Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Dora Smith" <villandra AT austin.rr.com>]

Ha, hah; I saw this - but I did not know Finkelstein's work on Shiloh
existed until yesterday.  And today I couldn't even remember, before I
looked for it, where it was that yesterday I saw mention of remains of a
center at Shiloh in the tenth century.   So I didn't connect it.  And my
Outlook Express groups mail either in order received OR by subject, never
both - so I don't know that the e-mail I responded to about large structures
came later than this one from two days ago on Finkelstein's work on Shiloh.
Since I originally read the latter two days ago on webmail, it showed up in
my mailbox as new mail!

I realize that much of the site actually no longer exists.

I see small village that served as some sort of center, buildings for grain
storage, lots of pottery, charred animal bones.

Specific question pertains to whether any larger than ordinary house
building structure was found from the 10th century.  The function of such a
building might not be clear - but it would not have been used to store
grain.

You could save me half a day of chasing that book around town, full day if I
have to chase articles too - and it sounds as if you have more knowledge
than I'd find in a day.   Were signs of any larger than house building
found?

If only a village of house-sized structures and buildings for grain storage,
what suggests it was any sort of a center?

Also, specifically what cultic objects were found?   Charred bones aren't
ordinarily considered cultic objects.

We have to keep in mind that early Israelite cultic centers were so
primitive that only a stone altar might remain.   If we were lucky, maybe a
ring of standing stones remains too!

Yours,
Dora Smith
Austin, Texas
villandra AT austin.rr.com
----- Original Message -----
From: <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2004 2:11 AM
Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] RE: Please shed any light on meaning of temple


Dear All,

I happen to be quite familiar with the Shiloh site and Finkelstein's report.


What the excavations actually found was a huge Middle Bronze Age II
fortified site, which was abandoned around 1500 BCE. However quite a few
cultic objects indicate that the site continued to be used as a cult-site
throughout the Late Bronze Age, presumably by the nomads in the region. The
Early Iron Age "Israelite" site is a small village which seems to have been
some sort of administrative or economic center - storehouses with tens of
"collared rimmed" jars, with burt grain still in them. This center was
destroyed around the late 11th century, presumably (even Finkelsein!) by
the Philistines. Occupation through the rest of the Iron Age is sporadic.

The site's identification as a cultic site is based on remains of
offerings, both charred animal remains in pits and cultic items. No actual
structure has been found that could be identifed as a temple. However, the
summit of the site has been "cleared off" by later occupation and whatever
was there is lost beyond recovery.

Yigal