Jeannette Boertien | University of Groningen (original) (raw)
Books by Jeannette Boertien
Exploring the Narrative. Jerusalem and Jordan in the Bronze and Iron Ages., 2014
Textile production is usually found in domestic circumstances. But at Kirbeth al-Mudayna in Moab ... more Textile production is usually found in domestic circumstances. But at Kirbeth al-Mudayna in Moab weaving was undertaken in and on two pillared buildings. Indicating weaving in public space, pointing to the possibility of weaving as a communal activity. Loom weights, textile fragments and indications for dyeing were found within the tempel complex together with different kinds of altars and basins with inscriptions. Raising the question what the relationship was between textile production and cult.
Exploring the Narrative. Jerusalem and Jordan in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Library of Hebrew bible/Old testament studies 583. T&T Clark. Bloomsbury., 2014
This volume brings together a number of scholars who use archaeology as a tool to question the so... more This volume brings together a number of scholars who use archaeology as a tool to question the sometimes easy assumptions made by historians and biblical scholars about the past. It combines essays from both archaeologists and biblical scholars whose subject matter, whilst differing widely in both geographical and chronological terms, also shares a critical stance used to examine the relationship between 'dirt' archaeology and the biblical world as presented to us through written sources.
Textiles are rarely found in archaeology because they decay due to climate and soil conditions. O... more Textiles are rarely found in archaeology because they decay due to climate and soil conditions. Objects that were used to make thread and fabric and that are found in excavations do, however, enable reconstructions of textile production. In this study the data from 1480 loom weights and a number of textile fragments from four Iron Age sites in Transjordan – dated between 800 and 332 BC – were used as a starting point to reconstruct the economic and cultic aspects of textile production. This opened up new insights into the availability and use of raw materials, production techniques, labour investment, producers, consumers and the market. The approach of this study, placing textile research in the context of text analysis, has enabled new interpretations of archaeological finds, unveiling aspects of the economic, social and religious fabric of Iron Age society, and simultaneously it sheds new light on texts from the southern Levant, resulting in a new kaleidoscopic approach to biblical archaeology.
Tell er-Rumeith lies at the eastern edge of the Irbid plain in northern Jordan not far from the S... more Tell er-Rumeith lies at the eastern edge of the Irbid plain in northern Jordan not far from the Syria border and the present town of Ramtha. The publication presents the most complete corpus of Iron Age pottery for this area and its occupation reflects the Biblical traditions of the region. Tristan Barako, Nancy Lapp, and the other authors have used the field notes, reports and photographs of Paul Lapp's excavations in the 1960s to bring together this final report. In Part I of the volume, Barako and N. Lapp present the basic stratigraphy of the site and the corpus of Iron Age pottery that represents its main period of occupation. Part II presents studies of artifacts by a variety of authors, including the post-Iron age pottery, noteworthy presentations of the community health (the human skeleton evidence) and textile production at the site, as well as fascinating collections of figurines, groundstone and other small finds.
Articles by Jeannette Boertien
TMA59, 2018
The excavations at Tell Abu Sarbut (2012-2015) have revealed a building and the courtyard of anot... more The excavations at Tell Abu Sarbut (2012-2015) have revealed a building and the courtyard of another building from the Early Roman period (first century BC to second century AD). The building consisted of five rooms around a central courtyard. Many complete pottery vessels were retrieved, as well as limestone beakers, so-called Herodian lamps, terra sigillata sherds and fragments of glass vessels. The pottery repertoire was simple and consisted of cooking pots, small bowls, and small and large jars. Several different types of cooking pots were found lying together on the floors. A large number of limestone beaker fragments was retrieved from these layers.
The excavations revealed that Tell Abu Sarbut was settled for the first time in the Late Hellenistic or Early Roman period when the Jordan Valley was used to produce food for the inhabitants of the Decapolis cities, especially Pella. A long sequence of walls and floors from the Early Roman period has been uncovered. The settlement seems to have been abandoned due to an earthquake or large fire, as the uppermost floors were sealed with a thick layer of heavily burnt debris. Only in the Abbasid (eighth to tenth century) and the Mamluk (thirteenth to sixteenth century) periods, the site was inhabited again.
Texts and textile finds from Iron Age Deir ‘Alla in the Jordan Valley and Kuntillet ‘Ajrud in the... more Texts and textile finds from Iron Age Deir ‘Alla in the Jordan Valley and Kuntillet ‘Ajrud in the North-Eastern Sinai shed some light on a female goddess. Both sites are dated about 800 BC, and revealed unique inscriptions and drawings on plastered walls and on both sites a special kind of textile was produced. In Kuntillet ‘Ajrud a collection of about a hundred textile fragments was discovered, amongst these pieces of textile was a fabric made of a mixture of wool and linen: the so called: sha’atnez (Lev. 19, 19. and Ex. 28, 4 –8). In Deir ‘Alla too a special textile has been excavated, in the complex in which the Balaam plaster text was found. Here a very fine hemp cloth was made. The benched (cult) room in Deir ‘Alla and Kuntillet ‘Ajrud and the production of a special cloth could point to a similarity in the function of both sites. The production of special fabrics may be interpreted in the light of the religious function of the sites because at least part of the fabrics are thought to be produced for the shrine. The names used in the texts from Deir ‘Alla and Kuntillet ‘Ajrud point to a female goddess. Textile production is often related to the goddess Asherah /Ishtar and weaving for Asherah is a usual ritual in the Levant during this period. Whether the production of textile in Deir ‘Alla and Kuntillet ‘Ajrud can be related to the goddess Asherah is debated.
Leiden Journal of Pottery Studies. Volume 25, page 31-45., 2009
Archaeological classifications of clay loom weights are usually based on morphological criteria. ... more Archaeological classifications of clay loom weights are usually based on morphological criteria. In this article on the Iron Age loom weights excavated at Tell Deir ‘Alla in Jordan attention is paid to a technological approach of the study of these artefacts. Like in technological pottery studies, this approach focuses on the reconstruction of the manufacturing technique based on the interpretation of technical characteristics followed by a simulation experiment. It gives an explanation for the various morphological loom weight types.
TMA50, 2013
Resistance against globalization and hellenization was powerful among some Jewish communities dur... more Resistance against globalization and hellenization was powerful among some Jewish communities during the first centuries BC and AD. This found its expression in the material culture, such as the rejection of decorated table vessels, Italian-style cooking pans and foreign modes of dining. Instead, locally made cooking vessels, undecorated lamps and certain chalk stone vessels were used as markers of ethnic solidarity and, perhaps, religious attitudes. This `household Judaism’ (Berlin 2005) has been documented widely in the areas of Judaea, Galilee and Gaulanitis; the traditional Jewish regions west of the river Jordan. Another region with many Jewish inhabitants, Perea across the Jordan, has as yet not yielded any of these traits. The renewed excavations of Tell Abu Sarbut in the eastern Jordan Valley may readily change this picture. What started as research into a local rural community from the third century AD, could now include the excavation of the remains of a Jewish community from the first centuries BC-AD.
Contributions to Excavation Reports by Jeannette Boertien
In: Sacred and Sweet. Studies on the Material Culture of Tell Deir 'Alla and Tell Abu Sarbut. Ed. by M.L.Steiner and E.J. Van der Steen. Peeters, Leuven:page 135-151., 2008
Exploring the Narrative. Jerusalem and Jordan in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Eds. J.Van der Steen, J.Boertien and N.Mulder-Hymans. The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 583. Bloomsbury T&T Clark, London: 133- 158., 2014
Khirbet al-Mudayna is a small, walled settlement, existing from the end of the ninth century till... more Khirbet al-Mudayna is a small, walled settlement, existing from the end of the ninth century till the end of the seventh or in the sixth century B.C.E. Mudayna may have functioned as a fortress guarding the eastern border of ancient Moab or as a centre for textile production, or both. To investigate whether textile production was one of the main reasons for the existence of Khirbet al-Mudayna I have studied the excavated material associated with textile production, particularly the loom weights and the actual textile remains from the settlement (Boertien 2014).
Production of textiles for public use may indicate a religious connotation, because weaving for a temple and especially weaving clothes for a deity is a well-known phenomenon in the ancient Near East. In this article I will investigate whether traces of such activities can be found at Khirbet al-Mudayna.
Video Conference Presentations by Jeannette Boertien
Proceedings of the Berner Altorientalisches Forum. BAF-Online. Open Access Journal., Feb 1, 2017
The function of loom weights was to stretch and space the warp threads on a vertical loom. The lo... more The function of loom weights was to stretch and space the warp threads on a vertical loom. The loom weight is often the only preserved remnant of a loom used in antiquity. Because of their ubiquity, loom weights are the main key to the study of textile production in the Iron Age in the Levant. During excavations loom weights are easy to recognize if they are made of metal, stone or ceramics. Within burnt layers, unfired clay loom weights can be accidentally fired and thus well preserved. But it is difficult to recognize and securely excavate unfired raw clay loom weights. The two main problems are:
1. Unfired loom weights disintegrate when they get wet.
2. When excavating a mudbrick site, the clay of the loom weights resembles the matrix they were found in.
Clay loom weights were sometimes fired, resulting in durable terracotta weights, but the majority were made of unfired clay. Unlike Staermose Nielsen (Staermose Nielsen, K.-H. In: Pritchard, F. and J.F. Wild (ed.). Northern Archaeological Textiles NESAT VII. Oxbow Books, Oxford, 2005:130), who states: “Groups of unbaked clay weights are the more numerous of all, but as clay loom weights reveal themselves on excavations only as disintegrated lumps, their usefulness in a classification is minimal.” For many excavations Staermose Nielsen is right. But that is because of the way the weights are excavated rather than preserved in the ground. I will demonstrate that clay loom weights, when properly excavated and preserved, can be classified and studied in a meaningful way, enabling us to reconstruct textile production.
Conference Presentations by Jeannette Boertien
Poster presented in Washington in 2007 at the 10th International Congress on the Heritage and A... more Poster presented in Washington in 2007 at the 10th International Congress on the Heritage and Archaeology of Jordan (ICHAJ).
International Conference on the History and Archaeology of Jordan (ICHAJ 13), 2016
A new Loom Weight Typology for Transjordan based on the study of loom weights from Tell Deir 'All... more A new Loom Weight Typology for Transjordan based on the study of loom weights from Tell Deir 'Alla, Tell Mazar, Tell er-Rumetih and Khirbet al Mudayna,
Archaeological finds from different sites in Jordan demonstrate the role textile production playe... more Archaeological finds from different sites in Jordan demonstrate the role textile production played in the society of Ammon and Moab between 800-600 BC.
Tools and textile fragments from Deir 'Alla and Tell Mazar in the Jordan Valley indicate a local tradition in textile production. Tools, texts and archaeological features from both Deir 'Alla and Khirbet al-Mudayna will be discussed to find an answer to the question whether weaving for a temple or a shrine was practised in Iron Age Jordan. And finally an inscription will shed some new light on the role of women in public and religious life in Iron Age Moab.
Tell Abu Sarbut by Jeannette Boertien
TMA 59, 1-6, 2018
The excavations at Tell Abu Sarbut (2012-2015) have revealed a building and the courtyard of anot... more The excavations at Tell Abu Sarbut (2012-2015) have revealed a building and the courtyard of another building from the Early Roman period (first century BC to second
century AD). The building consisted of five rooms around a central courtyard. Many complete pottery vessels were retrieved, as well as limestone beakers, so-called Herodian lamps, terra sigillata sherds and fragments of glass vessels. The pottery repertoire was
simple and consisted of cooking pots, small bowls, and small and large jars. Several different types of cooking pots were found lying together on the floors. A large number of limestone beaker fragments was retrieved from these layers.
The excavations revealed that Tell Abu Sarbut was settled for the first time in the Late Hellenistic or Early Roman period when the Jordan Valley was used to produce food for the inhabitants of the Decapolis cities, especially Pella. A long sequence of walls and floors
from the Early Roman period has been uncovered. The settlement seems to have been abandoned due to an earthquake or large fire, as the uppermost floors were sealed with a thick layer of heavily burnt debris. Only in the Abbasid (eighth to tenth century) and the
Mamluk (thirteenth to sixteenth century) periods, the site was inhabited again.
Papers by Jeannette Boertien
Exploring the Narrative. Jerusalem and Jordan in the Bronze and Iron Ages., 2014
Textile production is usually found in domestic circumstances. But at Kirbeth al-Mudayna in Moab ... more Textile production is usually found in domestic circumstances. But at Kirbeth al-Mudayna in Moab weaving was undertaken in and on two pillared buildings. Indicating weaving in public space, pointing to the possibility of weaving as a communal activity. Loom weights, textile fragments and indications for dyeing were found within the tempel complex together with different kinds of altars and basins with inscriptions. Raising the question what the relationship was between textile production and cult.
Exploring the Narrative. Jerusalem and Jordan in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Library of Hebrew bible/Old testament studies 583. T&T Clark. Bloomsbury., 2014
This volume brings together a number of scholars who use archaeology as a tool to question the so... more This volume brings together a number of scholars who use archaeology as a tool to question the sometimes easy assumptions made by historians and biblical scholars about the past. It combines essays from both archaeologists and biblical scholars whose subject matter, whilst differing widely in both geographical and chronological terms, also shares a critical stance used to examine the relationship between 'dirt' archaeology and the biblical world as presented to us through written sources.
Textiles are rarely found in archaeology because they decay due to climate and soil conditions. O... more Textiles are rarely found in archaeology because they decay due to climate and soil conditions. Objects that were used to make thread and fabric and that are found in excavations do, however, enable reconstructions of textile production. In this study the data from 1480 loom weights and a number of textile fragments from four Iron Age sites in Transjordan – dated between 800 and 332 BC – were used as a starting point to reconstruct the economic and cultic aspects of textile production. This opened up new insights into the availability and use of raw materials, production techniques, labour investment, producers, consumers and the market. The approach of this study, placing textile research in the context of text analysis, has enabled new interpretations of archaeological finds, unveiling aspects of the economic, social and religious fabric of Iron Age society, and simultaneously it sheds new light on texts from the southern Levant, resulting in a new kaleidoscopic approach to biblical archaeology.
Tell er-Rumeith lies at the eastern edge of the Irbid plain in northern Jordan not far from the S... more Tell er-Rumeith lies at the eastern edge of the Irbid plain in northern Jordan not far from the Syria border and the present town of Ramtha. The publication presents the most complete corpus of Iron Age pottery for this area and its occupation reflects the Biblical traditions of the region. Tristan Barako, Nancy Lapp, and the other authors have used the field notes, reports and photographs of Paul Lapp's excavations in the 1960s to bring together this final report. In Part I of the volume, Barako and N. Lapp present the basic stratigraphy of the site and the corpus of Iron Age pottery that represents its main period of occupation. Part II presents studies of artifacts by a variety of authors, including the post-Iron age pottery, noteworthy presentations of the community health (the human skeleton evidence) and textile production at the site, as well as fascinating collections of figurines, groundstone and other small finds.
TMA59, 2018
The excavations at Tell Abu Sarbut (2012-2015) have revealed a building and the courtyard of anot... more The excavations at Tell Abu Sarbut (2012-2015) have revealed a building and the courtyard of another building from the Early Roman period (first century BC to second century AD). The building consisted of five rooms around a central courtyard. Many complete pottery vessels were retrieved, as well as limestone beakers, so-called Herodian lamps, terra sigillata sherds and fragments of glass vessels. The pottery repertoire was simple and consisted of cooking pots, small bowls, and small and large jars. Several different types of cooking pots were found lying together on the floors. A large number of limestone beaker fragments was retrieved from these layers.
The excavations revealed that Tell Abu Sarbut was settled for the first time in the Late Hellenistic or Early Roman period when the Jordan Valley was used to produce food for the inhabitants of the Decapolis cities, especially Pella. A long sequence of walls and floors from the Early Roman period has been uncovered. The settlement seems to have been abandoned due to an earthquake or large fire, as the uppermost floors were sealed with a thick layer of heavily burnt debris. Only in the Abbasid (eighth to tenth century) and the Mamluk (thirteenth to sixteenth century) periods, the site was inhabited again.
Texts and textile finds from Iron Age Deir ‘Alla in the Jordan Valley and Kuntillet ‘Ajrud in the... more Texts and textile finds from Iron Age Deir ‘Alla in the Jordan Valley and Kuntillet ‘Ajrud in the North-Eastern Sinai shed some light on a female goddess. Both sites are dated about 800 BC, and revealed unique inscriptions and drawings on plastered walls and on both sites a special kind of textile was produced. In Kuntillet ‘Ajrud a collection of about a hundred textile fragments was discovered, amongst these pieces of textile was a fabric made of a mixture of wool and linen: the so called: sha’atnez (Lev. 19, 19. and Ex. 28, 4 –8). In Deir ‘Alla too a special textile has been excavated, in the complex in which the Balaam plaster text was found. Here a very fine hemp cloth was made. The benched (cult) room in Deir ‘Alla and Kuntillet ‘Ajrud and the production of a special cloth could point to a similarity in the function of both sites. The production of special fabrics may be interpreted in the light of the religious function of the sites because at least part of the fabrics are thought to be produced for the shrine. The names used in the texts from Deir ‘Alla and Kuntillet ‘Ajrud point to a female goddess. Textile production is often related to the goddess Asherah /Ishtar and weaving for Asherah is a usual ritual in the Levant during this period. Whether the production of textile in Deir ‘Alla and Kuntillet ‘Ajrud can be related to the goddess Asherah is debated.
Leiden Journal of Pottery Studies. Volume 25, page 31-45., 2009
Archaeological classifications of clay loom weights are usually based on morphological criteria. ... more Archaeological classifications of clay loom weights are usually based on morphological criteria. In this article on the Iron Age loom weights excavated at Tell Deir ‘Alla in Jordan attention is paid to a technological approach of the study of these artefacts. Like in technological pottery studies, this approach focuses on the reconstruction of the manufacturing technique based on the interpretation of technical characteristics followed by a simulation experiment. It gives an explanation for the various morphological loom weight types.
TMA50, 2013
Resistance against globalization and hellenization was powerful among some Jewish communities dur... more Resistance against globalization and hellenization was powerful among some Jewish communities during the first centuries BC and AD. This found its expression in the material culture, such as the rejection of decorated table vessels, Italian-style cooking pans and foreign modes of dining. Instead, locally made cooking vessels, undecorated lamps and certain chalk stone vessels were used as markers of ethnic solidarity and, perhaps, religious attitudes. This `household Judaism’ (Berlin 2005) has been documented widely in the areas of Judaea, Galilee and Gaulanitis; the traditional Jewish regions west of the river Jordan. Another region with many Jewish inhabitants, Perea across the Jordan, has as yet not yielded any of these traits. The renewed excavations of Tell Abu Sarbut in the eastern Jordan Valley may readily change this picture. What started as research into a local rural community from the third century AD, could now include the excavation of the remains of a Jewish community from the first centuries BC-AD.
In: Sacred and Sweet. Studies on the Material Culture of Tell Deir 'Alla and Tell Abu Sarbut. Ed. by M.L.Steiner and E.J. Van der Steen. Peeters, Leuven:page 135-151., 2008
Exploring the Narrative. Jerusalem and Jordan in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Eds. J.Van der Steen, J.Boertien and N.Mulder-Hymans. The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 583. Bloomsbury T&T Clark, London: 133- 158., 2014
Khirbet al-Mudayna is a small, walled settlement, existing from the end of the ninth century till... more Khirbet al-Mudayna is a small, walled settlement, existing from the end of the ninth century till the end of the seventh or in the sixth century B.C.E. Mudayna may have functioned as a fortress guarding the eastern border of ancient Moab or as a centre for textile production, or both. To investigate whether textile production was one of the main reasons for the existence of Khirbet al-Mudayna I have studied the excavated material associated with textile production, particularly the loom weights and the actual textile remains from the settlement (Boertien 2014).
Production of textiles for public use may indicate a religious connotation, because weaving for a temple and especially weaving clothes for a deity is a well-known phenomenon in the ancient Near East. In this article I will investigate whether traces of such activities can be found at Khirbet al-Mudayna.
Proceedings of the Berner Altorientalisches Forum. BAF-Online. Open Access Journal., Feb 1, 2017
The function of loom weights was to stretch and space the warp threads on a vertical loom. The lo... more The function of loom weights was to stretch and space the warp threads on a vertical loom. The loom weight is often the only preserved remnant of a loom used in antiquity. Because of their ubiquity, loom weights are the main key to the study of textile production in the Iron Age in the Levant. During excavations loom weights are easy to recognize if they are made of metal, stone or ceramics. Within burnt layers, unfired clay loom weights can be accidentally fired and thus well preserved. But it is difficult to recognize and securely excavate unfired raw clay loom weights. The two main problems are:
1. Unfired loom weights disintegrate when they get wet.
2. When excavating a mudbrick site, the clay of the loom weights resembles the matrix they were found in.
Clay loom weights were sometimes fired, resulting in durable terracotta weights, but the majority were made of unfired clay. Unlike Staermose Nielsen (Staermose Nielsen, K.-H. In: Pritchard, F. and J.F. Wild (ed.). Northern Archaeological Textiles NESAT VII. Oxbow Books, Oxford, 2005:130), who states: “Groups of unbaked clay weights are the more numerous of all, but as clay loom weights reveal themselves on excavations only as disintegrated lumps, their usefulness in a classification is minimal.” For many excavations Staermose Nielsen is right. But that is because of the way the weights are excavated rather than preserved in the ground. I will demonstrate that clay loom weights, when properly excavated and preserved, can be classified and studied in a meaningful way, enabling us to reconstruct textile production.
Poster presented in Washington in 2007 at the 10th International Congress on the Heritage and A... more Poster presented in Washington in 2007 at the 10th International Congress on the Heritage and Archaeology of Jordan (ICHAJ).
International Conference on the History and Archaeology of Jordan (ICHAJ 13), 2016
A new Loom Weight Typology for Transjordan based on the study of loom weights from Tell Deir 'All... more A new Loom Weight Typology for Transjordan based on the study of loom weights from Tell Deir 'Alla, Tell Mazar, Tell er-Rumetih and Khirbet al Mudayna,
Archaeological finds from different sites in Jordan demonstrate the role textile production playe... more Archaeological finds from different sites in Jordan demonstrate the role textile production played in the society of Ammon and Moab between 800-600 BC.
Tools and textile fragments from Deir 'Alla and Tell Mazar in the Jordan Valley indicate a local tradition in textile production. Tools, texts and archaeological features from both Deir 'Alla and Khirbet al-Mudayna will be discussed to find an answer to the question whether weaving for a temple or a shrine was practised in Iron Age Jordan. And finally an inscription will shed some new light on the role of women in public and religious life in Iron Age Moab.
TMA 59, 1-6, 2018
The excavations at Tell Abu Sarbut (2012-2015) have revealed a building and the courtyard of anot... more The excavations at Tell Abu Sarbut (2012-2015) have revealed a building and the courtyard of another building from the Early Roman period (first century BC to second
century AD). The building consisted of five rooms around a central courtyard. Many complete pottery vessels were retrieved, as well as limestone beakers, so-called Herodian lamps, terra sigillata sherds and fragments of glass vessels. The pottery repertoire was
simple and consisted of cooking pots, small bowls, and small and large jars. Several different types of cooking pots were found lying together on the floors. A large number of limestone beaker fragments was retrieved from these layers.
The excavations revealed that Tell Abu Sarbut was settled for the first time in the Late Hellenistic or Early Roman period when the Jordan Valley was used to produce food for the inhabitants of the Decapolis cities, especially Pella. A long sequence of walls and floors
from the Early Roman period has been uncovered. The settlement seems to have been abandoned due to an earthquake or large fire, as the uppermost floors were sealed with a thick layer of heavily burnt debris. Only in the Abbasid (eighth to tenth century) and the
Mamluk (thirteenth to sixteenth century) periods, the site was inhabited again.
![Research paper thumbnail of Exploring the Narrative: Jerusalem and Jordan in the Bronze and Iron Ages [review] / van der Steen, Eveline, Jeannette Boertien, and Noor Mulder-Hymans, eds](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/88873250/thumbnails/1.jpg)
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traffic monitoring and analysis, 2018
Editors: Noor Mulder, Jeannette Boertien, Eveline van der Steen Chapter, Organization of Pottery ... more Editors: Noor Mulder, Jeannette Boertien, Eveline van der Steen Chapter, Organization of Pottery Production in the Iron Age: Evidence from Tell Hesban and Tell Al-‘Umayri, co-authored by Robert Shuster, UNO faculty member. This volume brings together a number of scholars who use archaeology as a tool to question the sometimes easy assumptions made by historians and biblical scholars about the past. It combines essays from both archaeologists and biblical scholars whose subject matter, whilst differing widely in both geographical and chronological terms, also shares a critical stance used to examine the relationship between \u27dirt\u27 archaeology and the biblical world as presented to us through written sources.https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/facultybooks/1329/thumbnail.jp
Het verhaal achter de textielproductie in de IJzertijd van Transjordanie Textiel wordt maar zelde... more Het verhaal achter de textielproductie in de IJzertijd van Transjordanie Textiel wordt maar zelden teruggevonden doordat het vergaat door klimaat en bodemgesteldheid. Voorwerpen waarmee textiel wordt gemaakt zijn echter wel herkenbaar en daarmee kan textielproductie gereconstrueerd worden. In de Levant gebruikte men tussen 800 - 332 v. Chr. een weefgetouw met gewichten van klei. Voor haar onderzoek heeft Jeannette Boertien 1480 weefgewichten en de architectuur van vier verschillende opgravingen in Transjordanie onderzocht. Daardoor werd het mogelijk om een reconstructie te maken van de geweven stof en de economische en sociale aspecten van textielproductie. Daarna heeft Boertien het tekstmateriaal van de opgravingen bestudeerd en de resultaten godsdiensthistorisch onderzocht. Het blijkt dat in de IJzertijd bij textielproductie in Ammon en Moab cultische factoren een rol speelden en dat er soms geweven werd voor een godin. Een caleidoscopische benadering, zoals toegepast in deze stud...
BAF-Online: Proceedings of the Berner Altorientalisches Forum
In the built environment of a past society it is often difficult to distinguish between sacred an... more In the built environment of a past society it is often difficult to distinguish between sacred and profane objects and places. We struggle with the difficult tasks of recovering and understanding the behaviours that took place in domestic and public units. Baking, spinning and weaving can be traced very well in the archaeological record from artifacts such as ovens, spindle whorls, loom weights and other remnants representing a loom. Traces of weaving and baking are often found in domestic context. Weaving and backing for a temple and especially weaving clothes and backing bread for a deity are well-known phenomena in the ancient Near East. But in the archaeology of the Southern Levant weaving and baking in association with a temple or a shrine seems to be overlooked.Khirbet al Mudayna, Tell Deir Alla and Tell es-Saidiyeh, situated in Transjordan, with their huge and concentrated numbers of Iron Age loom weights and distinctive architecture, indicate production for others than the d...
BAF-Online: Proceedings of the Berner Altorientalisches Forum
The function of loom weights was to stretch and space the warp threads on a vertical loom. The l... more The function of loom weights was to stretch and space the warp threads on a vertical loom. The loom weight is often the only preserved remnant of a loom used in antiquity. Because of their ubiquity, loom weights are the main key to the study of textile production in the Iron Age in the Levant.During excavations loom weights are easy to recognize if they are made of metal, stone or ceramics. Within burnt layers, unfired clay loom weights can be accidentally fired and thus well preserved. But it is difficult to recognize and securely excavate unfired raw clay loom weights. The two main problems are:1. Unfired loom weights disintegrate when they get wet.2. When excavating a mudbrick site, the clay of the loom weights resembles the matrix they were found in.Clay loom weights were sometimes fired, resulting in durable terracotta weights, but the majority were made of unfired clay. Unlike Staermose Nielsen (Staermose Nielsen, K.-H. In: Pritchard, F. and J.F. Wild (ed.). Northern Archaeol...
BAF-Online: Proceedings of the Berner Altorientalisches Forum
Tell Abu Sarbut is situated in the Jordan Valley about 80 km north of Amman, the excavation seaso... more Tell Abu Sarbut is situated in the Jordan Valley about 80 km north of Amman, the excavation seasons 2012-2015 revealed a small Early Roman hamlet and unexpected and surprising stone vessels were found.The vessels were hand cut or lathe turned, produced around Jerusalem and in Galilee in Capernaum, Sepphoris, Nabratein and also in Gamla in the Golan. Soft chalkstone vessels excavated from Levantine sites dated between 100 BC and 200 AD, are always found together with specific oil lamps, pottery, and sometimes with stepped pools.Such stone vessels are well known from Qumran and Jerusalem, they are considered markers of Jewish identity. There is an on-going discussion on the subject. According to Berlin material possessions encode and reflect religious identity. (A.Berlin, 2005. Jewish Life Before the Revolt. Journal for the Study of Judaism 36, 4:417- 470). Near contemporaneous texts tell that stone vessels were considered impervious to ritual impurity. Different authors state that th...
Exploring the Narrative : Jerusalem and Jordan in the Bronze and Iron Ages, 2014
Khirbet al-Mudayna is a small, walled settlement, existing from the end of the ninth century till... more Khirbet al-Mudayna is a small, walled settlement, existing from the end of the ninth century till the end of the seventh or in the sixth century B.C.E. Mudayna may have functioned as a fortress guarding the eastern border of ancient Moab or as a centre for textile production, or both. To investigate whether textile production was one of the main reasons for the existence of Khirbet al-Mudayna I have studied the excavated material associated with textile production, particularly the loom weights and the actual textile remains from the settlement (Boertien 2014). Production of textiles for public use may indicate a religious connotation, because weaving for a temple and especially weaving clothes for a deity is a well-known phenomenon in the ancient Near East. In this article I will investigate whether traces of such activities can be found at Khirbet al-Mudayna.
