UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Edom in Judah: An Archaeological Investigation of Identity, Interaction, and Social Entanglement in the Negev During the Late Iron Age (8th–6th Centuries BCE) A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures by Andrew Joel Danielson 2020 © Copyright by Andrew Joel Danielson 2020 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Edom in Judah: An Archaeological Investigation of Identity, Interaction, and Social Entanglement in the Negev During the Late Iron Age (8th–6th Centuries BCE) by Andrew Joel Danielson Doctor of Philosophy in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures University of California, Los Angeles, 2020 Professor Aaron Alexander Burke, Chair Archaeological excavations in the northeastern Negev region of southern Judah identified significant amounts of “foreign” archaeological material culture in contexts dating to the late Iron Age (late eighth to early sixth century BCE). This iconic material culture consisted of highly identifiable ceramics, evidence of non-Yahwistic cult featuring the deity Qws, and non-Judahite inscriptions. Identified as associated with the kingdom of Edom to the east, this material culture assemblage was quickly interpreted to be the result of an Edomite “invasion,” understood as occurring during the late Judean monarchy (late seventh to early sixth centuries BCE) in tandem with Babylonian aggression and the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE, as was promoted by certain readings of the biblical text. This study challenges the monocausal interpretation of an invasion, recognizing both the longevity of this material culture’s presence in the northeastern Negev, its frequent production ii within the northeastern Negev, and the contexts in which it was excavated that reveal a material culture footprint inconsistent with an invasion. I argue that the Edomite material culture came to be present in the region through a long and sustained pattern of culture contact, migration, and social entanglement, in large part the result of activity associated with the lucrative South Arabian trade that traversed the region en route to the Mediterranean. Framing the region through a borderlands approach, three case studies explore each of the iconic “Edomite” datasets, 1) foodways, 2) ritual behavior, and 3) inscriptions. I present each dataset in relation to patterns of human behavior and interaction, and especially the ways that they may be used as proxies for different types of social identities. Ultimately, this study delivers a new narrative of social entanglement for a misrepresented region. While the end of this period may have been marked by violence, the previous century and a half indicates a lengthy pattern of cross-cultural interaction, political ambition, economic enterprise, and social entanglement. iii The dissertation of Andrew Joel Danielson is approved. Elizabeth F. Carter Benjamin W. Porter William M. Schniedewind Aaron A. Burke, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2020 iv For Kaitlyn v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................................. x LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................. xii LIST OF PLATES............................................................................................................................. xiii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................. xv CURRICULUM VITAE ..................................................................................................................... xix PART ONE: BACKGROUND OF RESEARCH, THEORETICAL CONCERNS, AND REGIONAL CONTEXT1 CHAPTER 1. THE QUESTION OF EDOMITE PRESENCE IN JUDAH AND THE DIRECTION OF STUDY ...... 2 A. Direction and Organization of Study ..................................................................................... 5 B. History of Scholarship .......................................................................................................... 10 1. Nelson Glueck: Early Exploration and the Dominance of the Biblical Narrative ............ 10 2. 1960s through 1990s: Intensive Archaeological Excavations .......................................... 12 a. Transjordan: Crystal Bennett and the Unearthing of Edom .......................................... 13 b. The Negev: Izthaq Beit-Arieh and Exploration and Excavation in Southern Judah .... 17 c. Creating the Edomite..................................................................................................... 19 3. The New Millennium: New Data and New Directions ..................................................... 22 a. New Excavations and Surveys ...................................................................................... 22 b. Publication of Earlier Data............................................................................................ 24 c. Calls for Re-evaluation ................................................................................................. 26 4. Conclusions and New Directions ...................................................................................... 34 CHAPTER 2. THE THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH ............................................ 38 A. Regional Considerations: Sociopolitical Organization and the Landscape ......................... 38 1. Social and Political Structures .......................................................................................... 38 a. States and Chiefdoms .................................................................................................... 39 b. Tribal Kingdoms ........................................................................................................... 41 c. Patrimonialism .............................................................................................................. 44 d. Hegemony and the Segmentary State ........................................................................... 45 2. Territoriality ...................................................................................................................... 47 a. Borderlands and Frontiers ............................................................................................. 49 b. Networks ....................................................................................................................... 51 B. Cross-Cultural Interactions: Theories and Implications ....................................................... 52 1. Acculturation and World-Systems Theory ....................................................................... 52 2. Hybridity and the Location of Culture .............................................................................. 54 3. Entanglements and Entangled Things ............................................................................... 55 C. Social Collectives and the Individual: Ethnicities and Identities ......................................... 60 1. Introductory Thoughts on Identity and Ethnicity.............................................................. 60 2. Ethnicity: From Biological to Cultural ............................................................................. 62 3. Ethnicity, Material Culture, and Human Behavior ........................................................... 66 D. Theoretical Position and Methodological Approaches ........................................................ 69 vi CHAPTER 3. EDOM, JUDAH, AND ARABIA IN THE IRON AGE: REFRESHED PERSPECTIVES .............. 73 A. Envisioning Edom ................................................................................................................ 73 1. Terms, Topography, Environment and Climate ............................................................... 74 2. Ceramics, Dating, and the Chronological Sequence of the Edomite Kingdom ................ 81 3. Prologue: Edom before the Edomite Polity ...................................................................... 84 4. The Beginnings of the Edomite Polity and Its Relations with Assyria............................. 87 5. The Character of Edom during the Iron II ........................................................................ 93 B. Arabia and the Arabian Trade ............................................................................................ 111 1. Topography and Environment ........................................................................................ 111 2. Sociopolitical Structures of the Hejaz............................................................................. 113 3. Caravans and the Aromatics Trade ................................................................................. 117 4. Trade Routes and Challenges .......................................................................................... 120 5. Imperial Interest in the Arabian Trade ............................................................................ 124 C. Envisioning the Judean Negev ........................................................................................... 130 1. Topography, Environment and Climate .......................................................................... 131 2. The Northeastern Negev During the Iron II .................................................................... 133 3. Under Imperial Eyes