A report of the discovery of an ancient church building at Shiloh struck me as questionable. Because several churches have been discovered at Shiloh in the past (including one in 2006), I wondered if this was a recycled report. You can read the story as reported by Israel HaYom, YourJewishNews, and Algemeiner.

Yisrael Medad, a resident of modern Shiloh, clarifies that the discovery is simply more of the Byzantine basilica excavated by the Danish expedition in the 1920s. The new excavations revealed a destruction layer which may be dated to the time of the Samaritan Revolt in AD 529. Medad’s blog has photos of the new excavations.

Shiloh Byzantine basilica from south, tb041106377
Area of Byzantine basilica of Shiloh with 20th century protective building. Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands.

Joseph Lauer has passed along word of a report in the Hebrew daily Makor Rishon that is currently available in English only in The Jewish Press. Specifics are limited, perhaps because of fears of vandalism or political maneuvers.

The article mentions an “ancient column with a crown,” but the photo in Makor Rishon shows a proto-Aeolic capital. More than three dozen of these royal capitals have been found throughout Israel, including one in the City of David and ten at Ramat Rahel. They clearly date to the time of the kings of Israel and Judah and the quality of construction indicates that these capitals are part of royal architecture.

The capital was found in a cave between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Yaron Rosenthal believes that an entire building from the time of Judah’s monarchy may be waiting to be unearthed.

The story in The Jewish Press mostly focuses on the political angle, reporting on the allegation that the Israel Antiquities Authority has known about the discovery for the last year and a half but is ignoring it for political reasons.

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Photo by Yossi Aloni, Makor Rishon
Proto-Aeolic capital at Ramat Rahel, tb031905802
Replica of Proto-Aeolic capital on display at Ramat Rahel excavations
Ramat Rahel excavations, Proto-Aeolic capitals, tb113002564
Reconstruction of Judean palace with Proto-Aeolic capitals at Ramat Rahel

A sonar survey has identified a large stone structure on the floor of the Sea of Galilee. It may be related to the contemporary third-millennium BC site of nearby Beth Yerah (Khirbet Kerak). The scientific article includes illustrations.

Archaeologists have discovered a port on the Red Sea from the time of Pharaoh Cheops.

Admission to the Israel Museum is free on Independence Day, April 16.

Sharks are rare in the Mediterranean Sea but not in the Red Sea. One came close to swimmers in Eilat last week.

Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania, has inaugurated its Archaeology Museum Gallery.

If Israel was ever mapped out on the game of Monopoly, Megiddo would be Boardwalk.

Kyle Pope has written a good article on “The Hinnom Valley and Jesus’ Teaching on Final Punishment.” Barry Britnell shares a photo of the valley.

Details for volunteers for this summer’s dig at Tel Burna are now available. Apply before May 1.
zmetro has four 360-degree panoramas of Laodicea. The excavators and restorers are making great progress at the site.

HT: Charles Savelle, Tony Lawrence, Jack Sasson, Joseph Lauer

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Stone structure under the Sea of Galilee 
Illustration by Shmuel Marco

Archaeologists working for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) recently excavated a unique ritual bath (mikveh) in the Kiryat Menachem neighborhood of Jerusalem (southwest of the Old City). Three separate collecting tanks (otzar) were carved into the rock in order to collect as much rainwater as possible.

The IAA press release quotes Benyamin Storchan, director of the excavation:

Numerous ritual baths have been excavated in Jerusalem in recent years, but the water supply system that we exposed in this excavation is unique and unusual. The ritual bath consists of an underground chamber entered by way of steps. The miqwe received the rainwater from three collecting basins (otzar) that were hewn on the roof of the bath, and the pure water was conveyed inside the chamber through channels.
The ritual baths known until now usually consist of a closed cavity that was supplied with rainwater conveyed from a small rock-cut pool located nearby. The complex that was exposed at this time is a more sophisticated and intricate system. The bath was apparently associated with a settlement that was situated there in the Second Temple period. Presumably, due to the rainfall regime and arid conditions of the region, the inhabitants sought special techniques that would make it possible to store every drop of water.
It is interesting to note that the bath conforms to all of the laws of kashrut, like collecting the water in it naturally without human contact, and ensuring that the water does not seep into the earth which is why the bath was treated with a special kind of plaster.

The full press release is here, and three high-res photos are available in a zip file. The story is also reported by the Jerusalem Post and Arutz-7.

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Archaeologist Benyamin Storchan stands in the immersion chamber of the mikveh.
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Aerial view of the excavations
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Aerial view of three storage tanks and channels
All photos courtesy of the IAA. The second and third are by Skyview.

Several significant excavation reports will be published in the next couple of months and Eisenbrauns is offering major discounts on pre-orders.

Megiddo V: The 2004-2008 Seasons

Gezer VII: The Middle Bronze and Later Fortifications in Fields II, IV, and VIII

Sepphoris I: The Pottery from Ancient Sepphoris
MegiddoVcover.indd
With the ongoing debate over the chronology of the Iron Age II, the Megiddo volumes may receive the most attention from scholars.

Eisenbrauns has a number of other excavation reports on sale, including volumes on Bab edh-Dhra, Lahav (volumes I-II), Tell el-
Hesi (volumes II-V), Gezer (volumes I-III, V), and Dothan. For those interested in a popular work, the Timnah volume is now marked down 50% (to $15).

There doesn’t seem to be a direct link to the sale page, so go to the home page, read about their phenomenal new “Online/Offline
Backup Service” (announced on April 1), and follow the link to the sale from there.

A couple of recently published excavation reports are reviewed in the current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. In the article now available online, William G. Dever reviews Ashkelon 3: The Seventh Century B.C. and Hazor: The 1990–2009 Excavations: The Iron Age.