“Sea Peoples” in the Jordan Valley and Beyond (?)

Research project on the Transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age in the Jordan Valley and Transjordan: Can “Sea Peoples” be detected in the material evidence at various excavation sites (especially Tell Ziraʻa and comparable sites in the Jordan Valley). And if so, how?

As part of my work at the LSRS Luxembourg and my habilitation project “Sea Peoples in the Jordan Valley and Transjordan”, I put together a research group dedicated to the question of how (and whether) “Sea Peoples” can be detected in the material evidence at various excavation sites (especially Tell Ziraʻa and comparable sites in the Jordan Valley).

In this research group, I bring together the excavators of the archaeological sites in question and discuss possible cultural markers for a presence of “Sea Peoples” (the Sherden?) outside the Pentapolis. Another question is whether there are any cultural markers at all that point to a particular ethnic group or whether they do not rather show (elitist) forms of expression.

As this is basic research, the group is made up of archaeologists from various countries and different religions and beliefs. They all draw on the results of their archaeological research with a deliberately interdisciplinary approach. What is special about this research group is that for the first time an attempt is being made to compile archaeological results across modern national borders – and to do so in a direct personal exchange. One goal is to present the results of the exchange for discussion at a conference at the LSRS and to relate them to the broader framework of archaeological research in the Southern Levant.

In addition to this research group, other projects are being initiated in cooperation with the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology in Jerusalem and Amman, which include further processing of the finds from Tell Ziraʻa (e.g., analyses of DNA as well as petrographie) and organizing interdisciplinary workshops.

Assist.-Prof. Katja Soennecken, Dr. phil. 
Assistant Professor for Biblical Archaeology

At the right, photo credit: CC BY-SA Rémih, Wikimedia Commons.
Relief depicting Sea Peoples taken captive by Ramesses III at the temple of Medinet Habu.

The so-called "Orpheus jar" from Tell Zira’a