The Israel Exploration Journal is published twice annually. Several of the articles from the latest issue (64/2) may be of interest to readers here. Access to the full articles requires a subscription (print or electronic, via JStor).

EILAT MAZAR, YUVAL GOREN, WAYNE HOROWITZ and TAKAYOSHI

OSHIMA: Jerusalem 2: A Fragment of a Cuneiform Tablet from the Ophel Excavations
Abstract: A tiny fragment of a cuneiform tablet was recovered in the Ophel excavations in Jerusalem in 2013. Even smaller than the fragment recovered in the 2009–2010 excavations (published in IEJ 60 in 2010), the fragment preserves only parts of five signs. Nevertheless, on the basis of the provenance study and an analysis of the physical tablet and sign forms, we are able to suggest a Ramesside date for the tablet and propose that this fragment, like the earlier tablet, comes from a royal letter.

MICHAEL D. PRESS: The Chronology of Philistine Figurines

ITZHAQ SHAI and JOE UZIEL: Addressing Survey Methodology in the Southern Levant: Applying Different Methods for the Survey of Tel Burna, Israel


Abstract: Surveying in the southern Levant has until recently been limited to basic methods of surface artefact collection. While recent regional studies have begun to integrate other methods, surveys conducted on individual sites—particularly multiperiod settlements (tels)—remain outdated.

The following study presents the results of two different survey methods applied at the site of Tel Burna, Israel—surface artefact collection and test-pit surveying—and conducts a three-way comparison between the two survey methods and the excavation results, in an effort to promote survey methodology in the region and to determine the best way for surveying such sites. This will help to reduce the expense and damage caused by excavation, while providing further information on the sites, not obtainable through excavation.

ERIC MITCHELL, R. ADAM DODD and S. CAMERON COYLE: More ‘Boundary of Gezer’ 


Inscriptions: One New and Another Rediscovered


Abstract: The article discusses two Boundary of Gezer inscriptions found in 2012. One inscription,
classified as no. 4, had previously been discovered by Clermont-Ganneau but was never fully published, and had not been seen in the field since his time. The other is a newly discovered thirteenth Gezer boundary inscription; the tenth one with both גזר תחמ and ΑΛΚΙΟΥ. In an appendix, the authors also attempt to sort out the disjointed nature of the discovery, publication and attribution of the Boundary of Gezer inscriptions over time.

MORDECHAI AVIAM and DINA SHALEM: A Decorated Fragment of a Tyrian Lead Coffin from a Cemetery at Akhziv

MOSHE FISCHER and ITAMAR TAXEL: Yavneh-Yam in the Byzantine—Early Islamic Transition: The Archaeological Remains and Their Socio-Political Implications

The full table of contents with abstracts is available on the website of the Israel Exploration Society.

For previous issues, see here.