Todd Bolen, Author at BiblePlaces.com

Wednesday Roundup

Mark Hoffman comments on BibleX’s picture-taking tips and adds some suggestions of his own.

Time is reporting on Simcha Jacobovici’s lawsuit against Joe Zias. Aren Maeir isn’t happy with the article’s title: “A Feud Between Biblical Archaeologists.”

The Sea of Galilee is up to within 6 feet of capacity.

Raphael Golb’s appeal resulted in the vacating of one count and the affirmation of 30 other counts.

The NY Times is calling it “The Great Giveback,” as American museums hand over prized antiquities due to threats by foreign governments.

You can take a “virtual tour” of the tabernacle at the Creation Museum website. Click on this link and then select “The Tabernacle.”

The Dead Sea Scrolls are headed for Boston.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson, David Coppedge

Tagged Galilee, Museums, Weekend Roundup

More Recent Excavations in Jerusalem

Binyanē Ha-Umma (South): Finds included cooking pots from the first century, brick and roof tile debris from the Tenth Legion pottery workshop, and four coins.

Shu‛fat: A survey a couple of miles north of Damascus Gate identified 64 sites including an Iron II farmhouse, two Second Temple period tombs (one with a Latin inscription), nine tumuli, a Roman road, a large quarry, and more.

Mount Zion: An excavation was conducted in the courtyard south of the building that houses David’s Tomb and the Upper Room. The five strata excavated date from the Byzantine to the modern period.The excavation was prematurely halted at a depth of 5 feet when the archaeologists reached bones. “Further excavations will clarify if a massive wall from the fourth century CE was indeed exposed at the bottom of the trial square.”

The Old City, IDF House: Located along the Street of the Chain to the west of the Western Wall prayer plaza, this excavation identified primarily remains from the Ottoman period.

Quarry in Shu’fat. Photo by IAA.

Tagged Excavations, Jerusalem

New Resource: Satellite Bible Atlas

There is a fabulous new resource available that I’m delighted to be the first to tell you about. For the last four years when teaching seminary and church groups in Israel, I’ve had as the class guide an outstanding resource that nobody else could buy. I joked with my last group that this book cost $3,640 because they could only get it by coming with me on the trip. The other option was to enroll as a student in one of the short- or long-term study programs at The Master’s College’s campus in Israel for even more money. Today, for the first time ever, you can purchase your own copy of the Satellite Bible Atlas. This new work by Bill Schlegel replaces the venerable Student Map Manual but is superior to it in many ways. One obvious advantage is that you don’t have to spend 60+ hours marking it before it is usable! All the historical markings are printed in bright colors on top of satellite map imagery. Another advantage is that the commentary is on facing pages with the maps, so you have easy access to everything that is going on. If you want more, you can download the free, 200-page expanded commentary, The Land and the Bible: A Historical Geographical Companion to the Satellite Bible Atlas. This resource is ready for personal use, classroom use, and field trip use. The author, Bill Schlegel, has been teaching college and seminary students in Israel for 25 years. Everything in the Satellite Bible Atlas is field-tested by a professor who knows God’s land and loves God’s Word. Here are 7 more reasons I love the Satellite Bible Atlas: 1. The maps are full-size, full color, and full of rich detail of the hills, wadis, plains, and passes. 2. There are 85 maps which means that every major historical event is covered, from Abraham to Paul. Too often the New Testament gets short-changed in atlases, but not here: the Satellite Bible Atlas has 9 maps for the life of Christ and 6 for the apostolic period. 3. The Satellite Bible Atlas includes 17 detailed topographical maps without historical markings. These are ideal for getting the best view of the terrain as well as both ancient and modern sites. 4. I fully trust the markings and the commentary. There are not many works in this field for which I can say that. 5. The north-orientation of the maps means there is no immediate learning curve as there was with the previous atlas we used which put east at the top. I put this atlas in the hands of my church group last year and they were immediately off and running. Several have commented to me in the last few weeks that they regularly use the Satellite Bible Atlas as they read the Bible. 6. The atlas comes with a free copy of all the maps in digital (jpg) format. You will receive a link to download the maps with your order confirmation. 7. For $30, plus $3 shipping and tax where applicable, you get an excellent atlas at an outstanding price. (For an additional discount on purchases of 10 or more copies, contact us.) Check out the sample maps, the table of contents, endorsements, teaching videos, and the free downloads. You can order here.

Tagged Historical Geography, Resources

Weekend Roundup

This is a series I should have done on this blog. But BibleX has done it first and quite well: Picture Taking Tips for the Holy Land, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Thank you, Dr. Savelle.

The Shephelah is a great place to live. The ancients knew it and now modern people are catching on.

That’s bad for those who care about the preservations of ancient sites, as Luke Chandler explains in his well-illustrated post, Khirbet Qeiyafa to be Enveloped by City Expansion.

Beth Shean—A Place for Happy Explorers: Check out the photos, the video, and the city’s lingering lesson.

“Huge flocks of synchronized starlings that appear like a black cloud returned to Israel last year for the first time in 20 years.” This free Haaretz article includes impressive photos.

Jerusalem Online has a 4-minute video on The Search for Herod’s Grave. You can read the transcript at the same link.

The ancient Corinthians liked to feast, a fact confirmed by the recent excavation of more than 100,000 bones excavated in the abandoned theater.

The Guardian reports on Turkey’s on-going efforts to blackmail museums around the world.

For more, check out the Archaeology Weekly Roundup at the ASOR Blog.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson

Beth Shean aerial from northeast.
Photo from Samaria and the Center.

Tagged Greece, Jezreel Valley, Museums, Shephelah, Tourism, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Recent Excavations in Jerusalem

Old City: A small excavation inside a dwelling south of Damascus Gate and west of the Austrian Hospice revealed pavement and pottery from the Mamluk period.

Rasm al-‘Amud: This site on the lower southeastern slopes of the Mount of Olives is located nearly 1 mile east of the City of David. Excavation of fifty squares revealed six strata dating from the Intermediate Bronze (VI-V), Middle Bronze IIA (IV), Middle Bronze IIC-Late Bronze (III), Iron II (II), and Late Roman-Early Byzantine (I). The best preserved remains are the earliest and come from a semi-nomadic group that settled down near the water source. In the 9th-7th centuries, the site was a cultivated garden and a jar handle was found with an inscription that reads “ …ל (?)מ/נחם ” (“Le[?]m/nhm”). The report includes a photo of the inscription.

Beit Hanina: Remains were excavated of seven phases of the Roman road that branched off from the Jerusalem-Shechem road heading towards the Beth Horon ridge. The report doesn’t mention it, but this is the route Paul would have taken on his way to Antipatris and Caesarea (Acts 23:31). Other road segments were excavated, but no map has been published.

Nahal Rephaim: A survey of this valley southwest of the Old City (see 2 Sam 5:18-25) identified 42 sites including watchman’s huts, a limekiln, a burial cave, a cistern, five roads, and farming terraces.

“Based on the rural nature of the surveyed area, it seems that it constituted part of Jerusalem’s agricultural hinterland, at least during some of the ancient periods.” Compare Isaiah 17:5: “It will be…as when a man gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.”

Ancient road between Jerusalem and Beth Horon.
Photo by IAA.

Tagged Excavations, Jerusalem

Wednesday Roundup

The level of the Dead Sea has risen for the first time in the last ten years.

Egyptian police seized a carload of 863 ancient artifacts, including 10 scarabs, 180 amulets, 120 Ptolemaic coins, 407 Roman coins of bronze, 3 Osirion wooden statues, and a limestone statue.

Victor Avigdor Hurowitz, Professor in the Department of Bible, Archaeology and Ancient Near East at Ben-Gurion University, has died after a long illness.

Shmuel Browns’ Photo of the Week is an impressive shot of the Keshet Cave in western Galilee.

The Samaritans on Mount Gerizim can vote twice this week.

Accordance Bible Software has an outstanding sale going on right now for both sets (9 volumes) of the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary, Old and New Testaments. It’s marked down now 63% to $150. These volumes have lots of images you can easily search and use. Sale ends on Monday.

HT: Charles Savelle

Western shore of the Dead Sea in early 1900s
Photo from Southern Palestine photo collection

Tagged Dead Sea, Egypt, Galilee, Resources