Unearthing the Wilderness : Studies on the History and Archaeology of the Negev and Edom in the Iron Age

Tebes, Juan Manuel (editor). Unearthing the Wilderness : Studies on the History and Archaeology of the Negev and Edom in the Iron Age. Leuven: Peeters, 2014. First edition. Quarto (12″ x 8-1/2″). x, 306, (4)pp. Red cloth lettered in gilt. Illustrated with numerous drawings, photographs, micrographs (in color), and archaeological ground plans. An ex-library book but with minimal rubber stamps on title page & at bottom of text block, otherwise fine.

The arid areas of the Negev and Edom played a prominent role in the socio-economic and cultural development of the Iron Age civilizations of the southern Levant and northwestern Arabia, being at the interface of key trade routes, providing essential resources and developing cultic practices that spread to neighbouring regions. This volume comprises the papers presented at the symposium “Unearthing the Wilderness: Workshop on the History and Archaeology of the Negev and Edom in the Iron Age”, held at the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem, on 12 December 2010, and supplemented with studies from other leading scholars. Research questions include the socio-economic and political fluctuations in the arid margins of the southern Levant, southern Judah, and the northern Hejaz in the Iron Age, the exploitation of the copper mines of Timna under New Kingdom Egyptian and local control, the relationships between the southern Levant and the Arabian world as seen from the archaeological and epigraphic record, and the question of the “Edomite” pottery assemblage in late Iron Age Judah. (Publisher)

Contents: Socio-economic fluctuations and chiefdom formation in Edom, the Negev and the Hejaz during the first millennium BCE — From bandit to king: David’s time in the Negev and the transformation of a tribal entity into a nation state — Timna site 2 revisited — Appendix: XRF study of archaeological and metallurgical material from copper smelting sites in Timna — Egyptian Timna, reconsidered — The symbolic and social world of the Quaryyah pottery iconography — Arabian and Arabizing epigraphic finds from the Iron Age Southern Levant — The Judean desert frontier in the seventh century BCE: a view from ‘Aroer — Edomite pottery in Judah in the eighth century BCE — Local production of Edmonite cooking pots in the Beersheba Valley: Petrographic analyses from Tel Malhata, Horvat ‘Uza and Horvat Qitmit.

Note: “This volume comprises all but one of the papers presented at the workshop Unearthing the Wilderness : Workshop on the History and Archaeology of the Negev and Edom in the Iron Age, held at the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem, on 12 December 2010. It is supplemented with studies from scholars who were unable to attend the conference but were eager to contribute to this book.”–Preface./ Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-306).

Supplement 45 of the Peeters series, “Ancient Near Eastern Studies.” near fine. Hardcover. (53092) $95