September 2007 - Page 2 of 4

Turkey Trip for College Profs

If you’re a college professor or other tour group leader, you might be interested in this familiarization tour to Turkey in March. This came via Mark Wilson, who has led two college/seminary groups this year that I recommended. Both were delighted with their trips. It’s not clear to me if he is apart of this trip or not, but here are the details they sent:

Dear Professors, Colleagues, and Group Leaders, We are currently taking sign ups for the MARCH 7-15, 2008 FAM. TRIP! The March familiarization trip is for professors who are bringing or would like to bring a group to Turkey and want to come beforehand to do the tour. This is very limited space because of the special price. The professor price of $1,095 is land, airfare & tax inclusive, based on double occupancy, with airfare from New York, JFK. The cost of a single room is $1,390 per person. Please ask for our spouse rate. Participants of this trip are responsible for their own transport to and from JFK. If you are interested in signing up for this trip please contact me for further details. We are also exciting for Tutku Tours’ Newest programs; January Trips, Study Abroad Programs and of course our Ephesus Meeting May 2008, www.ephesusmeeting.com in which we will have many wonderful groups and fascinating speakers. We customize all of our groups’ itineraries to fit their needs. Please ask for any brochures or further details. We hope to meet you AT OUR BOOTH in San Diego, November 14-16, at ETS (booth #216), and November 17-20, at AAR & SBL, (booth #737). We will also be offering additional meetings slide show presentations, The Seven Churches, and the Footsteps of St. Paul in Asia Minor. ETS additional meeting, date and time will be announced and the SBL additional meeting is Sunday, November 18 from 4:00- 6:30 pm. We look forward to discussing your future plans for travel in Turkey, as well as our other destinations Greece, Israel, Egypt, Ukraine, and Northern Cypress. Attached, you will find the inaugural issue of the latest news of Biblical Turkey, in the ‘Asia Minor Report’ newsletter, put together by Dr. Mark Wilson. We hope it is of interest to all of the scholars that we work with! We have great references from other college and university groups, which we would be happy to share with you! Please let me know if I can help answer any questions you may have. We look forward to seeing you and your groups here in 2008!

Best Regards,
Erin Dailey
Director of Operations
Ephesus Meeting
www.ephesusmeeting.com Tutku Tours
www.tutkutours.com

After a trip to Israel, Turkey is the place to go. You need more than a week, but this is just the familiarization trip to get you to come back for a longer time with a lot of people.

Tagged Resources, Travels

Israeli Court on Temple Mount Destruction

A legal attempt to stop the Temple Mount destruction was met with more governmental corruption today. A five-minute video by Arutz-7 describes how the court chose to meet behind closed doors without allowing the participation of the plaintiffs. If there’s a case for allowing Muslim destruction of Jewish antiquities, it should be made publicly and not hidden behind the skirts of political cowards.

UPDATE (9/21): The Jerusalem Post has a written version of the story here. Key quotation:

“It is more than clear that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has instructed the Antiquities Authority to cooperate with the Wakf and conceal the damage to antiquities being done during the infrastructure work at the site,” said Hebrew University archeologist and leading Temple Mount expert Dr. Eilat Mazar.

Tagged Jerusalem, Temple Mount

Book: Flights into Biblical Archaeology

This looks like fun. The description is from a press release from the Israel Antiquities Authority:
Albatross Aerial Photography Ltd – the photographer Dubi Tal and pilot Moni Haramati – has published a new book in cooperation with the Israel Antiquities Authority: Flights into Biblical Archaeology, which combines aerial and land photographs of the sites together with photographs of ancient artifacts and artistic creations that have not yet been made public. The unique texts that accompany the photographs were written by Shimon Gibson, professor of archaeology at the University of North Carolina.

The book Flights into Biblical Archaeology is a journey into the colorful past of the Land of Israel; a journey across thousands of years of history which is both a visual and spiritual experience.

The breathtaking aerial photographs allow the reader to participate in the experience of exposing the past and discovering details and meanings which can no longer been seen by the eye of the observer on the ground. While at the same time the special stories of the archaeological sites that conceal the historical secrets of the country are laid out before the reader.

In addition to their aesthetic value, the pictures provide a great deal of important information about the archaeological compounds and the environment in which they are located. Next to each site mentioned in the book is a map with a dot that denotes its location and provides the reader with a point of reference relative to the site.

The book, which was conceived and edited by Dubi Tal, is a sort of a professional encyclopedia on the one hand, and popular photographic album on the other, which the reader can easily use. It is meant for the general public and is an asset worthy of lovers of artistic photography, scholars and professional people, as well as tourists and the simply inquisitive.

256 pages

Price: 160 NIS ($38; shipping is $5-10)

Available for purchase at the Israel Antiquities Authority website and by telephone: +972-2-
6204611

UPDATE (10/9): You can now get the book from Eisenbrauns a bit faster and cheaper.

Photos from Temple Mount "Dig"

The Biblical Archaeology Society has some new photos from the Temple Mount ~~Excavation~~ Destruction. It’s not unbelievable that the Muslim authorities of the Temple Mount would do this; it’s unbelievable that the Israelis would allow it.

Tagged Discoveries, Jerusalem, Temple Mount

Egyptian Fortress Discovered in Israel

An interesting discovery was made in the southwestern area of Israel on the edge of the Nahal Besor not far from the Gaza Strip. Qubur el-Walaydah has the remains of a early Iron Age Philistine farming village. Beneath it, excavators from Ben Gurion University discovered a large, well-preserved Egyptian settlement from the Late Bronze Age. The article refers to what they found as an “Egyptian residence,” suggesting that it is similar to other such buildings found at Aphek and Beth Shean. For more, see the Jerusalem Post.

Tagged Discoveries

Mount Zion – New Excavations

Excavations were resumed in June on Mount Zion after a long hiatus (since 2000). The “Mount Zion Archaeological Expedition is directed by Shimon Gibson and James Tabor and looks very promising.

After only five days of fieldwork this summer, they report the discovery of:

Well-preserved houses from the 1st century A.D.
Clear abandonment of the area during the Late Roman period (c.70-330 A.D.)
Preservation of the area during construction of the Nea Church (c. 530 A.D.)

You can read a 5-page report about the site and excavation (pdf, via Dr. Jim West). Two seasons are planned for 2008 and it sounds like they will accept students as volunteers. There are not many excavations in Jerusalem that are open to volunteers, so you might want to see what you can do to get in on this one. I can personally testify that working in an excavation with Shimon Gibson is interesting and rewarding.

Mount Zion from southeast

Tagged Discoveries, Jerusalem