BARlines

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In Memoriam: Siegfried H. Horn

In “The Search for Biblical Heshbon,” BAR 19:06, Larry Herr concludes his story of Horn’s involvement with archaeology in Jordan by saying, “At the age of 85, Siegfried Horn still keeps an eye on [the Madaba Plains Project] and would have it no other way.”

That changed on November 28, 1993, when, instead of attending the Annual Meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research and Society of Biblical Literature and visiting the Biblical Archaeology Society exhibit at the Smithsonian, which was his intent, he unexpectedly died near his retirement home in California’s Napa Valley. The cause of death was complications from massive lymphoma, something no one knew he had.

Siegfried Herbert Horn was born in Wuerzen, Germany, on March 17, 1908, the son of a Seventh-Day Adventist church worker and one of the world’s first aviators. He attended a Jewish school so he would not have to go to school on the Sabbath and thus learned Hebrew at an early age. His fascination with the archaeology of the Bible lands grew out of his reading the accounts of European travelers. After receiving his undergraduate education at Adventist colleges in Germany and England, Horn served for the next decade as a minister for his denomination in the Netherlands and as a missionary teacher/administrator in what was at the time the Dutch East Indies.

When the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, the Dutch authorities imprisoned Horn with other German nationals on an island off the coast of Java. The Dutch authorities allowed his wife, Jeanne, to continue her work because she was born Dutch. She was able to ship him a portion of his library, which he used to advantage during his six and a half years of internment. Horn held himself to a strict study schedule and even offered Biblical Hebrew and Greek classes to interested prisoners. When Japanese occupation threatened, the Dutch transferred their German prisoners to the British in North India. On the way, Horn nearly lost his life at least three times: due to a terrible attack of dysentery in the jungle, due to a Japanese bombing of their caravan in Sumatra and due to a case of mistaken identity. The latter came about on the voyage between Sumatra and India, in which four ships were used to transport the prisoners. There were two Horns, and, in the confusion, they were switched in relation to the passenger lists. En route, the ship on which Siegfried Horn was presumed to have been traveling was torpedoed and everyone lost. His wife back in Batavia was notified that her husband had been drowned at sea. Not until the war was over nearly five years later, just as she was getting ready to marry another man, did she learn that her husband was still alive!

Upon gaining his freedom, Horn immigrated to the United States, where Jeanne had preceded him. He quickly completed his formal education with a B.A. from Walla Walla College in Washington State (1947), an M.A. from the Seventh-Day Adventist Theological Seminary, at that time in Washington, D.C. (1948), some study with William F. Albright at John Hopkins University and a Ph.D. in Egyptology under John A. Wilson (1951) at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. He wrote his thesis on “The Relation Between Egypt and Asia During the Egyptian Middle Kingdom.”

From 1951 to 1976, Siegfried Horn taught at the SDA Theological Seminary, first in Washington, D.C., and then at Andrews University in Michigan, from which he retired as Seminary Dean and Professor Emeritus of Archaeology and History of Antiquity. He was the founding editor of Andrews University Seminary Studies, and he started the archaeological museum that now bears his name.

Horn is known particularly for the influential dig he initiated and directed at Tell Hesban (Biblical Heshbon), in Jordan, during the summers of 1968, 1971 and 1973. He continued at Tell Hesban as senior advisor and object registrar in 1974 and 1976. Before this he had been a core staff member of the Tell Balatah (Biblical Shechem) dig in 1960, 1962 and 1964. He 024continued, with those he had trained, on the Madaba Plains Project in Jordan up to the time he died.

Horn stayed on top of discoveries by building his own extensive library (now housed at the Horn Archaeological Museum at Andrews), leading renowned study tours to the Middle East, and maintaining his membership in many professional societies. His own bibliography runs to almost 800 items. Though he made major contributions to the scholarly world, where his name is known and respected (as recognized by many of his colleagues in their Festschrift in his honor, The Archaeology of Jordan and Other Studies [Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews Univ. Press, 1986]), he probably did more than any other individual to make scholarship respectable within Seventh-Day Adventist circles. He was one of the first Adventists to become regularly involved in professional societies and their annual meetings. His monumental contributions to the multivolume SDA Bible Commentary and SDA Bible Dictionary are without a peer.

Upon his retirement, one of the things Horn most enjoyed was his association with the Biblical Archaeology Society. He spoke enthusiastically about leading several of its study seminars, both here and abroad. He valued his role as a member of the BAR Editorial Advisory Board and eagerly defended Hershel Shanks’s entrepreneurial spirit, which he felt had benefitted the field. He was proud to have BAS print and circulate his booklet Biblical Archaeology: A Generation of Discovery (1985)^a and he enjoyed writing for BAR.^b

Those of us who knew Siegfried Horn well were delighted that he was able to lecture at Andrews University in March 1993 in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Hesban dig and his 85th birthday. As we listened to this man, known for his learning and for his rather formal, Prussian exterior, we experienced again his warm enthusiasm. Siegfried Horn’s legacy lives on in countless students, friends and colleagues for whom, having known him, “the rocks cry out” more understandably.

Carbon-14 Dates of the Dead Sea Scrolls Are Closer Than Previously Thought

Readers following the results of carbon-14 tests on the Dead Sea Scrolls may wish to look at a recent article, “An Assessment of the Radiocarbon Dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls” by G. A. Rodley, in the journal Radiocarbon (vol. 35 [1993], pp. 335–338). This report, based on the author’s statistical study, asserts that the dates given in recent C-14 tests^c (generally ranging between mid-second century B.C. and first century A.D., depending on the scroll) are about 42 years too old. Rodley attributes the discrepancy to some small procedural error in the C-14 tests. The effect of Rodley’s correction is to bring the C-14 dates into even closer correlation with the paleographically dated texts, as well as with other texts in the test that contained internally precise dates. According to the author, carbon-14 dates now yield an accuracy of about plus or minus 25 years, “making them especially useful for documents whose ages are otherwise in doubt.”

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Ancient Scrolls Found in Jordan

At least 50 papyrus scrolls that may be as old as the Dead Sea Scrolls were uncovered beside the ruins of a Byzantine church in the Jordanian desert city of Petra on December 21, 1993. The carbonized scrolls survived a fire and an earthquake that collapsed the church, possibly in 551 A.D.

For more than 1,400 years these Petra scrolls lay “crushed under and between the charcoal remains of the shelving on which they had apparently been stacked, and beneath nearly 12 feet of stone from the superstructure of the building,” said archaeologists from the American Center for Oriental Research (ACOR), who made the discovery. Twelve inches long and 2 to 3 inches in diameter, the scrolls may be of major importance. Some of the loose fragments bear Byzantine Greek script, and a few translated words seem to refer to a spiritual or tangible heritage, a “king” and an agreement or contract.

The most significant fragment refers to “Flavianus Patriarchus,” a patriarch of Antioch, who was banished to Petra in 512 A.D. and lived there for the last six years of his life. The fragment may come from a letter to or from Flavianus.

ACOR director Pierre Bikai, who led the excavation, seeks help to salvage the scrolls, which are too fragile to unroll without conservation treatment. Until then, the exact number and significance of the scrolls will remain “tantalizingly unknown.” Donations for the salvage and conservation work, in any amount, may be sent to ACOR, P.O.B. 2470, Jebel Amman, Amman, 11181, Jordan.

New Cable Television Series Covers Biblical Archaeology

What do the ruins of Masada tell us about everyday life at the time of the First Jewish Revolt against Rome (66–70 B.C.)? What is the archaeological evidence that Bab edh-Dhra and Numeira, near the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, were the Biblical Sodom and Gomorrah? “Mysteries of the Bible,” an 11-part documentary series, explores these and other questions long debated by Biblical archaeologists. The series premieres nationally on March 25 on the Arts and Entertainment Network at 10 p.m. Eastern time. Successive episodes will air at the same time every following Friday.

The tentatively titled episodes begin with “Moses at Mount Sinai” (3/25), and continue with “Jesus in the Galilee” (4/1), “Joshua at the Walls of Jericho” (4/8), “Cities of Evil: Sodom and Gomorrah” (4/15), “Masada: The Majestic Fortress” (4/22), “Sacred Violence” (4/29), “Noah’s Lost Ark” (5/6), “Jesus: the Holy Child” (5/13), “Jerusalem: Mysteries of the Living Bible” (5/20), “King David: Mysteries of a Holy Warrior” (5/27) and “Scarlet Women of the Bible” (6/3). The episodes feature location photography at archaeological sites, interviews with historians and archaeologists (including William Dever, Eric and Carol Meyers, Lawrence Schiffman, Lawrence Stager and others familiar to BAR readers) and the use of museum artifacts and fine artwork. The King David episode will touch on the “House of David” inscription uncovered at Tel Dan this past summer and featured in the article beginning on page 26 of this issue.

Biblical Archaeology Conference Planned

“The Archaeology of Israel: Constructing the Past/Interpreting the Present,” a conference hosted by the Muriel Berman Centers of Lehigh University and Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is scheduled for May 22 through 24, 1994. The conference will be held at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Topics will include 090archaeological finds and ethnic identity; the relationship among archaeology, biblical texts and historical interpretation; and highlights from the excavations at Tel Miqne, Hazor, Dor and Beth-Shean.

For additional information, contact the Berman Center for Jewish Studies, 9 W. Packer Avenue, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015-3082 (610-758-3352; fax 610-758-4858).

Dig Opportunities

Nahal Tillah Excavation Seeks Volunteers

Professor Thomas E. Levy (University of California, San Diego) and David Alon will direct a dig at Nahal Tillah, 15 miles northeast of Beer-Sheva, from June 26 through July 29, 1994. Open-air villages from the Chalcolithic period (4500–3500 B.C.) and Early Bronze Age I (3500–3050 B.C.) will be excavated. Volunteers must be over 18 years of age and are required to remain for the entire dig. Credit courses and lectures are offered. A tent camp near the excavation will provide housing. There is a registration fee of $40, and accommodations cost $500. Some scholarships are available.

For more information contact: Mrs. Hanni Hirsch, NGSBA, Hebrew Union College, 13 King David St., Jerusalem 94101 (011-972-2-203-257/8, fax 011-972-2-251-478).

Another Dig at Sepphoris Needs Volunteers

Next spring and summer Ehud Netzer and Zeev Weiss will direct one of the three digs at Sepphoris. The traditional birthplace of Mary, mother of Jesus, this major site has been continuously occupied from the Iron Age to the present. During the Roman period, Sepphoris was rebuilt in grand style by Herod Antipas. In the first century A.D., Josephus testified to its beauty, calling it “the ornament of Galilee.” After the Second Jewish Revolt against Rome (132–135 A.D.), Sepphoris became, for a time, the seat of the Sanhedrin, the central legal and spiritual council of the Jewish people. In about 200 A.D., Rabbi Judah Hanasi (Judah the Prince) compiled in Sepphoris the collection of rabbinical legal rules called the Mishnah. The city continued to serve as a major regional capital until the invasion of the Arabs in 640 A.D.

This dig will work on the area of the Byzantine basilica, the Roman theater, the synagogue and the large house with Dionysian mosaics. It offers two programs: a ten-week Summer Semester that spends half its time in study sessions in Jerusalem 091(May 23–June 24, 1994) and the other half at the dig (June 24–July 30, 1994), and the Dig Israel program, which encompasses the dig half of the Summer Semester. The Summer Semester costs $3,710; the Dig Israel, $1,620. In Jerusalem, participants will stay at the Israel Goldstein Youth Village, 15 minutes from downtown. Dig participants stay at Kibbutz Hanaton located in lower Galilee close to the site.

For further information, contact Lisa Silverman at 155 Fifth Ave., Room 504, New York, NY 10010 (212-533-7800 ×2505, fax 212-353-9439).

Museum Guide

Impressions of Mesopotamia: Seals from the Ancient Near East

Through July, 1994

How much would someone be able to tell about you from your signature? The Sackler Museum’s new exhibit of Mesopotamian seals shows that signatures, at least in the form of seals, can reveal quite a bit about the status of a person and the nature of a society.

Seals—usually a small stone bearing a relief—were impressed in damp clay to create a sealing for the purpose of showing ownership, authenticating or protecting the marked property from tampering. Stamp seals appeared as early as the seventh millennium B.C.; in the fourth millennium B.C., Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) developed cylindrical-shaped seals. When rolled across damp clay, these cylinder seals leave a continuous, repeating design. Cylinder seals remained in use for 3,000 years, until the advent of parchment as a writing material.

The exhibit traces the development of cylinder seals with a display of 24 examples. Through an analysis of the different materials, sizes and designs—and occasional cuneiform inscriptions—the exhibit offers insights into many issues relating to ancient Near Eastern aesthetics, religion, politics, economics and social organization.

The Story of Masada

Through April 1994

This is the first public exhibition in Israel devoted exclusively to the excavations at Masada conducted by Yigael Yadin from 1963 to 1965. It features hundreds of items from the mountaintop fortress near the Dead Sea, where Jewish defenders took their own lives rather than surrender to besieging Roman forces in 73 A.D.^d Perhaps the most famous of the displayed artifacts are the ostraca (inscribed potsherds) thought by Yadin to be the lots cast by the Masada defenders to determine the order in which they would commit suicide (“Ben Yair,” the name of the Jewish leader at Masada, appears on one). The exhibit also includes many remains never before seen by the public, such as papyrus records from the Roman army and the restoration of a legionary’s uniform and armor.

In Memoriam: Siegfried H. Horn