Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington DC, USA

Tomb #A 65E

• A 65 E was formerly known as A 65N
• 12 pots: $228^[1]Correspondence from Nancy Lapp to ASOR Corporation Representatives 1977, 058 Lapp-ASOR
  December 1977, ASOR Archival, Department of Anthropology, DePaul University, Chicago IL
• Sold to Wesley Theological Seminary
• On display/Present Location: Some, Wesley Theological Seminary
• Educational purposes: Yes
• Followed by Ebi Hailu

Tomb A 65E (formally known as A 65N) was found under a shaft tomb that had a collapsed roof that covered the shaft entrance. There was extreme damage to the site that had caused items to disperse into different areas within the shaft. The area that A 65 E was found in had human remains including five skulls, as well as some bones. However, like some other tombs, there were not enough bone fragments to represent all 5 of the skeletons belonging to the skulls, suggesting selective burial practices.^[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.83-85)

Tomb group A 65 E was sold to Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington D.C. to be placed in their museum. Dewey Beegle, an anthropology professor at Wesley, had reached out to Nancy Lapp and ranked his choices in which tomb group he wanted to purchase for his institution. Ironically, A 65E was his last choice.^[3]Correspondence from Dewey Beegle to Nancy Lapp, 1978.

Despite being Beegle’s last choice, Beegle wrote to Lapp that he was very appreciative of the tomb group but was quite agitated that the pottery could not be shown to the public because the museum at Wesley was being renovated when he received the inquiry about the location of the pots from Lapp in 1981. Because of the renovation, Beegle explained that he kept the pottery in his office and rarely showed his students the collection.^[4]Correspondence from Dewey Beegle to Nancy Lapp, 4 February 1981.  Since that correspondence between Lapp and Beegle, some of the pots have gone on display while other remain in storage at Wesley.^[5]Correspondence from Dr. David Hopkins to Ebi Hailu, 2018.