Vetus Testamentum 69 (2019) 361-387
Vetus
Testamentum
brill.com/vt
The Architectural Bias in Current Biblical
Archaeology
Erez Ben-Yosef
Tel Aviv University
ebenyose@tauex.tau.ac.il
Abstract
This paper aims at highlighting a methodological flaw in current biblical archaeology,
which became apparent as a result of recent research in the Aravah’s Iron Age copper production centers. In essence, this flaw, which cuts across all schools of biblical
archaeology, is the prevailing, overly simplistic approach applied to the identification
and interpretation of nomadic elements in biblical-era societies. These elements have
typically been described as representing only one form of social organization, which is
simple and almost negligible in historical reconstructions. However, the unique case of
the Aravah demonstrates that the role of nomads in shaping the history of the southern Levant has been underestimated and downplayed in the research of the region,
and that the total reliance on stone-built archaeological features in the identification of social complexity in the vast majority of recent studies has resulted in skewed
historical reconstructions. Recognizing this “architectural bias” and understanding
its sources have important implications on core issues in biblical archaeology today,
as both “minimalists” and “maximalists” have been using stone-built architectural
remains as the key to solving debated issues related to the geneses of Ancient Israel
and neighboring polities (e.g., “high” vs. “low” Iron Age chronologies), in which—
according to both biblical accounts and external sources—nomadic elements played
a major role.
Keywords
biblical archaeology – Edom – Genesis 36 – nomadism – tribal kingdoms – state
formation – Iron Age – Faynan (Punon) – Timna – copper production – Aravah Valley –
Ancient Israel – United Monarchy
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/15685330-12341370
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Ben-Yosef
So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people
answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we
inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own
house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents.
1 Kings 12:16
⸪
While the challenge of identifying tents and other remains of nomadic groups
in the archaeological record has long been recognized in the archaeological
research of the southern Levant,1 new evidence from the Aravah Valley suggests that attempts to cope with this challenge and address historical issues
related to nomadism have been flawed in current biblical archaeology. By
providing compelling evidence for a centralized and powerful early Iron Age
nomadic kingdom, the case of the Aravah demonstrates that most studies dealing with nomads in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages in the southern Levant have
underestimated the level of social complexity that nomadic societies could
have achieved and misevaluated their possible historical impact. The case of
the Aravah is unique, as it is the only instance so far in southern Levantine
archaeology in which nomads left remains that enabled their study in high
resolution; as will be detailed below, this was the result of their engagement
in copper production, with mines that scarred the landscape and smelting
activities that produced rapidly-accumulated mounds of industrial debris
mixed with materials of daily life. Indeed, it seems that the shortcomings in
dealing with nomads in biblical archaeology are first and foremost the result
of the archaeological invisibility of these societies, although other factors,
such as a deficiency in the application of relevant theoretical frameworks and
misuse of ethnographic references—notably the common comparison to the
Bedouins of the modern era—should also be considered.
In order to highlight and better define the methodological and interpretative problems in the treatment of nomads in current biblical archaeology,
1 See e.g., Finkelstein and Perevolotsky; and Finkelstein 1992. Although it might be possible
to detect the presence of nomads in the archaeological record by specifically-designed
research (see in particular Rosen, pp. 53-70 and references therein), an in-depth study of
their social organization and other aspects of their history is remarkably difficult in comparison to sedentary societies. Moreover, it should be noted that such research has not been an
integral part of the common archaeological work in the southern Levant, and has rarely been
conducted in regions other than the central Negev in modern day Israel.
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The Architectural Bias in Current Biblical Archaeology
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this paper presents the new evidence from the Aravah and its interpretation,
including arguments in support of its association with early Edom. The evidence from the Aravah is contextualized within a wider anthropological and
historical frame in order to evaluate the possible role of nomads in shaping
the history of the region. This is followed by a discussion of selected current
studies that exemplify the prevailing simplistic approach towards the identification of social complexity in societies with non-sedentary components. The
paper is concluded with an attempt to track the possible origin of the methodological flaw, which seems to be rooted in the history of biblical archaeology,
and in particular in its relation to biblical criticism.
The scope of this paper does not allow for a detailed discussion of the biblical accounts related to early Edom; however, the new understanding of the
“archaeological Edom” as a powerful tribal kingdom that preserved its seminomadic (and agro-pastoralist) way of life for several centuries, provides
a fresh background for evaluating these accounts, and in particular the one
in Genesis 36, which most scholars agree contains authentic materials on
Edom before the days of David.2 For example, the list of kings who ruled
in Edom “before any Israelite king reigned” (Genesis 36:31), reflects a nondynastic monarchy whose geographic center of power shifted constantly, a
mode of kingship that fits a nomadic tribal kingdom much better than a sedentarized one.3 Furthermore, the biblical accounts themselves indicate that
tent-dwelling was practiced by the Edomites well into the 9th century BCE
(2 Kings 8:21); this fits well the archaeological evidence for a rather late sedentarization of the Edomites (more below).
1
Recent Discoveries in the Aravah Valley
The history of archaeological research on the two major ancient copper ore
districts of the southern Levant—Faynan and Timna—is a remarkable lesson
in the fluidity and fragility of archaeological interpretations.4 While the mines
and smelting sites in both areas were first dated to the era of King Solomon and
2 The literature on this account is vast. See for example Avishur; Bartlett.
3 Contrasting nomadism and monarchy is so rooted in biblical archaeology (and biblical
criticism) that this by-default assumption is often not even explicitly expressed, let alone
questioned (see for example the title of the book “From Nomadism to Monarchy” regarding
Ancient Israel [Finkelstein and Na’aman]). The present paper questions this prevailing assumption and suggests an alternative view (see also Ben-Yosef, in press).
4 For a detailed overview of the history of research, see Levy et al., 2014b (Faynan); Ben-Yosef,
2018 (Timna); Bimson and Tebes (Timna).
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considered to be a major contributor to the wealth of the United Monarchy,5
modern research conducted during the second half of the 20th century completely overturned this view. In Faynan, which is situated just below biblical
Bozrah (less than 20 km as the crow flies), the results of Crystal Bennett’s
extensive excavations in the Edomite Plateau implied a late Iron Age date for
the main activities at the mines and their direct connection to the interests
and involvement of the Assyrian empire in the region.6 In Timna, on the other
hand, the discovery and excavations of the Hathor Shrine (Site 200) resulted in
dating the main activities in the valley almost exclusively to the Late Bronze
Age (late 14th–mid 12th centuries BCE), and their attribution to the initiative
and control of the Egyptian New Kingdom.7 Consequently, while in both areas
models related to external imperial powers were applied for explaining the social organization behind the massive exploitation of copper, the archaeology
of the northern and southern Aravah was separated by ca. 500 years.
This shift in the interpretation of the Aravah copper mines might not be surprising given the overwhelming archaeological record of mining and smelting
activities in Faynan and Timna. While both the British research on the Edomite
Plateau and Rothenberg’s research in Timna intentionally avoided using
the Old Testament as a background to archaeological interpretations—in
accord with the increasing awareness of biblical criticism in these decades—
attributing the successful and intensive exploitation of copper in the logistically challenging region of the Aravah to external, historically documented
supra-regional powers was almost an explanation by default. In Timna, the
growing evidence for the enormous efforts invested in the copper production
enterprise reinforced this interpretation to the level of a research paradigm,
which dictated every aspect of the studies conducted by Rothenberg and the
Aravah Expedition for decades.8
5
6
7
8
See e.g., Glueck; Albright, pp. 127-128.
See e.g., Bienkowski, 1990; Finkelstein and Silberman, pp. 174-5.
See e.g., Rothenberg.
On the “Egyptian paradigm” in the research on Timna see recently Yagel et al.; between 1970
and 2012 this paradigm was so dominant that contradicting evidence was suppressed and
overlooked (cf., Ben-Yosef et al., p. 743). The confusion in the dates of the mines and smelting camps of Timna should be understood against the quality of this archaeological record,
which is fundamentally different than the typical record of Late Bronze and Iron Age sites
in the settled regions (cf., Ben-Yosef et al., 2008; Peters et al., 2017): Dateable material culture
is almost entirely absent in the mines, the ceramic assemblages in the smelting camps are
slim and the pottery types have many local attributes that hamper (relative) dating by comparison to the southern Levantine typological sequences (which were established in sites
located hundreds of kilometers away). Thus, it is not surprising that the discovery of the
Hathor Shrine and the inscriptions bearing the names of 19th and 20th Dynasties pharaohs,
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However, recent systematic research in the Aravah resulted, once again, in
a fundamental revision of the interpretation of the archaeological record of
the mining districts.9 While evidence for large scale production—which had to
have been orchestrated by a centralized power—continued to accumulate in
both Faynan and Timna,10 hundreds of new radiocarbon dates demonstrated
that the main production phase in both copper ore districts started after the
Egyptians had left the region in the second half of the 12th century BCE, and
lasted until no later than the second half of the 9th century BCE.11 This new
chronological framework, which leaves the intensive copper production of
the Aravah without empires in the background, necessitated a reevaluation
of the social models used to explain the archaeological record. Based on various aspects of the evidence from Faynan and Timna, the simplest new model
includes a reconstruction of a local, nomadic or seminomadic12 tribal society that achieved a state-level organization in the early Iron Age.13 This polity, which should be identified with the Edomite kingdom (below), controlled
the entire Aravah Valley14—and probably also the adjacent regions to the east
9
10
11
12
13
14
which indeed testify to an Egyptian imperial involvement in the Late Bronze Age, overshadowed any contrasting evidence available at the time (cf., Ben-Yosef et al., 2012,
pp. 60-62).
For the results of the most recent research on Iron Age Faynan see Levy et al. 2014c; Levy
et al., 2012 (and see also Hauptmann; Mattingly et al.). For the main results of recent
research on Iron Age Timna see Ben-Yosef et al., 2012; Ben-Yosef, 2016; Ben-Yosef, 2018.
See, for example, Ben-Yosef et al., 2009; Ben-Yosef, 2010; Ben-Yosef et al., 2010; Sapir-Hen
and Ben-Yosef, 2014; Levy et al. 2014c; Sukenik et al.
See, in particular, Levy et al., 2008; Ben-Yosef et al., 2012.
Seminomadism in this case refers to the possibility that in addition to pastoralism, the
early Iron Age society of the Aravah engaged in agriculture, while migrating seasonally
from their base in the lowlands of Faynan to the Edomite Plateau where arable land and
favorable climate allow the cultivation of crops on a relatively large scale. As shown by
Knabb (pp. 232-233) and Mattingly et al. (pp.282-285), the early Iron Age agro-pastoral
society of the Aravah most probably practiced agriculture in the oases of Faynan itself;
given this evidence, it is likely that at least some of the thousands of undated terraces
on the slopes of the plateau to the east of Faynan represent early Iron Age agricultural
activities, as might be indicated by early Iron Age (“Iron I”) pottery found in many locations there (Finkelstein, 1992a). Incidentally, the debate over the chrono-typological
identification of these sherds (Bienkowski, 1992; Finkelstein, 1992b) is yet another manifestation of architectural bias, as the controversy stems from the sherds not being associated with sedentary settlements or well-defined stratigraphic contexts from sites
with stone-built architecture (thus, according to Bienkowski, an Iron I phase cannot be
securely identified in the region and an Edomite polity could not have existed before the
late 8th century BCE).
For an early suggestion see Levy et al., 2004; Levy, 2009.
For the social unity of Timna and Faynan in the early Iron Age see in particular BenYosef, 2010.
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(the Edomite Plateau)15 and west (the Negev Highlands)16—from its center in
Faynan, where perennial water sources and cultivable land allowed the intensive occupation of a large group of people.17
The early Iron Age polity of the Aravah was based on a tribal, agro-pastoralist nomadic society that dwelt in tents in the vicinity of the mines and smelting
camps. The remains of these tents were partially documented in Faynan, in surveys that were specifically designed for this purpose;18 however, it is reasonable
to assume that the lion’s share of such remains was entirely washed away by
massive floods,19 and thus even if such surveys were more comprehensive, they
would still provide only fragmentary information. The smelting sites, on the
other hand, were not used for dwelling.20 With some exceptions related to
defense and manifestation of power,21 these sites were dedicated predominantly to industrial activities, which are reflected by various metallurgical installations (some of which are stone-built) and large mounds of copper production
debris. These remains, which are concentrated in designated sites that were
continuously used for several generations,22 together with the archaeology
of the mines, allow the investigation of a nomadic society in resolution that is
unachievable in studies of typical archaeological records of ancient nomads.
The results of various new studies on different aspects of the material culture
excavated in the copper smelting sites indicate that the early Iron Age society
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
See Finkelstein, 1992a; and footnote 12 above.
This possibility is strengthened by Martin et al.’s recent discovery of slag inclusions in
pottery from contemporaneous Negev Highland sites.
See Ben-Yosef, 2012.
See Knabb et al.; note that even when tent remains were documented, their dating was
extremely challenging.
Mega-floods occur in the region every several decades or more, resulting in the flooding
of wadi plains far above the wadi channels (beds). Given the rarity and unpredictability
of these floods and the constant movement of the population, it is likely that the common
practice of setting up tents did not take into account such events; for geomorphological
evidence and a detailed review of this phenomenon with further references see recently
Ginat et al.
See for example Kleiman et al.
Most notable are structures at Khirbat en-Nahas in Faynan (Levy et al., 2014e), which
include a 10th century BCE fortress and several 10th–9th centuries BCE “administrative”
buildings. It is assumed that in addition to their industrial function the smelting sites
were used as administration hubs from which the entire copper production enterprise
was managed, and where the ruling elite (which was closely associated with the highly
skilled metalworkers) resided (cf., Ben-Yosef, 2016); the defended sites were probably also
used as strongholds for the greater population in times of war.
This is in contrast to the archaeology of tents (the main detectable feature of nomadic
societies), which is based on remains that are spread over vast areas and lack any substantial accumulation of waste, the fundamental substance of archaeological investigations.
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The Architectural Bias in Current Biblical Archaeology
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operating the mines was centralized and hierarchical, and its social complexity was at a level that can be attributed to an early state.23 This interpretation
is minimalistic, given that until recently the same archaeological record was
attributed to empires (above), the importance of copper in the regional and
global economy of the early Iron Age,24 and the logistical and organizational
efforts required for a successful operation in the scale evident by the mines
and smelting sites.25 That said, the new studies have provided additional and
direct evidence for the social organization of the people operating the mines.
Substantial new data were obtained from careful stratigraphic excavations
in the mounds of copper production debris (“slag mounds”) in Faynan and
Timna. These mounds, which represent a constant and rather fast accumulation of material culture,26 enabled a detailed investigation of the industry
23
24
25
26
Definitions of a ‘state’ proliferate in the anthropological and archaeological literature (see
a recent overview in Scheidel), and here we follow Claessen and Skalnik, according to
whom the mechanism of maintaining dominance by the ruling class in an early state is
based on a common ideology “of which reciprocity is the basic principle.” It is beyond the
scope of the present paper to discuss in detail the various definitions of states and their
applicability to the case at hand. However, it is important to note that the archaeological
record of the Aravah reflects the principal components of all of the common definitions,
and in particular those which stem from the seminal work of Max Weber; the existence
of an elite who successfully maintained the social order by mechanisms of coercion is
evident by the mere fact that the copper production enterprise was successful and sustainable (yet, see below for additional supporting evidence). It is possible that a mechanism of “coercion by physical means” was a core component in the emerging political
organization in the Aravah, as was assumed to be the case for the Egyptian and Assyrian
involvement in earlier models that explained the same archaeological record (although
here excluding the possibility that the local population perceived this type of coercion
as legitimate); however, at the moment the model of an early state—which is less
socially dichotomous—seems more applicable to the organic development of a state
based on a coalition of autochthonous tribes (cf., Schloen for a possible, more specific,
model based on the function of the patrimonial household in obtaining and maintaining
political legitimacy).
Copper extraction was one of the most lucrative industries of the time, supplying raw
material for the production of weapons, agricultural tools and objects of cult and prestige.
It seems that the introduction of iron, which became widespread in the southern Levant
not before the 10th or 9th centuries BCE (Yahalom-Mack and Eliyahu-Behar), had little
effect, if any, on the status of the copper industry; for many uses of copper iron is not a
suitable substitute, and copper continued to be a highly desired commodity during the
entire Iron Age (and in fact, throughout antiquity).
These include dozens of smelting sites in Faynan and Timna (with over 100,000 tons of
slag in Faynan alone), and thousands of prospection and mining shafts, up to 70 m deep;
see in particular Hauptmann, p. 147, 153; Ben-Yosef et al., 2009; Conrad and Rothenberg.
This is best exemplified by the large slag mound at Khirbat en-Nahas, Area M, whose excavations from topsoil to bedrock revealed more than six meters of fine layers that represent
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Ben-Yosef
and the society behind it through time; for example, analyses of technological waste reinforced previous observations on the advancement and sophistication of the early Iron Age smelting technologies,27 and revealed a major
technological leap in the second half of the 10th century BCE.28 Moreover, the
new chronological frameworks of Faynan and Timna were based primarily on
information from these mounds: the results of radiocarbon analyses of numerous charcoal and other organic samples from excavations of the stratified production debris demonstrated that the industry reached its peak during the 10th
century BCE in Timna and the 10th–9th centuries BCE in Faynan.29 In addition
to the rich deposits of copper smelting debris, important information on the
structure of the early Iron Age society of the Aravah is based on other features
present at the smelting sites and in the landscape of the copper mining districts, and on the record of the mines themselves; all of which provide further
support to the reconstruction of a stratified (hierarchical) society.30
Within the unique case of the early Iron Age Aravah, where the engagement
in copper production rendered a nomadic society highly archaeologicallyvisible, the archaeological record of Timna represents an even more exceptional situation, as the extraordinarily preserved organic materials there open
a window into various aspects of past societies that are rarely represented in
27
28
29
30
in detail four centuries of copper production and related activities; see Levy et al., 2014e,
pp. 136-155; Levy et al., 2008; Ben-Yosef, 2010.
The highly advanced early Iron Age smelting technologies were the “High Tech” of the
time; based on tapping techniques and skillfully designed installations, these technologies reached a zenith in the late 10th century BCE, with achievements parallel to the
technologies of the Roman and Early Islamic periods. See in particular, Ben-Yosef, 2010;
Ben-Yosef and Levy.
This major technological transition, which was also associated with reorganization of the
entire industry and the introduction of domesticated camels for improving desert transportation, is probably related to the effects of the Egyptian campaign to the region in the
days of Pharaoh Shoshenq I (biblical Shishak). See in particular Sapir-Hen and Ben-Yosef,
2013; Levy et al., 2014a; Levy et al., 2014d; Ben-Yosef and Levy; Ben-Yosef, 2010; Ben-Yosef
et al., 2010; Fantalkin and Finkelstein.
See for example, Levy et al., 2014a; Ben-Yosef, 2016; Finkelstein and Piasetzky.
For a summary of the evidence from Faynan and a detailed discussion see in particular Levy et al., 2014a (note especially the “elite residences” found at Khirbat en-Nahas).
In Timna, it is worth noting some examples, including the fortress at Yotvata (Meshel)
and an interesting system of “surveillance” posts identified at the mines and interpreted
as representing a state mechanism of exerting control by the ruling elite (Yekutieli
and Cohen-Sason; although these posts were published as “Egyptian” based on the
accepted dates of the smelting camps at the time, they should now most probably be
dated to the early Iron Age).
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the archaeology of the southern Levant, including other desert sites.31 These
materials include dozens of textile fragments, basketry and cordage, thousands
of uncharred seeds, many pieces of leather, substantial assemblages of animal
bones, animal dung, and other materials on the microscopic scale such as pollen. Several new studies on the organic materials from Timna provide evidence
of a stratified society, whose elite had access to the finest textiles32 and exceptionally rich foods,33 some of which were brought to the valley by long-distance
trade with the Mediterranean region.34 Evidence for trade specifically with
the southern Levantine Mediterranean coastal plain was recently obtained
by analysis of the assemblage of early Iron Age fish bones from Timna, which
surprisingly was not typical of the nearby Red Sea.35 In addition, the considerable investment in the maintenance of a successful large-scale production in
Timna, where the workers (estimated in the many hundreds or thousands) and
livestock had to be constantly supplied with water and food, and the smelters
with wood (charcoal),36 clay, ore and flux,37 ground stones38 and other materials, is also reflected in the results of a recent study on the remains of donkey
dung from a 10th century BCE stable in the gatehouse complex of Site 34. The
analyses of pollen and seeds indicate that the donkeys, which were the main
means of transportation at least up until the introduction of camels in the
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
Indeed, the preservation of organic materials in Timna is unparalleled in any of the other
early Iron Age sites in the entire Levant. Even in other parts of the southern Levantine
deserts, including Faynan and the Negev Highlands, the somewhat wetter climate did not
allow the preservation of uncharred organic materials. For the extremely arid climate of
the southern Aravah see Bruins.
See Workman; some of the recently discovered textiles had patterns of red and blue,
which were found to be the result of complex chemical dyeing with Mediterranean plants
(identified as madder and woad, see Sukenik et al.).
See for example, Sapir-Hen and Ben-Yosef, 2014, who provide evidence of a differentiation
in the quality of meat (goats and sheep) consumed by different groups of people at the
smelting camp of Site 34 (“Slaves’ Hill”). The evidence also suggests a close association
between smelters and the ruling elite at the site.
These include, for example, grapes, figs, olives, barely, wheat, almonds and pomegranates,
all of which could not be grown in Timna and could not have been easily cultivated in the
Aravah oases (Ben-Yosef, 2016). It is possible that some of the supply originated from the
Edomite Plateau above Faynan, where a narrow Mediterranean climatic ‘strip’ allowed
the cultivation of such crops.
See Sapir-Hen et al.
On the question of the charcoal supply, see recently Cavanagh.
On the mines of Timna, see recently Smitheram.
On the ground stones of Timna, see Greener and Ben-Yosef.
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second half of the 10th century BCE,39 were fed with hay and grape pomace
that were also brought to Timna from the Mediterranean region.40
The engagement in copper production undoubtedly placed the geographically peripheral polity of the Aravah as a major player in the history of the
entire southern Levant and beyond. Bronze artifacts from Iron I settlements
in Canaan, from Tel Dan in the north to Giloh in the vicinity of Jerusalem in
the south, were found to be made exclusively from the Aravah copper,41 and
it is assumed that the Aravah was the source of this metal to the emerging
and constantly embattled local Iron Age polities.42 That said, a recent study
demonstrated that during the 10th and 9th centuries BCE the Aravah copper
reached far beyond the local markets, and at least as far as Greece.43 Indirect
evidence suggests that Egypt was also an important consumer of Aravah copper at this time,44 and it is reasonable to assume that other substantial markets will be identified in the future, as more analytic studies on metal artifacts
become available.
Finally, it should be stressed once again that the ever-growing archaeological evidence in support of a powerful nomadic kingdom in the early Iron Age
Aravah is merely the result of the exceptional archaeological record there. Had
the economy of this kingdom been based on anything other than copper, including agriculture and trade, it would have been inconspicuous in common
archaeological research, even if its historical significance was substantial. In
such a hypothetical case, if some stone-built features were to be identified in
the archaeological record, the existence of “communities” or some other sort
of simple social organization would have probably been argued by the archaeologists; otherwise, it is most likely that simple forms of nomadic society or
even an occupational gap would have dominated historical reconstructions of
the Aravah in the early Iron Age, resulting in a completely different understanding of early Edom.
39
40
41
42
43
44
See Sapir-Hen and Ben-Yosef, 2013.
See Ben-Yosef et al., 2017.
See Yahalom-Mack and Segal.
See for example Finkelstein and Piasetzky; Finkelstein and Lipschits; Yahalom-Mack
et al., pp. 174-175.
See Kiderlen et al.; the evidence, which attests to “a well-organized Levantine—Aegean
copper trail,” is based on copper tripod cauldrons from Olympia and Delphi. Incidentally,
it seems that the prosperity of Philistia and especially that of the urban center of Gath,
which started already in the 11th century BCE, is directly related to the copper trade,
whose most important outlet was the Philistine coastal plain; see discussion in Ben-Yosef
and Sergi.
See discussion in Ben-Yosef and Sergi.
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1.1
The Genesis of Edom—a Brief Outline for the Emergence of a
Nomadic Kingdom
The identification of the early Iron Age archaeological record of the Aravah
as the remains of the early Edomite kingdom is based on several arguments
related to the material culture of the Aravah sites45 and historical sources.46
In that regard, it is important to note that the relevant historical and biblical
sources allow, if not support, the emergence of Edom in the geographical area
of the Aravah,47 and that there is no basis for the prevailing notion that the
core of Edom was in the area called today the Edomite Plateau already in its
early days.48 Based on this identification and the results of the recent studies
in the Aravah (above), it is now possible to suggest a revised model for the genesis of Edom,49 which reflects and explains the process of a nomadic society’s
evolvement into a kingdom prior to its sedentarization.
The consolidation of local tribes50 into a centralized political entity and the
development of political institutions were probably facilitated by the Egyptian
involvement in the Aravah copper industry during the 13th and first half of the
12th centuries BCE.51 In this early phase, which occurred around the mines
of Timna and probably was an offshoot of the more elaborate and extensive
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
See in particular Smith and Levy, p. 85 (pottery); Ben-Yosef, 2010, p. 959 (metallurgical
traditions).
The region was referred to as “Edom” as early as the 13th century BCE (Kitchen) and the
people inhabiting it as “Edomites” not later than the late 9th or early 8th centuries BCE
(Millard); thus, identifying the society reflected by the early Iron Age archaeology of the
region as Edom is evidently the simplest interpretation (cf., Mazar, 2014, p.365). In fact,
referring to this society in ostensibly ‘neutral’ (i.e., not biblical) terms such as a “desert polity” (Finkelstein and Piasetzky), or the “Tel Masos Chiefdom,” (Fantalkin and Finkelstein,
p. 33; cf. “Tel Masos formation” in Finkelstein, 2014), inflicts more interpretative difficulties, as it implies a population shift in the transition between the early Iron Age and
the late 9th century BCE, when Edomite presence in the region is attested in an extrabiblical source.
See Bartlett; Edelman; Rainey and Notley; Zucconi.
This prevailing notion, which probably is the background for some scholars’ preference
to use ‘neutral’ terms to describe the Aravah polity while detaching it from the history of
Edom (see Tebes and f.n. 46 above), is a bias stemming from an early misperception in the
history of research in the region; see discussion in Zucconi.
For earlier models, see in particular Bartlett; Edelman (ed.); Knauf; LaBianca and Younker;
for more recent models based on the new finds in the Aravah see Levy, 2004; Levy
et al., 2014a; Mazar, 2014 pp. 365-367. The current model is elaborated on in Ben-Yosef, in
press; there I also discuss the possibility that the lack of any explicit biblical reference to
Edomite copper is a deliberate omission done in the redaction process, when Edom was
abhorred and could not have been connected to a metal that had sacred qualities.
Possibly the “Shasu of Edom” mentioned in Egyptian sources, see Levy et al., 2004.
Ben-Yosef, 2018; Yagel et al.
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Egyptian enterprise in the copper and turquoise mines of southern Sinai, the
local nomadic population of the southern Aravah region was harnessed by the
Egyptian expeditions as part of their efforts to obtain copper.52 However, it is
not clear to what degree the Egyptians were involved in the actual orchestration of the industry,53 and it is possible that they took advantage of an already
existing polity of some sort, which, by virtue of not previously engaging in copper production, is unknown to us in the archaeological research (the region
is described as being “empty” during the centuries preceding the Egyptianpropelled copper production). In any case, the engagement in the challenging (and profitable) task of copper production certainly contributed to the
evolution of the local Aravah polity, which became most powerful after the
Egyptian withdrawal. At that time the scale of production increased, and
the tribes of the entire Aravah and neighboring regions formed a strong coalition in order to exploit the ore bodies more efficiently, to facilitate trade
and to better protect the sensitive enterprise.54 As part of these changes the
center of the emerging kingdom shifted to Faynan, where enormous smelting
sites were established near the permanent water sources, and a central cemetery was founded.55
In contrast to other cases of nomadic kingdoms in history (below), the
prosperity of the early Edomite kingdom did not prompt substantial sedentarization, a process that took place in Edom during the 8th century BCE, several decades after the large-scale copper production ceased in the second half
of the 9th century BCE.56 This ‘delayed’ sedentarization might be explained
by the all-encompassing engagement of the Edomite tribes in the vast system
of copper production, which required seasonal movement of large groups of
52
53
54
55
56
This is evident in the ceramic assemblages: petrographic studies (for example, Glass;
Slatkine) demonstrated that most of the pottery was produced locally in the southern
Aravah (probably at the vicinity of the permanent water sources there), and that foreign
pottery constitutes only a minor component. The latter includes pottery from the Hijaz
(the so-called “Midianite Pottery” or Qurayyah Painted Ware, see a recent overview by
Intilia), whose appearance in the copper production sites probably reflects the presence
of skilled metalworkers who possessed the ‘know-how’ of the sophisticated smelting
technology (rather than trade; see recently Kleiman et al. pp. 257-258).
For example, see Avner, who suggests that the Egyptians were merely clients of a locallyorganized (and controlled) industry.
On the vulnerability of large-scale metal production systems see Ben-Yosef et al., 2009.
The main evidence for military threats in the Aravah, including stone-built fortifications,
is dated to the 10th century BCE; see most recently Ben-Yosef et al., 2017.
The cemetery includes more than 1000 stone-built cist graves dated to the 11th–10th centuries BCE; see Beherec et al.
In fact, Edom was the latest to sedentarize among its neighbors, including Israel and
Moab; see LaBianca and Younker.
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The Architectural Bias in Current Biblical Archaeology
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people and transient encampments in inhospitable regions (such as Timna);
for that, keeping a nomadic way of life was certainly advantageous.
The emergence of Edom, like the other southern Levantine polities, should
be understood against the background of the political vacuum in the region
following the collapse of the Late Bronze Age empires and “international”
trade systems.57 For Edom, the latter was crucial, as the break in the Cypriot
copper flow created an unprecedented opportunity for the local tribes to make
immense profit by producing copper for the starving local and global markets.
The reestablishment of Cypriot hegemony over the Eastern Mediterranean copper production and trade, which was probably facilitated by the Aramaeans,
was one of the main reasons for the end of the Aravah copper industry.58 As a
consequence, the main economy of Edom shifted to the Arabian trade, which
probably began already in the 10th century BCE, while the copper industry
was thriving.59 Incidentally, several centuries later, this trade propelled the
emergence of another desert polity—the Nabataean kingdom (and it is worth
noting that while also based on a strong coalition of tribes led by kings, its early
nomadic phase is not known to us in the archaeological record).60
2
A Comment on Nomadic States in History
A thorough discussion of the anthropology of nomadic societies is beyond the
scope of the present paper; however, it is important to note that the case of
the early Iron Age nomadic kingdom of the Aravah certainly does not stand
alone in history. As stressed above, archaeology is not pertinent to the search
of similar examples, as except in rare cases of unique circumstances, it is difficult to identify nomads in common archaeological practice, let alone to study
57
58
59
60
See e.g., Ward and Joukowsky; Cline.
See Ben-Yosef and Sergi.
See Namdar et al.
The Nabataeans probably represent another case of a nomadic kingdom, with historical
references to kings dated to the 3rd century BCE (Graf) and other evidence for their strong
geopolitical influence as early as the 4th century BCE (Pearson), far before the accepted
date of their sedentarization in the early 1st century BCE. Note that Graf uses the 3rd century references to Nabataean kings to support his claim for a yet-to-be-archaeologicallydiscovered earlier sedentarization process. However, presupposing that the presence of
kings necessitates a settled society exemplifies the prevailing flat perception of nomads
among western scholars, rather than being based on any strong evidence; ironically,
such an approach still echoes the disparaging description of the Arabian nomadic tribes
by ancient Greek historians, a “western bias” which Graf himself identifies.
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Ben-Yosef
the structure of their society and to assess their social complexity.61 On the
other hand, ethnography and textual evidence provide ample descriptions
of nomadic societies, and although the typical and most common examples
indeed attest to a simple form of social organization,62 there are exceptions.
One of these is the well-documented case of the Mongol Empire, which started
as a coalition of nomadic tribes under the strong leadership of Genghis Khan
in the early 13th century CE.63 This case is particularly informative in regard
to the main argument of the current paper, as it demonstrates the failure of
archaeology to reflect complex social organization of a society based on nomads; until recently, the early stages of the Mongol Empire were not recognized
in the archaeological record, and even after concentrated research efforts our
archaeological knowledge derives almost exclusively from graves and stonebuilt fortifications.64
Among the other examples of complex nomadic societies, the most relevant
to the case at hand might be the Nabataean Kingdom mentioned above,65 the
nomads of northern Mesopotamia in the Old Assyrian and Old Babylonian
periods,66 and the case of “seminomadic agropastoralists” of Elam.67 In all
three cases, no less informative than the evidence itself is the scholarly discussion surrounding it, which is imbued with preconceptions and assumptions
based on “the skewed and biased ancient literature [in regard to nomads] and
some twentieth century ethnographic views of nomads in relation to powerful
nation-states,”68 resulting in a tendency to underestimate the complexity of
these societies or to belittle their role in history.69 Nevertheless, the evidence at
the core of these cases does support the existence of complex nomadic societies that formed important and influential polities.
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
In turn, this difficulty must have affected to some degree anthropological models of
nomadism, as those are based on archaeology for their past perspective (for example,
Bar-Yosef and Khazanov).
See Khazanov.
On the Mongol Empire and other nomadic states of the Central Asian steppes see for
example Barfield.
See in particular Kradin et al.; it is interesting to note that stone-built fortifications were
used also by the nomadic kingdom of Edom (cf., Ben-Yosef et al., 2017).
See f.n. 60.
Evidence for a relatively advanced social organization might be provided in the “Assyrian
King List,” whose early kings are described as those “who dwelled in tents” and at least the
latest are accepted to be historical figures (Veenhof), and texts from the archive of Mari
(19th-18th centuries BCE, see Durand; Matthews; Kupper).
Alizadeh.
Alizadeh, p. 353; cf. Potts.
Alizadeh.
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The Architectural Bias in Current Biblical Archaeology
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375
Examples of Architectural Bias in Recent Studies
The identification of a nomadic kingdom in the early Iron Age Aravah (biblical
Edom) has far reaching implications on the archaeology of this period in other
parts of the southern Levant, and in particular on the way the archaeological evidence is translated into social realities and historical reconstructions.
In light of the above, it becomes evident that the prevailing methodology
is flawed, and that the nomadic components were misidentified or misinterpreted by biblical archaeologists. This flaw can be described as an “architectural bias,” which is essentially the overemphasis given to stone-built features
in the identification of social complexity, geopolitical power, and historical
role of biblical-era societies. In fact, this bias is so rooted in current biblical
archaeology that it is probably the main reason why the debate over the chronology of the early Iron Age has been so heated and dominated the research
over the last twenty years.70 The important archaeological observations of
Finkelstein on the stratigraphy of Megiddo and his consequential suggestion
for a “low” chronology have started the debate, and as both “maximalists” and
“minimalists” rely heavily on architectural remains to assess social complexity,
enormous efforts have been invested in dating contexts with substantial stonebuilt features by scholars from both sides. Inadvertently, the debate and the
focus on the chronological placement of architectural remains have deepened
the reliance on stone as the key for assessing the strength, size, geopolitical
impact and even mere existence of biblical-era kingdoms, and in turn for “solving” questions related to the historicity of the biblical accounts.
An example of the architectural bias in the archaeological research on
the Aravah and early Edom is the debate over the date of the large fortress
at Khirbat en-Nahas in Faynan.71 While the new early Iron Age dating of the
enormous slag piles was accepted without difficulties by all scholars, the dating of the stone-built fortress to the 10th century BCE has been rejected by
scholars who, while accepting the evidence of nomads engaging in smelting
(though playing down the implications on social complexity), could not accept
the possibility that they erected some stone-built walls as part of their defense
and manifestation of power.72 The same scholars also adhere to the notion that
70
71
72
See e.g., Mazar, 2005.
Levy et al. 2018.
See e.g., Finkelstein, 2014, who dates the structure to the 7th century BCE and attributes
it to the Assyrians. It is interesting to note that the fortress, while massive, is empty of
inner structures or any stone-built dwelling compartments, strengthening the interpretation of its use by the Edomite nomadic kingdom during the 10th century BCE (and cf.,
f.n. 64 above).
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control over the copper industry was exerted from Tel Masos, an idea that is
solely based on the presence of large, early Iron Age stone-built structures at
this site and goes against the ceramic evidence and other considerations.73
The architectural bias is manifested to some degree in the vast majority
of recent studies on the early Iron Age southern Levant; however, it is most
apparent in the attempts to reconstruct the process of state formation in
regard to Ancient Israel and its neighbors, as this stage in particular involves
nomadic components that are, as emphasized above, inconspicuous in the
archaeological record. Some examples include Bienkowski’s reconstruction
of the Edomite Kingdom,74 Finkelstein and Lipschits’ model for the genesis
of Moab,75 and Sergi’s recent treatment of the emergence of Judah.76 In all
three cases, the nomadic component (i.e., the people who did not leave walls
behind) is reduced to a single form of social organization that could not have
formed any sort of political entity or had significant impact on the history of the
region. The identification of territorial polities or kingdoms is based entirely
on remains of permanent settlements, and the size of the walls is a simple
proxy for the complexity of the society and its possible geopolitical impact.77
4
Orientalism and Dearth of Theory
A survey of the history of biblical archaeology suggests that the architectural
bias and misinterpretation of non-sedentary societies are predominantly the
result of three factors: (1) the fundamental challenges in archaeology of nomadism, (2) a crucial deficiency in the application of anthropological-theory
73
74
75
76
77
See e.g., Finkelstein, 2014; and f.n. 46 above. For a discussion of the ceramic evidence, see
recently Ben-Dor Evian; Tel Masos is located in the eastern Beer-sheba Valley, a region
whose geography and history is distinctly separated from that of the Aravah Valley and
the Negev Highlands.
Among his many publications, see in particular Van der Steen and Bienkowski.
Finkelstein and Lipschits.
Sergi. On the possibility that the ancient Israelite society had substantial nomadic components even during the 10th century BCE, and the architectural bias in the study of the
United Monarchy, see Ben-Yosef, in press.
In the case of Edom, the land is assumed to be empty prior to the establishment of
Bozrah—with its walls and palaces—in the late 8th century BCE under the auspices
of the Assyrian empire (and cf., Porter for a model of ‘complex communities’ based on
limited architectural finds); in Moab, the establishment of a territorial polity is directly
connected to the short-lived appearance of sites with stone-built fortifications at the late
Iron I (what happened to it after these sites disappear?); and in the case of Judah, the
dependency on the urban center of Jerusalem is at the core of the suggested model.
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and pertinent ethnographic and historical parallels when interpreting such societies, and (3) a strong motivation by biblical archaeologists to place archaeology as a major player in biblical criticism, which has resulted in overplaying
the capacity of archaeological research to serve as the ground truth for assessing the historicity of biblical texts.
The deficiency in the application of pertinent theoretical framework to
the interpretation of nomadic societies is especially evident in Israeli and
European archaeology, where the archaeological training is detached from
the social sciences and anthropology and goes hand in hand with culture history (in contrast to the situation in North America).78 This situation is even
more acute in biblical archaeology, since biblical (Old Testament) studies—
rooted in 18th and 19th century Europe—has suffered from orientalism and a
romantic perception of the nomads of the East since its consolidation into a
prominent research discipline in the corridors of German and other Western
European universities.79 Most influential were the “exotic” Bedouin tribes of
the southern Levantine deserts, to which the nomads of the biblical-era were
paralleled almost by default,80 and whose way of life was used as a model for
the nomadic components in the biblical narratives. In fact, the (still existing)
allure of the orient and the highly accessible ethnographic information have
rendered the use of Bedouin society as a direct equivalent to ancient nomads
prevalent in all fields of Ancient Near Eastern studies, so much so that the
Arabic term Bedouin has been used in modern scholarship to directly translate
the word for nomads in ancient Akkadian texts,81 thus inadvertently imposing
an interpretation which is based on one particular model of nomadism, which
might not necessarily be applicable (above).
78
79
80
81
However, even prominent American biblical archaeologists basically ignore the possibility of exceptional cases of complex nomadic societies (e.g., Porter). It is evident,
then, that also anthropological archaeologists often adhere to outdated rigid schemes of
social evolution and definitions of civilization (for example, the four-fold classification of
Elman Service and the Childean definition of a city, respectively), and thus exceptional
cases are missed.
The output of biblical studies in its early days epitomizes the concept of orientalism
as introduced by Said, with distortions and research biases stemming from the unconscious filters that afflicted western scholars and a scholarship centered around the west,
glorifying its classical past and contemporary age (of enlightenment, in the case of the
18th century). For a detailed and informative recent study of one of the aspects of orientalism and German biblical scholarship in the late 18th century see Ilani.
See for example Wellhausen, who claimed that “without kingship the biblical Bedouin
society could not have had any historical role.”
E.g., Durand.
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Resorting to ethnography of the contemporary Bedouin society for extracting insights on the elusive nomads of the Bible is prevalent in current biblical archaeology. This might not be surprising given that the Bedouin tribes
inhabit the same geographic region (although, based on the biblical narrative,
the tribes of Israel dwelt in tents also in the heart of the mountainous regions
of Canaan, places that were usually not occupied by the Bedouins); however,
equating the early Iron Age nomadic tribes to the Bedouins results in the dismissal of the possibility that this period represents an exceptional case of a
different, more complex, social organization of nomads (such as is now evident for the Aravah)—a possibility supported by the uniqueness of the period
within the longue durée of the history of the land.82
Finally, the challenges in archaeology of nomadism discussed above and
the ambition to play an important role in biblical criticism are straightforward
reasons for the architectural bias. The tendency in biblical archaeology to treat
absence of evidence as evidence of absence (in the case at hand, of social complexity) should be expected, as doing otherwise would undermine the role of
archaeology in the discourse of biblical scholarship.
5
Conclusions: Recognizing the Limitations of Archaeology
The recent archaeological research in the Aravah revealed a unique case of archaeologically-visible nomads dated to the early Iron Age. Copper production
remains that until recently were attributed to empires are now understood to
represent the early tribal kingdom of Edom. This kingdom was a coalition of
nomadic or seminomadic tribes, centered around the mines and permanent
water sources of Faynan (biblical Punon), and led by strong rulers—kings (and
cf. Genesis 36).83 Several different avenues of research have demonstrated
that, notwithstanding its nomadic background, this kingdom was based on
a complex, hierarchical and centralized society that was able to maintain an
extensive industry whose products were recently identified as far as Greece.
The new insights from the Aravah indicate that the role of nomadic societies in shaping the history of the region has been underestimated by biblical
82
83
The major changes in Canaan that followed the collapse of the Late Bronze Age civilizations have been extensively discussed in the literature; they include a break in
the long-lasting Egyptian hegemony over the region and a spell of exceptional aridity
(Langgut et al.), which were both conducive to the accumulation of power by typicallymarginal societies.
On the early Edomite “nomadic monarchy” see also Ben-Yosef, in press.
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archaeologists. This is mainly the result of the challenges in properly identifying and characterizing nomads in the archaeological record, coupled with a flat
view of nomadic social organization and an inadequate and unscrutinized use
of Bedouin ethnography practiced by both archaeologists and biblical scholars. The misinterpretation of the nomadic components in biblical archaeology
and the total reliance on stone-built features to assess social complexity—
described here as the “architectural bias”—have had a fundamental impact on
the attempts to assess the historicity of biblical accounts based on the archaeological record, evidently by generating a tendency towards minimalism. This
is especially relevant to the constant efforts to understand the genesis of
Ancient Israel and its neighboring kingdoms, as all of these polities had a tribal
and nomadic background, which is well attested to in biblical and external
accounts; these processes should now be reevaluated, in light of our new understanding of the possible complexity of nomadic societies at this particular
time in the history of the southern Levant.
There are ways in which to better address issues related to biblical-era nomads and to correct their place in current biblical archaeology, including better integration of anthropological, ethnographic and historical comparative
studies of nomadism as a complex and varied human phenomenon;84 however, it is much more important to recognize and be wary of the limitations
of archaeology in tackling questions related to such societies, and for biblical
archaeologists to be more modest about their role in solving textual issues,
especially those related to the non-sedentary components of the societies of
the region.85
Acknowledgements
This study was partially supported by the Israel Science Foundation grant
#1880/17 and the Naomi Foundation via the Kadar Family Award for Outstanding
Research 2018. I am thankful to the anonymous reviewers who helped improve
the original manuscript and to Noam Mizrahi, Thomas E. Levy, Mohammad
Najjar, Yoram Cohen, Frank Polak, Zachary Thomas, William Ondricek, Ian
Jones and Kathleen Bennallack for fruitful discussions. The insights and ideas
84
85
Such attempts were occasionally done in previous research; see for example Bodi, who
compares David’s stories to those of nomads in the Mari and Amarna texts in order to
illuminate the process of tribal sedentarization.
Cf., Gottwald, p. 201; Na’aman; Japhet.
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Ben-Yosef
presented above are based on many years of field work in Faynan and Timna,
and countless conversations with fellow staff members of both the Edom
Lowlands Regional Archaeology Project (ELRAP) and the Central Timna Valley
Project (CTV). Thus, thanks are also due to these individuals, who shared with
me their enthusiasm for the exploration of the archaeology of the Aravah and
the people it represents. That said, it should be noted that I alone am responsible for the content of this paper and the conclusions presented above.
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