No title

L=j: ..?

I I_

a;i; C, X

AMERICAN SCHOOLS OF

ORIENTAL RESEARCH

ADMINISTRATIVE MD 21211(301)889-1383 OFFICE,ASOR,711 WEST40TH STREET,SUITE354, BALTIMORE,

P.KyleMcCarter,President Eric M. Meyers,First VicePresident for Publications WalterE. Rast, Second Vice Presidentfor Archaeological Policy GeorgeM. Landes,Secretary KevinG. O'Connell,Assistant Secretary Holden Gibbs, Treasurer Gough W Thompson, Jr.,Chairman of the Boardof Trustees Norma Kershaw,Directorof Thurs Susan FosterKromholz,Executive Director Pamela R. Collins, Administrative Director

W.F.E AlbrightInstitute of ArchaeologicalResearch(AIAR). P.O. Box 19096, 91 190 Jerusalem,Israel. Seymour Gitin, Director EdwardE. Cohen, Board Chairn2an roeD. Seger,President Carol Meyers,First Vice President JoyUngerleider-Mayerson,Second Vice President JohnSpencer,Secretary-Treasurer BaghdadCommittee for the Baghdad School. JerroldS. Cooper, Chairman Near EasternStudies, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore,MD 21218.

ASORNewsletter; P.Kyle McCarter, Editor Biblical Archaeologist;Eric M. Meyers, Editor Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research;WalterE. Rast, Editor Journalof Cuneiform Studies;Erle Leichty,Editor

AmericanCenter of OrientalResearch (ACOR). P.O. Box 2470, JebelAmman, Amman, Jordan. Bert de Vries,Director RobertCoughenour,President LawrenceT. Geraty,Vice President MarjorieCooke, Secretary Anne Ogilv, Treasurer

Biblical

0

U

A

VOSOF0

rY -

I'

fl4

CyprusAmerican Archaeological ResearchInstitute (CAARI). 41 KingPaul Street, Nicosia, Cyprus. Stuart Swiny,Director Charles U. Harris,President LydieShufro,Vice President Ellen Herscher,Secretary AndrewOliver,Jr.,Treasurer Damascus Committee. Giorgio Buccellati, Chairman Center for MesopotamianStudies, University of California,405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024.

Archaeologist

P.O. BOXH.M., DUKESTATION,DURHAM,NC 27706 (919)684-3075 Biblical Archaeologist (ISSN 0006-0895) is

published quarterly(March,June,September, December)by the JohnsHopkins University Pressfor the American Schools of Oriental Research(ASOR),a nonprofit, nonsectarianeducational organization with administrativeoffices at 711West40th Street, Suite 354, Baltimore,MD 21211. Subscriptions.Annual subscriptionrates are $19 for individuals and $27 for institutions. There is a special annual rateof $17 for students and retirees.Single issues are $6.50 for individuals and $9.00 for institutions. In Canadaand Mexico, add $3.25 for annual subscriptionsand $2.00 for single issues. In other foreigncountries, add $8.00 for annual subscriptionsand $2.00 for single issues. Ordersshould be sent to the JohnsHopkins University Press, 701 W.40th Street, Suite 275, Baltimore,MD 21211 (telephone:301-338-6988;telex: 5101012198,JHUPress Jnls). Second-classpostagepaid at Baltimore, MD 21211and additionaloffices. Postmaster:Send addresschanges to Biblical Archaeologist, the JohnsHopkins University Press, 701 W 40th Street, Suite

275, Baltimore,MD 21211. Copyright? 1989by the American Schools of Oriental Research. All rights reserved.No portion of this journalmay be reproducedby any process or technique without the formal consent of the American Schools of Oriental

Researchand the JohnsHopkins University Press.Authorization to photocopy items for personal or internal use is

grantedfor librariesand other users registered with the CopyrightClearanceCenter (CCC)TransactionalReportingService, providedthat the copier pay the base fee of $1.00 per copy plus $.10 per page directly to CCC, 21 Congress Street, Salem, MA 01970. This consent does not extend to other kinds of copying, such as copyingfor general distribution, for advertisingor promotionalpurposes,for creatingnew collective works, or for resale. 0006-8095/$87 $1.00 + .10 Editor Associate Editor Book Review Editor ExecutiveEditor Art Director SeniorEditor

EricM. Meyers LawrenceT. Geraty JamesC. Moyer Martin Wilcox LindaHuff Leslie Watkins

EditorialAssistants Carol Richard Susan Udry Catherine Vanderburgh EditorialCommittee Douglas L. Esse

JamesFlanagan

Volkmar Fritz

SeymourGitin JoAnn Hackett A. T. Kraabel Thomas E. Levy PeterB. Machinist

P. Kyle McCarter

David W.McCreery

Carol L. Meyers

S. Thomas Parker JackSasson Neil A. Silberman MarkS. Smith L. Michael White

Advertising.Correspondenceshould be addressedto the JohnsHopkins University Press, 701 W.40th Street, Suite 275, Baltimore, MD 21211 (telephone:301-338-6982). Biblical Archaeologist is not responsible for errorsin copy preparedby the advertiser. The editor reservesthe right to refuse any ad. Ads for the sale of antiquities will not be accepted. EditorialCorrespondence.Article proposals, manuscripts,andeditorialcorrespondence should be sent to the ASOR Publications Office, P.O.BoxH.M., Duke Station, Durham, NC 27706. Unsolicited manuscripts must be accompaniedby a self-addressed,stampedenvelope.Foreign contributorsshould furnish international reply coupons. Manuscriptsmust conformto the format used in Biblical Archaeologist,with full bibliographicreferencesand a minimum of endnotes. See recent issues for examples of the properstyle. Manuscriptsmust also include appropriate illustrations and legends.Authorsare responsibleforobtainingpermission to use illustrations. Composition by LiberatedTypes,Ltd., Durham, NC. Printedby PBMGraphics, Inc., Raleigh,NC. Publisher The JohnsHopkins University Press

Biblical Archaeolog Volume 51 Number 4

A Publication of the American Schools of Oriental Research

December 1988

Commentary

The Archaeologist as Viewed by the Geologist Paul Goldberg

197

It should not be forgotten that the artifacts recovered from an excavation are taken from a geological framework. Commentary

How Not to Do Archaeology: The Story of Qumran Philip R. Davies

203

Much has been learned from the excavation of the site associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls. How much of it is correct?

The Mosaics at Um er-Rasasin Jordan Michele Piccirillo

208

The discovery of two mosaic floors in churches dating to the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods provides important new evidence of the history of the Transjordan.

Byzantine Palestine: A Christian Holy Land Robert L. Wilken

214

The Christian idea of Palestine as a land of inheritance had just begun to send forth fragile shoots when it was uprooted by the upheavals of the seventh century c.E.

Christian Life in Palestine During the EarlyIslamic Period Robert Schick Page208

218

During the first two centuries of Muslim rule church mosaics were routinely damaged - and repaired. What does this elusive feature of early Christianity say about the Muslim conquest of Palestine?

Jordan'sChurches: Their Urban Context in Late Antiquity Bert de Vries

222

Unlike Greco-Roman cities of the second century c.E., which were dominated by imposing temples and formal monuments, ruraltowns in the sixth century C.E.were the site of numerous small churches that blended into their surrounding structures.

Introducing the Authors

194

Front cover:Michele Piccirillo and the excavation team at Um er-Rasasin Jordantry out a new method of aerial photographyBack cover:The two-panel mosaic of ancient Kastron Mefaa (Um er-Rasas).Photographscourtesy of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, Jerusalem.

Page218

Biblical Archaeologist is publishedwith the financial assistance of the Endowmentfor Biblical Research,a nonsectarianfoundationfor the study of the Bible and the history of the ChristianChurch.

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

193

the Authors Introducing

Paul Goldberg received his Ph.D. in geology from the University of Michigan. He became well acquaintedwith geoarchaeological problems while working on his dissertation - a sedimentological study of the deposits from the prehistoric cave of et-Tabun,Mount Carmel, Israel. Since 1973 he has been the de facto "geologist in residence" at the Institute of Archaeolgy of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.He has participated in excavations in Israel, as well as in France, England,Australia, and Canada.The CambridgeUniversity Press will soon publish his book, written in collaboration with M. A. Courty and R. I. Macphail, on Soil Micromorphology and Archaeology.

Michele Piccirillo

Educated at Oxford, St. Andrews (in Scotland), and Jerusalem, Philip R. Davies is on the faculty of the Department of Biblical Studies of the University of Sheffield in England. He has written four books on the Dead Sea Scrolls, an introduction to the Book of Daniel, and an introduction to the Old Testament, the last of which is being published by Prentice Hall. He is an Editor of the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament and

Cofounder of the JSOTPress. Michele Piccirillo belongs to the Orderof the Franciscan Fathersof the TerrasantaCustody and is Professorof Biblical History and Geography at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem.A native of Carinola Italy, FatherPiccirillo earnedhis Ph.D. in archaeologyfromthe University of Rome. He has conducted excavation and restoration work at the Memorial of Moses on Mount Nebo and at Madabain Jordan.Since 1986,in cooperation with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan,he has been codirector of the excavation at Um er-Rasas.He is in the process of preparinga full body of work about mosaics in Jordan,including the mosaic church floors at Um er-Rasas. RobertL.Wilken is William R. Kenan,Jr.Professorof the History of Christianity at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Dr. Wilken has authored several books on the subject of early Christianity, including Aspects of

RobertSchick

194

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

Wisdom in Judaism and Early Christianity (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1975), The Christians as the Romans Saw Them (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1984), Jews and Christians in Antioch in the First Four Centuries of the Common Era

emA

RobertL. Wilken

Philip R. Davies

Paul Goldberg

Bert de Vries

(Missoula,MT:ScholarsPress,1978),andJohnChrysostom

and the Jews: Rhetoric and Reality in the Late Fourth

Century (Berkeley,CA: University of California Press, 1983).He has recently authored a book on the Christian holy land to be published by YaleUniversity Press. With an emphasis on the study of Christianity in Palestine after the Muslim conquest, Robert Schick received his Ph.D. from The University of Chicago in 1987. Currently he is an Annual Professorat the American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR),an international research institute sponsoredby the American Schools of Oriental Research in Amman, Jordan.He is also writing a book about Christianity in Southern Jordanduring the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods. In the past eight years Dr. Schick has participated in several excavations of Byzantine and Islamic sites in Jordan, including Um er-Rasas and Mount Nebo with Michele Piccirillo, as well as el-Lejjun,Umm el-Jimal,and Aqaba. Bertde Vriesis directorof the AmericanCenterof Oriental Research(ACOR)in Amman, Jordan,and is on extended leave from Calvin College in GrandRapids,MI where he is Professorof Ancient History.Dr. de Vrieshas servedas architect on numerous field projectsin Jordan,including the Hesban Excavationsand the Limes Arabicus Project. He is also director of the Umm el-JimalProject.

Statement of Ownership, Management,and Circulation, 10/1/88 Title: Biblical Archaeologist. Publication Number 0006-0895. Frequency: Quarterly. Four issues published annually. Subscription price: $27.00 institutions, $19.00 individuals. Location of office of publication: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 701 W 40th Street, Baltimore, MD 21211. Headquarters of publishers: Same. Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 701 W 40th Street, Baltimore, MD 21211. Editor: Eric M. Meyers, ASOR Publications Office, P.O. Box H. M., Duke Station, Durham, NC 27706. Owner: The American Schools of Oriental Research, 711 W 40th Street, Suite 354, Baltimore, MD 21211. The purpose, function, and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income tax purposes have not changed during the preceding 12 months. Average numberof copies of each issue during preceding 12 months Extent and natureof circulation 7641 A. Totalnumberof copies printed 5119 B. Paidcirculation,mail subscriptions 5119 C. Totalpaidcirculation 439 D. Freedistribution 5558 E. Totaldistribution 2083 E Copies not distributed G. Total

Actual numberof copiesof single issuepublished nearestto filing date 7577 5463 5463 444 5907 1670

7641

7577

I certify that the statements made by me above are correct and complete. Marie R. Hansen, Assistant Director and Journals Manager.

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

195

0

0S OFO,

The r

ca

of

;co

a

6?

The

Schools

American

Oriental

Research

and

Johns

Hopkins University Press

Books

Journals

QasrKharanain the (Urice) transjordan TheSynagoguein LateAntiquity(Levine) Scrollsfromthe Wildernessof the Dead Sea (Cross) ThePaleo-lHebrew LeviticusScroll(11QpaleoLev) (Freedmanand Mathews) AmericanArchaeologyin the Mideast(King) A ComprehensiveIndexto BiblicalArchaeologist Volumes36-45(1973-1982) (MacKay) Excavationsat AncientMeiron(Meyers,Strange,and Meyers) ScrollsfromQumranCaveI (Trever) Excavations,1981-83 PreliminaryReportsof ASOR-Sponsored (BulletinSupplement23) (Rast) Excavations,1980-84 PreliminaryReportsof ASOR-Sponsored (BulletinSupplement24) (Rast) Excavations,1982-1985 PreliminaryReportsof ASOR-Sponsored (BulletinSupplement25) (Rast) The Johns HopkinsUniversityPress 701 West40th Street,Suite 275 Baltimore,MD21211 All previouslypublishedworks,in printand not listedabove,are still handledby Eisenbraunsfor ASOR. Eisenbrauns P.O.Box 275 WinonaLake,IN46590

Subscriptions, claims, and back issues Ordersfor ASORjournalsand correspondenceaboutsubscriptionsor single issue purchasesshouldbe sent to the Johns HopkinsUniversityPress. (telephone301-338-6988,telex #5101012198) Advertising Correspondenceaboutadvertisingshouldbe addressedto the Johns Hopkins UniversityPress.(telephone301-338-6982) The Johns HopkinsUniversityPress 701 West40th Street, Suite 275 Baltimore,MD21211 Editorial Correspondence Articleproposals,manuscripts,and editorialcorrespondenceshould be sent directlyto the journaleditors. BiblicalArchaeologist,EricM. Meyers ASORPublicationsOffice Box HM,Duke Station,Durham,NC 27706 Bulletinof ASOR,WalterRast Departmentof Theology ValparaisoUniversity,Valparaiso,IN 46383 Journalof CuneiformStudies,Erle Leichty Departmentof OrientalStudies Universityof Pennsylvania,Philadelphia,PA 19104 Jr. ASORNewsletterP KyleMcCarter, AmericanSchools of OrientalResearch 711West40th Street, Suite 354, Baltimore,MD21211

Bulletinof ASOR

ASOR Newsletter

Journalof CuneiformStudies

Biblical Archaeologist

Nonmember Subscriptions individual UnitedStates Canada,Mexico outsideNorthAmerica

41.00 50.00 53.50

16.00 17.50 18.00

36.00 39.50 40.00

19.00 22.25 27.00

students,retirees,handicapped UnitedStates Canada,Mexico outsideNorthAmerica

39.00 48.00 51.50

14.00 15.50 16.00

34.00 37.50 38.00

17.00 20.25 25.00

institutions UnitedStates Canada,Mexico outsideNorthAmerica

52.00 61.00 64.50

23.00 24.50 25.00

48.00 51.50 52.00

27.00 30.25 35.00

Subscriber Category

196

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

I

-mntr

The

Archaeologist as vie u)ed b.y

The

Geologist

by

Paul

Goldberg

ostresearchers involved The first scene is an archaeologi-

in solving geoarchaeological problems would admit that, within the last decade or two, archaeologists have become much more awareof geological aspects, or problems,associatedwith their work. This cognizance has been expressed in books and journal articles that describe the role and capabilities of geologists in an archaeologicalexcavation or environment (Limbrey 1975;Rapp 1975;Gladfelter 1977, 1981;Hassan 1978;Rosen 1986; see Butzer, 1975, though, for a remarkably prescient view). Characteristicof these works is a careful explanation of some of the types of analyses that can be performed by various techniques and how the subsequent results can be presented and interpreted.Usually, however,the readeris not told of the archaeological ramifications or implications of the researchresults or, even less often, why the analyses were performedin the first place. The role of the archaeologist in geoarchaeologicalendeavorsis practically never considered in these works, despite the fact that many are ostensibly written for archaeologists. Let me providea few illustrative, hypothetical examples.

cal tell somewhere in the Middle East. As a geologist who works on prehistoric and archaeological sites, I have been invited by an archaeologist to visit the site. After arrivingI receive a refreshingcup of Turkish coffee and a brief tour of the site, during which I am shown various aspects of the stratigraphy,replete with mudbrick walls, plaster lines, foundation trenches, and pits. I am then treated to a view of the archaeological goodies consisting of various remnants of material culture such as bowls, daggers,maces, and loom-weights. Up to now, no problem, but then comes the stinger:I am politely asked, "Do you suppose you could write up a couple of pages on the site?"I'm left speechless; I simply do not know how to answer. A variation of this scenario takes place in my office/lab.I have just arrivedand am slogging down a cup of morning coffee when I hear a knock on the open door;in comes an archaeologistcolleague accompanied by a student holding a brown cardboardbox. After I sit down they show me the contents of the box and ask me several types of questions, depending on what is inside. Usually I am asked to identify or

Fieldphotographof a test trenchfromShiqmim, a village in the northernNegeb that dates to the Chalcolithic period (approximately4500 to 3200 B.c.E.). The material under geo-

archaeological study, possibly of mudbrick origin, is to the left of the 2-metermark on the stadia rod. Photographcourtesy of Thomas E. Levy.

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

197

Below top: Photomicrograph of a thin section prepared from material found in the test trench at Shiqmim shot in cross-polarized light. Scale: 0.5 inch equals 0.2 millimeter. Below bottom: Snail fragments in a dusty clay matrix from a cemetery site in Pseira, Crete, shot in planepolarized light. Scale: 0.5 inch equals 0.2 millimeter.

determine the lithological affinity of the materialsin the box. Oftenthey are polished partsof beads,loom-weights, or other objects that under no circumstancescan be altered- scratched, picked, or subjected to chemical torture by hydrochloricacid - in the course of the examination. In another variant the box contains hazelnut-sized chunks of some nondescript material that could be almost anything hard. Or the box turns out to be full of pottery, and my visitor wants petrographicdescriptions because someone else has worked on a similar type of pottery. My aim in citing these eclectic examples is not to point fingers at my archaeologicalcolleagues but to try to elucidate the nature of the relationship between geologist and archaeologist. Insteadof being asked to perform such generalized tasks as "writingup a few pages,"I need to be asked specific, pointed questions: "Isthis pitlike feature a well or a storagepit? If it's a well, was it functioning throughout the duration of the occupation(s), and what does it indicate about former levels of the water table?"Or, "What'sthe composition of this pit fill (forexample, ashes), and did it accumulate as a result of anthropogenic processes (forexample, as a dump site) or geogenic processes (for example, slumping, colluviation)? Have the limestone fragments found within it been burned?" The answers to such questions may be intrinsically interesting in their own right, relating to the geological availability of raw materials or how certain materials might have been transformed during manufacture-by heating for example. Generally, however, they have broader ramifications concerning other aspects of the history of the site (for

198

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

Wemustintegrateall typesof datageological,biological-archaeological, in orderto properlyevaluatea site. example, the ash may be associated with metallurgy at the site) or the region (forexample, large kilns for making quicklime plasters require abundantfuel, which may or may not have been availablein the area). Such anthropogenicactivities may have resulted in modifications of the landscape (deforestationleading to large-scaleerosion) or may imply different climatic conditions that would have had to exist in orderto support such abundantvegetation. In other words, the archaeologist should be concerned not only with the answer to the question but also with how the question relates to largerscale problems such as trade networks, social organization, and the like. Thus, a petrographic description of a certain type of pottery should not only be compared with others of the same type of vessel (if these descriptions exist), but should also be integrated into larger scale problems such as trade.After all, different interpretationsof the same archaeologicalfeature can have totally different implications. Once the geological analyses (or observations)have been made, the archaeologist has the responsibility of dealing with the results, whether they coincide with expectations and archaeologicaltheory or not. It is not unusual for the results of geological observations or analyses to disagreewith an archaeologist'spreconceived ideas, and such results are frequently dismissed. Occasionally an archaeologist will shop around for another geologist's opinion if the first results are not to the archaeologist's liking. While it is true that two heads are better than one, and that geoarchaeological situations are notoriously complex, this best-buy strategy is not really fair play or in the interest of a truly objective,

cards-on-the-tablekind of approach. This is not to say that geologists and their analyses are infallible and not open to various interpretations, or that they are totally irrelevantto the archaeological situation at hand. Archaeologists spend a considerable amount of time and effort excavating a site and, admittedly, should have a good intuitive feel for what is going on at the site. This ability has to be respectedby the geologist. Nonetheless, archaeological situations involve interactions between human activities and "natural" environmental situations; unraveling these complex interactions is not an easy task. Thus, we must be obliging and try to integrate all of the information- archaeological, geological, and biological - in order to make some sense out of it. As a way of helping remedy and ameliorate some of the situations and problems cited in this commentary,I suggest we take the following approaches: Archaeologists must pose specific questions to specific problems that need to be solved. Forexample, instead of asking, "Whatis the composition of these sherds?"the archaeologist should have something specific in mind such as, "Do these two sherds have the same petrographiccomposition?"Similarly,the question, "Whatis this white material?"is too vague;try to get to the point: "Isthis white layer composed of lime or gypsum plaster or simply unfired chalk?"Instead of asking, "Whatis this red layer?"one should have a possible scenario in mind: "Is this reddeningthe result of heating of the material or is it simply a red sediment?" Finally, the question, "Why is this layer grey?"is too elusive. Rather, ask something to the effect of, "Is this grey layer composed

of ash, and, if so, is it associated with residential activities or industrial activities such as smelting or pottery manufacture?" Asking the geologist, "Could come down to look at my site you and clarify things?"is simply not the best way to interact; at the same time, it's usually a waste of time for all of the parties concerned. George Rapponce told me that there is virtually no geoarchaeological problem that cannot be solved, given enough time or money. Archaeologists must keep this in mind, especially within their own constraints related to finances and personnel. I have seen firsthandthe value of the kind of geoarchaeologicalinteraction I'vebeen talking about. During the excavation of the Chalcolithic village of Shiqmim, directed by Thomas E. Levy and David Alon, I was asked to determine if a compact silty material observedin an area of limited excavation constituted the remains of decayedmudbrick. The answer would have clear implications concerning the proximity of buildings or other man-made structures that had not yet been exposed in the test trench. In an attempt to solve this pr6blem, an undisturbed sample of the material was impregnatedin polyester resin, and a petrographicthin section was preparedfrom the resulting hardenedblock. (A petrographicthin section is essentially a 30-micron-thick slice of the material mounted on a glass slide.) When viewed under a petrographicmicroscope, the material exhibited characteristically elongated voids, or black areas, clearly marking the former presence of straw binder that was incorporated into the bricks. Thus we had our answer. In another case a sample was

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

199

Below top: Sand-sized rock fragments in dusty clay matrix from the cemetery at Pseira shot in plane-polarized light. Scale: 0.5 inch equals 0.2 millimeter. Below bottom: Dusty clay matrix from Pseira shot in plane-polarized light. The large white area is a void. Scale: 0.5 inch equals 0.2 millimeter.

collected during the excavationof a cemetery at the site of Pseira in Crete, directedby P.Betancourt. Whole vases were present at the site but no bones were visible, and the excavatorneeded to know if any bones could be observedmicroscopi-

200

cally and if the sedimentary matrix had been deposited at one time or gradually. The thin section showed that the material consisted of calcareous rock fragments,snail shells, and some quartz in a clayey silt ground-

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

mass. Moreover,many of the voids (in this case, largewhite areas on the section) were coated with dusty and impure clay that commonly displayedgradedbedding such that the portion of the coating closest to the void was finer and better oriented than the material fartherawayfrom it. Remarkably,not one fragment of bone was visible on the entire slide. These observations strongly suggest that the deposits have no connection to the cemetery per se since even splinters of bone would be observedif they did. Rather,the presence of angularstone and shell fragments suggests a colluvial origin, the accumulation of rock and soil matter at the foot of a slope. Moreover,the presence of clayey void coatings indicates a downwardmovement of muddy material through the deposits, possibly as a result of runoff or heavy rain falling on a relatively bare surface.In addition, the lack of complexity in these coatings (that is, there is only one coating event) indicates that the material is either quite young or was quickly buried below the surface, a process that would remove it from the zone of downwardtranslocation of particles. At the same site, samples were collected from a fill behind an agricultural terracedating to the Minoan period. Among other specific questions I was asked:"Howwas the material deposited?""Isthere evidence of tilling?""Arethere differences in the soil with depth?""How does the material of the terracefill comparewith that of the settlement?" Although for technical reasons it was not possible to answer all of these questions, micromorphological observations showed that the

Thecaliberof ourarchaeological tiedto the is intimately interpretations qualityof datacomingoutof theground. material was, on the whole, similar to that found elsewhere at the site. In addition, a sample from the uppermost 15 centimeters showed several angularsherds of volcanic glass that date to the Thera eruption. Moreover,the fact that sherds of volcanic glass were not discoveredin samples below this suggests that the soil was not deeply worked and probablyhad not been tilled since Minoan times. I also want to suggest that archaeologists abandonthe practice of appendinga few pages of a geologist's narrativeto the end of their excavation reportsto make it look like a modern scientific excavationwas conducted. Any geological work done at a site -whether it's related to the stratigraphyor to the analysis of sediments or archaeologicalmaterials - should be integratedinto the text of the excavation report.If a clear understandingof the geological and archaeological stratigraphyis not presented at the beginning of the report,the readeris denied information that is essential to understanding the nature of the site. Some noteworthy efforts where geological attributes have been incorporatedinto the body of archaeological material can be found in Ruben G. Bullard(1970),Ofer Bar-Yosefand JamesL. Phillips (1977),A. E. Marks (1976, 1983),George Rappand S. E. Aschenbrenner (1978),H. Liebowitz and R. L. Folk (1980),and Thomas E. Levy (1987). Archaeologists should not be afraidto display their ignorance of geologically related issues and problems and should be willing to meet

larly their students who represent the next generation-should be encouragedto take at least a one-year introductory course in geology. Moreover,postgraduatestudents who plan to make archaeologya career should be requiredto take courses in geomorphology,and stratigraphyand sedimentation. I do not mean to imply that archaeologists should become practicing, trained geologists, but they should acquire at least a minimum working vocabularyin orderto communicate with geologists, to pose intelligent and well-directed questions, and to understandthe geological results and their implications. Most of these types of geology courses are taught in geology and geographydepartments,but some archaeologydepartments are fortunate to have geologists on staff who are generally capable of supplying this training. Last, but certainly not least, archaeologists should stop thinking of geologists as simply auxiliary members of the excavation to be called on only in times of emergency or to obtain a geological fix. Rather, geologists should be thought of as constituting an integral part of the decision-making team of the excavation and as guiding the excavation crew in matters concerning what and where to dig accordingto the goals of the researchproject. In any case, it should not be forgotten that the artifacts recovered from an excavation are firmly and inseparablyencased within a geological framework,and that framework must be fully understood if we

geologists halfway. To remedy this general lack of background in the field, archaeologists - and particu-

are to make thorough and intelligent interpretations of the archaeological material.

Forbetter or worse, the archaeological site represents the fundamental element of archaeological practice and theory. It is only natural that the caliber of our archaeological interpretations is intimately tied to the quality of the data as they come out of the ground. Acknowledgments The ideas presented here were tried out on some of my best friends and colleagues, including Ofer Bar-Yosef, Thomas E. Levy,and J.Yellin. I am grateful for their help, comments, and encouragement. I would also like to thank P.Betancourtfor his aid and cooperation with the Pseira study. Bibliography 0., and Phillips, J.L., editors Bar-Yosef, 1977 PrehistoricInvestigationsin Gebel Maghara,NorthernSinai. Series: Qedem 7. Jerusalem:The Hebrew University. Bullard,R. G. 1970 Geological Studies in Field Archaeology. The Biblical Archaeologist 33: 98-132. Butzer,K. W. 1975 The "Ecological"Approachto Prehistory:Are we ReallyTrying? American Antiquity 40: 106-11. Gladfelter,B. G. 1977 Geoarchaeology:The Geomorphologist and Archaeology.American Antiquity 42: 519-38. 1981 Developments and Directions in Geoarchaeology.Pp. 343-64 in volume 4 of Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory,edited by M. B. Schiffer.New York: Academic Press. Hassan, F.A. 1978 Sediments in Archaeology:Methods and Implications for Palaeoenvironmental and CulturalAnalysis. Journalof Field Archaeology 5: 197-213. Levy,T E., editor 1987 Shiqmim I, PrehistoricInvestiga-

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

201

tions of EarlyFarmingSocieties of the NorthernNegev,Israel. Series: British Archaeological Reports International Series. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. Liebowitz, H., and Folk, R. L. 1980 Archeological Geology of Tel Yin'am, Galilee, Israel. Journal of

Field Archaeology 7: 23-42. Limbrey, S.

1975 Soil Science and Archaeology. New York: Academic Press. Marks, A. E., editor

1976 Prehistoryand Paleoenvironments in the CentralNegev,Israel, volume I. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press.

1983 Prehistoryand Paleoenvironments in the CentralNegev,Israel, volume III. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press. Rapp, G., Jr. 1975 The Archaeological Field Staff: The

Geologist. Journalof Field Archaeology 2: 229-37. Rapp, G., Jr., and Aschenbrenner, S. E., editors

1978 Excavationsat Nichoria in Southwest Greece,VolumeI: Site, Environs,

Nondestructive archaeology Modem archaeologists are benefiting from hi-tech Impulse RadarTechnology. They can now "see" underground, under floors and behind walls while not exposing fragile artifactsto the destructive atmosphere. The use of Subsurface Interface Radar(SIR?Systems) allows a site to be surveyed cost effectively in a much shorter time than by any other method. Accurate location and depth of nonmetallic or metallic features are automaticallyprinted on a profiling :recorder as the site is being surveyed.

and Techniques. Minneapolis: The University of Minnesota Press. Rosen, A. M. 1986 Cities of Clay. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

The Universityof Calgary Press CHRISTIAN FAITH AND SOCIETY GordonHarland

"Forthepast thirtyyears,GordonHarlandhas beenthemostimportantProtestantthinkerin WesternCanadaand one of theveryfew Canadiantheologianswhosethought canbereadilygrasped bynon-specialists.His lucidstyle,incisivecriticism,anddeepappreciationof themovements he discussesmakethese lecturesan importantcontributionto the debate. Regardlessof whereone standson theseissues,it will be impossible to readthis volumewithoutgaining a new appreciationof the importance of the currentdebate and new insightsinto the vigourand vitalityof Christian social thought today." N. KeithClifford published August 1988 $9.95 US + P&II Order from: The University of Calgary Press 2500 University Drive NW Calgary, AB T2N 1N4

202

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

The value of SIR?Systems for archaeological applications is being proven daily around the world. Take advantage of today's technology on your next project. Contact us for all the details. In the U.SA. call 800/524-3011 or send a letter,Telex or FAX.

Exposetheunkowa!

GeophysicalSurvey Systems, Inc. 15 Flagstone Drive Hudson, NI 03051-4905 Telephone (603) 889-4841 UN Telex 953038 GSSI-HS Fax (603) 889-3984

-omi--tr

to Not

ow

ArhaeolC

Story of Qumran

The by

oi

Davies

R.

Philip

Ithough

Qumran

is

a

unique archaeological site in severalways, it also offers features that are methods of archaeological typical and proceduresof the mid-twentieth century. Quite characteristic,for example, is the fact that, to date, we still have no definitive report of the excavations. (Iunderstand that a Dutch scholar is now at the Ecole Biblique excavatingthe notes of Rolandde Vaux,excavatorof Qumran, in orderto produce such a volume.) To be fair, the results of the digging were generously reportedin Revue Biblique, and de Vauxbrought his conclusions together in Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Oxford:OxfordUniversity Press, 1973),but the best complete treatment is still Qoumradn,l'-tablissement essinien des bords de la Mer Morte:Histoire et archeologie du site (Paris:A & JPicard, 1976),by E. M. Laperrousaz, who raised some

serious questions about some of de Vaux'smajor conclusions, which

remain the generally accepted ones. This is not a happy state of affairs. Of particularconcern, as I shall mention presently, is that dating of the settlement has by no means been determined. Furtherexamples of how not to do archaeology can be drawnat will from the story of the Qumran discoveries. One can point to the initial dismissal of Qumran as a RomanByzantine fort unconnected with the scrolls in the nearbycaves. Or the failure to investigate what came to be known as Cave 4, immediately adjacentto the ruins, because it was not thought likely to contain any manuscripts. These errorswere rectified, but we shall never know what avoidabledamage or loss to the manuscripts may have occurred. The Temple Scroll, recoveredafter many years rolled up in a shoe-box, gives pause for thought. Even more lessons can be drawn from the recordof the team of editors appointed to publish the scrolls. Despite the admirableearly efforts of EleazarL. Sukenik,W.H. Brownlee,

JohnC. Trever,Millar Burrows, Yigael Yadin,Nahman Avigad,and others who, in the early 1950s, rapidly published their findings, subsequent progresshas been appalling. Yadinacquiredthe Temple Scroll in 1967 and published a three-volume edition in 1977. The recordof Frank Moore Cross, J.T. Milik, and J. Strugnell suffers in comparison. To be sure, political factors,war, and a lack of funds present extenuating circumstances. Nonetheless, there are innumerable lessons to be learned from this site about organizing digs and publishing literary remains. I do not intend to dwell on the many mistakes, which on the whole are peculiar to this particular case, but I do want to take this opportunity to remark, a propos of what I have so far mentioned, that archaeology,at least the archaeology of structures, involves two processes: destruction and reconstruction;it is vandalism, justified only when the evidence is accurately and fully published. Any archaeologist or scholar who digs or finds a text but

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

203

Thepreservation andpublication of datashould literaryandnonliterary be a priorityof biblicalarchaeology. does not pass on what has been found deserves to be locked up as an enemy of science. After forty years we have neither a full and definitive reporton the dig nor a full publication of the scrolls. The first major rule of how not to do archaeology, therefore, is to make sure that the preservationand publication of literary and nonliterary data never becomes a priority. The remaining lessons are, I think, less banal. I want to focus on aspects of Qumran archaeology (including the interpretationof the archaeological evidence) that contribute to broaderquestions of method and procedure.I groupthese aspects under three headings, which overlap each other considerably.They are, first, the interrelationship between literary and nonliterary data;second, the dangersof preconception leading to overinterpretation;and, third, the relationship between typology and chronology.

phase of settlement, which he called lB. (Bythe way,the coin evidence at Qumran is ready for some enterprising doctoral student to tackle; de Vaux'sdescriptions and interpretations fluctuate considerably,and there is at least one case in which a reportedhoard of coins has apparently vanished.) Disregardingsilver coins, which remain in circulation too long to be of great help, de Vaux reportedthat one coin of Judah Aristobulus (104to 103 B.C.E.)and one hundred forty-threecoins of Alexander Yannai(103to 76 B.C.E.) were associated with lB. De Vaux also claimed that one coin came from the time of JohnHyrcanus,but it is questionable whether this ruler ever minted his own coins. There are five or six Seleucid bronzes, undated, which were in use at Qumran until probably 104 B.C.E.Any objective interpreterof this evidence might thus be expected to say that 1Bcan be dated somewhere between the end of the second century and, say, 75

the contents of the Cave 1 scrolls. These included a collection of hymns (1QH),a profile of an eschatological war (1QM),rules for the life of a community (1QS),and a midrash on Habakkukthat related the contents of the biblical text to more recent events, centering on a "Teacher of Righteousness"and a "Wicked Priest"(1QpHab). These four documents were widely taken by scholars to constitute, respectively,the piety, eschatology, organization, and history of the inhabitants of the ruins. The origins of the Qumran community quickly began to hinge upon the identity of the "WickedPriest"of the Habakkuk midrash, a credulous reading of which could lead one to suggest that the community was founded because of a squabblebetween its founder and the "Wicked Priest."The major candidates to emerge were the Hasmoneans Jonathan and Simon, whose priesthoods

Literaryand Nonliterary Data The goal of integrating literary and nonliterary evidence lies, of course, at the heart of the discipline called biblical archaeology,which in its characteristicmode seeks to illuminate the biblical text through archaeology.In the case of Qumran, however,the literature is not the Bible but the scrolls found in the caves. Once the ruins had come to be regardedas the place of origin of all the scrolls, integrating the results of the digging and the contents of the scrolls became an almost inevitable temptation. I will give one example of the illegitimate harmonization re-

B.C.E.-that is, during the reign of

Thus, when you readthe Habakkuk midrash with a bent towardinterpreting the archaeologicaldata beforeyou, you realize that you need

sulting from this, which concerns the crucial question of dating. De Vaux used coin evidence in establishing the date of the major

204

AlexanderYannai. Now, de Vauxalso discovered evidence of an earlierphase of occupation, which he called 1A, and which, in his words,was "ofshort duration."It is possible, he has posited, to push the foundation of the settlement at Qumran to the time of one of Hyrcanus'predecessors, before 135 B.C.E.,that is, some-

where between thirty and fifty years before the main phase of occupation, lB. Thirty to fifty years is not a particularly short duration.Why would de Vauxsuggest going back so far? The answer lies not in the soil but in the caves, where the literary evidence comes into play. Before uncovering the earlier phases of settlement, de Vaux knew

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

covered the years 152 to 135 B.C.E.

a date before 135 B.C.E.-hence, I

suspect, de Vaux'sotherwise inexplicable desire to push the time frame back to the earliest possible date, or even earlier. The comments of FrankMoore Cross are equally suspect and perhaps even more interesting. He admits that any date before 138 B.C.E.

for the foundation of the settlement is "extremelydifficult."This partial statement of the truth allows him to argue,as he does, that Simon, not Jonathan, is the "Wicked Priest" of the midrash, but he does not admit the whole truth, which is that any date before 135 B.C.E.is extremely

Roland de Vaux, excavator at Qumran, demonstrating how his mother washed laundry on a flat surface in rural France in the early years of this century. Photograph courtesy of Philip R. Davies.

mentators on Qumran, were Catholic priests. Otherwise, how could the site be described as a monastery? For so it was. Had the scrolls not been found in the nearbycaves, would the Qumran ruins have been interpreted as such? The picture that forms again and again behind many descriptions of the site is one of a medieval religious community, meeting forprayer, writing manuscripts, doing a little agriculture,eating in the refectory, having council meetings

-

and, of

course, bathing all the time in those cisterns. It would be very odd indeed to find anything like a Christian monastery before the third century C.E. Whether there was ever such a thing as a Jewish monastery I simply don't know, but the excavatedstructures were interpretedwith this idea in mind. The well-fortified tower, indifficult. Admitting that would rule accessible from groundlevel, and Preconceptions and out Simon as well. the evidence of military attack were Overinterpretations The date suggested by the arMost preconceptions in biblical downplayed.Priority was given to the scriptorium and the "refectory" chaeological data for the beginning archaeologyhave been taken from of Qumran is in the closing years of the biblical narratives:the Israelite (the use of the latter term is in itself the second century B.C.E., this on the conquest (as it used to be called), the significant). The reconstructedwritDavidic empire, Hezekiah'sfortifica- ing table in the RockefellerMuseum supposition that there was a phase of occupation before lB, although we tion, Solomon'sstables, and so on. In is, as most people probablyknow, are not entirely certain on this the case of Qumran, too, the excava- unlike anything resembling a writpoint. The date given by Laperrousaz tors were led to certain expectations ing table from the period. One of my is between 104 and 103 B.C.E., which, from the literature. Accounts by the favoritememories of Rolandde Vaux in my view, represents a sober judghistorian Josephusand Pliny the is his being asked to justify why he ment on the archaeological data. Elderabout the Jewish sect of the designated a flat slab of limestone as also Essenes and the of contents the a laundry and respondingwith an Unfortunately, Laperrousaz to the "Wicked Rule a proceeded identify Community (1QS)gave prior exhibition of the manner of washing Priest"as Alexander Yannai,and for to the ancient inhabitants. practicedby his mother in ruralFrance testimony this he has been criticized. In addition to these factors, in the early years of this century. The lesson here is not to let is the fact that the excaAnd what of the cisterns? I however, and artifactual data convators were that wonder whether or not all the cisliterary Christians, they found each other, especially when were not scholars of Second Temple terns at Qumran would have been the literary evidence is a midrash. needed for drinking water. Certainly Judaism (a term that did not then Literatureand artifacts tend to relate exist), and, perhapsmost significant if they were not covered I would have to different worlds; only rarely can of all, that they were led by a Domini- thought so. Obviously it is unlikely be as William can monk. Both de Vauxand Milik, that bathing cisterns and drinking they easily harmonized, E Albright, for example, wished to do. as well as many other early comcisterns were connected - and, in-

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

205

In thecaseof Qumran, theexcavators wereled to certainexpectations from thebiblicalandhistoricalliterature. deed, most of the cisterns were constructed in this way-but a hundred personsbathing in one or two cisterns severaltimes a day is improbable. An important issue here is the prominence given to religion as a factor in description and explanation. Conservative and even not-soconservative biblical scholars have tended to subscribe to a view of ancient Israel impartedby the Biblefor instance, that Israelwas a society whose origins, structure, and history were determined by a distinct religious ideology, or that priests, kings, battles, and temples were what mattered. The new archaeologydenies that such views explain history to any large extent. It concentrates instead on such things as population, economy, diet, and climate. The study of Qumran is a microcosm of biblical archaeologyin that, by and large, it has been interpretedas a religious orderor, perhaps,as a millenarian sect. These two interpretations, of course, are not easily compatible, but in fact few biblical scholars may be awareof that. At any rate, while numerous studies have been made of the economic aspects of life at Qumran and reportedin various journals,these matters have generally been put to one side. What is much needed is a study of the ancient economy and resources of the Dead Sea area in the Greco-Romanperiod-there is already evidence of other similar settlements (Ain el-Ghuweir,for example). Archaeologically,Qumran looks like partof an agriculturalsettlement that embracedAin Feshkhaand was strategically placed for defensive pur-

understandexactly what that was. The lesson I drawfrom this is that archaeologyneeds to work as far as possible without certain preconceptions. In particular,it should never set out to provea previously held theory, for my impression is that one can make archaeologyprove so many things. Preconceptions lead to overinterpretation,which is much worse than underinterpretation. When observation and theory become mixed up in the process of describing a site, the uninformed readerwill likely be misled.

poses. I can see no reason why the relevance of Qumran should be confined to the religious disposition of its inhabitants, if indeed we really

of dating that is ludicrous. To begin with, although these broad outer limits have been established with reasonable confidence, neither can

206

be fixed at a precise date. In any event, writing changed significantly over this span of four hundredyears. The change was not sudden, because the Qumran scripts show intermediate forms, so the question is: "Do these forms progressat a uniform speed?"The answer must be no. Scribes do not revise their handwriting every decade or so to bring it into fashion. The working lifetime of a scribe can be as long as fifty years. This has been recognized by the Qumran paleographersFrank Moore Cross, J.T. Milik, Nahman Avigad,and Solomon Birnbaum. Cross has alloweda marginof twentyTypologyand Chronology This part of my commentary is real- five years each way in dating a ly about paleography,a subject I manuscript in orderto accommodate want to concentrate on for four rea- this fact. But the margin needs to be sons. First,paleographycontinues to fifty years each way.Moreover,stabe used and accepted as a way of dat- tistically speaking, the actual date ing Qumran manuscripts fairly pre- can fall with equal probability anycisely. Second, protests against such where within that one hundredyears. use have been repeatedlybrushed Even on the twenty-five-yearallowaside without any serious defense ance made by Cross, a particulartext most offered. can be dated only to a fifty-yearspan. Third, people being who take time to study the issue Now, the usual means of indiin that the use of agree paleography cating a manuscript'sdate in publiresearch is unscientific. cations of Qumran texts is to say, for Qumran raises Fourth,Qumranpaleography example, "circa 75 B.C.E"This has to the wider question of typology and be translated, first using the allowespecially ceramic typology.I wonder ance made by Cross, into "anywhere if we are about to lose chronology as between 100 and 50 B.C.E.," and then, the backbone of archaeologyof the but not his using Cross'sassumption ancient Near East. into imperfect statistics, "anywhere Even this Paleographyhas usefully estab- between 125 and 25 B.C.E." lished that the scrolls are not medie- supposes a fairly uniform evolution val forgeriesbut originated somein the script. time between the third century B.C.E. It seems to me that we are not and the first century C.E.Because of entitled to make that assumption. If elementary confusion over typology some scribes at Qumranlearnedfrom and chronology,however,attempts older scribes in the community have been made to offer a precision while others learned outside of the

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

community before coming in, we must accept the possibility that the evolution of the script was an irregular process, which, of course, gives a

andeventsbelong Ofcourseindividuals to history,butfortoo longwe havebeen obsessedwithputtinga dateon them. still largermargin of erroron dating. If we also throw into this vague chronology the arguments made by BarbaraThiering (Redating the Teacherof Righteousness. Sydney: Theological Explorations, 1979) about Nabatean scribal forms, where we can trace quite a different process of development, we come close to the point where the best we can do is a period within two hundred years;the Qumran community did not even last that long. What annoys me so much about this, I suppose,is how certainscholars have been bewitched by paleography and how they have bewitched others. The procedurereminds me of nothing so much as the Albrightean confusion over typology and chronology. A typological classification is very scientific, but it simply cannot be translated into chronology except in a very broadway. I am beginning to hear my colleagues in archaeology say that a lack of confidence in ceramic chronology is evident. Fortoo long, as I understandit, a whole delicate network of chronology has been pegged into a very few fixed points, and ceramic typology has functioned as an important adhesive in fixing this web. Common sense suggests that more than one design might be in use at the same time and that, as a result, reactionarypotters working at the same time as potters into the latest fashion might produce rather different kinds of pottery.This is only pure theory, however,not empirically supported. Now, some experiments with pottery kilns by H. J.Franken,that

and fire some vessels. One outcome was that vessels made accordingto the same design and out of the same clay, even in the same kiln, did not always come out the same color not even the same shape. I suppose, just as I can see how easy it is to pull down much of Qumran chronology- and, therefore, how necessary it is to do so that the same might applyelsewhere. As the new archaeologymoves away from individual people and events and structures towardspopulations, migrations, and economic patterns, the wider processes, the need for chronology weakens. Of course, individuals and events belong to history, and we can see their traces, but for too long we have been obsessed with putting a date on them.

Dutch iconoclast, have revealed even more interesting results. Franken had a kiln made to fit ancient specifications and then had a potter make

might provoke the most discussion. I can see a way of studying the Qumran community that does not require exact chronology. I can see a

Lessons We Should Not Learn So, I conclude by summarizing the three main lessons in how not to do archaeology.First, you must never make the publication of all the data a priority.Second, you must have a clear idea of what you are discovering before you dig. Third, you must at all cost make sure that you can date everything, or nobody will be interested. Is it possible to do archaeology and disregardthese lessons? Well, the first point is easy enough. There are contemporaryarchaeologists who publish, and surely one day ASOR will make sure that publication is part of the budget of any dig it sponsors and will release no further funds to the recipient until the publication of said data is on schedule. It is the third point, I think, that

way of describing a community that does not need to postulate a particular event at a particulartime but relies much more on a typology of itself. Such an approachwould correspond somewhat to the synchronic study of texts as opposed to the diachronic. The fact that we can date few Old Testament passages or books with any certainty does not mean we cannot try to understandwhat they mean or, indeed, the social and psychological factors that lie behind them. How far,I wonder, does time explain anything?How far is time the reason for anything? With the Annales school of history a new kind of concern for chronology in the long term has asserted itself, and this perspective is being used in Old Testament studies by, for example, RobertCoote and Keith Whitelam. The new archaeology also has moved towardsconcern for a different sort of causality and a different sort of time frame from that of the old biblical archaeology, one in which individual events and their precise sequences are of less significance than longer term processes. This last thought, that we can do without - and maybe often have to do without - close chronology,

strikes me as an idea that biblical scholars of archaeologywith a literary or philosophical bent might like to debate. Perhapsit is a long way from the point of study from which I proceeded,but nothing pleases me more than to find some kind of justification for a biblical scholar like myself devotingan inordinateamount of time to messing about with the Dead Sea Scrolls. For surely everybody knows, don't they, that the main problems there were solved long ago?

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

207

The

Mosaics

at Um

in by

er-Rasas

This basalt capital or base was found reused in the Church of Bishop Sergius. It may be evi dence of the Iron Age settlement at the site. Unless otherwise noted, all photographs in the following articles are used courtesy of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, Jerusalem.

Jordan Michele

Piccirillo

southbout30kilometers east of Madabain Jordan are the ruins of Um erRasas.Beginning in 1986, three seasons of excavations at the site' have yielded many discoveries, most notably the mosaic floors of two churches dating, respectively,to the sixth and eighth centuries C.E. These mosaics providenew evidence for the history of the Transjordanin the Byzantine and EarlyIslamic periods, and one of them is among the most important archaeologicalfinds in Jordan,equaled only by the famous mosaic known as the Madaba map. In the following pages I shall describe the mosaics at Um er-Rasas and their setting and suggest some of the things that they can tell us. The ruins of Um er-Rasas,situated at a high elevation on a plateau and thus visible for nearly 20 kilometers, cover an areaof about 3 hectares (or 7.5 acres).The site consists of a walled area forming a fortified camp, and an open quarterof roughly the same size to the north. About 1.5 kilometers further north there are two towers:one, 15 meters high, is surroundedby ruined buildings, and the second, square in shape, is near large rock-hewnpools. Our work at the site began on July 26, 1986. Forpractical reasonsspecifically, to facilitate the removal

208

of a considerable amount of debristhe two edifices with apses on the north edge of the ruins were chosen for excavation. Thus far we have excavatedtwo churches, a pavedcourtyardthat was later convertedinto a chapel by the addition of an apse on its western wall, and another pavedchapel to the west. The four structures form a large and interconnected liturgical complex unique in the region. This areamay have been a large monastic complex.

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

The northernmost church has a dedicatoryinscription in its mosaic pavement that reads:"Inthe good times of our lord, the most holy and most blessed Bishop Sergius,the whole work of this most holy church was mosaicked by the priest Procopius in the month of Gorpiaus on the sixth indiction of the year 482 of the Province of Arabia [a date that corresponds to 587 C.E.]."We thus

referto this building as the Church of Bishop Sergius. To the southeast of the Church

Above: The presbyteryof the Churchof Bishop Sergius,which dates to 587 c.E.The dedicatory inscription contains much historical information, including the name of SergiusI, who was a bishop of the diocese of Madaba in Jordan.Right: The church complex as it appearedafter the first season of excavation in 1986.

The mosaicfloors in two churches at Um er-Rasas provideus with new evidence of the Transjordan in the Byzantine and earlyIslamic periods.

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

209

A personification of the season in the southeast corner of the

naveof the Church of Bishop Sergius

was preserved without damage becauseit had been covered by a pulpit.

of Bishop Sergius is another church with a mosaic pavement featuring two dedicatoryinscriptions. The first, located along the step of the presbytery,reads:"Atthe time of the most holy Bishop Sergius the mosaic of the holy and illustrious protodeacon and proto-martyrStephen was completed by the care of John, son of Isaac, most beloved of God, lexou anddeacon and leaderof Mefaa, econom, and by the care of all the people of KastronMefaawho love Christ, in the month of October,the second indiction year of the Province of Arabia680 [785 c.E.], in memory for the repose of Fidonus (son)of Aeias, lover of Christ."The second inscription, near the altar in the presbytery,reads:"Bythe grace of Christ, the mosaic of this holy bema was decoratedat the time of our most pious father Bishop Job... in the month of March,the ninth indiction of the year 650 [756 c.E.]. Remember,oh Lord,your servant Staurachios,the mosaicist of Hesban, the son of Zada and Euremois his companion. Lord,remember your servant Elia, (son)of Samuel

210

of Bishop Sergiuswe find the base of the altar and a bench that runs aroundthe apse. The mosaic floor within the apse features a geometrical pattern. In front of the altar the mosaic pavement forms a rectangular The Church of Bishop Sergius The Church of Bishop Sergius and panel; it has a frame that encloses a the Church of Saint Stephen sit side medallion (which contains the dedicatory inscription) flanked on each by side and have the same basic structure:each with two rows of col- side by a lamb and a fruit-ladentree. The excavation of the central umns creating a central nave flanked nave revealeda rich mosaic floor that and north and on the aisles south, by each with an apse and an elevated had, unfortunately,been seriously defacedby iconoclasts. Originally it presbyteryon the eastern end, two consisted of a frame featuring acansteps higher than the nave. In the presbyteryof the Church thus scrolls and scenes of hunting, lexou, of Constantine, of Germanus, of Abdela, together with Mary."We referto this building as the Church of Saint Stephen.

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

Excavatorsremove the base of a pulpit that coveredone of the personifications of the season in the Churchof Bishop Sergius.The season and the two lambs in the presbyteryare the only images in the floor that escaped damage.

fishing, and vintage. In each of its corners there was a depiction of a season holding a cornucopia from which sprangthe acanthus scrolls. Within the frame the central carpet included two classical personifications: on the end towardthe altar, the Abyss (or Sea);and on the end towardthe main door, the Earth.Between these were portraits and life scenes of the benefactors of the church-the sons of John,the sons of Sophia, Ouadia with a censer in his right hand, Johnwith a book in his hand, and an anonymous benefactorwith a boy on his shoulders and pointing to a church. In addition, there were Baricha,Zongon, and Johnof Porphiriusholding ropes around a bull they were about to kill with an ax and a knife; Soelos plowing with a pair of oxen; Peter and Johnriding horses, accompanied by a foot soldier and an archerand fol-

The mosaic panel of the Palestinian city of Neapolis in the Churchof Saint Stephen.

lowed by two oxen. Two unusual images in the central carpetwere a phoenix with rayscoming out of its head and a man carryinga bed on his shoulders. The personification of the season in the southeast corner of the frame was preservedwithout damage because it had been coveredby a pulpit. This figure and the two lambs of the presbyteryare the only intact images. The remaining images had been badly patched, but the accompanying Greek inscriptions are useful in their interpretation. The nothern aisle is largely decoratedwith geometric motifs, and the southern aisle is, for the most part, pavedin red stone from Bethlehem.In addition to the dedicatory inscription, there are three other inscriptions in the church. Near the step of the presbyteryare three lines

that quote Psalm 87:2. In a tabula ansata in the first intercolumnar space of the north row of columns is the following: "OhLord,have mercy on all who toiled on this mosaic. Their names are known to you. (It was done) in the times of Soelos, of Casiseos, of Abdallos, of Obedos, and of Elias your faithful (ones)." A third is found in a medallion near the door:"Forthe salvation of ... (son)of Isaac and of Matirius (son)of Sabinus,and of Theodorushis brother, and Marinus."3 Two other interesting features of this church are an opening for a water cistern to the right of the main door and, near this, a stand for amphorasmade from an ancient capital. The Church of Saint Stephen The Church of Saint Stephen lies 1 meter higher than the Church of

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

211

The mosaic panel of Jerusalem(the Holy City) in the Churchof Saint Stephen.

This dedicatory inscription, located along the steps of the presbytery,is one of two in the Churchof Saint Stephen.It dates to 785 C.E. Note the damage that was done below it to what apparentlyhad been human images.

212

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

Above: The mosaic floor of the Church of Saint Stephen. Left: The church's two dedicatory inscriptions. The inscription near the altar dates to 756 C.E.It identifies the mosaicist, Staurachios of Hesban, the first mosaicist in the region whose place of origin is known. The other inscription, located along the steps of the presbytery, dates to 785 C.E.It twice mentions the name of Kastron Mefaa, the ancient site of Um er-Rasas.

40.

4!

i

Bishop Sergius.In addition to its main entrance on the west, access to the former was also possible from two doors along the south wall. This church is of great interest. The richness of the inscriptions and the quality of the motifs of its mosaic pavement make it one of the most important archaeological monuments in Jordan. The dedicatoryinscription along the step of the presbyteryprovides us with the ancient name of Um erRasas:Mefaa, or KastronMefaa4 The dedicatory inscription near the altar in the presbyteryalso contains important historical information. Although there is some difficulty in

readingit because of its use of abbreviations, its date of 756 C.E.confirms the readingof the first inscription and furnishes the name of a hitherto unknown bishop, Job,who along with Sergius II, can be addedto the list of bishops of Madaba.It also identifies the mosaicist, Staurachios of Hesban, the first mosaicist in the regionwhose place of originis known. The two dates given in these inscriptions, 785 and 756 C.E., indicate that the mosaic floor in the nave and aisles is a later restorationby a team of mosaicists who wished to remain anonymous, since a third inscription in the south aisle says:"OhLord, Continued on page 227

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

213

The Mosaics

(continued)

remember your servants the mosaicists whose names you know." It is the mosaic of the nave that is of the most interest. Although the portraits of the benefactors and the scenes of hunting, agriculture,and pastorallife that make up the central portion have been disfiguredand are often unintelligible, the double frame that surroundsthese is intact and an important discovery.Here we find a number of city plans, each

accompanied by its toponym, or place-name, in Greek. The outer frame, occupying the spaces between columns, borders only the two long sides of the rectangularcentral mosaic. In the intercolumnar spaces of the north row a series of eight Palestinian cities are depicted:Jerusalem(the Holy City), Neapolis (Nablus), Sebastis (Sebastia), Caesarea,Diospolis (Lidda), Eleutheropolis (BethGuvrin), Aska-

Ion (Ashkelon),and Gaza. In the intercolumnar spaces of the south row a series of seven Jordaniancities are shown: KastronMefaa (Um erRasas),Philadelphia (Amman),Madaba,Esbounta(Hesban),Belemounta (Macin),Areopolis (Rabba),and Charachmoba(el-Kerak).(Twoadditional Jordaniancities, Limbon and Diblaton, are portrayed,one at the head of each aisle, associated with portraits of benefactors and inscriptions, and another toponym, without illustration, mentions the superior of the monastery on Mount Nebo.) The inner frame,which depicts a riverwith fish, birds, and water flowers as well as boats and boys fishing or hunting, also portraysa series of ten cities in the Nile Delta: Alexandria, Kasin, Thenesos, Tamiathis, Panau,Pilousin(?),Anticiaou(?),Eraklion, Kynopolis,and Pseudostomon.

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

227

The Mosaics

(continued)

Churchof Bishop Sergius

M

1

2

3

4

*Ia

4 nav

5

...

7

...

benc

I~????~

II

sac

I????

w

istv

5

The Mosaics

(continued)

Churchof Saint Stephen

2

*

"'

1 I Ik e 1fomBe

unNb

i4:i..,

25Dbao,

:

"I"S ..

.....,..I-o

eeatr

hee I

The Mosaics

(continued)

An inscriptionin the Churchof SaintStephen identifiesthe ruinsof Um er-Rasaswith Is it biblicalMefacat? MefaCat.

diers who had been promoted to the

Bedouins at Um er-Rasasand published by CharlesClermont-Ganneau, recordsthe names of some Nabatean military governors. The mosaics at Um er-Rasas also provideevidence for the Arab military nature of the settlement. Thus far,of the sixty-fourGreek inscriptions noted, mainly dedications with the names of benefactors, the majority of the Semitic names are of Arabic origin. There are the common names such as Abdallos, Obedos, Naoum, Kaioum, Soelos, and Elias as well as rarernames such as Abesobeos, Uaias, Alafa, and Gomela, and in one case there is an unambiguously Arabic name: Petron Arabbous- that is, Peterthe Arab,or so I construe it. In addition, all of these except one, Mary,are men's names, and only male family relations (father,son, and brothers)are mentioned. Since we know from the dedicatoryinscription of the Church of Saint Stephen that KastronMefaa was governedby the deacon John,we can conclude that the settlement was, like Resafe(Sergiopolis)in northern Syria, a Hira, or a camp of the Arab auxiliary soldiers who served the Roman, the Byzantine, and the Umayyad armies. of Um er-Rasas.The The Tobwer double plan of KastronMefaaas depicted in the series of Jordaniancities might providea clue to the purpose of the tower north of the ruins. Some have thought it was a military watchtower,guardingagainst either the dangerof Bedouin raids from the desert or protecting the water cisterns hewn out of the rock. Others have thought it served as a platform

camp proper.He depicted a church with three burning lamps hanging from its arches. Behind the church is a courtyardsurroundedby rooms on all sides. In the courtyardis a solitary column shown against a white background. On top of the column is a kind of parapetwith a line of black tesserae in the middle. This may be a representationof the tower complex north of the city. If so, then the tower may be seen not as a watchtower but as a column for a stylite. The tower itself, as we could ascertain in the summer of 1987, had no stairwayand no door,except at the very top, and its roof was dome-shaped.Moreover,excavations aroundit uncovereda simple church that was in use in the Byzantine and EarlyIslamic periods. Beneath the east end of the north aisle was an intact reliquarycontaining the partially crematedbones of an adult. Adjoining the church on the north are two rooms, while the wall lines of a courtyardare visible on all sides of the tower. A Locality Mentioned in the Bible. In the Old Testament, Mefacat is listed among the localities of the high plateau of Moab,along with such other places as Madaba,Nebo, Macin, and Dhiban (Joshua13:18 and 21:37 and Jeremiah48:21).The inscription in the Church of Saint Stephen identifies the ruins of Um er-Rasaswith the name Mefacat. Thus far,however,no definite trace of human occupation before the Nabatean epoch has been found among the ruins. Forinstance, Nelson Glueck in his 1933 survey of the site collected only Nabatean, Byzan-

cavalry, that is, auxiliary troops of the Roman army, were stationed in the camp of Mefaa. A Nabatean inscription, said to have been found by

for a stylite, one of the ascetics who would live on top of a pillar. The mosaicist added a second plan related to Mefaa outside of the

tine, and Arabic sherds. In our excavations we reached bedrock in the section south of the Church of Saint Stephen, and our earliest sherds are

mosaicist used the facadeof a temple to representthe city. This might be the temple on the top of Mount Gerizim, which is found on coins struck at Neapolis in the Roman period. The monotonous repetition of a city plan with walls, towers,gates, and one or two internal edifices does supportthe opinion that the cities of Jordanare presented in very conventional fashion. From an artistic point of view, the illustrations of the Palestinian cities are notable for their freedom of composition and variety of color tones. The Historical Importance of the Mosaics The mosaics of Um er-Rasasprovide a great deal of new evidence on the history of the region, especially in the Byzantine and EarlyIslamic periods. The long process of evaluating this evidence has, of course, only begun, and I can give just a few examples here. KastronMefaa.The name Kastron Mefaa,which means "campof Mefaa," suggests the military nature of the settlement in the Roman, Byzantine, Arabic,and possibly even Nabatean periods. We find historical evidence for this in severalwritten sources. In the Onomasticon, written in the first half of the fourth century C.E., Eusebius of Caesareawrote that there was a unit of the Roman army stationed on the edge of the desert at Mefaat.The Notitia Dignitatum, an imperial document of the fourth century C.E.,records that local sol-

230

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

The Mosaics

(continued)

with its own local character, so radical that not even the figures of fish and other animals were spared. We will eventually know much more than we do today, as scholars continue their evaluation of the archaeological evidence and as excavations continue.

sel

Notes

Nabatean (a period running approximately from 300 B.C.E.to 200 C.E.). We have, however, found a basalt capital that may be the first evidence of the Iron Age settlement. Future research on the site will ascertain if the ruins of the Byzantine Arabic Um er-Rasas cover the Iron Age village of the eighth through sixth centuries B.C.E.

Jordanian history relative to civil, religious, and artistic interests. We now know that at the end of the eighth century c.E. an urban community still existed at the site. That community was religiously and administratively organized and exhibited an unexpected artistic vitality. It still remains to be seen what our excavations will tell us about the disappearance of urban Conclusion life in the region (and in the whole I have suggested only a few of the Middle East). And, finally, the excaareas in which the discoveries at Umrn vations reopen the problem of iconoer-Rasas have contributed to our clasm. Because the figures in the mosaics were defaced after 785 knowledge of history in the Transc.E., we need to consider the possibility of jordan. There are many more. For an iconoclastic movement in Jordan instance, the late date of the mosaics in the Church of Saint Stephen that was contemporary with iconoclasm in the Byzantine Empire but opens what was a closed chapter of

'The excavations,under the direction of myself and TaysirAttiyat, were carriedout by the FranciscanBiblical Institute in Jerusalemin collaboration with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan.This work is part of a largerresearch projectdevotedto the Byzantine and Umayyadmosaics of Jordanas guidelines for an eventual rewriting of the history of Jordanin that period, a history largely unknown to us from literary sources. It should also be noted that in the spring of 1988 a Swiss team from the Max van Berchemfoundation in Geneva conducted its first season of excavationat the site in one of the churches inside the walled enclosure in the south part of town. 2SergiusI, a bishop of Madaba,was alreadyknown to us. In his time the Church of the Apostles and the Church of the ProphetElijahwere built in Madaba, and the new basilica of the memorial of Moses was built on Mount Nebo. His name in this inscription confirms that the territoryof the diocese of Madaba reachedthe WadiMujib-Arnon,the southern borderof the Province of Arabia. 3Also,near the first step of the stairway between the two churches, an unskilled workman copied an inscription from the upper church. 41talso providesevidence for an organized Christian community governed by a deaconwith a bishop and local clergy at the end of the eighth century, and its date of 785 c.E.extends the history of mosaic art in Jordanfor almost a century. 5"OhLord,rememberyour servant Kayoum,monk and priest of Phisga."In the Bible Mount Nebo is called Pisgah.

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

231

Below: ThesevenJordaniancities depictedin the long southern panel borderingthe nave in the Churchof Saint Stephen: from the bottom, Charachmoba,Areopolis, Belemounta, Esbounta, Madaba, Philadelphia,and KastronMefaa. Note also, in the inner frame, the Nile city of Eraklion.Right:At the head of the southern aisle is this mosaic representationof the Jordaniancity of Limbonand a toponymof the monastery on Mount Nebo.

Byzantine Palestine A Christian

Holy Land by Robert L.Wilken ust as the Babylonianexile deepened Jewish attachment to ancient Judahat the end of the sixth century B.C.E., so did events of the seventh century C.E.-the Sassanid occupation and

ILA

the Muslim conquest - heighten

Christian identification with Jerusalem and the land of the Bible. Christians had lived in Jerusalem and other cities of Palestine, particularly cities in the coastal plain, continuously since the time of Jesus (Heyer 1984; Stemberger 1987;Meyers 1988),but prior to the Arab invasion something new happened: Palestine became a Christian land.The city of Jerusalemhad always evoked the Christian imagination, but its role was symbolic, a sign of something higher, more eternal, heavenly. "Thepresent Jerusalemis in bondage,"Paul of Tarsuswrote in the first century C.E. "Butthe Jerusalem above is free and she is our mother"(Galatians4:25-26). The actual city on the edge of the Judean desert stirred few hearts to devotion or pilgrimage. During the Byzantine period, however,Christians learned to love the earthly Jerusalem,and Palestine came to be viewed as a

214

Ir

ZVI

.01 0 ool

iool pol h

"o

tzo

;rs

so trix w C?aoral NJ&- role C jz,?.Xgllm 4 lit al"'Imm tat rt X.0 (1;,U. 4t4f -$Mal E kT

Out 1,wits Air. S:"% rOmni, 4r, N4* "ft A 4R?!;t 1L ilkpus. 41&$ fax Ta

41.

JL'

j

'It

Ir

AW

ta

Aluo

r.41S, 4tz

*OIL

.?r F4

41

Wr 10.

t7l

A, I4U zigutw#.ilk all a

WE cgs it,

AL

S xf

W.v

43

a24LXT

lei

4#r7a L Ma

bAk, qft* Lfn 44

gar a-*. II.T 711N. ig, *I--At. lisp fan", 411 At

rL

c

as's Jim jai "Itv- - : em 0019% jag so w4?;? i3

ftr - -tW 'Mar, F.A. Ar

'Fe.I

A'27 .'

Taw.' ?3,1, 'tip i3 !RR

4.4

Itav VANE; it-ire' .pAtmjqF It!m MfS 315!4E71M 49j3 Sri ?31ev

The mosaic panel of the Jordalnian citU(x t

of Eric M. Meyers.

.\aLal•LI.

Photo cou)rtesy

Christian holy land. It is within this context that the discoveries at Um er-Rasastake on special significance. The Development of Christianity In the third century c.E., Origen, a

biblical scholar from Alexandria, rejectedoutright the idea that Judea was a holy land. He saw this as an idea held by Jewswho hoped for the reestablishment of a Jewishkingdom centered in Jerusalem,and he wrote that he wanted "todispel any mistaken notion which supposes that the sayings about a good land which god promises to the righteous were spoken about the land of Judaea" (Contra Celsum, book 7, chapter 28; see Chadwick 1953:418). These sayings, he wrote, referredto a "pure land which is good and large and lies in a pure heaven, in which is the

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

215

Threeof the seven Jordaniancities depicted in the long southern panel borderingthe nave of the Churchof Saint Stephen:from the top, KastronMefaa (Um er-Rasas),Philadelphia (Amman),and Madaba. Note also, in the inner frame, the Nile cities of Pilousin and Anticiaou.

46.

P~~ICTAQ OW .-;r

30 ??as

IAt

heavenly Jerusalem"(book 7, chapter 29; see Chadwick 1953:418; see also Wilken 1985). Even as late as the early fifth

rrir

'

3IPII

10-

century C.E.the great biblical schol-

ar Jerome,who translated the Scriptures into Latin, spurned the notion that Palestine was to be identified with the biblical land of promise, even though he lived in Bethlehem and wept when he visited the places associated with the life of Jesus. Respondingto a Roman magistrate from Gaul who asked if Palestine was the terrarepromissionis, Jerome (epistle 129)answeredfirmly that the land of promise was not the actual land where the Israelites lived. He reasoned that those who spoke of

/

I

-'

44AL 46.

WI ftv r11 ofl

r &a sFWAVr '.

IV

SUM

df

,In

W~C?=pet I! rmot if

LN1

r. 9 #-,

mmi

s

1

the promise - David, for example -

were living there at the time and so must have meant another land. In his letter to the magistrate Jerome also said that he thought the land was much too tiny to be accorded such an honor. By Jerome'stime, however, Christian attitudes towardPalestine began to change

-

and swiftly. The

discovery in the fourth century of the tomb in which Jesuswas buried (traditionholds that it was found by Helen, the mother of Constantine the Great and, accordingto Sir Stephen Runciman, the world'sfirst great archaeologist)and the building programundertaken at the site generatedinterest in the new Christian city set against the old Jewish city, which lay in ruins. Constantine instructed the bishop of Jerusalem to construct a magnificent structure on that holy place. Known as the Anastasis, this was to become the most magnificent church in Christendom, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Even the modern visitor can imagine its former splendor by pacing off its

216

original size on the street that runs along it and by keeping in mind that the columns in the rotunda are half their original height. With characteristic hyperbole, Eusebius of Caesarea,a fourth-century-c.E. bishop and church historian, wrote, "Itmay be that this is the new and

The emergence of pilgrimage

madePalestine the centerof the Christian world.

Biblical Archieologist, December 1988

second Jerusalemto which the myriads of prophecies from the divinely inspired Scripturesrefer"(Lifeof Constantine, book 3, chapter33; see Richardson 1982: 529). A second factor that thrust Palestine to the center of the Christian world was the emergence of pilgrimage as a new form of devotion. Christians had visited Jerusalemin earlier centuries, but pilgrimage in the propersense did not begin until the fourth century C.E.Earlyvisitors had difficulty finding sites where Jesushad lived and taught; apparently no one had markedthem, and many sites that were identified were suspiciously close to good roads.In the fourth and fifth centuries C.E.,

Left:The purposeof this tall tower,located about a mile (1.5kilometers)north of the walled ruins at Um er-Rasas,is not known. Some believe it was a military watchtower; others think it served as a platformfor a stylite, an ascetic who lived on top of a pillar. The smaller structurecontains another, square-shapedtower and is near rock-hewn pools. Below: The tower overlookingthe church complex.

Earlypilgrims wantedto see with theirown eyes and touch with theirown handsthe places where Christhad been and to read of biblical eventsin the very placesthat they occurred.

The facade of the Churchof Saint Stephen beforeexcavation. Notice the crosses carvedinto the largerock below the arch.

the number of pilgrims increased steadily (Hunt 1982;Maraval1985). Religious people have always found signs of God'spresence in the shrines of martyrs, in bones, and in other physical objects that bring back memories of a person or place. Forthe early Christian pilgrims, sight and touch became vehicles of divine disclosure. With burning hearts and uplifted faces they made the long, arduous,and dangerous journeyto Jerusalem.No other sentiment drew them than to see with their own eyes and touch with their own hands the places where Christ had been physically present and to read the accounts of biblical events in that very place -"in ipso loco"in the words of one of the first pilgrims (Itinerariumof Egeria,book 3, chapter 6; see Wilkinson 1971:94). The advent of regularpilgrimages to Jerusalem,Bethlehem, Hebron, Nazareth, and other biblical sites in the fifth century C.E.led to another important development. Many people who came to Palestine as pilgrims decided to remain there Continued on page 233

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

217

Byzantine

Palestine

(continued)

The excavation crew resting at the site after a hard day of work.

and settle. Some were adventurers, some were scholars, some were craftsmen and merchants. Among these new settlers were religious men and women, and this groupwas very important to the development of Palestinian monasticism. When we think of early Christian monasticism we think first of Egyptand then perhaps of Syria. During the fifth century c.E., however, Palestine

became a center of monasticism and in time outrankedits neighbors.In contrast to Egyptianand Syrian monasticism, most of the religious men and women who came to Palestine came from other parts of the empire:Armenia, Greece, Cappadocia, Rome, Egypt,and Syria.According to the ancient records,many came with the words of Abrahamon their lips. "Goup from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you"(Genesis 12:1-2). ForChristian monks it was not enough to flee to the desert to live in tranquil solitude. They wanted to seek God in this desert, the desert surroundingJerusalem,not the desert of Syria or Cappadociaor Egypt. Some of these monks even disguised their former lives as though the Judeandesert requireda new beginning. In this setting the idea emerged that the territory surrounding Jerusalemwas holy to Christians. Palestinian monks were the first to use the term holy land to designate this area as a Christian territory.Accordingto Cyril of Scythopolis in his Life of Sabas (57), a biographyof the architect of Palestinian monasticism, Sabascame from Cappadocia to colonize the desert around Jerusalem in fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah. As the monks dug cisterns, constructed

bakeries,built places to live in and churches for worship, they began to identify with the land they had adoptedas their own. No longer were they pilgrims. Cyril wrote that they spoke of themselves as "inhabitants of this holy land." During this period the heavenly Jerusalemof the Bible mergedwith the earthly Jerusalem,endowing it with celestial glory, and the city became known as the "motherof the churches."Residents of the area, Cyril wrote, had the special privilege of being able to "touchwith one's own hands each daythe truth through these holy places."Jerusalembecame an object of pride and a source of strength for Christians. Not only was it a religious and spiritual center, the destination of pilgrims, it was part of a Christian land, an emblem of a Christian empire. The Sassanid Occupation

When the Sassanids,who had ruled Persia since the early third century C.E., invadedthe Roman Empirein

614 C.E., Jerusalem was the first goal

of their conquest. The arrivalof Persian troops outside the city shocked and alarmedthe Christian inhabitants. This was the first foreign army to occupy the city of Jerusalemsince it had come under Roman rule in the first century B.C.E.As long as

Jerusalemhad been a Roman and Christian city it had enjoyedthe blessing of divine providence. In a Greek poem entitled "On the Captureof Jerusalem"(Anacreontica 14),written shortly after the arrivalof the Persians,Sophronius, the future bishop of Jerusalem,gave voice to the alarm and grief felt by the Christians in Jerusalem: Children of the blessed Christians Come to mourn high-created Jerusalem In the face of such a calamity The flow of my tears is too brief; Before such suffering The dirge of my heart is too measured. There is no precedent for such a

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

233

Byzantine

Palestine

(continued)

In 614 C.E.the Sassanidswere the firstforeign armyto occupy the city of Jerusalem sincethe firstcenturyB.C.E. the deserts outside the cities (Donner 1981:91-156; Kaegi 1969). The task provedeasy. Local Arabs,who had become accustomed to being subsidized for guardingthe wadis or dry riverbedsat the mouth of the desert, were unhappywith the the Babylonians in 587 B.C.E.,or Byzantines for cutting off support apocalyptic works such as 2 Baruch during the Sassanidoccupation. and 4 Ezra,which were written after Nettled by the loss of these custhe Romans capturedJerusalemand tomary bribes, the local Arabswelcentury C.E.,as it was for Jews in destroyedthe second Jewishtemple comed the Muslim invadersand both the sixth century B.C.E.and the in 70 C.E.In subsequent generations "showedthem the route to the land Jewsbegan the tradition of returning first century C.E.,the destruction of of Gaza, which is in the mouth of to the city on the ninth of Ab, the Jerusalemwas a religious event. In eleventh month of the Jewish Calen- contrast to Rome or Constantinople, the desert for Mt. Sinai and is very rich"(Theophanes,Chronographia Christian Jerusalemhad become dar,to mourn its loss. EarlyChristian writers describedhow Jews part of the divine plan. When Alaric, 336; see Turtledove1982:36). Once the Muslims had won the the Visigoth king, plunderedRome approachedthe ruins of the temple were stunned Christians in 410 Wall or Western the as loyalty of these tribesmen they C.E., (known today could begin the task of laying siege the WailingWall)singing a dirge over and reacted to the devastationwith to the cities. the fallen city. These early Christian horrorand grief, but the sack of Rome was not considered a religious accounts were condescendingly Upon the arrivalof commander b. al-Walid,who had led his Khalid framewithin the not least at written because the writers viewed event, work of biblical history. It was a troops across the desert from Iraq, the Jewsas mistakenly bestowing the orderwent out to move on to the their affection on a city of stone, political and social and personal Christian cities of Syria (the name did Romans for thus placing their hopes on a city pagan tragedy.Only the city's misfortunes bear religious commonly used to designate the with no permanent foundation. By entire region).The first to fall was overtones.The defeat of Jerusalem, the seventh century C.E.,however, it of God that the meant a were who Bostra, capital of the Roman Provwas Christians city however, singing east of the Jordan ince of waste. laid to been had as a with and Arabia, the over grief city dirge brief a After River. that of siege its citizens, as unreserved Jews. of the mindful Muslim The that time prospect the same perilous About Conquest Sophto the submitted awaited that armies streamed Muslim the When over lament his them, ronius composed that the condition On Muslims. 634 of the summer in Palestine a into wrote Christian another Jerusalem treatise on the captureof Jerusalem. C.E., they struck first in the vicinity they pay an annual tax, the inhabitants of Bostrasecured an agreement coast. the Mediterranean on of Gaza was writwhich The original work, in which they and their city were luxurious and This was but it ten in Greek, was lost, city, dazzling church domed its with later translated into Arabic, possibly spared.With Bostrasecurely in their resplendent its and Saint to dedicated monMar Saba the hands, the Arabsturned their army Sergius by the monks at rhewestwardtowardPalestine where Christian of school renowned on astery,and then passed among the to the route on in PalesChristians they joined another division of soltors, lay directly Arabic-speaking to diers who were facing a large corps was southeast centuries tine during the exposed and, thus, following The of Byzantine troops. Arabia. from armies to the Muslim conquest.' According arriving not to On hearing the news of the was invaders the of aim initial after the this work, Persians, gaining

lament in Christian literature.All of the earlier texts that mourn the destruction of Jerusalemwere written by Jews- for example, the Lamentations of Jeremiah,which was composed after the city was destroyedby

overlooking the city, they turned for one last glimpse of Jerusalem:"They raisedtheir eyes and beheld Jerusalem blazing with fire, and they began to lament tearfully. Some struck their faces, and others threw ashes over their heads, others rubbedthem on their face, and some pulled hair from their scalps." ForChristians in the seventh

control of the city, bound the patriarch Zacharias to take him into exile. As Zacharias and his party were led to the summit of the Mount of Olives

capture the major cities or seize the prime agricultural areas; rather, it was to establish control over the Arabic-speaking tribesmen living in

234

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

advance of the Arab armies, the beleaguered Byzantine emperor Heraclius dispatched his brother Theodore to lead a company of

Byzantine

Palestine

(continued)

Excavatingnear the facade of the Churchof Saint Stephen.

hearing of their approachthe Muslims abandonedDamascus and retreated to a position on the Yarmuk River,a small tributarythat runs into the JordanRiver south of the Sea of Galilee. There, in the summer of 636 c.E., "the battle between the

Muslims and the Romans"took place (Wuestenfeld1869: 1015).Although the Byzantines outnumbered the Muslim forces by as many as four to one, the armies of new Rome were no match for these fervent desert warriors,and as much by the lassitude of the Christians as by the valor of the Muslims the emperor'slegions were defeated in August/September of 636 c.E. Now the way lay open to

troops from the Province of Syria to meet the foe. At Ajnadayn,25 kilometers west-southwest of Jerusalem, at the end of July 634 c.E., Theodore

The Byzantines were no match for the fervent desertwarriors, and the emperor's armywas defeated in 636 C.E.

fell in battle, and the Byzantine armies met their first defeat at the hands of the Arabs.The victory did not come easily, however.Muslim tradition still celebrates the memory of the soldiers who died that day as martyrs.Retreatingin disarray,the tine losses reachedHeraclius in Christians fled to the town of Pella (Fihl),east of the JordanRiver across Antioch, the emperor realized it was from Scythopolis (Beth-shean), only a matter of time before the invadersreached the major cities of where a Byzantine garrisonwas Palestine, principally Caesareaand quartered.There the Muslims won their second victory, and the Byzan- Jerusalem.He made a heroic but futile effort to halt the advance. tines were forced to retreat again, this time to Damascus. An immeMustering all his resources Heraclius assembled a fresh army of diate plea for help went out to the than 100,000 soldiers from more emperor,but the column he sent was defeatedbefore it could bring Syrian cities such as Antioch and reinforcements. Scythopolis held Aleppo as well as a contingent of out for several months only to fall in Armenians and a company of Arab tribesmen commanded by the GhasAugust or September635 c.E. As the dolorous news of Byzan- sanid chief JabalaB. al-Ayham.On

Jerusalemand Caesarea,the two great cities of Palestine. As the Christian chronicler Theophanes wrote in the next century, "The desolate Amalek rose up to smite us, Christ'speople"(Theophanes, Chronographia332; see Turtledove 1982:34). By July in 637 C.E., the Arab armies had reached Jerusalem.Sophronius, who was fated to be the last bishop of Jerusalemunder Christian rule, wrote a graphicfirst-handaccount of the hostile army camped outside the city walls. Then, like today,it was customary for the bishop and monks and others of the faithful to celebrate the Feast of the Nativity with a solemn procession from Jerusalemto Jesus'birthplace in Bethlehem where a Christmas liturgy was offered.In his sermon that year, the aged Sophroniusbitterly lamented that the Muslim troops had impeded the annual procession. "The roads are barred to us and against our will we are constrained to remain in our homes, bound together not by tethers, but by fear of the Saracens .... The savage and bar-

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

235

Byzantine

Palestine

(continued)

The Christianidea of Palestineas the land of inheritancewas uprootedby eventsof the seventhcenturyC.E. barous swordof the Saracen ... makes us exiles from the vision of blessedness [Bethlehem]and orders us to stay home"(Usener 1886). Compelled to remain in Jerusalem, Christians celebratedthe festival huddled behind the walls of the city. Soon Sophroniushad the unhappy task of negotiating a treaty with Caliph Umar, the Muslim conqueror of Jerusalem. The rise of Islam and its swift conquest of Syriaand Egyptbrought to an end a spectacularperiod in the history of Christianity. Under Byzantine rule Palestine not only attained spiritual preeminence in the Christian world, it also reached a level of prosperityand population density that remained unsurpassed until modern times. Demographers have estimated that there were four or five times more people living in the areaduring the Christian era than in Canaanite or Israelite times, and, accordingto Israeli historian Michael Avi-Yonah(1958),a very high level of material development was attained. The area aroundJerusalem and other majorurban centers were not the only places that flourished. Christian monasteries and churches were located all over Palestine, from the Golan heights to the Sinai, as well as on the East Bank where the excavations at Um erRasas took place. Among the most striking remains are those that have been found in cities in the Negeb, Mamshit, Sobata,Kurnub,Avdat, and other urban areas,which thrived in a bleak environment that is barely settled today.Never before had the size of the population, the volume of

The Mosaic at Um er-Rasas

trade, or the intensity of cultivation reached the extent that it did under Byzantine rule (Negev 1983; Evenari, Shanan, and Tadmor 1982).

They do represent a specific territory, however: Palestine (modern-day Israel and the West Bank), Transjordan (modern-day Jordan), and the

236

Inscriptions in the mosaics of the Church of Saint Stephen at Um er-Rasasare written in Greek and date to 756 and 785 C.E.What makes

these dates so striking is that they fall into the Abbasid period of Muslim rule, which took place more than a century after the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem;hence, they are later than any previously known Christian inscriptions from the area. In the view of RobertSchick (1987: 278), the Church of Saint Stephen is of revolutionaryimportance because it reveals a Christian community at the end of the eighth century C.E.that was organizedalong traditional lines, with a bishop and presbytersand deacons, and was peacefully carrying on church affairswithout interference and with the economic resources and artistic skills to design and construct a church with a complex and sophisticated mosaic floor. (See Schick's article in this issue.) Another aspect of the mosaic in this church is also important:its large frame depicting a series of Palestinian cities, a series of Jordanian cities, and a series of cities of the Nile Delta (which provideda link between the coast of Palestine and Alexandria). It would be stretching the point to claim that these cities represent the territory of a Christian holy land. Forone thing, several of the more obvious holy places are not included-Bethlehem, Hebron, and Nazareth, for example. Neither do these cities designate pilgrimage sites as do most of the place-names on the map found at nearbyMadaba.

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

coast extending down into Egypt. The panels depicting these cities preservethe memory of a time when the region was thought of as a Christian territory.In it stood the Holy City (as the panel on Jerusalemis titled), which was the religious - if not the political-

center of the

Christian world. Quite a different groupof cities is listed in a work that was written not too much later than the construction of the mosaics at Um erRasas.I am referringto the list of churches (andcities) in the KitabalBurhan(Bookof Demonstration), a Christian apology to the Muslims that was written in Arabicby Eutychius, the patriarchof Alexandria (Watt1960);parts of it were written by a Christian monk in Palestine. This work emphasizes places associated with Jesusor his disciples: Nazareth,Bethlehem,Cana,Magdala, Capernaum,Banyas,Kursi,and others. The list does not mention any cities in Transjordanor Egypt, but it does include places outside of Palestine such as Damascus, Constantinople, and Rome. These cities are in an appendageto the main list, however,and the churches therein are presented as the work of "the kings of Christian Rome"(Watt 1960: 152, paragraph357). The list of churches in the Palestinian cities is precededby a paragraphexplaining the reason for the list (Watt1960: 134, paragraph 310)."Christhas also given us vestiges (signs)of himself and the places of his sanctification in this world as a heritage and a pledge of the kingdom of heaven. ... Wherever there is a place that God glorified and hallowed by the appearance in it of his Christ and the presence of his Holy Spirit, be it plain or mountain, wherever

there is a place in which God spoke to any of his set all these places in the hands of those who believe in Christ to pass on as an inheritance from parents to children [literally: fathers to sons] forever." What first caught my attention in this passage was the term inheritance. The author says that places, that is, cities or towns where there is evidence of Christ'spresence, have been placed in the hands of Christians as an inheritance to be handed down from generation to generation. The Arabic term for the word inheritance is formed from the same root as the Hebrew term used in the biblical phrase "possess [orinherit] the land."Inheritance is a proprietary term, and that idea seems to be latent in this passage. Because God has glorified and hallowed the places where Christ appeared,they belong in the hands of Christians and are to be passed on from generation to generation until the coming of the kingdom. The Christian idea of the land as an inheritance had just begun to send forth fragile and tentative shoots when it was uprooted by the upheavals of the seventh century C.E.What the historian of religion

JonathanSmith (1978: 110)wrote about the ancient Israelities could be applied to Christians living in the territory surroundingJerusalemin the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries C.E.:"Inorderfor land to be my land, one must live together with it. It is man living in relationship with his land that transforms uninhabited wasteland into a homeland, that transformsthe land into the land of Israel. It is that one has cultivated the land, died on the land, that one's ancestors are buried in the land, that one's deity has been encountered here and there in the land that renders the land a homeland, a land-for-man, a holy land. It is, briefly, history that makes a land mine ... It is the shared history of generations that converts the land into the land of the Fathers."

Conclusion Heyer, F. 1984 Kirchengeschichtedes Heiligen In the early Byzantine period ChrisLandes. Stuttgart: W Kohlhammer. tians had begun to think of the land Hunt, E. D. as a place set apartand Jerusalemas 1982 Holy LandPilgrimagein the Later a city without peer. The holy land RomanEmpireA.D. 312-460. Oxford: had become not simply a place to Clarendon Press. E., Jr. Kaegi, W. a lodestar Christian for visit, pil1969 Initial Byzantine Reactions to the from all over the but a grims world, Arab Conquest. Church History place in which to dwell, to cultivate, 38: 139-49. to build homes and churches, a place Maraval, P. with memories as well as hopes. For 1985 Lieuxsaints et pelerinages d'Orient: histoire et geographiedes origines ai in the West the term land many holy la conquete arabe. Paris:Cerf. of and conjures up images shepherds Meyers, E. M. olive trees, of dusty hills and don1988 Early Judaism and Christianity in keys, of Jerusalemas it existed in the the Light of Archaeology. Biblical Archaeologist 51: 69-79. age of King David or Bethlehem at the time of Jesus.It is a land without Negev, A. 1983 Tempel,Kirchenund Zisternen. history. The idea of the holy land as Stuttgart: W Kohlhammer. an actual land where Christians Richardson, E. C., translator lived and died, a land to be protected 1982 A Select Libraryof Nicene and Postand defended, loved and cherished as Nicene Fathers, second series, volume 1. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. one's own land was being forgedin Schick, R. this period. With the occupation of 1987 The Fate of the Christians in PalesJerusalemby the Sassanids in 614 c.E. tine During the Byzantine-Umayyad and the conquest by the Muslims in Transition,A.D. 600-750. Ph.D. dis638 c.E. this world was shattered. sertation. Chicago: The University of Chicago. Perhapsthe mosaic at Um er-Rasas Z. Smith, J. is a sign that the thread of memory 1978 Mapis Not Territory:Studies in the had not been broken. Leiden:E. Brill. Historyof Religions.

J.

Stemberger, G.

Notes This articleis adaptedfroma chapterin a bookon the Christianholy landto be publishedbyYaleUniversityPress. 'Thework,in a Latintranslationentitled the Expugnationis Hierosolymae,

canbe foundin volume340 of the Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orien-

talum, published in Louvainin 1973,

editedbyGerardoGaritte.

1987 Jiden und Christenim Heiligen Land:Palaistinaunter Konstantin

und Theodosius. Munich: C. H. Beck. Turtledove, H., translator

1982 The Chronicleof Theophanes:An English Translationof anni mundi 6095-6305 (A.D.602-813). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Usener, H. 1886 Weihnachtspredigt des Sophronios.

Rheinisches Museum fuer Philologie 41: 506-07. Watt, W M., translator

Bibliography Avi-Yonah, M. 1958 The Economics of Byzantine Pales-

tine. Israel ExplorationJournal 8: 39-51. Chadwick, H., editor and translator

1953 Origen:Contra Celsum. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Donner, E M.

1981 The EarlyIslamic Conquests. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Evenari, M., Shanan, L., and Tadmor, N.

1982 The Negev: The Challengeof a Desert, second edition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

1960 Eutychiusof Alexandria:The Book of the Demonstration (Kita-balBurhan), part 1. Series: Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, Scriptores Arabici, tomus 21. Louvain: Secretariat du CorpusSCO. Wilken, R. L. 1985 Heiliges Land. Pp. 684-94 in Theo-

logische Realenzyklopiaedia,band

14. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. Wilkinson, J., translator 1971 Egeria's Travels. London: S.PC.K. Wuestenfeld, F., editor

1869 lacut'sGeographischesWoerterbuch, volume 4. Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs.

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

237

ChristianLife in

Palestine hemosaics atUmer-

During the

Early

Islamic Period by Robert Schick

Rasas raise many interesting issues about Christian life in Palestine during the EarlyIslamic period. I would like to consider two of these: the deliberate damageof images in church mosaics, and the general effect of Muslim rule. The Deliberate Damage of Church Mosaics Sometime during the first two centuries of the EarlyIslamic period in Palestine (an areathat I define as comprising modern-dayJordanand Israelplus the WestBank),the images of people and animals depicted in the mosaic floors of churches were deliberately damaged.Scholars have traditionally attributed such damage to the Muslim opposition to images in art, an opposition manifested in Umayyad governmentpolicies. In his edict of 721 C.E., for example, the Caliph Yazidorderedthe destruction of images, especially in churches, throughout the caliphate (Vasiliev 1956;Paret 1976-1977). I have examined thirty-oddcases of deliberate damageto mosaic floors in churches of Palestine dating to this period, however,and have found none that need to be attributed to this edict. Most of the damagewas done with considerable care to remove only the offensive images while leaving the rest of the mosaic intact. The damagewas then usually carefully repaired,often by mixing up the cubes that had been taken out of the mosaic and then putting them back in. In some mosaics these repairs were effected with great artistic ability, as at Khirbet Asida (Baramki and Avi-Yonah 1934), Macin (Piccirillo 1985), Masuh (Piccirillo 1983), and Um er-Rasas. The careful

Facing page: At the head of the northernaisle in the Churchof Saint Stephenis this mosaic representationof the Jordaniancity of Diblaton, in association with portraitsof the benefactors.Notice how the human images were obscured without damaging the inscriptions or the other images. Below: The rich mosaic floor in the Churchof Bishop Sergius was defaced sometime during the EarlyIslamic period. Much of the damage was carefully done, however,to removeonly the offensive images while leaving the rest of the mosaic intact.

,1)1

0. hQL

!ri

.... ...... . 0,14 'Fole ILL

way in which these alterations were made indicates that it was Christians who damagedand repaired these mosaics. Determining precisely when the alterations occurredis difficult. Only rarelycan stratified pottery be used to date damagewithin the late Umayyad or early Abbasidperiod, as at Nitl (Schick 1987:635-36). Using dedication dates as a basis, damageto the mosaic floor at al-Quwaysmacan

be dated to sometime after 717-718 C.E. (Piccirillo 1984),at Macin to sometime after 719-720 C.E.(Picciril-

lo 1985),and at Um er-Rasasto some-

time after 785 C.E.The 785 C.E.date

at Um er-Rasasfalls in the Abbasid period, which came after the Umayyad period (see the chart in Michele Piccirillo's article). It is conceivable that the other cases occurredduring the Abbasidperiod as well. Some images escaped deliberate

damage entirely. Of all the mosaics with intact images, however,only the one in the apse of the Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai was clearly visible throughout the centuries (Forsythand Weitzmann 1973).Manyof the unaffectedmosaics probablydid not maintain their visibility for very long after the Muslim conquest, and it appearsthat the church mosaics that did remain visible as late as the early Abbasidperi-

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

219

Fourof the eight Palestinian cities depicted in the long northernpanel borderingthe nave of the Churchof Saint Stephen:from the top, Jerusalem(the Holy City), Neapolis, Sebastis (Sebastia),and Caesarea.Note also, in the inner frame, the Nile cities of Tamiathisand Pseudostomon.

od were damaged.A lack of damage to the images in a mosaic floor seems to indicate that the church had gone out of use by that time Although we feel fairly secure in dating most of the deliberate damage to the early Abbasid period, we still do not understandthe motivation behind it. We know that deliberate damagewas restrictedgeographically to Palestine, where Christians were solidly orthodox, and that it does not seem to be closely related to the largericonoclastic movement within the Byzantine Empire,where the idolatrous veneration of icons was at issue and not the artistic depiction of ordinarypeople and animals (Gero 1973;Grabar1984).There are also no historical accounts recording Muslim government action against Christian images in the early Abbasid period, although the Abbasids were generally less tolerant in their relations with Christians than were their predecessors the Umayyads. PerhapsChristians altered and repaired the mosaics themselves under the influence of social pressure and criticism of the Christian practice of veneratingimages from their Muslim and Jewishpeers, reflected in the writings of Theodore Abu Qurrah,a bishop in northern Syria around 800 C.E. (Griffith 1985).If Christians were responsible for the damage,it would suggest that the Muslim conquest had a profoundand disruptive, but not highly destructive, effect on hostile accounts recordedin the Byzantine Greek literary sources, Christianity in Palestine. such as the writings of Sophronius, who was the patriarchof Jerusalem Christian Life under Muslim Rule Muslim invadersconqueredPalestine at the time of the conquest (Conin the early seventh century C.E.,but stantelos 1972).The Muslims did their conquest was not characterized not routinely pillage and sack cities, most of which surrenderedon terms by extensive destruction. Evidence of the destruction they caused is (Hill 1971).At Rihab,Christians even dedicated a new church during slight and notably contradicts the 220

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

the time of the conquest in 635 C.E. (Piccirillo 1980).Construction of the church would have begun before the Muslims first appearedin strength in the summer of 634 C.E.,but its completion prior to the culminating battle on the YarmukRiver in the summer of 636 C.E.indicates that construction continued during the conquest.

Below top: The mosaic panel of Tamiathis,a city in the Nile Delta. Below bottom: The personification of the Earth,located near the main door of the Churchof Bishop Sergius,is one of two classical personifications contained in the central carpet.It and many other images in the rich mosaic floor were damaged during the EarlyIslamic period.

After the conquest the Umayyad caliphs maintained amicable relations with the Palestinianpopulation, which, accordingto archaeological and literary evidence, remained overwhelmingly Christian throughout the Umayyad period. The number of Muslims, who seem mostly to have been tribal immigrants from the Arabianpeninsula, remained small, and they appearto have stayed somewhat apartfrom the native population. Only rarelydid the Muslims convert churches into mosques. Samah and Umm al-Surabare the two most likely cases (King1983). Most legislation aimed at restricting Christians was first formulated by Muslim jurists in the Abbasidperiod (Fattal1958) and did not apply in practice in the earlier Umayyad period. Christians were not actively persecuted by the Umayyad caliphs, but they were discriminated against through Muslim tax policies. Contraryto Muslim legal theory, Christians continued to build new churches, a few during the first years after the conquest, such as at Beth Guvrin (Delehaye 1904: 303, 306), but also some well after the establishment of Umayyad rule, such as at Tell Masos (Fritzand Kempinski 1983). Christians also extensively repairedchurches in the Umayyad period, again contraryto Muslim legal theory, as, for example, at Qasr el-Yahudand Khan al-Ahmar after an earthquakein 659-660 C.E. (Brooksand Chabot 1904:text 71, translation 55). In theory the Muslims also prohibitedthe public display of crosses, but the presence of a cross in the inscription at Hammath Gader commemorating construction under the Caliph Mucawiya in 662 C.E.indicates that such legislation Continued on page 239

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

221

Christian Life (continued)

was not rigorously enforced (Green and Tsafrir1982:94-95). The number of Christians who sufferedmartyrdom in the Umayyad period is small but did increase in the Abbasid period. Peter of Bayt Ras had to go out of his way to provoke the Muslim authorities into making him an example by executing him, after legal proceedings,in 714 C.E.for repeatedly defaming Islam in public (Peeters 1939).The Umayyad caliphs also did not interfere in purely ecclesiastical affairs.The succession of the patriarchsof Jerusalembroke off between the death of Sophronius around 638 C.E.and the sixth ecumenical church council in 680- 681 C.E.(Trombley 1983),but this gap was a consequence of the theological dispute over Monothelitism that was racking the Byzantine Empire and not Umayyad policy. Monasticism continued to flourish, especially in the wilderness of Judea,as exemplified by the life of Saint Stephen of the Monastery of Mar Sabawho died in 794 C.E. (Carta1983),and Johnof Damascus was only the most famous of many important monks who wrote theological works after the Muslim conquest. Not until later in the Abbasid period did the monasteries in the Judeanwilderness come under attack by ArabBedouin (Turtledove1982: A.M. 6301, 6304, 176, 178). Christians continued to visit holy places after the conquest, but they came in reducednumbers and at the risk of being imprisoned or harassedby Muslim officials, as did the pilgrim Willibald between around 724 and 730 C.E.(Wilkinson 1977: 126). The holy place of Shepherd's Field at Keniset er-Racwat, which had been destroyed, was rebuilt in the Umayyad period but on

many additional sites are unknown. There is little evidence, however,of willful, violent destruction of churches by Muslims until after the Abbasid revolution. In the Umayyadperiodmany churchesand monasteries went out of use as a result of earthquakesor other natural causes, but peaceful abandonment was the most common ending. Unless they were destroyedand immediately buried by debris,most churches were soon robbedof their marble liturgical furnishings, which were used to produce lime. A lime kiln found in the church at Shavei Zion was used for on-the-spotprocessing of marble (Praunitz1967).Abandoned churches were also reused in the Umayyad period, most often as dwellings, as at Kursi (Tzaferis1983). The widespread abandonment Using a crane to study the tower. of churches in the Umayyad period was primarily the result of socioa smaller scale. It was convertedinto economic factorsthat had little to an ordinarymonastery because there do with Christian-Muslim religious relations. Hugh Kennedy (1985)has were no longer enough pilgrims to it site as a majorpilgrimage arguedthat Syria as a whole may support declined towardthe end of the have (Tzaferis1975). sixth the Muslim conquest century C.E.,well before the Although Muslim conquest, but the sharp dedid not cause widespreaddestruction, and even though the Umayyad cline in the number of Christian communities, reflected by the decaliphs did not seriously oppress or crease in the number of churches in the first cenpersecute Christians, did of Muslim rule have serious use, occurredprimarily after the tury invasion. This decline was the conadverseeffects. The clearest indication that something majorhappened sequence of broadeconomic changes to the Christian communities is the that took effect afterthe Muslim world turned its orientation to the large number of churches and monasteries that went out of use. To be east, awayfrom the Mediterranean. The dozens of churches and monassure, general population of Palestine, teries continued to be used through- as well as that of Syria, declined out and after the Umayyad periodand not just the Christian commost extensively documented for munities. Many cities and towns Jerusalem,which sufferedlittle if seriously declined or were abandoned during the Umayyad period any decline after the Muslim conas did entire regions, such as the quest-but as many or more went out of use, and the fates of churches at Negeb and southern Jordan. As these

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

239

places were abandonedso were their churches. Bibliography

Hill, D. R. 1971 The Terminationof Hostilities in the EarlyArab Conquests. London: Luzac.

Schick, R.

1987 The Fateof the Christiansin Palestine During the Byzantine-Umayyad Transition,A.D. 600-750. Ph.D. dissertation,Chicago:The University of Chicago. Trombley,E 1983 A Note on the See of Jerusalemand the SynodalList of the Sixth Oecumenical Council (690-681). Byzan-

Kennedy,H. Baramki,D., and Avi-Yonah,M. 1985 The LastCentury of Byzantine 1934 An EarlyChristianChurchat Khirbat Syria:A Reinterpretation.ByzancAsida. Quarterlyof the Department tinische Forschungen10: 141-83. of Antiquities of Jordan3: 17-19. King,G. Brooks,E. W, editor,and Chabot,J.B., 1983 TwoByzantineChurchesin Northern translator tion 53: 632-38. Jordanand Their Re-Usein the Is1904 ChroniconMaroniticum.Series: lamic Period.Damazener Mitteilun- Turtledove,H., translator Corpus ScriptorumChristianorum 1982 The Chronicleof Theophanes:An gen 1: 111-36. Orientalium,ScriptoresSyri,series 3, Paret,R. English Translationof anni mundi tomus 4: 43-74, text; 35-57 transla1976- Die Entstehungszeitdes islamischen 6095-6305 (A.D.602-813). Philation. Paris:Secretariatdu CorpusSCO. 1977 Bilderverbots.Kunst des Orients 11: delphia:University of Pennsylvania Carta,C., translator Press. 158-81. 1983 Leontius of Damascus: Vita di S. Tzaferis, V. Peeters,P. Stefano Sabaita, Quaderni de "La 1975 The ArchaeologicalExcavationat 1939 LaPassion de S. Pierrede Capitolias. TerraSanta."Jerusalem:Franciscan Analecta Bollandiana 57: 299-333. Shepherd'sField. LiberAnnuus 25: PrintingPress. 5-52. Piccirillo, M. Constantelos, D. 1983 The Excavationsof Kursi-Gergesa. 1980 Le antichita di Rihabdei Bene 1972 The Moslem Conquests of the Near Hasan. Liber Annuus 30: 317-50. cAtiqot 16 (EnglishSeries). Eastas Revealedin the Greek 1983 Lachiese di Massuh e il territorio Vasiliev, A. Sourcesof the VIIthand the VIIIth della diochese di Esbus.Liber 1956 The Iconoclastic Edictof the Caliph centuries. Byzantion 42: 325-57. Annuus 33: 335-46. YazidII, A.D. 721. Pp. 25-47 in Delehaye, H. Dumbarton Oaks Papers,volumes 9 1984 Lachiese di Quweismeh-Amman. 1904 Passio SanctorumSexagintaMartyand 10. Washington:Dumbarton Liber Annuus 34: 329-40. rum. Analecta Bollandiana 23: Oaks Center for ByzantineStudies. 1985 Le antichita bizantine de Macin e 289-307. dintorni. LiberAnnuus 35: 339-64. Wilkinson, J. Fattal,A. 1977 JerusalemPilgrimsBeforethe Praunitz,M. W 1958 Le statut legal des non-musulmans Crusades.Warminster:Aris and 1967 Excavationsat Shavei-Zion.Rome: en pays d'Islam. Series:L'Institutde Centro per le antichita e la storia Phillips. LettresOrientales de Beyrouth, dell'artedel Vicino orient. Recherchesvolume 10. Beirut: Imprimeriecatholique. Forsyth,G., and Weitzmann,K. 1973 The Monasteryof Saint Catherineat Mount Sinai: The Churchand Fortress of Justinian- Plates. Ann Arbor:University of MichiganPress. The JohnsHopkins University Fritz,V.,and Kempinski,A. Seminaron Archaeologyand 1983 Ergebnisseder Ausgrabungenauf The World of the Bible der Hirbat el-Msas(TelMasos), 1972-1975. Weisbaden:Otto

ISRact1 an

Harrassowitz.

Gero, S. 1973 Byzantine Iconoclasm during the Reign of LeoIII. Series:Corpus ScriptorumChristianorumOrientalium, Subsidia41. Louvain:Secr6tariat du CorpusSCO. Grabar,A. 1984 L'iconoclasmebyzantine: Le dossier archdologique,second edition. Paris: Flammarion. Green, J.,and Tsafrir,Y. 1982 Greek Inscriptionsfrom Hammat Gader:A Poem by the Empress Eudociaand TwoBuildingInscriptions. IsraelExplorationJournal32: 77-96. Griffith, S. 1985 TheodoreAbu Qurrah'sArabicTract on the ChristianPracticeof Venerating Images.Journalof the American Oriental Society 105:53-73.

240

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

cjypt

June 11-16,1989

"l Distinguished presenters from the fields of Near Eastern, ancient biblical, and archaeological studies O Presentations examine the late and early date theories of the Exodus, pharaonic Egypt and biblical Israel, the conflicts and alliances between Egypt, Israel, and Judah, and more El Open to all those with an interest in biblical archaeology " Held in Baltimore on Hopkins' Homewood Campus; residential accommodations available For more information, call (301) 338-8490. Or write: Summer Archaeology Seminar, The Johns Hopkins University, School of Continuing Studies, 201Shaffer Hall-R, Baltimore, MD 21218.

An affirmative action/equal opportunity institution.

Churches Jordan's Their in by

Urban

Antiquity

Late Bert

de

Vries

whohave hosereaders visited Jerashin modernday Jordanhave surely walked through the city's magnificent public sector. First in view is the oval plaza with rows of Ionic columns opening up onto the temple of Zeus, now partially restored, and the great theater that still functions. Up the colonnaded

222

Context

street is the temple of Artemis, the climax of any visit, with its majestic columns of salmon-coloredlimestone and its neighboring odeon where the town council met. One gets the impression that these great public buildings were the city, the polis, where citizens met for politics, business, entertainment, and sacrifice. The two temples toweredabove

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

whatever happened, and their great gods, Zeus and Artemis, were patrons of and participants in every public event. The public monuments of the formally commissioned Greco-Romancities of the second century C.E.are so demanding of at-

tention that the modern-dayvisitor does not even think to ask, where did the citizens live?

Facing page: The mosaic panel of Panau,a city in the Nile Delta, in the Churchof Saint Stephen.Below: The eight Palestinian cities depicted in the long northernpanel borderingthe nave: from the bottom, Gaza, Askalon (Ashkelon),Eleutheropolis,Diospolis, Caesarea,Sebastis (Sebastia),Neapolis, and Jerusalem.Note also, in the inner frame, the Nile city of Kynopolis.

The greatpublic monumentsthat dominatedGrecoRomancitieswere not the rulein Um er-Rasasand other rural towns of late antiquity.

If, on the other hand, one were able to travelback in time to a rural town of late antiquity, sixth-centuryC.E.Umm el-Jimalor Um er-Rasas,for example, one would get nearly the oppositeimpression.No temples with Corinthian columns dominated the rural skyline. Streets were not broad and lined with straight columns, pointing the way towardworship or assembly. The total impression would be of masses of undifferentiated structures with no obvious monumental characteristicscrowded together without much, if any,forethought to an overall city plan. If there were a plan, as indicated the walled ruins at Um er-Rasas by (KastronMefaa),which are depicted in the mosaic floor of the Church of Saint Stephen that dates to the late eighth century C.E.,the model

appearsto have been the Roman legionary fortress,not the classical polis. The organizingprinciple would havebeen the need to huddle together for protection, not participation in communal life. With the dramaof public monuments removed,what dominates the visitor's attention in this late antique town is domesticity: a profusion of

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

223

Below top: The mosaic panel of Alexandria, a city in the Nile Delta, in the Church of Saint Stephen. Below bottom: The walled area forming a fortified camp in the ruins at Um er-Rasas.

The typical town churchof sixth-century-c.E. Syro-Palestine was hidden in the massof domesticedifices. It servedits membersin the routineof dailylife.

224

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

This lamb was found reused in a wall of the courtyardchurch,a paved area abutting the Churchof Bishop Sergiusto the south and the Churchof Saint Stephen to the west.

The apparentexception is that some of these churches had pedimented red-tiledroofs, whereas the houses and other churches had flat, slabcoveredroofs.The sprinkling of those red roofs throughout town must have punctuated the organicwhole formed by the blended masses of domestic and ecclesiastical structures. What are we to conclude from this gross disjuncturebetween the role of the temple in the classical city and the role of the church in the small ruraltowns of late antiquity? We cannot simply say that the second replacedthe first. Seen in the sociopolitical context in which each was located, we can only conclude that temple and church belonged to two entirely different worlds and that discontinuity, not succession, is the properword to define their the simple domestic structures sursimply constructed, plain, boxy, historic relationship. sturdy,private dwellings whose rounding them. But this is not what The world of the temple can be quality was measured more in terms one would find. best describedby the seemingly conof practicality than ornamentality.A Whereas only one or two relidomestic, private scene preoccupies gious structures were visible in the tradictoryterms public and exclusive. The temple was an essential the visitor; this was a world of grain classical and gothic cities, these towns may have had a dozen or more. part of public life in the classical storing, cattle tethering, kitchens and bedrooms, gated yards,and seThat they were hidden in the mass cities, its appeal more akin to modcure family spaces. One gets the of domestic edifices was no accident. ern flag-wavingthan to personal religious piety. Yetthis public loyalty impression that this private domesRather,they seem to have been tic world filled the residents'time so almost deliberately tucked away,in- embraced only an aristocratic circle satisfactorily that the public speccorporatedinto domestic complexes of citizens and, in principle, excluded the vast majority of country folk and tacles of temple and theater, so esso that they formed one organic sential to the citizens of the polis, whole. One would have to work hard strangers. Fourhundred years later the were entirely superfluous here. to find them.1 church served a society whose values after this Most of these Only absorbing private churches, actually mass of domestic buildings would dwarfedby the privatehousing com- had been transformed,and the words that best describe this new the visitor beready for the churches. plexes in which they stood, were world areprivate and universal. The from where catheto the serve resiComing Europe, only large enough drals dominated the skylines of dents of that quarter.The style of country folk, so long excluded from the municipal fiber of the Roman medieval towns just as temples had construction also served to make them blend into their surroundings. Empire,had come into their own at dominated the horizons of classical The design of walls, windows, and find one would to one this time, not by joining the exclucities, expect and the or two huge churches with monuuse of corbels and sive ranks of the former aristocracy doorways arches for roofing-nearly everything but by filling in the void that was mental masonry and auditorium one could see in the churches left when that exclusivist world fell spaces necessitating architectural that were far different from to the houses as well. designs applied private apart. The private concerns and

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

225

values that preoccupiedtheir excluded ancestors led to the economic and social success that fueled the growth of late antique communities in the EasternMediterranean.It is not surprisingthat the churches of these new towns were privately owned and that they served the spiritual needs of ordinarypeople in ways that deliberately avoidedthe civic trappingsthat had excluded past generations from full access to the gods of the polis. Accompanyingthis new-found success in private and local terms was a new sense of the universal, a sense of belonging directly to the largerpolitical and spiritual spheres of the Mediterraneanworld. This had become possible because the old urban aristocracy,with its exclusive social rankings and confining clientage practices, was gone. On the political level everyonehad become a common subject under the direct authority of the emperor.On the religious level everyonehad become a member of a church that transcended the narrowgeographicconfines of the classical polis to include, potentially, the entire world. This certainly made the individual feel very small and insignificant yet caredfor and at home. Life without the polis was not liberating in the modern sense of the word, but the new allencompassing powerwas inclusive, not exclusive. Hence the churches in towns of late antiquity were part of the very essence of their ruralsocieties. They were places where private spiritual needs coalesced with a sense of oneness with God.

Editor: ROGERW. MOELLER

NORTH AMERICAN ARCHAEO The Rocky FoolsomSite: A SmallFolsomAssemblagefrom the NorthwesternPlains MarcelKornfeld A Study of SevenSoutheasternGlyphCaves CharlesH. Faulkner ArchaeologicalAssemblageVariabilityin FishingLocalesof the WesternSnake RiverPlain MarkG. Plew Book Reviews HarneyFlats:A FloridaPaleo-IndianSite by I. RandolphDaniel,Jr. and MichaelWisenbaker BarbaraA. Purdy TheArchaeologyof Slaveryand PlantationLife editedby TheresaA. Singleton MarkBarnes Goneto a Better Life edited by JeromeC. Rose MarkBarnes Osares-Seghir,An ArchaeologicalViewof MedievalLife by CharlesL. Redman MarkBarnes Published quarterly, this is the only general journal dedicated solely to North America. The North American Archaeologist surveys all aspects of prehistoric and historic archaeology within an evolutionary perspective, from Paleo-Indian studies to industrial sites. It accents the results of Resource Management and Contract Archaeology, the newest growth areas in archaeology, often neglected in other publications.

ISSN0197-6931 PRICE:$83.00 INSTITUTIONAL

Note 'Forthe sake of simplicity, I am assuming that the typical town church was secular, that is, not ecclesiastical or clerical. I do not mean to ignore the fact that many churches in Syro-Palestine may have been monastic and that many were built in veneratedlocations to serve pilgrims. The focus of this article, however,is the typical town church that served its members in the routine of daily life.

226

VOLUME9, NUMBER3-1989

INDIVIDUAL PR ICE: $36.00 (Paid by personal check or credit card.) Add $4.50 for postage in the U.S.A. and Canada and $9.35 elsewhere. Subscription per volume only (4 issues), must be prepaid in U.S. dollars on a U.S. bank. Prices subject to change without notice.

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

Baywood Publishing Company, Inc. 26 Austin Avenue,P.O. Box 337, Amityville,NY 11701

Important new publications from MUSEUM OF ART

THE METROPOLITAN Cuneiform Texts in The Metropolitan Museum of Art EDITED BY IRA SPAR The Metropolitan Museum's collection of over 5oo early texts and tablets will be presented for the first time in this new series. Volume I: Tablets, Cones, and Bricks of the Third and Second Millennia B.C., the initial publication in the four-volume series, presents 120 commercial texts, legal texts, and letters, along with cones and bricks, from ancient Mesopotamia. This material is offered in both transliteration and translation, with drawings and selected photographsof the tablets, as well as descriptions, drawings, and photographs of the seal impressions appearing on them. Includes an index of proper names and professions. "Flawlesslyproduced... an auspicious beginning to the definitive publication of a significant and diversified collection of cuneiform texts."-William W Hallo, YaleUniversity. Vol. I: 410 pages, 250 illustrations.

Clothbound.

8I/2"

x ii".

(Eo463X)$60.00

Bronze and Iron: Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in The Metropolitan Museum of Art BY OSCAR WHITE MUSCARELLA

This volume catalogues for the first time more than 6oo bronze and iron objects-from Iran, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, and Arabia-in the Metropolitan Museum's collection, some of them acquired through the Museum's participation in archaeological excavations. Each item is illustrated, described, and discussed in terms of its formal and stylistic aspects, cultural background, function, and chronology. Bibliographic citations present comparative material relevant to each object. Extensive cross-referencingrelates objects that are formally similar as well as those that are geographicallyor culturally associated. "...a monumental

catalogue [and] a stan-

dard work-of-referencefor anyone interested in the ancient Near East in antiquity." -Roger Moorey,Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. 504 pages, 791 illustrations, 7 maps. 8I/2"x ii". Clothbound. (Eo48IX) $75.00

Ordersfrom individuals: Send the coupon below or call 718-326-7050 to place a credit cardorder. Educationalinstitutions andlibraries:Sendordersor inquiriesto The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Institutional Sales, Special Service Office, Middle Village, N.Y. II38I, or call 718-417-3633.

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART Special Service Office Middle Village, N.Y. 11381

2523

Please send me the following volumes: copies of CuneiformTexts(Eo463X)at $6o.oo each copies of Bronze and Iron (Eo48IX) at $75.00 each I enclose a check for

to cover the cost of the book(s), shipping charge,

and sales tax (if any).* *Shippingcharges:Forone book, add$6.95; for two or morebooks and forall ordersoverseas,$7.95. Addsales tax for deliveriesin N.Y. State, N.J.,and Conn. only.

232

NAME APT.

ADDRESS CITY

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

STATE

ZIP

COUNCIL OF SOCIETIES FOR THE STUDY OF RELIGION MERCERUNIVERSITY @MACON, GEORGIA31207 @(912) 741-2376 The Council of Societies for the Study of Religion is a federation of professional organizations that promotes the academic study of religion. Delegates from the member societies meet annually to review the work of the Council's various committees and to plan its publication program: Religious Studies Review .

S

Religious StudiesReview

Contents

.

•-.-c-~-c?~LU-~_=_.--'•?.?Y

Includingmajorreviews, shorternotes, a recapof dissertationsin progressand completed, RSRis the single source for bibliographicalupdatesin the broadfield of religious studies. "The RSRis noteworthyfor its mix of searchingessays, criticalreviews, andinformativenotices. Indispensiblefor those keepingon top of scholarshipin the field of religion." -John F. Wilson, Princeton University. ISSN 0319-485X $30.00 per year to individuals

Directory of Departmentsand Programs

Now in its fifth edition (1988) this handy tool lists more than 400 departmentsand programsof religious studies in NorthAmericawith a complete profile includingenrollments,degrees offered, faculty and a brief descriptionof the department.The names and addressesof more than 1,500 schools, colleges, universities and seminariesare includedas well as several indexes includinga faculty index. ISBN 0-932180-10-8, paper; 11-6, cloth $15.95, paper; $19.95, cloth

cm socam "nuvoy oamwom no oupam

_

-

--

-'

=

, : t4:
DIRECTORY ' PAW r~r)([ AND ' AMIfil I:Ic I.I(jl IME, JSN'?, ;T•Ij[ IIIPW,(?P,' . .. V.,'. A. : P,

?'T.J()) Ais j 0 ,,E ......IONl,, I,,,,,,N

Bulletin of the CSSR

bulletin

-

,. : , )PT- ,' rI k .:I.-

I

Publicationof the Bulletin was resumed in February1988 (volume 17). The "new" Bulletin appearsfour times a year: February,April, Septemberand November. Its purpose is to serve as a clearinghousefor informationaboutspecific activitiesin the field of religious studies, especially as this informationrelatesto and grows out of the work of the constituentsocieties. The Bulletin includes news from the various societies of the CSSR (and otherswho care to submit), generalannouncements,informationon grants,fellowships, etc., programannouncements,calendarsof events, and directoriesof officers, both regional and national,of the CSSR constituentsocieties. ISSN 0002-7170 $18.00 per year to individuals

Directory of Publishers

This volume will providea detailedrecordof publishersin the field of religiousstudies. It will enable scholars to match manuscriptswith a publisherand will provide librariansand other book buyers with information concerningwhich publisherspublish in specific areasand where/howbooks may be purchased. ISBN 0-932180-13-2 $20.00 (t)

DIRECTORY OFPUBLISHERS

CSSR Constituent Societies American Society of Church History 0 American Society of Missiology 0 Association of Professors and Researchers in Religious Education 0 Association for the Sociology of Religion 0 The Catholic Biblical Association 0 The Catholic Theological Society of America 0 College Theology Society 0 Institute on Religion in an Age of Science 0 National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion 0 North American Academy of Liturgy 0 North American Association for the Study of Religion 0 Society of Christian Ethics 0 Council on Graduate Studies in Religion, affiliate society 0 National Council on Religion and Public Education, affiliate society.

238

Biblical Archaeologist, December 1988

T

O" Fps ,- ~t ~O -~18.41M ~.2~ C rIrL~s? (~ CTE~4 U *law 98 ~~~~~tY I 07 od,

ftoca a

~ F" rI rr

r? ~

isi j.Of

Iis

~

-

T~ 0I owl

II wr1

~To~d

~

r;lII't' Om

sip;/FI :r'tv

I-

~

4f

.

UP.

- Mv a f*' me

Ir 71?

-of

Ir

'"

*a*"