See Survey, Archaeological.
RECORDING TECHNIQUES. Archaeologists document the process of removing debris and successive occupational remains in a controlled excavation by means of recording techniques. By its namre, archaeological excavation is a nonrepeatable experiment, destroying its evidence as it produces data. Any information not recorded accurately and fully when a site is being excavated is knowledge lost forever. The goal of archaeological recording is to document fully how and where each element encountered in a site’s systematic excavation was found and recovered. The degree of detail provided in such an effort is determined by an excavation project’s research design.
Excavations differ in how tliey are organized, but generally a series of 5-X-5-meter squares in the same portion of a site are grouped into a “field” or “area.” Each square is established by a project surveyor or an architect, who maintains a large-scale plan of the site grid and tlie specific location of each excavation area in relation to tire grid. [See Grid Plan.] A staff member is assigned to supervise each area and is responsible for ensuring tliat all excavation activities at the location are comprehensively documented. This documentation is in botli descriptive and graphic form and is entered in a notebook tliat contains the excavation season’s records for the area.
Daily activity in each square is recorded in a running commentary that creates a daily log of excavation. Details such as tlie changing of loci, brief descriptive assessments of characteristics of new loci, notable finds, or questions regarding occupational activities are recorded, as are lists of recovered materials sent to laboratories for further analysis. For each
Day, a precisely scaled top plan of the excavation unit is prepared, showing not only new architectural elements encountered in excavation but also, by shading or coloration, indicating where various soil loci or artifact concentrations were located. The end-of-day elevations of each locus, which chart tire daily progress of revealing successive cultural deposits, are also a normal part of field recording. As the excavation of an area progresses, informal photographs of significant features often are taken to allow for the clear identification of loci and related features. [See Photography, article on Photography of Fieldwork and Artifacts.] Many excavations use instant photographs for this purpose, with the resulting prints being glued into tlie area supervisor’s notebook.
Because worldng in the field presents many possibilities for overlooking essential information, most excavations use a variety of supplementary recording forms in an attempt to ensure complete documentation. The registration and description of each soil locus and each architectural unit (e. g., walls, doorways, cisterns) and special features such as burials are recorded on special forms usually maintained by the area supervisor.
As artifacts are uncovered in tlie field, the use of field tags becomes an integral part of the recording system. Most tagging systems utilize some form of reference to the specific excavation location, the soil locus from which the artifact came, and some designation of the class of tlie artifact (metal, glass, ceramic) that will guide the registrar in further processing the item and tlie project expert in evaluating it.
Once an occupational level is fully excavated, tlie results are recorded by some combination of architect’s drawing, formal photography, and section drawing, Architectural Drafting and Drawing.] The excavation architect prepares a precisely scaled drawing of die full excavation area, showing all relevant features. The excavation photographer takes several carefully planned photographs of the area, seeking to show as completely as possible the relationships of the various features to each other. The area supervisor prepares a section drawing showing at least one face of the balk in the excavation area in which all soil layers will have been distinguished and labeled. [See Balk.] These primary recording elements are frequently among the more important of the published forms of excavation documentation.
Once the excavation of an area has been completed, the supervisor is responsible for writing up a final report, summarizing the main periods, or phases, of occupation and connecting tlie area’s various features to them. While much of the excavation’s recordkeeping up to tliis point has been descriptive, the area report is interpretive, correlating soil loci and architectural elements into a coherent picture of human activity. This final area report becomes part of the area notebook and of the permanent record of the excavation in an area. Other records are usually inserted in tlie notebook as well: field reports of ceramic dating and identification, preliminary coin reports, and flora and fauna reports.
While every excavator strives to maintain a comprehensive documentation of an excavation, there are always conditions that call for a balance between recording the detail of every facet of excavation and the practical limitations of fieldwork. Each excavator is confronted with the need to determine which information is of such central importance that time and money should be allocated for its retrieval and recording. These decisions are made on the basis of tlie project’s research design, which not only should address the general goals of the excavation but also should include some consideration of tlie analytical processes and recording techniques to be used to meet those goals. Collecting and recording vast amounts of information about issues that are of limited analytical value may only complicate the excavation process and the eventual publication of its research results.
The development of increasingly computerized fieldwork has meant significant time saving for archaeological recording. Laser transits generate digitalized data tliat can be readily converted into a variety of renderings, making it possible to produce top plans of excavation areas with greater accuracy and speed. The use of digitalizing imaging equipment, still in its infancy in archaeological fieldwork, may enable archaeologists to produce images of an excavation’s progress that can be further enhanced to show greater or fewer details, in ways that are impossible with conventional instant photography. Establishing local computer networks on a site now allows field excavators instant access to the results of specialized analyses of materials from across the site; as a consequence, excavation techniques or sampling strategies can be adjusted to the data flow. As more powerful portable computer equipment becomes available to excavation projects, field recording will be the beneficiary.
[5ee also Computer Recording, Analysis, and Interpretation; Excavation Tools; and Excavation Strategy.]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Blakely, Jeffrey A., and Lawrence E. Toombs. The Tell el-Hesi Field Manual. Joint Archaeological Expedition to Tell el-Hesi, vol. i. Winona Lake, Ind., 1980. Very complete assessment of the goals and ¦ processes of field recording, including many forms and plans used in the excavation of Tell el-Hesi (see pp. 28-59).
Dever, William G., and H. Darrell Lance, eds. A Manual of Field Excavation: Handbook for Field Archaeologists. Cincinnati, 1978. Comprehensive description witli examples of the actual system used for field recording during the ASOR excavations at Gezer in the 1970s (see pp. 74-97). Most contemporary excavations in tlie Near East use some variation of tills same system.
Dibble, Harold L., and Shannon P. McPherron. “On tlie Computerization of Archaeological Projects.” Journal of Field Archaeology 15 (1988); 431-440. Report on the successful computerization of field recording for the excavation of a European prehistoric site. While written before the ready accessibility of powerful portable equip-merit, the authors’ insights on the need to incorporate computer recording at the inception of a project’s development are still valuable.
McMillon, Bill. The Archaeology Handbook: A Field Manual and Resource Guide. New York, 1991. Very readable work for a general North American audience, with a brief chapter devoted to the recording process (see pp. 102-110).
Meyers, Carol L., and Eric M. Meyers. “Recording and Reporting: New Challenges in Archaeological Research.” Erelz-Isi-ael 2'} (1992): 80-86. Readable essay on tlte use of quantification in archaeology, its applicability to studies in tlie world of the Bible, and the potential tliat computerization may hold for enabling such studies to appear in published form with greater rapidity.
Raab, L. Mark. “Laboratory Automation: Computer-Linked Measurement Devices and Videomicroscopy.” Journal of Field Archaeology 20 (1993): 219-224. Brief overview of the problems and one working solution to automating the measuration and registration of artifacts in tlie archaeological field lab.
Schiffer, Michael B., et al. “The Design of Archaeological Surveys.” World Archaeology 10 (1978): 1-28. Excellent overview of the interrelated problems of research design, metliodology, and recording of archaeological fieldwork.
Kenneth G. Hoglund
REFERENCE WORKS. There are numerous reference works available to those studying archaeology and the ancient Near East. What follows is a corpus of the most significant recent volumes, with emphasis on English-language works. The first section covers the ancient Near Eastern world; the second section offers a selective survey of the New Testament (Greco-Roman) world, but does not repeat those works in the first part that cover both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. The annotations attempt to give the scope of each work along with its strengtlis and weaknesses.
Ancient Near Eastern World
Primary sources in translation
Charlesworth, James H., ed. Old Testament Pseudepigra-pha. 2 vols. Garden City, N. Y., 1983-1985. Over fifty scholars introduce, translate, and annotate more tlian sixty ancient texts. Despite its unevenness, inconsistent inclusion criteria, and the need for a revision, this remains the definitive work.
Coogan, Michael David. Stories from Ancient Canaan. Philadelphia, 1978. Readable translations of four important mytlis from ancient Ugarit.
Lichtheim, Miriam, comp. Ancient Egyptian Literature: A Book of Readings. 3 vols. Berkeley, 1973-1980. [Annotation]
Matdiews, Victor EL, and D. C. Benjamin. Old Testament Parallels: Laws and Stories from the Ancient Near East. New York, 1991. Readable translations of ancientNear Eastern texts designed for students.
Pritchard, James B. Ancient Near Eastern Texts. 2d ed, Princeton, 1955. Abridged in The Ancient Near East. 2 vols. Princeton, 1958-1975. Literal and traditional translations of the more important texts of the ancient Near East, none too readable and somewhat dated.
Smelik, K. A. D. Writings from Ancient Israel: A Handbook of Historical and Religious Documents. Translated by Graham I. Davies. Louisville, 1991. Translations are limited to inscriptions from Israel and Jordan, dated to 1000-500 BCE, and selected for their historical and religious value.
Commentaries. There are many commentary series and numerous commentaries on individual books of both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Most are devoted to biblical books rather than ancient Near Eastern literature, and the use of archaeological data varies widely. Two recent texts, both by Philip J. King, which set a superb standard for deploying archaeological information to illuminate the text are Amos, Hosea, Micah: An Archaeological Commentary (Philadelphia, 1988), and Jeremiah: An Archaeological Companion (Louisville, 1993).
Anchor Bible. Garden City, N. Y., 1964-. Multivolume series. Individual commentaries vary immensely in the use of archaeological information. Originally intended for the educated general reader, the series (nearly complete) has evolved into lengthy technical works for scholars.
Brown, Raymond E., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E, Murphy, eds. The New Jerome Biblical Commentaty. Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1990. Revision of tlte 1968 edition, with significant additional material. The most comprehensive coverage of any one-volume Bible commentary available. Extensive topical articles do full justice to the archaeological data, with an extremely useful subject index for locating such information. However, tlie scholarly style and verse-by-verse format is tedious and difficult.
Bruce, Frederick F., ed. The International Bible Commen-taiy. Grand Rapids, Mich,, 1986, The best of the one-volume conservative commentaries, including topical articles on archaeology and the Bible. Makes good use of archaeological information, but needs a subject index.
Hermeneia. Philadelphia and Minneapolis, 1971-. Multivolume series. Lengthy technical commentaries on individual books, with varying use of archaeological information.
International Critical Commentaty on the Holy Scriptures. Edinburgh, 1895-. Multivolume series. Standard technical coverage, but the archaeological information is too old to have value. The series is being extended and renewed, with new commentaries in preparation.
Mays, James Lutlrer, ed. Harper's Bible Commentary. San Francisco, 1988. Mainline, up-to-date, readable scholarship with an emphasis on literary analysis and very limited use of archaeological information. Includes good maps and a map index, but no subject index.
Word Biblical Commentary. Waco, Texas, 1982-. Multivolume series, nearly complete. Fairly technical evangelical critical commentaries, with varying use of archaeological information.
Bible atlases. Bible atlases can be divided into reference and student works. Reference atlases generally feature extensive color photos and maps with textual commentary. Student atlases, less expensively produced are also more reasonably priced and often available in paperback editions.
Bahat, Dan, with Chaim T. Rubenstein. The Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem. New York, 1990. Excellent maps and line drawings by Carta. Bahat is the official archaeologist for the city of Jerusalem. The text serves tlte general reader well, but specialists will find some issues addressed too briefly.
Baines, John, and Jaromir Malek. Atlas of Ancient Egypt. New York, 1980. Includes color photos and maps. The nontechnical text deals with individual sites, the cultural setting, and Egyptian society.
Beek, Martinus A. Atlas of Mesopotamia. Translated by D. R. Welsh. Edited by H. H. Rowley. London, 1962. Though somewhat dated, includes good maps and black-and-white photos.
Beitzel, Barry J. The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands. Chicago, 1985. Reference Bible atlas. Balanced, conservative treatment with excellent color maps designed to aid the colorblind. The geographical commentary is exhaustive and often too detailed for the general reader. Archaeological data is minimal but current. A gazetteer would be helpful.
Bimson, John J., and John P. Kane. New Bible Atlas. Wheaton, 111., 1985. Student Bible atlas. Balanced conservative approach, organized according to archaeological periods, with extensive discussion of important sites and archaeological methods and limitations. The color maps and illustrations are well coordinated with the text. This is the best of the student atlases, along with The Harper Concise Atlas of the Bible (Pritchard 1991).
Freeman-Grenville, G. S. P. Historical Atlas of the Middle East. New York, 1993. Designed for the general reader, wi± an emphasis on the medieval and modern Middle East. Includes excellent maps by Carta; the brief commentary is accompanied by many smaller maps.
Gardner, Joseph, ed., with Harry Thomas Frank. Reader’s Digest Atlas of the Bible. Pleasantville, N. Y., 1981. Reference Bible atlas. Mainstream approach, lavishly illustrated with excellent color maps. The accessible text, now somewhat dated, is augmented with an informative gazetteer. The volume would be more useful geographically if the maps were gridded and clear topographical distinctions shown.
Pritchard, James B., ed. The Harper Atlas of the Bible. San Francisco, 1987. Reference Bible atlas. Mainstream scholarship, visually beautiful, with excellent maps and illustrations. The large size and high production cost of the horizontal maps restrict use. A scripture column should be added in the site index and more focus placed on geographical features.
Pritchard, James B., gen. ed. The Harper Concise Atlas of the Bible. New York, 1991. Student Bible adas. Mainstream approach. An abridged version of the Harper Atlas of the Bible (Bimson and Kane 1985), with some improvements and most of the maps retained. Selected commentary has been rewritten and improved.
Rainey, Anson F., et al., eds. Macmillan Bible Atlas. 3d ed. New York, 1993. Reference Bible atlas. Standard work, revised and improved.
Rasmussen, Carl G. Zondervan NIV Atlas of the Bible. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1989. Reference Bible atlas, notable for its visual quality, with excellent color maps (especially the block maps depicting physical features) and numerous illustrations. The conservative commentary is written for the general reader, with an extensive gazetteer. Occasionally the coordination between text and maps is not apparent.
Rogerson, Joseph W. Atlas of the Bible. New York, 1985. Reference Bible atlas. Mainstream commentary, with lavish use of color illustrations and maps. The regional approach to historical geography is helpful, but tlie maps should be more colorful and less cluttered. The gazetteer should be expanded.
Archaeological dictionaries. Dictionaries that cover archaeology broadly, for instance. The Facts on File Dictionary of Archaeology (New York, 1983) or The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Archaeology (New York, 1983), provide limited coverage of the ancient Near East. The reader would find much more information in tire following works.
Ben-Tor, Amnon, ed. The Archaeology of Ancient Israel. New Haven, 1992. Eight Israeli scholars have collaborated to provide the full sequence of archaeological periods for sites in ancient Canaan from the Neolithic to Iron III. The volume is effectively illustrated witlt color
¦ and black-and-white photos, maps, and line drawings. Technological advances and cultural transitions are discussed with a minimum of technical language. Information on sites and artifacts provide both specific topical data as well as an excellent overview.
BlaiMock, Edward M., and R. K. Harrison, eds. The New International Dictionary of Biblical Archaeology. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1983. Twenty scholars cover a wide range of topics and provide brief bibliographies, although the articles are uneven in quality and becoming dated. Includes black-and-white photos and sixteen pages of color photos in the center of tlie volume.
Mazar, Amihai. Archaeology of the Land of the Bible,
10,000-586 B. C.E. New York, 1990. Advanced survey from an Israeli perspective.
Negev, Avraham, ed. The Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land. 3d ed. Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1990. More tlran twenty American and Israeli archaeologists contribute about six hundred entries covering approximately ten millennia, from tlie earliest societies down to the Arab conquest. Includes a glossary of archaeological terms and about three hundred black-and-white photos, charts, and maps. Generally reliable and up to date, but coverage is more limited titan Stern.
Pfeiffer, Charles F., ed. The Biblical World: A Dictionary of Biblical Archaeology. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1966. Pioneering effort when it appeared, but the archaeological information is badly dated now. Includes articles on texts (e. g., Sinuhe, Enuma Elish), people (e. g., Moab, Moabites), and sites (e. g., Masada).
Rast, Walter E. Through the Ages in Palestinian Archaeology: An Introductory Handbook. Philadelphia, 1992. A more popular survey titan Mazar by an American archaeologist.
Sasson, Jack M., et al, eds. Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. 4 vols. New York, 1995. A welcome addition to tite secondary literature, titis work is a very useful and ambitious collection of essays on many aspects of the ancient Near East. It is particularly strong in areas of the history and literatures of the region but touches less systematically on the physical and cultural aspects of ancient society.
Stern, Ephraim, et al, eds. The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. 4 vols. Jerusalem and New York, 1993. Definitive work (revised and updated from the 1975-1977 edition), covering excavations in Israel and parts of Jordan, Syria, and the Sinai Peninsula. Features some four hundred articles by international scholars (primarily Israeli) on 420 sites as well as regions and topics (i. e., “Churches, Monasteries, and Synagogues”), witii excellent bibliographies. Each site is discussed in detail, often by the original excavator.
Bible dictionaries
Achtemeier, Paul J., ed. Harper’s Bible Dictionary. San Francisco, 1985. Balanced mainstteam approach. Excellent presentation of up-to-date archaeological information written by many of the leading scholars in their fields. Bibliographic data is limited, even in tiie longest articles. Includes excellent color maps, numerous illustrations, and an index. Overall this is the best one-volume Bible dictionary, but it is becoming dated.
Bromiley, Geoffrey W., ed. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. 4 vols. Grand Rapids, Mich., 19791988. The definitive conservative work, almost completely revised from the 1915 and 1929 editions. Delays in publication have produced some unevenness. Generally balanced approach; many articles interact with the full range of critical scholarship.
Butler, Trent C., ed. Holman Bible Dictionary. Nashville, 1991. About 5,000 popularly written articles (without bibliographies), authored by 250 teachers and ministers, with lavish use of color illustrations and maps and fairly balanced use of archaeological information. Conservative approach. A good Bible dictionary for the general reader.
Buttrick, George A., ed. The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. 4 vols. Nashville, 1962. Remained the definitive work until the publication of The Anchor Bible Dictionary (Freedman 1992), although because of tite latter’s uneven quality, titis volume is still very useful, especially in philological studies. A supplementary volume was published in 1976.
Douglas, James D., ed. The New Bible Dictionary. 2d ed. Wheaton, III, 1982. Excellent presentation of archaeological information with good bibliographies for the longer articles. Includes a comprehensive index useful for locating archaeological information, but no map section or color photos. Balanced conservative approach, but slightly dated, malting titis a close second to Eerdmans (Myers 1987) as the best conservative Bible dictionary.
Freedman, David Noel, ed. The Anchor Bible Dictionary. 6 vols. New York, 1992. The definitive work in English, witit over six tliousand entries autitored by nearly a tiiousand contributors. The articles and bibliographies are extensive, up to date, and often written by the leading international scholars. Archaeological information is comprehensive and includes articles on the newest approaches. However, the selection of sites and coverage given to those included is uneven, for instance, there is no article on Carchemish, and ±e article on Hazor is less than one page. Though the arrangement is alphabetical, the fortiicoming index volume will help the reader to make full use of the massive amount of information.
Mills, Watson E., ed. Mercer Dictionary of the Bible. Macon, Ga., 1990. The best coverage of extra-biblical literature, witii signed contributions by more than 225 scholar/teachers and bibliographies. Features up-to-date archaeological information but fewer (1,450) entries than other Bible dictionaries; limited but visually attractive illustrations; and color maps (but no map index). Succeeds well as a volume designed for students and classroom use.
Myers, Allen C., ed. The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1987. The best conservative Bible dictionary, a revision and translation of Bijbelse Encyclopedia (1975), with substantial additions of up-to-date archaeological information. Articles are balanced (though unsigned) and frequently accompanied by bibliographies. Includes excellent color maps by Hammond, but no map index. No other color illustrations and a limited number of black-and-white photos make tliis dictionary less visually appealing.
Flora and Fauna
Cansdale, George S. All the Animals of the Bible Lands. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1970. Comprehensive discussion of animals, birds, and fish, with drawings and pictures (some in color), plus good indices.
Zohary, Michael. Plants of the Bible. New York, 1982. Handbook to all the plants of the Bible, with bibliography, index, and about two hundred color illustrations.
Dissertations. Often technical and difficult to read, dissertations nevertheless represent a source for tire most current research available. The Dissertation Abstracts International (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1938-) provides abstracts of the latest archaeological dissertations from all over the world (although coverage of European dissertations is limited). Section A of DAI covers the humanities and social sciences, witir several relevant categories for the archaeological researcher (antliropology, archaeology, history: ancient, religion, biblical studies, language: ancient, etc.), as well as a keyword title index and an author index. Religious Studies Review (Atlanta, 1975-) notes completed dissertations as well as research in progress. The Zeitschrift fur die Alttesta-mentliche Wissenschaft (Berlin, 1881-) lists dissertations in progress.
Indices and bibliographies
Annual Egyptological Bibliography. Leiden, 1947-. The most comprehensive annual bibliography of ancient Egypt, with numbered abstracts classified in ten sections, and author and title indices.
Art Index. New York, 1929-. Indexes several journals devoted to art and archaeology, with a separate section for book reviews. Well indexed.
Elenchus Bibliographicus Biblicus. Rome, 1920-. The most comprehensive annual biblical bibliography, indexing virmally every relevant journal, as well as newsletters and occasional publications. Archaeology and the ancient Near East are very well covered. Extensive indices are very helpful. Unfortunately, there is a delay of a few years before publication.
Heizer, Robert F. Archaeology: A Bibliographical Guide to the Basic Literature. New York, 1980. Almost five thousand unannotated items, with a very thorough review of tire literature.
Flospers, J. H., ed. A Basic Bibliography for the Study of the Semitic Languages. 2 vols. Leiden, 1973-1974. Volume I has chapters devoted to several languages, written by specialists, and a section on comparative Semitics. Volume 2 covers all aspects of Arabic. Includes almost ten thousand entries, but no annotations or index.
Humanities Index. New York, 1974-. Separated from the Social Science and Humanities Index in 1974, witir significantly improved humanities coverage. Indexes several journals dealing witir archaeology, with a separate section for book reviews.
Hupper, William G. An Index to English Periodical Literature on the Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies. Metuchen, N. J., 1987-. Five volumes of tlris projected ten-volume series have appeared to date. Indexes English-language works in over six hundred journals of archaeology, history, language, science, and tlre-ology from 1793 to 1970. The special value of this index is the extensive coverage of nineteenth - and twentieth-century articles, including many on archaeology which are compiled in no other source. Includes articles not found in Part I of Vogel’s bibliography. Not yet indexed.
Index of Articles on Jewish Studies. Jerusalem, 1969-. Valuable for Hebrew-language publications, but not especially useful for archaeology. Includes festschrifts and several journals not indexed elsewhere. Well indexed.
Keilschriftbibliographie. Rome, 1940-. Published as part of the periodical Orientalia. Biannual index for tire ancient Near East arranged alphabetically in a continuously numbered list, with subject and name indices. This index does for the ancient Near East what Elenchus does for the Bible.
Langevin, Paul-Emile. Biblical Bibliography. 3 vols. Quebec, 1972-1985. Covers journals and some books from 1930 to 1983. Well indexed witir many subcategories dealing with archaeology. Organization of biblical sections by verse references make the biblical sections very useful. Includes an introduction in five languages.
Purvis, James D. Jerusalem, the Holy City: A Bibliography. 2 vols. Metuchen, N. J., 1988-1991. The definitive bibliography on all aspects of Jerusalem.
Religion Index One. Chicago, 1949-. Originally titled Index to Religious Periodical Literature. Indexes journals relat-
, ing to a much broader spectrum of topics than Elenchus, including biblical archaeology, but ancient Near Eastern coverage is limited. Features subject, author, editor, and scripture indices.
Religion Index Two. Chicago, i960-. Companion to Religion Index One, with additional indexing of multi-authored books, series, and festschrifts.
Vogel, Eleanor K., et al. “Bibliography of Holy Land Sites.” Hebrew Union College Annual/p. (1971): 1-96; 52 (1981): 1-92; 58 (1987): 1-63. The definitive bibliography of individual sites in Israel and parts of Jordan
And Syria. Each articles brings the bibliography up to date to the time of publication. Also available in offprint.
New Testament (Greco-Roman) World. Archaeology has not been utilized as much to illuminate the New Testament as it has for tire Elebrew Bible. The following list is very selective. In addition, many items above deal with both tire Hebrew Bible and tire New Testament, and will not be relisted in this section.
Primary sources in translation
Hennecke, Edgar, Willrebn Schneemelcher, and Robert McL. Wilson, eds. New Testament Apocrypha. i vols. Rev. ,ed. Philadelphia, 1991-1992. The revision brings the translation fully up to date.
The Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Mass. The most extensive collection of Greek and Latin texts witlr English translations.
Robinson, James M., ed. The Nag Hammadi Library in English. 3d ed. San Francisco, 1988. Thorough revision of the Gnostic texts, and the definitive translation of the world’s leading Gnostic scholars.
Atlases
Cornell, Tim, and John Matthews. Atlas of the Roman World. New York, 1982. Excellent color maps and pic-mres and a popularly written text. Includes a gazetteer, index, and bibliography.
Levi, Peter. Atlas of the Greek World. New York, 1980. Excellent color maps and picmres and a popularly written text. Includes a gazetteer, glossary, index, and bibliography.
Meer, Frederik van der, and Christine Mohrmann. Atlas of the Early Christian World. Translated and edited by Mary F. Hedlund and H. H. Rowley. London, 1966. Older and still valuable standard work which should be supplemented by the Levi and Cornell/Matthews volumes.
Archaeological dictionaries and textbooks
Finegan, Jack. The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Mediterranean World of the Early Chistian Apostles. Boulder, Colo., 1981, The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus and the Beginning of the Early Church. Rev, ed. Princeton, 1992. Companion volumes, the latter extensively revised from tlie 1969 edition. Fairly detailed archaeological review, lavishly illustrated, with an alphabetical list of ancient sources, an index of biblical references, and a general index.
McRay, John, Archaeology and the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich,, 1991. The most comprehensive and up-to-date undergraduate textbook available in this field.
Pauly, August, and Georg Wissowa, et al, eds. Real-En-cyclopddie der classichen Altertumswissenschaft. Stuttgart, 1839-. The definitive reference work covering all aspects of classical antiquity. A supplement, Der Kleine Pauly, 5 vols., edited by Konrat Ziegler and Walther Sontheimer (Stuttgart, 1964-1975), is more accessible than tire original publication.
Rousseau, John J., and Rami Arav. Jesus and His World: An Archaeological and Cultural Dictionary. Minneapolis, 1994. A work that includes entries on sites, customs, and artifacts relating to the New Testament; to be used critically.
Stillwell, Richard, et al, eds. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton, 1976. Covers sites that show remains from the Classical period, mid-eighth century BCE to the beginning of the sixth century CE, with the exception of Early Christian sites of the fourth and fifth centuries. Includes maps, map indices, and a glossary, but no illustrations or drawings. Helpful bibliographies accompany each article.
Dictionaries
Ferguson, Everett, ed. The Encyclopedia of Early Christianity. New York, 1990. Helpful overall, but often inadequate on excavations.
Hammond, N. G. L., and H. H, Scullard. The Oxford Classical Dictionary. 2d ed. Oxford, 1970. The best single-volume reference work, though somewhat dated. Articles are signed and include bibliographies.
Bibliograp hies
L’annee philologique: Bibliographie critique et analytique de I’antiquite greco-latine. Paris, 1928-. The definitive annual bibliography of Greek and Latin philology. Includes helpful indices of collections, ancient autlrors, modern authors, humanists, and geography.
Charlesworth, James H. The New Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha: A Guide to Publications with Excursuses on Apocalypses. Metuchen, N. J., 1987. Introduction to and extensive bibliography on Christian extracanonical writings dating from 125 to 425.
Oster, Richard E. A Bibliography of Ancient Ephesus. Metuchen, N. J., 1987. Extensive bibliography of ancient Ephesus, including archaeological aspects.
Scholer, David M. Nag Hammadi Bibliography. Leiden, 1971, The definitive bibliography of Nag Plammadi, updated annually as “Bibliographia gnostica” in Novum Teslamentum.
Other
Ferguson, Everett. Backgrounds of Early Christianity. 2d ed. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1993. Encyclopedic work covering Flellenistic-Roman and Jewish backgrounds to
Early canonical Christianity. Includes archaeological remains.
Meshorer, Ya'acov. Ancient Jewish Coinage. 2 vols. Dix Hills, N. Y., 1982. Definitive work on Jewish coins.
White, L. Michael. Building God’s House in the Roman World: Architectural Adaptation among Pagans, Jews, and Christians. Baltimore, 1990. Traces tlte architectural development of the meeting places of Christians from the earliest evidence until after Constantine.
Victor H. Matthews and James C. Moyer
REHOVOT (Ar., Ruheibe), site located 32 Ion (18 mi.) southwest of Beersheba, it Ion (7 mi.) southwest of Elusa (Halusa), and 22 km (13 mi.) northeast of Nessana, on the northeast side of Wadi Ruheiba. Positioned on the biblical Way of Shur (Gw. 16:7; 20:1), this second-largest Negev city (after Elusa) functioned as an important caravan stop and, in the Byzantine period, as a rest stop for pilgrims traveling between the Sinai desert and Jerusalem, as the Byzantine khan and stable excavated in area C and tire city’s four churches indicate.
The Hebrew name of the site (Rehovot) derives in modern times from the similarity of its Arabic name (Ruheibe) to the biblical Rehovot, where a patriarchal well was located (Gw. 26:2). The huge, ancient well (largest in the Negev), located outside the town near a now-destroyed Byzantine bathhouse, was mistaken for the well mentioned in Genesis. The ancient name of the site is not known, although it is probably one of tire towns mentioned inNessana papyrus 79, as Yoram Tsafrir argues (Tsafrir, 1993, p. 295).
Excavations carried out by Tsafrir from 1975 to 1979 and in 1986 indicate that the site was founded in tire first century BCE/ce and terminated in about 700. The presence of postabandonment Arab squatters in the site’s north church and the absence of Arab glazed pottery indicate tire probability of such a date. Estimates of the site’s size vary in the literature, but the most recent estimate by Tsafrir of about 30 acres, with a population of about 4,800 at the city’s height in the Byzantine period, is probably best.
Very little of the site has been excavated: some domestic housing (areas A and B), the khan and stable (area C), and only two (one partially) of the city’s four churches (Tsafrir,
1988). Partial excavation of the central church (area D) revealed a well-preserved synthronon in a single-apsed building. Extensive excavation of the northern church revealed one of the largest triapsidal church buildings in the Negev, erected in several stages, with a chapel to the nortlt and a large atrium that may have functioned as a monastery at the soutltern end of the nave. The dedicatory inscription dates its construction to the mid-sixth century. The most remarkable feamre of this church is its crypt, equipped with a stairway for pilgrims to visit and venerate the unknown saint buried there.
The 1986 excavations carried out at the site under the auspices of the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Maryland gave welcome stratigraphic precision to particular areas (Tsafrir and Holum, 1987-1988 and 1988). On ceramic grounds, the southern edge of the town (area B) cannot have been built before the fifth or sixtli centuries ce; and the floor of the stable house (area C) overlay pottery of the first centuries bce/ce. In addition to excavations carried out in the Byzantine cemetary, work in the atrium of the Nortlt Church (area E) yielded a Kufic officer’s inscription with the earliest epigraphic mention of 'Amr ibn al-‘As, the conqueror of Byzantine Palestine.
Smdies of the names of the city’s inhabitants (as revealed by dedicatory and cemetery inscriptions) indicate a preponderance of Greek personal names of Nabatean and Arab origin in the early sixth century. They are replaced by a preponderance of Semitic personal names by the end of the century (Gutwein, 1981). This pattern seems to be reinforced by the small skeletal sample recovered and published, which indicates a nomadic, rather than either Jewish or Greek, ethnic type. Among the skeletal samples are those of three females, which are significant because so little is known about female skeletons in general.
[See also Churches; Halusa; uwd Nabateans.]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gutwein, Kenneth C. Third Palestine: A Regional Study in Byzantine Urbanisaiion. Washington, D. C., 1981.
Shcreshevski, Joseph. “Urban Settlements in the Negev in the Byzantine Period.” Ph. D. diss., Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1986. In Hebrew with English summary.
Tsafrir, Yoram, and Kennetlr G. Holum. “Rehovot—1986.” Excavations and Surveys in Israel, igSyjSS (1987-1988): 89-91.
Tsafrir, Yoram, and Kenneth G. Holum. “Rehovot-in-the-Negev: Preliminary Report, 1986.” Israel Exploration Journal 38 (1988): 117127.
Tsafrir, Yoram, et al. Excavations at Rehovot-in-the-Negev, vol. 1, The Northern Church. Qedem, vol. 25. Jerusalem, 1988.
Tsafrir, Yoram. “On the Pre-Planning of Ancient Churches and Synagogues: A Test Case—The Northern Church at Rehovot in the Negev.” In Christian Archaeology in the Holy Land, New Discoveries: Essays in Honour of Virgilio C. Corbo, edited by Giovanni Claudio Bottini et al, pp. 535-544. Stadium Biblicum Franciscanum, Col-lectio Maior, 36. Jerusalem, 1990.
Tsafrir, Yoram. “The Early Byzantine Town of Rehovot-in-tlre-Negev and Its Churches,” In Ancient Churches Revealed, edited by Yoram Tsafrir, pp, 294-302. Jerusalem, 1993.
Tsafrir, Yoram, and Kenneth G. Holum. “Rehovot-in-the-Negev.” In Tlte New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, edited by Ephraim Stern, vol. 4, pp. Jerusalem and New
York, 1993.
Dennis E. Groh
REISNER, GEORGE ANDREW, (1867-1942), American Egyptologist. Born of German-American parents in Indianapolis, Reisner obtained a Ph. D. from Harvard University in Semitic history and languages in 1892 and received a traveling fellowship to continue his studies in Germany, where he became fascinated by ancient Egypt. In 1899 he entered into an agreement witli Phoebe Apperson Hearst to direct excavations at several sites in Egypt on behalf of the University of California. From 1905 until his deatli he worked almost continuously for the Harvard University-Museum of Fine Arts (Boston) Egyptian Expedition. Reisner died at his house behind the Great Pyramid of Giza, where he had spent most of his adult life.
Although he held academic appointments, primarily at Harvard University, and was curator of the Egyptian Department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, (1910-1942), Reisner spent most of his time in the field. He worked longest at Giza, but many other areas also drew his attention including Deir el-Ballas and Nag ed-Deir (Upper Egypt), Samaria (Israel), and Lower Nubia (Sudan). Reisner set the highest standards in field methods, insisting on meticulous recordkeeping in all aspects of excavation. He was among the first to use complete photographic recording as a standard field technique. Although he spent only three seasons at Samaria (1908-1910), his work tliere greatly influenced Byro-Palestinian archaeology.
Reisner’s contributions on a scholarly level were no less important. The publications of his fieldwork were unusually complete, bofii as catalogs of remains recovered and as detailed historical and cultural syntheses. His History of the Giza Necropolis, volume i (1942) and The Development of the Egyptian Tomb Down to the Accession of Cheops (1936) remain two of the most important works published on these subjects. He made anotlier lasting contribution by training a succeeding generation of Egyptologists and archaeologists in his meticulous scholarly and field metliods.
[See also Giza; Samaria.]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dawson, Warren R., and Eric P. Uphill. Who Was ITOo in Egyptology. 2d rev. ed. London, 1972. Contains biographic entries on most Western and Egyptian scholars of ancient Egypt of tire past two to three centuries.
Reisner, George A. Israelite Ostraca from Samaria. Cambridge, Mass., [191?].
Reisner, George A. The Archaeological Survey of Nubia: Report for 1907-ipo8. vol. I, Archaeological Report; vol. 2, Plates and Plans. Cairo, 1910.
Reisner, George A., Clarence S. Fisher, and David G. Lyon. Harvard Excavations at Samaria, 1908-1910, vol. i, The Text; vol. 2, Plans and Plates. Cambridge, Mass., 1924.
Reisner, George A. Mycerinus: The Temples of the Third Pyramid at Giza. Cambridge, Mass., 1931.
Reisner, George A. The Development of the Egyptian Tomb Down to the Accession of Cheops. Cambridge, Mass., 1936.
Reisner, George A. History of the Giza Necropolis. 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 1942-1955.
Patricia V. Podzorski
RENAN, JOSEPH ERNEST (1823-1892), French philosopher, Semitist, historian of religions, archaeologist, and prolific writer. Ernest Renan was born at Treguier in Brittany, the third and last child of Philibert Renan, a marine merchant, and his wife Magdeleine Feger, a grocer. Destined to the priesthood, he studied rhetoric, theology, Latin, and Hebrew at the Grand Seminaire de Saint-Sulpice in Paris but left the seminary to do graduate work at the Sor-bonne. He completed his doctoral degree in 1852 witli a dissertation on Ibn Rushd (d. 1198) “Averroes et I’Averro-i'sme, essai historique.”
In 1856 Renan married and joined the Academic des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. He published his translation of the Book of Job in 1859 and a year later, of the Song of Songs. In i860 Renan was given the opportunity to lead an archaeological expedition to Phoenicia, where his research focused on four areas: Ruad/Aradus, Tortose/Antarados, and Amrit/ Marathus; Jbail/Byblos; Sa'ida/Sidon; and Sour/Tyre. He began by excavating at Byblos; two months later he went to Sidon and the region of Tyre, where he opened several more digs. Until his departure for France in late 1861, Renan traveled widely in Phoenicia and Palestine. He began publishing his monumental Mission de Phenicie in Paris in 1864. Completed in 1874, tlie survey details his exploration and excavations in Phoenicia. The work is topographical, historical, ethnological, descriptive, and archaeological.
Upon his return from the Near East, Renan was elected professor of Hebrew, Chaldean, and Syrian at tlie College de France. His opening lecture upset the college’s clerical faction and his lectures were suspended within the week. However, tlie government allowed him to lecture at home and did not deprive him of his title or salary. Within imperial circles Renan enjoyed the protection of Prince Jerome Bonaparte and Princess Mathilde.
In 1863 he published his Life of Jesus (vol. i of Les Origines du christianisme). The work questions scientifically the supernatural in the Gospels and was reprinted ten times before the end of the year. It generated such fierce attacks that Renan was forced to spend the summer of 1863 in Jersey and Brittany. The book was translated and published outside France in 1864. A revised thirteentli edition was published, he was dismissed from the College de France by the Ministry of Culture, and he was appointed assistant director of the Department of Manuscripts at tlie Bibliotheque Imper-iale, all in that same year. His professorship was reinstated in 1870, after the Franco-Prussian War and the fall of Napoleon III.
Meanwhile, in 1S66, he published Les Apdtres (as vol. 2 of
Les Origines du chrislianisme) and in 1867 initiated the Corpus Inscnptionum Semiticarum. Elected to the Academic Fran? aise in 1878, he received tlie Legion of Honor (grand officier) in 1888. Renan died in Paris after a long illness.
[5ee also Byblos; Phoenicia; Sidon; awiiTyre.]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
For a comprehensive bibliography of Renan’s works, see Henri Girard and Henri Moncel, BibKographie des oeuvres d’Ernest Renan (Paris, 1923). Biographical entries on Renan may be found in the Chambers Biographical Dictionaiy (Cambridge, 1990); Dictionnaire des biographies (Paris, 1958); Encyclopaedia Universalis (Paris, 1992); Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14th ed. (London, 1929); La grande encyclopedie (Paris, 1976); The Jewish Encyclopedia (New York, 1905); The Macmillan Dictionaiy of Biography, new ed. (London, 1986); and Webster’s New Biographical Dictionaiy (Springfield, Mass., 198S).
Works by Renan
Histoire ginerale et sysieme compare des langues semitiques. Paris, 1855. Mission de Phirticde. Paris, 1864.
L’Antechrist. Paris, 1873.
Marc-Aurele et la fin du monde antique. Paris, 1882.
Histoire du peuple d'Israel. 5 vols. Paris, 1887.
L’avenir de la science. Paris, 1890.
Oeuvres completes. 10 vols. Edited by Henriette Psichari. Paris, 19471961. Not comprehensive.
Works about Renan
Chadbourne, Richard M. Ernest Renan. New York, 1968.
Dussaud, Rene. L’oeuvre scientifique d’Emest Renan. Paris, 1951. The best reference on Renan’s Mission de Phenicie.
Espinasse, Francis. Life of Ernest Renan. London, 1895. See chapter s, pages 87-91.
Exposition Ernest Renan: Souvenirs d’enfance et de jeunesse, 20 avril-13 juin igs9- Paris, 1959.
Inauguration du Musee Renan le 20 juillet ipqy d Trequier (discours stenographies). Paris, 1948.
Mercury, Francis. Renan. Paris, 1990. See pages 317-332 for a discussion of Mission de Phenicie.
Robinson, Agnes Mary F. The Life of Ernest Renan. Boston, 1898. Wardman, Harold W. Ernest Renan: A Critical Biography. London, 1964. See pages qz-qq for the Mission de Phenicie.
Hafez K. Chehab
RESERVOIRS. A large natural or an artificial underground space enhanced to store large quantities of water, primarily for drinking, is known as a reservoir. Water storage is essential to life in regions where there is no rainfall during part of the year and the total amount of precipitation is low enough to require conservation of water from one period to the next: winter to summer, night to day, and a rainy year to a drought year. Syria-Palestine abounds with reservoirs created for tliis purpose.
Reservoirs were either hewn from natural rock or built of stone; sometimes both engineering methods were combined. In several cases, large supporting pillars were constructed to hold up the installation’s ceiling. The walls were thicldy plastered, usually with a layer 5-10 cm tliick, to prevent loss of water from percolation.
The earliest reservoirs discovered in the region are small and should properly be designated cisterns. The earliest reservoir in the land of Israel was discovered at Hazor and dates to the Middle or Late Bronze Age. [See Hazor.] This reservoir, located beneath a Canaanite palace, is shaped l&e a cross or a clover leaf and is coated with white plaster. The water entered the reservoir by means of a monumental drain made of basalt. Its volume is 150 cu m.
Two reservoirs for the collection of runoff are known from the Iron Age II period: at Beth-Shemesh, at Eitam, and at Beersheba. [ri’ee Beth-Shemesh; Beersheba.] The reservoir at Eitam is a system of natural caves whose volume is 240 cu m. The Beth-Shemesh reservoir is hewn out of soft, chalky rock; it is square and has four extensions and a capacity of 500 cu m. Botlr reservoirs display a double layer of plaster, one gray and the other yellow. The one at Beersheba has a volume of about 600 cu m and the plaster is similar to the one at Beth-Shemesh.
During the Second Temple period (Hellenistic and Early Roman periods) several reservoirs were cut out of the rock to serve the desert fortresses at Sartaba (nine reservoirs with a total capacity of 5,000 cu m), Dulc (Dagon/Mt. Quaran-tale; nine reservoirs with a capacity of about 2,000 cu m), Cypros (four reservoirs, one with a volume of 500 cu m), Hyrkania (twenty-four reservoirs with a capacity of 20,000 cu m), Herodium (four reservoirs), and Masada (twelve reservoirs with a volume of 40,000 cu m). [See Herodium; Masada.] The water reached the reservoirs by means of conduits or aqueducts that either diverted water from flash floods, collected runoff, or conveyed water from natural springs, such as at Cypros (phase II).
Also from tire Second Temple period are the thirty-four reservoirs beneath the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, whose total capacity is 36,000 cu m. The largest of these, with a volume of 12,000 cu m, located not far from the al-Aqsa mosque, is called the Small Sea; it is the largest ancient reservoir in the region. [See Jerusalem.]
In tire Roman and Byzantine periods, many more reservoirs were hewn or constructed. At Sepphoris, a sausageshaped reservoir was hewn from the rock with a volume of 4,300 cu m (see figure i). [See Sepphoris.] A reservoir at Beit Ras (Capitolias) in Jordan has a similar shape and size to the one found in Sepphoris. [See Beit Ras.] In Jerusalem, the domed reservoir of the Nea Church, built of two longitudinal galleries and two cross galleries, has a total volume of 3,500 cu m (its wall has an inscription dating it to the reign of Justinian). The built reservoir at Tiberias has a volume of 2,000 cu m; and the partly hewn and partly constructed reservoir at Hippos/Susita has a volume of 1,500 cu
RESERVOIRS. Figure I. Entrance to the resewoir at Sepphoris. (Courtesy E. M. Meyers)
M. [See Tiberias.] These large reservoirs were fed by aqueducts, with tlte exception of the ones in Jerusalem. In the Byzantine period, large reservoirs were built for the monasteries in the Judean Desert. The Martyrius monastery has a reservoir of 2,000 cu m; the Haritun monastery has a reservoir of 1,000 cu m and walls decorated with crosses.
In tlie Early Arab period, four underground reservoirs were built in the city of Ramla (die Pool of Arches and three located next to the White Mosque). [See Ramla.] These were fed by an aqueduct that originated at Tel Gezer; their total volume is 10,000 cu m. Numerous pillars support these reservoirs’ ceilings. In the Crusader period, reservoirs were built inside fortresses to collect runoff; especially well known are those at QaPat Nimrod and Belvoir (Kokhav ha-Yar-den). In the Ottoman period a large reservoir was built at Acre/Akko underneadi the courtyard of die Jazzar mosque, which had been a Crusader church. This reservoir was the terminal point for the Kabri aqueduct. [5ee Aklto; Kabri, Tel.]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
RESISTIVITY. Subsurface electrical resistivity surveying exploits die fact that soil masses and rocks are able to conduct electricity because water in their interstices contains dissolved mineral salts and/or humic acids of biological origin. Measurement equipment includes a set of four or more electrodes, an electrical source, and a metering device. Survey technique involves placing the electrodes in the ground at regular intervals in a linear array and dien connecting them sequentially in pairs to respective positive and negative voltage sources. Electrical resistance is measured as voltage is passed through the ground between the electrodes. The resistivity is die ratio of the applied voltage to die magnitude of die current. Ditches and pits witii loose silts and soils generally show low resistivity readings, while structures and deposits with clay, brick, and stone will be relatively high. Testing is most successful when the linear transverse runs perpendicular to subsurface features—across ditches or stone or brick walls.
Soil resistivity measurement has been used by geologists and civil engineers since World War I. However, the first major application to archaeological work was only made in 1946, by R. J. C. Atkinson (1953), on a group of Neolithic monuments at Dorchester, England. One advantage of resistivity testing is that deep-current penetration can be obtained with only short probe insertion because the depth of electrical penetration is governed by, and is roughly equal to, the spacing between the electrodes. Another advantage is that the equipment setup is simple and of reasonable cost—although the development of more modern and sophisticated electronic instruments and of complicated probe array systems may now belie that claim. The advent of magnetic detection in the late 1950s provided archaeologists with an alternative tool to supplement the linear-array limitation of resistivity survey by providing a means for sweeping coverage of a survey area. [See Magnetic Archaeometry.]
Like other systems that test subsurface conditions, the resistivity surveyor must contend with a multitude of variables within the test environment. Stone-filled soils make inserting probes difficult and produce erratic resistivity results; dry, sandy soils are often incapable of conducting current; and subsurface features parallel and adjacent to the array transverse may skew resistivity readings. Accordingly, while analysis of resistivity readings can help the archaeologist to develop a plot of assumed subsurface features, “ground truth” can be finally determined only by excavation.
[5ce also Survey, Archaeological]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aitken, Martin J. Physics and Archaeology. 2d ed. Oxford, 1974. Atkinson, R. J. C. Field Archaeology. London, 1953.
Clark, Antltony. “Resistivity Surveying.” In Science in Archaeology, edited by Don Brothwell et al., pp. 694-707. London, 1971.
Joe D. Seger
World History
