Discoveries Archives - Page 126 of 154

Well Preserved Tombs Found near Saqqara

This Old Kingdom tomb with “amazing colors” may be the first in a large cemetery that served ancient Memphis. From the Jerusalem Post:

Egyptian archaeologists on Thursday unveiled a newly-unearthed double tomb with vivid wall paintings in the ancient necropolis of Saqqara near Cairo, saying it could be the start for uncovering a vast cemetery in the area.
The tomb includes two false doors with colorful paintings depicting the two people buried there, a father and a son who served as heads of the royal scribes, said Abdel-Hakim Karar, a top archaeologist at Saqqara.
“The colors of the false door are fresh as if it was painted yesterday,” Karar told reporters.
Humidity had destroyed the sarcophagus of the father, Shendwas, while the tomb of the son, Khonsu, was robbed in antiquity, he said.
Also inscribed on the father’s false door was the name of Pepi II, whose 90-year reign is believed to be the longest of the pharaohs. The inscription dates the double tomb to the 6th dynasty, which marked the beginning of the decline of the Old Kingdom, also known as the age of pyramids.
Egypt’s antiquities chief, Zahi Hawass, said the new finds were “the most distinguished tombs ever found from the Old Kingdom,” because of their “amazing colors.” He said the area, if excavated, could unveil the largest cemetery of ancient Egypt.

The 6th Dynasty dates to 2362-2176 BC (NEAEH 5:2127). Saqqara is 15 miles (20 km) south of the Giza pyramids (which is on the outskirts of Cairo).

The full article with photos is here.

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt

Synagogue Discovered at Horvat Kur

The Kinneret Regional Project is excavating Tel Chinnereth (Kinneret) and studying its environs on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. This season they have focused their attention on Horvat Kur, and their efforts have been rewarded with the discovery of a synagogue dated to the 4th century.

Taken all the available evidence together, it seems very likely, that KRP 2010 has discovered a part of the western wall of yet another ancient Galilean synagogue. Together with the well-known synagogues at Capernaum and Chorazin (both ca. 5th / 6th c. CE) and the recently discovered ones at Khirbet Hammam (2nd / 3rd c. CE) and Magdala (1st c. CE), the new synagogue at Horvat Kur (tentatively dated to the 4th / 5th c. CE) adds new evidence for a very tight net of synagogues in a relatively small area on the Northwestern shores of the Lake of Galilee.

You can read the full report here (and a copy here). Nothing in the article was very clear about its location, so I did a little work to locate the site and create a map using Google Earth. As you can see, the site is in close proximity to some important New Testament locations. The distance from the site to the water’s edge is about one mile.

It will be interesting to see if they discover anything from the 1st century. The report states that the site was inhabited from the Early Roman to the Early Medieval period, and Early Roman usually designates the period before Jerusalem’s destruction in AD 70.

Map of northwest shoreline of Sea of Galilee

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Galilee

Gold Roman Coin Found Near Sea of Galilee

Excavators at et-Tell (Bethsaida?) have found a gold coin from the 2nd century AD. From the Omaha World-Herald:

The coin, which weighs 7 grams, is 97.6 percent gold, Arav said.
The find was unexpected because Bethsaida primarily was home to humble fishermen, he said. Arav said somebody must have been doing good business a little more than 100 years after the birth of Christ.
The gold coin, about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, carries the image of Antoninus Pius, the 15th Roman emperor, who reigned between A.D. 138 and 161.
“Before newspapers, coins fulfilled the job of disseminating information. In our case, Antoninus wanted to announce that the Senate designated him to the position of a consul for the second time. This position was among the highest at Rome.”
The Bethsaida coin is the first Antoninus Pius gold coin excavated in Israel, Arav said, and as far as he knows, it’s the first discovery of this particular kind of coin.

The full story is here.

HT: Paleojudaica

Tagged Discoveries, Galilee

Chariot Linchpin from Sisera’s Hometown

In the period of the judges,

the Lord sold [the Israelites] into the hands of Jabin, a king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim. Because he had nine hundred iron chariots and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help (Judges 4:2-3).

Archaeologist Adam Zertal believes he has identified Sisera’s hometown of Harosheth Haggoyim at the site of el-Ahwat not far from the Jezreel Valley. A bronze tablet discovered in the excavation was a linchpin of a chariot wheel. Enemies were sometimes carved on these linchpins as a sign of disrespect, not unlike depictions of a king putting his foot on the necks of his enemies. The woman depicted on the linchpin may be a Hittite goddess. Zertal connects this artifact to the story of Sisera’s defeat by Deborah and Barak:

This identification enhances the historical and archaeological value of the site and proves that chariots belonging to high-ranking individuals were found there. It provides support for the possibility, which has not yet been definitively established, that this was Sisera’s city of residence and that it was from there that the chariots set out on their way to the battle against the Israelite tribes, located between the ancient sites of Taanach and Megiddo.

Zertal further identifies Sisera as one of the Sea Peoples. The Philistines are the most well known, but another group were the Shardanu who originated from Sardinia.

More details are given in the press release of the University of Haifa (with good illustrations). The Jerusalem Post story has additional information apparently based on Zertal’s new book, Sisera’s Secret, A Journey following the Sea-Peoples and the Song of Deborah.

Anson Rainey argues at length that Harosheth Haggoyim is not a city but a region, and the name should be translated as “district of the foreigners.” He locates it in the plain east of Megiddo, and thus equivalent to “at Taanach on the waters of Megiddo” in Judges 5:19. For his analysis, see The Sacred Bridge, pp. 137-38, 150-51.

Photo by Moshe Einav/University of Haifa

Tagged Discoveries

Omrit Excavations 2010

Excavations at the site of Omrit in northern Israel are wrapping up for the summer, and from the photos posted on the unofficial blog, it looks like they made some impressive discoveries this year.

In particular, note the beautifully frescoed wall near the earliest temple.

Omrit is not far from Caesarea Philippi (Banias), and the excavators have suggested that Herod’s temple was located at Omrit instead of Caesarea Philippi. A series of temples have been found at
Omrit, dating from approximately 50 BC to AD 360. For a brief review, see this post.

Thanks to Roi Brit for the tip.

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Galilee

Evidence of Honeybees in Ancient Israel

The beehives discovered several years ago at Tel Rehov are the subject of a careful collaborative study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The LA Times has a popular report of the article:

Israel is referred to repeatedly in the Bible — 17 times, in fact — as the “land of milk and honey,” but until three years ago, archaeologists had discovered little firm evidence that beekeeping was ever practiced there. Many scholars, in fact, assumed “honey” referred to a nectar from dates or other fruits.
Then, three years ago, researchers found a 3,000-year-old apiary in the Iron Age city of Tel Rehov in the Jordan Valley, the oldest known commercial beekeeping facility in the world, suggesting that the word “honey” likely referred to the real thing. Now the same researchers have gotten an even bigger surprise: The bees that were kept in the hives were most likely from Turkey, hundreds of miles away.
“This is a very special discovery … because there is no evidence from before for bringing any kind of animals from such a distance, especially bees, which represent a quite complicated, sophisticated type of agriculture,” said archaeologist Amihai Mazar of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, lead author of a report published online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “This throws new light on the economy of the biblical period.”
The findings “would imply an incredible amount of commodity trading of bees,” said bee expert Gene Kritsky of the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, editor of American Entomologist. The importation of Italian bees to the United States in the 1860s “was thought to be a big deal then,” he said, “but the Israelis may have been doing this as far back as the first millennium BC.”

The article continues here. The story is also reported in the New Scientist (3 photos) and Wired (4 photos).

The original discovery was reported by Haaretz, Arutz-7, and the Jerusalem Post.

HT: Creation Safaris and Joe Lauer

Tagged Discoveries