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Biblical Archaeology and Sliced Bananas

This is directed at those who, like me, enjoy a bowl of rather thinly sliced bananas with some frozen yogurt, preferably coffee-flavored.

As those of you who regularly enjoy this delicacy well know, the bananas are sticky and the frozen yogurt makes the situation more so. When you begin eating a serving of this combination, you can rather easily slip a spoon under a few slices of banana covered with yogurt, but as you near the end it is almost impossible to get the spoon under the banana: You simply prod the banana up the side of the bowl and eventually push it onto the spoon with your thumb.

I have had this problem for years—with other combinations as well, as, no doubt, have our readers. Now, at last, I am delighted to report, Biblical archaeology has come to the rescue and I am eager to share this bit of ancient wisdom with our readers.

As all BAR buffs know, the commonest way to date a stratum in a tell is by the pottery sherds embedded in it. The pottery sherds are dated mostly by their shape and form, especially of the handles, bases and rims, which archaeologists refer to as diagnostic pieces (in contrast to body sherds, which are in many cases impossible to date).

One particular type of rim has an inverted lip; that is, a lip that angles back in toward the center of the bowl, instead of flaring out. Bowls with an inverted lip were especially common among the Israelites in the eighth-seventh centuries B.C.E., the period archaeologists call Iron Age II. The drawing at left is an example taken from Ruth Amiran’s Ancient Pottery of the Holy Land (Plate 64, no. 19). My friend, archaeologist Bill Dever, former director of the W.F. Albright School of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, tells me that the inverted lip was intended to keep the contents from splashing out. “The Israelites were very practical people,” Bill says, “They didn’t always have their minds on spiritual things.”

It was when struggling with a particularly sticky slice of banana, determined to get it on my spoon without the help of a thumb, that the solution suddenly occurred to me: What was needed was a bowl with an inverted lip.

One of my daughters has recently taken up pottery, so I presented the problem to her. For my 65th birthday, Elizabeth gave me a beautiful bowl with an inverted lip. No one would confuse it with an Iron Age II specimen—it is much too beautiful, with its blue-gray glaze and drip decoration. Most important, however, it works! Absolutely no problem scooping up the thinnest, stickiest banana slice, with or without frozen yogurt, even if it’s the last slice in the serving.

I am sure a bowl with an inverted lip has many other specialized uses—dry cereals with milk, sliced carrots, marinated cucumber slices. The way is open for an enterprising marketer to make a million, inspired by some artistic Iron Age II Israelite.

Replica of Temple Found in Samaria

An ancient love story may help us see what Jerusalem’s Second Temple looked like. Although we have descriptions of the Temple in ancient sources, no one knew exactly how big it was or how it appeared … until now. A team of Israeli archaeologists directed by Yitzhak Magen has uncovered a second-century B.C.E. replica of the Second Temple on Mount Gerizim, a 2,900 foot peak overlooking the town of Nablus on the West Bank.

For more than 2,500 years, the site has been the center of religious life for the Samaritans, a breakaway sect from Judaism that established a rival religious center there. Magen began excavations in 1983 but has only recently ascertained the profile of the Samaritan temple complex, which was surrounded by living quarters for some 15,000 people spread over an area of 100 acres. The exact dimensions of the Jerusalem Temple are not known, but the foundation on Mount Gerizim is about 400 feet by 560 feet.

The remains of the temple lie beneath a fifth-century C.E. Byzantine church. Since archaeologists began investigating the site, they have uncovered the 6-foot thick temple walls, gates, altars and inscriptions written in paleo-Hebrew showing that the Samaritans practiced Jewish customs, including prayers and sacrificial rites.

Magen was guided to the Samaritan temple 085by an ancient love story. According to Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, a Jerusalem high priest named Menashe flouted Jewish law by marrying a Samaritan woman named Nikaso. Menashe, given the choice of leaving his wife or leaving the Jerusalem Temple, was promised by Nikaso’s father Sanballat, leader of the Samaritans, that he would build Menashe an exact replica of the Jerusalem Temple and make him high priest there. To which excavator Magen adds, “Is that a love story, or what!”

The Samaritan temple was destroyed by the Hasmonean Jewish ruler John Hyrcanus in 113 B.C.E. The Second Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E.; the Babylonians had destroyed the First Temple, Solomon’s Temple, in 587 B.C.E. Today the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aksa mosque—two of Islam’s holiest shrines—sit atop the site of the Temple. In deference to Muslim sensibilities, excavations are not allowed.

Magen expects the Samaritan temple to be open for visitors in 1996.

Irene Levi-Sala Prizes

In a ceremony in Beer-Sheva on May 11, three writers familiar to BAR readers, Ehud Netzer, Joan Taylor and Ephraim Stern, were awarded the Irene Levi-Sala Prize for books on the archaeology of Israel. Netzer won in the category of professional books for Massada III (The Yigael Yadin Excavations 1963–1965, Final Reports) (Israel Exploration Society). In the category of popular books, Taylor was honored for Christians and the Holy Places (Oxford University Press) and Stern for Dor—Ruler of the Sea (Israel Exploration Society). The prize is sponsored by the archaeology division of Ben-Gurion University. The books by Netzer and Stern are available through BAS for $144 (plus $20 shipping) and $36 (plus $4.95 shipping). Call 1-800-221-4644.

Biblical Archaeology and Sliced Bananas