Book Reviews -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Bulletin for Biblical Research
Volume: BBR 21:1 (NA 2011)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous


Book Reviews

Alexander Fantalkin and Assaf Yasur-Landau, eds. Bene Israel: Studies in the Archaeology of Israel and the Levant during the Bronze and Iron Ages in Honour of Israel Finkelstein. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 31. Leiden: Brill, 2008. Pp. xx + 306. ISBN 978–90–04–15282–3. $144.00 cloth.

This collection of essays is written by former graduate students in honor of their teacher. In the introduction, the editors laud Finkelstein’s devotion to teaching in the midst of all his other responsibilities related to research, publication, and organization of the Megiddo project. They point out that some of the authors in the volume disagree with Finkelstein in various respects, but note that “it is a tribute to his integrity that Israel takes pride in the fact that some of his students’ views are overtly opposed to his own” (p. xv). This lack of consensus “is the best imaginable way to pay tribute to two of our teacher’s guiding principles: intellectual honesty and a healthy skepticism of communis opinio.” The articles gathered in this Festschrift do indeed treat a variety of topics from a variety of perspectives.

The collection contains the following essays: Eran Arie, “Urban Land Use Changes on the Southeastern Slope of Tel Megiddo during the Middle Bronze Age” (pp. 1–16); Alexander Fantalkin, “The Appearance of Rock-Cut Bench Tombs in Iron Age Judah as a Reflection of State Formation” (pp. 17–44); Norma Franklin, “Trademarks of the Omride Builders?” (pp. 45–54); Yuval Gadot, “Continuity and Change in the Late Bronze to Iron Age Transition in Israel’s Coastal Plain: A Long Term Perspective” (pp. 55–73); Dan Gazit, “Permanent and Temporary Settlements in the South of the Lower Besor Region: Two Case Studies” (pp. 75–85); David Ilan, “The Socioeconomic Implications of Grain Storage in Early Iron Age Canaan: The Case of Tel Dan” (pp. 87–104); Yitzhak Meitlis, “A Re-analysis of the Archaeological Evidence for the Beginning of the Iron Age I” (pp. 105–11); Aharon Sasson, “Reassessing the Bronze and Iron Age Economy: Sheep and Goat Husbandry in the Southern Levant as a Model Case Study” (pp. 113–34); Alon Shavit, “Settlement Patterns of Philistine CityStates” (pp. 135–64); Amir Sumakaʾi Fink, “Levantine Standardized Luxury in the Late Bronze Age: Waste Management at Tell Atchana (Alalakh)” (pp. 165– 95); Yifat Thareani-Sussely, “Desert Outsiders: Extramural Neighborhoods in the Iron Age Negev” (pp. 197–212); and Assaf Yasur-Landau, “A Message in a Jug: Canaanite, Philistine, and Cypriot Iconography and the ‘Orpheus Jug’” (pp. 213–29).

Many of the articles deserve attention, but I will highlight three in order to illustrate the diversity of views contain...

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