The family tomb as a physical claim to the patrimony, the attributed powers of the dead and the prospect of post-mortem veneration made the cult of the dead an integral aspect of the Judahite and Israelite society. Over 850 burials from throughout the southern Levant are examined to illustrate the Judahite form of burial and its development. Vessels for foods and liquids were of paramount importance in the afterlife, followed by jewellery with its protective powers. The cult of the dead began to be an unacceptable feature of the Jerusalem Yahwistic cult in the late eighth to seventh century BCE. This change of attitude was precipitated by the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel and the consequent theological response.

A portion of the Tell es-Sa'idiyeh mound was used for burials during the Bronze Age. A summary of the pottery types is followed by a description of the contents of each of the 45 tombs. University Museum Monograph, 41

A strong Egyptian presence and governance of 13th and 12th centuries B.C. Palestine has since long become clear from both textual and archaeological evidence. How this Egyptianization came about in Ramesside Palestine forms the focus of the present study. Carolyn Higginbotham convincingly attends to internal factors affecting the region’s cultural and political development. Two models are carefully considered. The prevailing theory, that Egyptian policy shifted from economic and political domination to military occupation, is contrasted with a new, convincing model, elite emulation, derived from modern core-periphery studies. The author’s conclusion is that Egyptian policy remained largely unchanged, and that the increased Egyptianization of the material culture represents voluntary adoption of the overpowering Egyptian culture by the Palestinian ruling class. The appendices are especially important for scholars interested in ancient international connections in Palestine; they catalogue all Egyptian and Egyptian-style material from LB IIB - Iron 1A Palestine.

Although scholars have for centuries primarily been interested in using the study of ancient Israel to explain, illuminate, and clarify the biblical story, Megan Bishop Moore and Brad E. Kelle describe how scholars today seek more and more to tell the story of the past on its own terms, drawing from both biblical and extrabiblical sources to illuminate ancient Israel and its neighbors without privileging the biblical perspective. Biblical History and Israel s Past provides a comprehensive survey of how study of the Old Testament and the history of Israel has changed since the middle of the twentieth century. Moore and Kelle discuss significant trends in scholarship, trace the development of ideas since the 1970s, and summarize major scholars, viewpoints, issues, and developments.

The 2-volume handbook is dedicated to one of the most significant processes in the history of ancient Greece - colonisation. Greeks set up colonies and other settlements in new environments, establishing themselves in lands stretching from the Iberian Peninsula in the west to North Africa in the south and the Black Sea in the north east. In this colonial world Greek and local structures met, influenced and enriched each other. The handbook brings together historians and archaeologists, all world experts, to present the latest ideas and evidence. The principal aim is to present and update the general picture of this phenomenon, showing its importance in the history of the whole ancient world, including the Near East. The work is dedicated to Prof. A.J. Graham. This first volume gives a lengthy introduction to the problem, including methodological and theoretical issues. The chapters cover Mycenaean expansion, Phoenician and Phocaean colonisation, Greeks in the western Mediterranean, Syria, Egypt and southern Anatolia, etc. The volume is richly illustrated.

Ancient Israel did not emerge within a vacuum but rather came to exist alongside various peoples, including Canaanites, Egyptians, and Philistines. Indeed, Israel’s very proximity to these groups has made it difficult—until now—to distinguish the archaeological traces of early Israel and other contemporary groups. Through an analysis of the results from recent excavations in light of relevant historical and later biblical texts, this book proposes that it is possible to identify these peoples and trace culturally or ethnically defined boundaries in the archaeological record. Features of late second-millennium B.C.E. culture are critically examined in their historical and biblical contexts in order to define the complex social boundaries of the early Iron Age and reconstruct the diverse material world of these four peoples. Of particular value to scholars, archaeologists, and historians, this volume will also be a standard reference and resource for students and other readers interested in the emergence of early Israel.