REVIEWS

THE TELL DEIR �ALL�CHALLENGE TO PALESTINIAN

Excavations at Tell Deir cAlla I: A Stratigraphical and Analytical Study of the Early Iron Age Pottery, by H. J. FRANKENwith contributions by J. KALSBEEK.E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1969. 249 pp. with 80 figs. + 15 pls. (Documenta et Monumenta Orientis Antiqui XVI). Final excavation reports may be assigned to four categories. The first merely reports what the excavator finds according to his own impressions. A higher standard is achieved by reports fitted into the structure of cur- rently available evidence. The third group offers evidence confirming, sharpening, and developing the structure. To a final category belong reports which specify the limitations of the structure and offer evidence of new horizons requiring major restructuring or different structures. Tell Deir All,7 I is one of the rare Palestinian excavation reports to fall into the last category. As a matter of fact, it seems defensible to argue that the report of Henk FRANKEN and his ceramic expert, J. KALSBEEK,is the first to belong to that category. The basic contributions of the final excavation reports of such patriarchs of Palestinian archaeology as G. A. REISNER and W. F. ALBRIGHT belong to the erection of the structure. Excavation reports of the past three decades have filled out and delimited that structure. The thrust of this volume is that the time has arrived to focus upon the per- versities of that delimitation and new prospects beyond. Is this thrust worth serious consideration ? Is it merely another echo of the revolutionary cacophony dominating the current scene, or does the stuff of the report burst the bonds of Palestinian archaeology's current structure ? Without question FRnrtKErl's results justify a call for substantial restructuring all along the archaeologist's torturous path from excavation to publication. What caused the production of this new, structure-shattering material ? The answer lies in at least three directions: FRANKEN'Spains- taking, stratigraphic excavation and reporting techniques; his use of technicians and technical analyses; and his enthusiasm for contact with the people of antiquity. . Stratigrapbic Excavation and Reporting FRANKENlearned his excavation techniques under Kathleen KENYON'S tutelage at . The same Jerichoan diggers separated the layers and isolated the walls at Jericho and Deir FRANKENlearned well the role of meticulous stratigrapher without identifying it with the procedure and practice of his mentor. It is a sad fact that some recent American excavations in Palestine have adopted the procedures employed at Jericho without the leadership of an exacting stratigrapher. Five-meter 244 squares separated by meter catwalks with precisely cut vertical faces and detailed section drawings are of minimal value if the earth layers illustrated have not been carefully separated during excavation. Instead of serving their purpose of providing for thorough and systematic recording of stratigraphic excavation, catwalks have often become deterrents to strati- fied digging. Digging a larger area by stratum degenerated into uncoordinated digging of individual squares boxed in by balks or excavat- ing adjacent squares according to conflicting interpretations of the strati- graphy. FRANKEN'Swork at Deir 'Alla stands in the sharpest contrast to that of excavators who adopt the form of stratigraphic excavation without the substance. The substance demands systematic recording of layer-by-layer digging. The form, FRANKEN insists (pp. 11-15), must be determined by the objectives of the expedition. The central purpose of the expedition was to obtain a closely dated chronological sequence of pottery and other artifacts for "the transition from the Late Bronze Age into and including the Early Iron Age" (p. 1). The focus was not upon the history of the mound or its structures and installations but upon securing material for refining a chronological tool. To secure the desired material economically and with as little disturbance to the mound's monuments as possible, FRANKENdecided upon a stepped trench on the north central slope of the mound. The broad, stepped trench has been used effectively by Rodney YOUNG at Gordion and at other sites. Starting with a single excavated square at the northern base of a mound, for example, it is possible to extend the excavation westward, southward, or eastward by peeling the layers as they appear in the vertical sides of the square. As long as extensions are made at regular intervals on a grid and sections are drawn before each extension, systematic recording of strati- graphic digging can be accomplished without resort to catwalks. At Deir ,,Alld each successive terrace up the slope of the mound was carried south into the mound only far enough to secure large enough groups of stra- tified artifacts from the layers represented in the terrace to accomplish the expedition's objective. This method avoids blind probing for layers inside a square surrounded by catwalks and has the additional advantage that earth can easily be removed without raising it to the tops of catwalks surrounding traditional grid squares. FRANKENis careful to note that the stepped trench has the disadvantage of exposing only segments of a stratum at any one time, making overall photographs impossible (p. 14). Such a disadvantage might weigh heavily against such procedure given a different set of objectives, but it hardly offset its advantages for the Deir cAllä excavation aim. In this respect FRANKEN was neither abandoning the excavation methods learned at Jericho nor radically restructuring them. He was employing the same basic methodology but tailoring procedures to his specific objective. Excavation procedures and routine can be rather easily described, but to attempt to evaluate how carefully and effectively they were implemented in the field is another matter. Without a clear understanding of the quality of field practice it is hardly possible to offer an adequate evaluation of a