Royal Judahite Jar Handles: Reconsidering the Chronology of the<i>lmlk</i>Stamp Impressions

Lipschits, Oded; Sergi, Omer; Koch, Ido

doi:10.1179/033443510x12632070179306

Cited by 72 publications

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“…As the archaeological context of these artifacts has no direct relation to the place of their firing (i.e., the location where magnetization was acquired), the entire assemblage is treated here as though coming from one central location in Judah. This location was chosen to be the archaeological site of Tel Sochoh (31.682°N, 34.975°E), which several studies suggest was the production place of one of the major jar groups (the lmlk stamp type; lmlk stands for the Hebrew , meaning "to/of the king") (6,7,13). That said, as all of the stamped jars investigated in this study were produced within the boundaries of the political formations ruling the Judean region throughout the first millennium BCE (∼31.2°N to 32.2°N), the maximum expected uncertainty in estimated VADM is less than 1 ZAm 2 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Six centuries of geomagnetic intensity variations recorded by royal Judean stamped jar handles

Ben‐Yosef

Millman

Shaar

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Earth's magnetic field, one of the most enigmatic physical phenomena of the planet, is constantly changing on various time scales, from decades to millennia and longer. The reconstruction of geomagnetic field behavior in periods predating direct observations with modern instrumentation is based on geological and archaeological materials and has the twin challenges of (i) the accuracy of ancient paleomagnetic estimates and (ii) the dating of the archaeological material. Here we address the latter by using a set of storage jar handles (fired clay) stamped by royal seals as part of the ancient administrative system in Judah (Jerusalem and its vicinity). The typology of the stamp impressions, which corresponds to changes in the political entities ruling this area, provides excellent age constraints for the firing event of these artifacts. Together with rigorous paleomagnetic experimental procedures, this study yielded an unparalleled record of the geomagnetic field intensity during the eighth to second centuries BCE. The new record constitutes a substantial advance in our knowledge of past geomagnetic field variations in the southern Levant. Although it demonstrates a relatively stable and gradually declining field during the sixth to second centuries BCE, the new record provides further support for a short interval of extreme high values during the late eighth century BCE. The rate of change during this "geomagnetic spike" [defined as virtual axial dipole moment > 160 ZAm 2 (10 21 Am 2 )] is further constrained by the new data, which indicate an extremely rapid weakening of the field (losing ∼27% of its strength over ca. 30 y).archaeomagnetism | archaeointensity | levantine archaeomagnetic curve | paleosecular variation | archaeomagnetic spikes R econstruction of geomagnetic secular variation during the Holocene has implications for various fields of research, from geophysics and other planetary sciences to biology and archaeology. Such reconstructions are based predominantly on heatimpacted geological and archaeological materials, whose thermal remanent magnetization (TRM) holds information on the geomagnetic field vector at the time of their last cooling. As evidence for fluctuating field behavior, including short (decadal) periods of rapid changes, is constantly growing (1-5), using records with excellent time resolution has become increasingly of interest.To improve the accuracy and precision of age constraints associated with estimates of ancient geomagnetic field strength, the current study exploits a set of archaeological artifacts whose ages are exceptionally well constrained. This set is composed of wellstudied ceramic jars from Judah/Yehud/Judea (Jerusalem and its vicinity), which bear royal stamp impressions on their handles (6-10). The stamped jars were part of the ancient administration of this region for about 600 y, between the late eighth and late second centuries BCE. As the types of stamp impressions changed with time according to the political situation, the jar handles provide an excellent recor...

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This set is composed of wellstudied ceramic jars from Judah/Yehud/Judea (Jerusalem and its vicinity), which bear royal stamp impressions on their handles (6)(7)(8)(9)(10). The stamped jars were part of the ancient administration of this region for about 600 y, between the late eighth and late second centuries BCE.…”

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confidence: 99%

Six centuries of geomagnetic intensity variations recorded by royal Judean stamped jar handles

Ben‐Yosef

Millman

Shaar

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…But until these new finds and new facts have been discovered, it is better to let the theories be based on facts rather than vice versa. The current debate between the two methods-the one summarized and presented by Ussishkin (2011), and the one presented by Lipschits, Sergi and Koch (2010; and summarized in this article-is not merely archaeological or focused on technical archaeological arguments, but has far-reaching historical implications on our understanding of the history of Judah during the late First Temple period and most of the Second Temple period. Was the system of stamping jar handles part of an ongoing administrative system or was it an ad hoc military system?…”

Section: The Date Of the Handles Discovered Out Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…destruction debris at Lachish, based on Lipschits, Sergi and Koch (2010), is commendable. However, his claim that this clear stratigraphic fact concerning a portion of the lmlk types "is no proof for their late date" (ibid.…”

Section: The Stratigraphy and Detailed Typology Of The Stampedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…), and designated one additional type, with no place name, as XII. 1 Surprisingly, 30 years passed before a careful and exact study of the exact location, stratigraphy, and distribution of each type was published (Lipschits, Sergi and Koch 2010). As demonstrated above, this study shows that some types of the two-winged stamp impressions (Types IIb, IIc, XII) were never found sealed by the 1 Lemaire (1981) identified another type of lmlk stamped handle, which he termed "Type OII," and which bears only the two-winged sun disc without any inscription.…”

Section: Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Archaeological Facts, Historical Speculations and the Date of the LMLK Storage Jars: A Rejoinder to David Ussishkin

Lipschits¹

2012

JHS

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In two essays published recently (Lipschits, Sergi and Koch 2010, 2011), two of my students and I suggested a new chronological scheme for the lmlk stamped jars in Judah. In this study we challenged a 30-year scholarly consensus that contended that all the lmlk jars were associated with the destruction of Level III at Lachish, and that they were dated to the three years of Hezekiah’s revolt and Judah’s preparations for the 701 B.C.E. Assyrian attack (Ussishkin 1977; Na’aman 1979, 1986; Vaughn 1999; Kletter 2002). We based this new chronological scheme on a careful study of the distribution of the lmlk stamped handles, according to the detailed typology set out by André Lemaire in 1981. We isolated the four- winged Types Ia and Ib and the two-winged Type IIa as those found sealed under the destruction level of Lachish III and con- temporaneous strata. Accordingly, we defined these types as the “early types,” used before the 701 Assyrian attack on Judah (Lip- schits, Sergi and Koch 2010: 11 and Fig. 1). By contrast, three types of two-winged lmlk stamp impressions (Lemaire’s IIb, IIc and XII) appear only in hill-country sites that were not destroyed in 701 B.C.E., or in strata attributed to the 7th century B.C.E., with not even one stamped handle of these types found in a clear 701 B.C.E. destruction level. Therefore, we assumed that these types were produced after the 701 campaign, defined them as “late types,” and dated them to the beginning of the 7th century B.C.E. (ibid.: 11, 13– 2 JOURNAL OF HEBREW SCRIPTURES 17). Furthermore, we suggested that the lmlk stamped jars were not part of a short-term system of preparations for the Assyrian attack, but rather part of an administrative system begun before Hezekiah’s revolt against the Assyrian empire, and followed by the incised concentric circles and the rosette stamp impressions (Lipschits, Sergi and Koch 2010: 8–9; Koch and Lipschits 2010). The continuity of the manufacturing of royal storage jars (Vaughn 1999: 148–150; Shai and Maeir 2003; Gitin 2006) and of the use of royal emblems stamped on their handles (Lipschits, Sergi and Koch 2010: 7–10) indicates that the different stamps are all part of the same administrative system that probably functioned without interruption for about 140 years. Moreover, the same administrative system continued after the 586 B.C.E. destruction for an additional 450 years, during the Babylonian period (the mwṣh and lion stamped handles; see Lipschits 2010), during the Persian and the Early Hellenistic periods (the yhwd stamped handles; see Lipschits and Vanderhooft 2011), and until the Late Hellenistic period (the late yhwd and the yršlm stamped handles; see Ariel and Shoham 2000: 159–163; Vanderhooft and Lipschits 2007; Bocher and Lipschits 2011). Throughout this long period, Judah was under the hegemony of great empires, and the stamped jars were part of the Judahite administrative system that was already established when Judah became an Assyrian vassal kingdom; they continued to be in use as long as Judah was a vassal kingdom and afterwards when it was a province under the rule of the Babylonian, Persian and Ptolemaic empires. Recently, Ussishkin published a rejoinder (2011) defending his 34-year-old view, claiming again that all the lmlk stamped storage jars were manufactured concurrently during a brief period shortly before 701 B.C.E. (ibid.: 223–224, 231). He even went one step fur- ther, claiming that, despite the archaeological fact that not even one handle bearing a concentric circle incision was discovered sealed under a 701 B.C.E. destruction level, all the handles bearing concen- tric circle incisions should also be dated to the same pre-701 B.C.E. period (ibid.: 233–235). He further claimed that all the rosette stamped storage jars should be dated to shortly before the 587/6 B.C.E. destruction (ibid.: 235). If this were indeed the case, then no stamped jars were produced in Judah during the 110 years between Hezekiah’s revolt and the Assyrian military campaign against Judah (704–701 B.C.E.), and Zedekiah’s revolt against Babylon and the Babylonian military campaign against Judah (588–586 B.C.E.); furthermore, the rosette system, just like the lmlk system that preceded it, had to be developed over a very short period of time. Ussishkin did not connect the 6th to 2nd century stamped jar handles to the lmlk, concentric circle and rosette jars, and he ignored the continued use of the same system of stamping handles of the same type of jars for an additional 450 years. In this article, I will focus on the differences in the methods used for dating and for interpreting the stamped jar handles in gen- ARCHAEOLOGICAL FACTS AND HISTORICAL SPECULATIONS 3 eral, and those methods used for the lmlk stamped jars in particular. I will also emphasize the differences in the approach toward archaeological facts and their historical interpretations.

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Agricultural and Economic Change in the Iron II Judean Shephelah as a Result of Geopolitical Shifts: A View from Tel Burna

Shai

2023

Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology

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Royal Judahite Jar Handles: Reconsidering the Chronology of thelmlkStamp Impressions

Cited by 72 publications

References 23 publications

Six centuries of geomagnetic intensity variations recorded by royal Judean stamped jar handles

Six centuries of geomagnetic intensity variations recorded by royal Judean stamped jar handles

Archaeological Facts, Historical Speculations and the Date of the LMLK Storage Jars: A Rejoinder to David Ussishkin

Agricultural and Economic Change in the Iron II Judean Shephelah as a Result of Geopolitical Shifts: A View from Tel Burna

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