social, ritual, and ideological contexts as well. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 1846. [Nesher-Ramla Quarry, Israel] Vladmir Wolff...