Rock Engravings as Text: Territorial Assertions on the Walls of the En Nusra Cave in Avdat, Israel

Abstract

This paper examines a collection of markings that were created over the past few centuries in the Negev Highlands in southern Israel. The markings were etched onto the walls of a vestibule of a 3rd century CE Late Roman burial cave in the site of Avdat (ancient Oboda). The cave was known in Bedouin Arabic as En Nusra. The data may be divided into three main language groups – Hebrew, English, and Bedouin Wusum (tribal symbols) – each with its own graffiti etiquette, graphic style, technical attributes, and specific discourse function. In an attempt to identify the separate and/or combined meaning(s) for these markings, archaeological evidence from En Nusra was correlated with historical references and then cross-referenced via ethnographic interviews with local Bedouin. Subsequently, Columbia School (CS) sign-oriented linguistics theories, which view language as an instance of human behavior whose structure is shaped by the communicative and cultural factors of its users, were applied to further confirm our interpretations of the En Nusra graffiti. The anthro-linguistic examination of the markings reaffirmed our archaeo-historical based comprehension of why this sidelined and otherwise unassuming structure accommodated such a prolific epigraphic exchange.