Sandra Antonetti*
Tell es-Sultan, ancient Jericho, has always been considered a key site for the study of Middle Bronze Age in Palestine, especially because of its necropolis located north and north-west of the tell, which is one of the best known cemetery for that period, while the stratigraphy of the Middle Bronze Age town442 443 is less known due to the severe erosion which afflicted the mound.
1. history of archaeological excavations
Four archaeological expeditions excavated at Tell es-Sultan and each of them discovered some intra moenia burials, which do not seem to have had a significant role within the town layout, but which can provide new knowledge about the urban history of ancient Jericho.
The first expedition444 was directed by Ernst Sellin on behalf of the Deutsche Orient Gesellschaft between 1907 and 1909 and started the systematic exploration of the mound, digging several important areas: the northern part of the town and a large sector of the so called Spring Hill, where some burials were found.445 The publication of the results was as accurate as fast,446 but the preliminary state of knowledge at the time did not allow right dating, so that the Middle Bronze Age remains were called “israelitisch”.447
The Marston-Melchett expedition, directed by John Garstang from 1930 to 1936,448 continued the excavation of the tell, mainly digging on the spring
Hill, where some jar burials were found: he also discovered the existence of an extra moenia necropolis, located west of the mound. This excavation was undertaken with a biblical perspective, which concurred in assigning sometimes a wrong dating of the archaeological remains.449
In 1952, Kathleen Kenyon, on behalf of the British school of Archaeology in Jerusalem, began her famous excavations at Tell es-sultan, which lasted until 1958, digging several tombs in the northern part of the extra moenia cemetery, cutting three main trenches and uncovering other important areas on the mound, where some graves and a tomb were excavated. The stratigraphic method of excavations adopted by the archaeologist and the subdivision of the tombs into five groups based on their pottery sequence made her final reports a fundamental tool for the study of Middle Bronze Age pottery.
The joint Expedition of Rome University “La Sapienza” and the Palestinian Department of Antiquities resumed the excavation of the site in 1997. The excavation concentrated on eight areas in various parts of the tell, dating from the Early Bronze Age to the Byzantine Period: in Area G,8 where the main archaeological features date from the Early Bronze Age, a Middle Bonze Age grave was excavated in 1999. Moreover other areas yielded Middle Bronze Age remains, which clarified the urban history of Tell es-sultan during this period, especially as far as stratigraphy is concerned.9
Rized in a book written with his son (Garstang and Garstang 1940). K. M. Kenyon (1951) later revised the results obtained for the 2nd millennium Bc before she started her own excavations.
7 Moorey 1991: 64.
8 Marchetti and Nigro 2000b.
9 In Area A (Marchetti and NiGRO 1998: 117-140; MARCHE TTI and Nigro 2000a: 193-281) a military building and a domestic quarter dating to MB II were uncovered; in Area E (Marchetti and Nigro 2000a: 181-192) and in Area C (Marchetti and Nigro 1998: 103-115) were excavated parts of the first rampart; in Area D (Marchetti and Nigro 2000a: 167-179), on the east side of the mound, a massive wall near Garstang’s “East Tower” was excavated.
Fig. 1 Plan of Tell es-Sultan with indicated areas excavated by the joint Italian-Palestinian Expedition (1997-2000)
And the Middle Bronze Age intra moenia burials
2. The intra moenia burials of Tell es-Sultan
A somewhat interesting feature of Middle Bronze Age Jericho is the presence of a small number of burials on the tell itself, notwithstanding the huge extra moenia necropolis attested to since many centuries.450 The examination of these burials allows to add new data on the urban plan of Tell es-Sultan during the period considered and about the use of the necropolis (see §§ 2.3. and 2.5.).
Before starting the analysis of the burial remains, it is important to remark that Middle Bronze Age vestiges on the tell have been brought to light in several areas: in the region in front of Elisha’s Spring;451 in the northern part of the mound452 and in the Lower Town, south of the tell (Area A excavated by the joint Italian-Palestinian Expedition). The central zone of the town is not preserved due to erosion and other activities of later times.
Intra moenia burials were retrieved in two areas:453 in the northern part of the tell, in particular in a battered domestic quarter excavated by Sellin,454 and on the Spring Hill: near Garstang’s “East Tower”,455 in Kenyon’s Squares HII-Hin-HVI456 and in Area G, excavated by the Italian-Palestinian Expedition457 (Fig. 1).
Further, in comparison with the Middle Bronze burial tradition of other Palestinian sites,458 it is possible to divide these inhumations in three main types based on the burial method, that is: jar burials for infants; graves simply dug in the ground, and built-up tombs. These three main types were adopted in different proportions depending on their chronology and were employed according to the age or the number of buried people (see § 2.4.).
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