Near East Archaeology Collection (3 vols.)

by Amihai Mazar; Margreet L. Steiner; Keith Branigan

Publisher:

Sheffield Academic Press

, 2001

Overview

The Near East Archaeology Collection presents the findings of several sites in the Near East. The three volumes examine Aegean sites, as well as sites in Jordon and in Israel. Topics include settlement patterns, pottery, iconography, cult, paleography, urbanism, and much more. Presenting both findings and analysis, the Near East Archaeology Collection will prove a stimulating read for all those interested in the archaeological excavations of the ancient Near East.

This collection’s focus is the Bronze and Iron Ages. In the Near East, the Bronze Age (approximately 3500-1200 BC) saw widespread urbanization into organized city-states, as well as the invention of writing. The eventual rise of powerful and competing kingdoms their vassal states followed, and extensive contact with Aegean civilizations was made. During the Iron Age (beginning circa 1300 BC in the Near East), the Hittites rapidly rose to prominence in part due to their iron weapons. Iron technology was developed near the Aegean and propagated throughout Asia and Europe by the expansion of the Hittite Empire.

The two ages provide the backdrop for much of the Old Testament, and hold the secrets of the civilizations that populate the Bible. Among other things, the collection helps address issues of settlement and conquest, two different models of how Israel got into Canaan. Furthermore, the Wheeler-Kenyon Method of excavating (named for Kathleen M. Kenyon) is a well-recognized archaeological technique, and is described in Excavations by Kathleen M. Kenyon in Jerusalem 1961-1967, Volume III where it is applied to an archaeological site. Further understanding of the Method would greatly benefit any student of archaeology.