Socoh of the Judean Shephelah

This is the first monograph dedicated to the site of Socoh in the Judean Shephelah. Our research was initiated in 2010 as an intensive survey by the Institute of Archaeology, Southern Adventist University, and the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The study incorporates historical sources that are listed and analyzed, including the Bible, ancient Near Eastern, Byzantine, and Medieval records. A history of the research conducted over the past 190 years by explorers, geographers, and archaeologists is compiled, before providing the full report on the results of an intensive site survey conducted at Socoh in 2010.

Finally, specialized studies of the finds and a report of recent salvage excavations of burial caves, looted by antiquity robbers nearby, give a state-of-the-art presentation of the latest information known about this important biblical site in southern Judah.

“…this book is a very thorough and inclusive representation of the results of one week of intensive survey and many weeks of post-fieldwork analysis. This research is a good example that it is possible to get a quite detailed understanding of the history of the site of Socoh using only non-destructive techniques.”—Eva Kaptijn, Bibliotheca Orientalis

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: Name, Location, History of Research and Historical Context (Michael G. Hasel and Yosef Garfinkel)

1.1. The Name Socoh

1.2. The Location of Socoh in the Shephelah

1.3. Socoh in Textual Sources

1.4. The Significance of Socoh

1.5. A History of Archaeological Research

Chapter 2: Survey Methodology, Objectives and Fieldwork (Michael G. Hasel and Yosef Garfinkel)

2.1. A History of Survey Methodology

2.2. The Socoh Survey

Chapter 3: Ceramic Typology, Distribution and Chronology (Shifra Weiss)

3.1. Methodology of the Ceramic Analysis

3.2. Early Periods

3.3. Iron Age Typology

3.4. Iron Age Ceramic Distribution

3.5. Classical Periods

3.6. Islamic Periods

3.7. Two Tomb Assemblages

3.8. General Distribution Analysis

Chapter 4: Looted Burial Caves (Alon De Groot, Alla Nagorsky and Rafael Lewis)

4.1. Description of the Looted Burial Caves

4.2. The Pottery Collected from Cave 4

4.3. The Pottery Collected from Cave 1

4.4. The Pottery Collected from Cave 2

4.5. The Pottery Collected from Cave 3

4.6. Discussion

Chapter 5: Petrographic Analysis of Iron Age Ceramics (David Ben-Shlomo)

5.1. Introduction

5.2. Methodology of Petrographic Analysis

5.3. Geological and Pedological Setting

5.4. Petrographic Results

5.5. Discussion and Conclusions

Chapter 6: Pyrotechnical Production Activity: Slag Distribution and Analysis (Yosef Garfinkel and Shifra Weiss)

6.1. Introduction

6.2. Description of the Slag

6.3. Distribution of the Slag

6.4. Discussion

Chapter 7: Royal Jar Handles with lmlk and Private Seal Impressions (Michael G. Hasel and Yosef Garfinkel)

7.1. The Zaphan/Abima’az Seal Impression

7.2. The Two-Winged lmlk Seal Impression

Chapter 8: Discussion and Conclusions (Michael G. Hasel, Yosef Garfinkel and Shifra Weiss)

Bibliography