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

U\ROCCA-I'ITf'S:"nIF_'iF.AREYOURGODS, 0 ISRAEJ." 59

others311achtoitemsandassumethem(0betrue.Inthecaseofobjects

knowntobeobscureinthetext,oncshouldassumethaisuchobscurity

stillexiSIS,evenwhenscholarsarepositivisticintheiruseoftechnical

terms. Whileit may be correct in ourerato call anyshnne thaiIS

smallerthan a templea Ixlm", we cannotassumethat theancients

wouldagree. Ifthereisanydoubtthatatermhadasimpleuniversal

meaningintheBible,thereshouldbedoubtIhatiIcanhaveasimple

universalmeaningtoday.

PITFAll3:AssUMINGTHATANARTIFACr1<;CULTICWIntourSUFFICIE'IlTEVIDENCE

Thispilfallraisesthebasicquestion:Howdoweknowa givenitemis
actuallycultic?Itisoftenachallengetotellthedifferencebetweencullic
objects and mundane objects that are simply unusual looking. Often
objectssurfacein excavationsfor which no mundane purposecan be
imagined bythearchaeologist,sofrequentlyit is suggestedthat these
strangeobjectsmuslhavehadsomereligiousfunctionbecausetheyobvi-
ouslyhadnomundanefunction.
Thismistakenlogicortenoccursincontextswhereweknowvirtually
nothingaboultheculturefromwhichtheobjectemergedorinsituations
whereanobjedisfoundina largerarchaeologicalcontextthatcannotgive
anycluesastoiLSoriginalfunction.Usingmecriterionthatanoddappear-
anceindicatesa cullicuseforagivenobjectcausesmanysimplystrange
objects(0belabeledcuhic;unfonunalely,onceIhatlabelhasenleredthe
literature,itbecomesdifficult(oremove.
OnecaseinpointisaChalcolithicstatuettefromGilatthatappears
tobeanakedfemalefigure,decoraledwithstripesofredpaint,holding
a milkchurnonherhead.Becausethefemalefigureisnakedandoddly
decorated,andperhapsbecauseofthefactthatshehasanobjectrelated
toabasicdietal)'stapleonher head,countlessarcheologistsdescribe
thefemalefigurerepresentedinitasa fertilitygoddess.Itisa fact,how-
ever, that weknow little or nOlhing about the religiolls life ofthe
Chalcolithicperiod,itsdeilies,oritsrituals.ThereisreallynothingabOtu
Ihisobjecibyitself,apartfromitsoddappearance,thatdemandsittobe
viewedasanythingmorethanaratherstrangeexampleofrepresenta-
tionalart.
GivenIhefactthaiIhisobjectwasuncoveredinacontextthatcould
beconstruedasa Chalcolilhiccultsite.itmaywellbea statuetteofa "fer-
tilitygcxldess,~butthisismerelya hypothesis,nota fact.Itmighlalsobea
representationofahumanbeingengagedinsomesonofritualbehavior
ordisplay.Thefigureisalsoholdingwhatlookslikeadrumunderone
arm.Theideathatthisisagoddessprecludestheideathatthefiguremight
bea priestessorperhapsa musician,\vhenanysuchtheoryhasIhesame