Yigal Levin: Forward and Introduction I. Archaeological Studies: 1. Einat Ambar-Armon and Amos Kloner (Dept. of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University): Archaeological Evidence of Links between the Aegean World and the Land of Israel in the Persian Period. 2. Avraham Faust (Dept. of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University): Settlement Dynamics and Demographic Fluctuations in Judah from the late Iron Age to the Hellenistic Period and the Archaeology of Persian Period Yehud. 3.

Diana Edelman (Dept. Biblical Studies, Sheffield University): Settlement Patterns in Persian-Era Yehud. 4. Rona S. Avissar, Joe Uziel and Aren M. Maeir (Dept. of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University; The Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project): Tell es-Safi/Gath during the Persian Period II. Epigraphic Studies: 5.

Hanan Eshel (Dept. of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University): Hellenism in the Land of Israel from the Fifth to the Second Centuries BCE in Light of Semitic Epigraphy. 6. Bezalel Porten and Ada Yardeni (Dept. of Jewish History, The Hebrew University in Jerusalem): Makkedah and the Storehouse in the Idumean Ostraca. 7. Esther Eshel (Dept. of Bible, Bar-Ilan University): Two Aramaic Ostraca from Mareshah.

III. Historical Studies: 8. Lisbeth S. Fried (Dept. of Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan): From Xeno-Philia to -Phobia - Jewish Encounters with the Other. 9. Ian Stern (Archaeological Seminars, Jerusalem): The Population of Persian Period Idumea According to the Ostraca: A Study of Ethnic Boundaries and Ethogenesis. 10.

Yigal Levin (The College of Judea and Samaria, Ariel, and the Depts. of Jewish History and Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University): The Southern Frontier of Yehud and the Creation of Idumea.