Post-Destruction Squatter Phases in the Iron Age IIB–C Southern Levant

Itkin, Eli

doi:10.1086/720559

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…This is quite dissimilar for instance to mudbrick production in the Late Bronze Age Tel Lachish in which the use of chaff as vegetal temper was well attested (Goldberg, 1979) The lack of extensive vegetal temper in the Ashdod‐Yam recipe during Iron IIB–C could be viewed in light of ancient environmental reconstructions that show that Iron IIB was a drier period (Langgut et al, 2015; Rambeau & Black, 2011). Furthermore, anthropogenic processes, such as the destructive impact of warfare on the availability of resources, should also be taken into account (Itkin, 2022). The selection of soils rich in natural inclusions, such as the quartz and conglomerates identified in the Ashdod‐Yam mudbrick recipe, may have compensated for this impact.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The construction of the site's Iron Age enclosure and its relation to the settlement at Tel Ashdod have been the subject of much debate over the past two decades (see summaries in Fantalkin [2001Fantalkin [ , 2014Fantalkin [ , 2018 and Itkin [2022]). While Kaplan (1969) argued that the enclosure was built on a local initiative as a response to a Neo-Assyrian threat, others interpret it as a Neo-Assyrian imperial enterprise (Finkelstein & Singer-Avitz, 2001;Na'aman, 2001).…”

Section: Archaeological Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Masters of mudbrick: Geoarchaeological analysis of Iron Age earthen public buildings at Ashdod‐Yam (Israel)

Lorenzon,

Cutillas‐Victoria,

Itkin

et al. 2023

Geoarchaeology

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Excavations at Ashdod‐Yam exposed a fortification system that features a massive mudbrick wall with large earthen ramparts laid on either side. This fortified horseshoe‐shaped enclosure once surrounded what was likely a human‐made harbor and an adjacent acropolis with complex earthen architecture, constructed and active during Iron Age IIB–C (eighth–seventh centuries B.C.E.). These Iron Age public structures are at the center of the current research. In this paper, we present the geoarchaeological analyses of Ashdod‐Yam's earthen architecture. We applied a multidisciplinary methodology to new evidence for mudbrick manufacture with the goal of understanding the relationship between governing bodies and craftsmen. The analyses combine X‐ray fluorescence, loss on ignition, environmental scanning electron microscopy, and thin‐section petrography to investigate raw material procurement, manufacturing choices, and labor organization at Ashdod‐Yam during Iron IIB–C. Construction techniques and the standardization of the mudbrick recipe point to a local enterprise regarding the site's public earthen architecture. Furthermore, the degree of labor organization must have been closely observed and supervised by a central political power. Thus, it is argued here that construction and maintenance of the site was carried out by the kingdom of Ashdod, either as a part of its own local initiative or on behalf of the Neo‐Assyrian empire.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Archaeological Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Masters of mudbrick: Geoarchaeological analysis of Iron Age earthen public buildings at Ashdod‐Yam (Israel)

Lorenzon,

Cutillas‐Victoria,

Itkin

et al. 2023

Geoarchaeology

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“…And not just Jerusalem: overall, “the settlement of Judah grew immensely at this period and the population doubled” (Weinfeld, 1985: 90). Historians have debated the magnitude and pace of this migration process, but there was nonetheless a migration pattern from the North to the Southern Kingdom (Finkelstein and Silberman, 2006; Na’aman, 2014; Sapir Hen et al, 2015; Sapir-Hen, 2019; see also Itkin, 2022).…”

Section: Illustrating the Internalization Theory Of The Judaic Pig Banmentioning

confidence: 99%

Externality and taboo: Resolving the Judaic pig puzzle

Leeson,

Geloso,

Snow

2023

Rationality and Society

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Judaic law famously bans pigs. For millennia, scholars have wondered why. This paper uses the economics of property rights to resolve the puzzle. We argue that the Judaic pig ban was an instrument for internalizing swine externalities. Free ranging pigs in search of sustenance trespass on agricultural landowners’ property, wreaking destruction. Activities that foster such pigs thus create negative externalities that can cripple agricultural economies. When the expected cost of swine externalities becomes large, internalization becomes worthwhile: lawmakers with a vested interest in the agricultural economy ban activities that foster free ranging pigs. That is what transpired in ancient Judah, where lawmakers were priests whose livelihoods depended on agriculture, where all swine ranged freely, and where the expected cost of swine externalities surged during the late Iron Age. Lawmakers invoked God to enjoin involvement with pigs because a supernatural injunction was cheaper to enforce than a natural one: in a land of faithful Hebrews, Yahweh’s swine prohibition enforced itself. The Judaic pig ban’s features are consistent with pig bans recently adopted by US states such as Montana, which everyone agrees are instruments for internalizing swine externalities.

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Post-Destruction Squatter Phases in the Iron Age IIB–C Southern Levant

Cited by 2 publications

References 51 publications

Masters of mudbrick: Geoarchaeological analysis of Iron Age earthen public buildings at Ashdod‐Yam (Israel)

Masters of mudbrick: Geoarchaeological analysis of Iron Age earthen public buildings at Ashdod‐Yam (Israel)

Externality and taboo: Resolving the Judaic pig puzzle

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