Dinner at Dan: Biblical and Archaeological Evidence for Sacred Feasts at Iron Age II Tel Dan and Their Significance

215 Pages·2013·4.41 MB·English

by  Jonathan S. Greer

Dinner at Dan
Culture and History of the
Ancient Near East
Founding Editor
M.H.E. Weippert
Editor-in-Chief
Thomas Schneider
Editors
Eckart Frahm
W. Randall Garr
B. Halpern
Theo P.J. van den Hout
Irene J. Winter
VOLUME 66
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/chan
Dinner at Dan
Biblical and Archaeological Evidence
for Sacred Feasts at Iron Age II Tel Dan
and Their Significance
By
Jonathan S. Greer
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2013
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הכרבל ונורכיז

CONTENTS
List of Figures  ................................................................................................... xi
List of Tables  .................................................................................................... xvii
Abbreviations  ................................................................................................... xix
Acknowledgments  .......................................................................................... xxi
Chapter 1. Introduction: Unanswered Questions and the Power
of a Feast  ...................................................................................................... 1
The Power of a Feast  ................................................................................ 2
Defining a Feast  ..................................................................................... 3
The Sacred Feast  ................................................................................... 4
The Way Forward  ...................................................................................... 5
The Importance of this Endeavor  ......................................................... 6
Chapter 2. Biblical Perspectives on the Northern Cult in the
Monarchic Period  ...................................................................................... 7
The Description of the Cult of Jeroboam in 1 Kings 12:25–33  ..... 8
The Ambiguous Portrayal of Jeroboam and His Cult
in the DH  ................................................................................................. 10
Yahwistic Aspects of the Description of the Cult of Jeroboam  ... 14
Calf Iconography, Yahweh, and Exodus 32  .................................. 15
The God Who Brought You up from Egypt  .................................. 25
A Temple of “bāmôṯ”?  .......................................................................... 26
Traditional Aspects of the Description of the Cult of
Jeroboam  ................................................................................................. 30
Location and Ancient Roots in Judges 17–18  ............................... 31
A Priesthood of Everyman  ................................................................. 36
Festivals of Old  ...................................................................................... 39
Chapter 3. Archaeological Evidence of Sacred Feasts at Tel Dan  ... 43
Introduction: Tel Dan Area T  ................................................................. 43
Methods  ........................................................................................................ 49
Defining Contexts  ................................................................................. 49
Faunal Analysis  ...................................................................................... 50
Ceramic Analysis  ................................................................................... 52
Artifactual Analysis  .............................................................................. 52
viii contents
Results  ........................................................................................................... 53
Spatial and Stratigraphic Contexts  .................................................. 53
Southern Deposit 1 (SD1)  ............................................................... 53
Southern Deposit 2 (SD2)  ............................................................. 54
South-East Deposit 1 (SED1)  ......................................................... 56
South-East Deposit 2 (SED2)  ........................................................ 56
North-East Deposit (NED)  ............................................................. 57
Western Deposit 1 (WD1)  .............................................................. 58
Western Deposit 2 (WD2)  ............................................................. 59
Faunal Remains  ..................................................................................... 60
Taxa Represented  ............................................................................ 60
Age at Death  ...................................................................................... 61
Male-Female Proportions  .............................................................. 64
Butchery Marks ................................................................................. 64
Left-sided to Right-sided Proportions  ....................................... 66
Meaty Long Bone to Phalange Proportions  ............................. 69
Ceramic Remains  .................................................................................. 72
Ceramic Types  .................................................................................. 73
Painted to Unpainted Wares  ........................................................ 74
Other Artifactual Remains  ................................................................. 76
Discussion  .................................................................................................... 80
Cultic Meals in Area T  ......................................................................... 80
The Nature of the Deposits of Area T  ............................................ 82
Contrast between Spheres of Activity  ............................................ 84
Chronological Trends  .......................................................................... 90
Conclusions .................................................................................................. 91
Reconstruction  ............................................................................................ 92
The Cultic Feasts of the Courtyard  ................................................. 92
The Cultic Feasts of the Western Chambers  ................................ 94
Chapter 4. A Synthetic Analysis of Sacred Feasts at Israelite
Dan  ................................................................................................................. 97
The Historicity of an Iron Age II Danite Cult  ................................... 97
Yahwistic Aspects of Danite Feasts  ...................................................... 98
The Priestly Portions  ............................................................................ 100
Cultic Paraphernalia  ............................................................................ 106
The Architecture of Area T  ................................................................ 108
The Syntax of Offering in Area T  ..................................................... 116
“Yahwistic Aspects” in Context and the Aramaean
Question .............................................................................................. 119
contents ix
Traditional Aspects of Danite Cult Feasts  .......................................... 120
Communal Family Feasts  ................................................................... 121
Increasing Regulation  .......................................................................... 122
Chapter 5. Conclusions: Kingdom, Past, and Realpolitik at
Monarchic Dan  ........................................................................................... 125
The Yahwistic Royal Cult in Action  ..................................................... 125
Sacred Feasts at Dan in the Context of the Kingdom  .................... 127
Sacred Feasting in the Precinct of the Early Northern
Monarchs  ............................................................................................ 128
Sacred Feasting in the Precinct of the Omrides .......................... 130
Sacred Feasting in the Precinct of the Nimshides  ...................... 133
The Significance of this Study  ................................................................ 136
Appendix: Cooking Pot Rim Profiles by Deposit  .................................. 139
Bibliography  ..................................................................................................... 145
Author Index  .................................................................................................... 175
Names and Subject Index  ............................................................................. 185