The Ammonite Language Of The Iron Age

A state-of-the-art presentation on a people/nation of Transjordan known to readers of the Bible as a neighbor, and often an enemy, of first millennium B.C. Israel. Topics covered in the book's ten chapters include a review of archaeological research in Ammon (R.W. Younker); the emergence of the Ammonites (R.W. Younker); Ammonite territory and sites (B. MacDonald); Ammonite "monumental" and domestic architecture (M. Najjar and P.M.M. Daviau respectively), as well as burial customs and practices (K. Yassine); the ceramic traditions of Central Transjordan (G. London); Ammonite texts and language (W. E. Aufrecht); the religion of the Ammonites (W.E. Aufrecht); and the Ammonites in the late Iron Age and the Persian period (L.G. Herr). Figures and Tables accompany each chapter. In addition, the publication includes an "Excursus" on the salient features of Iron Age tribal kingdoms (O. LaBianca). Each chapter of "Ancient Ammon" includes extensive reference material. The publication is fully indexed.

Israel: Ancient Kingdom or Late Invention? is a collection of essays responding to the radical claims that Israel and its history actually began following the Babylonian exile, and that the history of Israel we read about in the Bible is a fictionalized account. Contributors are leading Bible and archaeology scholars who bring extra-biblical evidence to bear for the historicity of the Old Testament and provide case studies of new work being done in the field of archaeology and Old Testament studies.

This book investigates the archaeological, epigraphic, and biblical evidence for the course of Ammon's history, setting it squarely within the context of ancient Near Eastern imperialism. Drawing on cross-cultural parallels from the archaeology of empires, Tyson elucidates the dynamic processes by which the local Ammonite elite made the cousins of biblical Israel visible to history. Tyson explains changes in the region of Ammon during the Iron Age II, namely the increasing numbers of locally produced elite items as well as imports, growth in the use of writing for administrative and display purposes, and larger numbers of sedentary settlements; in the light of the transformative role that the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires played in the ancient Near East. The study also widens the conversation to consider cross-cultural examples of how empires affect peripheral societies.

Situated south of the Dead Sea, near the famous Nabatean capital of Petra, the Faynan region in Jordan contains the largest deposits of copper ore in the southern Levant. The Edom Lowlands Regional Archaeology Project (ELRAP) takes an anthropological-archaeology approach to the deep-time study of culture change in one of the Old World's most important locales for studying technological development. Using innovative digital tools for data recording, curation, analyses, and dissemination, the researchers focused on ancient mining and metallurgy as the subject of surveys and excavations related to the Iron Age (ca. 1200-500 BCE), when the first local, historical state-level societies appeared in this part of the eastern Mediterranean basin. This comprehensive and important volume challenges the current scholarly consensus concerning the emergence and historicity of the Iron Age polity of biblical Edom and some of its neighbors, such as ancient Israel. Excavations and radiometric dating establish a new chronology for Edom, adding almost 500 more years to the Iron Age, including key periods of biblical history when David, Solomon, and the Egyptian pharaoh Shoshenq I are alleged to have interacted with Edom. Included is a 7 gigabyte DVD with over 55,000 files of additional data and photographs from the project.

In this magisterial work the history of the peoples of Palestine from the earliest times to Alexander's conquest is thoroughly sifted and interpreted. All available source material-textural, epigraphic, and archeological-is considered, and the approach taken aims at a dispassionate reconstruction of the major epochs and events by the analysis of social, political, military, and economic phenomena. The book, chronologically structured, is indispensable for the study of the Hebrew Bible and of the ancient Near East.

Beyond Babel provides a general introduction to and overview of the languages that are significant for the study of the Hebrew Bible and ancient Israel. Included are essays on biblical and inscriptional Hebrew, Akkadian, Northwest Semitic dialects (Ammonite, Edomite, and Moabite), Arabic, Aramaic, Egyptian, Hittite, Phoenician, postbiblical Hebrew, and Ugaritic. Each chapter in the volume shares a common format, including an overview of the language, a discussion of its significance for the Hebrew Bible, and a list of ancient sources and modern resources for further study of the language. A general introduction by John Huehnergard discusses the importance of the study of Near Eastern languages for biblical scholarship, helping to make the volume an ideal resource for persons beginning an in-depth study of the Hebrew Bible.

Foreword by Patrick D. Miller In this remarkable, acclaimed history of the development of monotheism, Mark S. Smith explains how Israel's religion evolved from a cult of Yahweh as a primary deity among many to a fully defined monotheistic faith with Yahweh as sole god. Repudiating the traditional view that Israel was fundamentally different in culture and religion from its Canaanite neighbors, this provocative book argues that Israelite religion developed, at least in part, from the religion of Canaan. Drawing on epigraphic and archaeological sources, Smith cogently demonstrates that Israelite religion was not an outright rejection of foreign, pagan gods but, rather, was the result of the progressive establishment of a distinctly separate Israelite identity. This thoroughly revised second edition ofThe Early History of God includes a substantial new preface by the author and a foreword by Patrick D. Miller.