Biblical Archaeology Review - January-February 2018

STRATA

16 January/February 2018

NEW DIG REPORTS

Fortified Settlements in the Biblical Negev

The arid region of the Negev in southern Israel, though largely inhospitable, hosted a thriving civilization in Biblical times. Copious traces

of ancient life still await proper exploration—hiding in remote caves and buried in massive archaeological mounds (tells), which accumu-

lated through consecutive human occupations. Tel Malh·ata in the northern Negev and Yotvata in the south represent two such recently

explored centers.

YOTVATA

The 2003–2007 Excavations in the

Late Roman Fort at Yotvata

Edited by Gwyn Davies and Jodi Magness

(Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015), xii + 268 pp.,

color and b&w illustrations, $79.50 (cloth)

This volume reports on five seasons of excavation of the Late

Roman fort at Yotvata, a tell at a strategic road junction in the

Arava Valley south of the Dead Sea. The site is tentatively iden-

tified with Biblical Jotbathah, where the Israelites encamped

during their desert wanderings (Deuteronomy 10:7), and with

a Roman site dedicated to the Roman goddess Diana. In the

immediate vicinity of the fort, other archaeological features

have been identified, including what is likely a temple of Diana.

The richly illustrated volume presents the archaeology

and finds from the fort, as well as analyses of floral and fau-

nal remains. Among the most exciting finds—attesting to the

Roman emperor Diocletian’s reorganization of Arabia and

Palaestina—is a monumental Latin inscription (below) indi-

cating that the fort was established in the late third century

C.E. by Aufidius Priscus, governor of the province of Palaes-

tina, who is also known from an inscription on a marble col-

umn found in Caesarea Maritima.

TEL MALH·ATA

Tel Malh·ata: A Central City in the Biblical Negev, 2 vols.

Edited by Itzhaq Beit-Arieh and Liora Freud

(Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015), xxii + 778 pp.,

b&w illustrations, $179.50 (cloth)

These two volumes

present the results

of seven excava-

tion seasons at Tel

Malh·ata (called also

the “Hill of Salt,” in

Arabic), possibly to

be identified with

Biblical Moladah—

a city in southern

Judah, presumably

on the crossroads of two major desert routes (see, e.g., Joshua

19:2). Carried out by a joint expedition of Tel Aviv and Baylor

universities between 1990 and 2000, the exploration focused

on eight areas of the tell. Included in this final report is also an

evaluation of two previous seasons, conducted in 1967 and 1971

by Moshe Kochavi, who dug two trenches across the mound.

The combined scope reveals the settlement history at Tel

Malh·ata from the Chalcolithic period (4500–3300 B.C.E.) to the

Early Arab period (to 1100 C.E.).

The volume covers the site’s history, archaeology, architec-

ture, finds, and inscriptions. Also included are analyses of its

ancient faunal and floral assemblages that inform our under-

standing of the site’s historical environment and how past

populations interacted with the natural world. The work is

conveniently supplemented with maps, plans, photos, drawings,

and charts.

N

JORDAN

ISRAEL

Yotvata

Tel Malhata.

Jerusalem

EGYPT

MEDITERRANEAN SEA

COURTESY ISRAEL EXPLORATION SOCIETY