>How do archaeologists decide where to gig? In an interesting article published in the Biblical Archaeology Review, Joe Uziel and Itzick Shai discuss how they selected the site for their excavation this summer. Joe Uziel and Itzick Shai are codirectors of the Tel Burna excavations in Israel. They are also longtime staff members of the Tell es-Safi/Gath excavations, and both hold lab positions at the Institute of Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University.

The following is an excerpt from the article:

In 2009, we made a tentative choice of a site: Tel Burna. We proceeded to survey the entire area. With the help of friends, archaeology students, local kibbutz members with an interest in archaeology, and people from all over Israel who heard about the project and wanted to get a taste of fieldwork, we walked around the site for days upon days, collecting artifacts—mostly pottery, but also some flint tools and stone vessels—and mapping different features on the ground, such as burial caves, agricultural installations and architectural features. This fieldwork confirmed our original hypothesis that the site was intensively settled from the Early Bronze Age through Iron Age IIB, which ended with the Babylonian destruction in 586 B.C.E.

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We’re not sure what Tel Burna’s name was in ancient times. One of Israel’s leading historical geographers, Anson Rainey, contends that it was Libnah. In the Bible, Libnah was a Canaanite town conquered by Joshua; he allotted it to the tribe of Judah (Joshua 10:29–30, 15:42). Libnah was also chosen as one of the Levitical cities of refuge (Joshua 21:13), which points to its role as a border site. According to 2 Kings 8:22, in the ninth century B.C.E., Libnah was involved in a rebellion against Jehoram, the king of Judah. In the seventh century another Judahite king, Josiah, married Hamutal from Libnah (2 Kings 23:31–32, 24:17–18). This may suggest the importance of the site along the border and the attempt by Josiah to create a bond through marriage between his capital in Jerusalem and its frontier. There are plenty of questions but few answers at this point.

Read the article in its entirety by visiting Biblical Archaeology Review online.

Are you interested in being part of a dig in Israel? You can join Joe Uziel and Itzick Shai and join the excavation at Tel Burna this summer. If you want to excavate at Tel Burna, the season will be from June 13 to July 1.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

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Tags: Archaeology, Libnah, Tel Burna

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