Users’ Guide

The editors of the encyclopedia have employed well-known standards of style and usage in an effort to maintain conformity in the contributions of scholars who represent more than one academic tradition. For the sake of consistency, spellings utilized in the previous four volumes have been maintained, including the transliteration of Arabic place names. For the transliteration of Hebrew place names not appearing in the Bible, we have followed the system developed by the Academy of Hebrew Language (Jerusalem); for biblical quotations and the spelling of personal and place names appearing in the Bible, the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Foreign terms that have been adopted into common English usage appear in roman rather than italic font.

Abbreviations and Symbols. The following abbreviations and special symbols are used:

• q.v. (quod vide, or which see). This abbreviation directs readers to another entry containing particularly pertinent information or, in some cases, to another discussion that amplifies a technical point. In survey articles, q.v. indicates those sites for which there is a separate entry.
• () [] … Used in the body of an inscription, these symbols indicate, respectively, a suggested reconstruction, missing letter(s) or word(s), or an incomplete text.
• A dot above a letter in the context of an inscription indicates that the reading is uncertain.

Map Reference Numbers. A table has been provided indicating the map reference numbers of the sites. The map coordinates for the New and Old Israel Grids are included, according to the grid system established by the Survey of Israel.

Site Survey Numbers. Survey numbers appear in certain entries that refer to as yet unpublished survey maps. Their inclusion is intended to facilitate research once the maps become available.

Carbon-14 Testing. The codes that appear in the text for carbon-14 test results are developed from the abbreviation for the laboratory in which the test was performed (e.g., GrN= Groningen) and the number of the sample. For lists of laboratories, their locations and the abbreviations used in the text, see issues of Radiocarbon, published by the American Journal of Science.

Glossary. A glossary of technical, geographic, art historical and architectural terms can be found in the back of this volume. It constitutes an updated version of the glossary appearing in the back of Volume 4.

Index to Places. Historical, national and scholarly traditions, along with the vagaries of transliteration systems, have generated numerous ways of referring to any given site. Readers who do not find an entry they are searching for in the body of the encyclopedia should refer to the index at the back of this volume, which covers all five volumes of the NEAEH. The index has been designed to guide readers from various alternate forms of names to the one form under which an entry can be found. For example, under “Ekron” the reader will be directed to “see Miqne, Tel.” Under “Miqne, Tel” will be listed the page numbers where the article on the site known by two names can be found. Similarly, the index will guide readers from categories of archaeological sites to particular entries. For example, from “Caves” the reader will be directed to particular cave sites.

Bibliographies. Citations are generally organized by author in chronological order. Books and journals customarily known by short titles or acronyms are cited in abbreviated forms. Please refer to the list of abbreviations in the front matter of each volume.

Special abbreviations and symbols employed in the bibliographies include the following:

• id. (idem., or the same) indicates that the author is the same as in the citations that follow. For example,
  • E. Stern, IEJ 23 (1973), 256–257; 24 (1974), 266–268; 26 (1976), 49–50, 199–200; id., RB 82 (1975), 254–257; id., ASOR Newsletter (Aug. 1977), 4–7; id., BA 40(1977), 89–90); id., Temples and High Places in Biblical Times, Jerusalem 1977, 35–36.
• ibid. (ibidem, or in the same place) is used when a publication is the same in consecutive citations, although not necessarily with the same volume and number (in the case of journals) or the same edition (in the case of books). For example,
  • D.W. Thomas, PEQ 72 (1940), 148–149; G. W. Ahlström, ibid. 112 (1980), 7–9; 115 (1983), 103–104; G. I. Davies, ibid.. 114 (1982), 25–28; 117 (1985), 92–96.
• (Review) or (Reviews) appearing after a citation indicates that the subsequent periodicals include reviews of the preceding cited work. For example,
  • A. Chambon, Tell el-Faràah I (Reviews), Paléorient 10/2 (1984), 130–131.—Syria 61 (1984), 339–340.—ZDPV 101 (1985), 178–183.—Archiv für Orientforschung 35 (1988), 236–237.
• The dash in front of the periodical indicates additional reviews of the same previously cited work.
• *An asterisk following page numbers indicates the pages of the English text in a bilingual journal such as Eretz-Israel.

The editors of the encyclopedia have employed well-known standards of style and usage in an effort to maintain conformity in the contributions of scholars who represent more than one academic tradition. For the sake of consistency, spellings utilized in the previous four volumes have been maintained, including the transliteration of Arabic place names. For the transliteration of Hebrew place names not appearing in the Bible, we have followed the system developed by the Academy of Hebrew Language (Jerusalem); for biblical quotations and the spelling of personal and place names appearing in the Bible, the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Foreign terms that have been adopted into common English usage appear in roman rather than italic font.

Abbreviations and Symbols. The following abbreviations and special symbols are used: