Holy lanDfill
44 January/February 2018concentrated at this site suggests the presence of
an established, citywide garbage disposal operation
that included the development of a specialized mode
of collection and transportation to the top of the
slope (a convoy of donkeys hauled the waste), the
deliberate disposal of the garbage down the slope,
setting the garbage on fi re, and burying the remains
beneath a layer of soil. The scale of work dictates
that this waste management operation was a public
enterprise. And while this may seem natural andvital for those of us living in the 21st century, this
was not necessarily the case in antiquity.
Throughout history, those living in Jerusalem (and
in other ancient cities for that matter) prior to the
Roman period did not experience the luxury of a
formal, citywide garbage disposal system. Jerusalem
was already a large and densely populated city during
the eighth–seventh centuries B.C.E., as it was during
the Byzantine period (fourth–seventh centuries C.E.),
and yet we fi nd no evidence for an organized garbage
disposal mechanism during those times. It seems that
the fi rst-century C.E. landfi ll of Jerusalem is a unique
phenomenon, which demands an explanation.
One option is that the Roman procurators who
governed Jerusalem during most of the fi rst century
C.E. developed the garbage disposal program. Recent
evidence suggests the procurators developed an
increasingly robust civic life. They encouraged and
supported large public building projects such as the
ceremonial “Stepped Street” and perhaps even the
completion of the Temple Mount project initiatedTHE VAST MAJORITY OF COINS discovered in the Jerusa-
lem landfi ll date to the Early Roman period, with a couple
of earlier coins from the Hasmonean Dynasty (165–63
B.C.E.). Since coins stay in circulation for decades, even
these earlier coins don’t undermine an Early Roman date
for the landfi ll. A bronze coin of Herod Agrippa I of Judea
(r. 37–44 C.E.), like the one shown above at left, dates to
the rule of the Roman Emperor Claudius (r. 41–54 C.E.).
Its obverse side features an inscription that reads
ΑΓΡΙΠΑ ΒΑCΙΛΕWC (“of King Agrippa”) surrounding an
umbrella-like canopy with fringes. The reverse side (cen-
ter) features three ears of barley growing between two
leaves, fl anked by the date Lϛ (“Year 6” of Agrippa I’s
reign, which would be 41/42 C.E.). A bronze Pontius Pilate
(r. 26–36 C.E.) coin, similar to the above right, struck in
29 C.E. dates to the rule of the Roman emperor Tiberius
(r. 14–37 C.E.). It depicts three bound ears of barley, the
outer two of which are drooping, likely lamenting the
death of Tiberius’s mother, Livia Drusilla (Julia Augusta) in
29 C.E., whose name ΙΟΥΛΙΑ ΚΑΙCΑΡΟC (Julia Caesar)
surrounds the image. There are no coins from the First
Jewish Revolt (66–70 C.E.) in the landfi ll and only one coin
from the decade before the revolt.Fish Tales
T
he assemblage of fi sh bones excavated from the Jerusalem landfi ll has a
few peculiarities. The total number of fi sh bones was 591, of which 294,
about 50 percent, could be taxonomically identifi ed. This low percentage was
mainly due to the poor conservation of the delicate bones.
Twelve diff erent families of fi sh were identifi ed, eight marine and four fresh-
water fi sh. The most common identifi ed fi sh (43 percent) were mullets from the
Mediterranean. Mullets are medium-sized fi sh commonly found in excavated
sites throughout Israel. Porgies are the most commonly identifi ed fi sh at these
sites, but porgies made up less than 4 percent of the landfi ll assemblage.
We also discovered Nile perch (2.7 percent), which do not inhabit rivers in the
Levant but which were imported from the Nile Valley. Egypt was known to export
large quantities of perch over thousands of years, beginning in the Middle Bronze
Age. This fi sh is a common fi nd in almost every eastern Mediterranean site.
Thirty-six percent of the identifi ed fi sh bones belongs to the freshwater fam-
ily of carp, which is unusual. Several species of this family inhabit the Jordan
River system, including the Sea of Galilee. The town of Magdala, situated on
the western coast of the lake, was known during the Early Roman period for
its production of salted fi sh, which is attested by its Greek name: Magdala
Taricheae (“Magdala of the fi sh salters”). It is tempting to suggest that the carp,
cichlids (2.7 percent), and catfi sh (1.4 percent)—all of which inhabit the Sea of
Galilee—in the Jerusalem landfi ll came from Magdala.
Diff erent kinds of fi sh were part of the diet of the Jewish population of
Jerusalem during the Early Roman period. Marine Mediterranean fi sh and
imported Nile perch were probably purchased in fi sh markets along the
coast. The main bulk of freshwater fi sh was likely imported from the northern
fi sh-salting plants in Magdala on the Sea of Galilee. These fi sh, caught and pre-
pared by the Jewish inhabitants of Magdala, might have had a special appeal
for the Jewish population of Jerusalem.—Omri Lernau, University of HaifaJOHN F. WILSON