In this article, we analyse the textual variants concerning the toponym Shimron (Masoretic Text) and Shim'on (Old Greek) in Joshua. In Joshua 11:1, 12:20 and 19:15, the MT consistently reads the place name as Shimron while the OG reads Shim'on. Evidence from ancient Near Eastern literary sources and regional memory preserve the name without the /r/, showing agreement with the OG. The later variant in the MT likely reflects a scribal harmonisation to Shimron ben Issachar (Gen 46; Num 26; 1 Chron 7). This case study underscores the complex scribal processes involved in the transmission of geographic lists and reveals how anthroponymic and toponymic conflations may shape textual traditions.
A complete storage jar with a hieratic inscription was uncovered at Tel Azekah, providing new evidence for Egyptian administrative activity in the Southern Levant at the very end of the Late Bronze Age. The jar was found in a destruction layer dated to the second half of the 12th century BCE and thus represents the latest securely dated hieratic text from the region. The inscription, written in ink on the shoulder of the jar, was part of a title, possibly referring to an official in charge of tax collection. The results from the petrographic analysis indicate that the jar originated from neighbouring Tell es. -S. afi/Gath. The findings display the ongoing presence of Egyptian-trained personnel in the Shephelah and the importance of Tel Azekah and its elite in the imperial administrative system.
Exceptional Lower Palaeolithic handaxes were discovered at a newly identified extensive Lower Palaeolithic Acheulean landscape in Sakhnin Valley, Israel. Sakhnin Valley exhibits rich surface concentrations of lithic artefacts, primarily comprising handaxes, cores and flakes, alongside pristine flint nodules and numerous geodes. Similar items were identified at subsurface locations, and future excavations are expected to uncover in situ archaeological deposits. The handaxes reported here are part of a larger collection of hundreds of tools bearing typical Levantine Lower Palaeolithic Acheulean characteristics. What makes these handaxes particularly noteworthy is that they were shaped around fossil imprints or other geological features embedded in the selected flint nodules. While thousands of handaxes are documented from Lower Old World Palaeolithic sites, fossil-bearing handaxes are extremely rare and garner special attention. This collection of unique bifaces provides valuable insight into their makers' technological and aesthetic preferences, worldviews and relationship with stone. We propose that these handaxes served as tools and mediators between humans and the cosmos, conceived as objects of potency enhanced by the primeval fossil imprints and unique geological features within the stone. The richly embellished rocky landscape of Sakhnin Valley, particularly with its abundant geodes, may have encouraged early humans to express their profound and extraordinary relationships with the cosmos via stones.
This article discusses the monumental Iron Age four-chambered gate excavated some 30 years ago at 'En Hazeva. Since the completion of the site's excavation, only a handful of preliminary papers were published by Rudolph Cohen and Yigal Yisrael, the excavators of the site on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, addressing in passing the stratigraphical and architectural settings of the gate. Some scholars have questioned these descriptions, suggesting that they may not accurately reflect the true nature of the remains. In recent years, the 'En Hazeva finds have been the focus of extensive scientific analyses in preparation for the publication of Cohen and Yisrael's excavations. The time has finally come to place the Iron Age fortress gate accurately within its archaeological and stratigraphical context.
