Palestine Exploration Quarterly

Lantos, Sara; Bornstein, Yoav; Khamisy, Rabei; Eshel, Tzilla

doi: 10.1080/00310328.2025.2562701pmid: N/A

This article examines Crusader military activities along the Carmel Coast through a detailed analysis of three swords recovered from the marine environment. By employing typological classification, imaging techniques, and metallographic study, we elucidate the swords’ construction, dating, and contextual significance within the twelfth and thirteenth centuries ad. The findings provide insights into the forging techniques of medieval artisans and highlight the Carmel Coast's strategic and military importance during the Crusades. This research contributes to a broader understanding of the maritime and military dynamics in the region during a pivotal historical period.

Pioske, Daniel

doi: 10.1080/00310328.2025.2562748pmid: N/A

Increasingly, archaeologists of the Levant have been attentive to post-destruction activity carried out by residents of ruined sites. But in addition to the traces of squatter communities, what has also been unearthed is evidence of the intentional preservation of ruins by later populations who came to live among them. But why preserve ruins when their materials and location were of value for other ends? This study responds to this question by framing it within a broader phenomenology of ruination. To begin, I survey recent archaeological evidence that is indicative of activities undertaken by inhabitants of certain locations in response to ruins that were still visible within them. My investigation then leverages a collection of texts from the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East that describe the experience of ruins. The writings examined in this study are of historical interest for how they attest to the numinous attributes of ruination, in which material remains are consistently portrayed as the product of divine agency. Such texts illuminate certain beliefs, I argue, that share an affinity with practices enacted among the ruins of locations in the eastern Mediterranean region, offering insights into why certain Iron Age communities preserved the ruins that they did within their settlements.

Eirikh-Rose, Anna; Zutovski, Katia; Ackerfeld, Dana; Asscher, Yotam; May, Hila; Makoviychuk, Yulia; Namdar, Linoy; Gordover, Yulia; Sapir-Hen, Lidar; Schechter, Heeli C.; Ashkenazi, Hai; Lee, Mo Wan; Gopher, Avi