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Jalul 2005 Excavations

Tsouparopoulou Lecture

Archaeology Books

Random Survey

INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGYHORN ARCHAEOLOGICAL

MUSEUMNEWSLETTER

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

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

Volume 26.3 Summer 2005

ISSN 1095-2837

Excavations at Tall Jalul, 2005Excavations were conducted at Tall Jalul, near Madaba, by Andrews University in consor-

tium with the Madaba Plains Project from May 9 to June 16, 2005. Randall W. Younker andDavid Merling were codirectors and Bassam Al-Mahamed and Khaled Al-Hware were theDepartment of Antiquities Representatives. Field Directors included Dr Paul Gregor, Dr MarkZiese, Prof Constance Gane, Ms Jennifer Groves, Dr Robert Bates, and Dr Paul Ray. Over 84 indi-viduals participated in the excavations.

Excavations in Field A (at the north side of the tall) continued work in Squares A3, A4, A7,A8, A9 and A10. This is the area in which the late Iron Age II (7th century BC) tripartite buildingwas found during the 1996 season. This season it was decided to remove the tripartite building,since it was poorly preserved and seemed to be a promising place for penetrating earlier occupa-tion levels. Excavations in Squares A3, A4 exposed an additional 1.00 m of Iron Age II fill and1.00 to 1.50 m of Iron Age I fill. As in 1999, significant amounts of Middle and Late Bronze Agesherds were recovered in addition to those from Iron Age I. The large number of these sherds,found this season, would seem to point to a significant occupation at Jalul during these periods,although no architectural elements have yet been found.

Excavations in Square A8 exposed a large pit whose contents consisted of Iron Age II (8thcentury BC) sherds. It was cut prior to the foundation of the 7th-century BC building. The pur-pose of this pit is as yet unknown. The ashy lenses on either side and under this pit were from theearly Iron Age II (9th century BC) and late Iron Age I (10th century BC). In Square A9, the westwall of the 8th-century BC structure, found in 1996, was seen to continue to a SW corner. At ahigher level another fragmentary stretch of wall that appears to date to the same period as the tri-

Jalul Team from the 2005 Season.

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partite building (7th century BC) wasfound. Conspicuous in the ashy lensesmentioned above was the presence of aconsiderable number of bones of largeanimals such as horse, donkey, and largecattle. This increase in large draft animalswould indicate a definite shift to a moreintensive agricultural system during IronAge I. There was also a notable presenceof pig bones during Iron Age II. Smallfinds in Field A, from this season, includ-ed a ceramic figurine depicting whatappears to be a robed, barefooted malefigure, possibly an Ammonite king.

Excavations in Field B (the gate areaon the east side of the tall) were conduct-ed in four new squares (B1, B20, B21,B22). The goal this season was to tracethe remains of the two approach roadsdated to the mid-Iron Age II (9th and 8thcenturies BC) originally found in the1992 season. Excavations in Squares B1and B20 uncovered an additional 3.00 mof the road heading downslope to thenortheast. However, subsequent erosionor robbing destroyed the road beyond thispoint. Two additional Squares (B21 andB22) were opened further to the east inline with where it was expected that theolder (9th century BC) Iron Age II roadran, but the excavation of over 2.00 m offill failed to reach the lower road with thepossible exception of three paving stones.A significant object that was found herewas an ostracon with three letters.

Three new squares (C6, C7, C8)were opened in Field C, southeast of thethose excavated in previous seasons. Thegoal in excavating these squares was tocontinue to expose the late Iron II/Persian period building that was found inSquare C5 during the 1999 season.Excavation in Squares C7 and C8 failedto reach a sufficient depth to expose thisbuilding. However, its northern wall wasfound to continue into the southern partof Square C6. Work in this sqaure alsoshowed that the building cut through acouple of pavements dating from mid- tolate Iron Age II (8th-7th centuries BC).Immediately north of the pavement,another wall that was apparently associat-ed with both of the pavements was

located. The date of this wall is not yetknown.

In Field D, excavations were con-ducted in several rooms of the late IronII/Persian period building (6th/5th cen-turies BC) found during the 1999 season,in an attempt to remove the roof collapseand other fallen debris. Work was con-centrated in rooms within Squares D1 andD3 where several late Iron II/Persianperiod vessels were found. Bowls seemto dominate the ceramic corpus here. Alarge number of basalt stone food prepa-ration objects suggest a domestic functionfor this building. A number of objectswere found in this field including severalfigurines.

Excavations in Field E (locatedimmediately north of Field B on thenortheast side of the tell) continued workin the four squares opened in 2000. Thegoal in this field was to open a trench thatwould cut across what is thought to be apossible tower and the city wall north ofthe approach roads. While work inSquares E3 and E4 removed subsurfacedebris, excavation in Squares E 1 and E2came upon what appears to be collapsedmudbrick material on top of stony rubble,possibly an indicator of a destroyed struc-ture (tower or wall). In Square E2 asmall section of mudbrick wall wasfound, measuring about 1.00 sq. m. Atleast three courses of mudbrick could bediscerned. The precise function of thisstretch of mudbrick is as yet unknown.Also found in Field E were a number ofsmall objects including a seal.

A new field was opened in 2005 onthe north side of the acropolis in the hopeof illuminating the nature of the entranceinto this area. Two Squares (F1 and F2)were opened. Excavations here penetrat-ed about 0.5 to 1.00 m of subsurfacedebris. The ceramics in Square F1 were amixture of Early Islamic, Byzantine,Hellenistic, and Iron Age II. In SquareF2, late Iron Age II sherds were morecommon. However, late Iron Age IIsherds were dominate in both squares.(Randall W. Younker and David Merling)

Christina Tsouparopoulou,Research Associate at the Faculty ofOriental Studies at Cambridge University,presented a lecture entitled What CanThese Tiny Clay Tablets Tell Us AboutAncient Drehem? on Jan. 31, 2005, aspart of the Horn Museum lecture series.Ms Tsouparopoulou was at AndrewsUniversity to study the cuneiform tabletsfrom the Mesopotamian site of Drehemwhich are part of the collection at theHorn Archaeological Museum.

Located on a branch of the EuphratesRiver, about 10 km southwest of Nippurin modern Iraq, Drehem (ancient Puzrish-Dagan) was established as an administra-tive distribution center during the 39thyear (2057 BC) of the reign of Shulgi.The site remained in operation for 40years, producing a significant portion ofthe Neo-Sumerian cuneiform tablets ofthe Ur III Dynasty, along with the citiesof Ur, Umma, Nippur, and Gisha.

As an archaeological site, Drehemhas never been properly excavated,though numerous illicit excavations dur-ing the 1880s-1920s, have occurred. Theexisting corpus of tablets was collected during these illicit digs, including those

TsouparopoulouLecture

Christina Tsouparopoulou.

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currently housed at the Horn Museum. Ithas been estimated that there were origi-nally over 60,000 tablets in the Drehemarchives, but only about 15,000 areknown today. In the absence of archaeo-logical excavation, these clay tablets,written in cuneiform script and in theSumerian language, provide the onlyclues to this site’s ancient role.

The site of Drehem played a majorrole in the accounting and distribution ofanimals throughout the kingdom of Ur III.The tablets track the transactions wherebyanimals were collected, transported, anddistributed. Collection usually fell intoone of three categories: private donationsby wealthy individuals, payment of gov-ernment taxes such as the bala tax, and

booty collected from military campaigns.There are many references to animalstaken from the Amorites. Once collected,the animals were then distributed through-out the kingdom. The majority were sentto kitchens to feed priests, officials,troops, and government workers. Thebest animals were used as sacrifices to thegods. It has been estimated that ca. 70animals were sacrificed daily.

The predominance of animal account-ing in the Drehem tablets has led mostscholars to assume that the site was astockyard. Tsouparopoulou contests thisview, suggesting rather that it was anaccounting center through which mostanimals never passed. To support herclaim, she cites the tablets themselves,

which often mention animals sent by thepriest of a temple in a far-off city beingused as a sacrifice in that particular tem-ple. It is unlikely that an animal would betransported across the country only to berecorded and sent right back. Also, thenumbers of animals recorded would haverequired a large workforce to care for andmanage the animals at a central facility,and there is little evidence of this atDrehem. Still, since excavations havenever been carried out, and many of thetablets from the archive are no longeravailable, further evidence is required toadequately determine the role of this site,which was unquestionably important tothe Ur III economy. (Darrell J. Rohl)

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Return of Papyri to Berkeley

UC Berkeley has recently receivedpapyri which have resided at Oxfordfor several decades. The papyri orig-inally came from Tebtunis, Egypt, asite which was excavated from1899-1900 by British archaeologistsBernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunton behalf of UC Berkeley, afterwhich the papyri many remained atOxford. Though some papyri wereeventually sent back to Berkeley,many fragments remained at Oxforduntil now. Some of the works written on these papyri are fromEuripides and Homer as well as amedical handbook.

Robot in Pyramid shaft

Egyptian archaeologist, Zahi Hawass, is planning to send a robot into a shaft in the Pyramid ofKhufu at Giza. The shaft belongs to a 4,500-year-old mausoleum. He hopes to find an undiscovered burial chamber of Khufu, also known as Cheops (via Herodotus).

Goliath at Gath

An ostracon with two names similar to Goliath hasrecently been found at the site of Tell es-Safi (Gath).The find dates to ca. 950 BC and represents theearliest Philistine inscription found so far.

Ancient Hebrew AlphabetDiscovered

At Tel Zayit archaeologistshave found the oldestHebrew alphabet inscribedon a reused stone within awall. The discovery wasmade this July of 2005. Theletters are roughly in thepresent order of the Hebrewalphabet. The inscriptiondates to the 10th centuryBC. Ron E. Tappy of thePittsburgh TheologicalSeminary, who directs theexcavation of the site, saysthat all successive alphabetsderive from this one,including Greek. Tel Zayitis located southwest ofJerusalem near Lachish.

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Bolaghi Gorge Flooded

Bolaghi Gorge is an important area in Iran that is about to beflooded. It is undergoing a large salvage excavation project. Theproject has broad implications, as the area contains important information about the Achaemenid Period. In 2003 experts fromthe Parse-Pasargadae Research Center discovered that it was notjust the bed for the king’s road, but that numerous artifacts and monuments were also buried there.

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