Exploring the Holy Land; 150 Years of the Palestine Exploration Fund; David Gurevich; Anat Kidron

Edited by

David Gurevich [+–]

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

David Gurevich is an archaeologist and a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of General History of Bar-Ilan University. He was appointed as a Fulbright Scholar in the Harvard University in 2014-5. His academic interests include the Archaeology of Jerusalem, Second Temple Judaism, Israel Studies, and the history of archaeological research.

Anat Kidron [+–]

The Gottlieb Schumacher Institute for the Research of the Christian Presence in Palestine in the Modern Era, under the auspices of the University of Haifa

Anat Kidron is Dean of humanities, Ohalo Academic College, and the academic director of The Gottlieb Schumacher Institute for Research of the Christian Presence in Palestine in the Modern Era, under the auspices of the University of Haifa. Her research focuses on the British Mandatory Palestine and the first years of the State of Israel.

The Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) is the oldest exploration society of the Levant which is active today. Since its founding meeting in 1865 in Westminster Abbey, the PEF scholars have conducted systematic exploration of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Prominent archaeologists such as C.W. Wilson, C. Warren, C. Schick, C. Conder, W.M.F Petrie, H. Kitchener, and R.A.S Macalister, were sent to dig the Holy Land on behalf of the PEF. A remarkable enterprise carried out by the PEF, in cooperation with the Royal Engineers, was the first precise scientific survey of the region: The Survey of Western Palestine, which yielded pioneering high-quality detailed maps of the Holy Land. Marking the 150 years since the PEF emerged, the studies collected in this volume provide a retrospective on the endeavours in the light of the findings of the contemporary archaeological research.

Preliminaries

List of Figures [+–] vii-xi

David Gurevich,Anat Kidron FREE

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Gottlieb Schumacher Institute for the Research of the Christian Presence in Palestine in the Modern Era, under the auspices of the University of Haifa

The Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) is the oldest exploration society of the Levant which is active today. Since its founding meeting in 1865 in Westminster Abbey of London, the PEF scholars have conducted systematic exploration of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Prominent archaeologists such as C.W. Wilson, C. Warren, C. Schick, C. Conder, W.M.F Petrie, H. Kitchener, and R.A.S Macalister, were sent to dig the Holy Land on behalf of the PEF. A remarkable enterprise carried out by the PEF, in cooperation with the Royal Engineers, was the first precise scientific survey of the region – The Survey of the Western Palestine – which yielded the pioneering high-quality detailed maps of the Holy Land. Marking the 150 years since the PEF emerged, the studies collected in this volume provide a retrospective on the endeavours in the light of the findings of the contemporary archaeological research.

List of Tables [+–] xii

David Gurevich,Anat Kidron FREE

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Gottlieb Schumacher Institute for the Research of the Christian Presence in Palestine in the Modern Era, under the auspices of the University of Haifa

Note [+–] xiii

David Gurevich,Anat Kidron FREE

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Gottlieb Schumacher Institute for the Research of the Christian Presence in Palestine in the Modern Era, under the auspices of the University of Haifa

Introduction

Marking 150 Years of the Palestine Exploration Fund [+–] 1-5

David Gurevich,Anat Kidron FREE

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Gottlieb Schumacher Institute for the Research of the Christian Presence in Palestine in the Modern Era, under the auspices of the University of Haifa

The PEF and the Holy Land

1. George Grove and the Establishment of the Palestine Exploration Fund [+–] 9-32

David Jacobson £17.50

The Palestine Exploration Fund and University College London

David Jacobson is the Editor of the Palestine Exploration Quarterly and Honourary Research Fellow at University College London. .

This article surveys the growing thirst for factual evidence relating to the world of the Bible in mid-19th century Britain and early tentative efforts to address this demand. It was against this background that the polymath, George Grove sought to establish a secular institution devoted to the multidisciplinary study of the Southern Levant based on scientific principles. Evidence is martialled to show that it was Grove’s exceptional combination of talents – his organisational and networking skills, natural intelligence, wide interests, including a profound knowledge of the geography of the Bible – that enabled him to recruit some of the most illustrious figures of Victorian Britain to help him realise this ambition in 1865, with the establishment of the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF).

2. The Role of the PEF in Setting up the Architectural Draughtsmanship Tradition in Levantine Archaeology [+–] 33-58

Sveta Matskevich £17.50

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Sveta Matskevich is Associated Research Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The significance of the PEF in the early archaeological investigation of the Levant is much appreciated and well-studied. Yet, it is rarely acknowledged that PEF played a key-role in setting the standards of the organization and recording of archaeological excavation that went far beyond the antiquarian tradition, and serve archaeologists till today. In this study, I analysed architectural drafting and surveying methods, used for the first PEF projects, and have tried to reconstruct the process of formation of archaeological draughtsmanship in the Levant.

Discovering Ancient Jerusalem

3. The Evaluation of F.J. Bliss and A. Dickie’s Work in Jerusalem in the Light of Recent Excavations [+–] 61-80

Ronny Reich £17.50

University of Haifa

Ronny Reich is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the University of Haifa.

F.J. Bliss and A. Dickie excavated on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF), on the southern outskirts of Jerusalem, in the years 1894-1897. The excavators directed their activities to Mount Zion, to the Tyropoeon Valley and to the southern part of the south-eastern hill, identified with the City of David, with the aim to locate the southern city walls of Jerusalem. The excavations made some important discoveries, among which should be mentioned city-walls of the Second Temple period, as well as from the Byzantine period; the main street of the city, paved in stone, with the main drain under it, from the Second Temple period, along the Tyropoeon Valley; the Siloam Church and parts of the Byzantine Pool of Siloam on the southern tip of the City of David, and additional discoveries. The present author has conducted excavations in the City of David and in the Tyropoeon Valley to the west of it in the years 1995-2010. Some of the excavation areas were located adjacent to those covered by Bliss and Dickie, and some even congruent to them. This paper evaluates Bliss and Dickies work, discoveries and conclusions in the light of the discoveries and conclusions of the author’s excavations.

4. Reconstruction of a Crusader Opus Sectile Floor in the Dome of the Rock Based on Picturesque Palestine Illustrations and Finds from the Temple Mount Sifting Project [+–] 81-98

Frankie Snyder,Gabriel Barkay,Zachi Dvira £17.50

Independent Scholar

Frankie Snyder is a mathematician and Opus Sectile specialist.

Bar-Ilan University and Israel Archaeology Foundation

Gabriel Barkay is Co-Director of the Temple Mount Sifting Project, Bar-Ilan University and Israel Archaeology Foundation.

Bar-Ilan University and Israel Archaeology Foundation

Zachi Dvira is Co-Director of the Temple mount Sifting Project, Bar-Ilan University and Israel Archaeology Foundation.

The late 19th-century illustrations in: Picturesque Palestine, Sinai and Egypt edited by Sir Charles W. Wilson provides information pertinent to archaeological research even today. A detailed engraving depicting the interior of the Dome of the Rock initiated an investigation by researchers from the Temple Mount Sifting Project to trace the origins of an opus sectile floor, usually hidden under carpeting, back to the Crusader Period by comparing its intricate design to a similar Crusader-era floor in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

5. J.W. Crowfoot and G.M. Fitzgerald as Pioneers in the Archaeological Research of Aelia Capitolina [+–] 99-106

Yana Tchekhanovets,Doron Ben-Ami £17.50

Israel Antiquities Authority

Yana Tchekhanovets is an Archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Israel Antiquities Authority

During the excavations in the Tyropoeon Valley in Jerusalem, carried out by the PEF under the direction of J.W. Crowfoot and G.M. Fitzgerald in the 1920-s, a whole stratum defined by the excavators as a “Byzantine Low Level” was discerned. The stratigraphical setting of the structures, their orientation, architectural characteristics and décor and the rich finds assigned with this stratum have close parallels in the recently exposed peristyle building in the Givati parking lot excavations located only few dozen meters to the north. Apparently, both complexes belong to the Late Roman well-planned residential quarter of Aelia Capitolina, destroyed by the A.D. 363 earthquake. The reassessment of Crowfoot and Fitzgerald’s work in light of modern research clearly shows that they were the first to define the remains of the Late Roman living quarters of the city expanding to the south in the late third-early fourth century C.E.

Sites and Excavations

6. From Lebonah to Libnah: Historical Geographical Details from the PEF and other Early Secondary Sources on the Toponymy of Two Homonymous Sites [+–] 109-123

Chris McKinny,Aharon Tavger £17.50

Texas A & M University

Chris McKinny is Adjunct Professor at Texas A & M University in Corpus Christi.

Ariel University

Aharon Tavger is a Doctoral Candidate at Ariel University.

There are three instances of toponyms based on לבנ in the Bible. These include Libnah/Laban of the wilderness Sinai wanderings (Num 33:20; Deut 1:1), Lebonah of Ephraim (Judg 21:19), and Libnah of the Judean Shephelah (e.g., Josh 10:29-31). Notably, the latter two are possibly preserved in Arabic toponyms from 19th century Palestine. These toponyms were recorded with varying spellings in such cartographic projects as the Van de Velde’s Map of the Holy Land (1854, 1858, 1865), Warren’s unpublished Reconnaissance of the Plain of Philistia (1867), and Conder and Kitchener’s Survey of Western Palestine (1882, 1883, 1880), the latter two which were conducted under the auspices of the Palestine Exploration Fund. Using these and other cartographic sources as the basis for our discussion, we will analyze the etymology and site identifications of Lebonah of Ephraim and Libnah of the Shephelah in connection with their occurrences in the various post-biblical sources with the purpose of understanding the linguistic development of the לבנ toponyms from the biblical period to pre-modern times. Our analysis shows that the toponymic history of these sites corroborates the current identifications of Lebonah with el-Lubban and Libnah with Tell Bornat.

7. Job (Ayyūb), Ḥusayn and Saladin in Late Ottoman Palestine: The Memoirs of Nuʿmān al-Qasatli, the Arab Scribe of the Survey of Western Palestine [+–] 124-150

Daniella Talmon-Heller £17.50

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Daniella Talmon-Heller is Senior Lecturer at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

In this study, I explore the contribution of the work of the team of the Survey of Western Palestine, and especially that of the native-speaker Nuʿman al-Qasatli, to the study of ethnography and religious life in late Ottoman Palestine. I focus on Qasatli’s description of a two-and-a-half days-long celebration around shrines in the vicinity of Ascalon, which he observed in April 1885. It is treated here both as a chapter in the history of the thousand-years old shrine of the head of Husayn b. ʿAli (the martyred grandson of the Prophet Muhammad), and as a case study of a Palestinian local annual festivity (mawsim), and its transformations in the era of nationalism.

8. The Limits of The Ancient City: The Fortifications of Tell Es-Safi/Gath 115 Years after Bliss and Macalister [+–] 151-166

Eric Welch,Jeffrey R. Chadwick,Itzhaq Shai,Jill Citron Katz,Haskel J. Greenfield,Amit Dagam,Aren Maeir £17.50

University of Kansas

Eric Welch is Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas.

Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center

Jeffrey R. Chadwick is Professor of Archaeology and Near Eastern Studies at Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center.

Ariel University

Itzhaq Shai is Head of the Institute of Archaeology at Ariel University.

Yeshiva University

Jill Citron Katz is Assistant Professor of Archaeology at Yeshiva University.

University of Manitoba and St. Paul’s College

Haskel J. Greenfield is Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology at University of Manitoba and St. Paul’s College.

Bar-Ilan University

Aren M. Maeir is a professor of archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology of the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University (Ramat-Gan, Israel). He has published extensively on the Bronze and Iron Age of the Ancient Near East, including most recently Berlejung, A., Maeir. A. M., and Schuele, A., Wandering Arameans: Arameans Outside Syria – Textual and Archaeological Perspectives (Harrassowitz, 2017).

In this study we review the evidence of the fortifications of Tell es-Safi/Gath, based on the results of the PEF excavations by Bliss and Macalister in 1899, and those of the current BIU excavations. We demonstrate that the fortifications of the upper tell noted by Bliss and Macalister are the Early Bronze Age fortifications of the city, reused in later periods as well, based on insights from the recent excavations

9. R.A.S. Macalister and His Excavations at Tel Gezer: Some Critical Comments [+–] 167-175

Samuel R. Wolff £17.50

W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research

Samuel R. Wolff is Senior Fellow at the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research.

R.A.S. Macalister was an Irish scholar who was sent to Palestine at the behest of the Palestine Exploration Fund in 1898 in order to work with and ultimately to replace Frederick Jones Bliss on the four tells of the Shephelah project and later to work independently at Tel Gezer from 1902–1905 and 1907–1909. Afterwards he returned to Ireland to become a renown Irish archaeologist, returning to Palestine only to excavate with John Garrow Duncan in Jerusalem in 1923, leaving Duncan to finish the PEF project in 1924 and 1925. Macalister’s main legacy in Palestine was his work at Gezer, promptly published in three volumes in 1911-1912. This article critically discusses Macalister’s field methodology at Gezer and the publication of his results, especially in comparison to the work of his contemporaries. Macalister’s main problem was his decision to excavate the entire site, ostensibly in order to preserve its contents from robbers. This overly ambitious decision affected how he excavated and, as a result, the quality of his publication. Despite its deficiencies, scholars have found immense value in the Gezer publication, and it continues to be frequently cited until today. Credit should also be given to Macalister for being the first archaeologist excavating in Palestine to (1) consider major tell sites in conjunction with their hinterland and (2) for identifying the havoc wreaked by the activities of antiquities robbers and collectors on the archaeological heritage of the region.

Surveys

10. From Palmer to GIS: Two Survey Methods on Trial in the Negev Desert [+–] 179-198

Moti Haiman £17.50

Israel Antiquities Authority

Moti Haiman is Research Archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority.

This paper discusses how an archaeological site is documented as a unit by spatial manipulation in archaeological surveys in the Negev desert. An examination of various surveys reveals two general methods of data collection and analysis. The first method was used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, before the surveys began applying pottery collection. Those early surveys intended to display sites in high resolution, focusing on the variety of on-site features and on their morphological and functional parameters. The second method, influenced by the introduction of pottery acquisition in the first half of the 20th century, neglected the morphological aspect of the features. Hence, a “site” became a point representing the location where pottery has been collected. The introduction of the GPS/GIS system in the mid-1990s provided a new means that enabled switching to documentation that encompasses every visible feature. Thus, this system introduced a crucial change in redefining the term “archaeological site” as a unit in spatial-archaeological enquiry. Notwithstanding the modern technological means, the only relevant method for further studies is the neglected one of feature manipulation, practiced already more than a century ago. The paper also discusses the methodological foundations of the use of GPS/GIS in surveys as a basis for further interdisciplinary studies, early results of which were first represented in 2008.

11. Roman Roads in the Palestine Exploration Fund Survey [+–] 199-211

Chaim Ben David £17.50

Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee

Chaim Ben David is Professor of Archaeology at Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee.

Over 40 highways were built in the province of Iudaea/Palaestina between ca. mid 1st to mid 4th centuries, totalling in about 1000 Roman miles of paved roads. This communication network is the most important construction project of the Imperial administration in the province. Though constructed originally for military and administrative purposes, this network had also far-reaching implications for the local population of the province. Hence, this network has a central place in understanding the history of Roman Iudaea/Palaestina in many respects, such as: administration; army presence; geographical-history; economy; mobility; or urbanization. Exploration of the Roman road-network began with the mapping activity of the PEF in the 1870s’. The PEF Survey of Western Palestine noted paved sections, ancient side walls and milestones and marked on the maps 16 Roman roads. This paper discusses these roads, evaluates the contribution of the PEF survey to the research of Roman roads and presents the ‘milestones’ of the modern research since then.

12. The Contribution of Conder’s Tent Work in Palestine for Understanding of Shifting Geographical, Social and Legal Realities in the Sharon During the Late Ottoman Period [+–] 212-231

Roy Marom £17.50

Tel Aviv University

Roy Marom is Dan David Postdoctoral Fellow at Tel Aviv University.

This article assesses the contribution of Claude Reignier Conder’s travelogue, Tent Work in Palestine (1878) as evidence for research into the history of Palestine in the Late Ottoman period by examining its contribution to three case studies relating to the Sharon plain.

End Matter

Index [+–] 232-242

David Gurevich,Anat Kidron FREE

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Gottlieb Schumacher Institute for the Research of the Christian Presence in Palestine in the Modern Era, under the auspices of the University of Haifa

Reviews

Exploring the Holy Land is a fitting tribute to the generally positive legacy of the PEF, and the range of essays attest to the broad value of its work across disciplinary boundaries. This book demonstrates that the results of the pioneering work of the PEF in the 19th century will continue to contribute to our understanding of Levantine archaeology in the 21st century.
STRATA

Beautifully produced ... an excellent contribution to historiographic studies on the discipline of archaeology.
BASOR

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Books and Journals in Humanities, Social Science and Performing Arts

Exploring the Holy Land

150 Years of the Palestine Exploration Fund

David Gurevich [+–]

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Anat Kidron [+–]

The Gottlieb Schumacher Institute for the Research of the Christian Presence in Palestine in the Modern Era, under the auspices of the University of Haifa

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