Hebrew University will host the third annual conference on the Archaeology of Jerusalem and its Vicinity this Thursday, October 15th, 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Mount Scopus, Social Sciences Building, Room 300.  The conference will include three sessions on Jerusalem and vicinity before a closing session on the Qeiyafa inscription.  The conference is co-sponsored by the Israel Antiquities Authority, Hebrew University, and the Moriah Company.  A brief announcement is posted on the IAA site (Hebrew).

HT: ANE-2

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I think that for a certain subset of this blog’s readers, photo challenges are enjoyable.  I’ll tell you a little and you can tell me the rest.  This photo is part of the Jerusalem volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection and it was taken in approximately 1900.

jerusalem_challenge

The best answer in the comments below wins a free copy of the Jerusalem CD (or your choice of another if you already have it).  An important part of the answer is why it is impossible to take this same photo today.

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Recently a friend alerted me to a discussion online about major renovations to be started soon in the vicinity of Jaffa Gate.  Among other things, this will close the gate off to vehicular traffic.  If they dig anything up, chances are very high that they’ll find something of significance, which will slow their progress down even further.  A source in Jerusalem relates the following:

1. The gate is being closed to car traffic due to road renovations.

2. They may leave one lane open for one-way traffic.

3. The gate is supposed to close soon after Succot (which ended a few days ago).

4. A Muslim policeman “who isn’t trustworthy” said that the gate would NOT reopen ever.

5. Shop owners are concerned about how they will receive supplies.

This is not the first time the authorities have done major work on the road here.

View inside Jaffa Gate, mat04928 Jaffa Gate area from east, with Crusader moat of Citadel visible in foreground.  Date of photograph: 1898-1907.  From the new Jerusalem CD.
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Brian Janeway has written on “New Discoveries Relating to the Apostle Paul” at the Associates for Biblical Research blog.  The focus of the article is the recent analysis of the alleged tomb of Paul, but he also comments on some related finds.

Eric Cline has posted a good primer at Bible and Interpretation on the all-important 10th century BC debate in biblical archaeology.  In about ten minutes of reading, you get a number of good insights into the nature of the debate and the archaeological discipline as a whole.  The article is adapted from his new book, Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction (168 pages; $9 at Amazon).

I mentioned previously the Old Testament version of the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, edited by John H. Walton and available in 5 volumes in November ($157 at Amazon, plus shipping surcharge).  Chris Heard notes that the Genesis commentary is now available for reading on Scribd through the month of October.

Logos has a new pre-publication special of 19 volumes in a “History of Israel Collection.”  You have to qualify just what a collection with that title means, because it is not the essential works on the subject.  Rather these are volumes from the Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies series published by Sheffield and T. & T. Clark.  In other words, these are highly specialized, very expensive books.  The collection is now available for $300 ($16/volume), which is about the cost of any two volumes.  (A quick search at Amazon found Banks for $180, Wood for $25, McNutt for $50, Grabbe for $216, and Younger [not Youger] for $251).  If you want it, buy it now, before the price jumps to $1300.

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