advertisement
Tel Beth Shemesh Archaeological Project, Israel - Institute for Field Research
Location: Israel
Season:
June 16, 2019 to July 13, 2019
Application Deadline:
Friday, April 5, 2019
Deadline Type:
Rolling
Flyer:
syllabus-israel-beth-shemesh-2019.pdf
Program Type
Field school
RPA certified
no
Affiliation:
Institute for Field Research, Connecticut College, Harding University, Tel Aviv University
Project Director:
Dr. Shawn Bubel, Dr. Dale W. Manor, Dr. Zvi Lederman, Dr. Shlomo Bunimovitz
Project Description
Since the beginning of modern explorations of the ancient world and it civilizations, Tel Beth-Shemesh has captured the interest of scholars and students of the ancient Near East. Its long sequence of occupational history has yielded a great deal of information about the past civilizations that flourished and faded in the region. The site is located between two valleys which were well-suited for grain production, growing grapes and olives, and animal grazing. They were also avenues of trade and communication. Tel Beth-Shemesh is located at the geographic meeting point of three different ethnic and cultural groups during the Iron Age (Philistines, Canaanites and Israelites), making it an ideal site to investigate ancient geopolitical, social, and cultural dynamics at a border zone. By applying insights gained through anthropological and archaeological research, the current expedition is shedding new light these and other theoretical issues. This summer our team will concentrate in the northern area of the site in order to explore cultural diversity, continuity, and changes from the 10th Century BCE to the 13th Century BCE. Our study not only examines the cultural changes that occurred at the site; it adds to our understanding of the region as a whole. Students will take part in excavating an early Iron Age temple that was partly exposed several seasons ago, as well as an area of the site where we discovered a very large palace from the el-Amarna Period (14th Century BCE). Contemporaneous with Amenhotep III, the palace may have been the seat of a female monarch who ruled the walled Canaanite city and its environs.
Period(s) of Occupation: Bronze-Iron Age
Project size:
1-24 participants
Minimum Length of Stay for Volunteers: Participants are required to stay for the full duration of the field school.
Minimum age:
18
Experience required:
No prior experience is required to participate in this program.
Room and Board Arrangements
During the week, students and staff stay in the modest but comfortable guesthouse at Ramat Shapiro, which is a few miles from the site. Each room accommodates 3-4 people, is air-conditioned, and has an adjoining bathroom. Bedding and towels are provided by the guest-house.
All meals will be communal events and will provide plenty of nutritious, basic food in the tradition of local cousin. Lunch and dinner are served in the central dining room at the guesthouse. A variety of dishes will be prepared, each of which will have a protein, vegetables, and a starch (rice, potatoes, bread, etc.). Israel is known for its fresh vegetables and fruit, so students will have lots of opportunities to try these. Breakfast is served on site (second breakfast) and normally includes cucumbers, tomatoes, and other fresh vegetables, eggs, bread, cereal, fresh milk, yoghurt, and cottage cheese. Food treats on the weekends would be falafel and shawarma dishes. The meals at the guesthouse are kosher. Specific dietary needs cannot be accommodated but vegetable dishes are always served. Tap water at the guesthouse and throughout Israel is safe to drink.
Students are encouraged to participate in the optional weekend field trips. We will stay at hostels or guesthouses in southern and northern Israel, and in Jerusalem. Those not participating must find alternative accommodations.
Cost:
Room and board is included in the tuition for this program, with the exception of weekend meals.
Academic Credit
Name of institution offering credit:
Connecticut College
Tuition:
$4,900
Location
Recommended Bibliography:
The readings listed below will be posted on the field school Moodle website. Hard copies will also be available at the field school camp.
Ashkenazi, Hai, Look, Cory, Lederman, Zvi, and Bunimovitz, Shlomo 2008 Destruction Analysis Using GIS at Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel. Paper presented at the American Schools of Oriental Research Annual Meeting, Boston.
Bubel, Shawn 2012 Contributions of Lithic Analysis to the Understanding of the Late Bronze and Iron Ages at Tel Beth-Shemesh. Paper presented at the American Schools of Oriental Research Annual Meeting, Chicago.
Bunimovitz, Shlomo and Faust, Avraham 2010 Re-constructing Biblical Archaeology: Toward an Integration of Archaeology and the Bible, In Historical Biblical Archaeology and the Future: The New Pragmatism, edited by Thomas E. Levy, pp. 45-56. Equinox Publishing Limited: Sheffield.
Bunimovitz, Shlomo and Lederman, Zvi 2012 Iron Age Iron: From Invention to Innovation, In Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology: Fifty Years On, edited by Jennifer M. Webb and David Frankel, Vol. CXXXVII, pp. 103-112. Astroms Forlag: Uppsala.
2011 Canaanite Resistance: The Philistines and Beth-Shemesh – A Case Study from Iron Age I. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 334: 37-51.
2009 The Archaeology of Border Communities – Renewed Excavations at Tel Beth-Shemesh, Part 1: The Iron Age, Near Eastern Archaeology 72: 114-142.
1997 Beth-Shemesh: Culture Conflict on Judah’s Frontier, Biblical Archaeology Review 23 (1): 42-49, 75-77.
Chovanec, Zuzana, Bunimovitz, Shlomo, and Lederman, Zvi 2015 Is There Opium Here? – Analysis of Cypriot Base Ring Juglets from Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel, Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol 15, No. 2: 175-189.
Manor Dale 2016 A Priest’s House at Beth-Shemesh? And Incised qdš Bowl and the 701 BCE Destruction. In Tel Beth-Shemesh: A Border Community in Judah. Renewed Excavations 1990-2000: The Iron Age, edited by Shlomo Bunimovitz and Zvi Lederman. Institute of Archaeology, Monograph Series. Tel Aviv University Press.
2013 Beth-Shemesh. In The Oxford Encyclopedia of The Bible and Archaeology, edited by Daniel M. Master, Volume 1, pp. 129-139. Oxford University Press.
Ziffer, I., Bunimovitz, S., and Lederman, Z. 2009 Divine or Human? An Intriguing Plaque Figurine from Tel Beth-Shemesh, Ägypten und Levante 19: 333-341.
RECOMMENDED READINGS
Bunimovitz, Shlomo and Lederman, Zvi 2013 Solving a Century-Old Puzzle: New Discoveries at the Middle Bronze Gate of Tel Beth-Shemesh, Palestine Exploration Quarterly 145 (1):6-24.
2011 Close Yet Apart: Diverse Cultural Dynamics at Iron Age Beth-Shemesh and Lachish. In The Fire Signals of Lachish: Studies in the Archaeology and History of Israel in the Late Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Persian Period in Honor of David Ussishkin, edited by Israel Finkelstein and Nadav Na’aman, pp. 33- 53. Eisenbrauns.
2010 A Unique Philistine Fish Motif from Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel Exploration Journal 60: 58-71.
Gillings, Mark and Wheatley, David 2005 Chapter 11: Geographic Information Systems. In Handbook of Archaeological Methods, Vol I, pp. 373-422, edited by Herbert D.G. Maschner and Christopher Chippindale. AltaMira Press.
Hill, Christopher, L. 2005 Chapter 25: Geoarchaeology. In Handbook of Archaeological Methods, Vol. II, pp. 1002-1033, edited by Herbert D.G. Maschner and Christopher Chippindale. AltaMira Press.
Knappett, Carl 2005 Chapter 18: Pottery. In Handbook of Archaeological Methods, Vol. II, pp. 673-714, edited by Herbert D.G. Maschner and Christopher Chippindale. AltaMira Press.
Levy, Thomas, E., Najjar, Mohammad, and Higham, Thomas 2010 Ancient Texts and Archaeology Revisited – Radiocarbon and Biblical Dating in the Southern Levant, Antiquity 84: 834-847.
Lyman, Lee 2005 Chapter 21: Zooarchaeology: In Handbook of Archaeological Methods, Vol. II, pp. 835-870, edited by Herbert D.G. Maschner and Christopher Chippindale. AltaMira Press.
Mazar, Amihai 1992 Archaeology of the Land of the Bible. Yale University Press. (Relevant Chapters: 7 - 12).
McCarter, Kyle, P., Bunimovitz, Shlomo, and Lederman, Zvi 2001 An Archaic Ba ͨl Inscription from Tel Beth-Shemesh, Tel Aviv, Vol. 38: 179-193.
Unearth an Adventure
Dig Deeper
Subscribe to the AIA e-Update
-
Magazine
-
Journal
