Lecture Summaries: 
8 October, 2003

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The Bronze Age Wooden Tomb Furniture from Jericho:  The Microscopic Reconstruction of a Distinctive Carpentry Tradition
by
Caroline R. Cartwright
Department of Scientific Research, British Museum

This paper shows how the timber which was selected for a large batch of the finely-crafted wooden furniture from the Bronze Age Jericho tombs has been scientifically identified for the first time, nearly 50 years after its excavation by Kathleen Kenyon and her team.  Only now has it been possible to overcome the problems presented by the condition and high fragmentation of the material to carry out a systematic microscopic identification of this wooden tomb furniture.  This Palestine Exploration Fund lecture is the first occasion on which these results and their interpretation are being made public.  The paper shows the range, technology and use of both readily-available and rare local woody resources of the time.  The choice of woods selected seems to be a very accurate reflection of the esteem placed on the individuals buried.  This observation is supported by evidence for the selective import of woods from elsewhere in the Levant; the paper discusses the reasons which may have influenced the choice of these imported woods.  The results of the scientific examination and identifications of the material suggest how the trends of wood selection and use of combinations of timber were important to the development of a distinctive local funerary carpentry tradition at Jericho.  In this regard, it may have been the case that wood-working skills and furniture designs from Egypt provided some inspiration for the Jericho funerary carpenter; some possibilities will be illustrated and discussed.

Further information about the research undertaken by the Department of Scientific Research, British Museum can be found at:  http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/science/index.html