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Volume 53Number 3

TheLapisLazuliFigurine fromMari. ANewLookatSomeVenerable Sumerian Icons theOverseas Institutes Also,Arti-FACTSfrom andan Update ontheDeadSeaScrolls

1990 September

AMERICAN SCHOOLS OF ADMINISTRATIVE 711WEST40TH OFFICE, ASOR,

EricM. Meyers,President JamesW.Flanagan,First Vice Presidentfor Publications WalterE. Rast, Second Vice Presidentfor Archaeological Policy GeorgeM. Landes,Secretary RogerS. Boraas,Assistant Secretary Holden Gibbs, Treasurer KateGould, Assistant Treasurer Gough W Thompson, Jr.,Chairmanof the Boardof Trustees Norma Kershaw,Directorof Tours MarkGallagher,ASOR Administrator

ASORNewsletter; VictorH. Matthews and JamesC. Moyer,Editors Biblical Archaeologist;EricM. Meyers, Editor Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research;WalterE. Rast, Editor Journalof Cuneiform Studies;Erle Leichty,Editor Editorfor Books, WalterE. Aufrecht

ORIENTAL RESEARCH

SUITE354,BALTIMORE, MD21211(301)889-1383 STREET,

W.F.AlbrightInstitute of ArchaeologicalResearch(AIAR). P. O. Box 19096, 91 190 Jerusalem,Israel. SeymourGitin, Director JoeD. Seger,President Carol Meyers,First Vice President JoyUngerleider-Mayerson,Second Vice President;Acting Board Chair JohnSpencer,Secretary-Treasurer BaghdadCommittee for the Baghdad School. JerroldS. Cooper,Chairman Near EasternStudies, The Johns Hopkins University,Baltimore,MD 21218. American Center of OrientalResearch (ACOR). P. O. Box 2470, JebelAmman, Amman, Jordan. Bert de Vries,Director RobertCoughenour,President LawrenceT. Geraty,Vice President MarjorieCooke, Secretary Anne Ogilvy,7Teasurer

Biblical

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CyprusAmericanArchaeological ResearchInstitute (CAARI). 41 KingPaul Street,Nicosia, Cyprus. StuartSwiny,Director Charles U. Harris,President LydieShufro,Vice President Ellen Herscher,Secretary AndrewOliver, Jr., 1-easurer Damascus Committee. GiorgioBuccellati, Chairman Center for MesopotamianStudies, University of California,405 Hilgard Avenue,LosAngeles, CA 90024.

Archaeologist

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Biblical Archaeologist (ISSN0006-0895)is published quarterly(March,June,September, December)by the JohnsHopkins University Press for 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 $19.95 for individuals and $30 for institutions. There is a special annual rateof $17.95 for students and retirees.Single issues are $7 for individuals and $10 for institutions. In Canadaand Mexico, add $3.40 for annual subscriptionsand $2 for single issues. In other foreigncountries, add $8.40 for annual subscriptionsand $2 for single issues. Ordersshould be sent to the JohnsHopkins University Press, 701 W.40th Street, Suite 275, Baltimore,MD 21211 (telephone:301-338-6964;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? 1990 by 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.Authorizationto photocopy items for personalor internal use is grantedfor librariesand other users registered with the CopyrightClearanceCenter (CCC)TransactionalReportingService, providedthat the copierpay the base fee of $1.00 per copy plus $.10 per page directly to CCC, 27 CongressStreet, Salem, MA 01970. This consent does not extend to other kinds of copying,such as copyingfor generaldistribution,for advertisingor promotionalpurposes,for creatingnew collective works, or for resale. 0006-8095/$87 $1.00 + .10 Editor-in-Chief Associate Editor Associate Editor Book Review Editor SeniorEditor Assistant Editor Designer

EricM. Meyers LawrenceT Geraty David C. Hopkins JamesC. Moyer Leslie Watkins ToddMcGee LauraHughes

EditorialCommittee WalterE. Aufrecht P. KyleMcCarter EdwardF.Campbell David W.McCreery Carol L. Meyers Douglas L. Esse S. Thomas Parker JamesFlanagan VolkmarFritz JackSasson Neil A. Silberman SeymourGitin MarkS. Smith JoAnn Hackett A. T. Kraabel Stuart Swiny Thomas E. Levy 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 Archaeologistis not responsible for errorsin copy preparedby the advertiser. The editor reservesthe rightto refuse any ad. Ads for the sale of antiquities will not be accepted. EditorialCorrespondence.Article proposals, manuscripts,and editorial correspondence should be sent to the ASOR PublicationsOffice, P.O.Box H.M., Duke Station, Durham, NC 27706. Unsolicited manuscriptsmust be accompaniedby a self-addressed,stampedenvelope.Foreign contributorsshould furnish international reply coupons. Manuscriptsmust conform to 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 responsiblefor obtainingpermission to use illustrations. Composition by LiberatedTypes,Ltd., Durham, NC. Printedby PBMGraphics, Inc., Raleigh,NC. Publisher The JohnsHopkins University Press

BilicalArcaeolo A Publication of the American Schools of Oriental Research

Volume 53 Number 3

September 1990

CurrentArchaeologicalResearchin Israel

Ancient Agricultural Settlement and Religion in the Uvda Valley in Southern Israel Uzi Avner

Page 125

125

In spite of extremely arid conditions, the Uvda Valley in the southern Negev has been the site of a flourishing agricultural society dating back four to six thousand years. Fouryears of survey and excavation in the region have also revealedevidence of many cult sites. How could agriculture thrive in such a severe climate, and what can these cult sites tell us about the religious life of the ancient desert inhabitants?

Sumerian Bats, Lion-headedEagles, and Iconographic

142

Evidence for the Overthrow of a Female-priest Hegemony

Naomi F Goldsmith and Edwin Gould Is the small lapis figurine from Mari really a lion-headedeagle, as describedby its finder Andre Parrot?Two chiropteraexperts say its features more closely resemble those of a bat. They also contend that some Sumerian lion-eagles are actually lionesses - females, not males - and provideevidence for the hypothesis, reflected in the myths, that female dominion was overthrownby a male warriorclass at the dawn of history.

The Inscribed Pomegranatefrom the "House of the Lord" 157 Nahman Avigad Page 142

Since it was acquiredby the Israel Museum in 1988, a thumbsized pomegranatecarvedin ivory and bearing an ancient Hebrew inscription has stirredworldwide interest- and for good reason. Dated on palaeographicgrounds to the eighth century B.C.E.,the pomegranateis believed to be the only archaeological find known to date that can be associated with Solomon's Temple and the sacred services practiced there.

Arti-FACTS:News from the Institutes Qumran Update

168 170

Fromthe Editor'sDesk Letterto the Readers

122 123

Introducing the Authors

124

BookReviews

171

On the cover:TheMarilapis figurinedating from the mid-thirdmillennium B.C.E. Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution TravelingExhibition Service (SITES).On the back: A group of seven standing stones found at the top of Macaleh Yitro,one of several ancient cult sites uncoveredin the Uvda Valley.Photo courtesy of the IsraelAntiquities Authority.

Page 157

From

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iththisissueofBiblical Archaeologist,

the editorial board welcomes David C. Hopkins as Associate Editor. David is Professorof Hebrew Scriptureat Wesley Theological Seminary where he shares faculty duties with his wife, Denise Dombkowski Hopkins. Previously, David taught for six years at Lancaster Theological Seminary.He is a graduateof Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and received his M.A. and Ph.D. from VanderbiltUniversity. He has studied at the Ecumenical Institute for Theological Studies in Jerusalem,where he has lived fortwo extendedperiods.A veteranfield archaeologist, he has most recently excavatedat Tell el-Umeiri in Jordanand is currently researchingthe rurallandscape of Iron Age monarchies as part of the Madaba Plains Project. His most recent monographic publication, The Highlands of Canaan:Agricultural Lifein the EarlyIron Age, has won widespread acclaim and places him in the forefrontof scholars who have focused on the social and economic history of the biblical world. David brings considerable experience and enthusiasm to BA, and I hope that readers and prospective authors will feel free to write him or me on matters that concern the welfare of the magazine. Weare alwayslooking for new ideas and ways to improve. Also appearingfor the first time in this issue is our new column, Arti-FACTS:News from the Institutes, which will keep our readersabreast of current developments in the field. In this issue, we havearticles on the recent Second International Congress on Biblical Archaeology,currentfinds at the ThirdWallin Jerusalem,andan update on the Dead Sea Scrolls. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Linda Huff, formerArt Director of BA, for putting the design of the magazine at so high a level. During her more than seven years of association with the magazine, BA won numerous awards for design and layout. None of that could have been achieved without her imagination, elegant sense of design, anddedication. Lindahas gone on to another career,and all of us at BA wish her the best of luck. Leslie Watkins, Senior Editor, will enter graduate school at Duke University this fall and, for the moment, leave the publishing field behind her. Leslie has been a devotededitor and manager,and all of us have benefitted from her sense of dedication and professionalism. We wish her well also.

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David C. Hopkins

As a result of these changes, a number of staff changes have been made. The role of senior editor will pass to ToddMcGee, whom many of you already know andwho has demonstratedhis skills at BA as an editor for more than a year. LauraHughes, a freelance designer, is designing the magazine on an interim basis.

Eric M. Meyers Editorand President of ASOR

facets of archaeological research in Israel, including reportson excavationand surveyresults by sites, regions, and chronological periods as well as a review of relevant publications and other researchactivities. The Albright's Information Sharing Program also includes a second series of articles to be published in Biblical Archaeologist, beginning in 1991,titled, Profiles of Archaeological Institutions in Israel. Another part of this program is Excavations and Surveys in Israel, the vow?: English edition of Hadashot Arkheologiyot, the archaeological newsletter of the Israel Antiquities Authority, published in cooperationwith the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology,the IsraelAntiquities Authority, and the Israel Exploration Society. This publication offers preliminary reports on large-scale and salvage excavations as well as surveys and other research activities, thus providing in a single volume an annual overview of the progress of archaeological projects in Israel (volume 7 appearedin 1990).Also, Recent LibraryAcquisitions of the Albright Institute, a review written by the Albright Director of the major monographs and journal articles dealing with ancient Near Easternstudies, with an emphasis on those materials published in Hebrew, appearsannually in the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Other publications organizedand edited by the Director include thematic monographs,the first of which was Recent Excavations in Israel: Studies in IronAge Archaeology,volume 49 of the Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, co-edited by William G. Dever. Plans to expand further the scope of information sharing include a monographon Studies in the Bronze Age and a series of major review articles on archaeologyin Israelstructuredby chronologicalperiods. zi Avner's In addition,the AlbrightInstitute providesto subscribers Ancient Settlearticle, Agricultural ment and Religion in the Uvda Valley in on an annual basis the Institute'sInformation Materials, SouthernIsrael,initiates a new annual series, which include the Institute's programbrochure, library Current Archaeological Research in Israel. acquisitions list, Bibliographyof Albright Appointees, This series focuses on the researchof the District Archae- seminar and researchpapers,excavationreportoffprints, ologists of the Israel Antiquities Authority, each of excavation and publication announcements, and clipwhom, in addition to his own work, has overall respon- pings of local newspaper articles dealing with general sibility for archaeological surveys, excavations, and the archaeological information and activities in Israel. of in sites the area under his Those interested in learning more about the Alpreservation supervision. The aim is to provide a broad perspective on regional bright's Information Sharing Program and its other activities should contact me at the W. E Albright Inproblems and the development of ancient settlement stitute of Archaeological Research, P. O. Box 19096, patterns as well as a review of the most up-to-dateresults of archaeologicalresearchin Israel.Organizedand edited Jerusalem91 190, Israel. by the Albright Director in cooperation with the Israel Antiquities Authority, this series forms an important part of the Albright's Information Sharing Programdirected to scholars, students, and others interested in archaeological activities in Israel. The goal of this proSeymour Gitin / to is an annual on all W. gram provide Director, E Albright Institute comprehensive report

Letter

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Deena Hoffmanphoto

-p

Naomi F Goldsmith

Nahman Avigad

Uzi Avner

the Authors Introducing

Edwin Gould

Uzi Avner is District Archaeologist of the Southern Negev for the Israel Antiquities Authority. His affiliation with the Authority (formerly the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums) began in 1969 when he was named ArchaeologicalInspectorfor the Eilat area. He earned his master's degree in 1989 from the Department of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he is currently a Ph.D. candidate. His dissertation topic is "AncientMasseboth in the Near East." In his work with the Authority, Mr. Avnerhas identified more than one thousand ancient sites in the Negev and the Sinai and has helped rescue and preservemore than four hundred of them.

Edwin Gould has been Curator-in-Chargeof Mammals at the National Zoological Parkof the Smithsonian Institution since 1980. He earned his Ph.D. in zoology from TulaneUniversity in 1962and, from 1962 until 1980,was a professorin the School of Hygiene and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. From 1974 to 1975 he was a Visiting Professorin the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Malaya,where he taught mammalogy and animal behavior and conducted research on bats. Among his numerous affiliations, Dr. Gould is a life member of the American Society of Mammalogists and a Fellow of the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums.

Naomi F. Goldsmith received her Ph.D. in mammalian physiology from the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied invertebratepaleontology underWyatt Durham. She also studied vertebratepaleontology under Eitan Tchernov of Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Currently she is an Affiliate at the Blaustein Institute of BenGurion University of the Negev where she has found and is working on a large cache of Miocene fossils ranging from frogsto elephants. Findingmisidentified animals in ancient art has convinced Dr. Goldsmith that humankind has become out of touch with the natural world.

Knownas the deanof Israeliarchaeology,Nahman Avigad has been active in the field for more than six decades,distinguishing himself in many areas, from the history of architecture to palaeography,from the study of synagogues to researchon ancient seals. ProfessorAvigadhas directed numerous excavations, the largest and most important being the excavation of the Upper City of Jerusalem.He is also a laureate of the Israel Prize.

Current Research inIsrael Archaeological

Settlement AncientAgricultural and Relgion in the Uvda Valley in Southern Israel byUziAvner

This photo shows the Uvda Valleyin 1979 beforethe construction of the air base that is now in the valley In the backgroundare the mountains of Edom.An emergencyarchaeological surveyrevealed that an agriculturalsettlement thrivedin the arid valley dating back four to six thousand years.All photos are used courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority

This article is being published with the financial assistance of the Endowment for Biblical Research, a nonsectarian foundation for the study of the Bible and the history of the Christian Church. It is the first of a series of articles focusing on the regions of ancient Palestine titled, Current Archaeological Research in Israel, in which we hope to bring our readers up-to-date on the considerable amount of new archaeological data that has been uncovered in recent years in virtually all areas of the holy land. Regional survey and the careful analysis of data by region have greatly altered and improved the way we understand the various sections of biblical geography. -Eric M. Meyers

inthesouthern ocated Negev about 40 kilometers north of Eilat, the Uvda Valley is in an extremely arid region. It has an averageannual rainfall of 30 millimeters, as opposed to an annual evaporationrate of more than 4,500 millimeters, and summer temperaturesexceeding 105 degrees Fahrenheit.In spite of these conditions, archaeologicalresearch has revealedevidence of a flourishing agriculturalsociety datingback some four to six thousand years. In addition to other evidence, the inhabitants left behind many cult sites. In the following article I will try to describe how a farming society could have survived in such a severe desert climate and discuss what can be learnedabout the ancient society's religious life. Archaeological Researchin the Uvda Valley At the beginning of this century, in

1902 and 1933, respectively,Alois Musil (1908: 180-82) and Fritz Frank (1934:263-65) recordedbrief descriptions of ancient remains in the Uvda Valley.In the 1960s, Beno Rothenberg(1967: 138)conducted an extensive survey of the entire southern Negev, including the Uvda Valley. He observedmany ancient sites but succeeded in investigating only about 15. I made severalvisits to the valley at the beginning of the 1970s and uncoveredadditional sites that had not been included in Rothenberg'sreports. A direct implication of the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt,which stipulated the return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt,was inevitable change in the Negev as a whole.' In orderto document and rescue as many ancient sites as possible, the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums (now the IsraelAntiquities Authority) undertook an emergency archaeological

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Sevensites dating to the Neolithic period

(seventh millennium B.C.E.)were discovered

in or near the valley,including this stonebuilt dwelling site in Nahal clssaron.Each site measuredapproximately500 square meters and consisted primarilyof circular rooms with a diameterof from2 to 4 meters. Sites such as these, which could have accommodated an extendedfamily unit of up to 40 people, were apparentlyinhabited duringwinter and spring.

Theclimatein theNegevandSinaiwasvery aridduringthe sixthmillennium B.C.E., and factorresulting theprimary thatwasprobably in a decreasein thedesertpopulation.

excavated21 sites. During four years inhabitants apparentlyresided at of survey and excavation,we investi- this location only during winter and springbut returnedto it each year. gated the western rim of the valley, Most notable among the flint which contained a small number of found are hundredsof arroweastern tools of its one-third in and 1978 area. the of side, sites, Beginning survey concenthe contained which teams the one of led heads, indicative of a hunting society. major I department Bones of hunted animals were also tration of sites. In total, around400 that began the emergency survey, sites dating to different periods were found in abundance,including ibex, the results of which gave us a more wild goat, deer, gazelle, wild cattle, uncovered;about 150 were found to complete picture of the region. It sites wild ass, rabbits,fish, and various be stone-built was found that, despite ex:reme dating dwelling millenfowl. Numerous grinding stones the third to fourth the from the Uvda climatic conditions, Valley variwere were found but no signs of domestiremainder the and surcontained an extraordinary nium B.C.E.; as tentcated grains.Indications of animal described and dated ancient sites. ously prising density of and and plant domestication have been cult burial the In February1980 sites, sites, department camps, at sites from similar periods At found installations. undertook a large-scaleexcavation of agricultural present, Israel and neighboring in northern to have the Uvda Valley.It was headed by begun develop preparations these innovations had an but as the side of eastern the AvrahamEitan, then the Director of countries, valley the southern region. reached not the Department of Antiquities and yet archaeologicalpark. Museums, and RudolphCohen, who A New Era-The Fifth and Fourth Neolithic Hunters and Gatherers was District Archaeologist for the Millennia B.C.E. dated sites Seven of the surveyed Negev. In the course of one month, sevTo Neolithic 200 volunteers and 20 archaeologists from the date, only one inhabited site from period (the were sixth millennium B.C.E. has been Three the enth millennium B.C.E.). in the Negev and Sinai. It two of discovered stone-built dwelling sites, in the vicinity of Kadesh in is located which were excavated:one, Nahal In Barnea. the light of this and other Recuel, was partially excavated; that the climate in it seems other,at the mouth of Nahal cIssaron, data, area was the was almost entirely uncovered considerably arid durthe sixth millennium, and that ing (Goring-Morrisand Gopher 1983). was These sites were very similar to probablythe primaryfactor Neolithic sites found in the Sinai resulting in a decrease in the desert (BarYosef 1981).Measuringapproxi- population. The society began to reestablish mately 500 squaremeters, they were rooms itself around 5000 B.C.E. Occupamade up primarily of circular 2 4 from to meters. tional stratadating from the end of with diameters of similar areas with the sixth and fifth millennia B.C.E. Other circular These courtyardssurroundedby stone fences served as animal pens and are the earliest and identified in four of the excaas were dimensions served courtyards evidence for the introduction of domesticated the sites in the Uvda Valley and in vated between providedpassageways animals, first appearingin the fifth millenhave nature could of this sites in the Negev Highlands Sites rooms. several nium B.C.E. Bones of goats and sheep were discoveredin the excavated courtyards,as and the Transjordan.Included in accommodated an extended family well as thick layers of small cattle dung. unit of from 20 to 40 persons. The these sites were wide courtyardsof

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A tent-camp was located here in the eastern side of the valley.Most of the surfacefinds dated to the fourth-thirdmillennium.

several different types surroundedby stone fences. The sites were apparently animal pens, as bones of goats and sheep, as well as thick layers of small cattle dung, were unearthed from all of the excavatedcourtyards and dwelling sites. This represents the earliest introduction of domesticated animals into the desert economy. With the appearanceof pens, flint arrowheadsbecame very rare, indicating that hunting had become almost obsolete, replacedby small cattle raising. Another new element may be related to the appearanceof corrals. These were tent-camps, distinguishable on the surface as a row of cleared circular areas,about 4 to 6 meters in diameter.The camps extended from 50 to 200 meters in length and comprised from 5 to 30 tents. More than 100 sites of this kind have been identified in the Uvda Valley,and surface finds indicate their periodic resettling from the fourth millennium B.C.E. to the present. However, in EasternSinai we have identified well-preservedtent-camps with surface finds dating only from the fifth to the fourth millennium B.C.E. These are the earliest sites of this type found to date. In light of the discovery of the tent-camps and animal pens, I suggest that the first pastoral societies in the desert appearedduring the fifth millennium B.C.E?This implies that the economy of the desert population had changed from hunting and gathering to intentional productionof food. The new economy

Withthe advent of cattle raising,hunting was renderedalmost obsolete in the society However, the desert inhabitants continued to hunt gazelles and leopards. This is a kite that was used to trapgazelles.

resulted in a higher exploitation of the environmentalpotential of the desert, which may explain why there was a constant increase in the number of sites duringthe fifth to the third millennium B.C.E. The desert inhabitants did continue to hunt gazelles, using large trapscalled kites (Meshel 1979; Avner 1987).Sevenkites have been discoveredin the Eilat region to date. One is just southwest of the Uvda Valley;two are in the vicinity of Moon Valley,on the Egyptianside of the border.Predatorswere hunted as well, although not for food. Travelers in southern Sinai today often come across stone-built leopardtraps, sophisticatedinstallations that used to be considereda unique bedouin invention of recent centuries. How-

An ancient, stone-built leopard trap that was paved to preventthe animals from diggingunderneathand escaping.Leopards were trappedso that they could not attack the domesticated animals.

ever,20 traps of 2 types - nearly all of them very early-were identified in the survey.These trapswere located near occupied sites with corrals,and early flint tools were found nearby. They were used to protect the goat and sheep herds from predatorsand were apparentlyin use as early as the fourth millennium B.C.E. The Arrivalof Agriculture The most unexpectedfinding of the surveywas the density of agricultural remains in the valley.As a result of the finds from the excavatedsites, which provided28 radiocarbondates, we concluded that agriculturewas well established by 4000 B.C.E. and that the climax of these activities occurredduring the third millennium B.C.E. Most of the dwelling sites in the valley belong to these periods. The majority of sites have a common, basic plan- a circular court surroundedby similarly shaped rooms. Each dwelling unit was usually occupied by one extended family, but there were much largeras well as smaller sites. This type of dwelling unit has been found throughout the desert areas of the Near East. The circular form of construction seems to be dominant, although square and rectangularhouses also have been found, possibly influenced by the Canaanite urban cultures of the

Biblical Archaeologist, September 1990

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? An aerial photographof a dwelling site at the mouth of Nahal Shaharutshows architectural remains from two main periods. During the EarlyBronzeAge, the site consisted of a row of five square rooms and two circularcourts on both ends. In the Middle BronzeAge, circularrooms were built around the southern (right)court, and anothercourt was added at the northernside. In both periods, the southern court served as an animal pen.

4 sown, or fertile regions. Many signs of agriculturalactivities were found, including scores of flint adzes, used for tilling the soil; hundreds of flint sickle-blades,used for harvesting;and hundredsof grinding stones, used for grinding wheat into flour. Two limestone hoes also were uncoveredas well as what appears to be a plough-tip made of hard limestone. The latter is similar in shape to the digging adz, but its dimensions and weight are much too large for tilling; if this implement was indeed used as a plough-tip,it is one of the earliest known (Sherratt 1981),dating from around3000 B.C.E. Two similar flint points, found in Mongolia, are the only others known from this period. Another sign of agriculturalactivity found in the dwellings are the granaries,some of which were beautifully pavedwith flagstones. Threshing floors. An unexpected dis106 covery of the Uvda Valley survey were 31 flat circular rock surfaces, / . most of which were cut into bedrock, with diameters measuring from 8 to 18 meters. Their purpose was not clear at first, and the assumption that they were threshing floors was difficult to prove,but in the course of the surveyadditional evidence was Archaeological evidence shows that by 4000 B.C.E. an agriculturalsociety was established found to support this theory. Conin the desert. These flint adzes, top, date to the fourth millennium. They were attached to clusive proof came from researchers a wooden handle and used to till the soil. Above left are differenttypes of sickle-blades. Numbers 1 through4 are crescent-shapedblades that were commonly used in the Uvda Valley, in the Negev Highlands who identiwhile numbers 5 and 6 are termed Canaaniteblades and were rarely used in the desert. fied similar installations still used Number 7 is a backedblade made in the Chalcolithic tradition and used throughoutthe third millennium as well. Above right is a pair of limestone implements. The instrument at left is by bedouins (Haiman1986:title page). possibly a plough-tip,while the artifact at right is a hoe. Similar artifacts were found at Ancient flint tools and pottery colsites in Syriaand the Golan Heights. fourth-through-third-millennium lected near the Uvda Valley installa-

I

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An ancient threshingfloor in the western Negev Mountains that is still used by bedouins. Bedouins of the Negev and Sinai, unlike the ancients, thresh their grain by means of animal hooves only. Photographby M. Heimon.

This photo shows a well-pavedgranaryfromn a third-millenniumsite that was excavated by Oroh YogevPavementwas added to keelp rodents from getting into the granary:

tions allowed us to date them from the fourth and third millennia B.C.E., with evidence of use in later periods. Additional relevant data were acquiredin the course of excavating a threshing floor at the mouth of Nahal Yitro in the Uvda Valley, where we distinguished several different stages of development. In the first stage, the upper layer of eroded rock was cleared to expose a largeirregulararea of a level rock floor measuring 20 by 45 meters. The cleared rocks were then used to construct a low wall aroundit. From its shape and dimensions, we may deduce that severalpiles of barley and wheat were placed on this floor and that the threshing was conducted by some sort of beating. This technique, still in use, is mentioned in the Bible: "... and Gideon his son was beating out wheat in the wine-press. . ." (Judges6:11).The rock was cleared in orderto make as level a surface as possible, thereby ensuring efficient threshing and easier collection of the grain. The later stage installation was more sophisticated. It was circular, with a diameter of about 15 meters, and was cut 60 centimeters into the rock. Here, as with the other circular threshing floors, animal labor was

used; donkeys or oxen walking in circles trod on the wheat and separated the grain with their hooves. Small stone circles, about 2 meters in diameter, were found adjacentto the threshing floors. They were used as silos for storing the flailed grain during the main season of activity. Another stone-built circular structure was located beside the excavatedthreshing floor. Its internal diameter measured 3 meters; a stone anvil, a flagstone bench, and approximately 800 flint pieces were found within it. Most of the flint pieces constituted manufacturingwaste, but 32 usable flint implements were found. This room seems to have served as a workshop for the manufacture of flint tools. The principal implement producedhere was shaped like a crude scraper.Identical blades were found at all the threshing floors located in this area as well as in

the Negev Highland region. Similar ones have been found dating to third millennium B.C.E. Mesopotamia (Adams 1975).These implements were still used by Arab farmersin the JudeanHills until recently and are still in use in Cyprus and Greece (Crawford1935;Bordaz 1969). The excavation of the threshing floor in the Uvda Valleyhas provided data that allow us to reconstruct the development of this installation and its importance in the ancient agriculture of the Near East. The separation of grain by means of beating was probablyintroduced concurrently with the beginning of wild grain exploitation. The need for more efficient means of threshing arose in the seventh millennium B.C.E. With the spreadof domesticated crops. Separatingthe grain of these newer species was more difficult, and in time it became necessary to build

An aerial photographof a threshingfloor at Nahal Yitro.The circularfloor was dug into the rock of the earlier,largerfloor, of which the perimeteris visible in the photo. The smaller circles were silos, and the medium circle served as a flint workshopmainly for the sledge blades.

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installations specifically for this purpose. The simplest of these were preparedon beaten earth, whereas more elaborateinstallations were fashioned on a layer of flat bedrock. The early phase of the installation in Uvda exemplifies the more elaboThese implements are sledge blades and rate stage of development, dating to points that were used on the threshingfloor. the fourth millennium B.C.E. The threshing-sledgewith flint blades apThe circular threshing floor, peared around the beginningof the third millennium and is still used today The suitable for use with animals that sledge crushed the chaff into straw, which would walk in a circle and thresh the was then used as fodderfor the animals. grainwith their hooves,first appeared during the fourth millennium B.C.E. The threshing-sledgewith flint blades appearedat the end of the fourth or at the beginning of the third millennium. This device was very efficient and, together with other methods, has remained in use to the present day.Its primary advantagewas not speed but the crushing of the chaff to straw,which was then used as fodderfor the animals. During the biblical period, an even more advanced tool was in use -the "threshing wagon"(Isaiah28:27-28) -but it did not replace the sledge. It is interesting to note that the Arabic name for the sledge is connected to the name of the valley. The word Uqfi means sledge-shaft (connecting the yoke to the.sledge). Inasmuch as bedouins have not made use of sledges in recent centuries, it is reasonableto assume an ancient source for the name, perhaps from the time of the Nabateans, whose languagewas Aramaic. This A small amount of rain is all it takes to cause language is close to Hebrew and a flood in the Uvda Valley,as the top photo shares with it the root word meantaken in 1981shows. The surroundingmouning "togo around." tains funnel the water toward the ravines, which congregatetoward the eastern side of In addition to the functional the valley where the main settlements were found. The sand combined with the clay washed down by the flood waters created a highly fertile soil, shown in bottom photo. The water flowed gradually,which allowed the earth to absorb a considerable amount and enabled the grain to grow.Ancient farmersslowed the progressof the water even furtherby building long earth embankments perpendicularto the flow, sometimes with a row of stones at its head. Innovationslike this made it possible to cultivate as much as 2,000 acresin the vicinity of the valley.

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character of threshing floors, they were also built with aesthetics in mind, probably due to their being used for other activities. For instance, the floor served as a gathering place (2 Chronicles 18:9), a dais for festivities (2 Samuel 6:6), a cult site (2 Samuel 24:18-25, 1 Chronicles 21:20-26, 2 Chronicles 3:1), and even a place for romantic encounters

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(Joshua9:1 and perhapsRuth 3). The connection between these functions and the harvest season is quite apparent. Cultivated land. The agricultural tools, silos, and threshing floors raised many questions regardingthe types of crops and how they were grown. It was not difficult to identify the cultivated areas strung along the eastern edge of the valley, where a combination of fertile soil and the natural water supply exists. The Uvda Valley drains an areaof 398 square kilometers. The surrounding region is mountainous, most of it exposed rock, and a relatively small amount of rain is sufficient to cause flooding in the ravines. The ravines congregatetowardthe eastern side of the valley, and runoff water flows north along a verygentle slope toward the valley outlet at Nahal Hayun. This gradual,slow flow allows the earthto absorbconsiderableamounts of water. The soil composition is also of crucial importance. Beautiful dunes of lime sand, unique to the Uvda Valley,have been found. On the eastern edge of the valley this sand combines with clay washed down by the runoff flood waters, thereby creating excellent arablesoil that is well ventilated, easily worked, and capable of retaining abundantwater. This beneficial combination of conditions was exploited by ancient farmers,who contributed an important improvement: the construction of long earth embankments perpendicularto the flow, sometimes positioning a row of stones at the head of the flow to greatly slow the progressof water. This increased the amount of water that was absorbed,which, in turn, decreasederosion and allowed the alluvial silt to settle and fertilize the land. The embankments also allowed for sowing prior to the flooding, not only after,as is the method used by modern-daybedouins in the Negev and Sinai.

Construction of these embankments extended the irrigatedsurface areato approximately500 meters, significantly increasing the cultivated area.We were unable to determine with certainty when the embankments were constructed, but various indicationssuggestthe earlyperiodsthe fourth and third millennia B.C.E.

In any event, because the extent of the cultivated land was at least 12 kilometers, we calculated that the main plot had an area of 1,500 acres. Together with other plots in its vicinity, the total cultivated land areawas 2,000 acres. This explains why the ancient settlements were concentratedon the eastern side of the valley and accounts for the special importance of the Uvda Valley. Drinking water.Havingdescribedthe system by which flood waters were exploited for agriculture,we will now addresstwo of the several methods used to acquire and store drinking water for people and animals. The most popular method was based on the construction of numerous series of dams in the smaller ravines. Severaldozen groups of dams were found, always in the vicinity of ancient sites of the fourth and third millennia B.C.E.What method was

used to preventthe stored water from evaporatingin the extreme desert heat? One possibility resembles the system used by bedouins in the Sinai-planting grapevines to cover the pools in their fruit groves. A more advancedmethod involved the digging of wells. Two wells have been found to date as well as another two that were never completed. These wells have a narrow neck cut into a layer of hard, cracked limestone 2 meters thick. Beneath this was a layer of soft limestone, impermeable to water, into which a larger space was cut, measuring about 3 square meters. Rainwater trickled down through the hard, cracked rock, flowed slowly along the line of contact between the two

Ancient farmershad many methods of storing the scarce rainwaterthat fell into the valley, including the construction of dams and the digging of wells. Above is one of the dams built near the mouth of Nahal Recuel.At left are the remains of a well on the hight, east of the Uvda Valley.Therewere also permanent sources of water within a few hours walking distance from the valley

layers, and was caught in the well. Flint implements dating from the fourth millennium were found in the area adjacentto the wells. The wells in the Uvda Valley are not the only ones known from this period. Fouradditional wells in Israel and neighboring countries were dated to the same period, and an even earlier one, dating from the sixth millennium, has been found in Hachilar, Turkey. It is also important to mention the existence of permanent sources of water in the vicinity of the valley: the oasis of Yotvatato the east; the Milhan and Meteq wells to the south; and the Girzi wells to the northwest (the latter are ruins). These are all within a few hours walking distance from the eastern part of Uvda. It is conceivable that during the summer the inhabitants took their herds to these wells every few days and returned to the dwelling sites with full water-skins.

Valley Population During the Fourthand Third Millennia B.C.E. Two critical questions arise with regardto the dwelling sites: Were they permanent or temporarysettlements, and how can we estimate the size of the population that was able to subsist in the Uvda Valley area? Similar sites are well known throughout the Negev and Sinai as well as from the desert regions of neighboring countries, although not in the same density as those described here. The size of most sites in the Uvda Valleyis appropriatefor a single extended family, a type of site that was usually associated with desert nomads. Now, however,I tend to perceive some of these sites as permanent settlements for several reasons. Forexample, some sites have several strata from one period, and severalperiods at one site, which is unusual for most desert areas.Also, the quality of architecture in some of the dwellings is considerablybet-

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Thepopulation of theUvdaValleyin the thirdmillennium B.C.E. can be estimated at about2,500-an extraordinary number. ter than the poorermasonry of the temporal sites, and the quantity of artifacts,most notablypottery sherds, is largerthan that usually found at desert sites. In addition, site plans show that winter climatic conditions -wind directions and angles of sunlight -were taken into consideration when the dwellings were constructed. It is clear, however,that the inhabitants stayed at the sites during the agriculturalseasons-autumn, spring, and part of summer. During the autumn months they plowed and sowed the fields; during the spring and the beginning of summer they harvestedand threshed the grain. In bountiful years modern-daybedouins continue threshing grainuntil the end of August; a month later the fields have to be preparedfor the next season. This makes it evident that farming in the Uvda Valleywas almost a year-roundactivity. Another reason why I believe in the permanence of some of these sites is that recent researchon nomadic communities indicates that groups of nomadic herdsmen usually formed out of sedentary farming societies. The economic relationship between these groups was a prerequisitefor their existence. In addition, the existence of nomadic communities was dependent on the domestication of animals for riding and transport, which allowed herdsmen to roam hundreds,even thousands, of kilometers a year. This type of nomadic lifestyle first became feasible in the Near East with the domestication of the camel in the twelfth century B.C.E.(Khazanov 1984: 15-118,

ture and animal husbandry.The relative importance of each activity may have variedaccordingto region, and in the Uvda Valleythe emphasis seems to have been on agriculture. Therefore,based on these arguments, I believe that a large number of constructed sites were permanent settlements and that even some of the tent sites and seasonal herding camps found aroundthem were, in all likelihood, directly associated with the permanent settlements. The Uvda Valleypopulation

desert plants- primarily acacia, tamarisk, and desert broom. In addition to these, however,olive, Persian pistaccia, and Nile tamarisk- all requiring milder climatic conditions were idenrtified.3 It seems that although the landscape was mainly desert it contained some varieties of trees and other plants. Studies in other fields of researchthroughout the Near East have shown that the climate was more humid in the sev-

274-90, 295-302). Therefore, when referring to the fourth and third millennia B.C.E.,We can speak only of seminomadic societies and permanent settlements, both existing on a combined economy of agricul-

that the climate has not changed for the past few millennia, but current research indicates that this assumption may be incorrect. Most of the floral remains excavated in the Uvda Valley were of

tion of writing. By the end of the third millennium, the process of aridification had reached its severest degree. Desert society weakened and most, but not all, of the few cities existing

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enth millennium B.C.E.as well as in

the fifth and fourth millennia. A peaked in the third millennium B.C.E. suggestion has even been made that Variousmethods have been used to during these periods the Negev and estimate population size, all leading Sinai had summer rains. to similar results. One method, By the third millennium B.C.E., based on the use of critical reducsigns of a more humid climate had tions, will be cited here. The basic nearly disappeared,and it seems that principle suggests that each site was a gradualdesiccation took place. It occupied by a single extended family, was during this period, however,that the desert population reached its numbering approximately25 perzenith. This phenomenon may be sons, although there are sites that could have accommodated a larger accounted for by the fact that, during number of persons. A total of 150 the previous thousand years, the dwelling sites were surveyed;had we desert population increased as a recompleted the survey,the number of sult of an improvedclimate and the sites would have surely reached 200. combined economy of agriculture and animal husbandry,both of which Excludingthe tent-camps, and assuming that only half of the sites providedan increase in food. A desert were settled simultaneously, the law of survival developedthat was well suited to the surroundingconpopulation of the Uvda Valleyin the third millennium B.C.E.can be estiditions. The inhabitants found ways mated at about 2,500- an extraordi- of overcomingyears of drought and nary number. dealing with the gradualaridification of the climate. The peak of desert The Desert Climate and settlements during this period is Settlement in the EarlyPeriods also connected to the large-scale The high population estimate cited sociopolitical developments that here raises the inevitable question were taking place throughout the of whether the climate in the early Near East:the emergence of cities; eras was comparableto that of today. the first kingdoms, such as Egypt, Until recently, scientists surmised Sumer,and Akkad;and the incep-

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on the edge of the arid zone were abandoned(Richard1986).At the end of the EarlyBronze Age, around

years out of every decade. During each bountiful year,enough grain to last for two to three years is stored, 2300 B.C.E.,a new culture began to and portions of the yield are even I in Bronze the Middle develop period sold in cAqabaand El-cArish.The Richard Cohen evidence indicates that although 1983; (Dever 1980; This was more community 1987). Masseboth,or standing stones, were found nomadic than the former,and its throughoutthe valley in singles or in groups economy was based primarily on of repeatingnumbers. They are believed to grazing, although agriculture,indus- have representeddeities. Forthe most part, the stones were unworkedand usually faced try, and trade did exist. This mobility east. This single ma$sebah,whose head enabled the community to survive was rounded, was found at a fourth-thirdmillennium site in Nahal Recuel. The group the more difficult conditions. At of five standing stones was found at a site the in sites excavated many Negev, dating to the fourth millennium in Wadi remains of the Middle Bronze I culDabeciyah in the southern Sinai. Note the ture were found directly above,or similarity between the groupof five stones groupof five Sumeriangods from Tell attached to, those of the earlier peri- and the with Asmar, Enki, as a fish, in the center. od. At Uvda specifically, the transition from the EarlyBronze to the Middle Bronzeperiod was apparently very rapid,with no intervening time span, and a continuity of cultural elements was evident. It is possible, therefore,that groupsof EarlyBronze Age inhabitants adaptedthemselves to the new conditions and were assimilated into the culture of Middle Bronze I. Subsequent to a brief climatic crisis at the end of the third millennium, the climate improved, allowing the new culture to blossom in the desert as well as in the more temperate, settled regions. It should be noted that agriculturalhusbandryis feasible in this area even under current climatic conditions. In the course of our archaeological survey we uncoverednumerous signs of agriculturalactivities of the HIaywatbedouin tribe. Among the finds were storage caves containing farm equipment, and Ghazan black sherds of the past 200 years scattered in the fields and tent encampments. The most impressive discovery was the approximately 300 bedouin dugout silos, each intended as a repository for some 3 tons of grain. In order to understand this method of agriculture we investigated the system with the assistance of bedouins who cultivated the valley until 1948 and anthropologist Frank Stuart. We learned that the land is worked on an average of four

modern bedouin agriculturehas not reached the level of ancient society, these farmersare nonetheless able to produce relatively high yields. In light of this evidence, it is apparent that ancient farmerscould have sustained a flourishing and productive settlement based on agricultureand grazing. Cult Sites in the Uvda Valley During the years of the survey we learned to detect sites and details not previously recognized, as these sites had not been sufficiently understood and suggestions regardingtheir purpose were not raiseduntil later. Some were thought to be cult sites, but additional material had to be collected in orderto substantiate this identification. The continuous investigation of this material allowed us a limited look into the ritual and spiritual lives of the ancient inhabitants. These cult sites can be divided into three main categories:standing stone shrines, open sanctuaries, and crenelations. Evidence found outside the Uvda Valleywill help illuminate these phenomena. Standingstones (masseboth). These stones, erected in a vertical position, had an averageheight of from 1 to 1.5 meters, although some were as short as 10 centimeters, and others were severalmeters high. With very few exceptions these stones were natural-shaped.They were probably chosen with great attention to shape, recalling the biblical term "complete stones"(Joshua8:31;Deuteronomy 26:6, 27:6; 1 Kings 6:6). They stood in small shrines, alone or in groups; most groupswere in sets of 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, or 16 stones. In almost every instance, the stones stood facing east, usually toward the winter sunrise. Various types of altars, stone basins, and offering benches were located nearby, with a low semicircular cell built in front of them. A century ago it was popular to identify standing stones as representing gods and therefore containing divine spirits and powers. Since the

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Massebothwere most commonly found in pairs or triads. This is a pair found southwest of the Uvda Valley.

Right: This triad of magsebothwas found in WadiWatirin the eastern Sinai. The two large stones may have representedadult deities, whereas the smaller one could have representeda young god who dies and is resurrectedeveryyear.Below: This groupof 56 standing stones with a basin in the center dates to the early fourth millennium and was found near Macaleh Shaharut.Only eight of the stones were standing when the shrine was discovered. Unlike other sites, the number of stones found in this shrine has no significance; apparently,stones were added here occasionally.

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turn of the century, scholars have tended to reject this concept, believing instead that the stones served other functions such as memorials to individuals and events, grave markers,and the like. In light of renewedresearchbased on extensive archaeologicalevidence and written sources, it now seems that the stones did indeed representdeities (Avner 1984).The other suggested functions still apply but are derivedfrom the original cultic meaning. Forexample, Joshuaerected the "largestone"at the "Gatheringof the Nation at Shechem"to serve as witness to the covenant between the people and God. The stone "heardall the words of the Covenant"and was to supervise its implementation (Joshua 24:26-27). In light of parallels from the ancient Near East, we may assume that the stone served this function by virtue of the divine spirit residing in it. As stated previously,standing stones appearedin constant groupings and numbers. Groups of deities with the same numbers and consistency are found in the mythology and art of other ancient Near Easterncultures. Pairsand triads are the most common, both among the standing stones and in the deity groupings; groups of five, seven, and nine deities also are extant. However,sets of four or six, whether stones or deities, are extremely rare.Those that do exist

Massebothstones were usually selected because of their shape, which may have associated one with a specific deity. Forinstance, this groupof seven stones found at the top of Macaleh Yitrohas a clearly identifiable pattern, with everyother stone being broad or narrow.It has been suggested that the broadstones representedfemale deities and that the narrow stones depicted male deities.

are composite groups of the standard pairs or triads. Sets of eight are not known in either type. Thus, we may suggest that groups of masseboth represent groups of deities and that these groupsreflect mythological conceptions that go beyond the limits of time and geography. In addition to the groupings of standardnumbers, there are also sites at which stones were added from time to time. In these cases, therefore,the number of stones had no special significance. The stones were arrangedin a straight row at some sites and in a circle at others. It is significant that the stones were selected accordingto shape. Apparentlythe shape of the stone associated it with a specific deity. Forexample, a clearly identifiable pattern, with every other stone being broador narrow,can be seen in a group of seven stones located at the top of Macaleh Yitro. It has been suggested that broadstones represent feminine deities, similar to the ample shapes of many well-known figurines of fertility goddesses, and that narrowstones represent masculine deities. There is additional evidence to indicate that the broad stones are to be identified as fertility goddesses. Triadsof grinding stones were found adjacentto two independent broad stones excavatedin the Uvda Valley. These grinding stones may have

been placed there as an offering, symbolizing the fertility of the land, or were used to grind flour as part of a religious ceremony conducted at the site (compareJeremiah7:18: ". .. the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven"). In any case, they are symbolically connected with the fertility of the earth. The fertility goddess was also perceivedas Mother Earth,on whom, among other things, the fertility of the fields depended.Moreover,several broadstones found in Uvda and other areas face west ratherthan east. West is the direction of the setting sun, identified in the ancient world with death, and these are the only stones that face this direction. Fertility goddesses also were associated with the world of the dead. An expression of this association can be found in Genesis 3:19:". .. for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return."In addition, an engraving in the form of a circle halved by a vertical line appearson a broad stone discoveredin a tomb in Nahal Shaharut.This form, well known from stone engravingsand other ancient art forms, signifies female fertility, so it is not by accident that this symbol appearson a broadstone in a tomb. If we accept the idea of the broad stone as a female fertility goddess, some additional examples can be given, including a pair of masseboth

found south of the Uvda Valley consisting of a broad,rounded stone to the left and a much smaller one to the right. This is but one of several types of pairs of stones that represent a pair of deities, well known throughout the ancient Near East and elsewhere. In this case, the pair included a fertility goddess and a young god, similar to Inannaand Dumuzi, Asherah and Bacal,Isis and Osiris, Demeter and Adonis, and so on. The young god usually represents a deity that dies and is resurrectedeach year. A trio of masseboth was found attached to a tumulus burial dating from the fourth millennium B.C.E.in

WadiZalaqain eastern Sinai. This type of trio is quite common and may represent a group of a mother and two boys, as depicted, for example, on an ivory plaque from Ugarit and in many pottery decorations, mainly from the second millennium. The occurrenceof masseboth directly adjacent to tombs is very common in the Negev and Sinai deserts. This indicates that standing stones in tombs were not erected merely as markersbut actually established the presence of the gods in orderto protect the spirits of the dead. A different type of trio of masseboth was found in WadiWatirin eastern Sinai. In this shrine there are two large stones with a smaller one between them. This type of trio can be comparedto another well-known

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wereactually Wesuggestthatthemasseboth of thedeities. an abstract representation

Above: Open sanctuaries were often found in pairs, as shown here, and were usually rectangular.This pair was found at the foot of in Sinai, approximately JebelKhashem-et-Taref 40 kilometers west of Eilat. Right:An unusual discovery was made near an open sanctuary in the eastern part of the Uvda Valley.Overa small area east of the courtyard,small stone slabs were found stuck vertically into the ground,apparentlyin the form of leopards. Therewere 16 differentexamples, each measuring about 1.5 meters and facing east. Therewas one depiction of a horned animal, apparentlyan oryx, and it faced west. It is assumed that the animals representeddeities. These stone drawings have been found at just one other site, in Sinai.

triad of deities: a veneratedgod and goddess and the young god, mentioned before,who dies and is resurrected every year. Based on these few examples, we suggest that the masseboth were actually an abstractrepresentation of the deities, as opposed to the tradition of iconographicrepresentation that was common in the ancient Near East. Morethan 40 standingstone sites have been discoveredin the Uvda Valleyand its immediate vicinity. More sites of this type were found in Sinai, and others are still being discoveredin the Negev and the Judean Desert. In fact, as soon as the eye becomes accustomed to identifying standing stones in the field, others are more easily identified. Standingstones began to occur as early as the eleventh millennium B.C.E. However,their distribution rapidlyincreased during the fourth and third millennia B.C.E.,parallel to an increase in the desert population. In later periods standing stones continued to play a crucial role in the

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spiritual culture of the Near East in general and of desert inhabitants specifically. In the Uvda Valleyalone some 2,000 small masseboth have been found, dating exclusively from the period of the Nabateans, which lasted from the second century B.C.E. to the fourth century C.E.at least.

Open sanctuaries. Open sanctuaries were first identified a decade ago (Avner1984);since then it has become apparentthat they, too, had a wide distribution. More than 100 structures of this type have been surveyed and documented in the Negev and eastern Sinai, but the actual number must be considerablyhigher. The most characteristicfeature of these sites is the symbolic marking of a courtyardor a sanctified area by a single course of stones. Usually the stones were laid in a double row but occasionally in a triple row. There are also instances of the courtyardbeing markedby a row of small flagstones fixed vertically in the ground. Severaltypes of ritual installations have been found at these sites, such as an elongated cell that served

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as the holy of holies, a circular stone installation, or standing stones. Altars sunk into the ground and stone basins have been found in some courtyards.The majority of open sanctuaries are rectangularin shape, occurring in two distinctive dominant types and measuring up to 15 by 28 meters; many occur in pairs in a fixed pattern. In the Uvda Valley,severalopen sanctuaries of different types were found during the survey.A small rectangularone, measuring 5 by 8 meters, is located on the western side of the valley at the foot of Macaleh cAqof;a large circular one, with a diameter of 36 meters, was found at the summit of Macaleh Shaharut; and another, although very small, with a diameter of only 2.5 meters, was located not far away,within Nahal Shaharut.The circular bamah recently discoveredsouthwest of the Uvda Valley may possibly be associated with this group.It has a diameter of 6 meters and is constructed of light-colored limestone in an open plain pavedwith darkflint pebbles.

Rows of cairns, or crenelations, were found adjacent to ancient roadways, mainly on hills or cliff tops, throughoutthe Negev and Sinai. The number of cairns found at each site rangedanywhere from 3 to 80. The faces of the inner stones were usually blackened, but no remains of burnt charcoal were found nearby.The stains may have come from libations of oil or blood on the piles, such as those performedby Moses at the foot of Mount Sinai (Exodus24:6).It is believed that these crenelations commemoratedacts of pilgrimageand were sanctified by libation. This example is located in Nahal Shaharut.

Two similar bamoth were found in the vicinity of Mount Karkoum,and many similar, but largerones, were found in the SaharaDesert. An unusual open sanctuary was excavatedin the eastern part of the valley, south of the mouth of Nahal Yitro. This site, measuring 12 by 12 meters, has its corners positioned in the approximatedirections of the compass. A single course of stones, in a double row,demarcatesthe courtyardin which there were four sacrificial pits, used as a type of altar,lined with stone slabs. Three radiocarbon datings conducted on charcoal unearthed from one of the altars provided a date of around4500 B.C.E. The western corner of the courtyard is sectioned off as a rectangularcell, measuring about 4 by 1.5 meters and made of vertical stone slabs. The cell served as the holy of holies, and in its center was a group of 16 small standing stones. Their heights range from 7 to 25 centimeters, and they are protected by four largerstones. The stones face east to the courtyard (Yogev1983).

A fascinating discovery was made to the east of the courtyard. Over an area of some 3 by 15 meters, small stone slabs were found stuck vertically into the ground in such a manner as to depict the forms of animals. The length of each animal, not fully preserved,is about 1.5 meters. Most of the animals, 16 in number, are of the same species and face east. They may be identified as leopards by their shape-the raised tail and inlaid darkbits of flint. The sole horned animal, apparentlyan oryx, faces west. Based on various observations and comparisons with art of the ancient Near East, it may be assumed that the animals depicted here symbolize deities. Only two sites have been discoveredso far in the Near East with this type of stone drawing:one in Sinai, at the foot of JebelKhashemet-Taref,some 40 kilometers west of Eilat; the other in the Uvda Valley (Avner1984;Yogev 1983).This represents a new art form only recently brought to light. There is a singular charm in the simplistic form of the

open sanctuaries, the small standing stones, and the stone animals. Crenelations. This term applies to rows of cairns that have been found to date at more than 100 sites in the Negev and Sinai. Similar installations have been found in the Sahara, the Transjordan,and on the Arabian Peninsula (Zarins 1981:31, plates 37, 89, and 90), some of which had been described by the end of the nineteenth century. The cairns have a diameter and height of up to 1 meter with about 2 meters between them; their number varies from 3 to 80 at each site. When viewed from a distance, the rows are reminiscent of an ancient city wall. It is difficult to determine the exact function of the cairns.However, the accumulated data from many sites indicate a certain direction of inquiry.Throughoutthe Negev, Sinai, and the desert regions of neighboring countries, crenelations were situated in relation to ancient roadways, mainly on hills or cliff tops but occasionally directly adjacentto the roads.They were also found on

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This photographshows the Dharb-Ghaza highway in Sinai, 20 kilometers southwest of the Uvda Valley,that connects the Red Sea with the Mediterranean.Main roads such as this can be as wide as 200 meters at some points. The entire system of ancient roads was in place by the fourth millennium, and almost everypath used in the desert today was created thousands of years ago.

This winding path is known as Macaleh Shaharut and comes up from the Yotvata oasis to the Uvda Valley It is one of six main roads in the valley

similarly elevated locations above water sources or alongside the paths leading to them. In most instances, various types of burials or cult sites, such as open sanctuaries or standing stones, were situated near the crenelations. Well-worn, ancient paths led to these crenalations, situated on hilltops, indicating their prolonged use as sites of veneration, perhaps of a nature similar to the tombs of the sheikhs to which the bedouins make pilgrimages. Based on the evidence of several well-preserved cairns, it can be determined that cairns were not merely heaps of randomly accumulated stones but, rather, wellconstructed piles built in orderly courses with carefully chosen stones. Usually the face of the inner stones has been blackened, probably resulting from the presence of some organic material, but no remains or burning charcoal have been found. On the basis of well-known traditions in the ancient Near East, we may be able to infer libations of oil or blood on the piles, such as those performed by Jacob at Bethel (Genesis 35:14) or

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Ancient

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n the desert,ancientroadsnormally rocks, building retaining walls, and

marking the roadswere necessary. We now know that almost every desert path in use today was created thousands of years ago and that many modern roads in the Negev were paved over ancient ones. There are six main roads in the Uvda Valley,climbing up from the AravaValleyand Yotvataoasis and continuing westward toward the water well of Kuntila. Here they join the international trade highway of Dharb-Ghaza,which connects the Red Sea with the Mediterranean. An extraordinarily large number of cult sites of all types have been located along these roads. Obviously travelersin all periods were exposed to many dangersand invoked the protecthe fourth millennium B.C.E.have been tion of the gods by means of various found built into the roads. In our sur- religious acts, as, for instance, Jacob vey it became apparentthat the entire did at Bethel when he vowed, "IfGod system of ancient roads was already will be with me, and will keep me on established by this period. No addi- this way which I am going .. ."(Genetions had to be made to the original sis 28:20). Even today many recite the road system in later periods; only Prayerfor Travelersbefore embarking minor improvements such as clearing on a trip. resemble simple paths. They are usually situated on routes of easy access, requiringno preparation.A road passing through a flat areaappearsas a groupof parallelpaths. Localroadsare tens of meters wide, whereas main roads can reach a width of up to 200 meters. When the road approaches a natural obstacle, such as an escarpment, the paths join together and continue to ascend as a narrow,winding path, known in Arabic as naqb and in Hebrew as macaleh. We have made severalattempts to date these roads, by means of flint implements and sherds collected on paths as well as material from roadside sites. Even sites dating as far back as

Biblical Archaeologist, September 1990

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139

Thetombsof certainvenerated individuals, or othersanctified sites,wereestablished to theancientroadsso thatas many adjacent pilgrimsas possiblecouldviewandvisitthem. Moses at the foot of Mount Sinai (Exodus24:6; see Robertson-Smith 1889:229-35). If we combine the various data describedhere, we may better understand the purpose of the crenelations as a form of commemoration. Apparently the tombs of certain venerated individuals, or other sanctified sites, were established adjacentto the ancient roads so that as many pilgrims and travelersas possible could view and visit them. At certain times of pilgrimage,new cairns were constructed, thereby continually extending the row of cairns. Ritual ceremonies conducted at these sites included libations of oil or blood. We believe, therefore,that the crenelations commemorated acts of pilgrimage and were sanctified by libation. The Culture of the Desert Population and the Sown Until recently, the common view regardingthe history of the desert was that it was generally an uninhabited region. Only occasionally did people from the sown, at the initiative of some influential ruler,penetrate the desert. Accordingly,it was believed that very little could be established in the desert and that it could make no contribution to ancient Near Easterncultures. This view is changing, however, due to intensive archaeological studies conducted in the Negev in the past decade (Cohen 1983, 1985; Dever 1980;Haiman 1986;Rosen 1984, 1988),in Sinai in the 1970s (Beit-Arieh1986;BarYosef 1981; Rothenberg1979),and continuing research projects in the deserts of neighboring countries (Betts 1983, 1984; Richard 1986, 1987; Zarins 1979, 1980, 1981). The large gaps between periods of activity have been

140

Importantelements in open sanctuaries also made a delayedappearancein the temperate populated areas.These include the so-called broadhouse plan, the proportions and orientations of the sanctuaries, and their arrangementin pairs. Judgreduced or eliminated, and it has ing from the artifacts and radiobecome clear that the desert was carbon dating, all of these elements never completely abandoned.Instead, first occurredin the desert. we find more and more evidence of indigenous cultural characteristics Conclusion and more continuity from one period The Uvda Valleyproject,together to another.We even find continuity with other research in the desert, in physical aspects of the populahas greatly enriched our knowledge tion, based on skeletal remains. of the periods of settlement and the This, in fact, should not be difficult local desert cultures, but the extent to explain, as the desert was much of this influence and its ultimate efless disturbedby political and milifect have yet to be fully appreciated. tary events than were other areas, One topic that deserves further study and its culture, therefore,was more will be mentioned here. The coneasily preserved. tinuity of material culture and the In addition,despitethe inferiority religious tradition of the desert of desert material culture, the popula- population could have played an tion nonetheless retainedthe power important role in the formation of to influence the sown in at least one the people and the ancient religion aspect - religion. As previously of Israelin the early Iron Age. stated, the desert is very rich in cult sites, only a very small number of Notes which have been investigatedto This is a revisedversionof an articlethat date. It is reasonableto say that the wasfirstpublishedin Hebreweditedby desert population was more depenLt. Col. Irit Zaharoniin the June 1988 dent than others on the forces of na- issue of Bamahaneh, the IsraelDefense ture;therefore,their religious activity Forcesmagazine. The English translation is byMarthaPulverRettig;photowas more intensive and creative. graphsare by Uzi Avner,Ze'evRadovan, The masseboth first appeared and MordechaiHaiman. I wish to exin the eleventh and tenth millennia B.C.E.Only two examples are known

from this period,located in the Negev Highlands (Marks1976:318-20) and in the mountainous region of Edom (Kirkbride1968:92). Fromthe fifth to the third millennium B.C.E., the number of masseboth in the desert drastically increased, whereas in the temperate areasthey remained rare.In these areas,masseboth were generally adoptedfor ritual purposes only from the second millennium B.C.E.Evidence of the intensive continuity of the standing stone tradition in the desert in later periods serves to confirm the assertion that it was essentially a cultural institution of the desert.

Biblical Archaeologist, September 1990

press my appreciationto the Israel Antiquities Authority (formerlythe Department of Antiquities and Museums) and the W F.Albright Institute of ArchaeologicalResearchfor their help in preparingthis article for publication. All dates cited in this article are based on a series of uncalibratedradiocarbondates. 'Forexample, IsraelDefense Forces began planning a new Air Forcebase in the UvdaValley.Accordingto initial plans for the base, about 100 ancient sites would have been destroyed.Air Force personnel in chargeof planning the new airfield were awareof the importance of the ancient valley sites and arrangedto have all sites, except one, remain beyond the perimeter of the base. Similar goodwill was shown by the generals and

engineers of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who were in charge of building the airfield; they prevented large construction vehicles from damaging the sites and provided a great deal of assistance to the archaeologists. Today, officers and soldiers at the Uvda Valley base share in the preservation and maintenance of these sites. 2The term pastoral here refers to seminomadic society and not full nomads, who appeared in the ancient Near East at a much later date (see Khazanov 1984). -3Floralremains were analyzed by Ella Verker of Hebrew University, Nili Lifshitz of Tel Aviv University, and Mordechei Kisler of Bar Ilan University.

Bibliography Adams,R. An Ancient Uruk Threshing Sledge or Harrow. Sumer 31: 17-20. Avner, U. 1984 Ancient Cult Sites in the Negev and Sinai Deserts. Tel Aviv 11: 115-31. 1987 Desert Kites. Pp. 20-27 in The Gazelles in Israel, edited by B. Shalmon. Tel Aviv: The Society for Protection of Nature in Israel (Hebrew). Bar Yosef, O. 1981 Pre-Pottery Neolithic Sites in Southern Sinai. Biblical Archeologist 45: 9-12. Beit-Arieh, I. 1986 Two Cultures in Southern Sinai in the 3rd Millennium B.C. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 263: 27-54. Betts, A. 1983 Black Desert Survey, Jordan: First Preliminary Report. Levant 15: 1-11. 1984 Black Desert Survey, Jordan: Second Preliminary Report. Levant 16: 25-34. Bordaz, J. 1969 Flint Flaking in Turkey. Natural History 78(2): 73-79. Cohen, R. 1983 The Mysterious MBI People. Biblical Archaeology Review 9: 16-29. 1985 Archaeological Survey of IsraelMap of Sdeh Boger West. Jerusalem: Department of Antiquities and Museums -The Archaeological Survey of Israel. Conder, C. R. 1885 Heth and Moab. London: R. Bentley & Son. 1889 The Survey of Eastern Palestine. London: R. Bentley & Son. Crawford, O. G. S. 1935 A Primitive Threshing Machine. Antiquity 9: 335-39. 1975

Dalmon, G. 1933 Arbeit und Sitte in Palastina. Band

III:Geuthensloh. Dever, W. G. 1980 New Vistas on the EB IV ("MBI") Horizon in Syria-Palestine. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 237: 35-64. Frank, F des 1934 Aus der cAraba. Zeitschrift Deutschen Palastina-Vereins 57: 191-280. Frankfort, H. 1943 More Sculpture from the Diala Region. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Goring-Morris, A. N., and Gopher, A. 1983 Nahal clssaron, A Neolithic Settlement in the Southern Negev. Israel Exploration Journal 33: 149-62.

Grabar,A. Byzantium. Series: The Art of Mankind, edited by A. Parrot, A. Mabrauk, and G. Selles. London: Thames and Hudson. Graesser, C. F 1972 Standing Stones in Ancient Palestine. Biblical Archaeologist 35: 34-63. 1966

Haiman, M. 1986 Archaeological Survey of IsraelMap of Har Hamran. Jerusalem: Department of Antiquities and Museums -The Archaeological Survey of Israel. Khazanov, A. M. 1968 Beidah 1967, an Interim Report. Palestine Exploration Quarterly 100: 90-96. 1984 Nomads and the Outer World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kirkbride,D. Ancient Arabian Ancestors Idols. Archaeology 22: 161-71, 188-95. Levy, T. E. 1987 Shiqmim I. Series: BAR International Series 356. Oxford: BAR. Marks, A. 1976 Prehistory and Paleoenvironment in the Central Negev, Israel, volume I. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press. Mazar, A. 1985 Pottery Plaques Depicting Goddesses Standing in Temple Facades. Michmanim 2: 5-18. Meshel, Z. 1979 New Data About "Desert-Kites." Tel Aviv 4: 129-43. Musil, A. 1908 Arabia Petraea, volume 2. Vienna: Keiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften. Richard, S. 1986 Excavation at Kh. Iskandar, Jordan. A Glimpse at Settled Life During the Dark Age in Palestine. Expedition 28: 3-12. 1968

The Early Bronze Age in Palestine: The Rise and Collapse of Urbanism. Biblical Archaeologist 50: 22-43. Robertson-Smith, W. 1889 The Religion of the Semites. London: A & C Black Ltd. Rosen, S. 1984 Kvish Harif: Preliminary Investigation at a Late Neolithic Site in the Central Negev. Paleorient 10: 111-21. 1988 Finding Evidence of Ancient Nomads. Biblical Archaeology Review 14(5): 46-59. Rothenberg, B. 1967 Negev: Archaeology in the Negev 1987

and Araba. Ramat-Gan:Massada Press (Hebrew). 1979 Sinai. Bern: Kummerly und Frey. Sherratt, A. 1981 Plough and Pastoralism: Aspects of the Secondary Products Revolution. Pp. 261-305 in Pattern of the Past: Studies in Honor of D. Clarck, edited by Hodder, Issack, and Hammond. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Winter, U. 1983 Frau und Gottin. Guittingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Yogev, O. 1983 A 5th Millennium B.C.Sanctuary in the Uvda Valley. Qadmoniot 16: 118-22 (Hebrew). Zarins, J. 1979 Rejejel, A Unique Arabian Site from the 4th Millennium B.C.Atlal 3: 73-77. 1980 Preliminary Report on the Central and Southern Provinces Survey. Atlal 4: 3-36. 1981 Preliminary Report on the Central and Southern Provinces Survey. Atlal 5: 9-42.

- Do you have a question about your subscription? - Do you need to changeyour address? Call JohnsHopkins UniversityPressat 1-301-338-6964 or write JohnsHopkinsUniversityPress 701 W 40th St., Suite275 Baltimore,MD 21211. When callingor writing pleasegive your name, address and zip code as it appearson your mailinglabel.

Biblical Archaeologist, September 1990

141

Sumerian Bats,

Lion-headed Eagles, and Evidence Iconographic for the Overthrow of a Female-priest Hegemon byNaomiEGoldsmith andEd1inGould

At the age of twenty ... [I thought] that we should do without myths and confine ourselves to science... but it really won'tdo.... Scientific theories say nothing about what is right but only about what is possible. .... Weneed some other source of values, and that source has to be myth.

- JohnMaynardSmith(1984) mongthe treasuresof

inancient Mari Mesopo-

tamiais a small lapis lazuli figurinecalleda lion-headedeagleby its finder, AndreParrot(1968).Curatorswho exhibitthis superbcarving,which datesfromthe mid-thirdmillen-

nium B.C.E.(see sidebar),agree that it

replicatesthe originallion-headed eaglefoundat the ancientsite of Lagash(Kohlmeyer1985).The art

142

The Mari lapis figurine, called a lion-headed eagle by its finder AndrdParrot,actually bears a greatersimilarity to a bat. Measuring 12 by 13 centimeters, the figurine, which dates to the mid-third millennium B.C.E., has a pale blue lapis lazuli body and wings, and its head and tail are of gold leaf It is housed in the Damascus Museum. Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution RTaveling Exhibition Service (SITES).

Biblical Archaeologist, September 1990

expert,donningwhite cottongloves to protectthe figurineagainstskin acids,pronouncesit a lion-headed chimaera.Mostbiologists-certainly most chiropteraexperts-take one look andsaybat. Whythe virtuallyunanimous betweenthe disciplines? disagreement How couldarchaeologists,the industriousParrotespecially,misjudgethe icon?Whatis it in Westernthought that rejectsthe chiropteranimage? Is it unfamiliarity?Anothercase of CharlesPercySnow's(1969)divergence of culture?The isolationsof humanismandscience that John MaynardSmithspeaksof?Ora folkloristic fearof bats?Contactsbetweenurbanresidentsandbats are rare;possiblyas few as 1 personin 100,000knowsthis small mammal, has handledandcan identifyit. On

the other hand, the curators, accepting inherited wisdom and defending their turf, argue "Lion-eagle! You don't know the iconography." What, then, are the unique chiropteran versus leonine or aquiline characters in the lapis figurine? Thus challenged, and with salutations to Sumerian scholars and apologies for errors, we dissected the Mari figurine from two sides.' On the side of science, we compared present-day animal species to the Mari figurine. With the exception of the nose, for which a human model is likely, there are chiropteran analogs for every aspect of the figurine. This scrutiny supports our position that the figurine is chiropteran. On the side of culture, we reviewed eagle and lion-eagle icons from Lagash, Khafaje, and Mari and, noting especially the omphalic and gender markings on the icons, concluded that the Mari figurine is not like the antecedent and contemporary lioneagle chimaeras engraved on votive plaques, maces, monuments, and cylinder seal impressions. Unexpectedly, this study indicates that in Sumerian iconography the navel, on an animal or bird, symbolized a human vicariate; correspondingly, some lion-eagles were females, not males. Moreover, the lion-eagles provide iconographic evidence of a Sumerian female-priest hegemony overthrown, an hypothesis already established by the myths - Lilith, Eve and the Fall, for examples - and the Sumerian documents (Graves and Patai 1964; Jacobsen 1957; Stech and Pigott 1986). The Mari Figurine Andr6 Parrot, who began his excavations at Mari (Tell Hariri) in the 1930s, discovered the lapis figurine in 1965 in an ordinary household pottery jar. The pot, covered with two lids, had been buried in the preSargonic palace courtyard. Luck or good planning had preserved it from grave robbers. Along with the figurine, the pot contained copper brace-

lets, lapis and carnelian necklaces, stick pins, an engraved lapis bead, cylinder seals, and a small, naked bronze goddess (Parrot 1968). The wings and body of the figurine are pale blue lapis lazuli, made from a thin block of lapis stone flecked with pyrite, imported in all likelihood from mines in Badakshan Province, Afghanistan, that may still be working. The head and tail are of brilliant gold leaf applied to a bitumen base; narrow copper filaments bind the neck and tail portions to the body. Two holes perforate the wings; a third perforation in the lower abdomen is filled with a black bead. The wings are scribed at the top with four horizontal rows of somewhat straggled chevrons, an artistic convention of Mesopotamia. Chevrons appear as eyebrows on Lagash portrait busts (AO 4350, the Louvre)

and as banding on the silver cult vessel of Enmetena. Nevertheless, chevroning equally describes the elastic fiber pattern of the bat patagium or "wing."The lower portion of the figurine wing is blank except for fine parallel lines on the right. Faintly traced, adjacent to the lower abdomen, are the femora extending to the lower edge of the wing, the knees, knee ligaments at an acute angle in the genual space, tibiae, and three or four toes. The belly is covered in a lozenge (diamond) pattern, a puzzling insignia that can be traced to feeding vultures, to a spreadwinged raptor on the Khafaje vase, the divine Anzu (Frankfort 1935; zu Elze 1937), and to earlier raptors from Susa (Amiet 1966). No navel is shown on the figurine, although Parrot (1968) described two rosettes in the fourth and tenth midline lozenges - in our opinion an

Period(2700to 2334B.C.E.) Iconsof theEarlyDynastic ApproximateDate 2600 B.C.E. 2500 to 2400 B.C.E.

Provenance Susa (Elam) Mari

2500 to 2400 B.C.E. 2400 to 2300 B.C.E.

? Lagash

2325 to 2275 B.C.E. 2300 B.C.E.

Lagash Khafaje

Typeof Icon bird figures lapis figurine, votive plaque, vase fragmentfrom Temple of Istar Copenhagenmace Stele of Vultures, silver vase of Enmetena, Dudu plaque seals of Lugalanda vase fragment

Mesopotamian eclipse records and the Sumerian King List are refining the estimates, but absolute dating, such as the carbon-14 technique, cannot be used to rank chronologically the Sumerian artifacts discussed here-the bats, eagles, and lion-eagles of Susa, Mari, Lagash,and Khafaje.In rough fashion we do know the orderof the rulers of Lagashin the twenty-fourthcentury B.C.E.: Enmetena, EnannatumII, and Lugalanda.Thus, the rank orderof the artifacts,preparedin consultation with Marie-HenrietteGates (following Roux 1980), is tentative. If the order is absolute, it implies that city-state governanceby a warriorclass, attested to by lion-eagle icons, existed in Mari, whereas 100+ years later in Lagash lioness-eagle icons and queen-priest rule were still the norm, or reimposed. Note that the Stele of Vultures, a war monument of Lagash,preceded the silver cult vase of Enmetena glorifying the lioness-eagle, symbol as we suppose of a queen-priest faction. Androgyne-warriordominion, possibly importedfrom Marito Lagashwhen King EnannatumIIconqueredMari around 2370 B.C.E.,appearedcryptically on the Dudu plaque and overtlyduringthe reign of Lugalanda.

In thecontextof a smallmammal,theMari face figurinehasvariousbatidentifiers: andhead,ears,vibrissae,forward gaze,and of thepatagium. Indisputable, chevroning however,aretheligamentandslenderlimb bonescarvedon thelowerlapiswing.They suggesta batandno othercreature. Motherand pup pteropids(Epomorphorus gambianus)shown upside down for better comparison with the Marifigurine.Note their large,forwarddirected eyes, ear striae, and muzzle vibrissae. In particular,compare the thumb membrane of the mother with what appearto be the leg bones and knee tendon in the lowermost wing of the lapis figurine.Photo courtesy of Merlin B. Tuttle, Bat ConservationInternational.

overreading.Possibly he recalled, on a vase fragment from the Temple of I'tar at Mari, the rosette surrounding the tongue or, on the Copenhagen mace, the lower belly rosette surroundingthe vent, or vent and navel on the lozenged belly of a Jemdet Nasr eagle (Amiet 1980:seal 752), but these configurations are unmistakable. As will be discussed, the veritable lion-eagles of Lagashare females, with incised circles on the belly that are generally accepted as navels. At Mari, however,the veritable lion-eagle is male; the midbelly emblem is a feather;and its resemblance to the Mari lapis figurine is minimal. The back of the Mari figurine is smooth; two nonperforatingmidline holes at the neck and center of the tail fasten the gold foil. The piece was probablya pectoral, but whether a personal ornament or a ritual object is not certain. Jewelsthat filled the eye sockets and the head tilted forwardmust have exerted a compelling aura. A Comparison with extant species. The Mari figurine measures 12 by 13 centimeters,the size of a small rousettine bat at the winter limits of its range.Its tongue protrudesslightly,

as does that of the pteropidfemale. The wedgetail is decoratedwith three vaned tail feathers, the middle one piercedby an upwardpointing, slightly rusted rivet that anchors the foil to the bitumen and probablywas intended (bythe restorer?)for the genital papilla of an avian male. Except for vaned tail feathers,wedge tail, and the homology of wings, there is little in the lapis figure to suggest an eagle. As to the lion identity, the muzzle seems leonine enough, but Hypsignathus, a pteropidbat genus from equatorialAfrica, also has an inflated muzzle (Kingdon1974; Walker1975).Large,forward-directed eyes, brow ridges, and vibrissae on the muzzle are generalized mammalian structures found not only on lions but variously on other mammals, including dogs, bears, seals, rodents, tarsiers - and bats. The

Asiatic lion, for example, has four rows of vibrissae; pteropidbats, two rows;the Mari figurine, three. The ears, elevated from the skull, are obovate, slightly lopped, and not roundedenough for a lion but resemble those of the dissected rousettine bat. Earsof living rousettines, other Pteropidae,and some taphozo-

an Emballonuridaehave latitudinal striae on the pinna and a narrow shape, whereas other pteropidspecies and other taphozoans have roundedor lopped ears. With regardto the wedge tail and rivet, emballonurid bats have tails of this shape, the distal tail vertebraeextruding through the mid-dorsumof the tail membrane and pointing down (DeBlase 1980: figure 41). Alternatively, except for size, the ventral position and direction of the rivet approximatethe penis of a precopulatorypteropidbat (compareSchober 1984:figure 92). This analogy is also partially defective since reproductiveorgansof most vertebratesoriginate in the body cavity, while the tail is reserved for locomotion, balancing, or grasping. Birdsare a special case. The cloaca is suspended from the ventral portion of the last section of vertebrae, the pygostyle, and tail feathers grow out of the pygostyle dorsum (Wake1979;Young 1950).Various bird orders,such as the ostriches, geese, and swans, have a funnelshaped penis; the rest, including the raptors,have genital papillae that are evertedduring cloacal copulation. Accordingly,the tail of the Mari figurine could be that of a male avian raptor.Given sufficient artistic license and the imagination of the viewer, the tail of the Mari figurine approximatesthe ventral dissection of a pigeon cock (Young1950:421). At the other extreme, the depiction of a male eagle in prenuptialdisplay on the Khafajevase is highly stylized. Mesopotamian artists, unlike the Egyptians,rearrangedand not just

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Severalchiropteranfeatures resemble markings on the Marilapis figurine.Left:The surface anatomy of the Rousettus aegyptiacusshows the chevroneffect of the elastic fibers of the wing membrane. Photo,magnified 10 times, courtesy of Daniel Bar-Shahal.Center left: Dissection of the femoral muscles and genual space of the Rousettus aegyptiacus(female TAU1-88-4, courtesy of David Makin).Note the surface anatomy:(1) the genual space; (2) the uropatagialis muscle within the uropatagium(tail membrane);and (3)calcar (bony strut). Toesare crowded togetheron the feet. Also note vulva (6) and anus (7) above the tail. The dissection shows the gracilis muscle (4) overlayingthe femur. Fascia of the gracilis and of (5) the semitendinosus muscle inserts on the inner portion of the uppertibia. Dissection by N. F Goldsmith. Bottom left: Only the four-sidednose of the Marifigurine is without chiropterananalog. A human source is likely, since the nose is comparable to that of humans with flat, broadly based nasal bones. Photo courtesy of David Darom.

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replicated the real world. The abdominal orifice with bead may be the restorer'sjoke. In most mammals the urogenital or urinary orifice is more (male)or less (female)distant from the anus and tail base. In unstressed males the glans penis in carnivores (dogs)can be around 70 percent of manubriumto-pubis (trunk)length, in artiodactyls 55 to 65 percent, in pteropidbats 75 percent. The orifice with bead of the Mari figurine is at 64 percent of body length, similar to placement of the vent in a pigeon (63 percent)or of the umbilicus in human males (67 percent). Photographsof the Mari figurine taken after cleaning and repairshow the abdominal hole empty. Now filled with a black glass bead, the orifice can be read:if mammalian female, pup crowning;if sexless, anus with fecal bolus; if bird, vent with excretion or genital papilla. We speculate that if the bead originated in Mari (apparentlythere is no evidence in the excavation log on the matter), and since, as we will show, gorget and penis on the figurine are male markers,the black bead may be counterequivalent to the alabaster adornment of the goddess Inanna (Kramer1975b: 196). The four-sidednose of the Mari figurine- another artistic convention of Mesopotamia-may be visual shorthand for human identity; for example. Parrotfound severalhuman portraitfigurines with such noses in the Mari palace (1959: 1560, figure 52). By comparison, the nostrils of a pteropidbat are strongly curved; those of a lion are flattened, and neither resembles the delicate nares

of the lapis figurine. The comparable four-sidednose is best seen in humans with broadlybased nasal bones, photographedfull face with light directed at the nasal ridge. Bat identifiers. In the context of a small mammal, perched upright, winged, the Mari sculpture has various bat identifiers: face and head, ears, vibrissae, forwardgaze, and chevroning of the patagium. What is indisputable, however,are the ligament and slender limb bones carved on the lower lapis wing that suggest bat and no other creature,not leonine and certainly not an avian raptor. Chiropteranarm and elbow are suggested for these skeletal elements, or, omitting digit and claw, the thumb membrane of the mother pteropid.It is equally possible that, although the Mari sculptor carved no foot bones, hind limbs were intended. Bat fingers in any case are distributed along the patagium, whereas the three or four toes of the figurine, indicated by slash marks on the distal tibia, are bunched together as they would be on a bat. Avian raptorshave four toes; bats have five. Other markersresemble Rousettus bats. The decorative gold collar on the Mari figurine may once have been an identifying band or royal collar; equally, males of two rousettine species have a gorget, a collar of light colored short hairs (Kingdon1974;Walker1975).As stated previously, the ear resembles Rousettus or the sheath-tailed emballonurid Taphozous.Both genera are widely distributed today,inhabiting Egypt, sub-SaharanAfrica, the

Glossary Addorsed.Back to back or rump to rump. Androgyne. Male prostitute; also a eunuch. Anus with fecal bolus. Anal sphincter dischargingan excretorymass. Artiodactyle. Even-toed mammal, such as a deer,goat, or cow. Avian. Referringto birds. Cere. Swollen areaat the base of the upperbill in avian raptors. Cloaca. Terminus of digestive and urogenital systems in birds. Cloacal copulation. Protrusion of the male genital papillae into the cloaca of the female during mating of most birds. (see genital papillae) Crowning. First appearanceof the body,usually the head, duringbirth. Decidua. Lining of the uterus expelled after giving birth. Distal. Body part away from the body center. (see proximal) Dorsal, dorsum. Back or upper portion of a body part. (see ventral) Emballonuridae. Family of bats, including the sheath tails or emballonurids. Evert.To turn inside out. Feathers.Primary- largefeathersat wing tip; secondary-large feathers at mid-wing;axillary- largefeathers between body and wing. Femur (plural, femora). Long bone of the upper leg. Genital papillae. Outpouchings of the reproductivetract in birds. Genual space. A hollow, between the femur and tibia, in the back of the knee.

eastern Mediterranean, and Iraq eastward to Australia and the Philippines (Walker 1975; Kingdon 1974). Both genera, or possibly only the taphozoans, are illustrated in the Beni Hasan tombs of Egypt (Flower and Lydekker 1891: 653; Schober 1984: 15). If the muzzle of Hypsignathus did indeed form part of the composite image, the Mari sculptor used elements of three megachiropteran

Pinna. Leaf-like outer ear in most mammals. Gorget.A coloredpatchof furalong Progenetrix.Femaleancestor. Proximal. Body part close to the the throatin mammals. center or axis. (see distal) Excessive body developGynecomastia. mentof the breastin males,byhor- Pteropid. Member of a family of monal imbalanceor as a result of bats, the Pteropidae. castration. Pygostyle. Fused portion of distal tail vertebraein birds. atoften Similarity Homology. Rousettine.Resemblingthe pteropid tributable to common origin; for bat of the species Rousettus aegyptiacus. flight apparatus example, Sexless. Iconographically, the birds and bats, apparentlyalike but developmentallyandanatomically absence of obvious signs of sexual identity such as the penis, breasts, unlike,exhibithomology. carboor lion mane. acid. Complex Hyaluronic cord. in the umbilical Striae. Parallel cartilage ribs in the hydrate outer ear. Iliac crest. Topof the hip bone. Imbricating. Overlapping, like Tailmembrane.Membranebetween inner portions of the leg that aids shingles on a roof. Mandible. Lowerjaw bone. flight control in most bat species. Manubrium-to-pubis(trunk). Easy- Taphozoan.Resembling the emballonurid bat Taphozous. to-determine bony landmarks in Manumammals. Tibia quadrupedal (plural tibiae). Long bone of the lower leg. brium-anterior portion of the Urechis. Urinary conduit during breast bone; pubis-prominent bone bounding the lower abdomen. embryonic and fetal life. Megachiropteran.Large,fruit-eating Vent. Externalopening of the cloaca in birds. bats. Ventral. Front or under surface of Muzzle. Projecting nose, mouth, the body; for example, the face and and jaws. Nares. Nostrils. belly are ventral structures. (see Obovateear. Elongatedoval, broad- dorsal) Vibrissae. Pressure-sensitive long er at the free edge than at the base. hairs on the face and muzzle of Patagium. Membrane extending mammals. from fingers to legs that enables bats to fly. Worrycleft. Verticalmark between the eyebrows (see, for example, on Pelleted. Style of clay figurine to the Dudu and Mari votive plaques). which clay pellets were added to indicate eyes, breasts, and naval. Glans penis. The tip of the penis in

mammals.

genera: preserved or living imports, indigenes, or captives in the royal zoo (Oppenheim 1975: 103). Although we maintain that the figurine is a bat, a less rigorous interpretation results in the following scorecard: aquiline -wings, wedge tail; leonine- muzzle; human- nostrils; chiropteran-eyes, ears, legs, knee ligaments, perhaps wing chevrons, and collar. Overall, a majority

of features are chiropteran, while gorget and penis signify male. Note that although bats are mentioned, not unfavorably, in the Adoration of Inanna - "fled before you like fluttering bats" (Kramer 1975a) - only one other bat portrait from Sumer has been tentatively identified (Amiet, unpublished). The cylinder seal of the scribe Eniggal from Lagash (de la Fuye 1907: plate

II)shows a mixed-element creature, spreadwinged,hoveringbetween "Gilgameshand his victim" (Amiet, unpublished). Contrariwise, some standardSumerian conventions for lions and eagles are not shown on the Mari figurine. The leonine arched foreheadand mane are missing. The aquiline markers-primary, secondary,and axillary feathers, powerful leg muscles and talons are absent, and no beast is subjugated under its claws. The clearest negative evidence is this: The inscribed navel or other belly signs, shown on uncontestable Lagashand Mari lioneagles, are not found on the Mari lapis figurine. The Navel: Human and Female Here an excursus is requiredto advance two propositions: one, that the omphalos, or navel, connotes human and, two, that in Mesopotamian iconographythe human is female, usually a temple prostitute, or an androgyne,almost never a male. Aside from rareanomalies4 other adult mammals have no sign of the umbilicus. Uniquely human, the navel is the scar of the umbilical cordthat exits throughthe abdominal

species has a true navel except us. One explanation is that after parturition wild as well as caged females eat the placenta and decidua (promoters of lactation) and sever the cord at the body wall (Petter-Rousseaux1964; Fossey 1983: 175).The abdominal wall heals, and the skin becomes smooth with no trace of the cord. After humans give birth, but before delivery of the placenta, the umbilical cord is tied and cut a few inches from the infant'sbody (in Westernmedical practice at any rate). Severalweeks later the cord stub drops off, the skin heals, and a per-

Twomodern reconstructionsof the mythic god Anzu as a lion-headed eagle. Above: This manent scar-the umbilicus - relapis and silver Anzu amulet was found at Eshnunna. Courtesyof The Oriental Institute mains. Except for the last stages of of The University of Chicago.Below: This copperlintel recoveredat c Ubaid shows Anzu pregnancywhen the mother's navel graspingtwo stags. Courtesyof The British may evert, the navel is sufficiently Museum. Although informative, these images invariant through life to be used in have been too heavily restoredto be considered forensic identification. accurateportrayals.

wall, approximatelyat the level of the iliac crest. Made up of arteries, vein, and urechis sheathed in hyaluronic acid, the cord connects the embryo to the maternal circulation; it is found in placental mammals, yet no placental and no primate

Symbology of the navel. The symbolism of navel and umbilical cord is powerful and worldwide. The Sumerians wrote of the house of Enlil, the supreme deity, as "thenavel of heaven"(Kramer1975b: 196).The earliest iconographyof the herniated or everted navel of pregnancymay be the footstool-like Omphalos of ancient Greece (Harrison1955:319-

Thenavelconnoteshuman,andin Mesopotamian thehumanis female,usuallya temple iconography or an androgyne, almostnevera male. prostitute, 20). Easternmystics considered a holy place, such as Jerusalemor Delphi, to be the navel or center of the universe connected to the pole star. Fragmentsof this notion appear in the myths of the Chinese, the Turks,the Lapps,and the inhabitants of Ugarit (Gaster 1966: 182-83). In kabbalistic mythology, the connecting mass between earth navel and

heaven is the formless golem, which, endowedwith a soul, becomes Adam (Scholem 1969: 160). Earthmother figures and frontal engravingsof prehistoric women in Europeancaves and rock shelters almost invariablyhave a navel, for example, Willendorf and Laussel carvings, and the frieze of women and bison at Angles sur l'Anglin. No navel appearson cave paintings of male figures, most of them shown in profile, namely the deer sorcererand bull man of Trois Freresand the sorcerer of Espelugues (Maringerand Bandi 1953:figure 31; Ucko and Rosenfeld 1967:figure 65). In contrast, Egyptianstatues and engravings of males - servants, children, kings, and gods, in three-quarteror frontal view- all have navels. Singularly, in Mesopotamian examples gods and royalty are fully clothed and upper-classmales are clothed to the chest. Although soldiers and miners are clothed, servants are shown naked and without navels. The exceptional male umbilicates are prisoners of war.In an excavation reportfrom Khafaje,a page of nude female terracotta figurines, most with a navel, is followed by a page of nude male figurines, none with a navel (Frankfort,Lloyd,and Jacobsen 1940:222). The goddess-prostitute with pelleted navel (provenanceunknown) now in the IraqMuseum is almost naked (Parrot1966:figure 42); comparablepellet-eyed males are clothed (Frankfort,Lloyd,and Jacobsen 1940:figure 113).The naked pair from Tell Fakhariyahin Syria,which The relationship between the navel and the female can be seen in this drawing of a goddess-prostitute,provenanceunknown, dating to around 1750 B.C.E.and housed in

the IraqMuseum. The goddess is identified by her pelleted navel, headdress, eyes, and breasts.Drawing by Marilyn Schniderfrom a photo in Parrot(1966:plate 42).

dates from around 1150 B.C.E., now in The Oriental Institute in Chicago, shows the female with a navel but not the male. Sumerian Lion-Eagleswith Omphalos Given that in Mesopotamian culture the navel is most often found on figures of women, we here demonstrate that the dominant lion-eagles on the silver vase of Enmetena are females and symbolically women. Similarly,accordingto their belly symbols, the birds on the Stele of Vultures can be separatedby sex. By extension, the famous lion-eagles of Lagashon mace and battle standard of the victorius King Eannatum of the Stele of Vultures,also are lionesseagles and cryptically women. Silver vase of Enmetena. Just over a century ago,Ernest de Sarzec, French consul at Basra,received permission from the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid to dig at Tello (now identified as the ancient site of Girsu, a city within the state of Lagash).Certainly in the first rank of de Sarzec'sfinds is the silver cult vessel of Enmetena (Parrot1948). In the second register of the vase is a dominating (alpha)lion-eagle, in lion's mask, maneless, graspingwith human arms and fists the rumps of two male lions. Each male megafeline, maned, with eyes and eyebrows clearly delineated, arched forehead,and roundednose, turns his head and mauls the muzzle of the adjacentartiodactyl, an ibex or stag. One such gnawing lion has small round ears to the side of the brow;another has rectangularears occupying roughly half the arched forehead. The triad-a dominating lion-eagle grasping a pair of pacing male beasts - is repeated on four panels, abac, each male lion (a) mauling an ibex (b) or a stag (c).

One of the most important finds from Tellois this silver cult vessel of KingEnmetena, dating In the portion of the second registershown here, a lionessfrom the twenty-fourthcenturyB.C.E. eagle with midbelly navel graspspacing male lions, possibly symbolizing female dominion. Photo courtesy of the Louvre,Paris.

Heads are elevated correspondingly: The alpha, or dominant, lion-eagles are higher than the male lions that are higher than the ibexes or stags. The dominating lion-eagle has an archedforeheadwith four curls, large rectangularears, large rounded or four-sidednose slightly overlying the middle pair of four neck feathers, and vacant eyes giving a masked appearanceto the face. The tongue is not shown. The wings, banded at the leading edge and raised to brow level, have four vertical rows of primary feathers and a section of axillaries that tapers from three feathers at the leading edge to one at the trailing edge. Feathershafts terminate in roundedtips. The tail, slightly wedged, has five tail feathers in two horizontal rows almost continuous

with the belly plumage. A navel with an inner ring inscribed at twothirds the largerappearsin the third of four rows of belly feathers, at 65 percent of trunk length. This and other alpha lions, much the same, explicate the lioness-eagle. The second-level lions have naturalistic faces, heavy rippling manes, and no belly insignia; all eight pacing beasts have male genitals. In contrast, the alpha lions are masked, maneless, and sexless, except for inscribed circles on the belly. The combination-lions without a mane or male genitals as shown elsewhere on the vase but with the navel prominently displayed- can only signify lionesses, female entities. This lioness-eagle dominance of the triads recalls the Serengetiprides in

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which lionesses dominate the group and kill most of the prey (Schaller 1983: 153).Whether the killing aptitude of the lioness was known to the Sumerians,and whether success in killing (war)is signified here, remain conjectural;the vase was a gift from Enmetena, and the dedication is noncommittal. Stele of Vultures. This stele was recoveredby de Sarzec in several pieces, and another fragmentwas later donated to the Louvreby The British Museum (Parrot1948).It is probablyearlier than the Enmetena vase and also dates from the twentyfourth century B.C.E. Both sides of this famous war monument add evidence to our hypothesis that the inscribed circle equals female. On the mythological side of the monument, prisoners from Umma are bound in a gigantic net bag. J.S. Cooper's(1986)translation of the inscription invokes "thegreat battle net"of various gods that would certainly fall on the inhabitants of Umma if they ignored treaty obligations to the victor, King Eannatum of Lagash(representedas the god Ningirsu). E. A. Speiser'stranslation of the Creation Epic makes clear the battle aftermath: Marduk ... made them [the followers of the goddess Tiamat] captives and he smashed their weapons. Thrown into the net they found themselves ensnared (1958a:34). Because of extreme wear, the identity of two heraldic lioness-eagles is less clear.Nevertheless, both lionesseagles - one on the battle standard, the other the victory mace or "lioneagle Anzu"held in Ningirsu's left hand-have round navels, whereas male belly insignia, as will be shown, are angulated.With his right hand Ningirsu graspsa club and bashes the head of a prisoner trying to escape the net. Wing feathers and legs of the victory mace are recognizably aquiline: Primaryfeathers are in three vertical rows;axillary feathers are

coextensive with the belly plumage; wings are banded and elevated to neck level. Robust legs, exterior to the tail, graspby the scruff of the neck two addorsedlions that, in turn, cap the netted prisoners.There are seven imbricatingrowsof rectangular belly plumage and five rectangular tail feathers in two (partial)rows. Between abdominal rows six and seven lies the navel inscribed with two circles, an inner radius approximately nine-tenths the larger.The position of the navel in relation to trunk length is indeterminable, obscuredby Ningirsu's hand. Behind Ningirsu is the battle standard,a featheredlioness-eagle, its face and body severely weathered;nonetheless, an omphalos can be made out between rows five and six, two-thirds of trunk length. A comparison of both images indicates that the tail and abdomen of the mace lionesseagle are being squeezed apartby Ningirsu. Although Parrot(1961:figure 165)discerned a lion head and an eagle body on the mace, the leonine characterof the head is not that convincing. Birds,not lions, are shown in profile in the early beast images. Furthermore,image symmetry dictates that the battle standardhead, seen by Marie-Therese Barrelet(1970)and others as a bird, also must be the head on the mace. Moreover,the scene has parallels in other cultures: The Aztec primordial deity Tonacatecuhtli (BorgiaCodex) strangles a bird;bird strangulation was a test of manhood for the Hidatsa Indians of the Dakotas and a remedy for impotence in ancient Mesopotamia (Wilson 1928; Biggs 1967: 4). Despite the bird-head possibility, in terms of the hypothesis that the belly sign of the inscribed circle equals navel, equals female, equals lioness and high priestess, it is immaterial if Ningirsu strangles a bird or a lioness-eagle, or if he holds the mace aloft in triumph. What is demonstrated is power of the victor's god and of Eannatum. Over whom?

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Facingpage: The Stele of Vultures,a two-sided war monument from Lagash, symbolizes the victory of the god Ningirsu-and, by association, KingEannatum-over the forces at Umma. The stele, which has been recoveredin severalpieces, dates from

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in the Louvre,Paris. Topleft: On this, the mythological side of the stele, Ningirsu (note his square chest) is stranglinga lioness-eagle that, in turn,graspsa lion pair that is guarding netted prisoners.Withhis righthand, Ningirsu clubs the head of a prisonertrying to escape from the net. (Comparehis hand with the talons of the lioness-eagles of the cult vessel of Enmetena and the Dudu plaque.) Behind Ningirsu is the lioness-eagle battle standard. Both it and the victorymace held in Ningirsu's left hand have five tail feathers bounded by robust legs and three ranks of primary wing feathers;both also have an incised navel decorating the belly plumage. Ningirsu seems to be either attacking the lioness-eagle or raising her in shared triumph. Photo from Moortgat (1969),courtesy of Phaidon Press. Center left: The verso,or historic, side of the stele is important because of the fragmentin the upper righthandportion, which shows young vultures, male and female, flying side by side pecking the heads of their victims. Photo courtesy of the Louvre,Paris.Bottom left: The four complete vultures have differentnavel types. The belly symbols of the males, with threerows of primaryfeathers, arepentagonal and point upward;the two females, with two rows of primaryfeathers, have either a plain disc, not inscribed, or a somewhat square disc with a faint inner circle one-half the larger.Photo from Moortgat(1969),courtesy of Phaidon Press.

sculpted birds mimic eagle morphology- raspingbills with prominent ceres, featherednecks but no ruffs, featheredlegs, powerful aquiline, not vulturine, toes and claws. If it is accepted that a circle or inscribed navel on the belly indicates female, then the deciding factor is size: The male carrion-feederson the stele are somewhat largerthan the females. In most vulture species male and female are approximatelythe same size, while the female eagle can be much largerthan the male. Consider, then, the four complete vultures: The two lower ones are females, with two rows of primary feathers;the uppermost two are males, with three rows of primary feathers.All four birds have distinctive signs in the fourth of five abdominal rows of feathers.The female on the right has a plain disc, not inscribed;the other female has a somewhat squareddisc and, very faintly, an inner circle one-half the larger.The males have pentagonal signs that point upward,signifying the penis.

Or, if the cult lady and her minions receive the netted prisoners as booty, a conjecture for which A. Leo Oppenheim furnishes some evidence (1977: 108),the triumph is shared. Especially importantis the verso, or historic, side of the monument on which male and female vultures soar side by side, pecking at the heads of their victims. A grisly duo-two vultures, male and female -fly away, attached to the same dead arm, a miniature of Ningirsu's on the mythological side of the monument. The vultures of the stele are young birds, wings fully spread;the species is again a composite: The heads are vulturine, apparentlyGyps fulvus; the tails are aquiline,probablyAquila or the fan-tailedraven;the wing aspect ratio (length/width)is low, describing a hawk ratherthan a falcon. The vulture Lammegeieris ruled out because of the tail morphology and because the goatee-like feathers under the mandible are missing. Most raptorswill feed on carrion, so this characteristic cannot be a determining factor. Some elements of the

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The single example of an androgynenavel is found on the Second Seal of Lugalanda,dating from the late twenty-fourthto the early twentythird century B.C.E.Shown in ritual combat are Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu, endowed with head hair, breasts, and navel. Mirrorimages show Enkidu twisting a lion's tail with one hand and holding a daggerin readiness with the other. Note, in the top centerportion of the drawing, the bat creature"betweenGilgamesh and his victim"(Amiet, unpublished).Accordingto this identification, Gilgamesh is full faced and bearded,not as de la Fuye supposed, below the cartouche. The seal is housed in the Louvre,Paris.Drawing by Marilyn Schniderafter de la Fuye (1907:plate II) and Parrot(1948:figure 28e).

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Incised Navels: Prostitutes and Androgynes If as we conjecture the navel was a sign of the female, what is the significance of incised navels on the lionesseagles of the Enmetena vase and the Stele of Vultures?Surprisingly,the love poem of the goddess Inannaprovides an answer.Preparingto meet her lover,Inannapicks jewels for adornment and "cypress(and)boxwood, the lovely woods, [and]puts them on her navel"(Kramer1975b: 196).Evidently goddess prostitutes placed thin wafers of these fragrant woods on their navels as a kind of perfume. Thus mythic poetry permits linking the incised navel to the enticing and adornedwoman. Accordingly,the maneless, dominant lion-eagles with incised circles on the belly are females, not males, and since only humans have navels, the dominant lioness-eagle represents a woman. That the lioness-eagle is the Lagashbattle standardon the Stele of Vulture signifies that a woman or priestess-temple polity once led the people of Lagash.

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As to androgynenavels, the single example is found on the Second Seal of Lugalanda(dela Fuye 1907:plate II).Here in ritual combat are the hero Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu"endowed... as a woman ... with head hair"(Speiser 1958b:42), breasts, and a navel. In contrast to Ningirsu on the Stele of Vultures, Enkidu (on the seal) and the high priest Dudu (on the votive plaque) are each depicted with round breasts that may indicate gynecomastia, an increase of breast tissue that can follow castration or hormonal imbalance. Although harem attendants (Oppenheim 1977: 104) and perhapspriests were castrates, Enkidu'srompwith a prostitute early in the Creation Epic makes his castration unlikely, whereas testicular or adrenaltumor, possibly the cause of his horrible death, could have producedbreasts and, in Sumerian estimation, a navel. Male/Female Signs - Lion-Eagles

from Lagashand Mari The votive plaque of the Lagashpriest

Unlike the squared chest of the god Ningirsu on the Stele of Vultures,the Lagashhigh priest Dudu is depicted on this votiveplaque as having round breasts. The round shape could indicate gynecomastia, excessive developmentof the breastin the male. Tothe left of Dudu is a popeyed,dominating lionesseagle. Withan inscribed navel on the thirdof four rows of belly feathers, this lioness-eagle resembles those on the Enmetena vase, also from Lagash,with the significant difference here being that the two dominated lions are biting her wings. Photo courtesyof the Louvre,Paris.

Dudu has a scene similar to the cartouche area of the First Seal of Lugalanda (de la Fuye 1907).The plaque shows a popeyed,dominating lioness with a rectangularavian tail, body and wing plumage, and banded edge resembling those of the alpha lionesses on the Enmetena vase. The pairedmales have roundedfaces, ears, and foreheads;the female has a high domed foreheadand trapezoidal ears.All three lions have a vertical worry cleft. The wing edge is at eye level. Dudu'splaque, however,diverges considerablyfrom Enmetena's vase: The popeyedalpha lionesseagle with an inscribed navel on the third of four rows of belly feathersthus, in terms of our model, a female - glares down at paired male

lions that turn back, biting her wings. The scene is one of mutual aggression. The Mari votive plaque shows a masked lion-eagle, with powerful legs, talons extended, clutching recumbent ibexes. The head is leonine: roundedears, arched forehead(with worry cleft?), and no curls; the nose

This fragmentincludes the lower panels of a multipanelled relief plaque in gypsum that was found in the pre-Sargonicpalace at Mari. The male lion-eagle subdues recumbent ibexes and, like female lion-eagles, is maneless with a high peaked forehead but here is shown bearded with three rows of chest feathers:an emblematic feather in the third row and, by referenceto the bull figuresin the panel above, a penis in the last row of feathers. The images on this votiveplaque, dating from the twenty-fifth century B.C.E.,

sharply contrast those on the silver vase of KingEnmetena of Lagashshowing lionesseagles dominating male artiodactyls and lions. The fragmentis housed in the Damascus Museum. Photo courtesy of E. Strommenger-Nagel,Museum f!ir Vorund Frihhgeschichte,Berlin.

is long and rounded.The banded wings are elevated over the ears, a male characteristic.There are five rows of primary and three rows of secondary feathers and a wedged, almost forkedtail. An emblematic feather appearsin the third row of belly feathers, around 75 percent of trunk length, and a penis in the last (fifth)row. Female dominion, first deciphered on the Enmetena vase, is certainly under attack on the Dudu votive plaque and the First Seal of Lugalanda- subjugatedlions turn and bite the lioness. On the Stele of Vultures, female dominion seems to be crushed by Eannatum (Ningirsu). The victory being celebratedmay thus be the toppling of a queenpriest dominion. At Mari, who rules is beyond question: The male lioneagle'swings are triumphantly elevated;his powerful claws subdue recumbent, not pacing ibexes, herbivores and not carnivores.He is clearly Master of the Beasts. If the losers were self-conscious and wrote their history, the recordswere expunged,

The dominating male is seen on this vase fragmentfrom the Temple ofI~tar at Mari, above, and on this alabaster mace, left, provenance unknown, both dating from the twenty-fifth century B..E. Note that

these lion-eagles have long tongues extending over the neck feathers. Photo of vase fragmentcourtesy of the Louvre,Paris.Photo of alabaster mace courtesy of the Department of Near Easternand Classical Antiquities, the National Museum, Copenhagen.

rewritten by the winners. What remains are the myths - for example, poor Tiamat overpoweredand made a fool of by the god Marduk. Male Dominators - Chimaeras and Lion-Eagles Two other groups lead to lion-eagle icons. The avian groupbegins with some vase fragments from Elam (Amiet 1966: 166):a bird, head in

profile, strong straight beak, round eye, spreadwinged,a female sheltering her chicks, the progenetrixof the triumphant male raptoron the Khafajevase. Also belonging in this group are fragmentaryicons from Lagash,with demicircles low on the belly that are possibly avian vent openings (compareFiihr-Jaeppelt 1972:figure 24). The second group are male lion-

This drawing is of the triumphantmale raptor,the divine Anzu, on the greenstone vase from the temple of the god Sin at Khafaje (actual fragmentsand casts are divided between the BaghdadMuseum in Iraqand The Oriental Institute of The Universityof Chicago).Comparethe lozenge (diamond) pattern on his belly with that on the Mari lapis figurine. Drawing by MarilynSchnider after zu Elze (1937: figure 1).

eagles with long tongues; there is no inscribed circle at midbelly but a triangle or rosette, and the wings are elevated abovethe eyes. A vase fragment from the Temple of Istar at Mari, despite the foreheadcurls, belongs here (Parrot1956: 114-16, plate 47, figure 150).Another example is a mace, provenanceunknown, now on display at the National Museum in Copenhagen. This lion-eagle is not masked but recognizablyhuman, a male personage,with large nose, thin cheeks, eyes deeply set, high forehead,and wearing a lion wig. The tongue protrudesover a row of neck feathers. A rosette appearson the belly with the center papilla pointed down, and a vent circle, part of the rosette, appearsbetween the legs. Primaryfeathers, in seven or eight rows, are horizontal; there are two taperedaxillaries and six tail feathers. The lion-eagle subdues two gazelles, his muscular legs and talons sunk deeply into their muzzles, pulling them upright.

plugs of sweet-smelling cypress and boxwood. Sexual identity of the raptorson the Stele of Vultures is inferredfrom insignia on their belly plumage:a circle or squarerepresenting female, a pentagon or triangle representingmale. Mesopotamian male rulers-gods,

kings, soldiers-

wear skirts coveringthe navel, whereas slaves, captives, and artisans are usually naked, almost invariably without navels (in contrast to Egyptian portraits).If it is accepted that the umbilicus is a female sign, the inscribed circles on the animals on the Enmetena vase signify that the maneless alpha lions are females, the symbolic equivalent of the priestess. The symbolism on the Stele of Vultures can then be read as Ningirsu stranglingthe eagle- or lionesspriestess or raising her in shared triumph. What is certain is that in Lagashthe symbol evolves: On the seals of King Lugalandathe once dominant lioness is attacked and presumablyoverthrownby the paired lions, of the androgyne-warrior group. Conclusion At Mari, the lion-eagle on the vase On the side of ancient history or fragment from the Temple of ITtaris we these myth, interpret lion-eagle probablymale; on the votive plaque icons as portrayingthe overturnof a the lion-eagle is undeniably male and Master of the Beasts. The lapis female-priestdominion by malewarriorsor androgyne-warriors.In lazuli bat from Mari is also male; its Mesopotamianiconography,the navel role, whether political symbol or is symbolic of the female; it appears cult divinity, is not established. on figures of fertility goddesses and With regardto science, why the lactating religious prostitutes, the disagreement over the elements of inscribed omphalos representing the Mari lapis figurine?Archae-

ologists as well as biologists rely on images filed in memory andassemble certain referentbits of the image to make a decision. The artifact or object is expected to be in a certain form because of a prior association with earlier icons, and both groups tend to reject particularities that do not fit. The art world remembers that among Mesopotamian artifacts there is a long tradition of the lioneagle, guardianof Lagash;these images are known from nineteenthand early twentieth-century excavations, and modern archaeologists, following Parrot,place the Mari lapis figurine in that continuum. Natural scientists, meanwhile, without Mesopotamian artifacts in memory, check their own clues: the doggy face, body, ears, and prominent eyes resemble fruit-eating pteropidbats, especially Rousettus aegyptiacus; the vibrissae aregeneral mammalian characteristics.There are puzzling additions, however,such as the four-sidednose, demonstrably human. At the same time, the rosettes noted by Parrotcannot be equivalent to the standardiconographyof Lagashlion-eagles, which have inscribed circles on the belly. Anal or genital orifices andthe elastic fibers of the wing are chiropteran. The clinching evidence is the leg at the base of the lapis portion of the figurine:No other mammal, certainly no eagle, has such frail supports.It is noteworthy that chiropteraexperts can disagreeon the evidence. Most accept the uropatagiumand extruded vertebraeof Taphozousas equivalents for the wedge-shaped,chevroned tail of the Mari figurine; another colleague insists it is a fish tail. Nevertheless, we contend that the lapis and gold figurine from Mari reasonably represents a bat, a composite portrait of rousettine, hypsignathine, and taphozoan genera. Parrot'smisinterpretation can happen whenever a specialist views the world from within a confining cubicle. This is particularly true for Westerners, intellectuals and some scientists

among them, who fear and reject bats as bloodsuckers and carriers of disease. The peoples of Mimbres, Mesoamerica, China, and ancient Egypt- operating under different rules - found the chiroptera useful fertility symbols and beautiful, but in the West bats are creepy night flyers, grouped with witches, dragons, and vampires. Perhaps this is changing. Despite Snow's misgivings, mathematics is bridging to art- fractals are an example - and the bat is being transformed from evildoer to crime fighter, as the comic hero Batman demonstrates. After all, as the Babylonian Theodicy suggests, "Friend ... you have let your cunning mind go astray.... A savant ... is looked after and gets what he wants" (Biggs 1975).

Acknowledgments

We thank Marie-HenrietteGates for a critical readingof the manuscript and advice on Mesopotamian chronology; PirhiyaBeck, B. B. Beck, JohnCurtis, Arieh GurLevy,Charles Handley,KarlF. Koopman,Moshe Levinson, Ron Reich, Amalia Turkisfor good counsel; and David Makin for permitting us to take photographsof living Rousettus aegyptiacus and to dissect wild TAU 1-88-4.We are gratefulto PierreAmiet of the Louvrein Paris,Bo Farnholmeand Mona Kollundof the National Museum of Denmark, Daniel Walkerof the Cincinnati Museum of Art, and KarenL. Wilson of The Oriental Institute of The University of Chicago for allowing inspection of the artifactsin their care. We especially thank Dr. Amiet for making his unpublished work availableto us and for suggesting the young vultures. We also thank GiovannaBaruchof the RockefellerMuseum, Rivka Merhavof the IsraelMuseum, Nira Naveh and Tsvi Schneiderof the ArchaeologyLibraryof Hebrew University in Jerusalem,and Tom English of the Bell Museum and HerbertScherrerof the Wilson Art Library,both at the University of Minnesota. ForIdo deGroot (1933-1990). ZLV:"Mayhis memory be a blessing."

Notes 'Webegan this study by examining published drawingsand photographs (Parrot1948, 1968;Ffihr-Jaeppelt1972), but since points of interest were frequently obscured,almost all the iconsfiguredhere were viewed close up. Artifacts presently housed in Iraqior Syrian Museums were observedat the Eblato Damascus exhibit (Weiss1985)or judged from photographsor casts. The development of a similarity index-a project since abandoned-necessitated an examination of the most naturalistic, modeled-from-lifelion visages in Sumerian art:the cUbaid lion-eagle lintel and the lapis and silver Anzu from Eshnunna (Mitchell 1969:22, plates 18, 20; Frankfort1934:figures 28, 29). As it turned out, both of these lion-eagles have been extensively restored,so no theory can be based on them. Indeed, R. D. Barnett,the late Keeperof Oriental Antiquities at The British Museum, maintained that the cUbaidAnzu had two heads. Similarly,although Henri Frankfort,directorof excavationsat Eshnunna,was convinced to a certainty of the Anzu restorationsin watercolor and silver repousse, recent critics call them Akkadianart deco. Forthis inquiry, therefore,we dependedon cuneiform texts in translation, our experience with the physiology and caretakingof bats, and discussions with colleagues. 2KingEnmetena(formerlyEntemena) was a governorof Lagashin the twentyfourth century B.C.E. 3Todetermine belly symbol ratios as percent of trunk length, the denominator D is the length of the abdomen,from the base of the neck to the abdomenbase; the numeratorN extends from the base of the neck to the halfpoint of the belly sign. Belly insignia on the Stele of Vultures average74 percent of trunk length (range:71 to 78 percent).Navels on the lioness-eagles of the Enmetenavase are at 60 to 67 percent of trunk length (measured on figure 229 Amiet, unpublished). Navels on the lioness-eagle of Dudu's plaque and the lion-eagle of the Mari votive plaque (damaged)are 60 percent and 58 percent of body length. Correspondingly,the umbilicus on a human male is two-thirdsthe distance from base of the clavicle to the anteriorportion of the pubis (Clemente 1975:figure 157). In contrast, the rivet base of the Mari lapis figurine is 76 percent (N =

neck base to rivet base; D = the body, neck base to tail inclusive). The orifice with bead is 64 percent of D. Forcomparison, the vent on the dissected pigeon (Young1950:421) is 63 percent of D, measuredfrom the clavicle to the short tail feathers inclusive. Thus navels and sexual insignia of the Lagashicons appearat two-thirds and three-fourthsof the belly expanse, equivalent to the placement of the navel in humans, or urogenital orifices in small mammals and birds. 4GeorgeB. Schaller,in reportingon the Serengetiprides (1983:115),mentions lion number 57 with "slightumbilical hernia"as the sole example of 156 taggedlions.

Bibliography Amiet,P

1966 Elam. Paris:Centre National de la RechercheScientifique. 1980 Art of the Ancient Near East (translated from the Frenchby J.Shipley and C. Choquet, edited by N. N. Richard.New York:H. N. Abrams. unpub- LAigle dans l'artet la religion de la lished mesopotamiquearchaiquedes origines a la fin du troisieme millenaire. Barrelet,M.-T. 1970 Peut-onremettreen question la "restitutionmaterielle de la Stele des Vautours"? Journalof Near Eastern Studies 29: 233-58. Biggs,R. D. 1967 Sii.zi.ga,Ancient Mesopotamian PotencyIncantations. LocustValley, NY:J.J.Augustin. Biggs,R. D., translator 1975 The BabylonianTheodicy.Pp. 160-67 in The Ancient Near East VolumeII: A New Anthology of Textsand Pictures, edited by J.B. Pritchard. Princeton,NJ:PrincetonUniversity Press. Clemente, C. D. 1975 Anatomy:A RegionalAtlas of the Human Body.Philadelphia:Lea

& Febiger. Cooper,J.S. 1986 Eanatum.Pp.33-39 in Sumerian and Akkadian RoyalInscriptions. TranslationSeries, VolumeI: Presargonic Inscriptions.New Haven, CT:American Oriental Society. DeBlase, A. F 1980 The Bats of Iran. Series:New Series 4: FieldianaZoology.Chicago:Field Museum of Natural History.

Elze, A. zu 1937 Nomadic traditionin the prehistoric Near East:The sacredenclosure, the drapedfacadeandthe tent pole. Bulletin of the American Institute for IranianArt andArchaeology5:60-69. Flower,W.H., and Lydekker,R. 1891 An Introductionto the Study of Mammals Livingand Extinct. London:A. and C. Black. Fossey,D. 1983 Gorillas in the Mist. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Frankfort,H. 1934 IraqExcavationsof the Oriental Institute 1932/33. Series:Oriental InstituteCommunications17. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 1935 OrientalInstituteDiscoveriesin Iraq, 1933/34. Series:OrientalInstitute Communications 19. Chicago:The University of ChicagoPress. Frankfort,H., Lloyd,S., and Jacobsen,T. 1940 The Gimilsin Templeand the Palace of the Rulersat TellAsmar. Series: Oriental Institute Publications Number 43. Chicago:The Oriental Institute of The University of Chicago. I. Fiihr-Jaeppelt, 1972 Materialenzur Iconographiedes LowenadlersAnzu-Imdugud. Munich: Scharland Strohmeyer. Fuye,A. de la 1907 Les sceaux de LougalandaPatesi de Lagash(Sirpouria)et de sa femme Barnamtarra.Revue d'Assyriologie et d'ArcheologieOrientale 6(4): 105-25. Gaster,T. H. 1966 Thespis:Ritual, Myth, and Drama in the Ancient Near East. New York: Harper& Row. Graves,R., and Patai,R. 1964 HebrewMyths:The Book of Genesis. GardenCity, NY:Doubleday. Harrison,J. 1955 Prolegomenato the Study of Greek Religion, third edition. New York: MeridianBooks. Jacobsen,T. 1957 Earlypolitical developmentin Mesopotamia. Zeitschrift fir Assyriologie und VorderasiatischeArchiaologie 52: 91-140. Kingdon,J. 1974 East African Mammals: An Atlas of Evolutionin Africa, volume 2, part A. New York:Academic Press. Kohlmeyer,K. 1985 Mari (TellHariri).Pp. 130-33, 149-68 in Ebla to Damascus: Art and Archaeologyof Ancient Syria,edited by H. Weiss.Washington:Smithsonian Institution TravelingExhibition Service.

Kramer,S. N., translator 1975a Hymnal Prayerof Enheduanna:The Adorationof Inannaof Ur. Pp. 126-32 in The Ancient Near East, Volume II:A New Anthology of Textsand Pictures,edited by J.B. Pritchard. Princeton,NJ:PrincetonUniversity Press. 1975b Dumuzi and Inanna-Love in the Gipar.Pp. 195-97 in The Ancient Near East, VolumeII:A New Anthology of Textsand Pictures,edited by J.B. Pritchard.Princeton,NJ: PrincetonUniversity Press. Kulzer,A. 1979 Physiologicalecology and geographical rangein the fruit-eatingbat genus Rousettus Gray 1821-A Review. Zoologische Beitribge30: 233. Maringer,J.,and Bandi,H.-G. 1953 Art in the Ice Age, Spanish Levant Art, Arctic Art (translatedby R. Allen). New York:Praeger. MaynardSmith, J. 1984 Science and Myth. Natural History 11:11-24. Mitchell, T. C. 1969 SumerianArt Illustrated by Objects from Ur and Al-cUbaid. London: British Museum. Moortgat,A. 1969 The Art of Ancient Mesopotamia. New York:PhaidonPress. Oppenheim,A. L. 1977 Ancient Mesopotamia,revisedby E. Reiner.Chicago:University of Chicago Press. Oppenheim,A. L., translator 1975 The Banquetof AshurnasirpalII.Pp. 99-104 in TheAncient Near East, VolumeII:A New Anthology of Textsand Pictures,edited by J.B. Pritchard.Princeton,NJ:Princeton University Press. Parrot,A. 1948 Tello VingtCompagnesde Fouilles (1877-1933).Paris:A Michel. 1956 Le Templed'Ishtar.Series:Mission Archdologiquede MariI. Paris: LibrairieOrientalistePaul Geuthner. 1959 LePalais:Documents et Monuments. Series:Mission Arch-ologique de MariII. Paris:LibrairieOrientaliste Paul Geuthner. 1961 Sumer:the Dawn of Art (translated by S. Gilbert and J.Emmas).New York:Golden Press. 1966 TrHsors du Musdede Baghdaddes origines a l'Islam. Paris:Musee du Louvre. 1968 Le "Trisor"d'Ur.Series:Mission Archdologiquede MariIV.Paris: LibrairieOrientalistePaulGeuthner. Petter-Rousseaux,A. 1964 ReproductivePhysiologyand Behaviorof the Lemuroidea.Pp. 91-132

in Evolutionaryand Genetic Biology of Primates, volume 2, edited by J.Buettner-Janusch.New York: Academic Press. Roux, G. 1980 Ancient Iraq (secondedition). London:GeorgeAllen & Unwin. Schaller,G. B. 1983 Golden Shadows, FlyingHooves with a New Afterword.Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Schober,W. 1984 The Livesof Bats, revisedby A. M. Hutson. New York:Arco. Scholem, G. G. 1969 On the Kabbalahand Its Symbolism (translatedby R. Manheim).New York:Schocken. Snow,C. P. 1969 The ?lWoCulturesand a Second Look:An ExpandedVersionof the Two Culturesand the Scientific Revolution.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press. Speiser,E. A., translator 1958a The Creation Epic:Pp.31-39 in The Ancient Near East:An Anthology of Textsand Pictures,edited by J.B. Pritchard.Princeton,NJ:Princeton University Press. 1958b The Epic of Gilgamesh. Pp.40-75 in TheAncient NearEast:An Anthology of Textsand Pictures,edited by J.B. Pritchard.Princeton,NJ:Princeton University Press. Stech, T, and Pigott, V.C. 1986 The metals tradein southwest Asia in the third millennium B.C.Irak 48: 39-64. Ucko, P.J.,and Rosenfeld,A. 1967 Palaeolithic CaveArt. New York: McGrawHill. Wake,M. H., editor 1979 Hyman's ComparativeVertebrate Anatomy, third edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Walker,E. P. 1975 Mammals of the World,third edition. Baltimore:JohnsHopkins University Press. Weiss,H., editor 1985 Ebla to Damascus: Art and Archaeology of Ancient Syria.Washington: Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. Wilson, G. L. 1928 Hidatsa eagle trapping.Anthropological Papers,American Museum of Natural History 30 (4). Young,J.Z. 1950 The Life of Vertebrates.Oxford: ClarendonPress.

I

The

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nscYedPmegrna

byNabmanAvigad

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Previouspage: The thumb-sizedpomegranatecarvedin ivory and bearingan ancient Hebrew inscription was acquired by the IsraelMuseum with the help of an anonymous donor in 1988. Mentioned several times in the Bible, the pomegranate(rimmonin Hebrew)was a popular fertility symbol in ancient times. The shape of this pomegranaterepresentsthe fruit in its blossom stage of growth, a form less frequently depicted in ancient art than the globular body of the ripepomegranatewith its crown of short petals. Dated by its inscription to the eighth centuryB.C.E.,this pomegranateis believed to be associated with the temple built by King Solomon. Unless otherwise noted, all illustrations in this article are used courtesy of the Israel Museum.

Museum heIsrael recentlyworkman who discoveredit and sold

made an outstanding acquisition- a thumb-sized pomegranatecarvedin and bearing an ancient Hebrew ivory inscription. It is believed to be the only archaeologicalfind known so farwhich, in all probability,can be associated with the Temple in Jerusalem built by King Solomon. No wonder,then, that this acquisition has stirredpublic interest and gained worldwide publicity. At the same time, queries have been raised,orally and in newspapers, regardingthe authenticity of the pomegranateor that of its inscription. These doubts derive primarily from lack of sufficient information, notwithstanding the initial publication of the object. It is therefore essential to comment on this important find in a professional journal in orderto providethe public with additional data and to further a scholarly discussion on this fascinating subject. The Recent History of the Pomegranate The exact provenanceof the ivory pomegranateis unknown. Although not found officially in a controlled excavation, it may yet have come from such an excavation conducted in Jerusalem,possibly stolen by the

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it to an antiquities dealer.It could also be either an accidental find or the booty from an illegal dig. When, in 1979, the Frenchbiblical scholar Andr6Lemairevisited an antique shop in the Old City of Jerusalem, he was given the opportunity to examine an ancient inscribed ivory object in the shape of a pomegranate.Lemaire,being familiar with Hebrew palaeography,recognized the significance of the inscription. He took photographsof the object and published the result of his investigation, first in a scholarly journal' and then in a populararchaeological magazine3. The object later was purchased in Jerusalemby an unknown person who took it out of the country illegally. In 1988 it was offeredanonymously for sale and subsequently acquiredand brought back home to Jerusalemby the Israel Museum, with the generous help of an anonymous donor from Basel, Switzerland. Hence this unique relic was redeemed and returnedto its place of origin. Description of the Pomegranate The shape of the pomegranateis reminiscent of a very small, gracefully designed vase with a rounded body taperingtowardsits flat bot-

Biblical Archaeologist, September 1990

This cross section shows the actual size of the pomegranate.The body is solid but has a hole cut into its bottom, which was probably where a rod, stick, or shaft was inserted. Drawing by Florica Vainer.

tom and a narrow,tall neck. This "neck"terminates in the form of six lengthy petals, two of them broken. The shape of the pomegranaterepresents the fruit in its blossom stage of growth. This form is less frequently depicted in ancient art than the globularbody of the ripepomegranate with its crown of short petals. The total height of the pomegranateis 43 millimeters (1.68 inches), and the diameter of the body is 21 millimeters (0.83 of an inch). The body is solid but has a hole cut into its bottom, which is 6.5 millimeters in diameter and 15 millimeters deep. This hole most probably served to insert a rod, stick, or shaft. Around the shoulder of the object is incised an inscription in palaeo-Hebrewcharacters.A considerablepart of the body is broken off, obliterating about one-thirdof the inscription. The Inscription The inscription is carefully engraved aroundthe shoulder of the body in small but very clear letters. The preservedpart of the inscription was

other kinds have been found at excavations, but none of them were inscribed. The inscription gives rise to the study of a new subject in biblical archaeologywhich, if correctly interpreted, is associated with the First Temple of Jerusalem.After the Israel Museum'sacquisition of the pomegranatewe were able to reexamine the inscription and to elaborateon this subject. First of all we must establish the authenticity of the inscription. Once this is proven,the genuineness decipheredby Lemaireas follows: of the pomegranateitself becomes From the yod lby[ ...]hiqd' khnm. self-evident. rethe lower horizontal stroke Lemaire,awareof the only had the inscription exfrom and the he survived but problem, mained, the upper horizontal stroke. Lemaire amined under a microscope. He found that traces of the ancient proposedthe restoration of the reand the letters read complete patina, which coveredthe surface of maining the pomegranate,could also be seen as follows: legend lbl[t yhw]h qdcs in the incisions of the letters. This is khnm: "Belongingto the Tem[ple a recognized proof for the antiquity of the Lor]d(Yahweh),holy to the of such an inscription. The examipriests."Dating the inscription on nation was repeatedlater in the to the late palaeographicgrounds adLemaire chemistry laboratoryof the Israel eighth century B.C.E., vanced the hypothesis that the Museum, to the same effect. One might claim that forgers had the been used pomegranate by would be able to produce an artifiin of the service the Temple priests cial patina with chemical means. of Jerusalem. This may be true, but no forgerin his Discussion right mind would deliberately break such an "attractiveproduct"and sell The most important and enlightenthe defective artifact,with the most the of is ing aspect pomegranate its a important part of its inscription undoubtedly inscription. Quite number of pomegranatesof this and missing, on the Jerusalem"flea

Numerous pomegranateshave been found at excavation sites, but none inscribed. Above left: The inscription is engravedaround the shoulder of the body in small but very clear letters. Above center: A considerableportion of the body is brokenoff,however,obliterating about one-thirdof the inscription. This has led some scholars to doubt the restoration proposedby Andre Lemaire.Above right: Magnification of the damaged part of the inscription shows the uppertwo tips of the letter taw (see arrow),the addition of which lends substantial weight to the suggested restorationof the inscription.

market"for a low price, as happened before the pomegranatereached the market in Switzerland. In addition to the evidence of the patina, I would like to point out another distinctive feature which testifies to the antiquity of the inscription. The edges of severalof the letters' lines are not sharp as they would be in new incisions, but rather rounded and worn, merging with the surface of the object. This is the result of long wear.Another case in point is the broken surface of the object, which extends to its entire width, and bears distinct signs of forcible destruction and of havingbeen buried in the soil for many years. Furthermore,a palaeographic examination of the inscription leaves no doubt whatsoever concerning its genuineness. The script shows correct forms, well executed by a skilled engraverwho was familiar with Hebrew writing. He succeeded in his task despite the difficulty of engraving in such a small scale upon the uneven and rounded surface of the pomegranate'sshoulder. Lemairecomparedthe script with that of the Siloam tunnel inscription and dated it accordingly to the late eighth century B.C.E. Actually the pomegranateinscription is not of the elegant formal cursive script which characterizesthe Siloam in-

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scription. It divergesfrom the latter in various aspects, such as the form of the letters dalet, he, and, especially, mem, with its irregularw-shaped head. Moreover,our inscription looks generally more archaic. Consequently, I am inclined to join FrankMoore Cross in dating it to the mid-eighth century B.C.E. It is of interest to compare the word qd' with the same word incised on three contemporaneousbowls and found in the excavations at and Arad.6The Hazor,4 Beersheba,s script is extremely similar in all cases. The first two inscriptions are assigned to the second half of the eighth century B.C.E.; the third is unstratified. The word khn (kohen) was also found on two Hebrew seals, probablydating to the second half of the eighth century B.C.E7 As mentioned above,Lemaire proposeda restoration of the broken part of the inscription by reading lby[t yhw]h: "Belongingto the Temple of the Lord."If correct, then this restoredpart corroboratesthe interpretationof the inscription as associating the pomegranatewith

ters iby. The addition of this letter lends substantial weight to the suggested restoration of the inscription. The word byt having been established, the restoration of the

8 Above:Drawing of the inscription, with missing letters restored,as it would appear around the shoulder of the pomegranate. Below: Whenthe suggestedorderof the restoredinscription is reversedit translates as: "Sacreddonation for the priests of (in) the House of Yahweh."It stands to reason that the "Houseof Yahweh"("Houseof the Lord" in the English Bible) most probablyrefersto the Templeof Jerusalem.

of Yahweh.The phrase qd' khnm, to be pronounced qode' kohanim, has met with much reservationand deserves a short comment. Qode', meaning "holiness,"designates a thing set apartfor worship;consecrated to the Lord;sacreddonation for priests. Thus, for instance, the contents of the bowls inscribed with the word qd' found in severalexcavations (see above)were dedicated to priests or sanctuaries. Qode' kohanim is but a regularshortened form of such phrases as: "andthis shall be a sacreddonation for the priests"9(Numbers 6:20) or "the sacred products from the land shall be for the priests"(Ezekiel 45:6). Compare similar formations such as: "thingssacred to the Lord" (Malachi2:11)and "thethings that David has consecrated"(1Kings 15:5; 1 Chronicles 5:1). Accordingly,in our case, qd' khnm should be translated"sacred donation for the priests."We should thus regardthe pomegranateas a donation, an offering, to be used by the priests during their service in the Temple. With this in mind, we

1G~qZk3~1 3~7-~YLV9P the Temple. However,Lemaireprovidedno graphicevidence, nor a detailed presentation of his arguments to prove the credibility of this restoration. Although the proposedrestoration convinced some scholars, it left others in doubt and impelled them to look for an alternative text. Our examination of the original inscription not only confirmed the proposed reading,but also addednew evidence to its validity. Wewere able to discern traces of the last letter of the wordibyt, which Lemairehad apparently overlooked.As can be seen on the photograph,the upper two tips of the x-formedletter taw are clearly visible at the left of the let-

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next word as yhwh becomes the more plausible. No other name of a deity ending with he except yhwh is in place here. This accepted, there seems to be no other possible reading than lbyit[yhw]h qd' khnm. The inscription runs in a continuous circular line with irregularintervals between the individual letters and without separationmarks between the words.The proposedbeginning of the inscription with the wordlbyt is based on the vacant space behind this word. In biblical Hebrew,the lamed preceding a noun without a verb means "of,""belongingto."8Hence lbyt yhwh at the beginning of a sentence means: Belonging to the House

Biblical Archaeologist, September 1990

are inclined to reversethe previously suggested orderof the legend and read:"Sacreddonation for the priests of (in)the House of Yahweh."The vacant space,which afterthis amendment is located in the middle of the inscription and not at its beginning, may be explained by a miscalculation of space on the part of the engraver, or else by a need to skip a defect on the ivory surface, on the assumption that it is indeed an old defect. Such a change of the syntax would facilitate the interpretationof the legend. Inview of certain linguistic peculiarities in the Bible text, the expression ibyt yhwh in this context may eventually be translated:"inthe House of Yahweh";comparehkhnym

Thejuicypomegranate, a popularsymbolof fertility,waswidelyusedas a symbolicand decorative motifin the sacredandsecularart of variousculturesin the ancientNearEast. Our revised definition of the However,all these temples were of an early date and precededthe inscription as a dedicatorytext is Templeof Jerusalem.After Solomon's preferableto its interpretationas Temple had become the central place designating ownership. It seems unof worship, no mention was made in likely that the Temple authorities the Bible of any other temple, except would have taken the trouble of that of Bethel, the main temple of marking so laboriously the Temple's the Northern Kingdom of Israel and ownership on such a tiny and humble rival sanctuary to the Temple of Jeru- object, which at that time was not salem; it is called "King'ssanctuary" allotted any particularsignificance. Still it was important enough to serve (Amos 7:13). As for shrines or sanctuaries as a donation on behalf of an anonywhich continued to operateunlawmous donor. How then, was our pomegranate fully, these could hardlybe expected to be referredto as "Houseof Yahweh." used in the Temple?Does the Bible referto the use of such objects by The word qd' (qode', meaning "holiness") They were finally destroyedduring carvedon the pomegranateis very similar to reform in 622 B.C.E.The the priests? Does archaeologicaleviKing Josiah's the same word incised on three contemporaonly archaeologicalremains of what dence provide any information in neous bowls found at Hazor (a), Beersheba seems to be an Israelite temple dat- this respect?A short comparative (b),and Arad (c). The word khn (kohen, meaning "priest"),also engravedon the ing to the monarchic period have study of the extant material may pomegranate,has been found on two Hebrew been uncoveredat Arad."This reveal some important data relevant temple seals (d and e), probably dating to the second is not mentioned in the Bible, how- to our subject. half of the eighth century B.C.E. Among the many ostraca discoveredin the fortressof The juicy pomegranatefruit ever.Among the many ostraca disArad is a letter addressed to Elyashib in is a with its multitudinous seeds was a of Arad in the fortress covered which he is informed by the words byt yhwh letter addressedto Elyashib in which popular symbol of fertility from the (f)about a certain person who "sitsin the House of Yahweh." he is informed about a certain person earliest times.13It was widely used who "sitsin the House of Yahweh."12 as a symbolic and decorative motif in sacred and secular art of various It is generally believed that this cultures throughout the ancient letter was written in Jerusalemand Near East. The pomegranate(rim'r ibyt yhwh: "thepriests which that the term "House of Yahweh" mon in Hebrew)is frequently menwere in the House of the Lord" refersto the Temple in Jerusalem tioned in the Bible and is counted and not to the shrine at Arad,for (Zachariah7:3). A few remarks on the term two reasons: 1)Aradwas the place of among the seven kinds of fruit with which the country is blessed: "For "House of Yahweh"are in place here. destination of the letter; thus the the Lordyour God is bringing you The question has been raised whethperson and the temple must have into a good land - a land of wheat er the term "House of Yahweh"or, been outside of Arad;2) When the and barley,of vines, figs and pomeas renderedin the English Bible, letter was written (late seventh or "Houseof the Lord,"refers in our ingranates,a land of olive oil and of early sixth century), the shrine at honey" (Deuteronomy 8:7-8). The scription to the Temple in Jerusalem Aradno longer existed, as it had rimmon became a favorite symbolic as claimed, or ratherto one of the apparentlybeen destroyedduring motif in Jewish art from its earliest shrines-sanctuariesoutside of JeruJosiah'sreform. It is beyond the scope of this salem. Our knowledge about these beginnings down to modern times. In the sphere of art, ancient Isarticle to discuss the term "House temples is very limited. The Bible rael was directly influenced by her contains only indirect references to of Yahweh"in greaterdetail, but their existence, as in Shiloh, Hebron, considering the above arguments it Canaanite-Phoenician neighbors. In stands to reason that the pomegranIsrael, we meet the pomegranate Bethlehem, Mizpah, and others.1' Some of them are referredto as motif first of all in the Temple of ate inscription indeed refers specifiSolomon. The Bible describes the "Houseof Yahweh"or "Houseof God." cally to the Temple of Jerusalem.

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The rimmon was a favoritesymbolic motif in Jewish art from its beginnings,and in this sphere ancient Israel was directly influenced by her Canaanite-Phoenicianneighbors.Far left: This bronzecultic tripodfrom Ugarit, which dates to the thirteenth century B.C.E.,

has a chain of pendants shaped like pomegranates. The Bible describes chains formed by hundreds of rimmonim that decorated the capitals of the two bronzecolumns, Yakhin and Boaz, in front of the entrance to the Jerusalem Temple.The Phoenicians helped build Solomon'sTempleand may have introduced this style of decoration to Jerusalem.Left: These two pendants fromMegiddo,dating to the eighth century B.C.E.,are the same kind

as the earlierpomegranate-shapedpendants from Ugarit. They also resemble the blossom shape of the ivory pomegranatenow in the IsraelMuseum.

chains formed by hundreds of rimmonim which decoratedthe capitals of the two bronze columns, Yakhin and Boaz, in front of the entrance to the Temple (1 Kings 7:42;Jeremiah 52:23;2 Chronicles 3:16). This arrangementof pomegranates recalls the chains of pendants in the form of pomegranateswhich surrounda Canaanite bronze cultic tripod from Ugarit, dating to the thirteenth century B.C.E.14We may assume that the Phoenicians who helped in building Solomon'sTemple introduced this style of decoration in Jerusalem.It is of interest to find two isolated bronze pendants in Israelite Megiddo (eighth century B.C.E.)of exactly the same kind as in

Ugarit.'sMoreover,they closely resemble the blossom shape of our ivory pomegranate. The Bible also describes the robe of the High Priest, which was embellished all along its hem with purple pomegranatesand golden bells (Exodus28:33-34). It makes no other mention of pomegranatesin connection with priests which would attest to the purpose of our pomegranate.Divergent suggestions have been made in this respect: 1)It served as the head of the "scepter" used by the High Priest; 2) It was no more than a decorativepiece on an altar,or a finial on a throne, a cultic box, or the like. I am inclined to subscribe to the first alternative.Accordingto our interpretationof the inscription, the said object must have been used

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personally by the priest during some ritual act performedin the Temple; otherwise it would not be termed qode' kohanim. As the Bible refers neither to such a ritual object nor to such a ceremony,we must depend on external evidence. The very use of pomegranateshaped objects for cultic purposes is attested to by a number of clay vessels in the form of globularpomegranates which were found in various excavations of sites in Israel dating to the tenth-eighth century B.C.E. They are either individual vessels or attached to a bowl or to a kernos (a hollow ring base on which are mounted pomegranatesand other objects believed to have been used for libation). The pomegranatealso appearsquite

frequently as a decorative motif on Hebrew seals of the eighth-seventh century B.C.E.Of a much later date is

the cluster of pomegranatesthat adorns the Jewishsheqel coins of the first century C.E.

The closest and most significant parallel to our pomegranatecomes fromthe Britishexcavationat Lachish conducted in the 1930s.16In a Ca-

naanite temple dating to the thirteenth century B.C.E.,many cultic

vessels and ritual artifacts were uncovered.Among them were two ivory "scepters."7Each of these consists of a pomegranate-shapedhead mounted on a rod, 23 centimeters (9.5 inches) long. One of the heads is very similar both in shape and size to our pomegranate;the other is

.

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Above left: Thepomegranateappearedas a decorativemotif on Hebrew seals of the eighthseventh century B.C.E., as seen here.Above right: Of a much later date is the cluster of pomegranatesadorningthis Jewish sheqel coin of the first centuryc.E. The inscription reads "Jerusalemthe Holy"

Biblical Archaeologist, September 1990

Below, far left: The closest parallels to the pomegranatenow in the Israel Museum are these uncoveredat Lachishin a Canaanite temple dating to the thirteenthcentury two ivory "scepters" B.C.E.Each "scepter" consists of a pomegranate-shapedhead mounted on a rod 23 centimeters long. The one to the left is verysimilar in shape and size to the pomegranatein the Israel Museum, whereas the one on the right is rounderand somewhat smaller. The function of is unknown, but the fact that such artifacts were used in a temple helps verify these "scepters" the origin of the pomegranatein the Israel Museum and indicates that it was probablypart of such a "scepter." Photographcourtesy of the IsraelAntiquities Authority. These other three on Cyprus.Below "scepters"were found in tombs also dating to the thirteenth centuryB.C.E. center:Tvo ivory pins with heads in the shape of a pomegranatewere found in a tomb at Enkomi. They are the same length as those discoveredat Lachish, and their shape is very similar to the pomegranatein the Israel Museum. Below, far right: This ivory "scepter" from Kition is more globular shaped.

rounder and somewhat smaller. The function served by these "scepters"is unknown, but the very fact that such artifacts were used in a temple is of the greatest importance for our attempt to verify the origin of the pomegranatenow in the Israel Museum, its original shape, and presumed function. With the evidence at Lachish, we may be sure that such objects were used in temples and that our pomegranatewas part of We are still left in such a "scepter." the dark concerning its purpose, however. It appearsthat these pomegranateheaded "scepters"are not as rareas one would expect, although ours remains the largest and most graceful among those unearthed so far.In Cyprus a number of such "scepters" were found in tombs dating also to Their the thirteenth century B.C.E. function is unknown. They are alternately termed spindles, pins for fastening the dress, and the like. Especially noteworthy are "twoivory pins with heads in shape of a pomegranate"which were found in Tomb3 at Enkomi.'8They are of the same length as those discoveredat Lachish, while their shape is similar to that of our pomegranate.Other specimens, such as that from Kition, are globular shaped. Three ivory pomegranates,two of them attached to rods, were discoveredin a Phoenician tomb at Akhziv north of Akko.19They are approximately contemporaneous with our pomegranate (eighth century

Biblical Archaeologist, September 1990

163

Thereis as yet no evidence that these pomegranate-shaped"scepters" were actually used as scepters,and some certainly were not. It is important, therefore,to point out this rareexample of a pomegranateheaded scepterdepicted in the decoration on an Etruscanmirror dating to around 300 B.C.E. This

long scepter,topped with a round pomegranate,is held by Aphrodite (fromMuthmann1982:45, figure32). Although of classic ratherthan Near Easternorigin, and of a late date, this scepter testifies to the use of pomegranate-headedsceptersin ancient times (see note 17). B.C.E.).A single "scepter,"smaller in

size and made of bone, was uncovered in the excavations at Tel Serain the northwesternNegev,20dating to the late seventh-early sixth century B.C.E. We thus witness the continuation of a long tradition. However,the most significant find of this kind after that of Lachish was made quite recently in a tomb at TelNami on the coast south of Haifa.2 There a skeleton was discoveredwith two pomegranate-headed"scepters" placed on top of it. Made of bronze, they measure approximately30 centimeters (circa 12 inches) in length. In the same tomb, which dates to the thirteenth century B.C.E.,was found a group of exquisite incense vessels of bronze. The excavator, Michal Artzy of Haifa University, suggested that the person interredin this tomb was a priest and that the tomb deposits representcultic implements used by him when performing his office. This find from TelNami, indicat-

164

Biblical Archaeologist, September 1990

FindsfromLachishandTelNamisupportthe waspart viewthattheinscribed pomegranate usedby of a pomegranate-headed "scepter" thepriestsin the serviceof theTemple.

Other ancient Near Easternpeoples apparentlyused the pomegranatein their religious ceremonies, as evidenced by these Assyrian wall reliefs from palaces dating to the ninth-eighth century B.C.E. Opposite page: The offeringbearerdepicted in this relief from Nimrud, now in The British Museum, holds a kid to be offeredup on his left arm and carries a stalk with pomegranatesin his right hand. Above:In this relief from Khorsabad,now in the Louvrein Paris,the leading offeringbearerholds a goat on his left arm and carries a stalk with a lotus blossom in his right hand. Both the pomegranateand the lotus had a symbolic significance, in the Israel Museum. perhaps comparable to that of the ivory pomegranate"scepter"

"scepingthatthepomegranate-headed ters"hadprobably belongedto apriest, supplementsthe findfromLachish, which, as we saw,atteststo their beingusedin a temple.In combination, the two findsconfirmthe sugof ourinscribed gestedinterpretation namely:1)that it was pomegranate, of a "sceppart pomegranate-headed ter";2)thatit wasdestinedforpriests; and3) that it was usedin a temple. Whatis still left openis the questionof how andwhen this scepterwasusedin the Temple.It stands to reasonthat it servedthe priests duringsomekindof ceremonywhich tookplacein the Temple.The Bible, however,makesno mentionof any suchritualceremoniesor of the use in the of such symbolic"scepters" of Temple Jerusalem. Nonetheless,we must allowfor the possibilitythat certaincultic ritesperformedin the Templemay haveincludedsome ceremonialcustoms of marginalsignificanceand the use of auxiliarycultic utensils whichareneitherdescribednorlisted in the Bible.Take,forinstance,the offeringof the firstfruits- a major eventin the cult of the Temple.The Biblerelatesverylittle aboutthe ceremonieswhich wereperformed duringthese offerings,whereasthe Mishna(Bikkurim3:2-8)describes the festivecelebrationswhich took placeduringthis event.Theyincluded processionsof officiantfruitbearers proceedingto the Templeaccompaniedby music, songs,andprayers until the basketscontainingthe first fruitswerehandedoverto the priests. The choiceof the firstfruitbelonged to the priests (Ezekiel 4:30). Here we suggest an imaginary scenario in which the priest, receiving baskets containing three kinds of

Biblical Archaeologist, September 1990

165

fruit - grapes, figs, and pomegranates - and putting them on the altar, performed some kind of ritual act during which he made use of a symbolic pomegranate-headed "scepter," such as the one discussed here. We may, perhaps, find support for such an assumption in the customs of other ancient peoples. Of special interest are the sacral scenes depicted on the Assyrian wall reliefs of the ninth-eighth century B.C.E. palaces of Nimrud, Nineveh, and Khorsabad. Some of these reliefs depict processions of offering bearers with branches of pomegranates in their hands?2 They are described as representing divinities, priests, and worshipers. One of the leading figures carries a kid to be offered up in one hand and holds a stalk with pomegranates in the other. A second figure carries a goat and holds a stalk with lotus blossom. Both pomegranate and lotus here have a symbolic significance, just as that which we would like to ascribe to our pomegranate "scepter." Conclusions Our conclusions on the subject are of two kinds - definitive and ten-

tative. I am fully convinced of the genuineness of the ivory pomegranate, the authenticity of its inscription, and its use in a sacred service of the priests in the Temple of Yahweh. To this effect the epigraphicalevidence alone, in my opinion, is absolutely convincing. It is also supported to some extent by archaeologicalevidence. The Temple of Yahwehwas most probablythat of Jerusalem. These conclusions determine the historical, religious, and cultural importance of our pomegranate. I am less certain about the secondary issue, namely, how exactly the object was used. My assumptions, raised above, are based on what appears to be relevant comparative material. No decisive evidence is available to date from which to draw final conclusions on this particular point, however. Future finds or new

166

suggestions may shed additional light on this intriguing ivory pomegranatewhose inscription invests it with supreme significance.

Fosse Temple(OxfordUniversity Press, 1940),p. 62, pl. XX:25,26. '7The term "scepter"is arbitraryin this context, and the objects are not identified as such by the excavators.It is used here as a terminus technicus and does not attest a priori to the object's function. So far there is no evidence that objects of this specific kind were indeed used as scepters,and some of them certainly were not. The example cited by Lemaireof an Assyrianking holding such a scepter is vague and unconvincing. Lookingfor parallels among Assyrian reliefs one should not be misled by the globularhead of the royalmace held by Assyriankings as a symbol of their sovereignty (see J.B. Pritchard,The Ancient Near East in Pictures Relating to the Old Testament [Princeton, 1954],nos. 442, 576). It is thereforeof special interest to point out a very rareexample of a pomegranatescepter depicted on an

Notes This article is an adaptedreprintfrom the Israel Museum Journal(VolumeVIII, 1989:7-16). The article and all illustrations are published courtesy of the Israel Museum Journal. 'A. Lemaire,"Une inscription paleohebraiquesur grenadeen ivoire,"Revue Biblique 88 (1981),pp. 236-239. 2Ibid."ProbableHead of Priestly ScepterFromSolomon'sTemple Surfaces in Jerusalem,"Biblical Archaeology Review 10 (1984),pp. 24-29; see also H. Shanks,"Pomegranate,Sole Relic From Solomon'sTemple,Smuggledout of Israel, Now Recovered," Moment, The Magazine of Jewish Culture and Opinion 13 (1988), pp. 36-43. Etruscan mirror of circa 300 B.C.E.This 3ApudLemaire(above,n. 2) p. 29, box. long scepter is toppedwith a round 4Y. Yadinet al., Hazor III-V (Jerupomegranateand held by Aphrodite CCCLVIII:4. (Muthmann[above,n. 13],p. 45, fig. 32; salem, 1961),pls. CCCLVII:4; 5Y.Aharoni, ed., Beer Sheba, I (Tel with referenceto E. Gerhard,Etruskische Aviv 1973),p. 73, pls. 42:4;69:2. SpiegelI, 2 [1845],Taf.181).This example, 6Y.Aharoni,Arad Inscriptions (Jeru- albeit late in date and of classic rather salem, 1988),inscription no. 104. than Near Easternorigin, testifies to the 7N. Avigad,"ThePriest of Dor,"Israel use of pomegranate-headedscepters in ExplorationJournal25 (1975),p. 101, ancient times. pl. 10:D;J.Elayi, "Lesceau de pretre '8E. Gjerstadet al., The Swedish Hanan, fils de Hilqiyahu,"Semitica 36 CyprusExpedition, II, Plates, pl. (1986),p. 45. 241; idem, IV,Part 1D,L. LXXVIII:240, 8y. Yadin,"AFurtherNote on the and P.Astr6m, The Late CyprioteBronze Lamed in the SamariaOstraca,"Israel Age, pp. 550, 610, fig. 74:14;on specimen ExplorationJournal18 (1968),pp. 50-51. from Kition, see H. G. Buchholz and V. 9Translation:The Jewish PublicaKarageorghis,PrehistoricGreece and tion Society of America. Cyprus(New York, 1973),p. 479:1746. 10M.Haran,Templesand Temple19Unpublished,courtesy of Service in Ancient Israel (Oxford,1978). M. Prausnitz. 11Y.Aharoni,"TheIsraelite Sanc20Unpublished,courtesy of E. Oren. tuary at Arad,"New Directions in Bibli21I am gratefulto Michal Artzy for cal Archaeology,ed. D. N. Freedmanand an informativediscussion and for her J.C. Greenfield (GardenCity, New York, permission to make mention of the yet 1969),pp. 25-39. unpublished material. 12Y. Aharoni (above,n. 6), inscrip22EncyclopidiePhotographiquede tion no. 18. l'Art, L'artMesopotamie ancienne au 3F.Muthmann, Der Granatapfel, Musdedu Louvre,V (Paris,1936),p. 307; Symbol des Lebens in der alten Weit R. D. Barnettand M. Falkner,The Sculp(Bern,1982). tures of Tiglath Pileser III (745-727 B.C.) 14E A. Schaeffer,"LesFouilles de (London,1962),pls. CXXVI-CXXVII; Minet el-Beidaet de Ras Shamra,"Syria E. A. W.Budge,Assyrian Sculpturesin 10 (1929),p1.60:1. the British Museum (London,1914), 15Y.Yadin,Hazor:The Rediscovery p1.48:78. ofa Great Citadel of the Bible (New York: RandomHouse, 1975),p. 224 (bottom). 160. Tufnell et al., Lachish II, The

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scholarsfrom around the world presented paperson archaeologyandlanguages and literaturesof the ancient Near East at the SecondInternationalCongresson Biblical Archaeology from June24-July4. The congress, organized by the IsraelAcademyof Sciences andHumanitiesandthe Israel Exploration Society, commemorated the 100th anniversaryof FlindersPetrie's first stratigraphicexcavation in Palestineat Tellel-Hesiand the subsequentcenturyof archaeological research. The event was attended by more than 700 people. In contrast to the first congress, which was held in 1984, this meeting looked moreto the future.The major emphasisof the congresswas to demonstrate how far archaeology has come since Petrie'sdayandto see in what ways andhow farit has to go. One widely discussed topic involved integrating traditionalapproachesto archaeologywith moderntechniques and perspectives involvingthe social andnatural sciences, computers,and the development of statistical modelsforunderstandingand correlatingarchaeologicaland biblical data. Inhis papertitled"Bronze AgeTradePatternsin the Eastern Mediterranean:Science, Statistics and Cultural Solutions,"A. BernardKnapp of Cambridge Universitystressed the need forarchaeologiststo develop hypotheses that can

adopt methods that could be verified inhibits the development of the discipline,according to Knapp. PaulaWapnishof the Universityof Alabamaat Birmingham discussedintegratingscientific methods of research with the concernsof the biblical archaeologist in a paper titled "Archaeozoology:The of FaunalDatawith Integration BiblicalArchaeology." Wapnish usedfaunaldatafromTellJem-

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meh, Tel Dan, andTel Miqne to demonstratehowecological reconstruction is accomplished and how this reconstruction may aid-archaeologistsin understandingthe development of a tell. Forexample,she said, faunal data from Tel Dan do not supporta scenarioin which disenfranchisedpeasantsfrom the lowlands reestablished themselvesin highlandsettlements.Rather,she said,a more complexprocessis evidenced, the results of which will have

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A at cAin Ghazal in 1989 at Beidha,leadingthe archaerevealed the first detailed ologists to suspect that the evidence of Late Prepottery Beidhastratigraphymay have Neolithic B occupations(6500 been incorrectlydated. Inthe CentralFielda large to 6000 B.C.E.)as well as evidence that the site was used expanseof Yarmoukiandwellcontinuouslyduringthe Neo- ings andassociatedcourtyard lithic period. activityareas,includinganoutThe project, conducted doorroofedareawithoutwalls jointly by San Diego State, that functionedas an exterior YarmoukUniversity,and the workinglocation,wereuncovered.SeveralelegantYarmoukian clay human figurines were discovered,as was additionalevidenceconfirmingan E ji 0mE in situ transitionfromthe PreIl~lb potteryNeolithic C periodto the Yarmoukianperiod. Seven test probes conducted at the northern and western areas of the site had mixed success.Two4 by4 meDesertResearchInstitute,was ter trenchesprovidedthe first led byGaryO.Rollefson.Exca- detailed late PrepotteryNeovatorswere able to complete lithic B occupations, while be refuted or resolved. This is common in the natural sciplansfortwo PrepotteryNeo- other trenches yielded late lithic C housesfromthe South PrepotteryNeolithic B (?)/Prehe relabut ences, pointed out, tively unknown in the human- Field. (One included a lime- pottery Neolithic C/Yarmoustone game board.)Both are kian sequences that stressed ities and social sciences. It is in this that knowlonly way virtuallyidenticalto buildings the long continuity of the site the and failure advances, reported from the middle duringthe Neolithic period. edge

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important consequences for understanding, among other things, the emergence of the Israelites in the Iron Age. More traditional topics were represented at the congress as well, including Gabriel Barkay's paper on "The Redefining of Archaeological Periods: Does the Date 588/586 B.C.E. Indeed

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W. F.Albright Institute of Archaeological Research (AIAR) have revealed more sections of the Third Wall and a Byzantine monastic complex. The site is near where a four-lane road following the line of NoMan'sLandis going to be built. Before this happens, Vasilios Tsaferis, Nurit Feig, and Alexander Onn of the Israel Antiquities Authority will direct a salvageexcavation focusing on two areascovering5.9 dunams. Feig is leading the excavation in an area on Nablus Road across from the U. S. Consulate. Severallargeblocks of the Third Wall have been exposed resting in situ on bedrock and finished with the drafted margin and smoothed boss characteristic of Herodian sites. Less than one-half a meter of soil was between the bedrock and the Byzantine walls of the next phase, and it contained no domestic architectural remains. This indicates that either the Third Wall was isolated or that all traces of Herodian buildings once associated with the wall were later stripped down to bedrock- a strong possibility since only a few stones from the Third Wall were left. In the Byzantine period,

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Mark the End of the Iron Age Culture?" Barkay, of Tel Aviv University, demonstrated that the historical and theological significance of the destruction of Jerusalem has unduly influenced the views of archaeologists. He maintained that Iron Age culture continued until the late sixth century B.C.E.

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archaeologists, he said, might help biblical scholars view the end of the JudeanKingdom differently and provide a more balanced view of events described in the biblical text. Plansto publishthe conference proceedingsareunderway. -Walter E. Aufrecht, University of Lethbridge

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Onn is supervising the area along Shmuel HaNavi Street, where he has found evidence of six phases of occupation. The first includes a continuation of the line of the Third Wall and one of its towers, while the second consists of a free-standing, oneroom structure made of squared ashlars dating to the LateRoman period. This room was reused and preserved as part of the monastery. Onn is being assisted by JonSeligman. The fifth- and sixthcentury-c.E.Byzantine monastery was built in the third phase. Its well-defined compound was centered around a rectangularchurch pavedwith a common carpet-pattern

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mosaic, of which only patches survive. Two plastered cisterns, possibly related to the lost baptismal structure, were found beneath the floor at the entrance to the nave along with an empty tomb. A small plaster-lined pit was discovered under the spot where the altar would have been. Within the pit lay a reliquary box engravedwith Christian motifs, which might be an indication that the monastery was a martyrium, possibly dedicated to Saint Stephen. Two floor levels in the rooms and additional thresholds set into existing walls at the level of the upper floors indicate two phases of Byzantine construction. The final phases in this area date to the Islamic and modern periods. Watercarrying pipes and drainage channels of the Islamic period were found, but the floors and walls above had not survived. Excavations along the Third Wall are continuing and promise to shed more light on the history of this part of Jerusalem under Herod and the Byzantines. The first area will be preserved as part of an archaeological garden, while the monastery will be covered by the road. -Mark Meehl, James A. Montgomery Fellow

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I ter the publication process for the remaining unpublished Dead Sea scroll material were outlined by the Oversight Committee on the Dead Sea Scrolls at a private meeting held here in late June prior to the Second International Congress on Biblical Archaeology. Members of the committee, publications headed by John Strugnell, and other interested scholars attended the meeting along with the five-personOversight Committee appointed by the Israel Antiquities Authority and chaired by Shemaryahu Talmon of Hebrew University. In his remarks, Talmon emphasized the progress already made in publishing the scrolls. He said the three original editors who are still active - Strugnell, Frank Moore Cross, and J. T. Milik-had redistributed their materials so that now almost 25 people are involved in the process. Talmon said that the new editors will be asked to agree to specific publication dates for their manuscripts and that an annual progress report will be issued by the editor-in-chief of the publication committee. In the July 7 issue of the Jerusalem Post, Strugnell said that the editors were asked to submit their work to him according to a timetable that ends in 1997. The scrolls will then be published, with all of them scheduled to be published by the year 2000. Talmon said photographs of published manuscripts will be made availableto any scholar who requests them, while

September 1990

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Strugnell indicated that the two committees still had some disagreements, but both looked forward to the speedy publication of the remaining manuscripts. At the public session on the scrolls held during the congress, Jonas C. Greenfield of Hebrew University, a member of the Oversight Committee, recounted the history of publishing the scrolls. He pointed out that much of the material has already been published, including from 50 to 60 percent of the biblical texts. Although the pace of publication has been slow, he said, it

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is no slower than other comparable projects (for example, the Oxyrhynchus Papyri). Joseph Baumgarten of Baltimore Hebrew University presented a paper on the Cave 4 fragments of the Damascus Covenant. Baumgarten was given the duty of publishing the fragments by Milik, and this was Baumgarten's first presentation of his findings. The Damascus Covenant exists in eight fragments from Cave 4, rangingin palaeographic date from late Hasmonean to late Herodian. In these manuscripts, 47 percent of the material parallels already known texts. Of the new material, approximately two-thirds is devoted to legal material (forexample, 4QDd contains laws concerning skin disease). Michael Stone of Hebrew University and Lawrence Schiffman of New York University presented papers about texts that have already been published. - Sidnie Ann White, Albright College

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IScrolls will be carbon-14 tested for the first time in an effort to date them more accurately, according to an article in the July 7 issue of the Jerusalem Post. Testing will be conducted a by Swiss expert who arrived in late June to examine the scrolls. A new method of

damagethe scrolls will be used. Earlier tests were conducted on the cloth wraps and were accurate within 230 years, but the new method will reduce this margin to 35 years. The results of the tests are expected to be available within a few months.

Book

Reviews

The Bible's First History, by Robert

B. Coote and David RobertOrd, x + 308 pp. Philadelphia: FortressPress, 1989; $24.95. The Bible'sFirstHistory is not a book on archaeology,or even on history in the ordinarysense of the term, although it makes use of archaeologicaldata on the emergence of Israel.It will be interesting and/orprovocativereading,however,for archaeologistsand others who want to encounter state-of-the-artoutput from a prominent viewpoint in contemporary Old Testamentscholarship. RobertCoote is probablybest known to members of ASOR for his contributions to the joint SBL/ASOR Sociology of the Monarchyseminar as well as for the seminal joint publications he has producedwith KeithW Whitelam. His coauthor on this volume, David R. Ord, is a Presbyterianminister and may not be as well known to members of ASOR. Coote and Ordcollaboratedon this book in the hope that combining the diverse talents of a professional and a parish pastorwould producea work that is accessible to the widest possible audience. This is an admirablegoal, but I fear that this volume makes demands that can be met only by a relatively limited audience, those who are literate in terms of recent biblical scholarship. The History of the title is the J(or Yahwist)cycle of tradition in the biblical Torah.One might characterizethe book as an extensively glossed edition of J. The authors offer six chaptersof prologue and two of epilogue. Each of the 20 chaptersin between contains a translation of part of Jfollowed by, or interspersedwith, paraphrase,explanation, and commentary on the translated material. The translation is generally flowing and colloquial, as a translation of Jshould be, but there is an occasional jarwhen colloquialism gives way to social scientific jargon.A case in point is Genesis 2:24, where the traditional (and ratherliteral) English version readingof the Masoretic text, "oneflesh,"becomes "akinship group"! Coote and Ordarenot slavish followers of earlier source analysis, and their departuresfrom the customary are generally well taken. They also arguethat J

originated in the court of David rather than that of Solomon. The austerity of J indeed resonates much more plausibly with the modesty of David'scourt than with the opulence of Solomon's. The term history is usually taken to mean that the narrativeto which it is appliedhas something to do with what was the case in the time portrayedby the narrative.Coote and Orddo not use history in the ordinarysense, however; rather,they treat Jas a sort of historical allegory for David'sown time. They ask why JrepresentsIsrael'sancestors as bedouin when archaeologicaldata show that most, if not all, were farmers.Their answer is that the Jcycle was intended to facilitate David'srelations with Negev and Sinai bedouin whom he needed to wean from Egyptianinfluence. Jis spoken of as "Ahistory of Yahweh"(page87), as a "fantasythat addresseshistorical issues in the time of David"(albeitbased on traditional sources, page 100),and as a "fantastichistory of the ancestors"(page 156).Alternatively,"Itis essentially a cult myth"(page39). The authors do not offer a full description of the methodology that underlies their work. Here the inquisitive readermay be well advised to consult Whitelam (1989),for I believe he has done so. (Tobe sure, Whitelam connects the origins narrativeswith the elite of exilic and postexilic times ratherthan the Davidic age.)The method combines insights from contemporary"closereading"literary analysis, the "longterm" historiographyof Braudel,and the analogical use of material from cultural anthropologyand ethnography.Much of Coote and Ord'scase rests on intuitively plausible literary insights. The critique of structuralist anthropologygiven by Marvin Harris (1979: 165-97), which is applicable to other intuitive methodologies, may be instructive at this point. Critical, and particularlyempirical, testing of intuitively plausible insights may falsify them as hypotheses. Many historians and archaeologistswill conclude that the authors'case is far from established, but if one sets aside matters of historiography,The Bible's First History is a literary tour de force. Everyunit of tradition claimed for Jis incorporatedmeaningfully in the inter-

pretativescheme. Different readerswill be obliged to take issue with various particularinterpretations and/ortranslations in the treatment. Forinstance, J'screation and gardenstories are desexualized. Only after the fall, when their eyes were opened, did the man and woman recognize that they were sexual beings, say Coote and Ord, and only then did the primal couple couple. This act was the real fall, accordingto these authors.It was an act of hubris, representedin the authors'translation of Eve'sexclamation, "Ihave gotten a man as though I were a god"(Genesis 4:1).This readingis defended by appeal to the Septuagint, which implies 'elohimratherthan yhwh, but the Septuagintreadingoverall supports the King James/RevisedStandardVersionsratherthan the revisionist renderingexcept for the form of the divine name. (N 1, page 65, is one that slipped by in the proofingprocess. The Septuagintdoes not read 'elohim,but Theou.)This supposedact of genital hubris tainted human reproduction down to the birth of Isaac,at which point the situation was redeemedbecause Yhwh, not Abraham,impregnated Sarah(pages 120, 126 and 127).Adam and Evehad wrongedGod, but God's wrongdoingof Abrahamevened the score. Isaac, the Son of God, was a redemptivefigure. If one follows Geza Vermes (1973:220-22), Isaacwas the product of a virgin birth!The Hebrewof Genesis 21:1is ambiguous enough to bear a variety of constructions: Was Yhwh acting in the role of lover,or gynecologist? Both the proximate context and overall theme lean towardthe less scandalous direction. Coote and Ordproperlywarn against the dangersinherent in the recently popular"canonicalcriticism,"noting that the very fact of consolidation blurs the meaning of the incorporatedtraditions. Does it follow, though, that the authority of the canonical text is an "antibiblicalauthority"?It seems a tautology that the authority of Scripturefor both Jewsand Christians was canonical authority.The contribution of "higher criticism"to the theological appreciation of Scripturewould seem to be that it calls attention to the meaning of the

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constituent parts of the canon and works against their submergencein a fictitious orthodoxy.The assertion that the canon of Tanakis a "Persiancanon" (page304) and problematicon that account will not go unquestioned. A theological agendamay be at work on page 306: "Jis interested in the salvation of humanity by means of David's nation. The Gospels, written in the view of the fall of the state of Palestine, are interested in the salvation of humanity by means of one person who represents all persons unjustly put to death or whose lives have been foreshortenedby the lack of justice in the world."A historian readingthe Gospels might suppose that the JewishChristians who conservedthese traditions looked ratherfor the salvation of humanity by means of the Davidic Messiah! In the final analysis, The Bible's FirstHistory must not be viewed as a work of history, not even literary history, but as a work of literary interpretation with strongtheological overtones.(These overtonesare, not surprisingly,distinctively Christian, with an inclination towardLiberationTheology.)In that capacity it is an interesting and thoughtprovokingvolume that raises, among other issues, the question of what history is and how it should be done. This is a matter of interest to persons concerned with various branchesof historical inquiry,including the one known as archaeology.

The Old TestamentWorld,by John Rogersonand Philip Davies, 384 pp. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:PrenticeHall, 1989; $33.00. The Worldof the Old Testament,edited by A. S. van der Woude,translated by Sierd Woudstra(Bible Handbook, volume 2), xi + 300 pp. Grand Rapids, Michigan:Eerdmans, 1989; $34.95 (hardcover),$24.95 (paper). Despite the similarity in their names, these two works have somewhat different scopes. This is primarilybecause The Worldof the Old Testamentis the second volume of a four-volumeBible Handbookoriginally published in Dutch

a ** *

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in 1981.It is designed as a companion volume to the previously released The Worldof the Bible (vander Woude 1986, reviewedin Biblical Archaeologist 51: 60-61). This fact is noted on the dust jacketbut not in the book itself. Indeed, there is no prefaceor forwardwhatsoever, and this will no doubt result in confuBibliography sion for those who come to the present Harris,M. 1979 CulturalMaterialism:The Struggle volume without being familiar with the for a Science of Culture.New York: first. The title is somewhat misleading, RandomHouse. as most sections relevantto the "world" Vermes,G. of the Old Testamentwere included in 1973 Jesusthe Jew:A Historian'sReading the first volume. The present volume's of the Gospels.New York:Macmillan. contents are presented in three main K. Whitelam, W. that cover the history of Israel, divisions 1989 Israel'sTraditionsof Origins.Journal the literature of the Old Testament,and for the Study of the Old Testament the books of the Old Testament. 44: 19-42. The history of Israelup to the Exile Chris Hauer,Jr. is covered WestminsterCollege by M. J.Mulderand from the Exile to Alexanderthe Greatby van der Woude.These essays complement the Near Easternhistory providedin the first volume. In a thoughtful section titled PreliminaryQuestions, Mulderconsiders the difficulties in writing a history of

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Biblical Archaeologist, September 1990

Israel. Surprisingly,he indicates a "wish to take the biblical data strictly at their face value"(page64). The sections on the Patriarchsand Exodus,however,are less a history than a disjointed recitation of difficulties facing the historian in those periods. Mulder seems overly concerned with the supposedJ,E, D, and P sourceswithout any introduction to their significance- and he spends an inordinate amount of space on the question of divine names. This makes for ponderous reading,which, although helpful for the specialist or student, will not serve well as a popularintroduction for a Bible handbook.Mulder'sremaining sections are considerablymore useful and give a solid backgroundfor understandingthe biblical text. The essay by van der Woudetakes the readersmoothly into the intertestamental period and includes interesting coverageof the Elephantineand Wadeed-Daliyeh papyri.Archaeological dataareused rathersparinglyin reference to earlier periods and somewhat cautiously overall.Forexample, in discussing Judeanactivity in the areaof the Gulf of Aqabaat the time of Uzziah, Mulder says "somehave felt that certain archaeologicalfinds indicate traces of Judeaninfluence in this area,for instance, a seal with the name Jotham" (page63, emphasis mine). Topographical referencessuch as site identifications also are not very frequent and are somewhat inadequate.In referenceto Sennacherib's 701-B.C.E. campaign, Eltekeh is

tentatively placed at Khirbetel-muqanna (page65), an identification based upon a 1924 suggestion by E Albright. Since W. 1958, and especially in view of excavations at the site in recent years,Khirbet el-muqannahas been identified as Ekron. Ekronand other cities mentioned in this section are not given site identifications. Appendices on the chronology of Near Easternrulers are placed aftereach chapter.That for the Hebrew kings lists severalchronologies side by side but not that of E. R. Thiele, which is arguably more influential than others that are included. In the second division, H. A. Brongers examines the various literarygenres to which the Old Testamentmaterial belongs. Much of the material could have

1 been incorporatedinto the introductions to the Old Testamentbooks themselves the chapteron religious poetry,for example, is essentially an introduction to the Psalms. Nevertheless, this arrangement allows for a much wider review of the literaryforms used by the biblical writers. Some of the divisions, however, seem artificial and perhapsoverly subjective, especially in the chapteron poetic stories. Is it necessary, one wonders,to differentiatebetween the genres of fairy tale and fable (pages 118-19)? A tendency to over-categorizeis shown by the discussion of severalbiblical passagesunder more than one literary rubric.Overallthe discussion moves well for the amount of material covered and does not often bog down in cumbersome detail. Despite occasional remarks that may limit its reception among more conservative readers,this is a valuable essay for those who would seek to understand the nature of the Old Testament literature. The third majordivision introduces the books of the Old Testament. C. Houtman'sintroduction to the Pentateuch consists mainly of a ratherdetailed review of Pentateuchalcriticism - one of the more helpful I have read.This is followed by an evaluation that allows for the possibility of Mosaic material in the Pentateuch and rejects the documentary hypothesis. It is unfortunate that the content of the Pentateuch is outlined in a single paragraph.By contrast, H. H. Grosheide'streatment of the historical books includes brief outlines of each book's contents. Especially refreshingis his brief treatment of Ezra-Nehemiah chronology.B. J.Oosterhoff introduces the Prophetswith a short but helpful survey of prophetism. Eachprophetic book is coveredwith sections on person and time, the book, and the preachingof the prophet.J.P.M. van der Ploeg introduces the writings, minus the books of Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah,which are treatedwith the historical books. Severalhelpful line maps have been included in a section at the back of the book. English readersmay wonder at a referenceto the "translationof the Dutch Bible Society"(page107),but the translation is well done, and the book is quite readable.Although it is perhaps

not as impressive as the first volume, The Worldof the Old Testamentis a worthy addition to the Bible Handbook and will be a welcome referencefor general readersas well as specialists. The Old Testament Worldis a more comprehensive volume that coversthe backgroundof the Old Testament and gives an introduction to its literaturein a generalformat. The material is organized into four parts:The Setting;The History and Religion of Israel;Literature and Life;and The Formationof the Old Testament. The first part includes the chapters Geographyand Ecology of the Landof Israel, and Social Organization,both by Rogerson,and Israel'sNeighbors,by Davies. Rogerson'sreview of Palestinian geographyis hamperedby its presentation of the majorgeographicaldivisions. In dividing the land into six strips, credit is given to G. A. Smith (page 16).Looking up the reference,however,one finds the traditional division of the land into four north-south strips:the Coastal Plains, the Central Mountain Range,the JordanRift Valley,and the EasternHighlands (Smith 1931:48). To these, Rogerson addsthe Shephelah and the Eastern Desert. Tobe sure, Smith later expands his "catalogof ruling features"(no longer strips)to seven (Smith 1931:50), adding the Shephelah,JezreelValley,and the Negev. Although the Shephelah, Rogerson's strip 2, is certainly a distinct local region, it is confined to the foothills of Judahand is not a majornorth-south feature.The JezreelValley,on the other hand, is more distinct and is perhaps greaterin geopolitical importance than is the Shephelah,but it is inadequately identified and becomes lost in the discussion. The inhospitableEasternDesert, Rogerson'sstrip 6, is not generally considered a part of Palestine (Smith 1931: 48-50). By contrast, desert regions within Palestine properthat playedan important part in the biblical story are omitted-the Negev is barely mentioned and does not even appearin the index. The accompanyingmap, although clearly laid out, adds to the confusion. Dark lines delimit the major strips, but the JezreelValleyand the Negev, not adequately identified, appearto be integral parts of strip 4, the JordanValley.

iscover

&/i'blical

&Irchaeologist Eachyearmany new discoveriesare made that enrichour understanding of the rootsof Westerntradition. Sinceit firstreportedthe discovery of the Dead Sea Scrollsin 1947, has been first BiblicalArchaeologist on the scene with fascinatingreports of the latestfieldwork. Published quarterlyby the JohnsHopkins UniversityPresson behalfof the AmericanSchoolsof Oriental Research,BA continuesthis tradition of timely,challengingarticlesthat set the pacefor scholarsand laypeoplealike. Toplaceyoursubscriptionor renew a currentsubscription,completethe form below and returnit to the JohnsHopkinsUniversityPress, JournalsPublishingDivision (JHUP), 701 W. 40th St., Suite275, Baltimore, MD 21211.Individualordersmust be prepaidby checkor money order drawnon a United Statesbankor by VISAor MasterCard.To placean orderby creditcard,dial our toll-free number,1-800-537-JHUP Maryland residentspleaseadd5%salestax. El $19.95individuals O1$30.00institutions enclosed ElCheckormoney-order OlMasterCard O Visa Cardnumber date Expiration Name Address City State

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173

The remainderof the chapterdiscusses climate and vegetation, land use, and the theological significance of the land. These inclusions areunusual in a popularbook but providehelpful insights for the interested readerof the Old Testament.This trend continues in Rogerson'schapteron Social Organization. Discussions of ancient Israel'sperception of the individual'splace within social groups and the various social networks providean effective contrast to the norms of modern Westernsociety. Davies'schapterdiscusses several relevantNear Easternnations in capsule overviews that demonstrateIsrael'splace among and in relation to its neighbors. These surveyseffectively incorporate archaeologicalinformation. There are, however,some assertions that may be considered out-of-dateor questionable: the Philistines are said to have migrated from Crete or possibly Asia Minor (page 72);the Arameansare called descendants of the Amorites (page84);and the Assyrianrab-shakehis conjecturedas a "localgovernor"(page100). The history of Israelup to the Exile, coveredby Rogerson,begins with the explanation that the Patriarchsand the Exodusare difficult to incorporateinto a history of Israel.The survey,then, picks up with Israelin the land duringthe period of the Judgesand is clearly committed to a reconstruction in which the various tribes are only first united under David. At the end of the first chapter, the Patriarchaland Exodusnarrativesare treatedas intending to reflect this political reality.Rogerson'shistory of the divided monarchyevidently owes much to the recent work of J.M. Miller and J.H. Hayes (1986),which is frequently cited, in contrast to the relative paucity of notes elsewhere in the book. Two chaptersby Davies extend the history to the rise of Herod the Great. Coverageof the Hellenistic periodwill proveespecially instructive for the lay reader.The history is engaginglywritten but takes certain critical ideas as givens in orderto make its case. The lack of notes in most places, however,makes it difficult for the interested readerto delve deeper. The third part of the book surveys the Old Testamentmaterial accordingto literarygenre. The discussion contains

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comparisons of Old Testamentand related Near Easternliteratureand investigates the manner in which the material may have functioned in Israelite life. Certain texts, such as the Book of the Covenant, are given a sort of commentary.The result is a lively and readable surveybut one that is less usable as an introduction. Rarely,for example, is there a review of critical issues relating to particularbooks -although a particular viewpoint clearly underlies much of the discussion. Creation stories, legal texts, and sacrifices and psalms are covered by Rogerson;narratives,prophetic, wisdom, and apocalypticliteratureare coveredby Davies. One chapterby Davies completes the picture by dealing with differentaspects of early Judaism in the period following the completion of the Old Testament. The final division deals briefly with the formation of the Old Testament,a vital part for any introduction. As elsewhere, this section reflects the critical views of the authors, some of which are highly speculative. Nevertheless, the discussion is helpful and thought provoking. Briefsections on canon and text and versions providea fitting conclusion to the book. Although the bibliographyis somewhat selective, it is current, including works published in 1988. Perhapsproduction of the book was too rushed, as severalparentheticalnotes in the text have no correspondingentries in the bibliography,and there are other minor proofreadingerrorsas well. Overall,the book's layout is very pleasing. Maps (apartfrom the exception mentioned above)are clear and concise. A wealth of photographs,especially a number of strikingly beautiful color ones, assist the readerin visualizing locations and objects. Unfortunately,a photographof Masada(pages186-87) is printedbackwards,and one of an Isaiah scroll (page 340) is printedupside down. In the preface,Rogersonand Davies indicate a desire to present an Old Testament introduction reflecting current scholarship,which they see as embodied in two approaches:the use of socialscientific methods and an interest in the Old Testamentas literature.The former emphasis makes this introduction

Biblical Archaeologist, September 1990

unique. The sociological and anthropological emphases indeed illuminate the "realworld behind the text"(page13). Yet The Old Testament World may have

some difficulty finding its niche. The lack of a systematic introduction to the Old Testamentbooks preventsit from being an effective textbook. On the other hand, some of the material may be a bit heavy for the general reader.It is well written, however,and will certainly help any audience come to a fuller understanding of the biblical text. Bibliography Miller, J.M., and Hayes,J.H. 1986 A History of Ancient Israel and Judah.Philadelphia:Westminster. Smith, G. A. 1931 The Historical Geographyof the

HolyLand,twenty-fifth edition. London:Hodderand Stoughton. Woude,A. S. van der 1986 The Worldof the Bible, translatedby S. Woudstra.GrandRapids,Michigan: Eerdmans.

Daniel C. Browning,Jr. TarrantCounty JuniorCollege

The Originof the Mithraic Mysteries: Cosmology and Salvationin the Ancient World, by David Ulansey, xii + 154 pp. New Yorkand Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989; $24.95.

This book is lucid and, for the most part, cogent. Most of what I had readof astronomical explanations of the Mithras cult were elucidations of obscurum per obscurius, but this book carries the readeralong. The book concerns itself, as the title says, with the origins of the Mithraic Mysteries, which may or may not have much to do with the developedcult in the RomanEmpire.Ulansey sees the beginning of the cult in Tarsusin the early first century B.C.E.Mithras is es-

sentially "thelord of the precession of the equinoxes,"a phenomenon discovered by the Greek astronomerHipparchus.As such, Mithras"slaysthe bull";that is, he brings the cosmic orderout of the Age of Taurusinto the currentAge of Aries. Thus he is the most powerfulof the sky

gods, kosmokratores.The secondary figures of the tauroctonyrelief represent the constellations of that portion of the celestial equatorthat lie below the ecliptic, if one assumes a spring equinox in Taurus,except for the lion, which represents the summer solstice on the same assumption. Tarsus,where all this was developed, had an ancient cult of Perseus,who has strong affinities with Mithras.The constellation of Perseus is right abovethe bull and can be seen as slaying him. The cult also took shape under the influence of Stoic astral speculation. That philosophical school is known to have been well representedat Tarsus.Likewise, emphasis is placed on Plutarch'stestimony that Mithraic worship came to the West via the Cilician "pirates," who, on Ulansey's showing, are better off and better educated than the term usually implies. The addition of the Persian name "Mithras"to this new divinity is

Schools

American

Grants

entirely secondary,dependent on the old punning association of Perseuswith Persiaand perhapsgiven an impetus by Mithradatesof Pontus, the pirates'ally. Other secondaryfigures also can be explained this way: The lion-headedgod has affinities with the Gorgon,Helios becomes a lesser kosmokrator,Cautes and Cautopatesrepresentthe spring and fall equinoxes, and so on. The various stages of initiation presumablycorrespond to the various stagesof explanation of all this arcanelore to initiates. The whole of Ulansey's system is a construction out of the iconographyof the cult without much supportfrom literary sources, but it does have internal consistency. Consideringthat antiquity was not as rational a time as we are often inclined to imagine it, but increasingly given to astral speculation, mysticism, and superstition, who is to say that Ulansey's reconstruction is not indeed the case?

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The American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR), Amman, Jordan AnnualProfessorship ResearchFellowship Fulbright HonoraryAppointments JenniferC. Groot Fellowship

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After thus lauding the book, I must point out one of its bad habits: relying too much on quotations from secondary sources, almost as if Ulansey did not quite trust himself with an independent evaluation of the original ancient evidence; sometimes the primarysources are introducedonly in this secondhand way,as on page 42 where evidence from Lucanand Ammianus Marcellinus is introducedthrough a quotation, translated from the French,by Louis Robert. Although convenient for the author,this way of doing things makes it look as if he had help with his homework. It smacks of an undergraduateterm paper. On the whole, though, this is a surprisingly convincing and readablebook, and I heartily recommend it to the educated generalreader.

The Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute (CAARI), Nicosia AnitaC. O'DonovanFellowship ResearchFellowship Fulbright HonoraryAppointments The Committee on Mesopotamian Civilization, Baghdad IraqExcavationGrant MesopotamianFellowship At-Large Endowmentfor BiblicalResearchTraveland ResearchAwards W. F.AlbrightFellowship

these awardsis availablefromthe AmericanSchoolsof OrientalResearch, Informationregarding the Rotunda,Suite354, 711West 40th Street, Baltimore,MD 21211;(301)889-1383.

Biblical Archaeologist, September 1990

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Ancient Israelite Literaturein its Cultural Context, A Surveyof Parallels Between Biblical and Ancient Near EasternTexts,by JohnH. Walton,249 pp. Grand Rapids, MI:Zondervan, 1989; $19.95. Teachersand researchersare always looking for tools to aid in the study of ancient Near Easterntexts. The abundance of ancient literaturethat has been unearthed presents a problem to many who would like to introducethis material to their students but either have trouble locating translations and critical discussions or are uncertain about the issues of literary and cultural borrowing.With this book, JohnWaltonhas provideda tool that should be useful to professors and students alike. In an almost encyclopedic style, he has marshalled the data to locate, analyze, and critically discuss most of the ancient Near Eastern texts that have been identified as being in some way parallel to the biblical texts. While noting his conservativeroots, Walton'spurpose in surveyingthese ancient Near Easterntexts is to review existing scholarship,providea guide book to this scholarship,and point out "pitfalls"in currentunderstandingsthat create "uniformviews"of the literature and cultures involved.He does this by clinically analyzingeach text (cosmogony, personal archives,law, treaties, history, hymns, wisdom, prophecy,and apocalyptic literature)accordingto genre, structure, content, and purpose.He then provides a section dealing with the "casesof alleged borrowing"- following a scheme that examines the argumentsfor and against borrowingfrom Mesopotamiaor Egyptby the Israelitesor vice versa. In most cases, his analysis leads him to the conclusion that common cultural or literarytraditions and motifs or "two literaryperspectives on a single actual event"(such as in the case of the flood narrativeon page40) are more reasonable explanations than actual borrowing. Walton'spresentation is a cautious, obviously conservative, synthesis of the scholarly treatments of these ancient Near Easterntexts. He raises doubts in nearly every suggestedcase of literary borrowing,leaving the door open for Israelitecreativity (suchas in the preflood

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names and terms. These sections are genealogy of Genesis 5, pages 127-30) with a minimum of reliance on or represented in a readableformat with action to the polytheistic cultures of a simplistic pronunciation schemata Egyptand Mesopotamia.In many cases reproducedon each page.The terms that this is justified, especially when one appearin the second section representa considersthe patriarchal"parallelomania" nice cross section of technical thethat occurredwhen the Nuzi and Mari ological terms (literarycritical terms texts were first published. However,such abound),although some areasare lackuniform skepticism regardingthe boring; for example, the volume is woefully short on archaeologicaland anthrolimits the sense of culrowing process tural fluidity that undoubtedlyexisted pological terms. in the ancient Near East. One problem with this work is that This volume is to be recommended the editors tried to present a definitive to all librariesthat have a collection on pronunciation for each term. It would have made more sense to list the accepbiblical studies. It will proveuseful to students who wish to have a guide to the table pronunciationsof each word (folliterature;however,because it contains lowing the lead of W.M. Seaverance's few Pronunciation from the texts themof Bible Names and the very excerpts International StandardBible Encycloselves, it must be used in conjunction with JamesPritchard'sedited volume, pedia, among others) and then use their list of criteria to select the favored Ancient Near EasternTextsRelating to the Old Testament (thirdedition with pronunciation. A prime example of the arbitrariness supplement, PrincetonUniversity Press, of the pronunciationsthat were chosen is 1969)or some other translation of ancient Near Easternliterature.Walton's Ugaritic, here appearingas od guh-rit'ik volume contains severalvery useful (to use the pronouncingschemata of the charts that compare the texts, and it has editors).This wordhas a curious bifurcaa great deal of up-to-datebibliographic tion in its American English pronunciainformation. An index of the biblical tion, divided into a Westernpronunciation (asrepresentedabove)and an Eastern and ancient Near Easterntexts cited in the volume and a more comprehensive one, yod guh-rit'ik. Although this protable of contents would have been helpnunciation is a "defensible" one (toborrow the editors'justification for the choice of ful for those readerswishing to check a a particularpronunciation),it is not the particulartext. Victor H. Matthews majority opinion. I was also troubled that the criteria Southwest Missouri State University used for selecting pronunciationselevated nonscholarly pronunciations over scholarly ones. A prime example is the pronunciation of baal as bay"uhl ratherthan the scholarly bah' uhl. If standardization Harper'sBible PronunciationGuide, by William O. Walker,general editor,xii + is indeed a goal of this work, authority 170 pp. San Francisco:Harper& Row, must springfrom the scholarly world. Another problem is that the editors 1989; $15.95. elected to list alternate spellings for The editors of this volume were ultivarious terms and to give each spelling a concerned with the mately separateentry. BarKochba,for instance, establishing has no less than 18 entries. It probably groundworkfor standardizingthe would have been much simpler to choose (American)English pronunciation of biblical terms. Such an enormous and a single spelling as the authoritativeone with divergentspellings listed below, in subjectiveundertakingwill no doubt serve as fodderfor the critics. I, however, the fashion of the Interpreter'sDicwill limit my comments to a few of the tionary of the Bible. This would have book'smajorproblems. eliminated confusion on the partof those The work is divided into two secreaderswho areunfamiliarwith the terms tions. The first contains biblical nouns and, to use the example cited above,may while the second contains nonbiblical expect there to be 18 differententries

Biblical Archaeologist, September 1990

that look and sound familiar to Bar Kochba but have differentreferents. Finally,the work suffers-as do all such guides-from a lack of authority. There arenumerous no less authoritative sources for the pronunciation of biblical names, such as English dictionaries, Bible dictionaries, selfpronouncing Bibles, and the like. Ratherthan setting standardsfor the pronunciationof biblical terms, the first section of this book only muddles the picture. In the final analysis, however,this volume is quite useful. It is far more readablethan other guides (forexample, the one by Seaverance)and is less bulky and costly than the dictionaries. The second section containing nonbiblical terms is unique and valuable, especially for the generalreader.Futurepronunciation guides should strive for a similar readabilityand include a section on nonbiblical terminology as the editors of this volume have. MarkAnthony Phelps JohnsHopkins University

Ancient Israel:A New History of Israelite Society (The Biblical Seminar 5), by Niels PeterLemche, 276 pp. Sheffield: JSOTPress, 1988; $35.00 (hardcover); $14.95 (paper). In this volume Lemche offers a methodological and substantive sequel to his previous work,EarlyIsrael:Anthropological and Historical Studies on the Israelite Society Before the Monarchy (Leiden: E. J.Brill, 1985)that builds on the results of the researchpublished there. As RobertCoote observedin his review of Early Israel in the Journalof Biblical Literature(1989, 108:502-04), Lemche originally planned to advancehis findings in an independent contribution to the discussion of the origins of Israel with the special purpose of bringing neglected anthropologicalmaterials relevant to the discussion of premonarchical Israelto the attention of biblical scholars. Because of the appearanceof Norman Gottwald's,The Tribesof Israel (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1979),however,much of Lemche'sEarlyIsrael was given over

instead to a critique of Gottwald and GeorgeMendenhall. The current volume takes up the constructive task of reconstructing a new history of Israelite society, not just before the monarchybut in all periods. As he arguedin EarlyIsrael, Lemche begins this volume with the assertion that it is absurdto speak of historical recollections in the Old Testamentthat date from before the introduction of the monarchy."Itis accordinglymethodologically wrong to base one's reconstruction of the emergence of Israel in the late second millennium BCEon the Old Testament itself" (page7). He proposes what he calls "afundamentally new approachto the study of Israelite history and religion"using "abroadersociohistorical approach"(page7). He presents his versions of the histories of Israeland Israelite religion as a kind of introduction to a reneweddebate on these topics ratherthan as a definitive synthesis. The book has four basic parts organized in six chapters.The first part (Chapter1-Geography, Demography, Economy)is a descriptionof the geopolitical stageupon which the history and culture of Israelis set. A disappointingfeature of the book as a whole - the complete absenceof anymaps,charts,or diagramsis especially evident in this chapter. Lemche emphasizes that, comparedto Europeanconditions, the Near East, and Palestine in particular,is a ratherproblematic agriculturalarea,an environmental limitation that plays a significant role in his historical reconstruction. In the second part (Chapter2-Text and History), Lemche discusses method in Israelitehistoriography.He maintains that: "Froma methodological and logical point of view it is impossible to reconstruct the history of Israeland its religion in pre-exilic times. However,we must try to reconstruct it, knowing that our endeavouris presenting nothing more than a working hypothesis"(page32). Lemche is critical of scholarly attempts to winnow out historical truth from a complex of traditions. Lemche insists that, because the Israelites did not use historical writing as we know it, we should not expect to be able to rediscover objective or actual historical events. "For us, history consists of past events which

deserve study in their own right. Forthe Israelite,however,history was able to explain circumstances prevailingin his or her own time, but also to explain his or her own destiny"(page59). With this negative assessment of biblical literature as a source for historical reconstruction, how does Lemche deal with material sources, the stuff of archaeology?Clearly, he does not believe that archaeologycan inform us about individual events. As with literary evidence, Lemche asserts: "Archaeologicalevidence ... does not consist of objective data (i.e. data whose meaning is immediately clear)like the data of the natural sciences. It consists instead of subjective data (i.e.they are the results of the interpretationof an archaeologist),and their age, precisely as is the case with the literary strataof the Old Testament,is of decisive importance, but very difficult to determine"(page72). Although he admits that occasionally there aredirect correspondencesbetween the results of excavationand the Old Testamenttradition, he offersno methodological suggestions on how the results of archaeologycan be used togetherwith, or in the service of, a critical examination of biblical literature. The third section of the book comprises chaptersthree, four,andfive, titled, respectively,The Pre-MonarchicalPeriod, The Periodof the Monarchy,and The Exile and Post-ExilicPeriod.In these chaptersLemche reviews past and current scholarship and presents his own reconstructions,building on the methodological base established in chapter2. In generalterms, one can say that Lemche pays more attention to social history than do most histories of ancient Israel. He is at his best in the chapteron the pre-monarchicalperiod in discussing such things as the nature of peasantry, conceptions of kinship, and social and political structures,drawingon the kind of ethnographicdata reportedin Early Israel. It is here, however,that one encounters another of the book's weaknesses. Unlike EarlyIsrael, which was thoroughly documented, this book has no footnotes, endnotes, or citations of sources. Such useful guides are replaced instead by A Guide to RelevantLiterature at the end of the book (pages259-70), which Lemchedescribes as "acontinuous

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dead as those acts directedtowardthe deceased functioning either to placate the dead or to secure favorsfrom them for the present life"(page2). The majorfocus of the discussion is an examination of the Ugaritic and biblical textual materials. The use of archaeologicaldata and Mesopotamian and Hittite texts is meager. After a brief introduction, the book is divided into two sections. The first section deals with the majortextual materials availablefrom the excavations at Ras Shamra(Ugarit).Nearly half the section is devotedto an analysis of the most significant text availablefor understandingthe liturgy of a funeral ritual at Ugarit (KTU1.161 = RS 34.126).The Ugaritic Kings List (KTU1.113)is appealed to as evidence of the deadbeing referredto as a god, having some form of transcendentcharacter,which Lewis The duties of an calls "preternatural." ideal son as a part of the Aqhat Epic (CTA17.1.26-34) are reviewedin light of MarvinH. Pope'seffort to establish an understandingof the funeraryrites that a dutiful son performsfor his father (1981: 159-62). Lewis raises severalobjections to such an interpretationand suggests that the text presents only the simple admonitions of how a son should behave towardhis father,especially while he is living. Weare cautioned not to readtoo much funeraryimageryin this epic. On the other hand, the Dagan Stelae (KTU 6.13, 6.14) are seen as indicating that the dutiful son should set up the stela of one'sdivine ancestor,and this does have to do with the cult of the dead. The first section concludes with a Cults of the Dead in Ancient Israeland surveyof the marzeah, a Semitic social Ugarit (HarvardSemitic Monographs Number 39), by TheodoreJ.Lewis, xv + organizationknown for its drinkingfes230 pp. Atlanta, Georgia:Scholars Press, tivals. In many respects this discussion is a superb,though brief, treatment of 1989;$29.95. this institution; it brings together the This book is a quest for evidence of cults majorthemes of current scholarship of the dead in ancient Israeland Ugarit. dealing with the marzeah and provides extensive footnotes for the readerwho It is the author'srevised doctoraldissertation in ancient Near Easternlanguages wants to explorethe institution in greater and civilizations at HarvardUniversity. detail. It moves beyond the Ugaritic materials and providescomparativedata Currentlya professorat the University in ancient Near Easternliterature,includof Georgia,Lewis addressesthe conflict in ancient Israelbetween normative Yah- ing the Hebrew Bible, a Transjordanian wism, which condemned Canaanitecults text, Phoenician texts, rabbinicalsources, of the dead, and popularreligion, which and the Madabamap. It presents a cautious approachto the interpretationof practiceddeath cult rituals. The book's textual materials for the marzeah as controlling definition sees "cultsof the

bibliographicalcommentary"arranged by chapters. The final section, chapter6, is titled IsraeliteReligion. Lemche insists that we must reconstruct the course of the development of religion in a way that is just as independent of the biblical picture as was the case with the political and social history.A somewhat different approachis used in this section. First a description of Canaanite religion is offered.The Israelite religion is considered subsequently.Because of his assessment of the source materials as being quite late, he characterizesthe antithesis of Canaanitereligion first:"theIsraelite legalistic religionof the post-exilicperiod" (page198).Here, as in all of the preceding reconstructions,Lemche is at his best in a section on social location. As might be expected from the above assessment, the book ends with a very negative conclusion, which underlies the entire work, namely, that the Old Testamentis a very poor source if prenational Israelite society and its religion are the objects of inquiry.In spite of this, Lemche manages to present a useful model of how we should understandIsraelite society, its history,and its religion. The emphasis on social developments is a welcome and necessary correctiveto other only partially critical histories of ancient Israel. FrankS. Frick Albion College

178

Biblical Archaeologist, September 1990

having funeraryassociations, noting that the evidence is circumstantial. Lewis believes that activities centeredarounda drinking club were applied to funerary banquets due to the largeramount of beveragesconsumed by mournersin need of consolation. The first section concludes with a summary statement highlighting the evidence for a well-developed cult of the dead at Ugarit. The second section opens with the all-importantquestion: Wasthere a cult of the dead in ancient Israel?Lewis proceeds to answerthis question by addressing 25 selected portions in the Hebrew Bible. Lewis does not pretendto be exhaustive, given the magnitude of the question, but, in sum, he concludes from the biblical texts that cults of the dead were present in ancient Israeland that they were considereda threat to normative Yahwism.Such a conclusion is contraryto the assertions of G. Ernest Wright(1953:487), Rolandde Vaux(1961: 60-61), and YehezkelKaufmann(1960: 311-16), who insisted that such cults did not exist in ancient Israel.The book concludes with majorsummaries of the evidence from textual materials, an extensive and useful bibliography,and a good index to the citations and authors referencedin the work. Overall, this book is a valuable contribution to comparativetheology and to the reconstruction of cults of the dead in ancient Israeland Ugarit. The author clearly marshals significant literary evidence to achieve his purpose- to arriveat a more accurateunderstanding of the existence of cults of the dead. Although it is in the style of a technical dissertation and laced with specialized nomenclature and language,the nonspecialist will find it readableand Its extensivedocumenthought-provoking. tation is an addedvalue for the specialist. The overalltone of the book is cautious and free from the strident polemic that has accompaniedother scholarly formulations of cults of the dead. If there is a weakness in the book, it is the limited use of archaeologicaldata. The author appearshesitant to explore the richness of archaeologicaldiscoveries bearingon mortuaryphenomena that have been uncoveredat significant sites such as Hazor,Megiddo,Samaria,and

ture necessary to understandthe social structuresof the ancient Palestinian village, and the book reflects his knowledge Gospel, is somewhat misleading, however.The readerwho expects a full-scale of secondaryliterature.Forthe reader who is a novice at applying sociological treatment of economic relationships methods to biblical material, a glossary within the Gospel of Lukewill be disand annotatedbibliographyare provided; appointed.Moxnes has addressedthose both are very helpful and well done. but a as relationships only they form There are some problems with the Luke's for his focus on characbackdrop terization of the Pharisees. presentation, however.His characterizaMoxnes'sgoal was to examine Luke's tion of the Pharisees,for example, leads one to believe that the principal element perspectiveon economic relationships of Luke'sGospel is one of economic relawithin the villages of Palestine. He concludedthat Luke,like Matthew andMark, tionships. Certainly those relationships are important, but Luke'sliterarypresensaw the Pharisees as opponents of Jesus tation is more complex than that. An adand characterizedtheir opposition in terms of concernsaboutpurityandmoney. ditional weakness is Moxnes'sscholarly Because their opposition to Jesustook presentation;some readersmay need place within the context of the Palestin- further study in orderto graspthe entireBibliography ian village, Moxnes turned his attention ty of his thesis and arguments.Finally, Kaufmann,Y. the concluding chapterseems to be an 1960 TheReligionof Israel:FromIts Begin- to the social and economic dynamics of nings to the Babylonian Exile, trans- ancient village life, paying special attenafterthought.One would suppose that lated and abridgedby M. Greenberg. the book's inclusion in this particular tion to the Palestinian village. Chicago:University of ChicagoPress. series mandateda modern application, As in other ancient villages, social Pope,M. H. but the final chaptertends to detract in were Palestinian relationships villages 1981 Ugaritin Retrospect:Fifty Yearsof from the force of his study. on social and economic laws. Conbased Ugarit and Ugaritic, edited by G. D. Moxnes does an admirablejob with cerns about religious purity permeated Young.WinonaLake,IN: Eisenbrauns. this volume. The used action. Pharisees Perhapsthe only challenge purity every Roland de Vaux, to his to laws social and presentation would be the charge 1961 Ancient Israel, Its Life and Institupolitical power. gain that he was too single-minded-a charge the of those cause translated Jesuschampioned tions, by J.McHugh (Les that might also be seen as a compliinstitutions de l'Ancient Testament). who were considered outsiders by sociNew York:McGraw-Hill. ment. His work fills a gap in the study of ety, those whose physical or economic Wright,G. E. ancient Palestine, the Pharisees,and conditions did not allow them to meet 1953 The Book of Deuteronomy.Pp.311Luke'sliterarypresentation. Forthat we the social demands of the village. The 537 in The Interpreter'sBible, volshall be indebted to Moxnes for some Pharisees accused Jesusof trying to deume 2. New Yorkand Nashville: time to come. structure the social by stroy existing Abingdonand CokesburyPress. Steven Sheeley rules of social interaction. the changing RobertE. Cooley Shorter In accused Moxnes asserted,Jesus College turn, Gordon-ConwellTheological Seminary the Pharisees of idolatry in their worship of money and power. Moxnes concluded that modern society should adopt Luke'sperspectiveof The Compact Handbookof Old Testamoral economy, a term that reflects the ment Life, by John Bimson, 172 pp. The Economy of the Kingdom,by Halvor viewpoint of peasants ratherthan the view of those in power.Accordingto Moxnes, xxii + 183 pp. Philadelphia: Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, Fortress Press, 1988; $12.95 (paper). 1988; $5.95 (paper). we must our understandallow Moxnes, ing of the reality of povertywithin the This volume is part of the Overturesto demands of a social context to guide our The Compact Handbookof New Testament Life, by E. M. Blaiklock, 135 pp. Biblical Theology series, which is deeconomic and political decisions. old to "reach is and Moxnes's conclusions, Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, beyond presentation strong signed set categories,and conventionalmethods" well-grounded.He achieves his goal of 1989; $5.95 (paper). (pagexi). Moxnes, a professorat the Insti- examining Luke'scharacterizationof the tute for Biblical Researchat the UniverPhariseesfromthe viewpoint of economic The Compact Handbook of Old Testament Life was originally titled The has of applied sociological relationships within the Palestinian vilsity Oslo, World of the Old Testament and pubcriticism to Luke'sGospel, and his conlage. His arguments are easy to follow; lished in Great Britain by Scripture clusions certainly reach beyond more his conclusions are logical. He provides traditional conclusions about the world a solid scholarly discussion of the litera- Union in 1988. The author, John Bimson,

Gezer. Weneed to remember that those who wrote the literary texts often took for grantedmany aspects of cultural practice. Lewis'swork will be foundational to any study that uses archaeological and anthropologicaldata to explorethe social dimension of mortuary practices and cults of the dead in ancient Israeland Ugarit. The application of fundamental,theoretical approachesto anthropologymay demonstratevalues regardingthe nature of the individual, and of life, and that the cults have import for the meaning of life as well as death. This book serves as a useful introduction to an important problem, and I recommend it.

of that Gospel. His subtitle, Social Con-

flict and Economic Relations in Luke's

Biblical Archaeologist, September 1990

179

is Librarianand Lecturerin Old Testament and Hebrew at Trinity College in Bristol, England.He is best known for his book Redating the Exodus and Conquest (1978;second edition, 1981). Bimson does an admirablejob of developingthe historical and cultural settings of the Old Testament.He begins by describingthe climate and geography of ancient Israeland broadenshis discussion in chapter2 by introducingthe neighborswho had a constant impact on the history of the region. Bimson then revealsthe transitions that occurredin ancient Palestine, from pastoralnomads of the patriarchalperiod to village and city dwellers of the monarchyperiod.In chapters5 and 6, respectively,he capably reviews the types of water systems and warfaretechniques that were used, followed by a discussion of the typical family of the Old Testament.The final two chaptersdeal with ancient Israel's civil and religious institutions. Overall, Bimson competently summarizes life duringthe Old Testamentperiod. A weakness of the volume is an obvious lack of documentation. There are no footnotes, although Bimson superbly gives scripturalcitations throughout the text, both to illustrate and expandupon a point he is making. He regularlymentions archaeologicaldiscoveriesto illuminate his position, but without documentation it is impossible for the reader to examine the evidence being offered. Bimson accomplishes his goal of writing a very readableand understandable introduction to Old Testamenthistory.He treats some difficult questions with caution, such as the date of the exodus (pages29-30), but fairly mentions the debatewithout firmly ascribingto one position or the other. On other topics he satisfactorily coversthe entire scope of the discussion, such as his summary of warfarein chapter6, which is quite good. The author of the second volume, The Compact Handbook of New Testament Life, is the late professorE. M. Blaiklock, who servedwith distinction for more than 20 years at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.This book was originally titled The Worldof the New Testamentand was published in Great Britainby Ark Publishing in 1979.

180

In this general introduction to the New Testament,Blaiklock encouragesreaders to allow their minds to gravitateto the past as they consider the cultural setting at the time of Jesus.This approachis very constructive because most people in the twentieth century find it difficult to imagine what life was like in the first century. Overall,Blaiklock'sgreatest strength is his ability to help readers vicariously participatein historical events as they might have happened. In his reconstructionBlaiklock first deals with the generalhistorical context of the New Testament.In the first six chaptershe examines the growth and development of the Roman Empire, which ultimately brought it into contact with, and control of, Judea.Chapter7 reviews the local governmentalstructure of Judeaunder the Romanprocurator system. Blaiklock continues by discussing the impact of Hellenism on the re-

author'spropensity to drawconclusions based purely on speculation and conjecture. Blaiklock also fails to incorporate adequatearchaeologicalinformation that might aid his reconstructionof the period. Despite these caveats,the text conveys,with insight, imagination, and emotion, the events and setting of the New Testament.It will be of value to the nonspecialist who wants a general introduction to this period, but it lacks some valuableelements that would make it useful to the specialist. In the final analysis, Blaiklock'sbook cannot be recommendedas highly as Bimson'sbook. Some comparativeworks in Old Testamentand New Testamentstudies that might offer a more detailed introduction to everydaylife include Manners and Customs in the Bible by VictorH. Matthews (Hendrickson1988)and Handbook of Life in the Bible by J.A. Thompson (InterVarsityPress 1986), which providemore comprehensiveinsights into the historical and cultural contexts of the biblical period. Both Bimson and Blaiklock, however,offer valuable resourcesthat are accurate, well written, and inexpensive. RayAdams BaptistBible College

Correction

;I

1mm gion in his examination of the Greek world in chapter 8. The next chapters focus on Judaismin the New Testament period, with special emphasis given to a summary of the Pharisees,Sadducees, and Essenes. In a unique ending, Blaiklock takes the liberty of applying"Lessons for Today"in his final chapter. Blaiklock'swriting style is interesting and challenging. One of the major inadequacies of the text, however,is the

Biblical Archaeologist, September 1990

The last paragraphon page 66 of LawrenceSchiffman'sarticle in the Juneissue of Biblical Archaeologist incorrectlyidentified KingDavidas the son of Solomon instead of the father of Solomon. The error was introduced in the editing process. We apologize for any confusion it may have caused.

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