Tell El Borg Ii

This is the second and final volume of scientific and interdisciplinary reports on the excavations and research conducted at Tell el-Borg, north Sinai, between 1998 and 2008, written by the scholars and specialists who worked on the site under the direction of Professor James K. Hoffmeier. This volume focuses on the cemetery areas, which yield more than a dozen tombs, typically made of mud brick, some of which were constructed for a single occupant and some of which were larger tombs that accommodated multiple family members. Included is a treatment of an area of “public” space featuring a temple and a well, among other things, and a study of the geological results of the nearby ancient Ballah Lakes that offers new data on the history of the Nile distributary that flowed by Tell el-Borg. The balance of the work deals with specialty reports, including the faunal and botanical remains, the clay coffins, and elite stones. A concluding chapter offers a synthesis of the decade of work and ties together the finds published in both volumes. In addition to the editor, the contributors to this volume include Stephen Moshier, Bahaa Gayed, Gregory D. Mumford, Scott D. Haddow, Mark Janzen, Thomas W. Davis, Rexine Hummel, Hesham M. Hussein, Carole McCartney, Michelle A. Loyet, Louise Bertini, and Salima Ikram.

The excavations of the last eighty years, especially at Ugarit, Ebla, and Emar, have accumulated an exceptional amount of source material referring to the Syro-Canaanite god Resheph, whose history can now be followed during three thousand years. Chapter I deals with Resheph in the Ebla texts, already witnessing his assimilation to the Mesopotamian god Nergal, while Chapter II is dedicated to his consort Adamma. Western Asiatic sources of the second millennium B.C., in particular those from Mari, Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani, and Emar, are presented in Chapter III, while Chapter IV concerns the Syro-Canaanite iconography of Resheph. His cult in Egypt during the second millennium B.C. is examined in Chapter V, while Chapters VI and VII deal with the first millennium B.C. and the later references to Resheph in midrashic literature. Aramaic, Phoenician, Hebrew, Egyptian, and Greek sources are surveyed in detail with a particular attention to biblical texts. Several indices help using the extensive onomastic and cultic data collected in the book, always with references to the original or most recent publications of the pertinent epigraphic, literary, and iconographic material.

In his pathbreaking Israel in Egypt James K. Hoffmeier sought to refute the claims of scholars who doubt the historical accuracy of the biblical account of the Israelite sojourn in Egypt. Analyzing a wealth of textual, archaeological, and geographical evidence, he put forth a thorough defense of the biblical tradition. Hoffmeier now turns his attention to the Wilderness narratives of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. As director of the North Sinai Archaeological Project, Hoffmeier has led several excavations that have uncovered important new evidence supporting the Wilderness narratives, including a major New Kingdom fort at Tell el-Borg that was occupied during the Israelite exodus. Hoffmeier employs these archaeological findings to shed new light on the route of the exodus from Egypt. He also investigates the location of Mount Sinai, and offers a rebuttal to those who have sought to locate it in northern Arabia and not in the Sinai peninsula as traditionally thought. Hoffmeier addresses how and when the Israelites could have lived in Sinai, as well as whether it would have been possible for Moses to write down the law received at Mount Sinai. Building on the new evidence for the Israelite sojourn in Egypt, Hoffmeier explores the Egyptian influence on the Wilderness tradition. For example, he finds Egyptian elements in Israelite religious practices, including the use of the tabernacle, and points to a significant number of Egyptian personal names among the generation of the exodus. The origin of Israel is a subject of much debate and the wilderness tradition has been marginalized by those who challenge its credibility. In Ancient Israel in Sinai, Hoffmeier brings the Wilderness tradition to the forefront and makes a case for its authenticity based on solid evidence and intelligent analysis.