Prof. discovers secrets of an ancient society

When his parents gave him a book about dinosaurs, 10 year-old Barry Gittlen knew what he wanted to do with his life: He wanted to be an archeologist.

Now, several years later, Gittlen serves as professor of biblical and archeological studies at the Baltimore Hebrew University and has engaged in six archeological projects in Israel.

"All my life I knew I wanted to an archeologist," said Gittlen. "I just switched from dinosaurs to people."

As archeological coordinator of the Tel Miqne-Ekron Excavations, Gittlen recently helped to uncover unprecedented discoveries about Philistine society in a project that spanned the years of 1981 to 1996. He will present his findings with a vivid slide show of the archeological dig and its artifacts on April 29 at the Baltimore Hebrew University.

One of the five principal cities of Philistia, Ekron was located on the border between Philistia and Judah. Hoping to capitalize on the proximity of the two cultures, the archeological team coordinated by Gittlen hoped to test the material relationship between the cultures by comparative analysis of the Philistine and Judean artifacts found at the Philistine site, said Gittlen. Researchers found that the cultures were highly interrelated in material aspects.

"You never know what you're going to come up with when you dig a hole in the ground," said Gittlen. "For example, we didn't fully grasp how integrated the ceramics of the Philistines were with the ceramics of the Judah."

The civilizations' interdependence in trade, however, did not extend to a positive portrayal of each other, particularly that of the Philistines in the Bible. Archeological discoveries have served to undermine prior misconceptions of Philistine society based on biblical narrative, said Gittlen.

"We've developed a broader and deeper understanding of the nature of Philistine civilization from its beginning and its decline after the end of the 7th century B.C.E.," he said. "We've been able to further illuminate what was previously a misunderstood population."

Philistine civilization dates back to the Iron Age, said Gittlen. The Philistines' earliest coastal appearance directly coincided with the appearance of the Israelites in the mountains of Israel at about 1200 B.C. So closely situated, the Philistines developed into clear enemies of the Israelites and were thereby vilified by the Israelites in the Bible.

"We have been able to paint a much fuller picture to show the Philistines not as marauders but as a technologically adept civilization that just happened to be the arch enemies of the Israelites," said Gittlen. "Just because the Israelites wrote the Bible, the Philistines got bad press."

Two weeks before the end of the excavation, while one excavation team was uncovering what they believed to be the walls of a vast palace, they unearthed a monumental stone inscription.

"The five line inscription told us that the name of the city actually was Ekron, and we got a five person king list and two of those kings are known from Assyrian and Babylonian literature," said Gittlen. "According to the inscription, the building was actually used as a temple, and it is the largest Iron Age temple ever excavated in the land of Israel, and the temple was dedicated to a goddess whose name was not previously known from the literature of this region."

Moreover, the team found a plethora of ivory objects, gold, jewelry, silver, ceramic items and weapons.

The discoveries allowed them to develop a clear understanding of the structure of the Iron Age town.

"Tel Miqne is a Philistine urban industrial complex covering 80 acres in what is today the inner coastal plain of Israel," said Gittlen. "In the thirteenth season of excavation, we were able to produce a plan of this 80 acre urban industrial complex, which features over 150 olive oil factories."

As coordinator of the excavations, Gittlen worked under co-directors Trude Dothan, a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Sy Gitin, director of the Albright Institute for Archeological Research. He coordinated all of the archeological activities and was responsible for the three fields under excavation.

Gittlen will highlight the archeological discoveries of his 20-year involvement in the project with a slide illustrated lecture entitled, "Snakes, Scorpions and the Ark of the Covenant" at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, April 29, at the Baltimore Hebrew University, during which he will show slides of the archeological discoveries.

Gittlen is currently working on a written account of the excavations and plans to take a sabbatical next year for its completion. He participated in five archeological projects prior to Tel Miqne-Ekron and served as the co-principal investigator for the Fells Point Synagogue Archaeological Project and for the Lloyd Street Synagogue Excavations in Baltimore.

For more information about the lecture or to participate in archeological research, contact Gittlen at gittlen@bhu.edu.