Bethsaida4a.book Page i Thursday, February 12, 2009 12:41 PM Bethsaida Bethsaida4a.book Page ii Thursday, February 12, 2009 12:41 PM BETHSAIDA EXCAVATIONS PROJECT BOARD OF DIRECTORS Rami Arav • Director of Excavations and Research Richard A. Freund • Project Director and Corresponding Secretary John F. Shroder Jr. • Chief Geologist Jimmy Albright, Mark Appold, Hector Avalos, Walter C. Bouzard, Gordon Brubacher, Denny Clark, John T. Greene, Heinz-Wolfgang Kuhn, Elizabeth McNamer, James Olsen, Charles Page, Nicolae Roddy, Carl Savage, Ilona Skupinska-Lovset, Mark Smith, Fred Strickert, Stanley Udd AFFILIATED STAFF Paul Bauman, Monika Bernett, Baruch Brandl, Michael Bishop, Harry Jol, Gloria London, Robert O’Connell, Philip Reeder, Robert Shuster Andrea Rottloff • Glass Studies Orna Cohen • Conservation Charleen Green • Restoration Arieh Kindler • Numismatics DreAnna Hadash • Staff Artist Toni Fisher • Zooarchaeology Christine Dalenta • Photography Sandra Fortner • Assistant to the Director of Excavations and Research Stephen Reynolds • Archivist Wendi Chiarbos Jensen • Coordinator Christina Etzrodt • AutoCAD Bethsaida4a.book Page iii Thursday, February 12, 2009 12:41 PM BETHSAIDA A City by the North Shore of the Sea of Galilee Rami Arav Edited by Richard A. Freund VOLUME FOUR )L[OZHPKH,_JH]H[PVUZ7YVQLJ[9LWVY[Z *VU[L_[\HS:[\KPLZ prelim_B4.fm Page iv Friday, February 13, 2009 11:21 AM Copyright © 2009 Truman State University Press, Kirksville, Missouri 63501 All Rights Reserved tsup.truman.edu Cover art: Large crater found in City Gate Chamber 4, Locus 212 (front); red-slip and burnished jug found in City Gate Chamber 4, Locus 212 (back); with detail from wall of storage house south of the inner city gate. Cover design: Teresa Wheeler Type: ITC Stone Serif © Adobe Systems Incorporated, and is a registered trademark of International Typeface Corporation. Centaur © Adobe Systems Incorporated, and is a trademark of The Monotype Corporation. Printed by Edwards Brothers, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan USA Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bethsaida Excavations Project Reports and Contextual Studies p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. Contents: v. 4. Bethsaida : A city by the north shore of the Sea of Galilee / edited by Rami Arav and Richard A. Freund ISBN 978-1-931112-83-3 (casebound) ISBN 978-1-931112-84-0 (paperback) 1. Bethsaida (Extinct city). 2. Excavations (Archaeology)—Israel—Bethsaida (Extinct city). 3. Bible—Antiquities. 4. Rabbinical literature—History and criticism. I. Arav, Rami. II. Freund, Richard A. III. Bethsaida Excavations Project Reports and Contextual Studies. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any format by any means without written permission from the publisher. The paper in this publication meets or exceeds the minimum requirements of the Amer- ican National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1992. Bethsaida4a.book Page v Thursday, February 12, 2009 12:41 PM Contents Figures, Graphs, and Tables . vii Acknowledgments . xvii Introduction. xxi 1 Final Report on Area A, Stratum V: The City Gate . 1 Rami Arav 2 Petrographic Analysis of a Hippo Jar from the Storage Room of the Stratum V City Gate . 123 Robert Shuster 3 The Leshem Inscription . 125 Carl Savage 4 An Israelite Administrative Jar Handle Impression from Bethsaida (et-Tell) . 136 Baruch Brandl 5 Persian Period Mortaria at Bethsaida-Julias. 147 Sandra Fortner 6 Caprid Tooth Analysis . 172 Toni Fisher 7 Pollen Analysis at et-Tell, 1996–2006: Laboratory Report on the Iron Age Gate . 180 Patrick Scott Geyer with contributions by Thomas Larson, Christine Cyr, and Atheina Mansour 8 Archaeobotanical Remains from Bethsaida. 193 Nili Liphschitz 9 Archaeobotanical Finds from an Iron Age II Granary at Bethsaida . 196 Nili Liphschitz 10 Notes on Carbon-14 Dating: Purpose and Results . 200 Rami Arav and Elisabetta Boaretto Bethsaida4a.book Page vi Thursday, February 12, 2009 12:41 PM vi Contents 11 Pre-Roman, Roman, and Islamic Glass from Bethsaida . 204 Andrea Rottloff 12 Bethsaida Numismatic Survey: Seasons of 1997 through 2000. 252 Arie Kindler 13 Stamped Amphora Handles from Bethsaida . 267 Donald T. Ariel 14 El Araj as Bethsaida: Spatial and Temporal Improbabilities. 293 John F. Shroder Jr., Harry D. Jol, and Philip P. Reeder 15 Sedimentologic and Paleogeomorphologic Character of the Bethsaida (Beteiha) Plain of the Sea of Gailiee . 310 Laura Banker, John F. Shroder Jr., and Moshe Inbar Contributors. 327 Index . 331 LOF_B4.fm Page vii Friday, February 13, 2009 4:31 PM Figures, Graphs, and Tables Unless otherwise noted, all images are the property of the Bethsaida Excavations Project. Introduction Bethsaida Stratum V City Gate . .xxiv 1 Final Report on Area A, Stratum V: The City Gate Rami Arav Fig. 1.1 Map of the site showing different areas of excavation. 2 Fig. 1.2 Stratum V city gate . 7 Fig. 1.3 Aerial photograph showing approaching to the city . 8 Fig. 1.4 A patch of plaster preserved on a stone that came off the wall at the outer city gate . 10 Fig. 1.5 Cobblestone road, Area A . 10 Fig. 1.6 Cobblestone road, Area A . 10 Fig. 1.7 Road leading to Bethsaida. 11 Fig. 1.8 Stratum V city walls, Area A . 13 Fig. 1.9 Outer city wall, Area A, Square O50, Locus 491 . 13 Fig. 1.10 Section C-C: Actual remains and proposed reconstructions . 14 Fig. 1.11 The remnants of an un-iconic stele in Square N46 . 15 Fig. 1.12 Detail, stone relief from central palace of Tiglath- pilesar III, British Museum 118882. 16 Fig. 1.13 A section of the outer city wall and the outer city gate . 18 Fig. 1.14 The paved courtyard between the inner and outer city walls at the southern wing of the gate, Locus 290 . 20 Fig. 1.15 Section of outer city gate, Strata V and VI . 21 Fig. 1.16 The paved courtyard with two steles flanking the entrance and the stepped high place at the right . 23 Fig. 1.17 Door recesses and threshold of inner gate . 26 Fig. 1.18 Locus 1764; wall above pavement of Stratum V . 27 Fig. 1.19 Aerial view of Bethsaida, Area A . 28 Fig. 1.20 Southern door jamb of inner city gate . 31 Fig. 1.21 A piece of carbonized wood behind the threshold, Locus 242 . 32 vii vii LOF_B4.fm Page viii Friday, February 13, 2009 4:31 PM viii Figures, Graphs, and Tables Fig. 1.22 Reconstruction of wooden beams in the inner gate . 32 Fig. 1.23 Remains of Stratum VI under the floor of Chamber 1, Stratum V . 34 Fig. 1.24 Section showing two levels of grain found in Chamber 1 . 35 Fig. 1.25 Impressions of grain are seen on the plastered floor in Chamber 2 . 36 Fig. 1.26 A view from Chamber 2 to the paved passageway and Chamber 4. 36 Fig. 1.27 Construction technology of Chamber 4 . 38 Fig. 1.28 Chamber 4 city gate, Locus 212 . 38 Fig. 1.29 Picture of the destruction in Chamber 4 . 39 Fig. 1.30 Stepped high place at the northern wing of the gate . 41 Fig. 1.31 Direct access high place at the northern wing of the city gate . 44 Fig. 1.32 The four corner basin . 45 Fig. 1.33 Drawing of the incision of the crouching bull . 45 Fig. 1.34 The five pieces of the iconic stele in situ . 46 Fig. 1.35 The iconic stele. 46 Fig. 1.36 Drawing of the iconic stele . 46 Fig. 1.37 Drawing of un-iconic stele from west wing of outer city gate, Square N53. 49 Fig. 1.38 Drawing of un-iconic stele from north entrance near stepped high place, Square M54 . 49 Fig. 1.39 Drawing of un-iconic stele from southern niche, Square M55. 49 Fig. 1.40 Drawing of un-iconic stele from north wing of inner city gate inside city, Square J53 . 49 Fig. 1.41 Drawing of un-iconic stele from south wing of inner city gate inside city, Square J54 . 51 Fig. 1.42 Drawing of un-iconic stele in secondary use in Chamber 2, Square L56 . 51 Fig. 1.43 The storage house south of the inner city gate . 52 Fig. 1.44 The storage house south of the inner city gate . 52 Fig. 1.45 The storage house south of the city gate . 52 Fig. 1.46 Hippo jar from the storage house . 53 Fig. 1.47 Hippo jar from the storage house . 53 Fig. 1.48 Key to façades . 54 Fig. 1.49 Façade A . 55 Fig. 1.50 Façade B . 55 Fig. 1.51 Façade C . 55 Fig. 1.52 Façade D . 56 Fig. 1.53 Façade E . 56 Fig. 1.54 Façade F . 56 Fig. 1.55 Façade G . 57 Fig. 1.56 Façade H . 57 Fig. 1.57 Façade I. 57 LOF_B4.fm Page ix Friday, February 13, 2009 4:31 PM Figures, Graphs, and Tables ix Fig. 1.58 Façade J . 58 Fig. 1.59 Façade K . 58 Fig. 1.60 Façade L. 59 Fig. 1.61 Façade M . 59 Fig. 1.62 Façade N . 60 Fig. 1.63 Façade O . 60 Fig. 1.64 Façade P. ..