One of the earliest sites excavated was a shaft tomb located in Cemetery A. This shaft tomb included tomb group A 11. Bone fragments, skulls, and various pots were found in A 11. There was evidence of looting of A 11 as the artifacts in the tomb had been moved around and some of the pots had been broken.[2]Thomas R. Schaub and Walter E. Rast,Bâb Edh-Dhra: Excavation in the Cemetery Directed by Paul W. Lapp (Winona Lake: American School of Oriental Research, 1989) (p.72-73)
A 11 was purchased by Bethel Theological Seminary, in St. Paul, Minnesota. The seminary’s dean and an ASOR member at the time, Gordon Johnson, wrote a letter to Nancy Lapp listing his five preferred choices from the tomb groups available. It is unclear whether A 11 was part of Bethel’s preferred choices.[3]Correspondence from Gordon Johnson to Nancy Lapp, 23 January 1978.
It is unclear if Bethel ever put the pots on display or if they followed any of the ASOR education purpose requirements. Archival material on what happened after A 11 after it was sold and sent to Bethel has yet to be recovered. Additionally, no information about the tomb group is mentioned on the institution’s website or in their library collections, so the location and educational use of the pots is unknown.
References
| ↑1 | Correspondence from Nancy Lapp to ASOR Corporation Representatives 1977, 058 Lapp-ASOR December 1977, ASOR Archival, Department of Anthropology, DePaul University, Chicago IL |
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| ↑2 | Thomas R. Schaub and Walter E. Rast,Bâb Edh-Dhra: Excavation in the Cemetery Directed by Paul W. Lapp (Winona Lake: American School of Oriental Research, 1989) (p.72-73) |
| ↑3 | Correspondence from Gordon Johnson to Nancy Lapp, 23 January 1978. |