The Landfill of Early Roman Jerusalem : The 2013‒2014 Excavations in Area D3

This is the story of the landfill that operated in Jerusalem during the first century CE and served as its garbage dump during the ca. 50-year period that followed Jesus’s crucifixion through to the period that led to the great revolt of the Jews just prior to the city’s destruction. The book presents an extensive investigation of hundreds of thousands of items that were systematically excavated from the thick layers of landfill. It brings together experts who conducted in-depth studies of every sort of material discarded as refuse—ceramic, metal, glass, bone, wood, and more. This research presents an amazing and tantalizing picture of daily life in ancient Jerusalem, and how life was shaped and regulated by strict behavioral rules ( halacha ). The book also explores why garbage was collected in Jerusalem in so strict a manner and why the landfill operated for only about 50 years. Half a century of garbage from Early Roman–period Jerusalem provides an abundance of new data and new insights into the ideological choices and new religious concepts emerging and developing among those living in Jerusalem at this critical moment. It is an eye-opener for archaeologists, historians, anthropologists, and theologians, as well as for the general reader. This is the story of the landfill that operated in Jerusalem during the first century CE and served as its garbage dump during the ca. 50-year period that followed Jesus’s crucifixion through to the period that led to the great revolt of the Jews just prior to the city’s destruction. The book presents an extensive investigation of hundreds of thousands of items that were systematically excavated from the thick layers of landfill. It brings together experts who conducted in-depth studies of every sort of material discarded as refuse—ceramic, metal, glass, bone, wood, and more. This research presents an amazing and tantalizing picture of daily life in ancient Jerusalem, and how life was shaped and regulated by strict behavioral rules (__halacha__). The book also explores why garbage was collected in Jerusalem in so strict a manner and why the landfill operated for only about 50 years. Half a century of garbage from Early Roman–period Jerusalem provides an abundance of new data and new insights into the ideological choices and new religious concepts emerging and developing among those living in Jerusalem at this critical moment. It is an eye-opener for archaeologists, historians, anthropologists, and theologians, as well as for the general reader. This is the story of the landfill that operated in Jerusalem during the first century CE and served as its garbage dump during the ca. 50-year period that followed Jesus's crucifixion through to the period that led to the great revolt of the Jews just prior to the city's destruction.0The book presents an extensive investigation of hundreds of thousands of items that were systematically excavated from the thick layers of landfill. It brings together experts who conducted in-depth studies of every sort of material discarded as refuse-ceramic, metal, glass, bone, wood, and more. This research presents an amazing and tantalizing picture of daily life in ancient Jerusalem, and how life was shaped and regulated by strict behavioral rules (halacha). The book also explores why garbage was collected in Jerusalem in so strict a manner and why the landfill operated for only about 50 years. Half a century of garbage from Early Roman-period Jerusalem provides an abundance of new data and new insights into the ideological choices and new religious concepts emerging and developing among those living in Jerusalem at this critical moment. It is an eye-opener for archaeologists, historians, anthropologists, and theologians, as well as for the general reader Introduction / Yuval Gadot -- Stratigraphy / Yuval Gadot -- The pottery / Hélène Machline -- The numismatic finds / Yoav Farhi -- The chalk vessels / Yonatan Adler -- The glass finds / Ruth E. Jackson-Tal -- The metal artifacts / Chen Antler -- Report on glassy slag fragments / Shan Huang and Ian Freestone -- The plaster fragments / Lena Naama Sharabi -- The stone scale-weights / Ronny Reich -- Miscellaneous finds / Nitsan Ben Melech -- Faunal remains / Abra Spiciarich and Lidar Sapir-Hen -- Fish remains / Omri Lernau -- Archaeobotanical analysis / Helena Roth and Dafna Langgut -- Seeds, grains and other plant organs / Ilana Peters and Ehud Weiss -- Committing the Kidron's western slopes to garbage disposal : Jewish urbanism under Roman hegemony / Yuval Gadot CONTENTS PREFACE PART I: INTRODUCTION AND STRATIGRAPHY CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 2 STRATIGRAPHY PART II: THE FINDS CHAPTER 3 THE POTTERY CHAPTER 4 THE NUMISMATIC FINDS CHAPTER 5 THE CHALK VESSELS CHAPTER 6 THE GLASS FINDS CHAPTER 7.1 THE METAL ARTIFACTS CHAPTER 7.2 REPORT ON GLASSY SLAG FRAGMENTS CHAPTER 8 THE PLASTER FRAGMENTS CHAPTER 9 THE STONE SCALE-WEIGHTS CHAPTER 10 MISCELLANEOUS FINDS PART III: FLORA AND FAUNA CHAPTER 11 FAUNAL REMAINS CHAPTER 12 FISH REMAINS CHAPTER 13 ARCHAEOBOTANICAL ANALYSIS CHAPTER 14 SEEDS, GRAINS AND OTHER PLANT ORGANS PART IV: SYNTHESIS AND SUMMARY CHAPTER 15 COMMITTING THE KIDRONʼS WESTERN SLOPES TO GARBAGE DISPOSAL: JEWISH URBANISM UNDER ROMAN HEGEMONY INDEX OF LOCI "Presents the results of excavations at a landfill outside the walls of Jerusalem dating from the 1st century CE that functioned as the final resting spot of the discarded items of the city. The findings reveal city life shaped by halakhic rules of purity"-- Provided by publisher