Dinner at Dan Culture and History of the Ancient Near East Founding Editor M.H.E. Weippert Editor-in-Chief Thomas Schneider Editors Eckart Frahm W. Randall Garr B. Halpern Theo P.J. van den Hout Irene J. Winter VOLUME 66 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/chan Dinner at Dan Biblical and Archaeological Evidence for Sacred Feasts at Iron Age II Tel Dan and Their Significance By Jonathan S. Greer LEIDEN • BOSTON 2013 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 1566-2055 ISBN 978-90-04-26061-0 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-26062-7 (e-book) Copyright 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. 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Dedicated to the Memory of Brian Hesse 1944–2011 Teacher, Mentor, Colleague, and Friend הכרבל ונורכיז CONTENTS List of Figures  ................................................................................................... xi List of Tables  .................................................................................................... xvii Abbreviations  ................................................................................................... xix Acknowledgments  .......................................................................................... xxi Chapter 1. Introduction: Unanswered Questions and the Power of a Feast  ...................................................................................................... 1 The Power of a Feast  ................................................................................ 2 Defining a Feast  ..................................................................................... 3 The Sacred Feast  ................................................................................... 4 The Way Forward  ...................................................................................... 5 The Importance of this Endeavor  ......................................................... 6 Chapter 2. Biblical Perspectives on the Northern Cult in the Monarchic Period  ...................................................................................... 7 The Description of the Cult of Jeroboam in 1 Kings 12:25–33  ..... 8 The Ambiguous Portrayal of Jeroboam and His Cult in the DH  ................................................................................................. 10 Yahwistic Aspects of the Description of the Cult of Jeroboam  ... 14 Calf Iconography, Yahweh, and Exodus 32  .................................. 15 The God Who Brought You up from Egypt  .................................. 25 A Temple of “bāmôṯ”?  .......................................................................... 26 Traditional Aspects of the Description of the Cult of Jeroboam  ................................................................................................. 30 Location and Ancient Roots in Judges 17–18  ............................... 31 A Priesthood of Everyman  ................................................................. 36 Festivals of Old  ...................................................................................... 39 Chapter 3. Archaeological Evidence of Sacred Feasts at Tel Dan  ... 43 Introduction: Tel Dan Area T  ................................................................. 43 Methods  ........................................................................................................ 49 Defining Contexts  ................................................................................. 49 Faunal Analysis  ...................................................................................... 50 Ceramic Analysis  ................................................................................... 52 Artifactual Analysis  .............................................................................. 52 viii contents Results  ........................................................................................................... 53 Spatial and Stratigraphic Contexts  .................................................. 53 Southern Deposit 1 (SD1)  ............................................................... 53 Southern Deposit 2 (SD2)  ............................................................. 54 South-East Deposit 1 (SED1)  ......................................................... 56 South-East Deposit 2 (SED2)  ........................................................ 56 North-East Deposit (NED)  ............................................................. 57 Western Deposit 1 (WD1)  .............................................................. 58 Western Deposit 2 (WD2)  ............................................................. 59 Faunal Remains  ..................................................................................... 60 Taxa Represented  ............................................................................ 60 Age at Death  ...................................................................................... 61 Male-Female Proportions  .............................................................. 64 Butchery Marks ................................................................................. 64 Left-sided to Right-sided Proportions  ....................................... 66 Meaty Long Bone to Phalange Proportions  ............................. 69 Ceramic Remains  .................................................................................. 72 Ceramic Types  .................................................................................. 73 Painted to Unpainted Wares  ........................................................ 74 Other Artifactual Remains  ................................................................. 76 Discussion  .................................................................................................... 80 Cultic Meals in Area T  ......................................................................... 80 The Nature of the Deposits of Area T  ............................................ 82 Contrast between Spheres of Activity  ............................................ 84 Chronological Trends  .......................................................................... 90 Conclusions .................................................................................................. 91 Reconstruction  ............................................................................................ 92 The Cultic Feasts of the Courtyard  ................................................. 92 The Cultic Feasts of the Western Chambers  ................................ 94 Chapter 4. A Synthetic Analysis of Sacred Feasts at Israelite Dan  ................................................................................................................. 97 The Historicity of an Iron Age II Danite Cult  ................................... 97 Yahwistic Aspects of Danite Feasts  ...................................................... 98 The Priestly Portions  ............................................................................ 100 Cultic Paraphernalia  ............................................................................ 106 The Architecture of Area T  ................................................................ 108 The Syntax of Offering in Area T  ..................................................... 116 “Yahwistic Aspects” in Context and the Aramaean Question .............................................................................................. 119 contents ix Traditional Aspects of Danite Cult Feasts  .......................................... 120 Communal Family Feasts  ................................................................... 121 Increasing Regulation  .......................................................................... 122 Chapter 5. Conclusions: Kingdom, Past, and Realpolitik at Monarchic Dan  ........................................................................................... 125 The Yahwistic Royal Cult in Action  ..................................................... 125 Sacred Feasts at Dan in the Context of the Kingdom  .................... 127 Sacred Feasting in the Precinct of the Early Northern Monarchs  ............................................................................................ 128 Sacred Feasting in the Precinct of the Omrides .......................... 130 Sacred Feasting in the Precinct of the Nimshides  ...................... 133 The Significance of this Study  ................................................................ 136 Appendix: Cooking Pot Rim Profiles by Deposit  .................................. 139 Bibliography  ..................................................................................................... 145 Author Index  .................................................................................................... 175 Names and Subject Index  ............................................................................. 185