History in Limbo

Biblical Archaeology Review ^ | August 2009 | Hershel Shanks

[Fred Nerks]

Scholar Blocks Reports of Old Excavations

In the late 1960s the ancient synagogue at Ein Gedi, on the shore of the Dead Sea, was excavated by Israeli archaeologist Dan Barag, a student of the great Nahman Avigad. The finds were extraordinary—two well-preserved mosaic floors on top of one another in the main room, a large mosaic inscription in the entrance corridor, a hoard of Byzantine coins, a disc from a roll of the Torah, a water basin for washing hands and a magnificent bronze menorah. The only problem is that a report on the excavation has never been written—not even the customary “preliminary report.” After so many years, I thought what might be the problem was the lack of money to undertake the project. I called the now eminent full professor Dan Barag and offered to find some money for him. I did not meet with an enthusiastic response. In the end the project fell through when I was told that the records of the dig at the Hebrew University, under whose auspices the excavation was conducted, were simply missing. No one could locate them. No one knew where they were. There was nothing I could do but drop the idea. More recently, it turned out that there were some excavation records in existence. A graduate student at an American university was enlisted to write his doctoral dissertation on the Ein Gedi synagogue. All was set to go when Professor Barag refused to release the excavation records, four decades after the excavation!

This was not the first time something like this had happened. In the late 1950s Nahman Avigad excavated a multi-period building at a site known as Makmish on the Mediterranean coast just north of Tel Aviv. Avigad found pottery from as early as the tenth century B.C.E., the time of the kingdom of David and Solomon. In the Persian and Hellenistic periods, the building served as a Phoenician religious sanctuary. A large number of clay and limestone figurines were discovered, in addition to some stone incense altars. Beads of semi-precious stones—agate, jasper, chalcedony, quartz, carnelian, etc.—were also uncovered, along with fragments of alabaster. The culture reflected in these finds was mainly Phoenician, but also Persian, Egyptian, Cypriot and Greek. A Phoenician mercantile colony probably existed at the site to which seafaring Phoenician traders brought goods from all over the Mediterranean world.

In this case, Avigad did publish a seven-page preliminary excavation report.1 In 1992 Professor Avigad died, however, without publishing a final report. The excavation papers fell to one of Professor Avigad’s students who had participated in the excavation: now-professor Dan Barag. Many years later, when Professor Barag failed to publish any report on the Makmish excavation, a Ph.D. student at the Hebrew University, supported by her professor, decided she wanted to write her dissertation on Makmish. However, Professor Barag refused to release the excavation documents to her. No full excavation report has ever been written on the excavation at Makmish.

I talked to Barag about both of these cases. He admitted he is not ready to release the Ein Gedi materials “fully.” He still wants to publish the site himself. He also blamed Professor Ehud Netzer, whom he says controls the plan of the synagogue and refuses to release it. Professor Netzer says this was never discussed with him. As for Makmish, Barag says he still wants to see what condition the records are in and then decide what he wants to do with it.—H.S.

Notes 1 N. Avigad, “Excavations at Makmish, 1958: Preliminary Report,” Israel Exploration Journal 10 (1960), p. 90.

[Fred Nerks]

This was not the first time something like this had happened. In the late 1950s Nahman Avigad excavated a multi-period building at a site known as Makmish on the Mediterranean coast just north of Tel Aviv. Avigad found pottery from as early as the tenth century B.C.E., the time of the kingdom of David and Solomon.

[Fred Nerks]

GGG

[Fred Nerks]

Ein Gedi Oasis Excavations

SOURCE

[SunkenCiv]

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[null and void]

Hmmmm, I wonder why?

[Fractal Trader]

As I recall, academic infighting kept delaying the release of the Dead Sea Scrolls. One scholar solved this problem by releasing microfilm of the scrolls.

[TheOldLady]

Is there some sort of dog-in-the-manger thing going on here? Or is someone nervous about the religious repercussions of an odd interpretation of some artifact? It’s an interesting mystery, especially the part about Barag’s blaming Netzer but Netzer saying he was never asked about the information. Hmmm...

[SunkenCiv]

Not sure. Probably political, having to do with the current Arab campaign of genocide against the Jews.

[Citizen Tom Paine]

IMHO it is the old question concerning who owns the data. I have known scientists that have collected field data and thrown it in their desk drawer because they were going to publish it “later”. Since it was “their” observations they had the final say.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks!