BiblePlaces Blog - Page 383 of 571

Noah’s Ark Confession Repudiated

The Hong-Kong based organization Noah’s Ark Ministries International (NAMI) announced in April that they had discovered Noah’s Ark. Their press release included brief video clips showing wooden beams of the alleged ark. Yet many noted major problems with their purported discovery. These suspicions appeared to be confirmed with the release two weeks ago of a letter written by two Turkish brothers who confessed to constructing “the ark” for what they thought was a movie set.

The latest turn in the saga is that NAMI has announced that the confession sent to Randall Price was forged. They have a statement by the brothers claiming that they never wrote the letter.

A few observations:

1. An outside observer can hardly judge as to what the truth is with regard to the letter. It’s certainly possible that someone forged the letter. It should be noted that the letter is in Turkish, and since all “ark hunters” are outside Turkey, its creation would have required more than a casual effort. It did strike me originally that the signatures appear to have been signed by the same person, though that might not be significant if one or both was illiterate.

2. NAMI clearly believes their reputation is on the line, as is apparent from the effort they have taken to refute the letter. Their response is currently the front page on their website.

3. NAMI has spent a lot of money in their story and they expect to reap a fortune with the production of future “documentaries” and souvenirs. An outside investigator would certainly want to consider the possibility that they invested additional money into the Turkish brothers so that they would deny
writing the letter.

4. Randall Price has removed the letter from his website “pending further investigation of its source.” The Google-cached page still shows the letter and translation. (Also here and here.)

5. NAMI essentially claims that Price forged the letter. They write, “His actions have been completely against the basic principles of a true professing Christian and defying the law.” Did he defy the law by attacking their work or by posting the letter? Clearly they intend to suggest that he personally was involved in its forgery. I believe that their charge is absolutely baseless, but they are now on record for recognizing the difference between truth and error as well as the judgment men face for their actions.

6. The determination that the letter is a forgery does not constitute evidence for the validity of the discovery.

Tagged Pseudo-Archaeology

A Fishless Sea of Galilee?

Scientists fear that they may not be able to halt the precipitous drop of the fish population in the Sea of Galilee. In 1999, a total of 2,144 tons of fish was caught. Ten years later, the total was less than 10% of that (157 tons). Contributing to the crisis are many years of drought. From the Jerusalem Post:

The ministry wrote that “the data raised real concerns of an ecological disaster that will occur in the Kinneret following the loss of fish resources, turning Lake Kinneret into a fish-less lake.”
The announcement came only a few weeks after the Water Authority released dismal reports on the below-average rainfal that has plagued the lake for the last decade, with water levels reaching their lowest average since the 1920s.
The years 2001 to 2010 treated Lake Kinneret particularly poorly, the Water Authority said Monday. Moreover, according to its summary of 2010, Lake Kinneret has dropped back down to last year’s water level because of the severe lack of rain despite the state having reduced pumping this year.
Except for a few major showers at the beginning and the end of the year, Lake Kinneret’s water levels steadily dropped from May to December. Despite pumping less water out of the lake, the water level has dropped from what it was last year and is now significantly below the bottom red line. In fact, the water level rested below the bottom red line for most of the year, with the exception of the months of March to June.

The full story is here.

Fishermen in the Sea of Galilee, early 1900s (photo source)

Tagged American Colony Photos, Galilee

American Colony Photos for Accordance

I’m excited to announce that the American Colony photo collection is now available as a module for Accordance Bible Software. Long regarded as the best Bible software on the market, Accordance brings significant advantages to the American Colony collection by providing quick and easy searches as well as tight integration with the Accordance features and modules.

David Lang describes it this way:

The American Colony and Eric Matson collection is a massive (1.4GB) Accordance module containing more than 4,000 historic photographs of the Holy Land and its people. It is fully searchable, and its images will be included any time you use the Search All window to search by Caption. Once you find an image you like, you can drag its thumbnail onto a Keynote or Pages drop-zone to include it in your slide show or document.

You can read the rest of his helpful introduction here. In my opinion, this is the best collection of historic photographs of the Holy Land anywhere, ever. I give some very specific reasons for that bold statement here. In addition to the photographs, the collection is supplemented by thousands of historic quotes and explanatory notes that are a rich resource in themselves.

The creation of this Accordance module makes a good thing better, and I’m delighted that users can benefit from these significant improvements.

You can purchase the Accordance module here. Those who have already purchased the American Colony Collection from BiblePlaces.com qualify for a crossgrade, which gives a discount of more than $100.

Tagged American Colony Photos, Resources

How Netzer Discovered Herod’s Tomb

The current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review includes the fascinating firsthand account of how the late Ehud Netzer discovered the tomb of King Herod. The entire article is available for free online.

During the 38 years since I began working at Herodium, Herod’s luxurious desert retreat, this architectural masterpiece has yielded many treasures, but none more exciting than the 2007 discovery of Herod’s elusive tomb. Some still question this identification, but more recent discoveries confirm my initial conclusion. Today, I have no doubt of it. […] In the summer of 2006, we turned our attention to the slope of the hill, in the vicinity of the monumental stairway that ran up the hill from Lower Herodium to the palace/fortress of Upper Herodium. We first followed an ancient wall along the northeastern slope, hoping that it would lead us to the burial place (a cave?) at the bottom of the round eastern tower. When no clue was found here, in the spring of 2007 we returned to the vicinity of the monumental stairway and slowly we began to reveal some fragments of reddish stone along the northeastern slope that appeared to be from an elegant sarcophagus. Following these stones, we were finally led to the discovery of Herod’s mausoleum. […] Not long after we announced the discovery of Herod’s tomb in 2007, my good friend British architectural historian David Jacobson expressed his doubts, noting the lack of any inscriptional identification of the remains. Since then, we have finished digging the whole area around the monument, exposing more of its architectural elements. This has enabled our capable architect-archaeologist Rachel Chachy to draw a detailed reconstruction of the mausoleum. If the same remains had been found near Jerusalem, it might have been risky to identify the monument as belonging to Herod. But this is Herodium, Herod’s personal monument, named for himself—indeed, the only one. And Josephus has told us Herod was buried here. There can be little question who was buried here. The absence of any inscription should not detract from this conclusion. […] Duane Roller, professor emeritus at the Ohio State University, is another doubter. A distinguished Roman historian, Roller concedes that the tomb we have found belonged to someone of noble lineage, but he remains convinced that Herod lies at the solid base of the east tower on the summit.

The well-illustrated article is a must-read before your next visit. If you want to read more about Herod and his construction projects, I would highly recommend Herod: King of the Jews and Friend of the Romans, by Peter Richardson as well as The Architecture of Herod, the Great Builder, by Ehud Netzer.

Tagged Excavations, Herod's Tomb, Judah

Top Ten Archaeology Discoveries Related to the Bible

Several months ago Tim Kimberley posted an excellent series of over at the Parchment and Pen Blog. Though I missed the initial posting, I did not want to let it pass. His top ten list of biblical discoveries in archaeology corresponds closely to what I would suggest.

Introduction

10. Assyrian Lachish Reliefs (Sennacherib’s Siege Reliefs)

9. Jehu’s Tribute to Shalmaneser III (Black Obelisk)

8. Caiaphas Ossuary

7. Hezekiah’s Tunnel

6. Pontius Pilate Inscription

5. The Crucified Man

4. Ketef Hinnom Silver Amulet Scroll

3. Jericho

2. House of David Inscription (Tel Dan Inscription)

1. Dead Sea Scrolls

Where can you see these great finds? Your first stop is the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, where you can see #1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 8. The British Museum holds #9 and 10. For #3 and 7, you’ll have to get dirty.

Thanks, Tim, for this valuable presentation. If you have not benefited from Tim’s BibleMap.org, I highly recommend it as a quick way to identify locations mentioned in Scripture.

In looking up the last link, I discovered that Tim has put his research into handy book form. You can purchase a copy of Top Ten Biblical Discoveries in Archaeology for yourself or a friend here.

Tagged Discoveries, Resources

Weekend Roundup

Israel Finkelstein has written a brief article explaining why he believes conclusions based on the lack of archaeological evidence trumps the biblical text every time. “Archaeology as a High Court in Ancient Israelite History: A Reply to Nadav Na’aman” (pdf) is published in the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures.

James Tabor has posted an update on the Mount Zion excavation project, including news that the 2011 dig season will be conducted at Suba (“Cave of John the Baptist”) instead of on Mount Zion.

Ferrell Jenkins explains why you should check out his extensive collection of links to Biblical Studies resources, especially the Bible Places and Scholarly categories.

Aren Maeir has posted the schedule for the Aharoni Symposium, to be held on February 17 at Tel Aviv University.

In response to the recent story about the “Small Kotel,” Leen Ritmeyer observes:

It is ironic to see that Haaretz is worried about a strong reaction from the Waqf (the Muslim religious trust), while the praying Jews are apparently oblivious to the fact that they are touching stones laid by Muslims, which may have been taken from a destroyed Christian church, in order to repair the ancient Jewish Temple Mount walls.

The “Small Kotel”

Tagged Jerusalem, Lectures, Resources, Weekend Roundup