title: Revisiting Tell Deir 'Alla: a reinterpretation of the Early Iron Age deposits
Creators: name: Halbertsma, DJ
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2019

description: Excavations produce significant quantities of data, a fact that was no different 60 years ago than it is today. Unfortunately, the resulting data are not always (fully) published, and the excavation archives, comprising photographs, notebooks and drawings, are sometimes left to gather dust for decades in storerooms, basements and attics. One such archive is the Tell Deir ‘Alla archive, which resulted from the 1960s excavations done by Prof Dr H. J. Franken on this important site in the Jordan Valley. While Tell Deir ‘Alla received significant scholarly and popular attention mainly due to the discovery of two religious complexes dating to both the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age II periods, the layers in between them, corresponding to the Iron Age I, somewhat fell through the cracks. While a robust pottery chronology was published by the excavator, in combination with a summary of the stratigraphy, a significant amount of the excavated data was left out. While architecture and stratigraphy were touched upon, they were significantly summarised, as were the associating finds. A lot more detail and complexity existed in the original field documentation. The Iron Age I is not well understood, and of the few excavations that were done, not many have been published. As such, the Tell Deir ‘Alla archive holds significant potential for further research on this period. To demonstrate the potential of working with this archive, a pilot-study was started in a well-defined area of the site, for a specific archaeological period: the the end of the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age I (ca. 1200-1000). One of the most standout features from this period was chosen: the Phase B installations. These installations, interpreted by the excavator as large-scale bronze casting-foundries, play an important role in various debates regarding the Iron Age I period, varying from the biblical link between metallurgy and the Jordan Valley, to the presence of the ‘Sea Peoples’. In this MPhil project the following research question was addressed: “How can a re-evaluation of the excavation documentation of the Phase B installations at Tell Deir ‘Alla contribute to understanding their function, and their overall role in the Iron Age I economy?” A major research outcome was the digitisation of the excavation archive. While this proved a significant and arduous task, it was successfully completed over the course of this research. This digitised Tell Deir ‘Alla archive can now be made available in open-access, allowing future archaeologists to scrutinise Franken’s theories, as well as the theories proposed in this thesis. After digitising the archive was completed, it was shaped into a workable database. This allowed for subsequent research, focusing on the Phase B installations. By analysing and bringing together the information provided by the section drawings, top-plans, fieldnotes, and photographs, the chronology of this phase could be refined, the stratigraphy amended, and the find categories which were left out in the original publication added. This in turn allowed for a re-evaluation of the Phase B installations, based on all of the available evidence in the archive. An extensive literature review allowed these new insights to be placed in a wider historical framework. By revisiting this old excavation archive from a modern perspective, the role of Tell Deir ‘Alla during this poorly understood period could be re-evaluated.