The Late Iron IIA Cylindrical Holemouth Jars and Their Role in the Royal Economy of Early Monarchic Israel

Abstract

The recent excavations at Ḥorvat Tevet and the finding of ca. 260 Late Iron IIA cylindrical holemouth jars provided an unparalleled opportunity to study these relatively unknown vessels. This article offers a comprehensive analysis of cylindrical holemouth jars and includes a study of typology and morphology, alongside the analysis of provenance and distribution patterns. By shedding new light on these vessels, this paper provides the opportunity to understand and illustrate the economy of early monarchic Israel in a new and innovative way.

Keywords:

• Late Iron IIA
• Cylindrical holemouth jars
• Early monarchic Israel
• Northern Valleys
• Standardisation
• Economy

Acknowledgements

This study is the outcome of a research project titled ‘The Archaeological Expression of Palace–Clan Relations in the Iron Age Levant: A Case Study from the Jezreel Valley, Israel’, funded by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung (AZ 20/F/19) and directed by Omer Sergi, Hannes Bezzel and Karen Covello-Paran. We would like to thank the following for sharing information on CHJs with us and for allowing us to examine and sample them: Amihai Mazar, Nava Panitz-Cohen and the Tel Reḥov expedition (the Hebrew University of Jerusalem); Israel Finkelstein, Assaf Kleiman and the Tel Megiddo expedition (Tel Aviv University); David Sugimoto and the >En-Gev expedition (Keio University, Japan); Daniel Master (Wheaton College) for sharing updated information about CHJs from Tel Dothan; Debi Ben-Ami, Pirhiya Eyal and Michael Sebbane (all of the Israel Antiquities Authority). Special thanks are extended to Anastasia Shapiro (Israel Antiquities Authority) for her contribution regarding the soils of the Jezreel Valley. We extend thanks to Omer Ze<evi-Berger for his preliminary work on the maps. This publication is supported by the Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies–Archaeology, Tel Aviv University.

Notes

1 Finkelstein 2000; 2013: 83–118; Niemann 2006; 2008; Sergi and Gadot 2017; Sergi 2019; Mazar 2020.

2 Ben-Tor and Zarzecki-Peleg (2015: 175) argued that the date of the CHJs spanned the 10th to 8th centuries BCE. However, as shown below, these jars exclusively characterise the Late Iron IIA archaeological strata in the north, a period that is well dated to the 9th century BCE.

3 Kenyon 1957: 116; Amiran 1970: 242; Aharoni and Aharoni 1976: 83; Barkay, Fantalkin and Tal 2002; Greenhut and De Groot 2009: 100−103; Freud 2019.

4 Trial excavations carried out on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority were directed by Karen Covello-Paran (in 2012) on the upper terrace of the site and by Yoav Tsur (in 2019) on the lower terrace of the site. Salvage excavations on the upper terrace and beyond were conducted by the Israeli Institute of Archaeology, on behalf of the Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University, directed by Omer Sergi (in 2018) and by Omer Sergi and Rachel Lindeman (in 2019).

5 Tel Hazor Stratum X was dated by the excavators to the mid-10th century BCE (Ben-Tor and Ben-Ami 1998; Ben-Tor 2000). However, the assemblage associated with this level should be attributed to the Late Iron IIA (Herzog and Singer-Avitz 2006: 171, 177–178; Sergi and Kleiman 2018: n. 9), which is well dated, according to radiocarbon, to the late 10th–9th centuries BCE.

6 Herzog and Singer-Avitz 2006; Niemann 2006; Finkelstein 2013: 66; Sergi and Gadot 2017; Sergi 2019; Mazar 2020: 124.

7 Finkelstein and Piasetzky 2007; Mazar 2016; Kleiman 2016; Shochat and Gilboa 2018.

8 The study of the faunal remains was carried out by Abra Spiciarich in the Zooarchaeology Laboratory of Tel Aviv University, headed by Lidar Sapir-Hen. The results of this study are currently being prepared for publication.

9 By the term ‘royal estate’ we refer to large plots of land belonging to a political institution and administrated by a bureaucratic centre, as opposed to lands that were given to farmers as tenants, to be cultivated in return for a share of the crops (Finkelstein and Gadot 2015: 230).

10 Na<aman 1988; Morris 2005: 231–232; Finkelstein et al. 2017. Cf. EA 250 and 365.

11 The CHJs were found during Tubb’s excavations (1985–1996), in which he dates Stratum XII to the Late Bronze Age and argues for an Egyptian presence in the Jordan Valley (Tubb 1990: 26). This, however, has long been disregarded by a number of scholars, with the pottery from Stratum XII—dated by Tubb to the Late Bronze Age (Tubb 1988: 41)—shown to have close parallels to other Iron IIA strata (Mazar 2006: 323; 2020: 114; Green 2006: 416–418).

12 During the Late Iron IIA they also appear at other sites: Tel Hazor Stratum IX, Tel Yinʿam Stratum IV, Tel Ta>anach Stratum IIB, Tel Yoqne>am Stratum XIV, Tel Qiri Strata VII and VIIC, Tel >Amal Stratum III, Pella Plot XXXII and Tell er-Rumeith Stratum VII. So far, however, they have been found only in small numbers (<10).

13 By Final Iron IIA we refer to occupational levels in the northern valleys, which post-date the destructions and abandonments of the second half of the 9th century BCE, and whose material culture can still be attributed to the Late Iron IIA. These occupational levels are mainly seen in the Huleh Valley (Tel Hazor VIII and Dan IVA, cf. Finkelstein 1999; Arie 2008) and around the Sea of Galilee (>En-Gev III and et-Tell V, cf. Hasegawa 2012: 71–73; 2019; Sergi and Kleiman 2018).

14 Compared to the Middle and Late Iron IIA, the number of holemouth jars found at sites dated to the final phases of the Late Iron IIA is relatively small. We have recently learnt (personal communication by David Sugimoto) that many holemouth jars were discovered at >En Gev, which should probably be attributed to the Final Iron IIA (cf. Sergi and Kleiman 2018). Unfortunately, we could not access the yet unpublished finds in order to assess their date, production or use; thus, they remain beyond the scope of the current study.

15 This number is potentially much higher. It is probable that many more CHJs were found in this building, House 14 (personal communication by Daniel Master).

16 See details in the Levantine Ceramic Project (https://www.levantineceramics.org).

17 Unfortunately, the fragmentary nature of the Ḥorvat Tevet jars did not allow for a complete estimation of their capacity.

18 Finkelstein (2016) and Arie (2017) have argued that Late Iron IIA Tel Reḥov was not an Israelite site on the grounds that its material culture is different from that of Late Iron IIA Tel Megiddo. While it is not clear what makes the material culture of Tel Megiddo particularly ‘Israelite’, it should be admitted that the ceramic assemblage of both sites is relatively similar. Furthermore, the CHJs, which probably represent some aspects of Israelite royal economy, were found both at Tel Megiddo and Tel Reḥov (as well as many other ‘Israelite’ sites) in large numbers. This is also true for the Hippo Jars, which were considered to reflect some other aspect of Israelite royal economy (Kleiman 2017). This is not to mention epigraphic finds from Tel Reḥov that attest to the presence of one of the Israelite royal families, the Nimshides, at the site (Aḥituv and Mazar 2014; 2020: 419–422). We therefore agree with the excavators of Tel Reḥov that the site was part and parcel of early monarchic Israel (Mazar 2020: 122).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Madeleine Butcher

Madeleine Butcher: The Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Israel

Karen Covello-Paran

Karen Covello-Paran: Israel Antiquities Authority

Paula Waiman-Barak

Paula Waiman-Barak: The Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Israel

Oded Lipschits

Oded Lipschits: The Jakob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University, Israel

Hannes Bezzel

Hannes Bezzel: Theologische Fakultät, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Jena, Germany

Omer Sergi

Omer Sergi: The Jakob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University, Israel