Fisher, Clarence Stanley, 1876-1941

In 1921, the Palestine Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania Museum began excavations at Bet Sh'ean, a site located 12 miles south of the Sea of Galilee in Israel. The expedition was intended as the beginning of an extensive research effort in Syria-Palestine. Although the fieldwork lasted twelve years, this goal was never fully achieved due to financial stringencies imposed during the Depression of the 1930's.

Clarence S. Fisher, Curator of the Egyptian Section of the University Museum, directed the first three seasons of work at Bet Sh'ean. Alan Rowe and Gerald M. FitzGerald directed the subsequent seven field seasons ending in 1933. Nine major occupation levels were uncovered, dating from the Arab/Crusader and Byzantine periods through the Late Bronze Age and Late Neolithic. Bet Sh'ean was situated on the main trade route between Egypt and Mesopotamia and the site has yielded abundant evidence of the many peoples which influenced this early Palestinian settlement. Finds show the influence of Egyptian, Canaanite, Greek and Roman cultures.

Fisher first conducted a regional survey with the help of G. B. Gordon, Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, in 1919, and selected Bet Sh'ean as a suitable site for excavation. Fisher continued his work in Egypt while in Bet Sh'ean, and the correspondence includes arrangements for the transportation of equipment and workers between Dra Abu el-Naga and Mitrahineh, the two Egyptian sites where Fisher also worked between 1921 and 1923.

When Fisher resigned his position and left the Museum in 1924, Gordon was faced with finding a replacement. Prominent archaeologists such as Woolley, Wace and Wainwright declined acceptance of the Bet Sh'ean field directorship. Alan Rowe, Fisher's field assistant for the 1922 and 1923 seasons assumed directorship of the excavations, which he then conducted in 1925, 1926, 1927, and 1928. Rowe was also primarily an Egyptologist and corresponded with other Egyptologists, such as Alan Gardiner and Battiscombe Gunn of the Cairo Museum, often about objects from the Egyptian levels at Beth Shean. Gordon encouraged Rowe to scout for opportunities to excavate in Egypt and Cyprus. There is also material related to Mitrahineh, Thebes, Luxor and other sites, and the new antiquities laws in Egypt, amongst the correspondence. In 1928, publication arrangements were made for a publication to be called ; however, the book was not published until the 1940's. Rowe was re-assigned to Field Director at Meydum in Egypt in 1929. There is some correspondence regarding Bet Sh'ean with Horace Jayne, the new Museum Director, and others, after this date.

Gerald FitzGerald took over as Field Director for the three remaining seasons, 1930-33. He had worked with both Fisher and Rowe in 1922 and was Assistant Field Director in 1927 and 1928. A. J. Tobler assisted FitzGerald. Subject matter of FitzGerald's correspondence with Horace Jayne includes, along with descriptions of the excavation, discussion of the Museum's financial problems which caused the premature "closing" of Bet Sh'ean and which delayed publication of Rowe's and FitzGerald's manuscripts. In addition to extensive correspondence with the Antiquities Department of the Government of Palestine, there are also letters from William Albright, Director of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Jerusalem; Edward T. Newell of the American Numismatic Society; Pere L. H. Vincent at the Ecole Biblique de St. Etienne, Jerusalem; W. F. Bade and J. Brinton, and other scholars concerning the Bet Sh'ean artifacts, particularly coins, sarcophagi, and inscriptions.

Records describing the excavations at Bet Sh'ean include diaries for 1921 through 1933, a card catalog, plans, photographic material, field notes, correspondence, notes, and publication drafts. The results of the excavations at Bet Sh'ean were partially published by Rowe and FitzGerald in the 1920's, 1930's, and 1940's; by Frances James, a Research Associate at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in the 1960's; and by Eliezer D. Oren in the 1970's. The archival holdings for Bet Sh'ean also include manuscripts by Frances James, now being prepared for publication.

From the guide to the Bet Sh'ean, Israel expedition records, Bulk, 1921-1933, 1919-1984, (University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives)