Archaeology vids Tell el Hesi, Part B, 32m 720p30

Following relatively soon after Petrie's excavation in 1980 comes Frederick Jones Bliss, a series of seasons of excavation, still funded by PEF, Palestine Exploration Fund. This time, he can get to the summit and dig around a bit more than Petrie was able to. In fact, in the northeast portion of the Acropolis, he's dug down, do you remember how many meters of accumulated soil, 21 meters? He's dug down 21 meters in order to get to virgin soil, which is at the 17 meters above the surrounding territory, and that was sand. Quite a few decades will go by before anyone returns for formal excavation on Tallahassee. It's 1970, and the organization is Joint Archaeological Expedition. It includes the American School of Oriental Research, affectionately known as ASOR, A-S-O-R. You'll see that as a prominent player in Palestine excavation. You'll also want to get acquainted with George Ernest Wright. I found it interesting that JEA was founded by George Ernest Wright, who studied under William Foxwell Albright. Wright is an American. Notice his death date, 1974, and then notice how long the JEA expedition to Hesse went on. So, although he founded the JEA, he passed away in the middle of the Hesse excavation. I'm not saying it was connected with the excavation, just kind of notice that although he started this operation, he was not able to continue to see it through to 1983. It will be this 1970-1983 span, then, that gives rise to the report by Fargo and O'Connell. I believe I erroneously said it closed in 1980. I see here it actually lasted until 1983, where they spend their efforts. Part of it was on the Acropolis, part of the Acropolis that Bliss didn't get to. And then the Acropolis Slope, so that would be in the region probably where those large rectangular impressions were, or excavations were, that we saw in the first black and white photo. And then the Lower City, and by now you'll recognize the Lower City means further down in the bottom of the Google Earth photo. Let's turn our attention now to what periods of time this particular site enjoyed habitation and what kind of architecture have archaeologists uncovered there. It's helpful to think fairly imaginatively as we approach this. I'm not suggesting that we entertain fenciful notions unsupported by evidence, but rather think of this particular locale as having people living in it from time to time over hundreds of years. So, in a sense, the archaeologist is a detective that is uncovering the story of a territory. How early did people choose to live in this particular region? Well, you can see that some pottery, particularly on the upper elevations of the Acropolis, reaches as far back as the time frame of 4500 to 3500 BC. This is called Chalcolithic, Chalcolithic referring to copper. And we use these different material terms to distinguish time periods according to the kind of technology that was used for refining metal and producing tools. This is followed by the Early Bronze Age, 3500 to 2250. Instead of just a more isolated habitation on the Acropolis and perhaps the Acropolis base, Early Bronze attests habitation across the 25 acres of the site. If you're wondering where does this fit in with events in the biblical record, it's helpful to anchor Abraham and Sarah in the time frame of 2000 to 1800 BC. So, the Early Bronze Age is concluding some at least 250 years before Abraham comes on the scene. So, by the time Abraham gets to the general region of Palestine, this particular site, alongside the Wadi Hasi, has enjoyed habitation for about 2000 years. That's a long time. When archaeologists have tried to establish and recover artifacts from the Early Bronze Era in the lower elevations of the Lower City, so that would be the lower third of the map that you see on the screen, they ran into problems having to do with erosion. Simply, elements have washed it away. In addition, farming. Farming has deteriorated the evidence from those regions. Having said that, now direct your attention to the yellow-shaded text on the left and then the yellow-shaded regions on the right. There was a substantial wall that was discovered. Substantial, we're saying 5 meters thick, 5 meters wide, that's 15 feet wide. And ranging a stretch of 82 meters long on the south and then the angular portion that moves out towards the east, 95 meters, equipped with towers along it. This dates to Early Bronze. That's a substantial defense. To get a better picture of what they mean when they talk about this mud-brick wall, concentrate on the diagonal yellow field, particularly the left or lower end. Correlate that to the next slide. Notice that same diagonal yellow field. And now we have information from the excavations 1970 and 1975. This particular scheme gives us a key, in a sense, that the lower left corner of the yellow field was known as Field 6 of excavation. You can see that more clearly in the enlargement on the left. That's preserved now on the right, Field 6. If you think of the tan zone of squares as something like a Rubik's Cube, notice the lower two rows. It's reproduced on the far left. And here you have the box that is the division zones. I believe those are about 1 meter that preserve the vertical stratigraphy and then the excavation squares. Those are generally 5 meters. It seems like I read something that said that in Tallahassee they were 6 meters square. Alright, so that's the excavation block pattern. Then the lines with the cross-hatching or the shading tell us what architectural feature they discovered. And that's the wall they're talking about. It's actually a double wall, at least in this portion, isn't it? To ensure that we're making the right correlation, notice the top of the left-hand picture, H77. I guess that means Hesse Sketch 77. And we're informed that this is Field 6. So that's how we connect the dots, as it were, to understand what information is being given to us. In addition, you can read a drain channel, a courtyard work area. They've uncovered tools, ovens, and residential dwellings. When we come to the close of Early Bronze, it seems that this area moved into disuse. It was abandoned. Archaeologists speculate this may have been what in effect we would call over-farming. Using natural resources to the point of depleting them. Perhaps it was due to population growing, and the area couldn't really support it. We're also aware from other sites that around that time frame, there was a change in climate resulting in increasing dryness and desiccation. This is attested further south, coming from Egypt and moving up. Perhaps that made this territory less hospitable for human habitation. We also want to point out, in closing on this slide, the upper left of the scheme where there is a diagonally shaded rectangle. This is a thick mud wall. It dates also to Early Bronze, and it's something that Petrie discovered. Mention was made a moment ago of tools. With the exception of the far left axe head, which comes from Jericho, the rest of these are from Tallahassee. The time frame? Early Bronze. Notice the composition. These are copper. Continuing with our walk through the chronological era, we move next to the Middle Bronze era. Not too much evidence for occupation in Middle Bronze. We commented that at the end of Early Bronze, it seems to have been vacated. Late Bronze, 1550-1400. They found a kiln. Not sure what was the industrial activity for which this was used. They did rule out iron smelting. When it comes to artifacts that could be dated to Late Bronze, there was a problem with the irregularity of stratification. The artifacts that date to Late Bronze don't show up in any predictable or standardized layer or stratum. It sounds to me like they're saying things were disrupted. That can happen when later habitations, which would occupy a higher stratum, might bore down. Maybe they're digging some silos or pits. They bore down into the earlier layers and then they can disrupt artifacts. So something that might be 1 meter down if they dig a 3 meter pit, a 1 meter down item might fall down and later be discovered 3 meters down because that's the bottom of the pit that had been excavated by the ancients not long ago from a later period. So the find location, the stratum where a given artifact is found, sometimes does not trace to its original location. It could float up by disruption or it could sink further down. I'm talking about floating up by human activity not by literal floating, of course. How about the Iron Age? By the way, now we're getting into the start of the Israelite monarchy. We can locate Saul around 1100 BC. At the point of the report, the information that I accessed, particularly in that more detailed report, there wasn't as much excavation completed at this level. But they do refer to a mud brick wall with an interior plaster floor so they were digging down and they could tell that the earth was a different composition. It was plaster instead of just packed earth and a few pottery shards that correspond to that date. Notice the angle marked by the yellow lines. Notice where that's located. That's the Acropolis as it begins to fall away in the northeast corner. In contrast to some of the early bronze time periods, when we reach Iron Age 2, 1000 to 586, we find considerable architectural activity and evidence of habitation. Incidentally, in terms of Biblical history, here is where the monarchy is located from about 1000, that would correspond to the Davidic monarchy, down to 586, the fall of the Southern Kingdom at the hands of the Babylonians. So in this time frame, Tallahassee produces massive engineering projects. We have not a single wall, but a double wall and those would be the walls labeled B and A. We'll talk more about those in the next slide. Within that territory, there's a platform. Six to seven meters of additional elevation have been constructed and this provides an environment for additional structures to be built. The architecture that surrounds the letter C is interesting, isn't it? This dates to the 9th century, so in the 800s B.C. Courtyard. When we come to the 6th century, still within Iron Age 2, they report finding what they call heavy layer of ash and destruction debris and then they explain this is probably the result of the Babylonian slash Edomite destruction of the site. You're already aware that the Babylonians came in 586 and there were several times when they pulled out residents of Israel and took them to Babylon, Daniel would be one of those, but finally in 586 is the destruction of Jerusalem. That can ring in our ears simply like a story or when you come to a site like this and you see an ash layer and using things like pottery typology and chronology and the study of the various strata, suddenly that event becomes tangible when you run into something like an ash layer. Incidentally, there is an earlier that would mean further down in the layers but a chronologically earlier ash layer and the archaeologists comment this is not destruction. Not the one we're talking about here, but a previous one. We distinguish this was not a destruction one because the ash seems to have just been blown from a refuse heap and dusted across a wide area. But when they come to this one in Iron Age 2, they say this is destruction. Notice there's also reference to debris. Sometimes what they're talking about is pottery vessels crushed in place as though some roof has collapsed on them. So it's a sobering discovery. The last bullet on this page follows that train of thought by pointing out that after this destruction, that would be something that was erected on top or somehow mixed in with this ash layer. There was a later 6th century house but they comment that the construction of it is inferior, made of mud brick. That's the sort of thing you might expect if there's been a dismantling of a culture through an invasion. Think of war zones that you might see on the news and then you see what kind of rebuilding might happen if there's sustained poverty in that territory. What's rebuilt is not a massive wall that's 5 meters thick or a courtyard like in item C on this picture. No, it would be inferior buildings. So it tells the story of the decimation of the culture as a result of the Babylonian invasion. Now we'll concentrate on some other elements in that same scheme. Notice the red circled area with the letter A. This corresponds in the key to the right to Petrie's excavations in 1890. Here is a wall that Petrie discovered and he refers to it as being wide and also having you might call it denticulation. It almost looks like a comb, doesn't it? So there are chambers that run off of this wall separated by smaller partition walls. The purpose of the bluish, the cyan rectangle that reaches up tilted to the right the purpose of that is to say in times past the wall would have extended in that direction. However, there was substantial erosion on the eastern side of the hill and so that wall is not now visible. The underpinnings of it have been washed away. Finally, the portions of wall that are at the top labeled B that run down the left side and then continue in the lower middle of the screen between C and A, all those regions B are yet another defensive wall structure that dates to the Iron Age 2 period. If you're studying closely the scheme indicating who conducted those excavations it's a little difficult here to distinguish between dark gray and medium gray but my understanding is just above the yellow angle that portion of the wall is dark gray that corresponds to Bliss's excavations following Petrie 1891 and 2 and then decades later when the joint expedition returned beginning in 1970 they continued and uncovered more. That would be the remainder with the letters B. Here's an interesting artifact that was recovered at Tell Hesi. It dates to either 7th or 6th century B.C. It's not the seal itself but rather the impression of a seal. The seal is known as Ebula and you can see the script the Hebrew script. This is early Hebrew and that's part of the way they can date it through paleography the study of letter shapes based on time eras when those were used. And this reads Matan Yahu and then bracketed Sun of Ishmael This clay, although much smaller than what you see, you can see what is the scale there, about 15 millimeters in width. This piece of clay receiving this impression would have bound some string, immobilizing some string which would have been wrapped around a scroll We don't have the scroll, that's deteriorated but this clay impression or Ebula naming this individual still remains. Following the Babylonian invasion then eventually the Babylonians succumbed to the Persians 539 to 332 that's bumping right up against Alexander the Great so that defines the Persian period What's going on in Tell Hesi? Archaeologists, based on what they see they infer that it served primarily a military or government function. There's more building going on, formation of a platform a citadel, but not so much evidence of typical day-by-day dwellings of the average people so perhaps that's why they're inferring maybe a military installation At the same time, they did uncover a lot of jars that are big enough to be much more substantial than just what you would daily use in a home so they're identifying these as shipping or transport jars Some of their study reconstructs the sort of flora that was in use and they find a variety of food products including sorts of grain and they can't help but wonder if maybe there was enough grain being produced in this region that there was an export business that would explain the large jars In addition, they've found some ceramics that are not indigenous to the area but rather are Greek, Attic Greek that assists with the dating, incidentally They also found some large pits that had intentionally been lined with bricks and they infer that these were probably grain silos Interesting, as they began to dig into these silos what did they first encounter? Lots of broken pottery That sounds to me like this was later on it became something of a garbage dump in terms of where are you going to get rid of your broken corral ware Well, you just pitch it into that big ditch that maybe in your great-grandparents' time frame was a grain silo, but we're not using it that way today so there's a handy place to get rid of your useless shards of pottery As they move from the 400s into the 300s, that is the 4th century the Greek pottery kind of dries up there's not as much of that so again, keep in mind that we're climbing we're moving to higher and higher layers in the strata And so, the archaeologists infer from this that there may have been a transition Perhaps at this point, Tel Chassi is serving as a staging ground a place where Persian military are storing or stocking some supplies Supplies for what? Well, other resources tell us that in that time frame, particularly 401-400 BC the Persians are conducting raids attacking Egypt to the south Who knows, maybe Tel Chassi was a supply dump to support those sorts of military activities I trust you're hearing the sort of inferences that are drawn based on fragments, frankly Fragments of what is there telling the best story the most plausible story for a given time frame based on bits and pieces that archaeologists discover To the right, the jug there is labeled a vest jug dating to the Persian era Habitation continues, but the evidence is not strong in the Hellenistic time period. Alexander the Great around 332, moving down to 53 BC What structures they do find are not in good repair even the foundation evidence Why? Much much later, there were quite a few burials on this site in the Muslim area To create a burial zone, you are digging into the soil and disrupting what was there before So pretty much the first or second layer down would have been Hellenistic and that was churned up quite a bit in creating this burial zone cemetery. Later than Hellenistic notice that there is quite a jump as they say, parenthetically little evidence for Roman, that would have been next after Hellenistic, for Byzantine and early Arab but late Arab, and here we are saying AD 1600-1800 is this cemetery. You can see the quantity of burials that they encountered and how they handled it, using it as something to study and understand that culture We can gain some insight on Petrie's period of excavation at Tenochesi when we read his comments that he preserved in his autobiography. It's dated 1891 It's entitled, 70 Years in Archaeology If you've ever been part of a project and needing to hire people and finding it difficult to find reliable workers, then you will understand some of Petrie's lament when he writes, I had usually about 30 men employed this would be for the excavation at Tenochesi each with a woman or girl to carry the basket so it sounds like the men were doing the pickaxe work shoveling up or brushing away soil and then they had a woman to remove whatever they excavated but then he complains, but only a small portion of the natives there are fit for work each group of men that I engaged rapidly dwindled down by weeding out the hopelessly lazy ones so that in two or three weeks half of any lot would be dismissed so it was a challenge but he eventually did have some who were reliable and you can see the fruit of his labor If Petrie's autobiography gives you a sense of what it was like as he was there overseeing the dig in 1890, the article by Fargo and O'Connell gives us a sense of what a typical day on the dig was like in the 1970s and so they write, the most striking change probably has been in the shift from hired laborers that would be in Petrie's day, to volunteers that would be in the 1970s, mostly students and academicians from the US and Canada and they continue every other summer so that dig was in alternate years every other summer, somewhat over 100 such people converge on Tell el-Hessi to spend six weeks living in primitive conditions in a tent village erected on the southern dune which was part of the 3rd millennium town we do have electricity and running water advances since Petrie's day, but there are only the tents and one tree for protection from the ever-present sun and wind we are up with the sun at 5am, as was Petrie to begin the work day by 6am continuing in the field until noon the hottest part of the day, the early afternoon hours is devoted to rest and if possible, sleep before another session in the field from 4-6pm in the evenings, records of the day's work are completed in preparation for the next day's activities and as part of the educational program, staff members present lectures about archaeological method the cultural history of the site, and other relevant topics by 9.30pm, the generator is silenced, and all retire for some much needed rest. If part of this comment that's embedded in the article in Biblical Archaeology sounds like an advertisement you're exactly right this particular inset in the article finishes by reading, so today, more than 80 years later we can agree with Petrie that quote, the course of an excavator is not the easiest that's a quote from Petrie, but now as then the excitement and adventure far outweigh the inconveniences. That concludes an inset that's entitled, Digging at Hessey Today the conclusion of the article proper where this is found, ends by saying if you're interested in volunteering, please sign up typically, I wouldn't photograph footnotes for presentation in a PowerPoint lecture, but from this article by Fargo and O'Connell, as I began to look over moving my attention to the resources on which they base their article, I was struck by the length of this first footnote, and then I saw something rather familiar I invite you to scan over footnote number one and you'll find out some information regarding participating educational institutions, that is, students from certain institutions see what you can find here are the references that I found useful Margaret Drower's biography of Flinders Petrie is a substantial resource, just a portion of which addresses his time at Tell al-Hessey many of the sketches that you saw here and some of the photographs are from the second resource and also from the third the second is the encyclopedia article, the third is the summary of five seasons of excavation this concludes our study of Tell al-Hessey my hope is that, in addition to learning specifics about one individual site this study has allowed you to appreciate the development of skills as someone from the Egyptian excavations applied stratigraphy, pottery typology those insights to Palestine, which then other archaeologists in the region began to imitate also the conditions under which someone like Petrie would have operated in the 1890s and then the advances made as we move to more modern excavation, both the conditions of volunteers in the 1970s another thing that I hope you picked up from this is how to begin to read the schemes and sketches which are provided topographical and then layout of the particular regions of excavation and then also the information that's derived from them some of that information has a relatively high degree of certitude as far as dating or what was going on in the occupation layer and then other pieces of information seem fairly thin without a great deal of substantiation meaning that the archaeologists are forced to offer conjecture we want to be aware of these gradations of certitude as we read these various seasonal excavation reports