National Geographic has posted five photographs of the Jericho quarry-monastery. For previous stories on this discovery, see here and here.
Paleojudaica also notes a story on current difficulties in the Samaritan community.
HT: Paleojudaica
According to the Vatican, the traditional “tomb of Paul” has been authenticated. Pope Benedict XVI announced that “tiny fragments of bone . . . belong to someone who lived in the first or second century.” “This seems to confirm the unanimous and undisputed tradition that these are the mortal remains of the Apostle St. Paul.”
The skeptical would note that a lot of people lived in the first and second centuries. However, these bones were within a tomb traditionally identified with Paul. I wouldn’t call that proof, but it seems to point in the direction of authenticity. At least, it is unlikely that somebody in the Middle Ages set this all up. CNN has a report.
Additionally, what is believed to be the earliest portrait of Paul was unveiled. The painting dates to the 4th century and shows the apostle with a thin face and a dark pointy beard. You can see for yourself here.
Previous coverage of the excavation of Paul’s tomb was mentioned here and here.
- Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Italy
Expedition Bible has just released a new DVD entitled “Jericho Unearthed.” Filmed on location, the video features interviews with archaeologists who argue for and against the site’s destruction by the Israelites as described in the book of Joshua. From the website:
The battle of Jericho is one of the most enduring biblical stories. The description of the “walls falling down” is among its most well-known accounts. Yet, the most famous excavation of this ancient site, carried out in the 1950’s under the direction of Kathleen Kenyon, claims that there wasn’t even a city at Jericho—much less city walls—at the time when Joshua supposedly conquered it. What are the implications of the battle of Jericho being disproven? Wouldn’t the Bible be demonstrated untrustworthy? Couldn’t it be argued that the Jewish people have no more right to the land of Israel than anyone else? The implications really are staggering! For more than fifty years scholars have built a wall of doubt against the historical accuracy of the Bible using Jericho as one of its cornerstones. It’s time to face those challenges head on! It’s time to determine whether or not the conclusions of modern scholarship stand in light of the evidence or if those arguments don’t in fact collapse like Jericho’s walls.
You can view the trailer here, or order the DVD from Amazon for $7. I haven’t seen the video itself, but based upon the previous work of Expedition Bible, I would expect that this is the best resource available on the subject.
- Tagged Excavations, Resources
A new book on Pompeii by classics scholar Mary Beard of Cambridge University is considered in a travel article in the Globe and Mail. Beard believes that most of those who died were either slaves or those who intentionally chose to take their chances.
Beard argues that Pompeii’s population was smaller than previously thought, about 12,000, and that most escaped the volcanic eruption, taking the bulk of their possessions with them.
That would explain why relatively few corpses (1,100) and household effects were later found. Some citizens and slaves – half the population were slaves, many of them Jews brought from Israel after the Roman destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD – must have been stranded or chosen to stay. There were, after all, remains of 21 fresh bread loaves found in Pompeii’s ovens, when excavations began in the mid-18th century.
Beard’s book is too new to have changed the way local tour guides and historians treat the Pompeii saga, but for anyone contemplating a visit to one of the world’s greatest archeological sites, it’s a useful read.
The article continues with a look at the nearby ruins of Herculaneum and the modern city of Naples.
It ends with advice that I wish someone had given me: do not even think about driving a car in Naples.
Mount Vesuvius from the southHT: Explorator
From the Associated Press:
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Workers renovating a house in the traditional town of Jesus’ birth accidentally discovered an untouched ancient tomb containing clay pots, plates, beads and the bones of two humans, a Palestinian antiquities official said Tuesday.
The 4,000-year-old tomb provides a glimpse of the burial customs of the area’s inhabitants during the Canaanite period, said Mohammed Ghayyada, director of the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
Workers in a house near the Church of the Nativity uncovered a hole leading to the grave, which was about one meter (yard) below ground, he said. They contacted antiquities officials, who photographed the grave intact before removing its contents.
They dated the grave to the Early Bronze Age, between 1,900 B.C. and 2,200 B.C.
Jerusalem-based archaeologist and historian Stephen Pfann called the find “an important reference to the life of the Canaanites,” adding that it could give a glimpse into life in the area before the time when the Biblical patriarchs are said to have lived.
While many artifacts exist from this period, intact graves are rare, mainly because of looting, he said.
The article continues here (and another photo here). A few comments:
The tomb dates to the Intermediate Bronze period, also confusingly known as Early Bronze IV or Middle Bronze I. Many tombs from this period, including intact ones, have been found throughout Israel. In fact, this period is primarily known from its cemeteries, with relatively few settlements discovered. (See this post for photos of a cemetery from this period found a couple of years ago in Jerusalem.)
More importantly, this tomb indicates an early presence in the city that later came to be known as Bethlehem, the city of David’s birth. I don’t see anything about material from this period in NEAEH, which may indicate the significance of this discovery.
HT: Joe Lauer
- Tagged Discoveries, Judah
The long-awaited New Acropolis Museum in Athens opened this weekend after years of delay. The Greeks say they didn’t “build it for the British,” but they intend it to be a strong argument for the return of the Elgin Marbles. From the New York Times:
The museum, which cost $200 million and sits near the base of the Acropolis with a direct view of the Parthenon, is one of the highest-profile cultural projects undertaken in Europe in this decade.
Intended as “the ultimate showcase of classical civilization,” Mr. Samaras said, it was built to promote tourism and, like any large, government-financed museum, to stir national pride. But it was also meant, not incidentally, to spark discomfort in another country in the European Union.
“We didn’t build this for the sake of the British,” Mr. Samaras said in an interview, adding at once, “but look around: does this not negate the argument that Athens has no place good enough to house the Parthenon Marbles?”…
The new museum, 226,000 square feet of glass and concrete designed by the New York architect Bernard Tschumi, replaces the old Acropolis Museum, a small 1874 building tucked into the rock of the Acropolis next to the Parthenon. The design, introduced in 2001, was meant to be completed in time for the 2004 Olympics, but dozens of legal battles — many having to do with some 25 buildings that were demolished to make room for it — delayed the process for years.
Even now, not all Athenians are happy with the building, wedged in as it is among apartment buildings in a middle-class residential district. “It is as if a titanic U.F.O. landed in the neighborhood, obliterating all of its surrounding structures,” said Nikos Dimou, a prominent Greek author.
The museum has five floors (including two basement levels that will not be open at first), which provide space for 4,000 artifacts, 10 times the number displayed in the old building. On the first level a glass floor offers visitors close-up views of an early Christian settlement, dating from the 7th to 12th centuries, that was discovered under part of the future building’s footprint during excavations in 2002.
The Times article includes a slideshow with nine photos.
HT: Explorator