Books / Monographs by Josef Mario Briffa
Five hundred years ago, before he founded the Society of Jesus, St Ignatius set off on a pilgrima... more Five hundred years ago, before he founded the Society of Jesus, St Ignatius set off on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Crossing the Mediterranean, he dodged Turkish troops, bribed soldiers with knives and scissors, and asked the Franciscans to let him stay permanently. They sent him packing, and the rest is history.
It’s hard to know where to start with one of the most revered places on the planet. The Holy Land can intimidate even the seasoned pilgrim and confound the most knowledgeable historian. Now you can experience the Holy Land through the eyes of St Ignatius, following in his footsteps on this little-known but life-changing pilgrimage.
With Josef Mario Briffa SJ as your guide, you enter the carefully reconstructed world of the pilgrim Ignatius, experiencing the Holy Land of today using the roadmap of the past. Familiar places, like the route of the Via Dolorosa, are reinterpreted and re-ordered through the wandering feet of the sixteenth-century pilgrim. Layer upon layer, the Holy Land opens up, from the port of Old Jaffa to the walls of Jerusalem and the manger of Bethlehem.
Complete with beautiful photographs, detailed maps and itineraries, and biblical and Ignatian references, Briffa’s fascinating guide to the Holy Land is the perfect companion for the armchair traveller and pilgrim alike.
Redacted version on UCL Discovery (https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1536281/).
Please feel ... more Redacted version on UCL Discovery (https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1536281/).
Please feel free to contact me for an full electronic copy: briffa[at]biblico.it //
ABSTRACT
This study reconsiders the figurines of the Late Iron Age in the southern Levant. Previous research has often read figurine types in the near isolation, with a strong focus on the female figurines, and the Judean Pillar Figurines in particular, linking them to non-official rituals concerned with fertility or protection. This study moves away from this restrictive paradigm, and argues that all the figurines need to be studied as parts of a miniature figural world, which includes not only female figurines and other anthropomorphic types, but also figurines of horses and riders, other animals and things.
This research project works on two geographical scales. On the site level, a detailed study of the context and distribution of material from the sites of Jerusalem, Lachish and Megiddo allows for a reconsideration of the significance of figurines and their patterns of use and discard. On the regional level, the variation and commonality of the figurines is studied within the broader context of the southern Levant. This approach allows for an understanding of the figurines as part of a wider shared repertoire of miniature representation, while allowing for a consideration of regional differences.
The study also considers the world of social identities and meanings, expressed, produced and manipulated through the medium of these same figurines. This approach is informed by semiotic and post-structural debates, to explore how meaning is attached to the figurines both by their ancient users and modern interpreters. Moving from a narrow focus on the figurines themselves, it is possible to consider the persons and communities who made and used them.
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Catalogue of Artefacts from Malta in the British Museum. Oxford: Archaeopress., 2017
The archaeology of the Maltese archipelago is remarkable. Lying at the heart of the central Medit... more The archaeology of the Maltese archipelago is remarkable. Lying at the heart of the central Mediterranean, ancient lives were, at times, moulded by isolation and harsh elements and the landscape is shaped by millennia of intensive land use. Ancient finds from the islands are rare, and those held in the British Museum form an important collection. Represented is a wide cultural range, spanning the Early and Late Neolithic, the Bronze Age, Roman and more recent historic periods. From the early 1880s, Malta attracted a fascinating array of historians, collectors and travellers and, on one level, the British Museum’s holdings represent their activities, but on another, the collections reflect the complex path antiquarianism has played out in Malta as it moved steadily toward fledgling archaeological investigations. Significantly, artefacts excavated by notable Maltese archaeologist, Sir Themistocles Zammit, at the key Neolithic site of Tarxien, and those uncovered by Margaret Murray at Borġ in-Nadur form a crucial part of the collection.
Edited volumes by Josef Mario Briffa
This is the first volume to offer a holistic perspective on the research and public value of the ... more This is the first volume to offer a holistic perspective on the research and public value of the site of Jericho – an iconic site with a long and impressive history stretching from the Epipalaeolithic to the present day. Once dubbed the ‘Oldest City in the World’, it has been the focus of intense archaeological activity and media interest in the 150 years since its discovery. From early investigations in the 19th century, through Kathleen Kenyon’s work at the site in the 1950s, to the recent Italian-Palestinian Expedition and Khirbat al-Mafjar Archaeological Project, Jericho and its surrounding landscape has always played a key role in our understanding of this fascinating region. Current efforts to get the site placed on the World Heritage List only enhance its appeal.
Covering all aspects of work at the site, from past to present and beyond, this volume offers a unique opportunity to re-evaluate and assess the legacy of this important site. In doing so, it helps to increase our understanding of the wider archaeology and history of the Southern Levant.
Papers/Chapters - Iron Age Figurines by Josef Mario Briffa
I.L. Finkel, J.A. Fraser and St J. Simpson (eds.), ‘To Aleppo gone …’ Essays in honour of Jonathan N. Tubb, Archaeopress Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology 10. Oxford, Archaeopress., 2023
Please feel free to contact me for an electronic copy: briffa[at]biblico.it
F.M. Benedettucci (con contributi di L. Aprile, J.M. Briffa, P. Conti, N. Pini, É. Puech), Tell al-Mashhad. Lo scavo. (CoSMO. Collana di Studi Mediterranei e Orientali) Roma, editore Espera., 2022
Please feel free to contact me for an electronic copy: briffa[at]biblico.it
And God Saw That It Was Good (Gen 1:12): The Concept of Quality in Archaeology, Philology and Theology., 2020
Please feel free to contact me for an electronic copy: briffa[at]biblico.it //
ABSTRACT
The ... more Please feel free to contact me for an electronic copy: briffa[at]biblico.it //
ABSTRACT
The clay figurines of the late Iron Age remain somewhat enigmatic, their meaning and purpose debated. Equally enigmatic is the biblical teraphim — which even the ancient translators of the Septuagint at times preferred simply to transliterate rather than to translate, perhaps aware that the essence of the teraphim cannot be quite flattened onto the concept of images or idols. Enigmas are enticing and love company, and already in in the early 20th century, some scholars posited a connection between the two, reading the figurines as realia onto the fabric of biblical understanding. This paper considers the impact of these connected interpretations on the understanding of both figurines and teraphim, and problematises the oversimplification that this leads to — bringing the debate back to the drawing board. Can teraphim shed light on the figurines? A careful reading of the biblical references to teraphim explores this question.
A. Coniglio & A. Ricco (eds.), Holy Land. Archaeology on Either Side. Archaeological Essays in Honour of Eugenio Alliata ofm. Milano, Santa Terra Edizioni., 2020
Please feel free to contact me for an electronic copy: briffa[at]biblico.it //
Excavations on... more Please feel free to contact me for an electronic copy: briffa[at]biblico.it //
Excavations on Mount Nebo in 1964 yielded three figurines — two female drummer figurines and a horse — from a tomb dated to the late Iron Age. Although well-known since their publication in 1966, the figurines have never been the focus of a specific study. This paper focuses on these figurines, offering a more complete publication (including new photographs), and placing them within the wider debate on Iron Age figurines. This study considers both immediate and regional context, with an interest in commonalities and differences they offer with material on both sides of the Jordan river, including inferences on the performative value, and representation of gender through the medium of terracotta figurines.
O. Lipschits & F. Čapek (eds), The Last Century in the History of Judah. The Seventh Century BCE in Archaeological, Historical and Biblical Perspectives. (Ancient Israel and Its Literature 37). SBL Press., 2019
Please feel free to contact me for an electronic copy: briffa[at]biblico.it //
The figurines ... more Please feel free to contact me for an electronic copy: briffa[at]biblico.it //
The figurines of Judah have often been studied within a very restrictive paradigm which isolates the female figurines, notably the Judean Pillar Figurines, from the rest of the repertoire, linking them with rituals of fertility and protection. This paper explores a different approach, and argues that these figurines need to be seen as part of a miniature figural world, which includes female figurines, but also other anthropomorphic types, figurines of riders and horses, other animals and things. The study is focused on Jerusalem and Judah, and works on two geographical scales. On a site level, with a resolution at individual locus level, the potential significance of context is considered for Caves I and II, and Area E in the City of David. On a regional level, commonalities and differences of the figurines from Jerusalem and Judah within their southern Levantine context are explored, in relation to manufacture types, the construction and representation of gender, as well as the performative potential of the clay figurines. Informed by semiotic and post-structural debate, the figurines are seen as a medium for the production and manipulation of social identities and meanings, offering a window, a pale reflection, on the persons and communities who made and used them, as though “looking through a glass darkly.”
E. Ferrer Albelda, and Á. Pereira Deldago, eds., Hijas de Eva. Mujeres y Religión en la Antigüedad. SPAL Monografías XIX. Seville, Editorial Universidad de Sevilla., 2015
Please feel free to contact me for an electronic copy: briffa[at]biblico.it //
This paper, prese... more Please feel free to contact me for an electronic copy: briffa[at]biblico.it //
This paper, presented in Seville, presents an earlier stage of my PhD project. I present some of the difficulties with the previous research and interpretations, and outline key methodological choices in my research.
Papers/Chapters - Archaeology Ancient Near East by Josef Mario Briffa
公教會聖經百科全書 - Catholic Bible Encyclopedia, 2022
Briffa J.M. (2022) 第一章 聖經地理 “Chapter 1. Biblical geography” and in Fu Jen Theological Publicatio... more Briffa J.M. (2022) 第一章 聖經地理 “Chapter 1. Biblical geography” and in Fu Jen Theological Publications Association, 公教會聖經百科全書 (Catholic Bible Encyclopedia), Taipei, Taiwan: Kuangchi Cultural Group
公教會聖經百科全書 - Catholic Bible Encyclopedia, 2022
Briffa J.M. (2022) 第二章 聖經考古學 “Chapter 2. Biblical archaeology” in Fu Jen Theological Publications... more Briffa J.M. (2022) 第二章 聖經考古學 “Chapter 2. Biblical archaeology” in Fu Jen Theological Publications Association, 公教會聖經百科全書 (Catholic Bible Encyclopedia), Taipei, Taiwan: Kuangchi Cultural Group.
Materiale dal Vicino oriente Antico, La Collezione del Pontificio Istituto Biblico 2, 2022
Please feel free to contact me for an electronic copy: briffa[at]biblico.it //
Briffa, J.M. (... more Please feel free to contact me for an electronic copy: briffa[at]biblico.it //
Briffa, J.M. (2022) “Il Museo del Pontificio Istituto Biblico a Gerusalemme,” in A. Amenta, C. Felli, M. Cappozzo (a cura di), Materiale dal Vicino oriente Antico, La Collezione del Pontificio Istituto Biblico 2, Edizioni Musei Vaticani.
Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 2021
Please feel free to contact me for an electronic copy: briffa[at]biblico.it //
Prof. Yosef Ga... more Please feel free to contact me for an electronic copy: briffa[at]biblico.it //
Prof. Yosef Garfinkel’s recent article in the PEQ builds an intriguing case linking the murder of James Leslie Starkey in January 1938 with resentment relating to the expropriation of lands at Tell ed-Duweir. A file from the Colonial Office, held at the National Archives at Kew, London, sheds some further light to the original police investigation, and provides an interesting counternarrative to the one suggested by Garfinkel, supporting the original understanding of the murder within the context of the political upheavals in Palestine during the British Mandate.
Papers/Chapters - Archaeology of Malta, E.Magri SJ by Josef Mario Briffa
A facsimile edition of Fr Emmanuel Magri's report on the 1904 excavations at Xewkija, Gozo. This ... more A facsimile edition of Fr Emmanuel Magri's report on the 1904 excavations at Xewkija, Gozo. This edition publishes, in colour, the watercolour plates of the potsherds, commissioned for the report, and Magri's correspondence relating to the excavation.
The brief historical introduction places the report in the context of Magri's archaeological work, and highlights specific elements, most notably the attempt at classification of prehistoric potsherds, a first in Maltese archaeology.
Malta Archaeological Review, 2005
Papers/Chapters - Ignatian Pedagogy & Spirituality by Josef Mario Briffa
Revista de Espiritualidad Ignaciana, 2010
... Qué significa el carácter sacerdotal de la Compañía de Jesús y que significa para mi como esc... more ... Qué significa el carácter sacerdotal de la Compañía de Jesús y que significa para mi como escolar?. Autores: Josef Mario Briffa; Localización: Revista de Espiritualidad Ignaciana, Nº. 124, 2010 , págs. 63-67. Fundación Dialnet. Acceso de usuarios registrados. ...
Conference Poster by Josef Mario Briffa
Ninety years ago, in November 1929, the Jesuit Fathers of the Pontifical Biblical Institute start... more Ninety years ago, in November 1929, the Jesuit Fathers of the Pontifical Biblical Institute started their excavations at the site of Teleilat Ghassul on the eastern bank of the Jordan river, just north of the Dead Sea. If the initial impetus was the search for Sodom and Gomorrah, part of contemporary debates among scholars on their location, the expedition uncovered what remains one of the major sites for the Chalcolithic. Over several seasons of excavation (1929-1938, 1959-60), the expedition left a legacy of archaeological material, now mostly in the collection of the Museum of the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Jerusalem, as well as significant archival material: plans and sections, glass plate negative and photo albums, pottery registration cards, finds registers as well as excavation diaries, providing interesting insights into their developing excavations methods and the result achieved.
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Books / Monographs by Josef Mario Briffa
It’s hard to know where to start with one of the most revered places on the planet. The Holy Land can intimidate even the seasoned pilgrim and confound the most knowledgeable historian. Now you can experience the Holy Land through the eyes of St Ignatius, following in his footsteps on this little-known but life-changing pilgrimage.
With Josef Mario Briffa SJ as your guide, you enter the carefully reconstructed world of the pilgrim Ignatius, experiencing the Holy Land of today using the roadmap of the past. Familiar places, like the route of the Via Dolorosa, are reinterpreted and re-ordered through the wandering feet of the sixteenth-century pilgrim. Layer upon layer, the Holy Land opens up, from the port of Old Jaffa to the walls of Jerusalem and the manger of Bethlehem.
Complete with beautiful photographs, detailed maps and itineraries, and biblical and Ignatian references, Briffa’s fascinating guide to the Holy Land is the perfect companion for the armchair traveller and pilgrim alike.
Please feel free to contact me for an full electronic copy: briffa[at]biblico.it //
ABSTRACT
This study reconsiders the figurines of the Late Iron Age in the southern Levant. Previous research has often read figurine types in the near isolation, with a strong focus on the female figurines, and the Judean Pillar Figurines in particular, linking them to non-official rituals concerned with fertility or protection. This study moves away from this restrictive paradigm, and argues that all the figurines need to be studied as parts of a miniature figural world, which includes not only female figurines and other anthropomorphic types, but also figurines of horses and riders, other animals and things.
This research project works on two geographical scales. On the site level, a detailed study of the context and distribution of material from the sites of Jerusalem, Lachish and Megiddo allows for a reconsideration of the significance of figurines and their patterns of use and discard. On the regional level, the variation and commonality of the figurines is studied within the broader context of the southern Levant. This approach allows for an understanding of the figurines as part of a wider shared repertoire of miniature representation, while allowing for a consideration of regional differences.
The study also considers the world of social identities and meanings, expressed, produced and manipulated through the medium of these same figurines. This approach is informed by semiotic and post-structural debates, to explore how meaning is attached to the figurines both by their ancient users and modern interpreters. Moving from a narrow focus on the figurines themselves, it is possible to consider the persons and communities who made and used them.
------
Edited volumes by Josef Mario Briffa
Covering all aspects of work at the site, from past to present and beyond, this volume offers a unique opportunity to re-evaluate and assess the legacy of this important site. In doing so, it helps to increase our understanding of the wider archaeology and history of the Southern Levant.
Papers/Chapters - Iron Age Figurines by Josef Mario Briffa
ABSTRACT
The clay figurines of the late Iron Age remain somewhat enigmatic, their meaning and purpose debated. Equally enigmatic is the biblical teraphim — which even the ancient translators of the Septuagint at times preferred simply to transliterate rather than to translate, perhaps aware that the essence of the teraphim cannot be quite flattened onto the concept of images or idols. Enigmas are enticing and love company, and already in in the early 20th century, some scholars posited a connection between the two, reading the figurines as realia onto the fabric of biblical understanding. This paper considers the impact of these connected interpretations on the understanding of both figurines and teraphim, and problematises the oversimplification that this leads to — bringing the debate back to the drawing board. Can teraphim shed light on the figurines? A careful reading of the biblical references to teraphim explores this question.
Excavations on Mount Nebo in 1964 yielded three figurines — two female drummer figurines and a horse — from a tomb dated to the late Iron Age. Although well-known since their publication in 1966, the figurines have never been the focus of a specific study. This paper focuses on these figurines, offering a more complete publication (including new photographs), and placing them within the wider debate on Iron Age figurines. This study considers both immediate and regional context, with an interest in commonalities and differences they offer with material on both sides of the Jordan river, including inferences on the performative value, and representation of gender through the medium of terracotta figurines.
The figurines of Judah have often been studied within a very restrictive paradigm which isolates the female figurines, notably the Judean Pillar Figurines, from the rest of the repertoire, linking them with rituals of fertility and protection. This paper explores a different approach, and argues that these figurines need to be seen as part of a miniature figural world, which includes female figurines, but also other anthropomorphic types, figurines of riders and horses, other animals and things. The study is focused on Jerusalem and Judah, and works on two geographical scales. On a site level, with a resolution at individual locus level, the potential significance of context is considered for Caves I and II, and Area E in the City of David. On a regional level, commonalities and differences of the figurines from Jerusalem and Judah within their southern Levantine context are explored, in relation to manufacture types, the construction and representation of gender, as well as the performative potential of the clay figurines. Informed by semiotic and post-structural debate, the figurines are seen as a medium for the production and manipulation of social identities and meanings, offering a window, a pale reflection, on the persons and communities who made and used them, as though “looking through a glass darkly.”
This paper, presented in Seville, presents an earlier stage of my PhD project. I present some of the difficulties with the previous research and interpretations, and outline key methodological choices in my research.
Papers/Chapters - Archaeology Ancient Near East by Josef Mario Briffa
Briffa, J.M. (2022) “Il Museo del Pontificio Istituto Biblico a Gerusalemme,” in A. Amenta, C. Felli, M. Cappozzo (a cura di), Materiale dal Vicino oriente Antico, La Collezione del Pontificio Istituto Biblico 2, Edizioni Musei Vaticani.
Prof. Yosef Garfinkel’s recent article in the PEQ builds an intriguing case linking the murder of James Leslie Starkey in January 1938 with resentment relating to the expropriation of lands at Tell ed-Duweir. A file from the Colonial Office, held at the National Archives at Kew, London, sheds some further light to the original police investigation, and provides an interesting counternarrative to the one suggested by Garfinkel, supporting the original understanding of the murder within the context of the political upheavals in Palestine during the British Mandate.
Papers/Chapters - Archaeology of Malta, E.Magri SJ by Josef Mario Briffa
The brief historical introduction places the report in the context of Magri's archaeological work, and highlights specific elements, most notably the attempt at classification of prehistoric potsherds, a first in Maltese archaeology.
Papers/Chapters - Ignatian Pedagogy & Spirituality by Josef Mario Briffa
Conference Poster by Josef Mario Briffa
It’s hard to know where to start with one of the most revered places on the planet. The Holy Land can intimidate even the seasoned pilgrim and confound the most knowledgeable historian. Now you can experience the Holy Land through the eyes of St Ignatius, following in his footsteps on this little-known but life-changing pilgrimage.
With Josef Mario Briffa SJ as your guide, you enter the carefully reconstructed world of the pilgrim Ignatius, experiencing the Holy Land of today using the roadmap of the past. Familiar places, like the route of the Via Dolorosa, are reinterpreted and re-ordered through the wandering feet of the sixteenth-century pilgrim. Layer upon layer, the Holy Land opens up, from the port of Old Jaffa to the walls of Jerusalem and the manger of Bethlehem.
Complete with beautiful photographs, detailed maps and itineraries, and biblical and Ignatian references, Briffa’s fascinating guide to the Holy Land is the perfect companion for the armchair traveller and pilgrim alike.
Please feel free to contact me for an full electronic copy: briffa[at]biblico.it //
ABSTRACT
This study reconsiders the figurines of the Late Iron Age in the southern Levant. Previous research has often read figurine types in the near isolation, with a strong focus on the female figurines, and the Judean Pillar Figurines in particular, linking them to non-official rituals concerned with fertility or protection. This study moves away from this restrictive paradigm, and argues that all the figurines need to be studied as parts of a miniature figural world, which includes not only female figurines and other anthropomorphic types, but also figurines of horses and riders, other animals and things.
This research project works on two geographical scales. On the site level, a detailed study of the context and distribution of material from the sites of Jerusalem, Lachish and Megiddo allows for a reconsideration of the significance of figurines and their patterns of use and discard. On the regional level, the variation and commonality of the figurines is studied within the broader context of the southern Levant. This approach allows for an understanding of the figurines as part of a wider shared repertoire of miniature representation, while allowing for a consideration of regional differences.
The study also considers the world of social identities and meanings, expressed, produced and manipulated through the medium of these same figurines. This approach is informed by semiotic and post-structural debates, to explore how meaning is attached to the figurines both by their ancient users and modern interpreters. Moving from a narrow focus on the figurines themselves, it is possible to consider the persons and communities who made and used them.
------
Covering all aspects of work at the site, from past to present and beyond, this volume offers a unique opportunity to re-evaluate and assess the legacy of this important site. In doing so, it helps to increase our understanding of the wider archaeology and history of the Southern Levant.
ABSTRACT
The clay figurines of the late Iron Age remain somewhat enigmatic, their meaning and purpose debated. Equally enigmatic is the biblical teraphim — which even the ancient translators of the Septuagint at times preferred simply to transliterate rather than to translate, perhaps aware that the essence of the teraphim cannot be quite flattened onto the concept of images or idols. Enigmas are enticing and love company, and already in in the early 20th century, some scholars posited a connection between the two, reading the figurines as realia onto the fabric of biblical understanding. This paper considers the impact of these connected interpretations on the understanding of both figurines and teraphim, and problematises the oversimplification that this leads to — bringing the debate back to the drawing board. Can teraphim shed light on the figurines? A careful reading of the biblical references to teraphim explores this question.
Excavations on Mount Nebo in 1964 yielded three figurines — two female drummer figurines and a horse — from a tomb dated to the late Iron Age. Although well-known since their publication in 1966, the figurines have never been the focus of a specific study. This paper focuses on these figurines, offering a more complete publication (including new photographs), and placing them within the wider debate on Iron Age figurines. This study considers both immediate and regional context, with an interest in commonalities and differences they offer with material on both sides of the Jordan river, including inferences on the performative value, and representation of gender through the medium of terracotta figurines.
The figurines of Judah have often been studied within a very restrictive paradigm which isolates the female figurines, notably the Judean Pillar Figurines, from the rest of the repertoire, linking them with rituals of fertility and protection. This paper explores a different approach, and argues that these figurines need to be seen as part of a miniature figural world, which includes female figurines, but also other anthropomorphic types, figurines of riders and horses, other animals and things. The study is focused on Jerusalem and Judah, and works on two geographical scales. On a site level, with a resolution at individual locus level, the potential significance of context is considered for Caves I and II, and Area E in the City of David. On a regional level, commonalities and differences of the figurines from Jerusalem and Judah within their southern Levantine context are explored, in relation to manufacture types, the construction and representation of gender, as well as the performative potential of the clay figurines. Informed by semiotic and post-structural debate, the figurines are seen as a medium for the production and manipulation of social identities and meanings, offering a window, a pale reflection, on the persons and communities who made and used them, as though “looking through a glass darkly.”
This paper, presented in Seville, presents an earlier stage of my PhD project. I present some of the difficulties with the previous research and interpretations, and outline key methodological choices in my research.
Briffa, J.M. (2022) “Il Museo del Pontificio Istituto Biblico a Gerusalemme,” in A. Amenta, C. Felli, M. Cappozzo (a cura di), Materiale dal Vicino oriente Antico, La Collezione del Pontificio Istituto Biblico 2, Edizioni Musei Vaticani.
Prof. Yosef Garfinkel’s recent article in the PEQ builds an intriguing case linking the murder of James Leslie Starkey in January 1938 with resentment relating to the expropriation of lands at Tell ed-Duweir. A file from the Colonial Office, held at the National Archives at Kew, London, sheds some further light to the original police investigation, and provides an interesting counternarrative to the one suggested by Garfinkel, supporting the original understanding of the murder within the context of the political upheavals in Palestine during the British Mandate.
The brief historical introduction places the report in the context of Magri's archaeological work, and highlights specific elements, most notably the attempt at classification of prehistoric potsherds, a first in Maltese archaeology.
This poster presents part of my PhD research, and in this regard should be understood as work in progress.
The monograph, published as Volume 4 of the reports of The Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon, is a revision of the author’s PhD dissertation, entitled Philistine Figurines and Figurines in Philistia in the Iron Age, and presented at Harvard University in 2007.
[[ Erratum on pg. 121. Please note that para 2, line 6. should read "its approach". ]]
The Society's membership is made up of scholars working in the British Isles, with some additional members resident in Europe, North America, and Israel. The expertise of this membership has led to the principal focus of this exhibition being on the imagination of Jerusalem in the Jewish and Christian traditions, although the city's significance in the Muslim tradition merits attention in its own right.
Visitors interested in the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament may also wish to visit the SOTS Wiki, with articles on numerous topics relevant to the study of these books.
http://jerusalem.nottingham.ac.uk/
This study works on two geographical scales. On the micro level, a detailed study of context and of intra-site distribution allows for a reconsideration of the figurines and their use in two major Judahite sites, Jerusalem and Lachish, with particularly focus on key spots like Cave I of Kenyon’s excavations. On the macro level, I consider the figurines within the context of the southern Levant, understanding them as part of a wider world, and shared repertoire, of miniature representation.
I argue that the clay figurines help us enter a world of social identities and meanings, expressed, produced and manipulated through the medium of these same figurines, moving from a narrow focus on the figurines themselves, to consider the persons and communities who made and used them.
This paper presents part of my PhD work, one case study that takes a detailed look at the figurines from one key site: Tell ed-Duweir / Lachish. A detailed look at the distribution patterns of the figurines, and associated artefacts, allows us to question several assumptions on the interpretation of the figurines, consider the persons and communities that made and used them, and the social meanings that they expressed through the medium of the same figurines.