An Iron Age ‘steamer’ from Tel Ḥalif
In 2016, a food preparation area in an Iron Age II pillared house in Field V at Tel Ḥalif yielded a vessel fragment with a chalice-like shape. The uniqueness of the vessel lies in a pipe-like hollow protrusion inside the body itself and a downward extension forming a hollow foot with both sides open...
Authors: | ; |
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Format: | Print Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Soc.
2019
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In: |
Israel exploration journal
Year: 2019, Volume: 69, Issue: 1, Pages: 20-39 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Tell Halif
/ Iron age
/ Pressure cooking
/ Sciance
|
IxTheo Classification: | HH Archaeology TC Pre-Christian history ; Ancient Near East |
Summary: | In 2016, a food preparation area in an Iron Age II pillared house in Field V at Tel Ḥalif yielded a vessel fragment with a chalice-like shape. The uniqueness of the vessel lies in a pipe-like hollow protrusion inside the body itself and a downward extension forming a hollow foot with both sides open. A utilitarian function of the upper protrusion is a determining factor of the vessel’s identification. We suggest that the vessel was placed on top of a cooking pot that was then exposed to fire. In this setting, the most probable function of the protrusion was to transport steam from a lower water-filled cooking pot to the upper chamber in the vessel. Therefore, the Ḥalif vessel could be identified as a steamer. If this is the case, this vessel presents direct evidence suggesting that the ancient Judahites used steam cookery as early as the end of the eighth century BCE. |
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ISSN: | 0021-2059 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Israel exploration journal
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