Yosef Garfinkel – författare

As the nomadic hunters and gatherers of the ancient Near East turned to agriculture for their livelihood and settled into villages, religious ceremonies involving dancing became their primary means for bonding individuals into communities and households into villages. So important was dance that scenes of dancing are among the oldest and most persistent themes in Near Eastern prehistoric art, and these depictions of dance accompanied the spread of agriculture into surrounding regions of Europe and Africa.In this pathfinding book, Yosef Garfinkel analyzes depictions of dancing found on archaeological objects from the Near East, southeastern Europe, and Egypt to offer the first comprehensive look at the role of dance in these Neolithic (7000-4000 BC) societies. In the first part of the book, Garfinkel examines the structure of dance, its functional roles in the community (with comparisons to dance in modern pre-state societies), and its cognitive, or symbolic, aspects. This analysis leads him to assert that scenes of dancing depict real community rituals linked to the agricultural cycle and that dance was essential for maintaining these calendrical rituals and passing them on to succeeding generations. In the concluding section of the book, Garfinkel presents and discusses the extensive archaeological data-some 400 depictions of dance-on which his study is based.

Includes 164 b/w figures and 18 tables. Gesher is a small Middle Bronze Age IIA cemetery site located in the central Jordan Valley in Israel. Initial excavations in 1986-1987 indicated the site's importance for examining population and settlement in the interior of Canaan in the early second millennium BCE. In particular, the nature of the interments and the early date of the site's material culture highlighted the importance of Gesher for studies of MB IIA development. Three additional seasons of excavations were conducted from 2002-2004, which were designed to gain further data regarding the mortuary customs, material culture, and social and economic developments of this population in MB IIA Canaan. During the five seasons of excavation, a total of 23 interments were excavated in the cemetery, together with their associated grave goods, consisting of ceramic vessels, bronze weapons, and one bronze toggle pin. This final report presents the burials and material culture from the cemetery and compares the data with other Middle Bronze Age sites in Canaan. It contributes valuable information regarding Canaanite mortuary customs and increases the corpus of material culture dating to early MB IIA. The burials and material culture from the Gesher cemetery date to the earliest phases of the MB IIA, while also preserving traditions and forms of the preceding EB IV/MB I period in Palestine. As such, Gesher provides a window into the transitional period between EB IV/MB I and MB IIA which is rarely attested at other sites, to date, and thus has significant implications for knowledge concerning this cultural era in Canaan.

Tel Miqne-Ekron Field IV Lower—The Elite Zone, The Iron Age I and IIC, The Early and Late Philistine Cities, Parts 9/1-9/3B present the evidence of two large Philistines cites, one in Iron I, the period of its initial development, and the other in Iron IIC, its final stage when it achieved its zenith of physical growth and prosperity. They also offer a unique opportunity to check and evaluate the excavators' observations and conclusions based on their comprehensive database. Published under the auspices of the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, they comprise the final reports of the nine seasons of excavations during the years 1985-1995, directed by Trude Dothan and Seymour Gitin and sponsored by the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research and the Hebrew University.Volume 9/1, The Iron Age I Early Philistine City covers Strata VII-IV, the 12th-early 10th centuries BCE. It includes a detailed discussion of the occupational history of the period with a comprehensive analysis of the ceramic assemblages and a selection of ceramic, lithic, clay, and metal objects with detailed discussions of jewelry, scarabs and ivory objects, as well as the faunal evidence. Volume 9/2, The Iron Age IIC Late Philistine City, which presents the evidence from Stratum I of the 7th and early 6th century BCE, is in press.Volume 9/3B The Iron Age I and IIC Late and Early Philistine Cities Plans and Sections includes every plan and section of each excavated Area in Field IV Lower.

This well-illustrated volume presents the evidence from Stratum Pre-IC of the end of the 8th century, from Strata IC and IB of the 7th century, when Ekron achieved the zenith of its physical growth and prosperity, and from Stratum IA, the final Iron Age IIC phase of the early 6th century BCE. It offers a detailed discussion of the Iron Age IIC occupational history; a comprehensive analysis of the ceramic assemblages; a quantitative analysis of the pottery from the main Stratum IB buildings; and studies on vessel capacity, ceramic, lithic, ivory, and metal objects, jewelry, scarabs, faunal remains, and fish bones.Published under the auspices of the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, this volume concludes the publication of the results of the nine seasons of excavation conducted in Field IV Lower between 1985 and 1995, directed by Trude Dothan and Seymour Gitin and sponsored by the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.Companion volumes published in 2016:—Field IV Lower—The Elite Zone, Part 1: The Iron Age I Early Philistine City by Trude Dothan, Yosef Garfinkel and Seymour Gitin;—Part 3A: The Iron Age I and IIC Early and Late Philistine Cities Database (see links tab);—Part 3B: The Iron Age I and IIC Early and Late Philistine Cities Plans and SectionsThe final reports on the two large Iron Age I and IIC Philistines cities in Field IV Lower offer a comprehensive view of the history of Ekron from its initial establishment and development in the Iron Age I until its destruction in the late Iron Age II. The searchable database and print version of the sections and plans provide a unique opportunity for readers to access and evaluate the excavators’ observations and conclusions.