The Archaeology of Border Communities: Renewed Excavations at Tel                     Beth-Shemesh, Part 1: The Iron Age

Bunimovitz, Shlomo; Lederman, Zvi; Manor, Dale

doi:10.1086/nea20697231

Cited by 25 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These artefacts, found in association with the large public building, suggest that this sector of the Level 3 town had become a commercial area, a likelihood reinforced by the discovery of a ceramic scale-pan suitable for use in currency weighing during commercial transactions. A tripartite storehouse and a large silo exposed by the Haverford College expedition (1928)(1929)(1930)(1931)(1932)(1933) near Area E further support the idea by indicating storing and redistributive functions to this quarter during Iron Age IIA (Bunimovitz and Lederman 2009: map on p. 136).…”

Section: Datingmentioning

confidence: 82%

An ArchaicBa^clInscription from Tel Beth-Shemesh

2011

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Datingmentioning

confidence: 82%

An ArchaicBa^clInscription from Tel Beth-Shemesh

2011

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Excavations in the western corner of this room, in context L1530, revealed a medium-size commemorative scarab of Amenhotep III and a unique plaque figurine, presumably of a female ruler presented as a male (Ziffer, Bunimovitz and Lederman 2009). Other finds in this context include the aforementioned bronze strainer and a Base Ring I juglet.…”

Section: The Archaeological Context Of the Tel Beth-shemesh Late Minomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is a multi-period site, spanning more than 1100 years of occupational history. Three cycles of excavations (1911–12; 1928–33; 1990–present) revealed that it was first settled in the Middle Bronze Age (seventeenth century bc ), and finally deserted in the mid-seventh century bc as a result of Assyrian and Philistine violence (Bunimovitz and Lederman 1993; 2008; 2009). 2…”

Section: The Archaeological Context Of the Tel Beth-shemesh Late Minomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As archaeology testifies, in the Late Bronze Age Beth-Shemesh was a medium-size city-state within the network of Canaanite city-states documented in the Amarna archive of the fourteenth century bc (for the array of these city-states see Bunimovitz 1995, 326–7; Finkelstein 1996; Goren, Finkelstein and Na'aman 2004, 320–2; Na'aman 2011). Two letters (El-Amarna Tablets 273–4) written by a female ruler named f NIN.UR.MAH meš (Bēlit-labi ) t – ‘lady of the lionesses’) may have been sent to the Egyptian court (still in the days of Amenhotep III) from Beth-Shemesh, according to their contents as well as petrographical analysis (Goren, Finkelstein and Na'aman 2004, 276–7; Na'aman 2011; Ziffer, Bunimovitz and Lederman 2009). While it is certainly possible that the Late Minoan IIIA1 cups came to Beth-Shemesh directly from Knossos, another viable option is that they arrived as a gift from the Egyptian court.…”

Section: The Cultural Context Of the Late Minoan Iiia1 Cups At Knossomentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Knossian Gifts? Two Late Minoan Iiia1 Cups From Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel

Bunimovitz

Lederman

Hatzaki

2013

Annu. Br. Sch. Athens

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Two Late Minoan IIIA1 cups were recently found in the excavations at Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel. They were part of a larger assemblage of local Late Bronze IIA (first half of the fourteenth century bc) drinking and eating vessels sealed under a destruction layer in one room of a large edifice, presumably a ‘palace’. A commemorative scarab bearing the name of Amenhotep III and related to the first Jubilee (Sed festival) in his thirtieth regnal year was found alongside the cups, providing further chronological evidence. This article examines the Late Minoan IIIA1 cups from Beth-Shemesh within their Aegean context and emphasises their close affinity with comparable cups from the palace of Knossos, catalogued and republished here. The Tel Beth-Shemesh cups are the second occurrence – after Sellopoulo Tomb 4 – of Knossian Late Minoan IIIA1 pottery found together with Amenhotep III's scarab. This new evidence strengthens the likelihood of some chronological overlap between Late Minoan IIIA1 and the reign of this Pharaoh. The article also considers the biography of the two Minoan cups, as social agents within the intricate network of the Late Bronze Age palatial gift exchange in the eastern Mediterranean. While it is possible that the cups came to Beth-Shemesh directly from Knossos, another viable option is that they arrived as a gift from the Egyptian court. The two rare Late Minoan IIIA1 Knossian cups could have reached Egypt on the occasion of Amenhotep III's much-discussed official embassy to the Aegean – including Knossos – and then been sent as royal gifts to the ruler of Beth-Shemesh.

show abstract

“…Still, as noted above, practically no temples were found in archaeological excavations in these settings. For example, the site at Beth-Shemesh was excavated almost entirely by three expeditions (Bunimovitz and Lederman 2009; and additional references), but no temple was found. At Tell en-Nasbeh (biblical Mizpah), too, almost the entire Iron Age II city was exposed (Zorn 1993a(Zorn , 1993b; and references; Figure 3), but no temples were found.…”

Section: Urban Iron Age II Israelite Settlementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Israelite Temples: Where Was Israelite Cult Not Practiced, and Why

Faust

2019

Religions

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Most scholars in the late 20th and early 21st century believed that cultic activity in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah was practiced in various temples that were scattered throughout the kingdoms. Still, a detailed study of the archaeological evidence on Israelite cult reveals that Israelite cultic buildings were extremely rare, both in absolute terms and when compared to other ancient Near Eastern societies, suggesting that cultic activity in temples was the exception rather than the norm and that typical Israelite cult was practiced in the household and in other, non-temple settings. Hence, the evidence suggests that rather than viewing temples, like the one in Arad, as exemplifying typical cultic activity, they should be viewed as exceptions that require a special explanation. The first part of the article develops and updates the suggestion, first raised about ten years ago, that Israelite temples were indeed extremely rare. Given the ancient Near Eastern context, however, such practices seems to be exceptional, and the second part of the article will therefore explain why was such a unique pattern not identified in the past, and will suggest a possible explanation as to how was such an outstanding practice developed and adopted.

show abstract

The Archaeology of Border Communities: Renewed Excavations at Tel Beth-Shemesh, Part 1: The Iron Age

Cited by 25 publications

References 1 publication

An ArchaicBa^clInscription from Tel Beth-Shemesh

An ArchaicBa^clInscription from Tel Beth-Shemesh

Knossian Gifts? Two Late Minoan Iiia1 Cups From Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel

Israelite Temples: Where Was Israelite Cult Not Practiced, and Why

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

The Archaeology of Border Communities: Renewed Excavations at Tel Beth-Shemesh, Part 1: The Iron Age

Cited by 25 publications

References 1 publication

An ArchaicBaclInscription from Tel Beth-Shemesh

An ArchaicBaclInscription from Tel Beth-Shemesh

Knossian Gifts? Two Late Minoan Iiia1 Cups From Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel

Israelite Temples: Where Was Israelite Cult Not Practiced, and Why

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

An ArchaicBa^clInscription from Tel Beth-Shemesh

An ArchaicBa^clInscription from Tel Beth-Shemesh