The Archaeology of the Ostraca House at Israelite Samaria
Epigraphic Discoveries in Complicated Contexts
by Ron E. Tappy
Hardback (Published)
(November 2016)
ISBN: 9780897570954
8.46 x 10.98 inches
Price: $89.95
In stock
The Caesarea Mithraeum (sanctuary or temple of the god Mithras) is only one of two excavated from eastern half of the Empire. Includes new photographs, plans and section drawings; catalogues the small finds from the vault, and technical details about the recovery of information about frescoes and how the excavations were completed. 76 illus.
George Andrew Reisner counted the Israelite ostraca among the most important finds ever recovered by the Harvard Expedition to Samaria. But the precise provenance of these historic inscriptions has remained murky at best. To date, the most incisive and intuitive statement on their archaeological context comes from a brief treatment in I. T. Kaufman’s unpublished 1966 dissertation written at Harvard University. The present study considers in much greater detail the depositional history of the Ostraca House and its immediate surroundings. The investigation proceeds on three distinct but related levels. First, it attempts to clarify the date and nature of the archaeological contexts from which excavators recovered the inscriptions. Second, it evaluates both the quantity and quality of data recovered and the overall manner in which the project leaders presented those data in their official excavation report. Finally, the study draws not only from published records but also from unpublished materials recorded in the handwritten daily journals and private diaries of David Gordon Lyon, George Andrew Reisner, Clarence Stanley Fisher, and Gottlieb Schumacher. Thus an important subplot unfolds as the analysis of archaeological remains advances through the narrative. The unpublished records not only provide supplementary data crucial to a study of the ostraca, they also enliven the story behind the discovery of the inscriptions and reveal the archaeological and administrative trials persistently faced by the excavators, who found themselves working betwixt and between international and local powers and events during the waning years of the Ottoman Empire and the coming of World War I. Still, the internal and external struggles of a start-up expedition cast within a bourgeoning academic field and the vicissitudes of world affairs did not prevent the Harvard Expedition from becoming one of the most influential projects of the early twentieth century.
List of Illustrations List of Tables Preface Acknowledgements Abbreviations Chapter 1 - Introduction and Background A. The Site: Physical Setting and Early History B. The Backstory: Early Challenges for the Harvard Expedition C. The Harvard Expedition: Excavation Strategy, Methods, and Ensuing Challenges 1. 1908 Fieldwork 2. 1909 Fieldwork 3. 1910 Fieldwork D. Summary Chapter 2 - Horizontal Axis: The Ostraca Building's Original Footprint and Surrounding Area A. The Ostraca House 1. Wall A: Ahab's "Main Wall" 2. The Ostraca House: Entrance Halls, Storerooms, and Eastern Corridors (Long-Rooms) 3. Reconstructions 4. Later Additions (?) B. The Osorkon House C. Problems North and East of the Ostraca and Osorkon Houses D. Summary Chapter 3 - Vertical Axis: The Ostraca Building's Complex Depositional History A. Stratigraphic Analysis: Summary of Sections Published by the Harvard Expedition B. Stratigraphic Analysis: Discussion of Sections Relevant to the Ostraca House 1. Principal Longitudinal Section CD 2. Principal Lateral Section GH 3. Subsidiary Lateral Section AB C. Summary Chapter 4 - Ceramic Considerations A. The Harvard Excavations and the Joint Expedition: Collating the Data B. Reisner's Presentation of Pottery: A Meager Repertoire C. The 1910 Ostraca: Spatial Distribution D. The 1910 Ostraca: Typological Notes E. The 1910 Ostraca-related Pottery: Typological Notes F. The 1910 Ostraca and Ostraca-related Pottery: Comparative Ceramic Analysis 1. Epigraphic Pottery 2. Bowl Types Representing Parallels for Ostraca Pottery Forms 3. Non-epigraphic Pottery from the Same Findspots as the Ostraca 4. Comments on Some Jar Types Associated with Ostraca Pottery Forms G. Summary Chapter 5 - The Samaria Ostraca and Modern Scholarship Chapter 6 - Back to the Backstory: The Characters and Concerns behind the Harvard Expedition to Samaria Appendix A - Ostraca: Provenance Data and Vessel Descriptions Appendix B - Ostraca: Sequence of Discovery Appendix C - Non-epigraphic Pottery with Provenance Data Matching those of the Ostraca Appendix D - D. G. Lyon's Report to the President of Harvard University for the Academic Year 1898-1899, Showing the Financial Generosity of Jakob Heinrich Schiff Appendix E - Reisner's Field Drawings of Selected Ostraca Plates Bibliography Indices Biblical References Author Index Subject Index
- By (author) Ron E. Tappy
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