From the Guest Editors

Scholars who conduct research on British Mandate Palestine have access to a variety of resources for this research, such as documents, ethnographies, films, oral histories, and photographs (Granqvist 1931; Mills 1932; Davis 2011; Matson [G. Eric and Edith] Photograph Collection1). Noticeably missing from this list is archaeology. Currently, there is not enough published archaeological data to contribute to this field of inquiry. In academia few archaeologists conduct research projects that are designed to shed light on the peoples of Mandate Palestine (Saidel and Erickson-Gini 2014; Horwitz, Winter-Livneh, and Maeir 2018: 85, 90 n. 1; Saidel and Blakely 2019). The little data that does exist usually results from the recording of remains from the British Mandate that archaeologists encounter even though this period was not the subject of their research (Ustinova and Nahshoni 1994:170–76; Boas 2000; Will 2000; Magness et al. 2018: 69–70, 72, 73, figs. 8–9, 74, fig. 10). This lack of archaeological fieldwork on Mandate Palestine is illustrated here by a tally of articles in peer-reviewed archaeological journals that show a scant number of publications addressing this period (Table 1).Today, a number of archaeologists in the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) are pioneering the archaeology of Mandate Palestine. Rapid physical growth in public infrastructure has spurred salvage excavations and IAA archaeologists have used these opportunities to document the Mandate period. A recent keyword search of the term “Mandate” in Hadashot Arkheologiyot / Excavations and Surveys in Israel yields a massive amount of new data (Table 1; Fig. 1).2 This data comes predominantly from six large population centers and smaller localities in Israel (Fig. 2). For example, rescue excavations have unearthed data on the inhabitants of Yafo/Jaffa, Qālūnyā, and the northern Negev. This fieldwork is beginning to shed light on the Arab population of Mandate Palestine.In the spring of 2019, we organized a conference on the archaeology of the British Mandate period, “Archaeology Does Not End at 1700 CE,” which was held at the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem, Israel. The purpose of this conference was threefold: First, we wanted to initiate a discussion of the archaeological remains from the British Mandate as is typical for other chronological periods in the southern Levant. Second, we believe the documentation of archaeological remains from the British Mandate period is essential in light of the extensive and rapid economic development in Israel that endangers archaeological remains from this time frame that are not protected by the British-based 1978 Israel Antiquities Law, which only protects archaeological remains prior to 1700 CE. Third, we believe that a material-culture perspective can provide significant insights on the peoples and cultures that lived under British administration.While the focus of this volume is on the British Mandate, most papers begin with the Late Ottoman period as changes in the archaeological record are not always visibly linked to transitions in political administration. Yoav Arbel's “Archaeology of Mandate-Period Jaffa: Purpose, Finds, and Contribution” is a synthesis of his salvage excavations. This Mediterranean port underwent significant developments between the Late Ottoman and British Mandate periods (Fig. 3; see this map for the location of all the sites discussed in this issue). In the latter period, farmland, orchards, and cemeteries were used as spaces to accommodate urban growth. Under British administration, physical improvements were made to Jaffa's roads and sewer system. Arbel's fieldwork also exposed a destruction layer that he attributes to Operation Anchor (June 6, 1936), which was carried out by British armed forces during the Arab Revolt (1936–1939). Arbel's article demonstrates how archaeology provides evidence for improvements that were made to Jaffa's infrastructure in the Mandate period.Moshe Fischer and Itamar Taxel summarize the results of their survey in “Life in the Dunes: The Western Hinterland of Yubna/Yavneh in Late Ottoman and British Mandate Times.” Yubna/Yavneh Sands is an area that extends 5 km inland from the Mediterranean shore. Taxel and Fischer identified 40 previously unknown sites that were used on a seasonal basis by Bedouin, fellahin, and fishermen and dated the planted vegetation to one of two periods, pre-1948 and post-1948. Their fieldwork raises many important issues concerning the identification, interpretation, and phasing of multiple ephemeral sites.Shua Kisilevitz and co-authors demonstrate the contribution that archaeology can make to understanding Arab villages from a material culture perspective. In their article, “The Arab Village of Qālūnyā: An Archaeological, Historical, and Social Synthesis of the Twentieth-Century Village,” they describe salvage excavations conducted on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority that exposed parts of five buildings. Using a combination of historical sources and GIS technology, Kisilevitz and colleagues document the locations of these structures within the now-abandoned village. Using Palestinian memoirs, they identified the families that lived in Buildings I, II, and V and determined that Building III was a village mosque. Their analysis of the artifacts provides information on the range of material culture that was used by the inhabitants of this village.In “An Architectural Survey of the ‘Mufti's House’ in Qālūnyā/Motza,” Benjamin Adam Saidel, Tali Erickson-Gini, and Avi Mashiah combine architectural survey with historical images to propose that this building, on the southern edge of the village, was in use from 1906–1948, built using traditional Palestinian construction methods. Saidel, Gini, and Mashiah identified room function based on the presence and/or absence of specific types of storage units. The authors' review of the historical literature demonstrates that Haj Amin el-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, spent time in this building; however, other family members also resided in this compound. In the Mandate period this structure was not known as the “Mufti's House” but as the home of Said Effendi Husseini.3Yigal Israel and Benjamin Adam Saidel report on the “Archaeological Evidence for the Production of Black Gaza Ware Pottery at the Former Arab Village of Faluja, Israel.” Israel's surveys and excavation demonstrate that Black Gaza Ware pottery was most likely fired on the western and northern edges of Faluja. The kiln unearthed in Area A is similar in plan and construction to kilns that operated in Gaza and Hebron during the Late Ottoman and British Mandate periods. Using the limited data at hand, Israel and Saidel propose that the kiln in Area A was abandoned in the context of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. They conclude that archaeology and ethnohistory in combination provide a means of evaluating and critiquing historical sources that are frequently based on memory and authority.Jeffrey Blakely has a long-standing research interest in Tell el-Hesi, which is illustrated in “The Changing Landscape of the Hesi Region and Its Implications for Archaeological Research.” With his perspective, shaped by his former mentor, Lawrence Toombs, who stated that one should “Go from the known to the unknown,” Blakely reexamines an earlier premise that the mid- to late twentieth-century landscape around Hesi is an appropriate analog for earlier periods. Using nineteenth- and early twentieth-century historical sources, Blakely concludes that this landscape is a modern construct and is therefore not an accurate analogue for earlier periods.In “Of the Lands that Lay North of Late Ottoman Beersheba,” Davida Eisenberg-Degen and Avishay Levi Hevroni describe Beersheba's agricultural hinterland from an archaeological perspective beginning with the Late Ottoman period and continuing into the British Mandate. Their case study comprises a concentration of agricultural terraces, cisterns, and architectural remains that are located 5 km north of Ottoman Beersheba. Buildings are divided into two categories, Groups 1 and 2. The former represents an agricultural population that, based on parallels in architecture, may have originated in the environs of Hebron. The architecture of the latter is reminiscent of the Bedouin Black Tent. Groups 1 and 2 have similar assemblages of Black Gaza Ware pottery, suggesting that the people of both groups conducted similar activities. Although we know the Hamlet in Group 1 was inhabited until the end of the British Mandate, whether or not Group 1 and 2 sites were contemporary requires additional research.In “Imperial Footprints: British Military Picquets during the Arab Revolt in Palestine, 1936–1939,” Shlomi Chetrit outlines a strategy for investigating this conflict through the prism of battlefield archaeology. Chetrit aptly identifies the shortcomings of using British military maps for locating former military posts in Samaria and Galilee. Using archival information, he describes the location and layout of British posts, known as picquets. He also notes that during this conflict the British used ammunition and equipment that were made during the First World War (1915–1918), a warning it may be difficult to determine if a site is dated to the First World War or the Arab Revolt based only on these finds.The articles in this double issue focus on the archaeological record in Israel. Obviously, similar research should be carried out in the areas of the Palestine Authority, where continued development also poses a threat to sites from the British Mandate period. It is our hope that this volume of the Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies will stimulate further archaeological research of the early and mid-twentieth century in other parts of the eastern Mediterranean basin and Middle East.In closing, we sincerely thank Ann Killebrew for encouraging and allowing us to publish the proceedings of our conference in this journal. We also thank the excellent copyeditor, Gabriele Faßbeck, for her hard work on these contributions. This conference would not have been possible without the support and generosity of Matthew Adams, director of the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research. The conference was held during Saidel's tenure as an NEH fellow at the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, and he thanks the fellowship committee for this opportunity. Tali Erickson-Gini thanks the Israel Antiquities Authority for the time to edit these manuscripts. We were gratified that our conference was well attended and we thank the attendees for initiating many stimulating conversations during this event

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Excavation · Judaism · Library science · Mandate · Mandatory Palestine · Palestine · Period (music · Political science · Subject (documents · Agricultural and Environmental Management · Archaeological Research and Protection · Computer Science · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law

• Introduction

  Open Access•Russell Palmer, Michael Given•Historical Archaeology•2023

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• Bedouin “Settlement” in the Tell el-Hesi Region in the Late Islamic to British Mandate Period

  Benjamin Adam Saidel, Jeffrey A Blakely•Journal of Islamic Archaeology•2019

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• The Huqoq Excavation Project

  Jodi Magne, Jodi Magness et al.•Bulletin of the American Schools…•2018

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• A note on the excavation of an Ottoman and British Mandate period Bedouin campground at Nahal Be'erotayim West in the Negev desert, Israel

  Open Access•Benjamin Adam Saidel, Tali Erickson-Gini•Arabian archaeology and epigraphy•2014

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• The Archaeological Picture Went Blank

  L K Horwitz, Rona Winter-Livneh et al.•Near Eastern Archaeology•2018

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