Content area
Full Text
Music in Ancient Israel/Palestine: Archaeological, Written, and Comparative Sources, by Joachim Braun. Translated by Douglas W. Stott, from German. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002. xxxvi + 368 pp., 177 figures, 2 tables, 3 maps. Cloth. $30.00.
This book deals with musical artifacts dated between the 12th millennium B.C.E. and the fourth century C.E. The first 65 percent of this period was a stretch of lean years (yielding tinkling pebble bracelets, etc.), but after 3000 B.C.E. the land began to see more complex instruments (lyres, harps, lutes, flutes, pipes, drums, cymbals, and sistra). These arc well illustrated in black-and-white photos and some are brought together for the first time.
About two centuries ago archaeologists discovered Egyptian and Mesopotamien instruments contemporary with the Bible, and these soon began to appear in illustrated Bibles. In 1963 the focus shifted directly to the biblical region itself when Bathyah Bayer published a small, but meticulous, catalog of musical artifacts excavated in the region (Bayer 1963). It listed 280 objects, some extant (clappers, bells, sistra, rattles, conch-horns, bone whistles), some on representations. Her commentary was concise (55 pages), yet provided full data on each object (provenance, stratum, date, dimension, and publication). In the 40 years since Bayer's catalog, much material has accumulated and most now appears in Braun's book. He tabulates twice as many objects, has better photos, and seven times more pages. Unfortunately, his table only counts objects in categories (strings, winds, percussions) but lacks references and cannot be verified. True, objects shown in photos usually have museum inventory numbers, but they only amount to about 160 pieces, less than Bayer's compilation. Since Braun does not give information on strata, his absolute dates may need checking. For example, we are not told that the "Orpheus vase" belongs to Stratum VIA at Megiddo, a level variously dated, e.g., as 1050-1000 B.C.E. (Mazar 1990: 301) and 900-850 B.C.E. (Finkelstein and Silberman 2001: 342-44). Braun simply chose the earliest date (1150-1000 B.c.E.) (p. 147).
Whereas Bayer carefully excluded unexcavated objects, Braun is less cautious and gives the same attention to any seal, regardless of the circumstances of its discovery. In view of recent problems with unexcavated material in the region, his attitude may make some readers nervous. However, in...