Putting the Q Back in PEQ

The latest PEQ (Volume 145, Number 1, March 2013) arrived this past week, celebrating its return to being quarterly rather than bi-annually, tri-annually, or whenever-we-can-ally.

I knew something was different because until now, it had arrived in a light-blue wrapper, but now it's light-yellow. The publisher also decided to put the well-known (from many other PEF publications) drawing of Warren's 80-foot "tourist elevator" drawing on the cover, which includes the cute little guys with torches analyzing the large alphabetic inscription at the underground Temple Mount wall.

Indirect LMLK content:

SOLVING A CENTURY-OLD PUZZLE: NEW DISCOVERIES AT THE MIDDLE BRONZE GATE OF TEL BETH-SHEMESH by Shlomo Bunimovitz & Zvi Lederman

"At Ain Shems (Beth-Shemesh) in 1911‐1912, Duncan Mackenzie exposed a massive city wall and its ‘South Gate’. Mackenzie published only a schematic plan of the gate, which he dated back to the ‘Canaanite period’, and covered it at the end of his work. The gate comprises one of the finest examples of Middle Bronze city gates known from the Land of Israel, yet its asymmetrical plan and final date of use remained a puzzle for almost a century. Combining archaeological clues on the ground with a study of Mackenzie's unpublished documents in the PEF archive, the authors' renewed excavations at Tel Beth-Shemesh, located the hidden ‘South Gate’ and exposed it anew. The new excavation revealed unknown details about the gate's plan and determined Late Bronze IIA as the terminus ad quem for its function as a gate. A reassessment of the ‘South Gate’ architecture, roofing, and system of closure provides new insights concerning its daily functioning, and raises doubts about the conventional uniform reconstruction of known MB gates. The role of Beth-Shemesh as a fortified MBIIB-C city in the northern Shephelah is discussed vis-à-vis its neighbouring sites: Tel Batash, Tel Miqne, and Gezer. "

A STAMPED IMPRESSION ON THE RIM OF A MB II STORAGE JAR by Lilly Gershuny

"The scarab impression on the rim of a Middle Bronze II storage jar is the first of its kind to be discovered in Israel. The pattern on the impression appears on scarabs of the period. The unusual location of the impression may point to a special content of the jar, or alternatively to the owner of this pot. Once the context of the storage jar rim is studied, it may shed some light on the possible association of this jar with the scarab impression on its rim. "

A REDISCOVERED LOST SEAL FROM GEZER by Tallay Ornan

"A carnelian pebble stamp seal excavated by Macalister at Gezer and believed lost, and a seal kept today in the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem, are one and the same. A cast of the original kept by the Palestine Exploration Fund in London proves to be identical to the seal in Jerusalem. The unique iconography of the seal showing a man in a cultic gesture in front of a griffin, as well as its stylistic details, show it to be an Assyrianized product of the late eighth or seventh century bc, possibly of local production."

The iconography, which includes an x2x, is not unique. The guy engraved on the seal looks like he was listening to this excellent HS song:



G.M. Grena