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More Reports on the Jerusalem Fish Ossuary

More information about the videocamera discovery of inscriptions on burial boxes in the Patio Tomb in Jerusalem is being disclosed in advance of this morning’s press conference.

James Tabor has issued a press release through his institution, the University of North Carolina Charlotte. He claims that four of the seven ossuaries in the tomb have unique features.

MSNBC reports on the discovery and includes some evaluation by John Dominic Crossan and Ben Witherington. The article includes another photo of the fish.

The Bible and Interpretation is slated to post an academic paper on the tomb at noon today.

PaleoBabble has awarded Simcha Jacobovici a PhD. in Non Sequitur Thinking.

HT: Joseph Lauer

Tagged Discoveries, Jerusalem

Jesus Discovery: Early Christian Burial in Jerusalem

Just ahead of his big press conference tomorrow in New York, the “Naked Archaeologist” Simcha Jacobovici has released a photo and some details of a discovery inside a burial cave south of Jerusalem. The dramatic find is a sketching of a fish swallowing or spewing a person along with a Greek and Hebrew inscription with the words “resurrected” or “arise” and “Yahweh.”

While hundreds of Jonah-type inscriptions have been discovered throughout the Roman empire, this is apparently the first such known from Jerusalem, indicating the early presence of Christians in the city where Jesus rose from the dead. The Jonah-fish symbol was used by early Christians because of Jesus’ prediction that he would be like the prophet: “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt 12:40).

The information provided to Haaretz is preliminary and intended to stir up interest as more details (and big-time spin) are revealed in the press conference, the book release, and the Discovery Channel TV show.

The article notes that the “excavation” was with a video camera sticking through the floor of an apartment. Apparently the burial cave has not been opened because of ultra-Orthodox objections.

Potentially this provides the earliest archaeological evidence for followers of Jesus in the land of Israel. Though the report doesn’t say so, some archaeologists have apparently dated the inscriptions to about AD 50.

Naturally this brief article raises more questions than it answers. We expect to learn more in the next 24 hours.

HT: Joseph Lauer

Ossuary drawing from Jerusalem.
Photo: Associated Producers Ltd./Haaretz

Tagged Discoveries, Jerusalem

Tomorrow: The Jesus Discovery

The Jesus Discovery: The New Archaeological Find That Reveals the Birth of Christianity by James D. Tabor and Simcha Jacobovici releases tomorrow.

The publisher’s description suggests that the book will reveal “an iconic image and a Greek inscription” on two ossuaries which pre-date AD 70 and which “constitute the earliest archaeological evidence of faith in Jesus’ resurrection.” The conclusion is that whoever was buried in this tomb was a Christian.

The authors go further and claim that since this new tomb is only 200 feet (60 m) from the so-called Jesus Family Tomb that it makes it more likely that the Talpiot Tomb is “the real tomb of Jesus of Nazareth.”

It sounds to me that this discovery is one part fact mixed with three parts speculation. If you read the book or listen to the reports in the impending media barrage, keep in mind the difference between the artifacts and the interpretation. If the history of the two authors is any guide, the quest for fame and fortune trumps the desire for truth. The best way to get your name and your book in the media is to question the foundations of Christianity.

Tagged Jerusalem, Pseudo-Archaeology

Weekend Roundup

Paleobabble posts a report on the Noah’s Ark fraud by one who knows the Turkish guides involved.

The report probably contains some of the true story, but it is obscured by a liberal dose of speculation and hearsay. Confidence in the author is further eroded by her lack of experience in the field, her photos of herself in conservative eastern Turkey, and her forthcoming book entitled Climbing Mount Ararat: Love and Betrayal in Kurdistan.

Eisenbrauns’ Deal of the Weekend is Ancient Place Names in the Holy Land: Preservation and History, by Yoel Elitzur. It is marked down from $65 to $26.

Ferrell Jenkins summarizes his survey of the Babylonian kings in the Bible, concluding yesterday with Belshazzar.

What did Jerusalem look like in Jesus’ days? A brief article at the Jerusalem Post describes the Herodian Quarter (Wohl Museum).

Archaeologists in Egypt have begun restoring a second boat buried next to the pyramid of Cheops (Khufu).

Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, gives a 20-minute presentation at TED on the “biographies” of the Cyrus Cylinder. He believes this artifact is a major player today in the politics of the Middle East.

Eilat Mazar is warning that the antiquities on the Temple Mount are in danger because of plans to unite all of the mosques into one large one.

The seventh season of excavations at Tall el-Hammam concluded this week. According to email newsletters, the major discovery this year was a monumental gateway dated to the Middle Bronze period (2000-1550 BC).

The fifth edition of The Carta Bible Atlas (formerly The Macmillan Bible Atlas) is apparently more than just a cover re-design (as was the fourth edition). According to the publisher, “The Carta Bible
Atlas has been enriched by the addition of 40 new maps. Anson F. Rainey added maps and discussion on contemporary subjects surrounding the biblical narrative and R. Steven Notley revised and expanded the New Testament section. Prof. Notley further enhanced this volume by extending its historical reach to include the map of Palestine at the end of the third century as recorded by Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea.” Eisenbrauns has this updated classic in stock.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson

Tagged Egypt, Jerusalem, Museums, Pseudo-Archaeology, Resources, Temple Mount, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Interview with Thomas Levy

Foundation Stone has posted a three-part interview from their LandMinds radio show with the UCSD professor who is excavating copper mines in the Arabah south of the Dead Sea.

“There is no Turning Back!” Prof. Thomas Levy, UCSD, says the trowel and a good eye are no longer enough in the field. Tom rode the wave of an immense California investment in technology applied to Hirbet en-Nahas in Jordan.
The kicker is, unexpectedly, his excavations showed a rise of copper industrial production in the 10th and 9th centuries BCE, with a falling off in the 8th. This may be in conflict with the Low Chronology, requiring a new look at the textual and archaeological interface, about which he has written and edited a book.
Everyone is talking about his work and its implications – hear Prof Levy himself! (Barnea overloaded his circuits here in the late night Skype recording, he was so fascinated, pardon him…).

You can access the mp3 files via these direct links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

LandMinds also has a facebook page.

HT: Jack Sasson

Four-room workshop, Khirbet en-Nahas

Tagged 10th Century, Excavations, Jordan

Biblical Archaeology in 2011

For several years now, Brian Janeway has reported on major presentations and discussions at the Annual Meetings of the American Schools of Oriental Research in order to engage the armchair archaeologist who is unable to travel to the November conference. He has now posted his review at the website of the Associates for Biblical Research, summarizing sessions on the Philistines, the state of biblical archaeology, the Conquest narratives, biblical meals, Caesarea, and the wine of Jesus.

One subject of particular interest is Joshua’s conquest and how this is interpreted by one self-identified “maximalist.”

Perhaps it was fitting then, that Dr. Daniel Browning from William Carey University, following in the Rainey tradition, mounted a spirited critique of the findings of Dr. Bryant Wood in “Hazor versus Jericho and Ai: Dealing with Mixed Archaeological Data in Evaluating the Joshua Narrative.” Coming from a scholar who styled himself a “maximalist” regarding the Biblical text, the paper was both surprising and disappointing—the former for its contemptuous dismissal of any “maximalist” (literal) reading of Joshua—and the latter for its utter lack of reference to physical evidence presented by Wood and others. All attempts by evangelicals to interpret the data (at Jericho, Ai, and Hazor) differently than Kenyon and others are reduced to “tactics,” all of which fail on the level of presupposition—failing to see the text as a theological and not a historical one. The real key to understanding Jericho and Ai is in the figures of Rahab and Achan, who are juxtaposed to drive the underlying theological agenda. Only at Hazor can archaeological finds be made to fit the conquest narrative. In singling out Bryant Wood, Browning’s failure to cite the ceramic and stratigraphic basis of Wood’s thesis is intellectually dishonest. His largely literary approach deserves a learned archaeological response, which was not provided in San Francisco. Perhaps it is time for Dr. Wood to mount a defense of his own at the next ASOR Meetings?

In my opinion, it is an elementary error to assume that literary artistry precludes accurate historical recording.

Janeway’s full report is here.

Jericho (Tell es-Sultan) from the east

Tagged Excavations, Exodus-Conquest, Lectures