Tel Beth Shean

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Tel Beth Shean (alternatives: Tel Bet Shean, Tell Beth Shan; Hebrew: תל בית שאן; Arabic: Tell el-Ḥuṣn) is large city-mound in the Beth Shean Valley of modern Israel, positioned above the Hellenistic-Roman-Byzantine city of Scythopolis and bordered to the south and west by the modern city of Beth Shean (Hebrew: בֵּית שְׁאָן Bet Šəʼan; Israeli Arabic: بيت شان Bayt Šān; Arabic: بيسان Beisan, Beysan). [Israel Map Reference 1977.2124]

The mound is situated on the southern bank of the Naḥal Ḥarod (the Jalûd River), on a high hill that slopes away to the north-west.

An important segment of the finds relating to the main site derive from associated burial contexts. The main cemetery of the Bronze Age period settlement was apparently located NNW of the mound (the 'Northern Cemetery'), immediately across the Naḥal Ḥarod and westward along the ridge from the closely neighbouring site of Tel Iztaba.

Contents 1 Excavation 2 Stratigraphy and Occupation History 2.1 Persian Period 3 Finds 4 Publication 5 Bibliography 5.1 Excavation Reports 5.1.1 University of Pennsylvania Excavations 5.1.2 Hebrew University Jerusalem Excavations 5.2 General 6 External links

Excavation

Excavation has been undertaken on the mound site of Beth Shean in three main phases:

• 1921-1933: initial excavations undertaken annually by the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania under the various direction of Clarence Fisher, Alan Rowe and Gerald FitzGerald.
• 1983: a brief season of excavation under the direction of Shulamit Geva and Yigael Yadin
• 1989-1996: excavations undertaken on an annual basis by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem under the direction of Professor Amihai Mazar.

Stratigraphy and Occupation History

Persian Period

It is clear from the extensive excavations of the site that Tel Beth Shean was unoccupied between the late 8th century BCE and the founding of the Hellenistic city at the base of the tel in the 3rd century BCE. Several clay figurines recovered by the UME expedition probably date to the Persian Period, but these remain the only finds from the mound that can safely be ascribed to the period; otherwise, an extended occupation gap existed at the site.

Finds

• the Larger Beth Shean Stela of Seti I
• the Statue of Ramesses III
• the Lion and Dog Stela
• the Mekal Stela

Publication

Bibliography

Excavation Reports

University of Pennsylvania Excavations

• Braun, Eliot [2004], Early Beth Shan (Strata XIX-XIII) - G.M. FitzGerald's Deep Cut on the Tell, [University Museum Monograph 121], Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum, 2004. ISBN 1931707626

• Fisher, Clarence [1923], Beth-Shan Excavations of the University Museum Expedition, 1921–1923", Museum Journal 14 (1923), pp.229–231.

• FitzGerald, G.M. [1931], Beth-shan Excavations 1921-23: the Arab and Byzantine Levels, Beth-shan III, University Museum: Philadelphia, 1931.
  • [1932], "Excavations at Beth-Shan in 1931", PEFQS 63 (1932), pp.142–145.

• Rowe, Alan [1930], The Topography and History of Beth-Shan, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1930.
  • [1940], The Four Canaanite Temples of Beth-shan, Beth-shan II:1, University Museum: Philadelphia, 1940.

• James, Frances W. & McGovern, Patrick E. [1993], The Late Bronze Egyptian Garrison at Beth Shan: a Study of Levels VII and VIII, 2 volumes, [University Museum Monograph 85], Philadelphia: University Museum, University of Pennsylvania & University of Mississippi, 1993. ISBN 0924171278

Hebrew University Jerusalem Excavations

• Mazar, Amihai [2006], Excavations at Tel Beth Shean 1989-1996, Volume I: From the Late Bronze Age IIB to the Medieval Period, Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society / Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2006.

• Mazar, A. and Mullins, Robert (eds) [2007], Excavations at Tel Beth Shean 1989-1996, Volume II: The Middle and Late Bronze Age Strata in Area R, Jerusalem: IES / HUJ, 2007.

General

• Finkelstein, Israel [1996], "The Stratigraphy and Chronology of Megiddo and Beth-Shan in the 12th-11th Centuries BCE", TA 23 (1996), pp.170-184.

• Garfinkel, Yosef [1987], "The Early Iron Age Stratigraphy of Beth Shean Reconsidered", IEJ 37 (1987), pp.224-228.

• Geva, Shulamit [1979], "A Reassessment of the Chronology of Beth Shean Strata V and IV", IEJ 29 (1979), pp.6-10.

• Greenberg, Raphael [2003], "Early Bronze Age Megiddo and Beth Shean: Discontinuous Settlement in Sociopolitical Context", JMA 16.1 (2003), pp.17-32.

• Hankey, V. [1966], "Late Mycenaean Pottery at Beth-Shan", AJA 70 (1966), pp.169-171.

• Higginbotham, C. [1999], "The Statue of Ramses III from Beth Shean", TA 26 (1999), pp.225-232.

• Horowitz, Wayne [1994], "Trouble in Canaan: A Letter of the el-Amarna Period on a Clay Cylinder from Beth Shean", Qadmoniot 27 (1994), pp.84-86 (Hebrew).
  • [1996], "An Inscribed Clay Cylinder from Amarna Age Beth Shean", IEJ 46 (1996), pp.208-218.

• McGovern, Patrick E. [1987], “Silicate Industries of Late Bronze-Early Iron Age Palestine: Technological Interaction between New Kingdom Egypt and the Levant”, in Bimson, M. & Freestone, LC. (eds), Early Vitreous Materials, [British Museum Occasional Papers 56], London: British Museum Press, 1987, pp.91-114.
  • [1989], “Cross-Cultural Craft Interaction: the Late Bronze Egyptian Garrison at Beth Shan”, in McGovern, P.E. (ed,), Cross-Craft and Cultural Interactions in Ceramics, [Ceramics and Civilisation 4, ed. Kingery, W.D.], Westerville: American Ceramic Society, 1989, pp.147-194.
  • [1990], “The Ultimate Attire: Jewelry from a Canaanite Temple at Beth Shan”, Expedition 32 (1990), pp. 16-23.
  • [1994], “Were the Sea Peoples at Beth Shan?”, in Lemche, N.P. & Müller, M. (eds), Fra dybet: Festskrift til John Strange, [Forum for Bibelsk Eksegese 5], Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanus and University of Copenhagen, 1994, pp.144-156.

• McGovern, P.E., Fleming, S.J. & Swann, C.P. [1993], “The Late Bronze Egyptian Garrison at Beth Shan: Glass and Faience Production and Importation in the Late New Kingdom”, BASOR 290-91 (1993), pp.1-27.

• Mazar, A., Ziv-Esudri, Adi and Cohen-Weinberger, Anet [2000], "The Early Bronze Age II-III at Tel Beth Shean: Preliminary Observations", in Philip, G. and Baird, D. (eds), Ceramics and Change in the Early Bronze Age of the Southern Levant, [Levantine Archaeology 2], Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000, pp.255-278.

• Mazar, Amihai [1990], “The Excavations at Tel Beth-Shean”, Eretz-Israel 21 (1990), pp.197-211 (יברית).
  • [1992], “Temples of the Middle and Late Bronze Ages and the Iron Age”, in Kempinski, A. and Reich, R. (eds), The Architecture of Ancient Israel from the Prehistoric to the Persian Periods - in Memory of Immanual (Munya) Dunayevsky, Jerusalem: IES, 1992, pp.161-187.
  • [1993a], “The Excavations at Tel Beth-Shean in 1989-1990”, in Biran, A. and Aviram, J. (eds), Biblical Archaeology Today, 1990 - Proceedings of the Second International Congress on Biblical Archaeology, Jerusalem, 1990, Jerusalem: IES, 1993, pp.606-619.
  • [1993b]], “Beth Shean in the Iron Age: Preliminary Report and Conclusions of the 1990 - 1991 Excavations”, IEJ 43.4 (1993), pp.201-229.
  • [1994], “Four Thousand Years of History at Tel Beth-Shean”, Qadmoniot 27.3-4 (1994), pp.66-83 (יברית).
  • [1997a], “Four Thousand Years of History at Tel Beth-Shean - An Account of the Renewed Excavations”, BA 60.2 (1997), pp.62-76.
  • [1997b], “The Excavations at Tel Beth Shean during the Years 1989-94”, in Silberman, N.A. and Small, D. (eds), The Archaeology of Israel – Constructing the Past, Interpreting the Present, [JSOT Supplement Series 237], Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997, pp.144-164.
  • [2003], "Beth Shean in the Second Millennium BCE: From Canaanite Town to Egyptian Stronghold", in Bietak, M. (ed.), The Synchronisation of Civilisations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the SEcond Millennium BC, II. Proceedings of the SCIEM 2000-EuroConference Haindorf, 2nd of May—7th of May 2001, Vienna, 2003, pp.323-339.
  • [2006], “Tel Beth-Shean and the Fate of Mounds in the Intermediate Bronze Age”, in Gitin, S., Wright, J.E. and Dessel, J.P. (eds), Confronting the Past—Archaeological and Historical Essays on Ancient Israel in Honor of William G. Dever, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2006, pp.105-118. ISBN 1575061171

• Mullins, Robert A. [2006], “A Corpus of Eighteenth Dynasty Egyptian-Style Pottery from Tel Beth-Shean”, in Maeir, A.M. and Miroschedji, P. de (eds), “I Will Speak the Riddle of Ancient Times”—Archaeological and Historical Studies in Honor of Amihai Mazar on the Occasion of His Sixtieth Birthday, Volume 1, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2006, pp.247-262. ISBN 1575061031

• Oren, Eliezer D. [1973], The Northern Cemetery of Beth-Shean, [Museum Monograph of the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania], E.J. Brill: Leiden, 1973.

• Porter, R.M. [1994-1995], "Dating the Beth Shean Temple Sequence", Journal of the Ancient Chronology Forum 7 (1994-95), pp.52-69.
  • [1998], "An Egyptian Temple at Tel Beth Shean and Ramesses IV", in Eyre, C. (ed.), Seventh International Congress of Egyptologists, Cambridge, 3-9 September 1995, [Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 82], Uitgeverij Peeters: Leuven, 1998, pp.903-910.

• Sweeney, Deborah [1998], "The Man on the Folding Chair: An Egyptian Relief from Beth Shean", IEJ 48 (1998), pp.38-53.

• Thompson, T.O. [1970], Mekal, the God of Beth Shean, E.J. Brill: Leiden, 1970.

External links

• Tel Beth Shean Excavations