The Myth of Nazareth: The Invented Town of Jesus (57 page)

210:14           Am: 38:14.                                                                                                                                                                   (LB IIA)

208:19           Jug with pronounced shoulder and slightly flaring neck.

Am: 46:22.                                                                                                                                                                                           (LB II B)

LB IIA–Iron I:

210:23, 25, 26      Large bowls with carinations immediately below the rim. Am: 39:14, 18. “This type of Late Bronze Age bowl has been found up to the present only in the south of the country. In the Iron I, at least as far as form is concerned, the type also appears to have spread to the north of the country” (Am:129).                                                               (LB IIA–Iron I)

Putative MB IIA or LB:

210:1–3  Shards with button base                                                                                                                                                    (MB IIA?)

210:27           Thick-walled bowl, profiled rim.
Pre-70
Am: Pl. 25:4                                                                                         (MB IIA?)

210:19           Am: 42:13.                                                                                                                                                                   (LB IIA–B?)

210:22           (Am: 39:6 ?).                                                                                                                                                                        (LB I?)

210:28–30  Four thick-walled bowls, poorly fired, with pronounced ridge below the rim.
Pre-70
Am: Pl. 62:25                    (Iron II A–B?)

Miscellaneous undated:

Shards: 208:3–9; 210:9; 210:13; 210:20–21; 210:24–26; 210:33; 211:3–4.

Lance-heads: 211:5–7.
Pre-70
Kenyon p. 13; Meyerhof Pl. 34.3.108.

Metal objects: 211:12–13, 15–17.

Artefacts from
Tomb 7

(
Excavations
Fig. 211:18–23)

IP:

211:18   Jar with diagonal incisions around the neck. Am: 23:11& 14; 24:12; Meyerhof 19.33:44; 22.33:21 & 43.  “EB/MB”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                (IP)

211:19   Jar with wide, flat base and ledge handle. Meyerhof 7.4:17;
Arch
. Fig. 5:11. “EB/MB”                                                       (IP)

MB II:

211:22   Jug(s) with red burnished slip and double handle. Am: Ph. 108.                                                                                    MB (IIA)

211:20   Rose clay jug with “almost pointed” foot.
Exc
:267. Am: 34:9. “MB and LB.”                              (MB II B–C, 1730–1550)

211:21   Rose clay jug with button base, poor firing. The button base is typical of MB II B–C (Am:/112).
Exc
:267. Am: 34:9 + 15, 16.

        “MB and LB.”                                                                                                                                                                          (MB II B–C, 1730–1550)

Undated:

211:23   Three bowls. (Drawings and descriptions are inconclusive.)

Artefacts from
Tomb 80

(
Excavations
Fig. 213)

Late IP:

213:9      Jug with incisions on handle. Am: 24:8 = MB I, Group C.
Pre-70
Meyerhof Pl. 15.20.9.      “MB.”                     (Late IP)

MB II:

213:3      Oil lamp. Am: Pl. 59:3.                                                                                                                                                       (MB IIA)

213:4      Bowl. Am: Pl. 26:5 (Megiddo XII.)                                                                                                                                   (MB IIA)

213:5      Bowl. Am: Pl. 26:8 (Megiddo XI.                                                                                                                                      (MB IIB)

213:1–2 Alabaster jars, probably imported from Egypt. “The widespread distribution of alabaster vessels began at the beginning of Middle Bronze II B” (
Arch
:202), i.e., after
c
. 1730 BCE.                                                                       MB (II B–C)

213:7      Jug. Am: 34:6.                                                                                                                                                                 (MB II B–C)

Miscellaneous undated:

213:6              Jug. (
Pre-70
Am: Pls. 33:2; 46:14).

213:8              Jug with decoration in upper part.

213:10           Shard.

213:11           Storage jar with shoulder handle(s).

Provenance unknown
:

235:1              Lamp. (
Pre-70
Fig. 211:2). Placed in Chart 3 with the Tomb 1 material.                                                                      (LB I)

Artefacts from
Tomb 81

(Yeivin:145;
‘Atiqot
IV [1965] Suppl., p. 14; RB 70 [1963] p. 563;

RB 72 [1965] p. 547;
Exc
:246.)

MB IIA:

—    3+ teapots

—    2 small jars with ring handles

—    1 large jar (photo at DBS:323.)

The results of this appendix are incorporated in
Illus. 1.5
.

Appendix 2:
Itemization of the Iron Age Artefacts

from the Nazareth Basin

Sources:

Bagatti, “Ritrovamenti nella Nazaret evangelica,” LA 5 (1955)

Bagatti,
Excavations in Nazareth
Figs. 211, 214–216 (1969)

Bagatti, “Scavo Presso la Chiesa di S. Guiseppe a Nazaret,” LA 21 (1971)

Loffreda, “Ceramica del Ferro I Trovata a Nazaret,” LA 27 (1977)

Vitto, “An Iron Age Burial Cave in Nazareth,” ‘
Atiqot
XLII (2001)

Abbreviations: S= Silo; CA= Church of the Annunciation; 

CJ= Church of St. Joseph

The Iron Age Evidence

(1) From the area around the Church of the Annunciation

(Numbers to the left are from
Exc
. Figs. 211, 214–216)

LB II-Iron I

211:26   (S. 57)   Cooking pot.                                                                                                                                          LB II or Iron (
Exc
:272)

214:3      (S. 22)      Large four-handled jar. Bagatti gives parallels with
Megiddo Tombs
, pl. 65:9 and 61:1, dated LB II and Iron I respectively. Amiran appears to date this type of jar to Iron III in the South (Am. Pl. 82:1, 3; Ph. 247).

Generally dated “Iron Period
”

214:4–5                 Shards.                   (S. 22)

215:3                      Shard.                     (S. 22)

211:27–34            Shards. No. 30 with Grecian style decoration. (S. 57)

215:1–4, 6–7        Shards.                   (S. 57)

214:6 & 215:5      The top and two shards of a storage jar. Am. Pl. 77–82.

                                    (Found between the silos, CA.)

215:2                      Handle, found “inside northern Medieval apse.” (CA)

215:4                      Shard “found in the Byzantine atrium.” (CA)

215:1, 6                 Shards (provenance unspecified).

Iron I–II
:
          

214:1                  Large wide-mouthed bowl. (S. 22)                                            

Iron III
:

211:24–25        Wholemouth jars. Am. Pl. 81:4–8; Ph. 246.   (Iron III) (S. 57)

214:2       Jar with three handles and spout. Am. Pl. 81:13.   (Iron III) (S. 22)

   This type is pictured at Amiran Ph. 250 and dated by her to Iron III. Bagatti dated it to Iron II, along with “a small homogenous group” of artefacts. The original fragment (top portion of jar) is pictured at Bagatti 1955:18, and wholly restored at DBS:323 and
Exc
. Pl. IV:5.

(2) From the area of the Church of St. Joseph

(“Scavo” 1971, pp. 5–32).

The area of this excavation was disturbed and the shards recovered were quite small. At
Scavo
:18, Bagatti offers a photo of 8 of the shards (Fig. 11). Underneath them is a diagram of the remaining 21 finds, also shards (Fig. 12). One of the items in the photo and one in the diagram are the same piece or are from the same vessel (11:8, 12:7), so that there may be 28 fragments in all. Bagatti typologically compares 13 of these fragments to examples in Amiran’s
APHL
. Amiran’s dating for the comparable types follows:

(Fig. 12)   (Plate and No.)                                                                           #        Iron           

 
Scavo
           
Am.
                                         
Description
                     
finds
     
Period
                            
Date

     1–4            82:5–6                   Lge. vessel mouths w/collar            4               III
                          
800–587

     5–6            75:20–21               Rims of pots                                         2               III                           800–587

     7–10          75:1–16                 Rims (
bocche
) with ridges               4               I—II                       1200–800

      17             76:13                      Rim                                                                        1              IIB–III                    900–587

      20             87:10–11               Fragment of juglet                               1               II                            1000–800

                        88:18      

      21             100:16                   Oil lamp                                                1               III                           800–587

(3)
The Vitto Tomb

Item
                    
Stratum
               
Parallel
                             
Dating

1.  Bowl.          Megiddo VI A.        Loffreda #11                     1100–1000

2.  Bowl           Keisan IX                Loffreda #12                 1100–1000

3.  Shard              –––                            –––                                  –––

4.  Chalice        Megiddo VI                  –––                                1100–1000

5.  Jar               Megiddo VIIB–VIA     –––                              1100–1000

6.  Shard              –––                              –––                                    –––

7.  Jug (?)         Megiddo VI                    –––                             1100–1000

8.  Jug (?)         Megiddo VI                    –––                               1100–1000

9–10+  Five additional shards                 –––                                    –––

11 Scarab         Megiddo VI                        –––                           1100–1000

12+ Pendant, various beads, cowrie shells, bracelets (common in the Iron Age).

The Vitto tomb offers one of the clearest datings in Nazareth. All the pottery is from the eleventh century, possibly including late XII
BCE
(Megiddo Stratum VIA). The various beads and other objects found in this tomb are compatible with this dating.

(4)
The Loffreda material

The chronological labels in the middle column accord with the schema used in this book. The dates given in the right hand column are those of Loffreda (subsequently dated by Vitto more precisely to XI
BCE
).

1.  Amphora                  Iron I                                     1200–1000

2.  Pitcher                      Iron IA                                   1200–1100

3.  Flask                         Iron I–IIA                              1200–900