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THE CLOTHED BODY IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
17-19 January 2002

Orit Shamir
Israel Antiquitues Authority

Tunics from Kasr-al-Yahud

In 1985 a salvage excavation was carried out at Kasr-al-Yahud by Joe Zias on behalf of the Archaeological Staff officer of Judea and Samaria. The site is situated along the Jordan River, near the Monastery of St john the Baptist, believed to be the traditions site for the baptism of Jesus and where, according to Christian tradition, the 'washing of the lepers' took place. A mass grave was discovered at the site of an estimated 300 individuals, 90% of which was destroyed by road construction. This mass burial is unique in that it probably represents a hospital population of social/Biblical outcasts, including suffers of TB lepra, and facial/nasal disfigurement. Those individuals attracted to the site travelled enormous distances in the hope of washing away their illness. Seeds from the tree balantines aegyptiaca enclosed in the hands of the deceased, which was a centuries old Egyptian burial custom, along with additional anthropological evidence indicated that these individuals in the mass grave were probably Egyptian in origin (Zias, forthcoming). Analysis of the skulls proved that some of the deceased were Nubian. The arid, hot climate of the Judean desert has preserved the textiles and few cords which belong the garments, which date to 8-9 centuries CE (c.787-877). Because of the hard conditions of the excavation, which only lasted two days, no loci and basket numbers were given to the textiles. We catalogued all of them and only with the help of a computer could we combine fragments according to material, spin direction, weaving techniques etc. At the end of the process we have 248 textile fragments analyzed and described. Most of them were tunics.