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2008 Volume 44

Editorial Professor Jim Hoffmeier visited Australia in 2008 as a guest of the Australian Institute of Archaeology. He presented a number of lectures and has provided the first paper in this issue, which covers some of the material from those lectures. James K. Hoffmeier is Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology at Trinity International University, Divinity School (Deerfield, IL). He was born in Egypt, where he lived until age 16, and has been engaged in fieldwork and research there on a regular basis since 1975. Since 1994 he has directed the North Sinai Archaeological Project that is devoted to researching and studying Egypt’s frontier during the New Kingdom and how this area may relate to the Israelite exodus from Egypt. Investigations at Tell el-Borg began in 1999, and seven seasons of excavations have taken place. The geomorphology undertaken as part of this project has provided an essential background to the understanding of the Ways of Horus in the late second millennium BC. Prof Hoffmeier’s paper on the possible locations of Migdol applies some of this data. As readers will note, the coast of the Nile delta has changed dramatically over recent time and those who try to understand ancient texts referring to the region, including the biblical story of the Exodus, have no chance of success if they look at the current landscape.

The second paper by Dr Geoffrey Treloar discusses the nature and significance of the expeditions of Arthur Penrhyn Stanley in Sinai and Palestine. Stanley’s activity in this context may not be well recognized, but he and his family are certainly renowned.

As Dr Treloar tells us Stanley later became Dean of Westminster. When I recently visited Westminster Abbey soon after closing time I asked the Security Marshall about Stanley’s tomb. ‘Dean Stanley was my favourite’ he said whereupon he took me into the Abbey and showed me his tomb while regaling me with stories about Stanley such as his excavations in the Abbey which led to the discovery of the grave of James I.

After he left me another security guard pointed out the coat of arms on the tomb which he believed was used by Thomas and William Stanley at the battle of Bosworth. After this battle, in which Richard III was defeated and killed, Thomas Stanley, the third husband of Lady Margaret Beaufort, crowned his stepson King Henry VII. Thomas in turn was made the 1st Earl of Derby. His descendent, the 14th Earl of Derby, was Prime Minister three times between 1850 and 1870 and the towns of Stanley in Tasmania and the Falkland Islands are named after him. Arthur’s family descended from a younger brother of Thomas and William. Arthur Stanley was much loved by people of all stations in life; it is said that he was known by every cabby in London and his portrait hangs in Queen Victoria’s bedroom at Osborne House, Isle of Wight.

Arthur’s older brother, Owen, was naval officer and served in Australian waters. As captain of HMS Britomart he established the settlement of Port Essington in 1838 and from 1846 to 1849 he charted northern Australia and New Guinea in HMS Rattlesnake. Owen Stanley died in Sydney Harbour on 13 March 1850. The security staff at the Abbey had not heard of him or the Owen Stanley Ranges. Charles, Arthur’s younger brother, died in Hobart, Tasmania in August 1849 where he was the Governor’s private secretary and his father, the Bishop of Norwich, died in September 1849; Arthur was left the only male in his family after these tragic few months. With such adventurous siblings, it is no wonder that he was disposed to undertake some adventure abroad.

Dr Geoffrey Treloar is Head of Basser College and Vice Principal (Academic) of the Kensington Colleges, University of New South Wales. He is also a visiting Fellow, School of History and Philosophy, University of New South Wales and a sessional Lecturer in Church History, Southern Cross College, Chester Hill, NSW.

The brief communication by Rosanne Livingstone, Tom Chandler and Derrick Martin concludes a series of three papers in recent issues of Buried History dealing with the visualisation of Kellis. Rosanne is a PhD candidate in the Centre for Archaeology and Ancient History, School of Historical Studies, Monash University where she has been involved in fieldwork in the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt.

Tom Chandler and Derrick Martin lecture in Animation and Interactive Environments at the Monash University Faculty of Information Technology. Their research interests include animation studies, virtual landscapes and archaeological visualization, computer game narrative, special effects echnology and virtual online 3D collaborative environments. We have appreciated their contribution to the journal.

Scott Charlesworth’s review of Craig A. Evans’ Fabricating Jesus is most welcome. Scott has recently completed his doctoral studies and is fully engaged preparing coursework as a newly appointed lecturer at the Pacific Adventist University.

We acknowledge with gratitude the assistance of our referees and production assistants.

Christopher J. Davey

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Table of Contents

Papers

James K. Hoffmeier, 'The Search for Migdol of the New Kingdom and Exodus 14:2: An Update'... Read Abstract

Geoffrey R. Treloar, 'Encountering the Biblical Landscape: Arthur Penrhyn Stanley’s Sinai and Palestine and its British Reception'... Read Abstract

Brief Communication

R. Livingstone, T. Chandler and D. Martin, 'Reconstructing Ancient Kellis Part III: Clothing'... Read Abstract

Reviews

Craig A. Evans, Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels, Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006.
S. D. Charlesworth

Richard S. Hess, Israelite Religions: an Archaeological and Biblical Survey, Grand Rapids: Baker Academic and Nottingham (UK): Apollos, 2007.
Christopher J. Davey

Babylon: Myth and Reality, eds I.L. Finkel and M.J. Seymour, 2008, London: The British Museum Press.
Christopher J. Davey

Babylon and Beyond: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C., eds Joan Aruz, Kim Benzel, and Jean M. Evans, 2008, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Yale University Press.
Christopher J. Davey

Editorial Board
W. I. Edwards, R. G. Jenkins, G.H.R. Horsley, Merrill Kitchen,
A.R. Millard, Lindsay Wilson, John W. Wilson.

Editor
Christopher J. Davey

Papers

James K. Hoffmeier - The Search for Migdol of the New Kingdom and Exodus 14:2: An Update

Abstract: The place name Migdol occurs as an Egyptian eastern border site in the books of the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and it is found again in the exodus itinerary. This study will review recent archaeological data from north Sinai that bear on the identification of this topponym. As it turns out, over the 1500 years for which the name of the site is attested in Christian, Roman, Greek, Assyrian, Hebrew and Egyptian sources, the location moved more than once, making locating the various “Migdols” an ongoing challenge. However, recent finds have allowed us to narrow the window for the location of Migdol of the 2nd millennium B.C.

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Geoffrey R. Treloar - Encountering the Biblical Landscape: Arthur Penrhyn Stanley's Sinai and Palestine and its British Reception

Abstract: While Arthur Penrhyn Stanley and his many achievements have been documented at some length, his contribution to the historical geography of the lands of the Bible is less well known. This paper discusses Stanley’s explorations and the reception of the publication of his travels by the English intellectual and religious communities. It argues that, as part of a larger progam to put British biblical interpretation on a firm historical foundation, Stanley set out to replace the received text-based metaphorical understanding of ‘Holy Land’ with an empirically based literal apprehension, a change with deep implications for the nature and practice of English Christianity. It therefore traces a double encounter with the biblical landscape. A learned work on the historical geography of Palestine described the world ‘out there’ which Stanley had gone to see. Consideration of the ideological implications drew out the significance of that world for the situation ‘at home’ in England. This dual approach structured the critical response. The more realistic sense of the Bible lands was welcomed; Stanley’s liberal-Anglican proposals for a more truly biblical Christianity were resisted. An early example of ‘Anglo-Palestinian academic orientalism’, his work achieved only part of its purpose.

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Brief Communication

R. Livingstone, T. Chandler and D. Martin - Reconstructing Ancient Kellis Part III: Clothing

Abstract: The third in a series which overviews the reconstruction of ancient Kellis through digital graphic and animation technologies, this report introduces the utility of 3D human figure models as visulisation aids for recent investigations into fabrics and clothing at fourth century Kellis.

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