Shipwreck or Sunken Votives? The Shavei Zion Assemblage Revisited

Abstract

The site of Shavei Zion is an enigmatic deposit of hundreds of figurines and ceramic vessels found on the sunken kurkar ridge off the coast of the western Galilee. Despite its importance to the understanding of both maritime activities and cultic practices, the site has never been fully published. Only a part of the figurine assemblage has been analysed in the past, and the associated ceramic evidence has only been presented in limited preliminary reports. This article presents for the first time the evaluation of the entire ceramic assemblage extracted from the Shavei Zion underwater site, as part of a comprehensive publication project.

Resumen

¿Naufragio o cultos votivos? Nueva visita al ensamble Shavei Zion

El sitio Shavei Zion es un enigmático depósito de cientos de figurinas y vasijas cerámicas halladas en el acantilado sumergido kurkar de la costa oeste de Galilea. A pesar de su importancia para la comprensión de las actividades marítimas y las prácticas de culto, el sitio nunca ha sido publicado por completo. Solamente una parte del conjunto de figurinas ha sido analizado en el pasado, y que la evidencia cerámica asociada solo ha sido presentada en reportes preliminares limitados. Este artículo presenta por primera vez la evaluación de la colección cerámica completa extraída del sitio sumergido Shavei Zion como parte de un proyecto de publicación comprensivo.

Palabras clave: votivo, figurinas, Edad de Hierro tardía, Periodo Persa, ritual, Shavei Zion

抽象

沉船抑或献祭？沙韦锡安组合的再讨论

沙韦锡安遗址位于加利利西部海岸附近的水下凝砂岩脊上, 是一处由数百个小雕像和陶器组成的神秘遗存。尽管该遗址对于-识海洋活动和宗教习俗极为-要, 但其从未被完整发表过。过去只对一部分雕像组合做过分析, 相关的陶制品证据仅在简报中稍有提及。作为综合性出版计划的一部分, 本文是对沙韦锡安水下遗址出土的全部陶制品组合的首次研究。

关键词: 献祭, 小雕像, 铁器时代晚期, 波斯时期, 宗教仪式, 沙韦锡安

沉船抑或獻祭？沙韋錫安組合的再討論

沙韋錫安遺址位于加利利西部海岸附近的水下凝砂岩脊上, 是一處由數百個小雕像和陶器組成的神秘遺存。盡管該遺址對于-識海洋活動和宗教習俗極爲重要, 但其從未被完整發表過。過去只對一部分雕像組合做過分析, 相關的陶制品證據僅在簡報中稍有提及。作爲綜合性出版計劃的一部分, 本文是對沙韋錫安水下遺址出土的全部陶制品組合的首次研究。

關-詞: 獻祭, 小雕像, 鐵器時代晚期, 波斯時期, 宗教儀式, 沙韋錫安

ملخص

Key words:

• votive
• figurines
• Late Iron Age
• Persian Period
• ritual
• Shavei Zion

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to extend their gratitude to P. Harel, the Hecht Museum, D. Shovkun, O. Cohen, and R. Hillel, the National Maritime Museum, A. Savariego and D. Ben‐Ami, the National Treasures Department, Israel Antiquities Authority, T. Weiss, R. Kaftory, and S. Haad for their gracious assistance in the preparation of this paper. We would also like to thank the many members of the University of Haifa; J. J. Gottlieb, the Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies, T. Sokolsky, the Laboratory for Coastal Archaeology and Underwater Survey, J. Kettenring and S. Shalev, Archaeomaterials Analytical Laboratory, N. Marom, Department of Maritime Civilizations, R. Shafir, and especially E. Galili for his immeasurable help in locating much of the ceramic material, Zinman Institute of Archaeology, for their various contributions to this project. Lastly, we would like to express our thanks to the Haifa Center for Mediterranean History (HCMH) and its co‐directors G. Gambash and Z. Shalev, for funding this study. We are grateful to them all.

Notes

1 Unpublished reports of the Shavei Zion excavations, typed and handwritten, consisting of dive logs, personnel, and descriptions of finds in the survey of November 1971 and excavations between 24.9–3.10.1972 (in Hebrew); D. Birenbaum and Y. Shiloh, 1974, Appendix 2: A Survey and Excavation at Shavei Zion (in Hebrew) (Archived at the Laboratory of Coastal Archaeology and Underwater Survey, the University of Haifa).

2 Other figurines displaying similar motifs and clearly found underwater were discussed by Stern (2005). Unfortunately, their provenance is uncertain.

3 Although it should be mentioned that a recent study by Martin (2018) has raised doubts concerning the identification of the ‘sign of Tanit’ with the deity.

4 Modern examples include the Jewish New Year's ritual of Tashlikh (Sered, 1987: 143), the Balinese Melasti New Year's ritual (Gottowik, 2010: 188), and the Brazilian festival of Jemanjá (do Rosario, 2006), all of which include the casting of ideas/objects/offerings into the sea. For other examples see Verrips, 2015.

5 Compare to Jnh. 1: 11–16, where the sailors cast Jonah into the sea and make vows.

6 Other interpretations put forth suggest that these assemblages are the result of shipwrecks (Ramírez and Mateos, 1985; 1994) or, at least in part, a result of erosion of tombs on land (Higueras‐Milena Castellano and Sáez Romero, 2018).