Site details

Beth Shemesh (Ain Shems)

PK	C6207
TITLE	Beth Shemesh (Ain Shems)
WGS84	31.750343° N, 34.975005° E
Accuracy	Exact

LAT/LON	31.750343, 34.975005
LON/LAT	34.975005, 31.750343

DMS

31° 45' 1.2348" N

34° 58' 30.018" E

W3W	locker, receipts, viewpoints
UTM	36 R, 687070, 3514461
EGSA87	1542146, 3565401

Elevation m	234
Elevation feet	767.7
Region	Levant

GENERAL SITE TYPE Settlement

TYPE

1.    Pottery.   Bunimovitz et al. [2013], 51    ' ... two rare and well-preserved Late Minoan IIIA decorated cups (Fig. 1) were found ... '
2.    Pottery.   van Wijngaarden [2002], 327    'Catalogue I: Sites in the Mediterranean with Mycenaean pottery' includes Ain Shems (Beth Shemesh)
3.    Pottery.   Stubbings [1951], 64    ' ... Mackenzie found considerable numbers of Myc. III sherds, in company with Base-ring and other Cypriot wares, in a burial deposit in a cave ... '

PERIOD (High Chronology)

1. LH IIIA: (1410 BC - 1315 BC)
    a.    Stubbings [1951]: 64, ' ... of the III A phase.'
    b.    Bunimovitz et al. [2013]: 51, ' ... Late Minoan IIIA ... '

2. LH IIIA1: (1410 BC - 1375 BC)
    a.    Stubbings [1951]: 64, ' ... the upper part of a piriform jar ... with vertical handles, a feature seldom found later than the III A 1 phase ... '

3. LH IIIA2: (1375 BC - 1320 BC)
    a.    van Wijngaarden [2002]: 327, '227 Ain Shems (Beth Shemesh)', 'IIIA2'

4. LH IIIB: (1320 BC - 1190 BC)
    a.    van Wijngaarden [2002]: 327, '227 Ain Shems (Beth Shemesh)', 'IIIB'
    b.    Stubbings [1951]: 64, 'The fragments ... include part of an unpainted kylix (no. 3), the rim of a cup (no. 20) - perhaps like the mug already mentioned - and sherds from piriform jars, stirrup-jars, and pilgrim flasks, some of which may be of the III B phase.'

NOTE

1. Bunimovitz et al. [2013] 51 say that the cups were found with a scarab dating to the reign of Amenhotep III (likely 1386 to 1349 BC).

rhc

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Bunimovitz et al. [2013]: Bunimovitz, Shlomo, Zvi Lederman, Eleni Hatzaki. ‘Knossian Gifts? Two Late Minoan IIIA1 cups from Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel’, The Annual of the British School at Athens (108) 51-66. 2013., '', pg. 51. Online here.

2. Stubbings [1951]: Stubbings, Frank H.. Mycenaean Pottery from the Levant. Cambridge University Press. 1951., '''Ain Shems (Beth Shemesh).'', pg. 64.

3. van Wijngaarden [2002]: van Wijngaarden, Gert Jan. Use and Appreciation of Mycenaean Pottery in the Levant, Cyprus and Italy (ca. 1600 - 1200 BC). Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and Amsterdam University Press. 2002., 'Catalogue I: Sites in the Mediterranean with Mycenaean pottery', pg. 327. Online here.