Publishing Jaffa: The Kaplan Publication Initiative [Poster]

Salvage Excavation Reports 12, 2024

ZDPV , 2019

2018

Editors' Preface extensive efforts to locate them. In the summer of 2012, for example, well after the research conducted for the present volume, more than 400 plans were found in a rooftop storage facility at Kaplans' residence. These were mostly daily plans with robust notations from the Lion Temple excavations (1970)(1971)(1972)(1973)(1974), but their sudden and surprising appearance serves as a reminder of how uncertain the extent of Kaplan's record keeping is and the sense of what percentage of that collection has been accounted for. Second, the condition of excavated remains and records following Jacob Kaplan's excavations also impede straightforward reconstructions of contexts. Many metal artifacts, mudbrick samples, and other organic remains are severely decomposed after many years in the humid storerooms of the museum. Many of the primary documents from which contexts can be reconstructed, such as writing on boxes, have seriously degraded, making it sometimes impossible to be sure of artifact's contexts. Such conditions also impede the reconstruction of contexts, which pose a third limitation on the use of the collection. Although for a great many if not most finds contexts can be reconstructed, many "branches" within the stratigraphic hierarchy cannot be fully associated with the excavation's stratigraphy. Artifacts from such "orphaned" contexts are thus only useful as markers of presence and absence of an artifact in Jaffa. Finally, limitations concerning data collection and recording conventions preclude certitude concerning contexts at times. Insufficient elevations-a frequent problem on excavations-are but one example of the challenge of re-situing artifacts and pottery buckets from these excavations. For early excavations, a lack of localized or daily top plans also challenge locating some finds and thus identifying their contexts. Limited photography during the 1950s likewise confines our understanding of the development of the excavation of certain contexts. Despite these challenges, which are common to many unpublished, legacy archaeological datasets, a great deal can be done with the available materials. The present volume specifically highlights Jaffa's archaeology from the Persian Period to the end of the Byzantine Period. The Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods are well reflected in Jaffa's archaeological record both on the mound itself (Tel Yafo) and throughout the lower town from salvage excavations, which include both architecture and a robust assemblage of artifacts. Together they reveal the vicissitudes of Jaffa's history as a port on the eastern Mediterranean that, despite its relatively small size, played an outsized role in connecting the central coast and highlands to the Mediterranean from its earliest history. Since before the project's inception in 2006 Orit Tsuf began consultations with Martin Peilstöcker on a number of issues concerning the location, evaluation, analysis, preparation, and publication of the materials presented in this volume. Because Orit began this work before the project started, she faced the daunting task of locating, identifying, documenting, analyzing, and making sense of the materials that remained from Kaplan's work. The result was a realization that rebuilding the stratigraphy of the site was not realistically possible alongside the already considerable challenge of analyzing the artifact assemblage of Persian to Byzantine period finds. In consultation with the JCHP's directors, the most reasonable course seemed to address the range of finds, particularly the best examples of types and those recovered from clear stratigraphic contexts, but to leave a more exhaustive effort to reconstruct Jaffa's stratigraphic sequence as a separate project. Part of the stratigraphic analysis to be completed is being addressed by the publication of Bronze and Iron Age contexts underway by Burke and Peilstöcker (see Burke 2011), as well as for the final publication of JCHP excavations in the Visitor's Center (i.e., Area C) in 2008 and 2009 (see Burke et al 2014)). Without repeating the table of contents of this volume, it is perhaps important to underscore that a number of other excavated materials hold considerable potential for further shedding light on the artifacts and the Persian to Byzantine period contexts. The remaining studies have not been neglected, but will be published in future studies and contextualized insofar as possible. Among these are some architectural elements, faunal remains (including fish bones and shells), a few botanical samples from Area A in the 1970s, chipped and ground stone artifacts, stamped jar handles. 2 Faunal remains are to be published by Ed Maher, fish bones by Omri Lernau, shell by Inbar Ktalav, and botanical remains by Andrea Orendi, chipped stone by Kobi Vardi, and stamped handles by Gérald Finkielsztejn. Sadly, residue analyses on previously excavated ceramics demonstrated no foreseeable utility, owing most likely to the fact that all ceramics were thoroughly cleaned 2 Coins from Jaffa have appeared in a number of previous studies, as Tsuf notes in her work. Inscriptions, notably those from Abu Kabir, have also been recently published (see Ameling et al 2014).

The Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project series, Vol. 2, 2017

Since 2007, the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project has endeavored to bring to light the vast archaeological and historical record of the site of Jaffa in Israel. Continuing the effort begun with The History and Archaeology of Jaffa 1, this volume is a collection of independent studies and final reports on various excavations. These include: overviews of archaeological research in Jaffa, historical and archaeological studies of Medieval and Ottoman Jaffa, reports on excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority at both the Postal Compound between 2009 and 2011 and at the Armenian Compound in 2006 and 2007, and studies of the excavations of Jacob Kaplan and Haya Ritter-Kaplan in Jaffa on behalf of the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums from 1955 to 1974.

2011

In 2007 the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project (JCHP) was established as a joint research endeavor of the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Among the project’s diverse aims is the publication of numerous excavations conducted in Jaffa since 1948 under the auspices of various governmental and research institutions such as the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums and its successor the Israel Antiquities Authority, as well as the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project. This, the first volume in the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project series, lays the groundwork for this initiative. Part I provides the historical, economic, and legal context for the JCHP’s development, while outlining its objectives and the unique opportunities that Jaffa offers researchers. The history of Jaffa and its region, and the major episodes of cultural change that affected the site and region are explored through a series of articles in Part II, including an illustrated discussion of historical maps of Jaffa from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Recent archaeological discoveries from Jaffa are included in Part III, while Part IV provides a first glimpse of the JCHP’s efforts to publish the Jacob Kaplan and Haya Ritter-Kaplan legacy from Jaffa. Together the twenty-five contributions to this work constitute the first major book-length publication to address the archaeology of Jaffa in more than sixty years since excavations were initiated at the site.

Ancient Jaffa from the Persian to the Byzantine Period: Kaplan Excavations, edited by O. Tsuf, pp. 1–4. The Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project 3. Ägypten und Altes Testament 89, A. A. Burke and M. Peilstöcker, eds., Zaphon., 2018

Editors' preface to volume 3 in The Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project series. Burke, Aaron A., and Martin Peilstöcker 2018 Editor’s Preface. In “Ancient Jaffa from the Persian to the Byzantine Period: Kaplan Excavations,” edited by O. Tsuf, pp. 1–4. The Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project 3. Ägypten und Altes Testament 89, A. A. Burke and M. Peilstöcker, eds., Zaphon.

The History and Archaeology of Jaffa 1, edited by M. Peilstöcker and A. A. Burke. The Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project 1. Monumenta Archaeologica 26, A. A. Burke and M. Peilstöcker, general eds., 2011

This article is the first in a series of articles on the history of Jaffa and deals with the earliest phase of settlement in Jaffa up through the end of the Achaemenid period. It incorporates both historical and archaeological evidence in an effort to provide a long overdue examination of Jaffa’s role within the study of the history and archaeology of these early periods.

'Atiqot, 2020

Introduction for the 100th volume of Israel Antiquities Authority's "'Atiqot" publication stage, dedicated to urban archaeology in Jaffa. Reports of five sites containing remains from the Middle Bronze to the British Mandate periods. The article describes the significance, challenges and main achievements of archaeological research in Jaffa over the last three decades.

Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies, 2021

Excavations in Jaffa since the 1940s uncovered remains from the city's original inhabitation until the twentieth century. Investigation and analysis focused on the Middle Bronze II to the Byzantine periods. The later phases received far less attention. Ottoman and British Mandate layers were dug through with only basic documentation, if any, being considered irrelevant to archaeology. Yet, changing approaches proved the potential of the systematic study of architecture and artifacts from the recent past, despite and within related textual and illustrated information. Archaeological data provided new perspectives on Jaffa's fast transition from a small eastern Mediterranean backwater, economically dependent on farming and a deficient harbor, into a vibrant and cosmopolitan urban center. The tangible remains of the city's late nineteenth and early twentieth-century history attest to the unprecedented changes and ordeals the Holy Land as a whole experienced during that time.