Excavations at Maresha Subterranean Complex 169: Final Report. Seasons 2000-2016 [Hardcover]

Tel Maresha is located in the foothills of Israel's Judaean Mountains. It was established in the Iron Age II (circa 700 BCE) and is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Josh 15:44; I Chron. 2:42). But it was mainly a Hellenistic-period town - a major Idumean political and administrative center. One of the unique and fascinating aspects of Maresha is its subterranean city - hundreds of underground galleries and chambers filled to the gills with artifacts. This volume is a report of the excavations of one of these rich subterranean complexes - SC 169 - which contained a full corpus of Hellenistic pottery forms - both local and exotic altars, figurines, amulets, seals and seal impressions, hundreds of inscriptions in Greek and Aramaic, coins, jewelry and much more. These finds tell the story of an affluent cosmopolitan society comprised of Idumeans, Phoenicians, Greeks, and Jews, who lived together in a vibrant urban setting until the city was destroyed, probably by the Jewish Hasmonean kingdom in 104 BCE.This volume is a report of the excavations (containing a full corpus of Hellenistic finds) of one of the rich subterranean complexes at Tel Maresha, located in the foothills of Israel's Judaean Mountains. Tel Maresha was established around 700 BCE, but was mainly a Hellenistic-period town—a major Idumean political and administrative centre.Foreword David Ilan Preface Ian Stern Introduction and Architecture Ian Stern The Local Ceramic Assemblage Ian Stern Imported Pottery and Selected Locally Made Vessels Renate Rosenthal-Heginbottom Incense Altars Ian Stern Chalk Phalli Ian Stern Six Stamps from Maresha SC169: Ritual Artifacts All? Ian Stern Amulets Shirly Ben-Dor Evian Seals and Sealings L Ayla Cakmak Game Boards Ian Stern Oil Lamps Einat Ambar-Armon Faunal Remains Lee Perry Gal The Aramaic Divination Texts Esther Eshel and Michael Langlois Terracotta Figurines, Plastic Vases and Related Objects Adi Erlich The Glass Finds Ruth E Jackson-Tal TlS5