Bene Israel ─ Studies in the Archaeology of Israel and the Levant During the Bronze and Iron Ages in Honour of Israel Finkelstein

This is a festschrift in honor of Tel Aviv University archaeology professor Israel Finklestein, a specialist in the Bronze and Iron Ages in what is now Israel, that has been fashioned by editors Fantalkin (Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv U., Israel) and Yasur-Landau (archeology and history, U. of California at Santa Cruz) as more of a tribute to Finklestein the teacher than Finklestein the scholar by including only contributions of former graduate students of his and not concerning themselves if their views and methods sometimes are opposed those of their former teacher. Topics include urban land use changes on the southeastern slope of Tel Megiddo during the middle Bronze Age, the appearance of rock-cut bench tombs in Iron Age Judah as a reflection of state formation, continuity and change in the late Bronze to Iron Age transition in Israel's coastal plain, case studies of permanent and temporary settlements in the south of the lower Besor region, the socioeconomic implications of grain storage in early Iron Age Canaan, sheep and goat husbandry in the southern Levant, settlement patterns of Philistine city-states, and waste management and Levantine standardized luxury in the late Bronze Age. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Alexander Fantalkin, Ph.D. (2007) in Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, is a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University. He has published extensively on interactions between the Aegean and the Levant during the first millenium BCE.Assaf Yassur-Landau, Ph.D. (2003) in Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, is an assistant professor of Archaeology and History at the Department of History, University of California, Santa Cruz. He has published extensively on interactions between the Aegean and the Levant during the second millennium BCE.