Between Text and Artifact: Integrating Archaeology in Biblical Studies Teaching (Archaeology and Biblical Studies)

58 I3I:.'WEENTEXTANDARTIFAcr

ofreaders.?In viTtuallyall casesit isbest tokeepanopenmindaboUl

whattheancientsmayhavethoughttheirartifactsrepresentedphilosophi-

callyortheoretically.

PITFALL2:NAIVEACCErTANCEOFMODERNHEBREW

USESOFANCIENTHEBREWCULTICTERMS

An unfortunatesideeffectofreawakeninganancientlanguagefora

moderneraisthatancientwordsmaybeborrowedbymodernspeakers

withoutaverycarefuldefinitiongoverningthatborrowing.Forexample,

somearchaeologiststendtousethetcrmbama,a biblicaltermofobscure

semanticrange,tocoveradizzyingarrayofstructuresthoughtsomehowto

becullieinnature.Thetermbayit,"temple,Mtends(0bereservedformon-

umentalstructures withsomecullieevidenceaboutthem,butthe term

barna,~highplace"inModernHebrewparlance,maybeusedtoreferto

smallshrinesofanytype,whetherenclosedoropentotheair.Onesiteso

designateddoesnotevenhaveanystructuresatall! Itissimplya large

stoneinanopenfieldintheSamarianhillcountryatwhicha smallstat-

uette ofa bull was found.^8 Another socalled "high place" has been

reconstructedat Hazer,Itconsistsofa smalldividedroomwitha large

stoneinonechamber.^9

Onemightask:Whyis this problematic?In the Biblelargeshrines

werecalledtemples,andsmallshrineswerecalledbarnOt.Whyshouldn't

ModernHebrewspeakerslisethetermbantatorefertoa smallshrine?

Theproblemisoneofperception.Thisuseofa biblicaltermgivesthe

impressionthMarchaeologistsknowwhatbiblicalbamorlookedlike. It

givestheimpressionthatalloftheinstallationsthataretodaybeingcalled

barnarwouldhavebeensocalledinancienttimes.Thisissomethingwe

cannotknow.

HowTOAVOJ[)P1TI'AU.2:NEVEHASSUMETHATALABEl.IsCORRECf

Unfonunately,moslofusdonot havethelimetoresearchevery

examplethat wewish 10 usein class. Wedependonthe labelsthat

7 See,forexamplc,UziAvner'sanimisticintcrpretationsofringsof5tandingstonesfound
intheNegevin"AncientAgriculiuralSettlement:melReligionintheUvdaV:llleyinSouthcrn
ISr.lel:BA 53 (1990):134-35.
IIAmihaiM:I1.ar,-lJronzelJull FoundinIsraelite'11ighPlace'FromtheTimeofthe
Judges:BAR9/5(1983):34-40.
9 AnmonDenTor,"Notc5andNew.s:J-:x.c:lv:lIionsandSurveys,TelHazor,1996,"I1:"'J46
(1996);262-69.

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