Rock Engravings as Text: Territorial Assertions on the Walls of the En Nusra Cave in Avdat, Israel

Abstract

This paper examines a collection of markings that were created over the past few centuries in the Negev Highlands in southern Israel. The markings were etched onto the walls of a vestibule of a 3rd century CE Late Roman burial cave in the site of Avdat (ancient Oboda). The cave was known in Bedouin Arabic as En Nusra. The data may be divided into three main language groups – Hebrew, English, and Bedouin Wusum (tribal symbols) – each with its own graffiti etiquette, graphic style, technical attributes, and specific discourse function. In an attempt to identify the separate and/or combined meaning(s) for these markings, archaeological evidence from En Nusra was correlated with historical references and then cross-referenced via ethnographic interviews with local Bedouin. Subsequently, Columbia School (CS) sign-oriented linguistics theories, which view language as an instance of human behavior whose structure is shaped by the communicative and cultural factors of its users, were applied to further confirm our interpretations of the En Nusra graffiti. The anthro-linguistic examination of the markings reaffirmed our archaeo-historical based comprehension of why this sidelined and otherwise unassuming structure accommodated such a prolific epigraphic exchange.

Keywords:

• graffiti
• wusum
• Negev highlands
• Avdat
• Bedouin
• rock art

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Dr Tali Erickson-Gini and Professors Gideon Kressel and Yishai Tobin for their helpful and insightful comments during the preparation of this essay.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joshua Schmidt

Joshua Schmidt is a cultural anthropologist and works as a social researcher at the Mitzpe Ramon branch of the Dead Sea and Arava Science Center under the joint auspices of the Israeli Ministry of Science, Technology, and Space and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Schmidt is also a post-doctoral affiliate in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev where he is applying Columbia School sign-oriented linguistics in a number of research projects pertaining to contemporary Israeli society and culture.

Davida Eisenberg-Degen

Davida Eisenberg-Degen is an archaeologist at the Israel Antiquity Authority, Southern District, Israel. She is also affiliated with the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev where she taught introductory courses on rock art. Davida is on the board of the Negev Rock Art Centre.