William H. Shea

A Date for the Recently Discovered Eastern Canal of Egypt

In a recent issue of American Scientist (1975: 543-48), A. Sneh, T. Weissbrod, and I. Perath, geologists from the Geological Survey of Israel, presented convincing evidence from aerial photographs for the existence of a previously unrecognized ancient canal that extended across the northern half of the Isthmus of Suez. The southernmost section of this canal (fig. 1), which extends between Lake Timsah and Lake Ballah, was originally discovered by the French engineer Linant de Bellefonds. In the publication of his MWmoires (1872-1873), however, he incorrectly attributed the construction of this section of the canal to Pharaoh Necho, a misinterpretation followed in part by Sneh (see below). Traces of the continuation of this canal have now been found north of Lake Ballah between Tell Abu Sefeh and Tell el-Heir (fig. 2), north of Tell el-He r (fig. 3), and at its termination at the ancient coastline (fig. 4), so that its course can now be econstructed from its exposed portions (fig. 5).

Artistic Balance among the Beni Hasan Asiatics

An artistic analysis of the famous Egyptian mural at Beni Hasan reveals an unusual sense of proportion and harmony in the arrangement of the Asiatic caravan, their dress and equipment.

Studies in the Mesha Inscription and Moab

Mesha was ruler of the small kingdom of Moab, east of the Dead Sea, in the mid 9th century BC. Everything we know about Mesha from the Bible is recorded in 2 Kings 3. But we know a lot more about him from a record he left us, referred to as the Mesha inscription, or Moabite Stone. It was discovered in Dhiban, Jordan, in 1868 be a French Anglican medical missionary be the name of F.A. Klein. The essays in this book discuss the inscription and the insights it provides into Meshas life and the Iron Age Kingdom of Moab.

The Inscribed Late Bronze Jar Handle from Tell Halif

An inscribed storagejar handle was recovered from a Late Bronze Age context during the 1976 excavations at Tel Halif. In the preliminary announcement of this find it was suggested that this inscription could be either paleo-Canaanite or Old South Arabic in origin (Seger 1977: 45). The crossed character inscribed on this handle resembles the Canaanite taw (fig. 1). The figure to its right has the form of a figure-8 open at the top. Some curvilinear strokes appear beneath this figure. The key to this inscription is, in my opinion, its middle sign. Although the open figure-8 does not correspond to any of the letters in the early West Semitic alphabets, it is well known on later weights as the ss sign which was borrowed from Egyptian (Gardiner 1969: 522) to represent the shekel (Scott 1959a: 128-34). A fairly complete set of weights has been assembled from various excavations in Palestine (Tufnell 1953: pl. 51; Scott 1965: 128-39; Dever 1970: 139-204). Weights for fractions of a shekel were inscribed with words (bqc, pym, and nsp), while weights of a shekel or more were marked with a numeral to the left of the shekel sign. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24, and 40 shekel weights are now known (Aharoni 1966: 19; idem 1971: 35; s: ?:?~

A Note on the Date of the Battle of Qarqar

Two recensions of the Neo-Assyrian Eponym List have been recognized for a long time. The difference between them is the number of eponyms given for the reign of Adad-nirari III. What we might call the short recension is represented by three textual witnesses (Ca6, Cb2, and Ce); it lists one less eponym for this kings reign than does the long recension which is represented by only one textual witness (Ca3).2 In terms of absolute chronology this means that the Julian dates B.C. for the regnal years of all the Neo-Assyrian kings who reigned before Adad-nirari III must be adjusted up or down by one year according to which of these two recensions is accepted. Opinions on this matter have differed. In earlier studies, such as those by Olmstead and Luckenbill,2 the longer recension enjoyed some favor. At present, the shorter recension appears to be accepted rather generally. Translating this matter in terms of an isolated historical event this means, for example, that the Battle of Qarqar which was fought in the 6th year of Shalmaneser III formerly was dated to 854 B.C., but is now dated to 853 B.C. Working back from the eponymy of Bur-Sagale which is dated to 763 B.C. by means of the eclipse in Simanu recorded with it, the two recensions of the Eponym List present us with the following alternatives for the juncture in question3: