After one month

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.

Annexes to the Northeast Church

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.

First week at the Albright

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First week at the Albright

I have arrived in Jerusalem and settled into a studio apartment about a 12 minute walk from Albright Institute.

I have met Emily the head librarian, who oriented me to the library and assigned me a desk in the newly renovated library basement. The room is also home for most of the periodical collection.  The library is non-circulating. But we can keep volumes at our desk after we place a “ghost card” with pertinent information in the slot from which we withdrew the book.

During my first week, I have been reading much background material on the architectural forms and appointments in byzantine basilical churches.  Watch for a coming post in which I discuss some rethinking of room identification in the Northeast Church.

My next steps will be to gather excavation reports and build on some 85 sites initially chosen for the project. I will begin with those sites in Palaestina Secunda.  As I work through the sites, I will post data and initial evaluation to the Archaeology of Liturgy website.

Albright Institute in Jerusalem
Albright Institute in Jerusalem
PXL_20230310_071152946
Basement of Albright
About to depart for the Albright

About to depart for the Albright

Shortly, we will be leaving for Jerusalem. Most plans are in place. Packing is the urgent task.

I have reviewed all the sites originally identified and have eliminated some. Bibliographic sources have been noted (with a few exceptions). The map site is current. When I am in Jersualem, I will build out the individual pages and link them to the map.

My other initial task will be to review Mulholland’s protocol and to read some of the supporting sources.

–Psalm 122:6

Project update — Archaeology of Liturgy

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Project update — Archaeology of Liturgy

The first step in my research was to develop a group of Late Antique Churches from the areas directly around Hippos with which to test and refine Mulhollands framework for doing what he labelled as the “archaeology of liturgy,” that is, using archaeology to inform our understanding of liturgical practice and by inference beliefs of the community gathering in a church.

I have selected ninety-one potential sites for further examination: thirty seven from Palaestina Secunda, fifty from Arabia from Madaba to the north, and fourteen from the Syrian Hauran. As I gather data on each of these sites, I expect to reduce the catalog to about fifty sites for which there is sufficient evidence to test Mulholland’s analytical framework, thus doubling the total data set.

To document my work, I have built a Google map and set up the framework for a series of web pages details the sites and (subsequently) the analysis. As these pages are public, you may follow my work over the course of the project. The address of the project site is https://northeastinsulaeproject.org/archlit/.

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