The Tell es-Safi/Gath Excavations Official (and Unofficial) Weblog

I have been in San Diego since Sunday, participating in the fascinating conference MedArchNet 2008, which is the First International Workshop on Cyberinfrastructure for the Mediterranean Archaeology Network, whose aim is to produce the Digital Archaeological Atlas of the Holy Land (DAAHL), part of an envisioned Mediterranean wide project. For more information, go to the DAAHL website (and the conference website was well).
The conference was organized by Prof. Tom Levy of UCSD and was hosted at the absolutely unbelievable CALIT2 institute.

In addition to a truly excellent collection of very exciting papers relating to methods, theory, data and potential of this atlas, we also had an opportunity to see some of the extremely high tech digital media technology that is being created at CALIT2. Some of this stuff is so unbelievably sophisticated, that one feels that you are watching a science fiction movie…

Here is a picture of me lecturing, earlier today… (courtesy of Gal Avraham)

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The 2009 season at Tell es-Safi/Gath will be from July 5th to July 31st, 2009. As in previous seasons, I have no doubt that we will have a fantastic season with great finds.

As in the past, the season will include a rich program for the volunteers, and two academic field schools - one in field archaeology and the other in archaeological science.

See attached the updated registration forms for the 2009 season - download them - sign up - and join our team for an unforgettable and really fulfilling experience!

Here is the “Information and Registration Package”:
2009_information_registration_package1

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Dear all,
At long last, the DVD with a collection of scores and scores of excellent pictures on all aspects related to the dig this year, and two really nice Powerpoint presentations on the 2008 season (and Safi in general) is almost ready, after having being masterfully prepared by Richard Wiskin, our photographer (thanks Richard!!!). I will be sending out the DVD to all those that ordered it as soon as I return from the ASOR meeting (after Nov. 25th). I do apologize for the delay, but as you will see when it arrives, it will be well worth the wait.

And by the way - anyone who wants to order the DVD (whether a Safiite or not), is welcome to do so. If you are interested, please send a check for US$15 to me, made out to “The Israel Exploration Society” along with the exact address to which you would like it sent.

For those interested, please send the check to:
Prof. Aren M. Maeir
The Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, ISRAEL

Best,
Aren

Nachum Appelbaum has been kind enough to point me towards new materials about Tell es-Safi/Gath that appear on the “Palestine Remembered” website. This site, which has a lot of material on the Palestinian villages throughout Israel, has a page each village. For those of you who do comb through this website, you should be aware that you will be getting a very specific “narrative” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What can I say - things are (and were) a bit more complex than is presented…
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Today, the NY Times came out with an article on the finds from Kh. Qeiyafah, a site in the Elah valley just to the west of Tell es-Safi/Gath. As some of the 2008 team may recall, some of us visited the site during the summer.

The press notice comes out in conjunction with a paper that will presented about the site at a meeting that is being held today in Jerusalem. Additional press notices about this should be appearing in other venues as well - I know this since I was interviewed for both the NY Times and other news agencies.

Whatever the case, the finds from the site are VERY interesting (as I wrote elsewhere in the past).
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Last week it was announced that the Festschrift for Shalom Paul, celebrating his 70th birthday has just appeared, with a slew of interesting article by a large group of scholars.

Among others, there is a short piece by yours truly on an interesting find from Tell es-Safi/Gath - a seated image of diety, which was found in the 9th century BCE destruction level (Stratum A3), which we relate to the conquest of Gath by Hazael.

Here is a little picture of the figurine

This is the title of the article:
Maeir, A. M. 2008. A Seated Figurine from Tell es-Safi/Gath: A Philistine Image of El? In Birkat Shalom: Studies in the Bible, Ancient Near Eastern Literature, and Postbiblical Judaism Presented to Shalom M. Paul on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday, eds. C. Cohen, V. Hurowitz, A. Hurvitz, Y. Muffs, B. Schwartz and J. Tigay. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.

The figurine, which originally was apparently applied to some other object, is reminiscent of the Canaanite god “El”, and I thus suggest in this article that perhaps, this is a manifestation of this god as part of the Philistine pantheon (of which we know so little).
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In the last few days, there have been various announcements in the press about the soon to be aired documentary series by NOVA, which is entitled “The Bible’s Buried Secrets.” This series is supposed to be aired in the US as of November 18th, 2008, and I suppose will be aired in other countries as well. Two seasons ago, the film team spent a day or two at the site during the season, and those of you who were on the team that season may remember them.
NOVA has put out a trailer (if this link does not work for you, go to the webpage and open it on your own), which, as all film trailers invariably are, is a bit tacky, but if you watch it and you are quick, you can see a few spots which were taken at Tell es-Safi/Gath. Most obvious is a quick shot of our team member Linda Meiberg (U Penn), who was a square supervisor in Area A that season, who is holding a really nice bichrome Philistine sherd and washing it for the camera.

Here’s a picture of Linda, Alex and yours truly discussing an interesting brick that was found in the excavations in Area A

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As of this evening, all over the world people will be celebrating the beginning of the Jewish new year. I would like to wish you all a happy, healthy and truly enjoyable year. Please check out the pdf attached.

Best,
Aren

shana-tova-2008