IN THE HIGHLAND'S DEPTH

HALF-YEARLY JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY

OF THE HIGHLAND'S REGION AND UNDERGROUND CAVITIES

Volume 11/ Issue 1/ Spring 2021

EditorsAharon Tavger | Zohar Amar

Associate EditorAmichay Schwartz

Editorial BoardDr. Eyal Baruch Bar-Ilan UniversityProf. Yoel Elizur The Hebrew University; Herzog College; Jerusalem CollegeProf. Esther Eshel Bar-Ilan UniversityProf. Amos Frumkin The Hebrew UniversityProf. Itzick Shai Ariel University

In the Highland's DepthAn Academic Peer-reviewed Journal, Published Semiannually Every Year

The Department of the Land of Israel and ArchaeologyAriel University, Israel

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ISBN 978-965-91808-0-6ISSN 2521-9456 (print), 2706-7572 (online)

Cover Picture: Structure at Khirbet Fasayil, the Jordan Valley (photograph: B. Yang)

ContentsAharon Tavger and Zohar Amar Introduction

Avraham FaustIn Memoriam: Prof. Shlomo Bunimovitz, 1952–2020 1*

English Section

David Adan-Bayewitz, Chaim Ben David and Mechael Osband 5*Pottery Production Sites in Roman Gaulanitis: Identification and Investigation Using Evidence from Surface Surveys and Shovel Tests

English Abstracts of the Hebrew Section's Papers 37*

Hebrew Section

Yosef Garfinkel 5Research on the Kingdom of Judah in the Last Decade, 2010–2020

Reut Livyatan Ben-Arie 53A Destruction Layer from the Hellenistic Period at Tel Shiloh

Dvir Raviv and Aharon Tavger 73The Artabba Fortress (E.P. 364): The Discovery of a Hasmonean-Herodian Fortress on the Northern Border of Judea

Yinon Shivtiel and Zeev Safrai 97The Hiding Complex at Tel Mishmar Ha-‘emek (Abu-Shusha), Geva Parashim: A Jewish Defense System in a Gentile Polis

Zohar Amar and Elron Zabatani 121Sap and Oil from the Officinal Storax Tree

Hebrew Abstract of the English Section's Paper 141

1*

In Memoriam: Prof. Shlomo Bunimovitz1

1952—2020Avraham Faust

Shlomo Bunimovitz, one of Israel’s leading archaeologists, passed away on December 5,

2020, at the age of 68, after a battle with cancer.

Shlomo excelled in the field, in the library and in the classroom – he was a prominent

scholar and beloved teacher, a man of great integrity and a perfectionist in his research

and teaching.

Born in Tel Aviv on November 21, 1952, Shlomo began his undergraduate studies in 1975

at Tel Aviv University, where he would earn all his degrees. His master’s thesis was titled

“From Khirokitia to Enkomi: A Composite Model for Culture Change in Cyprus from the

Neolithic to the Late Cypriot Period”, and his groundbreaking dissertation was on “The Land

of Israel in the Late Bronze Age – A Case Study of Sociocultural Change in a Complex

Society”. Both were written under the supervision of Prof. Ora Negbi. In the course of his

studies, Shlomo participated in many excavations and surveys, including Moshe Kochavi’s

excavations at Aphek, where he was an area supervisor; excavations in the Sinai and at Tel

Ira under Itzhak Beit-Arieh; Zeev Meshel’s excavations at Kuntillet ‘Ajrud; Ram Gophna’s

survey in the Sharon region; and the excavations at Shiloh and survey of Mount Ephraim,

where he and Zvi Lederman served as co-directors together with Israel Finkelstein.

From 1978, when he completed his master’s studies, and until his passing, Shlomo

taught in the Tel Aviv University Department of Archaeology. He also taught for many

years in the Department of Land of Israel Studies at Bar-Ilan University.

In 1990, Shlomo started excavating Tel Beth-Shemesh together with Zvi Lederman. This

project, which continued until his death, was one of the highlights of his scholarly activity.

1 In writing this I was assisted by Dr. Zvi Lederman. I thank him for his help.

In the Highland’s DepthVolume 11, Issue 1, Spring 2021, pp. 1*–4*DOI: https://doi.org/10.26351/IHD/11-1/1ISSN: 2521-9456 (print); 2706-7572 (online)

2* Avraham Faust

At Tel Beth-Shemesh, one of the main Biblical-era sites in Israel, Shlomo and Zvi not only

furthered excavation techniques and introduced advanced technologies—the excavations

there were among the first to use computers as an integral part of the documentation

process—but also developed new interpretative frameworks. Unlike in most excavations,

at Tel Beth-Shemesh strong emphasis was placed not only on the major historical questions

but also on issues of identity, technology, intercultural relations, and more. The excavation

finds were presented in dozens of papers in journals and at conferences; climaxing with the

two-volume final report of the 1990–2000 seasons, published by the Tel Aviv University

Institute of Archaeology (Bunimovitz and Lederman 2016).

Shlomo will be remembered not only for the Beth-Shemesh excavation project, but also

for his leading role in introducing anthropological (processual and then post-processual)

approaches to the archaeology of the Land of Israel. These approaches, which focus on

social and cognitive questions, were not common in Israeli archaeology (except in the field

of prehistory), and some scholars objected to them vehemently. The socio-anthropological

approach—a cornerstone of archaeological research worldwide—was not part of the

agenda of Israeli archaeology, which looked mainly at historical questions, and Shlomo

was exposed to these research approaches when he wrote his master’s thesis about Cyprus;

his research led him to Colin Renfrew’s groundbreaking book about the emergence of

civilization in the Aegean world (Renfrew 1972), which he said opened up an entire

world to him. Shlomo was captivated by these approaches, which greatly influenced his

pioneering doctoral dissertation about the Land of Israel in the Late Bronze Age. Shlomo

became an expert in these approaches, lectured about them, and wrote about them. His

pioneering early research on Middle Bronze ramparts, the political structure in the Late

Bronze Age, and Philistine identity is still influential today. His comprehensive studies

on the Late Bronze Age, the Philistines, and relations between Israelites, Canaanites, and

Philistines—all with a socio-anthropological emphasis—are milestones in scholarship.

Shlomo also encouraged his students to develop their research in these directions;

many of them are spearheading the use of these approaches and making them accessible to

their students.

Shlomo was a perfectionist. He was meticulous about every word he wrote, and only when

he was sure that each sentence or paragraph was not only scientifically grounded but also

3* In Memoriam: Prof. Shlomo Bunimovitz

well-written, using rich language, did he go on to the next. As his student, I experienced his

full punctiliousness when I wrote the proposal for my master’s thesis on the rural settlement

in the Land of Israel in the Iron Age II. I was very proud of my choice of topic, the extensive

material I had managed to gather on a subject that had hardly been addressed until then, the

promising directions in which I believed the project could lead and especially the potential social

contexts of the data. After I submitted the first draft of my research proposal to Shlomo, I eagerly

waited for him to finish reading it and to hear his opinion. Shlomo came to our meeting with

my proposal covered completely in red (he usually wrote his comments in red ink). He spent

about three hours going over his comments with me without saying a single good word about

the topic, the large amount of material that I had found or the potential of the project. When he

had finished going over his comments and had made sure that I had understood them, I asked

him: “And what do you think about the idea?” Shlomo thought for a moment and replied: “With

all this mess I didn’t see any idea. Fix it, bring it back, and then we’ll talk about the idea”. For

several months we played ping pong with drafts of the proposal until he was satisfied. This

hard work made writing the research proposal a formative experience for me, and my academic

writing improved in those months more than at any other stage in my academic career. A similar

perfectionism characterized our work on papers that we published together, as well as his role

as chairman of the steering committee of the National Knowledge Center on the History and

Heritage of Jerusalem and Its Environs. I always knew—and this was as a great relief—that if

Shlomo approved a draft, there was no need to go over it again. It couldn’t get any better.

It should be stressed that Shlomo’s perfectionism was directed first and foremost at

himself. He wrote several books and dozens of articles, and each one was meticulously

written and edited, linguistically rich, up to date in terms of the professional literature,

data and theoretical approaches, and composed magnificently in terms of the argument

and structure. Furthermore, every paper that Shlomo presented at a conference introduced

something new and important and was worth publishing—and it is a shame that some of

these papers were not published. This perfectionism was, of course, also manifested in the

excavations at Tel Beth-Shemesh, which were among the most meticulous that I have seen

and have been privileged to take part in.

Despite his punctiliousness and high standards, Shlomo was a popular, beloved teacher.

Students who appreciated his intellectual abilities and integrity thronged his courses.

4* Avraham Faust

Notwithstanding his untimely death, Shlomo Bunimovitz left a significant imprint on the

archaeology of the Land of Israel, charted innovative, groundbreaking avenues of research

and produced generations of students.

He left behind his wife, Shosh, and his children Yonatan and Na’ama. As the Talmud

says: Alas for those who are gone and no longer to be found!

References

Bunimovitz and Lederman 2016Bunimovitz, S. and Lederman, Z., 2016. Tel Beth-Shemesh: A Border Community in Judah -Renewed Excavations 1990-2000: The Iron Age. Winona Lake and Tel Aviv.

Renfrew 1972Renfrew, C., 1972. The Emergence of Civilisation: The Cyclades and the Aegean in the Third Millennium B.C. London.

Prof. Shlomo Bunimovitz (photo: Z. Lederman)