BARlines
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“If Only … ”
Two scholars, one an Israeli and the other an American spending a sabbatical year in Jerusalem, recently wrote a few words that made us think about the price archaeology continues to pay because archaeologists in the Middle East often cannot follow their scholarship into neighboring countries.
In the Fall 1982 issue of Biblical Archeologist, Israeli archaeologist Rudolph Cohen writes about the history of the ancient road between Petra and Gaza. Cohen laments that the segment of this road between Petra and the Wadi Aravah, “located in present day Jordan, [is] inaccessible to the Israeli archaeologist,” so he cannot explore it.
Walter Rast, Annual Professor at the William F. Albright Institute in Jerusalem reports in the December 1982 Newsletter of the American Schools of Oriental Research on the progress he is making on the final report of his excavations at Bab ed-Dhra.a Bab ed-Dhra is a third millennium B.C. site on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea that may be the remains of Sodom or Gomorrah or one of the other five Cities of the Plain mentioned in Genesis 14. Rast, on sabbatical leave from Valparaiso University, observes that “The opportunity to visit comparative archaeological sites, and to discuss common problems, is without question of great value, particularly in the context of working on the publication of a site.” Rast found particularly helpful a visit to Tell Yarmuth in Israel’s Shephelah. Tell Yarmuth is an Early Bronze Age site where Rast found several architectural problems which were precisely the same as those he encountered at Bab ed-Dhra. “There is certainly the need,” said Rast, “to set the important Early Bronze sites of the Dead Sea plain into the framework of broader developments in the Near East in the fourth and third millennia B.C.”
In the complex political situation in this part of the world restrictions on scholars are not symmetrical. Rast, an American, may work in Jerusalem and still travel across the Allenby Bridge to Jordan to visit his site at Bab ed-Dhra. Cohen, an Israeli, cannot cross this same bridge in order to study the ancient road between Petra and the Aravah. And Jordanian archaeologists do not travel the other way.
The hostilities of the Middle East have tremendous costs. The most tragic of these are human costs, loss of life, injuries, and dislocation of people. But the lesser costs are many. One of them we have pointed out here is that knowledge cannot be freely pursued. Although local scholars cannot travel to neighboring countries, might it not be possible for archaeologists from Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and perhaps other countries as well to exchange information at an international congress?
More Digs Need Volunteers
Biq’at Quneitra
Remains of the prehistoric Mousterian culture at Biq’at Quneitra, in the Golan Heights, will be examined during August, 1983 by an excavation team directed by Naama Goren of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. No credit courses will be offered. Field trips and lectures are scheduled. No fees will be charged for accommodations in Qatzrin in the Golan Heights. Minimum stay is one week. For more information, write to Dr. Naama Goren, Department of Prehistory, Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, Israel.
Khurvat Ziqrin
Two excavation seasons, in June and July and in August and September, are planned in 1983 at Khurvat Ziqrin, a Roman-Byzantine village (later occupied by the Arabs and the Turks) in Israel’s coastal plain near Tel Aviv. Moshe Fischer of Tel Aviv University will direct the excavations. Minimum stay is two weeks. Volunteers with previous archaeological experience are preferred. For more information, write to Dr. Moshe Fischer, Tel Aviv University, Beit Avner, Israel.
Egyptian Copts and Papyrus Documents Written by Women May Reveal Early History of Christianity
Early Christianity will be the focus of two new projects announced by the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity (IAC) at Claremont College, Claremont, California.
“The Roots of Egyptian Christianity,” directed by Birger Pearson of the University of California at Santa Barbara, will explore the history of Christianity in Egypt from its beginnings to the Arab conquest in the 017seventh century. Pearson points out that “The Coptic (‘Egyptian’) church has long existed in a state of near oblivion, so far as the western world is concerned. Yet the Copts claim to represent the surviving vestiges of an Egyptian culture whose recorded history reaches back through some five millennia of human history … The Coptic Orthodox Church has retained very ancient traditions. Exceedingly conservative in outlook and resistant to change, the Coptic church represents a fascinating window into the past.”
Christianity probably entered Egypt through the port of Alexandria, where the Jewish quarter may have offered fertile ground for Christianity’s early growth. Pearson and his colleague at Santa Barbara, Richard Hecht, hope to follow up their recent survey of the presumed boundaries of Alexandria’s Jewish quarter with systematic archaeological investigations that will confirm the quarter’s precise location.
Papyrus documents written by or about women offer a unique opportunity to witness women in antiquity reacting to important events in their lives. Bernadette Brooten of the IAC will direct “Women in Papyrus Sources”—an examination of private and business letters written by women, legal complaints filed by women, bills of sale in which women are principal parties, marriage contracts, deeds of divorce and similar material.
Professor Brooten will divide her time between the Claremont project and another one related to women, “Women in Christianity,” led by Dr. Hans Küng at the Institute for Ecumenical Studies, the University of Tübingen, West Germany Dr. Brooten will direct a sub-section of the project, “Sexuality, Marriage and Celibacy in Early Christianity,” which will explore spiritual marriage, sexual violence toward women, alternatives to patriarchal marriage in early Christianity and relationships between ecclesiastical teachings on marriage and the realities of marriage in antiquity.
Judaic Studies Competition Announced
A competition for a one-year appointment as a Tisch Research Fellow of Judaic Studies has been announced by Brown University. The full-time position involves research in Judaism and the Jews in late antiquity (the first seven centuries of the Common Era); the sole requirement is research leading to the production of a full-length manuscript on an important problem in Judaic studies of late antiquity. Proposals involving the archaeology of Judaism in this period are welcome.
The competition is open to anyone who holds a research doctorate or the equivalent, completed by July 1, 1984. The first Tisch Fellow will be appointed in 1984–1985 (July 1, 1984 to June 30, 1985), and a second Fellow in 1985–1986. The salary offered will be equivalent to that of an assistant professor at Brown University A research proposal, a resume and copies of the candidate’s important books and articles should be submitted to Professor Jacob Neusner; Chairman, Search Committee, Tisch Research Scholar; Program in Judaic Studies; Brown University; Providence, Rhode Island 02912–1826. Deadline for applications is October 1, 1983.
Saul Lieberman Dies
One of the world’s greatest Talmudists, Professor Saul Lieberman of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, is dead at 86. He died on an airplane while flying to Israel for the Passover holiday. In addition to his prodigious Talmudic studies, Lieberman is especially well-known for his frequently cited books on Greek in Jewish Palestine (1942) and Hellenism in Jewish Palestine (1950).
Kadesh-Barnea Exhibit Opens in Jerusalem
Kadesh-Barnea (Tell el-Qudeirat), in northern Sinai, is the focus of a recently opened exhibition at the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem.
The site, on the southern border of the Judean Kingdom, was featured in a BAR article by Rudolph Cohen, “Did I Excavate Kadesh-Barnea?” BAR 07:03. This article pointed out the scholarly consensus that Tell el-Qudeirat is Biblical Kadesh-Barnea, where the Israelites encamped after their exodus from Egypt (Deuteronomy 1:46). It was here that the tribes first coalesced under Moses as a nation with a unifying religion. And though the Israelites stayed here for a generation, not a single relic from the time of the Exodus has yet been found.
However, finds dating from the tenth century B.C. to the first century A.D. have been rich. The ten-year excavation has added enormously to our knowledge of First Temple period defense systems and has yielded pottery—juglets, flasks, storage jars—and ostraca from the different periods of three superimposed fortresses unearthed at the site. The museum exhibit, which will continue through February 1984, also includes detailed plans, isometric drawings and a model of a citadel.
“If Only … ”
Two scholars, one an Israeli and the other an American spending a sabbatical year in Jerusalem, recently wrote a few words that made us think about the price archaeology continues to pay because archaeologists in the Middle East often cannot follow their scholarship into neighboring countries.
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