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‘Atiqot 69 (2012)
EISSN 2948-040X
Front Matter
Atiqot 69
Keywords: Front Matter
Table of contents in Hebrew and in English
The Early Bronze Age IV Site at Sha‘ar Ha-Golan
(with a contribution by Steven A. Rosen)
(pp. 1–73)
Emanuel Eisenberg
Keywords: Neolithic period, Intermediate Bronze Age, non-urban planning, groundstones, grinding stones, flint, chipped stone
Excavations undertaken in two separate areas (100, 200) at Sha‘ar Ha-Golan, revealed the remains of domestic structures dating to Early Bronze Age IV. These represent the remains of a single-stratum rural settlement that extended over some 200 dunams, one of the largest settlements of this period that have been exposed so far in the country. The structures are multi-roomed rectilinear buildings, with dwelling units comprising three or more rooms. The plans of the buildings are not unified; most of them have a large central broadroom, its roof sometimes supported by columns, which stood on stone bases. Additional elements, such as benches along the walls and stone mortars sunk into the floors, point to a relationship with earlier architectural traditions in the southern Levant during the third millennium BCE. The pottery from Sha‘ar Ha-Golan was attributed to Dever’s Family NC, and includes storage jars, cooking pots, kraters and bowls. The pottery types indicate that food storage was a major priority, clearly expressing the sedentary nature of the settlement. The model of an unfortified rural settlement dispersed over a wide area attests to the drastic changes that took place in the fabric of society following the disappearance of the earlier urban culture.
Er-Rujum (Sha‘alabim East): An Intermediate Bronze Age (EB IV) Site in the Ayyalon Valley
(pp. 75–140)
Ianir Milevski, Elisabetta Boaretto, Anat Cohen-Weinberger, Elisheva Kamaisky, Hamoudi Khalaily, Nili Liphschitz, Moshe Sade and Sariel Shalev
Keywords: Early Bronze Age IV, petrography, archaeozoology, radiocarbon dates, archeobotanics, metallurgy, ceramics, production technology
At the site of Er-Rujum, located on the western slopes of the Ramallah Anticline in the northern part of the Ayyalon Valley, an Intermediate Bronze Age site was discovered below Ottoman-period
rujum
s. The architecture at the site comprised broadrooms, with a central space and passages between them, demonstrating similarities with other Intermediate Bronze Age buildings excavated in the Jordan Valley and the Judean Hills. The finds at the site included pottery typical of the Southern Family, dominated by storage jars, flints, groundstone tools, a metal blade and beads, as well as faunal and botanical remains; pottery dating to Middle Bronze Age II was collected from fills, probably connected with a settlement from this period at nearby Sha‘alabim. The site of Er-Rujum was interpreted as a rural village with a subsistence strategy comprising an association of agriculture with some cattle herding, together with manufacturing workshop activities. This site provides additional data toward an understanding of the nature and settlement patterns of this controversial period in the archaeology of the southern Levant.
Settlement Remains from the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman Periods at Khirbat Burnat (Southwest)
(Hebrew, pp. 1*–68*; English summary, pp. 157–159)
Hagit Torge
Keywords: Lod Shephelah, Modi‘in, village, Jewish Great Revolt, Bar Kokhba Revolt, ethnicity
Excavations at Site 8a at Khirbat Burnat (Southwest), within the Modi‘in Region Industrial Zone, revealed remains of a simple oil press (
bodeda
) and a cooking pot dating to Iron Age II; fragmentary walls, potsherds, a stone altar and metal objects from the Persian period; and agricultural terraces and scattered finds from the Byzantine period. Most of the remains, however, belong to a large rural dwelling complex, which was occupied during the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman periods (second century BCE–second century CE). Nine buildings and three courtyards were identified, all founded on bedrock and connected with passageways. Several installations were hewn in and around the buildings: cisterns, sitting baths, a
miqveh
, quarries, cupmarks, winepresses and burial caves. The ceramic, glass and numismatic finds indicate that the settlement was occupied in the early part of the second century CE and abandoned during the Bar Kokhba Revolt. The dwelling complex was probably part of the Jewish settlement in the Lod plain, established after the region was handed over to Jonathan the Hasmonean by Alexander Balas in 147 BCE.
Glass Vessels from the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman Periods at Khirbat Burnat (Southwest)
(pp. 141–146)
Tamar Winter
Keywords: Glass, Lod Shephelah, Modi‘in, Jewish Great War, Bar Kokhba Revolt
The excavation at Khirbat Burnat (Southwest) yielded some 90 small glass fragments, nearly two-thirds of them diagnostic. Most of the glass finds date from the Late Hellenistic (second half of the first century BCE) and Early Roman (second half of the first century CE) periods. Several pieces date from the Late Roman period, and a few, from the Byzantine period. Most of the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman vessels were free-blown, a few were cast, and one piece was mold-blown. The glass assemblage from Khirbat Burnat is typical of the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman periods; however, only few assemblages have been published from this geographical region, hence its significance.
The Coins from Khirbat Burnat (Southwest)
(pp. 147–155)
Gabriela Bijovsky
Keywords: numismatics, Lod Shephelah, Modi‘in, Bar Kokhba Revolt, ethnicity
Forty-seven coins were discovered in the excavation at Khirbat Burnat (Southwest); three were unidentifiable. The majority of the coins were found in the dwelling complex, and dated mostly to the Seleucid through the Early Roman periods. The assemblage also includes a few Late Roman, Byzantine and Mamluk coins. The numismatic finds show a clear predominance of Jewish coins struck in Jerusalem, and confirm the dating of the complex from the end of the second century BCE to the second century CE.
The Upper Aqueduct to Jerusalem, the Church of the Kathisma and Other Remains near Hebron Road, Jerusalem
(with a contribution by Gabriela Bijovsky)
(Hebrew, pp. 69*–90*; English summary, pp. 160–162)
Ya‘akov Billig
Keywords: Water system, Christianity, agriculture, burial, numismatics, chronology
Sections of the Upper Aqueduct to Jerusalem were revealed while widening Hebron Road in Jerusalem, enabling a better understanding of its original route and date. Most of the finds scattered on surface level near the aqueduct—mainly pottery and coins—dated to the Late Roman and Byzantine periods; finds dating to the First and Second Temple periods were found as well. Other elements discovered during the excavation and surveys in the area include: agricultural terraces, burial caves, a winepress, a cistern and a quarry. In the surveyed area, at the site of Bir Qadismo, were numerous finds scattered on the surface, which pointed to the presence of a large public building, possibly a church from the Byzantine period: ashlars, column fragments, a pedestal, marble items, roof tiles and a colorful mosaic floor. These were identified as the remains of the Church of Kathisma Palaeon.
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