This study concentrates on Philistine decorated pottery, its production centres and trade patterns. These issues are examined by both archaeological and archaeometric approaches. Over recent years, a considerable amount of data has been accumulated on Philistine sites, especially from the excavations at Tel Miqne-Ekron, and the new excavations at Ashkelon and Tell es-Safi. Thus, although a vast literature already exists on the Philistines, their material culture and related issues, there has been very little study that systematically combines all this data. This work examines the Iron Age Philistine material culture in general and the Philistine pottery in particular, from a holistic approach. The Philistine phenomenon is defined and described in Part 1 from its various aspects: the historical background, the archaeological evidence and its social and ethnic aspects. Part 2 describes and discusses the updated archaeological evidence of pottery production and workshops in the southern Levant during the end of the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Ethnographic research is utilized to describe the pottery production sequence, technological aspects and modes of production and distribution of pottery. As this work is a provenance study of a geographically andgeologically limited area a methodological discussion was called for presented in Part 3. In Part 4 the archaeometric results are presented. Part 5 combines the archaeological and archaeometric results and evaluates them from a broader cultural, technological and historical perspectives.

Ikonographie lässt viele Rückschlüsse auf eine Gesellschaft zu. Die Ikonographie der Philister hilft, die sozialen, ethnischen, religiösen und ideologischen Aspekte dieser Kultur besser zu verstehen. Die Philister entwickelten während der Eisenzeit (ca. 1200-600 v.Chr.) eine distinguierte Kultur. David Ben-Shlomo präsentiert und diskutiert den Bestand der ikonographischen Darstellungen der Philisterkultur (Tonmalereien, Statuen, Eisenschnitzereien, Glyptik u.a.). Der figürliche Stil und der Symbolismus spiegelt sowohl die Rückbindung der Philisterkultur an die ägäische Heimat als auch den laufenden Prozess der Interaktion mit den lokalen Gastkulturen in der südlichen Levante eindrücklich wider. Die Ikonographie liefert so ein bedeutendes Zeugnis, das die sozialen, ethnischen, religiösen und ideologischen Aspekte der Philister und ihrer Nachbarn im östlichen Mittelmeerraum besser zu verstehen hilft.

The search for the biblical Philistines, one of ancient Israel’s most storied enemies, has long intrigued both scholars and the public. Archaeological and textual evidence examined in its broader eastern Mediterranean context reveals that the Philistines, well-known from biblical and extrabiblical texts, together with other related groups of “Sea Peoples,” played a transformative role in the development of new ethnic groups and polities that emerged from the ruins of the Late Bronze Age empires. The essays in this book, representing recent research in the fields of archaeology, Bible, and history, reassess the origins, identity, material culture, and impact of the Philistines and other Sea Peoples on the Iron Age cultures and peoples of the eastern Mediterranean. The contributors are Matthew J. Adams, Michal Artzy, Tristan J. Barako, David Ben-Shlomo, Mario Benzi, Margaret E. Cohen, Anat Cohen-Weinberger, Trude Dothan, Elizabeth French, Marie-Henriette Gates, Hermann Genz, Ayelet Gilboa, Maria Iacovou, Ann E. Killebrew, Sabine Laemmel, Gunnar Lehmann, Aren M. Maeir, Amihai Mazar, Linda Meiberg, Penelope A. Mountjoy, Hermann Michael Niemann, Jeremy B. Rutter, Ilan Sharon, Susan Sherratt, Neil Asher Silberman, and Itamar Singer.

For almost a century scholars have been perplexed by Cypro-Phoenician (or Black-on-Red) pottery. In this major study, Dr. Schreiber’s research, coupled with her own work in the field, resolves the pottery’s origin and provides a fresh assessment of the chronology of the region. Transporting perfumed oil around the Mediterranean and Near East, the pottery offers valuable clues to Iron Age trade - shipping, cargoes, and trading entrepots. Dr Schreiber investigates the sources of perfumed oil and the relative roles of Cyprus and Phoenicia in trade to the Aegean islands. The book provides archaeologists and historians with a work of key significance in unravelling the human narrative of the early centuries of the 1st millennium BC.

The Oxford Illustrated History of the Holy Land covers the 3,000 years which saw the rise of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—and relates the familiar stories of the sacred texts with the fruits of modern scholarship. Beginning with the origins of the people who became the Israel of the Bible, it follows the course of the ensuing millennia down to the time when the Ottoman Empire succumbed to British and French rule at the end of the First World War. Parts of the story, especially as known from the Bible, will be widely familiar. Less familiar are the ways in which modern research, both from archaeology and from other ancient sources, sometimes modify this story historically. Better understanding, however, enables us to appreciate crucial chapters in the story of the Holy Land, such as how and why Judaism developed in the way that it did from the earlier sovereign states of Israel and Judah and the historical circumstances in which Christianity emerged from its Jewish cradle. Later parts of the story are vital not only for the history of Islam and its relationships with the two older religions, but also for the development of pilgrimage and religious tourism, as well as the notions of sacred space and of holy books with which we are still familiar today. From the time of Napoleon on, European powers came increasingly to develop both cultural and political interest in the region, culminating in the British and French conquests which carved out the modern states of the Middle East. Sensitive to the concerns of those for whom the sacred books of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are of paramount religious authority, the authors all try sympathetically to show how historical information from other sources, as well as scholarly study of the texts themselves, enriches our understanding of the history of the region and its prominent position in the world's cultural and intellectual history.

Dr. Seymour Gitin is completing his tenure as Director and Dorot Professor at the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem. Much of his long career has been spent helping young scholars expand their contacts and hone their skills. This volume is a collection of articles by some of the many developing scholars and Albright fellows with whom Sy has shared his time and knowledge. Their appreciation shows in the quality of their articles, the breadth of their interests, and their dedication to Sy Gitin. The articles range from a discussion of tomb robbing in Palestinian areas, to a geographical analysis of the Shephelah region, to Islamic historical texts, to Israelite cult stands, to Middle Bronze Age burials. In addition, there are several articles by former members of the Tel Miqne–Ekron staff that draw on the finds from that site and further demonstrate Sy’s willingness to mentor and to share the publication of the site’s rich trove of materials. This book not only honors Dr. Gitin by the willingness of fellows to contribute to the volume; it also expands our knowledge base of the southern Levant and shows that “Material Culture Matters.”

In this comprehensive final report David Ilan and 12 other contributing authors present the rich finds from the Iron Age I (circa 1200-950 BCE) levels at Tel Dan, gleaned in the course of Avraham Biran's 1966-1999 excavations at the site. The architecture, ceramics, metal, flint, bone and ground stone objects and ecofacts, all contribute to the portrayal of a cosmopolitan society that thrived, initially, under Egyptian imperial rule, subsequently forging its own way with the departure of Egyptian hegemony. The early Iron Age levels at Tel Dan show material evidence for the presence of local peoples, Egyptians, Cypriots, Aegeans, and Syrians, who together, negotiated a new identity, as Danites.