Researches on Israel and Aram: Autonomy, Interdependence and Related Issues. Proceedings of the First Annual RIAB Center Conference, Leipzig, June 2016. , 2019
A vibrant dialogue between archaeology and text has stimulated the development of two scholarly p... more A vibrant dialogue between archaeology and text has stimulated the development of two scholarly paradigms concerning Tel Dan in the Iron Age IIa: a traditional biblical view that sees Dan as the cultic capital of the northern Israelite kingdom built by King Jeroboam in the 10th century BCE, and an alternative view arguing that Dan was initially built by Hazael, king of Aram-Damascus, during the 9th century BCE. The latter has been widely accepted by scholars using it as point of departure to their studies.
A renewed study of the Iron Age II findings from Dan reveals various architectural, ceramic and objects that share parallels with Iron Age IIa sites in the Southern Levant implying that the eve of the Aramaean conquest Dan was inhabited by various groups of diverse ethnic origins. This fresh insight illustrates the distinctive character of the city, highlights its autonomous nature and sheds light on the key role that Dan and the northern Hula Valley played in formative periods, when local leadership negotiated loyalty and control with various – often rivalling – political powers.
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A renewed study of the Iron Age II findings from Dan reveals various architectural, ceramic and objects that share parallels with Iron Age IIa sites in the Southern Levant implying that the eve of the Aramaean conquest Dan was inhabited by various groups of diverse ethnic origins. This fresh insight illustrates the distinctive character of the city, highlights its autonomous nature and sheds light on the key role that Dan and the northern Hula Valley played in formative periods, when local leadership negotiated loyalty and control with various – often rivalling – political powers.
Assyria’s expansion westward in the late eighth – early seventh centuries BCE not only enhanced forced population transfers from and into its conquered regions; it was a regular feature of its policy. Recent studies have emphasized the role of archaeology in illustrating diverse imperial strategies practiced by the Assyrians. By following the archaeological footprints of the massive movement of people and products across the imperial space, I will emphasize the agency of deported craftsmen in the empire-building act and its implications for the economy and social composition of local communities. The Iron Age II remains at Tel Dan are the focus of this paper.
Tiglath Pileser III’s military campaigns to the region in 734-732 BCE devastated most local sites and brought an end to the existing Israelite political order. Echoes of the Assyrian invasion and subsequent mass deportations are found in both Assyrian texts (Summary Inscription 13:17-18) and the biblical record (II Kings 15:29; 16:9) and led scholars to emphasize the devastating nature of the Assyrian conquest, suggesting the area was razed and left as an “empty cell” throughout most of the seventh century BCE. Indeed, an overwhelming use of power was exercised by the Assyrians in their attempt to put down local resistance and prevent any future anti-Assyrian coalition. However, this was followed by integration into the Assyrian provincial system and subjection to imperial direct rule.
The archaeological evidence from Iron Age II Hula sites and neighboring territories suggests that the area was not depopulated following the Assyrian campaigns but that it was reorganized in a completely different manner, according to Assyrian conceptions. In this framework the Assyrians disempowered the former Israelite administrative center at Hazor and nearby settlements in order to prevent any future opposition. While Hazor and other sites lay waste, the Assyrians built imperial edifices in two key positions: one at Ayyelet ha-Shaʻar and the other at Chinnereth, in the spirit of the typical Assyrian architectural tradition. This decision demonstrates the imperial interest to protect the land corridor leading to Damascus via the Beth Shean and Hula Valleys, with a branch leading north through Chinnereth and Hazor up to the Lebanese Beqaʼ. However, the most striking evidence for the extent of the Assyrian involvement in the region comes from Tel Dan, the former cultic capital of the northern Israelite kingdom that was transformed by the Assyrians into a highly populated provincial city. A large public edifice was built at Dan, near the spring of Ein Leshem, with its plan and material culture sharing parallels with Sargon II’s citadel (Dur-Sharrukin) at Khorsabad.
Finally, several methodological observations concerning the ways in which Assyrian imperial control policy was exercised and manifested in the material culture are summarized in two main stages. The first stage is territorial expansion through an overwhelming military campaign aimed at specific targets said to have committed some sort of insult against the imperial power. This is followed by a second phase, comprising territorial consolidation which involves reconstruction and reordering of conquered towns and the creation of centrally-located administrative and military hubs. To sum up, the imperial control strategy that the Assyrians exercised in their western border was a combination of ecological adaptation, political considerations and economic interests that would inspire imperial regimes in the region for generations to come.
Hostile relations between the Assyrian empire and the conquered people, who often found themselves deprived of their previous status, are known from diverse historical sources. Given that imperial royal and administrative records on the southern Levant are scanty and scattered, exploring instances of resistance in material terms, as a tool used to oppose a superior invading force, is of special importance. The following paper is an attempt to apply archaeology of resistance through the renewed study of the archaeological material from the Iron Age IIb-c city of Tel Dan. In this context a new evidence for the existence of a major destruction that seals the seventh century BCE at Dan will be presented. Supplemented by cross-cultural comparative material, this will provide the foundations for contextualizing paths of resistance in areas less historically documented.
Tiglath Pileser III’s campaigns in 734-732 BCE devastated most local sites and terminated the previous Israelite order. Textual echoes of the Assyrian assault and deportations led scholars to assume that Assyria razed the area and left it as an “empty cell” throughout most of the seventh century BCE.
Indeed, an overwhelming use of power was exercised by the Assyrians in their attempt to put down local resistance and prevent future opposition but this was soon followed by integration into the Assyrian provincial system. Hence the area was not depopulated but was reorganized differently, according to imperial conceptions. While the Assyrians disempowered the former Israelite center at Hazor and nearby settlements, they built imperial edifices in two key positions: one at Ayyelet ha-Shaʻar and the other at Chinnereth in order to protect the land corridor leading to Damascus and the Lebanese Beqaʼ.
A striking evidence for the extent of the Assyrian involvement in the region comes from Tel Dan that was transformed into a highly populated provincial center. An imperial edifice was built near the spring, with its plan and material culture sharing parallels with Sargon II’s citadel at Khorsabad.
Strategically, Assyria manifested its policy in two main stages: territorial expansion through use of an overwhelming military power aimed at specific targets said to have insulted the empire. This was followed by a territorial consolidation through reconstruction and reordering of conquered towns and the creation of central administrative and military hubs. This kind of imperial strategy integrating ecological adaptation, political considerations and economic interests was determined to inspire the following imperial regimes that ruled the region for generations to come.
While the Aramaean destructions are well documented, the nature of the Aramaeam political domination is far from being clear. The difficulty to isolate typical Aramaean material culture resulted in scholarly perceptions that confuse Aramaean political rule with ethnic groups – a problem that stemmed from the traditional image of the Aramaeans in the biblical and other historical sources.
Located at the crossroads of Assyrian, Aramaean and Phoenician spheres,
IAII city of Dan reflects various cultural inputs and illustrates the complex relationships the city maintained with neighboring kingdoms. A renewed study of its archaeological remains has yielded a material culture assemblage that is crucial for understanding the complexity of the Aramaean presence in the city de facto, allowing a reexamination of current suppositions regarding the extent of the Aramaean involvement in constructing the IAII city of Dan.
Localization of the interaction between Israelite, Aramaean and Phoenician spheres resulted in a hybrid style in which various ethnic traditions were embedded. Being subjected to often changing geo-political conditions, Iron Age IIb Hula Valley was a region in which local elites and tribal groups demonstrated flexibility in their political loyalty aiming at promoting their own political and economic interests and at the same time preserved segments of their ethnic identity.
Following the conquest and annexation of the Hula Valley by the Assyrian Empire in the 8th century BC, a new settlement system was put in place, with the Assyrians choosing Dan to fill the role of regional centre. Under Assyrian rule, the city experienced a rapid recovery, becoming even more populous. New residential quarters were constructed and an imperial edifice (Building T1-3/1) was built.
Analysis of the architectural plan and material culture assemblage from Building T1-3/1 attests to the physical manifestations of Assyrian dominion in the provinces, especially a lifestyle reflecting “imperial enclaves.” This involved an awareness of the local environment, the selective use of cultural elements borrowed from the imperial core and other provincial centres, integrated with local materials, construction techniques and objects deriving from indigenous society.
Extensive archaeological work in Iron Age IIb-c Palestine’s Coastal Plain and abundant historical sources indicate that Assyria saw the coast as a distinct geographical zone rather than as an integral part of the empire’s non-coastal heartland. In keeping with their policy elsewhere and in light of the prior geo-political partition of Palestine’s coast, the Assyrians divided it into several ecological sub-regions. Taking into account the unique geographical, political and economic settings of each region, the Assyrians practiced diverse direct and indirect control strategies: annexation, military control, subjugation and collaboration with imperial proxies.
This analysis of the flexible policies that the Assyrians exercised on their southwestern border sheds new light on the ways in which the first true empire exerted power and administered life in its coastal territories.
A renewed study of the Iron Age II findings from Dan reveals various architectural, ceramic and objects that share parallels with Iron Age IIa sites in the Southern Levant implying that the eve of the Aramaean conquest Dan was inhabited by various groups of diverse ethnic origins. This fresh insight illustrates the distinctive character of the city, highlights its autonomous nature and sheds light on the key role that Dan and the northern Hula Valley played in formative periods, when local leadership negotiated loyalty and control with various – often rivalling – political powers.
Assyria’s expansion westward in the late eighth – early seventh centuries BCE not only enhanced forced population transfers from and into its conquered regions; it was a regular feature of its policy. Recent studies have emphasized the role of archaeology in illustrating diverse imperial strategies practiced by the Assyrians. By following the archaeological footprints of the massive movement of people and products across the imperial space, I will emphasize the agency of deported craftsmen in the empire-building act and its implications for the economy and social composition of local communities. The Iron Age II remains at Tel Dan are the focus of this paper.
Tiglath Pileser III’s military campaigns to the region in 734-732 BCE devastated most local sites and brought an end to the existing Israelite political order. Echoes of the Assyrian invasion and subsequent mass deportations are found in both Assyrian texts (Summary Inscription 13:17-18) and the biblical record (II Kings 15:29; 16:9) and led scholars to emphasize the devastating nature of the Assyrian conquest, suggesting the area was razed and left as an “empty cell” throughout most of the seventh century BCE. Indeed, an overwhelming use of power was exercised by the Assyrians in their attempt to put down local resistance and prevent any future anti-Assyrian coalition. However, this was followed by integration into the Assyrian provincial system and subjection to imperial direct rule.
The archaeological evidence from Iron Age II Hula sites and neighboring territories suggests that the area was not depopulated following the Assyrian campaigns but that it was reorganized in a completely different manner, according to Assyrian conceptions. In this framework the Assyrians disempowered the former Israelite administrative center at Hazor and nearby settlements in order to prevent any future opposition. While Hazor and other sites lay waste, the Assyrians built imperial edifices in two key positions: one at Ayyelet ha-Shaʻar and the other at Chinnereth, in the spirit of the typical Assyrian architectural tradition. This decision demonstrates the imperial interest to protect the land corridor leading to Damascus via the Beth Shean and Hula Valleys, with a branch leading north through Chinnereth and Hazor up to the Lebanese Beqaʼ. However, the most striking evidence for the extent of the Assyrian involvement in the region comes from Tel Dan, the former cultic capital of the northern Israelite kingdom that was transformed by the Assyrians into a highly populated provincial city. A large public edifice was built at Dan, near the spring of Ein Leshem, with its plan and material culture sharing parallels with Sargon II’s citadel (Dur-Sharrukin) at Khorsabad.
Finally, several methodological observations concerning the ways in which Assyrian imperial control policy was exercised and manifested in the material culture are summarized in two main stages. The first stage is territorial expansion through an overwhelming military campaign aimed at specific targets said to have committed some sort of insult against the imperial power. This is followed by a second phase, comprising territorial consolidation which involves reconstruction and reordering of conquered towns and the creation of centrally-located administrative and military hubs. To sum up, the imperial control strategy that the Assyrians exercised in their western border was a combination of ecological adaptation, political considerations and economic interests that would inspire imperial regimes in the region for generations to come.
Hostile relations between the Assyrian empire and the conquered people, who often found themselves deprived of their previous status, are known from diverse historical sources. Given that imperial royal and administrative records on the southern Levant are scanty and scattered, exploring instances of resistance in material terms, as a tool used to oppose a superior invading force, is of special importance. The following paper is an attempt to apply archaeology of resistance through the renewed study of the archaeological material from the Iron Age IIb-c city of Tel Dan. In this context a new evidence for the existence of a major destruction that seals the seventh century BCE at Dan will be presented. Supplemented by cross-cultural comparative material, this will provide the foundations for contextualizing paths of resistance in areas less historically documented.
Tiglath Pileser III’s campaigns in 734-732 BCE devastated most local sites and terminated the previous Israelite order. Textual echoes of the Assyrian assault and deportations led scholars to assume that Assyria razed the area and left it as an “empty cell” throughout most of the seventh century BCE.
Indeed, an overwhelming use of power was exercised by the Assyrians in their attempt to put down local resistance and prevent future opposition but this was soon followed by integration into the Assyrian provincial system. Hence the area was not depopulated but was reorganized differently, according to imperial conceptions. While the Assyrians disempowered the former Israelite center at Hazor and nearby settlements, they built imperial edifices in two key positions: one at Ayyelet ha-Shaʻar and the other at Chinnereth in order to protect the land corridor leading to Damascus and the Lebanese Beqaʼ.
A striking evidence for the extent of the Assyrian involvement in the region comes from Tel Dan that was transformed into a highly populated provincial center. An imperial edifice was built near the spring, with its plan and material culture sharing parallels with Sargon II’s citadel at Khorsabad.
Strategically, Assyria manifested its policy in two main stages: territorial expansion through use of an overwhelming military power aimed at specific targets said to have insulted the empire. This was followed by a territorial consolidation through reconstruction and reordering of conquered towns and the creation of central administrative and military hubs. This kind of imperial strategy integrating ecological adaptation, political considerations and economic interests was determined to inspire the following imperial regimes that ruled the region for generations to come.
While the Aramaean destructions are well documented, the nature of the Aramaeam political domination is far from being clear. The difficulty to isolate typical Aramaean material culture resulted in scholarly perceptions that confuse Aramaean political rule with ethnic groups – a problem that stemmed from the traditional image of the Aramaeans in the biblical and other historical sources.
Located at the crossroads of Assyrian, Aramaean and Phoenician spheres,
IAII city of Dan reflects various cultural inputs and illustrates the complex relationships the city maintained with neighboring kingdoms. A renewed study of its archaeological remains has yielded a material culture assemblage that is crucial for understanding the complexity of the Aramaean presence in the city de facto, allowing a reexamination of current suppositions regarding the extent of the Aramaean involvement in constructing the IAII city of Dan.
Localization of the interaction between Israelite, Aramaean and Phoenician spheres resulted in a hybrid style in which various ethnic traditions were embedded. Being subjected to often changing geo-political conditions, Iron Age IIb Hula Valley was a region in which local elites and tribal groups demonstrated flexibility in their political loyalty aiming at promoting their own political and economic interests and at the same time preserved segments of their ethnic identity.
Following the conquest and annexation of the Hula Valley by the Assyrian Empire in the 8th century BC, a new settlement system was put in place, with the Assyrians choosing Dan to fill the role of regional centre. Under Assyrian rule, the city experienced a rapid recovery, becoming even more populous. New residential quarters were constructed and an imperial edifice (Building T1-3/1) was built.
Analysis of the architectural plan and material culture assemblage from Building T1-3/1 attests to the physical manifestations of Assyrian dominion in the provinces, especially a lifestyle reflecting “imperial enclaves.” This involved an awareness of the local environment, the selective use of cultural elements borrowed from the imperial core and other provincial centres, integrated with local materials, construction techniques and objects deriving from indigenous society.
Extensive archaeological work in Iron Age IIb-c Palestine’s Coastal Plain and abundant historical sources indicate that Assyria saw the coast as a distinct geographical zone rather than as an integral part of the empire’s non-coastal heartland. In keeping with their policy elsewhere and in light of the prior geo-political partition of Palestine’s coast, the Assyrians divided it into several ecological sub-regions. Taking into account the unique geographical, political and economic settings of each region, the Assyrians practiced diverse direct and indirect control strategies: annexation, military control, subjugation and collaboration with imperial proxies.
This analysis of the flexible policies that the Assyrians exercised on their southwestern border sheds new light on the ways in which the first true empire exerted power and administered life in its coastal territories.
Archaeological and Historical Round-table
May 3rd 2012, Maison Suger, 16-18 rue Suger 75006, Paris
The Arabian Trade: Between Image and Reality
The end of the second and the first millennia BCE have witnessed the emergence and development of several wide reaching trade systems. One of the most outstanding among these was the Arabian Trade Route that ran from Arabia to West Africa, the Southern Levant and the Mediterranean coasts.
The archaeological and the historical research of the Arabian trade involve various economic and political aspects regarding the southern Levantine and Arabian societies at the end of the Late Bronze and Iron Age. The last decades have seen the development of a vibrant discussion concerning the geographical, chronological, cultural, socio-political and economic aspects in these regions. While the renewed focus on the Arabian trade resulted in new data and publications, Arabia and the Levant are separately discussed and analyzed. The rift between the two regions is reflected in the current scholarly image of the Arabian trade that is a mixture of facts and biases, false discount previews and speculations.
The idea to establish a round-table derived from the notion that the study of the Arabian trade system requires a dialogue between scholars dealing with the subject in both Arabia and the Levant. Therefore, our main goal is to create a discourse between scholars dealing with the subject in order to create a link between the two regions.
The discussion will focus in the following subjects: Long distance trade systems (incense, copper) and major trade routes between Arabia and the Levant; Chronological discussion concerning the emergence and development of the Arabian trade; New perspectives regarding animals' and plants domestication; A study of the socio-political and economic spheres involved in the trade with an emphasis on the interaction between different political entities: empires, regional kingdoms and local social groups.
Organisors:
Michael Jasmin, Christian Robin, Yifat Thareani.
Orient & Méditerranée, Laboratoire Mondes Sémitiques, UMR 8167, CNRS, Paris
The Arabian Trade: Between Image and Reality
May 3 2012, 9:00-18:00
Maison Suger, 16-18 rue Suger 75006, Paris
9:00-13:00
Gathering and reception
Greetings by Prof. Christian Robin
First session, presiding: Dr. Yifat Thareani
Arabia and the Levant at the Turn of a Millennium (Twelfth-Ninth Centuries BCE )
1. Michael Jasmin: Routes and Camels: New roads and new transportation mode in the southern Levant at the end of the second millennium BCE
2. Israel Finkelstein: The Negev and Southern Transjordan in the Iron I-IIA: An Archaeological-Historical Reconstruction
11:00 Coffee-break
3. Juan Manuel Tebes: Trade before the Incense Trade: Interconnections between the NW Hejaz and the Southern Levant in the Late Second Millennium BCE
4. Christian Robin: Saba' et le commerce à longue distance
13:00 Lunch
14:30-18:00
Second session, presiding: Dr. Michael Jasmin
Between Empires, Kingdoms and Tribes: Arabia and the Levant under Imperial Rules (Eighth Century BCE Onwards)
5. Jérémie Schiettecatte: From "Ships of the Desert" to Sea-going Vessels: Chronology of the South Arabian Trade and Destination of the Products
6. Martin Makinson: The Northern Extension of the King's Road: Textual and Archaeological Evidence for South Arabian Trade in Inland Syria in the Iron Age
16:00 Coffee-break
7. Guillaume Charloux: Wâdi Sirhân and the "Eastern Road"
8. Yifat Thareani: The Empire and the Trade – The Iron Age II Arabian Trade in Image and in Reality
Closing discussion and Concluding remarks by Prof. Christian Robin