2017-2018 Grant in Aid of Research

The Small Finds From Shechem / Tell Balâtah

Jacob Moody

I have been invited to write and publish one of the volumes in the Shechem Archaeological Site Report series. There are currently five volumes that detail what has been uncovered at this ancient and Biblical city, and they cover Shechem’s stratigraphy and architecture; Middle Bronze, Late Bronze, and Hellenistic Pottery assemblages; and a regional survey. The volume that I am responsible for will be the Small Finds volume, which will showcase all of the smaller artifacts that have been uncovered at site thus far. These include such things as, figurines, jewelry, scarabs, weapons, tools, stone objects, and other miscellaneous artifacts. The majority of the artifacts that I will be researching, finding parallels for, drawing, photographing and ultimately publishing, are housed at the Harvard Semitic Museum. A lesser but still significant portion of the materials are stored in the countries of Jordan and Israel. Also, as part of my research, I need to visit the site of Shechem, in the West Bank of Israel, with it’s small museum/visitor center.