The Glass Finds From The Monastery At Nahal Pehar (Giv‘Ot Bar), In The Northern Negev,
2025
Israel Antiquities Authority
The Glass Finds From The Monastery At Nahal Pehar (Giv‘Ot Bar), In The Northern Negev, Tamar Winter
'Atiqot
The glass finds distributed throughout the monastery at Giv‘ot Bar include vessels that denote the religious nature of the building: bottles, juglets, several types of lamps and windowpanes. These finds are characteristic of ecclesiastical complexes of the late Byzantine period, and attest to an active Christian community at the site.
Three Greek Inscriptions From The Monastery At Nahal Pehar (Giv‘Ot Bar), In The Northern Negev,
2025
The Hebrew University, Jerusalem
Three Greek Inscriptions From The Monastery At Nahal Pehar (Giv‘Ot Bar), In The Northern Negev, Leah Di Segni
'Atiqot
Three Greek inscriptions were discovered within a small coenobium at Giv‘ot Bar in the northern Negev. One was set in a mosaic pavement in the chapel, and the other two were painted in red ink on building blocks found in the debris near the entrance to the chapel. The mosaic inscription mentions a string of names, probably of the monks who cared for the laying of the mosaic pavement in the chapel, or perhaps for the foundation of the coenobium. The two other inscriptions are epitaphs, indicating that the chapel was also used for burial. One epitaph mentions a date …
A Byzantine-Period Monastery And Farmhouse In Nahal Pehar (Giv‘Ot Bar), In The Northern Negev,
2025
Israel Antiquities Authority
A Byzantine-Period Monastery And Farmhouse In Nahal Pehar (Giv‘Ot Bar), In The Northern Negev, Nir-Shimshon Paran
'Atiqot
A Byzantine-period monastery and farmhouse were uncovered on the southwestern bank of Naḥal Peḥar, within the modern settlement of Giv‘ot Bar, in the northern Negev. The monastery was well-preserved, attesting to the daily life of the monks in the Negev in the Byzantine period. It was paved with poorly executed mosaic floors, probably laid by the monks themselves. Most of the finds in the monastery were uncovered on the floors, attesting to its orderly abandonment in the late Byzantine or beginning of the Umayyad period (sixth–seventh centuries CE). The monastery seems to have belonged to the widespread ecclesiastical system documented …
Intermediate Bronze Age Fauna From A Suspected Cultic Area At Nahal RefaʼIm,
2025
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem
Intermediate Bronze Age Fauna From A Suspected Cultic Area At Nahal RefaʼIm, Liora Kolska Horwitz
'Atiqot
A small assemblage of faunal remains was recovered from four archaeological contexts excavated on the northern bank of Naḥal Refaʼim. These include Bronze Age rock-cut pits (Area 100), a structure (Area 300), a burial cave (Area 500) and an Ottoman-period shomera (Area 400). The remains represent almost exclusively domestic taxa—sheep, goat, cattle and donkey—some of which exhibit butchery marks, other modifications or burning. The faunal assemblage from the pits, together with other complementary data, may attest that the pits were used as favissae (cultic storage pits) associated with ritual activities at the site.
Early Bronze Age Iv/Intermediate Bronze Age Flint Artifacts From Nahal Refa’Im,
2025
Israel Antiquities Authority
Early Bronze Age Iv/Intermediate Bronze Age Flint Artifacts From Nahal Refa’Im, Hamoudi Khalaily
'Atiqot
A small collection of twelve Canaanean sickle blades was retrieved from the excavation at Naḥal Refaʼim. Six tools, two cores and four flakes were found, the majority of which were made of local flint of the Meshash Formation.
Intermediate Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age Ii And Iron Age Ii Pottery From Nahal Refa’Im,
2025
Israel Antiquities Authority
Intermediate Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age Ii And Iron Age Ii Pottery From Nahal Refa’Im, Lilly Gershuny
'Atiqot
The pottery assemblage from the Naḥal Refa’im site originated in three different archaeological contexts: pits, structure(s) and a burial cave. These findings attest that the main period of occupation was during the Intermediate Bronze Age. One pit may have been reused for burial in Middle Bronze Age II, and the burial cave was visited in Iron Age II, possibly by the inhabitants of nearby Khirbat er-Ras.
Intermediate And Middle Bronze Age Settlement Remains, Domestic Worship, Pits And Burial Practices In Nahal RefaʼIm, Jerusalem,
2025
Israel Antiquities Authority
Intermediate And Middle Bronze Age Settlement Remains, Domestic Worship, Pits And Burial Practices In Nahal RefaʼIm, Jerusalem, Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah, Alexander Onn
'Atiqot
Excavations on the northern bank of the Refa’im Valley uncovered four sites: a shaft tomb and building remains with a standing stone dating to the Intermediate Bronze Age; a concentration of eight pits dating to the Intermediate Bronze Age and the Middle Bronze Age II; and an Ottoman-period agricultural watchtower. The building remains and installations were probably part of the Intermediate Bronze Age settlement along Naḥal Refa’im. The standing stone’s prominent location, and the large concentration of pits and installations near it, may support its identification with domestic worship. The thin fill at the bottom of some of the pits …
Graffiti And Other Evidence Of Bulgarian Pilgrimage To Jerusalem In The Ottoman Period: A Photographic Survey,
2025
Israel Antiquities Authority
Graffiti And Other Evidence Of Bulgarian Pilgrimage To Jerusalem In The Ottoman Period: A Photographic Survey, Michael Chernin, Shai Halevi
'Atiqot
This paper presents the results of a photographic survey of graffiti inscriptions on the walls of Greek Orthodox monasteries in the Old City of Jerusalem and its vicinity, dating from the Ottoman period. A unique methodology of multispectral and RTI imaging was applied to document the inscriptions, bringing to light evidence of the presence of Bulgarian pilgrims in these monasteries. Based on the corpus of inscriptions presented herein, previously documented contemporary graffiti in other Greek Orthodox compounds and historical sources, we were able to historically identify specific people and their places of origin, further allowing us to reconstruct the Bulgarian …
Sixth–Seventh-Century Ce Armenian Inscriptions Of A Monastic Community In Jerusalem,
2025
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem
Sixth–Seventh-Century Ce Armenian Inscriptions Of A Monastic Community In Jerusalem, Michael E. Stone
'Atiqot
Excavations in the Musrara neighborhood of Jerusalem uncovered four Armenian inscriptions within a monastic complex founded in the fifth–sixth centuries CE. The inscriptions were found on a mosaic floor, on tombstones and on a large pottery bowl, and together with the Birds Mosaic, they probably formed part of one monastic complex, in which Armenians played a significant role. As there is no hint in the historical sources of the existence of this complex, the archaeological discovery contributes new historical information concerning the Christian, and particularly Armenian settlement in Jerusalem in the seventh century CE.
Light-Microscopic And Spectroscopic Analyses Of The Skin Materials Used In The Tefillin And Mezuzah Slips From The Judean Desert,
2025
Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Ariel University
Light-Microscopic And Spectroscopic Analyses Of The Skin Materials Used In The Tefillin And Mezuzah Slips From The Judean Desert, Yonatan Adler, Theresa Emmerich Kamper
'Atiqot
Among the Dead Sea Scrolls is an assemblage of ancient tefillin and mezuzah slips—ritual artifacts composed of thin animal skins inscribed with passages from the Pentateuch. This paper presents the results of light-microscopic and spectroscopic analyses conducted on 26 tefillin and 8 mezuzot from the Judean Desert caves. These analyses provide the first opportunity to identify the following characteristics on these artifacts: animal species; skin thickness; skin layers present; tannage; side/s of skin with writing. In time, these characteristics took on ritual significance, especially in later rabbinic halakhah. A significant finding is that the ancient tefillin analyzed here were all …
Nysa-Scythopolis: Founding Cults, Gods And Emperors,
2025
Israel Antiquities Authority
Nysa-Scythopolis: Founding Cults, Gods And Emperors, Gabriel Mazor, Walid Atrash
'Atiqot
Founding narratives, rendered by historical sources and inscriptions, established the traditional ethnicity of Greco-Roman poleis and validated the early origins of their cultic practices. At Nysa-Scythopolis, this narrative was consolidated in the obscure name of the polis, bestowed at the time of its early Hellenistic founding. To better understand the city’s name and its traditional cults practiced in the various temples, historical sources and inscriptions from the site were studied, revealing the founding narrative related to the triad-legend of Dionysos, Nysa and Zeus and its cultic practice. Meaningful and significant, the founding narrative and its cult integrated gods and emperors …
An Iron Age Iib–C Hebrew Stamp Seal With Apotropaic And Prophylactic Properties From The Southwestern Corner Of The Temple Mount, Jerusalem,
2025
Israel Antiquities Authority
An Iron Age Iib–C Hebrew Stamp Seal With Apotropaic And Prophylactic Properties From The Southwestern Corner Of The Temple Mount, Jerusalem, Filip Vukosavović, Ronny Reich, Navot Rom, Yuval Baruch
'Atiqot
An Iron Age Hebrew iconic stamp seal was uncovered near the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The seal, made of black stone, depicts a winged genie and a personal name, Yehoʽezer son of Hoshaʽyahu. This is the first depiction of the winged genie iconography in the region found in an archaeological excavation. Influenced by Neo-Assyrian art, the seal was created in Jerusalem by a local artist for Hoshaʽyahu, a member of the Judean elite, during the Assyrian Century. Later on, the seal was inherited by his son, Yehoʽezer. In addition to being used as a stamp, the …
Evidence Of Worship In The Rock-Cut Rooms On The Eastern Slope Of The City Of David, Jerusalem,
2025
Ancient Jerusalem Research Center
Evidence Of Worship In The Rock-Cut Rooms On The Eastern Slope Of The City Of David, Jerusalem, Eli Shukron, Liora Freud, Helena Roth, Reli Avisar, Efrat Bocher
'Atiqot
This paper presents the finds retrieved from a unique series of rock-cut rooms found on the eastern slope of the City of David. These rock-cut rooms stand out in terms of their architectural features, as well as the artifacts discovered within them, all of which reflect on their function as a cultic complex, likely constructed in the Middle Bronze Age, with its final stage in Iron Age IIB. This complex offers profound evidence for the diversity of cultic practices in the capital of the Kingdom of Judah.
Figurines And Their Makers: A View From A Canaanite Cultic Enclosure At Tel Burna,
2025
Institute of Archaeology, Ariel University
Figurines And Their Makers: A View From A Canaanite Cultic Enclosure At Tel Burna, Jon Ross, Itzhaq Shai
'Atiqot
Plaque figurines are a well-established Canaanite tradition of the Late Bronze Age Southern Levant. In this paper, we go beyond typology to consider who made these ritual objects at Tel Burna, based on impressions of fingerprints from shaping these figurines using an open mold. The lack of care exhibited on the backs and sides of the plaques has enabled a fingerprint analysis using proven biometric methods to clarify the demographics of their producers and the division of labor. Such analyses, when possible, potentially add another dimension to existing debates over how these cultic objects functioned in society, who made them …
Go Figure: The Unique Trajectories Of Figurine Use And Religious Ideologies In The Middle- And Late-Bronze Age Southern Levant,
2025
Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Go Figure: The Unique Trajectories Of Figurine Use And Religious Ideologies In The Middle- And Late-Bronze Age Southern Levant, Matthew Susnow, Joe Uziel
'Atiqot
This article explores the differences between cultic practices and religious ideologies as expressed in the material culture of the Middle and Late Bronze Ages in the Southern Levant. Whereas the periods share much in common in terms of material culture and political organization, we suggest that the cultic practices in the earlier period were dictated by elite ideologies aiming at social inclusion, unity, integration and group cohesion, while the Late Bronze Age viewed the distribution of such paraphernalia, particularly ceramic female figurines, as domestic in nature.
The Emergence Of Worship And Religion In The Neolithic Period: Direct And Indirect Evidence From Moẓa (Motza),
2025
Israel Antiquities Authority
The Emergence Of Worship And Religion In The Neolithic Period: Direct And Indirect Evidence From Moẓa (Motza), Hamoudi Khalaily, Anna Eirikh-Rose, Ianir Milevski
'Atiqot
Evidence of worship and religion in the form of architectural remains is rather scanty before the shift in human behavior, from hunter-gatherers to sedentary communities, and the emergence of permanent settlements. Communal and ritual structures first appeared in the Natufian culture (12,500–9400 BCE) and expanded during the Neolithic period (9400–5300 BCE), alongside the treatment of burials linked to ritual related to ancestor worship. The excavations at Motza’s Final PPNB (7100–6700 BCE) layer exposed many non-residential structures, some presumably used for worship and ritual. Some burials, including the one interpreted here as a shaman burial, included objects of symbolic importance. Cultic …
Front Matter & Editorial,
2025
Israel Antiquities Authority
The Coins From The ‘Sleepy Spring’ At Safed (Ẓefat),
2025
Israel Antiquities Authority
The Coins From The ‘Sleepy Spring’ At Safed (Ẓefat), Robert Kool
'Atiqot
Nine copper coins, eight of which were identified, were found in the Mamlūk–Ottoman-period building at Safed. The earliest specimen is a residual copper fals from the fifteenth century CE; the remaining specimens date to the late Ottoman period (second half of the nineteenth–twentieth centuries CE). The latest coin is a ‘Two Mils’ issued during the British Mandate of Palestine in 1942.
The Glass Finds From The ‘Sleepy Spring’ At Safed (Ẓefat),
2025
Israel Antiquities Authority
The Glass Finds From The ‘Sleepy Spring’ At Safed (Ẓefat), Natalya Katsnelson
'Atiqot
The excavation at Safed yielded a small assemblage of glass finds, including fragments of two beaker-shaped oil lamps, a small lid and two small cosmetic bottles of the Mamluk–Ottoman periods, as well as several beads, bracelets and glass vessels of the late Ottoman–British Mandate periods. This glass assemblage corresponds with the dating of the remains between the fifteenth and early twentieth centuries CE, comprising common locally produced artifacts of the Late Islamic period and items dating to the late Ottoman and British Mandate periods, some of which were imported.
A Mamluk-Period Mausoleum Near The ‘Sleepy Spring’ At Safed (Ẓefat),
2025
Israel Antiquities Authority
A Mamluk-Period Mausoleum Near The ‘Sleepy Spring’ At Safed (Ẓefat), Hervé Barbé
'Atiqot
A trial excavation near the ‘Sleepy Spring’ fountain in Safed revealed the remains of a mausoleum, which was built during the late Mamluk period and remained in use until the early twentieth century. Three late Ottoman-period tombs found within the vaulted structure, and Ottoman-period cist tombs adjacent to the building, attest to the burial function of the site. No pre-Mamluk-period finds were uncovered at the site, indicating that the earliest occupation in this part of the ancient town was in the Mamluk period. Based on archaeological excavations and textual sources, urbanization of Safed was intensified during the Mamluk period, possibly …
