David.Steinberg@houseofdavid.ca
I should start by saying that
Ancient Treasures was a tremendously rich exhibition and that many thanks are
due to those who brought it to
N.b. I had no
part in planning this exhibit but I did work as a volunteer interpreter. I have never done this kind of work before
and have no training in the philosophy of museum design, psychology of museum
visitors etc. However, I do realize
that, whereas individual artifacts are usually meaningful only to the
specialist, the assemblage should be designed to tell one or more stories to
the ordinary visitor. In addition, the
designers may be telling stories reflective of their own values, concerns,
fears and personalities of which they may well not be fully aware.
1. What was the objective
of the exhibit? Put another way – what were the visitors
expected to walk away with in the forms of information, ideas or historical
insights?
The answer to this question
was never clear to me. I listed under III.Themes of the Exhibit some possible
insights that visitors might have taken from the exhibit.
From what Dr Roitman said in a talk in
Ottawa, a key aim was to encourage Christians and Jews to consider the
implications of the fact that the findings of extensive modern archaeology in
the region suggests that the descriptions of Israelite history before, say, 950
BCE, given in the Hebrew Bible appear highly anachronistic i.e. they reflect
the realities of the Kingdom of Judah c. 700-586 BCE not the periods of which
they purport to tell i.e. c. 1700-1000 BCE.
The signage did not provide adequate support for this aim. I dedicated
several sections of my Guide
to this issue (e.g. Annex 1
2. A Conscious Theme that
Succeeded though Almost Unrelated to the Bulk of the Exhibit
Renaming the exhibit Ancient
Treasures and the Dead Sea Scrolls emphasized the 3 scroll fragments more or
less isolating them from their context in the exhibit. All of the lectures, unfortunately from my
point of view, were on the Scrolls. In
my view, all except one of these lectures were of good quality.
3. A conscious theme that
failed
The theme of David/the
House of David presumably was
designed to appeal to Christian visitors.
I did not think that it added enough value to compensate for the
disorientation caused by artifacts being placed, so as to emphasize the “David”
theme, in situations unrelated to the surrounding artifacts. Examples:
Ø
Tel
Dan inscription placed at the beginning of the exhibit
Ø
A
modern Hebrew Bible open at the Psalms at the beginning of the
Ø
The
Ø
A
Latin Bible and Rabbinic Bible, open at the beginning of 1 Kings, irrelevantly
placed in the Byzantine Galilee display.
3. Some Unacknowledged
Themes
A Secular Alternative Explanation for the Rise
of the first Religion Based on Written Scriptures (i.e. post-Deuteronomic
revolution Judaism). The
religious explanation is that a supernatural God delivered a revelation.
In the context of this explanation archaeology can provide no more that
illustrative artifacts. However, a secular view would see both the
scriptures and the religion(s) based on them as human cultural artifacts.
Thus, from this viewpoint, human culture and history are determinative. The
key point being made is that the first religion based on written
scriptures came out of the political, religious, commercial and social context
of the
4. Inadequate Information
This was particularly true in
the following areas:
a)
Historical – political. What was needed was an explanation of why the
great empires (Assyria, Babylonia, Rome) behaved the way they did in dealing
with Judah – see
my explanation for what I think was needed.
b) The information in the religious
section of the
c)
The
section labeled everyday life was mostly about commerce related to the top
fraction of one percent of the population.
d)
The
section of the exhibit dealing with Jews and Christians in Galilee in the post
destruction period, which I entitled Jewish and Christian Life in the Galilee and Golan in the
Byzantine Period (fourth century to mid seventh century CE) – Coexistence of Rabbinic Judaism and
Christianity
Modern Canadians are
acculturated to a tolerant multi-religious, multi-cultural and multi-racial
society. When they are told that in Galilee
the Christians and Jews; spoke the same two languages (Greek and Aramaic); used
the same type of building for churches and synagogues; used the same types of
artifacts (mosaics, lamps, chancel screens) probably made by the same craftsmen
with only different religious symbols – all of which are true – they very
naturally jump to the conclusion that Byzantine Galilee was a tolerant
multi-religious society living in social harmony i.e. 21st century Canada in
ancient Galilee. However, the reality
was that Christians in
5. Suggested Change in
Organization of the pre-Scrolls Periods
a) Proto-Israelite History – late 13th-
early 11th centuries BCE
b) First Temple Period – mid 11th
– early 6th centuries BCE
i.
Political History
ii.
House of David – Secular Leadership
iii.
Cult – Religious Life and Leadership
iv.
Commerce and Everyday Life
·
Subsistence
Farming
·
Commerce
·
Literacy
and Literature
·
Role
of Women