‘Isaac went out to the field’: Studies in Archaeology and Ancient Cultures in Honor of Isaac Gilead

‘Isaac went out to the field (Genesis 24:63)’ is a collection of 28 articles by 47 authors from research institutions in Israel and around the world honoring Professor Isaac Gilead on the occasion of his 71st birthday. The authors include the honoree’s mentors, colleagues, and students. Most of the articles deal with archaeological subjects, especially prehistoric and proto-historic archaeology, which are the focus of the honoree’s teaching and research. Reflecting the broad horizons of Gilead’s interests, the volume also includes studies in other subjects including the Bible and the ancient Near East, Second Temple literature, the history of biblical exegesis, and the influence of the Bible on contemporary Hebrew Literature.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures and Tables; Authors’ and Editors’ Biographies; Preface and Acknowledgments; Isaac Gilead: An Appreciation – by The Editors; The Religious Dimension of Copper Metallurgy in the Southern Levant – by Nissim Amzallag; Neolithic Cult Sites in the Southern Negev, Israel – by Uzi Avner, Moti Shem-Tov, Lior Enmar, Gideon Ragolski, Rachamim Shem-Tov, and Omry Barzilai; A Basket-Handled Teapot from Fazael – by Shay Bar; The Contributions of Early French Scholars to Levantine Prehistory – by Ofer Bar-Yosef and François Valla; The Riddle of the ‘Aurignacian’ in the Negev: The Lithic Assemblage from Nahal Neqarot in the Central Negev, Israel – by Anna Belfer-Cohen and A. Nigel Goring-Morris; Forging a Link: Evidence for a ‘Lost Horizon’ – The Late Chalcolithic to EB 1 Transition in the Southern Levant – by Eliot Braun; Unresolved Pottery Neolithic Chrono-Stratigraphic and Chrono-Cultural issues: Comments on the Beginning and the End of the Pottery Neolithic Period – by Avi Gopher; Going Through Customs: Changing Rituals of the Ghassulian Culture of the Southern Levant, ca. 4500-3900 BC – by Milena Gošić; Animal Offerings from the Nawamis Fields and Coeval Habitation Sites in Southern Sinai – by Liora Kolska Horwitz; An Early Pottery Neolithic (Jericho IX) Site East of Tel Nagila – by Hamoudi Khalaily, Anastasia Shapiro and Ofer Marder; Clothes Maketh (Hu)Man: Textile Production in the Southern Levant in the Chalcolithic Period – by Janet Levy; Stylistic Devices and Exegetical Techniques in ‘Rewritten Bible’ Compositions – by Atar Livneh; Conus Ornaments from Tel Bareqet in an Early Bronze Age Near East Context – by Daniella E. Bar-Yosef Mayer, Sarit Paz and Yitzhak Paz; Flint Knapping in a Brush Hut: A Case Study from Ohalo II, a 23000 Year-old Camp in the Sea of Galilee – by Dani Nadel, Daniel Kaufman, Udi Grinburg and Dan Malkinson; Middle Palaeolithic Humans in the Levant: An Archaeological Perspective – by Avraham Ronen; The Time-Space Discontinuum: Scale in the Geography and Chronology of Negev Archaeology – by Steven A. Rosen; The Incised Flint Assemblage from Neolithic Beisamoun and its Significance – by Danny Rosenberg; Ceramic Connections and Regional Entities: The Petrography of Late Chalcolithic Pottery from Sites in the Galilee (Israel) – by Dina Shalem, Anat Cohen-Weinberger, Bernardo Gandulla and Ianir Milevski; Communal Bison Hunting in Western North America: Current Understandings and Unresolved Issues – by John D. Speth; Job 40:30-31 and the First Whalers – by Oded Tammuz; More on Early Natufian Building 131 at Eynan (Ain Mallaha), Israel – by François R. Valla; Hatrurim Quarry – A Newly Discovered Production Site of Larnite Bifacial Tools – by Jacob Vardi; The Origin of the Hebrew Word ṣîṣit ‘Fringe’ – by Allan Witztum, Avi Gold and Mayer I. Gruber; Tel Erani – Reassessing Old Published Records – by Yuval Yekutieli; ‘Isaac went out to meditate in the field’ (Genesis 24:63) in the Exegesis of Philo of Alexandria and Naphtali Zvi Yehuda Berlin – by Elad Filler; The Nahal Zippori Horizon, Between the Lodian and Wadi Rabah Cultures – by Nimrod Getzov, Ianir Milevski and Hamoudi Khalaily; ‘In Green Pastures’ [bi-ne’ot deshshe]: Psalm 23 and Song of Songs 5 in the Poetry of Agi Mishol – by Eran Viezel; The Varieties of Vengeance in the Book of Jeremiah – by Shamir Yona and Rafael Furman

About the Author :
HAIM GOLDFUS teaches classical archaeology in the Department of Bible, Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. His main fields of interest and research are related to early Roman and Late Antique/ early Byzantine archaeology. | MAYER I. GRUBER is Professor Emeritus and Past Chair of the Department of Bible Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer Sheva. His publications include Aspects of Nonverbal Communication in the Ancient Near East (2 vols.; Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1980); The Motherhood of God and Other Studies (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992); Women in the Biblical World: A Study Guide (American Theological Library Association, Bibliography Series, no. 38; Lanham, MD, and London: Scarecrow Press, 1995); Rashi’s Commentary on Psalms (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2004); Women in Ancient Israel and Studies in Early Jewish Civilization, translated from English into Chinese by Shuqing Zhang (Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, 2009); The Women of Israel by Grace Aguilar with a New Introduction and Commentary (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press 2011, 2013); and Hosea: A Textual Commentary (London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2017). | SHAMIR YONA is Associate Professor in the Department of Bible, Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He served for two terms as Chair of that department and two terms as Head of the Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies Division in that department. He is Co-chair with Elad Filler of the Judaica Section for Society of Biblical Literature International Meetings. He is a member of the board of directors of the New Israel Society for Biblical Research. Yona’s publications focus on the poetics of Ancient Near Eastern literature; the wisdom literature of the Bible, the ancient Near East, and rabbinic literature; biblical prophecy and narrative; Ugaritic language and literature; and Semitic lexicography. | PETER FABIAN completed his studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in 2005 with a PhD dissertation concerning the Roman army camp in Oboda-Avedat. After working for many years in the Israel Antiquities Authority as a senior archaeologist and an advisor, he was given a tenure track position as a classical archaeologist in the Department of Bible, Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where he is currently a Senior Lecturer. Dr. Fabian combines his interests and expert knowledge and long track-record of fieldwork in Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Early Islamic archaeology, together with excavations and studies concerning the protohistory of the Southern Levant, particularly the Chalcolithic period of the Negev and the Shephela lowlands of Israel.