Bet Sh'ean, Israel Expedition records

In 1921, the Palestine Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania Museum began excavations at Bet Sh'ean, a site located 12 miles south of the Sea of Galilee in Israel. The expedition was intended as the beginning of an extensive research effort in Syria-Palestine. Although the fieldwork lasted twelve years, this goal was never fully achieved due to financial stringencies imposed during the Depression of the 1930's.

Clarence S. Fisher, Curator of the Egyptian Section of the University Museum, directed the first three seasons of work at Bet Sh'ean. Alan Rowe and Gerald M. FitzGerald directed the subsequent seven field seasons ending in 1933. Nine major occupation levels were uncovered, dating from the Arab/Crusader and Byzantine periods through the Late Bronze Age and Late Neolithic. Bet Sh'ean was situated on the main trade route between Egypt and Mesopotamia and the site has yielded abundant evidence of the many peoples which influenced this early Palestinian settlement. Finds show the influence of Egyptian, Canaanite, Greek and Roman cultures.

Fisher first conducted a regional survey with the help of G. B. Gordon, Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, in 1919, and selected Bet Sh'ean as a suitable site for excavation. Fisher continued his work in Egypt while in Bet Sh'ean, and the correspondence includes arrangements for the transportation of equipment and workers between Dra Abu el-Naga and Mitrahineh, the two Egyptian sites where Fisher also worked between 1921 and 1923.

When Fisher resigned his position and left the Museum in 1924, Gordon was faced with finding a replacement. Prominent archaeologists such as Woolley, Wace and Wainwright declined acceptance of the Bet Sh'ean field directorship. Alan Rowe, Fisher's field assistant for the 1922 and 1923 seasons assumed directorship of the excavations, which he then conducted in 1925, 1926, 1927, and 1928. Rowe was also primarily an Egyptologist and corresponded with other Egyptologists, such as Alan Gardiner and Battiscombe Gunn of the Cairo Museum, often about objects from the Egyptian levels at Beth Shean. Gordon encouraged Rowe to scout for opportunities to excavate in Egypt and Cyprus. There is also material related to Mitrahineh, Thebes, Luxor and other sites, and the new antiquities laws in Egypt, amongst the correspondence. In 1928, publication arrangements were made for a publication to be called ; however, the book was not published until the 1940's. Rowe was re-assigned to Field Director at Meydum in Egypt in 1929. There is some correspondence regarding Bet Sh'ean with Horace Jayne, the new Museum Director, and others, after this date.

Gerald FitzGerald took over as Field Director for the three remaining seasons, 1930-33. He had worked with both Fisher and Rowe in 1922 and was Assistant Field Director in 1927 and 1928. A. J. Tobler assisted FitzGerald. Subject matter of FitzGerald's correspondence with Horace Jayne includes, along with descriptions of the excavation, discussion of the Museum's financial problems which caused the premature "closing" of Bet Sh'ean and which delayed publication of Rowe's and FitzGerald's manuscripts. In addition to extensive correspondence with the Antiquities Department of the Government of Palestine, there are also letters from William Albright, Director of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Jerusalem; Edward T. Newell of the American Numismatic Society; Pere L. H. Vincent at the Ecole Biblique de St. Etienne, Jerusalem; W. F. Bade and J. Brinton, and other scholars concerning the Bet Sh'ean artifacts, particularly coins, sarcophagi, and inscriptions.

Records describing the excavations at Bet Sh'ean include diaries for 1921 through 1933, a card catalog, plans, photographic material, field notes, correspondence, notes, and publication drafts. The results of the excavations at Bet Sh'ean were partially published by Rowe and FitzGerald in the 1920's, 1930's, and 1940's; by Frances James, a Research Associate at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in the 1960's; and by Eliezer D. Oren in the 1970's. The archival holdings for Bet Sh'ean also include manuscripts by Frances James, now being prepared for publication.

The diaries record the daily work of the excavation, visiting guests, and other events. In some cases the diaries are marked with tabs to indicate the area of the site recorded (for example, the cemetery). These tabs appear to be a later addition (one of the tabs is dated 1959), but they have been left in place. Subject matter also includes - at the end of the entries for a season - lists of rooms excavated in order by period of level, as well as notes on inscriptions, and sketch maps.

Fisher initiated the card catalog system of recording objects and architecture, and Rowe and FitzGerald, with some modifications, continued it. The cards are primarily arranged by area of the site, level, and provenience, but within this order, cards were out of numerical sequence for room or tomb number. Fisher wrote in 1924 that the cards "were guided so that any room or tomb could be selected from the catalogue in a moment," indicating perhaps that a simple numerical order was originally employed, but the cards have been left as found. Dividers for room numbers were added for clarity. In some instances catalog cards were found with publication materials and obviously had been withdrawn from their original archival context. These were refiled in the catalog. Cards of a room number are found roughly in sequence by number and others belonging to the same room number are found at the end (back of the last box).

The field registers record object descriptions (material, dimensions, and provenience, which at times includes the level and date of excavation) and scale drawings. For many entries, museum accession numbers are written next to the field number. Location of an object is indicated by J (Jerusalem), or P (Philadelphia), or when the word "discard" appears. Also, field photograph numbers and notes concerning objects are sometimes listed. A duplicate field register was generated during 1921-23 and 1926 (which may be incomplete). With the exception of sketches, the same kind of information is found, except that the descriptions were edited.

Oversize storage must be checked for field notes and publication materials. These include: mounted small and oversize plates for the cemetery volume; publication plates (plans); plans showing excavation by season and then by level; sections of levels; survey notes, cards and plans; plans labeled "sheet" with NE, NW, SW, or SE designations (which may be the working plan of the first three excavation seasons); and blueprints.

Photographs have been left with the textual files. Photographic materials include negatives and prints of a collection of a museum in Cyprus. Gordon commissioned Rowe to collect information and photographs concerning Cypriot archaeology, with a view toward Museum excavation in Cyprus.

Most of the records within the James Research series are publication materials for her proposed volumes on levels VII, VIII, IX, X-A, X-B, and XI, which span the Middle through Late Bronze Age on the Tell. Of these, working materials for plates and figures predominate. Working materials for figures and plates form the majority of the series of Oren Publication materials also.

Within the series Financial Records, there are some documents concerning the division of objects with the Palestinian Department of Antiquities. These appeared to relate to the lists and documents pertaining to the shipping of objects. Shipping records are present for 1923-1924.

The three excavations series along with the published material series contain graphic materials placed in the map and oversize drawers.

Publication Information: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives,

Finding Aid Author:

Use Restrictions: Although many items from the archives are in the public domain, copyright may be retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. The user is fully responsible for compliance with relevant copyright law.

Corporate Name(s)

• University of Pennsylvania. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Form(s)/Genre(s)

• Field notes

Geographic Name(s)

• Bet Sh'ean (Israel)

Personal Name(s)

• Rowe, Alan
• FitzGerald, Gerald Milnes
• Fisher, Clarence Stanley

Subject(s)

• Archaeological expeditions
• Excavations (Archaeology)