Subject: Phoenicia under Neo-Assyrian Rule: an Archaeological Investigation
Supervisor: Prof. Ilan Sharon Prof. Ilan Sharon and Prof. Ayelet Gilboa
Abstract: On the Phoenician coast (the northern coast of modern-day Israel and Lebanon) several kingdoms flourished in the Iron Age. When the Assyrian kings campaigned to the area, they took advantage from the wealth of the kingdoms in the form of tribute and booty, but yet did treat them differently than other areas. Though the relation between the Assyrian empire and the Phoenician cities has been studied in the past, there are still open questions. There is a need to answer the question if and how there was a planned occupation of the Phoenician littoral and how this influenced the Phoenician cities and their hinterland over time. The question how the Assyrians benefitted from the Phoenician economy and to what extent they played an active role in the commercial system, or whether the Phoenician benefitted from the Assyrians (regarding trade and maritime power) and what role the city-states and their hinterlands played in this system, is not fully dealt with. In order to answer this broad question, other issues should be dealt with, like the extent the coastal sites were destroyed and resettled, either by the local population or by the deportees whom the Assyrians brought to the sites. The archaeological evidence, destruction layers, settlement patterns and ceramic assemblages, have not been studied in a comprehensive manner. Therefore, my research will first focus on the available archaeological data. In addition, the Assyrian texts will be studied in order to get another piece of information about these processes. Though also the texts have been studied in the past, there is no comprehensive study taking into consideration the archaeological data. Therefore, my research will combine both and thus might provide new insights in the history of the Phoenician coast.
Bio: Pnina Torn Broers holds a bachelor's degree in Ancient Near Eastern Studies from Leiden University (the Netherlands), and a master's degree in archeology from the Hebrew University. Her thesis dealt with the Early Iron Age town of Dor, then an important harbour on the northern coast of modern-day Israel. He doctorate focuses on the same area, Phoenicia, during the Neo-Assyrian period, after the campaigns of the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III, in the late 8th century BC. Pnina examines the archaeological data and intends to examine the textual information regarding the settlement history on the coast. Pnina writes her doctoral dissertation under the supervision of Prof. Ilan Sharon (Hebrew University) and Prof. Ayelet Gilboa (University of Haifa).
Publications:
Torn Broers, P. In Press. A Late Bronze Age Gold Bull Head Pendant from Tel Dor. In: N.
Yahalom-Mack, U. Davidovich and S. Matskevich (eds.) Material, Method, and Meaning:
Papers in Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology in Honor of Ilan Sharon. Helsinki: Zaphon.
Kreimerman, I., Torn Broers, P., Weissbein, I., and Naveh, O. 2022. Back to Tell Beit Mirsim: First Results of the Renewed Excavations. In: A. Golani, D. Varga, Y, Tchekhanovets and M. Birkenfeld (eds.), Archaeological Excavations and Research Studies in Southern Israel, 18th Annual Conference (Vol. 5). Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Kreimerman, I., Weissbein, I., Torn Broers, P., and Naveh, O. Accepted. In the Footsteps of Albright: The Renewed Excavations at Tell Beit Mirsim. Near Eastern Archaeology.
President Scholarship 2020/21