Books by Andrew J Danielson
Cambridge University Press (Elements in the Archaeology of Ancient Israel), 2024
During the late Iron Age (800–539 BCE) in the semi-arid southern Levant, small competing kingdoms... more During the late Iron Age (800–539 BCE) in the semi-arid southern Levant, small competing kingdoms navigated a tenuous position between their local populace and the external empires who dominated the region. For kingdoms such as Judah and Edom, this period was also one of opportunity due to their location at the intersection of lucrative trade networks connecting the Mediterranean and Arabian worlds. Such economic opportunity, together with subsistence practices rooted in mobility, resulted in a diverse and contested social landscape in the northeastern Negev borderland region between these two kingdoms. This Element explores the multifaceted interactions in this landscape. Insightful case studies highlight patterns of cross-cultural interaction and identity negotiation through the lenses of culinary practices, religion, language, and text. Ultimately, this analysis explores the lived realities of the region’s inhabitants, migrants, and traders over multiple generations, emphasizing social diversity and entanglement as an integral feature of the region.
Papers by Andrew J Danielson
BASOR, 2026
Since the discovery of the Mesha Inscription, the kingdom of Moab has drawn widespread scholarly ... more Since the discovery of the Mesha Inscription, the kingdom of Moab has drawn widespread scholarly attention, with numerous surveys and excavations conducted over the past half century. Despite this research, significant questions remain regarding the origins of the kingdom, its structure, and the many settlements and sociopolitical groups that were integrated within the vision of Moab outlined by Mesha. This article presents the preliminary results from a series of archaeological surveys and ex cavations at several sites on the Madaba Plateau (Khirbat al-Mukhayyat, Khirbat al-Fayha, Khirbat Libb, Tall Maʿin, Khirbat Nitl, and Khirbat ad-Deleilat ash-Sharqiyah). Some of these sites were major settlements in the region during the Iron Age II period, though they have yet to enter scholarly discourse. The introduction of these preliminary summaries presents a significant step in better understanding the region of the Madaba Plateau during the Iron Age II, particularly in relation to site interrelations and hierarchy in the context of the formation of the kingdom of Moab. Preliminary Iron Age data from these sites reveal a system of numerous settlements, fortified sites, and accompanying towers/forts linked via access routes and integrated within an intentional network of intervisibility that bolstered inter-site re lations and increased strategic visibility.
Levant, 2025
Recent archaeological research in western Jordan, and the (semi-)arid regions of the southern Lev... more Recent archaeological research in western Jordan, and the (semi-)arid regions of the southern Levant more generally, have prompted wide-ranging inquiry regarding technologies, economic interconnections, settlement patterns and subsistence strategies during the 11th and 10th centuries BCE. For western Jordan in particular, recent proposals have focussed on questions related to the nature of socio-political organization, arguing for the presence of both sedentary and nomadic hierarchies that challenge existing interpretations of largely decentralized agropastoral subsistence-based communities. Central to these discussions are a series of small, fortified sites, originally identified as the ‘Mudayna’ sites of the Wadi al-Mujib region. Recent archaeological research north of the Wadi al-Mujib, however, has identified that this type of site is not geographically restricted, but part of a broader regional, yet decentralized, pattern of agropastoral subsistence communities. This article introduces the site of ʿAyun adh-Dhib, an additional site of this character north of the Wadi al-Mujib. Findings from an archaeological survey conducted in 2023 at ʿAyun adh-Dhib support the notion of an emerging regional pattern of social adaptive responses to living in specific ecological niches during a period of social and political transition in the early Iron Age.
Archaeology in Jordan 4, 2024
Khirbat al-Mukhayyat (ancient Nebo) is located on a promontory on the western edge of the Madaba ... more Khirbat al-Mukhayyat (ancient Nebo) is located on a promontory on the western edge of the Madaba plateau, overlooking the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea (Fig. ). Following a hiatus during the global pandemic, fieldwork resumed with a small targeted survey of the landscape surrounding Mukhayyat in 2022. In 2023, regional survey work continued and excavations were resumed at Mukhayyat, focusing in fields A and B at the southern end of the site (Fig. ). Excavations in Field A were aimed at the exposure of intramural domestic contexts and the identification of a clearer sequence of occupation at the site during the Iron Age. Apart from the site's fortifications, excavations had identified secure contexts dating only to the 8 th to 6 th centuries BCE, although surface pottery suggests continuous activity from the early through late Iron Age (Foran et al. 2024; Danielson and Foran 2021). In the eastern portion of Field A, several Late Hellenistic contexts were identified, including a series of wall foundations and the corner of a small structure in which a nearly complete clay oven was excavated. The contours of a large plastered installation (A200), dating to the Late Hellenistic or Byzantine period and measuring 8.1 m by 5.7 m, was also identified. Although excavation was not possible due to time constraints, this feature will be a high priority for excavation in future seasons. A series of walls and contexts dating to the Iron Age were similarly exposed in the west of Field A and the north of Field B, although due to the depth of excavations (ca. 4.5 m) and, again, time constraints, the occupation contexts associated with these walls were not excavated and likewise remain an objective Fig. 1. Aerial photo of Khirbat al-Mukhayyat, view to the northwest.
Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies, 2024
In 2000–2001, the Tall Madaba Archaeological Project (TMAP) conducted an archaeological survey of... more In 2000–2001, the Tall Madaba Archaeological Project (TMAP) conducted an archaeological survey of the site of Khirbat al-Mukhayyat (Jordan) in anticipation of future excavation. Unfortunately, excavations were not immediately possible. With the formation of the Khirbat al-Mukhayyat Archaeological Project (KMAP) in 2012, collaborations with TMAP prioritized the analysis of this survey data. The central goal of the analysis was to create hypotheses concerning fluctuations in occupation and the nature of human activity at the site that could be tested against future archaeological excavation. Secondary goals included assessing the extent to which such legacy survey data could be integrated into the evolving research program of KMAP and elsewhere. The results of this analysis show the changing nature of human occupation at Khirbat al-Mukhayyat over time, highlighting activity during the Iron Age, Hellenistic, and Byzantine periods and reflect on the importance of using and making the results of such surveys available.
“And in Length of Days Understanding” (Job 12:12) Essays on Archaeology in the Eastern Mediterranean and Beyond in Honor of Thomas E. Levy, 2023
Substantial archaeological research has identified the significance and wide-ranging implications... more Substantial archaeological research has identified the significance and wide-ranging implications of large-scale copper extraction and refining in the Arabah region of the southern Levant between the thirteen and ninth centuries B.C.E. Concomitant with these metallurgical developments is the necessity of understanding the way in which these resources reached subsidiary markets, both through trade networks and intermediary social or political agents. While research continues to identify the importance of a western trade route through the Negev and southern Shephelah to the southern Coastal Plain, the possibility of an eastern route that travels north through the highlands of Edom and Moab has also been raised. In particular, these suggestions have at times linked the purported eastern trade in copper to developments in the socio-political complexity of Moab during the late Iron I/early Iron IIA period (eleventh–tenth centuries). This paper assesses the scope and nature of settlement patterns along with recent archaeological data of the region to evaluate the potential of major trade activity through central Transjordan during this period. Ultimately, it argues against a strong association of the copper trade to central Transjordan, unlike the exchange network and established infrastructure along the major trade route identified westward from the Arabah.
Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History 10(1): 139-175, 2023
During the first millennium BCE, extensive trade networks linked the South Arabian and Mediterran... more During the first millennium BCE, extensive trade networks linked the South Arabian and Mediterranean worlds. While these trade networks are well known for their transport of highly lucrative materials, these connections afforded myriad economic and diplomatic opportunities for the intermediaries located along its routes, and held significant bearing on the political economies of southern Levantine kingdoms. While the wealth and opportunity afforded by the Arabian trade to these kingdoms are frequently invoked-particularly in relation to Edom-such references, and related discussions of the Arabian trade, are often restricted in their chronological scope and reliant on limited data. Recent scholarship on Edom, however, has substantially contributed to a more detailed understanding of settlement trajectories and shifts in sociopolitical organization, which, combined with recent archaeological research on varied aspects of the Arabian trade, necessitate an expanded synthesis of the trajectory of this trade and its relation to Edom. This work thus presents first an outline of the diachronic trajectory of the Arabian trade in relation to the southern Levant using textual and material culture data, and second, analyzes it within the context of sociopolitical developments in the late Iron Age kingdom of Edom. Ultimately, this work argues for a close association between the flourishing of long-distance trade in the southern Levant and the presence of sedentary sociopolitical complexity in southern Transjordan, as evident in the kingdoms of Edom and later Nabataea.
About Idumea and Edom: Recent Research and Approaches from Archaeology, Hebrew Bible Studies and Ancient Near East Studies, 2022
Pp. 117-150. Benedikt Hensel, Ehud Ben Zvi, and Diana V. Edelman. eds. Sheffield: Equinox.
Religions 13, no.9, 793, 2022
In an age of “Big Data” the study of the history and archaeology of religion faces an exponential... more In an age of “Big Data” the study of the history and archaeology of religion faces an exponentially increasing quantity and range of data and scholarly interpretation. For the student and scholar alike, new tools that allow for efficient and accurate inquiry are a necessity. Here, the open-access and digital Database of Religious History (DRH) is presented as one such tool that addresses this need and is well suited for use in the classroom. In this article, we present the basic structure of the database along with a demonstration of its potential use. Following a thematic inquiry into questions concerning “high gods”, individual disciplinary-specific case studies examine applications to particular contexts across time and space. These case studies demonstrate the ways in which the DRH can test and disrupt ontologies through its ability to efficiently cross traditional disciplinary boundaries.
Religion and ecology: A pilot study employing the database of religious history
Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 2022
Tel Aviv 48: 87-111, 2021
Cooking pots and culinary practices can be used as a sensitive proxy for social identities. Throu... more Cooking pots and culinary practices can be used as a sensitive proxy for social identities. Through an analysis of the interactions between culinary traditions in the northeastern Negev—the borderland region between the Iron Age kingdoms of Judah and Edom in the southern Levant—a complex narrative of social interaction between diverse social groups can be identified. This article demonstrates patterns of social and economic alliances, migration, and intermarriage within the archaeological record through spatial and temporal analyses of the distribution of cooking pot types. The resultant portrait is the outcome of opportunities afforded by the South Arabian trade network traversing the borderland region.
Palestine Exploration Quarterly 153/2: 83-112, 2021
Recent archaeological investigation at Khirbat al-Mukhayyat and nearby Rujm al-Mukhayyat in west-... more Recent archaeological investigation at Khirbat al-Mukhayyat and nearby Rujm al-Mukhayyat in west-central Jordan have sought to determine the nature and date of Iron Age activity at these sites. Identified as the Nebo of biblical tradition and the Mesha Inscription, Khirbat al-Mukhayyat fulfilled a strategic role within the region. Positioned at the western edge of the Transjordanian plateau, the site holds a commanding view of the Jordan Valley and Judean highlands to the west, enabling inhabitants to monitor access to and from the Jordan Valley, as well to take advantage of agricultural opportunity within the region. This strategic position is reflected in Mukhayyat’s contested history under Israelite, Moabite, and eventually Assyrian control. With significant contexts dating to the Iron IIB and Iron IIC at Khirbat al-Mukhayyat, and late Iron Age/Persian period activity at the Rujm al-Mukhayyat, this paper presents the preliminary results of excavation and survey efforts together with ceramic data, providing an important contribution to the study of the Iron Age in this region.
Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 20 (2): 113–189, 2020
This article explores the history and evolution of the deity Qws through a study of the communiti... more This article explores the history and evolution of the deity Qws through a study of the communities affiliated with Qws, presenting also a current collection of all inscriptional references to this deity. Diachronic and spatial analyses of the references reveal nuanced insights into how Qws was understood by his adherents, as well as the patterns of behavior, linguistic practices, and identities that marked these communities. The attestations of Qws demonstrate the deity’s relative obscurity during the Late Bronze Age, a rapid rise in inscriptional popularity among persons associated with the region of Edom during the late Iron Age, and a regional perpetuation of attestation following the dissolution of the Iron Age southern Levantine polities. Furthermore, attestations of Qws among diasporic community’s present insights into the shifting identities and cultic practices of the immigrant communities affiliated with the deity.
Ancient Near Eastern Studies 57: 189-257, 2020
A contextual examination of the unpublished excavations from Area A in Jaffa, Israel has yielded ... more A contextual examination of the unpublished excavations from Area A in Jaffa, Israel has yielded important new insights into the phases of occupation at the site dating to the Persian and Hellenistic periods. The analysis of the stratigraphic sequence from the excavation records of Jacob Kaplan (1970–1974), combined with targeted new excavations and analysis by the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project (JCHP) (2014–2016) have revised the preliminary interpretations of Jacob Kaplan and yielded new insights into the Persian and Hellenistic-period phases of Area A at Jaffa. As such, four distinct phases can be elucidated, revealing patterns of domestic, economic and industrial activities within the area.
by Aaron A Burke, Amy B Karoll, George A. Pierce, Nadia Ben-Marzouk, Jacob C . Damm, Andrew J Danielson, Brett Kaufman, Krystal V . L . Pierce, Felix Höflmayer, Brian Damiata, and Heidi Dodgen Fessler American Journal of Archaeology, Dec 2016
Excavations of the Egyptian New Kingdom fortress in Jaffa (Tel Yafo, ancient Yapu), on the southe... more Excavations of the Egyptian New Kingdom fortress in Jaffa (Tel Yafo, ancient Yapu), on the southern side of Tel Aviv, were renewed by the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project from 2011 to 2014. This work is an outgrowth of the project’s reappraisal of Jacob Kaplan’s excavations in the Ramesses Gate area from 1955 to 1962. As the Egyptian fortress in Jaffa is the only one excavated in Canaan, its archaeological record provides a unique perspective on resistance to Egyptian rule from ca. 1460 to 1125 B.C.E., but especially during the second half of the 12th century B.C.E., when Jaffa was twice destroyed. Radiocarbon dates from these two destructions are presented, and it is suggested that they offer the clearest basis thus far for proposing ca. 1125 B.C.E. as a terminus post quem for the end of Egyptian rule in Canaan. The archaeological evidence, taken together with textual sources, yields a picture of local resistance to the Egyptian military presence in Jaffa likely originating in Canaanite centers located throughout the coastal plain.
PhD Dissertation by Andrew J Danielson
Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 2020
Archaeological excavations in the northeastern Negev region of southern Judah identified signific... more Archaeological excavations in the northeastern Negev region of southern Judah identified significant amounts of "foreign" archaeological material culture in contexts dating to the late Iron Age (late eighth to early sixth century BCE). This iconic material culture consisted of highly identifiable ceramics, evidence of non-Yahwistic cult featuring the deity Qws, and non-Judahite inscriptions. Identified as associated with the kingdom of Edom to the east, this material culture assemblage was quickly interpreted to be the result of an Edomite "invasion," understood as occurring during the late Judean monarchy (late seventh to early sixth centuries BCE) in tandem with Babylonian aggression and the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE, as was promoted by certain readings of the biblical text.
Conference Presentations by Andrew J Danielson
The Evolution of QWS: A Longue Durée Approach to Understanding a First Millennium BCE Levantine Deity
Naming and Mapping the Gods in the Ancient Mediterranean: Spaces, Mobilities, Imaginaries - Université Toulouse-Jean Juarès, 2021
As a lesser known deity of the southern Levant, Qws (קוס; vocalized Qôs or Qaus) is best known th... more As a lesser known deity of the southern Levant, Qws (קוס; vocalized Qôs or Qaus) is best known through his traditional affiliation with the late Iron Age polity of Edom, located in present day southern Jordan. Current studies of this deity focus on his association with a polity, often describing Qws in terms of the “national” god of Edom. These interpretations, however, isolate the deity within time and space and fail to understand the entire life history of the god, and how his association with the landscape and different social elements changes over time. Surviving data for this deity consists of two components. First, a limited number of inscriptions directly referencing the deity, and second, a moderately-sized corpus of onomastica in which the deity is preserved as a theophoric element. These data span a period of nearly 1,400 years from ca. 1200 BCE to ca. 200 CE and are found in varying quantities over time throughout Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Greece.
In tracing the historical and social context of these inscriptions and onomastic references to Qws over the longue durée, we can better understand the relation of this deity to different social elements who preserved and promoted his existence within a specific landscape, namely the desert region of present-day southern Jordan, Israel and Palestine. While numerous onomastica spread far beyond this specific region, carried in large part by migrants and merchants, we can trace a lack of continued affiliation with Qws among persons who have left this particular landscape. Similarly, rather than Qws being identified primarily as the “national” deity of late Iron Age Edom in southern Jordan (ca. 750–550 BCE), this dataset can be used to explore the ways in which political elites promoted certain regional and kin deities such as Qws to promote a unifying identity. In this way, Qws served as an equalizing entity and a means by which to foster social and political alliances and to integrate disparate social elements within the region through processes of state formation. On the basis of these data then, an inherent regionality to this deity can be established, while identifying the family and community as the primary locus of promoting long-term cultic continuity within this region. Through this study, the deity Qws can emerge from relative obscurity to once again take prominence within the pantheon of the southern Levant.
Trade, Kingdom, and Empire: A First Millennium BCE Outline of the Southern Levantine Connection to the Arabian Trade
ASOR Annual Meeting - Virtual, 2020
In the first millennium BCE, the Arabian trade created extensive networks connecting South Arabia... more In the first millennium BCE, the Arabian trade created extensive networks connecting South Arabia to the Near Eastern and Mediterranean worlds. The highly lucrative trade in aromatics and spices presented significant economic opportunity for those involved and for those strategically positioned in the regions through which the trade travelled. As the southern Levant was one of the major output zones of this trade, and the interface whereby it gained access to Levantine, Egyptian, and Mediterranean markets, the Arabian trade held a significant role in affecting the political economies of the first millennium BCE kingdoms, most notably Edom. Moreover, there is substantial evidence for repeated programs and efforts on the part of the Mesopotamian imperial powers to influence and control aspects of this trade, policies which significantly affected both the trade and the southern Levantine kingdoms. Yet, the dual factors of local investment and imperial action toward the trade have been largely under-appreciated in the southern Levant. This presentation will identify the relevant archaeological and textual sources that can be levied to outline the changing dynamic of the South Arabian trade for the southern Levant, and how imperial interference affected its scope and direction. Further, it will examine the changing imperial strategies and particularly their relation to the stability of the local southern Levantine kingdoms. This analysis will span a significant portion of the first millennium BCE, from the Assyrian through the Babylonian and Persian periods until the Nabatean and Roman periods where its significance is already well-established.
Networks in Edom: Envisioning Political Authority and Social Activity Across a Complex Landscape
ASOR Annual Meeting - San Diego CA, 2019
Introductory exposure to the Iron Age southern Levant often visually presents polities as homogen... more Introductory exposure to the Iron Age southern Levant often visually presents polities as homogenous totalities spread across an undifferentiated landscape, an exercise that masks the diverse processes inherent in state formation and the social complexities distributed across regions. A poignant case is that of Edom, often portrayed as dominating the semi-arid region of southern Transjordan, and in certain instances extending its influence into the Negev. These depictions, however, mask what is in fact a highly complex and nuanced expression of elite political authority and social activity across a very challenging landscape. Rather, by viewing the region in terms of its topographical, environmental, and economic potential, key strategic centers and locales become visible. Elite investment in controlling these specific centers, whether they are agriculturally productive or geographically strategic, indicates the manners by which these elite actors were able to achieve state authority through the creation and reinforcement of productive and obligatory relationships. These processes may be contrasted with other forms of social movement, by which individuals and communities may be found “outside” of traditionally understood “borders” that do not necessarily conform to elite state programs. In this way, traditional perspectives on a static and undifferentiated form of political authority in polities such as Edom may be better nuanced, particularly with regard to the social actions inherent in these political constructions.
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Books by Andrew J Danielson
Papers by Andrew J Danielson
PhD Dissertation by Andrew J Danielson
Conference Presentations by Andrew J Danielson
In tracing the historical and social context of these inscriptions and onomastic references to Qws over the longue durée, we can better understand the relation of this deity to different social elements who preserved and promoted his existence within a specific landscape, namely the desert region of present-day southern Jordan, Israel and Palestine. While numerous onomastica spread far beyond this specific region, carried in large part by migrants and merchants, we can trace a lack of continued affiliation with Qws among persons who have left this particular landscape. Similarly, rather than Qws being identified primarily as the “national” deity of late Iron Age Edom in southern Jordan (ca. 750–550 BCE), this dataset can be used to explore the ways in which political elites promoted certain regional and kin deities such as Qws to promote a unifying identity. In this way, Qws served as an equalizing entity and a means by which to foster social and political alliances and to integrate disparate social elements within the region through processes of state formation. On the basis of these data then, an inherent regionality to this deity can be established, while identifying the family and community as the primary locus of promoting long-term cultic continuity within this region. Through this study, the deity Qws can emerge from relative obscurity to once again take prominence within the pantheon of the southern Levant.