:Metal Finds and Coins: Final Publications from the Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project II

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Previous articleNext article FreeBook ReviewMetal Finds and Coins: Final Publications from the Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project II Edited by Achim Lichtenberger and Rubina Raja (Jerash Papers 7). Turnhout: Brepols 2020. Pp. 194. €80. ISBN 9782503588872 (paper). Glass, Lamps, and Jerash Bowls: Final Publications from the Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project II Edited by Achim Lichtenberger and Rubina Raja (Jerash Papers 8). Turnhout: Brepols 2021. Pp. 248. €85. ISBN 9782503589374 (paper).Tim PennTim PennUniversity of Oxford Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreThe Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project has sought to examine the settlement history in the poorly understood and little-studied Northwest Quarter of the ancient city of Gerasa (modern Jerash, Jordan) since 2011. The excavations have reconstructed the life of this sector of the city from the Roman period through to the catastrophic earthquake of 749 CE that largely brought an end to human activity in the Northwest Quarter (though not necessarily elsewhere in the city). Under the direction of Achim Lichtenberger and Rubina Raja, the editors of the present volumes, the project has resulted in copious scholarly outputs within the framework of the Jerash Papers (henceforth JP) series as well as numerous journal articles. The two volumes discussed here, JP 7 and JP 8, present specialist finds reports from the project; several related volumes are currently in preparation.Both books open with brief overview chapters by the project directors. In particular, the aims of the volumes, as we learn in the introduction to JP 8, are to “give the interested reader as full an overview of the material recovered in the excavation as possible, while being able to relate it to the archaeological contexts” (3). To this end, each volume’s introduction includes plans of both the city and the Northwest Quarter to orient readers within the wider urban environment. However, as the authors make clear, much of the material that is presented here in fact comes from secondary contexts and frequently cannot be associated with the original space and time in which it was made or used.JP 7 begins with Christoph Eger’s discussion of the corpus of ca. 750 metal finds from the excavations, most of which are made of iron, with small numbers of gold, silver, lead, and copper alloy objects. Most of these objects are mundane and quotidian in nature, but as the editors correctly note, “too often the full corpus of metal finds does not find its way into excavation reports” (1). Thanks to Eger’s work, we now have a baseline for the metallic material culture of this important site. In the first part of his chapter, these finds are presented and analyzed according to 12 main functional categories (e.g., clothing accessories, items of personal adornment, tools, others), a format that allows users to understand not only the identification of the objects they are dealing with but also how they were used in the past. It would not do justice to the excellent work presented in this catalogue to systematically recount each of the varied sections presented in this chapter, but it should be noted that most of these finds are likely to be of a domestic nature (with the exception presented by a small collection of weapons, 47–48). As with the other chapters of both volumes discussed below, the typological discussion is followed by a lavishly illustrated catalogue of the finds.While in many instances it may be frustrating that the metal objects cannot be linked to their primary contexts, perhaps the most significant metal assemblage recovered during the excavations comes from the 749 CE destruction horizon in the House of the Scroll. Here, an assemblage of about 30 metal objects found together was probably originally stored in a chest or box. Most of these items, which included weights, tools, and dress accessories, were incomplete, and some were corroded together. The complex combination of items does not fit into our modern conceptions of a domestic assemblage, and the damaged state of them has led the project team to conclude, intriguingly, that these objects were gathered to be recycled.The remainder of JP 7 is concerned with coin finds. In chapter 3, Lichtenberger and Raja present the Hellenistic and Roman coins—that is, those from before the fourth century CE. This represents a relatively restricted body of material (19 coins, of which just 15 were identifiable). While these finds are few in number, they appear to indicate that Roman coinage from the Northwest Quarter is similar to coinage found across the rest of Jerash. This may suggest that activity was taking place here during the Roman period, even though much of the evidence uncovered by the project is of later date. This brief discussion is followed by an illustrated catalogue.Ingrid Schulze and Wolfgang Schulze, in chapter 4, deal with the roughly 800 coins mostly of the fourth to eighth centuries CE, almost all of which are bronze issues. The bulk of the discussion in this chapter is dedicated to the Early Islamic coinage, as the assemblages from Umayyad houses destroyed by the earthquake of 749 CE provide a window into the monetary economy of Early Islamic society at Jerash. The Late Roman (fourth–fifth centuries) coins significantly outnumber their later counterparts, but it should be noted that these reflect coin circulation and economic activity not only in the period in which they were made, as the authors make a powerful case for the use of low denomination coins, especially minimi, well into the Umayyad period. Indeed, substantial numbers of minimi were still in circulation at the time of the earthquake.Within the early Umayyad period (i.e., before the coinage reforms of ‘Abd al-Malik in the later seventh century), the authors analyze three main phases of coinage: (1) the earliest, known as “Pseudo-Byzantine,” issues; (2) later issues that follow Byzantine prototypes but display mint names; and (3) the rarer standing Caliph types. They note that across Jerash, the coins with mint names (Phase 2) make up the bulk of the finds, but overall numbers remain small. These small numbers probably reflect a lack of interest in provision or regulation of coins in nonprecious metals under Islamic jurisprudence and, as a result, the ongoing use of Byzantine coins. Additionally, the site-wide paucity of standing Caliph-type (Phase 3) coins probably reflects the absence of a known mint for them in the region. After the coinage reforms of ‘Abd al-Malik, there appears to be an increase in the numbers of new coins in circulation. This pattern may reflect an increase in the circulation of petty money during this later period; for the authors it suggests that the coin reforms were successful. They also conclude that the absence of Abbasid and Mamluk coins probably reflects a cessation of activity after the earthquake of 749 CE.The authors provide a useful survey of Late Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic coinage from other excavations with published finds elsewhere in Jerash, which appear to show broadly similar patterns to the finds from the Northwest Quarter. Most coins from across Jerash are consistently and perhaps unsurprisingly of Roman date, especially as some of these appear to have remained in circulation and use over an extended period. Variation in the relative proportions of Byzantine and Umayyad coins is likely to reflect the different natures of the various sectors under excavation (e.g., commercial versus domestic).This discussion is followed by a comparison with numismatic finds from other major sites in the Southern Levant. Two key insights emerge from this analysis. First, not all urban centers were equal: the lower proportions of coins following Byzantine prototypes but with Arabic mint names found at Pella and Hippos may reflect the secondary importance of these centers during the Early Umayyad period. Secondly, the apparent rise in frequency of postreform coinage is visible at other important urban centers, like Baysan (Beth She’an) and Tiberias. In summary, the authors conclude (148) that the coins show ‘Abd al-Malik introduced significant and effective economic reforms after his victory in the second fitna, which they credit with driving a revitalization of trade in the Southern Levant. The discussion is accompanied by a full catalogue.JP 8, after the introduction mentioned above, starts with Ruth Jackson-Tal’s contribution on the project’s glass finds (ch. 2). The reader learns that approximately 5,500 glass fragments were recovered in total, of which 1,740 were diagnostic. Jackson-Tal’s useful typological overview contextualizes key vessel and other object types within the broader scholarly literature on ancient glass in the Southern Levant. We are thus presented with a range of wares made by sagging, free-blowing, and mold-blowing. Vessel forms include bowls, bottles, jugs, drinking vessels, lamps, kohl tubes, and window-panes, among others. In the accompanying catalogue, the reader is presented with 104 exemplars, which we are told “represent the main and reoccurring types” (13) of the overall assemblages. However, the selective nature of the data presented here means that users interested in quantification and the distribution of finds across the Northwest Quarter must wait for the full data to be made available online.Jackson-Tal nevertheless provides some significant insights into the chronology of vessel glass from Jerash. Most of the finds presented appear to date to the Late Roman, Byzantine, and Umayyad periods (third–eighth centuries CE). However, among these finds are several forms that have in the past been attributed to the Abbasid or even Fatimid periods; their presence here may suggest that they were produced from an earlier date than previously recognized. The author argues convincingly that most of the glass vessels were local products, and the evidence for glass waste from some parts of the Northwest Quarter appears to offer support for this hypothesis. The glass itself, however, was imported: chemical analysis, published elsewhere, suggests that the raw glass came from Apollonia-Arsuf on the Mediterranean, north of Tel Aviv, at least during the site’s Byzantine period (sixth–seventh centuries CE).In places, a little more nuance or discussion of the functional identifications of specific vessel types would have been useful. For example, the “wine glasses” (20) may also have functioned as lamps, as has long been recognized in Byzantine glass studies elsewhere in the Mediterranean (B. Yelda Olcay, “Lighting Methods in the Byzantine Period and Findings of Glass Lamps in Anatolia,” Journal of Glass Studies 43, 2001, 86–87). Similarly, the function of plano-convex “inlays” (22) has been subject to renewed interrogation in recent years, especially in the western Mediterranean. However, the casual reader could come away from the discussion provided here with the belief that the interpretation of these as gaming pieces is a minority opinion. It is, in fact, perhaps the most commonly held interpretation for such finds, to the extent that some recent work has tried to downplay the number that can be attributed to leisure activities of this kind (H.E.M. Cool, “Recreation or Decoration: What Were the Glass Counters from Pompeii Used For?” PBSR 84, 2016, 157–77).Alexandra Uscatescu’s discussion of 422 ceramic oil lamps (ch. 3) is perhaps the most important contribution in this volume and makes up more than half of the book. The first part of this chapter presents a lengthy and valuable typological overview, which will no doubt serve as an important resource for future scholars working on the ceramics of the Southern Levant. This section also includes a valuable review of past work on lamps in Jerash and its surroundings as well as a concordance of types from past studies. The typological discussion is accompanied by useful distribution maps that pair a line drawing of each type with its published findspots across the Southern Levant.The lamps are dated between the Hellenistic and the Early Islamic periods, but as the author concludes, most of the finds are Late Roman, Byzantine, and Umayyad, with some ambiguity about the period attributions of certain types due to the long-term continuity of styles. As the author demonstrates, the lamps from the Northwest Quarter are overwhelmingly local products, and most of those that are imported come from neighboring areas (e.g., the Decapolis and the Hauran). These conclusions fit well with the substantial evidence for lamp manufacture at Jerash, which includes kilns, wasters, molds, and inscriptions on the lamps themselves. Interestingly, Uscatescu notes (120) that the small number of imports that arrived at Jerash reflect personal ownership and mobility rather than commercial networks. However, Jerash was a net exporter of ceramic lamps and lamp styles, as ample finds from Pella demonstrate; some lamps found at Baysan (Beth She’an) appear to imitate the style of Jerash lamps. The remainder of this chapter is a lavishly illustrated catalogue of the lamps found, which is supplemented for the most fragmentary types by drawings of intact lamps from elsewhere.Pamela Bonnekoh (ch. 4) deals with the Jerash bowls, an intriguing class of locally produced sixth- and seventh-century ceramics bearing dichromatic designs, mostly on the interior. While a full catalogue will be published along with the main ceramic study, the focus here is on situating the iconography of the designs on the new finds within the wider corpus of known examples from the site. Bonnekoh adopts a comparative approach, drawing on motifs as they appear in various other media, including mosaics and statuary in the round, to contextualize the bowls. Figural motifs appearing on these objects include both animals and humans.Among the animals, birds are perhaps the most common, though one may wonder why the author chose not to explore the possible Christian connotations of these avian motifs in detail. Fish, too, are common, and while their Christian symbology is acknowledged, the author also makes a convincing argument for their wider value as astrological symbols, since they often appear in non-Christian contexts (e.g., in the Dura-Europos synagogue, though this evidence is several centuries earlier). Some of these bowls also appear to show explicitly Christian motifs, including a cross, which may have once been flanked by animals. Other animal motifs include various artiodactyls, and big cats, with the most interesting showing a leaping felid in front of a tree.The human figures on the Jerash bowls from the Northwest Quarter are highly fragmentary but include individuals, mostly male, with diverse clothing and hairstyles. Bonnekoh’s most detailed analysis focuses on the well-preserved “curly haired boy” carrying meat on a plate or platter. Exhaustive analysis of serving scenes shows that while this individual does not closely align with other depictions, his clothing, hair, and a distinctive necklace (bulla) suggest he is probably a servant or an enslaved person serving at a banquet. However, it cannot yet be ascertained whether he belongs in a scene of daily life or one drawn from a mythological or biblical narrative. This contribution is insightful but somewhat sparsely illustrated in comparison with some of the other chapters in the two volumes under review here.These two books are very useful to scholars interested in the long-term development of material culture in the Southern Levant. The editors and individual authors deserve to be warmly congratulated for this achievement. The material presented is particularly valuable because of the project team’s willingness to invest huge resources and effort in the investigation of the final phases of the life of the Northwest Quarter down to 749 CE, which provides us with a fascinating snapshot of the Umayyad period at Jerash. However, the decision to publish the finds separately from the stratigraphy in a series of relatively slim and not inexpensive volumes will mean that until such a time as these volumes are available via open access, this project will need to be examined by most scholars in a library setting. Moreover, readers should also be aware that the contributions in these books vary considerably in the extent to which they can be used as stand-alone resources; some chapters are best read along with the main stratigraphic details provided in other volumes in the Jerash Papers series, and others will need to be consulted along with the open access data that the editors indicate will eventually be made available online (JP 8, 1–3). Despite these minor shortcomings, these books represent the timely publication of a major excavation and considerably enrich the field.Notes[email protected] Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Archaeology Volume 127, Number 1January 2023 The journal of the Archaeological Institute of America Views: 102Total views on this site Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/723193HistoryPublished online November 08, 2022 Copyright © 2023 by the Archaeological Institute of AmericaPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.