A recent article published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology reports that evidence of an Early Bronze Age massacre has been unearthed at the site of Titris Hoyuk in southern Turkey. Turkish archaeologist Omur Dilek Erdal identified the remains of a 4,000-year-old mass burial of at least 13 men, three women and three children found in a plastered basin buried beneath the floor of a house. The majority of the individuals buried in the grave showed signs of one or more violent cranial traumas, which were most likely caused by blows from battle axes or spears. Erdal suggests that given the development of large scale fortifications at the site towards the end of the Early Bronze Age, the individuals were likely killed by outside invaders.

A recent article published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology reports that evidence of an Early Bronze Age massacre has been unearthed at the site of Titris Hoyuk in southern Turkey.

Read more about the ancient massacre.

Multiple Choices for this week’s What is it?  Facebook discussion.  The answer will be posted here and on our Facebook page on Monday 2/27/12.

What are these objects? Answers will be posted to facebook on Monday 2/27

A: Greek voting lots

B: Egyptian necklace pendants

C: Roman armor scales

D: Mesopotamian gamepieces

E: Assyrian tongue depressors

Explore www.biblicalarchaeology.org for more Biblical Archaeology content!

What Is It?

Answer: E. Israelite cosmetics tray

This decorated cosmetics tray is made of sandstone and dates to the ninth century B.C.E. Although the few Biblical references to makeup seem to have a somewhat negative connotation, archaeological excavations throughout the areas of Israel and Judah have turned up numerous similar trays and other cosmetic accessories, indicating that the use of cosmetics was rather popular among the ancient Israelites.

Makeup was often used by both men and women for hygienic or medicinal purposes, as well as for beautification. Various roots, minerals and other substances were ground up and mixed with oil or water in a tray like this to create the different kinds of makeup. It was then applied with the fingers, a brush or a small spatula, many of which have also been discovered at ancient sites.

A new What is it?  will be posted on Wednesday.  Until then, enjoy the rest of the material on our website!

Recent excavations conducted in and around Jerusalem’s Old City are beginning to reveal the vestiges of Aelia Capitolina, the important but still relatively unknown Roman city built atop Jerusalem in the wake of the Second Jewish Revolt. Though many Israeli archaeologists have long preferred to excavate the remains from the earlier Jewish city, new evidence from rescue and salvage excavations throughout the Old City (see “Layers of Jerusalem Archaeology”) suggests the later Roman city, with its broad, well-planned streets, monumental gates and imposing architecture, created the skeleton of the city that is still seen today. “When I began to study the history of the Roman city, it was a barren field,” said veteran Israeli archaeologist Yoram Zafrir. “Today, it is clear that the basic structure of Jerusalem is that of Aelia Capitolina.”

Recent excavations conducted in and around Jerusalem’s Old City are beginning to reveal the vestiges of Aelia Capitolina, the important but still relatively unknown Roman city built atop Jerusalem in the wake of the Second Jewish Revolt.

Learn more about what archaeology is revealing of Aelia Capitolina.

Deborah O’Daniel Cantrell explores history, geography, hippology and archaeology to establish a history of horses during the divided kingdom of Israel and Judah.

Horses played a major role in ancient economics, warfare and daily life, yet until recently, our understanding of the history of horses in ancient Israel was incomplete. Deborah O’Daniel Cantrell’s new book The Horsemen of Israel: Horses and Chariotry in Monarchic Israel (Ninth-Eighth Centuries B.C.E.) addresses the matter, combining Biblical studies, hippology (the study of horses) and archaeology to reveal the importance of horses during the divided kingdom of Israel and Judah. Reviewer and Biblical scholar Ziony Zevit praises this history of horses as more than a presentation of new material; he enthusiastically describes it as a “page-turner” that he read over a single weekend.

Zevit commends Cantrell’s approach, noting that her varied backgrounds in hippology and law lead to clearly focused questions and interpretations resting on a solid base of practical knowledge. Horses first appear in the Biblical narrative during Solomon’s reign, and there are increased attestations of their military use during the divided kingdom of Israel and Judah. While scholars have often overlooked contemporary Israelite horsemanship, Cantrell’s evidence clearly establishes the prominence and history of horses in this period. Assyrian inscriptions and the Tel Dan stela mention thousands of horses used for Israelite chariotry, and Cantrell complements this evidence with lesser known historical narratives of their capture and purchase.

The book delves into archaeological evidence of the history of horses to supplement what Zevit describes as “sophisticated inferences from Biblical as well as ancient Near Eastern texts.” Excavations at Megiddo reveal a major equine complex with stables, troughs, exercise areas and other prominent features, and Cantrell employs her background in hippology to identify subtle evidence of equestrian habits such as crib-biting and pawing. She combines geography and hippology on a broader scale to show that the topography of Israel would be well-suited to a large-scale chariotry division, and uses hippology on a more theoretical level to examine warhorse psychology and training when discussing their military significance.

Cantrell’s book focuses on chariotry during the divided kingdom of Israel and Judah in the ninth and eighth centuries B.C.E., after which time thinner breeds of horses were introduced and mounted riders started to replace chariots. Readers should be aware that the author’s initial background is in hippology rather than archaeology, and the book prioritizes the usage and history of horses over specific debates on chronology. The divided kingdom of Israel and Judah takes center stage in the military history portion of the Hebrew Bible, and Cantrell’s history of horses redefines our understanding of the Biblical battlefield.

Below, read Ziony Zevit’s full review of The Horsemen of Israel.

The Horsemen of Israel: Horses and Chariotry in Monarchic Israel (Ninth–Eighth Centuries B.C.E.)

By Deborah O’Daniel Cantrell

(Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns,
2011), 143 pp., $39.50 (hardcover)
Reviewed by Ziony Zevit

This book is a page-turner. It is difficult to imagine that a book—let alone a revised doctoral dissertation (completed in 2008)—combining Biblical studies, history, archaeology and hippology could be characterized as a “page-turner,” and yet, that is the phrase that kept crossing my mind as I read this relatively short book, 143 pages, over a weekend.

At first Deborah Cantrell wanted to know why the Egyptians didn’t pursue the fleeing Israelites on horseback, “ride after them like cowboys chasing Indians,” rather than attempting to chase them down in chariots (Exodus 14:6–8). Then she wanted to know why Barak and Deborah fought iron chariots with only infantry (Judges 4:14–16). Then she became curious about why David rode a mule rather than a stallion (1 Kings 1:33,38,44) and why Solomon required chariot cities with thousands of horses (2 Chronicles 8:6). She came to her questions naturally; Cantrell has been a rider, trainer, breeder and importer of horses and has engaged in competitive barrel racing, jumping and dressage. Consequently, she approached her research with understanding and a large body of practical knowledge.

The book would not have come into existence but for a trip to Israel. Cantrell was a practicing attorney when she visited the Megiddo stables as a tourist in 1997. Shortly after the visit, her curiosity led her to take a break from the practice of law and to undertake graduate studies in religion at Vanderbilt University. Her legal training is apparent throughout the book in the way she focuses her questions and constructs her interpretations of the Megiddo stables.

Although recent scholarship tends to assume that there were few horses in ancient Israel and that chariotry was relatively insignificant, Cantrell concludes otherwise based on sophisticated inferences from Biblical as well as ancient Near Eastern texts and from an abundance of archaeological evidence. In Iron Age Israel, she argues, there were large numbers of horses.

To evaluate “The Nature of the War-Horse,” she looks at horse psychology and training, the advantages of horses in battle as well as their limitations. One advantage, she says, is that killing a horse in battle is not done easily or quickly. Cantrell concludes that “Iron Age battles were won or lost depending on the best use of horses.”

Horses are rarely mentioned in Biblical stories set before the time of the Israelite monarchy. They first appear in narratives referring to Solomon’s time. The Assyrians mention that King Ahab fielded 2,000 chariots, a number that translates to 4,000–6,000 horses. The Tel Dan stele in lines 6–7 mentions “thou[sands of char]riots and thousands of horsemen [or: horses].” Cantrell also cites narratives about the capture or purchase of horses to prove her point. She concludes that horses were key pieces in the defensive military strategies of both Judah and Israel during the Iron Age.

In her discussion of “Chariotry in Iron Age Israel,” she points out on practical grounds that the topography of ancient Israel was well suited to accommodate a large chariotry and suggests how chariot networks would have facilitated the rapid deployment of strategic resources in time of need.

Cantrell convincingly argues that archaeological excavations at Megiddo uncovered a major equine complex with stables, an exercise area, watering troughs, hitching stalls, and an adjacent granary for feed. She presents evidence for crib-biting, a habit of some horses to grab fixed objects such as troughs or posts with their teeth, and for pawing, a behavior of impatient horses at feeding time. She uses this evidence to support her interpretation of the tripartite buildings at Megiddo (and elsewhere) as stables. She points to the presence of shallow feeding troughs set low, but high enough to keep the chariot horses from jumping out of their stalls. These shallow troughs encouraged slow feeding and minimized waste. Pillars between stalls blocked the sight of adjacent horses during feeding, preventing hostile reactions; holes in some of the pillars were used to anchor tethers used in grooming.*

Although she clarifies what was excavated in the stable complex, she avoids the controversial issue of the date. That was not her brief. Although she explicates archaeological data, she does so from the vantage point of her competencies. She is not an archaeologist. Consequently it is immaterial to her case if the equine complex is assigned to Solomon in the tenth century (1 Kings 9:15,19; P.L.O. Guy), Ahab in the ninth century (Yigael Yadin and most archaeologists and historians today) or Jeroboam II in the eighth century (Israel Finkelstein and David Ussishkin). Although dating affects the history of the phenomena that she addresses, she has no horse in the race over dating per se.

She also considers the role of chariotry in the context of warfare and explains the transition from chariotry to mounted combat as reflected in the Bible and inscriptions. She finds increasing allusions to cavalry during the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E. as thinner, smaller breeds of horses were introduced into various parts of the Near East thus improving the maneuverability of mounted riders, enabling them to neutralize chariot horses.

The Horsemen of Israel is a brief but important book that may have a significant influence on conceptualizing certain aspects of warfare, economics, social organization and bureaucracy in ancient Israel. But, no matter what its effects on scholarship may be in the future, it is an interesting and worthwhile read in the present. Ziony Zevit is Distinguished Professor of Biblical Literature and Northwest Semitic Languages at the American Jewish University in Bel-Air, California. He has participated in archaeological excavations at Tel Lachish and at Tel Dan.

Notes

* Cf. “Horsing Around in Toronto,” BAR, March/April 2003; “Megiddo Stables or Storehouses (with a contribution by Yigael Yadin), BAR, September 1976.

Ziony Zevit is Distinguished Professor of Biblical Literature and Northwest Semitic Languages at the American Jewish University in Bel-Air, California. He has participated in archaeological excavations at Tel Lachish and at Tel Dan.

Located 1,329 feet below sea level at the southern edge of the Dead Sea, the aptly-named Museum at the Lowest Place on Earth is set to open this spring. The museum will feature important archaeological finds recovered from the Ghor es-Safi region of Jordan (ancient Zoar/Zoora), including artifacts from Lot’s cave.

After years of planning and construction, a new, multimillion-dollar museum, built only yards from the Byzantine monastery that commemorates Lot’s cave and his flight from the ill-fated cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,* is opening this spring at the southeastern end of the Dead Sea. Situated at 1,329 feet below sea level (the lowest elevation on earth) in the Ghor es-Safi region of Jordan (ancient Zoar [or Zoora]), the aptly-named Museum at the Lowest Place on Earth anticipates opening its doors to visitors in April.
 

The new Lot’s cave museum, located at the lowest elevation on earth southeast of the Dead Sea, is filled with well-lit gallery spaces that showcase the many finds made by Dr. Konstantinos Politis and others in Biblical Zoar (Zoora).

Ancient tombstones recovered from the region’s many cemeteries help tell the story of the Arab, Jewish and Christian communities that lived and died in Zoar (Zoora) in the Hellenized, cosmopolitan world of late antiquity. Still another exhibit features finds from the Monastery of Saint Lot, including delicately-crafted architectural pieces and mosaics from the Byzantine period, and even Bronze Age ceramics recovered from inside Lot’s cave. A final gallery displays objects from Ghor es-Safi’s more recent past, including artifacts from the intensive sugar industry that flourished in Zoar (Zoora) during the Mamluk period (13th–16th centuries), as well as handicrafts and daily implements used by the Bedouin and villagers who live in the area today.

In addition, visitors to the new Lot’s cave museum can sit in a small indoor theater and enjoy short films about the project’s mosaic conservation efforts or the geology of the Dead Sea and the Rift Valley. In the near future, the museum will also feature a number of special exhibits on the archaeology of the Zoar (Zoora) region, ranging from “Seafaring on the Dead Sea” to “Zoar’s Pottery Through the Ages.”

Notes

* See Konstantinos Politis, “Where Lot’s Daughters Seduced Their Father,” Biblical Archaeology Review, January/February 2004.

** See Hershel Shanks, “Have Sodom and Gomorrah Been Found?” Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October 1980.

Jonathan Greer

There is very little archaeological evidence of royal ancient Israelite religion. While excavations throughout Israel have revealed evidence of Israelite “folk religion,” the center of elite ancient Israelite religion—the Temple Mount in Jerusalem—has remained archaeologically inaccessible. In his Archaeological Views column “Cultic Practices at Tel Dan—Was the Northern Kingdom Deviant?” archaeologist Jonathan Greer looks to Tel Dan in the northern kingdom of Israel for evidence of the official ancient Israelite religion.

In 1 Kings 12, King Jeroboam establishes a royal sanctuary for the northern kingdom of Israel in the city of Dan to compete with the Jerusalem Temple. Four decades of excavations at Tel Dan have uncovered myriad evidence of cultic activity at the site’s so-called “sacred precinct,” including temple architecture, the remains of a massive altar, cult stands and metal implements, all of which are associated with rites involving animal sacrifice.

The sanctuary at Tel Dan was a center of ancient Israelite religion for the northern kingdom of Israel. Jonathan Greer examines the ritual evidence from Tel Dan, which includes remains of animal sacrifice and artifacts such as this 1.5-foot-tall basalt “horn” from an Israelite altar.

Greer uses these finds to question just how “Israelite” the northern kingdom of Israel really was. Biblical writers often condemn the northern kingdom of Israel for heretical worship of foreign gods, and Greer examined the evidence from Tel Dan to assess these charges. Analyzing textual traditions and archaeological finds, especially faunal remains from animal sacrifice in the sacred precinct, Greer suggests that the northern cultic practices reflect ancient Israelite religion as described in the Bible.

Excavations at Tel Dan have yielded thousands of animal bones in the priestly and common worship areas of the sacred precinct. Greer concludes that the bone fragments indicate the practice of animal sacrifice as described in the Book of Leviticus. The priestly area of the sacred precinct at Tel Dan had a higher proportion of right-sided meaty long bones, while the common worship area featured more left-sided bones. This is consistent with descriptions of animal sacrifice in Exodus 29:27–28 and Leviticus 7:32–33.

Similarly, a high percentage of phalanges (toe bones) were recorded in the priestly area at Tel Dan, furthering the idea that the northern kingdom of Israel practiced ancient Israelite religion as detailed in the Bible. Leviticus 7:8 describes how a priest would keep the skin of a burnt offering, which would include the phalanges and hooves left intact during the skinning following the animal sacrifice. Beyond faunal evidence, Greer reveals further similarities between Tel Dan and the Biblical cult, citing artifacts such as an altar kit reminiscent of those used in Temple and Tabernacle rituals.

Greer’s studies of animal sacrifice and the archaeological evidence from Tel Dan suggest that ancient Israelite religion as practiced in the northern kingdom of Israel was not as deviant as is often thought.

To continue learning about the religious practices of ancient Israel’s northern kingdom, read Jonathan Greer’s “Cultic Practices at Tel Dan—Was the Northern Kingdom Deviant?” Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April 2012.

France’s King Henri III was known to regularly receive guests while seated on the toilet. History, in fact, tells us that he was assassinated during one such visit. To understand just how common it was for Renaissance bathrooms to be used in this manner, BAR editor Hershel Shanks turned to Louise Raimond-Waarts, an expert on Renaissance bathrooms and toilet history.

While reading Sarah Bakewell’s bestselling biography of the 16th-century French essayist Michel de Montaigne,* Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR) editor Hershel Shanks came across a reference to an interesting toilet custom common among European royals of the Renaissance. This little piece of toilet history is mentioned during Bakewell’s discussion of the assassination of the French king Henri III (pictured) by a certain friar Clement, an event which took place in one of the Renaissance bathrooms of the king’s camp.

Proceeding to carry a message from secret supporters in the city, [Clement] came to the camp on August 1 [1589] and was admitted to see the king, who was sitting on the toilet at the time—a common way for royals to receive visitors. [emphasis added] Clement pulled out a dagger and just had time to stab the scared king in the abdomen before he himself was killed by the guards.

In addition to noticing a striking parallel to the Biblical story of the assassination of the Moabite king Eglon (Judges 3:15–25) (which forms the subject of Shanks’s First Person column in the March/April issue of BAR), Shanks wondered just how common it was for European royalty of the Renaissance to receive visitors while doing their business. And if it was common practice, what were the reasons behind it?

Louise Raimond-Waarts of Leiden University is a specialist in Renaissance bathrooms and toilet history. She writes that the Renaissance bathrooms of European royalty were often open to visitors, allowing them to both socialize and have their body’s movements and fluids examined directly by physicians.

To answer these questions, he turned to Louise Raimond-Waarts of Leiden University, who is, among other things, an expert in European Renaissance toilet history and customs. Below is her informative response to his inquiries.

Dear Hershel,

Thank you for posing such an interesting question before me. Although my research is focused on bathing in Renaissance Rome in the period of the end of the 15th and early 16th centuries (until the Sacco di Roma in 1527), I do recognize the custom you mentioned in connection with Montaigne’s recordings.

[It is] important to remember the difference regarding privacy, which was practically non-existent in the 15th-century Italy and only started in some places to come into practice in Rome and Italy in the beginning of the 16th century and, later in that century, elsewhere in Europe. It was in medieval times quite customary for the pope as well as kings and princes to lay down on a daybed and hold an audience, even when they felt sick or were otherwise incapacitated. I do know Pope Julius II (1503–1513) did so when he was rather ill in 1512. These princes were always surrounded by their personal attendants and, if nature called, they were accommodated with their private “secret” toilet brought to them in order to relieve themselves. Pope Julius II was one of the first to have a private bathroom and separate toilet facility installed in the Vatican palace next to his bedroom (1507), but for medical purposes mainly.

One of the reasons for less secrecy around the now very private custom was that doctors had to be able to continually observe the body movements of the pope, king or prince, in order to safeguard their health, so each deposit was examined by them. They still operated according to the Hippocratic theory based on the movement of “humores” and body elements, which prevailed well into the 18th century. Of course nobody was allowed to tamper with royal or papal bodily fluids that were thus discharged from the body, or to substitute them for somebody else’s [fluids]. This could also be a reason for sitting on the toilet in [the] company of others.

The custom is not strange if you remember that the Romans used to sit next to each other in public toilets [pictured], raising such a necessary visit to a social meeting place. No embarrassment there, neither in 16th-century Europe. In the second half of the 15th century, for example, Duke Federigo de Montefeltro had toilet facilities installed in his palace in Urbino, about ten seats in a row, so his courtiers and visitors could sit next to each other whilst doing their call of nature, just like the Romans did.

Roman toilets from Ephesus, Turkey. Photo by Todd Bolen/bibleplaces.com.

The change in attitude with regard to the custom of going to the toilet in all privacy as we now know only happened after the decisions of the Council of Trent (1545–1563) were turned into regulation, which accounted for a lot of changes with regard to customs related to the body, but [these regulations] were not put into action overnight. Customs which had prevailed for thousands of years apparently do not change so easily. The Biblical passage you refer to [Judges 3:15–25] seems to me to fit into the Roman custom, which lasted well into the 16th century in Europe. Especially as the Romans adopted a lot of Greek customs and presumably they were not so different from other people living in the eastern Mediterranean area. And wasn’t Bathsheba bathing in full view to King David [2 Samuel 11:2], [and] Susanna watched by the Elders [Susanna (Chapter 13 of the Greek version of Daniel):7–8]? There was not such a difference between bathing and the toilet.

So, [we should] try to lose our present view, [which is] blocked by the “counter-reform, Calvinistic, Victorian” way of thinking, and imagine a time when the body was considered a gift of God and not [something] to be ashamed of, even when its natural functions needed to be relieved (and revealed) in the presence of others.

Kind regards,
Louise L. Raimond-Waarts

Notes

* Sarah Bakewell, How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer (Other, 2010).

A 19th-century model of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, which details nearly every early excavation and underground passageway known at the time, was returned to Jerusalem last week. The model, which measures 13 feet long and 10 feet wide, was created by the German architect and archaeologist Conrad Schick for the 1873 Vienna World’s Fair. It is a meticulous recreation of the Temple Mount area in the mid-19th century and, like many of Schick’s models, various sections of the model can be opened up and dismantled to reveal building interiors and underground areas. “It’s not only beautiful, it’s also an important research tool,” said archaeologist Shimon Gibson. “It was built by a man who visited every pit and understood the topography in a way we can’t fathom.” After being displayed at the World’s Fair, the model made its way to the St. Chrischona mission near Basil, Switzerland, where it remained for 138 years. It is now on display in Christ Church near Jerusalem’s Jaffa Gate.

A 19th-century model of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, which details nearly every early excavation and underground passageway known at the time, was returned to Jerusalem last week.

Read more about the Temple Mount model.

The Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee approved this week a plan to build a new visitor center above the ongoing Givati parking lot excavations within the existing City of David archaeological park. The center, which will be built on stilts to protect and provide visitor access to the excavations below, will include an exhibition hall, classroom space and a rooftop observatory, as well as parking for the City of David complex. “The plan is an example of outstanding architecture that will contribute to the development of the national park and create public space that befits the location within the site and the city,” said Israel’s Ministry of Interior in a statement. After the plan was approved, the Israel Nature and Parks authority razed a Palestinian community center at the building site that included a playground, community center and café.

The Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee approved this week a plan to build a new visitor center above the ongoing Givati parking lot excavations within the existing City of David archaeological park.

Read more about the planned visitor center.