The Fire Signals of Lachish

Studies in the Archaeology and History of Israel in the Late Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Persian Period in Honor of David Ussishkin

Israel Finkelstein, Nadav Na'aman

• Publisher: Eisenbrauns
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781575062051
• eBook ISBN: 9781575066295
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

In this volume honoring Tel Aviv University archaeologist David Ussishkin, colleagues and students representing some of the major names in the field today present 25 essays on a variety of topics of interest to the honoree. The contributions cover a range of periods from the Late Bronze Age through the Persian period and disparate subjects such as Judahite bullae, destruction levels at Megiddo, a diversity of results from various tells in Israel (and one in Jordan), Egyptian influence on Canaan, the city of Jerusalem and its temple, and much on the archaeology of the Shephelah, an area of particular interest to the honoree—who is best known for his excavations at Tell ed-Duweir, the site of biblical Lachish. The volume takes its title from a reference in one of the Lachish ostraca.

From 1966 until his retirement in 2004, David Ussishkin taught in the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University. Between 1975 and 1978, he served as Chair of the Department, and between 1980 and 1984 as the Director of the Institute of Archaeology. In 1996, he was nominated incumbent of the Austria Chair in Archaeology of the Land of Israel in the Biblical Period. He served as the editor of Tel Aviv: The Journal of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University for 30 years.

Table of contents

• COVER Front
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Indelible Impression: Petrographic Analysis of Judahite Bullae
• Chapter 2: Excavations at Tel Malḥata: An Interim Report
• Chapter 3: Close Yet Apart: Diverse Cultural Dynamics at Iron Age Beth-Shemesh and Lachish
• Chapter 4: Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On: The Possible Destruction by Earthquake of Stratum VIA at Megiddo
• Chapter 5: Tel Azekah: A New Look at the Site and Its “Judean” Fortress
• Chapter 6: Why Did Nebuchadnezzar II Destroy Ashkelon in Kislev 604 B.C.E.?
• Chapter 7: Tall al-Umayri in the Iron Age I: Facts and Fiction with an Appendix on the History of the Collared Rim Pithoi
• Chapter 8: From Megiddo to Tamassos and Back: Putting the “Proto-Ionic Capital” in Its Place
• Chapter 9: Voyage to Yarimuta
• Chapter 10: Iron Age IIA Occupational Phases in the Coastal Plain of Israel
• Chapter 11: Distribution and Use of Storage Vessels in the Kingdom of Judah
• Chapter 12: Inside the Walls of Nehemiah’s Jerusalem: Naboth’s Vineyard
• Chapter 13: The Evolution of the 8th-Century b.c.e. Jerusalem Temple
• Chapter 14: The Origin and Date of the Volute Capitals from the Levant
• Chapter 15: Comparative Aspects of the Aramean Siege System at Tell eṣ-Ṣāfi/Gath
• Chapter 16: Egyptian-Type Pottery at Late Bronze Age Megiddo
• Chapter 17: Tel Reḥov in the Assyrian Period: Squatters, Burials, and a Hebrew Seal
• Chapter 18: The Shephelah according to the Amarna Letters
• Chapter 19: Reconsidering the Buildings in Area A at Edomite Buseirah
• Chapter 20: The Persian Period City Wall of Jerusalem
• Chapter 21: Phoenician Clay Masks from Tel Dor
• Chapter 22: The Waters of Shiloah (Isaiah 8:5–8)
• Chapter 23: On the Toponymy of the Jezreel Valley and Adjacent Plains
• Chapter 24: Reexamining Area DD at Megiddo
• Chapter 25: Ruin Cults at Iron Age I Hazor
• Index