Organised by: Dr. J. Green (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)
and Dr N.C.F. Groot (Delft University of Technology)
jack.green@ashmus.ox.ac.uk
N.C.F.Groot@tudelft.nl
Location: Stevenson Lecture Theatre, Clore Centre, The British Musuem.
Time: Afternoon of Thursday 15th and Morning of Friday 16th April
Please note that only the first named author is given in the timetable below, please click on the name to see full paper details and the names of co-authors.
| Time | Name | Paper Title |
|---|---|---|
| Morning | Thursday 15th | |
| Session 1 | Chair: Jack Green | |
| 14.00 | Green & Groot | Introduction |
| 14.20 | Fischer | The MB-LB Transition in the Central Jordan Valley |
| 14.45 | Donnelly | A border temple in the Wadi er-Rayyan in the Jordan Valley reaches |
| 15.10 | Green | Accepting and resisting tradition in the Jordan Valley: changes in ritual practices during the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages |
| 15.35 | Questions & Discussion | |
| 15.45 | COFFEE | COFFEE |
| Session 2 | Chair: Niels Groot | |
| 16.15 | Panitz-Cohen | Egyptian and Canaanite Cultural Interaction: a Technological Approach |
| 16.40 | Bourke | Continuity and Change at Pella in Jordan across the Bronze/Iron Age Transition |
| 17.05 | Questions & Discussion | |
| 17.55 | Session ends | |
| Afternoon | Friday 16th | |
| Session 3 | Chair: Niels Groot | |
| 09.20 | Mazar | Cultural Continuity and Change in the Beth-Shean Valley: From the Late Bronze Age until the Iron IIA |
| 09.45 | van de Kooij | Change of use of space at Tell Deir Alla during the LB-Iron Age transition process |
| 10.10 | Veldhuijzen | Embedded slag: the social and economic role of the early Iron Age II Tell Hammeh iron smelting industry |
| 10.35 | Questions & Discussion | |
| 10.45 | COFFEE | COFFEE |
| Session 4 | Chair: Jack Green | |
| 11.15 | Tubb | Tell es-Sa'idiyeh Stratum VII: An Industrial Colony in the Jordan Valley |
| 11.40 | Groot | No longer alike: the development of distinct regional ceramic traditions during Iron Age II b-c. A ceramic perspective from Tell Deir ‘Alla |
| 12.05 | Green & Groot | Summing up followed by open discussion |
| 12.55 | Session ends |
Workshop Description:
Situated between the highlands of Palestine and Transjordan is the Jordan Valley, a geological region that serves as both a crossroads and a frontier zone. This unique and fertile lowland zone has structured settlement patterns, economic and political relations, and cultural identities over time.
The title transitions and boundaries relates to temporal, spatial, and social variability and change in the Jordan Valley and relations with neighbouring regions. The principal region of interest here is the Upper and Central Jordan Valley, situated between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The intended chronological scope is the Late Bronze and Iron Age (c.1550-330 BCE).
This workshop provides a rare opportunity to bring archaeologists working on both sides of the Jordan Valley together to discuss their research and exchange ideas. Participants are encouraged to submit abstracts that fall into one of the following sub-themes:
- Chronological transitions: cultural transitions and developments over time include the MBIIC/LBI transition, the LBIIB-Iron IA period of Egyptian domination, and the re-emergence of polities and development of tribal states in Late Iron I and Iron II. To what extent are there cyclical changes present within this longue durée? Settlement destruction and abandonment can also be considered, whether occurring by natural causes (i.e. earthquakes) or human agency.
- Spatial boundaries: How do sites relate to surrounding landscapes and environments? Did natural boundaries such as rivers and rainfall zones, lead to the formation of territorial, symbolic, or ethnic boundaries? To what extent were Valley communities economically or politically dependent upon neighbouring regions, or did they maintain independence and autonomy?
- Social boundaries: This sub-theme examines the formation of social, economic, and cultural identity in the Jordan Valley. Social and ethnic differentiation and the role of ritual within society are closely connected with this subject. Furthermore, the role of specialist and subsistence economies, and relationships between sedentary and nomadic populations can also be considered.
Workshop Abstracts
Continuity and Change at Pella in Jordan across the Bronze/Iron Age Transition
Dr Stephen Bourke (University of Sydney, Autralia)
The transition from the Late Bronze Age world of supranational empires to the Iron Age II patchwork of ethno/religious sub-regional statelets occurred gradually over a period of perhaps 400 years (ca. 1250-850 BCE), in the lands east of the Jordan river. Recent excavations at Pella in Jordan, the largest of the east Jordan Valley settlements occupied across this time period provides both archaeological and ecofactual datasets that provide important new (but often seemingly contradictory) data on both the nature and the timing of the various transitions that take place in the east Jordan Valley during this period. Discoveries in 2009 feature strong apparently Egyptianising influences (numerous lamp and bowl deposits) in the final Bronze Age horizons. The earliest Iron I layers remain enigmatic, with recent finds characterising this period as one combining a local 'sub-Canaanite' material culture with new cultural elements from diverse and arguably far-flung origins. Evidence grows for Coastal (perhaps Philistine) influence during the second half of the Iron I period (spool weights, figurines and cult items). Finally, a growing north Syrian influence is detectable in the early phases of the Iron II (figurines, cult items, metalwares), before a site-wide destruction event halts all major settlement until the Hellenistic period. Material presented will include LBA through Iron II datasets excavated during the last three field seasons at Pella (2005-2009). These include architecture, ceramics, figurines and cultic materials, alongside relevant archaeozoological, bioarchaeological and archaeobotanical assemblages. These paint a picture both of continuity and change across the period in question. Finally, we will consider the significance of the elements traditionally employed to identify and characterise this period, and the consequences of employing alternative (but arguably equally relevant) markers in an analysis of the south Levantine BA/IA transition.
A border temple in the Wadi er-Rayyan in the Jordan Valley reaches
Dr Paul Donnelly, Dr James Fraser (University of Sydney, Australia) and Dr Jaimie Lovell (Council for British Research in the Levant
During the 2005 season of excavations at al-Khawarij in the Wadi er-Rayyan the excavators uncovered a section of a large stone structure with 1m wide walls. Pottery including Chocolate-on-White ware and White Slip Burnished ware dated the structure to the late MB/LB period. On the basis of its size, its remote location and the associated ceramic and faunal remains, we suggest here that this structure was a border temple, possibly delimiting Pella's south-eastern border. The al-Khawarij temple echoes the form, material culture and possible function of the MBA Migdol temple at Tell el-Hayyat to the south-west. In this paper it is suggested that structures such as the example at al-Khawarij gave polities the opportunity to define their borders in a physical and demonstrable way. If a border temple's function was to provide opportunities to honour local deities, its presence communicated to neighbours a holy sanctioning of the polity and its geographical extent. The identification of such structures as border temples offers the opportunity to test rank size distribution and other ‘politico-territorial studies (eg. Bunimovitz 1993, 1995; Finkelstein 1996 and Savage and Falconer 2003) and also enable a re-appraisal of the function of similar sites that could contribute to a deeper understanding of the dynamic of regional relations in the Middle to Late Bronze Age.
pauld@phm.gov.au
jfra4013@uni.sydney.edu.au
j.lovell@kenyon-institute.org.uk
The MB-LB Transition in the Central Jordan Valley
Prof. Peter Fischer (Gothenburg University)
The interpretation and dating of the material culture from the period of transition from MB III to LB IA is a subject of recurrent controversy. Whereas the ceramics from one site are "clearly" ascribed to LB traditions by some scholars, corresponding or even identical material from other sites is "definitely" part of the MB pottery repertoire according to others. It is well-known to all scholars dealing with the material remains not only from the Jordan Valley but also from the entire Southern Levant that - based on pottery classification - the length of this transitional period is considerable, maybe half a century or more. Nevertheless, this terminological controversy gives rise to lengthy argumentation in various publications that is of limited value. We must accept that single vessel shapes and specific production techniques are only of restricted chronological value if not put into a frequency distribution scheme from which the chronological position of a certain shape/technique within the sequence of, specifically, a particular multi-period tell can be estimated. Therefore, I suggest abandoning excessively restricted chronological designations based on pottery classification alone and using more often a "transitional" term which allows a less narrow chronological approach in the case of single vessels, or - if statistics are available - which allows the estimation of the chronological position of a certain vessel within this transitional period, which is usually also site-specific.
Accepting and resisting tradition in the Jordan Valley: changes in ritual practices during the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages
Dr Jack Green (Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford)
Cult places and cemeteries at Jordan Valley sites including Tell el-Hayyat, Tell Abu Al-Kharaz, Beth Shean, Pella, Tell es-Sa‘idiyeh, and Deir ‘Alla provide a wide range evidence for ritualized activities, ritual spaces and associated assemblages. Despite inherent difficulties in comparing evidence over time within this region, some installations and assemblages can be clearly linked to cult places and ritual activity. They include foundation deposits, favissae, feasting and/or sacrificial deposits, assemblages from shrines and storerooms, and offerings at places of burial. The Egyptian stronghold of Beth Shean incorporated a cult centre that syncretized Canaanite and Egyptian aspects of cultic practice, material culture, visual imagery and use of ritual space. But how were ritual activities at cult places presented in the Jordan Valley beyond Beth Shean, and what role did these places play in shaping local cultural identity in a period of Egyptian domination and influence? This paper argues for continuity of local ‘Canaanite' cultic traditions from the late Middle Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age at other Jordan Valley cult places. This continuity was punctuated by influences from Egypt, the coastal Levant and East Mediterranean, and Syro-Mesopotamia, but appears to have largely resisted the syncretic Egypto-Canaanite model established at Beth Shean. In contrast to activities associated with non-mortuary cult, Late Bronze Age funerary ceremonies at Tell es-Sa‘idiyeh, Beth Shean and Pella were more likely to be manipulated as prestige-enhancing activities, by incorporating exotica, including Egyptian-style objects, and by adapting new ritual traditions within local settings. It is suggested that burial rites were probably not as closely controlled by traditional ritual practitioners or community leaders, in contrast to what might have been tighter social controls over more ‘traditional' ritual activities within small shrines and regional cult-centres.
No longer alike: the development of distinct regional ceramic traditions during Iron Age II b-c. A ceramic perspective from Tell Deir ‘Alla
Dr Niels Groot (Delft University of Technology)
After an extended period of similarily in ceramic traditions throughout the Southern Levant, regionally differentiated ceramic assemblages developed during the Iron IIb-c era. The specific regions to which the ceramic assemblages belong are connected with the geopolitical entities of the Iron Age IIb-c territorial kingdoms. Supporting this thesis is the fact that traditionally defined borders between geopolitical entities are also marked by a transition in ceramic assemblages, as is the case for instance between Ammon and Judah.
Firstly, this paper will discuss the ceramic assemblages of the Iron IIb-c occupational phases of Tell Deir 'Alla, IX, VII and VI. These provide a good illustration of the developmental process of a regionally distinct ceramic tradition. The phase IX-repertoire of ± 800 B.C. contains several parallels with repertoires from Palestine. By contrast, the assemblage of phase VII (±700 B.C.), and especially that of phase VI (± 650-625 B.C.), exhibit characteristics of an entirely different repertoire. They contain several shapes and decoration methods found in the area of Central Transjordan connected with the territory of the kingdom of Ammon. The differences between the repertoire of Deir 'Alla and nearby Palestinian sites is striking.
Secondly, this paper will try to provide an explanation for the development of the 'Ammonite repertoire'. Who or what were the agents that steered the 'technological choices' of the potters throughout the 'Ammonite' region? It is clear there were several pottery workshops situated in this region, as shown by a study of the Deir 'Alla repertoire. A question connected to this study is whether the formation of a regionally distinct repertoire was a conscious process. If so, does this imply that ceramic repertoires served as markers of regional or even ethnic identity?
Cultural Continuity and Change in the Beth-Shean Valley: From the Late Bronze Age until the Iron IIA
Prof. Amihai Mazar and Dr Nava Panitz-Cohen (Hebrew University, Jerusalem)
Seventeen excavation seasons between 1989-2008 at Tel Beth-Shean and Tel Rehov ? the two major Bronze and Iron Age sites in the Beth-Shean valley ? have yielded a wealth of archaeological data. In light of the results, I will survey the question of cultural continuity and change along a period of 700 years, from the 14th until the 8th centuries BCE. The fate of these two sites differed to a large extent: while Beth-Shean was an Egyptian garrison town during the 15th -12th centuries BCE, Rehov was the main Canaanite city in the valley. Following the end of the Egyptian presence at Beth-Shean ca. 1130 BCE, a local Canaanite town continued to survive there until the end of Iron I. At Tel Rehov, six strata belong to the 14th-11th centuries BCE. In spite of severe architectural changes and developments within the local pottery repertoire, the 10 hectare city retained its urban character and Canaanite culture throughout this period. The transition from Iron I to Iron IIA is characterized by the appearance of a new pottery assemblage and surface treatment: notably the appearance of burnished red slip. At Rehov, the city continued to retain its dense urban pattern. The rich finds from three Iron IIA strata at this site has enabled detailed study of the transition from Iron I to Iron IIA and further developments in the second half of the Iron IIA; following a severe destruction during the late 9th century, the upper mound was rebuilt in the 8th century (Iron IIB), when clearly defined changes in the pottery assemblage took place. Beth-Shean also revealed an interesting though more fragmentary sequence of Iron II strata. The lecture will raise questions relating to periodization, cultural continuity and change, and the relationship between material culture, geo-political frameworks and ethnic identity.
Egyptian and Canaanite Cultural Interaction: a Technological Approach
Dr Nava Panitz-Cohen (Hebrew University, Jerusalem), Dr Mario Martin (Univeristy of Vienna) and Dr Valentine Roux (University of Paris)
Under the assumption that technology is not merely a technical solution for functional problems, but also reflects deep-seated social organization, beliefs and identities, we examine how production of local Canaanite and Egyptian-style pottery at Late Bronze Age and Iron Age I Beth Shean functioned in order to gain a better understanding of the cultural interaction between the different ethnic or social groups living in the town at this time. Egyptian occupation of Beth-Shean was intense during the New Kingdom, particularly during the 19th and 20th Dynasties, as expressed in many realms of the material culture, such as architecture, art, glyptics, and pottery. Notably, while comprising some 50% of the ceramics at this time (Strata VII-VI), Egyptian-style pottery was all locally made, aside from a handful of imported vessels and was all of typical Egyptian shapes and technology (such as the use of a wheel, the addition of much straw temper and low firing temperatures). This suggests that specialist Egyptian potters were brought to the site, at least at the beginning of this process. It is likely that this production was at least partially controlled by the Egyptian administration at Beth-Shean. On the other hand, examination of the locally made Canaanite vessels, with an entirely different typology than the Egyptian-style wares, showed that they were most likely manufactured as a household industry, using coiling and wheel-turning. However, petrographic analysis showed that both wares were made of the same clay recipe and fired at the same temperature. Other common characteristics include the use of red slip, rope-tying large vessels, red band on rims, among others. In light of these similarities and differences, our research attempts to analyze the dynamics of interaction between the two technological and cultural traditions in order to better understand social processes and ethnic identities at this important crossroads of culture in the late LB and Iron Age I.
Tell es-Sa'idiyeh Stratum VII: An Industrial Colony in the Jordan Valley
Mr Jonathan Tubb and Dr Rupert Chapman (The British Museum)
Tell es-Sa'idiyeh Stratum VII exhibits a number of interesting features, including a carefully laid out grid plan, with rows of virtually identical houses, most of which have produced evidence for weaving. The stratigraphic evidence indicates that this settlement did not grow organically from an initial village, but was a pre-planned construction into which a group of specialists in cloth manufacture were introduced. Seen in the context of the Iron Age in the southern Levant, this site and stratum can tell us a great deal about the activities of the larger polities in the surrounding region.
RChapman@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk
Change of use of space at Tell Deir Alla during the LB-Iron Age transition process
Dr Gerrit van de Kooij (Leiden University) and Zeidan Kafafi (Yarmouk University)
The excavation results of Deir Alla show a remarkable difference of use of space between the last phases of the Late Bronze Age and the first ones of the Iron Age. Focus of the presentation concerns the description of the differences as they appear in the northern area of the site, excavated in the 1960s, and in the southern areas as recently excavated. The description will be followed by an interpretation towards activities and cultural tradition, and compared to some settlement sites in the nearby region. Subsequently an economic and social interpretation is ventured, partly based on the results of the recent study of the surrounding landscape and its traces of human activities. The issue of archaeological value of the distinction between phases and periods (LB-IA) has to be dealt with as well - within the wider context of the Jordan Valley and beyond.
G.van.der.Kooij@arch.leidenuniv.nl
Embedded slag: the social and economic role of the early Iron Age II Tell Hammeh iron smelting industry
Dr Xander Veldhuijzen (University College London)
A large body of iron smelting remains was uncovered at Tell Hammeh, just outside the Jordan Valley at the mouth of the Wadi Zarqa, which date to 930 CalBC. These finds represent a unique example of a small regional industrial operation, and allows for an exploration of how this technology was embedded in both the local economy and the local culture.This paper will first explore the economic context of the Hammeh iron production. This technology is clearly located at a place where the availability within the natural environment of natural resources such as an exploitable ore, clay, and water allow the technology to be practised. There are also several indicators for quite developed levels of organisation within this seasonal production of metal, which appear to be linked with other aspects of the local economy, e.g. pruning of olive trees as a fuel supply, and highly specialised and mass production of tuy?res. It is clear that the Hammeh iron smelting operations are an embedded part of the local economy, with clear relations to other industries or activities. Another aspect that will be discussed is the technological choices visible in the Hammeh technology, e.g. the remarkable square section of the tuy?res, which seem to indicate aspects of the local culture rather than technological necessities. It is through these socially rather than technologically determined choices that we can reveal a glimpse of the smelter behind the slag. Significantly in this social aspect of this technology, is that there are clear links to other sites in the Jordan Valley and wider region, which transcend both time -they appear in much older (e.g. Tell Abu Kharaz) and younger (e.g. Tell Deir 'Alla) contexts- and the boundaries of a single metal or technological stage.