the plaster texts from kuntillet ʿajrud and deir ʿalla

649 Pages·2015·4.45 MB·English

T P T
HE LASTER EXTS FROM
K ʿA
UNTILLET JRUD AND
D ʿA
EIR LLA
AN INDUCTIVE APPROACH TO THE EMERGENCE
OF NORTHWEST SEMITIC LITERARY TEXTS IN
THE FIRST MILLENNIUM B.C.E.

Gareth James Wearne
Bachelor of Ancient History (Hons.), Macquarie University,
Sydney, 2011

Department of Ancient History
Macquarie University
2015

They are proud and wilful, but they are true-hearted, generous in thought and
deed; bold but not cruel; wise but unlearned, writing no books but singing many
songs, after the manner of the children of Men before the Dark Years.
J. R. R. Tolkein, The Two Towers

But what if the traditional character of these structures was given more than lip
service? What if traditional came actively to indicate extratextual? What if it
came to refer to a reality larger than even the entire individual performance, or
group of performances?
John Miles Foley, The Singer of Tales in Performance

And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Percy Shelley, Ozymandias

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract ix
Declaration xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Abbreviations xv
Map xxi

INTRODUCTION
1 Introduction: The Phenomenon of Textualisation 1
1.1 The Problem of Textualisation 1
1.2 Textualisation in an Oral Literate Continuum 2
1.3 John Miles Foley and the Immanent Tradition 6
1.4 Some Definitions 9
1.5 Approaches to Textualisation in the Study of the Hebrew
Bible and the Ancient Near East 11
1.6 The Writing on the Wall 21
1.7Aims and Methods 23

PART ONE
2 Epigraphic Analysis of the Kuntillet ʿAjrud Inscriptions 31
2.1 The Scope of the Present Discussion 31
2.2 Inscriptions Incised in Stone: Kajr1.2–1.4 33
2.2.1 A Large Stone Basin: Kajr1.2 33
2.2.2 Three Incised Stone Bowls 39
2.3 Inscriptions Incised in Clay: Kajr2.1–2.28 39
2.4 Inscriptions Written in Ink on Clay: Kajr2.1–2.28 43
2.4.1 Two Letter Fragments 43
2.4.1.1 Kajr3.1 44
2.4.1.2 Kajr3.6 59
2.4.2 A Possible Hymn to YHWH 66
2.4.3 The Abecedaries: Kajr3.11–3.14 72
2.4.4 The Vertical Strokes 75
2.4.5 The Remaining Inscriptions Written in Ink on
Clay 76
2.5 Discussion 77
2.6 The Plaster Texts 79
2.6.1 Kajr4.1 79
2.6.2 Kajr4.2 84
2.6.3 Kajr4.3 90
2.6.4 Kajr4.4 94
2.6.5 Kajr4.5 95
2.6.6 Kajr4.6 96
2.7 Discussion 99
2.8 When God Shines in the Heights: Kajr4.2 and the March
vi The PLASTER TEXTS FROM KUNTILLET ʿAJRUD AND DEIR ʿALLA

of the Divine Warrior 99
2.8.1 Theophany in the Bible and in the Ancient Near
East 100
2.8.2 The Biblical Southern Theophany Motif 114
2.6.3 The Sitz im Leben of the Southern Theophany
Motif and Implications of Kajr4.2 116
2.9 Conclusions 119
3 Who Wrote the Kuntillet ʿAjrud Plaster Texts? 123
3.1 Morphology/Syntax 124
3.1.1 Pargogic nûn 124
3.1.2 Hipʿil Conjugation 124
3.1.3 Wāw Consecutive 124
3.2 Phonology/Orthography 125
3.2.1 Matres Lectionis 125
3.2.2 Omission of the Definite Article in רערש 129
3.2.3 The ay Diphthong 130
3.2.4 The aw Diphthong 141
3.2.5 Non-assimilation of nûn in תנש 142
3.3 Vocabulary 142
3.4 Onomasticon 142
3.5 Discussion 146
3.6 Palaeography 146
3.6.1 Discussion 152
3.7 Conclusions 152
4 The Archaeological Context of the Kuntillet ʿAjrud
Plaster Texts 159
4.1 Topographic and Environmental Context 159
4.2 Exploration and Excavation 161
4.3 The Architectural Remains 163
4.4 Kuntillet ʿAjrud in Diachronic Perspective 166
4.4.1 Phase 1 167
4.4.2 Phase 2 168
4.4.3 Phase 3 168
4.4.4 The Abandonment of Kuntillet ʿAjrud 169
4.5 Excursus: The Bench-Rooms 171
4.6 The Date of Kuntillet ʿAjrud 175
4.7 Kuntillet ʿAjrud in Historical Perspective 180
4.8 The Function of Kuntillet ʿAjrud 185
4.8.1 Toward an Explanation 214
4.9 The Archaeology of the KAPT 215
4.9.1 The Writing Surface 216
4.9.2 The Room 223
4.9.2.1 Collection 1: The Entrance to
Building A 223
4.9.2.2 Collection 2: The Western Stairs 242
4.9.3 The Building Complex 244
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

4.9.4 The Total Excavated Area 246
4.10 Conclusions 247

PART TWO
5 Epigraphic Analysis of the Deir ʿAlla Inscriptions 253
5.1 The Deir ʿAlla Plaster Texts 254
5.1.1 Combination I 254
5.1.1.1 Combination I: Summary and
Discussion 303
5.1.2 Combination II 308
5.1.2.1 Beds of Eternity or Beds of Youth? 338
5.1.2.2 Combination II: Summary and
Discussion 345
5.2 Additional Inscriptions found at Deir ʿAlla 348
5.2.1 Inscribed Clay Tablets 349
5.2.2 The Measure of the Gate 354
5.2.3 An Abecedary 356
5.2.4 Ammonite Inscriptions 357
5.3 Conclusions 357
6 Who Wrote the Deir ʿAlla Plaster Texts? 361
6.1 Morphology 363
6.1.1 Nunation of the Masculine Plural Absolute 363
6.1.2 The 3.m.s Suffix הו־ 365
6.1.3 The 2.f.s. Pronominal Suffix יכ־ 366
6.1.4 The N-Stem 368
6.1.5 The Infixed-t Stem 368
6.1.6 The 3.f.s Ending on Perfect Verbs 369
6.1.7 The G-infinitive with Suffixed -t 369
6.1.8 Forms of Negation 370
6.1.9 The Definite Article 371
6.2 Syntax 371
6.2.1 The wāw Consecutive 371
6.3 Phonology/Orthography 372
6.3.1 Correspondence of * ḍ 372
6.3.2 The Diphthongs 373
6.3.3 Non-Assimilation of Anarthrous ןמ 374
6.4 Vocabulary 374
6.5 Discussion 377
6.6 Palaeography 380
6.6.1 Discussion 389
6.8 Conclusions 390
7 The Archaeological Context of the Deir ʿAlla Plaster 395
Texts
7.1 Topographic and Environmental Context 395
7.2 Exploration and Excavation 396
viii The PLASTER TEXTS FROM KUNTILLET ʿAJRUD AND DEIR ʿALLA

7.3 Deir ʿAlla in Diachronic Perspective 400
7.3.1 Chalcolithic 400
7.3.2 Middle Bronze Age 400
7.3.3 Late Bronze Age 401
7.3.4 Early Iron Age 404
7.3.5 Mid-Iron Age 406
7.3.6 The Persian Period 413
7.3.7 The Mamluk–Ottoman Periods 414
7.4 Deir ʿAlla Phase XI in Historical Perspective 414
7.5 Identification of the Site 417
7.6 The Archaeology of the DAPT 421
7.6.1 The Writing Surface 421
7.6.2 The Room 436
7.6.3 The Building Complex 443
7.6.4 The Total Excavated Area 445
7.7 Conclusions 449

PART THREE
8 Conclusion 455
8.1 The Kuntillet ʿAjrud Plaster Texts 455
8.2 The Deir ʿAlla Plaster Texts 458
8.3 Comparative Light on the Phenomenon of Textualisation 460
8.4 Implications for the formation of the Hebrew Bible 461

RERENCES AND APPENDICES
References 465
Picture Credits 531
Appendix A: Personal Names at Kuntillet ʿAjrud 535
Appendix B: Votives: The Materiality of Kajr1.2 541
Appendix C: Notes on the Text of the Southern Theophany
Pericopae in the Hebrew Bible 548
Appendix D: Balaam, Son of Beor 586
Appendix E: Speech Movements in the DAPT Combination I 599
Appendix F: The Birds of the DAPT 602
ix

ABSTRACT

This study examines the emergence of literary texts from the primarily oral
milieux of the southern Levant during the first millennium B.C.E. The
question of textualisation has received considerable attention in the last
two decades, with particular emphasis given to the origins of the Hebrew
Bible. But whereas earlier studies have tended to work heuristically––
beginning at the level of the received biblical text and attempting to
develop explanatory models––, the present study proceeds inductively––
beginning with a particular instantiation of the phenomenon of literary text
production, namely plaster wall inscriptions, and extrapolating conclusions
based on these specific examples.
Working within the paradigm of an oral-literate continuum, the research
focusses on two roughly contemporary case studies: the 8th century B.C.E.
plaster texts from Kuntillet ʿAjrud and Deir ʿAlla. For both case studies
detailed epigraphic and archaeological analyses are used to assess three
core questions: What was written? Who was writing? And how were the
texts experienced by their audiences?
It is concluded that in the physical context of the plaster inscriptions
writing served both symbolic and memorialising functions, communicating
specific information to posterity and serving as a form of communal self-
identification and expression. Possible numinous associations of writing
are also considered along the way.
The final section includes a discussion of implications for the origins of
the biblical text. It is argued that by the end of the 8th century B.C.E. there
is evidence for the textualisation of stories and songs comparable to those
found in the Hebrew Bible, and that the impulse toward literary text
production was shaped within a larger pool of folk-traditions.