BARlines

Biblical Archaeology and Sliced Bananas

This is directed at those who, like me, enjoy a bowl of rather thinly sliced bananas with some frozen yogurt, preferably coffee-flavored.

As those of you who regularly enjoy this delicacy well know, the bananas are sticky and the frozen yogurt makes the situation more so. When you begin eating a serving of this combination, you can rather easily slip a spoon under a few slices of banana covered with yogurt, but as you near the end it is almost impossible to get the spoon under the banana: You simply prod the banana up the side of the bowl and eventually push it onto the spoon with your thumb.

I have had this problem for years—with other combinations as well, as, no doubt, have our readers. Now, at last, I am delighted to report, Biblical archaeology has come to the rescue and I am eager to share this bit of ancient wisdom with our readers.

As all BAR buffs know, the commonest way to date a stratum in a tell is by the pottery sherds embedded in it. The pottery sherds are dated mostly by their shape and form, especially of the handles, bases and rims, which archaeologists refer to as diagnostic pieces (in contrast to body sherds, which are in many cases impossible to date).