Reviews of Books 303

recontextualize the Xiangtangshan caves by incorporafing pieces removed from to the site into the
discussion.
The remaining two essays in Echoes of the Past deal with the various mulfimedia technologies
utilized in the Xiangtangshan project. Readers who have the opportunity to experience the so-called
"Digital Cave" in person at the exhibition will better appreciate the background and technical informa-
tion documented in the essays. Created by the contemporary artist Jason Salavon, the "Digital Cave" is
a reconstruction of the South Cave at northern Xiangtangshan in a space framed by three large screens
that are coordinated to project a steady stream of images of the structure's interior. This eight-minute
presentation mixes black-and-white photographs from the 1920s with a recent video scan of the cave
and 3-D digital models showing the removed sculptures restored within the cave's original setting. The
moving images conjures a virtual reality in which the viewer can witness the transformation of tbe cave
from one state of existence to another in condensed time. To complement the "Digital Cave," various
computer touch-screens are placed throughout the galleries for visitors to further explore the caves
using other digital tools utilized in the project.
As a unit, the Xiangtangshan exhibition and its accompanying catalogue offer a compelling method-
ology for studying cave temples in China. In assembling removed sculptures in one location and reunit-
ing them with their original context through the latest imaging technologies and academic research,
the organizers clearly promote a historical approach to understanding Xiangtangshan and its time. This
focus provides an alternative way of dealing with the more controversial issues of cultural patrimony
and repatriation that an exhibition full of looted objects might raise. While the catalogue does not con-
tain any specific essay addressing these questions, a label titled "Promoting the Protection of Chinese
Cultural Heritage" is displayed near the exit of the exhibition space in the Sackler Gallery. Couched in
a series of questions and answers, the label anticipates the questions a curious visitor might ask about
the policies and regulafions now in place to protect historical sites like Xiangtangshan.
In sum. Echoes of the Past is a welcome addition to the current literature on Chinese Buddhist art.
It offers a viable model of research and outreach for any future projects on cultural monuments that
involve the use of advanced imaging technology and international collaboration.
SoNYA L E E
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
The Pots and Potters of Assyria: Technology and Organisation of Production, Ceramic Sequence and
Vessel Eunction at Late Bronze Age Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria. By K IM DUISTERMAAT. PALMA, vol. 4.
Turnhout: BRHPOLS, 2008. Pp. 605, illus. 125.
In the secondary title for her dissertation-tumed-book, Kim Duistermaat sets expansive goals for
herself and the text: describing the technology employed and the organization of production at Late
Bronze Age Tell Sabi Abyad, providing further thoughts on the ceramic sequence at the site, and
offering disciission on the function of the vessels represented in the Late Bronze assemblage. Happily,
Duistermaat's work lives up to these goals via a text that presents a great deal of raw data and explana-
tory material while remaining accessible.
The more theoretical and interpretive goals of the study are founded upon a thorough physical
study of the LB ceramic material from the site. The excavation and evaluation methodologies for the
recovered ceramic material are provided in good detail in chapter II, while chapter III ("The Ceramic
Sequence") provides a wonderful balance of organized raw data with thoughtful descripfive analysis.
In chapter III the ceramics are grouped by level and, for each level, descriptions of the fabrics, rim and
base shapes, forms, firing temperatures and conditions, and surface treatments are provided. In addition
to the narrative descriptions, over two hundred pages of ceramic illustrations and detailed descriptions
of each item represented are included. The drawings are scaled accurately (as compared with the physi-
cal measurements given), a condition not always the case in the publication of ceramics.
304 Journal of the American Oriental Society 131.2 (2011 )
Chapters V, VI, and VII provide the interpretive meat of the study. In chapter V Duistermaat address-
es the techniques employed in and the organization of pottery production at Tell Sabi Abyad. Here and
in her concluding chapter she asserts that while there is a documentable change in ceramic production
between Level 7 ("Mitanni" period) and Levels 6-3 (Middle Assyrian occupation), strong points of
continuity also exist. She cites as an example the presence of Middle Assyrian shapes in Level 7 and
the continuation of "shapes and decorations generally seen as typical of the Mitanni period" in Levels
6-3. She asserts that the continuation of Level 7 potting traditions implies that local potting customs
continued alongside the production of ceramics associated with the Assyrian dunnu administration.
(She describes dunnu settlements as a tool by which Assyrian officials administered their land. They
were "private agricultural estates in the countryside, used for the extraction of agricultural products
and surplus to support the activities of the official in Assur or his city of residence elsewhere. Dunnus
could also have duties in border control, taxing and military action" [p. 25].) In the Middle Assyrian
dunnu phase, she envisions the potters as "relatively independent. . . working in an individual work-
shop organisation, but commissioned by and under the protection and authority of the Middle Assyrian
dunnu administration" (p. 420). Having outlined a proposal for the organization of production at the
Tell Sabi Abyad dunnu, she asserts that this model could also be used to describe ceramic production
at similar Middle Assyrian sites.
What does not seem to be offered in any of these three chapters (V, VI, VII) is a straightforward
discussion of the mechanism(s) by which pottery shapes (e.g., carinated cups with certain rim shapes
and straight-sided bowls) traditionally associated with Middle Assyrian influence or occupation would
be present in Level 7, a claim made in chapters IV (pp. 53-54) and VII (p. 469). Additionally, the deci-
sion to exclude from the discussion all material found in the pottery production areas that is not directly
related to pottery production (p. 349) is disappointing but understandable. The scope of the study is
already quite expansive and the final excavation reports for the LB horizon at the site have yet to be
published. I am hopeful that sometime in the future Duistermaat will revisit the topic of the organiza-
tion of ceramic production areas and the daily activities of the craftspeople in light of any relevant
material to be published in the final report.
While there is no doubt that this book will be of great interest to members of the academic com-
munity interested in Late Bronze Age Syrian archaeology, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that
this volume has a great deal to offer anyone interested in ceramic studies regardless of region or time
period. Duistermaat achieves this versatility in her presentation by providing much of the methodologi-
cal and technical background information needed to understand her presentation of site-specific data.
For example, in chapter V.6 she provides a discussion of potters' wheels, complete with drawings of
several types, as part of her argument supporting the identification of the simple wheel as the tool used
at Tell Sabi Abyad. Likewise, located in her discussion of pottery-shaping techniques are a guide meant
to help determine the direction in which the potter's wheel was spinning when a vessel was thrown,
step-by-step illustrations of several throwing and finishing techniques, and annotated photographs illus-
trating some of the technical issues introduced via line drawings and text description.
Similarly, the data presented in appendix C could not only prove useful to a specialist but also
provides a well-organized and detailed model of fabric descriptions that could serve as an example for
anyone wishing to brush up on their ceramic analysis skills. The color photographs of thin-sections are
numerous and increase the accessibility of the thin-seetion descriptions. This level of illustration and
explanation is rare for a site-specific publication and greatly increases the usability of this volume by
students and scholars of varying levels of experience with ceramie data. Portions of the text would also
be quite useful in an advanced undergraduate or graduate course that explored the study of ceramics
in archaeological contexts.
Duistermaat's extensive discussion (in chapter VI and appendix F) of the connection between vessel
form, function, and use is commendable. Again, this level of detail on this subject is rare in a pottery
report from a single site. Her introduction to this material provides a brief but informative theoretical
primer to the topic of vessel purpose, supplying a good deal of bibliography for the interested reader
to follow for more information. She bases her assessment of vessel function and use on three "perspec-
tives": the archaeological context, performance characteristics and use marks, and Assyrian textual and
Reviews of Books 305
an-historical data. Specialists in Assyrian-period ceramics will be interested in her list of Assyrian pot-
tery names and proposed matches between these vessel names and shapes. Her discussions of serving
and eating, cooking methods, brewing methods, and vessels in iconography, also in this chapter, will
likely be of interest to anyone studying foodways in the ancient Near East.
In addition to the sections already mentioned, the appendices include a shape typology, a catalog of
potter's marks encountered on the Late Bronze ceramics, and discussion of cuneiform texts from Tell
Sabi Abyad that are related to pottery. Although referenced above, the abundance of information avail-
able in appendix F is worth noting again. For a number of shape groups, Duistermaat offers descriptions
addressing size, shaping methods, functional properties, evidence related to use, and proposed sugges-
tions for function and use.
While her conclusions about the Tell Sabi Abyad material are noteworthy, the book's greatest
strength may be the transparency maintained throughout. The methodologies employed in the excava-
tion and analyses of the ceramic collection are clearly explained. In addition, she provides a great deal
of raw data via text, tables, and illustrations, thereby allowing readers to make their own assessments
of the material.
In the preface Duistermaat notes that in the process of preparing her dissertation "the pottery
stopped being a boring pile of sherds that had to be published" and "started to 'talk' . . . giving me
clues about the people who made them and the kind of social and cultural environment they were pro-
duced and used in" (p. 17). Her understanding of the potential for ceramics to be more than a "boring
pile of sherds that had to be published" is evident in the detail and organization of her book. The care
with which she has presented her methodology, data, and analyses renders this study an exemplary
ceramic publication. In addition to the academic rigor represented in the publication, her enthusiasm
for the material is also evident, and apparently infectious, for at the end of my reading I found myself
surprisingly enthusiastic about the Late Bronze Age ceramics from Tell Sabi Abyad.
LEANN PACE
THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE
Judaism: The Eirst Phase: The Place of Ezra and Nehemiah in the Origins of Judaism. By JOSEPH
BLENKINSOPP. Grand Rapids, Mich.: WILLIAM B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING CO., 2009. Pp. xiv + 262.
$30 (paper).
Blenkinsopp's new book explores the origins of Judaism and the place of Ezra and Nehemiah
in its formation. He defines a religion (p. 1 ) as consisting of an object of worship, religious institu-
tions (priesthood, prophecy, etc.), narrative and legal U-aditions, social organization, and demographics.
Rather than addressing the first two of these attributes, he focuses on the latter two, asking if the defini-
tions of the terms yhdm and "Israel" had changed their meanings from a national-political definition
to a religious one by the period of Ezra-Nehemiah.
In arguing for a change in meaning, Blenkinsopp (p. 24) writes that the members of the garrison at
Elephantine, although from Israel (the word "Israel" never appears in the papyri), were not ethnically
Judean, even though they referred to themselves as yhday. As evidence, Blenkinsopp points to the
sums donated to the gods Bethel, Eshembethel, and Anathbethel along with those donated to YHWH.
This does not prove Israelite origin. It is more likely that these Judeans included some persons who
worshipped Aramean gods.
The author turns next (p. 25) to Josephus (Ant. 11:173) to argue that the name oudaioi was given
to this people only from the time they came up from Babylon in 538. But Blenkinsopp misunderstands
the historian. Josephus states that the name oudaioi "is derived from the tribe of Judah; as this tribe
was the first to come to these parts." Admittedly, Josephus uses the designation "members of the tribe
of J udah," K TT loSa (p\}Xr\, for the period under the monarchy and switches in Ant. 11:22 to the
term louSaot for the post-exilic period. Nevertheless Josephus does not suggest that those retuming to
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