Albright Institute of Archaeology

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Work at the Albright concludes

As the month draws to a close, so does my research fellowship at the Albright. It was the goal of the project to expand on the article I wrote for Michmanim (27:18-28). A weakness of the original work was its reliance on an analytical framework from Bernard Mulholland, The Early Byzantine Church (Oxford, 2014).  Mulholland’s analysis was rightly criticized for being based on a rather small dataset of forty-seven churches (Fiema, BASOR 376:246-249).

I used time at the Albright to test his model on a larger set of Late Antique churches. My dataset came to include 106 churches from Palaestina Secunda, the northern part of the province of Arabia, and the Syrian Hauran south of Damascus. I focused on basilical churches with a nave and two aisles.

map of churches

I have built a bibliography of preliminary and final reports on each site and have begun to summarize the critical data.  While I am not ready to state conclusions, I expect that the analytical model will be revised to reflect the particularities of the regions around Hippos/Sussita. Whether changes in the 6th century can be tied to liturgical practice or theological alignment have yet to appear conclusively in the data.

Working at the Albright has been a distinct privilege and has given me the resources to advance my work.

Syrian Hauran

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The Final Month of Research

I am entering the final month of my research at the W.F. Albright Institute in Jerusalem.  Fortunately, I have been able to maintain my planned schedule of work and have this month turned to the Syrian Hauran — The area south of Damascus and north of the modern border with Jordan.  The map above indicated the sites of interest along with the titular sees (no longer active) around Bosra, many of which sent bishops to major apostolic councils from Nicea to Chalcedon.  This likely will be the most challenging area of research as the publication record is quite spotty and the “troubles” of the last decade have disrupted and damaged many archaeological sites.

When this month’s work is complete, I will have gathered and read reports on and have begun to synthesize pertinent information from around ninety sites in Palestina Secunda, the province of Arabia north of Madeba, and the Syrian Hauran.

Upon return to the states, I will build out the website that presents this information in a summary form and assesses the validity of Mulholland’s protocol for interpreting the floor plans of Late Antique churches in the sixth century.

Basement of Albright

Into Arabia (quickly)

The initial collection of churches for this month is from the northern part of the Roman province of Arabia. There are forth-three potential structures. A different factor in this area is that many come in clusters. At Umm al-Jimal there are twelve; at Khirbah As Samra there are five; Rihab has seven possibilities; and Madaba has six. This speeds up the research, as much of the material is published together. As a result, after one week, I am about half way through the collection.

arabia churches

New features are showing up in this group. At Umm al-Jimal, the vast majority of the basilical churches (and even the chapels) are private installations with little or no public access. Also, I am noticing more appearances of the Syrian form and fewer indications of modifications of it in the sixth century.  As some of these areas held to monophysite theology (and some still do), the hypothesis would expect such a result. But the picture could also change, as I work through the site reports. That is part of the adventure of research.

Albright Institute in Jerusalem

After one month

I have been at the Albright for a month and am happy to report that my project is on schedule.

My goal is to add some eighty basilical churches to the original collection of forty-seven churches used by Mulholland to construct his analytical protocol.  I am concentrating in areas adjacent to Hippos Palaestinēs in Palaestina Secunda, the northern part of Arabia, and the Syrian Hauran. I was planning to devote a month to each grouping. In March, I finished gathering excavation reports and finalized the collection of the churches from Palaestina Secunda for inclusion in the project.

secunda churches

Although it is too early to be conclusive, a shift from the Syrian style to the western tri-apsidal style in the sixth century is gaining statistical support.

topplan 2008

Annexes to the Northeast Church

As part of my research at the Albright, I read an article by Joseph Patrich, “The Transfer of Gifts in the Early Christian Churches of Palestine: Archaeological and Literary Evidence for the Evolution of the ‘Great Entrance'” (Pèlerinages et lieux saints dans l’Antiquité et le Moyen Âge : mélanges offerts à Pierre Maraval, Paris: 2006, pp. 341-393). In discussing annexes to 5th/6th century churches, Partich writes about “the diakonikon of the Testamentum Domini and the rooms located in an immediate proximity to it – the house of the offerings, and the treasury (= gazophylakion); a complex that served as a sacristy for the sacred vessels, the storing of the gifts of the faithful, and the display of the Eucharistic gifts” (p. 350). The Testamentum Domini is a document of church regulations including instructions for building a church. It comes from Syria in the mid-fifth century.

Patrich continues, “According to the Testamentum Domini the church should have three entrances and the Diakonikon … should be located to the right of the right entrance…. The Diakonikon, accessible from a forecourt, thus formed a southern annex to the church” (p. 351).

I initially identified the annexes of the Northeast Church as follows:

original labelling of annexes

I didn’t know quite what to make of the south building, as its entrance foyer was just outside the main doorway to portico of the church and it had three rooms. Subsequently, the identification of the diakonikon changed as more evidence came to light that it served as a healing center connected to the cult of the elderly woman buried next to it in the chancel. The description of the diakonikon in the Testamentum Domini seems to fit the south building.

When I checked the logs of the excavation of those spaces, the larger room had significant quantities of domestic pottery sherds at or near floor level, as one would expect in a space to which people brought their gifts.

If this analysis is correct, the south annexes of of the church would be labelled as follows:

Reitentified annexes

My work at the Albright is currently focused elsewhere, but such potential insight into previous work does pop up … a tangential benefit of being at the Albright.

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