A Proto-Aeolic Capital from Gezer

Near Eastern Archaeology, 2012

Jewish Quarter Excavations in the old city of Jerusalem Conducted by Nahman Avigad, 1969-1982, Volume VII: Areas Q, H, O-2 and Other Studies, 2017

Several column bases, column drums, an almost complete Ionic capital and a dozen fragments of other Ionic capitals of similar size and style were found during the late Prof. Nahman Avigad’s excavations in the center of the Jewish Quarter (Avigad 1983: 161‒162, Figs. 178‒181). The fragments were retrieved from Area Q, in the southeastern corner of the Hurva Square, and from Area H, situated a short distance to the west of Area Q. They all belong to Ionic columns of approximately 1 m. in diameter. Their similar monumental dimensions, common stylistic characteristics, and the fact that they were found in relatively close proximity to one another, suggest that they all originated in one series of columns of a monumental building that once stood on the Southwestern Hill of Jerusalem. Several of the features of these architectural fragments, as well as their carving style, point to a date in the late 1st century BCE or the 1st century CE, and epigraphic evidence supports a similar date (see Chapter Nine, this volume). The fragments, and especially the Ionic capitals, are of excellent workmanship and they undoubtedly represent some of the finest examples of Herodian architecture in Jerusalem. The architectural elements were all carved of semi-hard limestone (melekeh) quarried in the vicinity of Jerusalem. Most of the known quarries of the late Second Temple period are located north of the city (Avnimelech 1966; Safrai and Sasson 2001; Zilberbod 2012). Apart from their similar scale and type of stone, all the fragments have smooth, finely dressed surfaces, and the marks of the sharp, fine-toothed chisels are discernible on the faces of the drums. Such marks are typical of the Herodian period (Reich and Shukron 2006: 62). They normally comprise tiny dots in vertical columns or horizontal lines, although in some places they appear in groups running in different directions. The archaeological context of the fragments and a typological and stylistic analysis of the column drums, column bases and Ionic capitals are presented below, followed by a general discussion of Ionic columns in late Second-Temple period Jerusalem and the possible architectural context of the Ionic columns discussed here.

Ashlar: Exploring the Materiality of Cut-Stone Masonry in the Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age, 2020

Cut-stone masonry is one of the most prominent features that characterizes monumental architecture, the appearance of which is imbued with symbolic meaning and is a corollary to wholesale changes in the societies of the Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean. The workshop held in Louvain-la-Neuve on the 8th and 9th of March 2018 aimed at exploring the specificities of building practices incorporating cut-stone masonry or components in Egypt, Syria, the Aegean, Anatolia, Cyprus, and the Levant in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. Specialists of the different regions of the Eastern Mediterranean discussed topics including the structural and formal features of standing architectural remains, extraction and shaping methods, tool kits, the visual effect of ashlar use and the symbolic impact of its abandonment. Before letting the reader enter the core of the volume and explore the range of approaches to ashlar offered by contributors specialized in different geographical areas and sites, it bears upon the editors to provide a terminological and contextual framework in this introductory chapter. Characterizing the forms, techniques and building processes associated with cut-stone masonry in the Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age is a daunting task. Data are spread over an extensive geographical and chronological context – the latter often debated – and the description of ashlar components and masonries is often provided with varying degrees of details and a loose terminology. The purpose of this introductory chapter is to provide a reminder of the terminology of cut-stone building components and masonry, to describe the specific techniques related to its production, and to provide a synopsis of ashlar use in the different regions of the Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age. This regional synopsis is followed by a presentation of the challenges addressed during the workshop, and which fashioned the research questions addressed in the different, focused, contributions to this volume. These and the present introductory chapter address the research questions through varying case studies, datasets and methodologies, thus providing an in-depth understanding of the use of ashlar in the different regions of the Eastern Mediterranean in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC, and providing a sound basis for discussion and comparison pertaining to this elaborate building technique.

This article provides the first comprehensive synthesis of one of the least studied styles of column capitals-the Ionic order-in the countryside of the central Palestinian hill country in Late Antiquity. In this study a suggested typology and chronology of the documented finds of Ionic capitals-all are made of local limestone-is presented, while taking into account the geographical distribution of the capital types, and their archaeological/architectural and cultural contexts. Ionic capitals in late antique central Palestine were almost exclusively used in rural settlements of various forms, mostly villages (usually Christian but also Jewish and possibly Samaritan) and monasteries, and were virtually absent from the region's urban centers. While only one capital type represents the (quasi-)canonical or classical style of this order, the other five types clearly demonstrate provincial trends, especially an increasing heterogeneity in the development of the Ionic capital in the region, and the genuine contribution of rural artisans in this respect. The typological diversity and widespread distribution of Ionic-style capitals in the countryside of the late antique central Palestinian hill country is interpreted within local and pan-Levantine historical and socio-cultural contexts. This research inter alia suggests that the specific socio-political history of the central Palestinian hill country during the Early Roman period can partly explain the marked distinction between this area and the regions to its north regarding the evolution of the Ionic style in late antique times. By also using the code-switching model, this study further hypothesizes that the unique Ionic capitals used in the central Palestinian hill country contributed to the development of the cultural identity of the local rural population.