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Inside the
Tomb of
Israelite Psalms in
Egyptian Papyrus?
ʿAbdiel,
Vizier of Egypt
Searching for the
Early Israelites in the
Jordan Valley
Remembering
Three Archaeological
Giants
 Volume: 1,396,000 cubic feet
Gross Tonnage: Nearly 14,000 tons
Capacity: Equivalent to more than
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It could hold more than 125,000
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Stairs
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Water
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Inside Noah’s Ark
The ark was built with “cypress wood” and
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First-Century Sailboats of this

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This type of small sailboat was very

common in irst century Galilee; it
The ishing was likely the same kind that Jesus’
technique of this irst disciples used.
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ishermen frequently
dive into the water. Ancient ishing vessels
Consequently, were small and not very
ishermen often stable or maneuverable.
Net
worked without The cast net
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mostly lat.
Oars
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SIZE COMPARISON (approximate): As the
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 JULY/AUGUST
VOL. 44 NO. 4

DEPARTMENTS
6 FIRST PERSON
The American Bible Society’s
32
Electronic Inquisition
8 QUERIES&COMMENTS

12 S T R ATA
■ Nahum’s Tomb—Safe for Now
■ BAS Fellowships for 2018
■ DeMille’s Sphinx Uncovered
ALSO...
12 Where Is It?
13 New Dig Reports
14 Exhibit Watch
16 Cartoon Caption Contest
18 S I T E - S E E I N G
Face to Face with Ancient
FEATURES
Greek Warriors
Beth Ann Judas
22 Pharaoh’s Man, ‘Abdiel: The Vizier with a Semitic Name
52 B I B L I C A L V I E W S Alain Zivie
Where Are the Scribes in Two decades ago, Egyptologist Alain Zivie excavated a tomb in Saqqara, Egypt.
the Dead Sea Scrolls? Discovering secret passageways and hidden staircases while reinforcing collapsing
Charlotte Hempel chambers, he and his team carefully uncovered the tomb level by level—until they
54 A R C H A E O L O G I C A L V I E W S came face to face with the tomb’s owner himself: ‘Abdiel. The high-ranking ‘Abdiel,
Prehistoric Dining at Tel Tsaf who has a Semitic name, served as a vizier to two pharaohs: Amenhotep III and
Danny Rosenberg and his son, Akhenaten. Join Dr. Zivie as he explores ‘Abdiel’s tomb and identity.
Florian Klimscha
56 R E V I E W S 32 Egyptian Papyrus Sheds New Light on Jewish History
Karel van der Toorn
68 A U T H O R S
The enigmatic Papyrus Amherst 63 was likely created by the descendants of the
72 W O R L D W I D E Aramean and Judean soldiers who in the fifth century B.C.E. had been stationed at
the southern Egyptian border. Recorded in a cursive script derived from Egyptian
hieroglyphs, the Aramaic texts of the Amherst papyrus keep challenging what we
know about Aramean religion and the history of the Hebrew Bible.

40 Khirbet el-Mastarah: An Early Israelite Settlement?

Ralph K. Hawkins and David Ben-Shlomo
Hidden in the Jordan Valley, Khirbet el-Mastarah may shed light on early Israelite
origins. The site contains numerous enclosures and structures, which appear to
have been used by a nomadic or semi-nomadic group at the beginning of the Iron
World’s Best-Selling Biblical Archaeology Magazine
Age (c. 1200 B.C.E.). Archaeologists Ralph K. Hawkins and David Ben-Shlomo
ON THE COVER: JULY/AUGUST 2018 Y VOL 44 NO 4 Y $5.95
WWW.BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGY.ORG
examine the evidence.
The coffin of
the vizier’s
wife, Tauret,
47 “The Nobles of the People Dug It”:
was discovered
inside ‘Abdiel’s Inside the
Remembering Three Archaeological Giants
Daniel M. Master; Hillel Geva; Daniel A. Warner, Donald D. Binder, Eric M. Meyers, and James
Tomb of
ʿAbdiel,
Israelite Psalms in

tomb. With
Egyptian Papyrus?
Vizier of Egypt
Searching for the
Early Israelites in the
Jordan Valley Riley Strange
Remembering
painted wood,
Three significant scholars—who shaped and influenced the field of Biblical
Three Archaeological
Giants

gold, and glass

inlays, Tauret’s coffin hints at the archaeology—recently passed away, but their legacies live on. The impact
importance of her and her husband. of Lawrence E. Stager, Ephraim Stern, and James F. Strange will be felt for
PHOTO: © HYPOGÉES (P. CHAPUIS/MAFB) generations to come.
 EDITOR: Robert R. Cargill
COURTESY OF THE LEON LEVY EXPEDITION TO ASHKELON

MANAGING EDITOR: Megan Sauter

WEB EDITOR: Robin Ngo
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Marek Dospěl
ADMINISTRATIVE EDITOR: Margaret Warker
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Glenn J. Corbett, John Merrill,
Suzanne F. Singer
DESIGN: David Fox, AURAS Design

EDITOR EMERITUS AND FOUNDER: Hershel Shanks

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD:

Dan Bahat, Gabriel Barkay, Oded Borowski, George Wesley
biblicalarchaeology.org Buchanan, James H. Charlesworth, Dan P. Cole, Sidnie White
Crawford, J. Harold Ellens, Charles Fenyvesi, James Fleming,
George Giacumakis, Charles A. Kennedy, Norma Kershaw, Philip
J. King, John F. Kutsko, Jodi Magness, Amihai Mazar, Eilat Mazar,
ON THE WEB P. Kyle McCarter, Jr., Ze’ev Meshel, James D. Muhly, Shalom
M. Paul, Leen Ritmeyer, Frederick Simmons, James F. Strange,
Samuel D. Turner, David Ussishkin, Jane Cahill West

Remembering Stern, Strange, and Stager Articles and the opinions expressed herein do not necessarily
represent the view of the Editorial Advisory Board or any
biblicalarchaeology.org/threegiants member thereof or of any particular editor. Advertising in
The feature article “ ‘The Nobles of the People Dug It’: Remembering Three Biblical Archaeology Review does not imply endorsement.
Archaeological Giants” celebrates the legacies of Ephraim Stern, James F. Strange, A NOTE ON STYLE: B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) and C.E.
and Lawrence E. Stager. Revisit some of their noteworthy BAR articles—covering (Common Era), used by some of our authors, are the alternative
designations often used in scholarly literature for B.C. and A.D.
pagan Yahwism, archaeological finds at Capernaum, and the Philistine market-
place at Ashkelon—in the BAS Library.
PUBLISHER: Susan Laden
THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM/ART RESOURCE, NY
Israelite Psalms in an ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: Janet Bowman
ACCOUNTING: Jonathan Laden
Egyptian Papyrus? PRODUCTION MANAGER: Heather Metzger
CIRCULATION MANAGER: Jennifer Drummond
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Karel van der Toorn contends are three ADVERTISING CONSULTANT: Michael Monheit
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 FIRST PERSON
The American Bible Society’s Electronic Inquisition
As a scholar, editor, and American, I
value the rights of free speech afforded me by the
First Amendment to the Constitution of the United
States of America. I HATE censorship. Mind you,
I’m not a fan of nonsensical, uninformed, illogical,
hyperbolic drivel either. I like to see an exchange of
ideas—a presentation of evidence—and then use my
The American intellect to decide which argument makes the most
sense based on the evidence. What’s more, BAR’s
Bible Society readers have come not only to expect, but to insist
has furtively on this presentation of the evidence—from both
the written records, including the Bible, and the
transformed archaeological data—to inform their decisions about
.BIBLE from history and the claims made by the Bible. This pro-
cess lies at the heart of BAR.
a top-level Then came the internet. One of the internet’s
domain into a revolutionary aspects was that it democratized
information, allowing anyone with a domain name
confessional to publish content online. This is not always a good
Christian and thing. Some sites are full of bad science and false
Jewish ministry claims, while others are credible sources of reliable
information. And while the credible sites gradually
network. separated from the less-than-credible ones, some-
thing initially unforeseeable happened: The internet
began to run out of practical domain names.
To remedy this problem, ICANN (the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers),
which is responsible for overseeing domain names
on the internet, decided to expand the list of exten-
sions beyond .COM, .ORG, .NET. The new domain
extensions would be more akin to the .EDU, .GOV,
and .MIL domains that were reserved for specific
types of organizations such as educational institu-
tions, government agencies, and military units.
These new domain extensions included .INFO
for information sites, .BIZ for businesses, and .NGO
for non-governmental organizations. But the one
that has created the most problems for Bible-related
academic societies, such as the Society of Biblical
Literature (SBL) and the Biblical Archaeology
Society (BAS), is the new .BIBLE domain.
Surprisingly, ICANN delegated the oversight of
the .BIBLE domain to the American Bible Society
(ABS). And, instead of administering the .BIBLE
domain like other generic top-level domain opera-
tors that simply make sure those applying are
6 J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
sufficiently related to the category, the American
Bible Society pulled a fast one. After they were
approved, they incorporated what is essentially a
statement of faith into their Acceptable Use Policy.
This means that in addition to wanting a website
that pertains to the Bible, and agreeing to refrain
from the usual prohibitions (disseminating pornog-
raphy, selling drugs, and inciting the violent over-
throw of the government), anyone signing up for a
.BIBLE domain must also agree to various confes-
sional regulations established by the American Bible
Society!
Some of these stipulations are highly suspect.
For instance, rule 4.2.B reads, “A Registrant shall
not use or permit its Domain Name(s) to be used
in any manner that would encourage or contribute
to disrespect for the Bible or the Bible community.”
Remember, the ABS gets to decide what is “disre-
spectful.” Thus, if BAR were to publish (on a theo-
retical .BIBLE site) an article in which the author
claims there is no archaeological evidence for the
Exodus, this might be considered “disrespectful,”
and we could be banned.
Three rules under section “5.4: Prohibited Con-
tent” are even more problematic. The ABS says
they will ban: “(A) Any content that communicates
disrespect for God as He is revealed in the Bible.
(B) Any content that communicates disrespect for
the Bible, or for any doctrine, symbol or principles
of faith derived from the Bible. (C) Any content that
communicates disrespect for the Jewish faith or
the orthodox Christian faith in any of their historic
expressions, or that advocates belief in any religious
or faith tradition other than orthodox Christianity or
Judaism” (italics mine)!
In fact, according to section 5.4.C, one must advo-
cate only “orthodox Christianity or Judaism” or else
fear the digital wrath of ABS’s electronic inquisition.
Setting aside ABS’s wholly problematic invocation
of “orthodox Christianity or Judaism”—seriously,
there are multiple problems with this, including
ABS’s apparent ignorance of Orthodox Christianity,
and whether they also meant Orthodox Judaism,
or just Judaism in general—the insistence that only
confessional orthodox Christians and Jews can
C O N T I N U E S O N PA G E 6 2
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BY S E P T E
6. The Jewish Diaspora and the Golden Rule
7. Alexander the Great’s Impact on the Jews
8. Jews and Greek Rule: The Heliodorus Afair
9. Desolating Sacrilege and the Maccabean Revolt
10. Apocalyptic Works and the “Son of Man”
11. Jesus’s Jewish Lineage
12. Was Jesus a Pharisee?
13. Jewish Ritual Purity: The Sons of Light
14. The Dead Sea Scrolls: Earliest Hebrew Bible
15. Was Jesus an Essene?
16. The Hebrew Scriptures and the Septuagint
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24. Jesus’s Teachings and Sayings in Context

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 QUERIES&COMMENTS
Magazine
World’s Largest
Circulation Biblic
al Archaeology
JANUARY /FEBRUA
RY 2018 Y VOL
WWW.BI BLICALA
44 NO 1 Y $5.95G
RCHAEO LOGY.OR
BAR NEWS
Kudos to Cargill!
Congratulations on your
appointment to the stellar edi-
torship of BAR, Robert (Bob)
DIGS 18 Cargill!
20 I love the new format, which
Jerusalem’s
is now comparable to Harvard
Ancient Trash
Stone Artisans r Magazine. What’s not to like?
of Israelite Hazo
Ancient Silver Scro
Why Miniature
lls:
One letter stated you are
Blessings Matter
a Midwesterner, no doubt
because of your professorship
Biblical Archaeology at the University of Iowa. Your
roots, however, are more in
in Focus line with the climate and ter-
Mighty, Miniature rain of Israel. You grew up in
the San Joaquin Valley around
Words Fresno, California, noted for
Music of the Bible table grapes, prune plums, and
almonds—and to the east lay
the higher plateaus and Sierra
Nevada Mountains. It’s like
looking east from the Jezreel
Valley across vineyards and
almond groves and locating the
Golan Heights and the Lebanon
Range. Then you moved to the
Los Angeles area to complete
graduate degrees—a locale more
in keeping with Tel Aviv and
Haifa.
Perhaps you do have Mid-
western roots. Four of your
Pepperdine graduate professors
had doctorates from the Univer-
sity of Iowa: John Wilson, Royce
Clark, Richard Hughes, and me.
Many Iowans migrated to south-
ern California. In the 1950s,
Iowa expatriates held a Fourth
of July picnic on Long Beach to
which 100,000 people came.
You are charged with a great
task. Carry on.
Let us hear from you! THOMAS H. OLBRICHT
EMERITUS, CHAIR RELIGION
Send us your letters: PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY
BAR Editorial MALIBU, CALIFORNIA
4710 41st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20016 Thank you, and many thanks for
or email us: introducing me to the theology of
letters@bib-arch.org the Hebrew Bible.—B.C.
8 J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
Apt Editor Initials
How appropriate for Bob to
sign off on his inaugural edito-
rial introduction as B.C.
Well done!
RON THOMAS
CHILLICOTHE, OHIO
I was apparently born for this
job.—B.C.
WORDS UNSEEN
Powerful Words
I have been a BAR subscriber
for many years, and Jeremy
Smoak’s article, “Words
Unseen: The Power of Hidden
Writing” (BAR, January/
February 2018), stands out
as one of the best I have ever
read. His style and prose gave
clear—and poetic—context to
his subject. The facts were
enlightening, and his writing
was really compelling.
NINA KAUFMAN
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Tiny Text Techniques?
The miniature words covered
in Jeremy’s Smoak’s article are
interesting, but how were they
inscribed? The size implies the
scribe was severely nearsighted
or used a magnifier. Then,
there is the tool used to make
the small characters. Enough
with the words, what about the
technology?
C. HENRY DEPEW
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA
Vision Viewpoint
Jeremy Smoak’s article was
amazing on many levels. The
fact not addressed here is
that no magnifying glasses
were available at that time to
facilitate the manufacturing
of the tiny words. The article
almost makes it seem like they
appeared there by magic as the
will of God.
I am an optometrist, and,
in reality, an extremely near-
sighted person could have
done this. They would have
had to hunch over the work
at a distance of several inches.
This focusing can’t be done by
people with normal vision for
more than a second or two, if
at all, and not at all as people
with normal vision grow older.
Even though it wasn’t neces-
sarily good for the individual to
have been nearsighted, it was
good for the community to have
a few people that could do these
specialized tasks. They might
even have been revered (or not).
BARBARA ARMSTRONG
DIAMOND BAR, CALIFORNIA
MUSIC OF THE
BIBLICAL PSALMS
Original Performance
In Thomas Staubli’s Archaeo-
logical Views column, “Per-
forming Psalms in Biblical
Times” (BAR, January/Febru-
ary 2018), he keenly observes
that “The Bible does not tell us
much about how psalms were
originally performed.” Yet, hints
of performance technique peek
from references within the
psalms themselves.
In particular the psalmist(s)
refer to a ten-stringed instru-
ment. Instructions for aug-
mented performance with this
instrument appear in Psalms
33, 92, and 144. We are urged
to “Praise the Lord with lyre;
make melody to him with the
harp of ten strings” (Psalm
33:2). While recognizing
Staubli’s astute observation of
subscripting, in a Song for the
Q U E R I E S & C O M M E N T S

Sabbath (Psalm 92:1–3), we are “to give
thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to
your name ... to declare your steadfast
love in the morning, and your faithful-
ness by night, to the music of the lute
and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.”
Also to “sing a new song to you, O God,
upon a ten-stringed harp” (Psalm 144:9).
The often recommended ten-stringed
harp is not a solo concert instrument
with a large range. Conceivably it was
tuned to strum a diatonic scale with an
extra accidental, an instrumental accom-
paniment and grounding for the singer—
as modern folk singers use an autoharp.
This combination of voice and small
harp suggests a spiritual style (mainly
Islamic) such as ghazal singing or Hin-
dustani vocal, raga-based, khayal per-
formance in which a short text, such as
a psalm, supplies the basis for a melodic
improvisation. In such vocal arts, the
singer often self-accompanies on a small
harp-like instrument of limited range
to set the melodic background colors.
Performed thus, psalms offer a pleasant
challenge to the singer and audience.
HARRY RAND
SENIOR CURATOR OF CULTURAL HISTORY
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Thomas Staubli Responds: In fact, the
call to praise YHWH on the ten-stringed
nevel is one of the performance hints we
find in the Bible itself. As the Levant has a
centuries-old tradition of a musical forma-
tion with a small and a large lyre, but not a
single representation of a harp, I maintain
that the ten-stringed nevel is a bass lyre—
not a harp. Both lyre types, kinnor and
nevel, are even attested on the coins from
the time of the Jewish uprising against
Rome.
The reference to grounding in folk music
seems accurate, helpful, and seminal. How-
ever, I do not think that the next parallels
are to be found in Hindustan, but rather
in the Horn of Africa, where West-Semitic
music traditions have survived among the
Semitic-speaking, non-Muslim population,
because they escaped the Islamic trans-
formation. Furthermore, the traditional
Ethiopian music scene has among its cor-
dophones a six-stringed lyre (kirar, prob-
ably related to Hebrew kinnor) and a ten-
stringed lyre (begena), which corresponds
to the Hebrew nevel.
JERUSALEM DIET OR
FISH TALES?
Catfish Isn’t Kosher!
The boxes with expert supplementary
subject matter were pleasant additions to
Yuval Gadot’s article “Jerusalem and the
Holy Land(fill)” (BAR, January/February
2018). Two of those reports, however,
seem to conflict with each other in part.
“The Jerusalem Diet” on page 43 notes
that livestock bones indicate remains
from Jewish food, both in ritually pure
animals and butchering methods. But
“Fish Tales” on page 44 notes a small
C O N T I N U E S O N PA G E 6 2

“Intensely readable. . . . Cline is a winning spokesman
for his field, with a warm and generous voice evocative
of the best university lectures.”
—James Romm, Wall Street Journal
“A gripping tale of archaeology’s greatest wonders.”
—Simon Caterson, Sydney Morning Herald
Cloth $35.00
“In this fascinating study, Stern documents ancient
Jewish graffiti from around the Roman world, and explores
the ways in which graffiti were used as a means of expression
in contexts ranging from tombs and synagogues to public
spaces such as theaters and hippodromes.”
—Jodi Magness, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Cloth $35.00

10 J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
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 S T R ATA
COURTESY OF THE ARCH TEAM/ PHOTO BY ADAM TIFFEN,
DEPUTY DIRECTOR, ARCH INTERNATIONAL
Nahum’s Tomb—Safe for Now
The tomb of the prophet Nahum will
survive to see another day.
On the Nineveh Plains in north-
ern Iraq—just 30 miles northeast
of Mosul—lies the town of al-Qosh.
Many believe this to be the home-
town of the Biblical prophet Nahum,
whose writings predicted the fall of
the Assyrian empire. Nahum’s tomb
is enclosed within al-Qosh’s historic
synagogue. While the prophet lived
in the seventh century B.C.E., his
legendary tomb dates to 1173 C.E. It
became a popular Jewish pilgrimage
destination—but is also revered by
Christians and Muslims.
By around 1950, al-Qosh’s Jewish
community had deserted the town due
to hostility from the government. The
remaining inhabitants—mostly Chris-
tian—did their best to protect the site,
but decades of war, conflict, and lack
of resources took their toll. The shrine
fell into disrepair with part of its roof
caving in, some walls crumbling, arches
cracking, and columns tilting.
It was then—in 2017—that the Alli-
ance for the Restoration of Cultural
Heritage (ARCH) actively stepped
12
in. Teaming up with the GEMA Art
Group, a Czech company specializing
in historic restorations, ARCH man-
aged to stabilize the shrine and stop
its deterioration. The community of al-
Qosh welcomed the restoration efforts
and hope that soon pilgrims will begin
visiting the prophet’s tomb once again.
More work needs to be done, and
ARCH is already fundraising to sup-
port these efforts. But at least for now,
Nahum’s tomb has been saved.
WHERE IS IT?
BAS Fellowships for 2018
The Biblical Archaeology Society is
now accepting applications for the 2018
Joseph Aviram, Yigael Yadin, and Hershel
Shanks fellowships that will allow schol-
ars to attend the annual meetings of the
American Schools of Oriental Research
(ASOR) and the Society of Biblical Lit-
erature (SBL), held this November in
Denver. The fellowships’ stipends of up
to $2,500 each are intended to cover the
costs of the winners’ travel expenses.
How To Apply
Some fellowships are reserved for papers
on the Archaeology of Late Antique
Judaism and the Talmudic Period.
(Please see www.biblicalarchaeology.
org/2018fellowships for full details.) To
apply, please submit your curriculum vitae
and a brief abstract of your paper by Sep-
tember 1, 2018, by email to bas@bib-arch.
org with “2018 Fellowships” in the sub-
ject line or by mail to:
Fellowships
Biblical Archaeology Society
4710 41st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20016
USA
A Fayum Oasis, Egypt
B Meroe, Sudan
C Rome, Italy
IMAGEBROKER/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
D Teotihuacan, Mexico
E Mycenae, Greece
ANSWER ON P. 64
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
 S T R ATA

NEW DIG REPORTS

Judah’s Iron Age Towns
When the Philistines went to return the Ark of the Covenant to Israel, their irst stop was Beth-Shemesh (1 Samuel 6:9), which was situated in the
border zone between the Judahite hill country and the Coastal Plains controlled by the Philistines. The Iron Age settlement of Tel Beer-Sheba in
the Negev is often listed as Judah’s southern border (e.g., 2 Samuel 3:10). Located on the periphery of the Judahite kingdom, both Beth-Shem-
esh and Beer-Sheba are important for understanding Judah’s state formation in the tenth and ninth centuries B.C.E.

TEL BETH-SHEMESH of 37 chapters. An analysis of the site’s archaeobotanical and

archaeozoological remains, evidence of iron production, and
Tel Beth-Shemesh: A Border Community in Judah
social and cultural aspects of ancient life at Beer-Sheba are also
(Renewed Excavations 1990–2000: the Iron Age), 2 vols.
presented, as well as the challenges of modern-
Edited by Shlomo Bunimovitz and Zvi Lederman
day preservation of this UNESCO site.
N

(Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2016), xvi + v + 774 pp.,

SEA RANEA

b&w illustrations, $189.50 (cloth) Rigorous publication of stratigraphy and meticu-

Jerusalem
ITER

lous analysis of the pottery has allowed the authors

MED

These two volumes report on the first ten years
of renewed excavations of the Iron Age settle-
Beth-Shemesh
ment at Tel Beth-Shemesh. To make the archae-
ological publication friendlier to a varied audi-
ence, authors present each historical period of
N
the site in three parts that consecutively relate
the general historical context, archaeological
stratigraphy, and contextual interpretation of finds. Broader
topics addressed in the book cover agricultural economy, the
development from a village to administrative center, and the
last days of the settlement. Also included are studies of arti-
facts, such as a gaming board, stone tools, jewelry, and amulets.
Located in the Judahite lowlands (Shephelah), Tel Beth-
Shemesh offers an intriguing story of a border town that had
to adjust to the changing geopolitical situation of the region.
Accordingly, the guiding theme of the publication is the phe-
nomenon of being located on a political and cultural border.
to conclude that the Iron Age IIA, a period crucial
for the debate on the emergence of the Biblical
DEAD SEA “United Monarchy,” extends from the mid-tenth
down to the early eighth century, and that the
Beer-Sheba evolution of the state in Judah was initiated in the
Shephelah rather than in the highlands. Indeed,
the contemporary finds from Jerusalem are poor
in comparison, underscoring the fact that Jerusalem assumed
its role as the capital of Judah only in the eighth century.
The portable limestone altar from Iron Age IIB Beer-Sheba
(see below) is incised with a lion leaping onto a camel; the scene
is framed by rows of triangles filled with cross-hatch.
© THE INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY, TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY/

BEER-SHEBA
COURTESY ZE’EV HERZOG/ PHOTO BY AVRAHAM HAI

Beer-Sheba III: The Early Iron IIA Enclosed Settlement

and the Late Iron IIA–Iron IIB Cities, 3 vols.
Edited by Ze’ev Herzog and Lily Singer-Avitz
(Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2016), xii + 1536 pp.,
b&w illustrations, $289.50 (cloth)

Representing the full report of the Iron Age cities at Tel Beer-
Sheba, these three volumes are a result of archaeological
exploration started at the site in 1969 by the late Yohanan Aha-
roni of Tel Aviv University. Individual volumes are devoted to
stratigraphy and architecture, pottery, and artifacts—for a total

BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW 13

 S T R ATA

DeMille’s Sphinx
Uncovered
A sphinx has emerged from
the shifting sands of the Gua-
dalupe Dunes in southern
California.
About 175 miles north of
Los Angeles, the Guadalupe

Dunes were the stage of
Cecile B. DeMille’s The Ten
Commandments, his silent
epic filmed in 1923. His
elaborate set—the largest ever
constructed for a film (800
ft wide and 12 stories tall)—
included 21 sphinxes. After
filming, the set was intention-
ally dismantled and buried
in the sand to prevent rivals
from using it.
Now archaeologists have
begun to partially dig up this
masterpiece—for the sake
of education and entertain-
ment—starting with a sphinx.
Their work was slow going.
Made of plaster, the sphinx
had to be carefully uncov-
ered and then given time to
harden before being moved.
Its head alone weighs 300
pounds.
Portions of the set, which
DUNES CENTER
have survived nearly a cen-
tury, are on display at the
Dunes Center in Guada-
lupe, California—for anyone
interested in viewing these
monuments of 20th-century
cinematography.

E X H I B I T W AT C H
Dead Sea Scrolls
in Denver Bedouin first came across the scrolls in

If you have ever wanted to see the Dead

Sea Scrolls but have not been able to
travel to the Middle East, this may be
your chance. Select Dead Sea Scrolls
are on display at the Denver Museum of
Nature & Science.
Perhaps the most significant archaeo- At the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, full
logical discovery of the 20th century, the
Dead Sea Scrolls represent the earliest
extant copies of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testa-
INSET: © ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY

ment). In addition to Biblical texts, the scrolls con-

THROUGH SEPTEMBER 3, 2018
texts, such as the War figurines, coins, shoes, textiles, mosaics, ceramics, and
Denver Museum of Nature & Science
Denver, Colorado Scroll, penned by a sectarian jewelry, as well as a 3-ton stone that was once part of the Temple
www.dmns.org community. Many scholars Mount’s platform built by King Herod the Great.
attribute the scrolls—written in
Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek—to the Essenes, a branch of Jews who biblicalarchaeology.org/exhibits For more on this exhibit and
others, visit us online.
adhered to an ascetic lifestyle.

14 J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
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artistry of

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 S T R ATA

CARTOON CAPTION CONTEST

Write a caption for the cartoon below (see Luke

19:1–5), and send it to us by mail or online on our
website (see box below):

BAR Cartoon Caption Contest

Biblical Archaeology Society
4710 41st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20016

Be sure to include your name and address. The

deadline for entries is July 31, 2018. The author
of the winning caption will receive a copy of the
BAS book The Origins of Things, a BAS tote bag,
and three gift subscriptions to give BAR to friends.
CARLTON STOIBER

Runners-up will receive a BAS tote bag and two

gift subscriptions.

“Is Saul also among the Samsonite luggage?”

—Jim Meek, Sacramento, California

Thank you to all those who submitted caption entries for

our November/December 2017 cartoon (above), based on
1 Samuel 10:22. We are pleased to congratulate Jim Meek
of Sacramento, California, who wrote the winning caption,
and our runners-up:

“Oh, I thought he said, ‘Hail the king of Bag-dad.’ ”

CARLTON STOIBER

—Ronald Burfield, Houston, Minnesota

“Did anyone else have access to your

bags after you packed them?”
—Spike Jones, Dundalk, Maryland
biblicalarchaeology.org/captioncontest
▸ See additional caption entries for this month’s
featured cartoon.
▸ Submit a caption for our new cartoon.
▸ Check out past cartoons and captions.
▸ Send us your ideas for Biblical scenes that
would make good cartoons for future contests.

16 J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
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SITE-SEEING

Face to Face
with Ancient Greek
Warriors
Beth Ann Judas

I have spent several summers

connected to excavations in eastern
Crete and on mainland Greece, but I
have never been able to share any of it
with members of my family. A few years
ago, I had a rare chance to share the
archaeological side of my life, as well
as many of my beloved favorite spots,
with my father and step-
mother. I was eager to ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF NAUPLION
show them one of my Location: Nauplion, Greece
favorite places, Nauplion.
Located in the south-
ern Argolid, Nauplion is an easy drive
from Athens. You can get to the town
within a lazy day’s drive with plenty of
touristy stops along the way.
Nauplion is a city that has two dis-
tinct halves: the modern part of the city

HERCULES MILAS/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

and the historic part. The majority of
the tourist focus is the historic district,
which is located by the port. It features
older homes, civic buildings, hotels,
shops, and restaurants.
The Archaeological Museum sits on
the edge of Syntagma Square and is open
Tuesday through Sunday, 8 a.m.–3 p.m.
The museum building dates to 1713 and
is one of the best-preserved examples The Dendra Panoply
of Venetian military architecture in
Greece. The museum is three stories tall; the more famous sites of Tiryns, Berbati, from the Franchthi Cave in the south-
the galleries are set on the second and Asine, and Dendra are also displayed in eastern Argolid. The majority of the
third floors, and you pay your entry fee the galleries. (Objects from nearby Myce- artifacts on this floor, however, date to
(6 euros) at the desk at the top of the nae are housed in an on-site museum in the Bronze Age.
stairs on the second floor. Mycenae and the National Archaeological The second gallery displays (on
Well lit, with signs in both Greek and Museum in Athens and so are not repre- the top floor) focus on the Iron Age
English, the museum is set up to guide sented in the Nauplion museum.) and later periods. On this floor are
you from the earliest history of the The first gallery (on the second floor) four seventh-century B.C. terracotta
area around Nauplion, and the artifacts has objects that date from some of ceremonial masks excavated from the
on display date from the Palaeolithic the earliest sites on mainland Greece, bothros at Tiryns. This bothros was a
through the Roman periods. Objects from including a display of objects excavated votive pit deposit, possibly devoted to

18 J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
A shared birthday.
A collective passion.

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Just five years after the establishment of the State of Israel, a small group of naturalists
formed the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) to preserve and protect
the country’s majestic landscapes and distinctive biodiversity.

Over the last 65 years, we have accomplished so much:

• Protected Israel's nature, open spaces and unique biodiversity
• Created a network of Field Schools in the most extraordinary natural areas
• Lobbied for the conservation of Israel’s undervalued natural resources
• Developed and led recreational and educational programs to introduce the public
to the wonders of Israel’s diversity
• And so much more!
Passionate about defending and protecting Israel’s nature, SPNI has become a beloved
institution and Israel’s true environmental voice. It is only fitting that
our milestone birthday coincides with that of the land that we love.
Here’s to our longevity!

Learn more about our conservation efforts

and eco-tourism offerings at NatureIsrael.org
or call, Toll free: 1-800-411-0966
S I T E - S E E I N G
the goddess Hera, and was excavated
on the Upper Citadel of Tiryns. The
bothros also included some impressive
terracotta votive shields from the early
seventh century B.C. It is suggested that
these pieces may be some of the earliest
examples of narrative scenes of Greek
myth. One of these shields depicts a
male warrior killing a female warrior,
perhaps showing Achilles killing the
Amazon warrior queen, Penthesilea.
The centerpiece of the museum’s
collection is the Dendra Panoply, a com-
plete bronze suit of body armor exca-
vated from a male burial in Chamber
Tomb 12 (the “cuirass tomb”) in the cem-
etery at Dendra. This cemetery is associ-
ated with the palatial site of Midea and
held 16 chamber tombs and one tholos
tomb (underground circular stone burial
chamber with a corbelled vault roof and
entered through a long passageway). The
armor, which dates to the late 15th cen-
tury B.C. (Late Helladic IIIA), is at once
imposing and fascinating, foreign and
20
familiar. Although Chamber Tomb 12
was looted shortly before the excavation,
silver cups, weaponry, and bronze vessels
were also discovered by the excavators in
addition to the armor.
Pieces of similar armor have been
found at other sites, such as Thebes,
Mycenae, and Phaistos. Additionally,
ideograms depicting this type of body
armor have been found in Linear B
texts from Knossos, Pylos, and Thebes.
Although this armor is unique because it
is a full suit, its style seems to have been
somewhat popular in the Late Bronze
Age Aegean.
The helmet is the traditional boar’s
tusk helmet, which is often represented
in Aegean art. The pieces of boar’s tusk
were attached to a leather or felted
wool cap. There are several examples, in
addition to this one, that are on display
in museums in Athens, Heraklion, and
elsewhere.
I’ve seen this armor in print and in
presentations, but standing in front of it
was literally breathtaking. It is not the
most graceful suit of armor, and it looks
bulky and uncomfortable to walk around
in, let alone fight in. But it is another
touch point to the Mycenaean world and
their relations within the Aegean and the
larger Eastern Mediterranean.
Although the Dendra Panoply is the
show-stopper for me, the museum's
entire collection is impressive. I found
myself “oohing” over many pieces as I
moved around the galleries. They have a
collection of beautiful ceramic vessels as
well as tomb groups from nearby ancient
cemeteries. Combined with small mod-
els and photos of various sites, it brings
select archaeological sites to life for the
visitor.
Not only are there several things to
do in the city, but Nauplion is also a
very nice base from which to explore
the larger area. If you would like to see
where the Dendra Panoply was found,
the cemetery of Dendra is an easy drive
C O N T I N U E S O N PA G E 7 0
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
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 Pharaoh’s Man,
ʿAbdiel
The Vizier with a Semitic Name
Alain Zivie
The purpose of this article is to
introduce ‘Aper-El, the “vizier and father of
the god,” to the readers of Biblical Archaeol-
ogy Review. This man was indeed a prominent
character of New Kingdom Egypt. His floruit
was in the last decades of the 18th Dynasty,
under the reigns of both Amenhotep III and
Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten), corresponding to
the famous Amarna period in its broader dei-
nition (c. 1391–1353 B.C.). Usually known under
the Egyptian spelling of his name, ‘Aper-El or
‘Aperel (but certainly not ‘Aper-el, as we ind
sometimes, because El is the name of a divinity
and as such requires a capital letter), his fame
expands beyond the circle of Egyptologists. This
Egyptian man also piques the interest of spe-
cialists of the Near East and the Late Bronze
© HYPOGÉES (P. CHAPUIS/MAFB)
Age, as well as of Biblical scholars and histo-
rians of religion, for two reasons: irst, because
of his Semitic name containing the name of the
god El, known also from the Bible, and, second,
INSIDE ‘ABDIEL’S TOMB. Here, the north part of the
chapel, with the central niche, is shown.
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW
because of his connection with the pharaoh
Akhenaten, too often presented as the “creator”
of monotheism.
The name ‘Aper-El is written in Egyptian
‘Aperiar (‘pri3r), with iar (i3r) being an Egyp-
tian spelling for ial (i3l). Let us also note that
the name can be sometimes shortened to ‘Ape-
ria (‘pri3). We recognize in the second element,
i3r/l, the Egyptian way of writing “El,” the name
of a prominent Syro-Canaanite god, which later
became a designation of God in the Bible (also
appearing in its plural form, Elohim). But in
its singular form, the name was used in other
Biblical names, many of which are still in use
today, like Daniel, Raphael, etc. As for the irst
element, ‘aper (‘pr), even if it recalls an Egyptian
verb meaning “to equip,” it is an attested way of
writing a non-Egyptian word: the Semitic ‘abed
(‘abd, ‘abdou), or “servant.” Therefore, the name
of ‘Aper-El (or ‘Aperel) was in fact pronounced
something like ‘Abdiel (‘Abdi-El), and it meant
“the servant of the god El” (not “the servant
of God”!). As for the shortened form ‘Aperia,
it could have been pronounced something like
23
ꜤA b d i e l
THE CHAPEL is located on the ground floor (level 0) of
‘Abdiel’s tomb. In the above photograph, which captures
the northeast part of the chapel, the central niche and
the northeast pillar devoted to Huy are visible.
‘Abdi or ‘Abdou.1 In that respect the vizier’s name
can be compared with theophoric names from
Egypt’s New Kingdom, referring to other Syro-
Canaanite names associated with the element ‘abed
written ‘aper: ‘Aper-Reshef (‘Abdireshef ), ‘Aper-
‘Astarté (‘Abdiashtoret), ‘Aper-Degel (‘Abdidegel), etc.2
Therefore, we shall call the subject of the present
article ‘Abdiel (‘Aper-El)—and shall turn to the ques-
tion of his identity and supposed origins later. First,
a short presentation of his tomb, his career, and his
family and time is necessary.
With its exceptional contents, his tomb at Saqqara
is not only the main source for our knowledge of
‘Abdiel (‘Aper-El), but the only one.3 ‘Abdiel was
buried with his wife and one of his sons, probably
the elder one, in Saqqara, the main necropolis of
24
© HYPOGÉES (P. CHAPUIS/MAFB)
Memphis. His rock-cut tomb (hypogeum) is located
almost at the southeast corner of the clif, in the
zone known as the Bubasteion, a part of the necrop-
olis known in Pharaonic time as the “escarpment
of ‘Ankhtawy” (dhnt nt ‘nkht3wy). Being the irst
of a series of tomb entrances on the same side, the
tomb is referenced as Bubasteion I.1 (I for the upper
level of tombs, 1 because it is the irst on a line
going westward). The tomb had been entered by
British archaeologist William Flinders Petrie in 1881,
who copied some signs visible in accessible parts
of the chapel (level 0). Among other unpublished
notes, Petrie’s copy is kept by the Griith Institute
in Oxford, where I consulted it, shortly after enter-
ing the tomb in 1976 and beginning my study of its
decors and inscriptions slightly more than a century
after the visit of Petrie. This hypogeum and others
close to it—and all of the Bubasteion with its New
Kingdom rock tombs, which had been reused later
as cats’ catacombs—were revealed to have been com-
pletely ignored in spite of their outstanding interest
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
 ꜤA b d i e l

and their importance for our knowledge of the Ama-

rna period in its broader sense. So began the resur-
rection of the vizier ‘Aperia (‘Aper-El), as he was
usually called after this exploration. It became a real
archaeological adventure.4
The next step was the exploration, excavation,
and preservation of his tomb, a task to which this
writer has been completely devoted since 1980 with
the French Archaeological Mission of the Bubasteion
(MAFB), supported by the French Ministry of For-
eign Afairs. Of course, all the work has been done in
close connection with the Organization of Egyptian
Antiquities, which became the Supreme Council of
the Egyptian Antiquities, headed since 2011 by the
Ministry of Antiquities.
From several points of view, this tomb is excep-
tional, as were its discovery and the diiculties and
the risks of its excavation. Other tombs of the same
period, of great artistic and historical interest, have N

been discovered close to ‘Abdiel’s (‘Aper-El’s): par-

ticularly Bubasteion I.19 of the artist Thutmes (or
Thutmose), who painted and engraved his own tomb
and who was found to be the creator of the famous
bust of Queen Nefertiti, presently kept in Berlin,*
and of Maïa (Bubasteion I.20), the foster mother of
Tutankhamun, who was found to be the princess
Merytaten, the elder daughter of Akhenaten and sis-
ter of the king, who sat briely on the throne and
functioned as a kind of regent before her brother
was crowned.5
The tomb is large and deep with four levels cor-

© HYPOGÉES (M.-G. FROIDEVAUX/MAFB)

responding to the chapel (level 0) and the funer-
ary apartments (levels -1, -2, and -3) connected by
stairs and shafts. The chapel includes a poorly pre-
served rectangular room with uninished decoration,
niveau -3
which opens onto a large square room separated into niveau -2
three parts by the presence of four square pillars niveau -1 0 1 10 coudées
niveau 0
also hewn from the rock. These partly decorated restitution
0 1 10 m

pillars sufered a lot of damage, and the southeast

MGF, FD, ML

one is now completely missing due to Late Period

transformations. The ceiling was decorated, as was
the rear wall, which includes three rock-cut niches.
The main niche, in the middle, had been painted
irst on its three sides, and later the bottom had
been engraved.
After a short stair and the irst funerary apart-
ment level -1, which was hewn as a passage turning
toward the west, a deep shaft of some 26 feet led to
level -2, consisting of a rectangular room of of which
open seven small rooms that were used as storage
places for ceramic vessels, including grain and wine
jars (not to speak of later human inhumations).
*See Strata: “Nefertiti Mystery Solved,” BAR, May/June 2015.
AN EXPANSIVE TOMB. The axonometric view (left) and plan (right) show the lay-
out of ‘Abdiel’s rock-cut tomb (hypogeum), Bubasteion I.1.
This level had been “visited” before us and sufered
extensively. Moreover rock collapses had occurred,
the last one between two seasons of excavation, so
that a huge work of consolidation had to be done
with the help of a French civil works company (now
Vinci) working on the Cairo subway. The marl clay
had “melted” in many places because of the water
from the plateau above. But it was worthwhile to
continue excavation and take some risks because
during our irst exploration, we had noticed another
shaft in a lateral room on level -2, visibly leading to

BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW 25

 ꜤA b d i e l
a fourth level—level -3. The shaft had a depth of
some 26 feet, like the previous one. Once excavated
and emptied, the loor of level -3 appeared, with a
few steps, leading through a gallery to a small room
that contained the remains of later, largely destroyed
inhumations. Our disappointment was great, but the
excavation permitted us to notice that there was
still another room—hidden on purpose under false
steps at the entrance of the gallery. The remains of
the oicial seal of the necropolis (a jackal with nine
prisoners, as in Tutankhamun’s tomb) were still vis-
ible. That was the funerary room, which had been
“visited” in antiquity, but never more after that.
After its long and painstaking excavation, the
funerary room of the vizier ‘Abdiel (‘Aper-El) at
Saqqara (tomb Bubasteion I.1) was construed as hav-
ing contained the remains of three persons and an
abundance of exceptional funerary equipment, which
relects the prominence of the characters for whom
it was prepared and attests to its own high archaeo-
logical and artistic value.6
The vizier, his wife, and one of their sons had
been indeed buried in this hypogeum. They had been
mummiied. But due to the wild ancient plundering
of the room and the burials, and also because of
water damage, we found only the skeletons, identi-
ied with certitude by the study of the coin frag-
ments and inscribed objects associated with each
burial. This identiication has been conirmed by
a close study of the human remains, performed in
the mission’s former lab at the site of Saqqara. The
© HYPOGÉES (A. LECLER/MAFB)
26
anthropological and radiographic analyses revealed
interesting elements about the age, condition, etc., of
this small family.7 But we presently have no indica-
tions about the space of time that could have sep-
arated these successive burials—unless they were
buried (or reburied) at the same time. The lack of
thematic or artistic diferences between the coins
and the funerary material gives the feeling that they
were all prepared more or less at the same time.
The study of the rich and often superb material—
inscribed or not—discovered in the funerary room
continues to bring new insight into the reigns of
Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten), and
their aftermath, during which this family had its
floruit. It must be emphasized here that the qual-
ity of many pieces of the equipment found in this
Memphite tomb, and particularly the coins, is com-
parable to similar objects discovered in the Theban
tomb, Kings Valley 46, of the parents of the queen
Tiy: Yuya and Tuya. The condition of many elements
of this material, and particularly the wooden coins,
was alas bad and in some cases even hopeless. The
room had been plundered in antiquity and had suf-
fered damage from water and humidity for centuries.
Nevertheless, with its conservators and the support
of the Inspectorate of Saqqara, the French Archaeo-
logical Mission of the Bubasteion (MAFB) succeeded
to give meaning to many fragments and to restore
some wooden objects, including some coins lids.
With a thorough study of the fragments of coins
discovered in the room, we can state that each mem-
ber of the family had been buried in three wood
anthropoid sarcophagi, itting into each other, most
probably kept in rectangular wooden coins. Some
of them were gilded, and the inner coins of each
character were particularly richly decorated with
glass inlays, similar to the coins of Yuya and Tuya.
But note that ‘Abdiel’s wife had three coins, while
Yuya’s wife had only two!
Among the most important and often gorgeous
artifacts discovered in the tomb are the inscribed
stone canopic jars (four for each person); an ivory
spoon for cosmetics, taking the shape of a gold ish
(tilapia nilotica); a stuccoed wood support for a
wig, representing the head of a young woman with
big earrings;8 and a wood votive cubit, mention-
ing many titles, positions, and honoriic epithets of
‘Abdiel (‘Aper-El) himself.9 Some of these objects are
now exhibited in the Imhotep Museum, built at the
FANTASTIC FUNERARY FINDS. The funerary room of
‘Abdiel’s tomb is pictured at the time of its discovery in
1987. The cover of Huy’s outer coin stands out among
the other pictured funerary materials.
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8

© HYPOGÉES (P. CHAPUIS/MAFB)
THE VIZIER ‘ABDIEL. The damaged cover of ‘Abdiel’s
(‘Aper-El’s) outer coin—made of wood and decorated
with paint, gold, and glass inlays—was discovered within
the funerary room of tomb Bubasteion I.1 at Saqqara near
modern Cairo.
entrance of the site of Saqqara. As for objects and
jewels made of or including gold, whether complete
or fragmentary, they have been transferred to the
Egyptian Museum, Cairo, where they are exhibited.10
A diadem, found close to the skull of the vizier and
composed of colored beads and elements of gold, is
particularly remarkable.11
As we discovered from the inscriptions on his
tomb and his funerary material, ‘Abdiel (‘Aper-El)
had several titles, corresponding to very important
functions and to the highest rank at the court and in
the state. The most used one is “chief of the town,
vizier” (mr niwt tj3ty), which is usually rendered as
“vizier.” But he also held the title, often mentioned
just before his name, of “father of the god” (it ntjr),
with “god” referring to the Egyptian king. This title
implies a real proximity to the sovereign for whom
its bearer was a kind of senior adviser and refers to
a king whom the bearer had known as a child and
helped to educate. Two other prominent men, once
generals of the chariotry, held the title “father of
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW
ꜤA b d i e l
© HYPOGÉES (P. CHAPUIS/MAFB)
THE VIZIER’S WIFE. Composed of painted wood, gold, and
glass inlays, Tauret’s coin hints at her beauty. Tauret,
‘Abdiel’s wife, was originally buried in three coins, one
stacked inside the other. Pictured here is the upper part
of her middle coin.
the god”: Yuya, the step-father of Amenhotep III,
and Ay, who became king after Tutankhamun, but
neither had been vizier.
We must also note that ‘Abdiel had been dur-
ing his career a “general of the horses,” that is, of
the chariotry (mr ssmwt), according to a title on an
object discovered in his funerary room—here again,
like Yuya and Ay. Moreover his (elder?) son Huy also
became a prominent oicer of the army, “general-in-
chief” (mr msh‘ wr).
Most interesting among his titles, also mentioned
on the same object, are “chief in the entire land” (mr
pr m t3 r-djr.f) and “child of the kap” (khrd n k3p),
often translated as “child of the nursery” but better
rendered as “child of the palace.” The holder of this
last title had grown up or had been educated in the
palace (the private part connected with the harem)
with the future king. As far as we know, no other
vizier is known as having been a “child of the kap.”
As already mentioned, ‘Abdiel had held the title
of general of chariotry. Therefore, it is interesting
27
ꜤA b d i e l

to note that in the same inscription, he is also

called “messenger of the king,” usually rendered by
“ambassador of the king” (wpwty nsw), a function
that could have had a link to his military rank and
expeditions.
Two other important titles must be mentioned.
They are found in the chapel of the tomb, but are
not well preserved, and their complete reading is
not absolutely certain. The irst one is “director of
the foster fathers and mothers of the children of
the king” (mr mn‘w/wt msw nsw). It indicates that
‘Abdiel was responsible for the oicials or wives of
oicials, the royal foster fathers and mothers who
were in charge of feeding and educating the princes
and princesses. This could be connected to the title
of “father of the god [the king],” which ‘Abdiel bears
in many inscriptions.
The second title was found close to the previous
one in the chapel and reads “irst servant of Aten
in …” (b3k tpy n Itn m …); the end is not readable.
That title would prove that ‘Abdiel had an early—
potentially already under Amenhotep III—and high
connection with the cult of Aten, perhaps irst in
Memphis and later in Akhetaten, the new “sacred”
capital founded by Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten). All
these titles and functions attest to a personal link
between ‘Abdiel (and perhaps his elder son as well)
and one or, more likely, two pharaohs, the father and
son Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV.

CANOPIC JARS. ‘Abdiel, his wife, Tauret, and their son

Huy were each buried with four canopic jars, which
housed internal organs of the deceased. Here is one of
‘Abdiel’s four stone canopic jars, mentioning him by the
shortened spelling of his name, ‘Abdi (‘Aperia), as well as
the cover of one of Tauret’s four canopic jars, which is
made of ine limestone.
© HYPOGÉES (P. CHAPUIS/MAFB)

© HYPOGÉES (A. ZIVIE/MAFB)

28 J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
 A B D I E L

FANCY FISH. An intact spoon used for cosmetics was

No inscription has been found, either

on the tomb itself, or in the material
discovered in the funerary room,
which mentions the father and
the mother of ‘Abdiel or the par-
ents of his wife. We know neither

this period. This is almost always the case

“politically” close to ‘Abdiel’s tomb. But here, too,

we must be wary of quick conclusions. In Akhet-
aten’s tombs, the situation is more radical; even the

PHOTOS © HYPOGÉES (A. ZIVIE/MAFB)

wives and children of the owners are generally not
mentioned, which is not the case with the vizier’s
tomb at Saqqara.
There are different spellings of the name of
‘Abdiel’s wife, buried with him in the tomb. In the
chapel, she is named Uriai (Wriai). Because we also
found a mention of the name Tauret (T3wrt), “the
great one,” on the funerary material, her complete
name could have been a reference to the goddess
(with the hippopotamus shape) Thueris—sometimes
shortened to Wriai, without the feminine article ta.
Close to Uriai’s remains, we discovered a golden ring
with the figure of the goddess Thueris. It could have
been used as her personal seal. At the same time, it
is not completely impossible that the vizier’s wife
also had (or possibly first had) the name Mut (Mwt),
sometimes shortened to Mutuy or Tui. Of course
this name became totally excluded in the Amarna
period, because it refers to the goddess Mut, who
was ostracized like the god Amun.
As mentioned above, one of ‘Abdiel’s sons, prob-
ably the elder one, was also buried in the tomb.
His name was Huy (Hwy), which is usually an
abbreviation of the name Amenhotep or Ameno-
phis (Imnhtp), similar to the name of the kings
Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV (later changed
to Akhenaten). But in its complete spelling, the name
referred to the main god Amun, who was defaced
everywhere with the triumph of the god Aten during
the Amarna period, even in the royal name “Amen-
hotep.” We find a clear confirmation of this fact on
an inscription of the inner coffin of ‘Abdiel’s son: his
name was first written “Amenhotep,” but was later
modified and replaced by the shortened form “Huy,”
eliminating the overt reference to Amun.
We can see that this man occupied the high-
est military functions, as he was a general of the
chariotry (“director of the horses”) like his father
at a certain stage, and a “scribe of the recruits” (ssh
nfrw). He even ascended to the rank of “general-in-
chief” (mer mesh‘a wr). In another field of activity,
he had the title of “director of all the works of the
gods.” Moreover, we observe that the chapel of the
tomb mentions him in several places, not only as the
one who “makes the name of his father live”—as is
a typical role for a son in Egypt—but almost as a
co-owner of the tomb with his father. We observe
indeed that the two west pillars of the hall are
devoted to ‘Abdiel (‘Aper-El), and that the north-
east one is entirely devoted to “the general-in-chief
Huy, son of the vizier ‘Aper-El.” It is likely that the
southeast pillar was also associated with Huy, but
we cannot find a confirmation because it had been
destroyed by ancient rock collapses and replaced by
a big masonry filling in a later period.
We have a feeling that the father and the son held
their respective positions almost at the same time.

BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW 29

ꜤA b d i e l
© HYPOGÉES (A. ZIVIE/MAFB)
WIG SUPPORT. Made of stuccoed and painted wood, this
partially preserved woman’s head was intended to sup-
port a wig. This piece is now in the Imhotep Museum in
Saqqara.
So the tomb which was initially only for ‘Abdiel also
could have become the tomb of his son, perhaps
because the son died rather early (around the age of
35 according to the study of his remains).
There were other children in the family. Tauret’s
skeleton indicates that she had been a mother sev-
eral times. This is also conirmed by a defaced rep-
resentation in the central niche of the chapel, which
shows that the family had included several children,
at least one daughter and three sons, counting Huy.
The two other sons, probably younger, were pur-
suing important careers, too. They are represented
in the irst room of the chapel, on the southwest
© HYPOGÉES (P. CHAPUIS/MAFB)
30
pillar, and in the central niche, where they occupy a
central place. They are symmetrically depicted per-
forming rituals in front of ‘Abdiel. On the east side,
we see the vizier and his son Seny (Sny, perhaps a
shortened form of Sennefer), who is a steward (mr
pr) with other titles and epithets connecting him to
the king and seems to follow his father’s civil career.
On the western wall of the niche, ‘Abdiel, who is
shown wearing a wig and not in the apparatus of
a vizier, appears with another son: Hatiay (H3ti3i),
certainly a diminutive, in front of him. This son was
a irst servant or high priest (hm-ntjer tpy) of Nefer-
tum, the god son of the Memphite triad. This title
perhaps denotes a still minor role due to his young
age. (After all, the most important gods of Memphis
were the two elder members of the triad, Ptah and
his wife, Sekhmet). All this shows that these two
sons were already at least young adults. But it is
not clear if they occupy such a place in the chapel’s
niche because the elder son, Huy, had already died
by the time the tomb’s decoration took place.
One of the main characteristics of the tomb is its
direct connection with the Amarna period, which
is the center of much interest and many heated
debates. But it is diicult to situate precisely the full
career of the tomb’s main owner, ‘Abdiel (‘Aper-El),
within the reigns of Amenhotep III and Amenhotep
IV (Akhenaten). The man could have lived most of
his adult life under and served both kings. As for
his elder son Huy, he would have served mainly or
solely the pharaoh Amenhotep IV. There would not
have been a strict symmetry between the fathers,
‘Abdiel and Amenhotep III, and the sons, Huy and
Amenhotep IV. Things cannot be so simple, espe-
cially as the history of the Amarna period in its
broader deinition (from the last years of Amenhotep
III until the reign of Tutankhamun) is not so irmly
established. In that context, the tomb Bubasteion I.1
DAZZLING DIADEM. Found close to the head of ‘Abdiel,
this diadem fragment contains faience beads and gold
pendants. It is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8

THE VIZIER’S CUBIT. A wooden cubit bearing many of
‘Abdiel’s titles and positions was uncovered from the
funerary room. The detail of the cubit shown here identi-
ies ‘Abdiel as “the chief of the city and vizier, the child of
the palace ‘Abdi [‘Aperia].” This piece is now on display in
the Imhotep Museum.
of Saqqara certainly constitutes a new and welcome
source of information on the Amarna period, but as
it is, this information is still unclear. We do not yet
have a complete idea of the role that ‘Abdiel played
during that period, even if it was evidently a very
important one.
The few precisely dated elements discovered in
the tomb include a royal cartouche partly defaced on
a wall of the chapel. It could have been Nebmaâtrâ,
the praenomen of Amenhotep III, but the ques-
tion remains open. Among the many objects of the
funerary material, clear cartouches of Amenhotep III
have nevertheless been discovered (with, in one case,
the cartouche of his wife, Queen Tiy). Clay seal-
ings referring to Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) were
also found in the disorder of the plundered funerary
room. Moreover, we discovered wine jars with hier-
atic dockets mentioning the general Huy associated
with year 10 of the reign of Akhenaten,12 giving a
terminus ante quem for the life of Huy. Finally, we
must stress that the funerary apparatus of the three
persons buried in the tomb forms a very coherent
ensemble. There is no real diference of style, and
further it refers to the Osirian funerary tradition as
it appears from the coins, etc.—as if the Amarna
crisis were not so pregnant in that Memphite tomb,
except for changes like the name of Amenhotep
transformed to Huy on the son’s inner coin. All
that is surprising, more so as we face burials which
perhaps did not occur at the same time.
In any case, one fact seems clear: ‘Abdiel (‘Aper-
El) had been particularly close to the two kings,
Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten).
He had played an important role at the side of the
irst sovereign, but he also must have continued to
work for and with the second one, in spite of the
changing political and religious circumstances—per-
haps because he had supervised the foster fathers
and mothers of Amenhotep III’s children. So, with
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW
ꜤA b d i e l
© HYPOGÉES (P. CHAPUIS/MAFB)
‘Abdiel, the Amarna crisis does not prevent us from
discerning a kind of continuity in Egyptian politics,
even if some paradigms changed. It is also clear that
the role of ‘Abdiel during this period is not acknowl-
edged as it deserves. After all, he is the only attested
high oicial of this period who had been vizier,
“father of the god,” and “child of the palace.”
Taking all that data into account, we can qualify
‘Abdiel with the title of “Pharaoh’s man”—or even,
perhaps more precisely, “the Pharaohs’ man,” refer-
ring to Amenhotep III and IV. But perhaps he died
too early in the reign of Akhenaten, possibly like
his elder son, to play a role at the end of the Ama-
rna period, unlike his contemporaries (and possible
rivals), the two future kings Ay and Horemheb. It is
diicult to admit, but we have apparently no other
mention of this man in spite of his importance.13
But we must take also into account that he may
have been known under another name, a shortened
name, or a nickname. Elsewhere he may be men-
tioned by this other name, as often happens in Egypt
for New Kingdom oicials, particularly during the
Amarna period in its broader deinition. (We also
have examples of double names in other tombs of
the Bubasteion). In that respect, a path of research
is by now being explored by this writer, which may
soon lead to an interesting identiication. However,
because there are still facts to check, I shall refrain
from any possible identiication without a solid basis,
if not real evidence.14
It is noteworthy that ‘Abdiel (‘Aper-El) is often
presented in scholarly literature as a “foreigner.”
Of course, this airmation is founded solely on his
name. But a non-Egyptian name does not imply
that the individual was a “non-Egyptian.” Rather
it denotes a foreign origin, or the foreign origin of
the individual’s father and/or mother, which is not
the same. In the case of our vizier, we can say that
everything in his tomb (the names of the members
of his family, funerary apparatus, gods mentioned,
etc.) is Egyptian and only Egyptian.
Nevertheless, a foreign origin or foreign connec-
tions of the vizier is not totally excluded. But at
the same time, we must remember that “oriental”
names, particularly Syro-Canaanite ones, could be
C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 6 4
31
 E, NY
RESOURC
MUSEUM/ART
RY &
LIBRA
MO RGAN
THE

32
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
 Egyptian
Papyrus
Sheds New Light
on Jewish History
Karel van der Toorn

The name of the papyrus scroll is prosaic, but its

contents are dynamite. Papyrus Amherst 63 contains a compilation
of about 35 Aramaic literary texts from the seventh and sixth cen-
turies B.C.E. Among them are three Israelite psalms, only one of
which—Psalm 20—appears in the Hebrew Bible.
Although the other two never made it into the Bible, the three
psalms clearly belong together: They were evidently composed origi-
nally in Hebrew; they celebrate Yaho (an alternate form of the
name Yahweh) as king of the gods; and they are part of the liturgy
of the New Year’s festival as celebrated by an Aramaic-speaking
community.
The papyrus containing the three Israelite psalms was discovered
in the late 19th century at Luxor (ancient Thebes), some 500 miles
south of the Mediterranean coast. The scribes used Demotic—a
cursive Egyptian script—to write down a collection of traditional
Aramaic texts. The handwriting dates the manuscript to the fourth
century B.C.E.
The Amherst papyrus was irst acquired by a British politician
and collector William Tyssen-Amherst (hence the name), whose
ENIGMATIC PAPYRUS ROLL. The decipherment of P. Amherst 63 has been
a long and painful process of trial and error. Written in Demotic, a cursive
script derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs, this manuscript sheds new light
on the Israelite religion and history of the Hebrew Bible. The cultic song
contained in column XII, pictured here, is strinkingly similar to the Biblical
Psalm 20 (see box on p. 37).

BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW 33

E G y p T i A N pA p y r u S

PHOTO BY DANITA DELIMONT/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

STRATEGIC LOCATION on the southern Egyptian border of Psalm 20” in the papyrus, which inally made
made Elephantine, an island in the Nile River, an impor- “Amherst 63” a buzzword in Biblical studies.
tant trade and military post early in the history of Egypt. The unusual combination of the Demotic script
The southern tip of the island, captured in this photo, with the Aramaic language is one of the reasons
contains countless archaeological witnesses to Elephan- why P. Amherst 63 had long been inaccessible in a
tine’s rich history that stretches from prehistory to mod-
reliable scholarly edition. In fact, the decipherment
ern days.
of the text has taken more than 120 years.1
So how did three Israelite texts end up in an Ara-
family sold it to the Morgan Library in New York. maic compilation written in a script derived from
From early on, the enigmatic-looking text attracted Egyptian hieroglyphs?
scholarly curiosity. Its script was clear enough, but Between 525 and 404 B.C.E., Egypt was part of
the experts could not make heads or tails of its the Persian Empire. In order to secure their hold
meaning. It took the collaboration of a Semitic lan- on Egypt, the Persians had garrisons throughout the
guage specialist and two Egyptologists to discover land, from the Nile Delta in the north to the irst
that the Demotic script of the papyrus had actually Nile cataracts by Aswan in the south. Many of the
been used to write Aramaic! Persian soldiers were merce-
The first official break- Hamath naries from abroad, which was
through occurred in 1944, Palmyra an old Egyptian practice. The
MEDITERRANEAN Damascus
when the late Raymond SEA system was that of land-for-
Bowman of the Univer- Jerusalem Babylon service: The soldiers received
sity of Chicago translated houses and land in return for
a small litany of blessings Cairo their defense of the country,
by Syrian and Babylonian the protection of caravans, and
gods. It took almost 40 years sundry other chores.
Nil
eR

before another passage of By the ifth century B.C.E.,

RED
ive
r

the papyrus was deciphered. Luxor there were various Jewish

SEA

In the early 1980s, scholars N military colonies in Egypt.

identiied “a pagan version
Elephantine/Aswan The most famous among them

34 J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8

PHOTO BY EDDIE GERALD/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
lived on Elephantine Island at the southern Egyp-
tian border. The world has known about these Jews
since the early 20th century owing to the papyri
found there. The irst discoveries of these Elephan-
tine papyri were made by locals, who sold their inds
to whomever was willing to pay. Not much later
the archaeologists came and discovered many more
papyri and inscribed potsherds (ostraca). These doc-
uments proved to be a rich source of information
on the daily life of the Aramaic-speaking Jewish
diaspora of the island.
On the east bank of the Nile across from
Elephantine lay ancient Syene—modern Aswan. This
is where the Persian garrison commander had his
headquarters. It is also the place where two other
Aramaic-speaking mercenary communities were liv-
ing. One was from Syria, speciically Hamath (mod-
ern Hama); the other came from Babylonia. The
Elephantine Jews had a temple for their god Yaho
(YHW) on the island. At Syene there were tem-
ples of the god Bethel and the Queen of Heaven
(for the Syrian community), as well as of Nabu and
Banit (for the Babylonian community). It is no coin-
cidence that these ive gods igure prominently in
our P. Amherst 63.
The Amherst papyrus is composed of four sec-
tions and an appendix. The irst three sections con-
tain ritual texts from the Babylonians, the Syrians,
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW
E G y p T i A N pA p y r u S
THE YAHWEH TEMPLE built on Elephantine by the
Aramaic-speaking mercenary community stationed
there has been consumed by the later enlargement
of the temple of Khnum, who was the local creator
deity. Only possible remains of a surrounding wall and
written sources conirm its existence. The archaeologi-
cal complexity of Elephantine is encapsulated in this
photo, showing layer upon layer of human occupation
of the site.
and the Jews, respectively. These sections difer
from one another by the gods on whom they focus:
Nabu and Nanay in the irst section, Bethel and his
female consort in the second, and Yaho in the third
section. The fourth section relects a more pluralistic
climate, as it puts the gods in diferent constella-
tions, often equating one with the other, as though
the three communities were seeking to elaborate
a common religious language. Finally, the appen-
dix contains a court novella about the Assyrian king
Assurbanipal and his brother Shamash-Shumukin.
Given the correspondence between the archaeo-
logical evidence for gods worshiped by the merce-
nary communities at Syene and Elephantine, on the
one hand, and the gods appearing in the Amherst
papyrus, on the other, the compilation clearly goes
back to the three Aramaic-speaking communities
around Aswan. These communities had brought
35
 E G y p T i A N pA p y r u S
BROOKLYN MUSEUM, BEQUEST OF THEODORA WILBOUR
IN THIS MARRIAGE DOCUMENT, dated to July 3, 449
B.C.E., Ananiah, who was a Jewish temple oicial
on Elephantine, asks Meshullam for the hand of his
daughter Tamut. The manuscript belongs to a group of
papyri and ostraca (inscribed potsherds) that allow a
fascinating glimpse into the daily life of Ananiah and
Tamut and of other Arameans and Jews at Syene and
Elephantine during the irst Persian occupation of Egypt
(525–404 B.C.E.).
with them to Egypt their speciic religious literature.
At some point, the Jews, Syrians, and Babylonians
must have decided to pool some of those texts into
one collection. Why and when this took place is the
big question. All we can tell is that the compilation
of the Amherst papyrus is the result of a deliber-
ate scribal efort to bring the literary legacy of the
three communities together. There must have been
an ainity of sorts—at least in the eyes of the scribes.
The irst of the three Israelite psalms in P. Amherst
63 is a forerunner of Psalm 20. It is slightly shorter
than the Biblical text and has no references to Zion,
the Messiah (God’s “anointed one”), or the king. In
the Biblical version, the song adopts a Judean per-
spective and focuses on the victory God will grant
the king, “his Messiah.” In the psalm preserved by
AN ANCIENT SCRIBE’S TOOLKIT included a wooden pal-
ette with two inkwells and a few reed pens (kalamos).
Reed straw was chewed to form a brushlike edge, and
ink was obtained by mixing dry inks with water. This
palette from Elephantine dates from the late sixth to mid-
fourth century and is inscribed in Aramaic as belonging to
a scribe named Haya.
36
the Amherst papyrus, the perspective is Israelite
(northern kingdom) rather than Judean (southern
kingdom). The song is addressed to Yaho, the exact
name the Elephantine Jews used to refer to their
ancestral deity (Yahweh). This Yaho—alternately
called by his epithet, Adonay (“Lord”)—is referred
to as “our bull” and equated with the god Bethel.
The title “bull” points to the Israelite origin of
the song. According to the Book of Kings, King
Jeroboam had set up images of a golden calf, one at
the site of Bethel and one at Dan. They represented
Yahweh. “This is your god, O Israel, who brought
you up from the land of Egypt!” (1 Kings 12:28).
This bovine god would henceforth be the god of
Israel—“the calf of Samaria” (Hosea 8:6)—embodying
the “Yahweh of Samaria,” known from an inscrip-
tion from the Negev (Kuntillet ‘Ajrud, c. 800 B.C.E.).
(Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom of
Israel.) The identiication of Yaho and Bethel could
be taken as another indication of the song’s north-
ern origins. The Book of Jeremiah speaks about the
veneration of Bethel as an aberration of Israel, that
is, the northern kingdom (Jeremiah 48:13).
The two other psalms of the Amherst papyrus are
not in the Bible. That does not make them any less
valuable from a historical and literary point of view.
These were songs the Israelites chanted before their
religion turned monotheistic.
They celebrate Yaho as the highest of the gods.
His kingship, in fact, derives its full signiicance from
the presence of other gods (cf. Psalm 82:1). The third
Israelite psalm takes the stars of heaven as igura-
tions of those gods, just as the mythological texts of
Ugarit (c. 14th century B.C.E.) had done several cen-
turies earlier. Being as numerous as sand, the entire
“council of heaven” proclaims Yaho’s rule. A major
god like Baal-Zaphon must accept he is no match.
He can only bless Yaho as a way to congratulate him
on his accession to the throne.
The atmosphere of these songs is festive
BROOKLYN MUSEUM, GIFT OF THE WILBOUR FAMILY
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8

Side by Side: Papyrus Amherst 63 and Psalm 20
Papyrus Amherst 63, column XII, lines 11–19
May Yaho answer us in our troubles.
May Adonay answer us in our troubles.
Be a bow in heaven, Crescent!
Send your messengers
From all of Rash!
And from Zaphon
May Yaho help us.
May Yaho give to us
Our heart’s desire.
May the Lord give to us
Our heart’s desire.
Every wish, may Yaho fulill.
May Yaho fulill,
May Adonay not diminish
Any request of our heart.
Some by the bow, some by the spear—
Behold, as for us, my Lord, our God is Yaho!
May our Bull be with us.
May Bethel answer us tomorrow.
Baal-Shamayin shall bless the Lord:
“By your loyal ones I bless you!”
End.
throughout. The New Year’s festival, celebrated in
autumn, is also a harvest festival. The second psalm
invites Yaho to “drink from the bounty of a thousand
bowls.” The “annual oferings” include ine lambs
and sheep. It is a community banquet, during which
both the Israelite god and his worshipers revel in a
plentiful meal. If the Israelites have sometimes been
pictured as the puritans of antiquity, these songs
show a diferent side.
The irst Israelite psalm equates Yaho and the
Aramaic deity Bethel, about whom we knew little
more than his name—until recently. The Syrian sec-
tion of P. Amherst 63, however, contains a number of
ritual songs to Bethel, allowing us to determine the
proile of the god. The one thing that stands out is
the similarity between Bethel and the Canaanite god
Baal. In fact, the parallels are so close that Bethel
comes across as the successor of Baal. Particularly
striking is Bethel’s title “Destroyer of the Sea,” his
rise to kingship over all the gods, and the references
to the building of a heavenly palace, which are all
familiar themes from the Ugaritic Cycle of Baal.
In more general terms, Bethel is a storm god,
a mountain dweller, a builder of rainclouds, and a
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW
E G y p T i A N pA p y r u S
Psalm 20 (author’s translation)
To the leader. A Psalm of David.
May Yahweh answer you in the day of trouble!
may the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
May he send you help from the sanctuary,
and give you support from Zion.
May he remember all your oferings,
and regard with favor your burnt sacriices. Selah
May he grant you your heart’s desire,
and fulill all your plans.
May we shout for joy over your victory,
and in the name of our God set up our banners.
May Yahweh fulill all your petitions.
Now I know that Yahweh will help his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with mighty victories by his right hand.
Some take pride in chariots, and some in horses,
but our pride is in the name of Yahweh our God.
They will collapse and fall,
but we shall rise and stand upright.
Yahweh will give victory to the king;
answer us when we call.
thunderer. At the same time, he is “the father of
the orphan and the champion [literally, ‘judge’] of
the widow”—phrases echoed in Psalm 68:6 (v. 5 in
English), where they apply to the god of the Israel-
ites. One of Bethel’s titles is “Resident of Hamath”—
the very place the Syrian community at Syene had
come from.
The god’s proper name is a bit unusual. Bethel’s
name refers to the symbol that represented him: a
stele that served as the god’s house. At some point,
apparently, the name of the god’s symbol became
the name of the god. If we assume that the bethel,
which in Semitic languages literally means “house
of God,” was originally thought of as the abode of
Baal, this would explain why the god Bethel is the
spitting image of Baal.
The identiication of Yaho with Bethel in this
psalm might seem surprising. But in their temple
on Elephantine, the diaspora Jews of southern Egypt
venerated the gods Eshem-Bethel and Anat-Bethel
alongside their ancestral god Yaho. One of the Ele-
phantine papyri refers to Anat-Bethel—the tradi-
tional consort of Bethel, better known under the
title Queen of Heaven—with the name Anat-Yaho.
37
E G y p T i A N pA p y r u S
DEMOLISHED BY ISIS in 2015, this Palmyrene shrine was
dedicated to one of the supreme gods of the city, the
Semitic sky deity Baal-Shamin (“Lord of Heavens”). The
entrance portico had six columns, topped with Corin-
thian capitals. The interior consisted of a single hall, later
used as a church. Although this temple wasn’t built until
the second century C.E., Baal-Shamin was worshiped in
Palmyra already in the seventh century B.C.E., when the
forebears of the Jewish mercenaries in Persian Egypt sup-
posedly had found refuge in the city.
Many scholars have inferred that, in the mind of the
Elephantine Jews, Bethel and Yaho were two names
for the same god, and since Bethel is the successor
of Baal, Yaho was virtually identiied with Baal.
According to the Bible, the worship of Baal was
a characteristic of the royally endorsed religious
practice in the northern kingdom. One of the most
famous stories of the Israelite prophets concerns
the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal
(1 Kings 18:20–46). The point of their confrontation
was to determine which god would answer the ani-
mal sacriice with ire: Baal or Yahweh. The encoun-
ter took place after three years of drought; every-
thing alive was dying of thirst. Lightning would have
been the harbinger of rain. In the end, Yahweh was
the only god who answered with ire, and rainstorms
soon followed. This story shows that the Israelites
38
PHOTO BY DARIO BAJURIN/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
did not think of their god as the opposite of Baal but
as a deity more perfect than Baal. Yahweh was the
superior storm god.
The mostly implicit equation of Yaho and Bethel
in the Amherst papyrus is the background against
which the worship, by the Elephantine Jews, of
various gods from Bethel’s entourage makes sense.
Eshem-Bethel and Herem-Bethel were two of these
gods, both mentioned in the Elephantine papyri.
They, too, have long been merely names to us. The
fourth section of the Amherst papyrus contains two
prophecies by Eshem-Bethel and one love lyric,
addressed to a goddess, spoken by Herem-Bethel.
These texts indicate that Eshem-Bethel was a mani-
festation of Bethel at night, whereas Herem-Bethel
represented the god as a young lover.
It is diicult to spell out what these data imply
for the religious universe of the diaspora Jews of
southern Egypt. Undeniably, though, there was an
Aramaean side to their religion, just as their cul-
tural orientation was rather Aramaean—witness their
language and the presence of a copy of the Aramaic
Life and Sayings of Ahiqar among the debris of the
Jewish quarter at Elephantine.
Interspersed among the ritual songs to Babylo-
nian, Syrian, and Jewish gods in P. Amherst 63 are
complaints and short historical narratives. Owing to
these texts, the Amherst papyrus has more to ofer
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8

PHOTO BY MARKA/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
than an introduction into the religious imagination
of the Aramaic-speaking diaspora communities of
southern Egypt. It also throws new light on their
history. Both the Syrian and the Israelite sections of
P. Amherst 63 open with a complaint over a city that
has been turned into ruins. The genre is reminiscent
of the Biblical Book of Lamentations. The complaint
of the Syrian section is about the Assyrian conquest
of Hamath in 720 B.C.E., due to which the Syrians
have become “fugitives,” as the chorus of a cycle
of songs to Bethel says, “May the troubles of the
fugitives become bright again!” The description of a
desolate city in the Israelite section, meanwhile, its
Samaria and presumably refers to its destruction in
721 B.C.E. But what happened to the Israelites of the
northern kingdom?
A short historical narrative in the fourth section
of the papyrus speaks about the shelter the Israelites
eventually found. The text tells the story of a troop
of “broken men” that reached the gate of a forti-
ied city. They were “Samarians” and spoke a lan-
guage that was incomprehensible to the citizens. The
leader of this group was a man from Judah. He was
taken to the king and told him that his “brothers”—
his brothers in arms, that is—were from Samaria.
The monarch bade them welcome saying they would
ind employment as soldiers in his city and promis-
ing them a happy future.
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW
E G y p T i A N pA p y r u S
SITTING IN THE DESERT OASIS some 125 miles northeast
of the Syrian capital, Damascus, Palmyra’s impressive ruins
attest to the wealth of a once bustling city, whose inhabit-
ants spoke a dialect of Aramaic. Most of the standing struc-
tures date to the Roman period, when Palmyra reached the
apex of its prosperity. Historical references in P. Amherst
63 indicate that the ancestors of the Jewish community
on Elephantine had fled from Samaria to Palmyra in the
seventh century B.C.E.
The constellation of Israelite soldiers with a
Judean commander is intriguing. The most plau-
sible explanation is to assume that these were people
from the northern kingdom that had led to Judah
after the fall of Samaria. There is indeed archaeolog-
ical evidence for a substantial increase of the popula-
tion of Judah in the late eighth century B.C.E. Some
of the Israelites who had led found employment as
mercenaries. Their stay in Judah was brief, though,
since the Assyrian campaign against Judah involved
a series of disastrous battles that eventually brought
the army of Sennacherib to the gates of Jerusalem.
A group of Israelite mercenaries led by a Judean had
run away to save their skin. They ended up at a city
that would give them shelter.
The fourth section of the Amherst papy-
rus does not give the name of this shelter city,
C O N T I N U E S O N PA G E 6 6
39
 Khirbet el-
The origin of ancient Israel has been
under debate since the beginnings of Biblical archae-
ology. The Biblical Book of Joshua claims that the
earliest Israelites came from the east, outside the
land of Canaan, and that they entered it by crossing
the Jordan River “opposite Jericho” (Joshua 3:16).
Many modern scholars, however, subscribe to vari-
ous permutations of the Social Revolution Model,
in which the earliest Israelites were originally
40
disafected Canaanites who led their oppressive
overlords in the urban centers in the coastal region
and headed for the central hill country. There, they
met a few Yahwists—worshipers of the deity Yah-
weh—who had lived in southern Canaan under
Egyptian inluence or perhaps had escaped from
Egypt. The two groups entered into a covenant with
each other and became “Israel.”1 Most of the models
of Israelite origins circulating today are variations on
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
-Mastarah
An early israelite Settlement?
Ralph K. Hawkins and David Ben-Shlomo
this theme of indigenous origins, which has come to
predominate in the academy.2
Models of indigenous origins have been based,
in part, on the assumption that there is no evi-
dence for early Israel during the Iron Age I (c.
1200–1000 B.C.E.) in the eastern part of the land
of Israel, especially the Jordan Valley, lying in the
Rift Valley, about 700–1,300 feet below sea level and
one of the hottest places on earth.3 Until recently,
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW
HEMIS/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
THE JORDAN RIVER VALLEY has been desirable territory
for millennia. According to the Biblical account, when
the Israelites irst entered Canaan, they crossed the
Jordan River and occupied the Jordan Valley in eastern
Israel. A recent archaeological survey uncovered nearly
70 sites with pottery from the early Israelite settlement
period (c. 1250–1000 B.C.E.) in this area. Taken on June
12, 2012, this photograph shows a section of the valley
in northern Israel with the mountains of Jordan in the
background.
41
 K h i r b e T e l- M A S TA r A h
COURTESY OF RAYMOND A. HAWKINS
POINTING TO EL-MASTARAH. Adam Zertal—standing next
to Ralph K. Hawkins—points to Khirbet el-Mastarah in
2007. Zertal had surveyed el-Mastarah and recommended
it as a site that might provide new information about
early Israelite origins.
however, these areas were among the lesser-known
and lesser-researched regions of the country. The
Iron Age period of the Jordan Valley was almost
completely unknown archaeologically. The reasons
for this have to do with location, diicult condi-
tions for exploration, and other factors.
In 1978, Adam Zertal
launched a survey of the tradi-
tional tribal territory of
Manasseh to bring fresh data
to an old debate. Manasseh is
a vital territory because it
extends from the Jordan Valley
to the Mediterranean coastal
plain and, thus, provides a
cross-section of western Pales-
tine. Zertal conducted the sur-
vey of Manasseh continually
until his death in 2015* and
covered more than 966 square
miles on foot, which is about
80 percent of the central hill
country area. The survey dis-
covered hundreds of Iron Age
I sites, thus producing a wealth
*Benny Arubas, Shay Bar, and Hershel
Shanks, “Archaeologists on Crutches,” BAR,
March/April 2016.
42
of data about the early Israelite settlement in the
highlands from c. 1250 to 1000 B.C.E.
One revolutionary aspect of the survey has been
its exploration of the valleys and desert fringes of
eastern Manasseh, a broad area encompassing 193
square miles. The survey of this region was carried
out over 14 years, from 1980 to 1994, with more than
500 days of step-by-step ieldwork invested in the
process. In the Jordan Valley, Zertal discovered 69
sites with pottery dating to the early Israelite settle-
ment period (c. 1250–1000 B.C.E.). Most of these
sites are simply large rings of stones, probably used
to house sheep or goats. A handful of them are more
complex and include additional structures abutting
the enclosures. For reasons we will discuss below,
Zertal associated those who established these new
sites with the early Israelites.
I (Hawkins) had known Zertal since the mid-
1990s and for four seasons had been a volunteer
on his excavation at el-Ahwat, where he ran a ield-
school. He often lectured on the early Israelite set-
tlement, and I became fascinated by the subject. In
2007, we spent a week together, during which Zer-
tal drove me around the Jordan Valley and showed
me a number of sites that the survey team had
discovered. I told him I wanted to work on a site
that might contribute something new to our under-
standing of early Israelite origins and asked him if
there was one he would especially recommend. He
pointed of to the horizon and told me to go dig at
Khirbet el-Mastarah.
When Zertal died on October 18, 2015, I real-
ized that nearly 10 years had
passed since he told me to dig
at el-Mastarah. I recognized
that it was time to do so and
began looking for a partner.
A friend introduced me to
David Ben-Shlomo, who had
just inished a dig at Hebron
and was also interested in the
idea of a project that might
contribute to the discussion
about early Israelite origins.
Together, we formed the Jor-
dan Valley Excavation Project,
with the goal of excavating a
series of sites that the survey
of Manasseh had discovered
in the Jordan Valley. We began
MAP BY A.D. RIDDLE
with a dig at Khirbet el-Mas-
tarah in the summer of 2017.
From the beginning, this
site was intriguing. Its name,
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8

COURTESY OF RALPH K. HAWKINS
HIDDEN IN THE HILLS. Surrounded by hills on three sides,
the site of Khirbet el-Mastarah sits in the middle of a
wadi (behind the tree in the above photo) in the desert
north of Jericho. Completely concealed by its surround-
ings, Khirbet el-Mastarah appropriately means “the hid-
den site.” It was primarily occupied during the Iron Age
(c. 1200–586 B.C.E.).
“Mastarah,” is derived from a root that means “to
hide,” with the name literally meaning “the hidden
site.” Located in the desert, about 4 miles north of
Jericho, of the main roads and away from reliable
water sources, the site is indeed hidden. It is posi-
tioned in the fork of a wadi and surrounded by hills
on three sides, which completely masks it from its
surroundings.
The 2.5-acre site consists of a number of enclo-
sures and small structures. With a team of about 15
students and volunteers from the U.S., Canada, Israel,
China, and Australia, we dug six test trenches in
the main site and three in two subsidiary sites, and
we excavated a total of 14 complete 5-by-5-meter
squares, along with six partial squares. Altogether,
we excavated an area of about 400 square meters
(more than 4,300 square ft).
El-Mastarah contains three types of architectural
units: large rounded enclosures (about 10 ft in diam-
eter), small rounded or oval enclosures (usually 6–10
ft in diameter), and small rectilinear rooms (usually
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW
K h i r b e T e l- M A S TA r A h
about 4 by 6 ft). The walls, which are built of rubble
stones typically about 1.5 feet in size, were each only
a single course in height and usually only one row
thick. Our excavation areas included rounded enclo-
sures, oval units that were either smaller enclosures
or may have been part of smaller structures, walls,
open areas, and several areas where there were a lot
of large stones but no clear, deinable architecture.
One oval unit that we excavated had an entrance
with a large lat stone that served as a threshold.
Inside another unit, one of our volunteers found two
large basalt grinding stones. These appear to have
been in situ on a loor. She also found a few bones,
all from sheep or goats. However, most of the exca-
vated areas were almost entirely devoid of inds, and
we were therefore unable to establish a irm date for
the architecture.4
Our pottery repertoire contained fragments of two
kraters that date either to the Late Bronze Age II
(1400–1200 B.C.E.) or the Iron Age I (1200–1000
B.C.E.). There were also 26 Iron Age sherds, eight
of which came from cooking pots. Three of these
date to the early Iron Age I (1200 B.C.E.) or the
beginning of the Iron Age II (1000 B.C.E.). This is
interesting, since a large proportion of cooking pots
was also noted in the Iron Age assemblage at several
of the “sandal” sites (i.e., sandal- or foot-shaped
enclosures) discovered in the Jordan Valley.*
* See Ralph K. Hawkins, “Israelite Footprints,” BAR, March/April 2016.
43
 K h i r b e T e l- M A S TA r A h
Our aim at el-Mastarah had been to determine
the date and function of the structures that were
already visible above ground before we excavated.
However, the lack of pottery sherds in direct asso-
ciation with the structures prevented us from estab-
lishing the date of their construction and use. They
seem to have been built in the same period, since
there was no evidence that the structures cut into
or overlay each other. Based on the sherds found
by the survey and during the excavation, it appears
that the site was founded in the Middle Bronze Age
II (2000–1550 B.C.E.), functioned mostly during the
Iron Age (1200–586 B.C.E.), and was reused dur-
ing later periods, especially the Roman period (37
B.C.E.–324 C.E.).
But we could not date the structures. Everywhere
we dug, when we reached 0.5–2.5 feet in depth, we
reached a sterile layer with no inds at all. This
raised an important question: Why were the struc-
tures sterile? Why was there no development at the
site? This is particularly surprising when we remem-
ber that this region was said to be highly fertile in
the irst millennium B.C.E.
In looking for answers to this puzzle, we began
researching current Bedouin settlements and various
ethnographic studies, and we found that animals are
often housed in enclosures while the people live
in tents around them.5 In such cases, the Bedouin
sometimes live at some distance from the enclo-
sures. We also examined the survey reports of the
other Iron Age I enclosures and composite settle-
ment sites in the Jordan Valley and found that there
was a paucity of pottery and material inds at these
sites as well, which suggests that they were seasonal
settlements.6 We concluded that the inhabitants
COURTESY OF RALPH K. HAWKINS
44
of el-Mastarah might not have lived in the enclo-
sures, but instead corralled their cattle there while
they lived in tents around the site, possibly at some
remove.
There do not appear to have been enough ear-
lier communities in the region to provide a source
for the population associated with these new sites.
In the Late Bronze Age, the Jordan Valley was
almost completely uninhabited, and the Manasseh
Hill Country to its west was likewise only sparsely
populated.7 When Iron Age I sherds were found at
69 sites in the Jordan Valley, most of which were
founded on virgin soil where there had been no pre-
ceding settlement, it seemed to contradict the idea
of indigenous demographic shifting and suggested
instead the entry of new population groups from
outside the land. Pointing to similarities between the
Late Bronze Age to Iron Age I pottery types found
in the Central East Jordan Valley, on the one hand,
and those found in the Central Hill Country on the
western side of the Jordan, on the other, Zertal and
Shay Bar of the University of Haifa suggest that this
new population may have entered ancient Canaan
from Jordan.8 Whether or not this was the case, the
rise in settlements in the Jordan Valley was clearly
part of a settlement phenomenon that spanned both
sides of the Jordan River during the transition from
the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age—a phenom-
enon that was probably connected with the tribes
of Israel.9
If sites like Khirbet el-Mastarah are early Israelite
settlement sites, Zertal and Bar have suggested that
they should change how we think about the archi-
tecture of early Israelite settlements.10 Up until now,
it has been assumed that the earliest Israelite settle-
ments were in villages made up of a circle of houses,
whose rear walls served as a sort of enclosure wall
for the village. This model, however, is based on the
study of a small number of sites like Izbet Sartah, at
the boundary of the Sharon Plain, and other sites
from later periods. The earliest settlement, however,
might have occurred in the east, in the Jordan Val-
ley, at small, rural sites like el-Mastarah, where the
settlers corralled their sheep and goats in enclosures
while they lived in tents around them. Were this the
case, the Israelites may have established sites like
Izbet Sartah, where they lived in a ring of houses
that formed a dwelling enclosure, later in the settle-
ment process.
OVAL ENCLOSURE. Khirbet el-Mastarah contains mostly
small rectangular structures and circular enclosures,
which were likely used to corral animals. The oval enclo-
sure (left) abuts a structure.
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8

COURTESY OF RALPH K. HAWKINS
RECTILINEAR RUINS. El-Mastarah contains several recti-
linear rooms, which average 4 by 6 feet. Built of rubble
stones, the walls stand about 1.5 feet tall. Above, Sam
Otto crouches beside a low wall made of a single course
of stones.
At the end of our excavation season at Khirbet
el-Mastarah, we visited the nearby site of Khirbet
‘Auja el-Foqa, a well-preserved fortiied city on a hill
about 2 miles southwest of el-Mastarah. The British
survey had visited the site in 1874 and, once they
reported that it was the ruin of a modern village, no
one bothered to visit it again for nearly 130 years.
The survey of Manasseh visited the site in 2003 and
conducted a thorough survey, followed by a detailed
report of their indings.11 However, the site has never
been excavated.
‘Auja el-Foqa is on a high hill isolated by steep
slopes, rising about 100 meters above the valley
below. We climbed the stony peak and found the
settlement surrounded by a casemate wall with
more than 20 casemate rooms in it. The remains
of a tower are located at the center of the site, as
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW
K h i r b e T e l- M A S TA r A h
well as numerous buildings across the site, including
what may be the remains of a four-room house. The
structures are well preserved, with walls standing up
to 6.5 feet in height. In a number of locations on the
site, we could see the remains of earlier structures
underneath those on the surface. Ninety percent of
the pottery collected dates to the Iron Age, and the
survey concluded that the site was a fortiied town
during the Iron Age II (1000–586 B.C.E.). However,
the site may have been founded earlier, as the earlier
structures indicate.
Zertal identified ‘Auja el-Foqa with the site
of Ataroth, mentioned in the description of the
Manasseh-Ephraim boundary in Joshua 16:5, on the
basis of its location and name.12 The name Ataroth
means “crown,” and the site crowns the hilltop.
Shmuel Ahituv of the Ben Gurion University of the
Negev has recently proposed identifying ‘Auja el-
Foqa as Na’arta, a central administrative site in the
Jericho region mentioned in a recently discovered
seventh-century B.C.E. papyrus as the source of a
shipment of wine to Jerusalem.13 In either case,
the site was clearly a military and administrative
45
 K h i r b e T e l- M A S TA r A h
COURTESY OF RALPH K. HAWKINS
center in the Jordan Valley and may yield important
evidence about the administration of Judah in this
region during the Iron Age II (1000–586 B.C.E.).
By the end of our 2017 season, we were struck
by the fascinating picture that had begun to emerge
in the Jordan Valley, a region that up until recently
has been virtually unknown archaeologically. Khirbet
el-Mastarah may be representative of an early Isra-
elite settlement when the Israelites were a nomadic
or semi-nomadic people in the region, and Khirbet
‘Auja el-Foqa when they were a state-level society.
Within a range of just a couple of miles, we may
be able to see the evolution of early Israel from a
domestic-scale culture to a political-scale culture.
This picture corresponds with the Biblical account
46
COURTESY OF RALPH K. HAWKINS
KHIRBET ‘AUJA EL-FOQA. Two miles southwest of Khirbet
el-Mastarah lies the fortiied city of Khirbet ‘Auja el-Foqa,
dated to the Iron Age II (1000–586 B.C.E). Perched on a
high hill, the site contains numerous well-preserved struc-
tures. Above, Mary Hawkins stands outside the remains
of a tower at the site’s center. In some structures, earlier
remains are visible underneath the remains visible upon
the surface (see left), which hints that the site may have
been settled earlier than the Iron Age II. Khirbet ‘Auja el-
Foqa may illustrate a later stage of Israelite settlement—
while Khirbet el-Mastarah represents an earlier one.
of Joshua through Kings, which portrays the early
Israelites in eastern Manasseh camping in Gilgal,
near Jericho (Joshua). Later, it depicts them settling
down and building houses in the highlands (Judges).
And, inally, it recounts their development into a
kingdom (Samuel–Kings).
In 2019, we plan to begin excavations at Khirbet
‘Auja el-Foqa, and we invite you to join us in this
pioneering work in the Jordan Valley. To learn more,
go to our project website (www.jvep.org). a
1 For an overview of the various models of early Israelite
origins, see Ralph K. Hawkins, How Israel Became a People
(Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2013), pp. 29–48.
2 Most recently, Dever states, “all current models … focus on
C O N T I N U E S O N PA G E 6 8
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
 “
THE NOBLES
OF THE

PEOPLE
DUG
”
IT (NUMBERS 21:18)

Remembering Three Archaeological Giants

In the winter of 2017–2018, three giants in the

ield of Biblical archaeology passed away—Lawrence E. Stager,
Ephraim Stern, and James F. Strange. They left behind a gen-
eration of groundbreaking scholarship, as well as the present
generation of ield archaeologists and Biblical scholars. In this
memorial article, a number of colleagues and students who
worked closely with these archaeological legends relect on
their remarkable lives, careers, and the lasting contributions
they made to the ield of archaeology.—B.C.

BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW 47

reMeMberiNg Three giANTS
Giant of Iron Age
Research
lawrence e. Stager (1943–2017)
I
n December of 2017, Lawrence
(Larry) Stager, the most signiicant
Biblical archaeologist of the past 40
years, passed away at his home in Con-
cord, Massachusetts.
Larry received his Ph.D. from Har-
vard University in 1975, with a disserta-
tion dealing with desert farming. He
went on to teach Syro-Palestinian
archaeology and Biblical archaeology at
the Oriental Institute of the University
of Chicago from 1973 to 1985, before
returning to an endowed chair at Har-
vard as the inaugural Dorot Professor of
the Archaeology of Israel and as
Director of the Semitic Museum from
1985 to 2012. In his more than 40 years
FIND OF A LIFETIME. Larry Stager stands
behind the silver-plated bronze calf that was
discovered at Ashkelon in 1990. The calf
and its house—a clay shrine—date to the
16th century B.C.E. (Middle Bronze Age).
© CARL ANDREWS/LEON LEVY EXPEDITION TO ASHKELON
48
of teaching, Larry served as primary
supervisor of over 50 doctoral students.
He directed excavations at Idalion,
Cyprus; at Carthage, Tunisia; and, from
1985 to 2016, the Leon Levy Expedition
to Ashkelon, Israel. Larry was named a
member of the Austrian Academy of
Sciences. In 2016, he received the Percia
Schimmel Prize from the Israel Museum
for his contributions to archaeology in
Israel, an honor rarely given to a non-
Israeli scholar.* In 2018, the Israel
Exploration Society will publish a vol-
ume of Eretz-Israel in his name—just the
third gentile to receive this honor.
It is hard to overestimate the inlu-
ence that Larry had on the ield of Bib-
lical archaeology; he revolutionized the
ield. To get a sense of his contribution,
it is worth reviewing the scholarly land-
scape of the 1970s. After the death of
William F. Albright, unexpectedly fol-
lowed by the death of G. Ernest Wright,
Biblical archaeology as a discipline was
no longer fashionable. Archaeology in
the United States was in the midst of
a revolution, throwing of past ways in
favor of new “scientiic” methods. In
such a context, admitting to being a
“Biblical archaeologist” was a bit like
walking into a chemistry lab and admit-
ting to practicing alchemy. This same
American revolution in archaeology also
looked askance at archaeologists around
the world (including those in Israel)
who were not up-to-date on the latest
archaeological theory or jargon.
From the beginning, Larry stood
above these trends. He was secure
enough in himself that he did not feel
the need to limit what he could study or
from whom he could learn. His training
had already taken him to sit under the
tutelage of Nahman Avigad, Roland de
Vaux, Yigael Yadin, Trude Dothan, and
others, and he found their understand-
ing of the past to be incredibly stimulat-
ing. He had worked under Frank Moore
Cross, William Moran, and Thomas O.
Lambdin and saw great value in con-
tinuing to use the Bible, with the appro-
priate critical background, as a source
* See Strata: “How Larry Stager Came to Ashkelon,”
BAR, September/October 2017.
© MELISSA AJA/LEON LEVY EXPEDITION TO ASHKELON
Lawrence E. Stager
for understanding the past.
As Larry thought about Biblical
archaeology for the 21st century, he
reconceived the relationship between
Biblical studies and archaeology in order
to emphasize what both disciplines
could do best. In the past, the caricature
(and often the sad reality) was that Bib-
lical archaeology only served to “prove”
or “disprove” the Bible. Did Abraham
exist? Did David kill Goliath? Archae-
ological remains could never hope to
answer many of these questions with
any certainty, and this narrow focus
ignored the real evidence that archae-
ologists discovered in the ield.
As Larry thought about these rela-
tionships, he turned to the Annales
school of French historians, led by Fer-
nand Braudel. For Braudel, the every-
day events of history take place in the
context of longer social trends, which
are themselves played out on the geo-
graphic landscape. To understand the
events, you need to understand how
they it into these longer historical ten-
dencies. For Larry, this framework was
extremely helpful. To understand the
Biblical poem of Deborah and Barak, for
example, one irst needed to apprehend
tribes, pastoralism, family structure, and
village commerce as understood through
archaeology. Then, all of this needed to
connect to the geography and ecology
of ancient Canaan. Together, these bro-
ken fragments could be restored by the
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8

expert historian into the story of the
emergence of Israel or the beginnings
of monotheism.
Larry used archaeology and the
Bible with a skillful awareness of what
each discipline could contribute to the
larger stories of history. He wrote on
the Philistines, early Israel, Deborah,
Abimelech, David, the Israelite family,
child sacriice, and the destructions of
Nebuchadnezzar. Many of his research
ideas became award-winning articles
in Biblical Archaeology Review. Larry’s
best statement on Biblical archaeology
was his book Life in Biblical Israel, co-
written with Philip J. King. Together,
all of his works charted a way forward
for future generations to realize that
Biblical archaeology is a fruitful disci-
pline that beneits from the heritage of
archaeology in Israel and the ancient
writings preserved in the Bible.
—Daniel M. Master
Giant of the
Persian Period
ephraim Stern (1934–2018)
P
rofessor Ephraim Stern was one
of Israel’s foremost archaeolo-
gists, a pioneer in his ield with
numerous achievements to his credit
and an international reputation as a
scholar. Alongside his academic pursuits,
he devoted considerable efort to pro-
moting public interest in archaeological
excavations and research.
Ephraim was born in Haifa, where
he was educated until his military ser-
vice. In 1955, he began his studies in
the Departments of Archaeology and
Jewish History at the Hebrew Univer-
sity of Jerusalem. In 1968, he completed
his doctorate dealing with the Persian
period in the Land of Israel with high
honors. This work remains of great
importance to this day. It synthesizes
and analyzes finds from the Persian
period, which was until then an elu-
sive episode in the history and mate-
rial culture of the Land of Israel, with
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW
which Ephraim remains identiied. He
was among the irst instructors in the
Department of Archaeology at Tel Aviv
University following its establishment.
In 1971, he returned to the Depart-
ment of Archaeology (later to become
the Institute of Archaeology) at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where
he taught for many years, teaching and
training several generations of archae-
ologists, some of whom have become
current leaders in the ield.
Simultaneous to his teaching duties,
Ephraim conducted archaeological exca-
vations and research in several areas—
and continued to do so after retiring
from his teaching post in 2002. He was
a regular visitor at archaeological exca-
vations, always keeping up to date on
the latest discoveries, including those
from periods outside his own specializa-
tion. In recent years, he took a particu-
lar interest in excavations underway in
Jerusalem, which he visited frequently
and discussed with their excavators to
better understand the city’s history. In
his own subtle way, he would often
remark on the paucity of inds dated to
the Persian period in Jerusalem.
Ephraim began his archaeological
career as a staf member at important
excavations, including those at En Gedi,
Masada, Hazor, Tel Mor, and Beer-
Sheba. He later directed excavations at
Kedesh and Tel Mevorakh, culminating
in extensive excavations that he directed
Ephraim Stern
reMeMberiNg Three giANTS
COURTESY OF THE TEL DOR PROJECT
LORD OF THE SEA PEOPLES. Ephraim Stern
surveys excavations at Tel Dor.
from 1980 to 2000 at Tel Dor, one of
Israel’s major archaeological sites. This
was one of the largest and longest exca-
vation campaigns conducted in Israel. It
exposed remains of a multicultural port
city, which was settled from the Bronze
and Iron Ages through the Roman
period. He created a model excavation
project engaging hundreds of volunteers
from Israel and abroad. It was at Dor
that Ephraim became fully aware of the
remains of a material culture belonging
to the Northern Sea Peoples and Phoe-
nicians, topics that would engage him
in future research. Fully aware that the
secrets of Tel Dor would require fur-
ther excavation, and committed to pub-
lishing the results of his excavations, he
passed the direction of ieldwork at the
site on to his students, who continue to
work there.
Although he is known as a foremost
scholar of the Iron Age and Persian
period and of the Phoenicians, Ephraim’s
broad knowledge of the archaeology
of the Land of Israel resulted in his
appointment as editor-in-chief of the
New Encyclopedia of Archaeological
Excavations in the Holy Land, (Hebrew
edition, 1992; English edition, 1993; an
English supplementary volume was pub-
lished in 2008). His abundant energy,
devotion, and involvement in every
aspect of this important reference work
49
reMeMberiNg Three giANTS
led to its successful completion. The
encyclopedia provides summaries of the
results of archaeological excavations con-
ducted at hundreds of sites in Israel for
more than 150 years. It is a compendium
of archaeological data from the Land of
Israel in all periods of human activity,
from prehistory through modern times.
The bibliographies accompanying each
entry are detailed and up to date.
The many books and articles pub-
lished by Ephraim covering a wide
range of topics brought recognition of
his contribution to archaeological sci-
ence in Israel. He was invited to pres-
ent papers at scholarly gatherings and
international congresses. His scien-
tiic achievements and contribution to
archaeological research won him the
prestigious EMET prize, sponsored by
the A.M.N. Foundation for the Advance-
ment of Science, Art and Culture in
Israel, under the auspices of and in
cooperation with the prime minister of
Israel, and several other awards, includ-
ing the Israel Museum’s Percia Schim-
mel Prize, the Irene Levi-Sala Book
Prize on behalf of Ben-Gurion Univer-
sity of the Negev, and awards by Yad
Izhak Ben-Zvi and the Biblical Archae-
ology Society.
Ephraim’s public activity found
expression in his many years as chair-
man of the Archaeological Council, a
scientiic advisory body to the direc-
tor of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Ephraim also served for many years
as a member of the Board of Directors
of the Israel Exploration Society (IES)
and from 2005 as its chairperson. In
this role, he devoted time and energy
to promote the society and its projects.
The IES’s success was foremost in his
mind, and he met the challenges of
guiding and lecturing at the society’s
conventions and editing its publica-
tions. Ephraim is identiied above all
with the journal Qadmoniot, published
by the IES. From its initial appearance,
he served as deputy editor and, from
1978 (except the years 1994–1998), as
the journal’s editor. He maintained its
scientiic integrity and aesthetic presen-
tation, achieving its status as the major
50
Hebrew-language publication presenting
archaeological research and discoveries
in the Land of Israel and neighboring
lands in a popular scientiic format.
In appreciation of Ephraim’s contri-
bution to IES projects, Volume 29 of
its lagship Eretz-Israel series was pub-
lished in his honor on his 75th birthday.
As we worked closely together over
many years, I can attest to Ephraim’s
positive outlook and love of life. Always
pleasant to work with, he was a sociable
person who developed personal friend-
ships with colleagues and all he came in
contact with, remained modest in spite
of his lofty professional status, and was
always ready to share his knowledge
and experience with young archaeolo-
gists. In addition to his intensive archae-
ological and public activity, he found
time for enjoyment of diverse cultural
forms, including classical music and art.
Ephraim’s passing while still engaged
in intensive activity has left a vacuum
in the archaeological community and at
the Israel Exploration Society.
May his memory be blessed.
—Hillel Geva
Giant of
New Testament
Archaeology
James F. Strange (1938–2018)
J
ames Francis (“Jim”) Strange was
born in 1938 in Pampa, Texas, the
youngest child of Floyd Thomas
Burchield and Buena Frost (“Frostie”)
Burchield. The family soon moved to
Tyler, Texas, where he grew up with
his two older sisters, Mary Lynn and
Tomasene. Jim was adopted by his
mother’s second husband, Jerry Don-
ald (“Rip”) Strange.
During his early years in Tyler, Jim
acquired a taste for the outdoors by
working his way up the ranks of the
local Scouting program. He eventually
attained the rank of Eagle Scout. From
his time in Scouting, Jim fondly recalls
COURTESY JAMES R. STRANGE
James F. Strange
being driven to a farmer’s ield north
of town, where he and the other scouts
were allowed to follow the mule-driven
plow and carefully watch for artifacts to
be exposed. Because the ield had once
been a battleground between the Caddo
and the Comanche, the plow soon
brought to light many buried arrow-
heads and potsherds.
After high school, Jim attended Rice
University, graduating in 1959 with a
B.A. in philosophy. Continuing his edu-
cation, he entered Yale Divinity School,
where he earned a bachelor of divin-
ity in 1964. It was during these years
that Jim developed a strong interest in
the Bible and its setting, leading him to
gravitate toward archaeology.
Accordingly, after graduation from
Yale, Jim looked for a doctoral pro-
gram in New Testament studies at sev-
eral universities, asking to be allowed
to research issues in New Testament
archaeology. Two schools accepted his
proposal and application—Drew Uni-
versity and the University of Montreal—
both of which had ine traditions of Bib-
lical and archaeological studies.
Jim decided to attend Drew Univer-
sity in 1964 as a part-time graduate stu-
dent. In 1969, he interrupted the writ-
ing of his dissertation to participate in
his irst archaeological dig—the exca-
vations at Tel Gezer under the direc-
torship of Bill Dever. That is where he
and Eric Meyers irst met and became
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8

close friends. Jim served as an area
supervisor at Gezer, an experience that
fostered in him a passion for archae-
ological ieldwork. As a result of that
experience, he was invited to join Eric
as an area supervisor in 1970 at Khirbet
Shema‘ on what was to be known as
the Meiron Excavation Project (MEP).
Jim became associate director of MEP
in 1971 and served in that position until
1981. It was there in the Upper Galilee
that Jim earned the afectionate title
of “Abunah,” or “Father,” when Eric
explained to their Druze workers that
Jim was not only an archaeologist, but
also a Baptist minister. Jim considered
archaeology to be a divine calling and
his professorship to be his place of min-
istry. He often said, “I want to be the
best archaeologist I can be.”
As a member of the MEP, Jim exca-
vated small Jewish villages, especially
ones with synagogues, rather than the
urban sites favored by so many archae-
ologists at that time. Very few syna-
gogue sites had been excavated in the
years since the German team of Kohl
and Watzinger conducted soundings at a
MAIN STREET SEPPHORIS. Carolyn and Jim
Strange stand on the cardo at Sepphoris in
the early 2000s.
DANIEL A. WARNER
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW
number of synagogue sites at the begin-
ning of the 20th century. By excavating
four sites with synagogues, the MEP
was able to contribute to what became
a rapidly growing and lourishing ield—
the excavation of Classical-period sites
in Galilee.
After completing his Ph.D. in
New Testament studies at Drew, Jim
accepted a position at the University of
South Florida (USF) in Tampa, Florida,
where he remained for the length of his
academic career.
During his time at Rice, Jim met and
married the love of his life, Carolyn Mid-
kif, who herself served in many dig posi-
tions, including registrar and camp man-
ager. The two of them went on to raise
four children, Mary Elizabeth, James
Riley, Katherine Alexandra, and Joanna
Carissa, with the entire family often
spending summers overseas on excava-
tions. All of his children worked as area
supervisors at Sepphoris. This undoubt-
edly led to two of them following in their
father’s footsteps: James Riley Strange,
Associate Professor of Religion at Sam-
ford University and Director of the Shi-
khin Excavation Project in Galilee, and
Katherine Strange Burke, a lecturer in
Islamic studies at UCLA.
Jim distinguished himself through-
out his long career at USF, where he
began in 1972 as an Assistant Professor
of Religious Studies and quickly rose to
the rank of full professor in 1977. Dur-
ing this time, he served as Chair of the
Department of Religious Studies, Exec-
utive Director of the Interdisciplinary
Center for Hellenic Studies, and Dean of
the College of Arts and Letters. Among
the many honors he received were the
Silver Medallion Award for Brother-
hood from the National Conference
of Christians and Jews in 1987 and a
National Geographic grant in 1989. He
served on the board of directors for the
Florida Endowment for the Humanities
from 1983 to 1987, was named Distin-
guished University Professor in 2001,
and received the Charles U. Harris Ser-
vice Award from the American Schools
of Oriental Research (ASOR) in 2006.
Jim’s extensive career in archaeology
reMeMberiNg Three giANTS
centered in Israel, from his irst experi-
ence at Tel Gezer to his serving as Direc-
tor of the USF’s Excavations at Sepphoris
from 1983 to 2010. In addition, he also
participated in—or advised—excavations
at Khirbet Shema‘, Meiron, Gush Halav,
Nabratein, Tell er Ras, French Hill (Jeru-
salem), Khirbet el-Qom, Caesarea Mari-
tima, En Gedi, Survey in Lower Galilee,
Yodfat, Cana, Qumran, Mt. Zion, Jafa,
and Shikhin.
Jim developed a range of archaeo-
logical skills that few possess. His work
with his father taught him surveying
with an optical transit. He drew balks,
top plans, pottery, glass, and artifacts
with precision. He wrote excavation
manuals for Caesarea and Meiron and
published articles on archaeological
method and theory. Early on, he estab-
lished himself as a ceramicist, and his
work in the MEP allowed him to con-
tribute to the typology of Hellenistic-
through Byzantine-period pottery widely
in use in Israel today. Jim was a poly-
glot, speaking four languages and read-
ing 12 in addition to English. His desire
to disseminate his research resulted in
an impressive body of published works.
He lectured in the United States, Can-
ada, England, France, Germany, Spain,
Denmark, Norway, South Africa, Bosnia,
and Israel—and was frequently inter-
viewed in television specials on the his-
torical Jesus and archaeology of Israel.
It was primarily through ASOR that
Jim was able to maintain his close con-
tacts with colleagues through the years,
and his regular participation in its
Annual Meeting and membership on the
Board of Trustees meant a great deal to
him and those around him.
Jim’s colleagues, students, excavation
volunteers, family, and friends beneit-
ted from his sage mentorship, generous
friendship, and innumerable academic
contributions, and for his being the very
personiication of the Gentleman Scholar.
As such, he has been a true inspiration
to us all. He died in his home on March
23, surrounded by family.
—Daniel A. Warner,
Donald D. Binder, Eric M. Meyers,
and James Riley Strange
51
 BIBLICAL VIEWS
Where Are the Scribes in the Dead Sea Scrolls?
Charlotte Hempel
The caves near Khirbet Qumran
revealed almost a thousand Dead Sea Scrolls as well
as large numbers of tabs for fastening scrolls. At
least four inkwells were discovered in the nearby
settlement of Qumran. Altogether we have access
to material evidence for scribal activity more ample
than anywhere else in the ancient world. While it
has become clear that not all the scrolls were com-
posed or copied in the vicinity of Qumran, some
scribal activity was clearly taking place there—
something that has recently been confirmed by
materials science.
In light of this, it is all the more striking to find
very few references to scribes in the non-Biblical
Dead Sea Scrolls and none at all in the amply
preserved accounts of the sectarian community’s
affairs. When we do read about scribes, they are
without exception figures of the past. The term
occurs most frequently in the non-Biblical Ara-
maic scrolls often to identify individuals of the past
who distinguished themselves in this role. In the
Aramaic Levi Document, Levi depicts his brother
Joseph as a teacher of wisdom and scribal crafts
before instructing his own sons to pass this heritage
to their children. Inspired by the intriguing account
in Genesis 5:21–24, the portrayal of the heavenly
traveler and apocalyptic seer Enoch in the ancient
Jewish collection known as 1 Enoch also refers to
his role as a writer and skilled, righteous scribe. The
second century B.C.E. Book of Jubilees even credits
Enoch with being the first among men to learn to
write. Most scholars agree that while the Aramaic
material unearthed at Qumran was an exceedingly
influential part of the community’s literary heritage,
it is unlikely that it was composed by the group who
deposited the scrolls at and near Qumran.
While preserved in a Hebrew text rather than
in Aramaic, the portrayal of David in the Qumran
Psalms Scrolls is reminiscent of this model. David’s
elevated status is the subject of “David’s Composi-
tions,” a previously unknown Hebrew prose text
that is part of the large Qumran Psalms Scroll from
Cave 11. A luminous David is depicted as a wise and
52
blameless scribe who shone like the light of the sun
and was endowed with gifts of prophecy. David is
portrayed as having achieved a level of elevation
that the group called “the wise” (maskilim)—known
from the closing chapters of the Book of Daniel—are
promised in the afterlife. While David had undoubt-
edly passed away by the time this extraordinary
endorsement of his achievements was composed,
this new text speaks of his lifetime’s work rather
than promising posthumous bliss.
It is clear that the Dead Sea Scrolls reflect a great
deal of scribal activity that took place at the site of
Qumran and elsewhere. Here, I will discuss several
clues about the kinds of people who were engaged
with such literary tasks.
The closest we come to an administrative office
akin to a bookkeeper in the scrolls is the Overseer
(Mebaqqer), who records misdemeanors reported
to him, according to the Damascus Document—a
text found in the form of two medieval codices in
the Cairo Genizah and subsequently attested in
ancient fragments from Qumran. One such list has
been preserved at Qumran; in it, for instance, a
certain Yohanan is in trouble for being intemperate
and conceited. The overseer was also responsible
for keeping a log of members’ possessions and the
collection of monthly donations for those in need.
The Community Rule refers to written registers of
community members who are enrolled in writing
by rank. The penal code in the same text also spells
out sanctions against anyone who speaks in anger
against one of the priests written down in the book.
The scrolls also clearly show that people in
antiquity were able to multitask. An impressive
multitasker is the Maskil, often rendered in English
as “the sage.” Most references to the figure of the
Maskil refer to a particular office-holder. We get
some rare glimpses of some of his (less likely her)
job description as a spiritual leader in the Commu-
nity Rule, where he is tasked with teaching the chil-
dren of light about the children of humanity with
regard to all the varieties of their spirits. Several
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 ARCHAEOLOGICAL
Prehistoric Dining at Tel Tsaf
Danny Rosenberg and Florian Klimscha
Before the emergence of Israelites
and even Canaanites, other communities established
complex societies in the southern Levant. Though
some of these groups left behind no written record,
they did produce a rich archaeological record with a
wealth of material culture. This then allows archae-
ologists to piece together a picture of their lives,
including the diet and environmental conditions
long before the establishment of cities.
Located near the Jordan River and the interna-
tional border between Israel and Jordan 20 miles
south of the Sea of Galilee, Tel Tsaf is one of the
most important prehistoric sites in the Levant. It
was first reported in the 1940s; excavations began in
the late 1970s and were later resumed for four more
seasons in 2004. During these excavations, espe-
cially the 2004–2007 seasons, approximately 800
square meters of the site were exposed, and two
main strata were identified. This revealed a large
village dated to c. 5300–4700 cal B.C.1
In the southern Levant, the early shift from sim-
ple, relatively egalitarian village societies to socially
more complex organizations seems to have occurred
during the transition from the Late Neolithic/Early
Chalcolithic period to the Late Chalcolithic period
(c. 5200–4500 cal B.C.). This process accelerated
during the Late Chalcolithic period and culminated
in the Early Bronze Age, when the first urban cen-
ters emerged. It remains unclear what triggered the
process, causing large groups of people to live in
close proximity to one another and wrestle with the
many problems inherent to such an arrangement.
A multidisciplinary project launched by the pres-
ent authors at Tel Tsaf in 2013 seeks to shed new
light on the early stages of the transition to com-
plex societies and the origin of the Mediterranean-
style diet, which seems to have played a major role
in this process.2 The Tel Tsaf project investigates
how and why human societies of the ancient Near
East developed “simple” villages into more com-
plex and larger settlements—and later into towns
and cities. A whole set of scientific methods, such
as radiocarbon dating, geomagnetic and aerial sur-
veying, and state of the art bio-archaeological and
material culture analyses, supply us with a wealth
of information concerning the development of
the prehistoric village at Tel Tsaf and the culinary
54
VIEWS
COURTESY OF THE TEL TSAF RESEARCH PROJECT
HUNDREDS OF FOSSILIZED OLIVE PITS excavated at Tel
Tsaf represent one of the prehistoric signs of the emerg-
ing Mediterranean diet.
practices there in each of the stages of the transi-
tion.
Our excavations suggest that the social and eco-
nomic organization of village communities changed
dramatically during the Neolithic-to-Chalcolithic
transition in the Jordan Valley. New modes of eco-
nomic organization appeared that included superre-
gional trade networks and were accompanied by the
introduction of high-temperature technologies, such
as metallurgy. The transition from the Neolithic to
the Chalcolithic period appears to coincide with
the development of the Mediterranean-style diet. In
that respect, our project strives to better understand
food choices by considering environmental condi-
tions, social and economic factors, and cultural pref-
erences of the local population.
Tel Tsaf is distinguished from most prehistoric
sites in the southern Levant by its extensive and
well-preserved mudbrick architecture as well as
large courtyard structures with round and rect-
angular rooms, many silos, and cooking facilities.
The configuration of structures and installations is
without a parallel at any other site from the same
period (c. 5300–4700 cal B.C.). A new geomagnetic
survey further showed that the site is even larger
and denser than previously thought.
Many of the finds from the site are rare within
the southern Levant. These include clay vessels
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
bearing the “Tel Tsaf decoration.” Even
though intensive research has been going
on in recent decades on both sides of the
Jordan River, very few sites produced
similar pottery—and those assemblages
yield only small quantities of decorated
pottery—while Tel Tsaf features the
highest concentration of this decorative
style in the region.
A unique clay silo model was also
found at Tel Tsaf, suggesting that the
extensive storage of wheat and barley
at the site was probably accompanied
with ideological foundations and ritual
behavior.
Another notable find from Tel Tsaf is
a copper awl. This small object from one
of the silo burials (of a woman) reflects
the earliest presence of metallurgy in
the area, a few hundred years before the
advanced copper industry of the Late
Chalcolithic period (c. 4600–3900 cal
B.C.) emerged in the region. Metal finds
from such an early time had previously
been known in very limited numbers
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW
only from the Balkans, southern Ana-
tolia, and Iran. As there is no evidence
for on-site metal production at Tel Tsaf,
it seems that the awl came from one of
these areas.
Other items that reflect the inhabit-
ants’ participation in long-distance
exchange networks include dozens of
obsidian artifacts from Anatolia (such
as beads, tools, and production waste),
a few sherds of the ‘Ubaid style pot-
tery (from northern Syria or Mesopo-
tamia), and a shell from the Nile River.
Short-range trade was common and is
reflected in the presence of shells from
the Mediterranean Sea and the Red
Sea. Also recovered were stone stamp
seals, dozens of clay sealings, and sev-
eral stone and clay figurines, as well
as many quartzite objects, including
spindle whorls and a unique dagger with
preserved point. Finally, thousands of
beads made of ostrich eggshells (1,668
were incorporated in a belt found on
the woman’s waist in the silo burial,
accompanying the copper awl) and
beads made of various non-local miner-
als were excavated. Interestingly, we also
found raw materials for bead-making as
well as beads that were discarded during
the production. Notable amounts of local
pottery, flint tools, ground stone tools—
some unique to the site—and bone tools
were discovered.
We also found large amounts of ani-
mal bones, most of which belong to
sheep and goats; but there were also
significant quantities of pig and cattle
bones. Wild animals are only marginally
represented among animal bones from
the site, which is yet another sign of the
notable changes that communities in
the area underwent—now placing much
of their economic wealth on controlled
herding of domesticated animals. Nota-
bly, some of the wild fauna remains, such
as gazelle horn cores, were found in
special arrangements and concentrations.
Studies of the microfauna provide
C O N T I N U E S O N PA G E 7 0
55
 REVIEWS
Through the Lens of Archaeology:
A High-Resolution Image of Ancient Israel
Beyond the Texts:
An Archaeological Portrait
of Ancient Israel and Judah
By William G. Dever
(Atlanta: SBL Press, 2017), 772
pp., $49.95 (hardcover)
Reviewed by Richard Elliott Friedman
William Dever’s B EYOND
the Texts is a wonderful book.
You need to read it if you are
going to pursue a real, verifi-
able history of Israel, whether
as a layperson or a historian. A
catchier title might have been
Beneath the Texts, but either
way the point of the title is
noteworthy, and the rest of the
title is most significant of all:
An Archaeological Portrait of
Ancient Israel and Judah.
This review will contain
praise at the beginning and
challenges at the end. Dever
says, “This book is intended
primarily as a handbook for
Biblical scholars, historians
of the ancient Near East, and
nonspecialists interested in the
Biblical world.” Dever is justly
critical of our field’s published
histories for often merely
restating the Bible’s own stories
in current idiom to make them
sound more sophisticated and
“historical.” His view by the
end of the book is: Archaeology
is “better than any more para-
phrases of the Hebrew Bible.”
He’s got that right.
So here is a history through
archaeology’s lens. For that,
there’s no one better than
William Dever. His marshal-
ing of data is thorough and
56
impressive: site by site, pot
by pot, age by age, stratum by
stratum, 750 pages, more than
130 charts and illustrations,
and 700 references in the bib-
liography. He knows the sites,
and he knows the big picture.
He knows the periods, and he
knows the longue durée. He
engages in serious interaction
with current anthropology,
especially on state formation.
Dever makes a solid case, now
well known, against his fre-
quent challenger Israel Finkel-
stein and especially against the
writers known as minimalists.
(Brief excursus: That doesn’t
make him a “maximalist.” A
Hassidic rabbi is a maximal-
ist. An evangelical preacher
is a maximalist. Biblical and
archaeological researchers who
refute so-called minimalists
are not maximalists. They are
[what term should we use?]
scholars.)
In writing for Biblical
scholars and historians of the
ancient Near East, he invites
dialogue. In so many words, he
writes, “I have invited dialogue
with Biblicists, who can correct
me where necessary.” That is
honorable, and that is the door
that I mean to open here. On
merging archaeological and
source-critical Biblical scholar-
ship, he writes that “archaeol-
ogy at this point can and does
provide an additional tool for
source criticism of the Hebrew
Bible, although that fact and its
potential is only beginning to
be recognized.” So as this is my
subject area, and as he and I
have long agreed on this neces-
sity for engagement between
our two fields, I am addressing
this point here.
Two things come imme-
diately to mind. The first
comes from the years when I
was with the superb archae-
ologist Yigal Shiloh, of blessed
memory, in the City of David
excavations of Biblical Jerusa-
lem. Yigal had an idea for col-
laboration on a book in which
I would write, in each chapter,
about how we would picture
Jerusalem in each period if
our only source were the Bible,
and then he would write about
that picture once we added
archaeology. We lost Yigal, and
the book never got written. But
that idea was on the road to
what Dever has in mind.
The second thing that comes
to mind was a joint program I
did with Dever in 1994. I spoke
on “A Biblical Scholar Looks at
Archaeology,” and Dever spoke
on “An Archaeologist looks at
the Bible.” Each from the per-
spective of his own area, we
both ended up at the same con-
clusion: the need for collabora-
tion between our fields.
And now a third example
comes to mind: the University
of California, San Diego, con-
ference on the Exodus held in
2013. The list of participants
(45 of them) included Dever,
me, and an array of archae-
ologists, Biblical scholars, and
experts from related fields. I
can testify that I am one of
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
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R E V I E W S
the lucky beneficiaries of that gather-
ing as it tremendously enriched my own
book that followed it—not least owing to
Dever’s own contribution there, which I
gladly acknowledge here.
To these cases we might add some of
the recent books on David and on the
Exodus that draw on text and archaeol-
ogy in meaningful union.
So where are the challenges to Dever’s
fine book? I think that this able man
whom I admire underestimated how
valuable the Biblical scholars’ half of
that partnership can be. He’s right when
he criticizes past generations of Biblical
historians. History-writing as paraphras-
ing is over. But I challenge his stance
that archaeological data are “our primary
source” while the text is of “secondary”
value—a clear back seat.
Dever anticipates a criticism that he
has ignored or depreciated the Hebrew
Bible as a source for writing a history of
ancient Israel. And he begins his answer
by acknowledging that he has indeed
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those
who are perishing, but to those of us who are
being saved it is the Power of God.” I Corinthians 1:18
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ignored the Pentateuch because it deals
only with the prehistory of Israel. That
is a missed opportunity. When we do
research on Genesis or Exodus, we are
not just questioning whether Aaron’s
staff became a serpent, whether he
made a golden calf, or whether God
first revealed His name to Moses. We
examine those texts and find out what
they reveal about the actual history of
the world of the writers who produced
them. I place in evidence works by
Baruch Halpern, Ronald Hendel, myself,
and others. Dever may disagree about
what this kind of historical work can
offer, but he should cover it.
Where he comes close to address-
ing this topic, Dever is on shaky ground.
He attributes the sources of the Sinai
and wilderness texts to writers who are
obviously viewing those things from
the seventh century. Not obvious, the J
and E sources are certainly from earlier
centuries. If Dever wants to sign on with
some European scholars who question all
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of the linguistic evidence, my own work,
and that of most American and Israeli
scholars—he could do so (though I know
that he is not in fact in their camp). In his
treatment, however, he has simply stated
that the seventh century is “obvious.”
Moving on from the Pentateuch,
Dever’s treatment of the Biblical histo-
rians contains a cardinal sin of method:
not distinguishing between historians
and their sources. In the case of the
Deuteronomistic history in Deuteronomy
through 2 Kings, he does not distinguish
between the historian’s writing and that
of his sources, which are older. Once he
starts down that path, it leads him into
errors. He speaks of the Deuteronomis-
tic work as “theocratic history.” But the
sources that make up Deuteronomy are
more diverse in their purposes than that,
sometimes they are more theocratic (as
in the Elijah stories) and sometimes far
less (as in the Court History of David).
This error of historical method is even
more hazardous on the Chronicler’s his-
tory. Dever says that he has ignored it,
for “Chronicles has been regarded as
secondary and of relatively little value.”
That is going to come as a surprise to
Baruch Halpern, Sarah Japhet, Steven
McKenzie, H.G.M. Williamson, and oth-
ers (including me). The Chronicler’s his-
tory of the kings of Judah from Solomon
to Hezekiah comes from a source that
was many centuries earlier. In places,
the history of David visibly comes from
the same source as the Deuteronomistic
history. But don’t get me wrong. Here
is where source criticism and archaeol-
ogy could really work together. So, yes,
Dever may have gotten something partly
inaccurate here, but it actually proves his
point: Working together can fine-tune
both of our fields’ efforts.
Despite these challenges, I beg read-
ers not to forget the praise at the begin-
ning of this review. This is a marvelous
book and an important book. It invites
us all to digest it and engage with it. We
shall all be richer by doing so.
Richard Elliott Friedman is the Ann and
Jay Davis Professor of Jewish Studies at
the University of Georgia. He is author of
The Exodus (2017) and Who Wrote the
Bible? (1987).
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
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First Person
continued from page 6
study the Bible and voice their opin-
ions about faith on a .BIBLE website
is diametrically opposed to any serious
learned society, including BAS and SBL.
Furthermore, the Biblical Archaeology
Society is proudly a non-denominational
and non-sectarian organization. And
yet, “Biblical” is in our title! The Bible
is central to our mission! BAR is com-
mitted to following archaeological and
Biblical research wherever it may lead,
and we do not censor the views of schol-
ars, authors, or readers just because they
may not subscribe to “orthodox Christi-
anity or Judaism” as their religious tradi-
tion of choice.
Perhaps most tellingly, ABS demon-
strates the insecurity of their own posi-
tion in rule 5.4.I, which lists “holding
of the ABS (including its affiliates), its
employees, donors, ministry partners or
the Bible up to public scorn” or “ridicule”
as grounds for banishment, prohibiting
also “any content that may harm the
reputation of ABS or the .BIBLE domain
name space.” Any organization that bans
criticism of itself is not off to a good start
and is the antithesis of scholarly.
No one “owns” the Bible, and no one
should have to submit to the American
Bible Society’s ill-conceived holiness code
in order to register a .BIBLE domain
name. ABS should not be able to deny a
.BIBLE domain name because it feels a
website does not revere the name of God
enough—or because it dares not endorse
“orthodox Christianity.” How ICANN
ever allowed this is beyond belief!
No one gets to say what is, and what
is not, worthy of association with, study
of, or applicable to the Bible—that is the
judgment of each individual who freely
chooses to read the Bible and dares to
ask questions of it. Readers of BAR have
been doing just that for 43 years. In an
effort to continue this tradition, BAR
will not be registering a .BIBLE domain
any time soon. BAR values scholarship,
free thought, and freedom of religion—
not the requirement of any author or
subscriber to believe in anything other
than a love of history, of archaeology, and
that the Bible is a book worth studying.
62
And if you need one more reason
to eschew the .BIBLE domain,
archaeology.BIBLE is available, but
costs $5,900 to register for one year.
For comparison, most .COM domains
cost about $12 for one year. So, ABS
wants exorbitant money and to dictate
what you can say and believe. Thus, the
.BIBLE domain is well on its way to
becoming the internet’s equivalent of
televangelism.—B.C.
Q&C
continued from page 10
amount (1.4 percent of fish bones sam-
pled) of ritually impure catfish bones
(see Leviticus 11:9–10 and Deuteronomy
14:9–10).
So there were at least some remains of
non-Jewish food.
LES BERGEN
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA
Yuval Gadot Responds: It is true that
the data do seem contradictory because
different lines of research may sometimes
conflict with one another. As evidence
regarding food habits accumulates, there
is renewed interest in the role and signifi-
cance of food customs in ancient Israel.
A recent research project involving
scholars at Tel Aviv, Lausanne, and Zurich
universities reexamines the laws in Leviti-
cus and Deuteronomy about clean animals
and their relationship to the material cul-
ture of ancient Israel. Indeed, fish bones
discovered in Iron Age II strata (late ninth
to seventh centuries B.C.E.) in Jerusalem,
Ramat Rahel, and other sites in Judah do
include species defined as unclean accord-
ing to the Pentateuchal legislation.
These finds illustrate how archaeology
provides an important context for situat-
ing the origins, formation, growth, and
implementation of the purity laws of the
Pentateuch in general, and the food laws of
Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 especially.
The main conclusions are that the material
evidence suggests a much more complex
and nuanced picture, and it might be that
some laws, like the prohibition against fish,
appear to be much more theoretical and
may even reflect later developments.
From Trash to BAR Treasure
Always interesting articles—and some-
times astounding. “Jerusalem and the
Holy Land(fill)” in the January/February
2018 issue was one such time.
Thank you so, so much for “gettin’
real” about the nexus of ancient and
modern life.
BOB JARRETT
DECATUR, GEORGIA
A NEW CHAPTER
Loaded Language?
In Robert Cargill’s First Person, “A New
Chapter” (BAR, January/February, 2018),
reference is made to “the Biblical world,
including Israel, the West Bank, Jordan,
Egypt, Cyprus, Turkey, Lebanon, and
Iraq,” as if “West Bank” refers to a coun-
try like the others listed. It does not. The
correct designation of this area is Judea
and Samaria, although your description
is also wrongly used in other media.
BAR has commendably avoided
involvement in this heated and divisive
issue, but as a very early devoted sub-
scriber, I hope the correct description
will be used. I wish BAR to go from
strength to strength in following Hershel
Shanks’s great pioneering dedication to
furthering knowledge of Biblical archae-
ology and related fields across the globe.
ESTER ZEITLIN
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL
BAR will maintain its independence and
neutrality on issues pertaining to modern
political disagreements between the State
of Israel and the Palestinian National
Authority. It is for this reason that when
I recited this litany of geographic entities
in my First Person, I did not use the word
“state” or “nation,” but said, “which high-
lights the active excavations throughout
the Biblical world, including Israel, the
West Bank, Jordan,” and so on.
This was done deliberately, to avoid
engaging in the very modern political
debate you describe. I understand the
fervor this debate foments, especially for
those living within contested areas. Like-
wise, I understand that the State of Israel,
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
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especially the Israeli Civil Administration,
refers to the West Bank as the Territories
of Judea and Samaria. However, because
the West Bank is the commonly under-
stood international name for this geo-
graphic region, it is common practice for
Biblical and ancient Near Eastern scholars
to use it to identify this area.
BAR has followed and will continue to
follow accepted scholarly convention and
employ the terms Israel, Judea, Samaria,
Palestine, Canaan, the Levant, the West
Bank, Gaza, the Golan, and so on. These
terms are in no way a political commen-
tary, as my First Person is in no way a
political statement; quite the opposite—
they are neutral and long-accepted schol-
arly conventions.—B.C.
conclusion that the original Israelites prior to the establishment of the “Isra-
didn’t migrate into Canaan from points elites” [p. 27] ) and the literary record
further east or south. Rather they were (“According to the Bible, ‘Ancient Israel’
rural natives of the same land who was first a concept of a new world”
stayed in place and adopted a new set of [p. 24] ).—B.C.
theological theories. This isn’t to claim
that there was no foreigner migration
to the Levant. Clearly the Sea Peoples,
CORRECTION
The reference to the size of a dime in
who supposedly came from lands fur-
“Words Unseen: The Power of Hid-
ther west around the Mediterranean
den Writing” (BAR, January/February
and became Philistines, were such
2018) is a clerical error. It should read
immigrants (or at least haven’t yet been
“the standard diameter of a dime is
mapped genetically). This is to observe
0.7 inches.”
that any discussion of Israelite origins
now needs to include the native-culture-
change-in-place evidence.
MARTIN HARRIS ꜤAbdiel
JONESBOROUGH, TENNESSEE
continued from page 31

Historical Patterns Martin, I am aware of and agree with appreciated in the cosmopolitan New
In response to Robert R. Cargill’s Digs this theory regarding Israelite origins. In Kingdom, even in the royal family (e.g.,
2018 (“Migration and Immigration in my article, I was distinguishing between a daughter of Ramesses II was named
Ancient Israel,” BAR, January/Febru- pre-Israelite peoples (see “Phoenicians, Bint’anath, “Daughter of Anath”). More-
ary 2018), a well-documented academic Canaanites, Amorites, Israelites,” all of over, ‘Abdiel was a “child of the palace.”
counterargument is the genetics-based whom migrated and dwelled in Canaan This fact does not necessitate that he
was a foreigner, as some Egyptologists
have thought (that the “children of the
S T R ATA A N S W E R S palace” would have been the children of
foreign chiefs educated at the court). But
it implies that he was in Egypt since a
Where Is It? (from p. 12) young age and perhaps since his birth.15
Answer: C. Rome, Italy As a matter of fact, ‘Abdiel is some-
This pyramid stands in Rome on the Via Ostiensis near the San Paolo Gate. It was times, if not often, the object of specula-
erected under the first Roman emperor, Augustus, sometime between 18 and 12 tion because of his “foreign” (Semitic)
B.C.E., for a certain Gaius Cestius. Like its Egyptian templates, this pyramid is a tomb. name, moreover referring to the god
The structure measures about 97 by 97 feet at its square base, and its height El, and his links to the palace and the
of about 120 feet corresponds exactly to 100 Roman feet. Built on a brick-faced king Akhenaten. Fragile or even base-
concrete core, it is covered with white slabs of Carrara marble. It contains a single less assumptions can be found here and
barrel-vaulted burial chamber about 19.5 feet long, 13.5 feet wide, and 15.5 feet there, which sometimes mix epochs
high. This chamber is painted with simple but elegant frescoes in Pompeian style and sources. At the same time, there is
and is now accessible through a passageway carved out by tomb raiders in the one apparent paradoxical fact: Very few
17th century. Originally self-standing, the pyramid was incorporated within the (i.e., almost no) tombs of Egyptian high
city’s walls between 271 and 275 C.E., to which we can attribute its survival. officials of this period with such rich
While the Pyramid of Cestius ranks among the best known monuments in funerary material still in situ comparable
Rome, we know very little about its owner, who should not be confused with Ces- to the tomb of Yuya and Tuya have been
tius Gallus, the Roman governor of the province Syria at the beginning of the first discovered, excavated, and studied. (The
Jewish rebellion against the Romans in 66 C.E. The names and titles recorded plunderers of the 19th century likely
on the eastern and western side of the monument and on two statue bases tell us unearthed several of them). And when
that Gaius Cestius was “the son of Lucius, from the voting tribe Publilia, praetor, such a discovery is made, it is a tomb lost
plebeian tribune, one of the seven state priests in charge of public religious ban- among late mummified cats. It is not in
quets.” A separate inscription informs that the construction was directed by his Thebes, but in Memphis. And, moreover,
heir, Pontius Mela, and a freed slave, Pothos. this tomb belongs to a man of possibly
Cestius’s choice of a pyramid as his funeral monument reflects the general foreign origin with a Semitic name. So,
Roman fascination with Egypt. Much steeper than most ancient Egyptian pyra- it would seem that the story of ‘Abdiel is
mids, though, the Pyramid of Cestius is more reminiscent of the tombs in Meroe admittedly difficult to integrate into our
in modern Sudan. greater knowledge of the New Kingdom

64 J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8

and the Amarna period. Yet we know by
several examples that in New Kingdom
Egypt people who came from elsewhere
could intermix as though in a deep melt-
ing pot. And some, if not many, advanced
to high positions.
But at this final stage of the presenta-
tion of ‘Abdiel (‘Aper-El), I must mention
a question which cannot be avoided,
even if it is highly speculative, if not to
say phantasmal. I feel obliged to men-
tion it, particularly in the present article.
Although perhaps of foreign origin,
‘Abdiel ascended to a great social position
and was particularly close to the king or
kings of Egypt. Therefore, to the mind of
any Egyptologist, specialist of the ancient
Near East, Biblical scholar, etc., comes
the story of Joseph, son of Jacob, in the
Book of Genesis. This beautiful narrative
shows the ascension of a young “Orien-
tal” to the rank of second to the king of
Egypt. Previously we knew some (few)
examples of historical ascensions of this
kind to illustrate the story of Joseph, but
none situating the hero at the level of
vizier, “father of the god,” and other high
titles. There is no doubt that the discov-
ery of ‘Abdiel changes the situation. But
the analogy has limits. We speak here of
illustrating, not confirming or invalidating
the story of Joseph. There is a funda-
mental difference between the natures
of archaeological and historical research
on one hand, and a literary narrative
with national and religious implications
on the other. As an Egyptologist and the
discoverer of ‘Abdiel, I must remind the
nonspecialists, and even some specialists,
to be extremely careful and to avoid con-
fusing these completely different fields.
But I know that for many the tempta-
tion to identify the two figures is—and
will be—difficult to resist, especially since
‘Abdiel lived at the turning point of the
reigns of Amenhotep III and Amenhotep
IV, the future Akhenaten, who is often
and too quickly presented as “the first
monotheist.” For those who confuse
epochs, approaches, concepts, and data,
it seems easy to imagine that the “servant
of El” (‘Abed-El) “learned” monotheism
from Akhenaten or, to the contrary, that
he “taught” monotheism to the king, as
he was in charge of the education of the
royal children, and that he influenced
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW
him as a close adviser. From here it is
a quick step to find a link between the
vizier and the patriarch16—a little step
which ignores historical realities: The
religion of Akhenaten is not exactly
monotheistic and is in many ways strik-
ingly different from Biblical monotheism,
which itself is the result of a long process
materializing only much later in the time
of the prophets. But I confess that I make
no illusions: Imagination and phantasms
are powerful in such a sensitive issue,
particularly outside the circle of informed
and strict scholars.
Let us consider nevertheless the
apparent parallel of the historical char-
acter found at Saqqara and the literary
figure met in Genesis. We know that the
existence of a literary figure, specially
a figure like Joseph, does not exclude a
possible historical background at its ori-
gin, or, inverting the terms, we know of
many historical characters who became
literary characters or who were used as
such long after their life. After all, we
must remember that links and connec-
tions between the Amarna period, with
Akhenaten and his religious “revolution,”
and the story of the Hebrews and the
Exodus from Egypt had already been
made in antiquity—links and connections
rooted in later Israelite reinterpreta-
tions and fights for ethnic and political
identifications and identities that made
the links to Egypt all the more powerful
more than a millennium after the events
initially occurred.
Then, would it be possible that Jews
living in Egypt during the Late period
and perhaps the Hellenistic period
ever encountered the historical figure
of ‘Abdiel (‘Aper-El)? The “meeting”
could have occurred during their obsti-
nate research and their tough contests
with Egyptian scribes and priests in
their efforts to find testimonia of the
traditional stories recounted in Genesis
and Exodus—and connected to a much
older Egypt.17 a
1 See Alain Zivie, “Le nom du vizir ‘Aper-El,”
in Marcel Sigrist, ed., Études égyptologiques
et bibliques à la mémoire du Père B. Couroyer,
Cahiers de la Revue Biblique 36 (Paris: Gab-
alda, 1997), pp. 115–123. But the proofs of the
paper were not sent to the author for correc-
tions, so that numerous mistakes in the hiero-
glyphs and the transliterations, not due to him,
spoil his demonstration, as was well under-
stood by Christian Cannuyer in his review in
Chronique d’Egypte 74 (1999), pp. 43–46.
2 See particularly Thomas Schneider,
Asiatische Personennamen in ägyptischen
Quellen des Neuen Reiches, Orbis Biblicus
et Orientalis 114 (Freiburg: Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht, 1992), pp. 66–68.
3 For a recent status quaestionis with a
complete bibliography, see Alain Zivie, “Le
vizir et père du dieu ‘Aper-El (‘Abdiel),” in
Giuseppina Capriotti Vittozzi, ed., Egyptian
Curses I: Proceedings of the Egyptological Day
held at the National Research Council of Italy
(CNR), Roma, 3rd December 2012 (Roma: CNR
Edizioni, 2014), pp. 83–99.
4 See Alain Zivie, “Une tombe d’époque amar-
nienne à Saqqarah,” Bulletin de la Société Fran-
çaise d’Egyptologie 84 (1979), pp. 21–32; Alain
Zivie, Découverte à Saqqarah: Le vizir oublié
(Paris: Seuil, 1990). It has been published in
Arabic—Kachef i Saqqara. El-Maqbara Abria
(Cairo: Editions Dar El-Fikr, 1995)—with a
foreword by Zahi Hawass. See also Alain
Zivie, The Lost Tombs of Saqqara (Toulouse:
Caracara Edition, 2007), an updated edition
in English (translated from French by David
Lorton) of Les tombeaux retrouvés de Saqqara
(Paris: Rocher, 2003).
5 See Alain Zivie, La tombe de Maïa, mère nour-
ricière du roi Toutânkhamon et grande du harem,
Les tombes du Bubasteion à Saqqara, vol. 1
(Toulouse: Caracara, 2009); Alain Zivie, La
tombe de Thoutmes, directeur des peintres dans
la Place de Maât, Les tombes du Bubasteion à
Saqqara, vol. 2 (Toulouse: Caracara, 2013).
6 See Alain Zivie, “Recherches et découvertes
récentes dans la tombe d’Aperia à Saqqarah,”
Comptes rendus de l’Académie des Inscriptions
et Belles-Lettres (April/June 1989), pp. 490–
505; Alain Zivie, “The Treasury of ‘Aper-El,”
Egyptian Archaeology: The Bulletin of the Egypt
Exploration Society 1 (1991), pp. 26–28.
7 See Roger Lichtenberg, “La radiographie des
ossements retrouvés dans la chambre funéraire
du vizir ‘Aper-El,” Bulletin de la Société
Française d’Egyptologie 126 (1993), pp. 38–43;
Eugen Strouhal, “L’étude anthroplogique et
paléopathologique des restes du vizir ‘Aper-El
et de sa famille: premiers résultats,” Bulletin de
la Société Française d’Egyptologie 126 (1993),
pp. 24–37.
8 See Alain Zivie, “Portrait de femme,” Revue
d’Egyptologie 9 (1988), pp. 179–195.
9 See Alain Zivie, “Le vizir ‘Aper-El au Musée,”
in Zahi Hawass, ed., Egyptian Museum Col-
lections around the World: Studies for the
Centennial of the Egyptian Museum, vol. 2
(Cairo: Supreme Council of Antiquities, 2002),
pp. 1261–1274.
10 On the tribulations of the funerary material
of tomb Bubasteion I.1, see Alain Zivie, “The
Saga of ‘Aper-El’s Funerary Treasure,” in Sue
H. D’Auria, ed., Oferings to the Discerning Eye:
An Egyptological Medley in Honor of Jack A.
Josephson (Leiden: Brill, 2009), pp. 345–355.
11 See Valérie Looten-Lacoudre, “Fouille et
restauration de bijoux nouvellement décou-
verts dans le materiel de la chambre funéraire
d’‘Aper-El,” in Bulletin de la Société Française
d’Egyptologie 126 (1993), pp. 17–23.
12 This year 10 was a good year for the wine
according to several sources; see Pierre Tallet,
65
“Une jarre de l’an 31 et une jarre de l’an 10 dans
la cave de Toutânkhamon,” Bulletin de l’Institut
Français d’Archéologie Orientale 96 (1996), pp.
381–383.
13 Nevertheless we must note that the name
‘Abdiel (‘Aper-El) appears as a toponym in a
letter dating from the Ramesside period (Papy-
rus Anastasi VIII). The text mentions an expe-
dition of grain and the death of a certain Any,
son of the sailor Pay, and of his children. These
people are said to be “of/from ‘Aper-El of the
great statue of Ramses beloved of Amun, sun
of princes.” These events happened under the
19th Dynasty. Their geographical frame was
the Eastern Delta, and therefore the toponym
‘Abdiel (‘Aper-El) was probably located in that
part of Egypt. For this letter, see the study of
Sarah Groll, “The Historical Background to
the Exodus: Papyrus Anastasi VIII,” in Marcel
Sigrist, ed., Études égyptologiques et bibliques
à la mémoire du Père B. Couroyer, Cahiers de
la Revue Biblique 36 (Paris: Peeters, 1997), pp.
109–114. The author tries to directly connect
the events and the general frame related in
this letter with several themes in the narrative
of the Exodus, but this aspect of the article is
not really convincing from my point of view.
14 In her recent book Amenhotep III: Egypt’s
Radiant Pharaoh (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ.
Press, 2012), p. 247, Ariel Kozlof, a special-
ist of this reign, suggests that the Egyptian
oicial Amanappa (probably a transcription of
Amenempe, meaning “Amun is in Ope”) of the
Amarna Letters, has replaced his name with
‘Aper-El in year 5 of Akhenaten’s reign, his for-
mer name becoming inappropriate because it
refers to the god Amun. The parallel mention
of a charioteer named Huy, like the son of the
vizier, a common name, is not enough to give
consistence to this hypothesis.
15 Bernard Mathieu suggested with some
good arguments that the children educated
in the kap would have been children born
on the same day as the future sovereign; see
“L’énigme du recrutement des ‘enfants du kap’
dans l’Egypte pharaonique: une solution?”
Göttinger Miszellen 177 (2000), pp. 41–48. If it
is the case, ‘Abdiel (‘Aper-El) would have been
born on the same day as Amenhotep III. Nev-
ertheless, although intriguing, this approach
of the question of the “children of the palace”
still needs to be conirmed.
16 Joseph Mélèze Modrzejewski, a specialist
of the Judaism and the Jews in Egypt in the
Greco-Roman period, presents ‘Aper-El as a
“proto-Joseph,” avoiding the impossible confu-
sion and identiication, but seeing nevertheless
a link between the two characters; see Joseph
Mélèze Modrzejewski, The Jews of Egypt:
From Ramesses II to the Emperor Hadrian
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 1997).
17 We have evidence of this kind of research,
for example, with the novel Joseph and
Asenath, written by an Egyptian Jew. See
Alain Zivie, La Prison de Joseph: L’Egypte des
pharaons et le monde de la Bible (Paris: Bayard,
2004), where I approach this kind of question.
This has never been published in English, but
a new modiied, enriched, and updated version
is now ready to be published in French under
the title L’Egypte et la Bible, where I also evoke
the question of ‘Abdiel (‘Aper-El). There is a
66
project to publish this French edition together
with an English edition (titled Egypt and
Bible), as soon as the question of the funding
is resolved. At the same time, the publication
of the tomb Bubasteion I.1 at Saqqara is now
being prepared and will be included in the
series Les tombes du Bubasteion à Saqqara
(Toulouse). Finally, if support is found, an
updated English edition of Découverte à
Saqqara: Le vizir oublié (which won awards
from the Académie des Beaux-Arts and the
Société des Gens de Lettres, Paris) under the
title The Forgotten Vizier: Chronicle of a Dis-
covery will be pursued.
Egyptian Papyrus
continued from page 39
but its descriptions are quite specific.
The city is situated in, or on the edge of,
the desert. It is a walled fortress located
on a caravan route. This “fortress of
palms” owes its existence to a perennial
source. Its god is the “guardian of the
perennial fountain,” the one “who makes
the perennial fountain murmur.” With
a little stretch of the imagination, it is
possible the Nile might be considered a
perennial fountain and this text might
apply to Elephantine or Aswan. How-
ever, the text suggests the city is situated
in Aram, where the most likely candidate
one can think of would be the city of
Palmyra. This identification may be con-
firmed by the references in the Amherst
papyrus to deities known to have been
worshiped at Palmyra, most prominently
the local storm god Bol. Beside him
there are Baal-Shamin, Nabu, Bel, Nanay,
Herta, and Shalma—all of them known
through later texts from Palmyra.
If this identification is indeed cor-
rect, the Amherst papyrus reveals an
unknown chapter of the history of the
Israelites. The forebears of the Jewish,
Syrian, and Babylonian communities
in Persian Egypt had lived in the city
of Palmyra during much of the seventh
century B.C.E. Their interaction did not
begin in Egypt. They had been living
side by side for generations before their
migration to Egypt.
Most scholars put the beginnings of
the Jewish community of Elephantine
around 600 B.C.E., with a margin of
error of 50 years at most. The historical
background of the migration to Egypt
was the military expansionism of the
Babylonian Empire. This is also what
the Book of Jeremiah implies (Jeremiah
40–44). At that time, people fled to
Egypt from many places in the ancient
Near East. It is likely that the Israelite,
Syrian, and Babylonian communities
all came to Egypt at the same time and
found employment there as mercenaries.
Syene and Elephantine would be their
new home.
The fact that P. Amherst 63 comes
from Egypt does not mean the text
was composed in Egypt. In spite of the
Egyptian script employed, the papyrus
contains traditional Aramaic texts. Many
of those texts date from the seventh
century B.C.E. or even earlier. The three
Israelite psalms, for instance, go back
to Hebrew hymns that must have been
written in the eighth century at the lat-
est. The songs to Bethel must be ancient,
too. Probably the youngest text of the
compilation is the appendix: the Tale
of Two Brothers, which describes the
conflict between Assurbanipal in Assyria
and his brother Shamash-Shumukin
in Babylonia. The latter refused to be
treated as a governor and claimed king-
ship. He paid for his rebellion with his
life. Since this occurred in 648 B.C.E.,
and it probably took a few decades to
transform a historic event into a court
novella, the tale might date from the
final decades of the seventh century
B.C.E. But this was an appendix to the
compilation, so the papyrus’s other sec-
tions may have been composed earlier in
the seventh century.
There is one particular lead in the
Amherst papyrus that hints to the time
of its compilation: the celebration of the
New Year’s festival and references to the
New Moon, a religious banquet, and—in
the Syrian section—the elevation of a new
priestess as the human bride of the god.
We know that one of the main tem-
ples of Palmyra (the Bel temple) was
inaugurated precisely during the New
Year’s festival. Given the references to
deities’ new dwellings in the Amherst
papyrus and their ascension to the
throne, it makes sense to think that the
occasion behind the original compila-
tion was the inauguration of a temple
in Palmyra—the place where the three
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
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communities had found shelter. This
could have happened at almost any point
during the seventh century.
Although the compilation of songs,
complaints, and narratives likely dates to
the seventh century B.C.E., the surviving
papyrus was produced during the fourth
century B.C.E. How do we account for
the time lag between the original compi-
lation and its transcription in Demotic?
Khirbet el-Mastarah
continued from page 46
indigenous origins somewhere within Greater
Canaan.” See William G. Dever, Beyond the Texts:
An Archaeological Portrait of Ancient Israel and
Judah (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2017), p. 232.
3 See, for example, Dever, Beyond the Texts, p.
152.
4 For a detailed account of the excavation, see
David Ben-Shlomo and Ralph K. Hawkins,
“Excavations at Khirbet el-Mastarah, the Jor-
7 For the Jordan Valley, see Zertal and Bar,
Manasseh Hill Country Survey, vol. 4, p. 58. For
the Manasseh Hill Country, see Adam Zertal,
The Manasseh Hill Country Survey: The Shechem
Syncline, vol. 1 (Leiden: Brill, 2004), pp. 53–54.
8 See Zertal and Bar, Manasseh Hill Country
Survey, vol. 4, p. 61. For a summary of the
debate about the derivation of the ceramic
traditions, see Hawkins, How Israel Became a
People, pp. 147–152.
9 See Hawkins, How Israel Became a People,
pp. 121–135.
10 Zertal and Bar, The Manasseh Hill Country

In the most plausible scenario, the
Aramaic-speaking diaspora communities
had brought the compilation with them
at the time they migrated to southern
Egypt, and their descendants, more than
two centuries later, decided to produce a
new copy of it. But why did they choose
Demotic rather than the more obvious
Aramaic writing system? Did the Egyp-
tianized Arameans think Demotic had
more prestige than Aramaic? Or had the
Aramaic script become illegible to them?
We might never know.
At any rate, the scribes had an overtly
poor understanding of the text. They put
word dividers where they should not
be, thereby cutting words in the middle
or, conversely, joining two words into
one. But let’s not be too hard on them.
If it had not been for their work, we
would never have a reason to marvel at
what truly is one of the most fascinat-
ing papyri from Egypt. It is one of the
ironies of history that what may well be
the richest source on the religion of the
Aramean people has come down to us
from Egypt. a
1 For a complete edition of Papyrus Amherst
63, see Karel van der Toorn, Papyrus Amherst
63, Alter Orient und Altes Testament 448
(Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2018).
dan Valley, 2017,” Judea and Samaria Research Survey, vol. 4, pp. 62–63.
Studies 1.26 (2017), pp. 49–82. 11 Adam Zertal, Dror Ben-Yosef, Oren Cohen,
5 See Benjamin A. Saidel, “The Bedouin Tent:
and Ron Be’eri, “Kh. ‘Aujah el-Foqa (Ataroth)—
An Ethno-Archaeological Portal to Antiquity An Iron Age Fortiied City in the Jordan
or a Modern Construct?” in Hans Barnard and Valley,” Palestine Exploration Quarterly 141.2
Willeke Wendrich, eds., The Archaeology of (2009), pp. 104–123.
Mobility: Old World and New World Nomadism 12 Zertal, Ben-Yosef, Cohen and Be’eri, “Kh.
(Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, ‘Aujah el-Foqa (Ataroth),” pp. 120–121.
2008), pp. 465–486. 13 Shmuel Ahituv, Eitan Klein, and Amir Ganor,
6 Adam Zertal and Shay Bar, The Manasseh
“The ‘Jerusalem’ Papyrus: A Seventh-Century
Hill Country Survey: From Nahal Bezeq to the BCE Shipping Certiicate,” Israel Exploration
Sartaba, vol. 4 (Leiden: Brill, 2017), p. 62. Journal 67.2 (2017), pp. 168–182.
AUTHORS
A former Scientific Member of the French Institute of Ori-
ental Archaeology in Cairo (IFAO) and Director of Research
Emeritus at the National Centre of Scientific Research
(CNRS) in Paris, Alain Zivie (“Pharaoh’s Man, ‘Abdiel: The
Vizier with a Semitic Name,” p. 22) is the founding Direc-
tor of the French Archaeological Mission of the Bubasteion
at Saqqara (MAFB). He is also the founding President of
the non-profit organization Hypogées (www.hypogees.org),
Zivie whose purpose is to support the work of the MAFB. He has
been a Fellow of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
in 2001 and 2002, a William K. Simpson Visiting Professor at the American
University in Cairo (2008), and a visiting scholar and then Associate in Har-
vard’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (2013–2016).
Karel van der Toorn (“Egyptian Papyrus Sheds New Light
on Jewish History,” p. 32) is Professor of Religion and Soci-
ety at the University of Amsterdam. His research focuses on
the Hebrew Bible in its cultural context and the role of reli-
gion in the contemporary world.

Ralph K. Hawkins (“Khirbet el-Mastarah:

An Early Israelite Settlement?” p. 40) is
Holds 12 the Chair of the Religious Studies Depart- Van der Toorn
BAR ment at Averett University in Danville, Vir-
Issues ginia, and Co-Director of the Jordan Valley
Excavation Project. He also authored How
Israel Became a People (2013).

Hawkins David Ben-Shlomo (“Khirbet el-Mastarah:

To order: 800-221-4644, ext. 202
www.biblicalarchaeology.org
An Early Israelite Settlement?” p. 40) is
Associate Professor of Archaeology at Ariel University and
$14.95
each Co-Director of the Jordan Valley Excavation Project. He has
+ $4.95 S/H published eight books and more than 80 articles related to
ITEM 6BAR the archaeology of the southern Levant. Ben-Shlomo

68 J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
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Site-Seeing
continued from page 20
from Nauplion. Tiryns and Mycenae,
some of the most famous Bronze Age
palace sites, are also accessible day trips
from Nauplion, as is Epidauros, the
famous sanctuary site dedicated to the
worship of Asklepios, the god of healing.
Beth Ann Judas researches
interconnections between
Middle and New Kingdom
Egypt and the Bronze Age
Aegean and has excavated
in Egypt and Greece. She
received her Ph.D. from the
University of Pennsylvania.
Archaeological Views
continued from page 55
important information about the site’s
ecology and environmental conditions.
Fish and shellfish found at Tel Tsaf
reflect mainly species from the Jordan
River. Birds were also noted in the faunal
collections, and we hope this record can
tell us more about long-term changes in
bird migrations through the Rift Valley.
Much of our archaeological research
has focused on gathering information
about the plants that grew around Tel
Tsaf and were used by its prehistoric
inhabitants. The Jordan Valley’s dry
climate allows for the extraordinary
preservation of organic remains. Already,
we have extracted from vessels and tools
thousands of seeds, olive pits, plant and
wood remains, as well as pollen, phyto-
lites, starch, and other organic residues.
Tel Tsaf’s organic materials and rich fau-
nal and malacological (shells and snails)
remains will enable archaeologists in the
near future to reconstruct the paleo-diet
at the site and food-related traditions.
While the results of the recent excava-
tions at Tel Tsaf are still provisional, it
is clear that Tel Tsaf is becoming para-
mount for studying the transition from
the Neolithic to Chalcolithic periods
and the origins of social complexity in
the southern Levant. Already it has sup-
plied a wealth of information regarding
the environmental, social, and economic
70
aspects underlying the transition to a
complex society in this area.
Danny Rosenberg is a
senior lecturer in the
Department of Archaeol-
ogy, University of Haifa,
and the head of Laboratory
for Ground Stone Tools
Research at the Zinman
Institute of Archaeology. He co-directs the
Tel Tsaf excavations.
Florian Klimscha is the
curator of archaeological
collections at the Federal
State Museum in Han-
nover, Germany. He co-
directs the Tel Tsaf excava-
tions. His research focuses
on ancient innovation processes.
1 “Cal B.C.” stands for “calibrated years before
Christ” and refers to dates that have been
determined through radiocarbon dating and then
adjusted to it in a standard chronology.
2 We wish to thank the Israel Science Foundation,
the Irene Levi-Sala CARE Foundation, the DAI in
Berlin, and the Zinman Institute of Archaeology
for supporting the project. We are also grateful to
all the Tel Tsaf Research Project team members,
students, and volunteers for their unlimited sup-
port and enthusiasm.
Biblical Views
continued from page 52
compositions employ Maskil in headings,
suggesting an affiliation of this office
with the final editing or performance
of compositions. Such headings occur
in liturgical scrolls such as the Songs of
the Sabbath Sacrifice and the Rule of
Blessings, and in the apotropaic Songs
of the Maskil. The latter composition
describes his duties as causing fright in
demons and other harmful spirits and
creatures by enunciating God’s splendid
glory. The text “The Words of the Maskil
to All Sons of Dawn” continues—after
the unencrypted title—in cryptic script
admonishing those addressed to reflect
on God’s past deeds for the benefit of
gaining insights into the end time. The
profile of the Maskil resembles and sur-
passes that of David in the scrolls, some-
thing perhaps underestimated because of
the exceedingly evocative language with
which David’s achievements are nar-
rated and because the full picture of the
Maskil has only come to light in piece-
meal fashion with the full publication of
the scrolls. The Qumran Psalms Scroll
also credits David with having composed
4,050 psalms and songs, including four
songs over the stricken, a reference to
demonic possession. The term recurs in
the Songs of the Maskil, the composition
mentioned above that tasks the Maskil
with keeping demonic forces at bay. This
cumulative evidence paints a picture of
the Maskil as a present-day David in the
scrolls. The skillset of this enlightened
figure and those responsible for the lit-
erature from Qumran reflects a broad
spectrum of knowledge and scholarship.
What conclusions can be drawn from
this? We get a sense that the skill of
writing is admired as something remark-
able among notable figures from genera-
tions past and perhaps taken for granted
in the present. Though I would add that
it is taken for granted for notable and
leading figures, I have suggested recently
that the majority of members of the
movement based at Qumran were proba-
bly illiterate and took care of a myriad of
relentless tasks that went undocumented
in the daily life of even the most studious
communities.1 Those who transmitted
the extensive literature unearthed at
Qumran may not have drawn attention
to their scribal efforts. However, by com-
posing and copying their own literature
to the same standards as works of the
past—and by modeling on David leading
figures like the Maskil—they send subtle
yet powerful signals of their own place,
and that of the movement to which they
belonged, in the long line of worthies of
the past.
Charlotte Hempel is Profes-
sor of Hebrew Bible and
Second Temple Judaism at
the University of Birming-
ham, UK. She is an expert
on the Dead Sea Scrolls.
1 In Charlotte Hempel’s inaugural lecture, The
Dead Sea Scrolls: Isolationism, Elites, and Aus-
terity (www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/ptr/
departments/theologyandreligion/news/2017/
hempel-inaugural.aspx).
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
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 WORLDWIDE

Nepal
Measuring approximately
16.5 inches high and 16
inches wide, this gilt copper
sculpture of Bhairava—
a manifestation of the
Hindu god Shiva, revered
by Hindus and Buddhists
alike—was probably used
in ritual worship in Nepal.
The 15th–16th-century C.E.
sculpture has three heads,
each wearing a crown
decorated with human
skulls, and six hands bran-
dishing ive weapons and
one lotus flower. Bhairava
is depicted with snakes
draped about his body, a
tiger skin loincloth, and an
apron of human bones.

Bhairava (Sanskrit for

“frightful”) is the destroyer
of evil and the protective
deity of the city Kathmandu.
He is still celebrated today
during the Indra-Jatra

FREER GALLERY OF ART AND ARTHUR M. SACKLER GALLERY, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, WASHINGTON, D.C.:
festival, which takes place
in the city in early fall.

PURCHASE—FUNDS PROVIDED BY THE FRIENDS OF THE FREER AND SACKLER GALLERIES, S1999.116
This striking sculpture
is housed in the Freer
and Sackler Galleries in
Washington, D.C.

CHINA
NEPAL
BHUTAN
Kathmandu
BANGLADESH
INDIA
MYANMAR
BAY OF BENGAL

72 J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
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BIBLE LANDS T
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with TUTKU TOURS

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Tutku Tours

r
J
O S
RD
RU
AN
r CYP * Please ask for detailed itineraries. Prices are per person in double occupancy.

2018
SAILING THE AEGEAN ON A GULET BOAT SEVEN CHURCHES OF REVELATION
May 26 - June 11 June 10-22
TOUR HOST TOUR HOST
Mark Wilson, D.Litt. et Phil., Director,
Asia Minor Research Center, Antalya, Turkey; $5,990 Dr. Mark R. Fairchild, Ph.D., $4,990
Associate Professor Extraordinary of Land & Air Luke J. Peters Prof. of Biblical Studies Chair Land & Air
New Testament, Stellenbosch University Dept. Bible & Religion Huntington University

GREECE & ITALY GREECE & TURKEY

September 14-27 $5,390 October 6-21
Land & Air
TOUR HOSTS TOUR HOST

Dr. Mark R. Fairchild, Ph.D., $4,990

Dr. Mark Prof. Sarah Luke J. Peters Prof. of Biblical Studies Chair Land & Air
Wilson Yeomans Dept. Bible & Religion Huntington University

2019
LEBANON & JORDAN ANCIENT MEDICINE TOUR April 26-May 5
March 15-24 TURKEY & THE GREEK ISLAND OF KOS
TOUR HOST TOUR HOST
Professor Sarah Yeomans
Dr. Mark R. Fairchild, Ph.D., $4,990 Director of Educational Programs, $4,390
Luke J. Peters Prof. of Biblical Studies Chair Land & Air Biblical Archaeology Society Land & Air
Dept. Bible & Religion Huntington University Lecturer, West Virginia University

BY SEA & LAND: PAUL’S JOURNEY TO ROME IN PAUL’S FOOTSTEPS IN TURKEY

May 4-17 May 18 - June 2
$5,990
TOUR HOST Land & Air TOUR HOST
Professor Sarah Yeomans Mark Wilson, D.Litt. et Phil., Director,
Director of Educational Programs, Asia Minor Research Center, Antalya, Turkey; $4,990
Biblical Archaeology Society Associate Professor Extraordinary of Land & Air
Lecturer, West Virginia University New Testament, Stellenbosch University

FRANCE & SPAIN: TO THE END OF THE EARTH, GREECE & TURKEY
PAUL’S JOURNEY TO SPAIN September 15-29 October 5-20
TOUR HOST TOUR HOST
Mark Wilson, D.Litt. et Phil., Director,
Asia Minor Research Center, Antalya, Turkey; Dr. Mark R. Fairchild, Ph.D., $4,990
Associate Professor Extraordinary of $6,900 Luke J. Peters Prof. of Biblical Studies Chair
Land & Air
New Testament, Stellenbosch University Land & Air Dept. Bible & Religion Huntington University

For Registration please contact:

Alicia Bregon 202–364–3300 ext 216
Email: travelstudy@bib–arch.org Fax: 202–364–2636
Visit for other tours: www.tutkutours.com
Biblical Archaeology Society Email for customized groups & individuals
4710 41st Street, NW Washington, DC 20016 info@tutkutours.com