The Tree of Life Motif, Late Bronze Canaanite Cult, and a Recently Discovered Krater from Tel Burna.

• Author: Locatell, Christian

1. INTRODUCTION

   Tel Burna is located in the Shephelah, a geographical area of the Levant separating the coastal plains to the west and the highlands to the east. The importance of this region as a borderland especially in the Bronze and Iron Ages is confirmed by a wide range of ancient texts and archaeological remains from the Levant and surrounding areas (Rainey 1983; Niemann 2013; Finkelstein 2014).

   Based on high-resolution surface survey and shovel test pits, the Late Bronze occupation appears to have been about six hectares (Uziel and Shai 2010; Shai and Uziel 2014). In Area Bl, a krater was found in a cultic thirteenth-century public building. The krater contains decorations that illuminate the nature of Late Bronze Canaanite worship at this location. This paper will present the details of this find and explore the implications it poses for our understanding of the cultic practice and thought at this time and place in the Levant. Section 2 will discuss the archaeological context of the krater. Section 3 will describe its morphology/typology and petrographic analysis. Section 4 will describe the different elements that the decoration contains. Section 5 will then discuss these converging details and present an analysis. Section 6 will present summary remarks.

2. ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT

   The krater under discussion was found on the bedrock courtyard of Building 29305 among a variety of cultic and prestige-related items (Shai, McKinny, and Uziel 2015). This courtyard flanks the northwestern side of the building--a large cultic enclosure extending across the western lower platform of Tel Burna over an area of ca. 25 x 25 meters. Cultic and prestige-related finds from the bedrock courtyard within the building include the following items:

1. Two ceramic human-sized masks (Shai 2018).

2. A unique three-cupped votive vessel (imported from Cyprus) placed on a stone in the center of the courtyard, probably as a votive offering (Shai and McKinny 2020).

3. At least seven locally produced chalices and goblets among many other complete vessels.

4. A very high concentration of Cypriot imports of various types, including zoomorphic vessels of the Base Ring type. These were found next to two in situ massive Cypriot wavyband pithoi that served as storage containers for the smaller vessels (locally produced and imported bowls, juglets [including Base Ring bilbil juglets], and a Cypriot tankard) that were likely used in the cultic activity that took place in the courtyard (Shai et al. 2019).

5. Several examples of imported (Mycenean) and locally produced figurines (Sharp, McKinny, and Shai 2015).

6. A scarab and a cylinder seal.

7. A very high concentration of animal bones, which may indicate feasting (Greenfield, McKinny, and Shai 2017). (1)

8. A unique standing stone made from chalk with a symmetrical hole driven through its center. This standing stone seems to have served as the focal point of cultic activity within the courtyard and cultic enclosure and its unique "anchor" shape may hint at the deity that was worshipped (McKinny, Tavger, and Shai 2019; Shai and McKinny 2020).

   It is important to note that the krater was found directly above the flat bedrock stone with a concentration of these cultic items--the three-cupped Cypriot votive vessel, scarab, cylinder seal, and a variety of goblets and chalices near the two pithoi in the area around the standing stone. Therefore, the archaeological context of this krater indicates that it too was used in the cultic activity that took place within Building 29305.

3. VESSEL DESCRIPTION

   The type of the vessel and the decoration technique both are very common in the Late Bronze Age. It has a biconical body, a ridge at the connection between the neck and the body, a hammerhead rim, and no handles. As in most of the biconical vessels, the decoration is located on the upper part of the krater (above the carination) and the motifs are separated with red and black metopes with vertical straight and wavy lines (Panitz-Cohen and Mazar 2006: 104). Petrographic analysis has confirmed that the krater was locally made. This supports the fact that the form, clay, and technique seem to reflect local Canaanite tradition. The vessel was probably used as tableware. It was manufactured in the LB tradition and not well levigated or produced (Panitz-Cohen and Mazar 2006: 102). While not identical, similar vessels can be found in Tel Batash St. VII (Panitz-Cohen and Mazar 2006: pl. 39:9). (2)

4. DESCRIPTION OF DECORATION

   The outside of the krater is decorated with multiple scenes in what can be classified as the "tree of life" motif, arranged in a metopic design, two of which are only partially preserved (Fig. 3). Each metope is segmented by triglyphs consisting of black wavy lines bordered by straight red lines. The top boundary of each metope is formed by three black bands of paint alternating with two bands of red paint around the outer rim of the krater. The bottom border consists of two parallel red bands. The use of wavy and straight lines as a means of metopic segmentation, as well as parallel, horizontal straight lines, is very common in Canaanite pottery decoration. (3) There is also a wavy incision made with some implement such as a stick. The incision was placed pre-firing along the border between the metope containing the two horned quadrupeds and the unpreserved metope. Its significance is unclear. (4)

   One metope contains the image of a tree that fits the typical morphology of depictions of date palms from this region and period. The essential features of the date palm are branches connected at different levels along the trunk that curve downward with small dots representing the leafy part of the palm fronds. (5) To the left of this is a partially preserved metope with what appears to be the hind end of two aligned animals and their tails. There are similarities with known depictions of lion tails, which are composed of a thin line with a bulbous terminus. (6) Lions are also known from other "tree of life" motifs. Especially notable are the Lachish ewer, Pithos A from Kuntillet Ajrud, and the cultic stand from Taanach. The last of these contains both lion and bull depictions, opening the additional possibility that the tails on the Burna krater are bovine. These options will be discussed further in section 5 below. The contents of the next metope to the left have not been preserved. The next metope contains two horned quadrupeds. The quadrupeds are fairly typical of the double-triangle style seen in ibex depictions with characteristically curved horns (Choi 2016: 63-64). They are feeding on an object between them that is filled with dots and has a single curvy line extending from the top. Similar depictions of flanking quadrupeds (or other figures) typically include a tree in the center. The depiction here appears to fit Choi's (2016: 110-13) classification of triangle motifs where a dot-filled reversed triangle takes the normal place of the tree. This is quite rare, with three parallel examples of which we are aware and two additional very close parallels. (7) The identification and significance of this will be discussed further in section 5. Finally, the last metope has a bird depiction. The style is characteristic of the socalled forked-tail type with a semi-hemispheric body, though this does not define a particular species such as an ostrich or crane (Choi 2016: 75-76). The lines depicting feathering on the wings are uncommon for the forked-tail type, but are known in examples without a forked tail from Gezer from the Late Bronze Age (Choi 2016: 77, fig. 11-47, 42).

5. DISCUSSION

   Considering its temporal, geographical, and archaeological contexts, we interpret the decorated krater as a cultic vessel for offering food or libation in the Late Bronze Canaanite cult at Tel Burna (on the aspect of offering in this building, see recently Shai and McKinny 2020). The decorations facilitated this use by depicting the "tree of life" or "sacred tree" motif. (8) The "tree of life" motif has a long history. Many have noted mid-third-millennium BCE Mesopotamian depictions (James 1966; Parpola 1993; Oman 2005: 155-59; Choi 2016: 123-25, 222-23, 235-57). (9) Keel (1998: 20-24) observes that by the end of the third millennium BCE, arboreal depictions of a goddess are also found in Syria (however, note the even earlier depictions in Fig. 6). Choi (2016: 102) notes the engraving on a MB I shaft tomb at Jericho depicting a "tree of life" scene. (10) In the Late Bronze and Iron Age I Canaanite contexts, the most common nature element depicted on pottery is the tree, followed by quadrupeds, (11) and then birds, with all three sometimes occurring together in the tree of life motif (Choi 2016: 236). (12)

   Given the historical and geographical ubiquity of this motif on a wide range of objects in a variety of contexts throughout the ancient Near East, contextual clues related to specific examples are crucial for the interpretation of iconographic significance. The apparent cultic function of Building 29305 discussed above is consistent with a cultic use of the vessel. Independent evidence supporting this interpretation can be seen in various cultic stands employing this same sacred tree motif. (13) Fertility is a commonly recognized referent in these depictions (Parpola 1993: 165), though this is neither an exclusive nor indeed a necessary element of such depictions. (14)

   On the basis of the converging evidence discussed below, we argue that it is plausible to interpret the Burna krater decoration as a goddess (15) represented arboreally as a fruitful tree in one metope (16) and metonymically as a pubis fed on by two quadrupeds in another. (17) The animals that can be clearly identified (quadrupeds and a bird) may possibly function as a merism for the earthly creatures whose lives are sustained by this deity. (18) As such, this krater with its decorations represents an example of "tree of life" depictions...