EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E
The Bible's Prehistory, Purpose, and Political Future
Dr. Jacob L. Wright, Emory University
 |
C O U R S E L E C T U R E Bronze Age vs. Iron Age Material Culture Notes taken on July 14, 2015 by Edward Tanguay |
•
the end of the Last Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age
•
marks major shift in material culture of central hill country
•
beginning in 13th century
•
both sides of the Jordan River
•
a significant rise in the number of small, agricultural settlements
•
people who occupied these settlements originated from various places
•
their material culture differed greatly from the Last Bronze Age
•
differed from the urban centers in the low lands and coastal plains
•
ceramic pottery shards
•
late Bronze Age
•
often very elaborately decorated
•
decorations on pottery can mark class divisions
•
1300 century forward
•
is unembellished, plain, even ugly
•
utilitarian and functional
•
Iron Age I (1200-1000)
•
Israel begins to merge into the population in the Highlands
•
simplicity of pottery could be due to the poor economic conditions
•
but as they become more populated and more complex through Iron Age II
•
Iron Age II (1000-586)
•
the period of the Israeli states and Judah
•
continues to be the same simple pottery as in Iron Age I
•
the same can be said for imported wares
•
this is in contrast to the Hill Country of the Last Bronze Age and also coast areas in the Iron Age
•
this can be said for the variety of ceramics as well
•
change in pottery corresponds to other features
•
simple architecture
•
simple burial customs
•
open-air sacred places rather than temples
•
scholars
•
William Foxwell Albright
•
George Mendenhall
•
Norman Gottwald
•
Avraham Faust
•
claim that this represents an egalitarian ethos
•
late Bronze Age: Canaan ruled as Egyptian imperial province
•
the Egyptian court appointed governors and it was their job to make sure that Canaan served the Egyptian empire
•
led to a stratified society
•
officers, lower and higher classes
•
was the most international area at this time in history
•
much imported pottery
•
diverse forms of tombs
•
prestige goods
•
- something we use to demarcate ourselves as having wealth and not having wealth
•
Iron Age: withdrawal of Egyptians
•
a poorer period
•
yet a people came together
•
created society
•
conquered other lands
•
if it had not been for the success of this society in the hill country during this time
•
there would have been little for the authors of the Bible to collect and reshape after the empires of the East destroyed their society