A 05: "The Land flowing with Milk and Honey". Development and Significance of Agrarian Resources in Bronze and Iron Age Palestine

Summary

The project studies changes in the use of agrarian resources in ancient Palestine during the Bronze and Iron Ages (approx. 3600 – 332 BC). During the initial phase of funding plants, the use of plants, the agricultural techniques and strategies, the traces of production, as well as the linguistic and pictorial representations of agriculture will be in the focus of research. This ResourceCoplex formed an important base for the emergence and change of social and political units, for social identities and for the provisioning of people in ancient Palestine. During the long period of time studied by the project, the use of agriculturally relevant resources was subject to processes of change. Thus the project, applying a long-term perspective, will analyse how the changes in agriculture and conditions of life effected the developments of social and political units.

Case Study

Palestine in ancient times always was a land of peasants. But besides this continuity, the history of Palestine was shaped by cultural dynamics during the period from the 4th to the 1st mill. BC, traceable by written sources and archaeological evidence. In short this can be described as a development leading from a system of small city states (Bronze Age) with an intermediate period (Iron I) to a system of small territorial states (Iron II). Amongst these states with monarchic rule were the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

The project primarily analyses the interrelationship between the use of resources of central importance for agriculture and processes of social change from a historic perspective. Additionally, using the relevant written sources, it explores how these dynamics are linked to the symbolic valuations of the resources in question, with Judah and Israel serving as an example. The Old Testament provides plenty of such symbolic valuations. The phrase ‘the land flowing with milk and honey’ for example is a frequent emblematic description for the territory inhabited by Israelites and Judeans (i. e. 4. Mose 13,27). In summary, four closely linked aims are targeted:

Scientific Aims

1. Identification of the continuities and transformations in the use of resources in agriculture. These continuities and transformations will be elucidated from the point of view of development of farming and use of crops from the beginning of Bronze Age until the end of Iron Age (approx. 3600 – 332 BC). The development of agricultural production structures will be traced using archaeobotanical methods. The results of pervious archaeobotanic studies, up to now standing isolated, will be systematically collected and compared to achieve a diachronic synthesis.

2. Perception of the interrelationship between socio-cultural developments and the use of resources in agriculture. Using the socio-cultural developments in Bronze- and Iron Age Palestine, it will be explored how these dynamics are related to the use of resources in agriculture.

3. Comprehension of the influence of the agrarian ResourceComplex on the emergence and creation of social and political units and their collective identities. The project will approach this topic by researching the processes of identity creation of social groups in Bronze- and Iron Age Palestine, looking to identify their connection to developments concerning agriculturally relevant resources.

4. Realisation of the linguistic symbolic valuation of agricultural resources. Using linguistic and historic analyses of relevant texts of the Old Testament, it will be studied which role was played by agriculture as a transforming resource in the definition of symbolic phrases of religious context with central importance for the identities of Israelites and Judeans.

Long-term Perspective

During the initial phase of the Collaborative Research Centre the focus of the project will be on ResourceCoplexes linked to farming and the cultivation of crops, while in the second phase it will deal with aspects of animal husbandry. Using the results of both phases as a basis, a comprehensive history of the interrelationships between socio-cultural dynamics and the use of resources in Bronze- and Iron Age Palestine will be compiled.

Impact for the Collaborative Research Centre

The subject of agriculturally relevant ResourceComplexes in Palestine is well suited to research the links between resources of central importance to pre-modern societies and their political, economic, cultural and religious developments. With the inclusion of ethnographical data the project provides the particular opportunity to establish links between historical/archaeological and recent cultural studies. The research interest of the Collaborative Research Centre includes topics central to Near Eastern Palaeobotany, Biblical Archaeology and the History of Israel and Judah. A diachronic overview over Bronze- and Iron Age agriculture of Palestine, targeted by project A 05 in close cooperation with other projects would be impossible without the multidisciplinary approach of the Collaborative Research Centre.The subject of agriculturally relevant ResourceComplexes in Palestine is well suited to research the links between resources of central importance to pre-modern societies and their political, economic, cultural and religious developments. With the inclusion of ethnographical data the project provides the particular opportunity to establish links between historical/archaeological and recent cultural studies.

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