Imperializing the province: a residence of a Neo-Assyrian City Governor at Tel Dan

Abstract

Creation of imperial space in antiquity was achieved by territorial expansion, followed by processes of consolidation. An administrative provincial system was set up with power in the hands of imperial officials, conquered towns were reorganized and strategically-located centres were built. Following the conquest and annexation of the Hula Valley by the Assyrian Empire in the 8^th century BC, a new settlement system was put in place, with the Assyrians choosing Dan to fill the role of regional centre. Under Assyrian rule, the city experienced a rapid recovery, becoming even more populous. New residential quarters were constructed and an imperial edifice (Building T1-3/1) was built. Analysis of the architectural plan and material culture assemblage from Building T1-3/1 attests to the physical manifestations of Assyrian dominion in the provinces, especially a lifestyle reflecting ‘imperial enclaves’. This involved an awareness of the local environment, the selective use of cultural elements borrowed from the imperial core and other provincial centres, integrated with local materials, construction techniques and objects deriving from indigenous society.

Acknowledgments

Processing the material culture from Building T1-3/1 is part of the author's preparation of Iron Age II remains at Tel Dan for final publication, conducted on behalf of the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology, Hebrew Union College and funded by the Shelby White and the Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publications and the Morningstar Foundation.

Cultural and historical contextualizing of Building T1-3/1 stemmed from the author's post-doctoral dissertation at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris under supervision of Prof. Maria-Grazia Masetti-Rouault. The author is grateful for Prof. Masetti-Rouault's inspiration, dedicated care, knowledge and experience.

Several scholars shared ideas on Assyrian control policy and architecture. The author wishes to thank Prof. Roni Reich for extensive and enriching discussions; Prof. Nadav Naʾaman for illuminating historical matters; Prof. Dr Hartmut Kühne for his challenging and valuable remarks, and his constant support. Special thanks are sent to Prof. Daniel Morandi-Bonacossi for shedding light on Assyrian water policy, as well as other knowledge. The author also expresses her gratitude to Dr Jonathan Greer for archaeozoological analysis; Conn Herriott for editing; Noga Zeevi for drawings and plates; Hananel Shapira for research assistance and Dov Porotzky for plans. Field photos were taken by Dr Avraham Biran — the unforgettable excavator of Tel Dan.

Notes

1 See the description of Theophrastus (c. 371–287 BC) in De causis plantarum (9.7.1), and that of Josephus Flavius (1^st century AD) in Judean Wars 4.3. The latter affirms that the lake was c. 6 km wide and c. 12 km long, with wide marshlands to the north.

2 Some of the western travelers who visited the Hula Valley during the 19^th century AD reported that the subsistence economy of local inhabitants included wheat and barley for self-consumption, as well as papyrus (Guérin 1969: 338–42; Smith 1896: 472–73; Wilson 1975: 109).

3 For a full edition of the inscriptions, see: Tadmor and Yamada 2011. For a history of research and literature, see: Cogan 2008: 65–73; Na'aman 1995b: 105.

4 Na'aman 1993: 104–05.

5 For discussion of the date of the composition of the biblical references see: Cogan and Tadmor 1988: 174; Montgomery 1951: 452; Na'aman 2005: 45–46.

6 For a preliminary account and list of area supervisors see: Biran et al. 1996: 49–51.

7 See for example the pottery assemblages from the vaulted mudbrick building at Tel Jemmeh (Ben-Shlomo and Van Beek 2014) and the Assyrian residence at Ashdod South (Kogan Zehavi 2006).