Table of Contents

Page

Annual Meeting

Larsa Archive

Rainey Lecture

Al-Maktába

Random Survey

INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY

HORN ARCHAEOLOGICAL

MUSEUM

NEWSLETTER

Paul J. Ray, Jr. EditorDavid Merling Assoc. EditorRandall W. Younker Assoc. EditorDarrell J. Rohl Asst. Editor

The Newsletter is published four times ayear by the Institute of Archaeology,Andrews University. Annual subscriptionprice is $7.50. Museum membership,subscription, and editorial correspon-dence should be addressed to the HornArchaeological Museum, Institute ofArchaeology, Andrews University,Berrien Springs, MI 49104-0990,Telephone 269-471-3273, Fax 269-471-3619, e-mail hornmusm@andrews.edu.

Volume 27.1

Winter 2006

ISSN 1095-2837

2005 ASOR Annual Meeting

The 2005 annual meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research was held inPhiladelphia from November 16-19, along with the Near East Archaeological Society annual meeting from November 15-18 and the Society of Biblical Literature from November 19-22. Thisyear’s ASOR meetings drew a crowd of 668 people, who attended 53 different sessions, where 236papers were read. The plenary session featured James Muhly, who focused on the topic of “TheMesopotamian Metals Project: Recent Discoveries.” Highlights of the program included presentations on newly discovered inscriptions from Tel Zayit and Tell es-Safi. The awards recipi-ent this year was Roger S. Borass, who was honored for his pioneering role in the development of scientific archaeology in Jordan, particularly as part of the Heshbon Expedition from 1968-1976.

A number of Madaba Plains Project staff presided over sessions including: Lawrence T.Geraty, the president of ASOR, who chaired sessions on “Excavations at Tell Gezer in Retrospectand Prospect”; and “Fakes and Forgeries in the Ancient World”; as well as a number of business sessions (Presidents, Chairs and Directors; Institutional Representatives; Executive Committees;and the ASOR Membership Meeting) and receptions (Madaba Plains Project Staff Consultation);and Douglas Clark, former ASOR Director, on the Etana Workshops I and II (with James Flanagan)and the Academic Masterminding Committee Business meeting. Others included: Constance Gane(Archaeology of Mesopotamia); Gary Christopherson (Geographic Information Systems, RemoteSensing and Archaeology); Bethany Walker (Archaeology of Jordan); Gloria London (OutreachEducation, and its Business session); David Graf (Arabia I, and its Business session); Larry Herr

Øystein S. LaBianca, Lawrence T. Geraty, Roger S. Boraas and Bert de Vries at honors celebration.

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(Committee on Publications); andØystein LaBianca (Material Culture inthe Ottoman Period), with Bert de Vries;(Madaba Plains Project Reception, andASOR Honors and Awards).

Papers read by Madaba PlainsProject members included: David Graf(In Search of Hellenistic Petra:Excavations in the Civic Center);Bethany Walker (Identifying the LateIslamic period Ceramically: PreliminaryObservations on the Ottoman Wares ofCentral and Northern Jordan) and (TheVisual World of Women in MedievalIslam); Robert Bates (The Graves ofAlalakh: Re-examining Woolley’sExcavations at Tell Atchana); TimothyHarrison, with Stephen Batiuk (TowardsUnderstanding the Iron Age LowerMound at Tell Tayinat); ØysteinLaBianca, with Leif Manger (GlobalMoments and Inter-CivilizationalEncounters in the Levant); RandallYounker and David Merling (The 2005Season at Tall Jalul); Keith Mattingly,with Øystein LaBianca (Parochializationof the Byzantine Great Tradition inTransjordan: The View From TallHisban); and Larry Herr (Layer Cakes ofCivilization: Ancient Tells and HowPeople Lived in Them). (Paul J. Ray, Jr.)

Larsa Archive

Paul-Alain Beaulieu of HarvardUniversity was at the Horn Museum inApril of 2005 studying some of the Neo-Babylonian tablets in our collection.When asked to give us some backgroundto his visit, he had this to say:

The collection of cuneiform tabletshoused in the Horn Museum includesmore than two hundred tablets from theNeo-Babylonian period. Of these, roughlya hundred come from Larsa, a city ofgreat importance during the OldBabylonian period (2000-1600 BC),whose rulers competed with Babylon forhegemony. During the first millenniumBC the site was largely deserted until theBabylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC) revived its institutions, includingEbabbar, the temple of the sun godŠamaš, the patron deity of Larsa. Thereappearance of cuneiform texts at Larsaaround this time testifies to the city’s rel-ative prosperity in the 6th century BC.

Eighty of the Larsa texts in the HornMuseum belong to the archive of a familyof entrepreneurs headed by a man namedItti-Šamaš-balātu and his son Arad-Šamaš. Additional texts from that archiveare preserved in the British Museum (80texts) and Yale University (35 texts). Thetime span of the archive is from the 4thyear of Nebuchadnezzar II (601 BC) untilthe 2nd year of Cambyses (528 BC).These ca. 200 texts make up only a smallportion of the original archive of the fam-ily. According to the currently acceptedterminology they form a dead archive, ora collection of outdated transactions andmemos which were discarded in onebatch after a clean-up of the mainarchive. In spite of this they are represen-tative of the type of business run by thefamily, which primarily involved the trad-ing of commodities in short-term com-mercial joint-ventures, as well as taxfarming for the three most importantlandowners in that region, the Ebabbartemple of Larsa, the Eanna temple ofUruk, and the royal estates. The members

of the family bear no patronymic (orancestor’s name), which indicates thatthey did not stem from the urban elitewhich controlled the temples and civicinstitutions. However, the texts show thatArad-Šamaš married a daughter of theinfluential Šamaš-bāri family, thus gain-ing a foothold in the local aristocracy.

I am at the Horn Museum workingon these tablets because I am preparing amonograph that will include an edition ofthe texts (cuneiform hand copies, translit-erations, translations, commentaries) anda detailed historical analysis of the typeof business conducted by this family aswell as its significance for our under-standing of the economy and institutionsof Babylonia during the time of theBabylonian and Persian empires. (Paul-Alain Beaulieu)

Rainey Lecture

On Nov. 14, 2005, Anson F.Rainey, Professor Emeritus of AncientNear Eastern Cultures and SemiticLinguistics at Tel Aviv University inIsrael, presented a lecture entitled “FromWhere Did the Israelites Come?” as partof the Horn Museum lecture series.

Keith Mattingly presents paper at ASOR. Paul-Alain Beaulieu.

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A critical response to WilliamDever’s analysis in Who were the Early Israelites and Where did They comeFrom? this lecture presented evidencesuggesting that the Israelites were not, asDever contends, indigenous Canaanites,but a separate group of pastoralists whomigrated from Transjordan. The primarylines of evidence to support this view areceramic remains and linguistic analysis.While Dever claims that the new potterystyles of Iron Age I “Israelites” are con-tinuous derivations of the Late BronzeCanaanite ware, Rainey attempts to showthat these forms are paralleled in theceramics of Late Bronze Age Transjordan.With the assistance of Christie Goulart-Ribiero, an archaeology student at AU,Rainey has developed a pottery typology

chart which evidences the movement ofthese forms from Late Bronze AgeTransjordan to Iron Age I Israel.

In terms of linguistics, Rainey chal-lenges the view that the Hebrew languagewas a dialect derived from the CoastalCanaanite language. Key to his argumentis the syntax of narrative preterits, com-mon in Hebrew. This sequence has beenidentified in Moabite (in the Meshainscription), and in Old Aramaic, (in theZakkur and Tel Dan inscriptions). It is,however, absent in Phoenician, the mostclear example of Coastal Canaanite. This,according to Rainey, is support for plac-ing the origins of Hebrew and Moabite inTransjordan.

In addition Dr. Rainey also gaveanother lecture on “The Relationship

Between the Habiru and the Hebrews,” toan archaeology class. (Darrell J. Rohl)

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Jiroft Inscription:

A fragmentary inscription on a brickfrom an Elamite palace in Jiroft,Iran, may be the earliest example ofa written script found in Iran. Theinscription is not yet firmly dated,but linguists believe it to be 300years older than the earliest inscriptions found in Susa. The areawhere the inscription was found also contained many objects dating to thethird millennium BC. The Elamitelanguage has no modern descen-dants, nor does it belong to anyknown language family, and is poorly understood by scholars.

Tomb Unearthed in Greece:

An eight-chambered tomb, the largest of its kind ever found in Greece, has been found nearPella, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia. It was filled with pots, figurines, copperjewelry, and coins, and was in use by a wealthy family from the 4th-2nd centuries BC.

Tomb Discovered on Crete:

A large, underground tomb has been found outsideone of the main gates of Aptera on the island of Crete.The tomb, belonging to an important Roman periodfamily, was looted in antiquity, but still yielded awealth of artifacts, including statues of the god Eros.

Tutankhamen Infection:

Recent CT scans of themummy of Tutankhamenindicate that the young kingdied of an infection stemming from a wound tohis knee. His left foot wasalso broken. Embalmingfluid entered the space inthe knee fracture, indicatingthat the wound had nothealed by mummification.Traces of gold decorationsfound in the wound becamelodged in the leg when itwas struck by a sword orsome other sharp object.This wound ultimatelybecame infected, leading toTutankhamen’s prematuredeath around age 19.

To discover more about archaeology, the

Institute, and the Museum, contact us at:

VOX: 269-471-3273FAX: 269-471-3619E-mail: hornmusm@andrews.edu

or visit our Web site at:www.andrews.edu/archaeology

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Ancient Seed Sprouts:

A 2,000-year-old Judean date seed has been successfully sproutedin Israel, producing a seedling nearly 1 foot tall. The seed wasfound during excavations at Masada. Judean date palms once grewthroughout the Jordan valley, but most of the trees now growing inthe region are imported from California. Scientists hope that thisseedling will bear seeds of its own by 2010, allowing the Judeandate palm to be reintroduced in the region.

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